New Year's Resolutions?

A friend asked me last night if I had any NY resolutions. I have for many years disliked the whole New Year's Resolution thing. I firmly believe that if it is important enough to do, it's important enough to start right now and not wait for some magical day to start. From personal experience, any New Year's Resolutions I've had made in the past have been due to peer pressure and since I rarely conform to what everyone else is doing I rarely keep the resolution. Having said all that, here is what I said to the dear friend that asked about my NYR: I want to bring at least one of my babies home.

So here are a list of my Not so New Year's Resolutions:

1. Bring one of my kids home. I'm betting on Haven, but who really knows?
2. Get in shape...yeah, yeah, I know it is so cliche and every one is going to be doing it, but I really need to take better care of myself. In the last 18 months I have gained the weight of one preschooler/small primary school child. Yeah, it's that bad. I don't want to be the fat, uncomfortable mommy. I need to be in good shape so I can run after BOTH of my kids.
3. Keep a cleaner house. I used to be very neat and tidy, but I have been living alone for over 10 years and I'm not as tidy as I would like. It's a little embarrassing at times.
   

So, there you have it. I'm doing what I can to bring Haven (and my daughter, for that matter) home. I got my notarized copy of my home study in the mail yesterday--yay so I'm just waiting on USCIS. I'm eating healthier now that Christmas is past and I'm exercising again. With any luck I will get more of Haven's room cleaned out today.

Cheers and enjoy your Resolutions!

Home Study III--I promise this is the last post

When I returned home on Saturday afternoon I found a nice little letter from Homeland Security (wow, that was fast!) alerting me that they do not accept personal checks.  It doesn't matter that I looked at their website and carefully read the section about how they automatically and immediately deduct the amount from the account, they don't accept personal checks. Ok, got it now.  At least I know that they are fast and efficient when motivated.  So, I went to the bank on Christmas Eve and got a nice fat cashier's check and I managed to get it in the mail a good 15 minutes before the postman showed up.  I'm doing good.

My home study agency is closed until next week due to the Holidays, but my SW emailed me over the weekend to tell me that the coordinator had taken my file home and would be checking in daily to see if CPS had completed the background check on me.  As you might recall (well, if I posted it) I was faxed the new background check form on Thursday when I was out of town.  It must have come back today because my home study is officially completed!  A copy should be on it's way to Homeland Security and another two copies are coming to me! 

Now that I have nearly completed the dossier, I am starting to work on the nursery.  Well, I'm starting to empty the closet in Haven's room.  Small steps, peeps.  You should have seen the amount of crap I had to wade through when I emptied my daughter's room before it became a nursery.  Kris and I made a pact that once we decluttered our babies rooms, we would not take any more personal crap back into it!  I have stuck with it, but now I need to apply it to Haven's room. 

I have finally settled on a theme.  I bought paint for his room nearly a year ago and I think I will paint broad stripes on the the two narrower walls.  It's a calming grayish/lavender color.  My daughter's room has an outdoor theme and I think I'm going to do a similar one for Haven's room.  It will be the Jungle Room without the Jungle Book.  When I was at Toys R Us last week I saw the cutest 2 foot giraffe that would have been perfect...if I could have fit it in my suitcase.  I am going to try to find a zebra print rug or crib sheets.  SO, if any of you see anything cute that you think might work in the room, PLEASE CONTACT ME!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all you bloggers that are still checking your blog sites in between gift opening and chowing!

My apologies to those that follow both of my blogs because this is a regurgitation of the one I have set up for my daughter with a few additions.  Yesterday we received gifts from our extended family in Hong Kong.  I suspect that they don't share the same dirty minded humor that we do because I'm sure Chen would be horrified to learn what this shirt she got my bro-in-law actually means:

 

And as promised, the little outfit I bought Haven last week:

This was also the same little outfit I wrapped up as a fake present in order to announce to my sister and her family that we are expecting another addition to the family. 

Anyway, I'm going to leave you with a couple of "Christmas" photos I found on-line...some people have no sense at all.

I call this one the Christmas Whore.  If you haven't already read David Sedaris' book Christmas on Ice, I highly recommend you buy it on the 1/2 sale tomorrow.  Dinah, the Christmas Whore has to be the best story title I've ever heard of. 

  This one defies explanation.  I think Rudolph isn't able to get the lift he's used to and is now using a blown air propeller?

