Tet Celebration......

We had a very busy weekend. There was supposed to be a "Tet Celebration" at the Mekong Plaza in Mesa on Saturday night. We drove all the way there and found that it was just a very busy shopping center. It reminded me of being back in VietNam. The Vietnamese people have no self awareness or sense of space. It's like playing bumper cars with your shopping carts and your body. I don't know if they do it out of total lack of awareness or just rudeness, but it just made me think of how I am not looking forward to going back there some day. At least we went to Whole Foods and the dog food store.

Sunday was a much better day. The VSA (Vietnamese Students of Arizona (or America- not sure which) put on a Tet Celebration every year. This year it was at the Tempe Center for the Arts. They have music and dance. Last year, they also had food, so I didn't bring any food.... big mistake. Luckily, Joan and Jolee brought some crackers since I was expecting to give Jasmine her Vietnamese dinner there. The program was four hours long. She made it thru the first two hours pretty well, then alot of fidgiting. I decided it was time for us to leave after that because her behavior was just getting out of hand.

Today we started our first Mommy and Me gymnastics class. They have three balance beams of various heights, mats for stretching, larger mats tumbling downhill, and a bar for swinging. It was mostly freestyle today, but will be more structured later. Jasmine certainly doesn't like structure. When we were told to sit in a circle, she had a fit, even though all the other kids were cooperative. We have some work to do on behavior. I'll have photos of our class next week.

Flagstaff with Joan and Jolee

Yesterday, we spent the day in Flagstaff with Joan and Jolee. The original idea was to play in the snow and do some sledding. It was pretty warm in Flag, so the snow was either non existent or very icy. We only went down a small hill a couple of times, then had our photo taken with a snowman. We also went shopping and ate lunch at a nice restaurant. We realized that we were getting into Phoenix right at the 5PM traffic, so just hung around Cave Creek for awhile. We ate dinner at the Silver Spur... which used to be the something or another Frog. We got home really late, and had an exceptionally fun day:)

A new toy...

Today Joan and Jolee met us at Whole Foods. Jolee gave Jasmine one of her strollers, which Jas has been pushing around all day. She also made a necklace out of straws and macaroni today. I'm sure she had alot of help. Anyway, on the way home, she crunched the macaroni, so there is nothing left. She is wearing it around her head like a headband:)

Bumming a ride from Damion next door......

Pre-school is going well. Most times now she doesn't even say goodbye to me... just runs in and starts playing. When I come to pick her up, she runs over to me, gives me a kiss, runs to refrigerator to get her lunchbox so we can go. It's nice to be unconditionally loved:)

Shopping with Joan and Jolee

We lots of places with Joan and Jolee: Trader Joe's, Last Chance clothing store, Kid to Kid, Cheesecake Factory for lunch, then a toy store.

Sunday best....

Here is Jasmine all dressed up and ready to go. Every Sunday we go to New Visions Spiritual Growth Center in Scottsdale. ...(just another reason to move back to Phoenix). They have a Montessori school for kids for an hour or so while the "big kids" do other stuff.

Well, it looks like I might be "listing" my house myself. They want $30.000 as their cut just to write up a contract, show the house... and... I don't know what. It sounds a bit excessive to me. I'm not against anyone making money, but I'm tired of being taken by contractors, etc. I went to real estate school several years ago as well as "investment classes".... not that I know anything, but at least I'll give it a try.

Moving....:(

Well, after a couple of years of thinking about it, I just listed my house for sale today. Moving has not been possible or recommended due to the adoption-- which would have created havoc with the paperwork and would have resulted in thousands of more dollars of amendments of some kind.

The sign isn't up yet, and the photos have not yet been taken, but I've pretty much made up my mind. Arizona City has been a huge disappointment. When I moved here 6 years ago, I thought it would be incorporated, we'd have stores, and maybe even a restaurant.... but that just has not happened. Casa Grande isn't much better. Sure, we now have a shopping center, but to counterbalance that, we have the worst school system in the country, the highest teen pregnancy rate right here in Pinal County, and absolutely no children's activities at all... no swimming, no gymnastics,.... nothing. On the other hand, I have loved being able to see the stars at night and not having to listen to sirens all night. The other reason to leave is that yes, I Iive in this big beautiful almost 4000 sq. foot house which has beautiful faux finishes, nice tile, very unique architecture, everything which totally reflects me and my style. I love coming home to my beautiful cozy house, but I can't even buy myself a pair of slacks or go out to eat most months due to the house payment, and God forbid... if anything goes wrong like the AC going out, the roof needing fixed, etc. which does happen quite often. I also thought I would have a partner of the male persuasion.... as well as be much busier work-wise.

So, with so much regret, it is time to leave. I hope my tears at the moment don't short out my keyboard:) My goal is to make enough money to pay cash for a little cracker box house in Chandler, then we will be able to afford dancing, gymnastics, music, a little travel here and there, maybe a college fund and wow... maybe even a savings account:) and just have more of a normal life. I hope the "new" house won't be so old and run down that it will be too embarrassing to have someone over:)


Jasmine goofing off in her own chair
Here is Jasmine eating her first popcorn ever.
Neighbor Dylan and Jasmine
Playing with her cell phone in Mom's office.

I have the goofiest camera that has about a 1.5 second delay, and I miss pretty much every picture.