I want to remember

I want to remember your tiny hands... how the curled in my palm when you were a tiny babe, how they hold mine now as we walk in the grass.

I want to remember how your soft curls tickle my nose as you sleep on my heart.

I want to remember how we danced on our wedding day.

I want to remember the way your eyes light up when you smile at me.

I want to remember how my heart bursts when I look at you.

I want to remember you purring, curled up into my neck, kneading my shoulders.

I want to remember how you looked at me when I told you I was pregnant.

I want to remember how you made the world exciting when I was a child.

I want to remember how grateful I was that you were here when I became a mama too.

I want to remember how the sun feels on my face after a long winter.

I want to remember that I love you.

Inspired by The Natural Parenting Center.

She said it best.

I had a fight this morning with Hubby.  We were both idiots.  Both angry.  Both frustrated.  Neither of us listening to the other.  Each screaming like a baboon.  Only perhaps baboons are more civilized.  

We screamed in front of the Angel.  This hurts me.

But there is a blog I read almost everyday.  I really try not to miss it.  It keeps me on track when I get lost... which is often.  It reminds me when I forget.  And I suck at playing Memory.  She wrote something a little while ago that came back to my mind once I had stopped screaming and arguing in my head.

Here it is:  I choose you.

Sometimes I totally get my ideas from other people.

I stole this from Nan who got it from somebody else.  Finish the sentences... or not.  It is totally up to you ;-)


1. My partner is... on the couch.  He is napping while the baby naps.  Smart fella.


2. Maybe I should... go help the kids unpack groceries, vacuum, do some laundry, have a nap.  But naaaahh.  I haven't blogged much recently for whatever reason.  And now I have some time, combined with a tiny dash of inspiration.  This dynamic duo has been in seriously short supply recently.  So I'm taking advantage.


3. I love... my family.


4. People would say that... I can't sing for shit, but I've got great energy on-stage!


5. I don't understand... politics and money.


6. When I wake up in the morning... the Angel says ''Ann... Some''.  She thinks my name is Ann.  And she just learnt to say ''Some'' :)


7. I lost... my way in Riga, Latvia once and ended up walking in a dark, deserted street.  A pizza delivery guy gave us directions to where we wanted to go, but, of course, I knew better!  So we spent a couple hours walking around, still lost.  Then we found a highway? and took a taxi.  The driver took us to where we wanted to go... about 5 minutes away from the hotel we were staying at.  Hubby doesn't let me read the map anymore.


8. Life is... full of sunshine, except in Winter.  I'm so happy that Spring is here!!!


9. My past has taught me... that I can be a real idiot sometimes.


10. I get annoyed when... there is no toilet paper, and sometimes when people see things on the floor and just step over them and keep walking.  The second one is only really annoying when it happens at home.  I wonder if they know that the magic clean-up-shit fairy doesn't live here?  I wonder what would happen if I started doing the same thing?


11. Parties are... even more fun when you don't have to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn the following morning.


12. I wish... there was no more money, politics, state lines, or religion.


13. Dogs... are a lil more work than cats, but more fun.


14. Cats... can be pussies.


15. Tomorrow... I'm going swimming at the pool with the Angel!


16. I have a low tolerance for... empty toilet paper rolls still on the thingy, and empty cartons in the fridge.


17. If I had a million dollars... I would probably spend it.


18. I'm totally terrified of... roaches.


19. I'd rather be... chilling on the beach.


20. My vice is... herb.  but shhhhhh.

Cuz I have shit-all else to say

Thanks Nan for this one:

The Rules:

Answer these questions, USING ONLY ONE WORD! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It’s really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to link to the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? dunno
2. Your significant other? office
3. Your hair? wet
4. Your mother? far
5. Your father? away
6. Your favorite song? Soca
7. Your dream last night? House
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? Presence
10. What room you are in? Study
11. Your hobby? Reading
12. Your fear? Absence
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? there
14. Where were you last night? here
15. Something that you aren’t? dead
16. Muffins? yum
17. Wish list item? heat
18. Where you grew up? Trinidad
19. Last thing you did? typed
20. What are you wearing? dress
21. Your TV? Off
22. Your pets? hairy
23. Friends? real
24. Your life? happy
25. Your mood? cool
26. Missing someone? lots
27. Car? black
28. Something you’re not wearing? drawers
29. Your favorite store? Bookstore
30. Your favorite color? red
33. When is the last time you laughed? breakfast
34. Last time you cried? post-labour
35. Who will resend this? Dunno
36. Favorite vacation? sunny
37. One person who emails me regularly? Nalini
38. My favorite place to eat? Trinidad

Interview With a Vampire, plus some pan.

