Different Kinds of Tears, FCTC, ACF, photos, plans and a Party!

posted by Patty James @ 2:34pm, Tuesday 15 June 2010.

I was having the best fish tacos ever at the little Mayan restaurant in town a few days ago, when I heard two young men talking. The one looked at the other and did a little head nod, which sort of said, so what happened? without words; men-speak, which I am starting to recognize and appreciate. The other man said, not trying to hide his obvious delight, "I feel like a better man because I made her laugh."  Both smiled and chatted as they walked back into the kitchen. I wrote it all down. So sweet, don't you think? I still smile when I recall this brief exchange. Being able to make someone laugh is very important. Laughter, smiles and fun. It was nice to watch men chatting about things. I have not been around men who spent any time with other men and I thought perhaps that was normal-it's not. This was good to see and hear. In February, when I was here (seems like years ago) I would watch Gary converse with other men so easily. That was something new for me to watch and since then I have been paying attention to men's interactions with other men.

About an hour ago I walked into the RV place after I was told some bad news on the phone, Kleenex in hand from 20 minutes of straight tears. The one man took me in the back room, obviously uncomfortable with a silent woman, sunglasses on, tears running down face. Kevin came out of his office and said, "I hear you're mad." The other man (Mark, I think) said, "Kevin, these are upset tears, not angry tears." I suppose I am a student of human nature as these types of exchanges can completely interest me and throw me off-track. I smiled at him. He understood the types of tears and tried to teach Kevin something about women. I guess we all learned something. I have sometimes floated over myself (if you know what I mean) during all this RV mess and everyone telling me to throw a fit of some sort-at least a little one. I haven't. It's not natural for me. I went through some situations these past couple years that would have made the average woman pick up a baseball bat, but I simply don't go to anger easily. I do, however, go to hurt too easily. I suppose I need to work on balance a bit. 

So, what happened you ask?

On Monday, the cabinet that sits at the foot of my bed, above the cab, finally came in. That's good. The window that is also on the side of the cab, came in today. Also good, an easy install. They have men all over my RV, installing this and that. Cleaning this and that, etc. About an hour and a half ago I called to see what's happening as I didn't hear anything since Monday morning and it's supposed to be ready tomorrow. The man on the phone said, 'I guess you heard about the decals." Heart stops, take a breath....no.....what? "They're the wrong ones." I more calmly than I should have said, "the decals have been there for 2 weeks." I also jokingly said 2 weeks ago when they came in, "you're sure they're the right decals?" He laughed.....yes was the answer. The box had the correct numbers on it. No one opened the box until today when they discovered that they were for the other side of the RV....I hung up the phone and simply broke down. I can not afford this, period. Shoulders shrugging, head shaking, tears flowing, break-down. I waited until I pulled it together a bit so as not to make a scene and well, you know what happened next. I went to the RV place and heard about women's tears.

Kevin just called as I was typing this and said there is one last decal set at Winnebago in Wisconsin and he ordered it and is awaiting confirmation of his order. He told me he told them to ship it whatever way was the fasted, he didn't care about the cost. He will call me back when he finds out more.

Enough about the RV. What else have I been doing since my last post last Thursday?

I took 3 days going through the STL web site as well as my pattyjames.com web site. Page by page, word by word. My goodness the PJ was was so out of date (still is.) I wrote a new bio, new verbiage for every page, had ideas for new tabs, RSS feeds, a Store and so much more. On the PJ site I have asked all these doctors and people who are experts in their flelds to write articles for me to post.  All agreed! The Educate page will be incredible. The Store on the STL web site will be with people who give a portion of their profits back to us to use for program development. On the Store on the PJ site, will be folks who will help build that business and as we all know I will just keep enough to live on and any additional from that site (which is not a non-profit) will go back to STL. I truly don't need much I have discovered. Personally, I need a roof over my head, to pay my monthly bills and a little extra for travel. I know I chit-chat about everything, not really part of STL, but you know, that's just who I am. This is what I'm doing, this is what I have (or don't have!) this is what I think, this is how I feel. I suppose you are all in my life because you all know everything about me!

I have also met some incredible people here. Last week and again today I met with the director, David Bearl, of First Coast Technical College (FCTC) and he gave me a tour and helped with ideas for my vision for STL. He then made a call for me to Michelle at the American Culinary Federations, based here in St. Augustine, and after my hour or so with David, I went to see Michelle.

At FCTC they had just made homemade Datil Pepper Salami and 150 pounds of sausage! It smelled so good in there! Datil peppers are native to St. Augustine and he gave me some. I am drying them and will plant them next year assuming I have a place to live! Datil's are small and spicy. Spicier than a jalapeno, but not as spicy as a Scotch Bonnet. I had a crab cake at a local restaurant last week and they served them with Datil Jelly. It was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. David gave me his recipe! I'm so excited.

David teaches the Navy cooks and also trains White House Chefs. He has programs in 3 prisons, multiple schools and military bases all over the world. He is very impressive and I learned a lot about setting up programs-pages of notes.

Next I went to see Michelle at the American Culinary Federation, of which I am now a member and I gave her my speech-something I'm getting pretty darn good at. I told her what I have been doing, and a rough idea of the vision for the future. I flat out asked her if she would be willing to look at our program outline and if ACF would give it their ACF Seal of Approval. This could be important to us. Based on what I told her, she would recommend approval to the Board. Yessss..... I have found that it is hard for folks to say no to passion especially when it's backed up with an incredible team.

Another thing I have been working on is the book based on this project. Kathryn has categorized all the recipes and kid's food comments. I then arranged them based on how I see the book working and sent the recipes that need developing to Bill Telepan in NYC. He is developing the recipes with some regional and seasonal variations. I will work up the nutrition data and all the side-bars. I have found an editor for the videos to make them into a movie.

I am now involved with several other non-profits as well as on-line magazines as an expert or collaborator. This has been days of work chatting with all these people. We all learn from each other and I truly have such incredible connections! My goodness, I had no idea when I left on this journey all that I would learn.

Wait until the web sites are all new (thank you Jimmy!) and you see all the companies who will be involved! I work about 12 hours a day on this, so I haven't wasted my time here while waiting for the RV.

The vision for STL programs deserves a post by itself and perhaps that will be tomorrow.

I am supposed to be in Wichita, Kansas Sunday night for Kid's Interviews, set up by an incredible woman who ran a non-profit for 9 years helping victims of emergencies and disasters. Her daughter gave Patch and Wilma a bath in Naperville. Again, it pays to talk to people. Let's hope I can make that date. After that is Boulder, Colorado, then the Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I am jazzed about helping there.

Here is David Bearl from FCTC with his Datil Pepper Salami.



David and I...Thanks so much David!



Bread rising. Nothing like the smell of fresh bread.



Michelle from the American Culinary Federation. Thanks Michelle!



A few last things, Olivia is working on an incredible PowerPoint presentation of the STL project. It's going to be so cool! Starting out with 'You're a Shining Star' blasting while photos of all the kids flash on a map of where they live. Statistics, graphs, movie clips and our vision. It is going to be kick you know what...

I am also starting to plan out a big STL party. Another song I like is The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News-remember that song? It's perfect and so true. The power of love for each other and all of our kids is strong and can move mountains. I have a call into Huey Lewis and The News' booking agency to see if we can work something out for a concert benefit. October maybe, Indian Summer. Warm days, perfect evenings. Great food, great wine, music and dancing. I assume you will all come! More on that soon....

As you can see I haven't just been walking along the beach with a VooDoo bucket in my hand...yes, this drink is served in an actual bucket...

I expect some comments after all this!!! Below, please. I appreciate all the personal emails, of course, but it's fun for everyone to read your comments to. Ideas and thought are much appreciated!

More soon....