Saturday, November 24, 2012

Countdown to the end of the year and a brush with fame

I'm getting a little tired of using my blog to vent about just how busy thing are.  But, this is my life.  Three kids.  Working.  Living in a foreign country.  Studying Portuguese.  It is very full.  We've run out of Brazilian holidays until Christmas, so now everyone is just "suffering" until the end of the year.  The weather has gotten worse (think "hot" and "humid").  Traffic seems worse (at least to me, since I'm driving the girls to and from school every day).  And then there is the realization that the end of the year is coming, so everyone has to finish all the stuff they've been putting off all year.  I'm a little bit angry about this, since my oldest daughter is someone supposed to miraculously complete 6 projects (areas of study, like "Mesopotamia" and "Protists") in 10 days.  Arg.

But!  Vacation is coming!  Christmas!  13th Salary!  School is out for summer!  No more driving across town!  Time with family!  A trip to the beach!  Just as long as we can all keep this in mind, we are going to get through it.  Right??!

And, on a totally different note, guess who my husband saw on his flight today? 

My son knew right away.   Of course he plays for the wrong team (according to my son), but I know he's going to tell all his friends at school on Monday.


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

our neighboorhood makes the front page of the New York Times!

My husband is a daily reader of the New York Times (online).  Yesterday, he found an article about a pet shop that's within a 5 minute walk from our apartment! 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/world/americas/animalle-mundo-pet-a-motel-for-tail-wagging-romance.html?smid=pl-share

Yes, it's a love motel for dogs.  For those of you who don't know about "motels" in Brazil, they are not the same as hotels.  Hotels are for families, places to stay while you are traveling.  Motels are rented by the hour.  For couples.  I've never blogged about them, but you can read about them here, or here.  I'm sure there are other bloggers who have written about this, but I can't find your posts (sorry).  Anywhoooo, now there is a motel for dogs.  So TOTALLY ridiculous in my humble opinion, but it is what it is.