An excuse, and an update

Ok, I know, but this time I have an excuse for not posting in like forever. We were gone for 3 weeks. We did our annual trip to the IL's, my folks, and then the boys and I tacked on a week (hubby had to return home to work) and drove down later with my parents. They were bringing us the family dining room set in a trailer behind their camper, and needed to get their car down here. I was horribly put out by my mother's suggestion that I drive it behind them. Alone. I think my mom knows just how much after her 14 hours of hearing Grandma, Grandma, Grandma continuously. Have I mentioned #2 is in a liking to hear his voice phase? I may have pictures soon....if I can find the camera. It's in lost land, like my swimsuit.

All in all it was a nice vacation. I got peace and quiet, and real chairs out of the deal. I'm morning the loss of my wonderful metal folding chairs that have served as part of our dining room set for the last 5 years, but I think I'm getting over it.

Yesterday we had our first homestudy appointment for the adoption, and it left me just a tad freaked out. Not so much in the mounds of paperwork, although that's a pain, but in the are we really insane thing. And yes we are. And yes we know we are. And hopefully our Social worker is a tad too :-) Tonight I made hubby sit down and we finished the first batch of paperwork, with the exception of the 4 paragrah essay on the requierd 4 hour video, for one of our agencies (yes there are 2), and I hope to get that mailed off next week. Tomarrow we send the paper that asks the government's permission, and hope it gets there before the 31st, when prices jump big time. Oh and part of that paper is us needing to decide who will travel, and after much talking.....it get's to be me. I'm a tad freaked out about it, I'll be honest, but hey then I'll get 3o hours of quiet travel! It's more the going alone, and what if I get sick, or miss my flight with a kid that is freaking out and doesn't know me thing, not to mention the heavy stuff like seeing the poverty up close (yes I change the chanel when the child sponsorship ads come on tv), and probably meeting our future child's extended birth family, without turning into a blubbering mess through the whole process.

That's all that's new here. I thought of changing my blog to a more "adoption" orientated one, and I still might, but I highly doubt I'd actually keep up on that one either, so if you're not interested in our current insanity...well you're out of luck.

Summer time

Not much new, but I figured it was time for an update for all 3 of my loyal readers.

My homeschool experiment was kind of a flop. Don't get me wrong it went well when I did it. All 2 days of it, but we've just been too busy to keep it up. It's been warm and I'm still fighting turning on our A/C meaning we've had to do things like Museam trips , sprinkler parks, and playing in our friends awsome new "big" (3 feet) pool. Although I have the best of intention of starting another unit next week, as #1 is showing the lack of structure is getting to him. I just need to decide on the next subject. So far we've done insects and dinosaurs. The new one has to keep their mind from being overly preoccupied on leaving for vacation next Saturday.

We're making our circle trip to visit family in NE and MN again. However my parents are renting a Uhaul to pull some family heirloom funiture down to our house behind their camper, and are traveling home with me and the boys (Hubby gets to come home early for work). This means someone has to drive their car, and gee darn it my mom doesn't like to drive very far. Guess I'll get a nice QUIET drive home all by myself, and the boys get to ride in the motorhome with Grandma and Grandpa.

On the adoption front we told my family our intentions which left my mom speechless for the moment. If you've ever met my mom (or me for that matter) you know that alone was priceless! Hubby's family? Well mabey well tell them when we're on the plane picking up the kid(s). So far we've applied with the international agency, and found our homestudy agency. I will be setting our first appointment up for when we get home from vacation.

As I said, not too much new or exciting, but well that's life in KY for ya'll!

Hubby got yet another new toy

Most of your guys are drooling over Harley's and Half ton pickups. Not my man, Nope he just got his dream car (sorry couldn't get the pic in the post)Only ours is a 2000 with rust on the hood.

Yup that's my man. Scooter's and Metro's. This will be the 3rd car in the "Geo/Chevy" line we've owned. The first was hubby's brand new '97 Geo Metro hatchback, and the second was the more kid friendly Texas friend (as in had A/C) hand me down '92 Geo Prizim we bought cheaply from my sister.

