See's no Evil, Eat no Evil

Due to our family tradition I brought back a whole bunch of See's Candy from Seattle.  What is See's Candy you ask?  Why See's Candy happens to be the most delicious chocolate ever made on this earth and it's only sold out west.  It is tradition that when you visit out west you bring back a box for the rest of the family.  I was explaining to my family in Seattle all the unspoken rules that go along with this family tradition (should I break tradition and *gasp* speak the unspoken out loud....writing them down in the finality of all internetdom?  Hey, why not...it'll be fun!)

Rule #1.  If you visit out West you must buy See's Candy for all Relatives in your vicinity.  Relatives being defined as - one box per household within a one-two hour driving distance.  That means I brought back Three boxes of chocolates one for my family, one for my mom and dad, and one for my brother and his wife.  OK, I also bought lollipops and some other chocolate for my family but that's besides the point.

Rule #2.  Under no circumstance can you reveal that you have bought See's Candy and that you are bring it home with you as a gift.  It MUST be a surprise. 

Rule #3.  You must NEVER ask to be brought home See's Candy.  You must ALWAYS wait with breathless anticipation as to whether or not you will receive any See's Candy (even though you know you totally will.....it's tradition....which leads me to rule # 4)

Rule #4.  You must always wait with breathless anticipation until you finally have that gleaming box in your hand.  When you get that gleaming box in your hand you must act happy, excited, and surprised....not in a "I had No Idea you were going to do this!" kinda way, but surprised in a "Wow!! You did get me a box of See's Candy!!  I was hoping you would!!" kinda way.  Even though in the back your head you knew you were going to get that box of chocolate because....*tada*  it's Tradition!

My New Mantle

 

For all of those who didn’t think I was serious and for all of those who know me well and already knew I was serious:  BEHOLD!  My new Mantle.

Here is the before shot:

Here is the after:

David is pushing back from the gate as we speak to fly home!  The rest of the house is now safe.  Mini trip = mini project.  Mini project = mini budget.  Mini budget = happy husband!!  Happy husband = happy me!   I took some pictures of the rest of the living room which I redecorated on one of his bigger trips.  I personally adore the shade of blue the walls are now painted.  David had to get used to it…….he says that when we move I can pick any color for the living room……except blue and except any color he does not approve of.  Bummer.  Total decorating buzz kill right there. 

I designed the room around this piece and got my color inspiration from it.  It belonged to David’s Mother.  Her son from another marriage sent it to her while stationed in Japan in the 70’s.  She treasured it and we treasure it also. 

I have quite a few natural geodes and stones around the house.  I am very sentimental about them because my Grandmother used to take us to Natural History Museums when we were little.  She is a huge champion of education.  To this day I still have a geode that she bought for me when I was a little girl.

That’s it for now!  Here’s to many more trips in the future.  May my creativity never failith!  What else is there to do……cook? heh…..

Girls Weekend

I just got home from the most awesomest weekend ever!  I went to Time Out for Women, which was great, but most of all I loved who I spend my weekend with!  My sister and I call them kindred spirits for all you Anne of Green Gable readers out there.  Some women you meet and you feel instantly comfortable.   I was tired when I got home but David took the kids to school the next morning so I could sleep in.  And the messy, messy house is sparkly clean now that the housekeeper has come and gone.  I guess I should go think of something extra to do.....like go organize a closet or something.....  Now that I think about it all the closets are already pretty organized from the last time David went out of town for a long business trip.  There is something about David going out of town for longer than 3 days that sends me into a frenzy of activity.  If I know he will be away for at least a week then we are allllll in trouble!!  Whole rooms get redecorated. The house gets repainted.  Things get moved into storage.  The kids come home from school to a house full of boxes.  "Whaaaa? Mom......are we....moving?"  "No!! The house feels cluttered, all this stuff is going to storage!  ISN'T IT GREAT!!!!"  David is always too busy with meeting after meeting to check up on me to see what the damage is.  He usually comes home, walks in the door, looks around, and looks to see if there are any changes.  Well, that and he's monitoring the bank account the whole time he's gone.  When it hits a certain *ahem* price point meetings or no meetings, calls are made....unfortunately.........if I'm in the middle of redecorating my creativity can't be stifled!!!  Anywho......so David left out of town yesterday.......................................................................


