Work Party and an Owie

WARNING!! GOREY PICTURE BELOW!!

On Wednesday, we had a work party for being held at Marcelo's bosses' house. I was super excited until I realized I had nothing to wear. For all of you women who have the baby fat just MELT off of you while you are breastfeeding, I HATE YOU. You know, those women who get progressively more emaciated as their children plump like little kernels of corn? Yeah, those are the women I am talking about. My sister in law is one of them. After 3 months of feeding her babies, her pants hang off her now non-existent hips. She told me that she is even skinnier than when she was in high school. Where as I have started running and cutting back on my eating and it is making no difference at all. IT IS NOT FAIR.

Ok, enough about that for now. The point was that I was going to a Christmas Party and I had noting to wear.

I knew I would have to worry about that soon, but first I needed to make some cookies. I decided to use my mom's oven because it is about 1000 times better than mine. As I was waiting for the last batch of cookies to come out, Bibi decided to dance around while singing "I know you" from Sleeping Beauty. She was really spinning and having fun and then she got too dizzy and lost her balance. She fell and hit the side of her head on the TV stand.

I didn't think anything of it, until she crawled on my lap and I saw the blood. A Lot of blood from a long gash by her ear. My mom and I quickly decided that she would watch Seba and I would take Evi to the Doctor (which is only 5 min away, luckily). My pediatrician said I could see the nurse practitioner immediately if I came now, and so it was decided.

I thought he would say, "just a bandage will be fine" and I would feel silly for over-reacting. That is what I expected. I did NOT expect six stitches! Which is what she got.


Getting them in her, however, was not very easy. She is a super strong 3 and a half year old. It took 4 of us to hold her down so the doctor could stitch. And she screamed the whole time. Not just screaming, but spitting, scratching, and trying to move her head the whole time. After it was over, we had doctor after doctor come in the room and come to see the kid that was making all that racket!

She got 3 stickers and a sucker for her troubles and she went home and got a well deserved nap.

And then 2 hours later, Husband and I got a well deserved break and went to an amazing party. They had food brought in from Tucanos, they had lots of games and Marcelo got his first experience at playing the "white elephant" game. He caught on very quickly that the whole fun was stealing gifts, and he made himself quite known as being the "gift stealer". And then we played a game that involved dice, a gift wrapped 4 times, and using gloved hands to open it. It was crazy suspenseful, and so much fun to play and watch. Marcelo and I decided that for sure we are going to play it next time we have a family reunion.

We got some awesome white elephant gifts, and also some crappy ones. But that's the way it works, right? It was a great night and then we got to come home to this.



















How blessed are we?

Family Updates

Dear Readers:

I started this post back at the end of Feb, and I am just now getting around to posting it. So sad! I don't know why I waited so long. But here it is, and I will add more at the end:

Here are some of the going-ons around our house. Kind of like a roundup, but encompassing more time than a month:

Bibbers:
The baby's eye is all better. A few days of anti-bacterial drops and things are looking good again (pun intended). However, she got sick a few days later, and now we are dealing with the coughing/vomiting that always hits my poor girl. She coughs so hard, that she makes herself vomit. She hasn't had very much food for the past 3 days, and whatever she eats, she pukes up, usually at night. And sometimes in our bed (delightful). Or sometimes in her own bed (revolting). But the best is when she can make it to the bathroom and puke in the sink or toilet. We are very proud we taught her that one. Saves lots of time and laundry. But she always seems to coat her hair! Oh well, can't win them all.

She is super funny and so stubborn/determined. She knows what she wants and she has NO problem telling people how she's feeling. When she wants to say family prayers, she lets us know. And then if we (heaven forbid) try to prompt her, we are brusquely met with a "SHHHHHHH" sound while she puts her finger to her lips. She shushes us! And frequently. When we want her to listen to us, and she's not interested, she turns around and shushes us and goes back to what she was doing. When we try to take something away from her, she tucks whatever she has behind her back and tries to shush us. The problem with the shushing is that it's just SO DANG FUNNY. Usually Marcelo and I have to turn away and laugh before we turn back to her (serious now) and tell her that she cannot do that and continued shushing with get her in timeout. I hope I can get a picture or video of her shushing, because it really is the funniest thing you will ever see.

As for her language, she is definitely progressing. Back in January her speech therapists asked us to name all the words she could do. It was 10. In a year of speech therapy and only 10 words! Shortly after that, she was tested (they test her every 6 months or so) and she tested almost off the charts for every other category but her verbal communication. Problem solving, adaptive communication, understanding, everything like that she was testing in the 4 year old range. Her ability to dress herself, wash her own hair, pour her own juice go to the bathroom 100% alone things like that were all very advanced for her age. Not only that, but her understanding of prepositions (on, beside, under) and possessives (Daddy's baby, Mommy's daughter) was very startling to the testers. And remember, the test was all in Spanish! So it made me happy to realize and really see that even if her communication was slow, she was understanding so much of what I said to her.

However, even with those 10 words (and other non-verbal communication she was doing) she tested exactly at the level where she doesn't qualify for their services anymore. I was very sad to see them go, but I had a good surprised waiting for me. 2 weeks before they called and told me the test results, something clicked inside of her. She started to imitate so many things that I was saying. Words that I had said for months (and maybe years) she started to attempt to say. I was not prepared for it, and it caught me way off guard. My husband was much MUCH better at deciphering what she was trying to say. And slowly I got it too: she only says the last 2 syllables of whatever word she is saying. Estrellas turns into "ellas" Biblioteca becomes "teca". Conejo becomes "nejo". I don't know why the husband got it sooner than I did, but I am so thankful he did! Because she would start getting very frustrated if we didn't understand her two syllables.

