A First for this Mother

I believe I mentioned before on MSJ that my 17-year-old daughter is going to Tanzania, East Africa for three weeks in June…. WITHOUT ME!  She has gone on missions trips before but not to Africa.  This is huge for her…. for her outlook on life… and for me….sending my firstborn to the other side of the planet.  What was I thinking, agreeing to this?  Rick and I have always said that our children will go on missions trips and be aware of the living conditions in other parts of the world.  We think it is highly important for kids from one of the most prosperous nations on the globe to see how MOST of the world actually lives.  It’s not quite like Scottsdale, baby!  Trips like this make you thankful, and sad, and mad, and changed for life!

Larisa is going with a group of 12 people from our church… an amazing group of people who the Lord brought together… who didn’t even know each other six months ago.  Amazing!  They will be working with a home for boys in Moshi called the Emmanuel Center.  The leaders of the trip have been there before (which does this mother’s heart good.) The team will also head out and CAMP with the Masai tribe for three days (which made this mother laugh because Larisa doesn’t prefer camping!)  They will be doing workshops with people with handicaps, holding dental clinics, doing hospital visitation, some light construction, painting and a few church services.  ALL stretching and growing opportunities for my girl!  I’m thrilled that she gets this juncture in her life… it will change her path forever.

Am I nervous? Not really.  Am I scared to send her off?  Not really.  I know the Lord has plans for her…. WAY bigger than I could think of, and He loves her more than I do (hard to imagine!) so He will take care of her.

Everyone on the team needed to raise $3,400 for the trip.  Larisa is getting close… more than 2/3 raised at this point.  How can you help? Bid on an item or two at their auction site: www.MoshiMission.wordpress.com  Or you can make a tax-deductible donation on our church’s site:  https://www.ccvonline.com/Arena/default.aspx?page=12698&requestUrl=%2FArena%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fpage%3D14886

Simply Create a Log-In (so you get a tax receipt).
Select: Moshi, Tanzania Trip
And put: CROSBY in the Blank space.

A sincere Thank You, from deep in this Mother’s heart.

Backyard Update

Sadly, I can’t even get out in the backyard every day to finish my 27 projects.  Slow and steady wins the race. I know. I know.  But slow and steady also leads me into the broiling temperatures of summer in Phoenix. So the pressure is on!

The resurrected gazebo is coming right along…. other than being upside down, on the grass, and not painted. This is the one that flew over the fence and was a mangled mess of canvas and metal. 

My beloved royal blue lobelia are absolutely their happiest right now…. but they won’t last much longer in this heat.

The garden is coming right along…. beans are winning the growing race at the moment, but the zucchini is in a close second.

Lastly, for your viewing pleasure, I scored six of these lovelies at 50% Off Goodwill last Saturday… YES!  Rick scrunched up his nose too at the thought of candles in the backyard, but last night I lit them all and he did think it was lovely, even though he never used the word lovely.

I Lied Today

A survey came in my email box from our adoption agency.  It was a quick ten minute survey on how the agency did, in my humble opinion.  I gave them a good grade, but I lied.  It was the age group thing again.  They were grouped:  30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49….. see the problem???  Had I taken the survey two weeks ago, I would have been in the same age bracket with my husband… the one that started with 40.  But NOOOOOO!  I took the survey today… and lied.

I justified my lying, however, and I’m okay with it.  I’m a bit emotionally spent at the moment…. and all with due reason: tomorrow marks our fourth month home with Nora, our Colombian princess; I started a new eating plan (talk about stress); there is one month left of homeschooling… and we’re not going to be done…. in fact I scrapped half of it a week or two ago and we’re just doing the basics (adding homeschool mom guilt); my daughter leaves for Africa in one month; we just passed tax season (this doesn’t stress me out at all, but it certainly does my husband); I spent the last two days on field trips with high school girls.  Bam!

If there had have been a “45 and 2 weeks” category, I might have been okay with that.  But there wasn’t.  It was the 4-ty-NINE in the same grouping that I had a problem with.  Instead of tears, I checked 40-44.  And I’m okay with that.

Physio-Fly-Swatter-Therapy

Last May we were camping at Lake Pleasant and it truly was pleasant… except for one thing.  BIRDS.  I’m talking about the big, ugly crows that are horrendously noisy.  So noisy at 4:45 in the morning, that their screeching pulled me from my slumber and my from my tent.  I am not a morning person.  Anger comes swiftly and vehemently when I’m annoyed at 4:45 a.m.  Searching for the biggest rock I could find (which isn’t saying much at Lake Pleasant) I took aim and hurled said rock at the pair of crows in the nearby tree.  Thanks to my days in softball, my aim is quite accurate and the birds left the area after the first throw.  The morning was quiet again.

