In the Blink of an Eye

You can go from a very angry three year old that just came out of anesthesia to this:

Yesterday was her dental surgery to take care of the bottle rot we found when she was placed with us.

Slugbo and the County Foster Nurse pulled every string imaginable to get a court order in record time and all the medical clearances, since we had to put her under for this.

We got up at 5:45a. Pulled her straight out of bed at 6:20a and off to the clinic. We were the first ones there so we went right in. The more pre op stuff we talked about the more upset you could see her getting. They decided to give her something to calm her down and we ended up having to force her to take it. :-(

2.5 hours later (about 9:30) we were called back in and she was waking up. That little girl has a set of lungs on her. The dentist might now be considering soundproofing the recovery room in the near future. She fought us every step of the way in getting the IV out (she almost ripped it out in spite of Slug holding her down). When we thought (ha!) she's calmed down enough, Slugbo picked her up to take her to the car while I finished gathering paperwork.

I got out to the parking lot and she was screaming full force again and trying to launch herself out of his arms. The ride home was difficult since she didn't want to be restrained. Hello seat belt.

The minute we got home, all the fighting stopped.

She slept on that off for part of the day. We broke the no full day of TV rule considering what she'd been through that morning. They were able to save the molars. So she's missing all her front teeth on the top.

She was her normal happy playing smiling self by end of day.

The pic above is even more special for one main reason. She's curled up with one of the cats. This is the little darling that won't touch any of the animals (though she actually pet Nemo for the first time Wednesday and called him by name) if it can at all be avoided. But she let Nemo stay by her for the better part of the day.

Today is her first mom visit since we got her. Cross your fingers. Slugbo is handling it alone.

*disclaimer* I took a small chance posting this pic, but know that with this post and all future involving our placements I will:
1. NEVER post if I think their family might see it (odds are minimal here)
2. NEVER post if the child was removed from the home because they were in danger from the parents.
3. I will never put their complete name here or any part of it really except maybe the first initial

He's not Gone...

but neither is he mine.

Today is my son's 19th birthday.

Last year I asked y'all what route I should take regarding getting in touch with him.

(For those of you just now joining the show, he was put up for adoption)

I haven't contacted his family directly yet. But I did register with the International Reunion Registry. Nothing else to date.

Maybe I'll be more brave (braver? CV help me out here) this year.

And speaking of kids. The little plague carrier that we brought home last Monday is still with us. Slugbo and I spent the weekend sick. I officially have bronchitis.

That's right folks. Head cold to bronchitis in 3 days flat. That has to be a record somewhere. But thankfully I got in to the see the doc today so we can get rid of it now rather than 3 weeks from now like I tried last year at this VERY SAME TIME.

Apparently spring equals bronchitis in my land now.

And the little plague carrier...

She's an absolute doll. And there WAY too much pink and Disney Princess stuff in my house. But you know what...

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Things are Very Different...

... through the eyes of a three year old.

You see...

- the Spaghettio's instead of the Classico Sauce

- Da-ni-mo yogurts instead of Dannon Immunity drinks

- the Froot Loops instead of the Honey Nut Cheerios

- the Dinosaur Nuggets instead of the Chicken Breast Tender Strips

- Backyardigans and Dora the Explorer out rank Law and Order and CSI

When you are three it is okay to...

- put new nail polish over old

- put different colors of nail polish on different hands (I'm sporting hot pink and navy blue if you must know :-) )

- try to have yogurt for dinner

- wash your hands by rinsing the soap off first

This particular three year old is being particularly patient with Slugbo and I during this adjustment. Only one major meltdown so far. We consider this an aberration rather than the norm. Nonetheless we are grateful.

Friends have rallied and we have clothes and toys and a cool mega stroller.

She is safe, fed, clothed and cared for right now and that is all that matters.

It's Official

We got our first Foster Placement Monday afternoon.

A little three year girl, who is adjusting as best as can be expected give her situation and the fact that we are total strangers to her right now.

