Pack up, move out.

This morning we packed up our stuff (6 trips up and down the stairs to the car...ugh), vacuumed the carpet to look spiffy for when Rachel returns, and headed out. Well, not out exactly. I took Braska to get her glasses adjusted, amazing what such a little person can do when yanking off her glasses with one hand. Then I decided to go down to my in-laws' place to pick up a few things we forgot when we left Tuesday. And since I was down that way, I went by a hair place I found when we were there last weekend. They had time to get me in, so I dropped Braska at her grandma's and went back to get all fixed up.

Here's the goofiest face ever, I think...mid-foil processing.


Here's a few afters...it didn't really work to take one straight on, in order to get the full effect of the color outcome.


There's a bright red and blonde going on in there.


An interesting thing about the stylist who did my hair...she asked about if I had kids, etc. I chatted about Braska and her stuff. The stylist had a little girl about 6 weeks older than Braska. She asked about knowing about the DS, how she thought that only women over 35 could have babies with DS, etc. There were some bits of info I was able to get in there, and that's always good. She looked at pictues of Braska from her one-year shoot, and she said, "Awww, she doesn't even look like the typical Down syndrome kid. I don't see it very much at all." I had that little moment where I almost instinctively said, "Thank you," in response to a compliment, but then I didn't. I wasn't sure what to say, so I just said she was our little peach and we thought she was pretty great. Another case where she didn't mean anything by it. I ended up taking Braska back by there after I picked her up to say hello to them. Thought I'd use it as a little seed of awareness.

So my little vacation is over. It was good to have a few days. I got some journaling done, which I've been slacking on in a major way. I'm just no good at writing things with an actual pen and paper. I'd rather sit down and type. But that doesn't work in the whole process, apparently.

I got a bit of cross-stitching done, some good quiet "be still and know" time, got in some great programs from KSIV...yes, I actually choose Christian talk radio programs over other options. There was also plenty of HGTV and Food Network, of course. Those are my normal favorites. But there was no cooking, unless you count tossing some chicken nuggety things on a cookie sheet and into the oven. Surprisingly, I got a bit of laundry done, some cleaning, and I even changed the direction of the way her dryer door opened...something that should have been done 16 months ago when she moved in. All in all, it was good, mostly just time to have no interruption except for Braska's requests to be moved from one play venue to the next. I got some good pondering in, some handling of issues long overdue, planning the next few weeks and what needs to happen in them, preparing for what may be some rough seas ahead, and I feel pretty much ready. That's saying alot for me...feeling ready almost never happens.

When I left this morning, this was the view...the sun had come out, the fog of the last few days finally lifted, and it was time to get on with things. I felt that was pretty symbolic.

Thanks, Rach, for letting me borrow your space for a few days.