Happy (American) Thanksgiving!

Hope restored...for now

This morning I went to the mailbox and found a package from PIPO. Unfortunately I had to go to the evil place work, so I couldn't open it right away...and it was driving me nuts.
















When I came home, I ripped the package open with all due speed gingerly removed the wrapping and took a peek inside. She wrote a sweet note to "Little Maple's Mama and Papa". It was really nice seeing that in print, even though it's still a while until we get to that point.
















Inside the package were THE cutest little Robeez shoes I've ever seen! How appropriate are they?

It restored my faith (a little) to open the package, especially when it came from someone who is SO close to her referral. I hope, beyond hope, that next week is her week. I can't wait to see a picture of her little one...

Soon, my friend...SO soon.

Vacuuming? It's for the...cats

Feeling it...

For some reason these lyrics speak to me on so many levels.

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand...

I feel it can relate SO easily to our attempts, our failures, our hopes and our dreams...

Sometimes I feel like it's never going to happen.

Yearly checkup...

A couple of weeks ago Deuce got a postcard in the mail. Yes, my cat. Every year our veterinary clinic sends out a reminder that he's due for his shots and a general checkup...basically they put him up on the hoist and rotate his tires. ;)

We decided to take him in yesterday so they could check him over.

We waited about 20 minutes for the vet, which isn't too bad...though really we were the only ones in the clinic. I'm sure they were busy downstairs with their other 'patients'. While we were in the waiting room, since it was so quiet, we heard one of the doctors being paged. Apparently "Hazel the Bunny" wanted to talk to her and get an update. Yes, when an owner calls up, they page the doctor as if it's the animal on the phone...I guess it's easier to find the file. It just sounded hilarious and Josh and I both laughed.

As an aside, years ago I used to work at this clinic. One day Josh came to pick me up and he asked for me by name. The receptionist looked in the computer, and said "there's nobody here by that name". He looked at her and said "two legs, not four!" That story still makes me giggle after all that time.

Anyways, the vet came up to see Deuce and took him downstairs to give him his shots and I wanted her to look at his chin. Every so often Deuce gets a breakout on his chin...yes, my cat has acne...but other than that he's in great shape.

She came back up and gave us something to put on the acne. The vet said he was well-behaved, which is saying a lot.

We used to have to take him in loaded up on Valium (don't worry, he was alright) because he was a holy terror there. At one point, a few years ago, they needed three techs to hold down our little kitty while the vet looked at him. The vet told us that this time he was great and he does better with minimal holding. You think? How would you react if you had three people holding you down? Wait, don't answer that, I don't wanna know...

She told us that Deuce gained half a pound this year and while it's not a great amount of weight, this puts him over the 15 pound mark. I know that sounds like a lot, but he's a BIG cat. Whenever anyone sees him, they're always shocked by his size (I mean his length and height...not his weight). He's half Maine Coon and half tabby...

The vet also mentioned that Deuce has a bit of plaque build-up on one side of his teeth. Apparently he's been eating on only one side, she's not sure if he has a sore tooth or if it's just the way he eats. I have noticed this, but I didn't think anything of it. She wants us to bring him in to X-ray his teeth in a few weeks to see if anything is wrong. *sigh*

While we were at the clinic we picked up more food for him, we paid the freaking expensive bill and we left.

When we got home, I looked over the bill and noticed that they charged for canine food, not feline. I had Josh call up and tell them, so now we have a bit of a credit on our account. Woo.

Deuce was a bit groggy for part of the day and he was extra-clingy, but overall he did very well. :)

26 down...

Today marks our 26 month LIDiversary and we decided to 'celebrate' it with a chocolate cake. Whenever you're feeling down, chocolate seems to fix things...

It was funny, in a sick and twisted way, when Josh was taking the candles off the plate and he put them on the counter, he placed them backwards. I really don't want to think about a 62 month LIDiversary...really I don't.

