My New Crafty Blog…Little Blue Cottage

Back in April, I started a craft blog but I couldn’t tell anyone about it because I had a picture of a quilt that I was making for Suzanne, our lovely friend who awaits her baby’s arrival home from Kyrgyzstan.  But, now that the quilt has been given and I can move on to other quilts, this little blog can go forth into the crafty bloggy world. 

Pictures will be forthcoming as my camera is very unwell at the moment. 

http://littlebluecottage.wordpress.com

 Tina

BAKE Party at Suzanne’s

There’s a new thing happening thanks to Suzanne over at Straight Down the Mountain.  She started this whole idea of families from all over the Bay Area who have or are in-process of adopting from Kyrgyzstan, becoming a group who get together, form community and bonds with each other.  YAY!  B.A.K.E stands for Bay Area Kyrgyz Entourage.  I’m totally a BAKEr.  Here’s what happened:

 

 

Suzanne’s back yard….FAB

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the hammock

 

 

 

 

Suzanne, Ivy & Dylan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne’s Lagman was one of several traditional, central Asian dishes served.  One was a dish that I screwed up and it ended up being not the traditional manti but ended up being what I called Kyrgyz nachos.  Please, don’t ask.  Delicious, yes.  Authentic….no.  Absolutely no picture was taken of it.  I’ll do better next year…

Mascara, Tea, Downward Puppy & Baby Signs – NaJuPicMo

 

 

 

 

 

 

I awaken from my beauty slumber to strange noises and then the papparazzi took my picture for their own personal gain.

 

 

 

 

 

The morning became more civilized after taking tea from my favorite mug

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isabel just isn’t her best self if she doesn’t get in her sunrise yoga time.  This is ‘downward puppy’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isabel then decided to show you all her sign language skills.  Here she is with her favorite sign ‘more’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the completion of her saying ‘more’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Where’s your head?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Where’s your nose?”

It was a very full morning indeed.

Frosting & Boots with Steamed Milk – NaJuPicMo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moments after a particularly delicious cupcake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Target, while coveting rainboots, Izzy is seen sipping steamed milk

NaJuPicMo

 
<img src=”http:// ” alt=”najupicmo” />

I totally just invented this, but I’m excited.  Here’s the selling point…sooooooo much easier than NaMoBlahBlah… whatever that thingy is.  Anyway, the ideas is that July is for posting pictures.  Post one picture a day.  No text necessary!  Take a picture of your vacation, your breakfast, the sweater you’re knitting, your bathroom renovations, the progress your teeth whitening strips are making, your sunflowers in the garden, the plums you brought home from the farmers’ market,WHATEVER! A picture a day…it’s all we ask. 

I fully understand and appreciate that I could have and should have thought of this and promoted it beginning about two weeks ago, but better a tad late than never.  So…I’ll kick things off by posting pictures of our Kyrgyz picnic and get-together in San Diego. 

 

Lyudmilla with Izzy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judge from Tokmok

 

 

 

 

 

Izzy enjoying the teacups at Disneyland

 

 

 

 

So, tomorrow I’ll be back and see how many of you are doing this!

 

 

Middle Age, Kyrgyzstan, Food & The Tooth-Wiggling Situation

Mea Culpa.  I don’t even know what happened.  The last month has just done me in.  But, I’m all better now but it’s been a few weeks of house guests, end of school year picnics, family graduations, a new play group and then the big finale was going down to San Diego to meet with the Tokmok orphanage director, our in-country co-ordinator Lyudmilla, the Tokmok judge and Kyrgyz adoption inspector who had come to see how the children who have been adopted are doing.  Many families came from near and far which shows the strength and commitment in our Kyrgyz community of children from Tokmok.  I met Hillary, Mala and Jackie!  The afternoon went by so quickly, but I felt very very glad to see Lyudmilla again.  Tatyanna, who is the director of Tokmok orphanage could not believe how big Isabel is.  When we left Tokmok a year ago, Isabel was not even 13 lbs at 8 months of age, anemic, not able to turn over, and hypotonia.  She was a bit tearful in seeing her.  Isabel had been very loved in Tokmok and I think they worried a fair bit about how she was going to fare in a new family and country.  There was a lot of picture taking (future post, I promise…really, I’m incredibly lame…I know.)  We stayed with Lori, our travel partner who adopted from Tokmok at the same time we did and we took both trips to Kyrgyzstan together.  We went to Disneyland in the middle of a heat wave.  It was insane. In four hours we ate lunch and went on two rides.  We left with our hearts very full.

