When Daddy gets home from work, we dance (sometimes with stickers on our face).
What?
You mean that's not how you greet loved ones in your house?!?
February 28, 2011
And We Danced
When Daddy gets home from work, we dance (sometimes with stickers on our face).
What?
You mean that's not how you greet loved ones in your house?!?
February 24, 2011
Hello??
Got an unsolicited (but not SPAM) email today from a company interested in collaborating with me to post a quiz/giveaway on the blog that would “engage my readers” and generate traffic to my site. I politely declined. But it did get me thinking …
I started to blog 360+ posts ago to keep family members and friends in the loop during our journey to Kazakhstan. I add to it now because it seems a good way to share pictures and stories of Owen and Cearra with folks who don't see us much, and because writing is a hobby for me - one I really enjoy. Recently I shared our story on another blog, a new level of openness which was both scary and rewarding, and which I realized might create some new readers. Still, I thought I knew fairly well just who was stopping by – until that email and a casual comment from a friend.
I've never had any site meters or live traffic feeds on our blog. I don’t see your name, location, URL … nothing at all if you stop by without leaving a comment. And that’s fine with me; I'm not going to start secretly tracking visitors to our blog. Although I am far from an emotional “let it all hang out gal”, I do feel that if I write it, and if I don’t make it private, well, there it is and I have to expect that someone might be reading whom I don’t know. I just hope that if you are here, you enjoy it.
Now, all that being well and good, I admit to a growing curiosity as to just who is out there (and also to a little jealousy of the bloggers who get twenty plus comments after each post, but that’s a different days topic). As much as I enjoy sitting here typing away, often late at night when the house is quiet and the office really chilly, I do wonder who's reading, and why.
Do my words move you, make you laugh, or make you ponder? Do you think Owen is as adorable as I do, and do you enjoy Cearra's appearances? Do you just like the pictures of Hilton Head and wish I’d write less?
Do you follow along because you are a survivor, a stay at home mom, or a member of the adoptive community? Do you hope to be? Are you family, or friend, or friend of friend? A one time visitor or a "oh good, Jodi updated again" follower?
Won’t you consider letting me know?
Oh, I realize how easy it is to be derailed in the process of leaving a comment. In my case, the phone (or Owen) rings, the computer crashes, I'm not signed in correctly, can't make out the *&^$**# security word, or Beamer walks across the keyboard (you’d be surprised how often that happens around here).
I've tried to make it easy for you. No password, sign in or Google account required. So how about it? Would you mind taking a minute to say hi? To leave, if you wish, your name. Where you are from. Why you read. What you like about the blog.
It sure would be nice to hear from you.
I started to blog 360+ posts ago to keep family members and friends in the loop during our journey to Kazakhstan. I add to it now because it seems a good way to share pictures and stories of Owen and Cearra with folks who don't see us much, and because writing is a hobby for me - one I really enjoy. Recently I shared our story on another blog, a new level of openness which was both scary and rewarding, and which I realized might create some new readers. Still, I thought I knew fairly well just who was stopping by – until that email and a casual comment from a friend.
I've never had any site meters or live traffic feeds on our blog. I don’t see your name, location, URL … nothing at all if you stop by without leaving a comment. And that’s fine with me; I'm not going to start secretly tracking visitors to our blog. Although I am far from an emotional “let it all hang out gal”, I do feel that if I write it, and if I don’t make it private, well, there it is and I have to expect that someone might be reading whom I don’t know. I just hope that if you are here, you enjoy it.
Now, all that being well and good, I admit to a growing curiosity as to just who is out there (and also to a little jealousy of the bloggers who get twenty plus comments after each post, but that’s a different days topic). As much as I enjoy sitting here typing away, often late at night when the house is quiet and the office really chilly, I do wonder who's reading, and why.
Do my words move you, make you laugh, or make you ponder? Do you think Owen is as adorable as I do, and do you enjoy Cearra's appearances? Do you just like the pictures of Hilton Head and wish I’d write less?
Do you follow along because you are a survivor, a stay at home mom, or a member of the adoptive community? Do you hope to be? Are you family, or friend, or friend of friend? A one time visitor or a "oh good, Jodi updated again" follower?
Won’t you consider letting me know?
