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.

Today's "Daddy Bento"

A "Daddy Bento" is a lunch I make for Jose to take to work on Saturdays (and sometimes Sundays) when he has an open house to do for a house he is selling. He has been trying to sell a really nice house in Arcadia for about two months now and it is having a very hard time catching an interested buyer. The problem? Feng shui, believe it or not. It is situated on a "T", meaning the cross street is directly in front of the house. Jose doesn't know the first thing about feng shui--all he knows is that people who come to view the house always mention it's bad feng shui. I read a book on feng shui 5 years ago, just for fun. I thought is was quite fascinating. I retained some of the knowledge and have tried to explain briefly to Jose the problem people have with the house. It doesn't matter if feng shui is "real" or not, if someone believes in it, it is real to them. Anywho...
In this bento, there is a tuna sandwich on whole wheat, some pickle slices, cheddar cheese slices, homemade swirl cookies you saw in yesterday's post, a hardboiled egg with salt and pepper, and some green "spinach flavour" noodles stirfried with asparagus and teriyaki sauce. I think he's really going to like this. I was just thinking about how much it costed to make this meal. I'm guessing less than a dollar. Wow!

Up In Smoke, Off To The Beach

This morning we woke up to see that our neighborhood had been flooded with smoke from The Station Fire. So we took the girls to Santa Monica for a day at the beach and to get away from the smoke. It was Maxine's first time at the beach and unfortunately she couldn't really enjoy the experience because she was fighting a head cold. After about an hour and a half we drove home. While on the 10 freeway in Downtown Los Angeles I snapped the above picture of The Station Fire. Those are not Mother Nature's clouds--that is all smoke. Amazingly huge, right?!

Pictures of "The Station Fire" *UPDATED*

Thursday evening I noticed how pretty the sky was. Thick smoke was pluming towards a vast pink sunset. Bright orange flames from the La Canada Fire, aka, The Station Fire, were visible to me as I drove around Altadena to find a good location to photograph this event. Of course I couldn't get very close but I got a few respectable shots. I saw others driving around taking pictures from their driver's seats. I made two or three stops, got out and tried to see the fire through trees and phone lines. This collage is a collection of the best shots I got that night.

This morning, 36 hours later, the fire has spread incredibly fast, moving southeast and is visible through my kitchen sink window. I saw flames. That white cloud-like shape is actually grey smoke. We're in the middle of a heatwave. This fire has the upper hand.

My house is deep enough into town that we are not in any danger but we know several families who are right there near the fire. Jose's mother has apparently packed a bag just in case she is told to evacuate. She lives in Altadena.

More local bloggers are talking about the fire here.

*UPDATE*

More pics from the past hour. The fire is still winning...

New Red Wagon

The girls' great-grandparents always have the best gift ideas. This year they gifted the girls a new Radio Flyer red wagon. It is exactly what they needed! The four of us went on a nice long evening walk on Monday. A little off the subject, but, isn't this the most pleasant August weather you've ever seen in Southern California?

That nice house in the top picture is a place where a lot of tv shows, commercials and movies are made. Obviously, it is very picturesque and quaint. I'm glad we don't have to walk very far away from our own neighborhood to see such interesting properties.

Thanks for the wagon, Grandma and Grandpa!

We Walked in Two Districts

Old Town Pasadena and The Playhouse District [of Pasadena] are right next to each other. The girls and I took a walk this evening when the sun was about to set. Maxine was strapped onto me in the Baby Bjorn. Raquel carried her Thomas backpack with snacks and other little necessities. Our walk was a delight. Both girls were content and peaceful (so was I).

Raquel posed for this shot. The cart was already tipped over so why not make art out of it?!

Raquel couldn't hold still for that last shot.

Updates Grab Bag

This is Westminster Presbyterian Church-- the back of it, anyways. Maxine and I were walking last Friday and took several pictures of it. It looks best in sepia, I think.

*****

Raquel stayed at her great-grandparents' house last week from Monday to Saturday. Poor Grandma! Not only is Raquel relentless with activity and conversation, which is more than enough for a great-grandma to handle, but also Grandpa was feeling ill the entire time Raquel was there. So Grandma had no help at all with Raquel and no time to herself either. Wow! She did say that Raquel was very well-behaved and of course taking care of a well-behaved child is tons easier than the alternative. This was Raquel's first time spending that many nights away from home and not to my surprise, she never got homesick. Jose, Maxine and I had a nice quiet week. To me, the peace was very refreshing. Thank you SO much, Grandma Emma.

