ladybug diary

The End.

2006-03-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

The ladybug has retired. Come and party at the new pad!

I do I do I do I do I do.

2006-03-01T07:18:00.000-05:00

(Anyone hearing ABBA after that title?)

Most everyone I know hates March, especially in Boston. Who could love this grey and mucky month that thinks it's so awesome because the first day of Spring is in it?

That would be me. Long story why. Twelve years ago this Saturday found me getting ready for a portfolio showing at a literary magazine published by the Big University here in the city. They were looking for someone to work on a redesign. Thinking I was going to present to a bunch of musty stuffy elbow-patched professors, I put on the most dowdy outfit in my closet. (First, think 1994) Long black cotton skirt, mock black turtleneck bodysuit, covered by a rust colored vest! (No Steph, it was not a sweater vest, I have some fashion decorum) I wish I could remember the shoes, but let's dowd-up the image even more and admit they're black oxfords or loafers.

I walk into the office, which is really tiny, and not professorial at all. No panelled oak anywhere, just tropicana orange walls (a pure clash with my rusty vest I'm sure). And a handful of editor peeps to shake hands with:
1. "Hello how do you do."
2. "Hello nice to meet you." and
3. "Hello. (gulp) What was your name again?" "R." he says. Oh shit, this man is so gorgeous beyond belief, and I look like a total dork.

After bumbling through a portfolio preez, me and my googly eyes leave the office, my heart all aflutter. Later the editor calls to thank us for coming in. And oh, by chance she's having a party, R. will be there, and would I like to come? Oh yeah baby. And that's where the story begins. Cupid hit me real hard that day.

Do you ever think of all the events that happened in your life to lead you to this moment? I am with the most amazing man on this planet. There were so many people, choices, situations that led me to that moment on the morning of March 4, 1994. I shudder at the thought of any of those events misaligning. R. has shown me so much about life, the good, the bad, and has let me lean on him, and helped me find the inner strength to deal with this thing called life. I can't wait to continue the journey into parenthood, he is going to be an amazing father.

Why post this three days early? Today is our wedding anniversary. Seven years ago we snuck away to Maui. Barefoot in the sand, giddy from too much champange, reading vows we wrote to each other, and a few tears later, we were married.

Happy Anniversary Baby! I love you more than anything.

Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, not only did I land the man, I landed the job too. Jackpot!

LID algebra

2006-02-28T11:24:00.000-05:00

If these short month referrals stick, I did the math. Freaking November referral! Travel at Christmas. All is NOT calm. All is NOT bright.

They'll catch up, won't they? Our referral was originally supposed to come next month.

Monday Cat Bloggin' 02.20

2006-02-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

Kikalee's Mission: Try to get Oosha to pose with Cheesedoodle, while we're waiting on a big job to print out.

Did you say something lady? I'm trying to clean my chest.

Get your hands off me lady. I'm not going to play this game so you can impress your friends.

Har dee har har har. Stupid Cheesedoodle.

Do not look at Cheesedoodle. Do not look at Cheesedoodle. Oosha's Mission: Make lady mad.

Color her World

2006-02-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

My posts of late are so lame. I am so bored with the wait, sorry if I haven't been that entertaining. Big event of the week: I picked a paint color. Under the gun because the painters are coming tomorrow, and I don't want to spend Valentine's night staring at the baby's room walls. Bless Sparky's heart for helping me (I found different colors, I know! I'm insane! Thanks for sacrificing your identity for me at your paint store). I'm going with the one on the right. Thanks to the giant C2 ultimate paint chip. It's called Junior League. What was going thru the color teams' minds when they came up with that name? R. says we'll change it.

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Doing anything fun?

Attention all Purse Whores

2006-02-12T12:44:00.000-05:00

I'm too excited I can barely type. You know the concept of Netflix, right? Rent as many movies as you like one for one low monthly fee? This purse hound is pinching herself because there is the same service for those pretty things we sling over our shoulders. (Or, most times, in my case, giant feedbags to carry my junk).

It's called Bag Borrow or Steal. My one curiosity is, you know when you clean out your purse there's all sorts of little things at the bottom? Dirt, wadded up gum wrappers, pennies? How do they clean that out? It's not as bad as wearing someone else's shoes or underwear, but close to it.

P.S., today is our 5 month LID anniversary. Does it matter?

Medaglia d'oro

2006-02-12T12:20:00.000-05:00

Miei cugina vestirsi con eleganza!

My cousin* dressed to full elegance on Friday night. She carried the placard for Denmark's Olympic team in a Moschino-designed costume for the opening ceremonies. I wouldn't expect anything less from the Italians. This dress had mountains and lights on it. I've never met her (she lives in Torino), but it's nice to share her 15 second brush with international fame. This pic doesn't do the detail much justice, more is shown in the link above. (This pic is Miss Italia, but she bears a striking resemblance to her.)

*is the daughter of your Mom's cousin a second cousin? twice removed? I get so confused by that!

Friday Cat Bloggin' 02.10

2006-02-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

This is the best I can do today folks. I don't have access to my furryones. So I introduce Cheesedoodle: courtesy of Mike F. from The Infinite Cat Project.

(if you visit, keep clicking "next cat" to see what the project is all about)

TINK!

2006-02-08T09:32:00.000-05:00

Fling Poo has been moved out of the "Waiting Mamas + Papas" blogroll to "Blogging in Motherhood"! Hooray, they are my first cut and paste from this list! Tink and K, met their daughter M as of 6 hours ago (can you tell I've been IV'd to their blog?).

I couldn't be happier for them. Wheeeeeeee.....who will be next off the list?

Mood Music

2006-02-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

I am so emotionally affected by music. A natural upper, downer, mood leveller, could this world survive without it? I think I may have been a composer in another life. The previous owners of my childhood home had a late 1800s upright piano in our basement that they couldn't get out when they moved. So, I took up playing it. It was so out of tune, the mallet for the G key was missing, and one of the pedals was busted. I didn't care, that's all I knew. R. bought me a keyboard last xmas, I've done some tinkering with Garage Band, but I need a good chunk of time to reintroduce my brain and fingers to a keyboard that doesn't have letters on it (I haven't played in many years).

Can I say how much I looooove iTunes? I play it all three of my Macs, but it annoys me that my playlists aren't sync'd on all of them (OCD). I notice lately that my most frequent playlists contain calming, happy, insightful music (gee I wonder why) and thought I'd share with you a small assortment of my faves and what they mean to me.

Clair de Lune | Debussy
Meaning Moonlight in French, this song makes me feel like I am watching a full moon in summer from an Adirondack chair with my toes touching wet grass, and a chilled glass of white wine in hand.

The Rain Falls and the Sky Shudders | Moby
I have put this track on repeat song for hours and have never even noticed. Beautiful combination of NYC street sounds on a rainy night with a listful keyboard. It's one of my favorite songs to sew by.

Angels | Wax Poetic
If I had wings, this would be my theme song.

Thank You | Dido
I can't get through this song without crying. When we went out to dinner just hours after receiving news of our DTC, this song was playing, and I bawled. I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life. I'm welling just going through the lyrics in my head right now.

Deserve It | Madonna
Can't let a music list go by without my girl Madge. I feel like I'm on the road when I hear this, and she does a good job of melding the music to her story -- about her past and how it's all lead up to the woman she is today. Personal to me.

Dream a Little Dream of Me
Little stars, cartoon sheep, and clear navy blue sky.

Moon River | Henry Mancini
Don not mistake this Muzak, the lyrics are so beautiful. Even though the Henry Mancini version is all instrumental, I'm adding it here, because it evokes a meandering mood. And I sing the lyrics in my head.

Nice Weather for Ducks | Lemon Jelly
The most adorable song in the entire world. Makes me want to put on a yellow slicker and jump in puddles barefoot in the park. I can't wait to play this for our girl.

I just noticed several of these have a flying, sky, or birdy title. Hmmm.

What are some of your favorite mood songs? I wanna hear!

Friday Cat Bloggin' 02.03

2006-02-03T17:48:00.000-05:00

This was taken seconds after Cow had his head in the bowl of lucky Chinese New Year candy. I'm finding these candies all over the house. All three of the cats think they're toys .

The view from all six of their beady little eyes:

Cute Overload™

2006-02-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

Just visit for a daily dose of awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Helps the adoption wait doldrums.

100 Good Wheezes Quilt

2006-02-01T13:55:00.000-05:00

So, I'm shopping for a gift for a client's birthday here today. I love this place, and frequently use them to send gifts from. It's the lure of red box. After I place the kiss-client-ass gift, me and the trackball scamper off to the baby department to see what's on sale. I'm caught off guard by this. More like disturbed. The Big-Envelope-of-Red is mass-producing 100 Good Wishes Quilts. Disturbing on so many levels. Marketing copy is written so eloquently as to tantalize us with the following word that makes us think we're getting something so exclusive: IMPORTED. And this line:

...we've silk-screened 100 well-wishing messages on a pastel quilt designed to surround baby with love...

What a racket. Let's look at this more closely: someone in a factory somewhere is silk-screening messages of ...love | delight | romance* | vision | hope | distinction... while being asphixiated by the toxic fumes of silkscreening ink? How can well-wishing messages sincerely be made between rounds of (cough, cough, hack, wheeze)? Hmmm I wonder where these are imported from. Certainly not China, that would be hippocritical and insulting and the Big-Envelope-of-Red wouldn't do that. I should double check. This is my convo with customer service:

I outed you. Bad envelope. You should know better.

*and another thing: explain why would the word "romance" be on a well-wishes quilt for a baby? No. No. No.

SECRET PAL! DON'T WORRY...I HAVEN'T STOPPED LOVING YOUR GIFT FROM THE ENVELOPE.

Hey that wasn't so bad

2006-01-31T11:11:00.000-05:00

Hey it's the last day of January! Whoo! And it flew by without me even staring at the calendar. Please oh please let the next months fly by. Until I meet our daughter. Then slow it down. I need to make up for lost time. I was reorganizing our adopting paperwork last week (from a bulging binder into hanging files) and read the form letter that we sent to CCAA. This is paragraph 2 from our letter:

...It is our intention to adopt a child from China. We respectfully wish to adopt a healthy female between the ages of 12 to 24 months...

