GOTCHA!

Sorry it has been a few days since I blogged. I have busy getting frustrated with shopping and almost breaking my nose, but I will return to those tales in a moment. Today, is David's "Gotcha Day". For those of you that do not know, David was also adopted. Although, David grew up always knowing that he was adopted, "Gotcha Day" was a day that was never really celebrated in his family. As David was raised, we also want to bring up Madeline to always know that she was adopted . We, however, find that many adoptive parents, in my opinion, over emphasize their child's adoption and Russian heritage to a point that the adoption is what defines the child rather than the the child creating their own definition of who they are, with the adoption being added as a footnote.

Yet, the question is, how does one *always* know that that they are adopted? It is not like we wake up every morning saying "Good Morning, sweet adopted child". Madeline is our daughter...period! In fact, I sometimes have to remind myself how we came to be as a family as I barely remember it any other way. So, we decided Madeline's "Gotcha Day" will be celebrated each year to mark the anniversary of when we became a family. Likewise, we thought it would be good to also celebrate David's "Gotcha Day". So tonight, the three of us went out to dinner to celebrate Papa's Gotcha Day. And, yes, if you are wondering, Madeline *does* know that Mama does not have a Gotcha Day.

This morning, I asked Madeline if she remembered what Mama and Papa gave her for her Gotcha Day. She said, "Yes, Mulan movie". I asked her, "Do you know what today is?" After Madeline thinking that it was her birthday, I explained that today was Papa's Gotcha Day. I quizzed Madeline, "What should we buy Papa for his Gotcha Day?" After coming up with ideas such as another Mulan movie, shoes and nail polish, Mama decided to buy some funky lights for the pool that David has been eyeing. However, in Madeline's eyes, the best part of Papa's Gotcha Day celebration was the fact that we were able to go to Dairy Queen after dinner.
As for Mama-Dirtyfoot, what have I been up to the past few days??? I am STILL trying to put this house together. It really is quite pathetic and sad! I wanted to buy some curtains for the family room. Yesterday, I had a shopping spree and bought like 4 or 5 kinds of curtains for the family room. I figured that it would be easier to try them at home and then return what I didn't like. Last night I tried them out and NOT ONE of the sets of curtains worked! It turns out I have no perception of color. Everything I bought was in the brown family when in actuality, it needed to be in the green family. So, today I returned all that I bought yesterday and went on a hunt for curtains that were specifically in the green family. I bought 3 sets today and wouldn't you know it, 1 of these sets was STILL in the brown family! Then, I bought an area rug for the family room that needed to be in the brown family and it ended up looking green!......AHHHHHHhhhhhh! I am ready to give up!!

This afternoon I decided to put all this decorating stuff aside and play handyman. I tried to hang a door rack on the inside of the linen closet......couldn't do it myself. I moved on to hang a hook for robes on the bathroom wall just outside the shower....couldn't do it myself. Finally, I tried to finish a project I started on Monday that involved switching around closet organizers between bedrooms. I began hanging a clothing rod. As I was checking to see if the rod was level, the entire rod fell on the bridge of my nose. All I have to say is that I am lucky that I didn't break my nose. But all this frustration was enough to spin me into a meltdown! Needless to say, I am looking forward to the weekend when David is home and can help out with all that manly work!