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Friday, March 30, 2012

A day with the littles

Today only the middle and high school kids have school (thanks to parent-teacher conferences), so the younger kids and I got the housework done and then went out to have a little fun. We started by walking to the elementary school for the book fair so the kids could spend some of their allowance money on a book. Then we walked over to the Mexican restaurant for lunch. I think we walked about 3 miles altogether, and they were pretty pooped (and quiet!) when we got home. They are such a fun bunch of kids. I'm so glad I get to be their mom. :o)










Homestudy NOT on its way!

Ugh.

I got a call last night that our social worker had just barely gotten confirmation from our placing agency that the homestudy was good to go, so she said she would probably be unable to mail it until next Tuesday when she gets back from her weekend trip. She said she would try to get it notarized and mail it from the town where she'll be staying, but couldn't make any promises. I know it's just a few days and it shouldn't matter that much, but it really knocked the wind out of my sails.

On top of that, we found out at one of our SIX parent-teacher conference last night that Beck will have to repeat kindergarten. I kind of suspected this might be the recommendation since he's really struggling with reading and writing, but I'm still disappointed and worried for him. I hope it won't be a blow to his little ego. On the bright side, since Song Guo probably won't start school until the autumn after she gets here, it might be nice for them to be home together in the afternoons.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Homestudy on its way!

I talked to our social worker tonight and it sounds like she'll be able to overnight mail our homestudy tomorrow! I have our I-800A and our supplement (for our 18 year old Joshua) all ready to go. I can't wait to have that it all in the mail!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Weekly menu


This week's Bountiful Baskets were good, but not as exciting as some of the others we've gotten. I was glad we'd ordered a case of pineapple because the only fruit we got was a few apples, some kiwi, and some mangoes. (I'm getting a little overloaded on mangoes, frankly). We got lots of good veggies, though - cauliflower, green beans, romaine lettuce, portabellas, and orange bell peppers. I also have a bag of potatoes left from last week, as well as some regular and savoy cabbage.

For those of you who haven't tried Indian food, or who don't eat it often, our Monday meal is a great place to start. :o) "Gobi" is cauliflower, and aloo gobi is a yummy curry made with cauliflower, potatoes and tomatoes. Rajma is sort of like a chili, made with kidney beans. Lots of protein, lots of nutrients, lots of yummy.

Our Friday meal is a vegetarian meal that we've eaten for years - long before we went vegan. It's super easy to throw together and really delicious. If anyone wants any of these recipes, just ask! :o)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Third time's the charm...

Today is my anniversary, and for my anniversary, I thought I would "celebrate" (ha!) by faxing all my local documents to the Secretary of State's office for review prior to sending them for authentication. After all the dossiers we've put together and having had to scrutinize the notarizations of all those documents, I really thought that this would be the one and only time that all of our documents would be acceptable on the first attempt. Dates were correct, notaries' middle initials were present in the signatures where they also appeared on the stamps, standard notarial blocks were used - everything looked good. So I was really shocked when I talked to the notary department of the SoS and found out that the woman who notarized our police clearance records put down the wrong commission expiration date! It matched her stamp, so I would have had no way of catching this on my own. I was heartsick because having her fix it meant having to wait for her to order a new stamp with the correct date.

So, I traipsed down to the police station and asked if there was anyone else who could reprint our clearances (they were saved on their computer) and notarize them. Amazingly, there was another notary there, and she said she would do it immediately. I was so thankful I didn't have to wait and come back another day that I didn't even notice until I got down the road that her commission expires NEXT MONTH! Argh!

I called the police station and explained that I couldn't use this notary either, and they asked me to come back and have it re-done a third time. This time the woman who had previously notarized the letter signed it, and a third notary notarized it. ;o) I called the SoS department and had them check this woman's name and dates, and it sounds like we're good to go. As soon as I have my final copy of the homestudy, my remaining documents will be on their way.

