Mactus the Cactus

So, I have this thing for naming my house plants, as many of you already know. What you may not have realized is that naming your houseplant creates a certain level of sentimental attachment. Or, at least is does for me. So...if I get a grocery store clearance potted orchid, for example, I don't name it, because I don't think it will last. I only name plants that I think will stick around. 

So, when I first got my cactus, it seemed a bit on the puny side. He stuck around for a while, but was referred to with little affection as "the cactus." When listed with Willy, Mardi and Edy, this clearly indicated that "the cactus" was not the one nearest and dearest to our hearts. 

I guess the cactus felt he had something to prove because long about Thanksgiving he started showing off a PLETHORA of tiny little flower buds. I admittedly got pretty stoked. I told Mike that once he started blossoming, he was going to legitimize his place in our home. Thus, he needed a name. 

Mike decided his name should rhyme, so he became "Mactus the Cactus." Mactus seemed like a very manly name....and then the flowers started blooming, and we discovered that Mactus is quite in touch with his fuchsia-feminine side. Check this dude out --

Here's Mactus - ready for his close up!

He's still in full bloom with more buds indicating that there are more flowers to come! And we're happy that Mactus is now an honored member of our house plant fam! haha. 

(Yes, I know this is ridiculous. Don't judge me. And, you have to admit that Mactus is both a cool name and an awesome looking cactus!)

Thanksgiving numero uno

Mike & I are pretty thankful people, so we figured why not start Thanksgiving a bit early this year. Don't worry, we'll still be celebrating again in a couple of weeks, but Thanksgiving numero uno with his family (and ALL the kiddos) was a lot of fun!

First...everyone had to hide from Grandpa Jim....can you spot two little monkeys and a cupcake? Where could they be? (Also, please note Mike's baby...haha)

SURPRISE! Two little monkeys....

...and there's that cupcake!

Haha....poor Benjamin had to borrow a jacket that was a little too big on him. 

Grandpa Jim video taping his big surprise.

The kids did a Halloween costume parade for Grandma Frankie. They were ADORABLE, but getting a picture of their cuteness all at once was a bit easier said than done. 

Here's one unhappy lil spider...

Happy spider, but a distracted Buzz Lightyear and a tiger-turned-Tarzan looking somewhat confused. 

 This is the best shot I got...although hopefully some of the moms got a better one. There were lots of cameras trying, so I would expect that one of them came out with a great picture. 

Here's all the grown ups laughing and calling kid names and trying hard to make everybody smile and look straight ahead.  

We had a lot of fun during our first Thanksgiving...and we're looking forward to the ones to come in just a couple weeks! 

Put-him-in-your-pocket cuteness....

Ecuador Story Time!


So, my final favorite thing about Ecuador was definitely all of the ADORABLE kids and the sincerely grateful patients that we were able to see on our trip.  One of the cutest patient families was a mom who brought three of her sons to the clinic. 


The youngest, Gabriel, was about three years old. He had been playing outside and ran inside to find his mom, who had gone upstairs to get a prescription filled for her oldest son. I found him searching and took him to her. As soon as he walked up to her, he reached out his hand and said, "Quiero mis carmelitos" (I want my candies). His mom told him no and explained that they were not "carmelitos" but were "vitaminas." Gabriel started to pout and his mom looked at me for back up. The ensuing conversation went like this:


Me: "Gabriel, no puedes comer todas las vitaminas en un dia o vas a tener un dolor del estomago hooooooorible! Solo debes comer uno cada dia." (Gabriel, you can't eat all your vitamins in one day or you will get a terrible stomach ache! You should only eat one a day.)


Gabe: "NO! YO QUIERO MIS CARMELITOS!" (No! I want my candies!)


Me: Lo ciento, pero no son carmelitos, son vitaminas y ya has comido uno hoy. No debes comer mas. (I'm sorry, but they aren't candies, they are vitamins and you have already eaten one today. You shouldn't eat more.)


Gabe: NO! YO QUIERO MIS CARMELITOS!" 


