15 things about me

I love being tagged! It saves me having to come up with an idea for a blog! So I was delighted to be tagged by both Jeanie and Lora to do this post! But once again - I'm showing how completely dull I am! You have been warned......



1.Things that scare me
- Not being able to find one of the children
-Something happening to me while the children are still small
-Rollercoasters - even the little kiddie ones make me really nervous!




2.People who make me laugh
- Mr Taz - every single day!
- Michael McIntyre -LOVE him!
- My brother - I can appreciate him now, but he drove me nuts as a child!! He once convinced me I had a talking bed by hiding underneath it and having a chat with me!



3.Things I hate the most
- Rudeness - there's just no need.
- Discrimination
- Pineapple





4.Things I don't understand
- Racism
- Negative people
- Quantum Physics


5.Things I am doing right now
- watching Belle blow bubbles :)
- listening to "Tom and Jerry - The Nutcracker" playing for the umpteenth time on the television,
- having a cup of tea




6.Things I want to do before I die
- grow very, very, very, old!!!!
- go whale watching
- learn to play the piano




7.Things I can do
- bake
- cross stitch
- touch my nose with my tongue! But I only demonstrate this after a few drinks - it's not an attractive look!


8.Ways to describe my personality
- positive
- fair
- shy


9.Things I can't do
- play the piano
- speak a foreign language
- sing - doesn't stop me belting out a few tunes in the privacy of my kitchen though!!!


10.Things I think that you should listen to
- good music
- your children
- your inner voice



11.Things you should never listen to
- people who start a sentence with "I'm not racist but..."
- rap music - I'm going to sound like my father here, but that's just noise!
- Barney - yes, the purple dinosaur! he's banned in our house.




12.Things I'd like to learn
- the piano
- Thai
- how to not worry about things that are outside my control

13.Favorite foods
- cake
- cake
- cake

14.Beverages I drink regularly
-tea
- hot chocolate
- coke




15.Shows I watched as a kid
- Famous Five
- Wombles
- Hong Kong Phooey


So there you have it! I'm not going to tag anyone - but if you want to take up the challenge, feel free!

Tazzy gets cross!

I haven't blogged for a long time. Mainly because life seems to have gotten in the way, and we've been busy with Easter holidays, house renovations and the general chaos that is my life, but also because nothing has moved me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard as the case may be!). Until this.

The story of a Russian boy who was adopted by an American woman and then returned alone to Russia because his new mother basically changed her mind. My blood is boiling about this!! If I could get this woman alone, I don't think I could hold myself back. How dare she??? What was going on in her mind that made this course of action even remotely ok?

First of all, Artyom is 7. Not 7 months, or 7 weeks, but 7 years old. He has been removed form the care of his biological (allegedly alcoholic) mother, and placed in an orphanage. Two years later he is adopted by this woman, flown halfway across the world to live with strangers, in a country where everyone and everything is unfamiliar to him. Did it not occur to Ms Hansen before she adopted him that a child of this age may have a few "issues", that bonding and attachment would not happen over night, or even that he might be scared and overwhelmed?

Allegedly, Artyom displayed some worrying behaviours. If that is the case, surely sending him back to Russia ALONE, is a little extreme. One wonders what this woman would do if he had been her biological child? There is no return window in the parenthood shop! You get what you're given and you love your child unconditionally. If you run into problems along the way, you do your best to fix things, and use all the resources you can to help your child grow into a happy, stable, loving person. End of!

Adoptive families spend lots of time and energy reassuring our children that we are their "forever family", that we love them unconditionally and that we will never abandon them. So when a story like this breaks, we are concerned that our children will worry about it or that someone in the playground will tell them that their mummy can send them back anytime she wants. Ms Hansen has not just damaged Artyom, she has also caused heartbreak for hundreds of other families waiting to adopt children form Russia (all adoptions to America have been suspended), hundreds of children now have to wait longer in orphanages, while their forever families sit in empty bedrooms, and thousands of adopted children are questioning their place in their family. Shame on her.