STICK A FORK IN ME,

I'M DONE

With this blog, that is. After 10 months, I really don't have much else to say. I have grown bored with this format and feel that it just takes up way to much of my time. I will still be following along on your adoption blogs (posting under my wordpress name), but will no longer be posting here. I will be keeping up with my other two blogs, which I find are much easier to maintain. Follow me if you like, but I totally understand if my book blog and my craft blog do not make it onto your Bloglines anytime soon.

Thank you all for stopping by, leaving wonderful comments on all of my posts and becoming my on-line buddies. It has been fun.

Happy Halloween!

Greetings from my little vampire!

Laugh a little

Let me just say that I LOVE Tom Brokaw. Having said that, I did enjoy this video which pokes a little fun at him.

Thanks for sending it to me Dad.

High Point

At 1,803 feet above sea level, High Point State Park lives up to its name as the highest point in New Jersey. Earlier on this cold autumn day my parents, Leah and I drove up there to take in the beautiful views.

See that body of water in the upper right hand side of this picture? That is the Delaware Water Gap, which seperates New Jersey from Pennsylvania. OOPS! My Dad called to tell me that it isn't the water gap behind me, but the Delaware River. Sorry about the miss-information. Since you can see three states from on top of High Point the water gap has to be around there somewhere!
Like our hats? You can find out more about my knitting projects on my craft blog here.



Grandma and Leah collecting leaves


Leah and her Grandpa

Three Blogs?

Ok, now I have become one of those crazy blogging people you have heard of (you know the ones glued to their computer when they should be doing laundry/cleaning/sleeping)? It wasn't enough to have a blog chronicling my everyday life, then I had to start one all about reading. And now, for my third installment into the blogging world, I have put together Me So Crafty.

So this is how it works:

Want to know what is going on in the daily lives of Stephanie, Joe and Leah? Check out Forks and Chopsticks.

Interested in discussing books? Click on The Written Word.

What have I been knitting, cooking, sewing or scrapbooking lately. Stop by Me So Crafty to see.

Got it? Good. How long can I keep this up? I have no idea...

You're invited

Let's say you could invite eight bloggers over your house for the weekend. Who would you invite and why?

Kristin - Because really, what's a party without Kristin? Need a good laugh? Just read her blog.
Kim - I would really love to hear the story about her eating poop in Africa. I kid you not.
Johnny - So he can make us one of those HUGE steaks he is always posting pictures of. Oh, and I want to see if he really does dress like a slob.
Viv - First, she seems very cool. Second, she could show me how to use those darn circular knitting needles!
Iliana - Would love to get all her reading recommendations right from the source. How much can one girl read anyway?
Tammy & Katie - already met these two gals, but they were so much fun that I would love to hang with them again!
Joannah - well, she just seems so sweet (and I heard she can sing too).

Picking out just eight was way harder than I thought! Want to play along? Post about who you would invite over to your house. Just leave a comment with a link to your post so we can all read it.

The difference between you and me

My husband received a well deserved award at work today. He then logged onto the company rewards website to see what he had won. They had many different types of gifts to pick from including electronics, luggage, kitchen gadgets and so on.

ME: As my eyes glaze over "Oh, look you can get a gift certificate for an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast."

HIM: As his eyes glaze over "A new sawzall. Just what I've always wanted."

This, my friends, is the difference between the two of us.

Life with a teenager

Johnny asked that I blog about my experience with our foreign exchange student. First, let me tell you how this all came about. About five years ago I had read, in my church bulletin, a blurb about Japanese exchange students needing a place to stay for a month. At the time (before my daughter was born) I thought that it might be an interesting experience. Joe and I contacted the organization and made the arrangements for her arrival.Then September 11th happened and the program was put on hold. End of story.

Fast forward to August 2006. I received a phone call from the same organization telling me that they had a high school student from Japan, already here in New Jersey, who's host family had to back out of their obligation to have her stay with them. When asked if we would be interested in hosting this girl, my initial thought was something along the lines of NO WAY MAN! I already have a four year old at home, why would I want a teenager too?