Not really though.  She isn't a Vampire, as far as I know.  But she is a witch, by the Church's standards.  And that is a whole 'nother post.

Anywaaaaaay, gratefully, Witchypoo herself has provided the fodder for today's post in the form of a questionnaire with things that she was just dying to know about me.  In my mind anyway.  Otherwise I would just post music.  Cuz I don' have nothing else to post.  My life is all of that and all.  (That shouldn't be read with sarcasm though.  My life is simple, quiet and predictable.  And I actually do like it like that right now.  It had been the opposite for a few years.  Cycles and all.)

Back to the 'view.  It started here and then Witchypoo did it here, and now I'm doing it here:

1.What's the top item on your bucket list? Why?

I don't actually have a bucket list. Does everyone?  I thought about it when I saw the movie, which was a highly original thought, I know, but couldn't actually decide on specific things that I MUST do before I die, other than the , again original, ''Visit India''.  I guess I'm a bit more of a go-with-the-flow kinda gal.  Besides, I never in a million years even thought about visiting Estonia, yet here I am 3 years, husband and child later.  Life will do with me what it will.  No complaints so far.  Although, if I could have a say in it, I would prefer my next home-country to be a lil warmer. Brrrr.

2. What is your fondest memory as a child?  

Sitting on the loo with the door wide open as my brother meandered dramatically up and down the hall shouting ''Ooohh noo.. the wind is blowing me... oohh nooo... the police are chasing meeee''. *giggle*

3. What would you most like to learn about

This changes.  But right now, child psychology.

4. If you had a do-over, what would it be?

My last 2 years at high school.  I would insist that I be allowed to do art.  Fuck ''what kind of job are you going to get with that''.  The stuff I did hasn't landed me a dream job either, and I've forgotten about 99% of it.

5. Besides blogging, what is your guilty pleasure?
A box of chocolate chip cookies every night... dunked in camomille tea.  I know, I know.

And that's it :)

Want to be part of it? Follow these instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.

Any takers?

Today's Carnival Groove: Pan in A Minor by The Grand Master Kitchener.  One of, if not the BEST Steelpan song ever.

Giggle (Because I know you are dying to know how Trinis talk)

WTF Friday

Last night I found out that today will be Friday. WTF! Where did the week go? In honor of my Eureka moment, I present all the things this week that have made me say WTF:

Only 35% of Estonians supported Obama. WTF??

The fact that this was a defining moment in history was not that important here (except to us foreigners). There wasn't much ado about it at all. WTF?

There was ICE on the car this morning. WTF!!

The Prime Minister of Trinidad wants to spend 35 million TT dollars to lease luxury vehicles for the Summit of the Americas from BMW in Germany. The local dealers wanted to lease them to the government at no cost. WTF?!?!?!?!?!

The tooth fairy now has to pay 20 dollars per tooth. WTF! In my day, I got 25 cents! Kinda like how in my parents' day they used to pay 3 cents for a loaf of bread, with cheese. Damn I feel old.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. So why am I doing this alone? WTF! (Yes, I have a husband, but he is at work all day. He does what he can, especially after enthusiastic discussions about the value of sitting on the couch with his laptop and its impact on the parenting experience.)

The cat's bowl is empty. Am I the only one that sees that? WTF?

I've been very tired, kinda pukey, head-achey, my boobs are sporadically leaking, but the pee-pee stick only shows 1 line. WTF??

Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent. W.T.F???????????

I saw a t-shirt that read ''Don't blame me, I voted for McCain''. WTF?

In 2 weeks, the Angel will be ONE YEAR OLD. WTF?!! Where did the year go??????? My tiny, soft, precious, beautiful, cooing, fragile little newborn is now a rumbling, tumbling, babbling, even more precious, even more beautiful toddler. But more on that in another post.

I am a wife and mother! WTF!!!!!! (But that's to be read in more of a ''Oh my God! HOW COOOOOL'' kinda way )

So there you have it. My Eureka moments for this week. Did you have any?

Another tale from the rock, and a lil extra

ˇ
First, the lil extra: We moved into our new home this weekend! I am currently wading through boxes, bags, suitcases, dust, yadda yadda yadda, with an Angel who is trying to walk, but mostly just pulling my pants down. I'll be a hit with the neighbours for sure.

