leezard

It's way too early in the morning, and way to late in the night.

Since I haven't done the dishes yet tonight, I have no idea what to blog about. Dishwashing is the only quiet activity I take part in on any given day, and while I stand there, washing, wondering, and whimpering, I tend to come up with an idea about what to write about.

I try to think up something that you might be interested in. According to comments (not posted on the blog), Nala and Simba (Celia's imaginary friends) were a little boring. I guess you are right. But doing dishes, and not knowing what to say can be even more boring.

All the things that interest me are not up for discussion. It would end up being gossip about my family or neighbors or friends, and then they'd read it and get mad at me or something.

Ok then. I just thought of something boring to write about. Here:

Yesterday we went again to the Observatory. We go to say hi to Hershel, the astronomer who stands outside along with Galileo and walk around. While we were walking, we saw a lizard. I was just messing around when tried to catch the little thing, and he didn't run away. So, I picked up this baby lizard and walked around with him. Celia named him "Celia". So, we took him home. The whole car ride, he just sat on my finger and didn't go anywhere. He didn't even look like he was dying. He was a little, baby, happy, lizard, who would look at me and wink. I'm serious!

So we got home and made him a home out of a pyrex bowl, put saran wrap on the top, poked holes in it, and gave him some plants, dirt, a caterpillar, a small bug, and a nice window view. For a few hours I would walk back to his new little home, and check up on "Celia". When I'd see him, he was either walking around, or licking the caterpillar. Well, after about the 6th time that I went to see him, he was gone. Effie had poked her finger through one of the airholes, making a big air hole, thus allowing Celia to escape. So... if you are at my house keep your eye open. I miss the little guy.

Nala and SImba

Some kids have an imaginary friend. Celia has 2. In fact they are not really imaginary in a way - they are her left and right hands. Nala used to be her right foot and Simba was her left, but she has transfered the friends into their new bodies, being her hands.

Whenever she's doing anything she talks to her friends, invites them to lunch, and makes sure they are scrubbed well when she washes before a meal. Nala and Simba actually have friends of their own, with names like Channy, and China. China came with us to the park today and didn't want to wake the magical wizard, so she had to go home.

This is all a bit strange to me, cuz I never had an imaginary friend. Maybe they are reserved for breastfed children. Who knows? I remember seeing shows about kids with made up amigos, and for awhile I recall wanting one so I'd have someone to talk to, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I guess that's ok now, cuz I actually find myself talking to Celia's pals. It shows just how ridiculous I have become yet how social she really is, cuz she can't deal with only having "1" of these friends.

Today I took out Cathie's nail polish for Effie and she chose a cute little pink for her tiny little fingers. Celia took out Silver for SImba and Red for Nala. HAHAHA. What a weirdo she is.

On another note ( and by the way - the dishes are done, in case you were curious ) but Effie now has added about 10 more words to her vocabulary, and one of the words has 2 syllables. (Turtle) I'm very proud of her. Are you? She does this really funny thing now, where when she's in her car seat, I ask her questions and she turns her head and acts all shy, then she slowly moves only her eyeballs to look at me and gives a little sneaky smile. It's too funny.

It's 11:49pm and Monday is quickly approaching. For you suckas who are at work or working, have a great week and go outside and take a nice break. I'll be thinking of you.

Dun't Vurri, Be Hapski

Today after swim class with Effie, Alex found a wrapped, brand new, yet slightly wrinkled poster with Gorbachev wearing a pink happy face pin on his jacket, and on the bottom it says in funny fake russian letters "Dun't Vurri, Be Hapski". It's in the dining room and every time I pass it on the way to the kitchen, it warms my heart.

