Author: Jana

  • for real?

    Sometimes I think my kids aren’t for real. Like twice this week when they’ve been given candy at school and they’ve brought it home to share. E got some candy in her orcehstra class. She got 4 pieces and said the Twix for me (knowing it was my favorite ) and did the same with everyone else’s favorite treat. Today C’s sub gave him dumdums and tootsie rolls. He brought me the tootsie (yum) and figured out which flavor of dumdum that everyone else would most like. As I savored my tootsie roll I thought to myself about all the times I’d been given cookies & candies at school. And I knew that NOT ONCE did I ever bring any home to share with my sibs, much less my parents. The thought wouldn’t even have ever occurred to me. Instead, I stashed away any extras in places where I was sure only I would ever find them.

    Yet for my kids, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy such bounty without sharing it with the rest of us.

    Can you see why I wonder if: a) C&E aren’t really real children, but are aliens modeled on child characters from 50’s sitcoms, or b) they are deities incarnate?

  • grey

    As I’m writing this E is brushing my hair (heavenly).

    I love getting my hair brushed, my back rubbed, shoulders massaged, etc. E’s little fingers do them all so well.

    But as she’s brushing E is pointing out all the streaks of grey (not so heavenly). I feel like I’m going to have to decide soon what to do about it. To dye or not to dye.

    The odd thing about my grey is that it’s only on one side of my head–my right side. I have a theory that that side of my body is where I carry all of my stress. Perhaps it has been ‘damaged’ by the cancer, chemo, surgeries, etc???

    So…what do you think–does the grey add ‘character’? Is it a badge of maturity, a sign of a long-ish life lived well? Or is it time for Miss Clairol?

  • trip

    I’m going to China in less than a month.

    I am finally allowing myself to get excited about this.

    And I’m also finally realizing that this means squat toilets, strange Asian meaty meals, odd smells, no common language [and I thought that buying ice cream cones in Paris was frustrating. And I speak French!], no blog for 10 days (ouch!), etc.

    But hey, I’m not complaining. ‘Cuz I’m going to China.

    Woohoo!
    :)
    P.S. Dora‘s getting ready, too.

  • Make me smile…

    Fix my email so my messages download like they’re supposed to and I will worship you (Thanks John!!).
    I slept better last night–knowing that my email messages were all downloaded and happy in their little subfolders–than I have in a long time! Though I resited the urge to sleep with junebug (my laptop) under my pillow, the thought did cross my mind.
    Yes, and this morning everything seemed a little rosier and more wonderful than usual.
    Life _is_ beautiful when your technology is doing what it’s supposed to.
    :)

  • late fees

    From Aunt Susan (a.k.a. “Conan the librarian”):
    900 years ago monasteries were tough on people failing to return books, even to the point of excommunicating them and places curses on their heads. For example:

    “For him that stealeth, or borrow and returneth not this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, cry aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease in his agony til he sing his dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of hell consume him forever.”

    So maybe I’ll use this curse the next time that someone (who shall remain nameless) asks to check out his books on my card because his is maxxed out. And somehow all the books on his card get turned in on time and all the books on my card end up overdue?

  • postmodern?

    You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis.

    What is Your World View?
    created with QuizFarm.com

  • local

    We go to a local music store.

    We’ve been customers there for six years or so. The place is crazy with long-haired geeky musician guys–most of whom are still wearing the same favorite rock band T-shirts they loved in high school (and for them high school was in the ’70s). But Jim’s is a totally cool place–wizened rockers included.

    Today C’s cello need new fine tuners, two new strings and a repair to a tuning peg (the D string, I think). I cringed when I brought it in. I’d been putting it off for weeks because I didn’t want to have to pay for the fixes.

    But Randy, the repair guy, took a quick look and mumbled a few numbers. We chatted a bit about how old the cello is and how much C uses it (which is a lot). He said he’d have it fixed in 2 hours and it’d cost $55 bucks.

    How cool is that?
    :)

  • Q&A

    Q: What do you get when you have 6 legs, 3 heads, and a super-size bean bag moving from one end of Verano to the other under cover of darkness?
    A: Two very happy kiddoes and a lot of giggling.

    PS: The best part was when we met people coming the other way on the path and the kids would ever-so-nonchalantly park the beanbag in the grass nearby and act as if it were the most natural thing in the world for them to be sitting on a large beanbag next to a footpath at UCI…

  • Q&A

    Q: What do you get when you have 6 legs, 3 heads, and a super-size bean bag moving from one end of Verano to the other under cover of darkness?
    A: Two very happy kiddoes and a lot of giggling.

    PS: The best part was when we met people coming the other way on the path and the kids would ever-so-nonchalantly park the beanbag in the grass nearby and act as if it were the most natural thing in the world for them to be sitting on a large beanbag next to a footpath at UCI…

  • conflict

    I had a conflict yesterday with someone who I greatly respect. The altercation left me feeling defensive and angry. In my mind I wanted to think of ways to reliate, to get even. I wanted to put all of the blame on her shoulders.

    But I’m also, right now, trying to cultivate a greater feeling of ahimsa. I want to live my life in such a way that my friends/acquaintances will trust me and feel safe with me. I want to respond with kindness instead of anger.

    So when I prayed/meditated this morning I tried to let go of the frustration that was roiling around inside of me. And, I think, when I had to respond to this same person this morning, it went much better.
    :)

  • swine

    Yep, I’m a hypocrite.

    As John said at dinner tonite, “Jana, you are the strangest vegetarian I’ve ever known.”

    He said that over a meal of pork tenderloin (that had simmered all day long in our crockpot and was so moist it was almost impossible to serve). For whatever reason I’d decided that I wanted to have pork tenderloin for dinner. Which is particularly odd because I have never, to my knowledge, even so much as tasted pork tenderloin before.

    But when I was searching the web for crockpot recipes I came across one that was pork tenderloin simmered in a balsamic vinegar/Dijon sauce that made my mouth water. So that’s why I added it to the weekly menu.

    I wish I could’ve seen John’s face when he was standing at the grocery store and saw the 15th item on my list was a tenderloin roast [John does the grocery shopping each Saturday]. This, after buying such things as “chick’n”, meatless burgers, riblets, etc. He said he was pretty confused.

    But, as I explained to John, I’m losing some of my orthodoxy. I like that I can say I’m vegetarian so no one will feel bad if I turn up my nose at _their_ meat. But I also want the freedom to choose to eat meat when I want to—on my own terms.

    Yes, I know I’m a hypocrite. Yes, I’m sure the toes of all those true vegetarians out there are curling right now. And I’m sorry if you are offended, shocked, or disappointed in me.

    But, in case you were wondering, the meat tasted wonderful.

  • jana’s breakfast of champions

    –1/3 c. Irish Steel-Cut Oats, cook (the kind that come in a can and take half an hour to cook)
    –1/3 c. Trader Joe’s lowfat organic vanilla yogurt (yah, it’d probably be tastier w/creamline, but I’ve gotta watch the calories)
    –one peeled, diced, fresh peach (a nectarine will do, too)
    –a handful of sliced almonds
    –a splash of Cannon vanilla (top secret family recipe that involves vanilla beans imported from Tahiti that ferment in dark bottles in the back of the spice cupboard)
    –a dash of hand-grated nutmeg

    Stir.
    Throw your head back and chew in ecstasy.
    If you’re really lucky–like I was this morning–you will get a shoulder massage while eating. If so, make deep sighs of satisfaction and swear to start every morning just the same way.
    :)
    PS: If you’re eating this for dessert, as I am wont to do, you can increase the vanilla splash to a TB or 2….