I'm stumped. Thanks a lot Dave

So I actually have to post this. I've been following Dave's list of vocab words for a bit, happy and content to know that the majority of the word he posts I can usually use in a sentence, although not the same sentence like he does. However this week he stumped me. Here is his list Okay, here’s a new set of words, almost all from William Gibson’s Neuromancer. I’m afraid that this is the least useful set thus far, but it’s still a test of the breadth of your vobularic insights. 1. epicanthic 2. sigil** 3. glyph** 4. agoraphobic 5. chassis (rhymes with Lassie)** 6. cant (sounds like can’t)** 7. detritus 8. atavism 9. triptych 10. knurl Here are the definitions. The ones with an * are the ones I know. AHHHHH I've failed. Usually I know all of them except 1 or 2. This week was completely humbling. Fun but humbling. I thought all y'all would have fun with these. :-)

Guest Worker Program

So today on MSNBC there was a headline concerning the Guest Worker Program that is going before the senate. By what I understand immigrants will be granted a "guest pass" for a set amount of time where they can work. Due to my experience with illegal immigrants I am sooooo in favor of this. The immigrants that I've come into contact with come in 2 sorts. 1) the good sort, who want to work to provide a better life for their families and 2) those who do not want to do anything, i.e. lazy but who want to use our laws and programs to their best advantages. Let me describe some of the parents I dealt with while working in Phoenix. For number 1 here was a prime example. I had a parent who was in the desert for 3 days working his way over to the states. He was a day worker and provided funds to have his family smuggled up (via a coyote) to Phoenix. This man worked incredibly hard for his family. His kids were wonderful and they really tried to do the best they could to get the education to better their lives. Our school provided free ESL classes for parents such as this. This family would definitely fall into the Guest Worker program. I know they would embrace it with all their hearts. This is because they were afraid to have their son participate in several activities in school because of their illegal status. If they had the opportunity to work and be legal, not a citizen, but legal they would take it. Then for number 2. A couple of the parents I worked with didn't care about working. They were drug pushers, parts of gangs and their kids showed this disdain for America. They came to this country for the free health care (i.e. if you go to the ER they have to see you and can't turn you away) and the ability to run from the law. Yes several of the parents I worked with were part of the Mexican Mafia (nice little scorpion tattoo on the forearm was a dead give away). They weren't day workers the way they earned their living was either by being coyotes themselves or by racketeering (beating down those that were good workers). Right now however there is only one distinction between these 2 types of immigrants, illegal, all of which do not pay taxes. With the Guest Worker program families that want to will be legal, pay taxes which would in turn pay for the health care (ER expenses) and education expenses that they accrue. While living in Phoenix this was a big problem, that of not enough funding for all the illegals. With the Guest Worker program more funds would become available and we would be able to have a little better distinction between which immigrants are beneficial to this country and which aren't. There were so many families that worked so hard trying to make their lives better for their families. Others that were just a bane to society. The reason why this is so important to me is I am a grandchild of immigrants. I have no idea if they were illegal or not. Honestly I don't care. I know that I have benefited from their hard work to come to this country to provide a better life for their posterity. I have also had the opportunity to live in Mexico. I have seen the abject poverty that occurs because their government is so corrupt. For the most part those workers that are coming here are because they were in those places that Americans would be afraid to live. They have little huts with cardboard for roofs and when it rains you can imagine the effect. These kids had horrid stories to tell about where they lived. I've seen a lot of it with my own eyes. If we can help those that are trying to do good, to better their communities let's do it. What good is it to be blessed if we don't help those in need. Also these people will help us become better. :-)

