siotha.com

Facebook & all it’s glory. Branding!

So there have been numorus studies and ways to make facebook and twitter viable social media recommendations. For example this website highly recommends it with a distant reference to a study done. Great. I’m on board. It’s free, it’s easy, it’s minimally time consuming. It creates brand loyalty and recommendations…. and then we did it… and then…. ghost town…. even the most exciting PR, announcements, info, education couldn’t keep it alive. So. Then I got to re thinking – why do people use these mediums. Yes, it’s to get a snippit of news. No it’s not to learn every priority detail about a brand… it’s to get that 1 on 1 interaction they cannot get via TV, PRINT or RADIO… PPC or Blogs don’t give them that interaction. Uh oh. Hrm. So, after months of re-tweaking writing styles and performance estimates… yeah… magic… get people talking and ask open ended questions to get response. Uh oh. now my time is spent 75% dealing with the issues that come up over these lines of communication. Wait.. I’m the overpaid marketing person… why am I babysitting again? Oh right, because customer service only does email and phone support. Not anymore you don’t. Welcome to the generation of I want I want I need – last minute yesturday, make me happy instant gratification because I have a computer cell phone pda wireless mobile device. NOW button alert! So all these marketing people are touting Facebook and Twitter as great branding tools. Great. I’m on board. But honestly. It’s more of a strategy for customer service to handle. Cus what I’m finding, is 80% of these tools are allowing customers to enjoy engaging conversations with my Evangelist teams and customer service issues. So, for all of you who think – oh great- free marketing – easy marketing – who actually get the formula right…. yes, the return on investment is brand loyalty… but don’t forget to add in your customer care and evangelists cost to your investment. Because ultimately these tools are costing you way more time than the touted FREE facebook fan pages and Twitter Tweet twits. <- sorry, but I call twits the dumb side effects of a tweet.

Yes Yes!

So recently, I’ve been on a rollercoaster of interviews. I’ve even had jobs offered, and said offers recended within hours. I’ve had proposals accepted, declined, work praised and unpaid and everything in between. But tonight I write about 1 thing. The yes I can attitude it takes to go through all of those rollercoasters. Recently, I went on a great series of interviews, then bombed when it came to the final. I question what happened in my mind – over and over again. Ultimately, it boils down to this. My Yes- I can – I will – I’ll try – I’ll do attitude, didn’t help me so much when in a meeting – someone asked – are you a Cheif or an Indian. I’m both. I tried to say that, and it came out a bunch of nervous garbage. Now, I sit back and go – Yes I blew it, Yes, it didn’t go my way, Yes it’s probably for the best.

Except at the end of the day, my high standards say – “no, I don’t accept defeat yet”

And that is how I choose to look at things these days. There’s lots of no’s out there. However, unless someone says flat out NO WAY and say we won’t pay. I will always feel there is a chance. And if there’s a chance. I will continue to try. I will try until – at last there is nothing left, and the reality is set in place as a no go.

I watched the news tonight. I can’t imagine being 55+ with the harsh reality of a 40 week job seeking time. I can however understand how people feel to be overqualified, and lacking an interview because of that “problem”. Really?

We go through life, willing and able to work. Young people strive to go to college, then work, put in the years as the underdog, with the hope of growing into a job. Then they grow into said jobs and excel…. we go into our older, mature, and great experience years only to find out – we’re now cut back because cheaper and more advanced labor is available. We morph, we try again and we continue looking. At 65 we wont’ be able to retire, and we will barely be able to make our house note/rent. What a blow to our life’s story. Can this be changed? yes – maybe. The sad reality is the laborforce we’re creating will be worse as we get older. How do we change our circumstances?

Not available for public appearances!

This school season has been fantastic for us. We’ve really had a great start of the year experience with Alyssa, she got 100% on her spelling test, and seems to really enjoy her school. It’s very different than what my husband and I thought first grade to be like. Children change classes based on their groupings, not their class, they basically aren’t babied, and she is responsible for her behavior. So far, she’s got more good behavior marks than I think Jeremy or I ever had growing up.

Then Miss Bella started school. Great experience, good to know she’s trying to climb on everything, and has her days. She even decided to walk this week. We’re so proud. Check it out on facebook, if you’d like to see her vid.

But the one thing this season has done, is automatically give us the crud. You see Alyssa and Bella started school 2 weeks seperately from each other. And each child managed to bring home and spread the crud to us. Alyssa’s was just a light cold, and thank goodness because I’d just had my gallbladder removed. Bella however, got a very nasty bug and now my husband and I aren’t fit for public appearances.

