Friday Round-up--10.29.2010

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

Well all, I don't know about you, but I am darned happy to see this week end. Hello Weekend! It was a long one and I'm pretty tuckered out. Don't really have much to say, so please enjoy my favorite photo from this week instead. To make it, I stood in the pouring rain, in a giant puddle in the middle of the road, for about 30 minutes. All good things are worth working and waiting for. :)

Have a great weekend!

________________________

We've heard about sharing/not sharing your child's stories before, but this quote by Ilie Ruby writing at Motherlode caught my attention. "It has taken me some time to realize that explanations as to their origins, their histories, their relationship to each other, and how we “got” them, are not obligatory. When it comes down to it, stories belong to those who live them." Yes...realizing that I don't owe anyone an explanation--that's a good thing to remind myself about. Read the rest of the story HERE.

Along that same vein, I really, really loved THIS post at The International Mom's Blog. Her post helped me to reframe how I think about when people ask intrusive questions about how our family will be put together.

Think about THIS post when you head out to purchase all that Halloween candy. Sharon at Mama Manifesto writes a great post, chock full of information on---ready yourselves---child slaves who harvest cocoa. Yep...that dark delicious treat that nearly everyone loves is often harvested by children. It's organic chocolate, or certified "slave free" chocolate for me from here on out.

In the "those kids say the darndest things" category, I actually laughed out loud when I read THIS short post at our korean american family.

Kristen at I Spy A Family writes a simple and beautiful post HERE about finally having the life as a family that she imagined. For those of us waiting, we know to have the "ordinary" would be extraordinary. Someday soon....

WORD Wednesday - Basic Korean expressions

The language section of the Life in Korea website has a nice list of basic expressions. It's broken down nicely into categories (getting around, eating out, at the airport, etc.) and by parts of speech (adjective, noun, verb, etc.).

image from Life in Korea-language section

After that, it is further broken down into English, Hangul and pronunciation.

It's a decent list and if you know how to sound out Hangul, you should find these super helpful.

The Life in Korea site is really great, and in the culture and language sections there are some interesting areas. They have provided links to other language related things, such as a language exchange board where you can find someone to practice Korean with, or ask language questions.

Over all the language section is pretty basic at this site. But you might enjoy looking at other parts of the site, including the Scenes of Korea which has some great photography.

The Department of Homeland Security says "Hi"

Just in case you were wondering what a letter from the Department of Homeland Security looked like....

Our application for the advance processing of an orphan petition has been received. Yay! This is the start of the immigration process for our kiddo. It also is supposed to ensure there are no unnecessary delays in processing the petition once we are matched with a baby.

Next step...getting an appointment for our biometrics (which is just a fancy way of sayin' that we will be fingerprinted).

Nursery-tastic

Oh dear. I've been a very bad blogger for the past few weeks. Travel, weddings, new friends, and a little work thrown in there too. It's been an awesome few weeks, but I need a breather! I'll sit down and share it all with you soon as I can.

In the meanwhile, go check out THIS site. Ohdeedoh is a kick ass partner site to Apartment Therapy, a modern home design blog that has contributed to the debt of countless design junkies. Ohdeedoh is equally as enticing, and I think it's even more dangerous!

Click on the "kids room tours" link on the top left of the page to get a peek into lots of adorable and creative nurseries and bedrooms for children of all ages.

I promise, you'll be inspired to knock out walls, paint, and shop, lickety-split.

P.S.--Happy birthday to our bestie, Mike! We raise our coffee cups to you, wishing you another year of happiness and blessings.

Friday Roundup - Craft edition

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi / pattern info HERE

My mother knew magic. I was positive. Because it was a magical thing to turn a bolt of material into clothing with a few snips here and there, some thread, and a flimsy paper pattern. Mom was (and is) an amazing seamstress who can make anything. Seriously. Any. Thing.

