Cabs and airplanes..

Cabs in Argentina are like roaller coasters...But just the adrenaline part, because they do not stay on a predictable path at all...I had to take a cab today and the driver stopped about two inches (I swear) from a bus coming out...Cabs go crazy fast, ignore traffic regulations...until they have a passenger. Then, they stop when the light is yellow (and in as many as they come accross)...and follow any rule that may delay them...And I CHOSE to do it twice today....{In case you wonder, I do still see my therapist}
So, let´s go back a few days...Among other gazillion things I had to do to get ready for my trip to Argentina, making my bags was my least favorite....I had to re do them about 3 times to make them 50 lbs, took 2 carry ons that weighed 50 lbs (I weighed them all), while carrying a handbag that weighed tons due to a computer in it...When we got to the airport, and I put them on the scale... They weighed the bags and it said 32 lbs...No wonder I think I gain weight...I also found out, I could check in two more...I had one carry on packed w the stuff for the trip for the girls and the other one for some of the technology for my family, so I said "No, but I´ll make the two heavier if I can"... Good thing I had to be there so early...I went to a corner, surroinded myself w bags and started pulling the candy from my carry ons and everything else I could to the other ones...When I weighed them again, it was 45 and 35 lbs...Frustating...We went to the play area, ate at Pizza hut (my girls found a new love in Garlic Breadsticks), back to the play area, bathroom and to the plane...2 hours of a screaming Olivia who was way past her nap time and would stop kicking the front guy (I appologized as much as I could but I could still see his hating eyes) and screaming bloody murder...Houston, TX...I had to get on the train that tkes you to the other section...You must keep in mind I was handing a double stroller w no stering front wheel and in each hand a carry on, while on my shoulder the computer bag...I hope you are laughing at me right now...I really tried to move as little as possible but potty breaks and water filling (I had no milk) made it not-so-fun...It got better though: Kyrsten decided she wanted to walk so I put one carry on on her spot in the stroller, put the computer bag underneath the stroller and, sometimes she would even drag the carry on... :) ...
(Sarcastic) You have no idea how anxious I was to be on the plane to Buenos Aires and spend some quality time with my daughters...Luckily, they suprised me...If I had any doubts in God, they are gone...Aside for 15 initial minutes screaming, which were understandable because it was her bedtime and she was exhausted, Olivia fell asleep as soon as she started drinking the milk in her zippy cup...Kyrsten followed soon while watching a cartoon movie (I´m glad the airline people decided on a cartoon movie for children and not Hannah Montana)...They also put me alone in the middle row w an extra empty seat...so three seats instead of cramped two...
Kyrsten slept 8 hours out of the 10 and a half hour flight, and Olivia about 7...she woke up at 5 am and started talking like she was Kelly Rippa...people around didnt find it so fun, so I started filling up her bottle and giving her more and more milk, I changed her diaper and clothes to normal clothes (I had jammies so they would realize it was "sleeping time")...and she slept about one hour right before we landed...
Kyrsten was totally focused on Grandma...I waited until the day before to tell her we were leaving to see grandma in the morning...That Saturday she woke up and asked ¨Do we see abuela now??" and I said "No, Maisy and Ella need to take us to the airport", then she asked again at the airport and I said we had to get on the plane, then when we got down from the plane in Texas, and I said "No, we´ll play and eat and get on the plane and then, there´s grandma"...ethernal...while we were on the plane she asked again and I said the plane had to stop moving...that´s when she gave up and stopped asking...then all she wanted was jelly beans (I brought them cause that´s what she kept asking my mom for...no toys no clothes)...
We GOT HERE!!! [I love Argentinian consistency]...I asked, "can somebody help me, that I have 2 kids and a lot of bags" "No, no...I´ll get in a lot of trouble" "Someone always helps me" "Let me find out, wait here". I kept going to the bag area, and someone (not related to the first cute guy I talked to) came and said "Ma am, do you need help" and I said thanks and praised the Lord...He grabbed my bags for me helped me through the side, and proceded to put my technology filled bags through the scanner...Good thing, the lazy guy was really busy watching regular TV to look at my bags, or else I would have had to pay fines like crazy...at this point my mom and sister had a visual from the second floor balcony...They started running...I pointed at them and told my cautios dtr : "Those crazy people that are running are your abuela and aunt"...To my surprise, she still run to them...It was an emotional moment...I got to meet my sister´s boyfriend, who is probably questioning what family he´s getting into...I got home to my Grandparents, also a crying moment, started opening my bags and giving away presents, after which I only had one bag and a half...I guess I brought some big stuff...how generous of me.
It´s 12.30...so I guess I better go to bed...It took Olivia a time change to wake up at 8, but I dont want to plan on that tomorrow...
Reporting babbling from Argentina,
Good Night!!

