Mountain Momma, Take me home country roads.

      In between my travels in Atlanta  I've decided to travel to my home away from home in St. Albans, West Virgina. It's the town where my parents grew up and married. It wasn't until a job took my Dad to Cincinnati a few years later that they moved.
     I love coming here. Its a very small town but it feels comfortable. I can even drive around by myself without using a GPS. Which I wont be able to do in Atlanta. I saw my grandmothers grave today which was nice. My fathers mothers home is where we stay. I even got to see a friend from DC today. Ill be back in cincinnati on sat then less than a week ill be gone from here.

Final Tester Day (Day Seven)

     Yesterday was nice because the whole family was home and free to hang. We played this game as a family called Ticket to Ride. It was great plus there was the added bonus that I won the game. My elder nephew came over and said that he would be on my team. Then he would leave to play. Only to come back when the game was almost over. It was pretty funny. I think he chose me as his team mate because I was winning. Or at least it seemed that way to him. Then I went upstairs to spend some finals quality time with my kittens. I left them there to eliminate the travel time with them and make it easier for them as well.
     The sis and I watched Something Borrowed which we both decided was a bad movie. The characters are un lovable. Not to mention the whole situation with the best friend having and affair with her best friends man hit a little close to home. Nice thing about Atlanta is that I kinda forget about things back in cincinnati. Then she and I realized that I might have a fever. I went to bed around midnight which if you know me at all is unusual. Anyway I'm typing all of this up as we drive back home. I can tell grandma wants me to be more "present".

Trial Day Six

My favorite picture!

Today was a blast. Sis did my hair amazingly and added feathers. They look totally awesome. She loves to play with my hair which is good for me since I cannot do anything with it. I love my lil sis MC but its hard to convince her to do my hair. I do have tons of it. Every time I go to get it cut I feel like they should collect the cuttings to make a wig. Then we went out to deliver my application to Best Buy.
I have to admit I looked completely adorable. Sometime this week I will upload a picture. I talked to their operations senior, he was very nice. He was super excited that I was transferring. He said he would give me a call within the week! He might even have a full time position open within the department I work at the other store. After the good news sis, her hubby, and I went to pick up some drinks to have a good evening at home. We played this game called Dominion which was fun. Then sis and I talked a lot about what she knew about the adoption. Really what she knew about me. It was nice to have someone so open to talking to me. Others have spoken before her but whenever I talk to grandma she cries and I feel bad bringing it up around my mom.

My feathers.

Tester Day Five

I just realized in writing this post how long I have been here so far. Seems like I have barely blinked and eye. The day's have blurred together terribly. I had no idea what day it was and because of that I forgot to call my Dad on his birthday! Ahh I feel terrible! I called him today and he didn't seem to notice but I did. He's been alone this whole week because my Mom and younger sister went on vacation at the same time as I did. We had originally planned to go together but then this popped up and you know the rest. (That is you do if you have been reading my blog. lol) Today Dad told me to make sure I was watching my spelling and grammar because this blog is a representation of myself. I thought but part of me is my bad spelling and poor grammar. I am working on it though, promise.
    Today I woke up for the first time without anyone waking me up early. Grandma acted like it was weird which just frustrated me. So what if I sleep in until 11? Who cares? There is nothing for me  to contribute until after then anyway. Might as well sleep. Sissy and I rearranged the house today. We cleaned some in the garage then we moved two couches. One went upstairs into her bedroom then other from the garage to the living room. We had some trouble moving the red one upstairs because the stairwell is so skinny! It was kinda weird though and it made me feel like I was home. Mom would constantly be doing projects to fix things up. Now I think I've caught the bug.
     Grandma and I went to see the newest Pirates movie. I admit I liked it. the story line was easy to follow for almost the first time in these movies. Jack will continue to surprise me and make me laugh. Plus the movie was two dollars and you cant go wrong with that price. Anyway today my frustration level with Grandma hit it's breaking point. It's not her fault that she cannot hear or remember things but after five day's of repeating myself over and over and her repeating herself over and over I snapped today. I was driving back from the movies making this my first time driving in Atlanta. Every other time someone had been driving me. I was using her GPS to get around and it was a bit slow on telling me when to take the turns. So I missed the turn . Then Grandma is telling me what lane to be in and muttering things under her breath. I have great hearing and knew she was saying things about me that she thought I couldn't hear. Then she tried to tip someone .85 cents at Wendy's and argues with me about it. I lost it. Soon as we get home I call Mom and cry over the phone to her. For the past week she has been outside of cell range and today was the first day I got to talk to her.

