Reality Is Finding Home

My relationship with the blogosphere has been spotty at best lately.  The latest entries came quite easily, exploiting our sudden and voracious appetite for live concerts.

Dare I go deep…but all this frolicking around having a smashing good time means nothing without a family and a home to return to.  We keep each other on track, bittersweet at times, but in the end we feel better about ourselves and about each other.  It’s a bit of a generalization.  Not all families are good for each other.  I know, I see it all around me.  And it can be quite sad. 

 

Catalunya! Catalunya!

Arc de Triomf

We are back from Barcelona and, well, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. These are just a few of hundreds I took on the trip.

streets of Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia

Montserrat

a tapas restaurant

the Barcelona Cathedral

a candid moment

sipping cappuccino

A Good Friday procession on La Rambla

another shot atop Montserrat

Parc de la Ciutadella

 

Barcelona, Barcelona!

 

Belated Thank You

Hey!  Bella here! Just wanted to send my thanks to everyone for remembering my 14th birthday!  Whoo! Hoo!  Does anyone remember what my mom was doing when she was 14?  Don’t answer that one.

Special shout out to Fairy Godmother, Lola and Lolo, Tina and Nick!

 

The Whigs and Dead Confederate at The NOTE

Another outing to see and hear new music as presented by one of the greatest inventions of all time, satellite radio.

The Whigs and Dead Confederate will be playing at The Note in West Chester, PA.  It should be a great up-close and personal show.  Although once again folks our age will be the minority in a crowd teeming with beer smitten college kids, I’m sure I’ll find a way to enjoy myself.  How can I not with my cool hubby.

The Whigs

Right Hand On My Heart

Like A Vibration

Dead Confederate, The Rat

 

NIGHT Terrors IN the HOUSE

I recall waking up one morning when I was a wee adolescent and feeling very embarrassed about something. We had spent the night at our aunt’s house with a dozen or so other family members. I was so uneasy that morning, I just knew I did something weird. I spent a good part of the morning hiding in my sleeping bag listening to early bird chatter which included references to my episode during the night. I eventually got out of bed, surrendered myself to finger pointing and a few laughs, and ate what was left at the breakfast table.

What I experienced was a case of sleepwalking. My destination – the back of an over-sized rocker. According to witnesses, I crouched down underneath and was grabbing at something. I don’t know what it was I was reaching for but somehow I ended up back in my sleeping bag.

MY SON, just recently experienced what is known as a night terror. It occurred on two separate occasions. He had fallen asleep on the same spot on our couch as the rest of us watched tv. Both times he appeared to awaken but with a very frightened and confused expression on his face. The words he spoke were half-sentences, incomprehensible thoughts. It was a little disturbing to watch my son look at me like I was a complete stranger, his face contorting to match the fear he was obviously feeling at the time. He was inconsolable. After a few minutes he’d lie back down and resume his normal sleep.

I heard stress, inconsistent sleep patterns, tiredness, sickness or medicine could be the culprit. Funny, he was sick earlier this week, a consistent bed time is, well, non-existent, cold medicine has been part of his breakfast routine since he got sick and we just got back from a very tiring but very awesome snowboarding/ski trip. WHICH, btw, I’d like to talk about on another post.

If you’d like to read more about night terrors, nightmares and sleepwalking, then see this , this or this.

And…um..goodnight.

 

My Husband, Paella Master

Our Saturday paella with son inhaling paella's distinctive aroma

MMMmmmm.

Nothing is more satisfying than having your husband cook up a meal on a lazy Saturday evening. But to present something so beautiful and delicious as the paella is pretty darn special. I mean look at it. Looks labor intensive right? Well, according to my husband, as long as you’ve got the right ingredients and the right pan and a lot of love for this Spanish dish than it’s not that difficult. He doesn’t follow one particular recipe. He’s made it many times and each one was a little different. I must say, the addition of seafood is what did it for me. F A N T A S T I C.

Saturday’s paella had all six of us loading our plates. All but a few pieces of sausages were devoured and a couple of spoonfuls of rice.  We are eternally grateful to you oh Paella Master!

I like what Norberto Jorge has to say about paella. He gives a nice run down of what it takes to make a good paella.

Like I said, my husband doesn’t have one paella recipe written down. So I must refer you elsewhere. This site, Spain Recipes, seemed to have some authentic good ones. Good luck!

 

Jon and Jewel, Death and Life, Two Anniversaries

A couple of months ago I posted something similar in memory of Jon. Today, January 10, 2009 marks the 11 year anniversary of his death.

