Buzz Word

I came home from the market (yep, I forgot the green bags again) and my house was all a buzz.
Literally, we were attacked by bees and they made a nest in our lemon tree. Well, knock me over with a feather. I have never seen any thing like that...ever. By the time I had come home with groceries in hand, Eric had called the Bee people. Yeah, I know...bee people? Who knew? They wanted $195.00 to come out and get rid of the hive. I said "No way, I'm not paying someone that kind of money to get rid of bees....there has to be another way", in which Eric replied "like what"?
Well I got this ingenious idea to throw something at them so that they would all fly away and never come back. Ok, Eric grabs a lemon from the kitchen and chucks it at the hive and runs back into the kitchen. The lemon hits the hive and the bees are in turmoil and attacking the lemon. Little by little, they fly back to the spot on the lemon tree branch and just hang there. We are watching this bee drama from the safety of the breakfast nook that looks out towards the tree and we are safe and quite brave at this point. It didn't work. He chucks another lemon at the hive and again same scenario. Raquel pipes in...."maybe we need a bigger object" to throw. She goes and gets a soccer ball and Eric proceeds to toss it, and again, those damn bees organize themselves back on the branch. Did you know that the Queen bee chooses where the hive will be and all the other bees follow and they just layer themselves onto the Queen and just hang. When the Queen bee doesn't like it there anymore she leaves and everyone follows. Let's just say....she liked it here.






So now I gotta go and take Raquel and her friends to a Korean community (a whole other blog)
and the bees won't leave.......TO BEE CONTINUED.....ha, ha,ha!


I'm back and now and it's 4 hours later. While we were gone, Eric had done some bee research, called around and went to Lowe's to pick up some poison bee spray. Apparently, the queen liked our backyard and decided to stay. One of the reasons they layer themselves is to stay warm, so they were planted. Eric is going to spray them later on in the evening when it's cooler and there is less activity and they are less prone to take off. I take the girls home, we go to dinner (Chinese) get back and Eric is chewing at the bit to annihilate the bees. Raquel and I position ourselves at the famous window and ready ourselves for the "Bee vs Eric Show". He's sneaking ninja style up to said tree, he focuses on his opponent, shakes his can, aims and fires. BEE CHAOS...loud buzzing and then......... stunned silence.

He runs into the house into the kitchen where we are sitting and with heavy breath begins to give us a blow by blow of what happened... "We know we know"....we say. We gingerly make our way outside where we come upon dead or dying bees everywhere. It is getting dark now and we can't see the branch, so Raquel grabs a flashlight and hands it over to Eric and he cautiously walks up to the tree. It's over.There is a pile of dead bees under the tree and a mass of bee stuff connected to the branch. Tomorrow he will clean up and I suppose tell the "bee story" at work on Monday. So now, not only is my husband a bird killer, he is a killer of bees, but the one thing that stick out in my mind is....we saved $191.00.....I'm just say'n

It's like Herding Squirels...

That's what I say when people ask me about watching my grandsons. I tell them "it's like herding squirrels", because they're all over the place. They climb, jump, wrestle, dance, squirm, fight, hug, grab, run, jog and all at the same time...well, it seems like it. This weekend, I had two of them over night. We, and when I say we, I mean I, had the two oldest ones. Franklin age 6 and Ethan age 5. Why do I just take the two of them? First of all, the third would probably put me over the edge and second of all, he's not completely potty trained and doesn't always sleep all night and Nana doesn't do poop or wake up at night very nicely. Yeah, at least I'm honest. Oh don't you dare feel sorry for him. There is no neglecting that one. When I can, I take him for the day and it's just me and him and we have a grand time. So basically it evens out.

Here are some of the things we did and when I say we....I mean mostly them.....


We played with blocks.....





we played outside.....




We ate cupcakes and ice cream...






We made a fort.....




and we did a lot more like visit Auntie's lamb and go to McDonald's and we sang songs too, including a beautiful rendition of "Umbrella, ella, ella" but I don't have any pictures of that because my camera's battery died, so there you have it. So there you go. A day in the life of a Nana. Oh yeah....I did this too! And when I say I, I really mean I.



Cheers!...I'm just say'n

Animal Cookies in my Mouth....

Did you sing it? Ya know, the title of this blog entry. Shirley Temple's song "Animal Crackers in my Soup"...that one, because every time I eat these beautiful little gems, foods of the gods and my reason for living, I sing this song. Sometimes out loud, but most times in my head, because I don't really want anyone to think I'm crazy or even a little obsessed with these morsels of mouth watering treats of confectionery delights.

I try to stay away. I really do. I don't even walk down the cookie aisle at the market because I'm afraid they will call out to me in that hushed hypnotic voice that only I can hear and I will be hypnotized and the clerks will find me in a sugar coma with pink and white frosting slowly running down my mouth, slouched under the display of "let's eat a balance meal" sign advertising healthy families.

Raquel had a few friends over for a bon fire and one of her friends Nicole brought cookies. I bet you already know what I'm going to say. Well, yep she did. They were that kind. Seems the sweet rush of sugary seduction got to her too. But no....she said she brought them for me because her mother( supposedly my friend) told her that they were my favorite and that it would be rude to show up with nothing.

I guess the stars were lined up perfectly and the moon was in the 7th house or something like that because I just had this conversation earlier in the day at the market when Raquel asked me if we could buy cookies for the evening. I told her sure, but you go get them...I don't want to hear the voices, but it didn't matter, they got to me later in the evening, when they were sitting on top of the patio table and I saw it, I saw the glistening of the shiny wax outer container under the illumination of the patio light, the pink and white images mesmerizing me and beckon me outside and I'm not sure but I think they actually winked at me too.

