another rotten one in the bunch

Pollo Feliz

2010-08-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Gosh I can be so self-centered sometimes! My apologies to all those who I have hurt in my single mindedness.
Today is our last day in Mexico City.
And during these last 3 months I have totally neglected to mention one important individual during our trip, and how this summer has impacted her.
My deepest sympathies Lulu. I apologize with all of my heart.

So this blog is dedicated completely to Lulu.
Of all the people in our family, I believe Lulu has warmed the hearts of the Mexican people the most. In fact Lulu's twin sister has been summoned from the Amazon(.com) and will be soon get to live here permanently.

Lulu's Mexico City vacation:

Lulu has had the best 3 months of her little life here in D.F.
Although she has needed a little saving every once in a while...

Oh, Lulu.

Sweet, sweet, Mexico

2010-08-22T20:47:00.001-07:00

I think the one thing that my kids will really miss about Mexico is this:

This is from Lecaroz, a fabulous pasteleria in central Coyoacan, not too far from our apartment.
This loot of home baked goodness cost a whooping $5. Can you believe that?

Say a sad farewell to this kiddos, there is no where (that I know) in Tucson where you can get sweets like this at this price! Especially without have to worry about artificial colors (- the maraschino cherry) or sweeteners. Not that High Frutose Corn Syrup does not exists here, it's just rare.

Palacio National

2010-08-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Went to visit the National Palace (or Palacio National,) next to the Zocolo last Wednesday.
It's is an enormous, stunning building that holds a lot history for the Mexican people.
This site was once Montezuma II official residence, then claimed and built over by the man, the myth, Hernan Cortez. Later Hernan's son Martin Cortez sold the palace to the Spanish crown. The palace was set on fire and almost completely destroyed by 1692. It was rebuilt again, and after the Mexican Independence it was renamed the National Palace. So basically this is the third palace built upon this exact same site.
The Palicio National is an incredible building, but it's history doesn't particularly lie because of the building, but on it's walls. Diego Rivera's murals.
Painted my him between 1929 - 1935, they show the rich history of Mexico between 1521 - 1930.
They are incredable!!!
It's often hard for me to really comprehend all of Mexico's culture and history at time, because it's just too overwhelming.
Especially coming from Tucson, where Winterhaven is considered a historic neighborhood.
(If you are not familiar, Winderhaven is a subdivision in Tucson built in 1949, it's famous for it's light displays around Christmas.)

Here are some of Deigo Rivera's murals:

(If you notice, someone is trying to give the prostitute a hand, hehe.)

The other cool thing to see here were the royal punk rock cats! They even have earrings!

Not sure how many cat reside in the palace or why they are here? We counted 20 cats basking in the sun on the lawn.

Lucky cats.

Winding down

2010-08-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Spent our whole day today cleaning the apartment spotless, so that the landlady and her family could come over and inspect it. It's easy enough to throw a pillow over all the ink pen marks on the leather couch, but pretty impossible to ignore the missing window.
Kur-blunk!!!
Down 4 stories it went.
Luckily no one was underneath.
I pointed out the pen stains and the window, and gave her 45 bucks to help with the fixing costs.
Anyway, now that I've paid off my consistence, I am able to go home guilt free.
Oh wait, I forgot to mention the broken chair, the headless statue, and all the wood stains?
I guess sometime you just gotta say "what the fuck."

Which brings me to this ditty that I heard today.
It makes me happy. It makes me smile. It's perfect for today.

Only in D.F.

2010-08-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Stopped in front of the National Museum of Art for this very long, but entertaining performance by a theater group. My favorite part was the dancing/ fighting Lucha Libres.

Good-byes.

2010-08-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of our Spanish classes at Coyoacan Idiomas Were we have all been taking classes for three months this summer. We have such wonderful caring teachers, it was hard to say good-bye. It was like leaving a family. Our maestra left us with an amazing farewell gift, that is perfecto para mi!
Wonderful people and good memories. Even when I was completely flustered, Susana was so encouraging. And the both Abi and Paola loved the kids and made Spanish more like a playtime. In fact the kids were 3o minutes late getting out of class today, I heard Paola had to take pictures of the girls and their menagerie of stuffed animals that they always bring.

Paola is expecting a little Paolita (or Paolito?) So we ordered another Lulu to send to her for her new baby. Cause every baby needs a chicken puppet!

Yet another pyramid? Really now?

2010-08-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday we hopped the metro over to Plaza de Tres Culturas (Plaza of Three Cultures.)
We were actually very close to scrapping the plan and heading over to the nearby Convention Center where many goth-like kids with kitty ears gathered for what appear to be a manga convention.
But no, we dutifully headed onward to our destination.

Plaza de Tres Culturas holds so much history for Mexico City and we had to see this place. That's why we were there.

(Still, I here the Soup Nazi saying "No Manga for you!" in my head.)

Plaza de Tres Culturas received it named from the three different cultures that are represented there. The Aztec ruins of Tlateloco, the Spanish colonial catholic church, and the modern buildings that surround the area. But the value of this place lies within it's sad history.

This tramatic history begins here on August 13th, 1521.
Hernan Cortez and the Spaniards conquer Mexico slaying 40,000 indigenous Indians in the marketplace of Tlatelolco. "...That day was so bloody that it was impossible to walk around because the number of corpses stacked."

In 1968, another horrible tragedy hit this plaza when students protested the Olympics being held in Mexico City. The protesters felt that the government should use money for the Mexican people and not to host the Olympics. Hundreds were shot down and killed by the Mexican government. Not wanting bad publicity during the Olympics, this massacre was covered up and nothing was ever reported about it in the news papers afterward. And because it was covered up by the government for so long, there is no accurate death count, but probably several hundred died that day.

OH, but wait... There is more!

The Mexican government then tried to modernize this area by building a fancy new high rise that was suppose to make this a hip new neighborhood. A large pyramid shaped building was constructed, and many new apartment buildings were built around the plaza. But in the 1985 earthquake, the fancy building collapse and about 8,000 people died. The deteriorating apartment buildings left around the plaza are now low income housing.
Guess plan B was a fail?

So that I have thoroughly depressed you, here are our happy little pictures from The Plaza.
And look! Yes, those ARE yet more pyramids?!
Inside the city limits, this is our third set of pyramids. I hear that there are at least two more too, but I think I'm good on pyramids for the moment.

You can kinda see the four different layers to this pyramid as it was built up more through many years. Those walls are the layers. I believe there are four layers or phases to this one pyramid?

Plum tuckered with pyramids.

Let's pause for a moment of peace...

2010-08-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

Took off 5 days of Mexico City-ness to enjoy ourselves and celebrate our 10th anniversary in Zihuatanejo.
Zihuatanejo is a fishing village along the Pacific Ocean about 4 hours north of Acapulco.
It's sister city Ixtapa, is a planned vacation community with huge fancy high rise hotels.
For our honey moon (or luna de miel, it translates word for word) we actually went to Ixtapa. It was beautiful, but we thought this time we would much rather be in the the fishing village than the commercial area. Plus the waves are tranquil in Zihua and the kids are able to swim in the Zihau bay. Summer is the low season here, which is pretty obviuos why after you arrive in mid-August. This place is not only hot, but super humid! Regardless, what an amazing, beautiful, relaxing time we had together!

Arriving at our hotel. My camera lens kept fogging up.

Walking to the main pier to hop on a water taxi over to Las Gatas Beach.

Beautiful beach, but there was so much coral underwater that we kept scrapping our toes.

Lunch beachside. Aaah, life is hard....

...hard for Ari!
She flipped out because she didn't like the type of tortilla chips? Seriously?! Look around you chica, and your going to flip out because of tortilla chips?
We had to leave because she kept screaming. Our nice waiter gave her a shell and we went back home, much to the relief of our neighboring beach goers.
Adios Las Gatas!!!

After this, we decided to stay at the beach where our hotel was, the water is not as clear, but perfect for kids! Soft gentle sloping sand, small waves, plus our hotel room and swimming pool are nearby.

My poor scraped toes...

Beautiful Hotel Brias del Mar. Actually one of the cheaper hotels is Zihua.

A new animal everyday!

(The pink towel was our room!)

And OMG, it that a real smile?

Carola the parrot, very loved by Teagan and Ari.
She only said "Hello" and "Holla."

Oh, and there were coconut trees all over this place, which means one thing... fresh coconut drinks everywhere!

I didn't even realize mine had a face on it. Haha.
And yes there were adult spirits it there!

Even Lulu had a great time, although I was a bit concern about here drinking at times.

It was very hard to leave and come back to Mexico City. But that cool rain felt so good on our skin! It's was very hot and sweaty there.
Sadly, Don and I actually came back with stomach bugs.
Seem to be doing a lot better today.
Thank you, thank you, Imodium AD!!!

You spin me right round.

2010-08-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Dinner reservations at Belini's on top of the World Trade center!
This is one of those places that I have have never even heard of, until Betts tipped us off.

Belini's is the highest revolving restaurant in the world, on top of the 45th floor of the World Trade Center.
The restaurant revolves slowly and it takes an hour to go fully around and see all of Mexico City.
The food was quite delicious, and although it was a fancy restaurant, not too horribly expensive.

The waiter asked us if we wanted him to take our picture.
Personally I think he went a little overboard?

Okay, this is the "over board" part, that boarders on creepy.

Really??? What was this all about? I'm sure he felt these were artistic, and I do appreciate him going though all this trouble to get us a great picture.
Belini's was by far the best restaurant experience we have had here in Mexico City.
Especially because of the view, which at night was breathtaking!
It's hard to take in just how enormous Mexico City truly is, but at night when all you can see is a never ending sea of lights from 45 stories up, you can certainly appreciate the vastness of this great city.

Xochicalco

2010-08-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we enjoyed one last hurrah with Betts, Carlos, an their son Danilo in Tenancingo. Also their two friends, Dean and his lovely wife Lupita where there. It was a great time, and much tequila was shared!
Cooking together, eating together, and watching the girls run cage-free through the beautiful lush grasses. Aaah!
Teagan really enjoyed hanging out with Danilo, but shhh that's a secret!

And they refuse to let me take pictures of them, so I had to go all paparazzi.

I'm sure they will soon both be in school together ignoring each others existence.

We all took a wonderful side trip to Xochicalco, another beautiful pyramid about 1 1/2 hours away from Tenancingo. The great thing about visiting the Hidalgo B and B, is you get taken to amazing places that you would otherwise never get to see!

Nice little lunch spot!

Some murals along the way...

Xochicalco!

Crazy huge iguana!

Lovely weekend, with some wonderful people.
The kids cried all the way back to Mexico City, because the did not want to go back.
Looking at this all weekend, who can blame them.

Amigos.

2010-08-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

We are coming on the last legs of our three months in Mexico City, and it's time to reflect on our kick-ass friends and family that have we been able to visit with while we have been here. Don's family, Mary and Tim, and of course the lovely Hidalgo family!
One of the best surprises is when you get a chance to meet up with people that you don't know very well, and end up having such a great time with them! This happened with Mary and Tim Rogers, Mary is a 5th grade teacher at my daughter's school in Tucson.

We toured Chapultepec with them, and it was such a great fun. I wish we got to hang out with them more. But maybe back in Tucson. And everyone cross your fingers that Teagan is in Mary's class next year!!!
Then she'll be forced to hang out with me, muahaha...

It's tricky to rock a rhyme

2010-07-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

Today I got an email from Youtube concerning a video I posted 4 years ago. It's of my then 3 year old daughter dancing to a song. The song is copyrighted.
BUT, we do not have to worry. They just plan to blast advertisements all over it.
Real nice, Sony entertainment.
Guess you don't make enough money without having to exploit small children.

Mummy dearest...

2010-07-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we mirobused it over to San Angel once again to visit the El Carmen Cathedral.
One thing about Mexico City is there is no lack of cathedrals or museums! And often they are combined into one, as was this case.
The El Carmen was built in the 1600's and it's an ex-convent.

