Titere con Bonete

Blogger Problems and Frustrations and Upcoming Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:02:00 +0000

I've been reading lately about tons of bloggers and commenters having problems posting, uploading photos, using widgets, losing posts and being unable to comment on certain blogs.

Not sure why this is all happening, but I have been following some information provided by Marianne at the blog Songbird. She has been doing a three-part series of some upcoming changes to blogger and GFC (Google Friend Connect).

I'm not sure if all the problems are due to the changes Blogger/Google will be making in the future, but it can't hurt to head over to Marianne's blog and start reading up on the changes and following her series.

With her guidance I am learning how to use my Google Reader and you know what? I really kind of like it!!! Alot!

So, here's the link the 1st part of 3 entitled:
How to follow your list of blogs the easy way: Part One

The 2nd post even includes a video...very helpful!
Follow Blogs with Google Read: Part Two

I haven't quite finished reading the 2nd part or watching the video. I kind of got hung up on creating folders and putting all of you in categories! That's right, you are all now categorized by who I think you are...lol. Isn't that terrible? But trust me, they are all nice categories and you know I love you all!

So if you are having problems with blogger/google issues maybe the changes are why? Even if you aren't, you probably should go ahead and learn to use a reader to follow all your fav bloggers so that you won't be lost and out wandering along in that vast flatland of Bloggerville, all alone with no one and nothing to guide you back to all your fav bloggy friends!

The Strength of a Family

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 06:01:00 +0000

In time of test, family is best. ~Burmese Proverb

There is nothing like family and I am so proud of mine. In the past few weeks, sons, daughters, in-laws and nieces and nephews have all banded together selflessly to help our aging parents.

My dad suffered a mini-stroke two weeks ago and we all realized that dad needed help and care. Everyone pitched in and we have had multiple family meetings to decide, with dad's input what would be best for him.

Dad will be making some changes in his living arrangement and I'm hoping this new arrangement will allow me to spend more time with him as he will be not too far from my office and I can visit him on my lunch hours and after work. I'll also be more available to help with taking him to doctor's appointments and shopping.

Not more than an hour ago my house was filled with my two brothers and their wives and my sister and her husband, myself and my mom to get mom's input on what her needs and desires are as far as her and my dad's family home that they own.

Mom also will be making some changes in her living arrangements as will I. It's going to be a rough couple of months with getting dad all situated in his new home and getting myself and my mom situated in our new home as well...so blogging time is going to be scarce, plus American Idol just started this week and neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night will keep this lady from watching her some American Idol!

Mostly I just want to record this moment in time for our family and how we all came together, no bickering, no jealousy, no demands....just everyone banding together to help our parents. Thanks to all my family members, I love you all and you are all the greatest treasure that I could have been blessed with!

Rough Start to 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:51:00 +0000

It's been a rough start to the new year for me and for my family! That's makes it a little hard to be the happy-go-lucky person I normally am, hence the grumpy Care Bear picture. That's about how I feel right now.

My dad, who is 80 years old is my main concern. This past Saturday my son called me to tell me something was wrong. Dad lives alone and up to now even though we all worry about him, he's been ok. My son checks on his "Tata" every day.

Saturday my son called and told me that he drove up and my dad's truck is wrecked and he went inside to check on Tata and couldn't understand anything that Tata was saying. Now normally, that's not odd because my dad's first language is Spanish and my son's only language is English. Dad sometimes forgets his grandson doesn't speak Spanish and will babble away at him in Spanish, therefore Son has picked up quite a bit of the language. But Son said he couldn't understand anything that Dad was saying, he said that Tata was just making noises.

So I rushed right over and saw that my dad's truck had both front tires flat and the step-side on the passenger side was now in the bed of the truck and the passenger side mirror was just hanging on by a wire. I tried to get Dad to explain to me what happened to his truck but it was really difficult to understand. He seemed totally calm and was just sitting there watching TV but still he wasn't clear on how the accident had happened.

He said he thought he hit a parked car and went up on the curb and he remembers braking and stopping his truck before it could hit a fence. He said the police came and so did the fire department and the EMT's checked him out and he was fine. They called a tow truck for him and gave him a ride home and he didn't think to call anyone to let them know what had happened.

Needless to say he scared the crap out of me and my son. On the way to Dad's house I had called my sister and left her a voice mail that something was wrong with Dad, so shortly after that my sister got there. The more that we talked to Dad the more that we realized that something was wrong. He was having a really hard time getting his thoughts together and an even harder time verbalizing them. Pretty soon he was just babbling, making incoherent sounds and you could see by looking into his eyes that he realized that what he was thinking and what he was trying to say was not what was coming out of his mouth.

We realized that he might be having a stroke so we decided to take him to emergency. On the way out of town I told my sister that Dad had mentioned he had not eaten and the day before he thought he had food poisoning and he had spent the day vomiting. I told her that we were probably going to be in emergency for hours and it would be a long time before he could eat so maybe we should stop and get him something to eat. I know it sounds weird, but I also know my dad and I know that lack of food and the drop in blood sugar can really affect him.

We got him a burger and even though he still wasn't making sense in speaking he happily ate it. By the time we got to emergency he was making sense off and on. It turns out he did have what is known as a Transient Ischemic Attack aka TIA Mini Stroke. They admitted him and he did spend the night but he was allowed to come home the next day.

Now it's up to my sister, my brothers and me and all the various spouses concerned, to decide what step to take next with Dad. The great thing that came out of this is that we've all come together and everyone is 100% on board with doing whatever it takes to take care of dad. I'm very proud of my siblings and their spouses. Time will tell what we end up doing for dad, but for now he's ok and at home and everyone is checking on him often.

But that's not the end of why 2012 is rough year. Earlier this week my daughter was assaulted by a woman while in the course of her job. My daughter manages a motel. Part of her job description is that when "guests" don't want to check out at check out time, my daughter is the one that has to go and convince them that they must go. Well this time when my daughter knocked on the door to speak with the "guest", the "guest" came out of the room and shoved my daughter! My daughter of course said, "Don't you touch me" and at this the "guest hauled off an punched my daughter in the face and a fist fight ensued!

I've never known my daughter to fight. To stand up for the rights of others...yes, as she did for this child, see story HERE. But I have never known her to fight physically with her fists! But from what she says she got the best of this woman and hurt her more than she was hurt herself. Not that I care about that other woman, what I care about was seeing my poor baby bruised and battered. She called me right after and told me her employer wanted her to go to Urgent Care, so I left work immediately and went with her. She had a huge bluish knot on her left temple and the bridge of her nose was swollen. Luckily she was okay physically, but they never did catch the woman who did this. It's amazing to me that people feel that they are entitled to check into a motel and not leave when they are supposed to and not only not leave but injure innocent employees of the motel who are just doing their job!

So then a couple of days later my sister goes to the doctor for a simple rash. The doctor gives her some antibiotics and pain meds as it is very painful and inflamed. Sister returns to the doctor a few days later and they decide they will have to drain the infection using needles and my poor sister never thought it was going to be so involved or so painful. She called me right afterwards, sobbing in tears from the pain! She's going to be ok, but she is still in a lot of pain.

So there you go...what's next? I hope that all this drama in the beginning of the year means that the rest of the year is going to be nice and smooth and peaceful for my whole family.

Family...you all be careful! We've had enough of emergency rooms, urgent care rooms and doctors!

Back in the Day and The Green Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:39:00 +0000

We've all heard our parents tell us stories of "back in the day" we used to walk 10 miles uphill with no shoes to get to school, and with just an apple for lunch! We didn't get to ride in a big, beautiful SUV to a school that is two blocks away. And we didn't get money so we could eat our lunch in the various lunch bars you have in school now. Maybe we've even been the parent sharing that little bit of wisdom with our own kids. Sure...some of it is embellishment, but mostly it is true.

I remember riding 45 minutes on a bus to get to school in the morning. We were the first kids on the bus so we had to traipse all over the county picking up everyone else and on the way home the bus driver reversed the trip so we were the last ones off...but we didn't complain. Besides, our bus driver Mrs. Calhoun didn't put up with any of our shenanigans!

