Last Day of November

My car, which is a 1997 model, is showing its age...the driver's door is starting to come unglued or something. I am not a huge car person that needs a new model every other year. I enjoy our other vehicles, the SSR and the Dodge pickup, but I think the time has come for a car for me.


Right now I am looking at a 2009 red Ford Mustang, or a 2009 red Ford Edge, I like the Mustang and is very well priced, but only sits 2. The Edge might be more practical. We'll see. The whole act of shopping for a car aggravates me, I wish I could just write a check and have it delivered at my door, without having to go through car dealerships and salesmen.

Whew! I made it, I didn't miss a single day!!!! :)

I'll keep you posted!

A nice day

I woke up early, and went back to sleep, then the phone woke me up, it was Verizon so I didn't answer but I didn't go back to sleep either. Had some breakfast and was working on some PSP when M asked me if I wanted to drive down to the beach for lunch. Of course I said yes.

We drove the SSR to Seal Beach and to a restaurant by the Alamitos Bay called Schooner or Later (featured in Drive ins, dives, etc) I had gone there with N for breakfast before, but this time it was not quite as crowded. We enjoyed a breakfast type lunch (The Mess which is the restaurant's specialty).

When we got home, I made a reservation for next month to a lovely beach front hotel in Cambria, we got a king size bedroom with fireplace and ocean view :) I hope the weather will be nice.

Black Friday

Maybe it is because I don't like to shop, but I cannot understand how seemingly normal people will go to a store at midnight and wait for a few hours in the cold, along with many other people, until the store opens. And then they trample into the store with total disregard for anybody else in search of a few bargains!

Of course, I didn't go to a single store today. I spent some time getting my report cards started, and just hanging around and catching up. Instead of leftovers, M opted for the traditional Friday fare of Taco Bell for lunch and In'n'Out for dinner. Delish.

And so it goes....

Happy Thanksgiving :)

It was just the two of us, but we did cook a turkey and trimmings and had a really nice meal. It was a quiet day of cooking, eating and watching TV, and we ended the day with a nice relaxing time in the Jacuzzi.

We give thanks for our daughters and grandson, and all our family and friends.

As my favorite Spanish saying goes....Salud, amor y dinero, y tiempo para gozarlo...which translates to..Health, Love, and Money, and time to enjoy it. This is what I wish for all of you who read my blog :)

Cleaning frenzy

I woke up with a mindset, cleaning up the pantry. A few days ago I emptied the refrigerator and gave it a good cleaning, today was pantry time!
It was surprising to me how many cans and boxes were there with a long past expiration date. So out they went. Now there's a lot more space, and looks better too.
M and I went out to Olive Garden for a late lunch. I guess the economy is not as bad as they are saying...2:00PM on a Wednesday afternoon and we still had to wait 30 minutes for a table!

Vacation time!

Today was a busy busy day, we had a K party, complete with Pilgrims and Indians, friendship mix, watching "Bambi", Student of the Month Assembly, and then all the K team got together to do lesson plans for December. By the time I got home, I was tired.

In the plus side, one of my girls gave me a gorgeous bouquet of fall flowers, beautiful. see picture.

And now, the reward, 5 days off :)

It's raining quite a bit outside, so maybe it's a good thing we couldn't find a room in Cambria. It's no fun to just sit in a hotel and not being able to enjoy the ocean and the sunset.

Finding friends and family

I have been hearing about Facebook from S and M and others, I never really felt like joining because I was already busy enough in the Internet, didn't need anymore places to go. But then I decided to join, and it's pretty cool .
I don't think I'll be looking to add friends I don't know just for the sake of having friends, but one nice thing is I got a request to be a friend of my sister's oldest grandaughter in Spain. I was surprised because I didn't even know she had Internet at home (she doesn't, she signed in from a friend's house). She's a goth girl, self described as "different", she's 16 years old.
So now I am in touch with both my niece and my other niece's daughter. Also in touch with my two Swedish nephews, how cool is that!

