I ate alot. No really, trust me. Alot. Thursday morning for breakfast we had chips and dip provided by my sister. And than an amazing buffet at 11:00 am that included turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes (sweet and regular), butternut squash, corn, salad, fruit and of course dessert.  Since we obviously didn’t eat enough at the ALL YOU CAN EAT buffet we snacked all day and night on chips, M&M’s, Goldfish crackers, candy corn, ham, potato salad and cookies. And then just for kicks we ordered two pizzas at 7:00 pm.

We played Scattegories on Thursday night with my family.  My favorite answer of the night was with the letter E and the topic “reasons for being late”…  Ended up in jail. Ex-boyfriend slashed my tires. Exorcist was on. Ok, I guess you had to be there.

Angel’s new love is her ponies. She has 9 My Little Pony’s, two of which are a little bigger and so they are the mommy and daddy. She’ll brush their hair one at a time and set them all in a line. And then brush their hair again and lay them down to go night night. On Thursday night she played with them for quite awhile and then my sister and brother started traumatizing her by stealing them and hiding them from her. She’s one smart cookie though. At one point she glared at my brother, pointed at him and yelled, “Jimmy, you did it!”.

My parents had their house rented Wednesday and Thursday night and so we stayed in a hotel. This is the hotel that my mom, brother and sister-in-law all work and so we were able to get really cheap pool side rooms. There were only a few people there and so we pretty much had the pool to ourselves. Angel loves to swim! And so she was in heaven, swimming Wednesday night and a couple times on Thursday. Unfortunately the one thing I forgot was her swimming diaper. But we weren’t going to deprive her of swimming just because I forgot her swimming diaper. Even if it did cause her to have major backside issues.

At one point during the weekend Angel took my face in her hands, looked lovingly into my eyes and said, “Mama. I want M&M’s.”

Princess and Prankster drove 7 hours to spend Wednesday night and Thursday morning with us!  Even though Prankster had to leave Thursday morning for Wisconsin. Yes, we felt honored to have them with us!  They also played “1 – 2 – 3 weeeeee” with Caleb and he loved it!

All four of our kiddos were with us for Pat’s family’s Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night. It was great and something I never take for granted. And Angel picked out her outfit. It was a size 18 months and I could barely get it zipped – but she’s still a little dolly.

I paid Princess to go shopping at 5:00 am on Black Friday. I realized after she came back without being able to acquire anything on my list except 2 scarves for me that my payment should have been based on what she was able to get for me.

I have a friend who has two babies. She also has a brother and a mom and sister-in-law that work at a hotel. This friend stayed at the hotel on Wednesday and Thursday night. There was no one else in the hotel and so everything was pretty much shut down early Wednesday night.  This friend and her family, including the babies found themselves in the bar (that was closed) on Wednesday night. Her sister-in-law had made a big batch of amazing popcorn – seriously the best popcorn my friend has ever eaten in her life. They also ate cherries and olives and drank Coke-a-colas and watched cartoons on the Sprout channel.  It was probably the highlight of our weekend. I mean my friend’s weekend.

We had Pat’s family over for supper on Friday night. We didn’t get home from my parent’s until about noon and I was supposed to work until 4:00. Pat was going to watch the kids, clean the house and cook for our supper. Yes, he is amazing. But he’s not that amazing. Thankfully I was given the ok to work Saturday instead of Friday and was able to stay home and help. Pat was being all possessive on me though and wouldn’t let me help much in the kitchen. Doesn’t he realize it is MY kitchen? And that I feel like a complete failure when I’m not allowed to help? Yes, I know I have issues.

Well anyway by the time 3:00 rolled around the house was somewhat clean, the kids were napping, the table was set and everything ready to go – well except for the food that Pat wouldn’t let me touch. And so I went shopping. I was pretty much unsuccessful because everything I wanted was of course sold out by then. But I did find a few good buys and have a nice hour of me time. And yes that me time did include popcorn and slushy from Target.

Saturday and Sunday we did pretty much nothing. Well if you consider playing with the kids, cleaning and napping nothing. Recently I’ve come to realize that that is not nothing. It’s awesome. Well the playing with kids and napping part.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend and made many memories!

(Save it, Baby! Count me in!)

So, it goes like this . . .

Well, I just don’t know how this happened…

I don’t know what I was thinking really…

It seems tonight that I have about 80 people coming over for a parent meeting for my son’s wrestling team.

AND, I have my Annual Holiday Ornament Party Saturday as well… but which I do not know how many people are coming… quite a few.

How could I have possibly booked two large events at my home in the same week?

Am I a glutton for punishment?

Do I like stress and tranquilizers?

How many times do I really want artichoke dip?

These are the questions that I ask myself.

