Sweet Life With Mary

For Mary’s 7th Birthday, I am having yet another Surprise party for her. Last year, it was her pre-birthday-farewell-Colorado party two months before her birthday on July 2nd. This year, its going to be this coming Saturday, five days before her birthday.

A marked difference from last year to this year, planning the Surprise, I have to be extra careful about not having any notes laying around about the party— to-do list, check-off on people called, list of kids who are coming— or havin Mary access to my email, Mary could NOW read!  VERY WELL!

I did have Mary in on the planning on how and when to celebrate her birthday.  From the 7th birthday parties of her cousin, Joe and my best friend’s daughter, Nikki, which were each a 100+ guest events, Mary had also wanted a BIG party for her 7th.  She wanted to invite her whole 1st grade class (28 kids), her Brownie troop (plus 6), neighbors, kids she’d met at church, kids she’d made friends with at summer camp…  She would have invited every kid she had said hi to, if I let her.

Well, we are not having a BIG party.  No this year, we just do not have the resources and the energy to host one.

She did also want a Surprise Party.  So, she is having that.  At a roller skating center where for $11 per kid, we get skate rental, pizza, soda and party set-up.  With at least 10 of her closest girl friends.  THIS Saturday, June 27, NOT July 11, which is when Mary thinks it will be…

June 23rd, 2009 | Category: Daily | Leave a comment

Right now, I have 368 emails in my Gmail account Inbox about 90% of them read.  Jack keeps telling me to clean them up so it will be faster to load.  I guess, I could archive the ones I really want to keep, somehow— is there such a way to do that?  I have not taken the time yet to figure it out.

It cam in very handy this morning keeping all those emails.  I had started a blog site for my dad’s “hobby” — low-cost coconut processing in the farm— last summer when Mary and I were in the Philippines.  My dad had just sent me a request to change the email address for the site.

It was not only this site that I have neglected in the past year and I was not sure where I kept the user name and password I needed to administer the site.  But I remember that Jack had emailed them to me when I was in the Philippines.

So, I went to the Oldest screen of my Inbox and what did I find?  First there were my emails to my dad just a few days before we were flying out to see them, how excited Mary and I were and how my mom, Mama Mer was so looking forward to see her “Tisay.”  Then, scrolling thur newer ones, I found correspondence from Jack when he was planting his summer garden out here in Iowa last year…

It was like going thru a box of letters who had forgotten you had.

I think I will print out these emails AND keep them in a box.  I would like Mary to stumble across them 10-15-25 years from now, maybe, bring back some memories of summer 2008 in Manila with her Philippine side of the family.

June 18th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Leave a comment

And also some of Mary, individually.  Mary’s softball team had their photo shoot last evening.

And they also had a great game, after the shoot, at least four innings instead of their usually three. The game went faster as the girls are hitting so much better. I was helping out in the concession stand but I did get to watch Mary’s game as I was minding the counter that looks out to Mary’s field. I did miss her first hit— Mary said she hit the first pitch she got on her first at-bat. Jack said that it was a pretty good one! I must have been busy picking out yellow Laffy Taffys for one of my young customers…

June 16th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Comments (2)

Despite a late start, Mary and I got it done!

A couple of months ago, I joined the Urbandale Chapter of the Optimists Club International after Mary and I attended the Easter Egg Hunt they’ve sponsored for the Urbandale kids.  (Mary gathered at least 70 eggs, more than any kid can ever hope for gathering on an egg hunt— she had fun along with the lucky not-so-many kids who found out about the event and attended.)

Some of the members were handing out brochures about the club and I got attracted by The Optimist Creed, which starts with “Promise Yourself - To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind…..” and ends with “To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. “  I wanted to be around people who embodied the very traits I am developing within me - “To look at the sunny side of verything and make your optimism come true…”  Their Mission “By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.“  is quite noble, too.

One of the Club’s fundraisers is “Avenue of Flags” where homeowners contract with the Club to have a pipe, with a cap, installed then have a flag set on it from early morning to late evening on five holidays - Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day.

Club members then volunteers to do the setting of the flags morning of the holiday and taking them back in the evening.  I jumped in to help our President on one of the routes for last Memorial Day and that went off without a hitch, I was at the place at eactly 5:45 am, got into the car that Jim has already loaded with the flags and bucket for the caps and since JIm had already done the route numerous times before, we got it done in less than the anticipated hour that it usually takes.

So, for the next holiday, Flag Day, June 14, 2009 Sunday, I volunteered to take the same route by myself and I had planned to take Mary along as I know she enjoys this sort of thing.

The week before the day, I have prepared Mary that she would have to wake up at 5:30 am and that we would be out early in the morning putting up flags.  She was ready and so was I.

