Very, very strange

I've had some weird dreams in my life, but last night really takes the cake. The more I think about it, the less I really want to share it. It's that weird.

I would really like some dream analysis guru to take a stab at this one; it's a doozy. It's a doozy not because of it's grand complexity or it's possible message for my life, but because of it's extreme randomness and downright strangeness.

Now, I don't remember the beginning or the end, which I really hope would clear up the middle portion for me. But, here's the middle nonetheless:

I dreamed about growing rice. Not out in a field. Not in a garden. Did you know that the most appropriate place that rice is grown is on one's butt? Yes, apparently so.

Now do you understand why this dream is so strange?

My friends were explaining to me that every spring the butt, bottom, booty, etc of certain people turns into the perfect farm land. Rice plants sprout in perfect rows, no need to plant, water, weed, etc. Rice paddy is really a tricky synonym for rice butt.

I didn't get to the part in the dream that explained what to do once the crop is ready. I think I'm kind of glad I didn't. I'm also pretty glad I'm not one of the chosen rice growers.

Oh, I also am going to do some research on how rice is actually grown. What if it's true?!

The war

No, not the Iraq war. Nope, not the Afghanistan war. No, not even the war against narcotrafficking. I speak of a very different, a very personal war, I am fighting all day, every day.

Ants.

I have ants in my kitchen. I hate them. I want them dead. I want them gone.

If you have been one, have known one, or have heard about nesting mothers, you will understand that there are NO crumbs in my kitchen. There is no dish left unwashed. There is nothing laying around tempting the little critters to come out of the crevices and attack. There is nothing.

Why, ants, why!?

I want my house to be perfect for the baby's arrival and you are ruining EVERYTHING! I've googled how to get rid of you. I kill all your little friends. Go away!

I will give you one more chance. This is not a threat, it's a promise. Go away, find a new home or I will kill every last one of you with however many products I need to in order to make my point. Bring this information to your queen. This is not a negotiation: Either leave by yourselves or be forced out. You are not welcome.

**UPDATE**The ants have now invaded my dreams as well. Last night I dreamed that every time I looked, they had multiplied. Apparently, according to me and my dream, every ant has 10 ant babies everyday. Imagine the multitude. The bad news was I found the nest in the corner of one of the legs of the kitchen table. Did you know an ant nest looks surprisingly like a Chinese paper lantern? I didn't. The good news is, I went crazy with the broom, pinata style on that paper lantern ant nest. Then, I got my spray. Needless to say, there were no more ants. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. I actually had to get out of bed and check to make sure it didn't actually happen. More good news, I've only seen one ant this morning. It's dead, now. That's progress in my book.

Adventures in Corned Beef

This little Irish girl has a lot of time on her hands. And after four years in Mexico, I decided it was time to have a real St. Patrick's day, corned beef and all. The only problem is that corned beef doesn't exist here. No worries. Now, I realize that St. Paddy's day isn't until tomorrow, but the corned beef has been corned, cooked and devoured already. You can take my word for it, it was awesome. Here is the recipe and the process in case you, too, get a wild hair and decide to spend 5-7 days making meat.

1. Find a recipe. I found mine at Cook's Illustrated. I only made a few changes. I didn't have allspice so I used equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg. I didn't have thyme so I used oregano. I didn't have sea salt, so I used normal salt. My food, my ingredients.

This is how it all began.


I bought beef brisket. What? Your meat doesn't come in a purple plastic bag? Weird.


Poke and rub the meat and put it in plastic baggies.


What? You don't have bricks just chilling in your backyard ready for impromptu corned beefing? Weird. PS You can then use the bricks to raise your washing machine or raise your car so your husband can change the oil. Just a tip.


Weigh the meat down with the bricks and flip once a day for 5-7 days. It helps if you are 8 1/2 months pregnant and have nothing else to do during the day besides flip a baggy of meat. Here is what it looks like after 6 days.


