Monday, August 31, 2009

Bedtime Stories

For the past several nights I have been laying down with E and V and we have been telling stories.
E usually tells one about some pink ponies and rainbows and unicorns.
V tells fireman joe stories "Fireman Joe went up the hill {to fetch} and he saw a..."
each night he sees something different or does something different.
I tell them one about what My-My and Mi Mi do when we all leave the house.
One day they made lasagna, another day they rode around on the winnie-the-pooh airplane.
Tonight I told the story of one time when a girl named Susan went on a trip to the mountains and stayed in tee-pees and she met a girl named Morgan.
They went on a hike up a mountain and ate blackberries, and they could see grandfather mountain from the hike, and then they got to a waterfall.
When they got to the waterfall there was a place where you could jump off a rock into the clear water.
Morgan took off across a rock crevace (she jumped it) and when she got to the other side she waited for Susan to jump too.
Susan was scared to jump.
Morgan waited and waited and begged and begged and tried to convince Susan that there was no way she would fall into the crevace, it was an easy jump, surely her legs would get her across...with minimal effort, even.
Finally Susan jumped across, whew..
Then both girls climbed the rest of the way to the jumping off point and they jumped into the clear water and swam in the waterfall.
(Susan loved waterfalls).

My kids loved the story, and it is a true one! :)
Here is a link to the place where we were:
www.turtleislandpreserve.com


Maybe it is not a link, but I am failing in my linking skills these days! :)
(someone clue me in if you can, please)

Apparently my link is not working, so I am going to send you off {hopefully} on a web search.. ;).
There was a book written by Elizabeth Gilbert called "The Last American Man" about Eustace Conway who is the person who runs Turtle Island.

I want to read that book...I think it will be my next book!


Night Night.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Mother Nature's Birth Control

People who receive WIC (food stamps) from uncle sam should have to breast feed their babies UNLESS there is documented evidence that they are or have been a drug addict.

I know I sound like Ru$h L!mbaugh and the president of la leche league had a kid, no?

But really.
Breast feeding is:
1. free
2. keeps you from ovulating for about 10 months on average
3. is a pain--so you might just decide that you don't want to have to keep doing it over and over again...so you might be really pro-active in preventing more bebes.

I do get ticked when I think of how much formula costs, and how people on WIC get it free--not that I would want any anyway --but--I also don't want to have to pay for others to have the convenience of feeding it to their babes for FREE..ALL THE WHILE MAKING MORE BABES.

On a related note...

Yesterday at the peds office I was TOLD that the next time I came in I should nurse the baby in the special designated nursing area (for which there was no sign).
Not asked to. I had already been invited to--but by then I had my titty out already doing it.
The reason: Just in case any teenage boys came in...oooohhh
They better be glad none came in--b/c if they would have I was going to stand up, squirt milk on them and let them see my salami sized nipples (in other words scare the hell out of them).
Good lord!

Now back to WIC--if all those mothers had to nurse their babies too...well, I bet there would be much less stigma attached to the whole being a mammal thing...

you know?

Hey mama! :)
Yes. I wrote all the crude stuff.
No, I am not taking it down. ;).

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Thankful Thursday


This is the V-man in all his two-year old glory! Sportin the Dora sunglasses upside down--at the "beach" with my my and in the background? That is My-my's towel hanging up. ;). So sweet!

Our wonderful watermelon--I ought to be embarrassed to put this picture up b/c of the way that table looks...good lord! ;).
Today I am thankful for:

Poopies in the potty--TMI I KNOW!!!
But Victor has accomplished this in the past couple of days--and I am so thrilled!

Dr.s who are understanding and accomodating. Eva got shots today, and the folks at the peds office now know that I am a neurotic mama bear who will ask a bazillion questions, and then tell them no thanks on a shot.

