The last two months have been exhausting! We have had a family vacation that ended in us driving home at the drop of a hat, the loss of K's job, overtime like crazy for me, and a new (totally awesome) job for K that was started this week. All this while wading the adoption path makes it an exhausting time.

Last night I got to hem pants for the first time, and I discovered that I am not great at this task. I don't know if it is because the pants are slightly tapered at the end or I was just doing something horribly wrong, but they are by no means professional.

Luckily he is seated for the majority of his job, they are black, and they are passable. I have four more pairs to work on tonight so I will see if there is a tutorial out there that can help the rest turn out better.

This post isn't thrilling, so I will throw in something interesting that I discovered recently about this blog. Apparently I am more popular in Russia than in the USA. I don't know how people are even finding this blog, but I got a kick out of that fact.

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass

I found this song today and am in LOVE with it.  It is catchy, upbeat, and has a good message about loving yourself presented in a fun way.  I recommend that everyone spends 3 minutes and listens to it!

Kiddo website searches

It is amazing how many sites there are to find kids on. There are a couple bigger sites that have kids from all states, then there are some so specific that they only have ones from a certain county.
The other part that is difficult to get is the kiddo's information. I'm not talking about their full life story, I understand why that isn't out there for the world to see. The part I struggle with is the sites that only show a picture and a name. If they had ages and even a quick checklist of if the kiddo has severe medical/behavioral/emotional needs, that would be AMAZING!
What would be even better is if there was just one website that anyone (with an approved home study) could log into and see all the adoptable kiddos in the country. That would mean that every state would have to use the same software, but then the information could be automatically uploaded, it would save caseworkers time, hopeful parents time, and would help more kiddos be adopted because you would have one place to look instead of 50+.
Someone needs to get on this!

Twists and turns

We have news exciting enough to start this blog back up again.  WE ARE ADOPTING! Now I know at this point I am writing this to myself, but my mind is so crazy right now that I need somewhere to put my thoughts down.

K and I decided to start this journey in January and since then we have completed all our training, gone through our home-study, and are now in the waiting process.

Going through the foster care system for adopting is an interesting process.  We did hire a private company (www.afamilyforeverychild.org) to complete the home study and to have a caseworker dedicated to our family.

At this point in our journey we are playing the waiting game.  There are TONS (I mean like a crazy number of tons) of websites that have kids on them.  We have to find a kid (or siblings) that we feel would be a good match for our family, send in an inquiry on them, and then wait to hear back...or not hear back.  We've sent in applications on so many kids  I think I've lost count.

I will try my hardest to keep this updated through our process and the eventual expansion of our family!

Co-op

Last week my husband and I decided to try something new. We joined a co-op and yesterday was our first pickup. The group we joined is Bountiful Baskets.  The first time cost for a basic basket is $19.50.  After that it's $16.50 ($15 for the produce and another $1.50 for processing).  I am so glad we did it! The things we got are yummy, in great condition, and there is a nice variety. This is now going to be at least once a month thing.

Last night I made one of the bundles of asparagus.  I put oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and a little cayenne on them, baked it and they turned out delicious! I also made a baked potato for my husband and he loved it.  the other nice thing is that anything that him and I don't like, we can give to our tortoise (more on her later)!

Garnier Olia

I have another amazing freebie to tell you about. As a Bzzagent I get to try out new products for free and tell other people about them. The newest one I tried was Garnier's Olia hair color. First, the bottle you mix the color in is super cute. It is shaped like a teardrop, which is funny because nothing about this makes you want to cry....BECAUSE there is no icky ammonia smell! YAY! It was so nice coloring my hair with the door closed and no dogs running under my feet or a husband poking his head in. The coverage is fantastic too. I colored my hair tow weeks ago and haven't noticed it fading yet. I do wish there was a larger selection of shades. I did go darker than I normally would have, but I am just holding onto hope that is because it is still new and they are developing more colors, or that the store I went to just hadn't gotten them all in yet. Overall I give it 4.5/5 stars for an at home color. The only reason it didn't get a full 5 is because, compared to many other at home colors, it was on the higher end of the price scale at $9/kit. If you could find a coupon or sale, I say go for it and try this out!
 

Shick Hydro Silk

So I received a Shick Hydro Silk razor for free recently by being a Bzzagent and I have to say, I'm in love! It feels amazing.  The moisture serum is really nice.  Not slimy or a dry powdery bar across the top of the razor.   I am thrilled and have fully switched over.  It's the only razor I'll use now.  I also love the fact that it comes with a suction cup to hang in your tub so you don't have to lay it down somewhere and it's always just right there ready for to be used.  This razor gets all the thumbs up for me!