Hobby Lobby

My first attempt at my new hobby! I really love bracelets. Especially big chunky ones that call attention. So of course, I love the first one. I made that one for me, but in a different color…to go with a shirt I bought! Anyway moving on, this all originally started because it was Amelia’s birthday! And while shopping for a present, I found a bracelet for her I loved! It just screamed her name! And then I turned over the price tag and did an inside head scream (those people were crazy y’all).  So I decided I’d make her one myself. You know, since I’ve never actually done that before.

(Also Amelia and people that know Amelia might be wondering why I thought a bracelet screamed her name since she doesn’t really do much jewelry, especially not with big FAT rhinestones in them. I’m not really sure either. But I decided to do one more toned down, just for her. Case in point bracelet #2. And just in case that really is just a terrible plan, I am also planning on taking her to lunch)

Anyway I thought they turned out well. And people have had really positive reactions to them. I have more coming. I also want to try and make necklaces too. But I need to take my time and decide what I want to do and what I want to buy. This is an expensive hobby. Anyway, people here tend to wear lots of things like this, so I hope it goes over well. If you love it, tell me. If you don’t, well…take Thumper’s advice.

The country…Part II

 

I am always amazed to see all the fruit in the “wild”..do I sound as ridiculous as I feel?? The extent of my fruit growing were strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes…and that was pretty much it.

 

Bananas (my favorite!)

Avocado! Which we eat here with sugar, and it is delcious…though nothing beats a good guacamole dip! So if you are feeling adventurous, blend an avocado, banana, milk, sugar, and ice together, and have a tasty drink!

Limes! Another favorite! And the tree too!

Acerola (with bugs)…Acerola is a bittersweet fruit (for me)

Coffee!

This plant has colored seeds inside of it. Here people use it in the food to give it “color”

If you can see, that is a Caju fruit. It is where you get your cashew nuts. Not a big fan of caji, but will drink it when im out!

Graviola (or in English soursop…what in the world??)

Bobrina (like a squash! one of my favorite vegetalbes here)

No Ordinary Day

Today is Sidnei’s birthday!! I won’t reveal how old he is…he’s s3nsitiv3 about his age….but of course I would be too if I had a smoking hot young wife!

I kid, I kid!

Anyway, I haven’t talked much about Sidnei lately. So here is what is going on with him these days…

When we moved here, Sidnei opened his own construction company. Things went really great and he stayed extremely busy. We hit a dry spot last November and although things picked back up, we didn’t like the way that dry spot felt. So Sidnei started looking for something with a little more security. And he found something SO MUCH better than we expected. He is a supervisor in an engineering company. That means, he is no longer doing the heavy work, he just watches other people do it. (Which is great because I was really worried about his back!) He works 7-5, M-F. He has off on all the holidays. (Well he would, except he’s been working them to receive overtime…as well as Saturdays..let’s just say I haven’t seen much of him) Anyway, but enough with all the specifics. The important thing is he is really liking his job (thankfully because it was kind of a hard transition for him…he wasn’t accustomed to not doing the work…) He has also really excelled. All of his supervisors are impressed and Sidnei is proud of himself which I love to see!

So now onto the birthday mush  mush.

I feel incredibly lucky. Sidnei is an extraordinary person. He is honest to a fault. (No really, if you don’t want the absolute truth, don’t ask) He loves and protects fiercely. He is funny and full of zingers. He is really handy. (Today he changed the showerhead…we have GREAT pressure now, I was so happy) He is extremely detailed (he watches over my jewelry making and fixes the flaws..seriously). Basically the man is good at whatever he does.

The truth is I could list a million different things that are great about him. But it all boils down to the fact, that I am so glad I get to celebrate him today. His life and the difference he’s made in mine. Happy Birthday to the man who forever changed the meaning of October 5th. I love you more than I know how to say!

In the country… part I

Disclaimer: I just found this draft…this happened a while ago…in fact in reality I don’t even remember when exactly…

 

We took a little trip to the country to see Sidnei’s (ex) Uncle. He lives on a little sitio. I really love going to spend the day in places like these. Full of fruit, animals, and me, the american girl with her camera taking pictures of EVERYTHING. Because seriously, the fruit here? Things that grow on trees? Craziness. Have you ever seen a pineapple plant? I hadn’t either. It was awesome.

 

So for part I, I decided to stick to beverages. First beverage, Sugar cane. We decided to make juice. Ant it was hard work for poor Sidnei!

 

But absolutely worth it for us. (I had more, I just drank most of it.) Delicious!

My second beverage was fresh coconut juice. I had no idea they looked all green on the outside until I moved here to Brazil. I just imagined they grew with their brown hard shells and that was that. Let me tell you, it is not easy to open those bad boys.

Look how they grow!

And someone was kind enough to open it for me! The coconut water was so sweet!!

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I have to be honest, the first time I drank coconut juice I didn’t like it. But the taste has grown on me and on a hot day, there is nothing better than ice cold coconut water!

Did you all know that this is how coconuts looked? I didn’t until I came to Brazil. Did you know you could make sugar cane juice? I knew lots of things could be made with sugar cane, I just didn’t know juice was one of them!

Sunday Citar 3

 

Things have been crazy busy lately. School has really got me running day in and day out. Thankfully things seem to be slowing a little. My private Saturday class is heading off to the U.S. so I officially have my Saturdays back! Hooray! I have been doing some marketing for my job by going to other schools and playing with the kids in English. It has really been fun, but time consuming. I leave the house every day at 7 AM and generally arrive home between 8pm and 9pm. They make for VERY long days. Unfortunately, this has left very little time for ME.

