Ack! I'm getting old!

Am I my mother's daughter or my father's daughter? I went to the chiropractor this week and told him that I'd been running and my knees hurt really bad. So he had me take off my shoes and socks and looked at the way I walk and stand. He told me two very disturbing things:

1 ~ He said "I see you're developing some bunions there". I AM NOT! Believe me. I check out my feet way more than necessary to see if this is happening. Thanks, Mom.

2 ~ He said "I think you need inserts in your shoes". I might agree with this one. Thanks, Dad.

So am I getting old or these the bad traits passed on to me? It does explain a little though. When I was in junior high and high school I played basketball and ran track and cross county. Every time I particpated in something, my knees hurt. Bad. I'd end up limping around wondering why I couldn't cut it. My brother and best friend were outstanding runners. I was decent but not as good as them. For a while hearing "Hmmm, I thought you'd be a better athlete" made me want to keep running. Surgery really didn't help. It made it worse. Knee braces didn't help either. I know the track/cross county coach just thought I was a wimp. My basketball coach was just a jerk so the fact that he went out of his way to make me feel worthless shouldn't have surprised me. By the time I quit, I really couldn't stand the pain anymore and was tired of the comparisons. I understand teachers have favorites. But teachers/coaches who go out of their way to make a student feel stupid and intimidated don't deserve to be either a teacher or a coach. ANYWAY, the chiropractor said I've probably walked this way my entire life which has caused some funky things with my knees and the stress fracture I had in my leg when I was 14. Finally, I had justification that my knees really did hurt. I wasn't faking it. So now, at 34, I'm going to have to pay attention to how my foot moves from heel to toe. Plus, I feel like I'm walking pigeon-toed trying to keep my left leg straight. So if you see me walking down the street and I'm tripping all over myself, don't be surprised. One of the many good things to adoption is that my poor kids can't inherit my high forehead, my fine hair, my wide hips, my non-bunions, or the breast cancer that seems to be prevalent in our family! :)

I'm starting to dream about other bloggers. The other night I dreamed that Erin and I went to New York to visit Starfish and while we were flying, Elle called me. We stayed in a fancy hotel somewhere in New York. Erin brought her briefcase and worked and I accompanied kids practicing for the band contest. And we flew home the next day. I'm not sure of the purpose of the whole trip. But I usually can't explain my dreams to begin with.

I had to redo my FBI prints for our dossier. Everything expires in six months. Even our birth certificates. I know. It's goofy. So just in case I've been out in the past six months getting arrested, I had to redo my prints. They expire July 8. The rest of the stuff doesn't start expiring until August so if we don't hear soon I'll have to redo that stuff, too. So my prints are in West Virginia at the FBI. When I get them back they have to be notarized and apostilled and sent to the social worker in MN. Then down the Colombia. This time I made sure to write in BIG letters "INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION". I won't make that mistake again.

I did get my hair cut. So far it hasn't helped with the referral process. BUT in my mind, I've calculated the days out and think the orphanage board will meet this week. Whether or not we get a referral, who knows. In the meantime, it's constantly on my mind. By next week and we haven't heard anything, I'll be OK until the end of July. Then I'll move into "is it this week" paranoia.

So unless I have some really good news to share, I don't know that I'll post again before the 4th. Have a great holiday everyone and keep your fingers crossed!

Random thoughts...

Remember back in March when I posted about getting my hair cut? It hasn't been cut since. I kept thinking that we'd be getting our referral soon and I wanted to get it cut and colored right before we left. So 11 weeks later, I need my hair cut BAD. The only thing that saves me is that, for the most part, I generally don't care what my hair looks like. Everybody who knows me knows I CAN fix my hair. That counts, right? Now that I think about it, maybe I SHOULD cut my hair. That might lead to a referral. Not getting my hair cut hasn't worked.

I went to Fargo Saturday with my parents for the air show. It was interesting. You couldn't pay me enough to get in those airplanes and my dad would pay any amount of money to get in one. I was a little freaked out that one was going to crash right into me. The thought crossed my mind that if I faced the opposite way of the plane coming at me and kneeled on the ground with my hands over my head, I might be saved. Sort of like the tornado position. For a second I thought it might work. This thought soon left my mind as I realized my skin was getting sun burned. I put sunscreen on but it didn't help. I'm burned. No doubt about it. I even had to borrow my mother's nylons for church this morning because I brought a skirt to wear and my sock line and sandals made me look like an idiot. I thought I'd be safe with booties that don't go any higher than my shoes. Yeah. Still look like an idiot.

