My Name is Linda and I’m a Project Junky

And I’m OK with that!  I ALWAYS have a project or two or seventeen on the go.  When I don’t have projects, I feel lost.  I wander the house in my pajamas wondering what I should be doing.  Lately, since returning from Colombia with our new daughter, my project in my head was “keep life moving forward as normally as possible.”  That’s pretty well all I’ve done for five weeks…. and it’s been exhausting.  We are homeschooling.  We are going to church and to our neighborhood group.  I am grocery shopping and going to the library weekly.  Oh, and I’m teaching once a week….. Arizona History to a bunch of homeschooled high school kids.  (I guess you could consider it a project!)  But it has taken me almost 3 weeks to read the novel sitting on my bedside table.  They usually only sit there for 4-5 days.

However, (notice the switch from survival mode to productive mode here!) my mother found a darling little wooden chair on clearance (of course) with a cupcake-shaped back that will fit Nora’s tea-table perfectly!  Originally I thought that two chairs were sufficient, but her teddy bear always occupies one, so guests sit on the floor.  Three chairs are needed.  The cupcake chair needs some sanding and painting and tightening and hole-filling.  A PROJECT!

Last month my sister was in town putting on a bridal shower for her best friend.  My sister is the decorologist for parties!  She’s the bomb, baby.  Her creativity reminded me how fun it is to decorate and throw parties.  And lo and behold, a friend of mine has a birthday next week!  She thinks I’m taking her to breakfast, but I’m doing a full-blown pink and turquoise owl-themed party.  Today I’m off to find cutesy plates and polka-dotted napkins and ribbons and placemats.  A PROJECT! 

Here are just the cupcakes my sister made for the shower:

A   N   D  .  .   .  .  .  I have once again been inspired to start writing.  A little birdy put the seed in my heart… the watering began… and I’m off writing on another project.  This is a book that I have had on my heart for a long time.  About two or three years ago I was having visions of stories running amuck in my mind which prompted me to get out of bed at 2:47 in the morning, find a notepad and jot down ideas.  Locked in my master bathroom for an hour, I outlined the entire book!  This week I dusted it off.  A PROJECT!

My name is Linda and I’m a Project Junky!

Another Badge! YES!

One balmy afternoon as we were lounging in the villa in Cali, Colombia, our guide showed up to take the “boys” out on the town for go-cart driving and other frivolity that boys would eat up.  Our little Colombian princess had been with us for about a week at that point.  She was sitting on our guide’s lap when miniscule white bugs were discovered in her luscious black hair.  My failing eyesight had not detected them.  Maybe this is why it’s good for “older” parents to adopt… they can’t see what’s REALLY happening in their care!  I ran for my reading glasses!

My only experience with lice was in 1991 when I was substitute teaching in Fort Vermilion, Alberta.  It was a kindergarten class, that I had completely under my superb control, when the school nurse made a surprise visit to check for the little white bugs on the heads of my pupils.  Eight of the kids left the room after the inspection and I continued to scratch my head the rest of the day.  Just the thought makes my head itch!

Fast-forward to 2010 in Cali when one of MY children is bug-laden.  Immediately I ran to the little grocery store in our compound and asked for lice shampoo.  A small single-use packet was produced and purchased… and I didn’t scratch my head once while in the store.  By this time, our boys were on their way into the city and realization hit that we should all be checked for BUGS in our HAIR!  Thankfully, our sweet cook was more than willing to search through our heads AND apply the insecticide shampoo to the little princess.  Lo and behold, some of the critters had made the jump to my scalp as well!  This took me several hours to come to grips with.  I could not understand how little creatures could be living on my head AND I DIDN’T NOTICE!!!  I notice everything… well, except lice living with me.  Back to the store I went, somewhat humbled at the thought of asking for MORE lice shampoo.  The teller actually laughed….. LAUGHED!  I told him in my lame Spanish (translated back to lame English for your enjoyment) “NO, the laugh!” 

