Archive - April 2009

Did I Mention We’re Moving?

We’re having a Heat Wave.  It’s really hot here, as you may have seen on the news.  I haven’t mentioned it before, because then I’d have to think about it and I’d like to remain in my air conditioned denial.  Yesterday when I checked the weather in Colorado Springs, it was 43 degrees cooler there.  Forty-three degrees.  That’s so wrong, there ought to be a law.  But we’ll be there soon enough.  I’m certain my arrival will set off the hottest summer on record.

So yes, we’re moving and our time in the Army is coming to an end.  My husband found out that once he had his retirement physical, he was not allowed to take anymore PT tests.  He thought he had one last one coming up, but no, the Army is afraid he’ll hurt himself during that last test and would owe him more disability.  So no more PT tests.  He can now let himself get fat and flabby like the rest of us.

It dawned on me last week that even though we will not leave DC until the first week in July, that our packers will come the 3rd week of June.  That’s a whole two weeks earlier than I was mentally prepared for.  I’d like to say that I’m ready, but I’m not.  I will probably stay in denial again, until the weekend before packing out.  At which point I will run around like a crazy woman, trying to get things done.  Should be fun.

Gulp

First Communion time is looming.  We have a dress and shoes and stockings.  I have a gift planned.  The banner is ready.  The only thing really left to take care of is the veil.

I don’t know how it happened, but when I made my first communion I ended up with a rented dress and veil.  There aren’t any pictures of me that day, either.  It’s disappointing, not having anything to pass along to my daughter for her First Communion.

Then I heard about somebody’s tradition of passing along their wedding veil to their daughter for First Communion.  My bridal veil is in two pieces, a circlet of flowers plus a separate veil.  The veil is much too long for an 8 year old, but the circlet of flowers is perfect.

So we went in search of an appropriate veil.  We found the perfect one, a miniature version of the veil I wore when I became her father’s bride.  Mine was edged with pearls, hers is edged with satin.

When it arrived, she tried it on with my head piece.  It – she – is beautiful.

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Post Performance Wrap Up

So yes, we all survived the folklorico performance.  And wow! What an experience.  I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth repeating – Boo and Pumpkin Girl had 5 costumes each, to include hats, hair pieces and various accessories like rebozos, machetes and paliacates (bandannas).

I had a list, of course I had a list.  I had a print out of the entire show, in order, with the list of needed costume pieces running down each side.  Pumpkin’s costumes on the left, Boo’s on the right.  We had a full dress rehearsal the night before and I realized how unprepared I actually was.   I developed a new game plan for performance night, which was derailed when the children had to change dressing areas 10 minutes before taking the stage.  I was not amused.

Nonetheless, all went well.  The costume changes were fast and furious and all the children danced their hearts out.  Pumpkin was beautiful, if I do say so myself, and Boo did me proud.  He danced 3 dances in a row, stopping only to get or discard props backstage as needed.

From the state of Guerrero, they opened the show with “Son de Costa.”

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That’s Boo on the right and Pumpkin on the left, in the turquoise skirt.

The adults danced 3 dances while the children raced to ready for their polka, “El Jaral.” This is the one they danced for the America’s Got Talent auditions.

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Their next costume change was difficult. The polka hairpieces are held in place with hair pins and have to be removed carefully so as not to ruin their real hair. The next two dances also had props, but different props for each dance.

From the state of Jalisco, they first danced “La Jota Tapatia.”

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Followed quickly by “Los Machetes”, the children’s specialty.

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Boo totally rocks the machetes.

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A little skirt work from Pumpkin Girl.

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Boo’s too cool for a sombrero.

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Is it the French or Mexican blood in Boo that makes him look like he’s ready to lead a revolution?That’s Pumpkin on the right, wearing turquoise again.

The intermediate class took a break while Boo handed me his machetes and popped back on stage to dance “Alazanas” with the advanced class.

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The adults danced, and then the children came back to dance “La Culebra.”

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Here come the boys to rescue the girls from the snake!

After intermission were 2 pre-Hispanic dances.