Gardens--we have had some yummy stuff out of ours. Our watermelons looked funky so we had no cut one yet.
Yesterday Victor busted one with the hoe (kid sized hoe of course) and it was RIPE! So we ate it. :)

People who know how to cut hair! I went yesterday and a new girl cut it --the right way!! She was in school a year ahead of my sister, and we sort of knew eachother--in that small town way...anyway--she fixed the disaster! I am so pleased--picture will follow. :)

And folks who are crafty/talented and compassionate all at the same time--like Tina over at travelingmama--she and her family live in Morocco and have for several years. I love her blog--you can get to it via borderland traveler-over to the right. She and her kiddies and esposo decided to help out a school that is near their house--by getting a well--yes, some water--and a bathroom.
So if you are interested in looking at some cool etsy stuff AND helping out some kiddies--check out her blog and her etsy shop.
Yay Tina!
PS--I am totally jealous of you! :)--with all your travelin --

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Trailer park Tuesday #8





This week's trailer park is located in Mann's Harbor NC--the last little spot on the mainland when you cross the bridge to go over to Manteo and then to the beach.
I love this trailer park.
It is on the canals that go out to the sound.
I love it when the people who are sometimes thought to be on the low end of the totem pole end up with prime real estate.
I have told my mom many times that sometimes i just wish that I could just have a mindless job that did not cause worry and just leave work on a friday and get my 12 pack of beer and go home to my cheap trailer that i rent and drink my beer and go fishing on my little cheap boat and never worry about anything.
I think I mostly said this when I was in college.
Now, though, I mostly don't worry.
I enjoy my situation, for the most part, and I realize that there is no such thing as a no-worry situation--
everyone's got their own set of worries, and unless you just decide to make it that way and just decide you are not going to worry about your job/money etc.

Anyway when I pictured the non-worry scenario this trailer park is what i think I was picturing...
It also reminds me of the scene (one of the funniest) in office space where the cubicle worker guy--the main guy--was talking to the construction worker about job stress and the breast exam commercial. HAHA!

bueno enjoy the pictures--taken by my mama--who managed to find me a bright, colorful trailer in this park--which was not visible from the road.


Notice the trailer that has the addition. :)
This is the last Trailer park Tuesday! :)
I think my mission was accomplished. My mama did a super job on this one. She usually reads my mind, and she has been following along. She is also quite the photographer. :)

Monday, August 24, 2009

Snacks and a Shower


Eva--five weeks old :)

This is Sally--our turtle. When it rains I set the container out on the sidewalk so she can get some fresh rain and air.



Saturday afternoon it rained and we spent the whole afternoon outside under the carport with Big E's butterflies. She can catch a butterfly in a heartbeat! She will say, "I am going to get that white one, and his name is chuck"
So, she had a butterfly in each container that you can see behind her on the picnik bench.
(of course she lets them go--they do not suffocate)





While we were playing outside we had a yummy snack of fried okra! :) I love fried okra. Last summer my mama always fried them for me (b/c I could not do it right). This summer I make the breading and Andy fries them up for us! :)
Fried okra is extra yummy with a beer.

Friday, August 21, 2009

After the haircut...

There's the ...
After haircut!! of course!!


The front...

left side...

final product!

Right side..



After 10 months of not having a haircut --I went on in for a good ole mommy bob today.
The only problem with this semi-routine experience is that
I NEVER EVER EVER {INSERT CUSS WORD HERE} MANAGE TO GET A DECENT HAIRCUT.

my only request in the world is a cute mommy bob...
How hard can that possibly be? I take pictures of this haircut in with me. I see women walking around with it EVERY DAY!!
And yet, somehow, only one person has EVER been able to cut my hair.
It is, I think some curse that was placed on me--fairy tale style.

