Friends

Hi again!
These days I have images of posts in my mind that never get to the computer. I have random thoughts and ideas to share with you all and for one reason or the other I am too tired or have no time to post them. Also, my computer is giving me some trouble, grrrrr, makes me mad since this has been the story since I bought it. I will have to have it fixed for the second time now. Hopefully I won't get more trouble after that. I'm getting tired of it. Other than that I love being able to sit anywhere in my home with my laptop on my lap and read and write and look at pictures or even movies at my own discretion. Why didn't I do this earlier???

Anyhow, I wanted to share about my trip to visit some friends a couple of weeks ago. They are those kinds of friends that you just never got to spend enough time with, but you feel that you have a connection with them. I guess it's about values and about how to live life. We might have many differences in our day to day life but the truth is that we do have many many similarities and it feels good to share time with people who get you. They also are parents of a wonderful little girl that is the same age as Luca so that makes it even more fun and our understanding of each other is even greater. It is wonderful to see how they get along so well, I think in part is because they have parents that raise them in similar ways. It is really refreshing and relaxing for me. I even got to go out while I was visiting! I don't usually go anywhere because I usually get invited to dinner with friends who have no children and of course who gather around the time Luca should be getting ready for bed. So I end up not going, I really feel bad to do that to Luca, he gets bored there and then gets his schedule all messed up, so I rather just stay home and get him into his normal routine.

Hola de nuevo,
Estos ultimos dias tengo imagenes de posts que quiero poner pero que nuncan llegan a mi ordenador. Tengo pensamientos variados e ideas uqe compartir con vosotros pero por una razon u otra estoy demasiado cansada o no tengo tiempo de ponerlos. Tambien, mi ordenador me esta dando problemas, grrrr, me pone negra porque estoy con la misma historia desde que la compre. Tendre que mandarla a arreglar por segunda vez ahora . Esperemos que pronto no tenga mass problemas. Me estoy cansando de esto. A parte de eso me encanta poder sentarme en cualquier lado en mi casa con mi ordenador sobre mis piernas a leer o a escribir o a ver fotos o peliculas como me de la gana. Porque no lo hice antes???
Bueno, queria compartir sobre nuestra excusion del otro dia a ver a unos amigos. Son ese tipo de amigos que nunca tienes suficiente tiempo de pasar con ellos, pero sientes que conectas con ellos. Creo que es por los valores que tenemos y como vivimos nuestras vidas. Puede que tengamos diferencias en como la vivimos pero la verdad es que tenemos muchas muchas cosas similares y da gusto compartir tiempo con la gente que te entiende. Tambien son padres de una ninhita maravillosa de la misma edad que Luca y eso lo hace aun mas divertido y nosh ace entendernos aun major. Es incredible ver como se llevan de bien, yo creo que es porque tienen padres que los estan criando de manera similar. Es muy tranquilizador y me da mucho gusto que sea asi. Incluos llegamos a salir por ahi durante nuestra visita! Normalmente no voy a ningun sitio porque suelo ser invitada a cenas con amigos que no tienen ninhos y que logicamente se juntan a la hora a la que Luca se deberia estar preparando para ir a dormer. Asi que acabo no yendo, no me gusta hacerle eso a Luca, se aburre con adultos solo y luego su horario se hace un lio, asi que prefiero quedarme en casa y que continue con su rutina.

Our conclusion about going out was, we are the only women who are not looking for a catch tonight and we are the only people who are dressed appropriately for the weather. It was so funny, it was rather chilly but these Floridians didn’t have a problem showing quite a bit of skin. Not us!

Nuestra conclusion de la salida fue, que eramos las unicas mujeres que no ibamos a pillar esa noche y eramos las unicas personas que ibamos vestidas de acuerdo con el clima. Era de risa, hacia frequito pero estos floridianos no tenian ningun problema en ensenhar bastante piel. Nosotras no!

Hoping for many more weekends like that one! Thanks friends!

Esperando tener mas fines de semana como ese. Gracias amigos!

Ah! And sewingwise, I almost broke my sewing machine, at least I only broke the needle, trying the impossible…now I am in the middle of the impossible and I am not sure how I’m going to finish it, if I do, I will surely post some pictures but really, I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I want an industrial sewing machine!!!

Ah! Y sobre la costura, casi me cargo la maquina de coser ayer, por lo menos solo rompi la aguja intentando lo imposible…ahora estoy en medio de lo imposible y no estoy segura de como lo voy a acabar, si lo hago, seguro que pondre footos pero la verdad, no se como lo voy a hacer. Quiero una maquina de coser industrial!!!

He's watching Luca

Remeber this picture I posted the other day?
Os acordais de esta foto que puse el otro dia?

