Three in Tennessee

Effervescence: : to bubble, hiss, and foam as gas escapes.

Wondering why I'm posting about effervescence? Well, Tatum and I have a terrible stomach bug that we've had since late Friday. My mommy adrenaline kicked in and after about 6 - 8 rough hours, I've been able to manage ok. The little T has been sick, but she remains smiley, but she's awfully quiet, which is unusual for her (as many of you know).

So, I've been diligently spraying Lysol, using Clorox wipes and laundering anything we come in contact with. I have also picked up a fresh supply of Pedialyte (which I drink, too) and a couple packages of Airborne. I love that stuff. However, I have not been using it lately. Oops. The last couple of years I used it regularly and never got sick. So, who knows if it really works or if I just avoided lots of yucky germs in the past. But here's the deal...in previous years when I would drop the little tablet in the water, Matt would look at me funny and he never wanted to take it. Or he would ask me to make it for him. What?! Finally, last year, he mentioned something about not understanding how it works. I explained that it's full of vitamins, minerals, etc...He nodded, but still looked at me weird. I told him the tablet dissolves in the water, it's effervescent. He then said something about not understanding effervescence. I still don't know what's not to understand. LOL!

This cleared up a lot of things for me though because he also has issues with Alka Seltzer. The only "D" I ever got in school was in chemistry and I still understand how these things work. Matt really excels with chemistry, but it's possible that he was sleeping during that part of class. We could have been up late the night before talking on the phone and watching Conan together. :) We've been together a long time, huh? This is the kind of stuff that we will laugh about forever.

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

As is tradition, Teri and I posed for a picture.

I don't usually make you click a link and wait for flash to load, but this is pretty funny. Teri, Tatum, Felicity and I dance around and make total elves of ourselves.
Yep, pretty funny.

Just what you always wanted: slides of us! Here are some of photos that we used for our adoption profile book. It starts with T, then me, then us together. It's just like a wedding reception. Sit back & enjoy... and sorry there's no cake.

Here are some pictures from our trip (I can't seem to line them up right...maybe Matt will fix it).
Libby with Grandpa (Matt's dad).
Lunch out with my mom, dad, Aunt Buelane, Uncle Johnny & Peg.
Felicity taking a turn on the treadmill at my mom's - it was her favorite napping place!
Francie in the car and ready to roll!

We just returned from a trip to Iowa/Nebraska. We left last Thursday, June 14 and returned home Monday, June 18 - it was a short trip with lots of driving, but it was worth it. Matt was in a wedding in Nebraska. He got to catch up with some friends there and also eat at Runza, one of our favorite NE spots. I got to spend time with my mom and we took my dad to lunch on Saturday. That went well. After Matt returned from the wedding, spent time with his side of the family. Swimming, hanging out, etc...it was fun. His neice and nephews are really growing up. Austin (17), Max(9) and Bella(7) truly make us laugh. And it's not fake laughing - it's genuine. Matt said that Bella said "first of all" several times during one story. No second of all, thirdly, in closing, etc...So, that's our new thing. First of all...

The dogs were all packed and ready to go with us! For the most part, they stay in their dog den in the car, but on the way home, Francie looked terrified after Libby had barked in her face for the 19th time (seriously, we counted) so we let them sit up front with us. Probably not the safest move, but Francie was actually shaking. We do not know exactly what prompts the random, really short, snarky barks. At no time has Libby been touched, poked, rolled on or looked at by the other two dogs. And yet, she barks. We counted on the way home and after 14 hours we were at 21 barking episodes when we pulled in the driveway - then she did it ONCE more before getting out of the car for a grand total of 22 times. We don't know if she feels inconvenienced or she just wants attention. Hard to say.

It's good to be back. It may take a few days to recuperate from all the driving! We are having our Adoption Fundraising Garage Sale this weekend. It is going to be great!

I guess life has been uneventful lately as we haven't had much to post. :) We're hanging in there on the adoption front. Still waiting. In the mean time I decided (without consulting Matt) that we are having a fundraising garage sale in June. I didn't actually consult him because although he loves to go to garage sales he does NOT enjoy having them. I admit they are a lot of work, but it helps us feel like we're doing something during the waiting.

