I won!!! I won!!!!

I am so excited - I won something. I never win anything. Except maybe the baby lottery, and it seems there, the winning never ends. LOL. (can you believe I basically have been pregnant since April 2002 - sheesh, no wonder why I feel about 200 months pregnant)

On one of the blogs that I read regularly The Rocking Pony, there was a contest, and I found out today that I won.

I can't wait to get my suprise in the mail - and as soon as I do, I will post a picture of it and tell you all about it.

Karen also has a store, amazingly enough called The Rocking Pony, Hip Handmades for Tiny Tots. You should check it out. She has some awesome things on there. (Two of my favorites are the Chenille Koto Oriental Baby Blanket, and the Vintage Truck Chenille Baby Boy Blanket.

Be sure to check out Karens blog as well as her store!

Only two and a half more days...

I just wanted to let you all know what is going on. I probably wont be updating until Saturday or Sunday. Unless he comes early - keep your fingers crossed he doesn't. He is trying, but I am hoping he isn't succesful - I am going to the hospital on Thursday at 7:30 to be induced to have this baby. I can't wait. So I will be home sometime on Saturday, and hope to be on to post a picture and tell you all about my baby boy. But depending on how late they let me out, I may not be able to get on until Sunday. Only two and a half more days until he is here!!!

Those silly chickens that say BAWK BAWK BAWK

Johan is "reading" my book on raising chickens

When we move to Honduras we will have chickens - we already have cows, horses, donkeys, and we did have pigs. But they were sold. Out of all of these animals, horses are the only ones that I have a ton of knowledge about. (I guess donkeys count to, since they are along the lines of horses) I used to work with horses, and before life happened, I used to want to have a Quarter Horse Breeding Farm. (to be honest I still do - but thats another story). The rest of the animals, I have limited knowledge on care, feeding, raising etc. But I have time to learn. 239 days to be exact.

I figured, since most of the animals will be up in the mountain part of the land (thats where all the pastures and what not are) I would focus on chickens first. I have been doing online research on chickens, and chicken coops and just basic information about chickens. But I am one who likes to have a book in hand to be able to read, and re-read so that I can absorb everything that I need to, but also to have it in case I need to refer back to it. Just my luck the other day I found a Barnes and Noble gift card that was given to me last year at Christmas. I hadn't used it yet, so I went shopping. I picked up a book on raising chickens, a book on building chicken coops and a book on raising small livestock.

Well today the UPS man rang our doorbell and dropped off the box. I was all excited, I opened the box looked at each book for about 5 seconds, then Johan, Mickey and Isa each took a book and went to "read" them. It wasn't until just a bit ago I was able to get them back and actually sit down and start to read them. I started with the chicken coop book, and so far it has been really interesting. I like that it has basic plans for a coop as well. I told Lale when he called me tonight about it, and once I am done, I am going to send him some plans to build me a coop before I get down there. I am hoping it will be done. But even if it isn't, I know how to work a drill, and a hammer and nails. (I am much better with power tools than with a sewing machine and frying pans, LOL)

Andre also was excited and wants to read the books as well. He has been talking about raising some chickens these past couple of days as well. So I figure getting him involved with this will help me maybe adjust to moving to Honduras.

New Blogs...

if you notice a ton of new blog posts on hereover the next few days, well here is the scoop...

I had a blog over on yahoo 360, and it seems that by early 2008 there will be no more 360. So I am taking some of my favorite posts that I blogged over the past 15 months and moving them here, just so that I can go back and read them when I get the urge too, LOL.

Four Things About Me

I got tagged a while back by a friend and I never responded to her, so I figured what better way to spend a cold, rainy, dark morning than responding to the tag. (Ok I would prefer to be in the bed sleeping, but Diego is almost off, which means my "babysitter" is about to leave)

Four jobs I have had in my life:

• I was Chucky, at Chuck E Cheese... for those of yo uwho don't know who/what Chuck E Cheese is - here is a link to find out more- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_E._Cheese


• I was one of those annoying survey people in the mall that would try to stop people and get them to take a survey.