I also added a charm chosen by Sam to our LIDiversary bracelet. She chose that for obvious reasons, being that she's a redhead and all. We had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband last year when they were in town. Good times, great people.

I know a couple of months ago someone asked for a picture of the bracelet with all the charms on it to date, but I'm going to wait to post that until the bracelet is finished...

I had a facelift... ***UPDATE***

...or at least my blog did. I can't tell you how much I LOVE it! It's all thanks to Danielle. If you ever feel that you need a new blog look, by all means contact her. She was *extremely* helpful, really easy to work with and always had time to tweak things even when I kept changing my mind.

I wanted to keep one element from my old blog - the shoes with the LID in the header - I had always loved that part from when Heather originally 'pimped' my blog.

I know a lot of you had trouble viewing my blog in the past, but I think all the problems are finally taken care of. If you have any issues...I mean viewing issues please let me know... ;)

Also, if any of you know how I can make the song (that my friend E wrote in the sidebar under the CCAA box) autoplay, please let me know. I've been trying to get that to work forever, but it doesn't want to work with me.

***UPDATE: The song is playing now...Danielle figured out what was wrong and fixed it. WOO!***

The kindness of strangers...

I'll get back to the title of the post a bit later, but last night Michelle, Cari, and I finally got to meet Juliette and we all went out for dinner.

The first restaurant we were going to head to was closed for a private party, so we ended up at Kelsey's instead. We sat around and talked for quite a while before we ordered and we talked about everything adoption-related. After dinner, we were still talking and Juliette showed us pictures of her ADORABLE daughter, Maelle.

Maelle made each of us a little picture with stickers and she drew hearts all over the page. It was SO sweet. Juliette also gave each of us a pair of Robeez.

While we were talking, the waitress came over and asked if we wanted any dessert. We thought about it for a millisecond and then we each got one. Cari was trying to be good by not ordering one, but we swayed her to the dark side. ;)

Now, getting back to the title of the post...

Cari talked to our waitress about a petition she's gathering signatures for...it's to get equal maternity leave for adoptive parents. Our waitress (Adrianne) opened up and talked about how she's got family and friends who have been adopted or are going through the process. She asked Cari why she was putting the petition together and she explained that we are all in the process of adopting. Adrianne told us that she's got a boyfriend and they're going to wait to have kids, and so on. Anyways, we all thought she was very sweet and that was the end of it.

When the bills came, I looked at mine and noticed that the dessert wasn't on my bill. It wasn't on Michelle's, Cari's or Juliette's either...we were thinking of telling Adrianne about the desserts not being on the bill. That's when we noticed a pile of candies on the table with a piece of paper underneath it.

Written on the piece of paper was the following:

Ladies,

I think it is wonderful what you are all attempting to do. There are so many children who need lovely, caring homes which you are all unselfishly willing to provide. It is truly lovely. Dessert's on us tonight, we are the ones that can stand to be a bit more generous.

Thanks,
Adrianne

Is that not THE sweetest thing you've ever seen/read? Who does that? I swear I was about to cry when we were reading it. While we were paying our bills, the manager came over and saw Juliette trying to take a picture of the note (so we could all have it), and offered to photocopy it for us. She came back with the photocopies and then took our picture.

For Doris

Enough said...

SO excited!

I can't tell you all how excited I am about the election results, even though I'm in Canada. I'm not going to gloat about it, but WOO HOO!

Funny story, I was watching the results pour in last night when the phone rang. I answered it, and the person on the other end of the line asked me a question. I swear I must have stared at the phone like the RCA dog.

Pollster: HI! I'm calling people in your area to find out which way you voted.
Me: (Staring blankly at the phone) What?
Pollster: Can you tell me which way you voted?
Me: Umm.
Pollster: Can I speak with anyone in the household that voted?
Me: (Laughing) No.

*CLICK*

I guess the moron pollster didn't realize she was calling a phone number in Canada. All I could do was laugh. Though I wish I was as creative as Johnny. When I recounted the story to him, he said I should have told the pollster that I voted for "The Queen". HA!