Projects

Still haven't bought a crib, but did buy a couple of chests of drawers for my child's room -- unfinished maple. I got tired of seeing the price tags on truly crappy furniture made in Malaysia, or wherever, and decided to get something that will last for years. Staining them will make for a fun project some weekend in the next couple of months. And someday I might get the room painted!

A Beautiful Country

Pilfered some photos of Kazakhstan while doing some online research.

These are of Almaty -- the former capital and largest city. Almaty is in the southeastern part of the country.

This one is of some little fishermen in (I think) Astana, which is the capital and in the northern region.

This is of the mountain region outside of Almaty (almost puts the Rockies to shame!):

The area in the eastern part of Kazakhstan is known as The Steppe, or the wastelands. Still amazing.

How do you say "bratty cat" in Russian?

My coordinator just let me know my dossier is on its way to be translated into Russian! Woo-hoo! I know they have had a ton of dossiers come in recently, so not sure how long it will take, but expect only a week or two. Making progress! Gotta wonder how some of that homestudy stuff will translate....

Anna -- you could make a fortune doing this, let me tell you!

Uh-oh! That's so sad...

I've been taking a mini Parenting with Love and Logic class over the past few Saturdays. The little "Uh-oh! That's so sad" song is going through my head constantly. I like the concepts behind this parenting method and want to learn more about how to apply it.

The class is held at my homeowner's association community center. There are 12 people signed up, 4 of which are adopting! Myself, my friend, Deb, and a couple adopting from China. We are still waiting parents and it is fun to listen to how these techniques work for the folks in the class as they try them out on their kids.

I can only practice on the cats at the moment. Doesn't seem to be working.... ;)

Dossier is on it's way!!!

At 6:33pm this evening, I hustled into FedEx Kinko's and handed over the box containing my dossier. The poor woman didn't realize what a monumental occasion this was. She was even more confused when I suddenly and quite unexpectedly welled up, said thanks, and ran back out the door! After several weeks of redoing many of my documents, I'm hoping this is it -- it's finally off my desk and on it's way to Kazakhstan!