I'M BACK!!!!

Well, my darlings, the Big G is back and ready for bidness....chatty bidness that is!!! We got ourselves a spankin' new Gateway!! I have to get used to the keyboard and add all the lost addresses on my other email address, so it's going to take a while before I can get situated.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and looking forward to a sober New Year!!!! hahahahaha, did I say sober. Well, I have to be in order to make my "menudo." So many of you vomminted, I mean, commented about our popular soup/stew for the "crudas" many of us go through on New Years....cruda in Spanish means "raw," and let's face it, isn't that the way we feel after a night of over indulgence???!!?!?!?! Bought almost $80 worth of stomach, chile and I just remembered, I have to buy the posole, hominy, but I don't like the stuff in the can...I buy it fresh.

The hubby is going to the Sun Bowl game tomorrow...oh, it has another name, can't remember it, but Stanford and Ok are playing. I'll be home, cutting meat, and start the cook off, and stink up the house...that stuff really reeeeeks, but it's sooooo good when it's done. My brother's girlfriend doesn't like it, this coming from a Japanese woman who eats bait!! LOL Frankly, I love sushi but I think it's funny.

Saturday, the Diaz fam, or the ones that are here, will be celebrating Christmas...opening gifts from each other. I'm providing the meal, menudo of course. Should be a fun evening spending with my fam. Frankly, we don't intend on going anywhere again for Christmas again. My Christmas wasn't what I expected, but it was great to be with my little penis posse and get to know the newest little guy, my Sammy...he's a super chunk!!! Once he got used to my face, he was just adorable...that's usually the way it goes for most people!!! LOL

Well, need to get running and do some other stuff on this contraption. I can't tell you how much I've missed you all; as the old Joni Mitchell song goes, "Don't you know it seems to go, you don't know what you've got till it's gone..." Peace out my friends and thanks for not forgetting me!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Hellooooo my darlings!!!! Damn, I've missed you all so much and thanks for the comments you left me on my last blog. Well, the jury's in...the computer is a fried goner!!!! My poor little Dell sits there looking so forlorn and sad, but I will replace it soon with a brand new spankin' new Dell. My sweet man's company has a deal with them and he'll be able to buy one for a really good price, so hopefully, I'll be back online in January...from my lips to God's ears.

I'm getting ready to go to Austin tomorrow for Christmas. I'll be gone from the 22nd to the 28th just in time for the "menudo cook-off." For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a really great soup made with....drum roll please.....cows stomach and I add an ox tail in there for more flavour!!! Ok, I see some of you making those sour faces and sticking your tongues out going "YUCK!!" Well, I'll have to admit, it's an acquired taste. I grew up with it and I didn't touch it as a child, but I fell in love with the stuff as an adult. My sweet, late uncle, from Ohio, used to come by on New Years Day to our house to get his share of "menuuudo!" A very brave man for his time!! LOL I already have the list for my hubby when he arrives on the 26th from Chicago to go grocery shopping at my favorite Mexican shop, Mandos, for my stuff....can't wait. Didn't make it last year since I was still in shock and mourning from my dad's death. Oh speaking of Mexicans, how many Mexicans does it take to fill up a gas tank???? From what I witnessed today while I was gassing up, about 8!!! It was "toda la familia" trying to figure it out, till I went over there to help them..oey vey!! I guess it was my good deed for today. Anyway, you all have your black eyed peas for good luck for the year...we have menudo...not for luck but for the hangover the next day!!! We're really quite practical when it comes to these things...besides, I hate black-eyes peas. Made them when I was married to my ex...was from TN.

My sweet man and I have already decided no more Christmas' away from home...the little mountains can just come to Mohamed, dammit!! I'm still not threw packing for Ian and me and I think that I'll just be up late tonight with the laundry...you ask what the hell I was doing all weekend....not a friggin' thing. Saturday, my mom and I went to the cemetery to lay some flowers on my dad's grave...it's been a year and some on my aunt's since her birthday falls on the Virgen de Guadalupe day. Then I came home and spent the better half of the time wrapping gifts. What was I thinking....I can't take wrapped gifts on the plane...Doh!!! So the next day, Ian and I went to the $ General to get some bags, then I just labeled them all and packed the gifts in a piece of luggage. My butt, knees and lower back are really pissed off at me right now for putting through those wrapping sessions on the floor...ouch!!

