A Visit From Our Extended Family

A gray rainy day was made sunny by a visit from the Yousefian family! Saba is on break from med school and so we were only missing Neda (and Anahita and Gabriel and Shirin) who is still in Mauritania in the Peace Corps. And although I didn't get any pictures of it (because I was lighting the candles) we celebrated Lua's third birthday with cupcakes and the Happy Birthday song, sung first in English and then in Farsi, although no one ever knows all the words to the Farsi version! One would think you couldn't possibly eat cupcakes after a big breakfast but Lua had taken us out for a walk in the rain and we replenished our appetites sufficiently.

Add to this some delicious eggs with potato and and onion and some big, fresh, soft flatbread and fresh coffee and tea and it was a feast.

Here we are discussing what it's going to be like when Saba visits Neda in Mauritania in two days. Apparently the village will be celebrating the arrival of their guest with the sacrifice of a sheep. My brain doesn't even want to go there.

Saba explained that she has one more year of academics then a year of residency and then the dreaded board exam.

Meanwhile, Lua was determined to get some action going with the cats. Frosty let her pet him a couple of times and then he'd had enough. A hiss or two and she backed off. Same with Obi. Chappu, however, will tolerate anyone who will pull a string for her to chase.

Even Marzieh couldn't resist the string game! And this is something that Chappu never gets tired of playing, never.

Saeed has been trying for hours to get some lovin' from Lua. Finally after getting a smooch from her Dad...

... she relents and gives her Uncle Saeed the hug and kiss he's been after!

We hate to see them go; Saeed doesn't even get up, hoping they'll stay longer!

Grisly Secret

In a continuation of my last entry's theme I am passing on a new company to boycott: Mars. I supposed I should be posting about Proctor & Gamble since they make so many things (list of products) and I've been boycotting them for years because of their horrendous animal testing practices, but this one recently came to my attention.

Mars is currently funding a deadly experiment on rats to determine the effects of chocolate ingredients on their blood vessels. Experimenters force-feed the rats by shoving plastic tubes down their throats and then cut open the rats' legs to expose an artery, which is clamped shut to block blood flow. After the experiment, the animals are killed. Mars has also funded cruel experiments in which mice were fed a candy ingredient and forced to swim in a pool of a water mixed with white paint. The mice had to find a hidden platform to avoid drowning, only to be killed and dissected later on. In yet another experiment supported by Mars, rats were fed cocoa and anesthetized with carbon dioxide so that their blood could be collected by injecting a needle directly into their hearts, which can lead to internal bleeding and other deadly complications.

Mars' top competitor, Hershey's, has pledged not to fund or conduct experiments on animals, so buy Hershey's candy (product list) instead of: M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles, Milky Way, Starburst, Three Musketeers, Twix, Dove, M-mazing, Cocoavia, Ethel M, Lucas and Munch. Then you can satisfy your sweet tooth and your conscience.

And kudos to Gene Beal who bought all his family members "Hershey's" t-shirts!

Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine

Is this a cute image or what?

I have long been a member of PCRM and this was the image on the Christmas card they sent this year. In a nutshell PCRM is a non-profit cooperative between physicians and laypeople to promote health awareness and new ways (more compassionate) to conduct medical research. Every day there seems to be new and often conflicting information about cancer, diabetes, and heart disease - one doesn't know what to believe! PCRM only reports on the most reliable, rigorous research and attempts to distill it all down to something understandable and applicable. For example, they've been very active in promoting and reporting on research in the area of diabetes. If you go to their website there's an entire section pertaining only to diabetes and what you can do to prevent it and actually minimize its effects if you do get it. There are links to many things: an archive to breaking medical news, The Cancer Project, information about preventative medicine, nutrition and recipes, ethics in science and research, ethics in animal experimentation, a list of compassionate charities and what criteria are used in determining which organizations are compassionate, PCRM's role in changing federal nutrition policies, and on and on and on. I especially love their emphasis on ethics. Here's a video (narrated by Alec Baldwin) about PCRM. I hope you go to their website and explore a bit.

Addendum: As you shop you can also put your dollars towards compassionate choices. Here's a GREAT list of companies that DON'T test on animals. And here's list of companies that DO test on animals - avoid them if possible.

To Fix Or Not To Fix?

I'm talking about "red eye." No, not the condition for which you use ophthalmic drops, nor the late flight you take during the night, but the photographic phenomenon that occurs that makes us look creepy. Look at the first pic - both of their eyes are red. Now look at the second pic. Gabriel's eyes are still red. For some reason my PhotoShop software fixed Tita's but not his. But do hers look normal? I feel like my choices are between creepy and spooky.

original photo with red eyes

Tita with her BLACK eyes. Spooky, man.

