Wasabi Doc?

Subtitled: Home Remedies for the Common Cold

I discovered that a handful of Trader Joe's Wasabi Peas did a really great job at clearing out my sinuses when I had the cold!



Any other good remedies? I'll pick one comment at random and send the lucky one a bag of peas.

Happy Anniversary

I did a nice post last year for our 25th anniversary.

So here we are at 26! As with Frank's birthday, the year just flew by. Where did it go? I don't even have a decent picture of the two of us together this last year. That's always a problem when I am the one taking the pictures. I hope one of the boys will take a picture of us before we go out to dinner. We're going to Root 246. My niece recommends the chili dog, but I said "Chili dog? On my anniversary? I don't THINK so." Burp! And the kids? Although they have demonstrated that they are capable of cooking, they'll probably get pizza.

If you give a boy...

[Blink. What happened? This boy was little yesterday.]

If you give a boy a knife...




He might chop some vegetables.



If he chops some vegetables, he might keep going and cook the whole dinner.

If he cooks the whole dinner, he will eat it up.

If he eats it up, he will say yum.

Yum.

The End.

Heart Shaped Potato

So President Obama and David Letterman were joking about a heart shaped potato? We had one, a long time ago.





Oh my, isn't little Ernest adorable? He was three and and a half. His talking Franklin toy was cute, too. Sometimes, Franklin would say, "I love fly pie!" And Ernest and I would crack up. Ernest would squeeze Franklin over and over, to get him to say the fly pie line and make me laugh. Sigh.

The Rag Bag

All those clothes we've given away over the years. What happens to the ones so tacky that even a thrift store can't sell them?

Some of them are turned into rags. The Handy Husband bought a box of rags for the dirty work in the garage. "Wiping Pals?"

These appear to be knit terry rejects from the 80s.

The Beach Babe halter top --



A chunk of a monogrammed bathrobe--



Look! We had quite a chuckle over the lavender choners--



They got a little dirty --



What will come out of the box next?

Birthday Breakfast

Yes, he was surprised...

By the pie...

Hey Nineteen

Last year I commemorated Frank's 18th birthday here, here and here. And now it's a year later. Funny how a year flies by.

The plans for the day include breakfast with the family (including cousins and grandparents), and dinner out at a Greek restaurant.

The cake? Once again, he said "surprise me." He really shouldn't do that -- it gives me far too much chance for mischief. So his cake this year...shh, don't tell him (I don't think he reads my blog)...isn't going to be a cake at all!

It's going to be PIE!

Fundraising

I know the schools are short money. I donated a lot in the spring, to help fund the music and art programs.

But it's getting a little draining.

Now it's the annual gift wrap fundraiser. I don't want any gift wrap or cookie dough, thank you very much. I'm trying to reduce the clutter, not add to it. Oh, the guilt. So I made another donation.

Next week, there is a spaghetti feed. After participating in one a few years ago (cooking pounds of spaghetti in the evening, delivering it to school the next morning, and eating it reheated that evening) I am a little squeamish about that, too. [I felt comfortable eating at Mr. Thomas's pre-school spaghetti dinner because I knew there was a professional in the kitchen!] Maybe another donation instead?

And yet to come, still more fundraising for the 8th grade trip. Each child is supposed to volunteer 20 hours of time for bake sales, car washes, etc. There is a RUMOR that if the child is involved in some other kind of community service, he/she can count those hours instead.

Hello? I hope so. Ernest has already amassed over 200 (TWO HUNDRED, that's right) hours volunteering at the zoo this summer. He's got a personal goal of another 75 to go by the end of the year, to reach a cumulative total of 500 hours over the last 2 years. Something nice will happen if he makes it! This is one motivated child.

Note to self -- must find out about this rumor.

Holy Knotted Shoelaces, Batman

Jenn is student teaching in first grade. And she was worried about shoe tying.

I started to comment on her post and it got too long..thankfully, that's what a blog is for!!!!!!!!!

My latest assignment as an aide is several [still waiting for a schedule!] first grade classrooms. We've had three full weeks of schools so far and I am FULL OF STORIES.

Quite a few of them still can't tie their shoes. And, I am sad to say, there have been a few second graders also!!!! Perhaps because they wore velcro too long? I think velcro is great for Pre-K and probably for Kindergarten. [But I don't know for sure -- maybe Mr. Thomas can give me the lowdown sometime.] One first grader consistently has untied shoes. EVERY DAY! ALL THE TIME!! Does he come to school like that? His brother was the same way last year.

