La Miserabelle

A web diary of diurnal happiness while enduring the adoption process.

[lamiserabelle]

Bye

For future updates, visit lamiserabelle.wordpress.com.

(thanks to wordpress for making it so easy to import my stuff from here! No thanks to tumblr for being so tumblry.)

[lamiserabelle]

Can I get a hand for my newest (maybe) niece?

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Another sad day: a member of the pack has gone to the big dog house in the sky. RIP Chewbacca. May you finally be free of your inhibitions & neuroses & full of all the dog log your tiny cheehooah heart desires. Here he is in a pic my mother-in-law (his mom & favorite person) shared today that I had never seen before; chasing adventure with said favorite lady; & cradled in my arms this morning. I did not know that it was goodbye when I put him back in his bed before going to work. Fare thee well, Chew Man!

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So glad Snowy is feeling much better (& so is her mama).

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Feb 15, 2016

The day’s not over yet, but it was pretty much over by the time I went to bed last night. I’ve been felled by a nasty sore throat/head cold/stomach cramp situation since yesterday afternoon. Today I took a sick day for the first time in at least three years - possibly closer to five. I’m glad I have the option to take time off work to recuperate. I slept until nearly two o’clock. I could seriously go back to sleep right now if I tried (it’s 6:30 pm, & I’m typically a night owl). Instead, I’ll stay up a while longer, watch the Westminster Dog Show, & enjoy a (very) light dinner with the Mister. 

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Sugar snow on Sal

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Yesterday we had fun fooling Baba's neighbors that we were Claire's parents.

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Will I ever tire of the novelty of finding wild things in our yard? An owl in the tip-top of our southeasternmost white pine at dawn, chatting with its compatriot in a tree a few yards north. This tree is at least 70' tall, & I had to zoom way in. Even so, my owl pal was very visible from ground level. I knew I ought to keep rolling because 30-60 seconds later, it flew over the roof & disappeared.

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A taste of home

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“Remember that you are dust, & to dust you shall return.” (Book of Common Prayer)

I’m more fascinated with the rituals of religion than religion itself, but I do love to be connected to tradition. I went to the 7 am service at St. Timothy’s Episcopal to participate. The imposition of ashes has been practiced on Ash Wednesday since the ninth century. That is twelve centuries of dirty foreheads!

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We have the one that Nathan’s 2x-great-Gpa Charley used in the early 1900s. It may even date back to 1897 if it’s the kind of thing they held onto. That thing is heavy & sturdy & probably caused some damage. It's long enough to be problematic as far as storage/display goes, which is fine because I don't think I'm comfortable glorifying a weapon. I never knew the part about rapping the nightsticks on street lamps to alert other cops of their whereabouts.

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2/8/16

Potstickers with soy chili sauce & homemade pork buns by aunt Lan to ring in the year of the monkey.

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February 7, 2016

A good meal at Michael’s with the in-laws; a very rare nap (much needed after a strange, mournful Saturday & an early morning with a barky Sal); a $20 donation to the American Heart Assoc. for a brave young neighbor who had open heart surgery (we still need to donate in honor of my cousin’s son, who has had open heart surgeries of his own); a tasty taco/nacho/wings fiesta at my parents to watch Superbowl 50; a victory for Peyton Omaha Manning.

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We attended a memorial service for my dear old friend Eric at Dressel’s to celebrate what would have been his 42nd birthday. I was brave & said a few words in his memory. I’m so glad I did, because I got a few good laughs & was able to provide a unique window of insight into his life. I was the only one from the toy company there; I had been galvanized by several people’s reactions when I told them how I knew him: “Oh, he LOVED that job!!” I brought a few things to share, including a caricature of us & our other fellow copywriter from early 2001. I took pictures of a few other mementos. Eric, a whole lot of people miss you a whole lot.

Edited to add that there was a massive binder full of his students' recollections. I only got to read a handful, but one of them was perfect in its brevity: "This dude could have a deep as fuck conversation about ring around the rosie." Amen.

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I taught doggies to walk through a hoop.

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Sisterly snuggles. (Tumblr...why did you flip my image 90 degrees?)

(Back the next day to see if I could fix the orientation on my desktop since I uploaded it on my phone...but no. Tumblr, get stuffed. Imma quit you.)

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Sat around last night chatting over a bottle of wine with these two - biostepmom Jill & biomom Karen, both in from out of town.

Edited to add that I was informed that I was originally named in part after a girl named Kellie at Lutheran North who was “so beautiful, a gymnast/cheerleader” who once told off Johnny Londoff (yep, the “Johnny Lon-doff Chev-ro-let!” guy - he was in Karen’s class) in the school parking lot because he was giving Karen crap about her Ford Pinto clunker. She apparently did this with tampons sticking out of her ears. Hmm. I inherited/grew into this “Mr. F” persona in a myriad of ways. Furthermore, how delightful to know that the local car huckster N & I make fun of regularly had a cameo in my naming story!

Classic Johnny L senior commercials featuring Sammy Davis Jr & the Wizard: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VMdO2X9T1m0

This guy. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LudehzTI5EE He is one hell of a Londoff.