Letter from NBC - No not that NBC

On Christmas eve, the NBC sent me their letter requesting additional information for our I800 application. It appears that some of the backup information we sent did not have the appropriate wording. I called them on Monday and only got a voice mail. I was going to call today but I have decided to deal with it next Monday after the holidays when all is back to normal and I can think clearly.

End of the year clearance gets a new meaning this year...

Okay so I will confess that we are a little lagging in the blog update arena....but we have been a little busy. This year the Christmas season will end with three strong memories....

ABBA - Mamma Mia - Noley got the movie and the sound track....(if you would have ever told me I would like this movie I would have said you were nuts---but it is an adorable kid friendly fun movie---and who can resist Peirce Brosnan's bad singing...after all when you are that good looking who needs one to sing.

End of the year clearance - no, not the typical shopping kind....the barf-o-rama clean out your entire system of everything you have eaten in the past six months kind. It hit us all but Mother-in-law. How she escaped, we may never know, but the rest of the Tomatoes are feeling a little bit lighter this new years eve...

And more ABBA... yes this movie and soundtrack has played non stop in our house for the past two weeks.....

We have survived and are feeling a little bit lighter. We have no plans for new years eve but that is perfectly fine with me. My fridge is clean....my garbage cans are empty and I am completely toxin free!

Cheers to 2009 - the year of Hoo Haa.

I have stooped to new bad mom low...

Okay, so I confess...I have stooped to a new all time low. I bold faced lied to my four year old and have been caught red handed in a lie by my eight year old.

MeiMei has a really cute shirt that I bought on sale to match three sets of pants and skirts that she owns. I full on expected to get A LOT of mileage out of this shirt in terms of outfits. Well Empress Fashion Pants decided that she did not want to wear the shirt because "it has letters on it" "I do not like letters on my shirts." I showed her how soft it was and how it had nice little flowers and sparkles on the arms.

BUT NO....she would have nothing to with the shirt...so then it happened. My mouth opened and out came those fatal words of deceit. "but sweetie...do you know what the shirt says?... it says 'I love chocolate chip cookies'.." "isn't that great? you love chocolate chip cookies!" Right then Noley looked at me and said "no mom that is not what it says....it says adorable!... I quickly changed my words and said, "yes...it says I adore chocolate chip cookies!"

And guess what? She proudly put on the shirt and wore it all day and proceeded to tell everyone she met that she adored chocolate chip cookies.

With the right dress anything is possible...or so we thought....

So last month at the store, I let MeiMei pick out a dress to wear for the holidays. Obviously, this girl was not used to wearing girly things back in China...becuase since being here to the states that is ALL SHE CAN THINK ABOUT. If it is flashy...it's good....If it is shiny...it's good...If it sparkles...It's even better. If it is HoochyMama...It is the best of the best. There is just one problem...for as much as she loves all of those things. They must all be packaged in 100% soft prewashed cotton and if it is not.....it only stays on for 5 minutes. The rest of the time it sits on a hanger proudly hung in her room for all to see.

Here is MeiMei modeling her choice of this years dress for all of five minutes. Big sister Linjit offered to up the anti by curling her hair. Boy was she proud to wear hot curlers. I think it was the firs time she ever had her hair curled. God knows, I never did it....and I'm sure they did not do it in Wuzhou. That is one proud and adorable little girl...(which will be another post)

Beware of the Doghouse...

WARNING...this is NOT for the faint bladder...only empty bladders may watch this. I assume NO responsibility for any accidents that may happen. You may blame them on my brother in law... KELLY...that means you.

www.bewareofthedoghouse.com

The marketing talent behind the creation of this is brilliant. The sad part for me is I would be thrilled to have a new vacuum cleaner. What does that say about me?

Enjoy...

Holiday Shopping Ideas....

Okay call me shameless, but then again, those of you that know me know I am.... So one of my Internet china adoption friends is looking to raise money for their upcoming adoption of their first child. She has a side business making the most adorable charms for necklaces. I bought one for my birthday (oh yeah, I forgot that I gave those up to those less fortunate than I) and loved the look, uniqueness, quality and craftsmanship. So why you may ask am I rambling on about jewelry? Well it is the holiday season and my friend is running a contest to win free charms.

