Approved!

We are officially fit to be parents as deemed by the Alberta Government.

Commence the madness.

We got a call 2 nights ago from our home study writer asking for a bit more info. She then informed us that our Adoption workers' boss (or team leader) had been phoning asking if she was going to approve us and if she could hurry things along (by the sounds of things, we are within a few weeks of placement). This apparently is unusual to happen like this. Needles to say, the last two days have been a manic high of what I can only describe as nesting.

I'm a crazy person with all my cleaning and sorting and organizing and that's normal, but now I've now taken it up a notch. I also can't focus at work and mostly just wonder around the office with a notebook so it looks like I'm working while I chat with people. And then I leave early. I'm probably driving people nuts with my glazed over tired eyes (can't sleep - too excited) and blank stares as they try to relay important information but all that is in my head is ohmyohmyohmyohmyohmyohmy.

It feels like there's so much to do yet there's not a lot we can do. We can buy a few things for their room (there's a shopping outing in the works for tomorrow:) but need to wait for confirmation if we are going to be placed with a particular 4 year old boy we know about before we do too much. And really, how else do you prepare for a 4 year old stranger coming to live in your house forever? I'm sure he'll appreciate my dustbusted base boards and toothbrush scrubbed bathroom tiles and all, but what else can you do to prepare for something like this?!

There are moments when I doubt myself that I can do this, then there are others where I think I'm going to kick some serious mothering butt. All I do know for sure is that I'm excited and scared and feeling very humbled by the people around me who share in my excitement. So thank you for your support and believing that I can do this, it means more to me then I could every let you know.

Deep breath...keep cleaning...soak it all in...try not to cry too much...enjoy...repeat...

Same Same

Nothing much has changed since last week.

More waiting. More small projects (ie. operation goodbye crack tub). More reading and enjoying the sunshine.

And I'm looking for a tutor to learn Spanish. It's on the bucket list and needs to be checked off before we go to South America again. That probably won't happen for at least 3 years or so, and so I figure that's enough time to get a hold on a language;)

 And also this:

 If at first you don't succeed....it's definitely worth a second shot. Particularly if the thing you didn't succeed at was delicious. They are mini but delightful (and don't small things always taste better?)

 

 The beautiful grey quilt from the heap on the floor is in the process of being bound. It is looking like it will be on our bed by August, just in time for some late summer snow fall. I'm kidding. Sort of. 

  

A night out at the Thee-a-tar...

 

Anthony had his performance the other night for his theater camp. He loves acting, and he's pretty good at it. And for the first time he was into getting a bit of a costume together. I was all over it. Even though it only consisted of turning a tie into a bow tie and buying a button down shirt and making it into short sleeves (he was a candy man - not in this picture though. here he was a gingerbread man. it's all very confusing) you bet it was one helluva bow and spectacular sewing job on those skinny sleeves. Loved it.

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Afterwards, Gord and I went for a late night ice cream run (it looks like the middle of the day, but this is about 9:30 pm). I have heard about Village Ice Cream and I will be a repeat offender. Salted Caramel, uh yeah. Toasted Coconut - yes please.

 The garden hath explodeth. I'm not sure how much salad one can consume but I'm about to find out.

 The sun room in the warm summer evenings is my favorite place to be. Sigh....

And today was zucchini madness. I haven't baked in a while and who cares that it's 25 degrees out? I certainly did not. Now that the kitchen is 97 degrees, I do actually care a little....

And the time has come to deal with the crack tub. I've bought enough chemicals to kill a small preschool and I'm hoping I don't burn off my skin in the process.

Off to find something to make for dinner that doesn't require me being in the kitchen...maybe we'll just gnaw on lettuce!

Calmer and hotter. And lots of Squares

I have simmered down a bit since I last wrote. I've been keeping busy with a few projects, reading and enjoying the heat - I've been in heaven with all this heat. Usually Calgary has one day in the summer that makes it to +30, two if you're really lucky. But generally our summers are luke warm at best - which is still nice, but I can do hot. I love hot. I'm happy when it's hot. And this last week I have been in my glory. Unfortunately it also makes me lazy so it feels like I haven't done much, but looking at all the photos from the last 10 days or so it appears I'm not as lazy as I think!