Speaking of the kitchen, I @(%*#%(*% Freakin HATE the dishes sometimes, but after they are done, all that anger seems to get mushed down the garbage disposal. My hatred of the dishes though led to another - flies. I just have to say today THAT I HATE FLIES. They ruined a perfectly lovely stir fried rice I made with shrimp, (that took me a very long time to peel, wash, and clean with my own hands), asparagus, broccoli, tofu, spices, love, onions, garlic, bbq pork spare ribs, and chicken! I put the leftovers (a lot) into a nice tupperware, and as usual I could not find the lid, so I covered it with foil... then an hour later, I was hungry for my wholesome masterpiece, and as I uncovered it, there were (#*$&(@#*$&@(#$*&#@$(*@&#$ LIKE 5 Mother Freakin Stupid UGLY DARK BLACK FLIES hanging out on it! They wouldn't even leave! They were stuck to the food! I was SO mad!!!!!! Where the HELL did they come from!!! ok ok, I know there was 1 @(#$*@(#$*& fly in the house before we went to the library, but when I came back they were having a party in my tupperware. I hate them. I hate the dumb ass fly who's life I spared before leaving my house, because he betrayed me and invited Larry, Joe, Moe, Dan, and Buster over for stir fry. The little bastards.

Ok, enough of that. The reason I decided to write - after washing dishes at almost 2am, was because I think it is important to share my philosophy. Here it is:

If you haven't eaten it in a week, and it's perishable - throw it away.
If you haven't used it or cared about it in a year, and it's not valuable - get rid of it.

With that said, tomorrow I will embark upon the task of getting rid of some things I hate seeing around my house. Like collections of plastic pencil sharpeners. Who needs 7? I'm getting antsy. And I really want my car washed. It's a hell hole. Note: If you have kids, your car will look like a trash can. (unless you forbid food, books, shoes, clothes, extra socks, strollers, yo-yo's, straws, pillows, markers, crayons, little hair monitos, cd's and cassette tapes from the car).

I know, I know, enough is enough. I'm gonna go to bed now, and wish Gorbey a Hapski good night.

Wash that Man

There's a good amount of personal and mental stability and satisfaction that accompanies an at least partially mexican wife and mother's ability to wash every item of clothing in a household and have every dish washed and put away. Did that make sense? If not, let me just say, I feel good.

Tonight I finished watching (after 3 nights) South Pacific. Hahahahahahahahaha. What a freaking funny movie that was. I could NOT STAND the song about "talky talky happy happy", I did not get why the love of "Lutelant Cable" did not speak (the dvd skipped at a few parts), I loved Popeye's dad, (Billis), and if it were not for the ending that made me shed tears (I know, what a lameo I am), I might not have liked it so much. Have you seen it? If not, go rent the Sound of Music.

Something happened today that made me want to start posting pictures. Maybe I should. Well, I got 2 new pairs of shoes. I think (in all honesty) it's been about 2-3 years since I got a new pair of kicks, and I really needed them. I walked into Sportie LA on Melrose, while Alex drove around the block maybe 8 times, and in that time, I got a new pair of black on black Saucony's, and black and white Nike Cortez. I always wanted a pair, but in high school you'd get your ass kicked if you wore them and you didn't belong to Toonerville Locos, or some other gang. So, now, that I'm a mommy, and know karate, I'm not worried. Oh wait, I don't know karate, but I just may as well know it cuz I was Daniel Laruso last halloween.

If you know me, you know I'm kinda poor and cheap, so I begged the lady for a student or mommy discount, (cuz nice kicks ain't cheap) and she said no. Then I took off my very well worn and tattered checkered Vans and put them on the counter. I said "look at these. I haven't gotten a new pair of shoes in years, and I've been going to work and walking around in public with these babies on. Can you please hook up a little break for a busy mom?" She immediately took 30 bucks of the total. Hahahahahaha. (some people in this occasion may chose to use "LOL", but I still like "hahahahahaha")

What a day.

Bob

The dishes are done, and tomorrow both of my kids are going to the dentist at 8:30 in the morning. I'm hoping it doesn't go as bad as I think it could.

We've done swim class for the older kid 4 days this week and she won't even blow bubbles in the water. She clings to me for dear life. At the end of class, they sing a good bye song to each kid, and when it's your kids turn you dunk them in the water. So all the kids get dunked - and 3 out of 10 cry bloody murder. When it comes to Celia, she blows a kiss and waves like Cinderella. It's quite funny, and I will not dunk her cuz she'd get livid. I'd rather deal with looking like a sissy mommy with a cute kid then listen to her cry even if it's for 30 seconds. One kid slaps his mom in the face after every dunk.

