Gratuitiousness

First, a cute picture of Georgie.  Snuggly in her ski sweater and Grateful Dead ski headband.  I don’t think she realizes the  teddy bears are rainbowy and dancing because they are hallucinating.  She doesn’t need to know that.

This morning we had Michael Jackson 101.  We watched all his greatest hit videos and some old Jackson 5 on youtube.  They were fascinated by his dancing.  They didn’t seem to be aware of the disturbing physical transformation that took place over the years.  They just loved the dancing and were trying to moonwalk and lock  in the hallway where we have marble floors.  It was hysterical.  Then we found these flashmob videos. (social networking media at work again)  They are beautiful.  There was a huge one in London, but I like this SF one because you can see the people dancing.   This is such the right way to pay tribute to the life of a singer and dancer.   For anyone for that matter.  When I die I want a spontaneous dancing party too.

Georgie in her no shit wisdom asked “if he is dead why are they having fun?”   Natural segue-way to life lesson..Its OK to be sad when someone dies, its OK to celebrate their life too.  Everyone deals with death differently but if you are lucky at some point there is acceptance and a smile.  A smile for the blessing of that person’s life and love in your own life.

Mi Casa

This is going to be a  more than usual self-indulgent post.  While my posts are generally personal,  I hope that sometimes, they are observations or stories that touch on something relevant to the reader.   This post might not.  Its about me and my house project.  Now that we have closed the store, and Barbara has left, I have all sorts of time on my hands.  So I have been spurned on by some very organized and design oriented life style blogs.  One of my favorites is Chez Larsson.  Very simple clean and efficient aesthetic.  I also like her very practical ideas for organizing all the stuff in your life.

So I am ready to get my house in shape.  Fortunately, I don’t have to do tons to the house to live comfortably.  But I do want to make it our home.  So that means painting, some decorating, and throwing out a lot of crap, and organizing what is left.  We live in a 1922 Spanish Colonial Revival.  The house has 18 inch walls, terracotta tiled roof and lots of original iron work.  It has great bones.  Lucky for me.  I get to do the fun stuff.

Here are some photos of my first organizing project.  A coatroom.  I don’t have a before. Original to the space is the large Brazilian armoire, and the stainless steel hat rack/coat hook apparatus.(see last photo)  I hated it when we first moved in and wanted to replace with floor to ceiling built in coat closets with shelf storage above and below.  But the hooks work so well for the kids.  They are able to have three or four coats available, see them, and the best part, they can hang them up all by themselves.  Yeah!

I had the shoe bench made that runs the length of the left wall.  There are four dividers so it doesn’t become a shoe fest and evolve into a unmanageable pile of shoes.  On the right side I had two shelving units made.  One is a cubby box, so that each kid has a place for their backpack, swim bag and shoe bag (for futbol).  The other is a two shelf unit where we store smaller sports equipment in metal boxes (without the tops).

There is a box for balls, baseball gloves, and futbol shin guards and gloves.  There is a metal basket for knit caps that rarely get worn, a picnic blanket and etc…  In the big armoire there are tennis rackets, baseball  bats and misc other stuff. It does a pretty good job of keeping it all contained.  Of course the challenge is getting the kids (and GM, who is the worst!) to put their backpacks away, shoes under the bench and coats hung.  I say we do well 75% of the time.

There are a few things I would like to do to finish off the space.  It will be painted soon, a sort of adobe red, or pepper color.(SW 7589 Habanero Red)  I would like to hang three pendant lights like these in this long narrow space (its 12 feet long) and I am going to try to do a project I saw somewhere with colorful striped 2×3 rag rugs.  You you darn several of them together with a fun colored yarn to make a runner, cheap.  So there is my little story of domestic activity for today.  I know it might not look like much (the photos dont help) but I am pleased with it.

My head is pounding

I am the mother of four and I have slogged through many a Disney extravaganza.  Be it a princess or digitally animated  movie, I have seen them all at least twice thanks to video.  These days we have graduated to HSM1,2,3 and Teen Band flicks for Georgi and non-stop action flicks that are more like a video games than cinema for the boys.

