Sistah Pat

Tonight’s Sunset

Buenos días, flaca, poco amigos!

We’re going to be taking the Border Jumper Trolley over to Juarez today to do a little shopping.  The trolley costs $12.50 per day per person and that gives you a wrist band that lets you hop on and off as many times as you wish for the day.  It leaves the convention center every hour and makes 10 different stops in Juarez at the most popular tourist destinations.  You can hop off at one of interest and shop and then hop on the next trolley an hour later and continue on your way.  It runs from 10:00 to 4:00 and I can’t seem to get anyone out of bed this morning!  As DH put it, “There’s no rush.  How much shopping can you do anyway?”  Well, DUH!  I can do a LOT of shopping!

I did something disturbing last night.  Woke up in the middle of the night, went in the kitchen and got some sliced Cinnamon Butter Struesel Cake and ate two slices.  I just checked and it’s 140 calories per slice.  The thing is, I don’t know why I did it.  I bought the Cinnamon cake because I don’t particularly care for it but the boys do.  So here I am, at 2:00 a.m. getting up and eating two slices when I’m not even hungry and don’t even like it very much.  What’s with that?  As I’ve said a kazillion times, I’m not looking at this as a diet so much as a way of life and I can accept when something is yummy and I make a conscious decision to eat some of it while keeping the calorie count in mind.  That’s acceptable and even normal but eating something in the middle of the night that I don’t even want is not.  I need to keep that kind of behavior under control.

Okay, it’s 8:45 here and I’m going to try to rouse the guys!

10:15 - Damn!  I’m still trying to get these guys up!  You’d think vacuuming around them, banging doors and washing dishes would make them miserable enough to get up but they just roll over and go back to sleep.  Guess I’m going to have to get vicious.

5:15 - It seems jumping the border isn’t as easy as it used to be.  We went down to the convention center to buy our passes for the Border Jumper only to find out that it wasn’t running today.  They said tourism is WAY down because of the recent problems in Juarez and they don’t run it unless they have at least ten people at noon.  They don’t even start till then.  Since they didn’t have ten people today, they weren’t running it.  Of course, if we were the kind of people who gave up easily, we wouldn’t be losing weight and exercising, would we, girls?  So we looked for another way and finally decided to park the car on the US side, walk over the bridge, and take a cab to the Marketplace.  That wasn’t too difficult.  The walk over the bridge was only about 1/2 mile but it was muy caliente!  105 degrees!  The cab drivers were all clammoring for our dinero but we chose a nice grandfatherly type who said he would drive us to the marketplace for $6.00 so we went with him.  My men are not small, they’re all over 6′2″ and we were pretty tight in Coco’s old cab, a small sedan.  He was friendly and teased the grandson’s about finding wives for them and had them both blushing profusely by the time we arrived.  He introduced us to his nephew, Juan, who works at the marketplace and told us Juan would call him to pick us up when we were ready to go.  Shopping was fun and annoying at the same time.  I don’t really like haggling but I’m not too bad at it.  I wound up buying a turquoise and silver ring for $12.00, a little silver pinkie ring for $5.00, a very large ceramic ristra for $18.00, a fabulous hand painted platter for $8.00, a beautiful cup and salt and pepper shakers for $7.00, a really nice silver necklace for $14.00, a brightly colored ceramic macaw to hang in my kitchen for $12.00 and a ceramic red pepper ristra for $6.00.  The men all loaded up on souvenirs as well and then we headed out to the patio to find Juan.  We found a seat and ordered “real” Mexican cokes from Juan (if you’ve never had them, you’re missing a treat.  The Coca Colas in Mexico are still made with real cane sugar instead of corn syrup.) Juan brought us chips and salsa and guacamole and said he would call Coco.  I have no desire to be a victim of Montezuma’s Revenge so I passed on the chips and salsa but the guacamole looked so good I decided to make some for dinner tonight.  We waited about 20 minutes and then Juan came back and said Coco must have gone home but he would find us another cab for the same price.  He rounded one up and told me ”Nice lady, you pay $6.00.  No more!  Hold your purse tight when you walk on the bridge and don’t talk to no one.”  Good Advice, thank you, Juan!  This cab was even smaller than Coco’s and we were crammed in it so tight I figured we would all fall out as soon as the door was opened.  The driver took us back to the Santa Fe Bridge so we could walk back across the border and then told me the fare would be $15.00.  I told him that it would be $7.00.  He said $12.00 and I handed him $6.00 and walked away as he muttered about not making any money and having to feed his family.  We walked back over the bridge and through customs and I was glad to see my big white car with air conditioning waiting for us in the border parking lot.  We got back to the RV and I couldn’t wait to take a hot bath.  I swear, I was so dirty and sweaty the water looked like it had pond scum and I had to scrub the tub and then take a shower after my bath just to feel human again.  It ain’t easy getting a good buy!  Only the strong survive!!!

Cute…DH just got back from the store.  I use chap stick a lot and he found chap stick in Reeses Peanut Butter Scent and Mounds!  Fun!

7:30 - I love my hubby.  I really do!  He tries so hard to please me.  I told him to look for avocados that were black but still firm.  Told him not to get the green ones or the mushy ones.  He brought me black avocados that are hard as rocks.  Said he looked forever to find the right ones.  I just about bent the knife peeling them and then the blender can’t even mash them.  So much for guacamole.  It’s too fattening anyway.  Guess I’ll throw some veggie burgers on the George Foreman.