Off to Poland, 11days and counting & Cramps

Well 6 years ago today we were off to Poland to get Bella a Visa so we could go home. While in Poland we had to take her for a physical. We car pooled with the Massmans and the Dr. was quite old as was her manual typewritter. We ate dinner witht he Massmans in the hotel restraunt and we went to the US embassy to get a passport. We also went to an internet cafe and I went to the air france office and had Bella's name put on her ticket home. I plan on posting pictures of our homecoming this week too.

I have worked out 11 days in a row. I did change from taebo to step aerobics, but the scale said I gained a pound yesterday.

My TOM started a couple of days ago and I feel like crap! I have such a painful cramp in my side that I considered calling in sick to work today, but I knew I had a meeting scheduled for today that I needed to attend, plus I would not feel better at home either. I took some advil and it didn't seem to help. I am guessing I will be feeling better tomorrow and them my meeting was changed to December 2.

Yesterday the fireplace guy was at our house and he finished installing the pilot light so we had a fire last night.

Bella had girl scouts but Scott volunteered to drop her off and pick her up. I went to bed early.

Obese girl out

Gotcha Day

Yesterday was Isabella's gotcha day. It is hard to believe 6 years have gone by so quickly. The first picture above was gotcha day 2004- one year after we picked Isabella up from the orphanage. We were on vacation in Florida. The second photo was taken as we left the orphanage with Bella on 11/15/2003. I so wanted us to get a picture of us all together yesterday but we didn't. I took Bella to religion class and then we went to church and out to lunch at Chilis. We then came home and did laundry and cleaned the garage. I can now park in the garage and I don;t know when the garage was that clean. Later Scott watched football, fed Bella supper and finished the laundry while I went to Woodman's to do the shopping. I took a bubble bath when I got home and went to bed early.

Since Scott and I went to see the Michael Jackson Movie on Friday, Bella stayed overnight with grandma and we had to pick her up Saturday. We had a pizza lunch with them and then we came home and got ready for a wedding of one of the girls I work with. It was a beautiful ceremony and she looked happy. Food was good to.

I have not worked out 8 days in a row, but the scale still said the same this morning as it did last Monday-bummer. I still plan to continue to work out as I know I need to get my eating under control as well.

Obese girl out

ADOPTION DAY

Six years ago today we went to court in Kiev Ukraine and were declared Isabella's parents. Soon after court we met up with another couple Rod and Valerie who had also been to court that morning. We were all working with the same agency and we were adopting girls from the boyarka baby house. This was the only day that we did not get to see Isabella. It was a Friday and we needed to get some papers done at the city hall in Boyarka and then we needed to get Isabella a new birth certificate which required that we travel to her birth city. It was a long day and we spent a lot of time in the car.The first Photo is of the City hall in Boyarka and the second is of a church in Bila Tserkva.

Bella six years ago

These are all pictures of our Ukrainian princess taken during our one hour daily visit to the baby house. My how our princess has grown. I plan on posting more photos this weekend as we celebrate our 6th Gotcha day.

In other news it is day 5 of TaeBo, it might have seemed a tab bit easier today. However I was unable to fight the potatoe chip craving last night.

Obese girl out

Day 4

Well today is the 4th day in a row I have worked out. I did my 4th TaeBo tape and it obviously takes more than 3 days to get into the grove of these tapes, my intent it to keep going. I am amazed at how much fat I am carring around on my midsection, which I understand is a bad place to carry extra fat for health reasons. Last night I had such a potatoe chip craving!!! But we had no chips and Bella was in bed so I couldn't leave and go get some either. I had a snack pack of microwave popcorn but it really did nothing for the craving. I hear people talk about a sugar fog but I don't think that is my particular problem. I have a "chip fog", I don't know exactly what the attraction is either-fat?, salt? crunchy? I am concerned about the amount of sodium I consume and believe I would be healthier if I cut down.

I was very tired last night as I watched the CMA show. Bella was begging to stay up longer to see Taylor Swift and then Jason Aldeen. We worked on painting our lighthouse picture frames white during TV time.

