Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages
Here's some Olympic-related reading to mark the passing of the torch:
Designer Steven Heller traces the evolution of the tiny symbols for each Olympic sport since 1936.
A Project
I've been saying for awhile that I need a project to distract me from the delays we are experiencing regarding our adoption case. (Yet another week has gone by with no news.) Last night, it occurred to me that maybe rather than choosing projects that focus on the kids, I should do something for myself. I decided maybe I'd give myself a bit of a makeover. And then I thought, "I hate makeovers! How about some new clothes?" My first idea was to go shopping, pick up some new tops and maybe a hot pair of jeans, but that would distract me for all of an afternoon, and I'm looking to fill a couple of months. Then it occurred to me that I could make my new clothes. I have a couple of months with nothing to do, I'm moving to a whole new climate zone this summer, and it has really been a few years since I've done much of anything to freshen up my wardrobe. If there were ever a time to attempt to make more of my own clothes, it would be now. So that's my project. I'm going to make myself some warm-weather clothing.
I figured I should set some goals, so here they are. I will make:
2 pairs of pants or shorts
2 skirts
4 tops
1 pair of much-needed new pajamas
I decided not to add the restriction that all of my new clothes must be made using recycled garments or fabrics, but I expect that at least some of them will.
My reward for finishing my project? Maybe a hot pair of jeans. Or babies.
English Muffins and Not Quite Eggs Benedict
A few weeks ago, I made English muffins for the first time. It was pretty easy to do, and I have to say they were the best English muffins I have ever had. I highly recommend attempting your own. My recipe came from The Big Book of Bread Machine Recipes, but you can find a similar recipe online here.
We used our extra tasty English muffins and some smoked salmon that was gifted to us by a neighbor to make Not Quite Eggs Benedict. There's nothing like restaurant-quality meals at home.
Tiny Update
This isn't really new or exciting information, but we found out yesterday we still do not have a court date. We know our paperwork has been to MOWA, and we know our lawyer thinks everything looks good, but we don't have a date and don't expect to pass court for at least a few weeks...if we're lucky. At this rate, it looks like we can't even hope to travel until May or even June. Xander is determined that we'll bring our kids home before they turn 1 year old. It's frustrating given that they were only 5 months at the time of our referral. We know they are being well cared for, but of course we would still rather be the ones doing the caring. They're getting bigger and bigger and are reaching the point when they will really start to notice and absorb language, so it's immensely frustrating to know it will still be months before we have them home. We're going to want to learn some more Amharic for sure. (Someone is about to dismiss these thoughts and say it doesn't matter because they won't be talking yet or won't "remember" anything, but you're wrong about that. Do some reading.)
We're also supposed to move back to the US in June, so, you know, there's some stress there. And Xander has a week-long conference he is organizing and cannot miss in May. Everything is probably going to happen all at once, and we haven't figured out how to manage it all yet. Do we go ahead and move? Do we wait? What about health insurance? What about immigration? Who is going to take care of the diabetic cat while we are gone? We can't afford to board them both, and we're worried that the stress of boarding would actually make things worse anyway, because stress elevates blood sugar. We're pretty sure Luna would freak out. (If she were a person, she would most definitely be on anti-anxiety meds.) Plus we are disappointed that now we will definitely be traveling during the rainy season, which will significantly alter some of our travel plans. Anyway, these are all issues we will manage, but when we planned all of this it didn't seem like there was any chance the adoption would take this long to complete. We figured we'd be done by now. We went from thinking maybe summer to hoping for fall to thinking winter to thinking spring and now hoping for summer again. We're so glad we didn't get a referral sooner, because we are beyond thrilled with our match and so crazy about the twins, but it's a weird thing to put your life on hold for so long with no end in sight.
Advice to anyone in the middle of this? Expect everything to take twice as long as they tell you it will. Especially if you are an expat. Also, don't do what we did and clear your calendar post referral. Now would be the perfect time for a vacation.
New Toy
Xander's super duper math grant bought him a fancy and (surprisingly) not-crazy-expensive tablet PC. 1 out of some number of mathematicians do not prefer the iPad.
I'm not easily impressed by technical gadgets, but the fact that you can write on the tablet and then have it convert your notes to text files is pretty cool. I don't think the tablet knows how to convert Trogdor, though.
Um, we're not even going to talk about yesterday's hockey game. No, we are not.
The Cats Declare a Time Out
Half-finished crochet projects make great beds.
