Dinner and Dancing

I'm going to write about work. I know, I shouldn't, but I will. I won't get dooced for what I'm about to write...

Maybe you've heard me before talking about how much I love working where I am. It's not as good as it's been in previous years, but compared to what I hear about what it's really like out there, I can't complain. The benefits are pretty good, the work can leave something to be desired, but the people are really, really cool to work with. Last week we went out and the time we had together reinforced that last point.

Last Thursday some out-of-towners for the company came in town so we went out for dinner. Spouses were not invited but who am I to turn down a free dinner just because my babies are at home hungry? :) Anyway, we also took advantage of the opportunity to say goodbye to one of our peers who is doing the honorable thing by deciding to be at stay-at-home mom. (Might I add, I'm really glad for her that she can do this. I am in no way jealous that I have to have to come to work every day for at least eight hours while other women raise my son.) In total, 13 of us showed up to dinner. The restaurant was Eduardo de San Angel. Now, we've been to some great places for dinner. Usually when visiting employings come in town we try to find a top-rated restaurant to entertain them. I tell you, last Thursday was not different. I was a bit skeptical at first because the restaurant decription says gourmet Mexican. I like Mexican, but what is gourmet Mexican? I tried my best to go with an open mind. Another co-worker of mine picked me up and off we went in our Sunday second-best. (Oh, I looked cute, you can ask him. My husband even looked at me twice. One thing that added to that was my hair which has been getter since I started using the cholesterol conditioner and Proclaim daily hair and scalp conditioner.) On the way to Eduardo's we reminisced about the last time we went out on a work function. The place was Cafe Martorano's. Spouses were invited that time so it was even better. The food was amazing (Italian) and the atmosphere was so live. The music, the people... Anyway, back to Eduardo's. From the outside you'd never know the secrets of this place. We went in and seemed like every other nice restaurant - dim lights, nice decor. We were lead to a semi-private room in the back where nine others were already seated. One of us hadn't rsvp'd so they had to make room at the table. That was alright, half the table moved down so we could sit. Of course, wine was ordered (by the end of the night they went through three bottles). We listened to the waiter (from Quebec) tell us about the specials. I got this chicken soup thing which was terrific. I couldn't get over the perfect balance of flavors. Others who had the soup were in agreement. For dinner I ordered chicken julienne in some kind of sauce atop a taco-like thing with pureed black beans underneath. It was soo good. Most others ordered the house special which was a petite filet mignon with goat cheese (supposedly you couldn't taste that). By the end of dinner everyone was raving about the food. Then, of course, came desert. Everywhere I go, I have to try the creme brulee. This one had mango in it. It was so awesome. Someone else ordered the cinnamon ice cream and he let us all taste it. It tasted exactly like Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal except it was ice cream. Soo good. During dinner there were a few lags in conversation but nothing uncomfortable. Unlike Cafe Martorano's, there was no loud music to hype us up, but it made it much easier to converse. So many conversations were going on. It was fun jumping in and out. The waiter was so attentive (as I would expect considering the tip he knew he was gonna get) and knowledgeable about the menu.

It's difficult to express how good this place was - the food and the people and the ambiance all combined to make a great dining experience. Yes, it was expensive for my pockets, but I'd go there again anyway. It was just that good. So, my co-worker date and I have a new favorite. If you visit Fort Lauderdale, this would not be a waste of your time.

No, there was no dancing...but there could've been.

Jan. 22-25

Saturday night we found out that my husband's grandmother passed away in Jamaica. I never got to meet her and she didn't get to see her latest great-grandson. We've been talking about visiting Jamaica for years but just haven't made it down there. There's always something that comes up. Next week we're flying down. It's a shame how a sacrifice can be made after the fact when it would have been much better appreciated by us had we made it before. I don't want that to happen again.

Sunday - nothing to report.

Monday - my friend had her baby (yay)!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. (I'm older now than she was when she had me; but I digress.) I can't afford to have a 'party' for her so she brought her own party. She went to the grocery store and bought a fruit bread pudding cake thing and some pineapple coconut Haagen Dazs ice cream, which, by the way, is my new favorite flavor for that brand of ice cream and that's why she bought it. Then she came over to my house to 'celebrate'.

Speaking of parties, I really wanted to have one for Sid's 2-yr birthday. I couldn't afford it before, but I really can't afford it now. I have to work something out...

