Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Why Humans Reproduce

We reproduce for several reasons. I think one of the main reasons is the joy that we receive in seeing our child grow into a creative thinking creature. I felt this last night and this morning. I fell asleep earlier than my daughter, with my son, and my daughter came and woke me up and showed me a poem that she had written. Even in my half asleep state I was able to read and appreciate the poem.

When I woke up this morning I read it again and I appreciated it all over again. I remembered that she had said that she was inspired by the little crocodile poem in Alice and Wonderland. First I went and read that poem to see what she was talking about.

`How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

`How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!' - Lewis Carroll, Chapter 2 of Alice in Wonderland

My daughter's poem was entitled "The Green Baby Grasshopper." It is such a wonderful poem full of creative imagery. To add to it she added her own little illustration. She drew a little grasshopper in bed, with the covers drawn up, and a little dresser with a lamp on it.

This is why we reproduce. I love my daughter! I love my crazy, wonderful, loud, creative, intelligent children. With that thought I end my last post of the year. Four years after starting this blog!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

SEVEN Hours with FIVE Kids Ages 7 & Under

We spent the day with my cousin's wife and their 5 children. Their children were wonderful, it was my kids that drove me a little crazy! We went out in the ministry first, then lunch, and last two hours at the Children's Museum.

I would have a drink except that I need to go work out.

Speaking of a drink. I did not realize that the recipe for a Bloody Mary was this simple. I tried this last night and the only ingredient I was missing was the Tabasco. It was yummy none-the-less.

I found this recipe online at this great Bloody Mary website.

Here's the classic Bloody Mary recipe. Enjoy!

1 1/2 ounces (1 jigger) vodka
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Tabasco to taste
1 celery stick for garnish
1 lemon wedge for garnish

Combine the vodka, the tomato juice, the lemon juice, the Worcestershire sauce, the Tabasco, 1 cup ice cubes, and salt and pepper to taste, shake the mixture well, and strain it into a tall glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish the Bloody Mary with the celery stick and the lemon wedge.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Three More Days Until Vacation

But who's counting? Me? Nah! Of course it's really only one more full day of work until vacation. Woo Hoo! I am so out of here. I can hardly wait! I hadn't gotten so excited because I don't think I had really thought about it much. But now as the days get closer I'm making plans and looking forward to not having to wake up early for work for a whole week.

The other thing I am starting now, before the crazy mad rush to the gym by half the city, is working out again. I have so fallen off the wagon it's not even funny. So today is my first day back and I am going to pummel this body into shape! I've lost 45 lbs but I sure need to do some reshaping and firming up. Watch out!

I'm getting excited about doing a few fun activities with the kids. I wrote about some of them on skirt!

Speaking of skirt! I will hopefully have something publishing on the local Houston page very soon! And I will definitely have a give-away on there of a great new book. Stay tuned!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Handbag Fetish

I think I am quickly developing a fetish for handbags as bad, if not worse, than my shoe fetish. Actually I really need some new black shoes and I have not bought any. True, I have been to at least two different stores to look at black shoes, but I haven't found anything I am really happy with.

Today I took the kids to buy nice dress shoes and I fell in love with a big giant bag. I want to wear it to work tomorrow, even though I really don't have anything to go with it. But really it's one of those purses that can go with anything so I shouldn't fret.

I can't believe we are at the end of another year. I'm on vacation the last couple of days of the month and the first couple of days of the year.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me with a two day assembly and I'm trying to be proactive by doing something each day in preparation. Today it was the shoes and tomorrow I'm buying groceries and making sure that our outfits are all ready to go. I think I know what everyone else is wearing, but I don't know what I'm wearing one of the days. Friday night I just need to make lunch for Saturday and I need to make sure we all go to bed at a decent hour.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Update on Weight Loss

I haven't reported on my weight loss in quite a while. I can probably say I'm 45 lbs less now. I'm technically down 44 lbs, but what's one pound? I can round up because I know I'll lose that one pound soon.

More exciting than the 44 lbs is that I am two-three sizes smaller on my top (depending on the cut of the top) and three sizes smaller on my bottom. My top is larger than my bottom. (Yeah, I think you all know why.)

