March recap

I had to delete yesterday's post, I wrote a "blonde joke" but for some unknown reason it didn't show part of it, and I tried to edit it but nothing worked, and without that part the joke made no sense, so out it goes. It was funny though!

March was a very active month, planting tomatoes, sunflowers, herbs, etc. Having Lulu vaccinated and microchipped, watching the Oscars, having Lizzie visit,  and of course, the  shaking and rolling!!!

Here's the movies I've watched:

Delivery Man (2013) 

The Wedding Date (2005) 

The Love Letter (1999) 

Barefoot (2014)

Greenfingers (2000) 

A lot like love (2005)

One Small Hitch (2014) 

 

Here's the books I've read:

 

Liane Moriarty – What Alice Forgot

Sheryl Woods – An O’Brien Family Christmas

W. Bruce Cameron – A Dog’s Purpose

Stuart Woods – Doing Hard Time

Carolyn Brown – The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society Jubilee

Sally Koslow – The Widow Waltz

Elizabeth Adler – Please don’t tell

Amanda Brown – Legally Blonde

 

Looking forward to a great APRIL! :)

 

Earthquake, too close to home!

This earthquake hit close to home! Centered in La Habra. I was sitting in the computer and hear a noise and the computer and TV started shaking, and so did my chair. I got up and stood by the door holding on, Lulu was running around and got close to Marvin who was sitting on his chair. It shook his chair too.

Things fell off the shelves in the dining room, it felt quite strong, the stronger earthquake I felt since the one in Whittier Narrows in '96.

It was too close for comfort. I went outside and talked to the neighbors and then we felt another one, yikes!

All is well, I have no heard anything about damages anywhere, that's a good thing. They call it a moderate earthquake.

Breaking news | ABC7 Los Angeles

Friday, March 28, 2014

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck about a mile and a half east of La Habra at 9:09 p.m. PT. About an hour earlier, a 3.6-magnitude earthquake struck the same area at 8:03 p.m.

No dejes para manana lo que puedas hacer hoy

In other words, don't procrastinate.

I've been meaning to go to JC Penney to get a mattress topper and I kept postponing it. It's been 50% off for the last 2 weeks. So I finally decided I would go  tomorrow to get it.

I was going to go to Stonewood Mall, have a corn dog on a stick (don't ask me why, haven't had one for ages and felt like having one), then have a pretzel from Annie's Pretzel (she was featured in the secret millionnaire). Lastly I would go to JC Penney and get my mattress topper.

I just finished checking their website, to make sure they have it at the Stonewood Mall, and lo and behold, it's back to full price! So, since I am thrifty, I will wait until is on sale again, hopefully soon :)

And that's my story.

It felt like Sunday

All week I thought it was a different day from the day it actually was, I don't know why. Today is Friday but it felt like Sunday.

I woke up fairly early and took care of Lulu and when Marvin went grocery shopping, I vacuumed the house and did some general cleaning.

Norbert came by in the afternoon, he emptied and cleaned the Jacuzzi, and did a few chores around the yard. He stayed over for dinner. Marvin cooked catfish iwth green beans and mashed potatoes, cornbread and a salad. He wolfed everything down, not a crumb was left. It was really good.

For some reason, today the hummingbirds were out in force. Of course when they were around I didn't have my camera, but I was able to finally get a couple of shots. They were  taking baths in the fountain, it was so cute! I hope they are around when Mia gets here :)

Have a lovely weekend everybody :)



Time Flies

Tomorrow is my grandson's birthday. He will be turning 16 years old!

He's a great kid and a super good student. Being 16 also means he soon will get his drivers license. I remember when my girls got theirs. I hope he is as good and careful driver as they are :)

I thought, just for fun, I will post a picture of his grandpa when he was his age :)

 

Do you see a resemblance? :)

Earthquake!

We had a shaky beginning in Los Angeles area, at 6:25AM there was a 4.4 magnitude earthquake ( I didn't feel it since I was sleeep). It was the topic of conversation all day, all TV stations were talking about it. I think most of you may have seen the KTLA TV anchors' reaction when the quake struck. They did exactly what you are supposed to do in an earthquake, and that is to get under a table and cover your head, but it was just priceless watching the surprised/scared look of the male anchor Chris Schauble.

Just in case you didn't see it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiB7ny52-xw

Other than the earthquake, it was another great day, warm and sunshiny. I met 2 teacher friends in Huntington Beach and we went  out to lunch at Slapfish Restaurant www.slapfishrestaurant.com/‎ I had clam chowder and fish and chips.

After lunch we walked to the pier, the beach was full! and then we walked downtown HB and had some dessert at  http://bruxie.com/   it was very good!

When i got home I went to get a few groceries, and got some Irish soda bread and Irish butter and had it for a late snack. It was yummy.

