Aww...chubby cheeks.

I wanted to post a few pics of the kid from the holidays. He seemed to enjoy Christmas, as much as a baby can enjoy anything so WELL DONE us. He was far more interested in eating wrapping paper and chewing on the boxes than he was in the actual gifts so everyone could have saved a lot of money. Hindsight. We have a post-placement visit tomorrow so they can see how he is settling in and how we are all doing as a family. The fun never ends.

I know the tree looks pink but it's white. For reals. The colored lights make it look pink, not that I don't TOTALLY covet a pink tree but I think Jeff would cancel Christmas if I bought one. BUT, if I had the pink tree AND a regular tree........hmmm.....I like where this is going. Anyways, cute kid, blahblahblah.

WHEEEE!! Look at me eat mah elephant's butt!

This picture is the cutest, hands down. I love his emo hair and he looks like he's telling me to go suck it.

"Why lady, WHY THIS GODDAMN HAT? Why you gotta do me like this?"

Mmmmmm......paper good.

HOLLA-day Shout Out

Sorry for the super gap in posting but get used to it. Babies leave about 34 seconds a day free, so I will have very little time to post. Just know my life is mostly this:

-baby cries

-check/change poop diaper (because it's usually poop)

-feed said baby some kind of goop and/or bottle

-try to convince baby to sleep by offering money and jewels

-rinse and repeat

I've been meaning to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been so supportive of all of us over the last several months during our big journey to get Max. This has been quite an amazing time for us and we are really thankful to have all our friends and family along for the ride. We've had some really nice gestures bestowed upon us and again, I thank you all. We feel very lucky and we wish you all the absolute best fortune in 2009.

Last year I said (drunk) : "2008 IS GONNA BE GREAT!" and it was so much so. We had some major changes in our lives and for the most part, they helped us move in a positive direction.

That said, "2009 IS GONNA BE FINE!"

Cheers everyone!

love,

amy, jeff, max, cleo & zoey

He wanted me to tell you "blahblahblah."

Just wanted to give you all a quick update........

Overall, today things are going really well. He is still having some sleeping issues, but we went to an adoption specialist yesterday and the nice doctor lady gave us some tips on how we can all get some sleep. So far we were able to go one night without a total meltdown but it means we are all sleeping together on the floor. She thinks he is still trying to figure out who we are and whether or not he can trust us and until that happens, he will probably have some issues. I woke up every 5 minutes because either he had his big Fred Flintstone foot in my face or he was farting or fussing or whatever but as long as we can get some kind of shut-eye, I'm gonna take it. His poor tummy has finally responded to the stress so we're finding out all about the wonders of poo and he is offering no shortage of specimen. He did so well at the doctor's office despite being poked and prodded and stuck with needles so we are anxiously awaiting the results of the testing. He has hyper-stimulation from all his trials and tribulations as a wee baby so we are also learning how to manage that. They think it may subside once he is in a routine, which is our next challenge. He's a pretty agreeable and happy little dude when he's content so that's what I'm anticipating for the future. We just have some humps to get over in the meantime.

He is, however, a fantastic dancer and we have a Robot Dance Party everyday. It's super fun and I'm going to start charging a cover soon.

Forcing your eyes shut doesn't make you tired, just for the record.

Well, it's almost midnight and the only one in this house not sleeping is me. I finally have a night that he goes down early and I am WIDE AWAKE. Figures. Today was the best day we've had. We were supposed to have people come to visit but after gifting grandma with our sickness, we decided we would refrain from spreading any more holiday cheer and lay low. Max and I both feel much better and I think the shroud of illness has finally lifted. His sniffles are almost gone and he was super fun and adorable today. It's amazing how much I am in love with this little dude. We spent most of the morning dancing to reggae music, which he apparently really digs, and playing around in his room. He is thisclose to walking and he will go all around his bedroom holding on to stuff. He also learned that the remote control makes the TV change and amused himself with that for a bit. We tried baby food for the first time and he made his debut in his fancy high chair, which he fussed his way in to but quickly decided he liked. He was unsure as to what to do with the food at first and basically let it plop out of his mouth like an old man. It was so cute it was killing me. Today we really felt like a family and it was awesome. So awesome.

Uh oh........I hear something.......gotta go!

Welcome Home, Kimchi. Now where is my martini?

So, I have about 5 minutes to type this so here's a brief synopsis of the last three days:

Trip home:

If hell had a name other than hell it would be Delta Flight 92 from Itaewon to St. Louis. In all fairness, Kimchi did LOADS better than the other screamers on the flight. However, it was still awful, compounded by the fact that I have been really sick since Korea. Lovely. Here is a conversation we had on the plane as I came back to my seat from the bathroom with him:

Jeff: How'd that go?

me: well, it was my worst fears all coming true.

Jeff: uh-oh

me: yeah, his ass exploded everywhere and while I was attending to that in the minuscule bathroom, he decided it would be SUPER FUN to whizz all over the place. I just got done cleaning the bathroom. YOU'RE WELCOME, DELTA.

Then we got held up a ridiculously long time in customs in Atlanta, which I will go on record as saying it is the WORST AIRPORT ON PLANET EARTH and is filled with rudeness. We sat in customs waiting for someone to help us, which wasn't happening, and we watched the customs agents standing around talking to each other and laughing and pretty much doing everything except their jobs. It took several of us angry folks who were about to miss their flight to get them to do anything. We barely made the connection. Seriously. I ran through the terminal. Like in a movie.

Day 1 home: Since no one slept, we were all a bit cranky and groggy but we had a dr. appt for him, which went decent and then we had to run some errands to get formula and such and then we picked up the dogs and came home and spent the next several hours trying to convince an 8 month old that he needed to go to sleep. That doesn't go over very well.

Day 2 home: Grandma Jan came to visit, thank god, so Jeff could go get provisions because we're about to get some massive ice storm and had no food or anything. I am still very sick but can't take medicine because it will knock me out and he is still allergic to SLEEPING so we are up. A lot. I am one of those fools who gets sick if I don't get enough sleep and since I've gotten about 20 hours of it in the last 7 DAYS, I am not getting any better. Grandma helps tremendously but her payment is that she is now also sick. Sorry, grandma.

Day 3: It's almost noon and he has been pretty good all morning. Last night was awful, however. I think he is finally realizing that his "other mom" isn't here anymore and he is pretty pissed off about the whole thing. We got him down at 11pm last night, he slept until 1:45 and then nothing we did would make him stop crying. We tried food, new diaper, playing, holding, rocking, I offered him some money, more food....nothing worked. We finally just put him in the crib and let him have his meltdown, which lasted until almost 5am.

So yeah, um, adopting a baby is VERY STRESSFUL. At least a newborn is starting from scratch, but I have a well developed almost toddler who has his own ways, which are not exactly jiving with our ways, so it's an uphill battle. I'd like to give a shout out to the other adoptive mommas out there who have gone through or are going through this now. It's hard because no one really gets that this IS NOT a normal situation and the next person that tells me that it is and gives me some lame-brained advice that will work for a 3 day old baby but not my kid is going to get a fist flavored sandwich. I keep reminding myself that this will pass and it will get better and goddamn this kid is cute, which makes it slightly easier when he is screaming bloody murder and pooping all over me, don't you agree?

The First Day

So, we made the pickup. It was similar to picking up a UPS package, but with a lot more crying. A LOT MORE. Seriously. They said it would be hard and we knew it would be hard but we didn't know it would be THAT hard. They gave us instructions and paperwork and slings and god knows what else and 20 min. later we were on the sidewalk with him, his foster mom and our social worker hailing a cab. I stood and watched her try and hold it together but the tears came and I gave her a hug and thanked her for caring for my baby for 6 months and then the tears came from me and Jeff and finally she pointed to the cab, motioned for me to sit down, plunked him on my lap and shut the door. I looked up at her and she was crying an I felt so bad for her. They had already told the taxi where to go so off we went. I sobbed and Jeff sobbed and he was FURIOUS. Seriously. He was so mad and he wouldn't sit and he SCREAMED at the top of his lungs the WHOLE WAY. We almost got in two accidents because they drive like psychopaths here and the cabbie wanted us out ASAP, although he seemed very sympathetic to us and babbled in Korean the whole way. I held him in my lap, or tried to at least ( no car seat, we went Britney Spears-style, ya'll) and he cried and screamed and cried and flung himself around and hit my face and I was sobbing and it was NOTHING like the unicorns-farting-rainbows-style Lifetime movie you think it is. Not in the least bit at all. No soft focus, no "I love my new mommy!" no nothing. It was one of the absolute most difficult moments in our lives, all of us. Nothing could have prepared us.

We made it here and he was slightly okay until we got in the room and then it started again and I was sobbing and telling Jeff that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all and maybe we should have just gotten another dog and then we put him in the carrier and I paced the room and suddenly he stopped.

