Celebration Time

My mini coffee bar was stocked and ready. Sweet Mexican bread, and cheese cake as well as a couple of different types of coffee, it was all ummm ummmm good.


Well Michelle and I, but mostly Michelle got the house ready for the fiesta. Since the guys had made plans to go out we felt a simple Cafesito Party would be enough. After all we all like coffee and good company so if you put one and one together it's a winning combination.

After cleaning the kids were sent to nap, while Michelle went to get a hair cut. She picked up the sweet bread, cheese cake, and powder creamer as Nikki requested. I organize a "Cafe con Leche" fiesta and she requests powder creamer, yuck! Ummmm leche!

Loyiel's birthday was last Wednesday, Nikki's was on Thursday, and Frank's was Friday. In addition Loyiel and Nikki's Wedding Anniversary was also on Thursday (Nikki's birthday). The icing on the cake was Nikki's last day of school which was also Thursday. I think Nikki was really celebrating. So they planned to go bar hoping at Westagate on Saturday, and Westgate is a really nice place to do that.


Westgate City Center.

This gathering was supposed to start at 6:00 p.m. and would go on until they left for Westgate but some showed up well after 7:00 and some after 8:oo pm but in our family that is no surprise. The coffee and sweet bread was flowing steadily and the cheese cake too.


Loyiel and Nikki, the birthday couple.


Nikki and birthday boy Frank.


Party people, Michelle, Jeniffer, Nikki, Loyiel, Cindy, and Kika.


Nikki blowing me some kisses and saying I love you Daddy... At least that's what I though she said.

In the end as always we had fun and enjoyed each others company. The weather has been cooperating so we spent most of our night outside in the patio enjoying the cool night air.

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Two Had to Go

I knew it was going to be hard, all 20 dancers were magnificent last night but at the end of tonight's show two would be going home. The question was which two, I really thought it was going to be Azuka and Vitolio as they did not impressed the judges last night even though they did good with what they were given. Broadway has not been my favorite anyway. Karla and Johnathan were praised by the judges but in the end after one great performance after another theirs was kindda forgettable. Tony and Paris also dance good but were pretty much out danced by many other couples.

So when Cat picked them out of the 20 I was not surprised. Still they had to dance for their lives and prove why they should remain on the competition. In the end and apparently as a unanimous decision the it was announced that Paris would be the girl to leave, then shortly after the montage of her best moments while on the show they announced that Tony would be the one, this after also saying that the other bottom two dancers did not impress them much either.

I had a feeling that a couple would be leaving as opposed to braking two couples. I was right. As the dancers go deeper into the competition they also gain confidence and experience, if competition was that fierce last night I can only imagine what is to come and it only promises to get better as it go.

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SYTYCD -- Top 20

First show of the season and I was not disappointed at all. From the first routine to the tenth one after the other all ten couples showed their stuff and let me tell ya it has all the right ingredients for a super exciting season.

I really like the judges comments and what would that show be without Mary Murphy screaming, on Idol the contestants wait for Simon's comment as if the other two don't really matter, in SYTYCD they wait for that awful but at the same time lovable scream, you know the louder the scream the happier the receiving couple will be.

As for Cat Deeley I guess after three seasons with her on the show I finally got past the British accent and finally warmed up to her. I still don't think she is all that but I'm OK with her.

So, based on what I saw last night I think the season will be really good. It's still too soon for me to pick favorites as I really liked all the routines and the pairings were right on but I will tell you that my favorite routine of the night was the one by Caitlin and Jason, I truly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

It will be interesting to see who got the least votes last night but more interesting to see if one couple leaves or two are broken. For those of you that don't watch this show you are really missing out.


Caitlin and Jason
This was my favorite couple for the night. Their performance was H O T!

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Alayna's Recital

Alayna Danae's dance recital. June 6, 2009

Saturday my grand daughter had her very first dance recital, we thought she was going to freeze as the event took place at a high school auditorium and it was pretty packed but to our surprise she actually did very good and the girl next to her is the one that froze. It was all very cute and I enjoyed every minute of it.

To see what I mean just CLICK HERE for my daughter's post and make sure to watch the little video she posted.