How´s everyone doing w the time change???

Randomness I wont bother to connect

This is one more reason why I divorced Michael: His blind love for his truck. I left my keys at a friend's car while putting Olivia's car seat, so I had to borrow his truck. His huge gigantic piece of crap...It makes me appreciate my Suzie...
I had a council meeting for my girls school today and I went for drinks after work with them...One of them just got a divorce, and, eventhough I wanted to jump and say "congratulations", I just said "I'm sorry"...I just really want to say : "I know this was a hard decision and you feel like you've failed and some loss, but you're brave and that's to be celebrated"...I know people want to feel sorry for me, but they should have when I was married to the ass I was (which they probably did)...be happy for me cause I got rid of him and now I'm happy. It took a lot for my stubborn little perfect self to make this decision...that means I'm growing and getting closer to my right path in life. So Let's celebrate divorce!!!
Anyways, these ladies were all wonderful and beautiful, telling all their stories about how bad and terrible they were in high school and college...They noticed I wasn't talking so they stopped talking to ask me how I was...Answer: pretty responsible aka boring. And that wasn't all, I tried not to talk tooo much so I could absorb, but it seemed like every time I started talking they just listened...I guess I was talking about American Culture vs. Argentinian culture...I dont know if while I was talking, they were thinking how judgemental I was...but I was just saying how much happier I was now and just pointing out some differences...Like people not being all worried about how they dance and dress and how skinny they are...Typical women talk back comments. "we dance like crazy people, we dress in our jammies and we don't care", which is wonderful...I definitely see things around that I think people shouldnt go out dressed in, or letting things "hang out" but I love that this 7 thousand citizen small town is so much different than my 13 million citizen Buenos Aires...I just feel free and better about myself. I feel so confortable in this town.
I have so many things left to do before the trip, but this is the first trip in my life when I feel I am getting a lot done, and I'll have everything done by Sat...Maybe I'm just attracting readyness by positive thinking, which works for me. I'm sure I'll be up until 2 am on Friday...I paid my mortgage today, so one less thing off my list.
OK, enough babbling...off to watch the final of the bachelor..
Fascinating topic: what cultural differences (or just different habits) do you see from different places???

Uno a uno

To celebrate the time change, instead of letting my girlies wake me up one hour late (aka sleeping in which would never otherwise happen), I volunteered for an extra morning shift in the Emergency Room. Aside for the gazillion things I have to do, it seemed like a good idea at the time to work myself to death on my last week getting ready for my trip.
It turns out, it was a very slow morning, which allowed me to work on my Rehabilitation Loan (a 0% interest loan to fix my house), there's a lot of papers to gather but the most important thing is a letter answering why do you want the loan. I made a few people proof read it and they were very impressed, so I took it as a good sign. Bad news is, the pretty much told me that if the divorce is not final by fall, I would have to reapply next year, which would mean a jungle could move into my roof considering the holes it has...let's cross our fingers that the divorce will happen smoothly.
I got off work at 1 pm and got my girlies. I went home and immediately put Olivia down for a nap. Picking up, moping...at 3 I dropped off Olivia at a friends house and headed to a watch a play my niece was in...great musical...Kyrsten provided the half time show by twirling and dancing, which surprise me because she's usually very shy...Maybe we'll try the casting next year.
At the end of the show, she went and hugged all the "princesses" and kept talking about it. We went to get Olivia a few times, but she had gone w the family so we just had a one on one great day, we went to 2 parks, had ice cream together, sat next to the river, wondow shopped...wonderful day w my calmer child. I feel a lot of guilt that, because she's running like a maniac, Olivia gets all the attention. And, eventhough it's not all of the attention, it is nice to give Kyrsten special time for herself. I hope that, as the girls get older, I can have one on one time with them. It just seems a bit difficult since I only have them half of the week.
Great day!!!
Ok, now going to bed..I don't even want to deal w the people tomorrow, using the time change as an excuse to be grouchy, if you're grouchy hide it, because I'll be in a good mood and I didnt get to sleep in today.
Nite nite
Cata