The speech therapists told me that in order to put 3 word phrases together, she needed a minimum of 50 words. And I sat down and counted them all out, and she definitely has 50 words now. And while I wouldn't say it was an "explosion" of speech, she definitely is more willing to try to say new words. Sometimes I have to remind her of a word, but once she hears it again, she's pretty good at remembering it and repeating it. I think that's the best part. She will attempt to say what I say to her. It makes me feel like she's not going to be a total mental defective he whole life. (I of course kid about that. I am aware that she is not at all below normal intelligence).

Marcelo:
2 months away from graduating and now looking for a job, Marcelo is in full busy mode. Oh, plus he is working at a job every hour possible. And he is looking for a car to buy. These weeks are super busy for him, but I am hoping that his car search is a priority. HA HA! As soon as he gets a car, then I GET MY CAR BACK! Hello trips to Jump on It!. Hello trips to indoor play parks. Hello trips to parks. Hello play dates. Hello to driving myself to Scouts. Hello Life! It's been almost 3 years with only one car. And let's just say I'm very excited to get my independence back. And very excited we got a good tax return this year to help with the down payment. We couldn't do it without you, IRS!


Marcelo plays soccer about 2 times a week and has won 2 or 3 tournaments now. He saves the medals and trophies like he's 12 and just got his first Little League participation award. I don't know what he's going to do with all of them, but I think they will eventually get thrown away. I know I eventually throw all my medals away. Is that crass and unappreciative? I don't know, I just don't want to crate it everywhere. But he loves his trophies. He usually plays at night (like 8 or 9 or even 10!) so he is here at night to help with bath time/bedtime.

But I do feel badly for him because he is Bibi's favorite. You would think this would make me jealous, but at 3 am, when she is calling HIS name, I really don't mind. He goes and lays next to her and I get to sleep on in peace. It's really not a bad situation for me. And when she is sick (like in these days) she only wants her Papa. I frequently wake up alone in our bed because he has gone to answer her cries in the middle of the night. He's a good Papa.

Raya:
A super sweet dog that loves to run. She's also a "scaredy cat" who stays close to us because she's pretty fearful of the world around her. She loves to poop in the neighbor's yard which I get to clean up every couple of days. She loves that yard because it smells like quail and deer. Which is like crack for my bird flushing hunting dog. She loves to lay in the sun and snuggle up to you with her head on your shoulder. She is the sweetest dog in the world, and it's hard to get mad at her when she breaks out of her cage and eats the chicken I was defrosting for lunch after church. Seriously, how does she break out of that cage all the time? She's the Houdini of dogs. Luckily raw chicken isn't damaging to dogs as it is to humans. (I looked it up.) She was in doggie heaven, you can't blame her for eating what she can get.

Alicia:
I am having a hard time maintaining my exercise routine. But having a sick child will do that to you. I'm hoping she'll recover soon so I can start going back.

That is where I ended. Things have pretty much been the same since then. I am still bad at exercising but I DO have a car now (hooray for me!) and the baby still shushes us, but not as much now because she can tell us exactly what she wants. "no mama! No vayas!" (meaning, don't go) or "tu, mama" (meaning, it's your turn, mom). She can also ask for her favorite shows and videos by name. She still does that syllable cut off thing, but are are getting much better and making her try to break down the word and say it all.

Here are some awesome pictures for you to enjoy:

She wanted her picture taken WITH raya, of course














And here her lips were really dry and they cracked and bled a little bit. Of course, a band aid will fix that!


She looks smashing in that band aid!

Here are some pictures of Halloween

It was cold, so she's got the jacket on ready for massive candy begging


I don't know why I never posted about Halloween. Maybe because Marcelo was feeling sick so I had to do it alone in the rain. But she did look cute. Next year I want to make her a Belle costume and dress Raya up as the Beast. Quite ambitious of me, but I think it will rock.

I have lots more, but who really cares about someone else's kid, right?

Anyway, I hope you like reading about what we are doing these days. If not, stop reading my blog!

The Big Six

"I would totally marry you again, Ali"

What more can you ask for on your 6th wedding anniversary?

Oh, I know! How about a child that isn't sick? I would've really appreciated it if my kid didn't get a hand and mouth virus that has caused blistering hives to break out on her palms, soles, and her ENTIRE "diaper zone." They almost look like festering boils. Yech. And i guess it's pretty contagious the first few days (Which today is) so we felt like we couldn't ask anyone to babysit our HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS and PLAGUE RIDDEN child.

So instead we took her with us to the Red Lobster. We inflicted her borderline infected corpuscles on them. . . . And their lobster tank. . . .Which YES my child stuck her hand into (and almost her face too, if you were wondering)

Did you know that they will take a live lobster out of the tank and bring it around for the kids to "pet" if they would like. Those things give me the creeps out of the water. And I just realized why. They look like spiders with tails! Flailing legs, wandering antennae, a tail that curls up into itself when the manager "tickles" it. Geee geeee geee geeeeeeeesh!! NO THANK YOU!! You can take that thing right back to the kitchen. Boil it up and bring it to me with a side of butter. Otherwise I don't want to see it again. (If you were wondering, I had the Lobster Pizza. It was FREAKING AWESOME. And nothing squirmed at me as I tried to eat it)

And for an anniversary dinner, it wasn't too bad. Even with a tag-along baby. We didn't get into any fights. We didn't let the baby's constant climbing down and getting up bother us. Mostly because we kept feeding her a steady stream of snow crab and lobster pizza. I think she ate about 2 whole legs of crab herself. So I guess we know she likes seafood! We got to talk about being in San Diego (where we were married and where we went just a few months before she was born) and about how Marcelo wants to live somewhere close to the coast so he can eat seafood everyday. And even though it was our anniversary, I don't mind spending it with the sweet, sweet Bibbers.

