Travel post #1 - By the numbers

Rather than make one giant post about my trip, I'm trying to break it down into pieces. During this adoption process, I have done a lot of blog reading and always felt that people should write more about their travel experiences for those of us who will come along later. Then I went and came home. And realized it's so overwhelming it's hard to put into words without trivializing it or writing a book so long no one will read. And I haven't had time to breathe since I got home with work being so busy.

So, this weekend, I'm going to get it out there. All those things I wish someone had told me before I went and also just the fun stuff. Maybe it will be helpful for someone out there on their way as well.

I took an extended trip rather than just straight in to Ethiopia. I couldn't go so far across the world and not visit my good friends Jon and Susan, living so far away in England and Israel. It made for a whirlwind tour but I wouldn't have changed a thing (except the mixup at the London Eye, but that's a whole other story).

Here's a glimpse of the tour from the sky...

Trip by the numbers:

14 days
4 continents
5 countries
31.5 flight hours
15,419 flight miles
7,726 ft - highest elevation in Addis Ababa
-702 ft - lowest elevation in Tiberius, by the Sea of Galilee
1.6, 16.6, 3.55 - dollar exchange rates for Pounds, Birr and Shekels
2 wonderful travel companions in my sister and brother-in-law
2 long distance friends visited for too short of a time
and finally, most importantly...
1 beautiful baby girl

Some things I forgot, didn't know or remember about traveling to far off places:

1. Write down your itinerary in one place, a convenient place and keep it in the same place for the whole trip. Boarding passes, tickets, passport, ID. All in one place safe from pickpockets but easy to access at the airport.

2. Keep a small bag inside your carry-on that includes the most essential airplane needs so that if you have to stow your carry-on (grr) you can pull it out easily and place in the seat pocket.

3. Keep in that small bag: a pen, or even two (customs forms!), neck pillow (blow up one was very handy), eye shade, book, camera

4. Tylenol PM and as much overnight travel as possible. Saved me from most if not all jet lag.

5. Have a plan for communication. Make a list of all the phone numbers and figure out ahead of time how to call them. Is it 011+number? 01+country+number? Good to know ahead of time so when you just got off an overnight flight and are in a strange place and no one is there to greet you, you don't get frazzled. Not that I did or anything :-)

6. A phrase book or a list of common phrases in whichever language spoken where you will visit. I'd have this list with my itinerary next time so it's all in one place.

7. Did I mention the Tylenol PM yet?

I'm sure there are many things I have already forgotten that I was going to document. These are at least the ones that stood out the most. That darn pen, I always forget one and then I can't fill out the customs forms on the plane. Argh!

What did I miss? What was the one thing you wish you had known before you traveled?

Next up, London...

Home with great news!

After hitting three continents, five airports and an amazing number of wonderful experiences, I am home. It was indescribable, meeting Baby G for the first time. She's the cutest little thing ever! She seems happy, content and the nannies at the transition house are taking great care of all the kids. Court date went smoothly, even if we didn't get the MOWA letter, allowing the case to be passed and moved to the embassy. I'm happy to report that I just received an email from the agency that we got the letter today! Now we wait again for an embassy date anywhere from 6-12 weeks from now. A detailed travel post (or three) to come but for now I'm just getting settled back in to regular life.

Bon Voyage!

This is it! In less than 8 hours I will be on a plane! Certainly I've forgotten something and also have more things than I need. Tomorrow I will arrive in London and meet up with my sister and her husband, who have been vacationing there since Saturday. I'm a little nervous about getting myself from the airport to the hotel on the train and tube but I managed the metro in Paris and the subway in New York so I'm assuming I'll be able to figure it out. I can't wait to meet up with my friend Jon, who lives outside of London. It will be fun to see 'middle England' and not just the tourist spots.

After a few days in London, I'm incredibly excited to fly to Addis Ababa to finally meet Baby G. Each picture I receive of her is cuter than the one before. I hope she likes the outfits and amazingly fuzzy soft bunny I will bring for her. More importantly, I hope she likes me! Not just a little nervous about that. I heard yesterday that they have brought her to the new foster home and I'm hoping it was a good transition for her. So many moves in her short life!

After the court date on March 11, I'll regretfully leave Baby G and head to Israel for a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing the country through the eyes of my good friend Susan, who lives there. We'll tour Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and hopefully swim in the ocean.

I may be blogging on the trip, if I can figure it out. In any case, travel posts to come soon. Have a great two weeks everyone! Baby G here I come!

(sorry for all of the !!! I've had too much coffee today...)

Finally finished!