Grays

It always surprises me when I find gray hairs in between all the luscious black (ok, dark brown). There used to be just one or two that I kept plucking. They've been showing up for years. But, this past year the number of grays have shot up. It seems that every time I part my hair I find at least one. And they're generally about an inch long. Where are they coming from? Could Sidney be the cause of my premature aging?? Surely not! But I AM aging prematurely; I am.

It's All About Him...Part I

...Well, not really, but almost.

Here are some facts behind my love for my love:

• We have the same spiritual goals
• He is a good father and disciplinarian
• He is trustworthy and loyal
• We can talk for hours about everything and nothing
• He is intelligent
• He is ambitious
• He loves me too
  

His Day

So to finish telling you about the birthday...
I left work early to go home and be with my man. Even from the beginning though I knew we wouldn't get to have fun but that we would end up working. That's exactly what happened. We had (and still have) work to do on our startup businesses. It's tedious but somebodies have to do it. Fortunately for us his mother offered to cook him (us) dinner since we really can't afford the luxury of eating out right now. But, I tell you, the food could not have been better if we had eaten out. There was ox tail, curry chicken, fish, rice and peas, vegetables, and ginger beer to top it off. The food was really good. That meant not only did we not have to go out, but I didn't have to cook. I did do the dishes but it was the least I could have done.

You may be wondering what I did for my husband. Heard of delayed gratification? That's what he's going through right now because what I would love to be able to do for him I can't. The only thing he wants to do is start making money so our family can at least go back to the lifestyle we became accustomed to before he was laid of...almost a year ago.

At Sandy's site she did a tribute to her man. Not to be outdone, I too will let you know some of the things that make this guy so special to me...in the next post. ;)

No More

Ok, I won't complain about my aches and pains anymore. I won't mention that I banged my knee against Sidney's crib so hard I was rolling around holding my leg. Should I not mention also how I somehow pulled a thigh muscle pulling Sidney out of the car (long story).

Today is my baby's birthday - not Sidney's but his daddy's. More on that tomorrow. Someone's trying to get my attention over here...

Skateboard

Remember said skateboard I mentioned in my previous post? The one that was bought for the 14 yr old boy? Yeah, that one. When my husband and I were picking it out at Walmart the pickings were very slim. There was the cheap (sorry, I mean inexspensive) one that didn't have a logo or even a plastic cover. I was all for buying that one but my husband looked at the wheels and said the board wasn't good enough. Fine. The highest end board they had was almost $40! It was supposedly a racing skateboard with some famous guy's theme all over it. Of course, that wasn't going to be the one either. That left the $20 boards. (Why I'm spending so much time on this you'll find out later.) The themes were Sponge Bob, Star Wars, and The Hulk. I told my husband we should get the Star Wars one because it was unisex so I could ride it too. He said he preferred The Hulk since it was more 'manly'. Ok, whatever. So, we got The Hulk.

The same night I raced the boy we gave him the skateboard. The ingrate (my husband's word) acted like we were crazy to buy it and basically he wouldn't ride it. It wasn't said as harshly as it reads, that's just my summary. Anyway, the boy found himself standing on it later on in the evening. Sidney on the other hand kept pushing it around the kitchen and living room, banging it into walls, leaving dents, etc. My husband had enough of the denting so he put the board in the garage.

Fastforward to today. It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun is out, and I decide I want to try my hand at this skateboarding thing. This was my first time ever really trying to ride one. Sidney followed me out the door and away we went. You know he wanted a turn. I obliged him and we would take turns. I put him on and then pushed him to the other side of the cul-de-sac. Then I told him it was my turn and I would get on. We went on like this for at least half an hour (in the hot sun with no hats on, mind you). I went from not even being able to get both feet off the ground to being able to push off and keep both feet on the board for five seconds. Not bad. When I got back into the house I was beat. I proceeded to sleep for an hour (then I had a church board meeting). Poor Sidney played around and when he found he couldn't wake me up he fell asleep next to me. That was sweet.

The moral of the story is, go with your first instinct and don't let anyone, esp. your significant other, dissuade you otherwise. I KNEW I should have gotten the Star Wars skateboard! :p

I'm not 15 anymore

I'm feeling quite a bit better today than I was yesterday and the day before. See, I caught myself racing against my 14 yr old stepson. I had just finished telling him that it was us, his parents, who had got him the skateboard, and then he started begging me to race him. This has been an ongoing thing - since he was 10 he's been wanting to race me. It's not as if I'm a fast runner or anything, it's just something he's been wanting to do.

