Picture of the Day

Here's some cuteness to start off the month of September

We recently came into a haul of baby clothes from our friend. Her daughter had outgrown the clothes, so we inherited them. Our friend brought them over when she came by on Monday, and our toddler daughter was intrigued by the headbands. So, we just had to put it on her!

A flower child in bloom

Needless to say, it didn't stay on very long. Rubber bands, barrettes, headbands, nothing keeps my kid's hair out of her face! My mother keeps nagging us to trim her bangs, but I don't want to. Her curls are too cute to cut!

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Picture of the Day

Hello everyone!

My apologies for not doing much in the way of writing for a while. Now that the baby is more and more active, I have even less energy and time to write.

It's monsoon season here in Arizona. For the next week or so, storms will come blowing up in the evenings because the heat bubble that has been sitting over the region for the month has boiled up the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California) enough for it to create moisture-filled fronts which then drop rain, wind, and thunderstorms on the city.

Due to their nature, monsoon storms can be damaging. There are no shortages of downed trees, flooded washes, and power outages reported in the city when they do hit. Streets in low-lying areas are prone to flooding too. This was my street an hour or so ago:

My street is a river

This is what happens when you live in the floodplain of a river. The actual river itself is about a mile away, but because the surrounding area is low-laying, it floods whenever it rains. Fortunately, the swimming pool street doesn't last very long. It'll be mostly receded by tomorrow.

Some more of the flooded street, though my somewhat cleaned up garden kinda hides the view. It was drizzling still when I took this picture

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Picture of the Day

Happy Thursday, dear readers!

On Saturday, my husband came home from Walmart with a small inflatable kiddie pool. Since the weather had become so beastly hot (like over 100 degrees Fahrenheit!), my husband decided that a small kiddie pool was a good investment for keeping the baby cool. He'd planned to buy a small plastic round pool, but since he didn't have the means of transporting it home (no room in the car and it wouldn't tie well on the roof), he decided that the inflatable one was better in terms of price and storage. On Tuesday, he blew up the pool on the patio and filled it with some water. He and the baby then went for a little swim, from which I got today's picture of the day.

Swimming with Daddy

I joined in shortly, but we didn't stay out long because a storm rumbled in and we had to go inside. But, it was nice to have a pool for a bit. Nothing like low-budget ways to have fun and stay cool in this desert.

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Picture of the Day

Greetings, dear readers!

My daughter has learned a new skill: climbing! It began with her climbing up onto a small stool that my husband keeps near his desk in his work area which functions like a small table and holds random stuff like extra wires and gadgets. First, she would knock the stuff off the stool, then climb up onto the surface and proceed to either try and get at the stuff on my husband's desk or just chill on her new perch. Needless to say, baby-proofing my husband's work area became priority number one for an afternoon.

Well, just after she learned to climb the stool, the baby then proceeded to climb on top of one of the side tables here in the bedroom! The baby had cleverly figured out how to use the lower table as a stair to get to the higher table. So in celebration of my little mountaineer, here she is at the summit for today's picture of the day.

I'm coming for you, Mt. Everest...

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Picture of the Day

Hello, dear readers

Tonight, I write while laying in my bed feeling woozy. Yesterday, my husband and I came down with what we suspect to be norovirus, likely contracting it from the baby (how she got it is a complete mystery). While the baby was just fine, hubby and I endured waves of nausea and severe vomiting as well as diarrhea. My muscles ached tremendously as well, and for most of the day, I couldn't keep down anything. Fortunately, by the end of the day, I was able to start drinking small amounts of Pedialyte and water. It was kinda scary because I honestly thought we were gonna have to go to the hospital. Today, I felt much better, but still dehydrated and woozy. What led me to think we had norovirus was that I came across some articles on Gawker about people on cruise ships coming down with norovirus, and that spurred me to start looking into the disease's symptoms to see if they matched ours. Sure enough, they did.

Me, yesterday, at both ends. Pic found here

Due to our health, we were unable to go to Holy Thursday Masses at either of our churches. However, we should be fine tomorrow for Good Friday, which is good because these next three days are holy days of obligation.

While resting, here is a picture I took of my cat, Cruiser and my hubby

Cruiser thinks he's ceiling cat

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Picture of the Day

Greetings!

Today was Robert's birthday. Robert, as you may recall, was my husband's late best friend, most loyal student, and most trusted dope dealer. Though I never met the illustrious Robert Contreras, I have him to thank in part for my marriage. If it hadn't been for his funeral, my hubby might never have been inspired to pray to the Virgin Mary for a wife. It is for that reason that we periodically visit Robert's grave and usually leave him a candle and a Black and Mild cigar. It's good to have a grave to take care of, since it serves as a reminder of our own mortality and lets the deceased know they're not forgotten in this world.

