This is Life

school recap!

2012-02-04T09:42:00.000-06:00

I'm a day late, usually posting this on Friday, but I don't think I am going to get in trouble. I haven't even been consistent with my Friday school recap postings. So, I think it doesn't really matter when I post.

The girls have been gradually getting more and more into doing school. Surprisingly, Emily asks to have school more than Bella does.

Here are the girls drawing a picture of themselves You already saw the finished product a few posts back. Concentration was at an all time high!

We were learning about patterns the other day. The patterns are very simple right now and they easily caught on. They had to finish the pattern by coloring in the correct colors.

When we started a few months back, the I Can Cut workbook had them cutting simple straight lines, sometimes just one or two lines on a page. Their cuts were pretty jagged. Now, they are able to cut pretty straight lines and cut out an object with several different lines.

Right now in all the books they are having the girls work on writing letters. They have introduced up to the number 8 or 9, but haven't had them practice writing them yet. So, while the girls can recognize their numbers, they haven't had much practice writing them. I printed out some worksheets that allowed them to practice.

The girls are progressing nicely. If we can just keep the positive attitudes going, it will be great!

relaxed

2012-01-31T11:56:00.000-06:00

What "open container" law?

Cheers!

my little artists

2012-01-30T18:34:00.001-06:00

In their Language Lessons workbooks, the girls are asked to narrate different subjects. Afterwards, the workbook asks them to draw a picture of what they just talked about.

On the pages I am about to show you, their drawings are from two different lessons. The top part of the page shows their favorite farm animal. The bottom part of the page they were asked to draw themselves and, if they wanted, their family.

This first one is Bella's. She is more elaborate than Emily with using different colors and more details. I'm assuming it has everything to do with being 14 months older. As I said, Bella picked a pig as her favorite farm animal. She had seen a big pig that was colored similar to the one that is colored on the paper. And, next to that one, you can see there are little pigs. I know this because that was the scene when she saw them in real life.

Towards the bottom of the page she drew herself. But, true to her personality, she wasn't happy with how it looked and she kind of scribbled over it.

You can clearly see Emily's drawing style here. She draws the basic shape and is still into coloring with one color. And since blue is her favorite color, it is not surprising that she has colored her pigs all blue. The round shape in the middle is a water bowl and all the shapes around the bowl are her piggies. And, you can see two pigs towards the bottom that are lighter shade of blue. Those are the mommy and daddy pigs.

And, she drew herself (left) and me (right). She told me I was the one with the big head and no hair. Then she decided that I could have hair and she colored hair on my head. She is crazy!

Just wanted to share a little look at their art.

blogging block

2012-01-27T16:02:00.000-06:00

It has been almost a week since I have posted anything. I have just been doing my normal thing around the house.

We have been doing school. And, you know I normally take the pictures on Friday for my blog, but today the girls were just not cooperating and I didn't feel like "capturing" the day. Not all homeschooling days are good ones. Thankfully, most are, though.

So, I just wanted to let you know that I hope to have something good to write about soon.

I did have a really great day yesterday. I called up Leslie and had such a awesome chat for almost 2 hours! Her and I were just meant to be BFFs! :) I have now officially changed from a "cyber" friend of hers to a REAL friend!

But, I don't think that is really interesting to most of you. So, instead, I will leave you with a picture of me that Emily took a while back. I know I don't really put pictures of myself on here. I am the "behind the scenes" kind of gal. But, you can use this to keep the mice away! :)

I did have Jorge cut my hair a few days ago. I trust him a million times more than anyone here in town. I haven't had good luck with haircuts here. My hair is now back to shoulder length. Basically, just like in this picture.

I'll be back soon, hopefully.

the girls' room is finished

2012-01-21T10:13:00.008-06:00

Last night Jorge finished painting the girls' room. It looks cute. Very cotton candy-like. Which, I really wasn't going for that exact look, but it ended up looking cute anyway.

The girls are both happy with the colors that I picked out. They said "pink" and "blue" and I picked the actual shade of each color.

I already showed you the color I was going for with the pink. But, here is what my inspiration color was for the blue. The one in the picture has a bit more of a greenish tint, but I wanted that light, girly blue.

Click here to go to the site.

But, the paint is up. The girls are happy and I love that it is so much more colorful in their room.

I really would like to make a headboard for their bed. I was thinking something like this.

Click on picture to go to Pinterest.

It looks easy enough. I already have some fabric that would be super cute!

These pictures aren't the best. But, for now, they are good enough to show you the room. Tomorrow we are headed to Aguascalientes. Jorge is going to take me to dinner and a movie for my birthday (which is Monday). Since we will be there, of course, we will stop in at the Home Depot and get the paint for the kitchen. Maybe we will pick up some wood for that headboard!

Once that is done, I am going to make another video of the house! I'm excited to show you have it looks so much better than those nasty blank walls.

more tp art

2012-01-20T14:45:00.002-06:00

What do you do when you have two little girls that use about 10 times the amount of toilet paper that they should? You make more TP art.

It takes no time around here to collect enough to do more "art". Even after today, I still have a bunch of rolls sitting around just waiting for their turn to be placed on the wall for everyone to look at.

I made 6 flowers to hang over the girls' bed. They are rather small, so I might end up making more. But, this time I didn't bother with spray paint. I just used a brush and tempera paint. I cut the rolls first, then painted the outside, let it dry, then painted the insides. It worked out rather well. After it all was dry, I glued them together.

Jorge painted the pink on two of the walls in the girls' room last night. The other two walls are going to be blue. When you have two girls sharing one room, it is understandable that they won't want the same color room. So, we just let them each have the color they wanted. Tonight the blue will be painted and Emily will be happy.

Here is a little sneak peak at the pink. It wasn't exactly the color I was going for. But, it is close enough. Bella really likes it and that is what counts. (Isn't that non-painted wall gross!? And, if you were wondering, yes, that is a little, green drawing on the wall one of my "artists" did. I think they were both to blame.)

I had found a color on Pinterest that I really liked. It had a touch of coral in the pink. Here was the color I was going for.

Click on picture to go to the page on Pinterest.

In these two photos, it looks pretty close. But, in person, the pink is a bit more pink than coral. But, I am sure it will look cute once the blue is painted and everything is back in the room. And, I have those cute, FREE, flowers to hang up!

where does the time go?

2012-01-17T14:19:00.003-06:00

I was just looking through some pictures on my computer. I was looking for something that I could blog about. I am a huge fan of posts with pictures. It is almost impossible for me to have a blog post without at least one picture. I'm just weird like that.

Anyway, somehow this picture was towards the more recent photos and I'm not sure why. But, I can tell you that it is hard to believe that the little, CUTE girl in this picture is now 5 years old! Bella was such a sweet baby!

Some days I am in such a race for these girls of mine to be independent. I'm not talking living on their own. I just mean I don't have to pour them a cup of milk. Or, Bella could make dinner. If you are a mom or dad, you understand that all days are not walks in the park with kids! But, at the same time, there are lots of moments that make it so worth it. And, instead of wanting to race forward, I want to freeze time.

But, pictures like the one above confirm that the "independent" days will be right around the corner.

Where does the time go?

school recap friday!

2012-01-13T12:36:00.001-06:00

It's been a week or so since I have recapped our school week. Although, it really isn't recapping anything. It is showing you one day, usually Friday's activities. Details, details! I think my parents are more than ready to see one of these posts.

I think this is our first full week back to school. We shorted the past few weeks due to the holidays. But, it isn't hard to get back into the swing of daily school. For the most part, the girls are always more than willing to do "school".

The curriculum is set up where I really don't have to decide what we are doing that day. We just flow to the next page(s) in the workbooks. It is exactly what I was looking for when it came to what I wanted in a packaged curriculum. We add things here and there, like different art projects and such. But, for the most part, we just do what the books hold for us.

These workbooks are great because they gradually introduce new material while mixing it with material that has already been covered. That way there is less forgetting. I print printouts from this site that allow you to "customize" a sheet with letters or words. That way the girls can practice each week what we have already learned.

Last night was the first time Emily wrote her name all by herself! I was so proud of her. Normally I do dot letters and she traces over them. She had grabbed a piece of paper and started writing. I looked down and noticed she was spelling out her name! Such a proud moment. Here she is showing off that she can do it on her own.

Today one of their workbooks reviewed all the letters that we have learned. Emily has been stepping up and following along much better than the past. I guess she is getting into it now. Maybe she feels more confident that she can do her name on her own now. Whatever it is, it is nice to see her be more vocal.

Bella, of course, is so studious! Oh my, talk about a perfect student. As long as she gets praise, she is into everything!

Each of them has even started listening more. They are following instructions and using their little noggins. Here the workbook had them color the shapes below to make the picture the same as the one above it.

Their "I Can Color" workbook has been having them just color in items with specific colors. Usually Emily just wildly colors over everything, not worrying about where the lines are. The past few days she has been working to stay in the lines. You can see how well she is doing in the picture below.

For Bella, this exercise has been pretty helpful. She tends to push really hard on the crayon and it makes her hand hurt. I have shown her how to lightly color so she isn't wearing her hand out. It took a few days for her to get the hang of it, because she is used to pushing down so hard.

This moon page is from their "I Can Draw" workbook. It has been gradually introducing numbers in connecting-the-dot pictures. Bella has it down pat. She, as you can see here, does a fairly good job. The pages without an image, she has a hard time figuring out that you curve some of the lines. But, this one was more simple since it had the image already there.

Emily is hanging in there. You can see that from the number 5 to 6 she kind of got off track. But, she recovered and did a good job.

After we got our work done they played with PlayDoh. It is always a fun, kind of messy, time.

We are having a cookout tomorrow and inviting some people over. Then, Sunday, Jorge is going to paint some more! I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Hope all of you have a great one, too!

yarn balloons

2012-01-12T13:32:00.000-06:00

Today has been a pretty quiet day around the house. This morning the girls took a bath and then they went down to their grandma's house.

I got my work done, made the beds, washed the dishes, watched one of my shows, ate lunch, and then didn't know what else to do. So, onward to the internet. I hopped on Pinterest to see if there were any fun things I could make or bake.

Since we are getting ready to paint the girls' room, I figured making some sort of decoration might be appropriate. So, I saw that I had pinned these yarn-type balloons a while back and, having all the supplies, figured I could whip some up.

Let me just say that starting the yarn around the balloon is not the easiest. It isn't hard either. But, the balloon is so smooth and slippery with the watered down glue that you have to convince the yarn to stay in place.

Once you get it started, it isn't horrible to place the yarn. I just cut long strips of yarn, probably 20 feet or more each, and dipped in the glue mixture, ran the yarn between my fingers when pulling it out of the glue to rid the excess amount of glue, and then started to roll the balloon while wrapping the yarn around it.

After I found my little tricks doing the first one, the second one was a bit easier, now that I knew how to get it going a bit. I only had so much glue, so I only was able to make two. A trip to the store will cure that.

I am curious to see how they will set. The pink one is sort of dry and it doesn't seem that firm. When I pop that balloon, all will be known.

shrinky dinks fun and a little more

2012-01-11T13:01:00.001-06:00

For Bella's birthday, I bought her some Shrinky Dinks paper and a book that has a bunch of images that you can trace/copy and color in. Today was the first time that we have used the stuff. The girls had never done any Shrinky Dinks before. And, as I expected, they loved it!

I remember being little and loving them, too. I figured this would make a nice supplemental lesson to our homeschooling. And, let us have some fun at the same time. One of the workbooks that we do in homeschooling is tracing. The girls practice being SLOW and actually staying on the lines in their workbooks. So, the Shrinky Dinks paper was extra practice for them. I think they did pretty well.

Emily and Bella colored in their names. Bella did everything on the butterfly (tracing and coloring) and most of the snowman. I had to help finish tracing for her. Emily traced most of the airplane and colored it. I did the house with the snow. Emily did help me color it a little.

Here is Emily showing off her name and the airplane.

Bella was more than proud of her butterfly and snowman.

After we finished school and our Shrinky Dinks project, we ate lunch and followed lunch up with some cake. This cake is something else! Leslie found the recipe in one of her cookbooks and was willing to give it a go. When she blogged about it, there was no way I wasn't going to try it out. She claimed it tasted like a pumpkin cake.

Now, you might not remember, but I can't find pumpkin anything here. Not pumpkin puree or an actual pumpkin. So, the thought that I could make a cake that tasted like it... Well, that was pretty spectacular. And, the kicker is that one of the ingredients in the cake is TOMATO SAUCE! Yes! I know! Crazy! Try it! Really. It is good! Just look at it! Recipe here!

And, one last thing on this post. Jorge painted the accent wall in my living room last night. So, I wanted to give you a little preview! I love the color of blue. It, of course, is a tad different in person than in the photo. But, this is pretty close. I would say it is a bit more tealish than this. The color is called "adaptation". But, I would say it should be called "peacock". It is beautiful!

We bought paint for the girls' room this past Sunday at Home Depot. Once that is done, we will head back for the kitchen paint. After that, I am going to give you another "tour" of my house! I am very happy with how it is all turning out! It definitely feels like a home now!

back amoung the living

2012-01-09T12:58:00.000-06:00

I have been sick over the past several days. The kind of sick where you just don't really want to get out of bed. Yesterday was the first day where I felt OK. Today, even better!

So, now you know why I have been absent lately in blog land. But, I am back!

Being sick surely doesn't get me out of doing my routine of things, like cooking. I mean, when you have two little mouths that won't stop, you have to continue to cooking and such. So, this past week I have been making simple meals. One was those Mexican pizzas that I made a short time ago. I had been wanting them again since making them that first time. They were just calling out to me. I ended up making them for lunch. Well, actually, I made one. The girls weren't interested at all. Fine with me!

I had a pound of beef that I seasoned with taco seasoning. Making only one Mexican pizza doesn't take much of the meat. The rest went into the refridgerator and I have been eating it little by little.