Well, as always, when the coach was looking for somebody to step up to the plate to offer their home for a parent meeting… nobody raised their hands.

So, it’s sort of like I was standing still and the team stepped backwards.

I get to do this by default.

Although, I have to admit that the house looks stunning in preparation for the annual ornament party.

How I can call my annual ornament party and “annual party” is beyond me, since last year I didn’t even put up one single tree… and as I go through the house, I count a mere 18 (not a typo) decorated trees in our home from 10-feet tall on down.

Not to mention all of the doo-dah on the banister and the along stairwell…

or the decorations in the den…

or the decorations in each bathroom…

or… or… or…

That’s a lot of tinsel, baby…

Well, I don’t know what I was thinking but now my brownies are burning and I have to get back to them.

Holy crap… I’ve got a lot of partying to do!

I’ll check in with you after tonight’s devastation… I mean meeting. 

xoxo

Be well,

Belle

  A 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Award Winner

S. Belle Karper, Author, Speaker www.BelleKarper.com
THE WIDOW WEARS BLACK - An Edgy Memoir from an Outspoken Survivor
Check out S. Belle Karper’s – Beauties and Beasts – Blog! Baby! Blog!
and Belle Karper Face Book & the popular Twitter-Belle - all on Website
Save it, Baby! Count me in!

Disney se pregăteşte să readucă magia poveştilor clasice pe marile ecrane! The Princess and the Frog, care va fi lansat în curând, spune povestea Taniei, o tânără afro-americană care se îndrăgosteşte de un prinţ transformat în broască. Totodată, este şi prima prinţesă de culoare din istoria Disney.

10. Albă ca Zăpada – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
A fost primul lungmetraj de animaţie color şi cu sunet produs de Walt Disney şi este unul dintre cele mai populare filme de animaţie, chiar şi acum la 72 de ani de la lansare. De altfel, Albă ca Zăpada poate fi numită şi cea mai “bătrână” prinţesă Disney.

9. Esmeralda – Cocoşatul de la Notre Dame
Quasimodo, un clopotar cocoşat şi cu o înfăţişare grotescă, se împrieteneşte cu Esmeralda, o frumoasă ţigancă dansatoare. Prin vocea ei, Demi Moore îi dă viaţă Esmeraldei, un personaj care îl va ajuta pe Quasimodo să îşi găsească frumuseţea interioară, în ciuda urâţeniei fizice. O tânără neînfricată cu ochi verzi care luptă şi pentru drepturile ţiganilor.

8. Mulan – Neînfricata Mulan
Filmul are la bază legenda chinezească a lui Hua Mulan. Este o tânără extrem de curajoasă care luptă pentru a-şi salva tatăl şi de aceea se înrolează clandestin în armată în locul lui. Surpriza vine atunci când Mulan devine cel mai mare erou al Chinei. Mulan ajunge şi mândria familiei. Este una dintre cele mai războinice prinţese Dianey.

7. Tinker Bell – Tinker Bell
Este unul dintre cele mai cunoscute personaje ale desenelor animate produse de Disney. Tinker Bell, zâna din Peter Pan, a fost desemnată recent “Ambasador Onorific al Mediului”. I-a fost acordat acest titlu pentru că Tinker Bell trăieşte în armonie cu mediul şi popularitatea ei joacă un rol cheie în educaţia copiilor.

6. Pocahontas – Pocahontas
O poveste emoţionantă despre puterea curajului şi a prieteniei. Este prima animaţie Disney inspirată de un personaj atestat istoric, care se împleteste cu legende şi credinţe din folclorul indienilor americani. Şeful de trib Powhatan decide să-şi dea fiica unuia din cei mai puternici războinici ai tribului. Spirit liber, Pocahontas se împotriveşte. Devine cu adevărat fericită atunci când îl întâlneşte pe Căpitanul Jon Smith.

5. Sleeping Beauty - Frumoasa adormită
Una dintre cele mai romantice producţii Disney. O zână rea aruncă asupra unei prinţese un blestem cumplit care poate fi anulat doar de un prinţ. Sărutul miraculos care o readuce la viaţă pe Frumoasa Adormită.

4. Cinderella – Cenuşăreasa
Personajul principal este o fată tânără ce are o viaţă foarte grea alături de mama şi surorile vitrege. Viaţa ei se schimbă când merge la balul de la Palat, unde îl întâlneşte pe Prinţ şi îi cucereşte inima.

3. Jasmine – Aladdin
Jasmine, fiica unui sultan, are la dispoziţie trei zile să-şi găsească un soţ. Ea fuge de acasă şi îl întâlneşte pe Aladdin, de care se îndrăgosteşte. Punctul central al romantismului în acest film de animaţie este covorul zburător.

