The Hegemom

My cup runneth over

2008-02-12T11:29:00.000-06:00

I am, again, feeling like the most loved person on the face of the planet. My darling M2, greatest survivor and BC mentor I could ever have, is spoiling me rotten with a basket of the most fabulous girlie stuff and family stuff! My angelic Jan is also spoiling me; she sent me and the family a box of wonderful wonderful wonderful things. And then, to top it all off, our adoption agency (as many of you know, we had to disrupt our adoption process when I got cancer) just sent us a delicious box of Mrs. Fields goodies!

Friends have also been spreading the link to Christy's 3-day Komen walk for me and Alice on their sites, too.

Grateful does not even begin to describe my feelings today. I am moved beyond words and blessed beyond measure.

I am so lucky to have every single one of my friends in my life.

Komen 3-day team in my honor and that of Alice

2008-02-11T14:33:00.000-06:00

Here are my friends Christy and Jill. They are doing the Komen 3-day walk in November both in my honor and that of Christy's godmother. I can't tell you how humbled I am by this.

I'm putting a link to their fund raising website below. If you see fit to donate or maybe post this link some other places, that'd be great.

Here it is.

Migrating a bit...

2008-02-03T17:02:00.001-06:00

Okay, all,

For the most part I'm migrating the blog to hegemom08.blogspot.com. I may post the occasional thing here but, by and large, I'll be over there. You're more than welcome to come join me if you're so inclined.

I will pop in to visit your blogs once in a while and will cheerfully watch your adoption journeys. I look forward to seeing lots of new little baby faces.

It's been nice chatting with you. See you in the blogosphere.

Kimmie cares, but not for me!

2008-02-02T21:08:00.001-06:00

Well, here's a poser. I am looking at these great dolls to help explain to my 4 year old about what's going to happen to mommy while she's being treated for cancer. It's called Kimmie Cares dolls and I have all kinds of respect for them. But they're not for us.

Why, you ask, are these lovely, sensitive dolls not for us? Let's see: First they have a doll with long, flowing locks. Then the next stage is a doll with raggedy short hair, then bald.

Turns out the raggedy short hair version looks JUST LIKE me with my current hair!!

Thoughts on a cancer diagnosis (not grim)

2008-01-29T11:48:00.001-06:00

So.

I'm looking at a catalog that has these little dolls that are to help you explain what chemotherapy will do to mommy's hair. First it has long, flowing locks, then short, ragged hair, then bald.

The short ragged hair looks like mine now! Huhn. Guess we don't need that doll, eh?

Also, I read about letting your kid cut off your hair pre-chemo. This would probably be the highlight of my kid's life, getting to REALLY "do" mama's hair. In fact, I'm thinking about letting her dye it purple, first. But I am a tad concerned about going to chemo with a purple scalp the first few times. Meh. I'll be bald, anyway. What do I care?

Hey, here's another thought. Since I'll be bald as a cue ball, couldn't I get some temporary tattoos? Like maybe one for my beloved STL Cardinals during the baseball season, perhaps? 62 days, 3 hrs, 30 mins until the home opener, by the way. In case you, too, were counting.

I mean, hell. I'll probably end up wearing a wig part of the time. Why not have some fun when I'm not? Lord knows there's enough stuff about cancer that isn't fun. I certainly plan to exploit any fun I can get.

News from the front lines

2008-01-28T14:45:00.000-06:00

Hi, kids. It is, in fact, breast cancer. Full-blown, gotta have surgery and chemo and the whole nine yards breast cancer.

That also means no adoption for us. I have yet to call our agency to make it official, but that's the fact. We're going to cherish the family members we have right now and be glad for it.

But sadly, no second daughter for the Hegemom and no sister for Her Majesty.

Life can be pretty bittersweet sometimes, eh?

Gotcha' Day 3.0

2008-01-14T16:34:00.001-06:00

This past Wednesday was Her Majesty's third anniversary in our home! We both got dressed up to the nines at her request (I wear heels for no one but brides these days!) and went out on the town. We went to Party City and hit the penny candy and gadget aisle, filling her little basket with candy and goodies.

Then the McDonald's with the fishtank AND the cool playland. I gotta tell ya, running around in a kiddie habitrail in full dress regalia is big fun in our household.

Then off to the mall with the DOUBLE DECKER merry-go-round. I bought three tokens, but only made it twice without losing my lunch. Thought I'd better get while the going was good, so I saved the last token for another day!

I was pathetically grateful that she was tired after running around the mall looking at jewelry stores and such, so I didn't have to use my fall-back plan, which was to buy tickets to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I must be living right. And yes, my little diva loves jewelry stores!

Long time no blog

2008-01-12T08:37:00.000-06:00

Hey, kids,

Sarah kindly reminded me I haven't blogged in a while and here's why. I've had what is gently known in the business as an "abnormal" mammogram. A really abnormal mammogram.

I've had tests, and tests and more tests. No one will know for sure whether it's cancer or not for much longer than seems reasonable if it happens to be your breast they're looking at.

We have one of THE BEST cancer centers in the country so I'm in good hands. The downside is I can't get in to see them for a consultation until the 22nd. The consultation won't even tell me if I have cancer for sure; the biopsy (which will be scheduled for days/weeks later, still) will tell me that. And then I will have to wait about a week for the results after the biopsy.

Let me tell you, the suspense is NOT a lot of fun. In a lot of ways, of desire and ability to adopt will turn on whether this is "the Big C" or not.

So. I've not been blogging. Mostly I've been alternating between trying to keep incredibly busy so I don't think about it, and getting really weepy.

Well, it's better now than right after coming home from Taiwan, right? (It ain't much, but at least it's a little bright spot!)

Oy.

Baby-name remorse -- what do you do? - CNN.com

2008-01-01T11:54:00.000-06:00

Baby-name remorse -- what do you do? - CNN.com: "By Anna Jane Grossman

(LifeWire) -- Pauline and Jeffrey Eadie, of Cleveland, had gathered the family together to watch home movies of their two older children as babies. In one movie, Jack, now 5, was looking skeptically at his then-newborn sister, now 3. "In the video, I was saying, 'Jack, go to the baby, go hug her,'" says Pauline. "And then at some point I said, 'Go kiss Emma.'"

Oh my gosh! Don't call me that!

Unaware that her name had been changed when she was a newborn, Pauline Eadie's daughter, Caroline, looked at her and asked 'Who's Emma?'"

The Eadies are among a surprising number of parents who, following the birth of their child, suffer namer's remorse. In a recent poll of 1,219 mothers conducted by BabyCenter.com, 10 percent considered changing their baby's name. The reasons they gave ranged from being inspired by another name to having a relative disagree with the choice.

Regret is common after any big decision, and few prenatal decisions these days are as open to debate as picking a child's name. Rare are the parents who haven't invested in a small library of baby-name books or trolled the Internet for a name unique enough to be usefully Googled, but not so weird as to cause ridicule....

For most parents, the urge comes long before the baby can say his or her own name. Wavering is not uncommon for those who figure they'll pick a name once they see the baby. "But that's a tall order to put on a newborn," says Wattenberg. "It's hard to look at this 7-pound thing and say, 'Oh! She's an Abigail!'" So they choose something quickly and then spend weeks second-guessing themselves.

That was the case for the Eadies. When their daughter was born, the nursery was full and the nurses were rushing them to sign the birth certificate and leave the hospital. "Emma seemed pretty," Pauline Eadie says. They sent out birth announcements, "but it just felt strange coming out of my mouth." They decided they preferred a family name, Caroline.

