When did THAT happen?!

While I was whining for nominations (which you still have time to do) *shameless plug* I seemed to have surpassed my 8000th hit.

You like me...you really like me!

Ok, so I'm vain!

I posted about this last week, but then took the post down since it seemed more like a whine than anything else.

Well, you know what? It's (rewritten and) back. :P

I found this site when I was perusing one of the blogs I read everyday. Apparently there's a blog awards going on and I think it would be a hoot if this little blog got a little nomination. Nothing major, it's an honour just being nominated, right?

I realize that I probably have no chance of winning anything since I'd be up against some BIG blogs, but I'm curious how many votes I'd get. Hey, at least I could put up a handy dandy little 'blog award nomination' button on the site.

Everyone needs a button.

The nominations end at midnight tonight, so umm, nominate me and I promise to do absolutely nothing to deserve it... ;)

Don't walk, run! Go nominate me...now!

Mooooove over milk, there’s a new kid in town and he’s from California

(Josh posting again)

In the same shopping trip that I discovered the chocolate Special K, I also discovered Almond Breeze (Almond Milk) from Blue Diamond. I bought the chocolate and plan varieties just to try them out.

A little history, I am a bit lactose intolerant. I'm not so intolerant that lactose makes me instantly sick, but too much makes me sleepy and gives me dragon's breath; my solution is to not have too much milk. If I am having a meat meal and want a coffee or tea, the question comes up, how does one have a meat meal with milk in my coffee? (mixing meat and dairy is a no-no, and I'm sure Rhonda covers this subject elsewhere in the site).

One solution is not to have milk with my coffee. The alternative is to purchase any number of non-dairy products. I think I have tried them all. The granddaddy of them all is an oil-based white lacquer that is used in airline kosher meals and catered dinners. It's disgusting and offers no nutritional value. It lightens the colour of the coffee while leaving a nice oil slick on the top of the coffee cup. There are plenty of people in cyber space who have had this stuff at their Uncle Hershel's wedding and left the shul with their tongue sliding around in their mouth for hours. Non-dairy ice cream of the same era had a similar effect. Old school.

I have tried rice milk and soy milk and each have their good and bad points. Both taste pleasant enough to drink regularly, put in cereal and cook with but the great equaliser being coffee and tea. The heat and or acidity of coffee and tea often causes soy and rice milk to curdle, they often do not change the colour of the beverage nor takes the edge off the beverage's expected bitterness. I give them an 8/10.

What gives almond milk a 10/10 is that is covers all of the elements mentioned above, is super yummy and can take the heat and acidity. A little research on the web revealed that a great proportion of Asian and African peoples have a higher percentage of lactose intolerance than those of Northern European extraction. Almond allergies are rare when compared to milk allergies. Almond milk delivers a wider spectrum of vitamins, minerals, protein and is low in fat.

I am not an MD, but it is good to know what is out there if the child we bring home has a problem with cow’s milk. At C$2.50 per litre, it is roughly the same price as organic milk, so it's not quite a luxury.

Food for thought!

(back to Rhonda)

I tried the milk on the weekend, and I have to say it's really quite good. I was a little skeptical about the almond chocolate milk, but it actually tasted the same, if not better, than 'regular' chocolate milk! There's only the tiniest hint of an almond taste, which actually enhanced the flavour a lot.

(Now I wonder how it would taste with the chocolate Special K. Hmmmm.)

Light speed is too slow let’s jump to ludicrous speed!

Ok gang, this is Josh posting...

This is pretty much the thought that was going through my head when I saw the newest edition to the Special K family of cereals.

I cannot speak for our US friends, but the folks at Kellogg's have been running many TV ads in Canada promoting Special K as the ideal cereal to help women lose weight. Of course every red-blooded Canadian male looks like Brad Pitt and has a lumberjack's breakfast every morning complete with steak, eggs, back bacon, two cups of coffee and a small glass of OJ. A large glass of OJ or a few strawberries on the side is for metrosexuals who are sneaking vitamins and fibre into their diet; at least that is what television tells me, and I never question what television tells me.

Special K is not only the ideal breakfast food as compared to your "Aunt Maggie's" evil fatty morning scones, but it can be a snack food for those days when the women in these commercials need comfort food. Hmm. I guess chocolate ice cream or macaroni & cheese have been cast to the evil pile as comfort food. (I should be hearing giggles from the audience). As a red-blooded male, a bowl of cereal, with milk or without just does not cut it.

Kellogg's really know their customers, or at least the ad agency they hired is right on the money. Special K for breakfast...good. Special K as a comfort food...good. Vanilla and strawberry flavours...good.

