Historic Florida

     I haven't been on a field trip with my kids in forever so finally one came up. It was to the Barnacle Historic House in Coral Gables. The trip was with my youngest and his classmates of fourth graders, 53 to be exact. I was looking forward to this for over a week. I have lived in Miami my entire life and never knew this place even existed. Right smack in the middle of the Gables sits this beautiful Historic House of the famous sailboat builder Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe. It sits on 40 acres of land on Biscayne Bay. Doesn't get better than that! Sure it does. He only paid $400 for it. Today that is nothing, back then that was expensive.

 

     When we first arrived, we walked down through the hardwood hammock to the covered patio to hear a bit of history about the house. There was half an hour worth of so much information. In fact, it was too much for my brain to take in, I can't imagine if all the kids got it! LOL Either way I am sure they remembered something. After the introduction, we were taken into the house to check it out. It was amazing. I just love to see things from the past, especially here in Florida. I love my state and hearing about it's history, is awesome. Inside the house were so many antiques. The furniture, the books, cameras, radio, refrigerator, stove, and much more. I can't imagine how simple life was then. Must have been nice. At least they weren't running around everywhere with a phone on their hip. Times were simple back then. People worked hard and they appreciated what they had. Things were not taken for granted. It must have been wonderful.
     Once we were done inside the house, we traveled back outside to have lunch. The school provided lunches for the kids. I was impressed with what they got. I myself had a few oranges and apples to snack on and some water to drink. The kids ate a bologna sandwich, apple, milk, and a orange-pineapple juice. Pretty good if I don't say so myself.
      After eating we got ready for a scavenger hunt. The kids had to form groups and walk around the grounds to find the answers. It focused on the different trees found in the hardwood hammock. After about five minutes with no answers to be found, the kids were giving up. I could see that they were guessing just to get it done. I am a puzzle lover, so I decided to get in on the hunt. I scanned over the questions and it dawned on me, the guide mentioned earlier where to get all the answers. Guess that is one thing I remembered but the kids didn't. Haha I walked up to my son and his group, they were frustrated. I offered to help them get the puzzle complete. As that was going on another group of kids wanted help too. So I took all 6 of them on a walk to find the answers to the questions. We walked all the way back to the entrance of the grounds. As we walked I pointed out the little pedestals with information on them. I showed them a few and they picked it up from there. It was exciting to see them realize that the answers were now right in front of their faces. We ended up running around to try and get all the answers the fastest. So far there were no other kids that completed the hunt. I for one was not going to let my group give up!!! We found all of our answers and completed the riddle at the bottom. Awesome team! They were all so excited that they ran around to the other kids saying how they completed the whole puzzle. Haha Gotta love the feeling of success.
     It was now time for the kids to randomly play. Our trip was ending soon so the teachers allowed them enjoy the rest of the time. A break from all the information cramming into their brains is more like it. The guides provided them with chalk, and soccer balls, jump ropes and hoola hoops. It was great watching all them play so well together. No fights, just fun. A few boys fell and scraped themselves...boys! Girls were dancing together and laughing. All the teachers and volunteers sat around relaxing themselves and enjoying adult conversation before time to get back to work.
     The bus ride was about an hour long. I thought nothing of it because I was socializing with my son's teacher. We were discussing how many kids we thought would fall asleep on the bus. It was hysterical. Some of their heads were bobbing up and down as they fought the sleep. One even had drool coming out of his mouth. Gross but funny! In total there were about 6 that fell asleep. The field trip wore them out. I was pretty pooped too. I was a great day with a great group of kids. I really felt like a kid around them. I enjoyed their company as much as they enjoyed mine, so I was told by my son. I really love children and appreciate the great times with them. Makes me want to volunteer more often. Have a happy day!

