Umm, I Seem to Have Missed March....

Well, after my last post that detailed how bored I was, the month of March was anything BUT boring. I was working, working, working, and when I'm busy and on my computer all day, I really don't want to come home and blog about being on the computer all day. It really is feast or famine with me. Now, I'm currently on break for Easter, which is nice. So, I'm spending my days catching up on things and hanging out. This week, I'm going to see both April (we need to talk to plan our day!) and Candace (who's currently in KY visiting the fam).

Like I said, work has been super busy again, which is nice for my pocketbook, but sucky for my social life. We've been deciding a bit more on furniture, which I hope to order soon, considering it can take 3 months to come in. I think we've decided on Natart, but we need to be sure on what style we want, and get our hands on some Buy Buy Baby coupons and go order it. I'll take 20% off for the stuff we're looking at. So, that's our next order of business.

Nothing major is going on here, other than I think we may go to Toronto for a weekend in May. I don't have my work schedule yet in May, so I hope its not crazy. We want to go see "Rock of Ages," which is a new musical set to 80's hair band music, and it tells the story of the small town girl, and the boy born in raised in South Detroit in Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." We may also hit a Blue Jays game and Niagra Falls, too. Brian and I can't really plan any big trips now, because we never know when we're going to get a phone call, but we're trying to get in some weekend trips this summer and really continue to enjoy our time together alone while we can.

The only other thing going on is that I've been having really bizarre dreams lately. Last week, I dreamed that I had just given birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and Brian and I were getting ready to go to my check up appointment. I'd first like to say that I haven't had a dream where I'd given birth in AGES, so I don't know what's up with that. Second, it was weird, because we were going for my 6 week check up, but these babies looked 3-4 months old. Another weird thing is that, in the dream, since giving birth, I literally felt like my insides were going to fall out of my crotch onto the floor. Maybe that is what it feels like after, I don't know! Brian and I weren't living in our house here in Brighton, we were living in a duplex owned by Sam Merlotte (Sookie Stackhouse's boss in TrueBlood) and also, the house had a toilet in the kitchen instead of a sink. THEN, to top it all off, Angelina Jolie came in and was going to kill me, until I convinced her not to, because I had boy/girl twins like she does. And then I woke up. SO BIZARRE. Brian laughed his head off when I told him that one.

Hopefully I won't wait another month to blog! I'll try!

Time Flies...

when you're having fun. Or so the saying goes. Not that I haven't been having fun, just have had a lot of things going on. I know I say that all the time, but now it actually seems true! So, here's a brief rundown of what's been happening of late.

1) After my tooth fiasco and car fiasco, I was ready not to have anything like that happen again any time soon. Well, its not AS serious, but I chipped my right front tooth last week! ERG, what is up with my teeth?! Anyway, its not serious, I'll wait to have it fixed until I go to the regular dentist for my check up in April, unless I have a compelling reason not to.

2) Last weekend, we had a very nice dinner with Jeff and Candace at Andiamo Novi in honor of Jeff's birthday! Delicious food, and great company, so it was a good evening all around! Yesterday, Candace and I watched "Anne of Green Gables" on DVD, that I got for Christmas. I love that story! I also got "Anne of Avonlea," and we're going to watch that too, but that'll have to be split into two days. It's almost 4 hours long!

3) On Tuesday, we had a conference call with our adoption agency. The call was for all the waiting families in the Russia program. It was a good call, and the upshot it that wait times for a referral are dropping because there are only half the families in the agency's system as usual because of the economy, and fewer Russian families adopting, so things are going fast right now. So, we were being told 6-12 months, but now we're hoping it goes faster! In light of that, I do not want to dawdle with getting things together. We need to get a room ready, learn the Russian, and get in contact with the various medical professionals we need to work with on this. It's a lot to do, but very exciting, and its starting to feel more real!

4) I'm going to Saugatuck with Kate this weekend to go to the spa!! So exciting!! I am having a message, a facial, and a chocolate body wrap. Yes, you read that correctly--a chocolate body wrap. I am very excited to do this stuff. Brian is having 20-30 boys over here that night to play poker, drink beer and play Rock Band, and I am soooo glad I'll be with Kate and not here! Although, if I weren't with Kate, I'm sure I'd be spending the night with Candace watching the aforementioned "Anne of Avonlea!"

5) And finally, work is finally picking up a bit. I have 2 days of work each week for the next 3 weeks. That's actually a fine amount, not too busy, but enough to start to rebuild my freaking bank account. I am broke! (Brian and I aren't broke, obviously, just me in my personal account!)

Later!

