What?!! An UnPrepared Kitchen??

So I came to Pasadena to rescue my poor, poor daughter. We rescued ourselves tonight after the big test in her BIOMEDICAL STATS class mid-term with a trip to COLDSTONE. Oh yeah!! I had the Gotta Have It Size Coffee Lovers; oh how I love the feel of that ice cream melting between my fingers!

So anyway.  All week poor Malaina has been stressed with a test.  Well she's a student, and education comes first, and cooking comes second.  We all know that a home cook has better control over their diet, than if they ate at fast food all the time, but poor Malaina had not been taking care of her own culinary needs.

Since she is my child I just assumed that such a talent was naturally and genetically inherited.  But no, we all have different talents don't we?  And some of us need to develop new talents with the help of others.  So with just a few gentle touches--Mother hen has taken care of  baby chick with about 50 dollars and some lamination.  I had to be careful not to purchase too much.  She has a tiny studio apartment, so space is of the essence.

 Balloon Whisk 20.00 (Kuhn Rikon)

 Pepper-mill and prep bowl for salt 16.00.

 

Two tiered kitchen stand 11.00.

I also put together several weeks worth of menus with page number references and grocery lists.  Some people actually need help like this.  It never occurred to me that a woman with Malaina's smarts would not know how to do this.  I am sure she is not the only one. 4.00 ( I must try to get a job as an occupational therapists aid, or a personal organizer).

Then I found a really great health book that holds the menus and fits ever so cleverly in her car so she can dash into the store.

Merry Christmas Malaina, there really is a Momma Claus.  It makes me feel good to be needed by my daughter.

Summer Time is Statistics Time!

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So Malaina has this nasty Biomedical Statistics test.  Ugh.  One of her goals is to go to the library to study.  It is supposed to help her with her concentration.  So off we go to the fabulous Pasadena Public Library. Built in 1927,  and designed by a famous Southern California architect named Myron Hunt, the interior is original complete with the cork flooring and oak furniture, and paneling.

 I really like the above photo.  Can you tell how busy I am?  I am actually taking up a seriously in demand electric plug and playing Cafe World and watching The Godfather at the same time.  And of course you cannot help but notice my beautiful man, Jon Bon Jovi, watching over me, keeping me safe from the lunatics who haunt the library on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Malaina is pretty busy on her Mac checking her FB status.  But seriously she is working on her real job, Statistics.  Ugh.

Tomorrow off to historic Old Town Pasadena...........

Glad for 6th Grade

There are not many kids who can say they have had the same 6th grade teacher.  This particular teacher has been at all the educational milestones too. This is Christina's high school graduation, and Ron was there at our party for Malaina's graduation from college.  Ron Firmage was a very instrumental piece to the Glad girls childhood.  He really had lots of interests that he shared with the girls.  He really liked insects.  They had to do bug collections and learn the different classifications of insects.  Malaina refused to kill the bugs, so he allowed her to sketch them instead and put a spiral book together that we laminated, we still have it.  He also allowed Jordan and her friend Ashley to read the NSYNC Story, over and over and over as their books of choice.  I was his personal Schoolastic "secretary".  I sent out the book orders, handled the money, and bought books for the class.  Just doing that one chore for him really gave me an appreciation of his dedication to the kids.  It was a lot of work!


He liked to read out loud to the class.  They read some real thrillers of survival by Gary Paulson, and others.  There is a special spirit a good teacher has.  They have to love children, have patience and be devoted to learning.  Unfortunately Ron does not teach anymore. He works at the administrative level now.  The No Child Left Behind act has taken all the fun out of learning and teaching.  No more scuba diving, camping, or trips to Goblin Valley. I think it is a shame that good teachers are leaving teaching because of some silly George Bush law.  But that is another story.

Grads are Glad

As difficult as it might be to contemplate this mega movie visionary, and petty tyrant was also a philanthropist to the USC Keck School of Medicine. Not many people have not seen a MGM movie or heard a song by the recording branch of that empire; but, I wonder how many of us have benefited from the people who learned at this school, and have gone on to teach others what they know?

 Well, my daughter and her friends shown here, are a few of the new generation learning at this school.  Right now Malaina and her friends are worrying about their next and final rotations before they pick a specialty to study and attain their Ph.D's.  Come on kids, you have one more day!