We went back and forth for a few more rounds and then...pouting....he went outside and started making this face for a good fifteen minutes:

 Me: "Gabe, no quieres jugar? Mira los ninos alla jugando. No quieres quedarte triste, debes jugar." (Gabe, don't you want to play? Look at all the children playing over there. You don't want to stay sad, you should play.)


Gabe: NO! YO QUIERO MIS CARMELITOS! (very creative arguments...but, hey, he's three.)


Me: "Quieres jugar....conmigo?" (Do you want to play....with me?)


Gabe: Si. (No happy face accompanied this, but I thought at least a "yes" was progress.)


Me: Okay, vamos. (Okay, let's go -- for those of you who didn't learn this on Dora the Explorer).


We then climbed through a barbed wire fence to the playground and within seconds the face changed from the above to this:

Sigh. Such a cutie whether pouting or happy, but I have to admit I prefer the big grin! 

Twirly Skirts & Stomping

While we were in Ecuador, we did a lot of really exciting cultural activities. One of my personal favorites was called Humanizarte, and it was a representation of each area of Ecuador using dance and costumes to distinguish them. It was a whole lot of fun to watch, and we even participated at the very end! 

One of the solo dance performances involved this wild looking man with a crazy mask on. He was eventually chased away by some men from the town who stomped a lot. 

This is a pretty great video (especially considering I took it with just my digital camera) where you can really see the beautiful costumes. Why don't we dress like this all the time?!

At the end of the performance, they had a raffle to help raise money. Two of our students got to draw names and one of our students was the big winner! Here you can see Sarah, one of our pharmacists, about to draw a name. They kept telling her to look up at the "pajarro" (bird), and she thought that was kind of a strange recommendation seeing as how there were no birds on the stage. haha.

Here's Conor, one of the Notre Dame students, dancing with a member of the cast before selecting the next raffle number. Conor also repeatedly leaned into the microphone to announce, "Go Irish!" 

Finally, Annie was the big winner of the raffle and also got a spotlight dance performance! So cute! We had such a great time!

Betsy Marie & Katiuska

While I was in Ecuador, I was able to spend Sunday afternoon with Betsy, my precious friend from WKU. She's originally from Ecuador, but came to KY for undergrad. Now, she's back in Ecuador teaching English and spending time with her family and friends. I miss her, but was SO happy to get to see her during my trip. I can't wait to come back so we can go to Banos together! 

While I was in the country, Andres proposed to Betsy! I wasn't there for the proposal, but I was so excited that she could call me right after!

We found out that Andres had never gone bowling, and Luis (Betsy's brother) had only been once in his whole life, so we decided that we had to change that. It was a good learning opportunity seeing as how none of us were any good, so no one could really criticize. Haha. We had a LOT of fun!

I really miss Betsy, and I'm so glad I got to visit with her. I really hope to see her, Andres, and Luis again soon! Hopefully next time I can meet her parents too! TQM, mi Betsy Marie!

when the wife's away...

While I was away in Ecuador this past week, Mike had his own fun during his fall break. (Yeah...what a bummer is that! We didn't figure out that his fall break was the same week as my trip until like the week before! So lame!)

First order of business, taking apart Batman (my Toyota Camry - name courtesy of Becky!) to repair the damage from Bambi's stupid mom. Why she decided to ram her body into my car and run away with the Toyota emblem lodged in her derriere, I will never know! (By the way, if you know where I can find another Toyota emblem, let me know. I'm considering just going to the mall and doing a little shopping in the parking lot. haha. Just kidding!) Anyway, here's a look at the first step in the repair process - taking everything apart. 

 Mike replaced the headlamp, repaired the body in order to put on the new hood, painted the new hood, and then put it all back together. There are still a few finishing touches, but it looks pretty good! (Definitely much better than before!) I considered posting a pic from the day of the accident, but the bloodiness is totally disgusting. So, I decided to spare you. 

Speaking of disgusting, Mike's other activity of choice for fall break was chowing down with some friends at Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream...and mastering the BIG UGLY.

