A cautionary tale

Caution!!! don't ever read "The Christmas Sweater" while pregnant! My parents gave me a whole stack of books this summer for my birthday and I am now down to two. I was trying to save the small "easy" read (The Christmas Sweater) for if maybe I had some down time in the hospital (I know, hahaha) or while nursing ;) Now I don't know which is worse, reading this book while pregnant and hormonal or reading it while dealing with postpartum hormones. Don't get me wrong, it is a great book and a very quick read. In fact I probably could have read it in one day (while taking care of E) if I hadn't had to stop for so many tissue breaks. I should have heeded the review on the back that mentioned "Tuesdays with Morey" (a book I have to this day managed to avoid due to its notorious reputation). However, the little red book was calling to me from the shelf and I just decided to go for it. I hope to find a fun magazine to take to the hospital instead, preferably not TV Notas or Telenovelas. Maybe they will have a fun cooking one at the pharmacy.
Apart from my magazine I am almost all set for "D" day!! My bag is packed, bebe's bag is packed, E's bag is almost packed, and bebe's bag for the nurses is packed too!! ;) I learned from having Enrique that if you send the diaper bag to the nurses (at my hospital) they will put EVERY single piece of clothing in it on the baby so I packed a "nurses" bag with one outfit and then I have extra stuff set aside. Now we just have to get my sister in law all set, she is due pretty soon now and still needs to get almost everything. She wanted to take a trip to the other side but I don't see that happening. But that is okay because I have found that anything I need is here in Navojoa (except clothing leaves a lot to be desired but if you REALLY need it it's here). Also, her shower is on the 30th so we can wait and see what kind of stuff she gets ;)

Birria, lavanderia, and breaking in to my mother-in-law's house ;)

This morning I decided that it is my day off from making breakfast and told Jose that he should have birria (goat and sheep tacos, here in Sonora they get mixed together sometimes). He was very excited because I don't like birria so he doesn't go that often. We went to his mom's house to pick her up because she is also a fan of the goat/sheep tacos. We arrived at the restaurant/taco stand at 8:45 and it was already 103ish degrees!! "It's ok", says Jose, "they have fans inside". Well, we get inside and none of the fans are on because... da da da daaaaaa get ready for it... the power went out! Of course! Oh well, we will just have to deal with the heat. Jose orders a taco en caldo and a gordita, his mom the same, and Enrique got a plain taco. Jose's food is basically a soup with some shredded meat in it accompanied by handmade tortillas and a fried tortilla with chicharron drippings and more meat. I was really craving pancakes and sausage, to each his own breakfast ;) Everybody ate in peace and sweat and then we headed to Jose's office to drop him off for some meeting. Right next door is a lavanderia where I have been asking Jose for a couple days now to drop off Enrique's old crib set (bumper, sheets, blankie, comforter, diaper holder, and skirt). He keeps forgetting (yeah right ;)) So I run in and drop that off and then we head over to my mother-in-law's house. She forgot her keys but that's ok because my sister-in-law is inside (or so we think). We knocked, rang the door bell, called the house, called her cell phone and nothing so we decide that she has gone somewhere. In what I am not sure because the car is there, it is about 5 degrees hotter than it was an hour ago, and she is 8 months pregnant so I am thinking that she is not cruising around town on foot. The guy that owns the store next door comes out and starts asking if we have been locked out. Yep, that seems to be the case, so he offers a piece of cardboard and I am wondering what magyver device is going to be made to open the door. Sure enough my mother-in-law starts fiddling with the lock and cardboard and pops the door open via the window. I was super glad because it was getting really hot but I was also wondering how many passersby saw how to open her door (she lives on a main street). Oh, and it turns out my sister-in-law AND her husband were there! I am still not sure how they did not hear the phone. Oh well, it made for an exciting Sunday morning.

