As some of you probably know, Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife lost their beautiful daughter, Maria Sue, in a tragic accident last spring. I heard about it right away, since I'm an adoptive parent and work at an adoption agency. (The Chapman's daughter was born in China.) It wasn't until later that I heard Chapman's song "Cinderella" that he had written just months before the accident. I thought I'd share the song today, on a day when we all have so many things to be thankful for.
Lyla
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Juno
I *finally* watched the movie, "Juno" tonight. I borrowed it from a friend in August and it's been sitting in our family room ever since. Buddy (age 12) wanted to watch it, and he's seen plenty of PG-13 movies, but I'm really, really glad I didn't let him watch this! It was a little toooooo, well, a little too much of everything. I enjoyed it though. As an adoptive parent, I couldn't help but watch it with a critical eye, but I have to admit that there wasn't anything that was portrayed in a negative or inaccurate way about adoption. (Although I have to admit that Juno going directly to a potential adoptive parent's house to meet them for the first time is not normal.) But all in all, I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
A great way to find new products
Remember way back in the 'olden days' we used to receive free samples of items in the mail? I don't think companies do that anymore. I don't suppose that it was a great way to find new customers - some people may have tried the free sample, but others may have just tossed it in the trash. But here's a great way to find new products, and it's Free Stuff!. This way you can get free products that you will actually use!
Here are some samples of free items I've received recently: Blockbuster Free Trial - I have a friend who uses Blockbuster's online program and I had been wanting to try it myself. I found a link to Free Desktop Wallpapers - I need some nice wallpapers to look at since I'm spending so much time at my desk these days. And here Free Samples you can find all sorts of free stuff.
I didn't know there were so many free things available - I can't wait to get more free stuff!
Here are some samples of free items I've received recently: Blockbuster Free Trial - I have a friend who uses Blockbuster's online program and I had been wanting to try it myself. I found a link to Free Desktop Wallpapers - I need some nice wallpapers to look at since I'm spending so much time at my desk these days. And here Free Samples you can find all sorts of free stuff.
I didn't know there were so many free things available - I can't wait to get more free stuff!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Shopping for the Holidays
I don't know if you're like me, but I like to do my research when it comes to buying Christmas gifts for people - AND when I'm in the market for something myself. I found this great site today that offers not only reviews of different products, but also a list of manufacturers and competitive prices at different locations. The site is called Shop Wiki.
Today I was in the market for a stand mixer. I've never had one before and I've always wanted one. I thought it would be the perfect gift for my hubby to get for me. But of course, I want to pick the one I want!! So I went to the Kitchen & Dining section at Shop Wiki and clicked on the Stand Mixer Guide. There I found a complete side by side comparison of different brands and models - it was great!
After I decided what brand I was interested in, I clicked on Search Stand Mixers and was brought to a screen where I could find the best price for the model I wanted. How great is that! One stop shopping! Now all I have to do is tell Hubby what to buy and where he can get it. That way I'll get exactly what I want and it makes his life easier too!
Today I was in the market for a stand mixer. I've never had one before and I've always wanted one. I thought it would be the perfect gift for my hubby to get for me. But of course, I want to pick the one I want!! So I went to the Kitchen & Dining section at Shop Wiki and clicked on the Stand Mixer Guide. There I found a complete side by side comparison of different brands and models - it was great!
After I decided what brand I was interested in, I clicked on Search Stand Mixers and was brought to a screen where I could find the best price for the model I wanted. How great is that! One stop shopping! Now all I have to do is tell Hubby what to buy and where he can get it. That way I'll get exactly what I want and it makes his life easier too!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Guatemala Get Together
This afternoon we're getting together with several other families who have kids adopted from Guatemala. We'd love to get together on a regular basis, but it seems like we can only manage to get our act together every two years or so. Since November is National Adoption Month, my friend and I finally decided to make the get together happen. I work at an adoption agency and know tons of people who have adopted from Guatemala, but we decided to keep it to the people who we know who live in our town. That was still about 20 families!! Neither my friend or I wanted to host that many people at our house, so we decided to have it in the cafeteria at our kid's school.
Buddy is close to the oldest kid in the group. There is one other family who has a daughter who is a freshman in high school and a son Buddy's age, but they aren't able to come today. Guatemalan adoption became much more popular in recent years, so there aren't as many kids in the Tween/Teen group as there are preschoolers and toddlers. It's always a lot of fun to see the babies though!
It's nice to have this connection for our kids. We live in a very white area, and my kids don't see a lot of other kids with brown skin, so it's important for them to see families who look like ours once in awhile. We attend a culture camp every year for kids from Latin America (La Semana), so our kids are used to seeing families like ours there, but a lot of the other families at our get together don't participate in La Semana, so it's even more important for those families to get together. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again in less than two years!
