Tossed In With The Trash

During college, I attended the National FFA Convention, well, not really the convention, but some of the activities surrounding the convention for three years straight. The first year, I was without my beloved- whom at the time I was barely dating. . . But, you shouldn’t have seen my advisor’s face with my innocent freshman self walked out of the hotel room with another man. . . I quickly had to dodge the strange looks and explain that, in fact, it was my cousin twice removed (seriously. . . I had just met him the summer before.) Thankfully, I was able to attend the next two years with my dear sweet beloved.

One of the things that was special for me is that the National FFA Convention, at the time, was held in the city where I was born. A place I visited on several occassions. In fact, growing up, we went to Kansas City at least once every three years until I was in the sixth grade. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for KC, MO.

As in the year prior and the year after, I was able to take my fellow students- and this time, my then boyfriend, to one of the great restaurants in Kansas City. A refined place, as it was, was always fun to take these folks. I’d eaten there many, many times before. Stephenson’s was a place that both of sides of my family had been coming to for years. Birthdays, Anniversaries, and other special events were celebrated there. My dad took my mom there the night he proposed to her- and ordered her meal all wrong for her. Stephenson’s recipes have graced our dining table for years and are now a large part of our Christmas meal.

So, this second year, my then boyfriend (now DH) and I ate at Stephenson’s. Mind you, my husband grew up getting his food from the kitchen counter, sometimes eating at a dining room table, but most often eating standing up or in front of the TV. But, he did his best with dinner table etiquette. As always, he ordered for me. When the waitress asked what type of salad I wanted, DH became flustered and couldn’t get what was in his mind to come out. He knew what I wanted, that wasn’t the problem. So, when it finally came out, he simply said, “Tossed” and gave a hand motion to help make his words make since.

I wish I had recorded that moment. It’s one of those moments that I look back on and smile. That endearing moment reminds me why I love my husband.

On one of our many trips to Lowe’s to wander and kill our lunch hour (which is usually 2-3 times each week), we came across a bathroom accessory set that was perfect. The soap dispenser said “Wash”, the water glass said “rinse” and the trash can. . . . you guessed it, read,

“Toss”

It instantly brought back memories of Stephenson’s and taking my DH to Kansas City. Tuesday, we found the set on clearance. I finally felt that I could afford to splurge on the decorative trash can which was now only $5. With out small bathroom, I won’t be able to miss the trash can which is at my feet each morning. And each morning, I’ll stop to think about that sweet moment all those years ago at Stephenson’s.

So, now, I’ll be thinking of DH everytime I see the bathroom trash.

Snap Happy, Mouse Happy

I’ve been wanting to take more photos. I guess it’s safe to say, it’s one of my goals for this year. It’s probably one of the few creative goals that I feel quite certain I’ll be able to keep throughout the year regarless of when we get our kids. I really want to learn more about photography and the manual settings my camera allow me to use. In researching and looking for free help online, I’ve seen lots of things that mention using photoshop to edit photos. Then, I found the Pioneer Woman’s Blog. . . and I’m more motivated than ever to learn the manual possibilities in my computer and to learn to use photoshop for editing my photos. (Yes, I already use it to scrapbook, but photo editing is quite another thing.)

I’ve played haphazardly since Thursday with both my camera settings and photoshop. I’m not sure what I’m doing but, I’ve really enjoyed seeing some of the things I can create. So, today, when my parents and brother asked if I wanted to go to the local zoo while DH was still away at the deer lease, I jumped at the opportunity to take some pics.

I really didn’t care to take pictures of the animals. . . how many pictures of the same animal can a person take. So, most of the time, I focused my camera on my parents and brother. Yes, there was lots of camera war between my brother and I. I’ve got a bunch of shots of my brother with the camera in his face. It’s what we do.

Here’s a few shots from our trip and the edits I made.

First, this is one of my mom. One of the few I could get her stand still without getting that “look” because she really doesn’t like having her picture taken.

Unedited:

Edited:

Then, here’s one of my parents together. The lighting was really bad- the sun was out in all it’s glory but there were awful shadows. Since this shot was completely candid. . . I couldn’t get a good angle to get the shot. Thus, a bunch of bad lighting shots. I took other with a darker exposure but this light one wound up being really easy to work with.

Unedited:

Edited:

Edited in Black and White:

I’d love to know what you think of these.

And, just for grins. . . here’s a shot of my dad and my brother. . . who wouldn’t let me get a normal shot of them.
(This one still needs some help. . . like the guys in this picture)

And, now, I’m really ready to learn more about photoshop and just what I’m doing as I make adjustments to my pictures.

