What the WHAT?!

I'm sad that I've been unable to find this here in Laredo:

Where, oh, where is my Cajun smoked sausage?  *sigh*

And why is Alabama the only place that loves Grapico?  It's good... I SWEAR!  :)

But you guys HAVE got me on the Apple Soda.  I mean, that stuff ROCKS!  Why they don't sell it anywhere else is beyond me... It's weird how they sell completely different things in different areas of the country.  For instance, I had no idea there were so many different types of tortillas.  There were like, two brands that you could buy in Alabama, and here they have their own aisle because there are so many.

The weather is getting beyond perfect here.  I'm loving the cooler temperatures.  I had a little picnic in my driveway with the kids today, and even mowed my grass with a push mower without breaking much of a sweat.  Amazing.  I hope it sticks around.  I really enjoy not being stinky and sweaty.  :)

In other "Johanna is Crazy" news, I had 4 kids spend the night with me last Friday.  Yes, that would be 6 kids total if you add my two in there. The next day after they left, I found this:

He must've had a rough time with all those kids.  :)

Oh, dear... I just went to get my son for dinner and saw he had turned the sprinkler on.  I should go... 

Sick of Being Sick

I'm convinced that my little girl Lauren can only stay well for like 2 days before she catches something else.  When we moved here, she had a throat infection.  We FINALLY got rid of that, and then got a snotty nose.  We FINALLY got rid of that, and now she's got some sort of stomach bug.  Yesterday, she vomited twice and had a really high fever.  I think it's probably for one of these reasons:

1) She likes to put everything she finds in her mouth

2) She thinks it's fun to chew on the shopping cart at the store even though I continuously tell her NO!

3) She's so darn cute that everyone touches her when we're out in public.  :)

So, sorry, folks.  When she's feeling better, I'll be able to go out and about and explore, but for now I'm stuck at home.  The upside is that I finished rereading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday.  So I can't tell you anything about Laredo, but I can tell you loads about Hogwarts.  :)

Good news is that she's feeling better today!  Yay!  I hate seeing my little ones sick.  It just breaks my heart.  Hopefully, the rest of us won't catch whatever it was.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy Mexican Independence Day!

I guess I never really thought about it before, but I didnt' realize that Mexico had an Independence Day, too.  I always thought it had something to do with Cinco de Mayo, but that's apparently not the case.  It's celebrated on the 16th of September.  I just read all about it here.  

Our church announced Sunday before last that they were going to be having a celebration of Mexican Independence Day, and everyone was welcome.  I said, heck yeah!  Free Mexican food?!  I'M THERE!!  :)

We got there, and it was SO crowded.  They had to keep bringing out tables because so many people had shown up.  We put our diaper bag down to save us some seats and got in line.  After the loooooong wait, we got back to our table only to find out that we had no seats.  Apparently, a diaper bag means you only need one seat...  *note sarcasm*  We finally found a place to sit, and I was so aggravated at this point that I kinda wanted to leave.  The kids were being whiney and wouldn't eat.  We were super crowded.  I couldn't really mingle because I don't speak Spanish. 

BUT I heard there was going to be dancing afterwards, so I stuck around.  I'm so glad we did!  Once the dinner was over, it started to clear out a bit.  They opened a space in the middle of the gym, and then couples came out in traditional Mexican dress and danced.  It was neat!  See for yourself:

(Sorry for the poor quality.  I forgot my camera, so these are with a phone.)

After the traditional dancing, a band came out to play.  They had a really cool instrument that looked like a cross between a guitar and a harp.  It sounded beautiful!  

They were fantastic.  They were so great, in fact, that my daughter Lauren, and her cousin Londyn couldn't help but dance!  :D

That must've been some wild dancing.  I couldn't even get a picture without them being blurry!

So, we had a really good time, ate some good food, and saw some fun entertainment.  And my kids got to shake their booties.  What more could you ask for?

Happy Independence Day, Mexico!  And thanks for letting us celebrate along with you!  :D

Everything's Texas in Texas

One thing that cracks me up about living in Texas is that...  well, let me just show you an example:


Yes, those are Texas-shaped tortilla chips.  And heck yes I bought them.  :)

You can buy pretty much anything either shaped like Texas or with a picture of Texas on it or with this Texas star:
:
What other state could you do this in?  I'm telling you... NONE!  I've never seen a state so proud of it's shape.  So far I've seen coolers, planters, plates, glasses, serving trays, cheese, and who knows what else all in the shape of Texas.  I love it.  It makes me smile. 

I guess it just goes along with my old saying, "If you got it, flaunt it!"  Work it, Texas!  :)

The Moving Blues

If you've ever moved before, you've probably felt the feelings that I'm feeling right about now.  After the newness of everything wears off, and you get mostly settled in, the moving blues sets in.  I don't know about you, but I start missing my old place, old friends, and get really, really bored.

Because here's the thing... all the things that used to keep you busy in your old place?  Yeah, those are gone.  All the old friends you used to hang out with on the weekends?  Yup, those are gone, too.  So after the busy unpacking and putting things where I like it and all that mess ends, where does that leave me?  Sitting at home wondering what the heck I'm going to do with myself.

It's not that I'm not making friends. I am.  I've started running with some awesome ladies in my neighborhood.  I've gone places with my kids.  I've got my husband's family here to visit with.  It's not all bad.  I just get in slumps where I miss Alabama.  I miss my family back home.  I miss my old friends.  Ya know, the usual.

So that's where I'm at.  I have a more fun post planned for later when I actually get around to uploading some pictures from my phone.  Sorry for the Debbie Downer post, but I figure that's all part of being new to a place, right?  Adjusting and... well, working through the moving blues as best I can.

Sunny Side Up

One thing that I'm still trying to get used to living here is what time the sun goes up and down.  You wouldn't think that it would be that big of a deal, but I'm still not used to it.  We were in the Central Time Zone in Alabama but on the complete opposite side of it, so the sun rises and sets at different times than it does here.  During the summer months, it would start getting light outside a little after 5am, so that when the kids woke up at 6:30am, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

Not so much here...  My daughter woke up at 6:30 a few mornings ago, and it was still dark!  Shoot, sometimes my kids wake up at 7am, and it's still not fully light outside. When we first moved here, I woke up at 7am thinking that it was going to rain because it was dark.  Nope, the sun was just not fully up yet.  And since I have an unspoken rule at my house that I don't get up before sunrise unless I have to (I mean, really... why would you DO that?!), this is making my morning routine drag out until lunch time.  Not so good.

It's starting to get dark sooner at night here, but when we first moved here, it wasn't getting dark until 9pm.  My kids' normal bedtime is 8pm.  You can guess how that goes.  And it's not really their fault.  They go to bed if I tell them to, but it's hard for me to realize it's their bedtime.  I remember one time in particular that my husband said we should get them ready for bed, and I'm like, "Uh, it's not bed time yet."  He asked me what time I thought it was, and I said around 6pm.  Nope.  It was nearly 8pm.  I was waaaaaay off.

So, yeah, still trying to get adjusted here.  I imagine that eventually whenever we move back towards the Alabama way, I'll complain about how bright it is early in the morning, and, honestly, how do people sleep like that?!  :)