Sadly, I was so mad that I threw the rock with all my might without warming up first.  Yes, you guessed it, I pulled or pushed or injured or tore some muscle or tendon in my right shoulder.  Although satisfied that the offending squawkers were gone, my arm hung limply at my side and I crawled back in my sleeping bag and tried not to cry. 

No, I didn’t go to the doctor.  That would have required a “I threw a rock at some birds” story that I was not proud enough to tell.  Each time I got a massage at the chiropractor’s office, I would ask the gal to go easy on my shoulder.  This was ongoing for eleven long months.  Pain in my shoulder stopped me from lying on my right side…. every single eye-opening night… for eleven months.

THEN…. a fly was in my kitchen.  I hate flies, almost as much as squawking birds, but not quite.  I got the bright yellow fly swatter and stealthily followed the fly’s movements around the kitchen.  Death was immanent.  Finally, it landed on the wall above the kitchen sink.  The fly’s time had come.  I jumped and swung the swatter with gusto and killed the fly!  Hooorrayyyy!  However, something popped in my right shoulder and once again, my arm hung limply at my side.  It was a bit different this time as the pain and limpness was accompanied by tingling that traveled to my fingertips.  Wow! 

Funny thing happened.  My shoulder stopped hurting after that.  Physio-Fly-Swatter-Therapy.  It works, people.

Post Adoption Syndrome

Past Adoption Syndrome.  That’s the only excuse I can come up with.  I’m simply not getting things done like I used to.  Meals aren’t planned… they just appear, quite haphazardly at dinner time.  The clothes aren’t being washed regularly… well, I guess they are.  They get washed the day after I don’t have anything to wear.  This usually corresponds to an un-named son not having any clean underwear either.  My Arizona History students hand in papers and projects and wait weeks before they get them back.  It’s not because I’m blogging either…. I’ve been lax at that as well. (I don’t grade papers past 10:00 pm or kids get grades they don’t deserve depending on how much ice cream I’ve had.) And my couponing has decreased… leaving my cupboards bare.  This explains a LOT about Old Mother Hubbard.

It must be the fourth kid in the house.  She’s an easy kid too.  No complaints from this adoptive mama.  However, she was incessantly talking today…. more than I was appreciating, even though she is practicing her English!  I called my sister-in-law who lives across the street and asked if my nephew could come and relieve me.  He did.  Thank the good Lord.  Nora and Luke talked to each other non-stop for almost three hours.  It is hilarious listening to those two.  Nora is using about 90% English and Luke uses about 5% Spanish, just because he can!  We were driving in the van and they were in the far back seat together.  Larisa and I were in the front two seats and we could not stop laughing listening to those two.  They’re like two old married people who don’t listen to each other and just keep talking over each other.  Good times!

Tomorrow is another day filled to the brim.  My backyard projects are calling to me in the night.  I know I shouldn’t be using my electric sander in the backyard after midnight… but it is so tempting.

My New Theory on Birthday Money Spending

Last year, as you may recall, I received a birthday chair with an ottoman for my birthday.  It is a lovely sage/olive-green color that matches my bedroom decor perfectly.  That was the first year that I was given something other than stuff that is used up…. by that I mean, scrapbooking supplies, clothing, books to read, etc.  And I must say that I sit in that chair almost every single day.  I love it.  I love the light that comes in from the window behind it.  It is comfy and cozy and perfect.

So when this year rolled around and I was asked what I would like for my birthday, I couldn’t think of anything…. because in the back of my mind I was trying to come up with another non-use-up-able item… and I couldn’t.  THEN I went and got my hair cut at my friend Donna’s house… this is not an ordinary hair-cutting gal… this is an uber talented seamstress, tile laying wonder, gardener extreme, decorator magnifique and truly a creative inspiration to me!  I drooled over her back yard.  It is an oasis in Phoenix… flowers and vegetables and vines and fruit trees and stepping-stones and a pond and a covered swing and curtains outside and on and on.

THEN came 50% off day at Goodwill…. the day after my birthday.  Thank you, Jesus! I had a fist full of birthday cash that was burning a hole in my wallet.  (Darla bombed out on me and I had to go alone!)  The first Goodwill I entered… was, well, disappointing.  I left empty-handed… except for my fist full of money. Absolutley nothing to get my creative juices flowing.

Upon entering the SECOND Goodwill store, I didn’t even get a cart because I didn’t really expect to find anything.  Well, after seven minutes in the store, I had a pile of things on the floor… and no cart.  I spied a large plastic tub that was for sale… I used it as my wheel-less cart to drag my goods to the front while holding various other items in my free hand.

