Good News and Mostly Bad News

The good news is that I can finally upload normally. Our internet provider came and replaced some wires and wa-la!

The bad news is that we can't refinance or get anything based on home equity, because our home has no equity. It's basically worthless. Our cars are also basically worthless and I don't think anyone would pay for my body, so our financial options are nil at this point. (Can you hear me screaming?)

I hate being unable to control things in my life. Aside from adoption, the other things stressing me out are David's doctorate applications. I can't force anyone to accept him, so once again our future is completely outside my control.

I'm thinking of either going to Vegas, robbing a bank, or planting a cabbage patch and then making the poor starving farmer that steals my food pay me back with his first born child who will have really long hair and be shut up in a tower.

Thank goodness for the little girl that lights up my life. Baylie is always the best news. This is her response when I asked her to smile. (I knit her this hat and scarf. The store bought hats won't fit over her hair.)

P.S. Baylie is off the pacifier! We cut the end off of it and told her it was broken. She hasn't been very happy about it, but she's done pretty good.

Happy New Year!

Hopefully you had a wonderful holiday. We had a great visit with David's brother's family in Oregon. For some reason, I thought it would be cold in Oregon, but it was much warmer than Utah. Utah has been freezing with snow. It's great!

We are determined to adopt again this year, hopefully soon. We want to finalize no later than August just in case we have to move for David to continue schooling. The only problem is, there's no money! We checked into getting a home equity line of credit. We bought our home in 2002 for $97,900. Seven years later, Chase estimates our home value at $90,000...what the heck! Of course, Harris County estimates our home value much higher so they can charge us more for taxes. I guess next we'll check into refinancing. Sure wish we were sitcom stars or professional athletes or something.

I was very excited to get Adobe Photoshop for Christmas (thanks, hubby). Once I figure it out, I'll share my awesome skills with you. For now, we still have internet issues and I can't post pictures at all. Our internet provider has finally admitted there is a problem on their side, so hopefully it gets resolved soon.

The Christmas Jar

Last year, David and I read a moving story called The Christmas Jar. After reading the book, we decided to start our own Christmas jar, so we saved our change throughout the year. We just counted the money day before yesterday. There wasn't much, but we were still excited at the prospect of being able to give away a jar. We talked about who we should give it to and how we should deliver it.

Then, this morning David came in and woke me up. He told me I had to come see what someone had left for us. It was this...

Someone gave us a Christmas jar! We couldn't believe it. And there are far more coins in this jar than in the one we are giving away. More than the money, we are just so moved that someone thought of us and wanted to share with us. These are the kinds of things that make Christmas so special to me. I think we will save this money towards our future adoption so that it will mean even more.

I don't know if the giver reads my blog, but if they do, thanks so much. And Merry Christmas!

I can fly! I can fly! I can fly!

Thanks to "Uncle" Jack. Jack and his wife Dayna are Baylie's favorite non-relative babysitters.

Diary of a Hair Day

I have often been asked if I do my daughter's hair. I always feel like saying, "Yes, can't you tell by the crooked parts and tufts of hair sticking up everywhere?" I am amazed by the moms who create wonderful geometric patterns in their daughter's hair. I would be satisfied with a straight line somewhere.

I realize that Baylie's hair is so thick that I need to start using more braids than I currently do, but that would take more time to fix her hair and I'm not ready to cross that bridge yet. I'm also not ready to pay $65+ to have a professional do it. Nevertheless, I've decided to blog about a hair day.

I didn't take a starting picture, but this was her last hairdo, which is two strands of hair twisted together all over her head. I really like it this way. It kind of looks like dreadlocks. I usually leave each hairdo in for two weeks to a month. By then it's starting to come undone.

It took close to an hour to undo her hair, afterwhich we have this look. Undoing her hair also means spraying on conditioner and brushing it out section by section. Baylie HATES having this done.
Next, I part her hair down the middle and pull back the side I'm not working on with clips. Then I separate a section to braid and pull back the rest of the hair on that side with a clip.
Her hair is extremely thick, so separating and parting is harder than it sounds.
Once the actual braiding begins, it's a process of convincing her of how much fun we are having and trying to get her to stay seated. (She starts to scream and fuss the minute I spray water on her head.)
Still trying... We usually move from the chair to the floor and back a few times. We get out lots of toys and other distractions.
At some point, I give up and just hold her in a vice grip between my legs.

Finally, after about three hours, three suckers, half of Sleeping Beauty, all of Cinderella, and part of two old Santa movies, we are half way through! At this point, Baylie and I both need lunch and a nap.

After she wakes up, I realize there is not time to finish her hair before I run my errands, so we go out with our half-done hairdo. We do cover it with a winter hat. (Note, that her hair just looked like this after her nap. I didn't do anything to make it stand up. I find her hair truly amazing.)

After our errands are finished and we've eaten dinner, we decide to tackle the other half of the head. This time it only took about an hour and a half. And, we're done! Of course, at this point I realize that her part is off center. Dang it! Oh well, its' going to be that way for a few weeks.

I'm always surprised to see how different Baylie looks with her braids. So much older and her head is so much smaller. She loves to shake her beads. Hopefully one day she'll enjoy getting her hair done!

Once there Was a Snowman

Baylie loved her snowman . . .

. . . he was very tasty.

The Princess and the Frog

Today we had a family date to go see The Princess and The Frog. It was a great time. I'm sure some people will say the movie is too dark because of the voodoo, but we all liked it. David and I lived in the South and have visited New Orleans a handful of times. We cracked up at some things that reminded us of living down there. Baylie loved the music. Thank goodness we sat where she was free to dance her heart out (she fell asleep before we even left the parking lot after the movie). Of course, her favorite thing was the gigantic tub of popcorn.

Ready to go in her Princess Tiana shirt ($5 at Wal Mart).

Being wowed by the theater display.

Ready to go (seriously, 30 minutes of previews)!

Support Our Troops!

Go here to send a free postcard to our troops courtesy of Xerox. This is a great activity for the whole family and lets our soldiers know they aren't forgotten, especially during the holidays. I like this idea so much, I'm adding it to my sidebar!

Santa Baby...NOT!

Merry Christmas!

Good to Be a Cougar ...

...and not just because I'm in love with a younger man.