Still Around and Still No Internet

"Reality forms around a commitment." ~Unknown

~~Abby~~

You been here with me
And it just feels right
This is where you belong
Even if it’s too hot
Cause in the big scheme of things
Hot is what I think you are
And I know HOT I can handle
And I say HOT is alright

As you learn to deal with hotness
As you learn to embrace its warmth
Just remember in the front yard
There’s a long hose readily attached.

jmelo
Time sure does fly when you are having fun and there is just no possible way to stop it or at least slow it down so might as well use it to our advantage and enjoy it as much as possible.

It has been none stop these past two weeks and as the day gets closer when I have to take Abby back to California it suddenly hits me that it is going to be hard as she is very easy to get used to. I have a feeling my mom is thinking the same as she has had companionship every day and I know her too is loving it. Not to mention that her favorite son (namely me) has been there too.

Posting has been hard for me due to lack of Internet but I hope to eventually catch up, specially with some images we have captured these past days. We are thinking this Saturday we may take a ride to Prescott, if that happens it should be lots of fun, plus it will be great to escape the 115 degree Phoenix temperatures we are experiencing these days.

Getting to know each other has been awesome and I will treasure these days forever.

I am placing this image here as a request from my dear friend Wanda.
Peace!

A Week With Abby

Wow, and just like that a whole week has passed. So since I have no computer at my mom's where I've been staying all week here is the skinny of things. Left for Cali last Thursday night got to my sister's fairly early, she fed me (very important) and that was pretty much the day. The next morning I woke up got ready and headed to Abby's parents house to pick her up. Abby's kids by the grace of God happened to be in town at the same time so we could not pass that opportunity and decided to drive to her house in Lancaster so I could meet them. However we could not leave until we had a good lunch cooked by Abby's mom and sister, "tacos de papa" with home made red salsa ummm, ummm good! We finally hit the road and two hours later were in Lancaster. (Wanda, I could have thrown a stone and hit your house roof, lol)I say for a first time things went super smooth, it was decided to have some carne asada so Abby and I headed to the store to get what we needed but not before stopping at one of her friends house. "Ummm that ring on your finger cannot be real" is what they seemed to be thinking, "You're just pulling our legs". Her friend was like "call me later". I made a salsa verde and the girls made rice, beans, and potato salad to go with the carne. Ummmm, I am still full... OK no, I'm lying actually I already ate many times since. At 9:00 p.m. we said good bye and headed for Phoenix. For the most part it was a wonderful ride but we were delayed for about an hour due to freeway construction on I-10, I didn't mind it at all since the I had the best possible company but the clutch foot/leg was starting to cramp up. No bueno!!! Once in Phoenix my mom whom probably had one eye open came out to greet us and then we went to sleep. Next morning we got ready and headed for Sedona were we had a most wonderful time. She had never seen the red rock mountains and even got to see Snoopy mountain. Sedona is just a wonderful place to visit so when in Arizona you must go. The next day we went to Jerome, an old mining town about 50 miles away from Sedona. Here we also had a fantastic time and dinner was awesome at a restaurant called "Quince", food was good and music was great, they were playing nothing but salsa music, we even had the best tasting margaritas there. Headed back to Phoenix but again we were caught in a traffic jam that lasted over an hour but eventually we got to my mom's. Rested for about a minute and then headed to my sister's were we stayed until late. Well, pretty much that was the weekend. The week has been exciting as well, from shopping, to movies, to bike night, to just relaxing, it's been all 100% awesome. I will share pictures once I'm back at the house and have access to the Internet.

Wow, this is the longest sentence I have written in my blog.



Peace!

Road Trip And More...

On the road again...
So this will be road trip number four this year and I can't wait to hit the road. The baggage is packed, the car is ready, and I am excited. All I have to do after work is gas up the car, load up on coffee, crank up the stereo, and just drive.

This will definitely be an interesting trip as not only am I picking up Abby but her kids whom all live far from each other will be in the same place at the same time and I can't wait to meet them. Abby asked me if I was nervous and I said no but on second thought, these "kids" are all bigger than I am and younger and love their mom so I better make a good impression from the get go.