Now, I wish that I could say that I inherited a tiny bit of my mother's magical ability, but the sad truth is, it was just too intimidating to compete with a wizard of that caliber. I knew my foundling abilities were not magical at all, so I dragged my feet every time she offered to do a project together, instead, preferring watch her work. She made it look so easy and fast. When I tried, it was frustrating and slow.

So my mom helped me to find my own magic. We'd be in her tiny sewing room, surrounded by fabric, trays of thread, and pattern pieces. She'd rummage in a drawer and pull out something for my sister and I to try, likely to keep us occupied so she could finish whatever she was working on. Mom had an exiting array of things in those drawers--spools of ribbons, rhinestones, buttons. Each time she pulled something from the drawer it was like a craft adventure!

Once she pounded 4 nails to the top of a wooden spool. She showed us how to wind yarn around each nail and maneuver the stitches. And it seemed like magic when that yarn reappeared out of the bottom of the spool, each loop tied together to make a knitted i-cord. Not sure what I ever did with all that i-cord, probably made necklaces.

Mom had other tricks up her sleeves. She taught us to fold gum wrappers and fit the pieces together to make these crazy zigzag chains, (which we turned into more necklaces).

At the holidays, we decorated lightbulbs and turned them into cute elves (which I still have to this day), turned beads and pipecleaners into snowflakes, and sequins into shimmering icicles.

We created countless woven potholders out of the scraps we collected from her sewing room waste bin.

And one of my favorites was when when she'd bring home reams of this beautiful colored wire from her job at the telephone company. The wire was thin and malleable, and was plastic coated in solids or striped varieties. Mom showed my sister and I how to make a loop, and wrap the wire around itself, creating a beautiful ridged pattern. I spent hours doing that. And I made LOTS of necklaces.

Crafting with my mom are some of my favorite childhood memories. I felt like I too, had magical abilities, turning bits and pieces of things into something special. It gave me a sense of accomplishment and a creative outlet. That probably explains why I continue to craft today.

And I guess I was learning more than just how to make something out of scraps.

I learned that everything has a possibility. Everything can become something else. The world is as big as your imagination.

That's a darned fine lesson to learn from pieces of felt and wire.

_______________________

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

Woo woo! Finally finished my niece's Sugar & Spice baby blanket. She had her little Scarlett Rose about a month ago, so I guess technically I blew the deadline on this. But I hope the Little Miss can forgive her old auntie when she snuggles up with her softee. (Pattern info is HERE, and yarn used is Berroco Comfort Baby, fingering weight).

I also finished the first of my Danger Craft toys! She's ridiculously cute (photo, top of page), but I could be a bit biased. (Pattern available HERE. Yarn used is Cascade 220 Superwash). I think I'll try felting the next ones I make.

With those projects done, the next awesome craft project is right around the corner! Here's the top contenders:

image from Sew, Mama, Sew!

At Sew, Mama, Sew! a link to a free pattern! It's a kimono-style jacket, dress, or sleeper...you decide. I can't decide if I'm more in love with the prints or the pattern.

image from Smashed Peas and Carrots

Um...I know I'll probably need to deal with this when the kiddo comes, but I'm a bit of a germ freak. Placing our darling baby's butt on a changing table that has hosted who knows what gives me the creeps. This pattern for a vinyl changing mat made out of a tablecloth seems like a pretty darned genius idea to me! Check out the super duper tutorial at Smashed Peas and Carrots.

image from Heather Bailey-Online

A few super adorable patterns for purchase over at Heather Bailey Online. Check out this trio of pint-sized pachyderms. A must for our boy's collection! The pattern looked pretty feasible to me. They are so cute I'm going to brave an encounter with the sewing machine soon.

image from Heather Bailey-Online

There is also a cute pattern for a soft stacker toy but I think our guy might be too old for this when he comes home?

image from Magpie Patterns

Of course, knitting is my favorite way to craft, so these adorable owls from Magpie Patterns are a must have.

image from flickr

And lastly, here's the next baby blanket that I'm putting on the needles by Jared Flood. I love the non-traditional baby colors. You can find the pattern for the Tweed Baby Blanket at Ravelry.