Lazy Sunday

... and on the 7th day, I rested :)

Just the 2 of us

Today we took S and T to the Long Beach Airport. Then when we got home, L and DK left to San Diego. It was so nice to have them all here even for a short while, and I will surely miss T!!!!

We took a looong nap, then I went to a couple stores and came back home with nothing, y'all know how I love shopping.

M and I were thinking of something fun to do for Thanksgiving since it seems it will be just the 2 of us. He suggested going someplace by the beach for a couple of days. I thought of Cambria, I have always liked that town, has some nice restaurants, and beautiful beaches, close to Hearst Castle. After over an hour online, I realized the US economy is not as bad as they say, because there were no available rooms anywhere! I checked some other areas and same thing...I guess if one wants to get away on holidays one must make a reservation weeks earlier!

Now we are thinking of maybe going December 22 & 23, sort of birthday and pre Christmas get away, we'll see...

Watching movies

I just finished watching "Love actually" and of course I cried at the end, I think I mentioned I cry reading books, watching movies, etc etc. Even comedies, is kind of sad lol
T called from Disneyland saying they will be late because they are staying to watch the fireworks. I am sure it will be awesome!
In a way I wish I had gone too, but I know I would be soooooo tired, I'd probably would have been ready to leave hours ago.
M and I went out to dinner at El Torito Grill in Brea. The hills behind the restaurant had burned down in last week's fire, but the Restaurant was OK, is a good thing because we enjoy eating there.
T just called again, they are ready to leave the park, it's 11:15PM. Fun!

La familia

Tonight my husband, grandson, 2 daughters, L's bf and his daughter are all here, only missing is S's husband. It will be like a mini Thanksgiving, but without the food.

It's a nice feeling having everybody here, since we all live in different places is not very often we can all get together.

Tomorrow they will go to Disneyland :)

Love you all !

Happy Birthday !

Have a most wonderful day!

You are a great daughter, sister, aunt, best friend. partner,

lover, poet, writer, manager, worker, agent

....and so much more!

I love you!

Just a Kinder song :)

Albuquerque Turkey(to the tune of "Clementine")

Albuquerque is a turkey

And he's feathered and he's fine

And he wobbles and he gobbles

And he's absolutely mine.

He's the best pet that you can get...

Better than a dog or cat.

He's my Albuquerque turkey

And I'm awfully proud of that.

He once told me, very frankly

He preferred to be my pet,

Not the main course at my dinner,

And I told him not to fret.

And my Albuquerque turkey

Is so happy in his bed,'

Cause for our Thanksgiving dinner...

We had egg foo young instead.

Monday

Today has been a quiet day, the fires seem to be under control, but still we couldn't go outside for recess in school because of poor air quality. Spent the day testing testing testing.
Got home and it was quiet also, M cooked roasted chicken, very yummy with stuffing. T was busy with the computer and watching 2 and a half men, he really enjoys the show.
I am looking forward to seeing my girls this week, but I feel sad that T is going to be leaving this week. We really love to have him here and he enjoys it too :)

OMG

I had nothing much to write about today, we spent the day inside because the air was bad to breathe and the TV gave warnings to stay home. The Orange County fire is still burning and is 0% contained :(
We just went out for dinner at Daphne's Greek Cafe. T ate with gusto!
After watching Survivor on TV, I came to the computer to write my blog, but first I read L's (glad you are having a nice trip), and my sister's (have fun in your Cinderella cruise), and then S's, that's when I called T and asked him, hey guess who this is?
"OMG OMG OMG please let me faint now, are you sure that's my mom?", was his answer, of course referring to the new picture in the blog!
You look great! :)

California fires

WOW this is the closest we've ever been to a fire breakout. We woke up to a gorgeous warm Southern California day, but by noon time, the air was rarefied with smoke and the smoke covered the sun making it burn bright red. There was a big fire in Yorba Linda, by evening time it had spread to Brea, which is about 10 miles east of La Mirada. Watching TV, the enormity of the fire and its impact was mind boggling. 23,000 people evacuated in Yorba Linda and many many houses and businesses destroyed.

M's sister and husband came over by 3 and stayed for dinner. They just left. They live closer to the other big fire in Newhall Pass.