Buddy is close to the oldest kid in the group. There is one other family who has a daughter who is a freshman in high school and a son Buddy's age, but they aren't able to come today. Guatemalan adoption became much more popular in recent years, so there aren't as many kids in the Tween/Teen group as there are preschoolers and toddlers. It's always a lot of fun to see the babies though!
It's nice to have this connection for our kids. We live in a very white area, and my kids don't see a lot of other kids with brown skin, so it's important for them to see families who look like ours once in awhile. We attend a culture camp every year for kids from Latin America (La Semana), so our kids are used to seeing families like ours there, but a lot of the other families at our get together don't participate in La Semana, so it's even more important for those families to get together. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again in less than two years!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Chatty Chica's new look
I've been messing around with the template for my blog. It's only a little over a month old and I'm surprised I was ready for a change so soon. I initially downloaded a new template from another site, but I couldn't get it to work exactly how I wanted it to, so I went back to a Blogger template for now. I hope as I get more experienced with blogging and web design, I'll be able to be a little more creative.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
What I have on my iPod
The other day I was walking Boomer around the block and listening to my iPod. I started thinking about all the different types of music I have on there, and it made me laugh. Here’s a sample of what’s on my iPod:
Classic Rock
The Satellite Sisters podcasts – I’m so bummed that they aren’t on talk radio anymore, but it’s nice to listen to their podcasts Satellite Sisters
Christian Children’s Music – songs that the kids sing at their Catholic school
High School Musical songs – Missy got me hooked on those – I know it’s lame, but they’re very catchy tunes!
Paraguayan Harp music by Nicolas Carter
What a variety!
Classic Rock
The Satellite Sisters podcasts – I’m so bummed that they aren’t on talk radio anymore, but it’s nice to listen to their podcasts Satellite Sisters
Christian Children’s Music – songs that the kids sing at their Catholic school
High School Musical songs – Missy got me hooked on those – I know it’s lame, but they’re very catchy tunes!
Paraguayan Harp music by Nicolas Carter
What a variety!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Boomer the Dog
Update from my last post about our dog having megaesophagus - I spoke with our vet today. She wants to review the xrays that Boomer had taken at the emergency animal clinic. I told her about the vet tech suggesting that Boomer eat his food off of the counter in the laundry room and she laughed and said she didn't really think that was necessary - just elevating his bowl 8-10 inches should be sufficient. So I put a small end table in his room and he's eating off of that now. The vet wants me to call on Wednesday to give her an update on how Boomer is doing. As worried as I was a couple of days ago, it doesn't seem to be as nearly as bad now. Phew!
Busy Weekend
I thought Saturday was going to be a "me" day. I was helping facilitate an all day scrapbooking event and couldn't wait to work on the album from our trip to Guatemala. I did get a lot done on the album, but had a some stress in other areas of my life!
I was up and at the library community room by 8:45am, all set to have a fun day of scrapbooking. By 9:20 Missy had called saying she was trying to clean her room and Buddy was bugging her. I asked her where Dad was, and she said he was out for a run. I should have known it was an omen with her calling only 30 minutes after I got there.
The next phone call came from my sister at around noon. She said my mom had fallen down on a concrete sidewalk and broke her glasses, broke her upper denture plate, and they thought she broke her nose. My mom is 80 years old and has Parkinson's Disease, so she doesn't get around all that well. They head called an ambulance and she was on her way to the hospital. Throughout the day my phone kept ringing with another sister or my nephew calling me with updates. I wasn’t too worried, but thought I would probably be going to my hometown (one hour away) on Sunday if she was still in the hospital, etc. The last phone call I got was at about 8:00pm, when my nephew called to say they were on their way home from the hospital. So they didn’t keep her overnight in the hospital. She did break her nose, and also broke her left pinky finger. She has two black eyes and a couple of scratches on her chin. I talked to her Sunday morning and she seems like she’s in pretty good spirits – she says she’s really not in any pain (how could you not be in any pain when you fall flat on your face??) and my sisters were in the kitchen making sandwiches. She said, “I don’t know how I’m going to eat a sandwich.” (since she broke her teeth). I told her I could come down to help her later in the week and she said she didn’t really think she was going to need any help. Phew.
