HOWLING AT THE MOON; A LOBO TRADITION!

In honor of the rare Blue Moon on Friday, July 31, 2015, I thought I would share a story.

From the time our children were teeny tots, I would drag our entire family outside on the night of the full moon. We would each take turns howling at the moon. Why, you may ask? Well, because we are LOBOS, wolf in Spanish, and lobos howl at the moon, right?!? So it makes sense when there is a full moon, lobos just need to go outside at night, look up at the moon and HOWL IT OUT; like throw your shoulders back, thrust your chest out, throw your chin up in the air and HOOWWWLLLL like crazy. It's invigorating! Really! You should try it!

Over the years on our MANY nights of howling at the moon, we have had your hearty howl, your wimpy howl, your I sound like a dying lobo howl, your loud and clear howl, your I don't want to be out here right now howl, your I said howl right now or you will be grounded howl, your laughing like a hyena howl, your funny as all get out howl; you name it, and over the years the howl has been achieved in our family of LOBOS.

This simple little activity of howling at the moon has provided a lifetime of tradition and fun memories for our family. Best part, we didn't have to go past our own backyard, AND it's cheap entertainment: free fun! You can't get any better than that. 

So when you see a full moon, let it be a reminder to build traditions and memories with your own families and friends. Never forget to stop and have a little fun along your journey through the path of life! One day that silly little moment will be someone's meaningful memory.

Love you my children! HOWWWLLLLL!!!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY EVERYONE!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY EVERYONE!!!

What a special day for our country! Let it be a reminder that we live in the greatest country conceived by the mind of man, as my husband always says. I have told my children throughout their whole lives that every morning when you wake up, you say OUT LOUD, "THANK YOU LORD THAT I WAS BORN IN AMERICA! Land of the FREE and home of the BRAVE!

Thought I would take this day to remark on a few things. I'll start with this, no matter who our president is, or if a law passes that we do, or do not, agree with, keep in mind,  "We the people" have the PRIVILEGE of living in America, whether born or a naturalized citizen!!! It is a privilege, people, so don't stomp on it!!! A gazillion people around the world would give their right arm to walk one day in your shoes; just one day to know your freedom and have your choices and privileges!

You are not living in a war zone (even though my FB newsfeed looks like a war zone lately)! You are not living in a refugee camp of tents because you were forced to flee your country or die, be raped, tortured, or have your sons torn from your loving arms to be trained as a terrorist! You do not live in a country where if you speak your opinion and the government doesn't like what you said, they just chop your head off! This list could be a mile long, but I'll stop with that; I'm sure you get the point!

Our reality when we wake up everyday is; WE ARE FREE. What we do with our lives is our own personal choice! So for all those who think our country is at its worst, seriously STOP and THINK about that! You could be walking around starving to death because there is no food to be had, or die from drinking the only water available because it is contaminated! MANY, MANY, MANY people around the world would give anything to be YOU, a U.S. Citizen!!! So on this monumental day of celebration, the 4th of July, celebrating the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, let us UNITE!!! Let us come together as ONE! Let us realize how BLESSED and how LUCKY we are!

For all those who are soooo disgusted they want to leave the country and move somewhere else, here's what I have to say to that: THANK YOU GOD THAT I WAS BORN IN AMERICA! Thank you GOD for this beautiful melting pot of people from all over the world that make up our country, because let's face it people, unless you are Native American, your family, your heritage, IS from another country, NOT America!

According to my news feed, some of you want to move to a different country, perhaps you want to return to the origin from whence your family came, or maybe move to Canada, which I have seen sooo many people say on FB!  BTW, just a heads up, Canada's free publicly funded Health Care system was established under the Canada Health Act of 1984, and gay marriage was legalized in Canada in 2005! So from the content of some of your FB post, there are people moving to Canada that may want to pick a different country to pack up and move off to!

Here's my thought! We unite as a country, say a prayer, and thank God we live in America!!! We go forth and show our appreciation and respect for the GREAT COUNTRY we live in!!!!!!!!!! Trust me when I tell you, I do not agree with every decision this president, or any other president in our history has made, but I DO HAVE RESPECT for each and every one of them! When WE the people vote, WE the people have spoken! If you don't have some respect for the vote, you are disrespecting your country as a whole, and the freedoms we are PRIVILEGED to have in this country.

