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

         Today I am thankful for all of the suggestions to help my sciatica.  My friend Deb G suggested a chiropractor.  I had never even thought of that! When we were on Dan's family reunion, his cousin Anne suggested a massage therapist.  I still do the exercises to stretch the piriformis muscle but they don't seem to do much.  I read online about something called piriformis muscle syndrome.  I think I have it. I need some serious pain meds!          My friend Deb G's daughter is working for Cirque du Soleil as a seamstress!  What an exciting job!  Her daughter is a fabulous seamstress!  She has won many sewing awards at the state level! That seems like such an exciting job!! My niece Erica dated a guy who controlled the dragon in the hit Broadway musical theater show  Aladdin !  We saw Aladdin on Broadway, it was fabulous! He took her backstage and gave her a tour!  Another...

         Today I am thankful for TV!  My sciatica is in full bloom and I can't do too much/  I went to church and the cemetery yesterday but then I was down and out.  I am anal about having my house neat and clean but right now I don't even care about it! I am not supposed to take any aspirin ir ibuprofen because I am prone to pancreatitis.  The pain was so bad that I took half of a Motrin. i stayed on the couch most of the day and binge watched Law and Order SVU. The pain was too bad to even focus on reading my book. I am reading natural Causes for my book club and I am also going to start The Girl Before.  Next weekend is the local library book sale and I am excited about that! Somehow I am able to eat through the pain.  I can hobble from the couch to he kitchen. My leg pain has not affected my appetite!! When I am sitting around doing nothing I tend to overeat, I think I eat from boredom and because the food tastes so good! ...

         Today I am thankful for my church. I never dread going, I look forward to going. However,  I don't like to get up early for the 8 m service. We go to the early service every Sunday.  I don't want to attend the 9:30 service because half the day is over after church and our cemetery visit.  In Sept., our church is going to change times to 9 am and 10:30 an.  I think the parking lot will overflow. I am sure it will save money but I am not sure of the reason for switching times and cutting one service. I think a lot of people, especially those who work on Sundays prefer an early service. 9:00 is the perfect time, I think.          I am also thankful that my two cats are getting along and playing together.  The first day we brought our new kitten. Rosie home,  Nittany kept hissing at Rosie. Rosie hissed back.  She wanted to play with him.  Now they take turns chasing each other and i...

         Today I am thankful that we went to the Russian Food Market yesterday after Olivia was finished with Cosmetology school. . Olivia and Olya love Ukrainian and Russian foods. They always get sunflower seeds,  cook them to plump them up and then eat them for days and days.  My house has seed shells all over the place!! They bought 4 huge bags of seeds! I will be running my Roomba 24/7 for the next few months!  They always get tomatoes in brine and garlic pickles. The garlic pickles are the best!!! They also get Russian hot dogs which are linked together, I think they are made with pork and ham. And they both always choose lots of the Ukrainian juices. They can't read the Russian words any more but the juices have pictures on all of the cartons.  Olya loves chicken jello.  Just looking at it makes me queasy, but it is a Ukrainian delicacy. Yick!! chicken jello   Olya's sister made...

  No more bats seen in the house for several days!!   THANKFUL, THANKFUL, THANKFUL!!           Rose is here!! I am thankful for Rose.  Rose is our newest family member!!  We adopted this beautiful black kitten at the SPCA today! She is the sweetest kitten! Rose is three months old.  Olya picked her out!  We wanted a female because Nittany is a male and he doesn't like to be held!! Rose loves to sit on our laps, cuddle and be petted and scratched.  Nittany says to take her back.   He is not a fan!  He keeps hissing at her but eventually he will have to get use to her. He stays in the family room with her but doesn't go any where near her. Dan has always called Nittany…".the best cat in the world!" I always say that "the best cat in the world" doesn't capture any mice!   Now he can't say that.  Now he says Nittany is the best boy cat in the world.  Nittany, not a f...

