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.

for my 50th post...

...i'll be watching two about 18 month olds. i was wrangled into watching my friends kiddos for a while. it's amazing what a little "happy feet" and some toys will do. i keep reminding myself that this really will be me before too long. they haven't been bad at all. each one only cried once. so what have i learned tonight...kids need a playmate, a roll of toilet paper and a mirror, and they can be happy and laughing for hours.

WARNING: Soapbox tyraid ahead

i'm sure by now we've all heard about the california mother who gave birth to 8, that's right, 8 babies. here are some tidbits you might not have heard.

1. she has 6 other children, all under 8 years old
2. she is a single mother
3. she is unemployed, and currently receiving government assistance
4. according to her own mother, she has an obsession with being pregnant
5. each of her children were conceived using in-vitro fertilization

i'll be honest, i'm not even sure where to start, as there are so many things wrong with this picture. as i write this now, my BP is rising.

i'm angry as a woman who struggles with infertility, and has stared the ridiculous costs of IVF in the face. it's not cheap, and it's not covered by most private insurance plans. i am however sickened to know that government provided health care, for which i pay, does pay for such elective procedures as IVF. even more sickened to know that one does not need to have an infertility diagnosis to receive this elective procedure.

i'm angry as a taxpayer. my tax dollars paid for this. THIS! really?!?

i'm angry as a member of the medical community, on so many levels. there has already been much made about implanting 8 embryos, and the views of several medical professionals has been expressed. regardless of how many children she already had, carrying that many fetuses put not only the mother, but each baby at risk for significant health problem. this is a straight up act of negligence on the part of the physician who agreed to participate in the medical care of this woman and the babies. second, it was known that she was obsessed with being pregnant. someone in the chain had a responsibility to offer and provide mental health counseling to this woman.

i'm angry at the healthcare system that allowed this to happen. this wasn't her first ride at the rodeo. she had the same procedure done 6 times prior. IVF is 10-15k each time. that's right, 70-105k in elective medical procedures, all of which come with significant medical risk. and lets not forget about all the pre-natal care, labor and delivery care, and post-natal care. hundreds of thousand of dollars.

i'm angry at her family support (or lack thereof). the woman's family didn't step in to say maybe this is enough. she does not have a job, and has been living off others for help. to top it all off, the latest reports state that she is seeking multi million dollar endorsements from big name TV personalities like Oprah to pay for the care of the children.

it's sad really. i feel saddened for the 8 babies who were brought into this world because of an obsession, and will now be whorred out to the world so mamma can make some money. i'm not going to go crazy spiritual, but this was not at all what was intended for the world. it sickens be that the world has so perverted the idea of family, and doing the right thing, that we are showing people its easier to abuse a corrupt and broken system than try to do what's right and noble.

i could go on for hours about this. i don't really feel that much better either.

theory proven truth?

steve has this theory. it goes something like this:

when i travel to AZ, the weather at home always gets crappy.

well, since it started turning winter like in cincinnati (about mid-october), i've been to AZ 7 times. only once can i remember the weather in cincinnati being fairly decent.

the most recent trip to AZ is the most telling though. i left on monday at 2:30...it started precipitating about 4:30. the next 2 days brought several inches of snow and ice.

it's tough skipping the cold, snow and ice, but somebody has to enjoy the 65 and sun!

epic conquest

it was a night like any other, and a morning no one saw coming.



we spent new years with some friends, some of who wanted to take over the world. i politely declined (ok, here's the real deal. i last played risk 7 years ago with steve, his roommate and my roommate. it ended with me losing horribly and throwing a temper tantrum. i vowed never to play the game again).





steve is an expert strategist, along with chris and a couple of the other guys, and they adhere strictly to the rules of the game.




a few rounds in, the red team, lead by ryan, was dwindled to 3 armies total, one in each country in vodka-land. ryan decided it was time to mingle, and he let me start rolling the dice for him. i can handle dice rolling for others. there isn't much attachment to that activity.



and this is where the photos stop. before i know it, ryan had given me the reigns and was nowhere to be found. i unexpectedly discovered myself leading the red army against a guy who plays the game so much that he has an e-trophy for the winner. steve would later tell me he didn't think i was a threat, so he let me hang out for a while.


four hours and many military moves later, sometime around 2:30am, chris waved the white flag. i had won a game of risk against 2 people who could literally work for military intelligence, and be successful at it. now, i do owe some credit to steve, james, nathan, and dan. they provided some guidance during my global domination.


i think i'm going to retire my title, although, i may have to defend it at some point.

new years resolution

i've never really liked resolutions, especially at new years. they always get broken, and let's be honest, they are typically for things that will never be achievable anyway. last year was the first time i really made resolutions, and i actually kept them, so i decided to make them again this year, in the same spirit of last year.

1. i'm going to stop accepting things at face value. i'm going to ask the question "why?" a whole lot more. i've always been the person to just accept an answer for what it is, whether or not it is correct or even the truth. in essence, 2009 will be dubbed the year of searching.

2. i'm going to read the entire bible this year. i've never done that before. sure, i know all the key verses, but i have no clue what happens in leviticus. i'm also starting to realize that if i am to be a light in a dark place, it might be good to actually know what the bible says. it's hard to say "well, the bible says..." if i'm not really sure what it says.

3. i'm going to adopt 2 children from russia. come hell or high water, i will meet my boys in 2009!

4. i'm going to become an advocate for adoption. i'm all for people wanting to have a child that is of their own flesh a blood, but there are also children who want parents. not to sound like a cheesy song, but children are the future, and if we show them that a life of neglect, mistrust and abandonment is all there is to look forward to, i can't say that their or our future is going to be much to desire. i could go on about this one, but i'll save that for another post.

5. i'm going to support the charities i strongly believe, and not just by sending a check or wearing a pink ribbon. i am a huge supporter of the ronald mcdonald house and susan g. komen for the cure. both of these charities, or reasons for these charities have impacted my life in a huge way, and i want to give back. i'm going to volunteer my time and energy to these groups, and hope that is some small way i might be able to impact the lives of others.

6. i'm going to be healthier. i'm not just going to lose weight (of which i lost a grand total of 12 pounds over the last year), but i'm going to exercise, and eat healthy foods, in healthy portions. it's not just enough to lose a few pounds and call it a day. being healthy is a lifestyle, a paradigm shift from the typically. weight loss is what happens when you are ill and can't keep anything down for a week. eventually you gain it back when you return to normal.

that's the list. it should keep me busy for a while, and hopefully these will continue into 2010.

i'm going crazy, bonkers, nutso! i can't take it any more!

i lost my voice...well, technically, my vocal chords are still my my throat, but the ability to produce sound is gone. some may say that is a blessing (and you know who you are), but me, i'm going bazerk.

i love to sing. i love to make up my own words to popular songs. i love to roll down the windows, turn up the radio, and sing as loud as i can.

i got nothing. i sing in the worship band at my church. i made it through saturday night alright, and about 2 minutes after the set, gone. no voice. sunday morning didn't happen, and phone calls have been an adventure. i tried to order food through a drive through today, and i almost pulled forward to the window to order.

i've taken all the medications to stop coughing, decongest, relieve the pain, and loosen the phlegm, but i haven't found the medication to make my voice come back. any suggestions?