Today was Mary's last day in our department. She is getting Married on Saturday and Andrea will be back full time on Monday. She liked the little scrapbook that I made for her.

Yesterday they put in a new garage door on my side of the garage and left a mysterious puddle mark on our driveway. Scott and I still need to discuss the window situation.

I am yawning again at work today, just wishing to go home and take a nap, but I have work to do.

Monday while Bella was off from School she was home all day with Scott and when I got home she said "mom I made $23 today" I am trying to figue out what kind of job she had or did that would net her $23 dollars only to find out that she MADE $23 dollars as in engaging in counterfeit money operations-no special printer needed, just paper and markers-who knew?

Bella is also has completed day 2 of her 7 day quest to receive her black boots back after I confiscated them after she left them in the middle of the living room. I am surprised she has done as well as she has at not complaining about what is for dinner.

Thats all for now-Obese girl out

NAP

Well it is one of those days when I could just put my head down and take a nap. It is my own fault I guess as I am the one who stayed up past midnight working on a scrapbooking project and then got up a little befoe 5:00 am to do Taebo-go me, third day in a row. I did a different tape and I don't remember ever doing this particular tape-too many push ups. Tomorrow I will do another different tape and then I will circle back to the first one.

Last night while woring on the scrapbooking project (which I completed by the way) I was watching the biggest loser. In some ways I think the elimintaion should always be just who is below the line and no voting. I am a little sad to see Dan and Shay go but they were certainly big threats to some of the other players. I don't like Liz and I don't like Amanda, so I guess I am rooting for either Rebecca or Danny-not sure about Rudy. It seems as if Shay is doing well at home from her appearance on the Jay Leno show.

Bella once again "forgot" her report card, but her classroom was open when I picked her up from Ycare so I dug it out of her desk. It was very good academically, but she had mostly minuses in the behavioral area, but only one brief comment from the teacher so I am not sure what is going on as she gets the reward "buzz bucks" and the jolly ranchers. I will need to email the teacher to find out more. She has been better at home and i think we have worked out a way for her to earn back her black boots.

We have no big plans for tonight but to watch the CMA awards and I plan on working on painting some light house picture frames I plan on putting on the tree this year. Scott called me a little while ago and said that the garage door people were there, so hopefully they have the garage door fixed and I will be able to get my side cleaned out so I can park in there and none too soon as there was a nice layer of frost on my car windows this morning.

I am trying to watch what I eat a little more these days. I have been having oatmeal for breakfast and leftovers for lunch so at least i am not buying anything.

I have been reading today articles and comments related to Sesame Street turning 40. I can't believe people are asking is Bert and Ernie are gay-they are muppets for goodness sake and who cares if cookie monster lives on a diet of cookies and Elmo's grammer is not the greatest and why can't Sesame street adress topics such as HIV and death. Its a kids show, kids learn from it and are entertained by it and we need to stop looking at the show throught the fuddy duddy eyes of grown ups!

Since I am not getting a nap I guess i had better get back to work.

Obese girl out

This working out is kicking my ass

Well I got up and did taebo again today, but unlike yesterday I am hurting-WHY OH WHY DID I EVER LET MYSELF GET SO OUT OF SHAPE? My plan is to get up and do it again tomorrow. I will watch biggest loser tonight and work on a scrapbook project at the same time. I need to run to target tonight to get a gift card and to Michaels for a new embossing pad.

Scott took some of our recently processed photos to work to show his co-workers. This batch of photos included some from on the waterfront, the apple orchard, the corn maze the mill etc. One of the comments Scott received was that we sure spoil Isabella by taking her all those places. I guess I don't see that as spoiling more as expanding her horizons. I think all those places are a chance to learn and grow and we do those outings as a family. One of the other comments Scott received is poor dog. This was because we made our dog wear a Halloween costume. We did not hurt her by any means, she did not wear it all that long and while she did not like the hat she did not mind the rest of the costume-plus she was cute-Don't you agree?

