(*^&%*(#^(*_#_+_*-&&@@!!!

Well, for the last 2 sets of referrals(the Dec 31st batch & the Feb 1st batch) we have been told by our facilitator that our referral would be included but unfortunately it has not happen yet. So maybe 3rd time is the charm??? Let's hope so!!! Otherwise I will be the grumpiest, most vile person in Venice!!! I will be walking around lookin' for a fight while consuming mountains of junk food! And, my general contractor(s) will probably not ever speak to me again after my outbursts. I know the cabinet fabricators won't. Oh well. Next kitchen is going to be from Ikea. So in the meantime, I will help put the economy back on track with engaging in some retail therapy! Darn it...I wish The Carriage House had an online store.
So, what's the &%^^(@* hold up??? No one can explain why no Chinese Expedited referrals have been sent out since Nov? 2007. ARRRHG!!! &^%&^%(&)&@*#!!!! Phew, I feel a little better after a good cyber scream.
Oh and if you want to hear/read some really scary, depressing news.... then read this. It is very sad. Have tissues ready.

"Welfare institutions in south and central China are having the hardest
time dealing with the weather disaster. This part of the country is
simply not equipped to deal with extreme cold or heavy snow and ice. The
most common critical problems are power outages, lack of safe drinking
and cooking water, lack of fuel, diapers and public transportation. In
many places where buses have stopped running, our Half the Sky nannies
have been walking hours (in one case, 4 hours) along icy roads to get to
the children. As conditions worsen, our nannies and teachers are
remaining at the institutions day and night. They have given up the idea
of going home to their own families for the holidays. They need quilts.
They need warm clothing. They need coal, water, disposable diapers and
food. Here are the reports I have thus far, while in-flight. I will send more
soon. Where you don't see a report, either all is well or I don't yet
have information. I will tell you when we've heard from everyone. We've
also given all the directors an emergency number to call when/if the
situation changes.

Hunan Province -
Chenzhou has had no electricity or water for six days. They are relying
on coal for heat and cooking. The supermarkets and banks are closed.
Staff is using personal money for baby food, diapers, coal and water.
Costs are rising due to shortages. They have a natural well which,
thankfully, is not frozen. Even the older children are helping to fetch
water. They have perhaps six days of food remaining. The local
government is overwhelmed by the disaster and is unable to help much.

Shaoyang has seen heavy snow every day for 20 days. There is sufficient
water and, for the moment, there is power, so the children are warm.
However, 5 of 6 power poles have been downed by weather. Only one stands
and the institution fears it will fall as well, leaving them without
electricity. Much of the rest of the city is already dark. Children and
caregivers continue to work and play together. High school students are
cramming for exams and trying to ignore the cold. Everyone prays that
the power pole will continue to stand.

Yueyang also has no electricity. The one functioning power generator is
being used in the children's dormitory. They are relying on coal heat
but the price has tripled in recent days. They are running out of food
and have applied to the local Bureau of Civil Affairs for funds to buy
more. Our HTS nannies have been walking for hours to get to work, often
slipping on the ice, "even though they try to be cautious."

Xiangtan has had snow for the past 10 days. The main water pipe is
"broken again." There is no water for cooking right now but they do have
electricity, coal and blankets. They are still able to buy food but
prices have gone way up. Not all of the HTS nannies can get to work
every day. They are keeping the programs going as well as they can and
make sure that at least five nurturing nannies are there with the babies
every day, along with the institution's caregivers.

Jiangsu Province -
Changzhou has seen some heavy snows but the director reports that the
children are fine. The director says that he's doing his best to ensure
that the children do not suffer. Public transportation is crippled by
the snow and HTS nannies and teachers are waiting for hours to catch a
bus for home or even walking home in the snowy dark.

Nanjing reports no problems at all despite the heavy snows. I tried to
fly into Nanjing yesterday but it was not possible.

Anhui Province -
Chuzhou has both water and power. Only public transportation has failed.
HTS nannies and teachers are walking to work. They are leaving home
extra early to be there for the children.

Guangxi Province -
Guilin has two broken HTS heater/air conditioners in the Infant Nurture
rooms and they've asked us to replace. The rooms are very, very cold.
They ask for more soft matting for the floors and also snow boots for
our HTS nannies who've been slipping and falling in the ice and snow as
they come to work. They are so ill-equipped to handle severe weather.