2. Belle – Frumoasa şi Bestia
Frumoasa este o fată nemulţumită de viaţa ei dintr-un orăşel provincial al Franţei. Bestia este un prinţ tranformat într-un animal fioros printr-o vrajă pentru că nu putea să iubescă. Pentru a rupe vraja, Bestia trebuie să-i câştige dragostea frumoasei fete, altfel riscă să rămână aşa pentru totdeauna.

1. Ariel – Mica Sirenă
Ariel este fiica regelui Triton şi este foarte nefericită cu viaţa ei de pe fundul mării. Ea este fascinată de fiinţele umane şi şi-ar dori să trăiască printre ele. Pentru a-şi îndeplini dorinţa apelează la fioroasa Ursula, vrăjitoarea mării.

Sursa: Cinemagia

Didn’t realized there was only one doggy bowl for Belle and Michigan’s food so we had to improvise with a little sushi boat and olive appetizer dish. I kinda don’t want traditional dog bowls for the two of them, so does anyone have any suggestions on where to get cute dog-friendly dishes?

(Save it, Baby! Count me in!)

So, it goes like this . . .

So people want to know what my pumpkin goo is…

Well…

Pumpkin Goo is my interpretation of pumpkin pie without the crust. I bake it for 5 hours until the moisture is almost completely gone, and then I force my family to eat it with Cool Whip and tell them it’s actually pumpkin pie.

I think they bought it…

Can you believe that I got compliments?

I am a horrible cook.

I really don’t even know why I try sometimes, but my husband… my husband is incredible!

Super yum.

I would love for him to cook every single day, not only for the fact that he is an excellent cook but also for the fact that then I wouldn’t have to be in the kitchen.

Boooo-ring.

I can’t help it that I am not a Martha Stewart kind of girl.

Have you ever seen one of Martha Stewart’s television shows?

Like I would want to party with her.

It would be much like sleeping, but only awake… and on a bountiful table of sun-toasted greens and mixed hay on a a bed of sea salted crusties.

Snooze-ville.

So, yeah… my family is used to my own interpretations of many holidays.

I am not bound by tradition.

I draw outside the lines, baby.

Always have, always will.

It is not a mistake that my family loves my Pumpkin Goo since they have been raised on cripy black hot dogs, blue-box mac-and-cheese, and Albertson’s Monday Chicken Meal deals from the market.

Frankly, they crave my Pumpkin Goo since it is the closest thing to home-made food… once a year…   

… that is not burnt.

I’m a really great person for love, though.

Got tons of love.

Never out of love.

I am the Queen of Love.

But… cooking… how you say… not so much.

I do believe that Thanksgiving is about Food AND Love.

So… One out of two isn’t bad. A 50% success rate is not too shabby on a day that has some serious cooking in it, right?

That is the essence of Thanksgiving to me… my Pumpkin Goo, and someone else making all the rest of the great food, and lots of love.

Yeah, like ample amounts of love.

Like my mom crying when she says how much she loves us…

And, then at that vulnerable moment I throw some more Pumpkin Goo on her plate…

Just kidding.

I also sneak on some more Cool Whip.

It’s all good… including the Pumpkin Goo.

And, the love.

And, the yelling that the rolls are getting burned.

Yelling is a big part of Thanksgiving.

Loud love.

Lots of loud love.

Lots of love…

Hope your day was over flowing!

xoxo

Be well,

Belle

  A 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Award Winner

S. Belle Karper, Author, Speaker www.BelleKarper.com
THE WIDOW WEARS BLACK - An Edgy Memoir from an Outspoken Survivor
Check out S. Belle Karper’s – Beauties and Beasts – Blog! Baby! Blog!
and Belle Karper Face Book & the popular Twitter-Belle - all on Website
Save it, Baby! Count me in!

Heehee okay a 2 month hiatus from blogging would usually be very bad on my behalf but since noone reads this sorry website i call my blog i figured noone would have missed it.

Things that have come and gone;

1. HSC – That bad boy has thankfully passed and has left me relatively unscathed *phew*, no need to worry about exams anymore till December 16th.

2. Formal – Yes I had my Year 12 on the 17th of November 2009 at Le Montage. First of all Cheryl Ho. Cheryl looked absolutely beautiful in her ice blue dress

Belle, Cheryl and Me

Everyone looked so grown up in suits and dresses *sigh*. The food was good for the most part, for some reason the girls all got steaks while the guys got chicken…. yea wrong way around i know. The Entree was this cone looking thing with potato and cheese which tasted alright followed by the main either chicken or beef finished with a creme brulee that wasn’t REALLY a creme brulee. While the food was good the atmosphere was better. Everyone got their freaky freaks on and shredded the dancefloor to the “Nutbush”. All in all it was a great night  which we’ll all remember forever. (Photos will be up on flickr and facebook, Video will be up on youtube and facebook).

