At Home with

update. pics and new frames

2012-01-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

A few things we are up to:

Here is Cody reading with the kids at bedtime (he is so good ;) ). You know how bored I would be if I had to read out loud? I hate reading books out loud.

A photo Cody shot today; it looks like Jack has buck teeth, so I wanted to share..

And this is me with pair 1 of 2 glasses (I can see. wow. watch out world =D) I went four years 'sin lentes.' It started to get to me. Anyhow - you can't tell - but these are purple frames; they are super cute, as are the second pair, which are different but also purple. Do you approve, Zhen? :)

And last but not least, here is my current celebrity crush. The hair cut is totally doin' it for me. Gotta love it. She's from CBS's Cold Case. I'm not necessarily a fan of the show, but each time I flip past and notice that hair cut I think about watching for a while. If I were more into murder mysteries I would. But watching too much of that particular genre ruins my little bubble I like to live in of happiness and sunshine.. can't ruin that. ^^

We're still praying for snow (rain is good, snow would be great to cover up our lawn that we failed to mow at the end of autumn. oops.) ;)
And we're quilting and cooking and hey - relaxing 'cause it's *Saturday*. ^^
Hope you are, as well.
Ever his, hers, and yours and ours,
- H.O.

♥♥Happy New Year =)

2011-12-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a busy weekend, and it's not even Saturday yet! ^^
I don't know how my life gets this busy. I don't even know who I'm writing this to... But I wanted to wish a Good New Year to anyone and everyone reading.
Things are going well here. Our holiday cooking is not over yet - and for some reason I feel like it should be. I've ALMOST perfected (actually achieved 'adequate') this chile recipe my friend taught me. I'm on my 5th try or so making this chile sauce. It's not hard - but I'm not hispanic and I consider that a handicap when it comes to cooking anything.. =D
I'm slowly getting better. Get rid of the stale seasoning in the cupboard could help.
I added a pinch more chicken bouillon to some sauce this afternoon and totally ruined it. That's what happens from using 3 year old stale opened bouillon seasoning.
Ah, I have so much to learn, and all the time in the world.

So I am looking forward to fooling around with shrimp and chile this weekend. I've tried to photograph some previous attempts (successes). I've discovered lately that homemade refried beans aren't photogenic --no matter how good they may taste. A picture just doesn't convey that at all... what a shame. And here if you wanna look anyway ^^
[sorry. I will post these pictures later ;) ]

The other thing I wanted to say is that this year I have tried oh so hard (really really hard) to be more rational. I think I have made some progress here. I'm not sure I need to make MORE progress (but maybe I do). I do think I'll have to maybe work at staying as rational as I've been this year, at any rate.
And the one thing I think I learned is that nothing really bad ever happened from my behaving rationally and from my ignoring my irrational gut feelings. I sure had some that I worked hard against. In fact I have more that I'm struggling with at the end of the year. Which of three journals should I write in? The on that has only two blank pages left? (rational part of me says "heck ya, baby. What are you even considering writing in a different book at this point?!) Irrational me is saying "no - you should write every other entry in a different notebook (for really no rational reason at all). And it's REALLY hard to behave rationally on this particular decision. Is that insane? On the one hand it doesn't matter. On the other hand, what could possibly go horribly awry if I choose a rational path here?

Anyway - I learned that nothing bad ever happened from choosing rationally. Even when I had horrible feelings about impending and inevitable doom re: my decisions, still nothing negative happened (so far as I know).

For Next year's project, I can't remember what idea I had in my mind I wanted to work on - but I know I had one... Perhaps I'll work on trying to exercise regularly (albeit very moderately / beginnerishly).
Will keep you posted. Maybe I'll just try to cook lots of food this year and eat out less often.
I'll come up with something I'm sure. =)
Until then. Goodnight, best wishes, take care, and if I don't ever write - know that I think about all of you fairly regularly and often positively ;D
hehe
well - always positively.

^^
Bring On 2012 ♥♥
!

notes (The Coventry Carol)

2011-12-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

We are working hard on playing the piano this month. And I'm pleased to say I was asked to accompany a small group singing a number for one of our parties at church. Marvelous.
So that's nice.
(There are tons of people enlisted to participate as singers and pianists at said party this year. I'm singing a spanish song in another group, even, there.)

The super awesome news is as follows:
I arranged my own piece of music (well I really just rolled all the chords the way I think sounds nice). A friend of mine gave me an idea for what to play as an interlude verse for this song. So it's all fancy. I spent lots of hours on this. And I want to show off.

BTW - this project would probably have been a lot quicker if I had a proper music editor on my computer that I knew how to use. I'll definitely look into that.
As it is, though, this is all generated in Paint-Shop-Pro. I copied and pasted each note where I wanted it - deleting whatever was there previously, as needed. Time consuming =)
Here is the before and after.

Before:

After:

And finally - though I don't expect that any of my normal readers will wish to use this arrangement - I give permission for anybody to use this who would like to. I'm not interested in any official credit. So there ya go. Guess I should add "Coventry Carol" to the text here so that people may find this post someday by googling that title.

Happy Saturday kiddies
- H.O.

Thanksgiving Leftovers ;)

2011-12-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

So we saved the wishbone from the turkey and gave it to our kids tonight. Gave 'em the run down of how to play that game of making a wish and then cracking it in two. Then something happened we'd never seen before. Our children split the bone in three pieces, the center flying high into the air and both kids being left with roughly equal-sized sticks. Marvelous.

And we finally put up our tree. It's in the corner there ;D

antibiotics

2011-11-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well here we are. I've been to the doctor a second time for this illness. This doctor was very nice; so nice I had to ask myself why I get so scared of being judged by doctors when a lot of them are that nice (and I really have had a lot of nice experiences in meeting very kind physicians). I guess the one here or there that seems to judge has ruined it for all the rest.
Anyway.
Cody and I are both on the same antibiotic. He started feeling better after he started his. I feel noticeably better after beginning mine. And there you have it. There's a time and a place. And being dead for a couple weeks is a good time to go try an antibiotic (after you've been chewing garlic for several days).
Definitely have something viral going on, as well - so it may take a couple days yet to feel all better. But I'm happier now, at any rate, if a little stir crazy for not having quite enough energy to do what I want to do but HAVING enough energy to think about it. :)
Christmas cards, sewing, delivering finished quilts, dejunking, painting, dishes and laundry. Oh - and we could set up the small Christmas tree. 'Course that would involve going into the garage (it's cold out there). I don't know that that really appeals to me.

Jack turned Three yesterday. We celebrated by eating out somewhere where the kids could play. Jack celebrated by learning how to climb all over the play place by himself finally. We're all excited "look he's 3 and look what he can do now!" Now all he needs to do is learn how to talk. 'Course we love him as he is.

Anyway.. you know what? I can't decide whether or not to be lazy this year with Christmas cards. I kinda want to just stick the card (signed of course) in the envelope and mail. But usually I put more work into them - personalize them and such. But that could take so long. Just think of all that I could get done if I just act normal and do what everybody else does.

Well I better get to work on some project even if it's small.
Cherio kiddos.
Enjoy your Wed (or Thursday if you're on the other side of the planet).

Zhen I'm going to mail something to you that I expect to melt when it hits your hemisphere. Make sure to take a picture. Thanks. ^^

Everyone else - I'd mail the same to you, but you don't complain near as much. hahaha

My new plan for wellness includes

2011-11-25T06:27:00.000-08:00

finding whoever is harboring a voodoo doll of me (and sticking pins in the neck) and putting a stop to that. ^^
It's a brilliant plan. And really if I'm not better by Monday I just may call my acupuncturist (although I don't know how that will go. I've never tried to get a short-notice appt. with her before).

In other news, no other news. But I DID make (for the first time in my life, unless I've tried this before and forgotten) a nice turkey soup from leftovers yesterday.
It's like our 6yr old said "that's a big chicken!" And since it's a given that chicken soup can cure what ails a person - I figure a *big chicken can definitely be up to the task. That and some fresh vegetables - and I'm all set for today. (plus lots of fresh garlic today.)
And if that doesn't work - I'm going back to ice cream tomorrow. (cough)

And I'm so happy my friends are taking pictures for me of their shopping escapades at the wee hours of the morning. This is not something I participate in, but I can watch the festivities and folly from afar. ^^

Seriously stubborn virus

2011-11-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

I don't know WHEN it's going to let up! My throat has been killing me for days. Had it checked. Negative for Strep. But just icky here. Today I'm down to not talking (everyone gape) b/c my throat hurts so bad.

Zhen, you'll be excited to hear I've tried downing those lozenges you like by the bagful (slight exaggeration). But seriously have been trying lots of remedies. I'm looking into a throat-ectomy. I don't know what that's called but I'm sure there's a name for it somewhere. Probably has unpleasant side-effects, though. That's western medicine for ya.

Really..
And haven't slept very well for the same several days b/c of the pain. Wait 'till early in the morning to go to bed (thinking that I'll wait for my throat to stop hurting to go to sleep). And then wake up 3 hours later in pain. This is in spite of overdosing on various western meds, btw. (not a lot - just a little). But to no avail.

So far ice cream is the most potent remedy. Though the most recent bowl I had let me down. That's kind of a bummer.

So I just hope this clears up soon (tonight would be good).

Poor Cody - he's in as bad a shape as I am only his symptoms are different.

I'm this close to creating a garlic paste and just smearing it on the back of my throat. Yeah, that would probably hurt like hell, though. I mean heck. OH that would hurt ^^

alrighty.. where's that ice cream...

My friend brought me groceries from the store

2011-11-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

I have the best friends.

Here I am, home sick still and not leaving the house at all today, and craving a specific chocolate sweet (you knew it would be a sweet) from the local grocer. Called up one of my friends and told her the situation - and sure enough she took time in her busy day to go to the store for me and deliver it to my house. Bless her heart. And I feel blessed by heaven as a result. That is our fun story for today.
Have a good one.

- one ContentOrganist (even though her throat still sorta hurts - but we're feeling better 'cause we're resting all week)

Winter snow, sewing, and more sewing

2011-11-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

Supposed to get a couple inches of snow this weekend. I guess I won't say that I want a really big storm. I certainly wouldn't want to drive in a big storm. But there is something about having to stay in and bunker down that is so comforting for folks like myself.. Still, I'm lucky. I mean - I have a house. I can't really pray to have a snow storm if I remember that some people don't have warm places to sleep. What an awful thought. Wow, we are blessed.
Anyway, enough about people who have less.

I am here to whine about my immune system. ;)
No - not really.
But it seems to be shot lately. We've just gotten over croup (each kid had it, and the whole thing lasted about two weeks). We should have been quarantined at home, but I'm a bad girl and went to the store roughly every other day with whichever child was ill. We did make sure not to kiss anyone, though. I think that did help cut down on the spread of germs.
Really, I feel bad about going out - but I just can't stay cooped up all day. I started getting depressed at the end of this week b/c I've missed seeing my friends, for one thing.
Happily, though, aside from this new virus we've recently caught (yesterday) I have not felt very ill except for an occasional day of pure fatigue. Now, however, I've taken tylenol to pretend I'm not in pain from this upper-respiratory little bug we've acquired.
Hopefully we'll be done with viruses for the winter after this round (though I don't think we've had the flu yet. So maybe one left to go, eh?)
I feel Horribly jinxed now. ;DDD

We're sewing. I hemmed blue jeans (the most successful attempt in my life to date). They turned out well.
Almost done with a twin size quilt for a friend. Next I've a quilt for one of our kids (the last of three), and then we're all set for Christmas. We plan on skipping (cough) toys this year ;D
Really, my mother-in-law called and said she was considering skipping Christmas this year (shopping for her adult children). I says "I consider that Every year ;)"
really.
Let's cook for Christmas instead of gifts.

Anyway, that's all for now.
Carry on :)

- H.O. (I should change that to SleepyOrganist ^^)

croup and ear infections

2011-11-11T19:37:00.000-08:00

So we took the kidlets to the doctor today. Wow what a day.
Actually, that went really well. We went to rule out pnemonia (or rather to confirm pnemonia - although it turned out to just be croup). Turns out the little one, who has had a fever (very high) for a few days now, has infected ears. We never woulda guessed this - given the older one's persistant croup/pneumonia symptoms.

Anyway, both kids are perking up (though still sleeping a lot) and their fevers are coming down. Little one's fever responded practically immediately to the antibiotic we gave him. That's wonderful I tell you.
It's been a fun week. We all crashed this afternoon (naps with a capital N). And while I'm feeling more energetic than I did yesterday, I'm still surprisingly drained.
I both have the enthusiasm and energy to tackle a jean-hemming project for my daughter's jeans - and also have no energy to do anything.
BTW - I found this great video with tips for hemming jeans. I look forward to giving it a go tomorrow.
I guess I'll add the link for that later.
In the meantime, how come I don't have a pina colada??
=)

Surviving

2011-11-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

So we have frogs-- I mean kids home this week. Six year old has croup (fun!). Poor guy. He's been home since Monday. The rest of us are fine and we're making sure not to kiss the six year old... Can't have germs being spread around.. :D

Meanwhile I am feeling VERY domestic. I've done so much cooking, quilting, medicining and so forth. Feeling quite cozy here at home.

I'm still not looking forward to Christmas. I think.. oh I don't know. I can't decide if it's selfishness or laziness or being overwhelmed (and therefore fatigue) that has me not wanting to do anything for this holiday. Halloween we got into. Thanksgiving is kind of 'bleh' (it's nice but nothing to get excited about). That doesn't mean we don't like the meaning of the holiday or anything like that - just sort of in a "meh, I'd rather quilt" mood. That and/or curl up with my favorite cutie. I suppose that's okay.
Maybe next year I'll be less of a grinch.

Gotta say, being grinchy can be pretty fun.

Hope everyone is well and surviving.

Besos a todos! ☺♥! (well, domestic and outgoing. haha)

- H.O.

Cody's costume + new walls.

2011-10-30T21:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, I'm sorry I'm still too tired to add pics. But here are our halloween and painting videos.
I shot three house-tour clips and decided it was better without narration (my hemming and hawing and nervousness ^^).

