August Recap

August was a good month :)

T spend a few days with us, We had some good nighttime talks. We all went to different restaurants and also did some shopping. We met N in Huntington Beach and had a good day at the beach. He is now a student at the University of Utah :) It was good to have him spend a few days with us.

Sandy came to California at the end of the month, and had fun with Lizzie in her new apartment, and walking around downtown San Diego and going ghost hunting. They spent a couple of days in La Mirada and it was so nice to have them both here.

Marv had a transfusion on the 2nd, but he has been feeling pretty good all month.

I watched the Summer Olympics that was always fun. I also had a video visit with Mia.

Movies I watched in August:

 Books I read in August:

Something funny

There's a reality TV show in E! called "Botched". It follows 2 doctors as they "remedy extreme plastic surgeries gone wrong."

I started watching the very first program, but I didn't care for it, so I didn't watch it anymore.

Today in Facebook a teacher friend of mine asked me if I remember  the twin sisters I had in my kindergarten class in 1993. After he told me the names I remembered them, nice girls with very nice parents. I remember for Teacher's Day they gave me some exotic plant in a beautiful big pot .

Anyway my friend told me they were in that show.

The fun part is that when they showed them as young girls, they showed them in my Kindergarten class and I was in the picture!

So, I sort of was in the Botched TV show, but not as a patient ;)

Catching up

I just realized I haven't written anything at all this month.

T has been here visiting and it didn't leave me time for much else :)

Then came the Olympics. I have been watching it daily and nightly. Love the Olympics!

I also have been watching some movies since all the programs on TV are reruns. And of course, I've been reading.

I like to read chick lit because it's fun and they leave me feeling good. Some times a mystery or two, my taste in reading is pretty eclectic.

I usually read in English. Once in a while I will find a Spanish book. That's what happened this month. I read a book called "Ultimas tardes con Teresa" the writer, from Barcelona,  is Juan Marse. I loved it! The novel takes place in Barcelona in the late 50' early 60's. I really identified with Teresa, I was her age and lived in the same area, and did a lot of the things she did, so everything was very familiar to me. 
I remember that was the time my friends and I were through an existentialism period, my "uniform" was black turtle neck, black tights, black skirt, flat black shoes, my hair was long with deep bangs (think Cleopatra). I got together with friends, most of them college age and older than I was. We read Jean Paul Sartre books, thought of ourselves as intellectuals. We'd meet at Jamboree in the Plaza Real and  drank, smoked and especially we had long discussions. We were very progressive. Most of my friends were well to do and when they decided to protest the way things were going at the University and in Spain (it was Franco time), I was a  part of it.
It's a year of my life that I remember somewhat vaguely. Reading this book I found out that the protest was about letting low income students go to the University. At that time only wealthy people could afford to go, or smart people with high grades. This upraisal didn't last long when the Franco police started arresting the leaders. The rest of us, little by little lost interest.
It really brought back a lot of memories.

This is how I looked at that time (my hair was usually loose and long but I guess I had different hairdo that day)

Another time I will write about the other book I am reading now, La catedral del mar. 

July Recap

July has been a pretty good month.

M had a couple visits with wound nurses Estrella, Nancy and Kristi, We are trying some new supplies to see if we like them, so far so good. We also went for a consultation with his internist.

We have gone out to eat a few times, to the California Fish Grill in the new mall in Downey, right behind Kaiser. We also went to The Habit, KFC a couple of times, Super Mex, Panda Inn etc.

I also met Norbert for lunch in Long Beach, we ate at Mimi's.  We asked him over for dinner on a Sunday, and M cooked catfish.

We also had a visit from M's sister Bettie and her husband Lee. It was nice to see them.

I had my hair cut and colored at my favorite salon. I was not 100% happy with the results because my hair is darker than I wanted and the cut was a bit different too. But is what I asked for so i shouldn't complain. 

The most important thing is we had a visit from our grandson! He had not been here for quite a while, although we saw him for graduation. He will be here for a week, leaving August 3rd. We'll miss him.
It's fun to have an 18 year old around, he loves to drive my Mustang, and eat, and listen to music, and being in the Jacuzzi.:)

There's some big changes going on with Lizzie, and maybe she will blog about it.

Other than watching the NRC and the DNC , everything else seems to be reruns. So I watched more movies than usual. Here they are:

And those are the books I read in July

Love you all :)

A visit from T

On Thursday, we went to pick up T at the airport, I was driving and I turned at the wrong street so we were slightly late. As we drove by the airport M said he ws not there, but I thought he was sitting on a bench. I called but nothing, I called again and still he didn't look up, so I got off the truck and went to shake him, he had his earphones on and was oblivious. So we drove home and stopped at In'n'Out for some delicious hamburgers.

