That is it?!~

Okay, don't get me wrong....I wasn't hoping for my roof to fly away or trees to be knocked down.....but I'm a girl who loves a good storm and this barely qualified as needing an umbrella......seriously, is that all you could do Ernesto?........I don't even have to sweep my walkway!

Does it get any better than that?

Mary-Mia and her husband Rod are the proud parents of TWO very beautiful daughters.....congrats to you both and your families- what lucky parents you are!!!!!! I can not wait to watch their story unfold.

Still holding our breath.....

as we wait for Mary-Mia's announcement! Do they have a daughter? A son? Twins?.......I am almost as nervous and excited as when I was delivering my own children!!!! So many of us have watched their story since the beginning of our own dreams of adoption began.....I can not wait to see this unfold.......their wait has been long but the journey is just beginning!!!!! Good Luck!

Found this in my "Inbox" this morning!

Dear Kotex:
I recently noticed that the peel-off strip of my pantiliner had a bunch of "Kotex Tips for Life" on it. Annoying advice such as: Staying active during your period can relieve cramps. Avoiding caffeine may help reduce cramps and headaches. Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day to keep you hydrated and feeling fresh. Try Kotex blah blah blah other products... Obviously the individual behind this was someone who has never possessed a functioning set of ovaries. Go ahead and tell a menstruating woman that drinking 6-8 glasses of water will help keep her feeling fresh. Like we need more fluid inside our bloated bodies from hell...but go ahead...I triple-dog-friggen-dare-ya... See what happens and report back. I'll wait. While you're at it, dump out the coffee at work and remove the chocolate from the vending machine. I garan-friggen-tee that the first responders will be females who just ovulated. Staying active will relieve headaches & cramps...well guess what, the only activities that interests me is eating..sleeping..bitching or crying for no apparent reason. and oh...does ripping someone's head off count as a friggen' activity????? Look, females don't need or want tips for living on their feminine hygiene products. Younger girls are already hearing "helpful" crap like that from elderly relatives. Veteran females have already concocted their own recipes for survival, many containing alcohol & barbituates. Printing out crap advice while sneaking in ads for the brand that was already purchased is just plain annoying, not to mention rude, and is enough to send a girl running to the Always brand. It's not a fun time, but DO NOT try to cheer us up by adding smiley faces or bunnies or flowery cutesy crap to your products or the packaging. Put the crap in a plain brown wrapper so we can throw it in our carts discreetly and have it blend in among the wine and beer. There is nothing more annoying than having a blinding pink package announcing your uterine state to everyone in the store. Why don't ya just add an in-store microphone to the damn package & announce that...helloooo, another female in the store is on the rag!!!!! So take your tips for living and your cute bunnies & the smiley faces and shove them right up your a$$. PS How about adding a free sample of Pamprin & maybe a shot of Bourbon to your packages instead!!!

Works For Me Wednesday.....

Playing Works for me Wednesday again with Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer ( http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ )Chicken salad. My favorite. I seriously can not get enough of it- but I hate chopping all of the ingredients. So, in my lazy wisdom I throw everything- including the mayo into my food processor and press chop- in less than 2 minutes I have chicken salad!!!! (oh- when doing chicken on the grill- I add an extra piece so I can have chicken salad the next day for lunch!!!) Works for me!

Now what?

So the nose is healing fine.....colorful but better.....and now he is home with strep throat.....the kid can't win. He told me this morning: "Mama, please let me go to school, I promise not to tell anyone I have a fever".....I feel so bad for him. He just wants to go to school and be with his friends. Hopefully tomorrow!

Mama, it isn't my fault......

Overheard at 10am this morning in my house:
Monkey Man: Mama I have to peeeeeeeeee
Me: Okay- go
Monkey Man: You come too. Pleaaaaase
Me: okay- I'll come
Monkey Man: You good mama- you not evil (new favorite word)
Me: Thanks Monkey Man, I like you too.
(get into bathroom, help monkey man get his pants down......)
Monkey Man: ooops
Me: Monkey Man- look where you are peeing- it's going all over the place.
Monkey Man: Not my fault Mama.....my wenis doesn't have eyes.

Not sure how to respond to that- all I can say is......the boy is smarter than we give him credit for.
(yes, we teach him the correct words for his body parts.....slight speach issue.....P's are W's......!)

Kindergarten is NOT what it used to be!

