Nine Months...

That's how long our file has been logged in to the CCAA. What else can I say? We are now headed for the gestation period of much larger mammal. I've added a handy little list which I can refer to from here on out since this wait time is no longer humanly possible!! ha ha


Animal/Gestation1
ass 365
baboon 187
bear (black) 210
bear (grizzly) 225
bear (polar) 240
beaver 122
buffalo (American) 270
camel (Bactrian) ~410
cat (domestic) 58-65
chimpanzee 23
chinchilla 110-120
chipmunk31
cow 279-292
deer (white-tailed) 201
dog (domestic) 58-70
elephant (Asian) 645
elk (Wapiti) 240-250
fox (red) 52
giraffe 420-450
goat (domestic) 145-155
gorilla 257
guinea pig 68
hippopotamus 225-250
horse 330-342
kangaroo 42
leopard 92-95
lion 108
llama 330
mink 40-75
monkey (rhesus) 164
moose 240-250
mouse (domestic white) 19
mouse (meadow) 21
muskrat 28-30
opossum (American) 12-13
otter 270-300
pig (domestic) 112-115
porcupine 112
puma 90
rabbit (domestic) 30-35
raccoon 63
rhinoceros (black) 450
seal 330
sea lion (California) 350
sheep (domestic) 144-151
squirrel (gray) 30-40
tiger 105-113
whale (sperm) 480-500
wolf 60-68
zebra (Grant's) 365

Oh good, so the remaining possibilities are camel, giraffe, horse, sprem whale or zebra.

Looking for rocks...

Yes, you read the title correctly, we went looking for rocks. I bet Christine is so happy to be spending her trip home this way. I can see the excitement in her eyes. I mentioned that I am the 'closer' and am now 'closing' the work on the exterior of the house. Well we need some filler for a certain unattractive part of the yard and what could be better than nice, round, weathered, reminders of the last ice age rocks. And did I mention free? That was the real selling feature.

And Charlie enjoyed chasing all 3000 of the frogs on the island!! I didn't check to see if he actually caught one. He's slow, they're little and quick. I doubt it.

The kitchen saga begins...

As some of you know I work all year round. I gave up the teacher-63-consectutive-days-of-holidays-in-summer-plus-every-other-holiday-including-Spring-break-type-vacation to persue my other interests so I cannot complain that I am not able to give up my holidays to work on renovating our kitchen. (Oh that's right because I don't get holidays anymore.) Fortunately for me, Alan loves teaching and his mom is retired so they have been working pretty much constantly for two weeks on refinishing the kitchen cabinets, installing new countertops etc etc. Alan's dream of finally updating our 80's (I think that makes it retro?!?!?) kitchen is coming to fruition. Step one: strip cabinets Step two: finsih cabinets. Sounds simple?? I thought so. ( I'm already cringing at the onslaught of nasty things he is going to say when he reads this heh heh heh) They sure have put in a lot of hours, including help from the family patriarch who helped install the counter and new sink.

There is still a lot of work to be done before we can say it is finished though: flooring, building the new workstation,installing new lighting, painting... Alan's favourite part so far is definitely the glass inserts he put in some of the cabinets. I've included a little sneak preview of the work that's been done so far.

We have also discovered the best way for us to do home renovations ourselves is if I am not in the house. We both seem to have more patients for other people. At least when it comes to this type of work. Don't worry, I've been holding my own finishing the exterior. We've decided our roles are starter(Al), closer(me). Hey, whatever works and as long as it all gets done!!

Whaddya mean 'they're not biting'?

The Quilt

I finally finished the quilt for the crib and I couldn't have done it without the trusty circa 1867 Viking sewing machine. (Just kidding!) The Viking is getting on in years but I may have exaggerated with the date there a bit.

I know it is not the most complex quilt ever made but I love it! It is going to look great in the room and I'm pretty sure it will keep our daughter nice and snug. I already have plans to make a couple more as gifts. I need to pay for my use of the sewing machine. If anyone wants to make one and wants to learn from my experience just send me an email and I'll pass on all I have learned. (Oh, and since my earlier post, I have learned how to sew in a straight line...98% of the time!!)

Alan's trip to Ottawa

Alan went to Ottawa to visit his sister Christine, Aunt Molly and some other friends. I'm sure he won't mind if I recap his trip for him. He did have an action packed two weeks in our nation's capital. He went over to Quebec to do zip lining and spelunking. I don't actually have any pictures from that part of the trip though supposedly he did try to do some 'Amazing Race' helmet cam shots (minus the helmet cam which almost resulted in the end of our cam) . Alan also went to see the Art Gallery and did some other touristy things like hang out in the market. No trip to Ottawa would be complete without a visit to Aunt Molly's so they all packed up and went out to her cottage. It was hot as, well, you can imagine! I know they spent a lot of time in the water.

Alan also visited the adoption agency (facilitator) that coordinates the China adoptions for our provincial agency. He had a great chat with the people who run it. Unfortunately they were also able to confirm or speculate that the wait times for our referral would indeed be extending. :(

I suppose I am not really doing his trip justice so maybe he can edit this post later on. While he was away I took care of my number one boy (Charlie) and generally lived the life of Riley. Despite what some may have thought, I did not starve to death in the absence of my chef.