Category: Books

Well Alaethia decided she didn’t feel like sleeping till almost 1am again. I was so exhausted by 11pm I could barely keep my eyes open. Thank God Mario was here and would check up on us in the bedroom every-so-often or else I think I would have completely fallen asleep with her wide awake at my side.

Then she woke up at 6:15am — 30 minutes before I had to wake up to get the boys ready for school — to drink a bottle. It sucks when she wakes up at that time because that’s it, that’s the final moment I get to sleep. Didn’t help that both the boys were in terrible moods this morning and I had to threaten a spanking so early in the day *twitch*. Usually, after the boys and Mario are gone, I can try and sleep with her till I have to pick Jaylen up from school, but today I have the pleasure of waiting up for the cable guy.

Starz and Encore haven’t been working and I stupidly agreed to wait for him. Coffee is NOT working and I feel sore all over since I woke up and was greeted by dear Aunt Flo. Grr.

I was planning on not leaving the house at all today, but I have to go buy feminine products and Dawn foam. I feel so slothy that I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to lay on the couch with Alaethia cooing next to me and read. I’m so thrilled to almost be done with Shopaholic Takes Manhattan! I think, if I am able to finish it today, I’ll go to the library and look for the next book. I don’t think I can wait till I buy it or find it at a thrift shop LOL.

Did anyone watch American Idol? I didn’t get to watch it Tuesday but I did last night. And I bawled like a baby while I was making dinner. All those poor people. I even made Eenan sit down and watch for a little while since he’d been literally crying earlier during the day that he desperately needed a new video game LIKE NOW. I told him he’s so lucky to have all that he does because these people may not have shelter, food, family, or even their health. He needs to learn to be grateful. I hope he got the point.

If I weren’t so broke right now I would have loved to donate to the Idol Fund they had going on :(.

I was tagged by Melissa! I already had my answer typed up, but felt like my blog last night was long enough already so I decided to wait till today to post it.

The question was “Why do I blog?”

I guess you can say that I blog out of habit.

Ever since I was in elementary school — I can’t remember if it was 3rd or 5th grade — I started writing in a diary. I LOVED to buy cheesy-cute diaries with fluffy puppies or kitties on the cover and just write. I loved to write about my day, my current crush, how shitty it was that mom and dad were having problems–anything and everything.

Then, in 1998, I was introduced to the world wide web and angelfire.com and a new obsession began. I still kept a paper journal, but when I’d add something new to my website, I’d add a little update about my actual life. I remember I was pregnant with Eenan at the time, so I’d write little things here and there about my pregnancy, then later about how I couldn’t sleep because I had a newborn. The only sad thing was, with every new layout, I’d wipe my main page of “updates” clean and start all over. I don’t have any archives of the first few years I “blogged” — and back then, the term “blog” didn’t even exist.

I much preferred journaling on my website than on paper because it was MUCH quicker. From my little angelfire site I moved on to scribble.nu which was quite the big thing, then later on to envy.nu, then I was hosted by my friend Vic, and then she helped me get my own website (pixydust.net) in 2001 because I had no credit cards at the time LOL. I unfortunately lost all my archives from 2000-2001 in a harddrive crash, so that was pretty sad for me.

Then later of course came Greymatter which made updating even easier, and now, even though I upgraded much later than others since I’m quite afraid of change — I’m using the wonderful WordPress. I love documenting my life. I love going back and having “tangible” memories. And the cool part is, if I ever need to remember facts about something that happened a few years ago, I can just search for it on my site and voila! I remember :).

Another big thing, like Melissa mentioned, is the contact you have with people and ability to meet others from all around the world. I never would have met many of the great friends I know online if it weren’t for my blog.

I often wonder if I’ll keep blogging into the years that my children have their own blogs. My whole family’s so used to my blogging that it’s sort of become a little joke between my brother and hubby and me. When someone says something funny we automatically say, “That’s one for the blog”. Someone says something offensive? “I’m telling the internetz.” Someone says something completely genius? “That should be your blog title.” I think it would be a bit weird for me not to blog since I’m so used to it. I know all the times I’ve wanted to just quit the whole internet scene the one thing that’s stopped me is my blog. And the great people I’ve met through it, of course.