Now, before you roll the credits and say "what a heartwarming story! That's Oscar material for sure" know that this did not last long. We got him to eat and take an hour nap,which was interrupted by Daddy dropping a wooden hanger on the floor and then we found out he LOVES water so we played in the sink but that again only lasted so long. I hope there is a sink on the plane because I am dreading this flight home and nothing I say will convey the overwhelming sense of fear I have. For reals. I am scared shitless. So we played and he finally tired himself out and fell asleep around 11:30pm and slept until 3:30am, which is why I'm up now. We fed him and he was back out. Le sigh. Seoul is truly a kick ass place and I've grown to really love it but I'm really glad to be going home. We went to the big ass crazy market again yesterday on the way to get him and between seeing a woman selling roasted silkworm larvae on the corner and the permanent smell of fermented cabbage and garlic that is EVERYWHERE, I knew I was done.
We leave in about 9 hours for the airport and then 20 hour flight home. Wish us luck. If you hear of a woman jumping from a 777 somewhere over Siberia, you'll know who it was.

Meeting Max

So, big day today. We got a decent nights sleep, despite the bed being like a slab of granite. We took a taxi to the Holt office, and then realized that we gave them the wrong address and we were standing in the street looking at a map that we can't read and suddenly this man came up and asked if he could help. We told him we were looking for Holt and he was like " I work there, follow me" and we were like "YES" and he was so nice. We got there and met the group for our tour, which included our friends Connie and Jack, whom we met through the agency and who live near us. They are super cool! We went to a palace of some sort, I don't remember the name but it was really old and really beautiful:

After the palace we made our way to Insadong, which is a big shopping district. I swear, all these people do is shop! I love them very much. Hells bells, I love this whole place. It's freaky deaky but it's just mind-blowingly cool as well. Jeff took 8 million pictures so I'll post a full photo spread when we get home.

We had to leave our group early to take a taxi back to the Holt office for our meeting with Max. My stomach was in knots he whole way. When we got there, we met with our Korean social worker and she informed us that we had a surprise, we were going to get Max a day early! HOLY CRAP. Instead of on the way to the airport, we get him tomorrow afternoon and will have a night with him in the hotel. I'm so nervous I'm about to throw up, but I think it's better that he be a little more comfortable with us. They took us to a room where we waited about 20 min and then we heard a knock and my heart lept out of my body and then he came in and all I can say is I was in total shock. Seriously. This is just an experience that I can't describe.

I just can't believe this. Here is me and the little bugger:

Sorry but the second one is kinda Blair Witchy. Man, this is so amazing. We got to ask a bunch of questions and the foster mother gave us a bag of gifts. We got a necklace with his name and birth date in Hangul, a traditional hanbok that children wear here for their first birthday, a photo album from the last 6 months which is priceless and professional photo of him and his foster mom. It was so sweet and I am so blown away that she did all that. She was so sweet and seemed to really love him a lot. After we left, we walked out to the street and I burst into tears and cried all the way through the subway. Nice. Crazy crying lady. We pick him up at 4pm tomorrow and then we're heading back home on Thursday. Tonight we are meeting Connie and Jack for dinner and then we're going to a Buddhist temple and then who knows what. This has been such an amazing experience and I am SO GLAD we decided to come here to get him. The travel is long and expensive but it was worth every cent.

Finally

We made it to Seoul!! It's 8pm now, which is 5am at home and we haven't been to bed since Friday night so none of this gibberish may make any sense. The flight was looooooooong but Korean Airlines was supremely awesome and it made it not so awful. All I kept thinking about was how was I going to occupy all this time with a baby. Yikes. We are at the hotel right now and just got some sandwiches and are planning on eating and passing out. We have a city tour in the morning and then we meet Kimchi and his foster mother at 1pm. I'm nervous and scared and excited. This is just so crazy, I can't even describe it. I don't think it's really set in that we're not only about to meet our son for the first time, but that we're doing it on the other side of the earth. Driving into Seoul was surreal because it's so densely populated and there is neon everywhere and people everywhere and it's just freaking me out. I'm too tired to post pics right now so I'll do that tomorrow.

The Ready

So it's almost 11pm, we're at my sister's house and we're ready to go. Well sorta. I'm sure there's stuff I forgot but I'm hoping they won't be missed. We have to leave for the airport at like 4:30 am or some crap so I'm not sure if I'm going to bother going to bed. I have a lot of time in the air to nap. It only took three trips to Target, four trips to Walmart, a trip to the mall and two visits to Walgreens to get us ready for this thing. I'm alternating between totally freaking out and kind of melancholy. Everything is going to change. I'm good with change, though. I like change. Change is what make life interesting. I hope.

We should have internet access while we're gone so I'm hoping to be able to post often.

I bid thee adieu. Wish us luck.

Update

I'm super frazzled right now so a short post just to say that we are scheduled to meet Max and his foster mother at 1:30 on Tuesday. I'm so excited but I'm also nervous because we are going to be total strangers to him. We ended up with some extra time in Seoul because we had a minimum amount of time to stay so we have a couple of city tours lined up which I'm really stoked about. I'm planning on posting when I can during the trip and if we can get it work, we're going to try and post a video of our meeting on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who has cheered us on and wished us well. You guys kick ass!

TCTCTCTCTCTCTCTCTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY CRAP PEOPLE!!! WE GOT THE CALL!! I'm literally vibrating with excitement right now and I'm at work so I have to maintain composure but all I want to do is run around and scream AAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

We're leaving on Sunday and returning Thursday. Oh my god, I can't believe this is finally happening. As details come in, I'll update.

WOO HOOO, BABY!!

UPDATE** Okay, I got the flights all booked as well as the hotel so we are officially a go! All I'm gonna say is that we have to be at the freaking airport at 4:30AM. HOLY LORD that's early. We're also taking a city tour with our own guide to see the palaces and such. Seoul is actually a pretty kick ass city, according to my travel guide anyway, so I'm really excited. It doesn't hurt that shopping is a sport there. Uh oh. Of course, since Jeff and I have impeccable timing, this joyous news came on two of the crappiest days either of us have had at work in a looong time. I have a major project that has to be done before I leave and Jeff is just buried. It is kinda nice because I hadn't really thought of it like this, but we're going on a vacay of sorts. We won't have the baby with us until the day we leave so we have a few days to just enjoy the city. How I'm gonna be able to deal with being there but not having him I don't know but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride. This is the greatest adventure we have ever been on and I'm gonna soak it in, baby! I'll have plenty of time to deal with explosive pooping and all that fun stuff when we get home. Viva la pampers!

Universe-2, Me-0

Pisces, 12/4/08
Allegedly, if you want to grow a banana tree, all you need is a greenhouse and an onion. Plant the bulb, water the soil and say, 'Onion, onion, one, two three; turn into a banana tree.' This technique is guaranteed to work, provided you have absolute faith in it. If, for one tiny moment, at any point, you doubt that the onion can or will become a banana, the enterprise will fail. Trust is a wonderful thing. Sometimes it can work miracles. But only if it is based on something truly viable. Look for magic not logic, now.

My first question is would the banana taste like onion, because I like weird food combos sometimes but that just sounds nasty. Okay kids, so today's lesson is faith and trust. So, I have FAITH that the freaking travel call will come today and I TRUST it will happen soon or else I will most likely explode.

So as you guessed, no travel call. Last night was hard. I know it's like "oh poor me, I have to wait" but I've been waiting 3 YEARS for this to happen and I'm just done waiting so humor me a small pity party. It all just worries me because until that kid's in my arms, anything can happen. That's why I approach all these things with extreme caution. I've seen things fall apart before and I've seen people at this stage and then they still have to wait weeks or even months for the call. The worst is that we have no way of knowing what's going on behind the scenes so saying "oh, just be patient" will probably cause me to rip some one's head off their shoulders with my bare hands so I don't advise that. I woke up today saying to myself "voice in my head, today is THE DAY. Today you will get THE CALL and then everyone will shout "HURRAH!" and there will be crying and laughing and frantic packing and phone calls and all that crap and then next week you'll have your baby home. That's what the voice says so that's what I'm listening to. Hopefully, and a BIG hopefully at that, I will have a big, sloppy post later with a lot of all caps words screaming glorious news.

The Wait.

Oh man, I'm on freaking pins and needles today. I have to keep telling myself that we may not get the travel call today and that we might have to wait a few more days and then I get into an argument with myself because I don't want to hear that crap and then there's a brain fight and now we aren't speaking. Great. We probably wouldn't hear anything until a bit later anyway, but if everything went as planned, he should have had his visa interview already since Seoul is 15 hours ahead of us. Crikey! Okay, I have to go try to focus and get some work done today. I'll update as needed. Here's a picture from http://www.cuteoverload.com/ to look at while we wait:




Awww....shhhhhhhh, he's on the phone.

UPDATE** Sorry, but there's no update except for my stress level, which is at about DEFCON 3 now. AACK. I'm so frustrated right now and don't tell me to be patient. Every time the phone rings I jump, which means I'm jumping alot because the phone rings her constantly. Le sigh. Okay, go back to looking at this damn puppy on the phone.