So, Monday, I had it in my mind that we had to wake up very early the following Sunday.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, still the early Sunday morning plan was in my head.  Friday, Mary had a sleepover with her Brownie troop and Saturday, Mary and I got to spend the day together by going to the mall.  Seemingly, the early Sunday morning adventure had left my brain by then…

Sunday morning, my internal alarm clock got me up at my usual time between 6-6:30 am.  I glanced at the clock, 6:26 am.  “Thank you, God for this beautiful day!” was my usual first thought and then I think about whether I have time to snooze.  That morning I thought, “Well, Mary does not have camp, I don’t have to be at work till 9:50 am… I can catch some more winks—– Oh, NO! FLAGS!!!!!!”

Adrenaline pumping, I jumped out of bed, went and shook Mary awake, “Mary, we’re late, we gotta put up flags!!!”

And the little trouper that she is, Mary snapped her eyes open, got out of bed and followed me to the bathroom.

We got out of the house less than 10 minutes later and were off to pick up the flags for our route.

Then, I could not remember what street the house to pick up the flags at.  The last time, I had googled and printed out a map of the address and had brought along the address as well as the phone number in case I got lost, which I did not, at that time.  This time, no map, no address, no phone number (or so, I thought).  Mary was doing her best to help ,”Who do you know that knows the number that we can call?.” she asks.

Luckily, I had my cell phone and I was about to call Jack when I noticed that I had a missed call from Jim and Judy (wondering where I was at 6:30 am…) and so I just pushed send and got Jim on the line and he gave me the address.

Then, I had to figure out how to get the flags into the back of my Volvo station wagon.  They were longer than I thought!  Finally, I just pushed them up all the way to the windshield, in between the front seats and drove with the back door unlocked.

Mary and I got going on the route and Mary proved to be such an able helper.  She was the Navigator, read out the route directions to me as I drove.  She help carried the flags, looked for the caps along with me and helped set them in. Though, after she got splashed she let ME do that last task.

I got boinked on the head once when Mary let go of the flag, Mary and I got our feet all wet from the morning dew on the grass but those were just minor mishaps. All in all, we took our time, enjoyed the moments, shared the experience together— “We are doing this for the community, Mary!” “Do you get paid?” “No.”

Mary would do it again and we thought about volunteering for Fourth of July Independence Day but then, I remembered the Volvo will be in the shop sometime that week. As it was, I was fortunate to get it started that morning as it was already having problems.

Maybe for Labor Day….

June 15th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Leave a comment

As is my wont to do at my lunch hour at work, I took a walk around the neighborhood not far from the building where I work.  It is a quiet, little neighborhood, newer development, sidewalks on both sides of the street alongside manicured lawns.

Usually, I would walk with this girl from the department who was also bent on not gaining pounds (actually, the goal was to lose weight but if we are able to maintain our weights, that is also good) working at our desk jobs.  But yesterday, she had wanted to go shopping for clothes and I really wanted to do eat a snack while reading, write a little bit and then take at least 20 minutes to walk.

So, there I was, enjoying the walk, the solitude, listening to the different bird calls when I spied on this huge dragonfly about 10 feet ahead of me, on the pavement, just off to side.  Boy, would I love to catch me one of those!

I remember hoping and praying I would see one of those big daddy of a dragonfly, follow it around and catch it with my little fingers when I was probably around Mary’s age now (6,7,8???).

Growing up in the Philippines, back then, with my younger sister and older brother who were the closest to me in age, we would spend a lot of it outdoors, with our playthings whatever sticks and interesting pebbles we can find, tadpoles, worms, digging up dirt, making mini mud pies or little rivers and dams with the dirt.  I think we even made “soup” with the tadpoles, cooked it up in a small tin can, balanced over some rocks, over a little fire that my brother made with bits of newspaper and sticks.  I don’t remember ever eating them, we weren’t that crazy.

But the most fun I think was catching insects and bugs.  My particular favorite were those tutubing karayom, which I thought were called dragonflies, in English but actually are damselflies. Using stealth and speed, I would come up behind one and snap my thumb and forefinger close over the folded up wings. Or, sometimes I’d get them by their tails. Damselflies were the more common ones and I had caught lots of them. Occasionally, we would see the bigger ones, the real dragonflies but I have caught maybe one or two in my entire life.

So, I thought, maybe I could creep on this one and catch it?

I tried slowly walking up to it and about five feet away, up it went, a little further ahead. So, I try to be quieter and get a little closer to it… Four feet away from it, up it went again, landing, still on the paved sidewalk, not onto the five feet of lush grass on the side closer to the road nor to the other side where not only was there fresh-mown grass but trees, flower plants, bushes.. It’s as if this little guy knew that I had all these childhood dreams about it, that I was after it. It knew that I will be unable to catch it and was just taunting me with its presence.

That dragonfly stayed ahead of me for a full block while I tried to get back my skill in catching it. To no avail. I did not think I was making all that noise, I was being very stealthy.

I guess, I did not really want to catch that little guy. I mean, it actually freaks me out thinking about holding it. What will I do with it anyway? I don’t have my little sister that I can scare and torment with it. I could have taken it home and scare Mary with it but that’s not a good idea.  I am Mary’s MOTHER, after all,  not a naughty OLDER SISTER.

