Random Vacation Thoughts.

I've been on vacation since December 21st. I was contemplating not taking the full amount of time that I had requested off, I mean, its not like I had anything really important to do. Then December 20th rolled around.....and after getting into a verbal confrontation with a plow driver ( oh yes I did ) I decided that I really needed to just go home and not leave my house for about 10 days. My nerves were totally shot. I seriously needed a vacation. I fully embraced by vacation status...so much so that after about day four of being on vacation Brock referred to me as " Sweat Pants Sally ".
I've straightened up since then and have been wearing pants that actually zipper and button.
But there were a few days there when I did not put on makeup before leaving the house...scandalous I know.


And as I have been on vacation I've had some time to let my very busy mind do some wandering......buckle your collective seatbelts people.

This is for my friends at Stop & Shop.

The store nearest my house has chosen not

to carry Tofutti cream cheese or sour cream anymore.

Jerks.

I guess there is a reason that the nice folks at

Whole Foods Market continue to be my BFFs.

Tofutti cream cheese.....check

Tofutti sour cream......check

Rice cheese slices....check

and peel me up off the floor.....

Soy whipped cream in a can !

God, I love WFM !

Speaking of BFFs...my BFFs at Target sent me coupons for products that I regularly buy. Awesome ! But that got me to thinking.......how do my BFFs at Target know exactly what I buy ? Then I was a little paranoid. If it is just that easy for Target to know what I buy how hard could it be for the Feds to bug my phone ? Makes you think, huh ?

Speaking of the mail.... I hate junk mail. It is the bane of my existence. I want to leave a little letter taped to the door asking the letter carrier not to even leave it in my mailbox. When I voice my frustration to Brock about this he tells me that it is a fact of life that I simply must deal with. I refuse to accept this. I will find a way to rid myself of junk mail.

In a somewhat related story.......when my Aunt and Uncle moved to the house they live in now they had to change their phone number. They asked for an unlisted phone number. Turns out they got a recycled number that had previously belonged to a woman who lived in town. Unfortunately the woman who had the number before still gave it out as her number. People were calling my Aunt and Uncle night and day asking for this woman. Then one day my Aunt, clearly fed up by this point, told the person on the other end of the phone that said woman was dead. The guy freaked out. Nobody ever called asking for the woman ever again.

Perhaps I should trot off to the post office and tell them I am deceased....nah....bad karma.

I've become addicted to online jigsaw puzzles. Molly told me that I've hit all new levels of dork-dom. Thanks Molls...I love you too.

I don't know about you, but I've had about all I can take with the post Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa furniture store sale commercials. Can someone please tell me what an occasional table is ? It's occasionally a table and occastionally not a table ? Is it furniture with an identity crisis ?

I'm not sure how it is where you live..but here is Massachusetts everyone that owns/operates/does commericals for furniture stores are look like they were rejected as extras from Star Wars. For example..here,here and here.

I've been cooking up a storm this week. I've made enough Christmas cookies to feed a 3rd world country. I've also made my own homemade granola...twice. And I made this for dinner tonight. And it was good.

Thats all I have for now.

I hope all of you have a very happy new year !

XO
Bunny.

Retro Music Friday.

Brock has this on his IPod.

Bullets for the rest of today's post.

* I had enough roast pork left over from Christmas to feed a small country, so yesterday I made a very large pot of Pork BBQ. I even made my own BBQ sauce. I had to hand shred the pork and let me tell you - Emeril is dead wrong - pork fat DOES NOT rule. It's messy and gross. Yuck !

* We had to go to JC Penney last night to exchange some Xmas gifts. Then Brock wanted a pretzel from Auntie Anne's and while in line at the pretzel place is where it hit us. We are not kids anymore. The kids in line with us looked like they were eight years old. Seriously.

* I did not find any unsuspecting victim to go to the Providence Place mall with me yesterday. Since I was looking for something specific from Pottery Barn I decided to call ahead of time to see if they had any in stock. They did not. I may go down there today and see if I can find anything on sale that appeals to me.

Have a fantastic day !

XO

Bunny

RIP E-machines Computer 2002-2007.

Look what the Hubs and I did not plan on buying yesterday....why it's a new computer !
Our old computer chose to crash on Christmas morning. It was dead. Deader than Anna Nicole Smith ( no disrespect ). First it decided that it would start normally, but then shut itself off with no warning. By yesterday morning it would not even turn on. At all.

Yesterday afternoon we headed to B#st B#y to see what they had. We fought the (idiots) crowds and left B#st B#y with a nice 400GB Gateway.

Ooohhhh ! Aaahhh!

I'm going to try to find some unsuspecting victim to go to the Providence Place mall with me today. I got a Pottery Barn gift card for Xmas and there are some really cute lamps I want.

Wish me luck cause these particular lamps are sold out on the PB website. I'll let you know if I am sucessful.

XO

Bunny

Merry Christmas !

I hope Santa was good to all of you.

Merry Christmas !
XO

Bunny and The Mister

Mrs. Claus Goes High Tech.

Earlier today I was chatting with my friend Theresa when her daughter Kaylah ( she's 3 ) asked if she was speaking to Mrs. Claus. Theresa told her that yes, she was speaking with Mrs. Claus. Then Kaylah got on the phone with Mrs. Claus ( yours truly ) and we had a lovely conversation.
I decided that I would follow up our chat with an email - I sent along a visual so she'd have an idea of what Mrs. Claus looks like. I thought it might help my credibility.
So here is a copy of what I sent along to Kaylah.
Shhhh.....don't tell anyone that Mrs. Claus emails. I don't want my inbox all clogged up =)


Dear Kaylah,

It was so nice to talk to you on the phone today. I'm so glad to hear that you've been a good girl. I'll certainly tell Santa that you've been good so you get lots of nice presents.
Santa is very busy today, he and the elves are packing the sleigh for their very long trip on Christmas eve. I hope that you leave some yummy cookies and delicious milk for Santa. I'm sure he'll very, very hungry by the time he gets to Pennsylvania !

Please continue to be a good girl and give Logan a nice, big kiss from Mrs. Claus.

Bye Bye Sugar !

Love,
Mrs. Claus

Nine Nine, Come On In The Water Is Fine.

