babysitting

I am keeping the teeny baby tonight.
So, Sissy and Danny have gone out, and I volunteered to come and keep hold/kiss/snuggle the month old teeny baby for a while. :)
So sweet!  It is so fun to keep someone else's baby, who you love, and just kiss and hold them and not be stressed.
Caroline and Elena are here hanging out with me.
FUN.
We ae heating up a pizza...I am starving.
The baby is sleeping sweetly/soundly (like new born babies do) in her crib.

Things that don't go together:

Some things just do not go together.
One of them, for example is--a big glass of milk with a full plate of spaghetti--ay que gross!!
Another:
Eating an entire bag of Doritos when you want to lose 20 lbs and look fabulous!! BUT--did I just eat an
entire bag of Doritos?  Why yes I did! :)
They were washed down ever so tastefully by my second Michelob Ultra {low carb beer}...hold on..
let me go and get my third...oh, and I need something to {nibble} on while I drink this...hold on..
No! I think I can stop with the bag of Doritos...I mean I am not hungry -(it's not like I skipped supper!).

Esperar

A little language lesson this morning:
In Spanish the words for Expect, wait, and hope are all the same word.
One uses the verb Esperar to convey that one is hoping, or waiting--like I am waiting for her to get here so we can leave.  or Wait for me!! And one would use this verb to say I expect my students to follow daily routines without having to be spoken to.
{do not even begin to wonder where those example sentences came from--it is hard to make stuff like that up spur of the moment--but this coffee is helping me.)
So, then some linguistic nerds people might start to wonder...well do people who speak Spanish as their first language think of these three different actions (very different to the native English speaker) as the same thing?  I mean in their minds is it basically the same thing to wait/hope/expect?  I have told, no.  The three ideas are conveyed in the context of what the speaker says.  So if a speaker is talking about winning a million dollars, then you would think "hope" and if a speaker is talking about the paycheck one would think, "wait". 
We can never really know I think, I mean the background of the word is that for the speakers of spanish one word served perfectly well to express what, in English, are three very different ideas (verbs).
So maybe even to us Wait, hope and expect are very similar--just along a continuum of likelihood of actually happening.  To me, hope is like --well, VERY maybe.  Wait --is pretty certain, just a matter of time.  Expect is daggone it it is going to happen.

There are other examples of this between English and Spanish.  Love is one that we English speakers pretty much can sum up using one word...all kinds and degrees of love are just love.  This is not true for Spanish speakers and when the children at school are learning English and we talk about love--say at Valentine's day, I have had a little girl inform me that I am being "cochina" (literally piggy/gross--to her inappropriate) b/c I am talking about amor--y only mommies y daddies talk about that that is a grown up thing...ha!  Then I had to talk to her about love in English and we use the same words for loving the friends, the dog, the aunt y uncle and the spouse. :).Her eyes were the size of quarters.

So...does this make anyone else wonder what all those ear pieces are feeding into the ears of world leaders at UN meetings, and how are they all REALLY understanding one another--I mean how are they taking what eachother is saying?

mystery bag...

This is WHERE I was cleaning up:

This is what I found:

This is what I knew:
One day Andy "cleaned out his car."
Which means...he gathered up all the misc. stuff that was in his car, put the stuff in the plastic bag (to the left), and then he threw the whole shebang up into the top of V-man's closet. ;).
Nice, huh?
Gotta love the Andy-style cleanup--and one must be quite vigilant too when he gets on a "clean up" streak.
You never know, this time we got lucky--there might have been some food in there!

Raindrop

A new paint color can be so exciting! :)

Wake up the right way...

This AM I got smart and cut on my Keb Mo on the ipod first thing...before coffee even.
I have dancing around my kitchen with the baby ever since.
:)
I was trying to put a video up here and blogger does not want me to right now...later.

I LOVE KEB MO!
One time I went to see him at the Carolina Theater in downtown Durham....
Fun.

Something I {want}

Okay, first off...there is ALWAYS something that I {would love to have}.  There, that is the truth.  We all have these little lists in our heads..if we are honest with ourselves...you know.
Well, today at B and Noble the sales guy was showing their version of the computer book reader to another customer, a clueless {as me} sweet little lady, so I barged in asked if I could watch and listen.
He sold me folks!
The gadget is called a n00k. 
It was so cute, can download 50 gazillion books..ones in spanish too...
It was so cute.
BUT--then I had to remind myself...hold on a second here...
You are living at the poverty level Susan, You have to have groceries bought for you weekly sometimes.
You cannot buy a computer book toy--nor should you even want one--
Get ye to a library! :)
So, there...This is how I calm myself from feeling like a big old whiney baby "who only wants one little ole computer book thingy and cain't even have it"...I say this to myself, "That's alright, one day I will have me some money, and by then a better one will be invented anyway...I'll give em time to work the glitches out."
But if you are a blog reader who does have money...hmm hmm..
Go to B & N and check this cutie out! oh yeah...I don't mind living vicariously...or recommending gadgets to my bloggy buddies. :)

figs & cleaning

Yesterday my children picked figs and I made Fig and Olive Tapenade.  It is sooo yummy to serve at parties and you just freeze it once you cook it, in batches, to eat later.
YUM.
I forgot about fig newtons this time... :(
If all the birds don't eat the rest of the figs first, we will make some fig newtons next.
Really the dough is the best part of the newtons. ;).
Heck, Maybe we will just make some dough... and eat it.

