Happy Thanksgiving! ~

To all my friends from the U.S. I hope you had a great day! We did – There are so many things we have to be grateful for – we are very lucky.

At school the English teachers have to organize a luncheon for the children and so we did. Each child brought some food (Turkey, mash potatoes, salad, pie, etc.) and all went into a buffet table. A tent was decorated and set up for the children, teachers and all other staff members that work in the Preschool/kindergarten section of the school. Since Renata’s school didn’t do anything to celebrate this very special and meaningful day – she does not go to a bilingual school, they just teach 1 hr. a day of English, I guess that is why – I took her to school with me so she could see/be exposed to a (somewhat ) Thanksgiving celebration.

I have some photos to share with you – FINALLY! This is the tent area being set up – I was in the classroom teaching

This is my creation, what do you think?!

And here are the children ready to be served!

We had some yummy poultry meat, mash potatoes, green salad, corn, fresh bread, assorted juices and pies galore!!! My all time favorite is PUMPKIN, and we had two of them, so there was plenty for everybody.

This creation was done by the other English Teacher – I love it! I want to take it home next week when we change the decor to Christmas!!!

I have more photos to share of Renata enjoying her visit to the school, but they will have to wait for the next post as I do not want to make this one that long… I am going to leave you with this photo of the Teachers:  Aida and I!

Thank you for stopping by. I wish you a fantastic weekend and if you are a Black Friday fan, may you find tons of great sales! Tomorrow is Friday, tomorrow is Friday, Friday – Friday – Friday! LOL!!! ~

Anniversary of The Mexican Revolution

Today is a holiday in Mexico and there was a parade – please don’t ask me for pictures, you know where my camera was!… no comments…   and I took Renata to watch it. Of course it was hot even though it was over by noon but I know where there is a shady area usually overlooked by spectators so we headed directly there and as expected it was not crowded, there was space to sit on some brick planters and had a good view of the parade.

After a shower, lunch and nap – in that order! LOL! – I went to my sewing class and cut out some matching pj bottoms  for My Princess and I, I will take photos of the finished bottoms and will share them with you sometime this weekend. I am getting excited at the possibility of making some clothes for me, I am still a long way from saying I am ready, but class by class I feel more sure of myself and hopefully soon I will know enough to make patterns, cut and sew something totally on my own – without the teacher’s assistance.

I am planning on finishing the translation tonight so this weekend I can start working on Christmas stuff for the classroom/students and I also want to make an advent calendar for Renata, if I don’t start soon Dec. 1st will be here and there will be no calendar again – just like last year.

Another thing I wanted to do have this holiday season is an advent wreath, have any of you had one before? The lighting of a candle once a week, etc. I read about it last year and it sounded to me like a nice tradition to start with Renata… I hope I can get everything ready so we can do it this year.

Well, I am off to work, I look forward to posting this weekend and sharing some misc. photos with you. TGIF!!! ~

Long week!

Did you have a good week? Mine seems to be taking FOREVER to be over! The fact that I fell yesterday and hurt BOTH shins does not help either yes, somehow I slipped while trying to unlock my car – I guess I stepped on fine gravel or sand – and my car stopped my fall but I hit the car with both shins and I thought I was going to pass out!

To make a long story short, my legs are swollen, my right leg bled like you won’t believe – I was wearing jeans, imagine if I had had a skirt on! – I walked like an old person or as if my legs were numb and they hurt when I walk. Thank God they were not fractured,I am very grateful for that

I’ve been struggling with a translation for DAYS! Aside from the fact that is boring, I was not provided with a word document but a hard copy so that makes it even more tedious On the bright side,the money I get paid should cover most of the car repairs I still have pending

Since I should get back to the infamous translation I am going to say goodbyed and will leave you with a photo of my Princess, who is doing MUCH,MUCH better. THANK YOU for all your concern,good wishes and nice comments. Since she was cooped up for days while she was ill,when she was finally able to go back to school she was also invited to a birthday party and she begged me to take her,so I did and she had a fantastic time. Here is a photo of her at the party – there was a pony carrousel – having the time of her life riding a pony for the first time ever!

