chock-a-blog

Cassie and I put up signs on the four streets nearest ours. We keep hoping. Say a little prayer. St. Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find Moxie, who has been lost. At least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind. To this favor, I ask another of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen.

Kismet, Jack's Other Mother She misses Moxie, too.

((it crosses my mind that I'm being punished for the Great Goodwill Heist, but I remind myself that my God doesn't work that way))

Sickness saps my energy, both physical and mental. It's surprising, really, how seldom I get sick, since I work in a petri dish. When I do get sick it lays me low and happenings that I might normally take in stride just completely knock me down. Last week I was diagnosed with an embarrassing viral infection, the symptoms of which on their own couldn't possibly have dragged me this deep down: sores in my mouth and throat that blistered and peeled and made every mouthful feel and taste like shredded pennies; an itchy rash around my mouth and nose and on my chest. Compounding that: knees that felt packed in hot wax, the backs of my eyeballs aflame. No fever, so no H1N1. Negative strep. Malaise. But I soldiered (martyred?) through most of the week at work, because I could, and some of the other teachers had to stay at home with their diverticulitis and kidney stones. On Thursday night my laptop died. On Friday night I felt I could deal with my weekend obligations. DH went out of t...

We had Friday off for teacher in-service and I didn't have to work because we attended the SAzAEYC Annual Conference on a Saturday at the end of September. While watching Village of the Damned, Children of the Damned, and Burn After Reading, I crafted near 30 pair of bottlecap earrings to add to my inventory, which my friend Susan hawked for me at her booth at the Blues Fest on Sunday. Brazey helps me "do some" (yes, that's a dress from the Great Goodwill Heist) I didn't sleep well Sunday night and was up for several of the wee Monday morning hours, then arose at my usual 4:30 am. I plowed through my morning routine: checked my email, my fb, bible reading, 2 mile dog walk, 8 minute arm toner, Jack's breakfast, my breakfast, pack my lunch, pack Jack's lunch, out the door just in time to be 5 minutes late for my conference with Jack's second grade teacher. Sitting there listening to her talk about somebody else's kid, it hit me like a ton of bric...

"Mommy?" Jack doesn't lift his eyes from his homework. "Yes?" "Would you be mad if I did something bad, like Cassie did?" "Probably. What did you do?" Still not looking directly at me: "I ate an Otter Pop in the living room and I didn't see it leaking." "It leaked on the carpet?" He looks at me now. "Yes. But I got a cloth and I wiped it." Gesturing. A moment of silence, his eyes locked on mine. My small smile. "Bad Jack. Shame." His small smile. "Are you gonna make me go outside now?" brilliant. all cleaned up.

I've been growing this hair for over two years now, and I'm pretty sure I'm incapable of growing it any longer. My ponytail is an inch shy of the 10" required by Locks of Love, but an inch longer than the 8" required by Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. Tomorrow I go in for the big snip-snip, and a new 'do. I'll be glad to bid adeiu to the shedding. BTW: That purple embellished tank is part of The Great Goodwill Heist.

shame.

After last night's culinary debacle, today's culinary surprise was particularly welcome. My dear friend Rukmi brought me lunch! Rukmi is Sri Lankan. She cooks the best food. I ate a fish and egg croquette, lentil curry, saffron rice, all with delicious chicken and what I thought might be tuna. I asked Rukmi what the meat was, and she told me it's all chicken. "The flat, triangular meat? With the spices? Is it tuna?" She laughed lightly. "That's a wegetable," she said, in her lovely Sinhalese way. "Oh, yeah? Like a beet?" That made sense, because it flaked like tuna steak or like beets might. "It is jackfruit." Jackfruit? Jackfruit! I ate jackfruit today. Rukmi told me all about it: she used canned young jackfruit she bought at G & L Market on 22nd St.; fully grown jackfruits are gigantic and if one fell on your head it could kill you. When fully ripe, jackfruit is full of big pods that each have a seed in the middle, like a p...

I steal. This morning, whilst driving home from the park and the grocery store, I spied a series of bags tucked between the two storage units serving as the foothills Goodwill drop-off site. Because I've been dabbling in sewing, especially t-shirt recon and capri-sun tote bags, I pulled over to check out the contents of those bags, just in case there was something in there I could use in my dabbling. I hopped out of the car and grabbed up those bags and shoved em in the back seat and peeled out on my way home. And what I found inside.... oooh, it's like Christmas time for me. Fun, fun stuff. Like my alter ego dumped the contents of her closets, both clothes and linen, for there are several sets of coordinating queen sized sheets. Soon you'll see the reason for my glee. Off to school now, but when I get home I'll show you. My guilty treasures. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.

In the fridge I have a head of cauliflower, a bag of broccoli florets, and a bag of washed spinach leaves. I'm browsing the web for a recipe that might make use of those items, along with the staples I usually keep. Lo and behold, there's a recipe for some kind of mock-Indian deal requiring 2 chopped onions, 1/4 c minced garlic (!), a can of chickpeas, a tbsp of curry powder. "Do I have curry powder?" I ask myself out loud. "For what?" Jack asks. "For dinner." "What kind of dinner?" "Some kind of vegetarian dinner you won't eat." "Is it bacon soup?" he asks. "Because I'd eat fresh bacon soup." Let's see how you like broccoli-cauliflower-spinach-chickpeas with a shitload of garlic and a fat-free yoghurt curry sauce over brown basmati rice. (Post-prandial editorial: Fresh bacon soup would have pleased me better, too. The broccoli-cauliflower-spinach-chickpeas-shitloadofgarlic-fatfreeyoghurtcurrysauc...

Elephants are the only animals with four knees. There is no single-word name for the back of a person's knee. Babies are born without knee caps. Instead they have a little series of platelets that eventually ossify into the patella by the second or third year. I have crepitus, which is that crackly noise my right knee makes when I do squats or lunges. Crepitus is just a symptom. My kneecap doesn't ride smoothly over the groove for it in my femur, hence the popping and crackling. Crepitus is also the Roman god of flatulence. Those are my knees up there. See that raised scar on my right knee? That scar originated when I tripped over home plate in my attempt to run to first base during a game of softball in 8th grade PE. Twenty-three years later, I plowed open that scar when I fell while jogging near a major foothills intersection. I actually rolled head over heels downhill and not a single person stopped to help me. They all just drove on by, so I tottered home with blood runnin...

After seventeen years of faithful service to our parish, our rector is retiring. Today's service celebrated the growth in ministry during his leadership at our church. The music program was highlighted by the youth choir's performance of this little song. I caught the verse during this morning's rehearsal. They all sang beautifully, filling the church with purity of voice. (That's my Jack, front and center.) I'm so proud of him. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. For when it is sown in the earth in the spring It is the least of all seeds in the earth. But when it is watered It grows... it grows... And is greatest of all herbs. The kingdom of God is like a seed A little seed A little mustard seed.

If I had one wish that I could wish this holiday season, it would be that all the children to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace. If I had one wish that I could wish sometime soon, it would be to have all three of my animals curl up together in a cozy little mound of fur. But this is as close as I'll get.

I'm having Golden Temple Crunchy Corn Muffins and a positive affirmation. Because nothing matters more than my own joy and the joy of others. I choose my joy, and you choose yours. Just let me know if I'm hurting you somehow and I'll quit. I choose honesty. Unembellished. Other things I might choose to embellish. I choose to share. Because connection is what my life's about. Connection and crunchy corn muffins.