My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog

We're Off To See the Wizard

I'm glad I have a forced rest right now. (See the post about the whole stupid foot-in-an-inflatable-cast thing.)

I'm happy to be able to catch up on some photo organization and scrapbooking. In going over my stuff I realized I had never printed the photos from the Spring Musical that my son, Jonathan was in. (Working on the scrapbook now.)

Jon played the Cowardly Lion in his high school production of The Wizard of Oz.

I was in charge of designing and costuming the show (as usual). And, if you recall, I dolled up a pair of Ruby Slippers that looked pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. Click here for my step-by-step tutorial on How to Make the Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Also, "Dorothy," who just happens to be our next-door neighbor and friend, Tessia, wore the Ruby Slippers at graduation. Made me so proud.

This kind of "work" is such a delight for me. It reminds me of the hours I spent as a child dressing Barbie (don't judge). I spent most of the semester frantically searching, begging, borrowing, and stealing every green article of clothing I could get my hands on for the Oz Citizens.

Of course there were also Munchkins to dress.

Munchkins totally know how to celebrate. "Ding-dong, the witch is dead!"

And witches, bad and good.

And the Wicked Witch of the West's enslaved Winkies. (I didn't know they were called Winkies either, until I started working on this show, but that's not important right now.)

In the stage version of the Wizard of Oz, there are also Talking Crows and Singing Trees (they were actually my favorites, but I'll deny it if you tell the rest of the cast).

The fantastic makeup was done by some of the talented students, themselves.

And there were Flying Monkeys. Of course.

My job was basically to "style" the show and make everything and everyone look pretty. It's a lot of hard work and I invested a ton of hours along with an incredible group of parent volunteers.  It was a bit of stress getting the kids to rehearsals and shopping thrift stores and brow-beating my seamstresses.

Why do I do it?

1) Because I think the kids deserve for everything to look amazing if they're going to give their best performances. (Which they totally did.)

2) Because it's usually a family affair with Lucy doing the stage lighting design and cheering on her little brother from up in the sound booth. So, it's a lot of fun for us as a family.

3) Because I get to appreciate Lucy's lighting artistry. The yellow brick road was done with a light. It's called a "gobo" in stage speak. You're impressed now, right?

4) But I do all this mostly because of this guy...

Here's Jonathan, as the Cowardly Lion, singing his, "If I Were King of the Forest" song. (Get popcorn.)

  

5) And because I'm always amazed at just how much courage it takes for him to do this. (See what I did there?)

Project Life (or How I Scrapbook My Real Life)

I have been an avid scrapbooker for years.

In fact, I still have my original high school photo albums. You know which ones I mean. The magnetic kind with the fading 70's Kodak Instamatic photos with the captions typed out on a real typewriter. The ones we later found out are the very worst thing you can do to photographs because of the high acid content but were too conflicted to actually dismantle because how cute is it to still have something created by your teenage self?

Exhibit A:

When I started blogging five and a half years ago, it was primarily a vehicle for telling my stories and sharing my photos. An online scrapbook, if you will. Sometimes those captured stories made it into my physical scrapbooks, but many didn't. Yet it's still an efficient way for me to document my family's life and adventures.

As my blogging evolved, I realized that I still wanted some of those stories documented the old-fashioned way, in a physical album that can sit on my coffee table. But I had now moved on to doing everything digitally. While I'm a huge fan of all things digital, I found it a little pathetic to have to pull out a computer to share my photos. I know we all do it, but frankly, I thought it was a little lame. Especially considering all the cool home printing technology that exists in 2012.

Not all, but many, of our photos should be printed and the stories behind them told. And I don't think those stories are all necessarily best shared on this blog or on Facebook, yet I still wanted to document our lives. Not for mass-consumption, but just for us. What to do?

Last year I started something called Project Life which is the brainchild of the lovely and talented Becky Higgins. She created a system of page protectors, title and journaling cards in the yummiest colors. The project design was so easy and flexible and customizable that I managed to capture our entire year in a week-by-week format almost effortlessly.

The album size is 12 x 12. The 4 x 6 slots are perfect for the printed photos and the pre-printed title cards. The 2.75 x 3.75 filler cards are ideal to make quick notes about the photos or for printing the vertical iPhone photos or for adding receipts and other ephemera.

For years I have taken photos every day either with my big, digital Olympus camera or more recently with my iPhone. And because Project Life is so idiot-proof, I have a finished album from 2011 that pretty much captures everything we did last year. A FINISHED ALBUM, people. I know. Shut up.