Whoops. I forgot about the 24 months part. How could I forget something so important? That letter is from June, can I blame it on that? If she really is 2 when we meet her, then time really needs to slow down for us. And get my ass to Target to buy new clothes. Regardless of what her age is, I can't wait to get to know her.

While in re-org mode I cleaned the Stickies on my Mac (does anyone like to collapse them and line them up like I do?). And came across this one that I must have wanted to post for the new year. I titled it What 2005 Gave Me:

the perfect adoption agency: after 3 months of research, open house attending, and interviews
patience? (I guess I was querying if that was true or not)
sushi down the street: I didn't know that Chinese restaurant served rocking sushi
sadness over the aftermath of Katrina
the inauguration of a stupid president
little splurges: like a personal trainer and a couple of overpriced shoes
my first experience with theft: an iPod stolen from my gym locker
a blog
friends who's faces I've never seen but have made me laugh, cry, spit coffee on my screen, and cheer for. I'm glad I found you and you found me - your words mean a LOT.
blogging friends I've been lucky to meet in person
finally, I could say "we're adopting" in August. And what a wonderful feeling that was.
new bedroom furniture
a brown thumb, and a towel to throw
a contractor that returns calls, and shows up on time
who built a big deck and fence
and added a 1/2 bath and laundry nook to our kitchen
and a new washer and dryer that buzzes wind chimes when the cycle is done (I am so not kidding)
new grass fluffy and all ready for the pitter patter of little feet (not planted by me)
the last birthday that starts with the number 3
the knowledge of how much these letters and numbers mean: 171-H, i-600a, DTC, LID, TA, CCAA...
a growing stash of quilt squares
a trip I'll never forget to London and Paris with the love of my life.
my fingerprints are in "the system"
lots of presents under the chritmas tree for a little girl we have yet to meet but love more than life itself

Hot Dog!

2006-01-29T18:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Year of the FIRE Dog to all of my friends!

Last night the New England contingent of bloggers gathered at our place to celebrate. We had a great time. How wonderful it is to be with a group of people who know exactly what you're going through. Amy brought the appetizer - her daughter Ruby who I just wanted to devour! We were also graced by the presence and wonderful food of The Sparky's, The Murphy's, Carrie and David (check out their son Alex's "mean brother" signs, they are hilarious), and a beaming Deberoo and her hubby S.. Who arrived with three referral photos of their gorgeous daughter, rec'd 3 days ago. Referral photos. In my house! Live! What a feeling to see them and hold them. The Sparky's and us are next on deck for our referral...weeeeeeeee!

Off to the microwave to nuke last night's yummy leftovers......

P.S., I read somewhere to not wash your hair on CNY because you will wash your luck away. And if you already put that bottle of Bumble and Bumble to your head...Do. Not. Cry! Supposedly you will cry for the rest of the year. (ummm...that's pretty much guaranteed whether I wash my hair or not today)

Not to "Rub" this in, but....

2006-01-25T17:23:00.000-05:00

...I spent eight hours at a spa yesterday. My body is saying WTF just happened to us? A day went by without fretting over something? A day without stomach pains? Nervous twitches? Unexplainable outbursts of tears? I was q u e e n for a day: massage, body wrap, high tea with crumpets and sandwiches the size of my belly button, and the longest mani/pedi I've ever had (2.25 hours...that's almost seven minutes per digit folks!). I haven't spent this long in a robe and slippers since I was in the hospital last year.

Before you go on thinking I'm all Miss High Falutin', this was a gift from a client. Me and my best friend went together so lots of giggling was to be heard amongst the snobby rich ladies. We had to give ourselves a dose of reality at the end of the day, the intensity of the lush life was too much. So, we headed down to Sin City's best Vietnamese restaurant -- a total dive in an old diner car -- but oh, the food was sublime. Perfect way to end the day.

5 things

2006-01-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

Here ya go Steph:

What were you doing 10 years ago:
I was 29, 2 years into owning my own business and hating it because I was working 7 days, making no money, and bogged down with a ton of little projects. Now I make money with a handful of clients, big projects, and take Fridays off to cat blog and watch Oprah.

What were you doing one year ago:
Had just chosen our adoption agency, narrowed down our country choice to China, and was a bit delirious that we were really going through with it.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Ruffles and Heluva Good Clam Dip
2. Triscuits with Kraft Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar (this cheese is the bomb)
3. Pickles
4. Fish sticks
5. Tea and toast

Five Songs to Which I Know All The Lyrics:
1. Landslide by Stevie Nicks
2. Dust in the Wind by (who?)
3. Memories are Made of This (I prefer the Johnny Cash version)
4. Our House by Madness
5. Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes

Five Things I Would Do If I Were a Millionaire:
1. Abduct circus animals and build a sanctuary to take care of them (actually, I should do that in the opposite order)
2. Hire a live-in chef to make all our meals
3. Buy little cottages all over the world for seasonal travel
4. Live decadently in Paris for a year, while attending the Cordon Bleu
5. Fly everyone in my family from all over the world to me, and I'd host the most kick-ass family reunion bash ever

Five Bad Habits:
1. Leaving my shoes in trippable zones
2. Leaving glasses/mugs all over the house
3. Leaving the door open when I'm in the 'loo
4. Talking when I'm eating
5. Finishing anything I start

Five Things I Like Doing:
1. Reading at least 2 or 3 books at a time
2. Stealing pens from my husband
3. Squeezing the cats so hard until they scream (I have too much love)
4. Picnicking on the beach with R.
5. Shoe shopping

Five Things I Would Never Wear and/or Buy New Again:
1. A vest of any sort
2. Stirrup pants
3. A shrug (what are those trying to accomplish?)
4. Blue eyeshadow
5. Fur

Five Favorite Toys:
1. My Furi santoku knife
2. My iMacs and iPod
3. My sewing machine
4. My camera
5. ahem...no comment

3 degrees of separation

2006-01-17T18:02:00.000-05:00

3 degrees of separation lies between my real major and what this test tells me (thanks to Tammy!). When I was a little kid I wanted to be a psychologist – how did I know the difference between that and a psychiatrist at a tender age is beyond me. I think I was enamored by the fact I could have a Dr. in front of my name without having to touch or cut open any people. Ahh, even squeamish back then.

I'm a great listener (aren't I honey? I know R.'s reading this and laughing). I'm just fascinated by what makes people tick, which is probably why I scored so high on the psych/socio aspect of things.

However, please explain how a klutzy white girl gets #3 for dance? The rare times I do aerobics classes, I am always the person going in the opposite direction. Watch out for the bumble girl.

You scored as Psychology. You should be a Psychology major!

Psychology

100%

Sociology

92%

Dance

83%

Art

83%

English

75%

Theater

58%

Linguistics

58%

Philosophy

50%

Journalism

42%

Engineering

42%

Mathematics

33%

Anthropology

25%

Chemistry

25%

Biology

25%

What is your Perfect Major?
created with QuizFarm.com

I was never into science. I hated that they made us dissect animals at school. Started with the ever elusive frogs to (gross) fetal pigs and graduated to cats. Disgustingly traumatic for a teenager. Again, being visual, I was really good at memorizing the chemistry symbols, but not good at understanding what they did.

As far as math, the only math I ever understood was geometry because it's visual. I loooooved geometry and all the tools I could use - protractors, compasses, triangles. Math meets art. It's why I love to quilt so much. A lot of principles of geometry are needed to complete a quilt. When I met this quilt artist in person, looking at her work up close took me to a new realm of quilting called kaleidoscope quilting. Being a Brooklyn artsy type, she showed me that you can be cool and quilt. (I was getting worried I'd have to start wearing these with matching turtlenecks to fit in). So, I'm attempting, in fits and starts to make a small scale kaleidoscope right now.

English was a challenge, I loved reading, but the writing was very difficult. I never found my groove. Remember those questions on the SATs: If x is to x then b is to b? Something like that. I loved those. Also, remember having to fragment sentences into family-tree like snakey lines? Loved that too...visual again. In my business I dabble in marketing copywriting, which has helped expand my new found love of writing. That and writing in this blog.

My dream is to write and publish a novel loosely based on a circumstance that connected the lands where my Mom and Dad are from (Italy and Ireland, respectively) The inspiration came from a short documentary written and directed by (then Army soldier) John Huston during WWII in the tiny Italian mountain town my Mom grew up in. The intention of the film was to depict how the US tried to take over Italy in 1943. But for me watching the documentary was painful. Everyone woman in the film looked like the women in my family. The ironic twist is during this time Huston's extended family were busy tending their farm in Ireland. Guess who's farm their property bordered? My Dad's family's! How fantastic is that? Right now there's a germ of a novel there that needs to be put to paper, between that and quilting I could keep myself quite busy during this evil wait...

Friday Cat Bloggin' 01.13 (!)

2006-01-13T11:01:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when you remove a drawer from a desk:

Objects in mirror are not as big as they appear

2006-01-10T22:58:00.000-05:00

(If you catch my drift) A huge shout out to my Secret Pal...this tee has been on my wish list! I love that you got it in pink. And that you enlisted a partner in crime to find out sizes (smart girl). Sorry I can't show you the shirt SP bought for R., it's in the laundry. It's the same bug logo teeny tiny on a white golf shirt.

Thank you so much, we love them both. I wore mine out to our local blue hair restaurant this weekend and it got the best weird looks from the ladies who lunch (and bingo).

Photo tip of the day: I learned that if I leaned into the bathroom sink while taking a picture a waist suddenly appeared!

H2Oh-dear.

2006-01-10T17:24:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of bad luck. I have come home to Old Faithful in my driveway. Maybe I'm the one flowing bad luck into the water mains of metro Boston. Enough water is gushing out of new fissures in my driveway to satisfy the thirst of my entire neighborhood. Right now I'm patiently awaiting the water guy to turn off the water (not on, that would be too easy, and his underlings have gone home).

I left work early because I was under the weather. All I wanted to do was watch Oprah under a blankie with a cup of herbal tea. Waaaaa.