That leads me to what I have been obessed with for the past few days. For some reason I have been craving food that I can add lettuce and sour cream to. Don't know why! And, that seasoned meat did the trick. I ended up eating ALL the meat myself! HA! I'm not afraid to admit it.

For the past several days, this is what I have been eating. YUM! Nothing special. Just a soft taco. And, I especially like that I have been using flour tortillas. Jorge isn't really a fan of the flour ones. So, normally we have the corn ones around the house. But, I prefer the flour. So, why not keep those in stock, too!

I know. Original idea, huh? HA! Steal my original idea if you like. I won't blame you. It looks good, right?

Since my lips are so chapped, chapped beyond belief, due to my cold, I left off the salsa because I don't need them to be burning like someone set my lips on fire.

Next up for today, FINALLY take down the Christmas tree. :(

Rosca de Reyes in the house!

2012-01-05T10:55:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow is Three Kings Day (or in Spanish El Dia de los Reyes Magos or you may know it as Epiphany). I admit, that before a few days ago, I had no idea about this holiday. I heard about it when my friend, Leslie, was talking about it on Facebook. She sent me her blog link that explained how it was celebrated here in Mexico.

I told her that we don't really do any sort of Mexican traditions in our house. It seems it is all American. I'm not against learning about the Mexican culture. And, it would be nice, living here and all, if the girls would learn some things. Leslie suggested that I go out and buy the traditional Rosca de Reyes and start the tradition.

I guess it was meant to be because this morning, right before Jorge left for work, he was telling me about a home remedy to help my soar throat/cold, when we heard a car horn honking out front. He went to see who it was and saw his uncle (he owns the bakery right down the street) holding a very large box.

Last night, he had seen his uncle and his uncle asked him something. But, because his uncle was wearing a scarf over his mouth, Jorge didn't understand what he asked. I guess assuming what he said, Jorge answered with a "yes".

We found out what the question was this morning! He had asked Jorge if he wanted a Rosca de Reyes. So instead of going and buying the bread, the bread made it's way to me. Funny!

I wanted to show you how large this thing is. We are going to have to have the whole neighborhood to help finish it off! I set the gallon of milk in the box to show you scale.

And, if the gallon of milk wasn't enough, below you can see a picture of the girls sitting at the green table. You can see that there are two cupcake pans and they are still smaller than the bread! Wowza!

I have never had, nor seen, this type of bread before. But, let me tell you. When I took the lid off so I could take a picture, the smell is WONDERFUL! So sweet! I can't wait to try it. Now we have to round up some more people to help eat it!

a great weekend

2012-01-02T12:25:00.001-06:00

It is 2012! You know, I have never thought anything special about the start of a new year. I know lots of people make resolutions and think of it as a "new start" and such. But, me, I just like the countdown and then it is done and over with. I just look at a new year as a continuation of my life. Not that that isn't good. But, I just don't signify this time of year as anything more important or special than, say, June.

But, five years ago, that all changed. I now have a reason to make New Years Eve special. My first daughter, Annabella, was born. I rang in the New Year in a hospital room after having one of the most perfect babies in the world. She is my NYE, tax deduction baby! :)

Saturday we had a party for her. Complete with a pinata and all! You can see how we celebrated.

For the rest of the birthday party pictures. Check out my flickr page.

On Sunday we chanced it (not sure if things would be open...some places weren't) and went to Aguascalientes. Every since getting back from the States two months ago, Bella has been asking if we could take her to McDonald's. So why not continue her birthday celebration the day after her birthday.

The McDonald's is right next to the Wal-Mart. And, there is still a big Christmas tree in the parking lot. The girls saw it and wanted to get a picture with it.

Then, we headed across the street to the mall. Bella said she wanted to pick out some new shoes. So, she found some she liked, which wasn't a hard task. The girl is shoe crazy.

I figured Emily should be able to pick some shoes out, too. Of course she wanted blue shoes. Jorge tried to get her to pick the pink ones. But, he should have known better. :)

Emily looks super cute in her Converse All Stars. And, Bella is girly as ever in her pink flats.

It was a fun weekend. Now that the holidays and a birthday is past, we can get back into our regular routine. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Christmas

2011-12-28T10:58:00.001-06:00

As fast as Christmas came, it is now done and over with. And, it is almost 2012! Hard to believe!

The girls were really into the Santa thing this year. We did our Advent candle everyday (with a few hiccups....I'm not used to lighting a candle and blowing it out almost instantly. We might have missed burning a few days because we went through a few days in one burn. Oops!).

That really helped eliminate the question, "How many days until Christmas?". It was pretty much smooth sailing to get to the day.

Here are some of the pictures I took. I didn't really get many good ones. But, these should satisfy my mom!

The big hit item was their LeapPads. And, above, Emily was happy with the watch she got. Expectantly, each of them ripped through the presents like there was no tomorrow. That is partly why I didn't get many good ones. Next year I will probably pass on the camera and get the video recorder out.

It was a good Christmas. Next up, Bella's birthday on Saturday!

a little baking for Christmas

2011-12-23T15:11:00.003-06:00

Normally, on Friday, I post about our school week. And, since I usually take the photos on Friday, I don't have any because we took the day off school. The girls didn't seem to mind one way or other. And, I got some baking done.

I just realized that this is really the first Christmas that I did any sort of baking. Weird, I know! I spent the morning making cookies. All classic ones. I didn't want to try any new sort of cookie in fear that they would turn out horribly.

I made chocolate chip cookies, soft sugar cookies with buttercream icing, and brownies. I had a recipe for the chocolate chip cookies. I blogged about it here. But, for the sugar cookie, I tried a recipe from.... Yes, you guessed it. Pinterest! And, let me tell you. SUCCESS! I had a feeling they would be good when sour cream is one of the ingredients. The sugar cookies are so soft and, generally, perfect! Not too sweet either. I can't stand an overly sweet sugar cookie. I definitely think you should make them! And, I found a simple brownie recipe online somewhere. But, they aren't all that great. Not really worth mentioning.

But, the spread looks festive and I am sure they will be eaten up quickly once they are in front of the in laws!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

why I miss Kroger and a little recipe idea

2011-12-21T11:38:00.001-06:00

I'm now used to how everything is here. I admit that some things still frustrate me, but for the most part I have just gotten over the differences between here in my lovely grocery stores in the US.

There is one main grocery store that I go to here in Jalos. And, for other things that I can't find there, we search elsewhere, like Costco, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart.

The grocery store here in town, Super Jigo, is just crazy sometimes. Last night we went there to get our groceries and I saw this in the produce section.

How in the world can they put stuff on the shelves that look like that? If you don't go there on the right days (which I still haven't figured out what days those are), you have the worst produce to pick from. And, the way I cook here, most of my cart is fruits and veggies. Pathetic!

This is one thing I will never get over and makes me appreciate how great the grocery stores are in the US.

On a side note, I made another item off of Pinterest the other night. You know, I have made tons of stuff off that website!

I have never been a fan of Taco Bell, but the few times that I went with people, I would get the Mexican Pizza, MINUS the beans! I hate beans!

And, Mexican pizzas are such a simple idea and I'm not sure why I never thought about making them at home. So, while I just used the idea, the recipe is still a simple one you could follow. And, of course, I left off the beans!

sneak peek and an unusual sight

2011-12-20T10:46:00.003-06:00

Are you sick of me talking about my painted house, walls, wall art and such!? I know! I get carried away. But, I LOVE it! I love that the house looks like a home!

When I first moved here the house was as bare as could be. We had the basics. Nothing more. Which is understandable since the only items I could bring down here are what fit in a cab of a friend's truck and in our Pacifica.

Since then I have drove down a handful of time with the car loaded to max capacity and beyond. And, each trip I make to the States via plane, I go with one bag and come back with five. It is a problem I have. But, I have accepted it and moved on. If you lived here or visited here, you might understand how hard it is to find cute, inexpensive stuff. In any category. So, I stock up every visit.

I remember having chats with people that were going to be moving down here to Mexico. They inevitably ask what they should bring with them. Knowing that I have lived her for a while now, that wasn't unexpected for them to ask.

I always tell people that the thing that made me most feel OK here was having my house feel like a home. I want it to feel like mine. A place I can relax and feel comfortable. It has taken me a while to get to that point, but I am finally here. So I always tell them, if at all possible, bring personal items not just things that are necessary. I know logistically, that is not always possible.

Or, check out the *original* living room we had. There really was nothing! http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigvz/2476344733/in/set-72157604969268177

You can see we used to have only the couch. Looks like Bella preferred a box over the couch. The living room has come a long ways since those early days.

This might be a rental, and who knows if one day we will be asked to move. But, for now it is mine. And, I think it looks just like *my* place. So, that is why I love sharing it with everyone because all the people that mean the most to me, that I want to show, can't come and see it. I have to virtually show it to them.

Before picture -- no paint on the walls. (Our big TV was being repaired. The small TV looks so funny there.)

And, since Jorge painted a few of the walls in the living room last night, I am beyond thrilled with it and wanted to give you a little preview. We need to make another trip to Home Depot to get the accent wall paint color and another gallon of the color on the walls right now.

It doesn't look like a dramatic change in this picture. But let me assure you, in person, it is a HUGE change!

And, on a completely different subject, when we were in Aguascalientes the other weekend, I was surprised to find this near the parking lot of Wal-Mart.

You just don't expect to see palm trees and an ice skating rink in the same picture. But, that is how it is done in Mexico! It was in the mid to upper 70's. There was a fine layer of water on the top. But not enough to slow down anyone. They also had a Santa Claus sitting down the way. I wish we would have taken the girls. They would have loved to see Santa and tell him about all the things they want for Christmas. Next year for sure!

no more blank walls!

2011-12-19T14:45:00.000-06:00

The other day I was looking around the house, searching for things I could hang on my bedroom walls. Now that it is painted, it is a shame to let the walls be bear. They need something!

I already made the hangings from the toilet paper rolls. I still look at those in amazement. I can't believe that they turned out so well!

I snatched a few pictures from the living room (there are still more than enough in there) and hung a group of four on the wall over the TV. It looks so much better. And, surprisingly, I got them straight the first time.

I stole a picture frame out of the girls' room and put a picture in it. It is hanging in a spot that was just right for it.

On the wall next to our bed, I placed this piece of art that we got from a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta when we went back in 2008. It is a bit small for the wall, but it will do for now. Until I figure something else out.

Since I stole something from the girls' room, I felt like I need to replace it. I had an old, already painted, canvas that I just repainted pink, added some buttons to frame a picture.

Now, the picture can be replaced whenever I fancy. And, it adds a splash of color to their walls. That is until Jorge paints the room. Once the girls saw our bedroom painted, they each yelled out that they wanted their room painted. Just wait girls! My living room first!

another school recap

2011-12-16T12:10:00.000-06:00

It's Friday, again! Time is just flying by! It seems like yesterday was Monday. But, Friday means another recap of school! Sorry for those of you that this doesn't interest.

Monday was a holiday here in Mexico. It was Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. So, Jorge was off work that day. That kind of threw the whole week off. But, we got back on track and got some of our school work done.

Today we were working on reviewing the letters that we have learned. The curriculum focuses on one letter a week. Since we are on week 4, we are at letter "D". Writing the lower case "b" and "d" throws the girls off. I need to find a trick to teach them so they can remember the correct way to write them.

Today we did a little craft project. We made a reindeer! The girls traced their hands (I had to help Emily with that part.) and I cut out their traced hands. We used a red pom pom for the nose, a wiggly eye, a tail, a pipe cleaner for the antlers, and some construction paper and glitter to make a collar.

I have some self-adhesive magnets that we added to the back and now we have a couple festive magnets to hang on the refrigerator!

It seems like, at this age, doing crafts with the girls is more work for me than them! But, they had fun and that is what is important.

an ordinary day, when you have lemons!

2011-12-15T13:37:00.001-06:00

Can you believe there are only 10 days left until Christmas!? I'm kind of floored by that. Really, where does time go?

When we went to Costco this past Sunday, I found a bag of lemons! Twelve lemons! For around $3! I couldn't pass that up. They are still hard to find, but it seems they are showing up more frequently than they used to. Which, is great! Bring 'em on!

I posted on Facebook that I had found the lemons and my friend, Cutzi, suggested making this Lemon Lemon Loaf! Yes, please!

So, that is what part of my day has consisted of. Making a lovely lemon loaf. Well, two of them to be exact! One to eat. One to freeze and enjoy eating when I can't find lemons! Yum! (I tried a peice without the lemon glaze....I need to make the glaze. The loaf alone is a tiny bit sour, but still good!)

I also made this simple vinaigrette dressing today. We are going to have jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwiches and salad for dinner! Thank you , Pinterest!

Also, in my domestic doings today, I used another idea from Pinterest and cleaned my washer. Seems funny to need to clean a washer, but it did kind of need it.

I'm off to be domestic a little more. Some days I am better at it than others!

***Update (10 minutes later)***
I made the lemon glaze for the loaf. It was so much better!

Yum!

wall decor

2011-12-14T11:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was sitting in bed, under my blanket, trying not to freeze. I had already been domestic enough for the day and my work was pretty much finished.

Now that my bedroom is painted, I hate that the walls are blank. But, particularly the wall above the headboard. I was in search of something that I could do with things around the house. So, onward to Pinterest!

I had pinned this project a few weeks back. And, for the past few months, I have been saving tons of these:

While sitting in bed, I turned those toilet paper rolls into these:

Add some glue and a brush to the mix and these are what I came up with.

Now, I didn't open the link to the project on Pinterest. I should have to see how she painted the tubes. I only bought one can of spray paint and sprayed them AFTER I glued them together. Let me tell you, that was NOT successful!

I wasn't going to go get another can of paint, so I looked to see what I had that might work. I had a big jar of mod podge and some paint. I put a tad bit of blue and a squirt of green into the mod podge. Then, I pain-stakingly painted all of these creations! PAIN IN THE BUTT!

I think I like how they turned out. They are a bit darker than I had wanted. Oh well! They will do.

