Wed 28 Jul 2010

Mid-Week Symphony: Who Likes Flowers?

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Cece and Yun both like flowers but there are some who like them  more!

About The Mid-Week  Symphony: Since Wednesday is the middle of the week, we have decided to take a  moment  and have a bit of down time from the writing.  Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life.  When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves  the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books.   Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.

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Tue 27 Jul 2010

Opening Up a Fresh Coconut!

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As you may remember, Cece has trouble  opening certain packaging.  Remember her 4 hour attempt to open the packaging on her new GPS? Here is a summary of the first 2 hours:

“  ……I contemplated calling the bomb squad to blow it open…but I kept telling myself to be a big girl and struggle through it…to take some cleansing breaths….and that this packaging would not get the best of me! I contemplated using my teeth, but my mother told me never to use my teeth as a tool! I tried knives,…both serrated and regular, a screw driver, scissors, a butter knife to try to pry it open and finally after several attempts with a serrated mega shear….I was able to almost sheer it open,…and glory be, I did not cut myself in the process!”

And so, it was with great trepidation, that Cece contemplated opening up her fresh coconut. Did you know that coconut water is a wonderful source of electrolytes? It is the purest liquid second only to water.  It is chock full of calcium, potassium and magnesium and can be used in an emergency to replace IV fluid for hydration.  It can be used to break up kidney stones, can replace blood plasma,  is antibacterial and can kill HIV, herpes, the flu and other forms of bacteria.  It also controls vomiting.  WHEW!  What  a super food!

Believe it or not, there are directions on Cece’s coconut!  It tells her in several different languages to “insert a straw at the indicated place.”  She keeps looking for the X.  She is not sure where that indicated place is!  She imagines it is those dark “eyes” the coconut has!  Then step two tells her how to open it.  It says to “put the coconut in a plastic  bag and throw it on the floor.”    Cece is laughing out loud hysterically…. thinking of her downstairs neighbor  who has trouble enough with her early rising and her flamenco dancing…never mind coconut throwing.

OH Well, it looks like she will have to wield a screwdriver and a hammer.  A very scary prospect on a round object!    OH.  She forgot step 3:  Get the pieces out of the bag and take the pulp off the bounced coconut with the proper tool.”    She will try.

PS.  Yes!  She did try organic coconut water that comes pre-packaged, but it tasted horrible.  Cece will attempt the fresh!

Post Script: Cece was able to open up the coconut without incident!  There was a lot of water in the coc0nut…about 16 ounces….AND it was absolutely delicious!  There was NO comparison between the organic coconut water in a container  and the fresh.  The fresh was sweet and coconutty…..very refreshing! The organic in the container was undrinkable.

This is a good “back to basics”  lesson.  Whole foods are always better…they may  take a little more time, but whole foods are usually better for you and more tasty than processed.

Cece waited until about 9am to put the coconut into a bag.  Then she went  onto her landing outdoors with her hammer to finish up the job!

Post Post Script: Well on Wednesday, Step 3 above got the best of Cece!  What IS the proper tool?  She  just finished applying first aid and a butterfly bandage to her thumb which she sliced across the joint with a serrated knife…you guessed it…cutting the fleshy pulp of the coconut off the hard  nut part.  Coconut with blood on it is not a pretty sight…the white and red….NOT!  She thinks that she will revert to using her teeth as a tool !  Much safer!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

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Mon 26 Jul 2010

“I Have Had More Fun Because I am Given More Responsibility”

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Yun ventured out and took a risk this time: she took her sons camping alone!  Normally, she’d invite a few friends along just to feel safe and have additional helping hands.  But,  it has been a year since they camped, and Yun is a bit braver than normal, and the kids are one year older!

So, they decided to camp alone in the  Jemez, which is only 1.5 hours away.  Upon arriving, the kids were eager to work!   They unloaded the tent and started working on setting it up  as Yun watched on!   The poles were  flying ups and downs, the tent was unruly and disobedient!   Mommy finally stepped in to get the tent and poles into  orderly positions.. Once the tent was finally up, the boys wanted to put the flyer on: “It is going to rain!”  one child announced seriously and he was determined to convince mommy that the flyer is absolutely necessary.  So, Yun watched again as the canopy began to fly all over the place.   It took them 30 minutes to set up the tent- the longest ever in Yun’s memory, but the most fun to say the least!

Gavin decided to make the bed.  He disappeared inside the tent for a long time, finally, there was a shout: “Mommy, come look!”.  Peaking though the ‘window’, there were three ‘beds’, a hanging lamp, three pieces of “personal suitcases” lined up on one side of the “bedroom”…  All Yun could express was a big smile from ear to ear.

