well, after all that crap, we still had a party to attend. without a vehicle to get us there, we had to walk nearly a mile to ruban's house.

when we walked in, all the women were in the living room. all the men in the kitchen...i made myself at home there. nothing like a room full of latin men to get the uh, juices flowing.

last year, the first time we attended one of ruban's parties, we walked in the front door, into a room full of mexicans. i swear, it was like a morgan-stanley commercial(was it morgan-stanley?). all of a sudden the music and the talking simultaneously stopped when the gringos walked in.

this year, most of the folks know us, or at least, know who we are.

shortly after we got there, ruban came with his bottle of tequilla for our obligatory "welcome to the party" shot.

we stood in the kitchen and chatted with pancho's brother. there was a ton of food: a big restaurant pan full of shredded chipotle chicken, and two pans full of pig's feet. yeah, no, i don't do pork to begin with, much less pig's feet. i explained to pancho that i'm from middle class white america, and we just don't eat feet, legs or intestines. mark, on the other hand, was raised dirt poor, so he dove right in.

after two modelas, and a milwalkee's best, we made our way to the couch to watch the dancing. everyone dances at these parties, and i swear, rosa and pancho need to hit the professional tour.

after one of the last times when i tried to dance and kept stepping on feet, i hadn't planned on dancing this time. but ruban had other plans and drug me up from the couch to dance. he's not the best dancer, and i felt awkward, as the style is a latin two step sort of thing. this white girl's hips don't move like the other chicas.

i managed a sit down for a few minutes before antonio insisted i dance with him. now antonio is a great dancer. he reminded me of a older man i used to dance with years ago. the man told me the secret to great dancing was in the belly. the man uses the small of the woman's back to pull her belly to his and make it easier for him to lead her. antonio danced like this and i actually felt like i was getting the hang of it. we dance around in circles, fast, and he spun me, then i spun him. it was quite fun, tho i'm still no shakira.

he kept telling me i was a good dancer, and i kept telling him he was too sweet to say so.

i danced again with rosa, who pulled me off the couch and made me dance with her. but before the song was over, we ended up with pancho and his brother dancing with us.

by this time, it was around 2:30 or 3:00. mark, who'd been up since 4:30 am and had walked and ridden nearly twenty miles, was getting a little tired and we still had to walk home.

i convinced him we needed one more tequilla shot before we left. you know, to warm us for our walk home. wink wink

we had one shot, then antonio appeared out of no where and somehow had another. after that, things start to fuzz around the edges. let's just say, the southern princess got a little outrageous, and the iceback was ever so eager to egg that on (god, i love that man!) suffice to say, women think i'm hot. yep, that's all i'm saying, folks.

we managed to find a ride home....at five o'clock in the morning.

when i got up at one to put the turkey in, i was still feeling good.

i swear, i only had four beers and maybe, maybe three (possibly four) shots. what tha hell happened?

we pigged out and vegged out the rest of the day.

when we went to fiesta saturday night, ruban says they went to sleep about seven am, and were back up at noon, drinking some more. ugh. don't know how they did it.

all i know is after having everyone home for four days, i'm ready for them to go back to school and work so i can get some stinkin rest.