Happy Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving is over and another Christmas season is starting. Thanksgiving dinner was edible and that was one of the good things. I didn't cook a whole turkey this year as I always end up throwing alot of the leftovers away. This year I cooked only a turkey breast. Which I just remembered (7 hours later) was still in the microwave where I put it to keep the cats off while we ate our dinner. Had to throw it away - hated to do it but I wouldn't want to eat it after it sat (unrefridgerated) for 7 hours. Too bad - at least there wasn't much left on it. Anyway, I wasn't going to cook stuffing as no one eats it, but the kids convinced me to cook some. I put it in the bottom of the pan and placed the turkey breast on top - I rembered doing it that way in the past when it was only me eating. Something was different this year though, the stuffing became dried out, burned bread cubes. That also got tossed. The rest of the dinner was very good. I'm not a cook, however so I was just glad that we got what we got. And I am thankful, that for all my whining about not having any money, we had a good dinner and didn't have to eat the burned parts.

Christmas is going to be interesting this year. I don't know if I am going to put up a tree or not. If I do, it will somehow have to be protected from the destructive duo (aka puppies). They chew EVERYTHING!. In fact, we will be going out tomorrow or Saturday to buy A a new pair of shoes. His seem to be the preferred chew toys - of course, that could be because he takes them off and drops them wherever so they are easy for the puppys to find. So far, nothing really major has been chewed but I don't think I'm brave enough to put up a Christmas Tree and put presents under it. This is really going to require some thought.

Puppies are going to puppy kindergarden and are really smart. We started teaching them to ring a bell on the back door to let us know that they need to go out and it didn't take an entire day for them to get the hang of it. Of course, now they ring it all the time just so they can go out - I also believe that they feel that they have trained us - look, we hit this bell with our noses and the big hairless ones run to open the door for us!

Bits & Pieces & I600 approvals

It has been way too long since I posted but life here has become very busy recently. The two pups are growing like weeds. I took them in for their 2nd round of puppy shots last weekend and they have more that doubled in weight. The harnesses we bought when we brought them home no longer fit. And, of course, as they get bigger, the more they can reach to get in to. They have already chewed the audio cable on the kids computer. and, also of course, since A plays all these fighting games and insists that he has to have the sound up, I haven't made a strong effort to get new speakers. Bad Mom!

Both A and C have had a couple of bad weeks at school. A because, for some reason, he just quit trying and started putting the first thing that came to him down as the answer without even making an attempt to read the instructions or the story that went with the questions or anything. This doesn't make for good grades - let me tell you. His teacher talked to him, I talked to him, I tried bribing him, threatening to take away things from him, nothing worked. Then his reading teacher found the key. She told him that she would be checking with his regular teacher and if he hadn't made a good effort on a paper, he would come in to her room and stay until he did his best on the paper. He'd miss computer time, specials, recess, whatever, until he had done the work to the best of his ability. This was the key, he is now back on track and doing better. I don't know what set him off, but he is an A/B student and for him to be bringing home 43's and 25's was bad. He is dyslexic, but they didn't think that was it at all. It may be related to bringing home little brother soon, he has said that he is a little afraid that LB won't like him and he is also loosing his 'baby of the family' status, but he always seems eager to go get LB.

C, on the other hand, is learning that she needs to ask for help studying for her tests. She has straight A'd it since coming home 3.5 years ago, but it has been on memorization alone. This year, in 4th grade, she is having to learn, to think, and to reason and since her comprehension isn't at a home-grown 4th grader's level, it is hard for her. For some reason, she just won't admit that she needs help or that she doesn't understand/know something. As a result, she is not doing as well as she could.

The furry babies are 3 months old now and start puppy kindergarten tomorrow. This should be an experience. I don't know if they will let me take pictures, but if they do, I'll post some.

And last, but not least! I got my i600 approval this morning. This means that the CIS has determined that LB is truely free for adoption under international adoption law and I will be able to get a visa and bring him home. They expect me to be able to travel in a couple of weeks, but I told them that unless I can be home in time for Christmas, I'd rather wait until after. If I could afford to take all the kids, I wouldn't hesitate to go for Christmas, but since I can't, I don't want to be away from them. So I can wait a couple more weeks. LB won't know the difference. We'll save his presents for him and have another smaller Christmas when he gets home.

