Chinese New Year Party

Yesterday afternoon, Robert and I had our very first Chinese New Year Party celebrating the Year of the Rat. It was lots of fun. We ended up with around 25 adults and about 20 kids. Let's just say that our house got a little crazy, but we enjoyed it thoroughly. We had the kids making dragon masks and coloring "Year of the Rat" pictures. The adults had lots of Chinese appetizers and desserts. Below is a little video I created from a few snapshots we took during the party. I apologize to those of you who didn't make it in... we got carried away talking and not taking photos... Next time...

Happy Chinese New Year

Today marks the first day of the Chinese New Year - the year of the rat.

Chinese New Year (simplified Chinese: 农历新年; traditional Chinese: 農曆新年; pinyin: Nónglì xīnnián; literally: "Agrarian Calendar New Year") or Spring Festival (simplified Chinese: 春节; traditional Chinese: 春節; pinyin: Chūnjié) is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival (simplified Chinese: 元宵节; traditional Chinese: 元宵節; pinyin: yuánxiāojié).

Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī (除夕). Chu literally means "change" and xi means "Eve".

Years for Year of the Rat
1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020

Rat personality traits
People born in the Year of the Rat are one of the most industrious and hardest working in the zodiac.

Forever busy in pursuit of an ambitous personal goal, at times they may become difficult to work with since they are born perfectionists. Rats must ensure that every "i" is dotted before completing an assigned task. As a result, they are often successful financially, and are good providers for their family and those they cherish most dearly.

Loyal and loving, Rat people inspire loyalty in others who are close to them. They are essentially honest individuals and loath to betray a confidence. However, their quick wit and restlessness can sometimes lead to chattiness, and they can often be relied upon at large social gatherings for a good story or a juicy bit of gossip.

Their energy levels and expert organizational talents are such that it is a rare thing to see a Rat person sitting idly by with nothing to do.

They may even sometimes be viewed as opportunists who cajole others into helping them accomplish a great ambition. In their careers, Rat people can find much success as business leaders or politicians.

Rats are most compatible with : Dragon, Monkey, Ox

Famous people born in the Year of the Rat : Charlotte Bronte, Truman Capote, Catherine I, Prince Charles, Sasha Cohen, Eminem, Peter the Great, Mata Hari, Scarlett Johansson, Wolfgang Mozart, Plato, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, George Washington

Our Winter Storm

Well, we officially got around 12 to 13 inches of snow, but you would never know looking at the pile-up we got. We had 25 mile an hour winds that created HUGE snow drifts and white out conditions. The roads and our street was impassable. I couldn't leave the house. At least I got lots of cleaning done in the house...

Here's Robert with his trusty friends - the snowblower and the shovel. Good husband!!




Here is an excerpt from the news today:
About 1,000 cars are stuck on the I-90 interstate between Madison and Janesville. It started around 10 a.m. this morning. Traffic has started to move at around 9:30pm Wednesday night. The traffic is moving VERY slowly. Many of the motorists were stranded for almost 10 hours. The Dane County Sheriff's Office says the Wisconsin National Guard has been activated to assist stranded motorists.

Our daughter's wish book

Well, I just created the intro page to our daughter's Wish Book for her 100 Good Wishes Quilt that I thought I'd share. I'm very proud of it!

The Brown Envelope

Yesterday in the mail we got the "Brown Envelope" from the US Embassy in Guangzho. The USCIS and Dept. of Homeland Security has approved our petition to adopt an overseas orphan. This is just a renewal of our earlier "Brown Envelope" that we received initially when our dossier went to China. I'm sure we'll be getting one more of these yet to come...

Next round of matches are in...

The CCAA has finished matches thru December 27, 2005. They went through 8 days of matches this month. Not great, but better than last month.

Onto some great news, our friends Heather and Dustin got their referrals today (their LID: 12-22-05). They were referred a 2 year 3 month old BOY. Yes, a BOY! He is absolutely beautiful! I got to see his referral photo when we (Heather, Dustin, Kris and myself) met for dinner at Pedro's this evening. I am so happy for them. Now they are waiting for his medical checklist and their TA (travel assignment) which can be any time in the next 5 to 8 weeks.

I Was Tagged

I was tagged by Welcome to the Happy House

~The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours.
~Post the rules on your blog
~Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself
~Tag random people at the end of your post, linking their blog
~Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

1. I love to paint children's artwork and created a huge (24 x 36) alphabet painting for our daughter's room.

2. I am obsessed with international travel and would like to say that I've visited every country on the globe (with a few exceptions). To date I have visited: Great Britain, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Thailand, Mexico, Belize, and Canada.

3. My office is bright orange and makes me feel happy.

4. I love to cook and not clean. (I blame part of it on my allergy to dust and the rest on my too messy hubby.)

5. I consider my cat as my first born daughter (she's 18 now...) and she's definitely a mama's girl.

6. Purple is my signature color. I always have a purple bathroom and carry a purple purse.

7. By the time our daughter comes home, I will probably be on Social Security! (or so I will feel...) Thank g-d for beauticians who hide it well!

I am tagging...
This Angel Child of Mine
Cote Check
Forestgirl

The newest member of the family

No, it's not a human or a pet. It's my new Mac Pro that I got today. The mac store had been trying to fix my old computer for the past 1 to 2 weeks to no avail. So, they upgraded me to the latest and greatest mac - the Mac Pro. I am using it now and love it! It's the new 8-core Intel based mac. What's not to love! The best part, it only cost me the initial repair cost. Now that's something to celebrate!!

Today's Bargain

Well, I know I'm a bit early in buying a diaper bag since we probably have at least 2 more years to go, but when I was at Target doing some shopping I found a Skip Hop diaper bag on clearance for $20. How could I pass it up?! (See bag below). It can be worn over your shoulder or attach to your stroller. It is even red - an important color in China. I will eventually also buy a packpack style one, but that one can wait a while...


I would also like to share a pix of my beautiful kitty. Her health has been deteriorating lately. But, she is like my first-born daughter... It will be sad when her time will come. She will be dearly missed.

Charting the bad referral history of the CCAA

Here is a chart that one of my "MaMa Sisters" created trying to figure out some sort of an estimate as to when we would get our referrals (The magic day when we get to see a picture of our future daughter. Travel is around 5 to 8 weeks later...). This chart is based on her LID of 7-22-06 (ours is 7-14-06).

Remember: this is only an ESTIMATE. It could be worse, but hopefully better than this... Keep your fingers crossed for us and say lots of prayers!