Car update and survey

My car is back!!!! YAY!!!! Woohoo!!! But, (there always has to be a but right?) we can't use the air conditioner until we hit 1000 km. I have no idea why but I am not trying to break the car and have it sent back to the shop. So technically if I really really need to go somewhere I can but it is still 100 degrees by 10:00am so I am not trying to dehydrate Enrique, myself, or bebe noviembre (Jose Ricardo, Ricardo Jose, Ricardo Miguel, we are still not sure on the name). I am thinking of driving around the block at like 2am for a couple hours to try and up the kilometraje ;) jajaja. Honestly though I am sooo thankful to have my mode of transportation back, in fact I am off to a baby shower at 3ish today, yay!! adult girly time!! So exciting.

Now for my survey. I would like to know (from those of you who live in Mexico mostly) if you:

1. Have domestic help
2. How many times he/she comes a week
3. What their job entails
4. Do you feed them
5. How much do they earn

When I get some answers I will enlighten everyone on why I am asking these questions ;)
Thanks so much!

I never thought I would enjoy...

I never thought picking up dog poop could be fun. Wait, don't go yet. If you read my previous post than you know all about my plumbing issues and how frustrating it was to come home to a stopped up patio full of dog poo and pee. Well these past few weeks of living without a car (but enjoying hearing all the fun excuses the mechanic comes up with for missing every deadline) I have had to focus on the positive. My patio just happens to be something that I have to clean every day and the whole process goes smoothly like clockwork, EVERY TIME. This is something I have come to rely on here in Mexico, that nothing is going to work the same way every time. I like things to work the same way, and to preferably go smoothly. This is I am guessing one of my American traits that I will probably never be able to get rid of and I am not apologetic about it, this is who I am take it or leave it. I have however learned to curb my irritation around my husband, I pick and choose the things I decide to complain about to him. The car funny enough is one of the things that I have kept to myself around Jose, I realize that it is out of his hands, we are at the mercy of Daniel our mechanic. At least I am pretty sure that we will have the car by November for when the baby is due, I think ;)

New neighbors

I have been home for almost a month now, wow time sure does fly! Jose went and picked me, Enrique, and my mom up in Tucson a few weeks ago which was really nice because we were going to have to take the bus do to our car situation. So I arrived home to a stopped up drain in the backyard which makes washing the dog pee off the cement extremely difficult. Wait, I what I meant to say was impossible! Hang in there, it gets more exciting. Socrates (the dog) was skinny as a rail and infested with ticks, Stanley (the cat) was near starvation, his kittens were on the verge of becoming feral, my car was still broken and had a flat tire, my phone was off the hook, so was the internet, and my Mom's sink stopped working altogether. Bienvenida a casa!!
So one by one we got to work trying to solve each problem from my house because we had no other way to get around. My good friend and vet Karla came and got Socrates, fixed his tick issue, and messengered over some high quality cat and dog food. Animals- check.
Next, getting in touch with Jehu my plumber. Well, I lost his card and he is not in the phone book so I started calling different hardware stores and finally one had him on file. So I call and he says he will be here tomorrow (a very common phrase here in Navojoa). Three days pass and I still can't clean the patio so I send him a message and he calls back saying that he is sorry but he has had lots of work and hadn't been able to get away but he will try for this afternoon. This afternoon comes and goes, so do two more days. At this point I am half thinking about calling another plumber but Jehu knows my house and I really do like the way he works. So I decide to call him and ask him if he has any friends he can send me. Well he either felt really sorry for me or didn't want to lose me as a customer because he was here in 30 minutes. Plumbing- check.

Next step the modem, now, it is 100 degrees here at 8 in the morning and Jose is in a 1980 something pickup truck with no air so I understand that he does not want to be making extraneous stops to Telmex or wherever else but I NEED the internet. Sometimes I feel like it is my only link to the outside world ;) That may sound a bit dramatic but it is how I get news from the US (like the all important day and time that Lindsay Lohan got released from jail jajajaja), video chat with my parents and brother, see how my friends are doing via facebook, and of course read all the fun blogs written by other americans living in Mexcio. So the procedure for getting a new modem is to call telmex and after they go through the whole unplug your modem, reset your modem, plug your modem in to a different outlet, wait, what? it still doesn't work? routine, they send a report to your hometown telmex where you can wait 3-5 business days for them to messenger it over or you can go pick it up instantly. I opted for instant, or so I thought. I forgot about Jose not doing ANYTHING instantly (it is part of his charm, I have to look at it that way). It only took him a little more than a week to go pick up the new modem but; Internet-check!

