Thankful Mom of Five, Adoptive Mom of Two Ukrainian Beauties and Bereaved Mom

         Today I am thankful that Olivia's dental implants are ok and she isn't in too much pain. She was so nervous about the oral surgery so she was up at 5 am and started cleaning the basement. She even scrubbed the basement steps.  Olivia used my Bravajet automatic floor cleaner.  It worked great for the first half of the basement floor which is a tile floor.  After she tried to use it again, it just stopped working.  I charged the battery but still nothing.  I can't function without my Roomba and Bravajet mopper!  Olivia was not this nervous for her spinal fusion surgery! I am not sure why she was so scared, she is usually fearless. I think it is because she remembers the pain of having her wisdom teeth removed.  She was so swollen and in excruciating pain from that procedure.   Of course, she is on Vicodin and  prescription Ibuprofen.  She kept ice bags on her face for the first few hours, then sort of stopped doing that.  She is in pain but it is manageable and I

        Today I am thankful for holidays. They are the days that we all take the time to spend with family.  It is a time to really sit and chat and catch up.  Life just keeps moving forward and we should cherish the special moments with family.  And of course, there is always special and delicious food for the holidays! I tell Dan that it is about being together but he disagrees.  Dan always says that it is  "about the food!" When I think back over the time spent with family and friends, we usually talk about and get to relive some of the special moments from the holidays when we were and are together! Spending the holidays with adult siblings is always fun because only they "get" the memory fully! When we were kids, my dad would always go to Pantry Pride, a local supermarket, on Easter Saturday at 6 pm because they reduced all of the Easter candy then.  We always got the broken chocolate Easter bunnies. I don't think we ever had a fully formed chocolate  Ea

         Today I am thankful for my crazy cat's antics.  Olivia and I were sitting at the kitchen counter eating tuna and salad for lunch.  I let the cat in and as I was walking back to the counter stool, he jumped up and tried to eat my tuna fish.  We got him off the stool and thought he left the kitchen.  All of a sudden he comes running in from the hallway, he looked like a flying squirrel! He jumps/flys up on the counter, knocks over the colander with the lettuce and celery in it and scatters everything on the counter!  The counter was a bit slippery because I had just run the sponge over it before we ate. He was slipping and sliding all over the place.  I think he scared himself when he knocked the silver ware on the floor because there was a loud clanking sound! Olivia and I couldn't stop laughing!  He is a nut case.  I have reduced his sale price to 2 cents! The counter was a mess.  We cleaned up after we stopped laughing! Then Olivia opened a new package of tuna fi

       Today I am thankful for Skinny Cow ice cream.  I like to have a sweet treat now and then and I don't feel as guilty if I eat a Skinny Cow ice cream treat!  The only problem is that Dan likes them too and eats them.  They are really good. I would like to have them last in the freezer but they are gone before I get to them some of the time! The salted caramel pretzel bar is my favorite! Olya loves them too.  Olivia is not much of a sweets eater. It is small but hits the spot and is really enough of a treat! The problem is that they are small and you can be tempted to eat more than one.  I wonder if the name of eating two at a time would be Fat Cow! The boxes are expensive for the amount of ice cream bars but it is appetite/portion control! I think I could eat a whole box at one sitting, but I don't.  I only buy them once in awhile because I would eat them everyday if they were around.  So tomorrow I will be back to making sugar free Jello with fruit in it. I am also t

        Today I am thankful that I got to chat with my friend Donna.  Donna is a bereaved mom and an adoptive mom.  She lives in CT. We met online about 15 years or so ago. Donna is a special person.  I use to try to help people adopt from Ukraine after we adopted. I kind of felt that I was paying it forward or all of the people who had helped me along the way. I tried to help Donna and gave her all the information that I could.  There was just something about her that made me feel connected to her.  As we chatted on the phone, we eventually found out that we were both bereaved moms.  Donna lost her four year old little boy Michael in an accident.  I have only ever seen his picture, but he was so darn adorable!  Anyway, Donna and I chatted all the time and vented to  each other about our kids! Donna and her husband adopted Ana from Ukraine,  a cute little 9 yr old girl. Ana is now a beautiful young woman. I hadn't spoken to her for awhile but someone sent me a picture of a rainbow

        Today I am thankful that my granddaughters liked their Easter gifts!  The girls called to thank us. We also mailed Kaylee's birthday gift in a separate box and Dan mailed the boxes at the same time.  Joe said they got the boxes a few days ago and they opened the Easter box addressed to both of them.  I sent them a craft, necklaces, and some candy.  Since the boxes arrived, Joe said that Kaylee has been picking at the edges of her birthday gift box!  LOL, so funny and so cute. What kid can resist a box with a gift inside staring at them the week before their birthday! So they let her open the gift while we were on the phone.  I think she liked the gifts because she was playing with them during the conversation! I got her two of the My Little Pony toys/sets she wanted and I picked out a Melissa and Doug dress up doll that was so cute!  I loved paper dolls when I was a kid.  When we first adopted Olivia, she found a doll dress up online.  She knew how to use the computer and d