Adrienne and Matt Grayson, of Charleston, South Carolina, settled on the name Luke early in her pregnancy. "I also loved the name Beckett, but it felt a little weird, like Apple," says Adrienne Grayson, referring to the name actress Gwyneth Paltrow gave her daughter. When the baby was born, they named him Luke Beckett Grayson. What followed was a sea of engraved picture frames, monogrammed pillows, "Welcome Luke" signs drawn by the Grayson's older children -- and a wave of regret.

"I couldn't shut up about how we should call him Beckett instead of Luke, and I also started mourning my maiden name, Shaw," Adrienne Grayson says. "I thought I should've made that his middle name because we weren't going to have more kids."

The more she reflected, the more she wanted to change Luke's name to Beckett Shaw Grayson. The process involved hours on the phone with the Social Security office and the county clerk. She found that although it's legal to change a minor's name (as long as both parents consent), states don't always have a well-oiled system in place for regretful parents.

......

Since learning of the name she had for the first eight weeks of her life, Caroline has taken to renaming her dolls.

She also has announced that she prefers the name Emma. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

LifeWire provides original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers. Anna Jane Grossman is a freelance journalist in New York City.

Epicurious.com recipe for chocolate souffle

2007-12-30T19:52:00.000-06:00

chocolate souffle Gourmet | February 2002

Makes 2 to 4 servings.
ingredients
1/3 cup sugar plus additional for sprinkling
5 oz bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
6 large egg whites

Accompaniment: lightly sweetened whipped cream
Special equipment: a 5 1/2- to 6-cup glass or ceramic soufflé dish
preparation
Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously butter soufflé dish and sprinkle with sugar, knocking out excess.

Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and stir in yolks (mixture will stiffen).

Beat whites with a pinch of salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add 1/3 cup sugar, a little at a time, continuing to beat at medium speed, then beat at high speed until whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir about 1 cup whites into chocolate mixture to lighten, then add mixture to remaining whites, folding gently but thoroughly.

Spoon into soufflé dish and run the end of your thumb around inside edge of soufflé dish (this will help soufflé rise evenly). Bake in middle of oven until puffed and crusted on top but still jiggly in center, 24 to 26 minutes. Serve immediately.

Cooks'note:
• Soufflé can be assembled up to 30 minutes before baking. Keep, covered with an inverted large bowl (do not let bowl touch soufflé), at room temperature.

Home equity loans for adoptions / Chase introduces 'New Additions' to help new parents

2007-12-30T08:05:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure what I think about the terms of this loan or anything else about it (how is this different from your generic home equity loan?), but I do like that it's a recognition of the adoption community.

Home equity loans for adoptions / Chase introduces 'New Additions' to help new parents

Home equity loans for adoptions
Chase introduces 'New Additions' to help new parents

Bob Tedeschi, New York Times

Sunday, December 30, 2007

For adoptive parents, bringing a new baby into the home can be costly. One national bank has begun helping such families more easily afford the financial burdens of adoption by tapping into their home equity....

The Chase program works like other home-equity loans, in that borrowers take out a line of credit against the equity in their homes, borrowing money and paying it back as they would a credit card....

More information is available online at www.chase.com/newadditions.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/REEMTVIOU.DTL

This article appeared on page L - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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Souffles and songs

2007-12-27T20:43:00.000-06:00

So, we had yet another turkey this week. The Princess wanted a turkey for Christmas dinner, so turkey it was. Ham. Why not ham? Possibly a nice prime rib? My buddy Jan has a great recipe for prime rib. But no. No prime rib for me, just turkey. Ack! Never let it be said I don't overindulge my little one's culinary wishes.

So, in keeping with the theory of making lemonaide from lemons, I cooked down the bones and random bits of turkey meat all day yesterday and make a formidable turkey stock. Since it's chilly out today, I put together a turkey noodle soup. Yum!

And then a cheese souffle.

First time I've ever made one in the home. It was pretty yummy! The Princess was much more excited about the concept of souffles when she realized I could make a chocolate one, instead. So the cheese sort of paled in comparison. But the thing puffed up like a champ. I'm so excited, I'm gonna have to try out a chocolate one immediately. (NOT that I need any more fat grams after the holiday eating I've been doing!)

Also, you HAVE TO check out this crazy YouTube video. I don't know how this guy can sing like this, but it'll blow your mind! It sure blew mine.

Merry, merry!

2007-12-26T07:50:00.000-06:00

Us with our Xmas presents-- the doggie is my present!

The husbie is grinning a) because he's being silly for the camera; and b) he knows it's a game for the Wii. Happy, happy guy!

The princess, needless to say, cleaned up on presents! But I loved the pic with the monkey from her great-aunt, particularly.

Snowman dance

2007-12-24T21:53:00.000-06:00

From AsianIdeas.com

2007-12-24T09:37:00.000-06:00

Paper lanterns are more than just decorations; since 250 B.C. they have been signs of births, deaths, social status and approaching danger. The placement and color of lanterns serve as a vital communication link in these tremendously communal residential areas. For example, since red suggest vitality & energy at its maximum state, a red lantern placed outside a doorway tells of a birth or marriage.

Baby toolkit author is a genius. GEN-IUS.

2007-12-23T15:32:00.000-06:00

So, remember all the artwork our little princess put all over EVERYTHING including her dolls? Well HERE is a link to an incredibly inventive way to get ink off babydolls.

The answer? Clearasil. No kidding.

Lao Tzu

2007-12-21T13:11:00.001-06:00

“If there is to peace in the world,
There must be peace among nations.
If there is to be peace among nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.”
— Lao Tzu

Alton Brown's recipe or Marshmallows, part deux

2007-12-19T08:14:00.000-06:00

Actually, if you have a stand mixer, the marshmallow recipe is incredibly easy. Well, a stand mixer and bravery in the face of pouring really hot sugar. As a side note, we soaked our kitchenaid bowl in the sink overnight and there was virtually nothing to clean up. The whole goopy mess dissolved overnight. Color me happy!

By the way, spreading the marshmallows neatly in the pan is darn near impossible; even Alton Brown says so. So if you have visions of a gorgeous presentation, this is probably not the project for you!

Without further ado, Alton's recipe, courtesy of the Food Network:

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray
Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

For regular marshmallows:
Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

For miniature marshmallows:
Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Line 4 half sheet pans with parchment paper, spray the paper with nonstick cooking spray and dust with the confectioners' sugar mixture.

Scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round piping tip. Pipe the mixture onto the prepared sheet pans lengthwise, leaving about 1-inch between each strip. Sprinkle the tops with enough of the remaining cornstarch and sugar mixture to lightly cover. Let the strips set for 4 hours or up to overnight.

Cut into 1/2 inch pieces using a pizza wheel or scissors dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining sugar mixture and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Frankenberry

2007-12-17T07:40:00.000-06:00

This weekend, my husband and I made marshmallows.

Prior to this time, my husband was firmly convinced that marshmallows came from marshmallow trees (probably hand-picked by the stay puft marshmallow man). But we saw a Good Eats episode about making them, and decided to give it a whirl, being a marshmallow kind of household. (S'mores are the last, best expression of the triumph of human ingenuity as far as we're concerned...)

They were pretty good. Not quite sweet enough for those of us raised on the stay puft stuff, but good. So I decided to make rice crispy treats with a little cherry flavoring and a touch of red dye-- making them pink.

And what do you think it tasted like? Yep. You got it. It tasted EXACTLY like Frankenberry! (thanks to Wikipedia for the image) Not that there is anything whatsoever wrong with Frankenberry, which, since it contains marshmallows, may also have to be considered a triumph of human, etc. etc. However it certainly was a long way around the horn when I could've just bought a box of cereal.

Okay just one more then I'm going to the gym

2007-12-16T09:40:00.001-06:00

Um....is there a 12 step program for digi-scrapping? (Rebecca, honey, I blame you for this!)

