Love, Life and Appreciation: 2017

Aquamarine exhibit at the National History Museum.

About three weeks ago Rex and I went to the National History Museum in Washington, DC. We had been to the museum in the past with my friend Carmen and her family and our kiddos over 4 months ago. It was actually Rex and the kids and I's the first time going. We have been to other museums in the DC mall area, more recently to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I was very nice and inspiring in the museums but we usually have to rush the visit when with the kids, so when my parents took the children a few weekends ago, Rex and I decided to view more of the National History Museum. The children had a really great time with their grandparents in NJ and they went to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. I would have put pictures in this post but my parents didn't take any.

It was so nice from what saw before. We went to the butterfly section and ocean section before. This time we saw more of the Earth and the minerals and gems. I didn't know the Hope diamond was there and I was determined to see it this time. I did and saw so much more. I really liked the gems and the meteorites were so amazing, including a large meteorite which made Meteor Crater in Arizona. I have a smaller piece of the meteor when my parents and I, saw the crater in AZ, over twenty years ago! I remember I was hyperventilating when I saw the crater, my mom thought it was a big hole in the ground.

Rex and I saw minerals and gems at the National History Museum. Here's just a look at a couple more:

A rainbow of minerals and gems.

Rainbow, cont.

The Hazen Diamond Necklace.

Cat's eye.

The Hope Diamond!

We'll take May and Nia to the museum again and so much more! Speaking of the space rock or meteorites, Rex, and the kiddos and I just completed a project for their daycare. The project is about the moon, as May and Nia are learning about space currently. Rex and I are so happy we found this daycare and it's a home daycare but our provider was previously a classroom teacher and is so understanding of our situation ever since we came over a year ago now. The curriculum is more like pre- K curriculum and May and Nia are getting such as great education.

Rex and I looking at kindergartens for May as she will be attending kindergarten next year. She is 4 and a half now, I just can't believe how fast she and Nia are growing, but she won't be 5 until December. Rex and I decided to enroll her next year for kindergarten for the Fall of next year, but we know we have to enroll her early next year. We might be moving too, closer to my job in White Marsh and it's actually not too far from our daycare provider as well. We will have to see though because I did just start working and it has been very informative and my teammates are very nice. Rex and I have some time though because though we have not faulted on paying the bills, we increased our debt more and we both would like to decrease that a bit before moving or something like that.

Sigh, with all that we all had a good time making the moon project this morning. I decided to do the phases of the moon from foil and Nia and May helped to crumble the foil, glue the pieces including the pompoms as galaxies and nebulas and cut the paper. Rex helped to draw the circles and cut the paper too and put on the glitter. I think it turned out good and it was nice to flex our creative muscles. I remember making projects with my father. He would really go all out for the projects. I know there will be plenty of projects for the kids in the future and I'm sure one of them will have lights and holographics.

Our finished project 😀 :

I'm back with another installment of the 30 Things series. It's getting more. Hehe. Here we go!

8. What are 5 passions you have?

1. Family

I have been family oriented ever since I was younger. I have been so blessed to have positive role models in my family. My parents, my grandparents, my uncles, and aunts and cousins, and so much more. My husband is so caring and my children are so curious and cheerful. Many of my friends are family. I am truly blessed even though I live in another state from my relatives and friends, we all still have strong bonds that can never be broken and I am so thankful for that.

2. My husband and children

I can't thank God enough for the life I have been given and meeting Rex so randomly and having everything fit so well into place. We have two gorgeous children share a some of our personality traits and are so themselves. Seeing them grow into beautiful women, later though, it all makes me want to cry. I am passionate to work hard for them and Rex and to be the best mother and wife I can be. I want my children to learn and to continue to learn and I am very passionate about education.

3. Learning

Life is full of lessons and mistakes are sure to be made, but learning from those mistakes is really what is key to a successful future. There is only so much that can be learned in a day but in a lifetime we must keep our eyes and ears open. I love to learn and stay current with the latest trends in tech and the world. I remember being in my social sciences class in middle school and my teacher was shocked when we said that no one reads the newspaper. "Don't you want to know what goes on in the world?" she proclaimed. From there I said, "Yes" and I follow the topics and try not to get lost in some topics but one topic I will never stray from is science. My father got me into science and that has lead me to, my Masters in Science and far beyond in articles and presentations. I also am passionate about history and knowing that learning help to sustain us in the future.

