Moving Again!

This time it does not involve boxes and head injuries. I moved my entire blog, all by myself- over to another host that allows me to post my photos in a larger format. I also changed the name- since I have had many a complaint over how difficult it is to remember Habeshahouse. I changed it to something that is way more easy to remember.

Habeshahouse is now Villa Kulla.

So much easier right?

Well actually it is www.villakulla.us- and now you must remember the 'us' part at the end, it is not 'com', okay?,-and if this also is too difficult- then would ya' bookmark it, for crying out loud?.

So without further ado, I bring you.

Villa Kulla

And there is actually a little post, with ginormous photos waiting there just for your viewing pleasure.

Help EOR reach their goal today!

I have taken the liberty of copying and pasting Paige's post from the Ethiopian Orphan Relief today to help them get the word out for their fundraising efforts.
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America’s Giving Challenge–daily $1000.00 prize (Facebook causes)

Many of you visit us on Facebook–we have an active cause page with more than 650 members. We’re happy you’re part of Ethiopian Orphan Relief’s success, and now we’re asking a favor of you:

Today’s the day! From now until 3 pm EST tomorrow (October 20) please, please, please take the opportunity to donate to Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. The charity with the most donations in that 24 hour period will win $1000. A thousand dollars? What kind of orphan care project could we do with that kind of money? We could buy a playground, outfit a library or school room, buy an autoclave, buy antibiotics and other necessary medications, pay for a large portion of a water filtration system, pour a foundation for a small building,,,, the list is endless. So is the need. Make no mistake–every dollar you donate benefits orphans directly. Please help us win the daily challenge. We need your help in 2 ways:

Please donate 10.00 or more (you can do so today, and also tomorrow between midnight and 3 pm EST).
Please encourage all of your Facebook friends to do the same. So much good will come from so little effort.
Thanks Friends of Ethiopia–you all rock a thousand ways!

Paige, FB nag, and EOR’s annual fund chair

Distinguished

Before I bombard the internet with massive cuteness I just want to say thank you for all the supportive and uplifting comments to my last 'secret' post. I already have so many great resources passed along to me by so many of you that I am up to my eyeballs in research and decision making, which is a very good thing. Feels so much better being pro-active.

Noah is on his way to the local University to teach his Latin class. He told me that he looked distinguished. Noah knows a lot of very big words and likes to use them whenever he can. For example he told me this morning that his oatmeal tasted very fascinating. Which I took as a compliment.

My mom just left to go back home and Noah has been very concerned that I might feel lonely while he and the girls are in school. He told me that he could easily skip his teaching job today to stay home and keep me company and so that I won't cry from loneliness. I said that he was very gracious but that he has a lot of work to do at school and then he informed me that he had quite a bit of work to do at home too; like lifting boxes and repairing stuff. He cracks me up.

Might be a little overkill on the photos, but it is so hard to pick just one photo from all this cuteness. You can't see it in the photos but there are, of course, leather patches on the elbows of his prerequisite professor blazer.

The "I Can't Think of a Title" Post

I have finally figured out a way to password protect posts on my blog. I am password protecting some posts to protect the privacy of my kids and my family and sometimes just so I can swear freely without getting flagged. If you are one of my regular readers or I know you please send me an email at habeshahouse@gmail.com and I will give you the password.

Just click below on the show encrypted text after you get the password to read my first private post.

Show encrypted text

An Unexpected Surprise

Josie lost another tooth today! She said that I had to put it on my www dot com (her words), because this is a noteworthy event (my words). And my kids know that if something noteworthy happens to them they get to have their photo on the Internets and then they get to sit and look at themselves all day.

So here she is from every angle- but missing the point completely she refused to open her mouth so that the gap where her tooth used to be could be eternalized forever

Is that redundant?

Eternalized forever.?

sort of like advance planning or free gift, or past experience, armed gunman, 12 midnight, she gave birth to a baby, end result or suddenly exploded, or regular routine and general public, or senseless death.... Now I can't stop. My blog is sort of the autobiography of my life and this is the kind of stuff I think about in my spare time.

Sorry Josie- here you go.

Lessons learned

Helllllllllllloooooo.. Anybody still coming around these parts of the Internets? I don't blame you if you have given up on me. Can't believe I haven't posted in 2 months. And it is certainly not for lacking things to write about. I really wanted to wait until I could show you all what we have done with our new home. But at this point I can really only show what we have not done yet.

Why didn't any of you warn me that it is close to impossible to do any renovations or unpacking with 3 kids home. Why didn't any of you tell me that I should have put them all in summer camp while we settled in?

Huh?

You guys suck....

Instead I will post about the valuable lessons we learned while moving. Let this list serve as a moving manual for families with small kids. Oh- and I am sure Jess can come up with some tips too as she just did the same thing. Except she did it much faster and with 4 small kids, while also being in the middle of the adoption process. Oh and her home looked fantastic after about a week.

