Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree, My Arm, Adoption, Etc.

Had a great Thanksgiving, just the two of us! Would have loved to be with family, but it just didn't work out. We managed to get our Christmas tree (a real one - gotta love that fresh piney smell) up and decorated and decorated the rest of the house. Will hopefully post pics later!
Am having a very nasty allergic reaction (I guess) at the incision site on my left arm. Itches and burns frightfully. Red, swollen and blistered. I go to the doctor tomorrow - wonder if I am allergic to the dissolvable stitches or if it was the steri strips. Don't know, but it sure isn't fun to be awakened in the middle of the night to a severe burning and itching that makes chicken pox seem like a very small irritant. I was a bad girl and went ahead and removed the wrap and the steri strips today. Isn't itching quite as badly. Just oozing from every blister. By the way, lest anyone think I am taking this lightly, I did call the ortho doctor on call and she simply told me to wash any remaining Betadine off and take some Benadryl. I told her I was worried about possible infection, but she wasn't, even kinda laughed at me, so... I'll see what my ortho doc says tomorrow.
On to other things - our ADOPTION HOME VISIT IS FRIDAY!!I'm kinda freaking out about that cleaning, cleaning clearing up clutter, etc. I will be glad to have that over with.
Other things of note - the population in our fish tank is declining, Smudge has had a positive attitude adjustment for which we are all (Nick and Little included) truly grateful, and we had a truly relaxed Thanksgiving weekend. TaTa for now!!

Hello - do I have any readers left???

It's been a while since I've been on here! A lot has happened in a couple months. Dad was in a serious car accident in October and is still slowly recovering in a hospital in Denver. I flew out to be with Mom and Dad for a week right after the accident. To keep up with his progress, check out my sister Dixie's blog - she writes updates daily.

We are stiil working on adoption stuff. I have another educational worksheet to finish and send in, then our homestudy home visit can be scheduled. We are hoping our homestudy will be completed and sent to immigration before 2008 is over. We also have some online adoption education modules to complete.
I had outpatient surgery on my left wrist yesterday - DeQuervain's release. I've been having trouble with it since April, had cortisone shots, wore a splint forever, etc. but nothing worked, so hopefully the problem is corrected. It's in a half cast and wrap until December 1st, then probably another splint and therapy. It's slowing me down quite a bit, which is very frustrating. But as my husband tells me I had better be careful so I don't damage any good that's been done.
I have SO MUCH to do in the house before our home visit and now I have to rely on my hubby to do much of it. Bless his heart, he's gonna be lugging stuff all over for me, as well as putting up the Christmas tree (hopefully next weekend.)

Paperwork, paperwork...

I know I haven't posted much lately, but life has been busy! Yep, that's what they all say! We are moving forward with our adoption process, working on the homestudy and all its requirements! We have a meeting with our home study agency next Friday. I'm trying to get as much paperwork in process as I can. If only I had known I would be doing this at age 35, I might not have lived in so many different states. I have to obtain a criminal and child abuse clearance from every state I have lived in since I was 18. That's seven clearances! Many forms, many $$ and much headache. But I will persevere! Oh, we also need 9 letters of reference - 6 for the home study process(NJ requirements) and 3 for our adoption agency. And that's only the beginning... P.S. Mike only has 2 state clearances to obtain - lucky dog!

More Kitty Pics!

The big guy is Nick or Fat Boy as I like to call him. He really thinks he is just a cute snuggly kitten - 20 lbs. of snuggly!

Scamp or "Little" as she often gets called. She is very affectionate aand very fun. Likes people, especially her people.

Kitty Pics!

Smudge - all grown up. She's a year old now and just a little jealous of her new

brother and sister, but she is adjusting.

Cute little Scamp!

Just a few pictures of our kitties. The big gray one is our latest acquisition. He was given to us by our boss, who was moving and couldn't take him.

Oops

Am having difficulty with this thing. I posted some other pics of the wedding, but obviously, they didn't post. Not sure why and it's time for bed, so maybe another day!

More Wedding Pics!

Just a few more of the over 1,000 pictures taken by the Weingard family! Digital cameras are definitely a wonderful invention.
Of course I had to put in a couple pics of the "Best Man." Awfully cute, isn't he???