New Blog

I feel kind of bad leaving this site behind, but it just seems like it doesn't quite fit in with our life now. This blog was started specifically because of the adoption but now.... With the process over, it just doesn't seem to fit so much. I think that I'll come back to this one when we start our next adoption, but for day to day life, I just wanted something separate. So, if you have the urge, visit the new blog. I am really going to try and keep up on it!

http://muddleadventures.wordpress.com/

WOW

I really suck as a blogger. Has everyone become as bad as me since getting involved with Facebook. Based on my Facebook comments though, I can't believe that anyone is all that interested in my blog!!!!

Hey, if I still have any straggler followers, let me know if you are interested in hearing the story of me kidnapping the neighbor's cat....... Just curious before I spend all that time typing in the story. If no one cares, it is hardly worth it....

Oh, and since the last post, we have also gone to Disney World, Trick or Treated at numerous places, had job changes, travel plans, soccer stories... I guess, quite a few things.

Curious if anyone cares. Otherwise this becomes an online journal. woo hoo

Not Quite a Month

Hey, it hasn't been quite a full month since I last posted!!! That's some sort of progress, right.

Well, I thought about doing a post from the Margarita Party - I know, how relevant two months later, right? But I was looking through photos that other people have posted on Facebook and really don't see any reason to bother. Basically, there was a party, there was good food, there was lots of alcohol, Laiya's fire dance was awesome, and that's about it.

So instead, I am taking the super lazy route, and will just see if I can find some good pictures from the summer.

Well then. Not so lazy today. Blogger is not working so I can't upload any pics. Guess I'll have to try again later. We didn't do nearly enough, we are so lazy with the camera. We have Boko at the ArtsFest but forgot it at the zoo! Go figure.

Wait, may have figured it out. Let's try this one more time.



One of the few days warm enough for water. Weird summer!



I don't think that he has even seen this Star Wars but its the face painting he wanted.



Hanging out with dad at the ArtsFest. And for those of you from here, yes, these are super old. And his hair is a hell of a lot longer. He's getting Jessica curls!



He loves him some lemonade!



Apparently we don't know how to push the button right.

Back To School

School starts on Monday. It doesn't seem like summer was that long, but it has been almost 3 months exactly since his last day. Crazy! We took his supplies to school last night. 6 bags of stuff!!! I do not remember having to take that much to school when I was in Catholic school.....

Generally Speakiing

=)~ Boo You Should know who you are.

Coming Home

Boko will be home tomorrow. Its been almost 2 1/2 weeks that he has been gone. He started calling about a week ago saying that he wanted to come home NOW. Its funny because I know that he is having fun with the chickens and the goats so he isn't hurting too badly. But its kind of nice to know that he actually misses us!



Apparently he was trying to throw them at the windows of the chicken coop - Why? To fly of course!

Doogie

Sorry one more..... Neil Patrick Harris... Outside of Two and a Half Men, this is the best performance on TV. And talk about reinventing yourself and your career.... Outstanding!!!!!! I'd sleep with him... His character obviously, since he wouldn't have me in real life... =(

Katherine Heigl

Bitch - Thumper's mother said it best. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all..... Especially when they are paying you more money than any mediocre actress on the planet has ever been paid in recent memory or is due..... Okay, I added that last part. But SERIOUSLY!!!!!?????????????????

First Birthday....

In the US at least. So, I'm not quite two months behind on getting this posted.... His Birthday was 5/21. Oh well.

He was soooo excited for his birthday. It was all that he talked about for about a month. First, he wanted everyone to know that he was going to be 5, and second, in case you didn't know,w hen you turn five, you automatically get a bike.

Of course the theme of the party, invites and cake, was Cars. When we went to pick up the cake the morning of his party he squealed. I mean loud, Oh Yes! He was so excited. He even wore the birthday boy ribbon that I got him. We had his party at Boondock's and he had friends from school and day care, and of course, the girls had to shove their way in to sit next to him. I have to say, it was a great place to have a kid's party (lots of lemonade for mommy, spiked by daddy of course) and they're pretty much contained in the building so you don't have to worry about them much. The problem is that they give you like 3 hours of party time. A.) that is a lot of time with other people's children for me and B.) that is a lot of time for me to be stuck in doors. I was going a little stir crazy by the time the last kid's dad came and got him. So glad we stayed longer though and went outside for go karts and mini golf with Boko.

His actual birthday was the following Thursday and that is when he got his presents from me, my mom and my grandpa (his came the day before he died). Of course the bike was a huge hit. He loves it. In fact he has decided that he is saving up his money (from losing teeth and just generally being good) to buy another bike. He currently is down to one training wheel and he only has that on because he can't quite balance himself to get on. In the last two days he has had some major falls too. But of course gets back up and on his bike.