I found a hobby

I'm homeschooling the boys....at least for the summer. I'm calling it my experiment. Why you ask? Well right now, in addition to keeping me busy, I'm concerned about #1 forgetting what he learned last year. Plus there are concepts he never really "got" that might be a problem if he doesn't pick it up quickly next year like counting past 29, and sight recognizing number's past 29 (...I know, I know most kids can by now, even #2 is starting to get this). Apparently it's hard to understand that 30 is not 13, and 52 is not 25. So my summer will be spent trying to come up with "units" or themed learning subjects that include counting, number recognition, spelling all colors and number's, and reading all his sight words he knows (he has about 30 in addition to the spelling words). Oh and it has to be doable with a 3 yr old who wants to have "school time" too, and I need to work on his fine motor skills. I'm hoping to have him reading more by the end of the summer too. He's really at a jump off point, and I want to push him off that cliff, mainly so he can read to #2 on vacation this year :-). My goals for #2 is to get him to write his name so it doesn't look like TiT instead of Tim, or better yet, Timothy. It will help if I can get him to hold a pencil properly I think.

In addition to that Hubby and I have been doing a lot of thinking/praying, and we really feel we are suppose to be pursuing adoption right now. Yes he's still going to school next year, and no we don't know how we will pay for it, but I have figured out how we can pay off his tuition yearly (thanks to Uncle Sam's savings account) and I plan to pick up hours this summer to try to pay off the car we need to still buy before fall, leaving us with only Adoption debt to pay for, which we feel if it's meant to be, like we feel it is, the money will come....and we have plenty of credit to our name if it doesn't work out like everyone says it does - lol. On that front if anyone knows me personally and would like to be a reference, and you don't think we're totally crazy after reading this, oh and aren't opposed to interracial adoption, we could still use a couple, and no I don't like to come right out and ask people for references, no matter what. It's too close to accepting compliments, not my strong point. However even if you don't volunteer, that doesn't mean I won't eventually ask ;-) We're planning on sending in our application as soon as we get the fee put together, so another 3 weeks or so.

Let's see what else is new here in KY (hey at least we aren't living in Rabbit Hash anymore!) Oh I think we are going to NYC this summer, well me and the kids with a co-worker of mine. She retired from the airlines and wants to take us, on standby tickets she gets....I'm not getting my hopes up, but it will be WAY cool if it works out. I've always wanted to at least see it, and my mom won't freak as badly as when I planned to go myself, given I'll have a bodyguard, even if she is an older lady, she's a native :-). Other then that it will be our 2 week round trip to NE and MN again, and then school will start up in Aug. I'm still trying to figure more trips out, but we'll have to see. We did make it down to Mammoth Caves for a weekend. If you're ever near Cave City, KY you so have to bring the kids to Dino world. Yes it's overpriced, but not as cheesy as I thought, and the kids are still talking about it 2 weeks later. They liked the cave tour too, but come on it truly can't live up to Dino world, for a 3 and 6 yr old.

Sorry it this is just another ramble, as it seems all I'm capable of lately.

This and That

I admit it, I'm a horrible blogger. I'm not even doing my bi-weekly updates. I'll try to not make up for it now by rambling on and on.

First order of business.....ever since I had to switch to the "new" blogger when I sign in it says I have 13 comments to moderate...yet I don't "think" I have it set to moderate, and I can't figure out how to either change it or read them, so I'm not sure if they are new comments I haven't seen or not. Anyone???

I've been thinking too much again lately. I decided that I really need to get a hobby. But not a hobby that requires me to actually follow through on things post planning. See I start projects, and then they just sit and add to the clutter of the house. Hubby is going to be going back to school in the fall, and I need to find a way to occupy myself since I'll have to quit my 2 day a week job. When I get bored I come up with all sorts of crazy ideas (yes we are still going to adopt, just later) so to not drive everyone around me into the loony bin, with Hubby gone all the time and studying, or being with the kids when he's not I need something. I think I'll look into book clubs when (the saving grace for next year) #2 is at school 3 days a week. I've also thought of joining a gym again, but shhh Don't tell hubby!

I was going to join #1 in Taekwondo, after he turns 7 and gets moved up to the older kid/adult class, but since #2 will still be in the little kid class, and hubby may not be around Tues/Thurs nights, that might not work. Speaking of Taekwondo #1 is loving it, and doing pretty well. We had our first "testing" last night. Apparently they move up into the next pseudo belt when they're in the little class regardless of skill (it will still have a white stripe in it). #2 on the other hand. Well he wanders around, chews on the arm of his uniform, picks his nose, got kicked in the face by the instructor (It was an accident, and she felt horrible, but he didn't stay in his square...he did learn to stay in his square now!) you know, 3 year old stuff. The classes are not expensive for him, but we do have to pay a testing fee that is. Testing is every 8 weeks, and way to pricy for #2. I need to see if he can just skip testing days or something. Testing is not mandatory, but the question is how do I pull the wool over his eyes that he's not doing what the other's are.