All you have to do is check out her site www.charmaddiction.etsy.com pick out your favorites and post their photos with a link to her site to enter to win.

So please go check out Shania's sight and see for yourself. If you are looking for a unique special holiday gift for someone, this is the place.

Here are my favorite three (I already bought my favorite favorite which was posted on my site a while back).

A little Spanish Nostalgia...

I'm selling my our old house. It is with mixed emotions that I've been asked to do this task. it is a 1928 spanish home with four bedrooms and two bathrooms located on a street filled with other spanish homes. I loved that house....we loved that house...that was the house Noley and Tobbers were born in (okay so not really...they were a C-section - but you get the drift). I have sat in that house for the past three weekends at open houses. It is really hard not to be objective since I LOVE THAT HOUSE... when people tell me they do not like this or that .. I just want to escort them to the door.... after all how dare they insult me in my home... But alas it is not my house any more. We sold it to buy our current nasty wildebeest never ending money pit of a house---which has zippo in curb appeal but lots in functionality.

For those of you that were never able to visit our home or stop by for a cocktail....I invite you now.... just stop by http://www.landparkspanishhome.com/

And no, as much as I may fantasize about moving back into our old home it just would not work with four yahoos....while it is technically the same size as the new place, our new space is used much more effecciently since we get five bedrooms plus a big bonus guest house/office aka MAN SPACE.

Las Vegas for Beginners...

Really, I think we stumbled on to an underground Las Vegas Mafia plot. We discovered the Las Vegas training ground for kids. For the yahoos 8th birthday, we decided to surprise the kids and take them to this huge massive pizza amusement place.

We told them we were taking them to Asparagus World where they would eat all things asparagus, play pin the asparagus on the donkey and possibly met a veggie tale character. After a week of prep talk they actually were starting to believe and looking forward to Asparagus World and where planning what they were going to do first.

When we showed up in the parking lot of the pizza place Toby even said he could smell the dirt where they grow the asparagus. So imagine their surprise when we opened the door to Johns amazing Pizza and discovered Las Vegas training grounds for the under 13 sector.

The good news is that the food is eatable, the games keep the kids entertained for hours and they serve really cheap pitchers of ice cold beer which makes the flashing lights, noise and kid energy tolerable.

Take a look at the photos and you will see what I am talking about....

Swans & Thai Food in San Francisco...and no not together

So what do you do when the kids are out of school and you cannot work? You go to work with Dad and tag along to San Francisco. You convince him to leave work early and had over to the exploratorium and then off to Thai Food.

While Mr T and I enjoyed the food, the yahoos were entranced by the three swans at the Palace of Fine Arts. I guess I failed to know my yahoos had never seen real live swans. Yes I am a failure in Aviary introduction. Here are some photos of the quick trip and of the Swans.

Project Runway ... Watch Out Here Comes Noley

I woke up the other morning to find Noley modeling her latest creation. Noley is obsessed with peices of fabric and or toilet paper. She loves the stuff and we find it all over the house. She uses it to make beds, blankets, pillows and the occasional clothing. This particular morning we found it all over her. She took and tore the fabric a la flashdance and proceeded to create a backless ensemble.

Project Runway....Watch out!

Happy Birthday My Sweet Yahoos!!!

I cannot believe it....eight years ago today I was blessed with the surprise arrival of Noley and Tobbers. I did everything I could do within my powers to keep them in a little longer but Noley would have no part of it...it was "her way or the highway" and she had had enough and wanted to be out and free. They arrived via emergency c-section at 8:19pm (Noley) weighing in at 4lbs 2oz and two minutes later at 8:21pm (Tobbers) was removed weighing in at 3lbs 11oz. They were the size of our cordless phone.

I love this leaving the hospital photo of them. It looks like Tobbers is telling Noley about some secret.

Their second grade photos came yeaterday. They look sooooo grown up. Just yesterday I was cleaning poopy diapers......where did the time go????

To my dearest kittycat swing partner...

