I have spent the last two days working from my house (awesome!) while taking care of my son who is just really sick.  He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't drink (much).  He would barely play. And he slept most of both days.  In fact, I hear at this very moment he is still asleep (8:15 a.m.).  That is unheard of in my house where both kids feel the need to be up by 6 a.m. every single day of the week.  Hopefully Papá will wake up, be happy, and eat some food.  If he doesn't, I think he'll be going back to the doctor's today. 

Having a sick little baby is always hard.  They cry. They squirm. They want to play but can't. And all you can do is try to hold them and make them laugh.  I am excellent at getting my kids to laugh but it was getting to be a challenge by 6:30 p.m. yesterday.  Finally, he gave up and I put him to bed. On an empty tummy.  He also took to wanting to play with high-tech toys only.  Remotes. Cell phones. Etc. His toys are no good anymore.  He turns his nose up at them.  Only the best for him.  I gave him an old cell phone to play with but since he doesn't see me using it, it isn't worthy of his time.  How do they learn this at 10 months? Amazing. 

In case you're not following the issues in Washington where immigration is concerned, go ahead and read the the proposal that's in the Senate right now. I know, its a lot of reading. Heaven forbid we, the people, actually read something that is being proposed instead of relying on the media to interpret it for us.Sec. 202 is the part that concerns me the most. Why? Because more or less, it says that if you are with someone who is illegal, you're guilty recklessly disregarding the laws of the United States and can have charges brought against you. I will not admit here, in a public area, whether or not I know people who are illegal or not. However, hypothetically speaking, if I did, what if I want to give one of them a ride out salsa dancing and I'm pulled over for speeding? So if they look 'Latino' or 'Hispanic', they are going to be asked for their papers? Isn't that just a little bit like racial profiling? If they see my license, are they going to be suspicious of me? What if my husband is with me? Because he looks white I guess he gets a pass, right? Believe it or not, people from many places in the world are here illegally. Because some of them look more "american" than others, they won't have issues, right?

Could I be misreading section 202? Maybe. But I'm not the only one who reads it that way. A friend and I were discussing it this morning which is why I wanted to go out and find the source. I inferred the same thing after reading that section. Got another take on it? Let me know.

Overall, the new laws may tighten borders but may also raise prices for various things. Lawn work. Manicures (yes – really). Construction.  Painting. You know – the work that none of you want to do because it doesn't pay enough?  So if it paid enough, guess what?  We'd all pay more for those services.  Are you willing to either take the job of laying mulch, mowing lawns, painting a living room, etc., for $15/hr or willing to pay more?  I bet many answers are still 'No!'.  Because we think we're better than that.  Heck, if I could get paid $20/hr to paint all day, 8 hrs a day, I'd probably take it.  Just think how much it would cost to paint your house at that price though?  You'd be at the day laborer site just like everyone else at that point.

I have actually had a busy week at work. Awesome. I enjoy being busy and completing projects. When I sit here with nothing to do, I get bored and then start hating my job. Being busy helps me feel like I’m worthwhile and actually know something. What’s up for me this weekend?

Friday Night
Dancing, dancing, dancing. Cecilia’s is the place for hot dancing tonight. Salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton. Live band. And me of course. What could be better?Saturday Night
Celebrating a friend’s birthday. On top of that, I have a whole house to clean (see Sunday). Will be a tiring day since I have the kids all day and won’t have a chance to nap and am out Friday night.

Sunday
We have a student teacher from Spain coming to stay with us. It should be very interesting. She’ll be with us for 10 days and teaching at the elementary school around the corner. My daughter is very excited and is sad she’ll only stay for a few days. I am a little nervous about it but think it’ll be great. Hopefully she’ll want to go out with me at least once so I don’t go two weeks without dancing!

So as you can see, I have a very busy weekend coming up. That’s why I’m taking 1/2 the day off today to relax and get a pedicure and, *shock*, maybe a manicure too since I’m almost successful at quitting biting my nails. That sounds weird. Since biting my nails has become something in my past. That sounds better. Still hard to say.

