Inspiration

Sometimes inspiration comes from everywhere and everything and sometimes it hides in the deepest parts not wanting to be found. What can be used to lure it out? I was taking my morning walk and the weather felt so good at time of the morning that it allowed me to notice the ducks happily swimming on the lakes, I noticed all the landscapers hard at work making the local landscape look so nice, I notice how Cosita our female chihuahua had to take about 10 steps as opposed to one of mine, crossed about the elderly couples also on their morning stroll and apparently enjoying it too, I noticed the mom on the bike followed by her son trailing right behind her apparently on their way to school.

It's amazing how much one notices when ones mind is clear. It is inspiring to see how well coordinated life is when allowed to take its natural course, all that is left to do is first thank God for allowing us to live, and second live it to the fullest. In my case all I can say is "What a life", and what a privilege to be a part of it.

My Weakness!

I am sitting here realizing that finally the grueling Phoenix summer heat has finally subsided and that it's time to start shedding those few pounds I gained during the summer. The morning weather is great for walking so I think I need to start my routine again, my goal is to once again be able to wear my belt in the last hole, not to mention it is healthier to be slimmer is it not?

Did you know that a good life and good food equals a few extra pounds? No? Well, all you have to do is look at me and that theory clearly will come to light, but when you are blessed with a bunch of great cooks in your life as I am it is hard to bring yourself to say "enough", and in my case if the cook happens to be my mom and I tell her enough she says "no entiendo" and packs my plate full of nothing but exquisite food and since I am blessed to have my mom around to cook for me and to actually know she enjoys cooking for me saying "no" in that context is non existent.

I guess when it comes to food the bottom line is I AM WEAK and it truly is very hard for me to say "enough is enough" and much less to say "no". Who out there can say no to a "mole rojo" or to a "carne asada" or to "chiles rellenos" or "cochinita pivil" or "tinga", and the ever delicious tacos. Ummm que rico! (can you tell I am Mexican?).

So I wonder, what is your food weakness? Something you almost never say no, something you sneak so nobody says anything. You all know mine is tacos, God know I have posted this fact a million times, I swear if I don't eat tacos on a regular basis I'd probably go on withdrawals.

So the goal is simple, I don't see myself not eating anytime soon so I must compromise and learn how to balance eating and exercising so I can stay healthy, I am 53 years old and still not on any medications but then again I haven't visited my doctor in over a year so that may change soon, then again maybe not. In the meantime as long as there are great cooks in my life and they keep cooking delicious dishes for me I will continue to let them spoil me as yes I am weak, weak, weak, but with a full stomach.

And apparently I am not the only one that can't say no to tacos.

Avondale Fire-Rescue Open House

Every year we try to attend the Avondale Fire-Rescue Free Open House at the local firehouse which luckily for us is only a five minute walk from the house and this year is no exception. The open house features free hot dogs and hamburgers, popcorn, sodas, and ice cream. The fire engines are displayed and Billy Scott, the singing fireman put on a show involving the kids. They do a little show, act silly and they get little giveaways. Kids love it!

I have always loved to do things with my kids and grandkids, the sense of family unity, the bonding, the fun, the memories we create, the accomplishment of seeing my family grow together on a daily basis is worth to me more than anythng else, that's why we make outings such as this a tradition. Just two weeks ago I had the opportunity of creating wonderful memories with my new family in California while visiting The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa California (but that is another story to be told).

Today's event wasn't any different than last years, yet the kids seem to enjoy it every year. You've all seen the face paintings Nikki does on the kids. Well there was a girl painting the most simple designs on the kid's arms and yet they tought it was the most awesome thing and so they all waited paitently in the long line to get theirs. Sometimes it's the simple things in life isn't it? I thank God for the opportunity to spend this type of quality time with my wonderful family and I appreciate it very, very much.

Some of the things the firemen teach the kids and adults is how to protect your family from fire. We love to tour the station and the engines, the kids just love to get prizes, oh and to get baloons. Why are kids so mystifies with baloons is beyond me, but they are, if they see one they want it and won't stop til' they get it.

This event kicks off the Fire Prevention Week. It's amazing to see how much valuable information the kids pick up at the Open House while enjoying the food and fun. Oh and did I mention it is all FREE?

Fireman Diego putting out a fire.

Ummmm hot dogs and chips, que rico!!!

Oh Diego you got a spider on your arm. I like it!

Oh you so cool Mr Cool!

Tattoo time!

