For Kayli

Wed. Reminisce: Wishing in Pictures

A few years ago, I lived here.
Yep, right in that apartment building. I liked it for the most part, because across the street from the buildings was this:
I think I wouldn't mind moving back somedays. Especially cold days like today. When it's snowing and gray and the sun hasn't shone for eight days straight. I used to walk down the lake front on this sidewalk to go check my email at the local library almost every day.Past the people fishing on the banks. (There was always people fishing!!!)Past the hurricane ravaged piers.Sometimes, I would watch the sailboats on the water and sometimes I would walk close to the water and look for turtles, or pelicans, or manatees.Quite often I saw these. One morning, I counted ten. From a safe distance. Past the docks, and well, a construction crew that was building another apartment complex. I never failed to get a whistle. Hee. Hee. I didn't have kids then. Crazy. Past the stinking huge yachts.And then I hung a right at the flagpole and made my way a couple blocks more through the beautifully restored historic downtown main street to the library. All in January with a pleasant breeze blowing and my sandals, skirt and t-shirt on.

Tagged

Well, I was tagged awhile ago by my cousin Kristi to tell you 6 (un)interesting things about me.

Here goes.

1) I bite my fingernails. Yes, sad to say I do. Once I had an epiphany and I thought, I'm going to stop. And I did. I didn't even have to think about it. But then they grew long, and I filed them shorter, and then this one little snag was bothering me, so I bit it off and that ruined it.

2)This is our new dining room table. Plus a scratched surface, that hopefully Leo will refinish next month.

3) Leo did forgive me eventually for the table. He loves the table, says it's what he would have picked out. Just bad timing.

4) Someday, I hope to buy chairs that match our table. But not any day soon.

5) Remember that stuff I bought at Goodwill and planned to take back. They changed their policy, they only give in store credit now. Ouch. Again, Leo took a while to forgive me, but at least I didn't do that knowingly.

6) My next month's goal is not to spend money.

And some cute pictures

Some cute pictures of Elena, and I finally finished Isabel's baby book. Hooray!!!

HELP!

Okay, I need help making a decision. I am so undecisive. I went to Goodwill today to buy a few particular things while Ana was at Activity Days since the store's right by the church. And I hit jackpot. So I need to decide what to take back (since I bought it all to bring home to try on). So help me decide what I should keep and what I should take back. Bear in mind, I should probably take it ALL back.I think this one's a keeper actually, no decision needed to be made there. (At the time I took the picture it was still a debate.) $12.99 Lord and Taylor leather jacket/shirt whatever--it probably cost over $150 new. It's not something I would ever think to buy, but it fits perfectly and looks really cute. Banana Republic $9.99 dress. I love, love, love the material. However, this is one I've since decided on. It's going back--unless someone wants it?? Anyone? Size 12. Adorable. Not faltering to my shape though. This is a cute maternity top, perfect to wear with my black maternity skirt to church. $4.99. This one is still in debate. I have lots of maternity clothes, mostly hand-me-downs and a one time garbage-bag-full buy at a garage sale--so none of it is particularly what I like. Actually, a lot of them I've never worn, because I just don't get that big (well, they took Isabel a month early). Anyway, so this is a truly Kami shirt. Pink. Three quarters sleeves (my favorite). And I love the rouching (sp?). Another maternity top, sort of, it's a dress, but I'll cut it off and hem it to make a shirt. $6.99. I adore it!!! Plus side: it's warm, and I should be pregnant next winter, and it's RED!!! It also doesn't fit like a tent like a lot of maternity tops. Down side: I have to cut it off and hem it and who knows if that will turn out or not.
Maternity jacket. $4.99. Love it. I would love it more if it were red or pink though. Do I really need a maternity jacket? Again, I should be pregnant this winter/fall. But who knows where I'll be living. Hopefully someplace warm. Or Utah. In Utah I could use it. Umm, it's really big though, so it would only fit the last two-three months of my pregnancy. On the other hand, if I get that big, NOTHING else would fit me that I already own.

So there you have it, please vote in my comments section. I have to make any returns within ten days.