In other news, we are watching far too many halloween movies on tv. I don't know why they are so scary. (?) scary. And we're just watching them for the chicks starring ..... and b/c they're from the 1980s. Ah well. I'm not into horror - and none of this is winning me over. And I don't think Jamie Lee Curtis is worth it, really. Maybe we'll just get out "Christmas with the Kranks" again. I liked that one quite a bit. =DD

Hope everyone is safe, warm - and Izzy I hope you didn't get hit with that snow. I don't gather you did - but hopefully you will be alright this winter.

Dina, I thought of you when they mentioned Qantas airline on the news today (and I was happy I knew what/who they were b/c of you). I feel so up on international events now..

Take care kiddies,
Happy Halloween ;DD
- H.O.

p.s. Zhen, I dressed as a princess this year. Of COURSE. Pictures when I get off my lazy ****. :)

Too lazy to post

2011-10-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

I want to call a friend, but I don't want to. I'm supremely pleased with myself for feeling rational and not calling. ok - I'm kind of frustrated by it.

And I want to post halloween and painting videos, but I'm too lazy to move to the other computer in order to edit one of the videos - also too lazy to upload a few photos with commentary. I think I'll take a nap.
oh - but first I need to go to the store and get some oreo pie. That's what I need right now.
and a nap.

oh - and speaking of rational (and this is the year I've acquired rational) I celebrated my move to "doing what makes sense" (that's what Cody gave me as a synonym for rational. THANKS Cody!) ;D by purchasing (and no less) using that flavor conditioner I always wanted to buy but was scared to b/c of a 'gut feeling.' So far my hair has not fallen out as a result. In fact, nothing else bad has happened that I know of from the purchase and/or use of said conditioner. And now I've matching shampoo and conditioner in my bathroom. Talk about how cool rational is (or can be). I can totally get into this.

ah - now to make some oreo dessert, and post pictures and videos later. ^^

p.s. I have been invited to Mexico again, and although I still won't be going, it was fun to talk about it with my friend. Picture it - she, her three year old, and I at her ranch.. 100 degree weather or worse, no air conditioning, snakes falling on people's faces as we sleep, scorpions potentially biting us. I mean the possibilities for interesting daydreams are endless, really.. And it was fun to think on it.
(really I'm flattered and I kind of DO want to go - but I would never leave my family for two weeks like that - not for this purpose. Maybe another time, and with my husband :) )

Halloween get ups

2011-10-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

Turns me on almost as much as his regular look. :)

Takin' it easy, Jane Lynch and Lilia E.

2011-10-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

So - there I was today - enjoying lunch at one of my favorite friend's house, and she turned on "Mira Quien Baila" after lunch to see who had won the last episode that aired recently.
Aside from not enjoying the women dancing naked (I like tank-tops - but these didn't have tank-tops on) I got a terrific kick out of seeing one of the judges, Lilia Estefan, who highly resembled Jane Lynch. Mind you it took me a good hour to think of Miss Lynch's name while trying to explain to my girlfriend who this woman looked like. I guess my latino and american brains are completely separate. Anyway, terrific fun. So let me know if you agree at all.

I anticipate a few of you disagreeing - but I'm telling you if you had seen Lilia with her hair pinned up the way she had it - and way she used her face (and even the structure of her face) the two women look quite a bit alike. I say, though, Jane is the prettier of the two..

And here is how our painting has been going. Sorry I'm mumbling in the first clip. I wasn't trying to say anything audible actually.

****************5 hours later (and not a little high on paint fumes)********

I got another video of ourselves painting. It turned out great. From it I will show you what I extracted:

1) a picture of me painting

2) a picture of my brother painting

3) And this I did not extract from the video - but it's my brother, for comparison. See - we look the same. A lot more the same now that we have the same haircut (especially if you look from the back - which I was kind of horrified. I might think about growing my hair out now - or maybe asking him to... ;) )

So we are almost done painting now. Excepting trim, which I'm planning on abandoning for 5 years. ^^
I mean - why pressure ourselves into perfection? It's definitely not something I believe in.. ..
And that said - I need more ice cream, or dinner. I'll find something.

Cherio kiddies.
☺

Da-Vi Nails

2011-10-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

There's this nail salon in a shopping area we frequent - they have a brand new sign - it's this wonderful sunshiny yellow. It is virtually the same color as what we are painting our walls.

Our house now looks like a nail salon. :D

Happily, it doesn't smell like one.

So here are a few before and during shots.

Here's my sexy ankle. b/c I look that good. ;)

Painting has begun.

Our broken lamp

According to *my monitor, this is a realistic rendition of the shade of yellow we've got. Have no idea what it'll look like on your monitor.

Jack thinks fruit is for playing with. These grapefruit he bounced on the couch, knocking them off by jumping.

The tamales I made for my birthday fiesta a bit ago. ;) Told you I cooked a bunch. ^^ And I made more right afterward. Had fun fooling around with leftovers. O the joy of it ♥

More later ♥♥

Cooking

2011-10-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made a whole lot of tamales. I was on my feet all day! And had a lot of fun.
Hope you all are well today. I'll share pictures later ('cause I'm lazy tired currently).

big party today ^^ Hope I survive.......

really should start with a nap ;DD or some benadryl. hah!

ciao ^^

New furniture

2011-10-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

I really need all of you to come help me paint. THANK you so much :D I appreciate it - really I do. ^^

Sorry I haven't kept you posted on everything else.
We have a busy busy week this week, so we are not actually painting at all 'till next week.. Dentist appointments, parent-teacher (cough) conferences (I never like these - even though they often turn out to be harmless), birthday parties (for family members and myself =) ), volleyball tournament, service auction.. And I'm sure I'm forgetting things. Ah, yes, I knew I was. I am working a lot on a piece of music for the school choir. This has involved consulting my gifted pianist friend (the one who played in a band for a few years and is essentially a professional musician even though she can't read the left hand on piano music). She is very very talented, though, and she can play ragtime, rock and roll and everything.
So she's trying to teach me about syncopated rhythms (how to play them). THIS is something I have a very difficult time with in reading music.

Anyway.. So I was given this music to play - accompaniment for one song.. I looked online to see if I could find a recording of someone else playing it (cheating to find out how it's "supposed" to sound). I found what I wanted. Except the pianist in said recording ad-libs the left hand through the piece. It's marvelous. Absolutely divine - and I wimpered as I studied and listened to it over and over and over again.
So that's what I've been working on... aside from purchasing new couches.
So far, we have, in my opinion, improved the accompaniment that I am to play. I just hope my attention span will allow me to complete this project and practice well enough that I can play in front of the audience at the concert! It SHOULDN'T be a problem since I'll be playing basically for the same people as in my church congregation. The things is - it's a different setting.... But I believe if I focus on the kids and hope that the performance goes well - that THEY do well - that I will be able to practice well and support them when they perform.
♥♥♥ Too tired to finish this post.

Cody votes for not covering our couches in plastic. What do you think ? heheh

I'm all for it, seriously. I don't think it would be embarrassing. hehehehe

^^
- H.O.

I am LIVID!!!

2011-10-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

I watched a bit of a news article on television showing how some new law in Alabama is going to force illegal immigrants to leave - and not only is that removing 1/4 (did they say 1/4?) of kids from the school they used as an example - but the local farms are suffering 'cause they're losing a lot of their workers. I turned off the tv after about 2 minutes. The last piece I heard was that the farmers would like to hire legal immigrants or Americans but that nobody wants those jobs. This makes me so mad. I am so mad.
Why - what is this new law they mentioned? I'll look it up.
Why don't people think about these things before being stupid!? hello! The immigrants (legal and otherwise who are simply trying to feed their dang kids and leave the drug-entrenched, dangerous parts of their own countries) are NOT stealing jobs that WE want! 'We' being blue, white and pink class of workers in the U.S. who whatever class we belong to we don't want to work on farms or slaughter cows in meat factories.
Why?
Why are we being insane and kicking these people out?

pisses me off

i'm gonna go cry.
After I go to a church activity.

Cherio!
:)

***************

Okay - I am finally reading the text of their law: http://latindispatch.com/2011/06/09/text-of-alabama-immigration-law-hb-56/

And a) I don't like it
b) I'm falling asleep WAY before the end of it. So I'll have to pick it up again tomorrow.
c) I don't really like it
d) Why don't we let them in?
e) I don't know know anything about politics or money - but the people I've met that 'shouldn't be here' SHOULD be here - and they're not sucking any life out of our rich system as far as I'm aware. I'm glad they're here. They feel more like family to me than most people I've met. I'd love to sponsor 'em, but I don't have the money to do that.. So let's make it legal for decent wonderful folks to move into our country. Then I can learn to cook, and put on some weight, and have friends that actually call me.
k - i'm so tired I'm going to pass out. So ciao. ;D

this is War

2011-09-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

I probably should post pictures here, but .. I am so exhausted AND I don't feel like taking pictures of (cough) baby moths.

The good news is my extreme measures have proved prudent. I had put nearly everything we owned (that was in the pantry) in ziplock bags, of which I now own roughly one million. Now a week later as I check the bags, I find that up to 1/3 of them have "one moth" in them. And the bag of rice actually had a lot of (cough) toddler moths.

Unfortunately, we have kept seeing a few moths (about one a day) in the same pantry still. So I went through and checked everything as best I could and placed a few remaining items in ziplock bags, as well. I also taped over the openings in our wheat grinder which was in the pantry.

Anyway, in all this tidying and moving a few things around, I found a couple more larvae (eewww). But I didn't freak out this time. In fact, I haven't freaked out every time I've seen a moth in the pantry the last week. I just kill it, wonder where they're living, and go about my day.

So it's fascinating to me to see just which boxes they've gone into (all our boxed foods, even if they are sealed in bags on the inside of the box are in ziplock bags). So far we've found bugs in spaghetti noodles, lasagna noodles (what kind of a moth eats lasagna? I thought those hard macaroni products would be worthless to them). We've seen them in rice (not that surprising). I haven't seen any in our wheat nor corn flour. This is surprising to me, but the corn flour was pretty new, so maybe they didn't have time to get in there. We haven't seen anything in our breakfast cereals.

I wonder which product they came in, since they probably came in some food product I purchased...

Anyway, it's all out war - and I'm enjoying watching the casualties. I don't mind bugs if a ziplock bag separates me from them. And my curiosity is peaked as I watch what emerges in the next week (which hopefully will be not much).

Thank heaven for plastic.

May all your trials be as non-life-debilitating as my own.

Have a good week ;)

- H.O.

Thank me later for not posting 10 pictures of myself..

2011-09-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Alright. So here we are halfway painted. I am still searching for orange eye-shadow - the same color I used to wear ::sigh:: when I was young. Really. They were some nice colors. A dark shade of orange and a light shade of orange/peach. Yes they were close to skin color. Yes it was still noticeable (to me) I was wearing eyeshadow. Yes, it matched the emerald green church dress I wore ::sigh:: when I was young. Like 25 years ago.

Anyway - what we've got now is carmex, a little lip gloss (shiny!) I love the shimmer. Don't tell anyone. And a little bit of orange blush (probably not noticeable unless you look or unless you compare to the second photo of me without any makeup). Also a little bit of my favorite color eyeliner (works great - I love it).
So that's all. I just thought I'd share what my "look" is - even though it is unfinished.

I suppose if I wasn't lazy and didn't have a thing against caking all kinds of crap on my face, I would consider using foundation or concealer for those blemishes I don't have (except for when I eat chocolate chip cookies).

=D

They're both my look, who am I kidding? ^^

Increasing vocab

2011-09-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

Little one is now using small sentences. Only a few.

"I did it." and "Oops, I died." He said the latter very clearly this morning while playing video games. ^^ Hey - it's our bonding thing... :)

We have moths

2011-09-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

I expect they're living in some unintentionally opened container of flour in the pantry.
...
Consequently I am procrastinating (effectively) cleaning said pantry..

Can't say I regret it. But I better get to it before too long. :/
I'm kind of grossed out. I'm very grossed out. I haven't even seen where they're living and I'm sickened and horrified. I shouldn't be. I should be tough and not sickened by grubs eating I-don't-know-what in my cupboard. But I'm mortified.

Okay - so that's something I might not be reporting on later, except perhaps to say that I survived.

Wish me luck.
lots of luck.
Wish for me lots and lots of luck.
Thanks.
^^

I do not recommend...

2011-09-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

the 2002 version of Doctor Zhivago (film). I will probably watch the 1965 very soon. Can't say I will like it more. But these are awful depressing. Don't watch it. Zhen, you'd love it (*weirdo* =D )

- H.O.

=)

choir and tamales

2011-09-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Friday:
Made it to our first choir rehearsal at Julie's school. Noticed after about 15 minutes that I hadn't really* introduced myself to the director. I did say "hi." But I don't think she caught that I was one of her pianists. So 15 minutes into the rehearsal I stood up and walked over and shook her hand and introduced myself.
And I made a friend all the while; we talked the whole hour.
I'm thrilled to state that I did not ask for her phone number. We might play volleyball together, though, if I get off my lazy duff and head to practices, which apparently started yesterday.

In other news... I made my second batch of tamales. Cody says they're much better than the first - and he didn't even have to salt them. ;D
The down side to this story is that although the tamales survived unscathed, the pan I used did not. It's not the first time I've burned things in that pan, though, so it'll be okay, I guess.
They take forever to cook. This was at least 3 hours. How annoying. ;/
You won't see ME making a living cooking tamales for people.
I'm not even sure I want to make them for Christmas.

::sigh::

We also pulled a "let's all stay up late tonight" this evening. Six year old didn't make it. Here he is, sound asleep in front of his computer game. ^^

Saturday:
I'm still in love with comediennes. I thought I was in love with Emma Thompson (I'm not super familiar with her career - but I think she counts as a comedienne), and then I started reading one of Ellen's books this afternoon (after loving Nora Ephron two days back). I just can't choose between them. They're all marvelous. I was in tears reading two parts of The Funny Thing Is... Allow me to quote a bit of what brought me to tears (marvelous).
I'm too lazy to type most of it. Here it is - page 28 - from the "Hug, Kiss, or Shake Hands" Situation.

