Memories

Like the corners of my mind
Misty water colored memories........

Sorry.  Couldn't resist.  And now you will have that song stuck in your head all day, just like I did yesterday.

You're welcome.     :)

Last Sunday I spent the day at my Aunt's house (I call her Tante, because that is the word for Aunt in Norwegian and well, my Dad's family is Norwegian.    :)

My Tante is moving.  She will be putting her house up for sale.  This saddens me.   I have a lot of childhood memories tied up in that house.  She and my Uncle lived there for 45 years so it's the only place that I have memories of them being.  We spent every Christmas Eve there as long as I can remember.

It's hard for me to fathom that she won't be there anymore.  While I was visiting she brought out an old strong box that belonged to my grandfather and my cousin, myself, my Dad and my Tante went through some of the contents.

I was so excited.

There were lots of pictures of course, but there were also a lot of documents from the 1900's.  The oldest item we found was a spelling test that my grandfather took when he was a kid. It was dated 1909.

1909!!  I don't think I have ever touched anything that was that old.  It was so cool.

They didn't have a scanner so I took some pictures of a lot of the things inside.


My Dad and Tante putting in the combination and trying to get the box open. It took several tries.

Success!

That little girl with the hat on is my Tante when she was little. Hee!  Love that picture.

My grandfather's pocket watch.

My Dad as a child, with his Dad and Grandfather (my great grandfather)

Circa late 1938 or so

Stamps were 3 cents!

Old keys

A report card from 1917

 Spelling test from 1909.  So.  Cool.

W2 from 1947. Yearly gross income $3, 823.49.  Wow.

It was strange seeing my Mom's handwriting on this wedding invitation she sent to her in laws many years ago.  I had forgotten what it looked like.

This wind sock is hanging in what used to be my Uncle's office.

We had so much fun going through the contents in that box.

I'll miss my Tante's house and all the memories I have there.

Me and my Tante

My Tante also gave me an old cuckoo clock that was at least 100 years old.  It's in pretty bad shape but I'm going to do some research and see if I can't restore it.  I don't know if I can get it actually working again, but I know I can at least make it look nice.  I'm so excited!  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Dragon Boating

Every year around this time I start gushing about Dragon Boat practice.  How I can't wait for it to start, how much I love it.


And every year I have one or two people ask me yeah, but what IS dragon boating?


Here is the definition of Dragon Boating from WikiPedia:

A dragon boat (also dragonboat) is a human-powered boat (Paddled Water Craft) traditionally made of teak wood to various designs and sizes. It is one of a family of Traditional Long Boats found throughout Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands. It is now used in the team paddling sport of dragon boat racingwhich originated in China over 2000 years ago. While competition has taken place annually for more than 20 centuries as part of folk ritual, it emerged in modern times as an international sport in Hong Kong in 1976. For competition events, dragon boats are generally rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails. At other times the decorative regalia is usually removed, although the drum often remains aboard for training purposes.

Dragon boat races are traditionally held as part of the annual Duanwu Festival or Duen Ng observance in China. 19th century European observers of the racing ritual, not understanding the significance of Duen Ng, referred to the spectacle as a "dragon boat festival". This is the term that has become known in the West.

Dragonboat festival racing, like Duen Ng, is observed and celebrated in many areas of east Asia with significant populations of ethnic Chineseliving there e.g. Singapore, Malaysia, Riau Islands and Greater China. The date is referred to as the "double fifth" since Duen Ng is reckoned as the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which often falls on the Gregorian calendar month of June, but also rarely May or July. This is because Dueng Ng is reckoned annually in accordance with the traditional calendar system of China, which is a combination of solar and lunar cycles, unlike the Gregorian calendar system.

In December 2007, the Chinese government added Duen Ng, Qingming and Mid-Autumn festivals to the schedule of national holidays observed in the People's Republic of China, such is the importance of dragonboating to the Chinese today.

Here are some photos I found on the internet of Dragon Boating:

See how forward you have to lean your body, and how far out over the water you have to position yourself?  It is one of the most physically demanding activities I have ever participated in.

Dragon Boat races in Hong Kong.  Oh man, it is my DREAM to go to a dragon boat festival there!

