The Rosas-Standring Family: 2010

Sugarland - Stuck Like Glue WITH LYRICS (HQ sound)

Absolutely no one that knows me better

No one that can make me feel sooo goooood

How did we stay so long together?

When everybody everybody said we never would

And just when I I start to think they're right

That love has died...

There you go making my heart beat again

Heart beat again

Heart beat again

There you go making me feel like a kid

Won't you do it and do it one time?

There you go pulling me right back in

Right back in

Right back in

And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo

I'm stuck on you

Whutooo whutooo

Stuck like glue

You and me baby we're stuck like glue

Whutooo whutooo

Stuck like glue

You and me baby we're stuck like glue

Some days I don't feel like trying

Some days you know I wanna just give up

When it doesn't matter who's right fight about it all night

Had enough

You give me that look

"I'm sorry baby let's make up"

You do that thing that makes me laugh

And just like that...

[Chorus]

There you go making my heart beat again

Heart beat again

Heart beat again

There you go making me feel like a kid

Won't you do it and do it one time

There you go pulling me right back in

Right back in

Right back in

And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo

I'm stuck on you

Whutooo whutooo

Stuck like glue

You and me baby we're stuck like glue

Whutooo whutooo

Stuck like glue

You and me baby were stuck like glue

Whutooo Whutoo

You almost stay out too stuck together from the ATL

Whutooo Whutoo

Feeling kinda sick?

Just a spoon full of sugar make it better real quick
I say

Whutooo Whutoo

Whatcha gonna do with that?

Whutooo Whutoo

Come on over here with that

Sugar sticky sweet stuff

Come on give me that stuff

Everybody wants some

Melodies that get stuck

Up in your head

Whutooo whutooo

Up in your head

Whutooo whutooo

Up in your head

Whutooo whutooo

Up in your head

Whutooo whutooo

Whuthoo whutooo

Stuck like glue

You and me together say it's all I wanna do

I said

[Chorus]

There you go making my heart beat again

Heart beat again

Heart beat again

There you go making me feel like a kid

Won't you do it and do it one time

There you go pulling me right back in

Right back in

Right back in

And I know-oo I'm never letting this go-ooo

There you go making my heart beat again

Heart beat again

Heart beat again

There you go making me feel like a kid

Won't you do it and do it one time

There you go pulling me right back in

"Is this the face that launched 1000 ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"

"Is this the face that launched 1000 ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss." Christopher Marlow

1 story that Elena just loves is the story of 1 of her namesakes, Helen of Troy. How she was the most beautiful women in the world and she was taken away by the handsome young prince of Troy. Taken across the Aegean Sea from Sparta to live in a new land with her love, Paris. It was this abduction that lead to the Trojan War. As written by one of the best playwrights of all time, Christopher Marlow; "Is this the face that launched 1000 ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss." Once in Troy- the fleet of soldiers that came to take Helen home included 1 other Rosas namesake- Achilles. Obviously the influence behind our son's name Akilean. The strongest and bravest man of his time Achilles and Helen would be forever entangled in this history and forever in my family.

Lena loves this story. She knows how to say it in both Spanish and English and loves to tell it. How she is named after the most beautiful woman in the world, some would say Aphrodite herself... the daughter of Zeus. And how Akilean was named after the bravest and strongest soldier.

When Kennedy Elena was born, she was the most beautiful little girl to grace the earth. I knew that there was only 1 name for her. Well, after Kennedy, a name that I had picked out many many years before and my husband had absolutely NO say in. Elena, based on the Greek name of Helen was perfect.

My little girl is about to be 7 years old. She has grown far past the days of being a little girl and is now growing in to.... dare I say it??? A woman. Okay- well not quite. Which is good because I am not mentally or physically in shape for that event.

She has grown so much into a caring beautiful kind and creative little girl. I would love to take credit for all of her amazingness but her gift comes from within her and I am simply a spectator. But as I sit and watch her grow right in front of my eyes, I am filled with a huge peace knowing that she is amazing. From inside she has a gift of caring for others and compassion. She is creative and intuitive. She is giving and selfless.

Lena- "may the wind always be on your back and the sun upon your face. And may the wings of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars." I love you my precious Helen of Troy. You are my Aphrodite

But how will people know when to leave?

Lena and I are planning her 7th birthday party together and I have to say she is the most easy going -- chilled out birthday girl ever. First- No Pinata. Lena said she does not like how everyone pushes and runs and then a lot of kids are sad. She then said..."okay we can do the pinata but afterwards- everyone puts the candy altogether and we sit in a circle." I told her that I did not think that her friends would like that very much after running in for the candy. She then said "okay- no pinata. I can make everyone a present."