Let's hope the firemen and the helicpoters and planes dropping flame retardant get the best of the fire. They really deserve a lot of credit.

This is a picture taken from our front porch at around 1:00 PM

The Weekend

This has been a short week because of my 2 days off Monday and Tuesday, but for some reason I am super tired, so i will write af ew lines before bed, yes bedtime at 10:30!!!
Tomorrow M's sister and her husband, and maybe their son and dil and grandson will come to visit. T said he can't wait to show them what he can do with his heelys.
Adn that's about it for today, my eyes are closing....Bona nit!

By the light of the silvery moon

Full moon tonight, a gorgeous bright full moon (same one as in Sweden) , so after Survivor, T and I hit the Jacuzzi and spent some blissful time soaking, relaxing and enjoying the warmth of the water and the clearness of the night.

Ranting

Our principal gave us, the Kindergarten team, a package of testing we have to do before December 5. It consists of Language Arts: letter and sound recognition, beginning sounds, high frequency words, DRA level reading, and 5 pages of writing. Then comes the Math...number recognition to 50, writing to 50, counting to 50. Recognizing shapes, doing graphs, beginning addition, and patterning.

Of course, every single thing has to be done individually, which means times 20 children.

Just for fun tomorrow we have an earthquake drill, Friday we have teacher collaboration and then Thanksgiving vacation, so in total we 10 days for testing, scoring and scanning it to the computer.

Oh and of course when we are testing a kid, we need to have something ready to have the other 19 children occupied lol.

Now you know why i love being a kindergarten teacher!

Beach time!

T and I went to Huntington Beach today. It was a beatiful mild day. N was feeling better and enjoyed helping T keep his balance, he's really coming along well! N thought T needed a helmet so we drove to a bike store where he bought him a nice helmet, then we went to the HB pier. T enjoyed running up and down the pier and then we went to eat at Ruby's.

We had a nice day, very enjoyable and fun :)

Thai

T and I were going to HB today but my friend N was not feeling well, so we stayed home and will go tomorrow. T is practicing his Heelys all day long, he falls sometimes but is improving :)
Tonight we went out to eat a Ranu Nekorn, supposed to be one of the top Thai restaurants in the US and is just 4 miles from home.
T said he would only have lemonade, but kept on eating all the chicken and pork I put in his plate. We had pork satay, pineapple fried rice with chicken and cashews, lemon chicken Thai style, and flat noodles with chicken . It was really yummy!

My childhood

After reading M's blog, I was just thinking how different our childhoods were. I was born in a big city, and at the time of my birth, my parents were very well to do. We had a nanny, a chauffeur a last model car, and a cook, and we lived in a really nice 2 story house in one of the best avenues in Barcelona. I lived with my mom and dad and my sister N who is 2 years older than I am, and also my paternal granmother, yaya. It was a great childhood.

What is interesting is, that at age 6 M's life changed by moving from OK to CA, seeking a better life. At age 6 my life changed as well, but not for the best. We went from riches to poorer, goodbye house, chauffeur, nanny, cook. What changed? my father went to America (South and North) when I was 4 to start an import export business with a friend. He left a good job and a good life and ended up losing all his money :(

While my dad was away, we went to live with yaya's sister Matilde and nephew Joaquin in an area known as La Taxonera, where there were still gypsies living in caves carved from the mountainside. We lived in a small house reminiscent of the one M was talking about in OK, complete with outhouse. We lived there for a year. After my father got back from his travels, we moved to a new apartment in Roca i Batlle, where I lived until I got married.

3 in a row

First there was L, then it was S, and today for the third week in a row, I went shopping with T. Unbelievable. I wanted to get T some shoes, but none of the ones he tried seemed to fit him, we tried different sizes and he said he needed a wider size? so we were ready to go when he said "I want those". Those were Heelies, the ones with lil wheels attached, he said he always wanted some, he tried them and like Cinderella, they fit just right!
He will try practicing tomorrow, after we watch a video on how to use them.
It was a gorgeous day today, just perfect weather, clear and blue skies, high 70's, nice breeze.

