Living A Simple Renaissance

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You!!!!

That's right, folks! A blog post from the oh-so-quiet Hectors!

Life has been busy.

Crazy busy since Lilyana and I returned to Sunny California, and I promise that I'll have a post up soon...but here is evidence that we've been busy...

It's summer...summer means really nice warm afternoons, cool nights, and SWIMMING!

As you can see, Lilyana loves the pool.

Okay, back to dinner prep...

Hope y'all enjoy the picture!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Alone, still....

Weeeeellll, my wife was supposed to come home today. But, due to a technical difficulty, to which I will attribute no blame, she missed her flight. Yes, those of you with good memories may recall that something similar happened while Tiff and I were courting, except the other way around, and I got to spend an extra day with her. This is God's way of laughing at us, and taking back the day we were lent in ages gone by.

What to do with an extra day of loneliness? Tonight I will be attending the final Assyrian class of the semester, so that will take up most of the evening hours, but for the interim, I am depressingly weary and sad. Then I thought that I would write a post of what I have eaten for the last two weeks, with a cost breakdown. Anything that would have gone bad in the fridge, I counted as a leftover, and had a zero net cost to my eating habits.

Non-pictured Meals:

Tuna: Leftover

Hamburger bun: Leftover

Pickles & Mayo: Negligible, cost $.35

Bread Pudding $1.36 (I gave half to the Schroeders, as I could not eat two 9X9 pans, this is half of the cost of ingredients.)

Bread: $2.40
Milk: Leftover
2 Eggs: $.45
Raisins, Vanilla, Sugar: Negligible, $.50

Bread during play: $4.70

Bread for PB&J: 1.5 Loaves: $3.60

Ye Old Thyme Bakery Day Old Baked Goods: 2 Cinnamon Rolls and 4 Muffins: $5.56

Quarter Jar of Jelly: $.75

One Third Jar Costco Supersize PB: $1.70

Cheese Sticks, Costco Family Pack 6 @ $.19: $1.14

1 Tomato: Est. $.25

4 Slices Turkey: $1.26

Mustard (of course!): Negligible $.05

The turkey went on the second half of the loaf of bread from the play. I ran out of sliced bread for PB&J, and a baguette did not sound like a good substitute. That brings the grand total out to.......

$20.72

Which ended up here:

Feed me, feed me!!!

All of the rest of my food was graciously provided by either the Schroeder, Davies, or Hector Pt. III, families. All of whom took pity on a poor soul, invited me over to share their table, and provided the only greens I got during the last two weeks. Unless pickles count as greens, then I contributed too! Needless to say, my stomach will join my heart and soul in rejoicing upon my wife's return.

The sun will come out.........tomorrow!!!!!!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Alone...

As occasionally happens in a relationship where one set of in-laws lives 2500 miles distant, my wife is away visiting family. The assumption is that they really are more interested in seeing the baby than either of us, and as Lilyana is too young for flying on her own, someone must go with her. The idea of using the USPS has occurred to me, but toddlers are not found on the list of live animals approved for Priority Mail treatment. Though, if she were a bee, poultry, a scorpion (Yep, you read correctly, at any moment, someone could mail you a live scorpion!), or one of the rather vague group described as "small, harmless, cold blooded animals", it would be another story.

Therefore..... (I love using that word!), therefore, I am at home, alone. Always a dangerous thing, but thus far the only fireworks I have set off have been outside. *grin* To prove that I am neither entirely dependent on my wife, nor able to function all that effectively without her, here is a look at my life as a temporary bachelor:

Cleaning out the fridge. Tuna on a hamburger bun is not all that bad!

Even alone, there is always time to stop and smell the roses.

Before Tiffany left, we planted our garden. The beans have come up in her absence!

Climb, beans, climb!

My wife said these dishes needed to be done before she got back. Nine days in, they are still there. How close should I cut it?

Once the leftovers were gone, I hit the bottle....of peanut butter! My old friend was still there, after all these years. Just as good as ever!

Boredom + Costco pack of toilet paper = Endless possibilities

The couch.

Darn timer...

What I was trying for. Most of my familial interactions during these two weeks have involved the phone. Almost like before I was married!

Bread pudding. According to the historians, originated in the 11th century, was then known as "poor man's pudding", and has since become a comfort food. Perfect for a poor bachelor who needs comfort!

The benefit of being alone is a great deal of free time. Especially during the weekends. Taking advantage of this fact, I found the most dangerous job I could, it involved lots of pipe, heavy tools, and a highly flammable gas. Insane you ask?