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The boys spent about half of the dance jumping in circles while in a squatting position. Boo was the only one who made it through the whole dance. Just watching them made our leg muscles burn. Boo is the middle boy in the first row.

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Pumpkin is the small one in yellow.

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And finally, from the state of Veracruz, “Contradanza” and “El Colas.”

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At the curtain call they were given streamers to throw.

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Here, the girls look to see where they went.

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“Bye!”

You Know You’re Catholic When…

While watching Star Wars, when someone says, “May the Force be with you,” you have the irresistable urge to reply, “And also with you.”

That’s all I’ve got for today.  Just a quick post to let you know we survived the folklorico performance, and now we need to unpack the various and sundry costumes and accessories.  I’ll be back with a real post as soon as I get all that done.

Hectic

It’s that time again – the Spring folklorico performance.  Boo and Pumpkin Girl are in 9 different dances with 5 different costumes, hairpieces/hats each.  That’s ten costumes with accessories!  We have some of our own costumes, we borrowed others from the company and two more are supposed to be here by tonight’s rehearsal.  They’re being shipped from Mexico.  I’m a bit skeptical.

Of course, none of the company costume pieces are able to be worn as-is.  They all need some sort of basic tailoring to have them fit my children.  The toughest one is the pre-Hispanic suit Boo has.  It’s 4 inches too big around the waist and with the shocking lack of belts in pre-Hispanic Mexico, I’m not sure how to keep it around his skinny little waist.  He’s already got to wear bike shorts under it for modesty’s sake so I need to figure out a way to keep it from falling down around his rattle-wrapped ankles.  I already tried safety pins, but I don’t think it’s going to work.

Of course we just got the costumes last weekend.  Nothing like last minute costume altering to drive a mom crazy.

We bought a temporary clothes closet to hang costumes on in the dressing room.  Right now it’s set up in the living room with the costumes so I can keep track of what I’ve altered and pressed.   I do have a list of all the accessories each dance needs and what I need to do, but I find myself wandering around muttering, “Guerrero, Jalisco, Polka, pre-Hispanic, Veracruz…”

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There are still 3 costumes missing from this picture.  The jack o’lantern in the background has nothing to do with anything.

I’ve also got house guests coming in on the day of the rehearsal, in the middle of the rehearsal, in fact.  Good thing the airport is less than a mile from the theater.  Phil can run over there while I watch rehearsal.

In spite of my complaining and worrying, this performance is going to be fun.  If you live in the DC area and would like to go to the show, shoot me an email at the address over there in my sidebar. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children.

edited to add: the show is Saturday, April 18th at 7:30 PM and features both adults and children in dances from various regions of Mexico.

Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup

April on the East Coast is a cold and damp affair.  It has rained here 4 of the last 6 days and today the temperature peaked at 50 degrees.  That was sometime around noon and it has been getting colder ever since.  If any day called for a nice, warm soup, it is today.  I made Lemony Chicken Noodle soup which I got from Taste of Home.  The original only makes 2 servings, so I’ve modified it to serve a family.

Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup

1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 garlic clove, minced
enough water to fill your pot plus 2 1/2 Tablespoons chicken bouillon or
2 cans chicken broth
4 medium carrots, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 bag uncooked medium egg noodles
6 Tablespoons lemon juice

In a large pot, saute onion in oil until tender.  Add the chicken and garlic.  Cook and stir until chicken is lightly browned.  Stir in the water and bouillon (or broth), carrots, peas and basil.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the noodles.  Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until noodles are tender.  Stir in lemon juice.

Like most soup recipes, this one isn’t an exact science.  Adjust the ingredients to suit your family size and tastes.

Reflective Listening

As I put Bip down for his nap, he patted the pillow next to him and said, “You need to lie down for a little bit.”

I told him, “No, not today.  I have too much work to do.”  To which he replied:

“But you said you were tired of my questions.”

Heh, heh.  I guess I did say that.

He Is Risen

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” He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”
Matthew 28:6

Have a Blessed Easter, everyone!