Last step the car. It sat in my garage almost the entire time my mom was here but finally a couple days before she left our mechanic Daniel came and got it. This only happened because the night before we wanted to go out for dinner and the truck wouldn't start and then Enrique got bit by a huge red ant and screamed for an hour. Jose finally got fed up and decided to call Daniel (who by the way proved to be very prompt). Supposedly the car will be done this Thursday which I am inclined to believe it when I see it. I have become a little bit hesitant to believe what people tell me here but I am also much more relaxed. We are making due without the car so it will be a huge surprise and very exciting when it does get fixed.

Now on to the title of this post. When I got home and stopped crying ;) I realized that we had new neighbors. I husband and wife and weenie dog had moved in across the street. I was ssssooo excited because the way my house is situated I really have no neighbors which can be a good thing sometimes but other times I feel quite isolated. So yesterday Enrique and I baked some banana pineapple bread and decided to take it over to them. As soon as we got all set I saw that they had the exterminators over so I decided to wait because banana bread and chemicals don't really go together ;) We went over this morning and presented ourselves to Pamela and weenie (husband was at work) and she is really sweet. I hope they will be here for a while.

I really am glad to be home and it felt really good to be able to vent a little bit. I will say that I have been able to find positives in just about everything that has happened since I returned from the other side and as always the trials have helped me grow.
Thanks for reading!

My Dad's Favorite Holiday

I was so excited to be here in the US for the fourth of July. When I lived here I didn't really think much of the holiday. Sure, it was exciting because my little brother would get ssssooo excited about shooting off fireworks and my grandma would come over for hotdogs or hamburgers but there were other holidays that I enjoyed way more (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Saint Patty's Day). However, my first year living in Mexico brought about a certain nostalgia for the Fourth that I cannot quite explain. It is not as if I have become super patriotic, I love my country don't get me wrong, but I cannot recite the Federalist Papers or the Monroe Doctrine for you. I think it is just nostalgia for good times together with family, it just so happens that it is a red white and blue themed day ;)
As it turns out the Fourth of July happens to be my Dad's favorite holiday, something I learned on this trip. I never would have guessed that. But now that I know I can clearly picture him a little boy in the late 50's in jeans and a striped t-shirt at a block party eating hot dogs off the grill, drinking coke from a bottle, having homemade ice cream and watching fireworks (something akin to the 4th of July scene in the Sandlot).
This year was very exciting for me as I got to see Enrique's reaction to fireworks which was very much like my brothers. There was some plugging of the ears but a general feeling of awe and wonder. And he went next door to my neighbor's house and had smores which he really liked. It was a really great day!

Almost on the other side!!!

I am sooooo excited!!! Enrique and I are going to California in just a few days. I haven't been since January and that is a long time for me. I haven't even been to Obregon or Hermosillo which I had not realized until my Mom pointed that out to me last night. That means no Wal Mart trips, no Home Depot, no Carl's Jr., and no Sam's. HHHHMMMMM and somehow I managed to survive. I will probably never stop missing Vons, Target, the occasional overpriced coffee drink, Michael's, Baskin Robbins, Taco Surf, or Old Navy but it is good to know that I can live without them for a time. The fun thing is that when I do get to go visit my parents it is sooooooo exciting to visit those places and when I lived in the US it was just everyday stuff. I also get to sit on the couch with my Mom and Dad and watch the Today show, Jeopardy, all the dancing shows, etc. and that is really fun for me, it is time to just relax and catch up with my parents. It is time that I treasure when I am here missing them. AAANNNDDD another good thing about going to the other side is coming home. Jose and I always benefit from a little time apart, when we are reunited it is exciting and fresh. I am not saying it would be good for every couple but for us it works and I am thankful that it does.
Lakewood here I come!!!

Stanley is a Mommy!!