 



‎

His Grandparents and his Parents

These are  the pictures of Marvin's paternal and maternal grandparents. And a picture of his parents, taken in Poteau, Oklahoma. The little blondie is Marvin, their first born .

 

His paternal grandparents

Alonzo Wann and Nona Reynolds



 

 

 

His maternal grandparents

Marvin O. Moore and Mary Faulkner

 

 

and his parents,

Marshall Joseph Wann, and Opal Mae Moore

 

 

 

 

 

An update

I took Marvin to his doctor to have his leg checked, it seems like something bit him and he had an infection on his leg. He's in antibiotics now and the doctor hopes it will stop from spreading, it is sore and red from his ankle to his knee.

About my family's pictures...

I only  got to know my father's mother, we called her yaya. When my mom and dad married, she was a widow and went to live with them. Besides being our grandmother, she was a live-in babysitter for my sister and me.
When my father went to America after WWII and basically lost all his money, my mother was forced to move from our beautiful house in Bonanova and we moved with yaya niece's family and yaya did most of the shopping and cooking .We lived in the Taxonera for a year or so, after that, my father came back and we rented an apartment in Roca i Batlle, where I lived until I got married. Yaya stayed there with my parents until her death.


My mother and father's wedding took place June 24, 1940 in Barcelona

Tomorrow I will post Marvin's grandparents and parents.

My grandparents and my parents

I am making a family tree. Those are  pictures of my granparents, both paternal and maternal and also of my parents. Pretty fancy pictures for that time , and they all look great :)

 

My father's mother and father

 Juan Perello Riera and Maria Carbo Bonet

 

 

 

 

My mother's father and mother

Juan Garcia Abrines and Leonor Riquelme Valero

 

 

 

and my parents

Ricardo Perello Carbo and Josefa Garcia Riquelme

 

 

 

Nice day

Nice and warm, with a nice breeze, and cooling at night. My kind of weather.

Took Lulu to the vet, she said she was a little chunky and did she exercise some? well yeah, I take her for a walk once in a while and play with the ball and chase bubbles and she jumps up and down really high. I feed her a cup of food a day, half in the morning, half in the evening, she said that sounded about right. I guess we'll have to go for walks a little more often.

Marvin's leg is still red and very shiny, maybe not as hot, I told him if it's not better by Wednesday we'll go to Urgent Care and have it checked.

Today I planted hanging strawberries, I hope the slugs don't get to them. I had a hell of a time hanging the strawberry basket  because it was super heavy, I was afraid I was going to fall down and have the strawberries fall on me, but luckily it didn't happen. The tomatoes are doing well and the oranges are gettin sweet.

Have a nice week everybody!

DST Sunday

Last night I stayed up watching the movie "Delivery Man" with Vince Vaughan, where he finds out he fathered over 500 children by selling his sperm to make money for college. Was kinda fun.

This morning Marv went to the grocery store, then to Home Depot, then to the bakery, and finally to put some gas in the pick up. He's been feeling well lately, but I told him not to overdo it, and maybe we could go to Home Depot later and I would go too, but he said he'd do everything at once.

When he came home, I put the groceries away, and he was feeling pretty tired. A little later his right calf started hurting and it was red hot. He was feeling in pain too. He went to lay down and I gave him half a pain pill. He slept most of the afternoon, and when he woke up he had some trouble walking. I made him scrambled eggs and toast and he laid down again. Now he sems to be feeling a little better. We'll see how he does tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to take Lulu to the vet, they won't give me any more flea pills until he has a check up. Later in the week, she needs to have the distemper and bordetella shots, and maybe I will microchip her. The city of La Mirada is giving the shots on the 13th, a lot chaper than the vet. We'll see.

Jugando con la pelota

I think it went something like that...

 

sin mover,
sin reír,
sin hablar,
con un pie,
con el otro,
con una mano,
con la otra,

aplaudir
por detrás ,
por delante,

tirando al bote

chi chili bote

Lunch

I was going to Jersey to have lunch with my teacher friends, but  I decided instead to go to Black Angus for lunch with Marvin, he felt like eating prawns!

That's what we had. Marvin had a steak and prawns , with rice, baked potato and broccoli.

I had the cheese bread, with a wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and bacon, and baked potato soup.

 

It was a very satisfying lunch :)

Musings

I was thinking today that I miss my Spanish family (what's left of them), and I also miss my hometown, and being around people that speak catalan, and that have the same roots as I do.

I usually don't dwell on it but once in a while I see something or read something that reminds me of it. Today I was looking at some of my pictures prior to my coming to the US and I remember so clearly  what I was doing, what I was wearing, who I was with etc. I feel sad I don't have anybody to talk about it that would understand because they had not known me then. Really the only person that knew me then is Lolin and poor woman just had brain surgery and is not in any shape to talk or discuss things. The other is Nuri, and we all know how it went with her, I am still waiting for her to call me back someday.