I also saw one of my fav movies...well 2..."It's a Mad, Mad Mad World, " and "The Name of the Rose." Didn't stay up to watch the "Hangover," but I'll watch it in Austin since Andria has it. Tonight, I'll be washing, packing and just the usual one does before a trip and leaves all the details to the last minute. I did invite my poor daughter-in-law to come over as soon as her husband arrived. She was shorted some pills, Concerta, for her 6 year old steps0n and called me for advise....told her the pharmacies are notorious for doing that and the customers always ends up paying for it....metaphorically, or in her case, physically!!! LOL The kid was pinging off the walls and speaking in tongues....so I told her Benedryl is her next bet...it worked!! Hey, been there,done that!!! So I told her as soon as Lance get's home, just cross the street and come over to instruct her how to feed my doggies during our absence and have a 6 pack on me!!! LOL

Well, my dear friends, this is the end of my story and I'm sticking to it. If I don't get to blog before Christmas, have a wonderful Christmas or whatever and please be happy, safe and stay a little crazy. LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!! Peace out.

Post Script

Just want to thank all of you wonderful people how much I appreciate your sweet, uplifting comments. Yes, I am sad, but I do have all those wonderful Christmas memories. One in particular was just in a few years ago. My grandsons had received these huge cans of popcorn from my brother. My daughter told the little one at the time, my Zach, that he couldn't have any right then. He began with his typical temper tantrums and my father began to just tease him by telling him to shush in both English and Spanish. I suppose Zach had had enough and turned around and pointed to my Dad and yelled out "You a caca!!" Normally, he would have gotten a spanking for that, but it was so random, we all broke out laughing.

The good news I want to tell you, is that I will have all my babies with me at Christmas. The ex texted me, of course, and told me to go ahead and buy the ticket, so we're all set. Now to wait outside his driveway on Sunday when I take Ian back home and wait for my check!!! LOL

Again thank you all for your comments...I'm so blessed to have such wonderful friends out there in the world...you all means so much to me. Peace out and blessings.

Memories

Good Morning all you wonderful blogger friends. I haven't been around much lately since I really haven't been my ol' self. It's getting to that time of year that reality is very busy knocking on my head. This time last year my Pop was still around, ill, but still with us. He was able to attend our Thanksgiving celebration at my brothers in Las Cruces, NM, right up the road from here. I remember driving my folks up and singing along with Frank Sinatra on the CD player...my dad loved to sing. When he was in the hospital a few weeks later, he began singing "YMCA" and we both laughed about that, then we proceeded to go into old show tunes...we were brought up with Broadway music. Anyway, that was the last family meal we had together.

My wonderful father passed away just a few weeks later on Dec. 19th, 2008. The photograph above was taken 6 days later on December 24, are usual family Christmas get-together. That night we all knew a family tradition was gone. One that we had celebrated since our births, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Our dad was the heart of the Diaz' gatherings and our heart was now gone....we felt lost. We knew things were going to change, perhaps the beginning of new traditions, but change was definitely in the air. I think it frightened us because this is all we knew our entire lives. Change can be so ominous, but we've always rolled with it and see where it takes us, usually better places, but how could it get better without my father?

This year, there will be great changes, my mother is going to Southern CA to visit with my little brother and his family, my sister and niece will stay put in Phoenix, AZ, I will be traveling to Austin, TX to be with my older 2 children and my grandsons. My brother, Fred, and his family haven't decided since we were going to celebrate CE at my mother's house, but now that I'm going to be out of town, he's undecided whether he wants to spend it at home, or maybe drive up to Phoenix to celebrate with my sister. I so wanted my youngest to go with me to see his siblings and nephews, but without going into too much detail, his father has objected to the fact that he would have to purchase the ticket since I told him that this was my Christmas gift from my husband and I couldn't afford it, but this wasn't about him traveling with me, this was about Ian being with his sibs. He and wifey apparently have been a huge sores on every one's buttocks since I announced I would be going to Austin to spend Christmas with OUR children and grandchildren. Originally I was going to have Ian for the entire month of Dec., and I still intend on having him for 4 weeks, there will be a small break between them, though. He's angry because he can't control me anymore and usually blames everyone else, me being the biggest and baddest bee-atch, and if he can't blame others, he admits to lose of memory...jerk!

My daughter is thrilled and we're talking about having the Mommy/Daughter bake-off when I arrive bringing along our traditional Christmas Eve Mexican tamales. My little guys are ecstatic and can't wait and my son-in-law is also very excited...he's a great guy, wonderful step dad and daddy!!

However, with this new adventure waiting for me, I'm still very sad about it all. Like a child, I want things to be the way they were, but as the adult, I realistically know that's not going to happen. I'm keeping an open mind and looking forward to spending this holiday with my children, sadly, minus Ian and my hubby, but the hubby is going to Chicago to visit with his daughter and our sweet, adorable Aiden. I just wish I could win the lottery and take my son, but don't you have to play the lottery to in order to win????? LOL Well, I've rambled enough and I don't know if I feel any better, but it was good to mark these feeling with words. Peace out.