Off to the yarn shop!

WORD WEDNESDAY - Three bears song

WARNING: Listen to this song at your own risk. Listeners may find the song permanently embedded in their brain and find them singing the ridiculous tune for hours at a time. Don't say I didn't warn you!



This is a Korean children's song based on the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Translations seem to vary, but this one seems the most consistent:

Three bears in a house
Papa bear, mama bear and baby bear
Papa bear is fat
Mama bear is skinny
And Baby bear is so cute.
You are doing great.

kom sema-ri-ga
han chi-be-yi-so
appa gom
omma gom
ae-gi gom
appa gommun tung-tung-hae
omma gommun nal-shin-hae
ae-gi gommun na bul-gwi-yo-wo
hishuk hishuk cha-rhan-da

곰 세 마리가 한 집에 있어 

아빠곰

엄마곰 

아기곰

아빠곰은 뚱뚱해  

엄마곰은 날씬해

아기 곰은 너무 귀여워

히쭉 히쭉

잘 한다     

New friends

So excited!

On Saturday we attended a Chusok celebration held by Families Through Korean Adoption-Madison. I've searched and asked, but have yet to find an adoption group here in Milwaukee, so it was awesome to meet other families like ours.

This was such an awesome event. There were beautiful children running around everywhere, many wearing hanboks. Everywhere we looked there were kids! Giggling, eating, laughing. It was hard not to just stare open mouthed and we couldn't stop smiling.

There was lots of great Korean food too. The wonderful women from the women's group at the Korean Presbyterian Church prepared it. I wanted to hang out in the kitchen and pick up a few cooking tips, but there was too much excitement happening outside of the kitchen. The sweet pumpkin soup (Ho-bak-jook) (호박죽) was our favorite, and the salad mixed with hot and sweet pine dressing (Jat-nang-chae) (잣냉채) was second best. There was some spectacular Korean noodles with beef and vegetables (Jap-chae) (잡채) which looked amazing. We didn't try it since we are both veg but I'm going to hunt for a vegetarian recipe and try making at home.

We also loved the performance by the UW Korean Drumming Group Ulssu. The performers were amazing percussionists and it was a blast to watch the kids shimmy and shake to the beats. (I've tried several times to post a short video clip, but Blogger isn't cooperating. Maybe I'll try again later.)

OK...sorry for the long post, but there was one other really cool thing--meeting so many friendly and helpful adoptive parents! I got to meet several other adoption bloggers, which was really fun to put a face with the names/blogs. First was Yvonne at Our Korean American Family, who told us about the event (thanks so much!). She was there with her husband Paul and their three children. Wow! Their household must be a very exciting and busy place with three kids under 4 years of age. I can't believe Yvonne actually has time to blog, much less help organize things with FTKA.

Brad and Dena from Brad & Dena's Adoption Journey were super sweet and fun. They are a few months ahead of us in the process and also using AIAA. Dena was really helpful in sharing lots of information when we were trying to decide whether to switch agencies earlier this spring. They are awaiting a referral as well. Keeping our fingers crossed for it to come quickly.

Shawn and K-Daddy blog at Tweet Tweet. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with them again soon. Their sweet  Ivy was content to eat her pumpkin soup before she ran off to join in the tug-of-war. Ivy is about to become a big sister! They are waiting for that travel call and hope to bring the newest addition to their family soon.

And lastly, we met Emily. I wish we had more time to get to know one another because we seem have a lot in common from what I've read on their blog. She's super energetic (she has to be to keep up with those boys) and super nice. You can meet Emily and her family at This Family Squish.

Meeting all these great people who have had the same experiences was really energizing and we left the event feeling on top of the world. We are looking forward to the next time we can join this fun and wonderful group.

Friday Roundup--10.15.2010

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

It's all about connections. The people you choose to bring into your life, the relationships you tend, the things you share with one another--these are the things that make our worlds richer.

