THINGS THAT THEY LIKE

The Chandra kiddos have the things that they like
The things change just like they change
The boys change their DS to Ipods. They to download new games on their ipods.
The girl love horses more than Hello Kitty. She imitates horse neighing all the time.
They all love " My Little Ponies " TV series.. Mom wonders why.
Even their little friends are amazed of their new fondness of MLP.

Daniel likes to drink water now. He always brings his water bottle to school.
Maybe he realizes that not enough water can cause bad breath,
which Mom once told him.
He also hearts homemade popsicle.
He plays the board game with his dad ( thanks Eddy, Mom really appreciates it )
He still like to read and make origami occasionally ,
like on Valentine day or when he wants to show off which is not very often.

Tim starts to like reading comic books although
he often forgets to fill the reading contract from school
which requires him to read about 20 minutes every day
Ironically, Mom thinks reading is overrated.
( Imagine that coming from someone who loves books, bookstores, and public libraries )

Sophie still likes to do ballet.
She is really crazy about animals though.
Mommy doesn't mind if she is gonna be a vet someday
or taking course in animal husbandry.
( like Temple Grandin , Mom loves that movie about her.
Claire Danes did an awesome acting there)

Next time, Mom will put things that she likes on a post.
And since her faves are more permanent than her kiddos,
there won't be renewed yearly.

Pic by Daniel

photo courtesy of Tim

The 4 horses were the reward of Sophie not wearing diapers at night.

Morning and Evening

Early morning prayer in my heart

Dear Lord please help me to cook two cornish hens .
They are already thawed, so I have to cook them.
I cannot put them in the freezer again
because I heard it can cause the bacterial growth that could lead to poisoning.

Please help me to take several pics for my blog.

Please help the kids sleep quickly so I could watch one or two episodes of Scandal later
Please help me get my writing done. Amen

It's 4. 37 pm
The chickens were cooked . Chicken noodle soup is ready to eat.
My kind friend gave me some food.The kitchen is okay. Not neat, but at least organized.
Kids were back from school.Garbage is in the garage, ready to throw.
Daniel helped me took some pics for the blog.
I've done my exercise.
So far so good. Thanks God.  

Pear Trees

There are two ornamental pear trees in front of my house.
That's how my blog got its name.

pear trees in the winter

Relax and Grateful

Sometimes ( more than I would like to ) I envy others. Their accomplishments, look, spouse, kids, stuff, character, pedigree, education, ideas, money, skills, opportunities, ancestor, home, garden, car, etc.
How I wish to be like them or in their position. Then , I continue to devise a plan to compete with them. Maybe I should do this or that. Maybe my husband or kids should do this instead of that.

But the list goes on and the neighbor's grass is always greener and I become tired .

I often get frustrated with myself. I worry about what others think. I am afraid of others judging me while I naturally incline to judge others. I thought I should do better. I aim to strive.

Thanks to God , 1 Col : 27 said , " To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, "

The end of that verse brings hope for me. Christ in me , the hope of glory. Simple.

Not accomplishment, look, spouse, kids, character, pedigree, education, ideas, money, skill, opportunities, ancestor, etc. Just having Christ in my heart is a guarantee that I have the hope of glory.

So I can just be relax and grateful in Him.  Amen

Coffee

My late grandma thought that it was good for a baby to drink a little bit of black coffee. It will strengthened the nerve system; thus lessen the chance of seizure when the baby had a fever. I saw her feeding my baby cousin about a quarter  teaspoon of black coffee. Since she helped my mom raising me , I believe that my encounter with caffeine started at infancy.

My dad likes his coffee black and sweet. I remember dunking my " Marie Regal " in his coffee once in a while. He did not mind at all.

During my teenage and early twenties, I was not into coffee. I preferred hot chocolate, chocolate milk ,sweet tea or soda. Later, when I was working as a scriptwriter, I drank instant coffee to stay awake when we shot something at night or doing the editing.

I started to drink coffee regularly when I become a mom.  I am thankful to be given a precious opportunity to stay home with them , but I feel my kids engulf me with their being. Their life, food, clothes, toys, books are everywhere. My heart, bag, car, home are full with them... So coffee became something really set the line of being an adult and a child . ( As you have read , my grandma had a different opinion about this matter )

I am pretty flexible in my coffee drinking . I made my own coffee, usually skim milk latte with no sugar or just a spoonful. Sometimes I drink instant coffee drink.I also love Tim Horton iced capp.
Have a nice cup of coffee !

 

Watching "Being Elmo"

Kevin Clash, is the man behind Elmo.
It started when he was 10 years old.
He took his dad's trench coat and made it into a monkey.
No body shoved the materials into his hand
and asked him making a puppet. He just did it .

His mom taught him to use the sewing machine.
His dad helped him to build the puppet stage.
His mom called Kermit Love, the man who built puppets for Jim Henson,
telling him about her son who was into puppetry.
During a high school trip to NYC, Kevin Clash met him.
Later, Kermit Love introduced him to Jim Henson, who brought him to Sesame Street.

One interviewee in "Being Elmo" said that Elmo is not Kevin Clash.
Elmo is Kevin's mom and dad combined.
Elmo represents love, said Kevin.

In mastering something.. was it training or talent ?
In Being Elmo, I saw that Kevin Clash initiated everything himself.
He did not take a course in puppetry when he was small.
He was basically self taught. His mom and dad helped him.

His passion is the key. Because of his passion , he was devoted to mastering the puppetry.

Of course not everybody could be Kevin Clash. Not everybody has that much talent.

Should somebody who has a little talent or a medium amount of talent,
ignored their passion because they could not make it to the top ? I hope not...

