It starts off introspective then goes back to normal

There are many things that get in the way of your life. Like growing up, getting out, coming around and falling down.

It's been one whole year since leaving and you know what? It was just in time too. See, my grandfather died in February. I went back to Oklahoma for the funeral and the sad.

Like my grandmother's funeral, I was the family spokesperson. This time, unlike her funeral, I was unprepared. It is a real bitch to commit to extemporaneous speaking when you know your voice will shake because of sad.

So that happened. And then I left, again.

My life is now puddled in a northeastern state where once again, I'm the one with the accent. Kiddo's sweet lilt is no longer there. It's been replaced by something amalgamous*. Her memories, too. She replies, "I don't remember", when I ask her if she remembers the cathedral or the park or the house or our friends. The last one hurts most. I haven't forgotten, but for her, I guess it's truly over.

The other day I came back to this blog and reread some posts. It's good to be able to laugh at and with yourself, don't you think?

I've missed you and then I've not. I'm sure you know what I mean. Every so often I check in with your lives to see what you're up to. Most of you are happy and I'm heapbigglad for that.

One year back and I'm ever so grateful to be back... Shall we?
Top 20 best things about being back in the USofA
1. Taco Bell, Sonic, McDonald's
2. Grocery stores with familiar products and the ease with which I acquire these products
3. My own car
4. Dry hair
5. A neighborhood school
6. only one hour ahead rather than six
7. Family's proximity
8. Freedom of speech
9. My job
10. Huge television with HBO
11. Netflix
12. Girl Scouts
13. Dance classes
14. Knitting groups
15. Moms of kids in Kiddo's classes
16. The dads too... because SciMan.
17. Cheap books
18. Guns from Tiffany's
19. Lack of social class strictures
20. Soaking up the can-do-it of my fellow 'muricans.


I'm back. You've been warned.




*Who cares?

Standing in the driveway

If you're anything like me, you're feeling like Josh Lyman and Toby Ziegler from The West Wing's episode, 20 Hours in America. Even with all the coverage.

Lemme 'splain Lucy...

If you've never been in a tornado warning and watch...you don't know what it's like...

The air pressure drops. The wind increases and sweeps all around the plains. The golfball-baseball-softball-sized hail falls. The sky turns green and brown. The clouds begin to turn above your house and you watch.

You watch. Because you have to know. You have to see it. Gary England and Mike Morgan aren't there with you, but they know.

You watch. Because you have to witness.

You watch from your driveway, your patio in your backyard.

Why?

Because you are an Oklahoman and there's nothing more dreadful or thrilling to your soul to see the train coming at you.

Because you don't have adequate shelter anyway.

There's nothing more heartbreakingly violent that you could watch...you know, deep down, that you are witnessing someone's death.

It just hasn't happened yet.

It's scary. It's stomach clenching. It's thrilling and horrible.

And you watch. And hope it doesn't touch you.

#290

There's a lot I wish to tell you. But I don't have the words to adequately express my thanks that you shared my experiences here in NE England. I love you.

It's the last evening of sitting in this arm chair. I've gone through 250 posts on front page reddit and can no longer put off addressing the issue. I'm on the plane tomorrow.

So long Durham. We hardly knew you.

OKinUK
April 2010 - October 2012

Hello Goodbyes

It's started; the goodbyes. I have received the news of an official start date for SciMan's new job. To quote Ozzy Osbourne, "Mama, I'm coming home".

Here we go again moving continents. My back hurts just thinking about moving again. The paring down, the anticipated resentment... it's ennui inducing. Thank FSM yoga class is tonight.

[uncorks and pours the Chilean white] We're moving to New York. [raises glass] Here's to Taco Bell, dishwashers, and garbage disposals. {gulps} Here's to wasting time and not doing enough. {sips} Here's to new geography and third spaces {downs the dregs}

So, I'm going to have to change my twitter handle, right? Can't be @MollieisOKinUK since I won't be in the UK anymore, n'est-ce pas?

I like the brackets [] and {}. I should've used those more over the past 2.433982 years.

Which of you live in the mid-Hudson Valley area? Can we meet up and you can show me around, like where cleanest Target is? And cafes a la Starbucksters?

