Old Friends

One of my oldest friends and her husband, came by to visit me today. We have known each other for over 50 years, we went to elementary school together and lived in the same neighborhood. Through the years, we have kept in touch, thru her 3 marriages, her endless dramas and conflicts about herself and her very dysfunctional family, her depressions, and her health problems.
After her parents died, she has been much more needy, calling me often, coming to visit, and constantly telling me I am her best (and only) friend.
I appreciate the fact we've known each other for so long, and is nice to keep in touch once in a while. But I am tired of her constant drama and self centeredness -is this a word?-. I feel sorry for her husband, although he is the enabler to her moods.
They were here all afternoon, she told me all her latest tales of woe, including day to day details of her parents' passing (over 10 years ago but she keeps them very fresh on her mind and is still in mourning), her breaking up ties with her sister, again, etc. etc. etc.
After they left, with big hugs and kisses and promises she will come back soon to visit, I let a big sigh of relief.
Sorry for this post, I didn't meant to sound so unsympathetic, but I just had to vent :)

Kindergarten Open House

Well the day arrived. Open House! I am exhausted, I have been cleaning, and dusting, and rearranging, and decorating for 3 straight days after the children went home. I was wondering how come I was working and doing so much, then it dawned on me: Last year Mia helped me get the room ready! She was really a big help :)

Anyway, the evening went very well, I had 18 out of 20 students represented, there came moms and dads and grandparents and siblings, a full stream of people from 6:00 to 7:30PM.

I got very nice comments and thanks from everybody. I was pleased with the results.

Afterwards, jennifer and I met Marvin at the Acapulco Restaurant for our traditional dinner, complete with Margaritas. Marvin had a coupon for a free entree for his birthday, he and Jennifer had shrimp fajitas, I had taquitos with jalapeno relish. When we finished, the waiter brought a flan and we all sang Happy Birthday to Marvin.

I am about ready to go to bed now, Jennifer is already sleeping. Marvin is watching CSI.

Good night everybody! or good morning :)

Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

Lizzie has been posting poems all month, I didn't want April to end without posting a poem too. I chose my mother's favorite poet, Becquer. He was a romantic poet, and my mother knew almost all of his poems by heart. And so did I. I forgot a lot of them, but as I was searching online for his rhymes, they came back to me. I can still hear my mother reciting this short rhyme, one of her favorites:

Rima XXIII

Por una mirada, un mundo.

Por una sonrisa, un cielo.

Por un beso... Yo no se

que te diera por un beso.

Translation: For a look from you, I'd give you the world. For a smile from you, I'd give you the heavens. For a kiss...I don't know what I could give for a kiss.

April 21

Today is Marvin's birthday.

When I came home from school, there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers than Mia had sent him. He really liked it. See picture :)

I made him a couple of cards in the computer which he also enjoyed. And I had my class sing Happy Birthday on the phone to him .

We went out to dinner at El Torito Grill. They sent him a coupon for a free entree for his birthday. He had carnitas and I had fajitas, plus a great Margarita!

At the end of the meal our waitress and a couple other people sang Happy Birthday and brought a flan with strawberries, courtesy of the Restaurant. All in all we had a very good meal at a very affordable price!

Talking about strawberries, it is the season now, and I am just loving fresh straberries with cream. Marv and I went Sunday to buy some from a strawberry field close by.

At night, Sandy and Lizzie called him to wish him a happy birthday. His sister Mary called too.

He's looking good at 69!!!

Viva Las Vegas

We had an uneventful drive from West Valley to Las Vegas. Not much traffic again, and nice blue skies. M had expressed a desire to stay at the Luxor in Las Vegas, not in the Towers but in the Pyramid itself.

We drove down the strip, still a lot of building going on, and of course a lot of people and traffic.

The Luxor is an Egyptian themed casino built like a pyramid. After we registered, we went to the elevator as we were in the 13th floor. The elevators at the Luxor are called "inclinators" because it goes up in a diagonal line. It felt like it was moving sideways rather than up and down.

When we got to our room I felt like the ground was moving, M had the same feeling. Maybe it was because the window was angled downward, and the room was odd shaped. In spite of it we slept well!

After we rested a while we went out to explore, and took a few pictures (check my Facebook). We ate at the Pyramid Cafe and had a lovely dinner. Neither M nor I liked the featured entertainers (Carrot Top and Criss Angel - a T's favorite) so we just went to the Casino where we proceeded to lose a few dollars lol.

After a goodnight rest, we left Las Vegas, and we arrived home to La Mirada mid afternoon. M went to take a well deserved nap, and I went out to water my herb garden.

We decided we will not stay at the Luxor -the Pyramid side anyway- on our next Las Vegas trip. Although it was quite an interesting experience.

Spring Break

I was going to write every day from Utah, but I forgot my blog password, so I ended up not blogging at all. S more or less wrote about the days we spent there, now is my turn.

The trip to Utah went very well, an easy drive, not too much traffic and nice clear skies. We spent the night in Beaver. We usually stop at the same motel and eat at the same place, Kan Kun. It's quite nice Mexican Restaurant in the middle of nowhere, we always enjoy eating there.

It was freezing when we left in the morning, but it got warmer as the sun came out. Again as usual, we stopped in Fillmore for breakfast: potato logs and a crispito for me. Tasty!

We got to West Valley and it was so nice to see the family. It had not been too long since we had seen them since they were in La Mirada on the way to their Mexican cruise, but because we live so far apart, it's always a treat to be with them. Unfortunately we brought germs with us, M and I we both had a cold, and S caught our cold too :(

We spent a nice ,relaxed week. We went out to dinner to a place I had been wanting to try called The Red Iguana. I had sirloin tips with peppers and onions over almond mole. I thought it was tasty, S didn't love it! Sandy made spaghetti one day, I made Spanish meatballs another day, and M made catfish on good Friday. Saturday we had ribs cooked by MT in their brand new BBQ grill. That was the day S and I went shopping.

T and I had a nice talk about toothbrushing, and we did roughhouse quite a bit lol. I hope he remembers our secret password! Of course T and his grandpa enjoyed their daily shopping/bonding too!

On Easter morning, we watched T hunting for eggs, he got quite a few candies and $$$. After that, M and I said our goodbyes and hit the road again.

See you in Summer!!!!!

Nice Weekend

Saturday I went to HB and with my friend N we went down PCH to Dana Point. First we stopped at Rockin' Baja Lobster in Newport Beach and had a nice lunch "bucket" carne asada, shjrimp, lobster tails and chicken, I also had a great Margarita. After a walk down the pier, we went to Laguna Beach and on to Dana Point. It was a beautiful warm day. The beaches were crowded and it was impossible to park , but it was an enjoyable ride.

Sunday M got a great breakfast, Denver omelette, bacon and biscuits and gravy. Then I went to Target and got herbs and flowers, which M planted in the afternoon. He made a nice herb garden area where the tomatoes were last year. We planted 2 kindas of lavender, oregano, sweet basil, cilantro, parsley, spearmint , Anaheim Pepper, leeks, and chile de arbol. I hope they'll do well.

For dinner, we went to the Thai Restaurant, we had pork satay, pineapple fried rice, northern Thai pork stew (spicy), and 2 desserts: fried bananas and mango with sweet sticky rice see picture) YUM.

All in all a very nice weekend! :)