Kite festival

So I love living near DC. If you walk 30 ft down the road on a clear day from our house you can see the Washington Monument. It is 4.1 miles from our house. :-) Well Yesterday officially started of the cherry blossom festival here in the Nation's Capital. The fun always begins with a kite festival. This is where everyone takes their kites down to the National Mall and flies thier kite. It was such a fun outing. We decided to make it an experience for the kids so we also visited the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. We also decided to cap the experience by riding the "trains" (metro) to and from DC. We had a riot of a time. It was so wonderful! The Cherry blossoms weren't out yet (they are supposed to appear this week) but it didn't matter. The kids were so amazed at actually seeing a train. There was one metro that passed by but didn't stop for passengers. It did however honk as it went through the terminal. Spencer loved that and was doing the whole trucker honking sign. Megan was just amazed at seeing a "too loud" train. It was a blast. Then we actually go to the Mall. It was so much fun to see the little kids flying the kites and people just picnicing around. We then went to the museum and Megan and Spencer were just awed by the dinosaurs. Poor little Spencer kept putting his hand to his chest like he was holding his heart and saying "I scared". Poor thing. although he couldn't get enough. Megan just ate everything up. As we left the museum we joined some friends up at the Washington Monument. That's where everything was really happening. There were so many more kites up that way and you could see everything. I haven't decided what to post so I'm posting it all. Here are all our fun picts. Enjoy! If you want to come visit DC I recommend Cherry Blossom Festival time. It is by far the best time. We'll be heading downtown later this week to take pictures of the cherry blossoms. :-) Until then these will have to suffice. Checking out the dinosaurs. Yes my children were going "roar".

The kids and I in the rotunda at the Museum of natural History. Right behind and to the left is a grey lump. That is the huge elephant that stands in the rotunda. Also don't I look pretty? Hee hee. I wonder where the kids get it from ;-) This is one of the best all time picts of me. So I'm proud of it. I'm not very photogenic so I was thrilled to have a good one of me and the kids. And yes I am wonderwoman able to hold huge toddlers for many hours. I have biceps of steel! A Picnic on the mall. In the background is "The Castle". This is the original Smithsonian Museum and is now the headquarters fro Chinese artifacts. The Washington monument. If you look closely you can see some kites. I love the flags. I get choked up everytime I see this site. :-) This is the view from the Washington Monument up the mall towards the Capital Bldg. Can you see all the kites?

This is the White House in case you didn't recognize it.

This is Kev and the kids with the Lincoln Monument behind them as well as the reflecting pool. Anyone remember the million man march? Martin Luther King? Happened right here. Cool huh? Megan at the Monument! She thought it was pretty cool that mommy got on the ground to take her picture. :-) See all the kites? This doesn't do it justice. I couldn't get all the colors and the styles of the kites. And the prize for my all time favorite kites go to The Red Baron and The Pirate Ship. What can I say I have an affinity for bad guys. :-) I definitely live in the coolest place. :-)

The disinegration of my mind

So when 5/6 of your conversation is with toddlers 3 and under I've discovered your mind tends to think on that level. Yesterday I decided to check in on some college friends with their blog. Erin is truly one of the more intelligent women on this earth and she and Michael continue to expand their intellect as they progress. Erin plays the violin and has continued to do that (very well I'd imagine). Anyway, they had a link to Dave's site. Now Dave was one of the first people I met at the Foreign Language housing at BYU. He was also in the Spanish house as I was and he was one of the more brilliant men I've ever know. He also challenged me to expand my horizons. He was involved in building/repairing an orphanage down in Mexico and challenged me with helping that organization. I was at the time going through the education program at BYU so it seemed a good thing to do. Unfortunately, I was scared and intimidated with the thought of leaving the country and didn't feel my Spanish was worth a snit so I didn't participate (I now regret that opportunity). The last I heard from Dave he was on his way to the East Coast ready to study anthropology or something amazingly facinating like that. It was fun to look at his site and realize why I enjoyed hanging out with these people in college. They are rather facinating individuals to lurk about thier blogs and read about their lives. I finally posted on Dave's because I was having so much fun with vocab lists he does. Anyway, if you have a chance go peruse both of their sites. They are fun and interesting. :-)

I saw a tulip tree blooming!!!