Then, my conscience started working on me. Here is this girl, who just traveled all the way from Tokyo, and she doesn't even have a place to live. My husband, who is a foreigner himself (having come from Hong Kong when he was a college student) was very interested in having her stay with us, but left the decision pretty much up to me. Five days later a cute, shy, little wisp of a girl stood on my doorstep and we invited her in.

It has been almost two months since she has joined our family. For the most part, it has been a very positive experience. She is a very sweet girl, has a good sense of humor, enjoys watching movies, eats everything I put in front of her, reads Leah stories and is an excellent student (all A's so far, with the exception of a B in History).

Of course, having a complete stranger living at your house takes some getting used to. I now have one more mouth to feed, more laundry to do and I am in the car a whole lot more often than I would like to be. Then there are times like Saturday, when we were able bring her to her first Broadway show. She was so thrilled and appreciative that it makes all the extra laundry worth while.

To be honest, I can't imagine not having her at home with us. She will be staying here until the end of the school year in May and I already I know how much she will be missed. Would it do this again? It is hard to say. I feel that we have been spoiled with having such a nice young girl staying with us and possibly would have the same expectation for the next student. Fair, no - True, maybe.

As a side note, I do have to point out something a little selfish on my part. When deciding to have her stay with us, a little part of my decision was the fact that having someone else at home would help me fill up my time while we endure the long adoption wait. Maybe not the most noble of reasons, but there it is.

Live on Stage

I feel very fortunate to live in close proximity to New York City and take full advantage of it by visiting pretty often. Today was a first for both my daughter Leah and S., our foreign exchange student. No, not visiting the city, but actually enjoying a Broadway show.

Joe and I surprised them with tickets to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast today. It was the perfect fall day to visit the city (temps in the mid 60's) and we lucked out with orchestra seats only twelve rows from the stage. The show took almost three hours (including intermission) and the whole time Leah's eyes were glued to the stage. Donny Osmand was a guest performer playing Gaston and he was great (I also once saw him perform in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat). I have seen many Broadway shows over the years and found that this one is a perfect show to introduce a child to live theater.

Apple

I'm a sucker for apples. Not the mushy kind you buy at the supermarket, but the plump, juicy, wet from a recent rainstorm kind of apple that we picked this morning. Now THAT'S an apple! I just love autumn. Oh and I just love the macro setting on my digital camera - I certainly couldn't have taken a picture of that green apple with my old camera!

October 31st

Just in case you guys are looking for something a little creepy to read during this Halloween time, please grab a copy of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and then stop by my book blog. Discussion questions will be posted early November, so there is still time to join in!

Hope to see you there!

Blogging through the seasons

I just love some of the fun stuff other bloggers come up with!

Anyway, the WAYRN challenge asks us to show our blogging spaces. For the first seven years living in this house my husband and I used this room as our master bedroom. Since my daughter was born we felt a bit more comfortable to be in a room closer (and on the same level) as her. So, here is my office (or studio as we like to call it since this is where Leah works on art projects and I do my graphic design homework) I took this picture a few minutes ago.



Real clean, I know. The room is quite large, with a bench right smack in the middle for kids art projects, some new plastic containers for supplies and a soon to be refurbished desk where I can scrapbook (and maybe sew a little) till my heart's content.




Here is the same spot right after a little snowfall at the beginning of the year.



As you can see in the top photo, I got a new monitor over the summer so blogging is a lot easier on the eyes now. I especially love to sit here in the afternoon when the sunlight streams through the large windows. It really is a nice place to be.

Would you just STOP!

OK, I get that fertility, adoption and parenthood can be touchy subjects. I may chose (or choose - I never get that right) to adopt for different reasons than you do. The way I parent my daughter may be completely different than the way you parent your children. What I don't understand is why we all just can't get along.

I had a really nice e-mail conversation with a fellow blogger this morning. This person confided in me that she didn't want to blog about a particular issue because she was afraid of the backlash from people in the blogosphere. Why does she even have to ask this question?