Ghostly experience

     I know not too many people believe in ghosts/spirits, but I for one do. I have had many, many experiences in my life since I was a little kid. Luckily for me, there have other people around to witness such instances. A few times it has been my brother Jason. In fact, the first one I experienced as a child was with my brother. I think because I have an open mind to these type of things, I am lucky to be able to experience them. So this brings me to what happened today.
     I was at my brothers house doing the dishes. I clean his house for him on occasion and today was one of those days. It was just him and I there, the kids were in school. So as I washed dishes, he was at the stereo setting up his iPad so that I could listen to some music while I cleaned. All of a sudden I heard a slight noise. I looked up at him and asked "Are you texting?" He answered no and asked me why I asked. So I told him that I heard something like a text. We both paused for a second to listen if it happened again. Sure enough, with both of us listening, it did it again. I walked over to my phone and watched as letters were being pressed on the touch screen. Jason had said that maybe my phone was malfunctioning, until he got up to check it out for himself. There was no way this was a malfunction. I had left a text conversation with my daughter open because I was expecting a text from her. In fact, I had just answered a question from her. So the phone sat there, face up, waiting for her reply. Instead of her reply the phone started to text on its own. I know this is hard to believe but I was there and I honestly wouldn't believe it either if I didn't witness it myself. As we stood there watching the phone go crazy, the hairs on our arms started to raise. There was a presence in the house for sure. I knew the feeling from past experiences. I was covered with goose bumps, even on the back of my neck. Jason and I couldn't believe what we were watching in front of our face. The text was really odd also, it contained different letters and symbols. Which, if there was something malfunctioning, would it be random letters or one repeatedly??? Who knows!!! Well because it was so weird, Jason asked a question aloud to the entity, "If you are here, move the water bottle." Nothing happened to the bottle, but after a brief pause more letters appeared on my phone. This continued for about 5 minutes. In fact, by the time the texting stopped, it had pressed a total of 250 characters which makes up two messages on my phone. After everything stopped Jason and I walked into different rooms to experience goose bumps in certain areas of the house. Someone was there and we know it. After doing that for a while, it all stopped. 
     So what kind of characters did it type? The text didn't start till the 5th line down, as if enter was hit 5 times. The first line read:  twc;ppp ppp ;p or something very similar. So we figured that the letters twcp were pressed. Also a semicolon. How the hell did that happen?  I don't know about anyone else's phone but to get to the semicolon on mine you have to hit the symbols/number button first, it's not on the main text screen.There were about 5 or 6 semicolons in total. It also hit the space bar and the enter button. Also, by trying to recreate it later, I realized that after a space a new capital letter will appear. All the letters were lower case. Weird? I think so!!! The letter p showed up a lot in the text, so my first guess was that it was Pauline, our Great Grandmother who had passed many years ago. I thought she was trying to communicate with us. We called her name out but nothing happened. 
      Jason had her hutch in his house so we just assumed that this was her because there is no other person we thought it could be. Crazy awesome! His kids and him have experienced some oddities in the past, so in his mind, this is just what had been happening. He was just as thrilled as I had been. I love this kind of thing. He sorta wants to get rid of the hutch, but I think that would rid him of Great G'ma too. He is the only one right now that has any contact with her, even though it may be a little creepy. His kids are a little unnerved by this type of stuff, so we couldn't say anything to them about it. JT, his son, had an experience where he was walking toward the kitchen at night and he saw a shadow in the kitchen. JT ran back to the room and told my brother about what happened. Since then, JT is a little scared. My kids have also seen/felt weird things in his house. So all I can say is that....someone is there!!!
     Things like this happen and no one believes it. In my family, we all have experienced things similar to this so I know I can talk to them about it. Imagine my excitement of wanting to share this. I called my mother whom happened to be with her father. My Papa is Pauline's son. I told my Mom about what my brother and I witnessed. She told my Papa as I spoke to her. She then told me that an hour earlier, her and my Papa were talking about Great Grandma Pauline. Were her ears ringing? LOL Maybe she knew they were talking about her and had a message for them. I told my Mom what the text had in it. I questioned her and my Papa to see if anyone in the family had the initials TWC. He had said that he didn't know of anyone that did. This sort of disappointed me but it is what it is. The excitement of what happened was awesome enough without an explanation as to why. I hope that I continue to feel something at my brother's house. I have hope that it is my Great Grandma and we have this opportunity again to chat with her.

