Today's Blurb

Me and Mr Messy managed to de-clutter most of the dining room :-) He still has the mantlepiece full of work receipts to sort out, but the rest of it is done! Little Prince's art desk lids now even shut!! And I was getting terribly anal, but I even sorted out his huge pencil & crayon pot and threw away all the broken ones!! Then I got all the stuff I couldn't persuade him to throw away stashed away in the attic!! Our house is going to start shrinking from the top down if I put much more stuff in there!!!
Mr Messy picked Little Prince up from school, and got caught in a mega downpour, that luckily stopped as quickly as it had started and just in time for the children to get out of school :-) I went to the Train Station to pick up LMS who is home for the weekend AGAIN!!! Well her excuse is that is her birthday and she wants to be at home with her family, and also go out with her home friends to the coast to celebrate too. I took her shopping for some new Summer clothes, but she is so fussy we didn't buy too much. And for some reason my feet were killing me, so we didn't shop for long anyway!! We felt like such wimpy shoppers lol.

After a lovely tea, cooked by Mr Messy, I headed off to the supermarket! Last time we went I forgot to get any Diet Coke and I've spent all day craving one!! I must have been desperate as I drove 20-25 minutes to the supermarket, late at night to get one!!! So according to my friend S I'm nesting, and now I'm having cravings too!!!

More sorting out :-)

I've been using our local Freecycle network to get rid of our excess stuff and have just sorted out getting rid of our dusty old bikes. We haven't used them in years and aren't likely to use them again any time soon, so they might as well go to someone (less lazy lol) who can make use of them. Which means there will be more room in the cottage/garage at the bottom of the garden too.

I think today's next mission is the dining room!! I walk into our sorted out lounge and feel so light and airy, but when I come in the dining room it still feels so oppressive and cluttered! Its full of unwanted clutter, paperwork and general stuff - it won't be soon!! Mwahahaha :-) If I keep this up we won't have anything left lol

Sorted the Sorting :-)

I've spent all morning sorting out the tip, that is now known as Little Prince's bedroom!! All toys are now back with their friends in their nice cosy boxes and you can see the floor!! I think this afternoon I am going to see if I can get his border up, and finally actually finish his room!! Mr Messy is going to give the jigsaw border in New Child's room another coat of white emulsion and then we've got to get all the "good but not currently played with toys" up into the attic!! And all that before Little Prince finishes school at 3.30pm. There is not a chance we'll get all that done lol. Its going to take me ages to just move enough furniture so that I can get the border done!!!

UPDATE: Well after looking at how I've got to do the border, its looking like a two person job! Mr Messy doesn't do wallpapering of any kind, so we've volunteered LMS :-) She's home again tomorrow, so we can get it done over the weekend sometime. I think me and her get the easy job, Mr Messy has got to wrangle Little Prince and Drama Teen lol.

UPDATE 2: I managed to get all the sorted toys into the attic, with minutes to spare before having to go and get Little Prince from school!! And Mr Messy has given the whole of New Child's bedroom a coat of white emulsion. Once Little Prince is in bed later, Mr Messy will be doing one more coat of white and it will be ready for the real paint tomorrow :-)

Sorting Out!!

Today's mission was to sort out Little Prince's toy boxes, which had started to explode and were taking over the lounge! It took hours, and I filled a bin liner with broken bits and unidentifiable bits and cr*ppy bits!! I have also packaged up loads of "still good but not currently played with" toys to go in the attic. If he misses them, I can get them down again, if not they will go to the charity shop in a month or so!! I had talked to Little Prince about my plans to do this, and despite being a total hoarder, he seemed quite happy about it!! He has been poking in the rubbish bin and objecting to some of the bits in there, but they are broken or the only piece left of a toy, so they are going anyway!! I can't believe how much more room there is in his toy box, and there are even some of the smaller storage boxes that don't have things in them!!
Mr Messy sanded down the painted jigsaw border in Little Prince's old room, and got a coat of white emulsion on it too. I used really bright primary colours for the border, so it needs toning down before we redecorate, or it will show through the new paint!! You can see what I mean from the picture lol. The crude black scribble is to cover up Little Prince's actual name on his toy box using my wonderful technical abilities!!! And the picture was taken not long after he moved in and still used a cot - don't worry he sleeps in a big boy bed now lol.
Hopefully that's me on the right after tomorrow's mission!! I am going to do the sorting thing in Little Prince's bedroom, as a LOT of downstairs toys have migrated up there! There are plenty of toys (like his Playmobil knights) where I know there should be more bits and I'm presuming they are up in his room as I can't find them anywhere down here!!