Hey works for me. Akilean is notorious for freaking out during a pinata. It has taken him a long time to figure the whole thing out and not get upset that people are pushing. So I must say- this is a good start. We can make little bags for everyone leading up to the party- Boys get a little boy bag and girls little girl bags. The only thing that came to my mind is - how will people know that it is time to go. The pinata is the quintessential end to a party and signal- unless you have beer- it is time to go home.

Well, that problem was solved when we decided that we are not going to have the party at our house. We are going to have it in the park near our house. The city has been totally renovating the old park and it is really nice. What used to be a totally useless pit of rocks and trash is not a beautifully paved plaza with nice planters along the edges. They are even putting in a new floor under the play ground equipment. It used to be a death trap of jagged rocks under the swing and soon it will be the perfect setting for our birthday party.

We have friends that live next to the park so we can use their bathroom. And that makes the whole get the house ready so much easier. Plus the food- here is where Lena really shines. As if the pinata - or lack of one was not enough... the menu!!! rather then doing a nice meal like I would normally do- somehow trying to impress the other parents with my cooking and how I get every kid to eat veggies- yeah- not happening this year.

Lena wants sandwiches- you know what? That is what she is going to get. We are doing simple sandwiches, chips and juice. Give them what they want. Plus not more the a week later I am going to make Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of my friends. And I would much rather impress those guys with my cooking then the neighborhood kids. So the party plans are on route for next weekend. It is going to be great.

I finally found the earrings that I wanted to get Lena. I have been looking and looking and it was not easy to find. Most of the earrings here are pretty big and the smaller ones are not very pretty or nice looking. Well, I finally found these beautiful purple amethyst little tear drop stones. They are perfect for a sweet little girl like her and I know that she is going to love them. The other gift we are giving her is her own Sushi kit. - Making and eating. I have these cool sushi dishes for 2 and we are giving her a sushi cookbook and all the things you need to make sushi. Sushi is her all time favorite food so I think that she will like it.

I cannot believe that my little lady is almost 7. My my- time goes so fast. And this time of year it seems to simply soar at light speed. From October 5- Feb 14 there is something almost weekly between birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and other friends birthday's. Ruben's family has 6 birthday s in the first 2 weeks of November.

Way too much to keep track of. It seems like just yesterday. CRAZY!!!!

My little flower house.

When we first moved into our little rental house there was very little hope for the garden at all. It had been totally thrashed by the previous tenants and much to the dismay of our very sweet landlord. we began to work hard to fix up the garden. I tried to grow all sorts of peppers and tomatoes but nothing took.

Ruben built me these great beds out of cinder block. They do a great job. Well, we had sort of given up n planting anything for food- so we started just collecting plants from friends and from my old work. Along walks we would find offshoot papayas growing along the back road to the super. Well, those are now over 10 feet tall and hold over 10 papaya.- the pic at the right was taken MONTHS ago.

I am not sure if these papayas will ever get color but some of them are huge! But it has been a few months now and still nothing. But then again, I do not know anything about papayas. But I have learned that certain birds really love them and while they are beautiful- I wish they would stop eyeing our papayas.

The rest of the garden boarder bed is filled with elephant ear plants that grow pretty big but block of our fence to the street. I like that. We also have a few of your palms that cover the fence. I have also acquired a little collection of Pole de Marco plants. These are very cool plants that grow low. They are green on top and purple on the bottom and I love them. I learned about them when I was a tour guide in the jungles. They are great for making a tea that settles your stomach and heals stomach pain. I have used it and it totally works. I give it to the kids too with a bit of honey. Lena loves it.

We also have the aloe plants that we first bought. They are huge and have produced several other aloe plants that are in the garden. Aloe is great for just about everything. Yes there is the staple skin- face hair stuff. But also internally. Aloe juice is really amazing for you and said to have killer health benefits. I do not drink it much but I have and can imagine that I am just a little bit healthier on the inside for it. jaja.

But my favorite thing in our garden in my little flower house. This idea bloomed out of my childhood dream as a little girl to have a gazebo covered with flowers in our garden where I could go and play.by myself. I had 3 brothers- 2 of the m older and they were not as interested in playing dolls and store as football and harass the little sister.

We planted the bougainvillea in the corner of the yard and Ruben made a simple wood frame structure that we hoped would one day hold the plant. WOW did that happen fast. In only a few months we were bending a winding. As Ruben added the "2nd story" to the fence the plant really grabs hold.

