Laurienna's Blog

Chick, chick, chick

2008-04-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

We have little chicks! We got them on Thursday and they'll be in the office until we finish their home in the backyard.
Why chickens?
Mark was against the goat idea hehe!
Just kidding. We have a big problem with slugs and snails. They took half of our summer vegetables in just a few days. I even resorted to poison pellets with much reluctance but it didn't seem to do much.
Someone mentionned that chickens would eat the invaders. And they give yummy eggs too. Well, they didn't have to mention it twice :). I like chickens ( my grandmothers in between them had chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits. It was a little sad to eat the rabbit you had been lovingly feeding for a few weeks. But we won't eat our chickens).
So, we got four. We love them already and they are already quite friendly with us. Unfortunatly I think one is a rooster. We might have to give him up since we don't think the neighbors would like us much if we kept him. But he is so pretty :(
Anyway, here is a pic of them. It's not too good but was taken on the second day. They have a few feathers now already. I'll take better pics in the coming days.
Cause I know you are positively dying to see them again. And again.

How embarrassing

2008-04-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Almost a month gone. Ouch. I did not realize I was gone so long. I kept saying to myself I'd write tomorrow or the next day and here we are a month later.
I guess it's time to tell why I was gone so long: I have started my studies again. That's right: I'm an apprentice to a well known Herbalist and midwife. I definitely want to be an herbalist but I'm not sure for the midwife part...we'll see!
Needless to say this is a big change in my life and my family's life. I don't want to give up the jewelry business and we are still working on redoing the website.

(On this note by the way, I'm fairly certain that there is a special circle of Hell reserved for the Microsoft people.)

(And also, beware of forward slashes. That's right, forward slashes. I won't say anymore or I'm going to start swearing)

So, in between studying and practicing, the business, the 2 children, the house, the garden and all the projects that need to be done (or that I want to do), it has just been busy. But I'm getting more organized now, and I feel confident that it is going to work.
Well, let's hope so anyway because I'd really love to get my diploma ;)

Tomorrow I'll post pics and it'll include a surprise, hehehe...

The good, the bad and the ugly. And a booger.

2008-03-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Spring break was great, we went down to Mexico and sipped margaritas at the beach all day long, ate in great restaurants and...

Ah, no, sorry that wasn't us, my mistake.

My son and I were still sick at the beginning of vacation but we still managed to dig up the entire vegetable garden and plant everything we could for the summer:
4 different kinds of zucchini, 2 kinds of eggplant, 6 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of strawberries, 2 kinds of cucumbers, 2 kinds of beans, tomatillos, peas and 11 kinds of tomatoes. Well, we like tomatoes :). It was very enjoyable to spend the beautiful days outdoors.
That was the good.

The bad.
I told my daughter that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist and I feel bad. But we never ever did the easter bunny before. The parents would hide the eggs and they knew it was us. Then they would take a turn and hide the eggs for us and on and on all day long. Then we would eat easter chocolate and that was it.
And they loved it.
But.
One of my daughter's friends called later that day to tell her that the easter bunny had brought her a ton of presents. Like a ton. And she went on and on about it.
And my daughter who had been delighted with her day suddenly was unhappy. And she came to me and Mark and her brother and the dog and the cat ( I'm pretty sure she talked about it to the hamster too) and went on and on and on about her state of misery since the easter bunny had brought nothing for her.
Of course I tried to reason with her, telling her she definitely didn't need any more toys, that she had had a great day and had eaten too much chocolate already. But no no no, that wasn't enough. So, after 40 mns of this I just told her.
So, she knows and she isn't traumatized in the least. I just hope she is going to believe in the tooth fairy and Santa a little bit longer.

The ugly.
A leak. A big one that nobody knew about because it was inside a wall, behind the desk of my son (which is also uncharted territory). Now we have to replace the walls, moldings, and part of the floor. It's going to take at least 2 weeks and my son can't even sleep in the room because there is mold to dry first and we have to spray with nasty stuff. So, he is camping in my office and I can't even access my desk, let alone sit there. We'll have to reorganize a bit. Thank god a friend of ours is a good contractor.

The booger.
My daughter decided to decorate one of the walls with easter decorations that she made. Great I said, I'll make some too. I wasn't looking to closely at what she was drawing on some because she was really quick to put them on the wall. A bit later my son arrives and looks at the decorations. He laughs and said: "why do all the eggs have faces with boogers hanging from their noses??"
I guess we won't make it in here this year.

What did she want already? Oh yeah, more toys. Over my dead body.

6

2008-03-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Candy Froggie tagged me and 5 other unfortunate bloggers. We have to divulge 6 habits. So, here I go:

1- I'm a pain in the ass for 3 whole weeks after every time change. I'll drag everybody I cross paths with in this silly "discussion" over whether we need to do a time change or not. Including at the grocery store. Nobody is safe.

2- I need to open the windows everyday for at least 20mns. The weather has no importance at all, including when sheets of water are coming in on the hardwood floors.

3- When my children complain over the fact that I'm not fair or mean or whatever I tell them the story of their birth in detail. I'm not sure they'll ever have children.

4- My original hair color is a very dark auburn. Since the age of 15 nobody has seen my real hair color because I didn't like it. Recently I decided that I'd like to let it grow back to its natural state. Except that now I have white hair and it's just not possible to leave it like that.

5- When I was little I wanted to live like Heidi and I still do. Making wildflower bouquets, sleeping in the hay and spending my day with goats in the mountains would suit me perfectly.

6- I only buy candy a few times a year but when I do I'll finish an entire big bag in one sitting, feel sick and swear I'll never do it again.

Voila! I'm sure that was fascinating. Every body's blog that I go to and they actually know it has already been tagged so whoever wants it, take it!

No Fair. Second Round.

2008-03-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Have I ever said here what kind of a patient I am when I'm sick? No? Ah. Well I'm not. A patient that is. Because see I'm never sick. My nose can be running, my throat hurt and so on and on. But I'm not sick. Nope. Deny, deny, deny is my motto. This is why I never go to the doctor except if I'm pregnant that is. Which is really silly because then, I'm actually just pregnant and not sick at all. But I guess that I feel that it's not just me anymore but another human being so I go. And I'm sure I'm quite difficult when I do go but it's their fault after all. Why do they have to make you feel like like you have some kind of disease instead of just carrying a baby. It's not really conducive to peace and happiness to pee in a hobbit size cup every month in a doctor's office bathroom when you can't even remember what your legs look like. And then it goes on your fingers and...hum? Sorry I disgress.
So, I knew I was sick of course, you can't really fail to notice a fever when it goes past 103F ( 39.4C.). But, actually I was a little sleepy and that's about it. I took fever reducing medicine and sipped my tea and continued life as usual. After 3 days of this it morphed into an mind splitting headache and neck ache. At that point I was miserable and in bed because I couldn't move anything anymore. Painkillers only took the very edge off but that's it. And then...I couldn't breathe through my nose and pain increased and that was 2 more days. At the end of that second day I'm told I looked so bad off that Mark came very close to get me to the emergency room.
And then it went away as quickly as it came on. I'm very very relieved, I wouldn't wish that thing on my worse enemy.
Or maybe like a really bad one maybe.
Did I just say that?
The only thing left is that horrible cough that hurts like you have a broken rib. But, definite improvement.
And today is the beginning of spring break. That's great. I can enjoy my 2 children all-day-long. They were at each other's throat 45 mns after coming back from school already.
I want to go to a spa.

No Fair

2008-03-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

They had a wonderful time in Yosemite. There was quite a bit of snow where they were staying and snowball fights were a favorite...and a treat for children living in Sacramento ;). They hiked for miles and saw quite a few coyotes and deer. They visited a cavern in the dark. The only person with a light was the guide who relayed info about the terrain to the person behind them who told the person behind them etc...They arrived in a chamber and listened to Native Americans stories and songs. They went on a solo hike in the snow. The nearest people were at least 15 mns behind and in front.
I wonder if they could hear you scream.
My son loved the solo hike. He said it was very peaceful.
I wouldn't know, I can barely pee in solitude and I don't remember peaceful.
I'm still a little aghast at the solo hike. You know, considering that the first thing they advise you to do when you go into these parks is to not hike by yourself. At least I don't think there are mountain lions in Yosemite but there are a lot of bears. They actually saw one at night wandering into the village, in search of food, no doubt. Considering that a certain number of people lose their lives to these animals every year I'm amazed that they do these things...without actually consulting the parents first. I understood that the form I signed was for the inevitable things that can happen when you are hiking. I did not quite understood they would actually make it dangerous on purpose. You know.
I wonder if I would have said yes if they had asked me first. Probably I would have. The risk is still small. I think. Well, maybe not. Pfffff...I thought that the older they got the easier it got...I guess not!
The only bad thing that happened is that one of the kids in my son's group was very sick all week. It turns out he had the flu and my son got it. He came down with it the day after he came back.
Of course I got it too.
The day after he got back was also the day that my daughter and my husband chose for their 2 day trip to go skiing ( it was my daughter's christmas' present).
They had a great time on the slopes, at the restaurants and at the motel.
She was starting to get a cold the day they left. She got really sick the day after they came back.
Of course I got that cold too.

So, let's sum this up, shall we?

My son goes to Yosemite for a week and has a great time.
My daughter and husband go skiing and have a great time.

I get the flu and a bad cold.

Oh, and did I mention that my husband is back skiing today while I'm still coughing my lungs up? Did I?

Ooooooooooommmmmmm

2008-02-27T18:59:00.001-08:00

This week we are only a family of 3. Well, I guess 6 with the dogs and cat. My son and his entire classroom, teacher and 10 parents are having a blast in Yosemite National Park for the whole week.

They have done several miles hike at high altitude in the snow, visited a cavern in the dark, listen to native american songs, did ice skating on frozen ponds, etc...

So everything seems wonderful and all. Except for the parents left behind who can't help but worry a little. Just a smidgeon. After all they had to sign a consent form. And what a consent form it was. Here is an excerpt:

"Environmental risks and hazards include rapidly moving, deep, or cold water, insects, snakes, and predators, including large animals; falling and rolling rock; lightning and unpredictable forces of nature, including weather which may change to extreme conditions without notice.

Travel may be by vehicle, skis, canoe, on foot, and by other means, over rugged, unpredictable, off trail terrain, which may include boulder fields, downed timber, rivers, river crossings, high mountain passes, slippery rocks, ocean tides and currants, and waves. Participant risks include falling, capsizing and drowning.

Possible injuries and illnesses include hypothermia, frostbite, high altitude illnesses, sunburn, heatstroke, dehydration, and other mild or serious conditions.

Communication and transportation are difficult. Consequently, emergency evacuations and medical care may be delayed.

Personnel may be required to make decisions under difficult circumstances, based on perceptions and analyses that may be imprecise and subject to error."

Yup. Did I mention that every year there are quite a few problems in between humans and bears? I sure hope they are still fast asleep.
Ah, and for the cherry on top, we received an e-mail from the teacher over the vacation that explained to us that a 12 year old boy had died from a fall in Yosemite the day before. He was not with the same people that our classroom was going but you know.
So, a bit worried.
A bit.

But Yosemite is incredibly beautiful, go see these pictures. It is worth it, isn't it?

Or not.

Dude

2008-02-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

We are watching the National Geographic Channel with miss A. She sees that the people talked about can see the Hollywood sign from their house.
" Man, they are so luuuuucky, they live in Hollywood."
A bit surprised Mark asks: " Why does that make them lucky?"
Miss A. " Dude, seriously, Shaggy lives there!"

Love, Love

2008-02-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

And a happy Valentine to everybody :). I like Valentine's day here better than in France where it is mostly a lover's love that is celebrated. So restrictive!
So here it is from me to you: love, love!