Most are forgettable. Many are enjoyable. And some are passing moments that leave a huge mark on your life. I can remember an elderly man I met about 10 years ago. Our time together was brief, only about 30 minutes while I shot a portrait of him for a publication. I photographed him in a wheat field, as golden as his years. As we slowly walked through the field, we talked about how your expectations change as you age. He was reflective and nostalgic about the changes he was experiencing and things he had lost over the years. His wife was very ill and he missed the passion and energy of their youth.

But he was also joyful and excited to see what other experiences were ahead of him in his remaining years.

That conversation has stuck with me all these years, although I've long forgotten the man's name.

Making unexpected connections like that are such a gift. Those are the relationships, even brief, that life just puts in your path. The ones that you didn't know you were going to find, and didn't know enough to go looking for.

That's one of the blessings of our adoption experience---it's opened up a new world to us. Yes, challenging and frustrating at times, but also complete with others who have, or are on, the same path as we are. People that we probably wouldn't have met if we were not all connected by adoption.

And that makes this journey even sweeter.

**********



Of course, this is the highlight of the week. Jennifer and Bill at "...and baby makes three..." were united with their son Samuel! Here's the post about the day they became a family. Hop on over there and wish them congrats!

This post at "A woman my age" just sucked me in. It's a sensitive and personal post about infertility and letting go of what she thought her life would look like.

A great food for thought post at "Red's Wrap" about fear and how we teach it to children.

Wow. This post at "Just Enjoy Him" about the proliferation of cutesy breast cancer items and their popularity gave me an entirely new perspective. 

Not really sure where I am in the faith vs. hope discussion at "Daily Dose of Mama". I keep reading the post though, and there's something brewing in the back of my brain....

One more at "Daily Dose of Mama". A breathtaking post about what she thinks about each night as she lays her child down to sleep.

Not sure if your cat wants to kill you? Check this handy chart to see if you know the signs.

Pumpkin peach cobbler? Say what? Sounds great, and the blogstress at Mama Manifesto says it's made in 5 minutes. Must investigate....

Have a great weekend!

WORD WEDNESDAY - Hangul Day

Hangul Day celebrated by Google Korea

Happy Hangul Day! Actually, I missed the boat on this one. The actual Hangul Day was Oct. 9, but there's still time to celebrate! This is the 564th anniversary, and it used to be honored as a legal holiday (complete with a day off work) until 1991, but they discontinued that practice. Can you imagine getting a day off of work to celebrate the alphabet? That's awesome!

(I won't get into all the specifics of the alphabet because I covered all that stuff in this post.)

Hangul Day (한글날) is the celebration of the written language by King Sejong the Great in 1446. Prior to his invention (how do you invent a written language anyway?? kind of boggles my brain) the language was rarely written. They relied on Classical Chinese when needed, but the language was so elaborate and complex that few Koreans could receive the training necessary, and thus, most were illiterate. King Sejong's goal was to make literacy accessible to everyone, which in turn, would place all people on a more even level. The king made his intentions clear, in this document where he introduces Hangul:

It's written in Classical Chinese (because the people hadn't been introduced to Hangul yet) and according to Language Log, the translation reads:

"The sounds of our country's language are different from those of China and do not correspond to the sounds of Chinese characters. Therefore, among the stupid people, there have been many who, having something to put into writing, have in the end been unable to express their feelings. I have been distressed by this and have designed twenty-eight new letters, which I wish to have everyone practice at their ease and make convenient for their daily use."

It totally cracks me up that the King is empathizing with people, and yet calls them "stupid", but I guess his heart was in the right place.

In Korea, a full spectrum of events are held to celebrate. Exhibitions, dance performances, handwriting competitions, and a fluency competition were all planned.

To see more of this lovely alphabet, check out Hyunwoo Sun's annual collaborative video.

I'm not usually a proponent of "Wickedpedia" but I do admit, they have a pretty comprehensive article on Hangul.

And for a really great analysis of the language from a linguists' point of view, check out Language Log.