Jiangxi Province -
Fuzhou lost power for a few days but now it is back to normal. The snow
stopped a couple of days ago but now is falling again. The directors and
HTS staff have gathered all the children into one big room to keep them
warm. They've bought New Years clothes for the children and will have a
party no matter how bad the weather. This year, however, the foster
parents will stay home to keep the children safe. The institution has
enough food and water. They want us to focus on those in more serious
trouble and ask us please not to worry.

Jiujiang says they've never faced such bitter weather. They desperately
need disposable diapers. Washable diapers cannot be dried. They need
warm clothes, shoes, gloves hats quilts and warm mats for the floors.
They need medicine for infant coughs and colds.

Hubei Province -
Wuhan suffers heavy snows but they still have power. Heaters are working
but there is no water for bathing. The local community has offered to
take children in for the Chinese New Year and the institution feels this
may be the best decision to keep them safe.

Huangshi reports that the freeze is so severe that all heater/air
conditioners have stopped functioning. They need quilts and warm clothes
for the children. They need disposable diapers. Several HTS nannies have
fallen on the ice on their way to work and they need medicine to treat
cuts and bruises.

Gathering these reports together makes me think about how careful we
have always been at Half the Sky to maintain our focus on nurture and
education programs. Ours is not a medical or relief organization. There
are many wonderful groups who do that work. Probablyt he primary reason we've been able to accomplish so much and reach so many children is because we've maintained our focus on our core mission -- providing nurturing care for children who've lost their families. But a moment like this really cannot be ignored. The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in the US taught us that no matter how wealthy a country might be, its vulnerable citizens (old, poor, ill, and orphaned children) are the ones who suffer most when disaster strikes. Even as China seems to be entering the first world, a disaster like this is quite simply crippling. We know that orphaned children will be among those who suffer the damage most. I say this because I think we should break one of Half the Sky's rules and, if there are sufficient funds raised in the Little Mouse Emergency Fund, we should offer relief (water, food, diapers, quilts, clothing) to any orphanage where children need help. Let's see how this goes. If people are as generous as I think they might be, we will work with the provincial Bureaus of Civil Affairs in every hard-hit community, and offer assistance to all welfare institutions where there is need. Please lend a hand, however you can. You can donate to the Little Mouse Emergency Fund by calling us in the US at +1-510-525-3377 or in Asia at +852- 2520-5266 or by visiting us at www.halfthesky.org or go to http://www.halfthesky.org/help/docs/usdonation-orderform.pdf to download a form to mail or fax. Donations are tax-deductible in US, Canada and Hong Kong. Please forward this message and tell your friends and family. I will be back with an update very, very soon.
Thank you!
Jenny Bowen
Executive Director
Half the Sky Foundation
www.halfthesky.org

Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives and enhance the
prospects for orphaned children in China. We establish and operate
infant nurture and preschool programs, provide personalized learning for
older children and establish loving permanent family care and guidance
for children with disabilities. It is our goal to ensure that every
orphaned child has a caring adult in her life and a chance at a bright
future."

AND A BIG HEARTFELT THANK-YOU TO MY SISTER, JAMIE FOR MAKING A DONATION!!!

Overdue Christmas Wrap Up

I have to share with you what Dianne gave me for Xmas. She is the most amazing gift giver ever. Oh and, she actually made the cow pattern pants and the cowgirl outfit! And she customized the back pocket of the cow pants with Maxine's name! YEE HAW!!! (Hint, hint...We need a pony, Grandy!) So without further ado...here it is!

And, Dianne gave us the cutest little hand crocheted pink cowgirl booties! They are just amazing but didn't photograph so well. And did you notice the adorable frog hangers she gave us. They are peaking out of the tops of the clothes.
So a BIG thank-you to Dianne for all the Xmas goodies!!!

JAPANESE???

Well, Dianne had this fun little test on her blog. She took it and it said she should learn to speak French...which she does. So I took it to see if I should learn German which I took in high school. Nope. Not German. Not French. Not Spanish. Not even Chinese. Japanese. Yep, Japanese. Japanese??? I should learn Japanese? Huh? That's crazy. I will have to see what our friends Osamu, Kayo, and Hiroshi say to this. I'm sure they will ROTFL.