Shit. Just when I got my shit together too.

I'll always have Paris

My friend Chloe and I went to Paris this weekend. We stayed at her cousin's apartment and just, wow! It was a blast if I can be allowed that hyperbole. I got to see many things and to think many thoughts. It's easy when you don't speak the language readily and are forced to be still and silent, albeit willingly. Chloe's cousing and brother and sister were very welcoming and I was happy to be a part of it all.

The view where I stayed in the 7th arrondisement , Isabelle's apartment. At night, the tower is illuminated and at midnight, the twinkling lights sparkle from top to bottom. 

Blade Runner? Tron? You be the judge but no matter what, it looks cool.

We rented bikes and rode all over the city. I highly recommend this as it was so cheap...only 10 euros for the two days. My eyes, they were closed in ecstasy.

On Champs d'Elysses looking toward l'Arc de Triomph... I love my camera's zoom.

Inside Les Galeries Lafayette... Think Harrod's and the Galleria for reference for content and size.

Apparently, on the Saturday, there were protests outside the American embassy. I'd no idea but am not surprised based on this street graffiti. I did see the Bulgarian embassy. Supposedly, it is the new capital of European golfing...because you know, that's what you think of whenever Bulgaria comes up in conversation. /s

Inside l'Opera.. The grand gallery. Weddings are held here and it was the group's consensus that we'd not pick this as our venue as we would not want to be overshadowed by the opulence of the room. 

From l'Opera's balcony.

Obligatory Jim Morrison grave visit at Pere Lachaise

Chloe's sister and brother, Agathe and Gregoire, arguing over the best way to get to the next destination.

Me trying to listen and translate French to English.

My face the whole weekend, basically.

A street market in the 7th where I bought three original drawings. 

Chloe determining which is best route to get to the old city (Notre Dame)  from the 7th.

Beautiful flower "magasin". The man on the right in the grey long sleeved shirt is a minorly famous actor. I asked Chloe if she wanted his autograph. She replied, "He's not that famous."

Palais de Luxembourg. This is where you want to go if you bring your young kids to the city. There was a fantastic playground area and carousel.

Les jardines de Luxembourg...The gardens of the Palace of Luxembourg. Runners were running around the perimeter, people were sitting on the grassy areas allotted for that purpose, or they were sitting in metal chairs next to grassy areas where no sitting on the grass was allowed.

Saint-Sulpice, a church heavily prominent in it's position in the city and in Dan Brown's novel.

Love locks on the Pont de l'Archevêché, a bridge which crosses from Notre-Dame Cathedral to the Left Bank of the Seine

So, newlyweds lock their love lock and throw away the key into the Seine to prove that their love will last forever. However, I was told that should the marriage go sour, they have to fish/dig their key out of the Seine and take back the lock. Heheheh.

We rode our bikes on to the Louvre's plaza. Felt so... je ne sais quois.

Notre Dame. Should've stuck around to hear bells, but didn't. Eh.

I like street art on public works of official art. 

So, the best part about the Paris trip? Riding "les velos" all over the city. Hands down, I'd rather have been in the warm sun and crisp air of Paris on the cusp of autumn than manoeuvring in the Metro to get from A to B.

Souvenir

A souvenir (from French, for a remembrance or memory), memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it.

 -Wikipedia

Also known as "kitsch" and "the crap you bring the empty suitcase along for". And yes, I did that on the trip back to the US. I filled my empty suitcase with Amish peanut butter and French's Fried Onions. But my normal go-to souvenir wasn't necessary this last trip....because I don't need visual, physical reminders of home (reminders I have in abundance in my brain. *cue 'awwww')...

See, I collect magnets. Or rather, I attempt to do so of the places I have visited. I have magnets from Durham, Edinburgh, London, Pisa and Venice (bribed Roo to bring them to me), Munich and Whitby. And I'm starting tea towels now. So far: Durham, Whitby, and Kiddo's school. I hungrily eyed the London Underground/2012 Olympics tea towel at Heathrow while waiting for the connecting flight, but in the end... paying nearly $20 for a piece of fabric with the purpose of getting it dirty made almost no sense. The smidgen of sense it did make in my head was screaming at me to "GET IT NOW! WHO KNOWS WHEN YOU'LL BE BACK!!! IT'S THE OLYMPICS!! THEY ONLY HAVE THEM ONCE EVERY TWO YEARS!!!"

