Just One More Sleep

Almost every day I get a phone call from the grandson.  It goes something like this:

"Grandma coming home soon?"

"Not today"

"After night-night? After one sleep?"

"Nope, not for lots of sleeps."

"Youse come home after lots of sleeps?"

"Yup, I'll come to your house after lots of sleeps."

"OK.  Love you.  Bye."

Even though it doesn't seem to upset him much, it breaks my heart every time I have to say "lots of sleeps", so a couple of days ago when he called I was happy to change my reply to "After 3 sleeps."

"Youse coming to my house after 3 sleeps?" he asked for clarification and the daughter piped in "You're coming to my house after 3 sleeps?"

Apparently the e-mail informing her that her dad and I were coming to visit got lost in transit.  But she is very accommodating and decided we could still come.

At the hubby's work the culture department sends out a daily e-mail with a Pima (Piipaash) and Maricopa (O'odham) word of the day. Recently they have been focusing on words related to time. Today, when we only have one more sleep before we leave for San Diego, he forwarded the info to me.  We both thought it was rather interesting.

Prior to European arrival, the O’odham and Piipaash did not organize time into seven-day weeks. There was no concept of a week at all. Therefore, there was no specific name given to any particular day. If one wanted to plan attendance at a future event, others were told to, “Come after four night’s sleep,” or something similar.

His comment was "See, it's just the Pima coming out in our grandson."

Only 1 more sleep!

Chinese Cultural Center

Today I went on a field trip with the oldest daughter's Second Grade class to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix. It was a warm day and it was a sit and wait, listen and don't touch kind of field trip which was hard for the kids. We toured a Chinese Garden and an Oriental Grocery Store. We did learn some interesting tidbits about Chinese culture and we were treated to Chinese food at the end, which was very good.

The children were asked to "dress nicely" for this field trip. It was interesting to see the different interpretations of what "nicely" meant.


We learned that different things are carved on the roofs of the buildings to protect them. Here is a dragon that protects from evil spirits.

These are sea creatures that protect the buildings from fire.

These statues represent the things that we need in life. One has water and the other is holding a flower to represent beauty. There were other ones but I don't remember how many, perhaps 10. Some of the other needs were food, music, and education.

The circular doorway behind the statues is to walk through. The Chinese try to avoid sharp edges because they represent knives or death. I think it is called a moon gate maybe.

This pond was full of lots and lots of fish, great big ones and little, teeny tiny ones.

More statues. I think the first one represents an emperor and I'm not sure what the other ones represent.



The Chinese make their bridges crooked so that if an evil spirit is chasing you he will get confused and loose his way.


The gardens were very beautiful but the Second Graders and I would have enjoyed having some time to explore them a little more.

Here we are sitting outside the grocery store waiting for time for our tour. The books made good fans since it was very warm.

They also made good shields so we couldn't be seen when we got our pictures taken.


A few of us actually read them.

And finally we got to line up and go inside where it was air conditioned.

The most exciting part of the grocery store was the fresh fish swimming in tanks. There was quite the variety, but the smell was a little strong for some of us, especially the pregnant teacher. We also got to see 1,000 year old eggs and a large variety of beer in the cooler we waited in line for our food next too. We got our food from a food court in the grocery store. It was very interesting trying to help the students select fried rice or noodles and 2 entrees from a selection of items they couldn't recognize and that all looked a little strange. Most of the kids stuck with a type of chicken (like orange chicken without the sauce) and egg rolls. A few chose duck and really liked it. I wasn't that brave and stuck with my old favorite Sweet and Sour Pork and some green beans.

It is always fun to get out of the classroom and do something different, but I wouldn't say this was my favorite field trip of all time. I think I would like to go back sometime with the hubby and just check out some of the stores and visit the garden at a more leisurely pace. Oh, and buy a couple of those 1,000 year old eggs perhaps.