As my new daughter was having the rather nice-smelling shampoo rubbed into her head, I was on google looking up lice statistics, translating them into Spanish for the aid of my self-image.  I kept reading lines to our cook like “The term ‘head lice’ is searched globally by Google users 450,000 times in a month.”  That made me feel better because I was in good company!  “Lice are attracted to CLEAN hair which is why they are more common in girls than boys.”  “Every year, between 6 and 12 million people worldwide get head lice.”  See, how can that many people be wrong!?!  Later, our guide in Bogota explained that ALL the kids have lice and need to be treated! 

Finally it was my turn to have a thorough scalp massage (albeit with insecticide!) and sit for ten minutes while the death cream did its duty.  My older daughter was mortified that I would make a note on facebook as to our daily adventure.  She was obviously my daughter because she had also wrongly associated head lice with dirty people.  It’s not true!  I read the clean hair preference to her again.  Didn’t help.  She was horrified that her friends might find out her family had bugs on their brains.  Flabbergastedly, she asked, “Why do you want people to know about this?” In the spirit of adventure from the movie UP! I explained that on the scout sash of my life, I just earned my Lice Badge!  Just like Russell earning his Assisting the Elderly badge.  She was still not impressed!  Hey, another day…. another bit of drama!

Ironically, our little Colombiana never wants to use my hairbrush because she thinks it’s dirty because there is hair stuck in it.  Sheesh!

Milestones for the Month

We have reached several milestones in our lives this month. None has gone by without notice…. and with much thanksgiving in our hearts.

Jan. 14…..   FOURTEEN years since we made the big move from Alberta, land of the Oilers, to Phoenix, land of the Coyotes.  The two hockey teams face off this Tuesday night here in Phoenix and we will be there.  Oilers are doing so poorly this year, I can’t bring myself to wear the jersey.  But Rick will…. and I’ll be sitting next to him. 

Jan. 20…. my baby sister turned 40.  That just means I’m closer to 50.  Milestone… whatever.

(I made this cool t-shirt that says “Christy is 40… yippy!”)

Jan. 22…… Nora has been in her forever family for one month!  It seems like so much longer than that!  She is fitting in perfectly… unbelievably, really.  She is such a happy little girl from the moment she wakes up… bringing pure joy to our home.  We are thankful that God had us picked out for her years ago… as we prayed and waited.  If I had made a list (which I partially did in my mind) of all the characteristics I hoped she would have that are similar to our family, I don’t think I would have listed all of the ones she came with!  God knows what he’s doing, people, when he places orphans in families. 

Jan. 23…. the end of the first week after Austin’s snowboarding accident.  I am amazed once again at God’s healing hand and his creation of the body that heals itself!  Austin’s face looks 90% better than it did seven days ago.  We are so thankful that no bones were broken (a hairline nasal fracture does not count – no cast required!) and he’s doing okay mentally and physically.  It could have been so much worse!  Austin has an appointment in Feb. with the neuro-psychologist for baseline testing.  I’m relieved that it is finally being done!  Sadly, it took 6 (or 7?) concussions to get him into the office!  Sheesh!

Thankfulness is leaking out of my heart today.  What do you have to be thankful for?

The History of Arizona has Begun!

That’s me in my yellow suit jacket, except my eyes are green.  I actually did have a very similar banana-yellow suit for my going-away outfit from our wedding in 1987… but I’m dating myself.  I found this cute picture while searching for pictures for the cover of my binder for the class I’m teaching… Arizona History.  It’s a one semester required-for-graduation course… that has the potential to be EXTREMELY boring.  Really.  Arizona History on a timeline of all history is about 3/4 of an inch long, well, not counting the Ancient Peoples.  So my job, as it has turns out, is to make the history of Arizona come alive and be remembered forevermore in the minds of these five high school homeschoolers.  No small task.

As I searched for quality curriculum…. the choices were about as small as the history itself.  So I ended up finding a somewhat interesting reader… not a text at all… written for the Bicentennial celebration of our great nation.  The book is short, yet stacked with quips from interesting individuals and not-so-familiar stories.  Perfect.  Add to that, a boatload of hands-on activities that will have the kids experiencing Arizona like never before. 