                 MORE BAT NEWS!!   Yesterday another exterminator came.  The day before the exterminator from Terminix told me that he saw some guano, bat feces, in my attic and they could " fix " my problem for a year contract of $1400.  Today another exterminator came, he was in the attic a long time.  He said he didn't see any guano in my attic.  He didn't think the bats were hidden in the eaves like the Terminix guy thought because of the lack of guano! The second guy told me to find a handyman to close up an opening near my top roof siding and see if that works.  If not, he said they can come back and seal up the house for $795.  I think the Terminix guy just wanted me to sign a contract. The Terminix guy told me that I have mouse activity in my attic so Dan and I will buy traps tomorrow. The second guy told me that sometimes bats just fly around and fin...

         Today I am thankful for happy surprises.  Dan was off from work yesterday so he and Olya went train watching.  They drove a few hours and stopped different places and saw about 12 trains.  At the end of the train watching, Dan told Olya that they wete only about 30 minutes from her boyfriend's town. So Olya texted with his mom and asked her if she wanted to meet for dinner. Olya and Matt's mom have become friends.  They like Olya a lot and she likes them a lot!  And she did want to meet for dinner!  Matt's mom didn't tell Matt or his brother Kyle that Olya was going to be there.  Matt's mom is good with keeping secrets! When Matt got home from work, his mom told him to change because they were going out to dinner at Hoss's Steak House. Matt gave her a hard time, he didn't really want to go but he did.  He said, "Hoss's, that's a long drive, why do we have to go there?" Dan and Olya were sitting inside the re...

         Today I am thankful that another exterminator came. He was from Terminix.  He is the only one who actually went up into the attic!! He didn't find any bats but said he found some bat guano.   He said they could be roosting farther down in the eves of the house! He wants me to buy a  $1400 exclusion contract where they will come and seal every opening on the outside of my house.  He doesn't know how they got in the living areas of my house.  I still think they are around.  I have another guy coming tomorrow.    From google, I got this info about bat droppings.           Ask nearly anyone, and you'll hear that  bats  (although beneficial in insect control) can be dangerous because they carry rabies. But a lesser known danger, and one that is not as easy to avoid, is histoplasmosis. Histoplasmosis is a disease you can get from exposure to  bat guano  ( bat droppings )...

                  Today I am thankful for exterminators!  I found two companies to come out and inspect my attic.  I want the bat problem fixed! I wake up every hour at night and look around.  think every noise or creak in my house means a bat is in the room! I want my safe home and sanity(what little I have) back! When we got home from Dan's family reunion, our cat had pulled the draperies in the dining room off the wall.  He pulled the screws out of the wall by pulling on the curtains, and the rod and curtain were on the ground! I  am now convinced he was chasing a bat.  He has never done anything like that before!  There were pulls in the curtain so he had definitely climbed the curtain.  Someone is coming tomorrow morning and another inspector on Wed.  Last night I sat outside at dusk but  didn't see any bats fly out from my chimney or attic louvers..  That is when they leave the ne...

ANOTHER  FREAKING BAT!!!!!   The bat saga continues!!!!!!!!!!! I am thankful that I haven't seen a bat today!  On Fri. night, Olya told me that she heard a chirping, scratching sound in the living room.  We have a torch light in the farthest corner of the room.   Olya turned on her phone and used it as a flashlight.  She shone it up at the torch lamp and there was a freaking bat in the lamp.  We didn't know what to do, Dan was away. So I told Olya to stick a pillow over the top of the lamp and we would ask Dan what to do.  She is the tallest so it was her job to stick the pillow on the top of the lamp. Olya kept saying, "I'm afraid," but she did it. Dan told us that when we were away in MD, that a bat flew into the family room when he was watching TV, he caught the bat and disposed of it.  He told Olya to take the lamp outside and try to trap the bat. So Olivia, Olya, and I carried the heavy lamp outside.  First we put a trash ...