Early October...it feels like November

Oh my gosh, it went from summer to late fall, it seems. I hate this weather! It is so cold and rainy and crappy! I would love to have an Indian summer, since we had our first hard frost the other night, but since we never had a REAL summer to begin with, an Indian one is probably more than I can realistically expect. :)

Just an update on what's happening around here, after the great MSU victory over U of M. Brian's mother had her whole ankle reconstructed about 10 days ago--she's basically been walking around on a broken ankle for THIRTY years. Literally. She fell and broke it when my sister in law Jaimie was about a month or two old, and its never been taken care of properly. So, we've been trying to keep up with what's going on there, and being available if they need anything. I think she's already starting to feel a bit better, as she's been on her email quite a bit.

My work starts up again in earnest on Tuesday. I'll be working probably 4 days a week or so through Thanksgiving. With what an adoption costs, money is good, but I will be smoking busy! So, on days off and on weekends, we will be really busy with paperwork and educational classes. I'm actually sort of looking forward to the classes, most of you who know me well know that I've always loved school. So that'll be fun, I think. It's basically on line stuff, and one seminar on attachment that Brian wants to attend. We have 7 different units, for a minimum of 12 hours of classwork we have to do to meet the requirements. It shouldn't be a problem, its just a matter of sitting down and doing it! Hmmmm, maybe EVERYBODY that's wanting a baby or that is pregnant should have to take some damn parenting classes...

I also just want to say how lucky I feel that we have family and friends that are being so supportive of our decision to adopt. We truly have come to feel as though this is the route we're supposed to take to become parents. We will be saving two little lives in the process. To get back to the wonderful support we're getting, I'll sign off this blog entry with something Candace sent me recently. I hope its okay with her I'm posting it here. She sent me this picture with the caption of:

"Hi Miss Heather & Mr. Brian! I'm ready for my Russian friends to join me in my new ride!"

Nada, Zippo, Zilch

Since we've gotten back from Florida, I've had nada, zippo, zilch to do. Especially this week. Work is slow, slow, slow, the house is clean, and it's not exactly warm enough to do real yard work yet. I wish I had actual, paying work to do, but, alas, no. Which, quite frankly, I do not understand.

Almost two weeks ago, I had this big phone call with the head partner, in which he proceeded to tell me how busy they are, and they have "125 hours a month of research and writing work for me to do, if I want it." Then, he proceeds to state, "We don't really care about your personal situation nor do we need to know what it is, we just need to know if you want to work, and if so how much." (They don't even know what my personal situation is, for pity's sake. All they know is that I had to have some time off. Way to be a jerk.) He told me to take some time and think about it, and get back to them. The very next day, I emailed him and the other attorney I deal with a lot and told them specifically that I was ready and able to work, and exactly how much work I was wanting. Since they were so busy, I was thinking I'd get work last week.

Nope. As I said earlier, nada, zippo, zilch. Earlier today, I sent them a very nice email, checking status. I have not heard back yet. It's really frustrating. If they've decided they don't want to "deal with me" anymore because of my "personal situation," fine, whatever. If that's the case, just let me know so I can move on. If not, give a girl some damn work! I'm starting to wish I had just gotten a job in retail when we moved out here a year and a half ago, but oh well. And the sucky thing is that those jobs are all filled right now because retail is so bad! So I'm a bit stuck!

I'll keep you up on what's going on. But until then, I guess I'll go continue reading "Atlas Shrugged."

Not Looking Forward to Winter

So, Monday morning was an absolute traffic debacle. And no one saw it coming. This leaves me absolutely dreading the winter driving months.

I had to work on Monday morning, so I got up at my usual time of 7 and I leave the house at 8:45 to get to my 10 o'clock dep in plenty of time (I like to have plenty of time in the morning, plus feel guilty about sleeping much later than that during the week). I get up, look out the window, and say, "Oh crap." There was about an inch or two of snow on the ground. This did not bode well. Brian hears me (having for once gotten up and going before me, as he was getting ready to be a big bad hunter) and says, "Oh the roads are fine." The subdivision roads looked okay, so I was hoping he was right. I turn on the news and immediately am hit with the news that the road crews were NOT out with salt, because the snow fall was unexpected, so the roads were NOT fine, in fact, they were absolutely terrible. The Channel 4 traffic girl tells me to leave 2 to 3 times my normal travel time to make it to my destination. So, I eat breakfast as fast as I can, barely shower and leave at 8 am.

