Rodrigo loves me

Back in my late teens and early 20's I could somehow justify spending a lot of money on clothes, shoes, and purses. Now, I just end up feeling guilty if I even consider it. I can always think of a million things I'd rather do. You know there's always something that the kids need or that we need for the home. Also, I hate credit cards (debit cards are your friends, people) and the mere idea of charging shoes or a purse and then thinking of how much it will really cost drives me batty.
Anyway, I received a parcel yesterday. Rodrigo bought me a Prada purse. (in my best Al Pacino. . . ) "Say hell-o to my l'il fren".........

I'm thinking of wearing it on a chain around my neck. Flava Flav style. What do you think? Either that or covering it up in clear plastic like my grandma covers her chairs. Aww.... gifts for no reason are the absolute best! I should also frame my new baby's birth certificate.

You can tell I'm a big dork that doesn't own anything Prada because I feel like walking around and sticking my purse in people's faces while saying things like "Bam!", "Do you like apples? How do you like them apples?", or "What do you think of that, beyotch?". You get the gist. Ha! I can just imagine.

FYI: Prada purses and accesories are on tremendous sale at Amazon.

feeling: too proud of my new purse
listeing to: Shivaree (Goodnight Moon)

autumn?

Had it not been for Ani, I would've have no idea that it was already Autumn. For some reason, I was thinking it was in October. I don't know why. I should know better than that. If I were going to say that it is already Autumn just by the weather, I'd still have no idea. Look at our seven day forecast. . .

I have to admit that I'm freezing in the morning. 70 degrees is sweater weather for people like me. For those of you that live in places where it's actually cooler and you're able to see changing colors, falling leaves and such, enjoy. I'll be looking at a cactus. In shorts (me, not the cactus).
On another Tucson note. . . do you remember the movie Can't Buy me Love? Yes, the one with Dr. McDreamy as a high school kid (for all you Grey's fans). It was filmed here. It's funny because when we came looking for houses for the first time, our realtor pointed out the "airplane graveyard". Immediately I thought of the movie but it never clicked. They ran the movie a few days ago, I noticed the letterman jackets read "Tucson" and it all made sense. Funny huh? Apparently, a a lot of movies were filmed here. I won't even look up to see a list of westerns.

feeling: hot
listening to: Snow Patrol (Chocolate)

bribery and sam

We've been reduced to bribing Alec to use the potty. We've got "number 1" down but he still refuses to do "number 2" in the bathroom. I just don't know what else to do. I mean, he's already three years old! Sheesh! I notice what time he usually does and have been sitting him on the potty at about that time to no avail. He won't "go" until he's off and wearing the pull-ups. A week ago, he went once and we made a pretty big deal. We'd promised him we'd take him to Chuck E. Cheese's, so we had to keep our end of the bargain. Ever since that day, he asks if we're taking him again if he uses the bathroom. Groan. So it had been a week and still nothing so we bought him a whole bunch of Hot Wheels cars, let him see them and hold them. Then I placed them all on top of the mirror on the bathroom and told him he could have one each time he poops in the potty. He cried. After that he was trying to climb and figure out a way to get them.

We just don't know what else to do. If you know any tips, please share.

Now let me tell you about Sam. Sam is Brianna's classroom's mascot. He is an old stuffed bear. Each Friday Sam picks a kid to go home with for the weekend and sits under that kid's chair waiting. Brianna had been disappointed that Sam hadn't chosen her. Well, he chose her this past Friday. The catch? Last Friday was the last day before Fall Break (they're on a year-round schedule). That's right. We now have Sam here for three whole weeks. He has been going with us EVERYWHERE complete with travel basket. He even went to cheer camp this past Saturday. Get this, he has his own chair now at our dinner table. It's quite cute, really, but now Brianna wants to make a scrapbook titled "Sam's Fall Break". I have so many pictures of Sam now, you'd think he was a new child. Sam also comes with a journal that each kid must write in about the time Sam spent at their home. Each kid has taken a page per day so I'm scared about how much Brianna is going to want to write about in three weeks. I'll keep you posted on this. Have a great week!

Here's Sam trying to eat a whole cake.


feeling: I didn't get enough sleep
listening to:

sorry

I'm sorry I haven't had much to say lately. If I post something, it'll be extremely boring. Trying to come up with these cheers are driving me crazy. I've found about a million cheers online but none of them have the movements. I've been having to make them myself. Since this whole cheer world is something foreign to me, I'm having a hell of a time.

I was sooooooo looking forward to watching Project Runway yesterday. I had completely forgotten that there would be no new episode this week. I've seen the pictures of the collections the designers presented and I was to say that I was disappointed by Michael's collection. Solely based on their final collection, I'd have to bet on Jeffrey or maybe even Uli. Who knows, though, really. Designers have such a different take on things. I mean, things that I'd consider ridiculous and never even dream of wearing are sometimes "So innovative, so well made, so creative".

