Thursday, July 31, 2008
Joss Whedon Awesome-ness!!!
Squeel!
Okay, anyone that knows me for more than say, an afternoon wil learn that I am a HUGE fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It can not be denied. I have even made Mii's of the cast on my Wii- so I really mean it. I have a thing for Vampire stories anyway and then along came this awesome show about a cheerleader turned Slayer, it had witty dialog, great characters and let's not forget Angel. Oh how I loved (still do as a matter of fact) that vamp. I have the soundtrack for the musical episode and that cd is a MUST in the car.
Then Angel got his own show, also created and written by Joss Whedon. SO when the two shows played back to back on Tuesdays, that, my friends was a shining time in history.
Let me also mention the completely fantastic Firefly here, I loved that show, and really, Mal gives Angel a run for the money.
So when I heard about The Dollhouse coming out, a new show by Joss, I am already hooked and desperate for it to begin. I am, I think , maybe disproportionally giddy about this. But, it's been a long time since the halcyon days of Buffy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(TV_series)
http://hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer
( I purposefully forced myself not to go on and on here, I could have written a 50 chapter entry about the Whedon Universe and it's inhabitants, but I didn't want to scare anyone)
Okay, anyone that knows me for more than say, an afternoon wil learn that I am a HUGE fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It can not be denied. I have even made Mii's of the cast on my Wii- so I really mean it. I have a thing for Vampire stories anyway and then along came this awesome show about a cheerleader turned Slayer, it had witty dialog, great characters and let's not forget Angel. Oh how I loved (still do as a matter of fact) that vamp. I have the soundtrack for the musical episode and that cd is a MUST in the car.
Then Angel got his own show, also created and written by Joss Whedon. SO when the two shows played back to back on Tuesdays, that, my friends was a shining time in history.
Let me also mention the completely fantastic Firefly here, I loved that show, and really, Mal gives Angel a run for the money.
So when I heard about The Dollhouse coming out, a new show by Joss, I am already hooked and desperate for it to begin. I am, I think , maybe disproportionally giddy about this. But, it's been a long time since the halcyon days of Buffy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollhouse_(TV_series)
http://hulu.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer
( I purposefully forced myself not to go on and on here, I could have written a 50 chapter entry about the Whedon Universe and it's inhabitants, but I didn't want to scare anyone)
Sleep-over
Since we are living closer to family now, we have the chance to have babysitters...gasp, sigh, giggle. In light of that, Leslie and I went out last night with our friends Ryan and Kristie to a Dave Matthews concert. The Bean went to stay at her Aunt Jenny's house for the night. I was anxious about the whole thing , way anxious, however Bean was cool as ice. We had to have some conversations about how things would go and what she could expect but after she decided that Aunt Jenny and Uncle Chris could keep her safe- she was good to go. She loves playing with her cousins Kate and Aden so that was an added bonus.
Ev was a bit foot draggy about he whole thing yesterday, until we started to pack her ditty bag, that is. About that time, she got pretty enthusiastic about it all and we had to keep reminding her that we weren't dropping her off at noon. The good-byes were easy, no tears of crying (we waited until she was well engaged in play with the kids and then we said our good-byes and headed out). The reports are that she was well behaved, self-sufficient and had a good time.
When I went to pick her up this morning she was pretty matter of fact about my arrival (though she had her bag re-packed and waiting by the door), I did get a big hug and she said "It's nice to see you", but there was no drama.
Once we had her packed and we were heading out of the door, she insisted on carrying her things. Seeing her with that pink bag and pillow, heading off for her first sleepover was a sight to behold. I think that she looked pretty cute and I was proud of her. Though, to be honest a bit of my heart did break, knowing that the very long process of letting go has begun.
Oh Yeah. The concert was great and we had a good time. I have always been a fan of Dave Matthews but after that concert, I am an even bigger one. The music was amazing. They did a cover of Sledgehammer that kicked much boo-tay. AND even though part of my brain was worrying over Evelyn the whole time, it was great to be out with just my husband and some great friends.
Ev was a bit foot draggy about he whole thing yesterday, until we started to pack her ditty bag, that is. About that time, she got pretty enthusiastic about it all and we had to keep reminding her that we weren't dropping her off at noon. The good-byes were easy, no tears of crying (we waited until she was well engaged in play with the kids and then we said our good-byes and headed out). The reports are that she was well behaved, self-sufficient and had a good time.
