Life with Boose and Finch

I took a women's self defense class with Aikido of Fresno this morning.  I really should have sooner considering that it has been over fourteen years since I've attended a jujitsu class.  Once upon a time, I worked to get a black belt in jujitsu.  Now I'm lucky if I can remember that I can slap someone.  A friend had told me that the Aikido of Fresno's self defense seminars were worth going to, and so I bought the $20 ticket on Eventbrite for this one.  And then I bought a $35 card for ten more classes to try out some actual Aikido. Originally, I had been planning to starting another martial art when Ro started a martial art, but it doesn't look like he'll be taking classes with Aikido of Fresno.  Their only kids classes are at 4:30pm during the week even though the adult classes are evenings and Saturdays.  I guess there are enough other people out there who can take their kids to these classes to keep them open.  I'm thinking about getting hi...

I hope you had a good Independence Day!  We definitely did. It was long and tiring, but we made only good decisions with low expectations. Other than being Independence Day, it was also my mother-in-law’s birthday. I invited her over earlier in the week for an indoor barbecue. Ro had spent the night with her and so B woke me up at 7am (I could have slept until 9am) anxious about getting the tri-tip ready in time. I had already marinated the tri-tip in soy sauce, garlic, and olive oil per  this recipe . Of course, I realized that I forgot to get spinach for a peach salad. And then I forgot to buy a cake. So, I had to run to the store a couple of times during my preparation time. During the whole time, B had Caddyshack (1980) playing on the tv, but he helped arrange the food and serve everyone. .  In the end, I managed to grill the tri-tip, chicken sausage, shrimp skewers, aspasagus, and corn. I tried to do squash, but burned it all. My mother-in-law brought over Ro...

I have a lot of time during work to listen to podcasts.  I have a 45 minute commute.  At the moment, I spend hours standing up looking for insects and diseases in fruit.  I also have a lot of time after all of that to do paperwork.  Listening to podcasts is one of the few ways that I like listening to major news events because otherwise I'll keep jumping down the rabbit hole of all of the bad things that are possible to go wrong in life when I search through the news websites.  I think B has even stopped checking websites for that reason.  Just for fun, I'll list a few of my favorites (in no particular order) and in a couple of posts. Local-ish: Hello Bakersfield I spent my whole childhood living in southwest Bakersfield and only moved to Fresno ten years ago with the original intention to study linguistics at Fresno State.  I've liked watching the Fresno downtown and Tower District revitalization.  It's also been really fun watching ...

Despite saying that he was done biking after doing his AIDS/Lifecycle ride, B has still been out biking on Saturday mornings.  Also in true Father's Day fashion, B wanted to get away from us for Daddy Time not being with his family.  (I'm really joking.  The joke between B and I is that for Mother's Day, it's all about how the mom is surrounded/smothered by family and the dad goes fishing in a far off land maybe with beer and another likeminded dude for Father's Day.)  During this last Saturday morning, I thought Ro and I could go out for some fun.   We started the morning off with breakfast at Benediction ($23.44) eating/sharing French toast bites, scrambled eggs, thick cut bacon (Ro), orange juice (mine) and apple juice (for Ro).  I really love this little restaurant, but B doesn't really like it that much, and so I thought it would be fun.  Ro loved to draw in chalk on the tables.  He didn't really like the bacon very much, but probably bec...

So...B has been training, raising money, and finally finished his bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles!  Yes, you read that right.  He rode his bicycle 545 miles and between 40 and 100 miles per day.  Luckily, I managed to get to the finish line in time to see him finish the ride! We were soo happy he was done, but he says it was the best time.  B is still debating on whether or not to do it again because of the time commitment, but we'll see. Let's back up a bit though.  How did I get to Los Angeles in time?!  I'm still kind of amazed I did get there by 12:30PM. I managed to have the foresight on Friday to fill up the gas tank and remember to ask my friend to watch Caboose.  Finch is usually okay with just some water and food.  I set the thermostat to turn on the air conditioning if it got too hot.  I also left the bedroom doors open so she could hide under the bed if she still got hot. (She's staring at me as I'm typing th...

Awhile ago we planned to meet B’s uncles for a Disneyland trip since it was “halfway” between Fresno and Palm Springs. Disneyland did not disappoint! I’m not sure if it ever does.  We loved going with a toddler and four adults total. Here’s my breakdown: Friday B and I took the whole day off to make sure we had plenty of time to leave Fresno and get to our hotel in Anaheim.  During that time, we managed to eat at Zankou Chicken in Santa Clarita and stop at a weirdly well remodeled bathroom in Traver. We had just left home when Ro realized he needed to use the bathroom and then needed to use the bathroom again another three times. I’m not sure how normal it is for a toddler, but I don’t usually mind it because a) I like visiting random places and b) I always like an excuse to stop somewhere for coffee. ☕️ We made it in record time (seven hours with all of the stops), Ro didn’t have a nap, and we had a chance to take Ro to Downtown Disney. We told him it was Disneyland and he...

Hi, all! I still haven’t figured out how to use this space. I have a family to think about while posting.  Our little family consists of me A, my spouse B, my three-year-old son Ro, dog Caboose and cat Finch. I love my family, listening to podcasts, doing stuff in Fresno, CA, traveling, and exercise. Lately, I’ve been trying to get back into shape to do 10 mile runs. Our family has also been surviving with only one car and so I’d like to share a little about that to let other know that is it possible to live in Fresno without two vehicles in the family. We all also really love all forms of travel. Enjoy!