Have a happy Friday! ~

Leaves

I guess my love for Fall shows up in the assigments I give my students! LOL! Here are photos of some of the leaves I now have displayed in the classroom:

I love glitter and shine and I guess I can always count on these students to supply my fix of the stuff – LOL!

This is a deceiving leaf It might look plain but it smells delicious - this GREEN Mom used spices from her kitchen: cinammon, bay leaves, etc. YUM!

Other GREEN leaves – Moms I should say, as they are the ones who come up with these creations!

Visually speaking these are my favorites! I love the rich background colors and subtle sparkle

Tomorrow I will try to set-up my Thankful Tree and as soon as it’s ready I will share photos of it with you…

Can you please say a prayer for Renata’s health? Last night I had to take her to the ER at 2am because she had respiratory defficiency due to a crises caused by her allergies – the bronchial spasm is still there and tomorrow they are changing her medication. I was REALLY scared last night as I’ve never seen her that way… Tonight I am very tired and I am ready for bed, but I really wanted to do something that would force me to stop thinking about what could have happened if I had not acted when I did.

Thank you in advance for the prayers you say for my Princess’ health, God bless you! ~

Skulls

I hope you are having a good weekend. We have been a tad busy: Friday I had my sewing class; yesterday I took part in a yard sale and in the evening we attended a friend’s Baby shower; this morning we took Mom out for breakfast, then we went to visit an Aunt and now we are home and I am dying for a nap!!! LOL!!!

Before I start getting things ready for tomorrow, I want to do a quick post and share with you some photos of paper skulls my students and their parents (Moms!) decorated for our classroom. This is something I have done in the past (when teaching full time), for every holiday I send home as homework the outline of a heart for Valentine’s day, egg for Easter, etc. and ask families to decorate them and when I get them back I use them around the classroom. Not only does the classroom looks nice but students like to see their work displayed.

I love the teeth of the top two and the bottom one were indeed done by “glitter loving” kids!

Plain but girly with the flower on top!

Beautiful kid art!

I really like this combination of crepe paper and glitter…

Next week I will post photos of the LEAVES I asked the kids to decorate for our Fall theme classroom decoration. Have a fantastic week and I look forward to your comments! ~

PIF, Gift and Swap/Trade

It feels great to be able to find the time to post, YEAH!!! and since I do not want to jinx my lucky streak I will say no more about it and continue with this post – LOL!!!

Some months ago I was one of the lucky chosen for a PIF at http://thecontentedquilter.blogspot.com and this weekend I received a fantastic parcel all the way from the UK! Here is what I got from Caroline:

This is a beautiful quilted (with applique) table runner in beautiful fall colors, unfortunately my camera is acting up and this photo is not doing it any justice.

I also got this fat quarter of Christmas fabric  in lovely colors – Thank you Caroline, I love my goodies!

Some of you faithful readers are on my list of PIF recipients and I am trying very hard to have your parcels ready to mail in early January, once the holiday mad rush is over.

The following book was sent to me by Kim from http://thebodhichicklet.blogspot.com and I cannot stop reading it! Thank you very much Kim! It is a “Just Because” gift and I appreciate it very much – you are very generous Kim! This book is full of inspiration and I want MORE time to try my hand at some of the projects featured in the book, whenever I do I will make sure to blog about it and mention the source

Since I claim to be SO busy I’ve only had time to work on these ATCs and Inchies for swap-bot, but something is better than nothing so I am happy!

