Matt (I’m working on his new webpage) has been away since the beginning of October doing his yearly shows, last Saturday he completed the Andre Agassi Vegas show which this year was the first time to be close to the public and the second is coming up next Wednesday for Mcafee which is also in Vegas. He was lucky enough to stay in the new Wynn Hotel and now I think he is in a suite at the Signature MGM... Must be nice!!

While back home the poor kids are going to school (as am I) and we are not in a 5 star hotel but in our our 5 star apartment, slot machines?, No, we don’t have any but I don’t need to gamble to win and the machine sounds and whistles are very similar to Bella’s screams and hollers, so there you have it we are even.  (Honey, if you are reading this, I hope you are having a great time!!)

foto flickr ballyoos 

Today its Matt’s birthday and many people ask, how old is Matt?? Well, since this blog has so many loyal followers, I’m proposing a contest, who ever guesses his age correctly.. (you will need to place a comment with the answer, I know it will be hard) will win….your own blog..I will take care of everything.

Marco, Bella wish their PAPA a very Happy Birthday, today they made their own brithday cards and blew the candles of his cake. I wish my Matt a very very happy day and tell him I love him and can’t wait to celebrate many more with him.

I will announce the winner in my next post. (If everyone guesses correcly I will choose the winner that made the best comment!!)

Good luck to all!!!

photo flickr eye flashes 

As most of you know Spaniards are soccer fanatics!! well, since we are living here, Matt & Marco have joined in the madness.. Tonight was the final game of the Eurocup Spain vs Germany and our entire urba gathered downstairs to watch the game and have some beers.. The men mostly watched the games while the kids ran around playing and the wives just gossiped and also drank some beers. As you can see from the pictured above the men were very into the game.. Luckily we won 1-0 after a 44 year losing streak.. You could imagine the celebration here… fireworks, screaming fans, cars beeping…and everyone jumped in the pool with their red t-shirts!!

Marco and Bella prepared by painting the Spanish flag on their cheeks..

They also prepared Matt while he took a nap by painting flags and the word “podemos” (we can, the motto of the game) on his back!!

 
Matt was supposed to be home last night from his 15 day trip to the states but when he called me yesterday in the early afternoon, I knew something was wrong, because either he was calling from way up in the sky or he wasn’t up in the sky.. Evidently, it was Memorial Day yesterday and it took him 3 hours to get from the Valley to the LAX airport..He also had trouble finding the rental car place to return the car and once he found it, he missed the turn and had to go all around the airport again which took another hour.

Those of you who know Matt, know he is very exaggerated when it comes to getting to the airport on time, leaving almost 4 to to 5 hours earlier to make sure there are no problems.. but I guess like my dad said “nowadays you must leave half a day early to the airport to make your flight!!”. Lesson learnt.. He had to live in the airport for almost a day sort of like the Tom Hanks character and then wait until 12 noon for the counter to open and pray they wouldn’t have to make him buy another plane ticket which would have been $1,600..

He hasn’t called me yet today so I’m assuming he is up in the sky and should get home sometime tonight..

photo flckr atwater 

We are happy to have Matt home if at least for a month because he will be gone again in May, June, September and October..He is really getting busy and not only in the states, here is Spain he is working with a new singer who promises to be the next big Diva! They have received support from a sponsor to finish the demo CD so we will see what happens.. As soon as it is released I will let you all know about it.

For now, the kids and I are glad to have him home and take advantage to the fullest.. I could stop cooking for a while because all of you know how much I just love to cook.

I think in all urbanization’s there is the token crazy, frustrated, weird, nasty old man that has nothing better to do than to complain about everyone around them. And yes, we have ours. He is our 1st floor neighbor who is I guess retired and married to some French woman, we are not sure how she puts up with him..

In the summer all he does is complains that the kids are too loud and that they are playing int he playground.. (his window is right outside the playground) last summer, he threatened several teenagers and well, the guy is not very well liked. 

