Where have all the Manners gone?

Have you noticed lately that people aren't as polite as they used to be?

Yesterday I was driving behind a long line of cars that were proceeding at an excruciatingly slow pace. The reason was that ahead of us were three truck-tractors hauling a wide load with pilot cars before and after with lights flashing.

So I took my time, happily listening to the Bob and Tom Show and not stressing out at all. But traffic behind and in front of me was just dodging in and out between all the other cars with people trying to get just one more car ahead. I mean why? Even if you get to the front of the line you have to wait behind those big truck...so why? Why endanger your life and more importantly mine?

Then...after those huge trucks pulled over to let traffic pass, right before the on-ramp to Highway 99 I turned on my right signal to let people know that I wanted to merge into the right line so I could enter the freeway. There was this guy wearing an Osha Orange jacket in a big blue truck and he would not let me merge. He sped up. I had to slow down and inconvenience the line of cars behind me so that the next person could let me in!
Would it truly have killed that guy to let me merge? Does one more car in front of you really make that much difference in your life? And if so...Why?

So when I moved in behind that truck, I mouthed "Big Fat Jerk without thinking and then I held my breath hoping he wouldn't slam on his brakes and get out of his truck and come back to my car and shoot me. Ok, well maybe that's a little far-fetched but those things do happen...all the time sometimes!

Then ...to make matters worse. After work I stopped at an AM/PM to gas up my car. It was super busy but I saw that if I drove clear to the other side of the pumps there was a space  right in the middle of two other cars. So I drove around and was just making the turn to pull in debating if I should try the parallel parking thing or just pull in when Slam, Bam...this big huge man in a beat up old pickup cuts me right off and pulls into the spot. 


I remember my fear of being shot from the morning and I manage not to mouth, Big Fat Jerk at him. So I find an empty pump right on the other side of this guy and while I'm standing there pumping gas he looks at me and tries to be the nice guy by saying, "Kinda cold tonight isn't it?" "Really? Really you big fat jerk...now you wanna be nice?" Ok, so I didn't say that.  I just turned around and pretended I didn't hear him and we both finished and each went our own way.


But I'm still bothered; even today, a day later, that people are so rude and only worry about themselves. Why has this become a "ME" society? I try to perform random acts of kindness. I let people cut in front of me all the time. I stop and let people pull out of parking lots and I always flash truck drivers so they know they can pull into my lane. (And I don't mean flash in the flashy-flash term...I mean I flash my lights on and off at them).

Have you experienced the same things? Where have all the manners gone? (And don't even get me started on people that just throw their trash anywhere.) Ok, there...I've ranted. Thanks for listening and I promise not to be so negative in my next post.

Iwanna Wednesday - Iwanna Spring to get here already!

This past weekend I worked on my front flower beds. These poor flower beds have been so neglected for the past two years their filled with grass and weeks. But this year I intend to do something about it.

So we weeded and turned over the dirt and I made a plan that what Iwanna do is put down rock or brick. Then on top of the rock or brick Iwanna put some big pots, like these. . .

This looks almost like what Iwanna, see the brick underneath? Iwanna fill the pots with seasonal plants and then in the winter fill them with artificial flowers so I have color all year round.

I'm not sure Iwanna them this close together though because what today's Iwanna post is about is about decorative little statues to display between the pots. Let me show you when I've found and you tell me what you think.

First I love this one. This one probably wouldn't work with the brick, but maybe with the rock if I piled the rock just right? But then the poor little guy might not be as comfortable as he seems to me in all this lovely greenery.

I think having decorative stepping stones between the pots might be nice too. Something like this fairy stepping stone.

I think you're all going to love this one best. I really like it alot as well. The Mama Hen and her Baby Chicks are so sweet. I wonder if these would get stolen from my front yard? Not that I live in a bad neighborhood, but still...those things happen.

I'm debating on whether I would want this one in my garden or in my kitchen or maybe on my desk at work? I do love gnomes though don't you?

Now this one is just stinking cute! Iwanna this one for sure, if I can find it. I especially love the butterfly on top...I'm kind of a butterfly girl. This one is probably my favorite.