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See Ya Later Friend

One of our karaoke buddies a "snow bird" is going back to his Washington home and to say goodbye, farewell and bon voyage a going away party was organized for him. Going to the place destined for this party has the same route as going to Manny's but instead of turning left into Manny's parking lot I turned right on El Mirage road to the destination and it felt weird because I have been going to Manny's mostly every Friday since September and it has been lots of fun. Until karaoke resumes again next September I will have to find alternate things to do, however for this past Friday that task was easily taken care of as we had a nice get together complete with hot dogs, chips, a plethora of sodas and deserts and plenty of karaoke.

This is the second time I go to this couple's house and I had been told their computer held thousands and thousands of songs to sing. Well last night I found out they were not lying. I asked if their files would contain some Latin sounds, my friend just gave me an empty stare and said, "give me a name", "Luis Miguel" I replied it's spelled L U I S and before I knew it bam! A bunch of Luis Miguel's songs came out. It is safe to assume we had lots of fun singing.

A funny thing though, was the fact that they could not find a karaoke version of the Happy Birthday song to sing to one of the ladies there whom will be turning 79 years young tomorrow Sunday. So... we decided to sing it a capella.

We had a blast, the nice thing about it was that the rotation list was not too long and we all did what we love to do, we sang our little hearts out.

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SYTYCD

Well since I lost the faith in Idol I am really looking forward to So You Think You Can Dance. Every single season this show has met every expectation I have for it and then some. This is the daddy of all dance shows, even though I love to watch America's Best Dance Crew, SYTYCD is in a totally different league.

I love watching the auditions because you get the feeling of what is to come during the season. I noticed that a lot of the favorites that got some good airtime in the end were cut and the top 20 were composed of a good mix of different style dancers. Most of the different dance styles have to be represented by a top 20 contestant.

I think the eliminations were brutal this year, as you can imagine most of my favorites didn't make it. Well that Salsa dancer chick did and I hope she makes it far into the competition.

I am ready to watch what promises to be a very exciting season. So far so good, the show is not getting stupid like Idol did.

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It's T-ball Time

So, Michelle called and told me that "Ducky" would be playing his first game at 6:30pm on Tuesday, if I wanted to go see him they would pick me up. Well, what kind of question was that, of course I would go see my duck play his very first ever t-ball game.

Diego looking like a teenage ninja turtle on his way to the game.

As expected, Ducky was the typical outfielder paying more attention to his surroundings, the sky, the grass, and posing for his family than catching grounder or fly balls. But oh did he look cool in his "A's" uniform. He at least now understand the basics of the game, hit the ball sitting on this little black stick with this here bat and then run like hell until I reach a base. I say a base because some of the kids decided to make the game more exciting running to the base of their choice instead of first base. I say they are pretty smart, why run to first base when everyone already knows that's where you are going pick your base and make them wonder I say.

All in all, we had a blast watching the game and of course we captured lots and lots of images. Here are just a few of those.


Ducky is the number eight batter in this line up. Or he is the fourth kid from the left.


Here is part of "Ducky's" cheering fan club. "Please pass the Cracker Jacks".


Yey, "Dycky" is next at bat.


Receiving last minute instructions.


What a hit, ladies and gentleman that ball is outta here.


And he scores.


Thank you, thank you very much to all my adoring fans.


Angel in the outfield.


Five, four, seven, eight, who do we appreciate. Gooooo A's.


You're #1, you're #1.


Look grandpa, this is how I did it.


What a poser!

OK so I went picture crazy on this one. But can you blame a proud grandpa? I didn't think so.


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A Nice Weekend

Saturday Michelle and junior enlisted me as the babysitter. They needed to have a date without the three little ones so they took the baby to her nino's and mi chica and I kept the other two.

It was a hot day so they kids asked me if I could take them out to the pool. So, while I waited for the food to be ready we went outside and put some air on our brand new inflatable rafts and went in the pool. Food was ready faster than we expected so our swimming time was cut short but that was OK. I was treated to mi chica's cooking which in my humble opinion is the best. A big steak with sopa de estrellita, rajas con crema, and a salsa made by yours truly that was finger licking good, ummm, ummm, ummmm.

