Two posts for the price of one

So, I had to make a cake for Andrew's 1SG's going away party tomorrow.
She loves Red Velvet cake....I've never made it before. Apparently cream cheese frosting is the way to go....
since we have no room in our fridge for a cake, I decided to go the cheap way and purchase containers of pre-made cream cheese frosting.

I shouldn't have done that.

Anyhow, my cake was crumby, the cream cheese frosting picked up every bit of red cake crumb and the sheep's face is white which doesn't stand out well on off-white cream cheese.

Boo.

Boo to this cake.

Anyhow, here's my drawing of what the sheep was SUPPOSED to look like....



and, here's how the cake actually turned out.



I'm giving up cakes and thinking about picking up a career in drawing dopey animals.

(My hubby's company are called the black sheep, by the way. I didn't just randomly select a sheep!)

Half of a visit in photos

This is photo heavy-so beware.

My grandparents arrived last Thursday. Today marks one week of visiting. They leave a week from today. I'm elated that they're here, but now that it's halfway, I'm starting to get sad that they're going to be leaving. I realize this is where our life is right now, but-I miss them so much.

Anyhow, here we go:

My grandparents posing for a photo on the Windward side. This is very near the beach where they filmed From Here to Eternity. However, due to construction at that site, we weren't able to go there. :(


When my Grandparents arrived, they came bearing gifts. My mom found a bookbag for Pumpkin!!!


The day after they arrived, we received Adia's bed netting. So, we hung it above the crib. Notice the monkeys hanging on the wall. Those are a gift from Adia's Grandma and Great-Grandparents.


And, from the side.


Grandma helped me set this thing up. Until it snapped together, I was very concerned about the integrity of this thing. I thought "why on earth would people put a child in this, it's so unstable". Then, wham. Weird.


We watched Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations a few weeks ago. He came to Hawaii and visited this hot dog place called Puka Dog. I wanted to try it and since I knew my G-parents love Polish sausage, I thought they'd enjoy it. Turns out, they did.




We weren't the only ones that have been eating well.


In case anyone wonders where my nuttiness comes from...




Yesterday we went to Arizona Memorial. Here are some pictures from that excursion.






That's the USS Missouri in the background. The WWII peace treaty was signed on board.


Oil is still leaking up from the sunken ship. People say it's the ship's way of "crying" for the victims of the attack.


After the Arizona, we headed downtown for some Cheesecake Factory. My grandfather saw these hibiscus flowers and wanted a picture of them.


My Grandma's been keeping busy doing laundry. (I told her not to, but the woman isn't happy unless she's cleaning SOMETHING).


My Grandpa, however, has been keeping busy doing other things...


Today we headed to the Schofield Barracks Museum. It's small, but interesting. I got this picture out front.


And, I thought I'd toss these two in here: Andrew and me. (I have a ton of pictures where Andrew's head's cut off because my arm isn't long enough to get us both and he takes lousy pictures!)


And, one of my babies (Marshall) and me getting ready for bed last night.



Alright....well, I'm off to bake a cake. Andrew's 1SG is moving soon and they're having a party for her tomorrow at Waimea Bay. I will not be in attendance, however, I'm sending along her favorite Red Velvet cake. :)

We also discovered a lovely little Mexican market here in Honolulu. It's incredibly pricey, but they have the foods I love. So, I guess it's something.

One more day down....
c'mon referral!

Coming up on 2 months and the visit

I'm having a wonderful time. My grandparents are here. They arrived on the 10th and we've been running around the island since then. We've spent time on the North Shore. We went to Puka Dogs (see Anthony Bourdain's trip to Hawaii). We've shopped, enjoyed shave ice (aka snow cones), visited the Army post, and tomorrow we're heading off to Pearl Harbor. My grandfather wants to see the Arizona Memorial and while we're out, I'm going to try to get us to the Bowfin. I've never seen the Bowfin.

I'm sorry I haven't posted, but we've been busy. I have pictures to share, but my keyboard died-so I'm currently typing on Andrew's computer. I don't upload the photos here, so those will have to wait.

We finally received the final touches for Adia's room, so it's all set. I'll share photographs of those as well! We put a canopy netting above her crib and hung some monkeys from the tree mural. Cute.

