Mucho, mucho trabajo!!

When I say lots of work, I mean lots of work.
Have been very busy. And we had to go to Mexico City for a wedding. Left on Saturday at 5:00 a.m. came back the same day. Arrived at home at about 11:00 p.m. Very tired, but we had a good time.
Will post some pictures later. In the meantime I leave you with my sleeping beauties. These were taken going there, at about 7:30 a.m.





Have a great week!!

Sellos.

Stamps. There is this fabulous blog I've been following for a while. It's an art blog, and in it Geninne has a tutorial on how to make your own stamps with erasers. I've fallen in love with those stamps. Only one problem, I can't get the carving tools here. My sister-in-law is going to try and find them in Mexico City (cross your fingers).
So with no carving tools, no stamps. But I was getting impacient, and wanted to do something, tools or no tools. So I got some foamy, a thick kind of recycled foam sheet use for making decorations, and drew a pattern (an almost copy of one of Geninne's, but hey, I was experimenting). I traced it onto the foamy, and cut it out with scissors and an exacto (kind of difficult). Also with the exacto I made some marks on the surface. I put it on a stamp cushion , and voilá. It came out pretty good!!! So my students started to get excited, and wanted to do the same. In a few minutes I had a whole bunch of kids cutting like crazy.
Some stuff isn't too bad. Some is pretty good. Again I got them excited on creating. Check it out.

These are my stamps (with inspiration from Geninne).

These are my student's (girls) stamps. We also experimented
using tempra paint. We didn't like the results too much.

Initials and flowers.

I like this fish a lot.

And this was made by a boy.
All the boys were making initials and signs.
But he made this. I think it came out pretty good.
Can't go wrong with Star Wars.

Now I can't wail till my sister-in-law (Yaz) informs me of her search. And you can go to Geninne's site and check out her cool creations.
Let you know if Yaz finds the stuff. Bye for now...

Mucho Trabajo.

Lots of work, thank God. But that means not much blogging. So I leave you with a weekend photo of the Cathedral (left) and Templo de San Francisco (right) on a beautiful spring day.




Hope your week is good.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños......a mi!

Today is my birthday, but celebrations started on Sunday. Since I love downtown so much, we decided to go there to buy my gift.

First we had lunch at our favorite hot dog stand. I know....not Mexican! But these hot dogs are really WOW! They are very long, have a big strip of bacon, are served with chopped white onions, chopped tomatoes, and chopped jalapeño peppers. Then catsup, mustard, and mayo.
We love these hot dogs.
While we were downtown, we went to Sears, for my gift.

After downtown, we went home, and I started to sew some coasters for the March Craft-along.

Monday was a holiday, and we made carne asada.

And today, my official birthday, I won a gift from blogger friend, Candace from Arizona (Thank
you so much).

Lots of well wishers, My beautiful Mom from Puerto Rico, one brother from Miami, and the other from Thailand. Cousins from California, Georgia, and Upstate, New York. Friends from Hungary. All my fellow teachers right here. And of course, husband and sons. I consider myself blessed to have such a great family and friends. And I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate my birthday in any other way.
Thank you all so much.

Son in front of Hot Dog stand.

Getting our Hot Dogs ready.

Look at those weinners sizzeling on the grill. Just looking at them
makes my mouth water. I can almost smell them.

Nothing like a freezing cold Coke
in a glass bottle.

And here are the coasters.

A nice red rooster.

I made seven with some scraps I had leftover
from a tablecloth Sofi and I made.

The coasters were covering my gift.
Didn't I tell you what it was?

I've been wanting one of these since
last summer. It's a mini (like me!).
Husband and kids insisted, and who am I
to reject such a gift?

Thanks to all for a wonderful Birthday!! Good Night....

Mercadito de Guerrero.

