Evil girl scouts

So, here I am, counting every blessed calorie that goes into my mouth in dire hope of losing a few pounds (ok, more than a few) and becoming a hot mom by the time A gets here. Everytime I go to the store to stock up on fruits and veggies and fish, this is what I have to see! Mean, I tell you, just pure evil!

Love this picture, I swear it's me 25 years ago......

007 engagement party

Congrats to our good friends Traci and Ed who FINALLY (: ) ) got engaged. Saturday, us hostesses with the mostesses, threw them a 007 Casino Royale/Vegas themed engagement party complete with Elvis and shakin-not stirred- martinis. I arrived a few hours early to help make the tapas and left, apparently, too early and missed some of the fun. I notice from the pictures that were sent to me the next day that the decorative huge martini glass turned into a regular drinking glass. This would explain why Greg was caught in his kid's treehouse playing with a wooden chicken rather late in the evening. Next time I will sleep in late so I don't miss all of the excitement.

On a happy note, I did get to meet a couple at the party who are in the midst of paperchasing for their daughter in China. I hope they join our little FCC group.

Congrats to you crazy kids-the future Mr. and Mrs. Licht, can't wait for the big day!

9 months pregnant and not even showing!

Today marks our 9 month mark of being "paper" pregnant. Aren't we supposed to go into "paper" labor soon?

Year of the Golden Pig

How wonderful for Amelie!:

In the Chinese horoscope, some of the 12 zodiac animals are considered lucky, including the pig. And this year, which is the fifth Year of the Pig and falls every 60 years, is known as the Year of the Golden Pig.

What this means is that couples are rushing to get married so that they can have babies during the Year of the Golden Pig. Children born in this auspicious year are believed to be destined for great material wealth and happiness, since their guardian pig is said to be under the influence of gold and never worries about anything beyond food and sleep.

How cute is that?

I went to the grocery store tonight and saw a little old man bumbling towards me down the isle with nothing in his big ol shopping cart except a roll of paper towels and a baked potato. "Excuse me, miss, may I ask you a question" he asked. "Sure", I replied. "How do you make a baked potato". Anyone under the age of 140 I may have been inclined to give a snarky anwer to, but he reminded me of my dad, and how he would have been had he been on his own (I lost him at age 84 a few years ago). It was really cute, but I wonder if he really didn't know, or if he wanted to chat up a younger "broad", he looked kinda onrey like Archie Bunker or Benny Hill.

Yup, sadly this is the best post I can get out right now with NO adoption news. Sorry gang, at least I am not boring you with another Marvin cartoon....

Anxiously awaiting this months referrals

I am anxiously awaiting to hear what the cut-off is for this month's referrals more than usual. Our friends Kim and Todd should be getting a call within the next two weeks that their stork has landed. They have been "paper pregnant" for 15 months now and are very excited to meet their little girl Brea! They just created their own website, I have added it to the left side of this page...check it out : )

Dear Diary;

I have never been good at keeping diaries, although come to think of it this blog is sort of like one. I did try to start a food diary once to count calories, but that didn't last long. Shocker. I started a new type of diary a few weeks ago and I really hope I keep up with it. I am writing down on a weekly basis in a journal D and I's events and happenings. I am even adding what is going on in the world. Why am I doing this? Well, unlike a biological child, I have no idea when Amelie will be born, just that the likelihood of her birth is high for 2007. I figured if I write down what's going on in our lives this year, I can look back to my journal once we get our referral and her birthdate and I'll know what we were doing that day. Plus, I can store it away and show it to her years from now. Is this totally cheesy? Probably. If anything, it makes the time go by a little quicker!

Let them eat cake

Not much going on in the rumor world or much else for that matter now that the holidays are over and no trips are planned for awhile. Thought I'd share an old family favorite-it's an Italian cake that as one of my mom's friends once said "It's the only cake I've ever wanted to stick my face in". It takes 2-3 days to make, but it is worth it. I made it for Christmas and for New Years this year.

