Mama, mama....

Said miss A. this morning, "it's froggie outside!!"
Miss A. has a lot of words like that, half invented and half " I won't bother to say it the right way, I like that way better" :)

A Good Girl

In my old age, ahem, I'm becoming the epithome of Zen. Yeah, I swear and I won't spit.

Today was a perfect example. My father-in-law was visiting and went to pick up miss A. from school and took her on the playground so that she could show off her moves on the monkey bars. After a while I decided to take Piper on a walk and stopped at the playground on the way back to say hello. As usual when I'm walking the dog she is swarmed by the kids who wanted to pet her.

3 seconds after I arrived, a lady comes up to me and tells me in an unfriendly and condescending tone that "the kids can't pet the dog 'cause they are in Bridges ( the after-school program ) and if they are not in Bridges they still need their parents' permission."
And then, fatal mistake, she keeps talking. Looking at Piper she says "I don't want to pet you either: you are too big and too black."

A few years ago here is what I'd have said: "Well, you're fat, ugly and dumb so I don't want to talk to you either. There."

Instead I stood there, looking at her, silently, thinking " do I say it or not?". Finally, I decided to just turn my back on her.

Granted, I could have pointed out that I was actually in a public park, after regular school hours. That she needs to get hold of the delighted kids that were all around us petting a rock still dog and do her job. That I know that nobody likes her because she is power hungry and petty. And that the parents want her fired.
But I decided it probably wasn't much better than the " fat, ugly, dumb" line and so I showed exemplary restrained.

I think.

Now I deserve chocolate.

Oh, and here is a picture of the fearsome beast. I hope you won't get too scared :)

Play

Last night we went to see a play by my favorite people: my son and his classmates in the "13 colonies". They have known each other for 4 years now, with the exception of a few that only arrived this year. They have had to work together in spite of the inevitable spats that happens in a group of people whatever their age. They have grown, both physically and mentally. All the parents were so proud, and me I almost cried...I'm so relieved that my children are happy and healthy. When I took the decision to move to the US ( yes it was my idea ), I wasn't so sure I'd like it. And granted there is plenty to complain about. Actually, if I didn't have kids I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here anymore. I wanted to be an archeologist all my life ( and I still do ). In my mind, my life would be spent on my knees with a brush delicately pushing sand of artifacts in some far away country where it's too hot and nobody in their right mind would want to stay.
But my parents decided otherwise and I didn't dare escape and leave my little sis' by herself with my mom who is not such a healthy person. And now my little sis' is training for her dream job, raising 2 beautiful children and married to a grreat guy.
So in the end it workes great for everybody doesn't it?
And maybe one day I can work in an anthropology or archeology field, who knows?
In the meantime, I'm thrilled everything turned out all right for the people I love so much. After the play, we got to stuff ourselves with all the goodies that the parents baked and talk to everybody to our hearts content. And watched our kids play together, starting the dance of attraction inevitable in between boys and girls. The chase, the giggles, the whispers and nugging on the girls side. The laughs, bragging and showing off on the boys side.
They are growing up indeed :)

In the pics: my son in between the 2 tallest boys in the class
and his ,hum, "best friend" shall we say in the next picture :)

Spiiiiiiike!

Following a discussion with Candy Froggie about the beloved Buffy the vampire slayer, I asked my husband what he thought about his wife and her attraction to Spike.

Mark: "You like Spike??!! I'd have thought you liked Angel better!"
Laurienna: "Well, I like Angel better when he gets older later in the show. Spike definitely has a little something."
Mark: "Mmmmm. Does it mean we can role-play?"

Y'en a qui perde pas le nord. :):)

I'll let you contemplate these pictures and decide which one you like better. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to find an ankle length leather coat mmmm...

Curious George

We watched the movie this week-end. It was the first movie that my daughter went to see in the theater like a big girl. The animation is excellent: the colors, drawings and music are all very good and work perfectly with each other. A perfect movie for the younger crowd, which I proudly am a part of.I dare you to watch it and not smile... if you've got little kids it might also give you a few minutes of peace ;)

Brrrrr....

It's still icy in the morning even though it was supposed to warm-up. I feel sorry for the citrus growers , my orange tree died too :(. Ah well.... I'd all like you to know that I took all these pictures in my pj's , way too early and before my coffee. I hope you'll appreciate my dedication to this blog ;)

Other members of the family have chosen another approach to their saturday morning :)

Today

Today I:

-overslept and had to get the kids out the door in 20 mns
-drank 4 cups of coffee and I'm still sleepy. Which, I guess, is good since I have to go to bed soon.
-swore copiously at the computer for crashing on me 3 times and taking 47 mns...just to start up.
-worked on a sale for my website and it's done :)
-received a package from France :):)
-made a lunch of an entire jar of mini winies ( cocktail sausages) and half a package of licorice.
-had a stomach ache
-decided to make soup tonight to redeem myself
-had the dog take me on a walk and brought home the kids from school and 2 of their friends
-made a list for the grocery store, sent my husband there and then called him on his cell every 5 mns because " I forgot to put it on the list"
-cleaned my desk. Well, ok, attempted to clean my desk.
-watered all the plants even the dead ones, cause you never know, miracles happen.
-looked at this picture of Posh and wondered if she can get out when it's windy
-picked up my pill and learned that it now cost $9 more than it used to for a total of $23. I'm not even going to comment on that. Not yet anyway.

