Weekly Family Guest Appearance

Since this is a "Family Blog" we are going to have one member of the family post something on our blog every week. This week it's me, Mari. My sister got Guitar Hero for Christmas and we played it today. My BFF and her Mom baked Irish Soda Bread and they stopped by today to give us some. My Dad has gobbled most of it up already! Then they invited us to eat dinner tonight. Ribs yum:-) Before I leave my Mom's making me finish my Science Fair project:-( Not my favorite subject

Brrrrrr!

Just a quick post so you know we haven't been lost to an avalanche or been frozen solid....yet. 12 inches of snow yesterday with more coming tonight and tomorrow and then by Thursday we are supposed to be seeing a lot of negative signs in front of our temperatures!! Got to wonder why we ever came back from Florida? I'm trying to get a new digital camera up and running so you can see a few sewing projects I'm in the process of finishing....thinking I may have made a poor choice for my needs!

Another FFF!

A good day to make a mug of tea and sit close to the fire! Snow is pouring down and the temperatures are dropping so I started going through photos for Favorite Foto Friday. I guess my theme is 'Nostalgia'. We recently found Mari's birth family in Guatemala. The emotional swings keep coming but it is very much a net positive! She is excited to find a wealth of relatives...8 sisters, 3 brothers, mother, father, both grandmothers, and a yet to be enumerated number of nieces and nephews! She is the baby in the family and given her personality it must have been God's plan for her to be placed for adoption...clearly a born eldest! We are still digesting their extreme poverty and how best to proceed but it has brought a great deal of comfort to know that they are still alive. Mari has also been able to resolve some of the 'why me' emotions because not only is it clear that they could not 'afford' her (not sure anyone will be able to 'afford' this diva:-) but four other siblings were also placed for adoption and this removes the 'me' from the 'why me'. Mari holding her newest room decor! These are the people who love her so much that they took extraordinary steps to make sure she was loved and cared for in the best possible way. How many kids get THREE sets of parents??? Mama and Papa Salgado with grandson Kevin, her fosterparents who took such good care of her for her first 2.5 years!

Josefa and Manuel, her first parents who took the courageous choice to go agaist cultural norm by placing a child for adoption in the hope that little Maria Teresa could have a better life.

I also found one of the earliet digital shots of the traditional "big fish" picture. This one is from the winter of 2005!!

You think I kid when I call her my diva?? At seven she was already making sure to be front and center while my laid back pair are just fine with being in the background.

So we are now in the planning phase for Julia's upcoming First Communion. Unlike Mari, who loves the dressing up and being the center of attention, Julia is still hoping to convince Sr. Thomas Leo to let her wear pants! It will not be in her comfort zone at all but I'm working with her on the dress style so that at least she can tolerate the experience. Thought you might like to see Mari on her big day.....

Mairead sang in the choir that day. Notice Mari's head angle...got a preview of what happens to brides who get hugged while wearing a veil! Julia will NEVER go for the up-do so I'm going to need to figure a painless way to keep the veil on her 'bob'.

Summer before she started 3 year old pre-school...when she was still my little girly girl who tolerated long hair and dresses...........

T.M.I. Kind of Day

As Pollyanna would always say, "Just play the Glad Game!" She was probably the one who came up with the 'when life gives you lemons just make lemonade' saying too. I am no Pollyanna...and I only drink Diet Coke anyhow and that is your warning for the mood of the rest of this post! So there's this new law that takes effect in February that is so broadly written that it's giving all of my seamstress friends ulcers. It involves lead testing on "any product used by children under 12 years of age". Now I used to be in the "they mean toys and who's going to really enforce this" camp but after today I'm torn. I just got this Stellaluna Style Studios gig up and going plus I have the Irish dance costumes I make occasionally. According to the law I have to have an exact replica of every garment I offer for sale tested for lead content....which is in the $800-$1500 range. Sick irony with this is that most of the testing labs are located in .....wait for it....wait for it....you guessed it....CHINA!!!!!!!!!! So because those SOBs tried to contaminate the next generation of American children(conspiracy plot you know :-), I have to make two of every 'custom' outfit I make and have one sent over there to be DESTROYED so that I can prove the lead content of the one I'm hoping to sell for a few dollars?!?! My kids are too young for me to risk the jail time and I certainly can't afford the fines so what's a one woman sweatshop to do?....sigh As if my head was not spinning enough with that dilemma, Mari had another pre-orthodontic check up today. Even with the generous 'professional courtesy' we are looking at a final cost of 3K.... that the extra income from sewing would have come in handy for making the $100/month payments...but noooooo because the Chinese had to go and ruin it with their lead based paints. Trying my best Pollyanna, "At least he is not going to start treatment until April so I can be glad of three full months more to save up." She's bummed because, of course, she bragged to all the kids at school about getting braces on today...lesson learned?...probably not! My mood was not improved any by the Christmas UNdecorating today either! Why is it that the ONE ornament that they take off the tree qualifies as 'helping'? Every year I go through the ritual swearing that there will be no decorating the next year....and then about 295 days pass and I start falling for the holiday spirit all over again. I think from now on I'll try to soothe myself by saying that someday they too will have their own home and then I can just go and admire their decorating. Patrick earned a by because he took down all the outside lights on Monday...good thing because the weathermen are hyperventilating again...seems that after we get dumped on again with more snow tonight and tomorrow we will drop into the below a million Fahrenheit zone for about a week. Better clean out the back of the van so the girls can climb in when their doors freeze shut! Two bit of great news did squeeze into today. Firstly, Vanessa was discharged today and when I last talked to her she was in the car heading home via any/every drive thru in the quest of 'real food'...her words not mine. Secondly, Mari had challenged me to 'get with it Mom' and to start a Facebook page awhile back. Mostly it's just my 20something nieces and nephews contacting me on there but today I heard from a long lost friend! Okay, not that long lost but a good six years since we burned the midnight oil venting about the international adoption hurdles we were trying to jump in order to get our precious babies home. Thanks for reaching out Melissa! Can't wait to catch up on the years we missed. Lastly, tell me I am not the LAST woman on earth to find out the following bit of kitchen information!!!!!!!! Please someone tell me that they never knew this either! Please, anyone?? I just was taught by my sister (who also just learned this factoid) about the little perforated tabs on the ends of the boxes of aluminum foil, plastic wrap, waxed paper, etc. that once pushed in keep your rolls from lifting up and out as you try to pull the product out. How many boxes of aluminum foil have I used up in my nearly half century of life and NEVER saw that little feature??? If I only had a dollar for all the times that the damn roll popped out and ran away on the counter I wouldn't need to spaz over lead testing..........

