Sally's Visit

Consider this a public service announement from the safety Queen, herself.

My friend, Neighborette had a visitor come see her. She came uninvited. She either met her at the grocery store or at Q'Doba. She is from Mexico or Florida . . . we aren't sure. She stayed for about 24 hours and when she left, Neighborette was not the same. You don't want her to come to see you. We do know her name. Her name is Sally . . . Sally Monella.

PLEASE DON'T BUY OR EAT ANY TOMATOS. THEY ARE STILL FUNKY AND FROM WHAT I HAVE SEEN, YOU DON'T WANT SALMONELLA!! (By the way salsa from Q'Doba counts as tomatos :-))

Stay tuned for a story about Brother and his knucklehead ways . . .

Yeah to Friday. I'm almost off duty!!!

Pinching Pennies

Now that prices are on the rise and the next big depression is on its way (according to Mr. C) I have been trying to pinch those pennies a little tighter. My sister has a close friend who is some sort of money saving savant. She knows how to use her CVS Extra Care Card to make actual cash and get free stuff at the same time. I cannot grasp the complicated series of events that must take place to make this happen, but she did tell us about a wesite that I can use to make some magic. http://www.fishingfordeals.com/

You must go there . . . here's how it has helped me so far. Ok, so we have about 62 animals and all the kids who live here . . . carpet upkeep is not to be taken lightly in this house. Our old vacuum was not working well and so Mr. C and I decided to take the leap to a Dyson. (There are literally entore blogs dedicated to the Dyson and its amazing performance . . . we have not been disappointed) But, the price is a bit steep as we all know . . . so I went on fishing for deals and found the Overstock.com message board. Here you can send a message to a manager at Overstock.com and ask for a discount on any item they have on their website . . . I asked and I received . . . $50 extra off of their already discounted price . . . a total of $100 cheaper than in stores . . . and it was brand new, not factory refurbished! People ask for discounts on anything and everything and most of the time they are granted! I feel like I have a fairy Godmother.

I have also gotten some free stuff. Like the following:

That's a Calphalon knife and a Senseo coffee maker . . . ok, I had to pay shipping on the coffee maker but to me it was worth it . . . a $55 savings and I will be saving money by not wasting coffee every morning, right?! Win win!

Go forth ans SAVE!

For the rude "anonymous" poster:

You know who you are . . . and I obviously don't. . . and you obviously don't know me very well and clearly have never met my mother or read the book to which I was referring. Try finding a sense of humor . . . or don't come back here, because you will be confused. . . . I have removed a portion of that post lest anyone else get confused but I will let it be known that my mother was hands down the most generous and loyal human being I have ever known and no one in the universe will ever love me like she did. Enough said.

I'm Back

I know you all have been sad, probably even devestated really, by the fact that I have taken an unintended hiatus from the blogging. This conversation I had with my sister early this week could probably explain things:


Me: Wow, my kids are CRA-ZAZY!! Why didn't I sign them up for thousands of dollars of camps and activities this summer? (By the way, the answer is because I am poor and lazy)

Sister: Yeah, the boys (she has 3 of them, aged 6 and under) are crazy too. Have you ever famtasized about what it would be like to have normal kids who sit still and color and read or watch TV?

Me: Every day . . . every day.


When your fantasies, both waking and sleeping involve calm children, this usually means that you need to take a break from blogging to get things under control . . . I took the break, but there still is no real control.

Anywho, I like to read. I like to escape from the grind and this is a safe, non-habit forming way to accomplish this. I read a lot. Here are two recent books I would like to recommend.


Selection #1


Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back

Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine

Holy Cracker Jacks!!! This book is a must read for any mom who wants to feel like her kids are perfect. Or for any mom who wants to get ready for the worst possible 4 years you could spend with a teenage daughter. This is a memoir (it is the craziest true stuff I have read in a while) of a mother's struggle to help bring her daughter back from the clutches of drug addiction. Not many of you all reading this knew my mother, but if you did, this is the kind of stuff my mom would have done to save me from drugs and I knew it, which is why I never would have ever considered the idea of going there . . . a little depressing along the way but an uplifting ending makes it worth it. The only bad part, why won't they tell us what "prestigious east coast university" Mia went to?? And why do I care so much??



Selection #2

Bitter is the New Black

Jen Lancaster



My sister lent me this book and it is High-lar-i-ous! It is a memoir too (who said I lost all my brain cells from having these three kids??). Jen was a spoiled sorority girl living high on the hog during the internet boom who proceeds to lose it all. I know that doesn't sound that funny, but it is . . .and she is doosy . . . condescending, slightly stuck up, bad tempered and yet you still want to be her best friend. Check out her blog http://www.jennsylvania.com/. Very funny . . . .

