A life in progress

I posted last week about our first adventure(s) in foster care and a lot of people have been asking me "what's next" or "what now."  So, I thought it was probably time for an update.  It's been a difficult decision, and one we haven't taken lightly, so we've spent a lot of time deciding what was right for us and for future foster children. Our experience with J and Baby P taught us a couple of things: 1.  We are NOT prepared for this.  It's kind of like your first teaching job.  You were a student teacher, you took all the classes and wrote all the papers, have some lesson plans prepared and all sorts of stuff, but then the first day of class arrives and you realize you have a lot of book smarts, but zero idea of what you're doing. Even though all of our friends have been so amazing (a special shout out here to Val, who was a total lifesaver in more ways than one), and so giving, we found ourselves at a loss.  At one point, I had ba...

So after all of the months and all of the paperwork, Mike and I are finally licensed foster parents.  The interviews and forms and inspections are over (at least for now) & the day we have anxiously awaited for months has arrived.  We can receive placements of foster children, either a single child or a sibling pair under five (think baby and toddler). We were very excited last week when we got a call asking us to take placement of two young boys - a three month old baby and a three year old toddler.  We were told they had basically been abandoned by their mom - she was MIA and there were no relatives available to take them.  Since they'd already been in foster care about a month, the case worker told us this would likely be a long term placement with a potential for eventual adoption.  They were currently in separate foster homes and the case worker was looking for a home where they could live together for the duration.  We thought it sounded like a ...

Just before Christmas,  Influenster  sent me their #FrostyVoxBox as a holiday gift.  In exchange, I'm supposed to write about it and tell everyone what I think.  This is actually the third such box I've received in the past year or so, but it's the first time that they've asked me to post my thoughts on my blog.  I have liked the past boxes they sent me, but this one seems the most like things I would actually buy -- with the exception of the makeup colors. (If you want free stuff as well, sign up with  Influenster  - it's totally free and you really don't have to do anything.  If you meet their target demographic, they'll send you a box of stuff.  They ask that you post on Facebook/Instagram/etc in return.  If you have questions, just ask me and I'll be happy to explain... it's pretty easy.) So, this is what I got.  It's sort of hard to see everything - but it included 1.  Rimmel Gentle Eye Makeup Remover 2.  Ri...

For the past week or so, I have been deeply enjoying my vacation with no where to go and a minimum of grown-up pants.  The amount of time I've been spending in my pajamas in almost obscene, and I've accomplished virtually nothing.  I have, however, taken some of this time to experiment with some of the many Pinterest boards I've collected in the past couple of years. From time to time, I do scroll through my boards and pick out recipes to try and the occasional craft project to tackle.  This week, I decided to amp it up a little bit and try a few different things.... mostly sweet things, but I must admit that I've been impressed by the results.  Here's the wrap-up (to date) 1.  Delicious homemade toffee.  It called "salted dark chocolate almond toffee" and reported to be the most delicious toffee in the world.  I have not been everywhere in the world, but it is pretty delicious. The blogger has gone through the trouble of screwing up toffee...

2014 is winding to a close, and everyone is making  Facebook year in review  slideshows.  It's really kind of an awesome concept.  Facebook has chosen some random photo albums, posts and pictures from the year and turned them into a little presentation.  In creating and watching mine (which I've since watched a dozen times), I realized how awesome my year was! While the year is not quite over yet -- and knowing me, things could go crazy in the next 8 days, I thought I'd take a few minutes to be thankful for the amazing year I had.  It's sort of like Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years all rolled into one... talk about crazy. Of course, I am thankful for my wonderful husband.  We had an amazing year together & I am ever-grateful that I found him.  The adventures we had this year were unparalleled and something I never could have come up with in my wildest dreams.  While the year started on sort of a sour note (failed IVF), it only...

I really love the holidays.  As I mentioned in my last post, it's not so much the holidays themselves, but the fact that I can hang out in my pajamas for days on end.  I shower and change into new pajamas every day, and occasionally put on grown-up pants to leave the house, but mostly it's me and my doggies hanging out watching Law and Order marathons. Between USA, TNT, Bravo, Cloo, and Sundance, some form of Law and Order always seems to be on some channel.  Of course, if I ever get desperate, I do own the entire original series on DVD.  Despite the fact that I've seen EVERY episode - many of them more than once, I still like to settle down to a good marathon - especially the odd "themed" marathons.  But, I love it.  Most of the time I don't even actively watch it; I just use it as background noise while I'm doing other things around the house.  I like the predictability and patterns.  Sometimes the outcome is a "surprise twist", but the chara...

It is my favorite time of year.  Not necessarily the holidays, but it is that magical time when I don't have to go anywhere, or do anything, except hang out at home in my pajamas and watch movies with my dogs.  According to TimeHop, that's what I do around this time every year.  The sheer number of "wearing pajamas and watching movies" Facebook posts in late December is almost frightening. This year, Mike is out of town for a few days, so I have even less motivation than usual.  Paris, Lily, Bill and I have been watching TV and baking Christmas treats for the past two days, and let me tell you - divine.  While, granted, I've been doing the bulk of the baking and the pups are mostly sitting in the kitchen and waiting for me to drop things, it all works out. I do feel extra-justified in my mini-hibernation this year.  On Thursday night, we had our final DFS inspection in preparation for taking in foster children.  We worked and cleaned for days getti...