What's my excuse...?

OK, so I haven't been very good this year about blogging. And normally I wouldn't care, but... last year, finding something to blog about every day was so rewarding, and I captured a lot of those little moments of the kids growing up, the cute things they'd say, etc., and this year I'd be hard pressed to even recall one really cute, funny thing they've done/said. (And it isn't that they haven't been saying cute things, of course.)

So, what's my excuse?

First excuse: lazy!

Well, the first couple of months of the year, I really had no excuse at all. I was just being lazy. I wasn't even working fuill time! I just didn't feel like getting on the computer at night. And, for some reason, I absolutely HATE loading pictures onto the computer, so it's usually Andres who does it. So pictures wouldn't get loaded quickly, the time would pass, and the laziness would just grow.

Second excuse: where's the camera?

Our camera was MIA for about the last two weeks or so. I knew it had to be in the house, but where? NO idea.

We finally found it, two days ago, under a pile of laundry. Yes, I had a pile of laundry in a laundry basket that didn't get put away completely for at least two weeks.

Oh, the shame.

Third excuse: Heroin

Actually, not heroin, but I feel like a heroin addict must. Because look what I just found!

OK, you probably can't see that - but it is the screen shot of the online library in Saint Paul. Ramsey County also has the same. So does Hennepin County. I registered my library card online with Hennnepin County and voila! I can check out books and download them to my iPod!!! At three different libraries!!!!!

I spend every hour of the day either reading (I have so so so so many books I have put on my to-read shelf and a lot of catching up to do!), or browsing the digital shelves. My family hasn't seen my face for the last two weeks, and my eyes feel like they will fall out one of these days, but it is like pure heaven. Some people want chocolate ice cream and cake. Me, please, just give me a book. So I think - five minutes loading pictures and updating my blog? Or five minutes reading that book I've got going (I've got like 5 going at the moment). Like an addict, I always go with the addiction.

Can you be addicted to books? Not that I care. Like a true addict, as well, I can't get better if I don't recognize the addiction, and I have no intention of doing so, but just for curiosity's sake, can you?

Oh, don't bother answering - I won't have time to read your comment, anyway, since I'll have my nose in a book.

PS - Just to give you an idea, so far this month I've read five books from my online library:

Blood, Bones and Butter (Gabrielle Hamilton)

Zeitoun (Dave Eggers)

The Girl who Fell from the Sky (Heidi Durrow)

Wicked Prey (John Sandford)

The Help (Kathyrn Stockett) - just finished this last night and it is So Good. Like a modern day Gone with the Wind. Loved it!

Having trouble with Blogger

Besides the fact that my pictures on iPhoto suddenly won't show up when I'm logged into Blogger, I have been having trouble getting online to blog a little.

This is why.

Someone has been planted here, day after day. Someone who gets home 2 hours before me. Someone who loves his computer.

I have to wait until after 9 or 10, when I am too tired. (Not so much the night owl anymore, am I?)

Back to the Grind

Back from Seattle and enjoying the craziness of being "Mommy" again. TESOL was amazing - before I went I thought it was a bit pricey for a teachers' convention (registration alone is something like $300), but after experiencing it firsthand, I have come to realize that it is actually a heck of a deal. Over 1000 workshops and presentations, poster sessions, the electronic village, publishers' booths, discounted books, freebies, etc. make it worth the money. But probably the best thing about the convention are the networking opportunities - having so many people with similar passions congregated in one place is phenomenal. Speaking with, meeting, and sharing ideas and stories with the authors of web sites, books, and newsletters was an awesome experience. Highlights of my time there were hearing Betty Azar speak, meeting the author of the TOEFL iBT preparatory books, and attending a workshop by Randall of Randall's Listening Cyber Lab. What a cool place to see and meet the people "in the know" of your profession!

It was also great seeing Dad and spending some "quiet time" with him. Just sitting back and relaxing our way through a conversation - a luxury when you've got a pre-schooler and a toddler!

Getting home was nice, too - connecting with the kids again and receiving their hugs and kisses - there are no words to describe that kind of satisfaction and contentment.

And the excitement of getting back to blogging after a short break... Well, I haven't been the most reliable at posting, but now, with my new PDA, I am expecting it to be a bit easier - for example, I am pecking this out while tucked under my covers here on a Saturday night at 9 pm as I wait for the inevitable rounds of crying, sleeping, and waking to begin. (That, my friends, is another post altogether, one titled "Why don't manufacturers come out with sleeping pills for babies?") Of course, this still won't get published until Monday morning when I come into work, but at least it is already typed and easy to transfer to my blog once I get Internet access. Maybe you'll be seeing more of me!