• I have worked at KFC in various capacities - from cashier, cook, in management. My favorite place to work was in the drive thru


• I was a waitress at Shoneys before they closed down.

Four places I have lived.

• Laurel, MD


• Crownsville, MD


• Columbia, MD


• Elkridge, MD

Four places I have been on vacation:

• Ocean City, MD


• Myrtle Beach, SC


• Virginia Beach, VA


• Oak Hill, WV

Four of my favorite foods:

• Pupusas - if you have never had them, you don't know what your missing.


• Macaroni and Cheese


• Fresh Baked Bread


• Steak Fajitas

Four places I'd rather be right now:

• In Honduras (well actually anywhere) with my husband


• In bed asleep


• On a warm beach somewhere


• Somewhere with no children for a couple of days

Now I am supposed to tag 4 people to fill this out themselves, but I will let you all decide if you want to be tagged or not. So if you want to do this, just copy and paste it to your blog and fill it out. Be sure to post a comment letting me know you filled it out.

It was like going shopping at Wal*Mart with you...

Well it seems that most of my decisions as far as what I am going to bring with me has already been made, LOL.

My husband called me last night to fill me in on his weekend, and he told me that he went shopping yesterday. Not to long ago, the store where my sister in law Oni works (Comercial Rosy) burned down, so they were having a clearance sale on everything that was in the fire. (did the last sentence cause alarms to go off for any of you?)

He said he went to see what they had and forgot where he was, and spent all sorts of money. He said it was like going shopping at Wal*Mart with me. Now let me explain that comment. It makes it sound like when we go to Wal*Mart, I spend all of his money. But that isn't how it is, LOL. When we go to Wal*Mart I have my list, and pretty much stick to it, with the exception of a few items. He goes with the plan to buy nothing, and his part of the bill is always at least $250.00, usually more.

Anyway - so he went *just* to check out and see what they have. He left with a fridge, a stove, a freezer, a couch, an entertainment center, a dinning room table and chairs - for FOUR. Um we are a family of 11 - him and I, my seven, plus Sendi and Gisela, when they come and visit, not sure how 11 people are going to fit around a table meant for FOUR. He also got a couple of end tables and a coffee table I think. It was a long list of things. Some of those things we already have, and already had planned that I would bring. Like the BRAND NEW freezer that is sitting in my kitchen. He said everything is in great shape, just the fridge is sort of smokey looking, but a can of paint can take care of that. LOL. More stuff that he has to take pictures of for me. He better get moving with taking some pictures! I want to see my house, and how well he is decorating it (or not, LOL)

He also asked me to go on our roof to take down the two Directv antennas to send to him so that we can get Directv at the house. Can I say, thats not going to happen. I am 9 months pregnant, and I am not hauling my big butt on the roof. Even if I wasn't pregnant, I am not hauling my big butt on the roof. I also told him this BEFORE he left, and told him to take them down, but his answer to me? There isn't Directv in Honduras (and this is AFTER I showed him the website showing that there is Directv in Honduras, LOL). Its a good thing the landlord wants to take them down. I talked to him today, and he will take down teh two on top of our roof, and the one he has on top of his roof so that I can send three down at some point.

I thought I would share a little slide show of some of my in-laws in Honduras. These pictures were taken at my mother and father in laws 50th wedding anniversary party back in March of this year. The pictures are sub-titled, just put your mouse over the picture to see the subtitles to see who everyone is.

Just a quick rundown on who everyone is -

• Gloria (not pictured) is my sister in law who is here in the US
• Oni is a sister in law
• Beto is a brother in law
• Chepe is a brother in law
• Don Toyano - (Victoriano) is my father in law
• Dona Toya - (Victoria) is my mother in law
• Chunga is a sister in law
• Chungo is Chunga's husband
• Tia Minga is Don Toyano's sister - who anytime she gets a microphone she forgets what she is doing and they literally have to steal the microphone back. In the video of the party after the anniversary the last 45 minutes is her with the micr0phone talking about any and everything, and arguing with the people that she will NOT give back the microphone until she is done. The tape ran out and she was still talking, LOL.
• Gisela is my step daughter

I think that covers everyone that is in the pictures, if i missed someone and you want to know who it is, just leave me a comment asking and I will gladly tell you.

