Names

As I laid down for a nap today, I went to a familiar rite of mulling over baby names to fall asleep. I didn't come up with any names, but I did realize that there are a lot of names that double as male and female names. I don't know why I found it amusing, but I began to try to think of as many as I could.

Here's my list. If you wanna play along, add a comment:

Kari/Carey
Lou
Sam
Pat
Mel
Lee/Leigh
Don/Dawn
Madison
Jordan
Cameron
Chris
Renee
Jim/Gem (truly outrageous)
Jean/Gene
Corey
Kim
Lesley
Lonnie
Lynn
Added 7/31
Loren
Andy/Andie
Stacey
Tracey
Tony/Toni
Terry/Teri
Charlie
Gwen
Glen(n)
Joe/Jo

There seemed to be more when it was all in my head, so as I remember them I'll add onto the post.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Admiring his hard work...and his good looks

Any meany miny mo...

Three different holes

All smiles

Here you can see the peach pic and blue bottom paint, too

When my mom was here, we drove by a mirror in a showcase at a store called Kirkland's. It was on sale for $40. On Saturday I went to return some pillows at the fabric store that we bought the material for the window seat from. Kirkland's is in the same shopping center, so I thought I'd pop in and see if I could live without it or not.

As it turns out, I didn't really care for that one, but they had bunches of mirrors on sale for $40. Including the one I found that had a regular price of $99. I knew that this one matched my cherry furniture and decor much better than any of their other selection. It's heavy; so I had one of the staff help me out with it during what I later learned was a 5" an hour thunderstorm downpour. I was drenched to the point of transparency in under a minute!

Since it is so heavy, we wanted to make sure that it got hung on studs. The hangers on the mirror were 41" apart, so we really only needed to find one stud. I am a pretty good stud finder, but it has been about 4 years since I last looked. After quite an ordeal trying to find every stud on that wall (including my darling husband's bloody knuckles) we decided to hang it up (no pun intended) and buy a stud finder in the morning.

Somehow our well thought-out plan resulted in a missed measure of about 5 inches on the width from hanger to hanger. So, another molly screw and off we go. It hung, but with a variance of an inch in depth from left to right side. Not level. Again with the molly screws. Finally, after all that hard work, a mirror hangs from our wall. For what it's worth, here's pix of Dapo and the mirror. We were still 1/4 inch off, but the bubble was inside of the level marks so I had compassion on my hubby and called it done.

Window Seat

Dad and Dapo bring in one of the boxes for the window seat

The ensuing head scratching

Buried alive...
The unfinished box during the party

Mom starts to stain
Mom starts to put the foam padding on
Finished product
View of living room looking into the sun room

From the sun room looking to living room...see the screen

Jimi seems to like the bench
Hey, I can reach the pictures now!
Wee! Playing with pillows
Finally, playing with his toys in front of the window seat

One of the things we did while my parents were here is build a window seat. Our sun room doesn't ever get used and I wanted to utilize the space. I was also tired of looking at florescent red, orange, green and blue toys in my living room. Since the double-sided fireplace's second side is in the sun room, I hoped that I could make the area into reading area as well. I also envisioned myself laying on the window seat watching Jimi play with his toys in his new play area.

So I thought up the idea of building a window seat in the sun room that could lift up into a storage/toy box. My Dad spent a great deal of time coming up with a cut list and detailed design plan for the box. We all went to Home Depot together to pick out the wood. Dapo got a saw out of the deal, and he and Dad built the window seat to my custom order in the 90 degree Alabama sun!

Mom and I opted for the air conditioning of various stores and the house. The boxes came inside in time for extra seating for Jimi's party, but didn't get the seat and pillows put on until the next week. I did test to see that a 5'4" person could fit inside of the box, and my Dad proved that a 200 lb man could sit on them at the same time. It freaked me out a little, you can see in the picture Mom took as I was released!

Mom and I went to Hancock fabric to pick out the foam and fabric. We went to Home Depot for the cherry wood stain. And another trip to Pier One for a couple of pillows. We couldn't leave Pier One without my plantation-style shutter screen I've had my eye on for over a year. It barely fit in the CRV, but we got it home.

I am posting pix so you all can admire the masterful engineering of my Dad and Dapo and our "fabulous" staple gun, stain and decorating job (right, Mom?). Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, yes it is comfortable, practical and beautiful.

Jimi's Cake

Blowing out the candle, this pic taken with wide angle lens.
He didn't like his fun to be one hat, so I took it off
Here I am serving his cakeJimi's enjoying the attention, but not the cake
A dab'll do 'em
Another dab
I took away the plate, and that was just the ignition he needed

Double fisted
Where'd his mouth go?
Mom! More!
He's talking to it now
Show off!

Frosting hair and beard
or is it a goatee?
Hee hee
Dapo seems to be having fun away from the grill
Jimi and Jonathan

Hooray for Donna McKinney, who took great pix of Jimi's cake eating ceremony! I owe you one!

