Foster2Forever

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I WON! I WON!

Can you believe it? I won the I Heart Faces giveaway to their DREAM BIG photography workshop in Dallas!!! A $249 ticket! Woo! Hoo! So excited! I haven’t won anything this big since I won $75 at bingo when I was 14 years old! Except…

This week I also won a photo book party for me and 14 of my friends from Shutterfly and House Party! Everyone at the party gets a free hard cover 8×8 photo book (worth $29.99 each) PLUS 10 free photo Christmas cards. How cool is that?  “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it…”

Then, last night, Stinkpot and I went to the grocery store and, can you believe it??? – He was an instant winner with his HEB Buddy Bucks!!!

So here I am now entering a photo of beef for this week’s photography challenge at I Heart Faces….

Here’s the recipe I found recently on allrecipes that is both my husband’s and my favorite. The combination of the balsamic vinegar marinade and caramelized onion with blue cheese is incredible!!!

SMOTHERED FILET MIGON

4 (6 oz) filet mignon steaks
seasoned salt to taste
cracked black pepper to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, sliced
1 teaspoon white sugar or Splenda
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled

  1. Season steaks with seasoned salt and black pepper, and arrange in a single layer in a large baking dish. In a bowl, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and rosemary. Pour mixture over filets, and turn to coat. Marinate for up to 8 hours.
  2. While you are marinating the meat, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion slices in butter until soft, then stir in sugar. Continue cooking until onions are caramelized. Set aside.
  3. Preheat grill for high heat on one side, and medium heat on the other side.
  4. Lightly oil the grill grate. Place steaks on the hot side of the grill, and cook for 10 minutes, turning once. When the steaks are almost done, move to the cooler side of the grill. Top each filet with a quarter of the caramelized onions and blue cheese. Close the lid, and continue cooking until the cheese is melted.

Maybe my lucky streak will continue??? Next – LOTTERY TICKETS!!!

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I’m In Love!

Yes! I totally love this feeling of elation! Eventually, reality will set in and we will begin to take each other for granted, but until then…

I heart you iPhone!

Do you have an iPhone? What are your favorite apps?


– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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Our Love Story – The Night We First Talked

I’m really dragging this out, aren’t I? Here is the next part of our love story as told by my foxy husband, Steve!

The first part of this story is when Steve arrives at our church (as told by me). Read it first!
Then, don’t forget to read his side of the beginning!
And then read my side of our first conversation.

The story continues…(according to Steve)

After the long, uncomfortable 15-hour drive to another state, I had gotten very little sleep. I did, however, manage to meet most of the young people on the bus.

The second night at camp, after our group devotion, several of the young people came up to me and told me that this cute little brunette I had met on the bus, was upset and needed to talk to one of the counselors. I made my way to her and asked her if I could help.

That night, she opened up to me, sharing all that was going on in her life. We talked and talked for nearly 4 hours. By the time we got to our rooms, it was 2 am and everyone in both dorms was fast asleep. As a counselor, I was in big trouble!

But, the hours we spent talking that first night would only be a small dent in the many hours we would spend talking when we returned home.

Upon the return to Central Texas, it became our ritual after each church service to meet by the propane tank at the back of the church. Sometimes, we each would share what was going on in our lives, and other times, we would just be silly and joke around. Each week, we would talk for hours, and it was always very late when we would finally say our last goodbyes.

One night after church, we had talked for several hours when I realized how late it had actually gotten. I felt guilty and insisted that I drive her home (she usually walked to and from church). I felt I needed to apologize to her father for keeping her out so late. I’m not sure Penny ever knew how scared I was to approach her father that night, (I thought there was a chance he might shoot me), but he was gracious and thanked me for driving her home.

Our friendship grew deeper during that summer and I began to care very deeply for this young girl, though dating her at this time was totally out of the question…

Come back next week for the rest of the story…

Don’t forget to link up a funny post to win a cool giveaway!

5 MINUTES FOR MOM


Simply Being Mommy 125x125

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2 Funny Friday – How do you grey?

