Doughnuts Anyone.....

I noticed on my news home page this morning that today is National Doughnut Day. Two things came to mind when I saw that. The first being the idea that we have a special day for everything here in the USA. Do we really need a labeled day for eating super fattening sugar dripping items? But my second thought was more along the lines of memories. I guess I have been thinking memories a lot lately. I am usually a "live in the now" person and don't think about the past so all of these little strolls have been nice.

Doughnuts:

All through my growing up years, my Portuguese grandma...my Nana, would make Malasadas. It is a yeast doughnut with a yellow inside and no hole. She would drop it by big spoonfuls into cooking oil. In a matter of maybe two short minutes, the goo would cook and become a brilliant deep golden brown. Then she would dip the finished blob, the size of 2 fists put together, into a pot of thin sugary glaze. Whenever she made these doughnuts, she would create huge batches of it to share with all of the family. Because of that it would be an all day job and the house would smell heavenly for days afterwards. Bags of Malasadas would be in the refrigerator and freezer for our convenient grabbing. As if that wasn't a treat enough, Nana would then take the doughnuts and cut them up into slices. She would then either toast them or fry them in a breakfast pan with a bit of butter.

With my new found thinking on eating more healthy, I have no desire to run out and grab doughnuts today. But with the memories floating around in my mind, I just might ask Nana if she would like some help in making some Malasadas so we can have them again.

(Here is a picture of me with Nana just a couple of months ago. She would flip out and crown me a good one if she knew I posted her picture here. It was one of the rare occasions when she actually allowed her picture to be taken.)

For now though, I need to run to the grocery store and get ingredients for a feast tonight. I am doing the spaghetti and bread thing for everyone. Students and parents are going to be in my living room tonight to watch Inherit the Wind. Have you ever seen it before? A dear friend introduced me to it a couple of years ago and it is now one of my favorites. I haven't told the students much of anything about it. Instead I want them to watch it, feel it, get justifiably angry, and then we will talk about how the pride and arrogance of people applies to us today.

It's Like the Twilight Zone...

Do you remember when you were a kid and you ran into your school teacher somewhere. Maybe buying ice cream with their family or maybe at the movies. It threw you for such a loop. Why was that? How was it that teachers carried so much control and power in the classroom that we couldn't fathom them being real people?

Well here is my funny because it happens evern with preschool children.

(Cue the mysterious background music and roll the fog in so that readers can see the scene)

While I was at the evening church service, I stepped into the restroom to freshen up. I was washing my hands when little 4 year old David walked in with his 6 year old brother and his mom. David stopped in his tracks righth there in the entrance and said with his mouth gapping in shock, "Mom!...It is my TEACHER....in the BATHROOM!"

His mom ushered him all the way in and absently said, "Yes David it is. Isn't it amazing that even teachers use the bathroom too?"

I smiled as I was leaving. I can just imagine the scene next Sunday. I will walk by David and his classmates and he will lean over with big knowing eyes to loudly whisper in their ears, "Teacher knows how to go to the bathroom!"

Floating on a Raft....

Here come those memories again. I was looking at some of Quilly's beach photo's last night and my mind floated back to a time when we lived in Hawaii.

Quilly's photo brought to my mind a memory of being at Bellows Beach with my parents. I had to have been between 3 and 4 years old. My dad had me in water that was waist high for him. I was sitting on a body raft and giggling in the moment. I can remember my dad smiling and saying, "Angel, can you find Mommy? She is an awful good swimmer and just might sneak up on you." At that point I leaned over for a look in the water and saw my beautiful mom swim under me. It sticks in my mind that she had on a yellow swim suit with red colors on it, maybe flowers, and she swam with her sunglasses on. I remember that the water was so very clear, so clear that it had no color. The ripple of the waves mixing with the sunlight made intricate patterns of shadow on the sandy floor. The water always tasted yucky but it was always so warm and inviting.

I was just a little girl when my dad was stationed at the Air Force base. I think I was maybe a year old and we lived there until I finished 1st grade (early memories are so fuzzy). Being so young, my memories are snippets of pictures and feelings. All of these snippets include the joys of family. My mom had done much of her own growing up in Hawaii and had many relatives there.

I remember being at Nana and Grandpa's house a lot. In my mind, their house was huge with big open rooms. There was a front concrete patio with a brick wall. Along the driveway there was a rock retaining wall that led to the road. I can remember someone holding my balance as I stood on that wall to watch the 4th of July fireworks. The smells were so strong and the loud noises muffled because my dad put his flight line headset over my ears.

