grrlTravels

freewheelin'

Just a quick note as I am going through the paperwork to take to China with us...

I am not going to password protect the travel blog. I am setting up a separate blog because it makes more sense to me that way, and I'll be able to read through the entries more quickly and find stuff, etc. But no password. I don't think we will need a password. I go back and forth, but no, no password.

The new blog is bubbling up to the top of the list, so the link will be here soon. Soon being a relative term when one is furiously packing for China and needs to come up with a "G" picture and a "G" show-and-tell before 12:15.

We don't anyone to miss out on the fun.

where my brain goes and where it doesn't

This time next week we will be on the plane. My brain really can't go there right now. I attempt to imagine myself on the plane and one second later I see images of frying eggs and I hear someone say "Yeah, BABY!" and I smell fear and I shiver and then I blink and shake my head and say "What was I saying?"

Meanwhile, things are at Mach 10. That supersonic boom you heard last Thursday-ish? Was us. Breaking the sound barrier. Yep. Booked the flights and BOOM! Everything got so fast. All of the sudden. That's what I'm trying to say. All speedy like. Zip!

I got all kinds of excited last week when we knew for sure that we would be in Beijing for Chinese New Year. Cool, no? Then I got to googling and found out that Beijing is a bitterly cold ghost town during CNY (especially the first week) and everything closes on the first day of the New Year and remains so for days following. Huh. Not the festive holiday celebration I had envisioned. More like being marooned on the moon with some lab rats while everyone else is dancing in the streets somewhere not on the moon.

Turns out New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are traditionally spent with family, having dinner and visiting. A lovely holiday to be sure. If it is warm enough we will be wandering the deserted streets of Beijing taking photos and looking for signs of life. If it is as cold as I expect it might be we will be huddled in the hotel trying not to take naps.

All is not lost. There are temple fairs following the first couple of days like this one:
Ditan Park
and nothing gets my blood boiling like a good fair. Equanimity restored. There will be something to do besides fight the good fight against the LAG on at least one of the eight days we are in Beijing.

The LAG. I am currently obsessed with jet lag as it pertains to both myself and my children. I hate the thought of it and I know there is nothing to be done. Forcing your body to adjust to a change of 12 time zones in 14 hours is not natural, easy, or sane. I know plenty of people do it every day but I'm not plenty of people and I never have been. [Sadly.] I contemplate the Anti-Jet-Lag diet (really, the only thing out there) and while I am sure it works it just sounds so strange. And honestly who has the time? (Or the $10.95?)

Shopping. Packing. Minor freaking out. Cleaning. Valentine's Day cards. (I know, I know.) Major freaking out. Booking. Emailing. Eruptions of worrying so massive that species are endangered. Double checking. Organizing. Singing. (Z. needs her singing.) Not a moment to spare.

We are excited and a teensy bit stressed and busy and happy and nervous and calm and ready and so not ready. I've got a week to get our act together, settle on a name, and get my brain on the plane.

Brain, you must get on the plane. Does anyone hear that frying sound? Oh never mind.

it won't be the last time

It won't be the last time I ask for advice before we leave for China. (Which will not be on Thursday but might be in two short weeks!) But whenever I ask for advice good stuff always comes in so I keep doing it.

I have had two different adoptive parents tell me today that they were able to meet the foster parents through China Care. (Wow.) In one case the adoptive family was given a thoughtful handmade gift by the foster parents. Which makes me think that I had better whip something up to take with me, but what?

One of the families took handmade wool scarves which is a lovely thought in the cold northern reaches of China, but I have not knitted in years and I cannot undertake that right now. (Re-learning to knit. Cannot do that.) I could buy some handknitted wool scarves, and perhaps I will.

What else? I can sew. A bit. I can embroider. I am handy with a camera. I am plumb out of ideas. I have a pounding stress headache. K. is on the phone beginning our research into available flights. The stress level around here is ratcheting up as we speak.

Help me with some ideas. Please!

ta-da--TA!

As if I am the first person to have ever received a TA I feel particularly pleased with myself now that it has finally arrived. Not for any actual reason because I had nothing whatsoever to do with the stated arrival and if it were up to me it would have occurred 3 weeks prior. But still. It has arrived. I am bursting with contentment.

We will not have travel dates until Wednesday at the earliest and hopefully by the end of the week at the latest. There is only one consulate appointment to be scheduled, and how difficult can that be? she asks without irony.

My calculations inform me that we have not made the pre-Spring Festival cutoff. I have looked at the calendar at least 4 times this afternoon and my tallies never establish a takeoff date before February 7. I suppose there is a minute chance that we could squeeze ourselves in which is good and bad. Good: Meet HSM sooner. Bad: Leave in less than a week (Thursday!!); have no choice of flights or hotels. Good: Be there for CNY (we would stay a few days at the end). Bad: Leave in less than a week. Did I mention we'd have to leave in less than a week?

I am guessing it's a moot point. Still, one worth considering when you might be leaving for China in less than a week.