Ladybug, So Sweet, Please Go Away You Dudebug

What do you call a man ladybug? I call it a pest. . . and the ladies too! Bugs. . . Texas. . . Country. . . Unfortunately, that’s a trifecta it seems I’m doomed to live with year round this year.

Yowsers. . . I thing it was three years ago we witnessed our first ladybug invasion. Yes, a few got in the house, but they went all inside DH’s deer blind parked in our driveway. But, the worst was that they somehow made it into our truck. We literally had at least 100 of the things in the truck. But, I know, then, that it was before hunting season that year. We hadn’t witnessed the likes of which since. . . until this year.

Oh Boy. . . or should I say OH LADY! They have invaded the house with the same passion they invaded the truck. . . . but have multiplied their numbers. They some how get in the house. . . I’ve no idea how. . . given that they got into our truck a few years ago and how airtight that truck has always been. . . there’s no telling how they found their way in. Normally, I find ladybugs really pretty. . . but in the past few months, I’ve lost that image. Dead ladybugs are not pretty. Especially in masses on my window sills. I suppose it’s better than other bugs. But, this invasion. . . it’s been going on since at least November. They just keep coming. It’s been going on for three months.

They are as dumb as any other bug. . . We hear them for hours flying into the light fixtures in our living room. . ka thud, ka thud, ka thud. The other day. . . I think one knocked him self paralyzed because he finally fell straight down and next to me on the chair. . . where he stayed for what seemed like an eternity. I think another one has melted to the light. I don’t have a surface in the house that hasn’t had a dead ladybug on it. This morning when I heard a crunch beneath my feet, I totally crinched at the thought of stepping on a ladybug (which I figured was another dead one.) Thankfully, it was just a leaf we must have tracked in yesterday.

Tonight, one found the lights of my computer screen and proceeded to apparently kick the bucket on my delete key sometime after I took these pictures. This one clearly was a dude. . given his coloration.

Can a take a moment to whine and simply say I’ve had enough. . won’t ya’ll please go play outside.

Tonight’s male aggravation:

On his way to what apparently became his final resting place:

Man And His Remote

So, last night, we were watching a hockey game on TV. . . Praise the Lord there’s hockey right now because there was nothing on. And with the writer’s striking dragging on, I’m sure it’s gonna be this way for a while.

Anyway. . . . Here’s the set up. We were watching the game and both being very tired, DH wanted to know what time it was. We’ve grown accustomed to being able to find out with a touch of the remote. The satellite info for the channel you are on includes the time, as do the tv guides.

So, DH flips the channel!!!! I for the life of me don’t understand the channel flipping thing.
And, He flips the channel right back.

So, I ask, “What are you doing?”

So, he says, “I wanted to know what time it was”

So, I say, “You know there’s an info button that you can use without flipping the channel.”

So, he says, “Yeah” and probably feeling that he needed to justify his channel flipping, “I couldn’t find it.”

So, I say, showing him as I hit the info button, “it’s right here”

Again, I say, showing him as I hit the info button, “it’s right here”

Again, I say, showing him as I hit the info button, “it’s right here”

Ok, so I must have done it 6-8 times. Just having fun with him.

Then, he replies in that sly foxy way. . .knowing full well he’s about to make me smile. . .”O.K., you’re running down the batteries on MY remote.”

Justice, Ricky, And James

Meet Justice, Ricky, and James

This threesome has been on our minds for quite some time now. It must have been at least six months ago. . . Well, I know it was at least last March or April. . . that these three kids first opened a place in our hearts. So, I know it’s been more than six months. We first saw them long before we ever had our homestudy approved. I know partially because I remember discussing them with my family and my cousin around my parents dinner table one night when Tracy was here. It was part of a discussion about the whole process, the search website, etc that it seems we’re destined to have countless times. I remember then expressing how these three had caught our eye but that the middle one had asperger’s syndrome and we just weren’t sure about going that route. My cousin, whose middle son has a rare form of spinal bifida, talked about how she’d like to adopt a high medical needs child given all that she’s been through with Scott.

Well, then they disappeared from the search page. This can mean many things. . . they’ve been placed for adoption, home studies and familes are being reviewed, or something has changed in their lives.

In the mean time, I’ve been reading Ali’s blog and DH and I have discussed more and more about perhaps being able to handle autism depending on where on the spectrum.