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called the visa center this morning, like I do every morning, and they have told me WONDERFUL NEWS!!! Kimchi's visa will be issued TOMORROW!!!!!!! That means that we will probably get our OFFICIAL travel call in the next 48 hours and will probably be on a plane by the weekend. I cannot belive this is happening. I am freaking out right now. I'll post any new info I get as I get it.

Holiday....Celebrate...If we took a holiday......

As soon as I'm looking forward to 4 days off, they're over. Poof. Just like that. Man, 4 days at work is an eternity but 4 days of sleeping in and eating and sleeping and eating more and shopping and laying around is AWESOME and goes really fast. In case you were wondering what we did, because you clearly like boring things, that about sums it up. Thanksgiving was a really nice starter to the long weekend. We went to brunch and somehow ended up getting our own private dining room so we totally felt like rock stars and it was really fun and I had the best mashed sweet potatoes I've ever had. Mmmmm....I'm still thinking abut them. After brunch, Jeff and I went home to make a cake for my boss's son's birthday.(You can check it out on the other blog if you choose.) Anyways, after we got the cake done, we headed out to my sister's house. We couldn't decide if we wanted to brave the crowds again at 5am to go Black Friday shopping but we figured it would be better if we were there and ready. Well, at 7am the next morning, and considering I was still in bed, we decided on plan B, which was to go shopping at a more civilized time. We dropped off the cake and headed to the mall, where we wandered around aimlessly, remarking on how the economy wouldn't be so crappy if places like the Gap realized that while it's nice and all, $60 for a freaking sweater is ridiculous. There just were no deals anywhere. We decided screw the mall and went to Target and Walmart, where I discovered that I'll pretty much buy anything for $5. Fake pashmina for $5? SOLD. Two-pack of knee socks for $5? SOLD. The only big purchase we made, and I say "we" in the royal sense since my sister actually bought it, was Rock Band for Wii, which KICKS ASS! We trotted it home and set upon putting it together and then we made our band we called Richard. Friday was also my sister's birthday, so in honor of that, we let her be on guitar, which put me on drums and Jeff on vocals since he has trouble keeping a beat (sorry honey, but it's true.) Anyway, we got through about 8 songs before we sucked so badly that we got stonewalled by a Ramones song and decided to cancel the tour and go eat sushi. For the record, Jeff was a champ and carried us on vocals like a pro. I know that with more practice, we're gonna be the best fake band EVER.

Anyway, the next day, Saturday, was our 6th anniversary. Normally we go out to a fancy dinner but we decided to stay in and cook this year. Jeff cleaned the house and made it look fabulous and we had lovely appetizers and wine and then we decided to open presents. We usually get small things, like this year I got him a Zen fatherhood book and a tshirt for Kimchi that says, and I'm not kidding and I didn't make it myself, "Daddy's Little Kimchi." How freaking awesome is that?! Jeff pulls out this really nicely wrapped box for me and when I opened it, there was a small white box. I opened that and inside was a really pretty ring with a big blue topaz or something in the center. It was pretty and I'm not really a jewelry girl but it was so sweet and while I was gushing about what a great husband i have, he pulls out a different white box and when I opened it he said "the other one's a fake, this is the real one,"

I was like "holy bajoley," are you kidding me?! It's absolutely gorgeous and I cried and he cried and I just love him so dang much. The center stone is aquamarine, which is my birthstone, and it's surrounded by diamonds, which are both Jeff and Max's birthstone. We had a great night and dinner was delicious, thanks for asking. After all this, Sunday was pretty uneventful. The dog got a haircut, and as you can see, we got her a new sweater since all her hair is gone. She is thrilled with us and I'm sure she would be calling PETA if she could dial a phone.

Sorry, Z.

Cake Alert!

You know how I like to make cakes look like other food? Well, I do. In fact, I'm looking for someone who loves pancakes enough for me to make a pancake cake for them. For real. Anyway, go to www.theatomiccakeco.blogspot.com to a cake that doesn't look like cake. That's amore.

Hmmm...maybe I should turn this Diet Mountain Dew into wine.

PISCES
It's only Wednesday. How many more miracles do you feel you need to work before the week is through? Considering all that you have done, are you not now entitled to put your feet up and take it easy? Perhaps so, but there are calls you ought to make, promises you would like to honour and processes that you feel you must get underway. In the process of pursuing these objectives, you will work more miracles - and that's exactly how it should be. The New Moon speaks of your chance to rise to a position of great power.

Whoa people. Stop begging me to perform more miracles, jeez. Enough is enough. Seriously, I have no idea what the hell this horoscope means. I have performed no miracles this week, unless you count the fact that I got to work on time today as a miracle, which it is, so let's count it. DONE.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the day elastic was made for. This is a weird year for us. We generally have the obligatory family dinner followed by a food coma and then more eating, capped off with too much wine and then a nice pass out on the couch. This year, due to the fact that Jeff and I are on BABY ALERT LEVEL ORANGE, we opted to make things easy on everyone and we're going out. Yes out. As in a restaurant is going to cook my dinner and I'm going to go there and not have to clean up shit. This is a first for us and I have to say I'm looking forward to it. Not to say that I don't enjoy a good holiday dinner with the family, and it's not like they won't be there too, but change is good and brunch is better. Since tomorrow I'll be busy eating and then coming home, making a cake, eating more, maybe a nap, more food and then sleepy time, I'm going to post my What I Am Thankful For post today. Ahem.....

-Normally I would say I'm thankful for family, and friends and unicorns and rainbows and blahblahblah, and OF COURSE I'm thankful for them and would be lost without their love and support, especially the unicorns, but this year I want to really thank one person. That person is my hubs, Jeff. I'm sure you don't want to hear the details about how awesome he is and how hot he is and all that crap, so I'm just going to say that I would never, in a million years, be in the position I am in right now if it weren't for him, and I have never been in a more optimistic and exciting place in my life ever. He is there for me 1000000% and knowing that gives me everything I need to get through this world. Babe, I love you so much it hurts and I love you more every single day. I can't wait for us to have our family because the thought of you as a dad makes me cry happy tears. I really believe we were meant to be together. For real.

That's enough sap. Alright people, I probably won't post again until next week unless something dramatic happens or if I perform some miracle that actually means something. So adios for now, have a great holiday and make sure the bird isn't the only thing stuffed.

xoxo
Amy

Universe - 1, Me - 0

So, for those of you playing along and keeping score, as of this morning, we still have no P3 arrival at the NVC. Tomorrow will be exactly three weeks since it was sent out. I'm not sure what exactly they're doing with it but you know, if they could just hurry it along just a bit, that would be great.

Holiday weeks are super awesome.

PISCES
Your Week Ahead: The stakes are not so much being gently raised as dramatically elevated. The ante is being well and truly upped - about as fast as the chips are coming down. Put another way, it's all getting very real and rather tense. So it's just as well that there are two sides to your personality. You do a great impression of a casual drifter who meanders aimlessly along... till the universe needs you to be strong. At which point you reveal yourself, every time, to be truly invincible. It's time to don your cape and costume. Step out, rise up to your challenge and you'll make miracles happen this week.
Week Ahead Part Two: Think of the things you have done for certain people. The sacrifices you have made. The kindness you have shown. Actually, don't think about it. It's slightly painful to suspect that not all of it has been as appreciated as it ought to have been. You did what you did out of the goodness of your heart, not because you wanted reward or recognition. This week's generous deeds will be performed on a similar basis. Won't they? In giving, the giver gets the best gift. Hang on, this week, only to positive ideas and good opinions of others. It's only through being big that you're ever going to open an exciting door of opportunity.

Wow. I suddenly feel a lot of pressure this week. So much for a leisurely holiday week, eh? DANGIT!

I can't describe how much I love a holiday week. Seriously. A three day work week should be standard. Sometimes though, it drags on like a bad date and I'm hoping that does not happen now. I've got three days to call the NVC, of course, so maybe we'll get some good news. Eh, maybe. The room is DONE, sheets are on the bed, crib is all ready with plastic-backed sheets for any peeing and/or pooping, diapers are on the ready, etc. so we are a go. I spent a while in there in the pseudo-rocker watching TV, getting a feel for the room. Even though I've lived there since 2001, I have never really spent much time in that room. It was my art room for a while, but I was too messy and had to move downstairs. Then it was a spare bedroom but we never have any guests so it never got used and quickly became the place we dumped our crap. Now it's our cute little nursery and I love it.

We were only slightly productive this weekend aside from that. We spent a sad amount of time in bed watching The Fast and the Furious, both I and II. Why, you ask? I have no idea. We watch about 3 movies a year and somehow we got sucked in to those steaming piles and now I can't erase them from my brain, nor will I ever get that time back. Otherwise we had a lovely time puttering around the house, doing little projects, eating, laying around, eating again. Ahhh...it was a great weekend.

Oh yeah, it's Friday.

