Ah, the pain..er joys of foster care

As most of you know, we are adopting Lucy through the foster care system. The operative word in that statement is SYSTEM. There are so many rules, regulations and red tape that you could start seeing red if you lose sight of sweet Lucy Bear. I could make a ridiculously long list of all the rules that are crazy. However, rules are rarely created without purpose....'no, you can't put your child in a bumbo, on a table...they WILL fall out.' Thank you foster family #1276589 for making this rule possible. (Please don't misunderstand, I do appreciate that rules are necessary and am thankful that we have a system that cares enough to enforce the rules.)

Seriously, though. We had a licensing visit on Wednesday. Different from all the other social workers and child advocates who come through our doors, this was a visit to check on our adoption agency. Have they selected a safe home? Do we have all the proper documentation? etc, etc. We were warned that the licensing agent would make sure our knives were put away and that medications were in a padlocked box. Let me remind the reader that Lucy is 5 months old. If she can get to the utensil drawer or 6 feet tall bathroom cabinets, we've got bigger fish to fry.

So, being the rule follower that I am I purchased a padlock box and bag.


I loaded up the meds:
Adam set the codes for the padlocks and we were set. So for $50, Lucy can no longer access any of our medicine.

The lovely Ms. Johnson stopped by, an hour and a half early, I might add, and did she even ask where we kept the medicine? Open the drawer to see where the knives were? Make sure we had the safety latches on all the cabinets....no. But everyone can rest a little easier knowing our house is a little safer thanks to foster family #342651 incorrectly installing a mobile over the crib and their foster child ending up with a face full of pooh-bear.

Finally....the small appliance portion of our show

I've always wanted a bread maker, so I decided with my Christmas money it was finally time to get one. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to get "The One". I actually only had $75.00. So, I had to go searching and found a "like-new" Cuisinart for 60 bucks on Craigslist! SCORE!

The sweet little couple I bought it from was moving back to Serbia, their visas had expired and they couldn't find jobs. :(

I've made LOADS of bread in the past few months, but I'm the most proud of my Grapefruit Marmalade!

Yep, made my own Grapefruit marmalade with my bread maker!! I actually used two separate recipes. One from the recipe book that came with the bread maker and one I found online. I still need to get the professional opinion from the Roddies, but I think the recipe from the bread maker is actually more traditional...so I'll share that recipe with you...because I know you are all going to make your own now...yeah right.

I used 4 Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit from the valley, so they were SUPER fresh. (medium to large in size)

You'll also need 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup orgeat syrup (good luck finding it...I went to 4 different SPEC'S)
1 box powdered pectin

Peel grapefruit using a sharp knife.
Slice the bitter white pith from the peel, leaving just a thin layer on the peel. discard bitter white pith.Cut the peel into thin (1/8 inch thick) slices and place in a medium bowl.
Cut the grapefruit into sections, removing the membrane and seeds. Add the sections and any accumlated juices to the bowl. Stir in sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours-this is to tenderize the grapefruit peel.
Stir the orgeat and pectin into the macerated grapefruit peel and sections. Transfer to the bread pan fitted with the kneading paddle. Place the bread pan in the bread maker. Select Jam on the menu. Press Start. Scape the sides of the pan when tone beeps at 5 and 10 minutes into the cycle.

Transfer marmalade to clean jars. Let cool, then cover and refrigerate. Keeps refrigerated for 4-6 weeks. (I actually sealed my jars in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, so I could keep it in the pantry.)

One batch only made a pint and a half. It would be great in little jars to use as gifts.

YUM!!

Lucy's Room

Lucy is almost 5 months old and I have FINALLY finished her room! We were so blessed to have someone give us a matching crib and changing table. (Thank you Roddies!) I picked up the Rocking Chair at Lowe's.

We got this cute little owl from here. It was really easy to put up...well it seemed easy...I watched Adam do it. :) We aren't allowed to hang a mobile or anything else for that matter over her crib.
This is Lucy's favorite spot! She loves looking at the butterflies and seeing herself in the mirrors.

I picked up these white frames at Hobby Lobby, and picked some fun fabric to create the "pictures."

The mobile I created over the rocking chair was inspired by this website. I covered some of the paper with the fabrics I used in the room.


Granny made the crib skirt and I made the curtains. (I was limited in design, because we need blackout curtains, too.)

Here's the fabric up close:
Lastly I picked up the curtain rod at Target and the rings at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

The paint color is Rejuvenate from Sherwin Williams. Adam balked at painting the whole room orange, but we both love it and Lucy does, too...we think. :)