Nothing New + Awesome Video of Maura

What can be new on Christmas in Utah? Definitely not the snow. It snowed so much that if you don't shovel within a couple of hours, you'll be stuck for the rest of the winter. Fortunately, somebody came and shoveled our snow. No idea who did it, but it was awesome. This is how it's looking outside.

We spent Christmas night at home, and Chad and Heather were there, along with Geoff, Amy, Cory, and Lil Heather. Maura had an awesome time, and provided plenty of entertainment for absolutely free!

Adoption

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We are trying to adopt a baby! We've created an adoption blog, so you're able to see all the information on it.

What the...?

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The T and the K are not that close in the keyboard. So what is this about? New market strategy?

What You Can Do to Help Us Adopt

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Please check this entry we've prepared to see what you can do to help us achieve our dream of being parents.

Thank you for your support!

I Suck at Photoshop

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But not so much as you. So that makes me feel better.

So, I was watching that awesome YouTube series "You Suck at Photoshop" and I learned how to use the mask tool. It's awesome. I've never used it before, and it's cool what you can do with it. Well, not so much, but I tried it in my face (and then in Meg's), and this is what I came up with:

I guess I will not replace our adoption blog's header with this. For now. I might use it to inspire some pitty if I get desperate, though.

Meg went crazy updating her blog, and she posted a really cute video of Maura doing a 180 turn of her head to watch me. It's really touching, considering that she wouldn't look at me for like a solid month. I guess that I take some getting used to.

Adoption Blog

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Well, we've finally decided to get to work and make our adoption profile + adoption everything we could come up with. So we have our agency profile done, an adoption website, and even an adoption MySpace. We're also trying to get into adoption.com, but I always remember when I'm in school, and for some reason the website is blocked here (when here's where we need it most!!), so I can't get their phone number to contact them.

Anyway, check them out and tell us what you think. We accept suggestions.

Here's a little slideshow from the adoption website:

Raised Hand - Clipart

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I was looking for a raised hand clipart for a poster for my classroom, and I couldn't find one that I liked, so I made my own. Feel free to use it and share it as you see fit.

New Furnace

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Last week we called a technician to check our furnace. It looked so old that we were worried there might be something wrong with it. And because during the whole winter I could smell gas in our laundry room, where the furnace is in.



When the guy came, he noticed a few problems right away:


The thing had huge holes, which were letting the gas out into the house. In other words, we were being slowly poisoned. Everything makes sense now...

The inspector guy thought that the furnace was so unsafe that he decided to red tag it.


After coughing up all our baby savings, we got a new furnace. At least our house is warm for the first time (during the winter) since we moved here!

Dolls

As a way to cope with my students' loveliness, I've had to figure out ways to relief stress. One of them is making dolls. I know, kind of fruty, huh? Oh well. Here's some of them.

This is my second "sympathy doll." The first one is somewhere in a dump.

My first sock doll. I like: I made it as I went. I had no idea what it was going to be. I came up with the cow idea mid way through finishing it. Besides, it doesn't look as terrible. I hate: since I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't plan. Therefore, the stitches are terrible. Also, the sock was old, so the overall quality is very poor.

My favorite one so far. It just looks clean overall, although it has some crappy stitches here and there.

Very, Very Late Halloween Party Entry

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We had a Halloween party at home. It was fun, and everyone dressed up (that's the spirit! And since it's Halloween, it's an evil spirit I guess).

We didn't carve this year. My finger still hurts from the last time.

Meg was an 80's girl, and I was... El Zorro! (Somewhat nerdy, now that I think). I didn't take a picture, so this one's from Heather's Facebook


Heather was a Medusa, Chad was a zombie, and Maura was a ballerina. These pics are linked from Heather's Facebook



Kemp was John McCain, and Rochelle was Sarah Palin (I'm linking this from their blog, I hope you guys don't mind!!!)

Their kids costumes were also way awesome, but I feel bad stealing more pics, so go check their blog!

Matias and Emily were gangsters, and Nico was a dinosaur. I'm uploading their pics as well as Alicia and Alejandro's as soon as I find my camera!

I Love It When Megan Writes Me Messages...

We Voted!

Meg and I voted early today. It was her first election, and my first American one. I voted for president before in Argentina, and although the president I voted for won, a couple of years later he was kicked out of the presidency for being too slow to do anything. This time I feel much more positive about my choice!

We voted early because 1) we wanted to avoid long lines on Tuesday. We would have had to vote in the morning before going to work, because Tuesday nights I have a class at WSU, and 2) I wanted to make sure that my vote went through, and if I was to have any problems, I wanted to have a few days to fix it and have my vote counted. Fortunately, the people at the polls were very nice and we had no problem at all. I know that my vote won't make Obama win in Utah, but it was nice to be able to support some local candidates (I mean, besides the fact that our district's Utah House candidate has a 6 foot sign out in our yard).

PS: Well, since I'm here, might as well post Slate's newest summary on the election.

Meg's Blog

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People! Check Meg's blog! It's nothing but wonderfulness!

Time for Some Campaigning

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

My Favorite Part of the Debate

0:40: Obama quotes Kissinger as saying that we should meet with Iran without preconditions. He did not quote Kissinger as saying "meet at a presidential level."

0:53: McCain begins to steam.

0:58: McCain: "Kissinger didn't say that he would approve a meeting face to face between the president of the United States and Ahmadinejad." Obama: "Of course not." McCain: "He said that they should be at the lower level. I always incouraged them."

