Hmmm

Friday, June 06, 2008

~_~

I’m so tired. I work around 70 hours a week, everyday. Today was my first day off in about 2 months. I’ve got 2 jobs. I no craft no more. I no write. Me zombie.

Money good.

Baby mucho toys. Yey!

Baby formula mucho expensive. Booo

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Whoa

It has been 6 and a half months since my last post. Hehehe. Yes. Quite a while. My little girl is not so little anymore. She was born 6 months ago and it's been pretty great since then.

She's a good baby; fussy only when she is hungry and even then she is patient enough to wait a few minutes for me to prepare her bottle.

Fatima was born 7 lbs 4 oz and like 17 inches. Now she's 18 lbs and 23 inches long. Amazing at how fast babies grow. She has also changed a lot! She had a full set of hair which would spike up everywhere and it is finally beginning to settle.

Oh she slept through the night since the 2nd week. By sleeping through the night I mean at least 5 hours straight, which trust me, it's glorious. Little-by-little time was increased and since month 3 she slept about 9 hours straight during the night. Not in the day time. Day time she takes naps and then is up and awake, which means she recognized day from night very early on.

She enjoys listening to music, playing with her toy piano and grandpa's real piano. She paints with her grandma, watches sports with daddy, tries on shoes with her aunty, and types on the computer with me. She's starting to make raspberries too and tries to stand up. She can't just yet, but if I am holding her little hands she'll stay up for almost a minute.

She's my wonderful little girl.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Gifts for Baby

I started working part-time 2 weeks ago and it feels good. I find myself falling asleep in a chair after a while so I really need the extra rest… Well, when I actually get it. Leaving the museum by 1 pm doesn’t mean I do any less. There is always something to be done; the advantage is how and where I can do it and what I am wearing while doing so. My legs area starting to feel heavy (no cankles yet, thankfully) and they seem spotted with blotches of pink. When husband notices I no longer have ‘chicken’ legs then it must definitely mean they are getting plumper. I wish my legs always looked like this, though, they look pretty… they just don’t feel too good (restless legs, crawlies at night, etc). Sooo I get home, take off the shoes and wear comfy sandals and pick up my feet while I do some work from home, something I can’t really do at the museum. Oh, I am not driving anymore. I have personal chauffeurs, hahah!

I am not sure how much longer I’ll be able to continue to go physically to the museum. I’ve already talked to my boss and senior staff and during my leave I shall continue to work from home as many of my things I can do from my little home office. I am thinking I can go for 2 weeks more… it really depends on how I am feeling and what my doctor says.

Yesterday I had my baby shower (Sept 29, 2007), which was put together by my mom and sister. It was great! They reserved this cozy tea place called Media Luna, the entire place was for us and the service was excellent. The food was delicious. My sister and a friend of the family organized all games and gifts for the guests and my mom coordinated decorations, menu, invitations, and everything else!

I got TONS of stuff for my Fatima. Baby clothes (tons), blankies (tons), monitors (2), play pens (2), strollers (3!), diaper bags (4!) assorted rattles and pacifiers, diapers and accessories, a walker, a swing, a camera and a dvd recorder. The things I got 2 of I can split with my mom for when Fatima goes to visit her grandma, the strollers and diaper bags I’ll have to see if I can exchange at the store. Everything was from Target, the only place I registered for convenience – plus they have very cute stuff there. I am thinking several of my friends went shopping at the same time and the system didn’t right away go through, or a few of them forgot to go to the front desk to tell the people to update the registry after they’d purchased the gifts.

The living room is full of boxes right now and I think I’ve put away all the baby clothes already. I want to start putting some of the larger things together but I need to buy nets first, otherwise the kitties will cozy up in them before she does!

It has been great and it felt so good seeing all my friends and knowing how much everyone cares. My little baby comes to a very loving place.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

It's a girl!