After picking up Jr. Spaceman from his first day of Kindergarten the following conversation took place:

Me: How was school?
Jr Spaceman: Great! I loved it. I met a lot of new friends!
Me: Oh I'm so glad- who did you play with at recess?
Jr. Spaceman: A girl named "L". I kissed her on the cheek. I think we are going to get engaged next week.
Me: Ummmmm- well, I think you have time- no need to rush!

don't worry- we had the "talk" about kissing....and why we shouldn't do it- he informed me that SHE asked him to- and it was on the cheek.....we still went over why he shouldn't do it and how he can kindly say no without hurting her feelings.....I seriously did not think these conversations were going to happen on the first day of KINDERGARTEN! But he loves it and I've stopped crying so all is well!

How many days until school starts?.....

yeah- the kid starts school in 2 days- and this is what he looks like. Actually he looks worse- the camera didn't capture the true effect. His nose is broken- his lip is split.....there was a blood curdling screem and blood.....lots of blood. Poor kid. The funny thing is he shares his classroom table with a little girl who just broke her arm- I teased Jr. Spaceman that maybe he could carry R's bag and she could do his smelling......his reply- why do we have to smell things in Kindergarten?........just a joke sweety- just a joke!

Moving.......

Mary over at Owlhaven (http://owlhaven.wordpress.com/ ) has asked about moving. Do you move to your dream location or remain near family. Growing up I never saw myself leaving my hometown. I was one of the few that never complained about it being borning or too small. I loved the diversity of my town. I loved the scenery (there is NOTHING like an autumn in Upstate NY!) and four seasons have always appealed to me. My mom grew up in this town so my grandparents were a few streets away and we spent every Sunday eating dinner with them after Church. I loved that I was brought up in the church that my mom was baptized and married in. I loved eating apples that I picked and I loved that my town had historic routes. I was never leaving.

Then I fell in love. My husband shares my upbringing. He grew up in the same town I did. He was brought up in the same church, went to the same schools and even had some of the same friends (he was a few years older than me.) But he hated his job. He decided to join the military and living in our small town in NY was no longer going to be possible. So we had to leave.

In the last 9 years I've lived in two countries, 4 states and 7 houses! We are truly gypsies. Maybe I wouldn't mind it as much if we were in one place and able to lay down some roots but I miss my family everday. I'm sad my mom missed the birth of both of her grandsons. I'm sad she wasn't able to hold my had through two miscarriages. I'm sad I missed funerals of beloved family members. I'm sad my husband was not by his grandmothers side when she took her last breath. I'm sad I missed best friends weddings and the births of their children. I'm sad our families are not around to celebrate my boys birthdays, see them on their first days of school, see them score their first goals, etc.

I have seen so much and visited the most beautiful places on Earth. My children have traveled to more places in their short little lives than most adults have. I wouldn't trade our lives or experiences for anything. But it has cost us. It is a sacrifice. We plan to retire when my husband hits his 20 year mark and go back home. But we will have to rebuild the relationships. Fit ourselves back into everyones life who is still there. Although we've seen and done so much- we've missed out on a lot too. I'm not sure if regret is the right word- I like who we've become and that is a reflection of our past.......but sometimes I'm sad.

Where does the time go?

My older son begins Kindergarten on Monday! I can't believe it. Friday I had to take him to the school for his evaluation and he walked to his classroom with his teacher looking so small and yet at the same time.....so ready. He held his head high- had a twinkle in his eye and that smile! He is so excited! The school has a "Boo Hoo Coffee" for the Kindergarten parents after we drop them off. My son saw the flier and said "why would you cry"? so I told him that some of the mom's will cry because they'll miss their kids but that they are also happy for them too. He said "that is silly, I'll be home in the afternoon"! So logical! What the kids don't realize is that as you are watching your 5 year old with a "too big backpack" walk away from you toward the classroom you are actually seeing your 18 year old packed and headed off to college- or your daughter in her wedding gown walking down the aisle to her future husband- probably a bit dramatic but it is the first step toward independence- the first step toward the loss of innocence and now other people are with your child more than we are........aghhhh- I'll pack the tissues now!

Last Night's Conversation.....

