Book love

My thrifting this past weekend yielded three new books(!):

Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning

Forgotten Among the Lilies by Ronald Rolheiser

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel

I'm super excited to read all three, and have already started Rolheiser's Forgotten Among the Lilies.  So far I'm really enjoying it!  Lots of deep thoughts that I keep having to stop and ponder.  (Don't you love those sorts of books?)  He's talking about the martyrdom of obscurity, the domesticity of our lives, the realities inherent in celibacy and in marriage, the loss of dreaming and idealism, all sorts of good stuff that is actually quite relevant to this stay-at-home-mama's life.  I am even underlining things--and I NEVER do that.  Ever. 

Have you read any good books lately?  I have some more here that I want to read...The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, David Platt's Radical, and The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen.  Not enough hours in the day to get lost in a good book, that is for sure! 

I want to share the following gem from Forgotten Among the Lilies.  One of the many things I have oh-so-uncharacteristically underlined. 


{What an incredible and tragic loss of idealism!  Such a philosophy voices despair because the deepest demand of love, Christianity, and of life itself is precisely the challenge to specialness, to what is most ideal.  Love, Christianity and life demand that we take the road less taken, that we be in restless cogitation for a higher eros, that we be one in a thousand.}


I love that.  Love, love, love.  So true and inspiring and so, so timely.  Also incredibly challenging, which is why he closes that chapter with these words:


{May we have the courage to uphold our ideals, even when we cannot fully live them.}


Amen!!!!




***I feel the need to add that I know Ronald Rolheiser is considered to be a little unorthodox in Catholic circles (he's a priest).  Still I am finding his book to be quite thought-provoking, even if I don't agree with everything he writes.

Adoption update (!) and adoption musings

Well lo and behold, I found out that our dossier was submitted to Ethiopian court a little over a week ago!  Which means that we should be hearing about a court date soon!  Hooray!

In case you didn't know, our family is in the process of adopting two little girls from Ethiopia, ages 18-ish months and 4-ish years old.  Both girls were born with Down syndrome and have been waiting quite some time for a family.  We are so, SO excited to be their mommy and daddy!!!  These girls have been without a family for WAY.TOO.LONG.  We can't wait to get them home!

Part of why it is taking so long to get a court date is that the Ethiopian government has, in recent months, begun requiring additional paperwork for cases submitted to court.  Things that were NOT required when our girlies first came into care at our agency's transition home.  (And THAT is the point where our agency gathers everything to go to court.)  SO, our agency has had to go back and obtain more documentation on these children.  Thus the wait.

Anyway, it's hard to believe that we might know our travel dates within a few weeks.  Even crazier to think that we could potentially be in Ethiopia within a couple of months (!)

And to be honest, it's also kind of scary!  It's feeling more and more real (but also more SURreal, if that makes any sense) that, my goodness, we are going to have two new little girls in our family!  I honestly have NO clue what to expect this transition to be.  No idea.  Though that's probably for the best--we definitely made an effort the first time around to not have many expectations, and it worked out well I think. 

I will say that I AM expecting to be exhausted and overwhelmed.  I'm expecting grief and tears and tantrums and a potentially long period of adjustment.  (I meant on their part, but probably on mine too.)  But I'm also expecting to fall in love with these precious girls.  I'm expecting lots of cuddling and giggling.  And I can't WAIT to see those sweet smiles in person.  That, so far, I've only seen in video and in photographs.  It's going to be crazy hard, but I'm trusting in God's grace that it will also be crazy good.  Even if/when it doesn't feel that way.

The Down syndrome piece of all of this is in the back of my mind too.  Wanting to get them home so we can obtain any necessary medical care and, when the time is right, get them into early intervention to help them meet their milestones.  It has been a struggle for M. (4-ish years old) to learn to walk, for example (she also has a diagnosis of mild Cerebral Palsy, but who really knows if it's just developmental delay due to institutionalization + Down syndrome or actual CP), so I'm really anxious to see her progress, and to also help her continue to develop this skill.

I just keep thinking that these girls, soon to be our girls (!), are created by God and that He loves them so, SO much.  He wants them, like all children, to have a mom and a dad.  He wants them, like all children, to experience love in a family.  He created them because He loves them.  They have had to wait, but maybe they won't have to wait too terribly much longer.  These girls are strong--they're survivors, really--and God has had His hand on them from before they were even born.  How beautiful is that?  And we are receiving the great honor and privilege of bringing new life into our family.  Two new lives.  How crazy blessed are we??!!

