Manic Mondays

Back to work this week. Blah. No fun, but necessary.

For my birthday, a good friend of mine gave me this fabulous gift pack from Bath & Body Works with a new scent they were offering. It is exotic and mysterious, and I love it. Last week I was getting ready for a very important meeting and I decided to use the lotion in the basket to make my arms and legs smooth. After I lathered the stuff on like there was no tomorrow, I realized that it wasn't getting absorbed into my skin very well. My skin had this pasty whitish color and to top it off, it was all sparkly (it was sparkly glitter lotion, better suited for a 12 year old). Needless to say, I didn't have time to wash it off, so I sat in my very important meeting hunched over the conference table, hoping that my teenage sparkly arms and legs were hidden under the expansive table. The next several days I decided to try the great smelling perfume. I realized that the same days I used that perfume was also when I was suffering from hives. I have since stopped using the scented perfume and lotion, and have been hive-free. Thank goodness. No more exotic smelling goodness for me. I guess I might have to start taking showers like the old fashioned way.

I have been obsessed with looking for a dog at the pound the last month or so. I have been visiting the dog pound every several days. Many times I almost came home with one, but for some reason or another decided not to act. Last week, I finally found the dog that was perfect for our family. His little nose was squeezed in between the chain link fence and as I reached in to rub his ears, he closed his eyes and tried to lay his head on my hand. He was quiet, unafraid, and calm. I knew he would be perfect. We have had him for almost a week, and he has been the perfect dog. He is about 1 year old, and they think he is a dachshund (wiener dog) and chihuahua mix. Whatever he is, he is cute! He hasn't had any accidents in the house (almost a given when you have a new dog) and he has gotten along fabulously with Nika, who is at least 10 times bigger than he is (he weighs 12 pounds, she weighs 130 pounds). Best of all, we saved a life! As Bob Barker says, "Please help control the pet population. Spay and neuter your pets..."


I was a horrible mom on Halloween and forgot to take photos of the kids. I had three opportunities to do so (2 parties and one night of trick-or-treating), but forgot. I have half a mind to dress them up again just for photos, but the make-up this year was a pain. With Jessica being a punk/goth angry person she had a lot of black eyeliner and dark eye shadow. It took days for it to finally wash off completely. I guess I will have about 8 more years of watching her act sullen and gloomy for photos, so I shouldn't be in such a hurry.


Until next time, thanks for checking in.

Itchy Insmonia

I have some tendencies toward insomnia several times a week. I decided that maybe while I am up twiddling my thumbs in the wee hours, I could actually be writing in my blog! Wow, wonder of all wonders.

Tonight, along with my regular insomniac moment, I seem to have broken out in hives. I cannot stop itching like crazy. I finally turned on the light, and low and behold, the right side of my body is covered in welts. The worst part of it is my palms. They are completely swollen and red. Tingly sensations accompanied by pulsing heat penetrates my skin from within. I was so proud of growing out my nails the last couple weeks, but since I have been using these clawed beauties to scratch my skin raw in the last couple hours, I doubt I will have any nails left. Or skin. I swallowed two Benadryl capsules hoping to stop the insanity, but so far nil. I fully expect to feel a little woozy and drugged from the Benadryl, but if it helps the hives then so be it. I just hope I can wake up in the morning when my alarm goes off. If this doesn't stop in the next hour, I will be making a solo trip to the ER, because I simply cannot stand it any longer.

This weekend I threw caution to the wind and dusted off my road bike. I decided it was time to get back on and see if I can actually put this thing to good use. The first day the whole fam damily decided to go. We took the girls with us on an 8 mile ride, and of course they did just fine. They are total champs. The bad thing about this ride is that there is no bike lane or shoulder for some portions of the ride and cars can go whizzing by you at 55 or 65 mph. Not good, when you have an 8 year old cranking down on her mountain bike pedals just trying to keep up with us. Needless to say, we all made it home without any of us becoming road kill, and we enjoyed the ride very much. This morning, I woke up to some very stiff shoulders and a very sore posterior. Before I even had a chance to open my eyes, Felipe was bouncing around asking me if I was ready to go biking again, this time without the kids. Uh, sure. I did almost the entire ride in an upright position off my seat because I thought for sure that my posterior was so black and blue, I would only add to further bruising. Eventually we made it back home, and I even think I might want to torture myself again tomorrow.

Wow, I just realized that I have stopped feeling the overwhelming urge to scratch myself to death. Along with this feeling of relief comes a very fuzzy headed feeling that can only be attributed to the miracles of Benadryl. I guess sleep is approaching quickly.