 The BIG UGLY is a one-pound burger (one pound after cooking!) that apparently is large enough to provide ample space for three whole slices of cheese. If you finish the whole burger, they post your picture on the wall. 

Sick. Yep - that's right - Mike mastered the BIG UGLY...

...and got this pic of him and his friends posted on the wall of Bub's Burgers!

Well...at least you can tell he wasn't completely miserable while I was gone! haha. Pics to come soon of my Ecuador trip! I also got some awesome videos that I'll be posting! So....check back soon!

Hogar sweet hogar

"Hogar" means "home" in Spanish, in case you were wondering. And in case you didn't already know, I love speaking Spanglish. It's one of my favorite things. 

Anyway...on to the post...and on to pics of our new home! 

 Welcome to our dining room with fresh flowers courtesy of our local farmer's market (another one of my favorite things on this planet!).

 You'll notice the table runner is 100% chapina (Guatemalan), with an awesome double quetzal design. This was a gift from one of the teachers at a school in Santa Lucia Utatlan Solola, where I visited my senior year.

Love it!

And on to our kitchen, where you'll notice lots of our awesome wedding gifts...and some great things we picked up with our gift cards (including that bright blue dish towel)!

Hooray for that crazy-growing aloe plant in my window. (Special thanks to Diana for "Edy," the aloe plant.)

And thanks to Suzzy for this awesome wine rack! Mike bought me quite a few bottles because he thought it would look better all filled up. (Not a bad plan in my opinion!) 

At the top of our stairs, I have this cute table with a little wedding spread. No pics yet...but they'll be here soon! 

We actually have a lot of frames that are either empty or still have the same pics in them from the store. There was one next to the couch in the living room for a while that kept throwing Mike off because he would glance at it and think, "cute kids!" and then realize that he didn't know any of those children in the pictures. hehe. I promise I'll put pics of people we know in there soon! (Send some pics our way if you want some prime picture frame real estate in our new place! haha.)

The living room! Love the table and the Guate pics! (Special shout out to Amy Wolff for selling me her awesome table before moving to Cali to work for Tom's Shoes!)

Downstairs bathroom....I just love the pretty-ness on the counter.

Pics hanging in the bathroom...because I'm a nerd....and I totally geeked out decorating our new place!

Grown up bed set! The picture doesn't show the aqua in the bed spread, but you get the idea. Mike thinks throw pillows are ridiculous. ("You just throw them on the floor at night to get up the next morning and set them on the bed where no one really pays attention to them," he argues.) Fair enough, but they make me happy.

And hanging in our bedroom...

All in all we love our new place. Our neighbors are rather unique characters and some of them could easily be cast on an episode of Reno 911. But what good is your first home if you don't get any funny stories to tell! I'm sure they'll be even funnier 5 or 10 years down the road.

We have silly friends.

And now...the countdown of the top three silliest wedding gifts we received! (drum roll please.....)

If this isn't proof that our friends are SILLY, I don't know what is.

#3 - Mystery cans

Our dear friends Claire and John got us a box full of unidentified canned goods for our wedding. Silly? Indeed. The instructions are as follows: You are to open a can before you begin to plan your meal, and then you must somehow incorporate the canned item into your meal. It brings mystery and adventure to every day life! 

Haha. It still cracks me up when I think about our puzzled expressions when we opened a box of unmarked canned goods. (And to their credit, Claire and Jon did also get us a very nice "real" gift. haha.) Thanks, Claire & John, and congratulations on placing in our Top Three Countdown!

 

#2 - El tigre

From our friend Krantz, with a message that reads, "I hope you don't mind the card. It was selected for me. Hopefully it will add some variety to your card reading." I don't know which of the other Triangle guys is to blame/thank for this card selection, but, Krantz, you'll have to thank them for helping you qualify for our countdown! It definitely did add some variety to our wedding card reading. haha! Hilarious.

#1 - ???

There are not words to describe our winner. 