I only have 2 more months of the Stepford mom's club board member position to wait out YAY! and then I'm free of that mind draining experience. Don't get me wrong, a few of the people are nice, but I'm just in a whole different place in my life then most of them. I'm more concerned about figuring out ways to cut energy expenses, and reusing things we come across, and educating myself about the cultures and conditions that exist in Africa, then the latest sale on clothes, how these size 2 women are "fat" or how the school district is redrawing lines. (My kids already go to the ghetto school, I think it's great).

*warning don't read if you don't want to feel guilty about good things* I will say that I'm remembering why I gave up having a huge social conscience long ago. It's hard. I've convinced myself I need to switch to fair trade coffee when my big can of Greek Nescafe is gone (SOOOOO GOOD, especially cold), rather then having my sister buy me another one this year. This means I'll have to go back to digging out the coffee pot and brewing it. Need to figure out how to make and iced drink with real coffee. And while I don't think I can totally give up chocolate, I am feeling I need to start limiting my consumption and checking out the 1 and only, very small local health food store for fair-trade chocolate, that's certified to not be produced with child slave labor. Times like this I REALLY miss Austin. As I said, I've been thinking too much.

That's a quick update on us. I'll try to not wait a whole month next time :-)

E said I'd be the first to respond, so I guess I must!

Place an (X) by all the things you've done, or remove the X from the ones you haven't. This is for your entire life!

Smoked a cigarette. (X)
Drank so much you threw up.
Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back. (X)
Gone on a blind date. (X) Once, and only once, and I married him
Skipped school. (X)...11th grade biology once felt incredibly guilty, and KNEW I'd be caught
Seen someone die.
Been to Canada(X)
Been to Florida
Been to Mexico .
Been on a plane. (X)
Been lost. (X)...
Been on the opposite side of the country. (X)
Gone to Washington DC.
Swam in the ocean. (X )
Felt like dying. (X)
Cried yourself to sleep. (X)
Played cops and robbers. (X)
Recently colored with crayons. (X)
Sang karaoke.
Paid for a meal with only coins. (X)
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't. (X)
Made prank phone calls.
Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose. (X)
Caught a snowflake on your tongue. (X)
Danced in the rain. (X)
Written a letter to Santa Claus. (X).
Been kissed under the mistletoe. (X)
Watched the sun rise with someone you care about. (X)...
Blown bubbles. (X)
Made a bonfire on the beach.
Crashed a party.
Gone roller-skating. (X)
Gone Ice-skating. (X)
Any Nicknames - Beth
What is your favorite drink- Some kind of fattening chocolatey coffee, I'm not picky
Body piercing? (X)...Ears
How much do you love your job? My PT job(retail)....take or leave it. My FT job (mom) Love, My other FT job (housewife) hate, I suck at it.
Birthplace: Fairbault, MN
Favorite vacation spot? Greece
Ever been to Africa ? No - Hope to in the next few years
Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes
Ever been on TV? no
Ever steal any traffic signs? No
Ever been in a car accident? Yes
Was it your fault? I plead the fifth
2 doors or 4? 5 on the van, 0 on the moped
Salad Dressing? Ranch
Favorite pie? Cherry
Favorite number? Don't have one
Favorite movie? Don't have one
Favorite holiday? Halloween
Favorite desert? Just one? Impossible to choose. I haven't met one yet I don't like
Favorite food? Pizza
Favorite day of the week? Sunday
Favorite brand of body soap? Irish Spring
Favorite TV show Ther's such a thing as TV other then PBS???
Toothpaste? Crest
Favorite smell? Lavender
What do you do to relax? Play online
How do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully having a couple more kids, mabey in school or working, either here or somewhere in MN, IA, or NE
What do you do when you are bored? Play online

The new toy, um I mean Vehical

Yeah, It's a toy... even the lady at subway agreed with me. Here's a picture of it for anyone who'd like to drool. It's probably going to take me a bit to get up the courage to ride it myself, but if I ever find some spare money rolling around they had one a bit smaller that I loved, and think I could get use to really easy. However since we'll have to share I need to go get my "permit" from the DMV and go play with it in the school parking lot for a while instead.