Laurie - is my profile public now? I feel very technically inept.

This is just to show how tired some 3-year-olds get in our house. The kid is SOUND asleep in this position!

I was most excited the other day because I went to one of my favorite stores and an outfit that I previously fell in love with but could not justify purchasing was on sale for 50% off! Now, even at 50% off, it was expensive by my standards. Those who know me well know that I am as frugal as it gets when it comes to clothing. Why? Because I KNOW that the outfit that's $19.50 at the Gap will soon be $6.99, so why should I pay $19.50 for it?

Friends call and say, "You'll never believe the deal I got on this or that for so-and-so" and I say, "Yes I will and I bet it'll be even less expensive in a week!"

At any rate, I splurged because, and I think you'll agree, this is a perfect little number. Of course, she will not be permitted to eat, drink, drool, or move in it because it clearly requires an iron and I don't iron. In fact, the other day I WAS ironing something and all four kids came in independent of one another and asked what that "thing" was.

Grace was with me and she desperately wanted an outfit that matches her sister's. So we picked up this other little ditty. When I came home and checked it out online, I was interested to note that the dresses are the "Grace" style! Coincidence?

In about 10 minutes, the baby's room (from a construction standpoint) will be complete and I can actually start painting, installing woodwork, and flooring. It's going to be a great weekend!

Dedicated to Laurie Hausam

This post is for Laurie Hausam, whom I've not (yet) met, but who's been such a support to me through this process and is not pleased that I haven't posted in weeks (or months, who knows). Laurie has a beautiful family including an incredible new baby daughter from Ethiopia and I just know she's going to continue to be invaluable to me!

Adanise - I got your comment but can't figure out how to connect with you via your blog. Drop me an email at elyons3683@msn.com!

The latest: we're still chugging along! We officially went onto the waitlist on January 11th, and we were, at that time, #14. I don't know exactly what this means in terms of timing, but we were told 2-6 months.

The bedroom is also coming along. We finally have a window! And my bookshelf is taking shape. I found myself in the attic the other night with a saw, some PVC elbows, PVC glue, and a flashlight at which point David had a mini-fit because the contractor was supposed to go up there to move a pipe, however he did not. Therefore, I took it upon myself to do it, but realized relatively quickly that this particular task was far beyond my abilities. So now the contractor has agreed to do it and hopefully that will take place on Sunday.

After that, the room will be officially "finished" from the perspective of needing outside contractors, and I'll get to work finishing the interior. I'm thinking cork for the floor. Nothing definitive yet, but I'm definitely leaning in that direction.

Laurie - I promise I'll post more often!

More soon!

GREAT NEWS!

We got our USCIS clearance today for the adoption from Ethiopia. We had it for Guatemala, but had to request a country change. This means that we can now go on the wait list to be placed with a beautiful baby girl. The projected time frame for this stage is 2-4 months.

I better go get back to work on her room!

More later...

Let There Be Light... I Mean, A Room!

I do believe we almost have a room. I mean, if you consider stark drywall and concrete floor to be a room, but we're much closer anyway.

On other fronts, I thought that once our dossier was submitted we'd go onto the waiting list. However, I learned today that I misunderstood that one (is anyone surprised?). The dossier IS submitted, and it's being reviewed. But we also must have CIS clearance to go on the wait list. We had clearance for Guatemala, so we submitted for a "switch" a couple of weeks ago to Ethiopia. Let's hope they are feeling festive in the CIS office in Phoenix and get that change made pronto!

But with the holidays upon us and folks coming into town and cookies baking (and the sun shining), I can't complain about much.

More to come...

Demolition continues...

We're moving along on the demolition. I called our drywall/framer today to ask him if he remembered that he also had to take down the wall in our bathroom through which one would have to walk (and into which a door therefore must be installed) to get to the baby's room. Do you think his answer was actually "Yes?"

If so, you would be mistaken.

"He did not remember," I thought, "which means he also didn't remember to include that work in his price!" I don't want to pay anyone more than necessary, and I also don't want someone to come into my bathroom with a sledge hammer because there is a portion of our bathroom which will have to be put back together (by me) and it includes tile and, from experience, I can tell you that you want to have to dremel out as little grout as possible down the road. It isn't fun.

Therefore, I saw NO reason not to just start tearing out the bathroom myself. Doesn't that sound perfectly reasonable?

David didn't think so.

I can't appropriately describe the look on his face when he came in wondering about all the hammering and saw the reality of what was causing it.

Of course, Jack came in and announced that he needed Santa to bring him his own tool set --- drill, hammer, and screwdrivers, so that he could get in there with me and really help!

The framer/drywall guy is coming tomorrow morning (I'll believe it when I see it) and will begin his part. In the meantime, I'll continue with my part. I have to get a 4 ft x 6 ft mirror off the wall (it's glued on there thanks to the homebuilder) before David gets home because he has no desire to help me or watch me or even know that I'm doing it.

