Why I did not get a pocket dog

Tevez goes for puppy stuff animals of George’s. He also goes
right for the head. The eye sockets and ears seem to be favorites. He leave the
rest of the body unscathed.

I really wanted a little dog for my birthday.  A puppy that would stay a puppy.  Something small and something I could could take care of, would need me, I could control it and it would not have any big complicated problems.  I planted the seed with the kids first.  Georgie was all over it, researching designer purse dogs on the internet.  We decided a Morkie it would be.  A Morkie is half Yorkie and half Maltese and looks like a really cute stuffed animal.

I named the morkie that I didn’t get.  It was going to be Jacquizz which is the awesome first name of Atlanta Falcon player Jacquizz Rodgers.  Everyone thought that was a horrible name so I reconsidered and named him Sidney or Sid if he was in trouble.

Only Georgie was fully on board.  Everyone else (GM and boys) pretty much thought it was the last thing in the world we needed.  GM thought what I really wanted was a baby and that I ultimately would be disappointed in the pocket dog.  He also pointed out we have 2 1oo+ pound German Shepherds and they might eat Sidney.  That was a chance I was willing to take because I really wanted one.

Well my birthday came and went without the arrival of Sidney.  And while I was sorry I didnt wake up to a puppy, I had a really great birthday.  And there is always next year…..

If my pocket dog was a girl I would have called her Sydney.
Photo lifted from http://www.adventuredogblog.com

First Saturday of March

It’s been awfully grey here lately. Grey with wind, sometimes grey with rain, always grey. But we are having a spot of sun. Even in the house you can feel it.

Winter should be wrapping it up soon. This year there has not been much of an effort by winter. Not that I am complaining. I am looking forward to more sun and longer days.

My brother is here visiting with his son. Henry is home from school. The cousins are outside playing touch football with the dogs. I am inside sitting in my sunny living ready to crack open a magazine. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? It is.

Going Back

I just landed from being 12 days in Argentina.  I will post date some posts about being there (and even some older ones.)  And I am going to commit to writing regularly.  Really.  I mean it this time.

We have been back living in the States for about 5 months.  Everyone is good.  I am OK.  I guess since the kids acclimated with little or no fuss, I have had the luxury of thinking about myself. I am happy being back?

I am not sure.  I don’t know how to articulate how I feel.  I don’t know if what is going on is just feeling unsettled or being in transition.  I don’t know if it is me wishing we hadn’t left Argentina or wishing we hadn’t returned here.

But now that we have been back to Argentina, I wouldn’t want to live there again.  Its not the same as being glad we left but its makes me feel more married to the idea that leaving was the right thing to do.  Returning to Argentina was great.  We saw friends in BA and spent time in my favorite place in the world, Patagonia.  So while it was a family vacation it served as closure too.

Our life of living in Argentina is over.  It makes me sad.  Maybe that’s the not so complicated feeling I have been having. Doesn’t seem too complicated to fix.  Need to make a new life and keep happy memories of the old.

Irene is not my friend

We are now Irene +5 and no power. Happy to report no damage.  The kids were suppose to start school Tuesday, but because of a million good reasons;   non travelable roads for the buses, no power at one of the schools, flooding at another and the fact yet another was being used as a shelter with 14 families sleeping there, school was closed today and will be closed for awhile.

Its been OK, It could have been a lot worse. While there has been a lot of damage from the big old trees blowing into houses, everyone in our town somehow stayed safe.  We have had some fun meals with friends around candlelight, the kids have had to entertain themselves with outdoor summer games at night (manhunt) and using candles and flashlights make everything cozier.  But I am ready for some electricity. First, I am bummed by the fact that I will have to throw out half of all the food I had bought last week in order to build a larder of stuff to eat. But I am mostly bummed by the lack of water.   I was not cut out for the pioneer life, I like my showers hot (and plumbed in), would prefer to not to have to flush my toilet with buckets of water, but most of all I want my cup of Nespresso coffee in the morning.  Lets hope we get some juice today.

Home.

We are home.  And I am happy.  So far so good.  There was an earthquake and a hurricane is on tap for the weekend, but nothing that could overshadow the gorgeous weather we found on our return.  That and the fact we are here for awhile.  No need to pack up and head out.  We are staying put, and I am going to enjoy it.