Today marks month nine of waiting.

I was wondering what today's post was

going to be about, but then I realized what

today's date was.

BTW, this is Telly.

I've seen Telly a few times on Sesame Street and

quite frankly I think he has some sort

of anxiety disorder.

He always seems to be freakin' out

about stuff.

He could definitely benefit from psychiatric meds.

Oh well, I hope Telly can find some inner peace.

XO

Bunny

P.S. For more info on the catchy little

tune I have playing on my blog, CLICK HERE.

And for Retro Music Friday, CLICK HERE.

You Better Watch Out, You'd Better Not Cry, Stephanie Claus Is Coming To Town.

First off, let me just Thank Steph profusely for my much coveted towel warmer. I was squealing like a school girl when I opened it the other night. Brock could not quite believe that she actually sent us one of these - as I almost never receive what I request for Christmas.

So Steph - a million thanks to you ( and Tim ). YOU THE BOMB !!!

Ooooo !!!! Aaahhhhh!!!

I also had the very good fortune of receiving another Christmas gift from one of my clients last night. Imagine my surprise when I opened this............

Yep, it's satin.

And it's dirty......

Brock could not stop laughing after I opened this. He nearly choked he laughed so hard. He said it was " the most Napoleon Dynamite looking thing he'd ever seen. "

I think this particular client found this in their apartment - I've always said I was a re-gifters dream come true.

With that, I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas.

XXOO

Bunny

A Little Christmas Laugh.

I could not stop laughing at this.

For more funny cat pics, click here.

Also, I made vegan cupcakes from my

Secret Santa gift cookbook on Sunday.

They were awesome !

I made the vegan cookies & cream cupcakes

with vegan cookies & cream buttercream.

I cannot say enough about them - Delish !

XO

Bunny

Got Snow ?

We're in the middle of a Nor'easter* as I am typing this. We've already gotten about 5" of snow on top of the foot or so from this past Thursday.
Ah yes...Thursday...did I tell you it took me just a hair under 2 hours to get home from work on Thursday ? I was 18 miles from home and it took me two stinkin' hours to get home. I believe that is an average of 9 miles and hour. It was ( if I may borrow a phrase from Steph here ) snowmageddon. People weren't stopping at red lights and were clogging up intersections. And you would have thought that Yield meant yeah-whatever-just-go-and-hope-the-other-person-gets-out-of-your-way. I nearly got clipped twice on the way home.
At any rate, please enjoy my snow pics.

The grill.
The patio set.

XO

Bunny

*For those of you not familiar, a Nor-easter is a storm that comes in off the ocean. They are usually a bit more intense and carry a lot more moisture. You can read all about it here.

I Need A House Keeper.

My house is a total mess. Seriously. It looks like a bomb hit it. I don't even know where to begin. And yet, here I am blogging about it. I need to get motivated - perhaps I just need a bit more caffeine.
Wish me luck.


In other news, we went to my work staff Christmas party at my boss's house last night. It was tons of fun. I dragged The Mister along and despite his protests he had a wonderful time.
He said that he can't even get his employees to work together at work, let alone want to socialize with each other outside work.
What can I say, we're like a little family at my job. =)
And my secret Santa gift was awesome - Thanks Jen ! You rock !

XO
Bunny

Retro Music Friday.

This song takes me right back to High School. I hope you enjoy this little trip to back in the day. Feel free to groove as needed. =)


XO
Bunny

Move Over George.

Ok, so by now most of you know that I've got some mad love for George Clooney. That hasn't changed, but, I think he's been bumped to second on my all time hottie list.

Introducing Bear Grylls...
( Try not to drool on your keyboards ladies )

Bear hosts is own show on the Discovery channel called Man Vs. Wild. Although my thoughts on his show are that 99.999 % of the world's population will never find

themselves in the situations that he puts himself in.

I mean, I have no plans to be in the Swiss Alps in January with only my

coat, a knife and my wits. But on the other hand 99.999 % of the world's population rarely leave the comfort of their living room. So I can understand the vicariousness with which people watch his show.
Check it out if you have time. Why just today he was on the Patagonian ice cap in Argentina running around with no clothes on.
( Therese, I bet you're just kicking yourself about the cable in Manhiem. You don't know what you're missing...)

Although I think I could really do without him eating live fish and bugs.

However, the running around with no clothes on....Please Sir May I Have Another ?!

On his blog it says that he works out four hours a day.

If I worked out four hours a day I still wouldn't look like Heidi Klum...

Devastatingly handsome, no ?

In other news....my mad baking skills have gone the way of the

passenger pigeon. That's right, extinct.

I made a batch of cookie dough for Christmas and froze them into little balls. The idea being that when I need cookies for the holidays all I would have to do is take them out

and bake. A lot of effort now for very little effort later. My first batch of cookies came out good.

I test baked two very small cookies to see how they were and they passed the Hubby taste test.

Then, as I was feeling very ambitious yesterday, I started on my second batch of cookie dough.

The second batch required a substantial amount of toasted pecans,

which I promptly burned.

At any rate, I may have cookie dough round 2 today.

I'll let you know how they turn out.

XO

Bunny

My Favorite Christmas Song.

I've loved this song for as long as I can remember. Hope you enjoy it also.

XO
Bunny

Santa Baby, Slip A Towel Warmer Under The Tree For Me.

This is the much coveted Towel Warmer.

XO

Bunny

Where Are My Real Parents And When Are They Coming To Get Me ?

Some years ago I learned that when my mother asks me what I'd like for Christmas it is best to respond with either
" I don't know." or " I don't care. "
This was my hard and fast rule for a long time, and it usually resulted in me receiving plain old cash for Christmas ( great ! ).
And this rule only applied to my mother as, by and large, the only person my dad Christmas shops for is my mother.

This was a very long, hard lesson for me to learn. Because for a long time when asked this simple, direct question by my mother I would think long and hard about what I wanted and tell her.
And I always wound up with either the complete and total opposite of what I asked for or something my mother seemed to think at the time that I desperately needed.

Isn't repeating the same sequence of actions and expecting a different outcome everytime the clinical definition of insanity ?

