Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great holiday and is full of treats and not too many tricks.

Turner the UPS man:


Guthrie the scary skeleton (who wiped off all his face paint before we left and wore the mask instead):


The scary sight that greeted the few trick-or-treaters we had:


Even basement cat says Happy Halloween!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Gas under $2.00

I didn't believe it would happen. Here's the proof, from 4 different stations. Sorry for the picture quality - I took some of them stopped at red lights. And the first one is hard to see - it's $1.95!
















Recommendations for your reading pleasure



And, yes, a couple of shameless plugs for friends and loved ones.

First, a new wonderful children's book everyone will love. The Best Mariachi in the World, or for the Spanish language version, El major Mariachi del mundo tells the story of little Gustavo, who comes from a family of Mariachis. But poor Gustavo cannot play an instrument. His family won't even let him touch their violins, trumpets, or guitars. He is sad and left out, until he goes out early in the mornings to sing the songs he knows, all alone, to the stars. Soon, the people of the village hear Gustavo's beautiful singing, his cousins carry him into the house for a special breakfast just for him, and he IS a Mariachi, singing with his family, and feels he is the Best Mariachi in the World.


The book comes in a Spanish language edition or a bilingual edition for those of us who are still learning our Spanish, and trying to expose our children to as much as we can. There is a glossary in the back with the English and Spanish equivalents, so if there is a word you can't figure out, just turn to the end. There is also a short explanation of the Mariachi, for those of us who were clueless there too.

The illustrations are beautiful and you can't help but fall in love with little Gustavo. It's a great story, and a great way of exposing your little ones (and yourself!) to some more of the Spanish language and some of this beautiful culture. I know what all my friends with little ones will be getting for Christmas this year, and it's NOT just because the author is a dear friend. : )




And since we've now covered English and Spanish, if anyone reads French, I've got a rec for you, too.


Noir Beton was released in France this week. And since I don't speak or read much French, and you must be wondering why I care, well, I'm just in LOVE with the author in any language. (Um, yeah, he's my husband.) And as difficult as he was to put up with while he was ... "editing" this book, it was all worth it when I saw this:


Not to mention the fact that the book has footnotes, explaining things like the 49er's, and various names of cheap booze, which makes me smile. And my absolute favorite part of the book (in French): The book is about rough-and-tumble concrete workers who drink too much, smoke too much, and curse too much, and who I just can't imagine speaking French. At one point, Rex shouts out to the main character, "Broadstreet!" and Broadstreet's response is, "Oui!" And I can't read it without cracking up.

And in case you are like me and can't read French, the book is also available in a plain old English edition as Two-Up, and is definitely a good read, even if I am a bit biased.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Cheap at half the price

I think it's possible we have the cheapest gas in the country right here in the Valley. We're approaching dropping below $2.00/gallon here. I've searched all over Gas Buddy, and the next cheapest I can find is $2.16. The lowest I've actually seen here was $2.05 a couple hours ago, and I paid $2.15 or so on Saturday when I filled the tank. (Filled the tank for under $50! Miracles happen!)

I can't tell you why our gas here is so cheap, but I'm not complaining. We're still not driving much, and that seems to be the case all over. We've managed to never pay $4.00 for gas, at least not yet - it never topped that here in McAllen, although we did see prices over that when we were traveling to other parts of the state. Always managed to have enough gas and never needed to fill up then. The most we ever paid was $3.95. But here soon, if we keep dropping, we'll be paying half the price that we were just 3 months ago. If ony the prices of everything else would drop that fast!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

If Sarah Palin was my mother ...

I would be doomed. Okay, actually, since I was pregnant at the same age as her daughter, maybe things wouldn't be that different. (Joking Mom!)

But, my name would be ...

Hose Hotrod Palin!

And how do I know this? Because someone set up the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator so we could all find out.

And I am married to Sack Panther.

Our children (in order from oldest to youngest) are:

Axe Diesel (Samantha, I think, is happy with her name right now)
Clip Dragon (Oooh, Rosalind, Dragon is kind of cool)
Crop Schooner (sorry Guthrie)
Staff Wrench (yep, Turner is a better name)

Go ahead, click on over and have a laugh. But I must admit, I think Piper is a pretty cool name. Oh, yeah, and I've eaten both Moose and Elk, and they are yummy. But Sarah Palin still scares me.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Hey - I won something!!!!

http://www.breastfeeding123.com/if-these-boobs-could-talk-giveaway-winner/

Check it out! I won something! I can't remember the last time I won something, and since I've been having a less-than-stellar last couple of weeks, YEAH!!!!!!!

It's a great breastfeeding blog, so you should go check it out!

W Magazine cover - I LOVE it!

Yes, yes, I've been a very bad blogger lately. I just haven't had anything interesting to say, and/or the time or energy to say it. I'm still here, still reading everyone else's blogs.

If you haven't seen it yet, you must click here: http://http://perezhilton.com/2008-10-09-the-photo-everyone-will-be-talking-about to check out the new cover of W Magazine with Angelina Jolie on the cover, breastfeeding.

The picture is beautiful. (Have you ever seen a picture of her that is NOT beautiful? Yes, I have a girl crush on Angelina, and have for years.) But even more than that, if anyone can normalize breastfeeding, normalize breastfeeding in public (on a cover of a magazine for the whole world to see counts as public for me), then it must be her. As a long-term breastfeeder - I've been nursing without a break since March 2004, and both of my sons have nursed for 2 1/2 years, at least - and someone who hopes to help normalize breastfeeding, and make breastfeeding in public more normal and acceptable, seeing someone so public putting it right there for the whole world to see - I'm thrilled. Thank you, Angelina Jolie, thank you Brad Pitt, thank you W Magazine.