Caught!

We know who the saran wrapping culprit is. Well, we're fairly certain. Two things clued us in. 1 ~ Said individual had to stay after school that day (on the last day of school, mind you) and 2 ~ one of said individual's parents is in a business where he/she uses industrial size saran wrap. I'm sure said individual had help. Rhonda...you've been saran wrapping before. Can you do it alone? BTW, your parents live in Iowa. Is that where you grew up? Iowa must have been a step ahead of South Dakota in the rebel department when we were growing up because I've never heard of it!

Still no news. I do know a family from LSS received their referral from Los Pisingos in the past few days. She was adopted from LP herself so I'm sure that's why they heard something so quick. So we probably won't hear anything until late June at the earliest. We're getting dangerously close to Katie's wedding on August 25. We'll have to hope for a speedy court.

We've been Saran Wrapped!

Aren't you jealous? Yesterday was the last day of school so SOMETHING had to happen. Rob went to golf and I went to bed about 10:00. Right after "Lost". I'm still not sure what to think of that one. Anyway, I didn't notice anything suspicious. Rob got home about 1:00. I went to work at 6:50 or so and the entire pickup had been Saran Wrapped.

We've been pretty lucky. We've had some youthful pranks pulled on us but nothing too bad. While we were in Highmore, we were toilet papered twice in two nights and had some lawn ornaments disappear during Christmas break. They ended up outside the wrestling room door the next morning. When we lived in Elk Point some kids were going to scare us on Halloween. The neighbor tipped us off and Rob ended up scaring them. Over Christmas break this year Rob went out the front door and found that almost every possible sign in town had been placed in our yard. For Sale, locate flags...you name it. So Saran Wrap just fits right in.

Typos

I have this obsession with typos. I don't know why. I blame my English teacher. Journalism class (not as much English) was my favorite class. When Rob and I were dating I was in school in Vermillion and Rob was already working and living in Redfield. He'd send me cards. Rob has this funky thing about poems. He always writes a poem. They don't make sense but they're very lovable. One time he needed something that rhymed with "air" and he couldn't think of anything. So he wrote "so I'll go cut my hair". Yeah...doesn't make sense but that's OK. It's the thought, right? So anyway, he'd send me cards and I'd correct his spelling. I couldn't help it. It was just SO obvious! Couldn't he see those mistakes?! He told me that if I ever corrected him again he'd never send me another card. Well that solved that. Not the spelling part. Just the correcting. I know that I put in extra commas and start sentences with "and" when I type. So I should not be throwing stones, right? Perfect example: the other day I wrote about the baby shower. I usually proofread everything I post. But you know when you write something you can read it ten times and it looks right. You hand it in (or post in this case) and what do you know? There's a typo. So I did proofread. But I missed something. Rob called me yesterday while I was home for dinner. He said "What word does 'W O H' spell?" I asked if that was the beginning of the word and he said "No. That's the entire word". I thought he was reading something at school and needed my help. So I said "Waa?" I didn't know what it meant but thought it might be some educational thing. He said "I'd like to thank all woh attended." I figured it out. I had a typo. So we hung up. About two minutes later he called back and said "I have a good knock-knock joke but you have to tell me 'knock-knock'". So I said "knock knock" and he said "woh's there?" He's so funny. Needless to say, I have edited the post so this is the only evidence it was ever there!

There's a blog that I read that I really enjoy. I think the counter on her blog went up dramatically when I started reading because I check for new posts several times a day. The posts are that good that I think she should post several times a day. I think she's a lot like me. Although she doesn't hold anything back. I'm more reserved on my blog. The point of my story is that she never has typos. She's very articulate. However, this disease I have hasn't fully gone away. Twice I've found typos. And they were good ones. I laughed and laughed. So Elle, even though I give you a bad time, I'm really not making fun of you. They're just such good typos I can't pass it up! And if you want to make fun of me about the "woh" let me have it. It isn't as good as yours but Rob's response made it funny.

