Kitchen progress

For those who were readers of my old blog, you can celebrate with me that as of today, we have an island!

For everyone else, we have had a very rocky kitchen remodeling saga that started in February 2009. We decided to remodel our tiny, carpeted(!) kitchen way back in the fall of 2008, and waited patiently until the contractor we wanted to use was available to start. He was/is a friend of ours, and although people continually warn against doing business with friends, we figured we would be OK. Things got off to a good start with lots of major stuff done - a bathroom relocated to the coat closet to make room for a laundry room, walls knocked down and moved, miles of wallpaper stripped, and the new laundry room finished. Then things came to a stall, and there were several stops and starts over the next couple of years for various reasons. It has been very hard on us to have a partially finished kitchen for all this time, but because our contractor is our friend, we've tried to be patient and trust that it would all work out eventually. We've had our appliances, countertops, many of the cabinets, and most of the other materials (lighting, tile, etc.) stored in our garage and basement for more than 2 years, so the kitchen has been paid for all that time but just not "assembled." There have been times when I've thought it would never get done, but we got some good work done over the weekend. He's going to come back in two weeks and do some more. I can't wait!

With the help of our missionaries, our oldest son and his friend, Curtis, and my brother-in-law, we managed to get the island countertop into place late last night. It weighs around 800 pounds, so it was no small feat! The island has to be stained and sealed, and the doors and drawers have to be put on/in, but I'm giddy over just having some workspace now! It's going to be beautiful. :o)

A day with the littles

Today only the middle and high school kids have school (thanks to parent-teacher conferences), so the younger kids and I got the housework done and then went out to have a little fun. We started by walking to the elementary school for the book fair so the kids could spend some of their allowance money on a book. Then we walked over to the Mexican restaurant for lunch. I think we walked about 3 miles altogether, and they were pretty pooped (and quiet!) when we got home. They are such a fun bunch of kids. I'm so glad I get to be their mom. :o)

Homestudy NOT on its way!

Ugh.

I got a call last night that our social worker had just barely gotten confirmation from our placing agency that the homestudy was good to go, so she said she would probably be unable to mail it until next Tuesday when she gets back from her weekend trip. She said she would try to get it notarized and mail it from the town where she'll be staying, but couldn't make any promises. I know it's just a few days and it shouldn't matter that much, but it really knocked the wind out of my sails.

On top of that, we found out at one of our SIX parent-teacher conference last night that Beck will have to repeat kindergarten. I kind of suspected this might be the recommendation since he's really struggling with reading and writing, but I'm still disappointed and worried for him. I hope it won't be a blow to his little ego. On the bright side, since Song Guo probably won't start school until the autumn after she gets here, it might be nice for them to be home together in the afternoons.

Homestudy on its way!

I talked to our social worker tonight and it sounds like she'll be able to overnight mail our homestudy tomorrow! I have our I-800A and our supplement (for our 18 year old Joshua) all ready to go. I can't wait to have that it all in the mail!

Weekly menu

This week's Bountiful Baskets were good, but not as exciting as some of the others we've gotten. I was glad we'd ordered a case of pineapple because the only fruit we got was a few apples, some kiwi, and some mangoes. (I'm getting a little overloaded on mangoes, frankly). We got lots of good veggies, though - cauliflower, green beans, romaine lettuce, portabellas, and orange bell peppers. I also have a bag of potatoes left from last week, as well as some regular and savoy cabbage.

For those of you who haven't tried Indian food, or who don't eat it often, our Monday meal is a great place to start. :o) "Gobi" is cauliflower, and aloo gobi is a yummy curry made with cauliflower, potatoes and tomatoes. Rajma is sort of like a chili, made with kidney beans. Lots of protein, lots of nutrients, lots of yummy.

Our Friday meal is a vegetarian meal that we've eaten for years - long before we went vegan. It's super easy to throw together and really delicious. If anyone wants any of these recipes, just ask! :o)

Third time's the charm...

Today is my anniversary, and for my anniversary, I thought I would "celebrate" (ha!) by faxing all my local documents to the Secretary of State's office for review prior to sending them for authentication. After all the dossiers we've put together and having had to scrutinize the notarizations of all those documents, I really thought that this would be the one and only time that all of our documents would be acceptable on the first attempt. Dates were correct, notaries' middle initials were present in the signatures where they also appeared on the stamps, standard notarial blocks were used - everything looked good. So I was really shocked when I talked to the notary department of the SoS and found out that the woman who notarized our police clearance records put down the wrong commission expiration date! It matched her stamp, so I would have had no way of catching this on my own. I was heartsick because having her fix it meant having to wait for her to order a new stamp with the correct date.

So, I traipsed down to the police station and asked if there was anyone else who could reprint our clearances (they were saved on their computer) and notarize them. Amazingly, there was another notary there, and she said she would do it immediately. I was so thankful I didn't have to wait and come back another day that I didn't even notice until I got down the road that her commission expires NEXT MONTH! Argh!

I called the police station and explained that I couldn't use this notary either, and they asked me to come back and have it re-done a third time. This time the woman who had previously notarized the letter signed it, and a third notary notarized it. ;o) I called the SoS department and had them check this woman's name and dates, and it sounds like we're good to go. As soon as I have my final copy of the homestudy, my remaining documents will be on their way.

Unfortunately, I also learned today that I have to get actual letters from our doctor explaining that neither my husband's nor my surgeries affect our ability to parent or our life expectancies. (I had really exciting surgeries like gall bladder removal and hemorrhoids! Aren't you jealous?) I will deal with that on Monday. I also have to fax all of our dossier documents to the agency for their review. So next week should bring final state authenticating and submission of our I800A. And then we'll be making a 13-hour round-trip drive for a 15-minute fingerprinting appointment. :o/

Homestudy happiness!

I got an email this morning from our social worker that said our homestudy has been sent to our placing agency for final review! Hopefully by this time next week, I'll be able to send in our I800A and mail all our local documents to the Secretary of State's office for authentication. We're making progress!!