I've Done Died and Gone to Heaven and a New Year is A Comin

We were in centro running a few errands, getting our hair cut and a bite of lunch. As we were walking down to the bank, what did we pass but a Bazaar and this one was the "mother load"!:) Remember a while back I told you that here thrift stores really don't exist. But oh my I'm sure I fell down the rabbit hole and died and gone to Junkin Heaven!! You know the kind where every available surface is packed with this and that and nothing goes together? I was like a kid in Willy Wonka's factory... Oh look, oh and look over there, and this is cool, but that's even cooler. Out of the corner of my eye I could see both LW and the owner rolling their eyes and shaking their heads :) You know LW is so patient and has earned his wings many times over!!He never complains and he never yells even when I do the "OH MY GOD STOP!! Stop right now" thing. ;)

I was feeling pretty proud of myself cuz I only had 2 funky spoons and an old ladle in my hands and tucked under my arn was this old text book with the most perfect yellowed pages.

Oh and look this little stamp says in Spanish the book belongs to Jaime. Then I reach the back of the store. You know were all the really coolish stuff is crammed? :) At first I thought it was an old "be still my heart" beat up crown. Cuz crowns are on my got to have list along with a dress maker dumm..er form :) But after I dug it out and pulled it up I discovered it was an old brass and glass out door lantern, that's about 2 ft in lenth Ohhhh soooo cool just the perfect amount of rust and green patina. And the good thing is there are only 3 little panes of glass missing :)yippee:) LW promised to take it to the glass store down the street and have the new panes cut!! Now the decision is do I ask LW to wire it for a light bulb or do I go with the awesome glow only a candle can give?? What do you guys think??

LW brought home a beautiful bouquet of red roses this afternoon to put an exclamation point on a lovely year :)

Please stay safe my fellow Bloglandians if you are out there in all the New Years Eve craziness. I hope all of you have the most audacious 2009 filled will all of the wonderful memories you can pack in. ;)

Orange a While Longer

One of the first questions we are asked by people that find out we moved to Mexico is how did you move your Things?? There are as many ways to move here as there is expats that move here. Because LW and I had only been roomies for a little more then a year we didn't have a whole house full of "we" stuff. The decision to start fresh was fairly easy for us. Hiring a moving company is very costly and we really had nothing that carried so many of our memories that we needed to have. When the time came for us to begin packing, we bought a 5ft by 8ft utility trailer. You know the same kind as your lawn guy hauls his mowers in. In the garage we marked out a 5/8 space and LW drew a line 5ft up on the wall {that way I wouldn't keep stacking to the garage ceiling;) } and then we started. By the time we shut the door and hit the road we where carrying all our worldly possessions :)

Our life in our new house in Mexico was a lot like your first home. After we got here we needed a bed and bed room furniture, living room, dining rm, sun rm. Except for a few keepsakes there wasn't much fluff either. This didn't really seem to bother LW but it made me feel awful undressed. So for the past 2 &1/2 years we have literally been feathering our nest ;) There are a couple of reasons why we have not progressed at lightening speed. 1) some how at birth both LW and I were separated from our inherited fortunes so priorities are necessary:( 2) Sometimes decisions have to be made; do we buy this piece or do we take this trip?? I don't know about you BUT unlike the popular saying that says "the guy with the most toys win" we know that it's "the guys with the most memories wins!!"

So that brings me to the "Orange" in the title. We inherited an orange bedroom. Not screaming orange it was a more mellow orange with a bit of umber. And I must say after the 3+ years it has been up it has mellowed even more. The only thing is I'm not so thrilled about an orange bedroom. One with only one window with an overhanging roof. The room is small and tucked in a corner so bright and light are not two describing words for the room :( I would dearly love to get my brushes into some paint on that wall, but alas there have been other walls to paint and light fixtures and... Well you know the story. Since it is very evident that painting our room did not make it to the top of the "Day after New Years project" list this year, I will wake up to orange walls for awhile.