Hanging them on the wall just now was not fun. I think they aren't exactly straight, but they will do.

It fills the space over the bed and that was the point. This DIY stuff is really for the birds!

bella and emily

2011-12-13T12:30:00.000-06:00

I took these pictures last night of the girls. They were dressed and ready to go to church. Just wanted to share them with you. Mostly, I am putting them on here for Mamaw and Papaw.

I need to start taking pictures more often. I have been bad lately.

Getting both of them to look at me and smile isn't an easy task. Bella is right at home in a dress. For Emily, this is something that you don't see too often. But, I do admit, both are pretty darn cute!

Bella can strike a pose in a seconds notice. Put her in front of a camera and she is right at home! This girl is as girly as they come.

Emily tries to mimic what Bella does. So, while her poses don't come naturally, she still pulls it off.

And, even though she is in a dress, she manages to let her tomboy side shine through.

These girls are definitely full of character! Gotta love 'em!

my bedroom is painted!

2011-12-13T11:28:00.001-06:00

We have been renting this house for the past 3 1/2 years. So, for 3 1/2 years I have been looking at ugly, unfinished walls. If you lean up against them, it is like leaning on a big piece of chalk. The walls in this house have never been painted. Not even a primer coat. It basically looks like they *were* white walls and someone let a bus load of dirty-handed kids out and they rubbed their hands all over our walls.

Not sure why we didn't do this earlier, but Sunday night and Monday Jorge painted our bedroom. What a huge difference it made. It looks SO nice!

We went to Home Depot on Sunday and I was nervous about picking the paint colors. Paint is not an easy thing to choose. The lighting in Home Depot is much different than my house. And, it is always hard to tell from the little swatch, what exactly it will look like. Usually I grab loads of swatches, take them home, and look over them for a long time. This time I winged it. Luckily, I choose colors that I really liked once they were painted on the wall.

Jorge did a great job painting. Now our room feels like a room in a house. I just wish I had all my art work that is stored in my mom's house to hang on the walls. But, you can't have it all.

I wasn't able to take very good pictures. I need a wider angle lens. So, I snapped a few and then I took a video. I always love for friends and family to stop by and see how we decorated. But, living thousands of miles away, that isn't an option. So, this way I can show you!

Here is a before shot. You will see how much more the headboard pops out in the after shots!

The lighting wasn't very good in the room. I had to use my flash. Normally I like to use natural lighting. So, you see the colors vary slightly in each picture. The last picture, the shot of the entire bed, is closest to the true colors of the room. The accent wall is a dark chocolate color.

And, here is a little clip for you to see the whole room!

Jorge did the bedroom for my Christmas present. My birthday is next month, in January. I told him he could do the room in the video below for my birthday!

Do you like my tree? Half of the lights went out the other day. I'm too lazy to take all the ornaments off, take off the old lights, string new lights, and hang the ornaments again.

Can't wait until the living room is painted!

some more questions

2011-12-10T11:59:00.004-06:00

Lisa, a fellow expat, from "From one Country to Another" blog posted some questions on her blog as a fun little way to get to know a little more about each other. I thought, why not? Let's do this.

1. Picture you life two years from now. What would you like to see?

The most obvious would for us to be living back in the US. But, most likely that won't happen. Other than that, I hope we are doing as well as we are now. Just living, being comfortable and going with the flow of things.

2. What is the worst habit you feel you have?

I'm a control freak.  Correcting that is a work in progress.

3. What is your favorite genre of movies?

The girly kind. Is that a genre? It is in my book. Not romance, but girly.

4. What are five things that you would include on your to-do list?

take another vacation to the beach (the girls talk about the beach all the time)
learn Spanish (shame on me for not knowing it)
save money
blog more often
organize all my printed out recipes

5. Are you still in contact with any childhood friends?

Definitely! Most of my closest friends are from middle school and high school. Just so they can feel special, here are the names of my closest/best friends. Of course I have others that I am in contact with (technology makes that easy), but these people I talk to/keep in touch regularly. These are the people that helped me get back to being sane after moving down here to Mexico. I feel very fortunate to have all of them in my life still!

Amber Clark (aka Marla) -- middle school
Amber Springer-Borjas -- middle school
Colin Dullaghan -- high school
Julie Handschy -- high school
Jenni Jorgenson -- high school
Bradley Lovett -- college
Heather Newport -- high school
Amy Bender-Strain -- high school

6. Do you get along well with family members and relatives?

Sure! I don't think I am on any one's hate list. So, that is good, right!? :)

7. If you were to win 10 million dollars, what would you do with the money?

I would build a house here in Jalos (no more rental!) and build one on a beach somewhere that Jorge could live. I would give some to family and friends, donate some of it, shop 'til I drop, and then save some of it to be able to live comfortably the rest of my life.

8. Have you ever been in a physical fight? Any details?

No. I pack a big bark. But, for the most part I am a coward. :)

9. Three things you could not live without?

water

food

air

But, necessities aside, I rely heavily on:

my computer with internet access

Costco/Sam's Club

because it is freezing in my house, my electric blanket

10. Have you ever met a celebrity? If not, who would you chose to meet?

I once saw the rapper Too Short in a mall in Indy. A girl I was working with, Jamilah, and I pulled some money out of our pockets and had him sign the bills. For the longest time I had the $10 bill framed! LOL!

11. Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

I do have a tattoo. I have a "tramp stamp" on my lower back. I don't think they had branded that area of the back being tattooed as a "tramp stamp" when I got it done. It is so classy! It is a Celtic knot. Most of the time, with it being out of sight, I don't even think about having it. And, as most girls do, I have my ears pierced. Although I am still waiting for the diamond earrings to go in them.

week 3 and some cupcakes

2011-12-09T13:55:00.005-06:00

(Warning, lots of pictures!)

For the last two weeks I have posted about school on Friday. So, why stop now. I am mostly doing this so Mamaw and Papaw can see the girls' progress. Being so far away, I know how hard it is on them to not be around the girls.

This was our third week of school. So far, so good. What I am finding that I like most about homeschooling, other than the fact that I get to teach my children, is the flexibility. We are on our own schedule. Which, when the bed is toasty warm in the morning, we don't necessarily have to get out of bed at any particular time. I love that!

Today we just forged on in the workbooks. Usually we do a page or two in each workbook each day. The girls each have 9 workbooks and there are a handful of other books that we discuss together. And, we have the learning games and toys that we use, as well as the science experiments.

Here the girls are working in one of their workbooks. Coloring in the different items and practicing number recognition and writing the numbers. I've been surprised how well Emily is hanging with Bella. They are 14 months apart but there isn't much lag as far as Emily keeping up. And, Bella does struggle with that bit of perfectionism that she has. Overall, they are both doing well.

Here is a interesting learning tool. It is called a Purpllinker. It came with the insert that shows how to form all the capital and lower case letters and some shapes and numbers. Right now the girls are figuring out the more simple letters and numbers. I told them as long as they try, they are doing great!

This is one of our science experiments. We were taking two colors and mixing them to see what new color they make. The kit also included these growing crystals. You mix them with water and they grow. We put in some different color crystals to see how that affected the color. The science experiments are always the big hit.

And, just for fun, to celebrate how well they are doing in school, we made cupcakes today! I was brave and let the girls do most of the mixing and such.

I had to be quick with the pictures because these girls don't sit still very long.

Here is Bella pouring the mix into the bowl. I cheated and used box mix and icing from the store.

Emily, on her first try, cracked an egg. She didn't even get any shells in with it. I was impressed!

The same for Bella. This was her first try and she got it right off the bat. No shells either!

Bella is adding the oil to the mix.

Emily added the water.

Emily is taking her turn mixing everything together. I reminded this wild one to do it gently several times. She was pretty good. No mess at all!

Miss Perfection was nice and slow with the mixing. I didn't expect any mess from her and I was right.

Here they each got their own liners. Emily got snowman ones and Bella got Santa ones. I stocked up at K-Mart a few years back. Still got plenty of these liners left.

I let them pour batter into one of the liners. It was going to be too much work letting them do them all.

Emily proved me right. After I snapped this picture, she dumped the remaining batter from the measuring cup right onto the cupcake pan. After cleaning that up, I finished pouring them all.

After putting icing on one cupcake, they asked if they could eat it. I wasn't going to make them wait. You can see Emily's empty liner. I think I saw Emily put a sprinkle on the cupcake then one in her mouth. She did that the entire time she was decorating. She probably ended up eating more of the sprinkles than she used to decorate.

Bella was very careful with her decorations. She wanted them to look perfect. She said, "When daddy comes home he is going to say 'Those look beautiful''.

Here are some of the cupcakes that were decorated.

They said they had a fun day! That is all that matters. Plus, there wasn't any arguing. Bonus!

flowers make me happy

2011-12-07T10:06:00.000-06:00

Jorge brought me flowers yesterday.

That made me happy! Especially because they are my favorite flowers.

simple tip for shredding chicken

2011-12-06T18:07:00.002-06:00

I have previously confessed my love of Pinterest. It has come in handy more than on a few occasions. I just love that site! There are so many reasons to hop on and browse all the stuff that the site holds.

But, the thing about Pinterest is that if you don't pin something the first time you see it, you might not find it again.

Today I stumbled upon a pin and I didn't see it again after that first time. But, I didn't need to because it was a simple little tip on how to shred chicken. Almost every dish that I make that involves chicken, the chicken needs to be shredded.

Some of you might already know about this tip, but I didn't and I wanted to share in case some of you didn't know about it.

When I need shredded chicken, I take a few chicken breasts, throw them in some water and boil them. Once they are cooked, I set them on a cutting board and wait for the to cool enough to shred with my fingers or a few forks.

Check this out!

I put the HOT chicken breasts, straight from the boiling water, into the mixer and BAM! It was done for me! No waiting or burnt fingers because I didn't want to wait.

How magical is that!? Whoever thought of this, genius!

week 2 of school

2011-12-02T13:21:00.000-06:00

We just finished up week two of school. The girls are doing extremely well. Information that they didn't know and have learned, they are retaining. Just more reason to be happy about the curriculum I picked. They know it is school. Even sometimes they call me "teacher". But, they are having lot of fun in the process.

Emily is 3 and I do have a slight problem with her sitting still for very long. I would say an average day we spend from an hour to two hours doing school. Some days we even split it up and do some in the morning and the rest in the evening. I have read that at this age you should stop when they lose interest. To make it a fun learning experience. Usually by just reminding her to sit still and listen to directions, she does fairly well.

Bella is 4 (will be 5 on Dec 31st) and she zips right through most of the exercises. Bella is a perfectionist. One of our school rules/mottos is "It's OK to not know, but it's not OK to not try.". This rule was made especially for her. If it isn't perfect she gets very upset. With this rule in place (she also is a big rule follower) she seems to try more than usual. She even says, "I'm trying, mommy!". I'm proud and happy that it is going this way. I was nervous about handling her and her personality.

Here we are building animals with our Bloco animal construction set. The girls just build random thing right now. They are getting the hang of it. Together we built the giraffe. It is a pretty cool learning toy.

Here you can see the girls working on the letter "b". Both the capital and lower case. They have been doing well with writing within the lines.

Here we are working on counting and numbers. The workbook is pretty simple so I have asked them to practice writing the number that the book is talking about.

I know this is early in the game, but I have been surprised with how well the girls have been behaving and how willing they are to do as I instruct. I'm hoping that we can keep this flow and enjoy doing this together.

chilaquiles

2011-12-01T12:43:00.002-06:00

Things are pretty uneventful around here lately. We did the Thanksgiving thing. We put our tree up. And, we have started our school year. All things you already know, assuming you have read my blog during the past week.

We are just chugging along trying to stay warm. I've moved my work space to my bedroom so I can stay under the electric blanket while I work. Thankfully I have a printer that allows me to print via wi-fi! So, I can have the laptop in bed with me.

I was trying to think of something I can make for a quick lunch. I remembered I bought tomatoes and chips to make chilaquiles.

I'm sure there are many different ways to make them, but I tend to like the version that I found in Rick Bayless's cookbook, Authentic Mexican. It's funny because I bought that cookbook while living in the US but never got around to using it until I moved down here. (That cookbook is also where I got my enchilada recipe.)

I don't really measure anything, but I can give you my estimate measurements. They are pretty simple to make so I never look in the book anymore. And, that is one thing nice about most Mexican cooking, the measurements are sort of jumping off points. Adjust as you like.

Ingredients:

6 to 8 Roma tomatoes, boiled and skins removed
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a small onion, roughly chopped
1 Serrano pepper
1-2 Tbsp veg oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 chicken broth cube (or a cup of chicken stock)
Chips

Toppings:

sour cream
crumbly cheese
and whatever else you like (chicken, onions, cabbage, lettuce...you get the point)

First, start by cutting an "x" on the bottom of each tomato and put in a pan full of water. Let boil until skins start to peel off.

Once they are ready to peel, peel the skins off. Put the tomatoes in a blender with the onion, garlic and Serrano pepper.

Blend all of the ingredients together until is is smooth. Grab that chicken broth cube and throw it in a cup of water. Microwave it for a few minutes until it dissolves.

Grab the pan you used for boiling the tomatoes (empty out the water) and put the oil in the pan. Heat the oil then pour the blended liquid into the pan. Let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring every once in a while. The color will darken a bit.

Once it has changed color to an organish red, add the salt and the chicken broth to the pan. Cook for another 4 or 5 minutes.

You can make your own chips like I did in this post, or you can do the short cut, which I love, and buy some chips at the store. They have chips specifically for chilaquiles. Kind of nice!

Take some of the salsa that you just made and put into a bigger pan that will allow for you to toss some chips around. Put the pan over medium heat. I don't like my chips to be soggy at all, so I just toss them around for a minute or so. Just long enough to coat the chips and warm them. At this point you can add other ingredients if you like, but I keep mine simple when doing them for myself.

I just put sour cream and the cheese on mine. I like to keep it easy and simple. If we are doing chilaquiles for dinner some night, I might add chicken and additional toppings would be onion and lettuce.