My happy place. If you don't look anywhere else in the yard it actually looks half decent (well, better than it was!)

And enjoy it I do!

Cherries on the deck and some Pinterest goodness!

Stampede Fireworks (4 locations in the city with the exact same show at the exact same time) 

We are going again tonight because I luv me some fireworks

 Stampede Breakfasts; besides fireworks, free pancakes is my Stampede event. We managed three this year, one of which we volunteered at and sliced up 7 watermelons for our Community Centre:)

 Last week Gord and I left the city and went to the foothills for some quiet-get-me-out-of-the-house-im-going-crazy time. We read by the river and had lunch in a small town. Ahhhhh.

 I made THE best raspberry creamsicles. Unfortunately, they didn't come out of the popsicle mold and spoons are too big to fit in them too. I was like a monkey with a tool digging out the goodness because it was oh so worth it...anybody know where to find a good popsicle mold?!

 Our garden is exploding with radishes and mini lettuce. I really don't plant that much, but when it all comes at once we eat a lot of salad. Still to come; beets, carrots, potato, peas and onion. Yum Yum.

 (Oh Blogger, I love how you don't let me lay out photos properly....)

So my friend and I have been sending fabric back and forth from Calgary to Adelaide for the couple years (we really slacked off in the middle there so it took a while). We'd cut squares, a few at time, and send them but would keep the exact same squares for ourselves. The idea is we will haveWe now have enough to make a double quilt but can't decide on what colour to use as a solid. Chris is leaning towards black, and I'm a white fan, but white seems to be be a default and maybe I need to try something different. I can sort of picture the dark red...maybe. Any ideas? Please help help!

AND, I finally got my grey quilt quilted. It's lovely! And here it sadly sits in a heap with it's binding ready to be cut and sewn. I need me a rainy day - just one so I can justify leaving the sunny deck to rescue this beautiful thing from the basement floor!

I think that's enough blabbing about nothing for now! I'm off to attempt creamsicles again, they were just too darn good to give up on that easily!

A wee mess

As of last Tuesday I have been an official mess. My stomach hurts, I feel nausea, I'm a bit - umm, make that a lot, snippy and above all I am soooo irritable. That's because as of Tuesday we are done our home study and can't do anything else but wait. And I'm not so good at waiting. In fact, I'm terrible at it. And my terribleness in waiting comes out in the form of being really anxious which in turn looks like a crazy person who obsessively cleans the house and gets irritated when things are out of place (more than usual that is).

So, I've made a few goals for myself for the next 4-6 (we hope) weeks to help me cope. 1. I am going to work out like the crazy person I am. Back in April I challenged myself to work out everyday for a month and minus 2 days I did it and I felt fantastic. And while I pushed myself really hard then, now it's time to take up a notch. I am determined to squat and lunge my way to being kick-ass strong.  2. Learn about bathtubs. Our bathtub is gross; the enamel is worn off, the caulking was never done right and it's flaky and moldy, there isn't a proper shower head - just a nozzle half falling off the wall...It's so bad that we stopped using it and only use the stand up shower in the basement. So I'm going to fix it. How? I have no idea but I"m going to try! 3. Sew sew sew. I have so much fabric and so many plans that I need to call in sick to work just to make a dent (um, not that I've ever done that before. Ever. Except those 3 or 4 times that I did). I have a quilt to bind, a quilt to sew, a cushion to cover and a skirt to make. Must. Sew. Plus I'd like to make a slue of other things but I'm gunna start there for now:) 4. Sit and on my deck. We've spend some time getting the deck all purdy and if you don't look anywhere else in the yard it actually looks decent. Problem is, the weather has turned nice and when I'm work all I think about is being at home on my deck. Ok, this isn't really a problem. 5. Come up with a goal. If I'm going to stay home for 9 months I need to have some kind of personal goal to keep myself me. I don't know what my goal will be but I wrote it on my to do list to find a goal so this I will think about (perhaps while sitting on my deck!).

Hopefully between those few things I will be a bit less crazy towards my family and not drive them into their own madness over the next few weeks. Since today is the first of July, the exercise challenge starts today (there's actually a couple of us in on it) and so off I must go to kick some serious jiggly butt!