The great thing about bougainvillea is that it has thorns- BIG ones and the longer a branch is left to grow these things turn into small hard tree trunks and the thorns with them. They are great to use as a fencing on a larger property because no one is going to try to climb these things. Plus they are beautiful - full of color, attract butterflies--- they are cool pants. I love that as the offshoots happen and I need to cut them off- a few small branches look great in a vase for a week.

It did not bloom after its initial flowers for almost a year and a half. We were starting to worry. But all is well. It took off just like a friend of mine said it would and in the past 2 months has spurted flowers all over the place. Just the other day the kids took us out there so we could have a picnic in the flower house.

And I have the best seat of all. In the morning just after the kids have gone to school-- it is in the shade- the light is perfect and I get to sit and relax in my hammock with my coffee and my computer and just be. I must admit- the computer does not always make it.

hahah

Day of the Dead and thinking of family

This past week we celebrated the Mexican tradition of the day of the dead. I love this holiday. It is a day when our loved ones that have died get to come back enjoy the pleasures of earth for a day. Those of us that our alive set up altars and clean gravestones and have a big party with all of the favorite foods and drinks of our loved ones.

This was my first year setting up an altar. We gathered some stuff from around the house and created a very nice space. We put some flowers from our garden which my grandpa Jim would have loved. He was a big gardener. We put out some candles and that created a beautiful light in the evening. We set out some limes for some color and a photo of my grandparents. It was really nice. You usually set out some favorite foods so we put out a cup of coffee for my grandma. You might remember my visits with my grandma like this one. http://rosas-standring.blogspot.com/2009/04/visit-with-my-grandma.html . She was very special to me and I to her. We would sit for many hours and drink coffee and she would gossip about her neighbors. She also loved to drink wine. It was horrible wine- but whatever. It was that bottle of Chablis with the tiny loop handle. But hey. I put out a little wine for her. For my grandpa I put out a snickers bar and a shot of vodka.

My grandpa loved snickers so much that he was buried with 1 in his shirt pocket. haha. In his younger days my grandpa was regrettably an alcoholic and did not always act the best. By the time that my and m brothers came around he had not had a drink in many years. But he always had a glass of diet 7up. That was his deterrent to drinking and it totally worked. I remember my grandpa as being a fun and wonderful man. He was always with us when we would go water skiing. The first run of the day was at 8 so we had to be in the boat at 7:30 so the 1st skier could be in the water ready to hit is at 8- so you get the best water. Grandpa was on that and every other run for the whole day. So I figured that since he did such a great job of controlling his addiction when he was alive- that this was his chance to enjoy it for a day.

My great grandpa Willet loved to grow tomatoes and cantaloupes. He was always so proud of them and he did grow huge tomatoes. This was always a little funny because he did so in a trailer park. But they were great. It is a well known fact and joke about grandpa greats love obsession with tomatoes. So I also put out some tomatoes.

Ruben unfortunately does not have any photos of his family that has past. he did however get to be in Guanajuato when his grandfather was within hours of passing and that was really special to him. He had not been back to Mexico in almost 12 years so it was remarkable that he was there at that time.

Dia de los Muertos is such a happy occasion. I sort of think of it as Thanksgiving for the dead. A time when everyone gets together and enjoys their families. That is why you see so many of the skeletons with festive cloths and bright colors. We are all here for a party- dead or alive. Ruben is getting a beautiful tattoo that has the front gate of the cemetery in his town with a party going on just behind all with day of the dead figures. I think that it is going to be really amazing.

I did get my tattoo on my back touched up. It was a little light and now it is much stronger. It looks really good. I am so glad that my friend is doing my tattoos as an exchange. There is certainly not enough money for something like tattoos but luckily our website provides us with a good exchange opportunity. Olmo is also adding some green to my back tattoo that has my kids names- well the initials and 4 roses for "Rosas" which means roses in Spanish. He is also doing a sweet little arm band that will be nice and delicate but the one I am most excited about is my owl.

The owl was my grandma's animal. It was her symbol for her sorority and was part of her life forever. She was always given owl oriented gifts and loved owl decorations. I am getting an owl on my left foot. My grandma is one of the people that showed me that your strongest foot might not always lead you down the right path. Sometimes things are supposed to be hard. The other person who taught me this is my momma. But I am not sure what tattoo to get for her. haha.