It's strange to think that on the one hand, these two little ones might easily earn the title of "the least of these", that Jesus talks about in the Bible.  And that would probably be a fair assessment, considering that they were not only born with Down syndrome (therefore not necessarily seen as the blessings they truly are by way too many very-deceived-people), but they also lost their birth families.  And have been living life in an institution.  They are vulnerable. 

BUT.

On the other hand.

These two little ones are loved by an amazingly huge and merciful God.  They are beautiful souls.  They have dignity.  They have experienced so much loss in such a short time, yet soon will be joining a family who will love them to pieces.  They are soon to have sisters and brothers who draw pictures of them and think about them and pray for them.  PLEASE don't get me wrong, any time a child loses their birth family (and birth culture for that matter), there is profound brokenness.  I won't minimize that.  And oh how I wish their respective birthparents could have had the distinct joys of raising these sweet girls.  But I know too that amidst the brokenness, there is a God who is about the business of redemption.  Who brings beauty from ashes.

And really, WE are the blessed ones.  WE are receiving these beautiful children and WE will have the joy that comes with having them in our home.  Their lives are precious, beyond valuable.  I have a feeling I will have a lot to learn from my new daughters.  I have a feeling they will give me new and beautiful insights into the very heart of Jesus.  Through their struggles AND through their achievements.  Because that's how God works.  The world may see them as "the least of these", and while in one sense I agree, and believe we need to relentlessly advocate for the adoption of waiting children who have no other options, I have to say that we see them as priceless treasures.  Beautiful gifts.  Delightfully created. 

So we are beyond thrilled.  And we are getting closer.  And God is amazingly, amazingly good.

LOST: it is finished!

WARNING: If you have not watched a little show called LOST, and are planning to, stop reading.  Because there are spoilers up ahead.  And I really think you SHOULD watch it, by the way.  It's awesome.

And, I know LOST is totally old news.  SO last year.  :)  But whatever.  It's still worth talking about!

Anyway.  You have heard me vaguely refer to a TV series that we've been getting from the library, that we are totally hooked on.

Well, last night we finished the series.  It was LOST.

I hadn't wanted to say the name of it because I wanted to avoid any and all spoilers.  For the most part I did, though I did unfortunately and accidentally hear ahead of time that Jack and John Locke died.  Oops!

Anyway, how great was this show??!!  Oh.my.goodness.  I LOVED it!  Each and every season.  I loved (most of) the characters, the plot, all of the suspense and mysteries.

Some random LOST thoughts:

--Could have done entirely without Boone and Shannon and their messed up weirdo siblings-but-attracted-to-each-other relationship.  Also could have done without them returning in the final episode.  Blech. 

--Jack infuriated me throughout the various seasons of the show...but he won me over by the end.  I loved that he sacrificed his life for Desmond, and that he got to raise a son and fix John's legs in the made-up post-death world.

--I was glad that Kate and Jack never actually got together for any length of time.  She was annoying with all her waffling back and forth between him and Sawyer.  Make up your mind, woman!

--Sawyer was hilarious.  Loved him. 

--I feel so sorry for the unnamed man in black, Jacob's brother.  He never ASKED to become a nasty monster.

--Jacob scared me.  So creepy!  And their "adoptive" mother?  Eek!

--I LOVED Jin and Sun and their love story.  So, so sweet.

--Still a bunch of questions unanswered...this is a random one but why was Michael's soul trapped on the island for what he did (shooting people), but Ana Lucia somehow wasn't (she shot Shannon.)  I was bummed when Walt disappeared from the show, but I did love that his dog Vincent made it to the finale.  AND WHAT WAS WIDMORE'S DEAL?  What was he trying to do there with his submarine and all his peeps?  How was Desmond supposed to help him?  What was with all the rules, like the smoke monster/fake Locke couldn't kill the candidates? 
As for the finale, I'd known going in that a lot of people were disappointed with how it turned out.  As for me, I had mixed feelings.  Part of me loved it, the other part of me wanted more redemption to have happened in the real world, not in the after-life fake-y world.  BUT, the OTHER part of me felt like redemptive things DID happen on the island, and I love that the finale sort of put forth the idea that the island was incredibly meaningful and not just a blip in the lives of the characters.  They all wanted off the island, but in the end, their time there was incredibly important and significant.  One of my biggest disappointments with the finale I suppose was that Jack never got to enjoy a good marriage/family life.  That made me sad for some reason.

