Thursday, April 30, 2009

HAPPY MAY DAY

I was thinking about happy memories of May Day as a kid in California growing up. We always had a big bash on May day. We had the May pole, which took for ever for all of us to figure how to weave in and out of one another to create the beautiful weave.
Like after practicing all day maybe we would get it right, but usually not. The teachers were probably at the end of their rope trying to figure out how to explain to us "in and out".
While watching the news tonight in closing the guy said to make sure you dance around the pole tomorrow to celebrate May Day.
Now what comes to mind when you hear that? I thought so, "pole dancing". My how times have changed. So I say to you all enjoy your pole dance however you may do it.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

LOW BACK BLUES

I am trying to send positive vibes to my low back so that it will cooperate and get along with me. It is not listening. It refuses to let me move and sit and lay down and all the other things I really need and like to do. I did not go for a run this morning, thinking if I was nice to it it would cooperate. Wrong!
For 33 years now I have had problems with my hips and sacrum area. I have tried pilates, yoga, chiropractors, physical therapists, pain pills, triathlon, and accupuncture. All to no avail. I read a book that said if you ignore it that it will go away, that by the way does not work either.
I remember my grandma of 9 kids walking around just like I do. The difference was she was really old and I am just creeping up on old. The real problem is my back tends to just wig out at the most inconvenient and awkward times.
The next step is gasp, and sigh seeing the Doc. I have seen so many of my clients with similar back problems who went to so many docs with no relief. But on my bucket list I have to get my back fixed, so I am not ready to hobble around for another 45 years! Time to find the "cure".

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

I am so excited! I finally found something worth paying taxes for. Bike Trails! Yes sir there are the coolest bike trails here in Scottsdale you would not believe it. I can only imagine their property taxes. But here is a big thank you to all those who paid huge taxes, I enjoyed riding on your lovely bike lanes immensely!
I was the perfect 75 degree day for a nice long ride on the cruiser bike mom got for her birthday and it just felt so darn good to be on a bike again. Have always, will always love biking. Now I just have to figure out a way to get me one of these cruiser bikes and we will be all set.

Monday, April 27, 2009

SWINE FLU AND GETTIN STUCK


So here I sit feeling a very strong feeling of deja vu. I was in a very similar situation this time last year. I had flown down to visit hubby in Osa Peninsula where he was teaching yoga and doing massage for a few weeks. While I was there a hurricane, the first in 30 years to be exact blew in and wreaked havoc. I ended up stuck there a couple of extra days because the flights were shut down.

Two years ago hubby and I were in Jamaica celebrating 28 years of wedded bliss. We were getting ready to board our flight home and the guy driving the stairs ran into our plane! Too much ganga for you buddy. So we got a complimentary night stay and left the next day.

Now there is the "Swine Flu". I really like Az. I really like visiting my family here. And I am totally enjoying the break. But man oh man I am very homesick and will be very disappointed if I do not get to go home when planned. Seems it is getting to be a habit with me of getting stranded places. The amazing thing is that I will fly anywhere at all.

I read a book today about a lady that traveled to China to accompany a friend who was adopting a baby. When the friend got the baby she decided she did not want her. So long story, actually it was a pretty short story, but story short she ended up with the little girl!

The thing was while I was reading it brought back all the memories of our adoption process and the places we went while in China and the things we saw and I missed my baby sooooo much. When she got to church yesterday she asked her big sis where mom was. For some reason she thought I was going to be home by then. Thank goodness we get to talk several times a day on the phone. I miss her and her big sis for sure!

In the meantime lets hope they do not start grounding flights and freaking out. I will be very sad.

COOL KID STUFF

Mormon mommy blogs is giving away some really cool stuff. Just scroll down my page and find their button on the left. Go and check out the free stuff, way cool!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