Well my sister in law sent me an email that I would love to share with everyone. I think many of you will find it interesting and relevant to the "going green" trend we're in. Now I believe in going green to some extent and recycling and saving our resources for the next generation....but I also agree with a lot of what's in this email. Read for yourself...

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.

But isn't it sad, the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

***Linking up to the WEEKEND BLOGGY READING PARTY hosted by Serenity Now. Please go and check out some of the other favorite posts of the week from the bloggers participating! Happy Reading!***

Books Read in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:30:00 +0000

"To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company." ~Andre Gide

This year I got to travel alot, and without even leaving my home. I traveled by reading!

I traveled to the Niger Delta where I met Blessing and her family in the book Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson.

I traveled back to 1855 with Louisa in The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Conner McNees.

I played with little Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

I hung out in the palace with Cleopatra, A Life by Stacy Schiff.

I visited the Fire Swamp with Princess Buttercup and Wesley in Princess Bride by William Goldman.

I went back in time to relive Gone with the Wind, this time from Rhett Butlers point of view in the book Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig.

For the past couple of years I have kept track of the books that I've read during the year then done a post about them. In both 2009 and 2010 I read exactly 24 books which meant roughly two books per month and I was going to try to break my record in 2011. Did I? I don't know, let's see. . . I've listed 6 books above so we'll start with number 7.

7. the stuff that never happened by Maddie Dawson
8. Expecting Adam by Martha Beck
9. Lost Edens by Jamie Patterson

In my 2009 and 2010 posts I also wove in some quotes I found interesting and inspiring about books and reading, so in keeping with tradition . . .

"The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade."~ Anthony Trollope

10. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
11. Unsaid by Neil Abramson
12. Working It Out with Abby Rike

"Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed." ~ Anne Rice, The Witching Hour

13. The Unexpected Circumnavigation by Christi Grab
14. The Costume Trunk by Bob Fuller
15. Hungry by Crystal Renn

"Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought" ~ Arthur Helps

16. The Ultimate Reality Show by Clay Jacobsen
17. at the scent of water by Linda Nichols
18. the girl who stopped swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

"He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes." ~ Barrow

19. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
20. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
21. Angel Harp by Michael Phillips

"You're the same today as you'll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read." ~ Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

22. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
23. A Painted House by John Grisham

Did I break the 24 book mark?? Get it? Bookmark? hahaha

Well yes...I did! Thanks to my favorite author, Jodi Picoult. I happened to read six of her books in 2011 and I'm starting out 2012 by reading her book Nineteen Minutes.

24. Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
25. Vanishing Act by Jodi Picoult
26. my sister's keeper by Jodi Picoult
27. Mercy by Jodi Picoult
28. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
29. Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult

The only thing that bothers me is ending the year with an odd number, it just makes me feel like my list is not complete! But since we are in January already I don't have any way to squeeze another book in!

So there's my new goal, to read more than 29 books in 2012, we'll see how I do. How about you? How many books have you read? What's your goal for 2012?

"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance." ~ Confucius

Nepotism

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:36:00 +0000

My dad was a farmer/rancher his whole life. He could grow anything, anywhere. He started his ranching career on little ranches near a small town in Arizona named Eloy. My first memory of my dad is his leaving or coming back from work in a white company truck, wearing his cowboy boots and straw cowboy hat. That was his work uniform.

Whenever he got together with my uncles I remember the conversation always revolved around what they were farming and how good the crops were this year, or how bad, just depending on the weather, plague, wind, freeze...all those variables that farmers had to deal with for each season.

When we were in Eloy, Arizona, my dad grew cotton. Beautiful, white, fluffy cotton. We moved around alot and my dad was always learning and growing in his knowledge of products to plant and grow. I remember him planting tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers and lettuce They called him "King of the Row Crop". Anything that grew in rows my dad became an expert at growing.

When I was a junior in high school, my dad decided that he wanted my sister and me to work in the fields so we would get a taste for hard work, hoping that we would decide it didn't taste that good and we would instead study hard, get a good education and not work as hard as he and my mother had always done. He and my mother met while both picking cotton in Eloy, Arizona.

I remember the day before our first day of work, my dad sat us down and told us that once we were out there, we were representing him, we were reflections of the type of worker he was and that he expected us to work harder, longer and more diligently than anyone else out there. Out there in the fields we were expected to make him proud.

That next morning, we arose before the sun, we put on the clothes my mom had set aside for us as work clothes. Jeans, a t-shirt, a long sleeved cotton shirt to protect us from the sun, a bandanna around our neck and a big straw hat. My mom also went to work with us and she got up earlier than all of us and made burritos that we would eat in the field for breakfast, breaks and lunch. My dad fit us all into his truck and off we went into the fields to pick tomatoes.

In the field, the sun was just barely starting to rise and we went to the crew pusher and got two buckets each and a card that looked like a standard time card but instead had little numbered circles. We wrote our names at the top then headed out into the fields. Our job was to fill each of our two buckets with green tomatoes, we picked them before they ripened on the vine. Once our two buckets were filled we lifted them up, one bucket in each hand and walked out of the row we were in towards a waiting tractor where a man would grab our buckets, empty them into bins on a trailer being pulled by a tractor and then he would pull a little hole punch out of his pocket and punch out two of the holes...and back into the fields we went. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, the rows with the tomatoes were uneven and filled with dirt clods and the vines would trip you, plus it was hot and humid and dirt and flies were everywhere!

We found out right away that I was not good at picking tomatoes. I was too slow. My mom and sister on the other hand were super fast. Luckily what I was good at was lifting those buckets and hauling them out of the fields to the guy on the tractor and coming back and hauling more buckets to the guy on the tractor, and c'mon...I was in high school, I was cute, I had a beautiful smile so the guys on the tractors would more often than not jump off the tractors and meet me halfway down the rows and carry the buckets for me...it didn't hurt that I was the bosses daughter either.

But in my mind I kept hearing my dads words, I was a reflection on him and I worked my buns off! My mom and my sister worked their buns off! We did this for most of the summer. It was hot, dirty, sweaty work. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't, but I made my dad proud!

When tomato picking season was over my dad asked me if I wanted to try working on the tomato harvesting machines. These machines ran at night and they harvested the ripened tomatoes. I would have to go to work without my mom and my sister, but my dad would be there all night supervising the whole operation. Of course I said yes, I wanted my dad to be proud of me and I found out early on that I really liked getting a paycheck!

Here's an excellent video showing the process, it even shows a lady on the machine which would have been me.

Now that doesn't look so bad in the daytime, but remember, I was working at night with big flood lights so I could see what I was doing. It was hot and humid, at times cold and wet. The machines felt like you were on a huge boat, they rocked back and forth in the uneven rows, some of the tomatoes were over ripe and squishy and rotten and smelly!

I can remember working until my stomach couldn't take anymore and then I would turn around and vomit into the field. Then I would go back to working and continue until I had to turn around and vomit again. I did this for two nights. On the third night someone told my dad that I shouldn't be there, that I was sick too much and I wasn't eating and that even though I was doing a good job he felt sorry for me. My dad came and rode on the machine with me for a while. I tried to suck it up and not get sick but finally I couldn't take it and I had to turn around and puke over the side of the rail. That was it, my dad said I had to quit, he couldn't allow me to continue. I begged and begged him, telling him I was ok, I could do it. He finally took me in his arms and said, "You proved that you're my daughter and that you work as hard as anyone, I don't want you to do this anymore, you can try again next year, go to my truck and go to sleep." So I did, but I made my dad proud and even better I was a good reflection of the hard-working man he was.

So to make a long story even longer, my purpose for this post is because throughout the years I have worked with people that have hired their kids to work for them. A few I have admired, they had the same work ethic as my dad and their kids were outside washing cars and cleaning gum off the sidewalks, just like everyone else.

But I've worked with the opposite as well. Those bosses that hire their kids and let them get away with murder but turn a blind eye to it. At times it seems to me that they can't even see that their kids are slacking and making their parent look bad. I wonder at times if that isn't part of what's wrong with kids today, their parents want to make everything easy for them, they don't want their kids to struggle or suffer. I wonder at times if those parents don't worry about what will happen if tomorrow they are hit by a bus and their child has to go out into the real world and work for a real boss who will expect real productivity and isn't just going to pat them on the back for doing nothing.

