Book Tag

This book tag thing looks fun.

"I'm still trying to get the hang of the computer printer Chip Sr. developed after a long day in the operating room. You'd think holding a beating human heart in your hand four, maybe five, times a day would be enough for the man, but saving lives just isn't as exciting as it used to be, says Chip."

From Bless Your Heart Tramp and other Southern Endearments by Celia Rivenbark. This book will make you wet yourself it is so funny.

For those of you who would like to play along, you get the book (or a book) that you are currently reading (I always have three or four going) and you give us line 6-8 of the 123 page.

Cute pictures next time, I promise.

Thank You Debbie

I must give credit where credit is due. Debbie is responsible for the title you see above. Thank you again, Debbie, you did a lovely job.
Speaking of jobs, all of my new paraphenalia is up and running. Took two days on the emergency tech help hotline, but I'm firing on all cylinders now. I'm getting really excited. I love to teach, but I've always felt the pull to stay with my babies. Now, I will be doing both!
My blog is missing something..it needs something. I know--pictures! I haven't posted any pictures lately. Well, well, well, I must snap a few pics of the kids doing something cute and get them up here.
Stay tuned for "Pictures of Jessy's kids doing something cute...."

Swimming

I am swimming in a deluge of information from my new job. MUST COME UP FOR AIR! This is starting to feel like a real job--a serious one. I don't know who they think they are dealing with here, but I am not accustomed to using my brain much more than "colored or whites next?" and "mac and cheese or peanut butter and jelly?" and of course that most taxing problem of adding up Randy's diapers for the day. Now, I am having to learn a whole new language:

"Your IP will contact you regarding the TTB whose responsibility it is to notify you of the scheduled progress of your BBR's on the second Thursday of every month except during weeks with national holidays, in which case....."

The e-mails and attachments are all interlaced with computer terms and instructions for downloading and uploading and installing my new do-hickies. Um, I can't even get a title on my blog. Oh well, one of my mottos for life is "Fake it till you make it." And maybe, one day, past all this techno mumbo jumbo, they will usher me in to my cyber classroom and their will be a virtual child and I will virtually teach.

And I CAN TEACH.

Nine Months?

I mentioned several posts ago that the master is working three jobs. Dave Ramsey says you can do anything for nine months, but tonight I'm not so sure I'm going to make it nine weeks. The warehouse (job #3) has inventory this Friday and so DH has had the opportunity to work late in to the night all week. Can't really turn it down, because we need the money, but we sure do miss him. The kids are moping around and saying, "We NEVER see Daddy any more." I'm like, "Look, he hasn't gone off to war, he just has to work a few evenings this week..." But, inwardly, I feel like whining, too. So, what do I do? I blog. I will combat my whinniness with three positive things that have happened this week.
1) Someone gave us a TON of baby food!! Did you know that baby food has gone through the roof? It's these new fangled plastic square containers. I tell you the devils in those plastic square containers. You can't get the foil off the top without using your teeth and then when the suction finally breaks, what do you get? A mouthful of pureed peas...Yuck! And you pay .67 cents for that privilege, friends. Baby food is three times what it was when K was a baby--even adjusting for inflation--somthin' ain't kosher. My miserliness couldn't take it, and I had started cooking my own dang sweet potatoes and mashing my own bananas. Last week, I even took a cup of the beef stew we had for dinner and threw it in the blender for the baby. He liked it, but what a mess to clean out of my blender! Now I will have the convenience of commercial baby food for free!! Woohoo!
2. I got to have a nice long chat on the phone with Suz. We stayed up half the night. It was so good to talk to someone my own age of the household of faith. And talk, as in real life, real time, CONVERSATION. Some things just aren't the same in cyberspace.
3. The sun came out today for the first time in a week. I went outside with the babies; they were beginning to pine away from lack of vitamin D. I painted trim for the living room, which will hopefully go up this weekend. It was a lovely day.

I feel sufficiently cheered. And since the master is not here to say nay, I believe I shall do a little snooping in blogland.

