F

FRIDAY! I had to post F on a Friday and we are going to review all "F" topics on my brain.........

FISH FRY
Ah, yeah, Fridays, in Lent = Fish Fry with the Family (yes, that is a triple F score there!).  The group of us (Aunt, Uncle, my Mom, Jeff, the kids and I) meet at our local American Legion Post.  Our cousin, Angela, is typically even our waitress. Is it the best fish in town? No. But, like my Mom said, if we went anywhere else, we'd feel like we were cheating on our beloved Legion.  We eat fish, we drink beer, Uncle Dan sneaks the kids some 'Kitty-Meow-Meow' bars and the kids run around like little hooligans. Doesn't get much better than that (you know for under $30!).

FRICK
That was my thought as I was cleaning Calista's diaper pail. STINKY.  I have to say there was maybe 7 pull-ups in there, but dang they were potent little things. I swear my eyes watered.  Again, leaving me ponder, how can someone so little, leave such a STENCH!

FAITH
I recently had a dental appointment. Unfortunately, I was not completely numb before the drill hit my tooth.  Luckily, my dentist responds the look of terror in my eyes and me jumping out of that chair.  4 more shots of Novocaine later, I did not feel anything the rest of the appointment.  Also, during the rest of my appointment I found it comforting to start saying the Rosary. I find comfort in my faith and I am so glad it is with me always -- even if that means I am praying in the dentist chair. (FYI- I wasn't even praying for myself, it was for others. When I had no pain, I figured I was in the clear.)

FOOD
Sunday is Palm Sunday, which means it's Ravioli Sunday! A local Italian Church sells homemade Ravioli twice a year, on Palm Sunday and in October. People line the block that wraps around the Church to wait in line for this delicious dish. Growing up, and even now, many of the people in the line were related to me, or were friends of the family. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about ravioli Sunday, knows if you get there and the line is 'around the bend' (this means around the corner of the Church), you need to pray there will be some left when you get to the front. I have stood in sunshine, in rain, and in snow; funny how similar October and March weather can be! I have stood with my Mom and Gramma, with Jeff, and we even took Connor one year in his stroller.

I remember all the preparation my Gramma and Mom would do for ravioli Sunday, we had special containers (and knew how many serving would fix in each) and certain bags to hold the dishes. We had a list how how many frozen boxes we needed (a box of 50 frozen homemade ravioli). We had to get their cheese (fresh, finely granted parm), their bread, and extra "Loume-E-de" - or gravy - or Red tomato sauce to those outside our family. I will never forget my Gramma yelling in Italian at the men serving that they were cheating her a meatball, or some ravioli/sauce/ ect. She never let any of that slide. And instead of using a serving spoon, it was a mini-shovel used to scoop out the precious cuisine. I kid you not, a metal shovel.

[ASIDE- In regards to my word, "Loume-E-de." In my family we use our special Italian-English word for the sauce. It did not dawn on me until Jeff came over one Palm Sunday that, the word I was using was NOT part of the English language. Funny enough, I learned we used a few words around that house that were not English. Funnier still, I had no idea, until I would use one, and Jeff would stare at me like I was some sort of idiot.]

As a child, I would look forward to the ride home, when my Gramma would sneak me the "Koo-ga La-Goots" (that means the end of the bread soaked in the red sauce- delicious). Lots of fun memories from ravioli Sunday. Hmm.... maybe we will have to make our way up there....

FLOWERS
Check out some of these Zoo Blooms from last weekend...

I love this, it looks like CC is telling Connor a secret, like...
"If I trip her, YOU can get her damn camera so we can go see the penguins"

So F-- lots of F's, including...

Family and Friends
I hope all my family, and friends have tons of FUN this weekend!

E

I read an article today about a female star and her take on life. The article was not a very exciting read, but, she made one statement that jumped out at me. She said, "I always took my education for granted."

For a moment, I paused and realized, so do I.

E is for Education.  Book smarts, not street smarts. Cuz if you know me, I ain't got so good street smarts. And if you have read my blog long enough, you know I could stand to take a few more Writing Classes 101 - comma and grammar lessons for the Lazy Blogger.
I was raised in a home where my education was something that was expected of me.  Studying, completing homework, and school projects had to be done.  Of course, in my situation, it was also balanced with me spending 20+ hours at gymnastics.  My Mom was privy to every project I was working on and helped me when needed. OK, she even helped me by typing part of a paper for me at 2am.  That was the night I learned that you need to SAVE periodically when typing a monster paper on a word processor.  (Yes, this was pre-computer. We did not get a computer until I was in graduate school.)

Growing up, doing well in school - not necessarily getting A's- was expected of me. No, I was NOT a perfect student, and YES I remember my first grade of a D (Mrs. Smith, 5th grade on a test of the anatomy of the ear).  I never remember being grounded for grades, I never was that "bad" student. I did what was expected of me, and Mom seemed OK with that.

I remember early on wanting to go to college, and I remember Mom urging me on. Never saying things like, "if" you get into college, or "IF we can afford it."  It was "WHEN" you get into college.  I knew my "jobs" were school and gymnastics. Mom handled the rest. Now, this is NOT to say I was some uber spoiled only child (maybe a little but not as much as I should have been).  I knew I was going to graduate high school, I knew I was going to go to college and try to compete gymnastics.

I never had that "IF" I graduate high school. Not completing high school was not an option; that thought never ever crossed my mind.

I was lucky that my Mom was able to provide for me a wonderful high school and college education. She showed me that if I was willing to work hard and do what was expected of me, she was willing to foot the bill. I was lucky to graduate without owing one single loan. Lucky for me, that whole gymnastics thing paid off in under grad with a few small scholarships, and completely free graduate school. 12 years of all that work in private gymnastics club, paid off in the form of me being able to have the degrees of BS and MS.

Somehow, I knew I was going to be an educated woman - as two very important educated women instilled that in me from day 1. My grandmother went school though 8th grade, and maybe a little high school.  My Mom finished high school, and then went onto schooling for her field.   They instilled in me that each generation was to be further educated than the previous one. So, that was my job.

Now, does this mean I expect Connor and Calista to get their MD's and PhD's? No. I understand that college is not for everyone. If  Calista comes up to me to say, "I want to work in HVAC."  More power to her. I would sit down with her and figure out what education requirements are expected for the field.  Not only would I expect her to know her HVAC stuff, I would expect her to be able to do simple math in her head, I expect her to read and comprehend what she read.  I expect her to question things she reads, research things she questions, and not to accept things at face value. I expect her to be a contributing member of society.  I expect her to be educated.

Now, if Calista walks up to me at 18 telling me she doesn't want to finish high school, and wants to run off and join the circus. We have a problem....unless she enrolls in Clown College.

I know people who are still working hard to finish their GED's, associates degree, Bachelor's degree, and Master's degree. I am inspired that even though all these people are at different points in their educational journey - they are still ON that journey, vowing to not give up on their education.   I am inspired by these friends and family members, it forces me to remember that my education is a gift.