Put the chips on a plate, put your toppings on and you have a simple meal/snack.

I'm off to eat these now. You can't let them sit very long or they will get cold and soggy! And I don't like soggy!

it's cold!

2011-11-29T14:20:00.001-06:00

The title says it all! It is officially winter here! The house feels like I have stacked tons of ice in every room. And remember, we don't have any heat in the house.

Living in Mexico doesn't allow me to escape the cold winters of Indiana. I have escaped the snow, but not the cold!

The other day I was laying in bed and thought how, all of a sudden, the weather had started to get colder. I got my phone and looked at the temp. It showed 39 F. That is cold.

Then the next day I thought it felt even colder. I checked. And, yes. It was colder than the day before.

And, today. I woke up and was thankful that I really didn't have to get out of bed right away because of this ridiculous temperature showing on my phone. And is that a snow icon? NO!

Out of all my purchases during my visit to the States, my electric blanket has to be my favorite! It is so cold in the house that I haven't even bothered making the bed today. That way if I want to get under the warm blanket, the bed is ready!

You won't see the control under "High" most of the time.

Thankfully we have a space heater, too. It is sitting next to me right now. You can see how cold it is in the house even when the thing is on! That 63 F on it is the temp! This space heater has a thermostat built in. I have it set on 75 F but it will never turn off because it won't reach that. I have had it on for the past handful of hours while I have been working and it is still at 63 F.

At night it goes in the girls' room. Lucky for them, their room is the warmest in the house. It is easy to heat. The thermostat actually serves a purpose in their room. I will set it around 72 F and it turns off and on throughout the night to keep them nice and toasty.

One other great use for our space heater is to use it in the bathroom. Try showering when it is 60 F in your house. Not fun! I put it in the bathroom and let the room warm up. This was the temp in the bathroom the other day right before the girls took a bath. They would have turned into popsicles without the heater.

I even hooked Colbie up. I bought him a sweatshirt that he wears around the clock. Also, that red bed is heated. He stays outside so it is important to have him warm. He shakes when it is 80 F outside. Since he has been wearing his sweatshirt, I haven't seen him shake! I'm sure he is happy.

Since it is so cold, I finished working, put on some Christmas music on Pandora, and wrapped some presents. I was inches away from the space heater the whole time. I think it is time to turn on the oven and warm up the house that way.

first week of school

2011-11-25T12:05:00.002-06:00

We are officially one week into our school year. The girls seem to be really digging it. Today, when I said we were finished, Bella made a noise indicating "oh man, I want to do some more".

Here are a few pages from their "Mathematical Reasoning" workbook. It seems they already know the material that we are covering. I just add things to help make it not so basic. Like, writing the number that the book is referring to, etc.

There are books that specifically work on tracing, pasting, coloring, drawing, cutting and folding. Here they are working on the pasting book.

Their favorite is when we do a science experiment. The other day we filled the test tubes with water and dropped a color tablet in each test tube. We discussed what was happening with the tablet (it dissolved) and why they couldn't see it anymore and where it went. Today we used the colored water to show that when you mix two colors, it produces a different color. This really blew their minds!

Having used the materials that were included in the curriculum, I am very pleased that I picked this one. It seems to be laid out really well and the girls are enjoying "school".

Even though this is just Pre-school and it isn't required, I am still documenting every day's activities for each of them. I figure it will get me in the habit for when we start the school year next year, being that Kindergarten is required.

happy thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T18:09:00.001-06:00

This was my first Thanksgiving in Mexico. While we didn't have turkey or ham, it turned out well. Since it is just the four of us, the turkeys and hams at Costco were just too big. I wasn't look forward to eating leftover turkey for the next month. So chicken it was!

Here is a little glimpse at our dinner.

(all photos were taken with my iPhone...so, sorry about the quality)

We had chicken.

Roasted parmesan green beans, carrots, corn, and mashed potatoes (not pictured because honestly, they are not that pretty).

leftovers

Dinner rolls that took twelve and a half years to make.

And for dessert, carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing and cheesecake (not pictured because it is kind of boring looking).

I also made a nice big pitcher of Lipton iced tea. That is a treat around here!

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great!

the tree is up!

2011-11-23T14:32:00.002-06:00

Yeah, I know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I already have the tree up? And?

Technically, we don't have Thanksgiving here in Mexico, so I don't feel the need to wait. And, like I just told a friend, if I could have the tree up year-round without it making me seem crazy, I would! Totally!

I wish I had more Christmas decorations. The choices here are limited. I wish for a stroll down the aisles of Target the day after Christmas. Oh how I would buy, buy, buy! Then the house would be like Winter Wonderland during the holidays!

And since we already declared yestereday that I am NOT Martha Stewart, making holiday decorations is out of the question. I want them to be cute. Not tacky!

So, I present you the holiday house of the Ramirez family.

Our tiny little tree. I believe this is the last year for this guy. We are upgrading next year!

"And the stockings were hung from the door with care." Oh, that isn't what they said?

Why not hang this from the light? And, notice my candlestick holder? :)

Just some holiday cheer.

And some more holiday cheer.

This is Colbie's (our dog) stocking. He is trying his best to be a good boy this year.

Some festive placemats that are in desparate need of being ironed. (I hate to tell them that it is not happening today!)

And the alcohol needs to feel festive, too!

We put all this out this past Sunday. When I asked the girls if they wanted to get the tree out, Jorge looked at me with those eyes that say, "Are you serious?" Heck yeah! The girls were all for it, too!

I'm resourceful, not Martha Stewart.

2011-11-22T11:44:00.002-06:00

Most of you know that I am homeschooling the girls, starting this year. Actually, we just started yesterday. Our first day went pretty well. The girls were very well-behaved and paid attention and followed directions as best as I could have expected.

I think preparing and organizing all the material the week before is the key. I can't imagine the girls sitting still, waiting patiently, while I read through things and try to figure out what to do next. So, definitely prepping was a smart thing to do.

The reason for our late start to the school year was because I ordered and shipped all the materials to my mom's house in the States. Timberdoodle, the company I ordered from, offered to ship here to Mexico. But, I thought it was a bit pricey and could mail them myself for cheaper. Which I did!

Along with the stuff from Timberdoodle, I ordered some school/craft supplies from Discount School Supply. Their prices were great. And, I ended up finding a discount code and got free shipping! Can't beat that. Now we are set!

You will see in the pictures below that I now have so much stuff that I had to buy another shelving unit from Cantia so we could keep everything organized and easily accessible.

I bought buttons, pipe cleaners, pom poms, colored and natural craft sticks....

a large assortment of stamps and stamp pads....

crayons, markers, colored pencils....

stencils, self-adhesive magnets, wiggly eyes, erasers, pencil sharpeners...

incentive charts...

And you ask what all this has to do with the title of the blog post? Let me explain.

I bought advent candles for the girls to do leading up to Christmas. My friend, Heather, mentioned doing the advent Christmas candles when she was little and how much she liked it. She found a seller on Ebay that had cute ones. So, I bought several of them.

The thing I didn't buy was a candlestick holder. And, for some reason, am having trouble finding one here. I starting brainstorming (I know, very dangerous for me.) and was trying to figure out how I could make one myself. I thought, I have all these craft supplies, surely I can come up with something.

Attempt #1: FAILURE!

Colored rice and a hot glue gun.

The idea was that I would create a base of the rice, then glue the candle onto the base, and finish by gluing more rice around the candlestick. Rice and hot glue don't mix very well. I should have realized that from the start. It was literally a hot, sticky mess! Lesson learned.

Attempt #2: SUCCESS! (If success means it looks good enough to NOT throw away.)

Red and green craft sticks and a hot glue gun.

Now I have a candlestick holder. It might not be the most secure, safest candlestick holder. But, it is good enough for this year. And, it isn't like I am going to hand the candle and matches over to the girls and let them have free range. This is a supervised advent activity.

On my list of things to buy: Christmas candlestick holder

Wii time!

2011-11-21T14:21:00.000-06:00

During my visit to the States I purchased many things! Every time I go (and the month or so prior to going), I buy things like they are going out of style.

I compare it to stocking up for a blizzard. You know, when you know the weather is going to be bad, you go to the store and stock up on essentials. For me, living in Mexico, I am confused about what exactly the essentials are. Almost everything I see looks like an "essential" to me! HA!

One of the things I bought this trip was a Wii. I originally intended to save it and give it to Jorge for Christmas. But, I'm not good at waiting. So, he knew I bought it before I even left to go to the States. Yeah, I'm bad.

Anyway, we have had lots of fun with it. I bought several games while I was there at a used game store. Boy am I glad I did. I have seen some of the prices of games here and I about crapped my pants! I thought $40 to $50 was a lot for a game. Here I have seen some games cost as much as $80. Just one more thing I will remain to buy from the States!

I bought the Just Dance for Kids. The girls are more than thrilled with the game. Check them out in action!

I'll refrain from ever having video of me taken while playing any of the dancing games. I am a white girl through and through and my moves are less than perfect. :)

During our trip on Friday to Aguascalientes, I found a Wii Fit at Costco. I bought that sucker and have been working out for the past few days. Let me tell you, it works!

Another great thing about the Wii is accessing our Netflix account through the console. This past week Jorge was on vacation and between playing the Wii and watching movies/tv shows through the Wii, I don't think he got off the couch that much. But, that is OK. He deserved the downtime.

Indy visit, part 3

2011-11-12T08:06:00.001-06:00

This visit we decided to go to Indianapolis Children's Museum. The girls had never been before. And, it has been at least 5 years or so since I have been there.

Let me tell you, if you haven't been before, it is HUGE! I guess it is the largest children's museum in the country. At least that is what I have been told.

We spent 5 hours there and just skimmed through most of the place. And, by the end of the day I was more than ready to go. We had lots of fun. But, it is a big place. Lots of walking.

The girls were the perfect age this year. They had so much fun. We hadn't even gotten into the museum yet and they were thrilled as can be. There was a covered catwalk from the parking garage to the museum. They saw the dinosaurs on the outside of the building and got excited!

Once we got into the main lobby, they had Bumblebee from the Transporters. This is the actual one from the movie. Pretty cool. Emily was too thrilled to stop looking at it for me to get a picture of her.

Once we were past the gates they had their mascot (can't remember his name) walking around. Emily was over the moon with him. Bella could care less.

In the middle of the museum they have a large, and I mean LARGE, glass scuplture. It is really cool!

The lowest level of the museum displays the bottom of the sculpture.

Emily found her hero's cape! A very exciting moment for her. :) Here is her standing next to the original Batman's cape.

They had a Barbie exhibit going. Emily and Bella posed at the Barbie desk. They were in the middle of some very important business.

I remember this train being there from back in the day when I was a wee little one. While a lot of the museum has changed and they have added on, some things remain the same.

The dinosaur exhibit has to be the coolest. The lights were dimmed, the room felt cool in temperature and it was just plain neat.

The girls were doing some digging of their own. Emily is working the safety glasses.

It was a fun day. And thanks to my cousin Lindsey, we got in free!

Our trip, part 2

2011-11-11T09:26:00.001-06:00

The weather, outside of a handful of cold rainy days, was excellent while we were there. The girls took full advantage of all the room to run. And all the grass!

First, here is the continuation from my last post. Every year we go down the street to our friend Missy's house and go trick or treating with her little boy, Alex (he is the all black Batman). He is BFFs with the girls. As you can see, it is a workout for the kids since the yards are so big! They definitely deserve some of that candy by the end of the evening.

My mom lives next to an elementary school. The girls love going over to the playground. I don't think they walked the whole trip. They were always running.

When the playground wasn't enough for them they would come back and ride their bikes in the driveway.

And, usually that still wasn't enough for them. Then they would resort to the backyard. I think I just now realize why I was tired the whole trip. Watching them with their non-stop action will make anyone tired.

Most of what I did consisted of shopping and eating all the great food! I did manage to get the girls to go to a Mexican restaurant that Jorge and I used to go to all the time. While there Bella overheard the employees speaking Spanish and she asked, "Why are they speaking Spanish?". I guess being in the States confused her of why she would hear people speaking anything but English. I need to get her out more. But, here she would just continue to hear Spanish... :)

And, I would say my favorite part of the trip was seeing all my friends. My mom watched the girls several times for me so I could go socialize. Here is a picture from a night I met up with some of my friends, Heather, Julie, Jenni and Amy. We went to my friend Bradley's restaurant. It was great fun!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a continuation!

Fall/Halloween

2011-11-10T10:31:00.001-06:00

I've been absent for just over a month now. As you probably know, I went to the US for 3 weeks and just got back this past Saturday.

The reason I schedule our visits to the States during this time of year is because I LOVE fall! And, the girls LOVE Halloween!

I figured I would do some posts that recap some of our trip to Indy.

Here is Bella posing outside of my aunt Janny's barn. We stayed the night one night and Janny is to blame for our family's obession of Angry Birds. Shame on you, Janny!

There was this one lonley, colored tree in the midst of all the green trees around it. The girls were willing to pose for me by the tree. The changing leaves are one of my favorite things about fall.

Bella picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. There weren't many small ones to choose from.

Emily, of course, picked one of the only green ones out in the patch.

Bella manning the wagon so we could go pay and get home and carve all of the pumpkins.

Papaw took charge and cut open all the pumpkins. The girls dug right in and removed the insides.

I let the girls draw a face on and then I cut out exactly what they drew. Bella drew almost the exact same face on both of her pumpkins (the two small orange ones on the left). The faces Emily drew (by default, the green and big orange on on the right) crack me up. Especially the big orange one.

They couldn't wait to go trick or treating! Emily wore her costume pretty much every day leading up to Halloween.

Tomorrow I will show you some more of our trip. Stay tuned!

life with kids

2011-10-07T17:13:00.000-05:00

Hi! I have been away from my blog for what feels like a million years. I really haven't been up to much of anything new. During a typical day you can find me doing one of the below:

Working
Cleaning
Laundry
Cooking
Playing on the computer
On-line shopping, preparing for my visit to the States
Messing with the girls in one way or another.

