The Great Unknown

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

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

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

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!

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...

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....

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

Heeeeeelp!

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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!

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 :)

La Brea Tar Pits

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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?

Happy B-day!

Happy Birthday Mark!!
He is turning, huh, hum, 26 isn't it? Sure there is a little bit of gray here and there but it just matches my own darling. And really you still get carded when you buy alcohol or ( completly incredible but true ) cough syrup for your sick child. Even though,really, you're 38. Oups, it just slipped out! Sorry!
And you're so fortunate since right on your b-day you get to go on a field trip with 33 eleven years old who have been cooped up inside for a week because of the crappy weather. 6 hours of glorious happiness. Eating a cold sandwich for lunch. Ah, come on, it makes you feel young. And the bonus is: you get to be with 33 happy (ok,ok,overexcited in a give me the ritalin kind of way, but it's the same thing really) little people for most of the day.
And no it's not raining. It's just the sprinkles on the cake :)


ps: I don't really have gray hair. I just said that to make him feel better you understand. I just thought I should be perfectly honest about this.

Signs

Do you think it's a sign
when your mother in law calls at 8 am on a Sunday
and tells you that you've already done 2 things wrong even though
the only thing you've done so far is dragging yourself up to go pee?

Wave

Waving to Candy Froggie :). I know it has been a while...Actually, I'd like to take this opportunity to rant. See, I've calculated that I've 2 days ( I do mean 2, the single digit number 2 ) of good health during the whole month of January. And February hasn't been much better so far ever. Thankfully we've had amazingly good weather and Sacramento is in full spring mode. Well, this week it's rainy and froggie but we need water so I'll not complain about that. No, no, what I want to complain about is school. The good old dreaded school. Never liked it for multiples reason:
- no sleeping-in even though you really had a really tiring week-end clubbing and all.
- they crowed your head with useless stuff like math. Who needs math?
- you've got to be polite to teachers who clearly got their degree in a cereal box.
- you can't dress the way you want.
- you get sick all the time.

But the worse is all of the above still applies YEARS after you finally got out of there, naively thinking you were done with all that crap.
And boy, karma did catch up to me. All these years of laziness, doing philosophy papers due at 2:15 pm during lunch time and so on and so on.
Well, that's it. I don't know which god I have to pray to for this curse to be lifted but I'm done . You hear me up there??

I'll come back soon but I'll give you a few spring pics from last week ;)

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 :(