Had a sonogram yesterday morning. It all points to a girl. Hubby and I are very happy, that's what he wanted the baby to be. He took the day off yesterday (though he works today the 4th) but I had to work. Did quite a bit of work at the museum and we're getting ready for a new exhibition. After work we all went to a city meeting to support a petition by our new mayor to give more funds for the arts, a no-kill plan for strays, and monies to purchase more ambulances for the city so we were there til about 8 pm. It didn't pass. ... Shameful. We still have our same old 5 old ambulances to take care of the entire city with a population of 167,493 (and that's from the 2005 census). The idea was to add 3 dollars to monthly utility bills which would be split among the organizations: $1 for the rescue animal society, $1 for the purchase of more ambulances, and $1 for our museum and the theater playhouse. The arts were only getting .50 each per bill, but that would have been enough to allow us to offer more services to the children of our community. We aim to educate the public and offer many free classes specifically to school children up to high school. This was disappointing as there was much opposition from people saying they didn't want a new 'tax.' 3 bucks a month... 36 a year. After the meeting I had fast food since we hadn't eaten anything since noon and that was 11 dollars. $3 a month is what one can find at the bottom of the purse in loose chain. Sad, sad. Anyway, mom was with us who was also very upset since she knows the work that we are doing. My hubby arrived there a little after the city meeting had started but he stayed outside since the room was packed. He said he heard everything (including other city business of course) and he was maaaaad. Not all officials were against the proposal, there were some strong supporters among the new mayor but such is life. It's all about the number of votes against. Anyway. Husband had gotten there with a surprise for me.

While I was working hubby spent all day shopping. He picked me up at the city with a new suv which is now parked outside the house. I still don't know how to use all its features (like individual temperature controls and for the winter: seats that warm up). He even got it with a DVD player in the back... for the baby he said. That was sweet. Also, he went and got a new mattress for my aching back! So tonight I slept in a state-of-the-art NASA approved foam mattress... Feels good. Hugged the tummy well.

I'm off to try the DVD player with my mom. Then we'll watch the soccer game in the afternoon. Ta-da.

Dun Dun Dunnnn

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Crappy

Okay this sucks. I came down with something, probably the common cold, and I can’t take anything for it except Tylenol. Tylenol helps with the headaches but I am getting fevers coming and going, my body feels broken and tired, and my throat itches uncomfortably... and the runny nose of course.

Actually, I had been feeling bad on Thursday night, then Friday it worsened but I figured I could take care of it by Saturday (I work sundays at the museum). Well it’s Sunday and I feel worse. I’ve decided to take the day off and not go until Tuesday since I have a meeting at 10. I was going to give a workshop today but I’ve already called participants to cancel and resume on next Sunday. I’m just hoping my boss got the note since I need someone else to cover for me and open and close. I really rather just stay home, maybe macrame something. I don’t want to push it, since the last time I had a cold I had it for 2 weeks (when the museum was opening I didn’t take any days off for 2 weeks and I was running around the almost finished museum with a high fever, so I just didn’t get better). I can’t be sick for 2 weeks now.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Happy

It has been a while, what with work, exhibitions, the summer approaching and writing curriculum and helping with program coordinating and tours when I get home I just want to do nothing. I watch some TV during dinner time which I call ‘bonding time’ with the husband and then he goes off to watch cricket and other feeds from his country over the internet and I get on my own pc to just browse stuff. Nothing in particular really.

Hubby and I talked about having a baby and decided it was a good time as we are both old enough and have been together for a good number of years and feel that our marriage is strong enough to be able to go into this next level. That was 3 months ago and I am now 3 months pregnant - the doc said 3.5 since he counts as of my last cycle, but I know better. I found out I was pregnant 2 weeks after my hubby and I got to work since we timed it just right (there are only about 2-3 days of actual fertility time in a month, wow, you would think that with those odds there would be less pregnant teenagers in the world but Nature works in mysterious ways, eh?). Only about 1 out of 10 women get pregnant on the first try. I’m one of those lucky ones. Hubby did his good pre-baby regime too, though it was for very different reasons from having a baby. He started a low ‘everything’ diet to keep under control things such as cholesterol, sugar, pressure, and weight. He lost about 60 pounds in about 14 months by eating very good things like all his greens, no fried stuff or extra battered, and cut down on the processed sugars and he started playing (and still does) Racquet Ball on a daily basis at the gym with a few weights added. He started this regime since waaaay before we even thought about having a baby, as last year we hadn’t even begun to discuss it. My health was also rather good. I didn’t do anything like what he did (actually I gained about 10 pounds since the 2006 holidays since I don’t cut the carbs) but I did stop eating any junk food when he did. Being a woman… and having been in diets since I was like 13, I know how difficult it is to follow a diet when people around you eat chips and chocolate and French fires and all that mouth-watering, yummy-but-health-detrimental stuff. But I am a vegetarian, so I would eat all my veggies and pastas (I guess that’s the part that doesn’t let me lose weight right?) while hubby stuck to his salads, healthy chicken soups, and fruits. No red meats for the most part (only when he really craved them) as he was concerned about the cholesterol and other things.