Poor Neglected Blog!!!

I've been a bad blogger lol. I can't even blame being h*llishly busy either!! I've been h*llishly procrastinating as usual though!! I've made lists of the things I need to do, and I will get them done (at the last possible minute, but shhhhh don't tell everyone lol).

When I got back from Ethiopia it was the day that the Easter school hols started, so I was thrown right back in at the deep end. Well not sooo deep end, as LMS was still here and helped me out loads :-)

During the hols, we had various happenings lol. Drama Teen turned FIFTEEN!!! Oh my goodness!!! I can't believe its been FIFTEEN years since she was born a tiny gorgeous little baby. And she has grown into a lovely, talented and beautiful young lady, I am an extremely lucky Mum :-) Belated happy birthday, love you more than words can say :-) She had the customary "sleepover" party for her birthday. Although I put "sleepover" in quotes as there wasn't much sleeping involved - pizza eating, film watching, chatting and staying up all night party, would be a much more honest description!! It was funny watching all the zombies queue up for the bathroom the next morning lol.

I also had a birthday recently and I've decided that as I turned forty already, that birthdays now start going backwards - so I am now celebrating my THIRTY NINTH birthday (again lol). Me, Mr Messy, LMS and our friends Post Lady and her husband all went out for a meal in a lovely Stately Hall, that serves home cooked organic food - yum yum :-) We had a great time and the food was delicious, but I have a sneaky feeling that Mr Messy was killing two birds with one stone, and was scoping out the place as a potential business partner lol.
Since the Easter hols LMS has been back to University, come home and gone back to University again!! She is a little sweetie and came home to see me for my birthday, and then couldn't resist staying for the weekend too :-) During the hols before she returned to Uni, me and her went down to London so that she could attend her appointment at the American Embassy, to get her work Visa for her Disney stint this Summer. I got the easy part, I sat in a nearby cafe relaxing and reading a book, while she attended the appointment. The sole purpose of my accompanying her was to look after her mobile phone while she was in the Embassy, as NO electronic devices are permitted whatsoever!!! NO mobiles, NO iPods, NO nothing!!! The appointment consisted of multiple fingerprintings (as if they would change from one hour to the next?!?!), multiple checking of the documents she was required to bring (again why checked so many times??), nearly four hours in the Embassy and a two minute "chat" with the Immigration Officer!!! THEN she had to pay to have her own passport sent back to her!!! Which has now arrived safely back, duly stamped with her Visa - well stickered to be exact lol. It has put me off taking Little Prince and New Child to visit her while she is working in Disney World too!! As New Child wouldn't be a UK citizen until after readoption over here, and that can't happen until New Child has lived with us for at least 6 months, then I'd have to go through that whole rigamarole with New Child!!! Not sure its worth it for a holiday, even in Disney World!!! Which is saying a LOT coming from me - the biggest Disney Nut around!!! Once I'd gone over to the Embassy building to meet LMS, I had to laugh at her worries that she wouldn't be able to find the place - it was SOOOO obviously American lol - the flag, the giant eagle etc!!!
Me and Little Prince spent quite a lot of time together, including going to see Monsters Vs Aliens, which he LOVED. The story line was very simple and straightforward, and he had no problem understanding it. Our last visit to the cinema was to see Bolt and the mixture of real life and film action in that film had him as confused as Bolt was lol. He did tend to treat it as a variation on the pantomime we saw at Christmas, and talked through a lot of it, not too much shouting out thankfully!! But he was no better or worse than most of the other kids in the cinema which I was grateful for, perhaps because I'd deliberately chosen an afternoon show time, where it was bound to be full of other kids!!
I have also become best friends with Ebay!! I now have two black bin liners stuffed full of clothes for our New Child!! LMS seems to think that I'm trying to build a disposable wardrobe, but I don't know what she means!! I do have to admit to not being terribly practical either - over 50 outfits, but only ONE bib!!! I think I've got a smidgen over excited!!!
This week's plan is to tackle decorating New Child's bedroom, the bedroom that was until recently Little Prince's. There is nothing wrong with the decor, and it is suitable for New Child too, but I think that it would help Little Prince feel that his new sibling wasn't taking over "his" bedroom if it was redecorated and looking completely different!! And on top of that I'm all excited and want to redecorate specifically for New Child, just like we did for Little Prince. Although the way UK domestic adoption works, we didn't want to tempt fate and redecorate his room too early in the process and ended up doing it in about 10 days, whilst also coping with the emotional upheaval of visiting him at his foster carer's house!! SO giving myself over three weeks to get the decorating done seems quite a luxury!!! Fingers crossed I haven't left it too late to get started!!