Now the jump to ludicrous speed...Special K with little chunks of chocolate. AHHHH! (Lucy has just pulled the football out from underneath me). I do not know what to say. Chocolate chunks in with the Special K flakes. Call it guilt-free Coco Puffs or Mommy's Count Chocula. Chocolate chunks do not belong in cereal.

My mother always says; "if you are going to sin, make it a good one". She is more religiously observant than I but realises sometimes breaking the rules is unavoidable or brings with it some tangible benefits. A simple example of where breaking the rules is warranted would be to use a car on the Sabbath to rush a sick person to hospital. When it comes to food, in particular if it's not kosher, that alternative should keep you from starvation in times of severe stress (wartime/desert islands) or be the best you have ever had. The usual example is steak. If you are going to have steak, then it better be the best steak available otherwise you are just wasting your time and you are better off staying home. If you are going to eat chocolate as an end of day comfort food, go out and buy good Swiss or Belgian chocolate, snap off a few dietetic squares and savour it. There are health benefits to eating high quality dark chocolate in moderation.

If you are going to have breakfast, listen to your "Aunt Maggie". Have half a scone so you do not hurt her feelings, but augment it with fruit, protein (fish/low fat cheese), juice and a small sidecar of chocolate-free cereal. You will get all your vitamins, feel full and will not be tempted by the snack truck that visits your desk at 10am. Going back to my example of steak, how good is the chocolate in Special K? Would you have a Snickers bar for breakfast if it were offered to you? Probably not, so why sprinkle it on your cereal.

(Back to Rhonda...)

So Josh bought the Special K, even though he's knocking it the post. Is it good? Yes. Will it help me to lose weight? Doubtful. Will we buy it again? TBD.

A crocheted bikini?!

I got a package in the mail yesterday afternoon! Thankfully I was home to receive it, but I must admit the postman had a bit of a bizarre look on his face. I didn't know why until I turned the package over and noticed what it said on the customs form...



I think he was kind of curious too, or at least someone along the way certainly was. The package was torn and there were bits of the packing material all through the item. After cleaning it up a little, I saw this!




Heather sent me a beautiful hand-crocheted scarf! She also included a very nice note and apologized for sending it to me late. P'shaw! One of these days, we're actually going to have to meet. :P

The picture really doesn't do it justice and it REALLY pops against my black winter coat, and it's really warm to wear too. :)

The neat thing about it is that instead of wrapping it around your neck over and over and over again, all you do is put it around your neck and slide one end through the other and tuck it in your coat or fling it over your shoulders.

I wore it this morning when I went to the hairdressers (yes, I know, I'm vain), my mom saw it and went gaga over it as well. I rarely wear scarves, except for an old one that looks more like a babushka, and I'm not just saying that. Nicole saw my old scarf and she can probably attest to its hideousness. ;)

So now I'll wear it everyday (though I might get some funny looks if I wear it in the summer) and think of how sweet and thoughtful Heather is.

This little piggy went to market...

Well, I didn't go to the market, but I did go to Canada Post and bought a trough full (well, umm, 100) of Chinese New Year postage stamps! How cool are they?

My plan is to send out CNY cards to my CB travel group (I figure I can mention it here since I don't think any of them have come to the blog -- even though I've mentioned it to them in emails). If they do come to the blog, then they haven't been the least bit vocal about it. C'est la vie. ;)

Mashed potatoes with a side of mashed potatoes...

Josh and I signed up last night (better late than never?) for a Children's Bridge "parent chat" meeting with the hope of getting together with other waiting families to discuss this, that and the other. Unfortunately, the meeting was cancelled because of lack of interest. Bummer.

We were hoping to meet up anyways with Mark and Michelle for dinner, but since the meeting was cancelled, they made alternate plans with Dolores and Shawn. Bummer.

I can't say I really blame them though, it's a bit of a shlep for them to come out for dinner. We were planning on going out for dinner with my mom anyways, but thought 'the more the merrier', but it just didn't work out. C'est la vie. ;)

Hopefully in the next little while we can get together again, Josh and I had a lot of fun when we went out to Whitby to meet up with them for the bloggy summit last month. It seems like A LOT longer than a mere month ago that we met.

Anyways, Josh and I ended up going to Sierra Grill at Bayview Village. My mom and I, as usual, got the cedar plank salmon (serious yum), and Josh ordered the pan-broiled tilapia.

We started off with the salad bar (more serious yum) and waited for our dinners to be ready. We had finished with the salad bar and the wait for the dinners seemed to be interminably long. The meals finally came but the mashed potatoes were cold. Not just luke warm, I mean COLD.

The waitress picked up all our plates and marched them all back into the kitchen to get new orders of potatoes.

