April 26th! THE DAY OF TRUTH

So yesterday morning the big day finally came, our face off with the ex-landlord in small claims court. Despite several waves of nerve-induced nausea the day before(wow that word was hard to spell) it was surprisingly easy. And admittedly I have to thank my landlord for that, he was unexpectedly polite and non-confrontational throughout the same process. I cannot say that for some of the other people who went to trial that day. One man in particular was really getting into it with a United Airlines rep. Weird. Anyhoo, in the next ten days the judge will send us a decision, but that is secondary to the personal triumph of standing up for yourself and getting to say the truth about what happened in court. It felt really good, not in a vengeful sort of way, but good nonetheless. And on the way out the ex-landlord told me "If you prevail in this case, I will send you a check and an apology letter immediately." Hmmmmm..... Just goes to show you that everybody has good and bad sides, sinners that we are. Like most I always expect people to be one or the other, not both...

Anyways in related news Cookie Monster also had a great day with her angsty struggle of the past few months! Unexpectedly an angel in a high place swooped down to rescue her from the trap of playing the politics game. So we are declaring April 26th a National Holiday of Truth, the day when you finally get recognized for your sufferings, big or small. Ours would probably fall on the small side, but still, you have to recognize the small triumphs too!

Weddings Part 1

Congratulations Roderick and Veronica!

Roderick is one of my cousins on the Maghanoy side and he and his lovely now-wife Veronica have officially kicked off the wedding marathon that will be the next three weeks. They had a great wedding with lots of family fun, dancing, touching speeches and most importantly good food! Although Roderick and his family are technichally not Maghanoys by name, they are Maghanoys at heart. Roderick, Rodney, Eileen and my Aunt Eleanor are kind, generous and really fun. Most importantly over the past two years they've displayed more grace and hope during tragedy that could every be reasonably expected of a family in their position. Veronica is lucky to be marrying into their family and we are lucky to have her. It's enough to make somebody think "I wish I was a Nunez..." You can see more pictures in the photo album...

Additionally my mom and brothers came to visit the new apt. I think that maybe I am not stimulating enough of a host for the Maghanoys becuase this is what they did during their visit...

Sorry Mom! I just had to do it, these pictures were too fantastic! But it does bring out a good point, the Maghanoys are exceptionally good at sleeping. Just ask Arnold! We can fall asleep anywhere at anytime, instanteously as evidenced by the pictures above. There was a lot of eating of bagel bites (my brothers) and the execution of chores(my Mommy!). A good time was had by all....

Next week, it's RonRon and Jasmine's turn!

The floors have been baptized

Yesterday we finally officially had people over to our new apartment, we provided bagel bites and cream puffs. Healthy right? Thank goodness our guests brought fruits and veggies. But I feel a bit redeemed as we burned some of all the food off pretending we were on Dancing with the Stars. And I was so proud of everybody for trying out three different dances! Fangloriousa's sweet daughter Akalyah also did a great job organizing party games, such as the apartment name game contest.... Here were the contenders....

El Partment, P-Studio, La Gran Casa de Emily y Herson, Our harbor from the city, The teachers' abode, La Caja Bonita, Casa Baila, The Castle, Emily's Many Windowed and Hardwooded floor apt., Lucia, Casabella, Non-Crapartment, Chez Nous

Which one will win? I think I'll try to decide by next week. Also by special request from my Mommy, here are some pictures of our yet-to-be-named apartment.

Reasons to pick up the phone....

I hate answering the phone. In high school and college I used to love talking on the phone for hours and hours and hours, but now I have an aversion to talking on the phone, the whole thing just exhuasts me, so, well I hardly ever pick up the phone, with the exception of my Mommy, my Gma, my husband or Miranda. When Miranda calls I know she will never want to talk for more than three seconds so she gets a pass. Well today Miranda called me and my phone was turned off because I hate having it on, it's much easier not to answer calls when the phone is off. Turns out this was a bad move becase Miranda was LYING ON THE FLOOR AFTER HAVING PASSED OUT AND BANGING HER HEAD on the floor in Longs Drugs! My best friend forever was having a major life crisis, called me bloody and delirious from the floor in Longs and I MISSED her call due to my phone aversion. Thank God she is alright, otherwise I would be crushed with guilt. So now I have a new reason to pick up the phone, somebody might be on the floor having a potential crisis. Also I have a new irrational fear that the people I love will die bloody on the floor of Longs and I will forever regret not having picked up the phone.

Geesh! Also I didn't go to foot-washing service tonight at church because my throat hurts and my hsuband is sick. Boo! It's bad all around. On the upside, Miranda is fine, obviously there were people in Longs who in the spirit of good samaratism and not wanting to be sued sent her in an ambulence to the hospital where she got re-hydrated as well as two staples in her noggin. And it reminds me that we we're lucky that she's okay and it was just a two staple head bang. So in the spirit of Easter and being thankful. Remember everybody, every day that nothing horrifying happens is a day to be thankful for, and everyday that your best friend doesn't die in Longs Drugs becasue you didn't pick up the phone counts too! Thank you Jesus!!!!

Congratulations Chhimi and Tabitha! Yesterday little Erik Ma made his debut in the world right on his scheduled due date! He made his debut on Palm Sunday! A good sign! The Ma family are so adoreable! You can see pictures of them at www.babychhimi.com. Tabitha has never looked so beautiful as she does holding her baby boy! Now Chhimi can realize the fullness of his GADness!

So right now is Holy Week, yesterday was Palm Sunday and now we are working our way towards Easter. ABC is celebrating by playing a new movie verison of Moses life. I'm not sure how much I like this version, so far the cartoon version "Prince of Egypt" seems to be a better depictment. Dialog seems a bit lacking, plus I see no reason why everybody always has british accents in these movies. It's just too weird. On the plus side Arnold is really happy because Moses first son whose name is Gersom just appeared. For Arnold this is significant because Gershom is the English translation of Arnold's real name. It means "Stranger in a Strange Land' because Gershom was born during Moses time in exile from Egypt. Fitting since Arnold is strange, plus he is a foreigner in a strange land. Which brings me to immigration....

I have to start off by saying that I have no idea how to solve the multide of immigration problems with policies or strategies, but... if I hear one more person complain about how they "immigrated legally" and it was so much bother and work and everybody else is "unfair" because they immigrated illegally I will just have a stroke! My husband is a legal immigrant, I have personally filled out the piles and boxes of paperwork that legal immigration requires. It is a PAIN IN THE ASS! It is confusing, expensive and irritating to say the least. We've been married for four years and my husband is still a good five years from being eligible to be a citizen. Really annoying would be a kind way to escribe the immigraiton process. But still, this whole "I immigrated legally and it's unfair to me that other people didn't, doesn't take into account many, many factors"

1) Not everybody can immigrate legally. If anybody says the truth, there are only a few reasons you can immigrate legally

1) You have a relative who is a U.S. Citizen
2) You are rich.
3) You have an in-demand skill/college education (which means you are rich)

So if you are poor in Mexico with limited economic prospects. Would you want to see your children malnourished? Would you let them grow up with access to good education? Or would you cross the border and hope that you could make a better future for your family?

Besides, how is it unfair to me that other people came her illegally? Illegal immigrants power the conomy, sustain California's important ag industry, pay sales tax and in many cases federal and state taxes. Yes, it's true many immigrants work under the table, but many immigrants also work using false social security cards which means they pay state, federal and social security taxes.

Plus as an illegal immgirant you have 1) No rights 2) Constant fear of deportation 3) Extremely limited access to a system that you pay into via the aforementioned taxes. How is the situation of the illegal immigrant at all similar to my husbands who has a drivers license, will receive social security, no fear of deportation and access to financial aid?

I love having a blog to spout off my opinions, my own personal cyber soap box Even weirder, and believe me I never thought I would say this, but the Cardinal of Los Angeles agrees with me. Strange! I do not envy policy makers or the Senate in this situation. It's tricky stuff. On my blog I get to spout off my opinion without the dificulty of actually providing solutions but I will say this turning illegal immigration into a felony is a repulsive idea. To say that people are breaking the laws of this country is objectively true from any angle, but to so severely criminalize people willing to work the low wage jobs that Americans are not willing to take so that they can better support their families is ridiculous.

And with that, it's back to Moses, we're starting with the seven plagues against Egypt. Good stuff! Right now we are on No.2 the frogs that took over Egypt. Arnold says the frog thing was the same at the Villavicencio seminary and that they use to throw frogs at each other for fun. Mental note: "Stay in Bogota, do not go to Villavicencio!"

Spring Break! Arnold has officially entered Spring Break! So VERY awesome!

Return of the blog

Well I've been on a little hiatus due to happenings at the chocolate factory but I'm back, hopefully to continue recording a highly exagerrated version of my real life. So here's what been going on in the last week.

#1 - I went to visit the Maghanoy headquarters and was conned into doing water aerobics with my mom. That's right, WATER AEROBICS! I agreed because I've been on the road to chubby ever since I started grad school and cut back on dancing. But it turned out to be fantastic! The instructor asked me what grade I was in! She thought I was in high school! It was better than I could have hoped for, plus I burned some calories! Woo-hoo!

#2 - Read "Marley and Me - Life and love with the world's worst dog" by Josh Grogan - Highly recomended, easy, humorous reading.

#3 - Continued to fix up the new apartment. I would say it's 95% ready for public consumption!

#4 - Attended Vega's bridal shower. It was wild! I must let you all know that I learned two things about Vega's family 1) The love Vega! LOVE VEGA! 2) They do not mess around with bridal shower games, it is a dog-eat-dog sort of competiiton. I hear the toilet paper bride game got pretty wild.

#5 - Attended J.R.'s wedding. It was beautiful, touching, fun, perfect. I have almost nothing snarky to say. It was everything a wedding should be, plus Scando wore a tux (pics in photo album). Bakie was there! Also apprently J.R.'s (now wife) is very neat which is only notable because J.R. is quite possibly one of the slobbiest person I know, and I'm no clean-freak. Now that's some good reality television in the making.

#6 - Attended Little bug's birthday bash in the city. As usual our little queen put together a great party with interesting people and good food. (Pics attached) We went dancing afterwards and Miranda had a fantastic dance with a guy who actually jumped at her kung fu style mid-way. The expression on her face was priceless!

#7 - Dream of the time when summer will come, it's been raining for-ever! Sheesh, I don't pay so much to live in California to be wet all winter!