The aqueducts that carried water into the cathedral...

Walking downstairs...

....to the mummies! AAH!!!

These are actually wealthy Carmenites that paid the church a lot of money to be preserved here. When the Zapatistas came to loot the church instead of finding riches in the basement thsese are what the found. OH SNAP!

Wonder what they would think about having they deteriorated bodies on display?
Probably was not what they had planned?

After the El Carmen we hid from the rain and ate some pizza.
When we emerged we realized that we were completely stranded on the corner, the street of San Angel were flooded completely!

Aah, the adventures of Mexico City.
Where else could you experience floods and mummies all in one day?

Museo Nacional de Antropologia

2010-07-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

Forth and Final day with the in-law in Chapultepec park!
Chapultepec is a 1,655 hectare park here in Mexico City. It's huge and hosts several lakes, a large zoo, the largest Children's museum in Latin American, the Castillo Castle, many museums including the National Anthropology Museum, an amusement park, botanical gardens, an amazing cemetery, and well you get the point?
We quickly visited the Castillo Castle, and then set of to the National Anthropology Museum.

I failed to take any pictures of the outside of the castle. Maybe this was due to the pure ginormous-ness of it? Maybe it was because I was more occupied with my younger daughter who "legs are about to shatter!!!" I did take some pictures of the murals inside which I was very impressed by.

Apparently, so was Teagan.

In the courtyard over looking Chapultepec.

After Castillo, some food, and a complete mental break down by Ari. We arrived at the Anthro Museum.
Be forewarn: If you ever go to this Museum give yourself AT LEAST 2 hours!
It took us about four, which included some coffee in the cafeteria about half way through.

Start out in front, where you can see indigenous dancers and the famous "fliers" from Veracruz.

Some pictures from the inside along with silly girls in foreground.

And here's a little beauty that I just add to add ;)
Squirt! Gotcha in the eye!!

The National Anthropology Museum really is a must for anyone visiting Mexico City.
In fact I am making it mandatory!

Xochimilco revisted...

2010-07-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Third day with the in-laws. Sore and tired. Maybe a nice boat ride will be refreshing and peaceful?
Well... anyways.

Without saying something that made get me in trouble, we finally managed to get the Anderson clan onto a trajinera (boat) and set off for 2 hours.
I think after all the complaining was over, the complainee admitted that they actually really enjoyed the ride?
We thought this was an important way to show really Mexican culture. These boats are more popular with local Mexican people celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, than they are with American tourists. I love the party atmosphere and the friendliness between other people on the boats.
Plus it gave us an excuse to take the Anderson's on the Metro! If there was ever a real Mexican experience, taking Metro is it!
Afterward, we all went to Museo de Delores Olmedo. Pretty and relaxing, and delicious hot chocolate!

I think this may actually be a life size bronze of Diego Rivera's head?

Hehe.

Teotihuacan

2010-07-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

The one question everyone asks us here in Mexico City is "Have you gone to the pyramids yet?" And by "the pyramids", they mean Teotihuacan.

Well, now we can all comfortable answer "Yes."

Of course to answer a simple "yes." means that you are lying and wish for them to stop talking to you.
So you have to add something like "Wow, it was just unbelievable!" Or "I never thought I was going to make it up all those stairs!" Just to validate what an amazing place Teotihuacan really is and prove that you are sincere.

The pyramids at Teotihuacan really are astounding, and everyone who climbs up and down The Pyramid of the Sun deserves a metal in my book!

Here is the family fresh and awake and ready for our adventure!
On The Pyramid of The Moon.

The girls starting off on the long trek down The Avenue of the Dead. Notice how energetic they look?

There they are about to climb up The Pyramid of the Sun. And yes, they ARE wearing flip flops!

Half way up....

YAY!!!

Going down was almost as hard as going up.

Silly Auntie Julia...

Look at those ants climbing up that anthill...

Ari pooping up. We aren't even near the The Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl yet.

Actually, I don't even have any pictures of Quetzalcoatl.. because I pooped out too towards the end.

2010-07-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today we took the microbus to San Angel, went to an old 17th century convent, AND got to see mummies!

Teagan refused to look at the mummies, they were pretty ghastly.

The story is that these were wealthly socialites that paid to have the convent preserve them. When the Zapatistas raided the old convent in search of gold these are what they found instead. Wha-wha.
After we went to the convent, we went to lunch. It poured the whole time we ate, and we we came out it was still raining and the streets where all flooded. We had to swim home.

Worst of all, how could I possibly get to Hooters?!!!

Templ Mayor

2010-07-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

The first place in Mexico City we took our outlaws was Templo Mayor right next to the Zocolo. This is a large Aztec pyramid with twin towers right in the middle of downtown Mexico City.
This pyramid was built in stages, one layer on top of the other making it larger and larger over time.

According to legend, the Aztecs traveled from Aztlan and were told by their god to build a temple where they found an eagle eating a serpent on top of a nopal. The Aztecs found this here and built Templo Mayor on what was the then an island on Lake Toxcoco.

This is now the symbol of the Mexican flag.
Kinda put our Bessie Ross story to shame, huh?

The twin temples on the summit of Templo Mayor were dedicated to Huitzilpopchtli, the god of war, and Tlaloc, the rain god. Theses god were often appeased by human sacrifices.
These sacrifices were done by ripping the hearts out of people while they were still alive and then throwing them down the steps.

This circular stone was foud at the bottom of the stair case, it's believed to have been placed there to stop the sacrificial bodies as they fell down.

It symbolizes Huitzilpopchtli's disembodied sister Coyolxauhqui. Who he killed in a legendary battle.

The Outlaws

2010-07-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

Don's parents and his sister Julia came and visited us in D.F. for a few days this last weekend.
As you can see Don's folks are pretty serious kinda folks.
You would never think they lived in the wine country of Sonoma County.

I like to refer to these pictures as "The Quesadilla."

Two tortillas with a lot of cheese in between them.

And of course I had to dress appropriately to fit in with these folks.
Can't upset the out-laws, by any means, and otherwise I would have looked totally out of place!

"We don't care who gets elected on July 2, because whoever it is will be overthrown."
-Sumcomandante Marcos
spokesperson for Zapatista Army of Natural Liberation

Sorry for this brief interruption....

2010-07-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Mexico City posts will be briefly interrupted by this following message.

I miss my dog Carmen!!!
I hope she is well and happy.
I wish we could have brought her with us, but there was no way.
Three months is such a long time to be away, and I'm sure she thinks we abandoned her.

Hoping that she is being loved.

Will now resume back to happy posts.
Sorry for this brief interruption.

Centro Nacional de las Artes

2010-07-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

Teagan got her wish yesterday and we went to see the movie Eclipse at the cinema.
For those of you not wanting to pay to see the movie here is a nice little synopsis of the movie all played by cats by Pop Suede. Wednesdays in Mexico are two for one days at the movies. Plus we were able to find Eclipse in English with Spanish subtitles. So Teagan was a pretty happy camper.

The nearest cinema to us is CNA, which stands for Centro Nacional de las Artes. The cinema is next to a beautiful green area that house many art, dance, and music schools and theaters. We walked through the grounds and buildings while we headed home, but didn't have much time to look around, because of course it started to rain.
But here is some pictures of the kids running around on the grass and the, um... art.

Notice how the two hedges next to the two blurs that are my children resemble a bird and a face? There seems to be some kind of fondness here for cutting your hedges to look like objects? Most are cut to look like animals some just look like poodles having bad hair days.

This guys stands at the entrance to the art building. We tried to ask him directions, but he was not much of a help.

Now this one is um, really special.
My kids thought it looked like their chicken Ginger? I who was I to argue?
One of my friends noticed that there is a cord, and it must light up at night.
Wow.
I guess my only comment here is that at least it seems to promote safe sex?

Another view...

I actually like this piece a lot, because I relate to it. Some days, I would not be surprised if a bird tried to make a nest out of my hair either.

Cuicuilco

2010-07-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday we ventured over to the pyramid of Cuicuilco.
It actually wasn't a far venture, but because of our lack in understanding the world that is the Metrobus, we ended up taking a taxi.

Cuicuilco (kwee-kwil-ko) was abondoned when a nearby volcano erupted. You can still see the lava rock around the park and much of Mexico City, especially in our neighborhood. It quite spectacular the way it just jets up in some places. And it's a beautiful contracts when plants and bougainvillea grow over the black rocks.

Don reading the plaque to the girls before climbing up the pyramid. And Ari, being Ari.

One of the beautiful things about Mexico is the rich culture and history. Everywhere you look around this city there are ruins and art, where you would least expect it. Right next to the skyscrapers, there is this!!!
I think the kids could have stayed here all day. But all good things come to an end, and that end here is usually caused by the rain.

zoologico de chapultepec

2010-07-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Ari and her cheerful self walking through Chapultepec Park to the Zoo. Don thinks we should start a collection of Ari in beautiful place with the same gloomy face on? Right now she is complaining that her "legs are about to shatter." Oh poor, mija. As you can see, her life is quite rough.

After we all entered the zoo, which is FREE, rested, and split a soda (no high fructose corn syrup here, folks,) Ari's spirits were lifted. Then the girls heard another girl speaking English, and poof! Their new bff was established! We followed this little girl around the zoo for a while, until she had to leave.

There were also some cool animals, including a panda! We didn't get to see many animals, because we got there late (see first picture,) so another trip will have to happen soon. Here's a cute squirrel monkey, that melted our hearts.

And, ....well. I don't know if you can quite see what this male monkey is doing to this female, but he seemed to be really into it. I think it was all for show? But there was lots of girl shrieking and laughing, and some bright red faces.

It's bird, it's a plane.....

2010-07-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

No, it's a Mexican Vampire mime in the middle of Coyoacan!!! We didn't think things could get any weirder after we expectantly went to church. But it did. We should have seen it coming after the run in with the large group of screaming clown on the way over?

I don't think that I have ever seen as many clowns or street performers ever than in the 6 weeks in D.F.? They can be a little creepy at times, but usually they are quite entertaining.

Xochimilco

2010-07-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we spent the day in Xochimilco. Xochimilco is in the south of Mexico City. It was originally an island, Xochimilco meaning "place were flowers grow." It is now is a historic neighborhood with canals and chinampas (floating gardens) running through it. You can rent colorful boats that will take you along these canals with mariachis and vendors offering you music, food, and gifts along the way. The boats are colorful and are often named after the owner's wife or daughter. Mostly Mexican families take these boats and bring a picnic lunch along with them. You can take tours anywhere from 1 - 4 hours long depending on where you want to go. We opted for 1 hour tourist ride, because it was late in the afternoon and we weren't prepared with food for a longer 3 -4 hour ride to the Ecological preserve. We hoping to go again in a couple weeks with Don's family!

After the ride we hoped back on the metro train and walked to Museo Dolores Olmedo. Dolores Olmedo was an art collector and "good" friend of Diego Rivera. She donated her collection and this hacienda to the people of Mexico in 1994, and later died in 2002. The house and art collection are amazing. Many works of Diego Rivera and, under normal circumstances the largest collection of Frida Kahlo reside here. Unfortunately for us, Frida is visiting Europe for all of 2010. I think the Teagan and Ari's favorite part were the peacocks and the peahens with their babies? But the hairless dogs were also pretty cool too.

La Malinche

2010-07-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in Tenancingo! Hike up to La Malinche!!
This hill is very close to betts and Carlos's house, and near the top there is an ancient carving of a women. A carving like this of a women deity is a strange concept here, because most deities are men. Therefore, she is thought of as a traitor, as was "La Malinche." So that is what she is called.

Here is us parking. Our kids are pretty thrilled riding in the back of the truck!

Hiking up.

And here she is!!!
If you notice, someone recently gave her a mustache.

It's amazing to be in a city like this where there is so much history everywhere. Ruins, paintings, carvings, history wherever you look.

Tenancingo!

