I admit it. I am totally addicted to the strangest thing. If I go more than a day or so without it I start to have panic attacks. No, it is not my diet DP (we won't go there). I am totally addicted to audio books. Totally nerdy I know but i can't help it. I can download a lot of them for free now through an e-library and I am completely hooked. I listen while I get ready in the morning, when I am cleaning or doing dishes, while I am doing puzzles with the kids and while I work out. Paxton says it is because I have ADD and have to be doing three things at once. Maybe he is right...
Anyway, I want to put a few recommendations out there for anyone who loves to read but doesn't have time to sit down and for people looking for fun, clean authors to choose from.
-The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Action, romance, mystery, historical fiction and placed in turn of the century Egypt so it is right up my ally. Scores a 9 on the cleanliness scale. The narrator Barbra Rosenblat is fabulous! Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first book.
-Clive Cussler: Fun action books, I prefer the Dirk Pit series and I think my favorite is Inca Gold. Very fun to listen to (for guys too) on a road trip. Scores a 7 on the cleanliness scale for minor swearing and sexuality (for some reason his older books have more of this).
-Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer: Written for a younger audience but is very fun with a lot of humor. First book is Case of the Missing Marquess. 10 on the cleanliness scale.
-Anne Perry: Writes turn of the century murder mysteries. Kind of Sherlock Holmes meets Jane Austin. More serious books with a lot of insight into lifestyle and culture of the time. 9 on the cleanliness scale, very clean but deals with some mature topics.
-No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith: I haven't read all these but I have enjoyed the ones that I have listened to. They are not so much mysteries but entertaining books about live from the perspective of a woman in Botswana. These are very calm books that I like to listen to when life seems chaotic and overwhelming. Somehow I find them very peaceful. 10 on the cleanliness scale.
-The secret garden: I was surprised how much I loved this book. It is also a favorite of my Mom's and it makes me think of her a lot. I read this after I lost my little Colin and really loved that the whole book is about finding and cultivating your own happiness but written in a way that a child would love to listen to it. 10 on the cleanliness scale.
I guess this one addiction that I don't mind passing on to my kids.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Beautiful Baby Girl Turns 4!
Our sweet baby girl turned 4 this month. I know she isn't much of a baby but I totally admit I am in denial. She has been such a joy to have in our family. She has one of those naughty smiles that make it so hard to get mad at her and a laugh that can light up a room. Paxton and I get the biggest kick just watching her run around trying to be as big as her brother and sister. I'm so lucky to have such awesome kids!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thoughts from the check out line
Today while I was standing in the check out line I began wondering when I went from:
"Stay in the shopping cart" and "Use your words" and "Tell me what you want" to
"Stop climbing in the cart," "Please stop talking," and "The next person that tells me they want something will not get a treat."
I have also had time to ponder:
What do you do when you are using the bathroom and one of your kids opens the stall and runs away (this really happened)?
How can I possibly pick the slowest line when my kids all have to go to the bathroom?
Is it coincidence that one child will tell me they need to go two minutes after we pass a bathroom?
Whose bright idea was it to put permanent markers next to the checkout candy? (Avery ended up with baby tattoos on her arms before I noticed)
and when did my three yr old figure out that if you unwrap it, mom has to buy it?
I just got home from Wal-Mart and shopping it three kids. Need I say more...
"Stay in the shopping cart" and "Use your words" and "Tell me what you want" to
"Stop climbing in the cart," "Please stop talking," and "The next person that tells me they want something will not get a treat."
I have also had time to ponder:
What do you do when you are using the bathroom and one of your kids opens the stall and runs away (this really happened)?
How can I possibly pick the slowest line when my kids all have to go to the bathroom?
Is it coincidence that one child will tell me they need to go two minutes after we pass a bathroom?
Whose bright idea was it to put permanent markers next to the checkout candy? (Avery ended up with baby tattoos on her arms before I noticed)
and when did my three yr old figure out that if you unwrap it, mom has to buy it?
I just got home from Wal-Mart and shopping it three kids. Need I say more...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Caught red handed
Today I went and got finger printed for our adoption back-ground check. The ink was red for some reason so I have walked around today with especially pink palms. Paxton had a point when he said it seemed unfair that any idiot could go and get pregnant but to adopt a baby you have to jump through a million hoops. I'm feeling good about things this week. I got all our referral letters in, our background checks are in processes, we have a meeting with LDS social services tonight and will be able to set up our interviews with them, we have appointments for physicals (also necessary) next week, then we can get set up for a homestudy. That is where a social worker comes to your home and makes sure that it is a good environment for a child. That is the biggest hump to get over that. After that we hurry and wait. Today I also found out that we can have our profile placed with the state for children coming out of foster care and are up for adoption. If we do that we would have to make sure that the kids are very young but the gal was telling me that there is a shortage of people that are willing to take African American little boys. I would LOVE that! It would be so cool to have a little dark eyed, dark skinned beautiful little boy. In my dreams I would be able to find a set of brothers that are about 2 and a baby. Honestly, I think I would be thrilled to death to get whatever we get but it is fun to think about. Somewhere out there is a little boy (or two) that is meant to be part of our family and I can't wait until we find him!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Quotes of the week
Bryce: Mom I saw the strangest thing.
