-
Anatomy of a Wedding Shower
It seems that a certain Miss Cherry is getting married in a few short weeks, and as her de facto maid of honor type person, I decided to have a wedding shower for her today. Yay! So, let’s see, what do we need… Guests…check! We’ve invited family and friends to come and take it easy, have some snacks and drinks, get to know each other, and shower her with lovely gifts. Gifts….check! Including several big and heavy ones sent by far away family who couldn’t be here, and I’ve been dying to tell her that they’re here, but I would prefer for her to be surprised… Food…check! It’s an afternoon…
-
Spending $$$
Ms. Mamma had a post the other day, in which she was sporting some stylin’ new shades. She mentioned that she almost didn’t buy them, because they were expensive, and she’s not rich. Immediately, my mind went to a ploop type graph, in which I show WHY I don’t buy expensive sunglasses. As you can see, I have tried a couple of times to own cool, sexy sunglasses, but it’s really not a good idea. I said as much to Ms. Mamma, and she replied that she is gifted in such a way that when she buys sunglasses, she keeps them as long as she wants to, unless her mom…
-
Green and Black Olive Chicken
If you’re the type of cook who doesn’t like to cook, doesn’t really know HOW to cook, I’ve got an easy-peasy recipe for you today. This is the kind of recipe that you open a jar, pour it out, pop in the oven, and dinner’s ready. You can sit down with a glass of wine, and watch Take Home Chef, or whatever, while you wait…So, here goes. Green and Black Olive Chicken 2 – 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 jar Barilla brand Green and Black Olive Sauce Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking dish with foil (makes clean up easier, and we’re going for easy, right?). Wash and…
-
Blog Game…
I popped on over to The Hidden Side of a Leaf yesterday morning, and found she has a new blogroll game you might want to try out. It’s to get us all reading outside of our usual group of blogs, and see if there’s something new out there you’d be interested in. I know, many of us only have room for so many blogs on our blogroll (assuming we read them all, like I do, almost every day), but once in awhile it’s fun to check out something different. If you’re interested, here are her rules: a. pick someone from one of my 3 blogrolls. (J’s note…not MY blogroll, hers!)…
-
Half of a Yellow Sun
Last night, I finished the second book in my Chunkster Challenge, Half of a Yellow Sun, in which the author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the story of the small, short lived nation of Biafra. Biafra tried to seperate itself from Nigeria in a horrible civil war, from 1967 – 1970. Nigeria received support from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, while Biafra was supported covertly by France, Rhodesia and South Africa. While Nigeria certainly had military superiority, they mainly won victory by shutting off borders and shooting down relief planes, causing a famine that killed over a million people. It was from the horrors of Biafra that the humanitarian…
-
Rethinking the Draft
Memorial Day came about as a day to stop and honor those who died in service to their country, following the Civil War. On Friday, I listened to an interesting radio program (which I already mentioned on Saturday), which discussed the meanings of Memorial Day, and how the bulk of this war is being carried by the military, and the rest of us are pretty much free to go about our business, hopefully spending plenty of money at the mall, maybe even buying a new car or two, so that we can keep the economy strong, and get that Dow Jones up higher and higher. There is such a huge…
-
Misc. Thoughts…
(I found this odd apple image at http://princev.front.ru) Maya’s come home from Science Camp. It is SO nice to see her…to hug her and hear her stories. They took hikes, sang songs, went to the ocean, checked out tidepools, saw tons of stars, and Maya won the title of “Hard Core” by eating an entire apple, stem, seeds, and all. Atta girl. Watched “The Queen” the other day. It was good. It was interesting to see a bit of what maybe went on in the royal family at that time. I came away with a feeling of, ‘wow, I’m glad I’m not part of THAT messed up family.’ And while…
-
Friday Poll
I’m stealing this one from Gina…she likes to do Friday Polls, and I’m jumping in. But I honestly want some advice here, which she sometimes does, sometimes doesn’t… I was talking to my mom last weekend, and she told me two interesting things that I have yet to test, and I’m not sure when I will be able… 1. A great cure for PMS? Chocolate covered potato chips. I wonder, does this work equally well for chocolate covered pretzels, or do you need the potato and deep fried fattiness of it to make it work? Because I don’t think I’ve ever SEEN chocolate covered potato chips. 2. A great cure…
-
Thirteen Movie Previews I Have Recently Seen
Maya and I went to see the new Shrek movie last Friday. My review? Yawn. I would have preferred to be at home watching a DVD of 90210 or something. Which just goes to show that everyone has their own source of stupid. Really, I’m tired of kids films. I’m glad Maya is 11, and is outgrowing most of this genre. For the most part, they’re simplistic and cloying, or sassy and full of gross-out humor. I’m tired of it, and kinda prefer films with actual dialoge and a plot. Call me crazy. While waiting for the film to start we saw 8, count them, 8 movie previews. Wow. There…
-
Earth
I finally watched Earth the other night. If you haven’t seen this film yet, it is the story of the partition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947, at the end of British rule there. The story takes place in Lahore, in the Punjab region of India, where many cultures come together. The picture above is of Lenny, the little girl who tells the story. The woman next to her is her ayah, or nurse. The men are the ayah’s admirers, and they include Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims. They are a group of friends who all get along very well, until the divisive power of partition takes them over, and…
-
Wordless Wednesday – Spring Photo Edition
-
Song of the Day – Summer of Love
The SF Chronicle is currently running a series on the Summer of Love, aka, 1967. This is the 40th anniversary of that crazy summer, just one in the hippy era at Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. When I see those words, Summer of Love, part of my mind thinks of the actual cultural reference, but then I start thinking about when I first moved to San Francisco, back in 1987. It was the 20th anniversary of the Summer of Love, and San Francisco, quite the provincial little city, always in love with itself, was all atwitter, just as it is now. I moved to a flat just a few blocks…
-
Pickney Gone…
Maya’s gone to Science Camp for the week…or, truthfully, she will have gone in a few hours, right now she’s still asleep in bed. But once I take her to school today, she’s off for a week of hiking in the woods, exploring tidepools, looking at different biomes and ecosystems…fun fun fun. I don’t know if most states/areas do Science Camp, but I gotta say, it was the BEST week of my whole elementary school education. It was the first time I was away from family for that long, which is a pretty liberating feeling. No homework or regular school stuff to do, which is also awesome. Nature, hanging out…
-
Sad tales of ears…
(See the tasteful little earrings on her ears? Not the ones in question today…) Anybody remember how Maya got her ears pierced back in August? How I struggled with the decision, because I wasn’t allowed to pierce my ears until I was 16, and here she was, 10, and I had to decide whether this was one of those things where things had changed since I was that age, or not? How we decided to pierce the ears, but only little studs, no hoops or danglies to make her look older than she is? OK, so now you’re up to date. Well, since then, her ears got infected once, so…
-
Congratulations to Big Sis!!
Today, Laluna’s eldest daughter, Big Sis, is graduating with her BA from Berkeley. We are all bursting with pride, as her hard work, dedication, and all around smartness are clearly paying off. Go, big sis, go! You rock!