FORKS & CHOPSTICKS

I've moved!

2007-02-10T22:13:00.000-05:00

Please stop by here to visit my new home (and don't forget to update your bloglines)!
Stephanie

Family FotoFun

2007-02-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

I didn't have any intention of participating in the Double Happiness Family FotoFun challenge, but after snapping this picture of Leah sleeping on my couch, I couldn't resist. That's Howard next to her (he is always looking for a warm body to snuggle up to). Leah fell asleep on the car ride home from the mall this afternoon, hence she still has her jacket on.

Getting away

2007-02-03T10:49:00.000-05:00

Joe, Leah and I have had the opportunity and great pleasure to visit many places over the last few years. We got to spend a few weeks in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year in 2004. The three of us, along with my parents, spent last May in Hawaii (this was Leah's third trip to Oahu - my sister lives there). We have also taken many road trips including two trips to Montreal, Toronto, Philly and twice to Washington DC. As I said, we have been fortunate to be able to travel quite a bit. Leah is also a pretty good traveler (with the exception of one Washington D.C. trip, which we have tried unsuccessfully to block from our memories).

Each of the above trips have been either to visit family or taken with other family members. Not that there is anything wrong with the rest of our family, but we felt it was about time to go on vacation by ourselves (you know, just the four of us - Joe, Leah, myself and Sue, our foreign exchange student)! The last trip taken with just the us was when Leah was about 15 months old. We spent a week in Martha's Vineyard. It was a very relaxing, wonderful trip. We are now in need of such a trip.

So, in about two months we will be heading off on another family vacation. This time, to a beautiful resort in Jamaica. Check out this picture of the resort (which I found at Flickr). Looks heavenly, doesn't it? I cannot tell you how excited I am to "get away from it all." Even just thinking about it makes me smile.

Photo courtesy of Soupkills at Flickr

You know it is cold out when...

2007-01-30T08:43:00.000-05:00

there is ice on the INSIDE of your window. BRRRR...

Hairless Cats

2007-01-26T10:09:00.000-05:00

My husband is an allergy sufferer. His only relief comes when it is super cold outside (which means today, with a high of just 10 degrees, he is feeling good). Over the last few years, he has developed allergy induced asthma, for which he has an inhaler. The fact that we have two really cute but hairy cats probably don't help the situation. Recently, I did a search on the Internet for pictures of the hairless cat (yep, you can get them hairless). The big joke around here is that when Howard and Dumpling have gone to kitty heaven, we will get a hairless one. Leah even wants to name him Fu Fu Cuddly Poops (she heard the name, apparently a character on the animated show Avatar, on a commercial). Only, I am kind of not joking. Ok, they are a bit creepy, but I just love cats and I can't imagine not having one. So, hairless we may go!

Anyway, for more pictures of hairless cats you can check out this blog called Dragonheart's Domain. Otherwise, take a peek at Ugly Overload for some more goofy looking animals.

The pic above is from Ugly Overload.

Worry

2007-01-22T13:11:00.000-05:00

Above is my little darling right before dance class last week. On her wrist is the medical ID bracelet she wears whenever we go out of the house. It simply states that she has Epilepsy.

Did I ever imagine that my daughter Leah, who spoke full sentences at 17 months, has a love of art and music, who is a master at board games, would have to see a Neurologist on a regular basis? Nope. Do I worry about her each and every time she heads off to preschool. Yep. But this is what parenthood is all about, isn't it.

It starts when you first become pregnant, or begin the adoption process. Is the baby developing in the womb? Is my child being cared for by her birth mother or the orphanage that she is in? Will I be a good parent? After your child is with you, then there is a whole bunch of other stuff you need to worry about. Is he/she gaining enough weight? Are they walking or talking on time? Do they listen to their teacher at school? Will they attend college? Can I actually afford college? YIKES!

The fact is, you never, ever stop worrying about your children or their future. We cannot change the fact that my daughter has Epilepsy. This is life and we need to deal with it.

I have learned one wonderful thing from this diagnosis. That people, some of whom I have never even met, have contacted me to tell me about how they deal every day with having Epilepsy. The fact that they would open up to me and share their experiences is really amazing. For this I am truly grateful.

Oh, and about that medical ID bracelet. It was made by this really great organization called Lauren's Hope. Made for children and adults, Lauren's Hope makes very beautiful ID bracelets. You really can't see it, but Leah is wearing their pink braided bracelet. Unless she has her hands up like in the photo, you would just assume that she was wearing pretty pink jewelry. The jewelry was designed so that kids would want to wear it. Leah now likes to show hers off!

Don't hate me because I (might be) expedited

2007-01-12T17:29:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been two months since letting this blog slide and almost a year from when I started it in the first place. I have been trying to follow all of my favorite adoption blogs, as well as some of my new found craft and book blogs. I have missed Forks & Chopsticks though and figured I would give you all a little update. I also thought this might be a fun experiment to see who still has me on their bloglines!!

Anyway, a lot has been going on in the two plus months that I have been away from this blog. The end of 2006 was a hard one for our family. We suffered the loss of two very close friends. Then my girlfriend suffered a terrible and heartbreaking loss. My daughter Leah also had a seizure and it was confirmed that she has epilepsy. Since she is young and her brain is still developing, there is a good chance that with her medication she can actually grow out of it. It won't be for another 2-3 years before we know for sure. Needless to say, I was more than happy to say hello to 2007!

There has been one truly bright spot of 2007 so far (and it wasn't the fact that our Septic Tank backed up into the house, I assure you). I spoke with our agency yesterday to see if they received any expedited referrals in the last (December) batch. Indeed they did! The parents had a total wait of 11 months from their log-in-date. Our agency told us that they spoke to their rep in China who said that the expedited referrals should continue and that they would be shaving about 4 months off the typical wait time. With a LID of May 18, 2006 I am looking at the possibility of receiving a referral early this summer! Of course, this is by no means a guarantee, but it does give me a little hope for the future. I have even gone back to knitting this, in the hopes that I will have a child to put it on this coming fall. You can see an updated photo of the sweater here.

In other news, we still have our lovely foreign exchange student with us. Her parents will be visiting the US for the first time in June to attend her graduation.

I will be updating this blog again every once in a while, so hope you will stop on by to check in. Thanks for being such good listeners.

STICK A FORK IN ME,

2006-11-03T10:45:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-10-31T07:53:00.000-05:00

Greetings from my little vampire!

Laugh a little

2006-10-30T17:37:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

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?

2006-10-21T23:02:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-18T20:26:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-18T20:18:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-17T15:12:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-14T20:36:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-12T17:47:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-09T12:08:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-05T19:36:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-10-04T10:55:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-03T20:47:00.000-04:00

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

2006-10-02T10:25:00.000-04:00

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

2006-09-29T21:28:00.000-04:00

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

2006-09-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

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

2006-09-27T11:11:00.000-04:00

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...