International Adoption Stories

If you have ever thought of adoption, or know anyone who is interested? Check out this site. A friend of mine just started this website after adopting his daughter from China. It is truly comprehensive- I can't think of anything that could have been left off. It has a lot of links to hook you up with everything from decorating the nursery to what you should pack on your trip to pick up your new gift of a child.

http://www.internationaladoptionstories.com/index.htm

Advertising- Nothing in Life is Ever Free

As you can see, I finally figured out how to add advertising to my site- located semi discretely on the right hand side of the page. Feel free to click as often as you like since this will one day pay for hosting my web address.

Thanks from Stuntmom.

Don't Feel Like Cooking Tonight?

The Cincinnati Magazine just came out with their dining guide and stated that there is only one Vietnamese restaurant in Cincinnati located in Roselawn. I panicked thinking our local Clifton restaurant closed so soon! I've been meaning to try Cilantro Vietnamese Bistro located in Clifton across from Hughes highschool for well over a year. Today I stopped in with the girls and ordered a tofu soft veggie roll (Goi Cuon Chay) along with Vegetables in Lemongrass (Bun Rau Cai Sa ot) The noodles were cooked to perfection and the sauces were all very light and bursting with flavor. One great advantages to the restaurant is that there are plenty of meat and vegetarian dishes so I imagine we will eat there often before getting tired of the menu. The most expensive dish on the menu is $6.50, so it's cheap enough to try everything at least once. Another good sign- there were some Vietnamese customers eating at the bar.

Cilantro Vietnamese Bistro
2510 Clifton Ave., University Heights (opposite Hughes High School)
Open 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 4:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday

Wednesday

This morning we scheduled a trip to the grocery store, but it was cancelled. How could I stop my cleaning frenzy when the girls are getting along so well? Instead, I organized their closets. What a peaceful feeling! In the past their drawers would host a variety of sizes. When my husband had the pleasure of getting them dressed, they would often shock the world with what they were wearing. An example is the time he put my three year old in "capri's" when really they were 3-6 month pants.

I know, the weather is absolutely amazing so what are we doing indoors? Really, later in the week we will feel great outside knowing the inside has some organization.

Here's the Line Up for the Week

While away last weekend my friends mentioned that they know some stay at home Mom's that never get around to cleaning their house, or cooking dinner. Why? It's because they devote all of their time to entertaining their kids. They agreed that this was an atrocity, that kids should see the work that goes into keeping a house in order. "Kids today don't understand a good work ethic from an early age since it's all just play, play, play". I was silently thinking during the discussion...

They were talking about me- I guess giving me some needed advice in a sweet way. Clearly (mainly to me), I spend a lot of time picking up after myself, the kids, and my husband too. But, really, do I ever get around to the cleaning part of my job? (Is it really my job?) It is so much easier to take the kids out of the house every day, whether it's to the zoo, museum, park, grocery store- "anywhere but home was the motto". Until today.

Monday is cleaning day. Sorry kids, I will read a story or two, assemble a quick lunch, but you must find the entertainment on your own. I still love you, but Mommy wants a clean house one day of the week.

Tuesday is still cleaning day (oh yes, it takes more than one day to clean a house that has been neglected for a few months). In the future we will take a quick break to go to story time at the library, so we don't get too stir crazy, but we must hurry back for a return of the clean freak. (colds prevented story time today)

Wednesday, relax in the clean house for a few moments- not too long or it will soon look messy like usual. Go grocery shopping.

Thursday- schedule a play date

Friday- Flexible play date or other fun activity

So this will be what's in store for the week. It's a scheduled life, which I swore we wouldn't lead, but maybe this will help with getting the house clean- who knows.

Highlands Nature Sanctuary

I sometimes wonder why I live in Ohio. It is far from the beauty and tranquility of the ocean or the mountains. The majority of rivers are polluted so they just seem to lack aesthetic interest to me. We have too many mosquito's to enjoy life outside for July and August- not to mention the humidity.

This weekend we got together with some friends and took the kids out into nature. We rented a place at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary. To read about the "hunting lodge" click here. It was an amazing place- lots of trails to hike with beauty one wouldn't expect from Ohio. I was surprised to see the trails so well maintained, and preserved- not to mention the impressive landscape. One of the really great things about the place was the passion of the people that have worked so hard to maintain the land. We were given an inspiring talk by the director (which is given to anyone planning to hike in the sanctuary), explaining how the land ended up in the hands of conservationists.

If you live in Ohio, this is a place you don't want to go another year without seeing. It's only 2 hours from downtown Cincinnati. To read more about the sanctuary click here

Playgroups

Not all play groups are created equal. I promise.

I ran into a new reader of mine last week and she really got me thinking about playgroups. She is new to the "stay at home mom" life and she mentioned that she was invited to a play group. Although she didn't give me any of the details of why she was down on the play group, (trust me, I tried the get the dirt) she just stated that getting together with other stay at home parents just "wasn't her thing". I encouraged her to try again with a different group, and explained that they are all different. I get together with some moms, and we talk politics, how we can make this world a better place, and what we have been reading. But there are other moms that seem to talk only about their children, what they had for lunch, when they woke up, and how clean their house is. Although, I will admit, there are days when these are my favorite topics or the only things I have the energy to talk about, but really there is more to life than being the stereotypical stay at home mom.

So if one play group didn't work out, keep looking. There are so many out there, that really, one does have a choice.

One Less SUV

While reading this morning's headlines- (Wall Street Journal: Sales of SUV's fall sharply; Boston Herald: SUV Sales Running out of Gas; Globe and Mail: SUV sales Tank) we are reminded of Bob Lutz's comment made in April this year. Can we thank GM for helping get some of these huge vehicles off the road?