Alayna and Ariele, twins a couple of years apart.

Thank God It's Friday!

TGIF... Wait, what's the difference? Being out of work for so long has put me out of touch as to what a weekend should feel like, when you don't work everyday is the same, OK except maybe Sunday cause that's when I go to church. Since my honey started working I can at least from her perspective wait in anticipation for the weekend.

So now I once again wake up early to see her off and once she leaves I pretty much stay up, yes the bed does call me repeatedly and says to please come back but I resist, not easy but I do, talk about will power.

What to do? What to do?, well since it is not so hot anymore I think it's time to get the old pony out of the garage and start it up, run it up for a while and take it to emissions to get it passed, at least that is my hope that it will pass without having to sink lots of money into it, so I can get my tags current. The weather is getting great for top down cruising around town.

My two ponies are so much fun to drive and are attention getters when I'm out on the road.

The newer pony too is in desperate need of being washed so the question to me is: What are you doing here blogging instead of being out there doing those things? Ummm well, I don't know, I guess that is how I roll.

Well, in any case I am ready for the weekend and hope you are too, so have a fantastic Friday and see you later.

Have a fantastic Friday and a great weekend!

What? A new post?

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote anything here, why with married life and the honeymoon, which by the way is not over yet it's easy to see why I neglected the good ol' blog. But I am still here and I miss you all my bloggin' friends.

So I am hoping to commit to my blog and write at least a little bit here and there as no to make it look like a ghost blog. Hope to hear from you my two readers out there, I too want to know how you all are these days.

The Help

I am reading:


The Help by Kathryn Stockett

So far this year I have read:

The Broker by John Grisham

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

In The Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson

Timeline by Michael Crichton

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay (The Final Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins

The Light House by PD James -- (I am still reading this one as it is very slow) --

So I went to the library and looked for the two book choices I had one being "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" which I couldn't find an available copy and my second choice "The Help" which they did have. So as always I wanted to read the book before I catch the movie and so far I am enjoying it very much. This is one of those books that you put down only to pick it up again a few minutes later.

The book I was reading (OK I am still not discarding it yet) was definitely too slow, definitely not a page turner so I will give it a rest and attempt to pick it up later on in life.

So, what's on your reading list these days?



Pizza Sunday With the Kids

It was one of those Sundays that I decided to go home right after church instead of going to my sister's where for sure I will be nicely fed. The weather is starting to get hot and I was wearing a dress shirt and tie so I just wanted to get home and change into something comfortable.

Summoned to Peter Piper Pizza by da kids will only end in me being lovingly attacked by the gkids.

It wasn't even 10 minutes from the time I got home when the phone rang. It was my son calling to invite me to join him and my sisters along with all the rugrats at Peter Piper Pizza for some pizza and chicken wings. Since it was already almost 2:00 o'clock and I was hungry I gladly accepted.

Unfortunately we were missing Diego whom was visiting his cousin and junior whom works Sundays, other than that we were all there. Nikki and Loyiel got there way after we all got there but at least they made it.

We stayed there for about two hours. Peter Piper is one of those places the kids love cause they can run free and make noise and basically nobody cares, there kids can just be kids just like at Chuck E. Cheese.

As you all know my camera is almost a part of me cause I pretty much always have it, and with good reason because I love to record this awesome days when I spend time with my kids.


My mind retains the memories but the pictures facilitate the visuals.

Here are a few of those wonderful images:

Here the beast (that would be me) is mobbed by the beauties. (That would be Alayna, Tallynna, and Briana).

Here Juanito and Ducky took hummm like a 2-second brake to pose with grandpa before they run back to the games again. 

Here Laila and I posed for the camera sporting our awesome eye wear.

Atalie and Laila growing up together. They are always together, how awesome is that. OK so at the end of the day they say goodbye but the next day they are back together.

And this my family and friends is what a happy grandpa looks like.  And yes there was a chorus of little voices saying cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese! OK except maybe Atalie because she was in dream land.

My Walks Around the Neighborhood

Part of my every morning is to take a 2.3. mile walk around the neighborhood for exercise, it's more of a combination jogging and walking. I used to walk around my workplace every year and stop walking when summer came as it gets to hot to bear. That was only a 2-mile walk. I started walking as suggested by my doctor, she said I needed to exercise to keep my blood pressure down. Once I started I have not stopped, I truly enjoy walking and only miss a day here or there but for the most part I am committed to my walk.