Hey and just for the record there were multiple, at least another 5 items I already decided to return despite them fitting and looking good. These last ones were just my favorites and I can't decide between them.

By the way, I did get the things I wanted, with one exception. I bought Ana a sweater to wear to church with a particular skirt. That was a perfect match. I picked up for my mom a few platters and a bunch bowl in her style of cut glass. I picked up a random butter knife to use for crafts. I wanted a shirt to match a teal skirt of mine to wear to church and I found the PERFECT one, only when I tried it on at home it was too tight. That was my exception. Ruff. I love skirts, and I have tons of them, but I really don't have hardly any blouses or sweaters to wear with them. Oh well... maybe another day at Goodwill.

Oh, and as a perk, you all get to see my new haircut I got a week and a half ago. I left it longer for Leo, but I think I like it better than my last shorter style.

Extras

Okay, as Kayli and I were discussing, youtube is crazy. There's something on there to amuse anyone. (She had just been at somebody's house where a dare was going on to eat a TBLS full of cinnamon, and apparently there's a bunch of youtube videos of people doing just that.) Here's my latest finds on youtube. Extras is a BBC show where this guy who's an extra in a bunch of movies but is trying to become a "real" actor meets all these famous celebrities. These famous actors and actresses play themselves, supposedly. It is pretty funny. But watcher beware, if you click on any of the other clips from this show, they can be awfully crude.

Wed. Reminisce: Repulsive

Over the years I've seen people eat a lot of disgusting things. Really, really repulsive. For instance, when we were helping my cousins butcher chickens one time, they were cooking some of the intestines over a fire and daring each other to eat them. And some of them did. I did not. That was disgusting after watching them empty the intestines first. Personally, I had to concentrate hard on not being sick to eat the chicken that night for dinner. Another time, those same cousins offered me Rocky Mountain Oysters. I declined politely. And when they sat on me to try to force me to eat them, I fought with all my strenght to get away. My sister Amy once ate a tarantula's leg that was another cousin's pet. I have no idea how to get this not blue and underlined. Hmmm....

Okay, this is much better. Another time my sister Amy swallowed a goldfish whole at another cousin's wedding (live goldfish for the centerpieces of the table) for twenty bucks. They then paid my cousin's daughter who was maybe 6 or 7 (not sure anyway) one dollar to swallow another goldfish, which she promptly threw up.

Still another time, my sister Amy organized a game of Fear Factor at our family reunion and one of my cousin's kid ate a goldfish, threw it up, ate it again, then threw it up again, picked it up to eat it again, but luckily her mom wouldn't let her. The other things they had to eat were dog food and a huge pepper. My little brother Ethan won. Everyone else had trouble eating the pepper. He calmly ate it bite by bite like he was eating an apple.

Kayli and my cousin Brianboth ate a raw egg on a dare with each other. And they both threw up. Devonee (another cousin) and I almost threw up watching them vomit.

A Young Women's leader of mine who had happened to know one of my cousins when they were in high school, and had had a crush on him, said she helped him capture, kill, clean, and roast a small bird over a fire, and then ate it. Just to try to impress him. Moral of this story, and most of the other ones, don't hang out with my cousins.

My husband Leo has eaten ants before. In Colombia they sell the roasted backend of these huge ants in paper bags like popcorn. He doesn't particularly like them though.

On that note, my little brother Ethan, when he was one or so, ate handfuls of a pile of potato bugs that Kayli, Wyatt and I were gathering. My mom noticed and tried to fish them out of his mouth, but the pile was significantly diminished.

Personally, the most disgusting thing I've eaten voluntarily was on a dare from my brother Derek. He dared me to swallow a minnow whole that we had caught in a creek. I did of course, because it was my brother Derek. Okay, and I did it again to gross out these really annoying girls at girls camp. That was great. Hee. Hee. It's not bad actually, as long as you don't chew. Like Wyatt did.

