It must be getting close, I've started listing

Some people nest, I make lists. This last referral round lit a fire under me and I've been a blur of motion ever since. I've been working on my China "To Pack/To Do" list like a rabid squirrel. Polishing here, gnawing off a bit there, moving and removing the best items, hiding columns, gathering more info, doublechecking what I've got so far, frantically glancing around to see what other people are doing... And it's paying off. The list is now a shining thing of beauty. TubaDad thinks it's a little absurd, frankly. Although he's outwardly very supportive of the crazy lady he's living with, he really doesn't understand why he can't just pack the night before. (wild eyeball rolling) That's ok though, luckily I had the foresight to write down "finish packing 2 weeks in advance." And he knows better than to argue with The List. So far I've made trips to Target and Long's and you can not even believe how satisfying they were. I loaded up on silly things like disposable bibs, baby drugs, bowls with lids, and a whole bunch of other Very Important Stuff that is crucial for traveling. And I giggled and laughed and smiled at everyone in the store. I'm organizing it all in my horrendous unique ladybug suitcase, which makes me laugh even more. By the way, this suitcase is so cheap I don't even know if it'll make it to China in one piece. So if you're traveling with me and you're bringing duct tape, can I borrow a little? (It didn't make the cut on my list) Alrighty, off to go reformat my list a little more. I'm thinking that the medical column should be highlighted in red instead of yellow, and I'm not sure whether the laundry soap should be listed under equipment or clothing. I'm clearly going to have spend a lot more time on this after the holiday. Woohoo! Hope everyone has a great 4th of July.

Ooey gooey referral goodness (32 referrals)

Ok, I'm having trouble concentrating on anything other than the fact that if the CCAA matches 16 days of LIDs next month we will be parents (!!!). But I will attempt to control myself and focus. Focusing, breathing, focusing, arrr, lost it! Oh well, even while spacey and twitterpated I can present all the wonderfully lucky people who were matched with their children this month. Congratulations to: 1 Our Journey to bring Ana Home: Ana, 16 mos, Guangdong province 2. Gabriella Joyce: Gabriella, 7 mos, Chongqing province 3. Bringing Maura Home*: Maura, 8 mos, Guangdong province 4. Journey to Maliah*: Maliah, 7 mos, Guangdong province 5. EmmaBug: Emma, 8 mos, Guangdong province 6. Our Journey to Emma Gale: Emma, 9 mos, Guangdong province 7. Libby Song Foote*: Libby, 7 mos, Guangdong province 8. Here We Grow Again*: Chen Yi Qiao, 7 mos, Hunan province 9. Kolaina's Blog: Liu Kang Ge, 10 mos, Jiangxi province 10. Maggie's Red Thread: Lian Si Qi, 9 mos, Guandong province 11. Our Journey of Love: Mia, 8 mos, Chongqing province 12. Twoladybugs: Olivia, 7 mos, Guangdong province 13. Emerson Ying Rose: Emerson, 9 mos, Jiangxi province 14. Rilyn Rose Petinga*: Rilyn, 10 mos, Jiangxi province 15. Our Red Thread Journey: Teresa, 9 mos, Jiangxi province 16. Amity's Home Page*: Amity, Hunan province 17. Awaiting Ling Ling*: Muriel, 6 mos, Guangdong province 18. Journey to Grace Elizabeth*: Grace, 6 mos, Fujian province 19. Seeking B.S. in China: Yang Fu Li, 7 mos, Chong Qing province 20. Baby Tronnes: Ba Hui Cai, 8 mos, Hunan province 21. China Travel Journal: Olivia, 8 mos, Hunan province 22. Our Amazing Journey to Olivia*: Olivia, no other info yet 23. Our China Adoption Story: Lily, 6 mos, Guangdong province 24. Journey to Klaire Julianna: Klaire, 8 mos, Guangdong province 25. Where there is great love*: Agatha, 6 mos, Jiangxi province 26. A family formed by love: Madison, 9 mos, Chongqing province 27. 3 boys and 1 ladybug*: Tatumn, 8 mos, Hunan province 28. PiperSzabo: Piper, 6 mos, Jiangxi province 29. Papasam: Chloe, 9 mos, Jiangxi province 30. Our Emma Adventure: Emma, 7 mos, Guangdong province 31. A Family for Ruby: Ruby, 9 mos, Guangdong province 32. Piper Files: Piper, 6mos, Jiangxi province Caution: sites marked with asterisks automatically play music. If you know of any more web sites, please email me. (address in sidebar at right). Referral Statistics for this Group: - Login dates (LIDs) from June 16 through June 28 - 13 days worth of LIDs - Average wait time of 12.3 months from login to referral. (click chart for larger image) - Two of the powerhouse agencies received double the number of referrals that they did last month! I'll get the numbers from the rest of the agencies I track and then update the average # of referrals column. Best wishes to all the happy parents! And hang on to your hats for the wild ride to next month's referrals which will hopefully be All of July in July!

Barbie's a little party girl!

