First Snow

We got our first snow the other day.  I'm not a huge fan of winter, and when you grow up in northern Utah, most of your life is winter.  We're talking 7-8 months out of the year.  Snow can start as early as the second week of October (possibly sooner) and it can snow as late as the beginning of May (or June).  I love certain things about winter.  I learned to ski when I was little and then in 9th grade I started boarding.  I love it, but it's kind of expensive so I haven't been in a couple years.  Also, I love Christmas.  I'm that obnoxious person that starts pulling out as much Christmas stuff as they can the minute they get home from trick-or-treating.  I have at least 5 books of piano Christmas music that I play, plus some sheet music.  The point is, I love Christmas, I hate winter.  I should have stayed in Texas.  I would much rather be too hot than too cold.  ANYWAYS.  First snow.  Isabel was around for last winter, but she didn't really care because she was so little.  So when I woke up the other day and saw that it had snowed, I couldn't wait to show her.  Even though I hate winter, there's a little bit of a thrill that comes with the white snow.  So we put her boots on over her pajamas and headed outside.   

She was looking out over our field and she just kept saying "Wow, Mommy, wow wow"

I lifted her up and stood her in it, and she bailed on that idea as fast as she could.

She was extra upset when she realized it stuck to her boots (which are her new favorite things).  She wanted to wipe it off, but she was afraid to touch it.

I think it's safe to say this winter will be interesting.  I think she's too small to go out and play in it, like with snow pants and the whole she-bang, but we'll figure something out I think.

4 Generations of Crazy

So I may or may not have mentioned before that about a year and a half ago, right after Isabel was born, my grandma got really sick.  She's always been a 'really tough old hag' and I say that out of complete respect.  She'd go out with my grandpa, my dad, and my uncle hunting, and she could out shoot all three of them.  She would take me fishing and spank my butt if I threw a fit about touching the worms or if I complained about being tied to a giant rock or spare tire.  (She didn't want me to drown.) 

This is my grandma, me, and my little brother, having a tailgate picnic during the deer hunt.  I think I was 3 here.

She's had several heart surgeries, the first of which when she was only 45, and other random things that just come with getting older.  Every day for as long as I remember she would get up in the morning, have something light to eat, walk up a hill, and then come home and eat a big healthy breakfast, and when I would go to stay with her, I would have to do the same thing.  "It keeps your heart pumpin'."  So it came as a big surprise to all of us when she was suddenly hospitalized in June 2010.  She had a form of the herpes virus that causes cold sores, but it had moved backwards into her brain and turned into encephalitis.  She was pretty much unconscious for almost 2 months, and we didn't think she would come out of it.  Due to the amount of time she spent in bed, her legs haven't been able to get strength back, and her mind isn't as sharp as it was before, but Grama is still crazy as ever.  She lived 3 hours away in an assisted living home near my uncle, and so when we get the chance we go see her.  We always try to make sure to take pictures when we go.  I went through a time in my life when I didn't fully appreciate her, and I always wondered what it would be like if my grandpa was still around, because he died when I was 4.  My dad likes to joke that Grama would have killed him off by now anyways, and how that might actually be what happened, because Grama didn't want an autopsy done. 

 I know she doesn't have a long time left, but I want Isabel to know about the lady that passed on her crazy to my dad, who then passed it to me, and I'm sure it's going to be an inevitable fate for Isabel.  A short temper, the inability to communicate normal human emotion, OCD, unreasonable reasoning (like voting for Bill Clinton because he has nice hair and that shows character.....), high cholesterol, and so much more.

She doesn't understand anything Cangrejo says, but she thinks he's handsome and so she approves.  I know she's losing it because she says that I'm looking thinner.  One thing that I've always based her crazy on is that she goes by her middle name 'Maurine' because she thinks the name 'Julia' sounds like a floozy.  She was raised in Dingle, Idaho.  Bet you didn't know there was a town by the name of Dingle.  They have raspberries there so there's like.....Dingleberries hahaha.  When she's gone she's going to come back and haunt us because she was born a Bear Laker and they're supposed to die Bear Laker's, but she's spending her time farther North.

Happy Halloween...one day late.

Last Friday my 2 older brothers went to their annual work Halloween party.  They brought their boys to the house and so we painted pumpkins and made s'mores with 6 boys ages 1-11 plus Isabel.  However, before my oldest brother left, we got a picture. 

That's him with the blond wig and the goatee (if you couldn't tell). He was Little Red Riding Hood and my sister-in-law was the Big Bad Wolf.  Seriously, I look forward to Halloween every year just to see what these two are going to dress up as.

Before Isabel went to bed I painted her hand to put it on her pumpkin.  She wasn't really sure what to think about it.

She didn't like me restraining her finger movement when we put it on the pumpkin, either, but by damn, we did it anyways.

Ta-daa!  Here's ME!  No one commented on my last post (thanks, guys) to help me decide which way to paint my face, but a bunch of people on Facebook did, and I ended up actually going with the least popular because I thought it was bad ass.  I didn't do it exactly the same, but whatever.  I still think it rocked, and I only scared two little kids when we went trick-or-treating.  I was worried that it would freak Isabel out, but she actually thought it was pretty funny.