Last week she started in again with asking me what I'd like for Christmas. And instead of sticking to my usual answers I ( very foolishly ) told her I'd like a towel warmer** from Brookstone.
This was her answer....

" Sigh.....you always ask for the queerest shit for Christmas...."

So it remains to be seen if I will actually receive said towel warmer for Christmas.
Stay tuned.

XO
Bunny

** Last Christmas I asked for ( and got ) my heated mattress pad. When I told Brock that I was interested in the towel warmer he said " You're all about the warmth, aren't you ? "

And The Mystery Illness Is........

Drum roll please........


Reactive Hypoglycemia.
( Don't worry, it's not fatal. )

Basically, my body carries way too much insulin in it. And because I have too much insulin it keeps depressing my glucose level.
When I eat anything (especially things with a lot of sugar) the already too high insulin level kicks in and goes even higher, in turn making my glucose level plummet. So then I have no glucose and crap loads of insulin still hanging around and that is when I feel dizzy, lightheaded, etc.

The Mister and I spent about an hour at the Joslin Diabetes center in Boston yesterday.
They sent in a woman to start the paperwork and do some blood work on me and on the way out she warned us that the Dr. was quite a joker.
She was not kidding.
He was like Andy Rooney on uppers. We were in hysterics almost the entire time we were in there.

The cure is really easy.

1. Get thy fat ass to the gym and put on some muscle ! Building muscle will use up a lot of the excess insulin.
and
2. Watch your sugar and carbs ! I've been living on beef jerky, almonds and Vitamin Water for weeks. I'm going to have to investigate some other options 'cause this is getting a bit boring.

Toward the end of our visit the Dr. told me that my metabolism was wound way too tight.
Brock thought this was the funniest thing he'd heard all year.

Speaking of The Mister, he's out for his weekly " big run " this morning. 18 miles. It's 28 degrees out and the wind it howling......I made him take his cell with him in case he needs me to go pick him up off the side of the road.

Have a good day and stay warm !

XO
Bunny

Tales From Turkey Day.

On Thursday - while the turkey was in the oven and before the potatoes needed to be peeled - I played / watched Guitar Hero with Emmsie.

Emma, despite all appearances to the contrary, enjoys spending time with me. Although most times it is only on her terms. 'Cause you know, heaven forbid she appear to be the least bit uncool doing anything I want to do.
I told her I would only watch her play Guitar Hero if she let me pick the songs and we had a deal.

First I picked Crazy On You by Heart. She did really well on that one and in doing so she got to write her name on the bathroom wall. Yeah, if you play a song really well then you get to graffiti your name next to a urinal. And to think I only got to play Super Mario Bros. when I was a kid. How did I ever manage ?

Then we moved onto Sweet Child O' Mine - which I proceeded to sing in a really exaggerated, high pitched voice.

Then I wanted Emmsie to play Paradise City, but unfortunately that was not an option. Emma had no knowledge of Paradise City by GNR. Then she said " Ok Erica, you're like, old, ok. And I really don't know these old songs. So can we like, pick something else ? "
I shouldn't be too surprised, Emmsie's brother Nate likes to remind me constantly that " it's not 1995 anymore and you're just not at cool as you think you are..."

Moving on....I picked Message in a bottle by The Police. She again played really well and again got to write her name on the bathroom wall.
You go Emma !


The turkey was awesome, and I got many, many compliments on my pecan pie. And I even managed to squeeze in a nap.
All in all a very good day.

And you guys ?


XO
Bunny

Happy Turkey Day Y'All !

Ocho.

Today marks eight whole months of Logged-in-ness.

( btw, this is Baby Bear. I guess he is relatively new as

I do not recall him from my Sesame St. watching days.)

Seeing as today is the night before Thanksgiving, I am going to list what I've have

been thankful for lately - in no particular order.

* My wonderful, sweet, uber-patient husband, without him

I would be lost.

* A job that I truly love, it is certainly never boring.

* My heated mattress pad, I cannot live without it

in the winter.

* Good friends ( you know who you are )

* Vitamin Water and Dunkin Donuts hash browns ( long story )

* Having a wonderful Primary Care Office that will

see me at a moments notice.

I'm sure there is a lot more that I just cannot think of

right now. It's late, I'm tired and I still have a sink full of

dishes to wash and a pecan pie to bake.

With that, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

XXOO

Bunny

We Can All Rest Easy Now.

Mike Lowell re-signed ( 3 years , 37mil.)with the Red Sox.

I was getting a little worried. I was afraid that he'd end up on some

west coast team.

I'm glad that's over....aren't you ?

You the man Mike !

I'm feeling a bit better since my last post. I was in total despair last week. Let me tell you, there are days when International Adoption can just kick your ass. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. So, I guess I'm back in the saddle.

It hasn't helped that I've not been well lately. So I think my mystery illness coupled with IA uncertainly just pushed me over the edge.

I have to tell all of you....I had the best soup for lunch today. It was so good. I mean, gooood.

I stopped off at this little mom & pop middle eastern cafe that I get lunch from frequently and they had a new soup of the day. They usually have a lemon chicken rice soup, which is mighty tasty. Today they had lemon chicken orzo. I got a bowl to go and took it back to my office and when I opened the container at my desk I thought there was cream or milk in it...so I was mildly annoyed for a minute that I would not be able to eat my soup and I was really hungry.

I called them to ask if there was milk or cream in the soup and they said no..the creamy appearance was from whipped egg whites. I'm going to try and find a recipe for this online, if I do I'll pass it along.

With that, I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

XO

Bunny

So What Have You Been Up To Since 2005 ?