This is no vacation

Today is the first day of a week-long vacation for me. It was supposed to start yesterday, but, devoted  worker that I am, I worked all day instead. Boo.

I really didn't have much planned this week. The Man doesn't have as much vacation time as I do, and to be honest, I could really use a luxurious week of lounging on the sofa with the Tropical Pug, watching romantic comedies and knitting. That sounds like exactly what I need right now.

I wanted to try and paint our bedroom this week. It's one of the last 2 rooms in the house to be painted since we moved in. The other is Little Man's room but we are waiting on that until we get the referral! We'll see.

Unfortunately my vacation dreams are pushed off for yet another day. During yesterday's work-a-thon, I somehow managed to lose my credit card and driver's license. I canceled the credit card right away. But the license can't wait--we are flying to D.C. this weekend for a few days for a quick trip. The trip is for work, but we'll have a day to goof off, so it's sort of vacation-like.

Anyhoo....today, I'm heading to the DMV. Ick. Wish me luck (and a good hair day).

Kimchi shortage!

The Walrus Blog

Yes. There is a kimchi shortage. And I'm not just talking about the shortage of posts on this blog lately!

Korea is having a full-blown kimchi shortage. And that's a really big thing.

Bad weather and heavy rains in September have ruined much of the cabbage crop, skyrocketing prices for the oblong shaped produce to about $14 a head. People are in a panic to find sources of Napa cabbage, especially as gimjang season nears--the time when families gather together to make their yearly supply of kimchi.

The government is scrambling to help get more cabbage to consumers and is even temporarily dropping the tariffs on (gasp) Chinese cabbage to help ease the shortage. There is also a kimchi bailout under way--Seoul city has purchased 300,000 heads from rural farmers and is absorbing 30% of the cost to get cheaper produce to consumers. Wow.

So what's the big deal with kimchi, you ask? It's the country's staple and is served with every meal. (Pretty much like cheese in Wisconsin--hence the name of this blog.) South Koreans eat more than 2 million tons of kimchi every year. It's rich in vitamins A and C, believed to slow aging, prevent disease, obesity and diabetes, and lower cholesterol. A miracle food!

Maybe we should all be eating kimchi instead of french fries. Hmm. Not sure that would go over well here.

Want to see what the hype is about? Go to Maangchi's site for the recipe. Or check out photos/videos of the kimchi museum. Or read more on this story at CNN or this article from the LA Times. Or head to The Walrus Blog for a very comprehensive and funny post about kimchi and Korea.

Friday Round--10.8.2010

© Cheese Curds and Kimchi

Him: Well, it's time for bed. I have to get up early tomorrow.

Her: I thought tomorrow was your day off? What do you have to get up early for?

Him: I have to go pick up a bike for our boy.

Her: What???

Him: A bike. For our boy.

Her: You DO know that he probably won't be able to ride a bike for at least two years, right?

Him: Yeah, I'm probably getting a bit ahead of myself. {sheepish grin}

Later that day....The Man sends me this photo of Gus with this super cool balance bike. The maker is PLIM and the version is a Moto Kid. So far the boy has designer chairs and a Swiss-made bike. Guess we aren't very practical, but damn this is fun!

Have a great weekend.

____________________

Oh goodness, there seemed to be an abundance of good news lately. Here's just a few of the lovely happenings that melted my heart time after time.

A huge congratulations to M&K at "Our Adoption Journey" on their referral! Go HERE to share their good news and find out more--oh yeah, and there's some very sweet photos.

Heather and her husband from "...and baby makes three..." share their last minute excitement as they get ready to leave on a jet place and bring home their son Samuel.

Leo at "all accounted four" has been home a month! See how his family celebrates HERE.

Kellan has been home three months and is about to celebrate his first Halloween here. Love, love, LOVE his costume! Check out his and his big brother's costumes HERE at "On the long road."

Baby J. has been home four months, and his mom Rita reflects how their lives have changed HERE, since they received their referral call a year ago.

And one more congratulations. Give a big WAHOO to the gang at Our Answered Prayer--Life with Joel, who share THIS great news.

