Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Thanksgiving at the Bay House
This was our first Thanksgiving at the Bay House. Scott and I were planning on having Thanksgiving at the "city house", but after some thought and a few calls to our guest, we all agreed it would be a nice change. Most of the guest traveled from Austin and one from Texarkana. Imagine driving your ass off for a Thanksgiving meal?
I planned everything down to a "T" and made everything from scratch, except the dinner rolls. Dinner rolls were the self rising kind, but they have their own challenges. One year the rolls came out dense and flat. Another time they came out too hard and you could knock someone out with it. I made almost everything half way cooked on Wednesday and spent Thursday cooking the food. I wasn't stressed at all because I planned well. Scott and I celebrate Thanksgiving lunch rather than dinner. This year we invited family from both sides. This was the first time many have met or seen each other since our wedding. Everyone got their fill and family laughed about nothing and everything.
After we stuffed ourselves like turkeys, the the women watched movies (and stared out the window looking at the water) and the men went to the pier and fished their Thanksgiving meals away. Here is a picture of my stepdad with a sheepshead he caught.
I don't know why that type of fish is called that, but I think it makes a "baa" sound in the water. After snapping this picture, he released it. The men fished until the sun went down which was about 6pm. Then our guest made the mad dash for leftovers to fill their tummy before the long drive home. We didn't have any food left over. Mom was very impressed with my cooking skills. Wish I had a picture of all the food I made. I was engrossed with the cooking and the men were so engrossed in fishing while waiting for the food to hit the table that no one remembered to take pictures of the food, the guest, or generic chef.
As the guest departed, we looked out toward the water and saw dusk. This was one of the best Thanksgiving get togethers my family has ever had. The weather was a lovely upper 70's and not too windy. We even had all the windows open in the house to breath in the nice sea breeze. They were relaxed and I WAS relaxed. I think we will do this again next year.
I planned everything down to a "T" and made everything from scratch, except the dinner rolls. Dinner rolls were the self rising kind, but they have their own challenges. One year the rolls came out dense and flat. Another time they came out too hard and you could knock someone out with it. I made almost everything half way cooked on Wednesday and spent Thursday cooking the food. I wasn't stressed at all because I planned well. Scott and I celebrate Thanksgiving lunch rather than dinner. This year we invited family from both sides. This was the first time many have met or seen each other since our wedding. Everyone got their fill and family laughed about nothing and everything.
After we stuffed ourselves like turkeys, the the women watched movies (and stared out the window looking at the water) and the men went to the pier and fished their Thanksgiving meals away. Here is a picture of my stepdad with a sheepshead he caught.
I don't know why that type of fish is called that, but I think it makes a "baa" sound in the water. After snapping this picture, he released it. The men fished until the sun went down which was about 6pm. Then our guest made the mad dash for leftovers to fill their tummy before the long drive home. We didn't have any food left over. Mom was very impressed with my cooking skills. Wish I had a picture of all the food I made. I was engrossed with the cooking and the men were so engrossed in fishing while waiting for the food to hit the table that no one remembered to take pictures of the food, the guest, or generic chef.
As the guest departed, we looked out toward the water and saw dusk. This was one of the best Thanksgiving get togethers my family has ever had. The weather was a lovely upper 70's and not too windy. We even had all the windows open in the house to breath in the nice sea breeze. They were relaxed and I WAS relaxed. I think we will do this again next year.
Friday, November 24, 2006
It has been a year
...since Scott and I decided to adopt from China. We are still committed to continue the journey we started on over a year ago.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Protecting Your Child
My friend who came back with M&M several months ago had her first encounter of bigotry. She was at the grocery store and a lady approached her and said, "you got one of them babies from China. Well, at least her eyes are not THAT slanted." She was caught off guard and didn't have a comment. When she told me this, we began a conversation about protecting our children.
Every parent's child will face name calling in various forms from strangers and family members, whether their child is biological or adopted. It doesn't have to be mean spirited. My family used to say or "When are you going to grow?" or "You are such a munchkin." My mom used to try to protect me, but that didn't stop people from telling me these things when I was alone. These comments used to bother me when I was really young, but by the age of 8, I became very comfortable with my short stature. I started to come up with statements which would flip the situation around.