Still valiantly holding back from shopping until we get a referral and finally know girl or boy, one or two, 12 pounds or 26 pounds. EXCEPT... there was this one thing on Amazon that I couldn't resist. They have a section for sale items that are $5 (!), and once I saw the Barbie Cali Girl Luau Playset it had to be mine (uh, I mean Funshine's). Can you blame me?! That Barbie knows how to throw a good party. Did you see that the bbq spit actually turns? And they included a tiny little blender along with coconut shell drink glasses*? And a huge cake? Dang, they really got all the details right on this one. Please don't feel the need to flame me about obstructed airways because Barbie's tiny pina coloda glass could be accidentally ingested by my 1-year-old. I know this is for older kids. And I know it won't be perfect if Funshine has an adam's apple (unless GI Joe wants to come to a rockin' good party!). And I don't care. I grin everytime I walk past this box 'o fun and that's good enough for me. * I'm sure Barbie's over 21, but the folks at Mattel make sure they address any issues by saying on the box that Barbie and her pals are enjoying "yummy smoothies"! God I love marketing.

CCAA has sent out the June referrals!

In case you don't ever check the Salsa Rumor Alerts in the sidebar at the right, the new info is there and you can click to view all the latest details including the updated referral tracking chart. Whoohoooooo, good progress this time around!

Life is short -- eat a damn donut!

Although we're by NO means health nuts, we do usually* have a pretty benign breakfast. But today was an exception. According to our timer it's been 500 days since we started this adoption process and by golly we weren't going to let that miserable auspicious number go past without giving it the bird honoring it. So I woke up at the crack of dawn (ok, ok, it was more like 8am), snuck out of the house, and got supplies for a perfect breakfast in bed to wake up TubaDad with. He was pretty happy to see this tray when he opened his eyes ---} Then it was off to 2-year-old William's fun bday in the park, home for a quick nap (me) and a little golf (TubaDad), then out to a fancy pants celebratory dinner. Ahhh, a good day afterall. Take THAT 500 days - you can't beat us down! * I realized as I was typing this that brownies for breakfast would also fall into the "not so good for you" category, wouldn't they? Oh, and I guess Christmas cookies for breakfast would too, right? Oh well, whatever. So we eat crap for breakfast, it's not like we lied on an adoption form by checking the box saying "always eats healthy food" or anything like that.

Who knew?

Was talking with a good friend on the phone last night (hi honey!) and realized midway through the conversation that adoption has now become a part of her life too, in a weird way because of us. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean, but I'll give it a shot. When TubaDad and I decided to adopt, we thought we were the main people impacted by that decision. It sounds naive now, looking back with the hindsight of, uh, (checking my countdown clock) 496 days in this process. But we truly thought it would be just the same to our friends and family as if we had announced we were pregnant. Ha ha ha, so wrong... What happened instead was that as TubaDad and I learned about mindboggling things like adoption, China, the INS, DTCs and LIDs, referral processes and timelines, and acceptable adoption language, our friends and family learned about them too. It's like when we picked this path, we unknowingly enrolled everyone around us in Adoption 101. And I never would have guessed that going in. Some of them asked really thoughtful questions, some read this blog or other blogs, some agonized over the referral cutoffs with us each month, some joined Yahoo adoption groups, some read books about adoption, some made sure we got plenty of "kid time" with their cuties so we'd get used to different ages and stages, some called just to see if we needed any help or to share a fun joke or story. It's not over yet, but to all of our friends and family -- thank you for going through this with us. We appreciate every single thing you've done to learn about adoption and our process or to keep us sane during the wait. I can't wait to get to the end of this whole experience (see how optimistic I am this week actually talking about "the end"?!) and call to tell you about our child.

Livin' the high life

Overheard late last night at our house: Me: Hey, I set up that new inflatable pool today and Risa and the kids came over and loved it! TubaDad: Mmm. (ignoring me and playing with the 800-button universal tv remote) Me: It's the best twenty bucks I ever spent. You hook the hose up to it and it makes a little fountain the whole time they're in it. TubaDad: Ahh. (still intently focusing on the remote) Me: (yawning) Well, g'night... Oh shoot, I have to move the pool off the lawn before I go to bed! TubaDad: (suddenly alert and snickering) Honey that sounded a little redneck. *************************************** Special Event Notice: If you're in Santa Clara County tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) and want to see some cool antique cars, drop by the finish line of the 200-mile Speedster Endurance Run. My little bro and Dad (seen here in "Sublime") will be driving in it, and TubaDad and I will be working the finish line. (You can't miss me, I'll be the one in the haute couture orange highway worker vest.) The cars will be coming in around 2:30pm, and it's at 505 Laurelwood Rd, Santa Clara. Great fun for kids and adults. No admission charge, just park anywhere along the cross street called Woodward.