So yesterday I was driving back from the library with the kids and I looked to the right and the tulip trees are starting to bloom. I have never seen a spring like those here in the DC area. We have 4 main blooming shrubs/trees and when combined they are incredibly beautiful and will last a good month. The four are cherry trees, tulip trees, azaelas and dogwoods. BEAUTIFUL. My favorites by far are the tulip trees. I've told Kevin that when we get settled I was going to plant tulip trees everywhere in our yard in anticipation of a wonderful spring. I wasn't able to include a picture of the tree I saw but they all bloom the same. At Georgetown the whole front of the Medical School is lined with tulip trees. Here's a link to a beautiful picture of the blossoms. I'll post a picture that I have of us last year with the tulip trees when I find it. Tulip Trees Picture

Addicted

So I've decided I'm addicted to a couple of tv shows. Yep I am a die hard fan of Lost, Prison Break, and 24 on DVD (I'm not patient enough to wait each week for a new episode of 24. I either read transcripts or watch on dvd. sad I know but hey....) Last night I had a lovely evening with Kev, Wentworth, Sarah, Robin, Dominic and I. Fun Stuff. I'm so happy that Prison Break is back. For those who have not seen it I highly recommend watching/downloading the first 2 episodes and getting addicted with me. It's one show that I will gladly wait the entire week to see. I don't get mad at them stringing me along like Lost. I'm pleasantly surprised at how they tie everything together and make Michael (Wentworth aka main character) deal with new issues at getting Link (Dominic/ Michael's brother and innocent/framed person on death row TO BE PUT TO DEATH NEXT EPISODE! ahhh!!!! how are they going to get him out??!!) out of prison. This is truly a fun show. I am putting a synopsis below for any interested. :-) Link was framed for killing the Vice President's brother. Turns out VP isn't dead and his appeals process has been rushed through the system to get him killed because he knows he didn't do it. After appeals fail his brother a genius with a disease that makes him see not only the lamp on the table like the rest of us but all the nuts, bolts, and washers (usually drives people crazy) but because he's a genius the disease plus genius turn him into a rescuer, "robs" a bank to get on the inside of the prison to break his brother out... only after tatooing the blueprints to his body. Inside he recruits a series of people that will help in the getting out process as well as the staying out process (aka mobsters, man who has a ton of money that was never found etc). This is an awesome show. Yes there is romance.... Michael (genius dude) with the Dr. no they will not ever get together but the interest is there. It is truly a complete show. LOVE IT!!

what do you do?

"Special Doggie movie, mommy. Special Doggie movie. Please?" said with really really cute faces accompanied by hugs and kisses. Softie here puts Lady and the Tramp on. I can't resist their cute little faces. They love this movie! In a moment of weekness I used some money I've been setting aside to get the new dvd. We were getting a charger for the camera (caualty of the trip) and in the check out line there was Megan staring at the video. She didn't ask or say anything she just kept looking.... like the little match girl looking in the windows at christmas time. yep that's my daughter. She knows better than to ask for things because we can't afford them and the answer is always no. Kev and I looked at each other and picked it up for her. We couldn't help it. She was so sweet about it and she is always so good about things. She's sitting here next to me watching. So anytime family calls and they are watching Lady they will know I've been suckered with the cute faces, bambie eyes and pleading voices.