Lets hope that tonight the cat manages to stay in the house. Last night our black cat got out and ran around our neighborhood for awhile. I was beginning to think she was lost forever but we managed to herd her back in.

Obese girl out

TaeBo

Will miracles never cease? I got up this morning and did a taeBo workout. I have not done one in a long time although there have been times in my past where I did one everyday. I hurt my foot back in August and let that be my excuse for a long time but it has not really bothered me is a while and I did ok this morning. My knees have also been causing me some pain but again they were ok. I am hoping I can do it again tomorrow. I got on the scale this am and weighted 123 pounds. I have never weighted this much. I weigh as much as some of the girls on the biggest loser and they look fat, I have a hard time seeing myself as that fat but I must be.

It was beautiful weather here over the weekend and I did some yard work. I need to clean out my side of the garage but right now the door is broken so I can't park in there if I want to.

Bella and I did do a little shopping over the weekend for birthday presents for her cousins. Yesterday Bella had a brownie troop outing I took her and her friend Angela. Scott's mom and her husband came home from TX and retrieved their dog. We had been watching Marci for the last week, while they were out of town.

This was the weekend of the shopping trip which I did not get to go on, and now the whole idea of getting all the Christmas Presnts bought is overwhelming. One day at a time right.

I got a letter from my girlfriend Lori recently and she seems to have fallen on hard times. I sent off my response letter today.

I got a lot of housework done on Saturday and I called for an estimate on windows. They are coming tomorrow. We will see how much that will cost.

I am planning on getting my eating in control and exercising more to lose some weight-wish me luck

Obese girl out

Metcha Day

Six years ago on the afternoon of November 5th Scott and I were driven out of Kiev to meet a little 14 month old girl at the Boyarka Baby house. We were accompanied by our faciliator Lana, our interpreter Sasha and our driver, Igor. The brick building we entered was chilly and dark, but clean. we waited in the lobby and then were invited upstairs where we traveled down a shadowy hallway to the directors office. We were seated and the director started going over the file for our little girl. Then before you knew what was happening she was brought in. She was wearing a red turtleneck and gold cordoroy overalls. She had the cutest curls? Lana took her and spoke to her in Russian. Then she was handed over to me and I soon after gave her to Scott, she did not cry, but just looked around. They asked us if we had any questions and I asked if she could walk and they said "put her down" so we did and off she toddled. She had her eye on that piece of red string under the directors desk. Our pediatrician had stated that we wanted to look at the child to see if she was proportionate, head not bigger than body or vice versa, our pediatrician said to watch for eye contact and we had that and since she spotted the red ribbon we knew she could see and she responded when spoken to, so we knew she could hear. All too soon they came and took her away. Then we were asked "Do you like her?, do you want her?" We were not allowed to discuss it between us at all and I felt a little like we had just test drove a car and not met the child destined to be our daughter, and our daughter she is, she was then and is now, six years later, how did time go by so quickly? We did not take any photos that first day but here is a picture taken the second day we visited with Bella at the orphanage.

Staff Meeting Day

We have a staff meeting (or at least we are scheduled to) every Monday and every Wednesday so that our interim GC, the privacy officer, the paralegal (that would be me) and the compliance assistant and the Administrative assistant can all get together in the confrence room and discuss what projects are being worked on and what new projects have come in. Since the last GC left and our Compliance Assistant went on Maternity leave we have had some real issues. I hate feeling like I am being the difficult employee or that I can't get along with my co-workers but I guess I can't. Both the Compliance Assistant and the Administrative Assistant are also paralegals but I am the only one who functions in that capacity and frankly I have a lot of responsibilities and I have gotten even more since the GC left including some that are technically "Administrative" I know the AA has had a rough time lately, she is getting a divorce, selling her house etc. but she needs to pull her weight at work. I sometimes just want to get out and find something else.

The fireplace guy came yesterday but needed some additional materials so he is coming back.

Bella is doing well with picking things up and doing better at following directions.