Moving on to cleaning...

I cleaned the bathroom--as in going through all of the drawers--today.  Now some might be thinking..huh?

You had to go through your drawers??? Those of you wondering about my cleaning would be the folks who maintain perfect neatness all the time....Well, that ain't me.  I just don't think I am genetically designed to stay tidy.  I LOVE going to a house where you open the drawer and there is A brush and A Comb in the drawer.  Well, in my house you might find...let's see--four bottles of hair detangler, a baby doll comb, two baby brushes (one is squished and of no use), a wire brush, a wide tooth comb, three fine tooth combs (from picture day, thank you very much),  etc.--the list LITERALLY goes on and on.

So, when I do this cleaning I have to be a brutal realist...susan you bought that hair cream five years ago and it is still 3/4 full... These are the kinds of things I must decide when I clean out the bathroom.  I have to admit to myself... Even though that face cleaning system/routine cost you 75 dollars...you have never used it--it did not work!!  These are hard things to admit to yourself--when you are a pack rat  conservative consumer. ;).

So I spent a good portion of the morning on my cleaning mission.  Now the bathroom is SO DAGGONE ORGANIZED!! Yippie!  I showed Andy the new system. ;).

Then I did the weekly cleaning where I clean the pee off of everywhere and scrub the shower/mirror/sink.

Whew...

The only regret I have is that I was going to take PICTURES of all of this cleaning...like put the hair products in a pile, the foot products in a pile, the fingernail products in a pile (which btw I NEVER THROW AWAY!), the make-up in a pile..you get the picture.  Then I was going to take pictures of it all to share with everyone...It would have been hilarious..esp to Morgan (remember the time you made me  convinced me to get rid of the sleeveless blouse I had had since middle school?  --We were in graduate school!!  ;).

Okay..nightie night..sorry for the lack of fotos. 

The other picture....

Whenever there is a rainbow in the sky at our house it is always in the same sky...to the east of our house...
Here is a picture of one the other day....

I think it is up here anyway... a ver...

Mezcla

I have soooo many posts that I could write right now. They have been storing themselves up in my head!
Here are two little tidbits that I promised.
1. Pictures of a really cool place that I love.
It is on hwy 17 north of Washington. They are these little huts that are made of cinder blocks and then this bigger building that must have been the main hub of the huts. They are so intriguing to me. They still have some paint on them, but for as long as I can remember they have never been occupied by anyone...they just sit and ruin. I love them! :) How fun a vacation spot would that be with a grill and a pool and friends in each hut??? fun!

2. Eva eating a tomato como si fuera una manzana (as if it were an apple) out of the garden the other day. She is still so little that eating is just great--if it can be chewed...it is edible. She eats olives, and she also has a taste for whole tomatoes! That was her lunch. Once she started, I just let her continue on her feast.
okay...i have problem, I just realized that the button I usually click to add fotos--has disappeared itself to me!! hello, blogger--is anyone home???

3.  Okay so I figured it out and I am going to throw in two more here:  One is of a fence I love!! I am going to put one going across the front yard--just for decoration with lots of flowers growing all around it...picture it with roses, hibiscus (the luna ones), forsythia, some daffodils...hydrangeas, lantana...just lots of flowers!! :)

I forgot the other one...I will post it later.  I have put my blogger dashboard into this mode for blogger in draft.
I love it...but I am taking my time to get used to it.
I think it is like a test drive version of blogger, so they can try things out on some people...
Is everyone's composing page different today?  or just mine?

Outsiders

Yesterday I was driving on my road going into town and I noticed, walking along the side of the road, a teenage boy in complete cowboy gear.
I have seen him lots of times before. He walks to school at the high school--just a mile up the road from our house.
He has a sweet face.
But seeing him in his COMPLETE COWBOY GETUP made me start to wonder about him.
I mean the only people around here who wear that are the older Mexican men. Not even the middle aged and young Mexican men dress that way.
Here he is a teenaged white kid who walks around in 100 degree weather in cowboy boots, a belt buckle to hold up his tight jeans, a plaid button down shirt, and a cowboy hat...not kidding.
He obviously feels really enthusiastic about this get-up apparently.