2010-07-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

I'm late at posting these, but we come home to a bunch of grim news after this trip. It took me a little time to get myself out of my funk and post more. Now I have a bit of a back long. It's a bit like being constipated, huh? Which will never be a problem here in Mexico City ;)

These are picture from Tenancingo where our friends betts, Carlos, and their son Danilo live. One of the GREAT things about Mexico is their amazing bus service! Very cheap, very clean, and buses run about every 20 minutes to this little town. The down part is you are forced to watch whatever movie they decide to play. In our case, it almost cost us missing our stop. Stupid Sandra Bullocks and her lovey-dovey movies!

Tenancingo is beautiful, lush and green. Teagan actually said "Yep, I could live here."
Whoa!!! This from the girl that hates D.F. She is definitely a country girl at heart.
Here are the girl in front of betts' blackberry batch:

Betts and Carlos made us yummy blackberry aguas with these berries! Then we baked an apple pie with her apples. It was heavenly.
A couple pictures of the girls at the house, and of them loving the neighbor's dog Scrappy. He's pretty much adopted the house and the girls, as you can see why.

Also a nice hike in their neighborhood. Hiking up to some ponds that their dogs love to swim in.

And this was only our first day here!

So long, farewell, I hate to say good-bye...

2010-06-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

We have had a hard couple of weeks. Mexico City has been challenging for us, mostly because of language barriers. We are all taking Spanish classes at Escuela de Idiomas Coyoacan but still we are far from fluent. The children are having an especially hard time, and miss their friends.
We did have a lovely visit to visit Betts and Carlos in Tenancigo last weekend (I'll post pictures soon,) but came home to news of death. First our chicken Coco, and then my grandmother Mary which was very hard. Then yesterday I heard that our dog Carmen helped kill our friend's cat Gary. So sad. So much death.
I am hoping in the power of three's, and that this is it for the rest of our trip?!

Anyway, I saw these beauties for sale last weekend in Tenancingo and they made me chuckle.
Because of course the deceased love flowers, but what they would really want now that they are dead are beer and cigarettes.

I suppose this isn't much different than "pouring a forty for yer homie?" Hmm?

If only I knew about the death that was awaiting us I could have stocked up on these.
But still, I don't think that our chicken, Stephanie's cat, nor my Mormon grandmother care for beer and cigarettes? Well... maybe the chicken would have enjoy the delicious roses?

Driving in D.F.

2010-06-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

Can't understand why people are so confused when driving in Mexico City?

Crime in Mexico City

2010-06-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

Another insightful GEM stolen from the blog MidwesternerInMexico This is a great blog for people like us trying to navigator around this huge city. Also reinstates how the fear of Mexico City that most Americans have is unreal. Sure there are parts of Mexico City that are very unsafe, just like any big city. But I really do feel safer here than I do in Tucson. In fact I'll be happily surprised if our house in Tucson does not get robbed while we are here in Mexico City :(

The Official MidwesternerInMexico.com Quiz for Determining your Risk of Violence in Mexico

(please answer yes or no to the following questions)

I am the head of a powerful drug cartel.
I am employed by a recent drug cartel start-up, and my title is “Business Development Manager, Mexico”.
I cannot leave the house without my 3 diamond rings, diamond stud earrnings, and emerald necklace.
I only travel by limo.
I insist on wearing shorts, sandals with socks pulled up to mid-calf, a Hawaiian shirt, and a floppy hat at all times, while using my obnoxious American “outside voice”.
I have a tendency to flash wads of cash while trying to pay for a $10 peso bottle of water with a $1000 peso bill.
I travel strictly using libre taxis hailed off the street in Mexico City, like the green VW bugs, because I don’t want to pay the extra $30 (+/-) pesos for a safer sitio taxi.
I am a high-level Mexican law enforcement official actively engaged in the fight against drugs and am not on the narco payroll.
I prefer to drive long trips between cities in Mexico only at night, and I am too cheap to pay the tolls to drive on the safe, well-maintained cuota highways.
I insist on going out drinking by myself, getting loaded, then stumbling around the back alleys of Mexico City singing “You are my sunshine” at the top of my lungs.
I sell drugs to a circle of depressed, soccer-moms in a US suburb, and I am traveling to Mexico to take advantage of the crazy dollar/peso exchange rate to find a new dealer for my drug supply.
I am visiting Mexico to conduct a major business transaction for which I intend to convert $20,000 USD into $306,000 pesos in public at the airport currency exchange desk.
I ask taxi drivers to take me on tours past the homes of local drug lords, where I get out of the taxi and take photos from the middle of the street during broad daylight.
I insist on traveling to parts of Mexico City not mentioned in guide books or specifically mentioned as areas full of criminals, like Tepito, a.k.a. the “Thieves’ Market”.

OK, end of quiz! Time to review your score.

If you answered yes to #1, #2, or #8: I strongly recommend you avoid travel into Mexico, leave Mexico if you are already here, or seriously consider a new line of work.

If you answered yes to #3, #4, or #6: perhaps you have forgotten that you are visiting a country where the daily minimum wage for 2009 is $54.80 pesos. That is $3.58 USD PER DAY at the current exchange rate. Please bear this in mind and stop flaunting your money like a fool.

If you answered yes to #7 or #9: have you checked the exchange rate lately?? During the 8 months we have been here, it has gone from 10 pesos / 1 dollar to 15.3 pesos / 1 dollar. Stop being a cheap ass and spend the extra pesos to pick the safe option.

And finally, if you answered yes to #5, #10, #11, #12, #13 or #14: you are simply not very smart and probably shouldn’t be allowed to travel, period.

I hope this insightful quiz has eased your fears about travel to Mexico, as long as you are not an idiot or a criminal.

Now all this said I know that my mother is praying each and every day for our safe arrival back home!!! Because even her Mexican gardener has said that he would not go to Mexico City because of the crime.

With love from Mexico...

2010-06-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

We happened upon a cute and crowed toy store last weekend and started collecting some gifts for our nieces.
I'm a little over excited about them! And can't wait to improve my Spanish so that I can acquire some more cool little gifties.

First for my two year old niece Pearl in Australia, a tortilla making kit. Look it even comes with a mini tortilla press!!! She will definitely be the coolest kid in school now, especially when she strolls into her Australian preschool with mini handmade tortillas. I mean, really.

Also for both Pearl and our sweet little Audrey in Napa, Stuffed microbes!!! YAY!!!
Who in their right mind would not want their child to get E. Coli and Influenza from Mexico? (Hey, at least I didn't bring them back herpes.)

Yep. Nothing is too good for my nieces.

2010-06-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

WEEK 1!!!
My family and I have been in Coyoacan for one Week today! It's still pretty hard to get around and we are having a hard time understanding everyone around us. We have been walking 45 minutes each way to our daily Spanish classes, then up to our apartment on the 4th floor (whew!). Not surprisingly we are pretty tired by the time we get home and have not explored around our hood too much. So today we ventured out of our bubble a little and took the trolley back home. It was nice not to have to walk for a change.

Even on trolleys Mexico Ari is "super."

Later we refilled our water bottle and walked through our hood a little. Found a very popular vegetarian restaurant and... what... a language school??! We could have been walking a mere 2 blocks to learn Spanish and not several miles? Well, where is the adventure in that?!
We also found a nice organic market and bought some beautiful eggs, organic veggies, organic milk, and strawberry jam. We still needed to go the the "Mega" for some other things, like tortillas de nopales (hey, worth a try!) I think the kids just like to go to the Mega just because of the escalator?

Also found another blog with some worthwhile info about living in Mexico City....

http://www.midwesternerinmexico.com/random-facts-ive-learned-in-mexico-city/

Day 3 in Mexico City

2010-05-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Today we walked our guero butts over to the language school and signed up for classes. We all start Monday! As you can imagine the girls were delighted to learn that while all their friends are relaxing and swimming this summer they will walking several miles and going to school to learn Spanish. YAY!!! Look at the excitement in their eyes!

As we walked back home I saw this sign on the bus stop. Hmm... ?
Just in case you had any doubt about how Mexicans feel about SB 1070.

2010-05-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Day two:

Mexican plumbing is not my friend.
I guess you cannot flush toilet paper down the toilet here?
I have been plunging and dumping hot water down the toilet all day.
As soon as I get it somewhat cleared out ... there is a new prize for me in there and I start all over again.
I guess I need to call or email the landlord.

We walked around a little today, trying to find the large park Viveros de Coyoacan. Don didn't really know where it was, but insisted it was just right up the street. An hour, two crying kids, and many blisters later we just turned around and came home.

I have to admit I really do not want to be here, but I'm trying to make the most of it. It would be entirely different if I spoke spanish, but I don't understand anything that's going on around me and it's very frustrating.
Plus I do not understand why we are here if Don can't speak spanish? His whole dissertation is based on interviewing Mexican cab drivers. I seem to the only person here that think speaking the language is important. Which is also very frustrating.
Plus the poop issue, not a good day.
Oh lord! Hope is gets better.

Mexico City, baby!

2010-05-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

I going to try and actually keep up this blog while we are here in DF, wish me luck!

Day numero uno:

My family and I are living in Mexico City for 3 months.
We are staying in Coyoacan in a social help building. So while Coyoacan is a rather expensive place to live, our apartment building is pretty mixed and family oriented. It's also very loud at times with lots of activity all around.
Don's not to fond of that part.
We were lucky to have good friends with good relatives and were able to get a ride to our apartment from the airport, saving us a cab ride.
It's always an adventure driving here! Cars are going every different direction at once and honking, it seems like complete pandemonium. But I'm sure there is some kind of hidden order? The biggest car gets the right of way, maybe?
When we got to our apartment and settled in we had to go grocery shopping for food and to make dinner. We were told by our landlord to go to the "Mega" about three blocks away. We are definitely going to need to teach our children how to walk in a big city! They were all over the sidewalk, in everyones way. The Mega did not lie. It was MEGA. More mega than 5 Food Cities and a walmart smashed into 1. Two stories with a parking garage below. It was hard to just find what we needed and leave.
Eventually we did finagle our way out of the store and walked back to our new home.

The girl settled into Scooby-Doo en espanol, and were delighted to find an occupied nest right outside their window. They have been watching the mother inca dove care for her little chick through out the evening.
We also watched the kids below play soccer and people walking their dogs.
After we ate dinner the thunder kicked in, then rain and lightening!
What a welcome!!!

Sleep tight!

2010-03-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

I fixed up the girls bunk beds yesterday.
I bought nice semi-matching quilts thanks to my $10 off coupon from Burlington Coat Factory. Okay, that's a joke.
I was lured into the store, because of the coupon. The quilts were $30 each, so really the $10 off was just a lame excuse to buy them. But aren't they puuuurty?!!
My rational was thus:

1. Make the kids room and beds presentable for whoever will be staying at our house this summer.

2. Encourage my children to want to clean there room, by giving them an incentive.

3. Encourage my children to sleep in their own beds my making them all pretty-like.

So, here is the result:

Yes, I think the beds do look at lot nicer.
Yes, the kids did clean up a little, but you can hardly tell. They also "decorated" their beds, meaning even MORE junk!
YES, they actually slept in their owns beds last night!!!! WOOT!!!
I am feeling quite justified in my cutesy quilt purchased.
(Plus it also justifies my earlier bamboo sheet purchase :)

Today I furthered my splurging binge by buying one of those baby rail guards, because the top bunk doesn't have any railing. I'm sure all of us grew up without railing on the top bunk, but we also started on the bottom and learned through trial and error not to fall off. But my soft children have not have this important learning curve in their lives.
I am really paranoid that my 10 year old will roll right off.
Ker-plunk!!!
To justify that the rail was not a "baby" rail, I made a cover for it and cut the "First Years" tag off. Teagan picked out the fabric. Now she can sleep safely without plummeting to her death in the middle of the night.
If you can't tell it's chicken fabric.

She can sleep.
I can sleep.
And if I want too, I can now turn over and sleep on my side. Or my back?? Or my other side???
Aaaah.