I think that the pictures are pretty self explanatory!

TOTN Correction

I need to make a correction. The event is actually at Solitude. I don't know what I was thinking!

Taste of The Nation - Salt Lake City

I have been posting this message on every other site that I am a member of and even though I am sure that all of my reader's have kicked me to the curb by now, I thought that I would put it up here too.

I don't now how many of you are familiar with Taste of The Nation but this is an event held every August (this is the tenth year anniversary) at Snowbird resort. The event benefits Share our Strength, an organization with sole purpose of ensuring that no child in America grows up hungry.

The event is held in cities all across the country and this year, Salt Lake's is August 2nd. This is a great day out of good food from chefs in the Salt Lake area, as well as great wines and beer. I am letting you all know for several reasons. First, tickets are on sale at www.taste.strength.org. All proceeds from the tickets go to the charity, so it is a write off - yay!- and one ticket is good for the whole day, meaning unlimited food and drink. So at a minimum I encourage everyone to go. Beautiful weather, great scenery, wonderful food, its a good time.

Secondly, I am looking for sponsors and donations for the silent auction. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with charities, we are cutting it close on both. All of these need to be in place by the 20th of this month, for the sake of printing. Sponsorships start as low as $250 and can be customized to fit your needs. Silent auction items can be goods or services, and are a great way to get a little advertisement for your business as well as help a good cause.

Please contact me if you are interested in participating as a sponsor or a donor. Also, please feel free to forward this on to anyone else who you think would be interested.

Cheers,

Stacy Deru
stacy.deru@gmail.com
801.558.4906

Failing Miserably

Yah, that whole last post about being a better blogger. I was just kidding! Obviously. Where in the hell does a month and a half go? Oh yah, I know, work, Boko, his birthday, crazy ass drama filled funeral, work, soccer, a few nights lost to vino and vodka, and that should just about cover it. Oh yah, let's not forget a couple of dog fights. What kind of market do you think there is for a canine version of Fight Club, with Shelby in Edward Norton's role and Sake in Brad Pitt's?

At this point in time it is kind of tough to even come up with what I want to blog about. I suppose top of mind for me lately is work, so I'll go ahead and make a completely self-serving and obvious pitch for myself. I can always use some more business, so if anyone out there has a company and would like to offer additional benefits for their employees, at no cost to the company, let me know. If anyone wants some additional, and very affordable coverage for themselves, maternity pre-planning anyone, please let me know. Remember, the whole point of Aflac is that it pays you cash.

Okay, that will be it for tonight. I don't want people to be completely annoyed with me for my blatant sales efforts. I'll do it in small doses from time to time!

How about some pictures, since its been so long?



I can't remember if I've posted this one before or not, but oh well. Boko STILL asks about Bonnie's baby.

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Why am I posting such an unflattering photo of myself? I guess I just feel like I should prove that I am not completely crazy for keeping these menaces.



Old photo, I know. Like March. His hair is sooo much longer now. I obviously need to download some photos from the camera!

Trying to be better....

In an effort to be a better blogger, I have added a new poll. Please take the time to answer if you stop in.... I have a purpose. ;)

Nothing Special

Well, I have been a very bad blogger. And since I can't really think of a great story at the moment, you're getting pictures. Actually, I probably could come up with some stories, in conjunction with the pictures, however, I need to actually get some work done. I know, lame.



What a big dog Boko!! On the Saturday before Easter we went to the Children's Museum in Denver and they had the great dane rescue outside. That one weighed as much as me and was still 30 lbs underweight!! If I didn't have the circus in my house I would have totally brought home Moose!!!



Boko LOVES Bonnie's baby. He talks about her at least every other day. Who knows? What do you think Bonnie? Mother in laws? We'd have a great time together! ;)




Cheese!!! Thanks Christie and Ryan for all my cool Easter gifts.



The Denver aquarium is awesome!! They have a ton of cool animals. Sharks and tigers.... Need I say more. But they also have a bar. With a big huge aquarium window. So once you go through the whole aquarium, mommy and daddy can sit down for happy hour and the little ones can glue their faces to the aquarium window. Then, they have this scuba diver swimming through the tank and he comes up and interacts with the kids.



Petting the baby sting rays and feeding them too. Watch out for the teeth though!! Yes, they do have them.

Oh and not that she is reading this, but Ashley is in Ethiopia picking up her little cutie and I hope that they are having a great time!!!

The Face of Hell

Now I may be the worst mother ever, on the sentimentality score card but I am NOT the worst parent. First, I am bad because today Boko went to his first birthday parties. And he had a lot of firsts. First on the big bouncy contraptions and slides. First time in a pool. First time on a climbing wall. First time seeing Spiderman, aka, creepy man with junk showing who one HAS to wonder- Why is this grown man traipsing around in this outfit only to be subjected to 4-10 year old bad behavior during his "act"? What exactly is his satisfaction?

