Making a Difference, One Staple at a Time!

I'll keep this as short as possible. I started a new job. There wasn't enough at my old place to keep me busy so I was sent on a temporary assignment to help out another department. The work is completely different than what I was used to and what I've done in the past. Its a sort of records department and in my head I imagined a big white room with tall filing cabinets that reached the ceiling and little manila folders with tabs on the end. Oh my God! What a nightmare. I'm so aweful at alphebetizing. I tried to keep an open mind and think about all that I would be learning. Maybe it would turn out to be fascinating work. Maybe I would learn about HR laws or pick up new transferrable skills.

Sadly, it's just as I imagined in my worst nightmare. Except the walls aren't white. I'm surrounded by thousands of folders in all colors, each meaning something different and thankfully they are not sorted alphabetically, but numerically so I spend countless hours sorting form after form so that I can spend more hours sifting through folders. And when that's done, I spend the rest of my hours removing staples, taping down loose corners or undoing creases that came as a result of spending years in a folder on a shelf. I've never had so much work and yet felt the time move so slowly in my life. I no longer have a desk, a computer or a phone. I had to start wearing a uniform of sorts because I was afraid to ruin my clothes.

I'm trying to be so brave. I wear a big smile and tackle all tasks assigned. But they worry. "I'm so happy you came back. I hope we didn't scare you away." They try to be encouraging and assure me that the work adds value. My trainer says "I know it feels like we're nitpicking, but it's so important to remove the staple ahead of time because when we're filing it goes so much faster." I don't answer. I simply smile and nod. Oh God, please help me. The people there are very nice and pleasant to be around. Plus, it's nice to wear sneakers to work and not have to pick out an outfit everyday, right? I'm only part time and it's just temporary, right?

Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights

So, I LOVE the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights and I have missed seeing them the past couple of Christmas'. This year, we headed out and what a treat it is! The lights originally came from a family in Arkansas. They put up 3 million Christmas lights and the neighbors eventually sought legal action. So they gave the lights to Disney! Now there are millions and they are choreographed to music. There's snow falling and they offer 3-D glasses to make it even better.

It was super crowded and I was worried the kids wouldn't be able to see much, but they did and at one point I yelled out, "It's snowing!" and Jayden screamed back "I know Mommy." I could tell he was so excited. We skipped the 3-D glasses, but the lights are something to behold with or without glasses. As you can see, they were completely taken by the lights and music.

A Walk Around the Block

After dinner, Esteban and I bundles up the kids and loaded them into wagon. We got their milk cups and a big blanket and took them around the neighborhood to see all the lights. It was awesome! The kids loved it, even though it was pretty cold. At the end of the walk, we let them run around a little before coming in for bed time.

Thanksgiving - 2008

This year's Thanksgiving was pretty awesome! I started the day at CVS and K Mart. I got there early to get my deals and I actually had competition. LOL. Then, I went home and jumped right into the kitchen to finish up my cooking and baking. We had to have an early dinner since Esteban had to work at 4pm. While I was messing around in the kitchen, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was on and I enjoyed it as much as ever. It was really cool this year, I though but I could barely get Jayden interested. When Santa finally came through, I couldn't even get him to pay a bit of attention. Grrr.

Now, Esteban doesn't really understand traditional Thanksgiving Day Fare. He doesn't care for turkey. "Can't we make a chicken instead?" He doesn't like cranberry sauce. Mashed potatoes aren't his favorite and he's not fond of stuffing. And when it comes to sweet potatoes, he's emphatically against them. Well, there goes Thanksgiving! So I always have to find a way to Puerto Rican it up a bit. You know, mingle the cultures and flavors.

My sister and her family came over for the feast. She made her cranberry sauce from scratch and a sweet potato casserole. I love sweet potatoes. I made the turkey and I used a recipe from a Puerto Rican cookbook, which required I marinate the bird for a couple of days before. Yum! I made arroz con gandules or rice and beans. Then I decided to try a stuffing recipe I found by Aaron Sanchez. He was an Iron Chef contender, but he didn't make it. Sorry Aaron. Anyway, it was a chorizo cornbread stuffing and it was delicious! I also made a corn souffle which was a big hit and surprisingly enough, I got the recipe from 160,000 Recipes, an iPhone application. I also made roasted butternut squash and a green salad topped with dried cranberries and pecans. Very tasty! Besides being rushed to get everything on the table, all went well.