And, the 23rd will mark our 2 months waiting. I can't believe it's been that long. I realize I whine about the wait-but, honestly, 2 months-incredible.

We're closer than ever to our kids. Every morning I wake up and realize that and it makes me smile. We're so ready to be mom and dad.

Oh-and, Losiloni recommended a CD-ROM to help us learn Amharic and we received it today! I'll start that as soon as as I get my keyboard tomorrow. :)

I hope you're all doing well. I'll catch up soon, I promise.

Good night, moon.

(Oh, and Universe-what about tomorrow? Please?!)

Why are you crying?

So, we have big plans for today. Quite a few errands to run and then come home and clean the house because tomorrow my grandparents are arriving. I'm thrilled, ecstatic, overjoyed! I miss them and they've never been here to Hawaii. I'm looking forward to having them, to myself, for 14 days. :)

Our plan was to wake up at 8 and get some stuff done so we can leave the house at 10am to run our errands. Well, we stayed up too late and it's 11am now and we're still not out the door.

Gah.

And, to make matters worse my eyes will NOT stop watering. I'm allergic to pets, so-uh, it's not surprising that I'd have some allergy symptoms. But, the watery eye thing begins in the early spring and doesn't end until late summer. No matter what I do, it seems like I'm sobbing. I think I'm finally going to break down and take an antihistamine.

I hate having to take meds, but I have no choice. I'm a lot like my Grandma in that way. Whenever Andrew's sick, I always pump him full of whatever he asks for. But, when I'm sick, I outright REFUSE medication. I have to be feeling terrible to take something. Bah.

Ok-I'm off to find breakfast. I want to talk about something I saw on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, but-I'll save that for another post.

Today is a good day.

So, a blog-friend recently introduced me to a term that I loved so much I'm going to use today.

Jel-appy:of or pertaining to the feeling one gets when someone on the list ahead of you received their referral. Word derives from a combination of jealousy and happiness.

Today another sibling referral was received! I'm very happy for the family that recieved the referral for two reasons: 1) they've been waiting a long time and 2)it moves us on up that ladder.



I feel like more sibling referrals are in the near future, which is wonderful for all involved. This process is amazing, for so many reasons-but, I'm witnessing families being formed. That's perhaps the best.

So, I'm jel-appy. At the moment, I'm more of the "appy"...



but, tomorrow I'll be looking out for more referrals...


(By the way: we're getting the garage organized! FINALLY!)

A day to please any foodie

Today is "Waffle Sunday". So, we started out-bright and early-intending to make our usual Sunday fare. After beginning to prepare said waffles, I discovered we were syrup-less. So, off Andrew goes to the store. While he was out, I decided to start making berbere paste for tonight's special dinner: doro wat.

Doro what?, some of you (not currently adopting from Ethiopia) may be asking. Well, Doro wat is an Ethiopian traditional stew made with chicken and an amazing mixture of spices.

So...anyhow. I make our berbere paste. It's not 100% authentic as I had a hard time finding all of the spices needed, but I made do for the time being.

The result:


It's an aromatic combination of paprika, ginger, nutmeg, salt, pepper, red pepper, cumin seed, fennel seed, fenugreek seed, whole cloves, garlic and onion with a little bit of oil and red wine. Mmmm....

Anyhow, after making and eating our waffles, Andrew, the dogs and I sat on the couches to enjoy a movie. We watched Harry Potter's Order of the Phoenix. For some reason, I really enjoy relaxing to Harry Potter movies. I can't figure it out.

I spent most of the day resting, scrapbooking and trying not to think about the kids. (Trying.)

Then came time for dinner!

First step: marinade chicken in lemon and salt.


Check.

Second step: heat butter or oil with paprika, then add berbere paste and puree of onion, ginger and garlic.


Check.


Third step: Add chicken and wine with chicken stock (or water). Bring to boil.


Check.

Step four: Add salt, pepper and allow to boil for 45 minutes (covered). When finished, it'll look like this:


Looks good...

but, wait. I know that doro wat (as most Ethiopian foods) is served with a relatively sour flatbread known as injera. Injera is made with teff (a grain). Well, we don't have teff here in Hawaii (believe me, I've looked). I can order it online, but as I often wait until the last minute to worry about ingredients for meals-I didn't order it for tonight.