Holladay Magnet School

2010-03-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

An awesome day in Mr. Wagner's 4th grade class.

First, a piano was rolled into class.

Since Holladay is a performing arts magnet school, this is actually quite an easy thing to do. There are several pianos in the hallway that can just be rolled into a classroom. One of my favorite things at Holladay is seeing kids just sit down and start playing. Just because the pianos are there.
After the piano arrived, kids moved their groups of tables over in preparation of their two special guests. A pianist/cornet player and another puppeteer.

In Wagner's class, as a reward for good behavior, every Friday children are allowed to do their own puppet show. Eric Wagner is a puppeteer. He is also the coolest teacher ever.

Today was special, because the class got to see professionals. Very serious professionals that strive to teach these children life lessons through the fine art of shadow puppets.
Or something like that...?

Afterward, Wagner's class got to participate in a taste test for TUSD's new cafeteria items: Beef Flautas and Turkey Wraps.
It must have been hard to taste food after all the donuts they just ate from having two classmate's celebrate their birthdays that day?

Then to top off their extremely rough day. Kids were forced to play on the playground the rest of the day... with each other!
You can just see the torment in their faces.

Apparently, Mr. Wagner's class were not the only class having fun that day.
As I walked past Mrs. Stembridge's classroom, I saw all three 3rd grade classes in there in a break dance circle. And I believe I saw Stembridge and Redman dancing. I'm sure if Redman wasn't 8 months pregnant she would have been in the middle doing a head spin.

Wow, Holladay rocks!

New Year!

2010-01-02T16:02:00.000-08:00

We rung in the New Year with yummy black eyed peas and greens! So delicious.
I'm hoping those peas bring us good luck and a better year than last.
Also, I didn't let Don do laundry, it's bad luck.
Did I mention my husband does the laundry and the dishes?
I guess I have a lot to be thankful for, even if Teagan's underwear is often in my drawer (which I take as a compliment.)

Today I began my new year by painting over hard feelings.
Quite literally.

Last summer our kids playhouse plus many of their toys were spray painted while we were away. Not by vandalistic teenagers, but by our house sitter's 5 year old son and his friend.
Also two chickens were left out and killed by a cat.
I'm still a little depressed by it all and my kids never like to go in their playhouse. I think it's filled with sad feeling for us all.
It was a bad return home from an otherwise fabulous vacation.

So new year, new beginnings.
Starting with the playhouse!

I began painting it a cheery yellow today. I'm going to paint the trim white. Teagan got some cute owl wall stickers from Santa that will look darling in it too.
Here are a couple pictures of the spray painted things (there were a lot of expensive toys too, much of them I just threw out.)

Oops. I forgot to paint the door...

Anyway there's such a happy feeling inside now and it's going to be super cute when it's all done.
It feels so good to paint over the bad memories and start fresh!

Doomed I tell you!

2009-12-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

My quirky father-in-law sent out and email today proving my long thought out theory.
That Anderson's are all loco, regardless of their age and gender.

Pictures taken in 2006:

Don's grandfather Donald and Teagan imitating:

Pictures taken in 2009:
(Same restaurant!)

I believe that we are helpless.
The nutty Anderson gene must be more dominant than my hippy Kolb gene.
But if Teagan grows up to be 98 and can still balance a tortilla chip on her lips I'll be pretty damn happy.

Undocumented elves anyone???

2009-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Are hiring elves that don't have the right papers illegal?
I need to know cause I need to get my sweatshop, um, I mean workshop flowing.

I feel a little guilty that I make things for other peoples kids, but never my own.
Of course that is not entirely true, but for the most part, yep.
Minus the retarded owl.
Oh wait, sorry, that is not very p.c.?
He is a "special-tarded" owl.

So here is my sweetshop, so far.

Felt cupcakes for niece in Australia (nice and light for shipping yo.)

Eggs, bacon and evil knife for niece with parents who understand my sick sense of humor.

Random bag for a classmate of Teagans...

Onsies made for friend and soon to be neighbor. :)

And special owl for daughter.
Notice that one wing is sewn upside-down... yeah I TOTALLY meant to do that!

See, he's just bustin' a move.

2009-11-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

We have had a rough weekend.
Thursday night while I was a work the kids found a cat hiding underneath their playhouse.
Actually I guess Carmen found it, it had been hit by a car.
Don put him in the garage. He was incredibly loving and affectionate, and was jumping around the room wanting to be snuggled.
But he had a HUGE open wound on the side of him. I mean HUGE.
We debated what to do with him, and then a friend suggested her vet might be caring and give us help.
So we decided to pay for the visit to see what she had to say.
We had already look into all the shelters, they are all full.
I guess a sign of a bad economy is people dumping off pets left and right.
The Humane Society or Animal Shelter would put him to sleep.
We all kind of fell in love with him and made a family decision to try and help him.
We decided to pay for a visit to the vet, look for his owners ourselves.
When we brought him to the vet, we were told that first, "she" was an altered "he" (oops,)and secondly that he had been hit about 1-2 weeks ago.
His fur had all dried up and therefore it could not been sewn back.
He'd need several surgeries.
If he didn't get them the wound would always stay open and it would get infected.
We told her that we don't have the money to pay for anything like that (esp. since he's not our cat!)
The vet was nice and offer to take the cat for the weekend, clean out his wounds as much as possible, put him under and do a little stitch work at no cost, while we looked for his owners.
SO we have spent this whole weekend searching high and low for the owners of a cat!
Notices everywhere, craigslist, emails, newspapers, etc all weekend without any leads.
They kids were getting sad about not finding his owners.
Finally I put out a plea for any advice on what to do with this poor cat on craigslist.
And... late last night, someone offered to help him.
She wants us to take him to the vet she works with today.
She (or the organization she works with?) will pay for his surgery and then find him a home.
YAY!!! Teagan and Ari are so happy!!!
I was even happier.
Yay, to happy endings and second chances!!

I'm on a roll!

2009-10-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

A rock n' roll that is!!
Hahaha, get it?!
Okay not so funny I know.
But sure nuf I am on a stuffed weird felt objects roll!

I know I'm a dork and I ain't got that witty blogger talk.

But what I do got is really cool felt 45's for my cutie-pie niece....

Also I am currently making a set of cupcakes for my other cutie pie niece (I am SO lucky!!!)

Procraftination

2009-10-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Okay so I've been in a funk for a while now.
I miss having friends and living in the EB where everybody knows my name.

But I did make two things today that I love, and I thought that I should share them.
A sweet little felt knife for my 5 month old niece, and a little cupcake purse for one of my daughter's friends.
Some might say "hey, send in the meds!"
But those who know and love me will appreciate the awkward/loveliness of this little duo.
I actually I kinda hate to separate them.

Okay.
So maybe I am truly starting to lose it a wee bit?

But, hey. At least my kids are growing up in a loving and nurturing environment.
And that is what really matters.
Right?

Pot n'tots

2009-08-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

This summer has blessed me with two new babies!
OH, how I love them little babies, I do!
Plus I love the mamas. Holly and Stephanie and two of my fav peeps.

I got the pattern online on turning onsies into dresses.
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/onesie_dress_2
These dresses are made from recycled onsies I bought at the the thrift shop and fabric I just had on hand from my recent fabric hording rampage.

Besides my sewing excursion, when I've been home this summer I've spent my creative outlet in the pot shop.
Sad to say that I have not been home enough this summer, plus had to miss two classes due to sickness and kiddos (Ari and mama need a little one on one time,) so I wasn't around much in pottery.
All I made this whole summer were two pieces. Sigh.
Oh well, there always next session, right?

New ART?

2009-06-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

New ARTiculations just had another dazzling performance last weekend and the kids got the best seat in the house. Actually, I think they got every seat in the house, because after each performance they ran like crazy to take over a different part of the theater. And did the running screaming children completely drive the ushers to suicide and get us all 86ed from PCC West? Normally it would have, but thanks to Tammy we were at the dress rehearsal and all ushers are none the wiser.

After the show, the kids were allowed on stage to run around and the the guy who did the lighting even provided them with some fun colors to help them along.

The kids loved the dance performances, the parents loved not having to tell them to be still, and all provided for a lovely evening. I swear dress rehersals are the way to go!

Thank you New ARTiculations for the fantastic show!!!

Summer Lovin'

2009-05-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Starting off the first week of summer with swimming, sewing, reading, and especially whiney children.
AH! Nothing says summer fun like the words "mama, I'm boooooored." ringing through your head.
This week has been espeially low key since pottery ans swim lessons haven't started yet.
Hopefully next week when we bust out a more productive schedule, the whine will subside and the wine will commence!

In my not leaving the house all week-ness I did manage to dust off the old sewing machine and make these:

A dress for Teagan

A tutu for Pearl

I also started a painting, that one day I may even finish? But no promises :)

Bunnies and fairy rings

2009-04-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty mellow at our house.
The kids had an egg hunt twice.
Once from the Easter Bunny and one from the Easter Don along with their friend Sophie.

First of all I have to say our eggs were rockin!
We dyed them this year using men's neck ties.
What you do is get some silk ties, cut them and wrap them around your eggs, then wrap a cut up towel or other fabric over them and tie it. This is so the color doesn't run onto other eggs.
Boil the eggs for 20 minutes in water with vinegar.

And voila, tie dye!

I think they could have come out better if I was more exact about wrapping the ties, but I kinda liked the swirly effect.

After friends went home and candy was devoured, we all settled down into our own projects.

I finished these onsies for my SIL and started on her baby quilt.

...and the kids started making a fairy ring with some mushrooms we have (the bigger one I made in my pottery class.)

Luckily the ring is in the front yard, so we won't have to worry about any innocent chickens stepping inside.
We've already lost 5 chickens to the neighborhood cat, we can't afford to lose anymore to fairies.

She talks to the animals...

2009-04-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ari. My budding Dr. Doolittle.

Ari put a chair in front of the playhouse blocking the entrance to the playhouse porch. She designed it so that the chickens could get through and go on the porch, but our dog Carmen could not.

Don: That's really cleaver what you did with the chair Ari.

Ari: It's so the chickens can go in and Carmen can't bug them.

Don: I see that. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Ari: No, Midnight (the chicken) told me to do it.

Don: Really? Midnight told you? Now how could Midnight tell you to do that?

Ari: Ahh... I dunno? She just had a thought in her head.

Apparently both my kids are fluent in Chickenese.

Look what I can do!

2009-04-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Spent an exhausting day shoveling river rock at Lupe's with Kurt and Vicki.
We shoveled a small hill, transported it over toBELL for Earth Day, then unloaded it into a pile. OH, I'm sure my muscal's will be hurtin in the morning, but it was worth it!
BTW, if ANYONE needs river rock, I know a house that is just itching to get rid of it!
Their home is surrounded with it, and it goes down quite deep.
If you are lucky you can not only score some rock, but yummy homemade salsa to boot!

After some hard labor I came home and had plans to work on the irrigation pipe I busted on Saturday while I was trying to dig a garden. But I didn't. I was pooped.

Instead I went over to Stephanie to to grab my sewing machine so that I could sew this for my niece's 1st birthday.

It's just a simple banner, but it came out pretty cute.
Yep, I'm damn proud of myself! Plus it took less than two hours to do!!

I hung out at Stephanie's for a while swamping funny websites.
She introduced me a beautiful new world of UNmotivation.
All you die-hard people who thrive on inspirational quotes please don't look at this website!!!
BUT, for all you slackers... there is a whole world out there and it's just for you.

http://despair.com/viewall.html

They will make you feel slightly less adequate than you already feel.
Or maybe they'll make you plain miserable?
Either way.

My friends ROCK!

2009-03-23T18:52:00.001-07:00

I expressed on facebook how I was challenged of what to put on Ari's annual mixed tape. I received luckily a couple of great suggestions for songs too!
But one friend went above that and emailed me a whole birthday playlist.
First of all you need to know Stacy C. She rocks. Literally, she does.
She is infamous in the Bay Area for her mixes. And if you are lucky enough to be her close friend, chances are you have one made especially for you.