3. Sound Card – Yea i bought myself a usb sound card. Reason? dunno. I got a Creative Sound Blaster Play! which is around the same size a usb drive and basically just has an input for a microphone and an headphone/speaker output. The cool thing is that it upmixes all my stereo 2.0 signals to surround sound, you can definitely hear the difference!

My Creative Sound Blaster Play!

4. My Cousin and her new husband came to visit from china. So being awesomely nice i drove them around for the days that they stayed with us. We went to The Rocks which very Victorian and beautiful, the day would’ve been perfect if it hadn’t been 41 degrees

The Rocks

Afterwards we headed towards the DFS Galleria which this exclusive Duty Free Store packed with asian tourists. Now the brands I saw in this store i’ve only ever seen or heard of in movies.

DFS Galleria

Swarovski Poster

JFK Omega Poster

Swarovski Store

Georgio Armani Store

Swatch, Citizen, Omega, Cartier

Name Dropping

Hot Swarovski Chick

So many numbers..

Tag Heuer

I've never even heard of this brand

oooohhh shiny

Bvlgari

Dior

Salvatore Ferragamo

Burberry

Cartier

After checking out all those shiny exorbitantly expensive stores i got an ice chocolate from Guylian

Guylian Store

That wrapped up the day!

5. Steak – Yesterday night we headed off to black stump for some steak. Now having never REALLY had steak before i didn’t really know what to expect. I ordered the 500g grain fed rump steak done rare with pepper sauce, baked potatoes and salad. And well this photo best sums it up.

Black Stump

Thats what half a kilo of meat looks like

This has probably been the longest blog post ever (i should get a guinness world record).

Ps. Fill out yearbook profiles at Google Docs

Finally, I got to watch Disney’s latest 3D animated flick, A Christmas Carol, which stars Jim Carrey as the voice of the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge.

As this movie is obviously based entirely on the Charles Dickens Christmas classic novella, I will not delve into the story. Go read the book. I find it a must to do so in order to comprehend the movie. If you go into the story of A Christmas Carol for the first time through the film, you will not understand it and you may be disappointed for paying so much just to see it. The language is in the old British-style English and, knowing Filipinos’ comprehension of this type of spoken English, you might never get to understand the dialogue. This is not to mock every Pinoy; take it from me, because while watching, I wasn’t entirely listening to what the characters were saying. I was just engrossed in the visuals and relied on what I have read on the story for the script. Basically, it is essential to read the text first and formulate your visual interpretation in your own head.

Downloaded wallpaper from Disney's minisite of "A Christmas Carol."

Critics have given it a moderate rating—not exactly a very much anticipated ranking, considering that it is from Disney and is based on a classic. Some critics have said that it is an excellent visual version of the classic Dickens story, but lacks in heart or spirit. I have to agree. I didn’t feel exhilaration or a sense of inspiration after watching it. It was plain fun with elements of comedy, horror, and drama. The thrill, in my opinion, was absent. Even if Scrooge was being chased down the alley by a huge horse-drawn carriage, I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, hoping that he wouldn’t get caught. I just stared, watched, and enjoyed the 3D ride.

A heartless and worldly-possesive Christmas critic and atheist...

If I could have my way, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!

–Ebenezer Scrooge

...transformed into a caring and fun-loving jolly man.

Catches himself laughing like the Ghost of Christmas Present:

‘I’ve heard that laugh before…’

Resumes laughing.

–Ebenezer Scrooge

There were several scenes that were non-existent in the book. Although I hate a love-hate approach to this kind of practice by directors, I approve of it for this particular movie due to the interpretation and significance that it lends to A Christmas Carol. Take for instance, the death of the Ghost of Christmas Present. In the book, it wasn’t stated that he died—he simply vanished into thin air. In this animated movie, he actually grew old (and fast!), stumbled, and was shed of his skin up to his skeleton. He was laughing the whole time he was dying—even his skeleton was laughing. Afterwards, his remains were blown away like dust. I have formulated the significance of this scene: The Ghost of Christmas Present, albeit dying, was laughing because finally, Scrooge was being stripped off of his “Ignorance” and “Want”—worldly and selfish characteristics of man. It meant that Scrooge has finally come to his senses and is willing to propagate change into him. It was a laugh of triumph in being able to divert a man from his greedy ways.

Of the three Spirits of Christmas, I prefer the Ghost of Christmas Present just because he is so damn jolly! His laugh will make you want to laugh along--simply infectious!