Feeling Fine

THANK YOU! To everyone who helped or volunteered to help us locate a replacement Wohtee. I had taken a picture of the bottom of the car and was on my blog’s admin site to upload the picture, when I saw I had one comment that was pending approval. That comment was from Phil’s brother and he had left 2 links which correctly identified Wohtee as the Ferrari F40, plus he found a blue one on Amazon.com. ( I think the comment went in the moderation queue as an anti-spam measure since it contained 2 links.) I Googled all morning for a Ferrari F40 in blue and couldn’t find it. So Donald, I bow to your superior search skills.

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We’ve been spending a lot of time in church lately. Last Saturday we participated in the parish’s Seder Service potluck. Lots of yummy food and Boo got to read the part of the youngest child asking the “why” questions.

We attended mass on Holy Thursday and Philip was one of the 12 men to get their feet washed.   When they were finished, they each came down and washed the feet of their families.  The water was COLD!.  Bip thought it was great fun.

Good Friday was just an amazing service.  So beautiful, so stark, so sad, so hopeful.  Boo was an altar server, so he was excited to tell us that he “didn’t do too badly” with all the new things he needed to do for that mass.  Actually, he did quite well and looked rather handsome, too.

And this morning we were in church again for rehearsal for tonight’s Easter Vigil.  I’m excited about this since we are sponsoring our friends into the church.  It’ll be a long  mass ( I counted 7 readings, an epistle and the Gospel) and one I wouldn’t normally take the children to, but it’s going to be well worth it.  I hope Bip hangs in there well, or at least just goes to sleep.

Plus, Boo and I grabbed the opportunity to go to Confession after the rehearsal (Philip and Pumpkin went earlier at a Penance Service) so we are feeling clean and shiny, too.

Replacement Wohtee is on the way, beautiful church services, friends coming into the church and Easter dinner with more friends.  We’re all feeling fine.

Wohtee

Bip has a love of  cars.  “Cars” the movie cars, Matchbox cars, Hot Wheels cars – anything on wheels, he loves.  He has quite a little collection going and he plays with them every single day.   A year ago, he’d amuse himself by lining his cars up across the living room, giving us time to do school.   I keep 3 in my purse, for church, waiting rooms and restaurants where he needs to keep relatively quiet.  Bip’s cars are found in almost every room in the house.  He loves his cars.

A while ago – he’s only 3 1/2, so it couldn’t have been too far back – he named one of his cars.  Just one.  He named it Wohtee.

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This is Wohtee.

Shortly after Wohtee got his name, Wohtee disappeared.  Bip didn’t talk much then, but he spent much of his waking hours asking, “Where Wohtee?”.   The other blue cars wouldn’t do, he had to have Wohtee.  What makes Wohtee so special is that his tail fin lifts up and you can look inside, so when Wohtee was found, there was much rejoicing.

Then Bip discovered “Car” the movie.  He fell in love, of course, in part due to a role by none other than his beloved Wohtee.

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See the resemblance?

Even now Bip still refers to The King as Wohtee.  And the original Wohtee remains a favorite.

Wohtee met with disaster this morning.  Apparently there was an unfortunate bombing incident in the dining room and Wohtee might have been blown out of a cannon, thought that part is unclear, and he landed on the hard, linoleum floor, breaking off the part that makes him so uniquely Wohtee – his lifting tail fin.

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Alas, poor Wohtee, we knew him well.

I can’t fix him.  I tried.  So now what? Try to replace him, I guess. All I know is that he is a Hot Wheels car, but there is no other name on him.  Just “1988”, which I learned is not the year Wohtee was made, but the year the real car was first manufactured.  Upon closer examination, I think he might be a Ferrari:

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I’ve looked online and I can find Hot Wheels Ferrari F40’s and F50’s which are close but not exactly like Wohtee, but not one of them is blue.

Does anybody out there know cars enough to identify Wohtee?  Know somebody that does?  If I could figure out exactly what kind of car he is, it would make finding his replacement easier.

Anybody know a Hot Wheels collector that might help figure out what Wohtee is?  Is there a patron saint for this?

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