the things we do for relatives

a cousin of mine is getting married this December and asked me in January, after meeting her for the first time in my adult life, to buy her wedding dress.

...well, that is the type of requests you get from relatives over there...so my mom and I headed down to the last day of David's Bridal's $99.00 dress sale TODAY.

Of course, by that time there was nothing but slim pickings and my mom just couldn't settle...so she kicked in $200.00 to my $150.00 budget and we got this dress which I decided to model so I could email it to her and she can plan her bridesmaids, flowers etc around the dress :
cute, eh?

Here it is in black and white which I think is more elegant. Black and white photos come out the best sometimes.
and the back of the dress, first in color and then in black and white:you won't believe what she tells me after I call her to get her email to send photos of the dress. I ask her how her daughter is doing and she tells me her school fees are expensive! Can you believe the nerve????

I reply by telling her, "I know how you're feeling and you can imagine I have two kids and the fees are more than triple the cost in America!"

The NERVE! then she asks about gloves, veil and shoes. Whaaaat??? They sell that stuff in Africa!!

Hands in the Pants Take II

So after a trip to the doctor, it turns out Mischiefmaker#2's itchy bum may be caused by a sore, a fissure Dr. H called it, that has not healed properly. But we got a prescription for worms medicine just in case there are some there as we suspected.

More interesting, as I signed Mischiefmaker#2 in at the office, there was this white family that came in right after me. Following behind them was a cute little blonde toddler with curly locks. The two parents huddled over what looked like a nearly 1 -year old Asian baby. "Dr. L told us to bring her straight to the office the moment she arrives from China." This reminded me of Angelina Jolie ( i know. i know. this is turning into a stream of consciousness post, but i think it has a point or theme)

All the news outlets are saying it looks like she might have broken some laws to get her latest kid, Pax, so quickly from a Vietnamese adoption agency. Figures, after Madonna-gate, all the world knows that A-list American celebrities can merely walk over to some third world nation and pick up any kid on the lot.

Sidebar: I must admit, Madonna turned it up a notch when she went for her Malawian(sp) son. To me, it was a signal to her bretheren Arian would- be parents (like 1/6th of my neighbors) that unlike them who can easily get an Asian baby, only she and Angelina can be so bold and brazen to get themselves an authentic African child. Ooooooh.
Maybe I read too much ino it. :lol

Well, blog readers, it looks like there wasn't a point to this post after, all.

Note to Mischiefmaker#2: Byoy, you are going to take out my ear drums with that high pitch screaming you do! Please. Please. Work with me to work thru that really bad habit. Please, baby. thank you.

Trini is beating Africa

My 1/2 Trini, 1/2 African children are getting more and more Trini everyday. After 10 days in Trinidad for carnival this past February, Mischiefmaker#1 has perfected a few Trini habits, most notably his taste in music has wained from Baby Einstein to soca!

Now our conversations on the music selection in the SUV goes like this:

Mischiefmaker#1: mommy, I don't want to hear "wheels on the bus, play the 'mas' song."
Me: Er...the what?
Mischiefmaker#1: the mas song
Me: Boy, I don't know what you are talking about, how does it go?

Mischiefmaker#1: the one that goes like this, "jump up... we movin...we playin..jump..jumbeeee dat..."

Aaaaaahhh THE MAS SONG!

Now, it's just Machel...and "tack back"...and Jumbie...and...ah get a cold sweat...all the way to school...and back. Which I don't mind, because I love soca, but it sure looks funny to our stodgy neighbors as we're singing loudly at the top of our lungs rolling into our driveway.

And then Mischiefmaker#2, the boy can't hear a soca tune emitting from the next car and he's bopping his head and twisting his little body in his car seat. Hmmm. With me gravitating to Caribbean music, party, friends and lifestyle, I wonder if I'll be able to maintain their Africaness and make sure they are aware of African culture.

My parents would surely be jealous. It's not just that Mischiefmaker#2 is just 1 and has been to Trinidad twice already and 4 year old Mischiefmaker#1 has been there 4 times already. It's more so that they've never been to our native Sierra Leone, West Africa.

I gotta get these boys to come with me if I get to go to Africa again next year. This January's trip to Africa was work and business, but now that my parents are nearly done with their country home, I'm hoping next year to take the entire family with me to Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone is very much like Trinidad in its climate, carefree relaxedness of the people, its politics, the seriousness of the natives over futbol...though in a moment of awe last month, I was shocked and amazed to learn that the oil rich Trinidad which has boasted a Miss World and Miss Universe and has hosted a MTV Real World "Gauntlet" series (here my American sensibilities show through) also had a stock exchange!! augh!!! Trinidad is soooo much less of a Third World country than Sierra Leone it's not even funny. I love Trinidad with all its flaws, I'm in love with the place and the people. Mischiefmaker#1 and #2 are in love with it too.

So...Mischiefmaker#1 will soon start Soccer (futbol) and hopefully will get to practice cricket using the cricket bat that his brother's godmother, Natasha bought for him in Trinidad...and they will become more and more Trini boys. Gotta sneak some Africa in there somehow, after we finish this last piece of Roti and get tired of the 2K& soca we brought home from Carnival! hahahahahaha!!