My Wonder Boy

Per usual, Buddy has decided to show us a new talent already mastered. This child never likes to show us a developing or emerging skill. He is quiet about it until he has mastered it and then he reveals it. We are at a local cafe having hot chocolate and doing homework right now. (yes it has wifi) I was just going through a collection of spelling tests from Sweet Pea and Buddy asked to see one of the pages. He then proceeded to read every word on the page. Yup. The boy can read. Hot damn! Sweet Pea was an early reader so I thought I was going to get a super late reader with Buddy to balance things out. Guess I was wrong about that. I adore my kids - they are so cool!

Pantry Shelving Identification Help!!!

I found this picture of shelving (supposedly inexpensive shelving) on Garden Web and it is exactly what I want for my pantry. Can anyone tell me if they recognize this as a brand of shelving?? I am going to try to contact the person through Garden Web but the post was from a long time ago. FYI, anyone starting any kind of home remodel - check out Gardenweb.com. Oh boy that is a jackpot of information!

Purdy

This morning, I awoke to a cacophony of drills, hammers and saws. It is a symphony of sounds I have grown used to but this morning I must have slept in a bit because it was those noises, not the delightful sounds of my children, that pulled me from my slumber. Ah, the party people (as I like to call them) are here and off and running. The kitchen is moving along very well and very fast. We are covered in dust. My hair is constantly dirty. I can't remember the last time I had clean sheets. The entirety of the house from the basement to the third floor is covered in a film of grime. I have eaten more hot dogs, quesadillas, pizza, and chinese food than I have ever cared to eat. I started off trying to cook regular meals using a crockpot and a griddler but doing dish duty in a bathtub just pushed me over the edge. The entire first floor is not usable because the kitchen remodel is stealing a bit of space from the living room and a fireplace is going in as well. The dining room is being used for cabinet and appliance storage so we are relegated to the second and third floors. We call it the apartment and I am not the only one tired of living in such tight quarters. I will take some more pictures today and post them so you can see where we are as we head into the new year. I do see the light at the end of the tunnel...literally. The pendant lamp pictured here just shipped yesterday after being out of stock for a month! I am very happy my pretty things are starting to arrive!

D Day

Our very long awaited renovation project has begun! Workmen arrived bright and early this morning to rip apart our kitchen. Here are some photos from day one!


Before Picture. The crazy layout is due to a chimney running through the kitchen. On Wednesday we have the pleasure of having said chimney removed. It runs through the CENTER of our home. For sure- this will be ugly.


Demo pic 1


Demo pic 2


Massive Trash 1


Massive Trash 2



My attempt at making Chicken Gumbo using only a Griddler and a slow cooker. It came out just fine actually. Couldn't get the sauce thick because I could not cook it down well enough but other than that it was great.

Obama is like a Coke Commercial from the 70's

Before you went to vote yesterday, did you think about how the world was going to react to our next President? I did. I was desperate for the world to see us make a smart choice. I had hoped that our election of Barack Obama would signal to the world that the people of the US are desperate for change. I was so happy to see that he won by a landslide last night because the message was not just that the majority of US citizens want change but that MOST of our population was fed up with politics as usual.

What I didn't realize was that people all over the world were as desperate as we were. Here are a handful of images of people reacting to the election results- all of whom were most likely not given a ballot. The US is failing in so many ways and I am happy to see that the glimmer of hope that is now in my eye, is in the eyes of so many people around the world.

DENMARK


JAKARTA


PARIS


JERUSALEM


DAKAR, SENEGAL


ATHENS



Lastly, here is a video from Le Monde taken in Kenya. It is wonderful.

MADONNA

Tuesday night SJ came home with the news that we needed a sitter for Wednesday night because he had a big surprise for me. Our two regulars were busy so I called a friend to see if she'd take the kids over night and thankfully she was fine with that. Around noon yesterday I was told to meet him in the North End for dinner which is our usual M.O. for concerts at the Garden. I knew something was up. I was told to dress like I was going dancing so I obliged. Getting ready myself and shuttling my kids to and fro with afternoon activities was a tricky feat. Managed to get me showered, kids packed, homework done, french and art class attended, pizza picked up and the kids transferred to my friend's house all by 5:15 pm. IMPRESSIVE work on my part. I bobbed and weaved through rush hour traffic into Boston grabbed SJ at his office and we tossed the car in a garage. When we got out of the car he handed me two tickets to the Madonna Concert!!! I have always, always wanted to see Madonna. She is like the holy grail of concerts. A Madonna concert to me was like getting to one of the 7 wonders of the world. Perhaps her shows are the 8th? She did not disappoint. It was a crazy production with amazing dancers, lights, props galore, and of course the requisite foul language and obscene gestures! It was fantastic! Do I have a great husband or what???

USCIS Heard us! THANK YOU!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HELPED US BY SIGNING THE PETITION I LINKED TO AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER. We got great news today that the 15 thousand signatures got some attention at the USCIS. Here is the email I received today.....

Dear Families & Friends,
After advocating on behalf of adoptive families for the past 6 months, Joint Council is very pleased to confirm that USCIS has announced a very positive ruling concerning the I-600A process.

In summary, it is our understanding that, effective immediately, families who filed Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition, prior to April 1, 2008 and whose USCIS approval of that petition (aka the I-171H) has not expired, will be able to proceed with their adoption under the I-600A process if they take certain steps while their approval remain valid. This means that families with valid Form I-600A approvals will not be required to transition to The Hague process via Form I-800A. In order to maintain their status as ‘grandfathered’ cases, families with non-expired Form I-600A approvals must request a one-time free extension. Then, prior to the expiration of the one-time free extension, families must file a new Form I-600A and pay the appropriate fee.


IF YOU SIGNED THAT PETITION, KNOW THAT YOU REALLY HELPED OUT A LOT OF WAITING PARENTS!

Blogover myself....

Well after wanting to have a new look for my blog for the longest time, I finally just sat down and figured most of it out myself. There are still a few things I want to figure out how to do like get the text a little further from the left edge of the background, add embellishments to the sidebar, and a signature and embellishment between posts. If you know how to do any of those, please let me know. Also, be gentle with me, I a new photoshop user.

The main point of this post is really to ask you if what I have done keeps the blog readable. I certainly don't want to decorate it to the point that I am blinding you. Please send me your thoughts and opinions.

xo
S