PISCES week of Nov 15
Your Week Ahead: You are kind, you are compassionate, you are always willing to take a long diversion from your path if it will help someone you care about. These are all qualities to be proud of. You are not, though, some kind of mythological martyr or psychological superhuman. There's a point past which you should not go. And you always know when you have reached it. Instead of saying 'OK, that's enough', though, you tend to feel bad about drawing the line. Don't do that this week. Do your best and when you can do no more, do no more. For at that moment, you will have done enough.
Week Ahead Part 2: It doesn't matter how good your vacuum cleaner is, there will always be a little bit of dust lurking in the corner somewhere. Even if you become obsessively fastidious and catch it all, you can rest assured that more will come into your world rapidly. That's the nature of dirt. You can keep it down but you can't keep it out completely. Much the same can be said of fear. Conquer as much as you can by all means, you will never, though, free yourself entirely from reasons to worry. Those reasons may sound convincing - but you don't have to listen to them! This week's problem needs to be taken less seriously. When you've done all you can, do not feel obliged to do more.

Sometimes on Fridays, I like to go back to the "week ahead" area of my horoscope to see how accurate it was. I know that's probably cosmic cheating or something but whatever. This week explains that I dealt with...spoiler alert....guilt and worry. Wow. Um yeah, horoscope dude, I deal with those every week so tell me something new. I love how they both tell me that I will get to a point where I'M DONE WITH THIS CRAP and then I have permission to throw my hands up in exasperation and walk away. I like that. This week HAS been wrought with worry, as my chronicle of complaining has shown, and there have been some things I have had to say "STEP OFF" about but then felt guilty later so yes, these ARE accurate. Well played.

So I decided not to call NVC today. There's no reason to ruin yet another day, especially a Friday since it's my favorite day of the week, and if we get our appt., I'll know about it soon enough. As I vented my frustrations on the agency message boards yesterday, the overwhelming majority of people responded by telling me that this very point in the process is probably the absolute hardest to get through, so I don't feel bad about bitching nonstop. See, GUILT. As much as I compulsively worry, I also decided a few years ago, when I realized I would live with guilt and worry my whole life just as my mother and granny did, that I would try to look at the silver lining in each crappy situation. This was so that if the worst happened, which I usually expect will, I have at least one thing that I can be slightly happy about. I do this with EVERYTHING. So, for this particular situation, I have decided that since we are still waiting, we should take advantage of this and sleep in, go out whenever we please, swear with reckless abandon, drink wine before it's time and do whatever else we won't be able to do easily once Kimchi gets here. I think they call this optimism. I'm not sure. I call it "holding my shit together." Either way, I plan on enjoying yet another child-free weekend so I can start the worrying and complaining again on Monday.

Woo-hoo, next week is a HOLIDAY week so only three days of work. OH SNAP! Unless you have to work on Friday, in which case you have a four day week. But still. I'm looking forward to putting up my Christmas tree, which I didn't do last year, and generally decking my halls. I'll post pics of my cool tree when I get it done. Have a glorious weekend.

UPDATE** -- Um, yeah. I went ahead and called. Anyone who knows me knows I was full of crap in my defiance to not call today. OF COURSE I had to call. I got the news I expected, no P3 packet has arrived so no interview scheduled. The good news is that after an almost 3 week drought in travel calls, there was movement on the agency message boards today so hopefully that means things are chugging back along. Jeff and I have a bet, which I might have already mentioned, that on Dec. 5th, we will be either a) on our way or in Korea or b) having just gotten our travel call and furiously getting ready to travel. I said he was full of poo and that it would be later, so in reality, all this huffing and puffing is probably to early anyways. As for the wager, it's none of your beezwax. Anyhoodle, at least I won't spend the whole weekend thinking "man, I should have called. I SHOULD have called. Why didn't I call?" See, MORE GUILT. Carry on with your day.

Happy New Baby.

I just want to give a shout out to my friends K and C, you know who you are, who just 11 hours ago welcomed their new son into this world. I wish them all the best.

I am going to have a nervous breakdown in 5, 4, 3.....

So here's a good one for you. I made my daily call to check on Little Kimchi's visa appointment today and I got some interesting information. And by interesting information I mean information that makes me want to hurl something large out my window just to break something. And by something, I mean me. Anyway, a nice lady answered the phone and I asked my usual "yes, I'm calling to check on the status of a visa interview for case #blahblahblah" and she said "certainly!" and I was humming and then she said "um, we're still waiting on your Packet 3 to get here before we can schedule the interview" and I said, "the man told me two weeks ago that the P3 date was Nov 4" and then she said "that was the date we sent it back to the agency, not the date we received it back from them, which hasn't happened yet and is what we have to get before the interview can be scheduled." Wha? I sat in stunned silence for a second and then I was like "well, um, what happens after you get it back from them?" and she said "it goes into a queue and the interviews are scheduled in the order they are received" and that was that. I thanked her for the info and hung up but since my stupid cellphone is so small, I couldn't even slam anything down. I had to settle for a moderate "snap." I can't believe this shit. Seriously. I've been waiting on something that hasn't even made it there yet based on info that was obviously wrong. This essentially means that we stand a really good chance of not having him home for Christmas. I am so pissed off right now and I just want to cry but I'm at goddamn work and can't exactly sit at my desk and blubber about this. Bloody effing hell.

UPDATE*** -- Okay, this is just effed up. I swear to god, the next person that says that they want to adopt because it would be easier than having a baby can go straight to hell because this is WAY harder. I may not have swollen ankles or have to push anything out of my ladybits, but at least a pregnant woman has her kid RIGHT THERE. Mine is 6000 miles away living with a foster mother and every day he is there makes it that much harder for us to bond when he does finally get here. Here's the latest after another call to the NVC and a desperate post on our agency message board. The date the fellow gave me IS the P3 date. However, they are apparently waiting on the agency in Seoul, not the agency here as we had been told, to send them the P3 back so they can put us in the hopper for the visa interview. I have no clue as to when this is going to happen since most other people seem to have this process go A LOT smoother and if we were on track with them, we would be getting our travel call, oh I don't know, like freaking tomorrow. Instead, we are totally in the dark and get to sit and wait some more. Super. This could take days, weeks or months, they can't really say either way. So there you have it.

Ring, ring.....nope, nobody home.

So yeah, in the vast complicated process known as adoption paperwork, you get to a point where you need just one more approval. JUST ONE MORE. One freaking approval and then you get your travel call and everyone yells "HOORAY" and off we go on the plane and blahblahblah, life is great. Well, we have been patiently, PATIENTLY awaiting this last approval for 2 weeks and it's now driving me totally INSANE. Basically what is happening is that our agency is going to schedule a visa interview, at which time the state department issues the visa to allow Little Kimchi to come here. It's a one way visa and we only have a 14 day window to use it. Typically, when this interview happens, you get your call anytime between that day and 3 days later, depending on the agency and what have you. This is where we are, people. We are waiting for this freaking appt to happen and I've been calling every day to see if it's been scheduled and what happens when I call today, you ask? I'll tell you. THEY ARE CLOSED. WTF?! It's not a holiday and last time I checked, Wednesday falls within their Monday through Friday schedule. Someone said that they have meetings on Wednesdays or some crap and I don't want to hear that malarky. Someone needs to answer the damn phone and tell me that they haven't gotten the interview date yet so I can do on about my day, mmmkay? What would REALLY be great is if instead they said "yes nice lady who's been waiting so patiently which we all know is not one of your strong suits, we have your interview scheduled for TODAY so rev up those diapers because the kid's comin' home!" to which I say "THANK YOU AND GOOD DAY FINE SIR" and promptly have a complete freak out. Really, I just want them to answer the goddman phone. COME ON.

UPDATE*** - I am ON HOLD!!!!! They must now be open because I didn't get the nasty "office is closed message." KICK ASS. Hang on...........you know, they must have known they made me mad. Clearly......

ANOTHER UPDATE****- You know the noise they play on games shows when they get the question wrong, the wah-wah, noise? Well play that shit in your head while I tell you that they have not scheduled his visa appt. yet. DANGIT. What is the freaking hold up I ASK YOU?

Don't call it a tat, please. I hate that.

PISCES
No matter how many mountains you climb, there will always be another mountain, higher than the last, standing before you, challenging you to make yet another ascent. Life would be pretty dull if it failed to provide us with an endless succession of fresh mountains to climb. There are times, though, when we can tire of the apparent relentlessness of it all. Right now, you need a change... and a rest. You can have both, for a while, just as soon as you get to the top of the mountain you are now climbing.

Aww, come ON. Seriously? What the hell mountain am I climbing now? Adoption Point? Mount Cakeshop? Hells bells horoscope man, tell me something good. I do need a damn rest. I'm tired.