Well, I just found this other one, it looks like the are looking at each other and each picture is taken from each others perspective, you see the plumeria plant with the large leaves? one of my husband's favorite in our garden, it's in both picutres. Nice uh?

Bueno, pues el otro dia me encontre con esta foto, parece que se estan mirando el uno al otro y cada foto esta tomada desde la perspectiva de ambos, veis la planta de plumeria con las hojas grandes? una de las favoritas de mi marido de nuestro jardin, en las dos fotos. Que guay no?

Anyhow...And there is this nursery rhyme about the monkeys jumping on the bed and one by one they fall off and bang their heads and the mama calls the doctor and he says no more jumping on the bed...this is a repetitive rhyme, it's funny and fun for little ones and it is great to teach them vocabulary. Luca loves it and so I made this glove taken from a cochlear implant company website with activities to share with our children that are learning to listen and to speak. I am taking some time every night to make these things with Luca, read, sing, play and it is making a difference. Even though some days I just can't tell his progress. Just like playing guitar for aa short time every day, in the long run it makes a difference.

En fin...Y hay una cancion de ninhos sobre unos monos que saltan en la cama y van cayendo de uno en uno y pegandose en la cabeza y la mama llama al doctor y les dice que no se puede saltar en la cama...es una cancion repetitiva, es divertida y les encanta a los ninhos chicos asi que esta muy bien para ensenharles vocabulario. A Luca le encanta y asi que le he hecho este guante que saque de una pagina de una companhia de implantes cocleares que tiene muchas actividades para compartir con nuestro ninhos que estan aprendiendo a escuchar y a hablar. Estoy dedicando un tiempo cada noche para hacer estas cosas con Luca, leer, cantar, jugar, y se nota la diferencia. Aunque algunos dias ni me doy cuenta de su progreso. Pero como tocar las guitarra un rato todos los dias, a la larga si que se nota la diferencia.

No baking today but...

Today I didn't get to bake for my group because I spent some sweet time with friends, but I did make a nice banana bread that always comes out delicious! and here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas (really ripe!)

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 and 1/8 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup of butter or margarine

walnuts, as much as you like

I melt the margarine, then add the sugar. I mash the bananas and beat the eggs, add all the ingredients together except for the nuts. When is all well blended add the nuts. Bake in a previously greased pan at 350F for 45-60 min, depending on how you like it.

Enjoy!

Hoy no pude hornear nada para mis amigas del quilt porqeu me fui a pasar un tiempo muy bueno con mis amigos, pero si que hice un pan de platano que siempre sale delicioso! aqui va la receta!:

Ingredientes:

3 platanos o bananas muy maduros (mucho!)
2 huevos
1/2 taza de azucar

1 y 1/8 tazas de harina
1 cucharadita de bicarbonato

1/2 cucharadita de sal
1/2 taza de mantequilla o margarina

nueces, tantas como te gusten

Derrito la mantequilla, y le anhado el azucar. Aplasto los platanos y bato los huevos, anhado todos los ingredientes menos las nueces. Cuando esta todo bien mezclado anhado las nueces. Hornear a 180C durante 45-60 min, dependiendo de como te guste. A disfrutar!

Yellow is my color

Yes, yellow is my color, it always was, it makes me happy and so did these tulips when I saw them. Aren't they pretty in this light?

Si, el amarillo es mi color, siempre lo fue, me hace feliz y tambien lo hicieron estos tulipanes cuando los vi. A que son preciosos con esta luz?

And even though I said I was going to wait until my embroidery work was finish, who knows when that is going to happen, I better show what is already done. Enjoy!

Y aunque dije que iba a esperar hasta que estuviera acabado mi bordado, quien sabe cuando lo voy a poder acabar, mejor sera que ensenhe lo que ya esta hecho. Que lo disfruteis!

Sundays baking: chocolate mini cheesecakes

This Sunday I went a bit fancy. I remember a cheesecake recipe that a friend of mine from Japan made for me once and it was so delicious and so simple, but I never got to make it. I must have that recipe somewhere. But anyways, this other recipe seems very similar with the only difference that it also has chocolate. They came out good although I am not crazy about chocolate, so I think they would have been better just plain cheese. They were hard to remove from the muffin pan, but with lots of patience I did it. They are also cooked in a bath of water, and it is very tricky to get them in and out of the oven without getting them wet, to me impossible, but it didn't seem to affect them much. I made a lot of them and was able to give to some of my neighbours as a belated valentine gesture. I have great neighbours so am very grateful for that too.