So when she read my distress email this is what she sent me within record speed:

Subject: Happy Happy...

What a hoot! :)

---

THE CD THAT STACY WOULD MAKE FOR ARI'S BIRTHDAY PARTY:

1  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
2  Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - The Beatles
3  Music Box - Regina Spektor
4  Suki Yaki - Kyu Sakamoto
5  I Think I'm Turning Japanese - The Vapors
6  All Over The World - Electric Light Orchestra
7  Private Eyes - Hall & Oates
8  Alley Cat - Bent Fabric
9  Shish Kebab - Ralph Marterie
10  Iko Iko - The Dixie Cups
11  Click Song Number One - Miriam Makeba
12  Whistle Stop - Roger Whittaker
13  Jolly Roger - Adam and the Ants
14  Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello
15  Little Drop of Poison - Tom Waits
16  Summer Nights - John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John
17  The Battle of 1814 - Johnny Horton
18  Queenie Wahine's Papaya - Elvis Presley
19  Ulupalakua - Hui Ohana
20  Pipeline - The Chantays
21  Rock Lobster - The B-52's
22  Walk, Don't Run - The Ventures
23  Apache - The Shadows
24  Mr. Custer - Larry Verne
25  Running Bear - Johnny Preston
26  Stranded In The Jungle - The Cadets
27  Beep Beep - The Playmates

How cool are my friends?
I love them, each and every one.
(This means YOU!)

What tha F...

2009-03-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

Today we spent a slow Saturday lounging around the house.
The kids played, I made a couple shrinky dinks and we all had a hard time motivating.
We finally made it over to the the Festival of Books around noon.
WOW!
Tucson festivals always cease to amaze me.
Never in Berkeley would there be such an amazing family friendly event!!
It was actually too big and the kids were a bit over stimulated.
We went to a few booths, said "hi" to a few friends, and visited Rebecca at her booth.
Then quietly snuck into the sweet World of Words library that she works at. I highly recommend visiting it if you go. It was like a little bit of tranquility underneath the super highway of people. PLUS fyi, it's a good place to pee!
(NO, I did not squat in the aisles of your library Rebecca. I swear that smell did not come from me!)

The whole thing was so very cool.
It makes me a proud Tucsonian to live in a place that has such devotion to learning and to it's children.
Every festival in Tucson always has children's activities.
In the Bay Area festivals were rarely kid friendly much less kid oriented.
I blame this "love of children" crap on our proximity to Mexico and their child loving culture.
Damn them!

Tomorrow the Festival of Books continues.
At 11:30am the monk in the bookstore will be erasing the sand mandala and giving away the sand to people so they can bless their homes with.
We just may have to go back for that!

And to prove I'm not making this all up....

Viola!

2009-03-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

I had a super hard week this week.
Actually "super hard" doesn't give it justice.
Anyway I've been meaning to post a picture of my finished purse.

Actually, I've been meaning to do a lot of things.. like take my sickly cat to the vet and buy my kids much needed shoes.

Oh, my poor cat.

But off the subject of cats and onto birds!

My lovely new purse...

I bet my kids ballet school could beat up your kids ballet school!

2009-02-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a recent article about the ever funny and talented Mr. Rodger's ballet class!
Teagan and Ari love, love, LOOOVE Mr. Rodgers!
This is a lot coming from two kids who have never liked any of the classes I've dragged them to in the past. But they get so excited when they get to go to class at Dancing in the Streets.
Joseph Rodgers just makes dancing fun!!!

http://elindenews.com/features/12-features/101-south-tucson-studio-keeps-kids-dancing

Check it out and look for the cute red-head.

my so-called life.

2009-02-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

I swear I didn't just sit on the computer all day blogging, looking at etsy, and lurking on facebook. I really do have a life. I do, I do!

Okay, I did skip my pottery class. For no good reason, I just didn't feel like going.
Instead I sat on my rump ordering Amy Butler fabric (which I never actually bought.)
Then I blogged some.
Then I tried calling Jen (hint, hint...)
Then I lurked on facebook.

But later I got my rear-in-gear and had a productive day.

I went to Stephanie's and we lurk on etsy.
PLUS, I brought my sewing machine over and actually sewed something.
We both made purses. Neither are finished, but so far so good.

Here's Stephanie bag:

(She even made her own handles!)

Here's my bag:

Steph and I thought we were SO F'in clever when we thought about what was going to be on our next bag.
But we looked it up on etsy, and apparently we aren't as smart as we think we are:

Look this one is even a shrinky dink!

Hmf!

So after Steph's I even went to library and then came home and planted a cactus garden.
I do have a life, I really do!

Proper etiquette

2009-02-26T09:20:00.001-08:00

Say you are invited to a fancy Tea Party or something.
It is always proper etiquette to bring something to the host.
Like flowers or a fifth of everclear or something classy like that.

But why butcher innocent flowers?
What have they done to you?
You don't want your host to think you are a killer do you???

Here's the solution:
Duct Tape Roses.

Beautiful. Simple. Practical.

My kind of tea party!

2009-02-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

Made by Berlin-based artist Yvonne Lee Schultz.
It makes me smile inside.

And every tea party needs the perfect table cloth, am I right?

Ha!

The fab Stephanie Fuchser

2009-02-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

I spent the whole day hanging out with the fabulous Stephanie Fuchser (formerly Stephanie Lynn.)
We always have so much fun crafting together and hanging out, but we both get in our reclusive phases and don't get together enough.
We always talked about opening up a shop.
Unfortunately, another Stephanie and Annie beat us to it.
No really. Just look one does mosaics and the other paints.
Damn them and their togetherness and stuff!

So our plan today was to sew.
Did we sew? Hells no!
Instead we spent the day getting coffee and hanging out at JoAnns.
All day at a cheesy fabric store.
The day couldn't have been better!
On Friday we will actually sew. I swear.
Stephanie Fuchser is an amazing mosaic artist.
I always brag about her talents.

Just look.
My friends they got skillz, yo.

Friends, how many of us have them?

2009-02-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

I've had a very uplifting week.
I come to realize how important my friends are and how much I love them.

I've been too caught up in my own depression about something that one person did to me a couple months ago, that I really haven't fully appreciated all the good people in my life.

This was my fab weekend:

I went to Carnaval and saw great peeps while enjoying the fabulous weather and amazing music. Then I went to a kid party and enjoyed some good parent company while laughing at the kids having a water fight.

I went out for the first time in a while with Cassandra and had a blast!

Jen and Jared came over and hung out and check out the chicken and the coop.
I was a little bored when they left. Next time I'll bolt the doors!

I spent the day emailing Holly and talking to her about the crazy family we unknowingly married into.

I talked to Stephanie for a long time and made a coffee date for tomorrow.

Yippee!!!

Good Friends, great weekend!!

tagged

2009-02-18T21:09:00.000-08:00

My friend Jen tagged me.
I never respond to tags, not because I hate them, but because I'm too blog illiterate to figure it out.
I'm not sure how many times I was tagged in that facebook 25 Thing About Me thingy, but a bunch? And it wasn't that I didn't want to share my deepest secrets with people I hardly know... oh wait?
JK, actually I can't figure out how to even write a note in facebook.
Or most things in facebook.
I can comment and I can change my status.

So here is an example of my tag lameness.

The object is to go into your 6th picture folder and pull out your sixth picture.
Then you describe what is going on in the picture.
Easy-peasy? Not for moi.
I saved my picture, but then I lost it.
I thought I downloaded it, but this picture came up instead.

Sorry Jen, I tried.
At least I can try to explain this picture?
It was taken two years ago at Agua Linda farms.
We meet Catherine and Guillermo there and road the wagon out to pick pumpkins with the kids.

...and you can't believe what we saw!

hehe.

Etsy mishap

2009-01-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

I have a problem.
Okay I have several problems, really.
But this particular problem is what we are delving into today.
This problem involves never reading directions.
I can never follow a recipe exactly.
I have a hard time putting together the complicated toys, and I leave all wiring and computer issues to my husband. He is the opposite of me. He'll be online fer days looking up directions and rereading them before trying to do a project. Not me! I have to just do it and figure it out for myself.

I guess this is because I'm an active learner. I can only learn by doing.
I can read the same paragraph over and over, but I won't figure it out until I do it for myself.

This is my rationale for my Etsy mishap, and I'm sticking to it!
Because I didn't read the etsy listing all the way through.
I reacted and I bought.

Here is what I did.
I thought I was buying a really cool scarf at a bargain price.
STOOPID.
Really, why would this scarf be only $5 and there is no shipping?

Hmm.... maybe because I just bought the pattern and not the actual scarf?
Now I'm trying to teach myself how to crochet ala youtube and kids books (because I can't follow the directions of grown-up books.)

Anyway, I'm sticking to my guns here, and I think this mishap was solely because I'm an active learner. Now I've actively learned to read postings carefully before purchasing them.
So if'n anyone out there knows how to crochet?

Monster Booty

2009-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

Today I went on a brief excursion to 4th Ave in hopes to find myself a cool hand bag.
All mine are currently broken or in bad shape. Plus I got myself a little Birthday money.
Ye-haw, for that once a year BDay allowance from mom!!!
I ended up buying a cute little handmade purse from Monster Booty. I love her things and her new store is way cool.
Most of her stuff I really admire, but I often walk away thinking "I could make that."
Well, probably not the purse? Okay, maybe that too? But just maybe?
So today I actually did it!
Teagan really liked a certain cat pillow at the shop, and I went home and made a similar pillow out of fabric scraps I had around the homestead. And guess what? It didn't even suck!
It did come out a little more elongated than I had meant and I still may add to the eyes.
But all in all I am very proud of myself.
Plus it was free and took me only an hour to complete.

Teagan loves it, and Ari wants a dog one.
And I'm feeling preeety dang nifty!

Kindness

2008-12-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

There's this older couple that comes into my coffee shop a lot. They are they so polite and nice, and alway ask how me and my family are doing.
They get a small coffee and a water ALWAYS. Well, at least for the four years I've been there.
When they go one vacation, they bring their photos in afterwards to share.
They often dress in coordinating colors.
They are pretty darn adorable. I secretly hope to be like them when Don and I are older.
They know most of the other regulars, and when they miss a couple days other customers ask me where they are.
They told me a few months ago that their son died when he was 40.
Ester, the wife, gets teary eyed talking about him.
They don't have much family around, so I think the coffee shop has kinda become their extended family.

Today they brought in a Christmas card for me.
I was so touched, it was so thoughtful.
When I open it there was money in it.
I seriously felt like I was a kid getting a card from my grandparents.
Except I wasn't and they are just customers that I see maybe once a week.

I actually cried.
Then I cried, when I told my co-workers about the card.
Then I cried when I told my husband.
Now I'm about to cry again.

It was just floored that they even thought about me enough to write a card.
But sticking money in it?
Don't they know I'm way too emotional for that!

I just can't stop myself!

2008-11-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

These are all local Tucson artist, and as I looked I realized that a lot of these artist are more local than I even realized!
I guess this is my version of Black Friday?!

But I just lurve these fabrics! Check out All Above Fabric and you will realize my obsession.

And talk about local!
Here are two artists I found from my daughter's amazing school.
Cosmo's Mom
Chet's Mom

There use to be the cutest little coin purse on here at Siobhan Clothing .
Heh heh.

And here is Chandra's friend, Jessica at Rainestorm .

Looking for something cute and local for a small child? Look no further!
Woolies Shop

And I love the onesies at dinglee . If they weren't $30 a pop I would have added one to my shopping list fer sure!

Also super cute!
And sweet yet simple!
I've always liked Liz Vaughn's paintings!

OH, and if you were my real friend you would buy me a purse from Species Designs or Blind Cicada!

I mean really? I just totally took care of all y'alls Christmas shopping!

Shop Local!