Each week got it's own two-page spread. The week that I got my iPhone 4 last year happened to be the same week that Jonathan attended his first formal dance. I love this project because it puts the events of my life into a real timeline perspective. And I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

Some singular events got a few pages of their own. This was from when the boys went on their Hawk Walk Adventure which I blogged about, so the journaling is just the printed blog post. (I also burned those videos to a dvd which is also contained in the book. Genius, right?)

The different sized page protectors are fun to insert when I want to add more photos or tell more of the story. I love this photo of my boys and it makes a nice "surprise" on the back of the journaling.

The rule book has gone out the window when you scrapbook in this format. And I love it.

I was so thrilled with the project that I couldnt wait for 2012 to get started on Project Life 2012. (These title pages were a direct scrap-lift from Design Genius, Cathy Zielski.)

The coolest thing for me is that I've managed to keep up with it week after week. *takes bow*

(We're now on Week 12 of 2012 in case anyone was interested, but that's not important right now.) This year I'm doing a hybrid version. My journaling and title cards are created using Photoshop CS5.

I'm pretty fearless about adding extra pages when I want to include more photos or tell more of the stories.

I'm using the Clementine Edition Full Collection available through Jessica Sprague.

I make it a point to make notes all week using the Day One app for iPhone (again, thanks to Cathy Z. for the tip), which is like a mini-diary.

I sort my photos in Smart Albums (using iPhoto) by week, and I then decide which photos to print. Sometimes I take photos of text messages or engaging Facebook exchanges as documentation.

Because of Project Life I've become much more intentional about the photos I take. I remember to document my real life for my own pleasure and posterity.

Instead of creating an entire scrapbook for my document-worthy trip to Nashville, I'm just adding multiple pages and adding the ephemera into the pockets. This is the only thing I'm "behind" on. But I'm completely un-stressed about it and really enjoying the picking and choosing of the photos and telling the stories I want to.

In my extraordinarily ordinary life there are shopping trips and regular pedicures. There is laundry and lots of dirty dishes. I read the news on my iPad with my morning coffee and I interact with friends via my smart phone and on Facebook or Twitter. My mom visits every few weeks and I put regular meals on the table.

Even on Facebook, the status updates eventually get lost. The photo albums buried. The "why" of what's happening in my life regularly gets trumped by the "what."

I "do lunch" with friends and we often go see live shows. I'm in the throes of decorating my newly painted kitchen. My husband and I occasionally manage to get away. Our kids do things that make us proud.

I collect quotes that inspire me and I go on a big grocery shopping trip to Costco every two weeks. In between the "big stuff," like birthdays and holidays, my real life goes on day by day. Week by week.

My real life is full of the rich and complex and crazy and happy and sometimes even sad and overwhelming events that make up, well.....a real life.

Project Life has made me pay attention to the beauty in my everyday moments.

I found this very inspiring quote a while back on Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project blog. (Yes, I included it in my scrapbook!)

It reads like this:

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Having lost a lot of my childhood when we left Cuba, I'm extremely passionate about documenting my life now. It's why I blog. It's why I am so serious about this project.

I encourage you to jump in to Project Life at any time. No, this isn't a paid endorsement.

It's just a really good idea.

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Project Life, created by Becky Higgins, is a flexible, easy-to-use, highly customizable way to save your memories in a fun, stress-free way. Learn more about getting started with Project Life by clicking here.

A Week in My Life or Why I Love Mondays

I often wonder how my Cuban grandmother spent her days. I wonder what she cared about and how she decided what to have for dinner. 

I have stories, of course, from my mom, about how she would make desserts every night. Homemade desserts EVERY NIGHT, people! Doesn't that just sound glorious?

I know some things just by word of mouth. She had an old coffee can that was the perfect size for a flan. She kept chickens. The lights in their tiny port town would be turned off at 9 o'clock, but she would continue to read late into the night by candlelight.

Perez-Puelles family. Circa 1930. My mom, Luz, is the 15 year old in the 2nd row on the right, with the Wilma Flinstone pearls.

How I wish I knew more about their lifestyle. I am absolutely fascinated by the minutia of those lives that came before mine.