Yeah, I forgot to take a picture of it when it was done. What? I was hungry. I cooked it for a few hours in the crockpot but I wasn't satisfied so I moved it over to the pressure cooker and that helped it become nice and tender. Yes, I have a pressure cooker. I have two, actually. My Mexikitchen wouldn't be complete without it.

Accompany with the traditional carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. What could be better!?


It's also nice to have an Irish friend who makes Irish Soda Bread, Bailey's brownies and Irish flag sugar cookies. It made the meal.

Great, now I'm hungry.

Any Questions?

Fun Laundry





Un-fun Laundry




Any questions??

My Week in Numbers

All of the following are true. Exaggerations will be obvious. Some are impressive. Some are embarassing.

Number of
loads of baby laundry: 4
loads of adult laundry: 0
cribs built: 1
enormous boxes in my living room: 3
items put into digital shopping cart at Target.com: 25
items actually purchased from digital shopping cart: 4
hours of television watched: 30
games of solitaire played: 81
games of solitaire won: 8
times email was checked: 7482
times email had new messages: 12
times email messages were from a real person and not facebook, Macy's, Old Navy, What to Expect or Barack Obama: 1
times phone rang: 4
visits to the bathroom daily: 7
visits to the bathroom nightly: 2
times left the house: 5
hours spent on facebook: 12
hours spent reading blogs: 4
items checked off to-do list: 6
items remaining on to-do list: 16
times swept and mopped and dusted: 2
hours dust stayed off of recently dusted items: 1

See? I'm doing LOTS with my time!

Mock turtlenecks, baby food and alcohol?

What do all of these things have in common? They all appeared at the baby shower Ramon's mom and our good friend Rocio threw for me and Baby last weekend. The games were hysterical. Grown women giggled while feeding eachother baby food, drinking rompope out of bottles and passing a suitcase filled with all sorts of articles of clothing. It was such a fun party. As a result, Baby is set with diapers for a while. That is the best present!

Here are some photos:


The hostesses Ramon's sister Liliana, Our friend Rocio, Ramon's mom Guadalupe, Me, Ramon's aunts Irma and Rebeca


The ladies looking oh so beautiful. The last person left without an article of clothes was the winner.


When was the last time YOU saw a mock turtle neck? I think it was Lamont's in Crossroad's mall in the 90s.


Kristen and Rebeca won. Is it really fair, though? Kristen got pears and the other was veal and veggies.


Thirsty?

Fighting the urge

Lately I've been fighting the urge to be stingy. Like, seriously stingy. Maybe even verging on just plain ridiculously cheap. There are so many expenditures that come with having a baby that sometimes get me overwhelmed. In general, I'm a worrier and money is something that I worry about a lot.

It started with the school changing the "insurance" system that they had. I put insurance in quotes because it's not really insurance; it was one person who decided what the school would reimburse and what they wouldn't. Sketchy much? Pregnancy isn't covered, which is fine. Expensive with doctor visits, ultrasounds, blood tests, vitamins, etc, but well worth every peso. Then the school decided that my hospital bills, originally covered, wouldn't be covered anymore. They would have a certain amount of money that they would reimburse and everything after that would be on me. Uhh, I'm 4 weeks from my due date. Are you serious? Enter major worry.

So, I decided last week that I've just been wasting way too much time worrying. As wrong as it may seem to me, if the school doesn't pay my hospital bills, we'll just have to take money from our savings for buying a house. Not my #1 option, but I'm not going to sacrifice my or Ana Victoria's safety and health because of money.

I also decided to fight my urge to be ridiculously cheap with generosity. I invited our good friends over to eat last week. I gave a little extra at Mass on Sunday. It isn't much, but it's actually helping me to worry less. I try to keep in context that there are so many people around me who don't have the possibility to have a private doctor, who couldn't have babies in a private hospital, who don't have a car or a roof over their heads, etc.

Originally I hadn't given up or added anything into my life for Lent. I figured not being pregnant by Easter was a good and achievable goal, but now I'm thinking that what I need to do is clear. My goal is to be generous and have a thankful heart. We'll see how I do!