The kids are home for their winter break.  Most of their friends go back to their home country for the holiday so things are pretty quiet in the burbs of BA these days.  Took the boys with friends to the mall for a Hoyts Cine viewing of Transformers.  I have always said the movie theater is “too dark to read  and too loud to sleep”.  I gave them both a shot at this total waste of space.  What a horrible movie.  I like an action movie as much as any girl can, for instance, I liked the movie “the Rock” with Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery.  It was entertaining and funny and exciting to watch.  This move was the opposite of that, it was stupid and I don’t know why they bothered with actors (I know why there is the hot chick) but its all about the ginormous robots fighting and I had no clue who was the the good robot and who was the bad robot.  The story was non existent.  And it was REALLY loud.  So I put on my Ipod earphones and some space music loud enough to drown out the Armageddon that was taking place on the screen.  I brought a book and started reading it using the backlight from the Ipod.  I got a few pages read but found all the action happening in front of my eyes too intense for me to ignore.  So I closed my eyes and tried to forget where I was.  I can’t say I slept, but I definitively didn’t watch the movie. Unfortunately, it was a two and a half hour long movie.

So I have a killer headache atributable to the sucky movie, the 5 boys I was in charge of,  and the kilo bag of peanut M&M’s I ate.  OK, that’s hyperbole, it wasnt that big.

It looks like Michael Jackson is dead

Its a big news day..postmortem on Sanford presser, Farrah Fawcett dies:(, political movement to comprise in Iran and  just now Michael Jackson could be dead.  AND a Yankee/Atlanta Braves game at 8:05..Jeeezzzz, its a busy night.

I am sitting next to my nine year old watching CNN/FOX/BBC coverage while explaining to him who Micheal Jackson is.  Owen only knows him as a surgically altered man who is kind of “freaky” looking.  CNN just showed some footage from the Jackson 5.  He was ten years old and he could sing and dance and totally take up all the space in a room.  The irony was that  he was such a gentle soul, shy and so fragile.  I would like to think he dealt with the fame the best he could and while in our eyes he was kind of “freaky”  he eked out some happiness in his short life.  I know he had some legal “problems” and I don’t know the truth, so I am not going to judge.  I want to remember him like this:

I just met a girl named Maria

I don’t know why this story cracks me up so much.  I am sure it is not so funny to his wife and four beautiful boys.  I am not feeling so bad for Governor Mark Sanford though.  What a monster of a hypocrite he has turned out to be.   He was a vocal part of the lynch mob that was demanding Clinton to resign during the Lewinsky blow job.  He is also part of the political party that for the last 30 years has been trying to impose their “family values” on me and my friends.  The GOP demise is a gift that keeps on giving.  I am just waiting for Rove to get his.

These personal emails between him and his “exotic” Argentine honey, that are making the rounds, were even too much for me to read.   Its a little too voyeuristic and Reality TV Show for me.

Daddy’s Day Brunch

This year’s Father’s Day started last night when Callum, Owen and I made a Cinnabon facsimile to be eaten this morning  for brunch.  We made the linked recipes up to the point of slicing the rolls and putting them in the pan for baking .  We put the pan in the refrigerator overnight and then put the pan in a cold oven and then turn the oven on for cooking time plus 5 minutes.  Also we made an improvised cream cheese icing that is imperative if you are aspiring to the Food Court version of this sugared and fat laden treat.  They were a hit with everyone.  We served them with fresh fruit, yogurt and fresh squeezed (in a carton) OJ.  GM received a beautiful card from Georgie, a book about the Mob in Greenwich Village in the 1960’s from Cal, a sports autobiography by Bill Russell from Owen and a DVD documentary about Joe Strummer from Henry.  Its been a lazy day, kind of chilly and cool so much of the day has been spent in front of the TV watching sports.