Hello doctors. We’ll be there tomorrow. As of course these things always get worse over the weekend. We’ve done everything possible for homeopathic treatments, soothed our sore throats with camomille and honey teas, organic cough & crud herbs for the kids (which I might say, have done everything well for them)…. but for hubby and I. There’s no way around the sinus infection, colds that have settled into our chest. It’s time. Oh boy. It’s time for us to go see…. the doctor. I’ve drank enough collodial silver and squirted it in noses and ears… (ears it helped, noses, not so much). So if you haven’t heard from us this week, know that we’re resting getting better, and awaiting a great weekend at Plano Balloon Festival!! It seems to be something else is going on in Addison too, but at the moment, I forgot. Oktoberfest or taste of Addison… why they have to have competing events every year beats me. I’m just thankful that because I’m volunteering for the Balloon Festival, we get in free!

Oh Pick Me Me! Me! I’m your gal! The funny cycle of selling oneself.

There’s something amazing about big meetings, interviews, or proposals. Especially when you’re a freelancer, such as myself. Today is one of those days where – I get to shine. Shine my shoes, style my hair, the flooding, the printer not working, the kids almost being late to school, the dog panicking over the weather – don’t matter. I’m selling myself, my brand, my services, and this far into the process, I’m sure they’ll pick me. Emotionally this process takes a toll on everyone. Let’s recap this cycle shall we?

1. Deciding, I need money. Yep. You don’t go through this process, unless there’s a reward. Most of us have money, paying off bills, affording new shiny tech toys, or travelling as used by that money.
2. Searching for Money. Hallelujah. The fun begins. Where do I drum up business. Do I submit my resume today? Do I search craigslist, Yahoo, google, indeed? Do I go to companies and fill out hiring applications, do I send out friendly emails reminding everyone that I’m available… and can wrap up that problem project yesterday? You gotta start somewhere. However, with the electronic age as it is, I’ll just send 500 resumes out and hope to get 2 bites 4 months from now.
3. Ok. I’ve made a hunting plan. Now I must go for the kill. I must write a proposal, also known as a resume, also known as a cold call sales pitch. I’m talking to someone – is anyone listening, I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I aught to re-word my online brochure. Maybe I need to do things that will constructively add to my personal brand. After all, business is all Me2Me now, not B2b, or B2C. Thank you Gen Y. I could alternately do a video resume. Yep. Great thinking. I’ll start that next week, after I go to the mall.
4. Brrrrrrring! (ok, so at my house, it’s more like some funky “hello MOTO”). “this is Siotha” “oh hi! how are you, sorry bout the noise in the background, after all you’re calling my cell phone…” “yeah, so what I can offer is this…”"great, well now let me ask a few details, what’s your budget? timeframe? (or- I’m willing to take $2/hr, and work 95 hours a week for you -no problemo)” “What do you mean you’re launching today? Well, to help you I need at least a month to get the basics, and well, we need to do this this and this” “good, i’m so glad I could help you… so when can we sit down and go through a detailed plan… (or interview)” “in a few weeks?” ” Great, I look forward to your call”.  Or the decidedly short and sweet version: Brring! “Yes this is her, oh hi, how are you today… yes, I’m still looking… yes, I can drive way out there… oh great… and well I think I can help you this way and that way… great… well, i’m flexible on pay, but I’d like to stick to A million dollars, well yes sir, i’m qualified, experienced, and oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was way out of your budget” click.  The third scenario goes something like either of the above, but then schedules a sit down lunch.
5. Rain. Great. Lunch date 14, lets do this again. Oh Hi. Oh I didn’t know you were bringing your partner, assistant, and buddy – who also already do this type of work. Sure I’ll order soup. Gab Gab Gab. Um. Are you sure you want to do the business this way? I’ve had great successes if we do this or this or this, but it takes time to build that site that way, and the brand you need…. yes, I’m sure of it… i can cheat the system, but unfortunately that takes money up front. Are you sure you can’t put a little down now on some work that will establish you as a high page ranking, site? Well, yes I’m invested, but really, I know that if I put my money into it, you still have the option to pull out or not pay, and no matter how good my lawyer is, yours is better, after all you have money. Sure, I’ll send a proposal. Yeah, no problem.
6. 4 hours later. Proposal specifically written, articulate, thoroughly planned, spit polished, sent.
7. Days go by. Weeks start racking up. Nothing. Finally. After 3 reminders, 2 casual emails, and a phone call. Thanks but no thanks.

Now this is where I should insert the… Well, this is how the life goes, you just do this cycle over and over again, until you get a viable client. Sometimes you get great referrals and never have to worry about this cycle. Sometimes, you stumble upon an opportunity that turns out to skip all that hassle and shows you the money immediately. And, as I’ve found out in the last 2 years, the Economy takes a dump. More and more people are offering the same skills, better prices, and are more desperate for crappy clients…. work dwindles…  now Obama can have anyone be a self – employed guru. Health insurance won’t be an issue. Accountants will always have jobs. And.. Well… my client list… they’ve all hired great people – at my recommendation. They’ve all planned their budget, and are sticking to it… as per my recommendation… They’ve all chosen to hire 3 people in house – to do the work I provided. Amazingly. I’ve worked myself into the cycle of bringing in new business, or a new job, or something again. Wow.