I need a break...

Man these past few days have been really rough. I have been having something along the lines of contractions (think non-stop cramps) they don't hurt, but they are enough to make life uncomfortable, and just crappy. And when momma is in a crappy mood, it gets transfered to everyone else. I don't have patience or anything right now. And it isnt fair to the kids - but its like I *know* that I am being horrible, and I can't really change it. I need a babysitter for me I think, LOL. Then last night I was REALLY REALLY REALLY missing Lale. I think that is hormone/getting ready for this baby related - not saying I dont miss him, because I do, but I mean for it to affect me like this almost out of the blue - I wish I could just blink my eyes and tax season is over, and I have our passports and tickets and everything else I need and be on our way.

Then today I was sitting here downstairs and I hear running water - well Jordan wase taking a bath, so I didn't think much of it, then I realized I heard running water DOWN HERE. I get up, and sure enough, I have a waterfall in my bathroom. I go upstairs and it isn't Jordan making a mess with water like I thought - its the toilet in the master bathroom. (the master bedroom is the room that Jordan, Lana, and Mickey share) It seems the tube that runs into the tank to fill it up has broken, and there is now a mini lake in that bathroom, and all of the overflow is coming through the ceiling in my bathroom. I put Jordan to work turning off the water, and putting towels on the floor, while I go downstairs to clean up the mess in my bathroom. Well it is also coming out of the vents in the storage room, the laundry room and the hallway downstairs. So collectively we get it all cleaned up, and I sit down on the couch and say something to Andre about is the washing machine on because I can't hear it running. Well he is the one that turned it on, but to be sure he goes into the laundry room, and hits pause (we have a front loader) and OPENS THE DOOR. Water and suds EVERYWHERE. I lost it. The child is almost 12 - he knows better. I just wanted to sit down and cry, I was so frustrated. So I made him clean that up, and sent everyone to bed. Now, I am sitting here getting ready to go to bed too. This day needs to end, and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.
Good night.

*sigh*

This is a picture of us taken November 2006

Nothing to post - just that tonight for some reason I really am missing my husband, and I can't even call him until he is back at his mom and dads house on Wednesday night. *sigh* hopefully he gets a cell phone soon.

Meanwhile I will just sit here and watch the video I took of him last year singing to Isa. (if he knew I put this video on youtube - and even worse posted it on a blog, he would kill me I think, LOL)

And just for fun - a little video of Lana and Johan dancing their own vesion of punta, LOL

Today I am 22446 days old

I was blog surfing tonight and on La Gringa Mas Bella's site I came across this link to a Life Expectancy Calculator.

Well according to this calculator, while my biological age is 31.5 yrs, my virtual age is 13.5 yrs, with a life expectancy of 91.5 yrs. According to this site I can expect to live approximately another 22100 more days.

While La Gringa is thinking of what is she going to cook, the only thing I can think of to say to this is BAH. I certainly don't feel like I am 13.5 yrs old. (although my sense of humor may sometimes be right around that age, LOL). I feel more like I am 82 yrs old. These kids run me ragged, this pregnancy runs me ragged. But they give lots of extra time for being happily married, for not to much stress - which even though I complain about it, I really am not that stressed, wearing a seat belt all the time, not driving far in a year, and getting enough sleep. Although I did sort of cheat on that one. They asked how much sleep do you get at night. I put in how much sleep I get in a day - since I get about 5 hours at night and i have been getting 2 - two hour naps a day as well, so that equals 9 hours. Sounds good to me, LOL. I also don't smoke. I am suprised that they didn't add to much time on for me being obese, and not exercising. I guess once I have this baby, and I start to lose some weight, maybe I can retake the quiz and my virtual age will drop down to 9, LMAO.