The morning after the Day of the dead I could feel the presence of my grandma and felt a wonderful energy in the house. The weather in Tulum has changed and the nights are getting cool. There was a breakout of pink eye at Ruben's hotel so we are all at home with it. Through the night- I had to keep getting up to help the kids with their eyes. It is finally cold enough that not only do we not need our fan but I can put on my grandma's robe. I love that. It makes me feel like she is hugging me. And there are 2 other people that make me feel that good when they hug me- Ruben and my momma.

Anyway... Happy Day of the Dead everyone- a little late but whatever. We have all come down with Pinkeye so we have not been doing much lately. Just sitting watching movies- well listening to movies more like.

Halloween

This Halloween was great. I busted out my sewing machine and started threading away. I was making a mermaid costume and I was really excited about it. I had these great shells that I was making the top out of. and I had looked up some great ideas on the skirt. Lena and Akilean were both punk vampires. Their costumes where made up of stuff from around the house and they looked so cute.

On Friday night I grabbed the kids and headed up to Puerto Morelos to see our friend that lives there. They were doing their towns celebration in the main square on Friday so we all headed over there. It was a lot of fun. One of the best parts was that one of my all time favorite Tulum bands was up there and playing. It is the same band that Ruben had booked for my birthday. It was awesome. We listened to the music-0 danced around the square and like a pinata announcing the end of a party- the rain started to drizzle and everyone headed home. It was so much fun.

The next day I drove all over town looking for vampire teeth for the kids. It is amazing how much surplus of everything there is in the

From The Rosas-Standring Family

states. I forget sometimes and think that finding something is going to be so easy and then realize- of wait- we are not going to find that here. hah oh well.

On Saturday after we had gotten back to Tulum we had some friends come over and headed into town to hear our friends band play. It was a really good time. For this first night Ruben dressed up like a fisherman and I the mermaid- We looked really cute. Not to crazy of a night- we were home early and ready to have a killer Halloween.

For the actual Halloween it was awesome. We got our costumes all ready and headed to the beach for a few hours. It was a great day on the beach. As soon as I got there I had a guy walk up to me and say. "hey You are Tulum Living right?" I follow your page and love your info on Tulum." He had just moved here from Belize and was just getting settled in Tulum. It was very cool. He was very nice and I told him that I was sure that we would see him around. Tulum is a very small town and you run into everyone here eventually.

We had all of our friends meet at my house before trick or treating. We set up our Dia de los Muertos altar and some fun things around the house. It looked great. I did a Mohawk on a Akilean and it was so cute. The first night was a frizzy crazy one and Halloween it was going to be a liberty spike- but I could not get it to stand all the way. His hair has gotten very long and I would have needed more product then was worth it for him. But he did look so cute. He said he wants to wear it in a Mohawk more often- Looks like we will have to get up a little earlier for school.

The band of kids that we had for the party was so cute. There were so many kids all dressed up and we walked the streets and it was a beautiful site. The kids had a great time. Ruben and I did not get to take them last year because I was covering an event at Xcaret so my friends took them. After the crazy running around the neighborhood and candy diving we headed back to the house and got the kids cleaned up and ready for their sleep over.

Ruben and I headed out to town and had a great night with a bunch of our friends at Bar 307. Ruben and I have such fun when we get the chance to go out. It is not very often we get to go out on the late night party up nights- Between babysitters- school- family - life and little money- it is not that often- which is fine but defiantly fun when we do get to do it.

We had such fun and we looked great. A number of our good friends were there and we had a great time dancing- laughing and hanging out. The kids were at the house the by 11 and Ruben made a great

pancake and bacon breakfast and we just watched movies all day.

Today however is Dia de los Muertos so we are going to get the house all set up and head to some great festivities in town. There are some wonderful celebrations and ceremonies both in the cemetery and in town. It is going to be a good day.

Changing it up.

When I go through any sort o traumatic experience or bout o depression- I do an revamp o the house- in some cases a pretty extreme revamp- like painting the front of the house bright purple. And it must run in the family because my mom does it too. 1 time my dad came home when they were first married and found that she had literally changed apartments. haha

Well, I have been dealing with some stuff lately and Ruben- knowing me as well as he does had a surprise for me when I got home yesterday. He had done an extreme makeover of our room. He ends up with some random paint colors and so he painted 1 wall in the bedroom with this sort of water and rag technique. He had like maybe 2 cups of paint - but this trick makes the paint go a long way- and it allows for the color underneath to come through.

He was so cute. He took down my canopy that was hanging and rearranged the furniture. I really like how he did it. He even set up my table for my tarot readings. This is especially sweet because he is not into tarot readings or card of any kind. In almost 10 years I have given him like 3 readings- and 2 of those have been since living in Mexico.

