3 times, not the charm

My dear friend Chris once told me that after 3 dates, you should be able to tell whether or not you really want to date someone. Boy, was he right on the money. I learned through this date that I have cardinal rules of dating that shouldn't be broken or it's all over. Yeah, my date on Friday broke so many of these rules that I didn't know that I had. Here are some of mine:

1. Thou shall ask me my opinions and not just do what you want...example: did I get to choose the movie? Nope. Did I even have a voice? Nope. The movie we saw was very violent and not my type of movie. When asked if I was hungry and I said a little, was I asked what I wanted to eat? Nope. It was chosen for me.
2. Thou shall listen to me and not just do what you want. Example: I said I wanted to go to a certain theater to avoid my students, guess what theater we ended up at? Yeah, the one my students go to. Not cool.
3. Thou shall not make me walk a long way in my heels...or at least ask me if I would be okay walking what it seemed like forever.
4. Thou shall not be cheap. There is cheap and there is thrifty...Big difference and he's cheap.
5. Thou shall not make fun of a gift my mother gave me...or mock it...my mother gave me a VERY nice Philip Stein watch, you know the Oprah watch and the whole evening he was mocking it as the magic watch with the ooooooohhhhh.
6. Thou shall not treat me as a stupid girl who has no opinion and that he knows EVERYTHING about the world...the economy is not just a figment of our imaginations...we are in trouble. His thought is that the economy is just righting itself. Be that as it may, people are still having trouble making ends meet!!!!

Anyways, I'm glad I found out now. I know I could have stopped and said something earlier but I would have come off as a shrew and there's the whole thing that his dad is one of my vendors, goes to my church, knows my parents. It's complicated. The thing is I think he really likes me and I have to find a nice way to say that it's just not going to work. I'm glad he's not a phone talker so it can be a short and sweet conversation. I'm sorry Sandra that we didn't work. I know you had high hopes but Rex was so right, "RUN!" At least I can cross off "Go out on a date" off my list of To Do for this year. LOL

Tomorrow my mom is having a colonoscopy and so I'm taking the day off to take her. I'm eagerly waiting to hear when the next referrals will come. My sister had a vivid dream about playing with a little girl. I hope it's a sign. When I was cutting my gala apples this morning, the label had a little ladybug on it. Hope it's a good sign.

Ren Fest

I had a fabby weekend with my best friend and her hubby, daughter and her hubby's friends. We drove 3 hours to go to Texas Renaissance Festival. I tell you, it is the best people watching experience ever. It cracks me up to watch people jump out of their modern day cars and SUVs and then don medieval wear. I think the chain mail bikini tops were a bit much but what really made us laugh were the men who were wearing Conan like outfits, complete with fur boots and fur loin cloths. Crazy. There was one cute Conan guy that I didn't mind watching so much. Sigh!

Next weekend or the weekend after, I am going to go skydiving with Shannon's hubby Keith while Shannon watches. It's on my list of things I've always wanted to do. Crazy, I know. But I figure I should do it before I get my daughter. I can tell my grandchildren, "Yeah, Grandma was a daredevil in her younger days. She even jumped out of a plane!" The funny thing is that I've always liked that sort of stuff for the most part but scary movies and glow in the dark things scare the heck out of me. Go figure.

hip hip hooray!

YEA! I am so glad that the USCIS is allowing us to extend our I-600A if we don't let it expire. Yipee! I was totally sweating it just because who knew if the no singles policy currently held by China would affect me (I know they said it wouldn't but you know, things have changed so often during this long wait that we never know from one day to the next). I am still hopeful that I won't have to renew again (mine expires in July 2009) but I definitely won't let it expire if it does. I am very blessed in that I have a great friend Chris, who I love and adore, who has been giving me referrals for a side job (and he himself said he was going to send me work from his own project) that is helping to build my savings/money market account. The wait has allowed me to grow these accounts so I will totally be on a cash basis and I shouldn't wipe out everything when I go to China, which is a sigh of relief. Heck though, if I could go today, I wouldn't care about wiping out the account because something always happens and God provides for my needs. I can't explain it but it always happens that way.

This Saturday, I am going to Renfest with my best friend Sandra and her hubby and their daughter and Rex's friends. It should be fun. I might even get my hair all crazy braided. It hurts but I always love the look. My parents are going to have to let Hope out a couple of times since I'll be gone all day and not coming home until late at night (we have to travel to Plantersville).

