Secret Buddy Gift

Here is my January gift from my Oct2006DTC yahoo group Secret Buddy. My Secret Buddy is not so secret any more. She's Pam Campbell. January's theme is Chinese New Year. Thanks, Pam!

Skating - I Still Love It!

And after sitting in the arena Thursday night and all day and evening Friday, I realize I really miss it. I miss going to all the competitions and sitting and watching practices and competitions and just being a "Rink Rat". It's a place where all the problems of the world go away and I sit and enjoy. Friday night, I went to sleep almost immediately after my head hit my pillow, and with a smile on my face. And for the first time in a long time, I slept all night without waking up at all. In fact, I went to bed before 11:00 and slept until 8:00 a.m. the next day.

My girls loved it, too. On Thursday night, we watched the Ladies Short Program. I think it was around 11:00 p.m. when we got home. Good thing the girls didn't have school on Friday. Anna was fine until we got home. I think the real problem was that I had to wake her up to get out of the car and she just cried complaining her leg was broken until she fell asleep again. We were back at the arena again by 11:00 a.m. on Friday to watch first the Junior Pairs and then the Junior Men's finals. I used to sell Beanie Babies when I was trying to earn money to pay for Jessica's adoption and I still have a couple of rubbermaid tubs of them. I let the girls pick out some, and also brought the baggie of teeny beanies I had so the girls could throw them on the ice for the skaters. We moved down from our row 19 seats to corners seats in row 6 so they'd be closer to the ice. They had a blast. And Anna is still talking about "Adam". He's the one who won the Junior Men's competition. She also liked Johnny (Weir).

I also got to spend a little time talking to the Silver Blade Tours coordinator, Claudyne. She and I roomed together once when her mom owned the tour company. We spent a lot of time together on many of the tours I went on between Skate America, National's and World's. We both mentioned that our main memories of each other is that whenever we were together, we were always laughing. Something was always funny to us, whether it was the sleeping judge who Claudyne later rode the elevator with, or the time I followed her half way around the crowed arena darting in and around people, and then lost each other on the side by side escalators, or having to switch rooms because the hotel didn't get that we were supposed to be rooming together. She was even wearing her red plaid skirt which she bought it in England when I was with her. That brought back a whole flood of memories. Too bad she lives in Florida. We promised to keep more in touch. I think she enjoyed reliving old memories as much as I did. She said she even got to go to the winter olympics one year, and was a guest at Todd Eldredge's wedding. Neither one of us could believe it had been 10 years since we'd seen each other.

Unfortunately, the girls and I were too busy to go to anything on Saturday or Sunday, plus the cost of the seats were outrageous. I had to settle for watching it on TV. My girls didn't get as excited watching skating on TV. They liked that they "knew" who the skaters were, but really wanted to play Webkinz on the computer instead.

So, I miss skating. I miss having someone to talk to about it all. My friends just don't understand how I feel when I'm there, how it's such a passion for me. I went to bed Saturday night crying and wishing for the first time since before I had kids that I had a husband who had to listen to me talk about skating. Maybe I was just sad it was over. Maybe it was pms, I don't know. And my girls just didn't understand when I watched the short program and got in such a huff again because Evan Lycachek two-footed his landing in the short program (right in front of me - I was right!) and didn't get marked down, and then wobbled a bunch of jumps in the long program, when Johnny Weir skated both programs beautifully except for two-footing his quad, but didn't win. Yes, it was amazingly a tie, but ugh! I think Carolyn Zhang should have scored better as well. Even Jessica noticed how good she was when she did the short program.

So anyway, there's my rant about skating. It's done now and I hope it's not another 10 years before a competition comes here. I'm glad I spent the money and took the girls. I would have regretted it if I hadn't.

14 Months Since LID

Pay It Forward

I’m taking part in a Pay It Forward exchange that I heard about from Michelle .


Here's the deal: It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on.




So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 2 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, but I have some fun ideas. I will try to get the gift out within the next three weeks if I can make them that fast. What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. If you’d like to take part, be one of the first three to comment mentioning that you’re signing up for the PIF exchange.


You’ll have to agree to the this pledge:

I, [insert your name here] will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blogs.


I'll contact you via e-mail to get your mailing address to send the gifts to. Sound like fun?!

How Cool is This?

I just found out the group I used to travel to skating competitions with has seats in the same section our tickets are for Friday. Of course they're in row 3 and I'm in 19, but too funny! Now I won't have to look very far to find them.

SKATING!!!

The US Figure Skating Championships start this week in St. Paul. The marquee events are all basically Thursday-Sunday. I used to travel with a tour group to Skate America's, National's, and World's from 1991-1998. I've always dreamed of bringing my girls to skating events. They both like to skate but do not want to take lessons. Well, Anna would like to, but when I ask which they'd prefer between piano lessons, swimming lessons, or skating lessons, they both choose swimming. They both love to dance and that's fun and not nearly the commitment of skating or gymnastics, so I'm fine with them sticking to dancing and swimming for now.