We sent out a churchwide e-mail asking for everyone's junk! We've gotten a good response from that. I may actually end up listing stuff on eBay and craigslist before doing the garage sale. I got some good kids clothes that would do fine on eBay. So, we'll see. Oh, besides raising a little more money for our adoption we're hoping to have a clean garage when this is all said and done. It's off to a good start!

Maybe we'll have more time to blog now that American Idol is over. Way to go, Jordin!! We actually liked all of the top 5 or 6, but we'd been rooting for Jordin for quite a while. It was a good season. BTW, we finally bought the Daughtry cd a few weeks ago- it is awesome. It's all that I've been playing.

The Office was wonderful as usual. Love that show. Love Jim and Pam. Lost ended well last night. Matt and I totally called it, as I'm sure a lot of people did. (spoiler warning) We were sure that was "Future Jack" - or present Jack - whatever...then at the end with all his geography stuff all over his room - we were sure. Plus, he was never that depressed or sloppy before. I had really been hoping that they would go this route - have them be rescued and go from there. Who knows where it will really go, but I'm definitely on board for next season.

Did I mention that I'm working at our church now? I don't think I've blogged about that yet. I started working as the ministry coordinator in early April. It's so fun!

Well, that's all for now...

We have had a terribly rough week. On Monday, Big Bird suddenly passed away. We noticed that she wasn't acting right on Sunday evening so we held her all evening until about 1:30am. We put her in her cage and checked on her and helped her get water a few times throughout the night. We got up early and planned to take her to the vet, but when we went to her cage she had already passed away.

We buried her in the backyard next to some yellow daffodils - Matt chose that spot so that when the yellow flowers bloom in the spring we will think of Biggie. She was a wonderful Lovebird and was very bonded to us. We got her when she was two years old and we had NO idea how to care for a bird. We just wanted a pet so badly and our scary apartment didn't allow dogs. So we got several books on Lovebirds and found out how spunky and fiesty they can be. Big was definitely those things, but she was also sweet and cuddly. She loved to cuddle in our hands and ride around on our shoulders. She was potty trained (it's true!!!) and could do a couple of tricks. She provided so much joy and entertainment over the years. She'd been there since we were newlyweds over 9 years ago so she'd been everywhere with us - Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Tennessee. It's hard to come home and not include her in our nightly routine.

We did have to smile a little thinking that she wouldn't have wanted to be around kids anyway. They made her nervous and annoyed her when they put their fingers near/in her cage. Who could blame her? Nobody likes being poked! :)

We have so many great stories and funny things we'd like to write about her. We probably will sooner rather than later, but this is all for now.

Sorry it's such a depressing post. I do feel a little like Debbie Downer from SNL.

Just in case the writers of The Office happen to read my blog...I am requesting that you don't make me wait 6+ years (like Ross & Rachel) to bring Jim and Pam together. I fully understand that you cannot just put them together now because then we would have nothing to look forward to. I am just pleading with you to not drag is out so long that by the time they get together we won't care anymore (Ross & Rachel).

I would like to add that I am number one in my division for Fantasy Football and my team logo for team T-Money is a picture of Jim and Pam kissing. It warms my heart each time I log in to set my lineup or check my scores. :)

Also, if anyone in my family (Matt) is reading this entry, I am officially asking for The Office dvds for Christmas and/or my birthday. I believe that seasons one and two have approximately 30 episodes total so that would fit really well with the theme of my upcoming birthday. Just a helpful hint for you (sweetheart). :)

I wanted to post these pics on Halloween, but I couldn't get the pics to upload. I think these pictures are so funny. Me as Wonder Woman - I think in preschool And Matt as Raggedy Andy as a toddler.

It's hard to believe that it's Sunday night already. Where does time go? In a couple of days I'll be saying "is it November 1st already"? I say that the first day of every month - I think my co-workers wait for it to come out of my mouth.

We've had a busy week. Last Sunday, Matt and I ran our very first 5k! It was awesome. I should mention that I am using the term run very loosely. :) We ran half and walked half. I was planning to run one in November and had been training accordingly, but our friends talked us into doing the Blount County Run for Education with them. So, I wasn't really ready for it. Matt had been so busy working on the profile that he wasn't prepared either. But we finished and we weren't last. I just didn't want to be last. Our friend Cory, won 3rd place in his division - that was pretty awesome. We figured that he and his wife would place. Melissa was probably close. They totally rock!!!

