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My Aunt Colleen
Today would have been my Aunt Colleen’s 55th birthday, had she lived. She died of an unexpected brain aneurysm at the age of 43. This picture is her High School graduation photo, circa 1970. I’ve been trying to decide what to write about my aunt, who left us far too soon. I remember babysitting for her when I was young, dancing to “Abby Road” with her young daughters, Jenny and Kristy. Aunt Colleen bought me my first pair of shoes, when she was 13 years old. When I was 11, and let a rat come and make a nest at the back of my head (figuratively, not literally), she patiently…
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Playing Hooky…
I’m not a big believer in playing hooky…mostly I try to keep Maya in school on school days, and do our vacationing on vacation days. If we end up going on a vacation to visit family during the school year, the school gives Maya an ‘Independent Study’ assignment, and she works on that while we’re gone. The reason for my strictness on this has nothing, or very little, to do with my Puritan ancestors and their work ethics, and more to do with money. I was on the school board at Maya’s school, and I know how much each absence costs the school. If kids are sick, or out for…
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Does Size Matter?
Magazine covers like this one make me angry. See how Kate Winslet is talking about how she doesn’t worry about weight anymore? At the same time, see how the biggest word on the cover is DIET? Do you think Kate would approve? I don’t. I think she would be resigned to it, and know that women’s magazines generally have diet articles and how to make a cake articles and so on. I glanced at the interview with the divine Ms. Winslet (otherwise known as Autumn’s future step-mom), and she talks about eating, not dieting, being healthy, having more important things to think about than numbers on a scale, etc. I…
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Wordless Wednesday – False Advertising
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What to do with your leftover chili…
This is a truly yummy recipe. Yes, you have to make the sauce yourself. If you’re not willing to do so, go to your local grocery store and buy a can of the green enchilada sauce. But if you’re going to do that, why not just open a can of chili, too? The Greens Black Bean Chili deserves the homemade sauce. And it’s pretty easy, really. BLACK BEAN ENCHILADAS WITH TOMATILLO SAUCE 1. Make the Tomatillo Sauce 1. pound fresh tomatillos 1/2 small red onion, very finely diced 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 2 serrano or other hot green chilis, seeded and finely chopped (I use 1 jalepeno…easier to find)…
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I Heart Mexican Food…
I’ll get this right out there, I love Mexican food. It’s not like we eat it all of the time or anything, but I like to make soft shell chicken tacos, crunchy tacos, enchiladas, taco salad, burritos, fajitas, and chili. I like to eat in Mexican restaurants, be they authentic like the place in Stockton where you would NEVER dream of going at night, because you might get killed (even though it’s only a few blocks from the police station), or be they crap Mexican food like Taco Hell. (That’s what we used to call it, but hey, I’m not above running for the border now and again.) I love…
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Happy Birthday Stevie Boy!
Today is Py’s brother’s birthday, and I want to wish him a very Happy Birthday. 🙂 When Py and I were married, part of the ceremony was a vow taken by Steve, that should anything ever happen to Py, Steve would be there for me, that he would take care of me. Also, if the family should ever think ill of me, if there should be a fight or a disagreement within the family, he would take my side until I was proven guilty. Don’t you all wish you had someone like that in your in-law’s family? Someone who is always there for you, someone who has vowed to be…
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This One’s for the Local Folks…
Though you may have seen something similar with towns in your area in place of the towns around here…I received this as an email from someone at Maya’s school…kinda funny… NEW BARBIES FOR THE EAST BAY! Mattel recently announced the release of the improved limited-edition Barbie dolls for the East Bay market: “Walnut Creek Barbie” This princess Barbie is sold only at the Broadway Plaza Mall. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version. “Pleasant Hill Barbie”…
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Tell My Horse
The third book in my “Winter Classics Challenge” was Tell My Horse – Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica, by Zora Neale Hurston. I picked this book up because I enjoyed reading, Their Eyes Were Watching God several years ago. Because that book was a novel, I (wrongly) assumed that this was as well. Rather, it is a travelogue delving into the world of superstition and voodoo. Ms. Hurston traveled to Jamaica and Haiti herself in order to write this book, which is detailed in three parts. The first part is about life in Jamaica, and talks a lot about the culture, and the superstitions revolving around the ‘duppy’,…
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Thirteen Reasons my Daughter is Cute…
 I keep a little journal for Maya, and in it, I’ve been writing off and on since she was little…memories of times we have together, updates, cute things, etc. I looked at it the other night and I realized it’s been a LONG time since I wrote in it. Like maybe a couple of years, except without the maybe.  I was looking back, and I found some very cute things that Maya said or did when she was very small…she still says and does very cute things, but since she’s older now, she might not appreciate me sharing them now. 🙂 So, 13 cute things Maya said or did when she…
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Wordless Wednesday
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Are You a Re-Reader?
Are there books that you’ve read so many times, you can open them to any page, randomly, and know exactly where you are in the narrative? I am definitely a re-reader, though as I write this, I’m realizing that the books I’ve read and re-read so many times are all books I had read by middle school. Sometimes, I’m just sitting somewhere, minding my own business, and one of these books will call out to me. I wonder, is it the writing itself, or the simplicity of the story, that makes it so easy for me to return, again and again? What is so comforting about these books, that is…
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3 Day Weekend…
It’s Monday afternoon, the weekend is almost over…why can’t every weekend be a three-day-er, I ask? Friday was plumbing and the good news that said plumbing and wall destruction will be paid by the homeowners association. LOVELY! Knew there had to be some advantage to living in a condo… Saturday was a 2-hour drive to Salinas, a chance to get to know my step-mom’s family a little better at her mom’s funeral service. The unexpected cozy feeling in my tummy when she introduced me, not as her step daughter, nor as Michael’s daughter, but just as, “My daughter”. These people were all her family, so they knew that she wasn’t…
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Good News/Bad News
Good News: Though Maya has been sick pretty much since last Saturday evening, she was feeling well enough yesterday to go on a field trip with her class to the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City, about 1.5 hours from here. Bad News: Taking her was a tactical error on my part, because last night she was completely wiped out, and I’m going to keep her home again today to prevent a total relapse. That makes three days of school she’s missed this week. Good News: It looks like we may be able to swing a slightly larger overpriced piece of California Real Estate than we currently have, a townhome…
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Thursday Quiz
OK, because I am driving on a fieldtrip today, and don’t have much time, here you go…. a quiz… What, in your opinion, is the dumbest movie EVER, and I’m mostly hoping for detailed answers to WHY, in option D. A. Cocktail – my reasoning, because any film with a justification for infidelity like “when a man dares you, you can’t say no” (or whatever the actual quote is) is a DUMB film. B. Showgirls – I’ve never actually SEEN this one, but I’ve heard it’s TERRIBLE…almost, “So bad, it’s good”. C. Boxing Helena – Julian Sands was actually pretty groovy in “A Room With A View”, but in this film…