Cassata Alla Siciliana

Serving Size : 8
Prep.Time: About 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 fresh pound cake 9"long 3"wide (or you can make 3- 9 inch round chocolate cakes if you are a chocoholic)
1 pound ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Grand Manier or other orange-flavor liqueur
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped mixed candied fruit
2 ounces semisweet chocolate -- coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped pistacios

FROSTING:

12 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate -- cut in small pieces
3/4 cup strong black coffee
1/2 pound thoroughly chilled unsalted butter -- cut in 1/2" pieces

Directions

With a sharp knife, slice the end crusts off the pound cake and level the top if it is rounded. Cut cake horizontally into 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick slabs. With a wooden spoon or electric mmixer, beat the ricotta cheese until smooth. Beating constantly, add cream, sugar and Strega. With a spatula, fold in the chopped candied fruit, nuts and chocolate. Center the bottom slab of cake on a flat plate; spread it generously with the ricotta mixture. Carefully place another slab of cake on top, keeping sides and ends even; spread more ricotta mixture. Repeat the process until all the cake slabs and filling are used up, ending with a plain slab of cake on top. Gently press the loaf together to make it as compace as possible. Don't worry if it feels wobbly; chilling firms the loaf. Refrigerate the Cassata for about 2 hours, or until the filing is firm.

For the frosting: melt the 12 ounces of chocolate withe the coffee in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until chocolate is completely dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and beat in the chilled butter, 1 piece at a time. Continue beating until mixture is smooth. Chill frosting until it thickens to spsreading consistency. With a small metal spatula, spread frosting evenly over the top, sides and ends of the chilled Cassata, swirling it as decoratively as possible. Cover frosted Cassata loosely with foil and chill at least 24 hours before serving it (this "ripens" the dessert).

I am such a goober

Last weekend David and I went to Babies R Us to get a gift for a good friend who is due in February. We were standing in line for the registy and I looked arund and saw nothing but very pregnant bellies. I just got this overwhelming feeling of belly envy and started shaking. David must have seen me go pale, because he looked over at me and asked if I was ok. I said in a whisper "I can't do this". Thank goodness for giant Paris Hilton sunglasses. I didn't expect it, but the tears just started coming and we ran out of there before I made a total ass out of myself. Anyhow, thought I would share what a big bowl of emotional gooberness I am!

Disney Mania

Whew! What a week! We went to Orlando for the week to see my mom and stepdad. They were kind enough to get us our own timeshare "honeymoon" suite after I expressed my displeasure of having to sleep on a pullout for four nights. We had park hopper passes and hop the parks we did with all of our might. We hit Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and MGM all in one very fun and very exhausting day. The next day we had a much more leisurely day at Epcot. It was nice to have one final Disney trip sans diaper changes and temper tantrums. Ok, well, D had a small temper tantrum because we couldn't dine in Japan in Epcot. Apparently you can make reservations 6 months out to eat. Silly us, we thought we could just walk right in! It worked out though, China got us in and dinner wasn't half bad.

I only saw a handful of FCC parents, and I was a good girl and refrained from doing the stalking thing to them. My mom on the other hand, struck up a conversation with a lady and her 5 year old daughter adopted from China. I don't know how she started the conversation(we were in a different part of the park), but I am too shy to mention to FCC families that I don't know that we are in the process. I wish there was some sort of secret hand signal or something. I can't wait to bring Amelie to meet Disney and spend a mortgage payment on her Disney princess outfit and ears. I always said I would never spend frivolously on that type of thing, but I know I will-and it can't come soon enough!

The "experts" at CNN

If you can tonight watch CNN at 8 pm, they are having a segment on China Adoptions. Last week they did this show with Paula Zhan (sp?) and made us FCC (families with Chinese children) look like racist idiots. The show was actually about racism. It started out talking about China's new restrictions and the "expert" panalists ended up discussing how us FCC families adopted from there because we want smart, quiet children who will be little "China dolls". They talked about us and our future children like we are trying to obtain the newest Hermes bag. It made me sick to my stomach. These "experts" made statements like "why don't these people adopt from Iraq, are they afraid they will grow up to be terrorists" and "what is wrong with the black kids in this country? Are they afraid they will be lazy?" Wow. They said NOTHING about the fact that Chinese people rarely smoke or drink or do drugs, and therefore the children are very healthy, nor did they mention how difficult it is to adopt from the US and that you have to be chosen by the birthmom and she can come back a year later and take the kid back. Plus, you can't adopt from Iraq-there are very few countries that are even open to foreign adopters.Anyhow, the wonderful FCC community got so pissed (including myself) that over the weekend we bombarded the producers of CNN and all of the commercial sponsors. They are doing a rebuttal tonight and are having actual experts on the subject, including an adoption agency person, FCC members, ect. If you get a chance, please watch.....