This digi-scrap thing is out of control

2007-12-16T08:55:00.001-06:00

Can't. Stop. Playing.

Style section

2007-12-15T22:11:00.001-06:00

Yes, I'm braggin' on my cousin. Again.

We've been chatting recently and I remembered a few years ago the family sent me a copy of a photo from when she was on the front page of the New York Times Style section. I couldn't lay my hands on a copy and asked for one.

What's even cooler than being on the cover of a section I've read weekly for most of my life, is that she didn't even have a copy. She had to get one from her sister.

Sheesh. If I was on the cover of ANY section of the NYT, I'd have the photo blown up poster-sized and hung over my couch.

Back slowly away from the mama...

2007-12-14T21:13:00.000-06:00

Don't make any sudden movements or loud noises. Keep arms and feet away from the PAP (prospective adoptive parent). Make soft, soothing sounds and move quietly towards the exits.

It's been 158 days today since we started on the waiting list. We know absolutely nothing more than we knew 158 days ago. We're waiting for an older child, probably special needs. There's no birth mother to wait on. No huge demand for infants to contend with.

And still. It'll be 6 months soon, which was the outer limits of the quoted time frame. And we're not even close enough to the top of the list to get updates.

So. Like I said. No sudden movements or loud noises. Just pour me a nice cocktail, leave it by my keyboard, and back slowly towards the door.

MomLogic post - can I get an Amen?

2007-12-14T17:56:00.000-06:00

Okay, remember when I was ranting about the ridiculous things people say about adoption, often right in front of our kids? Well boy-howdy did Jackie ever nail it with this article on MomLogic.

I'm reproducing, with permission, part of the article which just makes the point so well. 'Nuff said.

One of our own Mom•Logic Moms is in the process of adopting a baby girl and has already endured the "You're so nice to adopt a kid who's unwanted" and "That's much easier than giving birth" comments. She's now preparing herself for some of the outrageous questions that fellow adoptive parents have been asked by "curious" onlookers like...

• Why didn't his/her real parents want them?
• How much did he/she cost?
• Can't you have kids of your own?
• Watch, you'll get pregnant now and have your own kid.
• There are plenty of American kids who need homes, why did you go there?

Do you want to help someone who's adopting or has already adopted a child? Recognize that, like all new parents, they need support and friendship (and a solo trip to the bathroom)—not judgement. Here are five things you can do to make a difference:

1. Feed them. Like new parents, there are sleepless nights and a period of time where everyone is trying to get to know each other. A warm meal would be a huge help to a transitioning family.

2. Skip the daily reminder. Parents are well aware how their child came to be in their family. There are enough challenges with multi-cultural families without it being pointed out every day.

3. Let them talk. Motherhood is tough regardless of how one becomes a Mom. Adoptive parents sometimes feel afraid to share their struggles or frustrations. Be a good listener—it's the best way to show you care. It is said that 65 percent of Moms who adopt experience some sort of post-adoption depression. Keep your eyes and ears open, and help out where you can.

4. Pop the cork. When new babies are born, everyone lines up to ooh and aah over the newborn. Adoptive families are just as excited about their new addition, and it would be nice if others joined them in the celebration.

5. Give them a break. Whether your friend or sister has adopted and never calls back, or a Mom at school is behind on her bake sale duties, remember, a new child is a big change. Be kind and cut them some slack.

Tupperware update

2007-12-13T22:10:00.000-06:00

So Tupperware gets back to me. The serial number is, indeed, a lidded tumbler which was discontinued. But it never had Chinese images on it.

Huh.

Guess I'm not going to get to order any more, eh? (image from http://www.complexny.com)

Teaching math to a 4 year old?

2007-12-13T08:14:00.001-06:00

Hm...I wonder. Here is the article. Make it like a game...

I worry about the crazy parent-type behavior-- flashcards at age 2, worrying about college before they're in their tweens, that kind of thing. But maybe...maybe...you can teach math to a 4 y/o. The article is interesting.

Tupperware in China

2007-12-12T20:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, this probably qualifies as one of my more geeky acquisitions when we were in China for Gong Zhou, but be on the lookout for CHINESE TUPPERWARE!

I swear, it's really, really cool. I bought a set of four lidded cups; each cup has a design representing one of four phases of China's progress. Granted I got this on the Mainland, but it's worth checking out in Taiwan, just in case. I actually found a tupperware storefront in a mall in, I think, Tianjin.

I actually have the Tupperware company looking for more for me. Sadly, I only bought one set and nothing like it has turned up on Ebay. (And I thought everything was for sale on Ebay...)

Someday she'll charge a lot for this..?

2007-12-12T20:16:00.000-06:00

Maybe she's the next Eber? or Christophe? (Christophe was the one that gave Bill Clinton the original $200 haircut and started such a tempest in a teapot.)

As girlie a girl as my Princess is, I'm wondering if she'll be giving the equivalent of $200 haircuts some day. Heaven knows Her Majesty loves doing my hair!

Now this little number? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't pay $200 for this hairdo!

See that gorgeous girl?

2007-12-11T21:08:00.001-06:00

See that beautiful 45-year old on the flying trapeze? That's my cousin. She still has ballet class every week, too.

I am so amazingly proud of her.

Clearly, ignoring your age runs in the family.

Oh so cute!

2007-12-10T22:31:00.000-06:00

Will ya look at this? One of Gong Zhu's old daycare teachers back in 2005 just turned up this picture! Look how tiny she is!

And look at those baggy jeans! Who knew she was a rapper?

How to Endure The Wait, part...3?...4...?

2007-12-10T22:04:00.000-06:00

Well, besides changing up my blog header, I've been cooking again.

I went out to the local grocery emporium of choice and found-- lo and behold -- frozen turkeys are on sale. Color me surprised.

So, anyway, cut to me washing my second turkey in a month, stuffing it in one of those roasting bags and voila! the best turkey EVER. Those bags rock.

Once again, I'm making Turkey tortilla soup, turkey risotto...all things turkey. Turkey pot pie, anyone?

And I'm going to the gym. (Tired of my saying that yet? Sorry. Not too much going on during The Wait.) I'm signing up for one class every single weekday next session at the Y. I swear, I'll be ready WALK when we're doing the tourist thing in Taipei (if we ever get to travel).

Unlike most of you other bloggers I've read, retail therapy is kind of redundant around here. Her Majesty has a TON of gymboree and other togs just waiting for jie jie to show up and model. We got strollers, car seats, diaper bags (okay, maybe I'll buy one of those cool ones Rebecca mentioned) and the room's already Waverly'd within an inch of its life. No wonder we adopted a puppy! I got nothing to look forward to doing during The Wait except cook, craft, attend to the family and do Cinderella chores. (Oh, and hang out with the friends. Whoops.)

So. My conclusion? Waiting still sucks. A lot.

All God's Chillun Got Rhythm

2007-12-09T16:10:00.000-06:00

Well. I guess my husband and I can't call ourselves swing dancers anymore.

When I came back from shopping, husbie had cued this up for me to watch from the Marx Brother's movie A Day at the Races. It's a pretty famous song called (no, it's really spelled this way) All God's Chillun Got Rhythm. I finished watching the clip, looked at him dead in the eye and said, "We can't dance, can we?" "Not a step." he replied.

We can't, but these dancers sure can. Dang. Be patient through the first 26 seconds 'cause all heck breaks loose after that. And even through all that jumping and jiving, their footwork is perfect. Oh well, h*ll.

Uh oh.

2007-12-08T17:23:00.000-06:00

No sooner do I get into scrapping and digi-scrapping than I get sucked in to a demo at our local library of "Stampin Up." My own fault. I saw it. I signed up. I liked it.