Since Dulce is on vacation it was my turn to clean our room. While I was pulling the bed away from the wall in order to better seek out and destroy the enemy mutant dust bunnies I decided if I couldn't change it I mine as well join it. I gathered up some of the "Mona Lisas" we have collected, some french ribbon, candles and dried roses and went to work on the wall above our bed. Canopy is out because of the huge ceiling fan. Elaborate fabric wall treatments are way not practical. We live in dust central and that dust is black and slicky. Looks just like coal dust, could that be because we have some of the dirtiest power plants? So that puts me back to an easily cleaned decor. I'm pretty tickled with the way it came out & LW is liking it :) Now I think a couple of decoupaged lamp shades and I can wake up to orange walls a while longer :)

How about you all, anyone with any "day after News Years projects"?? Come on share a bit. Leave me a comment, let me know you are out there!! Well my Bloglandian pals I'm off the do a bit of reading in our oh so chic (orange) bedroom :) You be sure to have a most audacious day or evening depending on where in the world you are ;)

PS How many of you noticed that LW's bedside table in reality is Nena's crate?? Well one must get creative when 5 dogs and two humans all sleep in one little room :) Besides it has a nice jacard and tassel throw on it!

Happy April Fools Day?????

Well okay it's a few-maybe 4 months until April but I'm telling you today in many Latin American counties is "April Fools Day". December 28th in the Catholic Church calender is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The day commemorates the deaths of all the baby boys King Herod ordered killed in his search for the Christ Child.

Here our resident research historian LW put together a little piece on the tradition:

December 28th is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. It is the day that commemorates the death of the little boys who were slain by King Herod in an attempt to assassinate the Christ Child. This event is described in the Gospel of Matthew in Mathew 2:13-16. It talks about King Herod ordering the execution of all young male children under the age of two in the village of Bethlehem, after the Magi or “Three Kings” announced to him the impending birth of the "King of the Jews." The Magi were supposed to return to Herod and tell him where they found this newborn king so that supposedly he could go and worship Him also. However , God warned the Magi in a dream and they tricked Herod and did not return home through Jerusalem. That is when an Angel also warned Joseph and he took Mary and the little baby an fled to Egypt to avoid Herod's clutches.On this day in Mexico and many other Spanish speaking countries people pull practical jokes on each other. It is equivalent to the U.S. version of April Fools Day. You must not believe anything that other people say, nor let them borrow any amount of money. The tradition is that money borrowed on this day doesn't have to be repaid. If you fall victim of the joke, the person pulling the joke will say, “Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar” or “Innocent little dove how you've let yourself be fooled”. This is the short version of a little verse that goes:“Inocente PalomitaQue te dejaste engañarSabiendo que en este díaNada se debe prestar.”Innocent little dove How you've let yourself be fooled Knowing that on this day You should lend nothing.

Here's another little bit of trivia. The countries that celebrate Christmas in a more western European tradition-Germany, UK, Scandinavia, France and the like. These countries' traditions grew from the "Protestant" denominations. Many of the traditions celebrate advent and the birth of the Christ child. After Christmas day the celebrations tend to settle down and return to normal. But in many counties' that the roman Catholic church remained as the main influence, the days after Christmas are as important as Christmas day. In fact on the 6th of January "The Epiphany" gifts are exchanged and a special pastry is made. Loosely translated in my made up language it's "Baby Jesus" cake. But you will have to wait until then to find out why ;) And my last little piece of trivia tonight is that in Latin American Catholicism EVERY day of the year is dedicated to a saint or religious figure.

So my Bloglandian buddies just remember not to lend anyone money until after midnight and to have an Audacious day or evening depending on what part of bloglandia you are in :)

A Feel Good Memory

Don't ya just feel great when a simple act of kindness can create some of the most beautiful memories??

Our next door neighbor Nari, as I have said before takes care of both her grand kids. Everyday, no matter what she has to do or how she feels she has her two- 2&1/2 year old grand kids. One girl one boy, who are cousins. These two cutie patooties are the loves of her life :c) Here in Mexico that really is the normal way of things. The grandmothers raise the babies. Very often all 3 or 4 generations live in the same house. This is a tradition that is many hundreds of years old. And for the most part a very successful one. Course it kinda limits your "alone time" and can really put a crimp on having your own personal space. But the trade off is that no generation is left in isolation. It really cuts down on the depression rates and it fosters creativity in finding ways to carve out a bite of my space.

OOPS I sorta wondered off. For at least a year I have been trying to get a couple of pictures of Nari's grand kids. I have been itching to make a collage of the kids to give her for Christmas. Nari's husband has always been able to support his family partly because she is extremely frugal. There really are not many pictures on the walls nor anywhere else, except the front of the "frig" I was really beginning to lose hope that I would be able to do the picture for her this year. But thanks to the patron saint of grandparent brag pictures LW was able to get pictures of both kids the nights of the two Posadas. :c)

I decided I wasn't going to frame my collage, for a couple of reasons. One is we have tile floors and glass and picture frames are deadly afraid of falling off the walls. Two the house is small and kids being kids throw things, and three We all know how 2-3 year olds LOVE to hold, and look at pictures of themselves. So with all these factors I decided the best plan of action was to decoupage the pictures onto a framed canvas.

