The addition ...

There is soooo much going on right now, I don't even know where to start! We managed to move another step forward in the process of getting Robert formally adopted - hurray! He keeps asking when it will be done. I have to confess that I didn't push friends for recommendation letters too terribly hard because I was waiting to see if we were going to be able to afford to turn part of the garage into a bedroom for him. The lovely state of California is planning to do a home inspection as part of their manadatory investigation into the adoption petition and I seriously doubt that they would look with favor upon his "room" being a sofa sleeper in the living room. It's kind of silly since, even if for some reason the petition were denied, Robert isn't actually going anywhere but I didn't make the rules (you don't know how much I'd like that job - to get paid for making up "guidelines" that are designed to keep children "safe" under ANY circumstances - with no penalty if those guidelines don't actually do sqat, but I digress).

On a happier note, since the federal government decided to allow us to have the money we overpaid back (unlike California - who, despite not being "able" to release tax refunds still expects us to pay our taxes quick fast and in hurry) this year, we ARE going to be able to get that room started. In fact, I have spent the better part of this evening attempting to measure everything to come up with a really really really amateur floorplan as a starting point. It will definitely be a pretty small bedroom (about 9x12), but it will bring our little home up to the 3 bdrm 2bath that we really need for our family size. This is a really rough draft ...we're just going to frame in the extra part of the garage - but dont' worry, both cars will still fit inside (I could hear you wondering about that) ;-)

Robert and I have mixed feelings about it - but for different reasons. Robert is happy to have be getting his own "space" again, but he really likes being in the living room - the large front window is just like being outside without the bugs (yes, he is my son). I will be happy to have my living room back, but I think this is the longest he has managed to keep his bed made in his entire life!

I have to give a huge shout-out to my friend Karrie who (with her husband) is in the middle of building her own home and pointed me in the direction of the "officials" that will give us the rules and regulations for this little addition since the county's website is really just a joke. Seriously, would it really kill somebody to put the regs online in a searchable format the way every other piece of legislation is posted in this lovely state? Maybe I should volunteer (in my naturally-occuring spare time, of course).