Gee. Another way to spend money. Just what I need!

Holy crow.

2007-12-07T23:24:00.001-06:00

Alright, you guys, I'm gonna brag. If talk of the gym annoys you, stop reading.

So.

Remember when I kvetched so much about having 3 aerobics classes per week? How I was always falling asleep from sheer physical exhaustion?

Well, I did a half hour high speed on a treadmill at a high incline this morning and was cheesed off because we have a 1/2 hour time limit. And I wasn't tired!

Y'all gotta understand I'm in my 40s-- I'm a walking bag of creaky knees, heel spurs and achy vertebrae. I gained a ton of weight while working at some lousy jobs the last few years. It's not like getting in shape at this age is easy.

And NOW I'm hitting the weight room on the days I don't have aerobics class. I actually had to go out and get some more gym shorts today.

Man, that feels pretty good. (If only my knees felt that good...)

Itty bitty Christmas sweater

2007-12-07T18:25:00.000-06:00

Boy-howdy, I do not know where they got a Christmas sweater in a 4T, but Gong Zhu received one, and she's wearing it here on Santa's lap. Isn't this cute?

The questions of the great unwashed masses

2007-12-05T07:32:00.000-06:00

Do you know any tactless people? Well, when you adopt, get ready to discover some more! In the last three years, people have come out of the woodwork to ask me ridiculous, insulting questions and make, well, idiot remarks. Sorry. No better way to put that.

One of my fellow bloggers just posted about her experiences with questions and remarks about the adorable Island Boy in the last few weeks and it just got me thinking.

Here are some of my "favorite" remarks and/or questions since 2005 (all of which were said right in front of my daughter who is NOT deaf and DOES understand English):

How much did she cost?

Does she know she's adopted? Or: Is she adopted? (No, genetics just made left turn when my husband and I, the Euro-mutts, gave birth to a Chinese girl)

It's a shame you can't have a child of your own. (Oh? You're telling my daughter she's not my child? Thanks. Jerk.)

Don't they kill baby girls in China?

What a China doll. (pretty racially insensitive and boring to kids after the 800th time)

I bet she'll be a really good gymnast. It's in her blood.

Does she drink a lot of tea?

Does she have a Chinese accent?

Did you have to teach her not to speak Chinese? (at age one and a half, when she arrived? please.)

I guess she still speaks Chinese then, huh?

It's such a shame they hate girls in China. How could anyone throw her away? (in front of my daughter? hey, thanks.)

I guess you couldn't get a boy, then, huh?

Does she know who her mother is? (yes. I'm her mother. Jerk.)

Gosh, that's just like [third world nation] where they bury/drown/kill their girls. (Yes, I actually got that remark from a college-educated young lady at the gym last night. Blargh.)

Why can't YOU have a baby? Don't you wish you could? (Hey, we didn't actually even TRY the traditional way, but thanks for that comment on my/our fertility. Jerk.)

Why don't you adopt an American baby?

Why are you helping Chinese babies when you can help American babies here?

Gosh, won't she be grateful? (I don't know. Are your bio kids grateful? I suspect she'll be as grateful as any child leading an upper middle class life. Not very.)

Isn't she lucky? (Nope. I am. Jerk.)

Okay, I usually don't say the things in parentheses, but I bet you can understand why I'd want to, every now and then.

Mostly I've learned to ignore these remarks and, happily, I've come up with some slick retorts. And, if all else fails, I can give them the I-am-a-former-prosecutor glare over the top of my glasses. When it's accompanied by "I BEG YOUR PARDON?" sometimes people will acquire a sense of shame and realize they've been a boob. But not that often.

And don't get me started on the men and women right around our parents' ages and a little older. I have gotten (and returned in kind, by the way) some glares that would melt paint right off the wall. And I'm not talking about my kid being noisy. Just her existence in my family seems to cheese some people right off. And yes, each and every one of the above remarks has been made to me in the last three years. In fact, one of the great themes throughout many remarks has been to question my patriotism. Let me tell you, I just LOVE that.

So. Sorry for the rant. It's early, my puppy woke me up at 5 a.m. to go out after I fell asleep at midnight and I spent and hour and a half at the gym last night. But there you have it. Adoptive mommying has some challenges you wouldn't really expect.

What we've been up to

2007-12-04T15:34:00.000-06:00

Aside from cleaning up after my husband, daughter and new puppy, I've had a ball the last few weeks!

Last night we took a carriage ride though the local Christmas light display with Princess E and her parents. All six of us piled into the carriage under a big Amish blanket (warm!) and off Curly, the black Percheron, went. (Yes, his siblings are Larry and Moe. Our driver, who also raises, trains and cares for the horses, must like the Three Stooges!) Gong zhu was beside herself looking at all the lights and, really, so were we! She also liked the horse a lot. I wonder if she's going to follow me in the paths of horsiness?

We also hung Christmas lights last weekend and made a ton of really excellent Christmas cookies. I think I'll be on a treadmill during gong zhu's gymnastics class at the Y this evening...oy!

Let's see...oh, we also went to a pancake breakfast with Santa last Sunday at the the local children's museum. There was one of those super-professional pancake flipper guys there-- he had the coolest gizmo that poured out four pancakes at a time, and did the whole griddle with around 36 pancakes in no time at all. AND he flipped the pancakes across the room now and then too.

Anyway, it's been an excellent holiday season so far. Click thumbnail below for more photos. Press "I" if you want to see the photo captions when the slideshow starts. [Thanks Mary Mia for the tip!)

Mommy moments

2007-12-04T15:19:00.000-06:00

Why, you ask, did I think it was a good idea to introduce a new puppy to the house when I'm a) trying to keep the house clean? and b) trying to get ready for Christmas? Well, the answer is: I'm nuts. Bull-goose-looney. I have little bits of paper and such all over my newly-swept floor. And let's NOT talk about potty training, okay?

Okay, wait. Let's do talk about it. But if you're squeamish, stop reading right now. I mean it.

So here goes: I took our little gong zhu (princess) to the dentist this morning. She's doing beautifully. I'm doing not so well. I smell somthing funny.

While I'm chit-chatting with the hygienist, I'm surreptitiously looking around. Nada. Then it occurs to me. My little gong zhu has accidentally found where the puppy did his business and, stepped right in it. And then she got in my car. ARGH!

Fortunately, I know the hygienist since she's been cleaning gong zhu's teeth for years, so she didn't laugh at me too terribly hard as I whisked the offending shoe off my daughter and outside to be cleaned.

I swear. The things I never thought I'd ever be doing before I became a mama. I assure you, wiping off a poopy Croc outside the office of a pediatric dentist in a chic part of town is definitely NOT something I ever thought I'd be doing.

Perhaps that will help those of you who are waiting to be first-time mommies. It's not all Gymboree and ballet class/little league. There IS the occasional moment like this! :-)

An Artiste

2007-11-28T20:43:00.000-06:00

Oh my GAWD, I am going to have to turn my house upside down looking for pens, you guys! This is awful. Every time I turn around, darling daughter has doodled on something else. Something not doodle-on-able.

Pillowcases, mattresses, checkbook (yes, the carbon kind), magazines-- you name it, she's written on it.

I bought one of those metal strips for magnets to hang up her artwork in her room, hoping to head this off. Before I could hang the metal strip, she wrote all over it!

AAAAAUUUUGGHHHHHH!!!!

Book read by Amy Tan

2007-11-27T21:28:00.000-06:00

You absolutely have to go to this link and hear Amy Tan read Motherbridge of Love.

Double-dog dare you not to get misty.