I600 receipt

In all the puppy excitement - I forgot to post yesterday that I got the receipt (or whatever it is called) from the CIS in HoChiMin City. They have my I600 and all the accompanying papers and will start to review it someday. Of course, they say that they have 60 work days to let me know the status. I'm still praying to know much sooner than that.

Pound Puppies

I got fussed at because I called it a 'pound'. Apparently it is appropriately called a 'shelter'.

Do you realize how long it has been since I had a puppy in my house? My current dog is 16, so that should give you the answer. I had forgotten how much fuss and mess and STUFF goes with puppies. First we went out to get toys and harnesses, then we went back out the next day to get more toys and food, then on Monday I went back a third time to get a playpen and some enzyme cleaner. They are settling in well and the kids are thrilled. They are named Suki (for one of the Avatar characters) and Lego. The first morning we had them, the kids were down on the floor playing with the puppies. The male pup was grabbing everyone's hair and tugging it. The kids were (as he pulled their hair) yelling "Hey, puppy, Leggo, Leggo puppy". So he became Lego.

But these are such good puppies, they will yip and cry for a few minutes when first put in their crate at night, then they settle down. They'll wake around 2 and whine (yip and bark) to go out, but once they do their 'stuff', they come back and settle right back down. Of course, seeing as how they are only 7 weeks old, they are messing in the house if we don't catch them quickly enough.

Took them to the vet yesterday and they were proclaimed healthy. Vet said the boy is going to be BIG but wouldn't venture a guess as to how big. He is close to 7 lbs at 7 weeks and the girlie is 5.5 lbs so she won't be as big.

Halloween houses and insanity

Last weekend A and C decorated their gingerbread Halloween houses - pictures of kids and finished products are shown.

This weekend I went insane.

Some background info. Until recently, we had three dogs; a Shepard mix, a Skye Terrier and a Silky Terrier. The Shepard and Skye were my Moms and moved in with us 10 years ago when she moved in after Daddy died. They were both around 1 at the time. I had the Silky only as I had lost my Shepard mix about 6 months earlier. Well, when Mom Passed on 3 years ago, I inherited her dogs. We lost the Shepard last Christmas when she got up on the kitchen counter, drug off on un-opened 2 lb bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels. We knew she would get up on the counters after food, but never thought she could pull something from the very back, nor that she would have any interest in an unopened bag. Anyway, unfortunately, she didn't survive. The Skye we had to have put to sleep several months ago. She had cancer and had had it for 4 years or so and it finally got the better of her. I knew I wanted another dog, but was hesitant about getting one while the Silky was still alive. He is 16 years old and is deaf and blind, also incontinent and a pain in the heinie. I also didn't want to get new puppies just before I left for Vietnam for my son.

So, I got looking on the Internet on Friday at one of the Pet Finder sites and saw a couple of 3 month old Shepard pups. I was sorta interested and thought we'd go by and check them out - not really planning on getting one, just checking them out. Well, we couldn't find the shelter when we went to skating lessons so we went ahead and ran some errands. Decided to stop by and check out the local shelter (we live over the county line from where I'd seen the Shepard pups). It was about 30 minutes to closing, we went in and the guy said they didn't have any puppies, I'd said I wanted a puppy since I had cats and was concerned about getting an older dog. We went back to look anyway and there was a cage with a sign that said "Labrador Mix puppies - about 7 weeks old". To make a long story short. See the pictures below.

So now we have not one - but two - 7 week old lab mix puppies. They don't have names yet, although K is calling the little girl "Bramble". A wants to call the little boy "White Paw" because the toes of each foot are white, but I don't care for that name. Truthfully, I don't care for "Bramble" either and am calling her "Bumble" in an attempt to get K to change it, but so far no go. The little girl is a little over 5 lbs and the boy is about 6.5 lbs. K fell in love with the runt and since she was one of the only 2 smooth coats, we ended up with her. The Silky doesn't care except when they gang up on him and try to play and the cats are suspicious and insulted.

So far (after less than a day) the kids are good about taking the pups out side and playing with them. I only hope it stays that way once the novelty wears off.

