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Celebrating a 40th birthday

Yes, went to Chicago the first week of November to celebrate Jazzercise's 4oth birthday with the queen herself (Judy Sheppard Missett, who founded Jazzercise in Chicago) - ha, bet you thought I looked really good for my age, huh?! Well, I do.

Anyway, me and some fellow instructors went to the windy city on a Friday, had lunch, went shopping, then had some fun at the House of Blues, and stayed out way too late for people who knew they'd be working out for 3 hours straight the next day. But we had a great time. Got to work out with Ms. Judy and some of the main instructors from California. Later that evening, they had the Chicago Museum of Art closed off for a private reception for us. Very very cool. We all came back super energized.

Now, let me rewind since it's been a while since I wrote: HALLOWEEN - did I tell you what we did where I teach? My friend Kandace and I alternated teaching all the songs in the class, and for just about every song we had a different outfit. Granted, sometimes said outfit, consisted of a hat or a glove, but still, it took some creative thinking! The students just loved it and looked like they had a lot of fun. Check out pics at the bottom.

What if success is just getting the wash into the dryer before mildew sets in?

No, despite all my cleverness, I have to admit that I did not come up with that little quote on my own (I borrowed it from a frame I bought at the Hallmark store). But it really hit home for me the point that not every person has to have lofty goals to feel like they accomplish something worthwhile each day.

For some, performing brain surgery on a patient and having that patient survive is their measure of success, as it should be. For others, just having the kids changed, fed, managing to get a bite to eat in the middle of all that (perhaps a shower too), and maybe, just maybe, a load of laundry done, is their perfect measure of success for the day. Throw in an hour of Jazzercise, and you really had a good day :-)

So, with that in mind, I’d like to encourage you to keep your spirits up and hurry to the dryer before mildew sets in! Then, pat yourself on the back knowing that it’s been a good day! And remember, just like Red Green, I’m pulling for you!

PS.: this was another short little article I wrote for my Twins Club a while back.

And just in the nick of time...

Well, I don't know if you recall, but back in December, when we were in the throes of putting tile in our dining room, I set up a Cookie Exchange Party at my house, thinking that having a deadline fast approaching on the horizon, would motivate DH to work a little faster in getting it done. It worked, but just barely. Pressing my luck again, I set up the kids' pool birthday party for next weekend, hoping that both fence and pavers around the pool would be done by then. Don't think my luck will hold, though. The latest assessment tells me that the fence materials won't even be in by then, and the pavers only partially done.

But you know what? The kids won't care. It's mainly us, grown-ups, who would love to have everything in pristine condition before we have people over, isn't it? But Martha doesn't live around here - Acsa does. I do try to keep in mind though, that as long as it is safe for the kids, the rest will come about with time. Lord willing, there's always next summer.

Had my first subbing job as a Jazzercise instructor at a different location last Friday. Didn't know any of the students at all, so as much as it was a bit nerve wracking, it was also very cool that they didn't know any of my jokes, so I could tell them all over again! I felt like the class went extremely well, and now that I have this experience under my belt, it will just be easier and easier to sub elsewhere.

City girl no more

Well, I guess I've always considered myself a city girl. The fact that I hail from a "small" town on the coast of Brazil of about 900,000 people, is only understood correctly (the "small" part that is) if you put it in context to the fact that I went to college in Sao Paulo, only an hour away, which is considered to be the fourth largest city in the world. Still, a city girl I've always been. Living in Dallas for the past 15 years only reinforced that belief.

However, as I find myself picking strawberries and raspberries from my backyard, rescuing a lost fawn, almost running over a deer a block away from my house, fighting hornets with my very own copy of National Geographic and baking my own bread (which turned out pretty darn good), I'm beginning to rethink this old label of mine.