Unfortunately, I also learned today that I have to get actual letters from our doctor explaining that neither my husband's nor my surgeries affect our ability to parent or our life expectancies. (I had really exciting surgeries like gall bladder removal and hemorrhoids! Aren't you jealous?) I will deal with that on Monday. I also have to fax all of our dossier documents to the agency for their review. So next week should bring final state authenticating and submission of our I800A. And then we'll be making a 13-hour round-trip drive for a 15-minute fingerprinting appointment. :o/

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Homestudy happiness!

I got an email this morning from our social worker that said our homestudy has been sent to our placing agency for final review! Hopefully by this time next week, I'll be able to send in our I800A and mail all our local documents to the Secretary of State's office for authentication. We're making progress!!

21 years :o)

Tomorrow is our 21st wedding anniversary, but we celebrated early by going to see Jim Gaffigan in Rapid City, SD, with my sister and her husband. This is something we wouldn't have splurged on if we'd know about the adoption at the time we bought the tickets (before Christmas), but it sure was wonderful to get away! We left yesterday morning and spent some time eating and shopping (ok, well, a LOT of time eating!) before the performance. (Concert? What do you call a comedian's performance, anyway?) We had yummy tofu pad thai and tofu curry for lunch, and for dinner we had some awesome vegan pizza on whole wheat crust at Beau Jo's. So we were stuffed and practically sick when we got to the concert/performance/whatever it's called, and then we laughed so hard our faces and stomachs ached. Jim Gaffigan did mostly new material, with a little "hot pocket" as an encore at the end. He was hilarious, as always, and even the guy that opened for him was funny.

This morning we got up early and headed back home because Curtis had to be at work at 1:00 We ended up adding 40 minutes to our trip because we missed a turn-off and had to double back. Thankfully my mom was able to go pick Beck up from kindergarten for us and keep him until we got home. We arrived to a relatively clean house with the laundry nearly done, and that was awesome. :o) Joshua stayed with the kids yesterday and last night and got everyone to school this morning, and Zoe shuttled kids to activities and concerts and did laundry. They did a great job. Joshua is back at the dorms now, recovering from his night of parent duty, I'm sure. ;o)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Happy birthday, Maizie!

Maizie's birthday is technically tomorrow, but we celebrated it today so everyone could be here. It's so hard to believe that she is now in double digits! Sometimes it seems like such a long time ago that we were standing in a hotel lobby in Nanchang and waiting to meet her for the first time, and other times it seems like it was yesterday. Today it feels like it was yesterday.

Here's my big girl, then and now. :o)



Maizie has been saving for an iPod Touch forEVER, so we used her savings, chipped in our standard birthday budget amount, and bought her a used one. She couldn't have been more thrilled. :o) She's excited to work on her Mandarin with some of the new apps that are available, and is already learning the ins and outs of texting from it.

Here are some more pictures from her special day.



















Saturday, March 17, 2012

$2500 so far!

We are THRILLED with how successful our homeschool materials fundraiser is turning out to be! We've sold about 75% of our stuff, and have made at least $2500. What doesn't sell right away will go to eBay next, so I hope the money will continue to trickle in. We're so grateful to those of you who have participated. Many of you sent a few extra dollars with your purchases, and we were so touched by your kindness. We're also thankful to those who took the time to post the information on forums or Facebook walls. We have been getting emails from all over the place, so I know there is some serious networking going on. :o)

Thank you again from our whole family!

Weekly menu

Here's our oh-so-exciting menu for the week! Since our Bountiful Baskets today were chock full of all manner of lettuce and cabbage, they're playing a big role this week (soup, Chinese salad, taco salad). We ended up with a boatload of potatoes too, so they're showing up in the soup and a potato bar later in the week. We'll also be trying canary melon for the first time ever. I hope I like it. I'm not a big melon fan.

In addition to our baskets, we got a Mexican pack add-on which I used to make salsa verde (blazing hot salsa verde, I might add), plus sourdough bread, and the hugest, most amazing tortillas like they serve at Q'Doba. I can't wait to eat them tomorrow!