This is the reason that I have to come home and {tearfully} proceed to improve upon the mess that was made in the {beauty} shop.
I cut some off of that side--and big lump off the other side...I can't reach the back --so that'll just have to look crappy til--well, i guess 10 mos. from now.
You know--I WAS NOT TRAINED TO CUT HAIR. If I were I would make 50 dollars in 30 mins. with mis manos y two blades. So I cannot fix my crappy haircut..I have no idea why I do this--i have done it since i was a little girl!
Andy knows this is what happens every time.
Today his comment was, "Susan, it is really not that bad"
He has also said before, "Well, you do this every time...and you keep doing it! I don't understand why you want this short-butch haircut that never comes out right, just stop trying and let your hair grow" (must've been really bad that time)
I have also cried in the beauty shop--out of frustration--several times.
Usually I never give the person a second chance. Most of them have said, "well, now, if you do not like this come back in and i will fix it..."
ugh..i made the appt for NOW. please tell me when I will manage to come back in here with three kids and get this "fixed"
Besides that I don't know how to tell them to "fix it"
"This piece over here sticks out--bad--just like it was when I left here--so ugh...would you want to look like this?" Is that how i would say it?
So, I just show up there tom. when she is cutting hair back to back, with my 3 children..and get my messed up haircut, "fixed".
ummm...I am thinking that she was just being nice. She did not really mean that.
She will be thinking "I cannot believe that crazy b!tch is back in here --and with three damn kids--can she not read our sign about sharp stuff?, sh*#!"
That is what she will think...not so nice.
So, this haircut will grow out...until ..hmmm...february?? probably.
Then I will go and suffer on this quest to get my damn mommy bob.
I will take in my pictures... I will explain... they will give me a shitty haircut.

Elena, on the other hand, got the cutest haircut ever! From the same person...hers took 15 minutes, and mine took 45.
I look like ramona quimby age 31--not kidding.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

thankful thursday

let's see...
today i am thankful for a way nice boss.
my boss is probably the coolest one that one could ask for.
cool in every since of the word.
cool, calm, and collected.
cool, as in understanding.
he is always willing to work with you, make stuff happen,
ask people questions, find out stuff. etc.
he does not even try to know everything--he will readily say, "i don't know--but I will find out" about anything he does not know.
and then, he finds out.
whew...what a breath of fresh air.
(well, has been for a year now, but I am thankful all the time for this, and we had meetings all morning, so i reminded myself of this)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Trailer Park Tuesday #7







This Tuesday's Trailer park is located in Kitty Hawk or maybe KDH NC. My cousins have a trailer there--which I did not photograph for this entry--i am not sure why.
This trailer park is right across the road from the ocean. It is made up of mostly Rvs and tiny trailers that are permanently placed in the park. Once the trailer is washed away or blown away it cannot be replaced but you can own what is there as long as it may last. There is a pool and lots of trailer park style in this park--which I did not capture.
My cousins have added a porch to theirs and they added an outdoor shower and they painted it--it is sooo cute. My cousin's wife has a t-shirt that says "you mess with me, you messin with the whole trailer park" The people in this park party together and have lots of fun.
This might be the last trailer park Tues. except for a little sneaky entry every now and then.
There is one park that I meant to capture--and I did not--i see it every time we are about to cross the bridge at Mann's Harbor to do to the cottage and I want to take pictures, but I did not manage to do it this trip.
So...stay tuned! :)

Friday, August 14, 2009

Our beach trip! :)

This post is written completely backwards of how I wanted it to be. I wanted the stuff at the bottom to be first.
Poor Planning.
Anyways--so if you want to read it in order--start from the bottom. :)
We are back from the beach now. I am washing clothes and dreading going to work the little bit that I have to go on Tuesday, Wed., and Thursday of next week.
I love my job, but I am not looking forward to organizing my crew...I think it is going to be hard! --until we all get used to it.
Enjoy the pictures...


Walking home from the beach--to the cottage. We had so much fun watching them play. Collin and Elena and Victor play well together. :)

Sissy came with Collin--Caroline could not come nor could Danny. But we had a fun time playing with Collin and hanging out on the beach.

Grandma, 1. invited us to use the cottage 2. kept the baby a bunch so I could enjoy the beach and so that Andy and I could go out to eat at my favorite restaurant whew...so sweet! :)

Andy's mama and Daddy came to see us at the cottage! They had never been before. They took us out to eat and to ride bumper boats and go karts.