Today is Friday!  Whoopee!  Happy dance!  This last week, everyone (except my super disease-resilient hubby) in our home was sick in some way or another!

I really need something funny, uplifting after this week!

Here’s a picture of the back of an un-named person in my home, who not only deals with male-pattern baldness but also weird-pattern grayness.  No, his hair is not cut uneven – that’s GRAY!!!

I once had a co-worker who’s thick jet black hair only grayed (a lot) on the sides. So much, that he always looked like he was wearing a toupee!

Now in my 40’s (and after being a mother for the last 2 years), my gray is beginning to take over my temple area. My husband keeps warning me that if I keep plucking, I will look like him after just a little while…

Hello, Nice and Easy!  (that’s my style!)

Be sure and link-up below for a chance to win a beauty case full of goodies from The Body Shop!

And leave a comment on this post to enter!

Good luck and have a healthy week!

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ADOPTION NEWS and AVERSION TO PINK

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase lettersADOPTION NEWS
Last Tuesday, we went to court…again.  All the paperwork had been signed and sent to the DA for the State. The birthmom was voluntarily relinquishing her parental rights.

When I show up for court, something was amiss.  There was NO parking. I walk into the courtroom 10 minutes early. It was PACKED. There was a man up front in his prison garb and a different judge was on the bench.

The baby’sCASAworker walked by. I asked her if this was the right place. “Yes” was her reply.  I scanned the courtroom. Our attorney wasn’t there yet so I went outside to wait for him. A minute later, he walked up and as he opened the door to the courtroom stated, “Oh, I forgot that Judge J was going to be here today.”

Our case was second on the docket. And here’s where I became bold. Our attorney was talking to another attorney when the case was called and obviously didn’t hear that. I snapped my fingers at him to get his attention. He was quite taken aback that I had snapped at him, but admitted he didn’t hear.

The State took the stand and testified on how Lil Bit was doing in his current placement with us. Lil Bit’s caseworker was not there and so it was her supervisor on the stand. She stated some things that weren’t true saying that Lil Bit had been placed with us from the hospital and that he had been evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) since he wasn’t walking at 13 months of age.

She then testified, “Adoption is the current plan.” NO mention of the relinquishment paperwork! The next court date would be in December.

Here’s where paying an attorney $200 an hour can pay off. He clarified that Lil Bit had not been placed with us from the hospital, but upon removal.  “Judge, we have relinquishment papers that have been signed by all the parties and would like to seek termination of parental rights.”
The DA then stated, “I haven’t seen them.” Ah, the efficiency of government….

Now, we go back to court tomorrow. However, I have an important business meeting out of town tomorrow so my hubby, Steve, is going to have to show up if…..

RUNNING
That is how the bowels have been going in our home. When I picked up Lil Bit from day care Friday, his caregiver stated that his last movement had been runny. Yew!

Three out of four family members had to deal with that this weekend.  Poor Lil Bit has been on a rice cereal, bananas, apple juice and Pedialyte diet all weekend. Last night, he made a disgusting sound as he was crawling across the floor. It was if a sound effects engineer from Hollywood had created that disgusting sound.

So if he’s not better today, yet another trip to the doctor.  And possibly Steve staying home with Lil Bit tomorrow and only our attorney going to court…

Did we give Lil Bit the right diet? Do you know of any remedies for a 1-year-old?

AVERSION TO PINK

Perfect Gift

Last week, we received a call about a 5-year-old boy that needed a permanent family. He was originally placed with a family member that wasn’t going to pass their home study. He would need a foster family willing to adopt.

With 2 boys already, especially with Stinkpot’s defiant streak and possible hyperactivity, we wanted to be cautious with what would be our final adoptive placement.

I requested to see any paperwork on the child before making a decision. That was over a week ago. Still no word…

Is pink just not in our future???

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2 FUNNY FRIDAY LINK-UP!


TGIF!!! What a week!  Are you ready for the weekend and some fun!

Link-up your funny, cute, silly story, picture, joke, video below!

Then, enter to win this really cool beauty travel case filled with great products from The Body Shop!

Be sure to enter for your chance to win HERE!

