A post

Hello everybody!
It seems like June has not been a very "bloggy" month for any of us. So I decided to write before the month ended and just share what has been happening.
First of all, I have lived most of the month as a "single girl" because Marvin's trip to Utah has gone on longer than expected. When he gets back, he will be bringing Tristan with him, so it's all good. I missed him.
I was really busy for the first weeks of the month because it was the end of the school year, which meant testing, parties, projects and programs. That kept me very busy.
After that, it's been just taking it easy and doing not much of anything. I have gone out to have lunch with my friend Norbert a few times, and also have gone to the beach a couple of times. I have cleaned closets and cooked once in a while. Last weekend, Lizzie came to spend a weekend and we had a nice time shopping and talking.
I have been watching a lot of soccer matches, tomorrow is Spain vs Portugal, it should be a good game. My prediction is that Brasil and/or Argentina will be in the final, hopefully Spain will be the other, but Germany is also very strong, so we'll see...Go Spain!
I went to the eye doctor today and I am extremely pleased to report that my eyes and vision are doing much better. It has been about 3 years since I started having problems with my vision, I had extremely dry eyes which was affecting my cornea, my right eye was very blurry and it was itchy all the time, very unpleasant. Since I started with the prescribed eye drops my vision has improved a lot. I am very happy :)
Now I am looking forward to have Marvin back and Tristan, and thinking about our vacation. It seems we may be going to Mt Rushmore...cool!
Y'all take care.

44 years ago today

On Sunday, June 5, 1966, our first daughter was born at 9:30PM at the Intercommunity Hospital in Fairfield, California. She weighed 7 lbs 9 ozs and was 19 inches long. She had curly red hair and brown eyes. She was a healthy beautiful baby, and everything went well.

I was very lucky to have my mother with me, because I had no idea on how to take care of a baby. I was 21 years old. We had discussed bottle vs breast feeding and we decided to do the later. Si I started the breast feeding routine and I had no idea how it worked, my mother kept saying the baby was still hungry after feeding and that I didn't do it long enough, and told me to check with the doctor. So during my next check up Dr Wallace told me the baby had lost weight since birth! I was crushed, He asked me to feed her right then and there, and weighed her before and after and she didn't gain an ounce, so he told me we better put her in the bottle. After having a check up myself, they found out I had a tooth infection that affected my breast milk, thus the poor baby wasn't getting much nourishment. After being in the bottle (boy was she happy to drink it!) she gained weight and all was well.

She was a very good baby but with a red head temper!

Her full name is Sandra Kay, but we always called her Sandy. For her baptism, the Catholic father said they were not "Saints" names, so for baptism purposes, her name became Alexandra Catherine.

Here are some facts from the day she was born: Lyndon B Johnson was the President of the US

The Vietnam War was going on. Average Cost of new house $14,200.00 Average Income per year $6,900.00 Average cost of a new car $2,650.00 Gas per Gallon 32 cents .

Oscar to best movie "The Sound of Music". World Series Baltimore d. LA Dodgers (4-0)
NBA Championship Boston d. LA Lakers (4-3). Grammy “King of the Road,” Roger Miller.

Sandy is a wonderful daughter, sister, wife and mother. She married Marty Thompson in 1993 and became the mother of Tristan in 1998. I love you Sandy!!!! :)

...of gardens and fountains

Marvin has been working really hard the past few weeks, to make our front and back yard beautiful. I think it looks great! First we had the sidewalk from the driveway to the house front widened, then we took the bricks out and he put some decorative landscaping blocks instead, they are heavy, each block weighs 4 lbs! and put some decorative bark on top of the ground. Then he took everything off the area by the driveway, and planted lavender bushes. Looks really nice. He also worked in other areas of the front lawn. We also bought another crape myrtle tree, this one is watermelon red. I hope both myrtles bloom this summer :)

He also worked in the backyard, we got some pepper plants, and my strawberry plant is doing great. Saturday we went to Home Depot and bought a fountain. Marvin made a nice area where the old fountain was, and pout some bricks in a nice pattern and that's where we put the fountain today. It's really nice!

I put some pictures in Facebook, be sure to check the album called My Garden :) I am putting here a couple of pictures too.

In other news, just 15 days for the end of school, it went fast. Marvin will be going to Utah next month for Sandy's birthday and to spend a few days there and see Tristan play soccer.

Happy Birthday to Marty on his 49th birthday today.

May happenings

It seems everybody in my blog world has decided to take a break. Kudos to Sandy, she was the latest poster. I guess it must be the month of May...the weather is nicer, and the outdoors beckon.

Marvin has finished the front of the planter, with the new sidewalk it looks really nice. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it. By the way, he seems to enjoy Facebook, and is getting quite a few friends :)

School is fine, only about a month to go (school is out June 17). The kids did very well this year, they all are good readers/writers. I'm proud of them. One sad note...one of my very first kindergartners, he's now 28, whom I remember very well in a negative way, has become my very first, and I hope last, student that will be going to death row for killing a friend...wow. I knew he was in gangs and had been in jail many times (I had his niece in my class last year, and I still talk to his mother). In the good side, many many of my ex students are now working and leading good lives, some are in college, some are married with children of their own -almost every year now I have in my class children from my old students, that's cool.