I think I found out why people who love Mika really really love him ( no, this blog is not turning into a Mika fan club in spite of all appearances).
Right.
Last Thursday miss A. came back from school a bit upset because some of her classmates had made fun of her. She had dared to cut her hair short. Apparently 8 years old little girls are not supposed to have short hair.
How does this relate to Mika you will ask?
I think Mika doesn't care what people look like, dress like, who they love and how. You really have 2 choices in life. You either try to fit in or you don't. But in each case the price to pay is heavy.
I think that in the case of Mika he is actually able to project his right to be different to people around him so that they feel accepted...and loved.
Ok, I'm done! Now everybody goes and give some love.
And don't eat too much candy.
She says as she is opening the chocolate box.

Ah, one more thing: videos from the concert in SF are starting to appear on youtube. Here is a very good one.

Love Today

2008-02-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

I didn't have my camera. Actually, I didn't even have my purse. The day got really messed up and we got there barely on time to hear the first part. Good thing I wasn't in charge of the tickets huh? Man, I really wish I had my camera it was an awesome show. I think Mika is crossed with a god hehehe...
I'm waiting for people to post videos about the concert. I could only get videos from the night before in LA, but the show looked very similar. Here we go for the details...

There was a girl-angel bursting out of a blue ballon, Mika appearing all in white with sparkly silver suspenders and a gold jacket, electricity going through the crowd as he is pointing at the sky, an inflatable 30 feet tall BIG GIRL, a piano that Mika played half sitting up because he couldn't stop dancing, a teasing war with his drummer as they played rythms back and forth on garbage cans, big ballons floating over the crowd, a giant squeleton hugging Mika, double D's as he called them :)( the big girls), A giant M, Mika's voice getting raw, a light and shadow show with a bad rabbit and a wolf, a giant squeleton hugging Mika, Mika lifting the crowd off their seat, the heat that nobody cared about, 100 billions confettis at least, an incredible finale with Lollipop where everybody in the show got on the stage and had a big huge party, a big burly guy in the crowd wearing pink bunny ears and a pink boa, my daughter standing on her seat singing her favorite song ( lollipop) as she is waving her glow stick, 2 men sporting matching red t-shirts saying " 2 hearts beating as one", Mika taking his shirt off and playing drums as the crowd roared, a gazillion teenage girls screaming, a 3 year old and a 60 year old dancing, my son clapping with the beat, the flowers on the stage, and oh Mika :)

I think he should be refered to as a public health service. It was difficult to go to sleep after that. I call it the Mika high...I'm still on it!
And that's good because today is Mark's birthday. I need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. And Mika.

The grand finale:

I know this one is pretty bad but it'll give a pretty good impression of a Mika concert...here he is " Billy Brown" especially for Candy

Thank you Mark, awesome present :)

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!!

2008-02-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

Guess, guess where I'm going to be tomorrow night at this hour.
San Francisco.
Huge theater.
Listening to whom??
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (insert: 16 year old fan shriek here)

MIKA!!

Gift from my husband to me and the kids for Christmas. Awesome.
My children look wary after seeing me sing and dance in the living room.
I don't know why, hehehehe.

They don't know I can be worse. Yet.

Candy, I'll try to get a lot of pics and I wish you were there :)

It's Sunday

2008-02-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Finally, it's Sunday. I've been waiting for Sunday all week long. See, I've been suffering from withdrawal because Mark has been working over time. On my computer. Well, our computer I guess. I'm the one who whined the most for it though. I actually have one in my office but even considering the level of withdrawal I was going through I can't bring myself to use it because IT IS THE LOUDEST COMPUTER IN THE WORLD. I swear it's like sitting on an aerial landing strip.
Anyway, what did I want to say already? Mmmm, working over time. That's going to go on for a while. For me too. Shoot. But a lot of good stuff is happening and getting done so we'll just have to go through that first before finding a balance.
Oh, I know what I wanted to say: have you seen Juno? If you haven't you must, it's really good. Both hilarious and sad like real life. The writing is outstanding. Here is the word I'm looking for: smart.

Well, we finally got our daughter back. She had been at a friend's house since friday. Apparently she had no intentions of coming back. Mph.
And my son had his usual group of friends over for hours.
So, basically Mark and I have been completely ignored today by our children.
Hours giving birth. Years breastfeeding and playing with babies and toddlers. Hundreds of diapers. And then, first chance they get they ditch you.
Mph again.

I can't wait to go see your blogs and see what has happened. I hope your Sunday is good.

Sweeney Todd

2008-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

We went to see Sweeney Todd yesterday. I loved it..they all did a great job and thankfully I didn't have any trouble understanding everything. It is a bit harder for me when people sing. Helena Bonham-Carter and Johnny Depp gave outstanding performances but so did the supportive cast. Tim Burton did a very good job here and the movie is very artfully filmed. It is not for the faint of heart however. Lots and lots of blood of course but the murders are also done in a very gory, plain view kind of way.

In short we had a bloody good time!

Hehehe, sorry, couldn't resist :)

Game night

2008-01-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

One of the best games we have ever played:

Camelot is besieged. Of course the knights of the round table have to save it. They are up against a dragon, a black night, the Picts and the Saxons. And if that wasn't enough Vivien and Morgan have sworn to make it as difficult as it could possibly be with catapults and despair. Lucky for you, Merlin is on your side. There is a price to pay for his help though. A stiff one too.
You have to cooperate to win. Apparently this is a very difficult concept for a 12 year old boy :):). But the forces of evil were defeated that night. My 8 yo has no problem playing. She likes the quest of Excalibur ;)

Blackberries for Supper

2008-01-19T17:36:00.001-08:00

I got miss A.'s nasty cold. Except that mine is really mild compared to hers. I'm thinking it must be the tea that I drank regularly since I started to have a scratchy feeling in my throat.
But, also, I have a wonderful husband who does things for me when I'm sick that he doesn't do when I'm well.
For example: we eat with the seasons. I mean: we eat fruits, vegetables, and to some extent meats and fish that are in season. There are several reasons for this but I guess the main one is that I really dislike buying fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. They either look like they are made of plastic, dead, or even worse: slimy. So, we grow our own and when we don't grow it we buy it at the farmer's market.
Anyway, the point of all this is that Mark went to the store and bought blackberries. Blackberries!! It was like eating summer. It makes you feel so comforted and relaxed to eat blackberries one by one, licking your fingers.
Thank you my love :)

And if you want to share a really nice moment with your children, give this book a try:

It's a very "sweet" story of how the strawberries came into the world according to the Cherokee people.
The story starts with a husband and wife quarreling. Both are angry and the wife leaves. The husband is sorry but he can't catch up to her to tell her. The Sun takes pity on them and sends berries to Earth to slow the wife's flight. Only one berry has enough power to do it.
And here is the last sentence of the book which is also my favorite:
" To this day, when the Cherokee people eat strawberries, they are reminded to always be kind to each other; to remember that friendship and respect are as sweet as the taste of ripe, red berries."

And the illustrations are very good too: everything is softened and simplified and it works so well with the story.

Alert!

2008-01-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Two days ago, miss A. came back from school sounding stuffy. 3 hours later she had a fever and what looks like a full blown bronchitis. She is not one to take medications of any kind. Oh no. She'll fight to the death about it. Her brother entered kindergarten the year she was born. And they were both sick with something almost every month. But no matter how bad she feels, she won't take anything. And so she nursed. And nursed. And nursed. For 3 whole years, me breastfeeding her on the rocking chair was the only medication she took ( apart from the one time that she had an ear infection and she had to take antibiotics. I don't even want to remember the 2 times a day we had to get the medicine down her throat. It's the stuff of nightmares.).
It worked very well, and very quickly too. They should sell breast milk as a remedy for cure all in the stores.
But boy, I won't lie to you: I was very tired of it. So were my breasts.
Well, now she is 8 years old and even though it is a bit easier to coerce her in taking something it is still a lengthy, tortuous project involving stealth and usually a downright lie: " It doesn't taste bad I swear! ( while you try to suppress a gag reflex when looking down the cup holding a viscous purple liquid) ".
So I said enough. I've got reactions myself to cold medications and I'd rather suffer than take them most of the time.
( We'll carefully ignore the correlation between me not taking medications and her not taking it either. Thank you.)
I've always been very interested in plants and herbs in general and I started to get more interested in the subject when miss A. was born. I've tweaked an herbal tea recipe that we take when we are sick. It really works very well and quickly. My son had a sore throat and 2 hours after drinking this tea it was gone. It's also good for general antisepsis, coughs and fevers. Oh, and it tastes good too. Really good actually.

In 4 cups of water ( 1 L.) boil together for 10 mns:
2-3 thick slices of ginger
7 sprigs of thyme
a small handful of sage
a whole lemon cut in thick slices
if feverish add a 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon or cayenne pepper

And eat a lot of garlic. I usually make a big pot of soup with a lot of different vegetables cooked in chicken bouillon. And lots of garlic. And alphabet pasta. Verry important the alphabet pasta :)

And you? What kind pf a patient are you? And what do you take when you are sick?

By the way, if you are pregnant, never take anything, certainly not herbs, without talking to your doctor first. Or in this case your herbalist.

Feeling small

2008-01-14T16:24:00.000-08:00

I'm short. I mean really: about 5'2-3". It never bothered me. But yesterday my 12 year old son had invited several friends and I was standing next to all of them. That's when I realized they were ALL taller than me. When did that happen?? Where is my baby? He has the same shoe size than me too. It's going to be cool when miss A. is the same shoe size as me: double the amount of shoes ;)
Oh, and Piper standing on her hind legs is taller than me too.
In short, I'm shorter than my dog.
Pray that she never sits on your toes.

The Movies

2008-01-12T15:21:00.000-08:00

We just came back from watching The Golden Compass. It received a lot of bad press from both the people who loath the books and the people who love them.
I loved the books ( no surprise there ) but I read them a long time ago. Very long time ago. Actually I'm going to read them again, they are truly very good.
The movie is disappointing but again no surprise there. Like Mr T. said when we got out: " the movie is never as good as the books". With maybe the exception of LOTR.
In the Golden Compass, the biggest flaw, I think, is the total lack of character development. I do mean total, not just badly done. And considering the number of outstanding characters in these books you really had to do it on purpose. The consequence? The movie doesn't grab you as it should and well, you don't really care what happens to the people in it.
It was OK in the whole: the scenery and the costumes are great. I'd kill to have half the costumes to wear ;). Well, maybe not kill, but you understand...

God I want that coat.

Waiting And Waiting

2008-01-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

For the rain to STOP falling. Maybe tomorrow. It would be nice to be able to build 30 feet of fence without feeling like someone really mean is standing over your head throwing buckets full of water at you. Yeah, cause I'm tired of water. Very tired. I'm tired of doing extra laundry everyday, tired of pulling my feet out of a foot of muck when I walk, tired of vaccuming and moping inches of dirt from the house everyday. Tired of black and gray. Tired of the trickling of water going down my back while I'm holding the fence posts in place.
Did everybody get that I'm tired?
Are you sure, because I could say it a few more times I'm sure?
Ok then.
What else is new?
New year, new projects. Lots of new projets actually but time and money have been in short supply lately. Who knew that it would take so long and cost several hundreds of dollars to build back a fence? Right after Christmas too, grrrr...
Well, I'll just have to move my booty. Which is rather large these days I might add. I'm tired of that too :)
Now I've got to escort 2 8 years old who want to go play tennis right now. Sure. I wonder how many soaking wet tennis balls spraying dirty water when they whiz past their faces it's going to take before they want to come home?

Well, Hello There

2008-01-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

Phew, so much stuff happened, incredible. But I can't say any of it because we are in the middle of several arctic storms and I don't want to wreck the computer. Impressive storms this time. So far, 2 streets are closed next to mine because of the fall of very large trees, a section of the fence flew away taking the shed door with it for company. No power for a while. Outside looks like I'm living in the middle of a swamp. I haven't seen any crocodiles yet but surely they'll come. And now we just wait for the next one...I don't know when I'll be back on line but I'm showing signs of withdrawal, it has been a while since the guests were sleeping in the computer room.

In the meantime I hope that you all have an excellent year ahead of you. I can't wait to go on your blogs to see what's going on.
Jack, Hiro and Candy thank you for coming by, I wish you all love, happiness and luck in your projects.