The girls happen to have this Friday off of school. I don't know why and it doesn't appear any of the surrounding school districts do, but I'm going to take the day off of work and take the girls to watch the day's events. I'd love to bring them to more, but boy, when you're looking at 3 tickets to each event, it really adds up. It's already $120 for us to go the the Jr. Pair's and Jr. Men's championship event including parking. Food will cost a bunch more on top of that. But the last time any skating competitions have been here was Worlds in 1998 - so 10 years ago. I'll debate all week on whether to go to anything else. Maybe I'll look for a babysitter and go to something by myself. But whatever I decide to do, I'm getting really excited. It's always been my dream to bring my girls to watch something I love. I hate to pass the opportunity up.

Quilt Squares and Taggie Blankets

Yeah! I finally entered all the pictures of my quilt squares on the girls' quilt square blogs. See the links to the left. Here are the totals so far:

Jessica - 78 Squares
Anna - 78 Squares
Amanda - 83 Squares

I'm getting close to 100. Now I have to get on friends and family to send theirs.





I also finally put together my first Taggie Blanket. I was in a ribbon swap last spring and I finally finished one. I have enough ribbon for and have pinned together another one using the same fabric but different ribbons. And I think I have enough of everything to make a couple of Taggie Balls as well.

My Name?

Okay, so I agree with the first 3 sentences and the part about striving for perfection. I expect a lot of myself. What Laura Means

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way.And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life.You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

From Bad to Worse

Yesterday, rumors were rampant that CCAA would not get to March, 2006 LID's in 2008. I don't know if it comes from the same source as the one that said CCAA would shut down for 6 months due to the Olympics, but yikes. Now today, the little box that updates us on how far they've reviewed and how far they've referred has just moved to a non-public place. Back to no information from CCAA. Just when we're in the Review Room, too. I'm still waiting for those words of encouragement from my agency. I think I'll email them again today.

Back To Our Normal Routine and a Poem

Well, as of Saturday, we're back to our normal routine. The girls started their next semester of Chinese Dance class. Today they went back to school. Tonight Anna has Brownies. Tuesday, I have band. Wednesday is religion classes for the girls. No work holidays until Memorial Day in May and I think it's next week we start our 3 months of 48 hour work weeks. Plus girl scout cookie kick-off is January 19th. Busy time of the year for me, but I seem to get the most done. Right now though I'm tired and don't feel like doing much of anything. My dossier is in the review room, but no November LID's have announced they've been questioned or more information was needed by CCAA. Rumors galore that referrals will crawl even slower. One even says they'll only get through Feb, 2006 in all of 2008. That's only 2.5 months for all of 2008. Please say it isn't true! I emailed my agency and asked for words of encouragement.

And here's a poem I love. It's called The Starfish Poem. I don't know who wrote it and I've seen it in several variations. Here's my favorite:

The Starfish Poem

Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean to do his
writing. He had a habit of walking on the
beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore.
As he looked down the beach, he saw a
human figure moving like a dancer. He
smiled to himself to think of someone
who would dance to the day.

So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a
young man and the young man wasn't
dancing, but instead he was reaching
down to the shore, picking up something
and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good
morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused, looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man,
don't you realize that there are miles and
miles of beach and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it
into the ocean, past the breaking waves and said -
"It made a difference for that one."

Another Small Batch

CCAA referred only up through December 19, 2005 LID's. That means no referrals in this batch for my agency. There should be a big batch in the next group though. Let's hope that next batch comes before the end of January. At this pace, it'll be another 4 years or more before I travel to get Amanda. But there's nothing I can do to speed things up, so I just have to wait it out.


Last night Jessica said she thought I should have 5 kids. I don't think so! Not unless we have a couple of exchange students at some point in the future.

Happy New Year!!!!!

I had a party and sleepover last night. 9 girls: 4-8 year olds, 1-7 year old, 1-6 year old, and 3-5 year olds. 3 moms also spent the night. We all had a great time! Around 10 p.m. the girls put on their hats, picked up their noisemakers and had a parade around my dining room table. Then, they settled in to the sleeping arrangements - all the girls in my living room. I put down a gym mat and toddler mattress. Anna slept on the couch and 2 girls had inflatable sleeping bags. It worked out great. The moms all got real beds. Then my camping buddy mom made pancakes and sausages for breakfast this morning. I think I set a precedence and I may be having more of these sleepover parties. It worked out better than I thought it would and it was a nice way to start out 2008. Of course some of the girls were still up at 1:30 a.m., so I'm sure there were a lot of naps being taken at home today.

Here's to a great year in 2008!