The Crab Chronicles

And Away We Go

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The eve of departure is here. The suitcase is packed with everything except last-minute items [toothbrushes, deoderant, etc.]. Alesia has packed a tote with things for her to do. I have my backpack filled with our papers, a couple of books for me, and a bottle of water.

I don’t look forward to flying. I hate flying. Crowds, germs, waiting, occasional motion sickness. I have Bonine pills for the motion sickness.

I know I can’t my usual water bottle on the plane. I had to remove from my purse not only my treasured pocket knife given to me by my big brother, but my prescription hand cream. Feels silly to do all that, but such is life in post-911 world.

I called Dr. Federici’s office and confirmed our appointment, for 8:00 Thursday morning. They said I would talk to Dr. Federici for the first hour, then Alesia would be tested all day, then I’d talk to Federici again, about the test results. There will be a break for lunch. I am taking two good books to read while I wait. I doubt I will do any sightseeing, as it’s supposed to rain in Alexandria for the next couple of days.

Friday morning I go back and Alesia has auditory processing testing in the morning. Our plane leaves at 4 Friday afternoon.

I spoke to a cousin of mine on the Butler side of the family. Lisa Cox, and she is taking us to dinner Thursday night. I haven’t seen her in a couple of years. She is in the middle of a messy divorce, but when we spoke today she sounded fairly upbeat. She does all the genealogy research for that side of the family. She has no kids herself, ironically. She said she is looking forward to meeting Alesia.

It was hectic at work, trying to tie up loose ends. Tomorrow won’t be fun either. I am anxious to get this trip out of the way, though, and finally find out if Alesia has emotional or academic problems we need to deal with. Lesleigh said last night she thinks Alesia may have Inattentive ADD, and it sounds like she is right. I am leery of drug therapy for her. I always said I’d never zonk my kids out on Ritalin, like so many parents do.

I have been working on my children’s book, and gotten a lot of good advice and feedback from friends who have read it. It makes me optimistic. I am going to tell Dr. Federici about the book, and see if he will read it. If he endorsed it, it would be a big boost.

Tomorrow, D.C.!

Tadpoles and Incense

Sunday, August 27, 2006

We have had a good weekend and gotten a lot done. Since Bronwyn couldn’t make it a couple of days last week, I tried to get some tutoring done. She is very sick, and I don’t know when she can be back around Alesia.

Yesterday we worked for two hours on Math. Thank God Alesia understood it, because I sure had a hard time. She kept looking at me to see if she had the answer right, and I’d just say “Well, click on it and let’s see!” – I sure didn’t know. The Language Arts lesson today was much easier, for me.

We have our own science experiment brewing in our big birdbath out front. A frog got in there and laid eggs, and now it’s brimming with tadpoles! We’ve been putting chunks of dog food in there and the things are really growing! Alesia is fascinated by them. So are me and Mother, for that matter!

We went to a little church near our house today, the second visit. There are pluses to it – the main one being it’s closer to home – but the service is a bit too informal for our liking. We like a more traditional service. They also had clouds of incense in there this morning and I was scared Mother was going to have an asthma attack. I know Mother would like to find a church that isn’t in midtown, but for now All Saints seems to be the best bet.

See new photos!

Life in a Kazakh Orphanage

Thursday, August 24, 2006

What a relief. I went to the dr. this morning. She is monitoring my weight. I had lost only 4 lbs by her scale, but at least that’s something. She was encouraging and we chatted for a few minutes. I have been pretty anxiety-ridden for the last 10 days or so and it’s been really hard to stay on my diet. I am trying to get back to it today.

Coco had to have 3 stitches in her little foot yesterday. She did well and Mom and Alesia brought her home at lunchtime. Coco tore her bandage off last night and we had to cone her. I hate doing that, but she tends to lick and gnaw the wounds, and we can’t let them get infected or re-torn. She still looks cute, in her red sweatshirt and her cone. I ordered a baby brush and it should be here in a few days, so we can brush her hair and try to prevent more mats.

