My Favorite Comment

Comments mean so much to me.  They not only let me know that you've visited, but that maybe something I said resonated with you, that you identified with a piece of my story, or that you had advice, comfort, encouragement to offer.  I get so excited when I get an email saying someone commented on my blog!  It's like getting that unexpected card in the mail- which I guess it kinda is, just virtual.   

Thanks to Foxy, I found out about Mel's Project where bloggers are able to post their favorite comment from the past year.  I had to think about which comment to post because so many meant so much to me.  But I finally posted this one by Mandi on my post from November.  I can't wait to "be in total awe". 

Do you have a favorite comment?  What do comments mean to you? 

Winter's Here!

Keep Calm Shop

Well, at least for the week.  Or maybe just the first few days of the week.  Then we're back to highs in the 60s.  Last night, a cold front came through that sent the temperatures plummeting and brought with it a dreary, rainy day today.

So dreary and rainy that D and I actually slept in and missed going to church.  But we made a big breakfast, ate a late lunch, and started watching a movie to earn training hours toward our foster license.  (We both have to have 30 hours each year.)

When I started making my weekly menu this afternoon, the weather seriously affected the meals for the week.  (Do you make a weekly menu?  Since I started, I've saved so much on grocery bills because I only buy what I'm going to cook.  Which has definitely helped the IVF fund!)

Monday: Comfort meatballs and baked macaroni and cheese (Both Pioneer Woman recipes!)
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (Another PW recipe)
Wednesday: Beans and cornbread
Thursday: Frozen Pizza night
Friday: Out to eat
Saturday: Chicken Fried Steak and Smashed Potatoes (the easiest mashed potatoes- courtesy PW)

Notice a trend?  Two words- comfort. food.  Yum!

Now in normal parts of the world where winter actually lasts the entire season, people are able to spread their comfort food over the course of three months.  Not in Texas!  We've got to make it and eat while the weather is cold!

What's your favorite comfort food?  I love making Puppy Chow (chocolate and peanut butter covered Chex cereal with powdered sugar all over) when the weather gets cold.  It's delicious!

A Really Dumb Mistake

So one of the things I wanted to write about in my last post is that we received a broadcast for a little boy who would be a legal risk placement.  (I didn't want to jinx our chances by writing about it since we haven't heard anything about the little one we submitted our home study for in November.  Not that I believe in jinxing things... in case D ever asks.  He loves when I knock on wood after any little predicting/boastful comment a commentator makes during a Longhorn game.)  Basically, a legal risk placement means that the parents' rights haven't been terminated yet, but the court is heading in that direction.  We would be a foster-to-adopt home.  Our adoption placement coordinator emailed us and said she'd 'handpicked' us to submit our home study and to let us know if we wanted her to do that. 


Yes!  I emailed her the same day (maybe the same hour) that she emailed us... after emailing D and letting him look at the file as well.  I also asked a few questions because there were a few things in his documentation that didn't add up.  That was Tuesday.

Today is Thursday and I haven't heard anything from the coordinator.  Granted, I know she has a busy job with lots of families asking her questions.  So I didn't think much about it.  Then tonight, I went to look at her original email again (to glimpse a picture of this precious little boy one more time) and saw what I had done.

I replied to myself.  The email I wrote Tuesday was never answered because I sent it to yours truly.   I know, I know- I'm a genius.

Thankfully, our home study isn't due until January 10th, so (hopefully!) it didn't eliminate us from the home study pool.  I resent the email to our coordinator with a little note letting her know what had happened and that we thought we had responded much earlier. 

And all this after I had expressed my frustration to D about the amount of time I spend helping a coworker use her computer.  Slice of humble pie anyone? 

So I just typed a post.  Then deleted it.  Decided that what I could write wasn't worth your time reading and what I wanted to write, well, I can't write about it.

On a rainy, dreary, cold day like today is in the great state of Texas, I'll just post a clip from one of my recent favorite movies, "The Other Guys".  It's days like these that I can totally understand how the seasons can affect your attitude and mood.  Which is why by 7:00 tonight, I was already showered, in my pjs, and cuddled up on the couch with my laptop, searching the net and watching tv with the hubs.  And also why I needed a laugh.

Hope this makes you laugh, no matter what the weather is like in your part of the world.

my all over the place post

Thanks all for giving me ideas to name the room.  Julie's suggestion won since before we painted it grey, the room was yellow and we called it by it's color.  So the Grey Room it is!

I received an email the other day from our AFS who will be working with us once we get a placement.  It's already time for our quarterly evaluation!  Basically she'll come check out our house and make sure we're still keeping medicine and cleaning supplies locked up, electric outlets covered, etc.  I'm excited about meeting her.  The evaluation is a few weeks down the road, and of course I'm hoping for a placement to be sooner than that.

D and I spent New Year's Eve with friends eating dinner at PF Chang's and coming back to our house to watch "The Other Guys".  A pretty low-key night, but enjoyable!  I've made a few personal resolutions this year that I might share at some other time.  How about you?  Do you make resolutions?  Or is your resolution to not make a resolution?

D and I have been trying out a new church for the past few months and we absolutely love it.  We missed this past Sunday due to the holidays so I can't wait till tomorrow.  My faith is really being stretched and challenged- partly due to this new church and partly due to reading a fantastic (but not so comfortable) book about giving up the American dream.  My resolutions are a result of both of these things.

The start of a new year brings so many things- hope, renewal, optimism, new beginnings!  I pray that 2011 is all of these things and so much more!

"The Room" revealed

We have yet to name this room.  We don't want to call it a nursery, because that invites the assumption of pregnancy/babies and we're not and don't know the age of our first placement.  It's not called "The Kid's Room" mostly because I don't like the term 'kid'.  I think it all started in kindergarten when my teacher told me that kids were goats or something like that.  I don't want to call it the "foster" room because I feel like that separates them from the family.  Like I'm leading a tour and saying, "That's the guest bedroom, and here's the foster room.  That's where our foster kids stay."  Oops- I said the 'k' word.  Cross that out.

Anyway, it has affectionately been titled, "The Room".

"Les, where should I put this car seat your friend gave us?"
"Oh, go put it in the room."

And we both know what I'm talking about.  If you have any ideas for what to call this room, please share.  We're lacking in originality.

This past week, D and I have been busy installing hardwood flooring in our living room area.  D has been working on refinancing our house since interest rates are considerably lower than when we bought (almost) 3 years ago.  We wanted to make sure our house appraised high enough and since hardwood floors have been on my wish list for, oh, about 3 years, we decided to take the plunge and do our first major home improvement project since we moved in.  My sister wanted to see pictures of it all finished so I stole D's phone this evening and took pictures.


Wait, weren't you just talking about the room?  Why are we now talking about new hardwood floors?  I want to see the room!

I know, I got a little sidetracked with my story.  I'll blame that on my other sister who tells the longest stories that sometimes always have a point. 

Since I was taking pictures of the living room, I also snapped a few of The Room and thought I'd share them with you.

 Sorry the lighting isn't the best.  They were taken with at night with an iPhone, so the quality isn't the greatest.  But hopefully you get the picture.

And seriously, if you have a name for The Room- please let me know. 

Survivor- Christmas Edition

I've never been so thankful for family drama.

It kept my mind off the sadness I've been feeling lately- of spending another Christmas as a family of two.

I survived Christmas 2010! Now on to 2011... please let this be our year.