Various Things

I can't get my camera to talk to my computer, so I'm going through withdrawal here not being able to upload pictures! Ack!

Friday we're leaving for a camping trip through July 4th, so I won't be posting during that time.

The girls are taking "Gloppy Science" this week. They love it even more than Acting Out. I found out Anna's class for the week of July 9th was cancelled (she was the only one signed up), so I was able to get her into the same Olympic Medalist class as Jessica, so that worked out nicely.

I'm done painting the back of my garage, but I'm not happy with the color I picked out. I didn't get samples to match the house and just went with my assumption that since I have old paint cans in the basement saying Antique White, that I went with that. I probably should have gone with Off White. I may paint it again after our camping trip, but I plan to put the house numbers on tonight, maybe clean up the area and let it go until later. It looks way better than it did and the color looks better against the house than the bright white did.

I'm behind on my quilt swaps and wishes. I have the fabric, its washed, but not ironed. I also printed out some new wishes, but need to make them pretty. So, they won't get out until after our camping trip. Good thing I have Fridays off in July and August.

I also need to mail out birthday party invitations before we leave. I'm going to try to print them tonight after my concert (community band - I play the clarinet). I think I need more envelopes. I also have to look up all the addresses of the friends they put on the list and see if we can pare down the list a little. We can have 30 kids (it's a pool party) and I think there are 40+ on the list. I know not everyone will come, but last year we invited 16 to Jessica's bowling party and 14 came.

Then of course there's laundry, dishes, cleaning the dining and living rooms, packing, and grocery shopping. I came up with tentative menus yesterday and a list, so I'm on the right road.

So much to do, so little time. Last weekend we were at a pool party for my local Single Mother's By Choice group. Here are some photos other people took and emailed to me.

Personality - ISFP

You Are An ISFP

The Artist You are a gifted artist or musician (though your talents may be dormant right now).You enjoy spending your free time in nature, and you are good with animals and children.Simply put, you enjoy beauty in all its forms and live for the simple pleasures in life.Gentle, sensitive, and compassionate - you are good at recognizing people's unspoken needs. In love, you are quiet and sweet yet very passionate. You love easily.You have an underlying love for all living things, and it's easy for you to accept someone into your heart. At work, you do best in an unconventional position. You express yourself well and can work with almost anyone.You would make a good veterinarian, pediatrician, or composer. How you see yourself: Sympathetic, kind, and communicative When other people don't get you, they see you as: Incompetent, insecure, and overly sensitive

What's" Your Personality Type?

Actually, I took a more detailed personality test once and am an ISTP (thinker not feeling). Anyway, interesting.

Seven Months of Waiting

Today is my 7 month LID anniversary. When I was waiting for Jessica, that meant referral was just days away. And that wait seemed like forever! Now I'm still looking at another 1.5-2 years (or more according to Rumor Queen's most recent analysis - where best case scenario is a referral in April, 2009, worst case was somewhere off the charts late in 2010). But knowing the wait will be really long somehow makes it a tad bit more bearable most days. I can maybe deal with early 2009, I can't deal with anything beyond that at this point. It's hard to believe when I started the whole paperchase last August, that the wait was less than a year. I think we've added a month to the wait every month since then. When will it all end?

CCAA finally finished reviewing April, 2006 LID's. I'll be very happy once I know I've made it through the review room, but that's another 7 months down the road.

What Next? A Mom's Life!

Saturday morning the girls got up early, got dressed to surprise me, then started fighting. I got up and saw one of Anna's hearing aids on the floor by the bed minus earmold and tubing. After much searching, I found the other aid under the dirty clothes pile and the other earmold on the other side of the bed. Both earmolds were missing the tubing and had the section that goes into the ear bitten off. Seems the aids had fallen off the box they are usually kept in and Lucy decided they might be a treat. All this by 7:30 a.m. I found a cracked earmold for one ear and one that's 3 years old for the other ear, so she could at least hear. Thinking we'd be able to get in today to get new impressions made. The molds themselves take 10-14 days to make. But no! My audiologist is out of town this week. The other one we see for hearing tests is a school audi and she's busy with summer school this week and on the other side of town. I left a tearful message to an audi we used to see, but doesn't sell aids, and am waiting to see if we can see her this week. Otherwise, no new molds for about 3 weeks! They both squeal.