Well congratulations are in order for Stanley, he gave birth to 3 kittens last night. My ample experience with cats giving birth on my property reminds me that they usually hide. Stanley went for the open option of my flower bed outside the living room window. Everyone looks well and I think I can find homes for all. Get ready Karla to operate on the first male cat ever to have babies ;)

That's it, there went my last shred of dignity

Wow two posts in one day!!!! Usually this would be a good thing but alas today it is not. As anyone who has given birth knows it is is a very humiliating process. Stuff goes on that no one tells you about beforehand. Here in Mexico (at least in Navojoa) an enema and shaving are added to that stuff (my doctor saved me from the crazy bic happy nurse). Well, I got through all that business and thought to myself hhhmm, you are pretty brave and now there is nothing you can't go through. Ah but I was wrong. In March Enrique and I had a case of Giardia (fun water parasites). Now, Enrique got it first so his diaper got sent off to the lab and then I was just treated for the same thing because I had the same symptoms. Done, easy, take some flagyl and your fine. WELL, this weekend I thought I ate too much watermelon (no details necessary) but it has gone on for days now and my symptoms have been slowly changing. So finally I called my OBGYN to just make sure I can take flagyl (a class B medication during pregnancy) and he ORDERED me to send and stool sample to the lab. That was it, my last shred of dignity fell to the floor. Of course I broke down crying and Jose just spouted off his 'logic' talk, "well that was the most logical thing to do, no?" DUH!!! I know that, I am not dumb, but who wants to send their 'business' to someone in a cup??!!!!?? GROSS! I am so bumbed. But, I decided that I have to be able to laugh a little bit so I decided to post my fun story for all you all to see. ENJOY!

New Chanclas (purchased in Navojoa)!!!

This morning after I dropped Jose off at the Corporativo Juridico and Enrique at Bambinos I decided to go to the mercado, something I almost never do because parking is so difficult. However, I decided that since it was 8:45 that I might be able to find a spot, and I did first try, I didn't even have to go around the block!! (Hey, it's the little things in life that keep me going) Anyway, so I wandered into the store that I parked in front of, Importcosas which houses aisle after aisle of neat cheapo stuff from China ;). After a bit I ran into some HUGE bins full of flip flops. Now, just yesterday I tried on a pair of shoes from my closet and found that my feet have either grown a bit or are already swollen (another icky pregnancy side effect). I thought well, I can wear my black flip flops until I get to the other side to buy some new shoes. The only thing is these black flip flops are almost ALWAYS on my feet. I clean up after the dog in them, I mop floors in them, I water plants in them, basically they come off when I go to bed or take a shower (sometimes not even then so that they can get clean too ;)). They are not really suitable to go to the store in etc. So, I am looking at the chanclas at the store wondering what the odds are that they would have a size 27 (10 american). I can buy shoes here but my size is the biggest size that they make so sometimes stores don't even carry them because in general size 27 does not sell well. Well, as I was checking out the sandals I found a fun red pair that said 10!!! The sizes were in US!! That was almost as exciting as finding a parking spot at the mercado. I snatched them up and am currently wearing them (picture to follow when Enrique tells me where he put my camera).
Have a great day everybody!!

Family Support

On Thursday evening at cafecito my husband's cousin told us that her son would be setting up a hot dog stand while he is on vacation from College. The inauguration was set for Friday night. Thank goodness we just so happened to drive by their house at about 5ish last night and saw the set up process going on. So we killed some time and went back around 7:30. Now you may say hmmmm hot dogs, y que? Well the Sonoran hot dog is a thing of wonder, beauty, and like all other hot dogs mystery. You start with the weenie which is wrapped in bacon that then goes into a panaderia made bun, no bimbo or wonder buns are tolerated. Next, in goes some fried white onion and on top of that some finely chopped raw red onion. Next comes finely diced tomato and then a generous coating of mayo. The last chef given ingredient is a thin line of yellow mustard. You may think that is enough but oh no wait, you now get to pick more toppings. In front of you are tupperwares full of guacamole, mushrooms in soy sauce with cucumber, salsa (usually green), nacho cheese sauce, ketchup, powdered white cheese, and last but not least whole cooked bacon wrapped chiles. Oh, and at some establishments you have the option to get a jumbo weenie and if the hot dog cart you go to does not have that option then they will just put two on your bun.
When we arrived we noticed lots of people lined up and as we got closer we realized they were all family. There was the Mom and Dad of the young entreprenuer, 3 brothers and sisters, aunt and uncle, at least 10 cousins, second cousins and their immediate family, my mother-in-law, and a few non family friends that are called cousins ;) It felt really good to go and not only support him in his venture but to see everyone else show up for him too. We wish him the best and I have a feeling that until I can get to the other side I will be having hot dogs for dinner.