The manager came over, we told her what was wrong and she told us that the chef forgot to turn the heater up so all the potatoes are cold. (That's not our problem, now is it?)

She said she would get us new orders of mashed potatoes. When she came back out, she brought a new plate of hot mashed potatoes (read: nuked and dry).

We mentioned our displeasure later on and she decided to take all our meals off the bill, but she would charge us for a side salad bar and coffees (since there was nothing wrong with that) and tossed in free desserts.

So, long story short, a bill that would normally be about $70.00 (give or take) ended up costing $24.00. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Sir Loin of Beef

Josh wanted to make sushi today but realized that he didn't have any nori sheets, so he called up the supermarket to inquire. He finally got through to the fish department and the person replied "Nori? She doesn't work here anymore." *click*

That scenario reminded me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he pretends to be royalty "Sir Osis of the Liver", "Count of Basie", "Duke of Ellington", "Earl of Watercress", and my all-time favourite "Baron of Wooster-cester-shister- shyster-schuster-shuster-shister-shire... shire".

Meme...me me me!

I've been tagged by Maggie! It's an easy-peasy one, and kind of interesting, so I'll pass it along...

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Write down lines 6-8.
4. Tag 3 people.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The nearest book was Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I haven't actually read it yet, but I'm working on it. Does it count that I saw the play last month?

2. *flip*

3. "self an interest in Shenshen or Pfannee, who certainly were coquettish enough. But they both seemed besotted with Avaric. At last Boq cornered Galinda on the porch and pleaded with her to"

Ohh, what did he plead her to do? Well, you'll have to read the book to find out. :)

4. Who to tag...who to tag...I think I'll go with Heather, Johnny (though I don't know if he's into doing memes, I guess I'll find out soon enough), and Connie!

Dancing in the dark

Well, not exactly...

Today I volunteered for an experiment (I can't say with who) to test estimation of distance in a night vision environment. TRES COOL!

Basically, I was in a simulated 'dark room' and I had to stare at a computer screen and judge the distance in metres between two dots on the screen. One metre is just over three feet, for you Americans out there.

So I made the assumption that all the distances were between 1-9 metres apart, well you know what they say about people who "assume", right? (You make an ASS out of U and ME). Each round consisted of about 25 instances where I had to judge the distance.

The first round - I punched in the numbers and got no feedback as to how close I was, I mean really, the dots looked REALLY close together. Plus, I wasn't given a reference point, so I really was flying by the seat of my proverbial pants.

The second round - I punched in the numbers and after each time I input the numbers the real answer would come up. So things that I thought in the first round were 2 metres apart were actually 18...oops.

The third round - I punched in the numbers and, again, got no feedback. But I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Overall, the experiment was really interesting and proved that I have absolutely no sense of distance estimation. :P

I have to go again next Thursday and then again in a month. On the upside, I get paid for basically getting everything wrong. While it's not a King's ransom, it's an extra $40 that I didn't have before, and any money that I get from these experiments is going in the "loonie/toonie" jar. :)

When I left, I asked the scientist if she had any other projects on the horizon or knew of anyone else that did. She said she would poke around and get back to me...by the time I got home from work today, I already got an email from her thanking me for my participation and with information for another project to do. Woo! Basically once I have my foot in the door, it opens up for more and more tests/experiments/research projects.

I'll keep that in mind...

Your Fortune Is

Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement.

The Wacky Fortune Cookie Generator

What's yours? (Post them in the comment section.) ;)

Another day older and deeper in debt...

Well, not exactly, but we did celebrate our 4 month LIDiversary this evening since we were away all weekend. :)

Josh and I hit the road at 8:00 Saturday morning and headed into Buffalo for some weekend shopping fun. Well, fun for me at least. We started off at the Galleria Mall which we got to around 10:30 and I bought a couple sweaters, and some shoes for my mom. She had them in another colour but they didn't have her size the last time she was in, so I picked up two pairs for her.

After that we went to lunch at Applebees, and I had an oriental chicken salad. Yum! It's the one thing I really enjoy on their menu. (I can hear you saying, "yeah right, who enjoys salad?" But it IS really good.)

Then we went to Stein Mart where I got another sweater and a leather wallet. Josh noticed that there was a liquor store next door so we got 4 bottles of this. We acquired the taste for it when we last went to Buffalo to meet up with Nic and Tim. It's got a nice little kick on it.

We then headed over to Eastern Hills Mall where I purchased (yet another) sweater. I'm sorry people, but you can't beat buying a sweater for $12 or $13 at Macy's. ;)

Josh and I were kind of tired so we went back to the hotel (more on that later) to relax a little. We wanted to go here for dinner, but their location was closed. Grrr. So we settled on this restaurant instead. I've gone there before, it wasn't bad, but it certainly can't compare to the other.

