So… I know I need bifocals. Gotta go through the whole appointment and frame choosing business. At the appointment, the news wasn’t as bad as I expected: I don’t HAVE to go into glasses full time, but can if I want. Interesting, no?
…and how lovely does The Boy look in my old glasses? This is what happens when you leave your kid, phone, and personal items in the car while you step out to do something. Surprise photos on your camera when you return.First pair of distance glasses from way back in September 2011. I really only use them for the theater and night driving…
I decided to go ahead and get the progressive lenses since everyone who has them likes how they work IF these were their first experience with bifocals. I might as well face the inevitable! Off to Costco I went, to pick out a really cheap pair of frames since I am not planning on wearing these all the time. I’m looking for something on the loud or at least fun side of eyewear. I’m going with the “Go big or go home,” philosophy.
I’ll post an update in a week when the glasses come in. I did pick out an interesting frame for the new specks. In about a week I can look forward to tripping up and down curbs and stairs, according to my ophthalmologist, and The Husband can have fun with watching me get used to the new lenses. He’s had eight years of practice, after all!
#1. I want to have seconds on taco night, and to be able to drink wine every night.
#2. My gramma and her husband taught me two keys to a healthy, long life: Moderation and Be Active.
The Great Gramma and The Girl
Gramma is 98 this year, by the way. She also taught me to drink the good wine, and enjoy Happy Hour- not just on Fridays. My grandmother and her husband did things that I have sworn to do as I grow older: they are the poster children for caloric restriction and eating with moderation (everything they want, but in moderation), and they had always been active. Always. Dancing, walking, aerobics, swimming, traveling. ANYTHING.
Don’t ANYONE show this picture to Betty Gene! I mean it, mom and Amie, DON’T!John, in all his magical glory.
At 96 she was still driving, cooking for her husband, taking care of her home, and for anyone visiting. A couple of years ago I was visiting my gramma and honestly, there was nothing that she had lined up for me to help do for her. She made me salmon for dinner and the most I could do was clear the table and help put things away.
I started running recently and have gone from hating this form of exercise to… well, not hating it. I’m logging two miles about every other day and at the end of March I’m signed up to run a 5K. Whew. A big goal for me. This month I am adding on some hills and lengthening the run to three miles. But honestly? I run because my gramma taught me that I need to move it or lose it. And I will!
Don’t ANYBODY show these photos to Betty Gene, she will KILL me, do you hear me, mom?
Plans for a nice family dinner at a favorite Japanese restaurant just didn’t materialize in the way I had hoped for. I haven’t seen the teens much lately, which sometimes is NOT a bad thing- am I right, fellow moms of teens??? However, I do enjoy these people an overwhelming majority of the time. There are subjects to cover, jokes to hear, stories to catch up on that you can’t hear in the fifteen minutes you see them in the morning before they dash out the door, or pry out of them as they are poring over their studies.
We try really hard to sit down together at dinner every day of the week… by “we try,” it’s really “I try.” All this effort results in maybe three family dinners per week. With fencing, guitar, theater, church leadership, Academic Decathlon, and sneaky Netflix binging, (and this is just The Teens) I feel like I have to out-plan everyone in order to bring us together on a regular basis. That should be a college course for parents! “Family Togetherness 101: Stealthy and Inconspicuous Planning and Gathering- Techniques and Practices Explained.”
No le gusta el atún. Pobrecito. Part of the the catch of the day last July. It was Poke City here. Click the pic for a recipe similar to oursFurther evidence of how deep his distaste for tuna runs…
It is probably a good thing that The Teens stayed home… one doesn’t like sushi or any fish for that matter, the other racks up quite a bill. We had half the usual bill by leaving half the family at home. Look at The Boy. He’s not kidding. This is the poster child for Mac N Cheese. And fillet mignon. His tastes run amok.
Hamachi (Yellowtail) Sashimi, caught that morning
My favorite selections for sushi are always salmon and yellowtail nigiri. Tuna used to be a top choice, but we are extremely fortunate to catch our own on a friend’s boat or receive some of his haul and we have a freezer full of ahi. It. Is. HEAVEN!!