Muddy shoes were an issue last week, until I moved the soccer goal! My 8th grader was disturbed when I told him I had been cleaning mud out of a 1st grader's shoes. "You shouldn't have to do that," he cried. Him with the elephant poo on his shoes.

So there are my shoe stories. How about you?

Anything interesting happening with shoes in your world? (Jen's found some more cute Crocs.)

Life with Teenagers

Parents of young children, do not despair. Soon they will grow up and you will find yourselves with unexpected evenings free, although the timing may not be good.

We thought everyone would be home tonight. However... Frank's drummer friend called, said a really good guitar player was coming over and could Frank (bass) come too (35 miles away). So he's gone. And Ernest's friend called...could he come over...yes, he could eat there (because I haven't even started dinner yet). Ernest's riding his bike but we don't have enough C batteries for his bike light so he will stop at the hardware store on his way.

You'd think this would be a green light for a lovely romantic dinner, but ...I'm sneezing and the HH's car project has been enticing seducing bugging obsessing keeping him busy him all day and he is in the garage, all filthy and sweaty.

So...leftovers or takeout????

Hanging Out

Ernest had even more zoo volunteering to do this weekend: the ZooBQue tonight, and zoo theater tomorrow morning. So I said, I'll take you there, but we're spending the night so I don't have to get up so early on Saturday!

Just a few minutes ago we were IMing each other across the motel room and feeling very silly about that. And then the power went out! Now it's back on, but HBO has disappeared from the TV. This motel is much nicer than where the Handy Husband and I stayed last weekend! I've got pictures of that, I've just been too lazy to post them.

My plans for tomorrow: sleep late while Ernest walks to the zoo (we are THAT close!) at 8 a.m., shop, go out to lunch, and see a movie. It should be a nice day, and somewhat cooler. I know this because Ernest checked out the weather on his iPod.: "I love wi-fi SO MUCH!" he said.

ZooSnooze Pooz Part Twoz

Ernest went to another ZooSnooze on Sunday. The Handy Husband and I caught the gorillas at breakfast before we found Ernest Monday morning.



Then we snuck up on Ernest and I photographed him in action, just like the animals. Darn it, he moves too fast, just like the animals!



He came home with only a small amount of elephant poo on his shoes this time.

Exactly!

That's exactly what it's like around here. Ernest talks so fast I can't even understand him sometimes. Or are my ears slower than they used to be?

It's Funny How Things Work

Can someone explain to me why I have two teenage sons yet I am the one with pimples on my chin?

Why did my cat become addicted to turkey lunch meat, then inexplicably refuse to eat it?

And why, when I was perfectly happy to be laid off, did I not only get rehired but now have come across two other possible jobs? -- accounts payable at my husband's office, and administrative assistant at a local museum. (I am inclined to keep my status quo because I do love my summer vacations.)

So what's strange in your life lately?

Green Day

My husband and I love concerts. His first, at age 14, was the Allman Brothers. He was my first took me to my first, Blue Oyster Cult. Both at Rob Gym, UCSB. (Sidetrack...Who else did we see there? The Tubes! Anyone remember The Tubes??? "What Do You Want From Life?")

So we were really pleased when our kids got old enough to drag along (we started them early, at 10 or 11), because let's face it: theme parks get old after a while. We've taken our sons to a lot of great shows, but it's been a while since our last major concert.

We were supposed to see Aerosmith last Sunday, but you know what happened.

Thankfully, seeing Green Day Tuesday night made up for that. Although, if I'd know we weren't going to see Aerosmith I would have bought more expensive (closer) seats for Green Day.

Frank had a ticket for the floor. (We had an extra ticket for a friend of his, who couldn't go, and Frank did not find anyone else to take the ticket. Maybe he should have asked harder.) The rest of us had real seats...because my feet get tired! I have no commentary on Frank's experience, except he didn't get trampled and he got back to the car before we did.

The show opened promptly at 8:00 with Franz Ferdinand, from Scotland. Not a group I'd ever listened to before, but they were great. There were random explosions (probably from testing Green Day's pyrotechnics) which made everyone jump, a toilet paper blower (I hope the folks who have TPd us don't get one), and even bagpipes at the end.

Green Day took the stage at 9:11 and they TOOK OVER. This was their last US show, and I have never heard a band express so much pleasure over their audience ("this is the most people we've had on the floor the whole tour") and their location ("Los Angeleez!"). Billie Joe said they were going to play all night and they did, literally, till midnight. So much for getting home early!

