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My Grandma
I am a very fortunate person, in that I still have both of my Grandmothers. I don’t know a lot of 40 year olds who can say that, and I suspect that most of those that do, count themselves as lucky as well. My Grandma Wells is the one I told you about last month, she of the cole slaw and turning 90 and all. She is my father’s mother. The beautiful woman in this picture is my Grandma Ward, who is my mother’s mother. This picture was taken at the time of her marriage, when she was only 18 years old. My Grandma Ward is much in my thoughts…
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What’s in a Name?
Over at Gina’s blog yesterday, she asked this question: “For what Latin number is October named?” Well, I knew the answer, but not quickly enough to win any points on her ongoing trivia game. Dang. It got me to thinking about the names of the months, though, and how interesting the first 8 are, and then how…boring…the last 4 are. Interested? I found this on Encyclopedia Mythica. Tell me that naming a month after its place on the calendar (like October, for the 8th month) is as interesting as March being named for a Roman god, Mars. I won’t believe you. January Named after the Roman god of beginnings and…
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Sunday Cooking
I had a request in the comments from yesterday’s post for Indian recipes. I don’t cook much Indian food, so I’m not much help. However, my mother-in-law recently gave me a recipe for yummy eggplant. She doesn’t cook from a cookbook, doesn’t measure, so you’ll have to just figure it out. It’s not hard, and very yummy. Bolange* 1 globe eggplant, whole 2 or 3 cloves garlic, sliced 2 or 3 tomatoes, whole 1/2 small onion salt and pepper Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Poke holes in the eggplant, insert garlic slices into holes. Place eggplant and tomatoes on a baking sheet. Roast in 350 degree oven until eggplant gets…
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Happy Diwali
  Today is Diwali, the Indian ‘Festival of Lights’. We will celebrate by going to Ted’s parents’ house, lighting lights to welcome the gods and blessings, and then we’ll have a nice meal. If you’re craving Indian food today, maybe this is why. ;) Happy Diwali!
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Madonner (That’s Madonna with a cockney accent, if you’re confused…)
I don’t have much today. I went and gave my presentation last night, which went OK, but I was nervous all day, so it sucked my energy dry. I received a phone call that my poor Grandma had fallen and hurt herself (she’s going to be OK, no broken bones, but still, she fell pretty darned hard), which was very upsetting because I love her to pieces, and that kind of took what energy I might have had left. And it’s only Friday, not Saturday, so I have a bunch of work to do today, blah blah blah. SO, I’m going to post today, because you know, the world would…
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Thirteen Thursday Tidbits
1. I had a dream the other night that I died. The good news is that there is an afterlife, and everyone I know and love was there. The bad news is that apparently we still have to work, pay bills, and buy groceries. WTF? 2. Maya and I have been fighting lately about her getting out of bed in the morning. Meaning, I go in and try to wake her up with kisses, then words, and finally I give up and yell. Don’t tell me, because I know, she should use her alarm clock. She turns it off and goes back to sleep. It takes her about 1/2 hour…
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Parenting Landmines
The other day I wrote a post about Maya saying she hated her face. She has since read the post, and told me that she doesn’t USUALLY hate her face, she really only hated her face that day because it had mosquito bites on it, and they were ugly. That’s a relief, and really, who wants to walk around with mosquito bites on their face? Thinking about all of this brought up another issue to me….the issue of our intentions vs. their effects. How we try our best to be supportive, loving, encouraging parents, and sometimes, we just can’t quite get it right. Sometimes I think that’s because the advice…
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Halloween Candy
I was at the grocery store the other day, and passed by the piles and piles of fun sized candy, ready to be bought a bit too early, brought home and eaten, and for the eaters of said candy to come back and buy some more. I was thinking about how nice a tiny little Baby Ruth would taste, or maybe an Almond Joy. I’m looking forward to after Halloween, when our ‘candy cow’ is full of yummy candy. Most of it will be from Maya’s trick or treating, and some will be the leftovers from our failure to get anyone to come this far back into a little condo…
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Self Esteem
[youtube]MFPGa0pKyTg[/youtube] Apropos of my post the other day, my mom sent me this for Maya. Pretty cool, huh?
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Weekend…
I wish all weekends could be three day weekends. More specifically, I wish this had been a three day weekend. No worries, though, because we had a lovely time, and got in some touristy stuff, some shopping, and some loafing. 🙂 We started out with Friday night…Ted and LaLuna made a lovely hamburger dinner, which we enjoyed at S’s house, while we watched Battlestar Galactica. Lovely. We had a nice time, and S opened a wonderful bottle of red wine for us to enjoy. After we got home, Maya went to bed, and Ted and I watched Lost, which we had taped on Wednesday. Saturday, I woke up with a…
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Looking Good
LaLuna has two wonderful daughters, Big Sis and Chee. In so many families, each person has a role, i.e., “The pretty one”, “The smart one”, “The funny one”…in this case, they are both pretty, smart, talented, and funny, so she’s obviously doing something right. Chee has always been interested in fashion…when she was little, she used to like to talk to me about my clothes…”Auntie J, I like your shoes…” that kind of thing. She used to like showing people her newest outfit, and she would come out and say, “This is how I look.” Just matter of fact, satisfied and happy with her appearance. I wish that confidence could…
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Thirteen Thoughts
My brain is scattered today, like the birds screaming outside of my window…a big raucous mess that occasionally gels and quiets down, and then start screeching again. Not sure what’s up with them, or with me, but this is the best I can do today. Thirteen Random Thoughts: 1. I’ve decided to try life without Diet Coke (not all at once…no need to evacuate the region). I know, I already cut back on the wine consumption (not giving it up, just cutting back). I think I was out of whack with how much I was consuming of both of these things anyway. BUT, don’t worry. I won’t be giving up…
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My Wise Child
I’m sad, because I lost one of my favorite earrings the other day. They were little gold hoops, but with a delicate pattern etched into the gold. My bestest friend, Rosemary, gave them to me a few years ago. I’ve worn them pretty much every day. They had a little click attachment on the back. Well, on Sunday, I was wearing them, and I lay down to take a nap. I forgot to take off my earring when I did so. When I woke up, we went to the shops to get a few tops for our growing girl. We walked all over Old Navy and the mall. I came…
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Crap
Does this mean I have to give up my diet coke addiction? I have a lot of the risk factors for osteoporosis…but on the other hand, I don’t want to turn into one of those people that overreact every time a medical report comes out warning of the dangers of this or that. So if a report says don’t eat butter, I look at the evidence, and try to decide whether or not I’ll eat butter. Generally, my motto is moderation in all things, and you’re fine. But I don’t drink diet coke in moderation. I drink 4 or 5 diet cokes a day. It clears my head and gets…
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When You Lay Down With Dogs….
…you wake up with fleas. Again and again in U.S. foreign policy (and world history, to be fair), this idiom has proven itself to be true. When I was an International Relations major at San Francisco State in the late 80s, the focus was on Central America and our involvement there. Now, the focus is on the Middle East. Watching “Frontline” on PBS last night, the focus was on the Taliban, and the support that they have received by our ally, Pakistan. Watching the fanaticism and rage that is held by these people, it occurs to me that the history of our involvement in this region has been a disaster…