Next week, I'm taking Effie. I think she'll like it better.

Today we made it to Bob's on Glenoaks for a late night piece of pie.
Celia ran in immediately to practically make out with Bob who stands in front of the cash register. She ran up to him, hugged him way too long and began kissing him on his lips. On the way out, Effie did the same thing and she kept trying to get him to sip her chocolate milk.

However - we went in, sat down, and a guy was spraying chemicals all over the rug in the next room as he was carpet cleaning. A bit unpleasant.

Then... we ordered pie. Strawberry pie sounds good right? The pictures are always dreamy. Big berries, lots of sugary strawberry glaze, flakey crust, mounds of whip cream? We ordered an entire pie cuz we were thrilled, and since a slice is 4 bucks, and a whole pie is 10, we opted for the whole thing. Well - no it wasn't what we dreamed.
It had tiny pieces of over ripe - almost black berries that tasted like they were fermenting. The crust was soggy and the whip cream was melted. It was a bit on the nasty tip. So, I walked up to the homeboy waiter and said, skip the whole pie - we've had enough! He didn't charge me for it - cuz he could tell it was bad if even the kids wouldn't get near it - so I gave him a 4 dollar tip on a 6 dollar meal instead. Haha. Oh well, things can't always be dreamy at a dreary, very "un-Glendale" establishment (if you knowadImean), but at least my babies had fun with Bob.

What's the Secret

I'm more than tired and I just can't get it. Every day I say - "tomorrow I"ll feed them more fruit and veggies" - or "tomorrow I'll do that", and "tomorrow I"ll keep on top of the dishes", or "tomorrow I'll make sure they brush better", and "tomorrow they'll bathe", and "tomorrow I"ll make sure they run around outside", but some things just don't happen.

It's late, and as USUAL, clothes need to be folded, dishes need to be put away, and others washed, then put away, I need to clean up everything, vaccume the kid's room, sweep some floors, water some lawns, water other plants, pay some bills, write some emails, make some calls, prepare some food for tomorrow, and yadda yadda yadda yadda. More money in these circumstances could be nice right?

So if you wanna be a mom, and actually hang out with your kids - good luck on getting anything done.

But here are some things we HAVE done in the last week:

1. THE ZOO! (we had a great adventure in which the mighty sea eagle sent out a message to all the animals about wicked queens stealing animal coats that needed to be delivered by Celia. Fun!)
2. Griffith park Carousel - and thanks to Julio we get to ride - for free and stay on at least 3 times... (dizzy) Plus - we went 3 times this last week..
3. The library - at the central library Lida (our fav. librarian) got a new ant farm, and wants to add our caterpillars to the collection to see what happens! We've also been there at least 3 times this week, and got to go back to the Central Library DOWNtown LA in which the dvd selection is preeeettty nice, and NO ONE is ever there in the kids section so my kids get to run rampant.
4. Observatory! - I'm so glad I tricked Alex into going there last month cuz we've been back 4 times and we all LOVE it. The food there now is excellente for my babies, and the ice from the ice machines is exceptionally crunchy and delicious.
PLUS - the Trails cafe down the road and hiking area is superb. The playground stinks but my kids love it, and you can find a very chill ice cream man smoking in his truck playing some very o.g. ice cream truck music his homey recorded for him.
5. PARKS! oh yeah - griffith park - playground. Celia and Effie have a see-saw addiction, and just to note - one side of the seesaw is now missing a foot rest - so watch out.
6. my Homies took me and the kids on an adventure to "THE Americana", and we DID enjoy the 24 second Trolley ride. (that's about it) Have you gone? Isn't it teeeeny??

these have been the places we've been able to manage having sick kids - and once they are better, it'll be back to the pools, other parks, and friends houses - so maybe we'll see you around. AND NOWWWWWWWWW, I will go to the kitchen to have some domestic fun.

Take a Pepto Bismol and Blog

I looked at Alex right now after considering putting away dry dishes while he put on some coffee, and I said, "I'll be right back, I've gotta blog", (in a tired, sluggish voice), then he said "Take a Pepto Bismol and blog". What a weirdo he is. If you wanna know how strange Alex really is, call our land line at home and listen to the greeting he put on the answering machine. Today we sat listening to the reactions of people while they left messages and started busting up. Perhaps no one understands our humor. Probably not, and that's a good thing. I think. 

