Monday, February 28, 2011

TV or No TV, That is the Question

It's been two weeks since I have no Direct TV, one day it just suddenly stopped working, as it constantly searched for a non existent signal. I called Direct TV and they sent over a technician who said that he could not fix it because the Satellite was owned by my landlord who is using a private contractor for his service and legally they cannot touch it as it is private property. They told me I should call the private contractor to get him to fix it. Well, the private contractor said he can come over right away and fix it, for $92 and he will give me a receipt so I can get credit from Direct TV. This sounds really fishy, so I tell the guy that I am going to call Direct TV and find out if it's true that they give credit for that. I call Direct TV and they say that they do not give credit for that kind of thing. So here I am back and forth with Direct TV and the private contractor and nothing is getting resolved. I don't feel comfortable paying $92 to get some guy to upgrade my Direct TV service so that I can use it. The thing is that instead of having individual satellites for each apartment, the landlord is using one big satellite and splitting it, and it has been overloaded and cannot accept any more people, so in order for me to see TV, I need the upgrade. So I am left with one question, TV or No TV.
With today's technology and the help of the ability to watch TV in the computer and devices that allow you to see the computer on your TV screen and the wonderful invention of Netflix and their instant view movies and TV shows I must say that in 2 weeks I haven't really missed having TV. And what I have noticed is that the girls now play more, draw more, paint more, talk more. And life seems a little bit better. There are periods of quiet when the TV stays still and the girls go about their days as if the TV didn't matter and it makes me realize that No TV has been a blessing. We have to carefully select what we watch and we don't have to worry about watching something at a specific time, we watch whatever we want, when we want it. And that is great.
So today I called to cancel service on my Direct TV and after a long talk with the Direct TV people they told me that they were going to investigate this private contractor because the story I told them did not sound like something that it is legal as my service is not set up as a multiple dwelling service. So while they investigate I will enjoy my TV-less time and the quietness that comes along with it.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Loosing Weight Together

For years I have been contemplating the idea of loosing weight. I am not one who likes to diet, I like to eat what I want. I don't like running, or doing cardio exercise, but I do walk a lot and like to lift weights even though I don't do it anymore.  So I usually go about my life, walking as I do and watching somewhat what I eat, but doing anything more than that when cooking and eating with 3 other people who are not watching what they eat was very difficult. Now my Hubby has decided to go on a diet too, nothing too strict but just doing little things here and there to watch a little bit better what he eats and that inspires me. With him on board with a weight loss goal I feel inclined not to buy desserts for us, or regular soda, or rice. And since he's not eating it, I don't feel the need to eat it either. Now I buy more fruits, and vegetables, and hopefully the kids will get on board too, eating healthier to stay healthier.
What do you do to stay healthy? Do you feel that doing it with someone else makes it easier?

Picture of the Week - Jekyll and Hyde

Today I went to this cool restaurant in Manhattan called Jekyll and Hyde. It is a very fun and cool place with live entertainment. It is fun for the whole family. I took some pictures of the place and want to share them with you.



Saturday, February 26, 2011

How do you act when you don't think anyone is watching?

If there were no consequences, would you act the same way you normally do?
I think there's a lot to say about a person who chooses to do the right thing even when no one is looking. It is then that we express our true selves without worry to do as society dictates. Yet there are things that most people won't do even if we knew there would be no consequences, for example, I would never kill a person, or an animal for that matter. It is not in my nature to take life away from a living being. Maybe you wouldn't either.
But would you steal, or lie or cheat? Somehow these other sins seem to be less difficult to commit especially since the thing here is would we do them if there were no consequences to our actions.
What things would you do if you knew you couldn't get caught and would suffer no consequences?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

GIVEAWAY for a GO RED Perfume

Today is the last day of the Go Red Contest.
I was going to choose a winner among the entries of people who send me a picture of creative representation of the color Red. Up to now, unfortunately I have not received any entries. So I'm going to give one last chance for someone to win the Go Red Perfume. I'm going to switch it around a bit. I will select one person from the people who comment on this post. Make a comment, make it clever, funny, original, and including the word red on it.
Are you up to the challenge?
Who's going to win it!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Taking a day off once in a while it's OK

This week I have skipped a day or two. And I don't feel guilty because sometimes we have to allow ourselves to take a day off to enjoy it in the company of your family and friends. We must feed our soul and take care of our bodies allowing enough rest to be productive the following day. But I must confess that if we take too many days off then it will start to drag on us, and at least in my experience I tend to get lazy and too comfortable at the idea of not working, but I'm back, with more and exciting things to share with you every day.