I know this intrigues my kids, too. I tell them about rotary phones and curb feelers and they have a hard time believing I was actually alive and survived those barbaric times. ;-)

This is one of the reasons why I blog. I know my kids are fascinated by how I grew up and so I write "now and then" type stories. But more than that, I know that my own ordinary days will be important for them to remember. So I write about the real things we do and the places we go and the people we do them with.

Last week I decided to take up the challenge by Ali Edwards to document A Week in the Life. The idea was to take photos of all the activities we did, what we ate, where we went, what we bought, etc. And then make notes about each day. And finally to compile all this information into a photo album.

Can I just tell you that I really enjoyed and got into it.

So this week I am sorting through the hundreds (!) of photos I took last week.
The observations I made about the week were nothing eye-opening, but I'm glad I stopped and paid attention.

I love the familiar rhythms and routines that make up each day in particular.

For example, every Monday I change the sheets on our beds and put up fresh towels in the bathrooms. This particular ritual makes me profoundly happy. I have such a sense of accomplishment. If nothing else gets done for the rest of the week, on Mondays there are always fresh sheets on our beds and all is right in my little world. =D

So, I documented the process and made notes about each thing I did and the places I went and the people I love.

I took photos of my bed looking all fresh and inviting with the clean sheets that, of course, you can't see, but I know are there and which make me so happy.

And I found that we drink a lot of coffee.

And I did a lot of driving. (Don't worry! Jon took the photo.)

 

And I admit that we occasionally eat fast food. (Well, if you can even think that the perfection that is an In N Out Burger could possibly be in the same category as other fast food places....)

Some days I pumped gas (which, by the way, I totally hate, but that's not important right now).

And witnessed drama. =D

Here are Lucy and Jonathan in the high school drama classroom playing a spirited Improv game of "Playground Dis."

I tended to my garden.

 

And I worked out. (Actually, I try to get out of this as often as my conscience will allow, but that's not important right now, either.)

I made phone calls.

And of course, I blogged. (Here's a screenshot from last week.)

 

Laundry was a constant.

 

As were dirty dishes.

And we also had a house guest. =D

 

 

I documented grocery shopping.

 

And took photos of my people in their natural habitats. ;-)

 

Those are just a few of the random snippets of my days.

I'm working on the album this week and I've decided to put it together digitally and upload it to Shutterfly for printing.

In the album, I will include my meal plans for the week, grocery receipts, bits and pieces of conversations, and even a look at the weather (from my iPhone app).

Each day's photos will be spread over four pages. I've only just started, but this is what the general layouts will look like with photos and words.

 

To keep it simple, I'm using Ali's Week in the Life Layered Templates from Designer Digitals and pulling the book together using Photoshop Elements. I used digital papers - Manchester, and Laurel.

I'm quite pleased by how it's all coming together.

My own grandchildren will not have to wonder how we spent our days. Or wonder about the things I cared about and why.

And the feeling of what I'm contributing to that continuity feels almost as good as fresh sheets every Monday. ;-)

Picture perfect

Okay. So I know this photo is completely out of focus.

And I know my hair looks witchy-weird (it actually was performing really well, but you can't tell from this picture. *sigh*)

But in spite of all that, I love it.

I love that we were caught by our neighbor practicing our salsa dancing on the front lawn.
("Those Darbys are at it again!")

I love the look on my husband's face that totally shows how much fun we were already having as we prepared to go to the Cuban Festival thing.

I love it because it so perfectly captures us and our perfectly imperfect life.

(Oh yeah. I'm sooo framing it. =D)

Now and then

I love making connections with my photos. 

This is why I don't scrapbook chronologically. I just like to tell my stories.
I like it even more when my photos tell a story on their own. I don't even care if the photos are blurry. I figure it's the story that is more important.

Such is the case here.

Here are Jonathan and Eric admiring the amazing fish tank at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
(This one was taken a few weeks ago.)

Mirage Hotel. Las Vegas. 2009.

As they stood there, I kept thinking that this particular scene looked familiar somehow...

So I searched my older photos and I found this one (taken with my crummy old phone, but that's not important right now).

Eric and Jonathan. Birch Aquarium. La Jolla. 2006.

Wow. Just wow.