Because, as Mar says, she is the fruit of our time together.

Happy Anniversary, Amorcito. I would totally marry you again, too!

Make Way For The Birthday Boy!!

Marcelo turned 30 on Saturday. Last year we weren't together for his birthday and that was sad. But this year I remembered 5 days before the big day that not only was it his birthday, but he would be turning 30! Something had to be done, and quickly.

And I decided to go SUPER ambitious and try for a surprise party. I don't know what I was thinking. Marcelo can sniff out a surprise or a secret better than any CIA agent. And once he suspects, there is no going back. He ferrets out the secret and then it is a secret no longer. But he didn't suspect a thing!

I don't know if it's because I planned it at the lat moment. Or because I only invited a very few people. But it was so great. He was 100% surprised and had a great time. For food we had:

Chips and Salsa
BBQ beef
BBQ chicken legs
Carmel corn
Rice

And for dessert we had brownies and ice cream. Instead of a cake I made him a pan of cinnamon rolls because he prefers those. Here are just a FEW pictures. I was really busy barbecuing and making sure that everything was perfect that I didn't really get to take any pictures.

These are the guys that helped me distract Marcelo. Cris kept him working for most of the day so he stayed away, and Juan Carlos made fake plans with him in the afternoon so he would for sure come home on time.















Here are some of the kids having a great time.




























And here he is blowing out his birthday candles. With a little help from the Bibi. Notice how her cheeks are all puffed out ready for blowing? Perfect.

And then we ate and had a great time. We danced a little salsa, ate lots of food and thoroughly hated ourselves the next day. Well, maybe that's just me!

Happy Birthday Amorcito.

Just like Mom used to make

I have a new cooking secret. Want to know what it is? Well, I'll tell you: I just think about what my mother in law would make.

I know that my husband and his mother don't have the typical "mama's boy" past. Their past is slightly checkered and dark at parts. At one point when he was just 8 years old, he went to live with another family for 2 years because he just couldn't be in his house anymore. But my husband is a great example to me of love and forgiveness. He loves his mother unconditionally and can see the good in her. And she is a great woman. She really is very strong and wonderful. And even though she scares the crap out of me and annoys me when I'm down there, the truth is that I very intimidated by her. And I fear that I will never be as great or as strong as she is. And so maybe some of my fear gets switched to annoyance. Just maybe. . . hmmm. Something else to work out at therapy at a later date. When I start going to therapy, maybe?

However, one of those things that we both love about her? Well, she is an AMAZING cook.

When I was in Ecuador about a year ago, I was not happy. But now that I'm home I'm even less happy because I didn't take advantage of the time I had to learn from her and take notes on different foods. I was more concerned with feeding my baby and the liquid poo that always seemed to be pouring from her diaper. And so at mealtimes, I just sat down and had a bowl of something placed in front of me. (Just so you know, everyone got a bowl placed in front of them. It would've been more strange if I were in the kitchen helping. Her kitchen is HER domain. None shall pass)

But I feel really inferior when it comes to cooking for Marcelo. But ONLY for Marcelo. Like if I had an American husband he would most likely enjoy casseroles and other similar American fare. Mashed potatoes and green salad. But he just doesn't like that. And while he has been trained VERY well to always eat what I make, I can tell that he doesn't like certain things. And so I never make them again. Also, I like to know when Marcelo is coming home because most of my meals are best served fresh from the oven. So if I miss the time, either he has to wait for dinner, or get it cold and not as good. So little by little my bank of recipes has been whittled down to almost nothing.

And then inspiration struck. It happened while Marcelo and I were watching an episode of "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel. Anthony Bourdain was in, (of course) ECUADOR!!! We really enjoyed watching him eating chifles and intestine and seafood and aji. (UMMMM AJI!!! I seriously just salivated typing that. How I miss you, aji) Then Tony said something that struck me he said, "oh, I love anything that's been simmering in a pot all day. Those are the best kinds of meals."

And I realized, that's what Ecuadorian cooking is! It's a lot of "one pot" style soups and sauces. Things that you can cook for 4o minutes or 1 1/2 hours depending on when people arrive home. You don't have to worry about when they will come home exactly, because it will be simmering away when they get there. It just gets better the longer it sits in the pot! You can add the tough cuts of meat with the bone still in there, and it all just dissolves beautifully. (I tried this with a big cross cut of cow leg and Marcelo was in heaven when the marrow was still in the bone and he got to suck it out. Seriously, he was so happy) It's stress free cooking, and I was stressing out about it!! This needed to change.

So now I just try to remember all the meals my mother served us.This is how my thought process works: "Ok, dinner ready around 7:30. What would be good in a pot. Chicken? Yes. What else? Carrots? Sure! Peas? Ok, at the end. . .What would my mother in law put in there? A potato, of course. Maybe a yucca if I have one. . .hmmm. . ." And so it goes.

Meal times around here have gotten much MUCH better and much less stressful. And while I will never EVER compare with the cooking skills of my mother in law, I have stopped worrying about it. We both have our talents and there is no comparison on either end. I mean, I'd like to see her whip up cinnamon rolls (WITH the cream cheese frosting included, of course) in less than an hour like I can.

Game. set and MATCH.