The kids will be having pancakes for dinner this Tuesday since Curtis and I will be going to see Jim Gaffigan for our 21st anniversary. My sister and her husband are going, too. We're so excited!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Our homeschooling fundraiser is ready to go!

If you are a homeschooler, please take a look at our fundraising blog and see if there's anything you might need. Please also help spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested. Thank you!!

Oh happy day!

We found out today that we are getting a $1000 adoption grant from our local Down syndrome organization! We are so excited and so grateful! We still have a long way to go, but every little bit helps. :o) It's going straight into our Reece's Rainbow account to help with our travel expenses.

I also got a call from the Colorado Secretary of State's office to verify the type of authentication needed for our one Colorado document. It will be on its way in the next day or two. That means only our home state documents are left to authenticate.

I'm also very nearly ready for our homeschooling materials fundraiser to go live. Just 20 or so more things to list. For those who've been waiting, thanks for your patience. This was a far bigger undertaking than I ever imagined it would be!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Are you missing a daughter?


This little girl is 12 years old and is still waiting for a family. She lives in China with her foster family, and has a repaired cleft palate. She is also a Thalassemia carrier (which only means that she'll need to have genetic counseling with her fiancé when she is older to be sure he is not also a carrier.)

She has foster siblings who've already been adopted in the US, and she is still in contact with them. She wants very much to have a family of her own, and her foster family is hopeful that she will also be adopted soon. Because of her age, she does not have much time left.

Currently she is listed as "Gemma" at Lifeline (scroll down).



With her foster mom
Please, please, think about who you know who might be interested. Examine your hearts to see if you might be her family. If you're not, please spread the word about Miss Gemma. She deserves a family of her own. :o)

I have Gemma's file and lots more information about her. I am a speech pathologist and my husband is an audiologist, so we can help you understand what to expect about her speech and hearing issues and answer your questions. Please leave a comment if you'd like me to email you her file, and again, please spread the word!!!

Creamy black bean taquitos recipe

This morning I decided to make the tamales and taquitos I had planned for tomorrow for tonight's dinner instead. The taquitos recipe was inspired by one we used to make all the time in our pre-vegan days, and I've adapted it in a few different ways to make it meatless and without dairy. This is a meal we never get tired of. They are SO good! I always make a boatload of them, and if you make extra and freeze them (before baking), you can have a great main dish ready in a matter of minutes. I don't often make enough to freeze because that is a serious boatload around here, but I have done it and they turn out just as good.




Here's my usual version:

1/3 C (3 oz) vegan cream cheese (I like Follow Your Heart best, but I used Toffuti today)
1/4 C green salsa (I use Herdez or homemade)
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
2 T sliced green onions (I just realized I forgot to put these in tonight, and I had them all chopped and ready to go! Argh!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 package chicken-style seitan, torn into small shreds (or Yves meatless "hamburger" crumbles work well. I've also used diced potatoes in place of any "meat")
1 C grated pepperjack cheese (we use Daiya)
1 can diced green chilies (I used our own roasted chilies - yum!)
1 package small corn tortillas
olive oil spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add the green onions. Add seitan or meatless crumbles and cheese and combine well.

Wet a clean dish towel and place it across a plate. Put a stack of 10-12 tortillas on the towel, and fold the sides up over the tortillas so they are completely covered. Heat in microwave for about 2 minutes to steam the tortillas. Leave the other tortillas covered while filling each one.

Place 2-3 T of mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and bake 15-20 minutes and the ends start to get golden brown.

Serve with vegan sour cream, guacamole and salsa.

Two more documents

Today our certified marriage certificate and Curtis' birth certificate arrived. Since I already mailed off our Colorado reference letter for certification, that means I only have the documents for our state to get certified. And I would love to do just that, if only I had our homestudy. :o( It's been more than two weeks, and I'm starting to get very anxious. A new friend (who is using the same social worker for an adoption of a little boy with Down syndrome in Russia) told me that she knows our social worker is working on our homestudy this week because the social worker mentioned it at their homestudy. At least I know there is some movement! I just want to be able to send in our I800A, and without the homestudy, I can't do it, nor can I send all of our local documents off for certification.