My sister came by today and brought me a pair of pants from Ann Taylor that's four sizes smaller than my original size and they fit. Now I realize that Ann Taylor does major vanity sizing, so the pants are probably really larger, however, it was still very cool!

Now I can go into Ann Taylor and I can ask to see clothes in my new size! I'm so excited! I can't wait to go shopping for new clothes soon.

Friday I wore a new dress to work that's three sizes smaller. It's really snug on the top, but it fits really well around the hips. My co-worker was so glad to see me in something fitted because all my clothes are all so big on me.

So there you go. 45 lbs less as I near my one year anniversary with my lap band. Less than I expected, but way more than I would have ever done on my own. I know that for a fact.

So I'm grateful for where I'm at and I'm going to continue on for another 45 lbs in 2009. When I lose 45 more pounds I will be very very close to my ideal weight and the weight I was in 10th or 11th grade. That's my goal for 2009!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

It Snows in Houston!


Okay, not real real snow. Not snow like you Northerners get. Or you Danish. But it was SNOW for Houston. Enough snow to make a little snow man! Here is my husband putting the carrot nose on Mr. Snowy.
It was a fun evening of making a snowman and throwing snowballs at eachother.

It NEVER snows in Houston. I'm 38 and it snowed when I was 3, 13, and 4 years ago we had a little bit of ice, but not this much. We haven't had enough snow to make a snowman in 25 years! So yes, it was an event! There's another picture of the snowman completed at skirt!


Friday, December 05, 2008

Weird Stuff Happens to Me

I was talking to my girlfriend today and she asked me if I've ever been to a restaurant called Julia's downtown.

I thought about it for a second and then I asked, "Julia's Bistro?"

And she was like, "Yeah!"

"Yeah, that's the restaurant that I fell in front of!"

"What???!!"

"Yeah, I went flying past the window on my way down and all the people sitting inside saw me fall."

"There are big windows on the front! Oh Loida! You fell there!?"

"Yes, and the manager came out to see what was wrong with me and was all, 'that's the city's fault' about the big holes in the sidewalk right in front of their restaurant. Then I stood up and he realized I was going inside HIS restaurant so he was all apologetic and ran and got me stuff for my knees and bandages."

She was laughing so hard when she heard my story and I realized it was kind of funny. I went ahead in, found my co-worker and Tony Diaz from Nuestra Palabra, and conducted business as usual, after I bandaged up my knees of course.

Then today I was reading Gwen's blog and I was reading how she's thinking of eloping or just going to Italy and paying some homeless man to pose in pictures pretending to be a priest. It brought to mind an experience my husband and I had in Italy on our honeymoon.

We were walking along a busy street in Rome, looking for La Boca de la Verita, and we got stopped by an Italian man driving by, who pretended to be French and lost at first and then he tried to sell us some leather jackets. Somehow we ended up giving him something like $50 and we got a leather jacket we didn't even need. It was a very weird experience. It was too small for Rey to boot, so I took it home and gave it to my dad.

No, this was not a dream. It really did happen. Yeah, I think I have weird things happen to me.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Help Me Out Where I Need Faith

I was talking to a co-worker and she shared a scripture that she really appreciates. Her translation reads, "I believe, help me with my unbelief." I really liked that quote so I decided to see how the New World Translation writes it.

It reads, "I have faith. Help me out where I need faith." Mark 9:24

What a great scripture. I couldn't help but think that so many of us can relate to this. We all have faith but sometimes, because of our human inperfection, we lack a little faith. This scripture really spoke to me. It made me think about myself and where it is that I lack faith.

I just wanted to share this thought.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

My Crazy Son & Life

This past weekend my son was sicker than a dog but he still didn't lose his sense of humor. At one point (I have no idea how we even got here in the conversation) he put a book under my butt and said, "This is a big ol' plate alright!" He is hilarious.

I started my new novel as promised. It's another family saga.

I am totally craving something very strange. Ham hocks. I want to go to my favorite soul food restaurant, This Is It. I need to go on an evening that I can eat.

Work is going well. Better this month than last.

I don't have anything else better to say. Go check me out on skirt! later. Maybe I'll have something better to talk about over there.