On another note.. La Gringa - the one in Honduras that is - has puppies. Little Chihuahua's. I have been beggin and begging and begging for a chihuahua for the longest time, and my husband PROMISED that when I get to Honduras I can get one. I had asked her - sort of jokingly - that if she was planning on breeding her dogs again could she time it so that she would have some puppies ready to be sold around the end of June 08, so that I could get one or two when I went down there. Well that isn't going to happen because she has now had her make dog fixed :( So maybe she can hold one or two for me until I get there... Or maybe I can get my husband to go pick one up from her - probably not. But they are the cutest things. Go check them out...

The old lady just wanted some eggs...

I talked to Lale last night, and he was telling me that earlier that day he was working on the outside of the house, and an older lady walked by the house. He said hi, and continued working on the house. He said the woman stopped in front of the house and just stood there watching him, shifting from one foot to the other foot. Finally after about 10 minutes of just looking and staring at him she finally cleared her throat and said -

"Perdon, senor. Por casualidad usted tiene huevos" (translation - Excuse me sir, do you by chance have any eggs) He said he had to bite his tongue not to laugh. As he was telling me, I was laughing too.

For those who don't understand what is funny, in spanish, they say "huevos" (eggs) for testicles. And no she wasn't asking him that - she saw a chicken running around and wanted to know if the chicken had laid any eggs - but still, it was funny.

Also he said on Tuesday three little girls from the area were walking around near the house, and the littlest one, who he said was maybe 4 or 5 began to talk to him She asked him what he was doing, and he said he was trying to finish the floors and the kitchen in the house. She then asked him if that was his house. He smiled and said yeah it is. So she responded that she didn't believe him. When he asked her why she said - We heard that una Gringa is going to live there. Everyone in the aldea is talking about having a gringa come and live in Novio. Great - I am famous before I even get there, LOL. I wonder when I do finally get there if everyone will come to see me do normal daily things.

I remember when I was in Honduras when I got married in 2003, and I was in Sava, at a friends house, and this little girl was walking in the street and when she saw me she stopped and walked up to the fence to just stare. I smiled at her and said "Hola" and she ran away. Then about ten minutes later she came back with no less than twenty other kids, all of them hanging on the fence staring at me. Again I said "Hola" and this time they ALL ran away screaming. Did I look that bad? LOL.

Our cow died, so I don't need your bull.

Can I start out saying I really miss my friend Jose. Jose Cuervo that is, LOL. I have been craving margaritas for such a long time, and being pregnant basically non-stop since April 2002 doesn't leave me much chance to enjoy a margarita or two (or three or four;). Maybe for New Years I may make me some, but who knows.

I have been running around feeling like I am doing alot. Yet when I look back on it, I haven't don't much of anything. I feel like I am doing that whole hurry up and wait thing right now. I want to send paperwork to Lale so that he can fill it out/sign it etc. etc. so that he can get it back to me, but I can't do anything until this baby is born. I want to go through the summer clothes that we aren't using now that fall has *FINALLY* arrived, and pack them up and send them down, but come April/May/June we are going to need to pull them out again. AARRRGGG Everything I want to do right now, I really can't.

On Sunday I talked to Lale again and he was telling me that the cuidandero (the guy who was staying at our house until Sunday so that Lale could do everything he needed to do) called him early Saturday morning and told him something bad happened and to hurry up and get to the house. Lale was worried that someone came and stole the cows and other animals, but thats not what happened. It seems that there was a feeding trough built for the cows, and this cow somehow ended up in there - it either fell, or was pushed - and because the trough is so narrow, the cow ended up on his (her?) back and spent the better part of the night fighting to try to turn over, but couldn't. So he ended up dying early Saturday morning. The good thing was that the cow was found right around the time he died so they were able to use all of that meat. Everyone in the family ate well with lots of beef on Saturday and Sunday. (and to make it even better, on Saturday, Zuleta dropped off a box that my sister in law sent - and in it were tons of spices and stuff, so the meat was well seasoned, LOL)

I asked him about pictures, and he said he would take pictures once the house was completely done, however I told him I wanted them by Christmas and to hurry up and get them done. Hopefully he will, because I am excited to see pictures of the house, and I want to share them with you all too.