Today I continued adding more homeschool materials to our fundraiser blog. I can't believe how long this is taking me! I work on it for a few hours every day, and I've probably got 30 or so listings to go. I just hope it pays off, because it's literally taken 2 weeks of my life to get this far.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Requested Recipes

Banana breakfast cookies

Here are a few recipes that were requested from this week's menu. :o)

Banana Breakfast Cookies (flour-less, gluten-free, no added sugar - pretty guiltless!)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

2 cups old-fashioned (large flake) oats
1 cup dried cranberries (or dried fruit of choice - I used blueberries)
1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
1-1/2 cups mashed very ripe banana (about 3 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

1. In a large bowl, combine the oats, cranberries, and walnuts
2. In a medium bowl, combine the banana, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda until well-blended.
3. Add banana mixture to oat mixture, stirring to combine. Let stand 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray cookie sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets.
4. Bake 14 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden-brown. Let cool on sheets 1 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days (or freeze in airtight bags/containers)

Kale chips

1 bunch kale (the standard curly kind works best)
spray olive oil
seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 350. Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Tear into bite-size pieces and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Spray lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with seasoning salt. (Salt and garlic pepper is also really good). Bake kale until the edges just begin to brown, about 20-30 minutes, but don't burn or they will taste bitter. Allow to cool. Once they're cool, you can give them another light spritz with olive oil and then sprinkle on some nutritional yeast (or if you're not vegan, some parmesan cheese). They're really good just on their own, though. I ate an entire head of kale today thanks to kale chips!

Impossible "cheeseburger" pie

This one is a little embarrassing to post, because a) it's just junky comfort food, and b) it's a recipe that I got off the back of a Bisquick box and veganized. ;o) The impetus for planning it this week is that I got some new chorizo-style seitan that I wanted to try in place of the soy crumbles, and I knew I'd be really busy with our adoption fundraiser this week and would need easy meals.

1 lb soy meat crumbles (like Yves or Boca brands)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese substitute (we use Daiya)
1/2 cup Bisquick baking mix (yes, it's vegan!)
1 1/3 cup nondairy milk (I use unsweetened almond or soy)

And although the recipe doesn't call for it, you can add a little taco or chili seasoning. It's good either way.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9" pie plate with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet, cook soy crumbles and onion over medium heat until heated through and onions are translucent. Stir in salt, spread "meat" mixture in pie plate, and sprinkle with cheese.
3. In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients with a whisk until well blended. Pour in pie plate.
4. Bake 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Weekly menu

Today's Bountiful Baskets were certainly bountiful! I got:

  • 3 bags carrots
  • 3 bunches kale (I'm making kale chips with it this time)
  • 3 bunches romaine lettuce
  • 3 bunches green onions
  • 6 English cucumbers (I will be making refrigerator pickles this week since I still have 6 left from last week, too!)
  • 1 head bok choy (my mom gave me hers from her organic basket)
  • 40 sweet peppers
  • 27 Anaheim peppers (I'll be roasting, dicing and freezing these again - so yummy!)
  • 5 bunches asparagus (I gave the 6th to my mom)
  • 3 big bunches bananas
  • 12 mangoes
  • 15 oranges
  • 30 apples
  • 3 pineapple
I also have 3 cantaloupe and 3 pineapple left from last week, plus several mangoes, pears, bananas, apples and oranges.

Here's the menu for the coming week. It's most easy stuff since we have a lot going on in the evenings.

One certified document down...

Today I got my Texas birth certificate back from the Secretary of State. It feels great to have one document done!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Reference letters

Today I got original copies of all three of our reference letters in the mail. What a cool coincidence! One came from our friends in Colorado, so I sent it off to the Colorado Secretary of State for certification right before I picked up Beck from school. The others are from our home state, so I'm waiting until I have the homestudy in my hot little hands and will then send all of our documents to our SoS office.