So. I’m off. Off to fight the torrential down pours, the printer that guzzles ink, and the shoes that I don’t want wet, but honestly, I’m not getting any other shoes wet either today. I shall win this proposal. Prove how good I am… and then come home and eat steak for dinner. Yum. Ok, Pizza might actually be on the menu just because I don’t want to do anything else but focus on this meeting today.

Where did August Go?

Geesh. After starting 2 new businesses this month, wait… I was supposed to do that this month. Instead. I spent August recovering from a Gall Bladder attach, and surgical removal of the darned thing. In the past I’ve been super fast at recovery, no big deal, all quick easy. Yeah. I guess that went away with my up coming birthday. Mental note: when claiming to be 29, don’t do that claim with regards to health… 23 was definitely by far the most optimum year. With that said, and a job interview that’s taking it’s sweet time (I don’t blame them in this economy), I am cleaning up the inbox, sandbox, and revisiting with my accountant. It’s time to get this party started.

psst.. top realizations of life with kids!

Barack Levin writes about really good topics for parents, mostly for dad’s. But I felt inspired, enlightened, and mildly informed by his article 8 things I wish I knew before having kids.

So here’s my comments to these items. Get Ready. You’re going to read some practical info from Siotha. Exclusively learned from a 6 yr veteran of raising 2 children. LOL.

Sleeping.

Forget it. There’s no such thing as sleeping like a baby. if there is any noise in the house you will hear it, feel it, and rush to figure out – is it the kids, the house, or an intruder. Never before have you experienced the sleep but no asleep. as a matter of fact. I’m blogging right now next to a child who screams bloody murder if there isn’t someone in the bed with her asleep. Oh the joys of co-sleeping.

Feeeding.

At first it’s like, every other hour give the baby a bottle, because reality is you have to burp, hold, wrestle a baby baby… when they’re toddlers, strap em down in the high chair and enjoy the mess they make. It will take another hour to find all the food they fed to the dog, slung on the walls, and change the baby out of her clothes wash her and get the food outof all those crevices.

Bonding.

Yep. Babies prefer one parent over the other, and as they get older SCREAM when you leave the room. Even if you aren’t the preferred parent. They scream. Then when they are older, they slam the door and say – “I need me time. Get out!” I can’t wait to own a teenager.

Responsibility

I always knew that having a baby carries a lot of responsibility. I knew it, but never had to deal with it. – Barack

I can’t say it any easier. Good luck Kids are expensive, wives are expensive, family, cars, finances, retirement, insurance, jobs, job changes, banks, mortgages… all of that responsibility sets in about year 3.

Changing names

Good luck getting used to being called Dad or Mom. And calling your family the name you’re children are supposed to call them. Just do me a favor, don’t be on a first name basis. That’s so un-cool in my book. It’s almost like saying – i don’t want to be in a personal relationship with you. Or i’m too cool to make a sacrifice to be called a familiar name.

Time Management

Good luck. If you have a tip on how to show up, be calm, and cool on time with 5 kids in tow. Please share it with me. As there is nothing like the same excuse every day – Ooops I’m late again… the kids “insert excuse about kids here”

Relationship with spouse.

I love my husband. He’s great. But we get about 2 hours a day with him, an hour for dinner, an hour for play. Then we all go to bed, and call it a day. Talking becomes impossible as the kids start listening and putting their input in, dates become expesive with babysitter fees, etc etc. One of us has to have an eye on the kids at all times.

At night we’re exhausted, happy, and willing to do it all over again the next day. We love being a family, and will do what it takes to raise our children to be happy, adjusted, responsible, citizens of their community.

Oh thank you gmail….google makes major updates to gmail

Today I noticed new features in GMAIL! Finally.. I’m one of the many thousands, millions that actually use GMAIL in the browser instead of offline. It only took 5 years for them to add things like search, but they had Advertisements from the beginning.

Here’s a list of new things:

New Layout! Same simplicity, now with more features.

Look! New Contacts & Tasks on the Left! And a big ole button for Compose Mail. I used to always hunt for “compose mail” and I’ve been using it for years!

Search has Changed!

New Search Features! You can now search From, To, Has words, Subject, Date Range, and where you’re searching (contacts, mail, etc).

CONTACTS in GOOGLE GMAIL!

You have a whole section for Contacts, organize them by groups, import them from many places (however, I found this not to work so well), Exports, and mass email. Gotta love having the group email in the web browser now! Thanks GMAIL!

Sweet Tab for Organizing your Contact Groups! (they forgot the delete group).