I have a feeling I'll be reading LOST articles like crazy in the days to come.  And, I want to re-watch the series from start to finish again at some point.  I can't stop thinking about it!  We don't watch much TV, but I confess that I fell in love with this show from the very first episode.

On a complete and utter side-note, if you ever watched "Days of Our Lives" several years ago (yes, I did, and I'm admitting it here), you might remember the "other Salem", the island where a bunch of the characters ended up in this weird alternate reality.  Heeheehee.  It was super corny and cheesy, as anything on "Days of Our Lives" is, but LOST reminded me of that, and it made me laugh.  Because I'm SURE the writers of LOST totally got their ideas from Days.  Bwahahahaha!  I like sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell.  :) 

But friends, there's nothing sarcastic about this: I positively adored LOST, and it is by far one of the best shows I have ever watched.  Most entertainment these days is hardly worth the effort, but this was excellent.  I heart LOST!!!

Is this an adoption blog?

There are SO MANY adoption bloggers out there.

Half the time, that's why people START a blog.

It's why I started mine five and a half years ago.  To keep track of our process.  And I hoped it could be a source of information about Ethiopian adoption for others.  (Hard to believe, but back then, there were hardly ANY people blogging about adopting from Ethiopia.)

Of course once the adoption is final, and the children are home, there isn't really any more process to blog about.  Even though adoption remains part of your life. 

Anyhow, it's odd, being in-process again and having a blog.  Because it occurs to me that I don't really post about adoption all that often these days.  Maybe I got out of the habit after our boys came home.  Maybe I just plain have nothing to say (no, THAT can't be it.  :)  )  Honestly I don't know why. 

The thing is, adoption is COMPLICATED and HUGE.  Multi-faceted.  I have assorted (strong) feelings and opinions on the matter but it takes effort to delve into them.  I know there are people reading my blog with questions about adoption, who are thinking about taking the plunge and all that.  So I want to post about it more, I think.

And I'll start by answering a question that I get asked a LOT: 

Is the adoption process hard?

My answer is usually, as you could probably guess because you know I am a hopelessly diplomatic people-pleaser, yes and no.  Yes because it involves paperwork, notarizations, visits with a social worker, a physical, and potentially lots of waiting.  Things that make a mom-to-five-small-children want to pull her hair out.  But my answer is also no, because we work WAY harder at tons of other things that have a MUCH smaller payoff and MUCH less significance.  We invest more time and money in recreation, entertainment, cars, Starbucks, smart phones, the list goes on.  Yet we shake our heads and say the adoption process is too hard and expensive.

Well, yes, it IS hard.  And it IS (gulp) expensive.  But so are lots of other things that we don't think twice about doing or owning or...going into debt for.  The thing is, with those other things, there is an opportunity cost (just like with adoption), but it doesn't FEEL like a sacrifice.  Because we want the stuff.  But using money on an adoption that would otherwise be used to spruce up your hideous, shame-inducing yard DOES feel like a sacrifice.  Go figure.

But I think the best things in life (marriage, children, relationships, love) take time and work.  The things that come easiest rarely satisfy.  So yes the process may be difficult for any number of reasons, but it is WORTH IT.  All the way.  And, if I can navigate my way through it all with five kids racing around my hideous, shame-inducing yard, so can you.  Truly.

So yes, this is an adoption blog.  Our family has been touched by adoption, so inevitably it is part of who we are.  And we are in the midst of another adoption, so I want to share about that too.  I don't know how exactly I would categorize this random little piece of the blogosphere, but I do hope that adoption is always a part of my blathering voice! 

Grandpa + Mary Lu

That's my dad with Mary.

These two have such a special bond.

She LOVES him.

He makes her laugh and they have silly little games they play together.

So, so sweet.

Especially considering the fact that she can be a total grumpy-pants to pretty much anyone else.

She would NOT, for example, smile for my mom the entire time we were in California.

And not for any good reason, either.  Becuase my mom is a nice person.  And loves Mary.