I sent Josh over to put our names in for a seat and told him I'd be back in a few minutes. I went back to B&B and bought some more shower gels (I think my new favourite scent is pink grapefruit) and a bathrobe.

After dinner we walked around the mall, when I suddenly remembered we needed one of these. Yes, we're wild and crazy people...

Then we decided to go to Mrs. Field's and get four chocolate chip cookies to celebrate our four month LIDiversary. Not exactly a good combination though, sake and chocolate chip cookies...

We then headed back to the hotel, when all of a sudden we heard what can only be described as a herd of elephants bowling upstairs. It went on for about 20 minutes, so I had Josh call the front desk to complain. They said they would call the room and tell them to quiet down.

It was quiet for a few minutes and then it started up again. We waited another 20 minutes, and again, Josh called down to the front desk. This time they said they were going to send someone up to talk to them.

It was quiet for a bit, then the noise started again. This time I called down to the front desk and I was told "Yes, we know about the noise and I believe there are about 12 police officers on the floor attending to the problem." I asked what happened and they said "We believe there are some underage people in the room." I told the clerk that I wanted them to do something for us with regards to the bill. She asked what I'd like, and I said "I'll let you ponder that overnight and come up with a solution when we check out in the morning."

I told all of this to Josh and he didn't believe there were 12 police officers on that floor, so we decided to go up and check things out. We can't confirm or deny if there were, in fact, 12 up there, but we did see 4 standing outside the room. ;)

I decided that we should probably talk to the desk clerk and manager then, just in case they weren't working in the morning. Well, guess what? They comped the bill for us. That's right. We got our hotel stay paid for because of those arses upstairs. Woo!

We went back upstairs and settled in for the night, since we were going to go out for breakfast with Nic and Tim!

We got to the restaurant early and waited for them, but unfortunately Tim couldn't make it since he had to take care of Ginger. But we had a lovely time with Nic and our pancakes. ;)

Lots of adoption talk (what else?) and talked to a couple sitting next to us who were considering adoption as well. What a small, weird world. When Nic said that we were adopting, the couple at first thought she meant her and I, but we ended up clarifying that. It was a cute misunderstanding.

After breakfast we headed back on the road and had an interesting drive home. It started out with rain in Williamsville, progressed to freezing rain in Buffalo (proper), and then near white-out conditions as we got to Hamilton. It was NOT a fun drive home...but we made it (and Nic made it home safely as well.) :)

Fourth down and Buffalo has the ball...

So today is our four month LIDiversary. Yup, we're logged in four months. We got an email from our agency yesterday confirming what I pretty much already knew or assumed. The wait has officially grown to 24 months, with a big question mark hanging over the Olympics. We still don't know what's going to happen with that, but whatever. There's nothing we can do about the wait, but wait. So wait we shall...

Josh and I are heading into Buffalo this weekend for shoppy fun (though he doesn't see it that way...MEN) and fun with Nic and Tim, I think at this point it's only going to be for breakfast on Sunday.

7000?!

Well it seems that I've gotten my 7000th hit, or will have it by the time I hit "Publish Post". So that means that since December 29th I've gotten 1000 hits - TWO WEEKS! Is my life really *that* exciting? ;)

I'd like to thank all the little people...

Sushi pizza

Ok, Kathy, are you drooling yet? A few of you asked in a previous post what sushi pizza is, well a picture's worth a thousand words.

Actually, this is the only picture that I found of sushi pizza. The one that Josh and I went out for looked A LOT better than that and it was oriented differently. I'm not actually enamoured with this picture, it makes it look, well, kind of messy.

Basically what it is, is grilled rice with a bit of sweetness and a little bit of a wasabi kick. On top of the rice is a tiny pat of wasabi, topped with avacado, then a HUGE piece of salmon (the salmon pieces were so long and thick that they hang over the edges of the rice), and then salmon roe on top. Josh had the salmon and tuna pizza. I'm really not a fan of the taste of tuna sushi, but he loves it.

We went to Ichiban Sushi (there are about 20 locations all around Toronto, plus there are more opening this year). We sat down and they served green tea and beans, then miso soup...Mmmm.

Anyways, you get 6 pieces and it's $9.95 (the tuna sushi pizza is $12.95), it's considered an appetizer, but the pieces are so large, we couldn't eat anything after that. Though sometimes, Josh indulges in a spicy tuna handroll in addition to that.

