Memoirs of a Kitchen Lady Over and Out

I Love playing games with the kids while I am serving them their lunch, I will always be in awe of how much conversation we have in the under a minute they are in the line...

1st grader boy making a phone with his hand, thumb to his ear, pinky to his mouth..."Tawni, What's for Lunch Tawni? Over"

Troy (alias Tawni also making a hand phone) "We have Chili, Chicken Nuggets, Pizza...Etc... Over"

Boy "Tawni, I will take the Nuggets Over and Out"

Troy/Tawni " Over and out you have a great day"

Little girl next to him..."You guys are talking funny"

Troy "I know, we play a game like we are talking like Army men". Then I ask the boy "We are being army men right?"

Boy (Matter of Factly answers...)"No, We are Secret Agents"

Silly me... Confusing Army Men with Secret Agents

Funny thing happened...

I am always on the lookout for a good cheapie movie theater and have been known to drive 40plus miles to Temecula to save $4.00 I justify it by saying my car is good on gas.

Imagine my excitement when I heard of a discount movie house just 20 miles away in nearby Chino (I am being sarcastic). I decided to surprise Eric with a "date" to celebrate his spring break so we made the trek to the movies.

When we were driving home we hit a detour (we were LOST) that took us through the back streets of Pomona into the old downtown area of the city. It is kind of cool cause new life is being put into the stores and it is rebuilding as an "Artsy" district, just what Eric loves. We came to a stop and Eric said "hey Mom a NOTW store! let's go in" Our family are giant fans of that brand of Christian themed clothing so of course since were on a "date" and enjoying ourselves I pulled right over.

We entered and found the store to be a brand new soon to be one stop Christian bookstore, music store, coffee shop, art gallery, teen hang out, etc kind of place. We had a really fun time exploring the place and chatting with the clerks. Eric chose a limited edition shirt by a local artist and we were on our way... So we thought.

Since the store was so brand new, ours was the first ATM purchase and after several minutes of trying and failing to get the ATM machine to work, we reluctantly had to leave without the shirt cause of course Momma don't do cash and I had no other way to pay for the shirt.

On the way home Eric said "man, I loved that shirt, I wish they had just given it to me." Yeah, in a perfect world but this was downtown Pomona honey, not Mayberry. Anyways, he was excited at the thought of going back some day.

Sometime later we received a call from the shop,(we had put our names on a mailing list) apparently our charge did indeed go through and the problem was the register tape was not loaded correctly. The guy Mike from the store offered to bring the shirt to our house, all the way to Fontana cause he felt so bad, I just told him to put it in the mail and gave him our address and thought the matter closed.

11:00pm our doorbell rang, Steve and I were watching a movie so we were up. We nervously answered the door and there was Mike from the store with the shirt. He made his delivery, a little unorthodox to say the least, but the service was appreciated and Eric got his shirt. Or should I say our kitty Teddy got his shirt.

I love when God gives you little gifts, he is awesome.

Little Cuts

This morning I woke up and noticed I a little cut on my thumb, no big deal... I soon discovered another small cut on my thumb and TWO more cuts on my hand. I had FOUR CUTS!!! WAHHHHH!!!

I had no idea how I got the cuts and I totally feel like a baby for even mentioning them (or blogging about them) but everything I did today aggravated them and I kept noticing and getting annoyed by them throughout my day.

I know, I know... Get over it!

It kind of made me a little more sympathetic to my son who still comes to me with complaints of small "Owies" and lord knows he is plenty big enough to put on his own band aids, but when you get a cut you just want a little sympathy.

I flash-backed (Troy word) to when I was about 7 or 8 where cuts and scrapes were a daily event and I wondered (I actually wondered this) " I wonder if there is a person in the world who does not have a cut?" I checked my entire family and they all had cuts, so at the time, the thought of a cutless (another Troy word) seemed impossible. We went to visit our San Jose relatives and I don't know how the subject came up but I discovered that my Aunt Bertha was that amazing person in the world I never thought would be possible She didn't have any cuts!!! I was in complete awe of her and stuck to her like glue the rest of our visit.

I still think of her as an amazing wonder woman, now for other reasons but a little bit of me marvels that she was once "the woman with no cuts"

Cuts are a big deal no matter how small, they deserve our kisses and moo moo mooing over.

Of course a Hello Kitty band aid sure helps, but I am fresh out.

Heaven Scent

John 12:3 "Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure Nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."

I recently lost a lot of my cherished mementos and as I was sweeping up the broken curios I noticed a strong but beautiful aroma and I knew exactly what it was and my heart sank. I looked down and there shattered was the beautiful perfume bottle my brother and sister in law brought me from Egypt. It was pure perfume, a real treasure, when you smelled it you could tell the difference, this perfume was more of an experience,it took me to a far off land where perfume making was an art form and one of this super girlie girls favorite things.

I was reminded of the story of Mary breaking the alabaster box of pure and expensive perfume over Jesus' feet and how the aroma filled the room.

When I opened the cabinet doors today the scent was still very strong because the perfume has absorbed into the wood and I remembered how my mom used to put Maja soap in her drawers so her things would smell nice and I decided to be blessed with the breaking of this treasure, I decided to be grateful that Sterling and Cyndi thought enough of me to buy me such a beautiful gift and if Jesus were here I would have gladly broken the bottle of my most expensive perfume over his feet because I love him so. Now I hope the scent will never go away because it will remind me of how...

I am loved.

Surprisingly Calm...

We are in the final stages of our kitchen make over so I decided to shake things up and do some furniture moving, or should I say have Steve help me move furniture.

First off, lets move my extremely delicate antique wedding present china cabinet to the corner, Sounds simple enough, it is only going over three feet. I know it is on its last leg and very wobbly but I knew moving it could be done carefully...

One thing I did not even consider was emptying the cabinet of all of our family treasures before moving it...Lesson Learned...

I now know what the shattered pieces of my treasures look like... Gone is the Lladro I got for my 30th birthday, my only two precious moments figurines which marked my wedding and 5th anniversary, a milkglass vase and bowl, an entire German vintage tea set and various other treasures including the Lennox Dove Dish that was one of my favorite wedding gifts, my first one broke and my sister Penny surprised me with a replacement she found on Ebay, seriously,seconds after I displayed that one it was broken and my dear Penny replaced it again...Do I want another? Of course...

All I could think was that it was MY idea to move the cabinet that's all there is to it and all I could hear was my Mother's voice saying "They are only things" My Grandma used to always tell her "Never get too attached to Things"

But, I am grateful... Saved were the Teapot I made in 7th grade, the Rosenthal China teapot (lost one cup) that my mother in law gave me the Christmas before she died, and the family heirloom Rosenthal China service. I KNOW my sister in law Karin would have visited from her grave in a nightmare that would rival Elm Street if that had been broken too...

Surprisingly, I am calm, I didn't shed a tear while I swept up the beautiful china shards, Steve and Eric were very sympathetic and ultra gingerly moved my other china cabinet without the movement of a single item...

Thank God I really like the new furniture arrangement, I can't imagine what the guys would have said if I didn't like it...

Alas...Tomorrow is a new day...

Layers of Love

Steve and I have lived in our little house for 25 years this August and although I love my sunny yellow kitchen and my birdhouse border... It is time for a change.


So I began stripping and found the layers of borders of the past. First I found the most recent layer, blue and yellow birdhouses that I loved because there was a birdhouse church. Next was the pretty pink and yellow rose border that prompted the original yellow sponge painted walls. Next was a blue flower and bird house border and when the wall was finally stripped I smiled when I saw the blue stripe from my original Geese kitchen which was so popular in the 80's.


The final product was a nice gold and wine paint job with a new border that I love and should hold up another 10 or so years.



Goose kitchen... Ha!!!

Memoirs of a Kitchen lady...Just last week...

-Just last week you called a really long game of Bingo at our Schools Family Fun Nite, it was a fun night.

-Just last week I watched you listen intently as one of the kids explained to you all about Zombies, I have always marveled at how you truly listen to the kids you teach, no wonder why they beg you to sit next to them every day at lunch.

-Just last week we began our ritual of counting down the days til vacation and doing our "Vacation dance".

-Just last week you shared my joy over my son's good grades.

-Just last week we talked about our upcoming vacation plans and how we need to go on the gambling bus with our husbands.

-Just Thursday you told me your grand daughter was starting to wave.

And Friday you were gone...

I served the babies their lunch with a stiff upper lip and a smile but I had to turn my back and cry when I heard them ask for you.

I have learned so much from you my dear friend June, Patience, Love, Friendship,Humor, Devotion, Dedication, but this week you taught me the greatest lesson of all...

CHERISH EVERY DAY

Love you June and I will always miss you.

Your friend, Troy

I have guilt

It is crazy how time flies...

Dear Blog, it has been three months since my last posting, I know you are a forgiving blog and we can pick up where we left off with no hard feelings...
But still... I have guilt.

So I will begin again... Simply

Ten on Tuesday

Thankfulness edition... Letter "A"

In no particular order...

1. Animals- Ours is an animal loving family in addition to our numerous cats and dog, our dream animals would be a Koala and Panda bear and of course our own Dolphin swimming in the pool, but the frosted Mother cookie variety is wonderful as well...

2.Avocados- I was raised on them, I have picked hundreds with Dads long handled basket thingey and almost received a bonk or two from the falling "Avocado bombs". Used to have them all around me now I have to pay $1.00 each.

3. Affection- Something I have lots of and get lots of, I am blessed.

4. Aromas- Love the great ones like my wonderful Yankee Candles or my sisters cooking. Hate the bad ones like those resulting from man VS bathroom.

5.Acupuncture- Just kidding

6. Air Planes- All varieties from Paper to real, my favorite is the Air Force One at the Ronald Regan Museum because it is vintage state of the art complete with Fax machine. Go see it if you get a chance

7. Al Dente'- Perfect for Pasta and an excellent description of me, not quite done...

8. Aerosol Spray Cans- Love that fine mist... Sorry Mr. Ozone Layer.

9. Amazing Race- My Favorite show, I wonder if they get to spend enough time to take some pictures of their adventures... I also now love another "A" show American Idol but only because I now have a DVR.

And 10!!!

10. Agape- The Amazing, Awesome, All consuming, never ending love I have for my dear Lord.
Abba Father...

Have a great week!