So that's exactly what I did. I think it looks mighty fine. But more importantly so does Nari. I can't begin to explain how her eyes lit up and she had the most beautiful smile when she unwrapped the collage and realized that it was pictures of here Nijos!! And in that little nano-moment the most wonderful and precious memory was created for me. :c)

So what do you guys have planned for the next couple of days?? I'm thinking that I need to find the true surfaces of my little corner cuz yikes Feb 14th is only....

Take care dear bloglandian friends and have a most Audacious day or evening depending on where in the world you are :c)

Christmas Day Exploration

How did you all spend your Christmas Day?? LW and I had a most wonderful day :c) Remember back a few post when I was having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around the fact that there would be NO kids home for the Holidays this year?? Well LW and I decided that the best thing for us was not to drag ourselves through the old traditions as if the kids were here. We decided it was time to create a few new traditions of our own. Soooo on Christmas Eve we went 'a calling" We stopped by a couple of friends homes dropped of a bottle of wine had a little visit a glass of ... (coke for us, it sad but true we have reached the stage that as long as it's bubbles in our glass we are plenty happy) ;c). We headed home plenty early so the pups were not at home alone when the fire works started. Yup anything and everything is a reason for a few fire works here!!

Our new Christmas Day tradition we decided was to be a day to explore the examples of the boundless imagination and creativity of our fellow humans. Since Jackie and Eliot were also kid-less the four of us threw a picnic lunch together and headed north. About 45 minutes north of Mazatlan along the beach is an amazing cove

It's full of large black boulders, and when the tide is high all except the closes and largest ones are covered by the incoming tide. But the amazing thing about these black boulders is they are covered in an ancient petrogliffs. Actually there are quite a few locations of petrogliffs in the state of Sinaloa. Until just recently there has been very little interest, studying or research done on them. The current uneducated speculations are that they were done by a group of people more the 1500 years ago. They have no connection to the native people of the central plateau or mountains of the country.( Insert Aztecs) Because of this they have been completely ignored by academia. You see there just isn't to awful much that is exciting about this group of people. They were more then likely nomadic, peaceful, and poor. And as we all know that is not the image of the native people of Mexico Right?? No huge pyramids, human sacrifices, Aztec calenders. Just kinda a boring, hoo hum, group of humans living, learning and creating.

Because there is no real WOW factor with these petrogliffs they are not being protected in any way. Not here not any where. Twice a day the tide rushes in and covers them. We all know what water is capable of doing, not today or tomorrow but there will be a time when these creations will disappear, lost, to future human curiosity of who we are. When the rocks are exposed there is absolutely no protection. Look at my pictures I'm actually standing over them or sitting in front of them. They are walked on sat on and defaced. No one really cares, see there again it doesn't have that excitement and WOW factor that brings in the tourist and with them their money. I realize that it's the same the world over the "movie stars" of the culture are researched until we know every little detail, before anyone says hey what about the guy that cleaned the toilets, how did he live? I sure hope Mexico wakes up and starts to collect the knowledge of their domestic engineers before that part of our history is lost forever.

I had better apologize for my photgraphic or lack of abilities. It's very evident that National Geographic is going to be banging on my door any time soon begging me to photograph for them!! :c) We all have our own talents and gifts I'm a big enough person to accept that mine do not lie within the scope of a camera lens:c)

Have a wonderful day or evening Bloglandians depending on what part of the world you are in :c)

Noche Buena Christmas Eve

Here in our little part of the world Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve. All the businesses close early and everyone heads home to prepare for the evening. The "Christmas Meal" is started in the morning and the women have been in their kitchens ALL day. When evening arrives in some of the smaller or more rural neighborhoods the last procession of the posada takes place. Around 9pmish the families start to gather at the home of the family head. Mother/Father, Grandparents. There is visiting, drinking eating and the "women" are all putting the finishing touches on dinner. And I'm telling you if you have never seen a kitchen full of Mexican women cooking you have really been deprived. :c) I grew up with an Italian father and have many memories of the aunts, grandmothers, cousins all in the kitchen sure that theirs is the only way to do it properly!! But I'm telling you they don't come close to a Mexican kitchen on Christmas Eve :c) But some how about 10-11 pmish it all comes together and suddenly the tables are groaning with the most delicious food. Just before midnight the family will walk over to the neighborhood church for the Christmas pageant and Midnight mass. Once the Christ child has been born then and only then are the gifts opened. Many families "have their Tree" after mass and others with very small kids or ailing parents will wait until morning to open gifts. There are also many who wait to have their Christmas Supper until after mass. But no matter how they celebrate the focus is always on the family being together not the material things found under the "tree"

Christmas day is a day to relax, eat left overs, and catch up on visiting.