Crap-i-trocious Day

2006-01-09T16:03:00.000-05:00

Before I bitch about the crapitrocious day, I need to tell everyone that the comments you sent on my previous post mean so much to me. Thanks for your wise words and encouragement, I read them all weekend. I am lucky to have a posse of peeps cheering me on, especially when things get tough. Big hugs to you all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, now I'm not bitchy anymore thinking of that! Crap! Oh wait, the jackhammers are starting outisde again, I feel a bitchy moment coming...it's coming...DING! It's arrived. Here's my day in order:

1.) Wake up to a bout of stomach problems, a usual thing in my life. Run to bathroom 3x. R. waits patiently while he warms up car (thank you honey).
2.) Dropped off at the subway. Oh god, do I have to go again? Please-no please-no. Do meditation to keep mind off stomach.
3.) Grab a warm bagel, walk to studio. Oh no. Boston Water and Sewer trucks in the alleyway. Not. Good. Sign.
4.) Me and bagel set down for a nice morning. Tea would be lovely. Dang, the bubbler is outta water. Lug water bottle into studio from stairwell, cursing that I haven't been to gym in 3 months. Tear off cap. Break nail. Hoist water. Pour into bubbler. Miss bubbler. Spill onto self and floor. Cuss. Wipe. Wipe. Wipe. Leave bottle on floor.
5.) Phone rings. Look on Caller ID. It's Miss X. Don't pickup!*
*Everytime this woman calls the entire day is bad luck. And I mean everytime. It's like she stretches a big cellophane of unfortunate events over my world. Isn't there a cartoon character that does this? I feel like it was some little guy on Gulliver's Travels, or maybe it's Pigpen from Charlie Brown.
6.) Jackhammers begin. Stomach and head hurt.
7.) Go out on fire escape. Men inside hole, gushing water, shovelling. Not good.
8.) Phone rings. Client X. He is pissed that his call wasn't returned ASAP (spoken ay-sap...I hate that). Grrr.
9.) Water main break. Toilet and sink don't work and I gotta go both numbers!
10.) Many men screaming in alleyway now. I have to work people!
11.) Client X. demands meeting tomorrow at the studio. Crap, need to clean. Double-crap, how do I do that without water? Concocting ways to tell Client X. that he can't use toilet tomorrow.
12.) Learn that none of our clients have received our holiday mailing this year, and I might say it's pretty kick-ass. However, I'm going to kick some serious postal ass because my rep tells me they were mailed out on 12/22. WTF? Merry Christmas clients, love, your lame-ass designers.
13.) Gotta grab an archive on the backup server. Can't find backup server. Why isn't it mounting? Why? Did my previous geyser-fest short it out? No! Please! All of our work is on it! Oh, it's just unplugged. Sheesh.

I'll leave it at 13, since it's so fitting a number. The water is back on, and the water in my toilet is pitch black. Gotta take care of some business on way too many levels.

Live from the alley with the Kikalee-cellcam:

The Chronic. WHAT?

2006-01-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

Feeling a little blue tody? A little giggle isn't enough? Maybe a guffaw will help? Just go here and see the funniest* segment ever produced by SNL. Me and R. were on our asses when we watched this a few weekends ago.

*EVEN funnier than the lip synched Ashlee Simpson jig.

From the Rear End of 2005

2006-01-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

Look what the UPS guy delivered on New Year's eve -- olo's last gift of 2005! From her August DTC secret pal, who sent her a gift from Red Envelope. And because everything is an event for the cats, here is a photo-triptych of the events from the minute I opened the shipping box:

"Scram box, this is my seat."

"What is it what is it? Open it lady, we don't have thumbs!"

(they got bored and jumped down because lady was relishing every moment opening her gift). Oh. My. God. It's a red union suit. Can you see the bum? It says our little one on the flap! This gift is so adorable, I am so lucky to have a S.P. with imagination and thought. I loooooove this! Thank U!

Do Not Defy the Grandparents

2005-12-29T16:47:00.000-05:00

My parents striking a pose in front of the crib I picked out and of which they insisted on buying for olo last month.

AND they surprised us by buying this "combo unit" thingy (I guess it's baby jargon for a bureau/changing table/bookshelf)?. They got that serious "we're your parents and do not defy us" look that takes me back to when I was five. We did make them back down and not buy the top shelf thingy, it was ridiculously overpriced. This little number is going to take up to 12 weeks to arrive. That's like March-ish.

And to all the pregnants fretting over furniture turnarounds....I have the time to wait that long. Take that!

Thanks M+D, you are the best.

Allright, onto bedding. Since you all convinced me that normal people picked this sort of stuff first and then picked a wall color, I started the search. I do not want to go to the baby stores and do the old "when are you due?" song and dance. So, I'm entrusting the sleeping life of OLO into the world of online shopping. I had no idea the crib bedding industry is such a racket. They manufacture so much matchy matchy stuff. I couldn't find the cribs in some of the photos there was so much gunk stuffed into them. Like this one. Does my baby need a boudoir pillow sham? Please. I'd have to send a search party in that crib set to find her.

These are swatches from a set I really like:

The set is weirdly called "Asia". Perhaps it's named after the factory location where tired hands are probably making me one right now. Sorry, that was an unnecessary downer. Weird because I don't feel Asia when I look at it, but I'm taking that as my sign-o-the-week. Here's the fabric in action:

Now I have to wait six weeks for this to arrive. As if I don't have enough things to wait for on my list.

Seven Things

2005-12-28T17:06:00.000-05:00

...courtesy of a tag from Stephanie. Here we go:

Seven things to do before I die:
1. when she's ready, go back to China with our daughter to explore
2. get my Irish passport so we can live in Europe
3. write a book about the challenges my family faced as immigrants
4. get up the nerve to sing in public, then form a middle-aged girl rock band (any takers?)
5. fly a plane
6. help people/animals in need as much as I can
7. learn to speak French fluently

Seven things I can (or will) not do:
1. look at or touch a worm - takes me to the verge of vomitting
2. skydive
3. put up with people that lie, disrespect, or are just plain mean
4. hunt
5. move to a red state
6. watch any surgical procedure, even a fake one on TV
7. rollerblade

Seven things that attracted me to my spouse:
1. he makes me laugh my ass off
2. he shed tears on our wedding day (i think they were happy ones)
3. he takes on a challenge without doubt
4. his appearance - long red hair, super tall, blue eyes - cupid hit me hard.
5. he gets me through the muckity muck that life hands me sometimes.
6. he acts like a kid around kids.
7. he ain't shy about complimenting his wife even when I look like death warmed over.

Seven things I say most often:
1. aw jeez
2. oh. my. god.
3. fuck.
4. shit.
5. i love you.
6. isn't that cute.
7. hey honey? (insert request here)

Seven books I love:
1. Our First Year in County Clare
2. Like Water for Chocolate
3. The Silver Palate Cookbook
4. Monkey Dancing
5. The Namesake
6. Cane River
7. Middlesex
8. Pavillion of Women

Seven movies/series I'd watch over and over:
1. Any HBO Series: (esp. Rome, Six Feet Under, Sopranos)
2. Lost in Translation
3. Wait Until Dark
4. Rebecca
5. Breakfast at Tiffany's
6. Wizard of Oz
7. Babette's Feast

Friday Cat Bloggin' 12.23

2005-12-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

Look what Santa put under the tree. A calm kitty hanging under the blinky lights

Then he plopped this guy under the tree. Did I put the Ronco® Ribbon Chewer on my list?

I think he mistakenly left a stirring creature behind. She hates every minute of Christmas.

Not me! Happy Christmas-Hannukah-Kwanzaa-Boxing Day to all of my friends.

How to Cure a Moldy Christmas Tree

2005-12-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

My husband is ingenious.

Butterstick

2005-12-20T18:42:00.000-05:00

I am in love. Butterstick* the baby panda cub was introduced to the public last week at the National Zoo. As if I don't have enough blogs to keep up with, now comes his, all tricked out with a panda cam.

*I don't know why he's called Butterstick, but it is too DAMN cute of a name to question it. His real name is Tai Shan, which means "peaceful mountain". I think that's located in Land-o-lakes. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Whoo I'm funny.

Moments from London and Paris

2005-12-19T09:43:00.000-05:00

I finally have a chance to post our pictures. These are the Roman Baths. It was so cold this day, I wanted to jump right in to warm up. Amazing these are preserved so well to this day. I loved it here, so peaceful.

Stonehenge at sunset. We got here 5 minutes before closing and had to do an express loop around this before we were politely kicked out. Breathtaking. Purely breathaking.

Here we are at the British Museum. Oh. My. God. This place fulfilled my fantasies of becoming a librarian. The dome houses the museum library. R. is standing at the front desk. Beyond that point you have to be a wicked good writer to enter (alas, I will never be invited). This place is loaded with artifacts, and as you can see I was most taken by the Mayan turquoise human sacrifice masks. My sweater goes pretty well with that mask.

Big Ben and Parliament from the super-scary London Eye - the most gigundumous ferris wheel on the planet. I had a hard time on this thing. Maaaaaajor fear of heights yours truly has.

Now we're in Paris. Where else would you find medical clothes beautifully displayed on sexy mannequins?

Romantic picture in front of the Louvre pyramid. Loved. This. Museum. Even with a map, we still got lost in here. I look a little tired here. Museuming is exhausting!

"Hey honey, Let's go on a bateux ride on the Seine after the Louvre!" Determined not to have our romantic-Paris moment rained on, we braved the freezing elements and tried to do a Titanic "king of the world" thing on the top of the bateaux, with soaking seats and no umbrella. We soon joined the sane people downstairs inside with heaters. Oh well.

Just a few of the things I gorged on.

The one picture of us at Tour Eiffel.

I have an infatuation with parasols. I adore them and collect all kinds. When I saw this boutique I lost my breath! This photo does not do them justice, but the owner of this boutique hand makes her parasols. Why didn't I just shell out the oodles of euros she wanted and treated myself to one? Don't you hate it when you go away and see something you want and don't buy it?

I am not a baker.

2005-12-17T14:34:00.000-05:00

Here I am, in the kitchen watching my oven tell me there's 4:09 left til my cookies are done. Then I'm released from my shackles of this kitchen!!!!!! Argh. I forgot how much I hate to bake. All that precise measuring and dry ingredients. Mix a+b+c in one bowl, x+y+z in a small bowl, drives me batty. I'm a casserole or sautee pan kinda girl. Give me olive oil and garlic and I'll make you a mean dish.