I can't believe tomorrow is Wednesday. Is it me or is time flying by super fast? You think this is God's way of making the wait bearable for us?

Neil Diamond

Tonight, my friend D and I went to see Neil Diamond in concert. I know, I know, not the typical Jamie fare but we were offered free tickets and we decided to go. We had fun even though we only knew about 7 of the songs. It was one of the greatest people watching times we had. We saw a woman in her 50s get kicked out for being too drunk. We watched people who were our parents age totally getting jiggy with it. And we got to belt out Sweet Caroline (and those of you who know my story with that song...nope, didn'thave any flashbacks, though I did see Kip's face a couple of times which made me a little nausiated). We left before it was over. The place was packed! People were having a good time which made it even more fun. I loved watching the guy who was my age in the front row with his mom. He and his mom both were clearly enjoying the show. They were up on their feet just dancing and singing along. That got me thinking...when I'm 50ish, will there be a performer that I will want to see, that will pack the house and sound like they did when they were in there heyday? I can't imagine myself then wanting to see Def Leppard, Duran Duran, AC/DC...maybe U2? Hmmmm who knows.

Shadiness

Okay...I am so going to air some dirty laundry right now. I'm kind of livid. Why is it that the guys I go out with end up being shady? Example, tonight. The person who I went out with last Saturday who hasn't called me all week was supposed to be going out of town to Houston...guess who I ran into at the football game? Yep, you guessed it! I'm with my girls from work going to get tickets and who do I see in front of me? So, I lean over to D and poke her and start saying under my breath, "That's him! That's the guy!" when he swoops next to me and says, "My dad says, "there's Jamie! Hide!" Okay, that was so not funny and not cool! I got caught first of all, acting like a teenager pointing him out to my friend, then I'm kind of cautious because he is supposed to be out of town. When I call him on it, he says the plans fell through. Hmmm, how is seeing your uncle a plan that could fall through? I call foul totally. I was very cool towards him and he has the nerve to say, "We're going out Friday right?" I nod, what was I supposed to say? No loser because you can't pick up a phone to say you're staying in town? He KNEW I was going to be there. I told him Saturday night. The game was fun though. I got to see my former students and even though we lost, it was a great game. We had a blast. I just don't get guys. Seriously. So, yeah, I'll go out Friday and I think I'm going to look pretty fabulous and just be cool about it. His loss. Oh yeah, and what was it about giving me a handshake? What was that all about? I gave him a hug. His dad gave me a hug when he came and talked to me and asked about my parents. Yeah, he was there with his folks. Okay, so I attact real winners. I knew there was a reason why I have stayed single.

Yikes! Dating!

I thought I was going to puke my guts out on the way to the restaurant. Yep, I said it. Pure, pure nervousness. What is it about first dates that just make you want to hurl? What's worse is that I knew him but he didn't really know me. His parents and my parents know each other, we went to the same church and same schools growing up (I graduated 3 years before he did) and it was a total fluke that we met (I had been on a Catholic dating site a long time ago...never ever checked it and got an e-mail that I had a response and long story short, we started talking). But, I have to say, I had a really good time. We ate Thai food and came back to my house and played wii. He kicked my butt in bowling, we tied in tennis and I knocked him out in boxing...must be the rhythmic boxing I do on wii fit. Then we played Idol Karoke Revolution & Rock Band. Yeah, I'm not usually a girl who will bust out a song in front of a strange guy, but I did. I am not a great singer either. But we had fun. But, just because I had fun doesn't mean this is going anywhere. He did ask me out again in a couple of weeks (he's going to Houston next weekend). But still, it doesn't mean anything at all! Besides, I still haven't let him know about Grace. Frankly, we're gettting to know each other in a buddy sort of way, which adopting my daughter really doesn't concern him at this point. I go back and forth on this issue all of the time. It's interesting throwing dating into the whole not quite a single parent mix. And you know what? He might already know because I know his dad knows I'm adopting. I work with him once or twice a year. And he still hasn't told me his secrets either...I know all of his baggage because of someone who works with his dad told me and his dad told my dad too...Oh well...too much thinking makes my head hurt.

I hope the wait will speed up.