1 HR RUN

Yahoo, up to one hour run time. Of course in Arizona it is sooo much easier here to run with the flats and no one trying to harm me with their car. Not even dogs chasing me so I probably don't run quite as fast for sure. I kind of miss the adrenelin rush of running Costa Rica though.
There is nothing quite like wondering if the car coming straight at you is trying to avoid a pot hole or if they are really intent on taking out a gringa.
Or the husky dog sniffing around the trash who looks up when you are running toward him. Like is he going to chase you down or not?
Then of course there are the hills that are everywhere and I don't mean little hills, I mean big ole' hills that kick your booty.
If it sounds like I am homesick, it is because I am! I have only been here a week and already I miss my family, my home and all the quirks that go with living abroad.
Yesterday I was looking at a picture of my baby and wishing I was there to brush her hair and give her a big hug. She did a sleepover with big sis last night so I'm sure Mom is the farthest thing from her mind.
The good news is Mom is home and no more sister sitting for awhile. I just hope I did not miss too much going on under my nose while on my watch.
My artist is headed down to see me next week and then home. Can't wait.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

SURPRISE VISIT

Looking at this guy who will be 29 in a few short months it is hard to believe he is my "baby". It was so good to see him and his family today, what a great surprise.
That is my grand daughters I know Grandma look!

Mr. Musculo, losing 25 lbs. is no small feat, especially when you are used to eating as much as this guy! He has always been able to put away more food than the rest of the family put together.


You gotta admit these are just the most adorable girlies in the world! At least in North America for sure. (Like the way I matched their plates with their shirts?)

ANOTHER EX-PAT DOWN HOW MANY MORE TO GO?

I receive the morning news from a.m. Costa Rica. This morning front page was about a Dutch guy over on Nicoya, near Samara who was robbed and murdered in his house, protecting his wife! He has lived here for over 20 years and probably felt pretty safe over there.
It appears they were drug people, they seem to be taking over the neighborhood on the coasts. I hope it takes awhile for them to spread to the Valley as I pretty much like it here :) Also Nicoya is supposed to be a really beautiful place and the druggies should have to stay in the ugly places! Don't really know of any of those here in Costa Rica but I'm sure we could set up some for them.
They did mention in the article there was another forced entry in Samara a week or so ago. That is a pretty place also, we visited there last year. The problem with all the robberies is in who is going to want to visit the beaches if the robberies continue? If people don't feel safe they are not going to vacation there.
That is pretty much what happened to the Caribean side, people not quite feeling safe there. We have always felt safe when we visit Puerto Viejo, but we don't mind people trying to sell us drugs all the time. We have never had a problem telling them no and they leave us alone.
Of course we always have the baby with us and here they do respect that, usually! Crazy goings on down South for sure.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

MY MOM'S BETTER THAN YOUR MOM!

I just had to say that! Today is my Moms birthday and I came all the way to the U.S. and I am not spending her birthday with her! Better than that I am able to sister sit for a few days so she can get a much needed break to the beach. She is spending the week with a couple of brothers hanging out at Hilton Head and chillin.
When my mom was 26 she was widowed with four kids under 8. My dad died in two hours from a brain aneurysm. He was 32 and like I said they had four kids. My older brother was 8, I was 6, and one younger brother 3 one 6 months. Try to wrap your head around that kind of trial for a few minutes! I can't even imagine something like that. But it made Mom tough.
Not tough like mean tough, just tough like stand your ground never let anything get you down tough. Three years ago when she was 65 she graduated from NAU with a bachelors in counseling. It took about 10 years but she completed it. While she was working on it she was also nursing my step-dad who was dying of cancer, and actually passed away while she was finishing up her degree.
Oh and did I mention she also has five other kids from my step-dad? Now when you sign up for 9 kids you can pretty much count on just about every trial known to man to be sure.
You can imagine who I call when I am down in the dumps and feeling sorry for myself and my lot in life. She can talk to me and put things in perspective like no one else in the world. And of course it only takes a couple of days of walking in her shoes so to speak to realize I do not have it too bad after all.
She is one woman who when the going gets tough she gets more faithful! That has always amazed me that she just gets stronger with trials instead of letting them pull her under.
I guess if I would aspire to anything spiritual in my life it would be to be more like my Mom! Happy Birthday Mom if you ever get time to read this!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

EARTH DAY

Tomorrow is Earth Day at school for Maleah. It seems funny to me that they plant trees and flowers here in Costa Rica where so many grow wild. We have a pepper plant by the front of our house growing out of the concrete! We have even transplanted it but it just keeps growing again and again.
That seems to be the most successful thing we have grown so far. Hubby just keeps growing peppers because we can grow them. He hates spicey food and so does his stomach, but by golly he keeps growing those peppers and giving them away.
I tried to cook with a couple of them one week just because I love spicey. He had cold cereal.
Anyway so the kids will be cleaning up and planting plants tomorrow at school to celebrate Earth Day. I hope so anyway, it could be moon day and they are all supposed to bring cut out moons for all the luck I have been having translating notes sent home :)