She's scared of dogs (sigh) and isn't too thrilled with the cats but she's taking it in stride.

Love NickJr and coloring. Disney movies! Ha I knew I'd finally be justified in buying all of them. lol

Slugbo's dentist is seeing her this afternoon as a favor.

And we are teaching her how to use a computer. Yes, seriously.

She's probably a short term placement based on her situation, but it gives us a chance to see how well we can adjust to this.

So here we go. Wish us luck.

Before and After (Pic Heavy)

As any of you that have been reading this here swill that I call a blog know, I have a lot of animals.

3 dogs and 4 cats to be exact.

None over 25 pounds, none under 8 pounds. That still adds up to a lot of fur.

Cliff the Mutt and Oscar the Dog have interesting fur 'situations' given they are both terrier mixes.

Cliff's fur is so surprisingly soft that once you start petting him you never want to stop until you see how much of it is clinging to you. Oscar's fur is terrier wire through and through.

They both got to visit the groomer today for their summer cut. Also known as the 'keep Mom's vacuum cleaner working a little longer' cut.

Get ready for pics:

Cliff with Scrat and Smokey Cat horning in on the camera action.


Oscar looking way wider than he should.

Then they go to the groomer. I go home. They get tortured by someone that gets paid to wrestle them to the ground to cut off their fur. I go back and pay them the normal fee, plus the special handling fee (they are SNOTS at the groomer, but better them than me). I get two good looking boys out of the deal. I'll take it.


My bestest baby dog of all time Cliff. Who is obviously LOVING the picture taking let me tell you.


Cliff again. He looks more interested here because his dinner is sitting on the shelf next to my head.


Oscar looking slim and trim considering he will be 11 in 3 days.


Just look at those spots! Then go look at the Before pic and come back and exclaim again over all the spots. Doesn't he clean up well?

And because Barb cannot hold the monopoly on goggie cuteness this week...


Scrat the Brat wanting to know what Mom has stuck to her face.

It Still Seems So Wrong

22 years ago today my brother decided that death was easier than life.

That sounds harsh, but it is not really something you can sugar coat.

I know he's never coming back.

I know we will never know why he did it.

I still cry when I think about what a waste it was.

It will never hurt any less. You just learn to handle the pain.

He hated school, but wasn't stupid.

He loved cars, but never got his driver's license.

He adored our nephew, but chose not to see how his life would play out.

He loved our sister, but chose to not stick around to see her married and happy.

He was loved, but never understood how much.

Wherever you are Robbie, I hope it is everything that we couldn't give you here.

I'll Take It

I need it.

Meh.

Two Years

Who'd a thunk it?

I started this blog two years ago.

I don't have any contest for you, maybe next year. I don't think I'm dropping this 'hobby' any time soon.

Thanks to those of you that drop by every now and then and deal with this tripe.

On the skin front.

Caved and made an appointment last week since the biopsy site was infected. Lucky me. The doc had the biopsy and bloodwork results back.

Even if I were COVERED in poison oak or poison ivy, my blood levels for something wouldn't be as high as they are. That means the angry skin is caused by something I'm ingesting. Guess what? We have NO FREAKING IDEA WHAT! Granted neither is it lupus or something like that. (Yes Alison I am grateful for that).

Sigh.

So I'm thinking about not eating at all. Ha. I'll let you know how that works out. Who knew you could grow into food allergies? Not this chick, let me tell you.

Common culprits could be nuts (thanks that narrows it down), strawberries and red dye. Well I haven't been eating strawberries like a fiend since October when this started. I'm going to be absolutely livid if I find out it's peanut butter because it's only my FAVORITE FOOD of all time. Maybe it's pomegranates and I have to give up my chap stick (Burt's Bees with Pomegranate Oil), I won't be happy about that either. Maybe its a honey allergy triggered by the bee sting I got October 9th.

See it's a total crap shoot and not eating sure would be easier then trying to figure out what I'm NOT supposed to be eating.