I had an awesome day today. I woke up this morning to my sweet little Olivia saying "mommy...mommy..." We had oatmeal w water because I run out of milk, which I'm not used to but I had to improvise because I had promised oatmeal...Put some extra honey in it and the girls devour it...I wouldn't touch it..I had a toast instead...feeding my kids sth I wouldnt eat, what a great mom!!! We got ready for the pool and we went to Safeway to get milk and blueberries, which I stated before we got out of the car. I love it when, throughout the store I kept repeating "We are here just for blueberries and milk" and they wouldn't protest about not getting what they were asking for. We went home and ate blueberries, hang out, had a visit from my girls' new best friends and went to the pool. Olivia was just crazy jumping off the edge, she's so brave! I really need to get them swim lessons this summer.
The pool was crazy hot, after 40 min, Kyrsten was already "I'm hungry, I want to go casa" and olivia was getting pretty red so I decided it was time to go...I hate not even making it for one hour...I feel like I dont get my money's worth. I have to work for 1 hour for us to go 40 mins...
Anyways, It was so nice out that I just wanted to make a picnic. Without having to cook for it. We went to Safeway (again), got those already made sadwiches, oreo cookies sandwiches. I layed a blanket on my dead grass and we ate there, surrounded by deer poop. It was so great (except for the dead grass and deer poop)...I'll be doing a lot of picnics in the summer.
We took a really nice nap, the three of us. Then we went to the park and came home. Now we are all in bed ready for the time change tomorrow...I'm not big on change and time change is probably one of my least favorite...Don't mess w my sleep...
I'm starting my 6 day work week tomorrow, which I haven't done in a while and that might explain the phone calls I got to make sure I was going tomorrow...I got the schedule and I had already agreed on it so I don't understand...I'm finding it very irritating to talk to people lately...I just wished everybody just new to do what they are supposed to and just shortly ask what they need and problems solved...Maybe it would be a good thing if I got the job I'm applying for at Medical Records and be by myself a good chunk of the day...I'm becoming antisocial...ha-ha-ha...I truly dont think that would ever happen but I'm just a little tired of the excess of words that goes on in my job lately (I guess only from people I particularly dont care for). It would be nice to have a change and learn a lot of new things. And skip the drama :).
Wish me luck for these week!!!
Any changes going on in your life???

Invisible

All the pep talk my friends and coworkers give me all the time feel kindda...empty...when a really cute guy has introduced himself to me 3 times...It's a little depressing and insulting I must say...Am I that inmemorable??? Not that he would fall in love w me at first sight but...THREE TIMES??? Geez...
Anyways, I've decided to tackle one big project a month with the money I dont have. This month, it's curtains. I marked the spots for the curtain rod in my bedroom so that the bedroom would look taller and longer, I drill a messy hole in the wall which turned it into Plan B: Ask Michael. He came while I was at work, hang the curtain rod parallel to the window (which is not centered) and nothing close to my markings...Something more to fix later.
I had my first coaching with Girls On The Run today. The girls, 3rd thru 6th, seemed very receptive overall. It's nice that they'll have a space to grow and talk (some girls seemed to get side tracked too easy). I'm really worried about not being able to keep up w them but I'm sooo excited...We'll see how it goes...
My daughters took turns these weekend and did not sleep...So, I'm sorry for a lousy blog but it's time for nite nite.

My daughters

Olivia, 20 months, just started peeing in the potty. She went once yesterday and 3 times today, I let her be naked butted all day (except for naps and errands)...I'm very excited about, someday in the near future, not changing diapers anymore...And it is sad that they are pretty much totally independent from me but (as guilty as I feel to say this)...I am enjoying them more and more as they are getting older, I like babies (and I adored mine), but I like it a lot better now that I can (this will sound very selfish and I guess it is), for the most part, get a good night sleep every night, being able to leave them playing together while I load the washing machine or dishwasher...every now and then sneak in an alone shower (although sometimes I have to pay for those)...lots of things but specially watching their mind develop at huge pace in front of my eyes, listening to what they say now and looking forward to their ideas in the future...I always think that, no matter how crappy I might be in certain areas, I think I'll be good at listening and respecting their ideas and encouraging them to think more.
Kyrsten's excuses lately are hilarious...specially coming from a 3 year old and in English (this is quite mind blowing for me, to have my child talking in English)...Pick up time is always "Mommy I tired" "Mommy, I sick", "Mommy, I too busy" and the latest one for everything is "Mommy is not fair!" (I think she got that one from my 8 year old niece)...She has these big phrases like "Mom, I have to tell you something" (thank God it's nothing serious nowadays) or "What are you talking 'bout?", "Mommy you're not my best friend anymore, Niki's (Olivia Nichole, Niki is Michael's nickname...another thing we agreed on) my best friend" "Do you speak Spanish Mommy? Do I speak Spanish?"...I think one of the most challenging tasks as parents is informing our kids as much as possible without overwhelming them.
What do you think is nowadays challenges for parents and how are you planning on tackling those???
Do you feel guilty about some parenting related thoughts???

Get the Party Started!