So last night Jeff and I FINALLY got our tattoos. YES! It only took 4 trips to the tattoo parlor before we got it done. We went to Allstar here in St. Louis for those of you looking for a good place, and they did not disappoint. Rob, our tattoo artist was very AWESOME and he was so nice and didn't laugh at me when I told him I was nervous. I totally love my tattoo. Jeff got one as well on his bicep and it's totally kick ass and HOT. I was brazen and got mine on my wrist so there's no hiding it really. Screw The Man. While we were there, a gaggle of US Weekly types came in with their hair extended and their Uggs and skinny jeans and one of them watched intently as I got mine done. When he finished and I went to swap out chairs with Jeff, she came over and asked if it hurt and I told her, yes, it does and she was like "don't tell me that" and then they all went "OHMYGODSTILLDOIT!!!" and screached and then one of the girls went in to get her nose pierced and the looker went and apparently got the world's smallest tattoo since it took all of about 3 minutes Now mine is small and it took at least 15 so this was probably a dot or something. They were pretty funny. You get a bit of a charge when you're done so we were kinda jacked up for the rest of the night. My wrist is a little sore today but the skin is so thin and I knew it would be a little more painful but oh well. Man, at one point he got over a vein and WHEW, it REALLY started to hurt but I made it through. VICTORY.

Still no word on the baby. There's been a bit of a lull in things that is making me verrry anxious. This is probably the worst part of it all. The waiting for the call. The waiting before was bad but this is BAD. I'll keep you posted. Maybe today..............

I showered. Finally.

So last weekend, my friends LM and Liz, along with a little help from my sister, threw Jeff and I a shower at Van Goghz Martini Bar. As we know, I am not really so keen on showers because they make me uncomfortable but this one was different. It was mostly just a bunch of our friends getting together for cocktails at a cool little bar with some favors, cakes and presents added in. It turned out really great and I have to send a THANK YOU SHOUT OUT to my girls for throwing us such an awesome par-tay. Since I am the graphic designer, I opted to make my invitations and a few assorted other things. Here's the invitations, with a quickie photoshop jobber to mask any incriminating evidence like names and such:

Yeah, I said QUICKIE photoshop job. Anyway, a while back I decided to photoshop one of his pictures and make funny images from them showing him on his way to St. Louis, which ultimately turned into buttons that Liz made and gave to the party guests. I made four scenarios, none of which make much sense, but we thought they were hilarious. We are not right. Anyway, here they are:Here is surfing Kimchi. This is for when we move to Hawaii and he becomes a pro surfer. It could happen. Here's the next one, a more conventional fare, of Kimchi hopping a ride over on a big ol' jet plane:

This one REALLY makes no sense because he will not be coming here via Mexico but whatever.

Lastly, spaceman Kimchi. He has gone to great heights to get here. GET IT?

Poor kid. I'm gonna whip these out when he's about 16. He shall never forgive me.

Of course, I didn't bother to bring my camera so I have no pictures of the actual shower so you'll have to trust it was a lovely affair. We got some really cool stuff from our friends, including these awesome bibs and a boombox onesie from LM, a highchair from my sister and a playpen from Liz, which I am SO EXCITED to use and possibly try to get in myself. I cannot thank them enough for all they did but THANK YOU LADIES anyway. My friend Ken was there and it was also his partner's birthday so I made a special birthday cake for him in addition to the shower cakes I made for us. You can go to http://www.theatomiccakeco.blogspot.com/ to see all the cakes. I'm too lazy to double post the pics. As our party was winding down, a huge ass bus load of students from Wash U invaded the bar for some young lawyers affair. They were all dressed fancy, or dressed as what you think is fancy when you're about 21 which meant that for the ladies, everything was short and tight and they teetered on heels so high it was laughable. They were trying SO hard and I remember being that age and wanting to be so grown up and not realizing how weird it all looks. Eh, hindsight. Anyway, they were loud and all over the place like ants and at one point broke into song for some reason but overall it was pretty funny. I did have to endure one drunken ass who chastised me for adopting my baby because he was under the impression that it was like a brothel and they lined the kids up and you got to pick out the cutest one and that he felt that wasn't fair to the ugly babies. WTF?! Liz and I schooled him very quickly on the error of his ways and I hope he felt like as big of an ass as he was behaving. This person will be a lawyer someday so that's great for us all. LOOK OUT JUSTICE SYSTEM.

So here we are. Showers are done. Room is ready except for sheets for the bed. All equipment is put together and waiting. It's almost time. For real. We can start to expect a call as early as, I SAID AS EARLY AS, this week. Holy shit. It's probably going to be a few more weeks, maybe 2-3 because there seems to be a lull in the travel calls right now, but it seriously can be any time. ANY TIME NOW. We are scared but we are ready. As ready as we can be.

Pisces for November

LM was so kind as to refer me to this lady Susan Miller and her spookily accurate monthly horoscopes. It's veeeeeery long but her forecast is really freakily accurate based on my life right now. WEIRD THINGS KEEP HAPPENING. EEEK.

