The Minivan, The Escapee and The Big Bruise

The title kind of sounds like a children's book, huh? But no, instead, it's my life.

The Minivan - We finally bought the minivan. Click here to see what we got! It's been over five years since we bought a new car, and it smells so nice! Of course, DH had to spoil it by telling me that "new" smell is toxic....And due to the high price of gas, I don't even get to drive it. It sits in the driveway unless we have to drive it due to the number of people to transport.

The Escapee - Joey the cat is an escapee. During the day while we are gone to work and school, Joey stays in Daughter's room. We have lever type door handles. Joey has learned that if he jumps, grabs and pulls on the doorknob enough times it will come open. We don't allow our cats free run of the house while we are gone. We have a turtle to consider, and also our furniture, curtains, window blinds, houseplants...you get the idea.

So now we have to figure out how to keep him in. I don't think a lock on the door is a good idea, since it might give a CPS worker the wrong impression! However, I'm thinking that a tiny nail on the outside of the doorframe along with a large rubber band might keep him in while we are gone. Daughter can easily block the door from coming open when she is in there with him. Hopefully he'll give up after a while when it doesn't work anymore.

The Big Bruise - My son's birthday was Wednesday. During a game of dodgeball, one of the boys threw a ball into my son's face from about three feet away. My son wears glasses. The nosepiece and the top of the lens cut his face, and the ball left a large strawberry-type bruise on his forehead. Poor kid! He looks like he was in a fight. Besides my natural concern for my son, I also thought of this: It will look pretty bad when we go to pick up our girls if we have a son with bruises on his face! Two of his teachers asked him yesterday what happened to him. He told them and no one pursued it. I was glad to hear that they asked. They need to be proactive when necessary. But for this time I'm glad no one overreacted. I don't need a CPS investigation when I'm trying to adopt from them!

I still haven't heard anything new, but I'm hoping to hear something today.