Just out of the oven, the smell was unworldly

Georgie is always styling...food or fashion, like the chandelier crystal turned necklace?

Dad, looking concerned about having 4 kids..too late for that!

Next up, Father’s Day Dinner, Rack of Lamb, Wild Rice, and Green Beans.  I better get on it…

Feliz Dia Papa

Unfortunately, my dad is gone, but not forgotten.

I have great memories of a really good, solid, loving, eccentric, funny, demanding and adventursome father.  If he hadn’t settled down, fell in love with my Mom and had 6 kids..he would have been a freight train hopper or furniture maker or gold-miner or oil painter or writer, all things that he dabbled in before kids.  But, no he became a successful businessman affording his family security, great vacations and an early retirement so he could enjoy his wife, kids and grand kids.  He had a great life but it was a little too short for me.  Some day when I get a scanner I will post a picture of him.  He was a nice looking man, with a twinkle in his eye.

You know how they say a woman marries her dad, for me its true.  My husband is a very similar kind of dad. There is a lot of hands on playing and sports, lots of silliness and appreciation of twisted humor, high expectations regarding behavior and school work and also a desire to expose the kids to unique experiences.  Sometimes it bothers me that the kids don’t get how good they have it with their dad, and have a dad that is around, a lot. (unlike my dad, who traveled tons) But most of the time, it just makes me happy that my kids have such a great dad.

To all the dads and men who have special children in their lives…Happy Day!

Twitter is good for sumpin’

I don’t use Twitter, I barely use my Facebook, and I just don’t have enough time to add another thing in my life taking up space and making me feel guilty due to neglect.  Plus I don’t have a fancy PDA, Blackberry or IPhone..while they do exist in Argentina, I certainly don’t need one here where there isn’t any urgency for anything.

But I do see the value in Twitter on a more global nature.  As it has been reported, Twitter has been instrumental in organizing the protests in Iran as well as being the source of what little information and news that is able to leave Iran.  Yeah for technology helping the march to global democracy.

The other thing that Twitter acheived is accelerating  the demise of the Republican Party.  Who thought it was a good idea for a bunch of middle aged white men to spout off text messages whining about the President’s work ethic for the whole world to see?  It makes me believe that they didn’t even understand what it was they were dealing with.  The best though was GOP legislators making the analogy between the plight of the Iranian Protests and the GOP Minority.   This is hysterical. It did take long for someone to take this infinite well of hilarity and dedicate a blog to it here.

You take the good with the bad

I am exhausted.  I haven’t slept well in the last week.  Its has been a week full of late dinners, afternoons full of children’s parties and on Sunday it all culminated in one last asado.  It  was a last supper of sorts, I know that may be hyperbole and offensive to some, but it was more sad and final than celebratory.  Why so glum?  A dear friend has left Argentina.  I am tired and sad because finally after lots of parties and dinners, I said my final goodbye.

Will I see her and her family(my family now) again?  Yes, I will.  Probably in September and in November for sure.  This of course makes her leaving tolerable.  But it is not the same.  This is a person who I saw everyday.  This is a person who I shared my children with, we visited our respective homes outside of Argentina, we exercised together, we drank (a lot) of coffee together, we dieted together, we shopped, traveled and cooked together.  She has a husband that my husband more than tolerates, they are friends, good friends.  Our children are like family, they fight, they play and sometimes they just are..in the same room, doing nothing.  You get the picture.  My life here will never be the same.

But this is the life GM and chose.  I remind myself that if it wasnt for the nature of the expat life, I would never have met her and I am grateful that we have the means to be present in each others life going foward.  Its all good except the part were I take it for granted that after a punishing workout together with Juan, we can sit at a bistro table on the sidewalk, have a badly executed (all around) cafe con leche (for me) and a cortado (for her), talk about nothing and have a good laugh over it.