Pisces, November

Make no mistake about it: This is one of your best months of the year. Even if you should "lose" something you think you need materially, spiritually, or emotionally, or have a parting of the ways with a person you used to care about, later you will see the wisdom in the universe.
On November 4, Saturn and Uranus will be at loggerheads in a major aspect that the world has not seen since April 1965-January 1967. The opposition of these two planets is almost identical to the opposition of these two giants of our solar system - only this time, Uranus is in Pisces (last time it was in Virgo) and this year Saturn is in Virgo (in 1965-68 Saturn was in Virgo's opposite sign of Pisces.) This puts you in the center of all that is happening.
If there are any weak links in your life, you will find out now, for Saturn and Uranus will identify precisely where that weak link lies. These major planetary powerhouses will test and possibly break that weak link if it proves unreliable as well as unable to meet your future needs.
A close relationship will be under the microscope, whether business or personal in nature. Your other aspects are so sensational now that if something is taken away, you should take it as a sign that the universe has bigger plans for you. If after Uranus in Pisces and Saturn in Virgo deem your relationships and endeavors strong, not much will happen in early November, so either way you will win.
If you find you have to give something up, doing so will only free you to have something far better. Uranus in Pisces is stirring up fierce need within you to break old restraints and to truly become the person you were born to be. Your need to express artistic and creative ideas has never been stronger.
With the impressive momentum you've built and the passion and drive that you have been exhibiting, there is almost nothing that could impede your progress. Saturn will temper your impulsiveness in just the right way and not allow you to go too far afield. Just the right touch of practicality and balance will prevail, and you will find that you are in a good place.
Also this month, Neptune, your ruler, will go direct orbit on November 2 after being retrograde since the end of May, and Uranus, now traveling in Pisces, will go direct on November 27 after having been retrograde since the end of June.
The combination of these two planets turning from weak retrograde to powerful direct speed will have a positive effect on everything you do. These planets are writing your name in the sky, dear Pisces. Watch the days surrounding November 2 and 27 for extra-good news about something dearly important to you. You've had be patient and methodical in your planning, but now conditions are right for you to move ahead with great vigor. Hold on to your hat, dear Pisces!
Travel could easily make up a big part of your agenda in November. If you didn't travel a great distance in late October, you still might during the first ten days of November.
The new moon that arrived at the end of last month, October 28, will push you to see more of the world and open up wide vistas on so many levels. You will likely hop a jet plane soon, even if you have no plans to do so. This trend toward distant travel and powerful relationships with people based abroad will be strong for all Pisces, but doubly so if your birthday falls near February 25, plus or minus five days.
All sorts of new and very stimulating influences are coming into play now and you'll be feeling very alert, alive, and energetic about following up on those opportunities. Foreign people based abroad, or those who work in academia or in the spiritual realm, will have a role to play in your life now, too. If an opportunity should arise from one of these sectors, be sure to opt to investigate it, for it seems to carry extra weight and potential for your future. Additionally, publishing and broadcasting projects will shine brilliantly and you could gain more from one or both of those sectors, too.
If you are applying to colleges or grad school, everything goes well this month. Your meetings should go swimmingly and you may come away wondering why life couldn't always be this sweet.
By the full moon November 13, you may need to complete a project that will engage, and possibly display, your communication skills. You may be asked to write, lecture, edit, market, research, or sell, as some examples. This would be a grand time to launch an ad or publicity campaign; or to unveil a new or improved website or blog; or introduce a new software, game, or cell phone application. You may travel too within three days of this date, and it would be rewarding.
Your friends, both old and new, will have a very positive role to play in your life, too. Watch November 9 through 15 as outstandingly social days to enjoy your friends or to benefit from one in a very clear obvious way. Be grateful! These days are golden, worth four stars! Watch in particular the date November 10 when Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, sends shimmering beams to the Sun.
When Pluto enters your friends / contacts / acquaintances sector, you will begin to meet very powerful people. Pluto has never visited this part of your chart so far in your lifetime, as his orbit is slow. (The last time Pluto was in Capricorn it was the time of the American Revolution, 1762-1777!)
Pluto will remain with you for the coming 15 years, so this coming transit - one that will be so very beneficial for you - will be a fresh and very welcome development. Since 1995, Pluto has been in a challenging position, so having this major power player in your corner will be a big relief - and a help! From that point on you will meet very successful people socially, people who will come to know you on a personal level and be genuinely interested in seeing you advance. This is a big influence we will talk about together in future weeks and years, for now Pisces born at the start of the sign, in February, are starting to feel these rays.
Your career is about to enter a hugely important phase, too, where lots of praise and publicity will be heaped on you, beginning the date Mars enters Sagittarius, November 15, continuing until December 27.
This will be a terrific period for landing a new job or for raising your profile in the eyes of the industry. Even self-employed Pisces will find that they are moving up, up, up. It looks like this holiday season you'll be out and about, meeting with the press, or else in meetings with bigwigs about a much larger career role for you. It's a really exciting time - the promotion or public praise you get (or both) could be the best gift Santa gives you this season. You've seen nothing like this in two years!
You may hear gratifying news immediately, on November 15 through 17, when Mercury and Uranus will be perfectly positioned to help you. Send a proposal, meet with clients, or have an interview for a new job or a reporter.
Your career and reputation should take still ANOTHER leap up the ladder of success with opportunities that arise once the new moon appears, November 27, in your fame sector. You will have two weeks after that to launch important actions.
You don't have to actually close the deal at that time, but you do have to at least open talks in late November or early December. If you are interviewing for a major position, it could take several months to actually win it, but it surely would be a prestigious spot if you uncover the opportunity now. (You might land that position now - it all depends on the situation!)
I would like to end your report with a discussion about romance, but before I do, I need to warn you about a very angry full moon that is due next month, December 12. This full moon will have everyone on edge.
I had considered not saying anything about this full moon yet, but because it will affect mutable signs most, that is, Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo, and Pisces, I felt I might be able to help you deal with this full moon. It will fall in Gemini at 21 degrees, so those Pisces born on March 11, plus or minus five days, are due to be affected. Since it will fall so close to Christmas and Hanukkah, I decided to try to help you head this off.
The part of your chart to be lit will be your fourth house of home and family. Something will reach a culmination, and it will require you to handle things immediately. All full moons have an area of influence of plus or minus four days, so that's the time you need to stay alert.
It's possible that an elderly family member will need your attention, or that a development in regard to your home will need an urgent response. Mars will be in harsh angle to Uranus, which could trigger an argument or a mishap. Don't burn your candles at both ends, for you will need to be strong and healthy in December to keep up with the month's demands.
All this tells me that you should not have a packed schedule near this date of December 12. Be smart and do your holiday shopping in November and have all gifts purchased and wrapped by December 9, not one day later. Once the news of this tense full moon hits, you will not be able to concentrate on your holiday tasks, and you will lose precious time.
I am putting my Christmas tree up early, by December 6, and will turn down the heat in my apartment so my tree stays fresh. I have never put up my tree so early, but I would never tell you to do something that I haven't done, too. Like you, I will get all my shopping done. This full moon, like all full moons, will be emotional, and that alone will make you feel distracted and unable to concentrate on normal things on your agenda.
I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but I want you to have a happy holiday, dear Pisces. If you don't have much on your schedule to do, you will be able to work on whatever you need to do at this home-related full moon. If you have children that are depending on you to call Santa, you wouldn't want to disappoint them, right? Actually take your children to see Santa early, over Thanksgiving weekend (November 27-30), so that you don't run out of time.
Everyone will feel the fallout of this full moon, and fortunately, most of us will be able to regain our footing by December 19 or 20. However, that's cutting things too close, don't you agree? We will talk more about this next month, dear Pisces. In the meantime, keep an eye on your elderly relatives, as Saturn's hard angle to the Sun could require you to jump in and help a parent or an aunt, for example.
Saturn also rules the structure of a building, so alternatively you could get a leaky roof or some other structural problem to fix. Remember, only certain March-born Pisces will likely feel this full moon, and if that's you, you will be able to rise to the occasion. Just don't be too busy!
Let's turn our attention back to November now.
Romantically, the move of Venus to Capricorn is great news. Even if you say you rarely get invited to parties, I think you will this year! Your social life is going to start to start cranking up from mid-November and get even busier as you go thorough the month of December.
One of your biggest social days of the month will fall at month's end, between November 29-December 1. That's when Venus will conjoin Jupiter, a wow of a moment because these two benefic planets only meet up once a year and always meet in different parts of your chart. This year they will meet in your house of friends, fun, parties, new people, and events. Whatever you do will have a pampering, luxurious atmosphere - a "must" to do!
Your romantic life will be best on: November 7-8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15-16, 29-30, and December 1.
Summary
This will be a great month, for the Sun will move through fellow water sign Scorpio, a place that blends beautifully with Pisces. You'll be feeling in your element, and honestly, your chart will be very powerful!
When Neptune moves direct speed (from retrograde) on November 2, and Uranus moves direct from November 27 onward, you will see a whole new environment shape up - one that supports your deepest desires!
Over the past few months, no matter how hard you tried, you had problems making progress on the projects and relationships dearest to you. Now, when Neptune, your ruler, turns direct on November 2, you will see heartening progress. Even more good news will occur on November 27 when Uranus in Pisces turns from sleepy retrograde to direct. Exciting days are due, dear Pisces - just you wait and see!
Travel may take up the first half of the month, and rightly so. Your reputation apparently precedes you and your services will be in high demand. If you don't travel you may get a chance to export your work abroad. Travel this month will bring on an exhilarating growth experience. You'll be communicating with people in foreign countries and opportunities to work together will bring you stimulating ideas.
Publishing and broadcasting areas may bring awesome opportunities too, as well as plenty of good news, as will anything having to do with academia.
A writing project, a trip, or an invitation to appear before many people may culminate at the full moon, November 13. With Jupiter in perfect angle to Uranus, all sorts of groups, communities, charities, and clubs will be excellent for you and help you advance your goals. Some sort of superb publicity is likely to come up too near November 13.
When Mars enters your tenth house of fame on November 16, your career progress will begin to accelerate in an exciting way. Mars will remain in this lofty place in your chart until December 26.
On top of this, the new moon that arrives only eleven days after Mars arrives, on November 27, will propel you even further up the ladder of success.
Dear Pisces, did you assume that you could not possibly land a new job or see your status rise at holiday time? It can and it will! This is YOUR time to shine, the best and most impressive professional advancement you've made in two years.
Romantically, you will have fun and be invited to more events than you ever have in the past. Venus is about to move though your friendship sector, so pals will look after you - they want you at all their A-list events.
If you are in an established relationship that has not been happy, the coming dialog between Saturn and Uranus that will start on November 4 and continue through 2009 and 2010 will help you decide what major changes you need to make. If your relationship is strong, you will sail through this easily. If it's fatally flawed, you will see the truth of this and have the option to try to fix it or leave. There's no rush here - as mentioned, this will be the start of a long meditation that will take you into 2010.
Your chart is so strong as to be unstoppable, so don't let anyone tell you that you can't to do this or you can't do that. This is your time, dear Pisces. You get to write the script exactly as you want it to be!
Key dates to remember:
Travel a far distance: October 29-November 15.
Watch the date of November 10, for a proposal or offer may come to you that may amaze and thrill you.
Writing, speaking, lecturing, editing, or being involved in any of the communication arts will also come to a big crescendo on the positive full moon November 13.
Old and new friends will be angels, for they will look out for your welfare: November 9-15.
Your career will now climb to new heights: November 16-into most of December.
Pluto's permanent move into Capricorn for the coming 15 years will put you in contact with many new people, and they'll be successful. In coming years your Rolodex will expand with your growing reputation - you'll love mixing with people just as successful as you are.
Within that period, November 27-December 10 will be critical for big career successes. Plant seeds for new opportunities!
Romance will be best on: November 7-8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15-16, and 29-30.

WARNING: long post ahead. you might need a snack.

PISCES
Every so often stage illusionists set out to debunk clairvoyants, telepaths and mentalists. Just as Houdini, in his day, took on the table-tapping seance-holders, modern magicians set out to prove that they can bend spoons with sleight of hand. Just because something can be faked, though, we cannot conclude that every manifestation of that phenomenon must be false. There's a sensible explanation for every amazing thing that's happening in your life this weekend... but that doesn't make any of it any less magical.



What's up with all the magic references this week. Weird. I hope by "amazing" he doesn't mean "bad" and by "magical" he means "unicorns."

So we had a bizarre night last night. REALLY BIZARRE. Remember John Byner's Bizarre, the TV show? Anyone? I remember that I was WAY too young to watch it but I did anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah, last night. Jeff and I have been planning on getting tattoos ever since we got our referral for little Kimchi. I'm not getting into detail but they are symbolic to his heritage and are quite meaningful to us so I've been very excited but we just haven't managed to fit it into our schedule. I decided that this week was the week, more specifically Thursday night and thus the plan was made. I've been tattooed and pierced before and I had a specific tattoo shop that I wanted to use and so that's where we headed. We pulled in to the strip mall and Jeff was like "hmmm...it doesn't look open" and I was like "of course it's open, it's a tattoo parlor" but the closer we got the more it seemed something wasn't right. The lights were on but there was no activity so we pulled up to figure out what the deal was. I was sitting there blabbing about how the sign said "open daily at noon" and then Jeff said "what's the date?" and I said the 13th and then he pointed out a homemade sign taped to the door that said "Closing at 7pm on November 13 for art show." WTF?! Seriously? SERIOUSLY? We have waited months to do this and the one night we decide happens to be the one freaking night the tattoo parlor decides to close early. I checked the clock and it was 6:54 so we were screwed. I was so mad because I had psyched myself up for it so I decided we would just head to the other place I've gone to. It wasn't my first choice because the people there aren't exactly super friendly but at this point we didn't have many other viable options so off we went.