Now I have to get the dogs out for a walk. At least it's raining vertical instead of horizontal.
So many things to be thankful for, heh?

:):)

Gnnnnnnn

2007-12-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

I thought I was done.
No more presents, no more shopping.
I could go on to plan Christmas dinner. And clean the house. And do the laundry. And get a new couch. Donate the old one. Decorate the house. Plant the dying pansies waiting in the driveway. Call my grand-parents. And my dad. And my mom. And my sister.
Wrap the damn presents.
And write cards.
But no. Nonono.
I forgot one.
One.
And I have to go back to the source of all evil.
I'm pretty sure they spawn orcs in that place.
Either that or they have a black hole in the middle.

I have to go back to the MALL.

moar funny pictures

Enough is Enough is Enough

2007-12-14T21:29:00.000-08:00

I absolutely refuse to to go to more Emergency Rooms until next year. Note that I'm not asking for too much here. After all, next year is in what? A little more than 2 weeks?
After Mr T.'s fracture on the arm it was Miss A's turn this week. She fell from the bars at Gymnastic and fell on her finger. It probably wouldn't have done anything to it if it had not been in an awkward position. But the end result is the same. Or about. One doctor thinks it's broken and the other thinks it's a big sprain. Again the same anyway: her finger is black and blue and puffy from top to bottom. She's got to wear a metal thing to keep it straight while it heals. We have to unwrap the finger and wrap it again every day. Ouch.
This can leads to some thoughts on how differently people behave when they are hurt.
My son flats out refuses to be cuddled. Well, a little bit maybe but you know, not to the extent that you could tell him that maybe sword play might not be recommended right now. You know.
My daughter on the other hand. Dear god. I really think she should enroll in drama.
We have gone back to the days of toddler hood people.
Now, understandably, it hurts and obviously it is difficult to use the right hand for just about anything right. And so I've been playing the role of Mary Poppins ( who really, I mean, it's just not fair, she just sings and everything goes right; I sing and the cat wants to get out).
And that's fine. I was happy to do it.
Except.
Except.
That I think I've been duped.
Because when she is wrestling with her brother on the floor she has no problem whatsoever to use her right hand. None.
And her brother with the broken arm is flailing about like nothing ever happened. Like a broken arm.

My revenge will be terrible.

The Strategically Placed Parent

2007-12-08T21:09:00.001-08:00

Most people don't think very hard before choosing which side of the bed they sleep on. Seems like a pretty straightforward decision after all.

If you have children, this is a big mistake.

Because when it is Saturday morning ( the first Saturday morning in months that you can sleep in because soccer season is finally over and so there is no game) and it is 7am and one of your children comes in because they went to the bathroom. And they say to the parent closest to the door:

"There is a huge trail of ants going from the front door to the shower in the bathroom."

And you are so so glad that you are not that parent.

:)

2007-12-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

I know I said I'd do a post about the rewarding things but that's too funny and I'm afraid I'm going to forget so here it is ( actually it is one of rewarding things of the week anyway ):

This past week was the teacher/parents conference week. That's when every family meets the teacher who is at that time going to give you a report card and talk about the past trimester.

Mister T. and his parents are waiting for their turn at the door. They were actually on time. Nothing short of a miracle.
The teacher is late.
Huhuhuhu.
Laurienna thinks that well, being a supportive parent and all we need to have a discussion about the important event that's about to unfold.
Notice that at this time, we should already be in.
Mister T. shuffles.
He grunts.
Then in a very low voice says: " I don't think I'm any good at Algebra."
Parents looks at each other.
"Well, the grades we have seen seem to indicate that you are actually doing pretty well. Of course the last paper you showed us was, hum, 1 1/2 months ago....?"
Mister T. "No, I'm telling you, I make tons of mistakes it's terrible."
The parents are still utterly unconcerned. It might seem bizarre maybe but the thing you don't know is that this child has never, never, ever had less than a 3 ( maximum is 4) on a report card. And so far as we have seen ( and we pay attention more than it seems) this year seems to be the same.
Laurienna has the final word, something really intelligent, like : " we'll talk to the teacher about it."
And in we go.
We all settle down after warm greetings. This is the same teacher that mister T. had back in 3rd grade. And we love her.
After looking at mister T. with a fondness in her eyes she deploys the report cards.
4,4,4, 3+, 4,4,4. And in other disciplines things like, oh, "outstanding".
Parents and teacher are grinning.
Mister T. relaxes a notch but I can see that in spite of all 4s in all mathematical areas he is still concerned.
I tell the teacher about it.
She turns to mister T. astonished and says: " Thomas, you are the top student in the class. You cannot get a 4 in algebra at your age without being actually really good at it!"
Then a lengthy discussion follows on the whys and hows he thinks he is not good at it.
It turns out it's only really when he is doing his homework that he has difficulties and it frustrates him a lot.
How strange.
A few days pass.
One afternoon, Laurienna is doing laundry and enters the room of mister T.
He is doing his homework.
Algebra it turns out.
He is also watching a music video on You Tube. The sound level would rival the best clubs.
He is also talking ( screaming to be heard above the music) to his best buddy on the phone.

I gave him a few hints as to why he might be making mistakes on his algebra.
He vigorously denied that any of the above could possibly impair his mathematical thinking and that I was just trying to ruin all the fun in his life.

I said: " Darling, you ain't seen nothing yet".

Discovery

2007-12-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hey, so I've been in a foul mood for days and now I know why. I got the stomach flu. Yes, that's why. I heard you muttering in the back row.
On the plus side, I've discovered how to shed all these extra pounds from Thanksgiving. I'll keep that in mind for the next few years. Eating half a banana and a spoonful of rice every day for a few days might seem a little severe but there is no question that it worked wonderfully. See, lucky. This is going to be a wonderful holiday season ( see, politically correct blog here. Ahem..), I can just feel it.
Lot's of good stuff happened too though. Well, rewarding stuff mostly I should say but I don't have time to tell you anything about it now. Because it's the HOLIDAY SEASON.
But no worry, I need an excuse to hide out this evening since my father in law decided to show up. I'm not even going to go into that. But anyway, I'll need an excuse to disappear, right?

School Newsletter

2007-12-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

"New Nutrition Standards for the District

The new policy states that all food and beverages that exceed standards for sugar and fat content may not be sold to students during the school day, but can be sold either 30 mns before or after school."

What about idiocy? Still sold in american schools?

Yes I know I shouldn't say that.

Vacation

2007-11-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I took just a lil vacation here, ahem.
We didn't go anywhere but I only used the computer for urgent work stuff and tried to do a lot of stuff that either needed to be done or that I had badly wanted to do for a long time and never took the time to actually do.
Like,

- planting a winter vegetable garden for the first time.

- cooking and cooking for Thanksgiving. I don't know how people can eat that much food. But apparently it is possible.

- read a book. Yep, an entire one.
- took long walks. In the hope of shedding the 10 pounds gained at Thanksgiving.
- went out with a friend and ate a humongous piece of cake with 2 large coffees. I can't button my jeans anymore.
- played with my camera. A lot. But I still can't take a decent picture of my jewelry and I don't know why and it's driving me nuts.

- played one of the most fun board game ever with the kids. It's hilarious and you cannot be worried about spending an entire day playing this. Seriously.

This game is based on the equally hilarious comic book:

- decided to make some of the presents for Christmas instead of buying them.
- a gazillion trips to the craft store later, decided it was a bad idea.
- but i said I would do it so I am.
- Christmas is way over rated anyway. Right?
- No, it's not. I love Christmas.
- maybe everything will be better with a little eggnog. But, then will I still be able to cut straight lines? Need to try.

Tis Fall

2007-11-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Kind of. The temperatures during the day are still reaching 83F (27 C.) in the afternoon making it a bit difficult to think about Christmas at all. And yet, I've got to move my butt to be on time to send packages to family in France.
I'm trying to enjoy the weather with long walks with my camera. And the kids and the dogs. And now I've lost the thingy that goes on the lens to protect it. I've lost it in the house too. 2 weeks ago...I've even posted a reward, a generous one too. So far they have found my sunglasses that I lost 3 months ago, the little book where I put important phone numbers, lost 1 1/2 month ago and a pair of scissors that I didn't remember having. Do you think they still qualified as a lost/found object if I didn't know they existed?

The Good, The Bad. and The Ugly

2007-11-15T16:04:00.001-08:00

These last 2 months have been very interesting. I really have a better sense now of human nature in general and my family in particular.
It started well enough.

The Good

Mark was on TV because he was refeering a soccer game.
I'm going to be in the paper because of the Jewelry Business.
This prompted Mark to say: " Watch out Posh and Becks!"
Hehe, he is cute.

There was Halloween.

My little sister is now officially qualified to take care of other people's children on top of her own. Congratulations Cilette!

That's it.

The Bad

3 weeks ago my son started to complain about his ankle and calf. Since it wasn't going away we took him to the doctor. It seems that there is a particular muscle there that can become a problem ( meaning it could come back again and again and again). So we gave him anti-inflamatory medication, iced the area after every effort and he tried to be careful.
So, when he was trying to be careful he was rushing with his friends across the blacktop and, this is not very clear how exactly, managed to crash.
He has now a bruise on his knee the size of a football, a bruise the size of the palm of my hand on his hip, his entire right elbow is one big bruise and so is the right temple. The most worrisome was of course the blow to his head since his eye was affected: he had a crescent of light on the side of his vision for a few minutes. His arm was also of concern since it could have been broken. So, emergency room. His arm is ok and his vision came back normal but the doc said to take him to the eye doctor for a check-up.
However, mr T. reports that his ankle and calf are just fine now.
Well, that's lucky.

And I have developed a strange thing with one of my eyes: it looks fine, it feels fine until I put my contacts on. Then it burns, water and become red if I rub. I changed contacts. Nada. The eye doctor thinks it's an allergy. I don't do allergy. I already never admit that I'm sick and to prove my point I work and cram more things than usual in my schedule because damnit, I'm not sick. So, an allergy? I don't think so.
I think it's voodoo.

Which brings to:

The Ugly

Big fight with my mother in law. I used to not be a patient person at all and I've gotten a lot better over the years. And then, after meeting Mark's family I devellopped A LOT of patience. Apparently there must have been a quota. And it was reached.
Maybe she is doing the voodoo thing.
In the meantime, we won't be seeing them for Thanksgiving and it sucks for the kids since they are the only family that we've got on this side of the pond with Mark's sister and her fiance who are going with the fiance's family this year as it was already planned.
Me, however, I'm feeling lighter and relieved. Go figure.

Thank god there is Mika :)

???

2007-11-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

Laurienna comes back from the hairdresser.
She made drastic changes to her hair. It's way shorter and a bit spiky. And very dark.

Husband says:
You look great, I love it. And then he kisses his wife.

Daughter says:
I love it mama, it's cool.

Son says:
It looks less mature.

Seeing the look on his mother's face he adds:
You know, age wise.

Husband says to the son:
Do you want a shovel?

Son:
???

Husband:
So that you can keep digging. Deeper.

Sweet

2007-11-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

As my son would say...What could be better than another Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie? Mmmm? That's right nothing :)

Here is the Sweeney Todd trailer just for you:

People Are Insane

2007-11-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

Courage and insanity, where does one end and when does the other one begin?

A jaw dropping video for sure!

The Zombie Cow-Girl

2007-11-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween !

2007-10-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all having a great time out there. My crew is gone with various friends doing their tricks, leaving me to the hard work of opening the door to cute little children,

protecting the candy bucket,

drinking the ~~blood~~ wine,

admiring the glow

and getting compliments on my socks,

and my house "ooooh, it's a fairy house!"

Have Fun!

Jack

2007-10-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. There are several ways of doing advertisement for someone and so I have been thinking about this post all day long. How should I go about it? Let's see...I don't do that often you know..

Jack is an incredible photographer. Yep, and you don't have to trust me on that, look ( click on the pictures to make them bigger):

The light, the composition, the way the pictures pull you in...remarkable. And it is so difficult to achieve photography at that level.

