Orphans and Jewelry - Oh my!!!!

Saving orphans and shopping - my two of my most favorite things!



Amazing Holly at A Purpose Driven Life is trying to adopt (or, as she says UNorphan) another special needs child from China, a little girl named Eliana, to join her wonderful family. Her friend Sarah, also an adoptive Mom of a special needs child, has her own fabulous Etsy shop and she believes so strongly in special needs adoptions that she has offered to give Holly an entire DAY to fundraise through her Etsy shop!! On July 6th all day- ALL orders through her shop that reference Elaina's adoption will benefit Holly's Elaina Adoption Fund!! Yahoo!!!

Here's how it works...click HERE to go to Sarah's Etsy shop..Sarah's Treasure Box.



Take a look at the super affordable and absolutely adorable pendant necklaces she has to offer. The average price is just $10 per necklace..and it is for the whole package...not just the pendant. She also places them in beautiful organza bags perfect for gift giving!



These necklaces appeal to ALL age groups. Holly's 15 year old son has his eye on the guitar bottle cap necklace!! These are wonderful and affordable gifts for birthdays, Christmas (stocking stuffers in July!!), teacher appreciation gifts, encouragement gifts or any gift giving occasion!!



It may not seem that such an inexpensive purchase could help Holly's adoption but it will all add up! Holly's goal is for Sarah to sell 100 necklaces on July 6th for littlr Eliana's adoption! That would be a HUGE blessing in her endeavor to UNorphan another precious treasure with special needs.



Would you consider purchasing a necklace or a few necklaces and setting them aside for Christmas gifts...I know, shopping for Christmas in July...but it is for such a great reason! :) I'm buying a few to donate to The Other Mother's Annual Charity Auction that raises funds for the Large Community Youth Organization for Inner City Kids that she runs. I know you could find a reason to but one or two or three (cuz they are sooo stinkin' cute)



Please, would you spread the word? In fact, this means so much to Holly that she will personally purchase a necklace to GIVE away to a winner of a random drawing if you will spread this on your facebook or blog page or both...just leave Holly a comment letting her know if you put it on your FB page, blog or both. And if you twitter (I don't) that counts too!



One entry per place you post about it! Let her know at her blog

Here's the skinny/recap:




On July 6th ONLY- shop Sarah's Treasure Box
Make SURE you leave a note when checking out that you are purchasing for Holly's Elaina fundraiser or Holly won't get credit for the purchase.
Check out Sarah's Treasure Box Etsy shop here to see what you want but don't buy until the 6th.
You do have to register to use Etsy but it is super easy and painless! Just pick a username, email account and password and voila! You pay online and it's done in a few clicks of the mouse!



To be entered in Holly's Giveaway....simply leave her a comment for EACH time you share about her Elaina Fundraiser on July 6th. (so a comment if you blog, a comment if you FB it and a comment if you Tweet it) Make sure you leave her your email address if you win. At the end of the day on July 6th she will draw a winner from those of you who commented that you shared the love and she will notify you that you have won a free necklace of your choice from Sarah's Treasure Box!




Happy Shopping!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday To Me

Today I celebrate my Birthday. I have crept ever closer to the half century mark and am so grateful to be here. So far today I have slept late (sharing my bed with one dog and two cats), sipped delicious coffee in bed brought by The Other Mother, read some of my favorite blogs, and will soon head to the library and lose myself in the stacks for an hour or so. I'm looking forward to lunch later today at my favorite restaurant with two amazing women from my Mountain Top Moms Group (a group of Foster/Adoptive/Special Needs MOMS WHO GET IT). My afternoon will be capped off with a stop at Sal's Boutique (because it is, after all, Half Price Wednesday at my favorite kids/baby clothing boutique: Salvation Army). On the way home I'll probably stop at the bank for dinner money (we have a sitter and I'm going out to dinner with the Other Mother). Oh - and the boys are on a field trip to a Water Park with the large community youth organization The Other Mother runs. Hopefully, they'll be too tired to aggravate the babysitter tonite. Fed*Ex just left the driveway delvering the best birthday present so far....a large green footlocker-trunk which will hold ONE MONTH'S worth of Bobby's clothes for Summer Camp in New Hampshire.

A day of my favorite things. Bliss.

Today is a far cry from how I spent my last birthday...Thank goodness.