Tobiko and Scallop…
So, we lost the teens and instead were able to have a nice dinner date with just the two of us. Not a bad consolation prize, huh?! Where The Girl was going to have carte blanche with the sushi menu and do the choosing for me, in hindsight, maybe it is a good thing that she wasn’t there? Hmmm… hadn’t thought of that. Who knows what she would have tried to get me to eat? (*shudder*)
The Husband got to choose instead, and we ended up splitting orders of scallop nigiri and tobiko. Holy Yum. The scallops, especially, they were so sweet! I thought that shellfish would be on the tough side if prepared raw, since I’ve only had giant clam sushi… I don’t recommend it. Our favorite little neighborhood sushi joint prepares the scallops with a very light dressing, probably mayo based- I loved it, and so did the mayonnaise-hating husband. And I really did like the tobiko, too. Fresh and ocean-y tasting, lots of fun, salty popping going on, and very yummy.
It’s getting difficult to get the four of us together for a tourist day. Between college and high school entrance requirements we are more scattered than ever.
Plus, the half hour ride in the car to get anywhere means 30 minutes of butt jokes coming from the back seat.
Aside from bringing The Girl to her friend’s house in Oceanside (pre-licensed teenager days), the only thing I associated with this city was a long drive down the coast to my great-grandparents condo when my brother and I were younger. We had nothing to do but read the books we brought along. Our other option was to slip and slide down a long iceplant covered hill, cross a highway and buy candy at a 7-11 mini mart. When the great-grandparents’ health began to fail, I don’t remember helping out with any of moving or cleaning… we were probably just under foot while others took care of the work, but then again, we were just flaky little punks back then. My brother did a complete turnaround not long after that, and since then he’s the one the family can count on when the older family members have needed anything.
Clear at the start of the walk…15 minutes later at the end of the pier.A California Brown Pelican? His beak can hold more than his belly can, you know…Egret posing for my camera on the Oceanside pier.
Today we spent the afternoon driving through beach towns before arriving in Oceanside. We walked to the pier with the sun in our faces only to have the marine layer roll in by the time we reached the end of the walk. After five days of Santa Ana conditions, I was in heaven! My kids played on the boardwalk like I did decades ago. They loved seeing the sand underneath give way to the rocks then the waves. We snapped pictures of birds waiting to snatch the catch away from people fishing on the pier. I busted them before they could spit on the surfers below. Fourteen-year-old boys are such… fourteen-year-old boys. Especially when egged on by the big sister.
“OK, now we don’t have to go to Oceanside again.” That was The Husband’s observation.
He prefers the Encinitas, Cardiff and Del Mar scene.
There are about 25 surfers just to the right of this photo, taken at 4:15ish…Still at least 25 surfers and one BIG sea lion in this pic taken at 4:45, I swear.These cottages are available to rent on a weekly or monthly basis… for details click here: robertscottages.com
I can’t believe it- this will make two months in a row that The Mom and I have made it out to a theater venue. Last year we thought it would be a great idea to try to see some production each month and we got in a grand total of ZERO. Hot Damn, mom, we are on a roll!
Picture from the Welk Resort’s website for their production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I.” Click to go to the site…
I’m actually the tag-along on this trip with my parents as they already had plans with their marvelous friends to go see Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I.” Off I drove to meet them at the Welk Resort for the show. This is a great theater, not a bad seat in the house! We all really enjoyed the production, I mean, really- you can’t miss with classic American musicals, can you?
This is the best thing in the world for me, I never want to go out in the evenings. I have long said that I turn into a pumpkin after 7:30 PM. There is a fabulous Mom’s Club at my church, and I usually don’t make our Mom’s Night Out each month. I’m just too pooped! The Husband, thoughtful man, encourages me to get out in the evening with friends, but I rarely do. Even The Boy and The Girl, when they were younger and emerging independents, tried to reassure me that they were fine home alone. I never intended to be the hovering type, I just liked being home with my family, and still do. And actually, I’m pretty sure the kids just want a night at home by themselves to binge watch on Netflix with microwave popcorn… thanks for getting your brother hooked on “Arrested Development,” dear daughter.
branching out... on a limb 