Something Had To Give…

Life has gotten crazy hectic, much more than I imagined it would.  Between school, work, and moving in with Mr. T, I don’t have time to blog.  It was fun while it lasted, and thanks to all those who commented and brightened my day.  Good luck and happy blogging!

 

Coming Up For Air

Holy Mary mother of God, I have more work than I know what to do with.  I guess I should feel thankful, but I just feel overwhelmed.

I wanted to share with y’all something that happened to me… I am extremely pissed off but I feel powerless to do anything about it at this point except inform others.

Now, back to reading, taking notes, coordinating weddings, scheduling cooking classes, applying for the Master’s program, doing laundry, cooking, ironing, walking and feeding two dogs…

 

You Know You’ve Found Your Life’s Calling…

… When you are listening to the teacher talk about Montessori philosophy, and you get goose bumps and a knot in your throat.

 

This Really Happened

“So-ho,” the groom’s friend breathed in my face, exhaling a waft of pure liquor that made my nostrils itch and my head jerk back involuntarily. “Did you know that Mitch and I have been friends since we were ten?”

“No, I didn’t,” I replied, turning away in disgust as I felt his spittle drizzle my eyelids.

The guest teetered a little, tried to focus his vision and continued. “I find it so hhhhard to believe hhhhe’s now married, cuz I still feel like a kid at hhhheart” he exhaled again. I gave silent thanks that I hadn’t had a chance to eat dinner, because I would’ve lost it right there, a foot from the dance floor.

“I’m just a surf bum,” he reported to nobody in particular, because by that time I was pretending to check my itinerary, trying to keep my face shielded from the sprinkler he was hiding in his mouth. “I love to just ride the waves from sunrise to sunset, that’s the best life.”

He blinked a couple of times and wobbled, a slightly confused look on his face. “You know, I struggle to pay the bills,” he said, genuinely perplexed. I stifled a laugh, and then…

“Did I tell you I’m a semi-professional skateboarder?”

“Oh, look, a centerpiece is on fire. Gotta run! Bye!”

 

The Luckiest Kid In School

I do believe I am the most fortunate person in the world.  Let me explain.

When I decided – with Mr. T’s support and encouragement – to go back to school to get a Montessori Education degree, I did some research and found out that the best school in San Diego was literally three blocks from Mr. T’s house.  The school looked unassuming, with a small classroom for adult students and a Children’s House for kids attending Primary Montessori.

I naively thought that most of my classmates would be local San Diego folks, maybe a few of them moms who wanted to get a better understanding of the method their children were being taught.  BOY WAS I WRONG!  I guess I hadn’t done my research as well as I thought, because it turns out that this is one of the best schools IN THE COUNTRY!  Let me put it this way… Our head teacher wasn’t able to attend orientation because she was representing the Association Montessori Internationale (the only Montessori association recognized worldwide) at the United Nations.  HELLO!  She’s not just any teacher…

Yesterday was the first day of class, and as people started introducing themselves, it became obvious that for many, attending this school had been an enormous sacrifice!  It turns out that I have classmates from the Ukraine, Korea, France, the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Mexico.  Add to that people from Texas, Illinois and Northern California, and we’ve got one heck of a diverse student body!

All these students have to pay for housing and transportation in one of San Diego’s most expensive areas of town, where a one-bedroom apartment rents for $1,400 a month if you’re lucky.  They left jobs, friends and families to attend this school.  Meanwhile, I get to live rent-free in a neighborhood I know very well, I walk to school, and I can continue working from home in the afternoons and on weekends.

I feel like the luckiest kid in school.

 

Back to School

I can hardly believe that school starts tomorrow!!! I will officially be a student again, after many years of yearning to return to the classroom.   We had to read a book prior to the beginning of classes.  I’m almost done with it, but as I’ve always done since junior high, I’ll probably read the last few pages as I’m brushing my teeth or walking to school tomorrow.  Some habits die hard, and procrastination is certainly one of them.

Last night I had a meeting with a couple who hired me for their wedding in May of next year. They’re nice enough, but through the entire meeting I just saw myself repeating the same things, hearing the same comments, answering the same questions… I felt at times like the teacher in the Peanuts comics: MUAH-MUAH-MUAH-MUAAAAAAAHHHH.

Most definitely, it’s time for a change!

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Today on “In Our Hands”: CSA – The Healthy Way

 

My New Baby

I had been wanting to start a new blog for several weeks, and today I finally got around to it! This blog will deal with natural health, a topic near and dear to my heart. While my views on health might differ from yours, I invite you to visit regularly and perhaps expand your outlook.

http://inourhands.wordpress.com

 

Case of the Ex – with update

I took Morena for a walk (on lead, ha ha), and as we rounded the final corner towards Mr. T’s complex, I saw a guy in an old green Honda Civic.  He looked familiar, and as I approached the car I realized that IT WAS MY EX-HUSBAND! 

(Pause for collective gasp)

FORTUNATELY (Thank you GOD), he was looking down at some CDs that he was shuffling on his lap, and he didn’t see me as I walked by (strange, because I was wearing a bright orange shirt).  I was 90% certain it was him at that point, so I sped up and turned the corner into the driveway that leads to Mr. T’s building.