4. Earth Science and the World itself

I squeal every time I see a rainbow and I think about all the mechanisms of how the rainbow occurs just at the right moment with just the right conditions. It's truly amazing the World we live in and to think we are the 3rd rock from the Sun, spinning in the galaxy with billions upon billions of stars. The weather, water, mountains, trees, plants and so many more, are so beautiful and though at times the weather can be quite destructive, the beauty that is nature is outstanding and I am passionate about preserving it and educating others. We have to protect the World we live in, so that future generations can actually breathe on this planet and actually see the beauty in which God has given us.

5. Helping Others

The above picture is last year when I competed in a dragon boat race with my team at AOL. I'm 2 spots in front of the person in blue. We were raising money for the Catholic Charities. I will have to write a blog post about that event. It was so much fun and training for it was intense but it was for such a great cause and giving back is a big passion of mine. I try to help others in many different ways from just being an ear, to providing advice, to mentoring, to teaching how to read and work the computers, to monetary donations and food donations. I know that many people are struggling and even a smile can lighten the mood for at least a second. I try to pay it forward and I hope to engage in more events and give back until the day I am no longer on this Earth.

Potato Leave (Grain) Stew with Fried Chicken

Ah, it's Labor Day and we all had off for today. I actually am happy to have off for today. I started my new role as an Informatics Specialist at Mosaic Community Services about a week ago and there is so much with information overload, but I am happy to be doing something I really enjoy to help others, and I have employment after 8+ months unemployed. The kids are doing well and Rex and I let them sleep in. They are learning a lot from A Kid's Agenda, our daycare provider. Our daycare provider is so amazing and nourishing and heartwarming. We have been taking the kids there for over a year now and May is writing her letters and Nia is learning more complex shapes. Rex will be starting school on the 6th, he has two more years and then he'll be graduating with his certification as an electrician. He is doing well with side projects as well and Rex even fixed the light and ceiling in my parent's kitchen. He and my father went to Home Depot a few weeks ago and it didn't take them more than 30 minutes to complete the project. The ceiling was falling apart and had been that way for some time now.

Just yesterday we actually went to NJ for a BBQ with my maternal side of the family. The BBQ was held at my uncle Ernie's house and it was so nice to see the family and have a good time. The trip was about an hour and 40 minutes from the home in Maryland and the drive to and from NJ was not too bad at all.

Seeing family is wonderful and one day I really hope we can see in person Rex's mother and brothers and sisters back in Liberia. It is so great with technology that now we can see them with cameras on phones. We talk through Facebook Messenger and we smile so widely. Rex hasn't been to Liberia since he first came to the United States in 2006. I love learning about the culture from Rex and he also makes cultural dishes. I'm starting to cook more of the dishes as well as cook more homemade meals. We love salmon.

Today, since we were all together at the home and because it's somewhat of a holiday, we decided to make a popular Liberian and West African dish, Potato Leave (Grain) Stew with Fried Chicken. The dish is primarily potato leaves and can be made with meats like chicken, turkey and also fish. We made the stew with fried chicken and I documented the whole process. I'm going to include more cultural dishes to the blog as well as other cultural topics. The result of the stew is so delicious. It is also very warming and filling. Here's the recipe with pictures:

Ingredients
4 packs of potato leaves (grain)
3 onions, chopped
1 to 4 Maggi Seasonings packets
2 packs of chicken, legs, and breasts
2.5 Cups of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of pepper
1/2 ground pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of Ms. Dash
1 8oz can of tomato paste
1/2 of water
2 cups jasmine rice

*Note:
The potato leaves (grain) can be found at an International Store.
2 green or red hot peppers, chopped, can be used for making the dish spicier. Add the peppers with the onions and before the water and tomato paste.

