Wowsa, What a Weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend. Friday night was Family Night at the Reinhardt-Miller household. We made pizzas ranging from your basic pepperoni to my favorite smoked salmon/goat cheese/anchovies/capers/red onion one. Adrian worked the crowd, bestowing smiles as favors to all his aunts, aunties and Tía. We all fawned over him, tickling him to elicit those oh-so-cute belly laughs and playing with him until bath & bedtime. After our boy went to bed, we continued our revelry by playing a few games of Catchphrase. I don’t know why Tanya is so lucky, but she doesn’t know how I guess her clues, either. We’re a great team, TT! Our new folks attending Fam Nite were probably less than impressed with our zeal for Catchphrase, but once you’ve been Tanya, and won a few games in a row you’ll find that it is quite addictive.

I started packing up my apartment on Saturday. I have to be out of my place by Halloween, so it was time to get cracking. Packing is one of my favorite tasks, right up there with cleaning the bathroom, getting a root canal and being abducted by aliens. I’ve put it off for as long as I can. I am happy to be moving, though. Frank is excited to be acquiring a live-in chef with a Netflix account. J I broke it to my father on Sunday that I’m moving. I may be knocking on 40’s door, but it’s still hard to tell my parents that I’m going to be living with my boyfriend. Why is that? As the youngest child I must have an ingrained need for their approval and blessing. Well, they don’t quite approve but they know that at my age I’m an adult and can make my own decisions. They like Frank and know he is a good man, and that is the most important part. On the other hand, they were thrilled that I had sold the Granny furniture. I’d been holding on to a bedroom set that originally belonged to Great Aunt Cissy (obviously of the anglo side of the family) and then to my grandmother. I sold it to someone I work with who was very happy to get a full sized bedframe with headboard & footboard, the matching chest of drawers with nifty wheels on the legs and vanity with little stool. I can only wonder if my great aunt and grandmother will make any visits from the other side to the furniture’s new home. It’s been their inclination over the years to, ahem, check in, so to speak. Pretty damn scary if you aren’t used to it. Caveat emptor!

Saturday night I made a fabulous meal for Frank and Corrie. I’m housesitting, and am taking advantage of the large kitchen and a Big Green Egg, a smoker/griller that is based on the Japanese kamado clay-fired stoves. It is a large, heavy, thick ceramic egg shaped grill and smoker. It is perfection! I grilled a chicken breast for Corrie and a salmon filet for us and the flavor really is a cross between smoked and char-grilled. The asparagus and Portobello mushrooms were equally flavorful. For dessert, I cored and sliced an apple, added a tiny bit of butter and some extra dark brown sugar before wrapping it all up in tin foil and placing it on the cooling Egg. In the house, I’d made toasted ciabatta bread with herbed goat cheese for a starter and baked polenta rounds topped with diced tomato, basil and capers as good carb side for Frank. He had a 10 mile race on Sunday and needed to carb load. Dessert was great, but I’d have killed for some vanilla ice cream to top the apples. Mmmm!

Sunday morning found me at the Pervasive Powercharge bright and early. I learned that following the crowd isn’t always the right thing to do. You know how it is, you’re going to some big event but didn’t look closely at directions. If you’re like me, you’ll think “I’ll just follow everyone else. All of us can’t be wrong.” That line of thinking has now been proved untrue once all the occupants of about 45 cars realized we had parked in the wrong place. Luckily, we had plenty of time before the start and found it amusing instead of stressful. It was turning into a beautiful morning and all was well. Frank and his running partner, Hang, had a terrific run. Hang’s boyfriend, Jason teamed up with me as support staff and we rushed off before the start to make the first of several mad dashes to vantage points around the race route. Our first stop was at the top of a very steep hill on Spicewood Springs. This hill was one that I couldn’t walk up without exertion, much less run but when our runners topped it, they looked cool and were running smoothly. In fact, each time we saw them they were making it look easy. Once again I’ve made a mental note to go by a party supply store for noisemakers instead of bruising my hands clapping for hours. Maybe I’ll be more prepared at the next race.

They finish the race at the same time, according to the results website, but we know that Hang finished 1/10th of a second ahead of Frank. Way to use the girl power, Hang! The official times are listed for Hang, racer number 768 overall and Frank, racer number 769 at 1:35:48. There are a lot of things I can do in an hour and a half, but running 10 miles is not currently one of them. Since they are so competitive I’ll just throw myself into the fray by declaring that while Frank and Hang may always outrun me, I can read faster and retain more of what I’m reading than either of them. Nope, we haven’t tested that, but I’m certain of my skills. At any rate, they showed us once again what powerful athletes they’ve become. Congratulations! No pressure, but I’m expecting you both to run the marathon in less than 4 hours.

Sunday night was my usual burgers-at-the-Can evening. It was super busy, due to the AIDS walk earlier that afternoon. In between customers Margie and I caught up on current events in our lives. I didn’t feel like drinking, despite offers from several regulars to buy me beverages. In fact, by the time 8pm hit, I was more than ready to leave. I did stop by Whole Foods for an avocado gelato and to buy some smoked mozzarella. I know I rave in person to all of you about the avocado gelato, but seriously, you need to try this treat. It is delectable. And no, it does not taste like frozen guacamole. It is a light, luscious flavor and you will become a fan if you only do what I urge and at least ask for a sample when you’re in the store. You won’t be disappointed.

What did you do this weekend?