I started blogging in January as a way to let my family and friends know what is going on in my life. Since then it has turned into so much more. I have enjoyed reading about your life. I love getting comments.I have even found (and met) some new friends through my blog.

But here's the deal. If I don't really like the subject matter of your blog I can do one of two things: Leave nasty comments and bash you on some YAHOO group or shut the friggin computer off. I turn mine off.

So my question is, can't we all play nicely in the sandbox children?

At the Farmers Market

Autumn is by far my most favorite time of year. A few days ago on a slightly cool, sunny afternoon I picked up Leah from her preschool and drove over to our local Farmer's market. We ate our bagged lunch at a picnic table and then had fun pulling around a wagon filled with all sorts of pumpkins. She had so much fun picking out the "perfect" pumpkins, pulling the wagon and feeding the farm animals some carrots. It was a great way to spend an afternoon in Autumn.

Get Human

Tired of calling some 800 number only to have to press thirty numbers just to find out the information that you are looking for? Check out Get Human. It's a database of companies and their telephone numbers and/or codes to get a real live human when calling for customer service. Pretty handy...

Mini-Moopy

Who knew a sewing machine and a little bit of fabric could make me so happy! Check out the mini moopy my mother and I created for Leah. I haven't touched a sewing machine since home ec class in middle school, hence all the help from my mom. You too can make a cute little mini moopy with the pattern found here.



I also made another stuffed animal, which will make a debute on the blog sometime next week.

Lemony goodness

LEMON BLOSSOMS
This recipe makes 5 dozen mini-cupcakes:

Cupcakes:
18 1/2 oz package yellow cake mix
3 1/2 oz package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray miniature muffin tins with cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Turn out onto a tea towel.

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil and water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the glaze while they are still a bit warm. Place on wire racks with wax paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about an hour, before serving.

A few things

A few things you can get done when you are not blogging:

KNIT A HAT


BAKE


LEARN HOW TO SEW (thanks Mom)


VISIT A YARN STORE


More about all of these later...

A Break

Have you ever felt all blogged out? I guess this is what I am feeling right now. I don't know what direction I should be taking this blog thing. I have been going along now for nine months but feel it is getting a bit repetitive. I may decide to take it in a different direction. So, for right now, I will be taking a little break from Forks & Chopsticks.

Having said that, I will still be posting about reading and our book club at The Written Word. See you soon.

Please give her some love!

My sister Chris, mother of seven kids, shattered her wrist while ice skating the other day. If you could all just stop by her blog here and leave her a little encouraging comment I sure would appreciate it. Getting comments makes her day!



By the way Chrissy, you live in HAWAII. Shouldn't you be sitting on the beach instead of ice skating anyway?

Just in time for cooler weather...

Got in some knitting time recently and made this poncho for Leah. I used the Downtown Tot Poncho pattern from Lion Brand and Leah picked out their Color Waves yarn in the Pebble Beach color. This was the easiest poncho pattern I could find. I hope to move on to something a bit more sophisticated for next year's poncho!

Commenting

FROM BLOGGER:

Users who have switched to Blogger in beta will not be able to login to comment on blogs that have not switched. Commenting using the “anonymous” or “other” options will still work. Update (9/12): We have started working on making this possible, however the change is substantial and will take a little while before it is ready.

And this is why I may not have been leaving you comments recently. This stinks!

WTC

During summer vacation from school when I was a little girl, my father would wake me up very early, pack me into his car and bring me to work with him. As we would drive along Route 3 towards Nutley, New Jersey (where he was a police officer) we would enjoy a breathtaking early morning view of New York City. The empire state building, all shiny in the morning light would be directly ahead, with the twin towers further down lower Manhattan to the right. I still remember this view as clear as day. Since I was growing up in "the sticks" as my hometown is called, the city was and is always fascinating to me.

It wasn't until I was a young adult that I actually visited the World Trade Center. I remember viewing the city from the observation area. Joe, my father and I attended an orchid show held at the center. A month before they fell, Joe and I sat in the atrium (which by some miracle is still standing) and ate lunch while looking out over the Hudson river.

