We share a brain

My sister and I are cut from the same cloth, or as her husband so graciously put it, we share a brain. We often suffer from indecision and forgetfulness. Take yesterday for example, my sister needed to drop her car off in San Mateo for repair. Our plan, as of the night before, was that I was going to pick her up, we would do some shopping and have lunch and I would take her back to her car when it was finished at the repair shop. Sounds simple right? Well, right from the get go our plans went out the window. I called her on her cell phone at 9:00am to tell her I was going to the bank and would head over the hill to meet her after that. When I called she said "Oh, I decided to have Mike (her husband) follow me over and bring me back home because I didn't want to you have to leave so early to meet me. Just pick me up at the house later". This, I am positive put a tail spin on our day. I was dressed and ready to go but I'm good at killing time, I could find something to do for a bit right? So about 10:30ish, after going to the bank and visiting my Mom for a while I picked up my sister at her house and we headed over to the BMW dealer to get a part for my car, by the time we were done with that it was close to lunch time so off we went to our favorite restaurant for our favorite meal of Pho. After devouring our delicious lunch and a trip to Whole foods and Trader Joe's we headed home in a food coma, talking (gossiping) and whatnot. It wasn't until we were all the way back home (corner of hwy 1 & 92) that my sister's phone rang and she was telling her friend how we had gone over the hill to have lunch and pick up her car ........drum roll please...........Yes, one small detail, HER CAR! After all, wasn't "her car" the excuse we were using to have lunch together? With a trunk full of grocery's we couldn't drive all the way back over the hill , we needed to unload, so off to her house first, we pull into the driveway and she realizes she has no key to get in. OMG! At this point we are just bewildered with ourselves! We had to drive to my house, unload, get the key to her house that I luckily had and back to her house to unload her stuff, then back over the hill! But after all was said and done, the bottom line is we got to spend time together, just me and my brain sharing sister! It was a good day and I did still had time last night to make these delicious scones too!

The Real Minerva

My friend Lynn had recently given me two different books to read. She's a avid reader devouring books as she works out on the treadmill! But unlike Lynn, I don't make the time to read and I most likely won't finish reading a book if I don't like. Which brings me to the first book she gave me. It happened to be by the author of a book I really love, Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. A wonderfully written book that really transports you right into the hard life of a 1930's circus hand, a must read if you haven't already. Riding Lesson's on the other hand was far less enjoyable for me. Looking back, I think it's because of the modern day setting. A story that could be about the middle aged woman living next door (I'm sure that was her point) and I only kept reading it because I thought she was going to have some sort of breakthrough moment in the book, but she never did and in the end I still didn't like the character or her story. I would have been much more interested if the story had been about her mom and dad, I think they had a much more interesting life. But this was not the case with the second book Lynn gave to me. The Real Minerva, written by Mary Sharratt. Lynn said that she had read it in one sitting and that I had better prepare myself for a late night. But what I found myself doing with this book was savoring it. I didn't want to read it in one sitting, honestly I didn't want it to end. I loved the setting of the book, the late 1920's and on. The author tells the harrowing story of three women, their individual struggles, how their lives intertwine and ultimately the outcome of their bravery. I like reading about this time in history. It makes me appreciate what I have and think about what my Grandmother and her generation had lived through not so long ago. I may have to probe a little deeper to find out why I'm so fascinated with this era. I just ordered Mary Sharratt's 1st novel Summit Avenue from the library. It's set in the early 1900's, a coming of age story of a 16 year old German girl sent to live in America. I hope I like it.

Photo collage

I have a Google Picasa account. A place to store and organize photos and occasionally share them online or through email to family. The problem is I don't spend enough time (any really) on learning how to use the site. The other day I was fooling around and somehow I ended up on my Picasa page and noticed a tab for a collage. What the heck right? It immediately started adding in photos and this is what I ended up with. I liked it so much I put it as my desktop. Most of these pictures are from my friend Lisa, you can see more of her here www.lisadamrosch.com, who took pictures of the boys for her new photography business. I think she did a fabulous job.