My husband says: "I loved the cadence of his voice and his crunchy, hard guitar." I don't review the music...it was great. You can find lots of clips on YouTube. These are from Tuesday's show. No doubt there will be more later.



The audio on this one is not great, but...what the heck...



This show was ALL ABOUT audience participation. I've never been to a show where so many people were encouraged to crawl up on stage. The security guards, instead of pushing people back, were pulling people up onto the catwalk to dance and prance. Some audience members got special treats: two kids were pulled up to be saved, a boy sang a whole song, and a supposedly 21-year old long-haired blond guitarist, after downing an entire beer, played on Jesus of Suburbia. He was so good, I thought he was a plant! But there's a video of another show, with someone completely different, so I think it's legit.



I met another mom in the frisk line (they were seriously patting us down). Her daughter was 11, it was her first concert, and the mom thought she was old enough to tolerate the "f-bombs." Yes, Billie Joe said FUCK a lot. Constantly! But not in an insulting way like Ozzy.

Summary: We had a great time, I hope I've written something coherent because I'm still functioning on less than 4 hours of sleep, and I'm surprised we couldn't find someone to take the extra ticket. "I don't like Green Day," was the common answer.

I say: "Keep an open mind and you might have a great time!"

Good Things

Frank's mini is back home, all fixed. He washed the truck in preparation for our trip yesterday afternoon. Did I mention we saw Green Day last night????


I had a good day at school. Ernest's mood definitely improved. I picked him up early, because did I mention we went to Green Day??? Where the boys did their back-to-school shopping: concert t-shirts.

I'll post on the show later. It was great!

Now Ernest and I are going to drag our sleepy selves (only 4-4.5 hours sleep) to school.

Strange Ending

And the first day of school ends... MY day was fine.

The ThirteenYearOld???? Comes home, procrastinates, complains, says he's forgotten how to write, delays, snarks, snaps, and is totally unlike the lovely person I kindly drove around all summer. This person? A stranger I don't want to know. Time for bed, because we have a really long day tomorrow.

First Day

Me: made Ernest's lunch and located my whistle (yes, I got rehired).
Ernest: stocked his backpack with supplies leftover from last school year.

Take a deep breath and we're ready to go.

Freeway Crash (NOT MINE!)

I was really glad my days of Driving Miss Daisy Mr. Ernest are over when I saw this picture...


I'm also glad the Handy Husband and Frank were home too, because it happened on a piece of freeway we've all been driving on frequently!

Who's the Cute Capybara

I've always loved the capybara. She looks like a giant guinea pig. She was hidden away in the back of the zoo during construction, but now she is back in front where she belongs. Ernest sees her swimming in the morning, but when I see her, she's usually sitting. Yesterday was unusually exciting for me: she got up, scratched, sat down again, and yawned. Picking up Ernest every day, we always meet by the capybara compound.

But I never knew her name. Finally, I was able to ask Kevin the Keeper. It's Marie.

Hello, Marie!

Now I can say to Ernest, "Meet you at Marie's!"

There used to be a second capybara. I wonder if his name was Donny?

Butterflies

Muscular dude!

Lucy was thrilled when the butterfly landed on her foot.

Self portrait.
Ernest took these photos too.

Proboscis.

Butterflies Alive!

Smoke

Satellite view of the smoke from the La Brea fire. That smoke has been hanging over us for days, causing an eerie yellow light. Finally today, it's relatively clear. Maybe we can wash the ash off the cars soon.

Pooz

I do believe this is elephant poo on his pants. LAUNDRY TIME!

Snooze Nooz

He didn't take pictures, darn it.

But at 9:00 this morning, HE SHOVELED ELEPHANT POOP!!!! Seriously, how many people get do that??? Each poo clump was "as big as a toddler's head," he said. I saw an elephant poop the other day -- I agree!

In prettier news, I have some lovely butterfly pictures... but I am not allowed to can't upload them right now because they are WoWing.

Why I Made My Son Say What I Made Him Say

I. I drove Ernest to the zoo this morning (leaving the house at 9 a.m. on Sunday when I should have been SLEEPING) and...

II. at 10:30 remembered that he didn't have lunch money and interrupted my arts&crafts walk (wishing there was food -- less artsy, more fartsy as Homer Simpson said) to bring him some money...then...

III. as I was on my way to pick him up at 1:00 heard a phone message garbled by too much background noise... "CITs sleepover...can borrow sleeping bag...call me back..."