Since 2005 I have,

* Undergone gyn surgery with Dr. HotShot in an effort to make my ute a more hospitable place for a fetus.
* Nagged my gyn when after several months I was still not pregnant.
* Use OPKs and still not pregnant.
* Switched gyns after getting royally pissed with Dr. HotShot.
* Gyn # 2 ran tests on me only to find that I do not ovulate ( major foreshadowing here..)
* Gyn #2 recommends Clomid.
* Surprise ! Bunny gets pregnant with twins w/o clomid.
* Bunny miscarries twins ( for the third time)
* Bunny gets referred to Dr. FancyPants in Boston
* Bunny gets poked, prodded and tested for everything in the book.
* Bunny sees a hematologist
* Bunny gets enough blood drawn to save a trauma victim.
* Bunny sees the inside of her ute with a camera. ( have you seen yours ? )
* Dr. FancyPants runs more tests and recommends more surgery ( surprise ! Dr. Hotshot does a crappy job with surgery #1 )
* Dr. FancyPants recommends one more test.
* Dr. FancyPants finds out that Bunny has almost no eggs left and the ones I do have are total shit.
* The Mister and I decided to adopt
* The Mister and I go to an adoption open house.
* The Mister and I decided to adopt from China.
* The Mister and I are home studied, background checked, medical examined, hep A and B vaccinated, TB tested, finger printed and pre-adoptive parent counseled.
* The Mister and I get a dossier ready, have it checked at the MA Sec of state office, then have it checked again ( in person )at the Chinese Consulate in NYC
* Finally we have a dossier mailed to China.

So - how have y'all been ?

As you may or may not know, things have not been going super great on the adoption front. Don't misunderstand me, nothing has gone wrong - but not a whole lot is going great. If that makes any sense.
China is at a virtual standstill and we realize that we, given our late log in date, may not see a referral for perhaps three to four more years.
We spoke with our social worker last week about what our other options are, as I do not wish to be 40 with a kindergartener.. Turns out we have almost no other options.

* For reasons I won't summarize Korea and Kazakhstan are not an options for us.

*We can't afford the $40K price tag for a domestic adoption. And with regard to domestic adoption we also realize that we would never in this lifetime get chosen by birth parents.

*We are also able to consider a waiting child ( minor / moderate medical needs ), however if you express interest in a WC your application will go to a committee for evaluation. According to our SW, the committee usually give preference to the folks waiting longer. Again, given our late log in date this is not in our favor and will most likely not be a scenario for us.

Vietnam is really our only other choice. They just reopened for International Adoptions last year. However the agreement the the U.S. and Vietnam forged is only good through March of 2008. Both governments will revisit the issue of remaining open for International adoptions soon. There have been considerable issues with Vietnam, including accusations of baby selling and / or trafficking and the Vietnamese government failing to produce a concrete fee schedule as promised during in the agreement. Discussions on the adoption boards are very heated regarding Vietnam and I don't like what I am hearing.

I have spoken with other agencies regarding adopting from Vietnam ( our agency does not have a VN program.) and what they've had to say has been very encouraging. One agency told me that they could have our dossier to VN in a month. And there is only a 4 to 6 month wait for a boy. Great !
What happens if VN closes their IA program ? No one really knows. As with any adoption, there are no guarantees.

We are also exploring adopting from the foster care system. We could potentially get an infant.
However most infants in the foster care system come with a certain amount of legal risk.
Get a baby and have it taken away...mmmmm...no thanks.

I have also out the word out to family and friends that we are seeking a baby. I've asked them if they know of anyone who is expecting and is unable or unwilling to parent their child to please keep us in mind. I sent this out in a mass email and in hindsight I realize that it probably made me seem a little nuts. But as our SW said - If we want to catch a fish, we have to put another line in the water.

I have come to the sad realization that we may never have a family. I know this is harsh, but it is a reality. Just because you put your dossier in at another country does not guarantee you a baby. Nothing does.

This opinion is not necessarily shared by the management. The Mister seems to be holding out hope that our kid is out there somewhere and will get here eventually. He keeps telling me that we need to be " level headed and make good measured steps toward what we want. "
I am having a very hard time sharing this sentiment. After everything we've gone through I'm not sure how much more I can take. You'd think that starting a family would be the easiest, most natural thing to do. But we are living, breathing proof that it is not.
It blows my mind that people just get it on and 9 months later a baby results. Blows. My. Mind.

Right now I have very little hope that we will ever have a family and have been trying to make peace with this.
I was on one of my adoption boards the other day when another PAP ( perspective adoptive parent ) wrote in very discouraged about IA. I proceed to be cheerleader and told her not to give up, blah blah blah. So now I feel like a hypocrite- I can't follow my own freakin' advice !

I'd like to say that at least I have my health, but apparently I do not have that either.
I seem to have some sort of mystery medical issue that requires a specialist. I've been ill for quite some time, however the wait for this particular specialist is six weeks. I have less than two to go before my appointment.

So, in summation - I do not feel like I have much more get-back-in-the-saddle left in me. In fact, I feel like the damn horse has kicked me square in the chest and I'm lying face down in a pile of horse crap.
This is how I feel today.
Tomorrow may be a different story.

:::::::sigh:::::::

Bunny

Not Too Much Going On This Week.

I realize that it has been a while since I've posted anything. By and large it has been very boring around here. Thanksgiving is next week and I, as usual, will be making my kick a$$ stuffing and the obligatory pecan pie for my dad.

Today Brock, Molly, Molly's nephew Thomas and I attempted to go to the new L.L. Bean store in Mansfield. About three stoplights away from the turn we quickly realized that it was very, very unlikely we'd be getting to L.L. Bean. The traffic was NUTS ! Everyone and their mother decided to go the grand opening today. We turned around and decided to go out to breakfast instead. I volunteered to hold Thomas so Molly could eat. He was having none of the high chair.
Thomas is very squirmy and decided that no matter how I held him he was going to squirm into another position. He also smacked me repeatedly in the face. Poached eggs with a side of abuse anyone ?
Then we went to the Reebok concept store, located at the Reebok world headquarters. I must say, the Reebok world headquarters is quite an impressive place. It is HUGE !
Now before you go thinking that you can just go strolling on up to Reebok and expect to get in, I did have a special invitation. Reebok was honoring people who work for non-profits with 50% off coupons for their concept store.
BTW, the " concept " store is the store that they test out all of the new stuff before they market it. I did not get anything, but Brock got some new running clothes.

Oh yeah, and Brock has a new workout buddy.

This is Thomas, perfecting his push up on Brock's new push up

thingamabobs. Always important to have a spotter, no ?

XXOO

Bunny

I Wonder If Berlitz Offers This Class ?

The scene: Today at one of my client's apartment in an assisted living facility.
The participants: Me and my client.
Our favorite activity : Watching the food channel ( that has been airing Thanksgiving commercials with the theme of " Let's talk turkey " )

Me: sitting quietly watching the " talk turkey " commercial.