We got down to the area where the other place was and it's in a very popular hipster area here and for some reason it was PACKED and it took forever to park and when we did it was far away and it was really windy and cold and I was getting crabby. We made it to the place and went in, armed with the printouts of what we wanted. I went up to the guy and showed him what we wanted to do. He asked me where I wanted it and how big and I told him on my wrist and about 1/4" high. It has taken me MONTHS to make this decision as this is PERMANENT and as I was explaining this to him , some other dude walked up and was like "NO, we can't do that the way you want it. It has to be bigger, like the same size as the printout," and then just stared at me with disdain. I held it up to my wrist and realized this was going to be HUGE so I had a little panic and they were staring, waiting for me to decide what to do which made me more anxious so I diverted to Jeff and said I would have to think about it. When we explained what Jeff wanted, he got assy again and was questioning us in a really jerky way. I FIRMLY told him what the plan was for Jeff again and then they turned their attention back to me, tried to convince me that there was NO way I could have it smaller so I panicked and said "fine, whatever" and signed the papers. I asked him if there was a wait and he said no but then when we gave him the forms back, he was like "take a seat and wait." HUH?

We went and sat down but the nagging feeling in my stomach was NOT going away and the more I thought about it the more pissed and anxious I got. Why wouldn't they just do what I wanted? Their reason was lame, that it would spread, but I've seen intricate designs before that weren't huge so my take is that he didn't want to have to reinvent the wheel and wanted to just copy what I had printed and be done with it. On top of this, they were going to charge us $60 per person for basically a teeny little tattoo with no color, which was also kind of ridiculous. All of this stuff was now swirling around my head and I finally looked at Jeff and said, "we should leave. I don't want to do this here because it isn't what I want and it's permanent and I'm not doing what THEY want me to do and the guy is an ass." Jeff agreed, I went back up to the dude, told him I needed to rethink my plan, said sorry for your trouble and we left. I was so damn mad because I had my heart set on doing this THAT night but I wasn't taking orders from this douche. When we got home I got out my black eyeliner pencil and drew the tattoo on me as they would have done it and it was freaking HUGE and I'm SO glad I didn't go through with it because it was not good. I washed that off and redrew what I wanted so now I am armed with plan B so tonight is round two, at the place we wanted to go all along and if all goes well, I shall go to sleep tonight with some bright shiny new ink.

Okay, so that was the first part of the night. All this rigmarole over the tattoo made me cranky and we got home I was super tired since I have to get up before dawn now so I made my way to bed around 9:45 and Jeff soon followed. I had just fallen asleep when we heard it. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. We both shot up and Jeff was like "what the hell was that?" and I was like " it sounded like the fire alarm" but it had stopped and we didn't smell smoke or anything so we sat there for a minute until Jeff got up to go investigate. I can't explain why but this noise creeped us out badly. He came back and said he didn't think it was the fire alarm because it only beeped a couple times and then stopped but what was it? We laid back down but I just could not shake this eery feeling it gave me. He was like "that noise freaked me out" and I agreed. We both fell asleep and then and hour later I heard it again. BEEP, BEEEEEEEEP, BEEP. This time I got up because one of my many quirks is severe fire paranoia and I was convinced that there was something burning somewhere in my house. I went to the front of the house and saw nothing, ran downstairs and saw nothing. I heard some commotion outside and looked out the front window and saw an ambulance parked in the middle of the street but there weren't sirens or anything and I was like "what is that doing out there" and then I got REALLY freaked out and ran back to the bedroom. Jeff mumbled something and I told him what was outside and that I heard the noise again but he just rolled over and went back to sleep. A few hours later, BEEEEEEP, BEEEEEP, BEEP, and this time there was no ambulance so I was about to go insane because I could NOT find the source of this noise. Our smoke detectors are hardwired so they all go off or none go off and the one in Kimchi's room is on it's own but if the battery is low it makes an intermittent single beep, not these repeated beeps. It happened two more times throughout the night, I got no sleep and now I am convinced that there is some kind of beeping ghost in my house. That's super.

So, that was our weird night. I'm not sure what kind of cosmic upheaval was going on but hells bells, I hope tonight is better.

tick, tock, tick tock

PISCES 11/12/08
Rabbits out of hats. Doves from within silk handkerchiefs. The great magical traditions. The classic clichés of the stage illusionists. In real life, nobody can perform such wonders, can they? You might now be in a position to astonish and amaze. Jupiter and Uranus insist there is a wand you can wave and gain impressive, almost immediate results. Don't' just assume that somehow a task is beyond you or an objective is too much to hope for. Don't worry if you don't know how a particular trick is done. Just try to do it anyhow.

Hmmm...turning tricks now, eh? I KEED, I KEED. Of course not. Apparently Jupiter and my anus want me to wave my wand but I don't have one. I KEED AGAIN. Sorry, it's one of those mornings.

I'm all anxious over this baby stuff. I can't describe it but I imagine it's similar to being pregnant and not knowing when the baby's going to rear it's head (literally!) so you're always on the ready. We are so close to this and yet we still have to wait for stuff and it's making me crazy. At this point I have no clue where we are but I think we're still waiting on one last approval but I'm not even sure of that. We could expect a call pretty much anytime beginning next week, I think. Probably won't happen just yet but it's possible. Anything is possible. I can't believe we are at this stage. I had imagined how things would go down when we got our referral and it was totally different in reality and I expect this to be the same. I predict total freak out, followed by frantic phone calls to anyone who will answer followed by a lot of crying. I've been making a long list of questions I wanted to ask the foster mother and then I read that they don't like a lot of questions because they consider it rude so now I have to pare down to the essentials. "What do I do with this baby?" That's pretty essential I would think. I'm also trying to get gifts together for the foster mom and the workers there, which is apparently customary to do, and I'm tying to learn some simple Korean phrases. That part, not so much. There are like 4 ways to say everything and I'm not sure which I use because I don't want to offend so I might just nod a lot. Kimchi's room is done, he has fancy artwork from his weirdo mom (me) that will probably scar him for life and he already has more clothes than I do. That is NO JOKE.

As you can see, I have a lot of nervous energy. I might post again. I don't know. I'm a loose cannon right now.

Mondays are for suckers.

PISCES, 11/10/08
You've got a talent for positive presentation. Sometimes, though, you end up using it to fool yourself! Instead of putting on a front designed to be attractive to others, you talk yourself into propositions that, deep down, you know to be less than ideal. Could that be happening now in one rather awkward area of your life? Might you have, inadvertently, inspired yourself to hang on to something you really ought to be encouraging someone else to take off your hands? This week brings a rethink, followed by relief.

Ooh, this is a juicy one. The funny part is that at work people always say that I'm always cheerful and happy, which cracks me up because I am generally not, but I don't feel the need to thrust my crab ass on anyone else so I guess it IS a front! YOU'RE RIGHT AGAIN, HOROSCOPE MAN! This whole prediction is pretty much spot on and I can see exactly where it applies. You are "eerily accurate," just as your website promises. Well played, sir, well played.

So this weekend was the first of two baby showers that my friends and family have been so kind to throw us. Showers freak me the hell out because I prefer to be more behind the scenes rather than the focus of it all so I was pretty much nervous the entire time, which probably translated to being aloof so I apologize to anyone I didn't get to spend much time with. Despite my anxiety, the shower was really lovely. My sister in law Linda threw it for me, which was super nice of her to do, with some help from my mom. I got to hang out with some of my old co-workers that I don't get to see nearly as often as I like as well as some family friends that have known me since I was a wee girl. The food was delicioso, and Linda really outdid herself with these awesome sandwich things and my mom brought her pasta salad, which I love and I made the cake. OF COURSE I made the cake, right? (You know where to go to check it out.) Little Kimchi got loads of things and the kid will need 15 costume changes a day to wear all the clothes he got. One of the sweetest gestures came from my father in law's lady friend, who had found a quilt that my late mother in law had been working on before she passed away and finished it for us. I seriously had to fight the tears big time because I didn't want to start blubbering in front of everyone and show them my crying face. It was one of the kindest things and I know it meant so much to Jeff for his little boy to have something from his mom. My sister bought us our stroller, which I promptly put together as soon as I got home and then pushed the dog around the house until she pleaded with her eyes for me to leave her alone. See:

I think she went in to call the hotline after that. She'll be back, though, because she's lazy. You just wait. Anyway, we got car seats, and bottles and a bunch of other stuff that I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with. At one point during the gift opening portion of the day, someone began a sentence with "You know how babies like to...." and I was like "Um, no, I have no clue what babies like" and that's the truth. Jeff and I spent most of Saturday night trying to figure out what the hell all this stuff did and what we really needed and all I really wanted to do was go find a kid to push around in my new stroller since the dog was no longer cooperating. I wonder how she's going to like testing out the car seat. I KEED, I KEED.