Anyways, when the bill came, it was $26.10 and for those of you that read my blog regularly know that I'm collecting loonies and toonies, so I handed him $40.10 and asked for loonies and toonies in the change. He came back with $23.90 in change. Oops. :P Gotta love paying $16.10 instead...

(Some of you think that the picture is what we had last night, it's not...it's just a picture I found online - for illustration. But next time I might take a picture of it. I wonder what kind of strange looks I'd get in the restaurant though.) ;)

Will wonders never cease?

I actually found a GOOD article written on Chinese adoption and the new restrictions. It actually has *gasp* sources and *gasp* interviews with agency reps! Now if only Paula Zahn could have read that... :P

Enjoy.

Not again! ***UPDATE***

Paula Yawn, err Zahn, is going to have yet another show on Chinese adoption tonight. I'll post when it's over. I have the feeling that one of you is going to have to hold my hair by the end of it...

***Well instead of watching the show I watched Grey's Anatomy instead. I'll rewind the tape and let you all know how g-d awful it really was...

So, the piece was short, sweet and to the point. Since Paula Zahn didn't present the piece and didn't talk before or after (to any degree), I didn't need a bucket. I just sincerely hope that they drop their 'angle' about how unfair the rules are. Yes, some of them may seem unfair, but nobody can do anything about it. China makes the rules, America does not.

Anyways, enough of PZ and her babblings...

Josh and I went out for sushi pizza tonight! It was SO good (drooling yet, Kathy?)! One of these days we're going to have to get together with the hubbies and gorge on (err, daintily eat) sushi. ;)

Oh, and bonus points for the hubby...yesterday he came home with a dozen pink roses. For...no...reason...at...all. Isn't that the best?***

To delurk or not delurk...***UPDATE***

According to Michele, it's National Delurking Week, so I challenge all of you to 'delurk' and post a comment. Come on people, I know you can...

***Do I have to shake you all out of the lurker tree by force? :P

I'll do it, too!***

Alphabet soup...

A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: Definitely Josh
C - Cake or Pie: Cake! I loooooves the cake! (Little Britain reference, if none of you have seen it or know about it...think Monty Python but a few cuts below) ;)
D - Drink of Choice: It depends, but I'd generally go with an Iced Cappucino from Tim Horton's
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday: Umm, toilet?
F - Favourite Colour: Blue, or as Josh would say "Blue, Phil Collins". You see when we had our first date, I was rather shy (hell, I still am) and he was trying to get me to talk, and pretty much all I said on our first date was, well, that. You had to be there. :P
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Ewwww. I was never a fan of either, so I'll go with cake. Hey, it's MY list, I can choose what I want.
H - Hometown: Toronto
I - Indulgence: Chocolate cake...do you sense a theme?
J - January or February: Can I say neither? Though I'm partial to whichever one has more snow, which sadly seems lacking this winter.
K - Kids and Names: Yes, please. We have a name set aside for her, but we're not telling you, so NYAH!
L - Life Incomplete Without: Family, Deuce (but he's part of the family anyways) and of course "Little Maple"...even though she isn't a reality yet, I feel incomplete without her, at times it becomes palpable.
M - Marriage Date: August 5, 1996.
N - Number of Siblings: 1 older brother...HI UGLY!
O - Oranges or Apples: Terry's chocolate oranges...yum!
P - Phobias or Fears: Clowns, but I think mine is a different reason than Connie's. When I was growing up, my brother HI AGAIN, UGLY, forced me to watch Poltergeist. If you remember the movie, you'll remember the scene in question. It wasn't helped by the fact that I had a needlepoint hanging of a clown in my room at the time. Let's just say I spent a LONG time checking under my bed before I went to sleep every night. :P
Q - Favourite Quote: I don't really have a favourite.
R - Reason to Smile: We're almost logged in for four months, we only have another 7,999,996 to go! Gotta look at the glass .01% full. ;)
S - Season: Current season? Winter. Favourite season? Summer (but not when it's too hot to breath).
T - Tag 3 People: Heather because she has no time and I'm in a mean mood ;), Spitgirl (but I won't post her blog address since I don't know if she'd want me to) and Nicole, but she's currently in Mississippi building houses (she better get back soon, I miss her). :P If anyone else wants to do this, leave me a comment and I'll check yours out. :)
U - Unknown Fact About Me: If I mentioned it, it wouldn't be unknown, and I like being a 'woman of mystery'.
V - Veggie You Don't Like: Any not covered in chocolate? Seriously though, brussel sprouts and radishes...gah.
W - Worst Habit: Spending way too much time on the computer.
X - X-rays: No thanks, but I have had them on my teeth, ankles, and probably others that I can't think of right now.
Y - Your Favourite Food: Sushi (but I'm partial to salmon, I'm not a big fan of tuna sushi...it tastes funky to me), and Ethiopian food.
Z - Zodiac: Virgo

Pass the salt...

because I'm prepared to eat my hat.