My Client : " Do you talk turkey ? "

Me: turn to look at my client with slight bemusement

My Client : " Well do ya ? "

Me: trying not to giggle

My Client: very accusingly " You do talk turkey, don't you ?! "

Me: starting to laugh

My Client: " Well I can't help it - I don't speak turkey ! "


Priceless. Absolutely priceless.


XO
Bunny

More Bullets Than South Central L.A.

* Brock and I have a niece. Meaghan Marie was born on 11/02/07. She's really quite cute, and dare I say.... she looks a little like Brock. Pics here.

* We joined an organic farm co-op. We picked up our first box today. Can anyone tell me what to do with Swiss Chard ? And I also have satsuma tangerines..mmmmm.

* Someone needs to stop Britney. She needs a court appointed monitor for herself- never mind her kids !

* So you know that The Mister and I do a mean rendition of Folsom Prison Blues. Turns out we also do a kick a$$ version of Wanted Dead or Alive. We've even turned it into a duet if you can imagine that.

* OK, how hot is George Clooney ? Seriously. If he gets any better looking he may burst into flames. Mee-oow.

* And because Brock gave me a hard time about that last George Clooney bullet - please click here to see Brock's dream woman.

* We've come to a bend in the road in the adoption process. Don't get excited - no referral yet, or anytime soon. There might be some interesting news around the corner. Stay tuned.

XO

Bunny

One Less Contestant For American Idol.

I was in my car with one of my clients today. We were listening to the radio when
Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet came on.
Now, this particular client loves to sing along with the oldies. She really has quite a remarkable memory when it comes to singing songs. She can hear a song once and remember most of the words.

So here we are driving back from lunch, listening to Margaritaville, when she began to sing.

" All them tourists covered in drool."

??????

It was really hard to not bust out laughing.
Really. Hard.

XO
Bunny

And Here She Is.

Introducing our niece.

XO

Aunt Bunny

It's A Girl.

Born November 2, 2007
7lbs, 6ozs
Lots of dark hair
and
a squished up nose.

I might have pictures later on...stay tuned.


XO
Aunt Bunny

P.S.
I love this article. =)

Aunt Bunny And Uncle The Mister.

My BIL and SIL are getting on a plane to Iowa as we speak. The Birth Mother they were matched with is currently in labor....right now......as I am typing this.
Stay tuned - I'll be interrupting your regularly scheduled blog with updates as they become available.

As for a Halloween...it was a pretty good night around here. We had a bunch of pirates, various super heroes, an elephant, a Hannah Montana and a Paris Hilton - complete with little dog in purse.
The best costume of the night award went to a little boy, about 3 or so, and his parents.
The little boy was a hot dog and mom and dad were a bottles of ketsup and mustard. Too cute !
We had about 60 or so kids and a TON of candy left over. I brought all of the left over candy to work.
I got the stink eye from some, but most of the candy was gone by the end of the day.

Not too much else going on here today. I'm going to try to get a jump on the laundry as they are predicting power outages with the remnants of hurricane Noel tomorrow.

XO
Bunny

No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

Taco Bell ran a promotion during the World Series called " Steal a base, steal a taco ". If someone happened to steal a base during the WS then TB would give out one free taco today between 2pm and 5pm at participating locations.
Seeing as today was free taco day I packed up three of my clients in my car and drove off to our nearest TB.
We were sitting out at a stop light waiting to turn into the TB parking lot when I looked over and saw about 40 cars lined up for the drive thru and a line of people out the door and into the TB parking lot.
Wow. All for a free taco.......
I guess America loves free shit.

How disgruntled do you think the taco maker was this afternoon ?

We did not get free tacos, btw.


XXOO
Bunny

Good To Be A New Englander.

The Sox won the Series.
The Pats and 8 and 0.
The BC Eagles are 2nd in the NCAA.
and....
The Bruins are playing like they've got a pair. ( they're 6 and 3, btw )


Does life get any better ? Seriously.

I was jazzed beyond belief that my man Mike Lowell got the World Series MVP. I was for sure it would have gone to Beckett. They both had equally spectacular performances during the series.

Of course like true Boston fans Brock and I were trash talking A-Rod last night after the game.
Not sure if any of you heard this, but Slappy McBlueLips announced through his agent during the 6th inning of the game that he was opting out of his contract with the Spanks. I mean come on, can't he hang on to that for like, three more days ?
Does every Sox win have to be rained on by the Spanks in some fashion ? Ugh - totally classless.


After the sox win last night one of the news channels was interviewing Theo Epstein and in the background the fans were chanting " Don't sign A-Rod ! "
I can tell you this though......if Theo decides to go after Slappy McBlueLips and not re-sign Lowell Brock and I will personally egg Theo's car and let all the air out of the tires.




So now we settle in to watch the rest of the Pats season.




See ya at the Super Bowl !
XO
Bunny

P.S. Big Thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury for the free taco !!!!!

Random Stuff.

This* is hysterical.

* Ok, this link is apparently gone now, however, 1800 Muffins had a muffin they were selling
called "The Britney Muffin - The Nutty Drunk". It was a rum raisin muffin with nuts on top.

This is just nasty.

This looks delicious.

This makes me happy.

This worries me.

This is quite interesting.

These are funny...and apparently I'm the only one who thinks so.


XO
Bunny

Ignorance Abounds.

OK, so remember a few posts ago when I wrote that there was a lot of misinformation and lack of education regarding adoption ?

Check out this assclown !
And then here he goes for round two !



Brock and I both felt, and still feel, that adoption is the right thing for us. We have seemingly gone to the ends of the earth to make this happen. Nothing has fazed us to this point.


Not the individual meeting with the social worker.
Not the home visit.
Not the getting finger printed by CIS.
Not going to the Chinese Consulate in NYC.
Not the endless amount of paperwork.
Nothing.


However....what we fear the most is running into people like this on the street.


Feel free to write a response to him.
I'm still working on mine.





XO

Bunny.

Visions Of Sheet Cakes Dance In My Head.