I'm glad that I had the parents that I had. I know that I was truly blessed in life to have them. They have made me who I am today. Anything that is bad in me cannot be blamed on them because they were excellent leaders. I always say "lead by example" and my favorite quote is "integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking". Am I always perfect? Oh gosh no...far, far, far from it! But all that is good in me is due to my parents who didn't worry about being my friends.

I HAVE TO ADD A "P.S". TO THIS POST. MY POSTS AUTOMATICALLY POST TO MY FACEBOOK PAGE. ONE OF MY FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK ACTUALLY WORKED WITH ME THOSE SUMMERS THAT I DESCRIBE IN THIS POST, BOBBY IS HIS NAME. HE WAS A COUPLE YEARS AHEAD OF ME IN HIGH SCHOOL AND HIS DAD "MAS" WAS MY DAD'S BOSS.
BOBBY MESSAGED ME THIS ON FACEBOOK "Perfect description of those early mornings....I still can smell the fragrance of tomatoes lol.....I drove one of those tractors....liked the article.."

I ASKED BOBBY HOW THE MACHINES REMOVED THE TOMATOES FROM THE VINES SINCE SEXTANT ASKED THAT QUESTION AND BOBBY WAS WONDERFUL ENOUGH TO PROVIDE THE VIDEO BELOW THAT IS PERFECT! THANK YOU BOBBY!

Twas the Night Before Christmas - Mexican Style

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:45:00 +0000

A MEXICAN NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature ws stirring -- Caramba! Que pasa?
Los ninos were tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pyjamas,

While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a fightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Berto,
Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!"

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea,

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos --
For none of the ninos had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, and Feliz Navidad!

Iwanna Wednesday - Just a few Items Iwanna!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:36:00 +0000

First off, I'm wondering if this little gadget would be acceptable here in California while you are driving since we are a "hands-free" state and we can't hold the cell phone itself up to our ear. If I were to place it on my shoulder and tilt my head to hold it in place would that constitute "hands-free"? I think it's so cool and it's a bit cheaper than a blue-tooth. Iwanna one of these, they are so cute! You can find this little toy in blue as shown and also available in yellow at http://www.modcloth.com/.

While you're over there at http://www.modcloth.com/, take a look at these adorable tea cups. Now I'm not a tea fan, but I think you could drink coffee out of these. Maybe warm milk? Even some hot chocolate? And how cute would they look on my kitchen counter? Iwanna these, they are just too adorable!

And speaking of tea, earlier this week one of my facebook buddies posted this Christmas Tree made out of books. It's just amazing! Iwanna collect enough books in this coming year to be able to make a Christmas Tree of Books for myself next year. The original site for this photo is HERE.

What does this photo have to do with Tea? Do you see the teapot lamp on the dresser? Iwanna one of those and I found quite a few beautiful ones online. This one is my favorite! It's from mumsaid.co.uk and they have several other ones, but I'm pretty sure I love this one best because for one thing green is my favorite color and I love butterflies!

One thing that I know Santa is bringing me this year is a brand, spanking new LAPTOP!!! How do I know Santa is bringing me one? Well cause I'm my own Santa and I think I've been a very good girl this year so I bought myself one! Yay!

And since I'm getting one Iwanna one of these so I can blog in bed! I love that it has a built-in mouse pad! And it seems to be adjustable.

And so I don't strain my back while blogging Iwanna one of these as well! I just love this color. It looks so comfortable that I may NEVER get out of bed again! I found this one on Amazon.com .

But I'm thinking...if I'm never getting out of bed, then maybe Iwanna this one. This one comes with all the bells and whistles, the only thing missing is Keanu Reeves, but it does have massage so maybe I don't need Keanu? You can find this one HERE.

So that's my Christmas Wish List or my Christmas Iwanna List. What's on your list this year? Here's hoping that all your Iwanna wishes come true!

Biscochos...a family tradition. Done for 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:44:00 +0000

Every year in our family we get together and bake Biscochos, a small, crispy cookie flavored with Anise, Cinnamon and Cloves. It's almost like a Mexican version of the Snickerdoodle. And it's very popular. One of my blogging buddies, Paula from Sweet Pea also made some recently. She calls them biscochitos. Her recipe calls for brandy! I never thought about adding Brandy.

We grew up eating these as children. Our Tia Nico would make batches and batches of these and everyone always went home with a big Folgers coffee can full of them. It wouldn't be Christmas to us without this cookie and without Tamales, which we are making next weekend.

Here's my mom, the Head Chef and Baker and her two lovely assistants, me and my sister. My sister had hurt her back a couple of days ago so she was barely able to move. She was mainly there for moral support and entertainment value!

Last year we had the whole family, including my brothers, their spouses and kids in an out throughout the day baking. It was a real family affair and you can see last years pictures HERE if you so desire. But this year because my sister had hurt her back and my mom has been suffering with pneumonia and bronchitis we figured we wouldn't make them this year, but at the last minute we said "What the heck!"

My sister's two boys, Sean and Isaac were there helping for a bit early on. Isaac brought his Ipod and played some wonderful music for us. The boy has great taste in music. Here's a few pictures of the boys with me, with my mom and with their mom.

Sean and me

Me with Isaac, he's my nephew and my Godson.

My mom and her grandson, Sean.

My Mom and her grandson Isaac.

My sister and her boys.

And here's the boys, helping? Brotherly love!

Ok, now we're ready to get busy. I like to get it started with some energy drink...in the form of Agavero Tequila! This is a delicious sipping tequila that my cousin Stella introduced me to. Unfortunately...right after this picture was taken my nephew/godson spilled it :-(

Oh well, no crying over spilt tequila when there's Biscochos to be made! Several years ago my daughter gave me this Pink KitchenAid mixer and I love it! It makes creaming the sugar, shortening and eggs a breeze. You just set it and forget it. Well except for having to scrape the sides now and again.

While this stuff is getting creamed, we sift all the dry ingredients together. Then we mix the dry into the wet slowly and you knead, knead, knead the whole thing. Then we roll softball size balls out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with a little pizza cutter that has a curly edge, like a crimping edge. That's the little gizmo in the picture.

My daughter April had to work and didn't get to come and help and hang out with us. She always likes to use cookie cutters instead of the little crimpy pizza roller, so I made a special tray of Christmas Cookies just for her.

Then you bake and here's what you end up with!

These little guys are so good right out of the oven but they actually get better as they get cold and age. They get crispy and sweeter. We doubled the recipe and look how many it made! If you would like the recipe, please click HERE.

My mom was kinda dreading making them as they are a lot of work and she wasn't feeling up to Par and my own sis's back is broken. But between the three of us we accomplished another annual Biscochos bakeoff! Doesn't my mom look happy here? All the work was worth it just for this picture!

And so ends another lovely day in my life. Now I just have to get through a week of work and then we get to start all over in the kitchen and make Tamales next week. Tune in for that!

Take a letter Maria, Address it to My Wife. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 01:09:00 +0000

Hey…remember that song, Take a Letter Maria, Address it to my Wife?

Earlier today, I asked my assistant Mary if she had added a trailer to a policy and she said, "What" and came into my office so she could hear me better and I sang, "Add a trailer Maria". Then she gave me the look I get 100 times a day, the look that says, "Why oh why did I have to be assigned to Alicia?" So I said, haven’t you ever heard that song and I sang,

"Take a letter Maria,
Address it to my wife,
Tell her I won’t be coming home
I’m gonna start a new life."