New Look

Well, what do you think? After many failed attempts to secure knowledgeable assistance from Elle, I decided to go out on a limb and import a new template on my own. I had to fiddle-fart around with the codes for a while, cause half my blog ended up in Indonesian, and of course, I have NO IDEA what I'm doing, but here we are. Ideally, I wanted a cartoon drawing of a woman in a bikini lounging on the beach under a palm tree, but this is still WAY better than putrid pink on pink. Now if anyone can tell me how to get my title at the top, I will be oh so grateful.

It's Going To Be One of Those Days

When I pulled into the driveway this morning and began to unload the four small children, a man pulled up in his pickup and parked it in the road. I thought he was sorting through the neighbor's junk pile, but then he begins to urinate in the street. Right out in the open. Unnerved, I hit automatic lock on the car, scoop up the four children and hustle into the house, locking the door behind me. About an hour later, I get a call from the master. He has locked himself out of his car at the post office we deliver mail some 25 miles away. I am going to have to load up all these kids and take him the key. On go the shoes, hats, and binkies are found. Strap two babies in to infant seats and head out to the van--which is locked because of Mr. Creepy Indecent Exposure Man. And those would be my keys...IN THE IGNITION. Now what are the chances that we would both lock our keys in on the SAME DAY? I call Pop-a-Lock and they said they would have someone out in about 30 minutes. He shows up, but apparently a 2001 GMC Savanna is near about impossible to "pop." After 30 minutes of watching this man from the front porch, I ask him if he will just drive down to the master and see if he has better luck with his car. "No can do, ma'm, we don't drive that far." I find that to be the general consensus among our local locksmiths. Call the master again. He asks the folks in the little one room diner where he is camped out awaiting my rescue who they use when they need a locksmith. That would be Jesus Locksmith...and yes, that is a hard /J/ there, friends. Jesus will come to Sabine Pass. So I call Jesus.
"Yeah, this is Jesus Locksmith, go ahead."
"Yes, sir," for how could you not say 'sir' to a man named Jesus? "I understand that you go to Sabine Pass?"
"Sure do, sugar, but I can't now, I'm on a call up north of ya, and it'll be nuther hour till I can get down thar."
Call the master again. "Sorry, but Jesus is busy and can't come help you now..."

Oh, yeah, it's going to be one of THOSE days.

This and That

I have found a few moments this morning to blog. My kids are out of school today, so I will not be making my van run. A home town hero who graduated from their tiny 1A school was killed in Iraq last week and they have closed school for the funeral. It is very sad. He was only 19. K and Ian are off with Papa on one more He-Man Hurrah before deer season closes. They can only fire black powder guns this weekend and those have too much kick for the boy's, so they will only be able to watch the carnage--if there is any. I seriously doubt it, as it is a drizzling cold rain here, and not at all conducive to black powder hunting. The girls and I stayed up late last night watching Little House on the Prairie. The girls are sleeping it off this morning. My mom got me season 4 for Christmas and I've been watching one episode every night and doing Walk Away the Pounds while I watch.
We are going to have an She-woman bonanza here. Ever since Abby heard the boys were going hunting, she has been thinking of "girly" things that we could do. Somehow she has turned those ideas into things that I have "promised" we could do, but I don't recall ever giving my word. Do your kids do that? We have to go check out girlish movies at the library. We will paint nails. We will put on "make-up." This word is whispered behind her hand as she giggles at her daddy. We took bubble baths last night. We will color My Pretty Pony and Strawberry Shortcake. Oh my, the estrogen levels could reach unprecedented highs. If you see a pink mushroom cloud on the southern horizon this afternoon, you will know that things just got WAY out of hand.
I finally got my new hire package for teaching. It is about 30 pages long, and I have to have it postmarked by tomorrow. Looks like this thing is really going to happen. I'm excited.
I have also set up shop as a home day care. I am keeping one little baby and another lady interviewed me yesterday to keep her little girl. She has a two and a half year old who has a very mild form of autism. They want to get her out of the day care scene. I would think so, she is in a class with 28 other children and ONE teacher. That is appalling. I hope she decides to place her here; I think she and Marina would be perfect together.
The master is working three jobs. He does the mail run, goes in to the church office, leaves the office at noon, goes to an electrical warehouse, rolls wire for three hours, and then goes on the afternoon mail run. Dave Ramsey says you can do anything for nine months, so we are giving it a go. We just have to get our finances in order. Adopting internationally, moving, and a natural catastrophe all in one year, really hurt us. Plus, the master is in his mid-thirties and I am closing in on thirty and we still have not started any type of retirement savings. It is time that we "grew up" financially speaking.
It looks as though our neighbors will have a house by March 24th if they really want it. The original organization that came to help them this summer is going to hire contractors to do the work. It is with government grant money, though, so our neighbors will have to cough up the money they have already been given (some $6,000)for repairs. The money is long since spent--and not on their house--so we will see if they do or not. I can't do anything more for them, but pray.
Randy went to the doctor yesterday and he is still not growing. His growth "arc" is a flat line. She is referring us to a pediatric endocrinologist in Houston. Bummer.
Everyone keep safe and warm now, ya here?