Matt finished the profile and turned that in Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we had our first chili cook-off at church. I made white chicken chili, which got the best results in taste and texture, but low on the spicy factor. We had chopped cerrano peppers for garnish, but the judge didn't get any of those - if he had then our spicy score would have hit the roof. It's ok, because the entire night was a blast and our team was fantastic. Matt designed the t-shirt, which is featured in one of the pictures. Libby is wearing one of my hair accessories that I wore at the cook-off. :) Big Bird just looked a little frightened by the whole thing. I guess the yellow feathers and smell of chicken in the air was a little much for her. :)

Our office moved locations on Thursday and then Friday was consumed by trying to organize and unpack. Matt was so tired on Friday that he fell asleep before 10pm.

Saturday was great. Sleep in day! I am working on putting new seat covers/cushions on our dining chairs so I cleaned the chairs really well and did some measuring. Then I taped off the nursery so I could paint today. I just finished painting - all by myself!! Matt was unphased by me doing it alone. I believe that he and the dogs were napping most of the time. The nursery is definitely coming together. The green color is very sweet. I was afraid it would be kind of minty green (like the mint chocolate chip ice cream), but it's not - it's just right. Good for boy or girl.

Not too much going on this coming week. More updates later...

I'm supposed to be proofreading the profile stuff for Matt, but I've gotten a little distracted. We found more pictures last night from when Matt and I were little. A lot of Matt's pictures crack me up because he has matching socks and shoes on in every picture. It is just too much! LOL!

One of mine is especially funny and probably a little sad. It was on the front page of the Dallas County Paper in Adel, Iowa around 1981 or so. My dad and Tania took me to an Easter Egg Hunt that year. It was probably my first one and definitely my last one. I remember that I asked Tania what I was supposed to do, but I just didn't understand. She kept telling me to look for eggs and you'll get candy. Well, I didn't find one, single egg. I think I kept asking what to do until the hunt was totally over. Then the next day there's my picture on the front page with a caption that said something like "Little boy sharing candy with girl who found none." I believe that was the exact wording. That picture is funnier everytime I look at it because I am still like that when it comes to games. I really like to know all the rules and see an example of what is to be done before I feel comfortable with it - like card games, sporting games, etc... It's true - you can ask Matt. :)

Well, I better get back to proofing...

Ok, so in a previous post I said that Libby's dog tag was the best $6 we ever spent after she decided to venture away from home for 20 minutes. Well, tonight I decided that Matt's epi-pen was the best $120 we ever spent.

Matt had another severe allergic reaction resulting in anaphylactic shock. We ate dinner at someone's house and then as we were leaving Matt decided he felt funny. Tingling lips, hives starting to form, difficultly breathing, etc...I just happened to have his epi-pen in my purse, but he didn't want to administer it yet, so we headed for the ER. We got there and I made Matt go sit in the restroom in case we had a repeat of his previous allergic reactions - like in Fremont, NE when there was some major fainting and falling into a children's waiting area of the ER AND here in town when there was some major, major puking in a Kroger grocery store. Both were NOT positive experiences in our life.

When this kind of thing happens I become quite assertive(bossy). I told the ER lady (twice) that they needed to send someone to get Matt (pronto) or they were going to have a major issue on their hands and they were going to need to call for "clean up in aisle 14". Oh wait, that was at Kroger.

Anyway, while I was being all assertive, Matt gave himself his epi-shot. I am SO, SO proud of him. For anyone that knows Matt at all, you know that needles are NOT his thing. That is what usually causes some fainting. Anyway, they got him and put him in a little triage area and gave him some fluids. They had him lay there for about an hour so the epinephrine could do its thing. Then they gave him a bunch of antihistamines and steroids and he dozed off pretty quickly. This time, all the quick thinking (getting to the hospital ASAP, the epi-pen and my new found assertiveness) helped this time to not be nearly as awful as the previous times. It was awful, but not as awful.

The doctor, who looked like Matt's dad, told Matt to stay away from Italian food - forever. :) I know that food allergies are very difficult to diagnose. This one seems to be pretty obscure, but we are going to call our friend for an ingredients list and see if we can narrow it down.