Here's the baby

2007-11-27T16:20:00.001-06:00

This and that

2007-11-26T17:52:00.001-06:00

You're looking at our newest family member, Barsky, the poodle. I swear he's got eyes under there somewhere. :-)

I guess this is another thing adoptive mommies do while waiting to become a mother of two-- they become a mother of three! (Okay, three doggies, but still...) Potty training a new puppy should keep my hand in for potty training a new kiddo, right?

What else? I did manage to tread water while doing "jack tucks" and "cross-country skiis" while mostly submerged today in aqua aerobics-- a landmark accomplishment since I've usually sunk like a stone while trying this. When I laughingly told my instructor this fact, she made me do more of them. Lesson? Don't tell your instructor anything. Ever.

Thanksgiving was fantastic. We had tons of leftovers, just as I planned. I made tortilla soup with turkey, Thanksgiving sandwiches with turkey, stuffing and cranberry, and risotto with parmesan and turkey. And, of course, turkey (dark meat) plain, with salt. My favorite!

The last of the grape pie just disappeared into my lucky (albeit, now slightly larger) belly this evening. The crust was incredible, if I do say so myself. Found it on Epicurious and it rocked.

The husbie is in the other room playing Guitar Hero III. I think he's hoping I will overcome my complete wretchedness at this game and start playing with him since he now has two "guitars." Wii is more my speed. I absolutely rock on Rampage: Total Destruction. :-) Despite being able to play flute and thus, allegedly, being pretty dextrous, my fingers simply do NOT want to go where they're supposed to go on that *#@$% little guitar. Oh well.

Uh-oh

2007-11-22T11:04:00.001-06:00

I guarantee you by this time tomorrow I will be unable to use my arms properly. For some reason which really doesn't make a lot of sense, even to me, I decided to hit the weight room at the Y this morning AND the rowing machine. I haven't done either of these in at least six years.

I'm hoping my arms don't seize up before I've got the turkey situated today. That would be a real bother, but I admit it's my own fault.

Here's the thing. Starting in my late 20's, I became a real gym rat. A workout queen. I never missed a single one of my two-hour workouts, plus aerobics, plus...well, you get the idea. I was kinda buff. Now, of course, I'm just your average suburban soccer mom with a pot belly and wrinkles. But that doesn't stop me from thinking I'm still that same, younger, me. And I think my arms are really going to suffer for it today.

Will somebody please remind me I'm in my 40's before I really do some damage??

Countdown?

2007-11-21T23:07:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are. Just about 4.5 months into my "pregnancy." Under the usual circumstances, I would know that I am half-way through. The baby will be here in the neighborhood of four and a half months, give or take.

Me? Not so much.

I don't feel the slightest bit nearer. The blogs and online group posts are not leading me to believe that I am much nearer at all, do they for you?

So, having seen a post by an e-friend of mine where she notes that she is actually a full-term, nine months paper pregnant, I was inspired to a) commiserate; and b) try out my new digi-scrap goodies.

Honestly, I'm mighty cranky about the whole thing today.

Maybe my grumpy attitude is from all the sugar I consumed baking pies and cookies for Turkey Day tomorrow? I baked a pecan pie, a grape pie, and a mess of gingerbread cookies. My husband baked a chocolate cake from a recipe that's been in his family almost 70 years, can you imagine? It's got a boiled frosting. Between the two of us, the whole house has smelled delicious for days now!

Our guest, who is a native of Prince Edward Island and, as such, not going home until Christmas, says he is going to test the theory heard on the Today show that the average American consumes 5000 calories on Turkey Day. He's thinking he can beat that. And at my table tomorrow, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

My husband and I whiled away the late afternoon today playing the new Monopoly game where you have a debit card instead of paper money. Big, big fun. So really, on balance, I have very little to complain about and a LOT to be grateful for. (I swear I'll be less grumpy when I wake up!)

Hope you have a terrific holiday!

There's going to be a WEDDING!!

2007-11-20T17:16:00.001-06:00

I Said Yes!
Originally uploaded by Janelle Renk

Oh...more than blogs, more than chihuahuas, I love a good wedding! Instead of law, I should have studied wedding planning.

So. This is the newly-adorned hand of my former co-worker and dear friend, Janelle. She loves anything stylish and non-traditional, so she opted for this 3+ carat sapphire. Isn't it to die for?

2007-11-20T16:25:00.001-06:00

This is my dear friend Tammie and her family in their local newspaper. (Whoo! It's my brush with greatness!)

Tammie and her husband were in our travel group in China. Her daughter was just a little bitty thing...was it almost THREE years ago? Oh my.

My darling at 1 year old in China

2007-11-16T17:44:00.000-06:00

This is one of the photos our Chinese orphanage gave us of our daughter growing up. We were lucky and received many of them, and I treasure every one. Her Gotcha Day isn't until January, but I couldn't resist scrapping one of the beloved photos after reading about someone else's Gotcha Day on their blog.

Ah...those memories come flooding back...

Fitness update

2007-11-16T15:13:00.000-06:00

Okay, 10 or so weeks ago I was complaining about being too tired to do two aqua aerobics classes per week. Well, I'm now up to three classes per week and I'm mighty proud of it.

Although I must say, I can never lose sight of the fact that I'm in my 40s when I do this. My heels and knees remind me how creaky I actually am every day.

I wonder if those supplements to help with your joints actually work..?

First attempt at digi-scrapping

2007-11-14T14:24:00.001-06:00

My first time out with the digital scrapbooking stuff. And who is the subject of my first oeuvre? My husband? My daughter?

Nope. Doggies!

Oh my goodness

2007-11-14T12:50:00.000-06:00

My friend L says I don't know when to leave well enough alone! If you visited the blog yesterday and saw some weird background things or the widgets were missing, you have me to thank for that!

Taken by the digital scrapbooking bug, I carefully downloaded via Blogger's widget Rebecca's template for safekeeping and tried playing around with templates, myself. When I tried to reload the template blogger downloaded for me, DISASTER STRUCK! It would not reload for love or money.

So let me say this, if you take up Rebecca and her business partner (whom I promised I wouldn't name in the blog, but she's a great e-scrapper) on their charity-oriented plan (she designs a blog for you, you make a donation to charity), be very careful to copy and paste the precious template into a word document! That way, when you want to restore it, you have all the language at your fingertips!

Whoops!

2007-11-13T16:41:00.001-06:00

So, I took my little girl to the Magic House today for an hour of just getting her ya-ya's out. She ran, she jumped, she hooted and howled-- it was a blast! I was so glad because sometimes in the daily routines she doesn't get enough little-kid-running-like-a-wild-thing time.

The downside? She is SO fast asleep upstairs I can't wake her up for gymnastics.

*sigh*

No wait!

2007-11-12T12:34:00.000-06:00

Oooh, even better! Check out the wonderful new layout Rebecca made for me!! I feel so glamorous!

My bloggy interior designer

2007-11-12T08:35:00.000-06:00

Just want to send out props to my bloggy interior designer, Rebecca, whose ideas I stole! All the cool accent colors are totally her idea! She rocks!

Family photo disaster!

2007-11-11T20:19:00.000-06:00

Okay, do you ever get the feeling something was not meant to be? Well, I had one of those feelings this afternoon.

My dear friend L agreed to come take pix of our little family in our neighborhood park for our Christmas picture. The leaves were changing perfectly, the light was great. L took some awesome pictures. Then it poured. Out of nowhere. Virtually no clouds, no signs of rain, just BOOM. Kind of like those late afternoon showers in Florida, you know? We, in all our finery, were immediately drenched.

We ran back to our respective cars and left, happy with our photos.

Which, of course, were on the internal hard drive. We use a card reader since the USB is persnickety. So I look around for how to get photos off the internal drive, right? I download the user's manual, since I'm not sure where I filed mine.