Argentina has a Fabulous Flag

Today we are celebrating “Flag Day” or “Dia de la Bandera” in Argentina.  The actual day is really the 20th of June, but in the last year or so, the Argentines have gotten hip to the idea of  celebrating federal holidays during the work week, specifically Monday.  Today Argentines  are celebrating their beautiful and unique flag with barbecues (asados), trips to the mall with the entire family and big nap in the afternoon.

I think Argentina may have one of the most beautiful flags around.  Its different in its color scheme, no provocative and warring red white and blue here.  Its a calming celeste , yellow and white.  Its a happy peaceful flag, no weapons or crest with fighting animals, just a brilliant sun with a lot on his mind.  Another bonus to this pretty flag are the awesome national sports uniforms that this flag affords.

Messi, Crespo and unidentifed cutie

National Rugby Team

National Hockey hottie

However there is a price to paid for the undeniable loveliness of the Argentine Flag.  This flag has its own song..its really a sad and melancholy song that is played everyday at school when the flag is raised on the playground.  This happens at the beginning of school when the kids have all just arrived at class.  You know you are late for school if the song is playing on the PA when you enter the school building.  While the song is playing, everyone (that means YOU) stops what they are doing and freezes.  No moving or talking.  Its like playing the game “statue”.  The song is not long but is really depressing.  In the 5 1/2 years we have been here, the school has had 3 versions.  I personally like best the instrumental version, you are spared the suicidal voices.

UPDATED: The Argentine Mullet

I wrote this post years ago (literally). Its is my most viewed post and just yesterday it got over 40 hits, weird…So I thought I would take a look at it again and I was sorry to see that the link to some great mullet photos was no longer active.  I found a new one that is hysterical here.  I am happy to report that the mullet is on the wane here, unfortunately it has been replaced by the equally unattractive thick heavy bangs with long hair.  Especially not pretty when sported by a 60+ year old, with leather skin, surgically modified features and a cigarette.  Muy elegante y classy!

Not your typical Argentine beauty

the Oprah/Pam Anderson Of Argentina

Original Post from 2004

I am a forty- something year old woman of average build. While in the recent past I have been much smaller and bigger (four kids), now I feel like I am at a good weight for me and while keeping toned is a constant battle, I am pretty happy with my body.

Or was happy, until I moved to Argentina. It didn’t take more than a few days for it to become apparent to me that I was living in a country of women who are genetically predisposed to long thin legs, tight and high butts and concave stomachs. Apparently eating disorders run rampant here, but that cant explain away the fact that the standard deviation of body types is pretty narrow, literally. Woman generally look great in clothes, lots of low slung pants, little t-shirts and almost always a FM heel. This is a Latin country and the pressure on a woman to appear young and sexy is palpable. Between this genetic gift, an active lifestyle, high protein diet and plastic surgery that your medical insurance covers, women manage to hold it together pretty well. It can be frightening though, when at the gym I see women from the back, tanned, skin tight workout clothes and the long blond ponytail but when you get a frontal shot it is a 60-70ish women that has spent A LOT of time tanning. Not a good look, a haircut and a hat would do wonders.

Speaking of long blond ponytails…..Almost all woman here have long hair. I think that is a very Latin thing. Lots of girls have really beautiful thick dark hair. There are also quiet a few that have very thick and fried orange hair and hair extensions are big here. In theory hair extensions would be a great thing. I might even consider them for fun if I wasn’t constantly finding chunks of hair randomly on the ground but most often on the floor of the gym and sometimes stuck to gym equipment, thanks to sweat. It’s truly FOUL!!!!!

While not having the gag factor of hair extensions an equally disturbing hair trend here is the mullet. A mullet is normally reserved for middle-north American (Canada is equally adept at the mullet), blue collar dudes. However the Argentine girls have embraced the look and are calling it their own. For those who have no idea what a mullet is I just don’t think I have the vocabulary or language skills to properly describe it here. Therefore, I am going to suggest a visit to http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9195/mullets.html.

My point is that its really unfortunate that these beautiful girls who derive such societal power from their looks would set themselves back at least the 5 or 6 months it will take to grow out all evidence of this heinous hairdo.