However, last night topped all of that. I was eating ice cream. Tin Roof ice cream. And all of sudden something was felt odd shaped in my mouth and when I bit on it, it certainly wasn't a peanut. I couldn't bring myself to wash it off to see what it was, although I already had a pretty good idea, so I asked Leo to. He came back and told me what I had suspected was right. It was a bone. This bone in fact.
I seriously had nightmares last night about it. Aggghhhhhhh.........
I may never eat ice cream again. Okay, well, that's not true, but it may take a while. A day or so at least, I mean there's another gallon of mint chocolate chip already in the freezer.

Wed. Reminisce: The Infamous Dove Bars

When I was seventeen I was taken privately aside by my father and asked a very serious question. "Did you eat my Dove Bars?" The answer was no of course. I mean I was almost offended. I was working two jobs. If I wanted Dove Bars, I could have bought my own. And I certainly would not have left the box and all the wrappers in the freezer as a mocking reminder of what was missing. Also, the question had been flying around the house for days. I thought I would have been mature enough to have spoken out sooner and admitted guilt, had it been me. But it wasn't me.

My Dad would not let the question die. He proceeded to interrogate every one of his children privately who lived in the house at the time. All of us swore we didn't eat them. My Dad was mad. He had bought those Dove Bars as a treat for him and my mom. And all of them had been eaten. Every last one.

Days went by. Every night at dinner and at random times during the day, Dad would continually question us about the Dove Bars.

Months went by. Dad swore that when he arrived in heaven he was going to ask God who ate his Dove Bars. Also, random comments concerning stolen ice cream and Dove Bars peppered his conversations with us. Apparently he was hoping the guilt would overwhelm us and one of us would confess, or slip up and say the wrong thing. None of us did.

Years went by. Although not mentioned as frequently, it was still alarming how often Dad brought up those lost Dove Bars.

Then one day, Kayli was talking to me while we lounged in my apartment at USU and mentioned how WYATT had eaten the Dove Bars. I was shocked! Not that it was Wyatt--really, I and everyone else had figured him suspect #1 all along (he had fervently denied eating them), but that the truth was known!

Again months later, while home for the Christmas holidays, I casually mentioned to Dad that it had been Wyatt that ate them. I didn't mean to rat him out. I thought Dad knew. Amy had known. Kayli had known. I usually don't know things, so I figured Dad must have known by now. Anyway, Dad visually startled, but being Dad, he let it go. Occasionally, he still brings them up at opportune moments when he wants something from Wyatt however.

Which brings me to an incident that happened yesterday. Leo and I drove to downtown Chicago to go to the Colombian Consul to see if there was any way we could badger them about Ana's adoption. We dropped off a package we were sending to Wyatt at the FedEx at the O'Hare Airport first though (Leo gets a discount there). Anyway the Consul had closed about ten minutes before we arrived (yeah, yeah, dumb us for not calling--but who stays open only till 1 PM???). As we were leaving, Leo commented, "Just like always, it's all Wyatt's fault." I laughed so hard!!! Hee. Hee.

Hasta Luego, Mis Amigos!

So remember how we started going to the Spanish ward at the start of the new year? Yes, well, Leo and I both received callings this week and I will now be teaching primary in español. That's rather amusing since yo NO hablo español. The obispo said that all the kids speak English but I am NOT allowed to let them speak English. Hmmm... So basically I might be signing off for a while. Well, I'm still going to post my Wednesday Reminisce and any super cute photos I have of my kids. But I really need to earnestly study Spanish. Which is good. Remember my new year's resolutions: Learn español. I might actually make it. Yo espero.

Isabel by Kayli

I Love Lucy

Have you ever had an I Love Lucy day? I just had one. My worst I Love Lucy day ever. Basically it sucked. (Good thing my mom doesn't read this to see my dirty language.) Tomorrow, or I guess today, is going to be worse--when Ricky finds out. So here's the back story. Five years and two months ago, I heard the unhappy news that someone had bought us a table and chairs at a garage sale. I won't name the person, but she played a big role in bringing Leo to life. I was still unwed at this point and happily picking up used and free items for my apartment. The key point in that last sentence was "I". Anyway, I went to go see them and I literally started crying (night shift, part-time college, and planning a wedding can do that to you). They were abhorrent. First of all, it was a glass table top. I hate those. And then it was this ugly, chunky, metal, tubular frame with matching ugly, tubular, metal chairs. I cried hysterically. It was not a pretty crying, it was Kami, emotionally unbalanced crying. I begged, *BEGGED* Leo to let us get rid of them. He wouldn't budge. Apparently, that's a cultural thing--you don't return gifts in Colombia, and it would have horribly offended the giver and since we did need a table and chairs, he saw no practical reason to get rid of them. Chalk that one up as a learning experience of if your wife isn't happy she'll never let it die. Ever. Actually, I thought I've been pretty graceful about it. Besides threatening to let the glass get broken every time we move and almost tossing it out of the house one time when I was the most mad at Leo that I had ever been (not one of my better moments, I assure you), I didn't mention it...much.

