May 9, 2008
May 9, 2008
Picture yourself at a dinner party outdoors in New England and stopping the conversation by saying “Hey everyone, look! It’s a squirrel!”. Imagine how they would look at you. That’s the same way people here look at you when you stop things to show them an iguana. Believe me, I know.
However, if you showed them a squirrel, they might be interested. The only one I’ve seen here was at the zoo the other day. He had his own big cage with a tree inside, kept separate from other animals. I wonder how all the squirrels running free at Franklin Park Zoo would feel about this?
April 30, 2008
Two questions I get often from you back home:
1) are you making and friends?
2) when are you going to post pictures of yourself?
Today, I can conveniently answer both questions. Yes, I have made some friends. It takes a while because at school we do drive-thru drop off and pick-ups. But through birthday parties, I have met other moms and they are nice. Mostly I do things with Christina, who is great. Today we are taking the kids mini-golfing (she has a girl 7 and a boy 5) . I am trying to branch out more and meet other moms, so I accepted an offer from Betzabel (another form of the name Elizabeth). She is a very nice mom with three boys who is living in one house while she remodels another. Her husband has a kitchen remodeling company. She invited me to come to her house for a different kind of remodel. Betzabel is a Mary Kay cosmetics rep.
Yup. I know. If you’ve ever seen me with more than mascara and lipgloss, you were either at my wedding in 1997 or the winter formal I went to with David Frechette in 1987 when my face was still detroyed from chicken pox.
Betzabel is beautiful and her make-up doesn’t look overdone, so I wasn’t too nervous about her layering on too thick. The part I’m most proud of is that we did the entire thing in Spanish and I understood about 85% of her pitch.
Here you go – two pictures of me at my house at 9am and 12pm today.
April 28, 2008
It’s Monday morning and I just got my workout. I workout on Monday and Thursday mornings. Gym? No. Pilates? No. Swim? No. As soon as I drop the girls at school and Justin at work, I race home and tidy up like crazy – running up and down stairs over and over in 90+ weather. Monday and Thursday are the days that Maria comes. She’s our cleaning lady – everyone here says “maid” but I can’t bring myself to use the word.
Maria is in her mid 50s but appears much older. She is incredibly strong and sweet and patient with my espanol. This is a woman that on any day in Boston, I would immediately stand up and offer her my seat on the T. Yet, she comes a couple days a week to clean up after us. She makes beds, does laundry – including putting away the clothes, washes windows, mops floors, everything except iron because of her athritis. The trouble is, I feel like a jackass if I am home while she is doing this – plus I don’t like the girls thinking they can leave messes for Maria. So, I race back home and put everything away and get the laundry sorted. I’m thrilled if she just mops and washes dishes – two things I can’t stand and am horrible at doing. This isn’t new for me, I would run around before our cleaning guy in Brookline came too (I seem to recall learning this from my mother who would do this before Elena would come in my youth!).
Sometimes, that allows her extra time to do some other things – like the girls’ hair. She has three sons, so she loves doing the girls’ hair.
April 24, 2008
April 21, 2008
I’m having a horrible time finding food here marked “Kosher for Passover”. I just don’t understand it.
April 15, 2008
Happy Birthday to my mom! I remember once when I was little, a cashier noticed the date on her license and said “Bummer – Tax Day Birthday”. She replied, “Yes – and the day Lincoln died and the day the Titanic sank.” Well, her birthday just got ickier because today she is beginning the chemo process to make sure the cancer the surgeons just removed won’t try to return.
Actually, we’re looking at it as a great way to spend her bday – it is a way to help ensure that she has many many many more bdays to celebrate. She is strong, positive and as beautiful as ever. I know, I saw her last week for surgery and not many people can say they look that good after surgery that was not of the cosmetic variety! Mom, we love you and we miss you and we will see you soon! Happy & Healthy Birthday!!!
PS Mom: April 15th is also the day Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, the day the first McDonald’s opened, and DaVinci’s birthday.
April 1, 2008
March 31, 2008
90+ degree weather? Check.
Relaxed lifestyle? Check.
A lot more house for the money? Check.
No heating bills? Check.
A mind-bogglingly high electric bill? Check.
We live in a complex with 4 other units just like ours – apparently everyone’s bills are pretty similar, even those without kids. At today’s exchange rate, it is $826.25 USD. The average bi-lingual office worker here makes about $450/month in gross salary! Apparently though, your zip code has a lot to do with what you pay in an electric bill, subsidies are available by neighboorhood or village, not by individual need – so people living in certain impoverished areas may pay $10 for their electricity. Our bill doesn’t sting quite so much if I think about in those terms.
March 14, 2008
I have a “no TV during playdates” rule. If our kids go to your house, no problem – your rules – whatever keeps you sane. At our house, which is otherwise too heavy with TV anyway, my philosophy is that playdates are for playing and talking to each other rather than staring at the screen. Note: this does not apply when we are having your friends’ parents over for dinner and you are making us all crazy and we just want to enjoy our conversation in peace.
That was my philosphy until yesterday. In Brookline, when we invite someone over for a playdate it’s usually something like 2pm til 4:30 or 5pm. It seems to be the norm at home – a good couple of hours playing, then separate them before they kill each other and get them home in time for dinner, homework, shower and bed.
So H had her friend over the other day, they had already played over two hours in the pool when her friend’s parents called and said they would pick her up between 6 and 7pm! On a school night. They did not have a special situation – apparently this is quite the norm for a Mexican playdate duration – 5 hours. There are very few people I would want to spend 5 hours straight with without any kind of break (except for you!). The “can we watch TV?” question came and I immediately said yes. I justified it that they had tons of physical activity and needed some downtime, but there’s only so much pool time, arts & crafts, and cooking I can do. I think I’m going to adjust my TV philosophy a bit while I’m here. Plus it’s really cute watching little girls bond over High School Musical.
¡Vamanos! 