I am starting to get accustomed to looking in the mirror and seeing this short-haired woman staring back at me. It still seems strange. When I brush my hair it feels weird. I still keep unconsciously flipping my hair back when I’m fixing to get on the phone, or leaning over, even though there’s nothing there! I feel nutty every time I do that but old habits are hard to break. It hasn’t been this short in many years.

I am getting excited about going to Washington next week. I have gathered up the records on Alesia and I still need to fill out the paperwork, but I feel goof that we will get away for a couple of days, and find out, finally, if Alesia has learning problems or adjustment problems and we need to get her some help. She gets very moody, and I know that’s typical of an adolescent, but I wonder if some of it is an aftereffect of the institutionalization. I wonder if there are things I should be doing that I’m not doing.

Since I started making Alesia do pushups for being rude or sassy, she has almost completely stopped. She has only had to do them 2-3 times. Now I know why drill sergeants are so effective.

My anxiety level over the adoption keeps increasing, then I get angry with myself for being so irrational. I should know the ups and downs of international adoption by now, and I know it’s silly to be anxious but I can’t help it. I posted a message on an adoptive message board about the 171H and wondering when I will get it. This was the reply I got: “Atlanta takes about 8-10 weeks to process the approvals. Once it is approved it then can take another week or so to receive the letter. The INS Officer is fairly new and is really bogged down.” So my homestudy wasn’t received until about July 28, which means it may be the first part of October before I get the 171H! Aaaargh! I hate waiting. I try to comfort myself with the thought that Feb. or March in Kazakhstan will be better than January, but it doesn’t help much.

I am re-working my children’s book to be from the perspective of a 10 year old boy coming to America. So I e-mailed my friend Apryl and asked her to ask her son some questions. He was adopted 2 years ago from the same orphanage where Matthew is now. So he knows the scoop. I know this will help me compare/contrast the two worlds, and be more meaningful to Matthew. Below are the questions and answers:

When he was in the orphanage, did they bathe daily? ANSWER:    No....only once a week. There were no bathtubs at the school orphanage-only showers.

Did they have soap and shampoo in the orphanage?    ANSWER: No shampoo....  But yes, there was bar soap which was also used to wash

their hair.  He remembers the soap being green and white.

Was there toilet paper? ANSWER: Yes, there was toilet paper.  They were only allowed to use a small amount  (about 4 inches) and it had to be thrown in the trash cans--not the toilet. The toilet paper itself was similar to the brown paper towels we have here--only with more of a crepe-paper texture.

How often during the week did he change his clothes and get clean ones? ANSWER: Right after their baths.  There were no pajamas....they slept in their underwear and shirt (like a t-shirt) in the summer. In the winter they slept in their clothes or same as summer because the heat made the building so warm.  They wear school uniforms on school days. After school is over they change into regular clothes. On weekends they wore regular clothes. The children had to wash their own school uniforms on Saturdays.

What was his favorite food in the orphanage? ANSWER: Pizza (but not like the pizza here-had onions, eggs, tomatoes, cheese, and on them) and hard-boiled eggs were his two favorite foods.  Pizza was a special treat-maybe twice a month?   

Did he eat horsemeat in the orphanage – I heard it’s standard in Kazakhstan? ANSWER: The only meat they had was the meat in the soup and sometimes sausage. He doesn't know what kind of meat it was.

How many hours a day did he go to school? [Alesia only went 4 hours in Russia] ANSWER: He doesn't remember.but a photo I have has a

schedule in the background. And it started at 8:45 and ended at 2:45.

What did he think America would look like before he got here? ANSWER: Smoother roads (a translator who had been to the US told him that.)

Not as much rain. The same amount of snow as in Kzaakhstan    (Big surprise to him that there has only been one day of snow here in three years-and that there is no snow on his birthday-there was ALWAYS snow on his birthday – in January!) Nicer buildings, nicer cars - a lot of cars. He thought that everything would be nice and perfect

What was the strangest thing to him about America when he first came here? ANSWER: Tall buildings, skyscrapers, a lot of cars, WOMEN

drivers,  bicycles hanging from the ceilings at Wal-mart,  traffic lights that hang in the air, not as much snow (as mentioned above),  the way toilets flush, air conditioning (took him a while to figure out).