— Thank you, Melissa! I never know who to tag with these things, so whoever wants to do it should do it! And then let me know if you did it so I can read your answer :).

Okay, the cable guy came and went and will have to come back since he doesn’t have the filters our system requires. We’re on an ancient system, it seems.

Alaethia will be up any minute. I just walked into the bedroom and she kept stretching, curling into a little ball and then falling back to sleep. I love how she protrudes her little chin when she’s stretching. And her baby-soft skin’s mostly back! She spent month 2 feeling scaly and rough due to whatever skin condition she had, but she feels much better now. Her face is still dry and rashy sometimes, but it’s nothing some Eucerin can’t fix.

A week (actually, more!) in fast foward:

Monday, the 16th – Went to Ross to exchange a cami with beads I’d bought (I don’t wear camis or tanks alone since I don’t like my arms and I already had a brown cami to go with the shirt I bought the beaded cami for) and Mom wanted to buy capris and blouses. I couldn’t find a thing at first and all the purses I liked were too expensive for my tastes, but I ended up finding the perfect one ($10.99) and a blouse I really liked at the last minute — when I was in line, even. Jaylen was going to get a dinosaur comforter with his birthday money, but he wanted a game for the Gamecube so he changed his mind. He’s like his mother.

We went to Target and got the game he wanted and I bought two blouses and scrapbooking letter stickers with giftcard I got back from exchanging the gift Pete and Sally gave me.

I went to Sally’s in the evening to drop off the maternity clothes I was giving her and we sat around and chatted with her mom. I took Alaethia with me. The boys wanted to go at first, but when I told them to take something to entertain themselves with because we were going to be talking they said to have fun, just take a picture LOL. Boys!

I stayed till 6pm and then Sally had to go pick up groceries to make dinner and I had to get home and make dinner. I was almost to the expressway when Alaethia started crying because she was still hungry, so stopped at Mario’s work to feed her. He stood there with us for a while while I fed her and when she was done we came home. Aly and I–Mario stayed of course. OH yes, this was also the day Eenan got into the truck when I picked him up afterschool and he told me he had his first crush. The cutest thing is he’s known this little girl since Pre-K. She likes him, too LOL.

Tuesday, the 17th – I told myself I wasn’t leaving the house all day so I could do my housework but since Mario left in a hurry that morning, he asked me to drop off his lunch to him because he didn’t have a chance to get it in the morning. So there Mom, Jaylen, Aly and I go. I was about to just come home but figured I’d stop by the Habitat for Humanity thrift store. I’d never been there before and just recently found out about it. I ended up finding 3 Fire King Primrose plates for $1 each, two books ($1.50) and a pretty trivet ($3).

Good thing I was still in town since Mario called asking if I was nearby so I could buy him a blue Full Throttle drink, which he’s currently obsessed with. After picking the kids up from school, they all stayed with Mom while I took John to Target (again) to get a PSP and some games. I did not feel like going back to town, but he kept insisting and finally bribed me with a blouse :P. Everytime he does me a favor he has to get some kind of compensation from me for doing it, so, since I was using my gas and going against my will, I gladly accepted the bribe. He bought me a blouse exactly like the one in the first picture (the apron-y looking one) but in green. I’d completely forgotten to take Aly’s diapers to exchange so I would have to go back later in the week. (And then I wonder how I waste so much gas?)

We went to H-E-B to get a few groceries. I bought some low fat Ben and Jerry’s, even though John tried to stop me. He does this as a favor to me, since I’m “trying” to watch what I eat, even though I may hate him later on. I told him it was okay though, he didn’t have to look out for me this time. It’s FAT FREE!

Since the new H-E-B is colossal I got completely lost. The store’s split in two, sort of, and I couldn’t remember where the darn dairy section was. As I was pushing the cart and John was walking beside me, I say, loudly, “Where’s all the food?!” and an employee behind me said, “Right that way ma’am, behind that center wall.” How embarrassing. I never made it to the dairy isle though. There was a huge bin full of $1.99 books and I got distracted. I bought TTYL by Lauren Myracle and a Megaman comic book for the boys. I wanted more, but I held back. Once I was home I quickly made dinner and cupcakes for Jaylen’s class since the next day was Jaylen’s actual 5th birthday.