And my personal favorite, nothing says XXXmas like a little BDSM.  Shoot, I was going to ask for a ball gag for Christmas...oh well, there is always next year. 

Home Study Updates, Part II

I'm just about done with my home study, but I have to tell you, I was fuming a bit yesterday. My HR department received the employment verification from my home study agency in late November/early December. Because I called and spoke to the department before they received the form, I assumed that they would fill it out immediately, but I assumed incorrectly. I received a message on Wednesday from my SW telling me that they were still missing the HR piece. I called HR immediately and left a message. I waited until 11:15 am the next day and called again and left another message for the person responsible for verifying employment. I asked that she call me to alert me one way or another. No response. During my afternoon break from classes I logged into our secure email site and shot off an email explaining the time sensitive nature of that form and if she was unable to locate the form immediately, another one would be faxed to her immediately. My home study office was just getting ready to fax this chickee and to tell her it had to be completed my Friday or else...or else, I don't know but they were going to see a side of me that they haven't seen before. I call it the cold business woman side. I don't need to yell, it's all in the tone, speech cadence and the steely look. Anyway, that got her into gear. My final personal reference letter was also sent yesterday so I should be set. My SW will email me when everyone has signed off and it's been submitted. Whewww...It's a tough job to manage a dossier from afar. From here I just wait for my fingerprint appointment!

Home Study Updates

I heard from my SW today. She hasn't heard anything back yet from my agency, but I have heard they are a bit slow so I wasn't too surprised. More of a surprise is that the SW is still missing my guardianship form and my employment verification. I called my sis and she told me she sent it off about 3 weeks ago once I received the packet from my SW. I called my HR department as well, but it was after business hours. That one really doesn't surprise me. This is the same department that lost my application twice prior to ever getting an interview. I even called in advance to find out who it needed to be sent to, but who knows? I am hoping that it is actually at the home study agency and it just didn't find it's way into my file.

I'm so ready to come home. It feels weird to be less than a week from Christmas and have 60 and 70 degree temps. The maintenance people were mowing the grass today and I smelled the wonderful green smell of grass. It feels like spring so it is hard to get in the Christmas spirit. Evidently it is warming up at home too...Mom reported it was up in the 40s today.

It's a small world after all...yeah, you gotta sing along

It truly is a small world in the world of adoptions. Since arriving here and learning that there is a Babys R Us store no further than 2 miles from the hotel, I HAD to check it out. We don't actually have one in the town I live in and my sister never wants to visit the one in the town she lives in so I figured this was my chance.

I had every intention of only buying one little outfit for Haven, but, well that didn't work out so well. If you were to ask friends or family about my shopping habit, they would ask "what shopping habit?" It's true, I'm a girl and I'm not a shopper. For whatever reason I was finding all kinds of little boy outfits that I was loving (I promise to post pictures when I get home--my favorite is the little onesie that says "mommy's new man") Try only man, kiddo. I also got several outfits for my niece for Christmas--too cute! Who knew they made pink velour sweatsuits for 2 year-olds?

Anyway, I call my best bud, Kris, who truly knows how to shop and get a good deal. I needed her to talk me away from the bargain bin. So, I am standing in line with her dropping phrases like "no money" and "dossier" when the woman in front of me overhead and turned and with a smile asked something along the lines of "what country". She spoke my language! So, this is a shout-out to my new adoption buddy Stephanie who has been waiting for 22 months for her daughter from China. I swear, only China adoptive parents truly understand what it means to be patient and wait. Stephanie, I love your adoption blog and I'd love to add you to my blog log if that's ok!

I'm sitting here watching "The Biggest Loser" rubbing my Buddha Belly and groaning about the amount of food I have consumed in the last 24 hours. Ugh. At least the hotel has a mini-gym and I did work out today. I have an appointment to see my family doc the day after Christmas and I'm really beginning to dread that step up on the scale. I'm eating lots of fruit and veggies which might be contributing to the bloat factor. Ugh, ugh and more ugh.

Have you noticed that once you begin the process to adopt, you suddenly notice things that maybe you didn't before? While walking through the airport today I overheard two women talking about adoption. There weren't any seats available near them, so after I parked it, I went over and approached them. They were discussing domestic adoption and evidently it really differs from state-to-state. Even though I don't have any intention at this time of adopting domestically for personal reasons which I won't go into right now (because I get tired of answering THAT question also), it was very nice to speak to someone who has adopted and had a different experience with it.