And tonight I'm finishing the dvd of....Buffy the vampire slayer, season 2 disc one. Mmmm?? Me, no, no shame at all, I don't see what you mean. Plus, Spike just arrived in town :)

Peggy is here!!

Peggy made it to Sacramento in one piece and I'm thrilled! The painting , (well you can't really see it in this bad picture), is great: the colors, details and the imagination behind the whole thing is wonderful. I can't stop looking at it and we finally decided on the perfect spot and I'm going to get it framed next week. It actually gave me a boost of creativity, so double thank you to Candy Froggie !! I love it :)

Boobs and stuff

Last night at the dinner table:

Miss A.: " L. ( who is the big sister of A. who is miss A's best friend, yes I thought you were dying to know that ) said something really discusting today! "

The parents exchange a glance, thinking that miss A. coming after a boy like mister T. could not possibly say something they had not already heard a gazillion times, encourage her to share this essential piece of information with everybody. Mister T. is gleefully waiting for what had to be really really good.

Miss A.: " She said that in 3rd grade your boobs start growing. "
" YUCK!"
Mister T.: " Oh man, what do you say that kind of stuff for! That's really discusting!! Oh my god, bleh!!"

The parents find the whole thing quite funny and Laurienna promptly reassures her daughter that L. is pretty much right and that she can see why miss A would find that discusting right now but that she'd bet that in a few years she'll actually want to have bigger boobs. Miss A. shakes her head in horror.

Now I'm sure any good parent would have stopped there or said something actually helpful to their son. However I cannot resist teasing him a bit. I think it's really good for him.

Laurienna to Mister T.: " And you, you seemed quite happy with my boobs when you were a baby. Ah, and we'll talk again about what you think about boobs when you're 15."

I can't tell you what he said, it came out more like a gargle.

I'll be back to tell you all about my fantastic ( in every sense of the word) extended Christmas. I know you can't wait ;)

Iron Chef " Waffles"

In the US, on the food channel, there is a japanese show called the Iron Chef that has had a huge success. 2 chefs are in competition: they have an hour or 2 to make as many dishes as possible with a secret ingredient that is revealed to them at the last minute. It's very entertaining and my kids love it! A few years ago, my son suggested that we do an iron chef competition of our own with waffles as the main ingredient. It has turned into a family tradition and we do it every year around the holidays. This year , with the kids growing up and knowing how to cook more, was particularly yummy :)

We use a pre-made waffle mix ( I know, I know, but it's the mornin' people ) and the object of the battle is to make the best topping for the waffles. Here are the results:

- Almond meal and lemon zest mixed in the dough, topped with almonds and powdered sugar.

-Chocolate chips, orange zest and hazelnut meal mixed in the dough, topped with maple syrup.

- Chocolate and mashed bananas mixed in the dough, topped with powdered sugar.

-Plain waffle dough topped with pears simmered in maple syrup with a cinnamon stick. This one, with no exageration, was heavenly. I swear there is no other word for it. Try it with waffles, crepes, on top of yogurt, anything...

Now, your turn, what is YOUR favorite waffle?

Not Dead but Almost

Well, of course there is a wee bit of exageration there ;). Just a wee bit. The holidays were great minus a bad cold making the round in the family and like 90% of the population around the world we had too much to eat ( my daughter asked if 1n 2010 you had to have an even bigger meal than in 2006!), a bit too much to drink and we went to bed way too late. It was a lot of fun especially since the only thing we had been doing since Christmas was trying to repair the computer. It seems that the problems came when a big storm hit Sacramento, shutting down the power 3 times while the computer was on. Then, the internet provider was having troubles and when finally I tried to get online to post then Blogger was having troubles pffffffffff. Now all of this was in between Christmas and January 2nd. It was a beautiful day, a spring day really, and we decided to all go to the park, including Piper. We all had a great time, the kids found some friends and the dog owners were chatting watching the dogs play for 2 hours. And when we came back home Piper was limping. Of course I worry but not too much, must be a muscle, she needs to rest kind of thing. 2 days later she is still limping but a lot less and we decide to take her to the vet who annouces that she probably tore a ligament and requires surgery which would involve cutting the bone of her leg and putting in a metal plate and the recovery will take 10 weeks. But to be sure she needs complete anesthesia so that they can take x-rays. Needless to say we were in complete shock. We agreed to the x-rays but we were crushed: she is only 10 months old, how could this happen? After much reading on the internet I arrive to the conclusion that she probably just strained a muscle but of course we went ahead with the x-rays to be sure. And just this morning a specialist called, he had looked at the x-rays and he is sure it's just a sprain: " just give her a bit of aspirin". I was so relieved I could have kissed him :). So after 3 nights of not sleeeping and 2 days of reading on the subject of torn ligaments in dogs, life is back to mostly normal.
Tonight we are watching this, with a bottle of wine and Piper's head on my lap and I just can't wait!
And I'm also looking forward to visit all of your blogs, and Cecile I haven't forgotten about the waffles I'll post about it tomorrow when I'm a bit catched up with work ;)
And I just tried to post a few pics but no luck, blogger is mad at me :(