The cake saga is finished. Thank God. My boss very nicely told " D " that her cake " had gone bad " and she's have to " buy a new one ".
My boss said that, by and large, she took the news very well. She understood that these things happen and was OK with buying a new cake with me today.
We found a lovely 1/4 sheet cake at the bakery today that fit the bill just fine.

By no means is this story over.......

My client " D " is married to another client, also named " D ".
" D " the husband wanted to order 24 pizzas for the birthday party.
( "D" and his sister's birthdays are only 2 days apart and they have a joint party every year. )
There are 11 people coming to this party, and they are all bringing food.
So, including D & D, there will be 13 people at this party.
My boss tried to convince the husband " D " that 24 pizzas was a little excessive for 13 people.
So " D " then told my boss that he would only order 11 pizzas, one for each guest.
My boss felt that this was still too much and tried to talk him down.
She got him down to 5 pizzas and tried to convince him that, with all the other food, 5 pizzas would be plenty.
The husband " D " is still not convinced, so his case manager called the pizza shop and asked them to only deliver 5 pizzas to them.
She also called his sister and warned her in advance to keep "D" from ordering enough pizza to feed a third world country.
The lengths we go to save people from themselves.

You think I'm finished with this story......fat chance !

Me and my client "D" ran into spouse "D" and his case manager at the supermarket this afternoon.
I had to laugh because "D" the husband's case manager was in an aisle trying to convince "D" the husband that oh..perhaps.. 25 bags of salad was too much for 13 people.
Seriously, he had about 3/4 of his shopping cart filled with bags of salad.

It gets better.......

I caught up with the other case manager back at D&D's apartment. We had plans to meet up and help our respective clients clean out their fridge. Which wasn't as bad as we thought, btw.
Guess what we found..........YOU GUESSED IT...ANOTHER FLIPPIN' SHEET CAKE !
( Are they trying to eat their way into a diabetic coma ? )



The cake read " Happy 42nd Birthday D.."

D was born in 1962.

You do the math.





XO
Bunny

Somebody Stop Me.

My baby clothing shopping seems to go in peaks and valleys. I am sometimes able to stay away from buying anything baby related for months at a time. Then I have weeks when I seem to go crazy, like this week.
Sometimes, when I am out with The Mister I'll pick up something and say " Gee hon, isn't this cute ?" To which he usually responds with " PUT THE ONSIE / DRESS/ PJs DOWN AND STEP AWAY WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR !!! "
God love him, he really does try to keep me in check. Really. And it is not an easy job.
I never plan on these little peaks, they just seem to happen. I'm not sure whats going to happen if some of my purchases don't fit the wee one, or if they fit but are the wrong season. You may be seeing Bunny's big beautiful E-bay store one of these days.
At any rate, here are my latest purchases.

Lilly Pulitzer dress. I love the little palm tree on it.

I think this dress could have easily been $60 at the Lilly store, but I

got it at the Children's Orchard for $6.50.

Sticking with the tropical theme....little cropped pants

with a polo shirt. The polo has a pink flamingo on it.

Closer look at the flamingo.

Carter's footie PJs.

Lands End two piece outfit. I liked the frog on the top

and the little lady bugs on the bottoms.
Lands End stuff for kids is cute and seems well made.

However,I am not impressed with their clothing for

adults. I bought a sweater last year and after about 12 trips through the

washer it was faded, shrunk and was pilly.

I gave it to Goodwill.

Side note: I'm not impressed with Vera Wang for Kohl's either.

Vera does some really beautiful wedding dresses, but her

line for Kohl's is ill-fitting, shapeless and boring.

Shoes and handbags are cute though.

You may or may not know that I am obsessed with bowls. A wierd obsession, I know. I can't help it, I love bowls. Maybe I was a potter in a past life, who knows. I bought these from Crate & Barrel this week. They sort of match the Kate Spade dishes I have, which it the only reason I bought them. I'll post pics later.

I'm home from work today. I woke up not feeling too well this morning. Still having issues with the stomach and I also seem to be running a very low temp. I have this general feeling of Blah that I can't quite put my finger on.

So this means no Sheet Cake Sequel post for today. Perhaps I'll have more to the story tomorrow.

Game One of World Series is tonight at Fenway ! See you there, 8pm on FOX.

So CLAP CLAP CLAP !!! LETS GO SOX !!!! WOOO HOOO !!!!!

XXOO

Bunny

Don't Mess With My Cake.

So you remember the post from a few days ago about my client " D " and her massive sheet cake ? We all on the same page ?
OK, moving on.
The sheet cake was taken to a group residence on last Friday to be put in there freezer. Another case manager drove the cake to this house only to find that it did not fit in their freezer. I told you it was a big cake.....
What to do you ask ?
My boss told the case manager with custody of said cake to hack it up and give it away. She was tired of dealing with it. ( I don't work on Fridays, otherwise this would have been squarely my problem. ) So this particular residence got a nice little treat for the weekend.
Now Sunday when I went back to work I got two messages on my voice mail from " D " telling me that her cake had been " stolen ".

Fast forward to today. The residence called our office to say that they still had 1/3 of this cake left and no longer wished to keep it. So yet another case manager drove out to this residence to pick up the remaining cake ( this is one well traveled cake I tell ya ! ) and drove it to pizza night, when it was again hacked up and given out.

Turns out yet again that this party she was planning is not even this weekend, it is next weekend. Yeah, so the cake would have been super nasty by then.

" D " has no idea that her cake is now gone. My boss is planning on a little conference with " D " tomorrow to explain to her what happens when you go out and order cakes without help from staff. My boss is also going to tell " D " that she's going to have to buy a new cake under my supervision.

We're all about tough love in my office. There are no free roles of the dice just because they happen to be disabled.

This is not going to go well.
I may have another cake post tomorrow.
Stay tuned.


XXOO
Bunny

Did You Really Think We'd Lose To The Cleveland Indians ?

Colorado here we come !

XO

Bunny

You Say Good Bye, I Say Hello.

Good bye month six, Hello month seven.

Today marks seven months since our log in date

at the China Center of Adoption Affairs.

I am including the previously promised educational

portion of these posts.

Do you remember when I said that when it comes

to adoption there are people who

get it and people who don't ?

Here is a link to an article in Adoptive Families

magazine that highlights what I am talking about.