Ok, and on top of that, Jack's current horrible job is preventing him from blogging. The horror. I want Jack back on the net. So go buy his artwork here so that he can make a living with what he actually loves to do. There are plenty more outstanding photographs on this site: http://www.redbubble.com/people/intimatestrangers/art . Actually, there wasn't one that I didn't like.

Can you imagine what a great Christmas present these would make...mmmm Mark? Darling I want the 3 top ones for sure. And don't forget that it takes time for the shipping etc...you know, I m just saying.

Mmmmmm....

2007-10-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. It has been a while. Way too long I'd say and I've missed writing in this blog. So much things have happened and at the same time it's same old, same old. Mark and I have had a surge in work and so did the kids . Mister T. was doing a powerpoint presentation and was hogging the computer, hehe, and then both kids got sick with a strange stomach ailment that was going around the school, then it was a big cold for mister T. ( of course I got both). Then I had a huge fight with my mother-in-law and now something is wrong with one of my eyes: it is puffy, red and itchy. And it burns. Lovely.
But lots of good things also happened and these I'll go in more details tomorrow. And tonight is a stormy night and I love stormy nights.
I hope you are all well.

Last night

2007-10-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

It's bedtime.

Miss A. ( jumping up and down on the bed):
I'm so excited that the tooth faery is coming tonight!

Me:
I can see that! She is doing some overtime with you this month...

Miss A.:
I think she is going to bring me a wii !

Me:
Mmmm, darling I don't think so..that's way too much for a tooth faery!

Miss A.:
Too much what?

Me ( trying to think fast, this conversation is not going the way I'd like it to):
Well, mmmmmmm, uh, oh I don't know...money?

Miss A. ( laughing):
Mama! The tooth faery doesn't BUY toys!

Me:
Ah. Where does she get them, then?

Miss A.:
Well, she goes and visit Santa of course!

Me:
Ah, of course, silly me!

Miss A.:
So, he can just loan her his sleigh and then she can bring the wii. No problem!

Home Decorating

2007-10-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

I worked particularly hard this summer and was very well payed for it. So, I decided that the house needed a little sprucing up and I started thinking.
We need very badly a new sofa, several lamps, a rug and new cushions.
And, hopefully one day we'll get all of that.

But for now, I went for the refined and understated for which I'm so well known for.

And, plus, everybody needs a gargoyle, right?

So, without further ado, I present to you Edgar The Gargoyle:

Isn't he cute? My son thinks I have a really warped sense of what cute is. He doesn't know what he is talking about. Actually, Edgar looks quite a bit like Piper when you wake her up in the morning ;).

Made With Real Potatoes

2007-10-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

6 pm, It's time for dinner. Get up from the desk, stretch and turn off the music. Piper does the same, she knows what comes next. Legolas trails us wagging its tail and yawning. Miss A. arrives and ask what's for dinner mama?
Let's go see...
She grabs a bowl and the kitchen scissors and off we go. The air is warm with just a hint of coolness, just so that we don't forget it's October.
We get into the vegetable garden...what looks good today? Tomatoes, eggplants, celery, oregano and thyme. Perfect! Add an onion, make the sauce and put it on the gnocchi I bought yesterday.
Back to the kitchen, everything is bubbling happily and it's smelling wonderful. Especially with Irish soda bread cooking in the oven. Even the dogs come and try to peak at the oven door.
I get the two packages of gnocchi from the cupboard and start opening them.

What's that in the front of the package?

"Made with real potatoes."

How funny.

What do they mean exactly?

I mean, it was not on the package I bought last week with another brand.

Does it mean the gnocchi from last week were not made with real potatoes?

Or does it mean that the gnocchi from tonight used to be made from not real potatoes and now they are?

Or does it mean that some potatoes are real and some are not?

Mutant potatoes?

Bleh.

What if it looks like a potato but it's not.

But if the other potatoes are not real potatoes then what are they?

Maybe I could google it.

No, I don't think I really want to know.

" Mama, I'm hungry."

....Fine, let's put the stuff in the water....

Was I feeling ok when I ate the other gnocchi last week? Shoot, I can't remember.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm SURE I was feeling queasy.

Oh god, maybe I poisoned my family with mutant potatoes.

Later, at dinner:

Mark: " You're not eating much, you are not hungry?"

Me: "Heh, not that much no. Could you give me some wine?"

Mark" "How is it?"

Me: " Fine, fine."

Me: "Do you think it's made with real grapes?"

Mark: " ????"

The List In The List

2007-10-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

The plan was to do a nice long post but time is running out today. Are you like me? Do you have lists? I never put them down on paper but they are in my head swirling around. All the things I need, have to or want to do this day/week/month. And it's just the list in the list. The big list of the stuff I want to learn or do before I die. You know, The Big List.
But there is so much, too much! And everyday I add something: wouldn't it be neat if I could...?

The Dog Who Would Not Be Trained

2007-09-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

( I know, bad Harry Potter imitation title)

A few days ago I went to the bookstore and got a dog training book that I had heard about for a while. I happily took it home and sank into the couch reading it. 4 pages later I realized I needed to get dinner started and put the book down. Later that night I wanted to keep reading it and looked for it everywhere. It seemed to have vanished. Since this is not exactly unexpected in this household I dropped the hunt and went to bed.
Next morning I took my coffee to sip in the backyard as usual and I found this, lying about in the grass:

Let's examine the likely suspects:

I present suspect number 1, miss Piper.
As you can see from the state of that soccer ball, strength and teeth are present and fully sharpened. But, come on, look at the bambi eyes. Can't be me, right?

And here is suspect number 2 aka as bad boy Legolas. Excellent thief with good agility and speed, always looking for trouble. And, is he laughing at me?
The nerve.

I think it is hilarious that this book is the only one that he has ever destroyed. He hasn't shown any interest for chewing books since then either. Luckily.

If only he would stop destrying every pair of flip-flops that I own ( 6 pairs, all gone ), it would be swell.

8 yo and my purse

2007-09-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

That's a really rotten title, sorry. Today, I'm taking miss A. to my hairdresser for a haircut. We used to go to a kid's place out in the middle of nowhere with chickens on the doorstep living freely in this little village and the haircut place had all kinds of old kids toys that were neat. And the hawaiian lady who cut miss A's hair was kind, funny with all kinds of good stories. Oh, and they had chocolate scented shampoo.
But miss A. turned 8 and she decided that she wanted a grown up haircut. Mmmmmmm, ok, I said without inquiring much further and I took an appointment with my hairdresser. Haha. Yesterday she finally said what she had in mind: short spiky hair died pink.
We negociated.
Hard.
I'll take a picture when we come back but I can already tell you there will be no pink ;)
I know, what a letdown ;)

And now, The Purse.

Bought at the Pirates of The Carribean store in Disneyland, of course, where else?
It's really roomy in there, as you can see.

From the top, clockwise:

An empty sunglasses case. I have no idea where the sunglasses went.

A ziplock bag with salted sunflower seeds. Generously given to me by the H. family when I was starving at a soccer game. They grew the sunflowers, harvested the seeds, roasted and salted them. Yum.

The poop bag. Right, for the dogs.

My wallet which is too full. Not with money unfortunatly.

Coupons that will probably never get used since I didn't remember having them in the first place. And the menu for Mr Pickle's, a sandwich place.

An unsharpened pencil. Could I do more useless than that I wonder?

My keys. Incidentally I found 2 keys for my front door that I wasn't aware existed. I think they are multiplying when I'm not looking.

Little papers that you find in the chinese fortune cookies, from the last time I went to Chinatown.

The lens cap from my camera. I had been looking for it for 5 days.

French candies :)

Miss A dirty socks. Don't ask, I have no recollection of putting them in my purse. Yet, here they are.

An orange thingie for my hair.

My cell phone. Apparently it's dead.

A thank you note and invitation from J. She makes the envelopes herself from old magazines pages. Very cool and always pretty.

A pen. Oh goody, it works too!

A rock, some shells and beach glass collected in Carmel in August. I'm not sure why they are still in there. Apparently the 2 lbs of stuff I removed when we came back was not everything.

Kleenexes. Yes that's Nemo.

A gigantic acorn. I think it's made for a weresquirrel.

Little reminder papers from my dentist and hairdresser in the hope that for once I won't forget my next appointment. So far this has been a fruitless endeavor.

Ticket from a soccer game seen in July. Need to clean purse more often.

Bandades. I have to restock often. The scooby doo ones are in high demand.

And The Week-End is Over

2007-09-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday was spent cleaning my office ( yes, still, I hear you) and a very nice surprise came with a phone call from a very good friend: " what about coffee?". Hey, you don't have to ask me twice! I came back a bit too late I'm afraid and the whole family was sleeping already. Well, my son was at a sleepover and he slept only 3 hours which is way worse than me ;).
Unfortunatly, I had forgotten completely that we were supposed to go to a museum the next morning.
Good thing it was actually really good. It was an exposition about Leonardo Da Vinci. Actually it was better than that: they had recreated his inventions and you could try them ( well, most of them). That must have been a cool job.
On top of that we met my friend from the night before with her 2 kids while we were standing in line and it was a total surprise. And it lead to some great cooperation trying to build one of Leonardo's clever bridges.

The only bad thing for the whole day was that the guy serving drinks at the cafe called me sweetheart. Yep. I don't think he is going to try that again on anybody after what I told him. I don't think sweetheart was what came to him looking at me when I was finished either.
The nerve.
Nobody calls me sweetheart.
The idiot kept grinning at me the whole time after that.
University students obviously have too much time on their hands.

And now it's Monday afternoon and my interview is almost over, just the pics need to be done.
However, I discovered that my mother in law more than probably stole pearls frome me. And these particular pearls are hard to find and they were reserved for a customer.

I'm wondering what to do about that.

I know, I'm moving to Mongolia.

A Slice Of My Day

2007-09-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

I had planned (!) to do a post about everything we did during the last 10 days but it is too overwhelming for tonight. Too many great places we went to and way too many pictures to wade through. Today was spent cleaning up my office for the interview kind of but also because I had wanted to do a thorough cleaning since we moved 2 1/2 years ago. You know, you move and you put boxes full of stuff under the desk because what on earth are you going to do/put pics of babies, weddings, Halloween and Christmas decorations, shells from the Reunion island, stamps from France, Christmas presents people gave you and you couldn't even figure out what the hell you are supposed to do with this but you don't dare throw it away. So, true to myself everything went/was stuffed in the closet, under the desk and behind the desk, in the corners and on top of the Ikea armoire. Everything is very thoroughly covered by dust, dirt and insects exoskeleton ( sorry, love that word and not many occasions to use it, unless you excavate in my house that is ).
I stole a few minutes in the garden watering just before getting dinner ready and I'm just going to post pics of that moment for today and will come back tomorrow.
Arf, I just remembered I've got to get up extra early for my son's soccer game.. and it's supposed to rain. I wonder if J is going to bring her homemade scones again. I've got to remember to bring my coffee...

Ahahahahahaha

2007-09-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

So, the family flew away on Monday. The rest of the day was spent rushing around trying to accomplish all the stuff that needed to be accomplished 10 days ago. But in the back of my mind was: on Tuesday morning, date with Mark for 2 hours sipping coffee at a table looking at books and magazines. Right. So I've got a bad cold and I tried to cough my lungs out all night, but who cares, I'm going to the bookstore tomorrow to drink coffee with my husband. I get up in a daze to hear Mark say: "Oh, you're up! I was going to let you sleep in since you didn't sleep well last night." Ah. Well, too late I guess. But that's ok, cause I'm going to relax this morning. Send the kids to school, drink coffee and even though I know I shouldn't because there is no time, I turn on my computer. And that was a big, big mistake. I couldn't resist a peak at my favorite blogs that morning, even for only 15 mns and that cost Mark and I our sanity and sleep for a full 20 hours.
I got a virus on the computer. No, no, not on a blog mind you. TALKING TO MY SISTER ON MSN. Of all things. I was in a hurry ( I think I said that already), and I clicked on a download that I thought was coming from her. Turns out she didn't send anything but she was chatting with someone else who was also chatting with someone else, etc...Somehow in that chain, someone sent a virus that infected every single person who was on msn at that moment. And I was in a hurry. And I didn't check that she was the one actually sending the download as I usually do. Well, long story short, Mark got rid of it after 20 hours of effort. I think I actually invented new swear words and my nails are now a lot shorter. But at least we won.
Oh, and I had an interview with a journalist that day at 1pm for an article written about me and the jewelry business. I felt so relax and inspired I can tell you that. Just great. Oh and I had no voice because nasty cold + too much swearing is a really bad combination.
The paper wants to send a photograph to my house for the article. Ahahahahaha. Here is a tiny pic of what state my house is in.