So Paula Zahn did a follow-up piece to Friday's train wreck of a round table discussion on Chinese adoption. She mentioned that she got 'thousands' of emails from viewers, I'd say so with how offensive that show was. Though she again mentioned, or at least implied, that you can only adopt if you're "rich, good looking or thin". I'm sorry, but that's not true. You have to have X amount of money, yes, but looks has nothing to do with it, puh-lease! You have to be under 40 on the BMI scale, you don't have to be thin, you just can't be (what's defined as) morbidly obese. I wish she would just speak from facts and not try to make things sound 'fascinating', or make a story up that just doesn't exist.

Was it just me or did she seem really nervous when she was talking? She stumbled over her words a few times and seemed to take a few pauses to collect herself. I wonder if she was given a stern talk by her superiors, because I've never seen her lacking composure before.

I was glad to see that she apologized for the piece and if 'feelings were hurt'. I was also glad that Cenk Uygur apologized as well, and basically said that he was out and out WRONG for the things he said and that he made light of such a serious topic.

I wished that Roland Martin would have taken the blame for his offensive remarks though. But I guess I can't ask for too much, can I?

Overall, it was a better discussion, hey, it couldn't have been worse, right? However, it could have gone further and deeper. I guess they did as good a job on the topic (with their heads up their arses) as CNN is capable of doing. I think I feel a little bit better than I did on Friday night, but that's not saying much.

I might add that David Youtz handled himself *extremely* well and he's my hero. :)

Did she listen?

Apparently, on Paula Zahn's show tonight (CNN at 8pm e.s.t.), she's going to do a follow-up on Friday night's debacle. I'm going to tape it and see what happens, I don't think I'll be holding my breath for much of a retraction though...

By the way, if you want your blog listed on my blogroll, either leave me a comment or send me an email with your blog's address and LID.

You know what? I'm still angry ***UPDATE***

This started off as a comment on Heather's blog, but it got too long so I decided to not leave it there and turn it into a rambling post instead.

I was so utterly livid after watching that show (twice), I literally couldn't see straight, and I still am.

I watched it once alone, staring at the TV like the RCA dog (you know the look), and then again when Josh came home. I ended up pausing the show after every dumb comment so we could discuss it, which believe me, took an eternity to view.

It's amazing how many hits my little blog had after my post about it. I had 130+ hits on Friday night and 150+ on Saturday. I think the controversy is dying down a bit, or at least the 'looky loos' have stopped popping in, because my hit counter is back to normal now. I just wished that some of the people who had viewed my blog for the first time would have left comments, so they could have aired their views as well.

I always like reading comments, it makes the blog seem a little more 'worthwhile'. I'm not saying that it isn't worthwhile if there are no comments, but it's just a nice value added. :)

I probably won't be home tomorrow night to see Paula Zahn, not that I'd go out of my way anyways, but I want to see if she'll make any kind of retraction (but I won't hold my breath).

I talked to my friend E (aka "Spitgirl") about the show and told her about the controversy and she said she might write a post about it. Hopefully if she has time, she'll post.

Anyways, on to happier things...

Yesterday I went to my nephew, Z's birthday party! Yes, there was a family party on Tuesday, but yesterday's was for his friends and classmates. It was at a kiddie play place (I won't divulge the name of it), but he seemed to have a great time. There was lots of food, fun and he was SO happy!

I've been migraine-y all weekend, so being at the party was a bit painful (head-wise), especially when the cake came out. Hearing a bunch of kiddies scream, err sing, Happy Birthday was rather...ouchy, and that combined with the strobe lights, well, let's just say I had my eyes closed throughout that. ;) But I'm just glad I was there, migraine or not.

I talked to my mom (who thankfully missed the Paula Zahn show) and a friend of hers, B, about what happened. The look of shock and awe on their face was palpable. My mom and B listened intently about all the unbelievable things that were said and just shook their heads by the end of it. I told my mom that I have it on tape, but she said she'd probably be too pissed off to watch it. She's coming over next weekend, so we might sit down and watch it then.

Perhaps by then, I'll have calmed down...

***I don't normally point out comments that I get on the blog like this, but I just looked at the comments and saw a very thoughtful one from someone named Aorijia in Spain. Take a moment and look at it, it's nice to see that people who aren't even in the adoption process are taking an active interest in this controversy, and sharing it with others.***

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...***UPDATE***

Have you ever heard the phrase "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"? My understanding is that if something isn't very good to start with, there isn't much you can do to improve it, but I'm going to try to disprove that.