And then the camera stopped recognizing the external 2 gig card!

And THEN I forgot that resetting the camera would also reformat the data on the camera-- voila! no more photos!!

I think I'm going to bed.

Not only is my husband cool, he's also a programmer!

2007-11-11T11:45:00.000-06:00

Yep. My programmer-spouse called in the heavy hitters and found a Mozilla add-on (called Colorzilla) which will let me find the hexadecimal value of any color on any webpage. So...using that, he found the hex value of the green behind the "R" et voila! A matching border!

Whooo! Thanks to the most wonderful husband a blog-addicted wife could ever have!

(Oh, and if anyone is interested, the value is: d1d26c)

***addition***

Well, I changed it up again. The green was maybe a tad overwhelming, so I picked up one of the medium brown colors in the flowers. Perhaps this will be the last change..? At least for a little while.

Hegemom: Now New and More Improved!

2007-11-11T10:45:00.001-06:00

Okay, well I hope it's more improved!

My angel of color advice, Rebecca, came up with the very good idea of coloring the borders of the blog the same color as the "R" tag in the header. Isn't that a good idea? You should check out her blog-- it's quite elegant.

Well, anyway, it turns out that I had to bust out some HTML color charts and delve into how the template was written to accomplish that. But there's no need to fear-- Gadget Guru is here!

Okay, maybe there's some need to fear. I couldn't get the code for the color of the "R" tag out of the computer program it was written in. So I had to sort of guess. Took me an hour or so and 2 cups of coffee, but I think I got kind of close. Anyone know HTML better than I? Please feel free to advise!

So...love it? Hate it? I can take it...

Hegemom: Now New and Improved

2007-11-10T23:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I've at least temporarily caved to the temptations of curiosity and no small amount of moral suasion from my fellow bloggers and have tried my own scrapbook-style header, at least until my dear Rebecca can save me from my own creativity, or lack thereof.

Haven't quite figured what I want to do about the background colors. But I'm saving that for another day.

Otherwise, we're here at the same bat time, same bat channel!

Zoo Day with Princess E

2007-11-10T22:19:00.001-06:00

My husband is SO cool

2007-11-09T16:21:00.000-06:00

Okay well when we went to China the first time, we, of course, saw people practicing Tai Chi in the parks. Yesterday, my cool, cool husband started taking a Tai Chi class! How wicked cool is that?? I have the most open-minded, interesting husband, I gotta say.

So he came home and showed me some of his moves (that he learned in class, people!) and it looks JUST like they do in China. He says that all practitioners of Tai Chi learn certain "forms," which are the big, long pattern of moves that they all do simultaneously. So when he goes to Taiwan he could totally practice out in the park with any group that happened to be out there. Is that cool, or what?

Me, I am not sure I could fit in any more exercise classes. I'm up to 3 aquacize classes a week and my knees, which are best described as creaky, are...well...creaking. Still, it sounds totally worth doing. Maybe this will makeup for our family's catastrophic failures in the learning-Mandarin realm...

Romney Adoption Reform Plan - News - Augusta, GA

2007-11-08T07:01:00.000-06:00

Romney Adoption Reform Plan - News - Augusta, GA

Romney wants to make the adoption tax credit permanent. That's nice. I wonder why all candidates wouldn't opt for that?

Thanksgiving dinner reinterpreted by a 4 y/o

2007-11-07T16:43:00.000-06:00

So.

My daughter expressed the thought this morning that Fall comes because it's windy.

Being a didactic soul, I saw a teachable moment and went for it! Well, actually, honey, I said as I warmed up to my topic, Fall is a season, like summer is a season....on and on I went.

Then I got to the part about holidays. Thanksgiving, I said, is a time when we give thanks for the good things in our lives and eat turkey and stuffing and some great desserts.

My daughter, having clearly picked up on the only important part of my teachable moment, perked up visibly and asked, AND DOUGHNUTS?

News of my alma mater

2007-11-07T08:08:00.000-06:00

My alma mater had a record acceptance rate this year of 18%. I do applicant interviewing for the College and I can say that some really incredible students have not gotten in. Geez. Makes me wonder how I'd do in the applicant pool these days?

Gadget Geek!

2007-11-06T11:02:00.000-06:00

Hi, gang! Gadget Geek here! While I have not yet joined the ranks of those who've designed or commissioned a blog header that looks like a scrapbook (I'm looking at YOU, Rebecca!), I have managed to put some more fun widgets on my site.

It sort of made me nervous to have any sort of email addy out there on the web, so I put a "contact me privately" form on there. If ya wanna talk, and you don't already know my email addy, have at it!

I also put up a cute little narrative by some ex-pats living in Taiwan. Thought that might be of interest to most of us. Also, the weather and our WAITING TIME. Not that I'm impatient, or anything. Nope. Not me.

Oh, and a translation widget. I notice I have some visitors from abroad; thought this might be more fun than reading in English. Hope you like it.

Here's hoping you're all well and happy these days! Me, I'm still wishing I was going with Laura and the gang to work on St. Lucy's this month. *sigh*

La vie culinaire or...stuff I do while waiting to be a mother of two

2007-11-04T18:01:00.000-06:00

Ricotta cheese. Yes, I made some.

Gads, this is the most incredible light (well, except for the ton of cream), delicious cheese ever. I am never buying that crap in a plastic carton at the grocery again. I bought terrific milk products in GLASS BOTTLES to make the cheese, too. Do I feel like a fromage-manger le singe de reddition, or what? (cheese-eating surrender monkey at least according to babelfish-- didn't sound right to me but my French is way rusty)

[Mes excuses aux Francais; il etait trop difficile de resister!] Wonder what it would take to make mozarella ?

Bee Movie

2007-11-02T19:11:00.001-05:00

Honey just got funny?

Okay, when your FOUR YEAR OLD says "mama, this movie is too long" about an ANIMATED feature, you know this movie is too long.

Yep. Sorry. Not wonderful.

Yep. I've lost my mind

2007-11-01T21:53:00.001-05:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!I found this on jibjab and just couldn't resist. Isn't this hysterical? The poor unfortunates in this are my friends, my daughter and myself. Aren't you glad I don't have a picture of YOU?

End of Halloween night-- your carriage awaits, princess!

2007-11-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

Here, at the end of the night, DD hopped into the wagon on a pillow, wrapped up in a wool Pendleton blanket that was MY carriage blanket when I was a little kiddo, and got a cup of hot cocoa. It's a nice life. (Note the chocolate "mustache" on DD's face in the photos!!)

When we got home, after some hot soup, DD had the pleasure of chowing down on as much Halloween candy as she liked and got to stay up late watching 101 Dalmations which I'd bought for her just that afternoon. Overall, a wildly successful day!

Halloween photos

2007-11-01T14:55:00.001-05:00

Here, at last, are the Halloween costume photos. I was so exhausted last night, I put the camera down somewhere and couldn't find it again this morning. *sigh* Happily baba found it for me later.

The purple fairy outfit is NOT the one we ultimately went trick or treating in-- indulgent mama here bought it at the last minute for 75% off at TJ Maxx! Don't you love a bargain? Anyway, these things are GREAT for dress-up all year long, so it's really not a waste!

The purple fairy princess photos are from a Halloween party at the Magic House we attended Halloween morning. It was wonderful.

The white "snow princess" costume was the one all the parents loved. It had a wire "hoop" at the bottom of the skirt so the skirt stood out, and a little fake fur muff for DD's hands. It was adorable!

I don't know if you can tell, but since it was chilly last night, I made my daughter wear TWO turtle necks, a sweater, tights, and TWO PAIRS of leggings under her costume. AND I packed the wagon with a thermos of hot cocoa. Overprotective much?