And she married a mouse and begat mice ;)

I have been hearing Jose make these phone calls inquiring about some cheese that comes from a ranch who knows where and he always hangs up bummed out because they didn't have any today. So last night he made his nightly call and SUCESS!!! He was so excited. We all piled into the car and drove to someones house, not a tiendita and he just walked on into the patio area and knocked on the kitchen door. When he turned around and I saw him I seriously thought he was carrying a cake. It was the biggest cheese I have ever seen in person (Iv'e seen those giant wheels of cheese on the Travel Channel). Now, for those of you who know me you are already aware about my feelings regarding cheese. I can do feta, blue, and mozzarella (on pizza only). That is it!! I hate any other kind. Unbeknownst to me, I married a mouse. Right now there are 5 different kinds of cheeses in our fridge, and all of them were made here in Navojoa. Anyway I got to hold the cheese on the way home but first we stopped off at Jose's Mom's house to drop off half. He only wanted to give her a little piece but I told him that there was not enough room in the fridge for 20 pounds of cheese and his watermelons (another post). So we dropped off half and now the cheese is on a plate in my lap and little did I know it was sweating. When I got out of the car I realized that I was COVERED in cheese juice GROSS!!!! I was not a happy camper.
While I was upstairs cleaning up Jose and Enrique were having cheese for dinner, provecho!!

BLT's and Lemons

For lunch yesterday I made Club Sandwiches and French Fries!! It was so good I have been eating a spinoff of that meal every meal since (and once in between). I liked my lunch so much that after Enrique and I woke up from our nap yesterday I decided that I had to have another one. Well maybe 3 slices of bread and chicken and bacon and all the veggies was a bit much so I opted for a BLT with avocado. It was delicious and as I woke up for the third time during the night to use the restroom (not my favorite part of being pregnant) I found myself thinking about my sandwich. I was VERY tempted to go make one but I decided that I could wait for breakfast. So sure enough breakfast rolls around and I am having my BLT with avocado and Jose is looking at me like I am nuts. I don't think this is a pregnancy craving. It is reminding me of the road trip we took as a family in the mid nineties to Oklahoma to visit my Dad's family. The whole way there breakfast, lunch, or dinner I ordered BLT's but with turkey instead of avocado. The distance between Southern California and Eastern Oklahoma measures out to be A LOT of BLT's.
Now, I know that bacon is probably not the healthiest thing out there but in my defense Mexico's bacon is super thin and they are tiny pieces, the two slices that I use don't come close to covering the bread ;) But on to my next subject LEMONS!!! Once or twice a year Soriana gets yellow lemons in stock. Some of you may say aren't all lemons yellow?? Well no, not here they aren't a lime is a limon (lemon) and lima is some other citrus fruit that is sort of sweet. I spent a year in Queretaro and never once saw a yellow lemon and I came to miss them quite a bit especially since the presence of the lime in at almost every meal. It wasn't until my second year here in Navojoa that I first saw a real lemon. They were at Walmart in Obregon (about a 45 minute drive from Navojoa), they were real Sunkist lemons that cost 10 pesos each (a little less than a dollar which is a lot for here). I bought a bunch and froze the juice, I even kept the empty shells to clean my sink with. There just isn't anything like the smell of lemon. So now I get super excited when lemon time rolls around. I haven't thought to ask anyone at the supermarket when they get them in because I prefer the element of surprise.