Me: What was it?
Bryce: I think it was a donkey-horse.
Me: You're right. Those are strange.
Shaylee (at dinner last night): Look Mom, I made a mashed potato snowman. (It was made of potatoes with peas for eyes and a piece of carrot for a nose.)
Avery(while making play-do worms with Bryce): Mom, do worms have wieners? What is a wiener anyway?
Me: I had a new experience today
Paxton: What was is?
Me: Bryce came up to me while we were at the beach and said "look what I found Mom" and then proceeded to drop a five inch live fish in my lap.
Me: What was it?
Bryce: I think it was a donkey-horse.
Me: You're right. Those are strange.
Shaylee (at dinner last night): Look Mom, I made a mashed potato snowman. (It was made of potatoes with peas for eyes and a piece of carrot for a nose.)
Avery(while making play-do worms with Bryce): Mom, do worms have wieners? What is a wiener anyway?
Me: I had a new experience today
Paxton: What was is?
Me: Bryce came up to me while we were at the beach and said "look what I found Mom" and then proceeded to drop a five inch live fish in my lap.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
more on adoption...
When we found out the first adoption possibility wasn't going to work out, I was upset. Partly for myself and partly for those little boys. They had a grandpa who loved them enough to want them to have a better home than he could give them but the boys parents decided to fight for custody back because they didn't get their welfare check without them.
The last two weeks we had two other possibilities we were looking at. The first was my friend's sister step-daughter. She was 21, pregnant with her fourth by at least two different dads, and the oldest was four. She lived off welfare until the State said she had to get a job. She doesn't like her male children for some reason and the baby she is expecting is a little boy. She had considered adoption on and off for her other kids and had told her step mom that she was having a baby that she never wanted. So we offered to adopt the little boy, and if she wanted, her other little boy that she refers to simply as "the boy." We would have liked to keep them as brothers. Then we heard back that the father of the baby she was pregnant with was considering claiming paternity with this baby (he is the father of he two little girls but wasn't considering claiming them, just a SON). The last message we got said she might as well just keep it.
During this same time a friend of mine that just adopted her second baby told me that her 15 yr old neighbor just had a little red-headed boy. She swore until she was in labor that she wasn't pregnant. She was supposed to be starting her freshman year of high school, her mom has terminal cancer, her dad was unemployed and she also had three younger siblings and then all of the sudden she has a new born baby. If there was ever a perfect situation for adoption, this was it. So, my friend talked with her parents and they said they would be supportive if that is what she wanted. Then yesterday my friend got to speak with the new mom and she decided she wanted to keep her baby.
In each of these I could not help but put my heart on the line. I don't think there is anyway to consider taking a child into your home and family without that connection. But now I am fed up with selfishness and stupidity. I should say something about knowing that this is just one step closer to finding the baby that is supposed to be in our home but I am really just ticked right now.
The last two weeks we had two other possibilities we were looking at. The first was my friend's sister step-daughter. She was 21, pregnant with her fourth by at least two different dads, and the oldest was four. She lived off welfare until the State said she had to get a job. She doesn't like her male children for some reason and the baby she is expecting is a little boy. She had considered adoption on and off for her other kids and had told her step mom that she was having a baby that she never wanted. So we offered to adopt the little boy, and if she wanted, her other little boy that she refers to simply as "the boy." We would have liked to keep them as brothers. Then we heard back that the father of the baby she was pregnant with was considering claiming paternity with this baby (he is the father of he two little girls but wasn't considering claiming them, just a SON). The last message we got said she might as well just keep it.
During this same time a friend of mine that just adopted her second baby told me that her 15 yr old neighbor just had a little red-headed boy. She swore until she was in labor that she wasn't pregnant. She was supposed to be starting her freshman year of high school, her mom has terminal cancer, her dad was unemployed and she also had three younger siblings and then all of the sudden she has a new born baby. If there was ever a perfect situation for adoption, this was it. So, my friend talked with her parents and they said they would be supportive if that is what she wanted. Then yesterday my friend got to speak with the new mom and she decided she wanted to keep her baby.
In each of these I could not help but put my heart on the line. I don't think there is anyway to consider taking a child into your home and family without that connection. But now I am fed up with selfishness and stupidity. I should say something about knowing that this is just one step closer to finding the baby that is supposed to be in our home but I am really just ticked right now.
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