Tagged - 7's

I have been tagged! The list of 7’s.
Filed under: Uncategorized — acfm85 @ 8:00 am

Thanks to Mindy - I have been tagged and DH will not help with this or participate. I guess the fun of writing many lists is not for him.Check out Mindy’s blog.
Here’s my attempt of the list of 7’s. With more time to think, I probably would hope to come up with more profound thoughts; you will have to settle for my first thoughts for now..…..
7 things I’d like to do before I die:

Be at Lizzy’s wedding and Kilee’s and Alivia’s…..
Shovel the clutter out of my house. The kids will no doubt wonder why we have all this stuff.
After reducing the clutter, organize the possessions we want to pass onto Justin, Leaa and Lizzy. Develop a landscape plan and actually do it.
Save more money and give more generously.
Exercise and “get healthy” so that what is in my control, is done, so that I can accomplish being alive to do #1.
Own property near family in Maine and visit more often.

7 things I cannot do (or cannot do well)
Cannot sing in tune, on key or any way that would be pleasing to your ears.
Cannot donate blood, unless you want to see someone pass out in 30 seconds.
Because of #2, I will not work in any of the medical professions.
Cannot get pregnant.
Cannot sleep in late in the mornings.
Cannot sleep without under wear on.
Cannot decorate or make any sense out of interior decorating, moving furniture or selecting wall colors, or …. You get the idea.

7 things I can do:
Work and earn a good living.
Bake homemade “goods”.
Read my favorite books over and over.
Spend two weeks in Europe with only a medium size backpack (did it twice!). DH believes in packing “light”.
Play cribbage.
Water ski and snow ski.
Watch college and pro football; and I can spout facts about NASCAR drivers, races and Owners with the best of them (even though by modern afictianos, I am a “newcomer” fan since I began watching NASCAR races routinely in 1995).

7 things that attracted me to husband:
Handsome!
College educated (a bit snobby on my part, one of my dating criteria back then).
Doesn’t smoke, do drugs, no debts.
Caring and compassionate towards family (he called and visited with his parents regularly, kept in touch with sisters, brothers, cousins, etc.).
Great smile, charming and good public speaker.
Work ethic.
He always says how pretty I am (wow!).

7 things I say often:
Yes-Sa (my version of “Yes, Sir).
OK
Salty, go lay on your bed. Stay!
Breve latte, half decaf, please.
Have you checked the blog today? Anything new?
Coffee ready?
Hey. It’s me. Guess who?
This is what I should say more often: I love you F.

7 books I love:
The Bible
Pride & Prejudice (anything by Jane Austen)
Southern Living Annual Recipe cookbook.
Betty Crocker Cookbook (1950’s edition)
Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough
Your Money Counts by Howard Dayton

7 movies I love:
Wizard of Oz
Monsters, Inc.
Sixth Sense
The Sting
Bridges of Madison County
Murphy’s’ Romance
Sound of Music

I won’t tag anyone; you know that this is not an exercise just to list things for a blog, it makes one take time to think about goals and how we spend our time. Try it!

Adoption Taliban!

Beware the Adoption Taliban

I learned a lesson awhile back from my good blog friend Johnny without his ever knowing. If you don’t like something that someone blogged, then don’t link them and don’t go back. What you don’t do is leave a comment taking on a lofty moral attitude because they don’t think the same way as you. BTW Johnny, thanks, but as you can see, I couldn’t help myself…

Beware The Adoption Taliban
The adoption moral police are out and about. Yes, we have our own Adoption Taliban alive and well in blog-land.

A little background:
One adoption blog I regularly visit recently expressed their thoughts regarding the few families recently referred a boy after having requested a girl. Her reaction to that bit of news that she shared on her blog, acknowledged her having her heart set on being referred a daughter and the hope that she would be referred a girl and not a boy. A dream shared by many I’ve run into while making my way through adoption world I might add.
And then along came the comments from the Adoption Taliban crowd.
Now for whatever their reasons, as if we each don’t have reasons of our own, this lady and her family had decided they wanted to adopt a daughter. They wanted a girl. Hard to believe isn’t it? I mean here we have a family making the decision to adopt, on their own. But they didn’t just stop there. Oh no, they went further than that. They actually had the gall to choose the country they wished to adopt from. Hold on, we’re not through here. It gets better. You know what they did next? Sit down for this one. They requested an infant. They did, I’m not lying. More. Did you know that some greedy baby huggers out there are putting down for TWINS! Can you believe the nerve of some people?! There’s more. There is talk among the Taliban that some of these families are asking for healthy babies and putting it in writing! And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse. Some of these same families are grumbling about hopes for a more speedy delivery. I know it’s almost too much to read and harder still to believe.
I mean, how fortunate are we to have our own Adoption Taliban take the time to sift through our blogs perusing our thoughts and opinions, we stupidly had considered to be our own, and then take the time to thankfully point out the true hideousness of our ways. On second thought, thanking them just seems so weak compared to the mental rigors they have had to endure while slogging through our shallow and unfit to adopt lives chronicled in blog-land.
Whatever gave you, yes you dear reader, the idea that you could have an opinion of your own? An individual thought not yours but rather one determined for you by another. A sense of moral direction not freely chosen but one mandated for you. If not for the Adoption Taliban, how would we ever know right from wrong? Have you given thanks today for those that correct you? Scold you? Berate you? Vilify you? No?

It’s Ok, your worldwide Adoption Taliban will find you soon enough if you too are silly enough to have your own opinions and sillier still to dare express them.
Here’s my hoping you do.