If you read my blog back last spring, I also wrote about how Leslie Stahl and her crew at Dateline also made us look really bad, but at least we were never called racists....

Finally! The babies are here!

Each month, for one day, I like to live vicariously through the lives of others. If you click on RQ's webpage to the left, it will take you to see a whole lotta lucky family's webpages who just were referred their bambinas! They referred 18 days worth of LID's this month, but apparently those were smaller days, so the fact that it's more than the avg 15 days doesn't mean a whole lot. We are still on track for summer of 2008 I believe.

The stinker of it is that the CCAA homepage hasn't changed the review room update in 3 months. 3 months! I thought we'd at least be out of the RR by now, but they are still reviewing February. One of my many new years resolutions was not to buy the Empress anything until our file is finished being reviewed. It's so hard, now that I know we will meet her next year, I want to go buy more pink things! C'mon April!

2006 and why I am thankful for it

I keep saying that I am so damn happy it is a new year. In a way, 2006 was a tough one. We lost Quincy and we are still childless. However, I reflected on 2006 yesterday and realized that I do have alot to be thankful for. Here are 06 reasons why 06' was a good year for me:

1. We were DTC on 04/24/06.
2. We were able to travel and vacation more last year than any other time in our lives-Maryland, DC, Atlanta, a cruise, Key West, Naples, Sanibel Island and of course skiing in Utah!
3. God blessed us finanically last year. We are very very close to being debt free, and that is a great feeling.
4. We met several great couples through our FCC group, many of those have become good friends.
5. I reconnected with a few friends that I had lost touch with over the years.
6. We are one year closer to meeting our daughter!

What are you thankful for from 06'?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and Happy Chinese New Year! This year is the Year of the Pig! This time last year I assumed our daughter would be not only home with us, but also that she would be born last year, the Year of the Dog. Obviously we were worong on both counts. I am 99% sure she will be born under the sign of the pig. This is actually a good thing....Read on!

Contrary to its rather negative reputation in the West, the Pig of Chinese Astrology may be the most generous and honorable Sign of the Zodiac. Pigs are nice to a fault and possess impeccable manners and taste. They have so much of the perfectionist in them that others may be inclined to perceive them as snobs, but this is a misconception. Pigs are simply possessed of a truly luxurious nature, one that delights in finery and riches (in surroundings, food, lovemaking and otherwise). This Sign believes in the best qualities of mankind and certainly doesn't consider itself to be superior. Pigs also care a great deal about friends and family and work hard to keep everyone in their life happy. Helping others is a true pleasure for the Pig, who feels best when everyone else is smiling.
A Pig with no one around to appreciate its giving nature is a sad sight. Pigs are so magnanimous they can appear almost saintly; this can lead some less-than-well-intentioned souls to stomp all over this Sign, and the bad news is, the Pig will take the blows! Pigs make great companions in part because of their refusal to see the more negative or base qualities in a partner, but that rose-colored view can lead to this Sign's allowing itself to be taken advantage of. Contrary to their seemingly benign dispositions, however, Pigs can be quite venomous in response to being crossed by a lover, friend or business partner.
Pigs are highly intelligent creatures, forever studying, playing and probing in their quest for greater knowledge. They can be misinterpreted as being lazy, however, due to their love of reveling in the good stuff; this Sign could happily spend hours on end making love, napping, taking a long bubble bath or dallying over an incredible spread of rich foods. Pigs tend to make wonderful life partners due to their hearts of gold and their love of family. Even so, Pigs can be rather exclusive, choosing to spend time with those who will appreciate them most and ignore the rest of the populace. Pigs would do well to realize that there's more to life than being needed. When they open up their world to a diverse group of people, they will truly bloom.