I applaud the visual-creation department of Disney and Pixar. The environment was very much realistic. The humans were hardly recognizable as CGIs if shrouded in shadows. The only thing that made them look like CGIs was when they were moving too fast and performing feats not seen in reality. I also liked the style where in the end, Bob Cratchit suddenly evolved into Charles Dickens himself, stating the closing lines of his book. I have to say, he really did look like the man himself. Not really surprising, but still, a surprise.

Hey guys, don't you just love it when at an old age, you can look back to the day in your life when you fell so hard in-love? That special girl, how she looked back then, and how everything all around, including time, seemed to stop and just vanish. *sigh!* Yeah, I'm a hopeless romantic.

All in all, I could say that my excitement for the movie has paid off, but it never reached my expectations. I was hoping for a film that would get through me, more than what the book did. Still, it was a great cinematic panorama, and it certainly helped me understand certain vague points in the novella. The 3D experience was fine, but not enough to convince me that 3D cinema is best enjoyed in live action films.

How ironic the title of this post. I had a video uploading on youtube when I typed the title. And I’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes waiting for it to finish. It was down to a couple minutes left and I just went back and now it says ERROR.

Oh so close.

The video was of Caleb almost walking. He’s so close. Tonight he took about four steps and he’s so stinking proud of himself I can’t stand it. But for some reason when he falls down he’s started falling onto his stomach and banging his head on the floor. And then laughing.

Weird kid. He takes after his father I assure you.

It’s past 11:30 pm, I’ve been up since 3:00 am this morning and I have neither the patience nor the brain cells left to try to upload the video again.  So tonight you get some random pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. Psalm 75:1

I can’t remember where I first spotted Belsante, but she sometimes appears among rare medieval variants for Isobel.  I’d venture to guess she started out as a diminutive, though I’ve also stumbled across Belsante as a surname.

She’s certainly elegant, even dramatic, isn’t she?  And yet, Belle and Bella are accessible – and overwhelmingly popular – nicknames.

With parents seeking an alternative to mega-hit Isabella, choices like Annabel and Arabella are on the rise.  So are rarities like Maribel – a family name JLo used her daughter Emme’s middle – and Mirabel, as well as surname spins like Bellamy.

Worrisome suggestions abound on discussion boards: Harry Potter villain Bellatrix, Biblical bad girl Jezebel and Disney Tinkerbell.  (For the record, JM Barrie’s character is actually Tinker Bell.  And I’m fairly certain that suggestion came from someone not really naming a baby.  I hope.)

So what say you to Belsante – yea or nay?

~Friday night was family night and we’ve kinda gotten overloaded on pizza after having it 6 weeks in a row. So Friday night we decided to try out a new Chinese restaurant close to our house.  And so begins the stage of having two very loud, obnoxious children that make you wonder what in the world you were thinking bringing them out to a restaurant and why didn’t we just order pizza?

But really. It was a fun time. The food was excellent and after practically every bite Angel would say, “MMMM YUM YUM!”. This girl likes her food. Like mother like daughter, I guess.

After telling Angel to use her inside voice 400 times we finally finished dinner and stopped to pick up a few movies. By the time we got home it was close to bedtime so we just played a little and then sent the kids off to bed. It was kind of a bummer because it doesn’t really feel like a family night (miss you Princess!) when all it consisted of was eating dinner together – which we normally do anyway. I’m looking forward to when the kids get a little older and we can play board games.  Wait. Please disregard that last line. I do not want my babies to grow up. But yet I do. But yet I don’t.

~Well I went to bed contemplating the feelings in my soul of my kids growing up and of course woke up at 4 am to Angel’s screaming. Because that’s what we do now. We wake up at 3 or 4 am. Every single night. And again – it’s bittersweetness. I cannot wait for the day when I can get a good nights sleep three nights in a row. But I cannot imagine the day when our babies won’t wake up in the middle of the night crying for us.

~On a wonderful amazing note, both kids slept in until 8:00 am Saturday. That is like the parting of the Red Sea variety of miracles. It was so wonderful. Well except for the fact that when Angel woke up at 4 am Pat went down to get her back to sleep but I woke up too and couldn’t go back to sleep. So finally at 5:30 am I got out of bed and went downstairs and accidentally rented a cheesy chick flick on pay per view. Accidentally because I thought we didn’t have pay per view movies anymore and I was playing around the remote and it came up and so I just thought I’d try it and see what happened. Thankfully I didn’t pick a really dumb movie to try it out on. Instead I picked 17 Again. I guess just a little bit of a dumb movie.

~Saturday we did nothing much at all. I attempted to do laundry and clean but wasn’t very successful. I did get my menu done for the month. Oh yes.  You heard correctly. For the month.  We’re on a new budget plan and it’s been going really good. And surprisingly it hasn’t been too hard to come up with meals for a month at a time. Pat is very helpful and gives me ideas for at least 1/2 the meals. So anyway, I got that done and my shopping list done but then decided to take a nap when the kids when down for a nap instead of going grocery shopping. Because I’m real ambitious like that.