No matter the time that drifted between us...or the miles that separated us....or the different paths in life we chose...you will always be etched my memory as my best childhood kittycat swing partner. I don't know how many times we danced our unique dance but every time was special to me. Please give Nonnie and Grandpa a big hug for me.
May you rest in peace with the one you loved and looked up to for so much in your life...your Jesus...
My dear cousin Cathy >'.'<
1962-2008

What do you get when...

you rent a bounce house for the Street Halloween party and it rains???

Well did you know that when a bounce house gets wet it starts to bubble and when kids jump in the bubbles it makes more bubbles... Well in the typical street fashion, My Yahoos were the only ones brave enough (or maybe have a mom loose enough to let them) to take advantage of the large inflatable sitting in our driveway and have some fun. They bounced for hours and got a thorough cleaning... After jumping they begged to go jump in the Pool since they were soaking wet. THAT is where I drew the line.

Halloween Photos of the Yahoos

Here are this years photos of the Yahoos in their chosen Halloween costumes. Tobbers wanted to be a StarWars Clone trooper. "the Brown one Mom! Not the Blue one" MeiMei picked out her costume which was "Marie Antoinette" aka "Pink Princess with a Fan" ...and Noley wanted to be a Wood/Pixie/Fairy that wore five tutu's with one that lights up. Gone are the days of me making or hand picking their costumes... gone are the theme Halloweens or unique costumes. Oh well, at least they are darn cute.

Rockin All Saints Eve...

KC somewhere in the rules of Tomato family book there is a mention of "Be careful of what you send your WSM because it just might end up in print". Nice Halloween costume KC you would have fit right in to the all night Karaoke party going on till all hours of the morning. Yes, we managed to cram about 60 people in the Tomato house last night for a rockin all saints eve night of bad, bad outright frightening singing. It is amazing what a little black machine can bring out in people. I am also learning that Mr Tomato can not be trusted to take Tobbers to trumpet lessons because every time he does he comes home with a new Karaoke CD.....and I have to spend the next five days listening to him sing to it! Last week Ray Orbison, this week Elvis' Christmas......

I've Been Tagged

1. Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules.
I have been tagged by the Duchess. Since I am a tagged newbie, I am cutting and pasting the guidelines. So my first duty is to formally introduce you to the Duchess herself and her little Lady L. Now as a newbie, I have no idea how to embed the website into her name so you are getting the link the old fashion way… http://duchessoflanier.blogspot.com/

2. Seven random or weird facts about you. Here we go...
a. I love to sleep with my regular clothes on. It makes me feel like I am a kid getting away with something. I do it every time Mr T is out of town and then the kids catch me in the morning. As a kid I slept with the next day’s clothes on so that I could sleep longer in the morning. Guess it is a carryover from being 8.

b. I wish I could have a real chicken for a pet. I live in the City and it is a no no so instead I have a five foot rooster in my front yard and hundreds of hens and chicks that multiply each year.

c. I love to put a Tablespoon of cinnamon and cloves in my red spaghetti sauce. It gives a little hidden punch that no one can ever figure out.

d. I once wrote, produced and appeared in a weekly Show on TV

e. I climbed Mount Shasta and almost died in an avalanche because I was young, stupid, and clueless but was dating a really handsome guy who took me.

f. I found bank robbery money in a garbage dumpster when I was 13. I never got a reward but I did take one of the quarters and bought a candy bar.

g. I love love love to collect old bauer and fiesta pottery. The brighter the color the better. It makes me happy to open my cupboards and be welcomed with bright bursts of color.

3. Tag seven people and include their links.
Okay, how the heck and I going to find seven bloggers who have not been tagged. When I find someone that has not been tagged I will post it.

4. Leave a message for each of the seven.
Yeah I’ll get right on that.

Dawn, Put the VooDoo Doll Away.....