So, I'll make something that LOOKS like injera. I can do that...but, how do I make it sour?...

Well, I ended up using flour, baking soda, an egg, lots of milk and vinegar to create something that started out looking like this:



But, after I added MORE milk and vinegar, ended up looking like this:

(Sorry it's mutilated, but, I can't figure out how to flip it without it breaking!)

While I'm sure it doesn't taste like real injera, it was quite tasty and went delicious with the final meal.

So, we were each served this:


It was the imitation injera, white rice(which is not part of the typical fare, but I didn't anticipate making the injera and I wanted to eat a starch with it!) and the doro wat.

We ended up eating about half of what we served ourselves and now we're way too full. We have lunch and dinner for tomorrow!! :)

It's delicious. We're both very excited to learn how to make real injera and more Ethiopian food.

Andrew said "I look forward to making Ethiopian food for our children. It'll be great-you can make them Ethiopian food and Mexican food."

Yes. I guess I can. :)

Goodnight moon.

Adia's Nursery!!!!! (Almost complete)

Just in time to celebrate 6 weeks on the waiting list, we finished Adia's room.

We're waiting on the decorative mosquito netting and a few monkeys, but in all-the room's complete. We ordered a hutch for on top of the dresser, but that won't be here until probably around November, so-you'll have to use your imagination for now. But, I'm sure you all know what a hutch looks like.

Without further ado:

The view from the door


"Mom's corner"


A closer look at the mural


Half of her closet (the girl has more clothes than I have)


And the other half...


Her crib


Crib with the mural


the dresser (sans hutch)



Whew. We did a lot of work today, but thankfully the paint wasn't too bad (it was just a matter of putting on a first coat, allowing it to dry, then doing a second coat....x 4 (b/c we had furniture in there, we couldn't do it all at once).

I'm glad hers is done. I have a good idea what I want for Pumpkin's room, but that's going to wait a bit. I want to wait until my Grandparents come (and go) before we start that. Especially since I'm giving them our bedroom and we're going into Pumpkin's room for those two weeks!

I feel relieved that we got the job done. Phew.

The first 4th

Yesterday was productive. We had our fingerprints updated (which, still amuses me). We also had the POA taken care of: it was walked in to the first circuit court where it received a piece of paper stapled to it. From there, we dropped it off at our capitol building:



After the the Lt.Governor signs off on it, it'll come back to us where we can forward it to D.C.

Today our goal is to finish Adia's room (but, let's be real-this has been the goal for 2 weeks now). I also want to get some more scrapbooking done. My scrapbooking table is our dining room table and I want/need that for when my grandparents arrive in 6 days. :)

And, today is the 4th of July. I've always been patriotic....not in a "our country is better than yours" way, but rather because this is a land of opportunity. Sounds cliche, I know. But, my Grandfather came here and built a life here. What we have in this country is so much more than what we would have if we lived in Mexico.

Anyhow, it's our first 4th as parents-to-be. No longer are we hopefully-going-to-be-parents....no! We're on the list, that makes it real.

So, if for no other reason, I will enjoy whatever fireworks I encounter. :)

Have a safe and fun day.

Book Club Invite//*Edited

My girlfriends and I used to have a book club. Well, since they've moved, that ended.

But, we decided to start an online book club. It'll be tricky-but we've decided to set up a board/forum for daily discussions but then we'll do an occasional chatroom (probably through yahoo) group discussion.

We've also decided-the more the merrier!
______________________________________
So, if any of you are interested in reading more and talking with book lovers about the books you're reading-let me know.

I'm screening all comments, so if you're interested include:
1)name
2)email address
3)time zone you live in
4)3 books that you'd like to read but have not read before

I'll delete all comments so none of your info will be shared on this site.

______________________________________

As far as book selection goes, once I get a final member list, I'm going to put together a list and email everyone. Any books that have been read by members of our group will be eliminated. I will then compose a master list and utilize an excel program to randomly select the book order.

So far we have 3 women involved for sure and I'd love to have that number up to about 8.

Please consider it!

***Edition
I had a question about the type of books that we read. The three most recent books we read were:
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

We all submit requests and we take from that list-so we're willing to read anything!