HSM.

september 2007

I will set up a separate travel blog for this trip and post the link here. It will not be password protected until after we return home. The new blog should be available within the next few days although I won't be posting to it until we leave (or just before). Which might be Thursday.

All things considered it's been a fabulous day. A cold, fabulous day. Coldly fabulous. My stomach has had butterflies since just before noon. Fabulous butterflies. China. HSM. Fabulous.

no news. is bad news.

Cleaning is rarely my drug of choice. But the pungent combination of Murphy's Oil Soap, lemon Pledge, and citrusy Mr. Clean has kept me sane for two plus weeks now. The perfumed house along with the illusory sense of control that cleaning imparts is a magic concoction. Some day soon I know the good news will arrive. Inhaling fumes for extended periods of time can give you that sense of misguided optimism; you may want to make a note for future reference.

In the mean time I am still a freak. As documentary proof I submit to you the following photographic essay entitled Reduce. REUSE. Recycle.

paperclips.


disposable plastic containers.


chopsticks.


plastic spoons


napkins.


laundry detergent scoops.

The thing is you must either learn to throw or give away or you must actually use the items that you are unable to discard. Otherwise the house is full of stuff in no time flat.

I have a very full house.

(Paperclips are courtesy of anyone who sends me anything with a paperclip on it. Rubber bands are courtesy of the USPS. Disposable plastic containers are courtesy of the grocery store and our favorite takeout options. Chopsticks are courtesy of our favorite Chinese food place. Plastic spoons and napkins are courtesy of McDonalds. Green scoops are courtesy of the makers of Biz and OxyClean.)

nota N. O. T. A.

Tired Amy*: Don't scrub that dish drainer. Buy a new one.
RRR Amy**: What? It's fine. There is nothing wrong with it. Scrub it.
Tired Amy*: We have had this thing since we moved into the house. It's a dish drainer. Throw it away right now.
RRR Amy**: If you scrub it, it will look fine. Not perfect, but fine. Why would you throw it away?
Tired Amy*: It's never worked right anyway. It isn't angled enough to make the water run off back into the sink. Isn't that a pretty important quality for a dish drainer? Trash it.
RRR Amy**: Is there something else I can do with this? Anything? ANYTHING? No? Then keep it. The dishes do get dry. That's the important thing.
Tired Amy*: It's a dish drainer. You are spending too long on the dish drainer.
RRR Amy**: Right. It's a dish drainer. Get over yourself.

Add about 20 more minutes of internal debate.

What is this? This is the brain of someone who is upset that the TA isn't here but knows: a) she really has no reason to complain; b) there is nothing to be done either way; c) she doesn't want to sound like a whiny wreck; d) there is nothing to be done either way; e) most likely the TA isn't coming today because it's past noon and there has been no call but who knows because they could conceivably call in the next hour; f) there is nothing to be done either way.

There is no TA in da house. I might be crazy. Word.

*Could be Lazy Amy, but Tired Amy seemed kinder.
**Reduce/Reuse/Recycle Amy.

The To Do List Runneth Over, Thusly

If you were thinking perhaps you would get a Christmas card from us because, you know, you sent your own version of holiday good wishes our way or because you have received such an item from us in the near past or because I have expressed my undying love for you (perhaps not in so many words), well, you could still be correctly correct. The Christmas card sending has finally clawed its way to the top quadrant of the To Do list. It shares that hallowed space with items like "Name Your Son" and "Shop for Impending Flight Half Way Around the World" and "Clean as if the Living Room has An Emergency Appendectomy Scheduled Next Weekend". In other words it has not ascended to the tippiest top of the list, but it is up there.

I must admit that the other items at the top of the list impact my restful slumber more than the Christmas (now New Years) greetings. I spent a good long time two days prior googling various baby name sites, making lists and taking notes and wondering how odd is too odd. Every name on The Working List has its meaning defined, its popularity ranked according to the US Social Security, and its origins duly noted. I changed course midstream and am approaching the naming laterally: I had 3 nicknames I liked (obsessively) and a list of names corresponding to those nicknames was composed. Perhaps a peculiar way to run at it but the regular list was uninspiring and the nicknames have been floating around in my brain for months. I must rid my brain of the pseudonyms! I MUST!

Yesterday we spent more than 2 hours in L.L. Bean outfitting ourselves as if we were soon to leave for an extended stay on the top of K2. There is a method behind the madness, stemming from a slight disagreement between K. and myself thus:

Me: I am gathering items for that suitcase full of stuff that we are taking to donate to the China Care Foundation. Better late than never!
K.: (looks at me as if I am insane) We are taking extra stuff on the plane to China with us? Are you insane?
Me: (feeling my innocence) What???
K.: You know how you are. You cannot overpack. If you want to take things to donate you cannot overpack. No overpacking!
Me: I'm going to be good this time. I promise. No overpacking. I am taking just a few little things, necessities. And the suitcase full of stuff for China Care.
K.: Fine. Get everything we need together and then I'll get rid of half of it and we will be in good shape. (snippily)
Me: (glaring)
K.: I'm serious. You know how you are.
Me: (stubbornly) We. Are. Taking. Items. To. Donate. To. The. China. Care. Foundation. On. The. Plane. To. China. With. Us.
K.: We'll see.