Monday, April 20, 2009

ANOTHER FIRST

My grand daughter finally talked her parents into letting her get a school uniform, of course that also meant she got to go to school! She started matricula today. Her mother said she was sooo scared she would not even let go of her leg. I know how she is though and am sure she was having a blast before the day was over. You can certainly see the mischief in her little sweet eyes! Just don't turn your back too long.
So just when I thought I had things pretty well figured out I got another shocker today. My hubby went to attend my daughters what I read as parent teacher conference, and lo and behold it was not to be. I did not understand the note and what it actually said was that she would be getting special attention after school on Mondays for half an hour.
When I was young that was called "special ed" and I am very much having a problem with that. I tell myself just calm down she does not speak Spanish and they are working with her. I just have problems with my child being singled out, with six others by the way for special attention.
This is why I always end up homeschooling. I refuse to let my kids be labled and now I have a decision to make. Am I willing to spend at least two hours a day working with my daughter, who is very smart and needs lots of challenges, or will I keep her in school? This is going to be a tough choice.
My hubby has always been for school. We seldom argue, ha ha ha, but when we do it is usually about this topic. Now he is the one throwing a fit about his daughter being in special class. We will see what he decides about it.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

IS COSTA RICA SAFE?

Needless to say after the murder in our neighborhood last night this is the biggest question we are asking ourselves. We found out more facts that help a little bit. One biggie was the fact that the kid (19 years old) was actually apparently speaking with the guy who shot him, and seemed to know him. The other was that this kid was one of the ring that has been robbing people in the neighborhood for the past few weeks. The other was that this kid was a known trouble maker and druggy.
About two months ago in fact he beat up my daughters boyfriend. He beat him up a bit and stole his sweatshirt. The guy who runs our neighborhood park called the police, who surprised all and showed up. They made the guy give the sweatshirt back and basically slapped his hand.
Apparently he messed with the wrong person this time. On the bus coming home from teaching I saw a group of people putting flowers and writing on the road where he was shot. A lot of the neighbors are surprised that anyone did anything since the kid was so much trouble. The fact remains he was only 19, and he was still someones' son, brother, and since we are in Costa Rica, probably someones' father.
Be that all as it may, my daughter is not allowed to walk off our street after dark. Isn't that messed up? I remember that when I was 8 not 15. People should at least be free to walk to the store or to get a movie or go anywhere without worrying about "bad guys".
Of course upon reading the U.S. news it sounds like it is getting pretty wild there. Who knows?

Friday, April 17, 2009

COSTA RICA WAR IN OUR BACKYARD

We have always felt relatively safe here in our little town in the mountains. My daughters' boyfriend just got a call on his cell phone that his ex-girlfriends current boyfriend just got robbed, beat up and shot right down the road from us. They ran out the door and just called to report.
It appears the kid was just walking down the road and the guys pulled up and robbed him. Knowing him he probably mouthed off and they shot him twice. He is dead.
Now it is getting a little close to home, as in about one hundred meters from our corner. In fact I run down that road every morning on my way home from the track. I would go take pictures, but the streets are packed with people mourning as well as just plain old freaking out.
I will get some pics tomorrow of the street so you can see how busy it is and how close to home it is. We have tried to keep our fingers on the pulse of things so that we would know when it was getting too dangerous to stay here. Not going out of our house after dark is not an option.
Of course as my son who just moved here from Vegas keeps reminding us there are many places in Vegas that he will not go alone at night either. Maybe just the world is getting pretty crazy to be sure.
I just wonder how hard the police here will even try to find these kids. At the neighborhood meeting they told us to try their office if we had any problems, and if no one answered try the next two neighborhoods over. They sure did not do this kid much good!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