Lessons from Black Beauty

Every night before bed, we read to the kids from a classic children's chapter book. We finished Wind in the Willows sometime back and are looking forward to Swiss Family Robinson but our current volume is none other than Black Beauty. Chapter 16 is entitled "The Fire" and in it, Black Beauty and his cohorts are sleeping peacefully in a barn of an inn. Black Beauty awakes to find that his lungs are choked with smoke. The hostler runs in and begins to frantically untie the horses. He desperately tries to yank, pull and push the horses out of the barn, but to no avail. He gives up and leaves the barn. Black Beauty explains his refusal to go with him,

No doubt we were very foolish, but danger seemed to be all round, and there was nobody we knew to trust in, and all was strange and uncertain.
Anna Sewall

I mentioned a few posts ago that last year we were living in a FEMA trailer. Well, that wasn't exactly accurate. In our neck of the palm trees, the term "FEMA trailer" has come to mean "your place of habitation while your home was being rebuilt" (as when you use the phrase, "I'm going to go get a coke," when what you actually plan to drink is a Pepsi). We had insurance, therefore we did not qualify for government aid and we lived in my parent's camper trailer while repairs were done. All that to say, that my neighbors across the street are still living in a FEMA FEMA trailer. And FEMA is coming to get that trailer on March 24. Seeing as how it will be 18 months since Rita hit us--this is perfectly understandable. But my neighbors have not done ONE SINGLE THING to fix their house! For months she has been telling me what they need to do, what they want to do, what they should do--but they DO nothing. I'm losing sleep at night worrying about them. In a few short weeks they are going to be homeless people. Oh sure, she says they could move in with some of her family for a while, but I'm thinking, "Are these the same people who have not lifted a finger to help you in 18 months?" I want to scream at them or shake them, "It doesn't have to be this way. It's up to YOU to CHANGE YOUR SITUATION!" Over the summer we got them in touch with a Christian ministry that sent teams to gut their house, the master got up on the roof and patched it, we've stored their stuff, and as of last Friday, I contacted every organization I could think of requesting assistance. So I keep coming back to this computer hoping to see a new e-mail and listening for the phone to ring. I know you are probably saying that this is none of my business, but I really do love these people, and they seem so incapable of helping themselves. As I've listened to her stories I can see how poor choices--theirs, their parents, maybe even their grandparents--have wrecked havoc in their life.

They are the horses, caught in a burning barn, and they don't even realize the peril they are in. In the end, Black Beauty is saved. James, his own handler whom he trusts, comes in to the barn and with calm, quiet words leads the animals out. I want to be like the hurried hostler, but I need to be like James.
Lord, Jesus, please help me.

I'm a loser...again

This was my second WW meeting since the holidays. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I only gained one pound over Christmas. And, according to weigh in this morning, I have lost that plus an extra half a pound. Meeting today was packed! It occured to me that some of you out there in blog land might be trying to cut back now that January is here, so I thought I'd post two of my new favorite recipes since starting WW. These foods are yummy, and no one in your family will suspect that they are low-fat "diet" food. Eat in moderation, though. It will not be cutting back if you cook better but eat twice as much.