The New Man In My Bed

Johan has for the most part enjoyed my husband not being here. When Lale was here, Johan used to fight with him to be able to sleep in our bed. Johan would say "Papi - go sleep on the couch, or go sleep upstairs this is my bed." And he was forever trying to find ways to stay in our bed. Well the other night he was watching tv in my room with me, and fell asleep, and I didn't feel like carrying him upstairs to bed. So he stayed in my room. If it wasn't starting a bad habit, I would let him stay everynight, because in my room there is no one there to bother him in the morning, and he actually gets to sleep the amount of time that he needs. When he is in his own bed, all the kids up in the morning getting ready for school wake him up and he is up before 7AM, so then he becomes a crankpot by lunch.


He does miss his papi though. Yesterday as we were leaving to go to a doctors appointment he asked me if we were going to pick up papi. And before I could say no, he said "Papi's been at work a long time." Things like that make me sad because he is to little to understand, but I also know the time until we leave - while it seems like a short time - will pass quickly. Mickey will say at least once a day - "Mommy, we are going to Honduras after school is all done right?" So I know she thinks about him all the time. She was the one who would count down the days until he left, and as each day passed, she was in his lap more, giving him more hugs and kisses as the time passed. She is waiting for the video's and pictures too because she was promised pictures of her cows and horses. And Isa was promised pictures of her chickens. I told Lale to send them for Christmas so that Christmas morning we can spend the morning after opening our gifts with my husband on the tv, and the kids can enjoy meeting "their" animals.


I had a sonogram today, and according to the lady, this baby is still a boy. I know that sounds funny, and I really think its a boy, lately I have been having this thought that its going to be a girl, LOL. He is apporxamently 7 pounds right now, and he has 19 days until I am induced. I wanted to have him on my anniversay - November 8th, but I don't think thats going to happen. It looks like it will be the 1st of November that he will be here. I can't wait. I would love to be able to bend over again, LOL.


Yesterday all afternoon and evening all I wanted to do was to pick up the phone and call him. But I didn't. I only had one calling card, and I didn't want to waste it with him not being there, or not being able to talk. (Tell me why is it so freaking expensive to call Honduras?? I always see on those 10-10-xxx commercials prices to call Honduras is $.37 - $.43/minute, but you can call somewhere else much farther away - I don't know Spain maybe for like $.12/minute. What is that all about? I know to call Guatemala is like $.10/minute, thats crazy.) Well about 11:00PM last night the phone rang, and it was Lale. If he only knew how much it means to me that he calls. I know how silly that sounds, but he is one of those people who hate to talk on the phone - even to his wife, LOL. He just hates to sit on the phone. Where as I am one of those people who can get on the phone and talk for hours on end. But last night he called, and I called him back, and we talked for almost an hour. It was so nice.



He got his license, and the paperwork he needs to get the car once it gets there. He was also telling me how easy it is to spend the money there, and how hard it is to make some, LOL. During the day he has been working with Chepe (his brother) laying down the cement floor. They only have two more rooms to go and the floor will be done. Then he has to work on the kitchen he said - getting everything, sinks and what not, in there, and run the electricity. I want to send him some of those grounded electrical sockets - the kind with the test/reset buttons on it - like this one, to put in the kitchen and bathrooms, but they are like $12.00/each here, and right this moment I don't have the money to buy a bunch of them. I asked him what he was doing for a bed because he doesn't have a bed down there, and he said he is sleeping on the floor where it is nice and cool because the matress would be to hot. So I told him I guess he isnt in a hurry for me to come down there because 1 - i'm not sleeping on the floor, and 2 -it would be to hot to sleep side by side - especially because he is one who gets super hot when he is sleeping. He laughed and said he would make our bed out of cement. LMAO - NOT