Not when the result will save me money!!!! Outside of the hottest of days, our AC only comes on once my dear wife starts the oven to cook me any number of delectable dishes. She has been begging for an outside stove for quite awhile, and now we have one.

Here is a shot of the garden, which has been faithfully watered.

"Come one, come all!" You may recall from last year, a month after Lilyana's birth, we went and saw Romeo and Juliet. The season for the annual Shakespeare play has arrived, yet again. This year, I had no wife to share it with, but Thomas and Lindsey were kind enough to keep me company. "A Comedy of Errors" was on the billet, with a 60's twist. Thankfully that only involved the set and the costumes, not one "Groovy" or "Far out, man!" defamed the famous bard's artistry.

Yeah, the 60's were a bit.....odd. Did anyone ever actually think style this looked good!??!?!

Lindsey chilling, waiting for the play to start, at dusk. She liked the pillows.

Me, filming the set, to show my wife, when she returns.... **sobs**

It was too dark for my limited camera skills to get shots of the play, at night. Sorry, y'all! But, I shall give you one of my favorite lines:

Marry, sir, she's the kitchen wench and all grease;

and I know not what use to put her to but to make a

lamp of her and run from her by her own light. I

warrant, her rags and the tallow in them will burn a

Poland winter: if she lives till doomsday,

she'll burn a week longer than the whole world.

Thankfully, it is not even remotely possible to describe my wife in such a manner!

The other aspect of being a bachelor is going to bed much too late. A fact which I have continued, in order to get this post up. Please pardon any spelling or grammatical errors, I lost both my wife and my editor in a single trip!

Now, fair readers, I must head my mind for slumbers, and mind my head for the pillow. If you get a spare moment, think on the poor soul who is anxiously awaiting the return of the two girls who make life worth living. Goodnight!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Días once y doce años

Oh, this was one of my favorite days in Spain! Even thought it was our last (*sobs*), we still had so much fun. It was a gorgeous warm sunny day, the beach was just beautiful, fantastic food, as usual and then one more exquisite sunset. We left for France the next morning, which was quite the adventure.....

A little village, snow-capped mountains and a warm, glorious beach!

Mel wanted to become a mermaid.

Jess wanted to become a beach bum.

A happy girl showing off some happy smiles.

Awww...we found this little treasure in a giant oyster shell...she was such a pearl we decided to keep her.

Daddy showing baby the wonders of crabs.

Did I mention that having the girls with us was a GREAT way to get family pictures?!?!

This one is framed in our house, now! :D

She doesn't like sand on her. Not. One. Grain.

Daddy's crab.

Okay, so you can't see it in this picture, but Jess took it hoping to get the Guinness print on his swim shorts.

But, this is Ben being Ben at the beach. He loves exploring.

Mel spending quality time with the baby.

Tiff <3 Ben

True Love.

This is true love, too!

Ahhhh!!! Nothing like wearing a beautiful long dress at the beach! Seriously...the ONLY way to visit the beach!

Unless, of course, you want to swim.

Four Happy Girls.

Sisters.

Daughter.

Niece.

Love.

Okay....this is what Ben ordered for his lunch.

However, it wasn't nearly as interesting as what Jess ordered. She wanted meat...so she ordered...

Cow Stomach.

Yes, you read that right.

One more Spanish sunset.

On our way out we took a picture of the ship-wreck house that we drove by almost every day.

Leaving our island one last time.

We will be back!

We stopped in the Basque Country to get some breakfast. Since we took off so early, nothing was open yet, so we waited until we were well on our way before we stopped.

YUM! Check out that goodness!

It was soooo good....

Taking a quick walk.

Come again?

FOOD!!!!!

The public bathrooms.

These have got to be some of the scariest bathrooms I have ever been in!

They were very clean, but they were soooooo scary!

You push a button to get the door unlocked and it opens on it's own.

Once you get in, the door closes by itself and locks. (They had some like this in France and when the door shut a French woman's voice would start talking to you!)

When you're done, there is no button to flush the toilet, so you walk over to the sink, put your hands under the faucet and it sprays water on your hands, then spits soap out, turns off for a moment so you can lather your hands and then rinses your hands off.

You move down a step and the dryer turns on to dry your hands.

Pushing a button to let you back out, the door opens again and once you're out, it closes and then this VERY LOUD noise comes from inside the building....

It flushes the toilet, washes the ENTIRE room, sanitizes it, and the ones in France dry, too!

Yeah....pretty creepy!

I mean, what would happen if you didn't know how it worked and you stepped in before the door shut for the cleaning?!?!?!?