Today, out of that list, I did all but one. I didn't buy anything online. And that is surprising.

Today has been mainly messing with the girls.

I got sucked into Pinterest. You can check out the coolness on my page here.

I found a cute art project through Pinterest that the girls and I did today. It was easy and not very messy. Something that isn't very messy is a big plus in my book!

After doing their art project and taking a bath, because even if it isn't a mess activity, Emily still gets paint everywhere, they tore apart my living room.

They had fun while playing on the floor with all the pillows and watching TV. I was happy because they were occupied while I got some of my work done.

where is the dishwasher?

2011-09-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

On days when I look over at the sink, and it looks like this, I REALLY wish I had a dishwasher.

How young is too young to have kids start washing dishes? HA!

package love

2011-09-26T11:59:00.003-05:00

The other day I was sitting at my desk working when I heard the mail guy ring his little bell to indicate that I had something. I was EXCITED!

I might have mentioned before, but the only time we get mail here is when we get the Telmex bill (it has our phone, DSL and Dish Network charges on it) once a month and when we get our electric bill, which we get every other month. So, one month we get two bills. The next we get one bill. And, he never rings his bell to give us the bills. He just throws them into our patio area.

When I hear that bell it usually indicates a package slip. The normal protocol is he gives me a piece of paper that we have to take to the post office and pick up the package. The mail guy is a guy that rides around on a bike, with a small basket on the front. So, you can image that he is not going to bring me packages.

But, on this day, he did! Three of them! WOW!

I had ordered some books off of Amazon and just had them shipped here. In just 3 short weeks I will be visiting the States for 3 weeks. I have already ordered a crap load of stuff and it is sitting at my mom's house just waiting for me. I figured there is enough stuff there already, plus I will buy stuff while I am there. So, having it mailed here just seemed like a better idea.

I ordered two art books to supplement our homeschooling curriculum, two "picky eaters" children's cookbooks, a cookbook for me and a teach your child to read book.

Five out of six of my books got here within 2 weeks! That is awesome! Amazon sent three shipments out and I got two of them on the same day.

The Little Hands Art Book and Preschool Art

No Whine with Dinner and The Toddler Cafe

Antojitos

On top of those Amazon orders, my cool friend, Julie, sent me a package! So sweet! And, such a nice surprise.

She sent some workbooks, flashcards, writing paper, stickers and these really cool little "stained glass" coloring books. The paper is opaque so when you color it, you can hang in on the window and the sun will shine through. Like stained glass. So cool!

And the big hit item with me were these fall gel window stickers. How cute are they?

We need more windows in the house!

little chicks

2011-09-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the girls went downtown with their grandma. When they walked back to our house, I noticed that they were each holding a clear plastic bag. Inside Emily's was something blue and inside Bella's was something yellow.

I asked what they had and they held up the bag and showed me two little chicks.

What are we going to do with these two chicks? The blue is a nice size. Ready to leave the "nest". The yellow one, on the other hand, is so tiny still. He can't even keep himself warm. I don't think they should have sold him yet.

Last night it was like having a newborn again. I got up throughout the night and kept checking on the crying yellow one. I put a heating pad in a box for him so he wouldn't freeze to death. We don't really play with him because he is just too little. And, for being so little, he sure is quick.

The blue one is ultra friendly. If you put him on the ground, he will run towards your feet. If you put your hand out, he will run and jump in the palm of your hand. And, of course, when you set him back down in the box, he cries like a baby. Right now he is in the closet because his chirps are so loud.

Now to figure out if we are keeping these guys or what. I read on-line how to care for them. If we are keeping them, when Jorge gets home, we are going to have to make a trip to the store to get supplies and proper equipment for them.

another fall craft project

2011-09-14T13:33:00.001-05:00

I've been extremely in the mood for fall. I wish outside reflected what fall looks like. The weather at night here is perfect fall weather. Now, we just need a little fire pit. I saw one at either Sam's or Home Depot the other day. I really have my eye on it. It would be great to have!

Anyway, the girls are happy that we are nearing Halloween. And, while we really aren't even officially in fall, nor are we in the month of Halloween, I figure it is not too early to start getting excited for it.

We made some contact paper/tissue paper pumpkins today. I made a template of a pumpkin on a piece of cardstock paper and cut it out. Then I cut little squares of contact paper. And, cut some pieces of clear contact paper.

On one of the contact paper sheets, you place the template you cut out. Decorate it with the squares of tissue paper. Then sandwich it between another piece of contact paper.

And, you have a cute faux glass art work to hang on the window.

We had fun doing it. It takes longer to prep for the project than the actual time it takes to do it. But, I think the outcome is great. Plus, they can be reused next year!

bye to the hot mess

2011-09-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

When Bella was little, her hair was dead-set on becoming a mullet. And, since I am anti-mullet, I chopped that sucker off. The only mullets in this house will be the Mullet Men magnets on my fridge. I used to have 5 different guys, but they were so highly desired that I think someone stole the others.

Emily's hair doesn't have a desire to become a mullet. Her hair is just one big, hot mess! It has a natural curl to it. And, the fact that she will NOT let you do anything with her hair, she always looks like a crazy animal.

Last night I took care of that. She let me cut her hair. The only maintenance required now is to take a few minutes and blow dry it. It is that simple. And, now when we go out in public with her, we can claim her.

She looks super cute now. Not that she wasn't cute before. But, that hair was a definite distraction.

Her and Bella modeled for me this morning. And, I haven't taken pictures of them in a while, so I am sure my mom will be happy to see these.

I know I am biased, but these are some cuties!

bulk food problem

2011-09-11T12:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we went to Aguascalientes. I think that was the third week in a row that we went over there. Not that I am complaining or anything. Yesterday we had a bigger purpose than just going shopping. Not that that isn't a big enough purpose. We needed to take my sister-in-law, Erika, to the airport there.

And, since we were already there, we should hit up Sam's Club! I seem to be a sucker for bulk food. I think it is just that I have it in my head that we won't be going back to "the city" for a handful of weeks and I want to make sure I grab what I think I might need. It's has become a problem.

We *had* to buy another shelving unit at Home Depot so I could put all my stuff somewhere. There is no pantry in this house. I have three small cabinets that I use for food.

One for boxed, canned and misc. items.

One for chips, pretzels and bagged stuff.

And, one for all my assortment of pastas, salt, vinegar and other such items.

As you see, those cabinets are small. There isn't much room for all the things I buy.

Not only do I have an issue of bulk buying (I mean, it's Sam's Club, there is no other choice), I have an issue of when I find something in a store that I usually don't see, I buy tons of them. (Notice how many boxes of cake mix I have. It is because I saw strawberry cake mix. You don't see that here hardly at all. So, my thought was buy a lot and the store will see that they are selling.)

Here is the new shelving unit with all our extras.

The worst is the fridge. Or, more like the freezer.

I just can't help myself. I swear my mentality is like stocking up for a blizzard. I just feel compelled to buy everything!

Here are a few goodies that I got yesterday.

CHEESE! Who doesn't love cheese? And, in my local grocery stores, it is hard to find certain cheese. Some of the Mexican cheeses are decent substitutes. But, if I can find the original, I'm buying it! I got mozzarella, Monterrey jack, cheddar, Gruyere and Parmesan. These are pretty big blocks. I just cut them up and freeze them individually. When I need a block, I take it out of the freezer and stick in the fridge to thaw out.

And, this is really exciting. I got a good recipe from a friend for some breakfast sausage, but I do too many things from scratch. Finding something where it is like a shortcut is a jackpot! So, this is great! I had found some breakfast sausages at Costco, but they were the ready to serve kind. Just warm them up. Those kind aren't good for making biscuits and gravy because they don't produce enough fat. As you can see, these are pre-cooked sausage!

And, last, a new find! Bagels! I miss bagels. And, I have looked online for recipes to make them, but they are all very involved so I have never tried. Now I don't have to. These keep in the freezer. I pop one out, put it in the toaster and voila, you have a nice bagel ready for a frosting of cream cheese! Or, the other day I made a bagel, egg, bacon and cheese breakfast sandwich. I'm wild and crazy, I know.

Oh, how I love Sam's Club. Although, there are products at Costco that I wish I could find at Sam's. I am seeing a membership to both places in the near future. Just remember, I have a problem.

fall is coming

2011-09-07T09:58:00.001-05:00

My all time favorite time of year is fall. Spending most of my life in Indiana, I am used to fall being cooler temperatures, leaves changing colors on all the trees and all those lovely fall goodies, like fall scented candles, pumpkin pies, etc.

As you know, I don't live in Indiana right now. And, there aren't any pretty trees to look at. Most days we have sunny, warm weather. However, the overnight temperatures are starting to drop. And, for some reason, our rainy season is still going on.

Yesterday and the day before it has been rather cool in the house. I'm loving it. This past weekend I bought a candle at Home Depot. Apple Harvest. That fall-like apple scent is my favorite.

I've been burning the candle non-stop. It smells really good and works well. Sometimes you buy candles and they really don't have a very strong scent. This one does, thankfully.

Even though it is not officially fall yet, in my book it is close enough. The girls and I did a few crafts yesterday and the day before to add a little fall decorations to the house.

Two days ago we made Indian Corn. Well, a Mexican version since I only had bright colored tissue paper. But, it still looks fall-like. And we had fun making them.

Yesterday we made leaves. We all colored some and then I glued them onto strips of brown construction paper and hung them over our chalkboard.

I need to buy some fall decorations when I visit the States. Just one more thing on my list to buy.

routine

2011-09-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

It would be safe to say we lack routine in this house. With me working from home and the girls not going to school or anything, we are free to go to sleep and wake up whenever we want.

The problem is that the girls tend to fall towards different schedules. Bella falls asleep earlier and wakes up earlier. Emily tends to be a night owl and gets up later.

I want to get them on the same schedule and get ready for a more organized day when we start our homeschooling.

I find that the girls (or probably kids in general) do better with a schedule. When they know what to expect, what comes next. As of now we have had no bedtime routine. There wasn't a constant from one night to the next.

I made some bedtime routine picture cards last night and when I showed them to the girls, OH, they were so excited about them.

Of course I thought I would share them with you. Not the most exciting of blog posts, but I guess better than nothing. :)

I taped them to their bedroom door. Now, every night they can see what they need to do and know ahead of time. A visual reminder is worth more than my voice. And, once I tell them they need to start getting ready for bed, they can be more independent with their tasks.

Bedtime has never been a chore, not to say there haven't been rough nights. But now, I think it will be easier for them. We'll see tonight....

ready for school

2011-09-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a while back that I decided to homeschool the girls. I know everyone has their own opinion about homeschooling. And that is OK. But, there were several factors that lead me to the decision. And I'm really excited about it.

After talking with quite a few friends that currently homeschool, I feel very informed and ready to take on this challenge. My friend, Cutzi, sent me a boatload of resources and out of those I have bought a preschool curriculum package from Timberdoodle Company. I had to add a bunch of addition material/workbooks to the core package so that Bella and Emily could have their own things.

I wanted to get a nice area set-up so we could all enjoy doing our schoolwork. I rearranged the room so we could have a bigger area to work in. Plus, I want to put up some posters with letters, numbers, etc. Although I love rearranging, I blame this on Cutzi, too. She was update her school area and got me in the mood.

I did find a fun little chalkboard yesterday at Cantia. That was the highlight of the day for the girls. They really like it. I hope to make this as fun as possible for them (and me).

Here is a full view of their "schoolroom". I had to piece together the pictures because my lens isn't wide enough to get the full view.

I was even smart about it as far as not spending money. I'm really good at spending money. But, I took one of those shelves out of the living room and used it in here. I needed more storage space. Now we have all our craft/art/school supplies organized. We have paints, colored rice, flashcards, paintbrushes, markers, chalk, books and coloring books.

I'm leaving the two empty cubbies for the girls' workbooks and such. That way they can put their stuff in their own little space. All the stuff I ordered is at my mom's house. Once we get back from the States we will start "school".

Here is the other shelf that has the rest of the items. Construction paper, board game, Mr. Potato Head, blocks, Playdoh, crayons, scissor and glue and other misc. items.

Other than doing school, I need to get the girls in the habit of putting things back where they go. That is truly the most challenging task for them.

I'm still surprised about how excited I am to start homeschooling. I think the girls will really enjoy it.

soft preztels

2011-08-26T12:37:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't like a nice soft pretzel as a late night snack? I do! When I visit the States I always buy the frozen ones at the store and, at night while obsessively watching HGTV, I throw some in the microwave for a little late night snack.

As I have already stated many times, you just can't find those easy to make snacks here. But, I did come across a recipe for soft pretzels a while back that looked not overly complicated. Most recipes that I found required all these steps and there was boiling water involved.

I was just talking with my friend, Heather, yesterday about the fact that I have to make basically everything from scratch. And, it gets old. Plus, there are some things that I want but making them requires not only making the item from scratch, but even some of the ingredients from scratch. That just makes it too much work.

But, this particular pretzel recipe is simple and fast. Well, as fast as a yeast dough recipe gets. I don't time myself, but I would say in an hour or less you could be enjoying a soft pretzel. AND, you can make a bunch and freeze the rest. Then all you need to do is heat them in the oven or if they are small enough, through them in the toaster.

I got the recipe a few years back out of an email that had all these copycat recipes. This one is supposedly a Auntie Ann's Pretzel. I don't think I have ever had one so I can't compare. But, the fact that I can't find any soft pretzels were I live, this one is awesome!

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/8 tsp. active yeast
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup bread flour (I use all purpose in place of this)
3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp. baking soda

To taste: coarse salt and melted butter

Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

while dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with the 2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp. baking soda. Be certain to stir often.