Life back

So I am weird. Period. Just flat out weird. If the disclaimer on anything says less than 5% of people experience these side effects it will inevitably happen to me. I stopped reading all side effect labels a while ago hoping that I was really a hypocondriac and so I wouldn't think I had the side effects even if I did. Cortisone cream... Allergic, virtually unheard of, latex, allergic/sensitive, lanolin.... red spots, cracked skin and itchy, flagyl... red all over and ready to take the skin off itchy. So latest less than 5% is birthcontrol. This one I did read everything on it because I had a bad experience with the depo shot. I had the depo shot twice after Spencer was born. For those who don't know the depo shot is a progesterone shot that will last 3 months, so you only need one shot every three months and you're done. Bad experience so my doctor put me on the pill. The pill is Estregen and Progesterone, stuff your body makes. With most people estrogen = happy. For most people going on the pill is a good thing. Their hormones level out, acne improves, periods regulate..... hahahhaha except for less than 5% of people. So essentially a while ago I felt like I tanked energy wise. I literally had no energy. I didn't associate this with the birth control because I had been taking it for almost 18 months. In those 18 months I haven't had a period, not a bad thing I must say. Anywhoo, I'd say about last July things started going downhill for me as far as energy wise. I just thought I wasn't getting enough sleep, although I was getting anywhere from 8-10 hours a night. I attributed it to taking care of 5 kids less than 3 during the day as well as Kev being in school and having little help with the kids. Never thinking about the pill. I couldn't make myself excited about anything really. I tried the stuff my mom has always encouraged me to do. I did the stuff that normally made me happy to no avail. I made sure I played the piano, read books for myself, watched fun movies. Nothing seemed to yank me out of my funk. So this past month Kev finally got to the dynamics of Ob/gyn pathology and a lightbulb went off in his brain. Umm side affect (affecting less than 5% of the population) of the pill is depression. Luckily I had a Dr's appointment the next week and I went in. It's pretty crazy when someone tells you you're depressed and you've just been thinking you're going through a hard spell with general life. Anyway the Dr and Kev agreed and I'm off the birth control pill just to see if that was the cause of the little amounts of energy. HOLY COW!! I forgot what it was like to have energy enough to do things. To actually want to get off the couch and clean the house. My house is clean!!!! Yipee! My kids are happier. I feel like I've had a jolt of major caffine in my veins! This is sick crazy to think of the HUGE difference in how I've been feeling. So for most people the pill regulates them out... unless you fall into the catagory of less than 5%. Now we just have to figure out the birth control thing... "Hello to You've got your life back Mike Wizouwski"

A conversation amongst boys

So my son Spencer is 22 months old. E, one of the little ones I care for is 27 months old. I was feeding baby S at the table when I over heard the boys' conversation they were having while eating pb&j sandwiches. E: I pooped S: *giggle* EWWWWW E: *grunt* hurts, it's stuck S: *loud giggle* Ewwwww.. I go potty *grunt* E: *giggle* it's coming... soon *grunt* S: *giggle* *grunt* TADAM!!! (this said as he stands on his chair victorious, hands in the air) E: *giggle* all done Yep, nothing like dinner conversation amongst toddler boys.

E is on the left and S is the one on the right.

wedding pictures

So after going through the wedding pictures I found that there are absolutely NO good pictures of me. Actually there are only 4 total. In two of them I have Kev's suit coat on because it was cold. 1 had Spencer asleep and me eating... never a good pict of anyone and the last was just... well, bad. So here are the picts of the kids. :-). I'll try to get a good one of me in the future. Right now it's just not happening. Playing "Trains"

Megan loved her boquet. She was petting the flowers.The angel and the 'OTHER'

These pictures really show my kids personailites. :-)

And don't come back!!

So T threw the biggest fit today because he wanted the telephone. In my home when kids throw fits they go to the "cry room" until they settle down. When they finish crying they can let themselves out. If they come out and are still crying then mommy puts them into timeout where she decides how long they are in time out (usually 1 minute for every year of life). Anyway, T threw a fit and got sent to the cry room. When he came out again he saw the phone again (up high on the shelf) and started crying again. So he got put into mommy timeout... right as his own mom showed up. She was shocked because she's never heard him cry like that... Oh please I've heard him do it with her standing there. Anyway the comment was made "I'm not pleased how this week has wound down. I'll be trying to make other arrangements for tomorrow instead of bringing him here. " All I did was look at her and say "OK". She couldn't make eye contact or anything. Funny thing. later that evening. I went to enrichment. She called while I was out. Kev said all she said was "Husband is taking the morning off and I'm taking the afternoon so T will not be coming tomorrow. We will drop off a check later during the weekend." then she hung up. Oh well. sianara

I wish I could quit you.