Here's the recipe I made, it's OK. It has toffee bars and toasted hazelnuts in it, which you can't taste. Difficulty: easy? My ass. I've been in here sweating for 2 hours now.

Does anyone love the Food Network as much as I do? That is where this recipe is from (Everyday Italian). I think I'm on the borderline of being obsessed. If I have any free time, I'm watching that channel. Except when the BAM! guy is on. He creeps me out.

Gotta run, the cookies are a-calling! I'm going to make a mac+cheese casserole tonight to exorcise that baking demon within.

Friday Cat Bloggin' 12.16

2005-12-16T10:15:00.000-05:00

Reporting to Work M'aam
The minute this little guy hears me ticking away at that keyboard, up he jumps onto the desk, and plops himself in front of my face. Or, if I'm really lucky, he fills himself into the space between my arms while I'm typing. The only thing that rates higher than me is the laser printer, no paper emerges from that thing without being shredded by a few claws.

O Moldy Tree, O Moldy Tree

2005-12-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

White trash pre-lit Christmas tree brought up from basement: $100
Music for trimming the tree (Charlie Brown Christmas CD): $10
Bottle of wine we wish we had when we set up tree: $12.99
Can of lysol: $3.00
----------------------------------------
Spraying a mildewy smelly Christmas tree with Country Scent Lysol®: priceless.

Deflecting those pesky questions

2005-12-12T20:49:00.000-05:00

Don't you wish you had a set of these bracelets? (actually, give me the boobs and waist too). Imagine someone throwing a stupid question about the adoption at you and BAM! you lift your (toned) arm and it lasers back at them.

Alas, I am not Lynda Carter and my hand/eye coordination ain't so hot. The questions have not yet been stupid, just the repeating of the info is grating on my nerves. It's hitting me that I'll have to endure this for at least another 6 months, and I'm tired of explaining the situation already. Doing so usually opens a new set of questions -- you know them all -- I'm sure you've been there.

So, how have you been handling the "how's the adoption coming along?" questions? Are you at the diarhhea-of-the-mouth stage, or have you made it to the one-word answer stage? I'm at the former, because why I feel the need to go into the details of the C C A A 's policies is beyond me. I find that I've been commenting on other blogs about this a bit lately, so I wanted to ask my friends what they do. Hurry, social season is here!

Friday Cat Bloggin' 12.09

2005-12-09T10:02:00.000-05:00

Yin-Yang Kitties.
As the weather gets colder, the cats whirl themselves into a snuggly circle of heat, or how I see it, a live Yin-Yang symbol. Yin is black, downward, passive - my Oosh. Yang is white - bright, active, strong. Yep, that's Mr. Cow. Poor Porch, she's what's left over if you stir the two of them too much and end up with a pissy hissy girl-cat.

We're sending big hugs out to our cousins at Emma-Bug's for everything they're going through, and their parents too. Lots of hugs to them, you're in our kitty thoughts. xoxo --Oosh, Cow, and Porchie

Promise to our Secret Pal

2005-12-07T09:10:00.000-05:00

I promise not to look at the packing slip when your package arrives! Ooooh Red Envelope? You are spoiling us way too much...can't wait to see and show pics when it arrives!

Test Drive, Baby

2005-12-06T12:20:00.000-05:00

This pic just melts my heart! Allright, the baby is fake, but I got little teary watching R. diaper up the baby. I hear all you parents laughing at that one. I'll read that next year and have a laugh too. We went to a baby care class this weekend for adoptive parents. He was hogging up the baby, and I wanted a try at diapering. However, I could not stop laughing at this little rubbery thing on the table. Everyone else in the class was taking it pretty seriously, but I have only changed a scant number of diapers in my life (I think one). I just thought it was the funniest thing to be in a room of fake babies putting a diaper on and off a baby. During the course of moving her around to make her squirm into a diaper and a onesie, I think I broke her fake neck and an arm. I been told I have a kung-fu grip, so I'll have to practice loosening up on a little creature in the meantime -- Oosha, where are you???

Linen$ and Thing$

2005-12-05T17:42:00.000-05:00

I love that my friends are a very diverse group of women. They fill the gamut between a liberal tree-hugger and a country-club Republican. (Ironically, these two are my art school pals). So, I'm catching up with the country-club friend L. this weekend, who just moved back to the East Coast from LA. I'm psyched we're in the same time zone now. We went to art school together, grew up in the same town, but we could not be more opposite. Love her to death though.

We get chatting about the adoption, the nursery, colors, etc. I love talking to my art school pals, because when we explain a color, it's not just peach or pink, it's "if you take salmon, add a lot of white to it, and then warm it up with a touch of yellow, that's the color I want." And she tells me I cannot pick a wall color until I've selected the linens. Huh? I didn't know there was an order to this. So, she tells me to go this very expensive store in a snobby town to get "ideas". I have an idea, and it entails going to Home Depot to get my salmon-white-white-white-white-touchofyellow paint. According to her, I'm supposed to go to this expensive store and choose my fabrics and have them create drapes (not curtains), coverlet, bumpers, crib skirt, pillows for a glider, and sheets (four, in linen). I asked her how much that will cost, as I love being entertained by her purchases. She tells me "five". Because I've known L. for 20 years, I know that pricetag was not five hundred. Five G's. For baby linens. That got me thinking: 1.) anything I buy from here will seem like a bargain 2.) did anyone out there do the matching linen thing first and then choose the room color? 3.) I have no idea how this works.

Friday Cat Bloggin' 12.02

2005-12-02T09:56:00.000-05:00

After a 2-week hiatus, this week's FCB is dedicated to Sputnik, the "chez chat" at our hotel in Paris. These pics are from a visit he made to our chambre, and made himself quite cozy.

Bon jour mon ami's!

2005-11-30T17:29:00.000-05:00

I'm back! What can I say other than this was the most incredible holiday we have ever taken. I just chatted with Lisa that if I was ever stranded on an island all I'd ever need to stay content is a supply of Yorkshire pudding with gravy and butter croissants (not eaten together).

As soon as I find the camera I'll post some pics and some stories. Anything exciting happen while I was away? I'm off to catch up on your blogs now...see ya!

Do they have turkey in Paris?

2005-11-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

That's where I'll be on Thanksgiving this year (life is tough, but someone's gotta do this) after a few days in London. While there's enough fire in Paris right now to cook up a flock of turkeys, I don't think it's a well-known item on a Parisian menu. This is my absolute favorite holiday of the year, I'll sure miss it. Imagine how much fun next year with be with OLO! Flinged squash anyone? I can't wait.

So, in my absence, I thought it'd be fun to share my all-time favorite Thanksgiving movies. I love any movie that revolves around cooking, and Thanksgiving brings out the best of 'em. I've seen Home for the Holidays several times, Holly Hunter forced to wear her mother's puffy down coat around town kills me. It's the classic weirdo-family forced to be together movie.
I just watched Pieces of April over the weekend. Completely different. Katie Holmes plays a gritty New Yorker preparing a T-day dinner for her family at her tiny and scummy NYC apartment. The movie takes place close to "real time", against scenes of her dysfunctional family driving in from the 'burbs.

What's Cooking? is one of my faves. Snapshots of families from different ethnic backgrounds and how they are handling Thanksgiving day. Four vastly different homes. Great cast of strong chicks in the kitchen. Don't mess with them. Lots of mayhem and family tension (it wouldn't be a T-day movie without it!). Definitely worth watching.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...save some leftovers for me!

This will make everyone feel better

2005-11-14T14:28:00.000-05:00

Inspired by my blog friends busy at work on their nursery's these past weeks, I thought I'd share pictures of our (non)progress. I'd call it a nur-sorry right now. These top pics show the outside of the room. The best advice I can give anyone that is considering a 100-yr old house that is loaded with panelling: the walls underneath are slabs of shit. Be prepared to keep your local plasterer very happy.

Here's the inside of the nursery, which is currently the guest room. My sister Q. who stays here when she visits, is probably looking at this in horror (it's the worst you've seen it, right?) The rust colored section where I wrote "insert crib here" is recessed, which is perfect for the crib. We got pretty tired when we stripped and poly'd the floors in the entire house that we skipped this room. Wish we didn't, because we may need to lay carpet, or I'm thinking an area rug with a painted floor would be pretty neat. Whoever did the floor back in 1902 was in tune with room shape - the floor is made up of concentric squares centered in the room.

The baby furniture color is "French White" so being the anal person I am, all wall and window trim must match the furniture. I'm thinking a light pinkish-salmon-melon color for the walls, inspired by this quilt cover I bought at IKEA. Yes, those are insects if you can't see it. Bugs will be covering my daughter, what a good mama I am...

These are the best pics. The window straight on has a view of our neighbor's house that is literally 10 feet away. I think I'll be putting privacy film on that glass. I didn't mention that none of the trim has been primed or painted in this room yet (we've lived here since 2000). When you DIY, the "D" part fizzles out after a year (this year we discovered there are people out there called contractors...).

The picture on the right is a view from the inside of her room to the hallway. It's hard to see, but I got adventurous one day and tore off a piece of barnyard panelling thinking I could start stripping wallpaper. That and caulking are my absolutely favorite DIY jobs. (Stripping and caulking...hmmmm....get the minds out of the gutter now). You know that saying "if walls could talk?" this one was laughing its ass off at me. It was a puzzle of spare parts of blueboard nailed into horsehair plaster. A toddlers' dream, touch it, and all these neat little mouth-sized pieces of plaster fall onto the floor. It's a wonder we passed the homestudy. That's been the view for about 6 months now.

There you have it, the state of OLO's nursery at the kika-haus. We really aren't lazy folk, it's just that we're playing musical chairs with three of our 4 bedrooms. And, we have a lot of stuff (how did that happen in so short of time?).

Raise your hands if you feel better about your nursery now, I would!

We're browned!

2005-11-13T16:40:00.000-05:00

For the past few weeks, every night on the drive home we'd say "do you think the brown envelope arrived today?" and we'd come home to a pile of bills and catalogs.

But not on Saturday...lookee what we got! One more milestone reached (and another trip to the local Chinese restaurant to celebrate).

Fridy Cat Bloggin 11.11...Laundry Death Match!