LW put together for you a bit of information on the tradition of The Posada. And we would like to suggest that you add visiting Mexico during Christmas to experience their beautiful traditions to your list of "1000 things to do before I die" :c)

I wish all my friends here in this wonderful little place called Bloglandia a joyous time celebrating your individual beliefs and traditions while creating beautiful memories depending on were in the world you are :c)

The Christmas Posada

In Mexico, Christmas is an important holiday season with strong traditions. One of the most colorful traditions is the posada party, celebrated every evening from December 16 to 24. These celebrations commemorate Mary and Joseph's journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of shelter. "Posada" in Spanish simply means lodging or shelter. These are celebrated differently in the various parts of Mexico, but they all borrow on the following scheme.
Each evening during the nine consecutive days, the holy family's quest for lodging in Bethlehem is reenacted by the local parish. A procession from the local parish is headed by a young Virgen María, sometimes perched on a live burro, led by an equally small San José. They are followed by adults and children of the parish portraying angels, the Santos Reyes (Three Kings), and a host of pastores y pastoras (shepherds and shepherdesses). Depending on the parish, they may be decked out in colorful handmade costumes and carrying brightly decorated báculos (walking staffs) or faroles (paper lanterns).
The parade of Santos Peregrinos (Holy Pilgrims) stops at a designated house to sing a traditional song by which the Holy Family requests shelter for the night. Those waiting behind the closed door turn them away with a few verses of their own. They proceed to a second home where the scene is repeated and they are again refused shelter. At the third stop the pilgrims are told that while there is no room in the posada (inn), but they are welcome to take refuge in the stable. The doors are flung open and all are then invited to enter.
What follows is a party with food and drink for everybody. The high point is the piñata. A piñata is a fragile earthenware jar covered with paper mache, or sometimes only paper mache. It is traditionally made in the shape of a star, to recall the one that guided the Three Kings. Now piñatas come in all shapes and sizes and are filled with candy, toys, and sometimes money. There is always a mad scramble for the shower of fruits, sugar cane, peanuts and candies that are released when the piñata is smashed.
The final posada culminates on Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) with the celebration of a late-night Misa de Gallo (Rooster's Mass).

Billie's Shoes

I don't know about you guys but I love when I have a chance to create something for someone, that has no idea I am. Talk about a mess of grammatical errors in one sentence :c) Our expat friends Billie and Lenny decided they were now finally old enough to get married ;c) Lenny is not quite ready to retire, but Billie is. So she spends 6 months here and Lenny comes for visits. Then she spends 6 months at their home in Florida with Lenny. So any way They decided to get married last June here before Billie closed up the house for the summer to live in Florida. The shoes she had for her dress were absolutely Cinderella beautiful!! Lace and satin,pearl beading all the things that make a fairy princess shoes. There was just a slight problem they didn't have her size BUT they did have a half size smaller. So she did what any girl face with this tiny inconvenience does she buys the perfect shoe and grins and bares it for the perfect outfit :c). Besides no matter how beautiful the shoes were they sure weren't going back on Billie's feet after the wedding.

Billie volunteers at the animal shelter and I volunteer for the wildlife rescue. Both organizations share a thrift store. So in walks Billie one day with her shoes to donate. For a number of months I'd see the shoes every time I was at the store. Each time I'd think surely there is something I can do with those. Finally a couple of months ago I came up with the thought of making a pincushion with one. Like many of us I have made pin cushions for friends out of their baby's shoes or a special basket, dish or other container. But I never made a pin cushion out of an adult size shoe. I went to the thrift store and bought the pair. Figuring I always had one to experiment with and one for a gift. Played around with it for a few days trying to get the "cushion" to fit the shoe and look decent. Not so easy cuz the shoes were T straps with only the toes and heels. When I was finished with all the fluffing and fru fruing (a word?) (Miss Billie is a real southern lady so can there ever be too much fru fruing?)I think it turned out to be very cute. :c)

Now all I had to do was wait and wait and wait for Billie to return for the season. Ha finally she got here the other day. I sent her a note today asking if they would be home cuz I needed to run something by. So this evening after we fed all the critters LW and I went over. I was so tickled when she was so surprised and thrilled with her "pin cushion" :c) I have to tell you there really is nothing like the feeling you get in your heart when a gift you create for someone brings them so much pleasure and happiness. Makes all those hours of redos, glue stuck in your hair, paper cuts, burnt fingers, more then worth it :c)

Here are a couple of pictures of Billies Pin cushion.