HEAVEN IN A BAG

I am now convinced that I am not the only one that loves sweetened condensed milk! My daughter bought me one of these little puppies today and woo hoo, it was great. Just ignore the can of hot chocolate in the background, just check out the little bag of chocolate sweetened condensed milk.
My son was trying to convince me that this little bag of sweetened milk was worse for me than coffee. I don't know about that, but I do know that it tastes soooo good. Now I know it is not too good for me, but it does taste good.
Now I am thinking that I can use these for long runs instead of goo packets, probably about the same thing. Oh yeah now I just fit them into a healthy nitch so it all works out good. So for every two miles I run I get a packet of sweetened condensed milk.
Long run tomorrow, I have two packets left!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

SNOW AND GROCERIES

I received a message from a friend today that it is snowing in Flagstaff. I remember those spring days when it would snow and I would want to cry. When we decided it was time to open our massage school we knew we wanted to move somewhere that had no snow.
As we tell people we moved South until we found a place we could afford to live and ended up in Costa Rica. I am having second thoughts though as food prices continue to climb here. We spent almost one hundred dollars on groceries and the three of us could carry them in in one trip.
That is how I measure how much food we buy. If we can get them in in one trip it is not too good. I can remember when the kids were young and we would get the whole suburban filled in the back for two hundred dollars.
That would last us for two weeks. Now if I spend two hundred for the four of us, it would last maybe ten days two weeks if we really watch it. So my question is what are people eating these days? How is everyone affording to eat all the expensive stuff?
We eat very basic, I mean pasta, beans, rice, vegees and everything from scratch and still have to really stretch things. We hardly even buy cheese and the good stuff anymore. The tipico cheese here is ok, but sometimes we just crave some good ole' cheddar cheese.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

DENTIST DAY

I'm not sure if the dentist was harder on baby or dad! He was ready to jump out the window when they gave her the shot of novacaine. The thing is she has to have someone holding both hands, and of course her leg if there are enough people. She usually has pretty good teeth, but a couple of molars have rebelled against the worms she loves so dearly.
Costa Rica is still great on the dental bills though. For her total visit, the temp filling and cleaning and prep for the filling was ten bucks, can't beat that. It is funny because she will not even speak to the dentist now. When we walk in he says "Hola, como estas?" She just walks right on by and climbs up in the chair.
He did decide he would let the pediatric specialist handle the baby root canal and filling for the big cavern of a cavity. The good news is she will be able to eat her favorite again, apples!

Monday, April 13, 2009

TEA PARTY TIME,ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?


I know this little guy is having fun, but then again he always has fun! I have not blogged for a few days because I have not been having fun, and don't really like to pass that along to anyone. It is like the flu or the chicken pox, better to stay home, eat soup and get over it than to pass it along! I am doing a little better today, but will try to stay positive and not be a downer.
There are enough of those going around for the whole bunch of us to be sure. I can tell I have been watching the news too much, this is the way I tend to feel. Just so frustrating to watch what they are doing with our country.
I am an expat, but have always considered myself an aimiable expat. However I find those aimiable feelings fast fading. Really it began years ago when my son-in-law was deported and has gone quickly down hill ever since.
There are still great things about the U.S., but when I see how hard my kids living there have to work just to eat and live it makes me angry. Sixty cents of every dollar they earn is going to taxes, over half! They can barely eat, but they are expected to pay for silly programs, and even other people who don't or won't work to eat. It is a program gone sadly awry and I hope the Americans can take it back.
When I am here looking in it looks soooo much worse I'm sure. But I wonder if the reason it does not look so bad to those living there is because of the frog in the boiling water deal. They are still able to eek out a living so are hesitant to rock the boat so to speak.
One thing I wish and that is that I was going to be there on Wed. to share in the Tea Parties going on all over the country. It is way overdue and hopefully not too late.
Sorry I kind of let the negativity monster rear his ugly head, but I think it can be positive. We can all make a change by some little way. They said if you could not take part in a rally then at noon honk your horn three time. Shoot, no car! Oh well I will try to get a car to honk at me :)