We'll come visit you soon

While my hubby and I wanted to go and visit the grave, we wound up not going because hubby was too tired. His job had him working late into the night sweeping out the trash in the stands of the basketball arena. It was also pretty hot today, and he didn't want to subject the baby to the heat by being out for an extended period of time. Also, the liquor stores here in the neighborhood were out of Taddy Porters, Robert's favorite beer. The last time we were at Robert's grave, my husband promised to bring him a Taddy Porter for his birthday. We will be going to the cemetery on Sunday after church, since we'll be in the general vicinity.

Since today was Friday, alas it was a no-meat day in our household. During Lent, all Catholics who are able to must abstain from eating meat on Fridays. Exceptions are granted for pregnant and nursing mothers, the elderly, the infirm and of unsound mind, but such groups can still participate in fast if they so choose. Since I'm still nursing the baby, I technically can eat meat, but hubby can't. Still, we try and minimize the cooking so I wind up eating fish too. My hubby usually fries up some catfish, but I'm tired of catfish. So while giving our neighbor a ride to the grocery store, my hubby bought some large shrimp and the box mix from Zatarain's to make jambalaya. After boiling the shrimp, I peeled them while hubby chopped up the vegetables and then combined all the ingredients in the pot to cook. The delicious result is today's picture of the day.

"Jambalaya, crayfish pie and file' gumbo..."

Who says vegetarian food has to be inedible?

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Picture of the Day

Happy Sunday, dear readers!

I can stand up now! Good thing I don't know how to climb out of this baby jail and make a break for it...yet! #baby #girl #family #jailbreak #9months #standingup #toddling #walking #parenthood #superbaby #smartypants

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Feb 28, 2016 at 3:42pm PST

All throughout church today, the baby was quite lively. We had to sit in the kiddie ghetto upstairs because she was quite rambunctious as we entered the church and once we were safely ensconced up there with a number of families with children under age five, we could relax a bit and let her gab. I don't want to let her think its ok to make noise in church or run around with the other kiddos while Mass is going on, but the fact is babies and toddlers are physically incapable of sitting still and paying attention to something for more than a few minutes at a time when they're awake.

While she can stand up with assistance and has begun pulling herself up on us as well as the furniture, the baby still hasn't figured out walking. I do like to let her practice "walking" for short periods of time by holding onto her arms or holding her up under her armpits and encouraging her to put one foot in front of the other. Thank goodness we acquired a walker (and the baby jail seen in the photo) from a friend who was doing some therapeutic housecleaning so that my back can get a break from all the activity. In terms of real mobility, the baby can crawl, though its more of an Army crawl on the stomach than a proper crawl on all fours. The pediatrician was most pleased with her development at our last appointment, and I'm proud of how well she has surpassed her milestones too. As she becomes more mobile, I too can become more physically active. I hate exercise, but it's different when its in play as opposed to being in a gym.

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Picture of the Day

Hi everyone!

Here is a cuteness picture I caught yesterday at the fish fry!

She ate a lemon, in addition to some of my enchiladas.

Yes, she ate a lemon and didn't freak out over it. I didn't expect she would because I drank alot of lemon-flavored drinks while I was pregnant with her.

My child is not like other children. She eats the same things we big people eat with with minimal modifications. Cabbage and taters, tomatoes, turnip and mustard greens, chili, beans n rice, jambalaya, etc. she eats it all! In fact, the only time she didn't like something we fed her was some commercially produced baby food that was supposed to be garden vegetables but looked like a radioactive green mush that tasted as terrible as it looked. It helps having a toothless old man for a husband who knows how to cook good food to expand her palette, but render the food in an edible format.

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Picture of the Day

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't written for a few days. My husband, my daughter and I have all come down with colds! At Midnight Mass, we were seated next to a family with several small children, some of whom were coughing. Instinctively, I knew we were gonna catch whatever bug they had and sure enough, my hubby starts feeling funny right about the middle of Mass. Naturally, the cold spread from him to the baby and now me. Fortunately, this is only a mild cold, and we are already beginning to feel better. This is not the first time any of us have gotten sick from somebody at church.

Since we are all on the rebound, I chose to accompany my husband to his job training at the mall today. It was a short training, only about two hours or so. I walked around the mall a bit, hung out at Sephora and sampled various cosmetics. It was from that venture that today's picture is the star of. I'm really starting to expand my makeup field away from just eyeshadows and into other realms like foundation and lip products.