Take a look at your typical day. Do you take time off once in a while to recharge? What happens if you take too much time off?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Picture of the Week - Icicled Fire Hydrant

This week the most interesting picture I took was the one of an icicled fire hydrant.
It was dripping water constantly and the temperature was just right for icicle making.



Saturday, February 19, 2011

What inspires you?

Last night I took my friend to Times Square. As I got off the subway at Bryant Park I was amazed of all the cool things that I saw. I had not been here in about 3 years and I had forgotten the exhilarating feeling of seeing the lights and the tall buildings and the larger than life ads, and stores from almost all the major brands available to us, plus quite a few not-as-known.
I realized how I have been living in a cocoon for quite a while not exposing me to things that inspire me. I would always find excuses for not going out. But I have decided to expose myself to things that inspire me, because by being inspired I will be encouraged to do better things.
Find out what inspires you, and do it more often.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Coney Island in the Winter

I took Ingrid to Coney Island today, it is still considered winter and everything is closed, but since she had never seen it I thought it would be nice to see even if it was only at night, with no lights. We stopped at Nathan's and we ate one of the famous hot dogs. We bought salt water taffy and we walked to the deserted boardwalk and marveled at the beauty of it. "You should see it in the summer, so vibrant and filled with life" She promised to come back to visit me in the summer so she can fully enjoy it's marvel.








Here are some pictures of the scenery of today, it was strange how we could not see or hear the drizzle it was there as it was really noticeable in the pictures.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A New and Exciting Day

Today I'm with my friend Ingrid that came from Puerto Rico to spend the week with me. We have lots of plans to see the sites and the wonderful things that NYC has.
So for this week I will write a little less as I will be spending more time with her. But I will write everyday as promised. I will leave you with some pictures I took of the sky near the Brooklyn Bridge. Hope you like them! :D


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Friends Forever

Today I was reading The Rules of Life by Richard Templar and it read, "Someone once said that a real friend is someone you can  be having a conversation with as she gets on a plane, you don't see her for ten years, and when she arrives back you carry on the conversation as she gets off the plane like a moment hasn't passed." That premise made me think of my friends and how our friendship is exactly that.
For years I complained how I didn't have any friends and how all my friend's had abandoned me in one way or another, until two years ago that I finally was able to reconnect with a few old friends that I had not seen in more than ten years, and our friendship continued just like the statement suggested, as if not a moment had passed.
I have also made a few new friends since I've moved to NYC and I must say that we do not need to see each other every day to care and know that we are cherished and valued as friends. I am proud to call them my friends.
Today I am doubly blessed because not only do I get the chance to hang out with one of my new BFF's at my Wednesday Writing Group, but I get to go and pick up at the airport one of my BFF's since I was 12 y/o and get to have her a whole week to myself.
I am thankful for having my childhood best friends still be part of my life, for having some wonderful new friendships that I have made here in NYC and for all the loved ones that I only know through the internet, but that they are equally loved and cherished. To all of you I send a big hug and know that I'm blessed to have you be part of my life. I LOVE YOU!

Take the time to think about the people that you are grateful to call your friends. Do something nice for them today!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Dealing With Clutter Part 2 - Not Giving Up

Last week I talked about how my lack of Security led me to accumulate clutter. Trying to hold on to things that only gave me a false sense of security, and realizing that I had given up on having nice things because I didn't feel worthy. I must say that there are days when you see the mountain of stuff and can't imagine how you are ever going to do it. But you must not give up.
Today I went into my daughter's room and cleared out a large garbage back the 30 gal black one. I threw away a lot of stuff and organized others into the closet. I saw so many other things that need to be dealt with. Things that should get donated, others shredded, or thrown. I didn't want to overwhelm myself so I took care of the things I could in the 2 hours I gave myself to do this project.
Continuing to clear out things and seeing improvements keeps me all excited to continue on my task one day at a time.

How do you deal with clutter in your home? Do you get help or do it by yourself?
I want to hear what you have to say.