For the races they mount a drum and a dragon head on the front of the boat.  The drum is used to help the team stay in cadence.  Timing is one of the most important aspects of paddling.  If your paddles aren't all hitting the water at the same time your boat is not moving through the water efficiently.  The dragon heads are taken off for practices.  They can be very ornate and they would get wrecked if they were used for daily practices.

The team I joined is a mixed team of men, women and children.  Our common denominator is that we(they) are all families with children from China (although anyone is welcome to join our team).  When I started four years ago we had people in all different stages of China adoption.  People who were waiting.  People with small children(3-4 years old), people with teenagers adopted from China, and even some relatives of people who have adopted.  Joe and I are the only family who are still waiting. The other waiting families went the special needs route and have been home for over a year now.  We have bee assured that whether this adoption pans out or not, we will always have a place on that team.  Love the people we paddle with.

Teams usually have one thing in common with each other.  There are teams made up only of breast cancer survivors.  One team is made up of LAPD women.

Panda Express has their own team.  

Last year there was even a team made up of blind people.  They rocked.  So inspiring. 

I know I have mentioned before that we are a non-competitive team.  As far as I know, we are the only team that holds that title(it's not official, it's just a title we gave ourselves).  We are the only team that has adults and kids in our boat together. All the other teams are either all kids, all female(or male) adults or mixed adults.  Our team is unique.  It also means that we rarely place in the races.  Most of the time we come in last.  We aren't "in it to win it".  We are in it to participate in a an activity that ties into the birth culture of the children we love.  We are in it for the teamwork.  We are in it for the exercise (paddling is HARD work).  It also means we only practice for nine weeks out of the year, leading up to the races.

Some teams practice for 12 weeks.  The more serious teams actually practice year round.

If you are fortunate enough to have Dragon Boat races near where you live, I suggest you go and check them out.  The races are fun to watch and they usually have a festival to go along with them.

You can check out some of my other posts about past Dragon Boat festivals here.  Also, here.  

If you are local, this year the Dragon Boat Festival will be held July 30 and 31 at Marine Stadium in Long Beach.  You can check out the website here for more information.

Here is a pretty cool video that shows what dragon boating is like from a paddler's view(which is pretty cool actually.  Aside from these paddlers being a more serious team than ours, this is pretty much exactly what it's like to be in the boat).

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If you live near me and have any interest at all in joining our team, e-mail me at chinaadopter(at)gmail(.com) and I can give you more info.  It doesn't take a huge commitment(you have to attend at least 3 practices and be available for the races the last weekend in July).   Practices are held once a week, on Saturdays through June and some some Sundays in July, for 3 hours  each practice.  Half an hour warm up, then an hour and a half of that is actually in the boat paddling and the other half an hour is spent cleaning the boat.   If you can't paddle for the whole hour and a half we switch out people half way through.  Joe usually gets out half way due to a shoulder injury. I usually stay in for the whole time because I just love it so much.  Kids as young as age 7 can paddle too.


It is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

I can’t remember what it is like for my husband to have a job.

I can’t remember how it felt for him to leave me asleep in my bed, giving me a kiss before he left for the day.

I can’t remember coming home after work and making dinner, waiting for the sound of his car in the carport. 

I can’t remember not having to worry constantly about money.  I can’t remember having a sense of security.

I can’t remember the last time we could make ends meet.

I can’t remember going out to eat and to the movies like it was nothing. I can’t remember when our last vacation was.

I can’t remember ever feeling this stressed out all the time.

I can’t remember ever praying for something so much and having nothing change.

I can’t remember when I didn’t feel resentment towards him.  I can’t remember when we didn’t fight about his unemployment.

I can’t remember how it felt to sit in his classroom during a night class watching him teach.  I can’t remember coming out from our bedroom  in the middle of the night to get a drink of water, seeing him sitting on the floor at the coffee table grading papers.  I can’t remember the pride in his voice when he spoke of his students. 

I can’t remember the spark that he used to have in his eyes.  I can’t remember the last time he felt like he was worth something.

I can’t remember what it was like when my husband had a job.






That has been rolling around in my head ever since I saw a similar (much better written) post on another blog. It feels good to have it out of my head.










It doesn't look like I got that job I was hoping for.  I called twice to follow up with the person who interviewed me and they haven't returned my phone calls. 


I know that this wasn't the job for me. I know there are better things out there. I know these things. But I still feel a deep sense of rejection and a sense of sorrow that  I didn't get it.


Oh well.  C'est la vie.  