Mi chica was tired as she had worked so she retired and went to sleep, meanwhile the kids and I had a movie night which started with "Shark Tale" followed by "I, Robot", half way throughout I Robot they were totally out.

Sunday was pretty much a lazy day. The kids borrowed our van (what else is new these days) and left for the most part of the morning. In the afternoon I took mi chica to get her nails done. She wanted to try this new place her sister told her about. She didn't like it that much, it was expensive and the service was not the best. Either that or they charged her for the time I sat on that chair and got a heck of a massage. I so want one of those chairs at home. It may not fit our decor but my back will love me for it.

By the time we came out of there it was 6:00pm so naturally I was hungry and so was she so she treated me to a restaurant I had never been to. I think it's called Pei Wei and it's a combination of Asian dishes. I am not too daring when it comes to new foods so I ordered a beef lo mein. The noodles were a bit overcooked making them too soft but I must admit that the flavor was really nice.

The funny thing is that this place is supposed have dishes from Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam according to the sign over the cash register but the voices coming out of the wall-less kitchen were in Spanish. Things that make me go hmmm! I just found out that Pei Wei is the little sister restaurant of P. F. Changs.

Happy on full stomachs we headed back home to the screaming sounds of four grand kids. Oh, yes I love my life.

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Karaoke Goes on Hiatus

Finally today I made it to karaoke at Manny's which was in a way kindda bitter sweet because today was the last day as summer has let us know it's here and the patio just gets too hot. I hear it will resume back in September when the heat is gone.

For one reason or another I had not been able to go the past two Fridays so today I got even. Even with the big group on hand I was still able to squeeze five songs. I made new fans, new friends, and new attempts at singing songs I had not sang yet. Even though it was hot it wasn't uncomfortably hot. Since I'm not drinking (doctor's orders) I only had a couple of diet cokes and nibbled on some tortilla chips and salsa.

Our core group is there every Friday and I know that they all look forward to karaoke night. Most of them are the coolest senior citizens you'll ever meet. I, at almost 50 years of age feel like the new kid in town. One of said group members is moving back east to Washington or some place like that and so next week there will be a gathering to bid him farewell. Yes some karaoke will be involved, because well that's how we roll.

Well it's all good because maybe now I participate in some of the car club's activities. There's a third Friday outing every month where the club reserves a portion of a dinner's parking lot and while our ponies are on display we get to eat and socialize. Since this year marks my tenth anniversary as a member I want to be a little more active.

Whatever I decide to do I am sure I'll be posting about it so keep coming back.

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T-ball and The Duck

What? It's already Wednesday. I love me holiday weeks, they go by so fast, too bad they are so few and far. If it was up to me everyday would be a holiday. OK, that was a little too over the top, but I just got a little carried away. lol Of course I don't want everyday to be a holiday what would be the point of that?

I holiday is what you make of it. Take today for instance. Today is Wednesday and it should be just a plain Wednesday, althugh Wednesday always marks the middle of the workweek so it's never plain. Anyway what will make today special is that my 5-year old grandson "Ducky" will play his first T-ball game ever. Now if that is not the kind of event that makes a holiday what is?

I hear he has been practicing for a few weeks so I am really looking forward to catching today's game. T-ball games are the funiest, the kids really put on a great show as they run to the wrong base and still get excited, or crying because they couldn't hit the ball, or being happy because they did, I'm telling you these games will be the most memorable as they start developing their skills.

Although it won't quite be like "The Sand Lot" or "The Bad News Bears" tonight should be our little version of "Fields of Dreams".

I am hoping there will be some pictures to share, we'll see. Just make sure to check back again tomorrow.


There is my "Ducky" warming up for practice. Look at him he can almost do a full split.
Image borrowed from Nikki's blog.


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Memorial Weekend

Well the idea was to have a relaxing weekend and I did just that. Since I decided to take Friday my weekend turned into a four day weekend and that was just fine by me. No trips to L.A. this year just stayed home and relaxed.

On Sunday we invited our kids to come over for a carne asada, so my son, my two daughters, the three in-laws and all seven grand kiddoes came over. It was a nice hot sunny day and the pool was the place to be. So while they all swam, I grilled some of the most delicious carne asada and chicken, which together with my special salsa, the rice, the pico de gallo, and grilled onions kept us asking for more.