So, after a traumatic night, Matt is in bed sleeping and will need to sleep off the "drugs" tomorrow, but should be back on his feet soon! The other times this happened I stayed awake all night watching him breathe just to make sure he was ok. Tonight I'm checking on him periodically, but trying to just calm down and remember how incredibly grateful I am for God's healing and the peace He gives us in times of uncertainty. I know God was/is with us!

So...that's my story of the best $120 we ever spent!

I love this time of year...this is when a lot of the new tv seasons start. Prison Break starts tonight! That show is a little rough (as my dad would say), but we really enjoy it. The Office will start on September 21 and I'm about to start a countdown of some sort. I have decided that it is one of my favorite shows - EVER! The Jim and Pam chemistry is much like the Noel and Felicity chemistry of yesteryear. I know that they will probably string us along and not really let Pam and Jim be together (for a while), but that's expected. I still have the finale on our dvr and could watch the last 5 minutes everyday of my life and not get enough of it. Before the second season of Felicity, the WB had shirts that said Ben...or Noel, since they left us wondering who she chose to spend the summer with. I am thinking of making my own t-shirt for The Office. Maybe in my spare time. :)

Not too much news on the adoption front. I go for my tuberculosis test tomorrow, then after that we wait for our interviews and the home visit. Sounds like those will all take place in the next few weeks.

My mom and dad are in town because my mom will have another sinus surgery this Wednesday. They will be here for about 3 weeks. They will also be here when Matt and I go to Atlanta in September - so they can dog sit!!! :O) That way we don't have to be so sad and she doesn't care if we call 14 times a day to check on them.

That's it for now...

We are looking forward to attending the adoption seminar with BCS on Friday. It seems like we've been waiting for this meeting forever. It's a mandatory seminar that all adoptive parents have to attend before they can be approved. We have just a couple more things to turn in so we gave ourselves the imaginary deadline of Friday. :) We've had most of the paperwork done and turned in for a while, but these last few things have lingered. It will be such a relief to seal the final envelope this week. We should soon find out when the home visit will be.

Matt and I had a ton of fun going to Orlando with his family a couple weeks ago. Matt had meetings in Atlanta the Thursday before we were supposed to leave for FL so I went with him and we stayed all night in Atlanta - it was great. We both really love Atlanta. We did our usual trip to Ikea and ate at Chipotle, our favorite restaurant in the world. We don't have one in TN so everytime we go anywhere we check to see if there is a Chipotle. They have the best chips and guacamole. We got a couple of things for the nursery (if it's a girl nursery) at Ikea. We left Atlanta on Friday morning and went down to Orlando via Matt's uncle's house in Deltona and then went on to the condo. It was really nice to see everyone. Janna and Chris' kids are growing up SO fast, it's just crazy. We went to Sea World on Saturday and were too tired after much dolphin petting and Shamu viewing to do much of anything on Sunday. Matt's poor dad wanted to go to a Golden Corral (buffet) type place so badly. All of us kids pretty much vetoed that. I still feel badly about it. I promise that when they visit us we'll take them to some crazy steak buffet in Pigeon Forge. :) We came home on Monday and were SO glad to see the girls. As I have said before, we cannot stand leaving them. They are SO sweet ALL the time - we just can't help it. Libby seemed a little spunkier, if that's even possible, when we returned. Her little legs crack us up. She looks like she's standing very properly and when she walks her front feet kind of bounce out. She looks like she could be in marching band - Matt, the former drum major, thinks that is hilarious!

So, besides Florida and procrastinating paperwork we haven't been up to much. I need to finish up this entry so I can go stare at our Total Gym. I bought one off of QVC. It's a less expensive version than the infomerical one. I think that model may cost more than our adoption! :) I can't believe I bought one, but that stinkin' Walker Texas Ranger makes it look so easy. I think if I stare at it long enough it will magically tone my arms. Actually, I enjoy using it but I have to make sure the room is dog-free or we could have some major fur tangling issues. Bye for now...

We are getting ready for our trip to Florida. We will be meeting Matt's folks and Janna and her family in Orlando on Friday. Matt is working late tonight, which is unusual, but he has a ton of stuff to get done before we leave.