I had asked him another time what he thought the US would be like. He had unrealistic expectations---that Mama and Papa would buy him anything and everything he wanted.  That he could eat anything he wanted and drink all the Coca-Cola he wanted...That we never said no - and

that he NEVER HAD TO SLEEP!   Lol!

Before he was adopted, had he ever:

ANSWERS 

- been to a restaurant?   No   (That's not true now for children who have sponsors!  Even some who do not have sponsors have been when someone has sponsored an outing for a group.)

- been to a movie in the theatre?   No, he had never been to see a movie in the theatre until he had been in the US about a year.  (The first time we took him, he asked if we brought the "remote" from home if we could "pause" and/or re-wind the movie!  lol!) Again - since Antares started helping in Petro-some of the children have been to see movies in the theatre on outings!

- been to a grocery store?  NO

- been swimming in a swimming pool outside or inside? Yes, a wooden framed pool at the camp-I can send you a photo

- seen American movies? [if so, which ones?] seen American cartoons? [if so, which ones?] He says yes, but can't remember the names-some of what he had told me before were ones I wouldn't have let my children watch at that age - they were American movies-but in Russian, not English.

Cartoons - Yes, Tom and Jerry   (his favorite!)     Winnie the Pooh  (not the same Disney one we know though-the Russian one is

brown---I guess this was not an American cartoon.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  (old American cartoon) They also watched. Rugrats-was another American cartoon they watched on weekends. Dr. Ahbaleet  was a Russian cartoon they watched.

Below are other miscellaneous comments from him:

Other foods they ate:   

For breakfast: hard-boiled eggs, bread, oatmeal  (No cereal)    Tea  (no tea bags)

For lunch: soup,

For supper: oatmeal and other stuff (I know they had a lot of vegetables-there was a huge garden at the camp

with cucumbers, peas, potatoes..)

After supper played for an hour.

Hair Today, Etc.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006  --  See new Photos in Photo Album -

The last couple of days have been fairly peaceful. It has rained late in the afternoons. I am reasonably caught up at work. I have not, alas, been able to stick to my diet, but I am trying to get back on the program. I am supposed to go back to the dr. tomorrow.

I have played badminton a couple of times with Alesia. She loves to play, but won’t move around so she can whack the shuttlecock – she will stand there and watch it come towards her. I can see we need to work on her coordination and speed. I told her the other day that if fat old mama can beat her, she needs to work harder!

I still can’t find her a team to play on. I have looked, but nothing comes up in this area when I search the net.

We found an okra in our garden! I was afraid the okra had not come up, but there it was! Now, how to cook one okra?!

We watched “Zelig” last night, an old Woody Allen film that looks like a documentary, but isn’t. Alesia kept saying “Is that real?” which was hard to answer. Many of the shots were real – old newsreel footage, for instance, of Babe Ruth at bat, with Allen inserted into the film in the background, by computer. Alesia’s grasp of reality vs. movies has always been tenuous, so it thoroughly confused her. There are some very slapstick funny moments in the film, though.

People at work continue to gasp and scream when they see my hair. I am getting tired of it. I think perhaps Tim did get it a bit too short, but it will grow. Everyone who sees it is complimentary, which is good. Several of my buddies have told me it makes me look younger. Whatever works…

I am getting very discouraged about getting the 171H. I don’t know what to do. I just keep praying it will come soon, so I can finish the adoption.

When I got home last night Mother was very upset. Coco has a wound on her foot where Mother accidentally stepped on her. We’ve all done it – she gets underfoot and barks like a maniac and it just happens. I called and talked to one of the vets and she said just bandage it and bring her in. So Mom and Alesia will take her in today. Poor Coco wouldn’t eat at all last night, except for some yogurt.