I know I said this in my last post, but I cannot wait until he sends me pictures. I hope its soon, but I know it wont be until November at least. I bought him a digital camera before he left, and told him to just to get a disk made, and I can make my own pictures here, but he is so funny complaining about how expensive it would be to do that, so I told him to just send me the card with a letter, I will take care of it here, and send it back. Then he complained what if he wanted to take pictures, LOL. He is such a complainer, I swear though he talks just to hear his own voice. When I bought him the camera he complained because he doesn't know how to use a digital camera, (although the instruction booklet that comes with it is in SPANISH) I showed him and he said maybe he would just sell it. AARRGG that man. I know he said that just to rile me up, but still. Hasn't he learned not to mess with a pregnant woman by now? LOL. I am working on my list of things to do each month, and on the first of each month I am going to post my months to do list to help me get ready for everything. Looking at this list - with what I have to do so far - there is alot of stuff to do, and thats good because it is going to make the time go by quickly. Plus its almost tax season, and that is when I work, (and deal with the idiots - I swear to you these people get on my last nerve) and for those 3 months my life is nonstop people. Once tax season is done, that only leaves me two months until moving date.

For those of you who have moved to Honduras from here, what did you bring with you that you thought you would *need* but once here, realized you wouldn't need it? And what did you not bring but wish you had? My kids have solid wood bunk beds that I wanted to bring down but he said to sell them, that we can get beds down there just as nice for less money than it would cost shipping the beds down there. (the beds would be disassembled and put in the van, or if I can get a box truck, then they would be put in a box truck - so technically it wouldn't cost anything to send them down, as they would go with the truck. Only the introduction would be where they would charge me, I am assuming.) Also, when you shipped your stuff down, did you get a shipping container - a 20'/40' one? How much of a hassle was it to find one? I have found one, but they charge almost $5,000 to get to Honduras, then extra money once there to have a truck driver take it to Tocoa. And that is WAAAAYYYY to much money. I am trying to find one that will ship out of Baltimore since the Baltimore port is only 10 minutes away. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Lale

Contenta...

I was able to talk to Lale last night for about 15 minutes, and when I hung up, I felt SOOOO much better. Its amazing how you can get so used to talking to someone - and when you can't it can throw you for a loop.

When I talked to him on Tuesday, it was only for about 3 or 4 minutes, not very long, and I didn't want to keep him because he was with Sendi and Gisela - and it had been so long since he had seen them, along with his parents and everyone else in his family. I wanted to let him go and enjoy them.

So yesterday I got to find out how he was doing, and hear about our house and land. We bought both pieces of land without having ever seen them. We trusted his dad to help us find a place. And he did. We have 100 manzanas up on the mountain, and 6 manzanas down in the flat area, about 10 minutes away from the first piece off land. We bought a video camera so that his dad could take video and send it to us, but unfortunatly his dad will never be a videographer, LOL. All we saw was the ground and feet when his dad was working, and blurry images as he swung from one side to the other showing all of the land. So even after 3 videos being sent to us, we had no clue about the land up on the mountain. So when Lale went there yesterday he got to see it all. And he was very happy with everything that he saw. He also said that our house was a big house, and it was looking very nice. He had told his brother (who builds houses) to do things rather rustic, in case we wanted to move so that we wouldn't lose money on the house. However Lale said that Chepe (his brother) did things very nice, and the plans that he had on finishing our house would no longer work because the house looked to good. Things had to be done so much nicer - his words, LOL. I can't wait to get some pictures and updated videos as well. We did know what the 6 manzanas was like though because as his father gave a tour on the video, Lale's neice was the one recording the video so we got some good footage of some of the animals and of the land.

Last night, during my blog surfing I was able to catch up on many blogs that I hadn't had a chance to read, and I got a lot of light bulbs going off in my head as far as things I want to do to help me with my countdown - after I get my thoughts organized I will post more on it.