A Real Conversation With My Dear Husband-Session #3

Scene: Our house kitchen, Saturday night. No food prepared, Marcelo hungry

Me: Do you want me to make something? It might take a while, but I can have something ready in about 30 minutes.

Marcelo: Hmmm, thirty minutes? (I can hear in his voice that he is hungry now)

Me: Well, I have fresh rice and salsa. You can have that if you want.

Marcelo: (silence) What?

Me: Rice and salsa. You know like we have when I prepare with meat on the side. Except I don't have any meat.

Marcelo: Just rice and salsa? WHAT?

Me: I LIKE IT!! And it's the best part of the meal anyway. You sure you don't want it?

Marcelo: (Silence, meanwhile looks at me like I am crazy) . . . .Uhhh, no.

AND SCENE

You should know, my salsa is hommade and very much like a "pico de gallo" you will find at other restaurants. But it has no jalapenos, and hence no heat at all. 4 simple ingredients: Cilantro, tomatoes, onion and limes. Oh and salt. But it's how you PREPARE it. Lots of lime. Let the lime soak into the onions after you wash them and scrunch them up. IT'S A PROCESS, I TELL YA!!! It's basically a lime soaked infusion that will make you happy. If you like lime, which we do around here.

And I love it on top of rice. Especially hot rice. The hot rice and cold salsita? SO GOOD. Something like pie ala mode. Hot pie and cold ice cream. So, just, yum. If you are lucky I'll make it for you someday. If not you just have to dream about it from my writings here.

Happy eating!

A Real Conversation With My Dear Husband-Session #2

Place: Provo
Time: 11 pm last Saturday night
Doing: Me driving home from the grocery store.

Phone: Bring! Bring! Bring!
Me: Hello
Marcelo: Are you close to getting home?
Me: Yes, I'm just passing the Marriott Center. I'll be home in a few minutes. . . . Some other mindless banter about what I bought at the grocery store. . . .
Marcelo:(after this banter, some minutes later). So hurry up and get home. The dog puked on the carpet.
Me: WHAT!! Why didn't you tell me that 3 minutes ago? Did you clean it up?
Marcelo: What did you give her? It looks brown.
Me: Well her food is brown. And when she eats it it changes color and shape. Does it look like her food
Marcelo: Oh yeah, I guess it does. So are you getting home soon?
Me: CLEAN IT UP!!! Get it off the carpet before it soaks in!
Marcelo: I mean, what did you feed her? I told you and told you not to feed her table food. And now she did and she threw up.
Me: Are you cleaning it up?
Marcelo: NO!!
Me: Why are you yelling at me right now! Please clean it up before it soaks in and stains the carpet. PLEASE?
Marcelo: Well, you need to learn not to feed her any food other than her dog food!
Me: (SEETHING AT THIS POINT) PLEASE JUST CLEAN IT UP!! Yelling at me right now isn't going to clean the puke up! Can you just clean it up and then from now on I promise she won't get any more food from me! JUST GET IT OFF THE CARPET!!
Marcelo: [Silence]
Me: Hello? . . . . Hello? . . . . Hello? (looking at phone for 30 seconds, seeing that he hasn't hung up yet, but that he's not answering.) HELLO? (Me finally hanging up)

Oh, by the way, when I got home, he had totally cleaned up the puke! YESSSSS!!

A Real Conversation With My Dear Husband

Time: Saturday March 30th at 11:00 am
Place: Apartment of the Loor family.
Subject: Toilets and Mysterious Yellow Spots

Me: Hey, Marcelo. There is a yellow spot on the outside of the toilet near the back side. I think it's pee. Can you please clean it? (evoking our long standing agreement that I don't do toilets and in return I do all other housework)
Marcelo: It's not mine
Me:Uh. . . . What?
Marcelo: It's not mine!! I don't pee outside the toilet.
Me: It's all the way in the back!! And it's in the space between the toilet and the sink vanity stand. For me to have done that, I would have had to climb up on the counter top, with one leg there and other on the toilet seat. And press my body against the wall. Do you think I did that?
Marcelo:. . . .(Silence)
Me: Let's just be logical here, which one of us has an extendable flex hose from which they pee? And which one sits down every time to do it? Which one of us has the physical equipment to make this happen, and which one has never peed standing up? Again, let's be logical about this. Which one of us most likely did this?
Marcelo:. . . .I just know it wasn't me

Baffling, my friends. Absolutely baffling.

He's so lucky he is cute and he makes cute babies with me.

And I guess I should be lucky that he cleans the toilet for me. And it's mysterious "yellow spots" on the lateral posterior fascia.

Putting it off

I have to do all the laundry today. It's going to be an all day event. I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm putting it off right now, and choosing to watch Special Agent Oso with my child instead. And then I'm going to walk to the Library because I have a book waiting for me. And that will put off doing the laundry even longer.

Seriously, loads and loads of laundry. I just want to curl up and go to sleep.

I guess it's not that bad, because I have stopped folding Marcelo's clothes. There is no point because he just leaves it in the basket until it's time to wash again and fill it with more clean clothes. I sort it, pre-wash, soak, wash and dry and then put it in your basket. The least you can do is put it away. When you start doing that, I'll start folding it again.

But seriously, I need to get going here. No more procrastination

What do you avoid doing at all costs?

P.S. I'm only 3 pounds away from a new pair of shoes!! Oh how I need them desperately

Ameri-I-CAN!!!

Today Marcelo called me out of the blue and said, "I was on the freeway and something had fallen out of the back of someone's truck. There were police officers out there helping and cleaning up the mess so that no one would get hurt."