To my defense, however, Boko DID drop my camera and put a big spider web crack on the preview screen. I'm telling you, Best Buy is totally losing on this warranty. Its like sending me to an all inclusive resort. Really, you WANT to give ME open bar. Good Luck!!!

Anyway, at the first party today a woman came to the party, late. Now I can't say , for sure that her name was Rosemary, but I have my suspicions. We were at Kangaroo Zoo, which is basically an indoor arena for big air inflated bouncy things..... Whatever. Anyway, you have to go in without shoes. I was back out to get something out of one of our bins and there she was, with her 2, 2.5 year old. So first of all I thought she can't be part of our group because this is a 5 year old birthday party. Then I see her talking to the mother and realize that she is a guest. This is when I really notice little Damian. That was not actually his name but we will use it to protect the innocent. And by innocent, I mean me. As we all know, demon spawn knows when you talk about them, especially negative, then the creepy music starts to play and you fall through the ice, or through the banister. So for my safety, let's keep this anonymous.

I see this child and he looks at me, and I swear to god, all of his teeth were pointed. They ALL came to a point. I'm really not kidding. And the light glinted off of them with the warning that if you came close enough he could bite off a limb like most kids would bite into a marshmallow bunny. We are talking horror movie, leprechaun, don't put your hand in there, oh my god how could a limb be severed like that - situation!! And his laugh! Oh his laugh. It was pure evil. Cliche I know but I was afraid. It was maniacal, like something you would expect in a Manson documentary. I mean really. This kid is a bad seed. It is obvious.

And the mother. She immediately checked out. Talking to other people. Socializing like everything is okay. Like her child isn't one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Keep telling yourself that sweetheart. And granted, she looked normal, but hey, doesn't the anti-christ usually choose someone who looks perfectly harmless?

I watched this kid interacting with the other kids. I had him down to 60 seconds flat to clean out a bouncy. He would go in swinging. Hitting every kid in site. And hard. One girl tried to tell on him and she paid.

In the party room, his mere presence sent other children into blood curdling screams. Parents would come running only to find out that Damien had inflicted his person into the personal space of their child.

Needless to say, I did not attempt to befriend this mother. Sorry, she is on her own and I expect to see the news of her untimely and curious death on the news any day now. I did see her correct him once.....

When Jack Russells Attack!

This happened shortly after Shelby and Sake started on their happy pills. Shelby had been accidentally locked in Boko's room and we heard her whining from downstairs. I was in the middle of a work phone call and Boko went running upstairs to let her out. I'm on the call trying to make an appointment with the company while trying to quietly stop Boko from opening the door - Why you might ask would I not want him to let her out.

Well, it is not letting her out that it is the problem, it is letting her out of the room with Sake standing right there. Because inevitably, Shelby will be pissed off that she was "locked up" while that bitch was left to roam with the rest of us???!!! I will kill you you interloper!!! Who do you think you are??? ATTACK!!!!

Which of course is exactly what happened. However, due to the effects of the drugs it was more of a slow motion attack. So, as I am still talking on the phone, I was able to grab Sake by the color and whip her up into my left arm. Right arm still holding phone. Then they go nuts screaming and yelling at each other. This is where I have to admit defeat on the phone front, explain that I am working at home today and someone is walking by the front window - lie lie - and can I call you back in five.

Sake by this time is in full let me at her I'll tear her apart, mode, and is pushing on my arm and scratching at me. I get her downstairs and to her kennel but have to wait until I can get Shelby far enough back with one foot to be able to get Sake into her kennel without Shelby latching on to her.

Crisis averted. Dogs don't have any marks on them, no blood letting. Woo hoo. But I can tell that I have a lot of scratches on my arm. Oh well. As the day goes by I start to notice that my arm is a bit sore. But I didn't really give it any thought. I had a long sleeved shirt on that didn't really pull up so I just let it go. When Cory got home that night, and I was changing for bed, that's when we saw it. Bruising that looked like I had gone through the window of a car, when you combined it with the scratches. And it looked nasty!!!! The pictures were taken a couple of days later and do NOT give it justice.

Nothing like going to the gym and having some one actually say that domestic abuse should be considered. Sure, go ahead, call the police on Sake. I would love to hear what they have to say. I mean I do consider her a child, so there may be some ground to stand on there!

Thanks for the Soccer Help!!

Thanks to replies, and specifically Jessica's, we are now registered for soccer. The thing is that it only lasts for one month though, the end of April to the end of May. That seemed kind of odd to me. But I can't really remember things perfectly from when I was that age.