But it's OK....I'm at home and if I pass out from the pure joy of eating the most delicious, enticing and talented (they talk) cookie on the planet, then it was meant to be.....I'm just say'n.

Kinda off Green....

Today I went to the recycle place to recycle my aluminum cans and plastic bottles. This household is doing it's best to do our part in keeping this planet green. As I stated, I save cans, plastic bottles, take shorter showers and water the lawn every other day. I rinse out little baggies (yes, you read that right), clean off used aluminum, empty the dirty water from the cat bowl into plants, serve left overs, use clean propane when barbecuing and try to use biodegradable cleaning product, even thought they don't work as well as the ozone burning ones.
I'm sure we could be doing more, but in a nutshell, this is what we do.

Having said all that, a few weeks ago, I heard that the State of California is going to try to pass a law adding a 25 cent ser charge on every super market plastic bag that you use from the market. They will just add it on to your grocery bill. Now, that may not seem like a lot to you, but for me, it adds up. I average about 6 bags of groceries a week, that comes out to $1.50, which comes out to $6.00 a month, which turns into $72.00 per year and that's just one market. Big Woop you say, yeah, but besides money....think of the planet....right? Ok, I hear this and I'm thinking, I"ll buy those green bags from various markets and I'll use those. In my daily journeys, I come across said bags and I purchase them. Some even buy one get another one free. Good job bunny, your doing your part. All together I end up spending roughly $10.00 to save $62.00, but that's ok, because again we are saving the world and in the long run it's better for my grandchildren.


Here is the evidence......Trader Joes, Albertsons, Stater Bros. and the little Italian Market up the street






Nice and convenient in the back of my car where I can easily get to in any given moment just in case I need a pit stop at the market or a green emergency happens. HA! Right. Half the time I forget. It's a habit that I just drive to the market, get my list, coupon book, purse...and walk into the market not even thinking about saving the world. And when I do remember it's too late. One more thing. You know those evil plastic bags the markets bag your groceries in?
Well I use those too. They have many uses, cleaning up dog and cat poop off my lawn, emptying garbage into, storing household items in the closet and so on and so on.

As I said before, we are doing our part, but our part is very difficult sometimes and I guess we have to pick and choose our battles. Today was a good day. I made $37.75 and the man at the recycling plant shouted out to me "Hello, senorita".....and the "ita" implies I'm young, so all is not lost.....I'm just say'n....

Which Witch is it?

Last night I casually told my husband Eric that I had an appointment with Emily, my hair gal. Right away I knew what he was gonna say, because we've been through this before, many times. He tells me, "Why, your hair is fine, and then I say, "my gray is coming out and I don't want to look like a witch, in which he always replies, "Oh, you won't, just let it grow out, your always complaining about the hassle". Well, he's right, I always complain when it's time to have my hair done. I've been doing it for years and every year I probably complain more due to the fact that my hair is getting grayer and grayer. I didn't know this was gonna happen. One day I was bored at the age of 16, colored my hair and and that's all she wrote. I wasn't concerned about 37 years down the road. I think I know why Eric tells me this. I think he thinks I'll look like this...












but he doesn't realize that I would look like this...

















I know that he would love me either way, seriously, but why take a chance? We'll just keep playing our little game and I'll let him keep thinking that at some point there is a sexy witch inside of me. Do hair dressers go to nursing homes? They better!

One Womens Treasure....

Today I went to a flea market to look for treasure. Yep, treasure. There is nothing like scrounging around, looking in, behind, under and in old boxes for that perfect thing that I just can't live without. I am drawn to items from peoples pasts. People I don't even know, but only imagine.
As a kid, I would drag my good friend Diane with me down the alley ways behind our homes looking for treasures, anything that would catch my eye. At the flea market today, it was the same, except I was with my friend Brenda who has the same thirst as I do. Any and everything that you could possibly imagine was to be found.
Trinkets and baubles and antiques and vintage items, it was all there. I was surrounded by rows and rows of memories, discarded Ephemera, mounds of vintage childhood toys, retro pieces from not so long ago and on and on.

This is what I brought home. A vintage Christmas decoration which will be very comfy among my others.





and these rich and beautiful jewelery items that I haven't figured out where to put them, but I will.



As long as I am able, I will continue to search for my treasures because it bring me pleasure.

You Say You Want A Renovation

Do you know how much I love to renovate? Do you know how much my husband likes to renovate too?
Seems like we were meant to be. Even as a child I was always decorating, designing, tearing down or building something. When my mother would walk into my bedroom, she never knew what to expect. Eric and I are a perfect team as he likes to demolish and design and I like to build and decorate. As you can see we are in the middle of remodeling our Dining room and it is quite the mess, but we don't mind. In fact...we are already talking about next year's Living room project.


Where is all the Dining room furniture you asked? Why it's in my Living room of course.



I will keep you posted on the progress....Hmmm, I'm thinking dinner party.

I've been sucked in.....

Well...I did it. Don't know how, but this is my first post. No very impressive I'm sure, but then again, I'm not trying to impress. I'm just trying to figure out stuff. How to put up a pic, how to add friends blogs, this gadget and that gadget. Anyways, I will be adding things from time to time. Perhaps something that happened to me that day, a special occasion, pictures of people and things and you can bet there will be some controversy as I am want to vent out from time to time. After all...it's my blog. Oh and by the way, go ahead and comment about whatever you like...you don't have to agree with me and I don't have to agree with you, I'm just say'n.