Change of Taste

The four of us went to the birthday party of a 1-year-old boy yesterday at a place called My Gym. Raquel and Maxine got to play with several kids their age and romp around on the play equipment--they even had a zip line for kids to try. Maxine's favorite activity was the trampoline and, surprisingly, she was really good at it!
The sun shone this weekend, which put me in an instantly-good mood yesterday morning, playing loud, happy music while sweeping the house.
I'm getting really bored of eating the typical healthy groceries I've been eating since January 4th but I haven't had a chance to do any grocery shopping so I have eaten some not-so-healthy things, like cereal. What a disappointing experience this has been--eating cereal, that is. My taste buds must be refining themselves! I used to be a cereal fanatic, all my life, and now? Not even my old favorite, Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, does anything for me. What else has been a disappointment? Cheeseburgers. I haven't had a really good one in a year or more. I feel like I'm on a quest for one worthy of my sacrifice [of calories], because to waste calories on mediocre would-be delicious food doesn't even reach the point of satisfaction. It rather leaves me seeking that taste I long for after eating brown rice and veggies day after day to "make my tummy smaller" as I explain to Raquel (who keeps me on my toes about what I eat, now, mind you).
Where have all the good cheeseburgers gone?

Weather-Induced Cabin Fever

(Photo taken yesterday by my friend Nick Romero. I told him I had to steal it.)
Southern California is having some type of El Niño revival and I'm not enjoying it. Fortunately, our house is above ground by about 4+ feet and we haven't incurred any flood damage, NOT that the water is that high but it has been raining nonstop since about Sunday (I think). The lack of sunshine really gets to me. I have been cooking and reading recipes out of boredom. That's not such a bad thing--better than drinking up everything in the booze cabinet!
Actually, my kitchen fun started Friday night when we had "Maki Night". I made several different nonfish maki rolls for Jose and the girls. After that I fried up some banana fritters. It was really fun for me to make this fun meal for them. They all liked it very much and even pretended they were at a sushi restaurant and I was the slow waitress/chef. And yesterday I made two simple but unusual potato salads: teriyaki was one and curry was the other. Raquel liked the teriyaki one. I put the curry one in Jose's lunch today and have yet to hear his opinion. I do not care for potato salad so I have not tried either one. I'm glad I have two guinea pigs to try my funky recipes.
Raquel has been home sick for two days. She will most likely go back to school tomorrow. Maxine only got a mild version of Raquel's flu. Jose and I are fine, so far. We have a couple of plans this weekend so I hope we stay healthy.
Thanks for reading.

Dude! : A School Update

The Fall semester ended for me December 17th. Checking for my final grades online during Christmas time offered no news, so I waited until today to check again. Let me preface the results by telling you a little something embarrassing I ended up doing during my final writing assignment in Art History...
I missed class one day. It couldn't be avoided. But wouldn't you know that was the day our professor talked about Suprematism. It must've been the day I was gone because I knew nothing about it. I studied the text book to prepare for writing my final paper and for some reason, I did not study this one piece of art history. And it was never brought up in any of the other class sessions in which I was present. When I walked into class that final day, I had hoped that up on the projector screen there would be a piece of art I recognized, at least for its style, if not the artist, and that I could at least speculate about the artwork and do my best writing. Well, that's when the professor popped this piece up for us to ponder and write about:
The class of 100 gasped, then giggled. The professor said, "Back then, they didn't laugh." I think my brain started to sweat bullets. I had absolutely no clue what this was supposed to be. The assignment was to write about what style of art we think this is and why. And, though it wasn't required, we could venture a guess at the artist's name. All I could do for at least five minutes was sit and think. Many students were already well on their way to finishing their answers. And then something clicked and I went off on a tangent about Monet and Impressionism. When I got home from class, I searched for and found this painting online and found out I was completely mistaken, which made me feel so embarrassed. It is a piece of Suprematist art--the art for which I did not study. My bubble burst and my hope for an A evaporated.
We mysteriously and abruptly go from that to this : My tangent on Monet paid off, evidently, because yadda yadda yadda, I got an A in this class. Yes, I am celebrating. I won't know what my teacher had to say about this paper until I go pick it up from his office but I'm quite interested in finding that out.
I also got an A in my speech class. I'm very glad of that, too, just not surprised. The Art History grade is what I'm so thrilled about. Thank you!

Christmas Pictures. Enjoy!

Thanks to all our friends and family for the thoughtful gifts we received and for making it such a great holiday season with lots of happy memories. I'm very grateful to have such a delightful family to be with at this special time of year. I just wish more of us lived closer together so we could share all the fun with everyone.
As a reward for making it this far, please click here to watch a short, funny video from Christmas Day at my dad's house; just a sample of the goings-on.