This past weekend was pretty awesome. Not only did I get to dance a ton (although I don’t think I dropped the 3-4 lbs I was hoping for but oh well) but I go to hang out with my friends a lot. The coming-together of the 4 big area rueda groups was fairly monumental.  There can be a lot of competition between the groups for lessons, students, performances, etc. Rueda is a very social dance yet people tend to act very unsociably at times.  But Saturday night saw 100+ people together, dancing, without worrying about who dances with what group.  The performances were great. Everyone did a wonderful job. Overall, it was just a lot of fun.  I hope that we organize something similar for the near future because I think it would help grow rueda/casino dancing in the Wash DC area.

Observations:

• SAOCO members are hot. As a whole. The group, performers and those just hanging out and taking lessons – very good looking group!!
• Aramis is such a beautiful man! (if you don’t know who that is, its ok).
• The Alliance Dance Studio is gorgeous and I hope they’ll have us back!
• Some people really think they are awesome dancers but all they do is throw you around and its annoying, hurts, and makes me not ever want to dance with you again!
• I created a sign for the event and it was awesome. I was very proud of it!!
• I can almost dance normal in my 3 inch heels!!

 

By Sunday, hopefully, I’ll have dropped 3 more pounds. Why? Because I’ll be dancing tonight for 2-3 hours and then on Saturday night for close to 5.  If that doesn’t push my weight down a bit I don’t know what will.  I have been feeling anxious lately about my weight and I don’t know why.  I have about 10 more pounds to lose to get back to pre-pregnancy weight and I feel like I should already be there.  But I’m not a skinny-minny who pops back to normal either so why am I surprised?  I want my little tummy to go away.  I’ll keep my butt, hips, and thighs exactly how they are – I like them.  I just hate my tummy rolls.  I have even considered starting to save money for a tummy tuck if things aren’t better in a year.  How desperate is that?  I want to just be satisified. I see others with rolls and they are still beautiful.  So why can’t I consider myself like that? 

*sigh*  It really comes down to wanting to wear my old t-shirts. I put them on now and they look like they were made for a teenager instead of me.  Ok, some of them are but I love Snoopy and sometimes the only place to find him is in a teen section.  But they fit before I was pregnant just fine and I want them to fit again. 

That reminds me… if you find any cute Snoopy t’s out there, please let me know where.  I found an awesome rhinestone one in H&M but they were in my daughter’s size – not mine.  Not fair!!!

I love music. Lots of it. And many different kinds. One of my favorite new artists in the last couple of years is Javier. His first album was silky smooth. One of the first things I’ll be doing tomorrow morning is opening up iTunes and downloading his whole album. I’m that confident that it’ll be great. Women, if you haven’t listened to any of his music, go to his site NOW and hear it. The voice…mmmmm…Another great artist with a new album is Etta James. What? You haven’t ever listened to Etta? Are you seriously that out of touch in music? She is one of the greatest ever. Need proof? Download “At Last” and listen to it a couple of times. Timeless music. I’ll be downloading her album as well.

Now let’s give it up for Van Morrison. That man’s been around forever. How can you not love “Brown Eyed Girl” (written for me I suspect)?? And my favorite, which I got turned on to by my friend J.S., Moondance. I’ll be checking out his new album and may possibly purchase that one too.

Now then…if any of my Jewish readers could please give me their opinion on the new music by Matisyahu I would appreciate it. I saw him perform on one of the late night talk shows and actually liked it. At times during the song, there was just too much going on with the music. It was overdone a bit. But enjoyable. Is the world ready for a Jewish Reggae act??

Over my lifetime I have attempted to stop biting my nails numerous times.  I have had the habit since I was little so needless to say, it isn’t easy.  When I was pregnant, both times, my nails grew due to the prenatal vitamins and I basically stopped but it never lasted because when I’m tired and stressed out, I’m the worst. 

