A- January 27, 2008

My 12 year-old grandson spent last weekend with us. His science project was due Monday and he needed help. Who can, at a moment’s notice, help him carry out such massive undertaking?

Not his mom and sister who were leaving for San Diego the next day, Saturday, for one of his sister’s cheerleading competitions and will not be back until late Sunday night.  There will be no chance getting the project done in time according to my daughter, his mom; not his Dad since he was working the weekend and may be too tired to help him at all; not his aunties and uncles since they had made plans for the weekend already; not Foofee, Bails and Pips. They had made plans to finish all three bags of greenies and nothing was going to stop them.

Guess who’s left? 

We started on his science project just before noon Saturday. My grandson’s project involved determining which popcorn brand will yield the least and most amount of unpopped kernels. His hypothesis named Orville Redenbacher popcorn brand to come out at the top of the popcorn chain with the least amount of unpopped kernels.

After twelve 1/3 cups of unpopped kernels and twelve teaspoons of canola oil into a presto popper that sat cooking in the microwave for three minutes twelve times over, my grandson’s hypothesis proved wrong. Forget that Orville is gourmet and expensive. It did not live up to my grandson’s high expectations and hypothesis. Jolly Time won the unpopping popularity with the least amount of unpopped kernels while Henry’s brand came out last with the most amount of unpopped kernels. 

My grandson went home with computer printouts and photos of the experiment. He was to put them all together on a white demo board and submit it Monday morning.

After he left there were 3 big bowls and one stock pot of popcorn, not counting the popcorn on the kitchen counter and kitchen floor, that had to be dealt with. The neighborhood kids were outside playing on the street and an idea popped in my head. Popcorn for everyone! Come and get them!

It’s been a week since. Last night, my husband and I went out to dinner with MD, her husband, YD, my OS and our grandson. On the way home after dinner my grandson casually mentioned that he got an A- on the science project. Well, did we really expect anything less?

I’m ready to take on another experiment and gloat for another A-. Just call.

“Madam, there’s no such thing as a tough child – if you parboil them first for seven hours, they always come out tender.” ~ W.C.Fields 

Her Inspiration? January 13, 2008

Me.

My OS told me this just the other day. I didn’t even have to twist her arm or any part of her anatomy for that matter.  She simply said it and by the look on her face, she truly meant it. How else could it be?

How did it come about? Well…..

My OS never calls before eleven in the morning unless she wants her call to go on deaf ears. Or sleepy head. Or someone awake and just listening to the answering machine pick up the call.  Or all of the above. It has been so cold lately it’s hard to get up any earlier than 11 o’clock. And then there’s Foofee. She is just as bad when it comes to getting up in the morning. 

So it was close to noon and we were on the phone engaged in a conversation that was pretty much about nothing but between sisters was time spent well! For that day we talked about what we’re having for lunch, about the visiting executive at her work from UK, about Brit losing her kids, about the status of her packing for the move to the new apartment, world peace, end to hunger, about school starting next week, my right hand hurting, about her registering so she can vote for Hillary, about her going to Costco and can she get me some balsamic vinegar and cherries.  

When OS showed up at the house later in the evening she was holding a brown box filled with a bottle of balsamic vinegar, a plastic container full of cherries, another plastic container with rotisserie chicken, package of salad , a tub of spinach dip, bag of sourdough bread, biscotti jar and beautiful tulips for the altar. (Going to Costco is like child’s play. You want everything you see. You rationalize. You tell yourself that whatever it is you want might not be there the next time you have the chance to go back, so… what to do? You leave the store after purchasing everything that was not on your list.

During dinner, we started to talk about her move to the new apartment. She said she was practically done packing. There were some small things left to pack. I offered to help her finish packing.

Then she said the magic words.

She looked me in the eye and gave me the sweetest smile, her eyes wide and beaming. She said that she was afraid for my hand to start hurting again. She wants me to be present during the move to simply be her inspiration. Just like that.  No arm twisting. No bribing. No putting words in her mouth. I smiled back, my eyes wide and beaming as well. 

I got up and went to the cupboard to get two Chai tea bags. We’re celibrating. Time to brew some tea and have some chocolate biscotti for sweet inspiration.