For a good family gathering you can never go wrong with carne asada. To prove it here are some images of said fun gathering.


The kids working up an appetite by swimming all afternoon. My son there at the right acting as the life guard.



And as usual the kids at heart always make sure they entertain the little kids. Here's my son in law making a splash via a cannon bomb.


Oh, but we must take a brake from swimming to enjoy a nice cold icicle.


A few more cannon bombs from the big...


And the small.


And to close it all out, I captured this beautiful sunset, it's so nice to have our backyard facing west.

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Is Anybody Listening

As I said before I was a hater specially when he destroyed Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". Who is this fool that commits such a travesty then he sings Tears for Fears "Mad World" and I see potential. The week after week this guy's performance was the one most of us would be waiting for. What is he going to do tonight? What song is he singing? Will he wear make up? Will he look like Elvis again? Black nail polish? Eyeliner? Screeching? Anybody that still doesn't accept that American Idol Season 8 revolved around this guy is living in denial.

I think Adam not winning the "title" is a blessing in disguise, he is already a winner, soon he will establish himself as a musical star. I am curious to see what he will come up with for his album debut. It's obvious his talent does not involve rock music only and if need be he can refrain from screeching (although I don't know why since he masters the high notes so well) if wants.





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Memorial Day

Sure we love the three day weekend but...

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Just a Thought

As I drive to work these days I now realize that it's better to be pissed off because of the morning traffic and finishing your coffee too soon while driving, than getting to work in 30 minutes and your coffee mug is still half full because traffic is so light due to the thousands of people that have lost their jobs. Heck, sometimes it used to take me half an hour just to travel five out of the 20-mile commute, and yes people that overslept would be driving like maniacs flashing their lights and flipping you the bird because they had only so many minutes to get to work and they knew that they were going to be late.

Oh, how I used to complain about those days, but truth be told I kindda miss them. For a while there if I didn't get on the freeway by 6:00 am I would be late. Lucky for me I never have to worry about getting to work on time, but many places will fire you by the third occurrence.

As the days go by I see no increase in activity at work. May and June are our strongest months which makes me wonder that if things don't pick up we may have to start handing pink slips or worse yet I may be the recipient of one. No body is safe as no one is indispensable.

I know change is gonna come but unfortunately it won't happen overnight. I just hope that we remain strong as a company, as a society, and as a family.

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Diego Graduates

The drive home from work on Friday was grueling. The temperature here in Phoenix is rapidly rising and we are already experiencing triple digit days already. I got home and the first thing I did was throw myself on the couch and pass out. But 20 minutes later my daughter wakes me up and tells me it's time to go.

My grandson Diego was graduating and as you know milestones such as this are very important. We left and soon I found out that the graduation was to be outside. What? We were among the first ones to get there so we got to choose a good shady spot, but realizing that we had over 40 minutes to wait before the ceremony started I knew it was going to be a long wait, add to this a crying granddaughter, let's just say it was interesting to say the least.

Finally, the school's principal (a very young girl) comes out and welcomes us. She goes through the process of how we the parents need to be respectful and to refrain from screaming when your graduate's name is mentioned. Yeah right! What's the point if you can't scream Diegooooooooooooooooooooo I LOVE YOU! and blow your air horn. OK, I didn't take an air horn but that would have been fun, and probably worth being ejected from the ceremony.

There were four graduating classes and as their respective teachers called the names the graduates started coming out and were handed their very impressive diplomas. They all looked so cute in their Hawaiian shirts and shorts as the graduation had a Hawaiian motif and became a Luau, as luck would have it our graduate was the third to the last to be called, remember we are outside in 100 degree weather and now screaming granddaughter has found her way into my arms while her mom and dad are busy taking pictures and film.

Finally we are all invited inside the cafeteria for a two song treat by the graduates and after that for lemonade and food, we stayed for the songs but left without eating, people can become savages when there's some free food around and we figured for us going home was better.