Another blog in the blogosphere

I've been largely absent on my blog lately. I've been really busy at work, which is the only place I can post blogs from, since Blogger doesn't like Safari much. I've also been working on the CEC blog, which I've created for CEC students but which could be used for English students in general. Here's the link. Check it out and leave a comment. It is a team blog, but so far (as you can see), I am the only one posting anything. I'm having a ball with it though as I learn how to embed youtube videos (easy) and other widgets like that cool Hangman game. Plus, I "get" to read books frm our library and post reviews, which gives me an excuse to read. And anything that gives me an excuse to blog, of course. Blogging rocks.

Nicolas recently had his one-year birthday. We will be celebrating this weekend, but we did have cake and a few presents on the real day. Here is the birthday boy now.



















and another one:




















and we can't forget his big brother...

It worked!

Wow, the experiment worked. I am going to be trying to put up videos and everything. This should be fun!!! Now I just have to update the photos and also my sidebar! I've been reluctant because it took me so long to figure out and then I tried changing it and it didn't work well. Let's try again!

Edit: Notice my new voice mail widget! I don't know how it works yet, so if you do, please send me a voice mail!

Testing what I've Learned

I've been involved in some online workshops about using technology (blogs, internet, wikis, etc.) in the classroom, and I've come across so many great ideas. Over the next few days, I'll be experimenting with them and posting them somewhere so I don't forget! Here is the first experiment: a photo cube! how cool is that?

Cool Slideshows

Yeah for shopping

Well, as my previous post Mission Impossible stated, I had some trouble this weekend getting online and blogging. I had all the good intentions in the world, but life got in the way. One of the big pieces of news I had for everyone out there is that we will be arriving in MSP on December 16, in the morning (on the new Delta flight out of Quito). Yes, we finally bought the tickets (our return is Saturday, Jan. 6). And I am SO excited to be going back home, to see everyone and to do some major Christmas shopping! WOOHOO! By the way, Bati will also be coming, but one day after us (Dec. 17 am). He wants us to pick him up from the airport and go directly to the Mall of America. No goofing off on his part, you see. Gotta get the serious stuff out of the way, haha!

In the meantime, I just HAD to go shopping this weekend. I bought a new Christmas tree, since last year the stand on our old one went kaput - and no one could help me find a new stand. Actually, we eventually found one, but it is too flimsy for our big ol' tree. So I am going to be getting rid of the old and coming in with the new this Christmas - even though we will really only be in our house for a few weeks during the season. (I also got an advent calendar, which should be fun to do with the kids.)


I also decided to "splurge" on a new purse. My old ones are so old that I can't wait a couple more months before we go back to get one. I like the one I found, but I will definitely be purse shopping this winter.

Mission Impossible

As you can see, I was unable to blog much this three-day weekend. The kids make it a lost cause during the day, and the baby must be going through a growth spurt because he hasn't slept well, napping or otherwise, in the past three days. I am back at work, and although we expect to be crazy busy this week with registrations, I will attempt to blog again.

Giving up

OK, I give up. Aside from the fact that my browser keeps quitting when I try to upload a picture (and I have a ton), and the snoring from next door that's grating on my nerves, the kids have woken up three times each, and it is only 10:30. Usually the first time they wake up isn't until 3 am or so. I swear, it's like they both know that Mommy is doing something she's been meaning to do for quite some time. Unfortunately, every time they start whining in their sleep, I have to turn off my Internet connection, since I pay for Internet per minute, as well as the phone line, per minute (like long distance). So I can't very well go off to a kid's room and leave the internet on since I don't know how long it will be. What a pain!

Maybe I'll get something else done tonight.

Don't count on it.

Guilt in the Form of a Blog

We all have guilty pleasures - something that we know we shouldn’t be doing but that gives us so much satisfaction we do it anyways. One of my guilty pleasures has been blogging. What could be more of a waste of time? I sit at work, and instead of getting semi-important things done (I am not so bad that I ignore the important stuff, at least not yet) I read blogs, search for new blogs, and, if the writing bug has bit, write on my own blogs (yes, plural!). If it isn’t in the urgent box, it probably won’t get done, since Kari is blogging.

