In Which The Washing Machine Saga Continues And Can We Just Get This Kid Home Already?

I planned on staining the deck today, but the morning dawned gloomy and rainy, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what one wants when staining a deck.  Not that I minded the gloom and rain for once.  Spending ten days in 100+ degree temperatures will do that to you.

Jeremy continued his Washing Machine Repair saga today, and he discovered the problem!  There's a quarter-sized hole in the outer washing machine tub-- the part that fills with water-- and so basically all of the water was flowing into the tub and then running straight out the hole.  He took the drum off the washer and used a patching kit to repair the hole.  Hopefully tomorrow he'll put it back together and we'll have a functional washer again.  I'm sure my roller derby teammates would really, really appreciate that.  I kind of need to wash my sportswear.

I stopped by the adoption agency today to drop off some paperwork, and on the way home I stopped by the mall to start picking up things for Ellen's next care package!  Her hair is long enough to put partially up and it looks like she can probably wear it in other styles when she's not in school, so I found some cute hair clips to send her.  Other things in this package so far include a travel chess set, some snacks, a pair of sunglasses and a Discovery Girl magazine.  I'm not a huge fan of a lot of teen magazines, but Discovery Girl is one of the more innocuous ones and I figured that even if she can't read the magazine yet she and her friends might enjoy looking at the pictures.  It's technically geared towards the preteen crowd, but that's just fine-- most of the teen magazines are just a little too adult for my tastes.

Anyway, so can you believe that Jeremy and I have been in the adoption process for well over a year now?  And we've been pursuing Ellen's adoption specifically since last October, which doesn't seem possible.  Our dossier has been in Thailand now for almost four months, which means the earliest we can expect to hear anything from the Thai government would be around eight months from now.  Some days it seems like the time is just flying by, and then other days it feels like forever.  I'd love to have her home soon!

Once we have our big outside projects finished the next thing I plan to tackle is her room!  While I won't be all-out decorating it-- we'll wait until she's here to do that so she can make the room her own-- she does need some basics like a bed, desk, clothing storage, etc. to build on.  Right now her room is our guest bedroom/craft room.  I'd like to get this done before we send her pictures of our house, because I don't want her thinking that she has to sleep on a couch! 

I considered a loft bed as her room is fairly small and that would give her a bit more space, but we don't know how well she can climb so that might now be a good idea!  Right now I'm thinking that a trundle bed is the way to go.  I had one growing up and it was fantastic for sleepovers and every once in a while it doubled as a guest bedroom when we had couples come visit.  I've started searching for a nice used one, and I'm sure I'll know the right one when I see it.  Not that we'll need it any time soon, of course. 

Can we bring her home tomorrow?  Please? 

~Jess