 

I find it interesting that at any level of academia, there is a beginner class.  When you are a senior in High School, woman, you are the queen.  You have the best lockers, best parking, a Senior courtyard, etc.  But even in Medical School, there is pecking order.  The Grad School kids are relegated to the window seats and the farthest away parking lots.  The other more advanced students have their seats at better tables and covered parking.

Do you remember the "Friends" episode where Ross and Joey worked at the same museum, but because of their status, they pretended they didn't know each other, or eat at the same table.  Ha!  It is kind of the same thing at the USC Medical School cafeteria.  I got a kick out of that.

Malaina is working at a lab located in the USC School of Pharmacy.  The lab and the Professor of the group are trying to localize hormones and genes in women that cause Alzheimer's.  I am sure there is more to it than that explanation, but I write what I understand.

I am so grateful that my daughter has used her brains to excel in the Medical field.  Thanks to USC for picking a super great girl to give an education to.  Blessedly she is thriving with good friends, and not killing herself too bad yet.  Right now she does not have to do much writing or any publishing, but that is coming.  Malaina is an excellent author, but she tends to procrastinate, I hope she keeps it to herself.  I might stress too much when I eventually hear the anxiety in her voice when she calls home.  Then there might be no Glad sleeping at my house!

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A Day in the Life of My Scientist

Malaina needs to use big girl words now that she is an official Ph.D grad student.  Malaina works in the lab of a really famous Dr. , only I can't remember his name.  She is fortunate that she only has two classes, but they are extremely hard!!!  Like in the 700's hard.

Malaina works in an amazing time for scientific advancement.  She tried several times to explain it to me, but I only got the gist.

I like how Malaina has to use her special id to use the elevator and get into buildings.  It is super top secret.

Malaina is growing e-coli bacteria, very hush-hush.

Malaina wears a white lab coat and everything!  She uses those tools like they do on CSI.

And here is Malaina's corner of  the lab.  They gave her a small desk with a real computer of her very own to use!  I love that.  They care about my girl.

She told me not to touch anything or I would get cancer.  I did not touch!!!

Sponges and Chop Houses and a Fox

So tonight Malaina and I went to the Arroyo Chop House  in Pasadena tonight.  It is L.A. Dine Out weekend, and I was impressed to make a reservation at the only restaurant in all of L.A. that serves Prime USDA beef.  All participating restaurants have to have a 44 dollar menu.  Oh boy, we picked the right place to go.  We had the most incredible steak we had EVER tasted; not a single piece of gristle, fork tender, and cooked to perfection.  I have to say, the chocolate souffle' was so wonderful, and large, that it was enough to share.  So Malaina had two desserts, cheesecake and my souffle'.  We will be back Arroyo people!

It was also Pasadena Art Night Out.  There were many locations of local and regional art to peruse.  Malaina was cranky tonight, but she went along with my plan anyway.  We began at the Art Center of Graphic Design in the beautiful hillside of Pasadena.  There was a brilliant display of art in the graphic sense.  Items that could be marketed for sale, and new ways to look at everyday products.  For example, there was a great idea for reusable packaging. It was dishwasher friendly and completely "green".  Why hasn't anybody invented that before?  However there was one piece of art Malaina and I couldn't quite understand.  It was a household sponge, laser cut into the exact replication of a female vulva.  Hmm..  as we thought about this sponge all night long we wondered what the creator was thinking.  Was there some correlation between the sponge and the female genitalia, that he was trying to connect?  Did he think the sponge was a cleaning product that needed to clean up the dirty state of the human psyche?  Did the sponge and it's human shape represent that a woman's place is in the kitchen/laundry room? Or did the artist resent women and their ability to "soak up like a sponge " the life juices of creativity out of his  everyday existence ?

And thus we ended the day watching the "Fantastic Mr. Fox".  The way Malaina drove home down the hillside after the sponge incident, we were lucky we didn't kill any foxes along the way.

Dave and Cindy and the U-Haul

If you do nothing else with this blog today, please watch the video I have linked above.  

It is so typical of Dave's and my relationship. We have just eaten Mexican food and we need the tums that Malaina has packed away, in the back of the U-haul.  We locate them and Dave trouble getting the sliding door down.  He is fighting and cussing trying to put the trailer door down.  I  suggest he move one piece of a box that is sticking out and say, "I think all you need to do is move this piece of box."  He says sarcastically,  "Oh is that all I Need to DO?",  See for yourself.