Ok, so you all threw out a few great topics for me to discuss.  And in no particular order…away we go.

Middle age.  Oh my…I suppose it is finally here.  It’s funny to age isn’t it because for the most part, I feel a lot like my much younger self a lot of the time.  I mean, I respond and react differently to most situations but I’m still an insecure teenager inside.  I’m looking forward to my 50’s, when I will embrace my inner Ruth Gordon. 

Suzanne…you want food?  I’ll give you food.  It’s totally my calling in life to feed people.  I’m happiest when I’m watching someone eat something I cooked, particularly something I’ve baked.  What have I been cooking….well, not a whole lot to be honest.  But, now that the rest of the summer stretches out before me with little plans other than going to the beach, I’ll be doing my usual farmer’s market schedule of Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Summer menus here revolve heavily around tomatoes, basil, stone fruit and a lot of fish.  Sunday is the big cooking day around here.  For breakfast there are waffles or scones or Art makes Dutch babies, and then there’s light noshing while we do household things.  Then, about 4 o’clock Art fires up the grill and we all start cooking.  Zannie is taking pride in her budding knife skills.  This week she trimmed a massive bunch of broccoli all by herself.  I mean, I supervise and teach her while she’s doing it of course, but she’s doing the whole thing.  She gets very proud of herself, but tries not to show it. 

All the food writing and recipe development I’ve done this year still hasn’t been published.  I’m about to do some more and I’m working on getting a column in a new magazine.  We’ll see…I think digital media is going to replace many magazines, but I’m still hopeful I can get this gig. 

Ok, it’s late but I’m going to leave you with a parenting story that I’m sure will become a family classic for us.  Zannie’s front tooth has been loose for weeks.  She’s been wiggling and loosening it and eating apples and chewing gum and whatever else she can think of to get it out.  Then, tonight I noticed that it had turned grey.  The Time Had Come.  So, taking a firm stance that the tooth had to come out tonight, we had a circular conversation that went something like this:

Me: It has to come out tonight…

Z: Stop TALKING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!

Me: (trying to stay calm) Honey, you can do it yourself like you did last time, or I can do it but it has to come out now.  It’s only hanging by one thread.  It’s swinging in there like a door.

Z: NO! NO! I want to do it when it’s dark. I want to do it tomorrow.  I want to do it after we do our crafts.  I want to just wiggle it for now.  Where is the orajel?  We can’t do it without the Orajel!!  NO! NO! I HATE THE TASTE OF THE ORAJEL!!!!  Mama it is NOT coming out, it’s not ready!!! 

Me: It has to come out tonight.  Let me do it and then it won’t hurt…

Z: NO! NO! You kept talking about it!  I was THIS CLOSE to doing it and now I can’t!!!!!!! 

Me: Daddy will be there with ice cream right after so that the orajel taste will go away.  Mint chip…..you love mint chip…

Z: I don’t like mint chip

Me: Yes you do…you love it.

Z:  No I DO NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: What about all the times we’ve had it?

Z: Well, I didn’t like it but I ate it anyway…

Me: (doing all I can not to laugh) well then we’ll think of another thing to make the taste go away…

THREE HOURS LATER…..

Finally, weary with wiggling the tooth and putting up a fight, she said….ok…go ahead mama…and I reached  in and hardly touched it and it fell in the palm of my hand.  I think she had wiggled the life out of it and actually pushed it into her gums and by the time I got there, it gladly came to me.  Zannie started laughing with a slightly disturbing kind of mania with the occasional moment of crying – a schizophrenic kind of coming down from a trauma mixed with the relief that it was All Over.  The tooth awaits its capture by the tooth fairy and Zannie got in bed with a slight lisp and a promise that she will never do that again.  Then, she announced that her other front tooth was loose now. 

I’m not even kidding.  It took three hours.  She was absolutely exhuasted afterward.  But, she was such a sweetie, she even thanked me afterwards.  So…that’s all for now, but I will hopefully be posting pictures in the next few days.  Ciao.

 

Dude, where’s my post?

I’m having serious blogger’s block.  My last post was a big giant spa treatment for my soul and since then, I’ve tried to sit down and write again, some more…something.  Anything.  The words, they don’t come. 