So one day as I’m checking out FreeCycle I see someone is giving away a bottle of ‘Bite it’.  It is the stuff you put on your nails that both helps keep them strong AND tastes bitter.  More than bitter.  Just awful.  I tried this in high school but it never really took.  I figured I should give it another try.  It has worked. My nails are growing and my fingers definitely look better.  However, that stuff does NOT come off.  It kind of permiates through the nail onto the skin.  And if I accidentally get my fingers near my mouth, ick.  I then have it on my lips. Or because I’m such an orally fixated person, I have pens in my mouth (only my own) and because I may have touched the pen on my finger tips, the pen tastes like that.  So not only am I breaking my finger/nail biting habit, I am also working on the pen habit as well.  Almost like a double whammy.  I attempted to take the stuff off with nail polish remover last night and it seemed to work a little bit but its still there.

So its working. I’m tired of it but it works. And I guess that’s the point. So one day you may see me with an actual manicure – something I haven’t had since my wedding.

Anyone who knows me (which is no one really reading this) knows I’m a huge American Idol fan. I didn’t watch the first season although sometimes I wish I would have since I truly enjoy Kelly Clarkson’s music these days. This season is interesting. The men are far stronger than the women although both have strong contendars. My favorite men are Ace and Chris. They are each very different in how they sing and look but both are very talented. In many forums, Ace is not loved. Poor thing. Chris is probably the best all-around guy. He sings well, looks good, and appeals to a broad audience which could help him win.

I don’t care for the women quite as much. Some of the girls are very talented – like Lisa and Katharine but they don’t do much for me. I can’t see following their careers. But I thought that about Kelly too… so what do I know? I will be happy to get down to like the final 6 though. That’s when it gets really fun. All the preliminary stuff is good, but, getting to the finals is what makes the show.  

“If there is no work for the illegals, they will go home…”  This is a quote from a series of short videos on the Washington Post referring to Minutemen and their goal to get rid of every illegal person in the United States.  The quote stood out to me because of the flawed logic in this man’s thinking.  Those who are illegal, if they cannot find work (which will never happen), will not go home. How would they get there?  If they couldn’t find a job are they going to walk from their homes all the way to Mexico? Canada? Doubt it. They might turn to crime. What happens if the 20 million illegal immigrants all of a sudden turned to crime because there were no more jobs?  Somehow, them working their asses off each and every day to support their families (which the majority of them are) seems like a better option.

I am all for people coming here through legal channels. I am all for people getting here and then doing what it takes to stay legally. But that’s not reality.  I know of one situation where someone married another person from a different country.  It has been well over two years and their mate cannot join them yet.  It is document after document and payment after payment. And this is someone who wants to come legally.  They are doing whatever it takes and getting no where.  They continue to live in one of the poorest countries in the world scrapping by on $100 a month.  Why should someone have to go through all of that when they can just come on over and make money immediately?  We all think we would choose the legal way, but, if your kids are starving… there are no jobs in your country… you are desperate… you could quite possibly think differently. 

The Minuteman interviewed goes on to say there is no racism involved in what they are doing. I beg to differ.  His direct quote is, “…abnormal amount of young Latino people who were obviously not legal citizens…”.  First, I’d like to know how he knew they were legal or not. And I have walked down the streets of Adams Morgan and other places with high Latino populations and I don’t feel unsafe.  His statement is racist or in the very least – ignorant.  If he is so concerned with them being legal, why doesn’t he approach them, get a translator (or be surprised at how many are working hard to learn English), and find out why they are there and what they hope for in life.  I think he’d be surprised.  And realize that they are there for the very reasons that my ancestors came to America -  a better way of life.

On March 18th, I’ll be participating in the first Rueda-Casino Fest in Washington DC.  Calle Ocho is an event that happens in Miami every year and it is just HUGE.  I have never been unfortunately. 

On the 18th, rueda groups from DC (almost all of them) will come together for the first time to celebrate the style of dance that we love so much.  There will be performances from five different groups.  You might be wondering, “What the heck is rueda or casino??”.  Well, it is cuban-style salsa dancing.  Rueda means that you do it in a circle with someone who is the ‘caller’.  Think of square dancing and set it to salsa music with great movies and style.  Usually, you dance it to Timba (www.timba.com) (Cuban salsa). 

If you have ever wanted to take a salsa class or see what this circle dancing is all about, I would suggest coming out on the 18th.  You can drop me a comment if you want more information.