小學科學博覽會 ( 學後心得) Aftermath of the Science Fair

On the way home from school on Friday, I asked my son what he had learned from the science fair at school. He thought about it for a minute and say, "Mom, I think you should stop drinking Coke from now on." I knew he must have learned something about the "shortcomings" of Coke drinking. I said, "why?". "Because it ruins your teeth. It also stains your teeth." was his answer. I thanked him for letting me know. Apparently, he saw a poster on the effects of Coke on teeth (or rather the tooth enamel). Of over 100 posters exhibited at the Science Fair, this particular poster made him take notice. I should be glad that my son immediately thought of me when he saw the Coke/teeth poster.

Soda drinking is my one vice in life. I cannot live without that bubbly sensation of the first sip. To maintain a decent weight, I have resorted to drinking diet sodas. I also like that caffeine buzz cola sodas give me, but I'm not brand specific. I'll drink Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi One, depending on whichever brand is on sale the week I run out of sodas.

I have been warned about the adverse effects of soda-drinking, including calcium depletion and the ruination Coke causes one's teeth. But like anyone who has an addiction, until one is faced with an impending death sentence, one will not give up on one's addictive vice. In that regard, I am no different.

學校辦的科學博覽會星期五結束。放學回家時,我問了兒子,“你看到那麼多的科學海報,你學到什麼沒有?” 他想了一下就說,“媽媽,妳不要再喝可樂了!” 我心裏跳了一下,也知道大概他看到什麼樣的科學海報了。 不過我還是繼續問他,”為什麼不能再喝呢?” 他說,“喝了可樂之後,牙齒很容易變黃,也很容易蛀牙。” 我趕快告訴他,“謝謝你的提醒,不過媽媽早就知道了。謝謝你,可是你不用擔心媽媽,我只要常常刷牙就不會有問題的。” 小孩這時才鬆了口氣。我也鬆了一口氣。我最怕人家叫我不要喝太多汽水。

我當然知道喝汽水對身體不好。汽水能讓身體少吸收很多鈣質,對於家有骨質疏鬆症病歷的我以及牙齒不好的我,汽水的確是要少碰為妙。但是這個癮很難戒得掉。每當喝下汽水的那第一口時....那種超過癮的感覺,我可能要到面臨生死存亡的決擇時,才會放棄喝汽水!

大家的母親節是怎麼過的? How was your Mother's Day?

I had a very relaxing Mother's Day. Neither of my kids have any projects due in the coming week, so I didn't have to nag them about their assignments. I don't know why I still have to worry about school assignments. It's like my recurring high school nightmares never ended--forgetting about an exam or assignment. Maybe it's more about me than about them. Perhaps, I'm the one who stresses out too much about their school experience.

Anyways, this morning my dad woke me up via Skype. He wanted to chat, but I wanted to sleep. Then I realized I had family coming over for lunch, so I got out of bed and started to clean the house. My dad had forgotten about Mother's Day. At least I got to wish my own mother a Happy Mother's Day via Skype. I told him I would call him back later on tonight and began my "special" day.

My husband decided to have a barbeque at home and invited his parents and his sister's family over for lunch. This is no different than what we normally do on a Sunday. The only difference is that my son doesn't have baseball practice today. His coach canceled the practice so all the boys can spend their afternoons with their moms. All the kids were playing in the backyard while my husband fired up the charcoal and made some fabulous ribeye steaks for lunch.

Before my husband went out to Costco this morning to buy the steaks, I told him not to waste any money buying jewelry for me. What's the point of a gift when I can basically buy anything I want the other 364 days?! He said OK and off he went.

I believe that everyday should be Mother's Day, not just one Sunday in May. Mothers should be appreciated everyday of the year, not just one Sunday in May. But the American culture promotes Mother's Day and all the kids in schools will make a card and a small gift for their mothers or grandmothers. I got a pair of earrings from my daughter. She made them at her last Girl Scout meeting. My son made me a pen holder which looks like a potted plant.

But the best gift I got today was the gift I asked my son to give me. I told him that for Mother's Day, I want him to practice his violin. So without any complaints (which he normally does), he went to pick up his violin and played everything once. He did mumbled under his breath "I am only doing this for you because it's Mother's Day!" Whatever, I got what I wanted!!!

In the end, my husband did buy me something for Mother's Day. He bought me an orchid plant from Trader Joe's. His explanation: "You are so good at raising orchids." There is some truth to that because orchids are the only plants that hadn't died in my care.

我先說我自己的母親節好了!