Here there are a lot more of our friends that do card readings or at least understand and respect the practise- so I am not as far out there to him. He has a picture of me and my mom when I was a baby and a picture o me when I was 5 on the table. It is really sweet.

The room has some of our art hanging in it and this makes me really smile. I love my art- I love my stuff and yes yes I know it is just stuff- but when I left the United States - it was very abrupt. We had to sell most o what we had and only keep the things that we really cared about. There was no way I was selling my art.

And a lot of it is not fancy or particularly special- but I love it. I found a copy of Van Gogh's Starry Night at the goodwill in a great wooden frame for like 3 bucks- yeah I could have sold it in the garage sale- ironically for more then I bought it for I would bet- but I love it- And when was I going to stumble on a copy of this painting in a great frame for only a few bucks. It looks great hanging in the kids room.

We have a beautiful metal sun with a glass face that lights up and it is perfect in my room. It was so sweet of Ruben. The room really does look great and I love sitting in here. I am usually in my hammock at this time of the day but not today. hahah

Just clicking on

I have not been writing on my blog for a while- really I have not been doing much of anything at all- but we have been knocked way off our normal routine and life and we are trying to get back on. Schedules are getting back to crazy- and life is just clicking along.

The kids participated in the Tortuga festival for a dance performance. It was really cute. Although it was a little crazy because in the morning the electricity shut off- now this is not all that abnormal here- but this day it was not because of a storm or because- just randomly- today they were fixing or repairing a light in town- a light- THE light. we only have 1 traffic light and they were fixing it- and that meant that the power was going down- okay fine- but they had apparently planned to be out all day- they could have sent around a message or warning- hey guys by the way- your fridges will not keep anything cold for a few hours.

Anyway. It was not a big deal- but the kids had their dance performance so we headed to the casa de la cultura but unfortunately--- there was still no electricity- which meant no music which meant no performance. Now at least for this event there were tons of things going on.

There were games all over the place with facts about Tortuga's and how and why to protect them. there was great art to look at - I fell in LOVE with one piece- but - that is certainly not in the budget. But still fun to look at. There was a huge group from Global Vision International http://www.gviusa.com/ - they are a group of young adults that do dive training and also do a lot of volunteer stuff and they had such great energy. It was a lot of fun. They did face painting- more games and more games- it was great way to keep the kids occupied until the lights came on.

But we were starting to wonder if that was going to happen. It was getting dark now and we knew that if all of the lights are off in Tulum it is going to be pretty dark. It was sort of cool to see the all the little candles in all the restaurants. But then at the last minute- the lights came on and the kids did their show. It was really great.

I dissappeared for a bit and got old!

well... older. I had my birthday this past week. My mom and my brother came down to visit me and it was such an amazing time. They got here late Saturday evening and had a really interesting flight. It was done on miles and they always bounce you all over the place. Well, this flight was no exception. But they landed and we started our good time.

On Sunday it was mostly just getting settled- seeing the kids and getting into the house. We rented a great little spot on the beach. It was a small little house with 1 bedroom downstairs and 2 beds in a loft upstairs. For us it was perfect.

We hung on the beach for the better part of the day with some friends and then we went to Le Zebra for salsa dancing. It was so much fun. We took the kids and Akilean did not take long to ask a very cute little girl if she wanted to dance. At 5 he is already a ladies man. And such a little gentleman. He holds open the door and the screen for me and Lena and he even did a little bow to the little girl after he danced with her and told her thank you. It was so cute. I can already see that he is going to be a wonderful man.

The food at Le Zebra was very good. The last time I ate there I was not totally blown away and I had heard that the food is really good here. I was glad that it was so good this time. The tortilla soup was killer- almost as good as my own. We all had a really great time dancing and eating. It was a really great start to our vacation.

Monday brought with it some real obstacles in the morning. I am having to deal with something that I never wanted to or ever thought that I would have to. But I guess all major problems and struggles are that way. The really amazing part about Monday was that the 100 chairs that were being donated by the Rotary Club of Cloverdale California were being delivered this morning. The local Rotary Club had sent out a notice and I was really surprised by how many people were there.

The chairs are beautiful. Brightly colored and perfect for the kids. They are very secure and that is wonderful. Some of the old chairs are totally falling apart and so this made a big difference. Elvia found out about my project and was able to secure funding to buy 100 new chairs and school supplies. I was so happy that my mom could be there for that. We used to do charity work together in Oregon and she was my inspiration for starting my project.

That afternoon we hung on th beach the whole day with some friends and my momma and brother. It was wonderful. The water was perfect and very calm and the whole day was a lot of fun. I even had some friends from San Francisco visiting Playa del Carmen and they came down to hang on the beach.