Ok, new question and I hope I get feedback on this one. For my first child I got a tattoo with her Chinese name written in Chinese and a globe. The globe was a desire I'd had since I was a teen. Obviously, I plan on getting a second tattoo to celebrate the life of my son, but I haven't seen anything yet that makes me go "oh, I want that on my ass for the rest of my life". I'd like something that goes along with the present theme. I thought about having a shooting star over my globe, which would also celebrate Vietnam (check out a photo of their flag if that helps give you a visual). If you have any ideas or better yet, some photos or drawings, please contact me!

Wandering thoughts...

• I just heard from my SW and she has actually finished my home study draft today.  I just proofread it and called her back with suggestions.  She is going to call her boss today to clarify some things and then she will be forwarding to my agency.  Yay!
• A dear friend just called me.  I have known him for a number of years and I love and trust him even though we have of late, not been able to spend much time together.  He asked me,"How are you?  Is everything ok?  Anything new in your life?" and for the life of me, I couldn't tell him about this adoption.  I don't know why.  With my first I was biting my lip constantly to keep from smiling, and I am for this one as well, but I guess I am better about hiding it.  I don't know why I couldn't share this with him...especially when he was so supportive of the first adoption.  He and his partner are going to be "grandpas" for my little girl, so why not share the news of my son?  I never expected to be able to adopt a son, especially not this close to finishing the paperwork for the first adoption.  I feel incredibly blessed and I feel like Haven is a little jewel that I am hiding away from everyone.  Maybe I have just learned from the first that the less people that know the less you have to answer the questions all over again.  That sounds so negative, doesn't it?  I wish I didn't sound like that.  I guess I am tired of educating people constantly.  I'm sure the APs and PAPs that I have been bugging the last 4-6 weeks are probably laughing right now because I have been bugging them for information!  Laugh it up Jen and Kelli!
• After thinking and praying it over I decided to be approved for two boys and my home study and I-600A reflect that now.  At first I had a moment of panic thinking about it, but then I realized that I have had at least a moment of panic before starting the process before both of my adoptions.  As my mom said, "well, I guess you are done with your family at that point."  More than likely, I will not be matched with twins or both a young sibling set, but I guess it is good that I am now emotionally prepared for the possibility. 
• I am so fortunate to live in the town that I live in.  We have an Asian Culture Center that I have made contact with them.  In addition to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Filipino language tutors, they have Vietnamese Tutors!  I volunteered to help with English tutoring since I have experience in this area.  I am hoping that I will get connected to those in the Vietnamese community and hopefully make some new friends. 

I-600A

I completed my I-600A this morning and happily placed it in the mailbox only to learn the mail had already gone today.  At least it is done!  It will probably take them a week to get it anyway.  For some reason it takes 4-5 full days before things mailed in Indy reach me, but my parents can send me a letter from out of state and I receive it in 2 days. 

My SW is supposed to complete my home study on Monday and fax the draft to my agency.  Hopefully there won't be any significant changes needed, but VN is different from China and my SW and I weren't sure specific things were needed on this particular home study.  I'm sure I'll be getting a call/email from the SW on Monday with any additional questions. 

Yesterday after work I decided to wander over to a second-hand children's store that carries all thing baby and child.  Before I even got into the store I saw a double stroller out front for $50.  I just had this moment where the light went on in my head and I thought "ah-ha, I'm having two!"  Just seeing what it looks like to have two small kids was eye-opening and exciting.  It's one thing to talk about my imaginary kids (as I like to refer to them until I actually get a referral), but it's another thing to see what two kids require and the space they take up. 

I have started reading one of the books my SW recommended and so far it reads very much like some of the books I read about China and Russia.  The communist revolution rolls in, land is redistributed, landowners (even if it was no more than an acre of farm land) are beat and/or run out of town.  The filth of the community take over and people start turning on each other.  It horrified me to read about it in college, and it horrifies me now to think of having to live through the horrors that they lived through.  I think my life is a struggle at times, but I don't have someone beating down my door and threatening to harm me because a distant relative has land.  In all of these societies, women are the ones that suffer most.  It seems to arise in very patriarch societies where women have little to no rights and as a woman, it breaks my heart to think of what women have endured for thousands of years and that there are still many women living in these conditions today.  I think that once you open your eyes to the plight of those in your world, it is almost impossible to shut them again.   That's my deep thought for the day.