Shan, thanks for the suggestion, but I think that is a bit too far for me!!! ;) The one I signed up for is somewhere over here on South Mountain. I will have to figure that out as I have never had a reason to go to any of these types of places before - little kid soccer fields, the public pool, etc......

And not at all on topic, some more pictures.



First day of school



Jenny and Boko hanging out.




Helping daddy shovel the driveway.




Happy Valentine's Day Boko!



Mom, look at the school clothes we bought today!

My Kingdom for a Soccer Team!!

Does anyone know of soccer teams in the south end of the valley here?? Seriously, how can it be this hard to find a soccer team for 4/5 year olds in breeding central? AHHH!!

And what everyone really wants, some pictures. As we all know I am a complete slacker when it comes to photos. And although we have been taking a lot since we've been home, none of the super recent ones are downloaded. So here are some others from earlier this year. And FYI, we have only been home for like two months, so its not like they're that old and technically they are new to all of you so =)~








These are all from the limited time that we had him at the hotel with us - remote controls and light switches - Like toddler crack with a side car of Patron!!! Boko's first glass of wine.... Come on, seriously? They poured the water in there. Come on people. Sleeping on the floor at the Minneapolis airport. Not an easy thing for mommy to allow to happen and finally, entertaining ourselves by doing laps around the luggage carousel while we waited for Cory to bring the car back. Oh yah honey, forgot that my phone died, so extra laps because he thought we would be watching for him in the dark, out there in that 3rd lane of pickup at the SL airport, or even more genius, waiting outside on the curb!! Yes Boko, welcome to the 8th level of hell (Isn't that the cold one or was it 9???)








Chillin' with the doggies followed by self portraits.

Immigration Appointment

So when you travel to pick up your child in Ethiopia, you will have an appointment where you go in and meet with immigration. You take your filled in I864 - which is basically for the purposes of proving that you can afford to bring an immigrant home with you and support them. You take copies of tax returns and W2's. They make this sound much more stressful than it actually is. They coach you leading up to it on what to say and what is expected. So you go in somewhat nervous, thinking that you could say the wrong thing and mess up the whole adoption.

After lunch time, they load the kids onto the bus, which they LOVE by the way, and drive from HH over to the guest house. Oh, WHFC has their appointments on Mondays. Always. They pick up all of the parents there and you ride to the embassy. The security isn't too bad, metal detectors, you can't take any electronic devices in with you. They will take them from you at the door and keep them up front, but we just left ours at the hotel. So limited pictures from that day.

Then you are led into a waiting room. We were immediately taken from this waiting room and led outside to another building where we sat in another waiting room. This one had a tv and play area for kids. We waited in here, with some American wrestling show on, WWF, or something. Great representation of the US! Woo hoo. While we waited, the other families who had been left waiting in the other room, came in. Eventually all of them were called upstairs. We were one of the last ones to be called up.

So, the whole time that we waited, Boko was great. Patient, quiet, really good. Then when it was time to walk upstairs he threw a fit. I had to pick him up and carry him up the stairs. At the top he kept trying to run back down. Eventually the guard did something that you get used to having happen in the US. He took him from us. Not in a mean way, but in a helpful way. It is perfectly okay for a stranger to take your child from you and comfort or play with them there. You just have to go with it or else its a big cultural faux pas and adds to some of the negative feedback that you hear about Ethiopians having toward American adoptive parents.

Anyway, we go up to the counter, the guys asks us the standard questions - is this the child you agreed to adopt, have you met the family, have you given them any money...? And that was about it. Really easy and kind of pointless in the overall scheme of things.

You go back downstairs, and wait for everyone else to be done, then you load back up on the bus, and go back to the guest house. We were able to spend most of the rest of the afternoon playing with Boko there, and the other parents actually took custody of their children that day, if they wanted to.

That night, the head of the orphanage over there takes you out to a local Ethiopian restaurant for a traditional meal and dinner show, of two men and two women performing dances. It was very interesting, even if one of our dinner partners totally ruined my meal by having no idea of how they eat in Ethiopia and giving the most disgusting display of dinner manners for any country that I have ever seen. I left hungry and totally pissed off. Someday I will have to go into more details if anyone is actually interested. The honey wine actually was not as sweet as I expected it to be and a few of those helped a lot. They serve it in these things that look like beakers from a lab and I thought that it was just a serving container, especially since they were fairly large, so me and the other person who had ordered it asked for glasses to pour it into. Oh well, we definitely were not the stupidest looking people at the table!!!!!!!

That's about it. Most of the rest of our trip consisted of going to museums, visiting the lions, and playing with Boko. I'll try to tell a bit more about all of it, but I am becoming the worst blogger and want to try and catch up on more recent events too.

Let me know if there is anything specific that you would like to know about. That is if anyone out there is still reading this.