When I went to pick her up this morning she was pretty matter of fact about my arrival (though she had her bag re-packed and waiting by the door), I did get a big hug and she said "It's nice to see you", but there was no drama.
Once we had her packed and we were heading out of the door, she insisted on carrying her things. Seeing her with that pink bag and pillow, heading off for her first sleepover was a sight to behold. I think that she looked pretty cute and I was proud of her. Though, to be honest a bit of my heart did break, knowing that the very long process of letting go has begun.
Oh Yeah. The concert was great and we had a good time. I have always been a fan of Dave Matthews but after that concert, I am an even bigger one. The music was amazing. They did a cover of Sledgehammer that kicked much boo-tay. AND even though part of my brain was worrying over Evelyn the whole time, it was great to be out with just my husband and some great friends.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Crazycakes
Last night, Evelyn wanted me to read "I Love You Like Crazycakes", as our bedtime story. This is a simplified (as in the telling of the adoption process is simplified, not the heart of the matter) telling of how a Mother without a daughter goes to China to meet a daughter that hasn't had a mother until they meet. I was very proud of myself because for the first time, I could read it without crying. I will say that it is not my favorite topic at this point in our life, (we are still trying to recoup after a rough patch in the adoption area), but when she asks about China or how we met, I always stop what I am doing and answer her, I will also read the very few China/Adoption books that we have whenever she asks. We have made a change in the family in that direction, if she asks for it, we talk and answer but other than that we don't put it in her face or make a big deal about it. She's just my daughter, end of story.
Except that it really isn't that simple. I mean she did come from China and the day that I met her will stand out in my mind and heart for the rest of my life as the moment when I finally and absolutely became the happiest. So we do make room for China and adoption in our family and our talks, it's just that I want Evelyn to make the choices about how and what type of information she is given.
Today Evelyn is dashing about the house and telling us every few minutes that she loves us like crazycakes and she smiles big and giggles. She knows where she came from, she knows how we met and I think that she is starting to realize how very cool that actually is. BUT I think that she can realize that now because we stopped being the ones to initiate those sorts of talks and such, she has been able to relax and realize that no matter what, she is ours and that will never change.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Settled in with Connectivity!!!!
Well, we finally got the old Internet up and running here at the new place. It took so long because we were moving, settling in and then trying to figure out the best way to go with the Internet services, blah, blah blah.....
In the meantime we have been having some fun and we are all really happy tp be back in Ohio. I know, weird, right? Well it can't be helped. We have friends and family here and it feels good to be quasi-Clevelanders. Let me catch things up- bullet style....
* The House is great. We love it. The original plan was to come here, and while sleeping here in a camp out fashion (without our stuff), get the upstairs stripped of the old and very dated wall paper, paint, and then have new carpet installed. Great plan. It's just that, well, we couldn't last any longer without our stuff, so we got that delivered and the wallpaper and painting went on a back burner until we got settled. We have been systematically settling in. We are pretty much in now and we are just tweaking all of the little things and trying to get all of the pictures and wall hangings up.
* The neighborhood we are in is nice too. We are surrounded by nice, quiet, dog-less people who are friendly and help keep an eye on things.
* The Bean likes it here- very much. We have things to do now, all of the time and on Les's long work week ends, the two of us run all over visiting and finding things to do. She even has her first non-family friend, a little girl we will call G who lives 4 houses down. I love when they are walking form house to house and chatting away like two old gals.
* Bean turned four last month. What can I say about that? I now have a tall (35 inches), brown (alot of swimming going on), sassy four year old in the house. I tried not to be too sad when that b-day came but it was hard. She had a cake with her Dillon family that her Aunt Jenny made her and then a little party at her Grandma's house where she had an ice cream cake and presents.
* We had a trip to the zoo last week. Just the three of us went and it was a nice , relaxing family day. I loved seeing the kookaburra, the red panda and the ant eaters but I swear Bean's favorite was the catfish!
* I have entered into a very dangerous klutzy phase. No, really. More klutz than usual. In the past couple of weeks, I have dropped three very heavy items on my right big toe (this all happened on the same day and all items hit the exact same spot), I have fallen down our stairs three times, I almost went head first down the basement stairs on another occasion, I have gotten my thumb stuck in the handle of the back screen door, I have been stung by a bee and I have jabbed myself in the arms, thighs and heads with more than a fair portion of box corners and flaps, Les nearly slammed my leg in the car door last night, I went running across the grocery store parking lot in flip flops, in the rain and I nearly killed myself and Bean when the shoes got slippery and I went all wonky. In light of these recent events, Evelyn now knows how to find my cell phone and call for help if I should ever need it. Really.
