How do you???????

So you are enjoying a rather fun time with family. Hamburgers are on the grill, everyone is sitting around talking when all of a sudden BAM! Your supposedly kind, loving sister runs by and smacks you on the butt. What is the next step?  Of course my first thought is to be the mature one in the situation and ignore her request for attention. (Okay, those of you who know me know that my real first thought is revenge, but we'll stick to the mature thing for now.) Let's say you ignore the feisty sister, but then she comes towards you, waving her hands around like she is really get you. What on earth should you do? IT'S TIME FOR A TAKE DOWN! You've got to restrain her! But how does one restrain another without hurting themself or the "attacker"? That is where our dear friend B comes in. B has professional experience dealing with out of control people like the aforementioned sister. We thought that he might be a little reluctant to teach us, so we lured him over a c...

Take yourself back to Dinamita, Mexico. The year is 1965, the company party is starting in three hours. The dresses are pressed, the nails done, the corsages ready. One woman sweeps in, a cloud of Aquanet trailing her, comb and bobby pins in hand. Belles of ball lined up in chairs before the big hall mirror, waiting their turn. The teasing begins. Recreating events from forty years ago was easy for us on a recent Saturday night. In one Oakland home, Aunt Ime revised her role as hair guru, creating styles that our hair had never seen. Ingredients for big hair success? Big rollers (soda cans will do in a pinch), fine comb, large can of hair spray and pins. Many, many pins. We were doubtful. Midway through the process a great mass of untamed 80's hair perched upon our heads. Would it be possible to turn this into something beautiful? And then all of a sudden, "POOF!" A 60's hairstyle is born. Along with the do's came maintenance tips from other survivors of the 60...

So, what was that old rhyme really about anyway? And what exactly do you call that hand clapping routine that goes along with it? I am willing to bet that most people (especially ladies) around my age can recall the words to My Name is L-I, L-I, Chickali, chickali...although I am coming to find that there are some variations by region and age. For example the youngest of us three seems to recall something random thing being in the rhyme, and the older, wiser ones recall something about someone named Lester? Or was it Vester?  Anyhow, these "clapping songs" have been around a  long, long time and they seem to mutate every year. How do they have anything to do with our blog? Well, yesterday I was sitting around with my cousin's daughter, Bianca, at a birthday party. Now, the majority of the people at the party were adults, so it was no surprise that after a little while Bianca turned to me with that kid complaint, "I'm bored!!!!!"  Of course when a child speak...

What do you get when you mix a 6'2" stud, a lump of clay and some mouth watering bbq? Our first lesson! Our cousin, Shad, has been throwin' pots since high school. If you didn't know him, this might be hard to believe. He is a towering, powerful guy who, at first glance, might be a little intimidating. Once you start talking to him, you quickly realize that behind this hunk of man is a BFG (Big Friendly Giant). Once you see his pots, you realize that this BFG has a really gentle touch and skilled hands. We arrived to find our teacher grinning and ready to get started. Over dinner, he started giving us some key lessons in using the wheel... Rule #1: Take it slow, even when you freak out. If you are going to take your hands off the clay while it is spinning around on the wheel, do it slowly, even if you think you've messed up. If you move to quickly, you can really mess up your pot. Rule #2: Symmetry is essential. Pots shouldn't be lopsided! Refer back to Rule #1...

We are embarking on a journey of discovery. We realized not long ago that we know a lot of great people that know a lot of great things. We also realized that we know nothing. Okay, so that is not exactly true. Between the three of us we can analyze storm water runoff for EPA compliance, salsa dance well into the night, and insert IUDs with ease. But let's be realistic, that's only the very tip of the iceberg. Just thinking about our immediate family we realized that there is so much to learn. Thus, we have decided to embark on a journey to learn 100 new things. Of course we have set up a few rules: 1. One of our teachers each year must be under 8 years old. 2. One of our teachers each year must at least 80 years old. 3. We must learn at least 2 things a month. Only one of us has to be present at a learning session so long that the person blogs about their experience. 4. Each person can teach us no more than 3 things. Suggestions are welcome! So let us know what you can tea...