goodreads

{no pictures for this post}

I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs and discovered the goodreads website while checking out angry chicken's post. It's pretty neat [do people still say neat...I do but I can get nerdy sometimes], you can list the books you are reading, read or want to-read and share. I just signed up and have not gone through all the features but I did list what I am currently reading. My profile is currently private [at least I think it is...haha] but as soon as go through it all I will add friends to it.

I also added a widget to my blog but it may just take you to the sight and not my list of books.

You all know what a big romance novel reader I am so I want to share what I am currently reading Born to Be Bad, my second book by an author I recently discovered, Sherrilyn Kenyon. I just finished Devil May Cry, which is her dark hunter series, it's kind of sci-fi romance. It has a different take on Greek mythology. Gods from Olympus and demons since I love Greek mythology I enjoyed reading it.

Maybe this will help our book club!

Let me know what you all are reading maybe I need to read it...hehe!

artwork

This week's artwork.
I really encourage them to draw by making sure they have supplies available to them anytime, we have a box for art supplies and they can even use my Prisma markers and color pencils. Just one rule they need to put the caps back or they will dry out and they will not be allowed to use them for awhile. So far they have been great with them.

The boys watched Bugs Bunny this weekend, I think it was something like 1001 arabian nights (? I could be wrong, I never pay attention to episode names and they do, my little geeky boys...haha!) Rem created his version of Daffy Duck, I forgot how funny they are, all four of us laughed, except for Luna. Rem drew each piece to make it 3 dimensional, I love how their minds work! Next time I will have to remember to take a picture of the process. We didn't have cotton for the stuffing, so he was going for the toilet paper when I handed him a cheap paper napkin. He couldn't get it to stand so he added a bit more tape and taped it down on the mantle. I was going to move it to take a picture until it didn't budge.

Ram made this dinosaur scene for his cousin Elan, he said he made it because Elan likes dinasours. He just did it out of the blue, it looked pretty good before he even colored it and afterwards it looked better! I love it! It looks like an illustration froom a book. It is in his room because he doesn't want it to go to the recycle bin. I tend to pick stuff up that has been laying around for awhile and recycle. They go through it now and then when they can't find what they were looking for.

The boys are still interested in NASCAR, this is one of Ram's favorite cars #17 Matt Kenseth. This year his car is purple, he made sure I knew that. We have tons of cars around the house of all the cars they draw, not to mention all the airplanes. If you are race car fans apparently there have been some changes this year to how they race, so we have seen alot more crashes. Also, Danica Patrick is racing in the Nationwide series (airs on Saturdays)...go girl!

This is Ram's intro to the movie he made. Both boys have a growing interest in the space shuttle. He didn't used the airplane just the corner "space shuttle mission". I need to download it to youtube so I can post it, it's about 7 minutes so it will take me awhile and I can do a link to it for your viewing pleasure...hehe!

Just a note Little Miss L has been sick all weekend and has hardly slept or let me sleep. This is a rare moment when she wasn't crying. They boys just layed around and hardly moved when they felt sick, she cries...haha! They are so opposites!

all about pink

Little Miss Luna turned one on the 16th and her birthday party was Saturday. (Finally got around to downloading the pictures so I can post them.) I think her party was more exciting for us than it was for her. We had Rog's family over, mine is in Cali too far for them. Not really being a pink person myself but I am trying to add color, pink being one of them. I'm more of a brown, navy blue, grey girl...well, enough about me back to the birthday girl. She had a good time and at the end of the day she slept all night long very soundly.

That morning she was getting ready for her big day. First time in the big tub by herself and about 4 inches of water!

Got the decorations ready for the party, it's was all pink! I think the "happy birthday" banner was hard to see, but it matched the fabric on the table! I'm so proud of myself...hehe! (I didn't realize she had crawled under the table when I took this picture.)

The birthday cake...I got the recipe from Martha Stewart website and I was up until 3 am baking. I'm blaming our electric stove! The first layer was burnt on top and the middle was not done, the next two came out ok, but I thought it was too short so...I made more batter and made the third layer.


Ram being a good brother helped L open her gifts. I think he was excited because he picked her presents, he got her the wand and the baby doll. I asked Rem why he didn't go and pick a gift he said his gift to her would be to play and spend time with her, adorable.

Gifts from Roger's family.

One of the gifts Brenda sent, green raincoat.

What was left of the cake and the pink lemonade we enjoyed with it.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures I know I need to be better and send more updates of her. That's a New Year's resolution...so far not doing so good on that one...hmmm.

little birds

Not much going on at the house these past few days the weather has kept us inside and the weather predictions have been -- a little off. The bad weather they have been predicting has thankfully not gotten as bad as they had said. We got snow the other day and it looked like a blizzard before noon by the time I left for home it didn't even look like it had snowed, nothing stuck and it all melted. Which is fine with me even though I love snow my fellow commuters try my patience, which is normal, but it gets worse when the weather changes to anything but dry sunshine... Enough said or else if you know me I will get all worked up! Anyways, I will be able to tell my kids that I walked a mile (probably 2 blocks, the rest is true), in the snow, up a hill, both ways to work...haha

Quick note on a completed project and the only pictures. I'm so proud of myself I made this laptop sleeve in just a couple of hours, literally probably 2 hours. I sometimes have to carry my laptop with me and the bags they sell are too bulky and blah looking. So I surfed the Internet and found this link, I added batting to make it more padded and a large flap instead of the small one. It turned out pretty good! Impressed myself...hehe! Little bird fabric I got the other day at this huge sale from my local fabric store.