Happy Birthday to My Little Girl

     Today is the day, 17 years ago that my life changed forever. My daughter Shy-anne was born. It was the happiest day of my life. Well, ok, painfully happy. LOL I won't lie but her labor was the worst out of the three. But she was my first so I take it for what it was. I became a Mom and that is all that mattered. Some people grow up wanting to have these luscious careers and such. Not me, I just wanted to be a Mom. It is a very difficult job, but it has the best reward, unconditional love. I was only 22 when she was born. To me that was young, but older for some. I was not really ready for her but I knew that I couldn't live without her. Now, as time nears, I fear the same as all mothers...loosing her. It kills me to know that in one year she will be leaving to go to college somewhere. I won't be able to see her everyday. :( I won't hear her annoying whining either! Haha, it hasn't been a perfect 17 years.

     I has been a joy watching her grow up into a beautiful young lady. I still remember her as a little girl, those memories will never disappear. Learning to talk, oh boy that came early. Then from walking to running. She hasn't stopped since.  From braces to chasing boys. Now driving and dating. She always has kept me on my toes. It hasn't been the easiest 17 years but all worth it. As I sit here and cry writing this, I wonder if she will be ok. I sometimes have doubted my abilities as a Mom (I think we all do at times). I just hope that I have taught her what she needs to know to take on life when it does come her way. She is a very strong minded individual so she will probably be fine. :D But that won't even stop me from worrying about her, as my Mom still does for me. The closer it gets the harder it gets. I will enjoy her as much as I can until that day comes. I love you kiddo! You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me! Happy 17th Birthday!

Camping

      Here is the crew for the weekend, I'm behind the camera. We all headed down Peace River in Gardner, Fl. This was a celebration for my nephew (middle front). Ok, so it was 7 months late, but better late than never. The weather was great and the company was fabulous! I love being with my family. It's a time where you can be yourself and no one is afraid to have fun. We stayed for three days and two nights.

      The first night we had to hurry and find camp because we were loosing light quickly when we had arrived. The water was shallow so the kids could play and swim. It was perfect. We spent the evening setting up while the kids played. When it got dark we started a fire and had some burgers and dogs for dinner. Afterwards, the kids played in the tent until they fell asleep. The next morning arrived quickly and my brother Jason decided to keep the camp where it was rather than moving further up the river. Everyone agreed quickly to that suggestion. We packed a lunch for the day and headed up river. Peace River is well known for finding fossil shark teeth, so that was part of our plan for the day, along with swimming of course. Personally the water was too cold, but no one else seemed to mind. Time flies by when you are having fun and the kids were getting tired so we headed back for the night. We had a great dinner and went for a long walk through the night filled woods. That was lots of fun. Funny how the kids don't rush to go first at night. LOL Our last day had arrived. Since we weren't far from the dock, we had all day to hang out and play. The day seemed to go by faster than we could blink, but everyone had fun until the last minute. My nephew said it perfectly when our trip ended. He said, "Do you know what I don't like about camping?" We asked, "What?" He replied, "That it has to end." I think he hit the nail on the head.