A few years ago, I took it upon myself to recreate the family Christmas stockings for the new members of the family. Never mind I hadn't knitted anything since I was 12 and there was no official pattern. And hello, they are socks! With heels and toes and turning and whatnot. But why start with something simple like a scarf? That would be silly. Let's just hit the big time and make up my own pattern.

Well at long last, after having red, green and white yarn on my coffee table for three years (with a few breaks in there for life to happen) the stockings are done!

One for Bob, Donna, Erik, Kathy, Jack and even Riley. And one blank one for my soon-to-be daughter. I thought it best to leave it blank so if we land on a different nickname than I have planned I don't have to rip it out and start over. Then again, my stocking says Steffie so I guess if it's wrong it's not such a big deal.

All sorts of good things happening here. Knitting, duplicate stitching, sequins and beads, pom poms and braided loops. So much to learn! And now there's a pattern. I'm thinking I'll add it to my Ravelry page someday. Maybe some other family wants funky Santa stockings too? We think they are pretty nice hanging by the fireplace.

For another post soon, the grand adventure has begun! My sister and her husband are already exploring London, where I will meet them on Thursday. A few days to enjoy jolly old England then the real reason for the trip...meeting my daughter! I'm excited to see the new foster home and see her homeland, even if I can't see the town where she was born. Guess I'd better get to packing!

Latest Updates and Two Year All Clear!

Sometimes you don't realize you're holding your breath until you let it out. That's how I felt this morning. Last week I had my follow-up MRI and mammogram and today was the appointment with the oncologist. Until she said those wonderful words "Everything looks great" I had no idea how it was weighing me down to wait. It's funny, you know that you feel good and so you think everything will be good but then you think that you felt good before and it went so terribly wrong. But not this time, and hopefully not ever again. I feel like a huge weight just flew off my back. Could not imagine what I would have done if, with travel to Ethiopia looming in the near future, I had heard something else. Thankfully I won't have to think about that any more. The end. For another year anyway.

And speaking of travel, I have a court date! I'll be heading to Ethiopia in March to meet Baby G for the first time. It's finally becoming real! Plane tickets are purchased and I've arranged a few days in London before and a few days in Israel after. Can't say that everyone is 100% excited about my itinerary but I am! Looking forward to seeing my friend Jon and the sights of London and Susan in Israel with all of her wonderful puppies. The extra travel added much to the cost and time of the trip but I know it will be a long time before I'll be able to travel solo so I'm taking it in now while I can. Originally I had planned to also take in the Seychelle Islands. Sigh. So much money and so little time. I've had a picture of the Seychelles on my fridge for a long time now but it won't happen. Then again, I'm not so sure I really want to go to the most beautiful place on earth by myself, and only for a few days. Guess I'll save that for some other lifetime.

The reality of it is that I'm finally feeling like it's really going to happen and I will actually meet my daughter. It sounds so wonderful! I'm so not ready and yet more ready than I can even express in words. Enough limbo already, let's get this show on the road! Sunday (with the help of my fabulous cousin Lexi) Baby G's room was painted Pale Shrimp pink. This weekend I'll apply the daisy decals I bought from Etsy and head to the fabric store to find fabric for curtains and a valance. Assuming I'll be able to figure out how to sew curtains and a valance it should work out well! Boy I sure hope she likes pink and flowers!

Saturday I ticked off one more item on the to-do list and painted the kitchen. Sadly to anyone else it doesn't look so much different than it did before but I think it looks brighter and fresher. And as a bonus, the floor under the refrigerator and oven is now clean as well. eew. One bad idea for the weekend was running the oven self-cleaner. Ugh. Here's a tip...don't. At least don't do it in the middle of winter when you can't open your storm windows and it's cold outside. Save it for summer when you can open the windows and leave the house for a few days. It stinks! I wasn't feeling so well and Riley took a couple of days to recover I think, poor thing. Clean is good, just not the smell. Now if I could just finish those Christmas stockings I'll be back on schedule. Knit, purl, knit, purl...they just go on and on!

That's life in a nutshell for this day...

Sunday Snapshot - Let's go fly a kite!

Yesterday was the 10th annual Kite Festival on Lake Harriet. Every year I say I'm going to go but it always falls on a gymnastics meet weekend. This year I decided not to judge so many meets so I found myself free on festival day. yea! I convinced Lexi it would be fun and dragged her along for the ride.

It was around 10°F outside but the sun was shining. There wasn't much wind, which was great for walking around but not so much for kite flying. Eventually there were some kites in the air though. We had some hot cocoa and cider, roasted some marshmallows and watched some kids learn to ice fish. Maybe next year we'll fly kites too!