Macaroni and Cheese

12 oz uncooked macaroni, elbow-type
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
12 oz fat-free canned milk (if you are not used to cooking with fat-free canned milk, make sure you check the date on the can before purchase and shake well before using)
8 oz. low-fat cheddar or colby cheese
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (I don't use this. Just seems wierd--nutmeg in mac)
2 Tbsp dried bread crumbs
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Cook pasta according to package directions without added fat (butter or oil) or salt; drain and transfer to a garge bowl. While pasta is still hot, stir in sour cream; set aside.
3. Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles appear just around the edges. Reduce heat to low, add cheese and simmer until cheese melts, stirring constantly with a mire whisk, about 2 minutes; remove from heat and stir in mustard, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
4. Add cheese mixture to pasta; mix well. Transfer to a 4 quart casserole dish.
5. Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese; sprinkle over pasta.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned.

Ulitmate (And Guiltless) Fudgy Brownies

1/2 C Flour
1 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa powder
1/4 C packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate-melted
2 Tblsp. canola oil (or you could substitute olive)
3/4 C plain fat-free yogurt
1 lrg. egg
2 tsp. vanilla

1. Mix dry ingredients
2. Mix all other ingredients. Add dry ingredients a little at a time, until mixed.
3. Pour into greased and floured pan (I just sprayed with PAM and did not flour).
4. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes--depending on how gooey you like your brownies.

There is a lady in our group that brought her pre-WW skirt today. The one she wore to her first meeting and keeps to remind herself of the person she was before and does not want to be again. It was inspirational--you really could have fit three of her in it. I've seen that kind of thing on advertisements before, but this woman was standing right in front of me. I've been in meeting with her for months. The week she joined, her doctor had told her that she was not going to live much longer unless she lost the weight. It took her two years, but she lost 119 pounds. Wow!

Past Due Birthday Post

I'm always a day late and a dollar short. I wanted to get a birthday post in for my oldest, K. Unlike the others, I do not post his full name because it is a security sensitive family name. Tonight makes a full week since we celebrated his eighth birthday. Yikes! I'm getting old.
He loves the movie "Herbie, Fully Loaded" and this photo depicts my dead level best attempt to create a cake that resembles a Volkswagen bug. In true K fashion, he showered me with praise and affirmation for my work, "Mom, you did such a great job!...Mom, I love it!...It looks just like Herbie..." I felt like it was my birthday. And that typifies parenting this kid. He is and has always been happy, easy going, caring and sensitive. I don't remember him ever crying as a baby. If we told him "no" once, it was enough. God knew when he was knitting him together that we did not have a clue what we were doing and He gave us K. Started us out easy--like training wheels on a bike.
I love him bunches.

You were our first miracle. You were the genesis of a marriage, the fulfillment of love, the promise of our infinity...You were the beginning.
Erma Bombeck

