We all need someone...

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

This video was sent to me by my friend Jack, I just had to share it with you. We all need somebody, enjoy. Thanks, Jack!

Marcia C

Happy birthday Miss Lauryn!

Three years old, wow! I remember the moment she arrived on this earth and cannot believe it has been 3 years already! A lot has happened since that joyful event; her cousin Elisa and sister Sydney came along to join her.

But I digress, this week it is all about the little lady turning three and all the excitement that entails. There will be a birthday party of course, Miss L will celebrate with friends and family; there will be cake and ice cream too. The one requirement--make sure the cake is pink! Our little Miss is a real girly girl! LOL! This is her new thing, pink is her favorite color. And before you ask "What does a 3-year old know about colors?" Believe me--she knows her colors, and numbers, and I-Touch, and PC, and which movies she likes to see, and... you get my drift.

She has a penchant for Curious George too, surprised she did not ask for a pink outfit for him. Dora the Explorer, is another favorite. But selecting a Halloween outfit this year was a hoot, our traditional “princess” had her dress all picked out until she came upon “Foofa” a character from the Yo-Gabba-Gabba children's program on the Nick Jr channel. You guessed it—that was the end of that! She will now be sporting her new Foofa outfit for Halloween; guess why? It is pink, of course!

Happy birthday, Miss Lauryn. Grandma and Grandpa love you, we will see you Sunday in the box, a.k.a. Skype! Yo-Gabba-Gabba!

That's what I am talking about!

Hola Abuela!

One of the things I talk about (among friends) frequently is the fact that time goes by too quickly; and to make that point clear I was greeted last week with a resounding "Hola Abuela" by our oldest granddaughter, little Miss Lauryn. It was like guess what I can do now, I can speak Spanish; and just to make sure I did not assume that was all she knew, she proceeded to recite the numbers too. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco!

I was left speechless for a very brief moment, it was a totally unexpected gesture and it gave me such pleasure to hear it coming out of her mouth. You see, Miss Lauryn will be three years old next month and she can already talk up a storm, the surprise came when she switched it up to Spanish. Mom and I had already discussed the fact that she came home one day talking what sounded to her like "gibberish" not realizing that she was being introduced to Spanish in her EPS (Early Pre School) class. I was delighted to hear when "gibberish" turned into actual words, well spoken and delivered with gusto! Hola Abuela indeed!

So back to the time flying thing, we are now grandparents of two additional beauties, they are: Elisa Londyn, born on May 30, 2011 and Sydney Joyce, born on July 30, 2011, all girls all the time, yeah! Our two daughters special gifts this year, and we could not be happier. As you can imagine, the posts will be more frequent now and will be expanded to include all the girls; as of right now they are only 4 and 2 months old, but are already providing Abuela with lots of material to talk about.

BTW, I plan to make weekly updates, so please stay tuned and follow my posts. I love to read all your comments, but  please leave them on the blog site.

That's what I'm talking about!
Marcia C

Mother Nature scares me!

Hola, Hello, I’m back! 

I hope you noticed that I was missing in action for a couple of weeks or so.

Here’s the deal: I have a day job, this means I’m usually pretty busy most days of the week; by the time I leave work in the evenings it becomes a toss-up between going straight home and going to the gym. Two or three nights a week the gym wins; that means when I get home there will be nothing left to do but eat a quick meal and take a shower, after that give the brain a rest for the day—translation: mindless TV channel surfing.

This week, however, the need for self-expression came crashing back in more ways than one. First, the news was so full of unfortunate events that it just made me worry about where this world of ours is headed. I mean, there were the ongoing news of Japan’s nuclear reactors (after the earthquakes and tsunami) threatening to wreak havoc on the already extremely taxed nerves of the Japanese people (mine too). I can’t begin to imagine what to do in such a situation.