So, there we were about 6 / 6:30 in the evening. It was already dark out. And, yes, like a crazy fool, I agreed to race him if he could convince his father to come out the house and be a witness and to watch Sidney. I only half expected my man to come out of the house so I figured I had a 50-50 chance of getting out of this thing. But alas, he waltzed out and me and the boy walked down the street, I'd say about a quarter mile (probably less, but you know, gota make the story sound good). By then I was nervous, I don't know why. When my husband yelled 'Go' I felt my foot slip on the gravel and I screamed. I know, it sounds like an excuse, esp when I tell you that the boy (of course) got the lead of about 10 feet. The good thing I gotta say is that after that initial lead he never left me. I was right behind him all the way.

Yes, he won. I did good though. A 30 yr old woman racing a 14 yr old?! I must have been crazy. What was I thinking? Did I forget the after effects of working muscles that haven't been used in a while?

That evening I was nauseous, supposedly from all the blood rushing from my head. My husband trainer told him when that happens just to keep moving so the blood keeps getting pumped throughout the body. Anyway, the next day I swear I could barely walk up (or down) the stairs. My legs felt so heavy. The day after that the muscle aches started - my back, my thighs, my hamstrings. It was too funny.

Have I hit my midlife crisis already?

?Climactic?

Is it sad to say I've been checking my daily list of blogs everyday during the holidays looking for new posts? I didn't have much to say myself so why would I assume anyone else would? Needless to say, I was overjoyed (ok, I was joyed) when bloggers got back to work updating the windows to their lives.

Btw, I found nappy diatribe (via purfiktgurl, of course) to be a fun read. Normally I would pass over blogs that frequently use the f-word unless there was something interesting being said in between. This is the first blog I found that fits that description.

The Second Day of the New Year

I must say, this new year has gotten off to a pretty good start. Friday evening I spent at church with my immediate, extended, and extended-extended family. We listened as people gave thanks for the blessings of the past year and as the sun set we welcomed in the new year (as the Bible says the evening and the morning were the first day).

I didn't have any intentions of staying up til midnight but it just so happened that I did. The kids were asleep and my husband was in front of the computer. Then came the fireworks and our oldest son come in to tell us happy new year, to which we responded in kind and he went back to bed. I tried to wake up Sidney to see some fireworks but he did not care one bit.

Sabbath we spent at church singing praises. I was supposed to sing with the choir but by the time I finished my usual running around the choir was ready to walk up and I didn't even have my robe on. So, I ran the video camera. For lunch we went to my husband's aunt's house (again). In the afternoon, Pastor had planned to appreciate the elders. Of course, that meant that each department head was to appreciate their supervisory elders. The first department called was Sabbath School - The head super is out of town for a couple of weeks. I didn't see any other supers make a move to get up so, as the head secretary, yours truly had to take the mic and improvise. I'm glad I didn't have time to think or I would have worked myself up with nervousness. Not even ten minutes after I came down Pastor called me up again for the Communication department. That one was easy. I love that department and I really like the people I work with (and that's what I told the congregation). I especially thanked our elders for the patience and encoureagement and support. This program caught me unawares so I didn't have any tokens to give them. We'll have to do something for them (and for us) later on. There's only six months left in the church year.

Anyway, Happy New Year! Hope you (and I) realize our dreams!

Decorating

We've been living here in our 'new' house since June 2003 and we're still working on the decorating. We had a painting party once and we got through painting the living room and some of the kitchen. Now I want to change the colors. Right now some walls are half yellowish cream and others are sort of a light brick red. My husband is leaning towards a tan or brownish color. It doesn't matter to me anymore I just want it changed. We have some oversized couches that are a dark red and there's a rug under the coffee table (we don't drink coffee) that has gold, dark red, dark green, and brown in it. The tiles are stone-like and have faded pink / grey / blue colors in it. A girlfriend of mine does interior design as a hobby and her place looks great, but we can't afford to hire her just yet. Another girlfriend of mine (read: purfiktgurl) should be helping but she lives too far. This is our brokest christmas season ever so whatever I do to spice up the place has to be cheap (okay, inexspensive). At the home show a couple months ago I bought six little bamboo shoot trees and put them in the kitchen above the cabinets. In between them I put one piece of something (a decorative kettle, a wire candle-holder in the form of a girl holding two candles, and some others things I can't remember). I have two pictures that a friend of mine in Jamaica bought for me that I want to put so I bought some picture hanging nails. But, I can't put up the pictures til we decide what we want to do with the walls in the kitchen. We've been looking for a wallpaper border to put around the top but haven't seen any we like. We may have to settle for painting all the way to the ceiling but who's willing to go up there?

