Back Home

We are back home after a loooooooooooonnnnnngggggg day and a half of flying.  Yep we had an early flight out of St. Pete and a long layover in Frankfurt.  The fact that we were able to hang out in the Lufthansa lounge made the layover much better than it would have been.

Today is catch up day.  Thank you all for the sweet words of congratulations.  I have never been so excited about anything in my life.  Just one week from tomorrow I will be flying back to Russia to get Tennyson.

I'm a Mom!!!!!

I am still in St. Petersburg on my second trip.  I am leaving shortly to catch the plane home.  This trip was great.  My petition was approved for adoption.  I will be coming back to Russia on June 7th to pick up my son.  I don't have pictures to put up just yet.  That probably won't happen until I return and get him.  I still respect the Russia laws of not sharing information about him until he is in my arms for good.

I have 3 great visits with him this trip and we really started to bond.  We played in the Orphanage playground and had a lot of fun.  He is a big healthy boy and I feel so fortuntate.

Well I gotta go and catch a plane.  Cheers!

Thank You

Thank you for the well wishes.  I have had three times the amount of time to get ready for this trip, but I keep thinking I am forgetting something.  I have checked my lists and I seem to have everything.  I think I am better in crisis mode.

Getting Ready!

I am leaving next Monday to go back to Russia.  I have been super busy getting things ready around the house.  I found out that I have to take more pictures of the child's room to show how I have set it up for the arrival.  I think I have everything organized.  Now I just have to take the pictures and get them developed.  I think I have everything ready for the court trip including my speech.  Yep, I have to give a speech to the court.

Time is really flying by.  In the meantime I have been dealing with 2 sick dogs.  I may have mentioned before that my oldest dog was diagnosed with lymphoma about 3 weeks ago and she isn't expected to live very long.  My other dog has diabetes and we can't seem to get her insulin balanced.  She also has a staff infection.  What a pain!  Their vet bills are about to kill me, but they are just like my children so I will do whatever it takes.

Bait and Switch!

I am running really bad when it comes to customer service lately.  It seems like I can't get one thing to go the way it is suppose to if I need someone else to do it.  For instance, I hired someone to clean my house.  They came 2 weeks ago and charged too much, but I was hoping that I would get what I paid for.  I am not going to say how much I paid for the first cleaning.  They did a pretty good job but complained about several things about my home and my dogs who were outside during the cleaning.  (I did kind of kick myself for paying too much.)  Well when they were here I asked them to email me a receipt and her contact information.  I didn't really want to have to search the internet for her number and I had failed to write it down (I wasn't at the house when the cleaning was done, I had someone else there).  She never sent the email.  That doesn't seem like such a big deal because I have my check as a receipt.  Also, when I arranged for the first cleaning I told the owner of the company that I would need bi-weekly cleaning.  No problem right?  I didn't hear from her and I didn't have her contact information since I had asked her to email it to me with the receipt.  So I looked her up and found her with some searching and sent an email to the contact email.  I asked in the email if they were coming back this Wednesday and verified the agreed upon price of $80 to $85.  Shortly after I sent the email the owner called me and said she would be here today around 11:30 AM.

So they came today, arrived late like the first time, and did the cleaning and again complained about several things.  I am glad I wasn't here, because I would have told them to shove it.  I have a very nice home and I am not very messy.  I know it is a big job, but not that difficult.  So when they were finished and my mother (who was here to let them in) was writing out the check she was told that it was $110.  WHAT!!!  There is a big difference between $80-$85 and $110.  My mother argued with her and tried to call me, but I wasn't available.  Finally they settled on $90.  

I was pretty mad when I found out about this Bait and Switch.  It is unethical and illegal.  Since the owner made a big deal about being a long time member of the Better Business Bureau, I think I will be sharing this information with the BBB tomorrow.

This is just one example of how bad my luck has been running.  I am tired of people not following through on promises.  It is frustrating.  Needless to say, I will not be having that cleaning company back at my house.

I hope your luck is running better than mine.

Back to Russia

I will be going back to Russia in 2 weeks.  It will be a quick trip, no running around Europe afterwards.  This will be my court trip then I will turn around 10 days later and go back to get the child.  I have been feverishly getting the house ready.  Today I put together 4 photo collages, reorganized my closet, empty the child's room closet, moved a book case, ran a few errands, washed 3 loads of laundry, and starting installing baby proof items in the house.  It was a busy but productive day.  Next weekend is the shower and I have some friends coming in from out of town who will be staying in my house, so I had to do some cleaning also.

I still have a lot to get done tomorrow.  Sunday is typically yard day, so that is what I will be doing.  I also have to do some more baby proofing.  I need the work week to start so I can get a break.

This weekend will be my last mother's day without being a mother.  Very weird but very exciting.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers!

Sic 'em

Funny thing happened today.  I went and bought a new dresser for the child's room.  I had it delivered because I sure couldn't carry it up to the 3rd floor.  So there were 2 big strong delivery guys who came to deliver the dresser.  I put the dogs outside so they wouldn't get in the way.  I apparently left one of the doors unlocked and one of my dogs can open the doors from the outside.  When the big strong guys were inside my dog opened one of the doors and both dogs came in.  Before they could even get inside one of the big strong guys ran (yes ran) into my restroom and slammed the door.  It was hilarious.  I just quickly grabbed the dogs by the collars and put them back outside.  The delivery guy stayed in the bathroom until I told him the dogs were outside and the door was locked.  I got a good laugh out of it.

Proud to be an American. Go USA!

I am always proud to be an American but my heart is swelling more than usual this evening.

Ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch, the witch is dead.  Ding dong the wicked witch is dead!