There - that was much easier than typing. That's from Google Books, btw. I figure it's legalish to snap a picture of one page since it's right there at Google. So that's the part (the last paragraph there) that had me in tears. I suppose it's only that funny to me b/c the subject matter was of interest to me. Otherwise, it wouldn't be nearly as funny... :)

I also like her prologue where she talks about what she would put in a book that's like all the other books out there about how to live a good life, and so on. A lot of that had me in stitches, too.
=)

Hope you are well.

Alex, if you read this, I dreamed last night that you were drunk at church. I also dreamt I was in a game of Bubble Bobble in church and that letters were floating down from the sky and I had to decide which ones to collect and which ones to let my son have (we play a lot of Bubble Bobble every day).

Zhen, I dreamt that I went to JJ's blog and he had a long list and you were listed like 20 times on it. I'm too shy to mention that on your blog. But I wasn't surprised (in that dream) that you were on his list so much.
hah!

hope that don't offend anyone.

Night kiddies,
- H.O. !

Try not to goof off in church tomorrow...

What a fun story :)

2011-09-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

I am finally reading "I Remember Nothing[...] and Other Reflections" by Nora Ephron, and I'm as enamored of her as she was of the gal that she writes of in chapter "Pentimento." That is my favorite chapter, btw. Quite a delight to read. Man, she was smitten. I'll just write the closing paragraph here.

"The details are just details. And the story is always the same: the younger woman idolizes the older woman; she stalks her; the older woman takes her up; the younger woman finds out the older woman is only human; the story ends.
If the younger woman is a writer, she eventually writes something about the older woman.
And then years pass.
And she herself gets older.
And there are moments when she would like to apologize--at least for the way it ended."

Ah, I wish I could just copy the whole chapter here.
Anyhow, it resonated.

*****
And two hours later, I'm done with the book. ;)
I recommend it. I think I may look up her other book(s ? ). At any rate, I love comedians. Feel a kinship really. Actually, I adored so many of her sentiments it really makes me feel for her "aw, what a sweet and human gal. That's nice."
Add her to the list of people I get to meet when I cross over, some day. Not today.
And may I enjoy everything she jokes about re: aging when the time comes (it's starting right now..)
Yes, my memory is going.

Anyway. Love her thoughts on teflon, too.

Back to the grind (more quilting. I'm not actually WORKING today) (feel a little guilty about this... )

=)

Tamales

2011-09-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

After watching once my friend show me how to make tamales, and I won't follow her recipe exactly, I am going to try them on my own today (and tomorrow). It's such a lot of work, I don't know that I will complete it all in one day (you know how little attention span / energy I have ^^ )

Will keep you posted. Hope they turn out and then I can make them for Christmas treats maybe this year. ;)

Our soccer game that we attended the other evening was marvelous. I don't think I can settle now for sitting anywhere other than the amazing seats we enjoyed this game. It was a lot of fun to watch the game up close and in person and to have Cody explain all the soccer rules, some of which I still don't understand. Cody and I left for food early in the first half. What are the odds of missing a goal being scored in any given soccer game? Close to nil. But we managed to do it. hah! hilarious.! Wonderful fun. It was also fun to know that we could be hit in the face any time with a soccer ball - so we had to pay attention (although we did not always pay attention to where the ball was). Incidentally, it's hard to keep track of a ball sometimes. For me, it is almost impossible to keep track of a ball when I'm watching an american football game. Soccer is easier for me to follow - however I still can lose track at times.
The good news is, we weren't hit in the face at any time during this match.
p.s. Our team won (after losing the previous 4 games)
p.p.s. I'm not a fan of this trend of "booing" the opposing team. I can see cheering for one's own team and maybe NOT cheering as loudly for the other. But let's all be positive, okay? Coolio. =D I mean - there are a lot of good plays out there by both teams. Lots of skill to be admired and enjoyed - why not cheer that on both sides?? Is it less admirable on the other side? No. So there's my soapbox.

Now to relax today and play in the kitchen.
♥ ♥
♥ ♥ ♥

I feel a bit foolish posting this twice (once here and once on facebook) - but for some reason I'm doing it this way this time. I wouldn't have to if Zhen would just join the herd. =PP

Oh - they turned out fairly well. Masa needs more flavor, but 4 out of 5 family members actually ate this ;D

Hot Date Tonight =D

2011-09-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

My sweetie's taking me to a soccer game - on a double date - front row seating (tickets are $125 each). ha! not to brag. But I have to brag.

Take care kiddies :)

Productive projects. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

well it probably don't deserve that many exclamation points -but who cares.

I am so thrilled. A position I volunteered to fill in the elementary school choir is still available to me to help out in. I am so excited. It's just perfect. I haven't seen the music yet. But I have good feelings about keeping myself busy.
They have a pianist already - but she has health issues so may not want or be able to always play (so I would come in handy!). And/or an additional person is needed to help teach harmony to the students (I can teach harmony. TRUST me. HARMONY I can teach.) So yes - should be fun.
That starts in about a week ;D

YAY!!!

Did I tell you about my other piano music I picked up recently? I've a short attention span lately and an inability to concentrate, in general. But I've remedied that by just beginning A LOT of things (that are all small individually) and I can work on whatever I want, whenever I want and always have something easy to do. This is besides dishes, which I've found great entertainment in lately, since our dishwasher has been acting up again (but I've had fun 'playing house' and staying home all vacation - watching the kids, cooking for us, and actually cleaning up our messes in the kitchen). Yay me.

okay folks.
Where's that beer...
♥♥♥

Someone just made my day ^^

2011-09-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

♥

HOW (miss) in the world did you get away with using a sticker (that sticker) on the OUTSIDE of the package WITHOUT it getting destroyed in the mail!?!?!??

My mind is thoroughly stumped!

Thank you. Love the stickers. Love the card.
Does the gum I mailed you smell as weird to you as this banana monkey does to me? strange.
You know what I like the smell/taste of, banana-wise, though - is banana chips. OR Runts (the banana ones). It's the same flavor. This monkey don't quite have it, however. =D

So I showed Joe the card, package, etc. He asked for the sticker off the outside "sure :)" and I think he wanted the whole pack of pink stickers. I told him they were for me.
=)

BTW, feel free to disregard my recent request for a specific other sticker. (unless you feel inclined.. I DO like the Asian ones you sent a while back. You know they don't have anything like that in the U.S. at all. Not that I've looked. I haven't, in fact. That would sort of defeat the purpose of asking you to find more.)
Thanks so much :)

☺
- H.O.

Weird movies

2011-08-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

I've asked him repeatedly, but I STILL don't know WHERE Cody finds these movies. A week ago we watched Big Man Japan. You shoulda seen Cody giggle at the end of that one, after being bored through the whole movie. He thought it was marvelous. I enjoy watching him chuckle. Nothing so fun as watching him watch movies. ^^

Tonight we are enjoying a very lethargic paced Assault Girls. Yes, I didn't choose this one. Parts of it are enjoyable. It is very slow, though.

I should add more - but I can't remember anything I did today ;D quilting? yes. Wanted to vomit? yes. Other than that, nothing to report.

As you were.

oh wait - I bought a new piece of music to play - it's for the organ. I'm super excited about that. And we videotaped ourselves a lot today and yesterday (the children and I). Guess we did have a fun day.

Goodnight :D

decided I dislike crushes

2011-08-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've recently decided that as much as I love having crushes, I also hate them.. excepting of course the crushes you CAN tell that you like them so that a) then they understand why you can't talk when you're standing next to them and b) they may even join in a little harmless (with a capital 'H') flirtation. Naturally, I define flirting very loosely the way I define a lot of things.. yada yada nevermind.

Yeah, it's frustrating.

How am I going to bring food to my sick friend when I'm nervous about visiting her in the first place? hum? And why do I need this nonsense in my life in the first place? ah yes - b/c I enjoy it - I'd forgotten.

Well let's never let's mind about this.
At any rate, I hate it.

Did I tell you I'd painted my nails? I've never been in love with my feet before - not that I dislike them - but they look so cute now, it's delightful. Thank heaven for nail polish, providing hours of kosher fun.

Ever yours and his and theirs,
- FrustratedOrganist

I see you =)

2011-08-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this a week ago, but didn't have the time. Nor did I have the ability to edit it. So the entertaining part is at the end. If you watch - do feel free to start in the middle.
Ciao ^^

Mr. Men, Ovens, and Non-dishwasher-safe dishes

2011-08-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

You've perhaps heard of Mr. Men books by Roger Hargreaves?
Cody came home with a bunch from the library this afternoon. I browsed through and set down to read, with my 6 yr old, Mr. Skinny.. The story of my life. It really read just like my life - even the end almost. Interesting, though, upon reading the 'moral' according to the Mr. Men webpage, I'm not sure I agree. That is - I didn't catch the moral they supposedly were trying to teach. Moral is supposedly that if you hang out with people, you will end up becoming like them. This may be true, but I don't think the story illustrated that (very well).

Pruned some trees today. ^^ Cody was horrified. I think they turned out great. They're a nice manageable size again. ;) Oh - and you would have thought I was a feminist, the way I tried and tried to cut through the main trunk (top of this tree) all by my lonesome with no muscles to speak of. Nearly sprained my wrist. ^^ Here is one of the trees I hacked away at. BTW, this felt very empowering. Nothing so empowering as either killing flies or chopping limbs off of trees. Now I just need to collect the blossoms next year. Tuck them in people's hair. I could probably make hair clips out of them. =)

Here's that still for you, Zhen, old chum =P

And Mr. InLovewithMinecraft has been making paper dolls with his friends. It's the next best thing to playing the game on the computer - playing the game with paper dolls, until Jack squishes them. "I told you to put them somewhere where Jack won't find them!" Here's one that didn't survive.

Other blogworthy stories include I cleaned my oven this weekend (this was really cool). You know how cool oven cleaner IS!? It is seriously fun to use. I would have taken a video of me washing all the junk off the grates (caked on food WASHED off with just water - JUST WATER!). Seriously. Neat stuff. But I wasn't going to videotape myself doing a chore... hahah
;/

And I purchased some cheap, but delightfully cheerful, non-dishwasher-safe dishes for the kids the other day. For SOME reason this purchase made me very happy. I don't know why. I guess they're just a nice size, and fun, and add color to our eclectic pile of mismatched dishes in our cupboard. I love our mismatched dishes. ;)

And here I am, slouching and eating popcorn with my 6 yr old.

I pulled the following face for the photographer. I post it here b/c I have no shame.

Adios. Buenas noches muñecas ^^

Cookin' up a storm!

2011-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I cooked not less than all of the following:

- 2 batches of baked chicken (complete with bacon and shake n' bake seasoning and mushroom soup)
- 1 batch mashed potatoes (scratch)
- 1 batch lasagna
- 2 batches of blueberry muffins (a mix - not from scratch ^^)
- 1 batch peanut butter rice krispy treats (yes, I couldn't stay away from the peanut butter)
- 1 batch of vegetables (uh - not from scratch)

And my kitchen is virtually spotless. Seriously folks.

I'm not on drugs, nor am I pregnant. I AM overdue for a yoga session (though I tried a bit today - still need more). Other than that I'm fine. Maybe I'm just insanely bored and this was my 'thing' for today.

Anyway, it was fun. Now to laze around for the weekend =)

Maybe I'll sew a quilt tomorrow...

I'm worried our swamp cooler might be broken (scary - since we're headed toward 100 a week from now). Fingers crossed that I'm just imagining things..

Ciao

=)

2011-08-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

Another re-lactation dream. That is definitely a recurrent theme on my subconscious lately.
SOMEday this may all make sense (?).

In the meantime, I'm going grocery shopping for good meals that don't involve peanut butter, chocolate and corn syrup. ;) We'll see how successful that is.

Honest folks

2011-08-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy that the people who received my package at my 10 yr old former address in Logan, UT decided to return it in the post. I'm watching this package via USPS track & confirm, and it's so funny. It has now gone through the Salt Lake sorting center twice (on it's way in and out of Utah). Lovely.
Anyway, it's entertaining.
Another week and it'll be here. =)

It's just that necklace. It's just taking a while. It's okay.

And I've turned into a lazy blogger. I'm going to get those food pictures up eventually. But somehow clicking buttons is so hard lately (don't know why) and I haven't gotten around to it. I did pull some weeds, though, in my back yard. They were about as tall as I was, and now the back looks much prettier. Next chore (and I should take pictures of this) de-appling our very productive apple trees. Poor things are burdened with loads of apples. Branches need to be cut like nothing else. I really should take a picture.
And next year when they are blossoming, I don't know how - but I want to harvest some of the blossoms and press them in a scrapbook or something.

MEANTIME - we've got sugar upstairs - had wonderful sushi last night (those spicy tuna rolls are called spicy for a reason ;) ) - and we'll see what we can't accomplish today. ^^

(5 hours later - I've got the pictures up) ;)

Food and Trees.

Okay, and here is a typical morning at our house. Complete with contents spilling out of the pantry, and so on.. I love Cody's singing. He keeps thinking I'm laughing at him.

=D

Hidden Talents

2011-08-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I'm proud of this or not - but I think I can unstop toilets as well if not better than what my husband is able. I'm at a loss whether I should expound on this or not.
I think I'll just leave it as - you know how you hear that people have hidden talents that you can't see from the outside? Well in addition to the, like 100 of my plainly visible gifts, I have this hidden talent. And now you know about it.

Well you know what they say, we have our talents to bless the lives of others. I'm gonna make a sign and post it on the mailbox offering my services to neighbors. Call Jen before you call a plumber (unless you have toys flushed down the toilet - then you're on your own). =D

My this heat is getting to me, but it's okay.

Church

2011-08-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

So today Cody and I saw our first "I do ___ and I'm a Mormon" ad (I think they're only aired in the U.S. I don't know.)
And it was cute. funny. We didn't expect that was what it was when it started (talked about a guy who actually said "I've always collected junk =)") I'm still laughing at that bit.
Anyway, I've come up with my own idea for an ad, if I were to do one.
"I like old ladies, and I'm a Mormon.." [I burst out laughing while trying to type this]

okay. So there's my contribution, people. Just wanted to add my own; I hate being left out.