I have been admiring outdoor “rooms” for years.  I have pages and pages that I have ripped out of magazines and saved for such a time as this.  The time had come.  Goodwill was a shabby chic gardeners house of glory that day!  I stuffed the back of the van and still had half of my birthday cash left over!  Sweet mercy, I was thrilled.  Of course, to the untrained eye (which is MOST of my family) it looked like other people’s junk …. at 50% off.  But NO!  I have visions of grandeur coming!

This was my favorite find… a vintage mirror with a carved wooden frame.  And I paid $4 for it!  Unreal!  In an antique mall it would be over $100 I’m sure! Yes, I plan to hang it outside.  It was $4!  Why not?

Next we have the top of what will be my garden hutch.  I’ve already sanded it down to shabbier chic and I’m painting the back wall green. A table is needed for it to sit on….. and the next 50% off day is only 10 days away!  The plan is to put hooks for my tools, baskets for my gloves, cutesy jars for seeds, etc.  Just you wait!

This next item was a GOLDMINE!  Shutters are so hard to find… and in the window casing is just icing on the cake!  $8!!!!  My plans for these have been varied and not finalized at this point.  But in the backyard they will go for all to see and admire.  Donna hinted at planting herbs in them…. ohhh!

I’ve always been drawn to candles in the garden and when I spied this baby, I grabbed onto it like a flea on a fat coon dog.  (We are reading Where the Red Fern Grows right now.)  There were also eight votives that fit it… unmatching, of course.  Yes, the leaves are mirrors…. $2!  I know!  $2!

Several times I’ve seen shabby wooden ladders used in the garden… and lo and behold, my shabby ladder was at Goodwill when the birthday money was in my fist!  $5!  Shut the front door!  $5! I’ve already painted it white!  I’m gathering pots and birdhouses to set on the steps.

Soon I will have photos for you of my boring block-walled backyard that was transformed into a sweet sanctuary of delight that draws you from the house, no matter the soaring temperatures.  Really.

FORTY-FIVE!

No, that’s not 45 more days of school!!!  (There’s only 33!)  Today I embarked upon this milestone in my life…. half of 90 years old.  It’s not that bad.  Other than not being able to read some of the tiny print on my birthday cards and the plant ID tags that I received.  Okay, or the free movie popcorn tickets.  Thankfully the numbers on currency are really big and always in the corner!  Yes, it’s my birthday!

How did I spend my day?  Oh, not exactly as planned, let me tell you!  Sleeping in was a wonderful pleasure.  After all these years, it still rates right up there with reading novels and gardening! After sauntering down stairs, I discovered my daughter cooking up my yum yum yummy breakfast… homemade apples and cinnamon oatmeal and special scrambled eggs!  Thank you, Larisa!  BUT, half way through my breakfast, I realized it was 10:30 am and I was going out to lunch with some friends at 11:15!!  So I put my birthday breakfast in the fridge for tomorrow!

Birthday lunch was fun with seven sweet friends!  Lots of laughs and turtles.  (Remember, my un-wanted turtle collection?  It is continuing!… potholders, garden kneeling pad, RING, etc. etc.) Thanks, Friends!

Upon returning to the castle, my son tells me that he wants to take a short cut over the canal to his friend’s house.  He tells me that he balances on this little pipe over the water WHILE carrying his bike.  I say NO!  He said it’s perfectly safe, as would any 14-year-old lad whose brain is saturated with testosterone.  I say NO!  So he drags me out to the canal to see the balancing pipe.  Well, it IS perfectly safe.  It is over the canal, but the canal goes under a HUGE cement overpass at that point.  There is a pipe…. but it is next to a wall that he leans on for balance.  And the water it is over is a puddle… only 12 inches below him… and eight inches deep.  So I let him go.  All is well, ….. but no. 

Nora was with us on the dangerous pipe exploration trip and went down on her hands on the ground in some cactus.  OUCH!  The spikes are as thin as hairs and my 45-year-old eyes can’t see them.  We arrive home and I google how to remove cactus thorns.  Lo, and behold!  I love google!  I spent the next hour smearing Elmer’s school glue on her hands in two layers and waiting for it to dry.  I peeled it off like sunburned skin and the ouchy was no more!  I love google.  Did I mention that?

Off to a birthday party at my parents and VOILA!  I survived my 45th birthday without scars.

Pumpkin Pie Pudding

Anyone remember when the pumpkin shortage was announced back in the Fall of 2010??  Well, I, for one, was not going to be short on pumpkin come Thanksgiving time.  I stocked up when I found the cans of orange goodness in a local store.  Then we got our adoption referral and left for Colombia the day before Thanksgiving.  You guessed it, I didn’t cook anything with pumpkin last Fall.  When Christmas rolled around, we had been home from Colombia with our new daughter for three days…. and cooking anything was not on my list.  I was in survival mode.