Russian Christmas

Ever since we started the adoption process in 2003, we have tried to work at least one Russian cultural experience into our year. Yeah, we felt a little funny at Russia Day when we didn't have a Russian and my kids kept asking me, "Mommy, what orphage did I come from?" but hey, we wanted to be PREPARED! Well, this year we (read me) were looking forward to our agency's Russian Culture Camp. Until we found out that our Russian born daughter is still three years away from being allowed to attend and they are no longer going to provide child care. We would have to drive to northeast Texas, drop three youngest kids, drive to Dallas, pay for culture camp for us and our two oldest--MADE IN THE USA--children to attend RUSSIAN culture camp, drive back to northeast Texas, pick up children, and drive back to the gulf. Arrive in the wee hours of the morning for the master to preach. Not going to happen folks, so on the spur of the moment, I decided to orchestrate our own little Russian Culture Day.
I got a vague e-mail for "Russian Christmas Celebration" in Houston with Father Frost and The Snow Maiden so we decided to go. We ate at this restaurant for lunch and ordered a little bit of everything for the kids to try. They liked the blini stuffed with meat and the bread. If you live in the Houston area you should try it out. It is not as good as what we had in Russia and the portions are small, but it's not bad. Pricey, though. When we got the bill, DH was like, is that in rubles?! Then we headed to the Hilton for the Russian Christmas Celebration. It wasn't anything like I expected. We set out for a Russian experience and got more than we ever bargained for! I thought probably it would be a bunch of adoptive parents like us with Russian/Ukranian/Rumanian born children and we would sit around and make polite conversation, "And what city is he from?...No, Marina is from St. Petersburg...And how long have they been home?" And maybe someone would talk about Russian Christmas traditions and a Russian band would play.
Dorothy, I don't think we are in Kansas any more. We arrive at the ball room and it is soon apparent that this is a gathering of Russians by Russians for Russians. The parents are in suits and dinner jackets and the kids are all in fancy dresses and cumberbuns. We are just a teensy bit underdressed people! I'm licking borsht off my kids faces and retying their tennis shoes. The ballroom is packed and their are only two other families that I spot who I think might be Americans--because we stick out like sore thumbs in this crowd, let me tell you. The program--which turned out to be the holiday production of the Houston Russian school--was wonderful. We didn't understand much because it was all in Russian, but they really did a first rate job. These little kids were singing and dancing (are there any Russians who cannot sing and dance?) and reciting LOOOOOOONG works of poetry--there was even a very accomplished pianist and violinist. And then you take in to account that these kiddos are all bilingual to boot! I tell you folks, it made us Americans look like a bunch of underachieving, lazy, uncouth cretins. It is no wonder that they beat us to space.
But I will say, that I much prefer our culture on two points: politeness and controlling our children. There were quite a few heated discussions regarding seating going on around us. The ball room was very crowded (boy was I glad we arrived early) and someone would inadvertently put a purse down on a chair that someone else thought was theirs. Russians are not the slightest bit timid about confrontation. I can't tell you exactly what they were saying, but it sure didn't sound like, "Oh is this seat taken?" "Well, we can just move down one..." "No it's no trouble at all" "Oh, pardon me!" No siree Bob! It sounded NAS-T. And then when it was time for Father Frost to distribute gifts, my kids waited politely for their turn but Russian Mama and Russian Papa kept pushing their kids up to the front. It seemed hopeless; tears were welling up in my sweet southern mannered children's eyes. But then I saw that the Snow Maiden also had a little sack of gifts and no crowd. I hustled them over to her and darn if she wasn't listening to recitation (no hand-outs with the Russian's, if you please, you must sing or recite or do a little dance if you want a present) then when that kid was done--even though we were clearly waiting--another Russian mama pushed her little girl ahead of mine and she sung her little song, and I tell you that Cajun Mama and Snow Maiden were about to have a THROW DOWN. But when that little girl had gone away, I told her distinctly in English that we did not know any Russian poetry but we could sing, and we sang the first verse of"Away in a Manger" and she gave them their gifts. Whew! Cultural catastrophe narrowly averted. And as far as controlling our children--these kids were just running wild during the performance--going up on stage, hijacking the mikes, and wandering in the aisles the whole time. I was a little annoyed, but if it had been my kid's shining moment in the spotlight, I would have been livid. But no one seemed to mind. The actors and actresses up on stage took it in stride and just danced around them or sang louder--whatever the occasion called for. Weird. But to them, I guess that is just hunky-dory.
Right before we left, I sought out the director of the school, because if we stay in the area I would like for Marina to attend the Saturday culture classes if she could. Well, color this woman unhelpful. She just kept saying "Send on computer your request for information." "Well I just thought that since we were here you might have some information available" Or you could just discuss it with us?! Since we are standing right in front of you??!! "The paper says," pointing to the English translation of the day's program, "E-mail your request for information. Send on computer your request for information." Typical Russian response here folks. Some of you adoptive parents are Amening right now. This is why we have to have a notary on a notary for EVERY BLESSED PIECE OF PAPER!!! But then she becomes very adamant that we meet the Russian Consulate General who is in attendance. They were very proud that he had made it (they recognized him three times during the program) and she just insisted that we meet him. So I'm wanting to get in good with this woman, so maybe she will let Marina into her school, so I oblige. We wait, listening to this man speak rapid Russian. Then he turns to us and speaks clear TEXAN. It was the strangest thing. This guy is good, people. You could not catch the hint of a trace of Russian accent. In fact, he had a passable drawl. So we introduce ourselves and Mrs. Russian School Director seems to think it a good idea for Marina to take a picture with Mr. Russian Consulate Man so we take a picture. I am about to move on when he begins the KGB inquisition. "Have you registered this child? When did she come to the U.S.? Who is handling the post placements? Were they filed on time?" Somewhat taken aback with the turn of the conversation, we answered his questions meekly, but DH recovered, rallied himself, and commented, "Well, you can see that she is healthy and happy, and doing very well." So there, Mr. Russian Consulate Man. "Well, it is just that there have been so many cases of neglect." Hello? Has he been to a RUSSIAN ORPHANAGE???!! My baby has had neglect all right, but it happened long before we got our hands on her, and she was in a GOOD ORPHANAGE! One supported by OUR agency's humanitarian aid. The BAD orphanages we will never see!!! And you want to talk to me about NEGLECT???!! Once again, a close call for Russian/American relations.
But overall we had a great day. We had about as authentic a Russian Christmas as you can have in Houston, Texas and have done our part to foster positive cultural awareness--and I didn't even have to spit on anyone.
Das Vu Don Yeah!