In other news, we (meaning I - but my husband stayed home to get the kids ready) made it to church on time today =D Don't worry, I left after 30 minutes to come back and help my family...
THEN - once we were in our class (fun stuff) we shared our *healthy snacks* that we brought for the 3 yr olds. Grapes. Grapes.... yeah
uh - so the grapes apparently have a lot more sugar in them than the cookies that we usually bring. Kids were BOUNCING off the walls. Never ever bringing grapes again.
;/

Speaking of sugar, I think I may need to join a 12-step program.... (?)
Yes, probably very very soon. Very* soon. yes..
I'll get right on that. ^^

Have a good one!

New Haircut

2011-08-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

I could get obscene about how nice this new haircut feels. hahahaha
couldn't stop caressing the back of my head on the way home.
Anyway, the gal did a wonderful job in that she did NOT touch the front of my hair (the long parts in the front) but just trimmed the back, making it perfect. Still a great summer cut. I like it so well, though, that I'll have to buy a heavy scarf to wear in the winter 'cause I'm not willing to grow it out at all, ever.

AND I still get a kick out of how many times I have to tell a given coiffeuse to go shorter! Shorter, yes! Above the neckline, yeah. Cut it off. Shave it off. Use clippers. I don't care what you do - but get it off my neck and make it short. ^^ At least I've gotten less timid about telling them just how short I want it, even if it takes several tries. =)

Finally, I want to add that I've entered the Hoarding stage of my life.
Yes, it began with pink shirts. But it has expanded now to include my favorite teal eyeliner. I hope to acquire a good dozen pencils of said color..... soon as I get around to it. I'm sure this is important to have in case of emergency.
Maybe I'll just get 6.

Guess I'll get ready for luau now... Will keep you posted.
Ciao kiddies ^^

Just needed those calories =)

2011-08-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

I've been sugaring all day. Woke up kind of depressed (why? beyond me, but I know that it's not PMS. all the same I was some-kind-of-irritable last night. It was positively comical how irritable I was. I giggled about it with a friend this evening, in fact.) At any rate, sugared all morning and started on real food in the afternoon. By the time 6:00 rolled around I was home and starved for more something. Had a serving of lasagna (I know you want to know this) then dessert (I might have got that order backwards) and milk (I don't usually consume a lot of milk). So that was good and then I was bored and couldn't figure out what to do and wasn't feeling quite well, yet. Finally said "what the hay" and started with another slice of lasagna followed by dessert (might have gotten the order backwards) and lot more milk. I think I might do that "down a gallon of milk" that people do for dares, on accident tonight. Anyhow. I felt SO much better after that second round. All my feeling slightly under-par and can't-decide-what-to-do-with-myself really translated to "needs more calories, honey." And so it was and is that I begin to feel better (after feeling a little guilty at first for having two servings of dessert this evening. Not that such things usually bother me at all, but tonight I felt kind of guilty initially).
And now that I've recounted that story, I'm going to head up and have another glass of milk (which I may regret later this evening). And maybe I'll weigh myself before I climb into bed, 'cause I bet I clear 110 tonight.. la la la.
And progesterone is a Good thing, I'm thinking.. The female hormone that makes us like to eat.

Did I tell you how irritable I was last night? My husband came in once I was trying to sleep (and I'd taken 2 benadryl b/c I REALLY needed my rest) and opened the window. There was virtually no sound outside except a calm rush of a cool breeze. I swear, though, that was the loudest breeze I had EVER heard - EVERY bit as annoying as the most obnoxious party we have ever had to listen to. I had to get up and close the window half-way - I just couldn't stand it. And it went downhill from there..
^^

I knew it was irrational (it was funny - except that it WASN'T funny - and I still don't know what the problem was).
Anyhow, I guess I'll rest this weekend (maybe do some yoga - that's probably what I'm lacking), and take up gardening or something..
I've taken so many pictures of what I've cooked this week. I was planning on sharing them, but I haven't uploaded them yet. You want to see parsley tea? and spinach quiche minus crust with a lot of mexican hot sauce and trimmings? I think I also took a picture of some guacamole I made. I can't remember, though... green green green.
You know what? The two year old LIKED the lasagna until he saw the green in it! Just one small layer of spinach - that's all it took - and he had had enough. Imagine! punk kid. =P
Same with the 6 yr old, "This is not my favorite!"
Back to the pureeing vegetables into the tomato sauce.... dum dum dum
I hope I sleep all day this weekend.
Goodnight! =)

I love shopping at Etsy!

2011-08-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

hahahahah!
yay. Hope it's as nice in person as it was online.. this necklace.

I should show you all, huh. Aqui está.

Yay! Now all I have to do is find somebody to give it to...
^^

Better get back to laundry. =D

Saturdays are great for...

2011-08-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

(Sundays are great for this, too)

Sleeping in! !!!!
Relaxing! sorta goes hand in hand with sleeping in..
visiting people
cleaning fridges
and babysitting. Don't know why, but we are babysitting extra children both days.. ? ah well. I love having someone I can swap babysitting with. ^^

Hey - the results are in on makeup reviews ^^
Zhen and Cody were the only two to agree with me on "looks a bit much." (or a lot much)
BTW, Zhen, I want you to know that Cody thinks it's nice that you are not one to hand out compliments freely (not saying anyone did - but I'm just saying that he thinks you're not one of those people who no matter what you're observing, ex: ugly baby, hands out a compliment anyway). Cody doesn't do that either.
There were a lot of people who like the look - and that's interesting and okay. mostly interesting. I still haven't heard back from my bro on what he thinks. I expect he'll agree with Cody and myself.

Anyway - thank you for looking and giving feedback. That was fun.

In other news, I'm missing my piano-playing friend. We've both been busy and is going on I-don't-know-how-long-now-and-it'll-be-okay, but I have two pieces of music ready to show off and practice with her and I'm very excited - but we're both busy. heh

ah well.

Am giving up sugar for a week. Not strictly strictly. I have some almond bars, for example, that have a little bit of sugar in them - but very little compared to the amount of protein - that I still eat. But have removed milk products and sugar from my diet. Thank GOODNESS I have my Mexican dishes to fall back on. Otherwise I'd be dead. (story of my life) ^^
Get to eat ceviche with my friend tomorrow.
Well, life is good. Who am I kidding? It's great =D

Enjoy your Sunday, kiddies !!
I'm gonna find the earplugs (preparatory to babysitting today).
♥♥♥♥♥
- H.O.

Me veo poquito más como una Mexicana

2011-08-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Pictures won't be forthcoming.
I let my very guapa amiga pintarme, y me pintó .. wow - como una latina. Y eso no soy.
^^ But it was lots of fun.

Mexican friend did my make-up.
Not only did she do my make-up - but she then took more pictures of me than I enjoy taking of myself. I didn't think this was humanly possible, but she managed to do it. And it was fun (until I got tired and then it wasn't as fun then, but it was still sort of fun).
We're going to have to do this again sometime.
Anyway, soon enough I will 'paint myself' and show her what I like (more or less) make-up-wise for myself.
And then we'll go out to the mall together or something for fun.

There were lots of highlights to this adventure, not limited to:

Joey actually hid behind his blanket when he saw my face when I came home.
Cody might have done the same, but he didn't have a blanket.
Julie and I talked about how this is not a good look (at least for our culture or the microculture we belong to at least)
Giggled, giggled, had a lot of fun giggling as make-up was applied and eyes were nearly jabbed. She did a good job of not hurting me but I thought "wow - I am putting a lot of trust in this woman to work that close to my eyes !" She applied all the make-up, herself. Eyeliner on, what is that called, the "water line?" of the eye (on the inside of the eyelid practically). I won't even do that, myself. When I commented about the potential pain involved in jabbing one's eyeball while making oneself up, she said (in Spanish) "beauty hurts!" I had never heard this in Spanish before, but I caught the gist of it and asked her daughter "Did she just say that 'beauty hurts?!" Cracks me up.
It took a while to get the makeup off ;)
The lipstick she put on, which I would never choose for myself, was 'magic' like she said and was the most difficult to remove. heh That's the only color she had, though. And it changed colors when applied. The stick was purple. Can you imagine? "Here I'm going to put this purple on you. Don't worry - it'll change color =) "

Well that's not all the funny stories I have. Ask me about the mascara =D

Photos available upon request.

Cherio !!

No tolerance for babies who don't know how to use a mouse

2011-08-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

I just can't help them play games, you know? I'm too impatient. I showed the girl how to click the mouse, how to steer. She didn't pick it up in the 2 seconds I took to show her. ::sigh::
Babysitting...

Good News!! I took a handful of my trusty chinese herbs and that made me feel not depressed today! Still tired, though (it's the medicine).
Anyway - it's NICE to not feel depressed. Another one for chinese herbs. ;)

And Jack spilled the spaghetti. on purpose.

med side-effect update

2011-08-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

I know you all wanted to know. This current medication makes me want to cry. I'm sure it's not hormones - I'm positive that it is indeed a side effect of the new antibiotic ;D weird. What do they PUT in these things???? Anyway, it's making me depressed, BUT I am still functional and that is good. Just two more days to go. Also makes me feel like I'm anorexic again (I mean nervous - but I can still eat and I DO eat, but I do feel like I did 4 years ago.)

Other news:

It's hot here! Where's ice water when I need some?
CDs almost done (ahem Z) =D
um I can't think of anymore news

Oh, I DO want to ask a friend to an aromatherapy class tonight. Maybe I'll just ask here - anyone want to go with me? Thanks.

Less nauseated, dizzy and drowsy.

2011-08-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

In this case 'less' is not 'more' ;) Knock on wood.

So far we are feeling much better. Not 100%, but this is definitely preferable to the other medicine I tried.
I haven't tried sleeping through the night on it yet, though. At any rate, only a couple days left to take this stuff and I'll be done.

In the meantime, I was able to FUNCTION today. hooray! That's both before AND after taking the new med. Been working on piano. One piece I'm so excited about.. Also had fun visiting a friend (one with a fenced yard, no less, so Jack was able to play and not get bored). Their children had a neighbor's hen they were playing with this morning. The one little boy liked to bring it up to me and watch me shriek. I only shrieked the first time, but he really tried a few other times to elicit the same response from yours truly.
I don't like flying things. I don't even like butterflies. I mean they're fine from a distance, but not anywhere near me.

It rained like nothing else today - marvelous fabulous weather. I had to chuckle b/c the friend I visited is one who is the opposite of me. Rain gets her down, and she prefers warm sunshiny weather. These friends are neat to have because we compliment each other. I used to visit another friend often when it was cloudy outside. I felt marvelous, but she really needed a friend to help her weather the weather - so it worked out well. And she'd cheer me up when the sun came out later ;)

Well, time to watch an English-dubbed Chinese film.
Ciao amiche ;D

- K, I can't watch the Chinese movie b/c the English acting is not that great. It's hard to take those movies seriously when you can't hear the real actors performing their lines.

Stoned out of my mind: Memoirs of a consumer of Western medicine

2011-07-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

;)

I'm not really here to knock Western medicine. I AM here to say that I've been reading up on the side-effects of this stuff I'm on, and I'm apparently in the less than 1% of the people it affects by making them dizzy and drowsy. So I feel pretty darned special. It's fun to feel special. I feel so special right now.
I hope I feel less* special tomorrow afternoon ^^
hahah

Humor still intact.

Hopefully I can get back to hum-drum reality tomorrow and have energy to do boring things like laundry (would be a treat to be able to get something done).
=)

better than Benadryl

2011-07-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

HEY,
I'm too lazy to blog about what I want to blog about (I forgot what that was) a few days ago, but I thought I'd throw out that this stuff I started on yesterday is way better than Benadryl for knocking me out / making me giddy / doping me up. And the weird thing is, it's an antibiotic. Why would an antibiotic do this? I don't know, but it also makes me nauseated if I don't take it with enough food.
Anyway, gotta love Western medicine (but this time I'm not knocking it, 'cause anything that prevents kidney infections wins in my book).
I was in so much pain yesterday I almost took a neighbor with me to the doctor (husband was watching the kids). I felt really bad leaving the neighborhood w/o taking any friend with me (I do have a few I could choose from). But I thought it would be really strange to take them along for this particular trip. So I took my cell phone instead and it was almost as good. Just knowing that I'd be able to call a friend if I needed one was sufficient. Dr. visit went perfect. Everything was perfect except for all the pain that I was in. Other than that - it was wonderful. And even though it was wonderful, I came out like I went in, repeating "I hate going to the doctor, I hate going to the doctor."
heh

Well I better go eat breakfast. I'm planning on postponing my second dose 'till after church. No point in abandoning my husband when he needs me to teach and manage kids.

Hope you all are well and enjoying this heat. :/
Heat is killer. Draaaiins the energy..... Oh well. =D

New cell phone (it's my first)

2011-07-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

Yes - it's my first. And it's red, not pink. It'll work. :)

I don't know how to use it. I sort of know my own number (but not for real). I've almost got the ringtones I want put on it. We have them; we just have to get them on the phone. Super-genius (I'm not being sarcastic) ran into some technical difficulties. But he has the honor of super-cool ringtone. I'd show you, but I don't know how to easily share in this forum.

Now all I need to do is learn how to use the phone... Oh - and I recorded my greeting (Spanish then English ;D). I'm very pleased.

Fun fun =D

Venting on our state's truancy policy :)

2011-07-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

I was put-off by this intimidating truancy policy, and so I added my $.02 to the compulsory education letter I had to sign at the start of this school year ;)

Anyway, I guess the rules are OKAY, but I do think they way they are presented leads to more parents sending their sick kids to school. Niiice. You'll notice in the list of consequences, the first (after 5 absences) is that the school will contact the parents to ask what they (the school) can do to help improve the child's attendance. I wrote "chicken soup" ;D But what I'd also add is "yeah, don't scare other parents into sending their kids to school sick. That will help mine not get sick quite as often and then we won't miss as much school. THANKS =)" If they're that concerned, that's what they'll do.
I also don't like that they might (but haven't in the past - at least not with us) require a Dr's note if my child is sick.
How often are kids sick with VIRUSES? And what can a Dr. do about that? I really really really hope they don't ask me to take my kid to a doctor just to get a note that he/she is sick when they have a virus - 'cause that is a waste of MY time and $, better spent staying home and resting. Not to mention my kid might not be sick if it weren't for the reason mentioned above.