Making Christmas

"Making Christmas" is usually the mom's job.  At least it's always that way at my house (I'm guessing it's that way in most homes).  I do a lot of stuff anyway, but in December I kick it up to Warp Nine.  =D

This year I was especially busy because I took the time to make some special homemade gifts:

1) The Quiz books.  (Remember the quiz about the Best and Worst?)
Well,  I did it. I sent quizzes out to each member of the family.  Then I took their responses and created a page for each person. The quizzes varied from person to person.  I was very pleased with how they turned out.  Here's a sample page:

I made them for both sides of the family.   The 12x12 I bet you didn't know book for the Darbys.  The smaller 8x8, Family is something everyone can relate to  for my big, fat, Cuban family (it had to be smaller to keep the cost the same - that book had 43 pages, which means between the two books I created almost 70 pages, but that's not important right now).  All were created using Photoshop Elements 6 for the Mac. I saved the pages as jpg images and uploaded each page to Shutterfly.

The small one on the front left, 2008 - The Year of Improv was for the friends of Lucy and Jonathan who have been here every week of 2008 playing Improv games with them. I created that in iPhoto using their drag-and-drop-into-a-cute-little-book feature with short captions on a handful of pages.

They were all a huge hit. (she said modestly, polishing her nails and then admiring them.... =D)

2) Homemade Cuban egg-nog or Creme de Vie.  You can find my recipe for that right here.  Or go visit my friend, Adriana, for the Puerto Rican version which involves a coconut flavor and is called Coquito. (In fact, just go visit Adriana and educate yourself on what a Cuban-Rican Christmas looks like. =D)

The bottles are just empty wine bottles we picked up at a local wine bar (they were happy to have us recycle them).  Michael's craft store had clean corks (which made me wonder what exact craft one uses bottle corks for, but that's not important right now).  The labels I ordered from Wonderful Graffiti (I will post another day on all the writing that I have up on my walls). 

I just loved that my bottles were so decked out with those fabulously 80's looking butt-bows.  ;-)
The hanging tags I also made using Photoshop Elements 6.

3) Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies - that recipe can be found here.

We made dozens and dozens which we packaged and gave away. But we also kept a few dozen which we froze so that in January when I get post-New-Year-Christmas nostalgia we can thaw and enjoy. =D

4) Of course, we (Amy Kikita and I) made a 20 minute film (part of which you saw yesterday) and I duplicated 17 dvds and created the cover art (again using Elements) - we had to make copies for everyone and ship a few to Texas and Miami.

 

The very best part of all this Christmas-making activity (which is a lot! I realize now as I'm writing this):

I didn't have to do it all.  =D

Okay, well...yes, I did do all the graphics for the books & dvds. But because I was occupied with creating those books, my kids all stepped up and did the baking and creme-de-vie-making and packaging.  Which I thought was very cool.

They all helped bake and mix rum and condensed milk and wrap packages and make tags and all the other things that are usually Mom's domain.  I don't think I ever stopped and said specifically, "this is how you make Christmas happen..."

But obviously my love for all-things-Christmas was catching.

Which is cool because I believe that "making Christmas" is more caught than taught.  ;-)

Celebrating Summer

We So Cal people don't really "do" weather. We just don't know how.

When the weather cools a bit, (which it really hasn't considering we are about a month into Fall, but that's not important right now) we pull out socks to wear with our flip-flops and exclaim "Fall is here!" (you think I'm kidding, don't you?)

Even now, the days are the ones that are flip-flopping in their inability to commit.  The mornings will start off cool until the sun comes out around noon and then the day gets hot, then it cools off again when the sun sets. 

It's not really "Fall" around here by anyone's standards, but we like to pretend it is.

"Isn't it great that the seasons are changing?"

No.  (I will not even point out that we are still wearing shorts and flip-flops, but that unfairly, the water is too cold for swimming. sigh)

I miss summer.

(Yes, I say it in a really whiny voice.)  We had such a fabulous summer. 
In fact, the thought kept going through my mind that we had a lot to celebrate.

So, I made a photo book called, appropriately, "celebrate Summer, 2008." 

I used a Designer Digitals template designed by the amazingly talented Ali Edwards, but I put my own spin on it using Photoshop Elements 7 and my own digital brushes. 

Usually I like to tell my stories in my albums in much more detail, but I figured since I have blogged about pretty much everything that happened this summer (and God knows I'd hate to be redundant =D) I chose to make the book more artistic.

I uploaded it to shutterfly and just got the finished copy in my hot little hands.  Oh, baby!

The format is a nice, big 12x12 and I am absolutely delighted with it.  