Oh, I realize how easy it is to be derailed in the process of leaving a comment. In my case, the phone (or Owen) rings, the computer crashes, I'm not signed in correctly, can't make out the *&^$**# security word, or Beamer walks across the keyboard (you’d be surprised how often that happens around here).
I've tried to make it easy for you. No password, sign in or Google account required. So how about it? Would you mind taking a minute to say hi? To leave, if you wish, your name. Where you are from. Why you read. What you like about the blog.
It sure would be nice to hear from you.
February 23, 2011
What I'm Loving Wednesday
First, I'm loving that my mom played along last week! Thanks Mom!!
And, I'm loving being a spectator for the nightly basketball games between Owen and Bob. Hey, white men CAN dunk!!
I'm loving these Mainstay candles from WalMart! They burn nicely, smell really good and cost much less than those other "northern" candles I adore (but hate paying a good chunk of change for!).
I'm loving Nesting Place, and getting all kinds of ideas for mistreating my drapes and redoing our bedroom (lucky Bob).
I'm loving - and Owen is too! - this totally yummy dark chocolate peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co.
I'm loving this chance to once again see my brother-in-law Jeff take it all off! His hair of course. For a great cause very close to his (and our) hearts. Please take a minute to check it out.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
And, I'm loving being a spectator for the nightly basketball games between Owen and Bob. Hey, white men CAN dunk!!
I'm loving these Mainstay candles from WalMart! They burn nicely, smell really good and cost much less than those other "northern" candles I adore (but hate paying a good chunk of change for!).
I'm loving Nesting Place, and getting all kinds of ideas for mistreating my drapes and redoing our bedroom (lucky Bob).
I'm loving - and Owen is too! - this totally yummy dark chocolate peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co.
I'm loving this chance to once again see my brother-in-law Jeff take it all off! His hair of course. For a great cause very close to his (and our) hearts. Please take a minute to check it out.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
February 22, 2011
To Bucket or Not?
My friend Alison and I are fans of "The Amazing Race", and with a new season just starting we were discussing the show the other day. She mentioned that the host, Phil Keoughan, almost died in a freak accident at 19, and since then has been living with a clear intent towards a life of exotic adventures and charitable works.
A bucket list so to speak. You've seen the movie "The Bucket List" with Jack Nickelson and Morgan Freeman, yes? If not, go rent it/Netflix it. Consider it an easy check-off for your list.
Now, I love the idea of lists. I make to do lists, and shopping lists, and don't get me started on my vacation packing lists. Still, I'm ambivalent on the concept of a formal, written-down "these-are-the-things-I-want-to-do-before-I-die" list. It seems worthy, I have friends who have one, and surviving cancer does give you a certain push in that direction, but ...
Do I fill it up with places (Japan, Charleston, and Venice) I'd like to visit, even though I certainly don't need a list to remember my desire to see them?
Can I change it if, say, #12 becomes obsolete? Because had I made a list 20 years ago, going to a Grateful Dead concert would have been on it. Not because I was ever a dead head, but because it seemed like an iconic thing to experience. But now, with Jerry Garcia being gone and all, it's not so much a goal of mine.
Are things that realistically have a slim chance of ever happening, despite my efforts, a waste of space on a bucket list? And wouldn't it just make me feel bad if "Write and publish a best selling memoir" is forever uncrossed and mocking me?
And just how "big" do these items have to be anyway? I mean, there are things I'd like to accomplish sometime in my life, like finding the perfect lipstick, white button-down shirt, and paint color for our bedroom; but I don't know if they merit a spot.
I'm tempted to make a list of fabulous things I can already cross off (any semi-OCD list maker will tell you that's really the best part of list making):
- go snorkeling in Hawaii
- drink a beer with a few (cute) Danish boys in Copenhagen
- have a front row seat for Old Faithful being, well, faithful
- be a blessing to someone recently diagnosed with cancer
- provide Christmas for a family
- cheer a Penn State win at a major bowl game
- hold a tiger cub in Las Vegas
- strut with the Mummers on New Years Day
- celebrate a birthday in a foreign country (twice)
- marry one of the good guys
- help raise an amazing young woman
- bring home our son
But I guess that's not the spirit.
I could read the advice given here on how to create a bucket list, but honestly, I don't think I will.
Perhaps I have no great sense of adventure or perhaps I just know what's important to me (big and small) and I do it. While it's true that going bungee jumping will never be on any list I make, I love my life - where I've been and all the things I'm looking forward to doing.