So tonight I'll be in La Puente and tomorrow we will go up to The City of Lancaster where most likely I'll get a little tour of the city. I know I am asking a lot of Abby to leave the city where she has lived for the past 18 or so years but from Lancaster to Phoenix, what is the difference? After all they are both in the desert. OK so we already are into the infamous three digit temperature but hey, it's a dry heat, right?

As always I will try to insert some images as I get them and put them in this same post so feel free to come back later.

Peace!

This is already California trip number seven for my 07 Mustang.

Happy Blogiversary To Me

Welcome to Joe Cool's blog, it seems to me everyone is doing it so I said to myself "self" why don't you have one yet. So here I am trying to find out the "hows" and "whys" of doing a blog. It seems like it could be fun while trying to make it interesting and appealing to anybody and everybody that may read what I post. As I go on I will rely on your input and requests to lure you back into this blog time and time again. So don't be shy and feel free to comment as much as you want, I want to hear from you.

The above was my very first post five years ago today.

So today is my blog's Five Year Anniversary! Yey, happy blogiversary to me. When you think about it five years is a long time and at some level my blog is still going strong. I am well over the 900 posts but still short of the 1000, but that milestone will be broken soon.

I don't have hundreds of readers but the few I do have became really good friends and I wouldn't change that for the world. Many of the readers that started with me five years ago are still around but many have moved on and some blogs became victims of Facebook, but either there or here we are still in contact, and in many cases in both places.

So, here is my invitation to keep coming back and let's shoot for anniversary number six.

Love ya all!

Random Post

OK it was going to be a random post but somehow was taken over by the grand kids. :-)

Me and Rapunzel (her name of choice these days).
This is my granddaugher number six, this image was captured by my daughter during Alayna's kindergarden graduation. Rapuzel here with me was mad cause she wanted to share the limelight with her sister but couldn't. She so wants to be in kindergarden already. Notice Rapunzel is carrying her twin too. For a long time this little girl would not let anybody get near me or hug me because she would scream extremely loud, as far as she was concerned I was hers and only hers. She now refers of me as "Her #1 grandpa"

Conversation between my daugher and Rapunzel:

Michelle: Your grandpa is coming over
Rapunzel: Grandpa? My number one grandpa!
Michelle: Yes, that one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't call her princess, she says she is "La Princesa".

This was taken on her graduation day. I had not enjoyed a graduation ceremony as much as I enjoyed hers. Half an hour concert by a bunch (about 50 or so) kindergarteners. They were super entertaining and they sung better than most grown ups.

She was just too happy with her roses and princess balloon and happy cause she will be going into first grade. Sometimes she thinks she is a grown up already.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eight out of ten.
My daughter has got to be nuts but I won't tell her and don't you tell her I said that either. But really who in their right mind would have nine out of my ten grandkids at her house for a sleepover. Yep, if you guessed Michelle then you were right. You need to have a lot of patience and of course a husband like hers whom will scare the heck out of all of them and keep them in line.

Support

I said it before and I will say it again, and probably again and again, I am blessed to have the love and support of my kids. While celebrating my son in law's / daughter's birthday Friday night inevitably the conversation turned briefly to my recent engagement to Abby and my daughters somehow dropped the ball and didn't quite communicate this to their brother whom apparently found out through my nephew whom apparently found out through facebook thanks to my sister's super fast posting of said event.

Wow, and people say that this social networks are not good for anything. The fact is that they told me once again that all they want is for me to be happy and they all agree that I have found the perfect person to do that, their approval means all the world to me and that makes me truly happy.

Life continues and I just try to live it as best as I can which is what I am sure God intends for all of us to do. So with eyes wide open I focus into what the future has in store for me and I move forward one day at a time.

Soon there will be many changes coming into my life as we start building and molding our future but if you have been following me for a while, then you know I will probably let you guys to a certain level into our lives and will welcome you to take the ride with us. So, stay tuned and be a part of this awesome new trip... Or not, it's completely up to you.