The Office premiere is tonight. FINALLY! Don't call me, IM me, bother me, or even think about me at 8:30 (7:30 my time).
Sorry I really don't have anything else to say today. My mind is really elsewhere right now.

feeling: making lists in my head
listening to: Alec watching Curious George

furious!!!!!!!

I don't think I'd ever been as mad at Rodrigo as I was yesterday. I was LIVID! Had I been a cartoon, you would've seem me as a whistle with steam coming out of my ears. So, let me tell you. . . . . Rodrigo woke up yesterday and started getting ready. This was quite odd since on Sundays he likes to lounge around as long as he can. I asked him where he was going and he said he was going biking. Now, he recently bought a mountain bike and has been going crazy with the biking. He claims that he used to bike a lot but I'd never heard that before he started looking for a bike. Even if he did, he hadn't done it for a long time, so you'd think he'd start off little by little. Last Sunday he rode too many miles and ended up being sore for the rest of the day. This time I asked him to try to not go too far. Of course he took this as nagging and decided to do whatever he wanted to anyway. He left.
I made breakfast, fed the kids, waited some more, ate breakfast myself, started watching a movie. One hour. An hour and a half. Almost two hours. Then he called me asking me to take him water. When I heard this, I got a little mad. I asked where he was and he told me he'd found his way to a nearby biking trail and decided to go on it. WHAT?!?! WITHOUT WATER? So the kids and I drove over quickly to take him some water. We got there. Waited. Waited some more. I called him and asked him where he was and he said he was almost out of the trail and that he'd be there shortly. We waited. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. I called him again. No answer. I was thinking "Ok, he didn't hear or feel the ringing". I called again, still no answer. (thinking: Hmm, he can't get the phone and he'll call me shortly). A few minutes and still no call, I called again, no answer. (thinking: Oh, so he's not going to answer, eh?) Waited a while. I was calling to make sure I was in the right place and right about here I started to freak out. Called again several times with no answer. I was furious and worried at the same time. I kept thinking "Who goes out in a biking trail in the middle of the desert with no water, no sunblock and wearing a dark shirt"?!?!?!?! I was imagining him thrown out in the middle of the desert somewhere with no one around. I thought there might be other exits and I was at the wrong one while he was at another one fainted and dehydrated. I left and started driving around. Maybe he meant that he was on his way back home, so I drove all the way back home and didn't see him anywhere. We went back to the biking trail and I received a call from another cell phone. It was Rodrigo calling from some guy's cell because he had lost his phone. He said he'd lost his way on the trail and two guys were going to direct him back to another exit. It would be about a 15 minute ride. I went to the location to wait. I was there almost half an hour and I called the cell. They told me Rodrigo's bike chain had broken and were walking out on to another street. I finally found them at a fire station and Rodrigo was RED and soaking. One of the guys had shared water with him and he was lying down in the shade. So I was ready to leave and Rodrigo said the guys would take him home. I couldn't believe it. He said he was way too tired to take apart the bike and he'd rather go in their truck. The kids and I left. I wouldn't have but it was HOT and the kids were CRANKY by now. A few minutes later, Rodrigo and the guys showed up at the house. I thanked them and gave them a few bottles of water. I wanted to feed them but they had to leave. I was so mad at Rodrigo, I decided to just say nothing. I didn't want to get into some huge fight and I'm sure he was not in the mood. I went over to him and proceded to remove cactus needles from his legs and arms. He had fallen over twice and landed in a cactus. After that, he learned first hand that jumping chollas really do jump and stick to you. (you should know that jumping chollas are little pest cacti that seem to jump out of nowhere and are hard to get off of you. Not a tribe of natives that jump out and attack people which is what my grandma thought when I was telling her this) When it seemed all the needles were off, I bandaged some cuts and helped into a bath. I was still mad but more concerned at this time. After he took a long nap, I finally delivered my speech/lecture. I'm sure you can imagine the kind of stuff I said. I wasn't rude. It was more of like a "Who does that?" sort of speech. I told my mom earlier and she laughed so hard she cried. Uh, yeah, she wouldn't be laughing if it had been my dad who had done that. I can just imagine how mad she would've been. Anyway, Rodrigo is going to get his bike fixed soon. Too soon if you ask me and is looking to buy some hydration packs called Camelbaks.

feeling: HOT
listening to: The Ocean Blue (Between Something and Nothing)

added 09/19/06: I wrote this entry yesterday but had problems posting so you'll see it with the wrong date, I think.

sex ed with my grandma

Mornings after I drop off Brianna, I sit at my desk have some coffee, check my email and call my grandma. We had an interesting conversation today. This was, as always, in Spanish, but translating will really not have you lose anything.

right out of nowhere . . . .