     The greatest thing about camping is that you can always learn from your experience. We always check out what other paddlers do with their gear and such while going on their trip. This time I had my own idea for this camping trip. Since it was a special trip for a birthday, I wanted to make it awesome! I had planned some really great meals and treats for the whole group. Only I had to make everything fit into coolers. We had only 3 canoes for 8 people so the space was tight. I decided that in order to do this I had to make things compact. I prepared all the meals ready to serve on the grill. This way I didn't have to bring extra condiments and spices to prepare them on the river. This is where the great idea comes into to play. I took the now ready meals and put them in a vacuum sealer to shrink them. Viola! Space issue resolved. I was able to pack great steaks, veggies, tuna salad and even a special pineapple honey treat. It worked awesome. Part two of the idea came from my hubby. Keeping things cold on the river is a chore because you can't just run out for ice. So hubby suggested that we freeze the vacuum sealed meals. Are you kidding, I thought. Wrong I was! It worked so good and everything thawed out perfectly for when I needed it to be. I think it even helped to extend the life of the ice we did have. This is now going to be added to every camping trip. We figured that by doing this not only do we save on space and have more room, but we also bring more ice...sort of.

Heading North

     A few times a year we head up north to visit my dad. We talk pretty often on the phone but nothing is better than seeing each other. He was here for Christmas briefly but that wasn't enough. Last time we were up there was over the summer of 2012. So it has been a while. My father lives in Central Florida. I have been travelling that way since I was a little kid. My grandparents also have a house up there, and we used to visit every summer to go to Disney. Now my dad, grandmother, two aunts/uncles and two cousins live up there. So it's like my extended family extended. I have a big family to begin with. We are everywhere, like roaches! LOL So we will be there for the weekend visiting everyone and relaxing. While we are there I will also be obtaining my children from their father. They have been with him since Christmas Day. Since we separated, he gets the kids for summers and extended holidays off of school. It makes it easier on him. Normally he has to drive all the way down to our house to drop them off. I am feeling nice. Haha Also on the schedule of planned events is the pick up of some bricks that my father is getting rid of. We will be using them to finish our landscaping here in our yard. Yeahhhhh! I can't wait. It may only be for a weekend, but who doesn't enjoy a weekend away from life! My hubby just started his vacation and I plan on keeping him busy. So this will be the first of our adventures for the next two weeks. I hope there are more. LOL But then again, kids go back to school. :( I will make the most of it anyways. Have a great weekend everyone. Have a healthy day!

Two dogs, two cats and a tortoise

     Our house is pretty full with five of us, or is it? Nah, we have to have some pets too! Animals are very important in a home because they give us a different perspective on life. They teach us to sit back, relax and take it as it comes. Animals don't stress about non-sense and they have no hangups about things in life. We get to lay around with them and cuddle. They love our attention and we love their companionship. In our house we have two dogs, two cats and a tortoise. We also have a fish tank with one fish and many hermit crabs. I know you can't cuddle with them, but they are cool anyways. In fact, we can sit back for hours just watching them. I know you are thinking, you can't cuddle with a tortoise either. Nope, but she is cool to watch when we let her loose in the house and the yard. The other critters don't even blink at her as she makes her way around. I love putting her in the yard because she takes care of all our weeds. She loves weeds! Too bad I can't put her in the garden. Unfortunately, she would eat my veggies and not the weeds. LOL After winter break we will be getting another furry creature. My daughter wants a hamster. For Christmas we got her a cage, food, and bedding. Now she has to pick out her pet. I hope that one day we will have a large piece of land so we can have more animals. I grew up with all kinds of pets. I guess that is why I love animals so much. They make a house a home! Everyone should have pets they are good for our mental health! Have a healthy day!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