Since I was in Fargo, I finally got to meet the infamous Erin of Viva La Colombia! :) And Michael. My parents were there too. We've talked many times on the phone and lots of emails but never actually in person. It's funny how I meet all these people on the Internet and may never meet them in person. So it was really nice to actually meet her and have her tell my parents some things about her adoptions and the time they spent in Colombia.

We spent the afternoon at my brother and sister-in-laws house for Father's Day. I often wonder if Father's Day is as difficult for Rob as Mother's Day has been for me. Surprisingly, I've never asked him. I suppose it's a random thought that enters my mind when he's not with me and by the time I see him again the thought is gone. I have bawled and dreaded Mother's Day for many years and I'm hoping this was the last one.

OK, I'm done for the day. Off to watch Tiger and the US Open. I remember as a little girl watching Tom Kite golf on TV and trying to keep score. That's a great idea unless you've never golfed in your life. It totally confused me so I gave up on golf. Now that I'm getting to be so good, golf on TV is actually fun to watch! :) After I become a master at golf, I'll take up NASCAR. Someday I might find that as exciting as golf!

Has it been a whole week?!

I guess that's a good thing. We've been pretty busy since my last post. We've been golfing quite a bit this past week. I had my best score EVER yesterday. It was a 70 but it was still my best score. I think golf courses should only be six holes because my game goes really downhill those last three holes. It's like bowling. I do OK for the first two games. The last one is awful. Back to golf...I had a 12 and a ten so just think what I would have had without those two bad holes. If I can average seven per hole, I'm pretty happy. Except I forgot my clicker thing in my coat pocket. I can't count (namely because I hit so many times) so Rob has to help me with my score.

Rob is an Atlanta Braves fan and I'm a Minnesota Twins fan so we drove to Minneapolis on Tuesday for the game. Our friend Jason went with. We had "cheap seats" (really cheap at $9 per ticket since it was Half Priced Tuesday!) but we had a good time. Rob walked in wearing his Braves jersey and started getting heckled. I followed right behind in my Twins jersey and the guys started laughing and said "It's a divided household!". The Twins won (they swept 'em!) so I was happier than Rob. We wished we could have stayed longer to visit the Diaz's, who just brought their daughter Olivia home from Colombia. But work (and a 4 1/2 hour drive) was calling. It was pretty much the quickest trip to Minneapolis I've ever had.

Rob left today for summer camp for guards. Two weeks. The first year we were dating (1995), this was very difficult for me. We didn't see each other every day but generally talked every day. So going two whole weeks without talking to him about killed me. Since then (and having spent eight months apart while he was on active duty) I've learned to enjoy my alone time! Especially when I get the entire bed to myself! When he was gone for so long, I learned to sleep in the middle of the bed. Billy and Bob snuggled up next to me. All night. So I'd wake up and move to one side or the other. And they'd follow me. So when I'd wake up the next time, I'd pick up my legs and move back over to the other side. When Rob came home, he didn't find this very amusing. Bob slept with me every night. All night. But Billy generally moves from the couch to the bed to under the bed to the guest bed. So now I just have Rob to deal with. My goal is to someday have a king size bed. Actually my goal before that is to find a decent house that has a large enough bedroom to fit a king size bed. Truthfully, I'd just go for a decent house.

My "no news" weekly update

What do you know...no news. I'm not sure how I'll react when we actually do get our referral. I always said that I was so used to negative pregnancy tests I didn't know what I'd do if it actually turned out positive. That's sort of how I feel now. I'm just getting used to every month going by and not hearing anything. I do have a lot going on so that keeps my mind off it.

We got a car this week. Well, it's not a car. But it sure isn't a van. Sorry to any of you van drivers but never, ever in my life will I drive a mini van. (Just watch, that will be my next vehicle.) But, I think I got something that's pretty close. Much trendier though. It's a Chrysler Pacifica. And still not a van. (Can you tell I'm not a van fan?) It was delivered last night so I've been in it long enough to program my radio stations.

We're supposed to get this huge storm tonight. Like the 19 inches of rain we got in May weren't enough. Rob's at golf and I'm starting to get a little panicky. The weather predictors are saying tornados and softball sized hail. I blame my brothers for much of the reason I am the way I am (throwing rocks at me and spitting on me while waiting for the school bus had to have done some damage, right?). I also blame them for my fear of the dark and storms. Every time it rains I'm sure a tornado is coming and is going to take me away. Since I know I wouldn't be able to get the cats in a few seconds and run to the basement, I tend to put the cats in the carrier and sit on the basement steps just waiting for the storm to hit. I haven't done that yet but I am starting to freak out wondering if we have lightening rods on the house.