Start Calling Dibs

Since I assume I am just as, or more, popular than I think I should be, I feel it is my duty to make the following report. Ana Victoria and I will be in the USA. Yes, you read correctly. I'll give you a moment to jump up and down, wipe your eyes from the happy tears you're now crying and generally compose yourself.

Ready? Ok.

We are heading to Seattle on July 21st and will be around until August 2nd. Then we're off to California so AV can meet her Great Grandparents and the whole rambunctious bunch of Hickey's at the SADOPH reunion.

Needless to say, we're pretty psyched.

So, start calling dibs on when you want to see us! I know you mostly just want to see my child, but at least pretend to be excited to see me, okay?

Creative Money Making

I've been trying to come up with some creative ways to make money while working from home. I've scoured the internet, but everything seems just a little bit shady. You know what they say, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. So far I've come up with the following ideas. I'm not sure how viable any of them are but, it's a start.

Win the Lottery. Very low investment on my part with the potential for huge pay-off. The only problem is the millions of other people who are also using this plan to get rich and stay at home.

Mexi-gut Diet Drink. The premise is this: you buy my diet drink and get thin quick, I get rich. It seems simple. All I have to do is invest in some water bottles and a label maker and then fill 'em up with my tap water. Where I live there is some serious hard water, I'll charge extra for the vitamins and minerals that you just can't get from any old tap water. Low cost investment on my part. The side effects for the consumer are pretty detrimental, however. Unless you don't mind living with the runs and amoebas in your system, of course. Though, now that I think about it, those could be the side effects of a lot of different diet drinks. So, really, the idea isn't that too far fetched, I guess.

Be a full-time blogger. I read a little about blogging for profit. Here's the scheme though, you have to write about one thing, be good at it and get other people to think you're good at it, too. I've got about 250 friends on facebook, maybe 25(on a good day) will click over to my blog. I don't think that's enough to get rich. Plus, there's the whole write about one thing and be good at it part. Oh well, I guess that one's out.

Start a School. This is really a dream in the works. I have recounted the adventures of the AS world. It has its ups. It has its downs. They are doing a fabulous job at taking away just about every perk that existed for working there. My hat's off, really. The only thing really left is the paycheck and the schedule (You can't really complain about Monday-Friday 8-2). So, if that's all that's left, why not start my own school? I've got access to curriculum. I have a Master's in Administration. I know quite a few people here and State-side who would make the jump with me. I'm just missing the start-up capital and the population. I think I could get the students. Now, how about the money. I'm totally willing to go into reality TV. If the Gosselin's can do it, why can't I? I'm totally way more interesting, and way less annoying. Plus, I haven't been nor will I ever be married to Jon Gosselin, that's got to be a major plus.

Afternoon tutoring. I could definitely start my own little after school-school in my home. Counting each couch cushion and chair, I could have a total of 10 kids at a time. I could open a 3-4, 4-5, 5-6 and 6-7 time slot. 4 hours times 10 is 40 kids times 30 bucks a week each is, (hold on I have to open up the calculator. What? I don't teach math) 1200 bucks a week. Really? I just had to go back and do the math on that one again because I wasn't convinced. It's true. I might have just found the winner. With cash flow like that, I might even give the kids a snack or something. I will definitely have a disclaimer that I have no responsibility over their grades. Monday-Thursday. 4 hours a day times 4 days a week is, besides being math that I can do in my head, 16 hours a week. I'm totally down for that.

The last option is to spend half of what we make now. That's easy, we already do. Almost all my money goes into savings. The only problem is we need to buy a car, a house, and plane tickets. Put that on your list for the grocery store and it comes up to about 100+ some odd thousand dollars. When you only make two thousand on a good month, that's a lot. We're going to need my mula, at least for a while.

I'm totally open to other options for money making. That's a lie, I don't want to have to work that hard, I don't want to have to do anything weird, and I don't want to leave my house for very long. So, I guess I'm not that open to very many other ways to make money. However, if you would like to give me around 1,000 bucks a month and have me do nothing, I would have no problem obliging.

Think about it and let me know.

Am I the only one?

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, as with most nights, my mind started to wander. This is dangerous usually because it tends to wander really strange places. Last night it wandered here, to things that really skeez me out. Then, I started to wonder if these same things skeezed other people out, too. Or, am I the only one.

Am I the only one seriously, like I'm talking your knees want to shake and some portion of you brain totally shuts down, teeth hurt, etc, skeezed out by the following:

1. Unidentifiable bugs. There was a, later defined by Ramon, grasshopper in my house. If you've never seen a grasshopper up close, they are absolutely grotesque. They have weird antennae, fat legs and are transparent. Gag! The worst part was that I saw it one day, tried to kill it, missed and lost it. Then I found it again the next day, tried to kill it, failed again, and lost it again. Then, I found it again while in the bathroom. By the way, everything is scarier when it happens while you're sitting on the pot. Almost fell off said pot, smashed bug with a box of toothpaste, lost the bug, found it, made sure it was good and dead and then carried it, at arms length, to my husband for identification. It's not so scary knowing it's a grasshopper, but those first few days were pretty bad.