2005-11-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

Let me explain: there is a washer and dryer temporarily residing in our dining room, while we're having a bath/laundry added to our kitchen area. The cats think the new "furniture" is so cool. Oosha has claimed ownership to the giant white blocks of steel, and it seems Cow is none too happy with that. More to come on this showdown of the washer/dryer boys.

To our Secret Pal...thanks!

2005-11-11T08:24:00.000-05:00

This month's theme is "Baby Bathtime" -- and a pair of ladybug baby-sized bathtowels are sooooo cute! Can't wait to use them. And a book called "Fun on the Run", which I know will help us get out of a bind with a bored (or about to have a meltdown) baby when we're away from home. Loads of fun games to do with her in restaurants, waiting rooms, cars, airplane, hairdresser...it's a great book. And I got spoiled again with a handmade gift, a bookmark to add to OLO's growing library.

Thanks again!

Month 12 (and counting...)

2005-11-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Today is the one-year anniversary of lacing up our shoes and setting out on this crazy road of the adoption journey. It started with going to 4 open houses at various agencies in the Boston area over the winter. One agency a month. November was MAPS / December was CAWLI / January was Wide Horizons for Children / and February found us at Alliance for Children. The night of the Alliance open house we got soooooooooooo lost. Instead of printing out the directions I thought it'd be more efficient to Map*Quest it. Yeah, right. We ended up on Rte 9 searching over and over again for the street, at least a half hour. No luck. We decided to call it a night, and chalk it up to "maybe it wasn't meant to be". After all, we already looked at three, and we thought maybe we could choose from one of them. But something just didn't click with those with what we were looking for. Right before the on-ramp to the highway back home, there was the street! Making a Starsky and Hutch turn into an office park, we find the building, and we can see the orientation happening in the building cafe. Cool. Mind you we're like 45 mins late by now, but we decide to go in. We couldn't enter through the cafe, there were no doors, so we went to the building door...and it was locked! Hmmm. Another "meant to be"? Should we bang on the cafe windows? Then we see someone open the door and we're in slow motion saying waaaaaitttt! hoooold the doooor! And we finally slink in (then I'm halted by the yummy buffet table of goodies). Moments after sitting down (with sandwich crumbs in our laps), we knew this was going to be our agency -- it had all the traits we were looking for. So we signed on a couple of weeks later, and the rest is history. Now that is a "meant to be" story.
We still joke that the reason we chose them was because they had the best food/drink out of all the orientation sessions.

Question of the day: Did you know right away when you met with your agency that they'd be the one?

Saturday Cat Bloggin' 11.05

2005-11-05T10:40:00.000-05:00

Friday Cat Bloggin' one day late:

The two boys snuggling in a boudoir chair. If they only knew how girly-girl this looks.

365 Days

2005-11-01T17:25:00.000-05:00

Ho Ho Ho, it's Christmas Card Design Time! The nerves start to get frayed from Halloween to Christmas for our clients as they suddenly realize that they need to hire us to design a holiday card. One is a calendar of 365 "wacky holidays". For instance, tomorrow is National Devilled Egg Day, and Thursday is National Men Make Dinner Day (whoo hoo!). This calendar has been so successful with their clients, that we design a new one for them every year. I also just found out yesterday that the 2005 calendar just won an award!

Laying this out has taking on a whole new meaning this year. I look at March 22 (National Goof Off Day) and wonder maybe I'll be looking at a referral picture then. April 18 (Jugglers' Day) has me thinking if I'll be packing a suitcase. Will I be jetting off to China on World Turtle Day (May 23)? Will there be a little one slobbering me with wet kisses on Tapioca Day? (my birthday)

Thinking about what Stephanie posted about distraction today, I realized this has been keeping me distracted in a good way. It's delightful looking at 365 little blocks and be curious about what each of them will give me.

P.S., if you want to know what other event shares the day of your birth, give me your b-day in your comment...

Wednesday update -- you requested, and I answer:

Sparky was born on Creamsicle Day
Amy and Ruby were born on Garage Sale Day and Neither Rain or Snow Day, respectively
Colleen was born on Nat'l Yo-Yo Day
Stephanie's is Punch Day - I told her I wasn't sure if that's "Punch someone in the gut" or "dip your ladel in a crystal bowl and hang from the chandeliers" day, but I'd go with the latter!
Lisa and Eammon have some good ones: Lisa was born on Tuba Day, Eammon on Beer Day, and their anniversary is on Working Parents Day
My secret pal was born on Popcorn Day
Mary-Mia and Rod are Umbrella Day and (ow) Toothache Day respectively (Rod, go easy on that Chocolate Fountain!)

Thanks for your congrats on the award too!

What a difference a day makes

2005-10-30T14:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and today shots of our backyard. Only in New England could you get a blizzard one day and a gorgeous Indian Summer day the next.

Friday Cat Bloggin' 10.28

2005-10-28T07:55:00.000-04:00

"Dough, butter and eggs are wasted on construction workers. This danish is much better suited for my glorious belly. I am using my evil eye ray to bring the box to me."

Note to friends: even though you've seen two weeks in a row of cats sitting on counters, that is strictly not allowed in our house. Those were just two flukey moments.

I'm worth 8 thousand buckaroos

2005-10-26T16:32:00.000-04:00

Who makes up these things? Who falls for them? ME!

Go here and tell me how much your blog is worth. Remember, you're all priceless to me.

Day after comment: I'm sorry this post inflicted any low self esteem on my friends.
I thought I'd be the loser! The blog I found this at was worth 2 million!

Out with the old

2005-10-23T18:34:00.000-04:00

Ladybugrrl was getting pretty tired of the drab white blogger template, so she drew a new front cover to her diary. Whaddya think?

Friday Cat Bloggin' 10.21

2005-10-21T10:57:00.000-04:00

Cow proudly showing off his purchases from Chinasprout.

warm and fuzzy story

2005-10-17T18:01:00.000-04:00

Many moons ago I read a post somewhere (probably on APC, in between "How many jars of peanut butter should I bring?" and "Are there blowdryers at the White Swan?") recommending that the day you meet your daughter to wear something soft she can snuggle into. Immediately I thought of my sweater that's made of the softest (man-made) material. It's nothing special -- brown v-neck, but I just adore wearing it.

So, on this past chilly and rainy weekend I took it out of hiding (the floor of my closet), and thought of OLO the minute I felt it. It's softer than I even remembered. I wanted to get it into the wash right away, so I looked at the tag for care instructions and this is what I saw:

You know when on cartoons, the characters windshield wash their eyes with their palms to do a double take? That was me. How weird is this? OLO, made in TAIWAN.

I have a conundrum. I am a hot person, literally. (Figuratively, I strive to be a hot mama some day). We'll be in China in May/June. Should I wear this? Cut it into a tank? Crop top? Make R. wear it? I think this qualifies as an APC question, I'm sure this has cropped up before (no pun intended...)

My Needs. Courtesy of Google®

2005-10-14T19:31:00.000-04:00

It's a cold rainy night and my man is working late, so it's an indulgent night of cuddling on the couch with the kitties, a warm laptop, and a favourite woolie blanket. I came across this meme going around a few blogs that provides a few minutes of fun. Ready? Google "What [insert your name here} needs" and tell me what comes up. Here's what I need:

What L. needs to make her newspaper is a real scoop.
Hey! I provide a decent scoop sometimes, don't I?

Shouldn't you consider what L. needs right now?
Is that directed to my husband? If so the answer is Absolutely. Always. Forever.

What L. needs is to join weight watchers ..damn that girl got BIG BELLY!
Excuse me can you repeat that? I couldn't hear over the crunching of 'tater chips in my mouth.

What L. needs is a flight at very short notice.
I'm game, where are we going? Oh right, put that in my back pocket for next Spring. Next stop: China!

Friday Cat Bloggin' 10.14

2005-10-13T22:35:00.000-04:00

(it's almost Friday, posting up an early edition)

Cow demonstrating his inner beast.

We love them!

2005-10-13T22:19:00.000-04:00

Again, a gorgeous assortment of gifts from our Secret Pal. One is a handmade journal, which the photographs give no justice to the detail and handcut items on this piece. I am so familiar with the amount of work that goes into making these, as I dabbled in handmade books until I got tendonitis, so Secret Pal, you rock. The cover is ruby red plexi, so cool. The purple tin in the middle are sachets of green tea, and the far right is a neatly illustrated map of Beijing. How did you know I love maps? Thanks SP!

Ow

2005-10-10T12:21:00.000-04:00

I pulled muscle underneath my shoulder blade, and it so hurts. Getting zings of pain lifting the lightest of items this morning. Any suggestions for stretches? I pulled it Friday morning, lifting my friend's 2 1/2 year old out of her crib. That was three mornings ago. I didn't think about the being in shape part of motherhood, seeing the heaviest thing I lift in the morning is a teakettle. I gotta get back into my gym routine, and stop making all sorts of excuses to not go there (#1 excuse: I don't have time). My gym has so many perks it's more like a spa, if I can't motivate myself to get there, I'm in trouble. I think this shoulder pain is the motivator (along with the sauna, it's freeeezing here today).

Will have I do a morning stretching routine in front of OLO's crib before I get her out? "Hold on sweetie! Momma's got a few downward dogs and a cobra and I'll be right with you!"

Friday Cat Bloggin' 10.07

2005-10-07T07:08:00.000-04:00

This is Oosha, my baby. He follows me everywhere around the house. My little shadow. Without fail, the minute he hears this keyboard clicking away, he climbs onto the desk and hangs out. This morning he decided to monitor my to-do list (he's thinks a managerial role is better, god forbid he do any work around here). He was a stray found by my friend in a Boston alley, and we took him in as a mouser for the studio. We think he was abused because his hip is crooked when he sits up and he had a hard time trusting anyone (except R.). When he failed at his job (probably because he hates employment), I fired him and took him home, and he's never left my side since.

how big are your piles?

2005-10-06T08:10:00.000-04:00

Feeling less grouchy today. Hubby took me out for Indian food and a little tikka takes tick-a out of a pissy day.

I really thought our paperchase would end in a huge pile of well, paperwork. This binder has had a solid residency on the corner of our dining room table since March (you can tell how often we use that table -- the real "dining" area is in front of our TV). The binder doesn't seem as fat as I thought it would be. I put my favorite mug next to it, so you can get a sense of its size. I'm happy to say that I haven't opened it in several weeks, but I feel funny moving it. It's like a piece of furniture.