An aside

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A couple of random thoughts about this part of the trip.  I learned that my mothering instincts are intact and maybe I am not as lazy a parent as I thought I was. I was a bit nervous at times … Continue reading →

Too Much

Photo from http://www.tessellationsblog.com/

I have been home for 2 weeks and I already feel like I am spinning out of control.  I am busy with daily life but my time is also rich in friends and travel.  I just don’t have enough hours in the day to enjoy the good stuff.  Its a good kind of problem to have, but one that needs solving.  How do I spread it out, so there are moments to savor and reflect upon?

Motherly Inspiration

Jean Frances McDonald Weir

Although my mom passed away 14 years ago she is still omnipresent in my life.  I see her in my siblings and I see her in my children.  I hope to see her in me.  Especially as a mom.  Its a high bar, believe me.   I don’t think is all gauzy nostalgia.  Its hard to find anything bad to say about my mom. She was Scottish cheap despite my dad wanting to buy her the world and she was a merciless Scrabble and card game competitor. That’s the worst I can say about her.  And if you find this sort of thing objectionable, she was really short.

My mom was sweet.  Sweet but smart.  Patient but determined.  Funny but not sarcastic.  Cuddly, warm and as a bonus a great cook.  An while I might have always known that my dad loved my mom best, I always knew that she had enough for all of us (we were a family of six kids!).  So when I lose it with my kids and I yell or walk away because I don’t want to deal, I often think, God, Mom never did that, she never yelled or ignored us because we were unreasonable.  She was there.  Maybe quietly talking us off the ledge or saying nothing.  No judgment  or encouragement about this behavior.  She just reassured by her presence and made us believe we could be good.  She made us feel loved.

Something to aspire to.

I am so proud

I know in some circles it’s considered politically incorrect to patronize Starbucks. Give me a pass for my uncoolness and chock it up to being a expat who gets to enjoy her lowfat decaf Carmel Machiatto only in airports and when shopping Stateside with Tonje. Well as you can see below, Starbucks opened a location in my corner of Buenos Aires suburbia today and I came first in something. They didn’t comp me my coffee, but I did get a goody bag with a pretty mug and a coupon for my next coffee.

And while the baked goods do cater to Argentine tastes, my Carmel Machiatto tasted just like the first one I fell in love with in San Francisco almost twenty years ago. That’s the magic of Starbucks for me.

My childrens were duly impressed by my achievement today.  Georgie asked if I was going to keep the certificate with my Birth Certificate.  The prospect of a Frappuccino comes in a close second to an embassy family gifting us a box of Mac and Cheese every blue moon.

Funky

And not in a good way.  I havent been able to get back into a routine since returning from Patagonia.  I am functioning, but barely.  I can get the kids to school, I can even get to the gym, but after that, until I have to get the kids from school and to their activities, my nightly stint at being  homework  warden, and making sure they are fed and clean before they go to bed, I do nothing.  I read, I surf, I sleep. I have so much I could be doing.  I have made numerous lists, lists with deadlines, lists with modified deadlines and now I don’t even know where these lists live…..

I am giving myself until Monday to stop this bad behavior. I have the kids solo for the weekend and more.  I am going to try to keep them busy and happy and start the week right with a great weekend.  Alice in Wonderland, bowling baking naughty sweets, and lots of swimming are in the cards.

Wish me luck.

New York

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It was a week so jammed  with friends, food, new places, and beautiful weather I wont even attempt a comprehensive post.  A few observations. I think they may have sandblasted and renovated every building in Manhattan.  Every neighborhood has been … Continue reading →

5 design trends that need to stop..now

When I am not reading political blogs I am reading interior design blogs.  This morning I was looking at one such blog and the post was a house tour of a designer’s home.  Parts of it were gorgeous but my eyes started bleeding at the sight of the “Keep calm” poster.  Its a nice sentiment and I get the historical context but it doesn’t need to be manifested in fashionable colours and nifty frames and used EVERYWHERE. There is one in the waxing room at the salon I go to….  It got me started on thinking about other over used elements that can ruin an otherwise beautiful interior .

Cowhide rugs.  First I must say that we have them in our homes in Argentina, in all shapes and sizes (the most coveted here are baby cows that weren’t born alive, small and so soft and so sad).  Cowhides are used all the time in so many ways here as a result my perspective is a bit different.  While they are practical and can be beautiful when I see them used among french antiques and other uber refined elements they appear a bit precious  and affected to me. I like eclectic but this combo doesn’t work for me.  African animal stripes on pillows and fabrics are also over for me although I want  this purse in my dreams.