I'm not a big Frog fan although I had a dear friend that was nuts about them and had millions everywhere! But what I like about this one is the See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil. Great message, don't  you think?

Ok, these next two are just for fun...but I just couldn't resist. I really like this one. Would I like it in my garden? Hmmm, maybe in the back, but definitely not in the front...although it might keep solicitors away right?
 

And this one is just too funny and unique for words...a bed in the flowers. A flower bed...get it? Of course you do, you're such a smart bunch.

Well that's it. I'm hoping to look around at more ideas this weekend and once I have my flower bed finished you can be sure I will post pictures.

I don't know when that will be as it rained again today and we expect rain at the end of the week. But we need the rain in this valley, so we really shouldn't complain.

Which one do you like best? Do you have a garden statue? An Angel maybe or some deer? Some hot pink Flamingos? What would you recommend?

Mosaic Monday - First Time Cousins Meet

I mentioned in a few previous posts that most of the family on my mom's side recently reunited in Arizona due to the funeral services of our dear Aunt Herminia. It was so sad to have to get together for such an event, but also I spoke of the silver lining...getting the family together again.

I mentioned that many of the cousins had never met each other or at least hadn't seen each other in years.

Today for Mosaic Monday I want to share the meeting of two little girl cousins. One of them is my niece Melissa who is my brother Fred's youngest child. I've done many a post on Melissa as she is truly a character! A little girl born with a personality like no other. I love her to bits!

The other little girl is the youngest child of my 2nd cousin Michael and his wife Kelly. I feel so bad that I can't remember her name because when I was introduced to her I was told that a lot of people call her Lulu and that's the name that stuck in my head. Kelly, Michael...sorry, please email me Lulu's given name.
(I received an email from my cousin Eliza's whose daughter & son are pictured in the last picture on this post. Lulu's name is really Anamarie, much prettier than Lulu right?)

I'm writing this post in hot pink in honor of these two little girls. Because they are both the youngest members in their family and they are both little princesses in every sense of the word. Both little girls very used to being the apple of their daddy's eye and used to having their every wish fulfilled. And both used to everything being all about them.

 So they had moments that they didn't get along, but for the most part I believe they had a great time and I can't wait to see them get together again.

 

And one more picture, not as a mosaic, but also showing cousins that had a great time together. My brothers son Fred Jr., and I'm sure the other two belong to my cousin Eliza, but Tweetie, I'm sorry...I didn't get their names, please let me know. Your daughter by the way is so beautiful!!! I love her hair!
(Again, my cousin Eliza sent me an email, the boy in the red shirt is her son Matthew and the gorgeous little girl is Alianna. The big guy is again, my brother Fred's son, Fred Jr or Freddie.)

 Family faces are magic mirrors looking at people who belong to us, 

we see the past, present, and future.
-- Gail Lumet Buckley

Please visit Mary at Little Red House to enjoy other lovely mosaics.

Sunday Favorites - Sisterhood of Women

Today is the day for Sunday Favorites. A day when we get to re-post a previous post. Today it was easy to choose which post I wanted to use because today I spent the day again with two of my favorite women, my sister Lisa and my mom Tomasa. 

Lisa and I went to get her taxes done and then when we came home she stayed to help my mom and I clean out the flower beds in front of my house. It was hard work, there were worms and bugs and dirt. We sweated, broke nails and ruined our hair and makeup. But we did it together and as always when we do things together it's a joy, not a chore. (Just keep repeating that Lisa...it's a joy, not a chore...maybe you'll believe it!)


So I want to share a post from May 24, 2008 when these same three women got together to tackle a kitchen painting project. Hope you enjoy it. I'm off to soak these old bones in a hot tub. Have a blessed Sunday!

Be sure to visit Chari at Happy to Design to visit other Sunday Favorites!

Favorite Post

from

May 24, 2008

Ancient Chinese Proverb say:

A hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make a home.