Friday, April 10, 2009

GOOD FRIDAY

Happy Good Friday to all. I don't know if that is the way to say it or not, but at any rate hope everyone enjoyed the day and had real spring weather. We were remembering all the cold snowy Easters' we spent in Flagstaff. Taking the kids out when the wind was blowing about a hundred miles an hour for their forced hunt.
One year we decided to do the money eggs. So I had one egg with a $20.00 in it, a couple with $10.oo, s in it and some with $5.00,s and $1.00 bills. The amazing thing was the "tall one" found all the money eggs. Now how the heck did he do that? There were actually a couple of ones left but that was all.
A few days later, once everyone had forgotten about the incident he finally admitted how he had done it. He had found the eggs before I hid them, emptied them, and just said he found all the ones with the money in them. Pretty sneaky and he about got flogged good for that one.
You can certainly understand why I have hired him to be our business manager for our school :) I feel like I have been given an extra hand with him managing the web site and all the business issues, wonderful.
To celebrate Good Friday we (meaning me and sort of the girlies) made these super cool eggs! I bet you are trying to figure out how the heck we made these aren't you? Well they are literally "tye died". That is right we wrapped them in old silk ties from the thrift store and boiled them for 20 minutes. Aren't they beautiful?
You can see we were able to get two eggs from each tie, and we were just amazed. Try it out, just put 2 Tbls. of vinegar in with a pot of boiling water and boil them up. Oh yeah after you wrap the egg in the tie and put a twisty tie on it, wrap it again in a old white fabric to keep the ties from bleeding.
I was explaining to my son-in-law that I was wrapping them in white to keep them from "bleeding" and the girlies got very horrified expressions on their faces. It took awhile to explain that one for sure!

Then because we still had not had enough fun or mess we decided to make the little birdies nest below. The recipe called for a bag of white chocolate chips, yeah right we are lucky to find brown chocolate chips, so I bought white chocolate chunks. Then of course it called for sweetened coconut and that is another "can't find" here. So we kind of ab libbed and they turned out pretty cute.
The only sticky point came when I told my grand daughter that she had to put all the jelly beans in the nests, boy that was a little bit testy there. It was a fun activity for them though and they taste very sweet and rich.
Now off to the pool tomorrow and hopefully the girlies will be able to wait until Sunday to find their eggs and eat their bird nests!


Thursday, April 9, 2009

COSTA RICA WAR

Did you know that Costa Rica is at war? A drug war that is, and it is heating up and getting pretty nasty down here. Apparently the war in Mexico and Columbia is kind of just spreading to all Central and South America and we are smack dab in the middle.
The government here is doing what they can amid all the drug lords, cartels and just downright dirty officials, but they really can only do so much.
So last week four armed "bad guys" overpowered some guards in Golfito at a police station. In the police station there were several hundred kilos of cocaine. The bad guys took all the cocaine that the police had confiscated and vamosed!
Pretty ugly and embarrassing to say the least. So last news was they are trying to round these guys up and reconfiscate the cocaine.
Yesterday in the newspaper was the article about the fire in Puntarenus. This time it was again very well orchestrated and organized. That is when it gets scary, when they get organized. At any rate they burned 15 ships up that were in port there. They were narcotic coast guard ships and now they aren't.
Getting a little scary ha? The thing is it makes me think of another band that once they were entrenched in the land they were heck to get out. The Gadianton Robbers were very much like these drug cartels we are trying to get out of our land.
They move into a country, infest it and just basically take over. They are very powerful and very hard to get rid of. Like they told them in the BOM, it is much easier to not let them move in than it is to get rid of them once they set up.
It is just amazing how many people they have bought off, and taken control of just to sell their drugs and spread their evil over all lands. BUMMER!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Do you ever have one of those weeks in your workout routine where you feel like you are just running on empty? That is the perfect description of my workout week. Monday had a really wimpy run, it was hot and I just barely made four miles. Yesterday did not even run, layed around and read the last Twilight book all day. (I do have to say it was the only one I really enjoyed by the way.)
Oh yeah and I got a massage in the afternoon. I guess I should just view it as a recovery day and chalk it all up to training.
Today I did a pretty good run, but just did not feel really strong. I am finding that I do better earlier when it is cooler. We are going into the rainy season so it is very hot and humid in the mornings after 8:00.
Today was a day to check out a new road and see where it led. It ended up leading back to the old road. Kind of boring. I am looking out for some new places to run. I do have some pre-requisites though that are a little hard to meet here.
In Costa Rica the roads are nicely paved, but very narrow. I like to find roads that are a little wider and maybe with a sidewalk. Sidewalks are hard on the legs, but not as hard as getting hit by a car would be on them :)
I also like to find a road with very little traffic. Again a tricky one since the nicer roads are the ones "most traveled".
I would like to do some hill work, but the hills seem to have the most narrow roads of all. I guess they suppose that since people cannot pass, they won't so they don't have to make the roads any wider than two cars. I mean not one inch wider!
There in a nutshell is why I always end up running on the track. I am thankful it is close and a really nice track, but man oh man can it get boring running in circles. I kind of start getting the hamster feeling going on.
Another problem is probably the fact that I have been eating everything in the house. I made banana bread the other day and ate it for two days. The tall son came over last night after work and I told him to eat the remainder of the bread.
That is the problem when you raise seven kids. They move out and you keep cooking like you have a houseful, and you're still nursing or pregnant, and boom, you turn into a middle age balloon.
Well I for one will not go down without a fight by golly! I will keep fighting gravity, age, hormones and everything else life throws at me just to keep moving and feeling good.
To quote Andrew Carnegie : " I am not to be envied. How can my wealth help me? I am sixty years old, and I cannot digest my food. I would give all my millions if I could have youth and health".
It is worth the fight for sure.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

