Merry Christmas and really funny stickers!

I've been posting lots lately on my other blog, and that's why you haven't seen much here. But here are a couple of stickers that Jose and I found on his grandmother's refrigerator. Where they're from and how they got to Jose's grandmother's fridge, I have no idea!

Truffles?

Last year I gave to my coworkers (there are only 3 of them) a box of Christmas cookies that I baked. Yesterday I tried to make truffles.

The recipe is not exactly complete; I cut it out of a newspaper...a not American newspaper, so I guess it was from Ireland when we went in September of 2007. Anyway, the title of the article was "Christmas Gifts a Toddler Can Make", so I thought that included me, too. Anyway, I'll let the pictures tell the story.And now I'm not sure if they look too lumpy and disgusting to give away. I might just do cookies again. :o/

Stuck at home on Sunday

It's Sunday (when nothing is open anyway), it's a Sunday between two national holidays (Constitution Day, yesterday, and Immaculate Conception, tomorrow), and it's rainy. We're bored. I'm getting a little crazy after spending so much time on eHow and Jose is hunched over the bidet, trying to get stamps off their envelopes for his collection.

My first eHow earnings!

I did it!

I made a whole, entire $0.99 on eHow!

I'm so excited, because I was about halfway to feeling put out with this venture. I joined a month ago, but only posted 5 articles up until last week. Then, last weekend I started reading more on the forum and realized some people were making some money on that website and if I wanted to join them, I had to really make an effort. So, I decided to dedicate A LOT of my December free time to improving my eHow portfolio. Mainly, adding to the articles (my goal is 25 before January) and promoting myself more on the website (by joining in chats and adding friends). I started doing that this week and saw my views go up dramatically and started getting comments and ratings, which were fun. I also paid for and downloaded an ebook on how to improve earnings. I implemented a few of the tips this afternoon, but none of them very serious. Then, this evening, Jose and I came home from dance class and I had my first earnings! 99 cents, with only 10 articles.

I'm really motivated now and can't wait to write and post more on the website. Here's a link to a recent Christmas article. Enjoy!

Book Review: Atlas Shrugged

For my birthday, Jose gave me two books (and the fabulous trip to Girona). The first book was _The Painter of Battles_, an amazing novel by one of my favorite Spanish authors, Arturo Perez-Reverte. The second was _Atlas Shrugged_, by Ayn Rand..."the biggest book in English they had." It drives him crazy when I order a book from the UK, wait eagerly for it for weeks, then read it in 2 days. So, determined to make a book last longer than the weekend, he gave me that.

In defense of Jose, Ayn Rand isn't well-known at all in Spain, and he didn't know that her ideas are limited in their anti-communism and naive in their limitations. And, having read Rand before, I did know what her political stand would be and prepared myself for it. I do still read Rand, because although I disagree with every concept, I think she is a good writer with great stories.

So I began with _Atlas_, and almost from the beginning, couldn't put it down. Only because it is over 1,000 pages did it last me the 2.5 weeks I spent reading it, albeit with neck cramps on the weekend. The story was so good, that weeks after finishing it, I'm still thinking about the characters. Hence the post.

In a world where everything is deteriorating into non-chalance and irresponsibility, can the few remaining entreprenuers be able to save it? Why are there only two fully developed female characters, Dagny Taggart and her opposite, and rival, Lillian Rearden? Why is Francisco d'Anconia the ideological leader, then betrayer, then ultimate follower of John Galt? It seemed the book didn't do him justice at the end. Such a great character to turn so uninteresting at the end. Why does Dagny have so many lovers? Why does her "change" seem so anticlimactic?

Gosh! What I would give for a good English 101 analysis right now!

No Results Yet....

So, I'm still doing this article writing thing on eHow.
They put together a forum section, and after reading lots and lots of posts, I realized that I'm doing really badly.

Here's how it's going so far. I've been a member for a month, and I just posted my sixth article today. So far, my oldest article has had 183 views, and the others, well, less than that. From what I understand, you start making a bit of money after 250 views. How can I get those remaining views??? And my first bit of money?

I'm going to try posting a tag on Facebook to see if anyone helps me out. Hopefully I can get those views in a few days with a little help. If you want to send the link to anyone....feel free.

I keep you updated on the progress.

Girona this weekend.

For my birthday, Jose surprised me with a trip to Girona. He got a RyanAir special for 1 cent each, leaving from Madrid on Saturday at 12.50 and returning on Sunday at 6.35 am. So, we packed sandwiches and muffins, drove our car to the airport, and flew to Girona, about an hour from Barcelona. You can see the pictures!

Maybe it's coming from Toledo, but everything seemed so clean and inhabitant friendly. The city is full of new buildings and styles, fun bars and cafes and charming bridges that cross the river. The streets were crowded with a small amount of tourists and lots of Catalan. I felt like I had just arrived in a new country, when someone said something basic, and I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. It's overwhelming, but fun.


The biggest surprise happened on the way to the airport at 5 am. We were sitting on the shuttle bus and next to us were two people who worked for RyanAir. They were speaking together and I heard bits of their conversation: "semmit" and "nem tudom" and other pieces that identified them as Hungarian! Hungarians! Sitting next to me on the shuttle bus in Girona! So, I asked them, in my best Hungarian, if they were Magyar...and after a brief, confused look they said that they were. So, after switching into English (I forgot how well they spoke English), I told them all about living in Hungary, meeting Jose, and how I LOVED it. I think I looked a little crazy, because they weren't too excited to continue talking about how wonderful it was. Maybe I didn't explain myself well or maybe it was just 5 o'clock in the morning. But, even though they were a little less than friendly, it still made my morning to have met Hungarians in Spain and spent a little time thinking about my first foreign love.

We flew back to Madrid as the sun was coming up, drove back home and took a long nap. What a great weekend!