My Favorite Things This Month - August

1. Summer Olympics 2012 - John and I love to watch sports and the Olympics are also on our list of sport events we watch every two years. This year, Raquel and Sofia got into watching Gymnastics and hearing our national anthem. British did amazing in their opening and closing ceremonies, however, I hate to say this, but the Chinese did do it better. I did love to see George Michael, though. He was my 80's heartthrob!

2. Freedom of Expression - One thing I love this country is that fact that speech is protected and when someone's opinion about certain subjects is blasted and the person is crucified across the media circus is disheartening. Whether my right and wrong is not someone else's right and wrong it is one's opinion and one must practice TOLERANCE across the board whether one belongs to Mercury and the other to Pluto. That is why, we, the Seaman's as a family stood in line for 40 minutes to support freedom of expression.

3. My 5 Year Anniversary - This is how long I have been working at my current employer and for their gratitude for having stick around so long, they gave me a booklet to choose a gift. I chose luggage. I know lame, but I was hoping there was an I-Pad or laptop. Maybe that's a different catalog...

4. Outback, Absolute Wildtea Cocktail - About two weeks ago, we had some cash laying around and we decided to break our Friday night routine and not cook, so we went to the Outback and as I glanced the menu, I "accidently" came across the drink menu. So, I glanced and nothing looked good until I saw this and I thought, tea and vodka? Well, I've never had that before. Ten minutes after I had order mine John was ordering one for himself. This drink is so good, I googled the recipe on how to make it. I haven't done it yet, but it is on my to do list!

A New American Citizen!

My mom did it! She passed her Citizenship test and yesterday she became a new United States American Citizen! There were 61 people total, 31 different countries. 

Posing behind the seal. The flag had a long line!

Posing with the lady! The Statue of Liberty.

A Day In The Life of a Seaman

One minute they were putting the dolls to sleep, next there was no space for her so Raquel decided to find space on the couch. Clever.

Watch me! I can do this all by myself!

Tada! Look, no hands!

Confidence is shown by a balancing a beach ball. 

....now what....

All of a sudden, there was silence so I looked for the noise maker in the house and I found she climbed Raquel's crib and made herself comfortable. 

She was making baby noises.

High five!

There are times they like to help me clean.

Buckets with water on my wooden floor. At least, they are showing the motivation to clean. I can't argue with that!

My Precious Billy. I love you.

I think this is Lenny. 

Coco Beware! My tomboy!

I love you too, Billy Willy!

A meeting to discuss who's taking the most beatings!

Mi Trompita! 

They've settled it. Occupy the Couch!

They enjoyed the Circus so much, they dressed like clowns.

If its raining outside, there is an immediate reaction to test the umbrellas!

 My Sweet Little Girl!

Movies We Watch

Movie: John Carter

A Civil War soldier somehow transports himself to Mars. Yep, Mars and due to no gravity in Mars, he leaps, jumps instead of walking. There he encounters several races of...umm..people who are at war with each other and in order to find peace the princess has to married the bad guy. So, John Carter is the one to save her by aligning himself with the guys who look like they just finished filming Star Wars. No, really.

In the beginning of John Carter, we agreed on why this movie was given bad reviews, but by the end of movie, we wanted to know more about where he's gone and what he would find. So, it wasn't such a bad movie if it hadn't been such a long movie. Not bad, not good, but so, so.

We give it: 2 1/2 stars.

Movie: Coriolanus

Based on a Shakespeare novel by the name of "The Tragedy of Coriolanus." This movie goes something like this while the characters in this movie are in modern times:

Coriolanus: "I'll fight with none but thee, for I do hate thee."
Aufidius: We hate alike.
Coriolanus: O, a kiss Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
Coriolanus: He that will give good words to thee will flatter beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs that like nor peace nor war? The one affrights you, the other makes you proud. He that trusts to you where he should find you lions, finds you hares; where foxes, geese. Who deserves greatness, deserves your hate.

I pulled out my dictionary due to some words that I had never ever heard before. At first we were annoyed at the way they were talking but soon we got the hang of it and didn't mind much at all. So much so, that I was rooting for poor Coriolanus!

We give it: 3 Stars.

