Bless Your Heart

This whole iPod thing may be getting out of control. Jon brought in his cds from the car tonight and asked if I could upload them to his iPod. Sure. So the stack of cds on the table vs the piles he was sorting through was really small. I told him the iPod could hold way more than just 2 or 3 cds. He said “Oh I know, those 3 are the ones I don’t want. You can copy these for me right?” If anyone needs me I’ll be going squirrelly eyed in front of the mac for the next month uploading every metal cd ever made. That’s love people.

Tonight Jon and I went to his parents’ house for dinner and presents. His mom always makes a themed birthday cake. This year’s cake was an apple. The Apple logo to be precise. Made sense since we’d all become Mac converts in the last year. Luckily seeing the cake didn’t give away his surprise. His big present of the night was his new iPod. The sleek little black number. I’d had it for a week or so and had already loaded pictures and videos and songs on it. When Lisa and Pete were in town Pete loaded about 10 or so cds that Jon’s been wanting onto the iPod. Jon was so psyched. He really deserves it too. His parents got him the fm transmitter (among other goodies) so Jon got to listen to the iPod on the way home. Just goes to show, you’re never too old to be a rock star.

Tomorrow is my husband Jon’s 34th birthday. Since we’ve been on our adoption budget we only get 1 gift a year from each other. I’m so excited to give him his present. I can’t tell you what it is yet cause he may be sneaky and come in here and read about it. I wish I could give him so much more. He deserves so much. He has the patience of a saint just to put up with all my shenanigans. He’s quiet and a little shy so most people don’t know him like I do. But I know he’s a riot, and a big kid, a wonderful pug daddy, will make a fabulous daddy to Ling Ling & Mei Mei, my best friend, so very smart, extremely talented, scrumptious and handsome, loyal, easy going, and grateful. The last year or so has been rough and he’s taken everything like a champ. I know this next year is going to be the best one ever. 3 is my lucky number and hopefully by his next birthday we’ll be looking at our referral that will make us a family of 4. So happy birthday honey!

Tomorrow is Kea’s 2nd birthday. She’s still so little it’s hard to believe she’s 2. Here she was when we first introduced her to Ike. Click to enlarge pictures. She came home on January 29th, 2004. So just a few days living at her new house and she had her first holiday card photo shoot for Valentine’s Day. Many people received that photo and thought we’d bought Ike a new toy, not realizing she was a real live pug. She’s spending her birthday weekend being spoiled and posing in yet another holiday photo shoot. At least now she gets to dress up and be all elegant!

For years I’ve wanted a Moravian star to hang on the front porch during Christmas time. Jon’s always told me I couldn’t hang a Moravian star because “You’re Irish and you don’t want to offend the Moravians.” He was better at geography in school so I just went with it. Then I started noticing that we live amongst tons of Moravians. We must because I’d see those stars everywhere. I don’t even know where Moravia is, so I certainly wasn’t aware of a mass Moravian exodus to the Carolinas. Turns out the Moravians are nice people who probably don’t mind if non-Moravians hang their star at Christmas, and I’m married to a frugal boy who just didn’t want to shell out the cash for front porch Moravian bling.

The camel is back. And this time he brought a friend, the donkey. I love donkeys- so cute. They must be starring in a Christmas outdoor play back there or something. That’s the only reason I can come up with that a camel, a sheep, some goats, and a donkey are taking up residence behind a castle themed ampitheatre in my neighborhood. Everything is really changing back there. They’ve put in a new road and broke ground on a new Ryan homes subdivision. So, if you’re looking for a new home and want to live in the fabulous South but need a big dose of quirky in your neighborhood, drop me a line and I’ll show you around.

We like it cold. We keep the heat on 60 and we’d go lower if we weren’t worried about the pugs getting cold. We love snuggling up with tons of blankets but still being able to breathe cold air. I can’t stand artificial heat. All that fake fire air blowing at you. I’ll take a real fire any day. Poor Shannon could barely stand being at the house doing Christmas cards tonight. She had on a jacket and 2 blankets and still had cold fingers! The picture is Jon’s winter sleeping outfit. The boy comes to bed with a hoodie over a shirt with flannel pants and socks. We sleep with 2 pugs and a huge down comforter. Maybe it’s time to crank up the heat a little cause at this point if feels like I’m sleeping with the Unibomber! ;)

I’m just now getting around to changing over my blog to winter ish colors and I’ve yet to put out any Christmas decorations. BUT- Jon’s birthday is next week and I’m all set with his present. And I only have 2 Christmas presents to get. I plan on working on my Christmas cards this week. Looks like it’s time for another pug photo shoot!

Speaking of….if you would like a pug Christmas photo please email me your address. For Christmas I don’t do the whole pug card as I buy all my Christmas cards on clearance the year before. In fact, last year I bought enough to last me through 2007 I think. But I do put a little pug picture in each card. I’ll be posting the pictures here as well.

After our tattoos we went to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for chicken and dumplings. Lisa had lost a football bet to Jon and promised to make him home made chicken and dumplings. While dinner was cooking we went to Big Daddy’s fireworks. Pete’s from NJ where they can’t even have sparklers so he was like a kid in a candy store. He grabbed a buggy and loaded up. We went home and Pete and Jon had a great time setting off fireworks before dinner.
Saturday we went to Shealy’s for lunch (look at all that fried chicken!) then toured through the teeny town where I grew up. Then we headed up to my sister Sara’s house to visit with her, my BIL, my nephews, my mom, Hale, Morgan and her boyfriend. We had fun hanging out with everyone.
Sunday we went to breakfast at a local favorite: Courtney’s, home of the granola pancakes and pancake skin. We came home and set off some more fireworks before taking Pete to the airport. Lisa and I drove through the Christmas lights display in McAdenville this entire town that decorates for Christmas. Then we met up with Shannon for dinner at Red Bowl. Today was pretty laid back. Lunch and shopping and packing Lisa up for her flight home. We had such a great time with L & P while they were here and we’ve launched a full campaign to get them to move on down!

So after meeting up with Gwen & the girls we headed uptown to Fu’s Tattoos. Now, let me tell you why I wanted a tattoo. I have one already, a product of my youth. But I wanted one for Ling Ling and Mei Mei. That may sound weird to some people, but when you have a bio child you go through a physical process. We get to do paperwork and travel. I wanted my baby to change me physically. I wanted a physical reminder of her so I could look every day and be reminded that she’s out there waiting for me. So I decided to get a ladybug tattoo on my right foot. This adoption is a journey and every journey starts with a single step right? There are 3 ladybugs. 3 is my lucky number. Dave the artist heard my story and came up with 2 bigger ladybugs on bamboo looking out over a baby one on a little leaf. Perfect. It looks like Jon and I on our way to get Ling Ling. It’s a bit bigger than I had anticipated at first, but once Dave drew it up I knew it was perfect.
We had a big time getting our tattoos together. Click here for pictures.