After hearing me sing in it my beautiful, melodious voice...well then she thought it was a cool song. Which made me wonder why the man singing it was so cold blooded. Telling his secretary Maria to take a letter and tell his wife he’s done with her. So I pulled up the lyrics…

Last night as I got home about a half past ten
There was the woman I thought I knew
In the arms of another man

I kept my cool, I ain't no fool
Let me tell you what happened then
I packed some clothes and I walked out
And I ain't going back again

CHORUS:
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Say I won't be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life

You've been many things but most of all a good secretary to me
And it's times like this I feel you've always been close to me
Was I wrong to work nights to try to build a good life
All work and no play has just cost me a wife

CHORUS
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife

Say I won't be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life

When a man loves a woman it's hard to understand
That she would find more pleasure in the arms of another man
I never really noticed how sweet you are to me
It just so happens I'm free tonight
Would you like to have dinner with me

CHORUS
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life

This song was written by Ronald Betram Aloysius "R.B." Greaves III in 1969 and was a #2 top hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

1969...hmmmm, that means that I was only around 11 years old when this song came out and I was singing it at the top of my lungs everywhere I went. A song about infidelity, being sung by an 11 year old? What do you think I was thinking when I was singing this? I don't remember anymore. I just remember I loved the song, the words were easy to remember.

It really was a lovely song, if you just don't take into account the infidelity and the sexual harrassment there at the end when the boss hits on poor defenseless Maria. Give it a listen.

Pet Peeves

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:28:00 +0000

We all have pet peeves right? Things that we can't stand? Some people have a pet peeve about those who snap their chewing gum or crack their knuckles.

There are actually a few website devoted to lists of pet peeves, there's pppeeves.com, you can even check your annoyance level on that one and then there's getannoyed.com. My favorite pet peeve on that site being when famous people give their kids strange names, that bugs the heck out of me too!

One of MY biggest pet peeves is people that stay in the far left lane even when they know that lane is going to end up ahead and then expect everyone to stop and let them merge right into the lane that is now going to become the far left lane. Does that make sense? No? Ok, let me show you a drawing of what I mean.

Ok, so above you see 3 lanes of traffic. Don't you love my cars? Purple, Red and Blue. The long ones are truck-tractors cause they are my 'bread and butta! The cars in purple in the far left lane...I call those people the A-Holes as the label clearly shows. (Pardon my french, but they are A-Holes!) I usually am in the red lane (the middle lane) and it peeves me greatly when those A-Holes in purple in the far left know they have to merge ahead but they gotta get one more car ahead until they can just STOP all traffic in my red lane so they can get in!

As they are passing me, I yell out at them (in my head of course cause I am a proper lady and everyone knows that proper ladies can curse in their heads as long as that filth doesn't come out of our mouths!), "That's right A-Hole! Pass me! I'm sure wherever you are going is a much, much more important and special a place than where I am going, so by all means...............pass me! A-Hole!" Then I end up having to slam on my brakes cause everyone ahead of me is slamming on their brakes cause all the A-Holes in the far left lane are now merging!!!

So this morning, I'm driving along having my morning chat with my sister and I am telling her how I heard on the news that there will be some construction on the "99" this morning and to avoid the area if possible and I forgot and got on the "99" anyway. She's telling me that she saw that too and meant to remind me but she forgot too! (I think it's all the nachos and tequila that makes us so forgetful. It's definitely not our age!)

So I'm driving for once in the purple lane, the far left because when I get on the freeway I have about 18 miles to go before I get to my destination so I go in the fast lane cause that's how I roll people! I got places I gotta be and I don't want to be held up! Alrighty then, I'm in the fast lane and the traffic starts backing up and I chat with my sis about that and then all of a sudden on the left side of the road, right in front of me, is a BIG sign saying "LEFT 2 LANES CLOSED AHEAD".

It's then that I realize that I am in the far left lane! That lane is going to close ahead and when I move into the right lane that lane is going to close ahead as well and I'm going to have to merge right TWICE! So all of a sudden I realize that I now am the A-Hole!! And I tell my sister, "OMG sis, guess what? My lane is gonna end and I'm going to be that A-Hole I hate that slows up traffic further by having to merge!"

My sis busts up laughing at me! I'm mortified! Not to mention I hate merging in tons of traffic. Luckily truck drivers are the Angels of the Highway because two of them let me in and I merged safely and was only 20 minutes late to work!

And that's my story of how I started this day by being an A-Hole. Unintentionally of course, but I'm sure all those people that had to slam on their brakes so I could merge didn't think it was unintentional...they just thought, "There goes another A-Hole with places to be that are more important than mine!"

Oh, by the way...in the very detailed drawing above...you see the first purple car?...you see that yellow in the bottom right corner of the car? That's the blinker! The blinker I have to stare at! It's like a little blinking light taunting me and saying, "Hahaha, you have to wait for me to merge, Nani nani nani!" Grrr!

A Face that is Pleasant and a Face that Apparently is Not!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:34:00 +0000

The other day my sister Lisa and I went to Denny's for pancakes after a difficult day. Actually we had pancakes and Nachos. Actually Lisa had pancakes and Nachos, I had french toast and Nachos...and decaf coffee. That's right, it's Friday night and the "sistas" are living the dream! Out on the town in the Big City (Bakersfield).

We walked in and decided to go to the bathroom and wash up first before being seated. When we came back the Host/Greeter, the guy at the front behind the register told my sister, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" My sis says, "Well I don't know, have you ever had insurance, buried a loved one, bought a casket or a John Deere tractor or been to Shafter?" (Actually she named all the places she's ever worked and then the tiny little city we live in.)

Mr. Greeter said, "No, I haven't ever been to any of those places or that small town, but I swear you look familiar, maybe it's just cause you have a pleasant face?"

A pleasant face. Hmmm, well yes, my sister does have a very pleasant face, she is always smiling and she does have a lovely smile. She's a good-hearted, caring person that will give you the shirt off her back (as long as she's wearing a t-shirt or camisole underneath) so yeah...I guess you would say she has a pleasant face.

But if I had a dollar for every time someone tells me that my sister and I look the same, or are we twins, I could buy...well I could buy French Toast and Nachos at Dennys! Anyway...it happens a lot.

So I tell Mr. Greeter, "Well what about me? Don't I have a pleasant face?" (In reality...Mr. Greeter hadn't even noticed I existed.) So he turns to me and stares and then mumbles something that sounded like, "Umm...yeah, I guess your face is pleasant too?"

What the heck! My face is pleasant too??? With a question mark at the end? Hesistantly like he didn't know what else to say? Dude! My sister and I are basically the same person! How can her face be pleasant and mine not? And to make matters worse, she fell in love with my glasses and recently she ordered a pair EXACTLY like mine! We have the same glasses!

It was all I could do to suck down my french toast, nachos, eggs, hash browns and bacon (included with the french toast thank you...I didn't order extra!). Then Mr. Greeter has the nerve to come over to our table to make sure all is ok and he starts quizzing my sister again on where he knows her from cause she just has this very pleasant face! Too bad he wasn't our waiter because then at least I could have had my vengeance by not leaving him a tip!

Me..........................

My sister................................

Almost twins right? Ok, well when you put our photos side by side like this I guess we're not exactly the same person, but I think we both have pleasant faces. Don't we?

Iwanna Wednesday - Let's Wrap it Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

So I used to do this thing called "Iwanna Wednesday". Remember that? I hear it was very popular with many of my readers. Alas, I won the lottery and purchased everything in the world and so now I lack for nothing and there is nothing left to lust for anymore...well except for Keanu Reeves! *sigh* I love that man! But I couldn't buy him, he has to come to me of his own free will!! (Yeah, like that's gonna happen.)

So anyway, back to Iwanna Wednesday and the whole winning the lottery thing. (Spoiler alert...I really didn't win the lottery, that was just to catch your attention!)

Ok, so yeah...I did this Iwanna Wednesday thing because I am one of those people that wants EVERYTHING! I can walk into a store and the very first thing I see I say, "I want one of these!". I can drive down the street and look at someone's front yard and say, "I want one of those in my front yard!" So my sister and my mom say I want everything I see therefore they call me "Iwanna". Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm materialistic, I just find beauty and joy in almost everything I see and then I want it. It's ok to want it if it's beautiful and it brings you joy, it's bad to want when you just want it so someone else will be jealous that you have it. And yes...that is the way my mind works!

So I designated Wednesdays as my day to want any "lil ol thang" I want. I don't necessarily have to have it, but hey...I can want it right?