All in all, though, whatever the label may be, the fact is, that I find myself very happy at this stage. Wisconsin is beautiful all year round. We're all still in awe of the snow and loving every minute of it. Fall is just absolutely beautiful (did you see the pic at the end of the blog?) and Spring just very colorful. The summer is considerably short which I just realized as I was shopping for an umbrella and umbrella base for our outdoor table this last week. Lo and behold I found an excellent deal at 50% off for both. It was only when I got home that I started to puzzle as to why they'd be having a 50% off sale in the middle of July??! Well, as the locals explained to me, this is the beginning of the end of the summer around here.

Definitely not what I want to hear when I have workers digging a big hole in my backyard where our brand new pool will sit in, hopefully, by the end of next week. I know, I know, we've spent all these years in the scorching state of Texas and never had a pool, and now that we move up north, we go ahead and decide to get one. Well, that's just the way it happens sometimes. Back in Texas, although we had a nicely sized backyard, putting a pool in, would take most of it, and not something DH was crazy about. You see, farm boy was raised amidst acres of land, and that would just go against his grain, having no grass to roam about . Now, we do have space for both, so, the next best thing is to just bite the bullet and install a water heater for aforementioned pool so that we do get a little more use out of it than we would otherwise. Trust me, we will be swimming this summer. Besides, we'll just be all ready for next year.

Now, back to my garden, what to do with all those strawberries and raspberries you ask? Well, I haven't gone totally country that I would want to bake a pie every single day of the week, so I had this brilliant idea of making strawberry daiquiris! Turned out fabulous! Sadly, I only thought of it towards the end of the strawberry picking season. I still get a few every day, but not enough to justify using the blender. But wait - raspberries are still in full swing. So, out the blender comes, and although we drank it all, raspberry daiquiris are just not as tasty as strawberry ones. Still good though... Oh, yes, I've added them to chocolate cakes and muffins but my kids are not too crazy about that (the picky eaters that they are). Send me your ideas for raspberries if you have any. Bear in mind, though, that I do not want to mess with flash freezing them for later.

Still, if you decide to get your own patch of raspberries going, remember that, 1.) since they have very thorny branches, it's never a good idea to try to pick them on a windy day - keep band-aids handy; 2.) wearing long sleeve shirts is highly recommended for the same reason, and 3.) do not wear white clothing while collecting them because you will get smeared with it and their juice is very red and stubborn to get rid of.

Time to jazz! Catch you later.

New baby in the house!!

Well, as you can see, it's a baby grand (the only kind of new baby in my horizon, Lord willing!). Baby girl has been using this keyboard for her last three years of piano and, according to her teacher, she had long ago reached the point where her piano fingers were not getting any stronger because the weight of a keyboard key was not enough.

So we started the hunt for an upgrade. You would think, an upright piano should be next, and normally it would, but, with our new home, we have this lonely corner of the living room that we were wondering what to fill it with. An upright would, unfortunately, cover the window there. So, since eventually, provided our concertina keeps doing so well, we would be wanting to end with a baby grand anyway, we figured we could bite the bullet and just skip a step and go straight for the baby grand. And yes, biting the bullet does include more variations on PB&J and tuna casserole fare for a while, and delaying our trip to Brazil for later in the year :) but hey, those are the things we do for our kids, right?! Here's hoping they remember that when it comes time to pick our retirement home...

And, no, we have not forgotten our boy. Earlier this year, he also graduated to a full size guitar, and, praise the good Lord, that did not affect our budget as badly as the baby grand did just now. He is doing well with the guitar also, but is not so keen on practicing. He could improve so much more if somehow we could impress upon him that he will only play like a rock and roll star if he invests the practice time needed. Oh, well. We'll keep trying.