Anyway, I just wanted to post that I was feeling much better - no tears, nor almost tears all day today, so things are going well.

The countdown is on...

Here is a picture of Lale and Juan - my husband's nephew who also left for Honduras today.

Taken right before they went through the security checkpoint.

Well as I write this, my husband is somewhere in Honduras between San Pedro Sula and Tocoa. Actually he is between La Ceiba and Tocoa. He was supposed to call when he got to his dads house, but they stopped by an aunts house in La Ceiba, so I don't know when he is going to call.

Its been an odd day for me. Last time when he went to Honduras, we weren't married, and there were some other things going on and when he left, we weren't sure what was going to happen. I was six months pregnant with Isa, and it was really very hard for me to deal after he had left. The first time he left we had been together almost two years. Two years of having him by my side day and night - I didn't know what to do when he was gone. After he left, for the first two months that he was gone I couldnt eat without getting sick, I couldn't sleep - I was a mess. The entire 10 months that he was gone, I do not think a day passed that I didn't cry. And the funny thing is, three months after he left, I flew to Honduras and we got married. But while that put things into perspective - as to who I was in his life, and where I stood, it didn't make it any easy to live my day to day without him. Pitiful I know.

At the end of August, when he bought his ticket, I thought for sure I would spend so much time crying. And I didn't. I was pretty much calm about the whole thing. The tears really didn't start until yesterday. But even then it was only for a moment or two. Even at the airport, I didn't cry except when it was time to say goodbye. And the tears lasted for just a few minutes. I drove all the way home, exhausted - I got up at 6AM on Monday, and didn't get home until almost 6AM this morning. And I fell right asleep. So I figured that I was doing pretty well. Well I am not doing as well as I thought I was. Off and on today I have been crying. And it happens over the silliest things. I walked by the dresser and cried because I *knew* it was empty. Mickey asked me if I missed Papi, and I cried. So she tells me its ok, once school is out we are all going to Honduras and not to cry. Which makes me cry even more, then she will go and grab a book or a magazine and wave it in front of my face so that it can help me stop crying. Such a little momma, LOL. Its been like that all day long. I know once the kids go to bed, its going to be worse because I won't have them here to occupy my mind.

Part 2 - its now 7:30PM and I just spoke to him. He FINALLY made it to Tocoa. He was telling me that the plane was held up in El Salvador for about 45 minutes, and then they made all sorts of pit stops between San Pedro and Tocoa. So when I called to see if he was there yet - Mickey was getting ready to go to bed, and wanted to say goodnight - I talked to him for all of two minutes as he had just walked in the house less than 5 minutes ago. And I knew he wanted to spend time with Sendi and Gisela. It's been three and a half years since he had seen them. I hope to speak with him on Saturday or Sunday to be able to talk to him some more. Hopefully I wont be such a crying mess by then. ;)

I don't know whats going on with the coloring on this picture - I brought the camera this morning, but didn't take any pictures.

So while I in the bathroom, my brother in law took a couple of pictures without me knowing.

As of today there are only 257 days until I am in Honduras - back where I belong, in my husbands arms. Hopefully the days will go by as fast as this pregnancy has gone.

Port to Port - getting the car there on time...

After going to bed late the night before, I had to get up early to get to U-Haul to pick up the dolly. Once I got there, I freaked out a little bit because I told the guy why I was there, and he told me he had to see if he could give me one because none of his dollies were working. WHAT?? They had better be working, because I refuse to explain to my husband why his car isn't going to the port today. As well as explaining to the grizzly bear that is my step-father why he took the day off to tow the car and now the car wasn't going anywhere.

Luckily though, they got them to work. We finally got the car on the road and headed off to Delaware. It actually went much much smoother than I thought it would. I only had to stop once on the way to go to the bathroom, LOL. Which for me is an accomplishment. Once we get to the port, it took a while to find the actual company, but that was due to roads not having signs (I took it as a warm up for finding places in Honduras - since it is rare to have street signs, LOL) but we eventually found it. No biggie.