On the subject of Swaps, I am wondering if I could do a swap or trade with anyone out there… I need some of that silver material (fabric like) used on ironing board covers and such, that supposedly can withstand high temperatures. I read somewhere that it is a good idea to use it inside potholders, and I would like to make some as Christmas gifts, SOOOOO if anybody fancies anything from Mexico in exchange for a few yards of that material – we do not have it here in Mexico – which by the way you do not have to send all the way over here; my brother’s girlfriend lives in Columbus, Oh and she will be coming the first week of December, so the material can be mailed to her address and she can bring it and then I can give her whatever it is you fancy from here and she can mail it for me from the US – asuming someone from the US wants to swap, LOL! If I get a “volunteer” from another country then yes, we both will have to ship internationally…

Well, that’s all for now. Enjoy your week and I look forward to reading your comments! ~

Day of the Dead

Today is a special holiday here in Mexico, I did not go to work and there was no school. We went to the cementery this morning for Mass and to bring Coronas – paper flower wreaths – to those who have departed before us.

I have been kicking myself all day long because I forgot my camera! Arrgghhhhhhh! I wanted to share with you photos of the different stands outside the cementery. They were selling fresh flowers, coronas, candles, food, Pan de Muerto – a special bread made on this day – all the stands were very colorful.

Inside the cementery there were people for hire to clean/paint the tombstones, musicians who could be hired by the song to play at your family’s tombstone the favorite songs of the departed. Actually, while we were saying the Rosary at my grandparents grave, the family next to them had a quartet playing some old fashioned songs – no doubt favorite songs of the departed.

It is festive and sad at the same time. Other families where eating some of the favorite foods of their loved ones and others spent the whole day there visiting with family members. We are planning on bringing tamales next year to eat there  – my maternal grandparents loved eating them! My mom has been wanting to do this for many years and next year might be the one. My father and my paternal grandparents are also buried at that cementery so we brought them coronas as well and prayed at their graves. Next year there WILL be photos, I promise.

On Friday there was a Day of the Dead festival at the school were I work. Three years ago I was a full time teacher there and I took Renata to the festival, and this Friday we went again and it was a lot of fun. There were performances by the students and singing and food and games. Here are some photos:

This was taken three years ago, Renata was only 19 months old!

And here we are now! Wow, time is going by fast…

Have a fantastic week! I hope to be back soon with some creations ~

Unconscious Mutterings

Since my Different Randomness blog is not working – for some unknown reason I cannot post – and today I have the time to do a challenge, I will post it here.

I say … and you think … ?

1. Hairbrush ::  Ponytails
2. Sneak ::  Peak
3. Hole ::  in the wall
4. Horror ::  Story
5. Standard ::  procedure
6. Mailbox :: Letters
7. Attachment :: Photos
8. Type ::  Blood
9. Nails :: Manicure
10. Storage :: Moving

If you wish to participate please go to http://subliminal.lunanina.com/ Week 353

Enjoy!~

 

Happy Halloween!

I know it was yesterday but never mind My Princess really wanted to celebrate this American holiday; last year we went to the American School and she had a great time so this year she wanted to go again, however, we were asked to go to trick or treating to the boardwalk with some other people and my little one agreed to change plans so we went.

The evening started with a dog parade by the beach, as you can see in the photos below some dog owners got their pets into the spirit!

And you would think this was our pet but no,  just coincidence! LOL!

My Baby last year as a witch…

And this year as herself! LOL!

I hope you had a funtastic halloween! Enjoy the rest of your weekend ~

I want…

… to walk without sweating…

… to bask on sunrays rather than shield myself from them…

… to dig out clothes/linens from the bottom of the drawer and KNOW they will NOT smell (heavily) of humidity…

… to walk past the bookcase and NOT smell mildew from my treasured books…

… to rest assured that if I don’t do laundry within a week’s time the clothes in the hampler WONT start growing “hair”…

… to be able to leave bread/tortillas out of the fridge without fear of them growing mold…

… to wear my hair down without feeling overwhelmed by the lack of air around my neck…

… summer to last less than six months…

… my daughter to walk on fallen leaves, to see trees turning, to enjoy a fire in a fireplace, to catch snowflakes with her tongue, to make snow angels, to have a white Christmas…

One of these days??? I hope that day gets here soon! – LOL!!!

TGIF ~