So if any of you have any book recommendations that will help me with this exclusion diet, I'd sure appreciate it.

A Promise and A Dream

A couple of posts ago I promised to post pics of the new furniture we got at a bankruptcy auction last weekend.

Slugbo and I, while no means poor, tend to lean towards the IKEA scale of furniture pricing when we are looking to replace pieces in the house.

About 75% of our furniture is IKEA or second hand stuff. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But you tend to get what you pay for most of the time.

Needless to say, like most males, Slugbo has a LOAD of electronics equipment in the living room and the old IKEA entertainment center just didn't let us put stuff in it neatly. Now hubby does the computers for a local auction house and he found out about the auction before most of the general public. So we got to go in early and scope out what they had in the way of stuff we wanted. He fell in love with this:

It also has the matching hutch over there on the right which fit perfectly on it's wall and we didn't have to move the painting up (though we might anyway).

Another thing we wanted was a set of bunkbeds for the new kids room. We didn't get our first choice, but managed to get our second choice:

The top is a twin and the bottom is a full, and obviously both mattresses are new. We also got what Slug is calling 'The Lifesaver Lamp' over there on the nightstand. We might need to build a rail for the bottom bunk, but we will see. Now I have to pick out bedding.

So those were the two MUST have items (the hutch was a bonus with the lot - there was a matching gun case which is currently in the Pennsylvania room while we figure out what the h* to do with it). The other nice to have was a new sofa.

It needed to be long enough for Mr 6'+ to lay out full length on, and for me to be able to cuddle up next to him no matter how many of the fur babies decide to join us. There was a black sectional leather (7 furbabies equals LOTS of fur) that was perfect for the room. You have to remember that our living room used to be the house garage. So it's 24' by 24'. That makes for a huge room. So a huge sofa will fit. We managed to get it and the first thing hubby said when we got it in the room, was 'Boy that's big!' But we made it work. We also picked up two coffee tables that have storage in them and we decided to use both. So the house is almost 100% done as far as furniture goes.

Now you might remember that the same post that promised the furniture pics, talked about a mini dream list. One of those items being that someone hand knit something for me for a change. Now I didn't mean the remark to be snarky, but it has always struck me that most people that make handmade stuff tend to NOT give them to people that know how to make the items themselves. This isn't always the case.

If you look closely at the sofa pic above you will see the absolutely beautiful handknit shawl I got from the wonderful Miss Cookie. Now I love Cookie's blog and it is one I check everyday. I love how she says that the she hates people, but you can see the love she offers towards those she doesn't lump in with her definition of 'people'. This is the shawl she smoked her friend Manise making middle of last month. I fully admit that I saw the shawl on her blog and thought it was gorgeous, then I got an email asking for my snail mail address and I tentatively began to hope that just MAYBE that shawl could be mine. Granted I'd take anything Cookie was willing to send me because she does such beautiful work no matter what she's knitting.

I got an IM from hubby yesterday that a box had arrived. I IM'd back: Open it! Open it!. So he did and then wouldn't tell me what was in it. Gr. So I called him and sent him the link to the blog post and he said yup. I have to admit I was crying. I mean I knit. I don't necessarily knit well or fast, but I know what goes into a shawl like that. Cookie sent it as a hug that she wasn't able to offer in person since she's a couple of hours north of here. It was her way of offering support and solace for our failed IVF.

I had hubby open it because I wasn't going home before knit group (would have had to back track and we aren't wasting gas right now), so he met me on the way to his gig for the evening with the shawl so I could take it to my knit group.

I have it with me at work today. I won't let it out of my sight and I promise you Cookie I'll take really good care of it so I can give it to a daughter some day or a son's wife if we are lucky to finally adopt, or my nephew's wife or daughter if we are not thusly blessed. It will be cherished forever. More importantly it will be used.

Thank you for the hug Cookie and for helping make part of my little list come true. XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

PS - my pictures suck but the color is true.