But lately, it's been bugging the heck out of me. I think in part because the seats of the chairs are shredding so it looks even more hideous. Also, with Elena being a busy two year old, it is never free of finger prints. Not even fingerprints, large smear marks are constantly covering it, no matter how many times I wash it--on the bottom as well as the top. Plus, I'm just tired of being on hold. I'm tired of waiting for the adoption to go through. I'm tired of waiting for Leo to find a new job. I'm tired of waiting to move. I'm tired of listening to Reggaeton blast down from the neighbors upstairs. I tired of having the bass of our neighbor's R&B and Hip Hop music thumping so loudly that the nails are coming out through the paint in the wall adjoining our apartments. I am tired of having empty planters in my apartment because spending money on plants is impractical. I tired of feeling guilty every time I do buy something impractical. Maybe if I had a timeline, for instance, if I knew in six months from now we would be living someplace else, with a new job, then I could plan for that and have more patience. But six months ago I thought that we would already have been moved by now and I have no guarantee of anything changing. I'm was tired of waiting to buy a new table.

So I bought one. At Ikea. It was a floor model and on sale half off. It's beautiful. I love it. It makes me happy just to look at it. Now picture Lucy trying to explain to Ricky why she did what she just did when she knows they have no money for it, even at half off. (Really, there's no justifiable argument there.) Now picture Lucy trying to unload a fully assembled beautiful floor model table from her minivan by herself and gouging the heck out of it, pretty much completely ruining it. Now picture Lucy trying to explain that to Ricky.

New Year

Kayli inspired me, what can I say? I had to add a few resolutions of my own.

• Aprender Español. (I learned three new words on Sunday: diezmo-tithing, ofrendas--offerings, and obispo--bishop.)
• Move someplace warmer. Preferably out west. Although I would be okay with the Caribbean, or Hawaii.
  
• Finish our Christmas stockings.
  
• Catch-up our photo albums.
  
• Potty-train Elena.
  
• Get pregnant--and have fun trying. Hee. Hee.
  
• Exercise more.
• Visit the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.
  
• Be more happy with my kids.

Okay. That's all I could think of. Basically I think my top one--learn Spanish--is going to take up most of my time and energy. Which is where I'm off to now. Chao.

Oh, my little brother's wife started a blog. It rocks. Check it out here.

Playing Dress-Up

We let the kids play dress-up one afternoon while Jethro, Ana, Brett and Leo worked on Jethro's science kit.
See Ana only had time for a hat. The googles were from the science kit, although they'd be welcome in my Halloween collection.Hazel looking fabulous in her many, varied outfits. Perhaps Kayli will post close-ups of some.The ever popular "Belle" wig. I love after Halloween sales.Even Leo wore it for a while, tying it back into a ponytail so he looked like a member of the band, Mana.
Elena always leaves me at a loss for words.Kayli is modeling a classic 1940's look for you. She might never visit me again, now that I posted this picture .Brett just had to try on the vintage 70's shirt. Sweet.
Elena once again.
This is the dress Kayli bought for me a while ago. I am not pregnant, although I look it.
Elena striking a pose for the camera with her lovely locks.And this is the hat my sister Amy gave me for my birthday. I had to wait to get a picture of me in the perfect outfit to match before I could post a picture of it. My mom said I should wear it to church but Leo insisted if I did the next place I'd where it to after that would be his funeral. Desperate, eh??? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this as much as we did. :)