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.