We can't protect our children. I'm not sure what I would have said in my friend's situation, but I should prepare myself. My husband is really good at coming up with smart ass remarks for dumb ass comments. I am going to have to come up with some canned statements for the comments which may be said.
I hope that my child will feel confident with who he/she is and that his/her father and mother love them and respect them for who they are, respect their biological parents, their home country -- everything about them. We know their will be tough times when we are not there to protect them and we won't be able to fight their battles for them. I hope that we have the strength to help them get through the conflict and be able to learn from the tough situation so they can handle it if it happens again.
Every parent's child will face name calling in various forms from strangers and family members, whether their child is biological or adopted. It doesn't have to be mean spirited. My family used to say or "When are you going to grow?" or "You are such a munchkin." My mom used to try to protect me, but that didn't stop people from telling me these things when I was alone. These comments used to bother me when I was really young, but by the age of 8, I became very comfortable with my short stature. I started to come up with statements which would flip the situation around.
We can't protect our children. I'm not sure what I would have said in my friend's situation, but I should prepare myself. My husband is really good at coming up with smart ass remarks for dumb ass comments. I am going to have to come up with some canned statements for the comments which may be said.
I hope that my child will feel confident with who he/she is and that his/her father and mother love them and respect them for who they are, respect their biological parents, their home country -- everything about them. We know their will be tough times when we are not there to protect them and we won't be able to fight their battles for them. I hope that we have the strength to help them get through the conflict and be able to learn from the tough situation so they can handle it if it happens again.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Six Month LID Anniversary
Today Is our Six Month LID anniversary. Scott is coming home from a Chicago business trip tonight. I have made a fancy spaghetti dinner with a dinner salad and a nice ($12) bottle of wine. Hey! I'm a generic chef, not a gourmet cook.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Thinking About the Adoption
Scott and I have finally had a chance to think about the adoption now that my work life isn't hectic. When I was working for the VP it was work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep.
If the trend is around 18 months, then we have 12 more months to wait. By next Thanksgiving we could hear we have been referred a little one (or two). Amazing. I hope the rumors aren't true about a 24 month wait. We all hope the time will be shorter than 14 months. The main reason I don't want to wait is I don't want to shell out more money for going through the fingerprinting process again.
If the trend is around 18 months, then we have 12 more months to wait. By next Thanksgiving we could hear we have been referred a little one (or two). Amazing. I hope the rumors aren't true about a 24 month wait. We all hope the time will be shorter than 14 months. The main reason I don't want to wait is I don't want to shell out more money for going through the fingerprinting process again.
Monday, November 13, 2006
A New Chance
Some of you know how much of a difficult time I have had since I took the job as an executive assistant to the VP. Well, about four weeks ago (actually when I came back from vacation), she announced she was resigning. She resigned because she was exausted from all the travel. I had such a sense of relief because I was already looking for another job within the company. The hours were killing me health wise (I had gained 10 pounds over the last eleven months) and my husband was so worried about my stress level. The departing VP gave me the opportunity to stay at the company and work for a few directors or seek employment outside the company. I told her not to worry about me and give me a few days to think about it. Apparently, I made a name for myself and I didn't have to go seek because they came looking for me a few days after the announcement of her departure. I finally settled on working for two directors who I think are very self sufficient and would give me the opportunity to do some project management.
I saw this video by KT Tunstall and it reminded me that I WANT to be an executive assistant, but at this time not to a VP or CEO. I rather support multiple senior directors. This is my new motto for my career...
Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall
The last four weeks I have been transitition my tasks over to the acting VP's assistant. The new VP is located in California. We are almost finished transition all the tasks. It is good to be able to get off work at 5pm and have my new bosses do the same. I was even told to take the day before Thanksgiving off! Wow!
I still get to take off early on Friday and telecommute from the car while driving to the weekend house. Our lives are more content and calm. Life is good.
I saw this video by KT Tunstall and it reminded me that I WANT to be an executive assistant, but at this time not to a VP or CEO. I rather support multiple senior directors. This is my new motto for my career...
Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall
The last four weeks I have been transitition my tasks over to the acting VP's assistant. The new VP is located in California. We are almost finished transition all the tasks. It is good to be able to get off work at 5pm and have my new bosses do the same. I was even told to take the day before Thanksgiving off! Wow!
I still get to take off early on Friday and telecommute from the car while driving to the weekend house. Our lives are more content and calm. Life is good.