When the towers were destroyed, so was the subway system below. Not very long ago, the NY/NJ Port Authority opened up the PATH system again which connects Newark New Jersey to the World Trade Center site. The train station is located about six or so stories below street level and runs the perimeter of the hole which is ground zero. In other words, you are actually inside ground zero as you approach the train station. From the train you can see what a huge area had been destroyed and the efforts of hard working men and women as they work toward rebuilding.

So today, I not only mourn the loss of thousands of lives, but also for the loss of a New York landmark, the twin towers and surrounding buildings that were the World Trade Center. You will forever be in my memory as part of the great city of New York.

Below are a few pictures I took at ground zero while visiting the city this past weekend:

Talking

Leah likes to talk. So much so that she started at the very young age of nine months and never slowed down. Tonight she topped herself.

WARNING for my Dad or any in-laws who may be reading this post. You might want to just skip the rest of it.

Anyway, tonight at dinner the subject of pregnancy came up. Leah, in her 4 1/2 year old infinite wisdom, started talking about babies and where they come from. She then proceeded to tell the story of when I had to go to a doctors appointment with her in tow. As she so eloquently put it, "remember Mommy when you went to the doctor and he checked out your booty with a pair of pliers?" At this point Joe and I were laughing so hard we could barely talk.

For the record, when I went to aforementioned doctor I told her that she had to sit in the chair behind me and not move. As soon as the doctor began his exam, she jumped off the chair, ran right over and watched the whole thing. And now, a year afterwards, she apparently likes to talk about it. Great.

The cool kids

Did you ever have the feeling that some people are so much more intelligent/smart/cool than yourself? Whenever I read posts by Johnny or Kristen or Mrs. Fortune or numerous other bloggers I am blown away by their sheer smartness.

And what about the bloggers who can not only write but make awesome stuff too? I always get excited when checking my bloglines and seeing that Viv or SouleMama or Wee Wonderfuls has a new post. They are like eye candy.

Do you think it makes me cool just by association?

By the way, I moved my book club blog over to wordpress. You can find it here (that is if you want to join the cool bloggers who also read).

An afternoon at the movies

Today was rainy and dreary, so I headed out to the movies with some friends to see Little Miss Sunshine. If you want to get lost in an endearing story about a dysfunctional family on a road trip, then go see this movie. If you just want to laugh a lot, then DEFINITELY see this movie.

Old Same

One day in the 1960s an old woman fainted in a rural Chinese train station. When the police searched her belongings in an effort to identify her, they came across papers with what looked to be a secret code on them. This being the height of the Cultural Revolution, the woman was arrested and detained on suspicion of being a spy. The scholars who came to decipher the code realized almost at once that this was not something related to international intrigue. Rather, it was a written language used solely by women and it had been kept a "secret" from men for a thousand years. - From the acknowledgement section of the book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The book, a work of fiction, is based upon a real written language that existed in a remote area of the southern Hunan provence in China for thousands of years. Nu Shu was created by women, for women, as a way to secretly communicate their thoughts and feelings. In the book the main character Lily forms a lifelong relationship with Snow Flower, who she then considers her an "old same" (similar to a sworn sisterhood or maybe a best friendship between women).

This was the first book selection at my online book club, The Written Word. One of the discussion questions I posted today is the following: Do you think the concept of "old sames" exists today? Do you have an "old same," or are you part of a sworn sisterhood?

For me, I would have to say that I have been fortunate to have two very strong female relationships in my life.

First is my girlfriend Ariel. We have known been friends for almost twenty years now. Unfortunately, we don't reside in the same part of the country anymore and since we have such busy lives we don't communicate half as often as we should. Having said that, each time I hear from her it feels like I just spoke to her yesterday. It is comfortable.

My friend Chau, on the other hand, has only been in my life for about six years, but it might as well be sixty. We met at work and became fast friends. Joe would often work late so it would be Chau and I at the movies, Chau and I going out to dinner (you get the picture). Of course, all that changed when I gave birth to Leah and became a stay-at-home Mom. My relationship with Chau, thankfully, has stayed the same. She has been here with me through thick and thin and always makes me laugh.