During the first class, I was breezing through the planned activities and projects, so the kids would have an idea of what to expect.  When I read, “Make ancient pottery replica” a hand shot up belonging to a former Ancient History student of mine.  “Are you going to smash them and bury them again?”  HAHA!  That was the BEST activity EVER for studying archaeology!  They painted their pots so carefully!  And then without them knowing, I smashed and buried the shards in my barren flower beds in the backyard.  When I sent them out with their tools for the dig, they were a bit surprised until the first painted pot part was uncovered.  I’ve never seen so many eye-rolls in my life!  And the eye-rolls continued when I told them for homework they had to glue them back together!  Anyway, I’m NOT smashing pots this time.

A large map of Arizona was also brought out to show them the route we will take for a two-day field trip to the southern end of our state.  Sarcastically, I pointed to a large pink Indian reservation and told them that there was a cool dude ranch located there that we could have stayed in, but that pink area is the part of Arizona that Obama gave to Mexico and it’s not safe.  (It’s only partially a joke… he had signs put up IN AMERICA that say the area is dangerous because of border jumpers INSTEAD of protecting our border and making any effort to stop the flow of illegals!) Anywho, the students responded with several amazed faces, “WHAT!?”  “He did?”  “Are you kidding!?”….. YES, I’m kidding!  Sheesh!  Kids these days will believe anything!

Currently, I’m knee-deep in maps and National Monument brochures.  Why am I such a nerd?  I’m not sure!  But without nerdy history lovers, where would we be?  Repeating all the same dumb mistakes of the ancient peoples ~ that’s where! 

Great teaching begins HERE! (fist pump!)

Gross Picture WARNING!!!!

Here is the cleaned up version of my son Austin on day #3 after his snowboarding accident.  I’m perfecting protein smoothies… and bandaging owies.  He says he’s not in pain and is not taking any pain medication.  He’s one tough cookie.  His memory seems to be almost all back, except for the accident itself, which is what the neurosurgeon predicted.  We go back to the doctor tomorrow for another follow-up appointment.

Here is Austin BEFORE!

And AFTER!

No, that is not a self-induced lame haircut.  We are supposed to be keeping his hair out of the wounds, so he is wearing one of his sister’s headbands.  Kind of reminds me of one of the Three Stooges’ hairdos.  Yes, his nose has a hair-line fracture up between his eyes where all the swelling is.  I miss my handsome son!

Once Upon a Time….

… my life was boring.  I don’t actually remember that time in my life, but I’m sure it had to have happened.  I wish I was back there right now.  This week consisted of: bridal shower at my mom’s house with my sister in town coordinating the whole shebang, my sister’s BIG 40th birthday party, my first class teaching Arizona History to homeschool high schoolers, AND…. drum roll please…. a snowboarding accident for our 14-year-old son, Austin, which added to my week: ambulance ride, hospitalization, ct scan (clear!), x-rays, confirmed broken nose, temporary memory loss….and concussion #6 or 7, can’t remember.  He slid down the icy hill on his face while unconscious.  Not fun.  He looks like he lost a prize-fight.  I’ve never had a child look this bad… it’s not easy or fun.  I won’t even post pictures because he looks so bad.  I think two or three layers of skin from the right side of his face are still on the mountain.  When you’re unconscious, you also slide with your mouth open… leaving large portions of skin from inside your mouth on the mountainside too.  Sorry to gross you out, but that’s my life right now.

Did I forget to mention that we’ve been home NOT EVEN A MONTH from Colombia with our little princess???

I’ll be back to blog happy things… like sunflowers, marshmallows and rainbows …. in no time!  Maybe even before February.

Shopping Adventures from Cali

Larisa and I went into the city of Cali one day to buy some fruit, veggies and souvenirs.  Our guide, Magnolia, took us to several different markets, but I believe because of our pasty white faces, the prices were inflated.  There’s not much bartering in Colombia.  You pretty well pay what they ask.  The displays of fruit were completely mouth-watering.  The variety was unbelievable and of such great quality.  We didn’t recognize half of them, but we were more than willing to try them!  Delicioso!

We stopped on the street and looked at many fruit stands, but my camera discouraged the venders from selling to us.  The prices all seemed really cheap to me, but our guide said they were too expensive!  She took us to a little shop that maybe offered 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables.  They were fresh from the fields or trees and they had not been cleaned.  I felt like I was shopping out of the actual garden.  Dirt was everywhere!  But the prices were posted, so they wouldn’t be raised for us Gringos!