I am starting to get super sad about leaving the dogs. Usually, before any sort of trip there is a lot of crying and carrying on (by me). I cannot stand to leave the girls behind. Our friend from work is going to stay and watch them. I'm sure they will be fine. I don't know if they actually have a concept of time. When we go to Atlanta in September, my parents will be here and they will watch them. I don't get quite as sad when my parents watch them because I know they are used to my folks and they can take naps with my dad and my mom hands out lots of treats - so they probably don't even miss us then. Cesar, the dog whisperer, would tell me that I personify the dogs too much and that the dogs want to be dogs. I don't think he has ever met Felicity, Francie and Libby! They like being dogs, but they like the perks of being human, catlike, rabbitlike, etc...

Well, I better start packing. Hopefully we'll be able to blog during the trip.

To: Man of the House

That's it! You are going down! You have really done it now. Your response does not appear to have been thought out or accurate in any way. I do not understand your analogy regarding the lawn mower. I did not know that you even knew how to use our mower. The last time it was in use was on Memorial Day. The crop circles in our backyard that I made with the weed whacker should be proof of that. May I remind you that you (you, you, you were the one) who decided to buy a used mower (much to my dad's horror). While, I supported your lawn mower decision, I still think that is bothersome to my dad even a year later. Although, not as bothersome as us buying tires (used) from Reasonable Ron's. Praise God, my dad has never seen Reasonable Ron's. No one should ever, ever have to see that place.

Also, what projects have you initiated and/or completed? I believe that the ONLY thing you did in the guest room was the painting part. I removed the wallpaper, washed down the walls, filled all the 9,000 holes in the wall, sanded the spackle, taped everything, cleaned up everything, painted a huge part and put the room back in order. The job you did cutting in at the top was great, as you are a fantastic "cutter-inner", but let's remember who did the most work here. The time you spent at Home Depot (2.5 hours) debating on which ladder to buy does not count as time put into that room. And do not even get me started on the landscaping projects...the only reason I do not do these projects alone is because you are SO particular and if a flower by the mailbox was off by an inch, then everytime we drive by the mailbox you would just shake your head in complete disappointment.

I hope that you will take my thoughts into consideration. I am still waiting for my t-shirt.

P.S. There is nothing you have said or done that is acceptable to me in the least. You are a traitor to this country and a disgrace to your office. And it's my duty to see that you're brought to justice for what you've done. Is there anything else, Matthew?

This is an open letter (inside joke) to the man of this house.

First of all, it's really difficult for a person to blog when the computer is in constant use by the man of the house. You looking up new ways to update the blog and make it as efficient and tech savvy as possible takes up a lot of time. Valuable time. So any future references to my "lack of blogging" should be carefully considered.

Secondly, I do not think it is appropriate to say that I'm not blogging when certain blog topics have been my idea to start with (i.e. pictures of landscaping, nursery color, etc...). It doesn't make sense to bore people with repetitive information and pictures. Also, the blog was my idea to begin with.

Thirdly, regarding the categories. Whether or not I think they are necessary is moot (cue Rick Springfield). But to avoid any further confusion on my part, I would appreciate it if you would change my "category" from T4 to T$, as that is one of my favorite nicknames that you call me.

In closing, I hope that you are satisfied with my current blog and if you wouldn't mind, could you please send me a free t-shirt. You know the address.

Sincerely,
Your moderately annoyed wife :)

Ok, so we've never had to remove wallpaper before...but I have not really enjoyed the wallpaper border in our guest/bonus room. It kind of creeped me out in a "Phantom of the Opera" type of way. Kind of dark and scary. So...I decided to remove it. I started last Thursday night and worked on a very small section for at least 2 hours. Then on Sunday, I took my trusty new remover spray, scraper and scorer and went back to work for another 2 hours. Again, it was ridiculous and messy. I gave it a rest and then last night decided to go at it again. I formed a new plan, involving the steamer I had brought home from work and a little bit of forethought. After baby-gating Libby out of the room, I was able to get to work. I had that stuff removed, the walls washed down and the room picked up (my favorite part) in under 4 hours!! So now we can paint! I knew that the process couldn't be as difficult as it seemed or no one would do it. I was just going about it incorrectly. I am SO glad that border is finally gone! We will be painting it "sensible hue"- kind of a tan color with a slight hint of mustard. It was one of the many paint purchases from Home Depot over the weekend. I love home improvement!!