Then it was off to eat again - we went to Mateo's on the beach road and it was awesome. The food was great and I can see why this is such a popular spot. Then we headed off to La Llorona for my party. My friend Desire had gone and gotten me some beautiful flowers- my favorites- Lilies- then she had hung beautiful pieces of purple and green fabric to really make it MY party. Ruben had booked 2 killer bands. The first band is bandiCoral and is amazing. We had a great time dancing to them. Then the 2nd band was DNA and then were great too. We had so much fun and I danced my little but off. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

The party continued back at the beach house but when we got there- we found out that we had no electricity. :( There was a problem with water pump and so it ran and drained all of the generator. But we still had a great time.

The next day we hung on the beach again and enjoyed the water and the waves. For dinner we went over to Om and that was great. The food was great and we had a good time. My brother and Ruben were hardly able to stand up but we went out anyway. We had a good time but it was not a crazy late night- we were home by like 3:30 or 4. Well, I guess that is a late night.

On Wednesday it was time to get things picked up and got ready to head to Cancun. Mom and Ryan were leaving really early on Thursday so they were staying at a hotel right next to the airport. We hung out with them for a bit but then headed back to Tulum to have the hardest nights sleep in our lives. Man we crashed out.

There are so many more things to write about and tell about- but for right now... no.

Today is my 5 year wedding anniversary and I am going to go give myself a pedicure and manicure before I get a massage from my friend Gina- What a perfect birthday gift- and cashing in on a perfect day.

An early morning in Mexico

Any one with school aged kids is used to the early morning routine in Mexico. Now I cannot speak for other areas in Mexico but here in Tulum, the mornings are pretty much always the same. Upon leaving the house at 6:45 and heading to town for school- the first glance you have at the day - after the bottom of your coffee cup... is .. you guessed it....

garbage cans spilled all over the street with their treasures spread out for all to see. Here there are many street dogs and street cats and they just love to go treasure hunting in the evenings. And as my fellow Latin American Blogger Viva Veracruz wrote about yesterday... many of these dogs are not your typical strays but once loved puppies that have been slowly cast to the streets to fend for themselves.

Anyway. So spilled our garbage can was. But this was not entirely unexpected because we had a real treat in there for them last night.

Ruben has taken up spear fishing and has caught a number of things, has lost a number of fish and hooks and has caught some stuff that I will not clean and cook- like the eel. Well, yesterday the water in the sea was UNREAL- it was so calm and crystal clear. He caught 2 beautiful parrot fish. Large and really yummy. It was not until later that we found out that these particular fish have just recently started being protected. Opps- but know we know. Fishing is a learning curve here.

So we had that for dinner and the remains I am sure acted as a beacon in the sky to the all of the cats in the neighborhood.

But even after this more frequent the desirable scene in the one that continues in town. The streets are filled with students all in the various colors of uniforms heading off to class. The fishermen can all be seen at the various taco stands around town and are getting ready to catch the bounty of the Caribbean.

In this small touristy town this time is particularly cool to me because it is before all of the tourists have even thought to go to town and even a little before the regular morning scene of Tulum Avenue begins. When I take Akilean to school at 8:30 the scene has already changed a great deal.

There is something so constant about living in a community like this one.

Soaking up the good advice... and jasmine flowers.

Well first I must say that it has been a rough morning. Last night I went to bed and was attacked by tabanos. These tropical devils are the bain of my existence. Mosquitoes are attracted to my husband. (like most other breathing species) but Tabanos- oh no- they feed on me. About 2 weeks ago I had a bad nights sleep and had several bites on my legs and was scratching all night. Then it happened again last night.

For me, a tabano bite is very clear- it welts up and is very large and in many cases will swell. I was in misery last night. I maybe slept for about 2 solid hours. The rest was tossing and turning and scratching. This morning while sweeping I found a dead tabano on the floor of my house. Sweeping his lifeless little body into the dust pan, I could not help but wonder if he had dropped dead from exhaustion from biting me so many times.

On the flip side, as I write now I am smelling the wonderful aroma of fresh jasmine flowers. My friend has been coming by in the morning before she heads to work. She lives an hour and a half bus ride north of me and has been busing in every day for work. She always brings me a little something. A snippet of wild flowers, a j some coffee- random little things to bringten my morning. At brighten in does. The smell of these little beauties is amazing. It reminds me that I really must plant some jasmine in my garden.