Pima Tacos

This morning I got a phone call from my sister-in-law inviting our family to her house for dinner. About a year ago one of our nieces committed suicide leaving behind 4 children between the ages of 11 and 2. She had kind of distanced herself from the family and her children a few months prior to her death and the children, along with the father of the 2 youngest, were living with this sister-in-law when this all transpired. The father of the 2nd child eventually decided he wanted his daughter (who is 10 now) to come and live with him. She wasn't excited to be separated from her siblings and this turned out to not be a very positive situation in a lot of ways. This sister-in-law went to court to get custody of this child and today she came back home. She loves Pima Tacos and so we welcomed her back with food.

My oldest sister-in-law showing off her popover patting skills.

The hubby can cook with one hand in his pocket.

The kids waiting patiently to partake.

Today I am thankful for

dinner cooked by someone else.
my vacuum.
relatives who work hard to make life better for the kids we care about.
the chance to watch things grow in the fields around my in-laws homes. Right now it's a crop of wheat.

Español

Tonight I had the opportunity of going to the temple to see one of my youngest daughter's good friends receive her own endowments. This young woman will soon be known as Sister Zarate and will be serving in the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission for 18 months.

We are all excited for her. Some other members of the family would have gone to the temple with her as well, but it just so happened that tonight was also the beginning of the church young men's basketball tournament and the youngest son's team, which is coached by the oldest son, had a game at the same time. It was hard for many of us to decide where we wanted to be the most. I finally decided that since the tournament is double elimination and the team was only playing one game tonight that I would have another opportunity to watch them participate and so I chose the temple. I was glad that I did. (The son's team lost and listening to the recap, I think I was lucky that I wasn't there to experience it.)
Since English is this sister's second language she chose to go to a Spanish speaking endowment session. My family and I had discussed ahead of time whether or not I thought I could follow what was going on if I had to do it only in Spanish. Pondering this question reminded me of a trip I took to a Denver Albertsons grocery store a couple of years ago. I was getting ready to check out when I received a phone call from my oldest daughter informing me that she had just been offered a job teaching Kindergarten at Fuller Elementary School. This was her first teaching job, school started in a week and we were both very excited. After I hung up I went to the self check out to purchase my groceries. I was still a little distracted and accidentally pushed the Spanish button instead of the English one. I tried to go back and choose English but couldn't figure it out. I decided I could check out in Spanish. I know a little Spanish and I use the self check out all the time, I could probably do it with my eyes closed so I thought a foreign language would be no problem. Scan the item, drop it in the bag. Pretty much the same in any language. I was rolling right along until I got to the produce. Even though I didn't know what a cantaloupe was called in Spanish I scrolled through the pictures and managed to find one that matched my item. Success! Then came the green pepper. I found the picture, entered the code but then the number keyboard popped up again. I thought the code hadn't gone through so I entered it again. I figured out what it was actually asking for about the same time I pushed the enter button. I was suppose to enter the quantity. Instead of one green pepper, or whatever it is called in Spanish, I said I was buying 4035 or some other ridiculous number. My grocery tab was immediately over $2000. That was when I finally decided to call for help. The employee was very confused about why I was checking out in Spanish, when I obviously was speaking English. Luckily for me he stood right next to me for the rest of the transaction. I think I needed his assistance at least 3 more times before I was done and thoroughly embarrassed.
So, as I thought about the temple ceremony, my first thought was that perhaps I could manage most parts, I mean I've heard it all a number of times. However, I quickly reconsidered.
The temple was very accommodating and supplied headsets for all of us who couldn't understand Español. I enjoyed hearing English in one ear while I tried to figure out what they were saying in Spanish with the other. I could actually understand a few things. However, I did find it somewhat disconcerting having Satan whispering directly into my ear at times. He seemed a lot more menacing when he was piped right into my head. Kind of like the devil sitting on my shoulder feeling.
I love being in the celestial room with someone who is there for the first time. My sweet friend was so happy to be there and I was equally happy to be there with her. It was such a wonderful moment. Lots of Love to you Sister Zarate. You're moving in the right direction and I wish you the best in life.