Then there were the “social networks” driven revolts in the Middle East, and ongoing threats of war. Here is my thought on this and please correct me if I am wrong, the power of God, (I am a believer) or whatever Higher Power rocks your boat, should be self-evident; we have no control over this earth and it appears, very little control over ourselves as well. My immediate thoughts after the Japanese events was Mother Nature has demonstrated to us once again that she is the ultimate “equalizer” and we should be taking notice of this fact and begin to treat each other with the utmost care, compassion and kindness.  Or as Rodney King would say: “Can’t we all just get along?”

It should be enough for us to know there are more pressing things (feed the hungry, educate our children, eat some ice cream) that require we put our collective energies into; rather than trying to tear each other down. When we die, and we all will at some time or the other, all our worldly possessions will be left behind and even if we managed to take something with us (can’t imagine why) I am sure whatever it is would be useless wherever we end up.

So come on people, let’s decide to help our fellow human beings in every way we can. We do not have to give money away; a little loving and caring should be enough in most cases. Most people would appreciate a gesture that says: I feel your pain, rather than a put down. An uplifting message is always better than a negative comment. People who are down, do not need you to remind them of that fact; they need you say you understand, and if you don’t, please keep your mouth shut!

And that is what I’m talking about!

Marcia C

Reality TV? Whose Reality?

First of all, I want to point out that I believe the world as I knew it has gone crazy; that said, I will repeat: the world has absolutely gone crazy. If you don’t believe me, check out the daily news for confirmation. If the news does not do it for you; check out the TV Guide to see what’s on. On any given day or night, the programming sucks, there is a proliferation of so called reality shows. Whose reality exactly? I am not sure. But the number of people who are willing to get paid for exposing parts of their life, those parts they should clearly be keeping to themselves, never ceases to amaze me. It is evident that we now live in a society which has given up on basic common sense, manners, and dare I say it… decency.

Go ahead and watch any of the number of “so called” reality shows and you’ll feel your “cringe factor” go up a few notches, “it will be kicked up a notch” as Emeril would say. It used to be that there was some level of censorship applied to TV shows who make use of “objectionable” language, and certain intimate scenes were deemed too risqué for general audiences (especially during daytime shows); surely, any kind of “sex talk" was out of the question; that does not seem to be the case anymore.

I am no prude, never have been, but I’ve now gotten to the point where I only watch some news programs, and select shows on TV; I dislike anything that displays a lack of sensitivity toward those of us watching, so that pretty much leaves out all crime shows (too much violence), some cartoons, and of course, most reality shows, especially the housewives series (what a joke!) as I cannot relate to any of them (NY, LA, ATL, whatever). None of the real housewives I’ve ever known behave like these women on TV do.

I am a fan of HGTV, because I am able to learn something from the shows I chose to watch, things that I can actually use; I am a dog lover, so Dog Whisperer tickles my fancy, so do many of the shows on PBS, History, and Discovery channels; again, because I can learn something.

One of the bright spots on the “tely” (as the British say) is CBS’s Sunday Morning Show. It “reports” not “fabricates” the news as many of the other shows do. That aside, the segment titled “Brain Drain” featured during a recent broadcast, got me thinking about the serious problems we are experiencing educating our children. Jobs are been outsourced to countries like India, Philippines, and many others because they have figured a path to success. They place a higher emphasis on education and training; while our students think the way to success rests on playing with a ball (football, basketball, baseball).

Many of the foreign countries have also decided that sending their children to receive their education in the old USA is their best investment to ensure they are in the best position to compete; they get trained by the best scholars money can buy, and go back to their countries—degree in hand, to apply what they learned, help grow their countries’ economies and surpass Americans at their own game. Genius!

This is serious stuff and we better get cracking to reverse this “brain drain” trend. Parents: YOU must step up to the plate ASAP to make sure your children receive the education they not only deserve, but desperately need in order to compete and to make headway in the increasingly global world we now live in. And, it would not be a bad thing if they also learn to speak other languages (once they perfect English, of course). Japanese, Chinese, or Spanish come to mind.

Who knows, the trends may soon reverse and mastery of a foreign language may be required of our students in order to get a job; be it at home, in China, Japan, Spain or anywhere else in the world.

That’s what I’m Talking About!

Marcia C