It's Valentine's Day!

Today it's Valentine's Day! What are you going to do today? I must say I have been celebrating Valentine's Day the whole week. We have been eating in valentine's day decorated plates and cups, I served rice shaped into hearts and mashed potatoes served in heart shaped plates, although not in the same meal. On Friday we went to  valentine's day dance at my daughter's school then we went to dinner with family and friends to Olive Garden. On Saturday we made heart shaped pancakes for breakfast and in the evening made a Valentine's Day Party at home with some of my daughter's friends, we ate heart shaped pizza, heart and lip shaped rice crispy treats with pink marshmallows, raspberry gingerale, and pink cake with pink frosting. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday we made heart shaped construction paper cards to take to the kids at school, and we made some cupcakes with pink frosting and heart shaped sprinkles. Today we are going to have heart shaped omelets for breakfast and heart shaped sandwiches for school and probably heart shaped rice again.
It has been lots of fun celebrating this holiday with the girls so much that we might continue to eat in valentine's day plates and cups for the rest of the month of February when we start preparing for Easter.
I wanted to share with you some of the things I mentioned and I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy it to the max. What are your plans for Valentine's Day? Any cool things you like to do?





Sunday, February 13, 2011

Picture of the Week - View Through a Glass

This weekend we went to celebrate Valentine's Day with our family and friends to The Olive Garden. We did this on Friday as we know Monday will be packed. However seems that a lot of people got the same idea because we had to wait about 1hr and 30 min to be seated.

I took these pictures of my daughters while my camera was placed flat at the table and I thought the view through the table with the menus and the glasses was great. Hope you enjoy them. :)


Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Significance of Anger

I usually try to avoid anger, yet anger is a natural response. It is healthy to admit that we are angry, because it usually means that there is a conflict between our beliefs or boundaries and what is going on at the moment. It is healthy to own anger, yet I have a hard time doing so. I fear loosing control or creating an argument when all I want is to be left alone.

At this moment I must confess I feel angry, I feel disrespected, and I am trying to dismiss this anger because I believe that if I try to talk it out it will be pointless. My point of view will not be acknowledged but it will be dismissed as neurotic and this will cause me even more anger. So what are we supposed to do, when the person you are upset with will not hear you out and there's no way to escape? I don't know. Maybe I should try. Because the truth is that we are the ones who make ourselves angry, no one can make us angry unless we allow them to. It is all in the way we choose to react to things.

So we do have a choice to be or not to be angry, but we do have to learn to own anger and not let it become powerful over us. We also need to stand up for ourselves and not let others put us down.

How do you deal with anger?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Looking for Beautiful Things

Today I did something I have never done before. I sat on the couch with a copy of InStyle magazine. A magazine that those who know me personally would never catch me reading, EVER. But here I am, with a full year free subscription to this style mag courtesy of my boss' wife without her knowledge. You see, my boss told me to pay for his wife's subscriptions to House Beautiful and InStyle Magazine. He gave me the renewal form and told me to make a check and mail it out, just like I do with all his bills. I noticed that both magazines had a "Holiday Special. Renew Today and get two subscriptions for the price of one. One for you and one for a friend. Just fill out your friend's information and we will send them a gift subscription at no extra cost to you." Perfect. I second guessed myself for a few seconds and proceeded to give myself a free gift on her behalf.

I Love Magazines. I have tons of magazines in my home. Waiting to be read or weeded out. I subscribe to Oprah, and Parents and Family Circle, Latina, Us Weekly, etc. and most of them I got for free. I only pay for Oprah magazine as she is an inspiration and role model for me. But InStyle magazine is not one to catch my attention normally. I am not into fashion and mostly wear jeans, black sneakers or boots, and a plain shirt that I buy in every color of the rainbow so as to give the impression that I wear something different every day, even though is the same exact thing just in a different color. So why InStyle? First of all it was free and second of all I remembered the words of my boss saying "My wife is into fashion, she is always wearing whatever is in Style" and a vision of his wife came into my head and how beautiful she is and how it would be nice if I looked as beautiful and fashionable as her.