Mr Messy is on a break between contracts, and is using the time to market his new photography business much more widely. And has begun to forge links with the local bespoke wedding cake shop, the local image consultant (that I visited to be made over) and a local organic cafe, who have agreed to display his work :-) We have also visited a Wedding Fayre to get ideas for Mr Messy to start exhibiting at Fayres himself. Although the one we visited was mostly made up of photographers, but none of them seemed to do the "lifestyle" images he does and (I know I'm biased!!) none of them seemed as good as he is. He has also joined a local Networking group, and after chatting to another photographer in the group has found that he is probably one of the first lifestyle photographers in the area! Which could make his business stand out and become a market leader or could mean there is no call for his style of photography and it will all fall flat!! Everyone keep your fingers crossed its the former!!! And here are a few of his images that I've stolen from his website lol (NO they are not of my family).

I think he is hugely talented, and once he gets his name out there he will do very well - its just working out HOW to get his name out there that we're still working on lol.

LMS's Last Minute Decision

Sadly LMS has decided she isn't coming to Ethiopia with us :-( I'm upset about this, but totally understand her reasons, and although I'll miss her (and her assistance!) a LOT, I think she is doing the right thing.

She is going to visit her Boyfriend in America. He has been very down recently, partly because of the economy over there and the constant threat of losing his job and partly because his family and friends are being very negative about his and LMS's long distance relationship. And also probably, because she misses him lol. LMS is hoping to be able to convince Boyfriend's family and friends that she isn't such a bad person (they don't approve of her not being a committed Christian, her drinking (she is a student!!) and her being over here!!). I think that once they meet her they will realise what a sweet, kind and loving young lady she is and will hopefully be a bit more supportive to Boyfriend about their relationship.

Its going to make our trip to Ethiopia more difficult, and Drama Teen thought I was joking when I said she would need to be helpful on the trip!! But it is me and Mr Messy that have decided to add to our family and it isn't LMS's responsibility to help us with that and we will cope just fine :-) And once Little Prince gets over the disappointment he'll be fine too!!

Our Future Child

I am still refusing to give any details of our future child publically on this blog, partly because it is forbidden by the Ethiopian authorities and partly respecting the fact that this child is not yet ours. Our child is still a ward of the Ethiopian state and as such I cannot make decisions about whether or not to put their image or details on the internet.

But I can say that our future child is PERFECT. He/she managed to completely capture my heart while we were in Ethiopia and there is an empty space there waiting until we can meet again. I gaze at photographs we took of our future child daily and ache to see him/her again. It is so hard to be seperated from a child that my heart says is already MY CHILD, but bureaucracy says is not yet my child. Every email from others who are in Addis Ababa at the moment is both a comfort and a torment.

Stay well little one. Don't forget me. I would never have left you if I didn't have to and I'll be back as soon as I can.
Lots and lots of love
Mummy
xxxxxx