After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape. Dip pretzel into soda solution and place on greased baking sheet. Allow pretzel to rise again. Bake in a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter and coarse salt and enjoy. (It also suggests sprinkling cinnamon sugar on them.)

in case of an emergency

2011-08-25T15:29:00.000-05:00

Living in the States, it seems like everything is setup to help someone in need. A person can dial 911 and without even a spoken word help will show up at your door.

Living here in Mexico, not knowing the language, I sometimes wonder what would happen if I needed help.

Now the girls are old enough that they could use the phone if needed. And last night I realized that I have no plan in place if something were to happen to me while the girls are with me. What if I need them to call for help?

I have no idea if there is a "911" type of number here. I have seen a 611 or something similar if you are stuck on the side of the road. But, other than that, I have no idea. And, if they do have such a service, is the technology setup where it could find my house without an address.

Just so we are a bit more prepared for such a case, last night I showed the girls how to dial Jorge's number. They picked it right up since I was showing them on my iPhone. With little icons for them to remember, if I needed them to call him, it would be simple for them.

Instructions:

They know how to push the main button on the phone to wake the phone.

Next, push the green phone button.

Then push the star button

Then push on the letters in the white area and put the phone to your ear. You will be calling daddy.

If you have small kids, maybe this would be a good time to teach them to dial 911. You sometimes see those articles that show a child that saved a life by dialing 911 and were only taught days before.

You can view this as my yearly PSA!

organizing

2011-08-22T15:46:00.002-05:00

I vividly remember having a crazy, messy room when I was little. There was stuff everywhere. Under the bed. Under the dresser. Under anything that could fit something underneath it. I know my mom was constantly telling me to clean my room.

So, you would think that I would understand the girls' room being so messy. It isn't that I don't understand. I just can't stand it!

I bought a shelving until (the one with the TV on it) at Cantia a while back for them. And, that seemed to help a bit. Having somewhere to put all their stuff helped to keep their room clean.

This weekend we went to Aguascalientes and stopped by Home Depot. They had a cute little toy organizer and I snatched it right up! I am hopping that the girls will love it so much that they will put their toys away. (high hopes, I know)

Today while they were down at their grandma's house I took everything out of their room and mopped the floor and then rearranged the room. I built the little organizer and went through all their toys and organized them buy type of toy.

I know whenever I rearrange the room the girls totally love it. They tend to see toys they haven't seen in a while and play in there. With their toys! Can you believe that.

Take a look:

I'll find out how clean they keep when they get home. I know, high hopes.

chinese goodness

2011-08-20T09:23:00.001-05:00

A handful of months back there was a Chinese restaurant that opened up downtown. And, true to Chinese restaurants, they deliver. Love that!

We have ordered from there a few times and it has been pretty good. Last night, however, was the first time I bothered glancing at the menu that Jorge picked up not too long ago.

I spotted something on their menu and was so excited, hoping that they would be good. Basically, it is non-crab rangoon. (wonton con queso crema on the menu) Heck, I can do without the crab. Let's try it! A while back I tried to make some from scratch, but they didn't turn out. It will be nice not to have to wait until the States to have some.

It was really good! I only wished I would've ordered more! I did share with Jorge. He should count himself lucky. :)

And, we ordered our regular Mongolian Beef! It is really good! Not as good as PF Chang's. But, good enough for Jalos!

Their menu looks like it was copied straight from the US.

It's only 9:22 am. I wonder if it is too early for them to deliver. HA!

an easy meal

2011-08-18T11:26:00.001-05:00

You might think I am weird when I tell you that I love sloppy joes. I always have. Other than breakfast for dinner, sloppy joes was always my favorite meal that my mom would make. That with tater tots.

When I moved to Mexico I remember looking in the stores, hoping, not expecting, to find a can of Manwich. Of course I never found any. So, I turned to the internet. I think looking for the sloppy joes recipe was the first step towards me realizing that you could make most anything from scratch. Why I didn't realize that before, who knows. I just never cooked much and never gave it much thought. Of course I still battle with finding ingredients.

I think that is when I stumbled upon The Pioneer Woman's blog. Glad I did! She had a recipe that looked promising. At the time I didn't realize she was a goddess in the kitchen and I need not doubt how good they would turn out.

The recipe is so simple and quick. Since she has a pretty step-by-step recipe on her blog, there is no need for that on here. I just wanted to share the recipe with you if you happen to be a freak like me and like sloppy joes.

I usually leave out all the "optional" ingredients just to make it that much simpler.

Excuse me now while I go and eat my sandwich!

treasures found in the laundry

2011-08-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

I did what felt like 10,000 loads of laundry yesterday. Doing laundry, especially when you have kids, is always bound to produce little treasures that were left in pockets.

Yesterday's bounty was a bit odd since I found money that isn't even from this country.

2 Hot Wheel cars
a dime
a penny
a 10 cent peice of Mexican money
a 100 pesos coin that isn't even in production anymore
a plastic rhino
a finger that is broken off of some statue (for some reason Emily loves this finger...)

night out on the town

2011-08-16T12:57:00.000-05:00

I had mentioned that the Virgin was here for the first two weeks of August. Well, that means more people than normal. And, it gives everyone another reason to go downtown.

Sunday night we joined some of those people. We went to a bar that has just recently opened a new area of the building. We sat on the rooftop so we could get a good view of the fireworks that were happening.

I stand out enough as is when I go anywhere here, so usually I avoid taking my camera to not draw anymore attention. But, having an iPhone helps capture pics. And, since I have the dinosaur iPhone, the original one, it doesn't take the best quality pics. They are, however, good enough to share my evening with you.

Looking down on the crowd from the rooftop bar.

Another view looking down.

Jorge paid the band to play for us.

And, just so we are clear, I'm not a fan.

Jorge bought me flowers. Sweet boy.

View of the church before the fireworks.

It looks like the church is on fire, but it isn't. They put a strip of fireworks on the building. Kind of crazy!

It is hard to get a shot of the fireworks with my phone camera.

Some of the fireworks.

This is so crazy that I felt it is worthy of being posted again. :)

interesting sights

2011-08-16T12:28:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago we went to McDonald's. While standing in line it was impossible to overlook the lovely pants the lady in front of us was wearing. I think it was her tribute to the late Randy "Macho Man" Savage.

The other night we went out on the town. We partied like it was 1999. OK. Not really. But, we did go out and had a good night. We had been on a rooftop bar and were getting ready to leave and I spotted these two ladies. I think they should have consulted each other before they decided on their outfits.

Yesterday we went to San Jan to the Bodega. We didn't really need anything. We were just bored. On the way to the checkout lanes we pass the razor and such. I glanced over and saw a package of razors that was offer a free product with the purchase. A free condom. What? Is that not odd.

the fair

2011-08-10T12:41:00.002-05:00

Have you missed me? It has been quite a few days since I have posted something. It is mainly due to the fact that our internet has been goofing up. Part of the day it would work fine. Other parts of the day it would lose connection or be painfully slow.

We called Telmex the other day and I talked with a lady that walked me through changing some settings on my router. Ever since then we have been good to go! Which is good because not having the internet causes me not to be able to work. No good! Especially since it is our end of month. But, things are back to normal now.

The Virgin is here. Not in my house, but here in Jalos. The first two weeks of August every year is when they bring the Blessed Virgin Mary here. People come from out of town so the town is a bit more crowded these days. During our Carnival in Feb/March and during these two weeks that lead up the Assumption of the Virgin, there is a little fair that comes to town. It is the same every year, but the girls love going.

We went this past weekend and the girls had a blast. Here are some pictures from that.

A small view of the fair.

Another view of the fair.

Weeee.... I didn't have my nice camera, so this is the best shot I got.

I hope Bella has her seat belt on since Emily has the wheel!

Row, row, row your boat. Of course Bella took the pink seat while Emily took the blue.

Bella posing. She can't help it.

Emily is on her way to deliver some Pepsi.

The girls and I are enjoying some popcorn and fries.

Posing with my littlest, Emily.

Bella taking her turn with me.

They only charge $4 for each person that is going to ride the rides. For $8, it was a good night! The girls were ready to go back the next day.

playground

2011-08-04T10:25:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday the girls were promised a trip to the playground. We usually don't go that often because the few playgrounds that are here just aren't that nice. The equipment is really old and fairly unsafe And since it is made of metal, it is usually hot to the touch since the sun is out most of the time.

Luckily it was getting ready to rain when we headed over so it wasn't too hot. The girls were just happy because they like going there. I just get frustrated that the State/Government won't spend money on new equipment. Or, maybe they got the funds to but someone pocketed them. Who knows.

Here you see Emily, happy as ever, on the swings. Notice the swing seat next to here. It is missing the middle slats.

They just recently painted all the equipment. I guess trying to disguise how old and crappy it is. I didn't take a picture of it, but there are a total of 12 swings. I think 5 of them are not in working order. The metal has broken where the chain from the swing attaches to the top of the set. Instead of fixing them they have tied the chain around the metal bar. Not safe!

Here you can see how tall and unsafe the slides are. And as I mentioned they are metal. It is like having a frying pan to slide on.

Here is an older picture where you can get a better perspective of how tall the slides are. Emily is attempting to climb up it. They are just so steep and slippery that the girls will shoot right off the sides because there is no sides on the actual slide.

While I complain about how it isn't that great, I know the girls love going. They are finally getting the hang of doing the teeter totter by themselves.

The equipment is long overdue to be replaced, but there is one nice thing about this particular playground. They have grass! Year round.

There is an old man that comes and puts sprinklers out and keeps the grass nice and green. He is really sweet and likes to talk. This picture is from a while back. Jorge was chatting it up with the guy.

That same old man is also responsible for feeding the ducks that live there year round. Each night he rounds them up and put them back in the cages where they sleep.

I should stop complaining and just appreciate that there is a nice green place to go here. The girls really love it and if you go at the right time of day, the ducks will be your best friend if you bring bread.

what is happening?

2011-08-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

The other day Bella and I had a long conversation about her being a child. She was/is frustrated that she is not big enough to do everything by herself. It all started with her asking to put lipstick on.

If you know me at all you will know that I am far from a girly girl. I used to be a hard core tomboy but I have left that end of the spectrum too. If you have girly girl on one end and tomboy on the other, I would say I would be towards the middle but closer to girly girl now.

Bella left the womb a fashionista. She thinks she is a princess and that's fine. She got some make-up from Santa this past Christmas. It is stored nice and safe in my room. When she wants to wear some she has to ask me. I try to monitor it so that she doesn't frequently wear it. I want her to use it like she uses dress-up clothes. For the house only.

When she asked for lipstick the other day I told her no. It was towards evening and soon they would be brushing their teeth and putting jammies on.

My "no" didn't go over very well. She got upset and told me that she wanted to be big so she could put make-up on by herself. That she wanted to be pretty. I quickly explained that she is pretty without make-up. And that a person doesn't need any make-up to be pretty.

I know she is not getting this in her head from me. Heck, I am good to change into "real" clothes during the day. And, make-up? Yeah right. That is only for special occasions! :)

The conversation lasted a good 30 minutes and I think she ended up being OK with things. I just couldn't believe that I was having that conversation with my 4 year old.

Today she just added to it. She had an advertisement for a store and came in and pointed out that she wanted an item similar to this:

WHAT! Is it ever going to end? If she is like this now, at 4, what is she going to be like when she is older? I'm OK with her being girly, but I just don't want her to think being "pretty" is so important.

I have so work cut out for me.

a little about me and you

2011-07-29T15:58:00.001-05:00

A while back I renamed my blog "This is Life". When I started it back in 2008, after moving to Mexico, I had titled it "Life in Mexico". I changed it because I realized it didn't matter where I was living and didn't want my focus to be on the fact that I am in Mexico. Life is life no matter where you are located.

Of course I talk about it here and there, comparing things, even three years later, to how here is different from there. But, overall, my life is not Mexico and I don't want to dwell on it. There are more fun things to talk about than Mexico.

A few months ago I found a whole community of people that are in a similar situation. And, that community is nice to belong to. So, having said that, I am going to join the expat community in a blog challenge.

This originated at Lisa's blog, From One Country to Another. She created a set of questions so we could get to know a little more about each other. Even my non-expat readers could learn something about me. If you want to participate, please do and link up in the comments.

1. How long have you been with your husband?
We have been together seven years and in September will have been married for 5 years.

2. Can you remember a funny miscommunication due to language barriers?
I can't recall any funny miscommunication. But, there have been miscommunication, some due to the language barrier. None stick out in my mind, though.

3. Where have you relocated?
In May 2008 I moved to Jalostotitlan, Jalisco. If you find Guadalajara and Aguascalientes on a map and draw a line between the two cities, we are pretty much in the middle of those two places.

4. Do you have any children?
We sure do. As you might have noticed, part of this blog is dedicated to our crazy girls. Annabella is 4 and will be 5 on December 31. Emily is 3. She just turned 3 on March 6. They were 16 months and 2 months when we moved here so this whole "living in Mexico" thing is normal to them.

5. What is one thing that your blogger friends don’t know about you?
I would say the one thing they don't know is that I played clarinet from 5th grade through my senior year of high school. And, just to clarify, I was NOT a band nerd! (That was for you, Marla.)

6. How did you stumble upon the blogging community?
Well, I stumbled onto a expat forum and was just looking around at all the questions. Someone posted Leslie of Motherhood in Mexico's blog and she had a sizable list of "mexpats". I commented on a few blogs and ever since I have joined the "community". I have to say, I have "meet" a few people that I just have hit it off with and seem like there is definitely a friendship forming. That is what I like most about it.

7. Have you learned something new about yourself through the immigration process?
I already knew I don't like waiting, so I can't claim the immigration process allowed me to learn that. I would say...that I do have the ability to relax a bit. I can just take one day at a time and not worry about the future, too much. I didn't think I could do that. But, thanks to all this loveliness, I am doing exactly that. It is refreshing in a way.

8. What is something that you love about your new country and what is something that you cannot stand (or greatly miss from your home country)?
I can't really say there is anything that I "love" about the country, but I do like that living here has allowed the girls to experience their Mexican heritage. And the full immersion has produced two bilingual little girls. It's really cute to hear them having conversations in Spanish with each other. Also, I like that life is more laid back down here.

