Ho-Ho….Holy Ho
November 30, 2006 at 1:50 pm | Posted in What the hell? | 2 CommentsBeing a stay at home mom has its benefits, some more obvious than others. One of the greatest things this time of year is being able to shop during the week early in the morning before the mall gets horrifically crowded.
After a week or so of absolutely fabulous weather in the 60’s, we’re on the brink of a winter storm warning indicating total snow accumulation over the next 48 hours somewhere between 6-10 inches. As a veteran Chicago winter survivor, I’ll believe it when I see it. Ah, I digress…..back to the issue at hand. Shopping. This morning we took a quick jaunt to the mall to take advantage of some great coupons and snag Bean a Little Mermaid barbie-type doll.
My primary objective was to purchase a gift card for a gift exchange my girlfriends and I have each Christmas. We’ve been exchanging jammies but opted for something a little more fun and flexible this year with the only caveat that the gift card be from a store whose primary items for sale is clothing. (Meaning no Target gift cards ladies). Having been challenged to “be creative” and obsessed with Justin Timberlake‘s song Sexy Back, I headed to the most creative and sexy store I could think of. Victoria’ Secret.
Now, I have not worked in a corporate environment for three years now. The bulk of my shoping is done at Target and if I’m feeling like spending some serious money, Old Navy. Needless to say my wardrobe is one step away from being nominated for What Not To Wear. A primary staple in my undergarment department: granny panties. Yep. I wear em. I wear em proud. So for me to walk into Victoria’s Secret is like Britney Spears walking into…well any undergarment store apparently. Again, I digress…..
Imagine my shock and horror when Bean says, “Mommy, what’s that?” I turn, look and stumble on what to answer. Seriously, how do you answer that question to a three year old who is looking at this:
What I wanted to say was “Well honey that is some distorted image of what some people think a woman should be. Totally unrealistic fantasy whore that actually enjoys completely impractical under things and large feathery Phoenix-type wings.” But considering she is only three the best I could manage was “It’s kinda like a picture….it’s just pretend.” Ugh…the things I have to look forward too.
Video Killed the Radio Star
November 29, 2006 at 11:19 am | Posted in Sophie stuff | 1 CommentI have to admit that one of the “bad” parenting things I do is allow Bean to watch cartoons. I do severely limit what she can watch – Dora, Diego, Charlie and Lola, Backyardigans, Sesame Street…and that’s about it. Part of her birthday present this year was a subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine because she really seems to like animals. So far the best part of this gift has been the punch-out animal trading cards and the free blow-up globe beach ball.
With Henry on his way I thought what a great idea to teach Bean where we lived on the globe-ball and where South Korea is. A small way for her to connect to the idea of her brother and where he is at. I was really shocked how little effort and time it took to teach her where the US was and where South Korea was. I genius of course! How could she be anything less than a genius with such an awesome mother for a teacher! I, of course, have taken every opportunity to flaunt her geographical genius to anyone and everyone who walks through our front door.
Imagine my surprise when she starts inquiring about Canada. Following her lead and desire to learn more, we start talking about Mexico (where Grandma and Dad have both recently traveled). She inquires about Australia telling me it’s very, very far away. I’m thinking I have my own Little Man Tate on my hands and how am I going to harness and focus her intellect in the right direction?
We move on to countries close to South Korea. When I point out China she says, “That’s where the Great Wall is.” OK, now I’m seriously starting to sweat. I point out Russia and she says, “That’s where the Palace is.” We move on to Europe and I show her England where Dad has traveled. Ireland where I’ve traveled. France and another quip from Einstein, “That’s where the Tower is.” We move South through Africa stopping briefly on Mali which was featured in her latest National Geographic Kids magazine. Then a quick stop in Namibia and quick jaunt over to Malawi so I can interject my disdain for the popularity of celebrity adoption stories that have gotten blown out of proportion in the media. As we travel North I mention Tanzania and she says, “That’s where the Mountain is.” I’m really struggling to figure out how she knows these things….I’m really getting nervous…..