grandma: Mija, what's the karma satra?
me (after nearly spitting out my coffee): You mean the kama sutra?
grandma: Yes, that one. What is it?
me: uh, . . it's like a book. . . of like. . uh. . (trying to find a way to explain here and wondering where this is going)
grandma: Oh! So, it's true! Is it like about sex?
me: yes

-let me explain here that my grandma loves Spanish celebrity gossip. There is an infamous actor known for his philandering ways who claimed something about being better than the kama sutra-

grandma: Well, supposedly Andres Garcia brags about being better than that Kama whatever and that's how I knew I was wrong
me: wrong about what?
grandma: about what it was. I thought kama sutra was something like kung fu
me: Bwah, ha, ha, ha! Hopefully you didn't confuse those two things with my grandpa.
grandma: (laughing pretty hard) Ay, mija!

The rest of the conversation was hilarious, and even though there's no way my grandma would ever know, I'll keep the rest private. She did after all end up saying God and Jesus phrases. Válgame Dios!

feeling: I'm still laughing
listening to: Incubus (Talk Shows on Mute)

concerts

I love going to concerts. Love it, love it, love it. We finally live in a place where all the good tours hit. EVERYONE plays in Phoenix which is just a two hour drive. Now the problem is that we don't have anywhere to leave the kids. We have no family here in Arizona and leaving the kids with just any sitter is out the question. We'd have to leave them for about 6 hours (two hour drive to, two hours drive from and approx. a two hour show). That is way too long for someone who is not family to watch my kids. Also, three year olds and rock concerts don't mix well. Go figure. A few weeks ago, we missed Dave Matthews Band. Red Hot Chili Peppers had also played a couple of days before that, but we hadn't planned on going. Here is a list of upcoming concerts I'd like to go to:

- 9/16: Death Cab for Cutie (Phoenix)
- 9/24: Avenged Sevenfold and Muse (Tucson)
- 9/26: Alice in Chains (Tucson)
- 9/27: Guster (Tucson)
- 9/28: We Are Scientists (Phoenix)
- 9/30: Incubus, She Wants Revenge and 30 Seconds to Mars (Phoenix)
- 10/5: Live (Tucson)
- 10/13 Dashboard Confessional (Phoenix)
- 10/14: Foo Fighters (Phoenix)
- 10/17 Placebo (Phoenix)
- 10/20 She Wants Revenge and Pretty Girls Make Graves (Tucson)

Just looking at this list makes me sad to think of the good shows I'll be missing. I was thinking about going to Guster on my own. I like them a whole lot more than Rodrigo does. Anyway, I knew that there was no way Rodrigo was going to want to miss Incubus. I don't want to miss them either and so we're going! My mom will be here that weekend to stay with the kids that day. This will be our third time watching Incubus and I can't wait!

feeling: excited
listening to: Atreyu (Ex's and Oh's)

yvett the lazy blogger

Sorry for neglecting my blog lately. I've had some other projects that have been taking up time.

- Brianna's second school project was due last Friday. She had to make an "animal box". If you all remember the last project, you know I wanted to make this one REALLY good. My imagination was going crazy thinking about how I could decorate the box. I wanted Brianna to choose something like a peacock so that I could decorate with black, turquoise and feathers. She ended up picking penguins. My first thought was "Penguins? Are you serious? Black and white? Give me something to work with here!" Then I got over the whole "my project" deal and let her go with whatever animal she wanted to do. Of course. The end result was surprisingly nice and is being displayed in her school library.


- She also joined cheerleading. When we first registered her, I'd checked off that I was willing to be an assistant coach. I don't mind helping at all, I just don't know anything about cheerleading. At the first meeting, parents had to pick a rehearsal time and location and work out a lot of the details. There was no coach. No one wanted to do it. One lady went so far as to suggest hiring a cheerleader and paying her by the hour. Uh, this totally went against what the league stands for. I purposely picked this league because they are a non-profit just for fun sort of thing. Being labeled the assistant, I was put on the spot and so I became the coach. Yes, I am now a cheerleading coach. I'll give you a minute to finish laughing . . . . . done? Ok, so I was getting really frustrated at that first meeting. I mean, we place our kids in something so that they can be involved and interactive yet the parents were like "I'd rather be anywhere else than here". What kind of example is that? Since then I've been scrambling trying to find cheers, getting all the contact info intact, calling parents, getting uniform needs sorted out and actually teaching the girls. Someone has to do it. So, uh, if any of you know any cheers or were cheerleaders, can you shoot me an email? I know NOTHING about this and need all the help I can get. You all realize this is just karma, right? I mean, for my own daughter to join something that I made fun of is total payback. I can't even begin to imagine how crazy everything is going to be once Alec starts school.

-Blogger in beta now has flickr support! I have yet to use the features but this sounds like good news.

