my pink life, mi vida rosada

If I knew I could come home whenever anything big happened, I would be a missionary. Maybe I'm too connected to my family. Maybe I'm too old to rely so heavily on my parents, especially since I'm already married. Maybe not. Before we got married, sweet hubby and I talked about one day becoming missionaries. I think it will still happen one day. I also think there is a lot to be said for serving where you are, when you are. But I've done the missionary thing before, and I liked it, and I think that one day I'll be back in it again. If only I could be there for family whenever anything big happens. The hardest times to be away are holidays and celebrations. And celebrations include the recognition of the sad stuff, too. When I was a missionary before, I made it home for one wedding and Easter. They were the same weekend. I missed several other weddings, the death of a close friend's mother, Christmas, Thanksgiving, weekends at the beach, and a whole ho...

Really? Why does the week after vacation seem to take so long to go by, when the week of vacation flies by so quickly? My kids....have been ok. Not great. But not as bad as the beginning of the year. The one who throws things, hasn't thrown things yet (there is always tomorrow...). The one with the crazy mama....he's been bouncing off the walls. The super hyperactive kid....we think his medicine might have been changed, and not in a good way. My lowest kid who was trying hard before break....He's not trying at all now. But some of the other kids are stepping up their game. My most socially awkward kid, she got a bucket-filler for helping another student all throughout PE class today. One of my high students was invited to teach some math lessons to the second graders. 5 kids admitted that they needed help with multiplication and mixed numbers, and then 5 other kids willingly paired up to help them figure it out. There are 27 days of school left. I think I will s...

I love me some pink.... For my birthday, my sweet Aunty sent me this fun bag. And my friend, roommate, gave me these fun socks and this bucket of goodies. And the Easter Bunny brought me this scrub-brush. And the house has been full of these fun flowers. They are my favorites. Useful, fun, pink things....what could be better?

Five minute Friday at the gypsy mama .... The hardest one to love right now is me. I thought about it for a while (it is Saturday as I'm writing), and only now in my five minutes does the truth come out. The hardest one to love right now is me. My friend who was recently in the hospital for mental issues would like to get together, and I keep turning her away. Another person I know committed suicide 8 days ago. During his funeral, the only thing that kept echoing through my brain was....When my good friend wanted to do the same, we told her no, that it wasn't worth it, that we loved her and cared for her and wanted to support her. But I was lying. I was lying, and now that she didn't, and is moving forward, I am not supporting her. I am no where near involved in her life anymore. Just as the suicide of the young man removed him completely from the day to day interactions of all of his friends, apparently in my own life my reaction to my friend is the same as if she were...

In my family, there is always a private, just for family, celebration. It is one of my favorite traditions. Last night, we celebrated my birthday. Mama made shrimp creole, green beans, salad, pineapple, and biscuits. YUM. We ate and laughed and talked and laughed some more. When we finished, out came a cake! I blew out the candles. And then we laughed some more. What could be better?

Lots of interesting (or not so interesting) things going on around here lately. It is spring break, after all. I met with my dad and a financial adviser this morning. While we were walking through my dad's office, he introduced me to some of the people he works with (it has been years since I've been at his office). One of them, upon hearing that I'm on spring break, asked me, in all seriousness, what school I go to. Ha! I turned thirty on Saturday! And he thought I attended school, rather than teach it! Meeting with financial advisers makes my eyes glaze over. I maintained eye contact, but I'm not sure if my brain really followed much that was said. He kept asking if I had any questions. Um, yes, but I can't think of them when you are talking so fast about things I really don't understand. Can't you just tell me what the best path to take is? Isn't that why you are called an "adviser"? Sweet hubby helped me do some more yard work yes...

Turning 30 required a celebration the likes of which I have never organized. My mama, however, has organized many, many successful celebrations, so I took some cues from her. I started early in the week with some lists....What to clean, what to buy, what food to make, what sweet hubby needed to do. Writing it down definitely helps it to get done. Sweet hubby went with me on an epic shopping trip to Sam's and Walmart, where he let me splurge on a few flower pots I didn't need. And then he let me splurge on plants to go in them, and the good dirt so that hopefully the plants will keep growing, even when I start to neglect them. Sweet hubby fixed up the yard at the beginning of the week, then touched it up the night before since rain was forecast the morning of the party. That was very nice of him -- he displayed an element of forethought and time management that he has not always displayed in the past. Two sweet neighbors (roommate and running buddy) came over to help me w...

Can you believe it? This spring chicken is thirty today! (And now I'll go finish straightening up the house, running errands, arranging flowers, and cooking for the party that will happen tonight.)