The Rest of the Weekend

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Well, I thought I had posted yesterday but obviously I was delusional. I don't know why the post didn't stick.

We've had a great weekend, and gotten a lot done. Alesia spent time at the pool yesterday afternoon and I saw a hilarious movie called "Little Mary Sunshine." Small indie film that was very well done and very true-to-life funny, but it also had some over-the-top hilarity. It was about a fmaily and how they dealt with problems and grief, and the last half an hour or so was a spoof of kiddie beauty pageants.

Today I took the leap and finally got all my hair cut off. Yep, it's as short as a guy's hair. My cousin Tim, who cuts my hair, was afraid I'd have "hair shock" and try to punch him after it was done, but I told him I had thought about it for weeks, and it was time. It's very short, but feminine. He did a great job, and took his time. It was great of him to cut my hair on a Sunday morning. Mom had to stay home and wait for my friend Paul to fix the computer, so we couldn't get to church anyway.

Coco is the proud owner of an attractive blue sweater and a red fleecy sweatshirt. She was so cold and trembly after her haircut, we had to do something. She looks adorable. I took some photos of both of us, I just can't get them downloaded yet.

We went to the grocery store late this afternoon, and I could see Alesia studying me. She finally said "That haircut makes you look about thirty." I said, "Cool. Maybe if I just shave my head I will look twenty, huh?" She replied in a disgusted voice, "No, then you would look like a weird old man!"

Here's yesterday post that didn't make it here:

Saturday, August 19, 2006

I got in a copy of Alesia’s medical records from her doctor today. I need them to show Dr. Federici at our appointment in a couple of weeks.

We remarked today that Alesia has really grown. Looking back at the “abstract” of her medicals prepared in July 2004, which I gave to the pediatrician, it’s really astonishing. At that time, she was 4’11 and weighed 72 lbs. Two years later, and she is now 5’3 ½ and weighs 106 lbs. So she has grown 4 a/2 inches and gained 34 lbs in two years.

Some other interesting things about that Abstract. She has in her history rubella [German Measles] chicken pox [great, since I never got them], enterobiasis [pinworms], and a curved nasal septum. In the spring of 2002 she spent two weeks in the hospital with a gastrointestinal disorder, and it was noted she had a “moderate protein insufficiency.” She was a skeleton when I got her, for heaven’s sake. She had been exposed to tuberculosis.

She had diagnoses of vegetative vascular dystonia [chronic fatigue syndrome] and bile ducts dyskinesis – something to do with gallbladder problems. When I showed the Abstract to her pediatrician, who is himself Russian, he said he saw no reason for her to see a specialist.

I have no medical records from before she was 6 years old. None. Since her birthmother was a drunk, that shouldn’t be surprising, but it still ticks me off. I guess we are just lucky she is reasonably healthy now. It looks like she has grown a quarter of an inch in the last few months. I pray that continues and she grows into those size 9 feet. I think malnutrition may have stunted her grown irreparably.

We watched a film tonight called “Glory Road” – true story of a little basketball team in West Texas that took the national college championship in 1966, with 7 black players on a team in a sport barely integrated. Great film. Very inspiring. When I put Alesia to bed I asked her what she had learned from the film. We talked about it for a few minutes.

I finally told her a story from when I was in the 6^th grade. A friend of mine - not as smart as me - was a very good student because she worked hard. I was a good student because it was easy – I didn’t put myself out to learn anything. I was lazy. One of my favorite teachers told me that my friend would be very successful if she continued to work hard in school. Now she is a doctor. I am a paralegal. She probably makes 5 times as much money as I do.

I told my daughter this before I kissed her goodnight.

“Alesia you are smart and you are beautiful. Those are gifts from God. But you have to work for everything you get in this life. Nothing is free. You work hard, and you will succeed in life. You don’t work hard, you won’t get anywhere.

I know you’re working hard with your tutors. Never let anyone tell you you aren’t smart. You ARE SMART. Plus, you have me, Granny, Uncle Bruce, Bronwyn, Lesleigh – so many people who love you. And we have faith in God. You can do ANYTHING, baby.”