I guess it's official

Let me preface this post by saying that I am delirious with fever. I know what you are thinking; I am faking so Mr. C would stay home and help me just a little longer. (and he is that nice and he did come home today.) But it is true. Who manages to stay well for an entire week in Ethiopia and then comes home and gets sick? I am putting full blame on Baby C. as I have had to tote him around to about a googillion (did you watch Idol Gives Back . . then you understand) doctors to satisfy all of the agency's requirements. Some germ took up residence in me because of him!! But I am not bitter. Speaking of Baby C., that is what I am really supposed to be writing about.

So, I'll be totally straight with this one. During our process for this adoption, I spent more than a couple minutes wondering if I would "feel" the same about Baby C. as I did/do about Sissy and Brother. I had decided long ago that I was fine with feeling different...but I hoped it would be the same. Here's another tidbit of honesty . . . I am not the mom who fell in love at first sight. It was more like, "Could someone wash off this tiny alien like creature so I can get a better look?" It took time. I felt like they were strangers for a while. It is hard to get to know a stranger who can't talk, and in Sissy's case, cried for 4 months straight. All of this is to say that my standards aren't too high in this area, but I was still wondering if it would be the same.

In fact, it was a lot the same. The nurse handed him to us and we were like, "Nice to meet you. We love your pink clothes. You are way prettier than a newborn and even way prettier than in your photos. You are down right beautiful. Now what?" So a week and a half has gone by and here is where I am now. He is officially my son. I sat with him last night. Alone in his room, feeding him his bedtime bottle and I stared into those huge brown eyes and my heart did the swelling thing. You, know, when you feel for a split second that your chest can't accomodate the size of your puffing heart and you have to take a breath? Then I cried. This is exactly the same feeling I had, and have, with Sissy and Brother( tho less frequently when they are/were two). So, in case anyone is still wondering, it isn't different. It is the same. Just the same.. I don't know if it is as simple as hard wiring? I suspect it is a bit more mysterious than that. God, the universe, fate. . . . whatever. It is a wonderful gift to have given birth and it is an equally wonderful gift to have adopted. Sometimes life really is amazing.

One week down

Well, we have been home with Caleb for a bit over a week and I have to say, he is, as Mr. C. says, the most well adjusted member of our family. We figured out the nuances of his eating habits and he is close to sleeping through the night. He loves his sister and brother and they love him. The first thing they say in the morning is, "Where is baby Caleb!?" This is a shot of how we eat breakfast now . . . He looks stunned, huh? I think anyone would be upon finding that Sissy and Brother were his siblings . . .He passed with flying colors at the International Adoption doc and his immunizations are good so we won't have to redo a bunch of shots . . . good news for him.

Mr. C is back to work tomorrow so it is back to the real world for me. We'll find out what I am made of now, won't we?!

We are home!!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon, and were/are very happy to be home safe and sound. It turned out that I couldn't even send an e-mail to post to my blog while we were gone so this update is a lot later than I thought it would be.

We had a great trip. We spent all of our time in Addis Ababa, the capital city. We wish we could have ventured out to some smaller areas because we think we would have seen a more "real" part of the country. Addis is a huge city . . . way more pollution and smog than we thought there would be. All of the cars are very old so there are lots of fumes! We had a great driver and surprisingly felt safe all week riding in the van without seat belts . . . there is so much traffic that I think even if we had hot someone (which seems like a real possibility as there really are no driving rules) we may bot have even bent a fender. Just like any city, some places in Addis are prettier than others. To me, the best part of Ethiopia was the people. They really are lovely. Beautiful, beautiful people and so loving and open. We never felt uncomfortable and in fact were made to feel very comfortable by everyone we encountered. it was interesting that as soon as we got around Americans again, the stares started and we really didn't experience this in Addis at all . . .

So, now on to Baby C! He is really, really pretty . . . people have to ask if he is a boy or a girl. The nannies shaved his head before they brought him to us which makes him look really cute. He has been very laid back so far. The first couple of nights, when he woke up, he cried a really scared, sad cry . . . and then he would wake up for a few seconds and give us a big grin and be fine. He really just had no idea where he was . . . that was sad. He is a pretty good sleeper, tho he does like to eat in the nighttime which is a bit tiring!! He was great on all of the flights and has started his adjustment to our house well . . . he was excited to see the kids and they were thrilled to see him! The kids, and my in-laws and my friend Sarah were all at the baggage area when we arrived. They had signs and balloons. I cried like a baby when I saw the kids and there was a crowd gathered who were all so excited about him and us. It was very cool.

So, we hope that he keeps adjusting fairly easily. Here is a picture. Enjoy!