Este domingo hice algo mas elaborado. Me acuerdo de una receta de pastel de queso que una amiga mia de Japon me hizo una vez y estaba buenisima y era muy sencilla, pero nunca la hice. Debo tener esa receta por algun lado. Pero bueno, la cosa es que esta otra receta parece similar con la una diferencia que tiene ademas chocolate. Estaban ricos aunque no me mata el chocolate, asi qeu creo que hubieron estado mejor de queso a secas. Era dificil desmoldarlos, pero con paciencia lo consegui. Tambien se cocinan al banho maria, y es muy complicado sacarlo y meterlos al horno sin que se mojen, para mi que es imposible, pero parece ser que no les afecto mucho. Hice muchos y pude darle algunos a mis vecinos como de regalo de san valentin retrasado. Tengo unos vecinos increibles asi que estoy muy agradecida por ello.

And this weekend, my sister in law came to see us. Luca had a great time with his aunt and I took a break from some of my duties and I even got to sew several times this weekend. My embroidery is going well...pictures when I finish..hopefully soon. We went to a trail where my husband used to ride his bicycle. It is a beautiful place and the weather was so nice that Luca rode his bike while we walked. This is how he did the end of the return trip, on top of his handle bard and us pushing. It is not a short ride so I am very proud of htis littel guy.

Y este fin de semana, mi cunhada vino a vernos. Luca se lo paso genial con su tia y yo descanse de algunas de mis obligaciones e incluso cosi en varias ocasiones este fin de semana. Mi bordado va viento en popa..las fotos cuando lo acabe..espero que pronto. Fuimos a un sendero donde mi marido solia ir en bici. Es muy bonito y el clima era perfecto asi que Luca fue en su bici y nosotras caminando. Asi es como hizo el final del recorrido, encima de su manillar y nosotras empujandole. No es un camino corto asi que estoy muy orgullosa de mi pequenhin.

I got spoiled!

Me mimaron!


I have to say that Valentine's day resulted sweeter than expected.
I got breakfast in bed...

He de admitir que el dia de San Valentin resulto mas dulce de lo esperado.
Me llevaron el desayuno a la cama...

And we had a wonderful dinner with good friends. I made a strawberry cake that came out pretty delicious. All pink, not my favorite color but it was Valentines theme, I guess.

Y tuvimos una cena increible con buenos amigos. Hice un pastel de fresas que salio bastante rico. Todo rosa, no es mi color favorito pero tenia el temita de San Valentin, supongo.

To my valentinas and valentinos

No, I couldn't care less about this holiday or whatever you want to call it. I really despite it and I just don't know what to do with it, it's hard to ignore when it is important for so many other people around me, specially for my little boy, who at school has been learning about hearts and lovely things like that all week. But I try to focus my energy in a good direction and try to see the good things of love and life and what surrounds us in this time of our lives. In conclusion I have to say that I have many valentines around shooting arrows towards Luca and I and I feel very happy for that. My family and my friends who make our lives so much better, make us go to bed with a happy face and wake up looking forward to a brand new day.

No, no me importa nada esta fiesta, o lo que se le quiera llamar. La verdad es que no me gusta y no se que hacer con ella, es dificil ignorarla cuando es importante para tantas personas a mi alrededor, sobretodo para mi pequenhin, quien esta aprendiendo en el colegio cosas como corazones y cosas amorosas de ese tipo toda la semana. Pero intento canalizar mi energia de manera positiva e intento ver las cosas buenas del amor y de la vida que nos rodean en este momento de nuestras vidas. Asi que concluyendo, tengo que admitir que tengo muchos valentines/valentinas alreadedor lanzando flechas a Luca y a mi y me siento muy feliz por ello. Mi familia y mis amigos que nos hacen la vida mucho mejor, nos hacen irnos a dormir con una sonrisa en los labios y despertarnos deseosos de empezar un nuevo dia.

But always without forgetting who made so much of this happiness possible. I will always be grateful.

Pero siempre sin olvidarme de quien hizo tanta de esta alegria posible. Siempre le estare agradecida.

Please watch for us (cyclists)

By Ben

Por Ben

Not Mrs. Sarkozy

And talking about challenges, this is my new one, big one for me, not having a clue about music or guitars I'm learning how to play the guitar...but at least I have a good ear and a lot of excitement about the subject. My teacher thinks I have some good future ahead of me. And don't worry, I am not leaving sewing behind, I am doing some embroidery and some other little things. Finishing them will also be a challenge, but I am being good finishing things lately.

Y hablando de desafios, este el es nuevo, uno bien grande para mi, no teniendo ni idea de musica o de guitarras estoy aprendiendo a tocar la guitarra...pero por lo menos tengo un buen oido y estoy muy emocionada con el tema. Mi profe piensa que tengo un buen futuro a la vista. Y nos os preocupeis, no me estoy dejando la costura de lado, estoy bordando y haciendo otras cositas. Acabarlas sera otro desafio, pero estoy siendo buena acabando cosas ultimamente.

