mother's day.

today is american mother's day.

a time to celebrate those women who have raised us, formed us, cared for us, educated us, loved us, held us, disciplined us, taught us.

i am blessed to have a wonderful mom.
who has taught me how to be a good mom to my little treasures.

i love you, mom.

conserve.

it is only 815 and i feel like i've already lived the whole day. have you ever had a morning like that?

last night the water pump that sends us water burned out. luckily we won't have the problems we had in our last apartment (you know, no water ever) because the owner uses the same pump. it should be fixed today, but even 18 hours without water is a nuisance.

the country has been lacking rain for the past five months. reservoirs are low, and there are farmers whose animals are dying in droves. water pulled from the rivers for drinking carries diseases and those water-born bacterias are wreaking havoc on the most destitute communities.

i can't really complain about 18 hours water-free.

water is regulated, sent through the pipes when there is extra. if you're lucky, the pipes dump into a holding tank and you're set for a few days. most people aren't so lucky. barrels and buckets get filled; water to be rationed out until the next time it flows freely. children play in and near, far too frequently children drown.

i can live with a sink full of dirty dishes.

tanks and buckets full of clean water attract mosquitoes. the bite of a dengue mosquito debilitates: pain, fever, vomiting. there is no magic "malaria" medicine for this bug. if you can afford a hospital, you have a better chance of not dying from hemorraghic shock.

at least we have running water, clean and purified enough to shower, cook and clean without risk of infection.

because we all remember how cholera ripped through haiti and decimated a people in a matter of months.

i can mop my floor tomorrow. clean the dishes later. and bathe with a bucket.
because we have water to drink. water to share.
it's only been 18 hours.
some people live a life time with no clean water.

family vacation.

the dominican republic is filled with resorts. i mean, who could blame developers for building on these beautiful beaches? white sand, turquoise water, ideal weather almost all of the time? of course they did.

it's not very often we take advantage of the all-inclusive scene. once or twice a year for a night or two - we're more public beach people.

but this year, my momma turned 50 and she wanted to celebrate! so, we're on the beach - in a nice AI resort for FIVE days. yes, FIVE.

no dishes, no laundry. no cooking, no cleaning. and grandparents to spoil children, uncle to spoil children... and all the free, leisure time one could want!

losin' weight.

i've struggled with weight loss since high school. i don't say weight gain, because, well, that parts easy.

i've lost significant amounts of weight, just to put it right back on! disgusting, i know.

as i inch closer to the big 3-0, i've decided it's time for a change. a big. huge. dynamic change. one that includes losing almost more than my two kids weigh. combined.

i want to be fit. i want to be an active mom. and more, i want my kids to follow my example. i want to eat healthy, go for walks and just be in shape.

in january, i started on this journey. exercising, eating more fruits and veggies and not so much fried food (which if you know the dominican cuisine, you will know is very. very. difficult). and after a few weeks, i started seeing results. so, i kicked it up. more exercise. even more healthy choices. and now. getting the family in on it.

we take walks almost every day. and the kids will choose bananas and pineapples over lollipops and potato chips any day. and don't even mention a carrot if you haven't got one. we eat pounds of carrots every week.

and it's paying off.
really.
i am about 1/3 of the way into the weight goal. and my fitness goals is to run a race before the end of the year. i'm so excited about this new way of life.

on why i cut my hair.

i have always had long hair. and it was always the pride of my aunts. long, thick, brown hair. beautiful.

i cut it in high school once. real short. but then i let it grow. and grow. and grow.

it got to the point where i wouldn't cut it, because it was so nice. and the pride of my aunts and grandmom, was now my pride. in that nasty meaning of pride.
and for no reason at all, because i am not a fussy, do my hair, spend time primping kind of girl. so, my hair lived in a perpetual messy knot on the top of my head. sometimes i went days without brushing it. gross.

and then. in november, while stalking on facebook, i ran into an old friend. and right there, for all of facebook to see, a photo album called "cancer haircuts." this friend had the most beautiful, long, curly black hair. and now, here were pictures of her freshly shaved head.

here i was with this head full of precious locks. tied up in a rat's nest while my friend shaved hers off to prevent the dreaded fall-out.

i decided then to cut it off, donate the pony tail to a wig-making outfit. i had planned to do it when i was in philadelphia, but chickened out like three times. and every week, i made plans to go to the salon, but never actually made it.

i don't know what caused me to go. but i knew it needed to happen. my hair was going to serve a better purpose on someone else's head. my knotty ponytail days are over. so i went. sat in the chair, tied up my pony tail and 45 minutes later was sporting a new do.

this week my 15 inch pony tail will be put in an envelope and mailed in honor of my friend and her courageous fight against cancer. if anyone can beat this, she can.

where i've been.

i've been mia for awhile. sorry about that.

things have been moving and shaking and changing and then going right back to where they were. two steps forward, one back.

it's a time of transition down here. samil will start pre-school in the fall, which for normal people would be nothing... but here it means changing tons of things. my job, the biggest. see, i work in the afternoons - from 3 til around 7. i get home, usually, close to 8pm. but samil is going to study in the morning.

who had kids so they'd never see them? not me.

so. new job. i looked at private schools in mono- and bi- lingual settings. i looked at language institutes. i even looked into starting a service that offers english classes to bigger companies. i got my heart set on one school - a great school with great pay. i interviewed. i demo-taught. i interviewed again. and again. and i got frustrated.

know how God puts things to us right when we need it?
after the one millionth interview, i was sure i had the job. then i had the millionth and one, got frustrated and took my resume elsewhere. c'mon, who makes job candidates run around like that? really it was only 4 separate meetings, but it seemed there was always something more. come bring us this, come talk to me about that. and a new something-else everytime i went! (in fact, i taught their SAT math class for a few weeks and after the class was over they asked me to take a competency test, just so they could have it on file! the class was finished, i had been paid. really? a test that you give to people applying for jobs? ridiculous).

i had been set on this school. but. i can't handle the run around.
so, when I got a call from the best (paying) university in santiago, i ironed my only set of business cas. clothes and headed out. i was offered the job on the spot (what a relief after the craziness of that school!) and i start may 11.

i think there are some things to iron out still, like my hours (for the summer, i'll still be teaching in the PM, but once school starts in August, i'll be able to name my own), but i'm super excited.

we begin the transition from a stay-at-home family to a pre-school bound one! amely will still stay with the nanny and, now, we'll be able to maximize our time, and actually have more to spend together!

don't you all hate...

how i swear i'm back... and then disappear for another few weeks?

it's been nuts getting into a swing with no internet and tons of tutoring.

i'll get it back soon, i think.