USCIS

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The good ol' United States Customs and Immigration Services (a branch of the Department of Homeland Security) now charges for these tempest-tossed huddled masses who are yearning to breathe free to come through the golden door.

My husband and I are currently in the process of knocking at this door, and Lady Liberty's lamp is not yet lifted to him. We have had a fairly smooth go of it, but there is SO much paperwork, forms, and cashier's checks involved that I think I would be better off to send him to Mexico and vote for McCain.

Two years ago when he was about to graduate from the University of Utah, we began the petition for alien relatives. The criteria we used, obviously, was marriage. At the time, we had to file three separate forms, one for him to work, one for me to promise to pay for him if he became a bum, and one for him to stay in the States. I forget exactly how much we paid for each form, but they average $500 a piece. In addition, we had to pay $150 for him to get a physical, and what they call a biometrics fee. This is about $100, and includes fingerprints and a background check. All of this was back in 2005. The only real setback we had was that I did not include Dapo's birth certificate in our first round of applications. They sent us a request for it, and we sent it right in. I did read the required documents portion about five or six times over, and don't remember seeing that. Then again, the forms are terribly cumbersome, even for someone whose FIRST language is English.

Around August '05 we received a notice for interview. This is when you take all your copies of
the documents you sent in and you take pictures, love notes, wedding invitations, and anything else that you feel substantiates your actual marriage out of love and not out of "circumventing the immigration laws of the United States of America". During the interview, the gentleman asked for any additional items we might want to show him (see above) and there were a couple of items that got left at home. I told Dapo to get them and I'd get something else, and he thought I said it the other way around, and we had this conversation in front of the man and the guy said, "well, I'm going to go ahead and approve your petition, it's obvious you are married". He must have felt sorry for Dapo. Don't we all.

Before we left the interview, the guy said that what Dapo was getting was a "temporary permanent resident" card. This was because we had not been married for two years before making application. But, we did not have two years to wait, so we had to go this route. The gentleman told us that the temporary card was good for two years, and that we would have 90 days before expiration of the two years to apply to have the conditional status of his permanent residency removed.

Two or so weeks ago we were talking and I realized it was July and I said, "it's almost September", referring to the two year mark, which prompted Dapo to remember this conversation with the INS worker. So, we go to file the form to remove the conditional status, which is another $525, plus another biometrics fee and of course, another interview to make sure we're still married. We had to send in our joint tax returns, joint checking account statements, mortgage that we're both listed on, insurance policies listing me as the beneficiary, two affidavits from people swearing under oath and penalty of perjury that they know of our relationship and are willing to attest to the validity of it (thanks Mom and Heather), copies of birth certificates of any children from the marriage, copies of utility bills and other revolving credit with both of us on the account, and anything else we felt would establish our relationship and man and wife, not wife and immigration circumventor.

Last week we received a letter which wasn't exactly what we were looking for. They extended his temporary permanent residency out a year, while stating that we will receive an appointment to capture fingerprints, photo, and signature from Dapo. Yes, they do already have this, but some things just don't make sense but you do it because you'd like your husband to stay in the country. They also said they would like us to send a copy of our property deed, as well as car and medical insurance policies (we only sent the life). So no biggie I will copy those and send them out.

I will be very glad when this is over, because after this, he would like to become a naturalized citizen. He can't do that until he's been a permanent resident for five years, but it will happen one day. Land of the free (give or take $2k) and home of the brave.

Tags

I have been tagged a couple of times and I guess I am it. I don't really understand the concept, but for what it's worth, here I go.

Three joys:
1. music/worship
2. seeing Dapo
3. Jimi's laugh

Three fears:
1. Bugs. The Southern kind.
2. Tornadoes.
3. Failure

Three goals:
1. Finish one of a dozen unfinished projects by year's end
2. Pay off my CRV
3. Raise wonderful children

Three current obsessions:
1. Bugs. Mainly earwigs.
2. What the stupid three fingers on the shoulder is on SYTYCD.
3. Air conditioning.

Three random suprising facts about me:
1. I was scouted by the University of Arizona for softball my junior year. I was stupid and didn't play my senior year. I could have played for Coach Mike Candrea whose NCAA championships include 94, 96 and 97. My four years would have been from 1994-97.
2. I can sew.
3. I fell out of a raft while going over white water rapids on the Truckee River.

Another tag...the book tag
1. Get the closest book you can find: Supernatural Childbirth
2. Find page #123: Okay.
3. Type the fifth sentence: You promised that if we would train up our child in the way he should go he would not depart from it when he is old.