I'll spare you the panoramic view.

But , today, wednesday, the virus is gone, the floor is mopped and the house slightly cleaner, laundry is done (almost) and everybody has underwear again ( I know you didn't want to know that), my voice is back to the delight of my family :):) and it's sunny outside. Ah, actually no, it's freaking cold, windy and cloudy and the weather people are threatening us with rain tomorrow. A full month early? What's the world coming too? Hehe....

Well, I need a cheer and that pic of the Golden Gate Bridge in gorgeous San Francisco is doing the trick for me as I hope it'll do the same for you. We had a great day there last Sunday but I'll tell you a lot more about that tomorrow. Right now I need to eat and rush miss A. to her gymnastic class and then work, work, work.

Sigh

2007-09-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

I stared at that page for a while, wondering what the title for this post should be and that's what I came up with.
I feel spent, I think that's what it is. Family visits here, are more emotionally charged and harder on everybody than when I was in France. The distance, the feeling of borrowed time have taken their toll in between my family and I. And the story in between me and my dad is a complicated one, broken up in pieces: the happy childhood, the months long business travel where he would live in another country for most of the year. Then, the divorce with my mom and his very long abscence during, well, all of my teenage years really. He is not an easy person to live with either. And then his wife, of course.

And all I heard for 10 days, Marie can you do this, Marie-Laure what do you think, can I, where are we going today, what are we doing today, mama, mama, mama.

The visit went ok. Definitly better than I thought it would, but I'm relieved they are gone now. Silly me who thought I'd finally have some time for myself. Instead the 3 people I live with have filled every single day to the brim with their stuff, that of course require assistance from me. I'm getting desperate and I don't know how to approach life anymore. I'm hopelessly behind at that point. Even if I worked every hour of every day I'd not make it. And I'm happy to steal 2 small ones crunched up in between all the other stuff. I'm feeling rushed and I stare at my pile of beads and thread and nothing is coming. Instead there is a maelstrom of dates and times twirling and twirling. Ugh. I need to sleep.
But like Hiro says: tomorrow is another day.

Defcon 1

2007-09-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't said anything earlier on this blog but tomorrow is going to be, how shall I say that, a wee bit stressful.

I have to get up at 6am on a Saturday because my son has his first soccer game of the season. They are all bigger now and the potential for injury is greater. And they are playing against a team notorious for playing dirty.

Then we'll rush home to get a bite to eat and then it's off for his first game as a referee this time. The players will be older than him. But he'll be refeering with one of his best friends and Mark. And I'll be on the sideline glaring at unruly parents. If one gets out of line with the 2 kids, he or she is dead. I'm not in the mood to discuss another option.

Then, we'll rush home again to clean the house.

Then, we'll rush to the airport to pick up my dad and his wife at 6pm. I'm thrilled beyond words. That's right, right up my alley.

We have had an intensely hot and dry weather for days now. And now fires are burning all over California. Sacramento is covered in a big thick smoke that burns your eyes and throat. The sun is orange and it is raining ashes.

This Saturday Playing in Sacramento:

Apocalypse Now

12

2007-09-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

My son turned 12 today :). He is an amazing human being and I'm very honored to be his mother. I can't wait to see how he'll grow up to be. I hope he'll stay just as he is: quirky, funny, amazingly smart, handsome and caring about the whole world and the people in it. Happy birthday Thomas!

School

2007-09-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

I'll just say for starters that in the spirit of truthfulness ( is that an actual word?) I have always despised school. Just so you know.

Thursday was back to school night for the parents. I imagine that this highly awaited event is about the same in every country: you sit down in a chair that's too small for you for about 30-60 mns and you listen to the teacher tell you all the wonderful things they are going to do to with your child.
Now in the early years (kindergarten), with my daughter, we got lucky. Very lucky. She got Mrs M. And Mrs M. is very cool, very interesting, full of ideas and energy. She loves field trips and is always striving to make things as interesting as possible. And we got to have her for 2 years in a row because she moved up with her class for 1st grade. Heaven.
Unfortunately she couldn't go to the second grade after that so Miss A. got Mrs D. in 2nd grade. Mrs D. is slightly psychotic BUT again, full of energy ( in a manic kind of way ) and lots of different projects kept everybody mostly happy, if not completely sane.
Alas. Miss A. got promoted to 3rd grade in Mrs S. classroom. Mrs S. is the exact antithesis of the beloved Mrs M. . And I don't even think she is psychotic which might have made things a little more lively, maybe.
Nope.
Instead, she's got as much temperament as an oyster clinging to its rock.
She moves at the pace of a mutant sloth/elephant seal thingie.
She has been doing everything by the book for 30 years and by god she is going to it again this year. Sigh.
There isn't much you can do in these instances really except changing classrooms or schools. Since neither is likely ( the principal is of the same species as Mrs S. ) I've decided that we'll provide the numerous field trips and interesting material to miss A. instead. Which means, dear reader, that you'll have the joy of visiting California-in-the-days-of-the-pioneers with us. Aren't you thrilled? For example, tomorrow, we'll be in old Sacramento where they'll be reenacting a shoot out in the streets. I think it's got real potential as highly educational material, don't you think?
Oh, and they have a candy store there, that sells old fashioned candy, including my favorite: taffy. We'll make sure to tell Mrs S. about it. She might be hyperventilating at the thought though. I mean, we got out of the classroom and nobody died and we'll get candy when she is trying to teach all these kids to eat healthy. Maybe it would work better if she wasn't obese, I dunno.

Hey, maybe I'll get a picture of Miss A. eating taffy while watching the shoot out.

The First Day

2007-08-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

So. The first day. Let's see...I pictured it like that:
I'd get up early, make pancakes and bacon ( their favorite ). Mark would be packing the delicious lunches, lovingly prepared. Then we'd wake them up. Still lovingly. You know "my sweet, it's time to wake up. Daaaarling...what would you like to wear today?". They would be less grumpy this way, see? Then we could send them out the door in the golden light of another glorious morning in Sacramento. They would be surrounded by butterflies. And I swear there might even be a unicorn. Or two.
And they would looove their teacher and so would I. And they would have a great time playing and enjoying being back with old friends. And when they came back, freshly baked chocolate chips muffins would be waiting for them. Oh, and the golden light would be lasting all day. And also if it's not too much, you know, since we are at it, temperatures under 86F (30C) would be nice.
I think, maybe I pushed it a bit with the temp. request or maybe the unicorns, but obviously the whole thing got jinxed. Because here is what really happened:

-Mark forgot to set the alarm clock. Miraculously, he wakes up at 7:22 ( we should have gotten up at 6:45). He stumbles out of bed all panicky and shakes me up rather rudely I might add. To continue the rude trend I get into the hall and shouts for the kids to wake-up and that they'd better move it too. Run into the kitchen and make the batter. Start cooking the pancakes. Forget the bacon. 2 pancakes burn while I'm pouring orange juice. A bit of swearing later, the kids are finally eating and luches are being made. The kids are dubious about their lunch, however after a bit of glaring theyput it in their lunchbox. They tried to get out of brushing their teeth since, you know, they are going to be late. No luck.
7:48: Mark and Miss A. make a run for it and cross the school grounds as the bell is ringing at 7:50.
My son drags his feet way behind looking like a zombie with his hair stuck up and glaring at anything in sight.

Mark comes back and while taking breakfast we make a list of stuff to do before the kids come back (We swore on the last day of school back in June, that for the first day of school we'd do something to enjoy yourselves) ( ahahahahaha ). There is no way everything is going to be done. We run errands until 2:25pm. Yes, that's when my kids get out of school. 2 gloomy kids came back that day. Apparently the whole day was spent in teaching them new rules. Stupid ones of course ( like: you can go only one way on the monkey bars). Ah and my old favorite: they don't want the kids to go to the bathroom during class time which is understandable. However. When you really need to go, you really need to go. Right? So, in my daughter's class they have to pay: they give 5 tickets that they have earned for good behavior or being helpul yadi yada...Now first of all it makes me cringe when they are rewarded for stuff that they should do anyway. But paying because you need to pee? With only 15 mns recess and only 3, yes 3, bathroom stalls, well obviously that is bound to happen.
Anyway.
Oh and I didn't have time to bake the muffins and the daytime temp. hasn't gone under 104F ( 40C) in weeks. Jinxed, I tell you. Or maybe voodoo.

First Day Of School

2007-08-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of school. So, naturally we forgot to put the alarm on. Naturally.

Carmel The Mundane

2007-08-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

After Carmel the wild, I'll present Carmel the tame and the shopper's paradise. From strolls where you can see what California looked like before the colonialisation to the shops and restaurants and beautiful ( extremly expensive) villas, there is something for everybody in beautiful Carmel.

My favorite spot though ( after a visit to the Cottage of Sweets of course), is right there:

Carmel and Big Sur

2007-08-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

This protected coast of Nothern California is one of the most beautiful place on Earth I think. At any given time you can see dolphins, whales, seals, sea otters (my favorites!), pelicans, cormorans and seagulls. Did I mention the condors? There are a lot of tidepools with huge starfish and anemones, crabs and mmmmm weird looking sea life :).
It is a very rugged landscape and the ocean is dangerous, well, everywhere really, but be especially careful on the less popular beaches. In some cases it is not wise to climb the rocks. At my favorite beach in Big Sur you'd better know the tides well..if you are caught at high tide there is no way out.
It's also not exactly warm.
In fact Big Sur is downright chilly and very, very windy. All the time.
Carmel can be more forgiving with less wind and a bit more sun but the fog is still very present for a big part of the day. I know it doesn't sound so inviting but it is so beautiful and I've never been the type to sunbathe anyway ;)

The Beach

2007-08-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

And in the first installement of my wonderful vacation, I present a Birthday Girl and happy children and dogs enjoying the freedom of mouvement that only sand and water can provide! I'll do another post with The Sights, hopefully tomorrow..For now I have to make a gazillion phone calls and e-mails, make sure that my kids, their friends and the dogs don't tear the house apart and that they all go to bed reasonnably early (Ha!) and then I'll just plop down with a glass of wine ;) ( I won't mention that my husband is deserting me for a meeting hehe...Man, I wish I could have meetings too sometimes ;)

Back!

2007-08-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been back for a week really, but you know...First of all, I didn't want to come back so that already doesn't help. And, seriously, I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to Sacramento. Yes I swear! I had a headache the day we left, the next day it was gone. No headaches in sight the whole time I was in Carmel. And the day after we come back: headache again. So, see, allergy. I just have to manage to live by the sea and I'll be just fine :). The pics are loading as I'm typing but I don't have time to sort them all today ( all 500 of them ). That will be for tomorrow. Now I've got to bead and dig. In that order ;)

See You Soon

2007-07-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well, shoot. I did it again it looks like, but I have a good excuse this time..actually several :). Family visited, then friends visited, then we went to San Jose to watch the american women's soccer team play against the Japanese soccer team. Awesome game, fast, smart..really great. We hiked for a good part of that day too: up the yellow hill to see mount Diablo and eagles flying over the clouds down to a a forest of centuries old oaks. A great day...and now we are leaving for 5 days for Carmel-by-The-Sea, a great little village on the cold coast of California...really cold, we are dropping down 30 degrees F at least. I mean, we actually need sweaters there in August...unbelievable. It's my favorite place to go: an angry sea with wind beaten up cliffs, seagulls, whales, dolphins and seals. Pure happiness...
My sister did point out that going there with 2 children and 2 dogs doesn't qualify as a vacation :)
I'll come back on fiday night very very late as usual with lots of pictures. In the mean time you can check out this website for an idea of where I'm going to spend 5 glorious days ;)

Have a good week,

Marie

Soccer!