MEANWHILE, Hubby stopped in at scrapbooking to give me something and said the dog had been gagging and hacking all day. He had thrown up a couple of times too. I knew he had gagged a couple of times before I left in the morning. As the day went on, it seemed to get worse and worse, and Buddy called me a couple of times and said, “MOM, Boomer just threw up again.” I figured if hubby thought it was that serious he would call me himself or handle the situation. When I got home at 10:45pm, Boomer was still hacking away and had thrown up – basically water – two more times. Missy had a friend sleeping over and I went up to bed. About 20 minutes later, I heard Boomer again, and Missy came up and said she checked on him and he had thrown up all over his room. I went downstairs and there were six more little spots of water/foam. We decided we needed to take him in. Of course the closest emergency vet is 20 minutes away and when we called they said they were just going into surgery and it would be a two hour wait. So I called another place even further away and left with Boomer at 11:50pm. I didn’t get home until 2:30am. Boomer stayed there until Sunday afternoon. They said I could have probably brought him home Saturday night, but I was sooooo tired I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I thought it would be better for him to stay there. They’ve determined that he has something called megaesophagus, which is basically an enlarged esophagus. This is not curable, but it’s definitely manageable. We’ll just need to feed him in a more upright position – the vet tech told me on the phone this morning that he would be a perfect “counter dog” (meaning he could eat off the counter). I laughed and said she had no idea how many things he had eaten off the counter that he wasn’t supposed to. Anyway, after he eats we’ll probably have to keep him in an upright position for awhile (hopefully not more than 5-10 minutes). This will help the food go right down into his stomach instead of staying in his esophagus.
Oh, and of course the emergency vet bill was was $700. OUCH.
I’ll definitely be checking in with our vet this week. I’m not convinced that this is what he has – I googled it this morning and found the symptoms and he didn’t have any of the symptoms. But they did a barium xray and said his esophagus is enlarged, so that might be the definitive diagnosis. There are also conditions that could cause this – like thyroid issues – so I suppose we’ll have to look into that too.
I was up and at the library community room by 8:45am, all set to have a fun day of scrapbooking. By 9:20 Missy had called saying she was trying to clean her room and Buddy was bugging her. I asked her where Dad was, and she said he was out for a run. I should have known it was an omen with her calling only 30 minutes after I got there.
The next phone call came from my sister at around noon. She said my mom had fallen down on a concrete sidewalk and broke her glasses, broke her upper denture plate, and they thought she broke her nose. My mom is 80 years old and has Parkinson's Disease, so she doesn't get around all that well. They head called an ambulance and she was on her way to the hospital. Throughout the day my phone kept ringing with another sister or my nephew calling me with updates. I wasn’t too worried, but thought I would probably be going to my hometown (one hour away) on Sunday if she was still in the hospital, etc. The last phone call I got was at about 8:00pm, when my nephew called to say they were on their way home from the hospital. So they didn’t keep her overnight in the hospital. She did break her nose, and also broke her left pinky finger. She has two black eyes and a couple of scratches on her chin. I talked to her Sunday morning and she seems like she’s in pretty good spirits – she says she’s really not in any pain (how could you not be in any pain when you fall flat on your face??) and my sisters were in the kitchen making sandwiches. She said, “I don’t know how I’m going to eat a sandwich.” (since she broke her teeth). I told her I could come down to help her later in the week and she said she didn’t really think she was going to need any help. Phew.
MEANWHILE, Hubby stopped in at scrapbooking to give me something and said the dog had been gagging and hacking all day. He had thrown up a couple of times too. I knew he had gagged a couple of times before I left in the morning. As the day went on, it seemed to get worse and worse, and Buddy called me a couple of times and said, “MOM, Boomer just threw up again.” I figured if hubby thought it was that serious he would call me himself or handle the situation. When I got home at 10:45pm, Boomer was still hacking away and had thrown up – basically water – two more times. Missy had a friend sleeping over and I went up to bed. About 20 minutes later, I heard Boomer again, and Missy came up and said she checked on him and he had thrown up all over his room. I went downstairs and there were six more little spots of water/foam. We decided we needed to take him in. Of course the closest emergency vet is 20 minutes away and when we called they said they were just going into surgery and it would be a two hour wait. So I called another place even further away and left with Boomer at 11:50pm. I didn’t get home until 2:30am. Boomer stayed there until Sunday afternoon. They said I could have probably brought him home Saturday night, but I was sooooo tired I just wanted to go home and go to bed. I thought it would be better for him to stay there. They’ve determined that he has something called megaesophagus, which is basically an enlarged esophagus. This is not curable, but it’s definitely manageable. We’ll just need to feed him in a more upright position – the vet tech told me on the phone this morning that he would be a perfect “counter dog” (meaning he could eat off the counter). I laughed and said she had no idea how many things he had eaten off the counter that he wasn’t supposed to. Anyway, after he eats we’ll probably have to keep him in an upright position for awhile (hopefully not more than 5-10 minutes). This will help the food go right down into his stomach instead of staying in his esophagus.