There's nothing else I can do right now, which I hate, and our social worker hasn't yet begun on our homestudy. She told us at our last homestudy visit to give her two weeks before she could get going on it, so hopefully early next week she'll be able to get started. I'm SO anxious to get this end of things done and begin our official wait!


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Thank you!

I just noticed that our Reece's Rainbow account has grown! We are never told who contributes to the fund, so please accept our blogged thanks for your generosity!

Shoot me now...

As I said a while back, we're planning a few fund-raising activities to help pay for our adoption expenses, and one of those is selling our homeschool materials. I stupidly thought that this was something I could get ready for over a weekend, but it's now Wednesday and I've got at least another two days ahead of me. I knew we had a lot of stuff, but holy smokes! We have a LOT of stuff!

We used Sonlight as our main curriculum, with lots of other things to supplement. I still love Sonlight, and homeschooling in general, and I admit I've been a little emotional seeing all these books that hold so many memories. Reading through old reports and looking through art projects pulls at my heartstrings, too. :o( But I'm also proud of my kids for making so much progress, and grateful for the time that I got to be involved in such a significant part of their lives. I don't know if our homeschooling days are over for good (I suspect we will homeschool Song Guo, at least in the beginning), but they sure were wonderful while they lasted.

I'm hoping that tomorrow I can finish up getting everything sorted into cores and like items, and then Friday I hope to inventory everything and make up a temporary blog where I will list everything for sale. We're trusting that this will make a bit of a dent in our expenses. Our next big-ticket costs are about $1000 for our I800A and fingerprinting, and $5500 for the remainder of our China fees when our dossier goes to China in the next 2-3 months. After that, we have some time to scrape together the rest of the funds, which we won't need until time to travel. Wish us luck!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The little things

I don't know what it is about Sundays, but it always seems to be on Sundays when I notice more than the typical amount of - I don't know - sweetness? coming from my family. I always think my family is awesome, but we do have our shared of bickering, breakdowns and bawling. ;o) Today at church, I caught my 16 year old daughter actually singing the hymns, and she did it the whole meeting. I also saw her hug, genuinely hug, her older brother. Sofie, our 8-year-old, spontaneously got up in front of the whole congregation and shared her testimony, including expressing gratitude for the opportunity to fast and receive blessings. I saw older siblings comfort younger ones, and I got "just because" hugs from two of my older kids, and a request for a mommy-daughter date on Saturday from another.

Cora helped me make lunch, Jackson and Beck put together tomorrow's school lunches, and Curtis and the other kids brought down all the dirty laundry and got it sorted. After lunch, everybody pitched in and helped clean up the mess without being asked. People thanked me for the good food (which they are always great about doing) and told me specific things they liked about the meal. For Family Home Evening, Zoe and Maizie put together a great activity of scripture charades, and everyone participated and had fun. As I type, I'm listening to Ethan play the piano. Everything has just worked today, and having a day like this makes me incredibly grateful for the amazing family that God has assembled for us. I miss my daughter in Billings, and it's hard to be separated from Song Guo, but I look forward to the special holidays and other occasions when our entire family can be together. I love them all so much.

Here are a few pictures from Family Home Evening today. I snapped them with my phone, so most of them are blurry, but they make me happy to look at. (Well, except when I see the lathe and plaster in the background... Sigh...) :o)

I think this one was "raising Lazarus from the dead" ;o)

Healing the blind

Sofie

I'm not sure what Maizie was supposed to be!

Still not sure...

Curtis and Cora in a boat

Loundia

I think Lily was Daniel in the lion's den. Poppy isn't visible, but she was the lion, ferocious corgi that she is. ;o)

Beck is sitting on Joshua's friend D's lap. He comes over for lunch and FHE on Sunday a lot.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Weekly menu


I am finding myself awash in potatoes, kiwi, mangoes, bok choy and Napa cabbage after picking up my Bountiful Baskets today. The menu for the coming week will use up the majority of our produce, but I was able to freeze a gallon size bag each of Napa and bok choy for later, plus I roasted, diced and froze our Anaheim peppers to use this week and beyond.