Home Study--done!

Wow, what an easier experience it has been this time around.  So relaxed, so easy.  I met my social worker, Dee Ellen, today at Starbucks.  She told me there was no reason to go to my home unless I had bought a new home.  Been there, done that I guess.  Since her daughter lives in this area now, I told her to stop by sometime this Spring and she will have a chance to see both nurseries.  I know that the world of international adoption is a slippery slope and there are no guarantees, but I have still chosen to believe that my children will someday come home.  My baby girl's room is nearly complete--the only thing left to do is paint a mural of a cherry blossom tree.  If anyone has any skills they'd like to share, now is a good time to share!  I have the paint for Haven's room, but I will wait until after Christmas to start on anything. I think I might do a jungle theme of sorts.  

I really had a great visit with my SW and I won't go into all the details of it, but she always leaves me with such a positive feeling.  She actually told me I was wise to work on a concurrent adoption since I always planned on having two children.  She said I was being proactive and taking what might be a difficult situation and making it productive.  I haven't been sitting back and complaining about the long wait.  It is a long wait, but I anticipated that it would be.  I will admit that if something happens to slow the wait in VN as well, I may not be as calm about the whole situation. 

I told her that my pastor had joked with me that I might get referred twins or triplets and I told him to bite his tongue.  She told me to think about it and if I don't want that included she would remove it before submitting.  I'm not looking to be matched with twins, trust me, but if I was referred a twin I wouldn't want the boys separated.  They have already lost their bio parents, the thought of losing a bio sibling is too much for me to contemplate.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?  What did you decide to do?  I realize that the likelihood of twins is unlikely so it probably doesn't matter what she puts down. 

Second question...can anyone recommend any good books about Vietnam?  She had an article for me that she copied from an adoption magazine and they recommended The Sacred Willow by Duong Van Mai Elliot and Paradise of the Blind by Tho Huong Duong.  I keep trying to find books that discuss life in VN, but everything I find discusses the war.  I realize that is a HUGE part of their culture and history, but I don't want Haven growing up thinking that that is all his birth country is known for. 

More good news...my dad has an extra week of vacation that he needs to get rid so he is going to come over next year (God willing that things continue and things become more smooth in VN) and take care of Haven so I don't have to send him to daycare.  Haven will be the first grandson in the family!  My dad is thrilled. 

I really hope the USCIS process is smoother for me this time.  I have managed to complete my paper work in less than three weeks and I really want to get things sent off as soon as possible especially since things are less stable in VN. 

I have already waited so long to start a family...the thought of enduring another long wait would be heartbreaking. 

Hormonal Surge

I think I am having a hormonal surge and I suppose it is normal.  In my heart I know I am expecting a child and it would be silly to think that my body wouldn't respond in some sort of fashion.  The same thing happened last year as I paper chased for my China girl.  The breasts swelled, I got weepy--it was all good. 

I'm starting to feel the same things again.  I'm hoping the breasticles don't get overly large this year because all my money is going towards this adoption and can't be spent on new bras or clothes!  In addition to the growing mountains, I have started becoming weepy over any child related thing.  I've heard this will last another 18 years--I guess I'll just have to wait it out and hope for the best.  I've also begun cleaning like a mad woman.  In light of the fact that my SW isn't coming to the house there isn't any good reason to be scrubbing my floors obsessively as I have this afternoon.  I guess it is all a part of nesting.  I'm hoping to go through the spare room, aka Haven's Room, during the holidays and get rid of a lot of stuff. 

In between my cleaning and sorting I came across the video which is sure to induce tears of joy from any waiting mom.  I dare you to watch and not a tear little.  If you make it through unscathed, well, I'm not sure there is really an award for that but you certainly save in the Kleenex department. 

The first song is Satellite by Collective Soul (I love them!) and the second is Lullaby by the Dixie Chicks.  I just love both of these songs and thought it was very appropriate for the video.  Are are the lyrics to Satellite:

"Satellite"
Soon a man will kneel to pray
Soon the light will burn our shade
And with the sweet the bitter fades
So my heart and take your place
Cause I will be your force
And I will be your right
And I will watch over you like a satellite
Soon reason will have rhyme
Soon wisdom will imply
And with courage doubt subsides
So take my heart and take my pride
And I will be your side
And I will be your might
And I will watch over you like a satellite
River will flow from scenes unknown
I'll guide you through by the love I'll show
And the stars will wish upon the night
That they could have a guiding satellite

My SW rocks!