Well there is my rant, most of it anyway. The thing is - we had one of those warning "notes" sent home to us last year. "Your child has missed 5 days! (oh my gosh!!! it's 'cause they had a fever and/or were vomiting, but I'll make a note of it and send them with a bucket next time b/c school is that important, and I wouldn't want to get anyone else sick or make my child suffer by sitting in a classroom while vomiting)" It's just insulting, I think. I think that's what the thing is. Do they think I WOULDN'T keep them home for a reason that wasn't good?
Anyway - it put me off.

Okay - and finally, check it out. They have a 4-page packet they send us regarding this truancy policy. Included are two flow charts. One, explaining everything in minute detail. The second, in case you couldn't understand the first, a simplified version of the first.

hahahahahah

So cracks me up. :D

k, I feel a huge weight off my shoulders. Now I'll go shopping (I'm looking for something in pink, but I have a gut feeling I'll fall in love with something in black ^^)

Oh, I notice now that there is a truancy policy and a tardy policy. So there is a difference (I'm literate, I promise). It's still funny, though! =D

The thrill of being afraid =D

2011-07-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

People who know me know that I don't enjoy being frightened for fun. This is one reason I don't watch the news or ride roller-coasters anymore. Also was never into horror as a genre, either - and have grown out of enjoying most of the suspense novels I used to read.

But - I have found there is an exception to my general preferences in this regard. I enjoy nostalgic thrillers. Things that I enjoyed as a child and have been *searching for ever since and that I finally find, I like. I found that I LIKED feeling scared last night as I impulsively stayed up late watching a mini-series that I first saw when it came out in 1988.

Something Is Out There. Finally, after years of searching, it is available on YouTube.

So there we go... I like scary as long as it is inundated with nostalgia =D

Today both of my kids went to school, leaving little punk kid and myself home alone all day. Guess we'll survive. ;D
Thank goodness for a good husband and good friends.
Oh - and I'm finally breaking down and purchasing a cell phone (very likely tomorrow).

It's funny - we purchased our second car in order to chauffeur children to kindergarten last year. And now we're getting a cell phone (one that I will use) in case either child needs me while I'm hanging with my friends all day now (now that I have nothing to do at home).
Well it's mostly for the summer, I suppose. I imagine I'll stay home a lot in the winter. We'll see what happens.

MP3's, children in school, fun projects

2011-07-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

So many projects lately!

I'll list a few:

sorted, tossed yearbooks (Well I kept one yearbook and a few pages of a second, haven't gotten to the rest yet. I'm not sure I have any more than those, two. We shall see =) )
Prepped (digitally edited) my 'Come Thou Fount' song I'm working on. I definitely have a ready audience for this piece. Our jam session yesterday was really fun. Three women (one husband) - and we all took turns at the piano playing whatever we had with us / wanted/could play. Anyway, they're excited about this piece (I'm excited, too, or else I wouldn't be able to work on it at all).
really into Def Leppard lately (this isn't a project really - but I'm totally lovin' a couple songs in particular)
Prepped the Pachabel's Canon duet I'm working on. Now all it needs is practice. ;)
Picture sorting project (um it's almost done) (I'm sure you wanted to know)
cleaned the whole house today
quilts (fabric was on sale - I got a stash. I can't believe I have a stash of fabric now. That is so unusual. Next thing I'll need a sewing closet! weird... Still, I got enough to hopefully last a little bit. And I figure if I'm going to buy it anyway - I might as well start racking it in while it's on sale)
Pozole (is almost not worth mentioning, but it's on my projects list again. Was supposed to make some 2 days ago...)

My sleep schedule is still a bit off ever since that Journey concert. Been up 'till midnight or so ever since then... Fortunately long naps in the day - that's helpful. :)

My little punk kid (sigh) oldest little boy goes to first grade tomorrow. I'm having a hard time with this (you think I'd be ready, but I'm not so much. I'm going to miss him. He's such a good helper. He helps with Jack a lot. So does his sister.) So it may be just the little one and I all day long now for the next 3 years. :(

I'm sure it'll be okay.

I might adopt a neighbor kid or something to help me make the transition.... ^^

Poor Joe. I bet he comes home from school now more whiny than ever. hahahah He whined about school after the first two months of starting it last year. "Well, you got 12 more years, kiddo.."

Julie might get to sing in choir this year, finally. I won't need her to pick up Joe after school. That would be fun for her, I think. We'll see if we can swing that. That would be nice.

Last, but not least, I'm planning on making a huge CD with a lot of my current favorite songs on it (we're talking a list of 90 songs - much better than the 10 songs I put on the last CD I made recently). I'm looking forward to this and then to taking my radio into the yard and blasting it while I do yard work or clean the garage or what not. See what a punk I am ^^

heh

Hope you all are enjoying your summer (and winter). Much love,

- Jen

Night Ranger / Foreigner / Journey @ Salt Lake City

2011-07-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

HI! I'm here to fill you in on our adventures at the soccer stadium last night.
First off, Cody now wants (as with the last few years) a season pass this year to watch Real Salt Lake play whoever it is that they get to play this season... It *is a nice facility, I admit.

We found parking easily (a good hour before the concert was scheduled to begin). Five dollars to park in a local merchant's parking lot ;) We got HOME easily afterward, too, and avoided many traffic jams. (Thank heaven!) By the time we left I was staggering as much as the next person (and without booze! It was that past my bedtime.) It was funny to see some of the people walk out (b/c they couldn't walk). Very funny.
PEOPLE watching was so much fun, I can't even tell you. In the photos I talk about one story in particular, but we saw all kinds of wonderful folks mingling about wearing all kinds of apparel. We pointed, giggled, nudged, rated and pined. Well mostly just nudged and pointed. heh
I almost felt-up the leg of the woman seated behind me. Could have been exciting (maybe). I don't even remember what she looked like. Anyhow.. it's just the seats were that close together and her knee was right where Cody's shoulder was, you see. :)

In the photos I point out a woman sitting next to us who was mistaken for my mother. I want to say that at the end of the second intermission I followed her out to go get water (not on purpose - it just happened that way). So we were both standing in line at the water fountain when we heard Journey come on. We just looked at each other, smiled a whole lot (b/c they sounded AMAZING), commented on how 'wow' they sounded. I said something about "don't worry - they save all the good songs for later." Then they proceeded to sing (I forgot what, but it was one of 'the good ones'). Wow, they sounded good. And we got our drinks and headed back to our fantastic seats (where we all proceeded to cheer, belt out songs and dance for the remainder of the concert).

So here is a video I took before the concert began. And then I've posted all our pictures.

We had a lot of fun. It was fun leaving the concert, parading through town (can we move any faster?). At one point we're walking down a street and a concert-attendee drives by (probably inebriated) singing "I'm forever yoooours," and you know how that goes. Ah, it was fun. If we didn't have to get home to a sitter, we'd have dined at "Tim's Diner" which, according to a guy with a sign in front, was "open." (walked past that on the way to our car).
Tons of fun.
I really can't tell you how fun it was. Cody and I need to do that more often (and oh how we plan on it!!!).
Enjoy, kiddies ;D

NIght Ranger / Foreigner / Journey @ Rio Tinto, SLC 2011

I forgot to list what they sang. I'll add that in a minute. :)

**********Play List*********** (not perfect, but most of it)

Night Ranger sang:
Sister Christian
When you close your eyes do you dream about me? (yes!)
Don't tell me you love me
(Damn Yankee song ??)
You can still rock In America

Foreigner performed:
Double Vision
Head Games
Cold as Ice
Waiting for a girl like you
Dirty White Boy
Feels like the first time (it did - 'cause that was the first time I'd heard that time)
Urgent
I wanna know what love is
Hot Blooded
****exit. crowd cheers for more - OF Course!**
Jukebox Hero

Journey:
Separate Ways
Ask the lonely
City of Hope
Stormy Love
Edge of the Moment
Lights
Wheel in the sky
Chain of love
Open Arms
Escape
Faithfully
Be good to yourself
Don't stop believing
*****exit. Crowd screams for more (of course)*****
rewarded with: Anyway You Want It ^^ (and that's the way I like it) ;)

- H.O.

Night Ranger / Foreigner / Journey

2011-07-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Concert was awesome! Details tomorrow =D
Alex (Alex alex alex - my goodness you would have loved what we got to watch this concert. people watching) I probably could have jumped in if I wanted to - but I weren't feeling THAT outgoing (although I did feel relatively outgoing, if I do say so myself..)
Fill ya in after some sleep.
Night!

scoring big and new projects

2011-07-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

Gah, I'm in one of my "need a new project" moods. I've got this Gorgeous crochet hook. The color alone is enough to suck me into trying an afghan again (even though I swore off afghan projects after the second one I tried). And the hook size is larger than what I've used in the past. Will this make it so something like an afghan could be a doable project for me? But I'm not willing to purchase yarn, nor use the gobs of odds and ends I've stored from past projects. ::sigh::
Life is hard. I don't know why it gets so incredibly rough some days.

Maybe my hot date tomorrow will make it worthwhile. ^^
Yes, I plan on making-out for up to 4 hours (really?) to 80's music with this guy who's taking me out... We'll see where that leads (but I might not tell you).
Wish me luck!! ;D

really, though, I'm still stuck thinking about yarn.

Okay, AND I have to figure out what I can wear tomorrow night. I'm thinking something with REALLY big pockets (and hide as much candy in there as possible, maybe even a couple jugs of water). =) I'm sure I have some pants/shorts with pockets that big, somewhere.....

I wonder how loud it'll be. Maybe I should get some earplugs while I'm out shopping tonight. I'll add it to the list.

And last, but not least, here is a picture of the kids in pj's playing in the yard - b/c that's what pajamas are for. =) (Bet you didn't know that.)

Night all!

Lazy Summer Days.. Helados, license info, scrapbooking and piano

2011-07-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

So we've got one week left of summer vacation (hooray!) :)
Kids are ready to go back. Actually we still have to stock up on pencils and crayons. dum dum dum. =D

I bought some shorts for Joe the other day and they were too big. I thought "they're such a nice price and well-made, I'll just sew them up when I get home so they will fit really well." So I get home, finally get around to sewing (needle and thread ready to go) and what do I notice? Both pairs that I'm ready to sew have adjustable elastic bands in the waist. Score! So I just adjusted those, no sewing, and voila. =D

Dina, I am this close to changing the theme of my blog to fit a ring you might put together. I mean just two days ago I noticed I purchased one of the most expensive brands of ice cream at the store mainly b/c it is supposedly a Mexican brand. Well it is good ice cream, too. Both reasons. But I thought that was fun.

This past week I was looking at my driver's license and noticed that I had my weight and height incorrect on there. I've known for at least 2 years now that I'm a good 5 ' 9 1/2 ", but my license still says 5'8". My weight I had down as 125. That surprised me a ton. "Wha--? I haven't been that since over 4 years ago!!" And my license I renewed (new photograph and everything) in 2008. So how did I make that mistake? Well, I was pregnant when I renewed my license, and therefore wrote what I thought I'd weigh after el Jacko was born... and I guess I didn't know yet that my height had changed.
Fascinating stuff. Picture looks somethin' awful. I may go get it retaken in 2013 when I have to renew.

I am nearly done sorting through all our left-over pictures. We did not have a large pile left from my HUMONGOUS sorting/discarding project I completed a couple years ago. But we did have a few sundry odds and ends, plus Cody's mission pictures, which I totally unsorted (OOPS). It all fit easily in a small box; picture two shoe-boxes full of pictures. That's what I'm sorting through now - and almost all done. I mean all done. I mean everything**** will be put away!! How cool is that?
I considered sorting through old albums ('cause I'm crazy) and discarding some of those pictures. But when I actually opened them I couldn't find anything worth tossing. So I guess we continue to accrue until we're dead..................
Still, I don't plan to leave a huge pile when I'm dead. That's the real goal for me. "Look - mom died and she did not leave a huge pile of crap to be sorted! That's so thoughtful and practical and says a lot about her." (Says that I valued people more than junk. That's one thing I hope to leave as a legacy. "Don't save lots of crap. You can't take it with you, anyway.")

Piano is coming along. I am missing my piano partner (over two weeks now), b/c of busy summer schedules. I hope we can get together, soon, though, 'cause I've finally got this huge arrangement trimmed to what I think should sound wonderful. I want to know what she thinks; I want to hear it played with two people, finally. I can play the whole thing myself, but it don't sound as good that way. AND with a smattering of practice we can probably be ready to record. We could probably record without practice and have fun watching ourselves play (that's always fun, I think ;) ).
So we'll see how that goes.
In the meantime, the heat is not too bad. We have energy to dejunk and cook and clean and ... visit friends in order to paint fingernails (score!).

Cody is planning Halloween costumes. That's all my kids are talking about lately, too. What is that? It's not even August (?).

Will keep you all posted.
Have a good one! =)

I'm turning into a man

2011-07-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Okay - not really.

I bought a new car-seat today and started to install it before reading the directions. When that didn't work, I consulted the instructions briefly, did not find what I wanted, and proceeded to very rapidly figure it out, in spite of everything. Basically I got the whole project done without guidance and relatively quickly. I'm so pleased. =DD But it's funny that I didn't want to bother with the directions in the first case.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I was only able to accomplish this one b/c I have 3 kids and have owned about 9 car-seats. ...
^^

Now I have to figure out why this room smells like crap (I mean that very literally. I'm quite worried.)

Have a good day!

invited

2011-07-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

I've been invited (for the second time) to Mexico. heheh

The invitation was extended that my family accompany my friend's family to their ranch in Jalisco, spring of this coming year :). map of Mexico
I don't think we can afford it - but I'm thrilled to be invited again. My other friend lived in Michoacan. That's interesting that they are right next to each other. I don't know where my other friends are from (I lose track. Michoacan is the only one that sticks in my head, actually...) I hope I can go someday (although since there are snakes there, I'll survive if I don't go).
I sort of have a feeling I won't go to Mexico. But I do expect to go to Brazil or some other country in South America someday. Mexico is practically my home, though, so it's funny if I never go there.