As I'm driving down Hacker Road, things seems fine, so, I again am hoping the weather people are totally overreacting. I get on the highway and within 2 miles am at a dead stop. Not because the roads are bad, mind you. The road conditions were FINE. I turned on my XM Detroit traffic and listen to the reports. Apparently, the problem was that the bridges, overpasses and highway ramps were totally frozen, causing all sorts of accidents and closures and back ups. So, I proceed to drive all the way to Southfield at an average speed of about 25 miles an hour. It totally sucked, but at least I didn't feel like my life was in danger. It was just sloooooow. I finally made it to my destination after an hour and 40 minutes. That is an hour longer than usual.

That nightmare has made me very fearful of this winter driving season, especially in light of the fact that the road crews are cutting way back this year on manpower and salt usage for budgetary reasons. It was all over the news tonight. So, this winter, I will be prepared to make my hour and 40 minute trek to Southfield on a regular basis. Thanks Old Man Winter.

Nervous Nellie!

First, I'd like to thank my friend and frequent reader A, who has already commented to me that she likes the new layout of the blog! Thanks A! After she upgraded her blog, and seeing several other blogs I read change layout recently, I thought it was time for a change. I found this template, which I feel is actually Michigan-y and pretty. It reminds me of my wedding (coolest day ever) on Mackinac Island, with our wedding cake being shaped like a lighthouse. Hope everyone likes it.

Second, on to the real purpose of this post. I am nervous about a few work related things lately. The firm I am working for gave me a real project last week, a research and writing thing, the likes of which I basically haven't done in a year and a half. I've finished it a couple days early and am going to send it to the partner later this afternoon. I have a bad feeling it's not good, or it won't be what they wanted, or it's not up to snuff. I don't know what to do about that--the project itself was fairly straightforward and simple. I guess I'm worried I OVER simplified it and didn't do enough. I just want them to be satisfied with it as a first draft. Honestly, I'm sure it's fine, but I always have this nagging feeling that my work isn't good enough, and by extension, I'm not good enough. Both places I worked as a "real lawyer" (i.e. in the office, full time) I feel didn't give me enough feedback for me to really know if I suck or am halfway decent as a lawyer. So me, being the eternal pessimist, always feel like I'm not good enough. I feel like everything that's ever happened to me is because I suck at my job, and hence, that's why I've not been searching for a full time job all that hard over the past year and a half. I fee like I'm just going to get burned again. Ugh.

The other thing I'm worrying about is playing softball tomorrow! You might wonder, why is she playing softball tomorrow and why is she worried about it? Well, I'm playing softball at the annual firm picnic. I'm worried about going to this outing when I really don't know anybody because I don't work in the office. That's why I'm turning in the assignment late this afternoon--hopefully the partner who assigned it will not have had a chance to read it when I see him tomorrow. If they hate it, I'd much rather get bad news via email (hearing that you suck always comes easier in writing, as opposed to in person). Also, I'm just plain worried about embarrassing myself playing ball! I haven't played since I was a kid. I have very little athletic ability and cannot even keep coordinated in kickboxing class. I've been making my lovely husband, who plays every week on his team in the summer and into the fall, practice with me. We've been throwing and catching, hitting, and fielding. I've been okay, but I'll never be Jennie Finch, or even my friends A or K, who were both pretty darn good players in high school. I just hope I don't fall on my butt or blow a huge play that loses my team the game or something! Aaagh!

Life Happenings..

Lots of little things going on lately, thought I'd do an another life update!

1) Reproductive stuff--all of my test results have now come back. They found absolutely nothing, which is both good news and (to me) bad news. At least if they find something, it can be treated and you can have some reassurance that this won't happen again. Brian was even tested for a few things, and everything came back fine. So, all they can really do for me is to give me progesterone supplements (the effectiveness of which is medically controversial) and baby aspirin, of all things. Also, I have to get this stuff through a special compound pharmacy that does not take insurance, which is pretty inconvenient. Hopefully, it works.

2) Work stuff--I've been off work again for the last two weeks since deps went into summer vacation. They should start up again next week. Also, the firm I'm doing the work for says they're happy with me, and want me to start doing more work for them, both asbestos and non-asbestos related. They even are putting my picture and bio up on their website! This other work is stuff, that with training, I should be able to do from home a lot, so that is great! It hasn't started yet, so we'll see how it works out.

3) Movies--since seeing the X-Files movie, Brian and I have seen "Step-Brothers" and "Pineapple Express." Both were raunchy R-rated comedies that, at least in my mind, somewhat failed to live up to the hype. They were both decent, and Brian actually liked "Pineapple Express" pretty well (I think it's because he could relate to ALL the pot jokes). But for me, I would have been happy to wait until they were rentals!