She does and here's why:  she doesn't want to meet at my house for the home study.  Yep, you read correctly.  We are going to meet at Starbucks, have a bite to eat and review what we need to review.  She thought she could crank the home study report out pretty quickly.  Hallelujah!

Thank God, she doesn't want to come over.  It's not a big deal, but I'm exhausted.  I'm fighting off some sort of inner thing so I'm a bit dizzy, I've been sleeping a lot and nothing has gotten done around the house.  I could whip it into shape quickly if needed, but I'd rather not since my week at work is so crazy.  It's the first time since I started the new job that I looked at my schedule and wanted to cry.  It's so busy!  I have meeting after meeting and next week I'm in Dallas.  Thankfully I got some cookies made yesterday to distribute to the IS/help desk for putting up with me and being so good to me the last few months.

Tonight is my all-nighter and I'm already tired.  I'm going to try to fit in a nap before going back.  It's going to be a very long night...

Moving right along...

My social worker is actually a contracted SW for my home study agency so I think her schedule is more flexible.  I emailed her last night to let her know where I was in the process and see if she was caught up to me yet.  We have a tentative meeting set up for Thursday to have our official home study visit!  I'm actually pretty excited, but now I have to start cleaning.  It's not bad because it is still pretty picked up from Thanksgiving, but I certainly need to get the vacuum out again.  I don't think I will be nervous like I was last year.  I'm just so grateful that I have the same social worker again this year. 

I keep getting excited thinking how smoothly things are flowing and then I remember how things went last year.  Everything flowed smoothly until USCIS time--yep, they lost my prints.  I am praying, hoping, wishing that the same thing doesn't happen again next year. 

Orphans

I think for some of us, adopting is more than just starting a family.  We consider it to be a gift from God.  To think that someone would entrust me to raise their child is a huge leap of faith on both parts.  I can't imagine what the birth mother must go through when she realizes that the child she is carrying can not exist in her world.  Can you imagine how hard that would be?

Big Red Spot

I think I neglected to mention a little something about my visit to the allergist's office the other day.  My home study requires a TB test and a urine test as part of their international adoption packet.  Because I am allergic to thimerosal (found in the TB solution and some contact cleaning solutions) I have always documented on my personnel file that I am allergic to TB tests.  For my job, I am required to get a chest x-ray every other year to prove that I don't have an active infection.  Well, I explained all this to my doctor on Tuesday but she said that I didn't have a well documented case of allergy.  As a nurse, and as a nurse certified to give and read TB skin tests, I know how to interpret the results.  You measure the induration, not the swelling or redness at the site.  My doctor tried to tell me that redness indicated a positive exposure and that even though I have consistently had a negative chest x-ray and never had a single symptom associated with an infection that I might need to be on INH for 6 months (which would NOT make me a candidate for adoption in any country).  What the heck?  I wanted to scream it's an allergy and you are an allergist, figure it out! but I didn't. 

So today I wake up and noticed that I have a bright red, puffy area on my forearm where I was injected with the solution.  Oh crap.  I had untold numbers of co-workers look at it...some were certified in reading them and others weren't.  All agreed it was red and slightly puffy, the uncertified ones thought I had a positive reaction, while the certified nurses said it was negative.  Wanting to get it documented before I go to the doctor, my office mate pulled some strings and got me in to see the employee health/infectious disease nurse.  She took one look and said "it's negative".  She felt it, rubbed it, double checked and then told me explicitly why it was negative and then she nicely documented on official papers that it was negative and why it was negative.  Armed with those papers I walked into my doctor's office for the nurse to read it.  Two of them agreed, red, but no induration!  They completed my physical form and before the doctor could look at my arm, I was out the door! 

In case you are wondering, my pee was ok too. 

Physical--done!

I've had an appointment scheduled with my allergist for about 2 months--which is longer than I have been working on this adoption.  Given the problems I have had getting into my primary MD office, I decided to give my other doc a chance.  I called her office yesterday and said that I just had a smidge of paperwork...just needed height/weight and vitals. Well, that was a small fib.  They said it was fine. 

