The Wonderful, Wonderful Box.

We decided to adopt Anya almost three years ago and one month later had a water leak in the kitchen resulting in a remodel covered  by insurance. But could I not upgrade with this opportunity? Well, no. And that's why it has taken and additional 18 months to finally get the floor tile installed. But that meant Anya was already here.

What is with these crazy Americans that put their refrigerator, dishwasher and stove in the living room?! And why is the kitchen blocked off and now set up in the living room with the microwave and toaster on a chair? A little too much stress for an already overwhelmed little girl. Then there is the senseless of it all. 

"Why? Is the floor broken?!" She had the same response to $20 drapery panels I loved and changed out with the old ones. "Mama!" pointing to the old ones with one hand flung towards the drapes and one on her hip and an incredulous look on her face, "Are these BROKEN?" 

It really makes you stop and think about how we Americans spend money. I did feel a little guilty, especially since that is my business, changing up peoples' homes and work places, but I told her it was like changing clothes and I made sure to keep the old set of drapes to change back at a later date, just to make a point!

Part of finishing the remodel was to get an under the counter wine cooler. And they come in boxes don't they? Stop and think about it. How often would a girl placed in an orphanage at 10 weeks old until age 12 have a chance to play in a box? My guess is never.

She LOVES the thing. There are actually two boxes, one surrounded the appliance and the other was the shipping box and they are HERS. Family came over for birthdays this weekend and she got upset that the kids were in her box. Anya likes to sit in them, eat in them, sit in them, watch movies in them and sit in them. Usually with the box in the upright position too. She will sit quietly for a literal 45 minutes or more in the things. If we had only known this months earlier! She is making up for lost play time in them. Another part of owning a box is "fixing" it. Three rolls of Scotch tape later and they were looking good. 

 I love the feet, the dog and then Bambi on the TV.

What else but mac-n-cheese and chocolate milk?

After quite a bit of use, we started hearing about how her "house" was broken and she needed the packing tape to fix it. I was all for wasting $2.14 in Scotch tape for her play, but not so much with packing tape. I want my tape to be where it is, ready to use, when I need it. If I let her have it then I would have to keep it listed on my shopping list, you know the one that is for making that special trip just to get that thing and it takes forever for you to do because you don't want to stop for just that one thing? But she was so insistent. Dave didn't want to lose all his either, so we decided she could spend part of her $100 cash (don't even ask...) to buy herself some packing tape.

Yesterday was the day. Anya came into the kitchen with her $20 bill and her $50 bill. Last week we worked on the numbers 1-100 since she was clueless about what they meant and had no reference point for the number 100 (more on that in another post) but now she understood what the value of the money was. I told her the $20 was good and into the back pocket it went. The $50 went back into the blue kitty wallet I got her, after we lost the $100 multiple times. She told me she would give the store money and the store would give her money back. "Yes, Anya when you get money back, that is called change." Weird that a 12 year old doesn't know that, isn't it?

At the store I opted for the bigger roll of tape for her (I really don't like making those special, just for one thing, shopping trips-like MORE tape) and I showed her where to stand in line to check out. When it was her turn, she plopped the tape on the counter and waited. I showed her the card swipe pad since there wasn't a register screen showing the total and pointed out it said $8.67. She had to get on her toes to see it. She handed over the $20 with a "Here ya go." Then I showed her the change would be $11.23 and the lady counted out $11.23 for us. She handed Anya the coins and the giggling began. She put the coins in her other hand so she could take the bills with her first hand and even more giggles came as she took them. I told her to put the money back in her pocket literally as she dropped it all over the floor. She also wanted to know what this receipt thingy was and why was it in her bag?

She was so very proud of herself. "I did good job Mama!" Anya's first purchase by herself in America--packing tape.

 

By the way, the smaller house is "all fixed it" now. "Tomorrow, maybe fixit udder one."

~Monica