I feel restless like I'm not getting anything done. Our businesses feel like they're extremely slow to start, I'm moving like a snail at work, and I'm dissatisfied with my home surroundings.

We keep dumping money into our businesses and we haven't seen dime one of a return yet - the properties in Jacksonville are still sucking us dry even though one of them has tenants, we bought two cars from an auction neither of which are completely fixed and can't be sold anyway until my husband gets his car dealership license, our online stores are not online yet (nowhere near it).

Hardly anyone is at work so it's pretty quiet. I have work to do but no unction to get it done. I know next week the burners will be on high because we have a deadline to meet and that should be motivation enough...but it's not.

I already complained about my house. Everytime I clean one area and move on to the next, the first one is messed up again. How aggravating.

I know it sounds like I'm dumping, but I'm not really because there's so much more good in my life than not.

...continued

When I first saw the report of the tsunami, the death toll was 7000. Now it is 52000 and still expected to rise. I can almost feel the pain of the parents who lost children. I hear and read the stories and I don't know how to deal with it. Had I been through that experience I would be crazy by now. How difficult it must be for them cannot even be expressed in words. The pictures tell it all. My prayers go out to the survivors.

This was a bad year

"An earthquake of epic power struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean on Sunday, unleashing 20-foot walls of water that came crashing down on beaches in seven Asian countries across thousands of miles, smashing seaside resorts and villages and leaving nearly 10,000 dead in their wake." (Article)

Just a few months ago hurricanes barreled across the Caribbean. Terrorist attacks, war in the middle east, genocide in Sudan, deadly typhoon ravages Japan, massacres (i.e. in Honduras last week), killing sprees....

God said it would be chaotic before he returned. How much worse will it get and will we be ready?

December 25th

Seasons Greetings!
Happy Holidays!
Happy Hanukah!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Kwanzaa!

As we remember Christ born in a manger, let us even more ponder His death and resurrection. He didn't die to be remembered as a babe, but He was born to die to redeem us to Himself. As we give and recieve, think on the ultimate gift of life and the Giver. How can we give to Him daily?

'meme'

Inspired by purfiktgurl.
THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
* Shelly, Shell, Baby (only K calls me that though)

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
* queensr, qscrose, shellyp

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
* I believe in God; I love; I look cute sometimes

THREE THINGS YOU HATE/DISLIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
* I'm indecisive; I can't keep a clean enough house; I lack creativity (unlike purfiktgurl)

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
* east indian (as in India); 'eurasian'; caribbean black (Grenada & Jamaica)

HREE TWO THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
* dying and leaving my family; that God will come and not accept me

THREE FIVE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
* wear clean underwear; cell phone; license; credit card, car keys

THREE TWO THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
* faded baby blue work short worn as a pajama top; grey sweats worn as pajama bottoms

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS (or artists(at the moment)):
* Sean Paul, Beyonce, Alicia Keys

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT:
* "My, Myself, and I" is the only one I can remember

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS
* have a second child (I've never had a second child before); visit Japan, running a successful home-based business

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP (love is a given):
* mutual service to God; fun; encouragement

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
* I love my husband, my son, chocolate and strawberries; B should not have been re-elected; racism does not exist

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX (or same) THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
* eyes; muscles (like my husbands); height

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN’T DO:
* the splits; be perfect; not love my son and/or my husband

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
* hanging with my son and husband; reading; figuring out what needs to be done next

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
* n/a; n/a; n/a

THREE CAREERS YOU’RE CONSIDERING:
* stay-at-home mom; modeling agent; world traveler

THREE FOUR PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
* Hawaii; Australia; Venice

THREE KID’S NAMES
* Sidney (of course); Shai (maybe); can't think of a third

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
* anything my kid(s) would be proud of; live without (anymore) regrets; please God

VitaMix etc.

Remember the VitaMix machine we bought? We have (read 'K' has) been using it. He's been experimenting. It's only been about a week and he's getting better. He made carrot soup a couple of times. He first try at ice cream didn't go so well. The fruit smoothies are alright. My favorite is the carrot soup.

My sister was down for the weekend. She's broke as usual. This time I'm broke too so I can't even help her. She still made out like a bandit though - our mother gave her her old computer, bought a new printer, and gave her her old digital camera, plus some food from her pantry. Her dad, well, we don't need to discuss him here because it wouldn't be pretty.

