119 of 365...Date Night At The Clinic

First of all, I'm not sure why I continue to number my blogs. It's not like I am going to actually write 365 blogs this year. And as for the picture blog, yep not going to happen. I just find myself taking the same types of pictures and those tend to get pretty boring.

Anyway, now to the latest on the adoption process. One of the things Geek Boy and I are required to do for the adoption is get a TB test done. Insurance companies will not cover the test so it's very expensive to go to the doctor. Care Now wanted $77 for each test. The Health Department does them for $20 but only on certain days, which did not fit our schedule. So after doing some Google searches I found that CVS Minute Clinics do the testing for $27. I immediately called Geek Boy and asked him if we could have a date night. Of course who could say no to going to the clinic and getting stuck with a needle that could possibly cause a huge knot on your arm?

So after dropping Older Drama Queen off at youth group, we headed out to get our tests. It was pretty painless. She just stuck a needle under the skin of our arm and that was that. We had to wait 48 hours to see if a knot appeared on our arms. So she instructed us to come back Friday evening and have them evaluate our arms and they would give us official paperwork saying we're negative. What did that mean....woohoo...a bonus date night at the clinic.

Geek Boy and I took Older Drama Queen to dinner Friday night and then we went back to the clinic where I'm happy to announce, we do not have TB.

In other adoption news, we FINALLY signed up for all of our classes. Looks like by the end of July we'll have all of our classes wrapped up and will be able to schedule the Home Study. In the meantime, we HAVE to finish baby proofing this house.

We are trying to mark off a few things each week from the list so we're not scrambling around in August in a panic to get stuff crossed off.

118 of 365...First Training

Geek Boy and I attended our first training session for the adoption. It just absolutely baffles me how much training we have to go through in order to save a child and to get them out of the system. All the while, in most cases the mom and/or dad are not providing adequate care and are in no way shape or form able to take care of an innocent child. But it's like we are guilty until proven innocent.

But with that being said, we are still trudging forward with the process. It looks like we can finish 90% of our training classes by the end of July. There are a lot of what if's in this process. But we are certain that some place out there is a boy that is ready to join our home. It's just very overwhelming to hear of the "baggage" these kids come with.

There probably won't be any new developments for a couple of weeks. Our case worker is on vacation next week and we aren't scheduled to take another training class for two weeks. We may postpone the class due to a scheduling conflict. In the meantime, we are still organizing and decluttering the house. My goal tomorrow is to finish painting the hallway and then the next thing I want to do is clean out the pantry to get all of the chemicals out of a child's reach. Basically we need to baby proof our house. My 19 month old niece is coming over in a few weeks and I think she'll be able to help us out in that area...LOL

117 of 365...That Was Easy

If you're my Facebook friend or any kind of friend to me, you will know that this tearing down wallpaper project has been a bit off a....challenge (to say the least).

It all started 4 years ago (almost to the day that I'm writing this). There was a little piece of wallpaper pulling up and I had been contemplating taking it down and redecorationg so I thought, "What the heck? I'll just take it down and get this done in no time." That summer my brother and his then girlfriend were coming into town for a week or so. My goal was to get the whole hallway finished by the time they came for their visit.

Here's just a little glimpse of everything thing that has happened in that 4 years:

My brother and his girlfriend broke up right after that visit. He has since married a wonderful and beautiful young lady. He is now in the Army and starting a new life with his wife.

Older Drama Queen has had an eardrum transplant and using a hearing aid. She has lost all of her baby teeth. Graduated from elementary school and is now going into 8th grade. Went from wearing a size 3 shoe in youth size to wearing a size 9 shoe in women's size. She is about 5'2" (taller than me). Recently got two bar bell cartilage piercings. I won't even mention the bra size...LOL

Little Drama Queen was in preschool when this project started. She is now going into 4th grade. At the time, she hand no hand/eye coordination. Last week she received all sorts of gymnastics awards for the year. Oh...and this will really tell you how long this project lasted...4 years ago she couldn't even open a box of Pop Tarts. Not only can she open a box now, she can stick them in the toaster...LOL

Geek Book is on his second iPhone. He has acquired an iPad, network routers, a new laptop, desktop, Apple TV, 52" flat screen TV, Playstation 3, upgraded from a regular DVD player to a Blu Ray player.

Diva quit Myspace and found Facebook. Has gone through many hair colors and hair styles. Received a promotion at work. Went from wearing a size 8 to a size...you guess. Has also gone through 2 iPhones, 2 Kindles, 2 iPods, acquired an iPad, new laptop, 2 cameras.

Our family has welcomed 2 kittens in our home. Had to make the difficult decision to have our dog of 11 years put to sleep after an extended illness. There have been two baby nieces born in the family. 5 very close family members have passed away.

So last weekend the wallpaper was all torn down. I primed the walls and painted the walls that had wallpaper on them. At one point during the process I thought, "That was easy." Why did it take me so long to get this wallpaper off. Procastination perhaps? Lack of wanting to put forth any effort in making my home nice? Depression? Scared of what I would find underneath the wallpaper? Probably a little bit of all of the above.

The point of this blog is don't let things slow you down for 4 years. If you keep prolonging the inevitable then it causes so much unnecessary stress. Life is going to go on with or without you and it's how you choose to live it. I know it was just wallpaper, but it really brought me down for 4 years. The other night I was just staring towards the hallway and Older Drama Queen asked what I was staring at. I said, "The hallway. I can't believe it's finished."