Soriana After Dark

I mostly do my grocery shopping in the morning around 10ish while Enrique is at school and Jose is tucked away at the Corporativo Juridico. However, due to our car situation I had to go last night around 8pm. It was a WHOLE new experience for me. Usually when I am at the store so are all the stockers, you can barely get through the isles. At first I was really annoyed by this but now I am kind of used to it (except on my I hate Mexico days). I still do not understand why they don't stock the store after or before customer hours, but hey, that's Mexico for ya. So, anyhow, Enrique and I are cruising through the spacious isles and getting everything done very quickly. It normally takes me about 1 hour to shop and last night it only took half that time. The customers were completely different too, instead of all the stay at home moms the store was packed with people just getting off work or rushing off to a get together (there were a lot of cakes going into carts). Also, the store seemed cleaner, in fact it looked freshly mopped I was so excited. There is usually dirt everywhere along with miscellaneous puddles of unknown liquids on the floor. When I am finished with my shopping I normally stop and buy a coke for the little old man who watches my car (it is getting up to 100 degrees now and coke is the thirst quenching beverage of choice for most Navojoenses). However, since it was evening I decided a coffee and pastry would be more appropriate so Enrique and I stopped over at Donya (lack of nye on computer ;)) Tota's for those items and a bean and cheese gordita for Enrique's dinner. The car guy was super excited and said he had not eaten yet so that worked out perfectly. So it was an excellent trip to the store and I hope that we can visit Soriana after dark more often ;)

What to Write About???

I was commenting to my Mom this morning that I had not written in a few days because I had not left the house so nothing interesting had happened to me. She suggested that I write about that. It is very common for me to go 2 or 3 days here without leaving the house, something that in Southern California never ever happened (except maybe after the Northridge earthquake). But between the heat, not having a car, having a husband that doesn't like me to take public transportation, and the lack of urgency to go anywhere makes for a housebound Nikki. So what did I do all day Monday??? Well Enrique and I watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks THREE times!!!!! Now, that used to be a favorite of mine but let me say that three times is two and half too many at this point ;) My poor Dad can still quote it from the thousands of times he was forced to watch it. We also washed dishes, mopped the floors, blew up Enrique's new swimming pool, and took a three hour nap. So even though we did not go anywhere we were still productive, had fun, and rested ;) (the resting part is VERY important for Mom!!)

Preschool teachers

You have to have a gift to be any sort of teacher but preschool teachers a most definitely special people. Today was Enrique's birthday party at school. 25 kids from ages 1-4 eating cake, drinking juice, hitting a pinata, eating candy, singing, and dancing; well lets just say I had a MAJOR headache when I left. Jose and I started talking on the way home and decided that the teachers that spend 4 hours a day 5 days a week with all those kids are angels. Their patience was never ending as well as their energy. So here is a shout out to all teachers but especially to maestras Lupita, Gloria, Heidy, Viviana, and Ana. We had a great day and Enrique had a wonderful birthday party!!

"So Jose, How is the Ranch?"

So finally I hit the 14 week mark in my pregnancy which is when Jose and I decided that we would publicize our good news here in Navojoa. For those that are not privy we suffered a miscarriage in October 2009 and it was very difficult to deal with all of our extended family members asking why I wasn't showing or my favorite "weren't you pregnant?" I cannot speak for ALL mexicans but the majority of my friends and family here take little issue with asking about very private things in very public places such as parties, the grocery store, church, and restaurants. This may be true for some americans as well but since I went through this particular issue here in Navojoa I have nothing to compare it to. Anyway so yesterday was my last 'nervous' OBGYN visit. Jose and Enrique accompanied me and were going to remain in the waiting room but Doctor Covarrubias told me to tell Jose to come in. "AAWW how sweet," I thought, "he wants Jose to see the ultrasound and to be there to reassure me". Not so, as I am laying (or is it lying) on the table looking at the TV where the baby is going to appear the Dr. begins to ask Jose about the ranch. Ok, wait the baby is not moving, I am starting to freak out and he has not turned on the doppler thing so that I can hear the heartbeat. Meanwhile they are STILL going on about Akiwicichi and San Juan and cows and droughts etc. etc. Finally after looking over and seeing my face Jose asks if the baby is ok. "Oh yeah," says the Dr. "The measurements are perfect and wait here is the heartbeat do you hear that?" "And look when I press down like this he starts to move." WHEW!!! Relief at last!!