Today I opened my mailbox and saw my first issue of InStyle magazine, and this magazine is HUGE. It's 500 pages of mostly pictures. As I stared at the cover and felt the weight in my arms I remembered something I read in a book about how surrounding yourself with beautiful things attracts beautiful things to you. So I carried the mag home sat in the couch and went on a scavenger hunt for beautiful things. I remembered the pile of about 100 magazines I have hidden under a table and how I have vowed to weed through them only tearing out the articles I'm interested in and recycling the rest, and thought that if only I weeded out the magazine as soon as I looked at it the first time, I would have no need to go back and check it a second time saving me the hassle. So I did, I tore out through the magazine pulling out only the pictures of things that I thought were beautiful so I can make my own beautiful things book and attract all things beautiful to myself back.

Are there any quirky things you do to make yourself feel more pretty?

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tweens are the new Teens

Prom time is fast approaching and my fifth grader is suddenly worried about who's going to ask her out if anyone, then I thought it was suitable to allow my 10 y/o to see the classic movie "Pretty in Pink" when it debuted in Nickelodeon last week. I asked her a lot of questions while we watched. What would you have done? How would you have felt? Why do you think they argued? etc. I made sure to explain whatever she didn't understand and we were both surprised to see how times have changed.

My daughters asked why were they allowed to drink and smoke in high school? Where are their parents in all of this? How come they let them do this?- referring to the party scene in the bedroom. Those where different times when smoking was less frowned upon. I was proud to see that she is capable of noticing what is inappropriate behavior for a child, even if they are teenagers, and it lets me know that she will make the right decisions when time comes.

As the end aproached and Molly Ringwald headed out to prom alone, I asked her, What would you have done? She said she would have called Duckie and ask him to go with her. When she saw that Dukie was there at the prom she figured they would end up together. When Andrew McCarthy approached her and Duckie told her to go with him, my daughter said that she would have stayed with Duckie and not gone back to the other boy. At that moment I was proud, because she gave friendship more importance that the romance of a boy who didn't know how to treat her properly.

It is nerve wracking when your children start to grow and think about dates, and crushes and sometimes it's hard to just stand back and watch even though you know those puppy dog crushes in the classroom never last, it is the beginning of the teenage years. It is a time of discovery, when you learn about yourself, your likes, your dislikes, you make your own friends, learn to make decisions, and when it comes to life it's all about the experiences that you get to have and what you make of it.  I know my daughters will make the right decisions and I have faith that they will end up marrying wonderful guys that will make them happy and will respect them. As for now, we can only stand back and watch, give good advice, trust them, let them know that we are here to pick them up if they ever get to fall and let them know that life is to enjoy it. Have fun, and do good things.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Finding Your Own Worth

As I walked to my daughters school another mother approached me and said, "Say hi to your mom for me" I smiled and nodded when suddenly I realized that even though I've seen this woman often, I have never spoken to her or know her name.
My mom lived with us for 2 years, and she made friends with everyone. She loves to talk and make friends and even the mailman sends his regards to her. I am more of a keep-to-myself kind of gal, yet I can appreciate my moms quality and know that thanks to her I have been able to make quite some awesome friends. But there's a part of me that goes back to my teenage years of hearing people refer to me as Grace's grandaughter, Chalin's grandaughter, Linda's daughter, Karla's cousin... and comparing it to Gaby's mom, and Elsie's mom, and Jesus's wife, and Joseph's assistant... it makes sense I would struggle with identity all these years. But I do appreciate the contact's these extensions of myself have brought me.
I can admit that I tend to be quiet and keep to myself, but I also can claim April to be my friend, one that I found all by myself. As is Ingrid, and Yanira, and Bibi. So, I acknowledge that I too have merit, that I too am wonderful and capable of making my own friends. I too have worth, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Dealing with Clutter: Sense of Security