So the other day, I was stumbling with my favorite little friend on the computer; stumbleupon.com and I saw this nifty youtube video. Watch it, it's short and very cute and educational. And the young girl is just so cute! Watch her laugh and dance, she's just cute as a bug!

I've done an Iwanna post about scarves before. Well scarves and pashminas...you can read that one here, there were some real gems in that post! But I don't think one can ever lust too much when you're lusting after scarfs, pashminas, mufflers, gloves, all those things that help to keep us warm. So Iwanna share some more with you so you too can go out and buy a few and use the handy, dandy video above to tie, knot and wrap them 25 new ways!

First...since it's football season and my favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys (and aren't they doing great by the way?) check out this one. The reason Iwanna this one is because even though I know it represents my team, during non-football wearings it's just beautiful, feathery shades of blue and silver. Perfect for those cold, gloomy, foggy days here in Kern County! This one can be found at www.artfire.com and it's $26.96, but if you're good at knitting or crocheting (Lisa) you could probably make this lickety-split! I love things that are wispy and feather, or lacy or sheer and feminine.

I've seen this next scarf quite a bit in the stores this winter. It's a squiggly scarf, this one is Cashmere and it's from bluefly.com and even on sale it's a bit pricey for me, it's $77.60 on sale. But they are so amazingly soft, even the ones that aren't cashmere and they hug you when you wrap them around you as they are springy, like a slinky...remember the SLINKY? My mother would love this one, red is her color!

My sister came home from a conference in Santa Barbara a few months ago with a scarf knitted with ladder or trellis yarn, which looks like this. We have searched high and low for this yarn in all of Bakersfield and we can't find it, but I did find it online at creativefiberarts.com, this one is Ice Ladder Yarn and it's $3.25 for the ball and I believe you can make the whole scarf with just one ball, so that's a bargain compared to the other two scarves above!

I wish I had a picture of the one my sister has, but it's something very similar to the one below. If you're listening Lisa...Iwanna one the exact same color as in this picture. It reminds me of the tail of a mermaid :-)

On Black Friday, my sister and I went to Big Lots! Iwanna wanted to buy an artificial White Christmas Tree that was going to be on sale. Unfortunately, it was too small for Iwanna, but she is Iwanna after all and can find beauty and joy in EVERYTHING so she came home with the scarf pictured below for $5! (She's such a bargain shopper!)

Pardon the photo, but the only light available in my house at night is on my kitchen table. Isn't this gorgeous? Now the only reason I can think of why it was being sold at Big Lots and for only $5 is that if you will notice, it only has fringe on two sides opposite each other. The other two sides are plain. Why does that make a difference? Well imagine folding this scarf in half to create a triangle? One side would be fringy and the other would not and then on the opposite side you would have the mirrored version. But it's so beautiful and warm and I know no one will notice anyway!

There is only one other scarf Iwanna today on Iwanna Wednesday...it's gray, it's wool and it's wrapped around the neck of that other little item Iwanna. . . *sigh*

Happy Iwanna Wednesday and may all your Iwanna wishes come true!

Cough, Cough, Cough

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:35:00 +0000

I went to Las Vegas almost two week ago and unfortunately the things you catch in Vegas...they don't stay in Vegas...sometimes they come home with you!

On the drive home my throat was feeling scratchy and I was really tired. I figured maybe my throat hurt because of all the cigarette smoke in the Casinos and I was sure I was tired because I had stayed out until 2am dancing and having fun with my little posse of cousins (more about that later).

But by Monday it was a full-fledged sore throat with coughing and scratchy eyes and just general "blah".

Tuesday I had to call in sick and I slept most of the day. Wednesday I tried to tough it out but ended up going home half day. Wednesday night I took a tiny little teaspoonful of cough medicine with Codeine and it knocked me on my butt and I wasn't even able to drag myself out of bed on Thursday. I vaguely remember texting in to work that I wasn't going that day. Friday I toughed it out the whole day but I doubt I was of much use...who knows what I might have screwed up that day!

This past week I've been coughing up my lungs! (Hence the picture above, pretty darned accurate to how I feel!). I went home early one day but pretty much I'm just been trying to do the best I can.

I haven't gotten sick since my surgery to remove my thyroid in 2008. So I guess I was about due, but I'm so miserable!!! So anyway, that's why I haven't been blogging. I have lots to share about our adventures in Vegas and some other stuff. Hopefully I can get some rest this weekend and be back to normal soon. Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?? Oh gosh...I have to drag myself to the store to get stocked up for it too.

I move that we move Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years to April and May...it's much warmer then and people are less likely to get sick, plus it's right after most of us receive our tax refunds so we'd have much more money to spend! Who's with me? Show of hands!

Cough, cough, cough!

Expecting Adam

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:33:00 +0000

Being pregnant while in graduate school is no piece of cake and even more stressful to learn your unborn child has Down Syndrome. In her memoir "Expecting Adam", Martha Beck battled almost everyone over her decision to continue her pregnancy. Join From Left to Write on November 10 as we discuss "Expecting Adam". We'll also be chatting live with Martha Beck at 1pm Eastern on November 10 on From Left to Write.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As a member of From Left to Write we don't do book reviews, we write a post, drawing inspiration from the book. I debated over what to write about in this post as the book inspired so many different thoughts and feelings.

Finally I decided that I wanted to write about abortion. In the book Martha faces abortion as one of the options in dealing with finding out the child she is carrying has Down Syndrome. There was a paragraph in the book that bothered me.

Martha and her husband John, at this point still don't know that the baby has Down Syndrome and they are dining in a restaurant and the conversation comes up what would happen if this baby was less than perfect. Her husband John says, "The worst-case scenario is that you might have to have an abortion, and that's a long shot. Everything is going to be fine." What she replies is what bothers me, "I might have to have an abortion? Since when do you decide what I have to do with my body?" Then she says, "What we've talked about is that I am pro-choice. That means I decide whether or not I'd abort a baby with a birth defect. You steer clear of this one, John-boy. It is not your call!"

Two things bother me:

1. She invited this man into her body to plant his seed and when the baby is born she expects this man to make decisions that involve this baby 50/50. Yet he has no choice, no call in deciding if the baby should be aborted simply because she is the one carrying it? It is her body that is housing the baby for 9 months so he has no say until the baby is born? He has no say in whether or not he wants HIS child's life to be taken?

2. Why do women want to allow a man the chance to "wash his hands" of a child that is to be aborted? If the child is born you can bet the woman will move Heaven and Earth to try to get this man to help support the child financially. Yet when a women gets pregnant, the awful choice of taking a life is left solely up to her? The man is not involved? The man is absolved of all guilt? Seems to me the man gets off pretty easy!

I'm not pro-choice, but to me the argument that women have used about how it's their body and their right to make a choice about what they do with their body ends when you invite a man into your body and you create a child together. Now I'm not talking about situations of rape or incest or any other situation that is not consensual, that's a whole different ball of wax. I'm talking about two people, a man and a woman having sex, making a baby, on purpose or not. They both have a right to decide what happens to that baby; both before and after the birth.

Martha and John chose to have their baby regardless and are richer and happier for it. Would everyone be able to handle a child that had Down Syndrome? No. I don't know if I could have handled it. I'm glad I never had to make that decision, but if it had come to my deciding that, I don't believe that it would have been fair to tell the father to "steer clear, it's not your call."

A Matter of Control

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:03:00 +0000

Picture a young bride. Hopeful, happy, looking towards the future and picturing a beautiful life filled with challenges and knowing that it's she and her groom against the world. Picturing herself building a life, a home, raising children together. Picturing herself growing old with this man standing by her side and knowing that someday they would sit together at soccer games, dance recitals, school plays, holding hands while they watched their grandchildren. Hands aged and weathered by time, hands that had healed and loved, caressed and protected.

All young brides see that picture from the minute they say "I do" to the moment they are walking down the aisle towards that perfect man. The one. The love of their life. Their rock, their witness to their life. Imagine if someone at that moment tells you you have to give it up. Would you? Could you?

