Pensive days

I know, here I go again about how long it has been since my last post. 

Really, I have been preoccupied with many things. 

I have been feeling quite introverted and pensive, so therefore, I feel that I do not have much that I want to say out loud.

My Mom went into the hospital last week with broken ribs, pneumonia, bronchitis and emphysema.  Please keep her in your prayers.

It is very hard to be so far away, and to not know whether I should be hopping on the first plane to go see her, or waiting until summer vacation.

As of right now, I am waiting because she is getting stronger and a slight bit better, it seems, with each day.

There is always something to preoccupy our time, but this one has really sent me into a tailspin with worry.  Living overseas is fine, enjoyable and I like it very much.  BUT, when sickness hits, it is hard to be so very far away.....

Show me Your World , Part 2

Nicole B is having a little show and tell about our cities.  We are a diverse group, so check out her blog to see a little glimpse into Our Worlds!

Click on her name above or find her in my list to the right....

A Glimpse of My World, Brazil

Wordless Wednesday

Finding Balance

Happy Mother's Day

Today I received a beautiful poem that I would like to share with you:

Flowers, chocolate, candy

That's all you ever get

I do believe it's dandy

but love is all you want

Love, love, love

love is in the air

On Mother's Day

I think it's pretty fair

by my son, 10 years old

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's and children out there!

Flower Friday

I think I may start this every Friday....

usually I go to the flower market on Thursdays, condition the flowers and arrange them on Friday.

So, here is what I did today.

The small set of three were for my girlfriends that I went to lunch with today.  We went for pre-Mother's Day!  

Enjoy and have a great weekend :)

Breakfast

The art of burnt toast....

I excel in this art form.

I forget that I have actually put something in our broken toaster oven.  As you can see, we have a knob broken off, plus the timer inside takes way longer than needed to turn off.  

So what do we do?

We use these pliers to turn it on, 

then plug it in, wait for the toast to finish and unplug it.  Usually, about 15 minutes later, you hear the ding even though you have already eaten your toast, washed the dishes and have moved onto something else. 

My problem is that I get involved in something else and forget that the bread is in there.  Did you know that bread can actually catch on fire?  Well, I do :)

Here is the first try from this morning.  See the smoke?

Then the second was about the same (yes, I know... how could I let it happen again!  but really, it was so quick to burn the second time!)

Finally, my breakfast.  3rd time is the charm right?!

These fruit on my plate look a lot like tomatoes, but they are called Caqui.  They are a delicious, juicy, sweet fruit that I have seen nowhere else but here.

Hope your breakfast was a little simpler than mine!  Buen provecho!

Why I haven't been blogging....or excuses, excuses, excuses :)

I just feel busy.

I have been spending more time walking Bella, training Bella....boy the book I read on Airedales was right...their "puppy stage" is a lot longer than other breeds.

The school always seems to beckon...

today there was an "emergency" for proof reading the cook book that the PTA is getting together.  Granted, it was supposed to be ready by December...didn't happen, and therefore I had to scramble for a few Christmas presents.

So, I rush there to help out.  I sit down, we giggle a little about some of the translations...i.e., for a Chicken Pot Pie, there is the "dough" and the "feeling"....

yes, meant to be "filling"...hahaha

but then we stopped proof reading about 15 minutes after I got there, because they weren't even sure if we had the right copies to proofread.  

Get it together people!  I am BUSY!!

I am trying to exercise....

not going well, but I promise I am going swimming tomorrow morning!  It has been way to long that I have been out of a pool....almost since Venezuela where we swam with a swim team, intensively, 3 days a week!

Then there is the usual mundane chores:

make the beds, sweep the floor, clean the dishes (yes Virginia, there is no automatic dishwasher in my apartment), oh yea, and 

READ, READ, READ

Tomorrow is book club, or as I like to call...traveling library!  It is so much fun and I always seem to get great recommendations, especially from Gabriela!

Yesterday afternoon I started Sarah's Key.... great book.  I finished in less than 24 hours! Then there was The Book Thief , The Alchemist and The Thirteenth Tale.  Really, they were all great books.  

Two of them (the first 2 listed above) happened to be about different aspects of children in Nazi Germany.  They were sad stories, but so good..

plus I saw the movie, The Reader...again about Nazi Germany...

I am very happy that Kate Winslet won best actress.  It was a good movie!

So, that's where I have been/what I have been doing...

I know, probably boring to all of you, mundane to anyone else besides me...

but I just thought I would let you all know!