Phones

B. called late yesterday and talked to his dad about politics, etc..  Then he talks to me - and the conversation is stilted.  I could 'question him' about a gazillion things to keep the conversation moving but the truth is:  I don't know what to talk to him about.  He is so homesick that I try to just keep it light and lively - vs. talking about stuff going on in the neighborhood, or at work.  I don't know how to fill those gaps - the moments of silence that creep in - and I hear his heart hurting a bit as he realizes that we will be saying goodbye soon.

It's a constant struggle - 'cuz talking to us makes him miss us more.

I am just not good on the phone.  I never have been.  I can write letters easily - newsy, funny, entertaining....I'm good at writing.  But on the spot phone conversation - I suck at it.

It bugs me.

I'm going to have to work on it more 'cuz I want him to call...and I want to talk to him.

I'm turning into the mother of sons that has nothing to say to them when they attempt to communicate and I don't want that pattern repeating in my life with my sons.  It makes me so sad inside.

The boys (H. and his friend J.) ate close to two dozen Krispy Kremes LAST NIGHT - with/before/after dinner - yikes!  I thought I'd have a dozen left for work but that's OK.  I plan to make Brown Sugar Oatmeal cookies later today as a 'test'.  We have another birthday to celebrate on Tuesday and I need to make a sweet to go with the breakfast burritos we will be getting from the taqueria for a breakfast celebration.

The 'spell-check' word suggested for taqueria is equestrian.  LOL...

J. and I purchased the Latin American version of Rosetta Stone and we both have it on our computer. We take turns wearing the headset and microphone and work through the lessons.  The early stages are super easy for me - so maybe the 4 years of high school Spanish and the two years of college Spanish did more for me than I realized?  I still struggle with verb tense and so far, we are all in 'present tense' - but that's what's so interesting 'cuz it doesn't actually say that.

Example:  La nina bebe.  The girl drinks.  You would never say that, right?  You would say 'The girl is drinking'.  Not 'the girl drinks'.

I hope we eventually get clarification on the tenses 'cuz that's what I need to most assistance in.  I'm also going to start writing down the words as a 'vocabulary' refresher.  It's easy to know the word for bicycle when it's one of three pictures and you know the word for the other two.  But I need to have a way to 'review' vocab so I start to recall a lot of the words I learned in school but don't use too often.

In the mean time, it's fun and so far, I do like it.  It uses pictures and makes you speak to correct pronunciation, etc.  (Neither J. or I have any issues with pronunciation - except I've never been able to 'roll' my r's...but thankfully, it lets that pass in the score.

I've created a grocery list for J. so we can have two really great dinners this weekend - I do love having time to cook.  It's a favorite activity and it's typically weekends that I have the time to do that. Tonight, we're having chili con queso, homemade refried beans, pollo asado (grilled on the BBQ!) and cookies for dessert.  Tomorrow is grilled pork chops with mashed potatoes and blueberry cobbler for dessert.

Adios - hasta pronto!