You Should Learn Japanese

You're cutting edge, and you are ready to delve into wacky Japanese culture. From English to eating contests, you're born to be a crazy gaijin. Saiko!

What Language Should You Learn?

And for what it's worth, I find the word "Engrish" in this little graphic offensive. I'm not sure why I even put this on my blog but here it is. I may have to delete it later. Oh, but that does make me think about my favorite movie. Lost in Translation.
Update: Thanks to Di I have corrected that offensive little word to now read English.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED....well sort of.

The goal for my project in Alabama for Pre-Xmas was to have the remodel and addition at a state where my Mom could have her 35th Annual Cookie Swap and our Christmas dinner at what was my grandmother's dining table in the newly remodelled house (which used to be my grandparents' house when they were living). Well, we pushed and pushed and pushed til we couldn't push anymore. We just had to settle that the house was ready except for ....the kitchen cabinets...oh and her bathroom cabinets. Everyone really worked beyond the call of duty...except the cabinetmaker who I choose to call out. Yep, no kitchen cabinets. {The cabinetmakers are Nixon Cabinets in Athens, AL.} My mom and dad were and are still angreeeeee to say the least. Who knew it would take 3 years to build kitchen cabinets??? But that didn't stop Christmas or the Cookie Swap. We set up a temporary kitchen island which was an old store counter that my grandfather had given me from his feed and seed store. We made it our Snack Bar for the Cookie Swap and family gatherings. Our snacks were served out of 7 galvanized buckets lined up down the feed and seed store counter. As for Xmas dinner, we cooked and heated food next door and brought it over. Well worth the extra effort and hassle! We moved in the basic furniture and then the drapery lady came in for her installation. Then the most amazing upholsterer delivered his masterpieces! That was the best Christmas present ever...for my mom and me. Upholstery pictures to be posted soon.


Mom on the left and Joy(the Cookie Swap co-hostess)
on the right standing at the table with the wassail
and vintage Santa mugs. Located in the
breakfast hall looking towards the office loft.



Striped hall looking towards library.


The cabinet-less kitchen loft with Snack Bar.
Notice the stainless steel tool cabinet we are
using as temporary storage. Vintage industrial
lights salvaged from a New Orleans warehouse
and restored Pre-Katrina.


The store counter from Pop's feed and seed store
AKA The Snack Bar. Located approximately where
the kitchen island will be. Cast iron column
salvaged from old warehouse in Memphis.
Mike(BIL) seated and Jasper(nephew), the
cutie-patootie.

So, now that the mission is somewhat accomplished, we are ready and waiting on Maxine's referral. The soonest we could hear something would be Jan 24th. So it could be anytime from a few weeks to a few months. As everyone knows that is involved in IA, you just never know what the CCAA will do and when they will do it. So Fingers and Toes Crossed for Good Luck!!!

MOK IS 40!!!!

Hey, hey, hey....Mok turns 40 today!!!
Happy Birthday!!!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!!!