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Before cooking, wash all potato leaves, chicken, onions, and rice.

Season chicken evenly with 1/2 of salt, pepper and Ms. Dash and in a big pot add 1 1/2 cups of oil.
Place on medium-high heat to fry the chicken.

While the pot is warming, line up the potato leaves and cut off stems, leaving the leaves.

Cut the leaves into finely chopped portions, repeat for all the potato grains from the packs.

Save the chopped potato leaves in a separate bowl.

You might need a second hand for this, place the raw chicken in the pot with the oil
and start frying. Turn the chicken occasionally to prevent burning.

The chicken should be crispy. Save the fried chicken in a separate bowl.

When the potato leaves have been chopped and the chicken has been fried. Add a 1/2 of the salt
along with the onions and 1 to 4 Maggi seasonings (depending on how much seasoning you wish)
to the chopped leaves.

Maggi seasoning.

Add 1 cup of the oil to the chopped potato leaves and add the grains to the oil.

Add the ground pepper flakes to the stew and stir and cover the pot.

Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the tomato paste, and water to the pot and the fried chicken. Stir occasionally,
and cover the pot. Cook the potato leave stew for 35 minutes.

When the stew is finished, the green will be soft and the chicken pieces will fall off.

While the stew is cooking, boil jasmine rice in water and serve stew
on a bed of jasmine rice. Enjoy!

Yes, with the arms outstretched, this is the next installment of 30 Things.

7. What is your dream job, and why?

My dream job isn't really a specific job, it's more of the qualities I'd want for the role. I'll be 31 in next year and my first ever job was delivering newspapers with my mom. Since then I've had an array of different roles from dietary aide in a nursing home, receptionist at an alcohol distributing company (I met Dan Akyroyd there), graduate student researcher at Howard University, Buyer III at environmental sanitary commission, policy manager at a Fortune 500 company (AOL, now part of Oath), among many others. Soon I will an Informatics Specialist at Mosaic Community Services. I think that having so many different roles has helped me more to figure out what I like, and though I am still young, I am still learning as well.

With that being said, many of the roles I mentioned were temporary jobs and in actuality, everything is pretty much temporary, some of those jobs only went for a month and I remember one job I had was one day. The people were so nice there though and two things I have truly learned to like is having a more stable role and being around people who are kind and friendly. I have been very fortunate to have been around many friendly people during the course of my many positions. I have also learned that continued learning is essential as well as adaptability and jobs that train and offer ways to learn is something I really like. Being able to volunteer is also a superb quality for me for a job and I love to volunteer and help others. I also like smaller companies, though larger companies are OK as well. I like working by myself but I also can work in a team setting.

My dream job is not a million dollar job, more on that I can utilize my skills and my voice and that offers great benefits for myself and the family and salary that is not at poverty level. I would more relate my dream job to the atmosphere I experienced at AOL. I was there for a year and actually started as a contractor and then I was converted to a full-time employee. Even as a contractor, I got to experience non-micro management and that I could be on my phone and even work from home. Oh, working from home is definitely a quality for my dream job. I loved the option of working from home at AOL and I was online and available and focused. It was great for lunch too. Even an office with windows and not insanely cold would be a dream of mine. One not too far from the house too, an hour is more tops.

A job quality I also would say would be up to date with current technologies and work actually to be available. I would love a job with not as much stress but in all, I can't really complain too much. My dream job would have me employed. So to summarize:

Stable, not a temp job and one that I can work in for many years
Friendly co-workers
Volunteer opportunities
Training and career advancement opportunities, flexibility
Able to utilize skills and voice
Great benefits for myself and the family
Non-micro management, freedom
Work from home option, or nice looking office with windows and temperature control
Up to do with current technologies or at least moving toward them
Not too stressful, I can outstretch my arms and breathe 😀

On August 21, the United States experienced the first total solar eclipse, that was visible from the West Coast to the East Coast in 99 years! A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon blocks the Sun. In this eclipse, the Moon appears black as it passes across the Sun and at totality the Moon completely covers the Sun and only the aura of the Sun can be seen. In the areas of totality, when the Moon completely blocks the Sun, the day turns to night as soon as the Moon blocks the Sun. When the Moon passes directly behind the Earth and the Sun is in alignment with this pattern, the result is a lunar eclipse. The moon appears to be red and is often called a "blood moon."

Here is Maryland, we were not in the path of totality for the solar eclipse but we were in the 80 to 83% range for a partial total eclipse. I dropped the kids off at the daycare and completed a couple of errands, earlier that day. The time for the eclipse to start in the area was 1:18 PM. I didn't have work because my orientation for my role at Mosaic Community Services is tomorrow. Yay! I did get to see the online stream of the eclipse and many of my friends actually went to areas of the totality like Tennessee and South Carolina. I was keeping up with their postings on social media and around 10 AM Eastern Time, the eclipse started in Oregon. Many people had the special eclipse glasses and I didn't have the glasses. I was unaware of the eclipse and it kind of caught me off guard. I love science and space too! I saw some of the people on the TV that were interviewed that said they had been waiting for this eclipse for 20 years.

I thought of where I wanted to view the eclipse and I was going to go to Rocky Point Beach Park or Miami Beach Park or a just a nearby park. It was very cool seeing the stream of the eclipse because when the eclipse went to totality in Oregon, it got completely dark! Right on live TV. It was amazing!!! The totality was for about 2 minutes and in other places in closer to the East Coast, it was for longer. It was so neat seeing the different areas around the US get dark as the eclipse swept across the United States. So then it came to about 1:20 PM and I decided to stay home, which was actually a better idea than I could have really known. I went out in the backyard and looked up but not for long. I looked at the sun through my smartphone, I know not that technical yet and I should have really had the glasses, or at least made a pinhole projector. I looked at my picture and got the start of the eclipse:

Yes, that is the Sun being covered by the Moon. The Sun wasn't blue though and that was more because of my camera on the smartphone. I went back in and waited, watching more of the live stream and chatting with friends on social media. The peak of the eclipse for the area was to be at 2:43 PM and something just told me to go out and snap a few pictures before the peak. I did and saw it was starting to get cloudy. Scattered thunderstorms were in the forecast for the area, and I had seen in other areas of the United States for there were clouds and showers, but during totality, the sky opened up and the eclipse could be seen. I knew that the area I was in was not going to get totality but I thought that 80% partial might break the clouds a bit. I was very wrong. It started thundering and getting more cloudy and by the time of peak it was lightning and raining, heavy.

Here's a picture I got before the thunderstorms:

I was like, "Really?" It continued to thunderstorm and when I opened the back door to see if maybe I could catch another glimpse and if some of the clouds broke around the eclipse, but I saw a flash of lightning and heard a crackle and I quickly closed the door. It didn't stop raining until well over 3 hours after the peak and the eclipse was to end for the area at 4:01 PM. My dad and Kate in New Jersey got pictures of the eclipse with his phone and they got clouds. The area in NJ they are in was around the same for visibility. I was a little upset that I couldn't see the eclipse at peak for the Baltimore region but I was very happy to have gotten the pictures I got and see the eclipse and the areas of totality through the live stream. I thought even with 80% the area might get a little dark but it did get dark with the thunderstorm.

The area of totality is absolutely amazing. I really think for the next solar eclipse to sweep the US in 7 years, on April 8, 2024, I might try to go to a location of totality. I'm thinking Erie, PA. I saw many of my friends went to various areas of the US in the path of totality for this eclipse and I really might try to plan with some of my friends for the upcoming one. There will be so much better planning, even if I decide to stay where I am at that time. Gosh, the last eclipse I can think of was the Christmas Eclipse of 2000. I had glasses then. :-)

Here are a couple of pictures from this magnificent event from other eclipse viewers:

In the middle of totality. I could see the solar flares with my naked eye. Amazing detail for a handheld shot. #NatGeoEclipse #eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/mMPzgkakYu

— Terry Virts (@AstroTerry) August 22, 2017

#GOES16 (preliminary, non-op & way cool) western hemisphere view of #Eclipse2017! (credit: Kaba Bah + the entire CIMSS/SSEC team) pic.twitter.com/VSakaiFWsM

— UW-Madison CIMSS (@UWCIMSS) August 21, 2017

Spectacular views of the solar eclipse from Kennedy! #Eclipse2017 pic.twitter.com/W2oqLHdzUz
— NASA Kennedy / KSC (@NASAKennedy) August 21, 2017

Someone got the Best View of #SolarEclipse2017...
From a Plane! #Eclipse2017 #MustSee 😎 pic.twitter.com/kBv4IUYuh2
— KevinNoel (@KevinNoel) August 21, 2017

Yesterday, Rex and the kiddos and I went to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair and Carnival. The Montgomery County Fair is the first fair that we've been to, since living in Maryland. It was very fun and yesterday was actually the last day of the fair. The fair was Rex's idea as he has been working on a building in Gaithersburg, MD for his line of work. He kept seeing the rides from the building he is working on and he suggested we go and check it out. I did research online the previous day about the fair and found that the fairgrounds is very large and that there were many exhibits and rides at the fair.

Gaithersburg is over 45 minutes from the house, but the ride down that way went pretty smooth. Parking was easy and I was happy that I bought the tickets for general admission online so we could bypass the long line to get in. We got to the fair a little after 11:30 am and it was already so hot. It was nice though that it wasn't raining. We got a map of the fairgrounds when we first got in. It was seriously like entering an amusement park! We waited for a couple of minutes to purchase tickets for the carnival part of the fairgrounds and those tickets granted access to the rides. We bought one all-day pass for May and for Nia we bought another for me because she had to go with an adult.

Our first stop was buying water and cold drinks. I wasn't sure if we could bring in drinks but we did carry a bag with pull-ups for Nia and wipes and we certainly we brought cash. After that, we went on the rides. May has become so fearless of rides and slides in recent months. I remember when she was frightened to jump up and down but she's been jumping around and running and going down slides for some time now. May was the good height for many of the rides but she also wanted me to go on with her. Rex went down the fun slide with her. Nia wasn't really enjoying the rides for the ones she was a good height for and with an adult.

Here's May, Nia and I on the first ride:

Nia wasn't happy on the ride.

Rex's view, he stood by while we were on many of the rides.

View of part of the Fair.

Rex!

May and Rex had a good time on the Fun Slide:

Down the Fun Slide!

I really liked how the rides were placed when you first walked into the fair. It seemed that more of the rides were suitable for smaller children and as we walked around to the other section of the fairgrounds the rides were for much taller children and adults. May really did well on the Kite Flyer. I was worried and Rex and I shouted for her to hold on tight before the ride started. She did hold on and really enjoyed it!

May did that!!! On the Kite Flyer!

The rides above were too big for Nia, so we went to the farm area to see the barnyard animals. There were pigs and goats and horses and chickens. Nia was very interested in the animals, but May really didn't like the smell. We also stopped by the fire trucks to learn about fire safety and May and Nia got to see a few fire trucks up close.

Pigs

Hello, Goat!

Petting a rabbit!

Inside the fire truck.

Hi, chicken!

Hello, chickens!

We also stopped by the Kids Zone and we saw a Barnyard magic show and May and Nia played with life-size chess pieces and other toys, with other children. May and Nia also had fun in the corn pit.

The children of the corn. Hehe.

Later on, we stopped by the honey bees and purchased local Creamline milk from grass-fed cows.

May by the honey bee.

Really good milk!

We ended the day going on a few more rides. We went on the carousel, which Nia could actually go on, with an adult. She seemed to like the carousel.

Lastly, I thought Nia could go on the Teacup ride but she was too small for the height requirement. May went on the ride all by herself and had fun.

Overall, we really had a good time at the fair. Rex and I think we might try to go next year or at least within the next two years if they have it. In two years, Nia will be taller and May and Nia might possibly go on more rides together. The fair also had a scavenger hunt as well and other contests. We might try to do the scavenger hunt when we go again. Great suggestion Rex!

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