Thank goodness for broken plans...

So, we woke up this morning bright-eyed and bushy tailed (ok, maybe not) so we could go downtown and have our appointment with USCIS. We needed to get our appointment to update our fingerprints. Fingerprints don't change-why do they expire? This is something I'd like to know. Anyhow, I drop Andrew off for the appointment thinking it'll be like last time: we'll go straight from USCIS up the street to get our fingerprints taken then we can be on with the rest of our day. Nope.

Fingerprints don't happen on Monday. So-we made an appointment for Thursday. I was slightly peeved because we drove all the way downtown and I'm turning over the new scrooge leaf, so...yeah. Well, I ended up having to park a few blocks from USCIS on a side street. When I got out of the car to feed more coins into the meter because the USCIS appointment was taking longer than I expected, I smelled something heavenly. What is that? I wondered to myself. Admittedly, in the car I wasn't looking around-I was playing Scrabble on my Blackberry. Anyhow, I turn around and lo and behold-a Thai restaurant that we haven't tried yet! Yum.

I get back in the car and I realize it's 11am, that's an ok time for lunch, right? So, when Andrew gets back to the car I break the "no eating out" rule and invite him to lunch. Can I say, right now, it was a good decision. Had our fingerprinting gone right and everything else....we would not have had time for this luxury.

So, after a leisurely and delicious (and decently priced!) meal...we head to our HS agency to pick up our addendum. Andrew hops out of the car to go and get it and comes back to the car with this look on his face....
Turns out the dates were wrong and it has to be redone. The person that needed to do it was out of the office, so we're going to have to make ANOTHER trip downtown to pick it up. But, WAIT!!! We'll be downtown on Thursday. Problem solved.

Due to my quick thinking, I phoned the bookstore on campus to see if they had my book for a class I'm starting next week. Turns out they may have it, but I won't know because the bookstore doesn't have hours this week. Gah! Five miles, saved!

So, we turn the car around and my grandparents call to say they don't want us buying any groceries. They're coming next Thursday and they're taking us to Sam's to buy in bulk any food that we may want or need in the next-oh, millenium (where to store said food-haven't figured out yet). At least 200 bucks on groceries-saved!

I figure since our day already went down the pooper as far as plans, why not make a side trip to USA Baby. I've been meaning to stop in to price the hutch for Adia's dresser. We go in and don't see her furniture anywhere. This isn't surprising as we purchased it back in late 2006 when we were starting fertility appointments. The woman seemed confused when we described the furniture and I had pretty much resigned myself to thinking we'll never get the hutch I so badly want when...wait! What is that?...it couldn't be....YESSSSS!!!!!! Adia's dresser (and matching bureau which thankfully we don't have room for) is on sale. It's discontinued. This is no surprise as anyone who knows me knows that anything I like very quickly gets taken off the market.

Anywho-we point it out to her and she click clicks on the computer and there's only one hutch left in all of USA Baby stock. It's in a warehouse in the mainland. They won't charge us extra for shipping, but, it'll take 2-4 months to get it to Hawaii.

2-4 months?!

Guess what?! WE CAN WAIT THAT LONG!!!!!! ha. (This is the only time you'll see me excited about waiting. Seriously).

After ordering the hutch, Andrew decides he wants to break our no ice cream rule so we had ice cream. I have to say-it's not as tasty as I remember. Andrew, on the other hand, thinks it's like a drug...he can't get enough. Shortly after said ice cream cone he gets sleepy...

Off to pay the insurance (it was 9 dollars cheaper than I expected this month-covers the ice cream!) and then home.

Tonight, for dinner I made a food I had a dream about yesterday. I call them beef cakes....(ha).






Pie crust, mashed potatoes, ground beef cooked and then simmered in "guisado" (tomato-based sauce) with peas and a wee bit of cheese.

I woke up from a nap all excited yesterday when I thought them up. I actually thought I created some new, wonderful food....
Andrew laughed and said "there's already something like that-it's called Shepherd's Pie".

Dammit. It's a bit different...but, yeah, the basic idea is there.

I'm still gonna call them beef cakes.

How did everyone else's Monday go?

(::knock knock:: Universe? A few more referrals before the 2nd would be lovely!)