Random sampling of Christmas (etc.) photos

We bought eachother the same Johnny Cash CD!

Chloe sure thinks Marila is funny!!

Poor Juannie got sick on Christmas night!

Priscilla under the tree

Last Day on the Job

I may be grumpy about my last two days, but at least I'm not doing this!

P.S. It's actually maternity leave, but it's unpaid, so I guess I'll be eating my share of top ramen and won't be using the heater any time soon.

12 Random Confessions

1. I know I'm ready for my job to end (it ends this Friday!) because I'm starting to get irritated when people ask me to do my job. I feel put out, like "geeeez, FINE. Guess you want me to do EVERYTHING," when it's really just my job.

2. The prenatals ended last night and, despite all my complaning, I was actually kind of sad.

3. I had to write an essay on "The Role of the Community College and the Nature of Its Students" and I used lots of big words and fancy syntax to distract from the fact that I have really nothing to say. An example: "The sheer diversity of students must naturally mandate a wide breadth of curriculum." And I think "wide breadth" might be redundant.

4. Last night we had to change a diaper on a doll, but it doesn't feel like real practice because the whole time I was doing it Juan was squeezing its head together to make its eyes bug out like a fish.

5. I've been having a hard time lately with my "its" and "it's." I think I subconsciously want to be back in ninth grade grammar.

6. I didn't wash out my cereal bowl this morning, so when I get home the Raisan Bran will have glued itself to the sides.

7. It just took me three or four tries to spell "raisan" correctly.

8. I don't like one of my students simply because he smells. He's a perfectly nice guy and he's always very polite, but there's a part of me that can't completely be won over by someone who doesn't shower.

9. I'm thinking of going back for my PhD simply for the job aspect. It feels like money for nothing.

10. I'm starting to really like the name "Evangeline" for the baby. I think "Vangie" is a cute nickname, but Juan says it sounds like a venereal disease. It's really weird, having to agree on a baby name with another person. It completely eliminates all the names I spent those college nights dreaming up with my girlfriends.

11. At Davis, I often took the bus to school and was always a little jealous of the student drivers because they got to drive a big ol' bus and talk to a bunch of people. I told everyone that I wanted to drive a bus and my dad started to worry a little bit, like I was going to throw away my "edumacation."

12. I don't really like it when people say "edumacation" but I just did.

Things that must go!

1) Grillz. When I see one I do a doubletake, and my first reaction is to say, "You've got something on your teeth... ALL your teeth" and then I realize that it's purposeful, and that sometimes it even spells things-- like PLAYA or RICH. And I'm one of those weird people who don't like to do their reading while staring into someone's mouth.




Amendment: People who have grillz that are temporary, in which the person can slip it off like a retainer and toss it around on their tongue should be especially punished.

2. Creepy mini beauty pageant girls. There are so many things wrong with the picture below I don't know where to start: The crowns, first of all, look as if they could kill someone if launched at the right angle, the dresses look like they are made from papier-mache, and worst of all... why are these little girls holding piles of cash? Do they actually win MONEY for being the prettiest?

3. Kids who mouth off to their parents, and parents who don't do a THING about it. In Old Navy the other night, there was a 3 year old girl who turned to her mother and said, "Callate!" Her mother's response? Rolling her eyes. Yowzas. I can't even tell you what colors I'd still be turning right now if I would have said such a thing. Course, my mom probably would have been like, "Wow, she speaks Spanish at three years old! I'm raising a genius!" and only later bothered to find out what "Callate!" means. (P.S. I can't do the upside down exclamation point-- I'm not forgetting my Spanish grammar)

4. Wal-Mart cashiers who comment on your purchases. "Sugar-Free candy, huh? Got the diabetes?" "Buying toilet paper? Didya run out or something?" "I've been meanin to try broccoli, but I don't like the vegetables that much."

P.S. As Mya pointed out, Wal-Mart is fine for the shopper, hard for the employee. So maybe we should give these people a break-- seeing what comes their way down the big black belt may be the only thing they get out of bed for. Still, a little privacy, non? All hail the self-check out!

5. Big cardboard checks. What exactly do you do with these things? You'd look pretty silly walking into your bank with one of them, but on the other hand, they're usaully worth a nice chunk of change. But you don't want to be the person having to walk around with a huge piece of cardboard stuck under your arm, prompting people to say, "Whadya win?" And you're forcing yourself to have to go inside the bank: there's not an ATM in the world that can handle this monster. Which leads me to:
5 1/2. Bank hours. They're the same as working hours! You have to take off work early in order to go to the bank, which means (if you're hourly) you make less money to put IN the bank! It's a vicious circle.



