Crazy, happy wonderful Halloween

2007-10-31T21:03:00.001-05:00

Photos to come.

Meanwhile, party this morning, a quick jaunt out to get shoes for the Xmas card photo outfit for DD, then massive trick or treating. THREE families we trick or treated said Liv's costume was the most beautiful they'd ever seen. Whoo!

Liv's first words this morning: Do we get candy today?

Did you see the 60 Minutes story on plumpy'nut?

2007-10-25T21:02:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Fully Operational Battle Station, a blog I love to read. It's about a super product that's got peanut butter, powdered milk, vitamins and supplements in it being fed to starving children by Doctors Without Borders. Here's the link to the story.

Have you ever wanted to drop everything and go help? I sure felt like that today watching the story.

I get that this stuff has been around for a while (Voice of America had a story in 2005), but doesn't it break your heart that it doesn't get to all the kids who are starving?

But listen-- on the Doctor's without Borders (MSF - Medecins sans Frontiers) website, it says that armed gunmen have been attacking medical teams in central Niger where plumpy'nut is so desperately needed. Result? The Governor of the Agadez region asked MSF to stop operating in the area.

Breaks. My. Heart.

Ack!

2007-10-24T21:12:00.000-05:00

Well, in nursing DD's cold, I got it myself, big time. I've got NO voice whatsoever today. None.

Yet, since DD was discovered to have outgrown all of her blanket sleepers, it was off to Target I went. And do you know what? When I managed to make it clear to the cashier that I'd lost my voice-- darned if she didn't start asking me fool questions.

Some people.

I also went to the library and OF COURSE someone asked me how to operate the self-checkout machines. I gestured vaguely to my throat and did the checkout for her. What else could I do? She was a nice-looking elderly lady. I like to think she understood.

Anyway, thank heavens one of my girlfriends Instant Messaged (IM'd) me today, otherwise I'd have had no adult "conversation" at all until the husbie came home.

DD thought is was really hilarious to ask me questions all day long, too. Like: "So, mom, how'd you sleep?" "Hey, what are we getting at the store?" and other stuff like that. Finally I had to get down on the floor at Target and whisper to her that 1) she understood perfectly well that I couldn't talk and; 2) quit teasing me!

Little stinker! :-)

We're back!

2007-10-20T22:22:00.000-05:00

We're home and all is well. The dogs did not eat our housesitter-- they're chihuahuas, they MIGHT have-- and the fish did not die. A plus all around!

Walt Disney World (WDW) was fabulous. Looking at the joy and wonder in our daughter's eyes was the most incredible experience. I'm a Disney-holic of long standing and I don't think I ever had a better trip than when I was enjoying this through DD.

Our "mousekeeping" lady (housekeeper) at the hotel was incredible. She made towel animals (a WDW standard), but then she TOILET PAPERED our room, setting it up to look like DD's Goofy and Mickey dolls had done it! In fact, Goofy was found to be sitting on the ceiling fan! Later she made a dozen more wash cloth animals and posed them on our window shades looking out. It was awesome!

In addition we stashed little presents for DD around the room every time she fell asleep. We led her to believe that Minnie Mouse had snuck in and done it. She was absolutely thrilled. We couldn't have been happier.

The character meals were pretty awesome, too. DD got to meet all her favorite characters at Chef Mickey's breakfast at the Contemporary. Goofy and Donald Duck bumped into each other right near our table and "fought" it out-- we saw Donald kick Goofy! It was so cute.

The Cinderella dinner was pretty great, too, although DD was a little under the weather by the time we went there. I'd thought it'd be a great climax to the trip to meet her favorite princess, but...well, exhaustion and a cold bug set in. Oh well.

The funniest thing for us about the Cinderella dinner was how the evil step-sisters and wicked step-mother interacted with one another. They really "riffed" off one another and us. It was hysterical.

Then, when we were leaving the park, we ran into a group of "grinning ghosts." These were folks dressed up for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. They'd dressed as some of the ghosts from the Haunted Mansion ride. The cutest thing was a gal in a wheelchair who'd dressed herself as the head in the crystal ball on a table in one of the earlier scenes of the ride.
It was so inventive!

Anyway, we can't wait to take our new addition to the family-- whoever s/he may be -- to experience WDW! Although after the expense of adoption, we may have to DRIVE to Florida next time! heh.

WDW almost ready to go home!

2007-10-18T20:40:00.001-05:00

By the time we got to the Cinderella dinner, DD was absolutely exhausted. Right after this, we popped back to the room, filled her with fluids and ibuprofen and put her to bed.

WDW so far...

2007-10-16T21:17:00.001-05:00

Anonymous sharing :-)

2007-10-12T17:43:00.000-05:00

An e-friend who asks that everyone do their own research indicated s/he had a good experience with this travel agent on his/her trip to Taiwan:

clipped from mail.google.com

Lily Wan's number: 310-371-3228 EXT.111. And her email address is : lily@traveldesignusa.com

DD at Incredible Pizza

2007-10-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

Bake on!

2007-10-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

Link:
43 Cake Baking Tips & Tricks » TipNut.com

Okay this is the neatest collection of baking tips EVER!

My daughter took photos on her Fischer Price camera

2007-10-05T20:33:00.001-05:00

Opportunities missed

2007-10-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm wishing I were still working...a little bit. Why? Because I have an opportunity to go with some of my agency's folks to volunteer to work on a project at an orphanage in Taiwan in November. And we really don't have the cash to do that AND conserve $$ for the adoption.

Of course, if I were working it'd be hard to get the time off to go!

But still...I wish, I wish, I wish...

DD coming out of the bath

2007-10-05T08:42:00.000-05:00

My happy girl coming out of the bath!

The Wait

2007-10-02T18:16:00.000-05:00

You know what? This wait sucks.

Okay, maybe that wasn't the most polite way to put it, but it does. The agencies really don't want to share where you are on the wait list. It's like waiting for the cable guy -- they don't want to give you a ballpark estimate on your wait time: "A service representative will be at your home between 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning and the end of time. Will someone be at home?" Argh!!

I'm typically pretty stoic, but I got weepy last night. And really, compared to Ann at Taiwan Treasure, I have no grounds to complain. Ann has managed to wait, patiently and with good humor, for many times over the length of our wait. She's a champ.

Me? I just want some information. Something a little less imprecise. Tell me: "around 9 months." Tell me: "around 18 months." Fine. I'm good with that. But telling me "somewhere between 4 months and a year" is totally hard to deal with.

We're not in the birth mother program. Nope. Maybe we could just extrapolate a little from the rate of referrals? Please?

So. That's my rant of the day. I realize, because my husband keeps reminding me, that there are legitimate business reasons for the agencies not to broadcast wait times or list ranking. I also know some of you are suffering through the same thing, probably a lot more quietly than I am. And reading your blogs helps. A little. :-)

As Mary-Mia so aptly put it on her blog Do they have Salsa in China? and her accompanying t-shirts: "No, still waiting. No, no news. Yes, I'll have a double."

Death Aqua Aerobic Instructor of Doom

2007-10-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

I wonder if the County police will take a report on an aerobics instructor who attempted to cause the death of 16 women this morning?

Good GAWD did I ever loathe and despise this woman by the end of class. I'm sure I was absolutely radiating hatred by the time I dragged my tired, thoroughly aerobicized body out of the pool.

It's not bad enough that I get into a swim suit and splash around in the smelly chlorine getting water splashed in my eyes. But I don't have to be happy about it.

Grrr.

Well, at least she was a substitute teacher...otherwise, I may have to sneak up and drown her perky butt!