So, I thought that what I could do is have a bit of an open mike jam session and put it out there to anyone reading.  Since I get emails every day with some kind of question relating to my blog, why dontcha just ask me here in the comments following.  Go ahead and be anonymous if ya want to.  Ask me anything.  Or, take me to task.  Whatev. 

The floor is yours…

 

 

What I ought to feel

…is gratitude and thankfulness.  I ought to stroke my daughters’ hair and feel the softness and feel my heart melt.  I love the cards I got and the beautiful picture frame that was handmade. 

But I am so, so sad today.  I am putting on a good show, because it’s the right thing to do.  The sadness is winning right now. 

My heart is broken in two for missing two mothers today. 

What I want, I can’t have.  What I want to do is to have my mom over for a big dinner, or to go to my childhood home and celebrate there with my daughters.  Instead, I’ll drive to the cemetary that I walked through on my way home every day after school and place nasturtiums on my mohter’s grave. 

I would love to call M. today and have her feel comfortable in accepting that she is a mother too.  I wish that even if she rejected that she is a mother, that we could at least have a relationship.  I suppose we can’t have the latter without the former.  I don’t pretend to understand or know.  I guess that’s the problem in the first place. 

So, what I ought to feel is a whole lot of gratitude.  I was never promised any children whatsoever.  I have two miracle children who are healthy and happy.  I ought to be praying for Isabel’s mother and sending her good thoughts and reassurance that her daughter is alright and loved and that I’m so sorry that her motherhood has not been given a chance.

I’m just so sad.  It’s all so unfair, all the loss.  For all of us.

 

How To Eat An Apple – By Isabel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crack open the Kumis and raise your glasses!

Suzanne, over at Straight Down The Mountain has downright made me blush.  She has nominated me for the “You- make-the-world-a-better-place” award.  Holy smokes that’s fancy.  So, I’ll pass on the blog lovin’ to a few people who I know without a doubt are making things better in the world.

www.actofkindness.blogspot.com John Wright and his family walk the talk.  They give of their time, energy and money to the people who need it most in Kyrgyzstan.  He and his group fix up properties, restore hope and provide dignity for the forgotten and needy.  They bring food, vitamins, warmth, toys and money to the orphanages and baby houses in Tokmok and Orlofka.  They help people who are living in the dump and have no other options.  John plays with the children, reaches out to those who are sick and can’t afford healthcare.  He does this because of an unwaivering belief and faith that this is what he must do.  I admire him so much.  He and his family are there now and I dare anyone to read his blog and not feel the same admiration and respect.

Margie over at her blog, www.thirdmom.blogspot.com is a wise, kind, funny, insightful and amazing mom and human being.  I feel that she is an online mentor for me in her graceful and gentle way of interacting with other bloggers (especially ones whose opinions are different from hers) and she writes about adoptive parenthood that exemplifies respect for her children, their mothers, and their country of origin.  Margie is an activist, writer and a good soul.  Read her.

Judy over at www.justenjoyhim.wordpress.com makes the world a better place because of her peerless honesty, humor, chutzpah, and her all-around sassyness.  Judy is another adoptive mom to Nate and I admire her parenting so much.  She walks an honorable path in everything I read in how she lives her life.  Right now, Judy is battling cancer and is asking the tough questions that go along with a life-threatening illness.  I totally love Judy.  She makes the world a better place because her writing is as big as her heart.

Lastly, but not leastly, I want to send an award out to Nicole at www.paragraphein.wordpress.com for being an incredibly brave blogger.  She writes with her whole mind, heart and soul on being a relinquishing mother who regrets placing her daughter for adoption.  She writes with great compassion and anger about adoption, the system that let her down over and over, difficulties and pain in open adoption, and what it all means to her.  I never tire of her willingness to put it out there, and to let all comments stand, even the ones that hurt her.  So, while I wish she weren’t having to write a blog about her pain, I celebrate her and I feel that she absolutely is making the world a better place by writing at length about that which must be changed in the American system of adoption. 

There are many others I’d love to honor.  But man, it’s late here.  Four is good, right? Oh darn…I just remembered one more new-ish blogger I really like.  Talk about honest.  KAD blogger Kev Minh. www.borrowednotes.wordpress.com

Feast on the riches of these people.