You've probably all figured out I'm having a better week than last week. Last week I was just CONSUMED with freak-out-ness. I'm calmer this week. I don't know why. Lots going on, I think. The shower. Graduation tomorrow. Graduation parties that last three days. A new baby kitty to care for. One of the girls I work with has an abandoned kitty that we've been caring for. She's about three weeks old and is just the cutest thing. She sleeps in a box during the day then wakes up around noon. We feed her from a medicine dropper. Amy supervises while I hold her and Ashley feeds her. She just sucks down that milk like she's starving. Then she goes back to sleep. Until around 4:00 as I'm getting off of work. And we feed her again. We're all gonna be really sad when she can eat on her own and Ashley doesn't bring her to work anymore.

I belong to a Yahoo group for Colombian adoptions and people keep posting about a "lista unica". No one really seems to know what it is but it is supposed to make the wait longer for referrals. I emailed the social worker in MN and she emailed the facilitator in Colombia. Cecelia emailed back that the government is trying to place Colombian babies with Colombians first. Domestically and also internationally. So a Colombian on the list will move right to the top and receive their referral first. She said that she doesn't think there are many Colombians on the waiting list so it probably won't have much of an effect. But it COULD possibly mean a longer wait for us. They (the ICBF) were supposed to meet yesterday with the private orphanages and she would find out more after that meeting. As of now I don't know what they discussed. Hopefully it won't affect us too much. We're already up to the middle of June if we receive our referral this week.

When I emailed the social workers about the this list I told them about my dream with the cat. They wanted to know if they could share that with all of the other social workers and other adopting families. I'm glad I amuse somebody!

Rob's at Saturday school today. Last one. Plus there are only three days of school left. I think he's just as ready as the kids. Graduation is tomorrow which means food at all the parties. I haven't felt like cooking lately so I'm pretty excited about this. My dinners this week were either macaroni and ketchup or macaroni and cottage cheese and mustard. One day I did put some garbanzo beans in the macaroni and ketchup for added nutritional value. It ruined the taste though so I won't be doing that again. So then yesterday I just ate the rest of the garbanzo beans for dinner. Then I was hungry around 1:30. Note to self. Eat more than garbanzo beans for dinner.

There is baby stuff all over!

Four wonderful women from Rob's school hosted a baby shower for us yesterday. Lots of people came, even men, but most of the men didn't last. It was golf night. It started at 3:30 and Rob was pretty sure he was going to be on the course by 4:00. The course is like ten miles from town. Obviously he's never been to a baby shower before! We got lots of great stuff. Some of the people made the CUTEST cake made of diapers. And then they attached little stuff to it with ribbon. I have no creative bones in my body so I was really amazed at the whole thing. My mom took pictures so as soon as I get one I'll post it and show all of you. So thank you to everyone who attended. We truly appreciate not only your gifts but also your support. :)

And you wonder why I'm a basketcase...

After reading this you will see why I'm so tired all the time and why I'm so freaked out.

Remember way back when, when I said that I have a penchant for odd dreams? They continue. Last night I dreamt that Rob and I had gone wherever we were going (I would guess Colombia but it didn't come up in my dream) and we were sitting in a stadium of some sort. They were calling number and called every number in a range except for mine. They told those people they would be going to the court house and getting approved to adopt and would then get their babies. So of course I freaked out because they didn't call my number. All for naught of course because pretty soon they called my number along with a whole bunch of other people's. And we all started going down the steps of the stadium, sort of like at the end of a football game and everybody is leaving. I lost Rob in the crowd but I saw I guy I work with, Todd, but not his wife. So then we were up to the building. I didn't go to court but I handed the director of the orphanage my ticket and he said my baby would be through the next door. I opened the door and there were a whole bunch of cages. Our name was on one so I opened it and my "baby" was a black cat with white spots. Sort of like Roscoe for those of you who knew him but with short hair. For those of you who don't know Roscoe, he is Billy and Bob's father, brother, uncle, grandfather... So I went to the director and said "there must be a mistake" and he told me that I signed a paper saying I would accept any baby they placed with us and this is our baby. I said that I could have stayed in South Dakota and gotten a free cat from the barn or paid a whole lot less to get one from the humane society and did he know how much I paid to adopt and all I got was a cat? Now, you all know I love cats. That isn't the point. But he told me that I could take the cat or leave it but I wouldn't get another baby and I wouldn't get my money back.

I realize this won't happen in real life but it just proves how much this is running through my brain. No wonder I'm losing it!

I'm truly carless now.