The Good and the Bad

The Bad -- Woke up this morning and went to put an ice cube tray in the freezer, noticed that the other ice cube trays were not frozen. Wondered for a minute what was going on as I was the first one up and none of the kids would EVER refill an ice cube tray without a lot of prompting. Then noticed that a couple of popsicles were juce - AAAAAAA (primal scream) freezer wasn't freezing. Yelled at the kids to come help and started transporting stuff to the big freezer in the garage. Checked the refridgerator section - ah sh*t, that one was warm. Emptied that out and put all that stuff in the garage freezer. I think I'll have to toss some chicken that I was thawing for tonight's dinner, and I'm not sure how the milk will be after being frozen - that may have to go too, but all in all, didn't loose that much.



Repair/buy? Spent some time today checking out prices of new units. To replace what I have, only getting energy Star - which they didn't have in '92 when I bought this one - would cost almost $1000. To repair will cost around $500 and that only if it is the compressor that has gone out. Since all my money is slated for the last payment on the adoption and the trip itself, I choose repair and hope it will last for a couple of years. I'll know on Friday, in the mean time, I cranked up the temp dials and it is cool enough for butter and cheese.



The good - heard from one of the other parents with my agency who got a referral before 9/1. There were 3 of us, two singles and one couple. The other single is adopting an 8 year old girl and I have the 7 year old boy. The couple is adopting a one year old girl. TW, the other single, got an email from the representative in Vietnam. Our I600's went to CIS today!!

Paper, paper and more paper

I had been told that my I600 would be on it's way to HCMC this weekend, but it was not to be. I got an email from the agency's VN representative this morning, that CIS wanted an additional piece of paper from Dat's orphanage that they usually don't want (she said "that Vietnamese partner never does ") and additionally asked me to send her the email I received from the agency with all the attachments when I got my Official Referral. Then she was going to go back to the orphanage and get the additional form - something about no one wanting to adopt him domestically. I just hope that will all the additional papers she has had to provide to the CIS - that when they finally do get my I600 it's a short turn-around. This is the second or third time that CIS has asked for something extra - that usually isn't provided - so I know that they have seen the file, or at least somehow been through it, so it shouldn't take so long for them to do the review once it is officially submitted. We can always hope anyway. I really want to go before Christmas!!

Miscelleny

I have 30 more minutes of peace and quiet, then the school bus will pull up to the drive and there will be no more quiet until next Friday, when once again, I work from home and the kids are at school. (LOL)

I just found out that my I600 should be sent to HCMC by Monday (She said next Monday but I hope she meant Monday the 13th). Then I will wait for the acknowledgement from the CIS and pray for a short turn-around to approval. If God wills, I can still make it there and back before Christmas.

I made a deal with my son. He is dyslexic and hates to read. I am lazy and hate to exercise. I desperately need to loose some weight. He really needs to practice reading. So I made him a deal. I am going to start walking to a CD that I bought several years ago (and never opened) and he can read to me while I walk. If I don't walk, he doesn't have to read. He is supposed to read 15 minutes a day and it is a battle to get him to do it, hopefully this will be an encouragement for me to walk and for him to read without fighting.

Hard Knocks

Ever known someone who seemed to HAVE to do everything the hard way? Someone who can’t learn from other’s experiences but has to learn from their own experience? Well I have one of those as my middle kid. She was 7 years, 9 months old when I adopted her from China and had been in the orphanage since she was around 3. I don’t know how much of her being this way is pure personality and how much is her orphanage experience (or lack there of). C has seen me help her sister study for tests and occasionally even asks me to quiz her. But as she gets older (11 this past June) she is becoming more and more the ‘know it all’. She doesn’t have to read instructions – she knows how to do it! When I try to tell her how to do something, she looks at me as if I was speaking some strange language or like she is just tolerating my speaking, but not really listening. She is the one I really worry about becoming a teenager. If she is this hard-headed and know it all at 11, she will be a danger to herself when she is 15. Anyway, she had a test on Friday, the teacher had given them all study guides and even gave them an extra day to prepare. The teacher is really good about emailing parents about tests and other stuff so I knew she was having the test. I had asked her if she wanted me to help her study – “no, mama, the test isn’t until Friday – I have plenty of time”. Well she failed the test (along with most of the class). I asked her why she didn’t ask for help studying, her reply ‘I knew it so I didn’t have to study’. Yeah, kid, you knew it so well, you failed the test. Maybe she will learn and ask for help the next time --- but I’m not holding my breath. This one is going through the school of hard knocks.