Today I am grateful for

hugs.
modern technology.
the temple - in any language.

Roadrunner Folklore

A couple of months ago the oldest daughter and the son-in-law were hiking on South Mountain and they saw a roadrunner.

During Second Grade O'odham (Pima)culture class the next week the teacher told the children that in the O'odham culture it is believed that if you see a roadrunner it means that you are going to receive a great blessing or good fortune. The daughter was curious to see what blessing might be coming to them. Tonight they told us what their blessing was.
When they shared their news my hubby said, "I should have known. I saw a baby roadrunner the other day when I was driving back to work."

I was wondering if I should feel bad that I hadn't seen any roadrunners. Maybe I need to get out more. But then again, I don't need to see a roadrunner to know that a new baby is a blessing. Plus, at this point in my life I'd rather be the Grandma than the one expecting so, just to be on the safe side, I'm glad I didn't see the roadrunners. The daughter and her hubby can have the blessing and I'll just enjoy it, spoil it, and send it home.

Today I'm thankful that

I get to be a grandma.
they make dry socket paste. It smells so bad that the girls won't want to come close to the boy for a while.
I got to go to breakfast with my girls who are on Spring Break this week.

Transit Tourists

Today our family took advantage of the free light rail during it's first week of operation and headed downtown for a trip to the Heard Museum and lunch at the Spaghetti Factory.

This was a field trip that we had planned to take "sometime" way back in August when we celebrated my birthday and I was glad that it worked out that we could all fit it into our schedules.

The hubby was accommodating enough to even take the day off of work for the outing. Actually he had a day of annual leave he had to use or lose before the end of the year, so it worked out well.

As it turned out we weren't the only family that had the same idea of how to spend part of our holiday break. We had lots of company on the trains and at the restaurant.

These pictures don't make it look nearly as crowded as it was . When it was the most squishy I couldn't lift my arms to take any pictures. Just think friendly and then add about 25 more people.

We visited the museum first. The Heard museum focuses on Native American history, culture and art. We watched some Hopi dancing and viewed lots of exhibits. The youngest daughter and the roommate had lots of fun making all of the craft projects. I felt it was appropriate to snap a photo of the family in front of this exhibit.

My favorite exhibit was about the history of Indian Boarding schools.

It was sad to read some of the quotes and hear some of the memories of the students and parents. Many of the children in the photos were so small and looked so lost. It's interesting how the white man felt it was his responsibility to civilize the savage red man, mainly because it was more cost effective to educate them than to kill them.

We thought this poster encouraging the Indian boys to develop their "manly aggressions" was a little ironic. I wonder if some of today's professional athletes realize they are striving to be "controlled and civilized"?

The hubby's two older sisters were required to attend boarding school but only for high school and I think boarding schools had changed a lot by then. They actually had positive experiences there.

We ended up having to wait quite a while to be seated at the Spaghetti Factory but I believe it was worth it. Other members of the family might not agree.

I thoroughly enjoyed our day even though I was afraid for a few minutes that I might be thrown from a moving train when the woman standing next to me realized that I was a "transit tourist" and not using the light rail "for the purpose for which it was intended." I don't know. I think if the Metro offers free rides for a week they pretty much expect people to just ride the light rail for entertainment and a new experience. I bet that working woman has a seat to sit on now that everyone has to purchase a ticket to ride.

Today I am grateful for

a sense of humor.

time with my family.

progress in the acceptance of cultural diversity.

What's in a Name?

Today I've been thinking about names. I think it's interesting the amount of time and thought most people put into what they name their children. All of my kids have had a running list of name possibilities for their children, since they were small, that has frequently changed as they have grown. The most unusual, and thankfully currently out of the running, was Bizanne.

Usually even before the woman is pregnant couples are discussing, and often discarding, possible names for their children. Once a baby is on the way it seems to be a frequent topic of conversation until a decision is reached. Some people love to share the chosen name with everyone they meet and others guard it like it's a state secret. I believe a child's name might be one of the most discussed and thought out decisions a couple actually makes together.

