Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

I had had it, and, was just about done with our Mercedes. The front bumper was so low to the ground that, going over the millions of “topes”, the speed bumps, every time we drove it, having it bottom out on the just-above-average tope, was more than I could take.

We asked our cousin, Juan, where he takes all of his Mercedes, (he has at least five, maybe six. It is hard to remember), when they need work done on them. He took us down to the shop, AutoFix®, where we met with Luis Carlos Soberanis Sandoval, the owner. Ivan talked to him, and told him about our problem, and asked him if it would be possible to raise the front end, somehow, so it did not ride so low to the ground. He said he thought he would be able to do something, to leave the car with him, and he would contact us.

Well, two days later, and he did get back with us. And, yes, he could easily raise up the car, because, the shocks, and struts, on all four tires were “dead”, so to speak. If we got new shocks, and new struts, on all four wheels, that should raise it up significantly.

I am here to tell you that, with the new s&s’s, plus a small thingy he put above the aforementioned s&s’s, the car now sits two inches higher than it did, and it drives just like the BMW- solid but smooth. I cannot get the close up photo to upload, but hopefully you can see that there is at least two inches between the tires, and the wheel wells.

The topes are no longer a concern- just an ongoing nightmare. Now we drive over them, slowly, of course, but we no longer bottom out on any of them.

The car feels like a luxury car should. We thought that, because it is in the “Sport” class vehicle rating, it was supposed to be that low, that uncomfortable. It was not. Now, it is not. Now I cannot wait to get out there, and drive it.

I am guessing that I will even be able to drive it into, and out of, the parking garage. All by myself.

Tonight, I discovered a great, low carb snack, plus, I like that is it is an alliteration. I discovered that a beautifully cooked, hard-boiled, egg, some prepared horseradish sauce, wrapped in a thin slice of ham hits an empty spot perfectly. (Got it? Hard-boiled egg, horseradish sauce, and ham).

I do not know if you like horseradish, as a sauce-like condiment, or straight up fire, but I happen to enjoy it immensely. And, of course, we cannot find the plain fire version down here- much to my dismay. We did find it, however, on a website called MercadoLibre®️, but it was a bit expensive. Again, not something we will be buying much of.

I will look up the nutritional information (maybe) before I post this, and, probably take a photo, or two (probably not).

In the meantime, enjoy every day as if it will be your last, because, one day, you will be right.

They have finally begun the kitchen remodel. Here is what Luis sent us this morning.

You can see the lazy Susan in the corner and the drawers to the left.

Here is a closer look.

And look what they did for us. We never even asked for something like this but we absolutely love it.

Here is the last photo with everything open a bit. We are going over in awhile to see it firsthand. We are anxious to get over there permanently.

This poem was read to me for so many nights, I cannot remember. It went like this:

“To bed, to bed”, said Sleepy Head.

“Tarry awhile”, said Slow.

“Put on the pot”, said Greedy Gut,

“We’ll eat before we go”.

Now, as it was Nancy, and me, in our bedroom, so, you need to read through this, again, and decide which one I was.

Of course, I was Greedy Gut; I could not have been anyone else. And to this day, if I am awake, and breathing, I am, usually, hungry.

I hope you folks up North enjoyed the snowfall on the 31st of October. We still have 78º weather during the days here, but it is cooling down to the 50’s at night. Oh, how I do miss the colder weather. Not much else, however.

I showed the family here the photos of the snowfall we had in January of this year- remember the foot of snow that fell all day, on January 23rd, to be exact? We do. Here are a few photos of that night.

I am unsure, at the moment, if I will miss not having snow to shovel, icy roads to travel, slippery bridges to traverse. However, I can tell you that all of those things are slightly better than the topes we have to slither over, ever 10 feet, and the potholes that spring up, frequently, or the worst, the manhole covers that have had the pavement built up around them, so now they have become a pot hole in, and of, themselves.

Many years ago, in 1982, actually, we moved our family to Texas, due to the overwhelming collapse of the farm implement manufacturing industry in the Quad Cities. There, we had two seasons- hot, and hotter still. I thought I would go insane. Luckily, for me anyway, we had purchased a movie called “Running Scared”, starring Micheal Keaton, and Gregory Hines. I cannot tell you anything more about the movie except that, (for me, the most important part), it took place in Chicago, in the winter, with icy roads, and falling snow. (Can you see where I am going with this)?

This may not seem like much to you, but to me, it was manna from Heaven. I watched that movie, (on VHS, no less), I cannot say how many times. It saved my sanity at the time.

Fast forward to the present day. To wake up every morning when we want, go to the store when we want, and, not have to worry about driving icy roads, I am good with that.