What is it about women that makes them so special? Today I spent the day with my two favorite women, my sister Lisa and my mother Tome, and it was like spending the day at a spa, or meditating, I feel refreshed, happy, calm and blessed. And the strange thing is that I spent the day working like a dog.

We painted my sisters kitchen and we started early, by early I mean like around 9am for me, 7am for her.

We cleaned the walls, scrubbing them with de-greaser and soap that was hell on our hands. We taped up the kitchen cabinets and counters with newspaper and blue painters tape. We used primer on the walls and while this was drying we ran both our cars over to have the oil changed and the fuel injection system serviced. We also picked up some lunch not only for ourselves, but we picked up some pizza for her two boys.

We had a lovely lunch outside under her patio on her kitchen table. It was a breezy, cool day and perfect for spending time outside, but of course it didn't last and finally we went in to begin the real painting.

Side note: The night before we had gone to Walmart and my sis picked out the paint she wanted, she was going for a Tuscan Decor such as you see below:

Pretty huh? She wasn't going to do the faux painting on it this one has but she did want that kind of golden yellow color. The color she asked them to mix I think was called Citrus, it was by Dutch Boy. It seemed kind of yellow to me, but she wanted something different and I thought, "Well why not, if that's what she wants" (we're a white walls type of family).

So back to the story, the paint was nothing like what you see above, it was baby "caca" yellow and it was hideous. The minute she slapped it on the walls she knew it wasn't what she wanted and she was going to be miserable if we continued.

She called Walmart, and wonderful Walmart said they would take the paint back even though it was custom mixed...I love Walmart!

Now we're primed and pumped and ready to paint, but we have NO PAINT!
So we went to our local TrueValue Hardware store in Shafter and the nicest man named Ron helped us. We found a little old hispanic man in the store wearing a strawhat and my sis knew that was the paint color she wanted. We told Ron and he held paint swatches up to the old man's hat and matched it! Was he great or what? And the old man was very nice to let us do that to him.

So now with paint in hand we returned to her kitchen and began. Right away she knew this was the perfect color...and it was, it was just what she wanted, warm and rich and soothing. And the weird thing is the name of the paint color on the paint swatch was, get this....StrawHat!!! She wanted it the color of the man's hat and the color was called Straw Hat!!

Anyway, we painted and joked and complained about our kids, our jobs, etc, etc. And then our mommy got there and she pitched right in and helped paint and we chatted with her and we laughed and had a great time, before we knew it, the kitchen was painted, the corners and bottoms were done. We tore down the newspaper and she and my mom put up curtains and hung pictures back and it was BEAUTIFUL. I wish I had had my camera, maybe tomorrow I'll take some pictures.

So as I said in the beginning of this story, women are so special and I'm so blessed to have my sister and my mother, there was nothing I would have rather done today then spend the day with them!

Have you heard about the Vagazzle?

I've been hearing a couple of things on the news lately that have captured my interest.

First...and I bring up this subject tentatively, wondering which way to go with it. Have you all heard about Vagazzling?

It seems to be all I've been hearing; on late night, online, early morning radio, emails.

On the way to work I listen to the Bob and Tom Show and for the past three days it's been all about the Vagazzle.

Apparently Jennifer Love Hewitt was on the George Lopez Show and she happened to mention that her private parts are ahem...decorated. Decorated with Crystals, making her private part look like a big Disco Ball (her words, not mine).

So I went to Bob and Tom's website to get more information and they have a youtube video of Bryce Gruber from the website The Luxury Spot being filmed while she gets  vagazzled.

Here's the video in case you want to watch it. It's not risque or anything, very tastefully done and you get to see what this is all about.




Doesn't that just beat all? My biggest issue with it is that I'm just tired, tired of having to be decorated up all the time. Already every morning I have to apply makeup, foundation, powder, blush, eye shadows, mascara, eye liner, etc. Then I have to do my hair. Then I have to get dressed and choose a nice outfit, earrings, necklace, shoes, purse (aren't you exhausted just reading this?). Then there's lipstick.