It's a three day weekend, the weather is supposed to be beautiful and I don't intend to sit around inside all day feeling sorry for myself.


Dragon Boat practice starts tomorrow.  Woo hoo!


Then if I can still stand upright after that, a hike in the canyon on Sunday.


What are your plans for Memorial Day?  Anything fun?

Black and White Wednesday

I don't usually participate in this because I have been really lacking in my picture taking lately.

My Dad gave me these roses though, and I took some pictures of them that I though turned out pretty so I'm using those.

I took these with a purse camera that DeAnn gave me.  It's not a very new camera but it takes really good pictures!

I have this setting on "color swap".  I have seen it in my camera's function menu but I never knew what it did.  It's kinda cool!

You can see more Black and White Wednesday photos on The Long Road to China

Fun in the Sun

Whew!  What a whirlwind weekend I had.   I'm still tired from it.

I had Friday off, which I was excited about since I haven't had a day off since Christmas.  Joe and I had plans to go to the zoo, but M3 sent me an e-mail letting me know they were going to be in town for their annual Disneyland trip, so I dropped him like a hot potato(sorry Joe!).  He is always so understanding about those things.

It took me awhile to get moving on Friday(hey-it was my day off).  I got to the park around 11:00 which turned out to be perfect timing as M3 and family had only been there an hour or so.

Once we found each other we hit the park for some rides.  Let me tell you, little Ro and Ree are fearless!
We rode Thunder Mountain and Matterhorn and they loved every minute.  I know I wasn't that brave when I was their age.

While I was there I also had the pleasure of meeting up OziMum and her family, who were visiting all the way from Australia.  What a treat!  Such a fun family. 

The family from No More Work Than One were there too but we didn't meet up with them until dinner, as they were off exploring CA Adventure for most of the day.  It was fun to meet them.  What beautiful girls H2 and S2 are.

Having all those twins around made me wish my own twin was there too.
Soon it was time for lunch.  As a rule, I don't buy food at Disneyland.  It's simply too expensive.  I brought all my own food in.  Here's what I packed  for a full day at the park:

It probably looks like a lot but I ended up not eating the Ritz bits or Funyons.  I know that was just so fascinating for you all to know.  LOL.  But I have had people ask me how I afford to go to Disney so often and not spend a ton of money while in the park.  Bringing my own food makes a huge difference with that.

As for the rest of the day, I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures.  I did snap one of the two of us while we were in line for the Carousel.

The highlight of the day for Ro and Ree was meeting Rapunzel from Tangled. 

 Actually, I was pretty excited too.  :)

The first time around Flynn Rider had to go to the stables and feed his horse some apples(that's what the castmember said), so they didn't get to meet him.  When he came back they were peeking at him through the doorway and got so excited they decided to wait in line again, in hopes of meeting him this time.

It was about a 45 minute wait, so M3 and I found a spot at a table in the shade and had a nice long visit.  (Thanks to TubaDad for standing in line so we could do that-you rock!).

The much anticipated Flynn Rider.  His hair kind of freaked me out.

Siging autographs

The Money shot

I decided to get in on the action too.  Too bad my camera didn't want to cooperate.  The flash didn't go off.  Oh well.  You can kind of make out who is who.

Our fun extended on into dinner, until we all were about to fall over from exhaustion and headed to our respective hotels (and home).

I wish I had taken more pictures but it's a sign that I had

a good time if I just forgot to get my camera out of my bag for almost the whole day.

   M3 has more photos on her blog.

A fun, fun time was had.

Part Two of my weekend coming tomorrow.

Ho Hum

I didn't intend to stay away for such a long time but somehow it happened.  I think posting every day burned me out a little. I'm proud of myself for finishing though, and it ended up being fun to do.

Mother's Day was not awful.  Not great, but not awful. Joe surprised me with movie tickets and he took me to see "Water for Elephants".  The only thing we didn't think through was the fact that it was a chick flick and there might be a lot of women taking their Moms out.  There were a lot of Mother-daughter pairs there. Once the lights went out it didn't matter of course, but the 20 minutes we sat waiting for the movie to start had me wistfully glancing at all those women lucky enough to be spending Mother's Day at the movies with their Moms.

The movie itself was great.  I loved the book so much that I was worried the movie wouldn't be any good but it stayed very true to the book and I liked it a lot.