For dessert, I made a pumpkin pie and fall themed cupcakes using the sprinkles that I picked up when I was in the Amish country in September. I also prepared a sugar cookie dough, thinking the kids would enjoy decorating them sometime after dinner, but it never happened. That's ok because the cupcakes were a huge hit! And believe it or not, we didn't have seconds like most people traditionally do on Thanksgiving, but we sure did re-visited the cupcakes!

My sister spent the night and the next day we hit the Black Friday sales. We were focused and smart with our shopping and spending. I was happy with my finds and deals. Now, I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping, plus I picked up a couple of gadgets for myself! Yeah!

Crash Landing

What Jayden never even attempted, Maya mastered at 19 months. One night before bed, I noticed Maya was trying to fling her little leg over the side of the crib and I thought, any day now she'll be climbing out. And she did. The next day, I put her in her crib for nap and she popped right out. Twice. Note to self: convert the crib. That night just after story time, I was picking out the kid’s clothes for the next day. I was on my way to back to Jayden and Maya’s beds to say prayers, but I stopped to turn on the kid’s lullaby music. And I heard a crash. I turned around and there was Maya on the ground, screaming her little head off. She must have tried to pop out of the crib but instead of going on the side and landing in Jayden’s bed, she flew out of the front and fell face front onto the floor.

I was beside myself with worry and despair. I snatched her up and started to rock her and console her. I felt a huge bump on her forehead so I ran to get some ice. She was so mad about it, but finally she gave in and I was able to ice it down quite a bit. And Jayden kept asking, what happened (as if he didn’t see it with his own eyes)? What’s wrong (I wanted to say Duh! But of course I didn’t.) What’s that? ICE! (Grrr.) Jayden, please keep quiet and lay down. Maya got a boo-boo and it hurts. Why? What happened? And on it went.

Finally, Maya fell asleep in my arms and I don’t know if I was relieved or even more anxious. I held her for quite some time, and then lay her in bed, but I felt uneasy. I kept checking back to make sure she was ok. The next day, I was very disappointed to see that not only did she have a knot on her head, but she had quite a shiner. Poor baby. I converted the crib immediately. And Maya is slowly recovering from her injuries.

Christmas Morning, well, sort of...

First of all, if you are a parent with children who own lots of electronic toys, you need to get to CVS right away and take advantage of their battery sale. If you spend $20 on Duracell batteries, you get $15 of it back in Extra Care Bucks! I stocked up and went through 3 8-packs already, re-loading all the toys! Jayden and Maya didn't know what to do or what to play with first. It was awesome and not to mention, a great opportunity to check all the toys and get rid of those that weren't working at all.

Birthday Party Weekend

This was the weekend of birthday parties. Here's Jayden at party#1. He could choose whatever he wanted to paint on his face and he chose Santa Clause. Do you think he's telling me something? He's not looking very jolly, is he...
Then they made him a hat to go with his new face, but that didn't seem to brighten up his day at all.

Maya got a cute little butterfly.

Here's Maya all stressed out on the pony, even though Daddy is by her side.

Here is my girlfriend Maria and her granddaughter.

Here's Kris Kringle on the pony. Yes, we forced him on there. It's not everyday you get to ride a pony!

Here's the birthday boy, Devonte and may I say, he was the only one who went on the pony willingly.

Then, party #2 was at my sister's house for Sebastian's 1st Birthday. Here's Esteban in the kitchen, making himself useful.

Chooch was having a ball in the bouncehouse.

Jayden actually went in this time. Amazing!

Even Maya went in and had a blast. She cried her little heart out when we took a break and got out.

Maya takes a swing at the pinata!

Mari and the birthday boy!