¿Now What?

Its Worth Mentioning

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Tax Season....What Can I Say?

Sorry for the absence.  While tax professionals that complete individual returns have been breathing a sigh of relief since April 15....corporate tax professionals start frantically spinning in circles about that time.  See, after extensions, corporate 1120's are not due until September 15.  And...well...that's a lot of data to extract, manipulate, and compute.  Our internal deadline is July 15 (egads, I think I stopped breathing when I typed that) so expect to hear more from me after that.  Prior to...well...I'm MAM's bitch so to speak.

I didn't want disappear until then so I will need to tie you over with some photos.

Thumbs Up!

At the Zoo

Serious Concentration

From the Profile Reject Pile (just to prove we take horrible pictures)

We are nearly on the books for the next adoption.  We managed to drag out our HS process about as long as possible.  Not intentionally, but it was to our benefit.  We finally sent our profile out for printing (you can see that on the protected site if you are interested).  It didn't really turn out as I envisioned it would.  I wanted to avoid the schmaltz but it seems it was unavoidable.  As predicted, the pictures are not so good but I just wanted to be done after so many months of working on it.  The delay was to our benefit mostly because we booked a trip to San Juan in late August and I would be really upset to have to cancel that....yes, even for a great reason like a baby.  It's been five years since we've gone on a proper vacation and Gabe has never been.  It only seems fitting to get away just the three of us before everything gets turned upside down again. 

We did, however, buy an infant car seat which is the bare minimum we would need at this point in the event of an emergency.  Everything else is just gravy really (except for bottles and formula, I suppose...oh...and maybe some diapers....hmmmm).

Need Your Opinions Please

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For Those of You That Requested Pictures

Gabe helping Ben build the new entertainment armoire for our bedroom.  He is posed on our new carpet and electric-boogablue wall.  Oh yeah, I haven't talked about that yet.  The bedroom ended up a bit brighter than we had hoped.  More on that later.

Ben is on call all the time so he is frequently on his cell phone.  Gabe decided that he would join in also.

This is Gabe playing his guitar to my ipod.  He strums the plastic egg to the beat.

Action shot of Gabe jumping on one foot.  Note, the new red wall in the background and the lovely new carpet with no shades or pink or stains.

This picture just cracks me up.  Doesn't he have the most beautiful eyes?

Oh, Hello There

It turns out I ended up distracting myself.  Sorry for the long delay, we were working on our profile wording all last week.  I'm happy to report that we turned it in to our SW for her comments.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  The hardest part was keeping it within the number of words allowed for each section.  You can't really say a lot in 150 words, in case you wondering.  As for the pictures....um yeah....that is not going so fantastically.  I've been through all of our pictures and my in-laws' pictures and so far I have two out of the 5 we need.  I'm not really sure what we are going to do about that one.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who asked questions.  I've been looking forward to answering them.  Without further ado:

Any word from the adoption agency?

Well, we need a home study update (again) since almost a year has passed from when we started adoption #2 and we need it to reflect our change in programs.  We had our home visit on Sunday.  Funnily enough, our new SW was our coordinator for Gabe's adoption.  She left the agency to be a contract social worker.  Other than that, we are out a large chunk of money for switching programs.  I try not to think about that too hard or I start to twitch.  Once the update is done and our profile is complete, then we will go on the books. I don't have a good feel for when that might be, maybe a couple of months?

Has the snow melted yet in Michigan?

Thankfully, it finally has melted.  The last couple days have been gorgeous, sunny and in the high 60's low 70's.  Its a good thing too because I was starting to claw my way through the walls with my fingernails in anticipation of spring.  It has been a long, long, cold, and snowy winter.

What's your favorite movie (or one you really like)?

Ben and I don't watch a lot of movies.  We are more TV show people.  However, I really love the movie Gard*en State.  There are some great lines in that movie that I love, love, love.  Such as:

"You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore?.....Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place"

"This is my life, Dad, this is it. I spent 26 years waiting for something else to start, so, no, I don't think it's too much to take on, because it's everything there is. I see now it's all of it. You and I are gonna be OK, you know that, right? We may not be as happy as you always dreamed we would be, but for the first time let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are and that will be better. OK? I think that will be better."

"If you can't laugh at yourself, life is going to seem a whole lot longer than you'd like."

"I know it hurts. But it's life, and it's real. And sometimes it fucking hurts, but it's life, and it's pretty much all we got."

The soundtrack for the movie is awesome.  Its a great driving in the car, zone out, work stuff out in your head CD.  I love it.  Some of the not-so-serious movies I like are Can't Ha*rdly Wait and Offi*ce Space.

Does Gabe like Thomas the Tank Engine? I'm amazed that Carter can play with his trains for hours, his concentration is amazing.

Gabe isn't really interested in Thomas, however he has an incredible attention span while playing with his cars or his "mans".  He can play for at least an hour without moving.  Its so fun to listen to him play because his imagination is enormous.  I love hearing the dialogue and story lines of the toys.  It is especially humorous when he imitates us while playing.  So funny.

Are you going on a vacation this summer that requires driving 19,000 hours in the car?

I don't know actually.  We are talking about taking a vacation this summer, we just aren't sure where.  Now, whether or not actual plans will be made is another story.  I'm determined that I am not going to be the one to make all the plans so it may never happen.  We shall see.  Any ideas on where we should go?  Of course, we will take our annual camping trip at the sand dunes over labor day.  Maybe this year we will even remember the camera.  That trip usually takes us about 7 hours in the car each way.

What shows on TV did you watch during the strike? Were any of your favorites on the hit list? I miss Felicity! But Lost is helping....?

During the strike......I've been watching a lot of TL*C and Disc*overy Health, particularly Little Peo*ple Big Wo*rld, Jon and Ka*te Plus Eig*ht, and Mys*tery Diag*nosis.  Other than that, I didn't really watch a lot of TV.  I've been reading like crazy instead.  Before the strike, my favorites were He*ros, Grey's An*atomy, The Off*ice (my fav), and Ugly Betty.

What's the best April Fool's prank you've played on someone...or that someone has played on you?

Its sad but true, I've never played an April Fool's prank or had one played on me.  Maybe this should be a goal for next year.

More later.....

Please Distract Me

OK, I need a distraction from everything that has been going on.  Does anyone have any questions for me?  I'm open to anything.  Thanks in advance!

In Closing....

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Hearing Hoof Beats, Thinking Horses

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Short and Sweet

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Cramming

This week has been a bit nuts so far.  We got new carpet installed in the living room, office, and master bedroom on Tuesday.  Unfortunately, trying to cram all of our crap from the majority of our house into our miniscule kitchen, two bathrooms, and Gabe's room was entertaining at best.  Nevermind the fact that I nailed my forehead on a CD stand while doing gymnastics moves to obtain coffee from the buried coffee pot.  In any event, it looks awesome.  The old carpet was so disgusting.  I can't even describe it.  Plus, for some reason the prior owner did not put down any pad in the master bedroom.  The last four weeks we have been painting furiously, trying to finish before the new carpet came in.  I'll try and post some pictures tonight.

Update up at the protected site.