For the most part of my life I have lived with clutter. I remember growing up and having one room of the house to be the "cachibache" room. In there we threw everything we didn't use often. And when I say threw, I mean literally threw. That room was a mess. Random stuff piled over everything. Now that I think about it, it was basically a storage room but with no organization what so ever. We moved fairly often and this messy room of stuff would get packed over and over and over, unused, unchecked. Only on the rare occasion when we would have a flood would we weed through the stuff, and mourn the once forgotten stuff we had not seen since our last move.
And here I am now as an adult finding myself with the same problem, except here in NYC, we don't have the luxury of an extra room unless we rent a storage space. So all my "cachibaches" are spread around all over the house creating a chaotic mess. I always blamed it on being tired to clean, on not having enough space, or a good shredder (you know, identity theft and all). The girls are too little, they need my attention, I can't possibly spend the day cleaning. But these are all excuses, like the one I have used the most often "we are going to move soon anyway so why bother". But soon has been five years and we are still at the same house, and this takes me to another thing, sense of security. What I have come to learn is that throughout my life I've moved so much and my situation has been so random that I lost the sense of security that I should have had since I was a child and with this I developed and attitude of indifference. I never considered anything to have the ability to be mine long term, so I never found the need to care and keep anything in nice condition, because to me there was no point in making an effort for temporary things. But even life is temporary, why not make it the best, right? So now as I find myself weeding through clutter, getting rid of stuff, one room at a time. I propose to make my soroundings nice, and with this my family gets happy in return too.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Five Pounds at a Time

I usually don't gain weight. I stay on the same weight no matter what I eat, or whether I exercise or not. I always stay within five pounds of my weight. Some might say I'm lucky. I know I am blessed. But there were two times in my life when I did gain weight, well, three actually, and two of them were the birth of my two daughters and the third one was when I was suffering from depression caused by hypothyroidism. Ever since I started taking my thyroid medicine I have stayed pretty much at the same weight I was after my 3 weight gains. I have struggled with the thought of having to loose 40 lbs. It seems like such a large number. After battling with IBS in college I was able to get accustomed to the kinds of foods that I can safely eat and I try to stick to that. I don't like to diet, and I don't exercise too much and I drink a lot of Cola.

About a month ago I went to the doctor to get a refill on my thyroid medicine. The nurse took my blood pressure and asked me to step on the scale. I closed my eyes and told the nurse, "This is the most painful part of the doctor's visit" With my eyes still closed the nurse said out loud. "175 lbs." I opened my eyes in shock and smiled. "I lost weight!" I exclaimed. I couldn't believe it. I had not done anything different, or so I thought. That day I decided I would start a weight loss goal of 5 lbs a month. 40 lbs seems like such an impossible goal, but 5 lbs seems so doable. So I decided to give it a try.

A couple of weeks passed by and my daughters decided they wanted to weigh themselves. A friend of them was visiting and they all have fun measuring how tall they are against my kitchen wall, and comparing their weights as means to see who was bigger. I decide to play along and to my surprise I saw a 165 on my scale. I couldn't believe it, I hadn't even started doing anything to loose weight. Maybe it's because I've been drinking more coffee or eating smaller lunches, or maybe even since I have been bringing left overs to lunch instead of eating out, maybe it's because I haven't been eating as much late at night. But no matter what it was it worked. I must admit that seeing this new success sent me into a weird panic. Since Thursday I have eaten take out every day and I just weight myself and was 170lbs. The good news is that I am still weighing less than when I started. So today I start again. 5 lbs goal for the month of February. I will try to cook more, eat less take out and see how it goes.


If you are looking to loose some weight too, I encourage you to take on smaller goals. Five Pounds at a time is something that is doable. If we set a doable goal, when we reach it we feel good about ourselves and it encourages us to do even better . We can do it! So who's with me?

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Picture of the Week - The Icicle Tree

Sundays is Picture of the Week Day. And today's picture is an icicle tree we saw while we walked through our neighborhood.  My daughters both love icicles and they are constantly searching for these beauties, even going as far as picking them off from the bottom's of cars. They were fighting over who got the largest icicle when we walked by this tree. It was inside the fence of a church and there was a constant trickle of water coming from a window above it. Gaby was about to jump the fence to grab a treat but I told her it would be trespassing and she got down. I managed to take a few pictures and I'm sharing it with you. Enjoy!


Saturday, February 5, 2011

Allowing Yourself To Dream

Growing up, me and my mom would move a lot. Practically every 2 years. I remember the horrible feeling I got when I would look at a new apartment that I loved and not be able to move in it. The disappointment of getting used to a place and not being able to stay there for long.

