“Before You Were Born” Old

Monday, 29 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

FG came home from school last week and starting telling me about a historic event which took place a long time ago. When I asked when the event took place, she replied with “Oh, it’s ‘before you were born’ old~ like in the 50’s.”

I asked what is older than “before I was born” and she said “Well, that would be “Before Grandma Betty was born old.”

I have to admit, she must get it from me because I used to be just as obnoxious about “old” people when I was her age ~ and by old, I mean anyone over 20 was ancient to me 🙂

Posted in Favorite Girl | 2 Comments »

Elvis and Priscilla??

Sunday, 28 October, 2007 by Beachbums1


OK, my attempt at being Priscilla to FM’s Elvis was pretty lazy. FM, on the other hand, really got “into” being the King. We need to work on the hair and sideburns though and I’m hoping my sister, who lives close to Memphis, will have a better chance of getting an Elvis impersonator wig. Hint!

We spent the weekend in Ohio enjoying the annual Family Halloween party. After hearing fun stories about this family event, which alternates locations each year between the Michigan side of the family and the Ohio side, we were finally close enought to drive to the bash.

It’s nice to be within driving distance (an easy 6 hours) of Ohio so we can attend things like this with his family. From all the stories I’d heard, I was expecting it to be standing room only and very crowded but it was just right for me.

FM has a large, close and fun family. Since we’ve lived away from this area ever since we got married, I don’t know the family members well but love catching up with everyone when we get a chance to visit. It was so nice to be in Ohio and NOT be jet-lagged. We used to have to fly in from Germany and I was always exhausted for the first few days.

There is one family member who must have her very own Dorian Gray portrait hiding in her attic. She never seems to get any older or change in any way. She looks EXACTLY the same (in a good way) as when I first met her 13 years ago. I sure would like to know her youthful secret.

Some of the party-goers went all out with their costumes while others did not…I like the idea of a no-pressure costume party. The one I liked best (other than Elvis) was FM’s sister who dressed to look just like her dad ~ white beard and all. Several times during the party, I thought it was him instead of her. Very strange! But that’s what Halloween is all about, isn’t it??

Hope you have a strange and happy Halloween!

Posted in Favorite Man | 5 Comments »

Walking in the Woods

Friday, 26 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

Leaves falling slowly
like technicolor snowflakes
carpeting my path

I’m beginning to understand FMs love of distance running without music. 

I found a wonderful walking trail which winds through the woods next to a lake. In the past, I’ve always found a walking partner soon after arriving at a new post. It’s so much easier to get motivated to walk when someone is waiting on you, plus I love chatting while walking.

I’ve yet to find a walking partner here and, although my faithful canine companions are good company, it’s a very quiet walk for me.  I don’t own an ipod or the like so it’s just me and the dogs. I’ve noticed that the first mile or so, my mind races with my to-do list, what annoyed me on the morning news, etc. The second mile is usually about things which require a little more creative thought such as what I might want to write about on my blog, upcoming travels, FM, FG, friends, etc. During the last mile, I feel completely in the moment ~ enjoying the walk, the dogs, the woods, even the snake I ran across on the trail.

It’s during those quiet times when Haiku lines pop into my head, but don’t worry, I’ll spare you the Haiku about the “honking Canadian Geese” which flew overhead yesterday. Not sure why my thoughts drift to Haiku ~ maybe because I have so many Japanese characteristics. My dad used to comment how I must have been Japanese in my last life but, since he’d lived in Japan for many years and even spoke the language, maybe I picked things up from him. Or from all my Japanese friends in Hawaii.

All these creative thoughts on my walks are making me rethink if I even want to find a walking partner here 😉

Posted in Haiku | 4 Comments »

Entertaining New Friends…

Tuesday, 16 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

…with thoughts of old friends.

Last Friday, FM and I hosted a dinner for several new friends but as I prepared the menu, I spent most of my time thinking of old friends. If you’re a military spouse like me, I’m sure you have your fair share of “unit” cookbooks. For this dinner, I used three recipes from the “Food That’s Too Too Good” cookbook by the 2-2 IN spouses who I spent time with in Germany. So thank you to Heidi S.(Artichoke Dip), Joy M. (Spinach Dip) and Nancy N. (Apple Crisp) for your yummy recipes which I used on Friday.

Throughout the week leading up to Friday, I was having visions of cooking grandeur and wanted to make something special and impressive. I poured over a couple of Martha Stewart magazines looking for recipes and settled on one new addition to a tried and true dinner repertoire: Sweet Potato Cannelloni. The dish is labor intensive but can be made the day before which is always a hit with me ~ the less I have to do the day of, the better. The dish consists of blanched sweet potato slices wrapped around sweet potato puree with diced apples and shaved parmesan cheese. It’s healthy, too, with each serving providing 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber.

To say it was a “hit” is an understatement! Everyone raved about it ~ so much so that at first I thought they were putting me on about how yummy it was.  I was hoping to link the recipe but I couldn’t find it on the Martha website. Perhaps because it was in the October 2007 issue and won’t be on the site until after the magazine is sold.  If you’re interested in making this dish, let me know and I’ll scan then e-mail the recipe to you.