Now, onto Another tale from the rock, courtesy my brother in Bermuda:


Yes folks,

El Capitan here again with another tale of the strange occurances in the triangle.

This weekend is a long one and most of the trinis were either abroad like Jasen enjoying Miami carnival and Shelly (Safraz's wife) eating out the whole of Minnesota or moving incognito like Michael so it was down to Safraz and yours truly.

We decided that we would go fishing on this very afternoon. Safraz had heard of a nearby fishing spot on the Rockaway jetty. Yes folks, its so strange that not even I could make up that name and yes, Safraz is the same one who made us end up in the choppy water aboard the HMS Sinkeasy.

The sky was very overcast and a cold breeze was blowing when we got to the jetty. We scoped out the waters around the jetty and noticed that there were several good fish about.

We were getting our fishing rods ready when Safraz got up and started walking towards the stairs. At first I thought nothing of it - you see, my rod is an exceptionally long rod and requires proper handling and technique to get it full strength and readiness so I was preoccupied...as far as I know he could have been going down the stairs to let something out of his rod!

While cutting the bait to put on the hook I heard this splash...well more of a "splutunk". It sounded like a shoe had landed in the water. Still, I had to look as we were the only 2 people in the area. There was no one around, not even Safraz!

After a few seconds had passed, Safraz's head resurfaced and he was desperately trying to climb back on the jetty but the tide was still too low for him to reach so I ran down those stairs as only El Capitan could but did not think that whatever happened to him could also happen to me! Too late.

As I reached the last stair, I skidded on the moss and screamed "AAAAAA" but fate had a different plan for me. I just landed on the last step but still could pull Safraz to safety.

After I laughed myself back to the top, I asked what happened and told him the only thing I heard was this innocuous "splutunk". Maybe it was the laughter but I still have no idea what he went down those stairs for only that he slipped off the jetty without making a "peep". The man silently fell off a jetty folks.

Perhaps if he had done like me and screamed he would have landed back on the stairs.

More about Moi

Thanks to Green Girl, I have something to say today. In real life, I'm not exactly known as quiet, so why is it so darn hard to get a post together sometimes???

Anyway, I got this from her. And since I know you are all DYING to know more about Moi, here you go:

1. What are your nicknames? T, Teri, Hoooney, mamama, and my mom used to call me Tessa a billion light years ago.

2. What game show and/or reality show would you like to be on? Since this is completely hypothetical, I would love to be on Jeopardy, cuz to even qualify would mean that I'm really REALLY smart.

3. What was the first movie you bought in VHS or DVD? I can't remember VHS, but the first DVD was Memoirs of a Geisha... crappy pirate copy for 10 TT dollars (about 1.50 US) downtown in Trini.

4. What is your favorite scent? A Bakery, and sweet, clean baby.

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? Get my whole family together for Christmas. Bank the change.

6. What one place have you visited that you can't forget and want to go back to? New York.

7. Do you trust easily? Yeah, unless you are obviously full of sh*t.

8. Do you think before you act, or act before you think? This is a toss up, but I am finally learning to think first... some of the time.

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? That I will miss yet another Trini Christmas with my family. Trini's do Christmas better than Anybody, Anywhere. The music, food, drinks, house limes (get-togethers) and the prelude to Carnival. I haven't felt it in 3 years :(

10. Do you have a good body image? I'm a yummy mummy ;-)

11. What is your favorite fruit? Fresh young coconuts with soft jelly, mangoes, cold watermelon, all kinds of berries. I can't narrow it down to 1.

12. What websites do you visit daily? My bloggy friends, Trinidad Express, Yahoo

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately? A box of chocolate chip cookies and camomille tea at night after the baby goes to bed, and Oprah at the same time. And this whole new world of Blogging.

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? I don't really know her well, but she seems pretty cool so far.

15. What's the last song that got stuck in your head? Day-O, Daylight come and me wanna go home. I did a lil dance routine with the Angel earlier... had her giggling :)

16. What's your favorite item of clothing? As of today, my new, super-comfy Victoria's Secret jammies that hubby bought on his trip.

17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? Definitely more-ish

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground? Pick it up and thank the Universe for its many blessings, unless I see the owner nearby... in which case, well, he should be thanking the Universe for me.