Linking up to the Gypsy Mama's five minute Friday.... Chile is so far away. My husband's homeland, the place where he most wants to be. His mama is there, his daddy is there, his brothers and cousins and grandmas and the people who mattered most to him for so so so long are there, and we are here. Here in the very different US, with values thrown at us everyday that seem to say that his childhood was inferior and that returning to a life like that would be the most unwise choice. Here, where the only way to get from one place to another is by car. Here, where without a college degree a "real job" is impossible to come by. Here, where being a legal resident costs thousands of dollars, time, and ridiculous interviews where people question whether you are actually married. Distance is what happens when it is time for the holidays, time to remember family traditions, and the people who are still celebrating them, even though he is far away, thrust into the midst of...

And I am soooooooooooo ready for it. I would love for it to have been this week -- I could have rested my foot, still sore from the run, and potentially broken (although I won't know until next Monday), I could have spent the days cleaning my house for the party this weekend, I could have done some sewing and made a pretty bunting, or I could have planted some veggies in pots in my backyard.... But instead, I'm having a wacky week at school. Oh, kids, why? Why did one of you decide to make sexually inappropriate gestures just before MAP testing? Why did one of you decide to say threatening things after you got moved to silent lunch for putting food down the back of another kid's shirt and then get upset that you had to go to the office during math class? Why did two of you get involved in an eight person fight at recess? Really, kids? Four of you to the office in one day? Is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of the week? Because if it is, I'm not inter...

Linking up at the Gypsy Mama . If you met me.... I'd be happy to chat for a little while, unless I was watching the clock and trying to manage my time. Sometimes I try, sometimes I don't. If you met me at school, I'd only speak to you in Spanish. For real. Unless there were no kids around, in which case I could speak to you in English. If you met me at the beach, I'd be running around in my pjs or a bikini. All the time. I think I even forgot to pack shorts for the current beach trip. Who needs shorts when there are bikinis and sunshine? If you met me, you might think I'm ridiculous about how much I love my husband and our cat. And please don't ask me, after you hear that we've been married for five years, if we have any kids. If I didn't mention any, I probably don't have any. And if I didn't mention on my own that I one day want to have kids, don't ask me when I'm planning to. I think it is rude, and personal, and you never kn...

It has been a strange day for me. I went to school this morning, but just for about an hour. We interviewed the person who will become fifth grade immersion for next year at 7:10. At 8:00, my students skyped with China for about half an hour. I left after that. I walked around target for a while, and bought this dress , which my sister apparently already bought in pink. I think I can make the black work for more seasons than the pink, so I'm planning to keep it anyway. We'll just add it to the list of clothes that we have to ask about if we are planning to wear them to a function we might both attend. Like, say, church every week. After target, I went to the doctor. Apparently I hurt myself running the 10k on Saturday. Boo. So I toughed it out for enough days to decide that it wasn't really getting better on its own. Then I begged for a next day appointment and booked a sub. (I know, I know. If I am having trouble with my foot, why did I walk around in Target?...

Pink things are lovely. When they are my pink things, they are even lovelier. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif shoes These pink shoes....well, they are school shoes. They are not the cheapest shoes. They may be pink, but they are going to get worn lots and lots of days in a row. I was looking for brown shoes. Brown sandals. For school. You know, to wear with skirts and capris and stuff like that. I didn't find brown shoes that I liked very much by jambu , which is easily my favorite brand of school shoes. They are so, so, so comfortable. (After 8 hours on my feet, my feet don't hurt, usually.) So I went with pink instead. I figure it is almost as useful, if not more. I mean, I can wear pink with browns and with blacks. I'm thinking I can wear it with everything except for red, right? (Don't tell me otherwise. I'm going to do it anyway. Looking down at pink shoes makes me smile, and my kids are tough enough that pink shoes are worth the fashion di...

I ran a 10k this weekend! And it was easier than I thought! Ok, not EASY, easy, but it was not too bad, either. My friend and I ran together, weaving back and forth in front of a bunch of people, and even did a 9 minute (and something) mile on the l-o-n-g uphill. We finished in 62 minutes. That means that overall, we ran 10 minute miles. For 6.2 miles. Which is far. I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from working hard to reach a goal, training and making decisions leading up to the big day, the anticipation of the big event, and then the celebration that the event in and of itself turns into. We ran, then went out to eat, and bought ourselves the biggest pieces of chocolate-peanut-butter-cup cake that you can imagine. I sat down to eat mine three separate times. Yum. We are making plans to run a 5 mile race near home, at the end of the month. It helps so much to have someone setting goals alongside me, calling to make sure I go running in the evenings, and to c...