About the time we got our approved home study last fall, these three children appeared again on the search pages. We discussed and prayed about it. We decided to submit in interest form. It’s one of three that we submitted. One for a two-some and the other was for another threesome- only 2,3, and 4 year old boys. It was those three young boys that seemed to solidify in DH’s mind that he really could handle older children.

Of the three interest forms, the return email for Justice, Ricky, and James was the only one that gave any information about contacting the worker regarding the inquiry. . . only it said 30-45 days after the inquiry. Knowing what that means here in the agency, we did our part and managed to wait until those 45 days were past. I emailed the worker requesting an update.

We heard back from the worker within a couple of days. The children were removed from adoption (although they were still on the search pages) because the youngest child was placed in a residential treatment facility. She also said that they were conducting a sibling assessment. It broke my heart. James, the youngest child, is portrayed as a normal little boy without any problems mentioned in his description. Of course, the description also reads “although he’s not in pre-k yet” when now he’s six. . . so we know the description is out dated. But, it makes us wonder what has happened to him in foster care or perhaps an adoptive placement that went wrong.

It’s probably one of the many worries I have for my kids. I don’t know who they are but I know they have a hard road to go before they come to our house. I wonder if our kids are still in their abusive/neglective homes, or if they have already been removed, what life is like in their foster care experience. I pray for our kids constantly and now, with the story of these three kids, I pray even more for all the kids seeking their forever home.

But, these three kids, for whatever reason, they have a hold on me. . . and I think DH too. Yesterday, as I was looking at the search site, they didn’t appear as a sibling group. I found them. . . only it was each of them listed individually. I hate the thought of these three kids being seperated. I realize there are some circumstances where seperating them could be best for them, but it’s still so hard to wrap my brain around what that must be like for siblings who go through this walk in life. As I thought about it, I wondered if anyone was fighting for them to stay together. I talked to DH about it. We decided to ask questions. I emailed the worker back to see if this means that the three can’t be adopted together or if they can, to see if we can find out more about the behaviors that led to the youngest going to the RTC.

You know, I don’t know if these kids are the one. . . but it’s almost as if I can feel God and my maternal instinct leading me their way. I don’t know what the feeling of knowing for sure that you’ve found the ones is like and we may not know it when we do feel it. How do you know for sure that’s what the feeling if you’ve never experienced the feeling before? I do know that it seems God is preparing us for something. . . . I just don’t have the crystal ball to know where he’s leading us for sure.

Celebrating Music That Tugs At The Soul

It seems the theme of my life right now is celebrating music that inspires me. Perhaps is because the Americana and Texas music genre is often all about words, melodies, capturing life and good stories.

When we went to New Braunfels in November to see Chris Knight play at Gruene Hall, we also stopped by Lonestar Music. . . a music store with my kind of music. It was such a treat but it was difficult limiting the CD’s that I purchased. I wound up with Fred Eaglesmith, Ryan Bingham, and The Old Crow Medicine Show.

The Old Crow Medicine Show. . . well, it’s more bluegrass and I knew it would be stretch- at least for sure for my sweet husband. But, I wanted the song “Wagon Wheel”. I didn’t realize it for about a month but my husband has decided he loves that song. The week before Christmas, he and I were were working on cleaning the house. We took a break to listen to that song twice. It was just this moment where we both paused to truly enjoy great music. That moment has remained with me and brings me such happiness every time I go back to it.

Ryan Bingham- He brings me to my latest celebration. Each year they have a four day festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado around this time of year. We’d love to go, even though we don’t ski, but being able to afford it and the travel in cold weather have made it only a pipe dream (for now). XM radio, which has a station devoted to Americana/Texas Music, is airing many of the concerts. Last night, while my husband and I were grinding some venison into hamburger meat, we listened to the concerts. Doug Moreland was a suprise hit with us and then it was Ryan Bingham’s turn. Oh wow! How I enjoyed that concert. I have it recorded on my XM at the moment and am resisting the urge to play it too loud here in the office. He’s definetely at the top of my list to go see in concert some day. . . next to. . .

Fred Eaglesmith- This Americana type artist is actually from Canada. I love his writing and his music. He’s actually coming to Texas for Fred In Texas. . . held at none other than Gruene Hall. It looks like he’ll also be in Houston and Beaumont. I really am hoping to get an opportunity to go see him while he’s in the state.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s concerts at Steamboat which include more Chris Knight. What can I say, this music just inspires me. Let my heart soar and my soul sing on