Of course walking is always more enjoyable when the sights are like this:

The community I live in has a series of lakes and most homes have a lake front view. However these are really not lakes but actually they are "treatment cells" complete with "working fish". So this is in fact a Natural Water Treatment System consisting of 21 separate lakes or "cells"  covering 72 acres with the purpose of creating aquatic wildlife habitat and a water purification system.

So as you can imagine visually it is a very beautiful and well planned community and it's easy to get used to the surrounding. Bird sanctuaries, ducks all over the place, plenty of fish in the lakes, a jogging or running track around every lake, every back yard has easy access to the lake and the running tracks and just around the corner a complete shopping plaza with plenty of stores, restaurants, movie theaters, and parks.

Having an association really sucks but at the same time it makes complete sense to have it as the landscaping around the neighborhood is always we ll kept and very clean. Yes they are tought but in the end it is for our best interest if we want to live in a beautiful community.

So here are some pics I took during one of my recent walks, hope you like them.

 

 

Looking Forward to It

We just seem to have fun everytime we are out and with the always readily and available camera we capture many of these moments for us to remember later on. Not that the memories fade right away or anything but pictures do speak a thousand words.

I think I am at a stage in my life where I really enjoy every minute we are out visiting places. Weather it's a first time or a repeat I tend to always find something new to see. Traveling on a budget makes it more interesting and makes me focus on the visuals more than on physical souverniers which in many cases can set you back a few dollars. And as I always say thanks to the new technology in digital cameras we can bring a lot of pictures, all treasured "free" souverniers.

It's apparent that Abby and I will be doing as many of these day road trips as we can. In most cases all it requires is a tankfull of gas and the inner drive to actually get out of the house and hit the road. Of course I am taking into consideration that in our case it will be very easy as we don't have little ones to haul around. So far we have been to Sedona, Jerome, Cave Creek, and Wikenburg in Arizona and to Sonoma and Santa Barbara in California. I am loving it.

To add excitement into the mix we will probably be alternating the cars and the bike. We will have the choice of top down or bike ride, and when the Phoenix weather hits the dreaded triple digits we can put those tops up and crank the AC.

As Abby and I prepare to share our lives as a unit it has been very exciting finding out how much we enjoy similar thngs. To find out that we share the same passion for things will only make things easier when the time comes to choose things to do.

I for one really am looking forward to it.

Fabulous Fords Forever 2012

I've been interested in Mustangs since my uncle was given a dilapidated 66 fast back that got resurrected and eventually stolen never to be found. As a teenager I got to drive it everyday to school for a whole year and I knew then I would some day own one.

Then in 1990 I purchased a used but well kept 93 convertible which I still own to this day. The fox body is showing it's age so I decided to purchase another used Mustang, this one a 2007 coupe. I enjoy and love both my ponies and actually really drive them alot.


The interior of my 07. Gotta have the comforts to make those trips more enjoyable.

 I know a lot of people that buy this cars only to put them in their garage and used them occasionally on a weekend drive, but not me. I am of the belief that it's a machine and it has to be used and enjoyed, otherwise what is the point?

So at least eight years out of the thirteen that I have owned my fox body I have made the treck to California for the yearly Fabulous Fords Forever car show at Knott's Berry Farm and to me it just does not get old. This year was not the exception. The trip was nice, the weather was the best for the show in all the years I have attended, it was slightly cloudy and the sun only briefly broke through just before the show was over. So it wasn't hot at all as compared to previous years.



There she is, capturing little video pegs during at the show.

 Another plus is that Abby actually enjoys coming to the car shows with me and totally gets into the spirit of things. She likes having the souvenier t-shirts and is good at taking pictures too. Now if I could only get her to like lowered cars. She claims they do not look good lowered which is crazy thinking if you know what I mean.

My dream pick up truck is an old Ford F-100 and when I showed her one I liked at the show she agreed with me 100%, yep, I say she is definitely a keeper.

At nearly 2000 cars on display it is hard to keep track of which aisles we had walked and which one we hadn't but overall I think we pretty much covered most of the show. The Capri section brought her memories as my lil sister's first car was a Capri and they used to probably ditch school and go cruising in it. She says no, but I am sure they did. She had to take a couple of pictures of one and texted it to her.

My little sister's first car was a Capri just like this one.

To many cars are only transportation but to some of us they are an extension of our individuality and many of us have memories from days gone by which were brought but a particular vehicle. Many firsts happen in a car and also many bad memories too. Bottom line, getting from point A to point B is always better and more enjoyable if you like your car.