~Pat had asked me earlier in the week if I wanted to go on a date this weekend. Well, yes my wonderful husband I think that would be fabulous. We had to run errands also so all of us ran and bought our tickets for a movie – The Blind Side – because it was selling out every showing. We then ran to the store and dropped the kids off at Grama’s at 5:30 pm. The show was at 7:10 and we wanted to get there early to get good seats so just ran and got a quick bite to eat at Qdoba. The movie was amazing. It was even more amazing to spend some time with my hubby. Especially when it involves popcorn, holding hands and watching a great movie.

~Sunday morning brought church. And then I decided to go to our niece’s musical and thought Angel would really enjoy it too. It was kind of a gamble because she only had about 30 minute nap right after church.  But it went well and she loved it. There was only one time towards the end that she started to talk really loud – thankfully it wasn’t in the middle of a song – just the introduction to a song. Ok, maybe it was bad no matter what. But she settled down quickly and made it through the rest of the show.  And our niece did a fabulous job too.

~We got home around 4:00 pm and Caleb was sleeping so me, Angel and Pat also took naps. I love Sunday afternoon naps!

~Because of Angel’s middle of the night wake up calls we decided to move her upstairs and see if that would make a difference. So while I gave the kids baths Pat switched Angel’s bed and Caleb’s crib. Angel was SO excited to see her bed in the upstairs bedroom when we got done with baths. She started screaming and jumping on her bed and was sure to tell Caleb that his bedroom was now downstairs!  We’ll see how it goes tonight.

Enjoy your week!

prendere il gelato, in due, ordinando alla gelataja i gusti del cono che mangerà l’altro, senza accordi precedenti sulle scelte.

Credits: Corbin Gurkin, Corbin Gurkin Photography, Rochelle Mort, Blooms by Martha Andrews, Belathee, Belathee Photography, Orchard Cove Photography, Artisan Events, Carla Ten Eyck, Your Las Vegas Wedding Concierge

Okay so he’s basically just more playful than Belle cuz he likes punching things. What am I talking about? WATCH ->

The good thing about having a rain day is that I can catch up on all the things I’ve been slacking on…such as blogging!  (Yeah, I’m totally still getting the hang of this.)

For you Northeasterners, a rain day is much like a snow day.  Things shut down and some people don’t go to work or school.  You Southwesterners have probably never experienced a snow or rain day, but I’m sure you’ve seen them on TV.

Thanda After-School is closed today for a slew of weather-related reasons.  First of all, it would be a gamble to drive on the dirt roads after 12 straight hours of hard core rain.  I’ve never had to push a truck out of mud, but I’m imagining it would be quite a challenge.  Second of all, most of the students will probably vacate as soon as school gets out to take on their mud-packed walks home (which can take anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours each way).  And, finally, apparently we have to keep our eyes out for which road in town might decide to cave in on itself.  I guess some of the roads just aren’t equipped to take on sub-tropical rainstorms, so they just collapse.  There are two pieces of road in town that have suffered such fates within the past year or two, and neither of them have been restored to their old, easy-drivin’ glory.

So, that is why I’m sitting in my house on a Thursday with all the other volunteers, working from home while one of them bakes cookies and the other ones read or play the guitar or do Internet research.  It’s kind of wonderful.

Anyway, I’ve decided to write a little bit about Belle, the dog.  Here’s a visual for you:

What an appropriate picture for our dear Belle, tongue sticking out and all.

She has definitely grown on me.  Her brown, wrinkly face gets cuter by the day; I now find her snoring endearing; and her stinky breath is almost comforting when she surprises me by putting her face on the edge of my bed (and, thankfully, she learned quickly that I do not like to be licked).  We make our commute to the house next door together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I’m getting to where I can sense when she’s about to lunge forward to get to our destination even quicker, so I can be sure to put my cup of tea in the other hand or hang on more tightly to my laptop.

On our commute to work. This is about two paces before she speeds up and makes me almost spill my lunch.

I have to say, though, I’m losing faith in her as a running partner.  She’s increased her “decent pace” tolerance to 13 minutes, which is a step in the right direction.  But she can’t hack it much longer than that, even at a slower gait.  I tried taking her out for a 30-minute run last weekend.  We took three breaks to let her catch her breath along the way.  When we got home, though, she practically collapsed on the tile floor and laid there panting and drooling for 45 minutes straight.  I seriously thought I’d killed the dog!  Thank goodness she finally mustered up the energy to rise up on her wobbly legs and eat some breakfast.  Whew!  I guess we’re really going to have to work on her fitness using teensy-weensy baby steps.