Ceviche party went great today. I'm so glad my friend taught me well, years ago, how to make a nice batch. And there are so many variations, of course, on it. So it was fun b/c my current girlfriend had never tried ceviche with canned corn and peas mixed in, but she liked it. And her daughters ate it, too (I was so flattered). My kids won't really eat the stuff.
Back to the grind (enjoying doing laundry).
Have a great week =D

p.s. I let Jack take a bath with potato chips last night. That was fun. Talk about being in a good mood. heheheh

Fun Reunion

2011-07-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

We thrived more than survived =) Had a great time.

If you're dying for pics, here they are.

Got my hand-holding quota met, and it weren't even my idea! I really liked that. Our family felt supremely welcome and appreciated. Tons of fun. I love being sought out by various people "Hey - how are you doing? What are you up to?" and they stop and chat for a while. I love love love that. Can't tell you how much that means to me.

So we all stayed at this ranch in podunk Idaho (am I allowed to say that?). It was beautiful. The accommodations were ideal. Everyone bunked in one of two houses - so the entire group actually got to hang-out with each other at this reunion. This was really fun. Lots of card games, fantastic food (and lots of it). Jack, of course, enjoyed playing with the gravel that was abundant outdoors. The weather was perfect. Everybody got along, as far as I know.
The one drawback was that Jack hates sleeping away from home, and he let us know this in no uncertain terms. ^^ We got him to bed at 1:00 a.m. the first night (hotel) and midnight the two following evenings. Nevertheless, it was a successful and pleasant trip. Benadryl helps.
I should make that my next shirt - just write something about Benadryl on it, huh. That's personal and 'me' enough to put on a t-shirt. ;) I'd have to think of a clever way to put it, though...

Can't think of what else to add. Oh - we saw a funny sign where we stopped for dinner in Pocatello. It's in the pics if you go check. ^^

Guess that's all.
Take care ;)

I'm off for the weekend =D

2011-07-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

Everyone miss me ^^

For all my anorexicness I'm still a "large" occasionally

2011-07-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure how this is possible, but thanks to the sizing charts of our country this is the case.

Shopping for swimming attire is decidedly not one of my favorite past-times. Very laughable in a lot of ways. I could have been on a sitcom. =D

And yes, I did finally come up with something appropriate. Hopefully it lasts for over a year. My last suit lasted through a pregnancy at least. So that means it's lasted several years. That's pretty good. So we'll see how it goes.

Oh, and we went with the black. 'Cause it's slimming.
^^

Actually, looks quite nice. And I almost went with a skirt. But that was $30 to the $15 for shorts. So I went with shorts. I KNOW you all wanted to know. That's why I'm giving details.

Have a good day!

Perfect is perfect =D

2011-07-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Had friends over (spur of the moment) for dinner last night. Was very fun for me. We even ate on the living room floor. Kitchen was a mess. But it went well, and we had one of the kids stay the night, as well.
Got to bed at a decent hour (hooray). Ate a lot before bed and didn't get a stomachache (double yay!). Slept in today and planning a calm day at home. ;)

OH, I looked for a swimsuit yesterday. Turns out I should have got one in February when they first went on sale. ^^ hahahaha

ah well

update

2011-07-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

It's past midnight and I'm THIS close to going over to my neighbor's (3 blocks away) and joining their party. Why? Mostly b/c I want to sleep and they won't shut the hell up. And if it's that much fun I totally want to be there.

;/

Thing is - we have a swamp cooler, not central air. So we like to sleep with the windows open. We have ceiling fans, but I can't stand the way it feels to have the wind on my skin. So we pretty much have to leave the windows open in the middle of summer. This is the same time of year the idiots next door think they should talk really loud all night 'till 3am. By 'next door' I mean I don't really know which house it is, and it could really be two or three blocks away. I'm pretty sure tonight's party is 3 blocks away. I shouldn't have to resort to Benadryl b/c people won't shut up at night.
It's so irritating.

I wish there was some way I could tactfully irritate them just as much.
Maybe an idea will come to me in my dreams.

One neighbor of mine said that when they do this I should just yell out the window for them to shut up. But I'm sure tonight they wouldn't be able to hear me.
=(........

Do cats get gray hair?

2011-07-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

One of the cats we feed - his hair is turning gray, I think. I'm pretty certain that it's not dirty. Fascinating.. Worth reading up on, I suppose.

I am hiding from the fireworks this evening. They're showering overhead from the neighbor's. I'd rather be IN the house and not directly under the shower of sparks, embers and who knows what.
And I've been very hungry today. I don't know what the deal is. Perhaps I'm making up for not eating two days ago on account of another stomach virus. I felt like I was pregnant ALL DAY !!! eww. icky.
All better now.

Oh, some of my readers probably don't know - Utah changed their firework laws this year. More things are legal now and we are allowed to shoot off fireworks for an entire month straight. Previously we were allowed only 3 days before, the day of, and 3 days after both the 4th of July and the 24th of July (and New Year's and such, too).

K. Five minutes into writing this, and Cody and Mr. Muñeco have come inside. Muñeco does not like fireworks. Takes after his mother. (Well I like them from a distance.)
And we're settling in for the evening ;)

Holiday Weekend

2011-07-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Have had a nice quiet weekend (they are really the best).
Highlights include:

- free lunch at the park with my girlfriend and our combined 24 kids. ;DD

- fireworks (uh, keeping us awake until midnight... ^^)

- swimming with the family at the rec center. Actually the water was SO warm this time that it was enjoyable for me. I even joined my daughter diving into the 'big' pool. I think we'll do a lot more of that the next time. Could be Fun =D Finally find something that we have in common that we like. Not that I'm a big diving guru or anything (absolutely not), but it's fun.

We were there and this kid (early teens?) was trying to jump off the second-to-highest diving board. He kept chickening out, and the audience below would boo him. I'm not much for booing. At any rate, he finally succeeded after 3 tries or so, and spectators cheered. =D
Julie and I just jumped off the low dive, right next to the edge of the pool. I think she's able to swim well enough to do this, but we'll probably stick to the boards near the sides of the pool for now. And I think I'll always go with her, too. Until it gets too freezing cold. I really hope they keep the water the same temp as it was yesterday. It really was nice.

- Joe, because he is loving fireworks lately, decided he likes Katy Perry's song "Firework." I hate (I mean really don't like) that song.

- Watched a weird French movie with Cody. I don't know where he finds some of those... For the record, I didn't know it was rated R (in case anyone wonders). I think they did an amazing job of capturing the bizarre yet related-to-real-life quality that dreams have. Really was impressed with that.

- I finally finished arranging that Christmas duet I'm working on. I scanned in the pages, cut out what I didn't want (this included rearranging it a bit! ) and printed it all out. Went from 12 pages to 4.5 ;D Of course a lot of the cut-out was written for the choir. But we're ready now - all we need to do is practice and then RECORD ourselves ;D And then volunteer to play at the ward Christmas party this year.
I'm excited.

Tomorrow (the 4th) we plan on tending our yard, relaxing, and then doing fireworks in the evening. Jacques probably won't enjoy this, so we might get to watch from inside the house.

Happy Fourth to you! =D

Spanish idioms for crush...

2011-06-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

I finally communicated to my closest Mexican friend what I was looking for. How do you say "I've a crush on you" in Spanish? Specifically how do you say it in Mexico? I gave her the following list of answers I'd found online when someone else asked the same question:

-Estar colgado por alguien
-me molas cantidad
-estar pillado por alguien
-estar encaprichado con alguien
-quedarse prendado de alguien
-Me quedé flipado / alucinado cuando te vi (creo que eso no es lo que quiero usar)
-perder la chaveta por alguien

And SHE said an expression often used where she comes from is: "Andar arrastrando la cobija por alguien" =)
I love it. That means "dragging the blanket." Isn't that a lovely and perfect picture for what I mean? Little child dragging their blanket around following (did I hear someone say it?) a parental figure.
=)
spot on.....
So a way to use that would be "Ando arrastrando la cobija por ti" or "Me traes arrastrando la cobija." I love both images (well it's roughly the same image either way you say it).

BTW I thought of something for one more t-shirt. All I have to do is look up some French slang. By that I mean "text slang" - you know where people lose all the letters of a word. ::huge sigh at this generation we live in::

All the world's a sunny day =)

2011-06-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

What about linked arms among friends??

2011-06-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

Our country also needs more of this.
So I googled "girls linking arms" and found a few interesting little articles.
The first is wonderful. It's a question posed on Yahoo (UK & Ireland):

My friend (also a girl) always links arms with me when we walk...?

... and it looks really gay. We're both straight, its just she always "hugs" my arm and almost tries to "snuggle" into me when we're walking around. Its really embarrassing because it looks gay. I don't know what to do about it - I don't want to hurt her feelings by telling her how I feel. And I don't want to offend her, but I feel really uncomforable with it.

I like the responses posted to this question. They are found here.
Most people said "It doesn't look gay - but it's fine if you're uncomfortable about it. Just tell your friend but be nice." I love that. I don't think it looks gay (not that I've seen much of it at all, living in the U.S.) and it bothers me that some people (don't know how many) maybe think that it does and maybe that's why in our culture we don't engage in more of it.
However, there is also a very very good chance that this is not the reason we're not all touchy-feely in the U.S. I think it is more a "we value independence and space" thing. I think that's what it is - and nowadays there may be an additional fear of looking gay added on top of the "American personal space" thing.

I effectively scared a girlfriend away from church once. She was my visiting teacher for a few years (for my readers who don't know what that is - that is women assigned to visit other women on a routine basis for the purpose of keeping the ward connected and making sure everyone has a friend and helping everyone keep an eye on everyone else (that sounds kind of weird - it sort of came out all wrong)). But it's all good.
And she is a nice person, has 3 kids, lives up the street. She looks great in a tank-top, btw. Cody likes her, too, actually. Quite a lot.
And it's funny 'cause she would come over and visit (once a month) and she would usually be wearing sweats and grungy clothes or what not.. I finally saw her at work once and was amazed by how pretty she really is. Anyway.. the point of this fun story is she showed up at church once (I think it was on Sunday and not during the week for scouts, as I saw her there often for scouts later on). And I was so thrilled to see her (just 'cause I'd never seen her at church, and I happen to enjoy being at church) I came right over - joined her walking down the hall, and put my arm through hers. She didn't seem visibly horrified by this. But I also never saw her at church again. So I like to take credit for possibly scaring her away. Although, I suppose she hadn't been to church a whole lot BEFORE seeing me there, as well....

A second interesting article I read was also from the UK (I guess I need to move to Europe). Kids were reprimanded for linking arms. The official story of the school is that there was no new "no touching rule" as the kids ended up believing. Rumor (based on an incident) spread through the school, and a bunch of kids protested and walked out of class. I think that's wonderful. I also believe the school that it was a misunderstanding, but who knows..?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352278/School-girls-walkout-teachers-reprimand-linking-arms.html

Alex, I am interested in your opinion on the linking-arms among friends.

T-shirts

2011-06-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

These turned out well:

So I want to do one more t-shirt. I'm torn between the following ideas:

"Perché la amo"
- Pane E Tulipani

Yin Deficient ;)

(this joke is not as funny to me lately)

I ♥ My Acupuncturist

(this would be great, but Cody would probably worry about it or not be impressed - even though I'm now referring to three women)

I'll sleep on it. ;)

**********************
I slept on it and I'm leaning toward abandoning all the above ideas and going with something totally different. I think the "Heart Fire" t-shirt sort of encompasses (in my mind) all the ideas listed above already.

So some other ideas are:

I wrote you this Thank-you note.
(Cody's idea)

I battle entropy and I win. =)

I live to dejunk =)

I could also go with one of my other favorite quotes. Anything from "Live each day like your hair is on fire" (from cafepress.com) to "Life is not a fashion show.." I don't think I want to put "Life is not a fashion show" on a t-shirt. ..

Trying to think of my other favorite quotes.... This would work - but I couldn't draw the alligator very well, I'm sure... (found at cafepress.com)

Acupuncture appt. went really well

2011-06-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

I showed up feeling great (looking great, too). I hope she appreciates that I shave and paint my nails all pretty and everything before my appointments (though I don't always do this).

So there I am, relaaaaxing with let's see, 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 4... how much is that? That many needles in me (very nice). Oh, and I asked if my girlfriend could come with me to my next appointment b/c she said she wants to see the needles put in... Acupuncturist said that would be okay if I was okay with it.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time thinking about my death while I was lying on the table today. I think about this a lot. I think I usually think about my death when I'm lying down to rest or when I'm sick sometimes.
Usually I picture myself dying of cancer or alzheimer's (wouldn't that be funny) in a hospital bed with Cody nearby. The parts that I like to envision (b/c it's something I look forward to some day - though today is probably not that day - and no, I'm not depressed) are about who comes to get me. And I picture if or when Cody might know or feel who that spirit-friend is, and/or how Cody might feel (he's always at peace, in case you wonder) at my departure.

So I've pretty much got it all planned out in my head/heart. But this won't happen for probably 30 years yet, maybe more (maybe less).
I wonder if I'll want to stay. I don't think so. I think it would happen at a time when I was basically ready to go. will be ready to go. And just think how beautiful I'll be by then. Lots of wrinkles and still winking at everybody, knowing me. Crazy old alzheimer's lady coming on to everybody. hahahaha

oh yeah - it'll be great.

So that's what I thought about today while relaxing (except for the crazy alzheimer's lady bit).

^^

Urban Dictionary

2011-06-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

I am totally liking this definition for this term:
girl crush

According to this definition, though, I've only had one girl crush (no offense to all my other crushes and I use the term loosely, apparently).
I'm thinking of this b/c it's 5:00 a.m. and the baby's awake and I have time to kill.

Now, if we go with a more loose definition like this one: 2nd girl crush definition, I've definitely had/have lots of those.

And if we got with a definition that looks like "charity" (which I guess ISnT generally the definition of the term 'girl crush') then I currently have at least 100 of those.

How do *I* define it? I don't know. I think the first definition is more like having an obsession than having a crush. I guess I'd go with the second definition, most likely. And what I count as a crush is if I'm excited to visit with that person in person (actually online would count for this, too).
Yep. So the visits I enjoy enough to tell everyone about - those count as crushes. So - easily several. (well now I'm kind of depressed... I wonder when I'll grow out of this phase..)