Luckily it's exactly 3 days!  We will not pass into the danger zone, heh...  Are the pillows on the sofa getting old?  Perhaps they need refreshing...   I have been meaning to redo my MANTLE!!!!!  I can see it now.... Two tall slender vase with sticks on either side of the mirror and a row of candles in between. Later!

It's official, White Moms are soooo lame.

In case you hadn't heard the big news Obama is now officially black (at least on paper anyway.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36157764/ns/politics-white_house/

It's been on my mind for a few weeks now and honestly his decision bothers me a little bit.  Apparently he has decided that his mother, all of her relatives, and all of the ancestors that came before her don't officially exist (at least on paper anyway.)  I'm sure it's for purely political reasons why he decided to disregard half of his racial heritage on the census form.  Honestly you could skew the political implications many ways and that's not really why I'm writing about this.  I suppose I am writing about this because it strikes a chord with me.  My husband is black, and I am a white mother with three bi-racial children.  And it makes me wonder....will I too be written out of my family's racial existence some day?

In our house we are just "us".  Color is never an issue and so far it hasn't been one at school either.  However, that doesn't mean the kids are unaware of the difference between all of us.  I like to think that we are raising them to know that it's what on the inside that counts not the outside.  As far as heritage, we want them to understand where they come from on both sides of the family because they have some pretty cool stuff on both sides.  But! suppose they marry someone who is black?  Apparently that means they are now completely black. Well that's fine for David but where does that leave me?  Will I become a ancestral blip that everyone will conveniently forget about?  What is the precedent that Obama is setting as the first bi-racial President (not the first Black President as everyone likes to say)? What is he saying to all the children out there of bi-racial relationships.....that you must choose one heritage over the other?  That you must become one over the other?  Why can't a person just be themselves, a person who celebrates the best of where they came from and where they are going in life?

I found this article today that goes over both arguments about racial identity.  The first being that if you are part black, you are always going to be viewed as black.  The second being that race is basically a state of mind, a choice, a wholeness of yourself...therefore you recognize all aspects of your racial identity..or you can chose to only recognize the racial identity to which you believe best identifies yourself even if you aren't even that race .   Obviously,  I agree with the second view (except for the last statement, I think you need to see all of yourself with a clear view not a cloudy one).

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/black-or-biracial-census-473104.html

As always, race is a sensitive issue.  But is our household we try to tackle it a little more head on as I am trying very hard to give my children a healthy respect for both sides of their racial heritage.  I want them to be proud to say "I am black and white.".......welllllll with some South American Indian and the other side of the family tree from India......but we'll get to that later! 

Dinner with The Fam

I never really put up pictures of David and I so, viola!  Anywho..we took the kids out to dinner last night and had a great time.  It's kind of our version of sitting down for family dinner.  You know, since I don't really cook.  That and we are never home all that much in the evenings because if all the activities that we are involved in.  It seems like we are always eating on the road.  Whenever we get the chance we like to sit down and have a nice family meal.....ahem....at one of our many favorite restaurants.   The kids were hilarious last night.  I suppose I should have been all, like, "That is not appropriate dinner behavior" but I found last night's situation hilarious.  So Isabelle says to Lilly, "Hey Lilly, spell 'I cup' ".  Frankly I was curious how this was all going to go down so I sat back to watch and enjoy the show.  Lilly looks back at her really confused and says " I cut? hmmmm I. K.U.T?....no no no I.C.U.T!"  Isabelle is all like, "no no spell I cup, I CUP!"  "OH, ok....I.C.U.P......I...C...UUU..PPPP....? I don't get it what's the point?"  Meanwhile Chase and Isabelle are cracking up.  Ok, I admit it..so am I at this point. And then Lilly starts giggling "OOOHHH I GET IT!!  I see you PEE!!! Ahahahahaha.  Hey!   Isabelle, I see you pee!  Hey!  Chase, I see you pee!  Hey!  Daddy, I see you pee!  Hey! Mommy, I see you pee!"  Ok, I admit it, definitely not dinner talk! But, how could I take away Lilly's opportunity to figure out for herself the classic I.C.U.P.   And I wanted to be able to see for myself the moment when she figured it out.  The look on her face was classic when she figured it out all by herself what the big joke was.  She was so proud of herself and she thought it was hilarious!!  It's a moment that I did not want to miss.  It kept us all rolling all the way out the door.  I love family dinner!  One of these days we are going to actually have to have one at home! HA! 