I’ve noticed that Belle is also quite the scaredy cat.  The only time I’ve ever seen her run even remotely fast is to get past a clump of trees that’s always full of monkeys.  She’s never gone after any monkeys; she just plows right through their territory as fast as her non-runner legs will allow her to go, and then she proceeds to glance back every two seconds to make sure the monkeys aren’t chasing us.

The other night, I really experienced her un-guard-dog-like complacency for the first time.  Now, I’ve heard that she’s not the fiercest guard dog in the world.  In fact, I’m told that the volunteers used to leave her out front all night until they realized that if she heard something even remotely out of the ordinary, she’d get so frightened that she’d stand in one place, shaking, until she wet herself.

Anyway, I was escorted home from the office next door by one of the local Hibberdeners (it’s customary for us female volunteers to be escorted by a male if we need to go anywhere at night), and I set off the alarm when I came into the house.  I put in the code and everything was fine.  Belle was there “protecting me,” so I had nothing to worry about.  Ten minutes later, though, the security company showed up to investigate.  All of a sudden, there were bright lights being flashed into the windows from our front gate.  Having read a recent news story about how some unsympathetic South African police shot and killed a toddler in a car because they suspected his parents to be criminals and thought he was holding a gun (it turned out to be a piece of piping), I was not about to walk out the front door to tell the armed security guards that everything was OK.  While I was freaking out a little bit inside, trying to figure out what to do, Belle was just sitting on the couch, not even flinching at the bright lights beaming through the curtains.

The security guards ended the light show after about two minutes, and I assumed they were driving around to the back of the house to investigate from another angle.  I was right.  Soon enough, the lights were flashing into the kitchen window.  And Belle still didn’t move.  Nor did she bark.  In fact, if I’d never met her, I would have bet she had auditory and visual impairments.  But she doesn’t.  Our dear Belle just isn’t the brightest crayon in the box.

To keep the security guards from coming into our pitch-black backyard, I decided that I should probably yell out the half-open back door that everything was fine.  And only when I took the initiative to address the flashing lights and commotion outside did Belle turn on her guard dog bark and accompany me to the back door.

Nothing else exciting happened.  The security guards left once they understood what I was trying to say in my funny-sounding American accent.

And I figured out that, in addition to being Belle’s personal trainer, I am also apparently her guard human.

De la gemene ceva care sa va intre in sange. O melodie care emana foarte multa pasiune, foarte multa tristete, foarte mult…ceva…care va va face sa ascultati de “n” ori melodia si sa nu va opriti.

I know i did!

This last weekend we went to my parent’s house. Just to get away and spend some good quality time with my family. But also to help them with a luncheon they put on for the teachers in their town.

They’ve done this luncheon for the past three years. The teachers have an inservice and my parent’s church provides a lunch free for the teachers. It’s a pretty awesome example of the body of Christ reaching out and being the hands and feet of Jesus.

The thing that I loved most was that they cared about every little detail. From the color of the napkins to the decorations to having an awesome menu. They served a baked potato bar, a taco bar, soup and dessert.

The line of teachers and staff…

Pat and my brother Jim working hard in the kitchen. Actually it looks like Jim is working hard and Pat is goofing off.

Cooking, serving and doing dishes…

It was a great day. We served about 100 teachers and staff and there were just enough leftovers for everyone to take something home. 

The most amazing thing about this lunch is that there are only about 20 people in my parent’s church (but growing!). They’ve had some real struggles the past year and people have left. But about 20 people have perservered through it all and continue to serve and love and reach out to their community. And be the hands and feet of Jesus.

The rest of the day Friday we rested and then Pat (finally gave in to my whining and) went and bought the movie UP. We had seen it in the movie theatre and I knew it was one we wanted to have in our DVD collection. We watched it 6 times this weekend. Angel loves it so much. There are a few spots with mean dogs that I thought would scare her but she even loved that part. It has a great message too and is a good movie for kids and adults.

In addition to watching the movie and watching it again and again, we also…

Looked at the fish…

Spent some time at Aunt Nellie’s salon…

Cuddled with the duck. Not sure what it is with my kids and ducks!?

Ate brownies. And more brownies. And then some more.

Ate cinnamon bears. Just like Papa (my dad). Or as Angel calls them “teddy bears”.

I also got to celebrate my 36th birthday with my family. I’ll have to share a little more later about how this was the first birthday that I actually felt old. Well, I guess I just did, huh.

Anyway, while I’m very thankful for the time spent with my family, it probably wasn’t the most ideal birthday. First of all Angel had horrible nights both Thursday and Friday nights. Up all night. So I was so tired from that. And then our van broke down Saturday morning (my birthday). My mom and Angel ran to the store and when they went to leave they couldn’t get it started. So we got them home and then Pat went to work trying to figure out what to do, how to fix it, how we’re going to get home, etc.