I was named after my cousin who died at the age of 10 from complications associated with the measles. I guess I wasn't so much named after her, as my parents liked the name and asked my aunt if they could use it. As a child, I always felt bad that I didn't have a middle name. All my brothers and sisters had middle names and I put the fact that I didn't have one on my list of reasons why I believed I was adopted. (The fact that I was cuter than the rest of the family was also on the list. I had a pretty high opinion of myself as a child.) I remember telling my mom that I thought my middle name should be Grace. It was a family name and I thought it went well with my first name. My mother didn't really think Grace fit my personality. I was (and still am) anything but graceful.

When I was growing up there was usually at least one other person with the same name as mine in my class in school. That usually didn't bother me. In fact during my last year of high school my best friend and I had the same name and we enjoying walking through the halls, both answering regardless of which one of us was being addressed. I think it was more confusing for other people than it was for us. I thought it was fun. My name is not spelled with the usual spelling and I used to get frustrated because people would always spell my name wrong. As I have gotten older I have reached the point where I really don't care how it is spelled. I feel like someone is doing good to know what my name is, let alone how to spell it.

My husband's name is unusual, but I think it fits him. No one in his family calls him by his name. They all call him by his nickname, Boy. Pretty much everyone in his family has a nickname that they go by with the family rather than their actual name, but in public they go by their real names. It can get kind of confusing sometimes. It's taken me 25 years to sort it all out.

Although I like my name, I have never had a desire to name any of my children after myself and my hubby has felt the same way. We have 4 children and their names all start with the same letter. This wasn't necessarily an intentional decision until we were expecting our last child. We didn't want to give him any obvious items to add to his "How I know I am adopted list" and being the only child with a name that started with a different letter would have definitely made the list.

When we found out that our first child was on the way we kicked up the speed on the name discussion. We both felt like we were going to have a girl. We narrowed the list down to 3 names. 2 girl names, I liked one and the hubby liked another and Justin Case for a boy. This was "just in case" she turned out to be a boy. Before we came to a final decision, my husband had a dream in which he saw our daughter and she told him that she really liked her name. She said what it was when he asked and it happened to be the name I liked. The discussion was over. This has worked out well for us because if this child ever complains about her name, which is a very popular name for her age group, we just tell her she picked it.

Our second child received a name that we both liked, but we felt was somewhat uncommon, especially the way we spelled it. He has run into a few boys with the same name during his lifetime so far, more than we would have expected. When he was about 2, I actually found his name in a baby book, spelled the same way, and it's meaning was "to sing". It fit him perfectly and we didn't even know it. When he was an infant he would sing himself to sleep in my arms (I think he liked his voice better than mine), his favorite toys were always ones that involved music and singing, and he is well remembered for his singing during the annual ward Primary Children Sacrament Meeting Program.

The third child to grace our family was automatically referred to by the name my husband had wanted for our first daughter. He had heard it on an episode of "The Streets of San Francisco" and really liked it. I will go on record here as saying that this is one good thing that has come from his love of TV watching. It was always a given that this would be her first name. It took a while to decide how to spell it. It is spelled exactly like it sounds, but it is usually mispronounced. There are very few people with the same exact name and only one that we have ever met that spells it the same way. If you're curious you can find it on a name tag at a Safeway store in Tempe, AZ. A little more discussion went into choosing her middle name. (I made sure all of my children knew they were loved by giving them each a middle name.) We finally came up with a combination of her grandmother's names. The first half of her paternal grandma's name and the last half of her maternal grandma's put together. She usually shortens it to "L dot".

