It’s been
really slow since my last post therefore I don’t have much if anything to write
about. There’s enough for a longish summary, so here we go! The
weather forecast states it will continue to be disgustingly humid in Minnesota
until the flying monkeys arrive to attack the massive upper-level ridge that
has us trapped this heat wave. The humidity is so high that you
sweat rolls down your face after being outside for 5 minutes! You
feel like you’re in sauna, only in verse since the only respite is an
air-conditioned environment. In the Fall, Winter, and Spring we
complain about the snow, ice, and those idiots that forget how to drive every
year. During the Summer we complain about the humidity, road
construction, and the rough sledding conditions.
One of
the more interesting things that happened lately was on Wednesday last week
when I got a phone call during the day. I answered the phone in
English for the first time in weeks only to listen to some guy stammer for
several seconds. I tried again in Spanish and this guy proceeded to
talk a mile a minute. The guy was calling regarding the visa
application looking to speak with Alberto. I informed him that
Alberto was not available to take any calls at this time and I advised him to
contact our attorney. He read the attorney’s phone number to me for
validation and then stated he would be contacting Lance immediately. I
was puzzled by this call, so I emailed Lance with the information I was given
as well as the phone number from my caller ID. I googled the phone
number and it came back as a relay number for the National Visa Center, however
I suspect he was actually working within the American Consulate of Ciudad
Juarez since he evidently did not speak English. Here is a clear
example of why I find the immigration attorney so irritating at times. Lance
replied to my email, “This is odd indeed. Let me call. I
suspect it is about scheduling and no more.” He writes as those he
were composing a telegram. Maybe he was abducted and replaced by an
android like Data from ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. Either way
since we are not processing anything on the immigration front at this time, I
found him to be more amusing than anything. Later it occurred to me
this could be the result of my latest email to the Senator’s office requesting
assistance. So far I haven’t heard anything back, but tomorrow or
Thursday I will poke at Lance again.
Ashley
started screaming at 3 am Friday morning because of monsters under her
bed. I was out of bed and out the basement stairs so fast that I was
at her bedroom door before I knew I was awake. She screeched a year
off my life she gave me such a start. I am doing my best to help her
get past her irrational fear of the things that go bump in the night, but I
don’t know what else to do for her. She has 2 nightlights, a blue
bird I bought her from Target and a plain nightlight. I’m thinking
of replacing the plain nightlight with something with a decorative cover so the
light wouldn’t cast such deep shadows. She also has a small fan in
her room to mask sounds that is always on at night and during naps. I
have one ‘nightlight’ from my led alarm clock display, and a fan of my own for
the same reasons. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I have been afraid of
the dark as long as I can remember, but I’m a lot better about it then I was
even a few years ago.
Saturday
was uneventful just the way I like it. I had to work in the morning,
so Ashley went to Gisela’s house. When I came back for her at 12:30
I was not surprised to see her running around in her pajamas still. Such
is life, why fight with Gisela about something trivial really? At
least this way her clothes don’t get stained so I don’t have to worry about
going out in public with Ashley la mugrosa. I know that she’s a
toddler and people more or less expect her to be dirty, but if I’m clean then
she should be as well. Also, the minute you encounter someone
without children, you receive ‘the look’ that labels you as yet another failure
in parenting. A wipe down, change of clothes, and a ponytail later
we left for Target.
Our list
was short, but I still ended up leaving with more than I came for. At
least this time I didn’t forget what I actually needed. We bought
sunglasses, lotion, wipes, and a pair of chanclas on clearance that Ashley just
had to have. Who could resist them really? The chanclas
were hot pink with plastic pink ‘jewels’ on the front, and the highlight of the
day is when she discovered the pink rainbows they made on the wall from the sun
light. Making Ashley happy is priceless; although I’m glad I can do
it with a $3 pair of sandals from Target.
Sunday was
interesting. After lunch my parents came home from Menards with an
enormous box containing a wooden playhouse. Fabulous! We
spent about three hours in the sweltering heat building it, and managed to get
it about half completed. I managed to work myself into a mild cause
of heat-exhaustion which goes to show you that even adults who know better can
do stupid things. We had fried chicken from Cub which is the best
out there, with a side of hissy fit from the toddler who did not take her nap.
Since
this is a longer than average post, we’ll stop there for tonight. Maybe
tomorrow I’ll talk about the fight that almost happened while we were waiting
to see Alberto on Monday.
“Whether
the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold,
Whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather, Whatever the whether,
Whether we like it or not”
Ciao
Interesting
Spanish words/phrases from this post:
Lana: Money
(literally wool)
Sangrón: Blood-sucking
Chismosa: A
gossip
Mugrosa: Dirty
Chanclas: Sandals,
although typically refers to a flip-flop
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