That's what makes it so hard for someone who is in an abusive relationship to leave. You keep remembering that picture, playing those moments in your head. This is still that handsome young groom and you can't understand why he's doing the hurtful things he's doing to you. You didn't sign on for this but you think if you just try a little harder, give a little bit more, make sure that you do everything the way he likes it done then eventually the dream will come to life and you'll have it all. It's hard to reconcile yourself to the fact that things are never going to get better, he will always hurt you, he will always try to control you. But the dream is the reason you stay in it, probably way longer than you should have.

I can remember early on in our marriage my handsome, young husband, saying to me as we're heading out to dinner, "Where do you feel like eating?" And me saying, "Let's go to Woolgrowers." (One of his favorite restaurants.) And he says, "Are you kidding me? Woolgrowers? Why would you choose that place of all places on the day that I feel like eating Mexican food? You always want Mexican food, but nooooo, today you gotta say Woolgrowers!!!" So I say hesitantly, "You wanted Mexican food? Well that's fine with me, let's get Mexican food, that sounds good too." And he says, "No, now we're gonna go to Woolgrowers because you already messed it up and now I don't want Mexican."

The next week comes around and again we're heading out for dinner and my handsome, young husband says to me, "Where do you feel like eating?" My mind races...what do I say, what's the right answer? I want to enjoy this evening, I want to please him. So I say, "Oh, anywhere you want Honey. I'm just hungry, anything is fine." My husband, the love of my life says, "Great...so you can't even pick a restaurant? Why do I have to make all the decisions? Here I am being a nice guy and taking you out so you don't have to cook and I have to decide where! Great!" Another evening ruined.

The next week comes around and again...as usual, heading out to dinner. I'm already dreading that question. I know I can't say the right thing, but I can't just abstain from answering. My stomach is in knots, I have absolutely no appetite, I just want to stay home and not even go out for my weekly gift of not having to cook. Again...the question from my husband, "So where do you want to eat?" Woolgrowers was the wrong answer before, letting him choose was the wrong answer before...but he did say he wanted Mexican food, so I say, "How about Mexicali or El Sombrero?" Again I get that look of disdain as he says to me, "Mexican food? Are you kidding me? You're Mexican! Didn't you get enough of that crap growing up? Great, just when I was in the mood for a good steak you have to go and ruin it by wanting Mexican food!"

I couldn't win. There was no right answer. He didn't want to take me out for a wonderful, happy dinner as a treat to keep me from having to cook one night a week. He wanted to control me, manipulate me, hurt me, confuse me...and it worked. This was just a small example of the many ways that he did this. This man that I had planned to spend my life with, the man in my dreams that stood at the end of that long church aisle.

And this story is just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much more that no one knows, so much more that I can't share with a public audience like this. It's easy to criticize women in domestic abuse relationships, to say, "I would never put up with it, he lays a hand on me just one time and I'm outta here." Or "he dares to talk down to me and I'm outta here, I don't have to take it!" But remember that dream and the fear this person instills. He takes away your freedom of choice, he takes away your strength, your mind, your thoughts. It's easy to say, "Oh but that would never happen to me." It happens. It happened to me.

If you are in a relationship like this, whether it's physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse; just know that you are stronger that you think. Look deep down into your soul and find that strength and get out. And if today is not the day to get out, then know that it's not you. YOU are not the one that's wrong. YOU are not the one that is doing the wrong thing. YOU are not the one that is stupid, or weak, or dumb, or lazy, or fat, or ugly...whatever horrible things this person says to makes you feel like you deserve it. YOU just aren't ready. But I hope you will be soon, I hope you find someone you can talk to and I hope you find your way out.

This post was inspired by the book "Lost Edens"In Lost Edens, author Jamie Patterson struggles to save her marriage which may or may not be already over. Keeping her attempts a secret from her family, she attempts to mold herself into the wife her husband wants her to be. As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. You can read other members posts inspired by Lost Edens by Jamie Patterson on book club day, October 27 at From Left to Write.

Who Do I Love - Mike Rowe

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Last night I watched...well I half watched...ok, I one-third watched a new show by Mike Rowe, the man all men want to be and the man all women want to be with! No? You don't want to be or be with Mike? Well I do! Ok, I don't want to be Mike Rowe but I wouldn't mind being with him, he's gorgeous! (My sister wouldn't come near him with a ten-foot pole! Because he's dirty!) But me, I don't mind a little dirt on my man, especially when he looks like Mike! Yowza! The new show he was on last night was the Curiosity Show and his episode was titled World's Dirtiest Man. Go and check it out. Here's what the promo says about the show:

"We shower, we bathe, we apply perfumes and deodorants. We're cleaner and healthier than at any other point in human history. So it may be surprising to learn there are 10 times more things living on you than cells in your body. From the flora of our guts to the fauna on our skin and hair, this episode explores the wildlife park that is the human body in stunning, microscopic detail - combining the creativity of natural history filmmaking with the charisma of Discovery's very own Mike Rowe."

I have to say, the show was a little gross and disgusting. I actually would have watched it all but I had a super busy weekend and no naps on my couch so by 9:15 pm I was falling asleep. If you've never heard of Mike Rowe, then I'm sorry for you. I'm even making a sad face for you right now :-( because he's fabulous. He does a show called Dirty Jobs where he spends a day doing some of our countries dirtiest jobs in order to show us what some people will do and put up with just to give all of us the quality of life we're accustomed to. He spends time in sewers, under houses, on pig farms; you name it, he's done it. So if you get a chance pop over to The Discovery Channel and check out some of his videos.

And just cause I love you all and I want you to drool on you keyboard like I've done just now, here's a short video of someone asking Mike random questions. I don't even know what he said I just sat here drooling and sighing *sigh*.

Hopefully the little link here works and you can see this short video.

Ask Mike « mikeroweWORKS

My Summer - Part One with Chorizo at the Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 02:38:00 +0000

Now that fall is here and things have calmed down a little bit on the weekends I have time to post some pictures of a couple of fun trips I took this summer.

In August I took a weekend trip with my favorite daughter, April and my favorite grand-puppy, Chorizo. Yes...she named her puppy Chorizo which is the name of a much loved Mexican Sausage usually fried up with Huevos (Eggs) or Papas (Potatoes). I guess it's a fitting name as Chorizo is pretty spicy!

Chorizo loves car rides! What dog doesn't right? But don't worry, we don't let her drive! (Be sure to click on any of the following photos to enlarge.)

First we went to Elephant Seal Beach. We've gone there before and I posted about it on March 28, 2010 and you can view that post HERE which has more details of where and what Elephant Seal Beach is. I will tell you that it is located at Piedras Blancas in the southern range of Big Sur, near San Simeon and I love it there! Where else can you go to see nature in all it's glory for free? Here's some pictures you can enjoy for free as well!

A view of the coastline. The weather was beautiful and as is usual for that area, it would alternate between being overcast and being sunny.

Here's a picture of the Elephant Seals basking in the sun. Ahhhh, this is the life! Except for all that sand and having to haul your body around on those little flippers.

From there we headed to Avila Beach to a little fruit stand that April wanted to show me. She knows where all the best spots are! I loved this place. It was very busy, lots of people but you were free to roam around and see the animals and people watch. I'd love to go again!

This fruit stand is known as the Avila Valley Barn and you can go HERE to read more about the history of the fruit stand, get directions, and view tons more pictures. They're working on an online store where you can order custom mixed Cake and Pancakes mixes and their Jam, Jellies, Preserves and Honey! Here's a view of where we parked. Is this a beautiful parking lot or what? These are Zinnias. I've grown Zinnia's before but they never grew like these! Mine were short, scrawny little plants, these are gorgeous!

This is the view heading into the stand itself where they sell fresh flowers. Isn't this a beautiful display?

Here's a closeup of those beautiful red flowers. I want to say they're daisies, but I'm not sure. Doesn't it look like I photo-shopped this picture to get those beautiful colors? Nope, that's just Mother Nature's doing! I love the aluminum buckets they use to display them.

And a closeup of those tulips! I wish I had bought some now that I'm looking at them!

