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Naughty Chair?
One of my occasional guilty pleasures is watching “The Supernanny“. I like to watch it for a couple of reasons…first, I like to feel superior to these people, because MY CHILD has never behaved in these ways, and really, we would never allow it. Second, I like to see how QUICKLY effective methods of discipline can diffuse a situation, how good communication between caregivers can help, and how the family can very quickly go from one based in hell, to one that you might actually consider functional. She does some great work, and her website actually has some pretty good advice. Some crap, too, though, so you have to weed…
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Wordless Wednesday – Kookaburra’s home…
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3 Things…
1st, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, Happy Birthday to La Luna! Happy Happy Joy Joy, eat some bacon, and some cake, but please, don’t make it bacon cake! (unless that floats your boat, one never knows…) Â La Luna is a wonderful sister to me, (my sister-in-law if you want to get technical) always there, always ready with a helping hand or to walk our doggy or loan me vanilla extract…always with a kind word if I need it, ready to help out. Thank you La Luna, for being you, and keep it up! Happy Birthday. 🙂 2nd, excitingly, we’re getting our new STOVE this morning! I’ll admit, I’m going to miss our…
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A Meme for Monday
I saw this meme at my mom’s blog, Maya’s Granny. You’re tagged if you read it, though of course, you can choose to play or not. I’m in, nice for a Monday, right? BOOKS I’VE READ MEME *Look at the list of books below. *Bold the ones you’ve read. *Italicize the ones you want to read. *leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. *If you are reading this, tag you’re it. 1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) 2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) 4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) 5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King…
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…
Friday night, we watched “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid“. This is a classic in American Film, everyone loves it, best movie ever, blah blah blah. Want my review? Snore. The writing was excellent, actually, and hints at the genius that is William Goldman, he of “The Princess Bride” fame. The acting was great, the actors were all great to look at. Should have been good. But really, what I got from it was that these guys are thieves, who have no problem shooting everything and everyone up to get what they want, which is money. They’re criminals, and we’re supposed to sympathize with them because they are handsome and…
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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…