Birthday WIN!

But at least this turned out well. Happy Birthday, Heather!

Birthday French Toast FAIL

I am usually pretty good at French Toast. I guess I soaked this particular piece far too long.

Happy Birthday, Heather!

Happy Birthday to my Third wife, Heather! Of all my wives, you have been my favourite. Have a Happy Birthday, and keep in touch!

The lawyers called, and the restraining order has been lifted!


Thanks for the birthday suggestions, Eddie. I will see what I can do.

Epiphany 2010

Epiphany is still a part of Christmas, and is the 12th day after Christmas. On this day, we commemorate the three Magi who visited the Lord Jesus. We try to give our presents on this day, but it turns out to be one of three days we give presents, along with Christmas and St. Nicholas' Day.

Here the girls open up new Pajamas they got.


A Lego shirt for Nicholas. Why so serious?

A Mexican tradition for the Epiphany is to make a Rosca de Reyes. It is a cake that is in the shape of a crown, symbolising the Three Kings as well the Kingship of Jesus Christ. Hidden in a slice of the cake is a small ceramic statue of the Baby Jesus. the child who get this in his or her slice gets an extra small prize. Here it is just out of the Oven.

Now iced and decorated, and ready to be eaten after Mass at Mission San Juan Bautista.

Between Epiphany and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, homes are blessed if they can be by Priests. One also writes on the Lintel of the front door the following with Blessed Chalk.

20 C + M + B 10

It is meant to represent the current year, broken up by the initials of the three magi by which they are traditionally know, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.

The Rosca is ready to be eaten, with some nice Hot Chocolate.

And the winner of the extra candy....

...Is Nicholas!

Have a Blessed Christmas, and Happy Epiphany!

I Would Rock This Hat

In a desperate attempt to find a Friend of mine an Epiphany present on Monday night that had to get mailed the next day to get to its destination, I actually went to the Mall. I used to love to go to the Mall before the Internet, and I could watch Teenagers be jerks in the comfort of my own home instead of driving out to go see them.

Even though I did not find what I was looking for (I did find something, but that is a post for another time, when little children are not around, mine, and yours), I did see a hat that I would love to wear.

How many votes do I get? Yes, it does go with a Zoot Suit. Come on. It would look cool.

Even Commander Adama looks good in one.

I want to play him in the biopic.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve around here on the Central Coast of California was a pleasant experience, as we were invited to a Bon Fire and Weenie Roast (insert your own jokes here) at the house of some friends near Salinas. Great company and Great Food!

The fire was kept going by just about all the kids who came.

There is nothing like bouncing on a Trampoline at 8 PM at night!

Thank you Flanders Family for a great time!

Edwardian Monica

For those of you who have wondered, "If we were all to go back in time and rid ourselves of this awful current administration, and transport Edwardian Society onto our Continent, just what would Monica look like?"

You no longer need to worry your pretty little head about it, because we have photographic proof. Here is Monica in the dress I made. Many of you have already heard me go on and on about it. Now you can see it. The pattern came from Sense and Sensibility, and is based on a gown design from 1906. Juan suggests that I now try to impress people by throwing in some details about knife pleats and pin tucks, but I don't actually know what those things are. The sad truth is, that if I could sew it, the pattern was probably simple enough for a box turtle to make.

A few little mistakes not visible in the picture, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out. For Easter, I'm hoping to send Monica to the Regency period so she'll look like a Jane Austen character. But I'm going to have to learn what pin tucks are first.

Juan here: Am thinking of hiring out Heather to make dresses for people. Any takers? Go to the link above if you get a chance. There is a young lady on the main page. She looks like a certain 10 year old we know, only 5 years in the future.

Homeland Security did not stop this person from visiting

Heather's friend from High School, Robert came to visit us the day after Christmas, giving us a nice present for that day. We went to eat at Foster's right across the street from Salinas High School, the mortal enemy of every adult there. Here are Lizzy and Nicholas next to this giant Nutcracker at Foster's. I think they liked that it was so darn large.

Then we went to downtown Salinas and went to an Antiques Mall. We bought yet another Christmas ornament.

Afterwards, we went to the National Steinbeck Center where Robert was looking a present for a friend who is a Steinbeck fan, but we were too cheap to actually pay to go into the museum dedicated to our most famous Son. I told everyone to pose, and got the standard group photo. Then I told everyone to act crazy, and Ramon actually start to choke our guest! Heather does the standard Diva thing and looks like she is singing. Me? My soul became even smaller and blacker. However, they did have this cool shirt in the museum gift shop.

