ItzaRoos's Xanga

I am le tired!

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:48:51 GMT

Deb has reminded me of the origin of that phrase: I am le tired! Thank you Deb--I mean, 'C'est bon!' (It was a big hit when I tried it, BTW.)

I didn't think it was that funny the first time I saw it (five years ago?), but for some reason, it strikes my funny bone now. (Ah! I just realized why; the You-Tube version is much more...tolerable).

What do you think?

Our French Connection

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:05:45 GMT

I heard Zane use the phrase, "Sacré bleu!" the other day, and cringed, wondering what Adrien thought; I hope he is complimented by our French twist on things. For years, we have taken to saying, "I am Le Tired." Cale heard it somewhere and it's one of those phrases that just stuck. We also "spanish-ify" words by putting an "o" on the end of words and a "el" or "la" in front: "Please pass el bowl-o!" (I'm sure you have those quirky sayings in your families--do share.) I wonder, though, does Adrien appreciate that he has inspired in us a new interest in France, the language, the customs, and the people? Before our short stay there, I had never before wished to go to France. On our trip to Europe four years ago, we stayed only three days in Paris--only then because our flight stopped there anyway. Zane loved France immediately, and started talking about going back as soon as we left. He had wanted to take French in school to meet his foreign language requirement, but we steered him toward Spanish (and possibly the worst teacher in the school system). Now he is complaining that he could have been speaking with Adrien in his own language. I pointed out that Adrien not only speaks English fluently, but he also speaks Spanish very well and has taken Chinese--in addition to his native language--so there is no reason Zane can't take French, too!

We are intrigued by Adrien's accent, his phrases, and his own curiosity about all things American. It's like we are seeing everything "new" again, seeing them from his eyes. I enjoy it when he shares with us how things he observes here are different from what is customary for him at home. Like me, when I am visiting new places, he takes pictures of ordinary things, things we tend not "see" anymore when we are used to them. Whenever Adrien takes a pictures, Todd wonders what he saw and asks, "What picture did you take?" Adrien looks self-conscious, and I assure him it's OK, it's that we wonder what it was that struck his fancy. Over the weekend, we put his memory card in the laptop and scrolled through his pictures so far. Have you ever noticed how things look so much better in pictures? When Zane's friend saw a shot of our guest room, he thought it was a fancy hotel! I almost feel guilty that we are getting more of Adrien bringing France to us than we are showing him our little part of the USA. I am in awe of this young man, traveling so far from home, living with a family he does not know, and yet fitting in so well. Zane, who volunteered us for this adventure, has challenges, too, and opportunity for growth: He has to think about someone other than himself when he wakes up; to make sure Adiren gets breakfast, time on the computer, laundry done, television and simply helping him navigate our rituals. He hasn't done the best job but Adrien's standards aren't as high as mine, either. I have had to admonish Zane for laughing when Adrien words things differently than how we might normally botch up our own language. Funny, if anyone laughed at Zane the way he laughs, he would have a meltdown. But I know Zane isn't intending to make fun of Adrien; in his mind, he is probably laughing "with" Adrien, but if I had been Adrien I would have wanted to take him down a notch or two. I pointed out to Zane that in many instances, Adrien uses "correct" English where we do not. Adrien has assured me that kids in France tease each other as much as do Zane and his friends; they text, listen to music, and as I already know, have messy rooms, too!

Here's a siteseeing report: We went to the cabin over the weekend. On Saturday, we drove to Lake Tahoe and rented kayaks for four hours. Todd and I had a tandem, and each of the boys had their own. We paddled about 3-4 miles, and pulled our boats up to the beach and had lunch on the deck at Sunnyside.

Later, we did a bit of sightseeing: drove to Fanny Bridge to see the only tributary flowing OUT of Lake Tahoe: the start of the Truckee River, which goes all the way to Reno.

Can you see where Fanny Bridge got it's name?

We stopped in at Sqaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games. From Wikipedia: "The Games were awarded to Squaw Valley in 1955, at the 50th IOC Session in Paris, France, to "shock and disbelief" over Innsbruck, Austria, and a four and a half year rush to construct roads, hotels, restaurants, and bridges, as well as the ice arena, the speed skating track, ski lifts, and ski jumping hill began." Adrien noted how similar it seemed to a European village, and Todd confirmed that indeed, that was the inspiration for the design of this resort, and another, Northstar, which we stopped to see. Ritz-Carlton has broken ground to construct a 5-star resort there, and opened a site at the village with a scale model of the finished project--impressive. They treated us to a glass of wine and exquisite hors d'oeuvres (another french word?!). We came home and played tennis for the last hour of daylight, then back to the cabin for a gourmet meal of grilled swordfish (with mango salsa), green beans, and fresh fettucini with olive oil and grated parmesan. Normally, I would have loaded those noodles with veggies, but Adrien likes his food on the plain side. He was worried about us trying too hard to accomodate his preferences; he admitted that even in France, his limited pallete for food is unusual. But he is our guest, and we don't mind; we've enjoyed tasting food we haven't had or had prepared that way in a long time.

We played more tennis Sunday - four hours total! Todd and I got up and played for an hour before the boys woke up. Came back for a quick breakfast, and then we all went to the driving range to practice our golf swings. Todd worked with each of us, and Zane--wow--I wondered when did Zane learn to whack a ball like that?! He was amazing. We went straight to the tennis court for doubles, and then did a little more sightseeing in downtown Truckee. We had a late lunch at home, and played some games, then all decided that we wanted to play tennis again! We went out for two hours this time; the courts normally close at 8 but there was an event that lingered and we played until we could no longer see. None of us were playing our best, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We decided to drive home, and managed to pack the car and close the house in only 30 minutes. We were home before 11:30 pm. I'll tell you what, we like to pack in a lot, don't we?

On Monday evening, I took Adrien and Zane, and a friend of Zane's who had just come home from a trip to Europe, to go shopping. I couldn't wait to show Adrien Costco. I told him it was "ridiculously" huge, and made him laugh at my odd phrasing. But after he saw it, I think he agreed. He was snapping many pictures! We headed over to the nearest mall, quite small by American standards, but I had a good tip that Mervyn's has good prices on clothing and shoes that Europeans like to buy. He bought some Nike shoes, but won't wear them until we have had a chance to see the Nike outlet store, in which case if he finds a better pair, he can return them. I know from my own travels, sometimes I am not sure I should buy something, if I will find something else, and later I end up regretting that I passed up something I really wanted. We stopped for a late dinner at IHOP - not one of my favorite places but an American icon that should be experienced at least once. It is currently celebrating it's 50th year in business, having opened in the LA area in 1958. It became known by the acronym, IHOP, in a marketing campaign in 1973, introduced stuffed French toast (which isn't really French, is it?) in 1993. Last it IHOP acquired Applebee's and with the combined 3300 stores, make up the largest full service restaurant company in the world. (See? Isn't blogging educational?)

I am amazed at all the references I am now finding to France, and French things--and things that are called French (or European) but are not. French toast? French fries? What exactly makes things "euro style?" I asked Adrien about a "euro" lapdesk we saw in the bookstore and a modern-day "euro-style" futon at Costco, but he was as puzzled as I am about the use of the term. Todd noticed that our favorite Grey Goose vodka is in fact a product of France. I had forgotten that my own heritage includes French. My Dad's mother was born in Paris, and her first language was French! She moved as an infant to Quebec, and as a child to the USA, so she lost the ability to speak the language early on. Now I want to learn to speak it; I hope I can convince Zane to take it after all, and we can learn it together. Todd is already planning our next European vacation, which will take us right through Adrien's town in Brittany. We know someon who lives in France!

Recycle

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:10:42 GMT

I got a comment today on a post almost 2 years old. That one is worth a repeat, so I'm recycling, in a way.

Go check it out--

Owen and Mzee

and see the new comment for more details!

...and then go say Hi to my Mommy who had a biopsy done today. She is a great advocate for taking the time to catch things early...but I'll let her tell it, since she does it so much better than I can do. Now we just wait for the results....

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:45:00 GMT

Our time with the French student is flying by. He is such a delightful boy. I am in awe of his courage and sense of adventure, flying across the world to stay with people he does not know. He fits in with us so well. His room looks just like Zane's--like a tornado hit it! He is so open to all our questions, and asks plenty of his own--he is a thoughtful boy. Like a lot of our passionate youth, he questions the way things are in society, in government...frankly, it is embarrassing to explain to him why a country as "great" as ours does not provide health care for all it's citizens. He looks like he could be Zane's brother. I feel as protective of him as if he were my own son, and I fret about trying to show him as much as I can in our short time together. We had a picnic Monday night, which ended at 8 pm, and afterward, I packed the family in the car and we drove around Sacramento to see the capitol, walk around Old Town, on the river...we went through Macy's at the downtown plaza (wow, so many shops are closing, it's sad). He is a t-shirt collector, and fell in love with one. It was on sale for $20. He asked my permission to buy it. How could I say no?

Zane is learning some French phrases. Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir? Hee hee, I don't know French but even I know that phrase - from a popular song (what was it?). Today they are taking the train to meet Todd, who will take them to lunch and a tour of his refinery. Another French student and a friend of Zane's are going, too. A coworker of Todd's speaks fluent French so they will be able to converse more comfortably. After that, we might go to Farmer's Market, but I am debating going into Sacramento to do more sightseeing. Maybe take him to the outlet malls to get jeans and converse shoes (very popular items). And t-shirt hunting.

Happy Bastille Day!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:27:11 GMT

Our French foreign exchange student is delightful. Fortunately for him, his English is very good, because we don't know French. He seems to be enjoying his time here as much as we are enjoying having him. He is polite, has a quick smile, and very open to all our questions. I suspect he isn't as quiet or as soft-spoken in his native language as he seems to be here. He whipped Zane's butt at tennis. We can't wait to go out and play doubles with him. Zane has dibbs on being on his team.

More to come...there just aren't enough hours in the day...

Down and Dirty!

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:42:00 GMT

What goes up must come down....We climbed the highest peak in all the land, and even though I tried to think of a way out WITHOUT riding our bikes all the way down...we did it! It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't easy, and now that we're done, I'd do it again. hahahaha

Go see Queenie and get the dirt on what we did on vacation....

One Week Report

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:48:59 GMT

It's hard to believe we've been here a week. It seems like a month; it seems like days. I wonder how many of you would truly enjoy our style of vacation.

Tuesday, 7/1 - We arrived around 11 pm. Harvey (our Yukon) was packed to the brim!
Wednesday - I worked at "home" (which made a 'bad' day bearable). As soon as I was done, Zane and I headed for the tennis court. Todd was already golfing. I had packed a quick dinner ready to warm up on the grill.
Thursday - Bike ride! Todd, Zane and I went out for a great mountain bike ride. My first on snowflake. No one crashed! We headed for Lake Tahoe after we cleaned up. Had dinner at Garwoods then watched the fireworks at King's Beach.
Friday - Todd and I took a tennis lesson at 8 am, then worked out at the gym. Cale and Robyn arrived in the afternoon. I called Aaron; he's off on Fridays. He hadn't seen the cabin yet. I left him a message and told him to get in the car and head up. He did! I was so surprised to see him about 2 hours later! He wasn't going to spend the night but we all convinced him to stay. Good thing; we gave our four tickets for fireworks over Donner Lake to the "kids" and they didn't get back until after 11 pm.
Saturday - Made breakfast for everyone. Aaron left to go to work. Todd, Cale and Zane went out for a bike ride. Later, Todd and I played in a tennis tournament. We sucked.
Sunday - Todd, Zane and I went out for tennis. It was more fun than the day before. My friend Lauren drove up from Reno. The guys had a tee time for 2:30 pm. It was the first time playing on this course, and they were excited. Lauren treated Robyn and I to lunch on the deck at the Lodge so that we could watch the guys tee off. We headed to downtown Truckee. I found the coolest bead shop. Robyn and I made necklaces. I could have spent all day there. I didn't finish my necklace. Went back Monday. I have about a dozen necklaces in mind that I want to make. The funny thing is, I don't like to wear necklaces!
Monday - Tennis first thing again. Cale and Robyn left as we headed to the courts, and our next guest arrived early afternoon. I took her back to Truckee for more siteseeing. I could barely walk by Monday afternoon.
Tuesday - Another mountain bike ride. You'll hear more about this one...I didn't "crash" but I was the only one with an injury--my feet slipped walking my bike down a steep hill, and I scraped my elbow pretty good.

I am so tired....

Stay-cation

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:12:00 GMT

New word I heard the other day; it refers to taking a vacation at home. In one day--that's us! Does it count that we are going to the cabin? It's kind of a stay-at-home vacation. Our first time spending any time more than a long weekend. Deb was lobbying for a visitor to Hawaii, she she went in May for a week and is still there, caring for her son who is recovering from that bad car accident. I can think of worse places to be stuck, but then again, those circumstances mar even paradise. Speaking of paradise, Mom will be leaving her island later this month and spend most of August on the mainland between my sister Dee's, here, and visiting family in Illinois. Zane and I will join her for about a week. I wasn't planning to bring him but all of my kids complain they don't know my side of the family very well. The ticket was only $300, and he's on summer break anyway, so Zane will get to meet people I myself haven't seen in way too many years.

I want to thank everyone who stopped by with birthday well wishes. I especially loved getting your "life lessons," too! What a splendid list that turned out to be! And another reminder of the benefits of social networking, which is the scientific view of blogging. For me, it's mental health: a way of opening yourself up to people you might not otherwise know, of finding those connections between us all, as vastly different as our experiences, views, and hobbies. I've learned there is almost always some level to connect to another, to develop a bit of healthy tolerance, to shine a light in the dark corners of our minds where we harbor some of our most fugitive beliefs that don't stand up under the scrutiny of honest examination. Anyway. It's time for vacation.

There will be socializing. And much in the way of physical activity: tennis, golf, mountain biking (my bruises haven't even all healed from the last ride!), swimming, working out....nights on the deck, after we bbq, and play games by candlelight. There will be updates. My camera is still full from last time...I hope to post some of those before we hit the road. Check back!

Answer to Life, the Universe, and a Full Deck!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Today is my birthday. (And it's also Kim's birthday, too!) I am 52 today; I don't particularly like admitting it, but with three boys (four if you count Todd) in this family, I have no secrets. I first learned that when Cale was in preschool. Once, when he was about three, I picked him up and his teacher looked at me ant laughed.. She usually filled me in on a couple highlights of the day, but this time, she couldn't talk; tears were rolling down her cheeks. All she could manage to say was, "You have no secrets!"

My friend Deb commented that I now have a "full deck!" (I could have used that yesterday!) Funny how the number "52" is coming up lately. Last weekend, Todd and I got name tags for our tennis tournament. Above each name was a number. I was trying to guess the significance of the numbers. Mine was "42," which is of course a great number, but it did not answer the question. I saw another "42" and wondered if we were going to be partners. But then I saw another, and another, and began to wonder if there were other numbers. Then a woman came up and introduced herself to me, and she was a "52." I pointed out her number and asked if she knew what it meant. She looked surprised; she hadn't noticed the number. "Well I can tell you what it's not," she got louder as she said it, 'It is NOT my age! I would hate to be 52!!" All I can say its it's better than the alternative.

I thought it would be fun to share with you the most important 52 things I've learned after finally acquiring a full deck, most of them in the last six months. Just kidding--don't run off! I've learned to be efficient so I've narrowed it down to the most important to me. Also, one of the most important things I've learned is not to reinvent the wheel! So you may recognize many items on this list. And one last disclaimer: I am the first to admit I have MUCH to learn and so I think it would be really neat if you added one of your own lessons to my list if one comes to mind.

Life Lessons

1. I've learned that it's not what you have in your life, but whom you have in your life that counts.

2. I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.

3. I've learned that no matter how much I care some people just don't care back.

4. I've learned that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

5. I've learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

6. I've learned that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

7. I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel. There is no excuse for bad behavior.

8. I've learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you. How you think determines how you feel; how you feel determines how you act.

9. I've learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

10. I've learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

11. I've learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

12. I've learned that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

13. I've learned that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And, just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

14. I’ve learned that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt, and you will hurt in the process.

15. I've learned that heroes are people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

16. You create whatever you’re focusing on.

17. Never wrestle with a pig because you both get dirty and one of you likes it.

18. Confront your fears. Overcoming them reaps rich rewards.

19. A lesson is repeated until learned.

20. Successful people give more than they receive.

21. Act as if everything you do has an impact; it does

22. Three things you can’t change: the weather, your past, and other people.

23. Taking even a small step toward something you really want is enormously powerful.

24. Happiness is a choice.

25. I’ve learned that you can keep going long after you can’t.

26. Your turn: Please share at least one valuable lesson you’ve learned in your life that is missing from this list. (No pressure! Only if you want to!)

The forecast is....

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:03:37 GMT

Smoke!

All week, we've had severe weather advisories for the smoke. Today is the worst. It's not just hazy looking, it is like fog, except it's burning my eyes and making me cough.

This is bad....

I've been wondering where are these fires and if you click on this map, it will take you to a page where you can find out detail on each icon.

And below are some interesting facts as of June 25: