Bye May, hello June!

Here's my May recap. All in all it was a good month!

Both Marvin and I had podiatrist appointments (different doctors). I can't believe how great my feet and toenails feel after being pampered by Dr Chapra.

I also had to go to the dentist. A piece of my molar broke and it was very unpleasant. I took a Xanax and had Marvin drive me to the dentist. It was a breeze, well not really, but it made things easier.. I had to get a crown.

May 12 was Mother's Day. I enjoyed spending the weekend with Lizzie and hearing from Sandy too. I already wrote about the yummies I got! I love my girls.
 
I subbed at Jersey a couple of times. I really don't enjoy subbing too much, but it's nice to go to Jersey and say hello to my teacher friends, and get hugs from "my" students. It's funny how some of them  still think I am teaching.

Marvin had a pretty good month, he's been driving the SSR and going to the store, and cooking dinner :)

This is the list of books I read:

Susan Isaacs - As husbands go

Sophie Kinsella - Wedding Night

Charity Shumway - Ten Girls to Watch

Debbie Macomber - The Inn at Rose Harbor

Elin Hilderbrand - The Beach Club

Darien Gee - The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society

Laura Florand - The Chocolate Kiss

I enjoyed all the books. It made me want to try to do some scrapbooking. The chocolate kiss takes place in Paris, a little reminiscent of Chocolat.

 

I watched these movies:

The Hot Chick (2002)

 

Someone Like You (2001)

The Oranges (2011)

I Give it a Year  (2013)

20 Bucks  (1993)

 

And finally, thru Facebook, I met the daughter of a cousin in Spain (who manages a website of the family in my mother's side), and also found a lost long time friend, Araceli.

 

One more thing..hearing about Tristan's accomplishments made me sooo happy!  Good job :)

 

Geneology

My brother in law Dewey is the keeper of the Wann-Moore family history. He's researched and compiled a family tree. He's done all this without the help of the Internet. He did a very through job.

Mia has started an Almstrom family tree in My Heritage.com. Of course, our father is on it, and so am I as her half sister.
I wanted to start a Wann-Perello family tree, but since I am already in Mia's tree, it won't let me make one.

So out of curiosity, I started writing some family names in Google (that's how I found out Mia was looking for me). So I wrote my mother's name, and surprise, here comes a page with her picture on it! It also was from My Heritage.com, but it belonged to the Del Arbol-Garcia family tree!

I then checked to see who was managing the site. It was the daughter of my cousin Jose Luis (Fernando's half brother). She was in Facebook and I befriended her and asked her about the family tree, she graciously invited me to see it and asked me to add to it (pictures, information etc.)

It was so interesting to me to find out about my mother's family, her sisters and brothers. Some of them I never knew about, and it even had pictures of them. And pictures of my maternal grandparents, and great grandparents. It was awesome. There's pictures of weddings, baptisms, it was cool to see some resemblances.

I will add to the tree, and I am also going to start scrapbooking. But I will tell you about this later...

The Milk Farm part II

Easter 1979. I had been cashiering for a month or so, lots of people had been unhappy going through the line, because everything had a price: a pat of butter, a roll, xtra dressing, cream, etc. A father with two boys came  thru, I checked the many little plates each had in their trays, I had memorized all the prices so I was checking very fast. Then I added the total.  The father thought I was joking, I said no sir, everything is priced separately and that's when the father took the tray and threw the contents on my head!
There were lots of people in the restaurant and they all were flabbergasted. I was speechless, a few applauded. The owner came and talked to the man that came to apologize. I called Marvin, he was at his parents for Easter dinner and he came to pick me up with Sandy :)

There was another area outside the main Restaurant called "The Circus Wagon" it only served hamburgers, fries, milkshakes and sodas. I worked there once in a while. Nobody showed me what to do, they just "assumed" I knew how to cook hamburgers etc. Usually there were 2 people there, one to take orders and one to cook. Because my English was not great I cooked most of the time, it was fun grilling hamburgers and putting them in a basket with the fries. I could not make milkshakes I always had the other person make them. I always had fun  at the Circus Wagon, especially the day my next door neighbors, Joyce and Paul Burnside (their daughter Meghan was Sandy's age) came with a bunch of their friends, they were all from the Peace Corps, I had met them over at their house the night before when they had a party. They all wanted milkshakes lol.

