Early Morning Ramblings

Saturday was Armando’s Birthday. I made him a traditional Chileno dish. It was called Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Meat Pie), with Ensalada de Chilena (Chileno Salad) and we enjoyed a glass of wine. I made him Boston Cream cupcakes and put sprinkles with candles on them. It was my first time making Pastel de Choclo and I enjoyed preparing it. I had tasted that dish made by his Mom and Sister and I was only hoping mine met up to Armando’s expectations and gave him a little taste of home.

Here are some pictures I found showing:

 

A traditional Pastel de Choclo cooked in clay dish.

Ensalada de Chilena

 

In the evening we rented and watched a movie and that was fun. We had not done that in a long time.

I crocheted Armando a little bear. Armando and I both like the amigurumi crochet animals. So it was enjoyable to try a new pattern. I will show you a picture of the bear later. The next thing I want to make for Armando is a crochet dragon.

I am having a few issues with wounds again. Only this time I have three. One I have is the same wound on my ribcage that I had previously. I went to see the wound nurse and she said it was pressure from the bone on the inside. I do not have a lot of fatty tissue to pad in that area and surgery is out completely to shave the bone because it would mess up my seating alignment which is already compromised from past surgeries and scoliosis. Arrgh.

Only thing to do is eat well and get protein which doesn’t bother me, (because I enjoy food) treat the wounds and try to be very aware of positioning to prevent pressure points. I wish I could prevent these skin problems but I cannot. I had to have reconstructive surgery years ago on my back so these are just problems that could not be fixed and the aftermath. Just so you understand why this happens to me from time to time. I do not think I ever mentioned that about myself before on my blog although I know I have mentioned wound problems before.

I hope you have a good rest of the weekend!

I am off to bed. Night Night. :)

Announcing Armando Loyola Photography website

We just opened the Armando Loyola Photography website and are ready to start in the Alabama Wedding Photography Business.

 

The website is also in Spanish since Armando  speaks Spanish and I can speak Spanish (some) too.

Please take a look and let us know what you think about it. We tried to make it elegant yet easy to navigate.

Thank you!

Sunday fun

I went with my parents early Sunday morning to a flea market. I emptied the monkey piggy bank of some change so I did not have to feel guilty for spending anything other than change.

I got four pens for 50 cents each

A big pack of post it notes for $5.00

A new in the package pink apron with strawberries, a pot holder and oven mitt for $1.00

A small ovenware dish for $1.00

A hand painted black floral trinket box for $1.00

My favorite things were a small and a medium size domed glass covered plates (similar to the one below  but mine are not pedestal type) for 50 cents each! The small one has an etched glass cover.

I put my shell collection in the smallest one and the other one is on the table for cookies,etc.

In the evening my Aunt Elizabeth invited us over for dinner. We discussed an upcoming bridal shower that we are hosting. I will make the invitations out and send them. I came home and looked up some party games.

I love parties! One of these days when we are in our own house with a more accessible kitchen, I want to start back decorating cakes again. My Aunt used to run her own catering business and she kindly taught me the basics. I admire her work. I would like to take more classes and learn how to do more advanced techniques. I have only done Christmas cakes and Birthday cakes mostly.

It was always so rewarding making cakes for little children!

Ryan's Monkey

I just completed a monkey for my nephew Ryan.

I free-handed the pattern on paper and cut it out. Then, I hand-sewed the monkey in felt so it would be very soft.

I finished by crocheting him a scarf.

I call it "Monkey Face". (laugh)

Weekend of Family & Nature

On Saturday some of our family from Ohio visited us. We visited this creek was that my cousins enjoyed playing in as children and wanted to revisit.

Later that evening Armando and I tried to find our first geocache but didn't find anything.

Look at Armando's blog for a picture of that area.

Sunday was spent at Noccalula Falls Park in Gadsden, Alabama for a family reunion.

We enjoyed the park area with animals. We got to ride the train.

 

Me riding the train.

Picture I took of Armando at one of the historic buildings.

I got my first ever deer "kiss". :)

Sick

I was awake at around 2 a.m. nauseated and then sick. At 9 a.m. I was sick again. I took medicine. I feel somewhat better now.

Armando is so comforting when I do not feel well. I am glad I have him in my life. :)

Our Day & Geocaching

We went to Huntsville to get an item from FedEx because two days in a row they could not find our house and we had a feeling the third time would be no different!

Then since I am crazy for Mexican food, we stopped by Taco Bell. I had a Chicken Chalupa and Nachos. Yum. Yum. Armando is not so crazy about Mexican food so he had something else.

We stopped by the office store and bookstore and had a yummy coffee.

The other night I signed us up at

http://www.geocaching.com

I thought it would be something fun for Armando and I to do on the weekends.

You basically search using your GPS unit and have coordinates for caches or “hidden packages”. I am still reading on how it works. But, so far I think you sign a logbook inside the cache and take something from the cache and leave something in the cache. Cool, a treasure hunt. I will let you know how it goes in the future. :)

Spoiled cats

We do not know how this happened but… the two kittens are very spoiled. They climb into our laps and give the most pitiful cries when they come near wanting to be picked up and held until they inevitably fall asleep and when you lay them into their beds, they cry wanting to be back in your lap again!

Fluffy is asleep in my lap right now.

Random Pictures

That I took at my cousin's Lake House on the 4th of July.

 

 

R-E-L-I-E-F!

All the people who gave me the tests felt like I was a good candidate for Medical Transcription so I am relieved and happy.

Now, I wait for some reports to come back to my counselor, chart out a plan with my counselor and then await authorization and funding.

 

Happy Independence Weekend To All!

Photo taken by me July 4, 2004 at Lake Guntersville, AL

Sarah Brightman Deliver Me

A Leaking Coffee Pot

Yesterday I noticed that our coffee pot seemed to be leaking. Yep, it had broken. So today had us looking for a new coffee pot, but not a complete new coffee maker because our coffee maker works ok. Wow! It is amazing how much they charge just for the glass pot. We could not find our exact model (Black and Decker Versabrew)

 

 

and did not want to buy a whole new coffee maker. I like our coffee pot because it is programmable and has an automatic shutoff which is a good thing for forgettable me! We ended up buying a replacement glass coffee pot and crossing our fingers that it worked for our coffee maker.

Sure enough, it did work! Yay! It was the cheapest one we saw at $9.97.

We had a fresh pot of coffee when we got home. I cannot imagine our days without coffee. We are both big coffee lovers.

We also have our own favorite cups. I like a big cup with frogs on it that my sister bought for me and Armando likes his Waffle House cup or Dunkin’ Donuts cup. Armando likes two spoons of sugar in his coffee whereas I am a cream only coffee person.  I love French vanilla and hazelnut coffee but only buy it as a treat because it is rather expensive.