There's lots of us that are still waiting (Grace, I'm thinking of you). Our time is coming...be strong.

One more thing. Can you keep this hopeful mom in your thoughts? Read the story of Candice, who was in the process of adopting her daughter Antara from India, when process changes put the entire adoption on hold. I hope they are able to find the truth and give Antara a stable future, whether it be with Candice or in her birth country.

Please make these

I'm on a crafting binge. I promise, pix to follow soon of the adorables I've been knitting. It's been cutting into my blogging time, but I know you all understand. Sometimes a girl just needs to knit!

In the meanwhile, thought I'd pass along THIS ridiculously sweet pattern for booties by Heather Bailey. They are so girly and sweet, and the pattern is free! Someone needs to make these immediately so there will be more cuteness in the world! And don't forget to post pix when you finish.

image from Heather Bailey Design

Happy Tuesday

This post has absolutely nothing to do with adoption or Korea. I just really love this song and it makes me happy. Hope you enjoy it too.

Then She Found Me

A love story. An adoption story. A birth mother story. A freaking cry fest. That's what this movie is.

Just watched "Then She Found Me" starring Helen Hunt (love her), Bette Midler and Colin Firth. It's a really good movie--a bit romantic, a bit dark, a bit heart breaking, a bit hopeful. Here's the trailer:




I really didn't know that this was about adoption. I was just hunting for a good movie from the Netflix cue. It caught me by surprise, but I stuck with it. But at one point I had to stop the movie because I was caught by huge, wracking sobs.

Now I'm not the kind of girl who cries like this. I'm not sure exactly why I was crying either. I seem to be doing a lot of this lately. Hmm..

My only complaint about the movie is that adoption seems to be depicted as a second-best choice most of the time. Over all though, I really liked this movie.

It's on the "instant" section of Netflix if you have a membership. Worth the hours (and tears).

Friday Round-up--10.1.2010

© Cheese Curds & Kimchi

Yep. This is the day I'm gonna do it, I tell myself. I'd been procrastinating, but with THIS post in my head about the Sweet Pea Project, I finally had the motivation I needed.

The mission? Go into uncharted territory at Tar.get--the baby section.

As I marched across the store, I thought about THIS post at The Maniacal Wanna-be Mommy who used to cruise the baby department yearning for the day she could shop for her child. I have never done that. Up to this point, I have avoided the baby section like a plague.

First off, this area of the store is usually punctuated by screams of tiny munchkins being chased by frazzled moms. In the past, I've had a few chuckles as I've heard the chaos there. But now I think about how it feels from the frazzled mom's perspective, so eloquently explained HERE at the blog, Me and Punky Lee. (Of course, OUR child will never act like that. HA!)

But the real reason I never went over "there" is that one part of me was afraid that I would catch some baby-cooties that would lead to me getting pregnant, and the other part was fearful that I would never end up pregnant. (I know--completely ambivalent feelings, but that's how I work.) Best to avoid confronting either possible outcome and steer clear of the department altogether.

I round the corner, and the row stretches out endlessly like in a movie, the walls lined with items that I have never seen and/or have no clue what they are used for. THIS post at Purple Slinky about ridiculous baby items, pops into my head. (I have to admit that I can picture myself trying to use the infant safety hat and helmet, but only when I let the baby out of the bubble. I'm also a fan of the baby high heels.)

I waiver between two sets of receiving blankets. Soft. Cute. And some day, I'll be buying them for us.

Can't wait.

_____________

There is one more piece of news that we want to share with you.

This afternoon saw that I had missed a phone call AND a text from The Man. Hmmm.

Look at the text. It reads: We have liftoff!!!!!!!! (Yes, he actually used 8 exclamation marks. Guess The Man is excited!)

What does this mean you ask? Our paperwork is on it's way to Korea! Wahooo!

Next step--we wait for the Korean side of the agency to match us with a baby. OMG. Guess we will start visiting baby departments before we know it!