This other pile is my growing library, which I thought was much bigger too. I had to grab The Adoption Resource Book out of the bathroom for this pic, as I've been reading about the post-adoption adjustment chapter in my "free time". Feels good to not have to be engulfed in these resource books right now, the processes were so much to take in last March, and I was on brain overload reading everything I could. Funny, when I look back now, it's like "that wasn't so bad". I found the bottom book, How to Adopt Internationally to be a great guide, it depicts actual copies of all the forms that need to be filled, shows a sample referral, and goes through each step of the process in a linear manner. It's like a What to Expect when You're Expecting for adoptive Moms, but with a much cooler cover. Maybe I'm a bit biased, because my close artist pal L. drew the cover illustration. The white lady Holly Hobbie-ness of the Expecting book just ain't my cuppa tea...

If I could show you my cyber-pile oh boy, that'd be the size of my house. I think I'm almost all-blog reading/addicted these days, I've ditched the boards except my DTC yahoo group.

things i'm worrying/pissy about

2005-10-04T20:52:00.000-04:00

It's been an overwhelming and exhausting day. I've been slammed with too much work at the studio -- cool projects -- but I'm not in the mood to be busy right now, nor am I feeling creative. Instead, I fret, worry, stew and muse over things. Some stupid, some legit. Judge me however you wish, I'm just being me as I need to do a brain dump and get some of these things outta there. Advice gladly accepted, especially reassurance that I'm not a weirdo:

why haven't we gotten a brown envelope yet?
i hope the people in our travel group are easy to get along with, and don't annoy me.
should i cut my hair short again? i don't want to deal with hay-head in china.
is OLO okay right now?
do we have enough FF miles to get us into biz class?
maybe I should start packing now (yes, I have thought of this)
why did the cats have to pee on our luggage?
big ticket items that i have no energy to research or am overwhelmed by the cost: a new furnace / maybe a pellet stove / washer / dryer / adding 1/2 bath and all that comes with it / carpets / drywall / retile shower [[[[ and that isn't covering anything for OLO's room yet ]]]]]
dying to get OLO's room underway -- actually the most incentive I've got creatively -- but I can't because we're playing "musical rooms" upstairs and nothing can be cleared from her room until another room is emptied out.
where will we put the litter boxes? i don't want her toting another mammal's poopies around the house (note: not implying that it's OK to tote her poop around the house, but i'm sure it'll happen)
it's leaf peeping season, and I don't have any time to peep and it's pissing me off. i'd give anything to be at a cozy inn in Vermont with R. by my side and a fireplace with a beautiful view of flaming orange mountains ... ahhh...
(okay, i can't complain. we're going to Europe next month. but that's a different kind of getaway.)
i thought of a pissy bullet-point to add while I was getting lunch today, and now i forgot what it was, so i am more pissy.
i hope i don't throw up or crap my pants enroute to SWI on metcha day.
and a constant never-ending obsession about childcare
confusion over the Hep shot schedules. my sister K. tells me they kill. they go into a muscle. have i mentioned i'm a needle-phobe?
the red-eye feature on our brand new camera has suddenly gone kaput (makes no sense, does it?), and I've tried everything. unless I want a demon-family photo album from china, i've got to get this fixed, or edit each shot in iPhoto.
now i remember what i thought about during lunch. we need a second car. we've been getting by with one for years now, it's been difficult but we deal. what we like is a different story: R. likes this. and I like this. The price difference between these two cars could fund the adoption itself, but I don't want to drive around in what my friend Kh. calls "the toaster". perhaps i'm being unrealistic here, and i barely drive, but i've always said when I turn 40 (9 months from next Saturday, if anyone wants to keep track) I want to go into the forties with a nice car. maybe i'll wait for the 60s.

That's it for now. I feel a little better. I'll probably add to this as I think of it, so check back often. And there's good news in all of this: I did find out yesterday that R. got four tickets to see the Pats on New Year's Day. I am soo excited to see my Tom Brady in the flesh.

Friday Cat Bloggin'

2005-09-30T09:53:00.000-04:00

Cow and Portia (aka "Porch") lounging on the sun porch. Notice she's ready to kick the guts out of Cow dare he move.

Thanks Secret Pal!

2005-09-29T18:05:00.000-04:00

We had two surprises waiting in the mailbox yesterday: this lovely book called Ruby's Wish about a strong-willed young girl determined to attend university, instead of falling into tradition and getting married. The illustrations have the feeling of ancient chinese scrolls, which I love read when I go to the museum.

Also enclosed was this gorgeous assemblage "card" of different papers with the word "OLO" hand cut onto it. But that's not all...attached to the top were pretty grosgrain ribbons with charms attached (can you tell how much i love this?). The minute I took the card out one of our cats eyes (and paw) lit up. I plan on attaching it to OLO's door. Thank you secret pal!!!

Sometimes I just....

2005-09-26T16:23:00.000-04:00

Wish I could yell at a client. In my 12 years of running this business, I have been blessed with some really cool and great-to-work-with clients. But today, I need an intervention. It's a delicate situation. This person is a client and vendor of ours and we're trading services. I sent a "friendly" email to her on Friday saying we're presenting concepts for their marketing campaign next week, and she curtly replies "they need to see ideas sooner because they are cancelling prospect meetings because their brochure isn't done" Whaaaaa? Who cancels meetings with prospects?

Did you ever get an email from someone where you can just feel the stress oozing out of your screen? She emails me today saying she also needs to meet with us ASAP (I hate that acronym) to make another project happen and which day we WILL come in. Add like eleven !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to the end of all her sentences (another thing I hate) and there is the perfect recipe for the stressiest email in the world.

Someone needs to unbunch her knickers over there. And I ain't doing that job.

Back!!!!!!!!! to!!!!!!!!!!!! Work!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now!!!!!!!!!!
(after I finish this yummy giant chocolate chip cookie. don't worry, i got my priorities in order)

Addendum: Ahhhhhh. Shoe therapy. Can't think of a better way to alleviate stress. I just remembered these wicked cool sneaky-shoes I ordered over the summer that *finally* arrived this weekend. The reason I bought them? They have the coolest undersoles - the entire thing is in red camouflage. If you look close you'll see it riding up the back of the shoe.

i heart mrs. shanahan

2005-09-21T23:07:00.000-04:00

Look at what Lisa sent me, just because? Dang, that woman is awesome. I love this book, beautifully illustrated with historical Chinese prints and tapestries. The title captures it all -- a year of creativity (which I'm in dire need of) and is broken down into one-month chapters (just my speed for a person that usually has two books going at once). I'm about to dive into Month one: Creative Inspiration. I love questionnaires, and each chapter begins with one. Like the following from this month. Feel free to answer with me, I'd love to see what inspires my friends out there:
--Who inspires you? The ever-inspiring R. It's never a dull ride with this guy.
--What is most creative time of day? Late morning, when I'm on the train.
--Can you name a place that's been a source of inspiration? In Camden, Maine there's a cabin we stay at. My journal gets filled there.
--If you're inspired to do something, what's your first response? Dizzing excitement until I get bogged in the details. Then I give up.
--When you're fired up with an idea, do you follow thru? See above.
You can see I got some work to do. And she sent me these adorable ladybug barrettes for OLO too. I may have to break them in for her. Thanks Lisa!!!

Lidded!

2005-09-15T11:26:00.000-04:00

We got our log-in-date today from our agency - 9/12! Also known as a LID, it's the official date that the China Center for Adoption Affairs received our dossier and logged it into the queue. These pictures will give you a sense of how the CCAA works, and see all those folders? Our life and dorky photos are probably residing in pile of something not too dissimilar from that right now. Each folder represents anxious parents waiting to be matched with their child. One day a staff member in the matching room will take our folder to their desk and put it next to OLO's folder, and POW! Instant family. Imagine the enormity of that job.

But whatever, the countdown can officially begin! I'm hoping this means our referral will come late March, and we'd travel late May.

It's so cool to know every event that passes until then will be our "last" before OLO arrives. Plus all the fun holidays come after Spring. The 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving (my personal fave), Christmas.... Summer of 2006 is going to be the best ever.

Proof that the world is small

2005-09-09T16:43:00.000-04:00

R. and I will be taking a "babymoon" in November ~~~ a holiday to London and Paris. The majority of my father's side of the family lives outside of London, so we'll be staying with them for that leg. It turns out that of the 6 other couples in our travel group to China, one is from England and happens to live not too far from my family. So, we're making plans to meet them and their little boy while we're in England. Cool, huh? And that's not all, the woman I've been chatting with lived the next town over from where R. grew up in California.Too weird.

Moving Story

2005-09-09T11:52:00.000-04:00

My sister, who lives in Arizona, has been telling me about a local news anchor who travelled to China this summer to adopt a 3 yr. old boy. He is absolutely adorable. Her journal, photo gallery, and video are now posted on the news website. Get yourself a box of kleenex before you watch the video, I'm still wiping tears...

Give thru your mobile phone

2005-09-01T22:45:00.000-04:00

If you have a Ver*zon mobile phone:
Text message the word Help to 2HELP (24357) and you can instantly donate $5 to relief efforts from Hurricane Katrina. Your entire donation will go to the Red Cross.

Katrina

2005-08-31T16:05:00.000-04:00

When something catastrophic happens I want to do something. Cook a bunch of food, donate, lend a helping hand. The devastation is incomprehensible to me. To see only just the brick steps of what I imagine to be the front entry of a beautiful bungalow is mind-boggling about how forceful the hurricane was. A woman, who was given a short period of time to return to her home, was grieving over the loss of her grandson's pet rock. A reminder of how precious life is.

My thoughts are with everyone struggling with the tragedy right now. Please let the water recede soon. May you and your loved ones all be safe.

Santa Lucia

2005-08-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

My design studio is in the North End of Boston, "Little Italy" as the tourist industry calls it, which isn't right because NYC has dibs on that. In the summertime there are festivals left and right celebrating patron saints of various causes. For instance there is one for St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. My mother makes regular donations to the St. Jude Society in my business' name, apparently its a hopeless cause. My biz partner and I have been keeping it running for 12 years now, and she attributes much of its success to her donations to Jude da Man.