The real joy: I leave town tomorrow for the weekend to visit Katie, Steve, and Sylvie and so David has to live with this construction over the weekend. Of course, I'm not thrilled either because that means I don't get to wire electrical with Len. But Len said he'd leave some work for me to do on Sunday night or Monday morning. Yeah!

I'm praying that the reference letter we're waiting on will arrive today and I can lug the kids to UPS to overnight our dossier to our agency. That would be a wonderful birthday gift, as my birthday is tomorrow (hint hint).

More soon!

Please hurry, I must get back to work!

I love telescoping drill bits!

How the heck is this thing connected?

When all else fails, go for the hammer.

Grace was home from school today because she was feeling a bit under the weather last night. We had a few errands to run, including Old Navy. While I was in the women's section, she said, "I'm going to go to the kids' section."

Grace is really not all that into clothing (thank goodness). She likes what I buy her and rarely peruses the girls' section of a store. I figured she was just killing time.

About 15 minutes later, she found me and said, "Mom, I was looking for my sister! Look what I found! Isn't this perfect? AND it was on sale!" And here it is.

Come on - is that the cutest thing you've ever seen or what? And the fact that she was paying attention to the sales was extremely validating!

Our dossier should go into the mail tomorrow. FINALLY! This one wasn't bad, but we're just very ready to be back on the wait list!

Luigi Plumbs...Liz solders (sort of)

What an interesting day.

Luigi the Plumber came by around 12:30 to re-route some copper pipes that come out of our water heater in the garage and were in the way of the door to be cut into the baby's room from our bathroom. Now, Luigi is quite a character. He's about 4' 8", 60 years old, and has these crazy blue eyes that you feel like you should be able to see right through. He has a heavy Italian accent, but speaks very good English. He's also seemingly become quite fond of some English expletives, specifically "Son of a b*%^&."

I was telling my mom that I'm not even sure he realizes what he's saying. Sort of like, if you went to Italy and worked in construction and each time there was a snafu another construction guy said, "Holy Pasta," you might start saying "Holy Pasta" each time YOU had a snafu, just assuming that it was as benign as saying, "Oh shoot" (and I suppose that "Holy Pasta" IS more benign than "Oh shoot," so bad example, but...).

Each time something went awry, which seemed to be about every seven seconds, Luigi would either mutter or shout "Son of a B*^&$!" Thankfully, George was asleep upstairs!

I told him of my love of construction and assured him that my presence in the garage had nothing to do with my supervising his work, but instead my desire to see how this was going to come together. He handed me a hammer and told me to start pulling nails out of the 2x6s. First, I had to change my shoes. I made the mistake of wearing brand new Crocs during construction once before. That mistake shall not be made again.

Then, as I start pulling nails, I realize that Luigi is a bit of a "whistle while you work" guy. He's over there humming and whistling Italian songs. So, I start humming Christmas songs because that's all that's in my head right now, despite the fact that it's 70 degrees out. But it is raining today, so it feels a little East coast-ish.

He mentions that my humming is interfering with his. I thought he was joking, but then he turns on this godawful loud mini jackhammer. So I sang louder. But trust me, NO ONE could hear me. That thing was VERY loud.

Then, he turned it off. He returned to humming and swearing, and it occurred to me that perhaps this was some sort of cultural experience and, when in doubt, one should just do as the locals do. This was the justification I gave myself for, whenever a nail was slow to be removed, simply muttering, "Son of a B*^&%!" to myself! It was most cathartic.

But the best was yet to come. It was time to solder the copper piping. I saw the blow torch. I said, with great awe, "Oh, are you going to use that?"

"Yep! Wanna do it?"

"Yes, I do. I really do," I replied.

So, he did a demo on one piece of pipe and then handed me the torch and the soldering "stuff." I never know the technical term for anything. Most things in the world are "thinga-ma-hooches" or "thingys" or "stuff."

I'm there, blow torch in hand, trying to do just what he did, and he's yelling.

"Liz! No! Higher! Lower! On top!"

Now, I think he's screaming, "Try her!" because, as I said, he has a strong accent and the blow torch was loud.

So, I counter with, "I AM trying!"

"No!" he yells. "Higher!"

"What?" I screamed.

At this point, he grabs the blow torch out of my hand and says, "Liz, you make me nervous. You have blow torch right by drywall."

Do you honestly think I didn't know that, Luigi?

He took over at that point, but for 17 seconds, I was soldering my baby's room's copper pipe.

It was at that moment that I vowed that I will have my hands in each of the subcontractor's work to some degree so that I can say I truly worked on each facet of this project.

The concrete guy comes next Friday. Not sure what he'll let me do. But if nothing else, I will draw a little something on the concrete before it dries!

In other, equally magnanimous news, our home study was officially approved today by our agency. That was a big one. Many changes were required from the Guatemalan home study to be in accordance with Ethiopian regulations. One more signature and we can mail our dossier and be on the waiting list for our sweet Ethiopian Princess!

Luigi and his mini jackhammer