Well the kids an I had a clever video project in the works for SJ for
fathers day. That was until my computer ate it this afternoon forcing
me to start over.SJ decided he'd rather have our company this evening
than a present in the morning. So we are now all at a playground and
he'll get his pressy next week!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
1 Month until Bastille Day!
I know in these parts we are all getting excited to celebrate the Fourth of July. I love the 4th with all the BBQs, parades and fireworks. SJ and I also got engaged on the Fourth so it has been an extra special day for us for 13 years now. This year, right after the Fourth we fly to Paris and get to do it all over again on the 14th. Yup- 10 days after we celebrate our Independence Day, France does the same thing with their Bastille Day holiday.
I have always wanted to spend July 14th in France and am over the moon I get to do it this year. As a kid a few girl friends of mine and I would fly to Minnesota for summer camp - a French summer camp. Oh I know what you're thinking but it was regular summer camp complete with archery and crafts but we spoke French, ate French food (did you have fresh baguette at your summer camp? No? I rest my case.) and oh yeah - if you were there for the July session you also got to reenact the storming of the Bastille. It was a load of fun with the campers being divided into Royals and Peasants (I never got to be a Royal) and we had a day of dressing up, singing songs, putting people in jail (a shed turned into a prison for about 15 minutes) and then tossing them into the lake. It is an important part of French history and the counselors at Lac Du Bois did a fantastic job with all the theatrics. In case you are curious, Lac Du Bois is part of a group of language camps run by Concordia Language Villages. If you have a kid even slightly interested in foreign language, please look into these camps for a summer activity.
Found a video with a good little summary of what Bastille Day is like in Paris- take a peek if you like.
I have always wanted to spend July 14th in France and am over the moon I get to do it this year. As a kid a few girl friends of mine and I would fly to Minnesota for summer camp - a French summer camp. Oh I know what you're thinking but it was regular summer camp complete with archery and crafts but we spoke French, ate French food (did you have fresh baguette at your summer camp? No? I rest my case.) and oh yeah - if you were there for the July session you also got to reenact the storming of the Bastille. It was a load of fun with the campers being divided into Royals and Peasants (I never got to be a Royal) and we had a day of dressing up, singing songs, putting people in jail (a shed turned into a prison for about 15 minutes) and then tossing them into the lake. It is an important part of French history and the counselors at Lac Du Bois did a fantastic job with all the theatrics. In case you are curious, Lac Du Bois is part of a group of language camps run by Concordia Language Villages. If you have a kid even slightly interested in foreign language, please look into these camps for a summer activity.
Found a video with a good little summary of what Bastille Day is like in Paris- take a peek if you like.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Lost in Translation and Lost Teeth
In an effort to get everyone ready for the realities of living in a French speaking country, I am busy labeling things around the house with the french translation. My daughter is trying really hard to get the hang of the french while her smarmy brother is still claiming not to be able to read. Yet when we get to the number 20 on my long list of numbers written out in French he pronounces VINGT phonetically. Yeah, so that burst his little claim that he can't read therefore can't participate. BUSTED.
The same smarmy child uneventfully lost his first tooth last night. All of the sudden there was a stampede up the stairs with children yelling that Buddy was missing a tooth! Yes, yes, he lost is first tooth they exclaimed. SJ and I jumped up and down with them until we asked him to show us the lost tooth and he said he didn't know where it was. Here is how that went:
Mom: Buddy I am so excited for you!! Show me the tooth.
Buddy & Sweet Pea in unison: We don't know where it is!
Mom: Buddy - what do you mean you don't know where it is. Did you swallow it?
Buddy: No, I don't think so. All of the sudden Sweet Pea said I was missing a tooth.
Mom: Well what were you doing right before that?
Buddy: Eating a nectarine.
Mom: Where is the nectarine?
Buddy: In the garbage.
Mom: Okay, let's go down and take a peek in the garbage to see if the tooth is stuck in the nectarine.
Sure enough, there it was!
The same smarmy child uneventfully lost his first tooth last night. All of the sudden there was a stampede up the stairs with children yelling that Buddy was missing a tooth! Yes, yes, he lost is first tooth they exclaimed. SJ and I jumped up and down with them until we asked him to show us the lost tooth and he said he didn't know where it was. Here is how that went:
Mom: Buddy I am so excited for you!! Show me the tooth.
