Shoyu's dance moves - I : TANGO

Check this out guys! I told you my Uncle Shoyu was gonna rock you and you're about to see why. Well, maybe instead of "rocking you" he will "tango you", "salsa you", "merengue you", "samba you"!
Yes, these are Shoyu's many talents and guess why? There is Latin, Brazilian blood running through his veins and he's got rhythm! HOT! HOT! HOT!
He's Mama's brother, or my Grandma C's youngest child now and... he lives in Brazil, so we've never met. I hope to meet him some day.

Aunty H took a trip to Argentina this year and taught Shoyu some Tango moves which he quickly learned. They have chosen a beautiful tango song by Astor Piazzolla for this delightful routine they put together just for us. Enjoy!



I wish I could dance like him...one day...who knows...

Stay tuned for more dance moves with Shoyu!

The house is for sale

Mama's interpretation of the house is for sale was: Oh no, I have to keep it spic- and-span every single day!
Mine was : Oh no, back in the crate again !!
When we had the "For Sale" sign in front of our house, that meant people would be visiting it a lot and Mama had to work hard to keep everything in order and looking really good. She even bought flowers every week for the vase on the kitchen table and put fresh fruit in the basket. Mom and Dad had to remove all the clutter and personal items like pictures, from the home decor, to make it look attractive for prospective buyers, following the realtor's advice. One of these personal items, believe it or not, was me! So, they recommended that I stayed in my crate whenever the realtor brought a potential buyer to see the house.
In the first month of open houses and house showings(March) Grandma C was still around, so it was not as bad for me because the realtor would call her to let her know she was bringing someone over to look at the house, so I had an extra walk around the park. However, after she returned to Brazil, I had to stay in the crate ALL DAY LONG until my Mom came back home from work. That was about 10.5 hours in prison!
The house did not sell very fast, so I had to do some time in jail... Mama was already getting neurotic maintaining the cleanliness, refilling the air fresheners plug-ins in all rooms, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming etc. We both couldn't wait to move out and the nightmare to end!

Fixing up the house

My 3rd season is here again! Ok, let's carry on from where I left off, saying good-bye to Grandma C. After she left the house was so empty and I missed her a lot.
Daddy had to relocate from Saint Louis to Chicago in May 2007. That meant, selling our home and other things like furniture and appliances. Craigslist helped with that and Mama sold some good stuff for cheap just to get rid of it fast. Lucky buyers!
The house was built in 1929 so Mommy and Dad put a lot of work into it to make it look prettier since day one. Some neutral color tones was all the house needed to open up the space and make the rooms look bigger. When they first moved in, it had some crazy colors none of them liked. Mommy did most of the painting; all trims, doors, walls and Dad painted the ceilings and installed all the fixtures. I wasn't a resident then, and I'm glad I didn't have to deal with paint and polyurethane(on the hardwood floors) nasty and harmful vapors like they did. When I came to the house in November most of it was already looking good with the exception of the kitchen, basement, deck and front and back yards. During the months of March and April it was very chaotic in the house with all the ceramic tiles piled up, heavy bags of grout and drywall sheets. Grandma C and Mike, the handyman, helped us a lot. There was never a quiet or clean place for me to hang around. Mike finished doing the deck, which made me really happy! That was one the most dramatic change in the remodeling. Other good ones were the pantry and the attic. The kitchen required a total revamp which wouldn't give my parents the money back with the home sale. So they just painted all the cabinets and put cheap cabinet knobs but, it looked better than before. Daddy and Grandma C improved the curb appeal by planting a little evergreen spiral topiary in the middle of four little blue pine trees in the front yard. The back yard also received some TLC with 5 new white and red rose shrubs. We didn't get to see them in bloom because we moved out before that or maybe they died even before we moved out. I don't know why they put those dangerous bushes in my yard. They should sometimes remember I'm short and I can hurt myself with the thorns!
Below are some "before and after" picures of our home in Saint Louis.

House



Curb appeal( not really appealing, but better than before believe me)



Old front steps



New front steps ( New but wrong color, uh-oh)



Old living room



New living room



Old fireplace



New fireplace



Old dining room



New dining room



Old kitchen



New kitchen



Old pantry



New pantry



Old office



New office

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Old bedroom



New bedroom

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Old bathroom



New bathroom



Old attic





New attic





And my favorite room in( or outside?) the house: The deck!

Old deck









New deck : YAY!!!

When my Grandma C left for Brazil

That day finally came. Grandma's flight was about noon so she got up early to finish packing her toiletries and I enjoyed my last few hours with her. I miss you so much Grandma!

My totally disheveled hair:





Mommy in the back, helping the dishwasher do its job.



This is me totally depressed right after Grandma C left...





PS: This is the continuation of my 3rd season. And Grandma C is not camera shy anymore YAY!

It's Valentine's Day again!

