Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween

Okay.
If you look wayyyyy back in my blog log, there is the first post I ever did.
It was about two years ago when my neighbors in Graham (in the cute little NEIGHBORHOOD) left to go to church in the mini van INSTEAD OF HANGING OUT WITH THE NEIGHBORS AND TRICK OR TREATING.
I thought this was lame as sh** and stupid.
I mean isn't one of the ten commandments to "love thy neighbor"?
So, trick or treating is a fun and perfectly innocent way (unless your mind is in a place where Jesus would not like for it to be, vamos) to interact, mingle, and "love" you neighbors.
people should stay at home and trick or treat in their neighborhoods!!
Now, if you do not have a neighborhood, obviously you cannot do this..do whatever you want, go to church, have a party, sit on your couch and watch t.v.--i don't care.
BUT if you live in a perfectly fine neighborhood go out into it and TRICK OR TREAT for god's sake.
This is one of the few American (united statsian) traditions, and we are managing to slowly ruin it.
Oh, and if you are opposed to trick or treating...b/c of your religion, well then don't do it...leave your light off, whatever.
But really, I mean if you are going to get dressed up and go to church where everything is decorated for halloween...couldn't you have just as well stayed in your neighborhood and hung out with the neighbors? walked around the neighborhood a bit...I bet Jesus would smile. :)
Oh, and my newest halloween pet peave...
PEOPLE WHO DRIVE AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO TRICK OR TREAT!!!
Are you kidding me?
No wonder your kid is f..well, that is mean.
But really driving around the neighborhood in your tan suburban to trick or treat???
people ought to feel ashamed to do something like that...
ughh..

Let me go and eat some of my kids' candies and watch some t.v.
oh, no--I am going to read my new book, "The red tent"
I have been told by at least three different people to read this book, so today my mama got it for me from the biblioteca.
YAY!

Happy Halloweeeeeennnnn....

Friday, October 30, 2009

I could not resist...

Buying a L!ttle People Nativity set.
Yep. 60 bucks.
It was not available online, so I had to call and order it from the catalog.
I had to have it (for the kids). Hmm. Hmmm. ;).
As you can see they were thrilled to play with it FOR TWO HOURS today when we opened it right up when we discovered that it came today.
--I am really all about instant gratification, and I don't even attempt to hide it.
Nor do I attempt to instill delaying of gratification in my children most of the time...
So, we opened the box of nativity gear--before halloween! :)
When I was doing my back and forth reasoning about buying this toy I decided that since I have three children all of whom still enjoy little people..why not buy this nativity scene?
My nativity scene when i was little was one of my most prized posessions...and still is. So why not have the best one ever that all of my children can enjoy? no?
{I am never buying any more toys} hee hee...UNLESS they are irresistible!




Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Clipping

I have just put my children to bed.
Victor's nails need to be trimmed...
Oh!, and Elena's do too!
Well now, whose nails did I JUST CUT yesterday?
Oh! they were Eva's.
And didn't I cut some this morning first thing?
Oh! they were mine...
hmmm..
They sure were dirty, those twelve little nails..(the last three on each hand are always the dirtiest and longest...)
Did I do that math right?

We carved the pumpkin tonight, and lest ye think that it is all M. Stewarty around here...
Victor screamed and cried like a big ole 2.5 year old baby the whole time! He wanted to dump the pulp over here NOT over there...!!!
He wanted to cut the eye first, not SECOND!
Ahhhhh!!!
I made them both come inside--
I think I said something like this, "that is just ridiculous anyway, carving the pumpkin is a treat, they are acting terrible, and besides who in the hell can cut a pumpkin with a BUTTER KNIFE?"
(that is what they were attempting to do...)
uggghhh...

Speaking of Martha Stewhatever...Check out the Pioneer Woman's site (listed in my list) I LOVE IT!! She has the best recipes and pictures of her cooking them.
Check out the recipe for "tres leches cake" that is a good example of how she posts her recipes. i just love it.

Okay, it's time to wash this mask off my face now...
have a good night.
I am off to read a book.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Pictures for your enjoyment :)

Yesterday on our drive home from Sissy's house...no Saturday...We saw THREE RAINBOWS!
We still have not bought a pumpkin to carve...so that needs to happen tomorrow.
I am sneaking a post in...andy and kids are watching the movie "the !incr3d!bles" We love this movie--all of us. (i watched it all weekend so i am a bit over it right now. )
Baby E. on her belly. Her latest emerging skill is rolling over from stomach to back. She can really raise up on those elbows. :)


Mommy was off to work and E was off to Grandma's house!


Baby E after her bath. :)


Baby E eating a banana in her little mesh food thingie! Already! Elena was more than happy to feed her baby sister. :)


V man sharing sandia with gma eva. :)--He loves to eat!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

buckshot (thanks maryellen)

I love that title, so I took it from Maryellen.

**Andy had been gone this weekend to the mnts. to work all weekend! yuck! He left at 5:30 Friday morning and went to the hosp. in martin co. and then he left from the hosp. after being there for 12 hrs. to drive to the mountains to work!
I miss him. :(

**Last night we attempted to have a sleepover--sissys little boy was going to stay over...he did not end up being able to stay, but he promised he would another time.
Anyway, he and E. got married several times over the course of the evening. E. made a veil out of a hairband and some tulle, and they danced and kissed!! (I was on the couch just thinking...where do they get this stuff?)

**Tonight my dad came over to eat pizza and we watched the incredibles (V's favorite)

**my aunt mary came today to visit and see little E. for the first time. she informed me that i have a great aunt who is in a retirement home in garner who is 106yrs. old! wow! her name is aunt essie (we say "ain't essie" for some reason when we say great aunts we say "aint" when we say just regular aunts we say "ant"...hmmmm....

**What else....hmmm...Caroline turned 12 today!! so that means that 12 years ago this time i was in spain and sissy had the baby (i really wanted to be home to meet her, but i was away)

**I am having shopping itus. i want to go and shop so bad. look in a real mall etc.
alas, we have no money, nor do we have the time...one day (this gives me something to look forward to) :)

**Our babysitter had her baby this week on Tues.! I went to the hosp. to see her on Wed. and then yesterday I took her chicken soup and salad that my mama cooked for them. She had to have an emergency c-section b/c the baby was "atravesada" how she said breech. Her husband said she was in there sideways.
oh, and i learned a bit more spanglish yesterday "pumpear" --to pump (as in pump out the breatmilk that is backed up into your arm pits) I was motioning and telling Jacinto, y se lo hace asi...(i did not know the word for pump) then he said "oh, ok se la pumpea" --yes. jacinto. nice word there. at this point he cannot say he does not know english. not only does he know english, he is turning it back into spanish!!
:) cute.

--thats all i got for ya...
good night, i am off to read us weekly. :)

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Back to work

Yesterday was my first day back to work.
:)
After I had Elena going back to work was ABSOLUTE TORTURE. In fact I cried so hard that Andy declared that I actually did not have to go back to work if I did not want to.
The thought of leaving Elena for a whole day just broke my heart--and she was five months old! She could already sit up.
Going back to work after Victor was a shock. I did not realize that I needed to go back until I got this funky paycheck that was something like 200.00 (when I was expecting enough to make a house payment).
I did not mind it really b/c it was just what I had to do --and quick!
Victor was 8 weeks old, and i only had to go back for two or three weeks before we were out of school for summer break.

Eva is three months old.
She can hold her head high and roll over from her belly to her back.
She babbles and laughs.
Precious.
I was totally ready to go back to work yesterday.
YAY work!
Being home with three children all day was fun. I love my children, but it was not the kind of work I enjoy.
The cinderella type. Not fun.
I much prefer a nice, organized day with a mapped out schedule that i have made, full of children who are NOT asking me to get stuff for them or do stuff for them all day.
I like being surrounded by the well-organized materials and tools of my trade--not dirty dishes (endlessly), and dirty sheets and teeny bits of toys strewn EVERYWHERE!
I like interacting with adults as I walk down the sidewalk beside flower gardens to go and heat my lunch up --not the constant companions of PBS kids characters--y'all know who they are!
So back to work it was, and i could not be happier!

A four day week will be nice....
Teachers' work days will be nice...
Holidays too..

Now, pumping milk at work is the pits...but this is the third time, so no need to whine, just be thankful that i Have a nice private room {the supply room} that i call the dairy barn. it has an outlet. old faithful (thank you shannon) and i just head in and get it done. I will have to do this all the way until the end of this school year, but who cares? Not me.

So now, Saturday is going to feel like Saturday again. Yippee!!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Another video to watch!!

I have been loving this song for the past week!
I love it.
I found a version of it that was embeddable. :)
Bethany--this is touching. :)

Let's see if the embedding worked...

Have a great day! It's rainy rainy here.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

There, I've said it... (#1){finished}

Okay, I am 12 weeks post partum.
I have been going to the gym for three weeks...so you know the time has come to pull out the soap box.
This morning on the way home from the gym I was listening to NPR (d@mn that liberal med!a) and the article was about this woman in sudan who had been arrested for .... are you ready...???
WEARING PANTS!!
Yes folks ...she dared to wear pants. She was convicted and was sentenced to 40 floggings with a whip.
only thing was she was a famous person (her husband was a famous journalist).
So, she sued the gov't.
The conviction was upheld by a judge, who reduced her sentence to no floggings...but still being publicly shamed.
okay...
This was all legitimized by religious doctrine--supposedly a mUsl!m belief of being modest and not inciting public immorality or unrest by one's actions.
...let's go back in time to when a six foot tall Spaniard cathol!c red head took me --along with about 12 other college students (three j3ws and one muslim among us) to morocco to study art--
What I saw...and experienced was TERRIFYING.
I saw women walking around in TARPS with a piece of mesh to look through.
Women were not allowed to USE THE BATHROOM IN A PUBLIC PLACE!!!
WE had to pee at the hotel (which was accostomed to western womens' bladders).
WTF?
One of the nights we were treated to the belly dance show...obviously performed by an ar@b woman.
So, I surmised, that in this place one must either wear a tarp in public, or ...one might perform REALLY EROT!C dances for the public wearing a bathing suit adorned with jingle bells...ughhh...????
Needless to say this aspect of the culture was an abomination in my opinion.

Also in college my friend and dorm mate explained to me that actually the kor@n stressed being modest, that is why she chose (she was egyt!an and raised in the u.s.) to wear a little net over her hair.
To be modest. When I went to her religious celebration at the end of ramad@n I had to stand at the back b/c since my uterus was shedding blood I was considered to be dirty.
(God is laughing, folks)

There is no part of me that can understand how 1/2 of any given population can stand for this kind of treatment, this kind of lifestyle, institutionalized sex!sm disguised as religious mand@te--or how the other 1/2 could come up with it and enforce it.

Last year at school the ESL teacher tried to explain to me that one time she had worked among a Musl!m community teaching English and that the women were "really all very happy" and that underneath it all they wore cool clothes, and in their homes they wore what they wanted--as long as only family were in attendance.
Is that the point? Not to me...Not when another time I saw a poor woman explaining that wearing the tarp was not all that bad--only when the mesh piece messed up her ability to walk around--she sometimes fell down.
This woman also was abused by men in the street b/c she had to beg for money and food to feed her children since her husband had been killed.
again i ask...WTF?


I mean --in this NPR article it was explained that showing a wrist was a crime...
Do you mean to tell me that men have so little control over being horn! that a wrist in public might cause them to pitch a tent? ...what if there is a man among them who might have a feminine wrist...ooohhh..now there is conundrum.

I am not sure where I am going with this right now...b/c I am tired.
Maybe tomorrow, in the gym, where I work out among men, I might come up with the rest.

Until then, feel free to weigh in.

Okay, this morning in the wee hours when I was headed out to the gym I realized the rest of what I wanted to say about this.
Women are not a minority. We make up half of the population. Why in the world are women treated worse than animals all over the world. This is something I can never manage to reconcile in my head or heart. Is it hormones or what.
I mean why one day don't women in these places all plan on the same day..."okay tom. morning when it's time to put on your tarp, or time to get raped in a cage all day long, or time to get beat up, or time to sell my seven year old daughter to be a sex slave...or whatever...why don't the women just pick up the gun or machete or whatever in their house and say..."alright asshole...i have worn a tarp for the last day, or just go ahead and try to butcher my daughter's crotch and sew it up you (insert cuss word)--b/c trust me, i will blow you away, or chop you to bits (pick your poison)."
If they all did it at one time and on the same day...would this work? could they do it?

I wonder how many floggings I would get one a daily basis if i lived in one of these places and were subjected to this kind of cruelty (b/c that is what it is).

Okay--i'm off to nurse my baby...i wonder how you do that with a tarp on/??

God bless the liberal media. :)

Monday, October 12, 2009

giveaways

okay, so i am not doing a giveaway...YET.
but i am trying to come up with a creative one to do.
creative is key here...
hmmm...
it will come.
anyway. until that day comes head over to "a beautiful mess"
and go to the giveaway that I just entered via her blog.
does that make sense?
a cool mama is over there giving away a chance to win a cool dress from a cool etsy shop...why not enter?
i am also really really eyeing those lemon dresses that are listed on that etsy shop...next summer...two little girls...uh huh.
maryellen--some of those would also be cool for hannah.
i'm just sayin.

my fingers are crossed.

also: my eyes are a little teary and my stomach a little flippy b/c friday i go back to work!!!
exciting, but nerve wrecking/racking at the same time.
here is the business i would like to start:
pilgreen plaza--we would have a cool book store, a great kids' shoes store called {petit feet} and a food place --this food place would be like this...my mama cooks the menu of the day and if you want supper you pull up and buy supper for everyone in your family..she does this already anyway for lots of people, she just does not charge money.
last thursday her pot of beans fed four households!! she even passed mine through the car window complete with ham biscuits and little cokes.
doesn't pilgreen plaza sound like a fun place?

Sunday, October 11, 2009

foto attempt




La feria

This weekend our cousins came.
Lily and Julia came for a visit and we went to the Pitt Co. F@ir.
It was fun! :)
Andy was out of town at a bachelor party.
So, my mama and Daddy went with us.
Andy is my best person to do fun stuff with--but we had fun anyway.
It was funny to go and do something like that with my mama and daddy again.
I remember all the things they said when I was little.
We were never allowed to play the games (waste of money)--they did not get it that the money or the prize was not the point. --just the excitement of the CHANCE of winning. NOw that I think about it--playing those games is sort of like gambling jr.
Anyway, that is what my niece --one of them--likes to do. play the games.
Elena has to be TOTALLY BEGGED to ride a ride--ha! (reminds me of me)
I remember getting on the Merry-go-round and looking at all the mechanical parts turning, and thinking--this is creepy as sh**. I don't remember ever thinking--"oh cool I am riding a purple glittery horse!"--nope.
She spied the zebra car and decided she wanted to ride that. So, I made sure she got to.
Victor is still at the stage where he thinks he is really driving a car. So cute!
My highlight was splitting the funnel cake six ways. (a sure way not to be fat)
oh--and the lemonade we also shared --seven of us! :).
You know it would be a waste of money to all have a funnel cake--five dollars for some fried dough--YIKES!
The free stuff was good..looking at the farm animals.
A guy who was in my sister's grade in school is a bee keeper now.
He recognized me--as my sister.
We just beat the rain and came home to take naps.
On this fair trip i was reminded that everyone has to be left to have fun their own way.
Lily likes to play games.
Elena only wanted to ride certain ones.
I like to have a taste of funnel cake. and ride the scrambler.
:)
My daddy likes to make commentary on how much everything costs.
Victor likes to ride the teeny rides.
Julia--well, she is definitely the easiest one at this point.
She just hung out smiling the whole time.
My mama likes to take pictures of all the fun and tell the story of the fun.

I had pictues up here and they all turned out teeny-- I will have to re-do them at my mama's house.
You will see the fair pictures soon :).

For some reason going to the fair reminds me of other times going to the fair.
One of my favorites--going to the state fair with MOrgan one year.
Morgan and I sampled all the food--and then we rode the scrambler. I never get stomach sick, but that time--we both did. It was an extra-spinny scrambler or something.
What a fun night!
I think I channel Morgan now whenever I do something fun like that. :)

Friday, October 9, 2009

on heritage: un cuento

so, i fixed up two people.
i have never been good at fixing people up.
but, i tried again.
the girl: an italian yankee from new york. Italian? yes. b/c her dad moved to ny when he was 13, so she identifies with italian.
the guy: my first kiss. someone who has lived in the l.dubs since he was teeny and his family has been here...well, forever.
the conversation:
XX--so, i am italian. my father moved to ny when he was 13. dah dah dah on and on.
so what is your nationality? (she probably meant something more like heritage i am thinking)--but she said nationality.
XY--Well, i don't know. i don't know what you mean.
XX--I bet your mom and dad know, you should ask them.
XY--Nah...i bet they don't.

Susan--see, XX--here people are just white or black or a mix. we really don't know where we came from.
XX--ha ha...that is so funny to me...chuckle chuckle...

Moon News

Does anyone else think that it is not okay that we are smashing up the moon with TNT?
Ughhh..
NASA is our national space dept.--it does not represent the whole planet.
BUT, our nat. space dept. has decided that it's okay to go up and smash up the moon to discover if there is water up there...
hmm...

What if we F*** up the moon?
It's the moon of everyone...not just ours.
Is the international community upset about our moon smashing?
I am.

Yikes!
And if there is water up there...
ugghhh..do you really think we need to be going up there to drink it?

Have a great weekend! :)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

yay!

por fin encontre a mi amiga!
que bien ha sido hablar con mi sandra!
te hecho mucho de menos.

i finally finally found sandra.
she is fine.
i miss you!
take care of yourself and hang in there. :)

susan

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Double post on Sunday! :)

*I just got finished watching the amazing race. I love that show!! It TORTURES ANDY. but he almost always watches it with me. so sweet. :)

*He has informed me that i pick the crappiest shows and movies. interestingly we just suffered through the movie, "open your eyes" this movie was on in the cinema when i was in spain and i never went to see it. i don't like dark stuff or scary stuff or stuff about crazy people...none of that. so for some reason i picked this movie off of netflix..i guess i forgot what it was. well, turns out, we had already also seen the american version of this movie with doo doo tom cru!s3. when we went to the theater to see it i got picked on soooo badly by andy and joyce and alonzo..so WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I SUFFER THROUGH THIS AGAIN!? 3/4 of the way into the movie we i realized what it was. we laughed. i wanted to cut it off. andy said no, he wanted to see the rest. guess who was snoring in three minutes! ha!

*Eva is about 10 weeks old now. boy is she sweeeeettt!
our favorite song together is "happy girl" --who sings that? martina mcbride maybe?

*we bought harvest ale or some beer for tonight and it was s*box--not good, just a gimmick (from the blue moon makers) not good.

*Plaza sesamo comes on the pbs channel here on sat. afternoons! yay! i love it! i have to trick elena to see if she understands spanish. i just start saying a bunch of stuff and then ask her a question. if she answers, she understood me.
(she does not want to speak spanish, or understand it!) ahh..life with its lessons... you know just b/c i love languages..does not mean my children will.
"why is big bird green in spanish", she asked me ayer.

*we walked in the crop walk today. my children meandered. they forced me to take it slow and really enjoy our walk through all of downtown, which is really a cool place. victor had to take little rest stops whenever he saw a cute sit down spot. it took us a bit to figure out that it was the cute spot that was important, not the rest. "why dont you ride in the stoller to rest?" we asked...well, now. the stoller is not a cute little rest spot...hello!!

Still hangin in there


Sally the turtle is still hanging out with us.
Well, I guess she does not have much choice.
:)
Yesterday we cleaned out her box and put in new dirt. We imagined that she might have lots of dirty dirt and not much fresh dirt--if you catch my drift.
Then we added some leaves.
We are thinking she probably does some kind of hibernation.?
So, we tried to make her box hibernation friendly.

oh...and victor hit my car with a hoe! yikes!

Spot on!

Spot is our family's chihuahua.  He is what we call, "an evil dictator/stuffed animal come to life".  Sometimes, after he has ...