Spaceman: Did you see that commercial?
Me: No
Spaceman: Hold on (fumbles with remote0-- rewinds--play)
Me: Yeah- so.
Spaceman: Did you see what they did with that babies cleft lip?
Me: Yeah
Spaceman: Did you know they could do that?
Me: Yeah
Spaceman: Why didn't you tell me?
Me: I don't know. I guess it never came up. Do you have a cleft lip I don't know about and need it fixed? (smart mouthed I know- but I WAS trying to read.....)
Spaceman: No, Smart @$$ but I didn't know they could do that. Maybe we should check into China's special needs program. I just didn't want our daughter to walk around feeling bad about a disability- I didn't know stuff like that could be fixed.
Me: So now you want to go back to China?.......(understand, it took me a LONG time to even consider switching in the first place- there were arguments, tears, blah blah blah......)
Spaceman: I don't know- I didn't consider it before and now I would like too.
Me: Are you freaking kidding me? I did talk to you about this and you said no- absolutely no- you wanted a "healthy" child......are you freaking kidding me?
Spaceman: no, sorry- I'm not kidding you. sorry. are you going to throw that at me. should I duck? I'm sorry. but we can look into it right?
Me: DUCK!
Spaceman: ouch- good shot.
Me: thanks- and I'll get you the info by the end of the week.
(ps- it's okay folks....I'm a trained marriage and family therapist!)

Works For Me Wednesday......

Playing along with Shannon at http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ it is Works For Me Wednesday again!!!! Today's tip involves what to do with all of the art work you collect as a parent. We keep a shallow box under each kids bed for their art work. They are allowed to keep one on the fridge and one up in their room- rotating as often as they like. (In our other house we hung a clothes line over their craft table and used clothes pins to hang a bunch of art work)......as they begin to have favorites we use "the other" pieces to wrap gifts or decorate cards with- this way the grandparents/aunts/uncles and cousins get to see what the kids have been doing all year! At the end of the year each child chooses one piece and we frame it and hang somewhere in the house........Works for me!

Announcement.....

After much discussion- thinking-praying.....we've decided to go ahead and begin the adoption of our daughter......we thought she was in China - for many reasons we've decided to search for our daughter elsewhere.....(this did not come lightly)....we believe she is in Ethiopia.......we will begin our homestudy next month and are so excited to bring her home.......



disclaimer.......the title of my blog will remain "Chinese Take Out".....this NEVER had anything to do with adoption- rather, it is always my answer to the question..."What is for dinner"?........just in case you wondered!

Here are my boys right before my sister's wedding started. I thought they would be nervous when they saw all of the people- WRONG! what little hams they are!!!!! As they walked down the aisle they stopped and shook hands, showed people their pillows with the rings and of course yelled to me "hi Mama, you look like a pretty princess"......I had already walked down the aisle and was waiting by the priest........such a fun evening!

I'm back!

My boys and I had a great vacation! The first week in July we packed the car and headed up to NY. My husband could not join us until our last week there- but he flew out on a one way ticket so he could drive back with us. NY is not much cooler in the summer than here in Florida- so we did not escape the heat and humidity. I enrolled the boys in swimming lessons, we visited with family and friends and the last weekend of our vacation was spent celebrating my sister's wedding! We had a wonderful time and I swear she could have graced the cover of a magazine she was so beautiful.
Jr. Spaceman and Monkey Man were ring bearers and looked so stinking cute! Monkey Man ripped the buttons off of his tuxedo jacket because he would rip open his jacket and yell "Tuxedo Man".......of course all of this kept happening BEFORE the ceremony- after a few times re sewing the buttons we gave up and pinned the jacket minutes before they walked down the aisle.
The smartest thing my husband and I did was bring a baby sitter with us to the wedding. We got to enjoy our boys until they could take no more (it was an evening wedding a few hours from the town we were staying in) and then they were brought to the hotel and my husband and I were able to enjoy a night out! Best part...our sitter was my Mother In Law.....so I totally new they were in good hands.
Now the family is getting ready to send Jr. Spaceman off to Kindergarten- full day. School clothes shopping is done- we've ordered his backpack- and the list of supplies just came........I'm holding my breath as my first born takes his first few steps to independence..........

Works For Me Wednesday!

I'm joining Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer (http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/) for Works For Me Wednesday. My family and I just got back from vacation and my children got sick on the last few days. We decided (due to my husbands work schedule) that we must "press on" with our original leave date. I was worried how I would get their cold medicine into them without sticky residue getting all over my car.....our solution......Stop at a fast food restaurant and get a bunch of those paper condiment holders.....Perfect size for a dose of Tylenol and you can throw it away after you are done! Worked for me!