Yes, we got our finger appointments for our USCIS (you remember, the airport security guards that are processing our international adoption paperwork) and I managed to cut my way in line to be the first person for the day....okay, so actually Tobbers cut in line to be the first one in the door and so I followed...so technically, I did not cut infront of 15 people that did not speak English....my son did. Mr T, on the other hand was number 6. He could have Shoved Noley ahead, but no, he was the patient one.
Hummmm, now if I can only figure out how to cut in front of the line of the hundreds of families in front of us at the main processing office in Missouri. Oh you are right that would not be the good Karma thing to do...but a girl can dream. Right? And I do still have that old Voodoo doll from College. Now, that's a thought! I could take the Voodoo doll and shrink a copy of our application and put it in the dolls hand with a big happy face on it and put the doll in a nice fluffy place or maybe mail it to myself. Yeahhhh...and then it would make them process it sooner.
Oh dear....I really am loosing it. See, this darn process not only sucks the life out of you.. it sucks any shred of self respect and sanity along with it. Cutting in line....voodoo dolls...what next????
Bed! That's what. Good Night.

Yes, I'm addicted ... to these Charms that is...

Okay I just go the cutest darn charm in the mail that I have to share with others. They are made by a prospective first time mom who is adopting from China. She hand makes charms and sells them on Etsy.com. The charm she made for me is so cute I have to brag and share.

If you like hand made charms or custom one of a kind charms to take a look...

http://www.charmaddiction.etsy.com/

According to her site there are ..."Lots of new designs you are sure to love. Charm Addiction is our jewelry making workshop in Chandler, Arizona. Each of our charms are a one of a kind, handmade original designed just for you. They are made with love and attention to detail. We use only 100% lead-free solder so they are non-toxic (but completely addictive!). Welcome to our healthy addiction."

Thank you Sheri!!

What? A weekend in Rehab? Shhh Don't tell the SW...

Okay so anyone of you that knows Mr Tomato aka DH, knows that he loves to keep people guessing and giving them something good to talk about. He also likes to do this at my expense. This weekend he succeeded.

So Mr T goes out last night with our neighbors to go listen to a local neighborhood band comprised of Holy Spitter alum parents. I was fine with all that....getting the babysitter....going out to eat and listen to music without me...hanging with all of the Noley and Tobbers old school (you know, the thank God we are not there anymore school) parents... Fine, I was cool with it even though I was not to be in attendance.

But what I did not expect was to be informed by Mr T when I got home last night was that he told everyone he ran into last night that I was in rehab. Yes, you read that right REHAB!

Okay Okay so before I left the house yesterday I flippantly told Mr T to tell anyone that asks where I was (since I would not be with him for the evening festivities) that I was taking a class, or at a convention, or trade show....just do not tell anyone I'm at a scrapbook convention doing a marathon 2 day scrap. Tell them anything...just not that...I joked and said rehab would be a better excuse and more understandable to THAT crowd than scrapbooking.

So what does MR T do? He tells everyone...I'm not with him because I am in rehab for the weekend!!!! He tells me I should have seen the looks on their faces and that they will all be talking about it for weeks. Great! I get to go to Holy Spit on Thursday to take the kids for weekly choir while everyone talks about my stint in rehab......arughhhhhhhhh

Paybacks are gonna get tough around here.

Holy LID! The I797C Arrived!!!

I 797C you ask? What the heck is that? What do you do with it? .....
Heck! How do I know? I have NO idea what the H*** it means but I know one thing for sure. It means the airline security er...uh... I mean Department of Homeland Security knows we exist.
And the way things are going these days with processing advanced petition to adopt and orphan. THAT MEANS A LOT.

Not sure what we are supposed to do with it or when we will be told what to do whatever it is .... But at least I know we made it past the round file underneath someones desk.

For those counting keeping stats. They logged us in at USCIS 9/15/08 (four days before it could have possibly arrived in Chicago as it was still sitting on my desk on that day---but hey I'll take it) and produced the official notice 10/3/08 yet it arrived 10/13 and was mailed 10/10/08. The funny thing is I mailed the document to Chicago on 9/17 and it arrived via USPS on 9/19 so living up to their airline security reputation for not being the sharpest tools in the shed....their date keeping is a little off.

Warning...Adoption Humor...Funny Very Funny

Okay so I stumbled across these t-shirts today on the internet and they made me laugh so hard I slipped out of my chair. IA humor....although mine would need to say. I 797 or bust!