Summer is here, and although it did get to 94 degrees earlier in the week (we went swimming at a friend's house), we're now back to low 80's and very sunny (I hope Keith reads this!). Our garden is providing us with a bounty of strawberries which is making me dig into the recipe books for all sorts of strawberry shortcake concoctions and such. Pretty soon our tomatoes should be ready along with the rest of the garden we got going (basil, corn, squash, peppers, green beans, cilantro, onions, carrots, etc). I really want to encourage you to start your own garden. It's such a great pleasure to be able to get things from your very own, 100% organic garden, and make some meal for your family with it! Start small, with herbs, tomatoes and such, so that you can get at least a salad going. Pretty soon you'll be very motivated to add more stuff to your own little piece of paradise. It's awesome!

The kids were out of school mid June, and the very next week they started the summer program at school which consists of Monday-Thursday classes that revolve around fun ways to learn new things. It's only from 8:30-11:30, but it's just right to keep them busy enough, specially on the days I teach Jazzercise. They are taking a Card game class, which, despite the name, is not designed to turn them into gamblers anonymous, but to show them different ways to use math. They also have a cooking class, and some of the stuff they make is pretty good. Our boy came home with the book and insisted on having us make this watermelon smoothie before they even did it in class. It turned out very yummy! Then there's also a cartoon class and a team building class. Come July we'll be getting different classes, just to keep them interested.

Time to go. Stay in touch!

And, how are you doing??

OK, now, go back and read the title again, but this time, channel Joey Tribiani (from Friends) as you say it :-) ... much more fun, right? And I'm doing fine too, thanks for asking! Lots going on.


First check out the recent picture of our local Rescue Hero, also known as DH, as we relocated a fawn (or, for those of us, city folks, a baby deer). It happened earlier this week. Our baby girl went outside to ride her bike while mamacita was getting dinner ready. Soon, she's back ringing the door bell like crazy. As much as I hated to be parted from my chopping and dicing pre-dinner ritual, I had to go see what was so important. She's yelling "It's a baby deer, right in our front yard", and I'm thinking, yeah, right. But still, since this was right before DH bought his riding lawn mower, I thought, quite possibly, a very small fawn could be hiding right where she was pointing. And, OMG, there it was!!! Check out the pic! Cutest little thing!


But, as the kids approached it, it tried to run away and it fell on its legs. I was afraid it was sick so I ran inside to call the vet, who was nice enough to inform me that this is the time of the year they're having babies, so it probably was a day or two old and still getting used to its legs. So, we summoned our local Rescue Hero who, at the vet's recommendation, transport it to a secluded area on the back of our property where it could wait for its mama. Whenever we see them, usually 3 or 4 at a time, they always come from that area, so we figured the chances were good that his mama would literally run into him. The next morning, before the kids went to school, we marched back there to check on him, and he was gone. Hopefully (as I saw no signs of blood anywhere) they found each other. I told the kids that we now need to watch for a group of them with a baby in tow... Too precious for words!

Then, today, Thursday, was my first Jazzercise monitoring -- Yikes!! It's great that they keep tabs on instructors to make sure they're the quality people they want teaching, but my, oh my, it's nerve wrecking!! This first time, they actually tell you when they're coming so you can prepare as much as possible. After that, once a year, whenever they feel like it, they show up and you better be ready. And, I'm very proud to say that I passed with flying colors!!! Yeah!!!! The monitoring lady's official comment was that I was born to do this!! Who'd have thought?! OK, maybe some of you :-) Boy, that's a nice feeling! Definitely worth it waking up at 6 am to practice :-)

Now, that this portion is done and over with, it's time to learn some more new routines. Feel free to come to my class anytime!! I hear it's a blast!!

I'm alive!!!!!

Hello, folks! Well, as you can imagine (for my lack of writing) I've been getting my feet wet big time when it comes to this Jazzercise teaching thing. Boy, even DH turns to me when I wake up at 6 am to practice some more before I teach a class and says: "Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" If you know me, you know I love my sleep. But in direct opposition to that love is the fear I have of standing in front of students and looking like I don't know what I'm doing. It's a fine line. I'm trying not to let it take over my life, but I also want to do a good job.