Hello 2007

And "Hello, again" to my blog. A pretty long break for me. I am glad to see all of my blog friends had a safe and happy Christmas season. Have your homes recovered? Mine hasn't. We left shortly after present opening on Christmas morning to visit family in north-east Texas and spent the entire week there. Got back on Saturday with more boxes of gifts, tried to disassemble tree, put away nativity, clean living room, unpack a weeks worth of laundry for myself the master and five children, restock empty fridge...I think I might catch up in February.
Today is the master's birthday. He is a whopping five years older than I. We celebrated his birthday with his family this past week and are back on a strict Weight Watcher's diet so I think his birthday meal will be a Smart-Ones dinner and a Smart-Ones Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Desert. Those things are YUMMY. They would be good even if I wasn't on WW. On that subject--DREAD going back to meeting on Saturday. I've probably gained back 6 pounds. But they say when you least want to go that's when you need to go the most, so Saturday I'm gonna heft myself up on that scale and take whatever comes. I'll cry about it privately later. My original goal was to make lifetime member by February (you don't pay after you become a lifetime member) but now it is looking like March.
Oh, but I'm pumped for it. We have a family tradition of New Years. All year long, we make family videos and we sign off with, "Happy New Year!" Then on New Years Day, we watch all our videos from that year. Last night as the master held me in his arms, he said, "as we watched those videos, I just kept thinking how blessed we are. We may not have any money, but our kids are so happy and we find so much joy in our home...." and superficial me was thinking, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but did you happen to notice the BIG FAT COW you are married to?" I was really shocked by what I saw January-September. I do NOT want to go back there. But in all seriousness, I truly was touched by the hominess factor of the day. Two things jumped out (besides my blubber):
1. How far we have come on this house. I get down about this house sometimes. We still don't have trim in some of the rooms. We need to replace the windows. We have flooring issues. But looking at those videos...WOW. Last year we were living in a FEMA trailer and the house didn't have walls! We have come a long, long way. So here's to hoping that next year's videos will be as encouraging.
2. How far Marina has come. Last year she was just a BABY. I was blown away by how much sheer physical growth has gone on in that little body this year. And talking! She had like 0 words in her vocabulary in January and now she is talking in full sentences. Also, as you would expect of family videos, they mostly chronicle major events/parties/occasions. Lots of people, lots of noise, OUT OF HER ROUTINE. Now this is not when Marina is at her best. But you can see through the year that she tolerates the Hub-Bub better and better. Oh, we haven't arrived yet, but we are improving, and I'm EXCITED about that. I need to keep those videos handy for Fiona days--they say to me, "She is coming along fine...she is going to make it....you ARE making progress...you ARE a good mommy...I think I can...I think I can...."