The youngest child's name was the most difficult to come up with. He was the only child we photographically knew the sex of before he was born. We liked the idea we had come up with of combining the grandma's names and decided we would combine the grandpa's names for his first name. However this didn't work out when we tried it and realized we already had a son by that name. Yup, our oldest son's name is a combination of the first half of his paternal grandpa's name and the second half of his maternal grandpa's and we didn't even know it. He was possibly going to be named after a popular college basketball player who was part of the "fab five" that played for Michigan in 1992. This child was a huge fan of March Madness while still in the womb. He couldn't stay still while I was watching any of the games. His dad really liked this name, but I felt it was a little feminine. We finally agreed on a name and his dad chose the spelling. For the first year of his life my mom referred to this son by a different name. By changing an a to an o it becomes a girl's name and that was what my mom was sure his name was. So much for a name that wasn't too feminine. He is the most vocal of our children about wishing he had a different name. I like his name because it is one syllable and easy to yell.

I have sometimes wondered if a person's name has any impact on who or what they become? All the Juliannes or Juliannas I've known have been very smart. Was that in some part because of their name? Would they have been just as smart if their names were Doofiss?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Juliet In the early history of America, girls were often named after a desirable character trait such as Truth, Hope, Faith, Constance, Pleasant, Prudence, Patience, Duty, Charity... Do you think a child named Pleasant always was or a child named Truth never told a lie? I have thought if this were the case, what character trait would I have chosen to name my children after? Would it be Faith, or Hope, or Charity, or Joy, or perhaps Responsibility, or Obedience? Why does it seem that character traits that are used as names usually seem to be female? What would I name my boys, especially if I have a problem with feminine names? How about Grit, or Brave, or Loyal, or Strong, or Tenacious? I thought of one - Frank! Knowing how wordy I am and my lack of decision making ability, I would probably get carried away and name my child Pleasant Faith Charity Obedience Joy Patience and she would just end up confused for life instead of actually reflecting any of those qualities she was named for. Recently I was watching an episode of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". In it they referred to how certain cultures such as the Native Americans and the Chinese give individuals new names based on important events or experiences in their lives. Most people would have several different names during their lifetime. What event in my life would I want to be named after? "Woman who moved to Arizona and thought she would die of heat stroke." "Woman who yelled until her voice disappeared". "Lady who loved to laugh at dumb things". It could be kind of interesting, but those kind of names seem a little long. You'd definitely need to have a nickname. I guess it's a good thing I just stuck to names that started with the same letter of the alphabet. It makes the list a lot shorter and less confusing.

In the News

We get the newspaper in my home because of me.

I am the one who orders it

and I am the one who reads it.

My mom is a newspaper reader

so I must get it from her.

She sometimes reads the newspaper back to front

and I use to laugh at her because of it.

Now sometimes I catch myself

reading the newspaper back to front.

Recently my newspaper made some changes

and the front page is now

"magazine" style instead of "newspaper" style.

I didn't like it at first.

It bugged me.

Now I like it better though

because it is easier to read that way.

Especially when you are sitting in a chair

and not at a table.

Now it bugs me that the rest of the newspaper

is still newspaper style.

Another thing that bugs me is that the comics

and the Sudoku puzzle

are now in the sports section.

I read the newspaper.

My sons read the sports section

and it has a habit of disappearing.

Actually, it doesn't disappear.

I know exactly where it is -

on the floor in their bathroom.

It just makes it more difficult for me

to read that section

(and do MY sudoku)

when it's not with the rest of the paper.

There are certain parts of the paper

that I read in depth,

parts where I browse the headlines and

parts that I pretty much ignore.

This morning I had read most of my newspaper

and I had learned some interesting things

and had had some profound thoughts.

If underwear is worn as outerwear,

which is apparently the new trend,

does it then cease to be underwear?

What do we call it then?

If the minorities in the US

become the majority of its citizens

then are they still considered minorities?

Today the National Archives released

the OSS (Office of Strategic Services)

personnel files of 24,000 individuals

who served the US in an international spy ring
during World War II.

This organization was a precursor to the CIA.