Mid Century 24/7.  There are mid century pieces that I love.  I have several reproductions of  the requisite Northern European designers. I inherited a beautiful 1960′s low slung Baker leather sofa from my parents.  And when flea marketing I tend to focus on some of the funky lighting from that era.  What I don’t like is a pure mid century look.  It looks dated, uncomfortable and kind of dead.  There is no energy. Like a vignette in a museum.  Maybe I don’t like it because some of it just ugly to me.  Too much plastic too much veneer etc.  What I do like is to see some of the best of mid century integrated with other pieces of quality.

Painting furniture/painting it turquoise.  I am not a purist about keeping a wood’s original finish.  I have painted furniture on occasion and own lots of Saltena furniture that features a beautiful patina due to layers of paint being added and removed. But a crappy piece of furniture doesn’t always emerged transformed in a good way after a coat of paint, especially turquoise.  This strong aversion to this particular color is due to having a 6 year old who adores turquoise, especially if  it is in the form of  a heart and has tons of sparkles.

Garden Gnome Furniture and other wee things for sitting on First I hate the idea of garden stools as a real piece of furniture.  If you are honest, you will admit that they are not comfortable for sitting or putting your feet on. They are not functional furniture unless you count being a giant drink coaster.  I don’t find them horrible to look at (especially the blue and white Chinese version) so I see their decorative value.  However, they are overexposed.  While I haven’t sighted one in the waxing room at the salon,  I did see them for sale in a rainbow of colors at the local Bolivian-run vegetable stand.

So after having totally dissed toad stools….  one of my most favorite pieces of Argentine design is a mate chair.  Mate deserves its own post but in a nutshell its a tea like substance (with digestive and stimulant proprieties) that you drink out a of gourd and if you are a cowboy or “gaucho” you drink it all day long.  These low to the ground chairs were used by the gauchos to drink their mate.  They are cool looking and comfortable.  The frame is wood, often algarrobo, a beautiful hard word with lots of knots and holes.  The seats are usually made of cow leather.  Sometimes the leather is woven like cane or stretched flat in a sheet.  Either way, it is a comfortable seat.  To make it extra cozy you can add a sheep skin.  They are great around a coffee table and double as a comfortable foot stool.

I do have a pair of trends I have more ambiguous feelings about.

Skirted tables I have see a lot of these lately.  Some are done with box pleats and have a clean look to them.  I am reminded a banquet buffet table and its not a look I am looking to emulate in my home.  I think they have to be extremely well made and maintained to pull off.  Otherwise it will just look like a dumpy banquet buffet table.

White Subway Tiles They may be the most pervasive trend in the design world right now. I think it is safe to say that almost any new kitchen has white subway tiles.  I wonder if the early 2000′s white subway tiles will be the 1970′s avocado green appliances? Will they  date your kitchen?  I guess I am also influence by the fact that there are so many great looking tile options, why pick white rectangles?

Despite all this critical analysis, I do actually believe you should surround yourself with what you love and makes you happy.  If you love sitting on a white subway tile toad stool, writing at your skirted desk, reveling at your Keep Calm wall art, wondering if you should paint your skirted desk or perhaps cover it and your Barcelona in a cowhide, go to it.

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.

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.

I have been thinking…

I have been thinking about really committing to writing.  I have thought making this blog part of the process of writing better.  I have thought about how to make this blog more fun.  I dont know how exactly you would characterise this blog.  Political, cultural, and personal.

I thought about what blogs I enjoy reading.  I  read expat, house, political and mom blogs.  I also read several newspapers and new magazine websites. I am thinking about broadening what I write, perhaps this making it easier to write everyday.  We will see.  It is worth a try.

Just because this will sooth my need to make things whole

Most who know me would describe me as relaxed, laidback, unflappable or in my husband’s opinion, sleep-walking. I am in reality, anal and neurotic about a few things. There needs to be the appearance of order, it doesn’t have to be real, but I want it to look nice and neat and have continuity. Its has been months since I have written and I cant pretend tons of stuff hasn’t happened but I also don’t want to get bogged down in a ponderous blog entry about lots of unrelated events, hence bullet points!