2008-11-27T19:21:00.000-08:00

We decided to shop local for our in-laws this year.
Etsy is just the worst place to go online when you decide to do this.

DAMN ETSY!
Anywho, I just bought this little coin purse for my SIL in Australia.

So addicting, please stop meeeee...

"Best Thankgiving ever!"

2008-11-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

That's what both my kids proclaimed today was.
Actually Ari insisted that it was also our first Thanksgiving ever. And I suppose it kinds was. Our first one at home at least.
Usually we go over to Don's grandparents house and have dinner with them. It's nice to see them, but other than dressing nice it's no different from the other days we visit. The kids like going there, but they get bored and aren't allowed to play with much.

For today we actually broke out the fine china for the first time ever! That in itself was reason to party!! Teags was so into it and wanted to help out as much as possible. She decorated the table long before it was time to eat, and made little turkey place settings for all her family. Ari supplied the pine cone turkey and Barrett supplied the fine Terra Valentine wine.

It really was perfect.
It rained all day, which in Tucson is rare and special.
In between the rain we decorated our outside mesquite tree for Christmas and went for walks. We let the chickens out and Teags and Ari held umbrellas over them and then they danced in the rain.
We played board games and Teagan made us all gifts of homemade books. Ari made us cut out animals and monsters, I think?
Most of all it was easy and non-stressful. Is it rude to say that most of the tranquility was because of the lack of in-laws present? Probably, but I'm guessing that all 3 people that actually read my blog will keep my secret safe!

OH, and did I mention we cooked our very first turkey?
It was a sweet little 10 lb. free range turkey and he (or she) was delicious!

Teagan entertained us with many Thanksgiving jokes.

Here's some pics of our tree ourside, which every year I swear I won't decorated again. Mesquites are prickly!

We also saw two red-tailed hawks in the sky, which was fascinating to the kids.
I think Teags is looking for it in that last pic?

All Souls et al.

2008-11-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

I've been stressed out and busy and now I'm just looking for something to get my mind off what I should be doing.
Anyway pictures from our Day of the Dead and Alls Souls week have been looming in my mind and now it's time to get this monkey off my back.

First, are pictures from the Day of the Dead festivals at the Tucson Museum of Art.
Plus a little piece of advice...
...don't paint your kids faces for the event.
It's not the face painting kind of event and your children will be mortified the whole time, and probably have to seek therapy at some point.
Oopsie.

(Teagan thinking about how much her mom just humiliated her in public.)

Procession of Little Angles.
Clare's alter was on display here and the girls meet up with some buddies.

And last but not least (drum roll please....) the All Souls Procession!
This year we went with Sophie and her mom, and meet up along the way with Isabelle her sister Mia and their parents. We tried to stay for the finale to watch Sophie's dad hanging off the the crane, but once again the kids got too tired and wanted to go home.
We lived in Tucson for five years now, and haven't missed a procession yet.
I think it remains my favorite thing about Tucson.

Obviously, it's cool to paint your face at the All Souls Procession, just not the Day of the Dead one. Word.

Weenie

2008-11-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

I thought of waiting until after tonight and then posting a big Halloween/ Day O Dead post.

But, now I'm realizing it would just be too big.
Both holidays are big for us, and there are way too many photo's to share with y'all.
So I'll just start with holidays past.

This year we had a big Hallow Weenie party at our house. It was so much fun!
In years before the party was held at our friend Chandra's house, but since she moved away she has left us with a Weenie void. Thanks a lot Chandra!
So this year we hosted the party instead and it was a little bittersweet.

We went trick or treating in a big group, then came back to food, music (my halloween mix rocked btw,) kid craziness, and grown-ups finally getting a chance to relax.
There were eyeballs in the chili, dry ice in the juice, fog machines a-blasting, and sugars skulls galore. The trampoline and new playhouse helped the kids out with their sugar highs, and the cocktails helped us grown-ups wind down.
Hopefully all slept well afterwards!

Clare Hope

2008-11-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

Not to make everyone weep while they read my blog again, but I just now saw this and had to share!
I was searching for a picture of Clare to use for an alter and I couldn't find the one I had saved on my computer. I'm making an alter for her for the Procession of the Little Angles this Saturday.
I finished one of two plaques I made for Clare a couple weeks back and emailed a picture of it to my good friend Jill, Clare's daughter. I'm planning on mailing Clare's family the plaque after I use it in the alter.
I never received an email back, and never really thought about it.
But just now I went to Clare's memorial page to see if I could copy her picture off for her alter and saw this:
Clare's Hompage .

I can't quite describe what I feel right now.
I guess just feel so honored that a picture of my plaque is up?

Now I'm even more enthusiastic about making and alter for her for Saturday! Plus I know if I had died first she'd be the one making one for me.
One of the reasons I love the whole Dia de Los Muertos celebration, is it lets you celebrates the lives of people who have died instead of just mourning their deaths.
And if anyone knew Clare they knew she loved to celebrate and threw the best parties!

Danny Hope

2008-10-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Danny's Birthday.
He'd be 36 years old today.

I remember going to his 30th Birthday bash, even though he wasn't there to enjoy it.
He died a few months earlier.
His mom Clare still wanted to have a party for him and do it up Danny Style. She hired an Irish musician and there was a huge party for him. We had cake and ice cream and sang Irish songs all night. We celebrated his life, and were able to mourn for our lose. It was a beautiful party.

Danny was also my first boyfriend.
Through him I found my way to succeed and go to college.
Through him I found a loving family that I never let go of. His sister Jill has always been a close friend and I loved his mother Clare very much. I remember going to the hospital when Rane was born, and even the exact flowers I brought. I remember their house and living there and everyones friend's always hanging out. It was by far the "cool house."

I remember how after Danny died Clare, Rane, Guy, and all their friends and family would have a party at Danny's grave on his birthday. They would bring all his favorite food and music and all kinds of special little things.
It really was a celebration of his life and was beautiful.

This year Clare Hope is not around for Danny's Birthday.
I hope that she is with him somewhere and that they are having their own celebration today together.
I'm sure there was still a party for Deej, and maybe an extra chair for Clare?

I have an alter up for Clare at our house right now and two candles lit for both Danny and Clare.
I miss them both.

Look what I can do!

2008-10-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

I can pet rhinos.
I can feed giraffes.
I can touch a tamandua.

I can spend two evenings at the Children's Museum, and one full day at the Desert Museum, and another behind the scenes at the zoo.

And I can LEAVE my kids at home while I do all of this.

This whole seminar I'm taking is to help me teach my kids science in fun ways.
My kids don't understand why they can't come with me to all these great places and why I can't just teach them science there?

It's mean, but I kinda just want to say "ha ha, look what I can do!"
After all I do for them, I mean really?
Isn't it time that I get to play without having to listen to complaining and arguing?
I know, how preschool of me.
Maybe I should follow it with a "neener-neener-neener?"

Did I mention I get paid?
neener-neener-neener!

gettin my dork on

2008-10-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

I was finally giving the okay to "get my dork on" this week.
This means HALLOWEEN PAAARTY at my crypt!

Oh, yep, I'm a nerd.
I spent all day today avoiding cleaning my house and making a Halloween playlist.
I also plan on painting styrofoam heads and hanging them from the trees.

Oh, I like Halloween waaay too much...

Definitely, some punch with dry ice in it.
Bloody Mary's with eyeballs.
Sugar skulls for the kids to paint.

Anything else?

Maybe YOU?!

Prop. 403

2008-10-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

My small plea for this proposition to pass.

Both my daughters class sizes increased quite a bit this year, plus teacher assistants dropped.
OH, and librarians? Apparently on Thursdays and Fridays who needs them!
Both schools share one principal now, and everything just sux!!!

I know Rebecca and I both volunteer 3 to 4 days a week to make up for all these cuts, and luckily other parents have stepped up too.
I love my kid's schools (way too much...) But I'm also exhausted.
So please... for my sanity vote yes on prop. 403.

Whooo?

2008-10-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah..
BTW, here are pictures of the owl.

Amy releasing her.

Her new home in BELL...

Can I get an "Aaaaaw?"

dodging the media

2008-10-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

I credit my great media ducking ability to working in The Embarcadero.
Several local TV stations dwell in downtown SF, and trying to duck newscasters is an everyday occurrence. "No, I don't suffer from allergies," "No I have never heard of that proposition," "Whose Willie Brown?"

My very cool friend Rebecca posted this picture in her blog and I had to share it.

First an exclamation.
BELL was on the news a couple days ago on KGUN 9 and Fox 11.
Forever Wild gave us a Western Screech Owl to release. The owl had originally flown into someone window, she was fine, but she needed a new home.
The principal grabbed me an informed me I was going to talk to the news. I latched onto my co-coordinator who refused to be on the news. Then we grabbed poor innocent Rebecca and basically shoved her in front of the camera.

This is me and Kurt hiding in the background as Rebecca is being interviewed by Mr. Bighead guy.
Heh.

Self Perception

2008-10-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

While I was sick I started two painting that were inspired by
The Black Apple
To me it was obvious who the paintings were of.
Can you figure out who they or is my perception of Teagan and Ari just waaay off?

My kids had NO clue who these were pictures of. Even with lots of coaxing, I finally had to give in and tell them. To me they look just like them.

I wonder if it's because in both paintings they are pouting and they do not percieve themselves this way? I also wonder if I had drawn them smiling that they would have figured it out instantly?

But for me this is how I perceive them every morning before school.
Just sitting on the couch all grumpy.

Free Bird!

2008-10-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Just an update on the chicken coop which is now finished and has eight happy fowl living the good life inside. The kids are always crowded around the coop and love watching their little chicken antics.
The school is holding an election for their names, but almost for certain the little polish gal will be called Einstein. How appropriate, right? We have to thank Miss Jane for coming up with that one!

Here's the finished coop before the chickens went in.

Tamale's class getting ready to release the chickens.

And Teagan, Ari, and Jane releasing the chickens into their new home.
Teagan and Jane got to leave school early just help with this, lucky girls!

(Look there's ^Einstein^)

They have been in the new coop for about two weeks now and they look happy, well as happy as a chicken can look anyways.

Now that the chicken coop in done the Borton Community Garden can begin!
We meet with Lisa Shipek from Watershed Management Group (http://www.watershedmg.org/) this morning about holding a rainwater harvesting workshop to use earthworks for retaining water for our edible garden at Borton!
But that's a whole 'nother blog.

One of those weeks

2008-10-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

This week has been super sucky.
I'm finally well (yey,) and able to take on all my responisilities!
Feeling goood, right?

Then I get about three emails in a row basically saying "I'm too busy so I'm canceling and you get to take over all my duties too."
First I cried.
Then I denied all of the people.
Then (as alway,) I did it anyways.

Then our car broke down this morning.

I was actually excited to have a legitimate excuse not have to do anything!!
Like a window opened and angels were singing "aaaaaah" as a bright light was cast upon me.
I may have even been smiling as a helped push the minivan to the side of the road?

I email both kids schools saying that we may not be in because of car troubles. And since we have one car, fixing our one car in always an issue.
DANM I felt SO free!

Then Don fixed the car.
Stupid husbands with their car fixing capabilities!

SO...
I took both kids to school late.
Missed my time slot for the art assignment I was suppose to do with the kids.
Went to pottery late.
Left pottery early.
Went back to T's school to do the art assignment at my "new" designated time.
Opened the library (but once again the computer was locked so I could really check out books to kids. But I guess books aren't really important on Thursdays.)
Grumble.

Tomorrow I can't take the kids out to BELL. I won't even go into that.

Next Sunday there is a "thank you" party for the chicken coop that was planned around me.
I can't go, I always work on the day they planned it.
And why should I?
I only bought the chickens.
And housed them for three weeks.
And bought all their food, and feeding containers, and straw.
And helped build a coop at 7am on the only day I can sleep in.
Okay I'm disgruntled, even though I said "it's cool," and pretended not to care.

I guess every once in a while you just need to give the world the finger!
Also I should stand up for myself more.

