Argentina!

We haven't been on a trip lately!! Don't you think its time?

Who has been to Argentina? I know several people that have at one time or another. I would love to go and visit. So we are off to Argentina in South America!

We might want to take more than a week on this one. And we can see anything from
deserts
to glaciers

to mountains
to ruins
to a famous winery
We could spend time in the cities and take in the local culture and arts...
(It closes at night!)

Tango anyone?On Sunday we can visit a church...

and afterwards visit the Sunday Market...
We will keep our eyes open for this one-of-a-kind photo ops....

And my favorite subjects? The women and children....

Another Birthday Week.... With Bird Poo

Last week was my middle child's 14th Birthday.

She will be entering High School in the fall. High School. My daughter.

I'm so not ready for this. I made it through her big brother....but not before yanking his skinny butt out of public school and finishing him up homeschooled.

Shudder. Shudder.

On a positive note...the kids here have to take the dreaded TAKS tests every year. Now every state we have lived in has its testing that is a big deal. But I have NEVER lived anywhere that makes as big of a deal of it as here. Of course we have schools that have failed their percentage required of passes, and actually are on probation, and one is even being closed. Yep. If you don't have good scores, they will close the school.

Anyways. My Songbird actually made perfect scores on her History and English TAKS. We are very proud of her. And she did fine on her math....which is the thorn in the poor girls side. Next year she won't have to worry about any of this and will be back in a sane state that hopefully teaches to more than just a test.

So, where was I?

We did our usual birthday celebration. Songbird chose home-made meatball subs and German Chocolate Cake w/vanilla ice cream. In other words -- I spent the full day in the kitchen, cooking.

It was crazy good. Bones and his girlfriend came over to celebrate with us. Also, Songbird had 3 friends over all day and for an overnight. Quietest sleepover I've ever seen. Teen girls, computers, video games and cell phones. They all did their own thing on an electronic device and didn't hardly interface with each other. Weird. Of course Songbird had to use her friends phones to text as she doesn't have texting (evil laugh inserted here).

The next morning we all got up early so we could head out to Round Rock TX to the outlet malls for shopping. Yes. What my 14 year old wanted was to go shopping with her buds. Shopping isn't that great here so I offered to take them to Round Rock. I also was able to find a babysitter for MM so I could wander around on my own and enjoy being alone. But that was not to be. DH took the day off and wanted to come with me...so that means MM also came.

In the end it was a good thing. I got pooed on y'all! And yes, it was hysterical. Right on the back of my head. I felt it and asked husband "Did I just get hit?????" So he looks and then starts laughing in that "I can't believe this" tone....which turned all of a sudden into sheer terror.

The man had just realized that he was going to have to help clean me up. I got it on the back of my head where I could not see. At all. So then the panic sets in. No kidding.

A man that has been through two labor and deliveries with me is freakin out over bird poo.

THAT was even funnier than getting pooed on people.

So we walk back to the bathrooms and I'm having a real hard time keeping a straight face. Not because I'm afraid everyone is looking at my orange head with a big white poo on it. No. Because my husband is all squirmy and grossed out.

But he cleaned me up...making many faces and not being very gracious about it. And it wasn't even that big guys.

I think he's scarred.

Not the least squimish about shooting off all his guns and wanting to hunt.....but lets not talk about bird poo.

Eeewww. He might get his hands dirty.

Well. It could have been worse. It could have been his truck.


You know, if he reads this, he's going to kill me.

Autumn Asks: Do you love books?

My all-time favorite hobby is reading.

I was a sickly child. Not serious sickness - just lots of allergies and I caught everything I was exposed to. This left me indoors more than the average kid. The only way to escape outdoors without the consequence of more medicine or being miserable was through books.
Libraries have always been one of my favorite places. We've lived in several states and a few different countries...and you can bet I know where the library was. As a matter of fact, I can remember the first time I was considered old enough to walk to the library all by myself. It wasn't very close to home...but it was on a closed military base so there wasn't too much for my parents to worry about. I LOVED that library....and the freedom I had to go check out more books.

Several of the places we have lived over the years have not had good libraries. That is just such a crime! If you can't read, you aren't going to go far. Without a good library to encourage kids to dive in and read, some kids will never do it.
Our current library leaves alot to be desired. There are several branches, and I bounce around between them to try and find new stuff. I also used to use the intralibrary loan all the time. I do mean all the time since this library leaves so much to be desired. Then they started charging to loan books that way. I stopped.

Used book stores are also one of my all-time favorite places. I love the smell of books! New bookstores are cool too....but they lack the character of the resale shops. Again, here I don't have that. I did find one about a year ago but it is rather small so it has books all over the floor and everything so that you really can't even get to stuff. Better than nothing...

Since living here I have discovered many alternate ways to get books. I'm going to share those today for my friends that really love books and don't have a library to rely on.

The most obvious would be the purchase places online. I'm talking resale...not necessarily new. You have your big names like Barnes and Noble and Amazon. That's fine but you can do better than that. If you are looking in those places, check Overstocks.com first. They have alot of the same books as Amazon (and thats where some of their stock comes from) for less.
Some of the used stores include the big names such as Ebay and Half.com. I find both of these expensive once you add shipping. Now, I hate paying shipping, but if you are in a situation like I am, you just have to do it. The shipping costs me less than a trip to Austin or Dallas to Half Priced Books (which I LOVE and have for 20+ years).

I usually skip those online stores and try Abebooks or Alibris . I have found many hard to find books at both places for great prices.
Since moving here I have discovered the book trading sites. This is where I get most of my books now. The ones I use are all different. Some are trade one, request one. Some are trade two, request one. Some deal completely in points by what they say the book is worth. All leave you responsible for the shipping cost (media mail). My top 3 to date:

PaperBack Swap - this one seems the most fair to me. You give a book, you can request a book. You pay postage for the books you send out.

BookMooch - this one I use the most. It is a 2/1 ratio where they want you to have given 2 to request 1. I dont think they actually stick to it though as my ration is more even. Again, you pay the postage on the books you send out, not request.

Bookins - this was the first trading site I ever used. They are different in that each book is worth points. They also require a credit card as you print off the label from the site and mail the book and they charge you a straight fee for shipping whenever you request a book. You don't pay for the ones that are requested from you. BUT, since the postage charge is $4 something...its like paying for 2 books as media mail is about $2.38 for a regular sized book. What I love about this one is that I don't ever have to go to the post office for a request or send - you print the label and mail. So the convenience is great...but it's not the most frugal choice.

So there you are friends. If you are looking for some places to trade or purchase hard to find used books....that's what I have for you! Hope you enjoy as much as I do. (I also hope our next destination has such an awesome library system that I don't need these guys anymore!)

So now I'm going to go and grab my current book and curl up in the fat chair with the dog and read. First I'll daydream about the library I hope to have one day....

Thankful Thursday

Since one of my favorite people in the whole world....Tricia.....does Thankful Thursday and pointed out how it makes you focus on those things at least once a week....I'm taking a page from her book and joining her.

I need this right now. See, the big personality trait that God has to work on the hardest with me is....patience. You know, that trait you need when you have a house on the market and the market is over saturated with houses in your price range. And you know that if you move you MIGHT make it 3 months paying a mortgage and rent but then you are going under and won't be able to pay your bills. Or buy groceries. Or gas for the car. Or make the car payment (at least one is paid for so we won't be totally screwed when the other gets repo'ed.)

This is when being in the military sucks.

ANYWAY!!! Thankful.....

I am thankful that my middle child has now mostly adjusted to the move to come. I am also thankful for the number of her friends that have rallied around her instead of cut and run since she's leaving anyways. I'm thankful that they have planned several going away parties for her and still include her in their summer.

I am thankful that I can now leave the youngest in a totally strange environment with child care workers she's never seen before and she is fine....will actually choose it over shopping with mom and dad (IKEA childcare rocks!!!!).

I am thankful for an adult son that will come over for sisters birthday...and bring his girlfriend because his little sister asked him to.

I am thankful that I live in a house that doesn't need repairs to sell it.

I am thankful for paying off one more debt and a car this last month. That leaves us down to 2 large debts and the van. That makes it like 6 debts paid off in 8 months. Its been hard but oh so satisfying.

I am thankful that I have whole/healthy children. I am so blessed to not deal with any of the things so many other parents live in their daily lives. I don't pretend to understand why I have this blessing....but I thank God for it each day I live it.

I am thankful to be a member of a church I don't want to leave. I didn't think I'd every find one like that again. God restored my faith in many ways here in this church.

I am thankful that my husband took the girls and has left me here alone. I can't leave them in the house even to run to the corner store with the house on the market and I'm feeling very caged.

I am WAY thankful for great friends that have planned a weekend at a lake house for us ladies before I leave. No husbands or kids. Only baby M will be joining us... which is awesome since I haven't even had a chance to hold her yet!

What are you thankful for?

Another Year...another photo album

Every year I do a small photo album of Might Mouse to send back to her orphanage.

Originally, it was meant to be sent out on her birthday. That just didn't work out. I read all the books on "anniversary grief and birthday grief", so I expected that. But I didn't expect that I would suffer from it also.

So, it takes about 2 months before I can sit down and sift through some pictures to put together. I send the director and nurses/nannies a snapshot of our little girls life. They were so good to her. She was well taken care of. She was more fortunately than so many of the orphans are.

I keep it small and portable so I can find someone traveling to receive their new child to hand deliver the album. This way I don't have to worry about it getting lost in the mail or the orphanage being charged some kind of duty or tax on it. So far it has worked perfectly.

MM asks questions about where she came from. She likes to watch the video of our visit to the orphanage. She knows they took care of her when she didn't have a family of her own. She also knows we don't know why she no longer had a family. She understands that China selected her for us and told us we could come get her and give her a family.

So far, we haven't seen any grief manifestations around her birthday. Maybe that is because it isn't right? I don't know. The birth date is a guess. One day, all too soon, she is going to figure out that she has LOST so much. Then, we are prepared for the grief and feelings of being unwanted by her parents.

For now, I feel those pains for her. I wonder WHY. Was it the one child policy? An unmarried woman? The grandparents being unhappy that she wasn't a boy? Does she think of MM? Does she ache with the memory...or has she replaced her with another? Is she the first and only that they have left? Or does she have other siblings living in other adopted homes while they try for a boy over and over?

I don't know.

What I do know, is that our lives have been enriched beyond measure. Our family is forever changed for the better. We also have complicated our lives by adopting a child of another race, that we have taken from her culture and birth land. We took it all from her.

My daughter is anxiously attached. She must touch me, sit on me, be right by me about 50% of her day. But this is better. Its not as frantic as it used to be and I believe she is ready for school and the day away from mom. It took alot of work to get here; but we are here.

If I am cross with her or raise my voice to her.....she comes apart. It is not funny. It is not pretty. It makes me angry - that she has lost so much, so many times, that she has no confidence that it won't happen again. Adults did this to her.

So doing this album every year is pretty much gut wrenching for me. It brings alot of thoughts and emotions to the forefront of my mind.

And I'm thankful for this. Why? Because when it does start to sink in, and she does start to ask those questions, I will have the slightest glimmer of what she's thinking and feeling. And I hope this lesson teaches me to handle her with the grace, love and understanding that she deserves.

A Boy's Quilt

I finished my second quilt. Yet another crib quilt that I made for a new momma. These are just so fun!

But, as I confessed to the recipient -- this one gave me a run for my money.

It's the same stacking coins pattern.

Last time I took it to mom's to have her show me how to finish the quilt. So she tutored me and it went smooth as silk.

So I was all excited to get home and start on the baby boy quilt now that I know how to do it all on my own.

Hah.

Note to self: A quilting table and a walking foot are musts before your next quilt project.

The boy quilt found me on the kitchen floor to put it all together because I didn't have a surface big enough to handle it.

I also had to rip out my quilting more than once because I didn't have a walking foot for my machine. A walking foot makes sure the bottom fabric and top fabric are moved along at the same time. Without this you have some slippage...which results in pleats and puckers on the back side. Seam-ripper hell.

So, with painstaking care and slow going I finally finished!!!!


I had a much harder time finding fabrics I liked for a boy. Girl fabric is a dime a dozen...boys ... not so much.

I have some more sewing projects I want to try now....but I guess that is pretty much out of the question until we have a contract on the house. Keeping up with all the clipped threads and other sewing mess really would not be easy at this time. Darn.