Let's see……..what else?

I pulled a muscle in my calf almost a month ago and it is still really bothering me.  Every time I think it is better and I can resume exercising, I re-injure it and am stuck back on the couch.  It is driving me crazy.  I had finally gotten back into walking again, only to be sidelined by this.  It is so disappointing.

After much consideration I have decided to start actively looking for another  job. 

While I have a steady job at the place I am now, and I love the girls I work with, I feel it's time to move on.  I will miss everything about working there except for my boss.  I won't miss him one bit.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Sometimes I really wish I blogged anonymously.

Anyway, I  have gone on three interviews so far. One of them they felt I would be right for the job but they didn't offer health insurance so I couldn't take it. The other one they didn't feel I was a good fit for the job, which is fine.  I'm going to be extremely picky about which jobs I feel are right for me and not take the first one that comes along.

The third interview was today and I hate to get my hopes up but boy do I want that job.  It's like my dream job.  The benefits are unheard of nowadays.

Full health coverage.  Vision, Dental, Health.  

2 weeks paid vacation.  5 days sick pay.

A beautiful, state of the art office.

A generous Christmas bonus.  They even write you a check on your birthday!  The amount depends on how long you have been there but a check on your birthday?  Seriously???  My boss didn't even wish me a Happy Birthday on my birthday(I'm not kidding.  He didn't even wish me a happy birthday people).

The person interviewing me said they valued their employees above all else and they compensate them accordingly.   

Hmmmmm………..I wonder what it would be like to work in a place like that, because I can honestly say that I never have before.

The interview went very well, I think.  He called me literally 2 hours after I applied and  he said he picked my resume out of a stack of 50 that he had received.   I'm guessing that' a good sign, no? 

They said they would call me back if they wanted me for a second interview and I am praying they call.

I'm not going to get my hopes up(riiiiggghhhttt), but man I hope they call.  I really hope they call.

I have another job interview next week, so at least I know there are options available to me.

On Friday I am off work (Three day weekend-yay! Not paid-Boo) and I have plans  to meet up with some good friends I haven't seen in a while.  It's going to be a blast.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm not going to do the traditional depressing Mother's Day post this year .

Not because it doesn’t still suck, because it does. It’s just that I have already done it so many times in the past that I think people are tired of hearing about it.

Mother’s Day is hard for those of us whose Moms left too soon and who want more than anything to be Mothers ourselves but for reasons we will never understand it isn’t meant to be at this time.


Instead I am going to leave you with this beautiful piece of writing that my good friend Journeywoman wrote  It really touched me when I read it and it is something that I would have said myself if I was as eloquent with words as Journeywoman is.


My wish:


For the mothers, I wish you a happy mother’s day.

For those who have lost their mothers--I wish you comfort

For those who are hoping to become mothers--I wish you luck and speed on your journey

For those who are childless (not by choice) -- I wish you comfort and the knowledge you are not alone.

For those who are childfree by choice--You Go Girls! You made a decision to swim against the stream--go you!



I end this with a hope.

That next mother's day will have all the women who want to be mothers--as mothers.

That all mothers will hold their children tightly.

That all adult children will reconcile with their mothers if it is possible and comfortable to do so.

That all child-free women are made to feel empowered instead of ashamed.

And that the great mother of us all will grant us all peace.

"There are no great things, only small things with great love"--Mother Teresa (another woman who was never a mom!)

She is an amazing writer and sometimes I swear she is inside my head because many times I am thinking the same exact thing has written.  Thank you Journeywoman, for the beautiful writing and for being my friend.



If you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.



If it a hard day for you, please know that I understand and I'm sorry.  My plan this year is to stay in bed and pull the covers over my head until it is over.  Joe is downloading a bunch of movies for me to watch so I don't get too bored.  I don't know it that is a healthy coping mechanism, but it has worked in the past.

There has been a lot of hoopla in the media about mental illness lately.

I suffer from chronic depression. I make no secret of that.

Depression is a form of mental illness.

That's exactly what it is though. An illness. Except it is an illness of the brain instead of the body, like diabetes or kidney disease or heart disease, or……..any other physical ailment of the body.

Lately a lot of famous actors have been coming out admitting they are suffering from varying degrees of mental illness(well, not all of them admit it, but it's pretty obvious).