Then it hits me. My superstar, my genius, my Einstein….is merely recalling these geographical landmarks from memory. Memory implanted by an amazing explorer that has traveled the great vastness of our world and documented it in it’s glory. Do you know of whom I’m speaking? Why Dora of course. Dora the Explorer. It finally hits me that Bean received Dora’s World Adventure for her birthday in which Swiper swipes friendship bracelets from around the world and must return them to Dora’s friends. They just so happen to be stationed at the Eiffel Tower in France, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, The Great Palace in Russia and The Great Wall of China. Oh well….guess it goes to show that videos aren’t all that bad.
Yeah….
November 28, 2006 at 10:18 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentI know I’m lazy. Actually I have had zero motivation to write anything for the blog. Seriously thinking about closing it down. It served a purpose for a while but now it feels like a burden. While I decide I offer you this. I wish I was more involved in things so I could use this. What a great idea.
Thankful
November 23, 2006 at 9:53 am | Posted in General Junk | 1 Comment 
For some reason Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays to celebrate as an adult. While most of our holidays have become so twisted out of perspective, I think Thanksgiving has remained a rather quiet family celebration of the things we are most thankful for. So in the spirit of the holiday I thought I would share some of the things I am thankful for:
My family and their unconditional support, being able to stay at home and raise my daughter, my good health, the roof over my head, the food on my table, the new freinds I’ve developed through the adoption process, the old friends who’ve been through all the ups and downs, for the miracle of Sophie, for what must have been a heart wrenching decision by Ms. Lee and Mr.Nah to place their child for adoption, to Mrs. Geum Soon Lee and her family for opening their doors and hearts to care for Henry until he comes home, and for Henry who has no idea how much his world is going to be turned upsidedown in a couple of months….but hopefully for the better.
Priceless
November 21, 2006 at 5:29 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
This video is short but worth the watch….be ready to laugh your ass off.
Not so original but interesting…
November 20, 2006 at 7:49 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 CommentsI got this from Emma Bugwho got it from Mrs. Figby, who got this from Figlet, who got this from Chicagomama. I am nothing if not original.
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Oy vey…I need a haircut to get rid of all these split ends
2. How much cash do you have on you? $49 that is a lot for me!
3. What word rhymes with “DOOR” Snore
4. Favorite Planet: Well I don’t know any of them personally but I think Neptune is the prettiest
5. Who is the 4th person on the missed call list on your cell phone? I’m assuming my husband because they phone indicates Home
6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? Our new cell phones aren’t the greatest and evidently if you want some fun ringtone you have to download software blah, blah, blah…too much work. So I just have some funky basic tone that came with the phone
7. What shirt are you wearing? Lovely white short sleeve T from Target and a long sleeve black T from Gap
8. Do you “label” yourself? I guess…mother, daughter, sister, friend, wife
9. Name the brand of shoes you are currently wearing? I’m wearing slippers from Lands End
10. Bright or dark room? Depends on what I’m doing (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? I really enjoy her blog and visit it frequently. She’s got one cute girl on her hands…
12. What does your watch look like? I have several but my favorite is a stainless steel swiss army
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping…I’m old
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say? I don’t use my cell for texting…although I do think I texted once or twice in the very distant past
15. Where is your nearest 7-11? Just about two blocks
16. What’s a word you say a lot? Shit
17. Who told you s/he loved you last? Sophie aka Bean
18. Last furry thing you touched? Why shitty kitty of course
19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? Three..all legal over the counter
20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? None – we are strictly digital
21. Favorite age you have been so far? I would have to say either 30 (I had just gotten married) or 35 (Bean was just born)
22. Your worst enemy? Myself
23. What is your current desktop picture? My precious Sophie Bean sitting on the porch at the lake house…..before I cut her hair
24. What was the last thing you said to someone? “O.K.” Husband took Bean to park with Brother-in-Law and niece visiting from Arizona
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be? A million easily. Lots of adoption debt to pay off don’t you know