Soooo he was very healthy and I was healthy too (albeit plump and chunky) when we decided to give it a try. We would wait till the time of my next cycle to see if it worked and if it didn’t we’d wait 2 more weeks and try again (we were trying for my most fertile days to really be able to keep track of my actual baby months). It worked out very well.

At about 5 weeks I had my first sonogram and I saw my baby. It was a little dot on the screen that would glow in and out – the baby’s heart. It was beautiful. Up to that point I felt really, truly pregnant. One sees the test, hears the doctors, gets more tests but it isn’t until I saw that little glowing dot on the screen that I said “it’s really happening.” I was growing a life.

This Tuesday I had my 2nd sonogram. OUR BABY’S GOT EVERYTHING! It’s got a head, a body, legs, arms, and what I think are ears. And it moves in there so much. I was watching the screen (my mother goes with me to all my doctor visits so she was crying on the background) and the baby suddenly stretched a leg and it floated to one side. Then it reached out with the little arms. I saw my baby move the head and touch it with the hand and continue to kick around in there. The baby’s is doing its things in there, probably exploring. Mom said it is going to be a very active baby.

I’ve been keeping track of my weight… oh and I am no longer a vegetarian. Mah baby loves its meat. Well… grilled burger meat only, and not all the time. Sometimes I just get a craving for a particular brand and we have that, but other than that I stick to the healthiest food I can have. Mom prepares lunch for us everyday – she didn’t like us going to restaurants during our lunch hours and said she wanted her grandchild to eat home-made at least once a day. I’ve gained about 4 pounds since getting pregnant and I am very happy about that. According to my doctor because I am obese I shouldn’t gain more than 10-15 pounds overall during my pregnancy. That means I am only allowed to gain actual Baby and Water weight. That fat, I already have. Normal-weight women can gain up to 40 pounds, but women like myself should really not gain anything in the fat department. I don’t want the risk of having an extremely large baby or get diabetes during pregnancy. It’s dangerous for both baby and myself.

Both our families and friends know by now and keep congratulating us. We are very happy. Hubby’s being very good, making sure I don’t miss the vitamins and helping take care of the pets – ooooo no longer the babies anymore! Nah, they are still my babies and will have to share the love. That’s another things we need to research on – introducing baby to Chico, Tushi, and Max - Did I mention we got another doggie? We rescued him from the streets. He is about 8 years of age and had horrible eye infections from a street fight. The one really, really bad eye is better now. He needs daily medicine and artificial tears, so he’s an expensive doggie but he’s the nicest boy in the world! We really enjoy having him at home. He’s been with us since Christmas.

So that’s been me these months. Working and happy expecting our baby.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

STAR TREK VII: REALLY LAST VOYAGE

Thursday, February 22, 2007

:p

Fine, fine.

Well I've been super busy.

We've had eight exhibitions (and numerous lectures, workshops, tours, and public events) since the last time I wrote. All have been quite successful and took many hours of work. We are currently working for our upcoming exhibition, the 36th International Art Show (March 7) which we hope will be a blast!

I am actively working with student events as well and hoping to start more museum curriculum soon. All this of course takes a lot of time and we all put in many hours and effort. I was putting in about 16 hours a day the past two weeks. Museum life is not as simple as it may initially seem.

This week settled a bit and next week we'll start the busy days all over again as we bring down 2 exhibitions to put up the 36 IAS.

Home life is going well. My husband is very supportive and while at times I am really grouchy here at the house (lack of sleep does that some times :P )he understands and... gives me my space. HAHA. No seriously. He's great, even started volunteering at the museum on Sundays.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

In Texas

...people’s schedules are set according to The Cowboys.