Donna called from Texas yesterday to say they made it ok and things were going well.

Scott is off work today but has a doctors appointment regarding the chest pain he has been having and Bella has brownies tonight.

I went at lunch today and put in my digital print order at walgreens and then went through the drive through at McD. I am eating because of the stressful situation at work yuck!

nothing to really to remember about 6 years ago today as it was a waiting and not knowing kind of day, which means we hung around the apartment, napped, ate, talked, played cards etc until late in the day when we received a call to tell us to be ready the next day to go meet our little one at the orphanage. More on that tomorrow.

Obese girl out

Six Years Ago

Six years ago today Scott and I had our appointment at the adoption center in Kiev Ukraine, where we saw the tiniest little picture of a tiny little girl who was destined to become ours. It is still one of the stranges experiences of my life to sit in a room at a table with a translater and an adoption center worker along with 2 other couples at 2 other tables and look through binders full of page protectors each containing a little information and a little picture of children available for adoption throughout the entire country, boys and girls, siblings, special needs young children and older children all somewhere living in an orphanage with just their basic needs being met and no one to love them and no one for them to call mom or dad. We did not spend hours there like some families, we did not look at picture after picture and feel our hearts break, we got lucky, an orphan girl got lucky and today those lucky people are a family. I wish I had requested her profile and/or profile picture. After deciding to go see this orphan girl at the Boyarka Baby house we exchange money and sent our faciitator and translater off to the world of paperwork to accomplish what needed to be done, while Scott and I marveled at how easy it had really been and help hope in our hearts that the child we had chosen was indeed ours. Isabella, it has been 6 years since we first layed eyes on your beautiful picture. My love for you today in unmeasurable. We are so glad you are ours.

Obese girl out

October is behind us

Well October is behind us. Last Friday we took Bella to "Trunk or Treat" at the hospital it was ok, nothing special. We ran into Scott, Colin and Traci there.

Friday lunch was a big disappointment for me as I did not get a call from anyone in my old department but went down to the cafeteria and Some of the accounting folks were there (not T or J) but they had not called me and did not have enough room at their table so I sat by myself and later a coupld of other ladies I know came and joined me.

On Friday night we took Bella to the movie "where the wild things are" It was a good movie and the Wild things actually looked like the illistrations in the book, buy there were a few things that I am not sure why they did them. For example why did the parents have to be divorced, did that really add to the story?

Saturday I was up early and off to Wisconsin. I was at my dad's house by 9:00 and Shelly showed up right behind me. and then Dave, Nathan and Mark. we washed floors, got Mark's truck loaded with goodwill stuff, pulled up the carpet and pad and yanked out all the nails and staples. It looks a lot better and is ready to go on the market I guess. I was not as stressful as I thought it would be and it is done. About 1:30 we all went to Pizza Hut for a late lunch and then went our seperate ways. I drove straight home and boy were my hands aching. I stopped and got a pizza on the way home at Papa Murphys. When I got home Scott and Bella both had their costumes on and Scott had brought up my bee costume. Scott and Bella had also carved our pumpkins except for the mouth on mine. I completed the carving and we lit our pumkins and took Isabella up our street and down the otherside trick-or-treating and then home to had out candy. Scott's mom and her husband were supose to be coming over but they were cutting down the tree in their front yard and did not get over to our house until late and they ended up eating our leftover pizza. Once they left we got Bella in bed and went ourselves.

On Sunday, Bella had religion class and then we went to Mass and had Arbys for lunch then Scott watched the Bears game and shredded old papers while Bella and I raked the yard. After the game Scott helped me finish the yard and then Scott's mom and her husband came by with the dog as we will be watching their dog for the next week while they are in Houston visiting. We all went out to dinner and then we went to Woodmans to do the food shopping and then home.

It was nice to have it light enough in the morning to get dressed and off to work. We had a potluck today for a belated bosses day.

I have not been exercising or watching what I eat and While I know I should I just feel like I can't.

Obese girl out