Oh, and of course the emergency vet bill was was $700. OUCH.
I’ll definitely be checking in with our vet this week. I’m not convinced that this is what he has – I googled it this morning and found the symptoms and he didn’t have any of the symptoms. But they did a barium xray and said his esophagus is enlarged, so that might be the definitive diagnosis. There are also conditions that could cause this – like thyroid issues – so I suppose we’ll have to look into that too.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
VOTE!!!
Don't forget to vote today!! It's funny people say that, because with all of the hype, I don't know who would actually "forget" to vote!
I've already cast my votes. I went at about 10:45 this morning and was in and out of there in about ten minutes. I'm sure everyone will have their eyes glued to their TV's tonight waiting for the results.
I've already cast my votes. I went at about 10:45 this morning and was in and out of there in about ten minutes. I'm sure everyone will have their eyes glued to their TV's tonight waiting for the results.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Putting the Garden to Bed
We've had such a great fall! The weather has been mild and we haven't had a lot of rain. Today it's 72 degrees, which is almost a record high temperature for here in Wisconsin.
I spent this afternoon cleaning up the flower beds. It's nice to get it done while it's still warm outside instead of doing it as the snow flurries are flying, or waiting until spring when everything is wet and gooey. I got the entire front yard done and some of the back yard. It seems like just yesterday it was early spring and I was outside every day looking for little green shoots to be popping up through the ground.
I have so much fun each spring adding to the perennials we've planted and waiting to see what comes back (hopefully everything!) and how much bigger it gets the second and third years after being planted.
Before you know it, it'll be spring again and the cycle will start again.
I spent this afternoon cleaning up the flower beds. It's nice to get it done while it's still warm outside instead of doing it as the snow flurries are flying, or waiting until spring when everything is wet and gooey. I got the entire front yard done and some of the back yard. It seems like just yesterday it was early spring and I was outside every day looking for little green shoots to be popping up through the ground.
I have so much fun each spring adding to the perennials we've planted and waiting to see what comes back (hopefully everything!) and how much bigger it gets the second and third years after being planted.
Before you know it, it'll be spring again and the cycle will start again.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween Aftermath
We had a lot of fun yesterday! The weather was PERFECT - no wind, about 63 degrees during the day, and sunny. By the time the kids headed out for trick-or-treating, it was in the 50's and very comfortable.
We let 12 year old Buddy go out with his friends this year without adult supervision. They had fairly strict rules about where they could go. He also had his cell phone with him and we said we would be calling to check up on them. I was surprised that even though I was out with a group of five 8-9 year old girls (and several of my girlfriends), we never saw the boys. I called Buddy at one point and got his voice mail. I left a message saying, "Hi Buddy, this is 'Mommy'. Just wanted to see if you were having a good time." LOL. I never call myself Mommy! Anyway, they had a good time and were actually back at our friend's house before we got back with the little girls. Buddy is not much of a candy eater and ended up giving a few pieces of candy to my Hubby and gave the rest to his friends. He didn't bring any candy home - unbelievable! However, Missy brought home a haul of candy that will last for months.
The only mishap of the evening was when we were getting ready to leave our friend's house. I set an unopened bottle of red wine on their carpeted stairs and went back to the kitchen to get more stuff. Suddenly we heard a loud crash and realized that bottle of wine had fallen off the stairs and broken on their wood floor. Luckily 99% of the wine was on the wood floor - a little got on the very edge of their white living room carpet - ugh! But I think it'll be OK (I sure hope so, Jeanne!!).
We let 12 year old Buddy go out with his friends this year without adult supervision. They had fairly strict rules about where they could go. He also had his cell phone with him and we said we would be calling to check up on them. I was surprised that even though I was out with a group of five 8-9 year old girls (and several of my girlfriends), we never saw the boys. I called Buddy at one point and got his voice mail. I left a message saying, "Hi Buddy, this is 'Mommy'. Just wanted to see if you were having a good time." LOL. I never call myself Mommy! Anyway, they had a good time and were actually back at our friend's house before we got back with the little girls. Buddy is not much of a candy eater and ended up giving a few pieces of candy to my Hubby and gave the rest to his friends. He didn't bring any candy home - unbelievable! However, Missy brought home a haul of candy that will last for months.
The only mishap of the evening was when we were getting ready to leave our friend's house. I set an unopened bottle of red wine on their carpeted stairs and went back to the kitchen to get more stuff. Suddenly we heard a loud crash and realized that bottle of wine had fallen off the stairs and broken on their wood floor. Luckily 99% of the wine was on the wood floor - a little got on the very edge of their white living room carpet - ugh! But I think it'll be OK (I sure hope so, Jeanne!!).
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