More info to use contacts. You can print, export, import, and change your sort. I thought the sort by was a bit odd, since half my email addy’s don’t have a first must less an last name.

Additionally, you can quickly add to your contacts list from the tabs. That’s great. but if doesnt find a name, then you have to manually add via New contact button on the left. I thought that was cumbersome, but hey, what do I know about software ha ha ha….

On that note, take a look at all the neat info you can add about your contact: Nicknames, company, date, relationship, instant messaging, picture and notes.

Wow. Thanks Google. The more I put in, the more you’ll know about who I talk to, what they look like, think, where they live, contact information, all of that big brother stuff you can now use for ad analytics. Where’s my cut of the money from all this data I put in freely for you to use?

Tasks. As if we need another reminder tool.

Tasks are now in a little pop up pain (lol) on the bottom of the screen. I think that’s great for those who use tasks, in the past it used to be half assed and put with google calendars. Anyone out there figure out how to use this feature – effectively?

for more info straight from the google blog on GMAIL go here.

If you’re not already on the world’s easiest to use web based FREE email…. sign up now dude!

Whole food vs. Crap food. Great. what are they serving at school?!

Food. mmm yummy. At the mere thought of food, I can think of 100’s of things I love to eat. about 4 are whole food. no wonder I’m getting fat again. However, at the same time I’m being really conscious about what my children and my family eats. Meat, Veggies, 1 Carb, 1 Dairy. Calcium, probiotics, and multivitamin supplements. I’ve also noticed 2 interesting comments about food being consumed as a society. At school, they feed the children the equivalent of fast food (because of budget? time? I don’t know why it’s crap). So I thought I’d share them.

eat whole foods

Toothy stories

Ok, here’s short one. So I have 2 kids, right? a almost 1 year old, and a 6 year old. Something about the month of July has been Tooth month. Bella is getting more teeth – she got 4 in 3 weeks, and Alyssa is loosing her childhood teeth! She lost her upper front tooth 2 days ago. I’m thinking we need more milk!

Top 3 Things in Life We Wish Had Come with Instructions

1. Marriage, Dating, Love
   
2. Kids
3. Finances

How do you know what’s right? Everyone has an opinion. Everyone uses instructions. However, it’s amazing to see how lost we are when it comes to the top 3 things in my life. Ok, so they’re really broad, and there are many situations that change the game from your life to mine. But ultimately. We all wish life had come with instructions on how to do all of the above.

So where do we look for those instructions? What can we depend on? Our heart means well, our life experiences vary so broadly and our values are different from each other… so how do we know? Did you learn it from your parents? Did they teach you how to date, or did they say – oh the hormones kicked in they’ll figure it out. Did they say – ok here’s what you want to do – save for this save for that, but ultimately they shopped and spent all of their savings teaching you to spend and indulge when life  changes. Or did they just do some terrible things (insert your thoughts here) that you feel the need to have a 2nd chance at when your life comes to that milestone? It’s amazing to hear the stories of people – how they do things, how they don’t do things…. and likewise – say they do something – and in later part of life – completely do what they preached against.

So that leads to my original question… how do you know what’s truly right? Do you find it at church? In a social club? In a book? Or do you just fly through life and hope you’ve made the right decision, and later when confronted with the good or bad results…. do you have a way to make changes? Kind of vague huh?

Additional questions that come up when thinking of these topics are:

• How does one Find a soulmate?
• Do we marry for Love, Love of Money, or Lust?
• Do we save for retirement?
• Do we show love in the same way as our parents, spouse, children, friends?
• Do we train our children up, or let them do as they please – when they please?
• Do we balance our checkbook or pray there’s enough money when needed?
• Do both spouses work?
• Is it more important to go do things out of the home, or in the home?
• Do we always give purchased gifts (flowers, cards, candy, toys) for holidays?
• When do we stop supporting our children financially?
• Is he/she really showing me love, or doing something detrimental to my emotional health?
• Is this job worth the money?

Sometimes I wonder if there is a decision making process, or guide that we can find that will help us answer these questions through life. I figure by the time I read all the blogs, books, and go to the seminars, I will have missed out on living my life, teaching my children by example, and be unable to retire. Then, how do I find a mentor? Do I partner up with a family with older children that behave and do the things I value? Do we hire a financial planner or accountant to manage our finances, so that we don’t have to think about them? Do we hire a coach? Or do we just pray… pray we’ll get through the problem and the results won’t be devastating. Thoughts?

It should be noted that our Body is the 4th top thing. But, this is not the blog for the who’s, what’s hows of health.

Sunscreen or No Sunscreen….