19. What items could you not go without during the day? The Angel's sling; for everything else, there is an alternative.

20. What should you be doing right now? The dishes... bleh.


I don't like the whole tagging thing, so I won't. But feel free to DIY. Lemme know if you do, so I can come check it out :)

Martha or Maxine??

I got this in an email so I get nada credit for it. Made me giggle a bit, and I am always happy to share a good giggle :)


Are you Martha or Maxine?



Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of an ice cream cone to prevent ice cream drips.

Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway!




To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix. Keeps in the pantry for up to a year.




When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.

Go to the bakery! Hell, they'll even decorate it for you!




If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant 'fix-me-up.'

If you over-salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too bad. Please recite with me the real woman's motto: 'I made it, you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes!'




Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.

Celery? Never heard of it!





Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.

The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust, so I don't.




Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink! All your pains go away!





If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dish washing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you.





Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

Leftover wine??????????? HELLO!!!!!!!





Soooo... which one are you??? 3 guesses as to who I am!

Tragedy aboard the HMS Sinkeasy...a true story of some "trinis" in the Bermuda triangle

This morning I woke up to find this (below) actual email from my brother. He is not what you would call a wordy type of guy, unless he's had a few, or he knows you really really REALLY well. He recently vacated the warm comforts, home cooked meals and clean laundry that is our parent's home to strike out on his own in Bermuda. Every so often we hear his stories of life on the rock.



Good night all,

I am about to relay the events of August 10, 2008. A gripping tale of some "trinis" braving the Bermuda triangle in search of adventure. It is not a happy tale and for those prone to crying, please stop reading now!

Sadly, the moral of this story is not new - Too much man, too little boat. In economics, such a situation causes inflation...the opposite is true of the triangle.

Captain's log, Triangle date 10/08/08:

The day began with a clear blue sky and a hangover from the night before...thanks Jasen, that house lime was so worth it (for the non-trinis, lime means to hang out). I jumped on my bike around 10am and made for the refuge of Safraz's house. There we re-grouped and headed for the docks, where the HMS Sinkeasy was anchored and ready to go (sink!). It started to drizzle but that did not weaken our spirits...though if we knew it would cause a "Small Craft Warning" we would have thought otherwise. Seven of us set out in that fateful small craft for an adventure we would have never predicted.

After some quick instructions from the owner we set out with yours truly as El Capitan! Having been the only person to drive a boat before, I accepted this responsibility with much humility and excitement.

Our journey began through the smallest drawbridge in the world (yes folks its in the Guinness Book) only the HMS Sinkeasy was so small that they did not have to raise it for us to pass!!!

The water was choppy but El Capitan was both brave and on his 3rd beer for the morning. We made a straight cut through the Great something (I can't recall what the map said it was) and veered north towards the Royal Naval Dockyard. On the way, Jasen my trusting navigator, saw that a fishing spot was closeby - under Watford Bridge - and the crew asked El Capitan to change course to make for Watford Bridge. Not wanting a mutiny, I obliged.

Upon my approach I thought that the water seemed a bit rough and that Safraz's fat ass was weighing down the front of HMS Sinkeasy. It was here that the precarious nature of the triangle became obvious. A huge swell engulfed the HMS Sinkeasy and washed Safraz, his wife Shelly and El Capitan from the deck.

Yes folks, El Capitan was forcefully taken from his ship. Not letting down on the responsibilty given to me, I issued immediate orders for Jasen to assume control and take the boat out of the swells lest the rest of the crew be lost too.

A passing vessel picked up the 3 adrift "trinis" and took us away from the swells and back to the HMS Sinkeasy. We salvaged whatever we could from the water but alas....some did not make it back!

I commend my fallen comrades to the deep:

Name - Ring-a-ding Ricky. Rank - 1st Mate. Purchased 1 week ago at Digicel. Though pulled from the water, his rings were forever drowned in the deep blue sea. His heart still lives on and I will implant it into a new Nokia tomorrow.

Name - Snapping Mack. Rank - Chief of the Boat. Purchased yesterday. I took a total of 10 pictures with him. $130, never recovered.

Name - Steely Dan. Rank - Ordinary Seaman. Purchased Friday, stringed on Saturday, went down on Sunday. My poor fishing rod never stood a chance...round 1 to you mother nature.

We eventually made it back to the dock. The thought of my fallen comrades, Safraz weighing down the ship and Shelly trying to save the Heineken keg are forever burned into memory.


Humbly yours,

El Capitan.