Back from El Paso

My boyfriend and I went to El Paso for the weekend. It was a very quick trip and like all quickies, we packed a lot into a little bit of time. This trip reinforced my belief that adult El Pasoans do not need sleep. There must be something in the water, a trickle of chemical goodness from the maquiladoras in Juarez that gives them the superhuman strength to survive on 3.4 hours of sleep. I did manage to stay up into the wee hours of Saturday morning, but I unashamedly crashed with the children on the couches in the living room on Saturday night. What can I say? I need my beauty rest.

Saturday was the big family event day, with two neices and a cousin getting baptised. Frank was asked to be Elena's padrino, with his sister Melissa as madrina. (That's godfather & godmother for you non-Spanish speaking Americans). I struggled through the sermon, with Father repeatedly preaching that a man and woman can get married and be a couple, be in a committed relationship but it isn't a family until they have kids. WTH? What if you can't have kids and for some reason are unable to adopt? Then you don't get to be classified as a "family"? Whatever. Anyway, I was glad when he finished the sermon and moved on to the actual baptisms. They were nicely done, with the older kids first and then the baby. The only one who struggled was Gia, the toddler. She is absolutely beautiful and complete demon spawn. This gorgeous kiddo beats up on her older brother and when admonished will simply look at you and smile a beautiful, "yes, I'm misbehaving but aren't I the sweetest" smile. I'm certain the holy water burned her. Desiree, on the other hand, was completely well behaved during her baptism. I had bribed her before the service. I promised if she was the most well behaved child in church I'd give her a dollar. Aside from Elena, who was a perfect baby, Desi earned her money. It went into her piggy bank as soon as we got home. Elena was so sweet during her baptism. She was happy and content in Frank's arms.

The rest of the day was spent celebrating with family. There was a table full of food, everything from brisket to hot dogs and hamburgers, potato salad, macaroni salad, nachos, chips and salsa, frijoles, cake...so much food! The salsa was wonderful. Frank's mom makes the best homemade chile, as they call salsa in El Paso. It was flavorful and so hot that I thought the roof of my mouth was going to blister. I couldn't stop eating it, it was so good. Luckily there was also plenty of iced down cerveza. Yes, I know you're supposed to drink milk to stop the burning from hot peppers, but I chose to ignore that advice and grab a cold beer. Or two. Or four. The entire day was one huge party, with the kids playing in and out of the house, driving us crazy with the number of times we had to yell "close the door!". The dining room table turned into a card game and the rest of us spilled over into the living room and back room, watching movies and talking. You know we had to raise a glass to the Longhorn's victory over OU. Or should I say slaughter?

Sunday was spent a little more quietly, having a late breakfast with the family, yummy chorizo and eggs that Frank's dad made along with refried beans and, of course, chile. Mmmmm! Frank and I visited with his grandparents for a little while, too. His grandfather was teasing me that since I didn't make any menudo on this trip he is expecting me to make it when we come for Christmas. I also was told in no uncertain terms that if I'm going to be a part of this family I need to learn Spanish. Who can say no to Grandpa? The patriarch of the familia cannot be denied! I assured him I'd look into lessons. My Spanish is pretty horrible. I did speak my one sentence that I know well to Grandpa. "Yo hablo Español, pero muy poquito y muy mal." He was happy that I said it in Spanish but will be happier when I can have a conversation without Frank needing to translate for me. We left to make a fast appearance at the church bazaar and say goodbye to the parents, who were working booths there before heading off to the airport. As always, it was hard to say goodbye. We promised that we'd stay longer on our next visit.

I ended up with a serious migraine on Monday, but today it's all good. I'm back at work and attempting to clear off my desk. How was your weekend?

Commenting Gets a Little More Complicated

I love feedback on my blog postings, but I am being forced to add one more step to the process. Now, in addition to either choosing to comment "anonymously" or using the "other" button and filling in a name or nickname, you will have a word verification step. You know the kind, the box with the fuzzy lettered word in a font that looks like it's all stretched out like they used to do to glass Coke bottles in the 70's at state fairs and in San Antonio to commemorate Fiesta. Does anyone remember these? Anyway, back to the topic...so you'll have to type in the word or letters as they appear in order to post your comment. I am very, very tired of clearing out the comments that all say something like "YOUR BLOG IS GOOD, INTERESTING HOW ABOUT CHECKING OUT MINE AT _______" and the link is 9 times out of 10 for penis enlargement but once it was for cheap pharmaceuticals. Since I don't need either, I'm making this easier on myself with the word verification. It's still super easy to post a comment, so please, don't let a little fuzzy stretched out word verification stop you!

Love Is All You Need

Again, a Beatles reference in my posting. No, I'm not old enough to have enjoyed their music at the pinnacle of it's popularity. I'm a younger-than-that Beatles fan. Listening to the compilation album, The Beatles 1 makes me happy. And happy is what I need to be right now.

I've always thought that friends are the family you choose for yourself, the flowers in your life garden...the rich chocolate accompanying a crisp, cold flute of champagne. I know it is true. I can honestly say that without my family and my friends I wouldn't be able to handle life right now. I have had the worst week and a half in the history of my life and my friends and family are holding me up, helping me keep it together and steering me toward happiness.

It sounds so clinical to call my friends and family a "support system". That description always gives me images of Star Trek like flashing circuit boards and plastic shrouded wires leading off to something unseen. I think they are more like a tangible evidence of psychic nourishment...of sunshine and blue skies for my soul.

I will make it through this rough time in my life. I will make it through because I am strong, because my partner is a strong man, and because I have strong, caring, loving people in my world. I wish I could write a love letter to each of you that adequately explains just what you mean to me, but I don't have the words to do justice to how important you are. I will simply say, I love you and thank you, for all that you do, and for all that you don't do when it's time to do nothing but be there.

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

~Henri Nouwen~