In my most recent quest for a healthy life, I’ve started reading, more controversial articles. Especially ones about pollutants in medicines, food, clothing, soaps, and… latest… sunscreen?! Well. Wait. Sunscreen. Ok. Isn’t the point of sunscreen – to give families a few more minutes out in the sun, enjoying an afternoon BBQ, Swim, day at the lake, soccer practice without the ever lasting fear of cancer? great. Not anymore. Now I worry that if I put the stuff on my kids, oh… oh yeah.. the chemicals used to create this oh so not good for you you is also a known pathogen. damn. take swimming off the list. take bbq. take FUN off the list. I’ve officially read enough stuff to make one live naked in the woods, scouraging for food for the rest of my life. Anyone ready to live in Alabama again?! Ok, so maybe that’s a bit extreme. But When one of my favorite blogs – the mom’s section of the Dallas morning news picked up the story about suncreen, and spit it back out at me, I thought. Oh. This must be true, right? They’ve done their homework, they’ve read other posts from extremists, interviewed knowledgeful doctors, and researched the exact reasons why the sunscreen bill wasn’t past – then set it out there for me to read. Maybe. Maybe not. Either way. Thanks to the Texas heat. We will spend the evenings in the toxic swiming pool, eat grass fed beef, and snack on chemically dependent fruits and vegetables. Why? well. It must be more healthy, costly, and well better for my kids. Oh, and of course, we’ll cut back on that gastly suncreen. Which… has anyone checked the price of that stuff lately?! Yeesh!

Online Marketing Focus…

Lately. I’ve been searching, and trying to research online marketing techniques. Has anything interesting come up? Yup. Lots of things. Useful. Not so much. Everyone else is telling that Online Marketing can be done… but no one is actually doing anything anymore. Me. I have 6 key areas of focus when I work.

1. Affiliation. Who does the product need to help me sell the product. Yes. WHO? Plenty of people sell, sell, and then sell something else. Information, products, samples, downloads, freebies, samples, content. So. I look for recognized leaders and pitch an affiliation to them.
2. Competition. Spying on the competition is one thing. Dominating them is another. We’ll go into details later. But basically, there’s a few little secrets out there – that once mastered – makes your enemy beg for mercy.
3. Positioning of content. Content is what makes your website get found. Vague, unhelpful, crapola doesnt. Stop the sales pitch crap. Give your reader, searcher, potential client, client, customer – something they want… everyone wants something for free. Hint: Training is a GREAT freebie.
4. Quality. Don’t bother with crappy products. Unless you’re telling the world not to bother with a product. It sucks that Wal-mart has great things, but their sales are in volume. Volume is often equated with – how long will the product last in a household before they must consume more. I wish I could say this was a flawed marketing teqnique, but somehow they’ve turned us all into repeat buyers simply by only offering high turn over products. Since I’m not in the market to compete with Wal-mart, Target, Amazon, etc… I’m going to stick to quality products.
5. Customer Service. Get ready to laugh. If the stupid question can be asked, it will. But don’t take it lightly. If that question is asked over and over, address it through marketing or training.
6. YouTUBE. Give it up. Nothing else is going to work better than something on YouTUBE. People consume more than 6 videos a day on youtube voluntarily. Including – your advertising.

Make it work, make it quality. Oh, and do it frequently. Or Google thinks your company died.

My Birthday in the Yucatan!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes!

I had a great birthday – one filled with family time, and memories for years to come. We kayaked the ocean, played with the kids, went flamingo hunting, mudding, ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant and it was great!

I’m overwhelmed by the community we share here. All the expatriates are warming up to us and it’s like in this place I don’t really know well and am completely foreign to – warms my heart and my 29th birthday a very memorable one.

Jr. Stared Me Down – and Big Daddy Iguana came home

News Alert! Big Daddy Iguana is on the prowl! He’s marking his territory and stomping home after I mistakeningly got in trouble by his little kahuna – JR.

Iguana on Rocks

As criptic as it sounds, I’m writing about the iguana family that lives by Jeremy’s Casita (little house next to ours). There’s a family of at least 6 that we know of, all sizes from about 3 foot in total length head to tail to baby gecko sized. There’s more I’m sure, but the ones we’ve noticed the most, have their habits, homes, and all enjoy a banana! You see, there’s Big Daddy… he’s the one that’s about 2 foot, and missing part of this tail.. he’s stubby so to speak. There’s another big one that’s like him, but I haven’t seen him lately, he mostly lives on the neighbor’s house.

on fence

There are several JR iguana’s that well aren’t the baby’s you see in pet stores but big enough that if they stare you down you probably want to walk away – that tail’s as thick as my finger. Today Jeremy and I spent a few minutes talking about life at the beach. We sat on the stairs and talked and laughed. Probably the first quality time we’ve had since we’ve been down here. Next thing I know we’re watching 2 jr iguanas running down the fences. Then the bigger one just sits and stares at us. We’re looking at him, he’s looking at me… and Jeremy, I think got a little jeolous of the way that guy was looking at his wife. We know they live together under the big concrete pad, but the funny thing is that the baby baby iguana’s live under a whole different pad. They are so tiny they are easily mistaken for a ghecko. Alyssa and I have seen the little guys – 2 of them hanging out by the car on several trips, I’d say they’re too young to take the Dodge out for a test drive!