Overall, we highly recommend going to the National Steinbeck Center. Let us know what it is like, and maybe someday we ourselves will go.

Thanks for visiting us all the way from Los Angeles, Robert, and we hope to see you soon again! Go Dodgers!

Recovery of a Catholic Life: making the First Black Funeral Pall in the Diocese of Monterey in 40 years

Gaudete Sunday is a joyful one in the penitential season of Advent, when we use Rose, that colour between the Red of Martyrs and the Violet of Mourning. That night, we heard a Faithful of Watsonville had passed away. it was related to us by Father Marc Dauphine, that the Lady who had passed away had requested a Requiem Mass in the Traditional Latin form for her Funeral.

Although we have most of the items that are required for a Requiem Mass, such as a Requiem Missal, most of the Black Vestments, not to mention a Schola and Servers, some are missing. One of the items that was missing was a Black Funeral Pall that goes over the casket. Normally this takes about 10 yards of fabric, and the Funeral was scheduled for Thursday the 17th of December. Heather was voluteered (by me) to make the Pall, and had about three days to make it. Thankfully, it did not seem too difficult, and there was a minimum of decorations to do. A Cross did have to be applied.

It was done on time, and the Pall was put over the Casket for the Requiem Mass. Four more crosses could be added to the corners for symetry, but it all came off well.

here is something we are willing to bet money on: This is probably the only Black Funeral Pall in the entire Diocese of Monterey. We tried looking for one at some of the churches around area, but none was to be found.

So, if one is looking for a Black Funeral Pall, we finally have one, and it is ready for use again.

10 yards of fabric is heavy, by the way!

Best Gingerbread Cookies Ever!!!

Who can resist!?!

Best Snowmen Ever

Scariest Christmas Decoration EVER!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year... except when people put up pure, uncut nightmare fuel for Christmas decorations.

This either a Nutcracker or Toy Soldier, or both, put up at Candy Cane Lane in Pacific Grove. We have been going for several years now. Although the decorations don't change much form year to year, it is still nice to see an entire neighbourhood put up Christmas decorations.

Still...

This thing is huge. It is about 12 feet tall, with floodlights for the eyes. Few things have cared me as much.

Our Christmas Tree in Progress

Here is the Mendoza Christmas Tree for 2009 in the process of going up. Our Guinea Pig, Henry Ulysses Kramer de Mendoza the Third, was moved form this corner of the house to a space closer to the TV, on the other side of the Davenport. More pictures to come soon.

Merry Christmas from the Mendoza Family

Merry Christmas from the Mendoza Family, and from the Central Coast of California. keep us in your prayers, as we keep all of you, our friends, in our prayers. You are all very special to us, and cannot imagine the world without you and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Take car, God bless, and we wish you a blessed new Year 2010.

Fake Ulysses Sighting: Rude New Hampshire Edition!

Some may know that we have recently returned from the state of New Hampshire for vacation. We went for the blessed event of a Baptism, the making of a new Christian, but we also had time to do some other stuff, like...

ULYSSES SIGHTING!

Even all the way across the continent, there are all sorts of people driving these huge, powerful red trucks, and some of them are very convincing. You could almost believe that a powerful Naval Officer could drive some of these.

So we took some pictures of some of the more convincing ones. For your viewing pleasure, we present one of them right here.

If you look carefully at the truck in the foreground (You can click on the picture to enlarge it), you can see that it is indeed a Red Pick-up Truck. It even has one of those larger cabs that could fit 4, maybe 5 people. It looked like it had been taken off-roading. It had the appropriate Black trim. This particular truck was even in a church parking lot, so that was good. The driver could not be found, so we could not really be sure.
BELIEVABILITY RATING: 25%.

While indeed this was a Red Pick-up Truck, we were in New Hampshire, which is quite a ways from where Ulysses is currently at. Also, this pick-up truck in the foreground is a Dodge Ram, which is totally different from what he drives. Also, we don't thin that Ulysses would be caught dead in the parking lot of Church shaped like a witch's hat.

This sighting had much promise, but alas we were denied. If only we had seen more Red Pick-up Trucks that day. Perhaps we might have had better luck.

We had other sightings, but we will get to those in due time. In the meantime, there is a bit of a corner of a huge White Van just at the right edge of the picture. Maybe later we can zoom in on that for a...

KRAMER SIGHTING!

Stay tuned for more sightings!

Kramer Sighting of the Week!: December 5th, 2009

America! You have been lied to!

Yes, we all know about Climategate and Obama's 'Health' care stuff.