I thought this is where he would complain about traffic being backed up, or about how people are stupid for not strapping down their crap on their trucks. But he surprised me. He said, "I'm just so thankful to be living in the United States where the police officers help you to do that. I'm so thankful to be here where they take care of the roads and help clean up when there is something dangerous."

Sometimes I forget about how great it is to live in the US and all the great things we have. I like to look at it from the eyes of a foreigner and remember just how great we have it. And I'm thankful for my husband for bringing it to my attention. He's good to have around for that kind of stuff. I think I'll keep him a little while longer. . . maybe forever!

It's going around

So we are all sick. Evi got it first on Christmas Eve. I should've known because she was acting a fright at P.F. Chang's that night. She was screaming at the top of her lungs and didn't want to eat anything. (Marcelo and I still enjoyed the food, though. So the evening wasn't totally ruined)

And she continued to get sicker over the next 12 hours. Which means that me, the primary kisser of her face also am sick. I got it Christmas night.

And now Marcelo has it. He got it last night.

I think everyone with a husband will back me up when I say this: Men are horrible when they are sick. I mean, we ALL have it. This whole house is infected. Bibi's nose is on a 24 hour drip and the poor girl can't breathe. Also, I had it starting yesterday, but I still managed to feed everyone 3 meals, return things to various stores and clean this house . . .twice (with a place this small you have to clean constantly or it looks horrible)

But once Marcelo gets sick? ALERT THE NEWS MEDIA!! MARCELO IS SICK!! He sleeps in bed all day, and asks for meals to be catered to him. I didn't see him offering to cater meals to me when I was sick! Nor did I see him volunteering to watch the baby so I could take a 8 hour nap during the day.

Seriously, what is it about guys that makes them so weak when they are sick? I might as well have a second child for all the good he is to me now.

Anyway, I'm sure all your husbands are this way. I 'm sure I don't hold the monopoly on whiny sick husbands.

The worst part about it? We agreed to volunteer in the nursery today for the permanent teachers. And now we can't do it. We need to find subs in the next 25 min. I'm thinking that won't happen, so we might have to send our kids to another class. We'll see.

Happy snotting!!

DISCLAIMER!! No matter what the picture says, we don't have swine flu. Just a general cold virus going around.

Conversations With Marcelo

Me (at 9:45 am): Marcelo? Are you back in bed?

Him: Yeah! I'm tired! I played with the baby all morning!

Me: You know what I did? I made you breakfast, washed TWO loads of dishes, finished folding the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, put dinner in the crock-pot for tonight, made you breakfast, brought it to you, and am now cleaning it up.

Him:. . . Right, so we both were busy this morning.


I'm sure I'll laugh about this SOMEDAY.

Picture of the day:



Try finding a cuter baby. JUST TRY!

P.S. She TOTALLY looks like those "American Girls" dolls in this picture. Like the Samantha doll. Am I right or am I right? Look for yourself.
It's those two little teeth.

Loser

It's official. Marcelo has more friends than I do. Just now, 2 friends called him up and invited him to go to a movie. Friday night out with the boys. He was in the process of cooking himself some chicken, (in his chones of course. We are ALWAYS in our chones around here.) and so he asked me to pull it out of the pan so he could take it with him. And I did. And then he rushed out the door and went.

I'm so freaking jealous I could vomit.

My itinerary for the evening:

Step 1) Take a shower
Step 2) Fall Asleep while listening to a book on tape.

I was thinking about watch Disk 2 of Season 1 of "The Tudors" but now I'm too depressed.

It's so not fair!! I've lived in this country for 29 years! He's only been here for 5! It's not fair that he has more friends than me.

Boo Hoo for me

MFEO

5 Years ago today I. . . .

Was late to the temple
Wore a purple bra to my sealing
Forgot my hideous blue plastic watch was still on, (and hence am now forever sealed to it, as Judd recently reminded me)
Didn't look at my husband during the sealing
Was surrounded by my best friends and family
Translated for my husband while the sealer talked
Was in San Diego
Hap-Hap-Happy to be married

Here are a few ways that we know we are MFEO *Made For Each Other*

1. We both hate avocados. We both literally wince/gag when we see one or it's by-products (guacamole)
2. We both like to cuddle in bed
3. We both forget important dates like birthdays and anniversaries
4. We, neither one, gets upset when the other forgets important days like birthdays and anniversaries.

Happy Anniversary. Here's hoping we can remember next year! (And that we'll have more money so we can do something awesome)

Dinner & A Movie

Do you have good movie memories? Movies that just make you smile every time you catch a re-run of them on TV? Movies that can be so old, but you will still waste 2 hours on a Saturday watching them because you love them? I'm sure you do. Here are a few of my faves that will always make me stop and waste time:

Overboard
A Christmas Story
The Wedding Crashers
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters II
Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Say Anything. (80's John Hughs classics, etc)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Hook
and of course. ..
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Why these movies and not others? I don't know!! Some are just enjoyable, others have good childhood memories. But for some, like Ferris Bueller, I can quote near 95% of the movie due to the fact that I watched it so many times growing up.

But today Marcelo watched it for the first time. He laughed at all the good parts, oohed at the meaningful moments, and was properly shocked when that car went flying out of the building through the glass window. It made me feel awesome that he enjoyed a movie that was so beloved to me.

How weird does that make me?

And one final question: In your opinion, was Ghostbusters II as good or better than the first? In my 9 year old mind it was better. But what is your take on it?

Ecuador Part Two

Just a few more pictures and items from Ecuador.

Gifts from my mother in law: My mother in law made a few choice items for my baby. One I took back to the USA with me, and one I hid so that she *thought* I took it, but by the time she discovered it, it would be too late. This is the one I took. It's ok. She said I could hold the baby's "hair stuff in it". Ummmm, thanks?