A few more pictures with our graduate whom by the way is totally ready for the challenges that the next year will bring and we were on our way. Upon coming home we were hungry so mi chica suggested we go to Costco were for the whooping amount of $16.00 dollars we all ate and had deserts.

OK, I know you all want to see pictures of our handsome graduate but since I didn't take my camera I will have to wait until my daughter post some so I can go and snatch them. lol So, stay tuned and make sure to come back to see them. In the meantime Diego says "First grade here I come".


For photos and a narrative from the mom's perspective CLICK HERE!

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Weekend

It should be a busy weekend, as it turn out today my grandson graduates from kindergarten, yeap a full blown Hawaiian motif graduation, he is so excited and it should be fun to see a bunch of little kids graduating into first grade. Can you remember your first day of school as a first grader. I kindda can if I close my eyes and go back, back, back, way back in time. lol -- OK but that only means that for the third week in a row I won't go karaoke and as it gets hotter the cut out date for karaoke Friday approaches fast.

I started looking for things to see in our neighborhood yard sale tomorrow but anybody that knows me will be safe to assume that I don't part ways with my things easily. Still I have found a few items plus I intend to put all my frames out there too if at all to see if they create any comments. I prefer if the sell but comments and or conversation is welcomed too. The nice thing about neighborhood yard sales is that all the advertisement has been done for you. I do hope to get rid of a few things and maybe even make some money in the process.

My "Ducky" is spending the night with us. I have been hired as the official baby sitter for tomorrow. This little kid loves coming to our house and I am so looking forward to having him. A typical phone conversation with him is like this:

Grandpa: Hi Ducky!
Ducky: (No hi grandpa or anything) I wanna go your house
Grandpa: Yo do?
Ducky: I wanna go your house
Grandpa: OK well ask your mommy to bring you.
(background voice -- "Say goodbye to grandpa".
Ducky: Bye grandpa.


And just like that he is gone. I gotta love my little duck.

Yeap, my weekend has been planned and promises to be an exciting one. What are your plans for the weekend?

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Tidbits of Nothing

What Danny is out, it's about time. Now what, does anybody really think Kris will sell thousands of albums and go platinum. I just don't see it. Clearly Adam is the only realistic choice for the powers that be to make them money. We'll see how thing pan out next week.

So, I finally got another lap top computer yey. It's another hand me down but at zero cost to me its awesome. It just happens to be the exact same model of the one I had before, what were the chances. I am just excited as I will soon be able to karaoke on line again, sweet.

Tomorrow will be the last bike night at Westgate and I am planning on going, need to take some more pictures of those awesome bikes on display. I do intend to get mine fixed very, very soon so stay tuned for that. Now I just have to dig mine out of the garage. If this neighborhood yard sale scheduled for next Saturday goes the way I plan I just might free some very needed garage space, and the bike will be more visible and easy to get to. lol

Oh, yeah neighborhood yard sale, I must get my sh--t together and really start sorting out some of that old junk I have laying around, I am sure there is a buyer out there waiting to buy my possessions. But being the eternal "rat pack" that I am I probably won't let too many things out of my reach.

I'll come with a decent post soon, right now my mind is everywhere else but here. Michelle and I are trying to put together our second Photography Exhibition which will be held at my daughter in law's house as she will be hosting it. In our maiden exhibition we had 15 framed pieces, my goal for this one is to have 20 frames on display and available for sale. We are not raking in any profits but we are being able to buy more frames without spending any more out of pocket money. I will keep you posted on that too. In the meantime visit our new blog at http://melo-duckworthoriginalz.blogspot.com (melo-duckworthoriginalz.blogspot.com)and become our follower, our critic, our friend, our customer.

Until the next time, peace.

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Tonight No American Idol For This Kid

Since I don't really care for American Idol tonight I'll have to find something else to watch. I really think that this season was the worst season ever. With all the changes they did something was bound to go wrong. I hated the idea of a fourth judge but Kara won me over, the downside was that four critiques would take way too long and this year was a war between the judges. Boring!

Judges coming down the stairs like if they are the stars... Not! I am glad they stopped that. The list of failed changes is way too long and still I hanged in there until last week. It's like nobody can explain how is it that Allison was booted out and now the remaining three have only a top one. So, no I don't care to watch tonight or even next week, and if Adam is not cheated out of the obvious win I will
watch the finale.