What I started thinking about next was...what would it be like to feel so convicted to be different. I doubt he wears this outfit solely to be different or to stand out, but I am sure that he REALLY LIKES cowboy clothes. He likes them to the point that if he is hot...no matter, and {probably} if he gets laughed at or picked on, no matter.
How would that feel, I was thinking, to be so different?
You know he realizes that he is different from the rest of the neighbor boys in his taste for the cowboy get-up.
Now, there is a possibility that he has some special need that lends itself to being obsessive, but there is equal chance that he does not have any cognitive or social emotional special needs and he just really likes cowboy clothes and coolness be darned...he is going to wear cowboy clothes.
Either way...he is interesting to me.
I hope that people don't pick on him.

once again...

i am trying to change my background and it is not working out so great!

Back from the beach...

Well, the girls club is back from the beach.
I put the children in the bed, and now two of them are back up...Where IS that whack a mole mallet? :)
The girls had fun at the beach, but to be honest, I would rather be there all together.
My mama and Daddy were there.
That was --interesting. :)

So, it looks like blogger is changing things up a bit.

Pictures will follow...oh, and apparently tomorrow, my cutest blog on the block background will be gone...
I don't live on the block anyway!
Okay, enough tired humor...
Of to put kids back in bed b/c "we wike when mommy doethe it"

Oh here's a question that I thought about at the pool today:
Wouldn't it be fun to know how many times that average mom hears some version of,
"Hey mama wook at dith"

Nightie, night!

Girls' Club

This week the girls club--{Elena, Eva, and Me}-- is headed to the beach!
The boys' club members will enjoy a visit with a boy cousin.
Andy has all boy cousins on his side.
I have all girl cousins on mine.
So, when Andy's sister and her newest baby boy {3 weeks old} made a visit, we decided that
the boys would stay here to visit and the girls would go to the beach.
My mama will be there too!
Oh, and rounding out the girls' club?--{MY DAD} HA!
He is so used to being surrounded by girls, this is no biggie to him. ;).

I think it is gonna be fun.
One small hurdle--we gotta make Eva's one year old apt. at the dr. today, and then we are off!
:)

Una cancion que me encanta!

you don't even have to understand the words...just listen to her singing and that guitar!! :)

Enjoy!

Old-timey Medicine

Does anyone remember Mercurachrome and Merthiolate? They were things to put on boo boos and they were red. One of them burned and one of them did not. This is what we used when I was little at my house. They both had mercury in them! Ha!
The other picture is of some soap I found for the face con acne in the drugstore here...not the chain drug store sino our old timey one. So far I really like this soap. It is called cuticura (skin curer), and it is blue, and it costs.....
2.63 --that's right, two dollars and sixty three cents!!
What a hoot, no? Here I was thinking you had to go to the Kiehls's counter at N-strom's to get some good face soap--and there it is a 2.63 bar of soap...that is a skin curer..a ver si sirve (let's see if it works) I really hope it does.
Oh, and remember we had baby aspirin? My sister and I loved the way it tasted and my sister would climb up on the cabinet and get us a couple every now and then as a little snack. ;) Yum!

Now, we have bactine....which, to me, is a cure-all!

Okay--my camera messed up a bit--it's not in the mood to share with the computer right now, so I cannot put the other pictures up here. --when I do I will post more.

Posts to come...

**fotos of a cool spot that i love
*cleaning the bathroom
**Male chauvenism--how is helps & amuses me
*little boys
**Eva's first birthday!! It's today!!

So, that means that last year this time Bethany was helping me deal with the end of a pregnancy.
Last year this time I was in the hospital, in my room, starving (they would not let me eat) and awaiting the birth of my doodle bug! :)
In retrospect this can always be taken lightly...in the moment the birth of a child is serious business. Andy was right there with me. He never leaves the hospital room or my side whenever I have given birth. Sweet man.

The Kindergarten Bucket List {version XX}

Okay, so in the past two weeks Elena has:
**Gotten her ears pierced
*Swam across the deep end un-aided
**Wriggled a tooth on the bottom!
*Decided she wants to shower independently
**Gotten up and dressed not only herself, but her baby doll as well
*Decided that she must ride her bicycle with no training wheels--this will happen
the next opportunity we have to take her bike to grandma's house and do it. ;)

She is just getting so growny. She automatically holds the door for me when we get home from being out and about, as I always have my arms full.

The tooth thing freaked us both out..but you know, she is FIVE. And when I was FIVE I lost a tooth!

It is all very exciting to me. I do not show my emotion about it all too much..other than that of excitement. She needs me to be {excited} and that is what I will be 100% {in front of her}.
It is interesting that all of these have happened, no lie, over two weeks.
It really is as if she had a kindergarten bucket list.