2007-07-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

You know, I think I've been unfair with my 2 boys and their passion for soccer. I moaned and whined about getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch my son's team play. I huffed about spending up to 2 hours twice a week watching practices. I've complained about the extra laundry too.
But I'm reformed.
In fact I now think that soccer is THE BEST.
I'm totally thinking about scoring some tickets for the LA Galxy actually.

You don't think soccer is that great?

Are you sure?

Maybe you should click and then tell me all about it ;)
Don't forget to look at all the pictures :). You know, this is research after all. In support for my family. Right.

Happy Thursday!

In The Jam

2007-07-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Literally... Our fruit trees had their branches breaking with all the weight of the fruits so I decided it was time for action. I ~~ordered~~, I asked the troops to go and pick it. Except that I didn't check how much they were picking. What followed was days of the remake of a bad B movie with what looked like a mad woman with hair that looked like a long haired hamster caught in the spin cycle of a dryer, measuring, pouring, mixing ~~tasting~~, filling pot after pot after pot in a kitchen that was hot as hell for days. Yes, days. I'm going to cut the trees down.
The results are certainly good though :)
Apricot-basil jam
Plum-cinammon-vanilla jam
Peach jam
Apricot-almond pies and jam
Peach cake
Peach crumble
Peach clafoutis
Etc....

I don't think I'm going back in that kitchen any time soon.
Except that on Saturday we are having a party for my daughter's birthday. And some relatives are staying for several days. They are vegetarian. Forget about easy meals. You know: paté and cheese and bread. Now, do olives qualify as sufficient vegetarian sustenance I wonder...

Yeah, it works again!

2007-07-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

Does anybody know why on earth I haven't been able to put a title to my posts..It won't let me click on it..anybody has the same problem?

2007-07-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday:

Miss A.: "Papa looks like an adult but Mama looks like a teenager."

Seeing the big smile on his mother's face Mr T exclaims:

"Man, you just got mega bonus points!"

In real, I live in a video game :)

2007-07-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all the pictures of the fireworks but we had a great time as usual :). And I love my new camera. I could never have gotten these pictures with my old one so...there it is!

The 2 last ones ask for a bit of an explanation. See, we have this guy in the neighborhood who apparently buys illegal fireworks in Mexico and then makes a show on the parking lot near the house. It's always really good actually and I got pics of his and ours going off at the same time :)

Happy 4th!

2007-07-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

I find it hilarious that us of all people, would receive 3 invitations to actually BE in 3 different 4th of July parades: we just don't do the all american thing. At all. But when in Rome as they say...so my husband and my son went to represent their soccer club in one of the biggest parade in Sacramento and miss A. and I decorated her bike and herself (and me A LITTLE) with all kinds of red, white and blue and we participated in one of the smallest parade in Sacramento. Mark and mr T. sweated their way handing out flyiers, talking to people and giving candy and miss A. and I strolled through tree lined streets chatting with friends and eating ice cream in the neighborhood. Hehe.
And to celebrate 4th of July in beauty we are having near record high temperatures today. I just put my thermometer in the sun and it said: 121 F. which is 50 C. It clearly wanted to go up more but that's as high as my thermometer goes. Obiously it was not made in Sacramento.
We bought fireworks this morning since it is legal in California to have your own private little show and that everybody does it. I just water the lawn well that morning. Of course you always have the village idiots that take their fireworks in the park across from me and manage to set the dry grass on fire there. Sigh.

I'm going to try my new camera for the fireworks tonight, we'll see how it does. Oh, and Cecile, I promise I'll post the recipe for Kansas city strip steaks tomorrow!

Now, where is the margarita?

Sold!

2007-07-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

That was such a hard decision to make: sell our first house, the tiny 1905 arts and crafts bungalow that we bought when we moved to Sacramento. We lived in it for 8 years and we adored that house. Even though it was on a busy street, and the neighborhood wasn't that great...We made it our own with vines and flowers and crazy paint choices ( the fence was pink ), and raised in it 2 toddlers and a cat. But, we each got a business that we needed room for, the tiny room shared by the kids was just too small and the neighborhood was getting worse. And we had to drive too long to get our son to school: he had just started to go to the Rapid Learner program. And then, a house went up for sale just across the street from the new school with enough space for 2 offices and a backyard runned down with fig, apricot, plum and peach trees. We went to see it at the insistence of my mother-in-law, and met the seller who was romanian. We talked about Europe and peaches and we made an offer that he accepted right away even though other people had offered more. It was fate and we love our new house. But yesterday we went to the old house for the last cleaning and touch up and there was a little pit in our stomachs as we drove away. I don't even have a good shot of the house but this one gives an idea :)
At the same time, now that I don't have to take care of 2 houses and all the paperwork it takes to sell a house, I'm finding myself with a lot more time on my hands. The question is what do I do with it?

Quizzzzzzzzzzzzz

2007-07-03T11:22:00.001-07:00

So, since I'm trying to get out of cleaning the ~~pigsty~~ castle, I found a really important thing to do...and you, which movie hero are you?


Indiana Jones : 77% Tu aimes l'aventure, et détestes le quotidien.
Batman / Bruce Wayne : 74%
James Bond : 72%
Hannibal Lecter : 71%
Maximus (Gladiator) : 70%
Schrek : 69%
Néo (Matrix) : 68%
Yoda (Star Wars) : 67%
Eric Draven (The Crow) : 65%
Forrest Gump : 63%
Tony Montana (Scarface) : 63%
Jim Levenstein (American Pie) : 61%

Quel héros de film es-tu ?

Oh, and please disregard the Hannibal Lecter part. I mean, yuck! And I've almost never thought of killing my neighbors I swear. And I'd add that if I ever did I'd never eat them, they are loaded with Prozac.

And Today is....

2007-06-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

My Birthday!!
So, of course I had the usual questions:
- do you feel old?
- are you traumatized?
- do your knees squeack when you kneel?!

Well, really I don't see how any of these could possibly apply to me since I'm only turning 36 26. Hehe.
I have been feeling a little weird though lately...a bit like Alice in Wonderland, seeing weird people doing weird things that obviously makes sense to them but not at all to me. And like Alice I'm kind of floating around, feeling in turn curious, giddy, angry, exasperated and finally throwing my arms up in the air in frustration at not quite understanding what these people are all about. Ah well, maybe I'll be more patient and understanding when I grow up :)

Summer Time

2007-06-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

The farniente, the hammock, the naps in the hammock, days that last forever with no schedule...
Well, what happened?? Cause my summer doesn't look like that AT ALL. Nope, nada. I haven't even looked at the hammock for 3 weeks. Pffff... I'm hoping that starting next week, summer will feel a bit more like summer should. We'll see :)
In the mean time here is what's happening in the garden these days:

If you click on the pics, particularly the bee one, you'll see how good my new camera is: you can see the grains of pollen and the details of her wings :)

And in the series of....

2007-06-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Events that curiously makes you use "no sleep" and "Miss A" in the same sentence...
Last night 4:30 am:
Miss A: "Papa, papa, wake up!"
Papa: "Mmmmmmm, what's wrong?"
Miss A.: "I just lost a tooth"
Papa and Mama: "What??? How can you lose a tooth at night!?"
Miss A.: "I dreamed about it and then it happened."

And I Present....

2007-06-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

The newest member of the family:

He remained nameless for 3 days...and then we had 3 choices Mazi (means Sir in Swahili), Lucky (miss A's choice) and Legolas :Mr T's choice. Of course :)
And Legolas it is! He is very attached to my son so Mr T picked the name :)
Legolas is from a rescue of course, as is Piper. The two of them get along fabulously. He is an extremely easy and fun puppy and we couldn't be happier :)

And if I thought I was bored, that's definitly out now.

Vacation is Very Tiring

2007-06-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

Last Day of School:
Laurienna is bragging to everybody that this is awesome, tomorrow she can sleep in. Right.

First Day of Vacation:
Miss A. enters the last remnant of personal parental space still available (my pillow) at 7:09am (9 mns later than the usual "everybody on deck" morning mayhem) and asks if she can watch tv. Of course I don't go back to sleep.

Second Day of Vacation:
Miss A. is up at 7:30am and so everybody else is too because there is no choice in the matter really. At 9:30am she announces that she is bored. This is going to be a loooooong summer.

Third Day of Vacation:
Miss A. loses a tooth. So, of course, the tooth faerie came at night. So, of course, miss A. wakes up at 6:30am with squeals of delight over her present. And just to make sure that we all got that she is happy she comes and jumps up and down on everybody's bed. Including the dog's.

There is no hope in my life.

It's the Final Countdown!!

2007-06-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

The 2 gremlins will be let loose from school tomorrow at 1200 hours. Run! Run for your lives!!

Speaking of Europe (the group I mean!), I got to go to one of their concerts in Ireland a long long too long time ago. I must have been around 14 and it was a tiny room. Boy my friends and I made so much NOISE, we got to go up on stage and shake hands with them at the end. They were very nice, very sweaty and I did wonder how they would manage to peel off their oh so tight leather pants ;). I remember that the singer and I compared notes on hair: he was the only guy I've met who had as much hair as I do :):)

Another Little Game

2007-06-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

This one is from the excellent Candy Froggie....have you checked her gallery recently?

a writer: Robin McKinley
a painter/artist: Van Gogh
an actress: Kate Winslet
an actor: Johnny Depp
a director: Peter Jackson
a musician: Stephan Eicher
a singer (female): Alanis Morissette
a singer (male): George Michael, hehe
a band: Scorpion
an adventurer: Indiana Jones
a king/queen: Louis XVI
an inventor: the one who invented hammocks
a tv character: Veronica Mars
a movie hero: Zorro
a movie heroine: Hermione
a cartoon character: Road Runner
a tale hero: The Ogre
a tale baddie: Mr Mac Gregor (Peter Rabbit)
a mythologie character: a mermaid

I Have Been Tagged!

2007-06-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

All right so my good friend Heike tagged me...thank you my friend for passing along your punishment...have you heard of Karma? Hehe...So, I have to tell 8 things about myself that presumably people don't know and would like to know...dear god.
All right, here we go:

1. I make my own bread and yogurts. No, this is not a remake of the Little House in the Prairie. I just don't like what I find at the store :)

2. I blow dandelions seeds so that they go on my neighbors lawn on purpose. ( American people have a hatred for dandelions and I have declared myself their savior. Yes, I do realize that this is very immature but they bug me with their chemicals that they spray everywhere, it goes in my water and my air too ).

3. I'm very short tempered but I'm getting better. Kind of says Mark. Nobody asked you darling ;)

4. I want to move every 2 years.

5. I'd love to have a farm or a B&B by the sea.

6. My son and I have been "extended the privilege of the floor of the Assembly" at the Nevada State Legislature. Which means that we got to seat amongst the assembly women and men and watch them vote and talk (they pass secret messages to each other by the way. They also have secret meetings hehe!). We were also formally introduced to everybody and got a greeting from all of them. Then we went to dinner and they were quite funny :):)

7. I have been in ghost towns, real saloons in the middle of dusty nowhere, my car broke down in the middle of Death Valley and I slept in a room that was so slanted we kept having to scoot back up the bed all night long.