Plagiarism and nothing new (mutually exclusive)

As my dear friend Maren commented, keeping up with this blog might be the greatest challenge. The hardest part about writing is waiting until something defining or earth shattering happens. Because our lives are mundane and rather boring (yet always busy), I have nothing great to report. Then I realized that apparently it is okay to write about our everyday routine life. Maybe reading a blog is like reading someone's secret diary. You want to know the ins and outs of their life. Wild.

I have also decided to officially change our title from Caballero Musings to Caballero Candor. Mostly because the alliteration sounds cool, but more importantly because I inadvertently copied the "musings" title from a fellow friend and blogger. Originally I was going to call it Caballero Cantor, but according to dictionary.com, cantor has something to do with religious singing. Not quite the idea I was trying to convey...

The girls got their first quarter report cards. Jessica was moaning and upset because she didn't get straight A's. She said, "I try really hard, but I just can't get straight A's." Of course her sister gets straight A's without effort. Jessica struggles and works hard on her homework every night while Alisa skips around the house begging for more homework to do. Naturally an argument between the siblings ensues, and then I have to play policewoman while juggling dinner, laundry, and being a tutor.

A week ago we decided to go out for some Thrifty ice cream. Thrifty was an old drugstore we used to have here in AZ. They sold the best ice cream amongst the aisles of hemorrhoid creams and Tylenol. If I remember correctly, it used to be only 5 or 10 cents for a scoop which was in this cool cylinder shape. You can still get cylinder shaped ice cream scoops at the local Water 'n' Ice stores. If you happen to find Thrifty ice cream near you, try Chocolate Malted Crunch. That's my favorite. But I digress. On our way to getting ice cream we noticed a hair salon (one of those cheapies in an outdoor strip mall) and decided the girls needed their hair trimmed. We walked in at 5 minutes till closing, the only customers there, and begged them to do a quick trim for both girls. As Jessica sat in the chair, she decided she wanted more than just a trim. We decided we wanted to be able to donate the hair to charity and she would need to cut off 10 inches. Without hesitation, she agreed. Jessica has super thick hair, so the hair dresser put her hair into two ponytail braids, and lopped it off. Those two braids from her head probably are equivalent to two people's donation. Jessica was very excited about the possibility to donate her hair. We are going to send it to Locks of Love which makes wigs for children who suffer from long term medical hair loss. To top it off, Jessica's new haircut is adorable. She really looks like a pre-teen now. Or "tween" as they call it nowadays. Alisa walked out with just a trim, but of course she now wants her hair cut short just like her sister. She is pretty close to the 10" mark, so we are going to grow it out just a little more and then cut and donate it.

Our next edition will of course have Halloween photos, financial updates (a job change perhaps? real estate windfall?), and more interesting family tidbits. Thanks for joining.

~cc

I've finally joined the masses!

Well, there's no turning back now. I have officially become one of "them". You know the type, the ones who post adorable pictures of their children on the Internet for all to see, keep us updated on their ever changing lifestyle, and enlighten us with their opinions and ideas. In all seriousness, this blog idea is absolutely brilliant. What better way to keep in touch with family all over the US (and more)? I am actually very excited to start.

I suppose some catching up is in order...

Jessica is now 10 and in fifth grade, while Alisa is 8 and in third grade. I am proud to say that both have already received their first quarter progress reports and they did extremely well! However, Jessica did disappoint in one area...she got an average grade in Music! Is this my child? It's incomprehensible really. Didn't my playing the piano while she was in utero count for anything? Apparently not. Good thing I have another child I can place all my hopes and dreams on...

Felipe is still working at SRP (Salt River Project) and enjoying it very much. Of course, in addition to his regular work week, Felipe has been having a lot of fun helping all our friends with their weekend household projects (plumbing, landscape install, kitchen remodels, etc). The downside to that is that our own home is still in desperate need of some finishing touches. Patiently I wait. My time too, shall come.

I am working at the Air Force Research Lab as well as selling real estate part time. Although the Phoenix market has been hit pretty hard with the real estate slow down, luckily I have remained fairly busy. Busy enough to juggle it part time, at least. I also am enrolled in the Master's program for Applied Psychology at ASU. This is the complimentary degree to my undergraduate degree. So far I am enjoying it very much.

Now that I have caught everyone up on our most recent accomplishments, I will be able to publish our regular old fun stuff. (Gee, I wonder if this means I don't have to do Christmas Cards anymore?)



Well, I couldn't find any other recent photos, so you will have to settle for this old Christmas photo from last year. We went to go visit Santa Claus at the Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse (beats the mall every time!) and he wasn't there. Poor Felipe had to sit on Santa's chair. We had to leave Alisa's list behind and hope that Santa found it. Of course the darn kids get everything they ask for. That Santa!


I promise to publish a photo of all of us (read: me included) in the near future.

Love to all,

~cc