So tonight at "cafecito" I will be letting all the girls in on the good news. We are so excited and feel very blessed that up until now everything is going very smoothly. I guess also I should feel fortunate for having a husband that accompanies me to my OBGYN visits and has so much in common with my Doctor ;)

My Nana's biscuits

So I am without a car for at least a week, probably much more. I am not quite sure what is wrong with it but Jose said the dealership said it would take a while to fix so of course we are sending it somewhere else. Ok, so I have a problem, I have places to go and many things to do. Solution public transportation easy enough right. Well when it is 100 degrees at 10:00am that complicates things, when you have a two year old (days away from being three) to tow with you that complicates things further. When you are pregnant and have a neurotic husband that thinks you shouldn't walk while pregnant that pretty much kills the whole solution. SSSSOOO what to do when you can't leave the house??? Make biscuits of course!!!

Enrique and I got out all of the ingredients and started working. I gave him a little bit of dough and he had a ball. He made Buzz (of toy story), Papa, and a dog. However, he did not like the idea of cooking them so they are sitting on my countertop where they will probably dry and be stuck there forever ;)

I feel very fortunate to have an oven that it functional here. 95% of my friends and family owns ovens but they do not work. Some of them are missing parts and all of them are used for storing tupperware and grocery bags. My mother-in-law has an oven AND it works. However, she ONLY uses it on Christmas Eve to make turkey.

I find that when I am feeling down here in Navojoa that making something in my oven immediately cheers me up. Today I made my Nana's biscuits for breakfast. When my little brother and I were young we would spend parts of our summer and winter vacations in Lindsay California with our paternal grandparents. My Nana taught me just about everything I know about cooking and baking. She did almost everything from scratch, and I thought she was the best cook around. However, if you ask my Dad he can tell you some interesting stories about childhood meals that he did not particularly enjoy. Quite a few of them involved ground beef if I recall correctly. To this day I prefer her enchiladas over any that I have eaten here in Mexico. One of my fondest food memories of her is waking up in the morning and making biscuits or waffles, hash browns, and sausage patties. At home we usually ate cereal or frozen waffles with peanut butter in the car while practicing spelling words (don't get me wrong that is also a very fond memory of mine). But breakfast at Nana and Papa's house was so different and very special for us.

It has been a while since I have made biscuits here and when I took that first bite I was transported back to Lindsay, back to my grandmother's dining room with the green carpet and billowy white curtains. Back to being so excited that we could hardly wait to start the day because whatever we were going to do it was going to be great!

How I ended up in Sonora

I grew up in southern California and now at 27 I am living with my husband and son in Navojoa Sonora. What's that? Quite a change in location you say, well yes. I ended up in Southern Sonora via Queretaro (a state in Central Mexico), hhmmmm odd. Not really. I spent my junior year studying abroad there where I met Jose Enrique Gaxiola Lopez a 25 year old also studying abroad, well not quite, studying out of state. He was getting his Masters degree in Agrarian Law and I was learning Spanish. Let's just say while dating a Mexican that does not speak any English that I learned Spanish very quickly. I still have a thick accent and probably always will but I am now 99.9999% fluent (I still have some trouble at the hardware store, tack and feed store, and with the plumber but I probably would in English as well).

I finished my year in Queretaro (2003-2004) and went home to finish at CSULB where I graduated in 2005 with a Bachelors in Chicano Latino Studies (one of the areas of study that the governor of Arizona wants to get rid of which makes me sad, I really enjoyed my time in that program). In December Jose and I got married and after a fun honeymoon in Cancun where none of the hotel workers would talk to us in Spanish we moved down to Navojoa.

Almost five years later I have a 3 year old son, Enrique, a baby on the way (due in November), a black labrador (Socrates), and a black cat (Stanley) who is due to have kittens any minute :( I am not excited about that. When she was given to us the vet told us that she was a he so his name is Stanley and he will always be a he to me ;) We all live in a big yellow house that is a work in progress but generally very comfortable.

Stick around as I muse about daily life here in Navojoa.

Jumping In

So after reading numerous blogs written by Americans and a couple Canadians about living in Mexico I decided that I just had to start writing down my adventures as well. They may not always be Aladin style adventures- mostly they will consist mundane daily life stuff- but they will usually have a twist as everything done in Mexico does ;)