Monday, September 25, 2006

Thank You Fall

Why do I love Fall so much? I love love love the crisp cool morning air. This morning I had to put sweaters on Miranda and Seth. Seth's group is always playing outside early in the morning so he especially needed it.

Fall always reminds me of new beginnings. It reminds me of the start of the school year and football games. I used to love to go to football games in middle school and high school, especially because of the feeling of standing out in the stands in the cool air.

It also reminds me of being in college and going to parties around this time of year.

Exciting things always seemed to happen at this time of year. I don't know why. Maybe it's because everyone feels this same excitement. After a long hot summer we welcome this wonderful cool weather. We all have the idea that something new and exciting is about to happen.

Today during lunch I decided that my short Chapter 1 should be my Introduction and I'm going to write a new Chapter 1.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

A Note About 9/11

I know this is two weeks late but I never posted my thoughts or where I was when this horrible thing happened 5 years ago.

I was driving to work like so many people were and I heard it on NPR. First I heard that one plane had hit the World Trade Center but that was all anyone knew at the time. By the time I parked and went into work I heard that a second plane had hit and then I knew that it wasn't an accident.

Something that I always remember about that time was how so many of my co-workers said that they were going to think more about life-work balance. Two of the women I worked with at the time started making a conscious effort to stop and take a lunch. A year later I reminded one of the girls of that when she was working like crazy one day. She just laughed.

One really did take it to the next level and when her husband was offered a transfer to another country there was no question about her going with him. She took a leave of absence from our company and she's really enjoyed the time this has allowed her with her daughter.

The thing is most of us did feel that way when that horrible day happened. We thanked God for being alive and we promised that we would spend more time paying attention to the important things in life. I was reminded of that when I was listening to some of the people who lost loved ones that day, on NPR this year.

The question is, did we stick to that promise to have more of a life-work balance? I think about that especially now that I’ve been so swamped with the kids and school and such. It’s almost 9:30 at night and I need to get the kids to go to sleep, I still need to wash a load of laundry and I need to take a shower. After that I need to pack Seth’s lunch. I forgot to buy bread so Miranda’s going to have to buy lunch again so I don’t have to make her lunch but I do need to pack her a snack for the afternoon.

I long for a job that would allow me more quality of life. I dream of a day when I’m a published writer. I don’t know that I’ll ever have it, but it’s nice to dream, isn’t it?

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Hello From Miami

Hello readers everywhere. Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I had a crazy busy weekend with a wedding reception on Friday, Hispanic Chamber gala on Saturday and then preparing for this trip. This consisted of doing all the laundry so the kids could have clean clothes for school while I came here, doing some grocery shopping, and writing out all the reminders for my sister and Rey.

Wouldn't you know it though, Rey had a guy call in sick this week and his boss is out of town, so he is swamped at work. THEN right as I'm about to leave to the airport Rey calls to tell me that Miranda threw up at school and he has to go pick her up. He took her to work for a little while then took her to the old babysitter who is still our back-up. Amazing! This would have to happen the day I'm leaving, right?

I arrived in Miami this late afternoon, early evening for an AHAA conference. AHAA stands for Association of Hispanic Ad Agencies. I arrived just in time to freshen up for the evening welcome reception and then dinner with one of the ad agencies with whom we do business. It actually ended up being a bonus round because another agency rep joined us so I had dinner with two reps from my agencies in one sitting. It was really interesting hearing how these ladies got into the business.

Tomorrow is a full day of the conference, a short 3 hour break and then an evening reception. Thursday it's another full morning and I go to the airport after lunch to catch my flight home.

So a short trip but I hope to get some writing in while I'm here. I know! Miami is supposed to be this really cool party place but I'm just here for the conference and some time to write. No partying for this old viejita!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

The Evening WAS going so well...

I left work 10 min too late and I was rushing to get to both kids. I picked up Seth first and I received some great news. Seth was "invited" to the potty today and he accepted. He "attended" to the potty. he he This is all Montessori lingo! In our language he peed in the potty.

The great news about this is that last night at the Open House the teachers told me that he'd been invited before but he declined. So today's news was great! Last night I was also educated about the "Montessori" way while reading the handbook and learned that my, "SAY GOODBYE!" across the room when I leave are considered "inappropriate." We are only to use soft voices and we are only to speak to people who are within arms length of us. It cracked me up! I guess Montessori isn't for loud people like me but at the same time this is good for Seth.

Okay, so I rush to pick up Miranda and my husband calls and says he's on his way there too. We are both pretty close to her so we decide to race to see who will get there first. When I was just a few blocks away Seth unbuckles his seatbelt. Argh! I had to pull off the road and put it back on so I lost. Rey got to her first.

Since I was already on that side of town and near Kroger I decided to go grocery shopping. I told Rey to meet me over at the Kroger parking lot so I could get Miranda. He had to go to play basketball. SO we went grocery shopping and I'm thinking, "OK great I'm getting this out of the way." I saw one of those great rotisserie chickens and it looked really good for dinner. I bought a mesquite flavored one and brought it home.