Life as we know it today, did not come easy! Remember, it was not that long ago, that women could not even vote in this country. Not until a Supreme Court decision in 1922, our 19th Amendment to the Constitution, in fact (that took 7 long decades to get passed, btw), or black people and white people could not marry. Not until 1967 when the Supreme Court's decision ended all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. Oh and guess what, LOTS of people thought the country was going to hell in a hand-basket when slavery ended and also when our black US citizens were given equal rights under the law! But, it didn't! I'm always amazed how everyone loves the Supreme Court when a decision goes their way. For a recent example, in the Hobby Lobby case the praise for the Supreme Court was all over my FB newsfeed! People could not have been happier! But when people don't agree with the vote, everyone is ready to move out of the country!

Here's a key thought: you can disagree with our leaders all you want...RESPECTFULLY!!! If you have better ideas, or you can do it any better, hey, run for an office, run for President! Write to your congressman, senator, and the President with all of your grand ideas! Gather your party and get your voters out! Truth is in comparison to how many US Citizens we have in this country, only a tiny little handful of people are willing to throw themselves to the wolves, i.e., the media, the naysayers, oh, and the outright haters! Most of us, including myself, just sit around and complain!

Speaking of haters, some of the horrible derogatory remarks and even racial slurs toward the current President of our United States is absolutely appalling! And comparisons of Obama to Hitler, seriously people, do you know your history?!? Are you kidding me??? Let's see, Hitler tortured and killed SIX MILLION people. Good grief, just read and understand the real destruction of people, cities and countries under Hitler's rule before you dare make such an outrageous comparison!

At the end of day, today and everyday, let us not forget, MANY people have fought and died for your rights and your privilege to live in this great country of America, land of the free, home of the brave! So please, people, have some respect for your Country, no matter who the president is, or whether a Supreme Court decision went your way, or not!!! We are ...ONE nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE (definition - not divisible; not separable into parts; INCAPABLE of being DIVIDED) with liberty and justice for all!!!! So when you say that Pledge of Allegiance, you need to mean it!!!!!!!

AND last but not least, BEFORE you hit that share button on FB, for goodness sake people, FACT CHECK!!! FYI - Everything you see on FB and other social media DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE!!! If you are sharing a completely false and made up story, YOU are spreading lies!!! A little common sense can go a loonnnggggg way and it only takes a minute or two to pop a link in your browser and fact check it! I regularly see a whole post on God, Jesus, Heaven and Hell with a link attached to it that is an outright lie. I'm pretty sure spreading lies is NOT the Christian thing to do!

I'll end here with,
GOD BLESS US AND GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

FELICIA'S MOVE FROM THE EAST VILLAGE TO BROOKLYN - JULY 2014

THE PROBLEM:

1. Must move out of East Village apartment by 10:00 am on Monday, June 30th. Cannot move into Brooklyn apartment until 2:00 pm Tuesday, July 1st. All things from current apartment must go somewhere overnight.  2. Luis will be out of town from Friday, June 27 - Sunday, June 29th at a speaking engagement in Florida.  He cannot drive with me to NYC on Saturday.  3. Need sitter for Andres Arce over weekend. Will call my sister Tammy and offer up house and kid for the weekend if she and her family want to come visit, haha. She says yes! Thanks Tam! 4. Luis will return home Sunday. I let him know he will need to help take care of Andres Arce the upcoming week. He is happy to help.

Here I will mention, Luis and I never discussed my plan, or how I would accomplish this move. Why you ask? That's how we roll. Luis does his thing; work, and I do everything else. He never ask me any questions, I just do my thing no matter what the task. And I had this alllll under control...

THE PLAN:

1. Reserve Uhaul in Brooklyn.  2. Reserve hotel room for Monday night, June 30th.  3. Thursday, June 26th - drive to IKEA in Charlotte to pick up items Felicia has picked out online.  4. Friday - Finish loading my van with furniture I have been hoarding in my garage thinking some kid might eventually need, haha.  5. Saturday morning, drive 7 hours to Baltimore, pick up Andres, continue to NYC. 6. Sunday morning go to Brooklyn in cab to pick up Uhaul, drive back to East Village, spend day dismantling bed, futon, and loading. Park Uhaul in parking deck with van. Sleep on floor that night.  7. Monday morning, go get vehicles, load remaining items, clean apartment spotless. Felicia will turn in keys, she will go to class. Andres and I will drive vehicles to Double Tree Hilton right outside the Holland Tunnel, they have self parking, it's perfect!  8. Tuesday - Drive vehicles from hotel to new apartment. Be there at 2:00 pm, allowed time for move in. 9. Unload van and Uhaul.  Return Uhaul. Park my van in the parking deck. 10. Andres will leave Wednesday morning on bus. I will stay a few days to help Felicia get settled in.  11. Thursday, Felicia will ride home with me after classes for July 4th weekend. She needs a flight back. I book it.