And here's my brujita linda!  (Pretty little witch.)  We went to my friend's store and she found a broom to play with, which was awesome and appropriate, so I took a picture.  Plus, she just looked so damn cute.

Here we are on the front porch :)  My mom took a picture of us almost every year when we were little on the porch for Halloween, so I considered it necessary.  Hopefully next year we can take the picture on our own porch, though.

It was a pretty long night for her.  She didn't really get the whole trick-or-treating thing, but she thought it was awesome that every time someone opened the door they let her grab as much candy as her little hands could, and this girl has enough dum-dums to last until her birthday so we're set.

So, now we're on to November.  I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!  I hope that November is better than the last few months have been.  I'm already working on a bunch of Christmas projects, as of next week I'll be working full time, and hopefully I'll be starting online classes on the 15th.  I can't even tell you how freaking excited I am.  I like studying, is that weird?  For someone that almost didn't graduate and basically got kicked out of school her 2nd trimester of her senior year, I love to learn.  Now that I'm doing it because I want to, I feel really driven and excited and I can't wait to start.  I'll be working a lot because we're hoping to go to California for Christmas and New Years to be with Cangrejo's extended family (whom I've never met) and we've got to save up extra money for gas.  It's gonna be crazy the next couple of months, but I'm looking forward to it!  So, Happy November everyone, be grateful and stuff.

Pick One

I was just going to ask for you to vote on these, but I decided to make it educational.  For Halloween, I'm not dressing up, mostly just because I'm lazy, BUT I'm going to paint my face like a calavera.  I could teach you about them on my own, but I'm feeling lazy and my husband is getting jealous of the computer, so I'm gonna give you a link courtesy of good old wikipedia.  You could also Google it, but you'll mostly find a bunch of stuff about Calavera County in California.  I suggest Google images.  Some of them are pretty.  Until then, vote on these!  Should I paint my face like the flowery, colorful one?  Or the cool, black and red one?  1 or 2?  I'll reveal the winner sometime after Halloween ;)

Now I Know My ABC's

Back in the day when people still used Myspace I was addicted to posting surveys about myself on the bulletin board.  I'm a little bit of a narcissist.  So, when I came across this ABC survey over at MrsPriss, I just couldn't help myself.  Here we go;

A. Age: 20 years 6 months and 5 days......approximately

B. Bed size: Umm....double?  I think that's what it's called.  Whatever it is, it's TOO DAMN SMALL.

C. Chore that you hate: Washing dishes.  I have issues with touching other people's food with bare hands.  Plus I have severe eczema and dermatosis (really dry skin) on my hands and if I have to get my hands wet too many times a day, I'm left in serious pain.

D. Dogs: I prefer big dogs as long as they don't jump up on me.

E. Essential start to your day: Changing a diaper.....

F. Favorite color: purple?  Today it will be purple.

G. Gold or Silver: SILVER or white gold

H. Height: 5’3″

I. Instruments you play: Piano and various percussion instruments

J. Job title: Temp. FML

K. Kids: Isabel Riley.  And as soon as we're out of my parents' house and on our feet, you best believe I'll be popping out another one.

L. Live: Northern Utah?  That's kind of sad.

M. Mother’s name: Lora

N. Nicknames: Joe, JP, J-Pard (that one's my dad's nickname for me...I don't get it either) Guera, Chuchis

O. Overnight hospital stays: Just when Isabel was born.

P. Pet peeves: Grown men that still think it's okay to be getting in fights, other grown men that think it's okay to beat on my friends, people that won't help themselves, Rent-a-Center........and that's just today.

Q. Quote from a movie: "I just feel like I'm excited, and I feel relaxed, and I'm READYYY to PARRRTAYYYYYYY oh, with the best of them, and I'm gonna go down to the riverrrrr!!!! -Bridesmaids

R. Right or left handed: Righty for almost everything.  I'm left handed when I shoot a gun.....because I'm left eyed, apparently.

S. Siblings: 3 brothers.  Riley 19, Mike 32, Vic 33

U. Underwear: Boy shorts or bikini or you know, thong, or whatever haha.  You name it, I own it.  I LOVE underwear.

V. Vegetable you hate: Brocolli, cauliflower, almost every other vegetable......

W. What makes you run late: My husband's hair.....or mine.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, wrist, finger, other finger

Y. Yummy food that you make: Salvadoran rice, goulash, and creamy cheesy potato soup.

Z. Zoo animal: Like: Elephants!  Dislike: Snakes and bats...........and I'm afraid of hippos.

I'm a Closet Music Geek

I was totally inspired by Manski Mondays over at Holly Days to tell you about my musical background.  It's not something I talk about a lot, I'm not sure why.

We've had a piano in my house for as long as I remember.  My mom and dad have both played since they were younger, and I have great memories of my mom playing Christmas songs and my dad singing along with them.  When I was really small I started playing around with it, and not banging on the piano like other kids.  We would get home from church and I would try to remember how the songs went that we sang that day, and then I would sit at the piano until dinner time trying to sound them out.  One day, when I was 7, a lady from our ward that teaches piano was visiting my mom and she wanted to see what I had taught myself.  She told my mom that she didn't usually take kids until they turn 8, but that I was already teaching myself bad habits (story\of my life) and that I needed to learn some technique before I got used to 'playing lazy'.