* Les is loving being back on Lake Erie and his job is both interesting and fulfilling. For the first time in a few years, he is running cases and calling shots.
* Our new C.G. station has a small, private beach right on the shores of the Lake and when my sister and I were there with Bean and Brevin, Les got a case and had to haul out of the station in one of the boats with the lights and sirens flashing and we were all so proud to see him tearing off to save the general populace.
That should do for now. I have alot more to say about The Bean and such but I can do that later. I am going to load up a few pictures for now and then head off to cook us up some grub for the evening.
In the meantime we have been having some fun and we are all really happy tp be back in Ohio. I know, weird, right? Well it can't be helped. We have friends and family here and it feels good to be quasi-Clevelanders. Let me catch things up- bullet style....
* The House is great. We love it. The original plan was to come here, and while sleeping here in a camp out fashion (without our stuff), get the upstairs stripped of the old and very dated wall paper, paint, and then have new carpet installed. Great plan. It's just that, well, we couldn't last any longer without our stuff, so we got that delivered and the wallpaper and painting went on a back burner until we got settled. We have been systematically settling in. We are pretty much in now and we are just tweaking all of the little things and trying to get all of the pictures and wall hangings up.
* The neighborhood we are in is nice too. We are surrounded by nice, quiet, dog-less people who are friendly and help keep an eye on things.
* The Bean likes it here- very much. We have things to do now, all of the time and on Les's long work week ends, the two of us run all over visiting and finding things to do. She even has her first non-family friend, a little girl we will call G who lives 4 houses down. I love when they are walking form house to house and chatting away like two old gals.
* Bean turned four last month. What can I say about that? I now have a tall (35 inches), brown (alot of swimming going on), sassy four year old in the house. I tried not to be too sad when that b-day came but it was hard. She had a cake with her Dillon family that her Aunt Jenny made her and then a little party at her Grandma's house where she had an ice cream cake and presents.
* We had a trip to the zoo last week. Just the three of us went and it was a nice , relaxing family day. I loved seeing the kookaburra, the red panda and the ant eaters but I swear Bean's favorite was the catfish!
* I have entered into a very dangerous klutzy phase. No, really. More klutz than usual. In the past couple of weeks, I have dropped three very heavy items on my right big toe (this all happened on the same day and all items hit the exact same spot), I have fallen down our stairs three times, I almost went head first down the basement stairs on another occasion, I have gotten my thumb stuck in the handle of the back screen door, I have been stung by a bee and I have jabbed myself in the arms, thighs and heads with more than a fair portion of box corners and flaps, Les nearly slammed my leg in the car door last night, I went running across the grocery store parking lot in flip flops, in the rain and I nearly killed myself and Bean when the shoes got slippery and I went all wonky. In light of these recent events, Evelyn now knows how to find my cell phone and call for help if I should ever need it. Really.
* Les is loving being back on Lake Erie and his job is both interesting and fulfilling. For the first time in a few years, he is running cases and calling shots.
* Our new C.G. station has a small, private beach right on the shores of the Lake and when my sister and I were there with Bean and Brevin, Les got a case and had to haul out of the station in one of the boats with the lights and sirens flashing and we were all so proud to see him tearing off to save the general populace.
That should do for now. I have alot more to say about The Bean and such but I can do that later. I am going to load up a few pictures for now and then head off to cook us up some grub for the evening.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I am Stripping
.....wallpaper that is. HA!
We "moved" into our house last Friday, if you call having two towels, an air mattress, one knife and a single frying pan- living. (on a side note here, I have managed to travel with, and maintain my entire mani/pedi kit- so hey I could REALLY be roughing it). It has been wonderful. We are slowly learning about our new town and we love our neighborhood.
Speaking of my neighborhood, did you know that in certain places, when you are the new people on the block, your neighbors will actually BAKE things and hand them over the fence to you????? Now you know, it happened to us.
Also there is something different all together when you own the house as opposed to renting. All of the sudden I am a chicken about wall colors and the like. I like knowing that it's ours though.
Evelyn is coming right along. At first she didn't want to leave Grandma's but she got on board pretty quickly and she runs all over the house playing and singing. She even goes down in the basement to play- on her own. Pretty cool.