So, do any of you have an "old same" out there?

On a side note, if you are interested in participate with my online book club, just stop by The Written Word and send me an e-mail. We will be picking out our next book selection soon, so be sure to check it out!

Soccer Mom

I wasn't going to be a Soccer Mom. You know, the one driving the bumper stickered mini-van filled with a bunch of kids, talking on her cell phone, driving all over creation just so her kids can play sports, instruments or swing some pom poms around. Don't get me wrong, I would like Leah to experience new things and try different activities, but I don't feel like she needs to do EVERYTHING. But I was wrong. That typical Mom hasn't necessarily over scheduled her children. In fact, as I have just recently found out, even doing one thing for your kids is overkill.

First, let me point out that Joe and I have welcomed a foreign exchange student into our home. It has been a week since S. moved in and all is going very well. She is friendly, sweet and has fit into our family perfectly. She will be attending high school (HS) here and will spend the next ten months in our home.

Just yesterday I took S over to the private HS she will be attending to try out for the soccer team. She did well and was excepted onto the team. She worked out with the other girls from 2 - 4 p.m. Before we left I asked the coach when would the next practice be. You know what the answer was? 6 - 8 p.m. THAT SAME NIGHT. WHAT?

So this is what our schedule is like until S starts school next Wednesday:

1:40 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles to the HS for start of practice at 2 p.m.
2:00 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles back home with Leah (or find something in the local area to do for two hours).
3:40 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles back to HS to pick S up.
4:00 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles back home
4:20 p.m. Prepare dinner
5:00 p.m. Eat dinner
5:40 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles to the HS for start of practice at 6 p.m.
6:00 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles back home
7:40 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles back to HS to pick S up.
8:00 p.m. Drive 8.5 miles back home
8:20 p.m. Finally get home

So, if your teenager is involved with just ONE sport or activity, this is your potential schedule. No wonder the typical American family doesn't eat dinner together anymore!

Fun with potatoes

The weather this weekend has been just awful. We postponed our annual block party because it is so chilly out. It is currently pouring outside and I even had to turn on the heat this morning!

Anyway, I figured it would be fun to post a few photos of Leah working on a recent craft project (you know, when the weather was still summer-like)! It's called potato stamping and all you do is cut a potato lengthwise, cut or use a cooking cutter to make it into a desired shape, paint it with some fabric paint and stamp it on a t-shirt. Instant art.

bedhead

Odds and Ends...

It's been a crazy week! Over the weekend we went to Philadelphia and met up with some friends (Chau and Chris) and family (our niece Candice). We had a blast.

Also, today we opened our home to a Japanese foreign exchange student. It is something that Joe and I have always wanted to do and we are very excited to have her. So now, not only do I have a pre-schooler at home but a teenager as well! I will post more about this later.

I leave you now with pictures from Philly:

Leah painted my face at the children's museum


Leah looks at her favorite painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art


Leah and her cousin Candice


Newlyweds Chris and Chau

Movies

I saw this meme on another blog and even though I wasn't tagged I thought it would be fun to fill out anyway.

1. The first movie you remember seeing on the big screen: I think it might have been E.T. I do remember that my Mom and I loved it so much that we brought my father with us to see it again.
   
2. Movie from which you can quote multiple lines in your sleep: Probably these three: The Hunt for Red October, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Shawshank Redeption. All three are the kind of movies that if my husband and I are channel surfing on a Saturday night and one of them happens to be on we still watch the entire thing.
   
3. Director (dead or alive) with whom you would most like to have dinner: Ang Lee. He is just so versatile.
   
4. Movie that should have won an Oscar but didn't: I can't think of any off the top of my head. Trust me though, two days after I post this list I will think of plenty!
   
5. Movie that didn’t disappoint despite being an adaptation from a book: The Cider House Rules, Emma, The Joy Luck Club
   
6. Movie you were dragged to by someone else, expecting to hate but loved: My best friend from high school insisted that we see Glory. It is the story of the first black regiman in the Civil War. It stared Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington and I was just blown away.
   