Cake Alert!!

Go to http://www.theatomiccakeco.blogspot.com/ if you know what's good for you. And I think you do.

Saturday....my second favorite day of the week.

Pisces, 11/8/08

You have been tending, lately, to oscillate between two states. One moment, you feel 'oddly edgy', restless, excited... and a bit uncomfortable. The next, you feel listless, apathetic, underwhelmed and... a bit uncomfortable! Now, the celestial climate changes and you finally get to feel as if something, somewhere in your world is as it should be. Which, actually, it IS! The improvements you are seeing are not just theoretical and psychological. They are tangible. Things that you have been wanting to happen are actually starting to happen. And there's more in store.

Oh horoscope man, please be right. For real.

Oh Friday, what took you so long?

Pisces 11/7/08

'Born in the USA...' so goes the great Bruce Springsteen anthem. What really matters in life, though, is not where we started out, it is where we are intending to end up. There is now too much emphasis being placed on a beginning. Never mind what caused a set of circumstances to come about, focus now on your ability to alter and influence the current situation. A great deal of fuss is being made, but most of the talk is empty and most of the problems that you face, are flimsy. Look forward and you will get ahead.

It's been quite a week, huh? We laughed, we cried, we shared. Whatever. There IS a great deal of fuss around me and I'm just done with it. I for one, AM going to look forward, forward to my BABY SHOWER tomorrow! Yeehaw! Well, one of them anyway. This is the lady shower, as Liz and I call it, and my sister in law has been so kind to throw it with some help from my mom. I never really ever thought I would have a baby shower or a baby anything and it's making all this stuff seem more real. Since I'm not pregnant, it's been a surreal experience going through the adoption. It's not like when you're pregs and the baby is RIGHT THERE kicking you in the spleen or wherever the hell they kick you, it's much more detached. We have been told by the agency to "prepare to travel," which is NOT the same as the travel call, which is going to be the day that I officially lose my shit. We're currently awaiting word on our emigration permit approval, which is one of the last steps necessary for little Kimchi's travel visa to be issued. We have one more approval and then we should be getting our call, which if the time frames are correct, should come in 3-4 weeks. Yes people, I said 3-4 weeks. It's countdown time. I think back to the olden days of yore when I looked at Jeff and said "hey babe, let's have a kid!" and figured we'd do the deed and then bingo, presto, we'd be pregnant but alas, that did not happen. There was a lot of deed-doing but no behbeh so then we were like "hey, we'll adopt!" but then you go there and you're like "yay, we're adopting" but then it takes for freaking ever to happen and then you're like "this will never happen. I'm so pissed" and you get sad and mad and then one day they call and say "we have a behbeh for you, lady" and then you're like "WOO HOO" and then you have to wait EVEN MORE and you freak out because he's there and we're here and then you finally get to this point and here we are. It's down to weeks, not years or months, and soon it'll be days and then we'll be on a plane going to get him. YIKES! Hold me.

Of course I'm making my own cake so check back on Sunday if you care and I'll have a cake alert.

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

Holy moley. We did it. WE DID IT!!! I was so nervous and we were on the phone with everyone and everyone was nervous but then it just faded away and then I was excited. When they called it at 10, the tears came and stayed on and off until we fell asleep. His speech was so moving and to see the massive crowds cheering and crying and coming together to celebrate this moment was indescribable. I was once again proud to be an American. It's a good day, people.

Oh yeah, to the asswipe who left an "anonymously" racial comment on here yesterday, you are a douchebag. I have no problem with people that don't agree with me but if you're going to come and spout off, grow a pair and identify yourself. This is not a hateful blog and I am disgusted by your comment. I have a "no asshole comment" policy here and you are in violation. Spread your hate somewhere else and I bid you good day.

Election Day follies!

OKAY PEOPLE, it's go time. Va-va-va-VOTE! On my way in I saw a man on an overpass who had draped the entire thing in homemade Obama signs. I was so jazzed to see it that I honked. Of course the guy next to me in the Explorer thought I was honking at him because he is clearly self-centered and gave me the stink eye but I didn't care. The overpass man brought a tear to my eye. This is an exciting time people, and I'm not going to pretend that I don't want this to swing my way. I know the campaigning is old and I'm as sick of the political ads as the next guy but look, it's every four years and this is the only chance we have as a country to make our voices be heard. In light of that, here is my plea to you, my awesome reader(s):

I hope you vote for Obama. Why, you ask? Here's why. Barack Obama is a rad dude. He is intelligent, well-spoken, a great dad and husband, a community leader who works to help those who don't have a loud enough voice to get the help they need and, most importantly in my opinion, he's a symbol. He's a symbol of what many of us want this country to be. He's a symbol of what one person can accomplish regardless of race, gender or ethnicity. He is a symbol of the true melting pot that our country is and has always been celebrated as being. He has managed to swell the hearts of those of us who have looked at the state of our country with helpless anger and sadness. We have a war going on that we are never going to win. We have an economy that favors those with the most toys and pushes aside those of us who work hard to get by, not ahead. Will he raise taxes? Probably, but how can he not? How can someone chastise him for doing so and then go support a candidate who will continue to spend money every day on this war, dragging us further and further down the hole. He cares about things like better schools and quality, affordable health care, things that matter to us on a daily basis. He isn't asking us to go out and fend for ourselves and hope we don't get screwed. Many of those I hear complaining about his tax policy don't even make enough money to worry about it and they're basing their vote on a fantasy that probably won't come true, at least not anytime soon. In this country it has become more important to be rich than to be a good person. Success is now measured by McMansions, SUV's and flat screen TV's, not by how much you help your community or your fellow man or just by being a decent human being. Obama brings me the hope that people will start to understand that in order for us ALL to prosper and grow, we have to set aside the imperialist way we live and learn that yes, it's great to be successful but it's just as important to help others do the same. Do I say give them all your money? Hell no, but neither does he. He does advocate helping those who need a boost up the mountain, so that when they get there, they look back down and hold out their hand to help the next person trying to climb it. This is why our nation is great. We ARE a village and we need each other to grow. Obama is a symbol to many people that despite your circumstances, you CAN make a difference. You CAN have a voice. So I ask you, if you really do believe in hope, make your voice be heard.

Where are you, cakey?

You may have noticed a dearth in the cake postings here at Kimchi central but fear not. The next few weeks will bring many magical cakes so keep your pants on. This shit takes time, people. These cakes don't make themselves. It's gonna be a full-blown cake bonanza from here till Santa time so prepare yourself.

Who decided Monday would be the first day of the week? Why isn't the work week, say, Tuesday thru Saturday? Who makes these rules?

PISCES 11/3/08
There is a seemingly easy way to sort out your current difficulty. All you need is one specific resource. The only trouble is, it is not a resource that you seem to have access to. So, you feel frustrated. You can see no further than your need - and your desire to meet it by hook or by crook. You really must, though, force yourself to see further than that. There's another, less obvious way to get round your problem. It calls for more effort and ingenuity - but it offers one great advantage. Ultimately, 'plan B' is a lot more feasible.

What kind of pile of poo is this? I didn't realize I had a difficulty. Do I? Maybe I do and I don't know it. Dammit horoscope, now you're just messing with me. NOT COOL.

How awesome was yesterday? Seriously. I woke up at 8:50am, looked at the clock and realized that no, it's only 7:50 silly and I went back to sleep. I would marry daylight savings time because I am in love with sleeping and yesterday I slept in and still had time to do a buttload of stuff. We were busy little beavers this weekend. We had many little projects left over from our renovation last year that we needed to finish, including most of our groovy new lighting. Jeff is so very handy and he installed sensors in the basement so when I have to go down the stairs with the laundry basket, oh it's no problem, the lights come on AUTOMATICALLY for me. It is really sweet. He also installed fancy new lights to highlight some of my paintings, over-cabinet lights in the kitchen and track lighting over the bar. Look at how cool it looks:

Look at Jeff. He's very serious. This picture doesn't really do it justice because the lighting looks really cool. While he was doing that, I was finishing Kimchi's bedroom. It's not totally done yet, but it's close. Here's how it looks thus far:
The red light fixture is my favorite thing. You can see one of the paintings I did for him in the background. I also have a robot and some sheep. Don't know why, but I just like sheep. Obviously there won't be as much crap everywhere but I ran out of steam last night and this was as far as I got. Here's the furniture I painted for him.

I know it's not really "baby" but screw that. I hate all that crap and I didn't want bunnies and trains and whatever else they tell you you're supposed to have. VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

Okay, one last push. GO VOTE TOMORROW. Now, we all know I ja'dore Obama but even if you are lame and want Grandpa Munster, suck it up, wait in line and vote. People have died for your right to vote. Well, unless you're a rich white guy. Everyone else, people have died for your right to vote so DO IT!