• I am still soaking up the beauty of a democrat being in the White House again, Yeah!!!
• Had a big birthday party for GM and two friends at new house… Was successful in that a lot of booze was consumed, several lambs and suckling pigs eaten and we were up until 7:00 AM. Although, GM I think is right when he says when you stay up that late, nothing really compelling is happening, you are just staying up for the sake of staying up.

Happy Anniversary Crappy Blogger

Its actually been a bit more that a year since I started writing this blog in earnest, and its an effort that leaves something to be desired. I guess I am a bit disappointed that I haven’t written more consistently and more creatively. There were times were I really enjoyed the writing, and was happy about what I wrote. I guess inspired would be the word. But more often, it was part of an exercise of writing everyday in order to flex my writing muscles. But I guess those muscles don’t come naturally to me nor am I motivated to build them. That’s disappointing, to me personally, because that was what this was all about. I am doing this for me.

Living here in Argentina, I spend a fair amount of my free time on the Internet. I am addicted to certain mega blogs that are political. I stream a lot of radio (Stephanie Miller and the Young Turks) and get all my news from reading the NYT, WaPo and LAtimes online. I also read a half a dozen personal blogs. Several are friends and it is a way to stay in touch with the daily lives of friends that live far away. But there are two that I came across on the Global Dashboard at WordPress that I have been reading for the last several months. They are both written by women, both well written, and both express ideas and values so diametrically opposed to me and interestingly enough, each other.

One is written by a women who was a passionate Hillary supporter and is among the minority that came out of the primaries a vehement Obama HATER. While, I would argue with her reasoning and the”facts” she provides to validate her perspective, she does present her opinions effectively. I have made comments contrary to what she has to say and the response is pretty ugly. Let just say she is very passionate about hating Obama and she is a bit of a mama bear about anyone who disagrees. She is entitled. Its her blog.

The other blog is written by a young mom who is writing from Texas where I gather her husband is a farmer. She is a committed Catholic who is focused on the pro-life issue of abortion. I tried to engage her a conversation opening the dialog to the other pro-life issues like poverty, war and the death-penalty. She was having none of it. Each time we conversed, she presented me with more and more obscure theological arguments for why abortion was the biggest evil. She has subsequently moved on to the “socialist” tact, which I find extremely naive and not worthy commenting on. I wonder if her husband receives farm subsidies?

The point of all this, is that these women are committed to their blogs. They write daily, if not more, and are consistent in their voice. They know what they want their blog to be and are doing it. And while I couldn’t disagree with them more, I respect them and if I was honest, am a bit envious of their successful blogs. Something to aspire to I guess, or not.

I am very fortunate that my life is full of happy (if not demanding) children, a spouse who has provided us with this amazing and exciting life through travel and adventure ( and who I do love so much) and friends near and far that make me feel whole. So why am I feeling sorry for myself? Because its a luxury I can afford, but I need to get over myself. OK. Done.

I am Sick

Not because this is disgusting, but because my body has failed me.  I have a head full of snot and a family of bacteria that seems to be traveling right into my Achilles heel, my sinuses.  Wish me luck and a good night’s sleep.

My head is back above water..

I am ashamed to say that my lack of writing has little to do with my very complicated life of multiple children, a retail concern to be managed and grown, and big logistical issues to resolve concerning our living situation here in Argentina. My lack of blog entries has everything to do with my compulsive, obsessive, maniacal, entirely unhealthy myopic focus on the democratic primary elections in the US. Because we have only regular cable television that affords me only CNN international Asia edition (don’t have any idea why), all my information, news and opinion comes from the Internet and the 12 or so blogs/news portals I get 85% of my information from. While I am reading blogs, I am simultaneously streaming progressive talk shows and on occasion, a Yankees game. If I am just listening to the radio, I play spider solitaire.

Highlight of Summer Vacation – Haircuts

Its been a month now..sad to say in two weeks I will be returning to Buenos Aires with two of the kids that want to go back and start school with their friends. Funny, that is not one of my childhood memories, wanting to cut vacation short and go back to school.Its been great. We have had a lot of guests, great weather and the kids are happy here. I have been doing a lot of cooking for the family. Kids suck to cook for. All my kids eat, but they eat entirely different things. So I am basically a short order cook. Its not very fun or satisfying being a short order cook. However, I do like cooking for grownups. They tend to be less picky, have better table manners and are always gracious with the chef..with kids I am a cook and with the adults I am a chef.