Haha...yeah...some wonderful, anonymous soul (although I have a suspect in mind) dropped this in with our wedding cards. Unique. Creative. And proof that our friends are totally nuts. 

Also, as a contest bonus, we'd love to be able to put a nice "thank you" to the person who is responsible for this creative winning masterpiece. So.....tattle away! :) (Inquiring minds are dying to know!)

Up...up...and away!

This is the very last of our honeymoon pics, and it should be seeing as how our honeymoon was in August...and now it's October! Good grief...where did September go?! 

I had this conviction that on our honeymoon we should try something out of the ordinary. Something we wouldn't do on a normal vacation, and definitely not something we would just do at home. My adventurous pick - parasailing! Neither one of us had tried it before, and we found it to be surprisingly relaxing.

Up....

 ...up...

..and away!

You can see so far out when you are a few hundred feet up in the air! We actually saw some of the oil spill clean-up efforts from our parasail view. 

Funny thing to note about this adventure -- I decided that we should parasail to try something new. Mike's vote? ...massages. haha. We unfortunately couldn't get in anywhere in Orange Beach, but we made sure to get a massage as soon as we got back to Bloomington. (Mike got the deep tissue. BIG mistake. He hurt pretty badly the next day. I got the hot stones and I HIGHLY recommend it. It was awesome!)

Crash landing? More like "splash" landing...haha. (Sorry, I know it was cheesy, but I just couldn't help myself!)

Here's the proof that it really was us up there! Here we are getting disconnected from our 'chute!

We spent that evening walking out along the pier. There were fish flopping all over the place! There must have been some sort of fish-baby boom during the fishing ban following the oil spill because it seemed like people were catching fish left and right!

 On the pier...

 

This last pic is Wild Woman II. We weren't able to track down Wild Woman I, but this crazy guy was parked in the lot for the pier. haha. Classy. 

Well, folks, no more honeymoon pics, but I actually have lots of ideas lined up. I'm sticking to my guns...I really am going to keep up with this blog! Cross my heart. :) 

Pirate Golf Gets Even Sillier

I want to begin this post with a lazy-lazy-LAZY confession. On our honeymoon, we were so lazy that in order to not have to do the dishes, we actually ate cereal together out of this big serving bowl. Haha. Hey - we were on vacation! Can you blame us?!

That evening, we exerted a tiny bit of energy and went out to play Pirate Mini-Golf. We had driven past this place several times and Mike had decided it was essential that we check it out. Somehow, I think we managed to make pirate golf even sillier than it sounds. 

It started out normal enough...just your standard putt-putt fun. 

Then we busted out a few silly poses. I mean, we were playing putt-putt on board pirate ships and in caves with hidden treasure, so we had to! 

  
This guy was totally scared of me and my polka-dots.

 Then...things got really, really silly! First it was - stand on one foot putt-putt. 

Behind the back putt-putt. 

 For this next part, I want to assure all my animal-loving friends that no reptiles were injured in the ensuing silliness. I promise. The final level of silliness all started with this frog... 

This little guy was on one of the last holes...and he was not moving.... 

We kept thinking if we got closer he would hop away...

But we got pretty close....and there he remained....

Yep....still there....

Still there.....

He actually didn't move until after we had reached down, picked up the balls and played almost the entire hole around him. I didn't do very well because I kept worrying our little friend was going to hop into harms way, but he sat there until our poor putt-putt technique was unbearable....and then he safely hopped away.

I just couldn't get over how silly some of these tombstones were. Haha. 

 It's all fun and games....until someone gets stuck in the stocks. 

We clearly had more fun than most small children probably have at this place, and by the end of it we were glad we had stuck it out for 36...that's right 36!!!! holes of pirate putt-putt fun. 

I think we may have just one more set of honeymoon photos left, and then we'll move on to the apartment and other fun "married people" stuff. Check back soon!

I also should have the disk with all our photos from the wedding within the next month. I will let you know once we have it so that we can send you details on how to order prints! 


Lots of love!
Kathy (& Mike)