Oh ya, my parents also rent their house out and there were a bunch of hunters coming to rent the house at 3:00 on Saturday. So we were also busy cleaning and getting ready for them. Well my parent’s were cleaning, I was trying to keep the kids from messing up the house anymore than they had!

Turns out the switch on the van broke and we couldn’t get a part until Tuesday. Our insurance covered towing so we got it towed to my sister’s house and Pat took it all apart but unfortunately, even though he is quite amazing, couldn’t get it working.  This was going on late Saturday now and so my dad said we could take his pickup back to our house (two hours away). I’m not sure how we were going to get the van fixed or get him his vehicle back.  But that’s just like my family – to give the shirt off their back – or their pickup – for someone in need.

Right before we were going to leave Pat decided to try something else. And sure enough he was able to get it started. There’s still something wrong with it but we were able to make it home. It was late Saturday night – my birthday – the night my hubby was suppose to surpise me with an awesome birthday date – or something like that. Instead we rented a movie and picked up Mr Goodcents subs and hung out at home and that was good too.

Even though I’m a year older and feeling it, it was overall a great weekend and I’m thankful for each day the Lord gives me!  And hopefully each year I’m given I can strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus too (and wheels, if necessary).

Nous l’appellons Belle tout simplement, c’est un pommier ‘Belle de Boskoop’ bien sûr, conduit en gobelet.
Ces pommiers là ont un grand développement , de longues et puissantes charpentières mais pourtant de graciles rameaux flexibles qui ne cassent jamais même chargés de fruits.
C’est que c’est un arbre généreux et facile à vivre qui s’installe sans histoire, en tous sols et fructifie très vite.
Ses pommes sont mûres en fin d’automne, elles sont un peu rêches avec plus de brun et de vert , que de rouge, un jupon paysan. Mais si à croquer, elle a quelque acidité malicieuse, c’est une pomme sans égale pour faire des tartes savoureuses, de divines compotes, des feuilletés parfumés et fondants!
Elle m’a toujours parue indispensable en notre verger et depuis dix ans que j’admire sa belle ramure, il ne m’était jamais venu à l’idée que la vie de nos arbres est bornée , tout comme la notre.
Au printemps, sa naîve floraison, n’en était pas moins spectaculaire. De presque rouge, le bouton entrouvre une large corolle rosée d’abord puis presque blanche au fil des jours. Les étamines d’or donnent à chaque fleur une classe indéniable, comme un clin d’oeil au printemps de nouveau là!
Belle résiste depuis aussi longtemps que je la connais à un chancre bactérien du collet et là, je viens de réaliser qu’il n’y a plus rien à faire…que les soins que j’aurais du lui prodiguer plus tôt ne serviraient maintenant plus à rien.
Nous allons devoir l’abattre pour éviter que la maladie ne se propage aux arbres avoisinants et pour lui épargner une agonie inutile, déssèchement de chaque charpentière une à une. Belle a trente ans, c’est encore jeune pour un pommier. Je me sens tellement coupable et honteuse de n’avoir pas eu le discernement et le courage de la soigner.
J’ai préféré m’occuper de l’implantation d’arbres plus spectaculaires, plus raffinés, plus rares ou voulu tout simplement avoir le plaisir de les voir pousser et grandir.
Je souhaitais avoir la chance de les voir grands, moi qui suis bien loin de la jeunesse.
Il est des manques de discernement que l’on ne rattrape pas.
Heureusement, un pommier pousse vite et je vais m’empresser de planter de nouveau  une autre Belle mais ce ne sera pas tout à fait la même ni tout à fait une autre non plus. Je ne la nommerai pas de la même manière et me promets de m’en occuper le mieux possible.
Comme je l’écrivais, il est d’entre nous comme de nos arbres. L’une de mes amies qui comprenait si bien l’essence même de la vie végétale et savait l’exprimer avec tant de grâce et de talent à travers ses photos vient de nous quitter.
Elle avait tant d’intuition et de goût pour construire massifs et associations végétales que souvent je suis restée longtemps à détailler tel ou tel de ses clichés, à essayer de saisir la ligne directrice , la teinte dominante, les nuances qui la réhaussaient, lui donnaient du corps, ou du velouté.
La beauté, pour elle n’avait pas de secrets,comme en témoigne le merveilleux jardin qu’elle  a créé avec son compagnon, même si elle se prénommait Micheline.
Je lui dédie à la fois les dernières fleurs de cet arbre que j’aimais tant et les premières du petit compagnon qui illuminera de nouveau notre verger. Printemps après printemps, elle demeurera dans mon coeur.