  I was working as a cashier when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. They brought a TV in the dining room and I had time to see it. It was memorable.

My last anecdote is of the day I was working at the Milk Bar, which was adjacent to the dining room. It was not a liquor bar, it was just a place for milkshakes, sodas, floats, coffee, tea etc.
I was the only server that day, only a couple of people were there having coffee. Then  a bunch of people came. It seems they had been skiing up in Lake Tahoe and they were rather rowdy. They asked for "real" drinks and I had to tell them it was a non alcoholic bar. There were sounds of dismay. Then one man came over to me, he looked very familiar. He came to me and of course he asked for a milkshake! I tried and tried, it was either too runny or it just wouldn't mix (I still had not learned to make them). I was flustered, then the man took pity on me and laughingly said he'd have a coke. Then he asked me if I knew who he was, and did I want his autograph. I looked blank. They all laughed again . It was Bing Crosby!

I have his autograph somewhere around. He was very sweet and he left a nice tip.

And that's just some of my experiences in my year of working at the Milk Farm in Dixon, California.

The Milk Farm

 A couple of years after I first came to the US, I worked for a year or two at one place called "The Milk Farm" in Dixon, California.

It was owned by a German family. I had an interview with the old lady, her son and daughter in law. I think I was hired because I was European, because I sure didn't have any experience working at a Restaurant.

 We had a to wear a uniform. It was red and white stripes, with a white apron and a paper hat that had The Milk Farm logo on it (A cow jumping over the moon)

 The Restaurant was cafeteria style, but you could also order from a menu. My first job was as a waitress. From the kitchen I had to pick up the food and carry a big tray full of plates and stuff with one hand, and carry a little folding table in the other hand. Then I had to open the table, set the tray on it, and set the plates on the table, hopefully without spilling anything. I didn't last very long as a waitress. I didn't like it, I was not fast enough and I broke a few dishes.

 So my next job was busing tables. If I disliked being a waitress, I hated busing tables. I had to roll a cart around the tables and I had to pick up the plates from the tables, scrap whatever food was left in a waste container, stack the dirty dishes, put the dirty silverware in drawer, papers in the trash and finally, clean the table. It grossed me out!

After a few days, the old lady called me to the office. She said I was not doing so well in those jobs, and she would try me as a cashier next. She thought I was smart and willing to learn. The only drawback was, I had to count the money at the end of the day, and it had to match exactly the receipts I had in the cash register. I was not good with money, especially American money!

(to be continued)

Mother's Day

Today was Mother's Day in the US. I call these days Hallmark Card Days, but it is always nice to make it a little special :)

I am the lucky mother of two of the best daughters ever! they are beautiful, intelligent and just plain great. Lizzie came over this weekend, Sandy  lives a little too far to make it to California, but she tries to come as often as she can :)

On Saturday, Lizzie took Marvin to dialysis, and then when we came home we tried to decide a place to go eat. We settled for GBurgers in La Habra. It was great! The burgers tasted really good, I had the Caprese Burger with tomato, avocado, fresh basil,mozzarella and garlic alioli, Lizzie had a cheese burger, and we shared garlic Parmesan fries.

When we got home, there was a package waiting for me, it was a dozen chocolate covered strawberries from Lizzie!

For dinner we had breaded pork and croquetas. Lizzie brought some cake from Extraordinary cakes in San Diego. I ate a slice of banana cake. Very good. We each also had a chocolate strawberry :)

Sunday morning, Marvin woke me up saying breakfast was ready. I also heard some voices, I got up and Jeff was there too! He had stopped by on his way from central California to San Diego. He brought some great cookies too. http://shop.brownbuttercookies.com/ He didn't stay for breakfast because he had a gig in San Diego, but it was nice to see him.

Marvin had cooked chocolate chip waffles in a buttermilk batter and crisp bacon, and freshly squeezed orange juice from our orange tree. It was yummy!

Sandy called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. I was so happy to hear from her , she said she was going for a bike ride as the day in SLC was very nice.

For an early dinner Lizzie made guacamole for an appetizer and also deviled eggs. Marvin cooked green beans, boiled potatoes , garlic mayonnaise, and fillet Mignon. For dessert we had raspberry chocolate cake. Delicious dinner!!!

