I know I will get dinged for this, but what the heck.
I was bored today. I literally had nothing to do. Usually, I take my kids down to the school bus in the mornings, finish my coffee and then go to the gym to work out. But what to do after that? Today, I went to the grocery store after taking a leisurely shower and picked up bread and a pork shoulder for dinner. I have so much to do and think about that I forgot onions. Poor me, so I had to go back. Well, I live right next to the shopping center where the grocery store is located. So I called my friend Beth to see if she wanted to get a Starbucks and then make a quick run to the store for my onion. I made some lemon bars from a box mix that I brought back with me while I waited for her to get home from an errand (she lives 3 buildings down from me). Then we headed over to Starbucks. They have a new chocolate Cappuccino which is to die for by the way. Yadda yadda yadda got my onion and came home. So it is 11 am by this time. I have dinner in the slow cooker. Now what? I could clean. No, the maid is doing that. I could iron. No, maid is doing that too. I could clean the breakfast dishes. No, again maid. Beds? made by maid. See this is where I will get dinged.
Okay, so I practiced piano. I am trying to learn Moonlight Sonata and it is slow going. I did a little bit of bible study. I read a bit. Had a little lunch. By now it is 1 pm. Shoot! I have until 4:15 before the boys get home! Could the day move faster please! I could not take a nap. I'd feel too weird because, well, the maid is cleaning. I can't nap while she does work. I mean might as well eat bonbons while wearing fuzzy trimmed high-heeled slippers. So I just kept cycling through my "chores" and added a little sewing to the mix. Finally 4:15 rolled around. The boys got home and we did homework. I do not think any mom anywhere is ever excited about homework. We already went to school and had to suffer through it. But today, I was excited. Math with my fifth grader - fractions of numbers like 4/5 of 35, and a mini report on a city with my third grader. He picked St. Paul, MN. Did you know that the original name of the city was Pig's Eye Landing in the 1820-30's? Named after a whiskey distiller that lived in the area. He obviously was not married and thought the name was catchy. Anyway, got dinner on the table, boys took showers, they went to bed, husband went to work out (he is eating too much Haagen Daaz). Now I am sitting at my desk. I was trying to figure out a blog for our Easter trip, but this popped into my head first. Maybe I will add that to my To-do List for tomorrow. Have to have something on it, right?
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Hooked On A Feeling
A few weekends ago we spent two days in Ubatuba with friends. That is such a fun word to say. Uba-tuba, Uba-tuba. Pronounce it like a drum beat and you will know what I am talking about. It is kind of like the beginning of the song "Hooked on a Feeling," hence the title of the blog. Come on sing it with me... "I-I-I-I-I I'm hooked on a feeling...!" Have no idea the rest of the song lyrics. But it doesn't matter. Ubatuba is fun and relaxing. The drive to get there is not, however.
Let me give you a geography lesson. The southern coast of Brazil is beach then mountain. Sao Paulo is actually located in the mountainous region so it is chillier than at the beach, usually. To get to the beach you have to follow the bear - go over the mountain to see what you can see. Well here is the road to get over the mountain. (I am sure the bear took a straighter route.)
Look ma, it's my lower intestines! Now try driving that back to Sao Paulo in torrential rain, hail, and lightning. Not so relaxing is it? but when you get over that "little hill", this is what you see...
That is the view from our hotel. And yes there are mountains behind these in the picture. Now can you say tranquility? We had such a great time with friends. The first night it rained buckets. Which are easier to avoid than giant rain drops that soak you in seconds. We headed up this staircase which I am ticked I did not get a picture of. It was cement or maybe big wooden blocks, my memory is not so good at the moment. But it was so steep you had to literally climb up them. Oh and no railing. If you fell? You dropped 10 feet to trees and bushes and a broken leg. We had to traverse it in pouring rain with the children. But, goodness, we had a blast.
The next day was so beautiful and clear. You know? We did not get one picture of the kids up close. Bad parents we are. But here they are on the beach just after sunrise.
You know? Ricardo and I are extremely lucky. We have seen the sunrise on the coast of Brazil. And years ago we were able to see it set almost half way around the world in Maui. We count our blessings everyday.
Let me give you a geography lesson. The southern coast of Brazil is beach then mountain. Sao Paulo is actually located in the mountainous region so it is chillier than at the beach, usually. To get to the beach you have to follow the bear - go over the mountain to see what you can see. Well here is the road to get over the mountain. (I am sure the bear took a straighter route.)
Look ma, it's my lower intestines! Now try driving that back to Sao Paulo in torrential rain, hail, and lightning. Not so relaxing is it? but when you get over that "little hill", this is what you see...