I said goodbye to my car tonight. It was actually kind of sad. I got it in 2003 when Rob left for active duty and I've basically lived in it ever since! Does anybody else get as attached to their cars as I do? After we traded my car off when we got married and got an Explorer, I saw someone driving it down 6th Avenue in Aberdeen one day. I about had an accident as I whipped my head around to check it out. For as attached as I get, I don't name them, though. So I was a little emotional as I cleaned it out tonight. The insurance company is coming to get it tomorrow. There is still water soaked in it and it smells pretty awful. I haven't really had good luck with my last two cars. Obviously this one hasn't turned out too well. The last one I ended up sticking some money into it as well when what I thought was a squirrel but actually was a rabbit kept chewing apart the wires that connected something to something else. TWICE! And then my transmission went out. And I got a new car. I'm seriously going to try to hold out for as long as I can on one vehicle. But sticking $70 in gas into Rob's pickup is a killer! This makes me sound really old but I remember back in 1991 as a freshman in college, a gas station in Vermillion had gas for $.88. It was right before Christmas and cars were lined up down the street. That was a huge price break from the $.99 it usually was. And today it's $3.19! Ugh....

Well, nothing else new to say. I'm having problems with my email so if you've emailed me recently and I haven't responded, I've received it (probably). I just can't respond to some domains. If you emailed me a long time ago and I still haven't responded, I will. I promise. I even emailed myself a list of names to email so I don't forget. I'm the sticky note queen so unless I have a note, I can't remember. And once (well probably more than once), not too many years ago, I made fun of my mom for having notes on the counter. Little did I know what was in store for me!

No news is not always good news

I know all of you are waiting for the day when my post tells you we've received good news. I wish I could say I had that news. I don't. I wish I could say we're waiting patiently. But we aren't. The more time passes, the more stressed I get. My anxiety level is through the roof and I'm edgy, nervous, ready to burst into tears at all times, and just not really in a very good mood. And then I start thinking "If I could just run across the street and hang out and drink coffee" or "It's nice out...wish I could go for a walk to the church and back" or "If I could just go shopping with someone who buys ten pair of black pants and returns all of them" I'd feel better. Love you guys.

So until we get "the call" I don't know how much I'll have to say. Be patient with me. I know you don't want to listen to my pity party so I think my posts will be sparse for a while.

We did find out the insurance company is classifying my car as "totaled". So now we're using one vehicle. We only had one day this week that we had a conflict but Rob just drove me to work and someone else brought me back to town. I tried riding my bike to work one day last summer. I thought I was gonna die so I'll never do that again.

On this very special weekend, Happy Mother's Day Mom, Sandy, Grandma, Georgia and all the other mom's in my life. I did get a very nice card today. It was a Mother's Day card for the Mom-To-Be. :) And the tears that came to my eyes were happy ones.

Rain rain go away...

We had an interesting weekend. Rob had guards on Friday and Saturday and then we went to the prom banquet at 6:00 on Saturday. We had some rain so I knew the weather wasn't very good. But when you're in a gym you can't see what's going on outside. In the middle of the banquet the tornado warnings went off. So we all went inside the locker rooms and waited. We finally got out of there and finished the banquet. Before the grand march even started the fire whistle went off. Rob took my keys and went to the fire. While they were checking things out (no fire...just smoke) it started pouring. Really bad. When he left the fire to come back to the gym the water was coming over the hood of my car it was so deep. So my car quit and he had to push it two blocks to the gas station. In the rain while the deep water ran in my car. After he dropped off my car he started walking and got about a block from the school when the fire whistle went off again. Someone picked him up this time. By the time he got back to the prom the grand march was over. He was totally wet, too. So he went home and changed and said the cat was freaking out. I went home and found water in the basement. Which of course is where we've stored all of our boxes. Empty and full. We were lucky though because other people had sewers back up in their basements. We just had water. All in all we had about nine inches of rain, a few tornados were spotted, and three fire calls. Sunday after guards Rob, his dad, and a friend of Allan's pushed my car to the shop the friend owns. It wasn't good news. There is a hole in my engine. So we're now working with the insurance company to get my car fixed. While he was looking at my car, the guards called to reactivate them to bag sand. Needless to say Rob really didn't have a pleasant weekend.