I love you @sephora! #makeup #beauty #lipstick #eyeshadow #swatch #nofilter

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Dec 30, 2015 at 1:44pm PST

Unfortunately, I did not walk around the entire mall. The baby became hungry and I wound up spending time in the woefully inadequate "nursing lounge". Sure it was private and kinda dark with a changing table and a rocking chair, but the room itself was small and cramped. The rocking chair had absolutely no padding whatsoever on it, so it was quite literally a pain in the ass to sit in. Oh well, this is the price us mothers pay for existing in a society that despises children. Perfectly normal behaviors like nursing must be banished elsewhere lest someone get the wrong idea about what a tit is REALLY for.

And that was how I spent my day.

Gaudete!

Happy Sunday, dear readers. Hope your favorite football teams won their respective games.

It's Gaudete Sunday, which Catholics all around the world celebrate as the halfway point between the start of Advent and Christmas. On this day, priests wear pink (or "rose", as they're officially designated) vestments as a moment of joy in a season of penance. Gaudete actually means "joy", from the Latin word "gaudere"-"joyous", and this is meant to be an inspiration to help us get through to Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

While I'm admittedly not the most fashion-forward or conscious individual, I try and make it a point to coordinate my makeup to match the dominant colors of the religious holidays and observations I celebrate. It's my small way of proclaiming my devotion to the Catholic faith. Some may dress in a particular manner to proclaim their devotion, others may say special prayers, but I like using makeup.

My Gaudete Sunday look for 2015. Pink with some purple and black

Closeup of my blending detail. I really like the way this came out

I used my favorite Sephora palette and my Coastal Scents Go Palette in Cairo to get this look. I can legitimately thank those beauty tutorials I was binge watching a few weeks back since I feel they helped me improve my skills significantly. With practice, maybe I too will be an MUA and be able to do some beauty tutorials one day too.

Here's a bonus picture for your Sunday. Yesterday after Confession, we went to Walmart to go get some needed items. While cruising through the personal care aisle, I spotted this.

It may be a little hard to see, but these razor cartridges have "sold by eaches" printed on the sticker on the security casing

I'm pretty sure they meant to say "sold individually", but the illiterate printer entered that mostrosity instead.

This is why I will be homeschooling my children when they are old enough.

Have a good week everyone!

Throwback Thursday

It's Thursday, so it's time for #tbt

My most valuable eyeshadow palette from Sephora. I use this for special occasions. I purchased it on clearance in 2012

I've been binge-watching makeup tutorials on Youtube recently and I got to thinking about filming a tutorial myself. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a beauty guru or makeup artist, but I figured it would be fun to do a tutorial just for the hell of it. I've been itching to do an Advent look (purple to match the priest's vestments), but I haven't had the time or energy to really sit down and work it out.

Fortunately, there is one bright spot. It's not hard to rig a smartphone up as a webcam to a computer. The only place I have to film a tutorial is here at my desk, and the webcam in my laptop has poor resolution (it's only 2mp, vs the 8mp my cellphone has). A real video camera would be nice, but until I can afford one, this setup will have to do.

This should be fun.

Picture of the Day

Cuteness attack!

That Princess Leia-style blanket on the baby's head was actually inspired by a Hong Kong based beauty vlogger who made a similar headwrap for her son and herself using a towel. That headwrap is known as a Sheep Head wrap from Korea, and it is used in the sauna or bath. It was too cute not to try, even though it ended up looking more like the headdress of a member of the Sisters of Charity.

Have a good week!

Picture of the Day

A most vigorous chomp!

About a week ago, my mom sent a care package which included that chompy toy for the baby. It's become her favorite chompy. The company that made it was Nuby, and I must say, I'm quite pleased with the quality of their products. My daughter's disgraced godfather bought her a teething toy by the same company a while back, and she likes playing with it when we're out. They're both easy to grasp and effective at soothing sore teething gums.

I love being a mom. There is something fulfilling about watching my child grow from a tiny helpless infant into a boisterous child who is curious about the world and everything in it. I only hope that I don't become a helicopter parent and render her completely unequipped to deal with the world at large when it comes time for her to leave me and make her own way in life. I also hope that I can accept her for who she is and not someone she should be, a very painful lesson still resonating with me today.

Big Bad Bill

Here's a fun bit of music for your enjoyment.



Yes, that is the very same Van Halen of "Jump" fame. Aside from the unexpectedly catchy tune, it may surprise you to learn that Eddie and Alex's father, Jan Van Halen, made an appearance playing the clarinet in the background. Mr. Van Halen was a classically trained musician, and it pleases many a fan of the band to see that his sons learned well from their daddy.