Plus now you have to decorate your va-jay-jay? I don't think so! It's all well and good for Jennifer Love Hewitt and it beats getting a tattoo down there (and I know of someone that has a tattoo down there that says "Feelin Lucky"). At least with a Vagazzle it washes off eventually and doesn't harm anything except maybe snag your panties, right?

What are your thoughts on this? Yay or Nay on the vagazzling of the va-jay-jay?

The second thing that captured my interest this week is about the air traffic controller that let his children direct air traffic. Have you heard about this?

The story is that a veteran air traffic controller took both his son and his daughter; on separate days; to work with him and allowed them to direct air traffic. The kids are recorded repeating word for word what their father tells them. The audio clips have played over and over on many news stations. The dad has been suspended by the FAA while they review the situation.

Now ok, the dad was a dufus-head to do this, but c'mon. Does he deserve to lose his job over this? It was definitely a lapse in judgement but according to everything I've read, no one was hurt, no damage done. Slap him on the hands and make a rule that no one can bring their children to work and let them direct air traffic and let the poor guy get on with his life. Geesh!

But of course, there are many people with very valid reasons as to why he should be terminated...what do you think?

These are just two items that I kept thinking about throughout the day for the past two days. Your thoughts?

Iwanna Wednesday - Dove Bowl

I have a lot of favorite blogs in blogland as you can tell from my blog roll over there on the left in the sidebar. They range in interests from photography to thrift store shopping, from cooking to crocheting. The other day I visited Ma Maison. I had to go and visit because the title of one of Tammy's blog posts attracted my eye. The title was Strawberry Lemoncillo Martini.  I love Martini's, nuf said.

Right away I fell in love with the dove bowl she was using as a centerpiece. See it here. Really....go see it, I'll wait patiently

Ok, lets get back to this gorgeous bowl that was featured on Ma Maison. Wasn't it beautiful, stunning, fabulous? I sure thought so. I thought to myself, "Self...Iwanna one of those!" And an Iwanna post was born.

Now I've had a few new followers in the past couple of weeks since I've done an Iwanna Wednesday post, so let me bring everyone up to speed on what Iwanna Wednesday is. Those of you that know already, go grab a cup of coffee, a diet Pepsi, a cookie...anything you please, you have my permission. (And bring me one!)


Ok, for those of your remaining for this portion of the tour...I love shopping! Whether it's window shopping, online shopping, actually plopping down some cash shopping...I LOVE SHOPPING. Shopping comes easy to me cause I find joy in almost anything. I can go into any store or restaurant or even someone's home and say, "Oh, I want one of those!" I do that so often that my sister started calling me "Iwanna", cause Iwanna everything.

That's where blogging really helps, because I can Iwanna random objects and blog about them and show you pictures and usually you all respond back with Iwanna items and ideas of your own...which makes it even more fun.

And that's what Iwanna Wednesday is all about. So what Iwanna this week is that Dove Bowl. 


First off, I googled Dove Bowls and I found this one. Not what I was looking for, but still lovely don't you think?

I didn't find anything else that looked like a Dove Bowl, so I googled Unique bowls. And I found some unique bowls, not a dove bowl, but still unique.

Let's start with this cute as a button red bowl. You can store your candy or whatever in the smile and then leave the wrapper in the bowl on the top. You can use this for nuts and leave the shell on the top as well.

 

I also found this totally unique, totally gorgeous bowl. I love this one for Salsa, maybe some Pico de Gallo? And when you finish instead of having just a dirty bowl you have a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Well the bowl would still be dirty, but ...well you know what I mean.

And still another unique bowl, these fluted ones.Wouldn't these be great with popcorn or chips?

But still no dove bowl so I googled "bowls with animals", and I found this one . . .a Bambi Bowl. Not quite what I was looking for and I don't think I could eat out of this one with a deer sitting smack dab in the middle, could you? Although it would be fun to eat Cheerios and place the little Cheerio rings on her little ears.

I guess google has a sense of humor cause it gave me a bowl for animals. This is pretty darn cute though, for those of you with cats. He kind of looks like Felix the Cat but not black and white. Am I dating myself here? Anyone else remember Felix the Cat?