SUMMER DAYS


I am so enjoying the beautiful summer days we are having. Really we don't have anything such as winter, spring, fall or summer, but we do pretend. What we do have is dry and wet season. Last week we got a full day of rain and were hoping against hope that it was not the premature begining of wet season. I need just a little more dry to get the moisture out of my system before I am ready to dive in once again, literally.
Costa Rica is enjoying the week of "Holy Week" such as none other. I am amazed and awed by their true devotion and religious observance. OK that is pretty sarcastic as "Holy Week" is really just an excuse for a really long party. The good part is it is also dry week. The stores cannot and do not sell alcohol and the bars are closed from tomorrow night until Sat. I'm sure it helps cut down on driving accidents over the holiday.
The country is of course suffering from the global economic crisis just like the rest of the world, which means more people are staying home. In the alDia paper today hubby read an article about how more families are staying home and just hanging out with each other. Others told that they were using their credit cards and heading to the beach anyway.
I do hope they look into their "crystal ball", the U.S. and take a lesson about using the credit so easily. When I go to the grocery store here now it is just like back in the states, everyone uses the cards. I am like the only one using colones! Slowing up the line and all you know.
At least it is great to see families hanging out again. We are looking forward to the long weekend, actually our lives are one long weekend, but at least everyone else will be off work :) The girlies will do the egg thing Sun at Sises house and we will all eat, of coures. The good thing is they do not have the commercialized candy thing going on here for Easter. Can't find it, kind of like trying to get alcohol this time, aint gonna happen! Saves pounds for sure.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

MOTHER OF THE YEAR WINNER !

Did you know my daughter was "mother of the year"? I didn't think you knew that, because you don't read the Costa Rica newspapers, but sure enough she is. Then again maybe it did not make it to the newspaper, but we all know the truth and that is what matters ha?
As you can see she loves to cook and is very good at it. My favorite things she makes are the enchiladads from Hondurus. They are amazing and very good. I also love her cookies and her chicken and potato dishes. All in all I love her cooking. She is trying to quit eating, but it is hard when you cook so good.
Besides being the "mother of the year" she is the "running partner of the year". She will do our long run with me on Saturday at any time. She has been good enough to wait until six in the evening before and will even go at six in the morning. We are training for the Tamarindo Marathon in August and she is great about keeping me on task.
She is also an awesome sister. She is good about keeping her sisters to task and making sure I know what is going on. She remembers things I don't about being young and can remind me when I forget what it was like to be young. She is also awesome to take in her brothers and help them get on their feet here in Costa Rica.
I think the frosting on the cake is the fact that she is just an all around awesome daughter. She is my best friend and I am constantly amazed at how smart and on the ball she is. She is also my business partner and is great about teaching Mom how to run a business.
After the things she has been through, with hubby being deported, major health issues as a baby, as well as job hassles, she has handled with grace and courage. She is an inspiration to me and I hope you are lucky enough to meet her some day and be inspired by her as well.






