Endless Gratitude

I was born an only child. I have lived as an only child for more years than I care to acknowledge. About 5 years ago God brought a sister into my life. It's amazing that for not knowing me for 3/4 of my life, she totally understands me. We come from different parts of the world by birth and had two polar opposite upbringings, yet she understands me and I'd like to think I understand her. She is always patient, even when I call to rant, rave, or just ramble. The kids love talking to "Auntie" and she takes the time to even listen to a 2 1/2 year old. Now you haven't heard rambling until you've heard a 2 1/2 talk. If you knew the demands on her time, you would understand the depths of my gratitude. Many people are vying for her time, input, two cents worth (she's worth way more than 2 cents), advice, and recommendations, yet she takes the time to listen to me, even when I have hairbrained ideas. Not on purpose, of course, they make total sense to me... I hope her children recognize what a wonderful mother they have as I recognize what a great sister and aunt she has become to me. Lots of love and know I always wish the best out of life for you. Go for the gold, not the silver and/or bronze.

Congratulations

I have to send out a big congrats to my nephew. He has had a lot happen to him in the last five months. In January his father was in a major car accident, leaving him comatose. Junior has stepped up to the plate, shouldering more responsibility than any 22 year old should have to. He quit his job to run the restaurant, taking over for his dad. He now works there 6 days a week, working way more than 8 hours a day. In his off time (which is very little), he practices for his other career. Junior has spent the last several years preparing to be a boxer. Last Friday he had his first professional match. He knocked out his opponent in 1 minute 19 seconds. Now, I am not a big fan of boxing, although I did watch all of the Rocky movies, but I do support him. As a young Hispanic from the LA area, he could have gone in all kinds of wrong directions (yes it's a stereotype, but I've seen the kids he used to hang out with). He did start onto a wrong path, but got back on track. I never realized what a disciplined sport it is. He works out 3 hours a day, watches what he eats and doesn't drink or do drugs. He did so well in his match there is already talk of him having another bout in a couple of months. Hopefully I will be able to say he went 2-0, but for now he is 1-0 in his professional debut. Congratulations Junior. Your dad would be really proud of you. You've got a good head on your shoulders.

Ideas

Where do some ideas come from? Jerry Seinfeld asked how someone could look at a horse and think "hey, I could make glue from that". They are not related in any way, shape or form. Jerry's idea works on other things as well. Let's take a pine tree. Juniper berries are the berries that grow on pine trees. Now, who in their right mind would stare at a juniper berry, growing innocently on it's tree, and think "hey, I can make gin with that. And yet, that's where gin comes from...a juniper berry. What about barley. Barley is a cereal grain. What farmer, tired after a hard day of work plowing his barley field, comes into his house, and says, "dear, boil the barley because I'm thirsty". And yet someone had the bright idea to mix barley with yeast, call it a wort, let it ferment and have it come out beer. Apparently, I am not that far-sighted. Grains are for cereal and bread. Yeast is to make breads and other baked products. And a wort is, well, let's not go there. Add all those ingredients and it sounds pretty unappetizing, yet people guzzle it down because it's called "beer". Go figure.

Holding Pattern

I am an extremely impatient person. I hate waiting. Especially when it comes to things that could affect me and/or my family. I don't think I am a control freak, because I know that others can make decisions that can and will affect me and mine. It's waiting for things to happen that causes you to ultimately be at the mercy of other's time frames that drives me crazy. Other people's time frames are not yours and your priorities are not theirs. We are waiting to hear about not one but two potential job opportunites for my husband, but that's what we are doing...waiting. Will we move east or north. I'd love to say west, but that would only leave Hawaii, and well, there's nothing there. At this point I'm willing to take whatever comes in first, regardless of long term ramifications just so I can stop this waiting game. I want to be in charge of my own destiny, so how can I make that happen? How can I take control of my life and/or the situations that could affect me long term. Any ideas?

Stress

Sometimes I think the only thing that keeps me together is stress. Now I have always been a stressed person. I worry about anything and everything. Of course I learned from my doctor many years ago that apparently being stressed has its benefits. I had a permanent injury that could have been much worse had I not suffered from stress. The tension and bunched muscles in my back prevented my back injury from being a major catastrophe. My doctors were happy I was suffered from stress. Stress and caffeine...my two major vices. That being said, sometimes I do worry about really important things. I worry about my family and my friends. I want everyone to be happy and wish I could make it happen for them. I guess my vices could be much worse. I do have other vices but that's for another blog.

