on belts, bucks, and barracuda

so, the posts have been few and far between...i've been a bit preoccupied...but have much to share.

my car died...my red jetta, manual transmission, favorite car ever, died. the timing belt snapped in two, at 11:00pm on a saturday night in the worst part of my drive home from columbus, and steve was still in columbus. thankfully a nice couple helped push the car to the curb, and stayed with me until my friend barb could come get me. little did i know she was already in bed, and had to put her 2 kids in the car to come get me, but gladly did it (thanks barb). so after much thought, we got a new car. we just weren't at the point that we could live with one car, however, the last thing we really needed was a car payment. we landed on a 2006 passat and got a killer deal on it. the best part of the ordeal was hearing steve's credit score was a 719. when we applied for our mortgage 4 years ago, i'm pretty sure is was under 600.

much of my energy, including blog energy, has been focused on our upcoming adoption. i would give you the scoop, but you could click the link on the side and read it all for yourself. all the pieces are falling in place, which is amazing, including the financing and getting our visas approved (hence the bucks, in more than once sense).

now for the fun part. steve and i are not from cincinnati. if you have spent any time in cincinnati, especially the westside, you know there is a catholic church on almost every street corner, and what are catholic churches known for during lent? that's right, FISH FRY'S! not being catholic or from cincinnati made it even more enticing to go. we finally rounded up some friends and headed to st. teresa's of avila to partake in a favored friday night ritual. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! the people watching was great, the menu was extensive - salmon, crab cakes, even salad, mac and cheese, and baked potatoes for the non-fish eaters. the boy scout troop sponsored the event at this location, and they were great! they enthusiastically served each patron, some wearing bunny ears. one patron celebrated a birthday, and was serenaded by the boy scouts! we all had so much fun, we are planning our fish fry spots for next year!

i can't promise that there will be many updates in the coming weeks. we leave for russia on 25th, and will be back a week later. perhaps after the trip there will be much to update.