Of Interest, At Random

A few things rattling around in my head the last couple of days:

1. This first thing rattling around is more in my heart--warm fuzzies of happiness at all the well wishes we've received upon being place on the official Waiting list. Thank you. Each notification of a new comment made me genuinely happy.

Since being approved, I'm finally allowing myself to think of this person tangibly, which means lingering over the parenting section at the bookstore and coming home with these (both cheap, used copies! Yay, Value Village!):
Any of you read either of these? The Idiot's Guide was more of a joke for Ted (the man has never once changed a diaper in his life, despite having two younger siblings and thousands of nieces and nephews). The Baby Whisperer book looked interesting and turns out a good-Momma friend from college recommended it to me too. The author is English, so I enjoy all the mums and nappies.

None of the rest of these are in any way important, or even relating to adoption, so no worries if you don't feel like bothering to read them.

2. How is it that Target can sell for one measly dollar a little sticky note pad with all the characters from The Office on it? This little thing pleases me to bits.

3. How many of you have listened to Sufjan Stevens? I just discovered him a few days ago and promptly fell in love. Then our Scottish cross-country cycling friend John who was staying with us for a few days told me that he's one of his favorites. Then our Mississippian recently married friend Rusty referred to Mr. Stevens on his blog as being post-hipster or something. Despite being so behind the times, I urge the two of you out there who've never listened to his music to go get some Sufjan Stevens. Look him up on Myspace or download "For the Widows" and be prepared to feel all warm and tingly inside from sadness and longing and joy all at once. It's beautiful, I tell you, beautiful.

4. Last night on Kid Nation, I was happy to see them all eating grits for breakfast one morning. I think one of the kids even said, "These grits are good." Well, of course they are! They're grits, what did you think they'd be? If I were a kid on that show, I'd be more motivated by a winning a star worth its weight in grits than of gold.

5. The other day on myspace, an Oregon friend sent out a bulletin listing all the great things about this state. One of the positives was "We have no accent." Tell me, why would this be a good thing? I see it as something the state lacks.

6. Today in my first yoga class in more than a year, the teacher was having us do the challenging pose of the day, Flying Dolphin. Amidst lots of huffing, scrambling, slipping of mats, I heard a loud thump. The teacher laughed and said, "Or you can just do Falling Dolphin too."

7. If you find yourself with a couple of minutes to spare, go look at the new video up on that Pippystyle blog linked on my page to see a truly remarkable cat. Your kids will love it. This is the same creature that begs for objects like staplers and bananas.

8. Why does it get under my skin so much when people refer to inanimate objects as "these guys"? In the five minutes I've seen of Rachel Ray, she referred to her mini-pizzas as "these guys" and I knew I couldn't watch anymore. In a local kitchen store a few days ago, the lady showing me their offerings of teapots kept pointing to them Vanna White-style and saying, "Now these guys are all stainless steel...." I walked out of the store without buying any of their stinkin' $50 pots, instead making my way home with this guy for $4.99 from Value Village where there were plenty of potentially crazy self-talkers walking the aisles listening to the used tupperware but no one calling anything guys :
9. What do these graffiti stencils mean and why do they entrance me so?

This one was found on Hawthorne Blvd, SE Portland:

Verona, around the corner from where we were staying:

Verona:

My favorite one, closing time in Venice: