Birthdays, Egg Rolls and a Thank You

Okay, guys, Hannah turns 16 in just three weeks or so. She informed me over the weekend that she either wants a) to get her nails done, b) get her hair done, or c) get her bellybutton pierced. She must think I am smoking some crack on the side if she really thinks that I am going to let her get her bellybutton pierced. I mean, really. The past few years, what we have done on her birthday is have an afternoon of us time. I take the afternoon off of work and take her out of school, and we drive to Twin and have lunch and just do whatever. I think this year she would like to do something a little bit more exciting, but I am SO not doing a party. I can barely handle ONE teenaged girl in the house! I know that 16 is a big deal, because it is the beginning of a whole new chapter of her life-dating (YIKES), driver's license (double yikes!), the beginning of becoming an adult. So I understand all of that, and I want to make it a special day, but I am SO not letting her get her bellybutton pierced. Maybe next year. Or not.

Getting closer and closer to getting final approval on the housing thing. There was one Verification left to be returned, and it was mailed on Friday. Maybe right this minute my caseworker is opening the mail and thinking, "Great! Last one!" I am starting to get just a little bit wonky about it, though. All of the additional financial stuff involved in moving-the rent will probably be slightly higher than what I am paying now, so I worry a bit about that. Then what if it costs too much to heat? What if I have to come up with first, last, AND a deposit? There is also the furniture issue-a must have is a bed for myself, and we all need dressers, and...the list goes on. So the sick part of me, the part that doesn't like change (even GOOD change is scary!), is all like "Hm, maybe this isn't such a bad place after all..." and I could very easily mind-fuck myself into thinking that we should just stay where we are. Thankfully, I have learned enough to know that I can feel that way all I want and need to, but I am still moving forward, through the fear and the worry. It will work out-I want this, the kids want this, there are a lot of resources for free or cheap furniture, and it WILL work out. I just have to let this one go, let it fall into place as it will, and trust that God is going to provide what I need at exactly the right time.

It was a good weekend at our house, arguing about the piercing aside. Hannah and I made egg rolls on Saturday, and I blame them on the fact that I didn't lose any weight in the last week. They are SO good, and we made this ginger-garlic dipping sauce to go with them. The fried rice we made was not that great, though, and Sam refuse to eat any of it. He ended up having a bowl of cereal while the rest of us totally pigged out. Even Owen loved them, eating an entire one and part of another, and getting into the fridge and devouring an uncooked one as well (uncooked as in not fried yet, all the ingredients were already cooked!). We try to pick one weekend day to cook something special-and it has been a lot of fun. We have done the egg rolls a lot, we are all (save Sam) Asian food lovers, we sometimes do lasagna or ravioli (a personal favorite, even though it is time consuming; well worth it!), but it is always something we don't have time to do on weeknights. I love to cook, and it is neat to see the kids becoming more and more interested in it.

And we otherwise were not especially productive. It rained most of the day yesterday, and the kids were all pretty wound up. I got slightly disgusted so came down to the office for a little while, and when I got home the kids had apparently disgusted themselves as well. All of them were outside in the rain, playing-even Hannah, who generally doesn't go out much. It just kind of drizzled all afternoon, but even after Owen and Hannah came in, Eli and Sam stayed out there and played together. I don't know how NICELY they were playing, but nobody (meaning Sam) came in bleeding or crying, so my assumption is that they did okay.

Thanks to all of you for your lovely, kind comments about my letter (s). To answer you all as a whole, I think I AM going to mail the letter to the instructor AFTER the class is over, and I don't know what to do about the ones to Hannah and Eli. Perhaps fine-tune them a little, add a little more non-sex stuff (and take out the dick part in Eli's, right?), and put them in their stockings at Christmas? It was good to write them, to put down on paper what I hope for both of them, the things I want them to hear from me. We have touched upon most of them, but somehow it has more impact when it is there in black and white. Anyway, thanks for all of the support; it means a lot.