39 AND HOLDING

These are a few of the presents mama received for her birthday this month. The red roses and Seattle Seahawk sweatshirt are from Mimi and papa, the black purse is from grandma, the small white purse from Keri and the white rose from Janet. Not pictured is a Judy Garland dvd collection and book from Jim.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Today is another gorgeous day outside. Enough so that mama decided that it was time to get out of the house. She is starting to get a little bit of cabin fever. Still it is quite cold outside. It got down to 23 degrees last night. It got so cold that the water on the school grass turned to ice. Only in the picture it looks like Mimi is standing in sand. It is so clear that one could see Mt. Rainier real good but unfortunately it did not come out well in the picture.

Back home in California mama was seeing a dentist and periodontist every six months regularly in order to keep her teeth from falling out. Since moving up north we have had to find a new dentist. About six months ago mama went to see a dentist group that came highly recommended. They took x-rays and the the whole shabang and recommended a periodontist. Mama made an appointment with the peiodontist then proceeded to forget to mark it on the calendear. As a result she had to re-schedule the appointment. The appointment was set for 7:30 in the morning. So Mimi and mama left the house at 7:00 and arrived on time. Filled out all of the paperwork and was sitting in the dentist chair only to be told that she would not be able to be seen that day because the previous patient had taken so much of their time. Mama had also hand delivered the x-rays to their office so that we would not have to take them again.

It takes a lot to get mama really ticked off and that took the cake.

Mama is now changing her dentist group. The periodontist group that I was refered to states that I never came to see them and never brought the x-rays to their office. In order for mama to see the new dentist, she has to go back to the other dentist office and get a copy of the x-rays and pay $25.00 or have the new dentist take another set of x-rays and pay $142.00 because the insurance will not pay for it since it is less than one year of having a dental exam. This whole experience is a real pain in the behind.

NEMO'S NEW CONDO

Mimi's Nemo (Blue Beta fish at the top of the tank) has a new "crib". Mama bought a couple of weeks ago mainly because she got tired of cleanning his apartment every other day. He seems to be quite happy with his new digs. Now and then our Stanley (kitty cat) will watch Nemo swim around. Nemo himself feels much safer now too knowing that Stanley will not be able to attack him.

Last night Mimi had her first sleepover at Blake's house. She did pretty good. Keri said she did have one small crying moment during the night so she (Keri) gave her some TLC and things were fine afterward. Mimi just loves Keri a whole lot. She will get upset if I don't let her talk to Keri on the phone whenever she calls. I feel so very fortunate to find some good friends up here.

The reason for the sleepover was that Greg's office had their holiday party last night at Sam's Olympic Sculpture Park. It's located not far from the Space Needle. We weren't exactly sure what time we would be home so therefore Keri took care of Mimi while we were out for the evening.

It worked out just great. Blake and Mimi get along real good and little sis Bailey just loves to tag along after Mimi and copy everything that Mimi does. In a way it is a good practice for Mimi especially when her mei mei comes to live with us.

UPDATE ON THE PUTNEY'S

Slowly but surely mama is feeling like her old self again. This past Christmas really knocked her for a loop. She is still sending out her Christmas care packages in time for the Chinese New Year.

Mama found a great website yesterday called Mandys Moon. It has a bunch of stuff you can purchase online regarding multicultural adoption items including Chinese.

One thing about moving is that once you put the furniture in place in your new home, it starts to look rather crappy. Our old green sofa and recliner looked good in our old home but not this new home. As a result, mama's Christmas present this past year is a new leather sleeper sofa and two recliners. It should be arriving at the end of the month. Ollie and Stanley got two new kitty sofas too.

Another new item we will mostly likely lease this year is a new SUV. It was very interesting reading Princess Teri's blog on how much she loves her new SUV. For several years now mama and papa have been considering getting a hybrid and now since the lease is up on our Honda, it's our chance to do it.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.....

We actually are experiencing a break in the gloom. These past few days have been amazingly gorgeous. It is still freeze you nunnies off cold (38 degrees). At least one could see the most amazing blue sky with patches of white clouds.

Mimi's new saying of the week "It's going to be a busy day today!" Mama says "No kidding!" EVERYDAY with our Mimi is BUSY!!!

One good thing about our Mimi being a early riser is that mama could go out and get some errands done before school. After school is the time for her playdates.

Pictured here is Mimi and Ollie. Ollie loves being outdoors especially during the summertime. Now that it is winter, he stays in more often. The good thing about him staying indoors is that he does not go out and eat the cat food that the neighbors put out. Therefore he has lost a considerable amount of weight and breathing easier. He has asthma and I don't have to use that darn inhaler as much. Plus the air smells very clean up here in Washington.

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES

Mimi: Mama, how old are you?
Mama: 39 years old.
Mimi: You mean that you are not 80 years old anymore?
Mama: Gee thanks. My family is so wonderful to me. sigh.

MARRIAGE AND BOYS

Mimi: Mama, you are married to papa.
Mama: Yeess?
Mimi: Grandma is married to grandpa.
Mama: Yeess?
Mimi: Keri is married to Wade.
Mama: Yeess?
Mimi: AND I AM MARRIED TO BLAKE!!!
Blake: But Mimi, I already married you. I am married to Emery now.
Mimi: If you are married to Emery, how come you spend so much more time with me than you do with Emery?

On the other hand Mimi says to mama that "boys are ugly!" Mama tells her to keep thinking that same thought for the next 20 years.