2. Getting your socks wet. Eeew. Gross. There is nothing more skeezy then when your socks get wet. Like when the shower is dripping and you try your best to step on a dry spot to close the faucet, but you ALWAYS, without fail, step on a wet spot AND turn the handle the wrong way and spray yourself a little bit. I can handle a wet shirt. I cannot handle wet socks. It makes my joints hurt just thinking about it.

3. Warm chairs. There is very little worse than sitting down in a public place in an unoccupied seat that you didn't see become unoccupied to find that the seat is warm. Ugh, it makes my stomach do flips thinking about it. You know it grosses you out, too.

Now, you might think that these must be the thoughts of a sleep-deprived mother, but no, that's just normal for me. We'll see where my mind takes me tonight.

PS. I'd really like to know what skeezes you out to see if I've missed any obvious skeez-inducing events.

The road to...

They say the road to H-E double hockey sticks in paved with good intentions. But, I disagree. For me, I think my good intentions are just paving the road to not losing pregnancy weight.

I was feeling so proud of myself yesterday. I went to the grocery store and got good, real food. I came right home and chopped up my canteloupe and carrots so that I would have healthy snacks ready.

I thought, foolishly, that this might help me to limit my chocolate and cookie consumption. Oh, was I wrong. Why eat carrots when I could have a Girl Scout cookie? Why eat canteloupe (is that even how you spell that?) when I could eat, oh, I don't know, anything that contains copious amounts of sugar and bad fats.

You know you'd make the same choice. And if you say you would go for the carrots, you're a liar.

My logic works like this: If I eat all of the bad foods, then they'll be gone and all I'll have left is good food. I didn't say it was sound logic. I didn't claim it was health-wise logice. But, it's my logic.

Gotta go, I just got hungry...

**UPDATE** I ate the stupid carrots. Stupid carrots, stupid guilty conscience, stupid desire to actually wear all my clothes again one day....

AV at one month

Ana Victoria turned one whole month old on Friday. Pretty impressive. In honor of the momentous occasion, we had to hold a photo shoot. And we did, but then I erased all the photos on my camera. So, we had to have a second photo shoot.

By photo shoot, I mean, I took about 10 pictures before she started to cry. Four had to be erased because they were blurry, or she was blinking, or she just was feeling a little bit un-photogenic.

Here is the progression and three "keepers." I got the idea of taking her picture with a stuffed animal from my sister. This way we can see how she grows every month.


Take 1. Oh mom, another picture? YAWN! I know I'm gorgeous.

Take 2. Tiiiimmmbeerrrr. Umm, mother? Remember how I can't sit up yet? I've got some tricks, but not that one yet.



Take 3. This will have to do, crossed eye and all. Better luck next month, madre.

I've learned a lot this past month. But there are still two things of which I have a conceptual understanding but not quite a practical one yet.

1. Burp rags were invented for a reason. Use them.

2. When the baby is sleeping do things like go to the bathroom. Do not do things like facebook stalk.

Hmm, maybe I'll get this by next month??

Mis dos centavos

Here are my two cents on immigration. Right now there is a lot of uproar about the Arizona law, and here is what I think. Take it or leave it.

Borders exist for a reason. They should be respected.

Laws also exist for a reason. Anarchy = probably not a good idea.

Laws, however, should protect ALL people from danger, mistreatment and injustice. Does this law do that? The answer is a resounding, "no."

I can tell you from first-hand and seond-hand experience that it is REALLY hard to be financially stable in Mexico. I assume this is the same for all of Latin America. (but you know what they say when you assume...)

With a Master's degree, I make around 1,000 bucks a month, when the peso is strong. That's an amazing salary considering my work day is 6 hours. My husband works 2-3 times as many hours for the same amount of pay. My mother-in-law works longer hours, plus Saturday for less than half that. We make enough to pay rent and buy groceries. Ramon and I are blessed enough to be able to save a large amount of my salary with the hopes of buying a house this year or next.

But we are an exception. We're not the rule. Imagine the cactus farmer who makes 100 dollars a month. Do his utilities and groceries change price based on his income? Nope.

I hope you can undestand why people feel the need to find a way to make more. Believe me, it's not the beauty of America and it's people that tear people away from their homes and families. It's necessity.

Why should this be the US's problem, you might argue? And you'd be right, a little bit. It's not the US's problem that people in other countries can't survive on their income.

But, when has that ever stopped us from getting involved in other conutries' business?

Plus, we do have a huge part of the responsibility. Just do some investigation about Maquilas in border towns and how much US companies save by having sweatshops on this side of the border. etc, etc, etc.

What's the answer? I don't know. What I do know is that the Arizona law is kind of like trying to put out a forest fire with your own spit... Try as you might, you're not going to solve anything.