Of course when I got home Miranda's asleep and Seth is crying for milk. I get them both off and settled. I went back out and got all the groceries. After everything was put up I was looking forward to eating my succulent rotisserie mesquite chicken.

I warmed up some spinach and went to cutting a leg off the chicken, my favorite part. That's when I saw it! The baked dead black fly sitting on my now not-so-wonderful chicken. I was so disappointed!

I put the chicken back in the container, careful not to bother the fly, and threw away the part of the spinach the chicken touched. I called Kroger and told them what happened. I'll have to stop in tomorrow when I drop off Miranda at school. Then I went to find something else to eat for dinner... the evening WAS going so well. The night is still young. Let's see how the rest goes.

New Theme?

I guess the unofficial theme of this blog is about me, a mother, wife and ad woman, trying to make it as a writer. These days I've blogged so much about the challenges as a working mom that I've started to wonder if that should be my official theme. Like I can give myself a subheading under "Shoegirl Corner." Something like, "The rants and raves of a mad mama!" By mad I mean crazy!

Today I got out of work and rushed to pick up Seth, then Miranda, then to Walgreens to pick up all of our prescriptions that I dropped off this morning. While in line my SUV's A/C decided to say goodbye. From there I rushed to the old sitter's house. She agreed to keep them and visit with them while I went to Seth's Open House. She is such a wonderful woman! She bathed them and fed Seth while they were there!

After dropping off the kids with her I rushed to switch cars with Rey. He's going to have to take the SUV into the shop tomorrow. I'm done with it. I told Rey I seriously want to buy a new car in the next week. We are thinking of a Scion. They are really good on gas.

I got out of Open House and picked up something for dinner then raced to pick the kids up. Rey worked late but was already home by now. We ate dinner hurriedly so we could start on Miranda's homework. Rey was a sweetheart and helped a lot! We got them to bed late but it was an unusually busy night, don't you agree?

Monday, September 11, 2006

Comments

Hey! Where did all the comments go? I haven't received one single comment in like 10 days!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Morning Coffee MySpace & Other Musings

Sunday morningish. OK, not really morning. More like noonish. I got up late. I woke up in a real "mama" mood and I made breakfast for everyone. Scrambled egg with cheese and Canadian bacon sandwich for husband, boiled eggs with lemon pepper for Miranda, boiled eggs for baby, and overeasy egg and Canadian bacon sandwich for me.

I have been denying myself of coffee all week. Only at home because I've had coffee at work some days. I haven't been denying myself on purpose. I have actually wanted coffee. The thing is that I forgot to buy creamer last time I went grocery shopping and I just like my vanilla coffee with vanilla creamer.

After a week without coffee I couldn't take it any longer. I made myself some coffee this morning and decided to take it con leche. I reasoned that I drink it like that at luncheons and events anyway. Which reminds me! I'm going to the Hispanic Chamber gala Saturday and I need to figure out what I should wear.

I have felt so out of touch with myself lately. I know that this is reality and this is just how it is now but I'm going through an adjustment period. By that I mean a period where I will need to get the routine of being a full time mom down and then figure out how I can incorporate my own life into it. How to fit in my own time and more importantly writing time into my day. I literally washed, folded, and put away clothes all weekend. Even now I have my last load in the dryer. Did I make time to write? No I did not. Did I make time for my microdermabrasion? No I did not. By the time I called to see if I could go in before they closed she was gone for the day.

One thing I did make time for is to sleep. The four of us have this chronic cough that I've had for 2 weeks and Seth has had even longer. He took the required antibiotics and finished them this past weekend but the cough is still there. We're starting to wonder if we have something more serious like bronchitis or walking pneumonia. The crazy part about it that we don't have any fever. Wouldn't we have fever if we were infectious? Weird.

Anywho, I was reading Alisa Valdes Rodriguez' blog a few weeks ago and she decided to move to MySpace in time for the release of her new young adult novel. I thought the idea was brilliant considering the audience she's trying to reach. I joined myspace close to a year ago maybe because it's the only way to communicate with my 17 year old niece, step-daughter and 25 year old nephew. Even our summer intern is on there religiously and if I want to contact her that's the way to do it.

The funny part of Alisa's post that she was moving was the reaction she received from everyone! It was hilarious! So many people are anti-myspace. I don't blame myspace for the kids who are plotting running away with cyber boyfriends and the like. I blame the parents. They are the ones that need to be all up in their kids' koolaid knowing what they are up to. Believe me, if my teenager had a myspace I would be a regular reader and subscriber to her blog. But we are all adults. What does it hurt to have a myspace sign on and to visit other myspace pages?