Fast-forward three-and-a-half months to this week, and envision me standing in front of my pantry staring at cans and cans of pumpkin.  It was raining, even hailing, outside… yes, we still live in Phoenix!  Pumpkin cooking time had arrived and I was ready to fully embrace it.  I searched through the cupboards and took inventory.  Next, I went to www.supercook.com and typed in the ingredients from my pantry.  They ALWAYS can come up with a recipe for you no matter how strange your items are!  Amazing!  Well, I didn’t have any cooking oil, so that severely limited my pumpkin choices, but one did catch my eye…. Pumpkin Pie Pudding.  Sounded divine.  I was salivating thinking that in an hour or so, I could be savoring a yummy pumpkin dessert.

Not so.  As it turns out, the recipe I found was yummy, and easy, and quick to prepare…. but it was a slow-cooker recipe.  SEVEN to EIGHT long hours in the crock pot were required before I could partake of non-shortage pumpkin goodness.  I prepared it anyway… and 10:00 at last night. 

When my husband’s alarm went off this morning at 5:00, I asked him if he could turn off the crock pot.  He replied in the affirmative…. but failed miserably to act on his promise once he arrived downstairs.  When I strolled into the kitchen at 8:15…. yes, it was too late to resuscitate the supposed-to-be-orange-now-dark-brown dessert.  Pumpkin Pie Pudding had morphed into Dark Pumpkin Brick from the HOT place.  Sadly, I got a spoon from the utensil drawer to investigate the darkness inside the pot.  To my surprise, it actually was yummy pumpkin pie pudding, encased in a thick skin.  I scraped off the top layer and removed the savory remains to a separate dish.  YEAH! 

All was not lost.  PPP was a wonderful, cold weather treat today!

Linda, Linda, Quite Contrary

Garden Update #2.  The good news: Plants are sprouting!!!  The bad news: the dog buried a sock in the green onions.  Boooo!  I’m so impressed with the power in a seed!  Life… all dried up and shriveled… bursting forth into green goodness.  Does my heart SO good.  I go out several times a day and stare at the garden barrels.  Here are some photos to make you purely envious of my amazing gardening ability. (We’ll see if we’re all envious after the Phoenix sun does its duty in June and July!)

That is the spinach popping up their little heads toward the sunlight.

Little peas all straight in rows. (Thankfully I could see those seeds.  The carrots aren’t in straight rows at all.) Next is a cute and dainty green bean doing its thang.

Those pictures were from Saturday.  Here are the pictures from TODAY… only two days later!

Peas on the left and beans on the right.  The no-man’s-land in the center is going to be peas too, but they were planted 4 or 5 days later than the rest.

Bringing up the rear of the photo montage is the two zucchini plants…. soon to be the SOLE zucchini plant.  If you have ever planted and harvested this yummy squash, you know the SECRET to raising zucchini….. you only need ONE plant per family!!!  We learned the hard way, 18 years ago, when there were only two of us and we planted eight zucchini plants.  I believe we lost some friends that summer after we filled their car with the prolific vegetable!  Good times!

Pink Foamy Rollers!!!

Yes, Nora was initiated into the pink foamy roller beauty treatment last night!  It was her first time ever having curlers in her beautiful, long black hair.  Her hair has some natural curl to it, so it held the curls all day without spray.  The real deal was…. we were practicing for Easter.  I didn’t want an afro on Easter Sunday for my darling Colombian princess.

Growing up, my sister and I wore these foamy pink wonders every single Saturday night… so we, along with all the other girls at Sunday School, mirrored Shirley Temple with bouncy ringlets to show off our mother’s talent at rolling hair.  My sister reminded me that she always sat and watched the Lawrence Welk Show while her hair got rolled.  I just remember Dippety-Do and staring in the bathroom mirror until the rolling was complete.  Being a Crosby, I discovered that my sisters-in-law also endured the pink foamy wonders… but theirs were topped off with a kerchief to hold the rollers in place all night long.  Great idea.  I found a 1980′s rock star bandana in Rick’s drawer and tied up the rollers for beddy-bye-time.

Nora asked LOTS of questions regarding this styling technique.  Did YOU wear them?  Did LARISA wear them?  Will the boys laugh at Nora?  Nora is supposed to SLEEP with these in???  And on and on.  She did tell me, “Ma, you is good at dis.”

This morning, some of the rolled hair was still damp, so we waited until noon to take them out.  Nora was VERY impressed with the results and decided that curly hair would go nicely with her new Easter dress that Grandma got her! (Side note on the dress selection: Nora was picking racy looking dresses of shiny polyester with gathers across the middle, glitter on the fabric, sleeveless and mini skirts!  Egads!  Grandma was holding up nice cotton gingham dresses with butterfly pockets……thankfully Nora settled for cotton and some butterflies… but no gingham.)

Here is the latest in Shirley Temple look-alikes.

That was right after the curlers came out!  The rest are after a whole day of playing!