So yeah, we have some wallpaper to get off of the walls and some paint to put up but we really aren't minding working on our house.
In other news, a third of my stimulus moolah will go to paying off an unexpected Vet bill. Billy Bones was coughing and having trouble breathing and it got a tad bit scary. So we hauled him off to the Vet- twice. Why two trips????? Because the first Vet and I weren't jiving together and she charged me $300 to tell me, essentially nothing/something completely scary and weird. So my bff Jodi came to the rescue and got me an appt where she works and now we have a cat on the mend. We think Billy has allergies for Heaven's Sake! (Jodi, what would I ever do without you?)
No pictures for the blog yet. I am still blogging from Smokewood. (I had to come here for a couple of days to do laundry and have sitters for Ev while I shopped for her birthday). We are expecting our household goods to be delivered late next week so hopefully I will be online in my humble abode before the turn of a new century.
OH YEAH! As mentioned above The Bean will be turning 4 in five days. I can't imagine where the time has gone. She seems so much more grown up to me lately. She is just exploding into a pre-schooler and it's wonderful to see. I can still look at her though and see that tiny little thing under all of the bluster and growth. She is fierce and funny and sweet and stubborn and cute and backtalk-y, I could squeeze her silly sometimes.
We "moved" into our house last Friday, if you call having two towels, an air mattress, one knife and a single frying pan- living. (on a side note here, I have managed to travel with, and maintain my entire mani/pedi kit- so hey I could REALLY be roughing it). It has been wonderful. We are slowly learning about our new town and we love our neighborhood.
Speaking of my neighborhood, did you know that in certain places, when you are the new people on the block, your neighbors will actually BAKE things and hand them over the fence to you????? Now you know, it happened to us.
Also there is something different all together when you own the house as opposed to renting. All of the sudden I am a chicken about wall colors and the like. I like knowing that it's ours though.
Evelyn is coming right along. At first she didn't want to leave Grandma's but she got on board pretty quickly and she runs all over the house playing and singing. She even goes down in the basement to play- on her own. Pretty cool.
So yeah, we have some wallpaper to get off of the walls and some paint to put up but we really aren't minding working on our house.
In other news, a third of my stimulus moolah will go to paying off an unexpected Vet bill. Billy Bones was coughing and having trouble breathing and it got a tad bit scary. So we hauled him off to the Vet- twice. Why two trips????? Because the first Vet and I weren't jiving together and she charged me $300 to tell me, essentially nothing/something completely scary and weird. So my bff Jodi came to the rescue and got me an appt where she works and now we have a cat on the mend. We think Billy has allergies for Heaven's Sake! (Jodi, what would I ever do without you?)
No pictures for the blog yet. I am still blogging from Smokewood. (I had to come here for a couple of days to do laundry and have sitters for Ev while I shopped for her birthday). We are expecting our household goods to be delivered late next week so hopefully I will be online in my humble abode before the turn of a new century.
OH YEAH! As mentioned above The Bean will be turning 4 in five days. I can't imagine where the time has gone. She seems so much more grown up to me lately. She is just exploding into a pre-schooler and it's wonderful to see. I can still look at her though and see that tiny little thing under all of the bluster and growth. She is fierce and funny and sweet and stubborn and cute and backtalk-y, I could squeeze her silly sometimes.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A Tale of Two Cousins
We have been here and co-habitating for awhile now. Enough time has passed for the novelty of having a cousin in the same house to wear off on Brevin and Evelyn, so lets just say that the adults are getting their fair share of refereeing!
They seem to get particularly violent when poor old Grandpa is left in charge and alone, in the back yard with them. One day last week, he came into the house, pale and shaking and all agitado over their behavior. He never really would say what happened that day and the kids really has no consequences, which meant "game on" for them I guess. Because.......
Yesterday. Brevin came in from daycare and went right outside in the back yard with Dad and Evie. I watched for a few minutes and when I saw the three of them playing ball and laughing, I thought "oh good, no trouble. Silly woman. Apparently right after I looked away and started dinner or something, the crapola started flying about. Fast forward about 10 minutes. The back door flies open and the house gets taken over by red faced, sweaty , crying kids followed closely by a red faced, sweaty Grandpa who was, quite frankly giving them hell. (YAY! Grandpa!) So the kids had to go sit down and dad, proceeded to give a snap shot of what happened, well there are some gaps in the story of which we will never figure out, but, ummm.