I walked in today and expected her to give me a hard time about filling out the home study medical form and signing off on my other form (thanks to Jen and Jonathan who e-mailed me the specifics--I promise to get a blog roll moving soon).  She was delighted to help!  She was so excited, the nurses were excited, it was exciting!  Actually, I was ok with it, they were the ones worked into a frenzy.  I'm guessing not too many people walk into an allergists office and ask for adoption paperwork to be filled out.  She even ordered the lab work and tests required by my home study agency.  She wasn't really sure what to work for the diagnosis code so she put DX: Adoption.  Yeah, the lady at the hospital registration desk just looked at me.  I explained it was a part of my routine physical which was a part of the adoption.  Hopefully that flies with the insurance company.  The doctor did make me promise that I would send in photos once I had photos to share.  She told me that she and her husband (also a doctor) really wanted to have a 4th child, and she wanted to adopt, but he wasn't too keen on it.  Anyway, that's one last thing down...the homestudy is the only other big item.  Yippee!  I just love marking things off my list. 

Let there be light

"Isn't this magical"

           Fat Bastard, Austin Powers 3

So, I'm sitting here at my desk about 3 hours ago composing another awesome post about life in the adoption fast lane, when my computer went dead.  Well, to be fair, everything went dead.  All the lights went out.  We were having a rain storm, but it didn't seem to be that bad.  I turned the computer back on and 5 seconds later the same thing happened.  After that I heard a very ominous sound and I went into my living room (with the wall of windows) to investigate.  Right as I was looking out the window I saw the electric pole (for lack of better terminology) begin the sizzle and flash from red and pink to white in color.  This happened twice and then everything went very dark.  Minutes later the fire department shows up.

Great. 

I had a lot of computer documents I wanted to type up.  I quickly called the energy company on my cell, and since there was very little light in the house in order to actually do anything, I decided to take a nap.  An hour and a half later I wake up, the lights are still out and I call again.  The message this time promises that the electricity will be on 5 minutes.  Well, about 5 minutes later the repair people did show up, but in their defense the weather was pretty nasty in the 1 1/2 hours before they showed.  Lightening and thunder that roared for over 30-60 seconds.  I was actually pretty concerned...and then I fell asleep.  I can't help it, my cat curled up on my lap and she is natural sedative.

I'll try to recreate the first post that got DELETED in the power outage.  My problem was pretty minor and I am thankful.  The house did get colder, but I am not suffering compared to those in the northern states that were hit with the full brunt of this storm. 

It's on, baby...

Many thanks to my good friend Kristen whom I met while completing my China dossier.  Without going into too much detail (I am after all, a very wordy person) here is our story.  We were both approved by the same agency last year to begin the paper chase for our China girls.  I am a highly competitive person, which is why I rarely choose to play games.  They make me mean.  My coordinator is also a highly competitive person and we were in frequent contact during the paper chase.  Every morning when the coordinators would discuss our progress (we had to have our dossier submitted by February 28th) my coordinator would say "my girl is still first!".  Until January.  Kris posted a message on our agency Yahoo site stating that she was DTC.  I had been beaten!  While disappointed that I was not #1, I decided to e-mail her a message of congrats.  From there we learned that we have a great deal in common.  Actually, we have a ridiculous amount of things in common.  In June I traveled to visit her in WI and in August she returned the favor. 

My big fat thanks goes to Kris because she has been the person that I have called, emailed, or left crazy messages for since beginning this journey to Haven.  She was also one of the few people who knew how much I longed for this son, even as I was paper chasing for my daughter.  While our journeys are slightly different now, I am so glad to know that she is still with me pushing me on.  I'm not kidding, she emailed me a list of things that I needed to get done for this week!  She's that kind of friend.  I know it isn't easy for her to hear how excited I am or how frustrated I find the whole process.  All I can say to her is, aren't you glad you didn't know in the beginning of the China process????  Many thanks from your neurotic friend, Erica.

In other news...I got my dossier packet!!!  I guess you know what I'll be doing this afternoon.  Yep, reading every single word.  I'm not a skimmer.  My first career was as a nurse and I learned that you need to read and understand every word of any document placed in front of you requiring your signature.  Even when I get my oil changed and they ask me to sign here, initial here and here, I still read the whole page.  Sometimes I just do it to piss them off.