We got lots of honks and thumbs up by people who passed us on the way to California with this sign on our tail.

Her apartment is so cute.  She has cute Ikea furniture and, rugs etc.  I love the private stairway and her cute wall hanging that we got in Cambodia.  The view of the courtyard shows her door over her shoulder.  Her apartment is the back of the building on the upstairs.  It was hard to say good bye, but she is an adult and she deserves all the best.  Good for you Malaina!

New Beginnings

Here is our daughter at her future Alma Mater , USC.  We spent a whole day looking for apartments for her.  We had several criteria; actually she had several criteria.  No roommates, under 900 dollars, security, and parking!  It seems like this was not such a hard list to fulfill.  Bxxxzz. wrong.  She needed to be at least 1/2 an hour from the Medical Center.  So she chose cites like Los Feliz, Pasadena, Glendale, and maybe...West Hollywood.  All highly in demand for students and all CROWDED.  We found some cute studio apartments in Glendale, but the parking was a nightmare.

So we took ourselves back to The Marriott downtown,  (No easy feat) and with shaking legs took a swim and got ready for a superb night out at Jar, the classy restaurant by that awesome Master Chef Suzanne Tract,  who we didn't meet, but we got to see lots of her!

Here we are really happy after eating our faces off.  Our waiter Jeff is an out of work attorney and he gave Malaina his business card in case she needs to contact him.  It was nice to have him as a resource.  This picture looks like we are drinking booze, but we just had virgin Mojitos and bottled water.  Dinner including tip and valet parking was only 250.00.  Our daughter was worth it.  WTH... it's only money.  lol

We finally found a DARLING studio apartment in Pasadena on our last day there. (So we celebrated our success with lunch at Olvera Street above) The criteria was met! Underground gated parking, secure coded entrance, her own stairway, air conditioning, and all utilities included for just about a hundred less than our house payment! She should be able to afford that since she has a living stipend.  And, the Freeway is easy to get on and off,  she is about 15 miles from the Keck School of Medicine, and best of all, there is a great little market just around the corner where she can buy all her diet cokes!

Yes it's True She is 22

And she still cannot clean up her own room.

We love you Malaina.  All our dreams came true when God created you.  You are the perfect daughter, sister and friend.  Even though you hate to clean your room.

When you can clean your room I will buy you this hoodie.
And in case you readers don't know....Malaina will be leaving us in August to attend grad. school at USC.  She will attend the Medical School there to earn her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. (or something like that)

Guess Who Does What?

This is a funny quiz that the manager of this blog thought to put to the test....

Below you will find 2 photos. You must guess who's homework belongs to whom. There will be no clues given. You must deduct the answer for yourself.

Chemisty 481

Cornrows 101

Multiple choice

1. Jordan- Chemistry, Malaina- Cornrows

2.Malaina- Chemistry, Jordan- Cornrows



Leave your answer in the comments section. Do not cheat.

California Here I Come....

Malaina 21 years ago.

Malaina age 18

Did I mention I was proud of my daughter Malaina? Here is her senior picture taken way back 4 long years ago. She graduated with honors and was 8th in her class. But her class was only 22 kids, so still in the top. But you gotta know what kind of kids she went to school with! They were all over achievers of whom most were Asian, and very competitive! So props for coming in 8th.

Malaina is now finishing up her senior year at Brigham Young University. She is majoring in Biology with a Music Minor. She has played classical guitar since she was 8. Malaina will be 22 in May...hey wait....that's next month!!!!!

Here is a back shot of Malaina studying for some sort of Biology class.

Here is the type of stuff she likes and wants to work on for the rest of her life.
Actually this is just for her plant physiology elective class, or her ecology class or her Organic Bio Chemistry class or something like that. If you have some sort of idea what this stuff is leave a comment.

Malaina was raised the middle child between 2 other sisters. (Who are all kinda cute) This photo was taken about 5 years ago. Malaina is in the pink on the left.

I just wanted to say what a grrreaat daughter she is. She has worked very hard for good grades and now all that is going to start paying off as she moves away from home in August for a 5 year period to attend USC. She will be getting a full scholarship and even a cost of living stipend to help her so she won't have to work as she studies for her Ph.D in Molecular Biology. Malaina has NEVER given us any reason not to trust her. She always makes good choices and I know she will be a great success at the University of Southern California. May the sun always shine and the rain never fall Malaina! (p.s she hates the cold)