Anyway, it has little pockets on it and it's a caterpillar. Obviously. My mother in law's house was FULL of things like this. I hate junk like that. I mean, I know that they don't have tons of money (neither do we for that matter) but at least I don't make stuff just for the sake of having something on the walls. But nevertheless, like I said, I really didn't mind it, and it was easy to carry, so I took it with me.

However, the second item was not so lucky. It was conveyed to me that I should put my kid's diapers in it. Again, thanks? Here is a choice picture of it:


I don't know how to describe it's hideousness. You know how in my last post I tried to describe to you about how no one listens to me? Well, it's like that with these "gifts" too. No one bothered to ask if we would have room for them. No one asked if we even wanted them. It was just assumed that we would take them.

It was huge, firstly. Also it was heavy. Also, I think she's under the impression that I use cloth diapers, because this is a classic cloth diaper caddy. I hated everything about it the first time I saw it, and I was going to be forced to take it. Marcelo said, "my mom worked hard on it, you have to take it." UUUUGHHH!! I'm sure these last few paragraphs make me a horrible person, but I really REALLY hated everything about it.

Moving on. My mother in law is a very unique person. Her birthday was on the 18th of June and everyone got her something. Marcelo and I brought this great new set of silverware, and her other kids got her clothes and shoes and fun things like that. However, my mother in law is a CONTROL FREAK, and she had no idea that the party was happening. Here is the look on her face when she found out what was going on:

SHE IS TICKED!! She's pretending to smile, but she's seriously annoyed. Those things on her lap are her presents, but she wouldn't touch them or look at them for like 30 min. She was just going on and on about how she didn't know, and she should've known, and why didn't anyone say anything? and why didn't she know, and SHE SHOULD'VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT THE SURPRISE PARTY THEY WERE THROWING FOR HER, DANGIT!!! She was really REALLY ticked off.

So Here are a few group shots from that same "party night. I like how these pictures also show a little more fully my in-laws house:















So the picture on the left has 3 of the 4 siblings (Leo wasn't there yet) and the parents. Marcelo. Lety, Cesar and Vicente (My father in law on the far right) And of course my mother in law, not smiling. And then the picture on the right has everyone in it. (except me who is taking the picture) The little boy in front and the boy in the back with the black hat are the kids of Anita (seated) from her first husband (He died in a sad motorcycle accident a few years ago) In yellow is Leo, Marcelo's older brother and married to Anita. Anita is currently pregnant (after a serious ectopic pregnancy scare/surgery and miscarriage 18 months ago) and they are hoping everything goes well. Jan 6th is her due date, so that will be exciting.

So that is a great family shot. Here is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip: My father in law and my baby:















AGGGGHHHHH!! That shirt makes me laugh every time I see it!! My father in law is so soft-spoken, so kind-hearted, so peaceful so it makes the shirt hilarious on every level. Plus the fact that it's pink. AWESOME! My father in law is one of my favorite people on this earth. I really love the look that Evi is giving while he holds her. And she took to him SO quickly. I think she just knows and can sense his kindness. She would cry when he left and wanted to walk outside to see him leave. Honestly, my father in law is amazing. As much as my mother in law annoys me, my father in law makes me happy.

Next: my baby loved LOVED their cat "Chiqui!" (pronounced Chee-kee) Chiqui is a boy, and they starve him. I'm not kidding. I was told by Marcelo that you "HAVE" to starve them so that they will run around the house and catch and kill the spiders and roaches and mice. That is all well in theory, but when you have no more mice or roaches or spiders because the cat ate them all, then what? I just know that cat cried all the time, and I hated it, so I would sneak him food whenever I could.


My child LOVED him. She would chase him around the house and he quickly learned that being close to the baby got his face smacked or his tail pulled. He was a great sport about it, and never scratched her. I will say that the animals in that house are VERY well behaved. . . they have to be or they don't get any food!!

Here is a video of Evy "demanding" the cat come down and play with her:



And finally, this little "stroller" was purchased by my in laws and generally liked by my child. It was liked by her until she saw me sitting down watching her ride in it and she wanted to be held by me. Until then, however, she had a great time:


Oh, that red outfit is actually a set of PJ's that used to have long sleeves. I had to cut them off. It was very difficult trying to find the balance between not over heating my child and protecting her skin from the malaria/dengue carrying mosquitoes. We figured that this was a good option for these PJ's.

Well that's it!! All my pictures from Ecuador. I wish that I had more. I'm just not a picture girl!! Oh well, maybe next time.

Single Mom

I am a single mom. Marcelo is in California for a month earning some money before we go away to Ecuador in June. It's difficult being a single mom. Especially when you have so much to do!

For example, we are moving. . .again. By we I mean Evi and I. Alone. It's horrible. We are packing everything up, and we are doing it alone. I have to figure some way to move everything and clean this whole house alone. Cleaning is the worst part because this home is so nasty, no matter how much I clean it will always be dirty.

Anyway, Here is partial list of errands and places I have gone in the past 2 days: Bank, grocery store, dropped things off at the storage unit TWICE, library, video store, fabric store, Target, Babies R Us, changed oil in the car and had the windows tinted (that my landlord broke). I have also packed and cleaned the bathroom and 1/2 the kitchen. But now what do I do for food? I'm still trying to figure that out. In the meantime Evi and I are only eating pretzels and dry cereal.

Hopefully everything will go down as planned tomorrow. It probably won't. So Scary. I'll let you know if I'm still alive after this weekend.