I miss lots of things. I make up for some of them with a little thing called the US Post Office and a mother that is willing to box up stuff and mail it to me. Of course I miss my family and friends. Even though we get to visit the States fairly regularly, it isn't the same.

9. Did you know your in-laws before moving? Has it been an adjustment being closer to them?
I had visited twice, once for a couple days and the other right before I moved here. At first it was a HUGE adjustment. We live, literally, down the street from my in-laws. Now I rely on my mother-in-law to watch the girls for me. They all seem very nice and have no issues with me. That I know of. :)

10. If you were going to your home country next week, where is the first place you would go after seeing your family?
I'm not going next week, but I will be there in October. I have a ritual for each time I visit. My mom picks us up from the airport, we head to her house and I leave the girls with my parents and head straight to Target! I try to squeeze Target in as much as possible on my visits! Love that place. But, who doesn't? And, why isn't there any in Mexico!?

11. What is your favorite pasttime?
Being down here, in the house most of the time, I have to have many pasttimes. My "favorite" changes from week to week. Or month to month. I might be on a reading kick. Right now with my Kindle broken, I have been obsessed with the internet and food blogs. I love finding new recipes to try. It is a challenge because finding all the necessary ingredients isn't always easy.

nothing new

2011-07-29T12:31:00.001-05:00

I have admitted that I didn't cook much when we lived in the States. Here I cook all the time. And, while most of the time I don't mind, sometimes you just get tired of it.

Going to the grocery store couldn't be more routine. I always make a list of things I need for the meals I am going to make, but I am not sure why. They usually involve the same ingredients, just different results happen.

The boring part is there are no good snacking type of pre-made items at the grocery store. Every time we go, after getting back home and putting the groceries away, I always expect to open the fridge and see something good to snack on.

Nope. Never happens. While I do like fruit and vegetables, they don't always hit the spot. But, that is the majority of our shopping trip.

If you want something to snack on, you have to MAKE it! Bummer! Just take a peek into our fridge.

You see. I swear I keep opening the door expecting to find something different.

is she serious!?

2011-07-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

Normally I don't like to fuss about other blogs, especially in a negative light. And, I usually don't post negative comments on other people's blogs. I go the route that if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.

But, a blog that I frequently read bothered me the other day. I thought instead of making some pointless comment on her blog, I would vent on my own blog.

I remember standing in Goodwill a few years back with my friend Heather. We were looking for jeans for the girls. I told her I just wanted regular jeans with no embellishments on them. No characters, no flowers, no anything. She didn't totally understand why. She had the logic that if one of the girls like Elmo, why not buy pants with Elmo on them. And, I understand her logical totally. For jeans I just like them to be able to be worn with anything. So that is why I don't want the jeans to be decorated. But, the girls do have pants with stuff on them. So, my line of thinking went out the window a while back.

But, for shirts, whatever goes. If the girls like Elmo, then they can have an Elmo shirt. Whatever characters the girls have been into, they have several clothing items (underwear, socks, jammies, shirts...) of them.

The post that bothered me was talking about character clothing. And, the way she stated it, I just couldn't believe it. I guess it just hit a raw nerve or something. To me, the way it came across was that she is a better mother because she puts her kids in non-character clothes. Maybe I am being too sensitive.

These are the parts that bugged me:

"I totally went against my better judgment last week and bought an "ugly princess shirt"...or some fabric (from Joann) that I thought was not very cute, but Owen liked it."

"So on this particular shopping day, we were on the flannel aisle and Owen spotted the frog fabric and got excited. I decided that a 1/2 yard can't hurt. No one really sees jammies anyway; I'm a little more lenient with what my kids wear to bed. Lucy however, was begging for a real bad Princess Tiana fleece print which I definitely vetoed. Sorry Luce."

So, she let the boy pick out the stuff she didn't like but didn't let the girl. And, the fabric is for jammies! I mean, come on!
Does this make me a bad mother because of these pictures?

OH NO! A dreaded "ugly princess" shirt! What will we do! Burn this picture immediately!

But, it is SOMETIMES OK to let them wear these since they are jammies. Although, the "ugly princess" one that Bella is wearing might not be...

sorry for the poor quality...used the iPhone in bad lighting

Whatever the girls like I will buy for them. Heck, half the time I am lucky to get Emily to wear clothes at all. So, if she needs a Batman shirt or Woody shirt in order to wear something, then that is fine with me.

I do agree, the girls look SO cute when they are wearing a non-character piece of clothing.

But that doesn't mean that is all they should wear. Looking through the comments on the blog I saw a comment that really stuck out. The lady mentioned that she remembered being younger and LOVING her CareBear and other character shirts. So, she gets them for her kids.

I am right there with agreeing that for certain times, non-character clothes are more appropriate. But eliminating them totally just doesn't make sense.

And I know I am not a bad mom due to letting the girls wear these types of clothes. But I just couldn't get over how Dana talked about it. And that she refused the Tiana fabric for jammies for her girl. What!?

It obviously left a really bad taste in my mouth. And makes me not even want to read this lady's blog anymore. I feel like she thinks she is a better person because of what she chooses for her kids to wear. I guess I could summarize it by saying she judges. Just see how she starts out the blog post. Unreal!

OK. I'm over it now! I feel a little better.

apple pie

2011-07-26T07:47:00.000-05:00

When I moved to Mexico I came knowing little or nothing about cooking. When I put my belongings up for sale when I was preparing for the big move, I sold lots of things I wish I had kept. Since then I have replaced most things and actually use them now.

Moving down here changed how I cooked. I HAD to. Of course there are places we can pick up food to go, but there are only so many choices.

Over time I have learned to cook many things and most of them I have to do from scratch. Wish we had a Kroger to stop in and pick up things. But, that is not an option down here.

Thankfully the internet has been a wonderful tool. Each week I look at several food blogs trying to find new recipes to try.

The first time I wanted to make an apple pie I turned to the internet. I am sure there were tons of recipes available but I narrowed it down to one. The first one I tried turned out wonderfully so I never looked for a replacement recipe.

I don't remember where I found the recipe, but if memory serves me, I believe it was somewhere on allrecipes.com. I liked the recipe because, not only did they have a recipe for the pie filling, they had an attached recipe for the pastry shell. Remember, no Kroger to pick up the prepackaged ones!

I figured I would give you the recipe so you can try it out for yourself.

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 1/2 c AP flour
4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp fine salt
14 Tbsp cold butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten w/ 2 Tbsp cold water

Filling:
2 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
3 lbs apples
2/3 c sugar
1/4 c butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon (I use a lot more)
pinch of nutmeg (and more of this, too)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Direction:

Dough: In a bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry blender or fork (or a food processor if you are cool, unlike me) and work the butter into the dry ingredients. Once it is like cornmeal with small chunks, add the egg-water mixture and combine with a fork. Once combined, form into a disk, put in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Filling: Cut apples and put in a large bowl.

Pour sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lime/lemon juice onto the apples and mix together until apples are well coated.

In a large skillet, melt the butter and then add the apple mixture to the skillet. Cook until soften, maybe 15 to 20 minutes. (While you are waiting for the apples to soften, prepare your pie shell.) Using a slotted spoon, remove the apples, leaving the syrupy mixture in the skillet, and put in the pie shell. Once all the apples are removed, continue to cook the cinnamon sugar mixture until it caramelizes some, just for a few minutes. Then pour the syrup over the apples.

Put the top of the pie crust on and brush the surface with the beaten egg wash.

Cook in 375 degree oven for 50 minutes (or until crust is golden).

Enjoy!

what's for dinner

2011-07-25T09:20:00.000-05:00

Last night we took a trip to the grocery store. On the way Bella said she was hungry. Thinking that I could buy whatever food she was wanting, I asked her what she wanted to eat.

Her response: "Chuck E Cheese"

It has been about 7 months since we were in the States and went to Chuck E Cheese. We went this past November for their friend Alex's birthday.

We told them that when we take our trip to the States in a few month, then we can go. But it is just too far from here. Bella seemed OK with that answer but her next request was out of the question too.

She wanted "Old Mac Donald's". I asked her, "McDonald's or Old Mac Donald's". She said "Old Mac Donalds'". Strike two.

It has been about 2 months since they have been but the place never leaves their mind. It's probably due to the large indoor playground that McDonald's has.

We might have to make a trip to Old Mac Donald's this weekend.

a found use

2011-07-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

My last trip to Cantia I bought these little storage containers. They are not made very well and are really small. But seeing them there sitting on the shelf in the store, I just couldn't pass them up. They were only $15 pesos (approx. $1.30 USD) for a set of 6. Surely I can find some use for them.

They have just been sitting in my kitchen cabinets since I bought them. I did use one once to put ranch dressing in for Bella to dip some carrots.

Then the other day the girls were wanting to do a crafting project and I realized those little containers would be perfect for them to use.

So, we got out the containers and put some beans, macaroni, yarn, colored rice and glue in them. The girls had their own little containers to use. Perfect!

They had fun, made minimal mess and felt like artists. I think these little containers have found their intended purpose.

pictures around Jalos

2011-07-23T08:15:00.001-05:00

Nothing very exciting is going on so I thought I would just give you something to look at today.

I took all of this pictures around Jalos over the past 3 years.

The cemetary in town.

Natural wildlife. Ok, maybe not. You see cows everywhere here. This one and I had a moment.

A side shot of the main church in town.

Bella walking near some farm area.

A donkey grazing outside of someone's home.

A pretty nice house out in the "country".

Nice open area for the cows.

A view of inside the cemetary.

This is outside of Jorge's grandma's house.

An OLD truck on the side of a dirt road.

This is the road that leads to where Bella was walking in the picture above.

A hot air balloon floating past our house.

The only park with some grass in Jalos.

A road that leads to "downtown".

why I miss my kindle

2011-07-22T19:23:00.000-05:00

We live in a small town. When I say small, I am not talking about the small towns that you picture in the US. The ones that have one or no stop lights. The one that has Main St. and the one General Store on Main St.

I remember when my parents came to visit they were surprised by the town where I live. They were probably picturing the scenario above because I would complain about how small it it is here.

I have always lived in Indianapolis. And while it is no New York City, it is a city. A decent sized one that has anything you could want. So, moving here I got transported into a small town. While we don't have any stop lights, we do have about 30,000 people. But, we are all shoved into a considerably small area.

Anyways, I am rambling. My point is that this is a commercial free zone. Most of the stores here are the Mom and Pop type joints. You won't find any big grocery store or fast food joint or chain restaurant.

For all of our commercialization needs we travel about 1.5 hours to Aguascalientes. It has most things that I need/want.

But, being that we are in Mexico, there are a small number of books in English that I have stumbled upon. And, opposite of probably the small town image, you are picturing only one isle of a store with books that are in English.

No. No. No. It is MUCH smaller. Take a look.

I wish I hadn't broken it.

birds

2011-07-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

One of the times I was visiting Indy I saw some crazy bird activity. I had never seen anything like it before.

I have seen when there is a large flock of birds flying in the air, but have never seen them touch down.

There were so many that my camera doesn't do justice at all.

They kept landing and taking off again. Over and over.

I am amazed how they know what direction to go and do it without knocking into each other.

It was just such an odd sight.

foggy

2011-07-19T12:11:00.000-05:00

We had a foggy morning today.

It has cleared up now but I still want to act like it is foggy outside so I can cozy up in my bed and watch some TV on the internet!

Seven

2011-07-18T12:38:00.001-05:00

I have been tagged! Sarah over at Greenga Girl tagged me to play along in a little game. Here is her post. How fun! There are 7 categories and you pick one of your own blog post to best fit the category.

Actually, it was harder than I thought it would be. But, I came up with the seven blog posts that I think fill in the blank.

Most beautiful post:

For a not so obvious reason I am picking Fun in the Sun! as my most beautiful post. When I first moved to Mexico I thought, due to our financial restraints, that we wouldn't be able to take a family vacation. But, this past May we had a family vacation! It was the first time the girls had seen the ocean. So in a way it is my most beautiful post.

Most popular post:

Surprisingly my most popular post is Overnight Guest. It has been view almost 3 times more than the 2nd most popular post. The title is so vague I'm not really sure how it became the most popular, but it is.

Most controversial post:

I find that I don't really post anything controversial. The post I chose is controversial in a way that relates to my personal life. I would say that my post Bittersweet is the most controversial thing I have written about when it relates to my life. My actions might not have been understood by everyone.

Most helpful post:

Looking back through my posts I don't think I have written anything "helpful" for anyone. BUT, I sometimes find myself reading back through my blog and have found that it helps me. So, while I know I didn't help anyone else with this post, it seems to help me. I picked One Year. Just looking at the picture of Jorge seeing Emily for the first time reminds me that moving down here was the right thing. And, I can see that some of the things I complained about are not even worthy of complaints.

A post whose success surprised me:

I picked my very first post Five Months and Counting for this category. Because honestly I am surprised that anyone would be interested in reading my blog. So, here we are almost 3 years later and we are still going. It is nice and still surprising that I have people that read this thing.

A post that didn't get the attention I felt it deserved:

This category is kind of weird to choose something. The way I narrowed it down was a post that was crazy but didn't have many comments. I haven't even seen how many people viewed it. So, for little reasons I am picking Flying Solo Yet Not Solo for this category.

Post I'm most proud of:

After looking through my blog I selected Settling In as the post I am most proud of. It seem to be the time where I FINALLY accepted living here in Mexico. I had gone back to live in the US because I didn't think it was my place to be down here. But, I realized that I needed to be with my family. Jorge, the girls and myself needed to be together no matter what. It was going to be the first time I had no income living in Mexico. I really was giving up everything to come back. It ends up that a few months later is when I got offered a job. Everything fell into place and I haven't regretted once coming back. I am proud of myself for choosing the right path. I can tell you it wasn't easy getting to that point.