And I was lucky enough to find this bowl...a Tibetan Singing Bowl! I had never heard of them so I went to youtube.com and found several videos that shows just how these bowls sing. Some of them were very pleasant and soothing, some kind of hurt my ears. But go and look and see if you like them. I would like to own one, cause that's an Iwanna thing right?

So I was very sad to not find a Dove Bowl and then I went back to Ma Maison to lust after her's and sigh deeply and then I noticed she had this little item:

If anyone is interested in purchasing one of the dove bowls, it's Item # 719403 by Abigails.net. They are a wholesaler, but you can call Bill at Le Marche at 757-625-1211 to order one.

So actually if I had bothered to read her whole post before running off and letting my fingers do the shopping I could have saved a lot of time, but then again...I wouldn't have had this Iwanna post for you right?

So which bowl is your favorite? I think mine is the singing bowl.
Happy Iwanna Wednesday!

Beautiful Arizona - State of my Birth

I mentioned in my previous post that my Tia Minnie had passed away in February. My sister Lisa and I, along with my brother Federico and his wife Norma and their children, Beatriz, Freddie and Melissa all accompanied our mother, Tomasa to the funeral of her sister.

It was a sad occasion but definitely funerals in our family prove to be "clouds with a silver lining". We get to see family members that we haven't seen in years. We get to meet new cousins and spouses. We get to be around people that love us enough to tell us, "You haven't changed one bit" or "You never get any older, what's your secret?"


We get to enjoy wonderful new foods and old favorites. Our children get to hear stories of our younger days and the different pranks and tricks we played on each other.

Someday...when I die, I hope that my family takes that as an occasion to get together and love each other and share the same type of stories and food that we shared after my Tia Minnie's funeral. At the very beginning of my Tia's funeral service, her daughter Lydia...or Copa as we all lovingly know her best, Copa said, "On behalf of my family I want to welcome you to a Celebration of my mother's life". 

And celebrate we did. I know that Tia Herminia would have been so proud of all of us and she would have loved the get together after her funeral service...because this is our tradtion, this is how we grieve, this is how we celebrate the life of one so dear to us.

So what I want to share with you all now are parts of the silver lining. The good things that we shared and found and saw in Arizona and along the way to Arizona.

First, in this post...I want to share photos of Arizona. Arizona is so stunningly beautiful that sometimes I can't believe it. I can't believe that a sky can be so BLUE, or that a cloud can be so FLUFFY and WHITE! I can't believe at times that there can be miles and miles of nothing but desert and big beautiful, sprawling mountains. But this is what Arizona is, and this is Arizona through the humble lens of my camera. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Just outside of Parker, Arizona

Can you believe these incredible colors? 
These are not photo-shopped folks...this is Arizona!

What did I say about big fluffy WHITE clouds 

and Blue, Blue Blue Skies?

This photo was taken right around the corner from my cousin Mary Lou's house in Parker Arizona. Can you believe she can just walk around the corner and this is her view?!?!

More Fluffy clouds cause I just could not get enough of them!

And last but not least...a beautiful rainbow which I think Tia Minnie sent just for us to show how happy she was to see us all together again. We love you Tia Minnie.

A Beautiful Life - My Tia Minnie

On February 12, 2010 my Aunt Herminia passed away. Tia Minnie as most of us called her was 81 years old. She was one of my mom's older sisters. She was one of the five siblings left. She had lived most of her adult life in Phoenix, Arizona.

I remember Tia Minnie as always laughing. She constantly had a smile on her face. I never remember her reprimanding me, and trust me when I was young I needed a lot of reprimanding!

I remember her always showing up with boxes of fresh pastries, donuts, bread...she never showed up empty handed. Tia Minnie was the mother of my cousins Herminia, Lydia and Lucia and I know they miss her more than words can say. I love you my cousins!

Tia Minnie's memorial had a beautiful poem in it that made so much sense because she had been so ill and she didn't deserve to suffer anymore.