Trial Day Four

     Today was super fun for me! We went to see where the Best Buy is around here and found a really cool one. It is in the mall of Georgia which is about five miles from home. It's front is a cool looking mosaic whereas my old Best Buy is just the same old Best Buy blue. They have a Magnolia in their store which is like this super uber home theater area. For the most part the store is the same set up as my current store. I also talked to three employees and they were all very nice. One thing that was weird though I feel like a giant in comparison to people here. I am only 5'8" which I consider average but people here seem like they are very small.
     Inside the actual mall of Georgia there is a .... Disney Store. I lit up like a Christmas tree when I went inside. It was like having a little piece of home with me. I am going to apply to that store like it is nobody's business! Also I applied at that Best Buy store I just am waiting to hear back from my manager to see if it was faxed over today or not. Then we came home and the older nephew played a computer game with me. After that sis and I went to the grocery store and I learned the basics of extreme couponing. (For the rational mind.) Tonight once she gets the little one to bed we are going to play this crazy board game she was talking about on my first day here.

Trial Day Three

     Today was day three of my vacation/ trail run here in Georgia. Sissy went out this afternoon to do a Doula prenatal with her client. While she was gone grandma and I were alone with the youngest nephew. I have no idea why but that two year old run's around naked as a jay bird all the time. I tried desperately to get a diaper on him but it turned into a game for him as almost everything does and I was unsuccessful. Anyway Grandma stayed downstairs watching her Obama on the tube. I ran around with the little one for a bit. Made a mess of ordering a pizza and then got him to nap with me.
     I thought great I got him to fall asleep but when I told sis she seemed amazed, saying that he doesn't fall asleep for anyone but her. While he napped I picked up a bit re- arranged in preparation and watched Whipeout.  I also but in my two weeks today. Neither of my managers were in so I don't have my exact departure date but I'll find out tomorrow. I love it here. It may not be forever but I'm super excited for the opportunity for the change.
     Also we have so many plans for the future already I'm excited. Also I feel like I am needed here whereas at home I know I'm not. I think I sorta thrive on that. Maybe that's what's been missing?

Trial Day Two

     Today something happened that subtly changed my life. While waiting for my nephew to get off the bus, after they had been delayed because of a lock down, (Explanation on lock down will continue later!) a neighbor came over. My grandmother and sister went to the door while I stayed upstairs for a few moments with the sleeping baby. Anyway, the neighbor was informing my sister about the lock down sense we had no idea it was going on. Amiss all of this I decide to let my nosiness get the better of me and I waltz down the stairs. I was about three steps from the bottom when the neighbor makes eye contact with me. I smile and wave. Without a word from me she says "Oh that must me your sister. You both look exactly alike."
     I felt like hugging the woman. I who was adopted at the young age of 18 months has never truly felt that way before. I was so proud that someone recognized the similarities between myself and my birth sister. I also felt like a reassurance. I love my adoptive family more than words can describe and I will never be able to repay them for anything they have done for me. From taking my frantic calls at four in the morning to taking pictures of me at prom. The feeling though is slightly different. I love them and I am super proud to be chosen to be a part of their lives but knowing that with a glance someone saw that we were related is different.
    I looked to my sister at that moment and I saw her searching my face for something that reminded it of her own and she smiled. There's one trait that's the same.

