Crap

So what does you family refer to their bodily functions as? We keep a poster outside the bathroom that gives guests an alphabet full of options to chose from!

Ant Poo

Bear Smells
Cat's Nasty's
Dog Shit
Elephant Turds
Field Mouse Wee Wee

Iguana Number Ones

Jellyfish Diarrhea
Kangaroo Jimmies
Monkey Nuts
Nightingale Faeces
Owl Do-Das
Pirhana Poops

Queen Bee Tinkles
Rabbit Currants
Skunk Stinks
Tortoise Big Jobs
Unicorn Caca
Vulture Droppings
Worm Widdel
Xcelcatapus Nothings
Yellow Hammer Splashes
Zebra ManureWhat is your favorite?

Print by Chris Orr-Ra

So I have this thing.....

and Dr. Google is of no help what-so-ever, so I turn to the next best thing. YOU.

About 2 weeks ago the back of my neck was itchy/dry. I didn't think much of it.

Then it felt a bit worse.

So I stopped wearing my necklace.

Then it felt even worse.

So I put some lotion on it.

And it felt a bit better.

Then I rolled over during the night and strangled myself with the sheet and went AHA! I must have sheet burn (What? I'm a very active sleeper, just ask Hilary!)

So I was very careful every time I rolled over to not have the sheet wrap around my neck (which is probably just a good plan overall)

And, you guessed it, it still got worse.

Today it's at its worse so far. I did wear a sweater with a high collar on it that maybe rubbed it. But Dang! I need this mess to go away.

So shout out the solutions! The diagnoses! The old wives tales! The recipe for smelly mustard plasters! I swear I will try them all!

Just make this go away!

What can happen when you watch home improvement shows

Back when we were DINKS we had more money, more time and more energy then we do now. That's a bad combination when you pair it up with people who like to watch home improvement and decorating shows.

Here are some examples of how our first house was decorated:

• We tiled our kitchen counters. I have to say, smashing the tiles was the best part of that job! I don't have a good picture of it all finished, but just imagine the pictures below with blue grout!
  

• We painted the basement den entirely in stripes! Including the ceiling. This room also had a wooden floor painted purple, but I don't have any pictures of it.

• Hilary took the time to paint the individual leafs on the border for our room and sponge painted the blue below the border to give it depth and texture.

• Our dining room had stripes of high gloss oil and matte paint in the same colour below the chair rail

• Our spare room was PINK with Chinese characters painted in gold adorning the walls. We then had to paint over that PINK to create Liam's nursery. It took many, many coats to cover it.
  

• And Liam's nursery was white with all of our friends and family's hand prints in different colours. The brave even did their feet in a border just above the baseboard.
  

Adoptees and Organ donation

As an adoptee you get used to not being able to answer medical questions at a pretty young age. No I don't know if my father had high blood pressure, I don't even know who my father is. Cancer, diabetes, migraines? Who knows... I might have a genetic link to them, I might not.

I've had the same dentist and doctor for the past 12 years. They stopped asking long ago so I almost forget about it being an issue. Till I read a friend's blog the other day. This friend had gone through all the testing to be a kidney donour. As you can imagine when they are planning to take a chunk out of one person and put it into another, they do a whole wack of tests. Not much point in going to all this trouble if chances are it's not going to work or the recipient is going to end up with some other disease that the chunk might have been carrying.

One thing that Jen discovered in her journey is that adoptees would never even be considered to be a donour. You guessed it... we have no past medical history from our families. So we could have any number of things lurking in our genes.

Well that just sucks.

Not that I had any immediate plans to start handing out spare body parts. But I hate the idea that I don't even have that choice. What if someone I loved needed a kidney? I have a spare. Would I really just have to watch that person suffer and ultimately die because I don't know my father's name? I've always thought that I would be a donor, one way or another. I give blood when I can. I'm on the registry for bone marrow, I've signed my organ donor portion of my driver's license and Hilary knows of my wishes.