Money Pit

Wasn't there a movie by that title a LONG time ago? Well, I have decided that kids are the real money pits (lol). The other day was "Fair Day" for our ISD, so, of course, where did the kids want to go? You got it -- to the State Fair. I've always liked the fair so it wasn't a hardship for me to take off work to take the kids. We got there about 11 am and sat in line for 20 minutes to get into the parking lot. Last year I had missed the turn in and then found an odd little lot by a back gate and a rail-road to park. Don't remember what it cost, but it was less than the $10 it cost to park in the 'official' lot. Unfortunately, that parking lot was behind a bunch of buildings and not in a good area and I felt very uncomfortable walking to the fair so I decided to go official this year. The kids had tickets that the school had given them so I didn't have to pay for their tickets or I couldn't have afforded it at all. My ticket cost $14. Granted, I could have gotten one in a grocery store for $1 to $1.5 less, but I didn't think of it and didn't see any the last time I went grocery shopping. I did remember from last year that everything in the park cost tickets - not money (except the stuff in the shopping areas) and the price of tickets was the same as I remembered it. So we did a bit of shopping, had lunch (2 sausage on a stick. a small drink and one turkey leg for $22). Then the kids wanted to ride some rides. Aidan had loved the sky lift (or something like that) the cable-car like ride from one end of the Midway to the other so we headed over there. They wanted 14 tickets per person - that's $7 per person! I don't remember it being nearly that much last year - maybe I'm just getting old and forgetful but $7 for a short ride? Ridiculous!!! We walked, needed the exercise anyway. Rides in the midway were 10 tickets - $5 per ride! I had bought the kids each $10 worth of tickets (like I did last year) and expected they'd get some 3 or 4 rides for that price - not this year, no way! We did find some rides for more like 8 tickets and I bought each one more tickets so they did get their 4 rides but boy was it expensive. On the way out, we wanted something cold to drink - the weather was wonderful this year, warm but not too hot. Last year we melted and this was a lot more comfortable, but we still wanted something cold. So I bought still MORE tickets and STILL didn't have enough for a drink for each of us. We were there for 5 hours, I spent over $200. Kids still wanted to ride more rides and wanted more junk to eat and I didn't play the balloon pop or water race games that I usually do because I always end up spending much more than I plan because, of course, each child has to have a medium-size stuffed animal and I pay a lot for them. This time I held firm and didn't play as I am TRYING to save money for the trip to Vietnam. I think the kids enjoyed them selves even without all the junk (food and toys) but I'm wondering if I will be able to afford to even go the fair next year. I need another job.

For those who are interested . . . .

My I600 was received by my adoption agency's Vietnam Rep on Sept 21st. I don't know how long it took her to turn it into the USCIS and I haven't received acknowledgement of it's receipt from the USCIS (which I understand can take up to two weeks to get). This was the last piece of paper I needed to submit, now all I can do is wait for the USCIS to approve my getting a visa for my new son. That approval will then be sent to the province who will schedule the G&R (Giving and Receiving Ceremony - aka formal adoption) then we will travel. USCIS I600 approval can take up to 60 working days although I have heard of some receiving approval within 5 to 10 working days. It all depends on how the initial review of the paperwork goes and how much of an investigation they decide to do - which depends on the quality and completeness of the rest of the paperwork from the province. I am praying for a short turn around as my agency is known for being extra careful and complete with the paperwork. Also, since they are investigating irregularities in baby abandonment to make sure the babies aren't stolen or kidnapped and my son isn't a baby - hopefully it will go fast. I'd really love to have him home before the end of the year.

What Was I thinking????

Krystal got an invitation to one of her good friend's birthday party at a place called "Amazing Jake's". It is like Chuck E Cheese for older kids with laser tag, put-put golf, a rock climbing wall, go-karts, carousel, game arcade and bumper cars. The birthday girl was turning 12 and most of the other kids are about the same age. Anyway, it is in a mall that is about an hour's drive from us. With gas prices still high, I decided that I would take the other two kids and we'd spend the 4 hours of the party roaming the mall and maybe Christmas shopping. You see, we don't have a mall where we live, we have a couple of shopping areas that have a pretty good variety of stores, but you can't walk to all the stores, you do one area, then drive to the next area, etc. It is hard to describe, but it is more like shopping centers than malls without all the little stores that malls have. I'm not much of a mall person, but I do like to go occasionally and just see what is there. The last time I was in a mall was just before Christmas last year when we went to pick up the Christmas pictures. So I was ready for my next mall experience.