Buddy & Sweet Pea in unison: We don't know where it is!
Mom: Buddy - what do you mean you don't know where it is. Did you swallow it?
Buddy: No, I don't think so. All of the sudden Sweet Pea said I was missing a tooth.
Mom: Well what were you doing right before that?
Buddy: Eating a nectarine.
Mom: Where is the nectarine?
Buddy: In the garbage.
Mom: Okay, let's go down and take a peek in the garbage to see if the tooth is stuck in the nectarine.
Sure enough, there it was!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
City of Lights
Well you may have noticed the new look here at Chez Pickles. It is still a work in progress (so if anyone knows how to change the code to center the posts give me a shout!).
If you couldn't already tell by the new header- we are going to Paris! FOR TEN WEEKS!
Yup. 10 weeks- 70 days !!! SJ will be working on a project for his company out of their Paris office for most of the summer.
Life is a bit crazy now with finding flats, signing leases, figuring out how to get dollars into Euros for such a long period of time without paying too much in conversion fees, what to do with our cat, how to pack up for such a long time away and explaining to the small people that yes, this does in fact mean you'll be missing camp this summer. Oh, and seriously brushing up on my French! Mon Dieu! My head is spinning but I can't wait to plop my butt down on that airplane. It will be such a great adventure and I am thrilled my kids are going to have this opportunity to trade in the burbs for city streets, bagels for croissants, and the word please for s'il vous plait for an entire summer.
We will be posting pictures and videos as well as skyping from over there so please join us for what will be a crazy ride this summer!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Adoption Tax Credit Expires 2010 --HELP!
Calling all friends to please help put pressure on your Senators and Congressmen to support making the adoption credit permanent. As it stands now, the tax credit put in place in 2001 will expire in December 2010. For those of us who expected to be waiting no more than 12 months for our children but now are looking at 4 years (yes FOUR YEARS!), this could be another slap in the face when it comes to our adoption process.
Right now, adoption costs likely exceed $20,000 for each family. That is pretty tough for most people and the credit is how most people can manage to make this work. Right now the credit is $12,150 with certain limitations based on salary.
So could I ask that anyone who has come by this blog take a minute to help? We need people to write to their representatives to ask them to co-sponsor the bill that will make this credit permanent.
Here is a step-by-step guide of how to help:
1. Find the name and Washington, D.C. mailing address of your Representative and Senators at www.congress.org. To find e-mail addresses, click through to the Senator’s or Congressperson’s Web site.
2. Next, log on to http://thomas.loc.gov/ to find out whether your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors of the legislation. On the thomas.loc.gov opening page, under “Search Bill Summary and Status,” search by bill number for H.R. 213. Then click on “Bill summary and Status.” On the page that comes up, click on “Cosponsors,” “Text of Legislation,” or “All Congressional Actions” to follow the progress of the bill. (FOR ANYONE IN MA - OUR REPS ARE NOT CO-SPONSORING SO PLEASE WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!)
3. If your representatives have not signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, send them your request that they do so. Tell them how important the tax credit was to you when you adopted your children, or how much you and other families you know are counting on it to be available in the future. Emphasize that the tax credit truly results in more children finding homes. Tell them that this is so important to you that you will be following the bill’s progress through Congress.
4. INCLUDE A FAMILY PHOTO: While e-mails are valuable, a written note with a picture of your family or your children will be most effective. If sending e-mail, you’ll actually want to avoid attaching a photo; the large size of the message and the attachment could, potentially, mark it as junk or harmful e-mail.
5. If any of your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors, write them a thank-you note. Again, letters sent by snail-mail with photos of your children will receive more attention.
Here is a sample letter I found online along with the information above. If you are not a family adopting, please still write and include that you know people who are adopting and would like your representative to support giving children good and loving homes through adoption.
SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR SENATOR or CONGRESSMAN:
The Honorable FIRST NAME LAST NAME
U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives
OFFICE ADDRESS
Washington, D.C. ZIP CODE
Dear Senator LAST NAME:
My family and I are your constituents in NAME OF TOWN. We request your support of The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009, H.R. 213
The adoption tax credit that this legislation would make permanent is very important to my family and me. Without this significant financial help, we would not have been able (or would have found it very difficult) to adopt our beloved son (or daughter), NAME. I include a photo of my son/daughter.