Which do you think looks better?

So, What's In Your Suitcase?

You know what they say about one person's garbage being another person's treasure. Well, Cha Cha eats really expensive prescription dog food that his Aunt Shirin can get as a result of being a vet student. The challenge for Tita is to take it back to California with her.

Step #1 Grab glass scooping device

Scoop the stinking stuff into plastic ziplock bags.

Try not to gag from the smell as you zip each bag shut.

Place strategically into suitcase.

Can't you just hear the guys at the airport opening her bag..."Eewww - what the @#$%&* is that?!" And guess what was in her other suitcase?

An entire bag of dog food. She tried to pack the other bag that way too but then there was no room for her own belongings so she divided it up into smaller amounts. Oh, what a mother will do for her child. We have the rest of the stinky stuff here waiting for her next trip home.

The moment of truth: the weigh in. Each bag weighed 50.8 lbs. I spoke with her later and she said the airport weighed her in at 50 lbs. each.

I wish I could hear Cha Cha crunching happily away on his stinky treasures. I'd also like to hear the joy in Tita's voice as she reunites with her best friend - she really missed him.

Christmas 2007

I'm sure you're thinking, how can this first picture be "Christmas 2007"? But this is how we started out the day, by meeting Baby Cyrus in person!

The first step is applying the ultrasound gel...
It was so much fun to watch him squirm, swallow, and kick.

Witness the enthralled audience.

All that excitement made us hungry so we headed over to the Saigon Bistro, our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Charlotte.

Our next stop was the store next door, the Halal Market, where Gabriel picks up a few of his favorite sweets.

At home Anahita works on her present for Saeed.

Shirin makes some yummy oatmeal raisin cookies.

Shirin and I are trying to get Saeed to cooperate for the picture. He always gives me such a hard time, so I guess he gets what he deserves!

We couldn't help but watch the video of Baby Cyrus's ultrasound again.

Tita finished Saeed's painting and placed it under the tree. Chappu gives the area a last check to be sure everything's in place before we start our "Christmas Eve" gift opening.

Obi's just excited that Tita left the prop for her painting on the table.

The king of the castle.

Frosty in his usual spot.

Shirin takes advantage of Obi's fascination with the tree and steals a kiss.

Gabriel is smiling so hard about his new sweatshirt that his eyes are shut!

Tita models her new shell.

Shirin receives a belly band from Tita. We had to have an explanation for what that is exactly: it allows you to wear non-maternity pants by being worn under the open waistband of a regular pair of pants.

Judging by Tita's laughter Saeed must be making his usual running commentary.

The next morning the stockings were waiting for three sleepyheads to wake up.

The items in the stockings are always very basic (like toothbrushes) but they seem to get just as excited.

Baby Cyrus and his mommy ready for breakfast.

Watching the video again.

Shirin explains to Cyrus's Aunt Tita about the sutures between the skull plates that can be seen in the video. I'll resist the comment that comes to my mind when looking at this picture about two chimps grooming.

We had a lovely weekend and wish all our family and friends a Merry Christmas!

Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

Yay - the kids are here and Christmas weekend is about to start! Anahita arrived Friday evening slightly ahead of schedule and Shirin and Gabriel arrived about an hour later. After eating a yummy dinner Saeed cooked, the girls decorated the Christmas tree. The finished product looked better than when I've done it in the past. You know what that means - they are now assigned that task from this day forward. While they decorated, Gabriel set up his own rock band in the livingroom.

The Little Drummer Boy
The instruments are part of an electonic game using the TV which scrolls assigned notes to play and sing karoke style. If you do a bad job it kicks you out of the band!

He recruited this cute chick from California to be his lead singer...

... and this cute pregnant chick to be lead guitar.

Meanwhile, I couldn't find the tree skirt and used a Persian sofreh cloth instead. Obi helped me arrange it so it would look nice.

This is Frosty's new perch. He does everything from here, including monitoring the tree activities. Obi and Chappu are at the bottom, but nobody disturbs the tree or the decorations. Such well-behaved kitties. Calvin was probably hiding in the closet and who knows where Tippy was.

The next morning I was up getting ready to make breakfast when Frosty couldn't get enough of me. After the usual morning love session he persisted in meowing for more attention. The solution of putting him in a bed on the counter worked great! He was happy to be kissed between ingredients.

Well, what Frosty has Obi wants too. Another bed, another cat to kiss.

Finally we were settled and I could make some progress. No wonder it takes me forever to do everything; I have so much help!

Fortunately the late sleepers weren't the wiser. For them breakfast was right on time.