Crouching behind some bushes (damn bright orange shirt!), I watched as he got out of his car and took some items out of the trunk.  IT WAS HIM!!  At this point, I was certain.  There was no mistaking his thick legs, untucked over-sized polo shirt, bald head, and 1980’s Ray Ban sunglasses.

My heart pounding, I watched as he returned to the car two more times to retrieve items.  Each time, he disappeared from view as he headed towards the home he was visiting (or living in?  GAWD!).  I couldn’t see which condo he was going into, because it was located on a driveway that runs parallel to Mr. T’s.

I waited a few more minutes, but he failed to come out again, so I ran to Mr. T’s house and locked myself inside.

This is the second sighting of the ex in as many months, after eight months of blissfully ignoring to where he’d vanished.  Last month, he suddenly appeared (not as a guest, but as an onlooker) at a 320-person wedding I was coordinating for the daughter of a local politician.   Now, he shows up just one driveway away from where I will very soon be living full-time.

I’m trying to rebuild my life… Is it too much to ask that he do the same while keeping a reasonable distance from me?  Is this all just a coincidence, or is something strange going on?

I hesitate to tell Mr. T.  I’m afraid he’ll think I’m more trouble than I’m worth… First an undisciplined dog, now a lurking ex-husband.  What next?  A mother who comes to live with us?

UPDATE: I wrote the original text Sunday at around noon. It’s Monday, 24 hours later, and his car is still there. GAWD!!!!

 

The Link Between Autism and Mercury

If you have a baby, or know someone who has/is about to have one, please share this information with them. There are many more links online, but this interview is short and to the point. The only thing I would add is that Thimerosal is STILL being used in vaccines today. One in 166 babies born in the U.S. develops autism. Don’t let your child, or a child you know, be a statistic.

 

Of Crotches, Cooking, and Ca-Ching!

In a couple of hours I’m off to the OB-GYN. There’s no better way to start your weekend than with a visit to the nether regions doctor, right girls?? My prediction: She’ll try to push some sort of pills on me. Because doctors always do. I still remember the look of shock on my former doctor’s face when I told him that I didn’t want to take birth control pills, thankyouverymuch.

This new doctor is a woman. I’ve never had a female OB-GYN, so it’ll be interesting to see the differences in bedside manner. My former doctor was also my mom’s doctor, and he actually brought me into the world (well, my mom did the pushing, he did the catching).

I haven’t had a check-up in three years (gasp!), so I wonder if there will be cobwebs in there! 😀

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The West magazine photo shoot went well (as far as I know, but I didn’t get to see the final pictures, so right now the photographer could be pulling out his hair and wondering how in the world he was going to fix those shots of the god-awful cooking teacher with the crooked apron and maniacal smile… And I would never know).

I realized something very important from this experience: I could NEVER become a model.

I was standing there, slicing a peach, and the photographer barked, “Now, look up and smile as if we had just entered the kitchen.” I did my best Martha Stewart ‘oh, it’s you!’ impression. “OK, now smile a little less,” the photographer suggested. I turned down the voltage, and he said, “You don’t look genuine, relax your features.” So I relaxed my features, and he said, “But now you’re not smiling.” No, but I am holding a very large knife, and I’m not afraid to use it.

“Now turn your body.” So I did, but it’s kind of hard to turn your body while you’re holding on to a big chef’s knife and a freshly cut peach, dripping with juice. “Not too much,” cried the photographer. So I turned back. “Now your apron is crooked,” cried the art director, jumping up to re-adjust it.

“Now, close your eyes for a second and open them,” called the photographer. I did, and as I was trying to focus, a huge flash exploded in my face. You know that deer-in-headlights look? Not very flattering. “Now try a relaxed pose,” he suggested. I put my hands on the table and leaned forward. “No, that’s too far forward, try something else,” he demanded. Something like what? Should I straddle the prep table? I’m a culinary teacher, not a model, for Pete’s sake!

I wonder if Tyra Banks could make a Peachy Ceviche as yummy as mine…

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When I moved to the U.S., I realized something very odd: People don’t like talking about how much money they make. In Mexico, it’s very natural to discuss your salary and compare it to those of your friends. In the U.S., however, salaries are a hush-hush topic. Sure, it’s acceptable to show off your money, but it’s not acceptable to talk about figures. Go figure.

When I was growing up, my mother never had any money of her own. My parents had a family business and all the money was ‘theirs’. She didn’t have problems with this because she managed the money and paid the bills. My dad never knew how much money was in the bank, and he didn’t care.

This arrangement followed me into my marriage, with the slight difference being that my husband controlled all the money. I had a bank account, but it had my husband’s money in it and he controlled what went in and out. I worked with him, and instead of earning a salary, he gave me a credit card that was closely monitored for ‘superfluous’ expenses each month.

I finally got myself out of this pickle when I opened my business. However, I still feel guilty when I balance my books and evaluate my net worth. I picture myself as a Gringott’s goblin, hunched over my calculator, crunching numbers and giggling gleefully as I scribble figures with a quill. I have to force the guilt aside and push those images out of my head. When I do, and I look at the financial results of three years of hard work, I am filled with so much happiness and pride!!!

Again, I know people feel uncomfortable talking about how much they make… But let’s just say that if I wanted to, I could take a year off from work! Not a bad way to end a week, huh?