Here's what came in today's baskets (3) and Asian add-on pack (2):
  • 3 cantaloupes
  • 3 pineapples (plus 2 I bought at Costco last week)
  • 18 or so apples
  • 3 bunches bananas (plus 2 big bunches from last week that are just now ready to eat)
  • 15 or so mangoes (plus at least 6 from the last two baskets)
  • 24 or so kiwis (plus we have 3 bags of organic kiwis ripening from last week)
  • 2 bunches celery
  • 2 huge heads of bok choy
  • 2 huge heads of Napa cabbages
  • 2 bunches green onions
  • 12 or so water chestnuts (fresh water chestnuts are AMAZING and nothing like the nasty canned ones!)
  • 6 English cucumbers
  • 6 bell peppers
  • 2 heads garlic
  • 4 yellow onions
  • 2 bags of snow peas
  • 3 containers of living butter lettuce (my favorite lettuce!)
  • 12 Anaheim chilies
  • 2 bags of white new potatoes
  • 3 bags of Brussels sprouts (plus a big bag I bought at Costco last week)
  • 2 bags of Thai basil

We also have 6 gorgeous yellow squash from last week, and a ton of tomatoes, oranges, apples and pears. And then there's the stuff I've frozen from previous weeks.

I shouldn't have bought the pineapple and Brussels sprouts from Costco, but I only get there about once a month and sometimes I just can't help myself. I never learn. Still, I love that I don't have to buy any produce at the store anymore. I usually wait to get my baskets on Saturday, and then fill in a couple of things that I'm missing either Saturday afternoon or Monday morning. This week the only thing I'll have to buy is some strawberries and raspberries.

In case you haven't figured it out, I seriously love Bountiful Baskets. There's no way I could get all that comes in one basket for $15 at the store, and I love that it forces me to be more creative with my cooking. I've even learned to appreciate eggplant, which I've always hated, and we've been able to try some things that are difficult, if not impossible, to get around here (celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, the aforementioned fresh water chestnuts, just to name a few). I usually buy organic baskets, and although they're more money ($25), it's nice to have that option. Only Albertsons here in town carries any organic produce to speak of, but it's always the same things: broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, kiwi, apples, onions, and strawberries when in season. And it's expensive! Maybe people in big cities can beat the price and selection of BB's organic basket, but I sure as heck can't.

Anyway, without further ado, here is this week's menu. As always, any reference to milk or cheese always means vegan versions. I'm most excited about the mango curry. Yum!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Best Friday ever!

I just found these pictures in my email this morning. We sent Song Guo a celebratory you-have-a-family care package a couple of weeks ago, and these are some of the photos that were taken of her with her cake. OOOOOOhhhhhhh!!!! I can't wait to get my hands on her!









Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!


My little guys headed off to school today for a breakfast of green eggs and (not) ham in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. I give you: Thing 1 and Thing 2, Daisy Head Mayzie, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. :o)

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Three surprises in the mail today

Today was a good day on the paperchase front. The mail yielded our corrected financial letter and our passports, so the only dossier document I'm now waiting on is our homestudy.

Later, the FedEx guy brought surprise number three: a 5-pound box of Haribo gummy frogs! It wouldn't have been such a surprise if I had actually ordered and paid for said frogs, but they were shipped to me by mistake. I was thoroughly confused for a while! I contacted Amazon, but the tracking number and order number couldn't be traced back to any particular order, so the customer service rep told me to keep them. Since they're made with gelatin, I think I'll donate them to the food bank. Why couldn't they have mistakenly shipped up licorice or some other vegan candy? ;o)

I can't help thinking that there's some cupcake baker out there about to have a coronary because her frogs didn't arrive in time for little Joey's froggy birthday cupcakes. I've witnessed my sister (also a baker) similarly freak over missing fondant or decorative doodads. ;o)





A peek into my brain...