This is Victor's "cheetheburger" face (that is what he says when you take a picture)!

We went to play putt-putt --our children are too young to enjoy this--but they like the train ride to the top of the mountain at the putt-putt place.

These are pictures of my beach. This is the spot where we go to the beach from our cottage--and this is the spot I have gone to since I was a little girl. This time the ocean happened to be PERFECT! It was warm {enough} and calm like a lake--except for some perfect {clear blue} waves that rolled in...ahhh....
Elena was able to swim in it a plenty! She even went boogie boarding with Andy. :)


Saturday, August 8, 2009

gifts





Baby E was crying her head off! She has awakened! :) She has been crying some...

The other one is of my ring that I got off of et$y. :) It has two aquamarines and a ruby--the birthstones of my babies. :)
I just bought it for myself--Usually andy buy me jewelry.

We are off to the beach tomorrow--one month old baby and all!

TMI

I was just checking my email and I went into one of those message board things from the pregnancy emails that we all sign up for (they send you one every week). Well, when I had E. --four years ago now, five really from when I was pregnant--those emails were so fun to get. They had information about the pregnancy week you were in etc. Now, they have turned them into coupons and advertisements and brain-washing stuff about formula and vaccinations...and invitations to join message boards. I never join these b/c you have to set up a profile and have a password, and I can never remember the password, so joining in the first place is pointless.
I am still able to read them, however, and what I read on the "born in July" message boards this morning was soooooo gross!
One girl's subject line was, "four weeks post-partum and going to try to do it tonight" ughhh... ughhh... have fun?? I read her post and she said that she had third degree tears and she thought her stitches had healed, but she was about to jump her husband's bones so she bought some condomns...good lord honey--you need a drink or a cigarette or something! calm down! that is just absolutely disgusting, and you know, she could have kept it a secret.
Another one was from a mother who had let her breastmilk dry up and five weeks later she wanted it back!--well, now...maybe when your nipples were bleeding YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT SOME LANSIN0H CREAM! instead of giving up! But I did sympathize with her b/c I know that b-feeding can be frustrating. she said she would give away a kidney if she could just get her b-milk back --ughh...ugh...
There was a whole lot more crazy stuff on there too...it was rather entertaining.

Friday, August 7, 2009

misc.






Well, it's Friday. This summer is quickly coming to a close! I knew it would go by fast...but I am not going to dwell on it ending b/c I do not have to go back to work until October, and by then it will be almost Fall for real--the equinox way not the escuela way.

So here are a couple of pictures from us picking blueberries yesterday.
A girl at church has a hedge that is made of Blueberry bushes! Que yummy!

Also: I found out that Alexandre Dumas who wrote the book, "Camille" was actually the son of the one who wrote the Count.
It was a good book though!

The other picture is of Eva with Grandma Eva. :) She was only crying b/c she is a bit spoiled and basically if I am in the room, she wants me to hold her.
She was okay though. :)

V. is making his "cheese" face in his picture.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

thankful thursday

this thursday i am giving thanks for adhesive, absorbant pads.
i am a leaky person right now and all i can think to myself is, "well thank god that I at least have some pads of all shapes, sizes, and with varying potential to soak up all that my body se puede echar--oh and don't forget eva's body (leakfest jr.)"
then, you know what i think next...
"what did all the leaky cave women do?"

i am off to play "belly of the whale"

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Trailer Park Tuesday # 6






Thanks to Maryellen we have a great Trailer Park Tuesday post this week!
She went on vacation last week...which some of y'all might have already read about, and while she was there she took pictures of a trailer park for me.
Beach trailer parks are usually so cute.
They are vacation homes.
Maryellen even stopped and talked to one of the trailer dwellers who told her that basically, he would do anything to be able to be at the beach!
:)
I don't think having a cool polka dotted trailer at emerald isle would be so bad, neither did Maryellen, who has admitted she has never been in a trailer.
I bet that person would have let you go in his, Maryellen, and i bet it was decorated with tons of nautical and beachy decor from every decade since the 70s (vamos, if it's anything like our beach cottage)

Okay, I am off to kiddie world.
I have found an excellent way to get the floor mopped and keep kids out of it.
I play the evil witch, and they are not allowed to enter my kitchen tower, and the kiddie chairs from the kitchen are the gates to keep them out.
They are having so much fun! I took Victor's "my-my" prisoner and put a spell on it and turned into a wind-up frog (from the windowsill) and oh my --to see his face!!