In other news, I am too lazy to upload, tweak and play with photos online. Hence no pictures of late.
Also, I painted my nails for the 4th of July, coming up. And I want to take a picture, but I can't ('cause I'd need both hands in the photo). Will my difficulties never end?

heheh ^^

Acupuncture appointment today. Maybe I'll fall asleep since I got up at 5 this morning. Most likely not. How come some people fall asleep but not me?
I had a treatment about a week ago and it was so identical to the first treatment I had 4 years back (in terms of how I felt throughout the whole session) that I'm starting to question the "I fell asleep" story for my first-ever acupuncture treatment. It's not as romantic, but it's much more probable. I bet whatshername just looked in (silently) when I had my eyes shut and assumed I was asleep.
Although, that doesn't take into the consideration that I both didn't notice when I started feeling happy in the middle of said acupuncture treatment AND that it felt like only 20 minutes had passed when in fact it had been an hour (and I'm a very good judge of time, generally).
You know what else is fun about this (this last treatment being like my first) is how (slightly) less extraordinary these results seem this time. They're still amazing results and wonderful and I absolutely am a huge huge fan. BUT - having had some experience now, it's not like "oh my goodness I love you - this is magic and I bet you know and love me well on some subconscious level and that is why you're able to alter my energy so much!" hehehe

Wonder how often clients feel that way post first-acupuncture-treatment (when the treatment is positive). Am I just average?

=)

Whoa. That is a lot of needles in the face..... :)

Oh - I have this elderly friend whose handwriting is nearly impossible to read on account of her arthritis, etc. But we have been corresponding for a while, and I am finally getting to where I can read nearly all of her writing (without having to work at it so hard, too). I am just ticked pink. And it's fun 'cause now that I can read what she says - I see that she is telling me the same things she often told me when we'd visit in person =DDD Oh I love her.
I'm happy I can read her writing nowadays. I wonder if it's improved and that's why.. Here is what it looks like:

And I can't take credit for what she wants to give me credit for here. I had a babysitter at my disposal. =)

Ignoring Irrational Intuition

2011-06-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Had a horrible (make me want to puke) feeling today about visiting a certain somebody. However, she invited me over to play piano today. I kept waiting for something else to come up that I was 'supposed' to be doing today (had no idea what that would be - but that would likely explain the horrible feeling about going to see her today). Ended up going to visit - and the world didn't stop spinning. Nobody died. Nothing remotely bad happened (nor do I think ever will happen). Visit went well and lasted quite a long while, but went fine. We played piano, ate dinner together, and visited looking around at things in her house (time to dejunk). I'd love to help her with that.
So it went so well. It makes me wonder about these things that I have horrible feelings about sometimes.
Sometimes the feelings are so strong they keep me from doing things.

Example: There is this one kind of shampoo I really want to buy b/c of how it smells. I have no problem with the brand - but the one particular flavor (actually it's a conditioner I want) scares me intuitively. I use the SAME flavor already of shampoo - but dare not purchase the conditioner. Instead I use a totally different flavor conditioner of the same brand.
So that's very very probably an irrational feeling. But since it doesn't hurt me NOT to use that conditioner, I have no problem following that gut feeling (even though it's stupid).

Other things I have bad feelings about and they turn out to be rational (or explained later as "there really was a good reason not to do that").

Anyway, it's just interesting noticing the times when a strong feeling looks like it is probably unfounded and irrational.

Guess it's just worth studying.... ;)

oh - and she might be interested in posting a video recording of our duet online (depending on what it looks like when finished). ^^

mascara

2011-06-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I purchased some mascara to try. I haven't tried wearing mascara in years. What I need is a nice shade of brown, really... Didn't find that. But oh well.
And I tried it out last night and today. It's waterproof. I wasn't planning on wearing it swimming, nor do I plan on crying enough that I'd need waterproof. It just seemed like a good choice. If it's waterproof it's less likely to wear off prematurely, I expect.

I'd post before and after pictures if there were any visible difference on camera. Sadly, there is hardly any visible difference. I guess that's a good thing. I didn't want a glaring difference. I just wanted it to be more visible that I HAD eyelashes. But I really don't need for them to look 5 miles long or anything stupid like that.

So far I am relatively satisfied with this product. It's funny how picky I am, though. Cody says it's hardly noticeable at all - but I think I may be wearing too much (for my own tastes). ha! Talk about finicky.
And the fact that any of my eyelashes look like they're stuck together after I apply this goop is not winning me over. But otherwise it's okay.

I did find that I don't really like the look of eyeliner WITH mascara for my eyes (using the pencil, etc. that I have). 'course I'm only used to using eyeliner when I have no eyelashes (and really drawing where they would be) and not used to drawing where other people use eyeliner apparently...

And that's my post on mascara. ;) I'll find a picture some day and add it. I'm so lazy lately, sorry. =D

Looking for small projects...

2011-06-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Here's yesterday's post combined with leftover pictures from the past week. I was going to write about small projects I'm using to brighten my spirits this summer (survive the heat). Happily, the 10 minutes of yoga I did yesterday lightened my mood immensely for the entire day.

So far today I've:

accomplished 10 minutes of yoga
painted my fingernails, even got a little artistic with it. I'm totally diggin' the purple and pink
built shade over my toddler's sandbox (tied a tarp to the deck. VERY cleverly)
survived a trip to the store in which we settled for a $15 toy where a $30 was desired - and also did not allow Jack to purchase a $20 toy that he was playing with. Yay for being a parent and not a doormat =)

Ideas for future projects include:

painting two more t-shirts (I'm still kind of scared to do this, but I'm planning on trying)
practicing a duet (just to see if my nail-polish distracts any duet partners I have..... ^^ )
maybe 10 more minutes of yoga
daiquiris or pina coladas .............

Here are those photos... =)

nails, shelves, daiquiris

I'm turning into a monster

2011-06-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

So if you don't see me for a while, consider yourself blessed. I know my kids would ;D
hehehehehe

ugh =(

It is really interesting that it's summer solstice. I wonder if that means this is the peak of awful for me this year (?).
The other thing this could be is ever since I scheduled my most recent acupuncture appointment, right from the point I scheduled it I started to feel awful. It's like my body said "you want to pretend you're sick? Okay, we can show you sick !" It was right after that that my allergies kicked in. Knock on wood - they've been clear today for some strange reason. I'll just enjoy it. But yeah, I wonder if some or all of this is not my body reacting to the thought that I don't deserve help from any sort of medical practitioner (especially a naturopathic type one...) Guilt guilt guilt.

Someone give me a cave. (yes, I'll try yoga in just a minute)

Other remedies I've tried include sticking to SMALL projects this season. Cleaning out the garage is a no-go. Painting a t-shirt is a yes. Scrapbooking one or two pages - definite yes. Cards if I'm in the mood (I'm often not) is ok. Cooking seems to be a yes lately, more often than it would be. Kinda fascinating. Maybe we're just in 'survival' mode - and of course food is a basic part of that.

So if I don't feel better after two more acupuncture treatments I'm going to consider some kind of medication (but I'll try yoga and taking my chinese herbs faithfully before I try that). They SHOULD work. Benadryl's such a good backup, though.
::sigh::

Networking

2011-06-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

So I'm not one of those people on FB who has 500 friends. I guess I COULD be if I were less selective. I've had a few requests lately from people who are friends of a friend. This would be alright if I actually knew these friends of a friend, but I don't. They don't live in the U.S. either, I believe, so I don't know that I ever might meet them.
Anyway, kinda strange.. But that's okay. And of course I stopped adding nieces and nephews long ago (won't unfriend the ones I've got, though).

In other news, thanks for stopping by Kiley =D It was very very very fun to meet you and visit. I'll think about Saturday (it would certainly be interesting - but I think the only reason I would go would be to meet you and I've already met you).

I had some strange nightmare last night. I dreamed that I left my youngest child in a car and then forgot where I'd parked (thought my car had been stolen). Horrible nightmare. I was glad that was only a dream. Hope it never happens. Horrid horrid dream.

And I'm tired again today. I guess summer just wears me out. I'm starting to worry about that. Think I'll hook me up with some more acupuncture.. sounds like a plan.

Hope everyone is well.

Definitely time for a steak taco, I think.
Ciao!
- H.O.

piano date

2011-06-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

My piano date may be rained out today - but whether it is or not it's great weather for strawberry daiquiris. Think I'll get right on that. =D

***************

K - so that piano date went well. Love those. Some day I'm going to remember to invite my other piano-playing friend over so we can make it a regular "jam session" with three.. That should be fun.

As far as daiquiris, they are excellent when consumed in front of a roaring fire (um - to keep warm, you know ^^).
I also think it ought to be illegal to consume them without whip cream.
:)

it's confusing

2011-06-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've been praying a lot lately "it's confusing...." And I'll explain.
See I'll be doing something like driving down the road.. For example, going home from an acupuncture appointment and thinking things like "Wow that acupuncture was so wonderful and has balanced me so well that I feel I can handle almost anything life throws at me - unexpected curve-balls and still keep smiling through them." And then I'll think "I want to tell whatsherbucket some of this." I imagine what I would write or what I would say and then I think - I SHOULD feel sad about this. I SHOULD be missing her company at these very thoughts. But I don't. And THAT'S the confusing part. It feels so weird to feel so calm and at peace with the thoughts that SHOULD make me sad but they don't make me sad.

And all I can do is dial upstairs and begin with "It's confusing... Why do I feel at peace? not to knock it - certainly I don't. But to rational thought it seems perplexing." In only the best ways, of course.

I had a great acupuncture appt. today, btw. Came home stoned. I really need to pack a snack in my car for right AFTERWARD.. Otherwise I'm in no condition really to be driving. Which is a shame b/c it's a 30 minute FREEWAY drive home. kind of stressful after a to-die-for relaxing acupuncture treatment. Really - I felt so wonderful. I still feel okay. I think if I pray really hard I can keep this balanced feeling a bit longer than I would otherwise. Yeah I'm scheduled to return soon. Summer's got me so down I think this is totally the right time to take any help I can get. Darn hormones.

Cherio!

p.s. I forgot to ask my lovely and gifted and favorite acupuncturist to stick a needle through this itchy eyeball of mine. I guess I'll have to ask her next time. In the meantime, it's time to try something besides Benadryl for these seasonal allergies (which I never get but got this year for some weird reason)
=)

what do they say about people who take offense..

2011-06-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it's something I need to remember today. I'll remember this and just be happy today.
Why do people get offended when it is clear that no injury whatsoever (ever ever) was intended? hm? sounds kind of insane to me. no offense to anyone.
K I'm done venting. I think I'll feel fine in a day.
That's the great thing about life - almost everything blows over in a short while.

what's important and what's not

2011-06-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of designing a shirt; it'll read "CLEAN is a verb ;)"

Today I have had wonderful fun. I threw away a lot of socks. Whose socks are these? I don't know. Trash! =D Felt so nice.
Also threw away some clothes - too grungy to donate but we didn't need to keep them even for 'paint' clothes or anything. Packed up a lot of crap that was on our dressers.

Old mixer that still works but is missing one beater. I can't bring myself to throw it away OR donate it. Guess I'll save it indefinitely.
A "Cody says we can donate this" discman. Remember those? They're like whatever people used to play 8-tracks, only a little more recent.
A candle warmer that we need to retain for another year before discarding.
A book (I won't describe b/c I don't want to offend the givers) but we'll probably never open it nor ever get rid of this one. For the record, the givers aren't reading this blog (in case anyone wonders).
An old alarm clock/radio. Cody says we can lose this (yay!).

So while I packed all of that and stuck it in the garage, apparently I can get rid of half of it.

Today my email account was cleaned inadvertently. I have no idea how this was accomplished. Was it one of my kids? Was it a mistake of the webmail host? Haven't a clue in the world. Everything was deleted except for 4 recently received items. I don't mind so far b/c I don't know what I'm missing, and I love how clean it looks. Perks without the pain.

I gave up (last week or more ago) on my printing-my-blog project. Why? Partly b/c it's way too much work. And also b/c I'm really not that vain ^^. oh yeah

Besides - I DO keep a journal still - and I do write in it things I am up to and things I want to remember. In fact, I have pictures stapled all through it. If YOU play your cards right, your picture could be the next one stapled....

My address/phone list I updated today. LATELY I have had a hang-up where I feel like I can't remove Anyone from my list of contacts I have on my personal phone list. However, I miraculously burst past this block today and did not actually delete them from my records, but removed a few people from my print-out copy of said phone list. A happy compromise.

My final item here is something that I have NOT given up on, although it is not that important. I guess it holds entertainment value for me still. My latest creative writing project. I've been working on it lately. It's all coming along marvelously. The funny thing about THAT is that although I consciously WANT to save all of that project (if it gets anywhere near completed), I intuitively feel I won't or won't want to at that point.

Remains to be seen. I won't hold my breath. I think it would be an interesting thing to keep (and have someone stumble across inadvertently. Ha!).

Y ya es todo.

Hoy trabaje mucho. Tendre mucho sueno manana. (I'm sorry I'm way too lazy to add accent marks right now. It's painful to read, I know.)

p.s. It wasn't my gmail account that was 'cleaned.' So no worries. Guess whose picture I'm going to print out soon so I can stick it next to stamps from Portugal? I just have to find that one of you sticking out your tongue. It's so fitting. ^^

And still a little shy on the phone

2011-06-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

I admit I love it when the answering machine picks up. ;) K, I better go do something productive, huh. Mine for excitement beneath all this laundry.
Hey - my little boy is shearing sheep in minecraft. I think he has a million sheep there... ;)

7 kids to the rec center...

2011-06-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

hahahahahaha

I'm going to see if I can get my new friend to invite me to go swimming with her. watch this. ;)

^^

highlights of my Saturday

2011-06-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

- mailed a letter to Australia (this is always fun)

- squished a spider

- watched somebody brave rescue some baby birds

- ate a larger-than-usual pile of brownie batter

I'm sure the day will only get more exciting as evening arrives =)

Hope your day was just as exciting.

- H.O.

I finally did it!

2011-06-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here it is - our sparkling, customized "No Soliciting" sign:

We've yet to see if it works. I'm kind of scared. I think if someone DOES knock to solicit I'll be extra obliged to be extra p* off. I don't know if I can manage that. We'll see.