More to come, as I get more annoyed, I'm sure....

Ode to Capitalism

Working at a community college in Woodland, most of my time is spent painstakingly going over second language learner's papers. It can be rough sometimes, mostly because I now find myself fixing grammar and puncutation in my dreams, which makes me feel like a huge dork. But, nevertheless, it can be quite entertaining, too. Today, for example, I just proofread two papers by Indian students who have been here less than a year; the first is an ode to Wal-Mart, the second is an ode to Chili's. Why do I find this interesting? Because so rarely are the praises of mass consumerism and commercialism sung that I find such rigorous defense on the part of huge corporations a nice change of pace.

My years at UC Davis (and in California in general) taught me one thing-- chain bad, local good! So even though I give my small amounts into the Wal-Mart and Chili's coffers, there's a certain amount of shame that is accompanied by it. How refreshing to see two people sing the praises of such establishments, even to the point of blasting the critics! The Wal-Mart supporter was flabbergasted that people would say that Wal-Mart is harmful to the national economy-- she praised it's cheap prices, it's clean floors, it's "quality" product (I didn't say she was accurate, just interesting!) and the fact that it's open 24 hours. The Chili's supporter waxed poetic on the chicken nachos, the football on TV and the bottomless sodas. ("My son had four Cokes, and we only had to pay for one!" she wrote.) The questionable choice of giving a child four Cokes aside, I have to wonder: Why are things that are "affordable" so denigrated? People (usually white and middle class, trying hard to be "urban") insist that they only frequent small, over-priced places that are locally owned, but who among us hasn't dipped their toe in the Wal-Mart waters? Who hasn't been secretly pleased at the checkout stand when their basket of items comes up under fifty dollars? And who hasn't enjoyed a loud, friendly restaurant with gingham checkered table clothes and food that has alliterative names-- Rippin' Ribs! Barbeque Blasted Burgers!

So here I am, standing up for capitalism at it's finest-- big, brightly lit establishments that might have questionable customer service and maybe a slight sweatshop history, but have awesome buffalo sauce and discounted toilet paper at 3 AM. And that, my friends, is what America is all about! Funny that it took two American newbies to point it out to me.

It's the Apocalypse!

I may be giving away my secret obessession with celebrity going-ons, but Paris Hilton just announced that she would like "to have four kids" by the time she's thirty. (She's 26, so I guess math isn't her strong suit!) I quote, "I look after my animals, so I'd have a lot to give my kids." Apparently this is all a product of her new friendship with Britney, who's certainly a runner-up for the next Mother of the Year Award, given that she's partying with Paris Hilton and not wearing underwear.
I mentioned earlier that we should be required to apply for licenses to be mothers-- I think I'm serious, people! Granted, any spawn of Paris's will have juicy couture sweat suits and Prada diaper bags, but do we need more Paris Hiltons running around?
Even more alarming, it seems that the baby has replaced the Chihuahuah as the accessory of choice in Hollywood. And most ironic of all, it's people like ME who feed these fires by paying attention! (But it's so hard NOT to!) :)

Follow-up

Okay, so we went for half of the class. We left because my tummy started to hurt. I don't know if it was the class or the pizza rolls I had for lunch. But we did practice our breathing: he he he hoo. he he he hoo. I was practicing it at home on the couch and Juan told me to be quiet, he couldn't hear the game! Quite the man I married!!

P.S. Not that the game was worth hearing! I'm getting sick of all this LOSING. I promised the Kings that if they won a championship I'd name my first born son Michael Bibby Valdes. (Juan doesn't know about this). Funny thing is, it doesn't seem like they care, cause they LOSE anyway. Doesn't a promise mean anything anymore?

To skip or not to skip?