That night we had dinner at the Great American Fish Company in Morro Bay. I didn't take any pictures because the flash in my camera is "no bueno" at night and that's when you need the flash right? But here's a picture from their website and you can click HERE to read more about them and see their menu. April and I both had the Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon and it was so juicy and tender you could cut it with your fork! We also had an excellent bottle of Champagne from a local winery, Tobin James Cellars. I say we...but I mean me. April sipped at her glass and I drank the rest of it. Yum...it was wonderful!

The next day we headed to the Nipomo Swap Meet. It had been years since we had been there and it has changed so much! When we used to go it was filled with vendors selling Arts and Crafts and second hand and antique merchandise. Now it's just like a giant parking lot filled with 99cent stores. Now I love 99cent stores, but that wasn't what I wanted to see, so that was a bit of a let down.

We headed back to find someplace to have a nice lunch. Someplace that would allow us to have Chorizo with us. So that meant outdoor dining and April knew just the place. I tell you this girl of mine knows all the best places and a weekend with her is filled with fun and adventure! We went to Zorros Cafe and Cantina in Shell Beach where we enjoyed Mimosa's made with the same Champagne we had the night before. They had the best Chips and Salsa and if you ever get to that area you need to go try it! Doesn't Chorizo look like such a proper and well-behaved little puppy just sitting there. She's adorable!

After a wonderful lunch April figured she still hadn't tired me out enough (trust me, she had) and she insisted we drive out to Montana de Oro. Montana de Oro translates to Mountain of Gold and is named that due to the golden wildflowers that bloom in Spring. We love it there, it's so beautiful and peaceful and pretty secluded so you don't have a ton of people there.

Chorizo loves wading in the water. Here she is with my daughter April enjoying herself.

And just in case the waves carry her away and she doesn't know how to swim (I tell April all dogs know how to swim) April insists on her wearing a little doggie life jacket. Isn't she cute!

And as we ride off into the sunset back to our little casas (homes), we say "Adios Montana de Oro...until next time."

The Post That Keeps on Giving

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:39:00 +0000

Back on March 7, 2009 I wrote a post about Moral Dilemmas. I didn't even get one comment! Of course at that time I didn't have any followers either! Now I have a few faithful ones and I wanted to reshare it because a blogging buddy of mine, Sextant from Navigating the Finite ran across this ancient blog post and more than made up for the fact that it had no comments by leaving four of them! Four very long, very interesting, very fascinating comments that made me want to learn more. Sextant was so impressed with my post and his comments that he decided he would just steal his own comments back and do a whole blog post linking back to my original post and adding to his comments.

Many times I've left long comments on someones post and thought, wow, I could write a whole post just using my comment and the ideas this post inspired and then Sextant goes and beats me to it. Well done Sextant, well done!

So I'm going to copy and paste and re-run my whole post below, then please click this LINK to go to my original post and read Sextants fascinating comments and then click this LINK and go to the post Sextant wrote with inspiration from my post. Wow...are you all following this? Anyway...I hope you find this all as interesting as I did and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to be inspired by me or by Sextant and write your own post about Moral Dilemmas or just leave your own super long comments or even short ones!

Original Post from March 7, 2009 - Moral Dilemmas

I was stumbling again today and I came across a Website called Some Moral Dilemmas. This websites gives a list of moral dilemmas from a book called Moral Reasoning, by Victor Grassian (Prentice Hall, 1981, 1992).

Reading this website brought back memories of an Ethics class I once took where I argued with a professor that ethics and morals have a religious background. If you don't know right from wrong because you were never taught as a child what God considered right or wrong than how can you know what is ethical or moral? This professor did not agree with my theory and brought up the question of atheists who don't believe in God, weren't taught right or wrong as decided by God. Did that mean atheists didn't know how to be ethical or moral? It made me think. But I think what I was trying to say is that for me, making ethical or moral decisions is based somewhat on WWJD - What would Jesus Do, even way before that saying became popular.

So in reading some of the moral dilemmas on the website I noticed that my decisions are based on my faith, my religious upbringing and WWJD. Read some of them and see what you think? For instance...here's a random one:

A Parent's Agonizing Choice

You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don't he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don't have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?

My immediate reaction is that God says Thou Shall Not Kill. He doesn't say Thou Shall Not Kill unless your children are in mortal danger. So morally and ethically according to my religious upbringing I answered that I would not do what the guard wanted me to do. Not because it was my son, but because it's not in my hands to take another person's life. Even if taking that life will save another.

But then I got to thinking further, that peace officers and soldiers and doctors make those decisions everyday. Sometimes you have to take the life of someone to save the life of someone else. Peace officers may have to shoot a bank robber who has taken hostages in order to save the lives of the hostages. Soldiers may have to take lives of innocent bystanders in order to save the lives of even more humans in the community. A doctor may have to terminate a pregnancy in order to save the mother.

It's interesting to contemplate all these different dilemmas and choices that can be made and why. For instance, this dilemma:

The Fat Man and the Impending Doom

A fat man leading a group of people out of a cave on a coast is stuck in the mouth of that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them, and unless he is unstuck, they will all be drowned except the fat man, whose head is out of the cave. [But, fortunately, or unfortunately, someone has with him a stick of dynamite.] There seems no way to get the fat man loose without using [that] dynamite which will inevitably kill him; but if they do not use it everyone will drown. What should they do?

Since the fat man is said to be "leading" the group, he is responsible for their predicament and reasonably should volunteer to be blown up. The dilemma becomes more acute if we substitute a pregnant woman for the fat man. She would have been urged by the others to go first out of the cave.

What do you think? How would you vote?

Who Eats All That Food?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:03:00 +0000

I probably own over 100 cookbooks. I’ve had subscriptions to every cooking magazine available under the sun at one time or another. I’ve got a bazillion recipes saved in my favorites under a folder entitled RECIPES. I’m subscribed to every cooking blog on the whole Internet! I can tell you what ingredients are in almost any recipe you can think of. But I don’t really like to cook! Seriously, I don’t like to cook.

Which is a good thing. If I did like to cook, if I did make all bazillion recipes in my little folder, if I cracked open one of those cookbooks and just started preparing all those wonderful recipes, who would eat it?

Why am I thinking about this? Well because it’s fall and I was thinking I am really in the mood to bake some Pumpkin Bread. Mixing up all that dark orangey goodness and smelling the delicious spices; cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, all coming together to fill my little house with their beautiful, aromatic scent. Oh my!

(Photo of Pumpkin Bread I made last year, just so you can see that I can bake!)

Then I stop to think… who is going to eat it? I definitely don’t need it. It’s filled with carbs and sugar, and I know that if I were to bake it I wouldn’t eat a bite. So I think, “Well you could bake it for your mom and your kids”. But then I think, “Mom can’t eat the whole thing; my kids don’t need to be eating all that sugar either”. I could bake it for my co-workers, but I know that at the office we are all constantly watching every bite we eat. In fact just the other day a client brought us a box of doughnuts and only our receptionist ate one, the rest we threw out 3 days later! I hate to see food go to waste!

So that started me thinking about all those cooking blogs I love to visit and Oooh and Ahhh over. Who do those people feed that food too? If they’re feeding it to their families don’t they worry about the calories, the carbs, the sugar?

I guess maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t like to cook much so I don’t really have to worry about it. But what about you guys out there in blogland. Do you cook a lot? And if you do, who eats it? I guess for now I’ll just continue to Oooh and Ahhh at pictures and not at the real thing baking in my oven. I’ll just toss all those spices into a pan with water on the stove and let them simmer, that way I can still have the scent of Fall without worrying if my clothes are going to fit!

A Pain in the Neck!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:22:00 +0000

Life is sad when you get hurt just by sleeping. Imagine that? I went to bed a healthy, happy individual last night and when I awoke this morning I’m crippled and can’t move my head to the left more than a few inches without excruciating pain!

How did I do that? What did I do in my sleep that was so vigorous and dangerous that I injured myself? I’m not even vigorous and dangerous when I’m awake!

I know, I know…I just slept wrong, but still after 50+ years of sleeping don’t you think I would have sleep down to an art form, a science, and wouldn’t injure myself!