Today is the kids' last day of school. I feel like this:
(identifying with the kid, here)
I put up this sign mostly to remind myself* of what the rules will be this summer. This is by no means a comprehensive list. I thought of 3 more items after posting this sign, including: "If no one answers after the first 20 knocks, I'm probably naked or sleeping (maybe both), please leave. ;)"

I think I'm gonna add more signs and stick 'em on the door. This is definitely not going to be enough. I SHOULD just put a "Go AWAY" sign on the door. But I doubt that would work. Our kids are recently literate, and they will enjoy practicing reading my fun signs. Plus I can point to the sign later. "See? it says right here...."

Other news: still trying to avoid a seizure. Still trying not to blog. We're growing cherry tomatoes and strawberries this summer. They are potted on the back deck (see my sign on the door).

Zhen, sweet girl - what do you keep trying to send me that the post office thinks it has to tear open your letters to see?

I love the card. =D Thank you for the stamps. I don't know what to do with them. I'm thinking of licking them and sticking them on acid-free scrapbooking paper and stick 'em in my scrapbook next to all of the other trinkets from you. ;)

I'm on sabbatical

2011-06-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Don't know how good at this I'll be (I can see you rolling your eyes already). But I am so very tired lately - I plan to cut out 'computer/Internet' stuff for a little while (yeah probably only 24 hours - but we'll see how it goes). So I'm not intentionally ignoring anyone - I'm just resting.

Ciao! ^^

Being polite (for a change)

2011-06-08T14:01:00.001-07:00

I actually managed to not be rude to a salesman today =) Still wondering whether or not I should put a "no soliciting" sign on our door. Maybe what I'll do is a really thorough list and stick it on the door.
Feel free to solicit if you're selling: ___(girl scout cookies, chinese herbs - but only if you're a practicing competent acupuncturist that I intuitively feel confident about, etc).
I don't know what I'd put on the list.

I could put some of what I DON'T want on the list. "Phone company - leave us alone - you've screwed us over many times in the past; don't bother knocking."

Or I could list what kind of sales people I don't want knocking (or DO want knocking). Now that* could make for an interesting note, let me just say that. Saleswomen 50 and older, not pushy, feel free to knock - especially if you resemble Jamie Lee Curtis. ^^

Speaking of acupuncture, I finally scheduled that appointment. yay me. I could cry just thinking of disclosing my plight to my practitioner. I really plan on going several times 'till I hopefully feel nice and "leveled out." ;/ I have a feeling it will be useful but that it'll take regular visits for a while. We shall see. =) Gosh I hope we figure out what herbs to take. And I hope it doesn't make me lose weight. Whenever I go to see these sort of people I get in this "perfect" mindset where I aspire to eat "perfect" food - which is basically nothing; I end up not eating nearly as much as I might otherwise. I hope that doesn't happen this time.

Carry on.

As you were. ;D

I hate calling people

2011-06-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have to call my acupuncturist for an appointment today and I just feel like I'm calling to ask if I can sleep with him/her. Isn't that a horrible oh awful thought? I don't like it a bit - and I'm scared to call sort of. It's time to be rational and just deal with life. This is so hard.

bite the bullet. Just call.
Dina, call for me. Thanks.

- H.O.

::headdesk::

..I can do this..

uh, maybe I'll call later.

Welcome to my Home

2011-06-07T15:18:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I've been slacking today (hey - I fed 6 kids lunch today. I did my good deed for the day). Jack made every one of these messes, btw. I am not this sloppy (at least not in one day). ^^

Those are turkey sandwiches - neatly piled on a plate for the two year old. ^^

Oh wait - some of those clothes in the hall are mine. BUT they're there b/c we use them to block Jack's door at night (block the light from getting in under his door while we're all still awake).

Pencils and cabbage on the floor. All Jack's doing. I was busy. =)

Hey I STILL want to watch IT Crowd with somebody. I could watch them a third time with Cody, I suppose. That IS fun. BUT it's also fun to see someone laugh at jokes for the first time. I just think it'd be a lot of fun.

What attracts me to *most of the people I like..

2011-06-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

(and I'm trying to think of an exception to this, but I can't) is their innate goodness and the way it radiates from them (often in the form of service). Yep, this absolutely applies to everyone I can think of that I appreciate. And btw - that is exactly that "thing" that I couldn't pinpoint before. "I don't know - but you remind me of this other person.." I've subconsciously narrowed it down to service. Also this is not something I figured out tonight. I figured it out a week or more ago, but I thought now was a good time to say it.

And good night everyone =D

Troubled sleep

2011-06-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

So I went to sleep last night hoping to dream about my friend. Instead I dreamt that I was in a war I didn't want to be a part of and I had to kill people by throwing cork-screws/can-openers at them. SO not what I was looking forward to. I also didn't fall asleep until 4 in the morning, so now I have huge bags under my eyes. Is gonna be a great week ;DD

Results

2011-06-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I feel privileged to have participated in something I feel I cannot take credit for putting together. From the get go, before I'd even decided who I wanted to invite to said fiesta, I had a "it's not time yet" feeling. A week later when I met my most recent girlfriend I had the "now is the time" feeling. Without going into very many details, let me just say that EVERYTHING fell into place easily (miraculously). Everyone said yes they could come. And barring a bit of nervousness and panic on my part, I was pretty calm while preparing and arranging details, etc. It's like I told Cody when he said "I thought you'd be pulling your hair out about now." "I totally would, but I get this feeling like *I'm not in charge of this and that it's taken care of. It's a done deal." And that's really how I felt about this thing most of the time.

All but one guest arrived on time. The guest that showed up after we had started eating was the one who was to bring an item that we had on hand, thanks to Cody's shopping the previous day. One of my friends brought flowers for me (fun!! ^^ ) so we used those for centerpieces.

The pozole and the potato soup turned out really well. One guest said this was the first time she had ever tasted pozole made by an American. hahaha ;DD She had to say that 4 times before I understood what she was saying. :)

ALL of my guests came from Mexico. I think that's fun 'cause I know a lot of latino people, many of whom are not from the same country, but this crowd was. Guess we know which country *I prefer. hahahah And my biases build... ^^

We ate in the garage, as I had set up (the two previous days had been windy and chilly). Weather turned out marvelous (just a little chilly toward the end). But we had blankets, and we migrated indoors to chat after eating. Kids had fun playing both indoors and out. I got to play piano with my friend; we worked on our duet while other people chatted. Everyone had fun (as far as I can tell). One guest completely forgot about the time as we all visited, and her daughter finally called her to ask where she was. "Oh my gosh! It's x:00!!!" And that's when most of the party split pretty much. My neighbor stayed and helped us clean up ('cause she lives so close).

I adore all of them, and we had a lot of fun. =)

So here are pictures:

Party

I left out most pictures of our guests since I didn't ask anyone's permission to post 'em online. But you can see the set up and cooking and a bit of our group.

That's all for now - and that's our story! =)

**I forgot to add that I took benadryl to get to sleep last night after all that excitement. And I also woke up at 3am and took a repeat dose since my mind was racing when I woke up. All that excitement. my heavens ;)

Speaking of heaven, this was a bit of my heaven (don't you know it)

So nice to glimpse heaven in mortality.

Instacare clinic

2011-06-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

K - this is about Spanish speakers again. Wonderful trip (even though I want to die) to the doctor this morning. Got there, along with 3 other families, right when the clinic opened. yay! fun stuff, that. =)

So once we're all settled, this caucasian woman walks in, signs her few sign-in papers and comes to sit near this lovely hispanic mother and her 4 kids. Before I could say anything by way of being friendly, this strange gringo opens a conversation with the mother in Spanish. HER Spanish is lovely and fluent and I'm quite surprised (how dare she take my place!?). I smile, jump in the game, and ask her where she learned Spanish (this is funny 'cause I'm now assuming the role of 'the hispanic' in this situation by asking el gringo where she learned Spanish). Turns out she learned from watching Spanish soap-operas (awful things - I don't like them). But how cool is that? That's very neat. She didn't even take Spanish in high school or anything - just picked it up from tv and talking to her friends. Awesomeness. So we all had fun chatting. I learned today the word for uterus, in Spanish (useful information)..

And we saw the doctor. And I'm ready to cry now. I'm so tired. I'll be okay, though. And I'm still happy when I think about our get-together planned for today.

Have a good weekend. I'll go back to scratching my eyes.

^^ - H.O.

Last night

2011-06-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

If I had thought that I could cry this bacterial infection out of my eye, I could have readily done so last night (no I didn't spend time crying last night). But between the crappy infection and feeling utterly exhausted, I resorted to my drug of choice, Benadryl and went down for the night (after stealing some of Jack's eyedrops -which I probably shouldn't have done - but my eyes were killing me).

This morning both Cody and I have puffy eyes (I still feel like a dope), and I'm off to the doctor and try to hit him up for 10 bottles of eyedrops (hey our neighbors are probably going to need some too).

My subconscious is telling me "you're feeling sick beyond what you even know." Last night I dreamt (whole big dream here) I was in the hospital. I was back at university - dreamt about not being able to find a linguistics class I was taking. Then later I was in the hospital for maybe 3 weeks. I can't imagine going to a hospital for menstrual difficulties, but that's all I can remember of my symptoms (apparently there were other symptoms as well). So after an arduous stay at the hospital and after getting to know at least one of my nurses (cool), I was at last permitted to leave. I couldn't wait to get back home and see my kids. I was sad to have to leave my dear nurse acquaintance, though. She was sad, too. She was this large mother-type female (yeah I know I know - you all can imagine. she DIDN'T look like Jamie Lee Curtis. She did look like a motherly sort of nurse). Anyway, we got on nicely. When it came just time for me to leave she gave me a hug (another one of those "lasts forever, but hugs can't last forever so after like 15 minutes I decided to separate, for outward appearance sake.." hugs) Mind you, this was all kosher and very platonic. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but I'd already told her exactly that sometime during my hospital stay. I decided I didn't have to repeat it during endless 15-minute-long hug time.

Anyway, then I left and went home, which was close by (lived on campus? It was a university-run hospital, I suppose). All was well enough, and I began to convalesce outside of the hospital - at home. Oh, and I scheduled 3 acupuncture appointments for myself as soon as I arrived home.

So I am thinking this morning that I will probably call my acupuncturist. ^^

Now that I'm awake, I see that this dream is a culmination of many things.

Glad we're all awake. I'm going to the doctor to get more antibiotic drops. Ten bottles. ;)

Pink eye ;/

2011-06-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

I think I got Jack's pink eye. I feel like such an idiot. ('cause we stopped his drops, sort of accidentally, too early. But it WAS too early, 'cause his symptoms came back). Now my eyes itch. And they only ever itch when I touch cats and then touch my face, which I haven't done today. Plus it's usually all better after I take a shower - but this time it wasn't. Totally a not cool sign :(.

So now I get to go fork out another $100 to get a bottle of drops for my eyes. In the meantime they itch like crazy. I'm such a dope!!! Don't ever let me quit antibiotics for me or my children early again! (especially for pink eye. I don't know that downing garlic would fix this... though garlic is a natural antibiotic)

crap crap crap crap crap oh... =(

ah well.

mother's day card

2011-06-02T07:19:00.001-07:00

Is this not the coolest? I found it while sorting through old school papers. Cards I didn't receive (but they're for me - make no doubt about it). ;)

Sore throat setting in...

2011-06-02T06:34:00.001-07:00

Guess I won't be able to kiss any of my guests :/

I also have sunburn on my neck. Where did That come from???

Party prep continued...

2011-06-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Smashed my finger while tidying the garage just now. The weather forecast has changed from a beautiful 70 degrees expected this Friday to a high of 64 (kind of chilly). Add to this - sun or none - it is kind of windy where we live, particularly as it turns to summertime. I'd really hate to eat dinner on paper plates in a wind storm. Sooo I've cleaned up our garage. You'd be surprised how nicely it cleans up. I've learned something about boxes. You can PUT things in them. You can hide all kinds of crap in a box if you want to. And that's exactly what I've done (although most of it is very well organized, on the whole). Still, I had fun.

We are revving up to cook tomorrow (all day long - do dishes all evening long I expect). Friday will be full of trying to decide how to best arrange the tables IN the garage, probably (unless it suddenly turns warm with no wind storm)... It would be interesting if we ended up in my house. Twenty-five people in my house. hm... Interesting..

And I'm buying soap tonight on my trip to 'the store.' Also have to decide on what kind of ice cream treat to get. I think something with beer in it....

I'll see what I can come up with.

Keep ya posted. ^^

Boy - can you bet I'm going to take a lot of pictures!? Planning on it.

I'm so excited

2011-05-31T20:44:00.001-07:00

Everything's coming together. =)

Parts of party prep that remain:

- teach Julie to use a camera

- purchase hand soap (don't ask. I already told you why we don't generally have hand soap in our house)

- replace dead lightbulbs

- cook

- uh - cook

- visit more people (this is the very coolest part of planning this particular party)

- shop for meat with my hispanic friend (1 of 10)

- Hey I learned what 'espinazo' means. It means spine. So now I know what meat I'm ordering.

- pick up chairs and tables (exciting - I have never done this before - thrown a party where I had to rent tables. Yes I could have borrowed, but I didn't want to hit up that many people for favors.)

- relax (I really need to pace myself in this party prep so I don't get burned out before it's all done. You'll be pleased to learn I was finally able to sleep in past 6:00 a.m. this morning as I was procrastinating one of my chores today. I think this is very healthy.)

- read some more of "A Doll's House." Started reading this today when I got home from running errands. Baby had fallen asleep and so we just sat in the drive with the car running and I read while he slept. I'm such a good mom. (sometimes)

Yep. Work steady - and pace myself. That's the plan. Now it's time for some sleeping.

Goodnight! ^^

pozole test

2011-05-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

So I made this small batch of Pozole this morning to test the recipe. It didn't turn out the same as when my friend makes it (of course). It tastes alright. I think I put too much chicken bouillon in.. The funny part is, I tasted it, and just drinking a bit of broth gave me a stomachache. ;/

hahahahahah

Well I'll go take it to my friend to see what it needs. =D (you might wanna pray for me. and if you're coming to the party - you might wanna stick with the potato soup ;) )