Maybe the exercise of just thinking about a bucket list is really the important thing for me. It certainly cements in my mind how very blessed I have been by all the wonderful opportunities I've had and the things I've been able to experience and see.
What about you? Have a bucket list? If so, what's number one on the list? Don't have one? That's more than OK with me; how about sharing the best things you've already done?
Bucket list or not, it sure is a beautiful life.
A bucket list so to speak. You've seen the movie "The Bucket List" with Jack Nickelson and Morgan Freeman, yes? If not, go rent it/Netflix it. Consider it an easy check-off for your list.
Now, I love the idea of lists. I make to do lists, and shopping lists, and don't get me started on my vacation packing lists. Still, I'm ambivalent on the concept of a formal, written-down "these-are-the-things-I-want-to-do-before-I-die" list. It seems worthy, I have friends who have one, and surviving cancer does give you a certain push in that direction, but ...
Do I fill it up with places (Japan, Charleston, and Venice) I'd like to visit, even though I certainly don't need a list to remember my desire to see them?
Can I change it if, say, #12 becomes obsolete? Because had I made a list 20 years ago, going to a Grateful Dead concert would have been on it. Not because I was ever a dead head, but because it seemed like an iconic thing to experience. But now, with Jerry Garcia being gone and all, it's not so much a goal of mine.
Are things that realistically have a slim chance of ever happening, despite my efforts, a waste of space on a bucket list? And wouldn't it just make me feel bad if "Write and publish a best selling memoir" is forever uncrossed and mocking me?
And just how "big" do these items have to be anyway? I mean, there are things I'd like to accomplish sometime in my life, like finding the perfect lipstick, white button-down shirt, and paint color for our bedroom; but I don't know if they merit a spot.
I'm tempted to make a list of fabulous things I can already cross off (any semi-OCD list maker will tell you that's really the best part of list making):
- go snorkeling in Hawaii
- drink a beer with a few (cute) Danish boys in Copenhagen
- have a front row seat for Old Faithful being, well, faithful
- be a blessing to someone recently diagnosed with cancer
- provide Christmas for a family
- cheer a Penn State win at a major bowl game
- hold a tiger cub in Las Vegas
- strut with the Mummers on New Years Day
- celebrate a birthday in a foreign country (twice)
- marry one of the good guys
- help raise an amazing young woman
- bring home our son
But I guess that's not the spirit.
I could read the advice given here on how to create a bucket list, but honestly, I don't think I will.
Perhaps I have no great sense of adventure or perhaps I just know what's important to me (big and small) and I do it. While it's true that going bungee jumping will never be on any list I make, I love my life - where I've been and all the things I'm looking forward to doing.
Maybe the exercise of just thinking about a bucket list is really the important thing for me. It certainly cements in my mind how very blessed I have been by all the wonderful opportunities I've had and the things I've been able to experience and see.
What about you? Have a bucket list? If so, what's number one on the list? Don't have one? That's more than OK with me; how about sharing the best things you've already done?
Bucket list or not, it sure is a beautiful life.
February 20, 2011
Tidbits From Our Toddler
I post some of the cute little things Owen says and does on facebook, but as this blog has become more or less his baby book I thought I better capture them here as well.
If you aren't on facebook - or if you are but never check it (hello Aunt Cathy) - I hope you enjoy reading these tidbits. If you've already heard them, well, please enjoy the never before published pics!
****
Bob and I were dressing to go out to dinner last weekend. I put on a nice blouse and Owen said admiringly, "Pretty!".
Awww, that's my sweetie.
Then I put on my pink suede coat, and Owen said (very) enthusiastically, "Mommy, you look like the pink elephant combine!".
(sigh)
****
Last week, Owen separates one tractor from the bunch he's playing with and puts in on the edge of the tub.
"Now, you are in time-out because we do not hit. Do you understand?"
Me: "Uh-oh, is your toy in trouble?"
Owen: "Yes, he was bad."
A few minutes later he retrieves the toy and says "Now say you're sorry. OK, I love you".
Supernanny would be so proud.
****
We went outside last week, and Owen paused in the driveway to take a deep breath in, wrinkling his nose.
"Mommy, what's that smell?"
Me, happily, "That's Spring Owen!"
