Happy Birthday, Bill!

"It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you become one." --anonymous

Happy Birthday to my young-at-heart sweetheart!

Memory Monday

Cleaning Ladies, Patience and President Faust

One of the consequences of my car accident in 2001 was my introduction to the world of cleaning ladies. My first cleaning lady was a sister from one of the Spanish branches in town. She was young, energetic and thorough. She spoke English and drove a car. Wow! I was hooked! Then, after a few months, she and her husband moved to Utah to start a Mexican restaurant. I thought, "No problemo...the Spanish branches have a more than adequate supply of ladies who need work and are probably just like Maria." WRONG! My next cleaning lady was to Maria like night is to day. Her specialty was breaking things, then hiding the pieces around the house. This happened SEVERAL times. Also, she had an unfortunate habit of disappearing for weeks at a time, then turning up when least expected. I had never in my life fired anyone, and wasn't eager to start. I knew that she needed the job, and I needed someone, but it wasn't a match made in heaven. Then a solution arrived in the form of Emily who, with husband Eric and baby Abby moved back to Bakersfield. I explained to Rosa that my daughter was new in town and wanted to help me and I would have to let her go. Rosa understood--family comes first. With Emily, I hit the cleaning lady jackpot! Possibly the only other person in the world who is as obsessive-compulsive as am I. Things were perfect until January of last year, when she moved to San Antonio. Luckily for me, there was a junior Emily waiting in the wings--Clare. Every bit as good a cleaner as Emily, but very, very busy. She was doing her student teaching and working at Tahoe Joe's, so when she wasn't always available I discovered that I was perfectly capable of doing my own cleaning. Then last fall Bill got a call from a La Rosa branch member, Lupe, who really needed money and asked if she could clean for us. Guess what? I was back in the cleaning lady business. Fast forward to today...

Lupe and her partner/daughter Carmen come every other Friday. They are supposed to come at 10:00. They have only actually come once at that time. They like to surprise me just getting out of the shower at 9:00, or 9:17, etc. They are very good on floors, but they always skip the kitchen, believing it to be already clean. Today I asked them specifically to clean the kitchen and "talked" them through it. Lupe speaks about five words of English (at about the same level that I speak Spanish) and Carmen, although a graduate of Wasco High School, understands about as much English as does Newton. Apparently the discussion didn't go as well as I hoped, because when I went to check on things, Carmen was using Pledge to clean the kitchen surfaces. Each time they leave it takes me about an hour to put the house back together. I don't know if they have design aspirations or just short-term memory problems, but every knick knack in the house is in a different spot when they leave. And every set of window blinds looks like a three year old has been playing with them.

I can't fire them because they "have much loves" for Presidente Reed. Bill suggests that I take a page from President Faust's book. Apparently, President Faust went to the same barber for many, many years. As the barber grew old, his skills started to slip until he was giving President Faust (and presumably everyone else) really bad haircuts. President Faust felt such loyalty towards him that he couldn't bring himself to quit using him. Instead, each time he left the barbershop he headed directly to another barber a short distance away and had him secretly fix the first haircut.

I am thankful that we are in a position to help these ladies with employment. And if they try to develop their skills, and if I develop patience, I guess we will all be winners.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal, like broccoli, is one of those healthy foods that I can only eat when it is accessorized. Cheese sauce for broccoli and butter, raisins, cinnamon, etc. for oatmeal. Still, I think it is better to eat accessorized oatmeal than no oatmeal. I don't like to cook oatmeal. For some reason, when I do a large batch of it in a saucepan it has a tendency to boil over. You almost need a jack hammer to clean dried-on oatmeal off your stove top. And when you are making instant oatmeal for a crowd, you can spend all day opening those little packets. So...(drum roll please) I have a solution that I would like to share. At Wal Mart, you can buy a 2 quart crock pot for $8.54. They advertise it as being perfect for sauces and dips. Well, it is also perfect for oatmeal. Dump everything in the night before, set it on low, and voila! You have oatmeal in the morning, ready to dish up to your hungry and appreciative family. You need to allow about 8 hours--this won't work if you go to bed at midnight and get up at five. Here is the basic recipe. If it is too thick or too thin for your taste, you can play with the oatmeal/water ration. Use the old fashioned or steel cut oats.

Crock Pot Oatmeal
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 to 1 cup chopped dates, apples, or raisins, or combination, optional
4 cups water
dash salt
Sray the crock pot with non-stick spray, add everything and set it on low for 8-10 hours. Serves 8. (Of course you can cut the recipe in half for four servings.)

Here is a picture of my new baby crock pot so you can see the relative size.

Memory Monday

Our Excellent Mexican Adventure

We are home safe and sound from our weeklong Mexican cruise, and despite Carl's gloomy predictions we didn't get kidnapped! We DID rent cars in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta and drove ourselves all over the states of Baja Sur, Sinaloa, Jalisco and Nayarit. We had a great time-met some interesting people-saw a lot of interesting things-ate some interesting food and didn't get sick (or kidnapped).

A few brief observations:

1. Mexican fast food places don't have drive-thrus.

2. More Mexicans in Mexico speak English than do Mexicans in California.

3. Most Mexican streets are not labelled with names or divided by striped lines. Driving is as much a competitive sport as a means of getting from point A to point B.

4. There are little villages in the jungles of Mexico where no one wears shoes, but you can still buy a Diet Coke.

5. Corn ice cream is pretty tasty. Wienie soup not so much.

6. Mexican food in Mexico is NEVER served with grated orange cheese.

7. There is one Mormon family (and no paved streets) in the 500 year old village of Valle de Banderas.

A few photos:

Anchors Aweigh!

This Sunday, February 10th, we board the Dawn Princess for eight days on the sunny Mexican Riviera. This year we haven't booked shore excursions in advance. Instead, we have researched each of our ports of call and the surrounding areas and plan to hire cars to take us out into the countryside where we will explore little villages and scenic byways. In between trips ashore we plan to nap on deck, letting the sun sink into our old, cold bones. Tuesday we will be in Cabo San Lucas, Wednesday in Mazatlan and Thursday in Puerta Vallarta. Cell service will be pretty hit or miss, so I don't know whether we will be able to contact anyone. In case of an emergency, you can reach us at sea by calling 1-877-656-7447. You will need to give them our names and cabin #C210. This is a satellite call, and costs $8.95 a minute, so you probably won't want to call just to chat.

Advance thanks to Chris and Clare who will be taking care of our furry kids. We will be boring you with lots of photos when we get back, so until then, tah tah!

Memory Monday