This Sunday is Mother's Day in the US. Marv and I will be going down to San Diego and have lunch with Lizzie, it's been a while since we were there, I am looking forward to it. Sandy and family are going to Pocatello, I think Tristan will stay there for a while during his break from school.

The picture above is in honor of mi mama :)

Viva Las Vegas - long post

If you have read Sandy's blog, and I know you have, you already know more or less what we did. But here's my take: After a very nice time in Death Valley, we arrived at the Excalibur on Friday morning, our room was in the 13th floor! Lizzie said she thought hotels didn't have floor 13 anymore, and Sandy was surprised I stayed in the 13th floor. I guess I am not as superstitious as I used to be!

The room was OK, not too fancy but good enough, we all were in the same floor just 2 rooms away from each other. Lizzie was lucky to have a pillow top bed, the rest of us had the regular coiled ones. Like Sandy said, it was funny they got to Vegas from Salt Lake and San Diego almost at the same time, and also got back home within a few minutes of each other.

As it was already a little late, we all went to eat at the Excalibur buffet, after that we gambled a little and rested a while, then we went to have a drink, gambled a little, and to bed.

Saturday morning we had Krispy Kremes for breakfast, then we all went to City Center and looked around a bit, very high class stores, beautiful surroundings and a wonderful scent inside the covered mall. After that we walked to Planet Hollywood Casino, formerly The Aladdin, and had lunch at a Mexican Restaurant. The girls paid for the lunch for Marvin's birthday :)

After that we walked back to Excalibur. As usual the sidewalks were crowded and the people rude. They always seem to be in a hurry! When we got back to our room, I had a huge blister in my left foot and it was sore, Marvin also had a few blisters, I guess we are not used to looooong walks!

At night we all went to The Tournament of Kings. We were in the Spain side, of course, and it was quite entertaining. The entrance fee, thanks Sandy, included dinner which consisted of a very tasty tomato soup, a whole Cornish game hen with potatoes and broccoli, and pastries for dessert, it also included drinks. There was no silverware so we had to eat with our hands.

After the show was over, we all drove to Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas to see the lights and sounds street show. It was nice because it featured the music of The Doors, we all sang to it.

When we got back to Excalibur, The Thompsons went to the Faire but it closed shortly after.

Marvin, Marty and I hung around for a while playing the slot machines, but lady luck was not on our side!

In the morning we all went to have breakfast, and right after that they all left. Marvin and I stayed for an extra day. He and I went to New York New York for lunch, and later we went to Mandalay Bay for an early dinner. I wanted to go to a famous chef restaurant, so I chose the Border Grill. The owners are Top Chefs and had a TV cooking show too. Well, neither Marvin nor I were impressed with the food, and the price was way too high! oh well it was fun anyway.

We left Las Vegas Monday morning, and on the way home, we stopped in my favorite M Resort, where I went directly to the Baby Cakes Bakery and bought enough pastries to last me for a couple of days. The highlight was a chocolate eclair. Just thinking of it makes my mouth water and my tummy rumbled with happiness. You all need to taste it if you want a taste of Nirvana :)

All in all we had a great vacation time, I enjoyed seeing everything and celebrating Marvin's birthday with our daughters and grandson, and Marty.

Happy 70th Birthday Marvin!

Spring Break 2010

We just got back from our trip to Death Valley and Las Vegas. We had a great time!

I will write a little about Death Valley now and more about the trip in the coming days.

I had never been in Death Valley and found it so very interesting and scenic. We spent the first night in a town called Tenopa, it was right in the middle of nowhere, not far from the old Spanish trail Our room was right next to the hot springs, and I bathed there at night, it was great! Next to our building, there was a Bistro with gourmet food which is very unusual to find in such a secluded area, the chef owner used to have a Zagat rated restaurant in Las Vegas and graduated first in the New York Culinary Institute, but I guess he decided to get away from it all and open a bistro right in the Hot Springs area.

After checking in, we drove around to an oasis in the middle of the desert called China Farm. Again,m it was totally unexpected, it was really way deep in a canyon, surrounded by mountains and desert. We took some pictures and looked around, after that we started on our Death Valley trek.

It's hard to describe all the sights, so I will just write about some of my favorite spots. The first one, was the beautiful valleys full of desert flowers, which is very rare for Death Valley, but they had lots of rain this year and flowers bloomed abundantly although they won't last very long. The lowest point in the US, 282 feet below sea level, was very interesting too, as far as the eyes can see is a dry lake with some moisture in some parts because of the rain, but in general it was an arid, dry, amazing landscape.

I was a little disappointed in the sunset, I was looking forward to a gorgeous desert sunset, but without a cloud in the sky, the sun settled behind the mountains without much fanfare!

On our way back to our Hot Springs "resort", we stopped for dinner at a cafe in Shoshone, they were about to close and we just had a sandwich.

One of the most beautiful sights, was the absolutely gorgeous, beautiful, amazing desert skies. I have never seen so many stars, so close up and bright, we sat outside our room just looking at the sky. As I looked up, I saw the most brilliant shooting star..I made a wish...

NaPoWriMo #1

Just thought I will post something for Poetry Month :)

When I look at myself

in a mirror

I don't see me

-as I am-

but as I was.