I remember going for walks with Nana around the neighborhood and telling the barking dogs "no-no".
Here is a funny one.....I remember faking coughs so that I could sip Nana's homemade cough syrup that was always on the refrigerator door. It was a mild concoction of honey, lemon, and rum.

I remember our own 2 story home. My cousin would come over to visit on a regular basis and we would play our imaginative games. Always our role playing was about pretending to be grownups and it was always a race to be the first to proclaim that there was coffee in our pretend cups.
I remember a neighbor boy named Calvin and how we were always teased that we would grow up to be married to each other because we played so well together.

I remember my dad taking me to school one day. For some reason that I don't remember, school had already started and it was to be my first day in class. When we showed up, the class was getting ready for a field trip to the zoo and I was given the option of attending with them or going back home. I can remember thinking, "of course I am going back home. I am not going to spend the day at the zoo with people I don't know."

I remember in school that I had a friend named Susan. Once we did a presentation as a whole class in Polynesian dance. We spent weeks making grass skirts by rolling newspaper around pieces of straw and gluing them into place. On the day of performance, we had to go to school in our swim suits, preferably bikini style. With leis around our necks and flowers in our hair, we did dance arrangements with balls on string. I don't remember the name of them but it was a skilled art form and we had to do it a certain way. Each of us had two of these balls on string. We spun them in circles and made them bounce in pattern back and forth as we alternated hands. I remember a man there dressed in royal finery to resemble King Kamehameha. My mom still laughs at the scene as she remembers that I was the only fair skinned redhead on the group and I stuck out like a sore thumb.

Another big memory for me in Hawaii is going to the zoo. Though I didn't go on that day with my new classmates, it was always an experience I looked forward to. What sticks out in my most is a bridge that went over the giraffe habitat. I remember that I would run ahead up to that bridge, sit down on the side, and share my roasted peanuts with the giraffe. The bridge was just high enough that the giraffe had to stick its tongue out and up to enjoy my delights. I would always cringe and laugh at the same time as I felt the roughness of that tongue.

Now it is time for me to get back into the world of today. This has been fun though. Thank you for sitting and sharing a few minutes with me and my memories.

At Least It Isn't an Ink Blot Test...

I really should be in bed right now. But as I was shutting down all of the things in the house, I decided to do a quick run thru of a couple of blogger places to see how people are doing. I ended up at Quilly's and took her suggestion of doing a personality profile. It is a short and cute adventure. While I must admit that trying to draw with my old sticky mouse is a talent left to be desired, I think the final evaluation seems pretty fair to me. Here is what I came up with....



The results of your analysis say:

You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much.
You are a direct and forthright person. You like to get to the core of the issue right away, with few signs of hesitation.
You are creative, mentally active and industrious.
You have a sunny, cheerful disposition.

Moments of Bits and Pieces.....

I haven't been around much lately. everything great has been happening. It is simply that I can't seem to organise myself into multi-tasking with blogging at the moment. So, what has gotten me so pre-occupied?

1) Pippin has officially graduated from CAL now. That leaves one more year of schooling for her and we are in sort of a holding pattern to decide our course of events for fall. I have submitted for an out of district transfer for both of our girls and that has been approved. Now we are waiting for the "other" district to give their approval. This other school offers much more opportunities and choices than our own district so we are anxious to hear the final verdict. Until then, we are stuck with wanting to make class choices and full or part time decisions until we know for sure.

2) My cousin is getting ready to open a craft store. Okay, it doesn't make everybody jump up and down with delight....but for me it is exciting. I have been going around town picking up my supplies so that I can create all sorts of simplistic finery that is my personal specialty. Eventually I suppose I might get back into quilting and teaching classes if things go well, but for now that seems a bit to overwhelming for me to swallow. The simplest things have me hooked up right now....namely how do I package my wares and what sort of signature "title" do I give them? I know big decisions. You can laugh, but it really has me stumped.

3) I have been telling myself that I would hold off and not announce this until I was completely finished...but I can't hold off tooting my horn of excitement just a tiny bit. The announcement is.....I HAVE BEEN LOSING WEIGHT. Is that really worthy of an announcement? Well for me it is. For the past 14 years or so, I have gone up and down on the scales. The outcome has made me miserable and loss of self esteem has always been a factor. For too many years I have had a relationship with food. It has been my comforter in times of stress, emotion, tension, and boredom.

A couple of months ago, actually if you remember it was the same time that I got mysteriously sick, I started watching my food intake. I am not sure what mental switch has been flipped inside my head, but now taking care of my body has become very important to me. Those carbs are not calling in magical song to me anymore and it is very easy for me to turn any foods down.

So I just have to say that I am feeling the beginnings of victory.

(Nominated for a mention on David's post of the day. Wow my fast paced craziness made someone smile.)