March 1, 2006

[Read in Monty Python accent] "I'm not dead yet!"

My arms were temporarily cut-off, but have now been restored. On Friday I tried to restart the laptop and got the dreaded gray screen of nothingness. I resurrected it fully by the end of the day yesterday, but now I'm playing catchup with work stuff (and, *ahem*, this counts right?).

The in-laws arrived on Monday with enough food to feed an army for a month. Mom K is happily cooking for us. We hope to do a mondu-making party tonight (korean dumplings. YUM!). Seafood soup last night (though I don't understand why the shrimp are left in the shell...), and kalbi on Thursday.

I arrived home last night to see both of them huddled on the couch with their coats on. I'd forgotten to turn up the heat for them, and they didn't want to disturb anything without asking (well, Dad K was quite ready to manhandle the thermostat, but Mom wouldn't let him). I'm such a bad daughter in law!

The mutt is TERRIFIED of my Father-in-law. As soon as she saw him walk into the house she became the velcro dog. 'Wherever you go, Mom, I will go.' He's not mean to her, but he's very rough. She's on the anxious end of the dog spectrum and having someone grab her neck to give her an affectionate shake doesn't translate well. We'd finally calmed her down since bringing her home from the pound. Three weeks ago she was a happy, confident dog. The last two weeks seem to have brought back the anxious side. Too much coming and going and too many new people all at once. The last two days, Mom has somehow induced Dad to be gentle. This morning when Dad came in, Muttola slowly wagged her tail. As I prepared to leave for work, Mom seemed sad about me taking the dog to work. So, I'm trying it. Muttola alone with Halmoni and Habaji. I'm a little nervous, but, they have nothing to do all day and I'm sure all three of them will be fine. Right?

1 comment:

Snickollet said...

Mandu, kalbi . . . the mouth waters.

For the record, my cat is not afraid of my Korean father-in-law (she's too much of an attention whore for that) but it is funny to watch them interact. He just doesn't know what to do with her, so, being a physician, he takes a clinical interest in her. He checks her heart rate, estimates her temperature, counts how many times she breathes in a minute. I think it's his way of showing her that he cares.

I don't get to check in much, but I enjoy reading. Good luck with your in-laws and bon appétit!