The dragonfly flew off to some grassy lawn and left me longing for those carefree days when all the biggest decision for the day was whether to clip an insect’s wings or just let it fly off.

Soon, I turned my attention to a couple of robins, hopping around, looking for worms amidst all the greenery. Now, I have no compulsion to catch one of those and could then enjoy these birds as what they were, companions and fellow beings in this thing called life.

June 12th, 2009 | Category: Growing Up Pinay | Comments (1)

I have become a HUGE fan of Journey.

Case in point, I was going to use my free time in the morning, working on my blogs, learning the computer but instead what did I do this morning? Watched videos of Journey’s press conference in Sweden, their performances in the Rock Festival. What’s worse, I have been waiting for these videos and will continually track them as they go on their European tour.

As it is, I am typing this while I have the video going on in the other screen and I don’t like it much that I’m missing seeing Arnel’s jumps as he performs Separate Ways.

Ok, gotta go….

June 9th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Leave a comment

Jack cooked brown rice last night for dinner and as I did not want the leftover to go to waste, I made fried rice this morning.  And how do I make fried rice?

Check out what Mary wrote in her school journal….

I am going to the Ashin festval on may 16th. my favrit food thar is Swet Corn nodels with ris. hotdog cotup with ris and egg rol aspeshle mango. the forst time I evoor hab mago in the filopens. mi grama has a mgo three and has six k…

See where she wrote about “hotdog cotup with ris” — hotdog cut up with rice. Yep, that’s how I usually make fried rice. I cut up a couple of hotdogs into little round circles, fry them up in a little bit of olive oil, add a couple of eggs and then the rice. I would then season with a little garlic salt and some soy sauce. (Sometimes I would use Spam, Mary likes that too, but that’s another story for later.)

I think it is a Filipino thing or just something I grew up with. Mary sure loves it and will probably be one of her comfort foods. I can see her now, coming home from college and requesting fried rice with cut up hotdogs.

How do you like your fried rice?

June 8th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Comments (3)

There I was, enjoying Friday evening, without Mary demanding attention from me, while I clean-up the kitchen (I know, sound boring, right? but, it was what I had wanted to do since I spent all day just lazing around, relaxing, not doing much household chores except for cleaning the litter box…). Where’s Mary? Playing with the neighbor kids— 2 sisters, one 5 years old and the other 8 years old— who Mary get along so well and I am very comfortable with her playing with them as they are such nice girls. How lucky I feel every time Mary goes next door to play with them.

Little did I k now that I would get luckier yet this evening.

Usually, I would just yell out for Mary from our patio door in the back when I want her to come back home. Tonight, she would not answer my call. The girls were not at the neighbor’s backyard.

Since it was getting late, almost 8 pm, I went to knock on the neighbor’s door and fetch Mary. The girls’ dad answered the door and I seized the chance to thank him for the bowl of strawberries he gad sent over to us about a week ago.

To my surprise, he said that we are welcome to pick as much as we want from the strawberry patch they have in their backyard. What a treat!

Last time I went strawberry picking was in Vancouver, BC, Canada at a farm where you pay to pick them. I remember taking a bite off a strawberry while it was still attached to the plant and tasting the best strawberry ever!

Well, this was just as good.

Strawberries are much smaller than what we buy from the grocery store (which came from Florida or California) but I would say better-tasting, sweeter and just bursting with flavor.

Want some?

June 5th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Comments (1)

Thanks to some very good friends who prodded me and Jack to get Mary signed up for softball , Mary is now a “Colt.”  Jack and I were hesitant because of our work schedules and our friends offered to help out getting Mary to and from the games, if need be, since their daughter would be in it, too.  So far, the schedule had been working out well and I am able to get her to the games and also stay to watch her.

Mary is part of a team of 10 girls, with 12 teams total for her age group (6-8 year olds, I think.)  The teams have such names as Ducklings, Kittens, Puppies… Mary’s team is the “Colts,” coached (voluntarily) by fathers of 3 of the team members.  There was a $50 sign-up fee which included T-shirt, shorts, 10 games and 2 practices.  Bats, balls and helmets are provided.  We had to get Mary her own glove/mitt.  We have also bought a helmet, cleat shoes, those stripey socks that go well with the cleat shoes and her uniform, her own purple-colored bat and soft balls and T-stand to practice with at home.  Jack and I have also gotten our own mitts to play catch with her.

Mary seems to be enjoying it.  She gets at least one hit off the 3 times she is at bat (she is pitched at least 6 times before they would then have her hit off the T.0) at every game.  They get to run the bases, learn to catch fly balls, grounders and throw to first base.  No scores are kept as this is more for the girls to learn the basics of the game.  Mary was so clueless about the game that after her first practice and we saw a Men’s League softball game at the park, she could not understand why there were two teams in the same field!

Strike!

June 4th, 2009 | Category: Daily | Comments (1)