My 3 favorite things (this week)

1. I defy you to watch this talking pug doggie without laughing: Damn! Now THAT's good tv. I was a little worried that nothing could top American Idol. I stand corrected. Shannon, we're all waiting for the video of Ike and Kea where they say "Back atcha honey." 2. Loving this book (from my dear friend Friea) called The Three Martini Playdate. Here are a few of the catchy chapter titles: - Bedtime: Is Five-thirty Too Early? - The Childproof House: How to Know if You've Gone Too Far. - "Children's Music": Why? Here's a quotelet from the first chapter: "Let us be perfectly frank. You were here first. You are sharing your house with them, your food, your time, your books. Somewhere, in fairly recent memory, we have lost sight of that fact." Heh. Funny book, sure, but it has a few gems of wisdom in there too. 3. And, lastly, could these margarita flower arrangements be any cooler?! I grin just looking at the pictures of them. Ok, what are your favorite things this week? With links, please - my credit card hand needs a little exercise.

Doing the happy dance (no, not for *that* reason)

Happy, happy, joy, joy, TubaDad's new tuba arrived yesterday! He could barely stand to go to work today and leave it home all alone. It's big, and shiny, and, uh, well it looks kinda like the old tuba if you ask me. But he's thrilled and that's what counts. It came in a body-sized box. Seriously. I could fit in there with at least one skinny friend or two hefty cats. Tried to make a music video but our real video camera had a dead battery (as usual) so I made do with the faux-video setting on my little snapshot camera. The sound is kinda buzzy and the picture is stretched all funky wide, but here you go (apologies in advance for my horrendous videographer skills - I promise I will get this figured out before China). The second song on there is for the kiddos, see if they can tell what it is: Oh, that reminds me, we were talking about my laughably low tolerance for high-pitched noises, and decided we should make a list of instruments our kiddo will be banned from playing. Yep, banned. Aren't we harsh? At the top of the "don't make mommy's ears bleed" list we have flute, piccolo (shudder), trumpet, and violin. Instruments that would be welcomed in our happy little home: tuba, cello, guitar, piano. There were a bunch more on both lists, but that's enough to give you a taste of our dictatorial plans. Mwa ha ha! So... any odd items/practices banned from your home?

We were in hog heaven

We're back home and it's bloggin' time. So here's a quick post and then I've got to catch up on everything you all did while were were living it up in Texas. It was the ROT (Republic of Texas) biker rally in Austin, and you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a tough-looking Harley biker in leather or tie dye. They were in our hotel, in every restaurant, all over the roads. It was a crack up! The fabulous part was when we went downtown for icecream and saw the bikers parading up one end of 6th street and the Austin gay pride parade coming down the other end. Wow, that could have been ugly. Nothing happened though (as far as I know). It was so great to spend time with our family in Texas. On the last day, little Sarah looked around, smiled, and said (in her adorable teeny voice): "Our whole family is here." Couldn't have said it better myself. We did indeed eat our way through the state. Thanks for all your great suggestions for Mexican food, Bluebell & Amy's ice cream, catfish Po' Boys, and -- of course -- barbeque! We loved the Rudy's BBQ, which is served at a gas station (seriously). If you live nearby and don't go try some of their extra moist brisket, well you're just plain crazy. A big highlight of the trip was sharing drinks and stories with a cool Texas blogger and his friendly family. Before you peek at the link, anyone recognize the guy mugging it up in this picture with the huge plate of food? The plane ride home was pretty uneventful this time. I kept a tight grip on my M&Ms, and we restrained ourselves from "educating" the yokels who kept yanking our seat backs to heave themselves out of their seats. The last leg we sat next to a cute little girl traveling with her mom. At one point she looked right at us then said "Mommy? How come some people don't bring their little kids on the plane?" I couldn't help laughing a little to myself. We're trying honey. We're trying...

Happy hour in Austin?

Hey y'all! For those who are curious, we're in Austin. And don't feel bad that you didn't hear about the trip ahead of time -- we're just last-minute-vacation kind of people. Shoot, my own mother didn't hear about our plans until a few hours before we left. At least I think we told her about it... We're going to be celebrating happy hour at the Hula Hut Saturday evening from 4:30 to 6:30 if anyone wants to come on by, have a drink, and laugh at what we look like without Photoshop touchups. Heh. We'd love to see some friendly faces! If you're interested, please leave a comment or send me an email so we know how many chairs to hoarde. PS: We had Mexican food 3 times today and chocolate 4 or 5 times, by the way. Ahhhh, now we're talkin'! PSPS: I have this horrible leftover shy-girl fear from junior-high that I'm going to publish this and not hear from a single person. So even if you can't make it to Happy Hour, please leave a comment saying "hi" or giving suggestions for your favorite taco joint or telling me the weather in your area or something. Anything so I don't feel like a loser. Yikes, ok, I'm going to hit "publish" now... Cringing...

Do They Have Salsa in Texas?

We've been Texas for 16 hours and haven't had any Mexican food yet!!! The plane ride was quite eventful. Here's a snapshot of why we will NOT be traveling coach to China. A windshield wiper on the plane needed some maintenance so we were delayed (held captive?) for 2 hours while they fixed it. And, the BIG tragedy -- I dropped our bag of supersize M&M's right before takeoff and lost nearly half of them. It's ok, I soldiered on. (It helped that TubaDad looked at me with huge wide eyes and immediately said "I don't need any." Whew. Love him!) OK, any bets on how many times we'll have Mexican food today to make up for yesterday?