The J-man is on insulin now, poor buddy. We started treating his diabetes by changing his diet, which helped but didn't quite get him down into the normal range. So it's twice-daily injections for the fat orange cat (who is mostly just an orange cat now). We're all high-maintenance around here now. But cats whose diabetes is well-managed can live nearly as long as healthy cats do, so it's worth the effort.
SHAUN WHITE IS BAD ASS!
Did you SEE his last run?! Halfpipe totally cheered me up last night, and so did Shani Davis. The Olympics in general are doing a pretty good job of distracting me from this incessant waiting. I can't help but feel a little bit proud that the American and Canadian teams are doing so well. (Canada is embarrassing every hockey team it encounters, in case you didn't know. But really, no one needs to read the news to know that was bound to happen.) Even Ethiopia got in on some Olympic action.
Also, we think our national anthem should be changed to this.
Animated Shorts
Each year, I try to get my hands on all of the Oscar-nominated animated shorts. I love short films. I think it takes quite a lot of skill to tell a story in such a brief amount of time, and I'm always impressed when someone manages to do it well. This year, it appears all of the animated shorts are online. Check them out:
Granny O'Grimm
The Lady and the Reaper
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Logorama
French Roast
Note: At the time of writing, French Roast seems to be off line, but the site claims it will be coming back soon.
Just...can't.
Don't worry. This isn't another whiny post about waiting.
Wait. Yes, it is.
Every day just before the time that our agency opens, I start to feel a little hopeful. And then a few hours go by, and I realize if they were going to call that day, they'd have called already. I'm losing track of the weeks. The new photos cheered us up a bit, but now they are staring at us, taunting, because it's not like we can have what is in the photo. (A family.) This is beginning to seem like a really mean practical joke. I'm starting to feel depressed again. And even a little resentful. Where is our court date? Good GOD they had better just call and tell us we've passed already. If they call and try to convince us that a court date that is weeks away is good news, I'm going to cry.
It's Ash Wednesday tomorrow. The beginning of Lent. I'm usually quite focused during Lent. I look forward to it every year because I see it as a good time to recenter myself, to fix things in myself that feel broken. But I don't think it's in me this year. It's not just parts of me that feel broken. I feel broken. Having and not having my kids already feels a lot like penance.
There's only one thing I can pray for tomorrow. Please please please please peace peace peace peace peace...
Eating, Feeding
When I was a kid, my mom was all about the healthy snacks. She would respond to pleas of "I'm hungry!" with, "You can have an apple." I was almost never hungry enough to take her up on the offer. (And she wonders why her kids all grew up to be health-conscious vegetarians.) Anyway, one of the snacks she used to make was called "ants on a log." Nothing fancy, just a celery stick with peanut butter and raisins on top, but I have very fond memories of them all the same. My husband has never heard of this particular snack and neither have my friends. I figured it was just something my mom made up until I read this post on Weelicious.
One of the things I'm trying to prepare myself for is learning to relax my standards regarding the food we eat. We almost never eat out anymore, and I make our meals "from scratch," as they say. The only processed foods you'll find in our house right now are things like canned tomato paste, chipotle peppers (that make things like grits and black-eyed peas extra tasty), soy milk, butter, flour, and coffee. And even though they are indeed processed, I'm not sure they really could be called "processed foods." Canning and freezing this summer made a huge difference in how we've been eating this winter. Thanks to the long shelf life of vegetables like beets and carrots and potatoes, we can go two weeks or more without a trip to the grocery store, and nearly everything we eat was locally grown. But I'm not expecting to be able to keep this up with two little ones around. I am going to have to re-learn how to cut some corners. I'll have to get over my guilt when it has been "one of those days," and we end up ordering take-out. (I think it will help a lot that our new apartment will be within walking distance of a taqueria or three. Cheese burrito with red sauce. Mmmm...) And maybe it just makes sense to keep a few emergency cans of soup or a frozen pizza around. We'll see. But I do still have a few new culinary adventures planned, like learning to make cheese and brew beer. So really my goal is to become a medieval housewife. With a fridge. And a dishwasher.
Incidentally, Weelicious is a pretty nifty blog as far as mommy-type blogs go. (You know, those blogs on which someone tries to make something that is decidedly not cool, like changing diapers and mashing peas, sound cool?) They gave us the idea to transform Xander's most excellent mac and cheese into tasty bite-sized casseroles. I'm already looking forward to making them for our next cocktail party. What? You thought I wanted to make them for the twins? Ha!
Happy Olympics Day!
For the next couple of weeks, I'll be camped out on the couch with a crochet project or ten watching loads of sports. I went out and bought myself some Olympic swag to get into the spirit. And I'm told I even have an Olympic pin coming my way that features one of Vancouver's mascots driving a Zamboni.