It's been a while since T has been in La Mirada by himself. He made himself at home right away. It's good to have him here.

Friday we went for a late lunch to Panda Inn, We ordered a lot and still have some leftovers. Later he and I went to the store to get some supplies, mainly snacks and drinks.

We've been talking  and sort of bonding a little, I wanted to go to Long Beach after dialysis but he didn't wake up in time. So after I got back we went to Target (he wanted some speakers so he could hear his music in the car here. We had lunch at Chipotle. He drove there and back in the pick up.
Tonight he went to KFC to get dinner and then he took my beloved Mustang and went for a drive  listening to his music full blast.

He's been in the Jacuzzi every night. :)

It would have been nice if he could have come with a friends, but is nice he's around and talking with us and playing with Lulu. He  agreed he needed a break from all the partying he's been doing since school was out.

Technology

  In today's world we are surrounded by technology in almost every facet of our lives.

Things are very different now that when I was growing up, of course. I remember the very first time I watched TV. It was at the grocery store by our apartment in Roca y Batlle. My grandmother and I were invited to go there to watch Grace Kelly's wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco. It was 1956. Shortly after we "rented" a TV, we had to put money in a box and we could watch for an hour, we didn't have the money to buy one outright.

Computers came much later. Our first computer was a Commodore VIC-20 which we bought in 1980, later we upgraded to a Commodore 64. I remember we had to do our own programming. The  games we enjoyed were Pong, and later Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

And now, everybody has a smart phone. You can do everything with them. It's actually quite amazing. It took me quite a while to decide to buy myself one. But I bought myself one of the first ipads. I think they came out in 2010.  When Marvin got sick and had to go to the hospital, I called the girls in a regular landline, and they were after me to get a mobile phone, which I did. It was an iphone 4 and it was easy to use and I quite enjoyed it. Not only could you make phone calls, but also take pictures, get on the internet and so much more. I now have an iphone 6.

I wonder what will be next.

Today I used technology as a way to talk and see my sister in Spain. Yesterday was her birthday and she is not interested at all in technology, she has no computer or smartphone although she has a cell phone.

She was at the home of Monica, and Irina Monica's daughter was there showing them how to use the webcam etc. At first they could see me and hear me but I couldn't see them, after a while it was fixed. Nuri kept on saying she couldn't figure out how we could see and talk to each other in real time being so far away (I don't understand it either lol). We had a fun time, I showed her and Monica the painting in the living room, then I went outside and showed them my garden, and of course Lulu.  It was fun.

Conversely, I wonder why Mia and I have never done it, it's through  Facebok Messenger. I tried to Skype with her but we never connected. Maybe we can try with messenger eh Mia?

And now just a word about the latest craze, Pokemon Go. Yes, I downloaded it and I'm having fun with it although I really don't know what I'm doing :)

Independence Day

I hope all my readers had a nice 4th of July weekend!

Lizzie came on Friday and left Monday around noon. It was good to have her spend a few days with us. She brought us some mini bundt cakes too.

We had a pleasant quiet holiday, On Saturday, she drove Marv to dialysis and then we had lunch at a sandwich place that was a little unexpected. For dinner we had lecso. She also picked up all the oranges in the tree, and took some tomatoes when she left :)

Sunday she and Marv went to get breakfast and also do a little shopping. We decided to have Mexican food for dinner so we ordered carnitas from the Mexican supermarket in Valley View. We had the full meal, carnitas, refried beans, rice, salsa, tortillas and onions and cilantro. It was good and I didn't have to cook!

Monday morning I cooked waffles and bacon, and Lizzie left shortly after noon.

In the afternoon, for some unknown reason I decided to clean the hallway linen closet. I get emails from a site called Home Storage Solutions, and this week's challenge was to organize the linen closet:

A good rule of thumb for bath linens is to keep two complete sets, which include a bath and hand towel, along with a wash cloth, for each family member, and an additional two sets (at least) for use by guests.

For bedroom linens the rule of thumb is two sets of sheets (which include fitted and top sheet, and pillowcases) for each bed and guest bed in your home.

I got rid of a lot of sheets and towels that were showing their age, and gained a lot of space. I also got rid of my old shoeshine box (I never use it anymore). 

And in case you want to check Home Storage Solutions, here's the web site:
http://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/

At night Lulu and I went outside to see the neighborhood fireworks, the noise and lights don't seem to bother her too much, but we didn't stay out too long.

Another thing I did was to watch a movie "Me Before You". I read the book and I really liked it, I think I gave it 5 stars. I thought the movie was pretty faithful to the book and I liked the male lead, Sam Clafin , but it took me a while to warm up to the female lead Emilia Clarke, she has extremely wiggly eyebrows and it was distracting to me.