AND THIS TIME IT WASN'T MY CONCRETE BLOCK FENCE.
Dianne has tagged me in the blog-osphere world which means I get to answer some fun questions. So here goes... (hope I can muster up some xmas spirit for this.)
It's a Christmas Tag:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? WRAPPING PAPER but I really love the printed boxes I got at Big Lots a couple of years ago. Very cool vintage graphics. But I do have to admit that I use bags if a present requires it.
2. Real tree or artificial? FAKE FAKE FAKE!!! I have a silver tinsel tree, a white tinsel tree, and a red tinsel tree but my favorite tree is the one I made from scraps of metal wire and an old metal patio umbrella frame. I gave it to my mom to use a couple of years ago and we call it Roadside Christmas.
3. When do you put up your tree? After the Thanksgiving Holidays.
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years...umm...sometimes July. As for the Roadside Xmas tree, we don't take it down. We drape it with vintage barkcloth.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yup! with bourbon or brandy or whatever alcohol you put in it.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My pink floral sleeping bag. Oh and, a white wicker table from Grandma.
7. Do you have a Nativity scene? No, I don't think so but I have so many unopened plastic storage boxes of xmas decorations.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Mok
9. Easiest person to buy for? Me! ; ) LOL
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The 3 vacuum cleaners someone kept giving me every year.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail if I had time.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Rudolf
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? October
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Uhhh...not a xmas present.
15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas? PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM!!!
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? BIG, FAT COLORED ONES MIXED WITH LITTLE COLORED ONES! No blinkers, though.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Rockin Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel only if my dogs can go. Ideally travel to snow!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Probably.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel made of silver screening material.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Open 1 present xmas eve which is pajamas from my mom. And the rest... xmas morning after we open the stockings. And now we do dirty Santa on Christmas night. That is the most fum thing to do!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? TRAFFIC!
23. What is the "corniest" family tradition you do, or miss doing? It's not corny to me! I love it....making a cookie house.
24. Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented? The big bright fuzzy red bows. They are the worst color of red.
25. Which looks the best, theme trees or homey trees? Hmmm? Vintage, ecletic colorful.
26. What does Christmas mean to you? Family and EATING and Mom and Joy's annual cookie swap!

1 YEAR AND COUNTING....

Today is our 1 year LID anniversary. Is that a good thing? Well, I'm not sure about that. It is a good thing if you have to wait over a year for your referral. It means we are 12 months closer to travelling to China to be united with Maxine.
I have done quite a few things to keep myself distracted from the wait. Some good. Some not so good. Some as frustrating as the wait itself. Some ridiculous. But as long as I was distracted from the wait, then that was a good thing, right?
Here are some of the things I did to keep myself distracted.
-Moving my horse from Tennessee (where my BIL was training her) to California and getting a new horse trainer. Side effects can be family-strifus, roughus-on-the-walletus, but... lots-of-funnus.
-Caring for my dog who has cancer which required chemotherapy and radiation. Side effects (for me) can be heartus-breakus, roughus-on-the-walletus, cleaning-uppus-lots-of-crappus and other bodily fluids during all times of day and night. But I am so thankful she is keeping me company during this wait. She is training me well for a baby's schedule.
-Demo-ing the interior of our house. We are currently attempting to get it remodelled in time for Maxine's arrival.(That's not gonna happen.) Side effects are inability to locatus-our-belongings, only one funtioning-toiletus, and panica-attacki's.
-Designing and attempting to manage the construction of 2 projects that are 2000 miles away from my home in another time zone. Side effects are extremely longus-commutus and unpredictable workus-hours.
-Some other distractions have included Mandarin lessons, shopping(mostly with Dianne!), blogging, joining yahoo groups, starting yahoo groups, eating, tennis, severely spraining my ankle while playing tennis, shopping on the internet, internet surfing while eating(mostly unhealthy, fattening things), and coloring my hair a ridiculously inappropriate color, oh... and more eating. Let's just say when I look in the mirror these days, I am not thinking about how long I have been waiting. I am thinking, "What the hell was I thinking?!!"
-One of the most rewarding things I have done is to make new friends as well as reconnect with longtime friends. So, its been a very busy year...but not as busy as the upcoming year will be. We are *hoping* for our referral to arrive in January and to travel in the spring. Fingers crossed. A more conservative outlook would be that our referral should arrive in March and travel in late May???? We just don't know. Nobody really knows. So back to my distractions for a couple more months...minus the ankle injury, hopefully. And maybe I will get a hair color correction... and maybe I won't. Or, maybe I will get some crazeee chunky highlights, paint my fingernails purple, and wear goth clothing.

PS. That is a picture of what we now call Maxine Pie. I thought we would celebrate our 1 Year LID-iversary with a chocolate pie. It is chocolate cream pie and it unfortunately tasted like hell. YUCK! Whoever said, all pie is good pie, is WRONG! Californians CAN'T make pie to save their lives! If you ever wanted to taste a real chocolate pie, you would have to have had a chocolate meringue pie from H&H in Athens, AL...but sadly, very sadly they closed recently and left me not much of anyplace to eat at night when visiting for work and family functions. If anyone knows where I can find the pie maker for H&H, please let me know. Like I need more pie. We are back to that eating thing as a distraction, again.

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