One of the episodes of the t.v. show Glee touched on it too. The last 15 minutes of that show where the therapist was talking had me crying openly. (The whole episode was one of my favorites ever)

If you didn't see it, in short there was a scene where one of the characters (the guidance counselor) has OCD and she goes to see a therapist about it.

The therapist explains that there is such a huge stigma when it come to mental illness in this country (This is SO true).

The character on the show didn't want to take medication and was saying that her disease was just a part of her, it was "just who she is supposed to be."

The counselor replied with: "If a student came to you with Diabetes, would you give them insulin, or would you tell them “This is just how you are supposed to be?" The answer of course, is "No". You would give them the medication they needed to manage their disease.

Yet often in this country if people seek treatment for mental illness, they are labeled as "crazy" or a "freak".

It makes my blood boil.

I was so glad to see a hugely popular show like Glee deal with such a sensitive issue.

China is now going to start requiring psych evaluations for anyone who applies (or has applied) to their program who has a history with depression, or who has taken anti-depressants in the past.

I understand why they might feel the need to start doing that, given some of the tragedies that have befallen some children who were adopted from China over the last few years. However, the number of those cases is minuscule compared to non-adoptive parents. Do you know how many non-adoptive parents abuse, injure, and even kill their children on a yearly basis? Many, many more than adoptive ones.

Where is the psych evaluations for them?

But it's China who is allowing their children to be adopted so they can do what they want I suppose.

What I'm afraid of is that people who are smart, and good, and loving, people who would make wonderful parents will be turned down because of their mental illness.

That simply isn't right.



Mental illness can be treated and managed with medications and behavioral health therapy.

Being diagnosed with a mental illness doesn't make you crazy. It doesn't make you a freak. It makes you a human being suffering from an illness.

Just like me.

Depression is not who I am.  It is something that I struggle with on a daily basis.  But it doesn't define me.  I am so much more than an illness.

P.S. I have already had a pysch evaluation. I was declared perfectly sane.    :)




A year ago today I was going through a very trying time. I had some online friends who were there for me.  No judgements.  Just love and support.  If you have any idea what I am talking about here, then you are one of them.  I just wanted to say thank you.  You'll never know how much that support means to me.  A million times, thank you.



I will probably take this post down soon.  Even I have a hard time dealing with that stigma at times.

Wordless Wednesday

I woke up on Sunday to find this on the side of my bed.  I guess Gizmo and her Ducky must have had a disagreement during the night.  Poor Ducky.



P.S.  I don't know why my carpet looks so dirty in this picture.  This was in the bedroom, where my carpet is the least dirty, plus Joe just cleaned it.  That really bothers me but I couldn't get it to look any better when I edited it.


Day 29 of Spring Fling.  Only one more day baby!

This Could Only Happen to Me.............

This would only happen to me……..




Last Saturday night Joe had made plans to go spend some time with his brother. He was going to have the car and I was going to spend some alone time at home watching movies. I was actually looking forward to it because I almost never get to be alone in our apartment since Joe is always home (being unemployed and all). And I mean Al. Ways. Home. I mean, I love the man but sometimes you just need some space!

So I was looking forward to spending some time alone.

Around 7:00 I decided to go on my daily walk. I have been really good about walking every day and I thought about skipping it but I always feel better afterwards so I decided to go.

I don't normally take my dog on my walks. I walk for about an hour and it is too much for her. Plus, she is a complete and total spaz out in public and I spend most of my walk coaxing her past people and other dogs and big green scary electrical boxes that seem to be on every corner where I live.

So I usually walk alone. Well on Saturday since I was going to be walking alone and Joe wouldn't be home waiting for me I decided it would be better to take her with me.

I was already carrying my water bottle, and my IPhone which I use as an Ipod, and now her leash so I decided to tie the key to the house onto the leash with a disposable poop bag. Genius, right? Yeah. Not so much.

So we set out on our walk.

My usual walk is about 3 miles long and it takes me about an hour (which is not that great but I lost all of that fitness I had last year when I was walking up to 5 miles a day and I am trying to get it back).

The first 30 minutes of my walk is at an incline. Not exactly a hill per say, but definitely an incline. I am usually sweating and slightly(ha!) out of breath by the time I reach the halfway point and start back home.

So I reach the halfway point, which is our local supermarket and I am starting my way back home. Gizmo has been a pain in the ass the entire walk. There were a lot of people out on Saturday night and she was skittish and pulling on the leash the entire time. I had pretty much had it by the time I hit the half way point.