Here's the table of contents page:

I decided that creating this book digitally was totally worth it for me because:

a) It really does capture everything we did this summer beautifully into one place and in a format we can all enjoy (with nice BIG pictures, too).

b) I probably would have bought an (expensive) album and spent tons of money on getting the photos enlarged (because the bigger the photos the happier I am) and made dozens of trips to my local scrapbook store for paper and embellishments and still be stressing about how I don't have enough time to scrapbook and then I'd feel guilty for having spent all that money and not using every last sticker and scrap and then I'd have trouble sleeping, and really, is that worth it, I ask you? But that's not important right now. =D

Instead, I have this wonderful big, fat, coffee-table-worthy book that I am happy to share with anyone who sees it on my coffee table, which, of course, kind of forces them to ask, "Hey, what's that?" And then, after they see it, they usually say, "Wow!" 

And I try to have the decency to blush a little when I say, "It was nothing..."  ;-)

Anyway, if you're interested, the entire album is up on the Photo Album sidebar to the left.

It was nothing. (blush, blush)  ;-)

All that, to say this:  I. Miss. Summer. (sigh)

dan•ger•ous (adj) - able to inflict injury or harm.

Okay, so now I know just enough to be dangerous.

I've been taking some online classes. Specifically, I'm learning how to scrapbook digitally using Photoshop Elements 6. I'm still just doing the assignments from class, but I'm all proud of myself and I wanted to share....

The journaling is from a blog post I did about a year ago. (journaling my thoughts for later scrapbooking was the reason I started blogging in the first place, but that's not important right now.)

How cool is this?
I'm all stoked and happy now that I know how to create layers so I can pull color out of a picture and I'm going a little loony stamping with those swirly brushes. Seriously, I'm having a blast.

Heck, I'm getting so good at this....
I could Photoshop the bearded dictator into some fun and humiliating poses!

Or...not.

My life and my time are way too valuable.  ;-)

What about my needs??

Today....
Mountains (not kidding here!) of post-vacation laundry are done, folded, and put away.
The kids are at the movies with friends, which means that the house is blissfully quiet.
My to-do list has all tasks neatly and very satisfyingly crossed off. (Ahhh!)
I do have two more weeks of final school stuff coming up plus plans for a recipe I'll be trying out later this week.

So, I'm kind of in need of some personal refreshment, which means I. Must. Do. Something. Creative.

Sooo....
I have Beny telling me "Como Fue" on iTunes, and Photoshop Elements 6 humming along, and I'm feeling pretty creative and clever and beginning to feel positively refreshed. (and relieved to have finally caught up on my assignments for my digital scrapbooking class, but that's not important right now....)

Here are the creative fruits of today's labor:
 





Finished this one late in the day:

This last layout has a long (and nicely complicated) story attached to it. I think I'll save it for another blog post. ;-)

Thanks for letting me share. Now I can return to my regularly (OVER) scheduled Life. =D

NOTE: Online Digital Scrapbooking class is taught by the lovely and talented Jessica Sprague.

I scrap, therefore I am

On  the heels of that Super Blogger post I have to laugh because I'm sooo resisting blogging today.  I don't feel like I have one original thought to share.  In fact, I decided to shut off the Mac and scrapbook a page that I had originally blogged on the 18th of April. But since I am, of course, a blogger, the page I made becomes fodder for the blog. (See how I just tied it all back together? There's that whole circle of life thing again - and everything is fair game these days.)  ;-)

You remember that I had a post a few weeks ago and I titled it Listmania? Well, this is an example of how I would turn my blogging (journaling) and photos into a scrapbook page - I titled it "In 3 weeks."  Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac, probably more than is appropriate for polite society, but that's not important right now. =D

It's just that sometimes it just feels so good to physically hold all the elements and lay them out and pick out photos and stickers and glue and rubber stamps and lots of ink and even felt flowers with bling! Ah! And actually, in this layout, the journaling is really the most important part and the photos are there as supporting characters.

I moved the photos around until I was satisfied and had totally exhausted my (noisy and bossy) inner critic, then I just glued it all down and called it Good.

What do you think?

I'm going to be scrapbooking today and tomorrow - because, in case you didn't know, Saturday, May 3rd is National Scrapbooking Day and seriously, I must do my part. =D

Places to go. Things to do. Kids to embarrass. =D

I've been keeping up pretty nicely with that whole taking one picture every day project.
Actually, I love having my camera with me 24/7.
In fact, I have it with me so much it's almost like a family member now. 

We're all seated at the dinner table, and one of the kids asks:
"Where's your camera?"