Without any comments on the weather here I'll bid you goodnight. So my Bloglandian friends have a wonderful day or evening (despite the winter weather) depending on what part of the world you are in :c)

Alert Alert!!! Santa Was On Our Block Last Night ;c)

Yes he was !!! Last night was our neighborhood Christmas party for the kids. Now we really don't have all that many kids living on our block. What we do have is a lot of Grandmas and Grandpas on our block. And you know where ever there are grandparents there are grand kids :c) LW was such a trooper and took pictures so I could share them here. Tomorrow night is the family block party. We all set up tables out in the street Oh that would be after we close off the block. You don't have to have the city's permission to close off your block to have any kind of get together cool huh?? We'll get the tables set up and then each family cooks their own dinner to eat.Although sharing happens all the time. We all sit together while we eat. No it's not pot luck that is a concept that hasn't come south of the boarder yet. There will be a live band set up and there will be dancing in the street until 1-2ish in the morning!!. I'll report all the details on Sunday just not to early :c)

This is the little program the kids put together for their family. There is a traditional party at Christmas that is called a Posada. This is when Mary and Joseph go looking for an inn to stay at. Traditionally the couple goes to three houses the first two refuse to give them room. The third one will let them stay in their stable. So it is at the third house that host the party, the posada. Because Mazatlan is so secular many of the old country traditions have been modified. In our block that is the case. There isn't the procession instead the kids do a small play on the stage, much like the kids program done in churches North of the Border.

LW wants me to apologize for the lighting. We don't have street lights so the pictures are a bit on the murky side. If you look hard in the middle of the tent on the last picture you can catch a glimpse of Santa Claus. He like Christmas trees, lights and many of the secular Christmas traditions that we grew up with are not traditions here.

This little cutie patootie is little Olivia she is Nari and Hernando's grand daughter. Nari looks after Olivia and her cousin Max while their parents work. Nari and Hernando live right next door.

This is Anna she also stays are her grandma's after school so her mom can work.

This very handsome young Caballero is Miguel he is Anna's cousin. He also stays at their grandmas while his mom works. One day we'll have to have a visit about the reason why day cares, hospice, and a number of other community services from up north aren't here.

This is Nari's youngest son. Manuel is a very special child !! He always brings me his art work so I can put it on our

Must run now we are having about 8-9 friends coming to eat with us. LW and I are fixing Paella YUUUUUM So my bloglandian friends have a wonderful day or evening depending on where you are in the world :c)

Quiet Day

There hasn't been to much going on today. We have had very very nice warm weather with the humidity way down. :c) Yep I know ours is way on the opposite of most of the rest of the US and Canada. And to be honest the warm "seasonless" weather is one of the things LW and I enjoy. First off it's not like the seasons or the weather never changes. Heck the raining season from July through Oct can really be mean. Hot in the high 90s (F) and humidity in the high 80 %. Dry season the temps are in the low 80s to high 70s (F) and the nights cool down into the low 60s-high 50s. And that is plenty cold thank you very much!! :c) The winter the southern states are having this winter sounds like the horrendous one all of Mexico had last winter. Like north this year there was snow in parts of Mexico that has never (can't remember at least) had snow :c( It was truly terrible for the very poor because things like Missions, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters are very rare here. In fact coats were collected a number of times last year to send to the needy in the central and coastal mountains. I hope that this year stays warmer for everyone here. Last year stayed so cold for so long it had a great effect on the local businesses that survive on the seasonal trade, there are many here that can't withstand another bad tourist year. :c(

If you are anything like I am, you are always on the lookout for cool clip art and you are all over it especially when it's free!! Yes?? Well Lisa Vollrath of Go Make Something fame is doing a wonderful 25 days of clip art gifts as a thank you. If you'd like to go check it out just head over here Have fun she has some really adorable tags to download too. Please remember to follow her instructions to linking back to her. Seems the least you could do as a thank you for all the goodies. :c)

How are the preparations coming at your Digs?? I'm finally getting where I can see daylight at the end of the tunnel!!! WOOO HOOO :c)

Have a great and wonderful day or evening depending on where in Bloglandia you are :c)

Pledge What Pledge ??