     Today I got to sleep in until ten which is not really sleeping in for me. Then we palled around for a bit. We went to children's story time then took a trip to iHop. Back at the house sis and I escaped to her bedroom where we watched The Glee Project. Boy why didn't someone tell me before that it existed? Anyway I'm totally in love with a guy named Damion on it. He's from Ireland (like me) but he lives there currently. He is super cute and sweet not to mention he has the cutest accent! The even subtitle him on the show. Which cracked both sis's hubby and me up. Then we found out about the lock down. Apparently within .08 blocks of  my nephew's school there was a suicidal guy. The police were trying to reason with him. When they did get him to calm down he had a shotgun, handgun and a knife on him. We were worried about what the school might have told the kids but the nephew didn't seem to notice that anything was different about his day. Nor the two extra hours tacked on to it. Other than all of that we tried to play today out as normally as we could so I could get the gist of things. I kinda feel like I should sign off in a way on these things but when I stop typing isn't that signing off?

Tester Day One

     Oh how successful my first day felt. I spent roughly eight hours in the car driving down here and it went fairly well. Both Fritz and Minnie (my cats) traveled very well. For most of the journey Fritz slept on a pillow and Minnie in a small space between her cat items and my suitcase. Every time Minnie woke up she cried just a bit as if to say hello I'm still here no one has petted me in an hour! We also stopped about every two hours to walk, trade out the drivers, and let the kittens out. Boy oh boy must we have looked crazy walking two cats at every rest stop on a leash. Although we did get to talk to some interesting people because of it.
     Once we got here to the house Grandma Jo kinda took over. She doesn't mean to and she means well ,bless her, but both sis and I felt a wee bit over whelmed. Like sis kept saying how sorry she was that her house was messy and Grandma kept saying she would find time to clean it up. It probably just would have been better if she said it's fine how it is doesn't bother us. (Which it doesn't bother me. Makes it feel like a home rather than a hotel.)
     My youngest nephew who is two, kept coming over to me and going uh humm. All the while his little body would kinda swing back and forth in anticipation. At which point I would smile real big and tickle the heck out of the little guy. My older nephew whom is 4 (that may be wrong but it's really close!) would try to come over and tell me all about his life. It was pretty cute. Then at bed time he tried to sleep in my bed instead of his own, I wanted to say sure go ahead. But sis had just finished telling me tales of how he wets the bed. Not the most pleasant idea.

Preparation

     Currently I am preparing for the trip section of this new adventure. I leave on Monday with my birth Grandma, whom I adore. She is the reason I was adopted and have had the chance at this great life I've been offered. Lucky me though I get the best of both worlds. I can have two families to love and double the love is always better.
     We are traveling by car from Ohio to Georgia. We are taking as much stuff as we can pack into the car because if I decide to stay then we can leave that stuff to bring less down on my final travel down. This time around it will be the trial run just to see if everything works out. I'm working on a plan to travel with the kittens. We usually go over to my parents house so everyone can visit but they have only traveled an hour at the longest. This will be eight hours down and back. I'm a bit worried. Yet so far lot's of things have just fallen together. Hopefully things will continue this way.

The Plan

     My life is about to turn inside out. I was invited to live with my birth sister in GA. Which is a very big and far change in comparison to my Ohio life. I am going on a trial run with my Grandma Jo as my partner in crime starting next week. Ill be traveling down with half of my possessions in my car along with my two cats. Now that might sound like a crazy endeavor to most people but I'm looking at it as the opportunity of a lifetime.
     My sister is a Doula which if you have no idea what this is it means they are your birth partner and will stick with you even after the birth. This is something i have always been very interested in doing. She is going to work with me and help me become a Doula. She is going to allow me to live rent free in her home in exchange for baby sitting her two young children. Which is very exciting to me because I've always wanted to be called aunt. this endeavor is going to begin shortly and this blog will (hopefully) be my day to day feelings on the big change.