Of course Andres thinks I’m crazy. I don’t really care. Other people may think I’m a geek or weird. Doesn’t bother me. I know there are better things to do with my time, but I can drown out that nagging voice at the back of my head. Truth be told, I like blogging. I love blogging. Something I never thought I’d say.

It is a wee bit like having a novel at your fingertips. Maybe if I had access to libraries, Amazon.com (without the horrendous shipping fees, of course), b&n, etc., I would be less inclined to spend my time reading bits and blurbs on the Internet. But since I don’t have this, blogging keeps me updated, makes me feel like I am not so far away, keeps me in the thick of things, so to speak. When I blog and read blogs, I don’t feel so bad about being here. I don’t feel so isolated. And that is an amazing feeling.

Still, with blogging comes many forms of guilt. Aside from just being a guilty pleasure, the onus it brings is at times unbearable. I use the blog to keep my family up to date on me, my kids, my life. But when I don’t blog I feel guilty. I am letting them down. I am reading about the lives of other people, people I don’t even know (I hear Andres’s voice again... 'crazy crazy crazy') instead of keeping my family on top of things. For example, my sister asks for my blog address so she has something to read at work. Since then I may have written what? A whole paragraph?

Shame Shame Shame.

So, if you feel that I am on a blogging frenzy this weekend, it is because I am. I’m making up for lost time. I promise to try to be better.

Long Time, No Write

I've been largely absent this month because of the teacher training course I've been involved in. One of our self-proclaimed "good" TEFL tutors decided to skip out on the program, without warning us at all, and I had to pick up most of her hours. I've been working long, long shifts - up to 14 hours a day, but it is extra income and well paid, and we finish this Friday so it was relatively short-term. Today is another long day, one in which I'll probably get home after the kids have fallen asleep. That is a depressing thought...

World Cup...Go Ecuador!!!!

Something else I should mention...
The World Cup has already gotten underway in Germany, and there is World Cup fever everywhere in Ecuador, since our national team is participating for the second time in a row, and this time has gone on to the next round of finals. Everyone is very excited about tomorrow's game vs. England. Should be fun.

On a different note, I'm having a bit of homesickness today, since I just heard from my mother and once again, as expected, everyone is up at the lake. what I wouldn't give to be on Lake Pokegama with them...DH (dear husband) is planning a trip at Christmas but more snow! No thanks. I'd rather get sunburnt. Of course I need to do some serious dieting before the swim suit goes on...I've got this great blog with South Beach Diet recipes taht I think the whole family will be trying...

weekend woes

Here I am again, at work on a Saturday. After three months of maternity leave, you'd think I'd not mind getting away from it all for a bit. That's not true, though, since weekends really should be for the family. I don't mind working weekdays, actually love it because the being cooped up in the house with two little ones can just about make me lose my mind, but weekends are a time to relax, rest, get things done, clean the house, play outside with the kids at a LEISURELY pace, go shopping (yah!)... not work. We're here administering the toefl exam, interesting but not what I want to do on a Saturday for FIVE or SIX hours.
Back to my blogging escapades. I have found bloglines, which is great. I've been figuring out how to add some cool stuff like random books from my library on my blog. It's looking better and better each day. I'm working out how to link within a text, too. All I really need now is to get some pictures up of the new addition to the family!

Who am i kidding?

I've been playing around with blogrolling and some other search button thing, of which I forgot the name, and nothing is publishing or working. Even my last post didn't publish. Is this a lost cause for me? Why am I so techologically challenged? I feel completely out of the loop...

When to Blog

OK, so nobody visits the site because I don't keep it up. I am truly sorry. I guess I have just been using this blog as a way to learn more about blogging. Sometime in the next year I would like to create a blog for writers. I have been reading Mridu Khullar's blog, Jennifer Weiner's, and others', and find them completely inspiring. It is so great to get online and find writers from all over the world. I am determined to get some writing done this year, for my own sanity, but if I can round up a few extra dollars doing it, that would be great. Since we are not getting paid on time and funds are short around here, I need every penny I can get.
I know. Most of you are saying, "What! With a new baby on the way? C'mon, get real." But seriously, for me it is now or never. I have been hanging onto this dream for too long, and it's got me obsessed. One thing that would be great fun would be to write a children's book for Agustin and Nicolás. Not something I would normally be interested in, but how fun would it be to custom-create something for your sons?