Too bad she still doesn't know how to drive a stick shift. Not! she drives faster than I.

As usual I took too many pictures from the show so here are some I liked, I hope you enjoy them too.

Awesome station wagon.

This Galaxy was fully restored and very pristine.

Loved this vintage pedal Mustang.

Abby really liked these T-birds.

A woody!



Fully restored tow truck.



Can I have one of each or all of the above?

The Lighthouse

I am reading:

The Lighthouse by PD James

So far this year I have read:

The Broker by John Grisham
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
In The Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson
Timeline by Michael Crichton
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay (The Final Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins

Now that I have finished the Hunger Games trilogy I am ready to move on to other books. I must say of the three books I enjoyed the first one the most, "Catching Fire" was not too bad either but "Mockinjay" gave me the feeling that she was stretching the story and failed to make me want to finish it right away. I did notice something tho, Panem was going through some sort of a rebellion/war and killing, suffering, and hunger were an everyday thing for many and in no time during the three books religion is ever mentioned. Which kindda proves that a world with no religion will be a world in chaos.

So, while in California at the beginning of last month we were at the hospital and I had finished reading Timeline so I was left withot a book to read so we went to the gift store and noticed that they had a bunch of books there soft and hard covers ranging from $.50 to $2.00 wow, good books too. So some of the ones they had I had already read but Abby recommended and bought for me "The Lighthouse" by PD James. I never heard of this writer but I'm into page eight and it is picking up really nice. It's a mystery and apparently she has a series of books with the main character of this book Adam Dalgliesh.

Happy reading fellow readers!

What are you reading these days, are your kindles on fire? Me, I still read regular paper books were I actually can turn the page and fold the top as a marker when I put it down.

Fabulous Fords Forever 2012

Oh I would love if my baby looked this good, after owning it for 12 years and being a daily driver my pony is slowly but surely starting to disintegrate. But still when I wash it and take it out for a drive it still gets many thumbs up and people always ask me if I want to sell it. The truth is this car has been and is still to this day a looker and I hope to once again make it look good in the future.

Fabulous Fords Forever, a yearly car show at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California is coming un in two weeks and I will be there. I won't be taking the convertible though, I will be driving the 07 instead.

This will be the 27th Annual Fabulous Fords Forever car show and the eighth time I will be participating. It will take place on Sunday, April 22 and it's certainly the most gigantic car show I attend. About 2000 entries are expected on some 52 classes of nothing but pure Ford beauty.

Can you guess what car dominates the show by far. If you guessed the Mustang you were right. I say more than 50% of the car entries are Mustangs. The Mustang is an icon and has been continuously built every year since 1964 and hands down beats any other model.

Still, there is plenty to see besides Mustangs and for a free show it espectators it is totally worth it.

So, to all my California peeps, see you soon.

A window reflection of my pony.

Happy Birthday To You Both!

Granpa and his two birthday princesses.
So, today was the dual birthday celebration for Ariele and Atalie, they turned 4 and 2 respectively and my daughter threw them a formal party, at least that's what the invitation said, so I got dressed up in my Sunday best and went to the party. Ha, April Fools came six days later cause no one was dressed in formal attire.

Tea time!
I was going through my clothes and found that the slacks I wanted were dirty and I had not been able to take them to the cleaners so I did the next best thing, or so I thought. I threw them in the washer, set the dial on delicate, closed the lid, and gave it a go. A few minutes later, they were done, and I mean they were done, as in done for good because for some reason there were threads hanging from everywhere. How would I know that they would disintegrate? Well, plan "B" you are it.

I got there a bit late as I was also getting ready for church so I didn't stay there for long, OK long enough to eat because I was starving and the sandwich and chips were calling my name and by the way, they were good. I am totally surprised and proud of me as my white shirt survived being mobbed by my ten grand kids and many nephews and nieces, my son in law said it would be dirty before I left but only a few tiny smudges of cookies and frosting made their way on it.

Anyway, as I said I was not there for long but I was able to take a few pics with the grand kids.

Atalie pointing at the cupcakes on the table and telling me they were all for her.
This girl loves granpa, her #1 grandpa so she says.
She loves me, she really loves me!
The Duck and I.

Diego and I.
Juanito, moi, and Brianna.
Ariele and I.
Diego, Atalie, me, Allayna, and Ariele.
Ummm good cookie and good kiss grandpa.