After a while I started detaching myself from the process. An apartment became just one apartment more, and I told my mom that I did not need to see a place before we moved in, she could choose it herself and I would be OK with that. I did not want to see another wonderful apartment that we couldn't take, it became too painful.  With that detachment came a long list of other detachments. My mom worked really hard to raise me by herself, and she had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to give me the best things she could afford. She tried her best, and early on I learned  not to ask for much because I didn't want to make my mom feel bad that she couldn't give me everything I wanted. So I learned not to want anything.  I stopped looking at beautiful things, I began to hate flowers, because they died. I never had plants, or dresses, or high heels, or Barbies, or even skirts. My mom would try to force me into these things and I would stubbornly say I hated them. I didn't want make-up or perfumes, I didn't like to go shopping for clothes as nothing ever looked good on me, never got my nails done, or my hair done. I would quit every class I would take, dance class, piano class, art class, writing class. Even though I LOVED those things, there was a little voice inside of me that would tell me I wasn't good enough, and that I shouldn't make my mom waste her money on things that would be wasted on me.

As time passed by I allowed my dreams to fade. There was no point in dreaming about things I could not have or things I thought I didn't deserve. But it wasn't until recently that I read the book The Secret: The Power that I realized that we attract things to us by having good and positive thoughts and feelings towards the things we desire.  That's when I realized that I had been stuck in a rut because I had closed my eyes to everything that is good. I had stopped myself from dreaming, from desiring, from wanting anything at all. So I decided to make a change and allow myself to dream and my life has changed dramatically for the better.

I started looking at magazines with expensive clothes in it. I look at expensive make-up at the store. I go to the hair salon and get my eyebrows done. I allowed my husband to buy me not one, but two winter coats that cost more than $30 ea. I allowed myself to ask for an expensive camera for Christmas. I carry more than $20 in my wallet. It might seem trivial to some, but to me this has been a great breakthrough. I am allowing myself to see ME as a valuable person. I see myself now as someone who deserves nice things. I see myself as someone who can do good things. That's why I have finally started this blog, after more than 6 years with the desire to do something like this. This is just the beginning. I'm finally allowing myself to dream.

So I encourage you to do the same. Dreams do come true. Allow yourself to dream too.

Friday, February 4, 2011

GO RED!

February is known for many things RED. Valentine's Day,  Chinese New Year Celebration and February is also the American Heart Month, and the American Heart Association's Slogan for this month is Go RED. And today, February 4th, 2011 is National Wear Red Day. So help me raise awareness and encourage people to lead heart healthy lives. Go to www.GoRedForWomen.org for loads of resources and ideas of how you too can get involved in the fight for healthier hearts. And in honor of Go Red Day I will we giving away a 
GO RED For Women By FIVE STAR FRAGRANCES Eau de Toilette Spray. I love this fragrance, I've been using it myself for a couple of years and it's only available online these days.
To win you will have to send me a message and write on the Subject line "GO RED" and I want you to send me a picture taken by you were it shows a creative use of the color red. It cannot be anything taken from the internet, if possible include yourself in the picture or something written by yourself. It can be silly, goofy, or tender and sweet, make sure to include your name and blog or web page you would like me to mention on award day. The winner will be chosen on February 25th. All participants will get a chance to promote their blogs or personal/business web pages as I will be giving an honorable mention to all of you who participate at the end of the contest.  I will be including as many pictures as I can on my post so please be aware that by participating on this contest you give me permission to publish your picture on my site.

So get those cameras ready and GO RED!!!




 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Happy New Year Rabbits!

Today is the Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Chai!. This is the year of the Metal Rabbit. I'm so excited about this new year as it is a very good year for the Rabbit, (like me) and my horoscope for this year reads:

Protected by their mascot, people born under the Rabbit sign will have a truly amazing, magical year. While 2010 was a quite difficult and nerve racking year for the calm and quiet Rabbit - 2011 will offer this sign a chance to take a deep breath and slow down.
The stars also promise some significant improvement in relationships with loved ones. Rabbits will be literally worshiped by their families. Single Rabbits will be surrounded by admirers.
In general, 2011 will be all about joy and happiness. Rabbit people will be like walking love magnets! They will attract many new friends as well. Career wise this year also looks great! In fact, Rabbits will succeed in pretty much everything they do.
--
Copyright (c) DailyHoroscope.
Download it now -- http://bit.ly/DHmobile


Me and my daughters like to celebrate many of this cultural traditions even though we are not Chinese, we admire and respect the culture. One of my daughter's best friends is Chinese and since my daughter Gaby was a little girl she would love to dress is Chinese outfits and eat with chopsticks. The first time we went to China Town in NYC was as if we entered this magical world that mesmerized her and she fell madly in love with Asian culture and that became reflected onto me and my youngest daughter Elsie. We are even learning Chinese through Muzzy and through Nintendo DS's game My Chinese Coach it's fun and exciting to learn a new culture and language as a family, even though it is much more difficult for me to learn it than my daughters.