Looking forward to month eight,

XO

Bunny

More Baby Stuff.

Yesterday I met another adoptive mom at the outlet mall for shopping and lunch. Melissa, if you are reading this, it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can do it again sometime.



The Children's place was having a sale and I picked up a few things.

You guys know I love cats..so I could not resist the kitties on this shirt.

Teddy bear onesie.

It reminded me of Grandma - lover of all things bear.

And of course I had to get pants to go with the two shirts.

I like the butterfly on this shirt.

I have a pair of size 12 mo. flare cut baby Levis that I think will look super

cute with this shirt.


And then.....I hit the 2nd hand shops here in town.

Baby Gap denim jumper.

I think this will look cute with some colorful leggings.

A little button down shirt

Another little button down shirt.

Lime green cardigan. Too cute !

Now, I know I've said that I really don't like small kids wearing

black. However, I thought this coat was very classically designed.

I especially liked the mandarin collar and toggles.

Molly brought baby Thomas over for a visit yesterday. Thomas and I watched Singing In The Rain on YouTube. I think he enjoyed the singing and dancing. Although Elmo seems to be his favorite. What is it about Elmo that is like crack for kids ? I have not met one kid ever who does not like Elmo.

I was also curious as to how the cats would do with a baby in the house. Thomas LOVED the cats and attempted to crawl after them wherever they went. He really like our white cat. Can't say the love was mutual though. The cat was curious, but was not interested in being grabbed or followed too closely. Our other cat hid under the bed the entire time they were here.

Their days are numbered.......been too cushy for too long for them.

I remember when Emmsie was born....my aunt's cat( Mittens- R.I.P) wanted NOTHING to do with her. She would sit outside her bedroom door and howl and meow and carry on if she cried.

I always thought that if the cat could have spoken she would have said " MAKE THAT KID SHUT UP NOW !!! "

Funny thing is that Emma is the youngest of three and the cat never had any problem with the two older kids. Perhaps it was something about the pitch of Emmsie's crying. Who knows.

I'm staring to stock up on Halloween candy. I don't know if I've told you this before, but we get TONS of kids for Halloween. It averages between 75 and 140 kids. I never know what to expect.

I usually get about 8 to 10 bags of candy and go until I run out.

I bought candy at W@l-M@rt this year...I know I know...I HATE W@l-M@rt. I avoid it at all costs. I know others avoid because for moral reasons ( unfair business practices, etc. ). I avoid it because, by and large, I find W@l-M@rt to be very, very dirty. And I can't stand that their stores are always a mess. I much prefer T@rget.

Hey Steph, I know Thanksgiving is your thing. I've been meaning to send you my stuffing recipe, but here it is. I hope you enjoy it. Everyone loves this stuffing. I sort of think of myself as the stuffing maven. hahahah.

Enjoy.

XO

Bunny

B.P.D Blue

Yes folks, I finally relented and watch The Departed.

Both Brock and Molly ( Hi Molls !) have been on me for months to watch it.

I was on the fence about seeing it as I tend to not enjoy seeing

people get shot in the head.

Really, it does nothing for me.

I'm still not sure if I liked it.

Brock LOVES this movie and was 100 % confident that I

would like it too.

Mmmmm....I still have to think about this.

I am a little perturbed that Leo bit it in the end.

He was starting to grow on me.

I guess he won't be in the sequel.

XO

Bunny

Sheet Cakes, Felons and Intestines Aflame.

As you have probably gathered from the title of the post, my day has not been pretty.
Although my day did not start out horrendously. It was actually pretty good until about 4:30 this afternoon.

Here we go, bullet style;


* I have a client " D " who ordered a birthday cake from the grocery store bakery for her sister-in-law. No Biggie, right ?
WRONG.
" D " ordered A FULL SHEET CAKE ! Do you know how big A FULL SHEET CAKE is ? It's flippin' huge ! Its enough cake for at least 75 people. I asked " D" how many people are coming over to her house for this party and she said " 30 ". I do not believe this for one minute, not one. In fact, it is right up there with someone trying to sell me some magic beans.
This gets even better......I found out way after the fact that THE PARTY ISN'T UNTIL NEXT WEEKEND !!!!! ( they were just planning ahead )
Are y'all thinking what I'm thinking.....Mmmm Hmmm...the cake will surely be bad by next weekend. I, and the other case manager involved, had to find a temporary home for the cake until next weekend.
So here I am, sitting in a parking lot, calling group homes to find out who has a deep freezer.
I did find a home for it and it is going there tomorrow.

* I have another client " H " who has found herself in quite a pickle. Quite a few pickles actually.
An ex boyfriend bought a $6000 plasma TV under her name and she's been getting called by collection agencies.
Her jail bird boyfriend is getting paroled on Monday and is coming to STAY AT HER HOUSE !
And....
She has a stalker at her new job. Yep, she's been at her job for three weeks and some creep has attached himself to her. She told me that he brings her roses every day and wants to marry her.
Oy Vey.

* I have been having some gastro-intestinal issues for about 5 days or so. It has really been causing me quite a bit of discomfort.......I will spare you the details.
I finally got to see the Dr. today. She thinks I may have picked up some sort of intestinal bug that is causing my intestines and...ahem...colon to become inflamed. I have to be on a bland diet for the next few days in order to let my poor intestines heal. If it does not take care of itself I may need to go in for more tests. Again, I will spare you the details.
I always found it to be a little pretentious when other bloggers request prayer for different things. I mean, who are they to presume on their readers ? I always thought that I would never do that...but....I am requesting prayer for my intestines. Please pray that they heal quickly so I won't have to go for more tests.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news; Joe Torre told the Yankees to bite him.
Good for you Joe ! Despite my complete and total hatred for the Yankees, Joe Torre is not a bad coach. He can only do so much with the over paid pretty boys that seem to be populating the Yankee locker room these days.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sox are Do Or Die tonight in Cleveland. I hope they can bail out this sinking ship.
So CLAP CLAP CLAP !!! LETS GO SOX !!!! WOOO HOOO !!!!!!



XO
Bunny

Whadda You Guys Think ?

Can I pull this off ?

Not date Ryan Gossling, thats not what I'm talking about.