That is the view from our hotel. And yes there are mountains behind these in the picture. Now can you say tranquility? We had such a great time with friends. The first night it rained buckets. Which are easier to avoid than giant rain drops that soak you in seconds. We headed up this staircase which I am ticked I did not get a picture of. It was cement or maybe big wooden blocks, my memory is not so good at the moment. But it was so steep you had to literally climb up them. Oh and no railing. If you fell? You dropped 10 feet to trees and bushes and a broken leg. We had to traverse it in pouring rain with the children. But, goodness, we had a blast.
The next day was so beautiful and clear. You know? We did not get one picture of the kids up close. Bad parents we are. But here they are on the beach just after sunrise.
Oh, and here is the sun at 7 am. Another geography lesson, there is nothing in front of Ubatuba until you hit Africa. Totally cool!
You know? Ricardo and I are extremely lucky. We have seen the sunrise on the coast of Brazil. And years ago we were able to see it set almost half way around the world in Maui. We count our blessings everyday.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Wonders never Cease
We visited Iguassu Falls on the Brazilian/Paraguayan/Argentine border this weekend. It is so beautiful! Definitely one of the natural wonders of the world.
My boys were really excited to go there. See?
Actually, they really liked it. They just don't like to smile in photos. Ah, the teenage years to look forward to!
It is really hard to choose which photos to put in because they are all beautiful. It totally beats Niagra Falls! Sorry Canadian friends. When you get there, you walk along a path about a mile or two and head steadily down till you are even with part of the falls. Then, the crazy thing that you will never see in the States - you walk out onto the top of the falls. They never spoke about anyone jumping over, but I am sure that there have been a few suicidal maniacs that have done just that. You even get to look down into the falls in what they call the Devil's Throat. You get soaking wet from the mist, but it is spectacular! It is the coolest thing ever.
These are only a few of the great shots we got. The first is looking out over the falls. The water was about 6 feet below us, if that much. The second in my mother-in-law protecting the cameras from the water. And the third shot is a side view from where we were standing. And below is the picture looking into the Devil's throat.
We saw snails and ants the size of a thumb nail, monkeys in the trees (besides the two who were with us that never smiled), the most amazingly colorful butterflies imaginable, and these Brazilian raccoon things called Coiti. Back at our hotel we even saw a snail the size of a man's palm and the shell the size of a baseball!
We also went to a bird sanctuary while we were there. The Toucans followed you around to get their pictures taken. We even saw one reading a sign post.
Again, the colors of the butterflies and the parrots were amazing. We found out that the giant colorful parrots do not like baseball caps. Either that or they are not SEC fans (Ricardo was wearing his Florida Gator hat) because they dive-bombed us when we went through their caged area. Ricardo got a quick picture of the bomb run.
Watch out below!
We saw flamingos doing yoga, coiling snakes, and monkeys running around chasing butterflies for snacks.
The wonders did not cease when we went over to Argentina either. Ricardo and I headed for the border (too bad there was no Taco Bell) and hit the casino on the Argentine side. Now of course Ricardo has said that now that I have been to Argentina he does not have to take me back. WRONG! Breathing some funky air there sweetie if you think you can get away with that! The casino was very interesting - even though it was in Argentina, all the chips and money were in US dollars. We assumed that since the inflation rate is so high and fluctuates so much in Argentina that it was easier to run it on a more stable currency. (Maybe they should have picked the Chinese currency. Have they been watching the economic reports lately?) We got a bunch of free drink tickets though so that made up for the loss in the money exchange. Because of course why would we bring US dollars to Argentina while living in Brazil? The people watching I think made up for the fact that to casino took our children's college fund. No not that bad, just some shoe money really. Okay, yes taking shoe money is bad - for me - but I will get over it. Eventually.
We got to see another natural wonder of the world on the Argentina side too. Picture this - young women in their 20s and 30s, not bad looking though some could have used a gym and the others a mirror, wearing dresses on the short side, on the arms of men in their 60s and 70s. Truly, truly amazing to see. They were as abundant as the butterflies we saw that afternoon! But here comes the fun part. One girl sat down at our Black Jack table, and her grandfa - excuse me companion - gave her some money to play with. Every hand? She asked how much her cards were worth. "What do I have?" Well chica, you have a seven and a five so I think you have, wait let me count, ummm, 10. No that's not it, I ran out of fingers. Ah I got it - 12! You have twelve you need to hit. Or really you need to be hit. And the next hand. "How much do I have?" Let me see, a nine and a six. You have 15! You have got to be kidding me! She couldn't even count the cards that the dealer had so she would clap and then pout when the dealer took her money. You lost sweetheart. He had more than you, but he didn't go over 21. I don't think her IQ did either.