Remember way back in those Innocent days of summer when we all pledged to give only hand made gifts this year?? Oh Yeah you remember. Heck that won't be hard at all. If I get a couple of gifts made a month I'll be set and there will be none of that panic the last 11days!! :c) Well I don't know about you guys but I'm getting a bit concerned that there is only 11 days left!! :c( I haven't started the jeez if I was smarter I would be panicking but..... I can't even begin to imagine life in my Bloglandian Sisters' studios where they are trying to keep merchandise in their stores!! I do know they are far better women then I am!! :c)

Got to run hopefully I can get a bit of the glitter, glue, paper and paints cleaned up before LW wakes from his little nap. :c) Have a wonderful day or evening in Bloglandia depending on what part of the world you are in :c)

Tis The Season of Aguinaldo

Mexico for a good portion of her history has been an occupied country. Because of these different occupations her laws tend to protect the worker the "everyman" One such law is the requirement of employers to give their employees the gift of Aguinaldo at Christmas time. It is a certain amount of bonus calculated by the amount of time you work, the length of employment and the amount of your wage. Now believe me the formula for calculating a full time employee's aguinaldo is more complicated then the mathematical equations Doc Brown used to figure out the "time-space continuum" necessary to fling the Delorian back to the future :c).

Just to figure Little Dulce's part time bonus will make your eyes cross. Something on the order of the amount of days she works for how much divided by the cycles of the moon in a year, multiplied by squared to the power of 10 minus the days ending in the letter Z plus all Mondays that fall on Friday the 13Th. Oh wait maybe that's not quite it. Anyway the short version is basically 2 weeks of wages. AH but then you also have vacation you have to pay which is also basically 2 weeks of work. There is also a law that says the aguinaldo must be payed no later then Dec. 20th, must be in the form of money.

We only have Dulce that we employ thank goodness. We gifted her last Tuesday with her aguinaldo. Since her birthday was the next day (Weds) we gave her both gifts at the same time.

Now along with the required bonuses Christmas is also the time you are expected to tip those workers that provide services for you. There are the garbage guys. Our garbage is picked up three times a week. These guys get payed next to nothing. Three guys work a truck together. Unlike most cities up north there is no real limits as to how much you put out or how you put it out, or how heavy it is. That is pretty much left up to the crews working the trucks. Of course like everywhere the guys tend to match their accommodating nature to your Christmas Thank you gift. Then there is the guys who deliver your gas (propane) There are two kinds of tanks here. The large stationary ones they fill from their truck tank and the tall, heavy portable ones. If your tank is portable these guys will sling a full tank over their shoulder and carry it in and change it for you. If you live on the 5 floor of a walk up they still haul those tanks up the stairs for you!! If like us you have a large tank on the roof these guys will climb up to the roof the guy on the ground throws the hose to his buddy on the roof and they fill the tank. They don't even have to come in the house to gain access if you don't want them to. Now in my mind they more then deserve a Christmas Thank you!! The mail carriers have their very own day in November but it's nice to put a little something in and envelope for them. There's the old guy that sells that comes by with the daily news paper. Well actually, it's pretty much anyone that provides a regular service through out the year for you.

Could get a bit expensive huh? Actually not really the only ones that are required or that have required amounts is your employees. The rest is what you feel like doing. To be honest with you I always look forward to these little gifts. The work here is very hard, and the pay doesn't reflect that. Remember for most of Mexico's workers the daily wage is about $5.00 US dollars!! :c( It's not much but it is a way of showing the people that provide services for LW and I that we respect what they do.

Cards tend to be a bit unruly to handle especially if you are the guys riding on the back of the trucks (garbage or gas) We pick up a box of the little gold envelopes with flaps just the right size to slip a couple of bills into and still fit into a pants pocket. I do a little festive fluffing and glitter (the easy part) LW on the other hand is the guy who gets up at the crack of O dark :30 to be sure he catches the garbage truck, the newspaper Papa and keeps on eye out for Omar and his sidekick (Gas jockeys) as they go tearing through the neighborhood. :c)

One more thing crossed of the list. I always feel like I'm really making good progress until I go to visit someones blog that has to remind me just how little time is really left!! Why tell me why??? Are they not familiar with a procrastinator's favorite quote?? You know the one I mean "Ignorance is bliss" :c)

Looks like the glue gun is ready to get some serious work done so I hope everyone in Bloglandia has a wonderful day or evening depending on where in the world you are :c)