Apparently, Evelyn started aggravating Brevin right away, doing things like hitting him on the head with a ball paddle and tossing bits of foliage into his bowl of goldfish. So Dad stopped the game of ball and sent them on their way. In two minutes they were in his little garden shed and goofing off. In two minutes and 27 seconds, Evelyn was out of the shed , tattling that Brev was up on the riding lawn mower and she wanted him down so she could get up there. Instructions were handed out and she headed back to the shed, while Grandpa sat on the deck, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lo and behold in a few seconds he heard yelling and grunting coming from the shed. He decided to let them go at it for a bit, because quite frankly, we are all tired if breaking them up. Okay. Then, I guess the yelling intensified and then it got primal, so Gramps headed over to intervene. He says that by the time he got to them, they were both up, on top of the riding lawn mower, staring at each other and screaming blue murder, while using one hand to pull hair and the other hand to slap the bejeezus outta the opponents face!! At that point the fight was pretty even and they were beating each other up pretty good and we really have no idea who struck the opening blow, so they both got punished and that was it. Except that Brevin doesn't have a mark on him and Evelyn looks like she crossed paths with and angry cat- the right side of her face is covered in scratches and she has a bit of a black eye on that side.
Do you think that they were done? NO. They continued to bicker and sneakily take things away from each other all evening.
KIDS!
Seriously though, it was kind of funny seeing them both all red and mad and sputtering- 'cause they make me feel like that at least once an hour when they are picking at each other.
For the most part though, they are fine together and I love to see them at their little kid sized dinner table chatting away with their own weird dinner conversation. Or I like how Evelyn waits all day for Brevin and runs to hide when she hears Lissa's car pull in the garage so she can jump out and surprise him. Or when they just spontaneously hug each other and run off giggling.
Kids.
They seem to get particularly violent when poor old Grandpa is left in charge and alone, in the back yard with them. One day last week, he came into the house, pale and shaking and all agitado over their behavior. He never really would say what happened that day and the kids really has no consequences, which meant "game on" for them I guess. Because.......
Yesterday. Brevin came in from daycare and went right outside in the back yard with Dad and Evie. I watched for a few minutes and when I saw the three of them playing ball and laughing, I thought "oh good, no trouble. Silly woman. Apparently right after I looked away and started dinner or something, the crapola started flying about. Fast forward about 10 minutes. The back door flies open and the house gets taken over by red faced, sweaty , crying kids followed closely by a red faced, sweaty Grandpa who was, quite frankly giving them hell. (YAY! Grandpa!) So the kids had to go sit down and dad, proceeded to give a snap shot of what happened, well there are some gaps in the story of which we will never figure out, but, ummm.
Apparently, Evelyn started aggravating Brevin right away, doing things like hitting him on the head with a ball paddle and tossing bits of foliage into his bowl of goldfish. So Dad stopped the game of ball and sent them on their way. In two minutes they were in his little garden shed and goofing off. In two minutes and 27 seconds, Evelyn was out of the shed , tattling that Brev was up on the riding lawn mower and she wanted him down so she could get up there. Instructions were handed out and she headed back to the shed, while Grandpa sat on the deck, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lo and behold in a few seconds he heard yelling and grunting coming from the shed. He decided to let them go at it for a bit, because quite frankly, we are all tired if breaking them up. Okay. Then, I guess the yelling intensified and then it got primal, so Gramps headed over to intervene. He says that by the time he got to them, they were both up, on top of the riding lawn mower, staring at each other and screaming blue murder, while using one hand to pull hair and the other hand to slap the bejeezus outta the opponents face!! At that point the fight was pretty even and they were beating each other up pretty good and we really have no idea who struck the opening blow, so they both got punished and that was it. Except that Brevin doesn't have a mark on him and Evelyn looks like she crossed paths with and angry cat- the right side of her face is covered in scratches and she has a bit of a black eye on that side.
Do you think that they were done? NO. They continued to bicker and sneakily take things away from each other all evening.
KIDS!
Seriously though, it was kind of funny seeing them both all red and mad and sputtering- 'cause they make me feel like that at least once an hour when they are picking at each other.
For the most part though, they are fine together and I love to see them at their little kid sized dinner table chatting away with their own weird dinner conversation. Or I like how Evelyn waits all day for Brevin and runs to hide when she hears Lissa's car pull in the garage so she can jump out and surprise him. Or when they just spontaneously hug each other and run off giggling.
Kids.
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