Overall, though, it's been a great deal of fun. Reports are coming in to the Jazzercise owner that the students are having a good time and looking forward to my next class. That's always a plus. They are such a great group of ladies! And, already a couple of weeks ago I got asked to sub for an instructor going on vacation - YIKES! I said yes then, and just yesterday got the news that the lady teaching on Thursdays had to quit for now because of her other job, so I'll be covering that too, which means teaching 4 times next week and then 3 times a week till mid April when tax season is over and the owner can cut down on her other job hours and teach some more.

Boy, what did I ever do with my time before? Oh yeah, I used to volunteer a bunch with my kids school. Now, I'm reduced to being back up to the librarian helper. It's kind of sad, but it's fine also. The kids' new school has a tremendous amount of parent volunteers so it's not like they miss my help terribly. I still go and participate in parties and volunteer to chaperon field trips. That will have to be enough for now.

Well, I hear Shakira calling (or rather a Jazzercise routine we do to one of her songs :-). Later!

Guess who just taught her first Jazzercise class??

Yes, yes, little me is a Jazzercise Instructor now!! Can you believe it??? Check out the new pic at the end of the blog!

Well, as you may have noticed, my blogging hours have been dramatically curtailed recently because I was using all my available time to train for my Jazzercise audition, which took place last Thursday. My mentor and owner of the academy where I'm teaching now, got me the instructor's only jacket the week before because she said she was so confident I was gonna pass. I was feeling pretty confident too, but asked her to hang on to the receipt -- just in case! Then, I spent all day Friday and Saturday learning the ins and outs of owning a Jazzercise Franchise. Oh, my gosh! And I was under the misguided impression that all I had to do was get up on stage, shake my cutie patoutie and look adorable (which, as you know, is really second nature to me :-). Well, let me tell you, there's a lot more to it than that!!

So, yesterday, I taught my first class ever and it was awesome! Not to say that I didn't have a senior moment (or two), but as I recently learned, the best thing to do when that happens is to use the new instructor motto, which is "fake it till you make it" and all ended well. Now, I'm again using all my available time to learn new routines because I don't want my students to get sick and tired of doing the same songs over and over again. You know, I dearly miss all my Texas jazzing buddies, but the ladies here are also a terrific bunch (must be a Jazzercise thing). They all have been so very encouraging and so supportive all along the way, that it went a long way to help me calm my nerves. And, you know me, I love to cook, so the night before I baked some Black Bottom Cupcakes and brought it to class to help my jazzing peeps feel extremely forgiving of any of my routine faults.

So, that's the scoop on my new career! The kids are so excited for me! On my first day to teach, as my sweet boy was leaving for school he says to me: "Have a wonderful first day, Miss Instructor!!". And then, when I picked them up, my baby girl asked: "How was your first day, Mama? Did your boss like it? Are there any cupcakes left?" DH has also been the most amazing supportive person! Of course, he had to be since I had to borrow money from him to buy my franchise :-) Then again, he owes me big time for giving him twins! Well, not really, but I'm entitled to use any excuse available, right? I keep telling him that I'll buy this or that with my newly earned money. However, as it was pointed out to me during the seminar, if I teach only twice a week, it will take me over a year to recover the money I've spent so far... Unless I become a superstar teacher overnight and make tons more money for being so awesome (I wish!!).

But you know what, I didn't decide to do this to make money and retire in the Bahamas. Although, that would be just cream-cheese icing on the Black Bottom Cupcake! I decided to do it cause it's something I love, and I'm good at (apparently :-). And you know what else? Shortly after we moved up north, we were having dinner at a local restaurant that happened to use as decor for their walls, several inspiring quotes. From my first day of Jazzercising here, the teacher kept talking to me about becoming an instructor (deja-vu from my Texas days, I guess). So, when I saw a particular writing on the wall (sounds biblical, doesn't it?) I paid close attention to it. It asked: "If you knew you couldn't possibly fail, what else would you attempt to do with your life?" Well, it took me another week to take the plunge and commit to training to become an instructor. Now that's is all said and done, I'm inspired to be more open to other new opportunities.