*****

I found these sweet potato fries in the frozen food section at Target a few weeks ago and I'm hooked. They are healthy enough for me to eat and stay on my diet and I'm so glad because they are delicious. Maxine really enjoys them, too. It has to be this particular brand though because the other sweet potato fries are covered in an evil batter. These are innocent and plain.

*****

This is my second week of school and I'm so glad this class is only five weeks long. I highly prefer to do my own work but in this class we "pair up" or get into groups of three DAILY. I am against compromising the level of work I do for a grade but in groups you cannot avoid this. Being paired with people who cannot write in complete sentences quietly frustrates me. But the teacher did say last week that she does not grade on spelling and grammar and that she is only concerned with our critical reading skills. So, technically, it doesn't matter but it still REALLY GETS TO ME.

*****

How do you throw a party for your kids' birthdays, invite everyone you know and not get caught up in the stress of planning? If you know how, I am seriously asking! I feel like if things aren't perfect then I might as well not do them at all. There is no changing that about me. So I guess I'm probably doomed to feel this way every year around this time! And then when the party's over, I'll be fine.

*****

And here is a snapshot of Maxine dancing to her new favorite dvd, Rufus Wainwright at the Fillmore. Yep, she's got taste. I'm telling you she stares at him singing and it even calms her down when she's cranky.

Backpacks Are Unfashionable

I just don’t want to look like a turtle, OK? But after my first three days of school, carrying a folder, a dictionary, a big text book, a notebook, a journal, a sweater and my purse, and walking to and from my car parked at least 4 blocks away from campus (on purpose for exercise) I went and bought myself a bag (not a backpack) I found on clearance at Target. I can’t wait to see how it feels to walk all that way and have fairly free arms and hands.

School is fun, so far. I’m just taking an English class right now for that’s all that was left by the time I registered. It is transferrable to any university, not a prerequisite or a just-for-fun course, so that makes it feel even more worthwhile. I have to admit, I am surprised at how remedial the work has been these first three days. Yes, we have had homework every night and we also do writing assignments in class daily but it’s all easy stuff, like a high school class—“Ok, partner up with someone and answer the questions on page 248” (ugh, I’m not a fan of partnering up in class), or “Who would like to read the next paragraph?”. We answer tons of true-or-false and multiple choice questions, as if the teacher only wants to know that we’re reading the passages she assigns. Just like high school. The class is only five quick weeks long and I can’t help but wonder if and when it’s going to get challenging. Maybe this is exactly what I need to ease myself back into studentry.

(that's the Pasadena Public Library)
Since when does it cost $14 for a paperback novel? It seems like yesterday I paid about $4.95. Those days are over. Well, I’m not paying that much for a paperback. Thanks for my new library card, Pasadena! By the way, this library reminds me of the one in Ghostbusters! I want to start spending more (alone) time there. Raquel is spending the week at her great-grandparent’s house. I dropped her off on Monday. We had a nice visit before I left and I also brought home a giant zucchini from their lovely garden. It's as big as a newborn baby human... Maxine is such a sweet thing. She does a lot of dancing now—twisting, bouncing and bobbing her head. She has a favorite commercial, too. It’s an El Pollo Loco ad about their chicken sliders (I think). Maxine suddenly is afraid of some things: the face of James in the Thomas and Friends series and also the little Collie statue next to Grandma Emma’s piano at her house (see picture above). She laughs and shouts funny things all the time but she has not yet said a real word. She enjoys feeding herself and wants nothing to do with baby food but I actually enjoy being able to give her pieces of what I’m eating now that her digestive system is ready for it. Oh, a funny thing: if your feet are in her reach, she lays on them, like she’s snuggling or kissing them. I think it’s because we have always kissed her feet ever since she was born. She’s returning the love. Jose is still looking for work but I’m confident he will find something soon. He knows a lot of people, people who can help him find what he’s looking for. We’re living on our last bit of cash but I have to say it’s been nice having him home since his restaurant closed down last week. He’s very supportive of me going to school and I am grateful for that support.

Thanks for checking in on us!

I Love Taking Pictures

These are some of my favorite shots from the past couple of weeks.

At the Park

Went spent some together-time at the park today. Jose is hardly home anymore and I really wanted us to spend time together outside the house while he was home earlier today. It was windy but warm. Maxine really loves the swings. I can see how relaxed and happy she gets every time I put her in a swing. This is yet another thing that is different between Maxine and Raquel--Raquel is kind of a scaredy-cat like her mom about getting on rides or apparatuses at the park.