Words That Don't Mean What I Thought

Chicanery. I thought this meant something good, like “I’ve got your back” or rapport but it does not.

cheating or deception: deception or trickery, especially by the clever manipulation of language deception by artful subterfuge or sophistry : trickery 

Hmmm…. I would say that my kids know the art of chicanery. Of course, mom knows when her kiddos are trying to pull the wool over her eyes so hopefully they will move on to more endearing things like integrity and veracity.

Sophistry.  I had never seen this word before today (when looking up “chicanery” but it looks pretty and immediately I thought “sophisticated artistry” but “crafty” (and not like Martha Stewart) is more like it:

flawed method of argumentation: a method of argumentation that seems clever but is actually flawed or dishonest 

Again, my children think they are being clever with their sophistry but really they are being sophomoric...

Do you know any words that sound positive or pretty (or negative and ugly) but mean something very different?

*This post not brought to you by Lumosity. 

Chim Chimney, Chim Chimney, Chim-Chim-i-Chur-ri

I made this Chimichurri Chicken tonight for my family (picnic in the living room movie night) and it was a big hit. I served it with with a side of Casserole Refried Beans (straight out of the can topped with more chimichurri sauce) and leftover farro fried in olive oil with garlic and jalapeno. So yummy!

Certaines Choses En Francais **

Ma liste d'épicerie (My grocery list)

beurre (butter)

pain (bread)

chou frisé (kale)

crème

lait (milk)

origan (oregano)

levure alimentaire (nutritional yeast)

noilles (noodles)

bière (beer)

cerises (cherries)

citrons (lemons)

avocat (avocado)

ail (garlic)
pois chiches (chick peas)
tomates (tomatoes)

oignons (onions)

de jus d'orange (OJ)

sel de mer (sea salt)

gousses de vanilla (vanilla beans)

vodka

sirop de chocolat (chocolate syrup)

salsa

croustilles tortilla (tortilla chips)

radis (radishes)

germes de soja (bean sprouts)

chou (cabbage)

coriander (cilantro)

bouillon de poulet (chicken broth)
huile d'olive (olive oil)
l'huile de noix de coco (coconut oil)

serviettes en papier (paper towels)
papier de toilette (toilet paper)
savon pour les mains (hand soap)
lotion pour le corps (body lotion)
deodorant
la gomme à mâcher (chewing gum)

 ** Google English-French translator 

Change of Scenery

We walked the neighborhood the other day to try to catch a yard sale 3 blocks over and I was amazed at how much things have changed over the last few years. Many of the changes have been sad ones with friends dying or moving away.  One neighbor has been here her whole life.

When this owner was a little girl, she saw my house being built in 1952. 

Easy Like - Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine

Sunday was a little better in that we were in our own beds. We made it to church and then back to the high school for another basketball game.



Was kinda cool to be cruisin' the hall of my old high school. Cooler than back then anyway...

Don't Ask

Si Doux*

* So Sweet (en francais). 

I took 10 hours of French in college but  I don’t use it much on a daily basis. Surprise! One of my Living List items is to read a favorite book en francais (also in tagalog) but yesterday I thought of a wonderful way to incorporate French into my life now leading up to a book -  make up my grocery lists and to-do lists in French! I already mix in a lot of French words in text messages and e-mails so it wouldn’t be a big stretch and it will exercise a part of my brain that probably needs it. I bought some cerises (cherries) off my list last night and “si doux” was right there on the package helping me to incorporate more French into my life.

So anyway, Friday we trucked it up to Tahlequah to visit Scott’s grandmother for a few hours before heading to see Emi get baptized at church camp. Visiting camp was a fun experience….also stinky….and loud. I mean those things in the nicest way possible. We showed up early so we could go through the chow line and before they go to our table, we got to see campers get mail from their parents and a few campers sing renditions of their favorite songs. I was amazed. I would NEVER had had enough chutzpah/guts/intestinal fortitude to get up in front of my fellow campers and sing!!

After dinner we toured the campground with Emi and saw copious amounts of poison ivy and bugs along the way. Then we made our way to the pool to witness the baptisms.

Side note: Back when Scott’s dad was a camper, the baptisms were performed in the lake. Of course that was before they installed the pool. Among other things that have changed in the past forty something years, swimming is now co-ed (it wasn’t when I went to camp either thirty something years ago) and now they celebrate afterwards with fireworks out in the open.  Grandaddy-o had to pull the weeds growing over the septic tank for setting off fireworks when he was a camper. My how things have changed!

So Emi told us earlier in the week that she was going to sing a solo Thursday night and we thought we might try to make the trek up to see that (although we already know the girl can blow it out the box) until she told us she was going to get baptized (be still my heart). I can’t tell you how proud we were to hear those words. Being a parent to a tweenager has never been easy but nowadays it is much harder with entitlement, instant gratification/entertainment, and so many other distractions. I think it’s harder now for the parents who are actually raising their kids whereas it WILL be harder later for those parents just phoning it in right now, or giving up/in with their kids.

It was so sweet (si doux) to see the children getting baptized by their dads, so choked with emotion that they’d have to take a break from speaking before dunking their children. I had to explain that to David and that sometimes people cry when they are not sad.)

Emi chose to have a friend baptize her.  We all looked on with wet eyes and tight chests.

Afterwards there were fireworks and swimming and we headed  back to Scott’s grandmother’s house to try to get some rest before we retrieved Emi from camp in the morning.  With a belly full of cobbler, it should have been easy to catch some z’s but the guest bed we sleep on is the lumpiest I’ve ever known, and we had the requisite amount of coffee with the wonderful cobbler Scott’s grandmother made. I should have traded with the Little Ones but their bed was being guarded by an old doll;  the type whose eyes open when she sits up… When I got up to straighten my back and use the restroom in the middle of the night, that little doll was on the floor of their bedroom (!) and when I was finally able to get back to sleep, I had fitful dreams of reconnecting with a girl I used to work with in the OU computer labs.

After breakfast, we picked Emi up from camp and made the almost 3 hour drive back to Norman with Emi sleeping much of the way. Good thing too because she went directly to a basketball tournament when we got back home. ..

She's a Believer

Suspects and Prospects

So some of the pumpkin/squash in my "garden" seem to be surviving without my interference. I cannot remember any other squash I’ve planted (on purpose or incidentally) in that bed except for Kabocha so I am still leaning that way but I searched on “small dark green squash” and the Rolet/Gem squash looks like a winner.

This looks awfully close to what I have in my garden!

See?

Quick Quick Slow

My life is a waltz.  A Viennese Waltz. Quick, Quick, Slow.

Quick – Up. Run. Walk. Shower. Eat.  Work. Work. W-O-R-K. Ding!

Quick – Home. Dinner. Clean. Organize. Kids. Bath. Bed Time. Dammit, Jimmy time.

Slow – Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

I am working on the slow part, the smelling the roses part, the breathing part… and I’m taking David with me.