No, we are talking about the Kramers.

They would like for people to think that they have left the Central Coast of California for the Sunny Clime of Florida.

That is not true.

You are being lied to.

They are in fact still around, and we have seen them! Although we were not able to catch up to them, we did manage to take a picture of their van, and we post it here for your viewing pleasure!

Although this vehicle is way smaller than their van, we are convinced it it them. Their van is in fact classified as a bus, and this one closely matches that description. It is also white in colour, and has those huge mirrors. The grill looks a little bit different, black this time instead of chrome. Maybe they're bombing up their van. You know, getting some custom work done on it. Maybe stretching it. It seems they might have done this. Notice also they have added more windows to the van. Now you can see in every direction! For the absolutely most trick option they have added now to their van is the addition of Port-a-Potties, for those times when you are travelling, and there are no restrooms or rest stops available. You know how kids can get. Aways asking if you are there yet and that they need to got to the rest room. Now there are no worries. Just stop by the side of the road, and hello blue liquid!

Believability Factor: 90%!. Although this is a white bus just the one the Kramers have, there are several things that would lead one to think that this does not belong to them. First of all, There is a Salida de Emergencia on this bus. Why would the Kramers need an emergency exit, and why would they need the sign in Spanish? Secondly, the bus seemed to be full of Mexicans dressed for Field work, and very few of the Kramers are actually Mexicans. Lastly, this bus is way too small for the Kramers. It only has a capacity of 42 people.

Well, here we thought we had sighted them, but alas, this one was too small. We were pretty darn close!

Tune in again soon for another edition of...

KRAMER

SIGHTING!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Margaret!

Happy Birthday, Margaret!

Congratulations on reaching your first Birthday!

May you have lots of cake, presents you can chew on, and peaceful nights.

We can't be there for your birthday, but here is a virtual cake just for you (and several others)!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Your Henry Picture Of The Day! (YHPOTD!) December 5th

Time to introduce the world to a temporary visitor to the Mendoza house, Mr. Henry Ulysses Kramer de Mendoza the Third. There was no Henry Kramer de Mendoza the First or Second, but like checks, we decided on a higher number to lend more credibility.

So here he is, Henry!!!

Henry (known for about an hour way back in July as Superdude), is a Guinea Pig born in the outskirts of Göttingen, Germany. He was the heir to a vast fortune his family made in peanut butter mining. However the fortune was lost when his Uncle Frisky speculated in Llama futures, as Llamas are not popular in Germany.

As a young Guinea Pig, he moved to New Mexico to start a new life, but he wandered onto a nuclear testing ground and was caught in an atomic blast. Instead of being killed, he developed super sonic squeaking powers and was for a time Spiderman's arch-Nemesis, Guinea-man.

Through a chain of unlikely events, Henry lost his superpowers and settled down as the mild-mannered pet of the Kramer Family. Sadly, his fur did not agree with the oldest Kramer child's health. And so he was handed off to the Mendozas, with whom he resides today. He is fairly happy in his new home, but wishes they would stop trying to touch him, and that they would give him more carrots.

Come back soon for more pictures of Henry! And possibly a rare interview with the reclusive rodent.

What Really happened At That White House Dinner...

HT to Father Z!

Ulysses sighting of the week! December 5th, 2009

We bring you here a sighting of our intrepid traveller, Ulysses Zamora. He is on his way to the East Coast right now, but he was just sighted in Chekotah, Oklahoma. Let's take a look...

Well, it is a Red Vehicle, just like Ulysses' Truck...

Believability Rating: 10%. Although it is a Red Vehicle, it is the wrong Make and Model. It also appears to be too warm, and the weather this week in Oklahoma has been pretty cold. Members of this Family also appear to be in this picture, and no Mendoza from this Family has been in Oklahoma since the Mom visited Hugo, Oklahoma in 2007 (Long story. Texans are involved). No music was being blasted from the vehicle, either. If you look carefully, the Man to the right of the vehicle seems to have lighter skin tha Ulysses. He is also holding on to the hand of a little boy. There also seems to be a lady with a baby to the left, and we all know that Ulysses is a bachelor. She doesn't seem to be his type. She looks all stuck up and pretty stiff, if you ask us. The guy also is sporting a baseball, and we all know that no cap has ever been on the head of this particular Naval Officer. The People also appear to be made of Lego Bricks.

Well, this one turned out to be a bust. However, tune in again next week for another edition of...

(insert echo-y voice here)

ULYSSES!!!

SIGHTING!!!

OF!!!

THE !!!

WEEK!!!