So my one concession to obvious kitsch is the magnets. They serve no other purpose than to decorate my fridge. Maybe the tea towels are a weird attempt to rationalize the magnets.

There. A confession. I'm catharticized now. And coming soon, I shall have a new magnet for my fridge...a Parisian magnet. Maybe a tea towel if les Galeries Lafayette has one...but I doubt it because it's the fucking les Galeries Lafayette! 

Yeah. Going to Paris all by myself, mais avec mon ami, Chloe. Je veux acheter beaucoup bon marche bouteilles de vin rouge dans un cafe pres de la Seine.

Here's hoping that Elisabeth Smith can help me with my pronounciation; it's colonial at best. I'm so glad I'm going with a native. I've been told that where I'm staying has a view of the Tower Eiffel. Is that important?


What is your go-to souvenir that you've maybe started/created a mini-collection? Pictures? Snow-globes or T-Shirts? Phone numbers?

Cheesy Spinach Treats

Do you remember the kid magazine, Highlights? Or the lite version, High Five? You'd see them in doctors' offices usually unless you had a subscription. And if you do remember them, you'll recall that there's a parent/child kitchen activity in every one (be sure to collect them all). Every so often, Kiddo receives one in the mail courtesy of a relative's continuous and annually renewing generosity. We used to read them with her, but she's gotten so stellar at reading on her own over the past year that I'd forgotten about the kitchen activities. That is...until the other day.

Non-interesting story less boring, and what's more, to the point: Kiddo and I made the Cheesy Spinach Treats tonight from the Highlights magazine. Why not? Kiddo will occasionally eat baby spinach leaves and sometimes cheese and eggs. I was thinking positively about the endeavor. Because, you know, get kids to cook with you in the kitchen  and they'll want to eat what they make, right? Sure. I had her read the recipe and tell me what to do too! She liked that a lot.

So here's what you need if you want to make Cheesy Spinach Treats:

Vegetable oil spray

4 cups baby spinach

Olive oil

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

Salt

Pepper 

Cheese

Here's how you do it:
Heat your oven to 350. None of that preheat shit. It's either heating or not heating, there is no other state of being for an oven. Tear 4 cups of baby spinach into small pieces.

or use a pizza cutter. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

 Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and saute the spinach for about 4 minutes (until wilted). Remove from heat and cool.

Whisk 2 eggs until the yolks and whites are mixed. Add 2 cups of sour cream, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Stir well.

Add the cooked spinach and 1 cup of your favorite grated cheese.

Looks like Charleston's Spinach Dip, yum!

Fill 12 muffin cups with the mixture. Top with grated cheese.

Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes. Wait 5 minutes before removing the spinach treat from the muffin tray. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Little quiches!

And the verdict?

Shitty. Absolutely shitty. Where the fuck does Highlights get off calling these pieces of snot, "treats"? Kiddo took one look at them and was all "nope nope nope nope nope". Mommy was not as clever. The smell and taste of these fuckers transported Mommy back to her 2nd grade elementary cafeteria in the OKC School District and remembering not being allowed to go out and play with all the other kids since she didn't eat her cooked spinach slop. Mommy still has evil thoughts about that mustachioed woman.

I just don't know what went wrong! There was a lot of steam that escaped when I opened the oven door and quite a bit of liquid at the bottom of each muffin tincup when I took out the shit. So, no...don't make these... unless you can make it better than this. Or unless you like that shitty flavor. Then, you should and you should also gloat to me about it. I hate you preemptively and curse your mustache.

New find!

For a first attempt at Fluttershy, it ain't half bad.

Was introduced by reddit, natch. This is a great website called http://sketch.odopod.com

You create drawings and can save them if you make an account. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Don't forget to visit my Illustrations and Doodles page for more, because you know, who doesn't like amateur art?