Community Workshop
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

 So I have started working on my little bead/jewelry business now. I have hired 2 girls, and already have 2 other girls that work for me. I am training them and we are already looking for more people. The workshop better be done very soon....because for now we are working in my house....which is getting smaller and smaller.

Olivia is our "Live-in" maid, she is from near where my husband was born in Guerrero, Mexico. We basically "have" to have a "live-in", because when I leave and go shopping or to the states for a visit someone has to stay to take care of the animals and watch the house. As long as someone is in the house no one will try and rob it. It is nice having someone 24/7 that you can trust. She is very helpful and eager. She is 23 years old, never been out of her hometown and very happy that she can now make beads. She has now spent approx 20 hours on the torch so far. She can now make a round bead with decent bead holes. She is very excited. She works in the house all day long, cooking, washing our clothes, giving Gidget (the boston terrier) bathes and feeding the 4 pets we have and in the afternoon she makes beads. She has to want this pretty badly in order to work all day plus do this on the side.

Berenice is 17 years old. She has a hair lip, sometimes it is hard to understand her when she speaks, but she is very bright. She was given a special recognition at her high school from President Fox when she graduated. I became aware of her when I presented her with this certificate. I knew she had alot to share. I always had her in the back of my mind as someone who I could somehow help. Her family is very poor and the opportunities here in Cuauchichinola are far and few between. She was working in the fields of Basil, cutting basil and planting basil. Hunched over all day long in the sun, from 6am until 8pm at night for approx $90.00 US a week, 6 days a week. In order for her to quit work I had to pay her at least what she was making at her old job. I pay her at this moment $100.00 US. She is now making beads and in two weeks she has performed what I did in a couple of months. So she is talented. I plan on using her beads for finished pieces mostly.

Maria Lourdes or Lulu started working here as well. She has a degree from a tech school as a Secretary. She could not find work  here in this town. In order for her to work she would have to travel daily pretty far away, and that is costly. I hired her to take pictures of my beads and create my listings. She has a limited English but she does has some. I think it will work out ok. Lulu is 21 years old.

Abdulia is married, she is in her 30's. She wants to learn too. She comes to my house to help Olivia or "Oli" out with the extra housework. The house to me is not that big, but I guess it is when it comes to cleaning. Loads of dust (since we live on a Ranch), and of course we have to keep the Scorpion's down, they will multiply if we don't keep up with it. Abdulia comes 3 to 5 days when she can, and only half days. Anyway she is excited about learning how.

Things are working out ok. So far.

Books: I just got done with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It is a Vampire book. It was a fun read. I would like to get the next one, but it will be a while until I get back to the states. It is a tame story, no sex, only kissing. It would be an exciting book for a teenager, but I too enjoyed it. 

Right now I am reading "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs, It is an interesting read. Makes me remember the dumb things we did as a child and laugh at how stupid we were sometimes and how smart too. I will let you all know what I think once I am done. I am 1/2 done now....

Currently reading : Running with Scissors: A Memoir By Augusten Burroughs Release date: 01 June, 2003

7:58 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Just some thoughts
Current mood: sad
Category: sickened Goals, Plans, Hopes

Just when I think that I have it bad, I find someone else who has/had it worst. I feel bad about being so hard on myself and beating me up at every turn. You would think that I could be more productive, more positive about life. Why we worry about things that are not important is beyond me. Why not fixate on the positive and good in things. We all have problems, I am not unique at all, in that respect.

I just found out that a friend, someone I could have been a much better friend to, which I am so sorry about, that I was such an loser to.......took her own life. I think that I will be deeply saddened about this for a very long time. I think I could have done something to make things better, somehow. Maybe I couldn't save her life, but maybe I could have made her life better. If I had known, bothered to know, bothered to care more and pay attention, maybe she would be alive today. Even though space separated us, in my heart we were always good friends. I loved Mara. I really loved her.

5:44 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Well here is an Update on stuff....
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Life

My Camera broke (the one in the picture), it is a Nikon D1x, my baby. I had to find an authorized Nikon Repair Facility here in Mexico City. I finally found one and took it there, the curtain in the Shutter broke. No one knows why. The camera is 3 years old now, lightly used, never dropped, treated well overall. Maybe it suffers from lack of use occasionally which I plan on recifiying now. hehe. Anyway, it is fixed, luckily. It cost about $300.00 US to fix. I am so paranoid about it breaking again. Going to Mexico City is like going to another country for us, we are 3 hours away, the toll roads are expensive (we pay about $20 US one way), you have to eat at least once, and gas is more expensive here than in the US (go figure). Anyway, I got depressed about it being broke, and turned into a blob. Literally. hehe. I guess I am pretty attached to it.

I posted a new picture I took of my kitty Bruno. He is so cute.

We are so ready to go back to the states to live. We are not sure where yet, but most likely it will be Arizona. We both miss our families and have enjoyed living in Mexico greatly, but are ready to get back to the luxuries of the States that we miss. Like resturants, stores, books, magazines, reasonably priced material items, groceries, anything we want. Mostly we cannot get those things here.

So I have been thinking of trying to write a novel. But never having done that I feel like I am at a loss on where to start. I imagine I need to get a good concrete idea of what it is going to be about, how it will flow, and know about the subject from life experience. I would like it to be a series, possibly lets say 6 books. Hopefully it will be interesting enough to be published. I am now working on what I need to have, like which computer program to use, what format it should be in, getting better at grammar and punctuation. I think my spelling is fine. Anyone have ideas, please share them. Or if you have published a book any advice would be appreciated. I am already a published author of articles for a small magazine. So I do have some experience although limited.

If there is a web site that helps in planning that you know about I would be really thrilled to know about it.

Right now we have a ton of birds eating a fruit that grows on a tree near my living room. It looks like pop corn, coming out of a pea pod. It is sweet, light and airy. If you eat to many you will get sick and need pepto bismol hehe. Anyway, they are going nuts. We have at least 30 different pictures right now of different birds. I also have taken pictures of the fruit. I am going to try and post a album of them and the fruit at flickr later on.

Well that is it for today. It is really HOT here, the other day I looked at the thermometer on my window, and it said it was 120 degrees....I guess that is because it was in full sun on a window, but geeze. We have a baby pool we set up in our patio, and we lay in it at least once a day. Unfortunately Israel had an accident and put a hole in it, so that is no longer working. We are installing misters in our patio so it is cooler. I can't wait.

9:22 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

My Dotphoto Albums
Current mood: artistic

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=Laura+Brito

This is a link to my Dotphoto Albums. Hope you enjoy them. I will be adding to them weekly at the very least.

6:56 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Remembering Shiri Negari

http://www.shiri.us/eng-main.html

Something I would like to share with everyone. At the bottom is a very nice video about her life.

10:16 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Back from my trip to Arizona
Current mood: contemplative

Well I am back now! Whew, it was a long trip, I was almost there for 1 month! I took over 4,000 pictures and I will post some during the next few days. I am looking for a site to start hosting my pictures where I can possibly host them as stock photography or at the very least a place where people can order prints. If anyone has a good site in mind please email me. I would appreciate any tips.

I got to enjoy seeing my family, my little granddaughter, she is just the sweetest little girl. My son and daughter and I got to laugh my butt off with my Mom. Poor thing I would make her laugh so hard she would practically choke to passing out! We sure had fun. We were two ladies going all over the place taking pictures of the sites and enjoying seeing some of them for the first time. We even had a run in with a bag lady! That almost got out of hand!

My poor puppies and kitty thought I was not coming back. Bruno (my kitty) was all over me, and kept meowing and meowing, talking and talking to me about all his experiences and problems (so I think), he really was happy to see me. My husband had to compete for my attention. That was a hard task! hehe, poor man. He took me on a overnight trip nearby just to be alone with me! That was funny. Poor Bruno would come in my room in the middle of the night and start meowing for me to get up and play with him or pet him. He wouldn't leave me alone!
But I miss my LLuvia, Marcus, Daniel, Mya, Jasmine and my Mom already.

9:48 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Tomorrow
Category: Travel and Places

Tomorrow I go to Arizona! Yippe...I am really looking forward to this visit. I can't wait. I am going to go to the Tucson Gemshow and that is going to be alot of fun for me. I am also going to get to see my two kids, my grandbaby and my mother. Maybe my brother too. It will be nice to be in the states for a change. Anyway I am busy packing and getting ready.

3:53 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Darrow Movie
Current mood: bored
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

I just watched "Darrow" with Kevin Spacey. I wasn't totally impressed with this movie like I have been with his others. Has anyone else seen this movie? What did you think? I liked some portions of it, especially parts in the court room. Anyway, one more Kevin Spacey film watched, I only have a few I haven't seen.

7:27 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Ancronym on the web, sorta neat....not that I agree 100%

L	Lucky
A	Awesome
U	Unusual
R	Refined
A	Ambivalent

11:42 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Getting ready for a trip
Current mood: complacent
Category: Blogging

Well tomorrow I will be traveling on a Jet Plane. I always get apprehensive even though I know they are safer than a car. But my perception is that if a plane wrecks you are not going to live. So I think I would much rather wreck in a car than a plane. At least I have a chance there. But I have lived a pretty wild and fruitful life so if something happened at least I have lived. It will be sad though that not many would know what I have lived through and done. People would be very surprised, even my own family. I haven't asked for it, or even looked for it, but my life has been like some you see in Movies. Literally.

Well now I am 46. Alot of people would say I am old. I guess. I keep on telling people that after, let says 20, you really don't feel older. It is weird too. I do grow, mentally, I am wiser, I mentor some who appreciate my experience, I learn. But at the same I can't help but think that I also waste my time and this saddens me.

I guess I can say that I am not doing what I would like to do in my life. I envy my daughter who seems to be living the exact life she would like to live. Of course she may want more, like to travel, to not struggle for money, to do more. But I do envy her.

7:17 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment