tifi

Girlie turned 7. My mom and grandmother visited. It was the first time my grandmother had visited me & my family. Girlie is named (in part) for her mother, my great-grandmother.

I guess it’s really not a great idea to start blogging again when you have have different family members visiting all month. Anyway, here’s what my mom brought with her:

• Kitchen curtains (and they’ve gone back with her) I much prefer my piece of gingham fabric that I have been promising will get sewn up into curtains when I feel the urge.
• Sheets for both younger kids. No, there’s not a sheet shortage around these parts.
• More khaki shorts for ZB. I think we’re at 9 pairs now. All from Grandma.
• New cutlery b/c the amount/style I had wasn’t acceptable.
• I’m pretty sure she snuck some new clothes into their closets while I wasn’t looking.
• A juicer. She actually bought this here. I don’t remember the last time I used a juicer.
• I had almost no plastic in my kitchen, finally! And then…Grandma showed up with melamine plates, bowls, and cups. *sigh*
• A front door mat (also purchased while she was here). I didn’t have one b/c 1)I don’t want a mat that has “welcome” written on it. People might get the wrong idea, namely that I like them and want them to come in and 2)every one I’ve seen so far has been ugly. I miss my gnome.

Things she took back to New York:

• Pretty much everything I had in my bag of donations for the DAV thift shop. “Mama (my grandmother) could give this to someone in St. Lucia!” Ok Mom, take it!
• She might’ve taken some recycling since our bin is full. Seriously.
• Some sneakers I was going to my cousin that ended up not fitting.
• Some Christmas ribbon she bought at a yard sale. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my use Christmas ribbon.

And with that, I’m off to do some weeding! Happy Saturday!

Friday is also pizza making night. When we remember, we have pizza making competitions. Tonight, it’s Team Mommy versus Team Cousin. Guess who is on a team by herself? *sniff* It’s ok…I’ll be alright, hehe. Ok, timer is going off!

My mom is coming to town today! She’s bringing my 15 y/o cousin (whom the kids worship) with her. Do you know what this means?

1. L and I can go see the new HP movie next week! Yay!
2. She is bringing down a suitcase with “stuff” in it. She won’t tell me what. But I have an idea.
3. I’m going to be forced to put up curtains in the boys’ room b/c she just can’t stand a window with no window treatments.
4. ZB will have some more family around for his bday…he turns 9! on Monday. *sniff*
5. Did I already mention the babysitting?

Yay for moms!

I blogged about this once a few years ago: my mom sends these care packages that make no sense to anyone besides the two of us. If a box was stolen and opened, the thief would think…”wtf?”. Take the last box she sent: it contained pants hangers, a shower curtain, and bathmats (among other things). We moved into a new place about 2 weeks ago and my mom came to visit last weekend…

As I’ve said before, I am willing to wait for what I truly want rather than just having random crap. My mom knows this and thinks I’m odd. So, my upstairs bathroom is very basic. Little cheapie shower curtain and bathmats b/c I can’t afford the ones I really want, but haven’t found a good substitute yet. Knowing this, she still went out and bought a curtain and mats…and you know what? I actually like them! A rare occurence since I’m a difficult person to shop for b/c I’m a pita particular.

Anyway, having said all this, I present to you a short list of Things My Mom Has Sent In A Box:

•  Raisins
• Cocoa butter
• Toilet bowl cleaner
• Girlie’s snowsuit from when she was 2 (I asked her to keep it at her house)
• The entire dollar section at Target at any given moment
• Guava Jelly (which is not actually jelly)
• Cough Medicine
• Parenting magazine article
• Magazines from Brooklyn and St. Lucia
• Laundry I accidentally left her place. Washed and folded.

I know she does this b/c I’ve never lived close by as an adult and b/c well, she’s my mom. And good moms give their kids what they need when they can…even if those kids are grown up with families of their own and a pita particular.

I spent the weekend in New York attending my uncle’s funeral. His death wasn’t a surprise, he had been battling cancer for three years, but still, ya know? I have to say, the funeral and all that followed were wonderful in that you could tell he was someone who was well loved.

Music was a big part of my mom (uncle was her brother) and her siblings childhood. They would organize weekly concerts and my uncle was the popular lead singer of one of their bands, Hibiscus, even though he couldn’t sing, hehe. So of course, there was music during the service. His 14 year old daughter sang the first song he ever taught her. And his brothers, my uncles, performing his favorite song as a band with piano, guitar, and vocals. After the service and burial, we all went back to his place for the kind of fete he was famous for. I left around 8, but I heard that folks had to be told to leave in the wee hours, lol.

I also got to see my grandmother this trip. I hadn’t seen her in about six years. She hadn’t met Bebe, and hadn’t seen Girlie since she was a wee babe. My brother and cousins also flew in from around the country and I was glad we were able to provide her with a little distraction and happiness during this rough time.

I don’t have much time to blog these days, so you can usually find me tweeting and once in a while, posting something new on flickr. I may go quiet again here for some undetermined time or take this site in a different direction. In the meantime, I hope you are all well.

We are part of a multi-belief family. I’m an agnostic married to a practicing Buddhist. I have a Catholic mother and a Jewish step-father. So my kids saw a Christmas play, had a menorah at the table every night and talked about Winter Solstice, too during our holiday.

I think this was Christmas Eve. We baked cookies later that night.

Christmas morning, getting ready.

Christmas evening.

My ILs put a bid on a house 40 minutes away today. I am not feeling the happy happy joy joy I hoped I would. In fact, I feel the same way I felt about them when I lived in Texas: It’s best if we live far far away from one another. I’m going to need massive amounts of therapy to manage this. Or, I can plan a move to another country…hmmmm. Anyone have some coping tips?

That’s what I’m going to tell myself over, and over, and over again the next few days. Happy Thanksgiving.

So part of the reason “The Tifi Family Goes East” was to be closer to family, and boy are we ever. We are sharing a place with fam right now and it’s been…an experience…that I never want to have again if I can help it. My no-longer-outlaws (more on that in the future) have retired and will soon be moving near us to spend more time with their grandchildren. You know what that means, right? Loads of free babysitting…woot! Oh, and family bonding, love, togetherness, blah, blah, blah.

Fanmi: a Kweyol word meaning “family”