Okay--enjoy your day!
Thanks Maryellen!

Next Tues. we will be at the beach without computers...so I am going to get the pictures of my favorite beach trailer parks and I will do a double feature the next week. :)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

arroz a la cubana y croquetas



Two foods that Maria made for us in Spain--a long time ago now, that I still crave--are Arroz a la Cubana y croquetas.
The first one is yummy rice and tomato sauce. Maria had a pressure cooker, so she started out with fresh tomatoes and ended up with sauce that I would (lick off the plate) shhh.. I only did this when no one was looking!
The other one is croquetas.
I had never had a croqueta until I lived in Spain, and have had very few since (some in Miami a couple of times.)
When Braden and I first ate croquetas we were like,"what in the hell is in this fried thing..." I mean Maria might say ham, or chicken or something...but then, we could not really see the ham or the chicken--only white, creamy stuff.
We investigated and found out that it is bechamel.
So here are some pictures of these foods, that I wish I could make just like Maria made them...I don't want some modified version...I want what she made!! :)

Saturday, August 1, 2009

A little bottle = A little break! :)


This is our trusty little av3nt bottle, which they have tinted brown--i guess something to so with the bpa controversy (thanks, now that my other two children have had plenty of the bpa)

V-man wanted to hold eva, and after about 15 seconds he said, "okay, it's daddy's turn now!


This is us making fig newtons! we were able to do it again this year. :)
Andy took charge b/c I have been doing lots of nursing.
Yesterday Andy fed Eva a bottle so that I could go out and meet a friend for lunch.
I pumped the milk and left it for him and E. and V. and I set out to go to lunch with my friend Angela and her two children.
It was so nice to get away from my little sweet pea for two hours! :)
While I was gone I started to wonder about bottles, and how people in the past had bottles...if you think about it, most of what they are made out of has come about in the past 50 years (or maybe not even that long). So, for example, in G. Ma Eva's babyhood her mama might not even have had a bottle.
I found this great website--someone else was curious too!


I cannot get this insert link thing to work, so go here:
www.babybottle-museum.co.uk/
It is a cool website--click "enter" (it does not obligate you to anything) and check out all the history...
why is the link inserter not working?


Then I also remembered that people had wet nurses...ugh..probably only the very rich! I cannot imagine wanting that job..except in the case of the time of slavery, b/c I bet in those cases the wet-nurses had it better--they probably got good food. Then, if you read on that other web site the stuff called "pap" that people actually fed to their infants!! yikes! (and they wondered by only 2/10 infants survived!)

This is all very interesting to me right now b/c Eva is basically an appendage! :)
Sweet :)

bEthany--this is where I would insert a link to that poem if I had it--the blood and milk one.

So it seems like people have been preoccupied with getting around breastfeeding for a long time! There are lots of reasons I never even considered.
The one I have heard most in my life--even from my mama--refers to it being somehow gross--which is absolutely absurd to me...WTH?
One of my favorite things to say to children who inquire about my using my breast to feed an infant is, "well, that is how god made us, isn't that wonderful? he put the perfect milk in my breast to feed to my baby!--it's just like a kitten! "
This is a great one b/c really religious people sometimes forget that Jesus himself was even breastfed!! imagine that! i wonder if mary looked for public restrooms to duck into to feed him... i think not!
--oops let me get off the soap box!
To me it just seems like the easiest thing to do...path of least resistance...lazy girl's way to feed a baby...etc.
:)

okay! i am off to sneak in a shower before another session of...
well, you probably can guess! :)

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 ...