And it's weird when you blog (like I do) about everything that you're doing, because now I have friends who no longer ask about my family, but they do ask:
"Where's your camera?"

My kids don't even notice the camera any more.

Well, except maybe when I follow them into a public building, like umm . . . HIGH SCHOOL:

Lucy is signaling me with her eyes:
"Umm . . . Mom, don't you have other places to go?  Another of my siblings to embarrass?"

Not today, Missy.  ;-)

(NOTE: For those of you who know we homeschool, all of Lucy's classes are online, except for Drama, which is on campus and to which she goes for three hours each week, one day a week, which is just enough time spent among her peers for her to be social, but not enough time to where she becomes peer-dependent, but that's not important right now. =D)

"Cui bono?"*

Remember my cool (and at this point) pristine advent calendar? 

Here's what it looked like at the end of December:

How this will translate to my Christmas 2007 scrapbook . . .

I took photos of the things we did each day, printed one photo and just pinned them up on the board.  Or sometimes there were just ticket stubs, or an invitation or a program.  I'm almost done with the album.  It's nothing fancy.  I was just basically documenting the stuff of our daily life during the Christmas holidays.  I decided to make it super simple and just tell the who, what, when, where and why of my simple life and how we twenty-first century Cuban Americans "did Christmas" in Suburbia.

Because when I thought of all the reasons that I scrapbook and who the books are actually for, I realized that someday my descendants aren't going to care about our postcard-perfect photo ops, but my grocery list might someday be an object of  extreme fascination.  =D

(*NOTE for those of you who didn't go to Catholic school:  "Cui bono?" is Latin for "Who benefits?")

Because I live in a Parallel Universe (in which ninety is the new fifty)

I often get asked these two questions:
"Do you still have family in Cuba?" and "Have you ever been back?"
The answers are yes and no.

In August of 2002 we hosted a family reunion here in Mission Viejo.   Three of my mom's four siblings were able to come - two of them traveling from Cuba and one from Miami.  There was also a childhood (their childhood!!) friend of the family who now lives in Puerto Rico who made the trip for the reunion.

At that time we thought that it would probably be their last hurrah.  After all, they were all in their late eighties.  And the distances and hassles of octogenarians traveling in between the two countries could be quite daunting. . . yada, yada. 

Well, I don't know what kind of wood these people are carved from, but I sure hope some of it is in my DNA because, get this. . .

We're preparing for another Cuban invasion.  They're coming back!  In fact, they'll be here next month.  And they're in their NINETIES now, people!

My mom is super dialed-up and is on the phone a dozen times a day to remind us (again!) of yet another detail she's remembered.  And . . .well . . . she's 93,  you know.  So we end up having the same conversation a few times a day. 

Even though I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing the extended fam again, my mom has an endless "to-do" list for me (because she thinks I can do anything, and yes, it's flattering, but it's starting to tax my energy a bit - and oh yeah! that was a total understatement, but that's not important right now =D).  She'll be with us this weekend which means. . .

well, you can imagine what it means. . .

If you're reading this, please send valium.  Big, Fat Cuban Family-size valium.  Please.  ;-)

What's wrong with this picture?

It's my same Lucy-girl in both pictures.

In one she's starting Kindergarten.

In the other she's starting High School.

I can't tell which is which.

She looks exactly the same to me.

Deep breath.

Heavy sigh.

Welcome to our first day of  high school.

(I'll have this whole Kindergarten/High School thing cleared up by recess, I'm sure.  My meds will have worn off by then. =D)

"Five Random Facts" or "The Highlights of Marta's OCD"

As if my blog wasn't already full of random and useless facts about me, I've been tagged by sweet Annie.
And of course, I had to do an entire scrapbook page. Instead of eight random facts, I wrote five because that worked better with this layout. =D
(and truthfully, it was a no-brainer because I had already done it - this is from a class I did last year with Cathy Z.)

1) ~ I still think in Spanish on many occasions. I have to translate what I want to say or do into English. This all happens in my head. Sometimes I cannot for the life of me remember the English word for what I'm thinking. But I don't have an accent in either language. (now I'm wondering if the forgetfulness is more the product of my age...maybe there's even a name for it - Bilingual Dementia??)

2) ~ When I find myself in uncomfortable situations, I count. I just start counting quietly in my head until it calms me down. I think it must be a form of reassuring myself that the discomfort won't last. (and because sucking my thumb would be way too obvious.)