On a positive note, my kid's principal actually offered to drive over to give our car a jump start.
I love my kid's school more than most normal people, but how many principals would say that? She was also covering in the office for two employees that were out.
Maybe she just can't say "no" either?

Old black mare is not what she use to be

2008-09-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

I've been sick since Wednesday with a stupid stupid cold.
It seems like it's been dredging along fer-ever!
It's really getting in my way of playing with my friends and watching Alex get a tattoo.
Plus I still have to work, and yesterday I even came in early to cover someone else's shift.
Hmm, now why can't I seem to get well?
I'm sure it has nothing to do with building a chicken coop at Borton while I'm sick either?
Or taking 18 kids out into BELL.
Hmm?

Gotta go, I think I just coughed up a lung?

Tuna Margaritas

2008-09-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that sound delish?!
No??
I suppose I could also refer to them as prickly pear margaritas, but what is the fun in that?!

This was actually an experiment aimed at Ari's classroom The Shooting Stars.
No, I did not mean to get them all drunk.
Yes, I know that is illegal.

My goal was to figure out how to make juice from the prickly pear fruits (tunas,) so that next time they are in season we could harvest them and make juice with the kids.

Since all the original tunas at the school disappeared, the wonderful Rebecca lent me some of hers.

So here is how you make tuna margaritas (....or tuna lemonaid for the kiddos.)

1) Pick tunas CAREFULLY, they have tiny spines in them called glochids that are a female dog to get out! I used BBQ tongs from the dollar store.
Make sure when you pick them off that they red at the base, that means they are ripe!

2) Boil the tunas. This gets all the prickers off, and softens them up.

3) Peel the tunas and then boil them again. Add sugar and lemon to taste.

4) Strain out the seeds. This also strains out any missed prickers! Muy importante.
The leftover is your juice. You can add this to lemonaid, sparkling water, or ta-kill-ya.

for the kids I added sparkling water and more lemon.

Teagan loved it, but Ari hated it. Ari still felt the need to smile for the camera.

Mine went into a margarita, and it really was delicious!!!

Cheers!

Future Wal Mart greeters of America

2008-09-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, not really, but with those red vest they could be.

Tea and her buddies after performing for chorus at the Holladay Open House.

good ol' barn raisin'

2008-09-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

The last two mornings I got to help with a barn raisin'.
Okay, it was actually coop raisin', but it was still monumental.
The sense of community was fabulous, and the chicks will have some sweet digs when it's completed.
Waaaay nicer than the hokey coop I have!
I'm really excited for our chicks to finally leave the guinea pig cage and move forward in their little chicken lives.

Here are pictures of building the coop:

Sometimes people got creative with the techniques..

Then there were people who just watched others work (like ME.)

Finally it just got silly.
I can't believe these people are my friends?
JK, yes I can!

The kids had a blast, just hanging out when school was closed. It was like a huge playdate for them. Plus the felt pretty important being involved in making our "Community Garden."

And hey, if the chicken thang doesn't work out it can always be used as a 3rd grade classroom.

Chillin' with my peeps

2008-09-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

The fab Tamale, one of the many amazing teachers at Borton, received a grant to build an edible garden and chicken coop at the school this year. I like to think it was because of my amazing letter of support, but Rebecca keeps reminding me that it was hers. Either way, she got the grant!
And although I have no kids in her class this year I often loiter in front pretending. I believe Rebecca and I were even asked once by another parent to loiter more often, just to share stories of BELL. Although I tease Tamale about her "stupid happy new parents," I'm always happy for all her projects. She's amazing.
And completely unrelated she was on the news Tuesday night for some other grant she got to teach kids that aren't mine important things. No really, I am happy for them, I am.

Speaking of chicken coops... (?)
I suckered, um I mean convinced, Tamale into letting me pick out her chickens for her.
I actually offered to donate the chickens as long as I picked them out and kept them at my house until their coop was built.
HA! Take that!
Wait.... who was the winner in that situation?
But these peeps were ADORABLE! On Monday they turned two weeks, now they are "pullets."
I brought them into Tamale's class last week and I'm bringing them again today.

I put a stick through their cage, and now they all roost at night.

So far their are 8 pullets.
1 buff orpinton
1 rhode island red
2 americanas
1 polish
1 giant cochin

2 are bantums
1 is a polish and 1 might be an americanas?

The bantum americanas is so tiny my husband keeps insisting that it's really just a sparrow the flew into the chicken's cage before I bought them. Ari seems to think she not a sparrrow at all but a hummingbird.

But the coolest by far is the polish banty.
This poor chicken only has a month or two before the feathers on her head grow so big that she can hardly see.

Aaaw.

bok, b-b-b-bok

2008-09-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post picks for a while, but I've been in a big ol' funk lately.
You know when you find out that your pregnant, but don't tell anyone for 3 months "just in case?" (...and no I'm not thankyouverymuch!)
That's how I've felt about our chickens. We've had too many deaths and it's been a bit traumatizing for all of us.
But we've now figure out the culprit, and I'm pretty sure our fatalities have subsided.
The culprit is the neighbors cat. But not just any neighbor, the neighbor with the permanent yard sale, the one that was busted about two years ago for having a meth lab.
And now their Stupid Meth Lab Cat is responsible for the lives of four our girls.
See people, drugs kill!
Our chickens are now on serious lockdown. They are allowed two supervised releases per day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
Otherwise our little flock of six are sweet.
They are about 3 months old now, so they won't be giving us breakfast for another 2 months.
Their names are Lulu and Ginger (Americanas)
Flower and Daisy (buff orpingtons)
and Roxy and Cocoa (barred rocks)

SMILE!

2008-08-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

What a horrible day!
Both kids went to the dentist with there dad on Tuesday and returned grim.

Both kids had been doing well tooth-wise so I was really surprised to hear they both had several cavities.
I wasn't sure the exact number because my husband couldn't remember.
He claimed they used medical mumbo-jumbo and he couldn't understand a word.
Personally I don't understand what could have been so confusing about "your daughter has _ many cavities." Also he couldn't remember which kid had what.
I swear if I would have been there I would have known exactly what was wrong with each kid! Honestly, I just don't get it?
Anyway it turned out T had 5 cavities and Ari 3. I was floored! Who doesn't remember 5 cavities?!!
Naturally I learn the number not for my husband, but from the dentist who is about to start drilling.

T was called in first and put a death grip on me when she heard her name.
So I went in with her, leaving Don to go with Ari. Ari is way more brave and independent than her big sis anyway!

Teagan grips me all the way to the room, completely scared to death.
The assistant puts her in the seat and give her nitrous.
Not much obviously, but just enough to make her feel a little weird and freak out even more.
The doctor comes in and numbs her gums, while I rub her ankle because that's all I can reach.

I know I'm making this office sound bad, and it's not at all. I feel lucky to be able to sit in the room with her, most dentists don't parents in at all. Everyone there was very sweet and comforting, and there's a DVD playing a recent movie on the ceiling. Plus, who ever got nitrous for a cavity before?
Honestly, I just wanted to pull the nitrous off T's little nose and give it to someone who needed it way more, ME!

After the doctor numbs Teagan's gums and gives her shots, Teagan starts to really freak out.
She's crying uncontrollably. "Please take me home, please, PLEEEASE!" Over and over, the whole office just echoed. It was heart wrenching. I was looking in her eyes telling her that the rest would be easier as I was crying too. I just felt so bad. I couldn't take her away or I would.

The rest of the appointment went slightly better, after she stopped screaming and crying.
She had 3 cavities filled on her left side.
Afterwards she said that it didn't hurt that much, and had no idea that she had gotten a shot in her gums.
Ari was braver, but hated the feeling of her cheeks being numb and cried when we got home.
Today really sucked.
In 2 weeks they both get to go back again.

I think we are going to brush our teeth 20 times a day after this.

more BS

2008-08-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

Another year in the Borton Bird Sanctuary awaits.
It still feels way too hot out there, but just as peaceful as always.
Friday we will start our volunteer tour and orientation of our quaint little sanctuary.
By "we," I mean other BS people. Not me.
I get to hang out and weed at my other daughters school.

So many weeds, so many schools...

Here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday of the barrel cacti that are blooming.
I tried to harvest some "tuna" yesterday, but I was beaten to the juicy prickly pear fruit!
Theyt had all vanished!
I was hoping to make juice with Ari's class too. Next time I'll be quicker!
I'm still not sure what beat me, man or bird?
I think both?

Well, here are some pics for your viewing pleasure:

The last one makes me happy for some reason ;)

2008-07-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

La Clinica de los Niños

2008-05-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

This Thursday is the yearly volunteer trip with Shyann Kindness Project to Nogales, Arizona for La Clinica de los Niños.

http://www.shyannkindness.org/
http://www.standrewsclinic.org

Both organizations do amazing things to help children. However the Clinica at St Andrew's in Nogalas is truly exceptional!
They help special needs children from Mexico get the care they normally can't afford. It's all volunteer run, so the doctors and nurses are all volunteering to help these children just out of the kindness of their heart. Is amazing how many people come these clinics and how many children are helped. Families come throughout Mexico to Nogalas and walk over with day passes. Then they are bused from the border by St. Andrew's to the Clinica. I believes these clinics actually happen every Thursday.
Once a year my work partners with the Shyann Kindness Project and goes as a group to the Clinic. They brings coffee and food along with toys/books/art supplies/etc for the kids. It such a meaningful experience to be a part of, and I always leave in awe of the kindness that people give to others.
My work is also able to donate $10 for every volunteer hour. (I guess there are so nice things about corporations?) That means if 30 people come and volunteer for 4 hours that $1200 is donated. Pretty cool.

If anyone wants to come, I'm pretty sure this is an open event.
Or if you want to volunteer with St. Andrew's they are always looking for help.
Or... if you can't make it but still want to help, this year we are cooking all the pastries ourselves.
If you bake something I will pick it up!

Chicks and ducklings and mice? OH MY!

2008-05-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Today my friend Mechelle had a "first day of summer" party at her house.
She lives in co-housing and the place is beautiful. I've been dying to get a chance to bring my kids over, because I knew they would just flip. They're both love being outside and I knew they go crazy for all the flowers and fruit trees everywhere.
And, of course, they did!
They also loved the fort, the playground, the kids room, the swimming pool, the hot tub, and the freedom to just run around unsupervised in this 5 acre wonderland.
It was a beautiful thing to watch.
It also makes me a little sad that they can't have they sort of freedom where we live now. Still how cool is it that we are able to hang out there.
What a great community!

Of course the biggest thrill for the kids came from the 3 day old ducklings and chicks. We started off our day with them, and then had to see them twice more before finally be able to depart.
And that's what they get for being all cute and fuzzy and adorable!
The only way we were able to pry the kids away from the the ducklings and the chicks was when Mechelle brought out the mouse and let Ari carry her around co-housing inside a plastic ball.
If it weren't for those early morning chores, my kids would so content to live on a farm.

you know your exhausted when...

2008-05-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

Your leaving your kids school and tell about five different people to have a good weekend before your husband reminds you that it's only Tuesday.
DAMN!

April 22, 2008

2008-05-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Learning a new language

No, not Spanish. But I am graduating into Conversational Spanish II next week, yeeeah.

I'm talking about sewing, or more literally Quilting.
I've learned so many new words today, that I think I need to start making flash cards. For instance "throat size," "feed dog," and "presser foot." I'm especially found of "throat size." There are several dimensions of your "throat size" too that are equally amusing.

So why do I get to learn this spectacular new language spoken only by the women of old?
Because I contacted Don's family and said "Hey we should all make a quilt together for Don's grandma!" Everyone make a square and then I will gleefully sew them together into a quilt.

I'm sure she will love it, and it's very exciting.
But I know absolutely nothing about sewing!
Several people have tried to teach me before, and I always fail miserably at it. But Mimi gave me her sewing machine, and I think that it would be special if I sewed the quilt together for her, so I will. She is 91 years old, and has made many quilts for all her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

So today I embarked on the learning of the crazy sewing machine-thing. This monster even has a computer screen on it, veeery creepy.
(Possibly a good halloween costume for me, tho?)