Bartending

I have a new admiration for bartending. I thought it was an easy job until I started taking the course. I had no idea how much work was involved. Not back breaking work, but a head full knowledge. You have to know the recipes to hundreds of drinks by memory, know what glass they go in, what garnish to use, etc. And do it all with a smile on your face while making it look effortless. With that being said Iam glad I am taking the course. It will make my next couple of months bearable. I can create drinks (and trust me I'll need lots of drinks) and I can say that it is practice for work. Sometimes time and distance can lull you into a false sense of security. All it takes is an email to remind you why you moved to Southern California. So, I am glad I chose bartending. Turns out it's great timing. I think I'll be doing lots of experimenting in the near future with new drinks...and of course tasting my concoctions. Hopefully it will make the time pass quickly. Maybe I'll have some great new recipes I can take to Celebration...

Luh Up

Why is it that children learn the words first that you don't want them to learn at all? It is said that children are sponges, and I can see that. They copy everything you do and say. Just yesterday my two year old responded to me and had me speechless. It's amazing to hear yourself in a two year old. She had taken out all the movies that I had so painstakingly organized alphabetically and piled them up on the floor. I told her to pick them back up and put them away. The response I got was "Okay woman, sheesh." She takes words that she hears at various times and puts them together in random order that has you hysterical. She loves to tell everyone around her to "Be Quiet" or "Luh Up". Now we don't use that phrase in our house. I could not figure out where it came from and so we blamed Gordon Ramsey. If she starts calling people "Donuts" we'll all be in trouble. He has other interesting adjectives and adverbs but that's a whole other blog. But she was watching Racing Strips and then started singing "Luh Up" over and over again. Then it triggered in my head. A horse just said that. Then today I heard it again. Now why would they say that in a children's movie. It is difficult to tell her not to say that when she hears it (talk about hearing it from the horse's mouth). Anyway, out of the mouth of babes.... but I don't think that's what was meant by that expression.

Schooling

Well, I have to acknowledge my son's accomplishments for school. Not only did he put in the time so we have finished the year early, he tested well. As much as I'd love to take the credit, I absolutely can't. He is smart on his own. Although the school officially has him at 5th grade, we finished the 6th grade year. To get the school to promote him "officially" to 7th grade in the fall, they are running a battery of tests. For 5th grade math he scored in the 95th percentile. Today he took Language Arts, but that hasn't come back. Because the STAR tests will come too late for them to use in the board's decision making process he had to take a Baby STAR testing. For Language Arts he is at the end of the 6th grade, which is just where he should be (unless you deal with any school system). For Math, he scored so high his teacher's jaw dropped. His level is 12th grade, 9th month. I looked at the questions that came up and I could not have answered them. He came out of the room and said his head hurt, that math was so hard. He thought he did worse than the Language Arts test. When that level came up we were all floored. I am so happy for him. To know that all those hours of work he had put in finally paid off in a way he could see. I just want you to know that I am so proud of you. You are so smart and I am so proud that you are who you are. Not only are you "book smart" you are also very adaptable. We broke some news that major changes are coming our way and he was very accepting of it. Thanks for being you.

Comedy

I like things that are funny. Comedies, jokes, anecdotes, etc. I love romantic comedies as movies and television comedies. Having said that I do have a complaint. Why do comedians feel the need to use four letter words to embellish their stand up. Comedy Central was advertising a new George Lopez live performance. I saw his first one on television. What I saw was the edited version, and he was hilarious. His "Why You Crying" stand up was right on. Now, I am married to a Mexican and we both were rolling on the floor because his show was right on the money. He made his points, and hit them straight up. His new stand up show was America's Mexican. We were so excited, especially after his first one. Holy cow!! Talk about tons of "bleeps". If you have to rely on four letter words to prop up your set, it's not funny. We were so disappointed. What was sad was his need to fall back on those words. Now, he followed Gabriel Iglesias. No relation that I know of to the other famous Iglesias family. This Iglesias is Mexican and is "Hot and Fluffy." He probably had a half dozen bleeps through his entire set. He is hysterical. He was able to stand in front of a large audience for an hour, make them laugh, and not need to use those words as a crutch. If you are funny, be funny. Adding four letter words does not in itself make things funny. I hope Gabriel makes another special because I would watch him any time. George, clean up your act. Especially when kids know you from the family show on tv. Why mess up a good thing? Live up to your publicity promos. It would be worth it.