Sewing Update!

Firstly, Vanessa has landed in the hospital! Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers so she can get back home to her three little ones quickly! Secondly, Sticky Kisses Studios has been shot down...there is already someone using a very similar name on eBay. Stellaluna Style Studios is now the storefront name I'll be using to sell my children's appearel. Shawna at Pixel Perfect is doing up the computer template and my clothing labels so progress is being made! Got home from my 'real' job today to find an e-mail from one of the dancers I made a costume for the Oireachtas. Sweet girl even included a couple of her classmates who wear my dresses as well. Em and Sara at a local feis. Em has a new one...in green, of course that I didn't get a pic of before it left the sewing room (aka salt mine).

Mari calls this dress "the Wicked One" because it reminds her of her favorite stage play. Too bad about the lighting because this one REALLY sparkles on stage.

Morgan who did not get this until the literal last minute !!!...and then I squeezed in one 'emergency' dress which was posted earlier.

Fav Florida Fotos!

First a couple of snaps from Christmas! Grandma had promised to get the soon to be retired Samantha doll for any of her granddaughters who read the whole series of books. Mairead and Mari just KNEW she had followed through when they found matching boxes under her tree!!

Usually Auntie Peggy is behind the camera but we caught her on Christmas day!

Now, in a fairly random chronological order, are a few pics from the trip!!

There was alot of sleeping on the two day drive...Alyssa got the giggles when she realized that Julia sleeps with her eyelids slightly open.

Mari, the only one who can read without getting carsick, also caught up on her sleep while being serenaded by her Ipod. While certain of our southern friends would like to blame the influx of us snowbirds on why the traffic was unexplicably slowed to a crawl for too many miles to count, we did take notes and let's just say that not one of the plates in any of the fenderbenders passed was from a state other than Georgia and Florida...nor have we ever had a two mile backup up here just because some poor sod with a hangover had to pull to the shoulder to puke!!! Also, we found a very unique traffic pattern in Florida called passing on the RIGHT...because for some reason the truckers felt they owned the middle lane so timid southern souls who did not want to follow a truck decided they should move to the LEFT lane without any increase in their speed...leaving the right lane open for us to pass them all by in a bid to get to the sun before 2010!!!!!

After two long days of rain and senseless traffic jams we pulled into Sarasota to find the Robichaux family had our dinner ready!! Lee Sr. cooked up a storm and had a whole crab boil for us Northern novices.

The two Lee's showing us how to open and find the edible parts of a crab while Patrick stayed 'safe' with the sausage and spuds.

How often can Mid-Western kids spend New Year's Day in swimsuits??

Lee Jr., Julia, Arianna, Andrew, Olivia, Alyssa, and Mari in Jungle Gardens.

Andrew giving Arianna a better view of the bird show at Jungle Gardens. I think his mother would be quite suprised to know just how kind and patient he was with the little Robichaux sisters...since he has mastered sibling warfare with his own sister!

The old fair skinned ones being 'good' by staying out of the baking sun...notice the dark skinned one doing the same!!! Such a crime when you are blessed with melanin to hide under a beach umbrella while the pasties would, of course, love to be out soaking in the rays. Alyssa liked to read in the sun so she could get the tan lines while following the story.

You have to give her credit for reading but why, oh why isn't she out boogie boarding with the rest of the cousins?

Notice a trend here folks? These two couldn't seem to put their books down...not even for sightseeing!

The traditional picture!!! Every time we go stay with Grandpa in Sarasota we take a picture "on the big fish" as the kids call the park sculpture at his corner. Someday I might even get around to scanning the pre-digital ones and show the changes....Julia was just a baby being held in his open mouth and now she has to kneel to fit!!

Home...just!

Promise to have photos and details starting tomorrow of the sojourn south! Just want to let everyone know that we all made it home safe and sound and the only missing item this time in the Irishman's blue gansey. Rain all the way from Macon, Georgia to Merriville, Indiana helped make sure we wouldn't be too shocked to return to cold and misery after four days soaking up the sun on Lido Beach! The white ones are only a little pink since they behaved and used sunscreen while the tan ones are now brown...sigh....life can be so unfair sometimes....especially since the now brown children could care less about the sun/beach.