“Sisters are for sharing laughter and wiping tears.” – Author unknown  

Maybe I Should Sign Up For Yoga Again January 7, 2008

There it was! The last 10 seconds of 2007………… With a glass of apple cider in hand I counted along…10, 9, sip, 7, 6, sip, 4, sip, sip, 1…  Happy New Year!!!!!!.

Happy 2008!  Happy leap year to that! Another 6 months of dating every check with 2007…or at your worst, the entire year.  Then by the time you get the hang of 2008, it’s 2009! It’s a vicious cycle, but, who’s complaining, really?

Between my husband, my children, MILs, my grandchildren and my OS we have, as of last year, accumulated a total of 377 birthday years! We’re counting…. 

Between the doggies - Foofee, Pips and Booboo - they have 12 years altogether …. or 84 bark years …woof!

MD married her sweetheart. The memorable day was celebrated in pinks and browns. Gerberas and cosmos. Subtle sprays and topiaries. Everything else was like falling head over heels in love. Like icing to a cake, they also moved in to their new condo.  In the summer they announced they were pregnant. We were so excited for them and looked forward to the day. However, our little AM lived only for a short time. I planted some pink and lilac flowers in her memory. She will live in our hearts forever.   

YD announced her company was laying-off people and she might lose her job – her first real job, she called it. Having gone through one myself, I was worried how she will take it.  Well, not bad, it turned out. Armed with her hard-earned severance pay, she booked a 50-day tour of Europe with a renowned tour company! Way to go, Fally! Not long after, in about 2-3 months she announced she was starting on another job. It was a job she enjoyed doing but which did not last very long. Getting laid off for a second time didn’t bother her she said. I thought she was going to tell me she was leaving for Greece that time. Oooo-pah!

OD threw a party for her hubby at their house, turning her garage into a “party place” complete with round tables, bar stools, buffet and candy tables and an array of delicious dishes and cold drinks. Knowing what they have gone through the year before, it was indeed a celebration of life! 

For Christmas 2006 gift we received an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii from OS, MD, MDH and Pips. When it came to actually booking our flight we were presented with a choice. Aloha? Ciao? Last spring MH and I arrived in Rome where we were met by our OS and his GF at the Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino. On a day trip to the “City of Water”, Venice, we saw our YD at a McDonald’s of all places! YD said that when she entered the restaurant she heard a familiar voice. She looked back to find out. Well, …. yea-aaah! It’s Mama! That’s amore!

I turned 51 this year. With the family in tow, we went to Salo-Salo where all the tables are never long enough and never wide enough to hold all the big platters of food you order! The only consolation is how every dish is so delicious all the time!

I went back to school in the fall to earn a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. …..Bite me! Although I  must confess the laboratory segment triggers off the worst of my allergies. What to do? 

When YD turned 26, we all made plans to go to Vegas. However, by the time the weekend came, the rest of us could no longer make it because of the uncertainties of the ongoing canyon fires in the county we live in. YD and her friends went by themselves to Vegas instead. I asked her to keep her eyes open for Barry. Unfortunately, there were no Barry sightings. Darn!! 

The biggest surprise of the year was a surprise party for MDH for his 30th birthday. Boy, was he surrrrrrrrrr-prisssed! Nothing can be more surprising than getting surprised on your surprise birthday party! Yeah!

Of course there was the annual July 4th blast at the house which gets funner, happier and wilder every year. There is always much too much food, more than enough to feed an entire nation with still some left to be able to pack ”to go” bags for the entire clan. 

Our family’s Christmas Eve dinner was, like all years past, magnificently delicious to the last bite. Opening gifts was a riot to the nth. Always!

What else? Well, I took up yoga. I still remember the teacher asking us towards the end of the first class to relax our minds and think of that one thing that makes us very happy and to “inhale” that thought inside our bodies. Well, the first thing that came to mind was Foofee. Sitting inside the car on the drive home triggered some sort of guilt in me because after all there’s my husband, my children, grandchildren to think of first! Getting home, I mentioned to Foofee how my sense of loyalty was put to a test. She looked me in the face with a “get over it” look.  

From Foofee and I, happy new year! She wants me to sign up for another yoga class this year, make amends and start thinking of others!

“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.”  ~Author Unknown