Check them out for yourselves.

http://www.cafepress.com/papersalad/6023814

New Yahoos Photos

Happy Birthday Daddy-O

Happy Birthday Daddy-O. We love you bunches. Here's to many many more where they came from.

Checkout The Newest in Coach Footware...

Yes, imagine my surprise when I tripped over Noley's thongs the other day. The fact that they were in the middle of the floor was no surprise (since there is a household conspiracy to break my neck by leaving shoes everywhere but in a closet)....but the fact that they sported a designer label caught me off guard and with a big chuckle, I must add. How do I know she is my daughter???? Oh just look at the shoes...I say...

Yes, my Noley had placed "Coach" stickers on her flip flops. I had given her a bunch of Coach stickers that were given to me at the coach store eons ago. I had no need for them as they are used to wrap gift paper when you buy something. For some reason they gave me a bunch and like most moms, when you have stickers....of any kind you give them to kids. And boy do they end up in the strangest places.
Noley turned her simple gap thongs into the latest in summer designer footwear. And I know what you are thinking??? Where did she get this idea??? No, not from me---that is the stickers. Appreciation for fine footwear---yeah baby all me. That's my girl!

Huh? waht htat sya?

Mr Tomato sent me this interesting email today. Not sure what he is trying to tell me but he said he was able to read it with no problem at all and as it turns out I could read it just fine too. Guess that means one of two things......1) either we are both visually disturbed and meant to be together, or 2) we have been spending too much time helping Tobbers with homework lately.

You try and see if you can read it as easy as we could. Let me know...

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it


I think I remember reading about this in grad school but it is clear that reading and comprehension have NOTHING to do with the able to recall years later. Pretty interesting huh?

Greetings from SacraTomato!

A little explanation. Last month someone emailed me and asked what's up with the Tomato thing? Over the weekend, I received another email from Spain inquiring about the Tomato name. So I thought I would state for the record the history of the Tomato Blog.

Back in the mid 80's after college (about six years ago for those of you the need help with counting backwards), I moved to the Big Tomato. This was not my first choice of post college habitation, but after intense one day analysis it turned out to be the cheapest of the five major markets in California to live...and being the bargain hunter I was and the fact I was ramping up for grad school and would continue my poor student status...I loaded up my avocado (how California of me) VW Rabbit with all of my worldly possessions and headed to the Tomato.

When I arrived on the outskirts of town (yes, I know it will tick some off, but I liken the Tomato to more of a town back then), everywhere I looked there were Tomatos on the road. Every off ramp, overpass and stop sign, had loose Tomatoes covering the ground. I would drive down the roads and freeways and see sprinkling of bright red Tomatoes everywhere. Frankly it was quite hilarious to see these little bouncing read balls (Tomatoes) falling off the large trucks that drove though the center of the downtown's freeway system. I soon found out Sacramento was quite well known for their Tomatoes and was affectionately called SacraTomato by many. So I figured if New York can have it's Big Apple, and LA the City of Angels, Las Vegas ---Sin City and so on, why can't Sacramento be the Big Tomato? So the Big Tomato it is and Tales I will tell.

HooHaa's Finding Ad Arrived Today!

For those of you that are new to Chinese adoptions, when a baby is found in China, the orphanage is required to publish what is called a "finding ad" in the local newspaper of all of the babies that are abandoned and found. This ad is to hopefully "find the missing family" of the child and to eliminate any chance that a child was taken from the birth parents against their will. From what I understand, all children in China that are abandoned must have a "finding ad" placed prior to be made available for adoption either international or domestic.

When we received MeiMei's ad it was taken after her lip repair and my guesstimate is that she was around 12 months old in the photo. Her photo barely legible photo, is the earliest photo we have for her and it is very special.

HooHaa's photo is taken before his cleft lip repair. He appears to be around 4 - 5 months old by guesstimate. I know he was found at two months old in the center of a city square. His abandonment was clearly not an easy decision for his family since they kept him for two months prior to leaving him in a public place to be found. Most all of the abandoned Children in China are abandoned within hours of being born. I do not know the statistics but it is safe to say that any family that keeps a child for two months and then abandons for whatever reason suffered great pain in doing so. MeiMei was abandoned at two weeks old and HooHaa at two months. I cannot imagine the agony that both MeiMei's and HooHaa's parents went through when they walked away from their babies after caring for them for a length of time.