I am definitely feeling this void. So this week I decided to try and change my schedule at work a little bit. I’m going to go in a little later on Tuesdays/Thursdays so I can get back to my exercise class! I have really missed it…and so has my body. I haven’t gained any weight…but my clothes fit different now. Not that things have ever been very firm, but I feel more jiggle. I don’t like it. SO, back I go. In reality, I have really missed it. There are days when it is pure torture to get out of bed and go. But I seem to always feel better for it. So here we go…again. 

Another thing I decided I needed was something besides work. I literally have just been working. As you all have noticed, I don’t even have time to blog. I don’t have time for anything. And that is just ridiculous. Though admittedly, I spend WAY too much time on Pinterest. (more on that later)

SO, I have decided to start working on some things. One thing I have been meaning to do for a long time is start on my own program for children to learn English. I have been thinking about starting some private groups. But first, I need to build a curriculum. But that is still along the work lines, but something I have been wanting to do.

The second is a hobby. I real live hobby. I want to start making jewelry. In fact, I started today! I will take pictures and show you soon. It is costume jewelry. Something that I have always really loved to use. So everything I make, I want to keep for me. But this hobby is an expensive one, so to keep up the habit, I need to sell too! Wish me luck!

Tuesday I will start the torture again (aerobics class). I only say torture because the next couple of days, I will be groaning with every single movement I make. I will be so sore I will not be able to think of anything else. Wish me luck!

Sunday Citar

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.”-Rumi

 

First, I just want to thank everyone for the support, comments, emails, telephone calls...It really made all the difference and I feel extremely lucky to have such a great group of family and friends that cares so deeply.

As expected, time moves on and the pain becomes less severe. I have been extremely busy with work which has helped to keep me from dwelling...unfortunately, coming home is always the hardest part. I cleaned out all her things thinking that if I couldn't see them it wouldn't be so painful. Turns out I don't need her things to remind me that she is gone. She was so ingrained in my everyday living that everything reminds me of her. As I come home, I walk up to do the door and look for her little face under the door. When I do laundry, I look to see if she is laying in the sun. I hear fireworks and have to stop myself from jumping up to go and check on her. (She was terrified of fireworks) I was in the kitchen making something and caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of my eye, I turned to flash her a smile, except she wasn't there. When I am home there is a constant ache, this never ending hole, with never ending thoughts. I feel like I am constantly aware that she is gone, but still have these flashes of thought before I can catch them. They are always painful.

I was putting a file together of all the pictures I have taken of her. I came across this one from my grandma's house. And I thought, I wonder what she's looking at, she looks so intrigued, so attentive. When I opened the picture, I saw her reflection and realized it was me.

Seriously it brought on the waterworks. I just loved her so much.

 

I know, as it has already shown, that as time moves on, so will I.  So I am doing my best to let go of the sadness and hold on to all the wonderful memories she left for me.

 

 

Gracie

My beautiful girl is gone. Those words echo inside my head, inside my heart. They can't have meaning. They can't be true. Every single bone, muscle, everything aches.

 

On my birthday 8.8.2011 (4 years old)

Thursday morning, I woke up like normal. Said goodbye to Sidnei and went to go let Gracie outside to go to the bathroom, eat, play with her, brush her hair before work etc. This is our normal routine every morning. The difference that morning is that when I went inside to get ready, I heard Gracie crying in agony about 10 minutes later. Gracie had found rat poison that had been set out by my mother in law (she found a mouse the night before) and she ate it... I never saw it. It was on the ground on the veranda and I never saw it....It was the most terrifying thing for me. We mixed milk and oil, gave it to gracie and she threw everything up. Thankfully my brother in law was home, lives right up the street, and he rushed us to the vet. The vet was able to give Gracie medicine, she stayed for observation, and survived. I couldnt believe she survived, I thought surely she would die. The next couple of days were spent taking care of her, giving her medicine, trying to coax her to eat, to drink etc. She seemed to be getting better, getting stronger. Fast forward to Monday...I gave her all her medicine in the morning, fed her, etc. I came home for lunch, she met me at the door (i was so happy because she had been laying down and not wanting to get up a lot) and followed me around while I was home. My mother in law told me, she was up and following her around in the afternoon too. However, by the time I got home from work, Gracie was sick. It happened really fast, in less than an hour, she started breathing very labored, and quickly. She was making a noise like she was in pain. We called the vet to  meet us at her clinic. By the time she arrived, Gracie had stopped breathing. She got her breathing again and The vet said her lungs were filled with fluid. She decided to take Gracie to her hospital in the next town over. They made it and tried to do everything they could to save her, but the damage was too much. It was too much for her heart. They said she suffered pulmonary cardiac arrest. She passed away early Tuesday morning. We thought she was going to be okay, but the venom she at was just too strong for her little body. It did too much damage to her organs.

We are so very very heartbroken. I dont even know the right words to say. I just know I miss her so so so much. She has been with me for four years. She has been a constant for four years. She was the beginning of Sidnei and I. She was my constant companion. She was there when Sidnei couldn't be. She was here at the beginning of our journey to Brazil. She was there through all the tears. And now she's not and it's my fault. She was my responsibility. I was supposed to take care of her, keep her safe. I was supposed to know she was so sick. I know there are many people who will feel my pain and many who will not understand it. She was more than my dog. She was part of my family. She was part of my heart.

I don't really know what else to say except that I really hate using the past tense.