It’s well worth the effort and would make a nice addition to any Thanksgiving meal.

Posted in Food, Recipes | 8 Comments »

Delicate Ears

Tuesday, 9 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

All these years, since FG was born, I’ve attempted to protect her from obscene language, TV, movies, etc. I’ve had no problem “requesting” someone stop swearing if we were in the near vicinity. The worst incident was on an early morning train from Munich to Weiden during Oktoberfest and FG (age 5) & I were seated next to 5-6 soldiers coming back from an all-nighter of festivities. Seemed every sentence started with F***. I politely asked them to control their language, to which they truly made an attempt but it was so second nature that one of the guys finally said “Why don’t we just sleep since we can’t control what we say.”  That made me chuckle.

In the last year, I’ve given up “protecting” her from foul language and now I attempt to explain why people use that type of language and why she’s not allowed to say those words.

FG is also not allowed to watch PG-13 movies yet. She doesn’t ask to watch them either, she’s very happy with the feel-good “G” or “PG” movies. Imagine my surprise when, during introductions, several of my 4th grade (9-10 year olds) religious education class students named movies like “Ghost Rider” as their favorite movie. I haven’t seen the movie but the previews looked disturbing to me. And then my neighbor shocked me even more when she said her 5 year old has seen all the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies. WOW ~ I had trouble with some of the scenes in the Rings series. Remember the scary spider ~ creepy.

Since FG is inching toward those PG -13 movies, I was thrilled to see this on a blog called Books on the Brain which I recently started reading. Commonsensemedia.org seems like a great resource for parents who aren’t sure if their child can handle a certain movie

Posted in Favorite Girl, movies | 4 Comments »

Want a Blood Sample, Too?!

Monday, 8 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

As someone who has worked in Sales and Marketing, I completely understand a company wanting to gather demographic information and normally, I don’t mind but they are starting to get a little too intrusive for me. Everywhere we shopped on our cross country trip, cashiers would ask for our zip code. It was funny to see their reactions when we said we didn’t have one ~ in reality, we really were homeless for those couple months.

Since arriving in NY, I’ve been asked for both zip code and phone number. Zip code is OK with me but phone number is off limits. Today, FG got her ears pierced. I had to sign a waiver since she’s under 18 and they required ID from me. At first, I showed my military ID but when I saw she was going to enter my social security in her computer, I asked for her to use my driver’s license. I still didn’t like that she entered my full name and birthdate which is now used a lot for medical records identification.

Then, I purchased a pair of leggings, for cash with exact change, at “Limited, Too.” They have way too cute clothes for girls. The cashier asked for my phone number to which I said was “unlisted.” She then asked for FG’s birth-date which made me REALLY CRANKY.  Why can’t they just ask “How old is your child?” That’s really the information they want.

If companies keep annoying me like this, I’ll have to always pay cash and will refuse to give ANY usable information at all. I’ll be that person in the Visa commercial who gets the nasty looks for paying with cash 😉

Posted in Pet Peeves | 2 Comments »

Into a Good Groove…

Sunday, 7 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

Being in a rut is a “bad” word around our home. There’s a fine line between being in a comfortable routine and being in a rut. Thankfully, since I’ve never lived in one place for more than five years in my entire life, it’s safe to say I don’t usually get into a rut. In fact, FG and I have the opposite problem, we usually crave a good routine. I leave FM out of this equation because I honestly think he could do things differently every day and be his happiest.  His routine comes in the form of products ~ he doesn’t like it when I change out his favorite mustard or change the type of dishsoap we use.

Since FG is forced to live our “wandering the earth” lifestyle, I try very hard to quickly establish a routine once we settle into a new home. Like most children, she LOVES the security of a schedule. We’re not quite there yet but FG is getting into a good groove here in NY. She’s started after-school activities such as ice skating, hip-hop dancing and basketball. She enjoys our weekly Saturday visit to the farmers market which I had to warn her will be coming to an end after this month. We’ll have to find a new Saturday morning outing.

As for me, my morning routine is going well but I’ve yet to find a walking partner (makes me miss Jean, my Guam walker, even more). Unfortunately, after the morning, it’s a catch-all of things ~ mostly “thinking” about what still needs to be done to settle in and not a whole lot of “doing.” Bottom line: no curtains yet! We’ll continue to work on our routines, and force FM to come along, so that we can save energy to enjoy the two weekends of traveling coming up this month.  

Are you in a rut or trying to find stability?! Or better yet, are you just right?!

Posted in Favorite Girl | 4 Comments »

Up Late With The Chefs

Thursday, 4 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

I was up way past my bedtime last night watching the season finale of Top Chef. I’m a latecomer to this show, having started watching it about 3 weeks ago but thankfully they replay episodes all the time. I’ve seen them all except for the first one.

The show reminds me of the people I worked with during my summer as a “Kitchen Steward” in a resort kitchen. I didn’t cook but I was very involved in all aspects of the kitchen’s workings ~ such as inventory, banquets, liaison between waitstaff and cooks, etc. It was a long, hard summer but I learned a lot about that aspect of the hotel business and to be a manager at a resort, you have to learn all areas including the kitchen.