Luckily for me my sister-in-law happens to be in town this weekend. She is my hero.
She knows just as much as I do about sewing, but she helped me conquer my fears.
She got me to plug in the machine and turn it on!
Then we opened the manual, and became instantaneously stuck on the first obstacle; How to Thread the Bobbin. We drove to the sewing store (my sewing machine has it's own store, scaaary...) and they showed us how.
I'm convinced that it's because we took the minivan, instead of the red mustang, but anyhow...
Now I am signed up for a basic sewing class, I'm still terrified, but hopefully someday I will master my new chosen language.
Then you will all get quilted vests for Christas! HA!!

Oct 16th, 2007

But tomorrow I have pottery...

2008-05-22T22:32:00.002-07:00

I feel a little over whelmed with life these days.
I have this crazy schedule, and I'm always forgetting things.
Whenever it's my day to bring snack at my kid's school, I literally have to tape a note to myself so that I don't forget (and often do anyways.) Although I don't "do" anything, I never stop moving.
Then I just take up new responsibilities, because I can't say "no." Today I became a room parent in my older daughter's class. I'm suppose to coordinate all the other parents in her classroom and be in charge of activities. HA! I can't even get my own life on track. That makes sense!
Craft Fairs... Spanish Class...Stupid Family Quilt Thing.... Oh MY!

But at least I have pottery tomorrow.
The only thing that I do where there is no stressful thinking involved.
Just some good ol' clay juju.
Thursdays are good.

Oct 17, 2006

BELL

2008-05-22T22:32:00.001-07:00

I love it/ I hate it/I love it/ I hate it.....

I absolutly LOVE bringing the kids out into the desert and teaching them about their environment. It's so much fun, and the kids come away with real appreciation for the desert.

I hate bringing other parents out into the desert, because all they do is complain and tell you what you are doing wrong. They even complain that the kids are complaining.

Why do grown-ups do this?

I just sent out an email staing that I'm not going to take Teagan's class out to BELL (Borton Environmental Learning Laboratory,) on Wednesdays anymore.
I just don't play well with others, I suppose.
Teagan will be heartbroken.

I can still focus on Ari's class, and I'm even taking a workshop that I'm extremely excited about in November. So as long as I don't have to deal with other parents, it will be smooth sailing.

Sept 25, 2007

Shyann Kindess Project

2008-05-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

I volunteered today for the Shyann Kindness Project at St. Andrew's Children's Clinic in Nogalas, Arizona.

It was such an incredible experience, and I just wanted to share it.

First of all, for those of you who may not know Nogales is a border town. It extends across the border, so there's a Nogales in Mexico and in Arizona.

The St. Andrew's Clinica is a nondenominational, nonprofit organization that provides medical treatment to children with special needs. It opens up once a month and many doctors, nurses, and volunteers come to Nogales to help Mexican families receive medical attention that they cannot get in Mexico. St. Andrew's even provides a shuttle from the Mexican border to the clinic and then back again. So the clients get a day pass and walk across the border for the day.

This clinic is amazing, sad, and heartwarming all in one big bundle. It's hard to see these special needs children, but it's inspiring to see so many people come together to help them. Especially docters, who in my opinion are not the most selfless group I've meet.

Here is more info on this clinic http://borderbeat.net/section/show/16

I actually volunteered through my work, which came to the clinic because of the Shyann Kindness Project. I won't go into their story, but here is their website http://www.shyannkindness.org/ please check it out. Their mission is basically to pass on kind acts in memory of their late daughter. It is also an incredible organization that makes you believe in humanity, which I personally find hard to do these days (thanks Bush!) They came to the clinic to pass out backpacks, stuffed animals, art supplies, and toys to the children. I was just serving free coffee, iced tea, soda, and pastries compliment of the "little" cafe I work at. But still, the experience was one of those life altering experiences. The compassion that was felt, the happy faces of the children, knowing that some people really care enough to leave their high paying jobs for a day to make a difference in a child's life. It was great! See not ALL people in the world work just to buy bigger and better things. People really do care and try to give back to their community. They even care about helping chidren who are immigrants and don't live in our beloved country.

This world ain't so bad after all.

Oh yeah,

I'm thinking of volunteering at Shyann Tuesday night, and maybe trying to collect things for them. Anyone interested????

June 7, 2007

my budding little entomologists

2008-05-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

So my kids school has a 2.5 acre bird sanctuary behind it.

When she first started going to her school almost 2 years ago, it was pretty much a 2.5 acre wasteland.

After putting in many hours weekly, me and another mom have pretty much transformed it into something pretty decent. I think this year the teachers have even started bringing out their classes and utilizing it more. We (Betts and I is the "we" btw...) even put on an art show in the bird sanctuary this year. I really think it renewed a lot of interest in the area, and even tho it was WAY too much work for two people, it effin ROCKED!

Oh yeah, so back to my point there, I swear I'm getting to it... anyway...

Since I'm one of the two people that's always out in the BS, my daughter's teacher started asking me if I'd take some kids out there once a week. It's been so fun and the kids love it! It's just so thrilling to get children out into their natural environment and get them to appreciate it. Mostly we just do art, but we also talk a lot about the plants and insects and try to find quail.

Right now my daughters class is studying plants, so I brought in a praying mantis egg fot them to watch hatch. They hatched yesterday, and it was so exciting for they kids! Today we took the class out to the BS and released them. I said if they wanted to, they could all hold one (there are about 200 in an egg!) The teacher told her class that if anyone wanted to hold one to line up. They ALL quickly lined up, and soon had mantis babies crawling all over them. They were so ecstatic, and it made me so proud so see all these kids holding bugs and loving it. We talked about what they ate, why they are beneficial or unbeneficial in gardens, and just admired how damn cool they are. Then we let them go (most likely to be eaten my lizards or birds, right?) It just rocked my entire day!

Oh yeah, and I failed to mention that the mantids closest relative is the cockroach. Why ruin the bug love?

May 3, 2007

Oh the humanity!

2008-05-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

I usually try not to post tramatic things that have happen to my friends here. I feel that it is their business and it's not mine to post to "whoever." But, I just can't help myself on this one.

WTF has happened to human compasion???

Someone I love and care about was mugged. In front of a busy grocery store with people all around. In front of her two small children.

She was dragged as the get away car sped off, and now have road rash on much of her body. Did I mention the kids were RIGHT there and saw the whole thing happen???

So the saddest part is to me is why NOBODY tried to help, call 911, anything. They all just stood there and watched. WHY?? She was screaming loudly the whole time, right in front of the store. People heard her, the saw her, but not one person tried to help..

WHY?

It saddens me so much to know that people don't care enough for each other, that not one person did anything. What has happened to our culture?

I too upset to write anything else.

Feb 28, 2007

Painting Your House 101

2008-05-22T22:27:00.001-07:00

1. If possible, never paint your house yourself.

2. Get a paint sprayer.

3. If you can't afford a paint sprayer, allow yourself at least a week to paint (cause of course it will rain,) and another week to recoup from the soar muscles.

4. Try and stay away from the whiskey while painting.

5. There are about 3 bazillion shades of white.

6. After spending 30 minutes trying to decide between "swiss coffee" white and "egret" white, your house will still end up fucking white!!!

7. It sucks when it gets windy and the whole side of your freshly painted house is now covered in dirt.

8. Never buy a paint sprayer from Ace Hardware, cause they don't work. Plus then you have to try and return it, and the people don't be liking that. In the meantime, you've lost another day of work.

Next week: Painting Trim 101

Jan 9, 2007

2008-05-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

The Ice Cream House

..is finally being painted!

It's a little sad now that I know why our house is painted a minty green with a bright pink trim. I guess it's suppose to look like ice cream. The previous owner also owned the Baskin and Robins up the street. So our house was affectionately called "The Ice Cream House." Sweet! When we bought the house it even came with an old ice cream freezer.

Since we bought the house three years ago we have pried off the security bars in the front of the house, and tore off the rotting shutters that framed the windows. So Now there are big gray rectangles where the shutters were. And since we started sanding down the paint some, the paint looks chipped. The poor little Ice Cream House is in a sad state.

If this isn't enough to make our house look completely tacky, there's more. I painted "Happy Birthday Ari" and a bunch of flowers on our windows last April. It was a special window foam that you can easily peel off after it dries. At least maybe you can in other states? Here it just melted into a gooey plastic and dripped down our window. I tried everything to get it off, but nothing worked (until the magnificent pressure washer that is.) And if that wasn't enough, I had to finger paint "PAINT ME" on the front.

But I only did that, cause Sarah dared me ...hehehe.

So .... adios casa del helado!

Jan 4, 2006

eight ball in the corner pocket.

2008-05-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

For all those interested, our plumbing has FINALLY been fixed. Thanks to everyone who offered showers and bathroom privies this week! We called a plumber yesterday who had to snake the drain from the roof. Most of the drains cleared, except the bathtub. The plumber said there was just something caught in the P pipe, and showed us how to access it. So... Don has been working on the "T" pipe all day, and has finally figured out what was caught in the pipe. A small 8 ball. He still has yet to figure out how to get the ball out. Wish him luck, he still needs to write two papers and our kids are getting stinky.

Dec. 3, 2006

Say Waaat?

2008-05-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

So for the last 3 weeks I've had this ear infection. It started off just being a little bit painful. I tried a few different homeopathic remedies (including putting whiskey in my ear to absorb the "goop.")

Since the ear infection started coming on after a bad cold, so I knew that it was due to some sinus-fun.

Needless to say, the whiskey or the garlic oil or the immunity boosters or the steam didn't help and it got WAY worse. The kinda "WAY worse" when all you can do is curl up in a ball rocking back and forth screaming and crying. Good times. I finally couldn't take the pain any more and went to Urgent Care. They prescribed something meaningless and told be to come back in about a week if it didn't help. So I came back the next week. Then they prescribed more things that were just as meaningless. Now it's been 3 weeks, and there is no WAY I'm going back to Urgent Care again! So I'm going back Au Naturale. I've got my mullein eardrops, and I'm taking lots of Echinacea Goldenseal. Wish me luck!

I just want to be able to hear again. Oh, did I mention I can't hear in my right ear at all? And when I talk it sounds to me like I'm talking underwater. I've become a master at the "smile and nod" technique these last few weeks, especially around other parents at my kid's school. I mean is it really worth asking them to repeat what they just said in my "good ear?"

Nah.

Nov 8, 2006

Love

2008-05-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

There is something about autumn that just makes me all gitty inside.

I adore the radiant colors. The bright reds, yellows and browns of the leaves. It's just amazes me that nature can create all these colors on just one tree.

I also love the change in weather. The cool mornings and the warm breezes (sorry if I sound like a Hallmark card!) There is something in the air that just makes me happy. The smells, the feel, I don't know exactly?

But I think best of all is celebrating Halloween with my kids. Going to the pumpkin patch, deciding what to be and then making up costumes, carving pumkins, all that stuff. The kids get so into it, it's all so exciting to them.

Today we carved our pumpkins and roasted the seeds. They both drew pictures on their pumpkins, then I carved them out. It was THE most exciting thing ever to them. They loved pulling out the gooey seeds and feeling the inside. Ari quickly figured out how to shoot the seeds across the room with her two fingers. Then she would laugh and laugh. After we carved the pumpkins we roasted the seeds ate them. They came out really good too! After all our pumpkin fun the girls dressed up in there costumes and we went to this toy store up the street called Ms. Tiggy Winkles. They have a Halloween party for the kids every year and it's pretty cool. They have story telling and games, and even some trick or treating. It was so fun for the girls. They were so happy.

Aaaah, having kids rocks! It just makes the whole season even more special.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow we are decorating sugar skulls. What we do afterwards with them I don't know?

Oct 29, 2006