Movie: Brave

I was not excited about seeing this movie like John was so I was dragged because we were able to get away and have a movie date. This is about a princess whose parents want to marry her by choosing a mate for her. She was against it, her mother was making her choose one or the winner of a game sort of contest which she won. The princess went to a witch to help her change her mother! All I have to say is that I was crying at the end of this movie. The relationship between the queen mother and the princess was hard at times, they both wanted each other to change without accepting each other for who they were.

I give it: 3 Stars

Movie: Immortals

Mickey Rourke starts as the bad guy who wants to conquer some Greek land by capturing the oracle. While the hero doesn't want to be the hero because he doesn't like war but unknown to him, he is chosen by the oracle to save the land. The gods do show up in this movie, about the only thing that was cool about it. Cheesy dialog. Fighting was cheesy. The man's torsos were not cheesy.

We give it: 1 1/2 stars.

Neil Armstrong

I didn't see him landing on the moon in 1969 but his grace and humility made him one of America's heroes.

Rest in peace. You have now leaped into the grace of our Lord.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/08/25/astronaut-neil-armstrong-dies-at-82/#ixzz24cgzNvfn

Lance Dope Armstrong

I remember the time when I cheated on my Algebra test and was caught red handed. The feeling was awful. "I thought were better than this!" said my teacher with a face of disgust and utter and disappointment which I would never forget. Since that day on, I learned cheating doesn't get you anything but stripped of your character and live with the shame and only to pick up the pieces and learn not to ever do it again.

Lance Armstrong, you may deny you never doped which leads me to say that you will never learn your lesson to live an honest life. I'm glad they took away your titles, you don't deserved. You cheated! You may be doing good deeds with your charity work but you cheated your way and lied to everyone. Thank goodness, I never counted you as my idol, in fact, there is no sports figure that I count as my idol...however, there are a few sports figure that I would LOVE to take a picture with:

1. Pele
2. Troy Aikman
3. Emmitt Smith

If any of the above people doped in the past or cheated in any way, form or shape they would drop off my list like a dead fly!

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/sports/Lance-Armstrong-wont-fight-doping-allegations-167270635.html

Five for Friday - Statehood

In honor of Hawaii's Statehood fifty-three years ago this August:

1. Hawaii’s nickname is the Aloha State. If your neighborhood were to be admitted as the fifty-first state, what would be its nickname?

Lone Star Neighborhood. (I know, lame.)


2. What do you own fifty of?

Quarters. I like to save quarters.


3. What’s the nicest beach you’ve been to?

A toss up between Cancun and Oahu, with the only difference Cancun has less jellyfish.


4. A pizza with ham and pineapple is often called a Hawaiian pizza (something that annoys many of us who live here and can’t stand that flavor combination). If you live in Hawaii, what should rightfully be called a Hawaiian pizza, and if you live elsewhere, what would go on the pizza named after your area?

Since I'm married to a Hawaiian native born, I would say a Hawaiian pizza should have Spam!


5. What mental and emotional states do you hope to attain this weekend?

Healthy state from my cold.

Dallas: 2024 Olympic Bid

The Seaman's love the Olympics. Winter and Summer and today I learned Dallas is going to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics! Let's see Sofia will be 16, me...uhh, never mind, who cares. Just like my long life dream came true to watch a World Cup in Dallas back in the 90's, my next dream, God willing, will be to watch as many Olympic events as I can!

Let's cross our fingers and pray this happens! Sure, it's 12 years down the road but why not! Philly (yuck) and New York is also bidding. Texas is much cleaner than these two.

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/sports/more/Dallas-gears-up-for-2024-Olympic-bid-166479916.html

Gold Digging or Gold Diggers?

Nike has done it and offended the women who are not gold diggers. Adidas offended by attempting at selling   the shackle shoes to the public, thankfully, it never made it to the stores. But this Nike T-shirt only offered in women's sizes and only for women gives a lot to be desired unless you are a "gold digger," not an Olympian trying to win the gold medal or as Nike is trying to convey the message that all of the women Olympian's are gold digging because they are in fact trying to win a gold medal and not win some guy for his "money."

This t-shirt does not offend me. It just another t-shirt with a very tacky message from the minds of the Nike Marketing department who obviously can't come up with a much better positive message to our women Olympian athletes.

I wouldn't wear this t-shirt even if I get it for free. I would probably used it as a mop to clean my wooden floors hoping it would give my floors a golden look.

Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/nike-8217-sexist-8220-gold-digging-8221-shirt-163800666.html

West Nile Virus

While rain is always good in Texas, er, anywhere where a drought exists, there is always a negative side to it that comes after the rain is gone. Mosquitoes, flies and other insects. However, this year Dallas and the surrounding suburbs are experience the West Nile Mosquito Virus. There's been several deaths in Dallas and now Plano has had its 5th case! Yikes! We live by a creek....I'm not sure its full but I'm very sure there is standing water in it. When I get bit, I'm suddenly freaking out. So, we are spraying ourselves to death with mosquito repellent.

It's not like we go out to our backyard to play in the middle of August, it's too damn hot to do so, but now we have to fear not only the hot sun, now we got to watch out for a mosquito!

Dallas is deciding whether to do an aerial spray over the city and so is Ft. Worth. The health experts say is completely safe while very few say they are uncertain. I say spray! We don't need anymore deaths!

I have never wished for a really cold, freezing, ice, snow winter EVER!

This is what I found on the symptoms related to the West Nile Virus:


Q. If I have West Nile Fever, can it turn into West Nile encephalitis?A. When someone is infected with West Nile virus (WNV) they will typically have one of three outcomes: No symptoms (most likely), West Nile fever (WNF in about 20% of people) or severe West Nile disease, such as meningitis or encephalitis (less than 1% of those who get infected). If you develop a high fever with severe headache, consult your health care provider.
West Nile fever is characterized by symptoms such as fever, body aches, headache and sometimes swollen lymph glands and rash. West Nile fever generally lasts only a few days, though in some cases symptoms have been reported to last longer, even up to several weeks. West Nile fever does not appear to cause any permanent health effects. There is no specific treatment for WNV infection. People with West Nile fever recover on their own, though symptoms can be relieved through various treatments (such as medication for headache and body aches, etc.).
Some people may develop a brief, WNF-like illness (early symptoms) before they develop more severe disease, though the percentage of patients in whom this occurs is not known. 


http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/west-nile/Plano-reports-fifth-West-Nile-virus-case-165158416.html

First NFL Female Referee

I have always wondered why there aren't any more professional women referee in international games like Futbol (soccer), American Football or even Baseball. What I mean is that women are good at running, blowing the whistle, screaming, yelling and big sigh, make a game call.

Well, the NFL has decided to put down the gender barrier and hired their first woman NFL Referee. She has high school and some college experience but not on the professional level. I wouldn't expect her to have any professional experience since there are hardly any women with that kinda of level of experience. Thus putting a lot of pressure on her to perform with an eye of a Tiger, no an EAGLE! I wish her luck. Better her than me among big sweaty man, I'd rather play fantasy football and no, she will not be wearing a skimpy referee outfit either!

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/08/06/nfl-to-use-first-ever-female-referee/

Circus Time!

Since our Parish Early Learning school gave the girls a very nice discount coupon to attend the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey  "Fully Charge" show, well, we did! It had been since the 80's that John and I had last gone to see the circus and we all enjoyed it. Our 3:30pm show wasn't sold out since the row in front of us and behind us were empty but it was still a pretty good turn out.

If you arrive an hour early before the show starts, you are free to come down to the floor and visit with the clowns and other circus stars and watch their mini pre-show! It was great!

Overall, the upbeat music throughout the show and the funny stunts from the clowns makes the show very successful.

Sofia trying to juggle

Raquel did not want to get close to the clown. I think it was the nose...

But everything change when Sofia and Raquel noticed this circus star with her sparkly shiny outfit. They had no problem posing with her.

Sofia's big smile says it all! They had a small rack where kids could try on outfits and Sofia quickly spotted this pink whatever it is outfit. She didn't want to take it off!

Raquel was drawn to this gold sparkly outfit. 

This is the pre-show where you can come down to the main floor and visit with the stars of the circus.

Shaka Man

 We had pretty good seats!

My Mom! She loves the Circus!

My hat off to the Acrobats! They were crazy cool!

These two guys were amazing two. In fact, I wanted to ride this thing!

There wouldn't be a Circus without the Elephants!

They enjoyed themselves very much as well as the obligatory popcorn and cotton candy they had.