This time around, I will live vicariously through you people. Post your photos on FB or Messenger of the snow, the slush, the icicles, three feet long, hanging from your gutters. I dare you!!

And I will keep posting photos of the bougainvillea in bloom, the palm trees, swaying in the breeze, and the beautiful flowers blooming all over the city.

I leave you with these parting photos, which I took, from the front door, and our bedroom window of our house, in Bettendorf, Iowa, this past January. The beauty of this continues to fill me with awe.

Please be careful this winter, though I do believe the winter of 2019, the beginning of 2019, was really bad. I believe the Lord wanted to give us a final winter of ice and snow to always remember.

And we do.

Oh, my gosh people. I cannot believe how much I have missed my Apple Watch. (I left it at the house, in hopes that I would detach myself from too much technology.)

Well, I did – for five months. Now it is time to get back in the game!!!

I have decided, after much deliberation, with myself, that, 1) I need the technology, (now that I am writing these posts),

2) I appreciate all of the advances from the last Apple Watch I had, and

3) I am worth the price I just paid for the Apple Watch series 5!!! (Oh, I hope I am worth the price?!?)

I do not mind spending two arms, and a leg, for a product as special as this, because it does everything except dishes and laundry. Really. I can place, and answer, calls; text message the US; pull up a menu, or shopping list I have made; it tells me the weather; what my “schedule” is for the day, (I had to include that last bit because we are so busy, you know ;), and it can translate conversations, words, etc., with iTranslate.

It calculates, it Maps My Walks, (not real difficult yet), it shows me which routes to take in Google Maps. It also shows my progress with my activity, but my other watch did that as well. It is water proof up to 50 meters, (again, no worries there), but it also shows me my heart rate, which my series 2 did not. It has my virtual “wallet” available for me to pay for my purchases, and it will reduce the noise when I buy my AirPod pros, and start listening to books again, while I am walking.

Sorry. This was not meant to be an add for the newest Apple Watch; it just happened.

I have since changed the face of the watch about seven times, at least. I am unsure of the battery life still, and do not want to leave it charging all night as that is not necessary.

That is all I am going to say about my latest purchase.

Ivan and I have been big fans of Kris Anne Hall for many years now, so I wanted to take a minute to tell you about her. And to encourage you to listen to her yourselves.

Kris Anne is a former prosecutor in the state of Florida, Russian linguist for the US Army, and, more importantly, received her J.D. from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law. She practiced First Amendment law for a prominent non-profit law firm for several years.

KrisAnne is now the president of Liberty First University and travels the country teaching the foundational principles of Liberty, and our Constitutional Republic. She is the author of 6 books on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and believes in “Liberty over security. Principle over Party. Truth over personality.”

The reason I am writing about her today is because she has helped me, more so that Ivan, learn about what our Constitution actually says, why the government is so far off track from what the Framers of the Constitution meant, and what needs to happen to get the government back in the hands of “We the People”.

You can find Kris Anne at KrisAnneHall.com, or on her YouTube channel of the same name, or, at Liberty First University.com

She is an undeniable authority on the Constitution, the US government as a whole, and a very charismatic speaker. She grabs you with the depth of her knowledge, and the passion of her commitment. As she says, frequently, she does not interpret the constitution, as it is self-explanatory. She merely teaches us what it actually says, since no one has taught us what the Constitution is, or how it is supposed to work , for us, since 1833. When was the last time you heard anyone talk about being taught Civics in school?

Give her a few minutes of your time. She will reopen your eyes about how the government should work for us, as we are the employers, they are our employees; what each branch of the government is supposed to be doing; what we can each do, every day, to bring the government back under our control.

So many of the things we have delegated to the control of the government should never have been allowed. Why? Because the Constitution shows you how illegal it was for the citizenry to give up the control to the legislature in the first place.

Let me know what you think. I cannot get enough of this woman, seriously.

Every now and again, I have a moment that makes me sit up, and take notice. I had one just a few moments ago, which is what prompted this post.

We are living in an entirely different part of the world from where we were six months ago! We have moved, and are really, and truly, living in one of the grandest city’s in México.

When I am not paying attention, or am distracted, with this, that, and the other thing, I forget that we are not here on vacation, we are not visiting, we have actually moved here, just a few short months ago.

Several of my former coworkers have asked me if I am enjoying my retirement, is it what I expected? Briefly answered, yes, and hell yes, respectively!!

When I think of all of the years I got up at 4:30 am, to be to work by 6am., all of the years I drove across the I-74 bridge, good weather, and bad; all of the years I was on-call for our Surgery department, at Moline, and Rock Island campuses, my retirement is my personal gift from God.

I will tell you that I have taken to retirement like a duck to water. Do I have any complaints, any regrets? None. I would make all of the same choices that I made in the past, because they brought me to where I am right now- exactly where I have wanted to be my entire life.

