The Search Is Over!

Our amazing friends spread the word and found me a job. I interviewed on Monday for a part-time day care assisting position and started work yesterday. Siena will get to spend some time playing with Olivia, Halle and Lauren; I hope Jen doesn't go crazy with all the drama Nena dishes out sometimes.

Anyway, a big THANK YOU to the Curtis family, Murray family, Parkin family and Johnson family.

Remember This and This and This?

Some things have changed, and some things are just the same as they ever were. Like this:

Still loves chewing on bones (9 mo.)

Still loves taking naps with Papi (10 mo.)

Still loves phones (11 mo.)

But here are some pics of things she has grown to love lately:

Straws


Animals and Dolls


Anything girly


The piano

It's a Start

Last night we started something that we should have done a long time ago. We logged onto the new FamilySearch website and started some genealogy work. My side of the pedigree chart was chock-full of names dating to before 1600 because both of my grandmothers are very good at collecting and submitting family information; however, Juan's side of the pedigree chart was completely empty. We have to figure out how to find his parents first, then somehow have to link them to his mother's parents (whom we did find!) Hopefully by then we will have figured out how to search for more links to the family puzzle. It's kind of like detective work ;^)

Still Not Quite Sure,

but we think our neighbors have been evicted... or are in prison... or have evaded the country. Something bad happened between the end of December and the middle of January. We have not seen them once since we got back from Utah and the last couple of weeks, there have been men throwing the contents of their home into trash cans.

I feel bad. They were brother and sister and her preschool-aged daughter was the sweetest little thing. We don't know enough about them to make an educated guess as to why they are gone, so we decided their story (according to us) is as follows:


Mario and Lakisha* grew up in an orphanage in Chicago in 1973. They were not biologically brother and sister, but they became such good friends that they decided to stay at the orphanage until someone would adopt both of them. They both had optimistic dispositions, although Mario tended to be the shy one of the two, leading people to think he was upset.

Years went on, they got older and left the orphanage. Lakisha started work at three salons, cleaning at night. Mario searched and searched for employment, but found himself standing rejected at every turn. Discouraged for the first real time in his life, he walked to a convenience store one night to buy a lottery ticket with the last of his money, $1.85. He did not feel lucky, he just felt lost.

Lakisha had not heard from Mario in three months and she was starting to really worry. She had told him that he could stay with her in her snug studio apartment until he found a job, but he was too proud to let her support him. She knew he had been searching for jobs in the Meat Packing District, but did not know where he was living or how he was getting by. She made sure she had plenty frozen dinners on hand, just in case he stopped by. Since she worked at night, she kept meals simple and used her free time to sleep, to.........

.....Okay I'm bored with this. The End.

*names have been changed

29 Winter Days Remaining

Spring is showing it's face little by little in our neck of the woods. My bulbs have broken through the ground and there are buds on the tree outside our dining room window. The other day I saw a beautiful, bright red cardinal hopping from branch the branch, like he was claiming his territory.


Today I hung the birdhouse. After the staining, varnishing and assembling of those seven little pieces of wood, it had finally become a semi-recognizable object, and it was a proud moment. Siena just stared during the staining phase, grabbed during the varnishing, and left the room once the hammering began. Ideally, we would have built it together as a family, but Juan was too busy studying and applying for a scholarship, and I got too anxious.

This was also a strategic project. The purpose of the birdhouse was not just for entertainment or aesthetics, but also to keep the birds from pooping on our front walk. Hopefully, now they will just keep it near the tree; this also means near the tulips--there is always a price to pay.

18 Months

...and finally eligible for NURSERY!!!

Oh, and Something More..

(Wow, three blog posts in one day--I feel like a die-hard blogger.)

Juan and I just finished a project. I took up quilting (again) not too long ago, but haven't been able to finish it because I did not have a quilt frame. Well, we are not in the position to spend $80-100 on a kit (two words: dental school,) so we cut out the middle-man and made our own from scratch. Voila!


As you can see, we killed three birds with one stone: 1.) I can finish my quilts, 2.) Siena and her daddy have an awesome "hut", and 3.) It tied the vision of the make-shift front room together with the eye-sore pipe clamps.


Next topic:

Last night was Pizza Night. We made homemade tomato, basil, mozzarella pizza and garlic breadsticks for dinner; then we finished it off with fruit pizza... a Camp family memory I would never wish to erase. I had to post this because it turned out so pretty.