I encourage you all to join together as a family to enjoy life's diversity, learn about a new culture and have fun.
I also found this cool website with tons of activities, recipes and ideas of things to do to celebrate this New Year of the Rabbit. 

May this new year bring lots of wonderful things, much wealth and happiness to all! 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

It's Groundhog Day!


Today is Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is celebrated in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition, received worldwide attention as a result of the 1993 film of the same name, Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and featured Punxsutawney Phil.

I saw the movie Groundhog Day back in 1993 when I was 18 and it was the first time I ever heard of the holiday. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and didn't experience an actual winter there, so I only associated the day with the movie, it was a day where we had a chance to re-do things over and over until we got them right.  It wasn’t until I moved to NYC from PR that I started to look forward to Groundhog Day in the hopes of an early spring, especially this year since we’ve had more snow than I’ve ever seen in my life.  

For most of us Groundhog Day comes and goes unnoticed; we go by our days like always. But this year I propose to make it special, send some Groundhog Day e-cards, get some fun printables with the kids and make it a family movie night and watch Groundhog Day with Bill Murray it’s PG and very funny.  Maybe this could become a fun family tradition to observe with your family, whether you live in a 4 season city or not.

Super parenting shouldn't be our goal


Raising two daughters that are 5 years apart is no easy task. Two girls with totally different personalities, temperaments, development stages. When I was a child parenting wasn't as hard. Kids were left to their own devices. We played outside, had friends, got our hearts broken and our knees scrapped and we survived. But at this age many of us are going through therapy and this new generation of parents feel pressured more and more to be perfect parents. We feel fully responsible for making sure our kids grow up to be happy and well adjusted adults. Even the best intentioned parent makes poor decisions, putting our children at risk of needing therapy or hating us for the rest of our lives.
Right now, my little one is having trouble adjusting to my mom leaving. My mom took care of her from when she was 2 till she turned 4. She spoiled her. She spent every waking moment with her. Let her get away with almost anything. Now I’m left with the task of teaching her to follow house rules, to not whine, to learn to be selfless, to learn to entertain herself. She spends all day saying: "mommy, be with me!" in a whiny voice and I find myself thinking that my mom permitted this. Grandma, be with me! And she would spend the whole day entertaining her. I have another child, a 10 year old tween that also needs me to be there with her and help her through the changes she's about to go through. How do I divide myself when both my daughters need so much of me, and when my husband has 3 jobs and gets home after the girls are asleep. When I spend my mornings at work and rush home to two needy children, then spend the evenings cleaning up for when my husband gets home, feeling that I didn’t really get much time for myself and wondering if I gave my daughters enough attention. I end up feeling guilty for ignoring them while I made dinner or took a shower. What are we parents supposed to do? Should I start my children in therapy now? Scheduling two more activities in the already overscheduled week? And with winter comes the feeling of wanting to stay home, not wanting to be outside in the cold frosty air, wishing that spring comes soon with warmer weather that encourages people to go out more and play.
The thing is that these books and articles about super parenting encourage this kind of over scheduling of children (and parents), and it makes me doubt myself. Is it really my responsibility to have something for them to do at all times? Should I be spending more time actively being with them? Then there are the other books that say that mom’s need to take care of themselves, because if mom doesn’t take care of herself then she is no good to the family, and the other books that say that in order for a marriage to be successful, the woman has to make the marriage be the #1 priority over the children, because a happy marriage creates happy parents that can take better care of their children. I find myself thinking how do I schedule my life in order to make sure my children are entertained at all times and I have time for myself and my marriage is my first priority? Wouldn’t I be then over scheduling myself? Is it even possible to achieve what we try to achieve these days? I think we should cut each other some slack. Go back to basics. We should stop worrying about being perfect parents and be content with being good enough.

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