All in all it was a very nice Mother's Day. Thanks Lizzie and Sandy and Marvin for making it so special :)

A story about my mother

Since tomorrow is Mother's Day in the US, I think I will write a little anecdote about my mother.

It was in the early 40's I think . At that time, my mom and dad were pretty wealthy, they travelled a lot, we had a nanny and a chauffeur and lived in a beautiful house in one of the best areas of Barcelona. My paternal grandmother (yaya) lived with us and when my parents travelled, or partied, she along with the nanny, took care of Nuri. I wasn't born yet.

They usually travelled with another couple that were their best friends. He was the owner of a big textile company. They travelled in style.

This particular time I am writing about is a trip they took to the Canary Islands and Northern Africa. By the pictures I have of them, it seems like they had a great time. In Africa, they met this Emir with his court. He was a Muslim prince from Sahara, and he totally fell for my mother. He offered my father 10 elephants and some other stuff (jewels and money) in exchange for my mother. My mother told us this story many many times. She said the prince was very good looking and seemed very smitten with her. He invited the whole party to his place for dinner, he lived in a Palace. They were impressed.

My mother said that sometimes she wondered how her life would have been had she gone with the prince. She called him "MI PRINCIPE AZUL" (which in Spanish fairy tales is what prince charming is called).

my mother is next to the prince, she was blond at the time.

 

I asked my mother to tell me this story many times, it was always my favorite :)

 

When my mother and father had some disagreements or were mad at each other, sometimes my father would say he should have taken the 10 elephants, and my mother would say she should have gone with el principe azul!

 

I might have been a Muslim princess... ;)

 



5 de mayo

In my early days of working at Jersey School we always had a big celebration for  the "5 de mayo". The teachers would teach the kids some Mexican songs and/or dances and we invited the parents to watch the performances. Most teachers wore Mexican dresses and a good time was had by all.
The parens made the outifts for the kids and I taught them the dace :)

Nowadays they don't do anything for the 5 de mayo, because it "interferes" with teaching/tests/reading/etc. In the beginning I didn't know exactly what 5 de mayo was, or cared. What I enjoyed was the fiesta mood, the fun, the colors. Parents also brought homemade tacos, enchiladas, etc. Some of the best Mexican food I ever ate. Of course now they don't allow home cooked food in the schools anyway.

My aide at the time was Maria Delima, she gave me the dress I'm wearing.

 

Today I cooked dinner at home, my delicious enchiladas suiza and refried beans.

Before that we had guacamole, and nachos.

And I had several Coronitas!

No Margaritas today.

It was all good!

May 1st

Just to start the month right, I will write and tell you what's been going on in  La Mirada.
On the 23rd I went to get my hair  highlighted and shaped, looks good, since I started having it done with highlights, it doesn't show my "bald" spots, it seems my hair looks thicker too, so it's worth the $$$.

Thursday Norbert came over to fix the automatic garage door, nice of him :), he also did a couple of other things  and got the SSR started. Late we went to El Torito ( I got 2 courtesy free meals - Lizzie knows why). I had not been feeling very good but I really wanted a Cadillac Margarita, so I had 2, and we both had shrimp, beef and chicken fajitas. They were yummy!

I also had some tests done and I am happy to say my diabetes is well controlled, and all the tests came out fine. I also had a mammogram -no results yet. This Friday I am going to the podiatrist. I still have a cough :(

Marvin has been feeling pretty good lately, and he's been driving the SSR to the grocery store and to get a haircut, he also went and had all the vehicles detailed and washed :)

I saw some interesting movies in April. "Magic Valley" (2011) original title was "Buhl, Idaho" but was changed to Magic Valley. It's an Indie, the director is from Buhl. Sad movie, but the landscape brought some memories.
"Hello I must be going" (2012), and "The Guilt Trip" (2012)

And here's the books I read in April:

Jess Walter - Beautiful Ruins

Susan Isaacs - Goldberg Variations

Anthony Capella - The Food of Love

Sarah Strohmeyer - Smart Girls Get What They Want

Katie Fforde - A Perfect Proposal

Polly Williams - Afterwife