Jon passed away on the very early morning hours of our older sister’s birthday. Every year at this time, I remember Jon as he was and imagine what he would be like today. I don’t think any of us can picture him being any different…youthful, generous, caring, kind. He was young and discovering himself as most young (and old) people do. If you were to ask my mom, he was able to make amends and find closure with some of the important things in his life just before he died.

I know that he would want his sister to celebrate her birthday as anyone should as difficult as it may be at first. That’s just the kind of person he was.

So in remembering today as the anniversary of Jon’s death, we remember that Jewel was born on this day – a celebration of two lives, if you will.

We love you both!

Jonathan Scott Mendoza, May 29, 1977 - January 10, 1998

Happy Birthday Jewel!

 

Our Wii Experience

Let me start from the beginning…

It was a week before Christmas. All we were trying to do was get a refund on an overcharged iTunes card at a ToysRUs customer service desk. Then they walked in and planted an unopened Wii Sports package right along side of us. My husband and I looked at each other wincing trying to read each other’s minds. “Should we?” he whispered. “NO,” I whispered right back.

Early in the season we had convinced each other that a new gaming system would be a terrible addition to this family. We were one of the few who held on to the Gamecube and our scanty lineup of games. And every now and then, and we were pretty good about this, pull out the cube from it’s little hiding place and let the kids play for a predetermined time frame. Just when the little buggers thought hey maybe mom and dad forgot about stashing the games away, we’d pull the plug and put away the box for an indefinite period of time.

Out of site, out of mind.

Ok. So Christmas rolls along. Someone told us that you could play gamecube games on the Wii system. I didn’t know that did you know that? I started looking online for the Wii system, just to get an idea, and most of the merchants were sold out or on backorder. Great, then it was never meant to be. No way was I going to wait in line to get one. It was just not that big of a deal to me to not get a Wii system.

There we were standing at the ToysRus help desk and a Wii is placed mere inches from our personal space. The couple who returned it seemed oddly pleased to be getting rid of it. Maybe they needed the money. Perhaps it was a response to kids behaving badly. Whatever the reason, it was sitting there and we eyed it like a cat on mouse. We knew there weren’t any left in the electronics department. My husband placed a hand on it as if to show ownership fearing a Wii hungry passerby would catch on. “Do you want it? I’ll be taking it to electronics soon,” spoke the customer service woman. “Give us a minute,” we replied in unison.

A minute is all it took. She asked us one more time. “Well, do you want it?” Her cheerful smile in all its holiday glow begged for nothing less than a yes. “Yeah, we’ll take it.” my husband responded. “Oh my god.” I replied stupefied. Ironically, the pleased look on my face was a sure enough confirmation to my husband that this was the right thing to do. It was not hard for us to rationalize our impulsiveness at the time. We managed to convince ourselves that the couple returning the one and only Wii system remaining in the tristate area returned it for us.

Since owning one, we’ve broken a couple of glass ornaments, pulled a couple of elbows and woke many a morning very, very sore. If you’re a new owner like us, you’ll definitely like its interactiveness, just give yourself enough room and use the wrist strap or you’ll be cracking more than just tree ornaments.

 

Celebration Whoas

First of all, I have been engrossed in the holiday season since the temperatures have consistently dropped below 50 degrees  and have neglected this blog terribly.  With that said, when kidadoblog returns in 2009 I think a new look is in order.

Now to continue with this post…a minor dilemma we’re facing at the moment…

How should we celebrate New Year’s Eve?

Option 1:  Stay home with kids and have a nice cozy dinner with mom and dad, dance a little, wii a little, laugh a lot right through the new year.

Option 2: Attend $100/person private party with sister and boyfriend at nice venue after eating a sweet dinner with husband.

Option 3:  Fado’s at $10/person at door, $5/person in advance and  includes music and complimentary midnight toast all in a pub like atmosphere.

We’re digging Option 1 and Option 3 at the moment.  It’s always nice to celebrate with family and not have to worry about dropping a dime or prettying up for an event.  Fado’s would be a nice alternative to the pricey $100/person party.  If I’m going to head out to celebrate New Year’s Eve, I much prefer to be in a pair of jeans.  I like the idea of a comfortable pub like space where I can hide in a corner with my hubby and not have to talk to anyone.

So as much as I’d like to join my sister, I’ll have to toss out Option 2.

We have 24 hours to make up our minds.  We’re known to make plans and drop them at the last minute.  So I don’t see us making any decisions until late tomorrow.  Hmmm…..