It is not as if K. does not have a point. He does. You should have seen the suitcases we took on our honeymoon cruise in Hawaii, to Bangladesh, to China, and to, well, every single other destination we have ever visited on vacation or otherwise. He isn't wrong. Well, he isn't wrong if one goes solely on the basis of past behavior, but he is wrong because I am determined.

So. L.L. Bean. It isn't that easy to pack lightly in the winter. There are heavy coats and sweaters and long underwear to combat the windy cold weather. We have to take 14 days (estimated) worth of formula for Z. (@ 3 cans/day that is...4 times 3...carry the one...42 cans) and E.'s nebulizer and the cameras. Shoes. Shoes are a big ticket item. Clothes for the baby. Stuff.

I have been on fire though. We are taking substituted, powdered formula for Z., something we have never done. BINGO! We are purchasing a diminutive nebulizer. B-B-B-BINGO! And we bought special zip-apart coats and very thin, very warm fleece for all kinds of layering options. How's that for thinking outside of the box and stubbornly insisting on getting my own way all at the same time? I also removed disposable washcloths from the packing list just like that.

This morning I cleaned one room of the house. When I say cleaned I do not mean my normal cleaned which is really straightened up. I mean pack up 5 boxes of stuff for storage and organize the closet and wash the floor under the couch cleaned. (It's nesting, I know. Such an odd compulsion.)

The To Do list runneth over, but I am taking a sledgehammer to it. I hope it works. Happy NEW YEAR my dear friend. There's another item to check off / bludgeon.

Happy 2008 to you

Happy 2008! I hope your year is filled with good surprises, new challenges, and true blue friends.

I had a nice break from blogging which gave me time to sew like a woman possessed by a very crafty, hard driving creative boob, I mean muse. There was a lot of sewing. The good news is that more than half of my gift recipients got at least one handmade gift. Not perfect, no, but a good effort. I shall post some of them, but not all have arrived at their final destinations yet. Oh yeah, I didn't finish every little bit by Christmas either. In fact, 2 projects are still in the works. Well, 3 really.

I sewed. We got nervous and bought a few too many things at Toys or Bust 2 days before Christmas. We had Christmas Eve dinner. It was Christmas. We opened gifts for hours, taking long breaks to play with the new goods. K. got sick. I got sick. We laid around the house playing with things and moaning about being tired. I sewed a tiny bit. We watched Elf 4 gazillion more times. A short but good list of names for Pablo was drafted.* K. and I had the laziest New Year's Eve ever, watching poor Dick Clark for less than 5 minutes. And then the full realization that we are to meet Pablo very soon hit and I panicked.

Sadly the TA is not here. I know that some TAs arrived earlier this week but alas ours has not crossed the Pacific yet. My first instinct is to whine about it, but I know very well that I am lucky to be waiting to bring this fabulous boy home and I know the time will be here sooner rather than later and I am not inclined to whine on this fine (albeit freezing cold) day. Yesterday I spent more than 4 hours on paperwork and this morning we zipped around town and finally FedExed the Visa applications and the passports. [I really loathe sending my passport away. No better way to feel trapped in the burbs than to hand your beloved passport to some random person for some indefinite amount of time.] Patiently we wait.

Amuse me. If you have been to China (or overseas), what was the one thing you bought that if you were to go back to tomorrow would be the first thing you would seek out and acquire? In other words, your favorite loot? I know that both Beijing and Hohhot are going to be colder than cold and I think the sightseeing will be limited. It's all good, because that leaves more time for shopping.

A Brief Recap
Sewing.
Merry Christmas!
sinusheadacheblurry tiredpatheticallytiredtootiredtowhineaboutbeingtired
sew
Pablo might have a name!*
Happy New Year!
No TA Bummer Dude No Worries Talk to me next Monday Tra La La

Z. is the lucky recipient of a bag
with a licensed character made by moi,
although I did not in fact license
aforementioned licensed character for le bag
In other, slightly more comprehensible, words my kid enjoys playing with the goods created by vast marketing conglomerates from time to time and I participate. Sue me.**

*Dudes, the fact that some random, scary, insane Internet Stalker type precludes me from sharing my short list of names with you bums me out. I wish the spectre of the Random Scary Insane Internet Stalker would just. go. away. Takes some of the joie de vivre out of it, but adds a little zing of apprehension to keep things interesting.

**Pablo looks a bit more like a stoner than I had planned.

P.S.: April, we really, really, really, really, really hope that we will see you in Guangzhou. It becomes more unlikely as each day goes by. Still, I'm clinging to a perhaps pathetic belief that we will travel before CNY. I have also confirmed that if we travel before CNY we will be staying at Ye Olde Whyte Swan Hotel. Has anyone heard of it?