IV. spoke to him in person and found out details...Zoo Snooze from 6 pm to 10 am. Intense negotiations follow:
A. Yes, he can come back early after we're done with our visit to the museum of not live animals (I wonder if there is a rivalry between the places).
B. Someone will loan him a sleeping bag.
C. I've been driving forever! I don't want to drive again tomorrow morning.
D. So he'll be a CIT (counselor in training?) volunteer tomorrow, and his dad can pick him up after work. (Long day for Ernest but he's OK with it.)
E. I think he needs a jacket. He is too long and tall for the jacket that's in the trunk of my car. After we finish our family time somewhere else, we find the perfect jacket at Old Navy -- On sale!

V. Knowing that I totally HATE HATE HATE last minute planning like this, after it was arranged I made him say "You're the best mommy in the whole wide world."

VI. And he did.

VII. And he added "I love you." And "Thank you so much!"

VIII. And he pushed my dearest friend around the other place in a wheelchair. He was so nice. She was amazed that a 13 year old could be so sweet and patient. (But Frank was also a sweetheart at 13, too. Thirteen has not been a problem in our house!)

So my youngling is sleeping at the zoo tonight. I loaned him my camera -- hope he takes pictures. Do you think they tell scary animal stories?

Like this one time, when the Cabybara escaped?

Chocolate in 1793

Trying to minimize Ernest's long days, I drive him to the zoo, amuse myself for a few hours, then pick him up again. If he goes with his dad, it's an 8 hour day.

I lived in or near Santa Barbara for 10 years, and commuted to work there for another 12. I am enjoying my rediscovery. I'm trying to visit the many places I have just driven by. High on the list was El Presidio, because you literally drive through it going "up" on Santa Barbara Street.

Part of a requisition list for supplies, dated March 31, 1793:



But wait! Only 6 boxes of chocolate? Inconceivable.



If you could read that, you would see that at that time, chocolate was for drinking, not for eating. And here's the chocolate paraphernalia. Chocophernalia?



To make your mouth water, check out Jen on the Edge's chocolate reviews. She is doing all of us a community service here.

Aerophernalia

You may have noticed a lack of concert posts from me this summer. That's because we blew most of our so-called "concert budget" on a big one. Some of us have seen Aerosmith. Twice. But one younger family member has been completely irritated because we left him home both times. (It was too loud for him before! That's my story and I am sticking to it.) Then a recent tour was cancelled because of Tyler's throat surgery. Finally having scored some really awesome seats through the fan club, you can imagine we were desperately horrified a little concerned when this happened:



We heard the Canadian concerts were cancelled, but so far have heard no bad news about the shows in our area. Today, a package arrived with what I call our "Aerophernalia" -- lanyards and passes, t-shirts, pins, postcards, oh, and a box of Aerosmith pens that didn't make it into the photo.


So wish us luck. Or more importantly, wish Steven Tyler a speedy recovery!

What's crazy about this? The concert is the night before school starts. 3.5 hours away. (Why didn't I get tickets to the Staples center on a Friday night? I don't know... I thought this was a Saturday when we were buying the tickets. And we wouldn't have gotten such great seats at the Staples Center.)

What's even crazier? We're going to Green Day two days later! (But their tickets were way cheaper less expensive!)


UPDATE: AEROSMITH TOUR CANCELLED. Darn it!

Bees

Yesterday I got stung by a bee, for the first time in 40 years since I was a child. It was an big ugly thing, not cute like the one I spotted at the botanic garden today:







Look at that cute little bee butt!

I hadn't been to the Botanic Garden in years. There were a lot of burned areas from the Jesusita fire, but it was amazing to see the plants coming back again. Nature finds a way.



OH, but I forgot the LOW point of the day! "Martha," the elderly cashier at the botanic garden asked me, "Adult or Senior?" I have NEVER been so insulted before. I don't think I look 60! Fifty, OK, since that is creeping up on me next year. Martha, please have your glasses checked.

Rental Car Shenanigans

Our insurance company will reimburse us $16/day for a rental car. The cheapest car rental is $18/day for an "economy" car (special negotiated insurance company rate, not the commercial rate). Net price, $2/day. Not too bad, right? We could manage without the extra car but it would require a lot of schedule juggling..."OK, you take this car but you have to be back by x time so I can drive to my appointment." Or, "I'm going to San Diego so I don't care know what the rest of you are going to drive or how Ernest is getting to the zoo." So for a net of 2 bucks a day, we thought -- hey, the HH can drive it to work and that's fewer miles on our own cars. And an "economy" car probably gets really good gas mileage!