How about you? Do you injure yourself by sleeping nowadays?

The Lost Art of Multi-Tasking

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:55:00 +0000

I’ve noticed that it gets harder for me to focus and pay close attention to more than just one thing at a time.

When I was in high school I could be doing homework at the kitchen table while my mom and dad would be discussing their day or some bills or family matters; my brothers would be rough-housing with each other and my sister might be joining in with them or doing her own homework while talking to any one of us.

As always the television would be running in the background like some crazy, demented uncle just babbling to himself, no one really listening. Yet the TV always had to be on, that was a given.

Even with all of this going on around me I had no trouble concentrating on and understanding my homework while still keeping track of all that was going on in case my parents might mention going to the store; in which case I would put in my order for them to “bring me something”.

Then I got married and became a mother. Anyone who has been a parent knows

that you have to have a remarkable ability to multi-task. There is dinner to be prepared, laundry to be done, diapers to be changed, homework to be helped with, stories to be read, baths to be given, tears to be dried, knees to be bandaged, shoes to be tied again and again and again…those never-ending shoes to be tied!!! *sigh* and a husband to pay attention to as well, and the same demented Uncle TV babbling in the corner the whole time. Somehow, miraculously I managed to do all of this and do it well without losing my concentration and bandaging dinner while tying my husband’s shoes instead of the children’s!

Then I went back to school and again had to use my talent for multi-tasking and concentration during those study sessions with my study group when we would meet at the local El Torito and attempt to come up with a presentation while eating chips and salsa and drinking margaritas and listening to Mexican music and Mexican waiters and waitresses, not to mention the customers. But even this was a breeze; I think the margaritas really helped the most!

Then with degree in hand I landed a job managing a large insurance agency. Talk about having to have great concentration and the ability to listen to 100 things at once and keeping everything straight. But I managed to train and assist several agents, balance the books, prepare bank deposits, handle the VIP clients and keep my bored boss happy by pretending I really did care about what he was saying.

But I got tired of the rat race and the long 10 to 12 hour days and decided I would find something easier, 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, and I got the job I have now which is a breeze compared to managing the insurance agency.

I’m noticing though, that my ability to multi-task, to concentrate on more than one thing at a time, is diminishing. Sometimes I’m concentrated on one task and someone will come in and tell me they need or want me to do something and I see them talking, I see their lips moving, I hear words coming out of their mouths and I seem to be able to make the appropriate, “Oh, Uh-huh, I’ll get right on that” responses but then they walk out the door and I’m left wondering, “What the heck did they want? What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? When am I supposed to be there?”

I also notice that while I used to be able to sit in my living room and read a book while listening to a TV show or sit at my computer and write a blog post while watching TV, I’m unable to do that anymore. If I read and watch tv I can get through the pages but not comprehend what I read, let alone remember what I just read. And blogging with the TV on? Forget about it! I now have to turn the TV off, even muting doesn’t help as I still have great peripheral vision and it’s distracting to me to see the flashing changes on the screen.

Could this phenomenon be the result of getting older? Is that just what happens? Or is this Adult ADD? Or is it just that I am out of practice in multi-tasking as this new job is so much more low-key?

I don’t know, but it’s frustrating because I have lots of TV I want to watch while I read and work on my blog. I also have emails that I want to read while I check my facebook, tweets I want to make while I bind policies. What’s next? I won’t be able to drive and listen to the radio at the same time? Walk and chew gum? Pat my head and rub my tummy?

Anyone else going through this? Have any suggestions other than locking myself up in a room with no distractions?

Imagination

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:12:00 +0000

In Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff digs into the history books to share with us who the true Cleopatra was. As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a copy of this book for review. You can read other members posts inspired by Cleopatra: A Life on book club day, September 27 at From Left to Write.

I must admit I've not finished this book yet but I'm enjoying it very much. As a member of the book club, From Left to Write I'm not doing a review of the book but writing a post inspired by the book itself.

When I first saw the book's cover immediately what came to mind was my mother's pearls and the fun I had as a little girl using them to play dress up.

Growing up we always lived in a home provided by what ever ranch my dad happened to be working for as he was a ranch foreman. Because of that we usually always lived more than 8 miles from the closest town or city. Once we were 30 miles away! That was a long way in those days, now I commute that far just to get to work every day.

We also didn't have cable and the shows we did get on TV were not interesting enough to keep me and my sister and brothers busy, therefore the job of keeping us entertained and out of trouble fell to my mother who was a stay at home mom. Luckily for us she had a wonderful imagination!

I can remember her dressing us up in her many scarfs, tying them around our waists and pinning them on our heads with bobby pins. I remember that when she dressed us up in that particular outfit I always called myself Cleopatra. How I knew who Cleopatra was I really don't know, but I did. I would pin my mother's pearls like a crown around my head and do the dance of the seven veils. Well I did a dance, how much it looked like the dance of the seven veils I don't know.

My mom would use her eyebrow pencil and paint cat's eyes on me, something like this. . .

And I would always beg for a beauty mark, like this. . .

My sister usually just wanted to wear her scarfs as a cape like Superman (not Supergirl, she always wanted to be Superman) and she would play with the boys and I would be lost in my own little world of dancing and palaces, walking a tiger as a playmate as I imagined Cleopatra would.

"The key to life is imagination. If you don't have that, no matter what you have, it's meaningless. If you do have imagination...you can make a feast of straw" ~ Jane Stanton Hitchcock

An American Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:39:00 +0000

I love the show Dancing with the Stars. But this season I love it even more. They have such a varied cast of contestants. Stars we love, Stars we hate and Stars we love to hate!

I enjoyed watching Nancy Grace and Ricki Lake solely because they are larger women and they moved with such elegance and grace and were both so light on their feet.

But the Star that stole the show and stole my heart was J.R. Martinez, an American Hero. You might not have heard much about him in the weeks leading up to the premiere of the show because there were other much more visible and controversial stars such as Chaz Bono and Rob Kardashian. I definitely had never heard of J.R. Martinez and am so happy that DWTS brought him into my life.

J.R. Martinez, who is now 28 years old, joined the military when he was only 19. In 2003 while he was deployed in Iraq he drove his military truck over a live land mine. He was badly injured and suffered burns over 40% of his body. He's had about 33 surgeries and various skin grafts. He's missing one ear and most of the hair on his head.

One would think that after all he went through he would be out of the public eye but instead he landed a role on the soap opera All My Children as an ex combat veteran turned police chief. I've never watched All My Children but now wish I had just to have seen J.R.

Here's a video of the first dance performance for J.R. and his partner Karina Smirnoff. What an amazing young man, an amazing dancer and an American Hero. Good Luck J.R., I hope you win! Regardless you are a winner in my eyes!

Another Bathroom "What the Heck!" Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:49:00 +0000

Earlier this year in May, I did a post about something I took a picture of in the bathroom of the building where I work. Not sure if you remember but I posted about and asked you all, why someone would be eating this certain thing in the bathroom and why they would leave the evidence behind. In case you missed it you can see the picture and the post HERE.

Believe it or not my fine friends...I encountered another "What the Heck!" moment just today!

Now, before I show you the pictures, let me just explain that the reason that I have my cell phone with me when I'm in the bathroom is because during the Great Sciatica Event of 2010, I happened to go the bathroom and somehow the door got jammed and I was stuck inside without my phone and still in intense sciatic pain! Since then I am always sure to have my phone with me so I can dial 911 and get some cute firemen to come rescue me!

And to be totally honest I'm hooked on Angry Birds and find myself with free time in the bathroom so I play a little game.

Anyway...today, relatively free of Sciatica; I went to the bathroom and there in the stall I saw and took a picture of this!

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Let me see if I can get a close up of it.

Your eyes do not deceive you. That's a plastic FORK! Seriously people. A fork. Sitting on the toilet paper dispenser. It appeared to be unused...but I wasn't about to touch it!!! Who knows what someone was forking with that thing! Ewwww!

So again...why? Let me hear your best made up story of why someone would need a fork in the bathroom! And why they would leave it behind! Unbelievable!