before & after

When the day started, she looked like this:

By the end of the day, her smile changed into this:

Isn't it wonderful to be a child and go through all of these wonderful childhood phases?  Her teeth are actually nice and straight in front so the dental problem we're trying to fix is the back teeth on the left side that don't bite together correctly and there is not enough room for all those adult teeth to come on down without a little orthodonitic magic.  She's still smilin' so it isn't too bad.

Fading away

Just read this on yahoo.com news and find it interesting.  I think it's a good thing to be aware of how life changes.
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Some careers have simply faded away over the past 10 years. In most cases, advances in technology eliminated the need for certain jobs. Americans are also more focused on conservation. Here are a few jobs that are being phased out; hopefully your career isn't on this list!

1. Bank Tellers. While the need for banking services has increased, services traditionally performed by tellers (receiving and dispensing cash, depositing money, etc.) is now performed electronically. The use of ATMs and online banking continues to increase. Tellers are only needed for complex transactions.

2. File Clerks. Even the most paper intensive organizations have decreased their use of paper files. Imaging, electronic forms and careful attention to process efficiency reduced the need to maintain paper files. One of the biggest threats to the file clerk occupation is the push toward environmental sustainability (preserving trees by using less paper). The new "file clerk" is a Database Report Writer who knows how to run database queries.

3. Telephone Operators.  Even the smallest company can now use sophisticated telephone systems that allow callers to select their own options for needed information. Callers simply listen to pre-recorded telephone directory names and select the person they want to talk to. Voicemail, email and even texting have become preferred forms of communication in addition to traditional telephone conversations.

4. Data Entry Clerks.  There is no doubt the amount of data generated over the past decade has swelled. But it was all electronic to begin with, so there's no need to hire a person to copy it from other sources. The ability to integrate systems and make various systems exchange date automatically also reduced the need to for a person to translate or manipulate data.

5. Mail Clerks. Yes, there is still plenty of mail, only it's electronic, so the need for people to sort and distribute paper mail has decreased. Also, bar code readers sort mail and pre-printed postage eliminates the need for weighing and applying postage stickers. Today's mail clerks have new tools to allow more work to be done with fewer people. (Not all careers are ho-hum. These 10 have a very high percentage of happy employees.

6. Photo Processors. With the prevalence of digital photography, the need for photo processing has greatly diminished. Even people who still choose to print their photos use self-service kiosks. Photo processors who used to run machines in retail stores, as well as in processing centers, are becoming obsolete.

7. Travel Agents. The internet now makes it possible for the public to schedule their own trips. While there are still many travel agents, incentives once offered by airlines, hotels and car rental companies make the occupation less profitable. Today's travel agents often book long or complicated trips, while the weekend getaway or quick business travel is scheduled individually online.

8. Watch Salesperson. Who needs a watch when your cell phone tells you what time it is 24/7? Everything around you shows the time - most electronic devices have a clock. Even billboards show the current time. Watches and watch salespersons are becoming a thing of the past.

9. Video Store Clerk. Remember the video store? Clerks collected returned video tapes and checked them in. They used to stick the tapes in a re-winder then pluck them back in their cases. Even DVDs are being upstaged by online movie viewing and cable companies with user-selected movies. You can now even watch movies on your video game console. Traditional video stores are going away, and so is the need for workers.

The Bottom Line:  The past decade ushered in job market changes that closed out old careers and started new ones. In many cases, the processes performed in old jobs were replaced technology, but in some cases, the processes simply went away. One thing is for sure, there will always be change.

Casa dulce Casa

So, what would it be like to come over to our place? 

Glad you asked, come on in, let me show you around the place we call home...

First of all our house is "hidden" behind walls on all four sides.  With the front gate closed, you don't see much more than the roof.

Inside the gate, this is as much of the front of the house as I could get in one shot.  It's just a few steps along this path to our front door.

Bienvenido! Come on in...

 We've never had an entire room for the entrance and because this is obviously temporary housing for us, we're just making it work with what we have.

From the entrance through the french doors, in the middle of this picture, is the living room.  That's our piano under the stairs and the dining room to the left.

Here's a better look at the "living part" of the living room.  Our bedrooms are through that door on the left.  The wall on the right is about 20-25 feet high with five big windows and four glass doors (behind the lacey panels) that lead to our backyard.  I absolutely LOVE the natural light that floods into our home here and have decided our "forever" home (if we ever have one) needs to be bright and sunny, like this. 

This is the view by turning around, standing in the same spot.  Lots of eating, playing board games, doing puzzles and many, many school lessons happen right here.  Just to the right of the plant is the door entrance to the kitchen area.

Wallah!  Wasn't the easy to get to.  This is a nice open area that's not really the kitchen but sort of extends our little kitchen into feeling bigger than it is. ( If only I could remodel this whole area and make it a little more "American /Modern"...)

Walking towards the owl clock you find yourself right in the middle of our homeschool room.  We do lessons in here too but mostly it's the go-to place for everything educational that I collect.  I love this space but find it extremely difficult to keep orderly.  You've caught me on a good day so I snapped a photo to remind everyone what the goal is for the end of the week. :-)

Turning around, this is the kitchen view.  And the laundry room is right through the door you see.  When we moved in here, we took out a heavy wooden door from the inside doorframe, took down the dark drapes on the back windows and lifted up the glass windows on either side of this inside doorframe to be able to reach through the bottom half.  Does that make sense?  The one thing we didn't like at all about this house was the small dark kitchen but making these little changes has helped us enjoy it a lot more.

Back to the living room, let's go upstairs to our loft area.  The door you see up there, on the left, leads to a balcony overseeing our backyard.

And this is the place I'm sitting at right now to share this virtual tour.  The windows you can see, are the top floor windows you could see from the front, from the outside, of the house. 

Well, that's it for now.  I'll go straighten up the bedrooms and share that part of our home in part II.  Thanks for coming in to visit!  Hasta Luego, amigo.

Epiphany

While most of the world has already begun packing up the Christmas ornamanets, throwing out the tree,and finding a place for all of their gifts, Spaniards are continuing the celebration!  January 6, Three King's Day, is the long awaited day in which the three Kings bring their gifts.  On January 5, children go to a parade where they see the three kings arrive to their city, and take the opportunity to ask them for gifts.  Later, before going to bed, children leave their shoes out in a visible spot in the house or on their balcony and go to bed hoping that when they wake up they will find gifts left by Mechior, Gaspar, and Balthasar.  For breakfast or after lunch, families often have the typical dessert of the day, the "Roscon de los Reyes" a large ring shaped cake that is decorated with candided fruits, symbolic of the emerals and rubies that adorned the robes of the three Kings.  Somewhere inside the cake there is a surprise, and the person to find it will be crowned King or Queen of the house for the reminder of the day.  They will also have good luck through the coming year. 

Three Kings Day is also known as, The Epiphany, which celebrates the Biblical story of the three kings or wise men, who followed the bright star of Bethelehem to bring gifts to the Christ child.  In Spain and in South America it is referred to as El Dia de los Reyes and is celeberated by days of activities, including parades and caroling.  It is often viewed as the last day of the Christmas season - the end of the twelve days of Chrismas.