3) ~ I love to cook. I'm a wonderful and super messy cook. I absolutely hate cleaning up after myself. It's not fair, I know. I don't even clean up as I go. (I know there is a way to do this, but it escapes me  completely) I don't put things away or rinse things out as I am through using them.  (whatever you're thinking now, don't even say it! =D)

4) ~ I will not watch scary movies. NEVER. They scare me and they don't entertain me at all. I will not budge on this. Not tempted in any way to ever watch scary movies. I like light comedies or well written action/drama. Movies are fun for me. I won't spoil it for myself by being freaked out.

5) ~ When I eat a Hershey's Kiss, I never EVER bite into it. I take my time and just suck on it until it starts to disappear and then I introduce another Kiss and continue the same "melts in your mouth" process. I do this with about five kisses until they're all completely gone. (I'm aware that I mixed my candy slogans there, but you get the picture)

There they are. Five of my (bizillion!) quirky qualities.
I feel so vulnerable now. [sigh.]  ;-)

Making a Man

This is a page out of a scrapbook I made for Adam. (the entire album is in the column on the left - titled: Adam's ABC Book)

It tells the story of The Splinter.

Here's how it goes:

Adam played lacrosse in the 8th grade. Lacrosse is like ice hockey but without the ice and much more violent. In other words, a blood sport. =(

After his very first game, he complained that his umm... bottom was hurting.  Compassionate mother that I've always been, I say, "well, of course it's hurting, you idiot, you've been beating each other to a pulp on the field for the past two hours - duh!" ;-)
He continued to complain and no, I didn't let him stay home from school. Still he kept complaining.
Adam and I differ on this part of the story. He insists that I allowed him to suffer for three whole days. I am sure my tolerance for his whining wore me down by day two.

Anyway, there was some bruising in one particular spot, so I took him to the doctor the day after the game.  The doctor pulled out a one and a half inch SPLINTER from his butt. He had gotten it lodged not during the blood sport, but sliding into the bench at the pizza parlor afterwards!  (no sympathy)

That's when the fun began. I had my camera with me in the doctor's office and documented the occasion and the doctor was gracious enough to put the offending splinter into a little envelope for me. 
Here's the kicker - I kept it.
Yep. I kept that splinter in a safe place and with the photos nearby knowing that one day I would tell The Splinter Story in a scrapbook.
I think he was the MVP that season. And I think he made the all-star team, too. The point is that The Splinter made the Family Story Hall of Fame. The punchline is that the evidence is there. The cold hard evidence of his pain and embarrassment. Documented and forever enshrined in a plastic envelope. He's secretly proud of all this. That I took pictures, that I kept the splinter, that I scrapbooked about it.

He pretends to be indignant as he shows it off, with a question that sounds something like this: 'What kind of mother would ignore her child's complaints of excruciating pain, and then subject him to this kind of humiliation?"    

To which I counter: "What kind of cool mom not only saves the splinter and takes pictures of the operation, but forever enshrines the moment in your scrapbook?" 

This story perfectly illustrates my relationship with my son. 

He pretends I embarrass the life out of him and that he's much more evolved than I am. He "puts up" with his mother's idiosyncrasies.  He kind of rolls his eyes as he tells about the kinds of things I do for him. He shows friends around our home and I hear him explaining about the writing on the walls and the stories behind my choices in decoration.  He points to his framed baby shoes and laughs as he tells them how silly I am.  He complains that I made him learn how to cook.  But in his voice I hear the unmistakable sound of Pride.

I've written before about how my son makes me crazy. Of my four kids, he has been the most challenging to raise. (Amy says it's because he's the most like me. =D)  He is the one I have spent the most time talking to God about. But I know I make him just as crazy. I have stayed in his face when it would have been easier to give up. He hated that. Or maybe he loved it?  In either case, my primary goal was to raise a Good Man.

If you met Adam, you would want him for a friend.  He is fun and caring. Witty. Personable. Stubborn.  Smart.  Always the life of the party.  Always ready to lend a hand. 

Adam is twenty-one today and I can honestly say he's a Good Man.
(and he totally looks better clean-shaven, doesn't he?)

Happy Birthday, Monkey Boy! I love you and I'm very proud of the man you have become.

A time to PLAY

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

It's Friday and I'm busy cleaning out my studio because I need more room to PLAY.
Last year I began some exercises in my art journal.
I decided to try new techniques, and learn new ways to express myself. 

