Lucy has hurt feelings

Ok, should I be offended that only one person commented about how cute my dog is?

I guess not, but COME ON...she's precious.

And remember, she is the only baby I have right now.

But, if you want to read about real things and get real info, you gotta click HERE and go to the adoption blog. The meaty stuff is over there.

sleeping cutie

Lucy has found a new perch, the back of the couch. I spotted her up there sleeping the other day, and each time she woke up she would survey the back yard.

What a life, huh?

our newest addition

A couple of weeks ago Charlie asked me if I was ready to buy a crib. I wasn't sure what I thought about it. I didn't want to get one to early and then stare at it for a year while we wait for a baby, but Charlie made a suggestion that we should have the nursery ready when the social worker comes for our homestudy. I could agree with that. Charlie gave me a budget and I got online. Of course, the one I wanted was from Pottery Barn Kids. It was $599. That wasn't the budget Charlie and I talked about though, so I had to look around a little.

Here is the "dana" crib from PB kids. Isn't it lovely?

I found a Legacy crib on Craig's list that looked a lot like the one from PB and it was waaaaayyy less. So much less. We bought it, and Charlie brought it home. Sadly, the antique white color of the crib did not match the antique white color of the dresser we planned to use in the room.

So, I took a knob from the dresser and went to my paint store. I made sure to tell them that it was for a crib so I could get the safest kind of paint, and matched it up.

It's hard to tell, but the piece on the right is the end of the crib and it is yellower than the dresser. You can tell, can't you? You all have that discerning eye, I know it.

So I sanded and painted and spent inauguration day painting the side rails. Those were quite tedious. Very tedious.

Here is the final result. I think it turned out pretty good, didn't it? AND, so similar to the one from PB for so much less.

And, my house has a crib. MY HOUSE HAS A CRIB. It is quite the step forward for us. And very "out on a limb." Hopefully within this year, this crib will have an occupant that will cuddle up in it and love how much work mommy put into it.

Me...a mommy! Wow. That's a heady thought.

good news awaits you...

The post is on the other site... click here.

more memories of my dad (gilmore girl style)

With not much to do on a Sunday afternoon, I dug out my very favorite Gilmore Girls DVDs and curled up on the couch with the space heater kicking next to my feet. I have written before about how I loved the GG and how I mourned a little when they went off, and today I was feeling a little nostalgic for some fast-talking, girl-themed fun.

I started with the first DVD of season 4, when Rory goes to college. I love those episodes, when Rory goes off to Yale and misses her Mommy. Today while I was watching it I was thinking back to the day my parents dropped me off at college and what a strange thing it turned out to be.

I grew up in Florida, but I chose to go to college in North Carolina. All summer I was planning what to take, packing up some things, saving money to buy winter clothes for the frigid north, and figuring out how to get myself to orientation. My parents ended up renting a minivan for the trip and we took all the seats out of the back so I could fit everything inside. We left at four in the morning and arrived in Greensboro around two in the afternoon.

My room was on the third floor, but luckily there was an elevator, and because I was moving in early for a freshman leadership thing, there weren't many people in need of the elevator. It was about 100 degrees and we sweated and unloaded box after box. My mom helped me put sheets on my bed so I felt a little settled and then they had to go.

They had to leave.

They wanted to drive part of the way back so that they could return the van on time. The dorm was practically empty and my parents got all of 2 hours there with me that day. They left and I had no tv, no fridge and no roommate just yet. My mom cried when she hugged me, and my dad just told me to learn lots. Then they were gone.

And I was alone at college. In a different state.

That was the only time my dad got to see the college. He died in the middle of my junior year and it was a difficult time, of course. But I felt like he didn't really get to experience the place that was my world for four years. The place where I really grew up. The place where I met who I would ultimately end up being, the place that taught me about boys and friendship and what it means to be there for someone. I think college has the potential to be an amazing time for anyone who really lets themselves live it. And I did.

I talked to my mom about that first day years later. I told her how it felt so abrupt that they couldn't stay longer when they moved me in to my room, and how dad hadn't seemed that emotional. Which was strange, considering I was his little girl. She shared a secret. A good one. She told me that on the way out of Greensboro that day, my dad was driving, and he had to pull over because he was crying so hard he couldn't see.

How sweet is that?

It has been a big dad weekend around here. Sometimes he really stays with me and it is in those times that I miss him more. We have been working on our nursery, and it seems so wrong that he won't be around for that, just like he missed my college graduation and my wedding. Big moments that he would have recorded on film.

I guess I'm rambling on a little bit, and I already posted about my dad and the tire guage the other day, but Rory and Lorelai made me think about that day so long ago when his little girl went off to college. I was the first of us kids to graduate from college and the fact that I went so far away was a big step for our family.

I don't really know how to wrap this up, but I wanted to share a little more of my dad with you. Hopefully, the next post will be a little more upbeat.

can you change a tire?

I've written about my dad before, most notably here, but each year different milestones pass and he falls further away. Like today. Today is my dad's birthday, and I knew it was coming, but I almost missed it when it arrived.

I got caught up in the day-to-day grind that keeps pulling along. I got up, went to work, checked out some books, froze my butt off and came home. Lather, rinse, repeat.

And I want to honor who he was as I live my life. I want to make him proud I am his daughter. I want to take the things he has taught me and teach them to my own kids. I want too much.

At the conference where I almost choked, we had to bring in something sentimental to share. The activity was called Sentimental Circle and you certainly needed your tissues. I can't share what others talked about, cause it should also be called Confidential Sentimental Circle, but I can share what I talked about: my dad.

The object I chose to bring in was a tire gauge, to check the air pressure on the tires. That in itself was an odd choice to some people, but for me it made sense. See, my dad gave me that tire gauge, during a long summer before I finally took a car to college. With a 10 hour drive from Florida to North Carolina looming on the horizon, my dad wanted to make sure I could handle a few things. Car ownership was serious business to him and he wanted me to feel safe. We bought my first cellphone that summer.

Back to the tire gauge.

At random times my dad would say "go change the tire" or "check the oil" or "check the air in the tires." Which is why he gave me the tire gauge and showed me how to use it. He didn't believe that I should be out there all alone with no car skills. Yes, I had a cellphone, but it could take hours to get someone out there to change a tire, and that was silly when I could just learn to do it myself. My parents raised us to grow up and move out and move on with life, and we all have.

And let me brag, I'm proud that I can change a tire. One afternoon, Charlie stood on the roadside and I changed the tire when one of the back tires blew out. That was quite a moment and I knew my dad would have been so proud.

So I shared my story and cried some and passed around my tire gauge and gave a little piece of his wisdom with my friends.

My dad would have been 71 today.

new moon a rising...

Look what I saw in the paper on Friday...an announcement for New Moon movie! Ahem. Look closely.

It will open on November 20, 2009. Anyone know what that is?

My birthday.

What a present that the movie gods are giving to me! Not that I was so much in love with the Twilight movie, but I am curious to see what they will do with the next one. They did get a new director, so that will help, I think. They are keeping the same screenwriter, but that has time to change too.

I will say that New Moon was the book in the series that moved the slowest for me, so I imagine the movie will do the same thing. Hopefully, we will be able to get another group of girls together for this one...Caroline and Emily and I had such a fun time this year. Do you dare to plan ahead to join us?

Eleven whole months to think about it.