And my little guy doesn't have his colors straight, so we are into BLUE week, all blue, up until his tongue! We are doing therapy every night and I believe like this his vocabulary will improve much quicker.

Y mi chiquitin no pilla los colores, asi que estamos en la semana del AZUL, todo de azul, hasta la lengua! Estamos haciendo terapia todas las noches y creo que asi su vocabulario mejorara mucho mas rapido.

Baking Sundays: all about muffins

My friend got really excited when she heard about my new thing about baking every Sunday. She is really good at making desserts and I just hope to get to be half as good as she is. She beat me in my challenge too, she borrowed my book and prepared some delicious lemon puppy seed muffins for our Chilean style afternoon tea at her home yesterday.

Mi amiga se emociono al oir mis intenciones de cocinar dulces todos los domingos. A ella se le da muy bien lo de hacer postres y yo solo espero ser la mitad de buena que ella. Se me adelanto en el desafio, me pidio el libro de recetas e hizo unas magdalenas de limon y semillas de amapola riquisimas para nuestra "oncecita" chilena que nos hicimos ayer por la tarde.

I also did my part. Today, for our meeting, I prepared my first recipe, also muffins but these had oats and strawberries. They were quite good because unlike most muffins in this country, these were not too sweet, but they had that tart flavor of the strawberries. I think they were a success and they also looked pretty.

Yo tambien hice mi parte. Hoy, para nuestra reunion, prepare mi primera receta, tambien magdalenas pero estas con avena y fresas. Estaban ricas porque al contrario que muchas magdalenas de este pais, no eran demasiado dulces, pero tenian ese sabor acido de las fresas. Creo que fueron un exito y tambien salieron bonitas.

And my most important craft of the day, Luca's hair cut. He sat still for me and he looks really handsome now! He smiled at himself in the mirror. I also started a new embroidery project, pictures, when I master it! So be patient!

Y mi manualidad mas importante del dia, el corte de pelo de Luca. Se sento quietecito y esta muy guapo ahora! Sonreia al mirarse al espejo. Tambien empece un nuevo proyecto de un bordado, las fotos, cuando sea una experta! Asi que ser pacientes!

Baking Sundays?

This week has been a busy one for me. In fact I can't remember when it started and now it's Friday again! I guess that's a good sign! It is a good feeling when new things invade your life and you adapt to them and live the challenge of what's not your everyday routine. I have decided that in order to grow, I need challenges. If everything is just the same as usual, or you just try to get through the day so that you can start a new one, then you are missing important things in life. So I am all about challenges lately and I just thought up a new one. I have decided that every Sunday before our quilting meeting I will bake something sweet from this book that I bought the other day on sale. That way, I will share something hopefully nice with my friends while trying a new recipe. Last year I bought a hand mixer and I have barely used it, so I need to have some motivation to create yummy deserts. The difficult part will be deciding what to make, then it should be piece of cake :) Maybe I can add that special weekly section to my blog too! That should be fun, but we will see, because at the end of the day, Luca rules my life.

Esta semana has sido bastante liada para mi. De hecho no me acuerdo ni de cuando empezo y ya estamos a viernes otra vez! creo que es una buena senhal! Da gusto cuando cosas nuevas invaden tu vida y te adaptas a ellas y vives los desafios de lo que no son las rutinas diarias. He decidido que para poder crecer, necesito desafios. Si todo es lo mismo de siempre, o simplemente intento pasar el dia para que empiece uno nuevo, entonces te estas perdiendo cosas importantes de la vida. Asi que ahora que estoy con lo de los desafios se me acaba de ocurrir uno nuevo. He decidido que cada domingo antes de nuestra reunion de costura voy a hacer algo dulce de este libro que compre el otro dia de oferta. Asi, compartire algo, esperemos que agradable, con mis amigas a la vez que practico una receta nueva. El anho pasado me compre la batidora de barillas y a penas la he usado, asiq ue tengo que tener algo que me motive para hacer postres ricos. Lo dificil sera decidir que hacer, luego estara chupado :) Quizas tambien pueda anhadir una seccion especial semanal a mi blog! Estaria bien, pero ya veremos, al fin de cuentas Luca es el que lidera mi vida.

Still here

I seem to have little time for the blog lately. I am creating things, in fact I have some nice things to show, but I don't have the pictures up yet. Overall, we are into bigger and exciting things over here...

Parce que no tengo mucho tiempo para el blog ultimamente. Estoy creando cositas, de hecho tengo algunas cosas chulas que ensenhar pero no he subido las fotos aun. En general, estamos en otras cosas mas grandes y emocionantes...