Tag: Family

Waiting for the Kendama.

Wikipedia defines a kendama as a traditional Japanese toy which consists of a wooden, hammer-like object with a ball connected to it with a string.  SP has been promised a kendama (by his mamma) if he successfully cleans the kitty litter box every day for a week.  He was not feeling up to par today so he spent the day with us.

I returned home from a noon meeting to find that his grandpa, Caleb, had done it again.  He is famous for making SP toys out of cardboard, wood, plastic, 500 mile an hour tape…whatever he can get his hands on.  SP’s cousins, at one time, were mighty jealous of a grumman goose made out of cardboard that SP could get in.  It was complete with wings, floats, and a propeller.  It actually graced our house for about 2 1/2 years before we relegated it to the landfill.  Today he made a kendama so that SP could practice before getting the real thing.

Kendama 004a
Total concentration.

In the air!
Kendama 001a
Action.

I hope he remembers to clean the kitty litter every day, so that this can be replaced!

No resolutions made.

I did not make New Year resolutions this year.  I have decided they don’t really work for me.  I guess I do not have a very resolute personality!  Instead I have decided to take a close look at those things in my life that may need resolution to try to find solutions.  So they are not resolutions.  Just perhaps solutions.

I have rheumatoid arthritis.   I was diagnosed about a year and a half ago.  It took me about 4 months to get an appointment with a specialist.  I gave the prescribed drug a try….over one year’s worth, mind you.  I felt worse on it than I remembered when I wasn’t taking it.  So my solution, at this point, has been to discontinue the program and find something more holistic for myself.  Which is what I am all about anyway, and I can’t believe I let myself be talked into a prescription medication.

My solution:  cleansing my body of toxins.  I feel so much better.  And it has only been about 2 1/2 weeks.  My pain level has decreased.  My activity level has increased.  Oh, and I have lost a few pounds, too, which is a bonus!

I live in a very small house.  I did not do a very good job at  weeding out possessions when moving from large to small to smaller.  And every time I get resolute about making more room for us humans in the house, I come across things like this: 

Really, how can I not have my favorite picture of my first grandson and I.  And the Russian Orthodox triptych…given to me by my godsons.  The shell tree – made by my youngest daughter.  The whalebone ptarmigan and the ivory sea otter.  Good grief, those, perhaps unlike the others, will never go….made by my mother Gert Svarny.

I believe I will try some small, unobtrusive storage boxes.  You know, either baskets, or linen covered boxes with lids.  And put stuff away, put the boxes in the closet, and recycle things once in a while.  Hmmmm….I’ll let you know if it works!

Already, the year is so old??

Stunning firewords compliments of the City of Unalaska!

Good grief, time flies.  I really need to get past living from holiday to holiday, event to event, and meeting to meeting.  It blurs all those good days in between!

We had a wonderful New Year’s Eve, celebrating not only the new year, but, of course, the birthdays of my mother, Gert Svarny, who welcomed her 81st year with perfect grace, and my husband, Caleb, who grumpily acknowledges his birthday each year.  Of course, if a big deal was not made of it, I am sure he would be totally disappointed!!

So every year, I debate the great cake question….what kind of cakes this year?  I settled on a cheesecake with a nut crust, enrobed in chocoate and served over a strawberry coulis, plus an incredibly dense chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.  To tie them together, each had orange in them and were sprinkled with orange zest.

Cheesecake
Crazy, dense chocolate cake.

The chocolate cake was so heavy, (literally, I could not carry it with one hand) I was really afraid to cut into it and serve it.  But, thank god, it was absolutely delicious.  I believe I have found the perfect cake for the Chocolate Extravaganza!

Pirates invaded the party at about 11:45.

As we get older, we joke about being able to stay awake until midnight!  We have devised a schedule to help us out….a late dinner at 8 PM, socializing and drinking(!), then, started for the kids several years ago, we play our “traditional” New Year’s Bingo games with great prizes of things mom wants to get rid of!!  At 11:45 things start to ball up….getting the champagne ready, watching the ball drop, toasting the new year in, running outside to watch the fireworks, coming back inside for a hearty rendition of Happy Birthday, eating cake and opening presents!  By the time this is all done, it is usually about 1:30AM.

And so, with a great start for 2011, here’s hoping your year will be filled with happiness and prosperity.  If not that, at least have some fun!