Simple...right?!? 

THE EXECUTION: 

Thursday - Trip to IKEA... I had no idea how many boxes a double bed with 4 built in drawers and a desk with separate hutch could possibly come in, or that each box would weigh 50 to 75 lbs! We also buy a mattress, memory foam topper, mattress pad, new sheets, pillows, and comforter. Andres Arce and I could barely push the loaded down cart to the register. There was one guy to help load, but 6 cars ahead of us, so we scrap that, and load it all ourselves. 

Friday, my sister Tammy, brother in law Darrell and nephews Reece and Everette arrive for the weekend to stay with Andres Arce. They have plans to fish, swim, go to Mt Pilot, etc. I'm very grateful and I know Andres Arce will have a fun weekend.

I mention I still need to load the van, so Darrell and nephews head to the garage. Darrell says, "What goes?" I make a wide sweeping gesture over the table and 4 chairs, a living room chair and ottoman, a desk chair, coffee table, lots and lots of packed boxes, and say, "All this!" Darrell's expression was PRICELESS as he says, "You're kidding, right?!?" My nephews have that, no way that's going to happen, look on their faces.  I just laugh and give Darrell all the encouragement I can muster by telling him what a wonderful brother in law he is and I have total faith...he CAN do it. My nephews laugh. Then I open the van and they see ALLLL those IKEA boxes. This brings the loading crew to a dead stop, and they stare, in disbelief. I give a nervous laugh. Then they all go to work. They very creatively, piece by piece, fit it all in. I breathe a sigh of relief and so does Darrell, haha. There was not an inch to spare. 

Saturday morning, according to plan, I leave home at 7:30 am, drive 7 hours to Baltimore where I picked up Andres and we continued on to NYC. We arrived at Felicia's apartment at 7:45 pm. After a 12 hour drive, we opt to start with dinner, then we come back and proceed to pack up Felicia's whole apartment. This is where Andres begins to refer to Felicia as the "Princess" and to himself as the "Mule".  He couldn't believe she hadn't packed, had dirty dishes in the sink and had actually made time to visit the park that day to "relax" a bit. She tries to explain her 12 hour days through Aug. 15th allow barely enough time to eat or sleep, much less pack a box. The "Princess" manages to coax a "little" sympathy from the "Mule" but he insist she WILL come wash those dishes, Mom is not doing it. I love it when I don't have to be the meanie, haha. We proceed to pack into the wee hours of the morning. 

Sunday morning at 10:00 am the three of us take a cab from the East Village to Brooklyn and pick up the Uhaul. When reserving online, I opt for the 9ft cargo "van" thinking it would be more manageable to drive in the city. Reality was, it made my Toyota Sienna look like a dwarf in comparison. It was actually a huge truck in disguise of a van shape. But ok, I have driven in NYC many times, I'll drive this monster "van", no problem. So off we go back to the East Village where we spend the better part of the day dismantling the bed, futon, etc. and loading the Uhaul to the max with all Felicia's "stuff"...another vehicle loaded to the hilt. Then it was off to the parking garage 3 blocks away as we were informed the Uhaul truck is too big for the parking garage across the street.  That night we we sleep on the floor as planned.

Monday morning, we are up at 6:00 am, get dressed, go get both vehicles from separate parking decks, pray for parking in front of the building, which we were blessed with every time, I might add, load up the blankets/pillows we slept on, load our bags and clean the apartment spotless. It's 10:00 am, we are exhausted, the day has barely begun! Felicia walks the keys over to the management company and heads on to her class. Andres drives my van and I drive the Uhaul to the hotel where we will stay that night. There Andres and I should have rested, but instead we take the PATH right back into the city and go to B&H Photo. If you don't know B&H look online and you will know why a guy getting his masters in audio sciences (Andres) and an amateur photographer (me) could not pass up the opportunity since we had a few free hours. Later Felicia met us at the hotel at 10:30 pm after her 12 hour day of classes and showcase. When she arrived, the look of sheer exhaustion weighed heavy on her face and she had not eaten since lunch. There the "Mule" began to understand her days and that maybe he needed to have a little more sympathy for the "Princess", which he continued to call her the entire week. We all had dinner in the hotel at 10:30pm. 