At least we will soon have my new favorite reality show. So You Think You Can Dance. I don't foresee them coming up with stupid changes, someone said give change a chance but it's hard to give something a chance when you clearly can see it won't work.

It's obvious that Nigel Lythgoe knew something we didn't last year as he wisely left American Idol. But hey we'll see how the cookie crumbles from now on.

Does anybody out there really think that Danny will outshine and out sing Adam?

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El Weekend

It was a nice weekend, in the endless amount of birthday parties Saturday was my niece's birthday. It was held at my mom's house and let me tell you it was a hot day in Phoenix. Fortunately there are a couple of huge trees in my mom's backyard that provide tons of shade and then after the sun went down so did the temperature. All in all we all had a good time but best of all the kids had a great time. Why braking piñatas and eating cake and ice cream always does the trick. So, happy birthday Fernanda you are now one year old, whoohooo!

My son called and invited us to go to Prescott for lunch. It was a treat for the moms and the plan was to take mi chica, his wife, and her mom. We agreed to go and started on our trek. We needed to gas up so I stopped at the gas station and I noticed that mi chica was making noises as in I am not feeling so good this morning kindda noises so we decided to head back to the house and cancelled on going to Prescott.

I knew it had to do with the medication and the fact that we were on empty stomachs but as soon as I got home I went to Chipotle's and got us a pair of the biggest burritos that they make and had a great breakfast. After that she went to bed and I crashed on the couch and pretty much slept for the next four hours. Wow, that was good. lol

My son, his wife and the kids stopped by as they came back from Prescott and spent the next two hours with us. We had a nice time. The only thing is that I didn't get a chance to go see my mom but I will make up next Tuesday when I go to her house.

I hope all the moms out there had a great day.

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Happy Mother's Day

I do wish for this day to be very happy for all of the moms out there in blogland.

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Tidbit Time

When I bought my car back in 1990 my gas tank used to fill up with about $14.00 then gradually gas prices increased but it was still not too bad considering my Mustang has a 5.0 V8 engine under the hood. Then last year the gas prices sky rocketed and my small gas tank took as much as $42.00 on a couple of occasions. That pretty much meant $168.00 a month in gas and that only covers Monday through Friday.

Well for the past few months I fill up my tank and the receipt total is usually between $16.00 and $17.50 now those are prices I can live with. How much longer this low prices will stay? When we used to have the Expedition it was nearly $80.00 to fill it up. How much is your tank taking these days?

I have to wonder how many people are not working these days, judging by the morning traffic which has been very light it doesn't look too good. Man I do wish and hope things turn around soon, even a small turn for the better will be welcomed. Pray people we need to get back to whatever our "normal" used to be.

So, I did not go karaoke last week so I guess tonight that's what I'm doing. It is getting hot in Phoenix and since karaoke is out in the restaurant's patio they stop it until the heat is gone. This week we already had three days of over 100 degrees, I believe today we were supposed to be at 105. That my far away friends is HOT! Then for tomorrow we have my niece's birthday that should be fun as well as productive because some of the pictures and frames ordered last week will involve portraits and we are supposed to see them tomorrow. Sounds like fun huh.

Prison break, why did they move it from Monday to Friday? Well, thanks to my DVR because it has been doing a great job at recording it. Will this be the final season?

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TGIF

How is this for a hanging garden of sorts. I like it, specially because it is in at my tia's house.








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Foul Play

Can someone explain to me how is it that someone that clearly outperformed both Danny Gokey and Kris Allen and that apparently was well liked by millions still got booted off American Idol last night. This after she kept getting great performances while Danny and Kris stayed pretty bland and uninteresting.

If Alexis got booted off immediately because of her bad performance, then Danny should have been the one leaving last night. If anybody out there other than his family says his performance of "Dream On" was even a little bit good you know you are lying. That performance was a musical travesty and he most than deserved to leave the show.

Radio and TV stations reach millions, by blog may only reach five of you, but we all agree that Allison leaving AI last night may have nothing to do with Americans voting. I said it before and I'll say it again, something stinks and it is not my socks. Many people including myself have been saying that somehow the voting system is rigged, and in this season that has become more obvious. True or not, many of us won't trust it anymore and I doubt I'll be tuning in next year.