So, for the next 11 years, August-May every Tuesday for half an hour, I would go to Nancy's and she would lecture me.  "You have so much natural ability, if you would just........."  "Curve your fingers."  "Count"  "Don't rush" "Practice every day"  "LEARN YOUR SCALES"  Ladies and gentlemen, I HATE SCALES.  I can do them, thanks to Nancy, but I hate them.

In 7th grade, I joined percussion.  (And you best believe, I was the only one that could do my scales on the xylophone.)  I LOVE percussion.  Honestly, I thought the rest of the band kids were REALLY WEIRD.  For example, the trombone player that ate paper and glue and one day, blew chunks all over the band room.  Then there was this really hot guy (in my opinion) that I had a monster crush on for 3 years, until I finally just gave up.  He was one of the cool ones, cause he was in percussion.  We WERE cool.  Believe me.  We were the ones telling scary stories and playing truth or dare in the back of the bus when we went to band tournaments.  The other kids were like, practicing or reading musical theory books.  Yuck.  AND our percussion ensemble won awards at every event we went to and they never placed.  So.....we win.

After 9th grade I quit band.  I didn't want to spend ALL SUMMER marching around in the heat and I DID NOT want to wear a stupid hat.........and the other kids were weird.

At least I still had piano.  My grandma made me a deal that when she died, she would leave me her piano as long as I took lessons until I was 18.  I would have liked to have quit sooner, because as soon as I got my license and a job (and a boyfriend) I had other things to do.  Grandma is still alive, but I have the piano already.  She moved from her great big house to a little apartment built on to my uncle's the summer after she slipped on ice in her drive way and laid there for who knows how long.  There's not room for the piano there (and she doesn't know how to play, anyway) so I got the baby grand early.

It's the piano my dad learned on.  He plays really well considering that whenever my Grandma gave him a check for the piano teacher, he would tear it up and go fishing.  She also forced him into playing saxophone in the jazz band, but he ended up liking that better than piano.

I really miss percussion.  I miss it a LOT.  Playing the marimba was definitely my favorite.  It's almost the same as the xylophone, but it's sound is much more......Latin?  Maybe that's why I liked it so much.  Honestly, if I was given the chance to play marimba again, whether it be for an orchestra or band or for ANYTHING I would take it in a heartbeat.

This is why.  It's so damn fun!  I played this song in 9th grade, and now Carmen is my favorite opera.

The kid in the video used wooden mallets which is PERFECT for this song, but they also have yarn mallets and rubber mallets.  

So, there you go.  Deep down inside, I'm kind of a music geek.

Blog Stalk, quitting job, stuff like that...

It's time for Blog Stalk Friday again over at Rockin' Mama so go link up and then check out some other blogs! You can also link up your Twitter, Facebook, or whatever else you want.

In other news.....I know I've been kind of MIA recently.....I don't have any good excuses except that I'm reading 'The Help' and so whenever I get a spare minute I READ.  So far it's fantastic, FYI, and ya'll should read it.  When they make a book into a movie, I always try to read the book before I see the movie because (depending on the book) you find out what's going on in the characters' minds instead of just hearing what they're saying on screen.  ALSO, just something else to throw in here, I am a Harry Potter freak and if you haven't read the books there is no way you can fully appreciate the movies, so don't tell me that you do.  Anyway, I'm really looking forward to finishing this book and then seeing the movie :)

Last Monday (as in not Monday this week, but the one before) I gave my 2 weeks notice at work.  I'm really upset.  I LOVE my job, but they won't give me more than 19 hours a week and there's no benefits.  I'm just not making enough money, not to mention I spend a good portion of my check every month on gas to get to work.  It's completely on the other side of the Valley.  I cannot express how freaked out I am about this.  I know the girl that's taking my place, and she's a great girl, and she's smart, and I know that she'll care about the kids, but they're MY kids.  For the majority, I know their individual little quirks and how to get around them to make them get motivated to go to class or to get their work done.  I check all of their grades every week and keep track of what it is that they need to get caught up on.  For my students that don't speak English, I feel as though they rely on me because I'm the link between them and their teachers.  I make sure copies get made of the class materials in Spanish so that they can do the work and get credit for it.  I'm helping teach these kids an ENTIRE LANGUAGE.  Let me tell you what, you don't realize how absolutely ridiculous the English language is until you try to teach it to someone.  Like why choose and lose sound the same instead of choose and loose.  I spent 15 minutes on that the other day.  I'm just worried that some of these kids are going to get pushed aside and not get taken care of.  They KNOW that I care about them, and that's not something they get a lot from people.  They know that even though they can trust me and come to me with their problems I WILL NOT take any of their shit.  UGH anyways.  I'm getting upset and starting to freak out again.

Hopefully, I'll have more stuff coming soon.  I have some stuff up my sleeve ;)