        Today I am thankful for the Easter gifts my friend Debbie sent me!  All of the things in the photo above are for Amy except for the rainbow! Dan and I will take them to the cemetery on Sunday after church.  The rainbow was painted by her granddaughter Brielle, aka the craft queen. Who could not love and be thankful for this adorable colorful rainbow painted by a very talented New York painter? It makes me happy just to look at it!   Brielle even signs and dates her crafts for me!  I just love receiving the things she makes. Debbie also sent us all candy!  Olivia and Olya love when we get a box from Debbie because they know she always sends something for them.           Debbie is just too funny for words!  She should do stand up comedy!  The last box I sent to her was for Valentine's Day! She said to me "I hope all the candy was for me because I ate it all!" We both lost our teenage children the same year.  Debbie is the close friend I wish I never had cau

          I am so thankful for the nice ordinary day I had today!  Olivia and I went to her dental implant specialist. She is getting her two implants on Friday next week.  Olivia was born without two top teeth, she wears a retainer with two fake teeth on it.  On each side of her front to teeth she has a space where a tooth should be. Since she didn't have the teeth, no bone ever grew in that spot so she had to get bone grafts first.  Now the area is ready.  I am only worried because she always gets every side effect that goes with any medical procedure.  After the dental surgeon appointment, Olivia and I went to the gym and walked on the treadmills and chatted.  I hate to exercise but it is fun if you have someone to chat with. After the exercise, we went to Renee's to visit her dog, Sandy. Renee is in South Africa so Sandy is alone a lot. Adam told us that it was fine to go over any time and play with Sandy.  She was really happy to see Olivia and was sort of happy to see me!

      Today I am thankful that I had a birthday lunch with my close friend, Amy. We were born in the same year! I gave her a small gift from our favorite store!          Amy is beyond a doubt the nicest person I have the privilege to know. She is a good friend through the best of times and the bad times. Amy is a hospice nurse and you have to be a special, compassionate, loving person to do that job. Amy has all those qualities and more. My older kids all grew up together with her kids.  Amy is a true and loyal friend.  She came to so many days of my Amy's civil trial. I will never forget that she did that, it meant so much to us!  We talk about my attorney because she was at the seven week trial so much.  We refer to him as Slick Slade because he was such a sharp attorney.  Our older kids all grew up together. They were all in the school music and theatre  programs.  Her oldest son Aaron is a neurologist,  her daughter Leah is a Rabbi, and her youngest son Danny is an accompl

taken at 10:00 a.m. on 3/22      Today I am so thankful that someone talked about Amy to me.  We had a Nor'easter and we got lots of snow! We don't have a regular snow removal company.  Last year, Olya's guy friends came and shoveled and I paid them.  But now that they are out of high school and have regular jobs, they can't do it any more.  My sister gave me the phone number of a snow removal guy and I called him and got put on his list, but I am sure we are at the bottom of his list.  His name sounded so familiar to me. He called me this morning to tell me that he had come early morning but couldn't plow because Dan's car was at the top of the driveway. Then he said......was Amy your daughter?  It just caught me off guard and my voice was stuck in my throat but I coughed up "yes."  He said I graduated with her, she was the nicest and sweetest girl and what happened to her was awful. His mom and I use to be on PTO together. I thanked him for m

       Today I am thankful that I finished wrapping presents and have them ready to go to the post office!  It always feels good to get a job completed. I stopped at the liquor store to get boxes the other day but the boxes weren't big enough so I had to go back today.  I wrapped my granddaughter Kaylee's gifts for her birthday which is April 1st. I got her two My Little Pony sets and another doll set.  I forgot to buy the brown wrapping paper to cover the box so I had to go out again and buy that. I think my memory cells are dying off!  Then I wrapped Easter gifts for both granddaughters and put a little bit of candy in the box.  I always put a dollar bill in a card because it makes the card more fun to open! I also always send something to my friend Debbie for her son Peter's grave. It might seem strange to others to shop for a deceased child but it is my normal.  I never got to meet Debbie's son Pete, but I wish I did. He seems like he was a great guy and a great son

        Today I am thankful that my daughter Renee is having fun and is safe in South Africa.   She went cage diving with sharks.  That makes me so nervous but Renee lives life to the fullest!  I think they lower you in a cage and the sharks swim around you!  Scary! I would never do that, I am way too timid.  But I did raise my kids to live life fully.  And Renee really took that to heart, she loves to travel,  experience,  and enjoy! In high school, we rarely saw Renee during the week.  She would leave at 7:30 a.m. and sometimes not be home until 11:00 p.m.  Sometimes she came home to eat and sometimes I drove her dinner to her because she needed the time to get her homework done.  The plays and musicals practiced for hours after school .Renee and Amy were both in band, jazz band, orchestra, chorus and theatre.  Renee usually had a starring role in the musicals.  She also played varsity tennis. Renee was assistant marching instructor in the band. Renee was voted most musical in her hi