Now before you continue reading this, put all your frustration and anger aside for a moment or two, because I am just as frustrated and angry as you all are.

If we consider that Paula Zahn's show is the aforementioned "sow's ear", there couldn't possibly be any way I could turn it into a "silk purse", right? Wrong.

There is something positive to be gleaned from this debacle, believe it or not. It has united the adoption community like never before. Everyone is equally, and rightfully so, angry and moved to do something about what we all saw, heard about or read on Friday night, this is the "silk purse". This is the positive spin that I see. We can write about this on our blogs, and we can write letters to CNN.

Unlike before this show where, at times, I had felt that we were alone in our adoption process, now I feel part of a bigger "family". Now I don't know if any of this will help the situation or change the minds of the 'bigwigs' at CNN, but it's a start. Unfortunately it feels like it's going to an uphill battle for all of us and our children, but at least we can attack that hill together.

***I just wanted to thank you all for the supportive comments and emails I've been getting. For the last couple of days when I'd normally have 50 hits to the blog, I'm now getting 130-150. I know everyone doesn't have time to comment on posts everyday, but for those that do, thank you. Plus, it's always nice to find new blogs. ;)***

Paula Zahn on Adoption ***UPDATE***

Let me start off by saying that I rarely rant on here for various reasons, but this time I feel that I must. I just saw the episode of Paula Zahn's show this evening and they discussed the new restrictions on adoption. I went into watching the show with an open mind and wanted to hear her take on the situation. I thought, perhaps, she would have an interesting viewpoint on the topic, since she's running a series on "Racism in America".

Wow, am I sorry I watched it.

It started off fair enough, talking about the restrictions, but when she was talking to an advocate for an obesity group (I forget the name of the group, but suffice it to say she was their advocate), things went downhill QUICKLY.

This woman went on about how unfair it is for morbidly obese people to be singled out, which I'm not going to come down on one way or the other. The rules are what the rules are, and we can't change them. Then she went on to talk about how agencies cannot discriminate about who they take on as clients and that she sees this as a problem for some agencies.

The advocate mentioned that agencies, specifically in San Francisco, cannot discriminate against people for any reason and that she sees this as unethical when dealing with Chinese adoption. She's basically saying that it's unethical for the San Francisco agencies to deny morbidly obese clients just because they are morbidly obese. I would take the other side of the argument, it would be unethical of the agencies to TAKE ON obese clients when the agencies know full well what the rules are.

Then things went from bad to worse.

Paula Zahn had a roundtable discussion about "why China?" and some of the comments that came out of these people's mouths had me gasping. They didn't discuss the real reasons for "why China?" (ie., the problems with domestic adoptions, etc.) Like I said, I don't really want to rant and rave about this.

Anyways, then some of her guests were making some of the most racist remarks:

"Oh, people want to adopt from China because they want a little "China doll" and she'll be well-behaved"

People are adopting from China because they want a child who will "be good in math"

They're adopting because "they'll eventually own their own store"

I find it interesting that she had NO representation from any domestic or international adoption agencies. Of course she wouldn't that would make for BALANCED journalism (and that's something that CNN is simply not known for).

WTF?! I couldn't believe the stuff that was coming out of their mouths...and this was supposed to be a discussion of "Racism in America".

Paula Zahn, take a LONG, HARD look in the mirror.

If you have an opinion on this, and I'm sure you all do, please leave comments below. I allow anonymous comments, so if you want to leave something and you're shy or whatever, feel free.

I think I'm going to go sit in the corner and have a time-out!

***If you want to see the full transcript of tonight's show, click here, it's about 2/3 of the way down the page.***

Famous last #*&$#*@ words...***UPDATE***

Well the saga continues...

I'm off to the dentist at 11:40 this morning. I woke up with some pressure behind the right front crown.

***So I got to my appointment on time, but the dentist was running behind and didn't end up seeing me until 12:20. I sat in the chair for about two minutes while he filed down the crown I told him while I was sitting there that it still doesn't feel right. He said if I have any other discomfort it should disappear in a day or two. We'll see...it's still feeling weird to the touch (not that I make it a habit of sticking my fingers in my mouth, but you know what I mean).***

Halle-freaking-lujah!

I went to the dentist this morning for my FINAL appointment for my two crowns. It feels like this saga has been ongoing for months, rather than a measly few weeks. Believe me, as much of a chocaholic as I am, eating that much pudding (and other 'soft' food) is NOT fun in large quantities. Did I really just say that?!

Anyways, I got to the appointment for 10:00 and got two shots of freezing. Before he did any work, I asked him if there was any additional charge because I had to come back a fourth time (because of their screw-up), and he told me 'no, my job is to keep you happy.' gotta love that!

