HODGE PODGE

That's what I have for you today.

We got a new kitchen faucet today! Our old one suddenly had about 10% of the normal water pressure. The landlord couldn't figure out what the problem was, so he gave us a new one. Goodbye to the faucet with two knobs and hello to the faucet with one handle.

Silas spent Tuesday on Mt. Hood with the grade school group from church. He had a blast!! He also lost a mitten, a pair of gloves, and a brand, spankin' new sweatshirt. Stinker. We're hoping those things will be in the lost and found on Sunday. Time will tell. Anyway, the church finally got pics from the trip up on the grade school blog. You can see a movie of Silas tubing down the mountain, or pics of him scarfing pizza (last pic), his back as he pulls up the rear of his group trudging up the mountain (third pic), forming snowballs (last pic), and getting loaded onto his tube by Big Silas (second pic).

I just finished a book last night, which I'll include in my book list for this month in a few weeks, about a place called Hope Meadows. Oh my! This place is simply amazing. If there was something comparable in the Portland area, then we'd be doing everything we could to move in. Check it out right here.

New sheets!! Perhaps we're a little behind the times when it comes to linens, but we weren't aware that fleece sheets existed until a month ago. I just got back from Fred Meyer, where I got a set of blue fleece sheets ... at half price ... with a gift card. Can't beat that, huh? Our bed needs to be replaced and we'd like to go up from a full to queen. So, I bought the sheets in queen and am off to find a free or cheap bed on Craigslist. Woo hoo!!

As a bargain shopper, I'd encourage anyone who needs winter clothing or household stuff to get it now. Prices are slashed everywhere! In fact, I'll be getting next year's Christmas Eve gifts (new jammies) for the kids in the next week or two. I refuse to pay full price for anything unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

Naomi is cutting four teeth. She also came down with a cold on Christmas night. It's been a long week. That's all I have to say about that.

Remember how I told you that Ciara was gone? Well, I had bookmarked her personal site and one day it was unavailable. I hadn't been to the main site since then. Until a week ago, that is. That's when I saw her pic on the site, though her personal site still comes up as unavailable when I click on her pic. Oh my heart! Is she gone or not?! I e-mailed NWAE and they said her case worker put her on hold. I have no idea what that means, though I'm assuming it's like "sale pending" on a house. I wrote back to get more info, but haven't heard anything yet. You guys, she stole my heart. I realize the chance of her becoming a W is slim to nothing, but the yo-yo of she's there/she's not there is killing me.

In other adoption news, we will probably use our tax refund to pay for a home study. Just another step in getting our ducks in a row. We don't know when we'd adopt a child, but we want to be ready when the right one comes along.

Devon has spent almost the entire week in jammies. He loves jammy days!!

The boys and I were the only ones who went to church on Sunday. As we were waiting for church to start the man next to me asked if Silas was adopted. I haven't been asked that in a really long time. Generally I respond to that with "no he's not and if you knew my husband, then you'd be asking if Devon was adopted". However, my brain temporarily left my body and I just said "nope". "So, they're both yours?". "Yep". Now, I know some people will get their panties in a wad over that conversation, but it doesn't bother me. It just comes with the territory. And if you're someone who is offended by such a conversation, then please make sure you only marry, conceive or adopt people who have the same skin tone, nose width, eye fullness, and hair texture as yourself. Just sayin'.

And that's that. I'm off to make lunch and look for a bed.