(Besides, if I were going to date anyone it would be George Clooney. )

I have been entertaining the idea of putting some bold colored streaks in my hair.

Perhaps an eggplant-y shade of purple ?

The Mister says no.

He thinks I am perhaps getting a bit too old for such foolishness.

I think it would speak to the my inner funk.

Drop me a line.

XO

Bunny

Deep Thoughts With Darrell.

Ok, so you guys remember this post...this is sort of a continuation or perhaps an addendum to that post.

Last week I told Darrell ( y'all remember Darrell right ? bliss / zen, blah blah yeah ok moving on ) that he, unbeknownst to him, helped me work though some of the feelings that I was unsure what to do with. Although he said that he really did nothing, it was just me utilizing a higher form of consciousness.
We did not have the opportunity to discuss too much in depth last week. However, we did manage to catch up this week and we ended up talking for over an hour.
Seriously, we were so engrossed in conversation that time just slipped away.
But anyway, we covered some major points about enlightenment. Way too much for me to try to summarize here.



I was really trying very hard to absorb what he was saying. I tend to be a very concrete thinker and Darrell, we lets just say that he is not a very concrete thinker. I had to work very hard to put my brain in a place to get what he was laying down. It was some deep stuff man.
Basically, in a nutshell, I have to be more willing to let stuff go and quiet the mind.
Not an easy feat for me by any means. But I am willing to give it a try.
More to come. Stay tuned.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, as I said in the previous post I was diggin' on some Eric Clapton. I decided to dig a little deeper and get some background on Mr. Clapton. Guess what ? Dude has some major issues. Talk about not being able to maintain a relationship.
I hope he's worked through his issues.
At any rate, aren't the most talented people a little damaged in some way ?
Click here for more info.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lastly, I am adding onto my list of pet peeves. I HATE buttheads who don't stop for the people in the crosswalk. WTF ??!! I nearly got ran over going into CVS this afternoon by some middle-aged dude in a Camry.
I did the big what-the-hell-is-your-problem arm gesture then I gave him the bird. I totally felt like whipping my purse at him........jerk.
Not very zen-like of me, but then again I'm only human.






Luvs Ya !
XO
Bunny

I Can't Believe We Lost To A Guy Named Fausto. / Why Can't We Just Clone Josh Beckett ?

Fausto sounds like the name of a gay Cuban houseboy living in Miami. Not a major league baseball pitcher.
Although technically Fausto Carmona was not the winning pitcher, is sucks just the same.

I am putting this loss squarely on Curt Schilling. He was giving it up like a drunk girl on prom night. The Schill just does not have his stuff anymore. Really. I mean, it looked like he was just hobbing meatballs up there.
I fell asleep in the 6th inning and it was tied at that point. I watched the lowlights this morning.
I'm beginning to think that Eric Gag-me has some dirt on Tito. Why does Tito keep putting his sorry excuse for a middle reliever in the game ? Why ? Whhhhhyyyy ?????? Gag-Me loads up the bases every stinking time he's up there.
I am quite frankly shocked that some fans didn't just jump over the dug out and run onto the field and do bodily injury to this guy. Clearly he sucks.

And then to wrap this game up with a nice little bow, former Red Sox Trot Nixon knocked in the winning run. Ugh.

A bit of trivia for y'all; Trot Nixon was the only MLB player ever, EVER to be ejected from a game while on the disabled list. Dude is nuts.

So I will leave y'all with a hope and a prayer that Monday night's game will be exponentially better than last night's game.

XO
Bunny

P.S. I hope you've all enjoyed The Who. I've decided to change things up and have a little homage to Eric Clapton. He and I share a birthday. I've picked a few of my favorite Clapton songs, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
To learn more about Eric Clapton, CLICK HERE.

Give 'Em A Deal And Make 'Em Squeal.

Let me introduce you to Dollar Bill. Dollar Bill owns and operates his own discount retail store in the fine community of Derry, New Hampshire.

We have the distinct pleasure of having a New Hampshire TV station as a part of our cable package, ( more on that later ) so therefore we get to enjoy Dollar Bill's show every Saturday morning. I will say that he is quite entertaining. He actually humped a display of power tools once. No joke.

Click Here to see what I'm taking about.

This guy is absolutely flippin' mental. Dude needs some prescription narcotics BAD.

There are all kinds of whack-a-doos in New Hampshire. ( Not you Jess, don't worry )

For more proof of the whack-a-doo phenomenon that is The Granite State, click here.

The only way I can explain it is that Rhode Island is your wacky Aunt who drives the TransAM,wears blue eyeshadow and collects Hummels. New Hampshire is your really weird, reclusive Uncle who only shows up for Thanksgiving every three years or so, and then he only sits on the back porch and drinks beer.

I hope that was helpful.

Not too much else to report, only that the Sox won the first game of the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians. They pretty much walked away with this game. Although I was HORRIFIED when Tito put Gag-Me in the game and he proceed to load up the bases.

WHY THEO, WHHHHYYYYY ??????!!!!!!!

Game 2 t'nite, 8:30 pm on Fox. See you there.

SO CLAP CLAP CLAP !! LETS GO SOX !!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!

XXOO

Bunny

Brock's Thoughts On What Not To Wear.

Brock and I were watching What Not To Wear this afternoon ( we need a kid bad ) when about half way through the show he gave his thoughts on the folks whose wardrobes get trashed. More specifically he was commenting on the folks whose wardrobes get trashed and then they proceed to cry about it.

I'm not sure if he was addressing me specifically as I was not in the room.

I think he was just pontificating.

It went a little something like this;

There is a reason people like me aren't on this show.

I friggin' yank the damn $5000 out of their hands.

I'd buy one flipping Armani suit and be done with it.

I'd be like, dudes tell me where the damn stores are.

I'd have that damn $5000 spent so fast they'd have to do a damn double

episode about me.

People'd be like....who is that sexy thing ?

And I'd be like...mmmm hmmm..you like what you see ?

( insert whiny voice here..)

Mnnn...shopping is sooo hard.....

I'm a big wuss and I'm gonna cry about it......

Waaahhhh.....

Gimme a break.

Idiots.

So there you have it, Brock's thoughts on What Not To Wear.

XO

Bunny