For those not accustamed to Brokeback jokes the above line is from that movie. No I haven't watched it but there are a zillion brokeback jokes going around Georgetown campus right now. So this quote ran through my head this morning at 8:30 when I'm hearing weird and funny sounds from the hall outside our apt. Ummm I wasn't expecting anyone for another 45 minutes. I hadn't picked up the house yet. Yes it was a disaster area and in walks T and dad. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!! This kid is NEVER going to go away! Utter horror was on dad's face when I told him my last week was well, last week. Horror on my face thinking that this kid had nowhere to go for the day. Horror thinking that I was going to have 5 toddlers 4 of them under 26 months and an 8month old ALL DAY LONG!!! ARGHHHHHH ..... Insert every aweful thing you can think of and you have what ran through my brain. ugh. Yes it's been a fun day. Kids are actually being really good today. I'm sane and well we're doing good. I might not be that way at 7pm tonight when they all leave but hey, one hour at a time. They are taking naps right now. yipee!! hahahhahahahaha I think I'm nuts.

update

Did I ever mention that I have the best husband in the world?? He's awesome and I am soooo glad I have him all to myself for a week, at least until we go to AZ for Julie's wedding. I found a dress that I look really good in. I'll try to find a pict of it. It's black and I've dressed it up with accessories (yes dad, lots and lots of accessories *hee hee). Had a Ob/gyn appointment today. ugh. Unlike the lucky 90% of women I have to go at least twice a year.... and in my case another one in 2 weeks. again ugh. Spencer and Kev got haircuts. Spencer looks like a stud in his. Kev thinks I cut his a bit too short. What can I say? It'll grow. I also go my hair cut. My hair, before getting it cut was just above my belt line. I went in for a trim (I was going to grow it out for locks of love on my birthday like my niece Marie) and told Divo (hair stylist) that I only wanted all the split ends trimmed off aprox, 2-3 inches. Umm he smiled at me said "ok" then took the top of my hair and cut of 10 inches. Umm yeah! I was shocked, floored, mad, he smiled and me and said "trust me". well seeing damage done and it really couldn't get anyworse, shorter yes, worse no, I went along with it. Let's just say that I LOVE MY HAIRCUT!!!! I was shocked!!! I am so incredibly happy with it. My hair is still longer than my bra strap but I have huge long layers and it frames my face incredibly. I think my face lost about 10 lbs just because of the way my hair makes me look. Anywho I'm having fun with it, my makeup and my new dress I'm looking forward to dressing up. OH yeah I was able to get the dress and all the accessories for under $150, (accessories including necklace, bracelet, earrings and shawl) As Kevin said "I'm looking hot!". I feel pretty too which is a huge part of it. Anyway I'll be out of town and probably out of touch for a week. Yea! for 13 hours of travel in one day with two toddlers.. to be followed 2 days later with a 5 hour drive... with two toddlers to be followed the next day with 18 hours of travel! This is going to fun *note the sarcasm**.