Picn!k

Picnik is so fun!
This picture was taken from very far away and without any zoom.
Picnik helped me fix it just right.
FUN!
You can even send these polaroid ones to walgreens and they print like this. :)

Some pictures

There is a picture of Elena and Victor with our carrots. We stood out in the yard and ate them right then. No ranch, Just a rinse from the spigot and a quick snack! They were goo oo oood!
Let's see, then there is Eva standing up in the yard. She is almost walking--takes some steps. She kisses everything in sight!! And she is {almost weaned!} sigh...
I cannot remember what else I put up here, but Enjoy!

Just b/c it was on sale!

This is the Maxi dress I bought for myself today.
I have been admiring it for months now...oh, since about April, so today I bought it for myself!
Yes, we have no money.
Yes, in the next two months we are going to be buying a house.
Yes, we eat my parents' leftovers...
BUT! the dress was HALF PRICE!!
Go Check out Garnet Hill's clearance for real y'all!~ :)
Fun stuff, on sale

Spain Won! :) {the semifinals:)}

Okay, y'all know that I have no team spririt.
The spirit I do have is the rambling one.
So, I basically would like to just roam around the globe and live different places.
Having three children and four grandparents and a strong sense of duty to place and people--I cannot indulge this spirit {yet}. ;).
So, when I saw these flip flops in U$ W33kly I decided to splurge and get them for myself. (y'all know that Andy and I have {no money} right?)
So, then Spain won the world cup!! So cool!
Now the dilemna is should I walk around in these with my big ole Earl the Squirrel feet all summer? Or should I keep them, as some kind of memorabilia?
I am leaning towards sporting them, as collecting is something I try to limit, lest I find myself hanging out on one of those hoarding shows.
Hope the picture has loaded. ;).

Simple things

Yesterday my mama came over with these hydrangeas for me in a bucket.
When she left I was completing my usual morning stuff...laundry, dishes, feed kids, wash faces, etc. and then I magically turned into MStewart and with my Hydrangeas...and made a couple of spots in my house look perfect!
Happiness is found in little things, and in the simple things--most of the time.

FUN

Last night we went out!! It was spur of the moment. LB had invited us, but I was not sure that we would be able to go out.
BUT I got the children all ready for bed, and then my Dad came over and babysat until after midnight! :)
Sweet Daddy.

We went out on the boat and watched the fireworks on the waterfront.
Then we went out to the bars here...we were the only people in the bars!!
Apparently the party happened downtown BEFORE the fireworks show.
It was absolutely beautiful--the fireworks show and the starlight driving in the boat from the waterfront back to the country club on the boat after our fun.
So fun.
That was EXACTLY what I needed.
If there is a holiday--I want to celebrate it the right way.
If there is something actually going on--I want to participate.
Last night, we got to! Yippie

Also on the topic of fun.
Check out Elena getting her ears pierced!
She picked out Hello kitty earrings at Claire's--they have cool piercing studs these
days.
She told me she wanted to do it...so I took her.
She is in love with her earrings! She wakes up and says, "Well, I still have my earrings! :)"

If anyone out in bloggy land is contemplating getting a little girl's ears pierced {or two} --I highly recommend Claire's. They were super-sweet to Elena. They had one girl on each side of her so it only had to hurt once. She teared up pretty big, but as soon as they showed her in the mirror...she beamed! :)

G,H,I

G-- is for Go! It is so nice, in the summer to just be able to pick up the bare essentials {my-my} and my pocketbook and head out the door to go and see people.
H--is for Hot! Summer is so hot, no? It is still my favorite though. I would rather be hot than cold any day.
I--is for Icy--paletas, that can cool us off in the hot sun. ;).

alphabet

my desire to keep up with the ABC thing is fizzling.
I still have one more day, right?
Maybe I will want to continue with that tomorrow.

Andy and I are having some real estate issues. ;).
Who knows where we might be living soon.
Remember we are renting his grandmother's house?
Remember his grandmother passed away?

Well, all that estate stuff sometimes turns out ugly....and in this case that might
be just what happens.
We would love to stay here..but I am not holding my breath on that one.

All of this has led me to some interesting poderances on life.
Is ponderance a word even?
I like it, even if it is not a word, vamos.

Anyway, I have a feeling what it will all boil down to is headache and gut ache for me.
Sometimes that is just how life is.

On another note.
We went to visit my cousin Kaye and it was fabulous!!!
She is my favorite cousin. I don't keep that a secret.
Elena got her ears pierced at the Claire's there!!! Elena was abSolutely THRILLED!
Kaye also convinced me to do the low carb thing..based on our body chemistry and the whole blood type thing.
Basically I am a sugar addict and that does not bode well for me, my blood, my body, or weight loss.
We will see how it goes! I am sort of excited about it.

okay, I am off to read a magazine now.
Andy is mowing the grass...I am sure his head is full of all kinds of thoughts {worry}.