26. Do you like someone? Sure…I like lots of people, contrary to popular opinion
27. The last song you listened to? Something by Kelly Clarkson….I had the Breakaway CD in while I unloaded groceries
28. What time of day were you born? I haven’t the faintest idea…but I checked my birth certificate. 11:03 am.
29. What is your favorite number? 5
30. Where did you live in 1987? In my parents house…just one year out of high school
31. Are you jealous of anyone? Certainly. Fertiles mostly but an occasional skinny, put-together mom I see out and about. Oh, and I’m jealous of Amanda’s butt.
32. Is anyone jealous of you? I can’t imagine why they would be….
33. Where were you when 9/11 happened? At work….I had just arrived when my husband called me to tell me that a plane had hit the WTC. While we were talking on the phone the second one hit…and he watched it live on TV. After the pentagon got hit I seriously thought the world was coming to an end.
34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? In the general public nothing. Where I used to work you could leave a post-it on the machine for the vending man and he would reimburse you.
35. Do you consider yourself kind? I’d like to think that in general I am kind. However, I do have a darker side that makes comments er, observations about other that are generally not so kind. On occasion I do share these thought but mostly I keep them to myself. Does it make me unkind even if I think them?
36. If you had to get a tattoo where would it be? Well, I already have two both on my left ankle. The third, if I decide to take the plunge … well, you can read about it here.
37. If you could be fluent in any other language what would it be? Latin…as I understand it once you learn latin all other languages follow easily.
38. Would you move for the person you loved? Absolutely…thankfully he likes where we live and we’re close to almost all of our family.
39. Are you touchy feely? Not really….I like my personal space thank you very much.
40. What’s your life motto? Patience and strength.
41. Name three things you have on at all times? Underwear (except when I’m showering), my pomegranite infertility awareness bracelet and ….well, honestly that’s it. They are the only things I have on at all times.
42. What is your favorite city/town? Boston…something about it made it feel like home away from home.
43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? Lunch on Wednesday…Jimmy Johns sandwich…mmmmm
44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? Back in September after my birthday I wrote thank you note to those bearing gifts.
45. Can you change the oil on a car? I can pay someone to do it…does that count?
46. Your first love: What is the last thing you heard about him/her? That he travels quite a bit to Vietnam and is not the most hygenic person anymore.
47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?Mmm…not very far. Just to grandparents I’m afraid.
48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?I wore a nice black dress and strapy sandals to my cousins wedding in St. Louis back in late September.
49. Does anything hurt on your body right now? My throat..apparently I’ve got a touch of laryngitis.
50. Have you been burned by love? Oh my, haven’t we all.
Friday Fun Pic – part 17
November 17, 2006 at 12:22 am | Posted in Adoption Updates, Friday Fun Pic | 4 CommentsTry to resist the cuteness if you can. Not only did we receive the most excellent news of our 171H approval, we also received this gem in the mail yesterday. Behold the boy king:
This was taken October 18 at 3 months old weighing in at a healthy 13 lbs and 24″ long. Looks like our boy is going to be a tall one. January seems like such a long time to wait to hold this little guy in our arms. Patience and strength, right?
One down, one to go
November 15, 2006 at 11:22 pm | Posted in Adoption Updates | 2 CommentsWe got excellent news in the mail yesterday. We received our approved 171H. What praytel is a 171H? Well, I’ll be happy to share with you. When adopting internationally, the visa application and approval process is completed via several groupings of paperwork.
You start with the I600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) which is basically asking immigration (USCIS) to determine if you are able to provide a stable home environment for an orphan. It is currently taking USCIS about 3 months from the time they receive this application to send you a letter saying hey, ok…go get fingerprinted so we can be sure you aren’t some henious criminal. Once your fingerprints are taken it takes about 2 months to read over your criminal record status and send you another letter that says ok, you’re ok and your application looks ok so we approve the request to place an orphan in your home. This initial approval is the 171H and is what we received in the mail yesterday.