Now something to ponder. If you had the luxury of never working a 9 to 5 again for the rest of your life. Let's say, if you could write full time, what would you do? What would you enjoy or volunteer for that you don't usually have time for now? And I mean extra things, not counting the ministry, if you would be doing that. That's a given.

Here are my answers. Feel free to post your answers on my comments.

1. Volunteer at my daughter's school, either in the classroom or the library. (I swear I don't know how women go back to work when their kids start school! I would want to take time off instead!)

2. Volunteer with a literary group.

3. Go to more art exhibits and openings.

4. Go to more plays and film screenings.

5. Do arts and crafts!

Friday, September 08, 2006

Languages

I'm completely bilingual. By that I mean that I literally learned English and Spanish at the same time. I mainly spoke Spanish to my parents and English to my older sisters. I always said I would do the same thing with my own children however it didn't quite work out that way. The main reason is that Rey doesn't really speak Spanish so I'm accustomed to speaking English to him all the time. I thought that if a Spanish speaking sitter took care of them and spoke to them in Spanish I would be fine. I was right to a certain extent.

It soon became apparent that Miranda understood every word that came out of her "Mana's" mouth but she chose to speak to her in English. The baby is only 2 & 4 months so he had barely started talking in the last year but he is English dominant, with a really good Spanish pronunciation. Turns out children relate to the language that the mother speaks. So although they understand Spanish perfectly, they prefer to speak English.

Now that the kids have started school and will be hearing only English I feel the need to speak Spanish to them. I don't want them to lose the base that they already built these years with the sitter. It is a lot harder than I ever imagined.

So I decided to make a game of it. I also took 3.5 years of Italian in college so I'm pretty good at a third language. The kids get a kick when I speak to them in Italian.

I told them that we are going to alternate the days that I speak the three languages. So Monday is English, Tuesday is Spanish, Wednesday is Italian and so on. Miranda loved the idea and Seth will go along with whatever his "sissy" says. In this way they will continue hearing Spanish and hopefully hearing me speak it more they will start to connect to the language. And they will also pick up a new language!

Tomorrow is Spanish again. It was really hard to stick to it this week so far but I figure that if I keep doing it, it will become a habit and the children will eventually become accustomed to the 3 languages too. I'll keep you updated on our progress.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Life These Days

Starbucks

I love the design of the new Starbucks that have counters. I like to sit at the counter and pretend I'm sitting at an old fashioned drugstore soda fountain. I love that there's a Starbucks on the corner of I-10 and Shepherd where I can stop on my way into work after dropping off Seth at school.

The Weather

Something amazing has happened and the temperature has dropped in Houston!!! YEAH!!! High today 85 degrees, low 68!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE FALL! It's my favorite time of year! There's always something in the air that promises to be fun and exciting in the fall. It reminds me of the beginning of the school year and football games at Delmar Stadium!

Homework

Oh my! Today was the first day that Miranda brought home homework!!! YIKES! 20 min of reading and then a bunch of other stuff.

I'm Sick

I've had a cough for about a week and this morning I woke up with a sore throat and slowly but surely I started losing my voice throughout the day. I said I was going home early at 3:30 but I didn't leave until 4:30. Typical. I came home and took a 30 min nap only to discover Miranda had also fallen asleep watching cartoons. It was a battle waking her up for dinner, bath and now homework before I put her back to bed around 9:30 now, since she slept. They are in the tub right now and we'll do homework when they get out.

Flowers

I bought Rey flowers today just because he was such a sweetheart all weekend. He was surprised!

Austin

Tomorrow I drive to Austin for a sales call and I'm having lunch with my cousin afterwards. It will be a nice drive with the weather being so beautiful like it is. I want to stop at Rosemary's Vineyard on the way home to get a bottle of red wine.

Traveling

I was going to drive to Cleveland, TX next week but they had to reschedule. Week after next I'm in Miami for 3 days for an ad conference. I'm going to take advantage of the time to write.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

I'm a Real Mama Now

For some reason now that the kids are in school I feel like a real mom. I know that sounds crazy but I do! It's weird.

When the kids went to the sitter's I could take them to her asleep and in pajamas. in the morning. She would feed them all day and I didn't have to pack food for them. The only thing I would provide was milk. She would bathe them for me every day and on my meeting nights she would dress them too. Miranda always had these great hairstyles! On ballet days she would make these great buns for her, not just regular buns, but little braids that made up a bun and stuff like that. I was spoiled.

This past Thursday it was a meeting night so I picked up the kids and rushed home to feed them dinner, bathe and dress them to make it to our meeting by 7:30. It was tough!! I was exhausted when it was all done. Other mothers have told me it will get better as I get accustomed to this new crazy schedule.

Now I'm one of those mothers that's wondering, "When do I have time for me?" I will have to make time for myself!

Friday, September 01, 2006

Running Crazy

My apologies to all those who have come by to visit and found that I haven't updated. I am so crazy busy now with the kids in school that I have little time for anything else. I will see you when I can! Miss you too!