I'm A World Class Snoop - And Not Very Proud Of It

I admit it. I'm a snoop. I read a facebook post that led me to another facebook post that lead me to a post by my son's Bio Mom. And I looked. At her wedding dress. Wedding dress???? Way tooooo much information.

Ewwwwwwww. It was like coming upon a car accident - you know it's awful, but you can't help but look. I feel smarmy and slimy and not very proud of my behavior.

And tomorrow or next week, I might just check on her again.

So, Which Way Do You Want It?

My son has stopped speaking to me. Not the adult son. The 11 year old. The one that pretty much relies on me for just about everything and monoploizes all attention has stopped talking to me whenever possible. When he does speak to me it is purely on an information and fact gathering mission.


Here are some examples from the five or six times he has directly spoken to me since yesterday:

What's for lunch?
What's for dinner?
So, is Alex buying that house?
What time are we leaving for Vermont?

I've been going back-n-forth with being totally annoyed with him ignoring my presence(and pouting like an 11 year old myself...) and totally grooving on the fact I am invisible and have caught a break from his incessant need to have 1:1 attention(and, again, gloating like an 11 year old myself...). Geesh.

God love her, The Other Mother is a realist.

When I complained and gloated all in one sentence she sighed and very patiently remined me that I needed to decide: "Which way do you want it? You can't have it both ways."

I can't? Why not?? Who says???

Being the big girl that I am, I pouted a little and ignored her.

Wordless Wednesday: HOUSE HUNTING

Too Kool For Summer Skool ?

James told me before his last visit "I hate to break it to you, but I think I want to stay here a long time." Uhhh. Quick, quick...What do I say????? "Great! We'd like you stay a long time, too. But - you need to tell your Social Worker and therapist and the people that make decisions how you feel. You need to be honest with them because they help decide what things are going to look like." He told his Social Worker he'd like to stay here and live with us - but maybe his Mom could live next door and he could visit her. Geesh.

James had a visit yesterday afternoon with his Bio-Mom and a visit two weeks ago with his Bio Mom and and dog. It's awkward to say here, but before the visit he talked constantly about seeing his dog at the visit or about getting to toss the football with his Social Worker at the visit. Not so much about Mom. Hmmmm. I think he is releived of the burden of having to truly worry about her and parent her daily..now he can worry about her and miss her in more of am abstract way...I dunno.

Talked to James two weeks ago about the summer school letter I got from his guidance counselor in early June. I told him I'd rather do our own litle Summer School/Home School thing rather than sending him to summer school at the Junior High. He was excited and we talked about how that might look (reading the same book at the lake then asking each other questions... doing some math worksheets...going to the library and researching cool questions like he had just asked (does the moon move or does it stay right there all the time?)

I am certain we can accomplish more in a half an hour than he can do at the school in 3 hours with all the distractions of his peers. Plus if we are not tied to summer school, we can expose James to some "cultural opportunities" (translated: travel and go on vacation as a family)and more "positive influences" (in other words, avoid the teen punks he follows in school and gets in trouble with). We already talked to the Social Worker about this (and the Guidance Counselor, School Adjustment Counselor, Special Ed teacher and Math teacher). We were given the "go-ahead" and a nice workbook from the Math techer at his IEP last week. James hasn't "seen" it yet although it sits on the kitchen counter in plain view....


Let me say I am in AWE of homeschooling Moms and am in no way pretending I can do homeschooling...I am confident, however, that I can do the remedial worksheets on the Dept of Ed website. I have a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Ed and a Master's degree in Ed. I've spent 10 years working Special Ed in Elementary and High School. Junior High School Math worksheets can't be that hard to do...

The question is ....can I do them WITH James????

I'll keep you posted.

I Love Kale. Really

I love KALE. Really.

Slice a bunch of well rinsed, still wet Kale into thin ribbons
Stalks are OK and add crunch
Place in a lidded frying pan with just a dash of water since kale is already wet
Steam in for a few minutes until bright green and barely wilted.
Dump into a bowl of icy cold water to capture the color and stop the cooking
Drain in a colander
Squeeze out excess water with your hands
Dump in a big bowl
Add
1/4 cup lemon juice (or "Real Lemon")
1/4 cup lite soy sauce
Several shakes of sesame seeds
Toss
Let sit for a few minutes
Serve warm or refrigerated
Eat
Enjoy