Not much going on at work. We're winding down for the holidays. I want to carry over what little vacation I have left so I'll be working just about every day except the federal holidays. Not cool. I can't wait til our businesses start to pick up and I can take a vacation anytime I want, with or without pay.

I've been wasting time thinking about how much time is spent wasting time thinking. It seems like it's a lot. I want to be the kind of person who makes decisions, not just one who analyzes every minute detail and then misses the window. I was reading lousywithvirginity and in one of her posts the author wrote, "paralysis by analysis is the opposite of being productive." I agree.

Mortality

What is man that God should be mindful of him? As I hear of people dying I am forced to consider my own mortality and whether or not I am ready to leave this world. If heaven is perfect why are we afraid to leave earth now? Do we really believe in God and eternity with Him? I so want to believe and be saved when He returns, and I want my loved ones to be saved also. But there's this selfish part of me that wants to watch my son grow up and have a family of his own; a side that wants to grow old with my husband; a side that wants to accomplish much in this life. But all of this is to what end? This imperfect world should hold nothing for the believer.

I must be stressed lately. All my symptoms point to it. I don't feel stressed. But when I try to sleep and it feels like my heart is fibrillating I wonder if it really is stress or something out of my control. And then I stress myself out considering the possibilities. Hence my mind wanders to my mortality. And it becomes a vicious cycle of stress-symptoms-more stress-more symptoms....

I thank God every morning that I wake up.

Pregnancy

No, I'm not pregnant. God-willing I will be this year though. I would love to have three or four children of my own, but I know it's not feasible right now. By the time we might be able to afford them I'll probably be way too old anyway. Between my husband and myself we already have three children, and it's not a financial breeze to take care of them. But I'm still trying for at least one more.

A girlfriend of mine is pregnant and she looks really good - better than I did. :) From the back you would never even know she was expecting. I took her to a photographer last night to have pictures taken of her in her glory. She only has four more weeks to go (I doubt she'll make two) so she's ready to pop. The photographer was really good. He has such an artistic eye - he made her look like a model. These pictures are my gift to her. Yes, I already bought diapers and a mobile for the baby. But these pictures are for her. She brought about three outfits and I we took pictures for almost two hours (144 pix)! I enjoyed it, I hope she did. I know the photographer did - he was having such a good time. I can't wait to see the final product.

What's Going On

Life's been pretty busy. Ok, that's the norm for me, but really.

* I want to get Sidney into modeling
* We're 'managing' three properties in Jacksonville
* K wants to buy / sell cars and parts (incl. engines)
* We're trying the online mall thing

For each of these we'll eventually be setting up a business. Sidney's modeling is the only exception. It depends on how it goes and if I like it enough to start up my own agency. I've been seriously been considering it. I would specialize in boys from birth to age 17. I don't want to deal with the girls - as a Christian I foresee too many conflicts. But, who knows.

As for the properties, I can't wait to get rid of them. Evicting tenants is not fun in the least. I'll stick with buying land.

Speaking of cars, we're planning to go to Japan in a few months...more on that later.

The online mall, well, we have some storefronts to populate. We do have some ideas for products (pillows, candles, jerked meat and seasoning, car accessories, airplanes). K has a contact who sells airplanes in case anyone's interested.

Aggravation via Good Intentions

This morning I woke up late. I'll admit, I was up til 2 am watching the movie, "The Librarian," but still. I set my alarm for about 7 am and of course I didn't actually turn it on. My loving husband didn't wake me either. He was up for an hour and he didn't wake me up - til 10 am! He has this thing about waking me up - he doesn't like to do it. He figures if I'm sleeping I'm tired so he lets me sleep. If I fall asleep earlier than normal in the evening he won't even wake me to brush my teeth or pray or anything. Me, on the other hand, I wake his behind up. And I always tell him to wake me. As a matter of fact I told him last night that I have two meetings at work today. He didn't remember. And I wouldn't expect him to, but if he would just wake me UP; that's all I ask.

The only good thing that came of the day is that I spent more money. Woo-hoo! Went to doctor (me and jr). That comes with a price tag of $20 for the co-pays, then signed up to have my company incorporated in Nevada. That price is more than I'm willing to admit in writing yet. Especially considering all of the other money I (we) have put out in the past three months.

I was looking through the mailers we got today and I had to save the Movado insert to show my husband. Too many pretty watches. Too much money.