Tuesday morning we get up, have breakfast, and drive the vehicles to Brooklyn to Felicia's new apartment. We are ready to get this move done. So far so good, all has gone according to plan.

It is from this point I "might" have underestimated my/our physical capabilities. You can see "might" is in quotes because I still hate to admit there is anything that could possibly be beyond my capabilities and my detailed planning will not be deterred. So what was the problem??? As we stand looking at two packed vehicles without and inch to spare in either...FIVE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS...IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER HEAT! Felicia's sweet friend Rosie shows up to help, so now we have 4 people. We gather a renewed spirit and the "Mule", which Andres is still referring to himself as, announces it's time to get this show on the road, or up 5 flights of stairs as was actually the case. He tells the "Princess" his brief moment of sympathy for her is now over and hands her a huge box, haha.  It takes us 4 solid hours to unload both vehicles and at that point we are all feeling like we are going to pass out...literally! With no air conditioning in the building/apartment it was brutal!!!  Andres then follows me to drop off the Uhaul, we drive my van back to the parking deck, and walk 3 blocks back to the apartment. We go to eat. 

My text conversations with Luis along the way...

Me - Yeah we got here safely.

Me - Packed her up.

Me - Got the Uhaul.

Me - Moved everything out.

Me - At the hotel.

Me - At the new apartment.

Our text conversation the night of move in...

LUIS - Wait, you did what? ...Up FIVE flights of stairs???

ME - Yep, in my mind it seemed doable! 

LUIS - OMG, why didn't you hire movers?

ME - Oh you know me...Going to do everything myself...

LUIS - That's crazy! You WILL hire movers next time... 

ME - Yes definitely. Would have helped if I had the IKEA furniture delivered from Brooklyn. 

LUIS - Are you saying the IKEA furniture could have been delivered from Brooklyn... and you bought it in Charlotte, drove it there, and hauled it up 5 flights of stairs?!?

ME -  Yes!

LUIS - Why didn't you have it delivered?!?

ME - Because that WAS NOT in the plan!!!

LUIS - Do it self, do it self!! At least we know where Felicia gets it from!

ME - LOLOL! 

("Do it self" was practically Felicia's first words and we heard those words a million times, no less! She would stand with her little hands on her hips with a very determined look saying, "Do it self! Do it self!")

Wednesday - new day. Andres leaves at 7:30 am to catch bus back to Baltimore. Felicia leaves for classes. I had an exterminator on the phone by 7:30 am, he was there spraying the apartment by 8:00 am for the totally unexpected roach infestation in the kitchen. YEAH, the roaches just about did me in!!! They were NOT in the plan!!! I continued to work putting the bed together, put down rugs, arrange furniture, and by early afternoon I decide I can't take the heat any longer! So off I go to Target to buy the window unit air conditioner. 

Here, let me say, if you are going to pull a dolly three Avenues down to the Target on a bright sunny afternoon to buy an air conditioner because YOU ARE DONE with the heat, go ahead and take an umbrella. This thought never occurred to me! One hour later, I emerge from Target with a brand new air conditioner strategically strapped to the dolly, bags tied and hanging all over the dolly, and I am ready for a nice slow walk back to the apartment pulling this heavy contraption. Unexpectedly, I walk out to dark skies, lightening, rolling thunder and sprinkling rain. At this point, I make a mad dash because I can tell the bottom is about to fall from the skies. I practically run over people in the crosswalk who are actually stopped looking up at the sky. I'm like, run, people, run, and please, get out of the way! But trust me, when they saw me running like a mad woman, with that dolly loaded to the hilt and bags flying in the wind, they scattered like flies! Three Avenues later, I arrive at the apartment soaking wet, but relieved I didn't get struck by lightning. As I walk in the door, I look at the five flights of stairs and think, nooooo!!! But I pull the air conditioner off the dolly and carry it up, one flight at a time, then go back to get the dolly with all the wet hanging bags.  I proceed to install the air conditioner in the window with rain blowing into the room. I try to assess how far away the lightening is by the sound of the thunder, give up worrying about it, and just say my prayers. Finally I successfully install the air conditioner without getting struck by lightening, look to the sky and say, "Thanks Lord!" About that time a huge bolt of lightning streaks across the sky and it thundered so loud the windows rattled. I RUN from the room screaming like a tiny child. But in the end, we did sleep cool that night, even if it was on the mattress, on the floor, because the bed was still not finished. Felicia arrives home at 11:00 pm. We meet in the rain at the deli down the street and get sandwiches to take back to the apartment for dinner. Yeah for midnight dinner! 