The previous night we went to dinner and a show where Ricardo was pulled on stage to dance with a girl who was doing Samba. I love me husband, but he cannot Samba. I can't either so don't think that is a dig on him. Nor would I be up there wearing a g-string bikini like she was even if I could. He was a very good sport about it and I think we all extended our lives by about five years with how much we laughed.
if you ever have a chance to go, do. To quote Ferris Bueller, "I highly recommend it." We had such a great time. I will see how to add a link to my photo gallery so you can see more pictures if you want.
My boys were really excited to go there. See?
Actually, they really liked it. They just don't like to smile in photos. Ah, the teenage years to look forward to!
It is really hard to choose which photos to put in because they are all beautiful. It totally beats Niagra Falls! Sorry Canadian friends. When you get there, you walk along a path about a mile or two and head steadily down till you are even with part of the falls. Then, the crazy thing that you will never see in the States - you walk out onto the top of the falls. They never spoke about anyone jumping over, but I am sure that there have been a few suicidal maniacs that have done just that. You even get to look down into the falls in what they call the Devil's Throat. You get soaking wet from the mist, but it is spectacular! It is the coolest thing ever.
These are only a few of the great shots we got. The first is looking out over the falls. The water was about 6 feet below us, if that much. The second in my mother-in-law protecting the cameras from the water. And the third shot is a side view from where we were standing. And below is the picture looking into the Devil's throat.
We saw snails and ants the size of a thumb nail, monkeys in the trees (besides the two who were with us that never smiled), the most amazingly colorful butterflies imaginable, and these Brazilian raccoon things called Coiti. Back at our hotel we even saw a snail the size of a man's palm and the shell the size of a baseball!
We also went to a bird sanctuary while we were there. The Toucans followed you around to get their pictures taken. We even saw one reading a sign post.
Again, the colors of the butterflies and the parrots were amazing. We found out that the giant colorful parrots do not like baseball caps. Either that or they are not SEC fans (Ricardo was wearing his Florida Gator hat) because they dive-bombed us when we went through their caged area. Ricardo got a quick picture of the bomb run.
Watch out below!
We saw flamingos doing yoga, coiling snakes, and monkeys running around chasing butterflies for snacks.
The wonders did not cease when we went over to Argentina either. Ricardo and I headed for the border (too bad there was no Taco Bell) and hit the casino on the Argentine side. Now of course Ricardo has said that now that I have been to Argentina he does not have to take me back. WRONG! Breathing some funky air there sweetie if you think you can get away with that! The casino was very interesting - even though it was in Argentina, all the chips and money were in US dollars. We assumed that since the inflation rate is so high and fluctuates so much in Argentina that it was easier to run it on a more stable currency. (Maybe they should have picked the Chinese currency. Have they been watching the economic reports lately?) We got a bunch of free drink tickets though so that made up for the loss in the money exchange. Because of course why would we bring US dollars to Argentina while living in Brazil? The people watching I think made up for the fact that to casino took our children's college fund. No not that bad, just some shoe money really. Okay, yes taking shoe money is bad - for me - but I will get over it. Eventually.
We got to see another natural wonder of the world on the Argentina side too. Picture this - young women in their 20s and 30s, not bad looking though some could have used a gym and the others a mirror, wearing dresses on the short side, on the arms of men in their 60s and 70s. Truly, truly amazing to see. They were as abundant as the butterflies we saw that afternoon! But here comes the fun part. One girl sat down at our Black Jack table, and her grandfa - excuse me companion - gave her some money to play with. Every hand? She asked how much her cards were worth. "What do I have?" Well chica, you have a seven and a five so I think you have, wait let me count, ummm, 10. No that's not it, I ran out of fingers. Ah I got it - 12! You have twelve you need to hit. Or really you need to be hit. And the next hand. "How much do I have?" Let me see, a nine and a six. You have 15! You have got to be kidding me! She couldn't even count the cards that the dealer had so she would clap and then pout when the dealer took her money. You lost sweetheart. He had more than you, but he didn't go over 21. I don't think her IQ did either.
The previous night we went to dinner and a show where Ricardo was pulled on stage to dance with a girl who was doing Samba. I love me husband, but he cannot Samba. I can't either so don't think that is a dig on him. Nor would I be up there wearing a g-string bikini like she was even if I could. He was a very good sport about it and I think we all extended our lives by about five years with how much we laughed.
if you ever have a chance to go, do. To quote Ferris Bueller, "I highly recommend it." We had such a great time. I will see how to add a link to my photo gallery so you can see more pictures if you want.
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