The three of us picked a large supply of potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, tree tomatoes, bananas, pineapple, guava, grapes, cucumbers, oranges, avocados, lulos and more that I can’t remember at this moment.  As we brought the goods up to the counter to be weighed and bagged, another shopper brought up a huge green gourd and asked if the shop owner would open it for her.  Mr. Veggie Man was a handsome gentleman probably in his early 30s.  His two beautiful sons helped him in the shop.  They all donned smock-type shirts, like a dental assistant would wear…. with dirt all over them from the produce.  Nice people.  Back to the gourd… Mr Veggie Man reaches into his faded orange smock and whips out a 12 inch machete and chops the gourd in half right in front of us in one fell swoop.  I’m sure our mouths were hanging open in shock….. the hairy chest… the machete… and quick action…. and dirt flying from the gourd….the unsanitariness of it all (if that’s a word?)   Larisa reminded me of the whole scene yesterday and we scrunched up our faces once again at the memory.  We’ll wash our own fruit, thank you very much, and we don’t need it cut open.

Our collection of food was stuffed into five large plastic bags that we could barely carry…. and our total was $4.00.  I love Colombia!

Current Household Update

We have been home from Colombia with our new daughter for three weeks!  I believe we’re all adjusting as well as expected…. considering that her whole life changed, I’ve been sick since we got home, my husband was out-of-town for four days and we started homeschooling this week.  It’s been a draining time for me.  I need a nap every day… thankfully I have the freedom to take them!  This morning Nora dragged out of her room with her hair all wild and asked where Papi was!  I told her he was at work.  She slumped over, dragged back up the stairs, got back into bed and pulled the covers over her head.  Well, he was home for her every day for the first 5 weeks!!!  How could he leave her now almost every day!?!

Many monumental occurences have transpired as well.  We got a new dishwasher!  This may not seem that important to others, but we have been hand washing for 14 months….. when we weighed the importance of adoption funds and a new dishwasher….. adoption won… hands down.  But for Christmas, a little bit of everyone’s gift was the new kitchen appliance.  The kids were genuinely thrilled!  When the first cycle was completed, I cracked open the door and breathed in the hot steam that smelled of new appliance!  Sweet mercy, it did my heart good.  When the truck pulled up to deliver it, I did a happy dance in the cul-de-sac that mortified my kids who have known me for more than two months.  Nora, however, thought it was fantastic and joined me!

My husband, the one who owns part of a pest control business finally took the first of his two insecticide exams… and he got 90%!  When he told us, our daughter said, “That’s better than you EVER did in school!”  And it’s almost true.  He is currently studying for bug test #2.  He just read to me tonight the dangers of sitting on a portable potty and disturbing the web of a black widow spider hiding under the seat.   Gross me out.  That adds uneasiness to my already uneasy porta-potty stops.

Nora is totally addicted to riding her bike!  Every single day she asks if someone can go outside with her and watch her ride!  It starts when she is still in her pajamas at the kitchen table…. and continues until dark.  She is a persistent little thing! 

Nora was in complete shock when we first arrived home and she discovered that we don’t watch tv.  We don’t even get any channels.  At first she didn’t understand… so we handed her the remote and she clicked through about 20 totally blurry channels.  Her shoulders slumped a bit!  Then we turned on the movie Winn Dixie in Spanish for her!  She’s been fine with no tv ever since.  Every time she sees a dog, if it’s white she calls it Trixie (our dog) and if it’s brown she calls it Winn Dixie!  So cute!

Nora’s first English sentences are emerging…. slowly.  Yesterday she said, “This is so cute!”  Probably because I say it all the time to her!  She also asks everyone, “Are you ok?”  We respond and ask her the same.  She replies, “I’m ok.”  I wondered if she was just repeating or if she understood it.  Then she wiped out on her bike and scraped up her hands.  Austin asked her, “Are you ok?”  and she said NO!  Daily she is correcting my pronunciation of Spanish words.  My Spanish is so lame, it’s not even funny.  But we get by.  We’re also discovering many words that must be different in Colombian Spanish than Mexican Spanish. 