Lit'rature

Anyone who knows me, knows that I prefer reading classic books to contemporary books. It's still very true. I just finished Pride and Prejudice again (hilarious book full of unexpected sarcasm!) and I needed something to occupy my extra time rather than sitting in front of the TV (which is getting more and more annoying as I realize I am more and more dependent on it.) So I picked up a book I bought at a yard sale last summer that is a compilation of 50 great short stories; it is entitled 50 Great Short Stories (shocker!) and they date back to before the book was even published, cerca 1950.

Having read five, I can tell you which short stories I recommend so far:

The Garden Party- Katherine Mansfield
The Standard of Living- Dorothy Parker
The Other Side of the Hedge- E.M. Forster

The reason I even give notice to these is because I never was a huge fan of short stories in high school; now that I have small chunks of time to actually enjoy reading, I realize they have good qualities: they are entertaining, thought-provoking, time-friendly, and educational.

I'm going to finish the other 45 stories in my book, I think.

Wordled

Interesting...

I was in line at the grocery store (yep, it's one of those stories...) and as I was getting ready to pay, the very friendly old man in line behind me pointed out to me that I had cold sores on my upper lip.

Me: "Oh, yeah... I know. Sorry. They look pretty gross, huh?"

Him: in broken English, "You know what you do? You get stuff from you belly-button every morning and put it on you lips. It work! I know this. It work!"

Me: "Wow, that's good to know. Thank you."

Him: "You do this. You lip be fine! Then come tell me at grocery store how it work and say 'Thank You'." (chuckling)

Me: (chuckle, then awkward pause with even more awkward "Trying-to-be-friendly" smile,) "Thanks again! Bye!"


He was just trying to help--and I appreciated that--but I had to tell the story because you don't just leave a crazy old-wives-tale like that go unpublished.
-------------

So, yes I have cold sores covering my upper lip and yes, they are disgusting.

And... no, I will not be trying the belly-button cold-sore-relief lint remedy. I am curious, but I cannot bring myself to do it. And one more thing: Who has enough belly-button lint for that?!

I've Quite Given Up on V-Day

I was really trying to get it together enough to decorate my house for the month of February. This has never been done in the Chavez home, nor does it look like it ever will be done...at least this year.

Pretty much everyone I know out here has a knack for decorating their homes for holidays. It is inspiring. It is depressing.

I can't do it. I've tried and failed TWICE already this year. I decided to start small, but then realized that you can't just have one Valentine's Day decoration. So I gave it away and started again with a red and black color scheme, hoping for inspiration. "Nope" to the new one. Not working. In fact, it's so annoying every time I look at it that I might give that away, too, (not that anyone would want it.) I think the reason for this is because ever since I was a freshman in college, Valentine's Day was not full of chocolate and conversation hearts for me, it was full of flower orders. It is the busiest time of year for florists. So I never had time to decorate and be all-lovey-dovey. Last year was the first Valentine's Day I ever spent with Juan, and I didn't decorate then either; but it hasn't bothered me until now.

Okay, so I'm writing all of this to those who do decorate for the upcoming holidays--I really to stand in awe.

Little Nena, All Grown Up

If you want to read something worthwhile, move on to the next blog on your list...

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately, Siena and I have been S.I.C.K.

Between coughing and sniffling last night, I tried to take care of little Nena. She woke up at 1:30, then at 3:00, and again at 4:30 because she needed diaper changes. I hated seeing her in pain from the diaper rash covering her little bottom and although my nose was dripping like a faucet and I couldn't see through the tears in my eyes (head cold), I found myself more concerned with getting her cleaned up. This was an "awakening" for me to see what being called "Mother" represents. I am a selfish person when it comes to sleep; I need it like I need air. I always tried to catch up on the sleep I might have missed when it was just Juan and me, but now that I have another person to take care of, that is no longer the case. It's not by my schedule, it's by hers. That's okay--I am grateful to have that role; however, I see that I could have prepared for motherhood better by thinking more about others.

Anyway, enough with my blabbing. I don't know how you other mothers do it (especially my friend, Jen, who has a 3 year-old and twin babies. They were all sick a few weeks ago.) It's hard sometimes!