In my defense I do believe that Jess has a higher IQ than me.

1. PUT YOUR KIDS IN CAMP!
2. Do not ever attempt to put up wallpaper.
3. If you decide to remove a 100 year old marble mantle piece, it can be done with the back of your head. You just have to be sure that you place yourself directly under the mantle and then swing your head up as fast as you can. Your head will hurt like hell for a few days and your kids may never recover from seeing their mother cry like an infant, but the mantle will come loose.
4. Make sure your children are not around when your husband assembles Ikea kitchen cabinets. Or anything Ikea for that matter. Hammers will go flying as will the F word. Josie counted 75 times that Daddy said F.. and each time she came running to me to tell on him, making it impossible for me to get anything done. Thanks to Ikea I now have a 5 year old who thinks it's okay to say things like 'Hey Mom, can I have a fucking peanut butter and Jelly sandwich' or my favorite 'MOM, Noah keeps standing right in front of the TV so I can't see fucking Sesame Street"
5.Don't think for a minute that you can move a washer and dryer yourself. Just because your husband is not home does not mean that you can't just try to show a little patience. YOU WILL PUT OUT YOUR BACK!
6. You cannot make hard boiled eggs in a microwave oven.
7. Make sure you befriend neighbors in case your 7 year old decides to crack her head open on the kitchen island and you have to go to the ER in Beirut, I mean Baltimore. That way they can watch all your other kids and you won't be stuck for seven hours amongst gun shot victims with a bleeding child and two other children who are alternately screaming 'I want candy' and 'I want to go home"
7. Make sure you befriend neighbors in case your 3 year old decides to break his collar bone by falling off of a chair. (see 7)
8. Make sure you befriend neighbors to watch your other children when your 3 year old, out of the blue, suddenly spurts blisters all over the inside of his mouth- and you, nursing your mantle induced concussion, have to rush off to the ER again, so that you can wait for 7 hours to find out that he has a bizarre virus called Coxsackie disease and that you just have to wait it out.
9.Make sure you have a heart of steel as you watch your 3 year old suffer through a week of painful blisters and he can't eat or sleep or even play because he also has a broken collar bone. Make sure to get Codeine from your pediatrician (be sure to give your child some too). This virus is brutal I tell ya!
10. Make sure your new home has a working kitchen before you move in and don't think for a minute that you will last 6 weeks without it while you run into one plumbing and electrical problem after the other.
11. Make sure you turn the water heater from vacation mode. That way you won't have to take cold showers for 6 weeks because you are an idiot and never bothered to go into the basement to check the heater.
12. Soaking feet in vinegar and baking soda gets splinters right out.


And here is a sneak peak. I am going through a turquoise and yellow period, sort of like when Picasso went through his blue period. I may have to tone it down a bit, as this Swedish seaside cottage type decor just doesn't seem as appealing now that we are heading into fall.

Yep- Me and Picasso. A lot alike the two of us.

Support Lifting the HIV Travel Ban

The United States has a policy that forbids an HIV positive foreign national from crossing it's borders without a special waiver that can only be obtained by HIV positive people who have relatives in the US and the rule excludes gay couples. This policy was put into place over 20 years ago, in the early stages of the HIV pandemic when it was still unclear how the virus was transmitted and was considered a gay disease.

This policy is still in place and it is completely outdated and based on stigma and ignorance.

The US is in the company of only a handful of not so progressive countries that implement this law- among these are Iraq, Libya, South Korea, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Qatar, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Moldova and China.

It is time for the US to join the 21st century in lifting this irrational and prejudiced ban that does nothing but further stigmatize HIV positive people. It is ironic that the US prides itself on being a leader in the global fight against HIV/AIDS yet sends this morally reprehensible message to HIV positive travelers that they are not allowed to step foot on US soil, and (going against their own scientific community) that they are a public threat, and certainly not welcome here. This despite the fact that it is more likely that a traveller may get HIV in the US than bring it here.

Gay advocates, HIV activists and human rights activists have worked tirelessly for years lobbying congress to put an end to this travel ban and just about a year ago the Senate finally voted for repealing this law- but before the ban can be lifted, HIV must be removed from the HHS definition of communicable diseases. Since this is a federal regulation it must go through a 45 day public comment period, where after the HHS reviews the comments and the repeal can take effect.

It is a shame that it has taken over 20 years to address this policy, but now we all have the opportunity to help lift this ban and ensure that no HIV positive person will be penalized by the US government again for having this disease. The biggest obstacle in fighting AIDS is the stigma surrounding this disease. Perhaps now, for the first time, the US will have the opportunity of hosting a major international HIV/AIDS conference and help be a part of the solution to end HIV discrimination instead of part of the problem.

Please follow this link to the Human Rights Campaign to support lifting the HIV travel ban.

Here is a video by Immigration Equality that says it all.