Post deleted

I had to delete the Mardi Gras post because for some reason it showed on top of the Oscar recap and was annoying me.

I am a little late for posting, I wanted to post daily but got involved doing other stuff. Anyway I don't have a lot to say.

I went to Armstrong's and bought some herbs and strawberry plants, then I went to lunch to G Burgers. I had the White Truffle burger with Asiago cheese and garlic alioli, and fried sweet potatoes. I was full all day! For dinner I made chinese style fried rice, it was good.

I finished reading a book and I liked it a lot because it made me think what if...is about a woman that has a fall and hits her head and when she comes to, she thinks she's 29 and pregnant when in reality she's 39 and has 3 children. She has totally forgotten 10 years of her life. It was interesting. The book is called "What Alice Forgot" by an Australian author Liane Moriarty.

Hmm I just read they are going to make it into a movie, they are thinking Jennifer Anniston or Reese Witherspoon, the author likes Sandra Bullock. I don't think I'd like either one of them for the title role. But I guess is still in the planning stages.

Retired teachers

A friend of mine from LLCSD and I made plans to meet for lunch, we had not seen each other for years, but now she is in FB and we have reconnected. She's a very interesting person, Japanese background, never married, has traveled all over the world, very creative and wordly. I was looking forward to meeting her.

It was not to be, she told me she had forgotten there was a luncheon for a LLCSD  retired teacher that was moving back to Indiana, she asked me to go since I should know a lot of the teachers. The luncheon was at Marie Callender's in Whittier, next to Trader Joe's. So after I took Marvin to dialysis, I drove to the Restaurant.

There were about 20+ teachers, all retired, most from a school called Lakeland. I knew most of them by sight, a couple of them I was semi friendly with, a couple of them I didn't care for at all. Most of them meet for lunch regularly.

My friend, was 30 minutes late. I had said hello and talked to a few of them. Really I had not much to say, was not too interested in what they were doing, and I am sure they were not interested in me either, since we didn't socialize outside of school meetings :)

It was boring, I decided since my friend was not there, I would not stay for lunch and be somewhat uncomfortable since they all had their little clicks and sat together. So I said I had just come to say hello and left. I went outside and as I was leaving my friend drove up. So we air kissed and made plans to meet some other day for lunch.

I have a lot more fun with my Jersey pals, and with a younger crowd :)

Post Oscar Thoughts

I read Sandy's blog and she had some pre show predictions. Most of them accurate.

I try to watch some of the nominated movies, I saw my 2 favorites which were "Her" which won a best original screenplay, and "Nebraska" which won nothing.
I started to watch "American Hustle" and "Gravity" maybe I'll go back to them later. I may watch "The Wolf of Wall Street" mainly because Tristan loves Leo di Caprio and is rather surprised that I have never seen one of his movie, that's right, not even Titanic. I don't think I will watch  "Captain Phillips" and "Philomena" or "Dallas Buyer Club". And even though I usually watch the one that wins the Oscar, I don't think I'll watch "12 Years a Slave" it doesn't mean much to me since it's not something I can relate with.

There were not many surprises, all the actors and actresses were the same ones that won Golden Globes (but for Lupita). Gravity  won  a lot of Oscars including best director, but not the best movie. And American Hustle did not do much of anything.

My best song didn't win either..."The Moon Song" from "Her"

Ellen deGeneres had some good moments and some meh ones. I guess my favorite (along with more than a million people in Twitter) was the group selfie.
I thought the pizza one fell a bit flat, although I hope the pizza guy got the tips.

The show was LONG! 3 and a half hours. They could have trimmed it by one hour, I think. But it's always a fun show to watch! 

February Recap

In February we saw a lot of sports...The Superbowl (Seahawks vs Broncos) and the Winter Olympic Games from Sochi, Russia.

I watched Jay Leno's last show, and I will miss it. I like Jimmy Fallon once in a while but not every day, too repetitive. And David Letterman is not what he used to be. So more time for me to watch movies :)

We got our taxes done, as as usual we have to pay the IRS a lot of money :(

I got delicious chocolate covered strawberries from Marvin for Valentine's Day. Lizzie came and spent 3 days with us that weekend. It was fun.

It was also a month of celebrations. Our 49th Wedding Anniversary. Also my friend Norbert turned 58 that same day, and the day before my friend Jennifer turned 41 (btw she's back with that loser). And congratulations to Marty on his new job.

We ended February with much needed rain.

BOOKS I READ IN FEBRUARY:

Sarah Addison Allen – Lost Lake

W. Bruce Cameron – The Dogs of Christmas

Liane Moriarty – The Husband’s Secret

Debbie Macomber – Starting Now

Lucy Dillon – The Secret of Happy Ever After

Edward Kelsey Moore –The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat

 

MOVIES I WATCHED:

 

Groundhog Day (1993)

Nebraska (2013) 

Adult World (2014)

Legally Blonde (2001)