For someone who could not be a professional dancer in NYC,
there is a teaching position in a kid's dancing school
For someone who could not paint mural like Diego Rivera ,
there is always a child's bedroom wall to paint
For someone ( like myself ) who could not have their writing published,
there is a blog to write
For someone who could not make it into American Idols,
there is a church stage to sing...

I think fame is not worthy to pursue but passion is.

Remembering Ria ( 2 )

Several days before I went to Jakarta for vacation, I got a text from my cousin, Ria.
She asked me if I could buy her melaleuca cajuputi oil
( Indonesians love this oil. A remedy for common cold ).
I texted her back, saying I could . I asked her what brand that she liked.
She liked Cap Lang .

Little that I know , that would be our last contact .

On the night I left Jakarta, heading back to US, my mom called me.
Ria died on August 31, 2012.
Rafting Incident.

Oh Ria...Thank God, I was given a chance to spend three days with her together this year
( blog entry title .. Mama's Weekend Out )

She was my cousin from my dad's side. She was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia.
She was a happy person.
Her nickname, Ria, means " happy " in Indonesian, really matched her personality.
She was very caring and generous.
She loved shopping.. also loved shopping for others. She loved outdoors.
She was energetic . She enjoyed life. So it was very hard for me to imagine Ria died.

I went to her casket viewing in Sausalito.  She wore a nice red dress that her husband picked for her.
I was touched to see how loved she had been by Chris, her husband and stepdaughters.
She had a good life with them..
I am thankful for the Lethems to have her as their family.They were her joy .

I was sorry I did not come to her funeral.. it was in Hawaii..
I heard that Amber and Cameo , her stepdaughters, performed a dance in her funeral.
Ria learned ballet since she was young until her twenties.
Later on when the ballet become difficult, she failed the exam ( if I am not mistaken, for several times )
That did not make her leave dancing.
She then quit the classic ballet, joined the jazz  instead.
She choreographed ballet dance for the church performance several times.
Once, a friend of ours who was into performing arts,
asked her to choreographed a ballet dance for a Christmas performance.
I believed she got paid for that. Her mom mentioned that she was very brave to do this
while she did not pass her ballet exam...
She did not let limitation got in the way of completing something..
With Ria, everything that needed to be done, will be done.
That was one thing that I learned most  from her.. Getting things done..

I believe she quit dancing when she continued her study in Swiss.

The melaleuca cajuputi oil  that she asked, were packed and brought to US .
I gave those to a couple of  friends instead.
Ria's memory, though, will always stay with me and those who love her
Life's is short.. Her life was too short for her and her family...

For several days I try to think or not thinking about her...
about how fragile we are as humans..
Sometimes I cried .. I imagined how hard it must be for Chris, Amber and Cameo..
Also to Alex and Priscilla,  to all our relatives in Indonesia..

Her story ended... the chapters in Ria's book ended. The end...
Sometimes good story made you want for more..
But it is up to the writer decide how long or how short the story is...

I believe there will be Ria's sequel in another dimension...
A friend of mine who got his phd in mathematics from Berkeley,
once said.. that according to math calculation, there is a tenth dimension...
which Ria maybe in right now

Rest in peace Ria...
 

Food Again

I did not plan this to be a food or cooking blog
To be honest I am not very fond of cooking
Cooking is my responsibility
Often I cook to avoid wasting some produce

Lemon bundt cake
I baked it because I almost threw some lemons
( 2 of them already being cut off to make the sambal )

Vanilla Chocolate Gelatin
I have these gelatin packages from Indonesia for almost 2 1/2 years
Gotta do something about them

At first I plan this blog to be more about my hobbies ...
I love reading , watching movies, musical, sightseeing
I love to write more about them
But often things that I plan did not come true...
( weak self determination )
In my life , a lot of things unfolding themselves... heheheheh...

TALKING ABOUT STRUCTURE

I heard an interview with Paul McCartney on NPR
on the way to drop Sophie off  to the preschool.
I am a fan of the Beatles...So I really enjoyed listening to him.

This is the link...
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/29/148609721/paul-mccartney-blows-kisses-to-his-fathers-era

What I can relate to very much is the topic of structure.
For Sir Paul McCartney, of course,  the structure of songwriting.
Long long ago when I wrote scripts,
I remembered that conflict between protagonist and antagonist
is a classic structure of a script.
These days, here are the things that come into my mind when thinking about structure

1. A-Line Dresses have a good structure to improve my look

2. Daily routine of my kids or schedule is very important. It is the structure of their life. Without the routines, all tantrums break loose

Naptime still included in Sophie's routine

3. In my childhood sugary snacks were only for holidays .
They were not in the menu structure of my days.
But my kids expect some kind of dessert daily.
Those ( ice cream, cakes, chocolate, candies ) are like a change
from major to minor key in a song.
Making the mood interesting...( said Paul McCartney )

My mom has been lamenting , " If they get those junk food daily,
how do they got nutrition ?  "
Well.. in my defense I can only say that I am not a perfect mom..
I try to be just an average mom
with a lot of TLC and some discipline ( which did not work very well in the eating area  :(

Well... thanks for listening to my ramblings..

           C Am
If there's anything that you want,

           C                G7
If there's anyhting I can do,
      F7                  Am                 C        G7     C
Just call on me and I'll send it along with love from me to you

Verse 2 (Same Chords as Verse 1)
If there's anything that you want,
Like a heart that's oh, so true,
Just call on me and I'll send it along with love from me to you

( this is change from major to minor .. those special occasion to make the mood interesting, those special snack that come too often in my kids life )
       Gm                 C7
I got arms that long to hold you
     F
and keep you by my side.
       D7
I got lips that long to kiss you 
     G             G+ 
And keep you satisfied

Happy singing dear Readers... and Viva the Beatles !