While I know it is virtually impossible to do, there is not a week that goes by that I wish there was some way to let MeiMei's birth parents know that their little baby is happy, healthy, safe and loved.

I would like to thank Brian Stuy (the research guy) for once again providing us with a little part of our yahoos past. If you are a prospective adoptive parent and want to know more about finding ads or to order your childs finding ad, please visit Brian at: http://www.research-china.org/

How Many Airport Security Guards Does it Take To Process 1 Piece of Paper?

Yes, that last and final piece of needed documentation is off to the infamous abyss called the United States Center for Immigration Services (USCIS) for processing. I would take a deep breath except I am reminded by my fellow paper chasers that the wait for their approval is taking 3 - 4 months. Yes, that is right and is not a typo. What do I think about that? Well in one word... SUCKS! This is the only piece of paper that is holding up our dossier to be sent to China. China knows our paperwork is coming but we cannot send it without this last vital piece.

With MeiMei we completed this last step in 12 days. All of the paperwork was processed by the Sacramento office of the USCIS. Now in our typical over regulated world, some numb skull decided to hand over this final international adoption approval to the folks that check us in at airports. Yes, that is right! Those lovely smart and intelligent folks with the IQ level of .032---you know the ones....that look for how much toothpaste or perfume you have in your carry on and remove the shoes and belts from grandmas in wheel chairs and children? Yes, they are the ones reviewing and processing MY US pre approval to adopt an orphan.

The started in May a centralized processing and has caused a huge backlog of applications. This back log has been the heartbreak of many prospective adoptive parents as their time limit of completing their dossier of three months is consumed by the black hole called USCIS causing them to not be able to adopt their identified child. On September 25 they are moving the central processing to a new location and state. I called the DC office and they informed me I could send my application directly to Chicago without waiting till the 25th. So I mailed the application on Wednesday and I'm hoping I will be one of the first in line at the new location...aka hoping to take cuts in line ahead of the other thousands of families waiting in line. I have no shame! I know I know it does not work that way but hey one can dream right?

Uncle John....if you are out there do you have any friends at the USCIS?

Charlie Brown said it right....Good Grief!

Great Job Linjit! Another Hollywood Success!

Congratulations Linjit on another great Hollywood fundraiser. This post is dedicated to your sucess. In the words of Linjit ... "Hi All! The bane of my existence for the last few months finally came to fruition last night at the Skirball Cultural Center in LA. Totals are not final but I heard we made about $50K not including sold out ticket sales!! Amazingly buttoned up, professional and successful :-) With all of my preliminary gripes with the humans vs animals willingness to give thing (especially after working so hard with First Star for Children's Rights), I am very happy and proud to be on the committee for this org. (Thanks to my dang stinky fat old man cat!)We secured very high caliber press (in LA entertainment world) and sold out the evening. LA Times, People Magazine and Cat Fancy (ummm national publication!) all attended :-) (breathe sigh of relief). " Great Job Linjit - we love you!! and hey? Aren't those your legs with your hand on your hip in that celebrity photo?? Nice dress.

Holy Smokes! Is that a Tomato Kid Playing Sports???

Yes it is true and we have the photos to prove it. The girls got game. We tried Tobbers in Soccer and all he would do is stand around and spot airplanes and inform everyone what make model and type of engine the flew with....Tobber was the infamous nosepicker boy who would pick his nose until it bled so that he would not have to play soccer. It was a very painful year and we vowed never to make him play again.

Fast forward the next year, Noley decided to give it a try when she found out she did not have to chase "a bunch of boys around the field". Well, her interest in soccer lasted about two seconds longer....cause...well after all the uniforms are purple. You will see from Noley's picture a girl of leisure relaxing at the game.

So in a last ditch effort we enrolled MeiMei this year and the girl has quite the competitive little spirit for a four year old. I think her survival orphanage skills of not letting anyone take her toys and learning to steal toys away from others serves her well in soccer. in contrast to Noley you will see MeiMei actually going after a ball.