7. Movie that still scares the crap out of you no matter how many times you see it: The Exorcist.
   
8. Movie that still makes you bawl no matter how many times you see it: Glory (the entire last 45 minutes) and Sense and Sensibility (the end when Hugh Grant tells Emma Thompson that he isn't married to someone else and he wants to marry her) - it gets me every time!
   
9. Movie that still has you rolling around on the floor with laughter no matter how many times you see it: The Christmas Story. Just seeing Ralphie in the pink bunny suit his Aunt Clara sent him still gives me the giggles.

If you read this and want to participate, then consider yourself tagged!

Just for kids in Beijing!

I just posted about this Beijing bookstore on my other blog, The Written Word. I thought I would put it here too since many of you are planning to be in China in the near future (I know I am)! Take a look at Kids Republic , an awesome children's bookstore. It is just unbelievable. Click on the link to see more photos. I have to take Leah there when we go to China next year!

Thanks to Bookmark My Heart for posting about this.

I'm a lucky one

Last week I won a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant from my library. Today I won that really cool NYC book from A Readable Feast (see post from August 7th)! Hmmm, maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...

Crafts

When I was a kid, I used to love working on any type of craft I could get my hands on. I still do. Take a peek at Leah, who is peeking back at me through the cute little finger puppets we made yesterday.

Anyway, the real reason for this post is to tell you about Kids Craft Weekly, a free e-mail newsletter that features craft projects for children. Amber, who is a mother of two living half way around the world, also has a craft blog called The Pointy Sister. As usual, I am just blown away by such talent all these crafty blogging moms have!

I like to win

Doesn't everyone? Anyway, please check out this cool blog. She is running a contest (you can see the rules here) and giving away this cool book to a lucky winner.



PICK ME, PLEASE PICK ME!!

Do I sound desperate enough?

Howard the cat and some red paint

This is the door that Joe painted:



This is the cat that RAN THROUGH the paint tray:



You don't want to see what the family room rug looks like.

I do wish I had a picture of Joe washing off the cat. Now THAT would have been funny.

Stupid cat.

Lifebook

When I posted about my scrapbooking pages last month, the lovely Georgia asked me if I knew of any websites about preparing an adoption lifebook. I haven't done any web research on Lifebooks, but have the feeling that they are very similar to scrapbooking. My agency has sent us some information on starting a lifebook. I thought I would share it with all of you just in case you are planning on starting one.

LIFEBOOKS were developed to create a permanent record of a child's birth and placement history. The scraps of information held by adoptive parents may be the only clues an adopted child has to his/her roots. Preserving what is available, however limited, is important. Creating a lifebook helps your child learn about his/her heritage and it weaves the child's past into his/her present and future development.

Families that create lifebook often include items such as:

• Documents adoptive parents collected for the adoption
• Notes they took when they received their child referral over the telephone
• Airline boarding passes
• Items they picked up from their trip to China
• News clippings or magazines from the time the child was adopted
• A detailed journal or letter about the trip the adoptive parents took in order to complete the adoption
• Photographs from the trip to China, or a note to the child before or after the adoption was finalized.
• M3's elaborate referral spreadsheets (OK, I added that one)!

Hopefully this little bit of information can get you started. Since I still have a long wait ahead of me, I am starting a scrapbook for my husband Joe to include all the home improvement projects he has worked on.

On another note, in case you are still interested voting has started over at The Written Word. Stop on by and vote for which book you would like to read with our on-line book club!

Join me with a good book

Based upon a few suggestions from some of my blogging buddies (yep, I'm talking about you Tammy and Stacy), I have started a virtual book club blog called The Written Word. In order to get this up and running I am asking anyone that is interested to visit The Written Word, read the Welcome post for instructions and then send me an e-mail with your suggestions! Keep in mind that you do not have to be a blogger to participate.

I plan on adding blog links to all those who participate and also links to some of the really cool reading blogs that I have found.

Suggestions are welcome, so please don't be shy and come on over. I hope to find a few of you (my mom, Chau, Ariel, my sister, Maureen, Pink Lucy, Katie J and Nicole) who I know are big time readers to participate.