Thursday - We need to get out of the city by nightfall heading toward home because trying to drive out of the city on Friday, July 4th would be nuts! But we still have LOTS to accomplish for the day, so we wake up early and get it going. Felicia heads off to class. I finish assembling the bed, make the bed, move along with some organizing, put the closet together, etc. Felicia gets home at 6:30 pm, its thundering, lightning, pouring rain and we really need to get on the road. The plan is we will drive out of the city, then drive a few more hours until we get to I81. There we will get a hotel for the night and drive the rest of the way home on Friday morning. After Felicia gets home, she still needs to pack and get ready, I finish a few projects, change clothes, pack my bags and proceed down the 5 flights of stairs to the door. By now it's 7:30 pm and I have to walk three avenues to the parking deck to get the car. As I step out the door, the rain is pounding and the wind has gone crazy! Boxes and trash are flying through the air, but we have got to go, so I take off RUNNING down the three avenues to the parking deck to get my van. My umbrella flips inside out over and over and by the time I get there, I'm drenched/dripping wet! As I pull out of the parking deck a construction truck blocks the street for 20 solid minutes, finally moves, the next street is blocked, traffic is jammed, so I detour around a few blocks, all in this crazy huge thunder/lightening/pounding rain/wind storm.  I finally get back, we load the van and take off.  It's now 8:40 pm and I'm still in dripping wet clothes! We head for the Holland Tunnel to get out of the city. I'm thinking surely there is a better way to go, but my mind is fried, so I follow the GPS. We get stuck in jammed up traffic, in the pounding rain, sitting through stop lights 4 and 5 times each, trying to get to the tunnel. 

Between the storm and the traffic, my last nerve is shot, THEN WE SEE IT! A BUG! It crawls across the dash. Felicia and I scream simultaneously. Our first thought; OMG we brought the roaches with us! I aggressively worm my way through several lanes of bumper to bumper traffic while Felicia and I scream and slap at the dash. People are blowing horns, but I do NOT care, just get out of the way people, I am on a mission! We get to the curb, stop the van, turn on the flashers. We can't see where the bug went so I open all the doors and windows, the rain is flying in from all directions, but the rain is now the least of our concerns! We ARE going to kill this bug! Then we see it slowly creep up from the bottom of the windshield and onto the dash. With the lights on we realize it's not a roach, it's just a big huge fly. We stare at him, he stares at us, then he takes off out the window like a bat out of…well you know where I'm going with that, hahaha. I guess with all our screaming and slapping around at the dash, we scared it half to death and he was like OMG, these women are CRAZY, I gotta get out of here!!! We take a deep breathe, I worm back into the traffic, and whip out a BIG bag of M&M's to calm our nerves. After an hour of VERY aggressive driving because many lanes and lots of side streets are feeding into tunnel from all directions, we make our way into the tunnel and out of the city. I drive to I81; we arrive at a Hampton Inn at 1:15 am. Thank you Lord. 

Friday - we leave the hotel at 10:00 am and arrive home at 5:00 pm. Andres and Keira came for the holiday. When we arrived they had dinner ready; hamburgers, hotdogs and all the trimmings! We watched the fireworks in the neighborhood, set off a few of our own and a HAPPY 4th OF  JULY WAS HAD BY ALL!!!

LESSONS: 

1. IKEA furniture - the assembly was a long tedious process! Was it worth it? Probably for young people! Felicia really loves her new furniture.  2. When looking for apartments in the NYC area, ask about roaches. Felicia's apartment is nice, so we were not expecting roaches! The building does have a pest control service, but we opted for a monthly contract for the apartment to make sure they never come back!. It has worked and is well worth it the money! 3. Next apartment, look for building with 6 or more floors. They are required to have elevators, hahaha! 

NOTE TO SELF: 
My children are super-children, but "maybe" I'm not super-woman. Notice the quotes on "maybe"...I'm still not willing to admit it, haha.