And then there’s the stick. That’s all I can call the last of the baby ones. She’s smaller than a pet store iguana, but larger than the babies. She lives on the fence as we drive in the gate to our houses. Alyssa spotted her several dayz in a row, and I thought she was mistaken. Until this day before yesturday, when she said – “oh mommy it must be bed time for the little iguana”, yesturday the little guy had returned but was facing a different direction sunning. This is how come I know it wasn’t just a stick.

let me at him!

I’m not entirely sure the last picture is an iguana. Nevertheless – he’s about 8 inches in length.

Four websites for Yucatan Expatriates and English speaking Mexican living

Getting to Mexico is a breeze, moving to mexico is a challange, living in mexico – that’s a whole new adventure. One of which I couldn’t have done without the help of a couple of websites:

YoListo.com a great website for those who are living the life in the city of Merida or the Beachtowns near Progreso; one that i frequent the forums for tips, tricks, and events in my area.

YucatanLiving.com a site full of history, information, how to’s, how not to, and general who, what’s and whens to do things. It’s primarily for Merida residents, but since that’s our nearest city, we are often there 3-4 times a week.

Mexconnect.com – I just found this site, it’s got alot of ads, but some of these things are hard to find otherwise.

and last but not least I found Expatfinder.com to be helpful with moving, mail, insurance, and other references/ads for companies to help ease our transition.

I also now am using facebook and linked in as little update sites! find me there! talk to you soon!

Kayaking in the Yucatan Beach

Each morning I wake up to a new day. One filled with family, food, and now Kayaking. The beach here is very calm in the morning until about 2-3pm. So we have plenty of time to take out our double kayak and work our arm muscles until tired, or in my case, spend about 30 good minutes paddling, 10-15 minutes sitting in the ocean enjoying the gentle roll, listening to my daughter sing her silly made up songs and just enjoy the day. We go out against the wind to get the hardest part over, then we smoothly sail in on with the wind and the waves. Once we reach the surf we try to catch a wave big enough to surf us in, or in the case of jeremy – he surfs sideways or normal standing in the back of the kayak then hops on shore never getting wet at all. Ay yes, we’re learning to be beach bums. what a glorious life!

Chelem, the expat, retiree place to be!

In Chelem, we are one of the few families under the age of 40, that are expats. We are one of 2 families that have young children with them. So, I can’t wait till tonight’s get together at the Bull Pen. We will enjoy italiano thursday with the other english speaking folks in the area. The group is growing every week. I hear after christmas that the group will double or triple. Alyssa loves being with these guys because they give her lots of attention and she can play and dance in front of everyone like the entertainer of the party!

You see, where we are, is a small fishing village filled with lively mayan people, expats that live full time here, and feistas, parties, and get togethers every week! We love the life at the beach, we can walk to the town square, market, or little tiendas (mini stores selling snacks, drinks, water, ice). Some people love the beach here, and but many prefer the other side of progresso because it’s less congested, less cluttered, and has more palm trees. We love this beach because of the community. The beach is wonderful to walk on in the morning. We take a walk, then eat at one of the flavorful expat run restaurants just down the beach from us.

Next week, I hope to spend some time on the water in a kayak or rented boat to see the flamingos. They are like pink poke a dots in the water around our town and in the rivers behind us.

Life here is laid back, so laid back, it’s ok to walk without shoes on, wear a swimsuit through town, and go to one of many fiestas through the week.

the weather here is averaging 90 degrees. When the wind blows it’s wonderful, it makes life here cooler, and easier to handle the heat.

The nearest town is a cruise ship port of Progreso. It has about 50,000 people, and is the hub of all the little beach towns for about 40 miles of coastline. The big city is about 30 minutes away and is wonderful because it’s got just about everything one could need from home depot, to mcdonalds, a quality hospital with english speaking dr’s, and of course walmarts.

As much as I’d like to brag about what there is to do, Yucatan Living.com beat me to it. Just visit their site to see more about our little town!

—– Update. After posting this. The bullpen closed, TACOMAYA dominated the expat community. Chelem Idol became popular on Thursdays, and 3 more restaurants opened.  Don’t expect dining out to be like going to TGIFRIDAYS… do expect a culture shock. ENJOY!

Hope to see you soon at the bull pen for a community dinner!