Some of the names on the list

were famed chef Julia Childs

(the oldest son performed

a very entertaining impersonation

of "Julia the Spy"

after I shared this information with him.),

supreme court justice Arthur Goldberg,

and two of President Theodore Roosevelt's sons,

Quentin and Kermit.

I get a laugh out of "Kermit the Spy".

For some reason I picture him wearing green

and infiltrating Ireland.

The average valley household in the Phoenix area spends $693 on alcohol in a year.

I wonder where my $693 dollars went?

I certainly didn't spend it on alcohol.

I probably spent it on diet soda. Is that any better?

Cindy McCain suffered a mild sprain to her wrist

when someone was a little zealous

in the hand shaking on the campaign trail.

We need to get her coming to a Mormon church

to build up those hand shaking muscles.

A father accidentally ran over his daughter.

Sad, but it sometimes happens,

just usually not when the daughter is 21 years old.

Makes the "accidental" part

a tiny bit harder to believe

for a mother of adult children.

I learned a new term - Staycation.

This is when gas costs so much that you choose

to have your vacation very close to home.

I was just finishing up my reading and

getting ready to do MY sudoku

when the eldest son absconded with the sports section.

Since I was feeling lazy and

not wanting to do anything productive

I decided to read some of the newspaper

that I don't frequently read

while I waited for him to finish.

I chose the Legal Notices.

Who really reads the legal notices?

I hope John Doe does

because almost everyone of them pertains to him.

How do you think "John Doe"

became the fictitious name of choice?

Do you think there are any

actual John Does in the world?

Why in the legal notices are

women referred to as "John" Doe as well?

I also hope dead people read the legal notices

because if Clarence King (deceased)

fails to personally appear

at the appointed time and place,

without good cause

(is being dead considered good cause?),

his parent/child relationship

with his children will be terminated.

Wasn't there an angel named Clarence

that appeared somewhere

to someone once?

Maybe it's the same person and

he'll make an appearance in court too.

How can a corporation be a foreign corporation

if it was incorporated in New Mexico?

The name of said corporation is

Double M Mud Company

and the character of the business

it initially intends to conduct in Arizona is

"any and all lawful business

in which corporations may engage."

Sounds kind of broad to me.

What kind of business

does the Double M Mud Company actually run?

I don't think I would be so curious

if I hadn't read something

in another newspaper the other day.

In the AU-AUTHUM ACTION NEWS

(the Salt River Pima/Maricopa

Indian Community paper)

there was an article entitled

"Back in the days..."

The reporter had interviewed

some of the Elders (Senior Citizens) in the community

about what life was like when they were growing up.

I found this paragraph intriguing

"Mud was a delicacy;

when asked about it these women all said

it was 'good'.

Eschief said, 'My mom only liked the new mud.

Not just any old mud,

but the one after the rains

would drench the creeks and then dry up.

This is when it would taste like chocolate'.".

I think the Double M stands for Double Mint

and they are going to start selling

mud "chocolate" bars,

but not just any old mud - foreign New Mexico mud.

Keep your eyes open for them

the next time you go shopping.

I also learned,

while my son was reading the sports section to me,

(don't you hate it when

people read the newspaper to you

when you really just want to read it yourself?)

that I cannot say

"White Water River Rafting"

five times fast.

Heck, I can hardly say it one time slow.

It comes out

"White Water Wiver Wafting" every time.

This son has to make Wiver Wafting comments

every time he sees me now.

Try it. It's fun to say.

The last thing I gleaned from today's newspaper,

once I got the sports section back,

was that perhaps some professional athletes really are

as intellectually deficient as is sometimes said.

When Jose Calderon Manuel,

who plays for the NBA Toronto Raptors,

was asked about the publicity photos taken of

the Olympic basketball Men's

and Women's teams from Spain

in which they all made "slant-eyed gestures"

his comment was

"We felt it was something appropriate

and that it would be interpreted

as an affectionate gesture."

See what I mean.

Not so bright.

I guess it's now very definite

that I will never be a professional athlete.

I've gotten too darn smart

from reading the newspaper.