First Timer

There is a first time for everything right? Well , this first time for me was one I thought would never happen. Honestly, I never wanted it to happen until.............my son joined the High School football team,Yikes! Up until last night I could proudly say, I had never watched a football game in my life, not on TV or in person. Sometimes it was hard to avoid in the house I grew up in (big football fans). The honest truth is that it was fun, even if Ian didn't get to play, it was still fun being at the game and cheering on the team. I don't think I would willingly attend a pro or collage game but I will certainly be there to cheer on the Half Moon Bay Cougar football team and Ian.

Sometimes you just gotta laugh................

The other day I went to see my mom at her work, we had a nice chat and when I was getting ready to leave she stood up onto a stool to reach for something. I said, "Mom, those are cute pants". She said, "Oh, Thanks. I have to take the hem out a little though". I said "oh yeah, it looks like you hemmed them too much". And she said "No, they're capri pants" . You see my mom is only about 4'11'' and the pants were barely above her ankle. We both got a chuckle out of it!

Bitter Sweet and what a treat!

The First day of school is always so bitter sweet. And this year more so than others as both the boys have moved on to new schools. My days at Hatch elementary are over for good! Actually both Evan and Mom (grandma Jean) have moved on to Cunha middle school across the highway from Hatch. I think the significance here is that after some 30 odd years at Hatch school Jean decided to take the librarian position at the middle school. Her hours had been slashed at Hatch so she's now working a full 8 hours a day! Good luck mom! Evan has a great school schedule and has a good friend in every one of his classes. Not as important for boys as girls but still a nice thing. Ian started at Half Moon Bay High School today, again great schedule. I had to go up today just to change him out of biology and into Earth science his counselor was very supportive and helpful :) Ian is also playing HS football this year (his first time ever) so he has had the advantage of being at school the last week in July for a football camp and everyday in August so no real butterflies about getting around campus. Me? Back to my routine, today I took Evan to school, dropped my car for service, went to Costco and Trader Joe's, meet with Ian's counselor and came home and made baked ribs w/ spicy blackberry sauce and mashed potato's for dinner and Blackberry and plum turnovers w/ cardamon for dessert! If you noticed a theme here your right. I had picked berries at my friends and needed to use them up. But I'll tell you, the spicy blackberry sauce for the ribs? TO DIE FOR! I hope I can wait for everyone to get home!

Where'd the summer go?

I've been so busy with some fun and not so fun things that I haven't posted for a while. I'm not going to post any of the bad stuff and just stick to the good times. The super fun things are that my Brother David and his family, Wife Megan and kids Paul (14), Hannah(12) and Mark(9) have been here visiting from NC since the 5th of August. We've managed a trip to Malibu miniature golf and go-cart racing where Hannah started out driving like Miss Daisy and ended up like Danica! A trip to San Francisco for Dim Sum and a tour through China Town, They loved the dim sum and looking at all the cheap stuff in the stores and a first for me was a trip to the Fortune cookie factory, it smelled so yummy! They had plenty of beach time boogie boarding and skim boarding and a family portrait at the beach. Paul played in a tennis tournament in Santa Cruz over the weekend and won the 14 singles and is taking home a beautiful trophy! We all went to watch him play, It was great!
Ian had his High School orientation on Friday the 14th , he got his schedule and had a tour of the school. He's also been practicing football for the last couple of weeks, going to 7AM work outs and is now into what they call double sessions (two practices a day). School starts on the 24th. Evan took a brake from Kuk Sool Won for the summer and will get back to it starting in September.
As a special treat us girls,Mom, Rae, Me ,Megan and Hannah went to lunch and had Mani/Pedi's for my birthday! I'm really going to miss my family when they leave to go home, but I'm sure with the start of school and all that is involved with Fall will distract me from missing them.