I hear all sorts of noises through the day outside the studio as it's right on the main drag: mob wanna-bees, old ladies screaming at each other, car alarms, the BigDig, and your occasional hit shooting. And lots and lots of naval officers, as a coast guard station is nearby. A whole bunch of them marched down the street yesterday in formation -- my oh my. And the best -- the oompah bands comprised mainly of old men. All of those things are my audio tableau to work by.

Anyway, as I'm getting ready to leave yesterday, I hear the oompah band start to play down the street. On a Monday? So, as I head out to the train, I see this mini parade of locals carrying a replica of Santa Lucia in front of my studio. Those streamers are long strands carrying dollar bills. I think she's the patron saint of light, as Lucia means light in Italian. I'm still perplexed as to why a festival of lights was held on a gloomy Monday but it only adds to the mystere. The black and white photo is how it used to be back in the 60s. My studio is to the right, which sadly got cut off in this picture. I would have loved to see what it looked like 40 years ago.

Right now I'm chuckling to myself as I realized I live in the "city of sin" (anyone who's from Mass knows where that is) and I chose to have my studio in this little pizza slice of Boston that prides itself on its "holiness". How blashpemous! Stepping out for a few Hail Mary's now...

DTC=Day to Consume

2005-08-28T20:08:00.000-04:00

We ventured out into unchartered territories yesterday: baby shopping. R. can always count on me to fall in love with the priciest item in ANY store. I found a crib I love, and sure enough it was the most expensive item. Dammit. I'm convinced I'll hate anything from here, as I'll be longing for TMECITW (the most expensive crib in the world).

Being nearly 6'5" R. needs a stroller that has extension handles so he's not crouching on his walks with OLO. So, he takes the stroller around the store for a test drive, and yours truly starts to cry as he walks away. Then I catch him assembling nursery letters which I didn't noticed spell QLQ until I downloaded this shot from my camera. I love this man. I think he had more fun shopping than I did. Can someone explain? Is this a first-time thing for him? Will it wear off? Because I will gladly send him out solo for olo from here on.

Then we went off car shopping. It's time to look at a bigger and safer car. Ah, OK Dad. We try the said car, this time he falls in love with all the bells and whistles (i.e., the optional install for our 3 iPods - yes 3. My house doubles as the Apple store).

Next stop: mall for lunch and Ma Barnes and Pa Noble. I found a book that slightly eased my overwhelmage, thanks to a recommendation from a kind man at the baby warehouse. I've only read the chapter on cribs so far, this book is dense with information for newbies like moi. If you do get it, make sure you get the latest edition published this year, it has the blue cover (the color changes with each edition).

Lastly, a babystyle store opened this week at the mall, and I had to see what all the buzz was about. Hmmph. Don't get it. The store was teeny and had about 10 things to choose from for baby girls. I did make a beeline to these bellbottom pants until I saw the pricetag: 46-buckaroos. "Imported". From where? Mars?

So after my Day To Consume, this is all I came home with besides the book: an "ergnomic grip" Sassy Comb and Brush set. $4.99. The comb is an inchworm, and the brush is a ladybug. Oh well. This will be funny to look back on come next Spring at least.

Telling the Family

2005-08-28T12:08:00.000-04:00

We've been holding off telling our extended family members about our adoption until we were DTC. So, this weekend was been a busy one on the phone calling the matriarchs of the family -- the Aunties. (before I go on, I need to clarify pronounciation here -- as one who hasn't lived anywhere but in eastern Mass., I say "aunt" like "ahhhhnt". R. who comes from various western states pronounces it "ant". So, we called the Anties and Ahhhnties yesterday). Their reactions were so warm. I learned thru my Aunt F. that my mother has been moping for years saying her grandchildren were cats and my graphic design biz. News to me. All she had to do was ask. How many people has she told this to? That's for another blog.

What I'm getting at is the reaction most people have which is "that's great" followed by "this is the list of people that I know who have adopted from China and the ages and names of their children" (btw: I've heard the name Lily alot). Then there's "let me set you up with so and so who adopted from China so you can talk and look at how beautiful their daughters are". I know this is all well-intentioned, but, I just need to vent that the thought of these facilitated setups by family members make me feel weird. I never did well at being setup with guys, and I'm getting that same vibe with this. It's too awkward. At least at this stage of being a waiting family.

I've built wonderful relationships through this blog and people I've met in person through my agency, and I know we (and OLO) will cherish those for a long time. And I hope to meet a lot of you someday in my travels. I guess it's because I've made those relationships without someone that has no idea what I'm going through budding in. R. says this is the very beginning of what we'll be facing, and I thought I was ready, but I'm feeling very protective. I think that protective mothering instinct is kicking in. I hope I haven't made a mistake releasing the adoption news this early.

Numb and Numb-er

2005-08-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

R. and I have said we won't be the types who rename themselves Mommy and Daddy to each other. Well, we broke that seal last night. Something happened. A shift. Me and all my peeps sailing on their cloud nines collided in the sky and turned us into giddy buffoons. Including us. So much good news is enveloping my life, my girlfriends, and my friends in Blogistan this week.

And the moon was gorgeous this week too. We live near the beach, and to see it in its orange glory over the water was a sight (I was too tired to stay up any later!). The Chinese have a celebration for the August moon -- those who make wishes to the "lady on the moon" will find their dreams come true. (I think the celebration is actually in autumn , but why doubt the moon itself?).

As I type this, somewhere in China OLO is sleeping under the light of the moon. Little does she know, she has made the dreams of two people become very true. Two adults that turned into buffoons last night giggling "mama" and "baba" to each other over dinner at a cafe they had their first date at. 11 years and 5 months ago. That's us outside the door in our giddiness.

There are 5 songs in my life that make me cry. Three in a row played from the moment I sat down. Landslide, by Stevie Nicks; What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong; and Thank You, by Dido. I'm a very emotional music lover. A certain chord, or instrument, or lyric can instantly open the ducts.Thankfully our table was in the back, and the lights were low. Tears glistening by candlelight (at least I'd like to believe that's the magical view R. witnessed) as I heard:

track #1 (a little lump in my throat)
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life~~~
Mmmm mmm mmm

then track #2 (can't talk, tears getting heavy, no waiter, I need more time)
I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

then track #3 (incomprehensible, menu's a blur, I'm so happy I can't concentrate on anything but this music)
...and I want to thank you
For giving me the best day of my life
Oh, just to be with you
Is having the best day of my life

Oh and the other two songs that make me cry? Memories are Made of This (the Johnny Cash version), which would have been our wedding song had we not eloped to Hawai'i, and the version of Over the Rainbow by the late Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. On a funny note, Total Eclipse of the Heart was playing as we were leaving. Rock on, Bonnie Tyler.

I ran out of Kleenex this week. Here's to continued joy to my friends!

Special day.

2005-08-25T18:44:00.000-04:00

Pure joy. Come up and visit us on cloud nine.

need help finding something

2005-08-20T11:38:00.000-04:00

In one of the zillion blogs I read, someone posted an image for waiting moms. It's the classic b+w ultrasound picture with China in the womb (ewww, that sounds weird writing it). But I want something to put on my fridge, dammit! Anyway, I'm doing an APB to anyone that's come across it in Blogistan. Reason I ask is that the furry monster above barfed all over the one I printed out. Do you think he's trying to tell me something in Barf-ese?

Nude in Rye? Oh my!

2005-08-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

Please. Some lady in Rye, NH gets her knickers in a bunch over an "incident" on Rye Beach. Said incident is nudity. Two males. Hundreds witnessed. The horror! Wait, did I mention they were toddlers? From the headlines:

In a letter to the board of selectmen, H.H. (I'm being kind in not posting her name) detailed several incidents where she saw naked children at the beach. She said she is concerned for the safety of the children from the dangers of p*dophiles and with the privacy rights of beachgoers who might be offended by nudity.

I'm sorry, but privacy is the last thing you'll find on Rye Beach. Lady, move your chair if your frightened by toddler bums. Off my soap box now, going to the beach!

Wowee wow wow wow

2005-08-16T08:37:00.000-04:00

I'm coming down from a slight adrenaline rush from yesterday. Here's the sitch: R.'s about to drive to the agency with the 797-C when our case worker emails me to say no need to deliver it, they got their copy from BCIS. He calls her and she says.........and I still don't believe this.........we will be August DTC! Wasn't I moping over a November DTC date just last week? They're motoring to get everything back from the NYC Consulate by the end of next week. Other than that, the dossier is gas, stoked, and ready to go.

Doing the math: we'd get our referral Feb/March. And travel April/May. It'll whiz by: we have so much to do to this 100-yr old house in the meantime. We have 4 BRs and they're all playing musical chairs upstairs. And, we're completely gutting the kitchen to add another bath. It's going to give us a galley kitchen, but I'll have a laundry room on the 1st floor. Bliss.

It's here It's here It's here!

2005-08-13T22:13:00.000-04:00

We got approved! After a few dance steps in the kitchen and a slice of raspberry pie, it's just sinking in: we're going to be parents. Wow. They really think we're fit to parent? We're both in a state of bliss shock, like 5 months of paperchasing hasn't hit us upside the head that a minivan is probably in our near future.

I called my best friend M. and she started crying and likened the 797-c to a "pee wand" and it came out positive. I love her.

Things that make me go Hmmph.

2005-08-12T09:49:00.000-04:00

One of our agency's requirements is to attend two 2-hour sessions with other families that are in the middle the homestudy process. We did this back in May. They weren't that bad, most of the stuff R. and I already knew about. But, it was really interesting to see some strange and twisted viewpoints of adoption by adopting parents! One couple adopting from Russia -- and they were so townie -- in so many words said they were not going to acknowledge their son's heritage. Actually, this all came from the husband. "What am I, to make him borscht every now and then?" "He's going to be wearing a Red Sox hat, and going to family BBQ's. I'm Italian you know." They dominated the meeting, I was getting annoyed and sending eye daggers to him to shut up. And I couldn't shut up about them the whole drive home, which unfortunately for R. is a long one.