Andrew Zimmern, part II

2007-10-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, you guys. I did it. At the moon festival dim sum buffet, I actually tried chicken feet. Yep.

Can I just say, it was mostly skin? Meh.

Apple picking vid

2007-09-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

What kind of English do you speak?

2007-09-29T21:09:00.001-05:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Apple picking!

2007-09-29T16:52:00.000-05:00

Today we went apple picking! DD rode a pony for the first time, petted a camel, fed some sheep and ate a lot of apples off the tree. There were also some cool rides! A grand time was had by all.

Don't you think we need another kiddo to share this with right away?

Okay, I'm cheesed

2007-09-28T14:43:00.000-05:00

Alright. You know all those prospective adoptive parents out there who have so much time and energy? Their houses are perfect, they're always prepared, and they take tons of classes in Mandarin so they can communicate with their adored soon-to-be kids? Yeah, they hack me off, too.

So. I figured I would be one of those wonderful, hate-able parents and sign up at the local community college for "Mandarin for the Adoptive Parent."

Boy, was I smug.

I got to tell all my friends that I was going to learn a little Mandarin. I'm so culturally sensitive, I was going to be able to talk to our new child AND help our DD when she starts Mandarin class in a year or so. I was just the bee's knees, right? Wrong. They canceled the class for insufficient enrollment.

Whoof. That's what I get for trying to be one of those parents! I'm actually one of these parents who loves their kid wildly but does not have a perfect house, a perfectly color-coordinated playroom, plans for every single day which include educational yet fun activities and a nutritionally-balanced complete meal plan for the whole week planned out. Nope, sorry.

Maybe I can try a little Mandarin next semester? In the meantime, maybe I'll work on color-coordinating the play room-- ha ha.

Moon cakes

2007-09-26T20:59:00.000-05:00

Y'know, Sarah at Journey to Taiwan for Hannah Claire reminded me-- moon cake time has just passed. I have this to say about that.

When I bought some last year, the store clerk said "don't take these back because they smell spoiled; they're supposed to be that way."

And, suitably warned, I ate it anyway. Suffice it to say you should stick with the sweetened bean paste ones. THOSE are tasty! The other kind(s)? Taste at your own risk!

Mac Photo Booth

2007-09-25T20:54:00.001-05:00

2007-09-25T04:29:00.000-05:00

My little girl is growing up so fast.

Here's a portrait of me with jewelry, a crown, and, says my husband, a 5 o'clock shadow!

I'm posing next to a many-layered birthday cake for MY birthday (which is not for many months, but truly that's beside the point!)

The other funny thing is that DH and I were driving DD around Saturday and kind of being silly. At one point I told DD that something I said was just because "I was trying to be funny."

"No," she replied, completely dead-pan, "you're not funny."

Um...ouch?

Yasue's wedding

2007-09-23T20:28:00.001-05:00

What we've been up to the last few weeks

2007-09-20T21:43:00.000-05:00

Let's see...DD got ear tubes put in on Monday-- she was up running around by noon. The Friday before, we went to visit our friend, Ms. S, and her FOUR children-- one set of 1 y/o twin boys, one infant daughter, and one velcro-child, aged 4. The bench pictures were taken in her front yard, and that IS a three-child stroller. Oy!

What else..? Oh, we bought DD some clip-ons and started teaching her to skate this evening! What a riot! (And yes, my lawn died. What of it? Huh? Huh?)

Oh, and that's a really lucky shot of DD jumping into the pool at swim class.

Another glamorous dinner

2007-09-19T16:19:00.000-05:00

So we went out for pancakes for dinner last night! Glamorous beyond reason, I know...

Anyway, DD had a big plate of happy-face-space-alien pancakes with French toast sticks for antennae, whipped cream and cherries for eyes, the works. The plate probably 3 or 4 full-sized pancakes and some bacon. DD ate every molecule of food on that plate AND drank my orange juice. Bear in mind my daughter is a tiny slip of a girl, barely 34 pounds soaking wet.

The waitress, seeing the empty, polished plate, remarked: "Goodness! Where does she put it all?"

DD calmly pointed to her mouth and said, "Right here. I put it right here."

Still at it

2007-09-16T07:29:00.000-05:00

Well, okay, so the water pilates was canceled and I caught a break, right? Um, not so much. I found a pilates DVD I'd bought some time ago and guilt overcame me.

I wonder if my 40-something year old body will rebel any time soon? I'm sort of expecting it to refuse to get out of bed any day now.

ps~ Shawn, I'd be delighted to keep in touch-- my blog email address is now listed on the right side of the page. That goes for anyone, although please keep those comments coming. I love blog comments!

Waiting...

2007-09-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

So, having read the Taiwan boards fairly religiously, I gather that most referrals for older kids (2+) are taking 1 year from the date the home study is approved (at least at my agency) and infants are 18 months to 2 years. AFTER this waiting period, is another wait during which time the adoption goes through the courts. This can last, per my agency, 4 - 6 months, although I've read that some particularly slow judges can take longer.

ps- Yep, Shelley, we have the same agency. Are you waiting for toddler, infant, or what?

Zoo Day

2007-09-13T17:10:00.001-05:00

Today we had a Zoo Day with a dear, dear old friend of mine. Here they are looking at the hippos swimming in a tank. I did not have the heart to tell DD why there were so many fish in the tank and what those fishies were eating....

Dossier answers and catching a break on the exercise

2007-09-13T16:58:00.000-05:00

Well. Here's something I didn't know about Taiwan adoption. Basically, the dossier, translated or not, just sits around at our agency until we're at the top of the waiting list and a child matching our requirements comes available. Then it is submitted to Taiwan for, presumably, Chung Yi's approval and, if involved, that of the birthmother. If the child is old enough, s/he is consulted, too.

So, getting irate about our dossier not being translated when we're probably nine or ten months from its going to Taiwan is silly.

That's what I get for being thoroughly China-trained. If you don't already know, the minute your dossier is translated and approved for China, it's submitted. You're in line. Any delay means a delay in the adoption. Not so Taiwan. I'm relieved I have no cause to be annoyed with my agency-- they're so pleasant to deal with, I would have been miserable to think they'd neglected us.

On the Catching-A-Break front, they canceled my Aqua-Pilates class-- not enough students. So my slightly Rabelaisian patootie can stay that way a little longer-- no third exercise class per week.

Dossier and Exercise

2007-09-12T21:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, point one: After emailing my agency twice asking whether our dossier had been translated and sent, they responded with a phone message saying our dossier is missing some documents. This after I had an email assurance that our dossier was fine some weeks ago. We submitted it in early July, it's now September. Grrr.

Point two: I'm 40-something and formerly very athletic. Consequently, LOTS of injuries which have survived to haunt me in my middle age. SO? After a long gap in my exercise routine, I'm taking water exercise classes. Three of 'em.

The good news is they're very low impact on your joints. The bad news? Gawd, I'm freakin' exhausted. And I've only been through two of the three classes. This is the first week. Tomorrow I have aqua-pilates. At least it's no more aerobics.

Zzzzzzz......

So, if you see me on the street, have pity. Don't step on my fingernails!

I wonder...

2007-09-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

I've emailed our agency twice, as of this morning, and I have no response to the question"have you translated and sent over our dossier yet?"

Hm....not a particularly encouraging sign, eh wot?

I am in LOVE!

2007-09-10T13:38:00.000-05:00

L's daughter, Princess Ella, now calls me Dee Dee Bao Bao!

Dee Dee is for Stacey. Bao Bao is because I'm always chasing her around calling her "bao bao" in a funny voice. (transl. "baby")

So while I was talking to her mama on speakerphone, Ella recognized my voice and started saying "Dee Dee Bao Bao!" I almost swooned with love for that little creature! What a cutie!!