This makes me wonder about after death donations. My only knowledge on this topic is what I've learned on TV. But they always seem to have to move pretty fast to ensure that all the organs are still viable, which makes sense. And other then consent forms, nobody seems to be digging into their past history, denying them because they don't have access to open adoption records. It could just be that it would bog down the story line. After all who wants to watch a 1 hour drama where 40 minutes is spent on paper work? Or maybe the need for organs is just so great that they are happy to get whatever they can and just hope for the best.

I have to say though, that if it ever came down to it, my kidney potentially saving someone's life, I would fight tooth and nail to either get the info I needed, or convince the doctor's to go ahead without that info. Because to me, the alternative is not acceptable.

Open Adoption Roundtable # 12

The Open Adoption Roundtable is a series of occasional writing prompts about open adoption. It's designed to showcase of the diversity of thought and experience in the open adoption community. You don't need to be part of the Open Adoption Bloggers list to participate, or even be in a traditional open adoption. If you're thinking about openness in adoption, you have a place at the table. Publish your response during the next two weeks--linking back here so we can all find one other--and leave a link to your post in the comments. If you don't blog, you can always leave your thoughts directly in the comments.

A number of bloggers have written about their open adoption resolutions or hopes for the coming year, but Debbie gets credit for suggesting it as a roundtable topic. And a great suggestion it is! Open adoption is all about relationships, after all. Most every relationship can benefit from periodically taking a step back and thinking about emotional or practical changes we'd like to make as we care for others and ourselves.

Call them resolutions, commitments, changes, or choices--how will you be proactive in the area of open adoption in 2010?

---

Liam's adoption:

With the lack of openness that we have my resolution this year may sound odd. I am resolving to NOT be proactive in the area of open adoption this year. I cannot make "K" respond to us. I cannot force her be a part of Liam's life. There is nothing that I can do that is proactive that will help the situation. More likely I would end up making it worse. If she is not in a place in her life that she can embrace open adoption, then my pushing, cajoling, asking, begging or pleading isn't going to magically fix that. It will just end up pushing her further away.

So I will continue along without trying to change things. Our door will always be open to her. We will continue to send updates and pictures. We will welcome her with open arms when she is ready.

My reunion with my first mother:

Another area of my life that lacks openness! But my resolution for this relationship is different. I want to be proactive this year in seeking out more openness. Again, I can't force Iris to do anything. But I want to be much more up front with her on how her choices affect me. How not telling the daughter she parented (and who still lives at home with her) is hard on me. How being a secret and not allowed to send or receive emails, phone calls or letters from her can be emotionally draining. How all this secrecy makes me wonder every day if she is even still alive. How I would very much like to know my 1/2 siblings on my father's side.

So here's to 2 very different resolutions for 2010!

Wordless Wednesday

My new Tibetan toe-toe covers.

Perfect Moment Monday

I'm just squeaking in today!

---

I just recently started working from home. It was a sudden decision, so the only "workspace" I had initially was in our bedroom. Not ideal, but workable for the short term. Over the holidays I got spunky and started rearranging furniture. A spare room/playroom became my office. I still share the space with Liam however. He has a desk, a white board, shelves of board games and a bean bag chair.

Today was the first day that I worked at the new set up and it happens to be the shift that I work late. So when Liam got home from school, my day was really only just starting. He has acclimatized fairly well to having me work from home. He knows that he has to be superdy-duperdy quiet when I'm on the phone, that he can't interrupt me constantly, and that I can't stop and play whenever he wants me to. I do have the type of job that I can still concentrate if he is playing in the room, nattering on to himself as kids are want to do.

He has spent the entire time with me today playing "office". He made himself a laptop out of paper at school, borrowed some of my extra supplies and has set up shop. He has a real computer mouse hooked up to his "laptop" and is even wearing my old headset.

The perfect moment happened when I heard Liam make a telephone noise and the answer it "Attendance Line, Liam speaking!" sounding exactly like I do!