. . .With Nothing but a Dance Belt and a Tube of Chapstick-Part 2

Sorry about the delay. I really shouldn't break these things into two days. I never get around to doing the second day!!

Congrats to Lisa Nielsen for getting the movie quote right!! Waiting for Guffman is one of the best movies of all time. Made by the same people that made:"This is Spinal Tap" and "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind". Genius. If you have ever done local community theater or SEEN a play done really badly, you will love this movie. So as her prize she gets dinner made for her like promised. Name the night, Lisa, and I'll be there with Food 'O Plenty.

Anyway, I got to "watch" this movie as I was driving down to L.A. By watch I mean put on headphones and listen to it on our DVD player. It really made the time fly by and kept me wide awake. I would recommend anyone drive that way.

Ok, so after we got back on the 10, we pretty much were out of there as fast as we could go. Luckily we got out of there around 12:30 or 1 and so we didn't have much traffic. There was just one accident that we had to deal with, but it wasn't a huge back-up. It just slowed us down for maybe 7 minutes. And then we were GONE.

But the problem was that since we left in such a hurry, we didn't have a chance to find a good hotel online. I had to call my mom and then call the hotel and we ended up at the SARAHA. Now the thing about the Saraha is that it was a SUPER fancy and great hotel. . . back in the 1960's. See, Elvis and Frank Sinatra and The Beatles all built it/stayed there and so you know that the only people there are people that wanted to stay at the same hotel where ELVIS stayed!!

The hotel has tried to appeal to a younger demographic, so they have put this hideous looking roller coast in the front of the building. But at the same time they haven't bothered updating the rooms. There was a strange greasy film on all the window sills of my room, and the carpet had tears/iron burns in it.

But the worst part was the bathroom. I present for you pictures. This was what the toilet looked like WHEN WE ARRIVED. This is a supposedly "clean" toilet:


I almost died right there. But it gets super better. Here is a picture of the leaky faucet that dripped all night and kept us awake. And the peeling wallpaper in the bathroom.














But the best part? Hands down it was the shower. See, several years ago, the thinking tank that IS the Saraha Planning Committee decided to change the knobs on the shower and convert to a more "simple" one knob system. The problem? They didn't bother to fix up the other handles. They just left the copper nubbins there in the shower!! I'll show you:


The old farts that keep coming back to the Saraha year after year "Cause Sinatra built it!!" couldn't quite grasp the concept of the one handled system. That, plus the fact that the "nubbins" were still there meant that the front desk was getting call after call from Auntie Mae and Pa Josiah asking how to use "this new-fangled water system. I got out my wrench to use on those little stubs but it don't seem to be workin'." This inevitably lead to the nice sign you find BETWEEN said nubbins.

Ohhh. . . is that some contemporary Gothic script you got going there? I'm very impressed. It really bodes well with the rest of the "Oasis" theme you got working at this hotel.

We got out of there ASAP. And we went to Marcelo's favorite place on the earth: The Buffet at Mandalay Bay hotel. Why? Why the King Crab Legs, of course. Here he is trying to get Evi to enjoy one:

She looks, and touches it to check it out. But then she catches on that it's not as cool as it looks. And so she tells it so with her eyes:















She tells dad in not so simple language that she prefers her cantaloupe, thank you very much:















She did have a great time at the hotel. We were all so tired that we crashed after dinner and didn't get up until 9 am the next day.

So that was it, that was our lightning fast trip to Las Angeles and then Las Vegas. I'm so thankful it's over and that we don't have to do that ever again. But I am grateful for Marcelo and his spontaneity. I don't think I would've done it that way if he hadn't suggested it.

And I'm glad I don't have to do it EVER AGAIN.


P.S. Here is a picture of Evi and Marcelo at the water fountain. She LOVED it so every time I told her to turn around and look she had a huge smile because she was just laughing at the water. Enjoy!!

. . . With Noithing But a Dance Belt and a Tube of Chapstick: Part 1

If someone can name the movie that that quote comes from WITHOUT CHEATING you get a prize. I'm not kidding. I will come to your house and make you dinner. Unless you live in TX. Then I'm not going. But I'm serious, NO CHEATING!! You have to know where that comes from off the top of your head.

So what is this post about? Well, it's about how we went down to LA on Tuesday night. It's a long story. I'll try to sum up quickly.

Marcelo has a permanent resident card, but that only allows him to come back to the USA. To travel to any other country (including his country of origin) he needs a passport from that country. And his Ecuador passport expires in April.

We would be able to renew it VERY EASILY in Ecuador, but we need it valid BEFORE we travel back there. So that means we need to go to an Embassy or Consulate somewhere in this country. There is an office in LA and an office in San Francisco so naturally we would be going to LA because 1)it's closer and 2) we can pass through Las Vegas on the way back for Marcelo's most beloved king crab legs. DUH!!

So for a long long time I've tried to get Marcelo to commit to going. I wanted to plan the trip, make hotel arrangements, find maps online, you know the works. He wouldn't commit. He kept putting it off. We made up a tentative plan of our schedule so he knew what to expect. The original plan was this:

Wed-Drive to Vegas. Stay the night in Vegas
Thursday-Drive VERY EARLY to L.A. Get Passport renewed. Drive back to Vegas. Spend Second night in Vegas
Friday-Drive home.

A pretty long trip, but broken up nicely and easy to remember. Well, on Tuesday (his last day of school for the week before Spring Break) and he comes back from school and we start talking about going. He says. "well if we are going to go tomorrow, I should get the tires checked out". So he heads off to the tire store.