     I don't particularly care for this time of year. Mainly because of all the "retail" hype that goes along with it. I, myself prefer to enjoy the time I have together with my family. This year was exactly what I want during this joyous time of year. On the eve of the Eve, I spent the evening relaxing with my hubby, brother, and father. He just got to town so we wanted to give him a warm welcome. We sat outside by the fire catching up on the past few months that we haven't seen him. The night was clear and the air was cool. The company was great and the stories even better. It got late pretty fast and we had some last minute things to take care of the next day. First thing on the morning of Christmas Eve, my father stopped by to open gifts with the kids. He was only in town for a short while, so we took advantage of that time he was available. The kids loved everything that Grandpa got them. Dad sat with us while the kids opened up boxes and started assembling their gifts. We had coffee and doughnuts. It couldn't be any better than this. He only stayed for a short time because he had dinner later and still had to travel north.
      On the evening of the Eve of Christmas we spent time with the hubby's family. His sister was just recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer and it has metastasized. So this year, the time we spent was pretty special. The whole family was there. From the older generations, to the youngest still in diapers. It was great to sit back and watch everyone interact with each other. Even the always grumpy teens played games with the younger kids. The food was wonderful. Your typical Cuban dishes. Mmmm! I love them. It was another clear sky and the stars were shining bright. You really have to sit back and take it all in. Generations of people and the beauty of nature. Make things perfect.
     Christmas morning arrives with a knock on my bedroom door. My youngest is calling to me "Mom, Santa came last night". That was the signal that the kids were up and ready to open their gifts. Hubby and I woke to immediately make our morning cup of joe. Once we were settled, the festivities began. I love to see their faces light up when they get the "go ahead". This year they switched it up on me! They wanted me to open my gifts from them first. Wow! I felt special. :D So I opened mine. Homemade gifts, and plants! It doesn't get better than that. They then started on theirs. I sat back and just watched as their eyes lit up with every new box. My brother and mother showed up to share their gifts with us and vice versa. The morning continued until all the gifts were opened. What a fun time. After that we shared doughnuts and coffee. Perfect    breakfast for Christmas morning. Time passed quickly and it was time for the kids to visit with their father. After they departed, the rest of us hung out talking and playing with our new toys. I have to say that this was one of the best Christmas' I had. I spent many days enjoying the time I shared with the ones I love the most. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

   

Garden thief

     I have had my garden now for about 3 years. So far we have had our share of bugs, worms and caterpillars. But, up until now, I have yet to have any larger pests in my garden. I will try to make this story as short as possible. LOL So this morning hubby and I woke up and looked into our back yard. On our fence we saw a hawk. Hubby immediately asked me for my camera to capture this beautiful bird of prey. Since he couldn't take the pic through the screen door, he tried to open it. The hawk must have heard it open and he flew off. This is the second time we have seen him, so we wanted to capture a photo. Problem now arrives. I know enough about birds of prey that they will hunt their food. So I get to thinking....if I keep seeing him, there must be a reason why. Well, not too much more thought was put into that. Hubby and I get our coffee and head out to the back patio to check on our garden. This is a daily thing we do as we start our morning.
     As we walk up to the garden, the first thing we see is a partially eaten tomato. Now I know that this is fresh because we do this every day. The day prior a ready to harvest tomato was eaten also. Good clue that there is something around. We started to think that this little pest may still be in the area. Up till now I have lost two pepper plants. Something ate all the leaves off and left only the stems (on the entire plant). I had found a few peppers on the ground, but I figured that whatever ate the leaves left the peppers behind. They are Cayenne Peppers so maybe they were too hot for this critter. We continue our search. Hubby looks under the compost container, which is sitting on CBS blocks. Low and behold we find a plethora of tomatoes, peppers, and a few agave babies that I thought our new puppy ate a week ago. We started to laugh, because in a sense it's funny. At the same time we figured we need to do something to remedy this problem. Time for traps.

    I love all animals big and small. I have had two rats before as pets. They are smart and most people don't know that. So the fact that I have to set a trap to kill this rodent is a problem for me. I really don't want to hurt or kill anything, but I am not just growing my garden for fun either. This is to feed my family and save us some money on our groceries. Not to mention the health benefits from having fresh veggies. This is just another example of how nature is. Sometimes you have to deal with things that you aren't planning for. I love my garden and so does my family. I hope to stop this pest without any more damage to my garden. I have a whole other side that is safe so far. LOL Have a healthy day!


On a side note....I am happy the world didn't end today. hehehehe

A moment of silence....