As you may know, adoption expenses can easily exceed $20,000, a significant sum to most families. (Or, if your expenses were more, say so.) Without the adoption tax credit, we would probably not be able to adopt another child.
I truly believe that the adoption expense tax credit results in many more children without homes finding new, loving families like my own.
I urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 213. This legislation is so important to me that I will be following its progress through Congress. Thank you in advance for your support of this legislation that truly serves children who need new families.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
Right now, adoption costs likely exceed $20,000 for each family. That is pretty tough for most people and the credit is how most people can manage to make this work. Right now the credit is $12,150 with certain limitations based on salary.
So could I ask that anyone who has come by this blog take a minute to help? We need people to write to their representatives to ask them to co-sponsor the bill that will make this credit permanent.
Here is a step-by-step guide of how to help:
1. Find the name and Washington, D.C. mailing address of your Representative and Senators at www.congress.org. To find e-mail addresses, click through to the Senator’s or Congressperson’s Web site.
2. Next, log on to http://thomas.loc.gov/ to find out whether your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors of the legislation. On the thomas.loc.gov opening page, under “Search Bill Summary and Status,” search by bill number for H.R. 213. Then click on “Bill summary and Status.” On the page that comes up, click on “Cosponsors,” “Text of Legislation,” or “All Congressional Actions” to follow the progress of the bill. (FOR ANYONE IN MA - OUR REPS ARE NOT CO-SPONSORING SO PLEASE WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!)
3. If your representatives have not signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, send them your request that they do so. Tell them how important the tax credit was to you when you adopted your children, or how much you and other families you know are counting on it to be available in the future. Emphasize that the tax credit truly results in more children finding homes. Tell them that this is so important to you that you will be following the bill’s progress through Congress.
4. INCLUDE A FAMILY PHOTO: While e-mails are valuable, a written note with a picture of your family or your children will be most effective. If sending e-mail, you’ll actually want to avoid attaching a photo; the large size of the message and the attachment could, potentially, mark it as junk or harmful e-mail.
5. If any of your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors, write them a thank-you note. Again, letters sent by snail-mail with photos of your children will receive more attention.
Here is a sample letter I found online along with the information above. If you are not a family adopting, please still write and include that you know people who are adopting and would like your representative to support giving children good and loving homes through adoption.
SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR SENATOR or CONGRESSMAN:
The Honorable FIRST NAME LAST NAME
U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives
OFFICE ADDRESS
Washington, D.C. ZIP CODE
Dear Senator LAST NAME:
My family and I are your constituents in NAME OF TOWN. We request your support of The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009, H.R. 213
The adoption tax credit that this legislation would make permanent is very important to my family and me. Without this significant financial help, we would not have been able (or would have found it very difficult) to adopt our beloved son (or daughter), NAME. I include a photo of my son/daughter.
As you may know, adoption expenses can easily exceed $20,000, a significant sum to most families. (Or, if your expenses were more, say so.) Without the adoption tax credit, we would probably not be able to adopt another child.
I truly believe that the adoption expense tax credit results in many more children without homes finding new, loving families like my own.
I urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 213. This legislation is so important to me that I will be following its progress through Congress. Thank you in advance for your support of this legislation that truly serves children who need new families.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
Friday, April 03, 2009
Sisters
I am crying tears of joy for a friend in bloggityville who just got her referral this morning. With a 3/7/06 LID she like the rest of us 2006ers has been waiting for what feels like an eternity. I am happy to say that she got the call today and she has a baby girl and her boys have a sister! Go visit her at Adding a Sister!
Monday, March 30, 2009
The Contraditions of Life: This Diehard Apple Girl HATES the iphone!
So we are a blended family. Well, no, not that kind of blended family. We are a blend of computer platforms over here. It is very he said, she said when it comes to computers. I am a diehard mac girl. My boy, well he is a PC. We get lots of humor out of those mac/pc commercials. He hates that the mac guy is so much cooler than the pc guy but since I am so much cooler than SJ it makes sense to me.