I love Vancouver's mascots. (Wonder which one you are? No? Well, fine. But if you did, you could take a quiz to find out.) Somehow my favorite mascot ended up being the odd marmot out, but I don't really know why. He's clearly the cutest. Every time new Olympics mascots are revealed, I am unhappily reminded of Atlanta's pitiful creation, Izzy. I lived in Georgia back then and attended the Olympics, and I can tell you we all hated that guy. It was rather embarrassing. (I am surprised to learn that Izzy is not considered the worst mascot of all time, though he did rank in the top 10.) One can hardly blame Vancouver for wanting four mascots. No one would want to risk putting all of their money into just one and find themselves with an Izzy on their hands. That would be bad.
Anyway, we've got snowboarding and figure skating in our queue. And there will certainly be some curling and some skiing and speed skating and...aw, hell. I love them all! But that unavoidable hockey match between the US and Canada is going to be sticky. I have to admit, our loyalties are divided on that one. May the best team win.
Crafting Update
I currently have a whole slew of baby shoes in the works that may or may not be given as gifts to people who may or may not be having babies. (There will be a whole lotta babies arriving in 2010, so there's no shortage of craft projects to complete around here.) My friend Katie twisted my arm and got me to order some new yarn from Knit Picks, but sadly I don't think it will be arriving in time for the Olympics. Olympics is prime crochet time around here, because I plan to do little other than sit in front of the television and watch people do crazy shit on ice and snow. Good times are on the horizon. And, I hope, a few new sweaters for me and the twins.
My latest contribution to the Fabertids wardrobe is this:
I'm no expert at the sewing and can't stitch straight for anything, but it sure is fun to do. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to making something for myself.
How Quebecers (and Ontarians) Drink Milk
Here's a cultural difference I've never bothered to mention: in Quebec, one drinks milk from a bag. I never thought to mention it because Xander and I don't drink milk. We cook with it sometimes around the holidays, so we only buy small cartons. But if you drink milk regularly here, you'll be buying it in bags. And then what do you do with it? Watch and learn:
And now you know about drinking milk in Quebec. Voilà!
Americans Ho!
Recently my friend Odette invited me and a few other friends to take a trip down to Burlington and Plattsburgh for some good, old-fashioned American consumerism. It was a successful trip all around. We ate good food, strolled around scenic Burlington, indulged in some Ben & Jerry's--Did you know they'll make milkshakes out of ANY flavor ice cream you want?!--took a brief ferry ride across the partially-frozen Lake Champlain, and shopped. Clothing is generally cheaper in the US than it is in Quebec, so you'll find plenty of francophones touring around to shopping malls in northern Vermont and New York. I got some amazing deals on kids' clothes and sneakers at Old Navy and Target, so now we have a ton of items to donate to our orphanage. We also stocked up on food items that are unavailable in Quebec, such as Cooler Ranch Doritos and Crispix (my favorite cereal). And we unabashedly spoke English for hours and hours. It was great. I didn't take as many pictures as I had intended to, but I still got a few. 
Finally! An Update!
We just passed the 8-week mark since receiving our referral. Yes, we should have been assigned a court date by now. No, we haven't gotten one. No, we don't know when we are going to get one. Yes, we are frustrated. And that pretty much sums that up.
BUT we did finally get updates on the kids! Two of them at once! That means four new pictures each of the Fabertids. It's both wonderful to see them--because in case you didn't know they are the cutest babies in the history of ever--but it's also sad because we can tell that they are growing, and that just makes us feel like we are missing so much. They seem healthy, though, and this is a blessing. Dinka looks sweet and charismatic. Dinke looks suspicious of everyone and everything. We expect it will take some work to win her over.
So that's that. Let's hope we get a court date soon. (We're kind of hoping our agency will just call us and say, "Oops! It looks like you passed court already! We just didn't know because of the internet outages. Congratulations!" But I'd never say such a thing out loud. It's just too much to hope for.)
Have a lovely weekend!
The Secret of Kells
Those of you who have known me for awhile are aware of my minor obsession with illuminated manuscripts. I love them. And of course I am very much hoping to see some inspiring illuminations in Ethiopia. Anyway, my undergraduate thesis was on The Book of Kells, and my first round of graduate school was at FSU in the area of medieval manuscripts. Imagine my complete shock at discovering someone made an animated feature that centers on The Book of Kells. It's called The Secret of Kells, and it looks just lovely.
And then there's this:
Oh, please please let this one come to Montreal! I mean, what with all the Catholic churches, why wouldn't it?