God Saw

God saw she was getting tired

And a cure was not to be,

So he put his arms around her

and whispered "Come with me."

A Golden heart stopped beating

and hardworking hands to rest.

God broke our hearts to prove to us

He only takes the best.

Sunday Favorites - Favorites Foods

Today is Sunday Favorites Day, its a day that we can just go find a past post and not have to write anything new.

So, what I wanted to share today was food. Well...not food, but a post about food. Hope you enjoy it and be sure to visit Chari at Happy to Design and see what favorites others in Blogland are sharing today.

Happy Sunday!

FAVORITE POST

FROM

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

So as mentioned in the previous post, my contribution to the office Halloween party was Broccoli Salad. I got this recipe from a good friend named Stacie. She really didn't want to share it because everywhere she went that's what she took and she always got tons of compliments. I had to promise and swear that I would never take the dish to the same event she was going to. And I haven't, especially since now she's living in San Diego and I never see her anymore!

Here's the ingredients first. The only thing missing is the sugar because I couldn't reach the Sugar container when I was taking the pictures. But don't forget the sugar, that's what makes this salad.

Here's the salad all put together. It tastes much better if you let it sit overnight, but if you can't wait, it still tastes great the second you make it. I love this stuff!

Since I wanted to save my appetite for the salad for the next day I had to make something for myself for dinner that night and that's what this next picture is. I made myself a Frito Chip Salad. It's kind of like a fancy Frito Boat that you can get at a high school football game.
It's super simple and no real recipe is needed. You just open up your favorite can of chili beans or chili with no beans, up to you. You dice up some lettuce, some tomatoes and some black olives. Place Frito's in a plate or bowl, pour heated chili over them, top with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and olives and your favorite salsa. I like Pace Picante Sauce, medium hot and I like to place the whole bottle in the blender and grind it up. Then just dig in. Simple, fast and sooooo good!


And now here's the recipe for the Broccoli Salad...Enjoy!
Broccoli Salad
1 large head broccoli
1 med onion chopped finely
1 c. grated cheddar cheese (I use medium)
1/2 lb. bacon cooked & chopped (I cheat and buy the package of bacon pieces, see the photo above)
Dressing:
1 c. mayonnaise
2 Tbl Vinegar (You can use fancy flavored or wine vinegar, but I use plain old distilled vinegar and that works just fine)
1/2 c. sugar (Important point, you can also use Splenda if your watching your weight or are diabetic or just want to eat healthier)
Method: Grate cheese (unless you're like me and bought pre-shredded cheese, again see picture above). Chop the onion and cut the broccoli into small pieces, you will want to slice the stem portion really thin. Combine the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the salad ingredients. Mix Well.
You can also add any other veggies you like such as tomatoes, black olives (hmmm, are those a veggie?) or cucumbers.

I'm still Alive!

I'm still alive...but just barely.
Last week on Wednesday I started with a little scratchiness in my throat. The next morning I left along with my mom, my sister and my brother Fred and his family to Arizona.


That's the state the flag in the previous post belongs to...ARIZONA, state of my birth!


We went to Arizona to attend the funeral of my mother's sister, my Tia Herminia. It was sad to have to go for such a reason, but there's always a silver lining which I'll post about soon.


I didn't feel too great on Thursday when we left but I started taking some antibiotics my sister had left over and I hung in there all that day while I drove about 10 hours to Phoenix, Arizona.

My body actually hung in there Friday, Saturday and for the long 10 hour drive home on Sunday. Sunday night I was coughing so bad I took some cough medicine with Codeine and I've been feeling it ever since. Today is the first day that I've actually felt like I have a brain and I'm not a Zombie!

(Put some glasses on this little cartoon girl and I look exactly like that, even on a good day!)

I've gone to work each day, cause I'm so dootiful dutiful. But this cold has really kicked my butt. So much so that I haven't even watched American Idol!!!!! You know something is wrong with me when I miss me my American Idol!

But I have lots of photos to show you and lots of stories about Arizona. Just bear with me and we'll all get through this together. Oh wait...you guys aren't sick, just me!