This breed, Xoloitzcuintli, (pronounced show-low-itz -Qweent-ly), is an ancient Aztec dog that has managed to remain, virtually, unchanged for almost 3500 years, even though it was eaten by the Spanish conquistadors, almost, to extinction. Google him. There is a nice, short story from National Geographic about them. They have an amazing history. We have, personally, seen three, up close, in one of the parks near the house. They, at least the three that we met, were very friendly. Hmmm. Another something to consider in the future.

I hope you enjoyed that little diversion. There are more diversions to come.

As carbohydrate go, potatoes are my all-time favorite carbs- bar none. There has never been a potato made, that I have had the opportunity to eat, that I did not enjoy.

Have I had potatoes made every way possible? No, unfortunately I have not! But I am willing to try them. (I am willing to sacrifice, for you people 😉

Today, along with the baked salmon, and the ba’corn, and the arroz verde, I fried a half dozen, thinly sliced, Yukon golds potatoes, (that is probably what they were), with, about three camotes, (pronounced ca MO tehs) sweet potatoes, (but, instead of being orange inside, they were white, and purple outside). The camotes started frying first, (mainly because I have never seen, let alone cooked with, a camote), in a melted stick of unsalted butter, to which I added half of a thinly sliced white onion. I salted the heck out of them, (potatoes, eggs, and, something else that I can not remember, need a lot of salt to bring out their flavor), and then added the thinly sliced Yukons. Over a low flame, I turned them every five minutes, or so, and then, after fifteen minutes, I covered them with aluminum foil, (the pan was too big for a proper lid) to fry for twenty minutes more, flipping them, still, about every five minutes.

Just before serving, I dusted them with some garlic powder, and sprinkled a handful of grated Parmesan cheese over the top.

Oh, you should have seen them when they were done. There was about a full, small potato size piece that was “burnt”, so Ivan, Marco, Pepe, Paty, and I, each had a bite. For us, it is the best part of a potato- the caramelized, “burnt” part- the part with real flavor.

There was so much “flavor” in the house, in fact, that was leaking out of the open kitchen windows, the neighbors, came by to see what we were making. [Little do they know that tomorrow we are going to make more potatoes, (because there are none left over from tonight’s dinner), and take a full portion of everything to their house, so they can enjoy what they were smelling.] We cannot wait for them to try our cooking. As I am, mostly, of German descent, and, Ivan is, obviously, of Mexican descent, the combination of our two cultures combines to make some very interesting _________ (fill in the blank).

I will let you know what they think, though I am pretty sure they will enjoy their meal. Who does not like potatoes, I ask you?

Potato update: 02/11/19

The neighbors came over just a few minutes ago to let us know how much they enjoyed the food we made. Victor and Areli are their names, and they are the best of neighbors, we all think.

Do you have just a minute to listen to me rant about the joys, and wonders, of a really delicious egg nog? Well, if you do not have time right now, that is ok. Just remember to come back to this post so you will be better equipped this holiday season. (The things I do for you people. I am here for you though, truly.)

Kirkland Egg Nog®. Complete with the perfect proportion of alcohol to nog. I kid you not, this is the best commercial nog we have had the good fortune to taste.

Opening the bottle, we were definitely surprised. The first whiff of the egg nog itself was familiar. Then came the alcohol, magic. That is an aroma one normally gets when one mixes ones own alcohol just before serving. When you finally get a sample to taste, look out.

The calorie count, the carbs, the sugars, phooey. Counts be damned, I say! Throw caution to the wind. Live a little. Happy holidays. Just make sure you try some of this lusciousness before this holiday season ends. It will not be in the stores again until next year.

We were fortunate enough to find this at our local Costco, purely by accident. (Not really, as it was in an end cap, you know, at the end of an aisle.) So, if you do not, currently, have a membership at your local Costco, sign up, buy some of this liquid gold, and if you are not convinced it is the best (alcoholic) version of egg nog you have ever tried, ask for your membership cost to be returned.

We, on the other hand, will be purchasing this by the gross, and hopefully, no one will come over to bother us this holiday season. Just kidding.

Disclaimer: do not give this to the elderly, the infirm, or the kiddos. Period. It is not for the faint of heart either, I am here to tell you.

But trust me, it is, by far, the most delicious egg nog I have yet to encounter, and I have had dozens. Enjoy. Let me now what you think, but only if you try it. (It is kind of like voting in any national elections- if you do not vote, you do not have any say in how the voting turned out, OR what transpires afterwards. You forfeit that right.)

So, go forth, with renewed spirit, and BUY SOME OF THIS AMAZING EGG NOG!!! I hope you will enjoy your holidays even more with this nog.