Abby and I.

What If

Can you imagine if you went your life acting on the "what ifs"? To me a "what if" always have a negative connotation to it in the sense that it opens the door to over thinking and failure. While life is about challenges and risks relying on the "what if" most certainly will reduce the chances of success because of the fear of taking the risk.

I want a new car but "what if" I can't handle the monthly payments.

I want to be happy but "what if" happiness is not for me.

I want to love you but "what if" you don't love me in return.

Ummmm, What if we eliminate the "what if" and actually have the guts to take the risk and find out for sure? There is nothing worst than living with the uncertainty of not trying something because there was a "what if" that got in front of it. I prefer to fail and to say at least I tried, than to live with the uncertainty of what could have been.

On the other hand I do listen to my common sense, and if my common sense tells me this idea in your head is too crazy, then it probably is, so a complimentary "what if" thought is actually welcomed.

I have learned to trust my gut feelings, I have learned to listen to my heart, and I have developed a pretty sound common sense over the years which combined help me deal with what comes my way. So "what if" I cut this post short and just wish you all a nice and happy weekend. Yeah, I think I'll do just that.

Life Is a Ride of Sorts

Anticipation, or being enthusiastic, is an emotion involving pleasure, excitement and sometimes anxiety in considering some expected or longed-for good event.

And this is probably the way I will live for the next 10 months or so. The two days a month we get together are just not enough and as soon as I am saying good bye I am already longing for the next time.

That's why when I hear the words "I am coming over and will be there for at least the next ten days" it's obviously reason enough for the anticipation to mount as I still have to wait for 10 days before that happens. *Sigh* But it's OK, I've been told time and time again that patience is a virtue and that good things come to those who wait, so I don't want to brake that mold.

So, next week road trip number four of the year will take place as the decision was for me to go get her. It will be a quick turn around and not a typical California weekend, more than likely I will get there say hi load her luggage and hit the road back to Arizona. The plan is to go to Sedona the very next day. I hope Sedona is not being affected by those ugly fires taking place in Arizona right now.

My mom has graciously volunteered to be the host and to keep her busy while I am at work not to mention that we will crash in her house during all that time. I am still wondering who replaced my old mom for this different one, oh but trust me I am not complaining, I actually love this new version of my mom, not that I didn't love the old version, it's just that this one has changed a lot.

My mom's prediction of me carvng a hole on the road to California will probably come true. I have two more trips to California scheduled in the month of July. One will involve an additional trip to Northern California to the City of Sonoma. I am really looking forward to that one but I will clue you in later.

In the meantime we are trying to be possitive and to enjoy life as it is being thrown at us. I for one really am enjoying every minute of it, and obviously I'm also enjoying this wonderful ride.

In the anticipation of what will be
And the realization of what will come
The participation of you and me
Will be the nourishment to make it last

jmelo

Choir Get Together

Nuestro guitarrero!
I am having a very active social life, while I have never befriended my neighbours (11 years in my current residence and I still don't know any of them) I do have acquaintances from different groups that I have joined through the years. The "HOG" group, the "Copperstate Mustang Club", my "karaoke pals", and recently my new found "Viernes de Bohemia" family. However there's a group that is close to me and very dear to my heart and that is our church choir.

You've probably seen the videos I have posted so then you know who I have to sing with. All the girls in the choir or at least most of them call me "tio" and have adopted me as one and I for one love it.

The carnitas and buche almost ready to come out of the pan and into mhy belly.
Last night we had a little get together just to do something other than see each other at practice or at church and we celebrated with food, lots of it, and songs, lots of those too. The carne asada was scrapped in favor of carnitas and buche. Six different kinds of salsa, rice, and these awesomely tasting refried beans were the wonderful side dishes and in the end some sort of pudding/jello dessert. Yes, we did have some beers, but mostly sodas and water.


Above, our fearless chef pretended to be camera shy.
And the guys's mouths watering as the carnitas and buche was being drained from escessive oil. Oh the anticipation!
We had a fantastic time and even though this morning some of us were still paying the price from all the screaming herr I mean singing we did we said it would be nice to get together like this at least once a month.