Yesterdays post about my neighbor taking my bike was met by kind ears with lots of advice. Even by the time I had sat back down to my computer I had already decided, Mindy, she is your neighbor and friend- she needed to use it- so do not be mad anymore. But lets set up some ground rules and boundaries. Okay- no problem. except that she has not brought back the bike yet?????

Yesterday when I took the kids to their ballet class I passed by where she works and she was not there- which did not surprise me- but then when I got home- the bike was not at my house and no one was at her house. This sent me back into being annoyed.

I think the way to deal with it is to get a lock like all have said and just kindly tell her- I understand that she needs to borrow my bike sometime but that it was a brand new bike and now has problems. I like to ride my bike- long bike rides for health and exercise. So when the front wheel wobbles like it now does- that is a problem for me. the seat is no longer attached in the back- that is a problem for me.

I mean- I know that I am a go to girl for things on my street because I will very rarely say no- and why would I - people want to use my blender- fine- they do and bring it back- or my big pot to cook beans in- no problem- but these things have come back fast and in good condition- that is not the case with my bike.

Ahhh- the jasmine flower high is wearing off and I am geting upset again. Breath- not a big deal- I just need to start laying some ground work.

OKay... I get that I am kinda being a bitch but really?

Okay. Now if I actually have to sit back and ask myself... "Mindy, do you have anything to really be upset about, or are you just being a bitch?" Then I have probably already answered the question but...

Now I am so grateful to have my car and it has totally changed my life. But... I do not want to drive it all the time. My son's school is very near and easy to get to by bike and he is small enough to fit on the back. So you can imagine my annoyance when I was driving home from dropping Lena off at school and there goes my neighbor off to work on ... wait for it... MY BIKE!

Now to be fair... I was probably not going to take Akilean on the bike today because it is very wet and looks like it will rain a lot more. But still. Why are you going into my yard and grabbing my bike. She had it for almost 2 months when I was in SF and had my family visiting here. Which I did not mind. I told her- I have all the kids so it is no problem. Just please take care of it. It is a brand new bike.

Well, after the 2 months I finally got it back and it had a few little problems- okay fine- whatever. I am not going to say anything. It is just part of having a bike in general but. AAAAAaHAHAHAHAHAA! I am really annoyed. It is already hard to deal with the way that a lot of locals view Americans in that we can simply buy more of whatever it is that we have. Now. I know that we might look like we have more then most- and we do. We were fortunate enough back in the states to 1) have jobs that were able to buy the things that we like, 2) a plethora of stores (word use for you momma! jaja) where you can buy very nice things for crazy cheap prices. - And yes I know- that this is due tot he gluttony of the USA. 3) we had family that were fortunate in their money and many of the things that we have were once theirs or gifts and 4) and this is the real kicker- an incredibly frugal and crafty wife that can find or make cheap things look amazing! This is a stage craft skill that I am glad I have.

But that does not mean that if you break one of my nice looking wine glasses or coffee mugs that I can run out and grab a new one. I live here too remember? Just like you. My husband makes the same money as everyone else and my rent is the same and so is my food. Only difference is that at every turn I am paying just a little bit more then most others might because once again there is this idea that we Americans have stashes of money in our pockets.

Anyway. I am just a little pissed about it. Again. I know that I was not going to use it today but I am just annoyed that she keeps going into my yard and taking it. Now if it had just been a few times- hey can I use your bike really fast? We do that with our neighbor- we have gone into his yard and used the little bbq before. Things like that. But not every time I cook. I mean... sorry but buy a bike. And the reason she does not have one is the last 2 have been stolen and gotten broken. So why would want to hand over my bike. just because I have a car does not mean I do not want or use my bike.

Okay. End of rant. Now I just have to wait till she gets home to tell her to stop taking it. Even better- get a new bike lock and take away the option. But even the constant asking me if she can borrow it is driving me crazy.

A great meet up Internet folk

Well, before I talk about my very awesome meet up with some great people from Tulum.info I must say first that I one of the things that I hate the most about being sick is the crazy dreams that you have. I had some really nutty ones last night. Anyway.

I am a member of Tulum.info a great forum site online about Tulum. There is a lot of great information about Tulum on their from other travelers and their experiences. But there is a real community that forms. Well, every so often we have a meet up when there are a few people here. This most recent meet up was one for the books.

We had the moderators here and that is always great as well as some others. We had the meet up at Om Tulum once again. Om is a big favorite of many people both on the forum and locals alike so I was more then happy to eat there again.

And this time Angelo pulled out all the stops for an amazing meal. In our honor a magnificent meal and tequila tasting was planned. The chef was cooking all sorts of new items that are not on the menu and even Angelo had a good time tasting new dishes.