Yes it is!!!(if you're landing here for the first time, I'm just writing the continuation of my 3rd season) I'm still single but, isn't this a day to celebrate love in general? Well, I know in the USA it is and in the UK too. Of course it is a much more special day to couples but I'm not that bothered by the fact I am single on this day. In Brazil, where Mom is from, Valentine's Day is celebrated on June 12th, one day before (Dia de Santo Antonio)St Anthony's Day, the "Cupid Saint", who is invoked by all single ladies to help them find a husband. I think he is also believed to bless all marriages and help people find things they lost. Some ladies feel kinda sad if they're single on Valentine's Day because the main focus is on the couples and if you're single you get kinda jealous of them. Mama was one of them, she told me. Now she has 2 Valentine's Days to receive flowers, cards, gifts and chocolate: February 14th and June 12th !!!
This Valentine's Day, I had my parents and my Grandma C around to celebrate LOVE! Crafty Grandma C is a cake decorator and made a beeeaaaauutiful, romantic, heart shaped, red velvet cake for my Mom & Dad. She perfectly sculpted them both in either fondant or gum paste and put on top of it. Check this out! All you need is LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is all you need!

A slide show with pictures of the Valentine's Cake from different angles (I think Mom & Dad look so cute!)

All you need is LOVE! Beatles LOVE! I loooove The Beatles...

Mama & Grandma C's weekly classes

While Grandma C is naturally crafty, Mama is definetely not. However, she thought it was going to be an amazing opportunity for Grandma to enroll in a cake decorating course since she was going to stay here for a long time. Back in Brazil, she has always made and decorated beautiful cakes for family and friends but, she wanted to learn new techniques and tricks. So, Mama also enrolled in the course, a 4 month cake decorating course, mainly to drive Grandma C to school but also to have fun and see if she could awaken the little artist in her, the little cake decorator hahahahaha. They had the same wonderful Wilton Method instructor, for the 4 modules, the sweet Doreen(Crafty DC), who always had some freebies and nice little tools to give away to her students. Classes met every Monday night and although I was left alone in the house,(those were also the nights my Aunty H, would ride with them and go to the shopping mall close to their school)I knew it was going to be only a couple of hours, so I didn't care that much; it was great to see them come back home full of enthusiasm about the new cake assignment for next class. Below are most of the cakes they made throughout their cake decorating course, a few of them were made in Brazil by Grandma alone, like the Spider Man and the Hello Kitty ones. Congrats on your lovely cakes Mama & Grandma!

Bad medicine, YUCK!

It was a Sunday afternoon when we came back home and my Mom was the first one to notice my face was about half a size bigger than usual. I don't remember having felt any sick nor have I realized I was so swollen. Mama immediately brought me to Dad and went downstairs to pick up the phone and call my doctor. My Grandma C and E, who was visiting with us that weekend, were both downstairs and started asking me what I ate last night. They were all making assumptions about what might have caused the problem but said I'd better be on the safe side and go see the doctor. They were worried too. I wanted to look at myself in the mirror but they told me that I'd better not. Oh Gosh, I wonder how ugly I must have looked. Mama was so worried that she couldn't even speak English anymore, but she did get her message across to the doctor who was professional enough to show up in his convertible and see me at his office on his day off. Needless to say, we had to pay him a lot for the incovenience we caused him, and in the end the diagnosis was I had been stung by a bee, wasp or whatever! I just know this was the most expensive Benadryl I've ever had to pay for. Maybe I'll be a doctor when I grow up and have a nice convertible. My Dad had to struggle a little bit to get the Benadryl down my throat. It tasted awful! Check out the video below:

Embarassing Grandma C

Grandma C always took me for a walk when Mama was at work. In the beginning she wasn't used to the rectractable leash, you know, the one that gives me more freedom. But right on the second walk she was mastering it and pulling me towards her when crossing a street. She had to do that because I go crazy marking my territory and sometimes I'm not aware of cars. Attached to the leash handle, there is a purple bone shaped poop bag container. When a bag is pulled from the roll, the tip of the next bag sticks out and they are used as needed, in other words, when I get my business done. As you can see, my business doesn't involve picking it up, just doing it, simple! I'm a busy man and sometimes, I do more than one business per walk, which happened when my Grandma C realized she ran out of bags to pick up my second poop, right in front of the police officer's car! Not only was she embarassed but she was also afraid to be given a littering ticket. To her luck, the policeman was not looking at us, so we quickly ran home. Sorry Grandma! Now, she always checks if she has enough poop bags. What was really great was(only Grandmas can forgive in a situation like this)we came home and I got a cookie and lots of love. Check out the pictures before and after the walk.

Already excited to go for a walk; just waiting for Grandma to show up in the deck with the harness and leash, yeah!



Starting to walk around the neighborhood, ooooh freezing!!!! My Grandma was cold, but that was not the only reason why she wore her knit hat like that. She never likes the way she looks in pictures and so does everybody else in the family, except Mom and Dad. As you could notice from previous posts, nobody in the family likes pictures...



Looking for the right opportunity to do the business.



This spot seems perfect!! ( right under the police's nose...) Stinky poo! You can tell my Grandma is already pulling me out of the crime scene.( I'm not even fully pictured here!)



I look one way.



She looks the other.



C'mon Grandma! RUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!



Back home being rewarded, for doing my business in the right place( which means NOT in the house)



Enjoying every bit of my cookie.



Done!



Grandma's calling me! Sushi!!!
Maybe another cookie??? I'm excited!



Not really, just Grandma's lap, being rewarded for embarassing her.



Aren't Grandmas the best?



PS: Hair still scruffy from Fashion Show...