   On Friday, December 14, 2012, a tragic shooting happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I am sure that most of you have read about it or have seen it on TV. I personally could only watch a few minutes of it, before I broke down in tears. It is a horrible thing to hear of such violence on children. I have read about many "who's to blame" stories on the internet and can't help but wonder why someone is looking to blame something. Who's to blame???? Ummm the shooter!!!! Why did he do it? We will never truly know. What we do know is that many children and adults lost their lives because of this man. Many people wore the elementary schools colors on Monday the 18th in memory of the innocent lives lost. On Friday, the 21st of December, there will be a worldwide moment of silence as requested by Governor Malloy. The time of silence will be at 9:30 EST for a five minute interval. Mr. Malloy has also requested a ringing of bells, 26 times, for each life lost. I hope that you can take out 5 minutes of your morning for a moment of silence for these poor children and adults. Help show your support to the families of the victims.  Enjoy your families everyday and never forget to tell them how much you love them. Life is short and can be taken from us at any time. Have a healthy day!

Composting

     When I first started my garden we purchased all the dirt necessary to get everything planted. As time went on and the rain slowly washed away the dirt, I had to make a decision. I am a very simple person and try not to spend needlessly, so I knew there had to be a different way to have the dirt I needed. I started talking to my mom (whom always was an avid gardener) to find out how to do such a "dirty" deed. She told me it was simple. Now that is what I was talking about. All I had to do was take all my food scraps and throw them into a pit or container. Awesome! I can do that no problem. So the hubby and I looked around for a pre-made container to compost in just to see what they cost and how they worked, etc... After some research we purchased our 40 gal. heavy duty garbage can. I mean, it's all scraps right. We had found many that were quite expensive for what its purpose actually was. It just had to hold trash. From there we also purchased a hand tool which helps to turn the compost. You do have to turn it so that everything inside will continue to break down and it is aerated. I have also added worms to add to the decomposition to the scraps. The worms help to speed up the time that the dirt can be used. I try to do planting as much as possible so I need a constant supply.

     There are so many benefits to composting. One that has made a big difference is the money. We have saved so much by creating the dirt that I knew we would be needing for future. We have also saved a lot of the trash that we actually throw away. I feel that I am recycling my food into well.....more food.  Another benefit is to my plants. The new soil is nutrient rich. I live in an area that is maybe a few inches thick of dirt and then nothing but coral rock. So I will use all the nutrients I can get. Composting also has taught my kids that if it came from nature, it will return to nature to be reused.  Our planet even recycles :D I will continue to compost everything I use. The benefits are well worth the time and effort it takes to make my own dirt. I hope that my garden continues to grow healthy and provide for my family.

Welcome :D

     Hello to everyone! Welcome to my blog. I hope to keep you updated on interesting facts about what Mother Nature provides for us to keep us healthy. I am a gardener, which I love. My cousin gave me a plaque that says "Work is for people who don't know how to garden." I could never have enough time in my garden. I compost my scraps from the kitchen and make my own dirt. I love to up-cycle and recycle. I am also a DIY'er!! I will post some cool ideas about things that I like. I am a big  firm believer that nature provides for us what we need. Yes, I do sometimes go off track... but that's because I am human. LOL I work part time with my mom in her business and I also have a home business. I educate others about the chemical dangers in their homes and offer safer alternatives. If you ever have any questions about anything, feel free to send me an email. I love to help as much as I can to the best of my abilities. Some things  I am a novice at, while others a self proclaimed expert. ;) I have 3 kids and a wonderful husband. I also take care of my niece and nephew a few days a week. I dedicate my days to my family and all their schedules. I am a Mom first and am very proud of my children. I live to make sure that they have a great future ahead of them. I also love to help other people besides family.  I feel that if people work together, many things can be accomplished. The more you know the better off you are. I hope to hear from my followers, I am always open to new ideas. :D Enjoy!!