Friday, April 3, 2009

CREATING PEACE ONE MASSAGE THERAPIST AT A TIME

I am really excited about our graduation today, and not just because we got to eat at Inka Grill, Costa Ricas' primo Peruvian food eatery. Though that was a huge plus for the whole experience to be sure :) No actually what made the day extra special was the fact that there is one more massage therapist in our family now! She made it! I mean barely as she had 7 student massages to complete this time last week, but she slid under the wire and completed her work. As she has two clients already she should be able to pay off her student loan pretty quickly ;)

We were also very happy to graduate our other student who had his clinic hours completed two weeks ago and was able to skate throught he last two weeks. He is very excited to be done and off on his next adventure to Corocova Natl park and then off the Nica. We wish him well and tons of success on his life adventure.
I told both of them this was a huge step and a very life changing one. I know when I completed massage school it certainly changed my life as well as that of my family. No more payday to payday with hubbys checks. We were able to take vacations, and enjoy the joy of eating something besides beans and rice for the first time in many years.
Being a massage therapist has been a great job, as well as learning experience for me as well as hubby. I learned how to run a business, how to pay taxes, how to budget my own money as well as try to learn to say "no". All in all I have to say my choice to be a massage therapist was a great one that I am thankful for everyday.
I do hope they enjoy the success we have enjoyed with our massage careers and have a heck of a ride on the way!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

P.E. DAY IN COSTA RICA


This is the P.E. uniform that took us a month to track down, and buy. It all started when we missed the first Friday of school. Here in Costa Rica the kids have P.E. one day a week. That is the day their school has P.E. and I was not there so I missed seeing everyone wearing different clothes. I'm sure it is somewhere in my notes home, but they are very difficult for me to read and I may have missed that memo.
After missing the first Friday we showed up for the second one and said uh-oh, everyone has on different clothes than yours. Imagine you are in pre-kinder and everyone is dressed differently than you, oh yeah and they all speak a different language already.
So Hubby picked her up that day and asked when she was supposed to wear the suit and where to get it. She told him she had some uniforms and asked if he needed one. He only half understood her and told her no thanks my wife will take care of it.
The following week I started the "search". We walked all over downtown on Thurs. with no luck, they said we had to buy them in our town. I called a friend and asked her if she knew where in town to buy them. She said don't worry about it she had her daughters old one and would bring it by that day.
About six that evening I called her and she had not been able to find it. She did tell us where the store was that we could find it, so we were getting warmer. The problem was the next day she had to go for her third P.E. day with a different suit.
When I dropped her off the teacher asked me if I wanted a suit for her since she had one! She told me she had asked my hubby but he said no thanks. I said we difinately would appreciate one. When I picked her up from school she had a t-shirt but they were out of the shorts and socks.
The following week we were finally able to get to the store to get her the rest of her suit. The problem, they did not have her size in shorts. So here you see a size six girl in a size eight pants. I told her it looks cool because she looks like a basketball player like her brother.
The biggest and best part of the whole outfit? The tie shoes that she learned to tie by herself the first week of school. My baby is growing up too fast!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

BODY FAT MEASUREMENTS

This may not have been the best day to get out the body fat measurers. My son the baker made the above bread this afternoon at the house. He just showed up and proceeded straight to the kitchen and made this amazing cinamon bread. He is like I said a baker and it really is not fair.
Anyway after he made bread and hubby made a cholestrol soaked dinner, because he is still confused and is eating more instead of less high cholestrol foods, the kids decided to check body fat.
Being a personal trainer of course I have all the fun gadgets around the house so they went ahead and measured. I will just share a couple of them. My daughters boyfriend was about 5%, my son the baker, the same. I tried to talk him into a picture of his stomach but he refused :(
He will walk all over town with no shirt on, but gets camera shy all the sudden. So me, my daughter and my hubby just skipped. We pretty much know our body fat %.
When I was training big time, and had just finished an ironman my body fat was about 18%. I guess after six pregnancies I should not be too bummed about that. Especially since the average for women my age is about 28%. So I will continue to fight.
At times I decide I am old enough to stop running, watching what I eat, and working out. I have all kinds of good excuses to just give into the flab. But dang it I can't do it! My vanity gets the best of me and I have to work on it.
I don't know if it is really vanity, I mean for heavens sake I have dreadlocks, but it is certainly something. Maybe some sort of competitiveness with something or someone. Now if that was the case it would make sense, I do have a little of that in my nature.