What I'm getting at, is that we briefly talked with another couple, who seemed "normal". I knew we'd see eye-to-eye with them. So after 2 months of meaning to call, I finally talked to T. ("the wife") a few weeks ago, and learned their I-600a went out 4 days ahead of us. We chatted again on Tuesday and learned they got their fingerprints done 2 days ahead of us. She's going through her mail pile while we're on the phone, and she's like "Oh, I got this thing from immigration that says we're approved." and I'm like, "Girl, that's the golden ticket! Get that to our agency right away!"

She got her approval in a week and two days. Apply that equation to us, and we should have gotten ours yesterday (not). I so know what you all mean by waiting anxiously near the mailbox. Actually, mines a slot, so I can just sit on the floor with a bowl of Gobfather (please help Sparky's cause) with my arms stretched out to catch the mail.

You know the Freshman 10? I got my Adoption 10 during the paperchase. I think Adoption 10 v.2 is coming. There should be departments in those cutesy maternity stores just for us adopting moms-to-be -- like size 12 jeans that you can convert to size 10 after gotcha day. Or, remember those awful shirts from the 70s that said "BABY" with an arrow pointing down? How about "BABY" with an arrow pointing east? (all figure flattering, of course to perplex passersby).

Loooooooooong wait, why oh why????

2005-08-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

Word on the street is that the Boston BCIS is taking 8 weeks from fingerprinting to approve. WTF? You'd think for a city of fast-talking peeps who have no hesitation in nearly plowing you over on the sidewalk (ok, that's me), that some of that would rub into that office. And another thing I don't get -- why isn't BCIS centralized? Other cities are known to approve in days.

So, this would now put our BCIS approval in the last week of September. When all this started back in March I was thinking we'd DTC by this month. And we'd go to China in March '06. Now it'll probably be summer. Yours truly turns 40 in July 06, so if there's any consolation in waiting a while, it would be grand to spend it with our little one.

Fingerprinted

2005-08-02T10:58:00.000-04:00

We got 'em done, finally. I wanted to take a picture, but it's a government office, and I didn't want any confiscation of our snazzy new camera. And I thought I could take a pic of our black-inked hands, but I am so old-school. Who knew prints would be digitally scanned now? After all, I am a good girl (right) and am not privy to the inner workings of Immigration offices...

Men Don't Choose Fabric

2005-07-30T21:11:00.000-04:00

Or....do they? Maybe it's a secret thing they wish they could do. I'm counting on Lisa being too busy reloading her spanking new computer to see R. in action selecting fabric for her 100 Good Wishes Quilt. When I told him I was going to send her squares and a good wish, he asked if he could pick out the fabric from my quilting stash. That man never ceases to amaze me. All I'm going to say is that he selected one with an appropriate theme. I hope Baby Shanahan likes it.

How Titanic

2005-07-30T19:30:00.000-04:00

Major splurge today. Two steamer chairs for our new(ish) terrace . Next year we'll get some uber-fat cushions for OLO to lounge around in comfort. Since R. is of danish fair-skin descent, I have a feeling the chairs will be for OLO and Mommy. R. will be our cabana boy.

Tomato Glow

2005-07-30T17:50:00.000-04:00

I keep typing tomatoe -- I cannot even remember that dopey vice president who made that famous. I have to Google him, hold on (I'm so lame). Ah! Dan Quayle. I just found out his formal name is J. Danforth. Wonder what the J. stands for.

Lordy lord, what a tangent. I was just basking in the glow of my very first home-grown tomato. It may be the only one I grow, since I'm still fighting with squirrels. Mozarella and basil anyone?

Fingerprint appointment!

2005-07-27T19:40:00.000-04:00

This is so cool. It's the first sign of being recognized by the gov't of our adoption plans. Tonight we got our first "official letter". INS wants us to come in to take our fingerprints. I'm hearing rumours that the Boston office is taking anywhere between 4 weeks and 4 months to approve. We can go anywhere between 8/2-13. Of course we'll be there the minute the doors open on Tuesday. Wheee!

Fleet letters

2005-07-24T21:40:00.000-04:00

Home of the Bruins and Celtics, and WWF fights and Britney Spears concerts. Also my 2nd home as my train arrives and departs underneath it. It used to be called The Garden since cavemen days. Plain and simple. Then it was torn down and turned into The Fleet Center. And, just when we were getting used to saying that, Fleet ditched the arena (well, they no longer exist) and now it's called The TD Banknorth Garden. We were lucky enough to see the old Fleet letters lying around in the parking lot. Wonder where they are...kinda sad.

Quiltin'

2005-07-22T14:37:00.000-04:00

I am making a quilt for the baby. Too lazy to actually dust off the sewing machine though, and cut down pieces of material and sew them together. So I bought this preprinted panel that I couldn't resist. The gorilla in the middle square just kills me. Reminds me of a purple version of our cat Oosha. I'm hand quilting it, perfect for couch-potatoing.

Weeeee're off to Immigration

2005-07-20T14:49:00.000-04:00

Our homestudy report was sent to BCIS today. Provided the Department of Homeland Security isn't too bogged down with the unfortunate activities of late, and noone is taking summer vacations in the BCIS office (i'm a hypocrite as I'm on vaca as I type this), we hope all gets logged in quickly so we can get our fingers printed asap.

Homestudy report almost complete

2005-07-13T13:33:00.000-04:00

Richard just got off the phone with the SW...the homestudy is being "typed up" on Monday, and as of Wednesday it will be shipped off to BCIS. I feel like we've been inducted into a tribe. The people who brag about when their homestudy was sent off to immigration as soon as they signed with an agency and how THEY got a fingerprint appointment right away and how THEIR homestudy was approved by immigration, and wow, OUR dossier just got sent to china. Well, HA! I'm in the group now, and watch out.

Random thought

2005-07-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

I watched Nova tonight, which was about China's economic boom. And the detriment it's having on the country. Just 10 years ago there were only 2million cars on the roads (for a population of 1.4 billion, that number amazes me) -- now there are 20million. And it's growing at an alarming rate, thanks to eager American auto makers that are frothing at the mouth to rapidly build cars without any concern for emissions. No wonder Americans are having difficulties breathing there. Wait, what about those that live there? There are no emission standards in place for the factories, power plants, and automobiles. And because urban life is more promising than ever, many of those that grew up in rural conditions are migrating to the cities. Leaving their agriculture to wither and their land to die.

I wonder what will life be like for our daughter's family. Will they suffer from serious respiratory conditions as is predicted for the future of China's health? If they live on a farm, will they get crowded out by urban sprawl? Will her elders be able to keep up with the rapid growth? (I frequently envision her being from a rural village, but she could be a city girl).

You are heavily in my thoughts tonight, OLO. Be safe from the devastating floods.... xoxo

Happy 4th on the Sea

2005-07-09T17:26:00.000-04:00

Our annual trek to King's Beach (a loooooong 2-block walk, LOL) to view the insanely beautiful display. See the two sitting on the wall on the left -- best friend Mary and OLO's soon-to-be cousin Charlotte.

Happy 4th on the Sea
Originally uploaded by kikalee.

Yum Yum Dim Sum

2005-07-08T16:42:00.000-04:00

One of the things I can't stop thinking about (besides the face of OLO) is submerging ourselves into the culture of China on our trip. Especially food. Check out this food porn. I get annoyed when I read excerpts from people's postings that they were scared to try the food.
-I was hoping to get chicken fingers.
-Wow! They served waffles at the hotel!
-I brought plenty of oatmeal and a hot pot.
-We ate something that looked like Chinese fajitas (I'm surmising that is moo-shi)
Hey, at least that person made an attempt. I just hope we travel with like-minded people who are actually jazzed and not ninnies. We both have a low-tolerance for that. I'm going there with a hearty appetite and plenty of pepto bismol for my constant stomach ailments -- hey, you only live once.

Vegas and Porchie

2005-07-03T17:26:00.000-04:00

Looks like someone is preparing for some competition...
Vegas and Porchie
Originally uploaded by kikalee.

Pilfered Tomato

2005-06-30T17:26:00.000-04:00

So squirrels do like green tomatoes. Learn something new every day. All I'm trying to do is grow my very first tomato plant, please don't taunt me be leaving half eaten tomatoes on the deck.

Pilfered Tomato
Originally uploaded by kikalee.

Oh what a relief it is!

2005-06-20T23:22:00.000-04:00

Every bit of paperwork was dropped off to our adoption agency last night! Over three months worth of work, and it feels so good to be typing in here that the toiling part of this process is over. Hopefully there aren't any loopholes, but even if there are, I have a feeling they'll be minor.

Anxious

2005-06-19T19:05:00.000-04:00

I had a bout of huge anxiety this weekend as we both were collecting the paperwork to bring to the social worker tomorrow night. Now that this major step is nearing completion I had a big "oh my god, what am I doing?" moment. Crying, whole nine yards and all. I felt ashamed for even feeling this way, as I should have been happy to be completing a milestone like this (shame and guilt, that's a new one for me -- my dear friends are laughing at me right now). Now I've got stupid things on the brain, like fretting over what color to paint her room (currently I'm leaning towards a light kiss of green), and getting up the guts to ask R. if he will put wainscoting on the walls. I promise I'll do all the painting babe. I bought this beautiful crib quilt coverlet, which has insects on it -- heavens I'm letting my daughter sleep in a crib full of bugs.

Punk Daddy

2005-06-19T17:25:00.000-04:00

Punk Daddy
Originally uploaded by kikalee.

Happy Father-to-Be Day, honeypie! A few accessories for creating your own mini-me. Are there any Daddies out there who got a Sex Pistols Onesie and microscopic Chuck Taylors today?

Back to Barney Miller's office

2005-06-13T22:02:00.000-04:00

Neglected to look at the actual police report last week until we got home. Much to my dismay, we discovered one of the lines on my report had been whited out by the secretary. China does not accept any documents that have information whited out or scratched out. We were lucky that this was the only mishap related to this issue, I guess. At least I try to see it that way. So, we went back to the dingy police office for Lisa's new report this morning.

Blue light special

2005-06-06T17:03:00.000-04:00

I wanted to take a picture of us at the police station this morning getting our criminal record, but thought the better of it. We're clean as a (policeman's) whistle! And we got them in a matter of minutes free of charge, the money saved quickly got spent on an ice coffee.