8. When nobody is at home I make myself a big bowl of ice cream with a giant scoop of whipped cream smothered in chocolate sauce and sprinkles. And when the others come back and that nothing of the good stuff is left I pretend I don't know what happened ;)

And now I have to pass it along to 8 people. Mmmm, don't know that many who have a blog so obviously it'll have to be Candy Froggie, Miss Penny, Helene and Hiro if she passes by? No, no, don't thank me :)

At World's End

2007-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

It was great! The special effects were incredible really. All my favorite characters were there: Captain Jack Sparrow of course but also Captain Barbossa and the excellent Tia Dalma the gypsy queen. Miss Swann manages to not be so annoying and, total miracle, Orlando Bloom manages to look like a pirate at the very end.
Critics here have complained that there is too many plot lines, that it is confusing and that the movie is too long. Well, actually, it seemed pretty straightforward to me: betrayal left and right :). Seriously, even my 11 year old had no problem whatsoever to follow the story sooooo, I don't know, brain change maybe? Reboot? As for the length, time flew by :). I loved the fact that the movie was about the last stand of the only truly free men and women of their era. And that "good business" represented by Lord Beckett gets blown up is very fitting.
Just go and enjoy yourself... I heard that Johnny Depp loves being Captain Jack so much he'd be happy to do another one. The final scene certainly leaves room for another story so let's cross our fingers and toes ;)

What Would You Be Willing to Do?

2007-05-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Would you breath the weird and haunted shores at world's End
To fetch back witty Jack?

Oh yeah, I'm all for it :)
I'll tell you how the fetching went ;)

The picture is from yahoo movies.

Mother's Day!

2007-05-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm really bad, I haven't written anything for so long and I'll give hints of why in the next few posts. For now, I'll share a bit of my Mother's Day with you ( it was almost 2 weeks ago here). First I want to say that it was a lovely day: Mark and the kids cooked the meal ( roasted chicken with herbs, tomatoes a la provencale, strawberry pie: all my favs!).
They had little gifts and cards that they always make themselves and that I love. They were particularly good this year. For example, let's see what my son's card says:

First page: "Happy Mother's Day!!"

( nothing out of the ordinary, lovely and sweet as you would expect )

Second Page: "I hope you like the present, but you have to guess what it is to get it"

( follows: a drawing of a bird with a seed in its beak. I guessed bird feeder and I was right )

But, wait, there is an asterisk at the end of the sentence. I'm told it refers to something written on the last page of the card.
And so I turn and at the top of the page there it is:

" I wanted to get you a $100.00 fountain but it was too expensive."

And then there is another asterisk so I look at the bottom of the page and it says:

"If I had a bigger allowance I could have bought it."

Mouahahahhahahahahahhaha! Well, played darling, well played! Sadly for him he only got a big kiss ;)

The Great Unknown

2007-05-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Laurienna and Mark are at a nursery, doing Laurienna's favorite activity: shopping for plants.
They arrive in the citrus isle filled with at least 30 different kinds: oranges, yellow lemons, limes, striped yellow and pink lemons, pomelos, blood oranges...And then, a pot with a little tree in marked " Unknown Citrus".
Laurienna: "Oh cool, let's take that one!"
Mark: "Why would you get an unknown citrus?"
L.: "Well, it's fun, it's like a surprise."
Mark: " But there are dozens of trees here. Why not take one that we actually like for sure?"
L.: "Because."
Mark: "Because what?"
L.: " Just because."
Mark: "I think you are insane."
L.: "Hehe. Put it in the cart, darling".
Mark: "You're just kidding right?"
L.: " Oh for god's sake! Why is this so disturbing to you?"
Mark: "I just don't see any reason to get an unknown citrus. It could be bad."
L.: "Oh come on, how bad could it be? I want that one."
Mark: "But whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"

So, what do you think it is? It could be a spotted yellow and orange mandarine, or a black and white kumquat, or a wavy lined pomelo?

Party Girl

2007-05-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Parents are trying to have a serious discussion.
The Daughter is going through the house saying rather loudly "Party, party, we are having a party!".
The Parents forge on, still trying to finish that talk.
The Daughter continues on and on and on. "Paaaaaaarty!"
The Daughter takes the phone, dials and says " Hi, L., do you want to come to my party?"
The Mother turns around and asks:" For Pete's sake, what are you talking about? What party?"
The Daughter: " Well, our party of course!"
The Mother: "But why on earth do you think we are having a party!?"
The Daughter: " Well, why else did you clean the house for?"

Discovery of the Year

2007-05-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

It's completely unproductive to take a shower before walking the dog when the temperature is already 81 F ( 27 C) in the shade at 8:30am.

Shoot

2007-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well, today is in much contrast than yesterday. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with friends by the pool yesterday, drinking margaritas and enjoying tacos and enchiladas. And today I waited and waited to finally learn the results of the french presidential election and I'm so disappointed.

I did it!

2007-05-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

I found a camera! I'm so excited, it feels like Christmas even though I'd have liked to have Santa just hand it to me instead of giving several hundreds of dollars to get it but the world is never a perfect place. In a few days I'll receive my Pentax K 100D. It looks like the perfect camera for me and I'll have to try it extensively in the garden ;)
Also, I realized today that I never put a link to Ms Penny website..I'll fix that right away, obviously I need to work more on this blog. Ahem.

It's raining, it's pouring...

2007-05-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on the way to school while it's pouring rain, miss A. looks at the gazillion snails on the sidewalk and says:
" What if the world was made of snails?"
Papa: "Well, I guess it'd be a slimy place!"
Miss A. "What if the cars were made of snails?"
She thinks a bit and says: "Huhu, I guess they would be a lot slower!"

Pffffffffew....

2007-04-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

100.8 F (38.3 C.) today. Thank god for ceiling fans, hammocks, and pastis.

Heeeeeelp!

2007-04-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

My camera is broken :(. All of the shots are blurry even the close-ups...It was never an easy camera but I managed fine for 2 years but no more. That's my second digital camera in 7 years (both Minolta's) and I'm really getting annoyed. It seems to me that the manufacturers are making throw away products all the time these days. At least that was my impression talking to the guy at the repair shop. Not happy. Sooooooo, does anyone has a suggestion for me?

Wanted, preferably alive:

One digital camera,
Easy to use,
Good light adjustments,
GOOD focus,
Macro function,
Last more than 3 years.

See, it's not too much, is it? I've heard good things about Kodak...does anyone have one?

Hers is my best shot out of the blurry 50 pics I took:

Children are so ungrateful

2007-04-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

My son comes back after a week away with his class.
I tell him how much I missed him which seems to please him.
Then I ask him " and you, what did you miss the most?"
His answer: " my dog and my bed "

Humph.

Vacation

2007-04-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

And, so, for Easter we stayed in town...which is pretty unusual for us. I'm dead tired these days, falling asleep on the couch at 9pm...unheard of!
And you know, I thought I'd be able to rest. Pffff....Well the thing is, I'm just a little bit compulsive in the amount of things I want to do every day. Just a tad :)
And so I baked
And we went to the zoo
And we planted a really big vegetable garden
And we planted flowers
And we visited old town to look for a birthday present
And we went for long walks
And we had friends coming over
And we went to watch high schoolers do some ballroom dancing...and they were excellent
And I worked
And I worked some more
And we went for bike rides
And I made a new friend
And I went to a lunch with the other mothers in my son's class
And I went shopping
And we went to the farmers market and my daughter bought me flowers
And we packed for my son who was leaving the day after vacation for a fieldtrip with his class

Well, there is more but it's making me tired again :)

Easter came and went

2007-04-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

Easter is always a bittersweet time of the year for me since I've moved to the US. It had always been my favorite vacation: it's spring, there is chocolate that you have to hunt for, and we would see the family. And in my case it was a big family. My grand-ma had 6 children, who each got at least 2 children. All of my cousins and I were born at max 3 years apart. My sister and one of my cousins are the yougest, born 5 years after the older ones.
We were with each other constantly, not only for each holidays but most week-ends too. When we were little we shared everything and took naps together.Then we grew up, and in the teenage years took care of each other during difficult times of divorces, fights with parents, girlfriends and boyfriends.
And family secrets that slowly got revealed.
And through it all we stayed together, keeping in touch and all of us meeting at my grandma's appartment. I remember the giggles, the tears, the whispers.
Et les betises :)
And then I moved across the ocean. And not only that, but I moved in the part of the country so far away from France that it takes 13 hours (and way too much money) in an airplane to get to Paris. I'm not going to go in the details of why I decided to live in the US in this post, maybe another time...
But what is for sure is that I remember big family reunions with a lot of laughing, talking, joking, good food and a lot of it and my dad opening bottles of champagne with a big "pop" while everybody was cheering.

Our first Easter in the US was fairly desastrous :)
I missed my family. I was sad that my son would not be with my family. I felt guilty that I left and the chocolate did not taste good. And I cried. And then we colored eggs and hid them and ate chocolate bunnies and I was happy again. But it comes back every year. And never at Christmas.
Mark's family is very different from mine and quite frankly very stressful. There are a lot of things that are wrong with them ;). Let's just say, that visiting his family is not a relaxed, happy going kind of event. And I decided that we would be spending Easter this year just by ourselves. Us and the kids.
Not surprisingly our kids are very close to each other and with us. Sometimes moving so far away feels very lonely. I think that's the very first time I said it...maybe I should open a bottle of champagne :):)
My son is gone for the week on a fieldtrip with his class and we miss him already. But I'm sure he'll have fun with his friends studying the ocean and marine life. And I hope there will be laughter, whispers and not too much tears.

Bored

2007-04-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

Not being able to use your hands properly is very annoying. There seem to be some hope: I can now bend my fingers enough to type although it hurts. I still can't see my knuckles however. So I decided, since we are speaking of stings to put up these pictures I took in my neighborhood last week:

I wonder if it would have been better to be stung by one of those rather than a stupid mosquito.

Sorry but Aouch.

2007-04-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

And I'm not posting again. Actually, I'm not working, cooking, gardening or doing much of anything either. Want to know why? One of my hands is triple its size. Yep. I've been stung by something and all evidence points to a mosquito bite. I've never had anything like that before, ever.
I have little children coming up to me asking if they can touch it.
I'm becoming a circus freak show.
I'm getting very grumpy.

P.S.: Tonight we have received an invitation to go to the zoo after hours to see some animals up close. How many mosquitoes do you think there are at the zoo at dusk?
Yeah, it's the cherry on top.

Death, Taxes and Chili

2007-03-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

No, no, I'm not dead. Yet!
It's tax time....
In this country, for us, that means 4 different tax forms:

Federal personnal taxes
California personnal taxes
Federal business taxes
California business taxes

Let's keep swimming, let's keep swimming....

Actually I shouldn't really complain since Mark is doing most of it. Just for that I'm sure he should be reincarnated in a higher being.

Except,

that my darling husband decided that now was the perfect time to also fix every little thing that is wrong with our computer:

2 fans,
1 mother board,
1 hard drive,
1 graphic card,
uploading a gazillion CDs in his new ipod.

HaHaHa.

Maybe he'll be reincarnated in a worm instead.

We have had a freezing wind for 2 days, which made me think of Chili, which made me think of Candy froggie, which made me think that I said I'd give my recipes. So here is the basic one I do all the time ( and it's fast and simple enough to do even if you are in a hurry)

Chili con Carne

50 g (3 tbsps) of butter
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
500g ( 1 lb) ground beef
2 tsps chili powder
4 tsps ground cumin
65g ( I always put more than that, like half or more of the little cans ) tomato paste
2 or 3 cans ( 400g each or 8oz )beans ( I put in at least 3 different ones: black beans, cannelini beans and kidney beans )
Beef bouillon

Melt the butter in a large pot and put in the onions and the garlic until just golden.
Add the meat and cook, stirring a bit for 10 mns.
Add the chili and the cumin to the tomato paste ( little kids love to that) and mix with the meat.
Add the beans and the bouillon so that it covers the meat and beans.

Cover and cook for 25 mns.
Serve with rice.

If you can't find chili powder use 1 tsp or less of cayenne. It's worth hunting down the chili powder though, that smoky taste is wonderful in chilis.

I have a lot more recipes of chilis, all delicious that I'll post at some time, but this simple one is really a favorite ;)
I'll be back soon with 2 lengthy posts...

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!

2007-03-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

It's here, it's finally here!
Ok, let's turn down the teenage hysterics now.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!