Thanksgiving At the Beach in Mexico

This year we were blessed to have a wonderful thankgiving at the beach. My mom and I started the festivities with a hunt for turkeys, which at one grocery store the meat guy brought us a turkey sliced completely in half frozen turkey (one leg, one wing, sliced down the spine)… after that we found a pocito pavo (small turkey) at Sams club and continued the holiday tradition with Turkey, gravy, green beens, sweet potatoe pie, stuffing and other trimmings. Oh it was heavenly. We invited friends over for dinner and enjoyed a wonderful family meal my mom and little chef Alyssa put together. We didn’t get to enjoy the beach because the winds were howling but we enjoyed a nice walk to the town to see what was going on in the square. In town they were getting ready for a big holiday celebration for Friday where the town enjoyed 40oz beers, free food, fried fish, marquesitas, and many other festival traditions. We enjoyed the community parade, dancing with the live music and the celebration went on through the night! Today we will be going to see the windsurfers in Chixchilube, then getting our christmas decorations from town. This year we’re going to have a seashell decor christmas tree and probably send christmas seashells home to family since we won’t get to see them this year.

moving to the beach brought criticism

Doing anything remotely interesting will bring criticism. Attempting to do anything large-scale and interesting will bring armies of detractors and saboteurs. This is fine – if you are willing to take the heat.

I stole that qoute from Tim Ferriss he has an awesome blog about the art of pissing people off. I really took it to heart today, because it seemed like so many people where critisicing us for moving to the beach in a far off and remote location. We love it here, and often forget that people (our friends and family) haven’t experienced the beach life, they’re stuck in life 101 and only have 2 weeks holiday. We have a beautiful life here. For example, the window’s are open to let the wind blow through the house, the waves are crashing new shells on the shoreline, the iguanas are laying out enjoying the sun, and our children are singing along to Disney songs (ok only Alyssa, Bella is oohing and gooing and laughing today)… It’s like the world that we knew (life 101) has now become life 102. I really wish more of our friends and family could come down and experience life on manana time.

I know what life is to work work work, then give 2nds to family, then 3rds and 4ths to myself and body. In Dallas everyone and everything was negative. If Jeremy or I did anything remotely accomplishing we only heard the negative comments, which in turn changed us to only see the negative impacts while doing great things. This is all fine and dandy, just like Tim’s post – about doing great things brings negative emotions, comments, and no matter what we do – we’ll always hear the bad stuff. I hope to grow as a person and step out of that rut, experience the slow life then apply it as our children get older, and of course when we go back to the states to live.

Take a minute to read Tim’s post It really made me feel better about all the people, things, events that have happened over the last few weeks, and months, and years. It helps me understand why I’m so negative and how used to doing good & great things has turned me into miss negative. Winds of change are blowing those old negative emotions away.

Life living at the beach with the baby….and the 5 year old

It’s a beautful day today. I’ve watched the storm roll over with a light sprinkle, the fog roll by, and yet… now it’s as if it never happened. That’s what life’s like at 10am, when you’ve been up since 5 am with the baby. We’re blessed to have 2 kids, a 5yr old who sleeps like a champion, and a 3 month old who, sleeps, the majority of the night. so we’re blessed you never know one night to the next if we’ll go to bed at 8pm and be up at 3 or 5 am… and occasionally we get until 6:30. Life is different here with a baby. We’ve yet to find a pediatrician but there are lots of people talking about the great american style hospital. So for now, we’re only conserned about the well baby checkups. They have formula, and diapers here, they are different than american style, but yet the same. Enfamil Premium (which Bella pukes and pukes) and Nestle good start are sold here. I’ve seen Similac, but for now we’re working with Nestle good start, they have those comfort proteins that i think are easier to digest, hold down and consume than the regular premium enfamil. Both are being used by us and are the best of the best, we thank goodness they have them here in Mexico. Diapers are a whole nother ball game. They don’t have little pampers, and pampers cost like 3x’s as much as they were in the states. They do however have other brands we’re trying different ones to see what we do like. The funny thing is that they don’t have the gel absorbion like we have in the states. So a wet diaper doesn’t weigh as much but it does not keep baby as dry as my good ole pampers. One of these days im going to try huggies supreme, we didn’t like them in the US but anything to keep bella from having bad diaper rash is the goal. We’re trying baby powder on her bottom. If you google baby powder there’s mixed opinions of whether it works or not. Well let me say this, down here we sweat about 4-80% more each day than those 100 degree days in  Dallas. Her little folds get yucky, fast here. But she’s getting plenty of vitamin D here. The baby and I spend a good 10 minutes at the beach each day (usually her naked), and daddy and Alyssa spend 1-4 hours each day playing, fishing, or doing whatever at the beach. Everyone walks the beach here. We meet lots of nice folks walking, but that’s about 1-2 couples each time. We’ve had many compliments about how well behaved our children are and how everyone misses their grand children. There are lots of concerns here, drinking unpurified water, washing our fruits and vegetables properly, and mosquitos…… all of which are manageable, they just require a few extras steps in our day.. like not going outside at dusk without a heavy dose of bug spray, putting the baby in a mosquito net, and clearly communicating what is good to eat, drink, and how to wash dishes. We are lucky, we have city water, it’s not great, but its clean enough we can brush our teeth, and wash dishes without getting the tourista. As far as baby stuff goes here, when we need something special we can go into the major city about 15 minutes away and get just about anything we need at the mall or super walmart. Shopping is a whole different culture here so you go to the specialty store when you need something specific. So, life at the beach with the baby is realatively the same, baby’s cry, poop, eat… it’s all good!