Angelo and Om were wonderful hosts as always and we all had a really good time. The food was simply unreal- as was the tequila and mescal. We all had such a good time. But this one better put forth in pictures.

The food was so amazing. I have some notes on more details. But it is easy to say one of the very best meals that I have had in a long time.

We had 6 tequilas and 1 mescal ranging from blanco- repasado- anejo- almond- pomegranate- it was amazing!!!!

Chilis en Nogales, Mexican Pizza, Nut Chili mole sauce and Tuna pastor! Easy to say- I got spoiled.

Tulum Living School Project gets a new website

We are so excited to have launched the Tulum Living School Project website. Here is where we will have all the details of our all our charity ,projects in detail.

There is a new addition - The donation counter widget. If you want to help and would be willing you can easily add this gadget to your own website. Our school project donation widget will appear on your site and we could reach a much wider audience. All funds collected are collected through pay pal.

Simply click on the Add to site button and it will tell you what to do. It would be so appreciated.
I hope that you all like the website and that you will follow and help spread the word about this project. I think that we will be able to do some amazing things in Tulum.

Thank you to everyone for your support. I look forward to sharing all of our progress.

http://www.tulumschools.blogspot.com/ is the site. Thanks all.

A hurricane! 200 Years of Independance and 100 years since the Revolution!

Well, there is no getting around it. It has been a party mood around Tulum for a the past week. Yesterday (the 16th of Sept.) marked the 100 year anniversary of Mexico's revolution and the 200 year anniversary of Mexico's Independence from Spain!

There were parties, fairs, parades and festivities everywhere. The kids and I spent the first part of the day on the 15th on the Yaaj-Ximbal tour. It was wonderful as always. A 4x4 trip through the jungle were we all got bounced around the back of the cars while we flew over rocks and trees in the middle of the jungle.

I do really miss working for this company but alas- I have my family to take car of. Not that I am complaining- other then the increase of funds- I much prefer staying at home with my kids. the kids loved the zip line- like always. They are so crazy. We had a good group of people we were with and all had a great time.

The new cenote/ cave that they go in is amazing. I really enjoyed it. And I was really impressed with the fact that the kids were not scared. I mean- being deep in a cave can be sort of scary for some kids but not my little adventure seekers. Poor little Akilean did get pretty cold thought. I cannot imagine why? He has so much meat on his bones.(dripping with sarcasm) jajaja. He eats a ton and yet still has this body that is just soooooo skinny. He has the same build as my brother Ryan and my Uncle Brad. There is nothing that will change it- he is a slender kid.

Lena on the other had got my and Ruben's build. Ruben is one of those really broad shoulder guys with a lot of muscles. He is the sort of guy that would never be able to stretch his arms straight above his head because his shoulder muscles are too big. I love this build in my husband. I have always had a short build and even when I danced between a little chunky or really skinny- I still had what was then referred to as "soccer legs." This usually meant short- very strong muscular legs- especially thighs. It was something that i hated then but love now. Since I have no upper body strength and now less since my severe hand injuries- I used to do everything with my legs. I used to move massive pieces of furniture with legs when I wanted to rearrange my house. Ruben was amazed on what a short 100 lbs chick could get accomplished while he was at work- especially since I had NO arm ability.

Anyway. Lena was blessed with this solid frame. People are often amazed when they pick her up. She is still slender but packs some serious weight in her muscles. When I told her into the cenote- she confirmed for me my belief that she will take a strong interest in Scuba diving. At only 6 years old she begged me to take off her life jacket and let her explore under the water more.

She is a born water baby. She has loved the bath, pools and the sea and will spend HOURS in anyone of them. I often tell people that Akilean will be my fire dancing, acro-yoga instructor and Lena will be a scuba instructor or kite boarder. They are both showing more and more of their personalities and I love watching them.

After the fun day on the tour we headed home for a quick nap and then off to the party at Lena's school. Well, you would think that the party would be there- since there was a note and a big deal about everyone had to come to the event at the school. So you can imagine our annoyance when we got to the school and there was nothing. No note of cancellation- and certainly no party. Oh well-

We spent the evening at the "fair" and let the kids go on the bumper cars and bought them a toy. There are very few rides here and they are either for babies or they are for adults. So we bought them a toy instead.

We stood in the centro and ate all of our favorite snacks and watched all of the talented performers on the new permanent stage that has just been built. It was a wonderful time. We then headed out to a friends house for a little party and went swimming at midnight! It was a wonderful day.

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