That’s what my father used to tell me. “You can do ANYTHING and be anything you want to be.” That was the greatest gift he ever gave me, confidence. Despite the rough start she had in this life, Alesia must know she can be anything. If I can help my daughter to find that kind of confidence, and work hard, and not be afraid, I will have succeeded. 

Coco is Russian for Cutie

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Coco came through her hair clipping just fine. She now looks like a black Chihuahua. She is all body and long legs. She is still a lovey girl but she doesn't look cuddly. She sat and watched me eat some yogurt this morning and her sad eyes said "You know I love your yogurt but you are being cruel and not sharing. First you take away my fur coat and now this..." When I finished, I gave her the carton to lick, and I later saw she had carefully tucked it into her little bed under the kitchen table.

Mom said the surgeon - who is a very sweet man, and diagnosed Coco with the Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - brought Coco out to them yesterday after the surgery, wrapped up in a towel like a baby. He apologized for his awkward grooming job. It's clear he is very fond of Coco. He and the other vet, Dr. Roshto [a young woman] adore Coco, and I feel comforted that they are our allies in this, and didn't just tell us to put Coco down when she was diagnosed. / They only charged us $115 for the clip job, which was a relief.

I found out a few days ago that my homestudy wasn't sent to the INS until July 17th, which means they probably didn't log it in until a week later. It may be another several weeks before I get my 171-H. I am trying not to let that depress me, but it's tough.

I am continuing to listen to my Russian language for parents CD every morning while I workout. Most of the phrases are practical, for example "Do you have to use the bathroom?" Some of them I don't need - "I will always be your papa" or "Can I pick you up?" Some of them I need to review with Kate, for accuracy. For instance, the phrase "You are such a handsome boy!" uses the word "kraseevi" which Alesia says actually means beautiful. Matthew might think I'm nuts if I look at him and say "You are such a beautiful boy!"

Alesia is forgetting some of her Russian, though. I found in her room last night my textbook from when I took the Russian language course a couple of years ago. I think she tries to read Russian periodically to

see if she remembers. I don't want her to forget her Russian, but I am much more concerned right now about her learning more English.

Bronwyn and now Lesleigh both report Alesia is doing well with her tutoring. After last weekend's computer nightmare, the new one is up and running well, thank goodness. Paul still has some configuring to do on it. I am hoping with Les consistently working with Alesia 2 more hours a day, she will move more rapidly than she did over the summer, and go on to the 5th grade material. I am not certain if Lakeside will require her to take the CRCT before they will admit her, but they may make her take some sort of placement test.

Last night's movie selection was an old favorite, "Moonstruck." Cher falls for the romantic and volatile Nick Cage instead of the older, chubby mama's boy Danny Aiello. At one point, Alesia turned to me and said "I want her to stay with the cute one! She shouldn't marry that fat man! He's not cute!" I looked at her. "So you're saying fat men don't deserve to get married?" Alesia sighed. "No, just he's not CUTE!" I said, "Well, I think Danny is pretty cute. Fat people CAN be cute. You're saying fat people just shouldn't get married?" She rolled her eyes. "No! Oh never mind!"

I used to worry that her being so argumentative meant Alesia would someday be a lawyer. Now I'm thinking she may be something far worse – a TV executive...

*******************************************************************

Alesia said the funniest thing tonight. We were coming back from dinner and riding through a neighborhood near our house, just looking at the houses, which is something we like to do. We saw one house which was painted several different shades of sort of sickly brown. My 72 year old mother, who is very funny and feisty, looked at the ugly house and said "That house looks like my popka!" [buttocks] As I was laughing, I heard Alesia said from the back seat "Well, MY popka is pink!"

Freaky Mama

Wed. August 16, 2006

I had to be in my daughter's former school this morning, to pick up a copy of her transcript and withdraw her from school, since she is being homeschooled this year.