Stereotypes

Bad, I know but I sure like them. They make me giggle when you find someone that fits the complete stereotype. Yesterday I ran into one. I laughed and laughed and laughed. In my family (Kev and I) we LOVE stereotypes. We laugh at each other and call each other "beaner" (me, I'm Mexican) and "cracker" (kev is white as white can be, when he grows out his beard it's red). Sometimes he calls me a "bean burrito with sour cream" (my dad's really white and my mom's Mexican). Anyway I was thinking about Spencer's baby blessing the other day (he was sleeping and I was thinking about how big he was getting). Anyway the men who blessed him ran the full colors of the rainbow so to speak. We had the white whitey to the blackest of black (Maurice my black "brother") and every shade in between (ranging from Mexicans to some blond friends). Anyway, back to stereotypes, when I think of Mexicans I most often think of 2 things. 1) the hard working immigrants who are worn, yet jolly and always happy (my grandparents) and 2) the lazy crime ridden neighborhoods of downtown Phoenix where I taught. Most of these parents that I dealt with in these neighborhoods were parts of gangs and sold drugs or were coyotes (men who ran illegal immigrants up for fees). When I think of African-American I think of 3 things 1) a normal looking guy, well dressed, concerned with appearances funny and easy going (aka Maurice and Derrick). 2) poverty ridden "projects", which I saw often growing up with slouching panted men and boys talking eubonics and staring at you because you were "white" in a "black neighborhood". and 3) successful articulate women like Condi Rice. Anyway What do you think of when you think of Jew? I'm not meaning to be offensive at all. I'm just asking what comes to mind. To me I think wealthy, successful, well dressed, huge nose, longer than normal business man hair, curly. I also think in cadence sentences (How are you. How very nice.... Everything with a 3 beat sentence). Mazoltov! I also think of little things like same sided hand shake (you shake your right hand with their left, can't picture it think of getting out of the car and someone helping you out). Anyway I had a laugh yesterday because T's grandfather picked him up yesterday and he met the complete profile, same sided shake and everything. It was awesome!!!! It made me giggle because you can see the Jewish culture oozing from this man. Again it was just a sterotype... bad and yet stinking funny. Since I am talking about race I shall part with these 2 jokes, one of my favorites because it just made me laugh everytime I heard it no matter because of how unPC it is. **** I can only tell this joke because Maurice told it to me first, he's black and laughed his head off at it, I wouldn't tell it otherwise**** Joke #1 There was a family flying on an airplane when the captain came on the intercom and said the plane is going down. We need to lose some weight so that we can even out the plane. We are going to get rid of all the extra baggage and seats. Well that didn't work so the pilot came back on the plane and said "That didn't work so we are going to go in alphabetical order and have people jump according to where they fall in the alphabet. On that note will all the African - Americans jump off the plane." Well the little boy in the family looked at his dad and when his dad didn't move just kind of sat there will a perplexed look on his face. Captain came back on the intercom "Will all the Black people please jump off the plane." Again the little boy looked at his father but his dad didn't move. "Will all the colored folk please jump off the plane" At this point the little boy asked his dad "Dad aren't we all of those things?" The dad replied "Not today son today we are n****** so we jump after the Mexicans". Joke #2 There was a Mexican trying to cross the border when he was stopped by the border patrol. The border patrol told the Mexican he would only let him pass if he could use 3 words in a sentence. The words were Yellow, Pink and Green. The Mexican looked at the border patrol and said "That's easy. The telephone goes green green so I pink it up and say yellow." hahahhahahahhahahahhahaha. Sad, I'm laughing in an empty room to myself, but I'm still laughing. Hee hee

Girl scout cookies

Is there anything better than girl scout cookies? I mean really who can top a thin mint or a Samoa? Maybe a frozen Tagalog. Seriously they are pure bliss.... as long as you don't look at the nutrition label. They make you smile and they make bad days good. Regardless of how tired, emotionally exhausted, did I mention tired? you are they make everything ok. I was lucky enough to have a sweet little brownie come by my house taking orders last month. And lucky enough to have one of my dear friends have a daughter who is also a brownie approach me the day after I bought some from the little girl in my neighborhood. How could I say no? No, not me. I have 7 yes 7 boxes waiting to be consumed by Kev, kids and I. We received our first batch of cookies about 2 hours ago. 2 boxes are already gone, one is freezing in the freezer and well I'm happy. I gave my notice yesterday to T's family. The response "oh ok." ummm ok. Apparently her job (temp job) ends April 15, she wasn't going to tell me this until after we get back from J's wedding. So it's all good. I'm glad I made that decision to terminate it. Especially to have the confirmation that they were also not going to tell me until the last possible moment that they will be leaving. However, I also received notice that I'm getting a raise from E's parents of $100 extra a month *yipee*. I'm really excited because I have 2 more days of T (who cried all day today because I had the baby today and he really really doesn't like not being the youngest). Anywhooo happy happy right now. So much stressing for nothing. Ahhhh.. OK I'm joking, it wasn't nothing... almost $1000/mo and in med-school = way way big deal. But hey, at least it's fun. I'm looking forward to the end when we look back at our lives and laugh and think how crazy we are. But, we ran the numbers and we're good to go!! Whoo hoooo FREEDOM! FREEDOM!! Some things are WAY more important (see definitions for health, sanity, respect, vomit... or lack of) I'm free!!! *note: girl scout cookies come out of my "slush fund". I get ~$25/wk for babysitting Jeanie's daughter and we consider that our "sanity money" This is the stuff where we can run to Taco Bell or Pollo Rico (which I highly recommend for those in DC aread) and girls scout cookies. I lost 5 pound in anticipation of gaining 5 lbs with the cookies. *hee hee* now that's what I call true love.