Ivory Soap and Pot Roast

The last month we ran out of soap - the bar soap that you bathe with. So off I went to our friendly neighborhood Wal-mart. I looked at the prices of soap and nearly passed out! I'm not sure how long its been since I last bought soap, but man did the prices go up! So instead of buying the soap I usually get, I decided to get Ivory soap.

I unwrapped the bar of soap and smelled it before I put it in the shower and it totally reminded me of my grandma Frances. Well, she didn't smell like Ivory soap, but her bathroom always did. I love the smell of Ivory soap!

I've already shared in earlier posts that I love the smell of pot roast. It reminds me of my other grandma - Joyce. Sundays after church, mmmmmmmmmmm!

Both of my grandmother's died in 2006 and I really miss them. I'm glad that I had the chance to spend a lot of time with them and learn from them. I have lots of great memories and, I will keep their memories alive by buying Ivory soap and making pot roast!

Saimin

One of the great benefits of Juan working the harvest is that he brings home a sack of the biggest potatoes I've ever seen! I put one next to Jason and the potato was as big as his face!!!
That one potato made enough mashed potatoes to feed three of us. It worked out perfectly since Jason doesn't like mashed potatoes. He stuck to his saimin (Top Ramen).

Speaking of saimin, Jason has gone from liking the more traditional form of saimin - you know the kind you cook on the stove for 3 minutes, to liking only the 'Cup-of-Noodle' kind. Personally, I prefer the kind you cook on the stove. So, I try to buy a case of the 'Cup' saimin whenever I can. This brings back a lot of memories of my Grandpa Jacob. He used to have several snack wagons on Kauai called, "Jake's Snack Wagon." They were all painted orange with white lettering on the side. Anyway, grandpa Jacob sold cup saimin in his wagon along with patele's, corn on the cob, hard ice, soda, and lots of candies. Being one of the oldest grandchildren, I often worked in the Snack Wagon on Saturdays at the Swap Meet and during the summers at Salt Pond.

Grandpa would always let me take some candy home and then he'd give me some money and say, "don't tell grandma." Then grandma would give me money and say, "don't tell grandpa."

I should have saved all that money!

Whatever!

I can't wait until the first snowfall!! I've heard that Idaho has already used one of their snow days. For my family members in Hawai'i who don't know what snow days are let me esssplain. Too much snow - school cancelled. Don't you wish you guys had snow days?! I don't like using snow days because eventually you have to make it up in the Spring. Here in Othello we are supposed to get down into the 30's this weekend. Of course it will get that cold because we have a 5 day weekend (Fri - Tues. off).

It's time for parent-teacher conferences!!! Oh boy, can't wait! The grades we've seen from our middle schooler has been pretty good. 3 A's, 2 B's, 1 C. That was a few weeks ago though.

More questions:

What is your favorite food? I have lots. One of my favorites is Lumpia, then Won Ton, Lomi Salmon, Kalua pig, Poi, Lau lau, Poki, and Sashimi. It's good when you have the last 6 things altogether.
Getting hungry again.

Favorite game to play as a child. I liked to play all kinds of things. Chinese Jump Rope was pretty big when I was about 5th and 6th grade. I wish I could still jump like that.

Favorite pair of shoes. Crocs - all the time, any style, I love Crocs!

More later.

Dirt Storm?

Ever heard of a Dirt Storm? Well, we just had one last night. Kind of like a sand storm only with dirt instead. Every year for the past two years we've had a sand storm come through out town and the surrounding areas. Last year it was so bad that some of the highways were shut down because you just couldn't see where the road was. The dirt/dust storm lasted all night and through today. Our porch had a layer of dirt on it. My kids went outside for a little bit and every time they took a step on the grass a little poof of dirt went up. My son's black sweats were gray all around his ankles.

The greeter at Walmart was wearing a white mask and there was dirt all over the outside of her mask. When I first got in there, I notice that it was a little foggy in side - a dust fog. I could taste the dirt and dust. Yuck!

Never experienced anything like that in Hawai'i. Tsunami warnings, hurricanes, tropical storms that flood the whole island, but no dirt storms!