I have my Dirty South Costume party tomorrow...I'm going as a southern Belle...I found the costume yesterday and I actually really like it, it's all red with little black polka dots, red had black thick belt and black boots...If my teeth are white enough (I've been whitenning them for a week), I might dare some Red Hot Lipstick...I hate it when people have bad teeth and still wear a flashy color of lipstick...Better if you attracted attention to your eyes...unless the are all red from you-know-what...then you are better off staying home under a blanket.
Anyways, tomorrow. I had asked my girl-friend to come with me. I always have fun with her. But she wasn't home when I called and I doubt her husband will give her the message...I hate going to parties by myself, even when I know a lot of the people...At least I will see her when I go out later to a second party...Yes! I never go out and tomorrow it's two parties...I wont drik too much because 1) I have to drive my babysitter home and 2) Last time I got ddrunk (New Year's) It took me a full 24 hrs to feel better...It's not worth it cause I can be as silly and have as much fun without drinking. Plus, I hate spending money in anywhere but Home Depot so alcohol is not a good investment in my cheap eyes. I hope I have tons of fun...
I asked my Sister in Law to watch my girls for a few hours tomorrow while I do some training for Girls on the Run (I will be coaching track to inocent little middle schoolers!!!), to whcih she responded "I guess"...They are her nieces and the most kissing loving girls in the planet...I wish that once, ever, she would want to watch them..is not like I ask her so much...I am always asking if my niece can spend the night or organizing family nights...IF MY FAMILY WERE HERE...they would be not even asking for them to watch them, there would be fighting ove who watches them...I guess it's always different when it's not your family...
Do you have conflicts with extended family??? Different habits???

Still Alive and Kicking

I'm alive. Barely...I excersice more today that I have in years combined. It felt so good to push myself so much. Part of it was a desire to try new things (running), part of it getting healthy, part of it enjoying the company, but a big part of it was my silly idea that I can do anything (I'll blame it on my parents for believing so much in me). I have this problem that I am Super Woman and I can do anything and everything and I have to be perfect at everything. And I was not perfect...But I dont think with excercise you can ever be, you just keep pushing yourself and that's good, right? I think I'm becoming wiser w the years...I think I enjoy getting better. I do still find it hard when I'm not perfect but I've taken a few hits and failures and I'm learning to be more content with life, more satisfied with just doing my best everyday.
The one thing I really enjoy about not having kids, I must admit, is that I super cleaned on Monday when I got back from work and I havent done much and it's still super clean. it's nice to come home to a spotless house and it's nice to pick up only after yourself...To be honest, I dont notice it, I just put things in their places as I go. Why do men and children have such a problem w picking up after themselves, it's not so hard! Oh! I know! It's because we get them used to not picking up...We'll do it...When will we learn...
On the third afternoon is when I really miss the girls...I dont have Olivia to help me do laundry or tell me "Hi mommy" "I love you mommy" or Kyrsten with her more and more interesting conversations or with her "Mommy I sick" or "Mommy, I really tired" whenever I ask her to pick up.
I was just talking to a friend yesterday about people that don't have kids and how hard would that be for us...I laugh a lot but my kids make me laugh the hardest, and smile the biggest. I'm sure they'll make me cry the deepest and get the angriest but they truly make me. [I was looking for a word that would describe what my kids make me but, they just do]. I have to admit some things would be a lot easier without kids but not as meaningful and fun...I'll probably be singing a different tune tomorrow when they drive me crazy...
Ok, time to go nite nite.
Sleep tight!

Dont Worry, Be Happy :)

I'm happy. (period). Bills are paid, I am healthy, my daughters make my life. I'm happy. Things could be better, always; but I dont focus on that. It actually pushes me to improve, if I can or let go, if I cant, which reminds me I need to make an appointment w my therapist...She left me a very concerned message mentioning I never miss therapy...I think, as crazy as I am, she misses the most sane person that goes there and actually makes progress...I love her, she's a little crazy herself. More to come about my therapy sessions (I know you're really looking forward for this).
Today I am very thankful that Michael sent his eye-candy mechanic to take a look at my car and fix some things. He told me the car is in very good shape over all which made me feel good about my investment and gave me hope I wont have to do too much to it in the future as long as I keep it up. Michael doesn't help me a lot so I dont expect him too. Therefore it's always a bonus when he does. He watches the girls most of my work week which is a ton of help.
Moving to another subject, my diet didnt go well today. I ate no sweets but a few extra stuff so that's not good. However, I went back an forth to work in my bike, then to Safeway (only 6 blocks) and then for a 4 mile walk (about one hour)....that's more excercise I've done in a long time combined together...I dont think my butt got the memo: it still does the "earthquake" move...not looking forward to wearing a swimsuit yet.
I have a (people from the) South theme Party and for an unrealistic second I considered being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader (Texas has been included), but the though of me in that skimpy costume would not attract men, it would make people cover me w blankets...so, I still don't know what I'm wearing...Any ideas???