Ring Dammit

If anyone is still reading this poor, forsaken blog, I will be amazed. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Let me outline this for you dear interweb machine. We entered the adoption pool at the end of October. It is now July (or will be in a couple hours). THAT'S 8 LONG MONTHS WITH NARY A SINGLE CALL!

"But Lori," you say, "isn't the average wait around 10 months."

Excellent point.

"Haven't placements been slow in general lately?"


Yes, they have. Another good point.

"And shouldn't your focus be on the right match, not the quickest match?"

Enough already. Nobody likes a know-it-all.

I want the right match, really I do. We want a life-long relationship with a birthfamily as much as we want a baby. But may I point out however that this wait has been nearly twice as long as the wait for both Ian and Lillian COMBINED?! So forgive me if common sense has taken a back seat right now as I battle through all of the unknowns.

I'm tossing out a humble prayer request to anyone who is still reading. Will you join me in praying that the right birthfamily and the right baby would come into our family at the right time? And in the meanwhile, grant me patience as I wait. I'm thankful Relay is a week away, work is keeping me busy and Ian keeps me running and laughing all at the same time.

Relay for Life Fundraisers

Once again we're fundraising for Relay for Life! And once again, we have a name drawing with three terrific prizes and fundraising event at Papa's Pizza. All donations benefit the American Cancer Society. Without further ado, here are the details:

Papa's Pizza Event

Bring this flyer to Papa's Pizza today, June 1st and Papa's will donate 50% of the value of the food you purchase!(Click on the image to enlarge & print. You must bring the flyer for the donation!)

Name Drawings

• Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20


• You can donate online using a credit card and email me with your choice of prize.


• Or give your cash/check to me in person (if you give me cash, please let me know if you would like a receipt for tax purposes).


• Drawing will be held at Relay on July 11th
  

You choose which prize drawing you want to enter-

	FLIP VIDEO ULTRA HD CAMCORDER The Flip UltraHD™ camcorder combines Flip Video's signature shoot-and-share simplicity with the power of vivid, vibrant HD video. With 2 hours of record time, you'll never miss another minute again. And because of UltraHD's pocket-sized portability, you'll truly be able to capture HD video anytime, anywhere.
	GET PAMPERED - EDWARD WADSWORTH SALON Get pampered with this package of services from Edward Wadsworth salon. Package includes cut, color and a 60-minute massage.
	NIGHT OUT - DINNER & CHAMPAGNE Enjoy a night out with a $100 gift card to your choice of three Portland restaurants: Urban Farmer, The Origianl or Departure. Then toast a wonderful night with a bottle of Moet & Chandon White Star Champagne.

Through your donation, you will make a real difference in the lives of people facing cancer – and in the lives of the people who love them. Thank you!

Easter bunny

Look at what I made for Easter! Under all that toasted coconut "fur" lies a a thick layer of cream cheese frosting and a homemade dark chocolate cake. Yum!

Calling all cooks

We're creating a community cookbook filled to the brim with the best recipes from the best cooks we know - and that includes you! I think. If you somehow manage to burn water then no, not you.

Anyhoo, the theme of the cookbook is a year of weeknight recipes for the whole family. With your help we'll have 260 main dish recipes and separate sections for starters, side dishes and desserts for mixing & matching. And in support of Meatless Mondays, we're planning to include 52 vegetarian main dish recipes. Between leftovers and eating out, you'll have a complete year of meals at your fingertips! All the profits from the sale of these cookbooks will be donated to the American Cancer Society through our Relay for Life team.

If you have a recipe to submit, email me for the form. All recipes need to be submitted by April 15th. Oh, and each recipe in the book will include the name of the submitter so you'll finally be published!

We are also including advertising in our cookbook with prices starting at $40. Email me for more info on that as well.

If all goes well, the books will be ready to purchase in June. Wish us luck! I can't wait to try all of these tasty dishes.

An open letter to moms who bring sick kids to public places

Dear moron fellow mom,

I understand how difficult it is to stick around the house with a sick toddler. Believe me, I do. We've suffered through 2 bouts of croup and the chicken pox in the last 18 months. But the rest of us aren't interested in attending whatever snot-filled germ party your kid is hosting. When I take my kid to a play gym, I expect the other children are healthy. And that their parents are abiding by the simple posted health rules (also known as common sense). So if your kid is sick, for the love of all that is holy, stay home.