Now, back to our old favorite funnies from when our case worker sent us a series of pictures of parenting failures.

She stated,”Some people just aren’t meant to be parents. Don’t let me see you doing this!”

At least the kid isn’t getting bugs in his mouth – I guess BREATHING is secondary….

Have you ever seen parents doing something this stupid???

Have a great weekend enjoying your family!
Hugs to y’all!
~penny
http://foster2forever.blogspot.com/

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BEAUTY CASE GIVEAWAY!!!!

Win this fabulous vanity trunk case filled with goodies from The Body Shop! This beauty case is sturdy and inside has many ways to hold your items steady while traveling…

Includes:
50 ml Total Energy Enlivening Body Gel
60 ml Total Energy Exhilarating Body Wash
60 ml Divide and Multiply Mascara
50 ml Mango Body Butter
20 ml Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

Bag size: L 9.5” x D 6.33” x H 7.5”

In order to enter, all you have to do is link up your funny story, picture, joke, etc to our 2FunnyFriday blog carnival meme! Leave a comment below when you link up and include a contact email.

Enter by midnight on Sunday, October 24th. Random drawing on October 25th!
I look forward to your LOL posts!
GOOD LUCK!

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MISCELLANY MONDAY –

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase lettersADOPTION NEWS!
We are going to court tomorrow! Yeah! We are moving, albeit, slowly, toward adoption of our 1-year-old foster boy, Lil Bit.

The birthmother has signed the paperwork for relinquishment of her parental rights. Everyone except her and the district attorney has signed the agreement for birthmother contact. [With advice from our attorney, we will send pictures and an update every May, and she is allowed a 3 hour visit in August with 30 days written notice. If she defaults the first year, there will be no subsequent visits.]

Hoping that the judge will order the termination of parental rights so Lil Bit’s case will be transferred to the adoption unit.

REUNITED (and it feels so good)
This weekend, I crashed attended the Class of 1980 reunion from my high school. The organizers had opened the reunion to classes of 1978-1982, but I did get a personal invitation from a couple of the organizers. Thanks Brenda and David!

Here’s a picture of us that attended the same school all 12 years – can you find me?

STINKPOT SMIRKS!

Stinkpot’s typical smirk – entered in this week’s IHeart Faces challenge

If you’ve been following a while, you know that my hubby, Steve, and I are extremely frustrated with potty training our 3-year-old Stinkpot!  {he believes potties are for sissies} Just this week, I asked him if he needed to use the potty. He looks at me with his typical smirk and says, {get this} –

“No, I poop in my pants. Ha! Ha!”

This is going to be some journey….

YOU have a great week!

Come back later this week for a great giveaway!

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TOP 2 Computer Programs I LOVE!

This weekend, my hubby and I had Date Night – to a football game!  How romantic is that?  Needless to say, I became bored. I began messing with my camera, looking through old pictures, messing with the settings, and then, OH NO!!!!

I somehow reformatted the memory card and lost EVERY picture!!!  I tried not to panic at the game. Although I hadn’t backed up in a while, I still had a number of photos on my computers. And perhaps, the photos were on the memory card and the camera just wasn’t reading them.

The next morning I checked out the memory card and ALL. THE. PICTURES. ARE. GONE.

So my #1 top pick for Must-Have computer programs is –

FINAL DATA!
This program actually has recovered deleted photos for me!
(And saved my marriage!)
When my husband and I first married, he somehow “accidentally” deleted my pictures folder off my hard drive.
Thankfully, by using this program, we recovered those photos, and our marriage was saved.
We are currently searching for the disk for this program (we’ve moved twice since using it last). I went to the Final Data website and performed the free trial scan. The scan shows 298 objects to recover. Whew! Now if we can just find that disk, or maybe I’ll just order it!My #2 pick for computer programs I love is, of course, Photoshop Elements. 

Straight out of camera

I love how I can improve my snapshots and make them better.  Check out how I improved this snapshot of Stinkpot learning to ride his tricycle.

I entered this photo in this week’s
I Heart Faces “Vroom!” challenge.

Cropped w/ cars removed

Have a great week!

I’m Clever

Sway