Panda Inn was good and we all enjoyed it.

Yeah!!!!

For reasons unknown, our school district decided to give us an extra day off for Veteran's Day, which means I have a 4-day weekend!
I told the kids they have 4 days to drive their mothers crazy while I rest!
So far no plans other than sleep late. T told me as soon as I got home that tomorrow he'd like to go to Panda Inn for dinner. He loves that place and so do we, so Panda Inn it'll be.
Four day weekends make me happy :)

Make Over

I just watched Tim Gunn's guide to style, and my opinion is I need some advice. I need a make over, a new hairdo, a new wardrobe and a new attitude.

#1 -I will check my closet to find 10 pieces I can't live without and throw away the rest
#2 - I need to be fit with a bra that fits my voluptuous figure better.
#3 - New hairdo, extensions?
#4 - Botox, liposuction, face lift!


Yeah, right! ;)

Just another day

Have nothing much to say today, it was a nice day, M cooked tacos for dinner but T wanted me to make him a quesadilla, which I did, and he said that was really good!

Wednesday is minimum day at school, which means the kids left at 1:30 yeah!

Random..Susan Lucci finally got kicked off from Dancing with the Stars, she's 61, but her face is like weird, so tight and shiny lol Viva Botox. And even though she was not a very good dancer, I still wish I could do some of her moves.

T just decided to use my bed as an arena for his action figures, so here's a random photo :)

Teacher, teacher

Today I took T to my school. The children asked if he was my son (don't you love 5 year old)? T brought his book and hid in the "library playhouse" to read. Pretty soon he came out of hiding and read to the children the classroom rules. Then we all , T included, danced and sang the Tooty Tah! He also read them a book.

At recess time, he helped pass out the snacks and went outside, where he raced around the playground followed by about 80 kindergartners. After recess, we went to library, and T got a few books. "

On the way back to the classroom, T told me, "Now I know why you come home tired" lol. M came to get him at 11:30 to take him to lunch. He happily waved bye to the kids and to me.

I think he will not be a kindergarten teacher when he grows up!

Loopty Loo

When I got home from work, every muscle in my body was aching. T asked me if I wanted to play basketball one on one, I said maybe in a little while. I went to my room and I swear I could hear my bones creaking. My first impression was, I might be catching another cold, but then it came to me! It was the Loopty Loo!!!!

This year, our principal told us we have to have 20 minutes P.E. every day as per California standards. We are being evaluated on it too. Today we did the Loopty Loo, a newfangled version of the old favorite. 30 minutes of non stop jumping, clapping, bending, stretching...well you get my drift. The kids loved it and were having fun, I got into it too (after all I have to model), and now, my out of shape body is telling me I should proceed slowly next time :)

Let's see...I think tomorrow we'll do the Tooty Tah.

Shopping

I am not crazy about going shopping. Basically, I only go shopping when I have to buy something specific. But for the last 2 weeks, I had the pleasure of shopping with my daughters :)
Last week L and I went shopping, she got some pants, tops and shoes. This week it was S and I, we went to the same store and she got some tops and shoes. It was fun shopping with my daughters, and seeing them trying things and finding something they liked (I found nothing for myself in either trip lol). I miss doing things like that with them more often, but we all live in different places and is hard to coincide, that's why it's always such a treat when I see them, especially if we do something together. Next week it will be shopping with T, he's going to stay with us while his school is off track.

Today is All Saint's Day in Spain. People go to the cemetery and adorn graves and basically party with the dead, like a holiday. There's special sweets called "panellets" usually made with pinenuts, yum. Say a prayer for your departed loved ones.

Tomorrow is back to work. Happily, parent teacher conferences are over!

Me too!

Well, OK, I didn't write anything in October, but because is nablopomo month, I guess I will try to write a little each day :)

Just got back home after a trip to Altadena to watch Berkley Hart. Awesome show. I really enjoyed it, especially because we were all there, M, girls, and T.

It's starting to look like fall... a little rain, cooler days, and also DST ends. Remember to turn your clocks back one hour tomorrow.