But apparently Mary is all about Grandpa Perruzzi these days.

Extended family is priceless!



The waiting game (of Ethiopian adoption)

I probably get asked at least three times a week if I have any adoption news, if we have a court date yet to become parents to our two precious, waiting girls.

And the answer is still, sadly, no.

Our dossier went to Ethiopia roughly three months ago (!)  Yet there is no exact science when it comes to these things, because there are many factors involved.  Some parents are inclined to frequently email and call and request information.  (Which is obviously understandable.)  We've more or less made the decision to wait and see, because ultimately we have no real control anyway.  I figure the less agency time spent assuring us that our process will indeed culminate in an adoption, the more agency time spent on placing children and moving the process along.

The two children we are adopting are in good hands at our agency's care center.  I know this.  And yet at the same time, they need to come HOME.  Both girls were born with Down syndrome, and are developmentally delayed to some degree.  The sooner they can join our family, the sooner we can get them any help or medical attention they may need.  Both girls have waited WAY.TOO.LONG. for a family in the first place.  Baby/toddler girls are in high demand from Ethiopia...unless they have special/medical needs.  Then they wait.

So this morning I broke down and sent a short email to our agency, letting them know we received our I-171 approval and asking if there is any particular REASON it's been three months, or if it's just adoption as usual.  :)  I figure hearing from us once every three months is not so bad.  The director of the agency wrote back saying they should have some news soon.

I think anyone who has adopted knows that it involves a lot of waiting.  It's hard.  My life has felt as if it's been in limbo for the past three months, and the more time that passes, the more it feels that way.  The only thing that has kept me remotely sane is the fact that I have five children occupying my time, so I'm trying to savor these final months of calm before the major transition of adding two children to our family.

But I'm getting anxious.  Even though I believe in the process and I believe we will eventually travel to make these girls our daughters.

Part of me feels guilty (?) that I'm NOT calling our agency every few days...like maybe I should be advocating for these children more.  But in my head I know that no amount of my whining is going to change anything, except maybe put me on our agency's bad list.  Plus, we wouldn't have used this agency (twice!) if we didn't trust them or believe they are doing good, ethical work. 

Basically, motherhood and adoption and all that comes with it are not about me.  And our girls are worth it.  They are worth every notarized document, every ounce of anxiety and frustration, every penny, every moment of limbo it takes to bring them home.  That's what it's about.  So while I feel horrible that these girls are still in an orphanage when they have a family (us!) excited to bring them home, I'll look on the sort-of bright sight and keep on waiting...because they deserve to have someone impatiently waiting for them.  And if I could do anything to get them home sooner, I would.  In a heartbeat. 

I'll continue to keep you all posted.  Because I am obsessively and compulsively checking my email every day in hopes that there will be news.  And when there is, you all will be some of the first to know!

Only in Denver

This photo appeared in the Denver Post today.  (Taken by Leah Millis, special to The Denver Post.  Gotta give credit to the photographer when I lift the picture, right?)  Yes, that man is running...in the snow...in shorts.  I have actually seen people wearing shorts here in snowy weather more than a few times.

Brrrrr!

We are getting quite a bit of snow right now.  So, so pretty (and it hides our yucky lawn!), but don't be fooled by the shorts-wearing man, it's COLD!

You can bet that I'm hunkered down in my house right now and that I won't be going an.y.where tomorrow.  Kevin is currently reading Prince Caspian to the kids and, once they're in bed, we'll resume our TV show series finale viewing.

Anyway, I just had to share this photo with you.  So, so funny.  And truly a sight you will only see in Denver!

Re-entry is for the birds

As I'm sure you can see from my lack of blogging this week, we are still trying to get back on our feet after being out of town for a week and a half.  It's hard!

We're all unpacked, which is great, but I've got a huge load of laundry to fold and put away yet, and I still need to pack up all of our Christmas stuff.  That's tomorrow's job I guess.  My living room is such a mess right now, with piles of Christmas decorations that need to be stored.  Ugh.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to hit up the after-Christmas clearance sales.  I don't have much in the way of Christmas decor and it is SO CHEAP right now at Target and Walmart (if it hasn't been cleared out yet.)  I've scored some fun stuff and I'm bummed I have to wait an entire year to use it!  Anyway, that means even more things to find a place for in our garage.  Yeah, tomorrow is not going to be so fun.  :)

I'm trying to let stuff go and be relaxed about getting everything back in order, but that's a double-edged sword because I hate having an untidy home.  It makes me crazy.  And grouchy.