The shocking part though was when I pulled up to the spot where you drop the car off. It looked like a junkyard. I had never seen so many cars that were inoperable. It shocked me. And 99% of them were going to be shipped to Central America. Maybe everyone else knows this, but I would never had thought of sending cars that were that bad off. (The picture above is one of the better looking cars on the lot.) I guess I never would have thought to send cars to Central America that were undrivable. I never thought it would be worth the money I guess is the better way to send them. But looking at the yard, I am going to have to say that I was WRONG. I really wish I had brought my camera though - not just my cell - I was that amazed with all of the broken down cars, I really wanted to take alot of pictures.

It was funny thought that after they inspected the car and gave me the paperwork, I went off to the office, and as soon as I walked in theybegan to speak to me in English, so I answered in English. After a little while, I accidently began speaking Spanish - without even thinking about it, and the lady was shocked. But what was funny was how quickly her attitude toward me changed. She wasn't really rude to me before - more indifferent I guess you would say. But once she realized I spoke Spanish, I became her best friend, LOL.

All in all it was an easy day - we left by 8:15AM and were back at home at exactly 1:00PM. It went much easier than I was expecting.

packing the car...

Well yesterday was the day that I went to drop the car off at the port. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the car, but for some reason it didn't even cross my mind. Call it pregnancy brain I guess, LOL. The car, a 98 Mazda 626, was PACKED. And by packed I mean extremely packed. My husband was irritated that I refused to drive the car over 2 hours away to the port - but thats a different story all together.

We bought this car because with everything that he wanted to send to Honduras, it would have cost well over $1200 - and it would have taken over a month. We found the car for $950, packed everything up in the car, and it only cost us $740 to send. AND he has a car to drive until I get there with the van.

I don't know if you remember, but in a previous post, my husband and Andre had fought with a huge box - and had finally got it taped up inside the car to be filled with stuff. The box, while originally square ended up being more of a circular shape. I tried to tell him the stuff wouldn't fit, but he wouldn't listen. He swore he would MAKE it all fit. Eventually after trying to fit square boxes into a round hole (the box that was in the car) and realizing it didn't work he decided *on his own, with no help from me* that it would be better NOT to put the box in the back seat. LOL.

Each weekend he was off from the time we bought the car until this past weekend he would go to the junkyard and go treasure hunting. In all his treasure hunting he brought home 4 different rear view mirrors, 5 different sized rims and tires, various and multiple (meaning more than 500) dashboard lights, a face to a stereo that he found - but not the actual stereo that it goes to, and alot of other fun things. All stuff to take to Honduras because you never know, he may need it there.

Well Wednesday he took off so that he could go shopping at Walmart to get more stuff to send with the car. We ended up going to 4 different Walmarts getting everything that he wanted. So we got home around 10PM and he went to the car and took EVERYTHING out and re-packed the car. Or tried to. He never was very good at puzzles. Finally at 1:30AM I went out and in 25 minutes had it repacked and ready to go.

Preperation H and coconuts - what do they have in common?

When I thought about motherhood, I thought about the fun you can have playing with the kids, thought about watching them learn, and tons of other things. I never thought I would be saying things along the lines of...

• we don't eat paper
• pictures are not to be stored nor hidden in your mouth
• do not lick your sisters hair
• Preperation H is NOT for the mosquito bites on your foot - even if it does say its for itching and burning
• mustard is not conditioner
• we do not hang from the ceiling fans
• the correct term is testicles, not coconuts
• no the sentence "my brother really pests me off" is not using the word correctly (this was vocabulary homework where you had to write an appropriate sentence using the vocab words)
• take the string off your baby sister's neck - even though she crawls, she is not a dog
• why are there rotting limes in your closet?

And this is just to list a few. I swear God sent me my children not only to test my patience, but also to provide comic relief.