We had Open House at the museum on Thursday. It was a great show, we had about 120 people recorded and I know the docents missed quite a few because people were piling up to get in to the museum.

During the evening I advertised two other events we were having – the photography lecture for Friday noon, and the holiday concert for today, Sunday. One of our city commissioners was around for Open House and we went to my office so he could show me a video we were working on for the museum, “Thanks so much for coming today! The support is great. Oh by the way, you have to come back again on Sunday.” And I gave him one of the pamphlets I made for the event. Charlie looks at it and says – he lets me call him by his first name, great gentleman, a big Arts and children programs supporter – “Oh yeah, this looks like fun… oh wait, wait, wait… When are the Cowboys playing?”

I look at him and raise my eyebrow, “They play in the late evening. So no excuses.”

He just laughed.

Today in the morning as I was getting ready to go to the museum my husband told me “You know, you guys are lucky the Cowboys are playing in the evening, otherwise forget it, you’d only have the musicians there.”

That would have been the truth.

Anyway. The concert was great! We had the Renaissance group play in costumes (that was something new for many of us) and then the Brass consort. We have great acoustics in the museum. The sound flowed nicely throughout the 3 main atriums.

Overall, it was a very nice event and all visitors left very happy.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Holiday Concert at Brownsville Museum of Fine Art

Brownsville Museum of Fine Art
660 Ringgold, Brownsville, Texas
info [at] brownsvillemfa.org
(956) 542-0941 – NEWSRELEASE

HOLIDAY CONCERT AT THE BROWNSVILLE MUSEUM OF FINE ART

The public is invited to enjoy a Holiday Concert at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, 660 E Ringgold, Brownsville, Texas, 1:30 p.m., Sunday, December 10, 2006, when the UTB/TSC music program presents the Scorpio Consort and the Rio Bravo Brass Consort. Admission: $5 for adults and $3 for children. Museum members are free.

Scorpio Consort Personnel are: Rebecca Villarreal, soprano recorder, Ana Nuñez, sopranino and alto recorders, Sandra Divnick, tenor recorder, Sergio Godínez, alto and bass recorders, Blanca Olvera, bass recorder, and Dr. Carol McNabb, director

The Scorpio Consort was founded by Dr. Carol McNabb in 2002 to provide UTB/TSC students an opportunity for performing Renaissance vocal and instrumental music. Dr. McNabb is an associate professor at UTB/TSC, where she teaches music theory, aural skills, and double reeds. She holds degrees in bassoon performance from University of
North Texas, University of Louisiana at Monroe, and University of Arizona.

The Scorpio Consort will open the concert with: Ricercar a quattro, No. VII.Andrea Gabrieli (1532-1585),Two Madrigals: Weep, O Mine Eyes.John Bennet (c. 1575-?) and El Grillo É Bon Cantore,.Josquin Des Prez (c. 1440-1521), Two Settings of Wie schön leuchet der Morgenstern, Chorale.J.S. Bach (1685-1750), Chorale Prelude. Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), arr. S. Godínez

Carols of the Season will be: What Child is this? Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming, Carol of the Bells, arr. B. Olvera, Fum, fum, fum, The Holly and the Ivy and Pat-a-pan.

The Brownsville Museum of Fine Art is located in the Mitte Cultural District of Brownsville adjacent from Gladys Porter Zoo. The mission of the museum is to provide art awareness and opportunities for the community and those who visit.

For more information contact the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art at (956)542-0941. Thank you for supporting the arts.

Labels: museum

Photography Lecture at Brownsville Museum of Fine Art

Brownsville Museum of Fine Art
660 E. Ringgold
Brownsville, Texas 78520
info [at] brownsvillemfa.org
Tel: (956) 542-0941 x 304
Fax: (956) 542-6931

Brown Bag Lecture Series: Artistic Photography

Friday, December 8, 2006, 12:00 noon, The Museum's Brown Bag Lecture Series will present professional photographers Teresa and Eugene Allen. The Allens will discuss techniques of professional photography. Admission is Free to museum members. There is an admission fee of $5 for non-members and general public.

For information on Brownsville Museum of Fine Art programs and opportunities contact the museum at (956) 542-0941. Thank you for supporting the arts.