As for the song's title, the first thing that came to my mind was THIS Bill!

Bill the Cat of Berkeley Breathed's most famous (and recently resurrected!) cartoon, Bloom County. Pic found here

Good night world. See you in the morning.

Daily Deliciousness

Greetings, dear readers!

Last night, after discovering a new recipe for cornbread, my wonderful husband set about in the kitchen to work his magic for dinner.

Homemade buttermilk cornbread topped with bacon and E-Z Chili

And here is the chef proudly showing off his work.

The man behind the meals

While I may not have the best relationship with my family, I am forever grateful to them for helping my husband and I buy this trailer to live in and raise our children. Something as simple as having a working oven was an all but distant memory until we moved in here. Now that we've upgraded from a precariously-balanced toaster oven to a real one, even I who seldom cooks will get a chance to try my hand at baking!

Picture of the Day

Peekaboo!

My daughter loves playing with the newspapers. This sort of play gives her some exercise and distraction for a bit. My mother-in-law says that my husband loved newspapers as an infant. He was especially fond of chewing on them. I am certainly glad that lead-based inks were phased out long ago and grocery fliers/newspapers now are printed with more environmentally friendly inks instead.

And in a related note, perhaps because of her resemblance to her father, random strangers will frequently mistake my daughter for a boy! This happens even when she is wearing girl clothes, anytime we're out in public! My husband theorizes that in addition to her resemblance to him, our daughter is a large and active child for her age. While she is big for being a 4 month old, her mistaken gender is an interesting (albeit annoying!) observation. What does this say about us as a society where a clearly female child is initially judged as male? Has it become more socially acceptable for males to be dressed in typically feminine colors (pink, purple, etc)? Or has our society become so rigidly sexist that even baby girls (or baby boys, for that matter) who don't fit EXACTLY into the rigidly-defined "norm" become a nuclear-level mindfuck to anyone who encounters them?

This is a strange time we live in, ladies and gentlemen. It's gonna get stranger yet.

Throwback Thursday

It's that time of the week!

Me with my favorite pink bandanna and Desert Storm windbreaker, and my brother looking like a hitman

This is my brother and I at Alcatraz Island in 2012. My uncle took us to San Francisco, CA that year for our annual family vacation (my parents did not come, so these vacations were some one-on-one time that we could spend with our uncle). Sadly, this would be the last family vacation I would go on with them. My overall family situation severely deteriorated and I would leave a few months after this photo was taken (my computer dates this photo to August 14, 2012).

Family vacations were a special time for my brother and I. Since our uncle was not married or had children and he made quite alot of money as an optical engineer, we basically became like "his kids". We enjoyed it when our uncle would come to visit us from Indiana and he too liked to spend lots of time with us. Vacations with him were a way for us to see the places that my parents would never set foot in either for cost constraints or other reasons. This annual tradition began in 2007, when my mom finally allowed my uncle to take myself and my brother to New York City, something we'd wanted to do for years. I have many fond memories of my vacations with my uncle.

Picture of the Day

Say cheese!

Bonus!

What better way to spend a rainy day (thanks, last minute monsoon!) than by playing and taking selfies with your baby?

Picture of the Day

Man at work

Recently, our ancient and leaky bathtub faucet went to faucet heaven after corrosion finally destroyed the seals in the hot/cold handles. Since we live in a trailer, RV plumbing is both readily available where we live, and quite affordable too. The latter part is important because while we probably could have replaced the seals, that job would have been more costly and trouble than it was worth. So, we shopped carefully and ordered a new faucet for the bathroom. My hubby spent the evening installing the new faucet and making sure nothing leaked. No longer will we have to gorilla the handles when finished bathing.

As difficult as a financially impoverished existence is, it can be quite an instructive way to live. Since calling a repair person is not affordable, one has to learn how to fix things not only by themselves, but if parts are not readily available, what are acceptable substitutes.

I'm very grateful to have my husband in this regard. He's my handyman and my McGyver. It's a shame so much repair know-how is gone. Our disposable society has rendered us infantile.

Picture of the Day

Jambalaya, crawfish pie, and file' gumbo 🎶🐟#jambalaya #homemade #food #whatsfordinner #zatarains #lovefromneworleans

A photo posted by Tamara Tamtam Morris (@tr0u8ad0ur_520) on Aug 22, 2015 at 9:28pm PDT

For clarification on the origin of that caption:

Happy Sunday everyone!