The Chefs I worked with were creative, charming, demanding and, most of all, exuded more than a little intimidation. The crew that summer worked very hard and PLAYED even harder. I didn’t even try to keep up and was never really a part of the crowd. I earned respect by working hard and being competent at my job but the after-hours always seemed a little too dangerous for me ~ plus I was plain exhausted. I have to admit though, it was an exciting summer and I did meet my good friend, Dave (the pet sitter extraordinaire) since he was part of the kitchen crew. He, too, was an outsider and only lasted one summer in the kitchen.  After that, we were back in the front of the house!

Back to the show: I was hoping Casey would step up and win because, even today, it is very difficult to be a woman chef. I thought she exhibited a lot of grace under pressure and she seemed to handle herself well around all those male egos. Unfortunately, the onion chopping challenge really lowered my opinion of her skills and that’s when I knew Hung would win, which in my opinion, he definitely deserved. 

Being a vegetarian, I wouldn’t eat most of the food they cooked but I still enjoy their thought process and the ingredient combinations. Now, if I were in charge of the show, I would have the judging be “blind” ~ meaning the judges wouldn’t know whose dish it was being served. That way personal bias wouldn’t enter in the equation at all. All that talk about “heart” and “soul” in the food came more from their impressions of the candidates than the taste of the food.

The other thing I’d love to see is a season of “International Top Chef” which would include contestants from all over but especially from Asia where the food is fabulous and a lot is vegetarian. 😉

Anyone else a foodie?

Posted in TV | 4 Comments »

I Evoke Fear and Loathing

Monday, 1 October, 2007 by Beachbums1

Someone out there loathes the very sight of me. She gets angry and upset if she sees me driving down the street. What have I done? I’m a mom and I drive a suburban.

As I was driving home, in my beast of a car, from the dog park last week, National Public Radio (NPR) had a show on Carbon Offsets. One woman called in and said she “loathes moms driving suburbans.” The very sight of us caused her great anger. I have no idea why a man driving a suburban would use any less fuel but that’s pretty typical illogical thinking of someone like her…

The caller has no clue about the circumstances of someone who chooses to drive a suburban. They could have six children like my neighbor in Guam. Or, in my case, I have in the past used my vehicle to transport shelter animals to adoption fairs and to the vet to be spayed/neutered. 

Strangely, during her call, she professed to being an animal advocate yet couldn’t bring herself to stop eating meat. She expressed guilt about eating meat and the host of the Carbon Offset show said perhaps there should be a “tofu” offset for people like her. She could ease her guilt by paying someone else not to eat meat.  That comparison really brought home the fact that Carbon Offsets are a joke and the only way to bring down emissions is for everyone and every business to cut down on output. “Buying” away your consumption is not going to help the environment.

Come to think of it, the wanna be vegetarian and suburban hating caller, would probably like me after-all, if she took the time to come down from her judgemental perch.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »

Apple Addiction

Wednesday, 26 September, 2007 by Beachbums1

A couple weeks ago, the man selling apples at the Farmers’ Market offered FG a “taste” of a freshly picked cortland apple and from that bite, she’s been hooked. She looked at the bowl of apples on the counter yesterday and saw only three apples left. She got a bit of a twitch and said “Mommy, there’s not enough apples to last until Saturday.”

She’s always liked sliced apples with peanut butter or nutella but now she grabs one from the bowl and munches away without anything to hide the taste. The apple selection here in upstate New York is fabulous ~ rows and rows of different types in the grocery stores.  I know very little about apples so I’ve now got a chart I take with me. FG’s favorites are: Cortland, Fuji, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith.

Personally, I prefer mangoes, papayas, guavas…almost anything over an apple. In fact, I’ve always thought of apples as a bit tasteless and boring but that’s probably because by the time it’s shipped to Hawaii, the apple has lost its flavor. But after reading an article in the October 2007 issue of Good Housekeeping, I may have to give them another try.

Here are the top five reasons to eat an apple a day:

1) They are PACKED with fiber (20 percent of your daily value). They take awhile to eat so your body registers that it’s full before you’re tempted to eat more food. The natural sweetener of an apple enters your body slowly so you get steady blood sugar levels.
2) Researchers from the UK found the children of women who ate the most apples while pregnant were less likely to develop lung problems (wheezing, asthma, etc). For adults, the reseach suggests apples may lower asthma and lung cancer.
3) The pectin (a type of fiber) and polyphenols (antioxidants) can lower cholesterol levels(especially LDL levels). Important note: eat the skin, it has 2-6 times the antioxidant compounds as the fleshy part.
4) Italian researchers found that eating apples lowered risks for certain cancers such as oral, esophageal, colon, breast, ovarian and prostate.
5) Apples heighten the production of acetylcholine which is a chemical that transmits messages between nerve cells thus keeping your brain sharp as you age. University of Mass in Lowell is doing animal studies on the effects of apples on Alzheimer’s disease.

For me, the thought of an apple keeping my brain in good working order is enough to convince me to bite into an apple a day but I think I’ll go with the baked tasty version such as this.

Posted in Favorite Girl, Miscellaneous | Tagged , , | 5 Comments »

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