I post that blog about which freeway to take, thinking that I'll get a few responses before I leave the next day. However, Marcelo comes back from the tire place and says, "let's just go now. I want to get this over with. Let's just drive all the way to L.A. tonight."

You should know it was like 6pm when he said this. I was cooking Evelyn dinner. Nothing was packed, no hotels were reserved, no maps printed out, NOTHING! But he just wanted it to happen. OK!! Let's do it!

We quickly found a place for our dog to go, and then we started running around like mad. The plan was to get Evy ready for bed like normal, but then put her in the car seat and just start driving. The hope was she would sleep for a long time. We packed and were on the road.

The drive down to L.A. was pretty uneventful. I wish I would've known about taking the 10 to the 210. But we did get there VERY early (right around 5 am) and there was very little traffic. And it was just easier for me to take the 10 all the way. Marcelo is TERRIFIED to drive in big cities and he's horrible at reading maps. So I didn't want to have to look at the map MIENTRAS driving in L.A. and just taking the 10 all the way there accomplished that for me

However, on a side note, while there was not a *lot* of traffic, there was still some!! At like 4:45 am!! What the crap? Why are there that many drivers on the road at that horrible hour? Who is commuting at 4:45? If you are awake and going to work at 4:45 you need to speak to a specialist about some workaholic issues you got going on. And maybe this is just my opinion, but pre-5 am drivers are WAAAYY more aggressive than normal L.A. drivers. It's like they are manic about getting to where they want to be before the massive amounts of traffic come out.


Anyway, the Ecuador Embassy is located in the Larry Flint (AKA Hustler Magazine) building on Wilshire Blvd of downtown Beverly Hills. I am talking RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF BEVERLY HILLS!! I could only find one grocery store and no Target. I know: I asked some scary Phillis Neffler look-alikes if they could help me. So no regular stores. However if I needed to buy a luxury car I could choose anything from the Lexus, Mercedes, Aston Martin, BMW, Lotus, Jaguar or Ferrari dealerships all surrounding me. Apparently those in Beverly Hills don't need to eat or buy moderatly priced housewares, but they DO need fancy new cars! Holy inferiority complex, Batman!

When we got to the building, we were VERY early. It didn't open till 9 and we were there at 5:30. UGGH!!! We tried to get our kid to sleep, but she wasn't having it. So we found a really nice Beverly Hills park and I took our child out to play in the sand while Marcelo got another 90 minutes of sleep. I chatted on the phone with my mom-I love that my mom talks to you when you are driving late at night so you can stay awake. It's her thing. She told me to call her at any hour if I needed to talk. However, a combo of Diet Dr. Pepper and sunflower seeds had me WIRED!! I guess all that sleep deprivation from motherhood has finally started to do me some good.

Other side note on people of Beverly Hills: They are angry all the time. I've never been honked at so much while driving. Like if I was turning into some driveway and the person didn't like my turning speed? HOOOOOOOOOOOONNK!! Apparently money doesn't make you happier; It just makes you a bigger dill-hole.

So when the building opened we went inside and I was instantly reminded of why I don't miss Ecuador some days. Now, this is TOTALLY my opinion, but I think that those from Ecuador are just used to things being difficult. They just expect that life will suck, and that there is no other way. And they just accept it. We Americans don't accept much of anything. We question our bill from the Denny's. ("Did you order a drink AND a milkshake? It just seems like a big charge for a drink. I think I'll ask them about it"). But Ecuadorians are much more likely to be like, "Oh, man, we just got screwed over. DANG!! Oh, well, I guess it's my turn to be screwed over. Too bad!!" And then they just go on with their day. Americans would be much more in your face like "Um, I'm going to need to speak with your manager. . .. NOW!!"

The way I saw this happen on this day was because the "system" went down and everyone was stuck waiting around waiting to see if it came back. The "system" was never fully defined for us, but we all joked around that it was some sort of waffle making/picture taking apparatus that needed to speak with Ecuador and Ecuador was offline at that time. We had fun joking about it. They told us that we might have to come back tomorrow. Like we lived down the street or something!! And Marcelo was just going to be like "What can we do? We have to come back tomorrow!" And I was ANNOYED!! Seriously annoyed.

Remember, at this point I had been running on 1 hour of sleep from the previous night. The Diet Dr. Pepper had been out of my system for hours at that time and I had a hungry/whiny baby. Oh, and I was hungry. I didn't have dinner or breakfast (unless you consider sunflower seeds at 3 am breakfast). And when I went to find a bathroom, I was told that I had to go to the basement of the building next to valet parking where they made me use a KEY like I was freaking in the 3rd grade and they had to "regulate" who used their bathroom. I mean, it's freaking Wilshire Blvd! I just watched you valet park a Lamborghini! The people around her drive $150,000 cars!! And you don't trust them in your public bathrooms? And then they told me I had to come back? I'M GOING TO NEED TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER RIGHT NOW!!!

Luckily the mysterious "system" came back on line and we got out of there around noon. Not too bad, right? We went to get some food. Correction, we went and INHALED some food and then got back on the road to go back to Vegas.

I'm going to do the second part of our trip tomorrow. But I just want to add something here: My husband is a TOTALLY different man when he's around his own people. He's funny, life of the part and the "class clown". He's so much fun and just so funny to be around. Sometimes it's hard to remember why you got married when the baby is sick and you have no money and you are annoyed with each other. But sitting there in that tiny little room, watching my husband joke and laugh and have a good time, I was reminded of just how much fun he is, why I fell in love with him and how much I love him. Oh man, now I'm REALLY looking forward to June.

Ok, that's enough for today. More on this trip tomorrow!