On the way back I walk on a busy street. I feel safer that way walking alone, than on one of the quieter side streets. Gizmo was terrified of everything we encountered on our way back and I was having to keep her on a pretty tight leash on my right side (the street side).

I get 1/4 of the way home (3/4 of the way through my walk) and I realize the house key has fallen off the leash. Craaaaaap.

I turn around to see if I can see it anywhere along the route. Nope. I am going to have to turn around and backtrack. There may have been some choice words uttered, directed at Gizmo for being such a spaz and causing me to jerk the leash, making the key fall off. See how I blame my own stupidity on a tiny little defenseless dog? Nice.

As I start walking back the way I came (uphill again-Argh), Gizmo spazzes out over another green electrical box and starts to pull on the leash harder. We have one of those retractable leashes and I had it clipped very short. Well the locking mechanism must have failed because the next thing I know the leash has let go and she is running into the middle of a very busy street. Right into the path of an oncoming car.

It was like in slow motion. I screamed Gizmoooooooo…………..Nooooooooooo! At the same time I stepped off the curb and grabbed the extension part of the leash, yanking her back to safety just in the nick of time. I'm pretty sure she saw her little life flash before her eyes.

But as I go to step back up onto the curb…………Owwwwwww…………pain in my lower right calf. So bad I had to sit down on the curb (on the side of a very busy road). Turns out I had pulled a muscle in my calf saving Gizmo's life.

Oh my word the pain. So I'm sitting on the side of the road, in tears, with my spaz of a dog wondering what the heck I am going to do now. Oh did I mention I had no money and no cell phone to call anyone to come rescue me? Like I said before, I am a genius.

Joe isn't due home for another hour and a half so I know I had to find the key to the house. I start limping back the way I came scouring the sidewalk and bushes for the key. Luckily I found it half a block from where I was, laying in the middle of the sidewalk, although it seemed like much farther because of the limping. So now I have a decision to make. Continue on the way I was going and loop back around the way I came (much of which was uphill), or backtrack and continue on my original route back home.

I decided to backtrack again and go with my original route because I just wasn't sure I could deal with the incline on a bum leg. So I start limping back the way I already

walked for the third time (once the first time, twice on the way back to look for the key, a third time to make my way home).

It takes me about an hour to limp my way home, putting my walk at about 2 hours and 20 minutes total, including the backtracking.

And that was my Saturday night.

Welcome to my life.

And now I have a bum leg and I can't go on my nightly walks at all until it heals. Hmph.

I did learn some valuable lessons though.

#1. My dog needs some serious training.

#2. Never go on a a walk without A). a cell phone and B). Some money.


Spring Fling Day 28.  I can't believe I am almost finished (and that I did it!)

Recipe of the Week

************I missed posting yesterday so I am going to change this to Day 27 and pretend that yesterday didn't happen.  I was offline all day and had nothing to post anyway.*************



Chicken Fried Rice with Broccoli

1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 onion

1 1/2 pounds cooked, cubed chicken meat

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 large carrots, diced

3/4 peas

(I use frozen carrots and peas mixture.  For a fresher alternative you could use fresh.  I'm all about the easy here though)

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

6 Cups cold, cooked rice

2 eggs, scrambled

1/3 C soy sauce

The rice has to be cold for it to fry properly.  I have seen recipes where it actually calls for rice that is several days old, but I never do this.  I have Joe cook it earlier in the day and put it in the fridge and it turns out fine.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and saute until soft, then add chicken and 2 tablespoons soy sauce and stir fry for 6 minutes.

Add sesame oil and stir in carrots, pea pods and green bell pepper and stir fry another 5 minutes. Remove vegetables and chicken from pan and set aside.

Add rice to pan and fry for several minutes on both sides.

In another pan, stir fry broccoli on high heat with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce (if using frozen broccoli, cook according to package directions and add in to rice mixture at the end).

Finally, stir in scrambled eggs and 1/3 C soy sauce, heat through and serve hot.

It is soooo good.  One of our favorites!

Our looks just like this, but with Broccoli.   I couldn't find my camera to take a picture of ours and I couldn't find a picture on Google that had broccoli in it)

This is Spring Fing Day 27.  Oh yeah baby, I can see the finish line.  :)