It was a good week

It was a good week. A sunny week. A week without too much angst or stress.

J turned 35. Without any fanfare or celebration, which suits him well. I made him salmon. We ate at the dining room table which doesn't usually see much action. We had candles and laughed at some of the birthday wishes he got in the mail.

I can't believe J is 35 already. I remember celebrating his 21st birthday together. It was our 2nd date. November 19, 1995. I was 18, soon to be 19. I thought I was so incredibly grown up.

We went ice skating. It was November in Minnesota. Ice cold and full blown hockey, figure skating and broomball season. We went to the R.ose A.rena in Ros*eville where I had taken figure skating lessons for a few years and we skated circles around the outdoor rink. He had his hockey stick and he pulled me while I held the back of it. I remember asking him what he was passionate about. Do you know, I don't even know what he answered. But I think he liked the question. He made up nicknames for me that are all too embarrassing to repeat. I spun around and pretended I was a far better skater than I really was. We squared off in hockey. I kept up pretty well. I told him about my 9th grade crush on the star hockey player at high school. I went back to my dorm and wrote in my notebook that I was in love. For good. And the rest is history.

I wish I had photos of us then that I could easily upload. Maybe someday I'll have all the old college photos sent off to be turned digital. It would be perfect for times like these.

This week.

We walked the lake 13 doors down every evening and continued to be amazed at the profile of the mountains at sunset.

We wondered daily how Talay can still smell skunky after so many baths and skunk treatments.

We went to Sun*flower Mar*ket and found our free range turkey. It was a small holiday miracle that they had any left. We try to only eat free range poultry. No beef, pork or lamb. I will post on that some other time.

This was not our turkey. But I like to think that what we are eating enjoyed a life like this handsome bird.

It was a week of early bedtimes for me - kicking back on fluffy pillows, a sip of Nyquil, and drifting off in front of The Tud.ors DVD collection playing on my computer. No, I wasn't sick. I really need sleep and it was a good catch up week. I did not cry at church this morning. I did not even feel like crying!

Nothing to report on the adoption front other than the feeling of extreme calm stealing over me. It could be the Nyquil - but my guess is that it is getting close and every inch of me knows it and is relaxing finally.

So here is an update on favorite things. Despite some of your snarky email and facebook comments I have decided to continue this theme because I think deep down you like it!

1. In response to requests the website for Voluspa Candles.

2. My next favorite thing is not something you wouldn't want to give as a Christmas gift (unless you're weird - hey, I don't know all of you) but you will want to eat it every night from now until Christmas. Drum roll please....Home Run Inn frozen pizza!!!!

If you have ever wondered if there isn't something better out there this is it! Available at Wh*ole Fo*ods and Sun*flower Mar*ket. Uh.ma.zing. And this is for you Kate, who never comments but who I know is reading here because we drift into adoption talk every time we are supposed to be talking about work - Ba.na.nas. ;)

Now here is a special, possibly once only category of UN-Favorite things. (So no emailing me back with raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens comments.)

For a limited time only sharing with you the darker side...

1. I really really hate when my favorite bloggers reel me into their lives and homes and families and angst and drama and adoption stories, then fly off to Ethiopia or wherever only to return home and never to be heard from again. Or at least not post for stretches of 4-5-7-14 (gasp) days at a time. AND not post photos after arrival home. This comment is in no way intended just for my new favorite blogger - Claudia with the 15 dogs in Yemen you know who you are - but for all of those out there who have left me hanging.

2. I really really hate the compulsion I have to check for an intruder behind the shower curtain before I use the bathroom. It isn't every time - just when I've come home after being gone. Why would an intruder want to hide in our shower you ask? I have no answer. But if he is there I really don't want him listening to me use the bathroom.

3. I really really hate all things laundry related. J does the laundry in our house but that doesn't mean I don't have to put it in a basket when it's dirty or fold and put it away when it's clean. HATE it.

4. My final un-favorite of the week is this unbelievably bad treat we bought at Who.le Fo.ods. It is ice cream wrapped in gooey rice krispie bar. The concept was very good and very tempting. The reality is that those two foods should never exist together in the same box.

I would like to thank Amanda and Company (who has a private blog that I cannot link you to) for a Kreativ Blogger award. I will read the rules and post about it tomorrow!

~A