- I know there's something else I wanted to write about but my mind is drawing a blank.

feeling: forgetful
listening to: Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars) <-- I love this song and can hear it over and over

blogger in beta

About two or three weeks ago, I switched my blog over from the regular blogger to the new blogger in beta. I like a lot of the new features but there are still a lot of glitches. One of the major ones is comments. As described in this post, if you have an old blogger account, you won't be able to comment on my page. I am also not able to comment on blogger accounts. Sucks. There are rare occasions that I am able to, but those are really rare. So, I guess if you want to comment, you have to do it as "anonymous" or "other". Another thing is that I have to log in each time I want to use blogger. The "remember me" setting no longer works. Wait, I think it works with firefox, so I'll have to use another browser. Great, Rodrigo has been trying to get me to use mozilla for years and now I'll have to. Yes, I still use internet explorer.
-he's at his laptop close to me and now I'm getting a lesson in the history of browsers- :P
I've also noticed that I can't see any of the pictures I had posted before I switched over. SUCK! So, I don't know if you can see the new pictures or are able to see the old ones or what is going on. I know that in time all these glitches will be worked out and I'm glad I switched. I do like the new features. I like that I can access my template like posts and that you don't have to wait for publishing or never republish. I think all blogger will eventually have to move but for now I'll be a guinea pig. So, I updated my template as a test. Can you see it? It is supposed to be blue and brown. I wonder how on earth it looks if you can't see the new changes. Please let me know. Either email me or comment as anonymous. Let me check my settings to see if this is even allowed.

feeling: killing time until Project Runway is on
listening to: Rodrigo talking

links

- I thought this video was really cool. Rodrigo and I want to try this. I think it'll be interesting to try this on kids since they change a whole lot more.

- Suri Cruise is amazingly beautiful! Wow! She looks like those "if they mated" morph of the both of them. I think she looks like both already. Aww...

- I watched The View yesterday. I loved how Rosie O'Donnel hardly let anyone else talk! I don't like watching because Elisabeth always ends up getting me mad, but this looks promising.

- Wow, lots of good movies this fall.

- I'm glad that oversized purses are in style this fall. My mom just gave me a huge really nice purse and I love it.

I have to run now. Lots to do. Have a great day!

feeling: these nails are getting in the way of typing
listening to: morning talk radio

seattle, texas

We got back from Texas yesterday. It rained while we were there. Then it rained some more, then it rained some more. I'd never seen it rain so much in El Paso. It was so odd and so flooded everywhere. Not at all like the desert I was born and raised in. We went to the house we're selling there to find out that the rain had uprooted one of our trees and apparently lightning spilt another one in half. Since our house is a downhill slope, there was a lot of dried mud and muck gathered in our driveway and yard. It was quite a mess.
We visited our familes, of course and went to Juarez, MX for breakfast on Sunday morning. I'd been having such a craving for real Mexican breakfast for a long time now. We went to a restaurant named Frida's and I was not disappointed at all. Everything was delicious.
The rest of the weekend we just spent with family talking, relaxing, laughing and of course eating.

So now that I'm back:
- I read last night about the Crocodile Hunter's death. I was soooooo surprised. I mean, we all knew something like that could happen, we just don't really expect it to. I am happy that his last moments were spent doing what he loved but I feel really badly for his kids. I think that someone that is that sort of daredevil should either not have children or stop wrestling with crocs, snakes and sharks once you do become a parent. That's just me. And spare me the whole "more people die in car accidents, are you going to stop driving now that you're a mom?". You know what I mean. I just don't think it's fair for the children to now be without a father because he loved to take those sorts of risks.
- I was quite happy to actually get to see blue sky once we arrived in Arizona.
- We have officially become Tusconians (or whatever they're called: Tusconites? Tusconers?) Yesterday we all felt "Ah, we're home" when we got here.
- Week ahead: finish Brianna's animal box project, attend her first cheerleading meeting, fundraiser night on Wednesday, attend a "caring community" meeting, family reading night, and PTA meeting. Ah, the fun never stops. Have a great week. Oh wait, it's already Tuesday. Great, add to the list: be confused on days for the rest of the week.

feeling: cool (temperature wise)
listening to: Muse (Knights of Cydonia)

labor day

I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend! Right now I am finishing up packing and we will be heading to El Paso this weekend. I am really close with my family and Rodrigo is really close with his family, so not seeing them for a month or two months is torture. The grandmas are dying to see the kids. It's funny that my mom is planning all sorts of things for us to do like if we were tourists. She wants to take us to Juarez (which is where you take anyone who comes to El Paso and has never been to Mexico). I'm happy because I really want to go see this restaurant she's talking about. Anyway, I'm off. I'll be back in bloggy world on Tuesday. Have a great, restful time. Hooray for long weekends!

feeling: happy
listening to: Incubus (11 am)