今天的天氣不錯,我老公在家烤肉,請了公婆和小姑一家到家裏吃飯。其實這跟我們平常星期天的作息沒有兩樣,只是兒子下午的棒球練習被教練取消了(通常是每星期天下午四點到五點半)。教練說這樣才能讓小孩在家多陪陪媽媽。

兩個小孩和表弟玩到五點才散會。

我 叫老公不用買什麼東西送我。我該有的都有了。母親節本來就不需要存在。大家應該天天都要對媽媽好,不是等到母親節才對媽媽獻殷勤。不過話又說回來, 我倒是利用母親節給我的特權, 叫我兒子練小提琴給我聽。今天是唯一的一次他沒有跟我討價還價, 而自動的把小提琴拿出來練。雖然他的嘴不斷的碎碎念, 我還是很感動!

女兒送了我一副耳環, 是她在上個女童子軍聚會時做的。兒子則在上課時做了一個花盆式的筆架給我。老公最後還是有買東西送我---他到 Trader Joe's 買了一盆蘭花給我, 因為蘭花是我唯一養不死的盆栽!

祝所有媽咪母親節快樂!

母親節的禮物 Mother's Day Gift

Time flies. It's almost Mother's Day! I wasn't fully aware of how close we are to Mother's Day until I got an email from my son's class mom telling all the parents that volunteering in his class has been canceled today because the kids are making Mother's Day gift in class this morning. So, of course, no moms are allowed in class. I was suppose to go in to help today, but since I didn't have to go, I decided to go to Sam's Club to look into a Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law is very frugal. She doesn't want any of her children to spend money on her. Even with that in mind, I still want to buy a small present for her. She has done so much for her family. It's such a cliche, but she really treats me like her own daughter.

I thought of making a photo mug for her. I can upload photos onto Sam's Club digital photo center and order special gifts using those photos. I was going to get my sister-in-law and brother-in-law to email me photos of their kids, so I can present a mug to my mother-in-law with all her grandkids' photos on the mug. Unfortunately, the order would have taken at least a week and there just wasn't enough time to get this gift made before Mother's Day.

Since the photo gift idea didn't work out, I had to find another gift for my mother-in-law. I ended up buying her a burgundy velor jacket, a beaded top, a huge bag of Hershey's Nuggets, and a pot of roses for my mother-in-law. As I'm typing this, I've decided to return the pot of roses. In showing the roses to my husband, I got pricked twice by the rose bush. As my mother-in-law has poor eyesight, I am sure she would prick herself if she had to take care of those roses. I will find another potted plant from Trader Joe's to give to my mother-in-law.

My husband asked me what I want for Mother's Day. I told him not to bother. It really is meaningless to buy me a gift. What kind of gift will show me that I am appreciated as a mother?! Nothing can compared to a simple statement from my 7-year old son, "Mommy, you are so cute!"

母親節快到了。事先我完全無警覺, 真的沒想到這星期天就是母親節。好快喔! 又一年了! 昨天兒子班上的班媽寫了一封電子郵件給班上所有的家長告知這星期四(今天) 我們不用進教室服務(volunteer),原因是小朋友要在課堂上做母親節的禮物給自己的媽媽, 所以媽媽不能到教室幫忙。

也好,我可以去做別的事情。當然, 最緊迫的事情就是得準備個母親節禮物給我的婆婆。我本來想利用小孩子的生活照 (我也向小姑和小叔索取他們小孩的照片), 把它印在馬克杯上送給婆婆。把所有婆婆的孫子孫女的影像印在馬克杯子上是一過不錯的 idea, 只可惜 Sam's Club 需要七天以上的工作天才能製作完畢。那時候母親節也就過了。算了, 買別的東西送婆婆好了。

我在Sam's Club 逛了逛, 挑了一件葡萄酒色的絲絨夾克及一件同色的長袖上衣給我的婆婆。我的婆婆非常節儉(台灣人的美德!), 通常是不希望晚輩為她花任何的錢。但是我還是想買個小禮物送她, 因為她真的是一位好婆婆! 反正我知道我不能花太多錢在她的禮物上面, 要不然她是會不收禮物, 叫我直接拿回去退。我正是怕她不喜歡我送她的衣服, 所以我又另外買了一大包的巧克力糖 (Hershey's Nuggets) 給她。這巧克力我知道她一定會收的, 因為我兒子也喜歡吃。所以我的婆婆不只是位好太太、好媽媽、好婆婆,她更是一位好阿嬤!