mylifeinspain

iPod "home"

"Home" songs currently on my iPod:

* You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to by Frank Sinatra

* Kiwis Go Home by The Strapping Fieldhands

* When Will You Come Back Home by Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

* You'd Better Come Home by Petula Clark

* My Hometown by Bruce Springteen

* Go Home Girl by Arthur Anderson

* I'm Comin' Home by Arthur Anderson

* I'll Be Home for Christmas by Frank Sinatra

* I'll Be Home for Christmas by Dolly Parton

* I'll Be Home for Christmas by Aimee Mann

* The Last Trip Home by Battlefield Band

* Call Me on Your Way Back Home by Ryan Adams

* Come Back Home by Pete Yorn

* Go Home by Guided by Voices

hasta manana,
mylifeinspain

3 years ago: Happy Friday
2 years ago: What a difference...
1 year ago: No entry.

i'm back....

Actually, I haven't been anywhere, but I figured I better post an update soon before my mother started to worry. :-) And now it has been so long that I have to really think what I have been doing the past week and a bit that kept me from blogging....
*When I last sat before the TypePad template, it was Semana Santa. I have to admit, I wasn't really into checking out the processions this year. I did post a few fotos from Palm Sunday, but I was a bit creeped out by the village's recently assembled drum and bugle corps and their paratrooper getups. Sometimes I feel that the longer I am living in Spain, the less I understand certain things. For one, I thought military uniforms juxtaposed with the pageantry of Holy Week was an image not reflective of modern Spain thinking. But what do I know because when I brought the subject up with a couple people, they saw it as just "tradition" and very "Onward Christian Soldiers". Then again, we do not live in exactly the most progressive of villages....
*I also skipped the crucifixion on Good Friday because 1) I have seen the priest-mayor as Jesus be whipped three times already and frankly that's enough; and 2) the weather was overcast and quite chilly and I was much too happy snuggled up at home to think about venturing outdoors.
*Last week brought another round of antibiotics, although nothing as serious as the kidney infection of last month. However, I was taking Cipro and thus ready for an anthrax attack at any moment, but alas none was forthcoming. Ho hum.
*Bode kitty had his little huevos removed on Easter Monday and so far he doesn't seem to miss them much. For some reason I thought this would instill him with some sense of calm, but not the case. He is still a completely mad kookamunga whose favorite things involve either biting some part of my flesh or looking incredibly cute and peaceful first before pulling out the fangs. But he is beautiful, and at least now the marauding gang of feral cousins is no longer gathering outside our front door and leaving their "calling cards". Which of course Almendena would mop down with some rose-smelling detergent before I even got back from the dogs' morning walk, adding to my "I'm a shitty Spanish housewife" guilt.
*By far, however, the biggest time zap of the past 12 days has been my irrational need to find out who Heidi and Spencer are. I know, I know I am years late on the American pop culture scene, no matter how many OK! magazines Big Jim brings me from Holland. But fortunately for me, mtv has graciously made all episodes of The Hills available online. And this is how I was sucked into the vapid world that is Heidi, Spencer, Brody, and Audrina. :Sigh:: It is seriously hard work catching up on three series of shows I tell you! Although when I watched the last episode, I could not help but wonder what I could achieve if I ever applied myself to anything worthwhile....hmmm.

Life should be a tad more placid in the coming days. One reason is that Big Jim finished up his contract in the Hague yesterday and is flying back to the village tomorrow, thus assuming fifty percent of housewifery duties, at least until the next job comes along. :-) Also, later next week we are jetting off to somewhere fun (hint: Marco Polo airport) to celebrate mylifeinspain's 40th b-day. :-D

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

3 years ago: Friday fotos from Pakistan
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: No entry.

marked

The last 10 web pages I have bookmarked:

1. Dollars Tough Sell on the Streets of Amsterdam

2. Director Anthony Minghella Dies :-(

3. Venice Travel Guide

4. Stuffed Peppers with Tomato Sauce

5. The Apple Store

6. Postcard from Provence

7. Ink Provoking

8. NY Times

9. Men's Dress Shirts

10. GOOD Magazine---Where's the Beef?

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

3 years ago: Keep on truckin'
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: No entry.

tgif

I don't know who I feel more sorry for:

1. Juan the vet, who had to drain the precious Boo's anal glands today.

2. The precious Boo, who had to have her anal glands drained today.

3. Me, who had to hold her back end up so that Juan the vet could drain the precious Boo's anal glands.

Yeah, big TGIF. :-)

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

3 years ago: Monday monday
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: No entry.

ipod shuffle

1. Today Is the Day by Yo La Tengo

2. She's Crafty by Beastie Boys

3. Quality of Armor by Guided by Voices

4. Just 14 by Original Sins

5. Certain Stars by Superchunk

6. Music When the Lights Go Out by The Libertines

7. Ace of Spades by Link Wray

8. What's a Simple Man to Do? by Steve Earle

9. Sweet Forgiveness by Iris DeMent

10. Spiritual by Johnny Cash

on the reading pile

Currently on my reading pile (mind you, this is just the reading pile in the bedroom; we won't even discuss the stack to read on the bookshelves...):

1. Mustn't Grumble: In Search of England and the English by Joe Bennett

2. Red Sky at Sunrise by Laurie Lee

3. Miss McKirdy's Daughters Will Now Dance the Highland Fling by Barbara Kinghorn

4. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

5. The Olive Season by Carol Drinkwater

6. The Jeeves Omnibus #1 by P.G. Wodehouse

7. Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo

8. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

9. Diary for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe

10. The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson

11. Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

3 years ago: Spring cleaning....
2 years ago: No entry.
1 year ago: No entry.

excuses excuses

Reasons I did not post this past weekend:

1. Had a work deadline Friday, and then

2. Big Jim arrived home for the weekend.

3. Big Jim arrived home for the weekend.

4. Big Jim arrived home for the weekend.

5. Big Jim arrived home for the weekend.

6. Spent Saturday on the coast. Ate shrimp and added many pieces to my sea glass collection.

7. Worked most of yesterday getting the garden ready for the arrival of la primavera.

8. Monitored the Spanish election results Sunday (in case you have not heard, Zapatero was reelected :-). And then,

9. Big Jim returned to the Hague this morning.

But to make it up to you, here are the latest Bode pics. :-)

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

fave podcasts

currently on my iPod:

* BBC Africa Today

* Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac

* CBC The North This Week

* BBC Excess Baggage

* NPR Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!

* PRI Selected Shorts

* The Rachel Maddow Show

* The Archers

* This American Life

* BBC Profile

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

a vent in two lists

Ok, I need to vent and there is no one to vent to because:

1. It is siesta in the village and it would be rude to call anyone

2. Big Jim is off doing important work things

3. My mother is not answering the phone

4. The dogs just want to kiss me and the kitten just wants to bite me

So I went back to the doctor today, and the kidney infection is all healed, yay! However, at both visits my blood pressure was elevated, very strange for someone who historically has been a steady 100/70 and whose only vice is cheese. True, there is a genetic link that cannot be overlooked, and several people in my family do have high blood pressure. Which is where my doctor remained focused and thus scheduled another appointment for me next week, at which time he wants me to wear a monitor for 24 hours to eliminate any possibility that doctor office nervousness is causing the high BP before prescribing me meds that I will have to take for the rest of my life.

Now I am not saying the doctor is not right, but both Big Jim and I are natural-born skeptics, and on the bus ride back to the village I went over in my mind anything that had changed semi-recently that could also be a reason. The mobile vibrated as Big Jim SMS'd me with exactly the same thought I had just had---the eye drops I have been taking for glaucoma for the past year.

As soon as I greeted the pets, I googled the brand name of the eye drops, and lo and behold what is their most common nonocular adverse effect: hyperFUCKINGtension! I have suffered some of the ocular side effects of the drops---overgrown eyelashes and occasionally puffy eyelids---so why wouldn't I also possibly be affected by some of their other nasties.

Ok, now I want to know:

1. Why didn't my ophthalmologist ever ask me about my family history regarding hypertension? Come to think of it, I don't know that he ever inquired about my own BP history....

2. Why didn't the doctor today look into possible adverse effects of the glaucoma med? I listed it on my medical history form.

3. Why, as a result of #2, do I feel that I can do a better differential diagnosis than my doctors?

4. If I indeed have to stop taking the glaucoma eye drops, can I qualify for a medical marijuana prescription? Just curious.....

And geez, if I didn't have hyperFUCKINGtension before, between this and Brett Favre's retirement (tears have been shed), I sure do now!

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain

3 years ago: 105,16€ AND Snow snow snow
2 years ago: What's new
1 year ago: March garden

in season

For the past eight months or so, I have been buying much of our produce from JL, a Spanish organic farmer who delivers orders to the village every two weeks. All of the fruit and veg have been amazingly yummy and fresh, the carrots and beets full of dirt from just being picked that morning. And to boot, the bio produce often costs less than the inferior tasting stuff grown under plastic with the chemicals. It's crazy, but even crazier, it has been impossible to find more than eight people in the village to consistently place orders. People always seem really interested when I tell them about JL, but when it comes down to buying anything, everyone has excuses: "I don't cook enough to justify buying a kilo or half kilo of anything," "I can't be tied down to a set pickup time," and "That's a funny looking tomato" when I showed a neighbor one of the juicy beefsteaks in my bag. There are also those who can't understand why beets are not available in August or mangos in January. It is incredibly frustrating I tell you. But anyway, here is the list of produce available for the first week of March:

FRUTAS Y VERDURAS

-Lechuga malagueña------------------------0,90e/pieza
-Lechuga hoja de roble---------------------0,80 e/pieza
-Aguacates-----------------------------------2,20 e/kg
-Naranjas-------------------------------------1 e/kg
-Limones--------------------------------------1 e/kg
-Tomate---------------------------------------1,60 e/kg
-Rabanillas------------------------------------1 e/manojo
-Nabos-----------------------------------------1 e/manojo
-Acelgas---------------------------------------1,20 e/manojo
-Guisantes-------------------------------------3 e/kg (FRESH PEAS, HOW GREAT IS THAT!)
-Habas-----------------------------------------1,20 e/kg
-Coles------------------------------------------1 e/kg
-Coliflor----------------------------------------1,30 e/kg
-Zanahoria------------------------------------1 e/manojo
-Remolacha-----------------------------------2 e/kg
-Apio------------------------------------------ 1 e/manojo
-Cilantro---------------------------------------0,65 e/manojo
-Perejil-----------------------------------------0,65 e/manojo

My huge bag of veg this week cost a measly €6,80, which is less than the kilo of leeks and red peppers I bought from the Saturday market a few weeks ago. And now my stomach is growling, so I am off to make dinner. :-)

hasta pronto,
mylifeinspain