****
If you aren't on facebook - or if you are but never check it (hello Aunt Cathy) - I hope you enjoy reading these tidbits. If you've already heard them, well, please enjoy the never before published pics!
****
Bob and I were dressing to go out to dinner last weekend. I put on a nice blouse and Owen said admiringly, "Pretty!".
Awww, that's my sweetie.
Then I put on my pink suede coat, and Owen said (very) enthusiastically, "Mommy, you look like the pink elephant combine!".
(sigh)
****
Last week, Owen separates one tractor from the bunch he's playing with and puts in on the edge of the tub.
"Now, you are in time-out because we do not hit. Do you understand?"
Me: "Uh-oh, is your toy in trouble?"
Owen: "Yes, he was bad."
A few minutes later he retrieves the toy and says "Now say you're sorry. OK, I love you".
Supernanny would be so proud.
****
We went outside last week, and Owen paused in the driveway to take a deep breath in, wrinkling his nose.
"Mommy, what's that smell?"
Me, happily, "That's Spring Owen!"
****
February 16, 2011
What I'm Loving Wednesday
This week I'm really loving that we've finally had a sneak peek at some nice weather the last few days, and ...
I'm loving the gorgeous flowers my dad brought me for Valentine's Day! Hello Spring! Thank you Daddy!
I'm loving Owen's new interest in drawing! Love sitting and coloring with him, even if his portrait of me is less than flattering (hard to see, but I do at least have eyelashes). The thing above me is an excavator bucket with teeth. Of course.
I'm loving The Body Shop's Pink Grapefruit shower gel. Love the zesty, slightly sweet smell, and that studies show when others smell grapefruit on you they think you are five years younger!
I'm loving the bracelet my friend (and fellow Kaz mom!) Tracy sent me! She makes beautiful jewelry using old tin, fabrics, etc. Sound interesting? Check her creations out here popli. Thank you Tracy!
I'm loving that our family and friends all know and support Owen's John Deere obsession! Here's our neighbor Donna posing in a very special Gator she saw in Florida, waving to Owen!
I'm loving this Valentine's Day card from my oldest friend Bea! Each person has a little quote of what they loved last year - so cute! Such a beautiful - inside and out - family.
Now it's your turn to play along ... I know there must be something you're loving right now!
I'm loving the gorgeous flowers my dad brought me for Valentine's Day! Hello Spring! Thank you Daddy!
I'm loving Owen's new interest in drawing! Love sitting and coloring with him, even if his portrait of me is less than flattering (hard to see, but I do at least have eyelashes). The thing above me is an excavator bucket with teeth. Of course.
I'm loving The Body Shop's Pink Grapefruit shower gel. Love the zesty, slightly sweet smell, and that studies show when others smell grapefruit on you they think you are five years younger!
I'm loving the bracelet my friend (and fellow Kaz mom!) Tracy sent me! She makes beautiful jewelry using old tin, fabrics, etc. Sound interesting? Check her creations out here popli. Thank you Tracy!
I'm loving that our family and friends all know and support Owen's John Deere obsession! Here's our neighbor Donna posing in a very special Gator she saw in Florida, waving to Owen!
I'm loving this Valentine's Day card from my oldest friend Bea! Each person has a little quote of what they loved last year - so cute! Such a beautiful - inside and out - family.
Now it's your turn to play along ... I know there must be something you're loving right now!
February 14, 2011
S.W.A.K!
I was giving Bob a hug, and Owen says "Hey, you forgot me!"
He comes running over and we lift him up and welcome him into our embrace; he kisses us both and says, "You know what's beautiful?"
"What Owen?"
"THIS!" (gesturing at the three of us)
Happy Valentine's Day!
February 13, 2011
February 9, 2011
What I'm Loving Wednesday Premier Post!
One of my blogger friends has a regular feature called "What I'm Loving Wednesday". It's always fun to check out her picks, and I think it's a good thing to occasionally pause and acknowledge the small (or silly, or sensational, or sentimental) things that make life, well ... more lovable.
So, here we go!
I'm loving that it's a new Modern Family tonight! Funniest show on TV!
I'm loving this opportunity through Two Hearts for Hope to help orphans in Kaz celebrate Spring.
I'm loving Mint Oreos. Oh yes, I was warned that their cool, creamy green centers have eat-the-whole-bag-in-one-day powers, but we all need a little sweetness, right?