Today was a great day though (messy home be darned.)  Kevin and I played Scrabble and Parcheesi in the morning (yes we are apparently ten years old), and then in the afternoon our family attended an Ethiopian Christmas celebration that a local Ethiopian church hosted for adoptive families with Ethiopian children.  It was AMAZING.  They put on a variety of games and activities, cooked and served the most FABULOUS feast for dinner, did the traditional coffee ceremony...so, so special.  Denver has a sizable Ethiopian population, and a sizable number of adoptive families, but the two communities probably don't mix all that often.  This church wants to change that, and we felt so loved and welcomed.  What a wonderful opportunity.  We fell in love with Ethiopian culture the moment we set foot in Ethiopia nearly five years ago, and I was reminded of that today.

And once Kevin is done watching the football games he taped on TV today (yes, taped--we don't have Tivo or any other such fancy gadgets), we are resuming our TV show that we are hooked on.  It's the final season, people, and I have NO CLUE how it's all going to end!  SO exciting!  We spent all summer plowing through the seasons, staying up until 2 am because we could literally not.stop.watching.  And now the final season is in from the library. 

So all of this to say that I'm having a tough time getting back into a good routine (thus the non-blogging), but life is still pretty good all things considered.  Cheap Christmas stuff, awesome Ethiopian Christmas celebration (I cannot fathom a better meal), and the final season of our show.  Yay for the little things!

A fun new find

While we were staying with my parents, my mom and I snuck away a couple of times to go shopping.  (Which always results in us browsing the stores laughing hysterically at one thing or another.)  One day we wound up at Bath and Body Works, where I bought some of these Wallflowers plug-ins.

Oh.my.goodness.

They make my home smell SOOOOOOOOOO good!  I'm loving them!  Our house is old and as a result it can potentially smell, well, old.  I'm really a fanatic about it so I try to regularly burn a candle etc.  (Thus my house doesn't smell bad.)  But these are even better!

I am NOT getting paid or otherwise compensated for this here little endorsement (I wish!), just sharing the love and saying that these things ROCK. 

They come in all different scents and are currently on sale (!) right now for $5 (either the starter set or the refill pack).  Right now I have "Twisted Peppermint" in my bathrooms, and "Spiced Pumpkin" in my kitchen.  I can't wait to try some of the others!

What is your favorite product for making your home smell yummy and clean?

  

I heart California

So as you may or may not know, we just returned from our annual trip back to the Central Coast of California.  I'm sure I'll be sharing about our time there in the coming days.

If you've ever been to San Luis Obispo (and the surrounding areas), you know it's pretty great.

I grew up in an itty-bitty "town" in northern SLO County, called Creston.  My parents live on twelve acres there.  I love it.  One of my favorite places to be sure (we were even woken up in the middle of the night by a HUGE pack of howling coyotes right outside.  No joke!)

So it was great to go back to my hometown, and also great to see San Luis Obispo again--the nearby town where I went to college and had a lot of fun.  Mostly, the town makes me think of when Kevin and I were dating!  Such wonderful memories of lunch at Firestone Grill, walking downtown, getting frozen yogurt at Country Culture, hanging out at one of our respective apartments.  I don't miss being in school (eek!), and haven't actually seen my old college campus since I left it several years ago (no real desire to visit), but I DO have such fond memories of the town and the people and my dating days.

And this year we even made it down to Santa Maria (30 minutes south of SLO), and drove by our house there.  We have been renting it out ever since we moved.  The house looked great (you know, still standing, the lawn is still alive, and it isn't covered in graffitti :) ), and the weird thing is that seeing our old neighborhood didn't really evoke any strong emotions for me.  It feels like a lifetime ago.  Part of this is probably because we didn't really know anyone in the neighborhood, and the neighbors right next to us and across the street are all gone now.  So aside from the house and street itself, nothing is the same. 

NONE of our kids remembered playing at our neighborhood park, OR the house itself!  So funny.  I guess it's been nearly three years, but still, I'd assumed they'd have SOME memory of it.  (Look at how little they are here in 2006--no wonder they don't remember!)

