It's time!

Time to update again I guess!

I am finished re-finishing the kitchen table. I should have taken a "before" picture, but I didn't. But anyway, it looks really nice. It's not perfect but I think we can all agree that it looks a LOT better than it did. Plus I only spent like $15 on supplies as opposed to, say, $200 or more on a new kitchen table! Now hopefully it will stay looking nice for at least a few years. It was kind of hard work to get it all cleaned up and I don't think my brain can take any more chemical saturation for a while!

Now someday I am also going to get new kitchen chairs...like, maybe we could have a whole set that are the same and not broken or otherwise chewed up by dogs. Ha ha! :) Or since I am feeling brave with one re-finishing project under my belt, maybe I can buy a set for cheap and fix them up.

Brian's grandma passed away on Saturday, and we had the funeral today. We didn't want to bring the boys for several reasons - just logistically taking a 2 and 3 year old to a funeral is not very practical (not to mention the 3.5 hour car ride each), plus I just feel weird doing that with kids that are not "mine"...deciding when they should have their first glimpse of death, that kind of thing. And they also didn't really know Brian's grandma. So anyway the boys ended up going to respite again.

When I told D we were going to a funeral he got really excited and said "Can I come???!!!!" I said no, and he asked why and I said because he didn't even know the person that died. He said "Oh, I thought it was someone I knew, like your Dad or something." Yeah, like my Dad died and I am just sitting here and not completely freaking out right now! Sheesh!

At the funeral I had the intense pleasure of taking care of my 7 year old nephew who is not disciplined by anybody in his home life. I was trying my very, very best...but what do you get when you expect a hyper 7 year old to sit still for an hour with NOTHING to do?

Him: Can I go up and look at her (the grandma) again?

Me: No.

Him: Can I go look at the pictures?

Me: No.

Him: Other people are up there!

Me: Yeah, but they're not seven!

There was a child his age on the person's lap sitting next to me, and they were messing with each other.

Him: Can I sit on your lap?

Me: No. I'm the barrier that is reducing the chaos.

And then, during the service (one of several conversations):

Him: Can I have some gum?

Me: If you can be good the rest of the service, I'll give you some when it's over.

Him: Please?

Me: If you can be good the rest of the service, I'll give you some when it's over.

Him: Well my dad is chewing gum! Please?

Me: If you can quit asking me, and be good the rest of the service, I'll give you some when it's over!

Him: What's your last name?

Me: *points to last name on the program*

Him: *eyes growing large* Hey! That's my last name too!!!!

Yeah, it was good times.

My husband also installed some new light fixtures for us - we got a small chandelier above our kitchen table (to replace the old-school giant fluorescent light), some track lighting in the kitchen, and a new little light fixture in the entry way. We have three more fixtures to install and I think he's going to finish them up tomorrow. I am reaallly excited. Once those are done, we will have only two light fixtures in the entire upstairs that have not been replaced by us - one in D's room, and one in the bathroom. The bathroom is on the short list of replacement items (maybe next!) but it's attached to the medicine cabinet (which we also need to replace, so it's a double whammy!).

I know, I'm talking about home improvement too much and foster care not enough.

Let's see...Oh I guess I should say that D told us some interesting info about some things that happened at the visit. After discussing them with M's foster mom, we decided to bring these things to the attention of the caseworker and the GAL. GAL lady seemed pretty up in arms about it, but I haven't heard if anything is actually going to happen about it. It's hard to know when you are telling something that is actually important versus just being a tattle-tale or something.

The super sad thing is that if D was not old enough to explain himself well, or if we didn't have a good enough relationship with him and he didn't tell us, nobody would know that these things are going on. It is kind of crazy to think about! I am thankful that they have not started transitioning the little boys home yet because they would not be able to tell us (coherently, at least) what happened. It's nothing super serious but it is somewhat concerning.

OK well I guess I need to get to bed. It's been a hard couple of days, and tomorrow and Friday are going to be hard too - I have a house to clean, and a Thanksgiving dinner to cook! Plus there is no daycare or school so the kids will be here...it will be interesting for sure. :)