Of course, I won't go crazy with this and start too many things going, because as I said before, I have tons to learn to become a better instructor. But I'm very happy I took on the challenge and I hope you take that quote to heart and that it may inspire you to do something exciting that has been idling at the back of your head (you know what I'm talking about - feel free to share the details with me later!).

Patoutie shaking time! Gotta go!

Happy Ground Hog Day!!

I hope you had a wonderful Ground Hog Day! The official word is that the legendary Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so we have six more weeks of winter. Or, as the locals around here say, it's a win-win situation for everyone in the frozen tundra area, if, at worst case scenario, all we had was six more weeks of this cold weather :-) If you go online and check for related stories, you might get lucky and catch a photo of poor Phil. As one sharp reporter mentioned, Phil appeared to be a rather nervous wreck when yanked from his burrow (he did not rise on his own) and there was no evidence that he paid the slightest attention to his shadow. Ah, the silly things we "believe"...

And speaking of that, I was surprised to find out that my new hair dresser had never heard of how the phases of the moon can affect how fast or slow your hair grows after a haircut. Please tell me you have heard about it too! And before you go saying that this is just silly astrological mambo-jumbo, think how the phases of the moon affect the tides (high and low) which is scientifically proved to relate to the earth's gravitational pull. If it can affect the tides, it's very possible it works for hair too. It seems to be right on the money for me. You can look it up for more detail (or talk to your hairdresser) but basically the belief is that, for faster growing hair, it's better to cut it around the time of the New Moon Phase. And, for thicker and fuller hair, it needs to be cut during the Full Moon Phase. Dare you to try it and let me know how it worked for you!

Now, if you want to talk silly, I'm really ashamed to confess that it took me 22 years (that's how old I was when I figured this out) to realize that eating cake right after you get it out of the oven will NOT give you a tummy ache. That's just what some mothers say (Marylou, are your ears burning??) to keep the kids from eating the cake before company gets there! And, ants in the sugar bowl will NOT improve your eye sight if you happen to ingest them - that's just what some mothers say so they don't have to remove each ant out every time you reach for the sugar bowl(somebody send the fire department to my mom's house NOW!!).

I'd love to hear what other beliefs each of us carry out there and why you do or do not believe in them. Let me hear from you!

Do you know what I mean?

You know that old saying, that you should walk in someone else's shoes to really understand what that person may be going through? Well, you may say the same exact words to several different people, and all those people may interpret it in a completely different way (that's how misunderstandings get started), depending on their own experiences or just where they are in life at that point.

For example, my kids read the "Twas' the night before Christmas" book every night in December. There's a part that says: "The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, gave the luster of mid-day to objects below." I never understood that (cause really, it cannot be that bright in the middle of the night, right?!) till we were coming home from a friend's house after dinner, and didn't even have to turn on our headlights because the moonlight reflecting on the snow, made everything just that bright. OK, when we got to the main road we did finally turn it on, but not before we surprised a heard of 8 deer/does grazing on a field nearby. It's really that bright!

Another good one is from the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" song. You know that part that says "And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again". Well, before motherhood, I always thought it was kind of mean for moms and dads to be that anxious to get their kids back to school. Let the little buggers enjoy their break. Now, however... I can so relate to the feeling :-)

And, leaving Christmas thoughts behind, something one of my Jazzercize instructors from Texas said one day. There's this routine we do to a Sheryl Crow song, Soak Up the Sun, and at the very end of the song she says: "I’m gonna soak up the sun, Got my 45 on, So I can rock on..." Her college age daughter asked why the singer needed to put sun block on to be able to rock and roll at all?! If you are of a certain age, you may hear "Got my 45 on" and think of a vinyl record. If you are of a different certain age, sunblock might be what makes more sense to you... And you could both be right, if, say, the rock and roll concert you're going to is during the day in the middle of the summer.

Know what I mean??