Four weeks ago, I plunked down $65 of Juan's hard earned money (I'd say it was MY hard earned money, but I'm at work doing this, so that right away takes away any right I have to say that it's hard-earned) in order to take 6 prenatal classes. We were promised: breathing techniques, relaxation techniques, information on pain-killing drugs (gimmee! gimmee!) and all sorts of useful information. So far, the only things I've gleaned are: A) the teacher has an agenda, and B) people sometimes forget to bring snacks on their assigned weeks which makes me grr... angry! And here's the kicker: the class is from 6:30-9:00. Well that runs right into dinner and bedtime!
So now I'm stuck. Do I skip? Six years of college has bred in me a fear of the random skip day--what if there's a quiz? What if this is THE lecture that the whole final paper turns on? I find that I'm getting more information about childbirth by drilling Shana and anyone else who has ever had a baby that I come in contact with. Perfect strangers are now being asked, "Did you have an epidural? How long was your labor? Did your baby have trouble latching on?" I find that real life experience is so much more helpful than a textbook and some lady who tells us that babies who were born with epidurals (gimmee! gimmee!) have a harder time breast feeding.
The problem is that we've already skipped one class, and come back the next week to astonished looks from squeaky clean, basketball belly mothers who say, "oh, we thought something had happened! We couldn't imagine someone skipping class!", who then forces me to lie and say that we were out of town. I hate it when people force me to lie so I don't look like an inconsiderate, future bad mother.
So I probably won't skip, mostly because of guilt that could either stem from financial reasons or plain ol' shame. Although it occurs to me that my time might have been better spent taking child rearing classes instead of child birthing classes, because the rearing, as I hear it, lasts a bit longer than the birthing and is probably a smidge tougher.


So should I be freaked over the birthing? Am I terrible for hating the prenatals? Is is too late to say "I changed my mind! I'll keep the baby in!" ?

I feel like posting!

I haven't posted in awhile, and I still have no pictures to share, but I thought I'd put a few words down anyway. (Let me take that back, I have pictures to share, but I'm not the in-love-with-my-pregnant-body type, so any picture you see of me will be from the neck up.)
Last night we took Christmas photos at my parent's house for their Christmas cards. (Again, I was seen only from the neck up:) ) It was so much fun. I forget how much fun my family has when we're all together. Jimmy took it upon himself to set the room up like a photography studio, even though Mom was just taking the picture with her tripod and self timer. Mom made delicious chili and corn bread and we all sat around and basically showered Chloe with attention. Juan and I had to leave early because he's sick (sinus infection) so I had to get home and baby him. I told him it was pretty funny that his 7 mos. pregnant wife was hauling herself off the couch to get him his little face warmy thing but he didn't seem to see the irony. Problem is, we have Kaiser so you can't just pop in and get a prescription for antibiotics. By the time he is able to get a prescription, the infection will probably have cleared up on it's own! Any nurse p's out there who want to help us out? :)
Wednesday I had a loooong doctor's appointment. I do like Kaiser's prenatal system, mostly because they have a clinic five minutes from our house and I've never once waited longer than 5 min. in the waiting room. Until yesterday. First I had to take a gestational diabetes test, where they make you drink this not-so-bad orange drink that tastes like flat orange soda and then sit on your butt for an hour while your body does something with it. While I was waiting, I went upstairs, peed in a cup, got checked out (everything's good-healthy baby- although in a fifteen minute appointment, I still leave feeling a little did-you-do-everything-you-could?) Anyway, then I'm back downstairs to get my blood drawn and then back UPstairs to get a rhogam shot, which is because I have a negative blood type and the baby probably has a positive blood type. I'm 0-, the universal donor!! The shot wasn't so bad, but it was in the bum, which was a little humiliating. Lucky I don't mind needles, because at my last appointment I had to get a flu shot and I've had all sorts of blood taken to check me for any genetic abnormalities. So far I've been AOK, so good job, Strassburg family, on the lack of genetic abnormalities!! Other than weird senses of humor and a maybe-too-quick temper, that is.
So now it's Friday, and I'm here at work. Fridays are sooo slow, I usually only see one or two people. Somedays it seems silly that I get paid to be here just in case someone comes in, but hey, if that's how Yuba College wants to spend their money, then I'm okay with it. I'm actually learning a lot here. At UC Davis, I had mostly first language English students, but here in Woodland, the majority of the students are second language learners. It can be frustating (some don't grasp even the subject/verb sentence formation) but also very rewarding. I helped one woman set up a yahoo email account and she was grinning from ear to ear-- she'd heard about email but didn't know it was something she could have!
No big plans tonight-- Kings game and pizza, maybe. Sounds delicious! I have a dentist appointment this afternoon (just a cleaning, but still, I dread, I dread) so I'm going to need something to look forward to when I get home.
Sorry for the long post. It's incredibly self-indulgent, so feel free to skim, if you even want to read at all. I don't blame ya.