Guerrero (street name) market is a market with a "tianguis" attached to it. A "tianguis is a sort of market on wheels. Everything is put up in the morning and taken down in the afternoon. Most tiangus will be put up in different parts of the town once a week, and they are put on a whole street which is closed for that day, or like in Mexico City, ten streets. But this tianguis is semi-permanant. They put up and take down every day, but on the same street. I don't buy most of my groceries here since I go to central de abastos for my stuff (it's a bit cheaper there). I go here to buy clothes (and I didn't take pictures of that part of the market!)
Most of the clothes sold here are second hand, but most are really brand new. It's called "ropa de paca", because they bring them tied up in huge packs. And it's very cheap.
Anyway, I'm going back next week, and I'll take the missing pictures. In the meantime I'll leave you with pictures of the other things sold in the tianguis.

Lentejas, frijoles, huevos (eggs).

Chayote, (don't know the name in english), calabazita (zucchini),
apio (celery), betabel (beets).
Most of this stuff is grown nearby since
most of the state has great planting land.

Lots of cilantro.

Dried plants for teas. They are for curing illnesses.

Diabates, anemia, epilepsy, asthma, cough, almost any
medical condition. I have a friend with diabetes and she
controls her condition with these teas.

More vegetables.

Wooden spoons, tortilla makers, spatulas, rollers for massage.
All of this probably comes from Michoacán.

I loved this couple.
I was so intent on taking their picture,
I forgot to ask what they were selling.
I was some kind of dried root.

And cereal. Fruit Loops, Corn Puffs,
Corn Flakes, Bran Flakes, Choco Puffs, all
sold by weight.

Hope you enjoyed the tianguis. And I hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

Buganbilia.

Guess I'm all excited by spring. And although these babies bloom all year long, they get more intense as the weather gets warmer. These are two plants I've have for some time. My dad gave me one (the reddish) about twelve years ago, before he passed away. The other one is about seven years old and was given by a neighbor before she moved to another state. They are in pots, so they don't grow big. My garden is really minuscule, and they would take up all the space if I planted them in the ground.







The typical bougainvillea is of an intense purple color. Here they are grown in many places including the space between streets and avenues. Will post some more photos later.

Papaya.

Yep, spring is here!
Take a look at the papayas growing in two of my neighbor's front yards. The tree is collapsing by the weight!! In Mexico, papayas can grow almost anywhere without much care. No need to spray it with anything. Just add water, and presto, a papaya tree. I love to look at them. But only look, because I don't like papaya. Never have. And Mexicans love them. They make papaya water, milkshake, fruit salad with honey and granola, and even eat them with salt, lemon and chile powder.

This is Naty's papaya tree.

The papayas on her tree are not as big as the next ones....

These are the papayas on Concha's tree.
Some are almost ripe, and look at the size of them.

The tree is leaning on some bricks so it doesn't fall.
Pretty smart tree, uh?
That small space is all of her front yard.

There are even some smaller papayas growing
further down the trunk.

Do you like papaya? I'll give you my ration!!

Jacarandas.

You know spring has arrived because the Jacaranda trees (pronounce the J as an H) are blooming. "Spring" means temperatures like the one we had last Saturday-30°celcius. It's starting to get really hot, and the Jacaranda starts flowering like crazy. These are one of the very few trees that loose most of their leaves during "winter".

As you drive along the streets and avenues, you see expolsions of purple color here and there between other trees. These trees grow pretty tall. The flowers fall pretty quickly, and the floor all around them turns into a beautiful purple carpet.

Enjoy them while they last.















My Aunt Irma had eyes the color of these flowers.......beautiful!

Austria.

Toto, I think we're not in Mexico any more!!

No, I'm not in Austria. These photos were sent by our very good (great) Hungarian friends, Sofi and Dani. They lived here in Mexico for one year, and went back to Budapest in August '08. Today they sent me these pictures they took of their skiing trip, last week, in Lachtal, Austria.
I miss them so much, I decided to post their photos. You see, they are such wonderful people, that I want to share them with everyone!!!

Sofi on the ski lift.

Dani before.....

.....Dani after!!

Yes, Sofi, I love you that much also!!!

What a beautiful view.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Sunday, and are ready for a great week!!!