Nora went to McDonald’s playland for the first time yesterday.  She wasn’t fond of the food…. go figure!… but she loved the climbing tubes.  She was in there yelling, GWOW! the whole time!  (We don’t know why WOW starts with a G, but it does.)

Our 14-year-old son went to school for the first time in his life today!  We signed him up for a writing course that is 90 minutes on Thursday mornings.  He was pretty excited to be leaving with his sister this morning!  We asked how it was at nerd school (It’s a collection of homeschool kids) and he said there was a kid in his class with Crocs and socks.  Ultimate nerd alert!  Oh well.  Get used to it!

Ciao for now!

Most Talented Mother of the Year!

The City of Phoenix gives out cultural passes at the libraries so uncultured people can go to museums and attractions for free.  They are trying to upgrade the average Phoenician’s cultural experience.  And it’s working.  At least in this house.  “If it’s free, it’s for me!” is a famous quote from my sister…. and I borrow it on occasion.  When the homeschooling bus hits a bump in the road, we go on field trips. It’s a no-brainer…. get out of the house… pronto!  The get out of jail free passes are so handy!

Last Spring, when Spring fever was burning our house down, I gathered passes to the Natural History Museum and the Children’s Museum in Mesa, Arizona.  My then-16 year old daughter was NOT interested, so we kidnapped a fellow 12-year-old friend and ventured off for a day of cultural learning.  I was quite astounded when my then 13 and 11-year-old sons believed me when I told them that they were to assemble ALL of the mammoth sized wooden floor puzzles of dinosaurs in the museum.  They did it.  And I didn’t laugh out loud once.  Then they panned for fake gold for 45 minutes in the hot sun.  If wonders never cease.  They were probably thinking that if they didn’t use up their time, I would drive them back home to their math books.

We exited the Natural History Museum and discovered a gigantic music shop across the parking lot.  It was enormous and contained every musical instrument known to me… and a few more!  Hundreds of horns, drums and guitars in all shapes and colors.  The boys wandered in awe claiming which ones they would buy!  At one point I heard a banjo call my name.  It was just sitting there tempting me like a piece of white chocolate with almonds… I had to touch it and taste its goodness.  The store was pretty noisy, so I figured I could get away with a bit of pickin’ and grinnin’.  I know just enough about stringed instruments to stay in one key…. and then it happened…. my unknown inner-banjo talent played like hot grease on a skillet.  I laugh just thinking about it.  I picked as fast as I could and all three boys turned to face me in absolute amazement… jaws all hanging slack.  “I didn’t know your mom could play the banjo!” our guest spit out.  Without taking their eyes off of me and my banjo, both my boys responded, “I didn’t either!”  It was priceless.  I didn’t know I could play the banjo either.  Well, I really can’t.  But I am a supreme faker.

My boys are writing a book called “The 100 Funniest Things” and my banjo playing made the list!  (Right next to the dog eating a pancake off my son’s head……. don’t ask.)

OK, Back to Adoption News

I knew the follow-up visits would require some MORE paperwork.  However, I was happily getting used to the idea of not doing adoption paperwork.  All that ended with the arrival of today’s mail.  Here is my new list of paperwork for the re-adoption and follow-up visits: child protective services form, service agreement, MORE fingerprinting!!!!, financial forms, medical forms, two checks to write, and five photos for each of four visits.  Sheesh. 

We are hitting a few more bumps in the “Everything in my life just changed” road.  Nora is doing so well, considering that all she is familiar with is gone.  My husband is out of town for work this week and this has added to her stress level.  Everyday we count on our fingers the days until he gets home.  He doesn’t arrive until 11 pm tomorrow night, so I just added another day so I didn’t have to see her disappointed face when she goes to bed without seeing Papi! 

Tonight she learned the hard way that you have to eat dinner before you get chocolate cake.  She said, “Yo quiero torta” (I want cake!) more than 22 times.  I may be nearing 45 but I’m not deaf!  It’s a hard lesson to learn… and occasionally I break the rule myself when no one is looking.  However, this very determined little girl has met her match of strong wills with her mama!  When we first got married (six and a half years before we had kids) my mom bought the book The Strong Willed Child by Dr. James Dobson and gave it to me…. saying that I would need it some day.  Actually, she may have given me her copy!  Thanks, Mom.  I might have to dust it off!