As for this season, out of the three remaining there is only one clear winner. As of yesterday I stopped watching the show, I may tune in three weeks from now just to see Adam be crowned American Idol Season 8 winner, or to see him cheated out of the title. AI in my opinion has lost all it's credibility.

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Cinco de Mayo and American Idol

About six years ago us warehouse guys at work decided to have a little "Carne Asada" for lunch, so we brought a barbecue grill and some salsas from home and on a Friday afternoon we during lunch we grilled the meat and had a great lunch. A couple of the Customer Service reps and other employees came out to the warehouse and saw us grilling, so we invited them a taco and before we knew it people were "visiting" us.

For a while they kept buggin' us about doing a Carne Asada and of course to invite them so as Cinco de Mayo was approaching I asked the guys if they would be willing to sponsor a Carne Asada but it needed to be for the whole company. We all agreed to do it and that was the beginning of what is now our annual Cinco de Mayo Carne Asada Fiesta. The owner of the company was so impressed and liked it so much that the following year with a month in advance he asked if we were doing it again because he wanted to purchase all the meat needed for the event.

Our quarterly staff meetings are always catered but nothing comes close to the food served during our Cinco de Mayo fiesta. The meat may be sponsored by the executives but it is up to us to bring all the delicious side foods, let me tell you there is never a shortage of good stuff to eat on this occasion.

Yesterday once again was a total success and the only regret everyone has is that we only do this once a year.

On a full stomach I went to my mom's house and waited for American Idol, the top four would perform. While there was a top four show last night was a show of two only. In many cases a particular contestant is supposed to be strong on a specific them and then they blow it completely. Last night was rock night which meant that both Adam and Allison would be strong. Well, last night they were the whole show, both Kris and Danny were totally opaqued by their performances and even though both of them have a strong following which I believe Allison doesn't they were really not that good.

I still don't get the fascination people have with Kris, he really is not all that. Danny an early favorite and one I liked before just didn't seem to bring anything new to the table and I really don't care for most of his performances. Allison, is consistently good but perhaps not considered the total package that they look for in an idol hopeful and keeps finding herself at the bottom of the pit. I really, really, really hope she survives tonight as she really deserves to be a top three contestant, maybe even a top two, but that is just wishful thinking.

Adam was the biggest surprise this season. I really didn't care for him at the beginning. I totally hated him on Country week but that was where the hate ended. The following week he surprised all of us and little by little he became the one we all wanted to hear and were interested in seeing what he would come up with. He has not disappointed since and yesterday when it counted as his night he shone like the star that he will probably will become.

Danny really sucked last night but the consensus is that it will all come down to an Adam vs. Danny finale. I would definitely prefer an Allison vs. Danny finale but either way no matter who's goes against Adam he or she does not stand a chance against Adam. But then again voters have been known to favor not the best but the favorite. We'll soon find out.

So my daughter Nikki has not watched idol at all this season so last night she decided to sit down and give it a whirl. Ryan comes out and does his usual intro and then he says the now famous phrase, "And These Are Your Top Four America" at this point Ducky is watching with her and as they come out Ducky screams, "It's the Jonas Brothers" lol and sits down to watch. lol -- I thought it was too funny and so did Nikki.

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A Couple More

So my mom really liked the frame of the Ex-convento Dominico de la Natividad or as my daughter calls it "The Castle". My sister bought it first so they didn't want to have the same image in both houses so my mom saw this beautiful picture of the Cathedral in Cuernavaca and said she wanted that one instead. I had liked that image since I took it and I knew it would look fantastic once framed, I was right and so was my mom. All these old Mexican churches are protected by the state and it is against the law to alter them, all that can be done to them is restore them but they have to remain original. They are all beautiful if you ask me.


Cuernavaca's Cathedral.

Mike our gardener liked the "Rocky Point" sunset but wanted the darker frame. So we customized one for him to. Here is the end result.


There is the original at the left.


And this is his special order one.

All I know is that this is fun and I am enjoying it.

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