The dentist took out the temporary crowns and put in the permanent ones, but didn't cement them in place, as I had to go to the 'colourist' and have them hand painted. The dentist sent me on my way to the colourist who was a block and a half away, and told me to walk with my mouth closed as the crowns weren't in securely(since the colourist would have to manipulate them) and they may fall out.

I got to the colourist's office and he took out an artist's palette and started painting my crowns. It took him a good 20 minutes to get the colour 'just right', he had to find the right shades and then commented that he had to find the right shade of grey. GREY?! While I don't have the brightest white teeth out there, they certainly aren't GREY!

After he got the colour right, he sent me on my way and told me to go do something for an hour and a half while he baked and dried my teeth. You don't know how disturbing that sounds...though I can't say it's really all that pleasant for those of you reading this. :P

So what's a girl to do with an hour and a half on her hands, a credit card and a nice big mall across the street?! I'll give you a moment to ponder this...

I wandered around the mall, went into a few stores, but since my mouth was still frozen I didn't really feel like dealing with store clerks, so I went into HMV and bought some CDs. I guess I have eclectic tastes, I bought The Beatles "Love", Feist "Open Season" and Gordon Lightfoot "Complete Greatest Hits". Come on, what Canadian doesn't (at least) like Gordon Lightfoot?!

Anyways, before I knew it, the time passed. I went to the dentist's office and, of course, I started getting a migraine...not fun. Regardless, he had to put the crowns in permanently. I'll be damned if I was going to come back again. He gave me a couple more shots of freezing, woo...

He popped the crowns in, cemented them in place, and voila! I told him that I had a bit of a gritty feeling on the roof of my mouth and he told me to go to the washroom and use some Scope, swish it around and spit it out. Easier said than done.

Keep in mind that my mouth was completely frozen. I put the cup of Scope up to my mouth, closed my mouth, attempted to swish it and it all dribbled down my chin. Thankfully I was standing right over the sink or I would have been wearing it. That was NOT my shining moment. :P

After that I paid the freaking bill, just under $2200...blah, but at least it's done.

By the way, tomorrow night on "Paula Zahn Now" at 8pm on CNN, she's devoting some time to discuss Chinese adoption and the new regulations. I don't imagine that she's going to say anything we don't know...this is more of a head's up. ;)

Dipping my toe in...

Before I get into my rant, I wanted to mention my update on how the loonie/toonie jar is going. I went to the bank this morning and deposited December's contribution in the "Little Maple" account, plus the amount that Josh and I agreed to add in each month. So far, so good. :)

Now for my rant, and let me preface it by saying I am NOT a naive person. I know that anything written online, whether it's a blog or not, is within the 'public' sphere and is fair game.

This morning, as usual, I looked at statcounter.com (since I like to see how people find my blog) and I noticed about half a dozen links to a site called chinaadoptionsites.com so I went to take a look. The site was just a list of blog links and LID dates. There was no other information offered at the time. I thought it was a bit strange so I eventually emailed the owner of the site to find out what was up.

Now I don't have a problem with my blog being 'out there', but what I do have a problem with is people taking my blog address and LID date and posting it on a disparate site where there's no information about the person posting. Perhaps I got a little paranoid or 'weirded out' about it, but I think it was justified at the time.

This isn't to mean that I want anyone taking my blog and LID off their blogroll, I'm fine with that because more or less I follow along with their blog as well.

Anyways, after a few more email exchanges with this person it came out that she didn't realize that she was doing anything wrong (and technically she isn't), it was just a bit of a jolt to see everything splayed out there.

Since this morning she has taken my blog off her site and has added a preamble about how she didn't mean any harm, and I believe she's sincere, but perhaps she was a bit unaware of how people would react to such a site.

Everyone has their own opinion about online 'security' and 'privacy' and I'm sure I've ruffled some feathers with this post, which was not my intention.

Happy birthday times two!

Today is my sweet nephew Z's birthday, who's turning six years old. I can't believe he's six already! It seems like just yesterday I was in a cab rushing to the hospital waiting his arrival...

We're all going out for dinner tonight to celebrate. I can't wait to see him, he always cracks me up when we get together. We got him a nifty little helicopter as a present which I think he's going to go gaga over, or at least I hope he does. ;)

It's also Nicole's birthday as well! She's really anything but 'wicked' though she does have an 'evil' sense of humour. ;)

Go to her blog and wish her a happy birthday! I hope everything comes her way this year and it's the best one ever!

Happy New Year!

Here's to hoping that everyone has a happy, safe, and wonderful new year and that 2007 brings us all closer to our children.