Actually, Kissinger wanted a higher level meeting. So, McCain lies again.

1:40: McCain totally looses it.

This is a transcript of what Kissinger said:

KISSINGER: Well, I am in favor of negotiating with Iran. And one utility of negotiation is to put before Iran our vision of a Middle East, of a stable Middle East, and our notion on nuclear proliferation at a high enough level so that they have to study it. And, therefore, I actually have preferred doing it at the secretary of state level so that we -- we know we're dealing with authentic...

(CROSSTALK)

SESNO: Put at a very high level right out of the box?

KISSINGER: Initially, yes. And I always believed that the best way to begin a negotiation is to tell the other side exactly what you have in mind and what you are -- what the outcome is that you're trying to achieve so that they have something that they can react to.

(Read the whole transcript here)

I'm an American Citizen! Now I Can Get Welfare!!!

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It was very exciting, and I'm thrilled to death. I've been waiting for this for years, and I can't believe that I won't need to go to that wretched building to renew my green card and to shovel more money ever again! I mean, the Russian guard was nice, but some of those old ladies at the windows were very grumpy.

The oath ceremony was yesterday at 12:30, and, to be honest, it was way lame. I had so many expectations. I mean, I've seen in movies when people give their oath in front of the Statue of Liberty, and there are thousands of people, and the whole thing is very emotional and impressive, and what not.

(Look! They even have the guys with the funny hats. I didn't have that!!)

Well, this is how my ceremony went:

We had to sit at the waiting room of the Immigration and Naturalization building in Salt Lake City. There were approximately 40 of us. Some little guy stood in front of us and started talking while the people who accompanied those who were giving the oath were passing the metal detector. I could barely hear the little guy, even though I was siting right next to him. He told us how we should get our passport as soon as we went home, because we were expected to travel as American citizens from now on. Then someone asked "what if I need to travel sooner than when my passport comes?"

"Well," said the little guy, "that will be a problem."

(That Russian lady didn't seem too happy to be there)

He then explained that we needed to stand and raise our right arm. He then said:

"You swear that everything you wrote on this... on this paper... on this form is true, that to the best of your knowledge is true... say yes."

We said yes.

"Ok, now I'm going to read the oath. When I get to 'So help me God' say 'I do.'"

He read the oath, and we said "I do."

(They made us swear!)

(The little guy giving us some funky moves)

"Ok, now get your certificate and leave through the back door. Thank you."

I got my certificate and left through the back door.

(I am happy in this picture. It's just that someone was trying to walk by, and that the certificate says "It is punishable by law to copy, print, or photograph this certificate." So I was worried about breaking the law in a federal building... in front of the little guy.)

Geoff, Chad, Heather, and Maura then joined us and we went for pizza and calzones, which in Spanish means "panties."

It was an awesome day!

I'm Going to Be a Citizen!

After paying tons of money in fees, having like a hundred interviews with migra agents, fingerprintings, countless stressful hours, and months of waiting, I received my appointment to give my citizenship oath in Salt Lake City on September 22nd!!!!

Our Brand New Niece

Heather had her baby, Maura, so Megan and Manuel are aunts! (Yeah, I know, that's Matt's joke, but I thought I'd borrow it for a little while...)

Our Awesome 2008 Washington Trip

After we went to visit Heather, Chad, and Maura, we had a few free days, so we went to see Geoff and Any in Winlock.

Day 1. The Falls:

The Burys learning how to whistle while fishing at The Falls. Unfortunately, they are not very successful

The dam at The Falls before going rafting... for three hours... against the windJack followed us for a long time
Day 2. Seattle:

In Seattle, we went to Jade Garden, an awesome Dim Sum restaurant. The food was amazing, and very cheap too.

Chinatown: We climbed to the 73rd floor of the Columbia Center, but the Observation Deck was closed, so we had to see through the office windows, which were kind of far
Day 3. Priest Point

Priest Point is a little park, for Washington standards, but it was beautiful
Day 4. Olympic National Park

This was our camping trip. We went for a hike on the first day, which was sunny and beautiful. The next day we went for a longer hike; it was rainy and a little colder, but it was a lot of fun The water looked so nice that I had to jump in. Unfortunately, I had no idea how cold the water would be. I was so numb after I came out that I couldn't feel my shirt when I put it back on.

The Meanest, Creepiest, and yet, Coolest Piece of Bridge Mix Ever

This is what came out of a bag of bridge mix we got at WinCo:
But if giving us a mean face wasn't enough for this little guy, see what happened when you flipped it over:
So rude. And yet, so incredibly awesome!

Bedroom Floor 2 + Living Room

This might have been the hardest project of the summer. We removed the carpet in the bedroom and the living room, sanded the floors, stained them and put finish on. It took forever, and the whole house was dusty for days because of all the wood dust.

BEDROOM

We started the bedroom back in March. We removed the carpet, but that was about it. This is how it looked back then:
We sanded it really well, with the big floor sander and then with the little mouse sander. That was the slowest part, because I wanted all the stains to go. It ended up looking really good. We then stained it and finished it. Megan later painted the base boards, so they don't look dirty anymore.
LIVING ROOM
We tried something different for the living room. The floor there is much bigger, and the stains were just as bad as in the bedroom. We sanded it really well also, but decided to paint it white instead. The carpet was really old, probably the original carpet they put when they built the house. The back of the carpet had the name of the first owners. When we finished painting it it still looked pretty rough, but once we put the finish on, it made it look great.