Enjoying the awesome food and plethora of salsas.
Ummm que rico!
All I know is if you say the key word food then I'm there. Here are some images and videos of last night, enjoy... or not, it's up to you.


Maryita singing "Besame Mucho".


Trust me this is definitely NOT the way we sing at church. je je je!

A Saturday Morning Reflection

And as the sun rises again I thank God for the new day.
Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.
~Lillian Dickson


I have always believed that in my life only I can dictate how I am going to live it, this is not to say that I don't listen or pay attention to what others may suggest but ultimately the decisions are mine to make it good or bad, awesome or mediocre, happy or sad, fun or boring, loving or hateful, well I think you get the point.

To every situation out there there is its opposite and I refuse to choose the one that promotes negativity, life is too short to waste it, and I realized a long time ago that wasted days will never come back, they are gone with the wind forever and ever.

I am definitely playing the cards that are being dealt to me and being the bad gambler that I am I try to play them right, I don't like to gamble and prefer to pursue the right things from the get go, definitely spending my time trying to achieve my dreams as they are in my head take a good chunk of my time but when you love something and its incorporated into your daily life it really isn't a hard thing to do and it actually is fun doing it.

Living in a Social Network time where we are all so connected I read the statuses my peers post and can't help but wonder how much of what I read there is true. How many of us say, "Good morning FaceBook Friends I am so happy today" and yet that is not true but must say it to face the world cause I must not let them know that it is the other way around. As I said before one must become responsible for one's own destiny and make it work, but always recognize when someone is trying to help and accept the help as a stepping stone to a better tomorrow.

I am blessed to have a wonderful loving family that always supports me in all my decisions and so my pursue for happiness is not dream but a reality and as I sit here writting this I count my blessings and thank God for all He does for me on a daily basis, and for always helping me to look for a positive side to any bad situation that comes my way.

Yes, I am lucky to have a good life and I choose to make it easy for me. Keeping my faith and feeding my soul with nothing but good intentions definitely helps to achieve those goals and dreams in my head.

And so with a good head over my shoulders and my heart in my hand I am ready for the next stage of my life. All those that want to ride along with me are free to join me and jump on the band wagon at any time, know that you will always be welcomed.

Laila Graciela

Laila Graciela receives her Sacrament of Baptism and turns one year old.

CLICK HERE FOR AN AWESOME SLIDE SHOW

Let the images tell the story. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Slide show by: My sister Chely

Alayna Graduates From Kindergarten.

So today I went to my granddaughter's kinder garden graduation and I was prepared to be bored as these type of ceremonies usually are, after all it's just a bunch of names being called and a certificate being passed right? Well call me Dumbo and pull my ears but this one was not a boring ceremony at all.

There must have been over 50 kids up on that stage all ready to go into first year of elementary school. So, what made this ceremony different and not boring? Well, the kids of course. These kids treated us to a mini half an hour concert of colorful songs. Some of them to Christmas music, and some to old rhymes but all very enjoyable to the ear. How is it that these many kids sang this well is beyond me, but they did.

I of course was just having too much fun with Alayna as I kept waving to her and she felt compelled to wave back each time followed by a giggle and another wave. Yes, these process was repeated constantly during the ceremony. I think she kept telling the little girl next to her, see that crazy man waving at me a lot, he's my grandpa.

They were called one by one and a folder containing all of their projects was handed to them, followed by a firm hand shake given by one of the teachers. It was so much fun to see them.

My three year old granddaughter told me she was ready to go up there too and kept bugging that she wanted to be up in the stage with the other kids. She thought she belonged up there and wanted a jump start at kinder garden pronto.

These kids have a lot to learn about life and all but I learned something from them. I learned that good behavior and loud squeaky voices make for an enjoyable graduation ceremony worthy of any high school scholar and that when you are as young as they are, the sky really is the limit.

What a thrill to be able to see my grand kids' events as they unfold. Today kinder garden, tomorrow ASU.