For the rest of the week I am planning L's first birthday for next week. It will be pink! Yes I am giving in and going to do it all in pink. Any comments or ideas let me know I need all the help I can get. Fairies or Princesses? Hmmmm.

keeping traditions

keeping traditions...


In my attempt to make sure my kids understand their background I'm kind of going through a history lesson myself. I have a vague memory of Dia de la Candelaria, Candlemas, a religious holiday in Mexico celebrated Feb. 2. (I had to go online to figure out how to translate it, hehe.) The online sites say this marks the end to the Christmas season. Who would not want to celebrate that long! haha! Living in the US I tend to not observe the different religious holidays I grew up with. First I don't remember much about them except the fun stuff, but now I will have to talk to family members and get all the details to be able to explain why we celebrate certain things. It's kind of hard when no one else around you celebrates the same things and you don't have family to share it with. My family lives in California so the distance makes is hard to be with them. This year we kept our decorations up until after Jan. 6th, Dia de los Reyes Magos, when the three wise men (kings) visit Jesus in the manger, so it's when the wise men are added to the manger scene. It's a time to eat and spend time with family. Traditionally a figure of baby Jesus is dressed in finery and taken to church to be blessed along with candles. I don't remember the significance of the candles and I will have to ask my aunts when I next talk to them. I do not have a figuring, but the food, YES! I was able to make. The timing was bad because I'm at work most of the day so they were not ready until 9pm. Even though I had started the day before, usually I have the whole day to make them and I the schedule I had didn't work out to well, oh well we have next year. Also one particular ingredient was hard to find, lard! The grocery stores do not carry it anymore...haha! I found some because I had to use lard they just do not taste the same and since it's just for special occasions I thought what the heck! Healthy nuts are probably having heart palpitations now...hehe! I took a couple of pictures although they don't look that great.

I would include a recipe but I had to tweak it along the way, so I will have to make them a couple more times and see if I can get a fairly good amount. I think I got about 30-40, had some masa left over and didn't make all the meat. Still a work in progress.

Pork in the sauce.

The finished filling.

The finished tamales after they have been steamed. They were so tender when they were done...yummy! I have some left and those I'm going to fry (in oil, not lard). Crispy on the outside tender on the inside...mmmmm!

Karla, Brenda & Pia look what you missed...hehe! (Actually I would have loved the help).

Atole or champarrudo is the traditional drink and I had every intention of making champurrado but I was so tired and I had a couple of questions to ask dad about it, I did not make it. But I will make it this weekend because the weather forcast is calling for colder weather, more snow. Both drinks are basically the same, made from the masa cornmeal, except the champurrado has chocolate added to it. I personally have not had the chocolate version although my sister says it is better.I never like the regular version, kind of bitter and no flavor.

I took some tamales to work and was surprised that a lot of people have not had them or knew what they were!?!?!? (Confused, I thought everyone had heard of tamales...heehee!) I got a kick out of my friend Janet who asked me if they were healthy, yes except for the lard I used to soften the masa.

Sampler Quilt Along

String Quilt block
Originally uploaded by ravenramandmoon

This is my third block for the 2009 Sampler Quilt Along. I think it turned out pretty good! It did not take me very long to do either. I do have to say I used a heavy cardstock paper for the backing and it made it a little difficult to tear it off after I got done sewing it. Next time I will use something thiner. This string quilt block was for August but I joined the group in November so I'm behind. I'm learning alot as I go and the tutorials are great I have not had problems following along. I e-mailed Christina when I first joined the group and she is very nice and extremely helpful! I was surprised and happy she is available for questions.

I'm in the process of clearing out the extra bedroom and organizing it so hopefully soon I should be cranking out the projects. It will be the workout/sewing/play room...hehe! It's a small house we need to share.

more snow and letter writing

Weather update, Snow!

We had been under a winter advisory since Thursday and it was not as bad as it was suppose to be. We had some freezing rain, at least I got home before it got bad...today we have snow it started around noon on Friday and fell all day. I worked from home and got to enjoy watching it come down with a glass of canela (cinnamon tea). Roger made some chili for dinner...yummy!May be good sledding today! Hopefully everyone has power and is staying warm!

Here are some pictures from Friday.

Letter Writing

I bought Good Mail Day at the bookstore while I was looking for a sewing book, but they had been picked over, and always the book lover I had to keep looking at other stuff. I love it, the pictures, the feel, the look and it's a pretty easy read. It has information about the lost art of sending mail through the post office and how to send mail art with lots of ideas and websites on how to get started. It's also a great sources of inspiration with all the pictues of different correspondances. I love getting mail and I have noticed lately I do not get anything besides a few junk pieces and bills...??? Even the junk mail has dwindled quit a bit lately. Well I'm going to initiate a new practice of sending more mail and loving our USPS! Their motto is "neither snow nor ran nor heat nor gloom" mine will be "neither postal price nor size of object nor uncreativity" haha! So I'm going to start sending mail, maybe not as fancy and artsy as some of the ones in the book but it will be a start for me. I have actually already sent my sister a postcard which I did not take a picture off (maybe she will and send it to me) and I have another postcard getting ready to go out to my other sister. That's more writing than I have done in awhile.

One of the Ten Commandments of Mail Art

Thou shalt reciprocate.

The boys and their no school activities.

Ram drawing a rocket and holding one of his many airplanes. They have a HUGE collection.

Rem watching TV. I took the opportunity to take a quick shot of him with the snow in the background.