Only, they don't have any of the $18 cars. The next cheapest car they have is $24. So we got that for one day and made a reservation for the $18 car for the following day. The next day, guess what? Still no "economy" $18 cars available. The HH complained a lot and so now we have the $24 car for the $18 rate. I wonder if they have any "economy" cars at all?

Even though we now have an adequate number of vehicles, I am vacillating on going to San Diego to meet Debbie at Jenn's house. Oh, I should go. What's a little 4.5 hour drive? But then there's that annoying pain in my neck that keeps bugging me when I drive. No, not one of my kids! An actual pain! I think I'll keep changing my mind until the last minute (or the last 4.5 hours!). That's the way I am.

Tight Fit

Frank's been the Handy Husband's right arm in the garage lately, and literally in this picture since I don't think the HH would have fit in that little space!

Whacked Weekend

Some moron tourist backed up into Frank's car on Friday night. They were both in a left turn lane. The person in front decided he was in the wrong place and without looking behind him he just backed up -- SMASH! right into Frank. Big bad vehicle missed the little vehicle's bumper and dented the hood, air conditioning, radiator? Poor little baby car was trailered away today. Our insurance covers most of a rental car...I'm going to pick it up this afternoon.


Then on Saturday, someone ran a red light and nearly t-boned me. Fortunately I saw him coming from the corner of my eye and floored it to get out of the intersection on time. That aggravated the small headache I already had and it turned into a massive one.

Sunday was better. Our lovely visiting friends joined me at the zoo and we saw Ernest perform twice. Spider says, "You don't have any Raid, do you? I hate Raid. It frizzes my hair...and then it kills me."


But the Whackness continues. Today I got a questionnaire (fortunately not a summons) for jury duty (U.S. District Court) for a 6-8 week trial - 141 MILES AWAY!!! WTF? I have to find my proof that I already served on a trial this year.

So how was your weekend?

Today's Adventure

Today was the first day of Fiesta, so in addition to visiting the Santa Barbara Historical Museum I had to hit De la Guerra Plaza for some food and flamenco. One troupe of small girls was dancing with fans. What does slapping the fan on your hip mean? That wasn't listed on the fan language! Then I went to the beach and sat under a palm tree. I lead a hard life, waiting for around for Ernest!

Meanwhile, back at the Zoo, Ernest got a prize assignment: Loosen up the dirt in the tortoise habitat, so they can put in sod. He says the dirt was very compacted and he had to keep moving the tortoises out of the way. I wish I had a picture of that!

The Radiated Tortoise

Language of the Fan

In my continuing adventures around Santa Barbara while Ernest is at the Zoo...I discovered something that will be useful for women dressing for the Fiesta this weekend.


I bring you the Language of the Fan, from the de la Guerra Adobe.


In case the picture is poor, I will transcribe:

With handle to lip - KISS ME
Carrying in the right hand in front of face - FOLLOW ME
Carrying in left hand - DESIROUS OF ACQUAINTANCE
Placing it on left ear - YOU HAVE CHANGED
Twirling in left hand - I WISH TO GET RID OF YOU
Drawing across forehead - WE ARE WATCHED
Carrying in right hand - YOU ARE TOO WILLING
Drawing across cheek - I LOVE YOU
Drawing through hand - I HATE YOU
Twirling in right hand - I LOVE ANOTHER
Closing it - I WISH TO SPEAK TO YOU
Drawing across eyes - I AM SORRY
Letting it rest on right cheek - YES
Letting it rest on left cheek - NO
Open and shut - YOU ARE CRUEL
Dropping - WE ARE FRIENDS
Fanning slowly - I AM MARRIED
Fanning fast - I AM ENGAGED
Open wide - WAIT FOR ME

Who knew? So ladies, be careful of your fan language this weekend.

Love, your Smalltown correspondent...

Do the math...

Eggs were on sale, 99 cents/dozen. Hence, we are having deviled eggs tomorrow. I boiled a dozen, but used 2 in salad tonight.

The question I posed: how do I divide 10 eggs amongst 4 people?

Ernest's answer: give me the extras.
Frank said nothing.

Grade school math. (10 eggs = 20 halves/4 people =5 halves each).

I think I'm going to eat the extras.




"Hence?" "Amongst?" If you're British, please don't kill me. It just felt right tonight.