 Today I am thankful that Olivia enjoyed her 21st birthday party! I had the best time with my friends!  We played Scattergories which is my favorite game.  My sister-in-law Pennie introduced me to the game many years ago! My friends are always down to play a game.  Frankie's parents came and everyone loved them!  They were so friendly and outgoing. I think that playing a game opens up conversation and makes it easier to chat and get to know people! Frankie's mom and Olivia are Dallas Cowboy fans.  His mom gave her a Cowboys backpack which she loved!!All of my favorite people, except for my friend Carol who was sick, came to the party.  Olivia keeps telling me that they are her friends too!!  Priscilla, who supposedly never played before, won the game with the most points! Olivia's cousins, boyfriend and friends came to help her celebrate!  we had so much food that we could have fed about 50 more people.  I think everyone had a good tim...

         Today I am thankful that I finished shopping and baking for the party! Third and final cake!! One with the Fleddermans at the reunion, one Carvel ice cream for her real family birthday on Tuesday this week after dinner out,  and now the final cake is done!! I didn't know if the Fleddermans would eat the cake but they all did.It is the month of birthdays! It was my friend Debbie's birthday this week, and Olya's boyfriend's birthday is this weekend.  That is why we went to the shore so she could celebrate with him.  The cake is yellow with white buttercream icing from scratch, and white fondant. I haven't baked and used fondant in a few years so I was quite rusty using it! It is supposed to rain tomorrow so it will now be an indoor party.  We have a  large gazebo covering over our tables on the pool deck so the young adults can go hang out there if they want.  Tonight Olivia will assemble the chicken skewers. I have bee...

Today I am thankful that Olya and I had a great time in Ocean City with her boyfriend and his family.             We left home about 9 and stopped for food and gas along the way. We got to the hotel about 12:30 but couldn’t check in until 3.  Matt and Olya went to the beach and I hung out with his parents at their condo pool.  They are such a nice family.  After the beach and shower, we went back to their condo for Matt to open his gifts. Olya got Matt socks, shorts, cologne, and an Eagles shirt. I got Matt  a PSU jacket  Matt’s dad said Matt would love an empty box if it was from Olya. They didn’t know about Olya for awhile!  Matt got mono in the Fall and his mom told him that he had to tell anyone he was dating.  He then told her about Olya. I think Olya told me about Matt when they were “talking” whatever the heck that means.  We went to a fabulous seafood restaurant for dinner and wer...

         Today I am thankful that we had a great 21st family birthday celebration for Olivia! It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that she is 21!! The time just flew by!  We ate at a great Italian restaurant that Olivia chose. Olivia had her first legal glass of wine! Renee actually was a waitress there when the restaurant first opened.  She made fabulous tips there! After dinner, we came back to our house and Olivia opened all of her gifts. Renee, Olya and Adam gave her make-up brushes and face masks!  Poor Frankie is getting a face mask!  They also gave her beautiful Michael Kors sneakers.  Joe and Kat sent her a gift card to ITunes.  She had quite a nice birthday! I made her keep the tiara on because she looked so cute in it! She harassed Frankie into giving her the birthday gift he got for her two days early.  It was a beautiful gold necklace with a princess crown on it.  Olivia is certainly a prin...

         Today I am thankful that it is Olivia's 21st birthday and 12th birthday celebrated with us! She was born in my heart and always meant to be my daughter.  I believe God is the reason  she is in our family.  Who could have ever predicted that this little, skinny, scrawny, smiley, 9 year old girl born on the other side of the world would be my fourth child??? The photo above is the summer she first arrived in the U.S. at age 9.  She was getting her short hair braided at a place on the boardwalk in Ocean City.  Olivia is from Simferopol, Ukraine.  Simferopol is in the Crimea region which is now part of Russia.  Crimea is bordered by the Black Sea.  Olivia swam in the Black Sea which is the most beautiful blue color.  When we first took her to the Jersey shore, she thought the sea water was really dirty! She kept saying, "I can't see my feet because the water is so dirty."  I am so thankful for her! S...