Today I received a letter with 5 signatures on it stating that there were 5 unhappy neighbors in our building who were fed up with Matt’s piano playing. The letter said he plays at all hours of the day and that it is disturbing. First of all, Matt is only home during the mornings and when he does play it is within the allowed hours…Anyway, I wanted to know who these 5 neighbors were (knowing Mr. 1st floor was one of them).

After knocking on every single one of my neighbors doors, I come to find out that the only signature on that letter is his…I have yet to find out who the others are since, all my neighbors denied it and proved it by signing their name.. In fact, they said they would like to sign a letter to the opposite of the one I received!!!!

As you all know Matt is away right now, we will see what happens when he gets back.

Matt left this morning bright and early to go to Canada to work on a David Foster Show . I hear Halifax the city the show is in is below 0 right now….burrr. too cold for me…but its a show he loves to do and enjoys seeing all his music friends..

Then he is off to work on Fight Night Muhammad Ali’s charity another great charity event that brings together many artists..

He will be gone for a couples of weeks while I’m here with the kids who are still in Spring Break and want to just have fun!! and fun we will have..

Today March 19th “San Jose” is Father’s Day here in Spain. This celebration is not as comercial as it is in the states. Here, gifts are not often given although everyday that is changing and Spain is copying a lot of the American holidays such as Halloween.. As if they didn’t have enough holidays here..
Father’s Day here is celebrated with the family gathering and a nice big lunch or dinner, what else?? We celebrated with Matt this afternoon and the kids made him lovely paintings...

So, Happy Father’s Day to all those fathers out there..from all of us here in Spain.

photo google

Saturday March 8th we celebrated (well, with the kids, the colds, work etc…not really celebrated) our 11th wedding anniversary. We passed the 10 year mark now we have 9 more years to go to pass the 20 year mark.. Not sure about him as he would have to comment himself but the past 11 years have flown by.

We’ve had good times and bad times, health and sickness, children and problems, and through it all we are still here. Although marriage is something you need to work at, I’m very happy at the moment and hope that we can continue on this journey together…

We hope to be able to celebrate it later in the year with a mini vacation.. Just the two of us.. We will see..

Like I always ask don’t laugh when you read this.. but in this case, you will not be able to help yourself!!

Lets see, how do I start.. I first need to remind everyone that my fathers friend gave us his old car as a gift. It is an older Citroen but runs great and for what we use it is perfect. Ok, now you also need to know that he gave it to us last November and the insurance ran out in December and we just haven’t gotten around to getting new insurance because neither Matt nor I have a Spanish drivers license (remember this fact) so no Spanish insurance company will insure us and International insurance is very expensive so we were trying to figure out a way around it. The car also needed to have its yearly inspection, of which I wrote about our experience in an earlier post..Ok got all that so far..

Well, Matt decided to take the car to work yesterday and also decided he needed to make a phone call while driving .

I received a call from Matt yesterday afternoon letting me know he had been stopped by the police and that he had no clue what they were saying to him. The policeman got on the phone and asked me if I could tell Matt to please show him, the car registration, insurance, inspection paperwork and a drivers license. I acted dumb and said he should have all that in a case in the car….a few minutes later he gets on and tells me ok, I found the car registration now do you have the inspection paperwork? I told him about how we had failed the test and need to go back….he then asks me do you have insurance and I say…ummmm yes, no,, not sure..he tells me no problem I will check in the computer..he comes back on the phone and tells me…NO, you don’t have any insurance now, could you please ask your husband to show me his drivers license…gets back on the phone and asks me..does your husband have a resident card..and I start to explain how he lives here and in the states and is an important music composer and travels a lot…..he then tells me..

Ok maam.. I stopped your husband because he was talking on the phone while driving, he has no valid drivers licence, no insurance and the car has not passed the inspection….and I say…umm..yes??? He then tells me that because he is a lover of music he is going to let him go!!!! he said he could have easily towed the car, giving us a ticket for everything and even have taken him to jail!!! He just asked that Matt drive the car to a nearby place park it and get insurance.. He said he would pass by Matt’s recording studio in a couple of days to make sure we have insurance…He said I should be there so I could show my drivers license HAHAHAHAHAHA..

photo flckr by so cal metro