Well, we got there a bit early as Krystal hadn't gotten her friend a present yet. We dashed to the nearest book store, bought the book Krystal wanted to give her, then dashed back to Hallmarks to pick up a card and a bag to put the book in. Headed over to Amazing Jake's. Nobody (for Rachel's party) was there (even though it was already 12) so we wandered around a bit while we waited. Aidan wanted to climb the rock wall and drive one of the go-karts, but I didn't want to spend the money and stay there. I wanted to wander the mall! We waited until the rest of the party arrived, the we took off. Aidan wants the new Lego Batman game so we headed off to Game Stop. No luck for the PC version of the game so we ducked into Limited Too where Caryn wanted to go. We bought something like $270 worth of merchandise - pajamas for both girls, 3 or 4 shirts for Caryn, some of the new WebKins, and some of the Kookie pens. But for every $50 I spent, I got $40 back in coupons to spend later so it isn't that much right??? Right! Then we went to the food court and the kids got MickyD's and I got a rice bowl from someplace else. Back to wandering and after striking out on the PC version of the Lego game at another store, Caryn sees the Children's Place and wants to check that store out. I managed to pick up a couple pairs of pants for Aidan here as well as a down vest thing that he just 'had to have' and a few more shirts for Caryn and Krystal. Finally we went back to the book store where they were having a 'buy 4 get the 5th for free' book sale. I found 5 book and the kids each picked up 3 or 4 (but the sale wasn't on kids books). Finally back to the food court for an ice cream then it was time to pick up Krystal. My attempt at saving money on gas cost me around $600 when all was said and done. What was I thinking?????????

This is last year's (2007) Christmas Picture. I can see another little face in a similar photo for this year's Christmas Picture (Please, God).

Just another busy weekend at our house: I get up early on Saturday to put the dog out - he starts yipping at way too early an hour to be let out of his crate and outside, while bringing him back in (he is 15 years old, blind and deaf so I have to go out into the yard and get him or he gets lost in the yard and will wander for hours, unable to find the back porch - honest! this has happened) one of the horrible cats scoots out the door. I yell for the kids to help (they are still asleep), toss the dog in the door and turn to chase the cat, only to find that the cat has taken one look at the 'great outdoors' and turned tail to run back in. Unfortunately, I have shut the door so he can't get back in. Luckily, he stopped and froze so I grabbed his tail and then the rest of him, scooped him up and managed to toss him inside. I go in, kids are still asleep so I start fixing breakfast. Aidan gets up and goes immediately to the computer to start his current game up. The girls are still asleep. Around 10:30 I wake the girls, they stagger out by11:30 and grab a bit of brunch. They start fighting with Aidan over who's day on the computer it is - a very regulated and maintained (by them) schedule - God forbid one forgets and gets on the computer on another's day. We talk a little bit about whether to run errands before or after riding lessons and decide to do them after. Kids get ready and off to riding we go.

After lessons, we hit Hobby Lobby looking for some stuff Aidan needs for his school project (build a Forest biome), then to Michaels as we don't find everything at HL. Stop at PetCo (as it is right next to Michaels) for cat food for the old, picky cat. Krystal wants to go to the book store as Brisinger has just been released so we head off to Mesquite (and the nearest book store). Kids are hungry so (after much discussion and arguing) we head to Razoos for dinner. Book store is a rare treat as I never get out for less than $300 and this trip is no different. Ayin has FINALLY found some books she likes so she stocks up, Aidan finds a couple of books he wants and Krystal gathers her stack. I limit myself to 4 books (all authors I keep) and we head out. Back home by 7:30 after leaving the house at 12:30.

Today (Sunday) we have to start setting up the room upstairs as a guest room (after re-arraigning the down-stairs bedrooms to make room for Sean); Aidan has a birthday party to go to, Krystal has Faith Formation, Aidan has to make his biome and Krystal has some paper she needs to complete (on the computer - even though it isn't her day) and print for school tomorrow. And I wonder why I never get the whole house clean.

Introduction

This is my first attempt at a blog. I don't know what I will say, but all comments are appreciated. I called it "Midnight Madness" because of a conversation I was having with my oldest daughter as I was creating the blog. She was telling me about a game some of her friends played the other night. Apparently it is similar to playing "Tag" in the dark - the darker the better. As the 'older' mother to three children, I often feel like I am running around in the dark -- so the title seemed appropriate.