I'm loving making pine cone feeders with Owen and watching the birds - mainly chickadees and blue birds - that flock to our front yard (and I'm loving how cute Owen is with his fresh haircut too!).
I'm loving my newly delivered 500 page March InStyle magazine. Yeah, warmer weather and cute new fashions are on the horizon.
What are you loving right now? Leave a comment and share a little joy!
So, here we go!
I'm loving that it's a new Modern Family tonight! Funniest show on TV!
I'm loving this opportunity through Two Hearts for Hope to help orphans in Kaz celebrate Spring.
I'm loving Mint Oreos. Oh yes, I was warned that their cool, creamy green centers have eat-the-whole-bag-in-one-day powers, but we all need a little sweetness, right?
I'm loving making pine cone feeders with Owen and watching the birds - mainly chickadees and blue birds - that flock to our front yard (and I'm loving how cute Owen is with his fresh haircut too!).
I'm loving my newly delivered 500 page March InStyle magazine. Yeah, warmer weather and cute new fashions are on the horizon.
What are you loving right now? Leave a comment and share a little joy!
February 4, 2011
Read This Book
I have devoured every word of Bill Bryson's travelogues and memoirs, and as you may remember, reading his "A Short History of Nearly Everything" in Kazakhstan provided me many happy hours when not loving up on Owen or singing along with Russian music videos.
And it's a good thing too, because the blurb from his latest book, "At Home" didn't really grab my attention ... "Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to write a history of the world without leaving home". Ho-hum.
But as a devoted fan always looking for a new book, I dutifully added my name to the library's waiting list at #23, and well, waited. Boy I'm glad I did. In only 43 pages, I've learned:
- more than 10,000 years ago, Mesoamericans (the greatest cultivators in history) created maize (corn) ... and we still don't have any idea how they did it. Nothing in the wild resembles corn. Genetic testing proves they somehow developed corn from a plant called teosinthe, which is less than an inch long, has no husk and is almost valueless as food. But the how and why? It's a mystery.
- in 1969 food scientists gathered at the University of Illinois to address this conundrum, but the debates grew so bitter the conference broke up in confusion and no papers were ever published. No similar exploratory conferences have since been attempted.
- corn is the world's first fully engineered plant - one that is wholly dependent on us for survival. Corn kernels do not spontaneously disengage from their cobs, so unless they are stripped and planted, no corn will grow. Had people not been tending to it for these thousands of years, corn would be extinct.
- corn (as starch) is used in the manufacture of soda, chewing gum, ice cream, peanut butter, library paste, ketchup, auto paint, embalming fluid, gun powder, insecticides, deodorants, soap, potato chips, surgical dressings, nail polish, foot powder, salad dressing and several hundred more products.
- when you drive past a field of corn today, every stalk is identical to every other - molecularly identical. In 1970, the corn world suffered a fright when southern corn-leaf blight started killing corn and it was realized that almost all of the national crop was planted from seeds with genetically identical cytoplasm. Had the cytoplasm been directly affected or the disease more virulent, well, our 4th of July picnics would now be missing at least one yummy dish!
Wow, right?!?
What?
No, I am not being sarcastic. I love this kind of stuff!
"At Home" has also taught me that in 1850, a winter storm uncovered a Stone Age village on the shores of the Orkney Islands of Scotland. Evidence shows Skara Brae (as it was named) was inhabited for about six hundred years, but we don't know anything about the people who lived there - where they came from, what language they spoke, or what happened to them.
Oh, and that the Crystal Palace built in London for the Great Exhibition of 1851 was designed by a gardener after 245 designs by architects and engineers were rejected as being unworkable.
And we haven't even made it into the house yet, Bryson is still setting the scene!
So, if you found this post interesting; or secretly want to be a contestant on Jeopardy (or at least win a game of Trivial Pursuit); or are the one in your group known for being a source of um, "useless" info; pick up "At Home" and enjoy. And if you now think I'm a geek, well, please keep that to yourself and hope that the next post is back to Owen.
*Picture was staged, and shot by Owen. I do not normally have free time in the middle of the day to read. I have not been compensated by Bill Bryson or his publisher for this enthusiastic endorsement (but I wouldn't turn down a check).
February 3, 2011
Go Kaz Go!
I love the Olympics, so when I stumbled across the fact that Kazakhstan was hosting the 2011 Asian Games, I was thrilled!
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