Thanks to you I haven't smelled...well, anything in the past week. My right ear is completely plugged. Snot is being manufactured at record-setting rates. And I sound like a four-pack-a-day smoker. Oh and my kid and hubby are suffering with the same bug. Our house may require professional fumigation and disinfection when this stupid cold finally ends.

But hey, if it's more convenient for you to get out of the house and play among innocent children, by all means, don't let me stop you. It's obviously all about you. But be forewarned. The next time my kid has even a slightly runny nose, I'm letting him lick your car door handle.

Cheers,
Lori

Only in my dreams

I don't normally remember my dreams but this week I woke up two mornings in a row from vivid dreams. And frankly, you don't need to be Freud to interpret these. See what you think:

In the first dream we were trying to get ready to go on vacation. But for some reason I could not get the hubby moving and the kid was still asleep. So I'm running around packing and getting everything ready while the hubby saunters over to pour some coffee, plops in the chair and turns on the news. Finally I look up the itinerary, glance at the clock and shout "THE PLANE IS TAKING OFF RIGHT NOW, we missed it." The next thing I remember is being in the car heading to the airport with the whole family and as I'm on hold to reschedule our flight, I realize I forgot the special items I purchased for the trip. And with that, I woke up feeling incredibly frustrated.

Admittedly, I'm usually the one getting everything packed and organizing all the details so that part is very real. But the bottom line is that I'm in desperate need for a vacation. Like NOW.

The second dream takes place in a swimming pool. I'm holding onto the side of the pool while Ian and Jeff are playing in the water to my left. I look up and see an adorable, chunky little infant girl with whispy brown hair sitting on the edge of the pool to my right facing away from me. As I comment on how cute her roly poly legs are, she tumbles backwards into the pool and I catch her just before she reaches the surface. I plop her back on the side and give a raised eyebrow look at her grandfather who is sitting in a lounge chair a few feet away. He shrugs and doesn't move. I watch her out of the corner of my eye and a few minutes later she tumbles into the pool again but this time sinks right to the bottom of the 30 foot area. (That's right, a 30 feet deep pool.) I take a few deep breaths and struggle to the bottom pulling myself along the wall. I grab her in a manner of seconds and quickly surface. I signal the lifeguard who runs over and asks if the baby needs CPR. I check her breathing and pulse and say yes. The young lifeguard struggles to remember how to do infant CPR so quickly I grab her, sit her up and pat her on the back. She spits up and starts to breathe. And again, I wake up. Oh and despite all the detail in the dream, I never saw her face.

Now we are in the pool waiting to adopt our 3rd child so this dream doesn't exactly require deep analysis, does it?

So I think we've discovered three important things:
1) I'm in need of a vacation asap.
2) I'm ready for that baby asap.
3) I'm just not that creative in my dreams.

Another reason not to google medical stuff

When I was a teenager, I decided to become a vegetarian. My mom says I'm just another casualty of the Bambi generation. I say meat is just yucky. Yucky to think about and yucky tasting. I realize there are many who don't share my opinion and since I don't push my choice on them, I ask that they simply return the favor. It's a kind of don't ask-don't tell dietary policy. Ironically I married an avid fisherman who later took up the hobby of hunting. Suffice it to say that opposites attract. Anyhoo, I'm a devoted veg who occasionally dabbles in a vegan diet.

"The point?" you ask.

After my unfortunate kitchen accident, they applied a substance called Gelfoam to stop the bleeding. They noted that it would fall off on it's own after a few days. Here it is a week later and trust me when I tell you that despite my best efforts the stuff is still stuck like glue. So I did a bit of internet research (always a bad idea) and found this: "Gelfoam...is a water-insoluble, off-white, nonelastic, porous, pliable product prepared from purified pork Skin Gelatin USP granules..."

I am flipping mainlining pig parts. And it doesn't want to come off. Welcome to a vegetarian's worse nightmare.