The one word tag:
1. Where is your cell phone? dunno
2. Your significant other? kind
3. Your hair color? brown
4 Your mother? best
5. Your father? funny
6. Your favorite thing? drums
7. Your dream last night? boat
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? play
10. The room you're in? study
11. Your hobby? music
12. Your fear? bugs
13. Where do you want to be in six years? rich
14. Where were you last night? church
15. What you're not? quiet
16. Muffins? butter
17. One of your wish list items? lawnmower
18. Where you grew up? Kelso
9. The last thing you did? vacuum
10 What are you wearing? clothes
21. Your tv? off
22 Your pets? no
23. Your computer? slow
24. Your life? good
25. Your mood? happy
26. Missing someone? no
27. Your car? black
28. Something you're not wearing? ring
29. Favorite store? Macys
30. Your summer? inside
31. Like someone? dad
32. Your favorite color? purple
33. When was the last time you laughed? now
34. Last time you cried? yesterday
35. Who will do this? Random


You know, it's kinda fun. But, I don't want to say "so and so" you're it. It puts so much pressure on!

One Year Old

Looks like Mallory and Mikey are getting some chow!

Peeps from his nursery

I know it looks like I'm waving, but really I'm telling Dapo I need five more burgers! That's my Dad on the right.

My friend Nicole engages Jimi in conversation.

I am finally getting a chance to eat.

Or, am I? There's my plate behind Jimi. He is about to eat his cake. Sadly, no pix of the cake, only video.

Jimi gets a head start on the gang by playing with the "bowling pins" earlier in the day

Daddy and Grampa put food coloring in water bottles to make them more fun!

Grammy, Jimi, John-John and Tori

A really good shot of nothing, really.

Grammy and the birthday boy!

Hooray! Jimi turned a year old on July 13th. It is hard to believe how fast that went by. He never was very little, but he is a BIG BOY now! He weighs in at just under 27 lbs, and a cool 34". He is good natured and fun-loving, a perfect mix of his Daddy and me.

We had a party for him that consisted of a baby Elmo theme. We invited only people that we thought he would know their names, mostly friends of his from nursery at church. It was HOT and humid, and thunderstorms cancelled our "backyard bowling" I had set up for the older siblings of his friends. Oh well, we brought the bottles inside and threw them alongside the new toy box/window seat that Daddy and Grandpa had built the day before.

I really tried to keep the party on schedule, knowing that Jimi and I would be needing naps soon. Dapo did a great job of BBQ'ing and the food was yummy! We had chicken salad croissants, pb&j, deviled eggs, guacamole and salsa and chips, veggies and Uncle Dans, olives and punch and water to drink. Then when the BBQ was ready we had fruit salad, macaroni salad and burgers and hot dogs. You couldn't tell I was pregnant, could you??

Jimi had cake after lunch and it was so funny! We sang the non-traditional "today is your birthday, happy, happy birthday...happy birthday to you! na, na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na, na na na na! hey!" And I helped him blow out the "One" candle on his very own cake. I had put the cake on a plate, on his high chair and he had just eaten, so he seemed rather disinterested at first. Everyone looked on awaiting that funny first moment. I finally took the cake off the plate, which is when Jimi picked up the entire piece (two hands) and shoved it into his mouth! He mushed it up with his fingers, and then ran his fingers through his beautiful curly locks. All over his hair. He had a great time.

Then we opened presents, which was amusing after all of that sugar! He got a couple of outfits, a drum with rattle-type toys inside, a giraffe tunnel to crawl through, blocks, a couple of developmental toys (i.e. leapfrog's Fridge DJ, Vtech's explore & learn helicopter, etc.), a ball, and some cold, hard cash. About then it was time for everyone to get going. I wanted to keep it short and sweet. Going from 11-1, since those times are all ones. It was a great day to have a party!

Grammy took him shoe shopping while she was here. He is in a size 7 1/2! I had no idea. No wonder he didn't like wearing his shoes...they were 2 whole sizes too small. I felt so bad. Grammy also is going to buy him Uncle Arthur's bedtime stories. I had these books when I was a kid and I still remember some of the stories and the morals they taught. I can't wait to bond with my son over them and begin making memories for him.

Forever and a Day

I couldn't help it...he just looks so precious here. Even if his white shirt has BBQ on it! He looked so cute in his red, white and blue

Dapo is also wearing blue. "A" for effort.

Fireworks from across the road

I know, I know. I'm a slacker. There's just so much that's been going on.

Let's start at the beginning of July. My parents came for a visit from the 9th-16th. So, I spent the 1st-8th cleaning the house, changing sheets, grocery shopping...that sort of thing. I haven't had much energy, nor have I felt well, so it has just been one thing at a time.

The Fourth of July was spent here at home amongst ourselves. We did BBQ. At dark the guy across the main road from us puts on a big show. I mean big show. Must cost him thousands of dollars. We put Jimi to bed, er, IN bed around 8 hoping to beat the bangs. Of course he wasn't able to sleep through it, but we took the monitor outside because we thought it'd be worse for him outside. So, we sat in our lawn chairs and had sweet tea and popcorn and hooted and hollered at the other guys' investment. It was pretty good. I tried to take pix, but fireworks are tricky!

Jimi turned one last Sunday, so I'll have to do a special blog just on that.

And since then, I've spent the days sleeping and eating and chasing after Jimi.

Alright, now for some meat and potatoes...the birthday blog.