Standing at the  desk was the most bizarre looking woman I have ever seen - with her kids. She was a fit, reasonably attractive black woman. However, she had on very tight jeans and a tiny red lycra top that showed off her, uh, mammaries. She had long, heavy black hair, with long magenta streaks in it. I haven't seen hair like that in real life, only in bad MTV videos.

Her fingernails glowed with purple polish, and they were over an inch past her fingertips. They looked like claws. I doubt she has computer skills.

Her jeans had a large slashed place in the behind, and her one naked butt cheek was clearly visible.

Her face was the worst, though. She had a pierced lower lip, with a long pointed spike sticking out just below the bottom lip. I have been to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, and she could be her own living display. Yikes.

She had two little boys with her who looked fairly normal, except the older one had those baggy pants falling down his butt. The little one, about 5, looked tired and bored. I feel sorry for them, though. How embarrassing it must be to have a mother who looks like that.

She may be a conderful mother, but she should think about her effect on her children. Maybe they will grow up wanting a woman just like dear old mom - with spiky things sticking out of her face and her butt hanging out of her pants.

My mother liked high bouffant hairstyles, and her hair turned a different color every week for a while. She also favored polyester pants suits. But hey, it was the late 60's, early 70's. She looked like a lot of other mothers.

As I write this, I wonder what my daughter will think of me in a few years. Will she roll her eyes as she looks at old photos - "There's my mom, like, totally goofy looking, with her little half glasses way down on her nose, her capri pants and Crocs. She had Crocs in every color. She looked so weird...."

Hey, I may look weird, but at least I don't spend hours every day working on a bouffant, or struggling to eat a hot dog with a spike sticking out of my lip...

Weekend Fun

Sunday, August 13, 2006

We have had a busy but good weekend.

Yesterday morning was hectic. We took Coco to the doctor, and her foot was bandaged. We are taking her back Wed. morning and they are going to anesthetize her and try to clip off the hair mats and cut her very close. The anesthesia is because if she gets cut, they can just go ahead and stitch her up. I hate they have to do this, but the hair mats are going to itch and if they itch she will nibble them and the nightmare will be ongoing. I pray this procedure will be successful.

We had major computer hassles yesterday morning. I won't go into them all, but I ended up having to get a new computer and Paul couldn't get the tutoring program on and usable, and it was awful. The only good result was that Bronwyn and Lesleigh got to talk, and I think Les will do fine with the tutoring, once she gets used to the program.

We sold the old washer/dryer stackable unit to a college kid for $300. He loaded it into his car with very little help from me and Alesia. It was heavy as lead. Alesia ran in the house and told Mother and Lesleigh "Oh he's so cute!"  All I cared about was that he paid cash!

Lesleigh and I took Alesia to Ferbank Natural History Museum in Decatur. They have wonderful exhibits. We only had time to see the one called "A walk Through Time in Georgia" which has great models of cells, dioramas of animals, huge replicas on dinosaurs, etc. Very interesting. The museum has an open atrium in the middle with an enormous T-Rex skeleton. Very cool. We saw an I-max movie about dolphins that was fascinating. Then the museum was closing so we had to leave. I want Les to take Alesia back, though, because they have lots more exhibits.

We splurged last night at dinner and ate at the Atlanta Fish Market. Very upscale, popular place in Buckhead. The food was pricey, but sooooo wonderful. I had oysters rockefeller, then crab cakes and sauteed spinack. Wow! Mom had fried scallops and they were heavenly. Alesia had fried shrimp. I confess I fell off the wagon a bit - they brought fresh homemeade bread to the table and I had to heva a couple of pieces. It was wonderful.

I have been back on the diet today. I had a Wendy's salad for lunch. I am grilling salmon for dinner, and squash.

We tried a new church this morning, St. Bartholomew's. It's only 15 minutes from the house. Nice people. It's pretty modern inside, but the music was awesome and the people were friendly. Mother wanted to find a place closer than All Saints. We'll visit some more before deciding if we want to change. There are good things about All Saints, too.