And did you hear the nice little catchy phrase : "If I wasn't mad, this would probably never work. "

They might have to drag me out of the theater you know :)

Questions

2007-03-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

A little game by Candy Froggie :)

a colour: deep purple ( like wine or the skin of an eggplant )
a flower: wild rose
a fruit: fig
an animal: wolf
a tree: oak
a drink: wine
a building: an old house with secret passages
a food: just one? man that's hard...smoked salmon
a common thing: pencil
a language: English ;)
a smell: my children, especially as babies :)
a perfume: Hypnotic poison by Dior
an invention: bread machine
a means of transport: horses
an epoch: that's hard...I think I'll go with pre-historic because you could just pick up your stuff and go.
a season: Spring
a month: August
a day: Sunday
a time: midnight
a piece of clothes: coat
a jewel: a magic ring
a body part: the back
a complex : not speaking french much to my children
a girl name : Alizée
a boy name : Thomas
a country : Africa
a city : London
an actor : Johnny Depp
an actress : Meryl Streep
a famous character from History: Marie Antoinette
a famous man : David Beckham
a famous woman : Angelina Jolie
an adjective : restless
a fault : lazy
a quality : generous
a monument : the eiffel tower
one of the seven wonders of the world : the suspended gardens of Babylone
a song : All I really want by Alanis Morissette
a movie: Out of Africa
a job : mama and jewelry maker
a sport : sleeping in my hammock ( well, you have to climb a little bit!)
a figure : 8
a sentence : "I don't see why not"
a word : knowledge
a recipe : chili!
a painting : any of the paintings by Candy Froggie or Daniel Merriam
a pair of shoes: boots and flip-flops ( it's better when you try to get in the hammock! )

Aaaaaaah Spring!

2007-03-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Lovely, lovely Spring.

The flowers

The birds

The Neighbors

Yeah, the neighbors. They tented their entire house to fumigate the inside because they have beetles.
Needless to say the organic gardener that I am, the lover of all things natural and fresh, everybody living happily with everything on Earth is thrilled, just thrilled. And don't tell me " well, it's tented so it's fine" cause I can SMELL it.
I have only one word right now: " gnnnnnnn".
Pffff, people.

California Squirrel :)

2007-03-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

La Brea Tar Pits

2007-03-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

A few miles from Disneyland, in L.A. a smell permeates the streets. I guess in L.A., it could be a lot of different things (!) ( people from L.A., don't be mad, I'm quite sure you'd have thought of that lil' joke yourself). However the smell, this time, comes from large pools of tar ( goudron in french). The reason this is particularly interesting ( yes it is!), is because a lot of prehistoric animals and at least one human have been found. And many more are still being fished out. They have found hundreds of mammoths, saber tooth cats, dire wolves, condors, ancient camels etc... It is a small museum but extremely interesting and well made. They have a contraption where you can test how it feels to be stuck in tar. And let me tell you, no wonder everything got stuck in there.
My favorite part was the aptly named " fishbowl" which is the part of the lab where you can watch as the scientists are working. We were able to watch some sifting small particles for small bones, a guy was cleaning the tar of a giant sloth head and another one was piecing together pieces of turtle shells ( talk about a puzzle!).

The way back home lead us through Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive and then it was hill after hill and more cows and ... well, I think I've already mentioned that huh?

Funnily enough, the kids seemed to have as much fun at the museum as at Disneyland :)

For Ever And Ever

2007-03-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

That's what it took to get to Disneyland. You are driving for 6h30 mns in the middle of nowhere. Oh, sure, there are cows, and fruit trees that smell a hell of a lot better than the cows, grapevines, more cows. And hills, lots and lots of hills. And wind, lots and lots of wind. And more cows. And hawks too.
And then, quite suddenly ( nah, I wasn't sleeping pffff..) ( well, maybe a little )you find yourself in L.A. traffic which is always something. First there is ALWAYS an accident. Yes, I do mean ALWAYS. And so you are stuck, and stuck, and stuck some more. And, unbelievably, while you are stuck because of an accident, you witness ANOTHER accident happening on the lane right next to you. This time it's a lady who rear ended the huge truck in front of her. We were going at max 2 miles per hour and she manages to rear end a truck. I wonder if she was talking on the phone, eating spaghetti, doing yoga or if she was just so bored she really really wanted something to happen right now. People, I'm telling you, tssss.

( yes, I'm feeling very superior right now. I mean, come on! 2 miles per hour tops! )

Ok, let's breathe ( well, as well as you can through the smog you know, it's L.A. after all ).
There are lots of people with red cars that look like they could go really fast. Except we are all stuck as you know and "that's what you call ironic" ( Pirates of The Carribean dialogue here ). And after a few turns you find yourself on Disneyland Drive. Everybody is happier and we reach the motel with a sigh of relief.

The 2 next days were spent having fun Disney style. We flew with Peter Pan, had a mad tea party, got shot by pirates, hugged Minnie ( the second my daughter paused to get her picture taken with Minnie, my camera died. It just died. I couldn't believe it. Good thing Minnie is an extra nice mouse: Miss A. got an extra hug and a really nice autograph! I still can't believe it died.).

We ate Jambalaya and Gumbo and Mickey beignets and Churros.

A ghost hitched a ride with us at the Haunted Mansion and we met Geppetto. And we got sunburned and drenched the same day ( I had never been so soaked before, to the point of wringing water out of my underwear).

And then, there was the parade and the fireworks...I love their fireworks! I love the fact that you are in the middle and that they surround you with them.

And there was shopping...too much shopping ;)

It was fun...lots of fun. And there was still one more day of vacation and we decided to spend it at La Brea.

To Be Continued....

Yoho,yoho, no pirates life for me...

2007-02-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

In spite of a very tempting proposition from Captain Jack Sparrow to join his band of mecreants, we made our way back to Sacramento on the winds of a storm. And, sadly, after the euphoria of sleeping in your own bed and take a shower in your bathtub has passed, you are left with more laundry than you thought possible and little Jedis wanting food (again?). I'll be back shortly. I think.

I wonder if the offer from Jack Sparrow would still stand.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2007-02-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's Disneyland and that's where we are going. Actually, this trip was a gift for Mark's birthday (yes, I know, he'd rather be in Hawaii on the beach, hehe). That's the 2nd time that we'll be going there (with the kids that is; we had been there together before we had kids)(that sounds almost impossible: before we had kids? Can't even form that thought fully!). The first time we went for the wedding of one of Mark's cousin who was getting married very close. At the time, incredibly, I didn't think I'd like it and wanted to spend all my time at the Ocean with the kids. But my mother-in-law insisted we should go arguing that it was silly to be so close to Disneyland with little kids and not go. She was right and so we went...and we had a blast. We all loved it which I really didn't think would happen. But the look on my daughter's face (she was 5 at the time) when she met and talked with Cinderella, Mickey, Tigger and Captain Hook was priceless indeed. We stuffed ourselves with Churros and Mickey ice cream. We watched Tinkerbell flying over us during the fireworks and the parade quite frankly is amazing.
This time, the plan is to have tea with Minnie and meet up with Captain Jack Sparrow on New Orleans Square :)

We'll be back Saturday or Sunday. If you are going on vacation, have a good time and if you are stuck at the office, heu, well, sorry!

Swarmed

2007-02-17T20:35:00.001-08:00

Spring has arrived full force in the Sacramento valley. We don't really have a winter here. We have summer with temps in the 100 F. (37 C.) as the norm and staying above that for days at a time with no rain for months (June to end of October). And then it's just a looooong fall/spring being just a bit colder for a few days in January. And there is a downside: mosquitoes. Swarms after swarms of big mosquitoes everywhere. The soil is clay in most parts of the valley which means that puddles stay there for days making the little suckers very happy...and no amount of garlic repels them unfortunatly ;)

Everybody is covered in bites these days even if we are careful...even the dog has had enough. I'm thinking of getting a bat house this year...I'd take bats over mosquitoes any day!

A Little Game

2007-02-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

Candy Froggie had a game on her site about movies. Since I had computer troubles at that time I had not played. Now that everything is going well ( crossing fingers and toes), here are my answers:

1. A movie that makes you laugh: Don Camillo
2. A movie that makes you dance: Take the Lead
3. A movie that moves you to tears: E.T. every single time!
4. A movie that gets on your nerves: Sahara
5. A movie that makes you shudder: Any pirates, adventure (like Indiana, Lord of the Rings etc...).
6. A movie that makes you want to travel: Out of Africa
7. A too romantic movie: Shakespeare in Love
8. A movie I've in mind just right now: Lawrence of Arabia
9. A movie everybody knows by heart: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
10: A movie with a real bad ending: Chocolat (not the one with Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche) but the one by Claire Denis
11. A movie with a soundtrack you really love: Take the Lead, Real Women have Curves, Buffy (I know it's a show but...)
12. A movie I'd really like to watch again: mmm, there is a lot of them! Let's choose...Cry Baby and The Devil Wears Prada :)
13. A movie with erotic bits that inspire you: Le Grand Bleu
14. A movie you could watch a thousand times without getting bored: Any Indiana Jones
15. A movie for kids that you love: The Castle in the Sky, Howl's Moving Castle, Ice Age, Pirates of the Carribean etc, etc!
16. A favorite cartoon: Peter Pan

Voila! Finally did it :)
And here is the trailer of The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep is as usual excellent, a must-see I think!

The Last Few Days

2007-02-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

Were lovely! Mark's birthday was great. He is getting 3 parties, no less, which cheered him up considerably ;)
Valentine's day was very good as well. In fact it was great: we all got to dig in the mud to try to make a garden out of the backyard. We had a great time, followed by a great dinner and cake, made by me both in 30 mns. I got raved revues ;)( not that they had the choice or anything hehe ).
Yesterday, started equally great: glorious spring day, everybody in t-shirts, smiling and in a good mood ( see: valentine's day is very good for you ). We got the kids in bed at a reasonnable hour for once and we started to watch a japanese movie that I had wanted to watch for a while:

We were enjoying ourselves quite a bit when we suddenly heard helicopters flying over the house. This is a common occurence. They are police helicopters and are used to follow suspects night or day. So we just continued to watch the movie. But the helicopter was very insistent and usually they don't keep flying over the house, they make a wide circle in between the 2 big streets ( our neighborhood is stuck in the middle). Then they started asking (in a loud speaker) for everybody to close the doors and windows, keep the pets inside and call 911 if anybody saw something suspicious. Which was quite a bit funny, I thought. All right, so, of course we did, and the whole thing went on for a good 45 mns. The sheriffs came with their dogs, and they went in all the backyards with their flashlights. And I don't know if they found what they were looking for or not.
What's funny is that the whole thing didn't faze me one bit. We now live in a very nice neighborhood (I swear it's true, this stuff happens everywhere here) but we used to live next door to drug dealers and across the street from a gang. Which didn't faze me much either. My mom thinks there is something wrong with me. I don't know what to think. She is shocked that after the circus was done I just went to sleep, slept soundly with not a worried thought. I'm thinking: well, the sheriff was there with the dogs, the police was there, Mark was there, Piper the great beast was there, we live down the street from a member of the SWAT team, next street from us lives my good friend M. who is a cop and kicks butt, I had closed up everything that could...I mean, what else could I do at 1 am? Of course she also doesn't think I should walk the dog by myself at night, drink beer when it's not August, eat sausages, work, plant more trees, read too much and for pete's sake Marie-Laure you should wear make-up ;). Mmmph.
And that's my point: I'm not easily scared that's true but I'm not a lunatic! I carry a cell phone at night and keys can be quite useful. I know so many people in the neighborhood by now there are dozens of houses I could run to if I had a problem. Not mentionning a great big dog by my side. But my mom was upset and I don't know what to tell her anymore... Of course it's true: anything could happen at any time. I sincerely don't think paranoia helps though. But I'm sure the fact that I am in the States makes it worse for her. I just read in National Geographic that adults in the United States have more chance to die of a firearm assault than being runover by a car. What about in France though? I've been gone a while but from what I hear it's not safer..
So, what do you think, am I being careless?