It's been a rather wonderful week. In fact, since the birth of my little Effie, I think it's been the best in years. Giving birth to Effie was probably the hardest day of my life. No. It was the hardest day - because it was the first time I went over 24 hours without sleep, and I NEED sleep. It sucked. And last night while Alex and I took a beautiful cruise down Colorado in Eagle Rock we passed the Oinkster. While we passed it, I thought about the first time I tried their pastrami - in the hospital, and I was alone cuz Alex had to go home, nap, and shower cuz he was as delirious as I was from not sleeping, and even crankier, and Monica brought me an Oinkster pastrami sandwich. It was really good. And when I was alone after she left, it was just me, my new Effie, and a pastrami, and I felt so good after feeling SO bad. It was the first time I had been away from Celia for the night, and I had a few hours to get to know my new little girl who changed our life forever, cuz if you don't know already - having 2 kids is a bit trickier than one. 

And for the past almost 2 years now that she's been around, it's been crazy. My kids are amazing and demanding, and being a mom is freaggin hard. But FINALLY we gave into something we feared, avoided, desperately wanted, yet couldn't find the discipline to establish. A SCHEDULE!

The schedule is what has given me the most wonderful week with my 2 girls and Alex and it happened by accident. It's been 7 days now that we put the girls to bed each night at 8:30 after they eat, brush, get the pj's, a blanket, Eeyore for Celia, a doggie for Effie, and we tuck them in the stroller and take a walk, then they fall asleep after Celia makes a wish on a star. Before this - bedtime was a long, drawn out process, random, and exhausting. Now, it's so fun. We got our walks back, and I finally have a few minutes to actually have a conversation with Alex, and WATCH (a piece of) a movie each night, wash all my dishes (sometimes mi viejo does them now), straighten up, play piano, read, or whateva, and I'm so happy. 

So, right now, Alex is starting a VHS so I better go. 

I'll write again soon. So long pals. 

P.S. I liked the movie Wall-E.

So Much

As always there's so much to say, but it's hard to figure out what might interest someone besides myself enough to read. Today is Saturday, and it's been almost a week since I wrote about napping, and I didn't take any naps all week.

But the week - was great. I actually watched 3 movies this week, one being the Searchers with John Wayne. Alex and I counted, and he said "That'll be the day" 5 times, and "ya Blankethead" twice. For me it was a great movie, cuz it had all the things I love in a movie.

1. pretty scenery

2. catch phrases

3. lots of comic relief

4. a happy ending

It seems like every other artsy fartsy movie I watch has only elements from #1 on my list, and sad endings. It was a good change.

One thing we did this week, which I had been trying to avoid for months was take Effie to the doctor. Luckily Becky watched Celia so we were able to give Effie full attention and we needed it. The clinic we take her to is a bit ghetto, but her doctor is cool. She's loud and extra smiley, but she does the job well of looking at her records and telling us to put sunblock on her. The one thing she didn't do too well was look in Effie's mouth. She stuck that tongue depressor in so far that it made my already crying baby gag, cry more, then vomit all over her pretty dress and Alex's hands. When we thought she was done barfing, it just kept coming, and we were both scrambling to get paper towels and continue listening to the doctor and it was difficult. 

Being the unprepared mama that I am, I had no change of clothes for her, so we left her in her diaper for the remainder of the time. And during that time we listened to the doc tell us how she may need speech therapy in 6 months if she doesn't start talking more. Ugg. 

I personally - think she's fine, and that she doesn't talk much cuz Celia does all the talking. Lots of peeps say that they think one day Effie's just gonna start talking in proper sentences the day she begins to blab, but as for now she's quiet. When I tell her knock knock jokes - I say "Effie! Knock knock... " And she says a very cute ".... hello". (which in her language sounds more like "eh-lo". She's so cute.  However, we are concerned and have upped the number of books we read to her and I'm trying a bit more actively to get the little lady to say her syllables. The kid doesn't talk, but you'd be surprised how well she fake sings and knows rhythms from movie scores. Hmm.