4) Baby Showers--I went to C's last weekend, and it was very nice. I helped write down the gifts, and she thanked me later for my "thoroughness." I probably wrote too much! My friend and frequent reader A's is coming up next weekend. It is "Cat in the Hat" themed, which my mother thinks is very cool and is excited to attend with me. I wrapped part of her gift tonight, but I need more paper!

5) Brian's annual camping excursion--he is finally gone camping with the boys for the year. I have to admit, I'm glad it's here so it can be over. For a good two weeks before, its all I hear about, and then we have to go get all the food because Brian has cooked it all for the last few years (except last year, and there were complaints all around). So, finally life can get back to normal.

Great! There's the update! I'm off to watch the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance," which my friend K-Lo got me hooked on last year!

Short Update

Nothing huge is going on right now, but I thought I'd give a bit of an update of smaller things that are going on here!

1) I've not worked much in the last half of June. Just a few days here and there, and actually none at all last week or this coming week. I've been told the deps will pick back up again in August or so. I don't mind. It's not so bad being off in the summer, but I like getting paid!

2) We have FINALLY gotten a few things done around here decor-wise that I've been wanting to do. The living room and dining room are painted (tan with red accents), the deck is cleaned and stained (so nice to sit on), we've hung a few pictures in the family room and dining room (have a few more to do in other rooms) and got a rug and a bench with coat hooks for the foyer (that has been driving me crazy for the entire time we've lived here). I finally feel like it's our house and it's the way I want it to look!

3) 8 of my 10 tests have come back from the doctor. They are all normal, which is good, according to Brian. I actually kind of wish they'd find something, and then I'd have a reason for why this has happened. Several people have told me that that's a wrong attitude and I agree with them in my head, but it's hard to reconcile in my heart. Just waiting for 2 more on me and the tissue testing for the fetus. I hope that all comes back before we leave on vacation. I think I want a consult with a reproductive endocrinologist just to have a second opinion. Another set of eyes on someone's file is always a good thing.

4) Speaking of our vacation, we leave in 10 days!! Whoo-hoo!!

These Deps are Funny

So, I thought I'd give you an idea of what I do all day at work. I'm doing depositions in asbestos litigation, as a defense attorney. Basically, when people allege that asbestos has made them sick, they file a lawsuit. At some point, their deposition is taken, which means 25 of us defense attorneys sit around in a room and ask them questions. It's not hard work.

The best part of doing these deps are the things that some of these folks say. Like the older gentleman who told us he had three children from his two marriages. Later in the dep, one of the other attorneys questioned that, thinking there were more. Turns out he had ELEVEN children total, 3 from his marriages and EIGHT from outside marriages. He didn't tell us about those kids because he didn't think we'd think they were important. Also, one day we deposed a wife and then the husband. When we asked the wife when they were married, she couldn't say and said "Oh my goodness, don't tell my husband." It was so funny. We ended up accidentally ratting her out when he asked her husband the question, and he knew immediately. We all ended up laughing and had to tell him why.

The best of all the things I've heard though was a guy who had worked for DTE in the 1970's and 1980's. When he quit DTE, he went to San Francisco for a few years. Part of the questions we ask in these deps are simple background questions, but a very important question that's asked if the person ever used tobacco products (hard for them to claim lung problems from asbestos if they've been a pack a day smoker for 40 years). This gentleman was asked if he ever smoked a pipe, he asked, HONEST TO GOD, "What kind of pipe?" We all immediately looked at each other and after the dep was over, asked each other if he meant a crack pipe or a bong pipe.

Later in the dep, we were going through his medical history, and he stated he'd have to have surgery on his nose years ago because he kept getting nosebleeds. But he couldn't say what the surgery was for. Keep in mind, earlier in the dep, he had stated that when he went to San Francisco, his health was not great, because "he didn't take very good care of himself." Okay, now tell me that that nose surgery wasn't to repair the damage he'd done by snorting cocaine. We all died afterwards.

Sometimes the deps are sad though. When the person who was sick has already died, we depose the personal representative of the estate, usually an adult child. And more often than not, these children know absolutely nothing about what their parents did at work, or even where they worked. A lot of times, they know nothing about their parent's (usually the father) own parents, don't even know what their grandparents names were, or where they were born. Frequently, these kids don't even know if their own parent had cancer or heart problems. It is so depressing, it makes you want to ask if they even knew their parents at all. And, sadly enough, the answer is, probably not. They're just in it for the money.

But, that's what I do all day. Sit around and listen to people's crazy life stories, and occasionally ask a few relevant questions. Easy!