Marshmallow roasting on the boardwalk (in my Michelin man coat)

Early in the day, not so many kites. They looked so much bigger in person!

I loved this one!

Lexi on the ice, ready to learn to ice fish. Trying to take photos with my big mittens on I cut the photo off above her feet. I wanted to show her fabulous shoe decision. Just couldn't get her into a pair of boots for anything! At least she let me give her a hat. California girls ;-)

Sleigh rides looked fun too. Maybe next year we'll get to that too. So glad I finally made it to the festival! Who says you have to stay inside all winter?

Check out the great snapshots over at Ni Hao Y'all...

Cooking Weekend - the last night

For all of the time I spent being lazy last weekend, I think I was still quite productive. The house is clean, laundry is done, tub is re-caulked, driveway is cleared and the freezer is bursting with lunches for a while. And even though sleeping in for me is only 8:30, it was very nice while it lasted. This morning's alarm was. not. cool. ugh. But, as I tell Riley each morning, I have to go to work or we'd have to live in the car and she doesn't like the car. Hi ho hi ho...

Yesterday marked the last of the recipes of the weekend. I made a second batch of the Chocolate Crunch cookies (with chow mein noodles this time) and they are now residing on the counter at work. Hopefully they will get eaten or I will end up eating them all! After the first batch of cookies, Riley and I went to indoor play time at the local dog training place. It was fun to watch the hyper puppies run around with each other. Riley however, is 11. And wanted nothing to do with them. We did some walking around and she ran for a bit but then she stared at the door and sighed. Yes, my dog actually sighs. Well it was fun for a bit anyway.

Next I was on to the Roasted Vegetables. I know it's really more of a side dish but I made so much of it I guess I'll be having them for lunch alone. So tasty though!

5 Herb Roasted Vegetables
(recipe origin unknown, handwritten recipe card from so far back I can't remember)

2 lb tiny new potatoes (I used fingerling instead, they were so pretty!)
3 medium carrots, cut small (to save time I used the baby carrots whole)
1 onion
--
2 tbsp snipped chives
1 tbsp snipped oregano
1 tbsp snipped italian parsley
2 tbsp snipped rosemary
1 tsp snipped sage
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray 13 x 9" pan with cooking spray. Scrub and cut potatoes. Combine herbs, butter and olive oil in large bowl (or in extra large zip-seal bag). Add potatoes, carrots and onions, mix until evenly coated. Add mixture to pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, stir and bake for an additional 10-20 minutes until potatoes are tender.

I set the melted butter aside to cool slightly and found it a few hours later as I was cleaning up. Oops. Didn't seem to hurt too much although I bet the veggies would have had a bit more crispy to them if I'd remembered. Also I cooked mine almost an hour but I didn't cut the veggies very small. Smaller veggies, less time of course. One could easily add other veggies like squash and zucchini but I'm pretty simple when it comes to my veggies. Served with a spoonful of sour cream and it says comfort food to me.

The final recipe (cue the horns and trumpets fanfare) Linzertorte Thumbprint Cookies. I got this recipe from the ReadyMade magazine, which I highly recommend for all kinds of fun and kooky crafts and neat money saving ideas. I was looking for a good way to enjoy my sister's cinnamon jelly and this seemed to be the ticket.

1/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skins removed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel (peel from 1 lemon)
1/3 cup seedless red raspberry jam
Powdered sugar to top, optional

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a food processor bowl combine hazelnuts and powdered sugar. Process until nuts are finely ground. In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cloves.

3. In a medium bowl beat butter and lemon peel on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the hazelnut-sugar mixture. Beat until mixture is combined. Beat in the flour mixture until combined.

4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each ball of dough.

5. Bake for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and fill cookie centers with jam. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes more or until bottoms are light golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Sift powdered sugar over the tops of cookies, if desired. Place a single layer of filled cookies in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.

I'm not sure if I love these. And I'm not really sure what about them I would change to love them more. I do think I could have baked them the entire time with the jelly as it didn't seem like it got baked enough. Also, they baked for almost 10 minutes (instead of the recommended 6-8) with the jelly on and they still seem almost just done. In any case, I still ate them!

I realized after this weekend that most families cook meals every night. Being single, I have the luxury of being lazy about my food, thus this weekend was outside my reality. I don't eat out a lot but have been known to have PB&J or cereal for dinner. I also realized that when I am responsible for the health and nutrition of my little girl my gourmet (ha) ways will change. I promise I won't post every meal like I did this weekend :-)

Now back to our regular programming...