So I've decided that I miss California.  A lot.  (I mean look at those palm trees!  With the ocean in the background.  Makes me happy.)  I miss the sights and the ocean and the places.  (I miss the people most of all of course, but right now I'm just talking about the state itself.)  I miss driving down the coast, and I miss knowing that I was only a few hours from Los Angeles and Orange County and San Francisco too.  There are decidedly things I DON'T miss, of course, like Kevin's commute, our old neighborhood where we didn't know anyone, etc., but California will always hold a very special place in my heart.


That being said, driving back the other night, the snowy Rocky Mountains took my breath away.  I would not have CHOSEN to drive through them in a storm, mind you, but it was beautiful.  (This is where I will extend a shout-out to my husband for getting us through the stormy mountains in one piece.  We were all holding our breaths slipping going up that final ascent to the Eisenhower Tunnel.)  Vail and the other sweet mountain towns you pass through are positively stunning.  Especially at night, all lit up against the white hillsides.  Truly a sight to behold.


So I'm happy to be in Colorado.  Grateful that we're not doing the living-in-Santa-Maria-but-not-doing-anything-there thing.  Even if I miss California.

Home

As of 2 am this morning, we are home.  Back in Denver after a week and a half in California.  (Our late arrival is the result of the fact that we drive straight through on these trips.  Yes, that would be 19 hours or so of drive-time, not counting stops.  I'll have to share about roadtripping with kids sometime.  They have a blast, us not quite as much, but it's not as bad as it sounds.)  The trip was wonderful, not nearly long enough, and I missed out on seeing some people because I wound up sick at one point (thankfully only a 24-hour type of thing.)

We came home to a bit of snow on the ground that the kids are anxious to play in!

We also came home to a Christmas tree and a bunch of decorations that need to be taken down and put away.

Sigh.  :)

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed about jumping back into our routine...so much to do around here, and so much email to catch up on (we were basically off the grid for the entire trip, so to speak, because my parents live in a rural area with a pretty slow dial-up internet connection).

So I'm starting by rearranging my living room.

Because I have my priorities.

Happy New Year friends!

Merry Christmas from us

Not such a fan

Do I even need to say it?

Mary was so unimpressed with Santa.

Clearly she can pretty much take him or leave him.

A non-essential part of Christmas, to be sure.

I for one am keenly aware of how grateful I am for my camera.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Anna vs. the horse

Kevin taught Anna how to play the card game "Egyptian War" last weekend.

She loved it.

So much so, in fact, that once Kevin took off to go beat me at the game Nerts do something else, Anna found a different opponent.

Something tells me that Anna emerged the victor.  :)

What I wore Wednesday...or, what I THOUGHT I wore Sunday

Well friends, this is a special edition of What I wore Wednesday.

I didn't take many photos this week. 

But that doesn't really matter, because I have an entertaining story instead (to go with the one picture I DID take.)

Oh, and no meals this week.  I don't even remember what we had--I think meatloaf, nachos, leftovers, lots of salad.

So...some What I wore Wednesday background.

A dear friend of mine brought over a bunch of hand-me-downs one day that someone had given her.  And, this past Sunday, I thought I'd peek in the bag to find something new-to-me to wear.

I came across what I thought was a shirt in an interesting fabric and was a periwinkle-y color that I never, ever wear.  SO I decided to give it a go.  It happened to be a pretty low-cut halter-style top (and I'm all for modesty), but I wore a green shirt underneath, and a black cardigan sweater over it, so that part didn't show.

And as we were sitting in church, I happened to look down and notice the stitching on the bottom of the shirt...and got to thinking about how it was such a long shirt...and started feeling the fabric...and realized THAT I WAS WEARING A BATHING SUIT TOP.

Oh.my.goodness.  I could scarcely keep from cracking up in the middle of the sermon.  I immediately leaned over to Kevin and said, "I'm wearing a swimsuit at church."  He of course couldn't believe it, and thought it was hilarious too.

Anyway, let it be known that when you acquire clothing second-hand, be it from the thrift store or from a friend of a friend, you are apparently taking a major risk.  And if you're like me, eventually it'll catch up with you and, well, you'll wear something weird.  Like a bathing suit, in Denver, in December.  BUT, if you have a blog (also like me), it makes for a great story! 

(As you're reading this, we are on the road to California.  Happy Wednesday!)