Savoring That Memory

It's almost 9:30 p.m. and I'm making a late (very late) dinner of Indian spiced green beans and rice flavored with cardamom and saffron. I love the taste and smell of Indian food (although don't get me started on the asafoetida).

I grabbed a green bean and bit into it. A cumin seed escaped from the bean and burst between my teeth. That distinctly cumin flavour washed over my tongue. I literally had to close my eyes and just savor it.

It took me back to some of my few carefree days. I was stationed at San Angelo, Texas--the last stop of my training as a Russian linguist in the Air Force. I was young and healthy, ran daily, ate a vegetarian diet, and was just happy. I used to make tacos in my room with refried beans. I always put cumin in the beans.

Biting into that cumin seed tonight, I could feel the heat of my months in Texas, see the green grass surrounding my building, feel my feet pounding the pavement as I ran for miles, my breath even and effortless. Those were good days. Good days, indeed.


GelaSkins Inc.

Oh My Gosh; Nie is Back!

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Sniffle.

And I am lame because this morning while unloading then reloading the dishwasher, I boo hooed in the sink at our lot in life. Thanks, Nie, for the reminder, once again.

Bryce's Musical Talent

We have a lot of musical talent in our family: Todd plays some guitar, Allie plays guitar, keyboard and cello (and anything else you put in front of her), Zane plays the trumpet and some drums. Bryce is only beginning to develop his talent. As for The Cuteness Factor, he's already got that down.



GelaSkins Inc.

Late Christmas Review

My computer and printer (where I plug in my SD card to upload photos) have been glitchy for about a month, so I never got Christmas posted. This morning I fixed that. I considered not putting pix on here, since they're so late, but then remembered this is my journal and the only history of our family that exists in writing, so here it is! Merry Christmas!

Check out Bryce's face, LOL! At first, he was like, "Why did you drag me out of bed to rip paper off boxes?"

Then he realized there were fun toys inside, so he woke up and got into it :o)

Allie and Zane got a laptop from their dad, so they got to video conference with him. Here's Allie showing him her new Flip video:

Allie and Zane on Skype with their dad in Virginia:

GelaSkins Inc.

I Just Can't Help My Hello Kitty Obsession

Because Hello Kitty is so darn cute (and she has no mouth, so you don't have to feed her, and therefore she doesn't poop, so what's not to love?)! I fell in love with HK while stationed in Japan (from 1990-1992). My friend Ashlie posted a picture of a very cool Hello Kitty car on facebook this morning, and just now I found this:

which makes me want to fly only on Hello Kitty planes in the future. April? Can we arrange that for our trip to Ukraine? Prolly not, huh?

GelaSkins Inc.

Brainstorm With Me, People

So I quit my job at the end of November because Bryce wouldn't let me get anything done (plus my computer wasn't cooperating). (It was a part-time, at-home job). It was just too frustrating to try to do. Plus, it was boring (sorry, my boss people, I love you all). And stressful. And I don't do stressful very well.

But now, even though it wasn't much money, I am definitely missing it. Missing it to the tune of "can't do my Russian lessons anymore." And that's not good for me. And if it's not good for me, it's probably not good for the entire world.

So, help me think.

I need a job that I LOVE so that I won't get burned out. And I have to be able to do it from home. And it has to pay enough to make some sort of difference in our lives.

Ideas?


GelaSkins Inc.

The Birth of a New Breed of Harriers

I introduce you to

The Virgin Hash House Harriers of the East Valley (and Beyond!)

On! On!



GelaSkins Inc.

How to Save a Life

"Step one, you say 'we need to talk', he walks, you say 'sit down, it's just a talk....' (The Fray)

So I get a phone call at 6 a.m. from a friend in another city, in another state, who is drunk--very drunk and we start talking. I want to talk about why he's so drunk at 5 a.m. (his time). We go into issues, talk about loving yourself, all that.

Then he tells me he's just taken 50 mg. of Ambien on top of all that alcohol. I don't know much about Ambien so I call Poison Control. They tell me he can go to sleep and stop breathing and that I need to call an ambulance for my friend.

My heart sinks.

I tell my friend this news and he begs me not to.

But what choice do I have?

So I call for help, in another city, in another state. I tell them who I am and for whom I'm calling and what the situation is.

I tell my friend that my rescue friends are coming over just to check on him.

He tells me he doesn't want to go to the medical center...again.

I tell him I'm sorry. I hope he won't hate me. Or hold it against me.

But at least he will be around to do so.


GelaSkins Inc.