To top all that off, my girls started their morning summer camps through Community Ed today. I put them on the bus and then drove to the Jr. High to make sure they found their classes okay. I got their 30 minutes early and then their bus was 20 minutes late. But my girls were not on the bus!!! They had gotten off at the previous stop, another school where the academic by invitation only summer school was taking place. After ranting to the bus driver, I raced over to that school, caused a mini scene as I got my girls out of the gym and then raced back to the Jr. High. By then all the kids had gone to their classes so we had to find their class. Now I'm super worried that they won't get off the bus at the right stop. We did go over that and that they were on the Green route many times this morning.

So I'm not having the best of days. Work isn't going so well either.

Nothing Much

I feel like I should post something since I like to see new posts on people's blogs, but I don't really have anything to say or talk about. We're in that lull between referrals. Rumors about a big batch, but the last big batch rumor didn't prove true. Time keeps plugging away. We've got our first weekend in so long I can't even remember (Christmas maybe) where we don't have any commitments on either Saturday or Sunday. I need to paint the back part of my garage where there is peeling paint, so I'm hoping to do that. We might go to the city's parade tomorrow afternoon. We could go to the carnival, but that only costs money. I did tell the girls we might go tonight if they cleaned their room last night. They did, so I think we'll be doing that tonight. I hope by Monday I can say I did a lot. Have a nice weekend whoever's reading this.

KISSES IN THE WIND

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.

You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.

But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...

Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.

I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.

But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.

And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

--- Unknown

Lucy Passed!

Lucy passed her "Beginner Education" class today. I wasn't so sure she would especially since she slipped past me out the door yesterday. Luckily she didn't go far and went to someone at the end of the house. By the time we drove out of the alley to go look for her, she was halfway home. She impressed everyone today though. She did her sit/stay for 10 seconds with no problem. She can't do "down" (lie down) yet, but that's not as important as sitting, staying, waiting, leaving alone, etc. Anyway, she passed. I think we need to do Intermediate as well, but the next class with the same teacher doesn't start until the end of July. I'm not sure if I want to get most of it over with before school starts, or wait until fall. Based on what the teacher said they cover in intermediate, I know Lucy isn't ready. We still need to work on all the beginner stuff.

Ant House, Secret Buddy Gift, Lucy, and latest referrals

Our ant farm fell off the table the other day (I think Lucy was trying to get to something on the table and knocked it off), so last night the girls found some treasures and decided to make an "ant house" out of them. I believe the leaf is a hosta leaf, then they used rocks and flowers/flower petals and taped them all down on our steps.

I received my June gift "nature's blessings" from my Oct2006DTC Secret Buddy. I had an order to open them. 1st, play clothes for playing outside, 2nd, a bubble toy to play outside, 3rd, bath toys for the bath that will be needed afterward. Jessica and Anna also got Hello Kitty stickers. What a great secret buddy I have!

Here's a picture of my girls with Lucy. She's almost 2 and we got her last September. She has her test on Sunday for beginning obedience. I'm not so sure she'll pass, but she's getting so much better, so much calmer. We love her.

Yesterday referrals came. For LIDs from all of November 2 - November 7. At this rate, it'll take a good 4 months to get through November. I wonder what the future holds. Will referrals continue to slow down? Will they eventually speed up? Will China make some other changes for the better or worse? I just can't see people hanging in there with China if the pace continues to slow down unless they already have a child (or 2 or 3) from China. I know if I was a first time parent, I'd seriously look at my other options. I'm in it for the long haul though. I've already waited 4 years, so what's another 2. Meaning I really would have liked to start the paperchase in 2003, but I just couldn't handle the fanancial part. Meaning I've thought of Amanda every single day for the last 4 years. Yes, I'm in it for the long haul. If I've kept the dream alive for 4 years, I can certainly handle another 2 or more if I have to. And yes, I still think of her every single day!

10 Childhood Memories

I was tagged by virtue of reading some fellow LID's Blogs, so here goes:

1. My sister and I climbing a mountain in Manito Springs(?), Colorado while my brothers went off to climb Pike’s Peak. We ended up climbing up the steep face of the mountain when we lost the trail. We were quite happy to make it to the top and slid back down afterwards. I was 16 and my sister was 12. It was a huge accomplishment, but we were kind of scared at the time. Later my dad said he could see us from the cabin. It was nice to know he was watching.
2. Exploring with my brothers and sister and the neighborhood kids. We explored along the Mississippi River and in the river when we were in grade school. It was always fun. We’d catch crayfish, dig up clams, collect turtles, and explore the island. Sometimes we’d walk the other way to what eventually became our back yard, but at the time seemed to be all wilderness to our eyes.
3. Camping at Little Mantrap. We went there almost every year. We loved walking around and finding wild flowers. There was also a patch of wild strawberries that we always liked to pick. And they were so good! I also caught my one and only fish at Little Mantrap.
4. Piling into the back of the station wagon with our pajamas on on a Friday night after my dad finished work and driving to my Grandma’s house 4 hours away. We’d get there around midnight and she had always baked cinnamon bread and caramel rolls for us, so the house always smelled so good.
5. Sitting around with my family on a cold or rainy Saturday or Sunday afternoon and watching ABC’s Wide World of Sports as a family.
6. My all day bike hikes. We went on two of them, one between 4th & 5th grade, and one between 5th grade and 6th grade. The first one was with my brother and some of each of our friends. We went like 50 miles. We went out to a Lake Mariah State Park and then turned around and headed to Elk River stopping at the farm of a family we know. The next year I went with a friend. We rode 10 miles to Buffalo, riding our bikes on I-94 before it opened. Both trips were a lot of fun. We packed lunch, snacks, lots of water, and headed out. I can’t imagine letting a 10, 11 or 12 year old do that in this day and age.
7. Going to visit my mom’s grandma’s farm. Guess that would by my great-grandma. They had no running water in the house. They still used an outhouse and they had an old-fashioned pump in the middle of the kitchen which to a kid was so cool!
8. Visiting other older relatives on my mom’s side. There was Aunt Helga who lived on a lake in town and always threatened to make “fish heads” for us. There was another Aunt who always asked us if we wanted “nectar” while my dad always said “that’s Kool-Aid, say yes”. And there was one more Aunt and Uncle (of my mom) who had taxidermied animals in their house. Most of the time we had to play outside. Most of them spoke Finnish which my mom understood but my dad didn’t. Anyway, its one of those memories from childhood.
9. Okay, don’t laugh. Playing with a friend, LuAnne, when we were in like 1st or 2nd grade. She had these poles in their basement. We used to listen to and talk about “The Monkey’s” TV show and pretend the one of the poles was Davy Jones.
10. Running back and forth across the street between my house and my friend Sue’s house to watch some big wedding that was on TV. We had a console TV and since neither of us knew what a color TV was, we thought our’s was color since it was a bigger TV. It wasn’t, it was black and white. I don't remember and never did find out who’s wedding it was. This was either right before we started kindergarten or between kindergarten and first grade. We eventually ran into each other in the middle of the street and just sat and laughed.

Anyway, now you're it!

Children's Festival, Breakfast in Bed, & Butterflies

Jessica danced at the Flint Hills International Children's Festival on Saturday and then marched in the parade. She really enjoyed it. Afterward, we went to some of the tents where they had children't art projects. The weather turned ugly later in day. I think we left just in time.

Jsssica served me breakfast in bed this morning, just because. She brought me yogurt, strawberries, and a chocolate chip cookie she "baked" in the microwave. What fun!

Anna has a butterfly tent and had 4 of 5 caterpillars turn into butterflies. She's been setting one free a day. They sure make a lot of noise when they flutter, so I won't miss them at all. The girls really loved this.

It's Penny's Birthday

Penny is my first baby. Today, she's 14. She made it to my first goal for her this year. When I was growing up, we had 2 dogs. Snoopy and Misty. They each died at the age of 13, so I really wanted Penny to make it past 13. My second baby, Dixie, died last August. I really don't want to lose 2 dogs in one year, so my second goal is for Penny to make it past the end of August. She's getting very geriatric. In March, I found out she was diabetic (as Dixie had been for 4.5 years). So I've been giving her insulin shots twice a day. She's so much older than Dixie was when she became diabetic, and so much more frail, that I know she won't last another 4 years. I doubt she'll be around when Amanda comes home. But she's doing okay. Thin, blind, hard of hearing, arthritic. But she's still my baby and I'm not ready to let her go yet. When the time is right, I'll know as I did with Dixie.

But anyway. Happy Birthday to my Penny!

Once in a Blue Moon

**A "Blue Moon" is when two full moons happen in one calendar month. Since the phase period of the moon is 29.5 days, you usually only have one full moon month, but each month it is a little earlier than the previous month. About once a year or so, you get two full moons in the same calendar month, and the second one is called the "blue moon". There is no physical difference or appearance difference of the moon at this time, it just looks like a regular full moon: circular and white with gray patches. **

Last night was a "Blue Moon". The next "Blue Moon" isn't scheduled to come until December, 2009. When I heard that, my first thought was "let's hope I don't have to wait that long for Amanda to come home".