Alesia and I set up a volleyball/badminton net in the backyard. I ran my butt ragged  for about 15 minutes, then the little girl next door came over to play. It will be good for Alesia to have it up, and we can play when I get home at night. I just hope the yard guys won't mess it up...

I posted a couple of new photos, from the Hasty reunion in Canton.

Ending the Week Stressed

Friday, August 11, 2006

I had a pretty boring day, right up until late this afternoon.

Brownyn was here trying to tutor Alesia but the computer wouldn't come on. She felt it was the monitor. Well, Paul came over tonight and it was not the monitor, it's the actual computer - much more scary. I was in a near panic stage, because Leslie is coming over to observe Bronwyn and work out the details of the tutoring program which starts in earnest next week, since school starts then. The tutoring depends on the computer.

Paul is going to bring me another computer, which means more money, and I will have to pay him to install the tutoring program on the new one. Aaargh! I can't ever escape sliding further into debt!

Then, we were putting Coco to bed tonight, in Alesia's bed, and we found a hurt place on her, and it's bleeding a little bit. I am too tired to take her to the vet tonight. We can go early in the morning.

Alesia was very excited when I got home tonight, and when I walked upstairs and looked at my computer I knew why. There were some branches off some kind of flowering tree. I said evenly "Those are beautiful, honey, where did you get them?" Alesia: "They were just growing around the pool." I said "Alesia, you can't just go take things out in nature like that. The pool is not our property. You must never do that again." We talked for a few more minutes about it. I didn't want her feelings to be hurt but I wanted to stress that what she did was wrong.

We had three little girls over and they ate pizza and played games tonight. I'm hoping we can make this a weekly even, so Alesia will have regular interaction with other kids this year. One of the little girls lives next door, and Elena and her 12 year old sister Anya were the other two. They played really well together.

Dieting and Other Activities

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

I was thrilled to send the following e-mail this morning:

With great excitement I have to tell y’all that since I started the Fat Smash Diet on July 30 I have lost 14 lbs! YAY!!! It’s just a start and I have a long way to go, but I’m encouraged.

I feel better, and I am exercising 20-30 minutes every day. I want to up that to 45 minutes a day, but I have to do it slowly because I’m so out of shape. I actually dusted off the elliptical trainer in my bedroom and I’m doing it every morning for twenty minutes, while listening to Russian language CD’s, so my mind is occupied and I don’t get bored.

The diet is just really healthy foods, 3 small meals and two snacks a day, and I am eating lots of fruits and vegetables and lowfat yogurt. I eat frequently enough that I don’t feel hungry, and the yogurt satisfies my sweet tooth. The diet is not some magic pill or fad diet, but a real lifestyle change.

I feel like it will be successful because in the past I always dieted to catch a man; now I’m dieting to be healthy, feel better, and for my children. The thought of wedging my butt into an airplane seat for 14 hours to get to Kazakhstan is also a great motivator…

Here is the website if you want to check it out: http://www.fatsmashdiet.com/

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I am trying to get Alesia out of the house and doing some fun things this year, so she's not just stuck in the house all the time. I sent this to Mom, Bronwyn, and Lesleigh:

I called and joined Alesia at the Spruill Center for the Arts, and she is signed up for a drawing class on Thursday nights from 6-8:30. The teacher is a female and has been teaching a long time, and I think it will be good for Alesia. It’s only for 8 weeks [Sept. and Oct.], not a huge commitment. If she likes it, I can sign her up for another class after Christmas.

There are some 1 day holiday crafts and cooking seminars I want to sign up for that look like fun. Les, Bronwyn, any interest? They are on Saturdays…

I don’t think I’m overbooking her. The Saturday Modeling/Etiquette class is only for 6 weeks. Her only definite yearlong commitment is for the dance class on Tuesday nights. If she wants to continue the piano that will be a commitment, too, but I don’t want to push her on that. Mom, I think if you will play some every day where she can hear you, and maybe teach her another little melody or two, and encourage her, I think she will be more inclined towards the piano.

Bronwyn, the first piano class is on September 6 from 3-3:30, so we will see you about 3:45.