When it comes to cellular devices we are absolutely on the same page. The blackberry rocks and the iphone is for people with too much time to diddle around. We have had an iphone since last October and we both have refused to use it. Don't get us wrong, we tried but it was so user unfriendly for us that we both went back to our blackberries. All I want out of a phone is for it to tell me where to go, what I need to do, and who is trying to contact me. While I love toys, and yes that is what an iphone is, I would love to have the toy aspect of the phone in the background as opposed to the functionality of the phone in the background. I hate that I have to click through 3 or more screens to get to my email. I hate that my homepage can't just tell me briefly who are the last two emails from and what are my two next appointments.
So I trotted off to the Apple store today convinced that I was just using the phone incorrectly. The answer to ALL of my questions was "sorry that is beyond the capabilities of the iphone." My absolute favorite stumper for those Geniuses was the following:
When I put something in my iCal on my laptop I usually invite my husband so he can then accept the event and put it in his calendar and I invite myself so I can accept the event. Viceversa. When he makes travel arrangements he invites me so I can plug it into my phone. So this morning I plugged something into iCal on the computer, put myself in the attendees box and sent the email. When I got the email on my phone the text said to open the attachment to add it to your calendar. Yeah, all is well until I tried to open the attachment on the iphone. It wouldn't open it. When I presented this problem to those people at Apple they were puzzled and then one of the Geniuses went in the back to further investigate this problem. She came back with this:
"While the blackberry is able to open .ical files, the iphone is not currently set up to open .ical files." My response was, I hope the irony is not lost on you that ical is an Apple program used on both Apple computers and phones. The real reason....is that Apple wants you to pay for mobileme service which does all this for you. Yep, for something like $99/ year. Well next time I feel like dropping $99 to solve my problems I am going to be buying a new Blackberry Curve since it seems to work better with my mac computers. If anyone out there has any constructive advice for me I'd love to hear it...
When it comes to cellular devices we are absolutely on the same page. The blackberry rocks and the iphone is for people with too much time to diddle around. We have had an iphone since last October and we both have refused to use it. Don't get us wrong, we tried but it was so user unfriendly for us that we both went back to our blackberries. All I want out of a phone is for it to tell me where to go, what I need to do, and who is trying to contact me. While I love toys, and yes that is what an iphone is, I would love to have the toy aspect of the phone in the background as opposed to the functionality of the phone in the background. I hate that I have to click through 3 or more screens to get to my email. I hate that my homepage can't just tell me briefly who are the last two emails from and what are my two next appointments.
So I trotted off to the Apple store today convinced that I was just using the phone incorrectly. The answer to ALL of my questions was "sorry that is beyond the capabilities of the iphone." My absolute favorite stumper for those Geniuses was the following:
When I put something in my iCal on my laptop I usually invite my husband so he can then accept the event and put it in his calendar and I invite myself so I can accept the event. Viceversa. When he makes travel arrangements he invites me so I can plug it into my phone. So this morning I plugged something into iCal on the computer, put myself in the attendees box and sent the email. When I got the email on my phone the text said to open the attachment to add it to your calendar. Yeah, all is well until I tried to open the attachment on the iphone. It wouldn't open it. When I presented this problem to those people at Apple they were puzzled and then one of the Geniuses went in the back to further investigate this problem. She came back with this:
"While the blackberry is able to open .ical files, the iphone is not currently set up to open .ical files." My response was, I hope the irony is not lost on you that ical is an Apple program used on both Apple computers and phones. The real reason....is that Apple wants you to pay for mobileme service which does all this for you. Yep, for something like $99/ year. Well next time I feel like dropping $99 to solve my problems I am going to be buying a new Blackberry Curve since it seems to work better with my mac computers. If anyone out there has any constructive advice for me I'd love to hear it...
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A tricky fit
Okay so with summer approaching I am once again deciding that this year I will finally have a swimsuit that fits. I have a disproportionate body so I need to buy separates. Ideally I need to find tops that come in bra sizes to accommodate what God has given me. After searching online endlessly last night I found that women like me are best served in the UK and Australia. While I don't mind paying for shipping for an international order, I wonder if it will be a problem if I need to return it. As we all know, finding a swimsuit that fits is like a needle in a haystack. For what it is worth, all I can seem to find with US online retailers that comes in bra sizing is stuff like this....
and frankly I am just not that kind of girl. Any suggestions out there? I am sure I have missed something major. Please help!
and frankly I am just not that kind of girl. Any suggestions out there? I am sure I have missed something major. Please help!
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