It’s a beautiful Beach Day for Beer Eggs

What a beautiful beach day. The sun is shining, the girls are up and playing, Jeremy is working… I’m taking a few minutes to update the blog and get breakfast ready. Today I’m trying Munchego Cheese, with Beer Eggs… A touch of salsa on top, and we’ll see how it goes. This week I’m going to aquire a couch. I need somewhere to sit besides the bed and the dining room table. Between my adventures in breakfast making, and my aquisition of a couch… it’s going to be a great day!

having a baby 7 years after gastric bypass — update

well its been 7yrs after my gastric bypass, ive had two healthy kids and one miscarriage. Most recently I had baby Bella. Shes awesome. I gained 50lbs with her. Which is very upsetting after 6 yrs of being nearoy thin. Im here at the beach and hope to work off this weight by eatin healthy, walking daily, and doing more than ever. This time around, alot was different, instead of loosing 40lbs, i gained them of course. But it was more critical for me to take my vitamins, get iron infusions, and stay extremely healthy. We now know that I do not absorb Iron, and I am vitamin D defficiant. It was hard because i was puky the whole pregnancy and prenatals made me throw up. I tried every prenatal under the sun, taking them in the moring, during the day and at night to ease the sickness. I hated when i threw up vitamins that settled for about an hour in the tummy. Yuck. But, Bella came out healthy, happy, and about 3 lbs bigger than Alyssa. Which is great because, with this baby, I’ve learned so much that we did wrong, or wasn’t right (I should have been giving Alyssa formual from day 1). I’m thankful this time, that our pediatrician worked with us as I breast feed because I want to give her the best antibodies for the flu possible, but I have to give her formula (she’s 95% formula baby) becaue I don’t produce enough milk, or a well balanced milk. Either way… she’s good, I wish I’d known half of what I know with Bella for Alyssa, but I look at my long and skinny Alyssa and thank God she turned out great. It’s funny because Bella is chunky compared to alyssa, but the thing is, she’s right at average weight, so she’s not fat, nor is she skinny like Alyssa. She’s got a lighter brown hair, and toenails and fingernails that grow like crazy! She looks alot like my dad… and just as social as him! For those of you reading this post before or after you’ve had gastric bypass, and considering having kids please do the following:

• Take extra prenatal vitamins
• Take extra Iron
• Get sunshine, go walking
• If you’re caloric consumption isn’t 2500 calories, supplement with protein shakes (I loved Dymatize protein shakes, and their cereal line)
• If you’re doctor hasn’t dealt with a Gastric bypass patient or many of them, let them know that the diabetes test is hell on you (i assure you i was miserable taking that many sugars at once).
• Maintain your weight by gaining only a moderate amount
• for those of you trying not to loose more weight (as i struggled the first time, lost weight instead of gaining weight) protein shakes need to be your new best friend. Drink 1/2 then 2 hours later drink the rest. I know you can’t handle the full shake at once with your little tummy, but you gotta take care of that baby.

Just so you also know, the baby will consume vitamins before you do, it will also deplete vitamins you are not getting, during my first preganancy I was 1 yr post up (delivered at 2 yrs post op), She depleted my iron stores. I didn’t know this, so I spent the next few years iron defeicient and anemic. I nearly died 3 yrs later because of this. It was scarey but the simple fact is all I have to do is keep your vitamins in check by taking them, and having your vitamin levels (a complete B panel, plus iron, plus a cbc) checked once during your preganancy and you’ll be fine!

Bella's portrait taken by Jenny

yucatan state fair in merida

On friday we went to the state fair, just outside of Merida Yucatan Mexico. It was awesome. $12 pesos to get in (less than 1 USD), food was $15 pesos or $20 pesos for snacks, rides were $15 pesos — they had over 25 little kid rides, about 15 bigkid ones, including ones that would spin you up and down — they made me nauciuos just looking at them! The animals were gorgeous for their breeds. Its very similar to the Texas state fair, but more afordable. Alyssa loved the animals and the rides! I loved the time with family, trying my little spanish… we ate marqasetettas until we coulddnt handle the sugar! We spent the afternoon with mostly school kids that day, around 5pm lots of people started pooring in. The vendors were cool too. They had juices, painted coconuts, honey, hammock, clothes and furniture. We hope to go again before it closes. We think its only open in Novembre.