Upon accepting a referral of a child, you complete form I600 (Petition to Classify and Orphan as an Immediate Relative) which is taking USCIS about 3 months to process. Once this form is approved I believe we will receive a second 171 form but I think it is a 171D and that will have information on it indicating that Henry’s visa has been approved and cabled to Korea. It is just a matter of time until we receive the call that he is ready to travel.
We submitted our I600 in mid-October so three months from then puts us mid-January. So….we’re hoping for travel the end of Januaryl…but not sure as we have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays to consider. Unfortunately our government gives their workers ample time off and we have no idea what that could mean in terms of our process. Plus the feeling that there may be a bit of a shortage of escorts which seems to be resulting in a one month delay in travel. Two friends who opted for the escort option seem to have waited a month from the time the visa was cabled to Korea until their sons traveled home.
We haven’t completely ruled out traveling to Korea…yet. Of course with a three year old it is more convenient for us but we’d be missing out on the opportunity to see where Henry has spent the first 6 months of his life. It would also mean missing out on meeting the family that has graciously taken him in, cared for him, loved him until he could be with us. It’s a tough decision and thankfully we have a bit more time to decide what is the best overall option for us.
In the meantime, it is encouraging to know the system is plugging away and slowly but surely we’re moving through this process. Every day is one day closer to meeting Henry for the first time.
The Ten v.2
November 13, 2006 at 5:38 pm | Posted in The TEN | 3 CommentsConsidering I’ve been quite the slacker you’d think I could at least think of ten things to categorize. Lazy wanker I am. So here we go: ten foods I could eat just about every day.
Pizza – of course. Can’t just about everyone eat it every day? Thin, thick, stuffed, veggie, meat…so many choices.
Flank Steak – but not just any flank steak. It has to be my Mom’s flank steak because of the marinade. It is unrivaled in my world.
Grilled Cheese – just about everything is better with cheese. And again as with pizza so many bread/cheese options. The only limit is your imagination.
Applebees Oriental Chicken Salad – I prefer the grilled chicken to the fried because they season the chicken with something that is perfect with the tangy oriental dressing. Seriously, when they opened a location about 5 miles from my house I ate there (well, carside to go actually) every day for a week.
Baskin Robins Chocolate Chip Ice Cream – all fancy custom-made trendy ice cream makers aside, this is the best ice cream in the world. When I buy it, I must limit myself to a double scoop to go rather than the 2 pints for $7 because I will eat it. All. Of. It. In. One. Sitting. Oink.
Pizza flavored Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers – a snack that smiles back? What’s not to love. Thank God I had a child so I could buy these under the guise of a fun snack for Sophie when really, I horde them all to myself.
Hormel Chili Cheese Dip – I think my friend Anne first brought this to our repertoire in appetizer options several years ago. What’s not to like about cream cheese, chili and cheddar cheese? Certainly not for those watching their waistlines but worth every bite.
Green Beans – love, love, love them! I can even eat them straight out of the can without warming them. Sick, I know but so darn good!
Peas – but wait, I’m very, very particular about my peas. They must, I repeat MUST be Green Giant LaSeur Peas only. They are the ones in the small silver can, very plain label. Believe it or not I couldn’t find a picture of them on all of the internet. They are teeny, tiny peas that are perfectly firm on the outside and mushy on the inside. Again, I could eat ’em right out of the can.
Triscuits– these are the best crackers ever made. I love the texture and they have just the right amount of saltyness to them. Doesn’t matter what you put on them – topped or topless they remain one of my favorite things.
Friday Fun Pic – part 16
November 10, 2006 at 11:47 am | Posted in Friday Fun Pic | Leave a commentWith one last blast of warm weather from Mother Nature, we headed to the zoo on Wednesday. I’m going to miss these days…
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