On Tuesdays I would do a self-portrait and on Friday I showed what I was doing in the studio.
It was a very difficult thing for me.

First of all, I had to learn how to include myself in the book.
You'd be surprised.  It was so difficult for me to relax in front of a camera. You would never know I went on all those vacations and holiday gatherings with my family - I was always behind the camera.
The goal of these exercises was to get comfortable "just being" in front of a camera. The Studio Friday just gave me a way to share what project I was working on in my studio.  This was all before I started blogging. The exercises are just as relevant. Only now I find it easier to blog. =)

So here are some pages from my most intimate art journal. (BE KIND)
I played and I worked and I got comfortable in front of a camera.
Not only that, but because it was just meant for me, I got adventurous and a little fearless. I enjoyed the exercises immensely.
They are not scrapbooks, per se, but they do document change and creative growth over the last year of my life.

In my art journal I get to PLAY.
I try photoshop brushes, rubber stamps, decorative paper, sticker tape, tags, and lots of pictures of myself.

Because I think everyone should have a time and a place where they can just PLAY! =D

(it's in The Book) =D

She IS the boss of me.

It was a busy weekend for us with all the birthday celebrations and Father's Day. But I took the day off from my real life last Friday to go help out at the CKU convention in Anaheim (scrapbooking event).

There was no way I was going to be able to actually attend the entire thing (which made me sad in like 10 different ways) because Lucy had a dance recital on Saturday (which, of course I couldn't miss and yes, I will most certainly post a video of her doing her tap routine very soon, because, of course, she was adorable, but that's not important right now =D) so I opted to volunteer to be a Teacher's Assistant for a day.

Being a TA for someone you've never met is kind of a crap shoot, really - for both parties involved. I was a little worried that I would end up with someone who didn't quite "get me" and who would be disappointed that they didn't get a young college student they could easily boss around.

Lucky me! I was assigned to the amazing Britney Mellen. I think her job title is Creative Editor for Creating Keepsakes Magazine.  (and I think she was pretty happy to have had a wow-not-only-is-she-not-young-but-probably-old-enough-to-be-my-mother-! person to boss around, but that's not important right now. =D)
We got along BEAUTIFULLY.  In fact, I would consider her an actual "friend" now.
Maybe a better title for her would be:
The Most Gracious and Fabulous CKU  Teacher in Need of Assistance (and not at all bossy in any way, I might add). =D

Our motto? Laugh. Eat. Play.

The kids are out of school and in this part of the country it's like a feeding frenzy trying to get kids signed up for "camps."

Yes. That's the hip thing to do.  (of course, I am anything but hip -  sigh)

If you don't know how to just be with and enjoy your child or help them entertain themselves for the summer, you sign them up for "camp."  (Not a criticism, just a fact in my South Orange County white-bread world)

They can choose soccer camp, sailing camp, movie making camp, swimming camp, acting camp, art camps, theater camps, etc. Not only that, but a parent could easily spend thousands for that happy and memorable experience for their child. And you usually get a cool camp shirt, too. Good stuff.
I'm thinking that with those extra thousands I could be saving here, I can buy that little Mac Mini beauty and maybe just come up with some clever ideas for "camp" myself.  ;-)

I'm thinking theses could be really fun:

• Surf camp (for sure, Dudes.)
• Painting
• Cooking
• Swimming
• Stargazing
• Science
• Scrapbooking
• Movie Making
• Teen Fitness
• Sewing
• Improv - definitely
• Then of course, there are movie nights. I'm thinking a Danny Kaye film festival. (or maybe the Marx Brothers?)

I have tons of ideas for these and more.
Let me let you in on my secret:  I'm just pretty darn childish myself. 
Seriously. I come up with ideas for stuff I'd like to do and suggest it to my kids.

I've pretty much got all the resources I need including the willing victims students campers.

The truth is that we do something like this every year.  We like to call it. . . "summer."  ;-)

Now all we need is a cool camp song. . . hmmm. . . =D

My Favorite Pictures

I'm adding this photo to my Favorite Pictures album.

Don't try to stop me.

I love everything  about this photo.  (Well... except for my face. =D)

He's 11 and almost as tall as I am.

But he'll always be my baby.
(Even though there is nothing baby-ish about him.)

Every now and then he just comes over to me and allows himself to be loved.

He's probably more Darby than Verdés, except when he smiles. And I can see glimpses of my dad in the crinkle of his eyes.