Motivation Smotivation - Who needs it anyways

  Do you ever find yourself shooting rubber-bands across the floor because the cats love to chase them? And what you're really supposed to be doing is getting dressed for the day?.....also it just terrible for loosing all the rubber-bands for your hair.  Do you ever find yourself surfing the internet when you should be cleaning your kitchen? Or posting on your blog when you should be starting the laundry. Obviously these are issues that I do not have!!  I am the master of productive output.  I can name numerous things that I have accomplished today.  Please see me tomorrow and I will inform you as to what....exactly..those..things.....are. Oooo Look, my Cat!  I think it has one of my rubber-bands in it's mouth....I should probably go get that back...eh, I can do it later.  Anywayssss! (David hates it when I say anyways. "It's not anyways, it's anyway!!  Total pet peeve of his.  That's a shout out to you Uncle Larry!)  What was I saying?  Oh, right!  MOTIVATION!  I am a highly motivated individual (especially today!)  I think I'm going to go stare at my kitchen.  Sometimes I just stare at it and think nice clean thoughts.  Funny how that never works.  Maybe I should glare at it instead? Shame it into being clean.  Somehow I don't think that will work either. Because really it all comes down to one thing.  What was that word again?  Oh yeah, Motivation.

Easter Decorating Fun

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So I decided to take a leaf out of my sister’s book and decorate for Easter.  Normally Christmas is the only holiday I decorate for.  But, I liked the idea of trying to be a little more “domestic” around the house.   *hee*  The idea of me being “domestic” around the house made me giggle.   There, it made me do it again.  Isabelle has started going to Popi’s house on Tuesday’s to learn how to cook (cause she sure ain’t learn’n it from me).  This week was her first week there and when I asked her how it went she stated: “Wow,  I had no idea it took so long to cook real food.”  My mother looked at me and asked, what did you feed them for dinner yesterday?  “Pot roast, apple sauce, and fresh vegetables,” I said.   “Well, that must have taken awhile to cook…..?”  “Erm……No,no,not really only about 5 minutes like the package said it would.” Sometimes I don’t think my mother knows what to do with me.
 
When the kids and I were at Rebecca’s house a few weeks ago their family had to step out of the house one of the nights and she wasn’t able to fix dinner.  My kids where so crushed when they came downstairs and I was the only one there.  “Mom, where’s Aunt Rebecca?,” they asked with obvious panic.   “She’s not here,” I stated with irritation, “ They all had to be somewhere.”   “Whaaaaaat?!?  But, who’s going to fix dinner?!?!,” they all screamed with apparent terror in their voices as if they already knew what the answer would be.  “I AM………I’m ordering pizza.”    “No, NOT PIZZA!!! Please MOM, anything but that.  Do we have to have pizza….AGAIN!!!”   They begged, they pleaded but they couldn’t persuaded me to change my mind (what? they didn’t expect me to actually cook did they?)  Meanwhile, in Cousinville Rebecca was telling her kids “You had better behave because Aunt Sylvia *duDA* ordered pizza and you won’t get any if you don’t.”
So, anyways…the kids love the decorations. Chase says the decorations are better than last year’s.  I pointed out that I didn’t decorate last year to which he replied “Yeah, that’s why they’re better than last year’s.”  Isabelle feels like we should have bought more! We need more decorations!  And Lilly was a little disappointed we didn’t get the Hello Kitty basket for the kitchen table.  But the fact that the cats use the basket we did get as their new bed more than makes up for it because it’s so super cute!

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