There you have it. It wasn't easy to come up with those. I try to keep this blog light and entertaining. Some of those categories were hard to pick from my blog.

Anyway, I am supposed to tag others but I'm really not sure who to tag so I will let you decided if you have been tagged or not.

bad hair barbie

2011-07-16T19:04:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here at my computer watching Life Unexpected. I have been having my own marathon. My friend Heather suggested that I might like it. She was right.

But, my marathon isn't really possible without interruptions from the little ones. About every 5 minutes I pause the show because one of the girls wants something. So, a 42 minute show takes about 2 hours. But, that's OK.

My most current interruption was kind of cute. Emily comes walking in here with a Barbie in hand. A Barbie with crazy hair.

She told me that the Barbie's hair was just a mess and she wanted me to put it in ponytails. She already had gotten a few hair bands and a brush. I put it up and gave it back to her.

About 2 minutes later she comes back to me and wants me to do her hair like Barbie's. This, my friends, is unexpected. Emily thinks she is a cowboy and cowboys don't do their hair.

Now her and Barbie share the same look.

sleeping beauty

2011-07-15T13:52:00.000-05:00

Bella thinks she is a princess, really.

I have a picture to prove it.

birthday cake

2011-07-13T13:23:00.001-05:00

Today is my mother-n-law's birthday. We asked her if she wanted to come down for dinner. I would make her whatever she wanted. But, the sweet lady she is, she offered to make the enchiladas that I like. Too sweet!

So, we are going down to her house for lunch/dinner (whenever Jorge gets home) to eat her enchiladas.

I figured at least I can bring a cake for her.

This is a strawberry box mix cake. Yummy! I found them at the store the other day. It was a new item that I was excited about. Usually they only have vanilla and chocolate. I grabbed 4 boxes of the strawberry so they can see that it sells. They also had orange, banana and carrot cake. I bought one of the banana cake mix, wasn't sure about the orange and I already have a delicious carrot cake recipe so I passed on that.

I made her the strawberry one and whipped up some buttercream icing. Luckily the cakes were done shortly after the icing or there wouldn't be any left.

I'm not sure of what colors she likes. I just decided to go with a lavender for the icing.

I am sure it will go over well.

As you see it isn't perfect, but I am sure it is good enough to eat! Can't wait to try a piece. That is the benefit of making cupcakes. You can sample before everyone else. Well, at least I know the icing is heavenly!

margaritas and carne asada

2011-07-12T16:06:00.002-05:00

That's a good combo, right? Margaritas and carne asada. I thought so the other day when we were coming home from Aguascalientes.

We were in need of a stock the freezer/pantry trip to Costco. And you know I was in *need* of another trip to Cantia. Also we saw a really funny movie, Zookeeper. It was funny and sweet.

We were driving back home and stopped in a restaurant in a town on the way. We had never been there before so we were willing to try it out.

Jorge was looking over the menu and noticed they had margaritas. Heck, let's try some. They were really good! A bit pricey for the size, but I wanted to ask exactly how the guy made them. (I didn't...it's a shame). Although as soon as I get my hands on some orange liquor, I am going to try out this recipe. I bet it would be pretty darn close.

We ordered carne asada that was for two people. They brought it to our table in this little grill type device that had charcoal inside to keep it hot. Very cute if you ask me.

It was a nice little dinner for Jorge and I. We had a long, fun day in "the city" and came back happy and full!

overnight guest, take 2

2011-07-11T12:26:00.002-05:00

I posted a few years ago that we had a Virgin stay overnight with us. I knew nothing about her at the time. I didn't even ask my husband about her.

Saturday I was sitting here at my desk working. I looked out the window to see three girls knocking on my gate. I saw that they had the fliers that the church passes out each week. Usually the person passing them out just throws them in the patio area. I was confused why these girls were knocking.

I walked outside and grabbed the paper from them. One of the girls started to say something to me in Spanish. You know that I don't speak Spanish. There are lots of times that I understand what someone is saying but don't know how to respond. So, when she started talking I told her that I didn't speak Spanish.

She surprised me because then she said, "oh, well, I just wanted to let you know that they are having church tonight at 8. It's up there at this small place." WOW! I wasn't expecting her to speak English. And so well. No accent at all.

About 10 minutes later she is at the gate again with a woman. I go out and she asks me if I would want the Virgin that night. I called Jorge so he could get the details and decide. That kind of thing I leave up to him.

Well, she is here now. I asked Jorge, this time, who she is. She is Our Lady of Fátima.

Normally she would have been here overnight. But, since we got her on Saturday, she stays until Monday. I guess they don't do the prayers and such on Sunday. Not exactly sure.

So, tonight there will be a gathering of people here in our house and they will pray and sing for her. Then she will be on her way to the next house.

What is interesting to me is that when I posted the blog post about her the first time, back in March 2009, that is my most popular blog post of all times, by more than double the 1st runner up. I wonder how that happened. The title of the post is so vague. It will remain a mystery.

child labor

2011-07-09T15:39:00.000-05:00

I like a tidy house. I am an organizing freak. But, the cleaning aspect of everything is overrated.

I feel like sometimes all I really do is pick up things. Not really actually "cleaning" anything. Pick up the clothes. Pick up the toys. Pick up the trash. Pick up the dishes. Of course I wash the dishes and do the laundry and such. But, things like dusting are annoying.

Right now, however, it isn't so bad. Since it is the rainy season it doesn't get so dusty in the house. When it isn't rainy season you can dust one minute and a few hours later it might look as if you haven't ever dusted. Very annoying.

The girls LOVE to clean. So I let them. Today I asked them if they would dust for me. They were more than willing.

Emily stopped and posed for me.

Bella was too involved to notice me taking pictures. Which for her is odd. She is a camera hog. :)

I removed the stuff on the top. Everything else they took out and put back. The house might be dusted more often now.

America

2011-07-08T23:47:00.002-05:00

Remember back when I posted about Emily creating the little clay family? The littlest member was America.

Well, America and her daddy came for a visit to our house tonight. To say the girls were more than thrilled is an understatement.

I took a few pictures because this girl is so cute how could I not!? I am sure she was more than ready to go when they left since my girls wouldn't stay out of her face for more than 2 seconds at a time.

When I did get out the camera, America was more than willing to cooperate with me. Love that!

So, instead of blabbing on more about her, just check her out for yourself.

Bella shoved her face next to America in almost every picture.

Look at this smile. I bet they have trouble telling her "no".

We have the car seats in the house from our trips to Cantia. The girls like using them in the house. They were letting America have her turn.

There's that smile again!

I made them popcorn. Let's just say more got on the floor than in all their mouths combined.

Cute, huh? The girls told me that they were going to tell America's mommy and daddy that they want to keep her.

cheap entertainment

2011-07-07T11:58:00.000-05:00

Whenever we start to feel couped up in the house, we take some paints and go out on the front patio.

The girls LOVE to paint. When the weather isn't permitting, which isn't very often, we use watercolors in the house. Those are the only kind my heart can handle being indoors.

From the pictures below you will see why we don't use this paint indoors.

At first, Emily is cool and collected. But, give her some time and she will have painted all the surfaces around her.

Bella will remain pristine the entire time. She will get the paint on the paper and no where else.

But since we are outside, the water hose will take care of any damage that is created. That gives them the right to fully express themselves.

lesson learned

2011-07-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

I bought a Kindle 3 back in April. My mom mailed it out and I got it sometime in June. So that means I have had access to it for just over a month now. And after last night, my time with it is over. That was fast.

The Kindle was such a great option for me. I have such limited access to books in English down here. If I wanted to buy books I would go the route of buying, shipping to my mom and then her shipping to me. The Kindle seemed perfect. Download books instantly and sometimes a bit cheaper than the hard copy of the book.

Last night I was alone in the house and I spent the time laying in bed reading. Dumb me left the Kindle on the bed. At some point my blanket covered the Kindle.

Guess what happened next? Bing, bing, bing! You guessed it. I went to get out of bed or leaned over and put my elbow or hand (don't remember because I just shocked when I heard the cracking noise) and pushed down on the "invisible" Kindle.

At first when I pulled the blanket from on top of the thing I thought it was fine. The "sleeping" screen was still there and no cracks or breaks. But, I turned it on and only half the screen came to life. The other part was still frozen with the "sleeping" screen.

We took it apart and found that it had cracked. Just behind the scenes.

Bummer! Big time!

While I do plan on buying another one, I have learned the hard way to be careful with it.

oops...wrong number

2011-07-05T11:09:00.000-05:00

I have a cell phone plan through AT&T called Viva Mexico Plan. It is great. I have 900 anytime minutes and a 1000 night and weekend minutes for approximately $80 a month. This plan allows me to call any phone in the US or Mexico while I am in either country. It just takes from my minutes. And, the anytime minutes that I don't use roll over to the next month.

I got the phone for work. I help manage inventory at 6 sites and when they have issues I am the one they go to. At first I used Skype. I have a local Indy number that rings to my computer. It costs me $60 a year to have it. The problem with that is that I HAVE to be sitting at my computer. I bet you can't even remember the days of corded phones. That is kind of how I felt using only Skype.

Luckily work pays for the phone, but that also means that I answer every call. And, if you ever call me and I seem all chipper, it is probably because your number came up blocked. Sometimes caller ID just doesn't work and so I answer in my most pleasant voice expecting it to be a work call.

More often than I think should happen I get wrong number calls on my cell phone. They are usually local Indy numbers. Just today I got a call asking for Cheryl. I was confused because my mom's name is Cheryl so I asked who was calling. A Montessori school. Oh yeah, wrong number. My mom wouldn't have a need for a Montessori school to call her. Right, Mom?

But, what is more odd is that this morning I got a text from a wrong number. Texting isn't included in my plan. If I choose to send a text it is 50 cents. Not too bad. But, I just restrain from doing it. So, this wrong text cost me 50 cents this morning. I think I can manage but it is just odd.

Hopefully the person that was supposed to be receiving the text didn't have any changes that this person needed to know about. I wish I had a deck that someone was finishing!

When I got it I leaned over and told Jorge, "they are finishing our deck and moving onto the basement next". He looked at me like I was crazy Which I am.

lazy sunday

2011-07-03T10:10:00.000-05:00

Today I am just going to lay around and do nothing. I think I will read and relax.

Sounds like the perfect day.

AND, I want to wish my very good friend Julie a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

finished

2011-07-01T12:05:00.001-05:00

After spending all that time on cutting and everything else that went along with doing that quilt, I was just ready to be done with it.

I was working on piecing together the back, which I ended up using part of a left over sheet (the purple) and fabric for the rest (the pink).

I was ready to stop at that point in the game. But, I knew if I stopped now there might be a chance I wouldn't start back up for a while. So, I decided to cheat a bit.

Usually I would put the front panel down, wrong side facing up, then the batting then the back panel, right side facing me. Kind of like a sandwich. At this point I would use safety pins and pin it all together.

After sewing it all, I would then have to cut additional fabric (WHAT! More cutting!!!) and do the binding around the entire quilt. Part of it would be sewn on the machine. The other would have to be hand sewn! NO WAY! I am NOT in the mood.

That is when I decided to cheat! I was over it all. I wanted the blanket but didn't want to do much more work. I mean, it is just for me.

I decided to sew the top piece directly to the batting. This allowed me to put the front and back panels, right sides together, on top of each other and then just sew, leaving a little spot so I could turn it back the right way. Kind of like making a big pillow. Instead of having to bind it, this did the step for me. No additional cutting required.

It needs some time before it becomes super soft like the quilt that Jorge uses. But that one is more than 10 years old. That is a lot of washing. But, overall, I am very happy with the outcome. And more happy that it is finished!

So I'm a cheat. Oh well. Now to finish the other quilt that I started a week or so ago...

big quilt equals lots of work

2011-06-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

Many years ago I got the coolest gift my my friend Julie. Her mom had made me a quilt. At the time I thought it was the best gift. She had made it in purples and greens to match my bedroom. How sweet!

I never realized how much work actually went into making this queen sized quilt. I have made a handful of quilts but never as big and never as many pieces until now.

Over the past three days I have been planning, cutting, ironing and sewing like a mad woman! I totaled up that I cut out 315 pieces and it doesn't seem like that large of a number. But, it is when you feel like you have been doing it for a hundred years.

I just finished the top piece of the quilt. It is at this point that I am so ecstatic that I got the top finish but then quickly realize that I am still not done! I need to either find a big sheet to put on the back and put the batting in the center OR piece together a back. Either way it is still more work...

shown on king sized bed

When I started cutting out the pieces I really didn't have enough of any fabric to use so I had to use LOTS of different fabrics. Some I didn't know how they would work together.

When I started to sew them I saw that they were surprisingly coming together nicely. I am really happy with the outcome. Now to get working on the back so I can use it.

a fairy sort of day

2011-06-30T09:22:00.000-05:00

Today is a "going down to grandma's house" day. I told the girls to go get dressed.

They came out looking like this.

Not sure those are the most practical outfits.

relaxing

2011-06-29T15:11:00.000-05:00

When the girls were younger, when Emily was still taking two naps a day, Bella and I would watch Dawson's Creek during that second nap time. We used it as our own little bonding time. And don't worry any of you Dawson's Creek haters, she requested it!

Now we are heading back in the same direction. Emily still needs a daily nap. Bella is getting to the point that she can get by without one.

Today I had them both lay down for their nap. I was cutting and sewing for the STUPID quilt that I decided to make. I needed a break. My fingers were hurting.

I looked into the girls' room and noticed that Bella was just laying there. Since she had been laying there for at least 30 minutes and wasn't sleeping I figured we would have some alone time.

Having two girls so close in age (these two are 14 months apart) it doesn't happen often that I have one on one time with either of them. They are different children when they are by themselves. Example: I don't hear any fighting!

So, while Emily is sleeping, Bella and I are hanging out.

We are laying in my bed watching Enchanted.

We are having some edamame and iced tea as a snack.

It is nice to just be relaxed with one of my girls. It doesn't happen very often.