When it was  time for the  camp fire, the air of excitement quickened as the pace of gathering wood picked up!   For this task, Yun knows she must be in charge.  So she did.  But the boys got to use  matches to light up pieces of paper and insert them into the places Yun indicated…  Soon enough (even though it took longer), they have their camp fire going.  Patrick started to make a  marshmallow roasting stick by clearing  a couple of the small Aspen branches.  He got to use his Swiss army knife for some real (and supervised) first time use.

When the night finally came to the family’s camp site, the moon was already half way through the sky.  As they turned off the lamp and got ready to sleep, Yun heard a very satisfied voice from Patrick saying, ” I have had the most fun because I have a lot more responsibility.”  Gavin echoed immediately,  “me too.”

Yun was taken aback by what she heard.  She never knew that her kids actually take their responsibilities so very seriously and willingly.  “Fun” has different definitions for an adult and for a child,.  The adult’s mundane or dreadful chore can be a child ultimate fun… Go figure.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

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Sat 24 Jul 2010

Saturday Morning Rendezvous With: Standing in Tadasana at the Post Office

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On Thursday, Cece had to visit the post office twice.  Once in the middle morning and then once after lunch.  Both times there were tremendous waiting lines in order to be served.

Usually Cece likes to figure out what is the best and quickest time to shop or go to the post office so she does not waste time standing in line wasting time.  But as she waited she recalled the talk her yoga teacher gave the class on Wednesday night about standing in tadasana.  He said if you are standing with your body in alignment, it will be easy to stand in one place for long periods of time.

Well standing is easy right?  Well not for Cece.  She usually stands on this foot or weight bears on that foot…she bends one leg and pushes a hip out…twiddles or moves to adjust and re-adjust her standing…tapping this and tapping that.

But on this day, a day full of stress, she was able to find solace  in tadasana…standing….  at the end  of the 17 person line at the post office.  She was not wasting time, she was practicing her standing pose.  Even with a purse on her shoulder and inappropriate shoes on,  she was able to find alignment and watch the body… find the balance point…then the line would inch up and she would start again…starting from the feet, inch by inch working this part, that part, trying to understand where the harmony was….in the body as well as the post office… who unquestionably had cut back their employees to deal with their huge financial deficit.

So, the next time you find yourself in a long line…try to change your perspective and work at just standing comfortably and finding the balance point in the body and see if you can rest there and let go of the stress from the day!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

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Fri 23 Jul 2010

2 Dollars Well Spent? Says Who?

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Yun will never understand why she is often so amused, amazed and mesmerized by her children.  Well, it , might be since she does not see her kids every single day!   She is grateful and appreciative of the time when her children are with her.  Every minute is a new discovery for her children, every moment, there is a tall tale to be heard…

It was a hot summer Friday, the last day of their summer camp.  Yun gave each kid $2 instead $1, so they might purchase more snacks if they wished.  There is soda for 50c, and ice cream for 75c , pizza for $1.50.

As any good and curious mother, when she picked them up at the end of the 6 hour camp, she asked: “Tell me, how did  you spend your $2 today?”   The boys started giggling uncontrollably, and apparently, they had  great fun with the $2.

“Mommy, Gavin spent all his money buying food!”  Patrick chimed in.

“But, you stole a small piece of my peperoni!”  Gavin protested half heatedly.

“So, how did you spend your money, Patrick?”  Yun had to ask again.

“I bought a brisk tea, gave $1 to Western, and 50c to other kids.  Mommy, can we buy some brisk tea?  It is super good!”  Patrick was pouring out what’s on his mind by redirecting his mother away from the question at hand!

“You gave most of your money away?”  Yun was surprised and disappointed (she wished Patrick would not give most of his money away).  “Why did you do this? ”

Yun was curious about the ways  the money was  spent by each kid.  Slowly, more truth came out.   Patrick used 50c to bribe his way from the third in line at the soda machine to the first because he was late for class.  He believed the 50c was very well spent to avoid getting in trouble.  The $1 he gave  to Western?  Because Western lost his $1, and was upset about it.  So, Patrick gave him $1.  Well, that was friendship and the money was well spent, no doubt!

Patrick felt proud about his way of spending the money and giggled again with Gavin as Gavin announced proudly: “I was hungry and I spent the whole $2 on food, and Patrick even shared it..”

Yun was tickled that the boys had been so ingenious in their use of money.  They both got to eat and drink and they  helped  others at the same time.  Now the bribing to get to the front of the line and out of trouble?  Pure problem solving !

It is not always easy to let children make their own decisions.  But, at times, the best a parent can do is to encourage their  independent thinking and choice making  even though we might not feel  100% comfortable with their decisions.  Learning to look at her children’s behavior from their perspective is something she has learned, and it has made parenthood so much more fun for her and for her children…  So, $2 well spent, says who? Depends on who is talking!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

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