Wednesday, the 18th – I dropped the boys off at school the next morning with cupcakes and Capri Suns. Since Eenan wouldn’t be involved in his brother’s festivites (different classes and all) I saved some cupcakes for Eenan at home and we had tons of Capri Suns left over. After I’m done dropping the stuff off and talking to Jaylen’s teachers I’m walking out and notice they’ve locked the gates. Grr. The last time that happened, I was 6 months pregnant and had been told not to lift anything over 10 lbs. and there I go having to push 60 lb. gates open. This time I wasn’t the only one trapped inside. Two other moms who have their children in Jaylen’s class were trapped inside with me. One of them got down and opened the gate so we followed her out. I was the last one but hell no I wasn’t going to close the gate. That was also the day they totally screwed up the Pre-K kids’ pick-up zone. It’s not at the North side of the school, which is really crowded and annoying. For some reason they’ve switched areas with the bus students.

After picking Jaylen up I went to Target with Mom and the kiddos to exchange the hearts blouse I’d bought on Monday. I ended up not liking how it fit me (even though I absolutely fell in love with the print and color) and exchanged it for a teal blouse:

I also exchanged Aly’s diapers. She’s in size 2 now :). She’s been so smiley, cute, girly, and screamy as of late. She’s even started laughing when we nuzzle in her neck and make raspberries on her tummy. And she’s developed this habit, where she likes to be in her swing with her lion pillow Pete and Sally gave her on her lap. Sometime–I’m not kidding you–that’s the only way to console her. And I think she’s going to be a hair-lover like Jaylen. Though her motor skills aren’t fully developed and don’t allow her to do what she wants to do with her hands, she does rub them around her hair when she’s drinking her bottle. It’s the cutest thing :).

After Target I stopped by Home Depot really quick to return a hose we’d bought for the wet/dry vac that was too small.

Noelia made a chocolate cake to celebrate Jaylen’s birthday. Before everyone got there Mary gave him her gift of a dinosaur comforter and shams and two Dinosaur books. That’s what he wanted, a blanket and books. Specifically, dinosaurs. He’s completely into dinosaurs again, which surprises me but I think it’s great. Dinosaurs are probably one of the coolest things kids could be into :).

I bought some of my photo albums over to Mary’s that night while everyone was there and I realized I look a lot like Jaylen and Alaethia when I was a baby. I always thought they took after Mario more, but after looking at a portrait of a little Mario I noticed Mario looked more like Eenan as a child! Crazy, this DNA thing! I need to scan and post those pictures into my Flickr. Hopefully by the end of the week.

Thrusday, the 19th – I don’t remember much from Thursday for some reason. I remember Mario getting out early from work but he was out with his uncles, I think? I don’t remember going anywhere–ah, yes! It was the day I tried to clean up and get things organized for the garage sale. But that never works out.

Friday, the 20th – Eenan was going on his bowling field trip. I’m not sure if it was for All A Honor Roll or The Millionaires Club (club for kids who’ve read 100,000 words, I think? But it doesn’t make sense–shouldn’t it be a million words?). Mario and I accompanied Jorge to a meeting he was to have about his new job down here while Mom stayed with Alaethia. Things fell through with Jorge’s appointment but we went to pick up the trailer at Sonia’s so that we could finally get the rest of our junk out of storage. John picked up Jaylen for us while we got all the crap out.

While we were getting everything out I noticed Jorge had a Dirt Devil vacumm in there and I jokingly say, “So, uh, you wanna give me this vacumm?” and he said, “Sure, if you want it. I already have 3 others.” Score! My Eureka broke down on me after 6 lovely years and I only bought a tiny little portable vacumm a few months ago. It pisses me off because it uncharges so quickly. I tried the Dirt Devil later on during the day and it’s AWESOME.

I had such a feeling of relief and like a 100 ton weight had been lifted off my shoulders as we stuffed the last box into the truck, strapped everything on the trailer down and drove out those gates. $45 we’re saving a month and no more calls that our payment hasn’t been received when I’d paid it a week before because of their crappy lack of documenting.

We got home and proceeded to sort through all the boxes. We spent the whole day outside sorting stuff. We even forgot about lunch. I was so stressed Mario kept getting on my nerves, even when he wasn’t purposely trying to. He was off helping Jorge most of the afternoon, which I didn’t mind at all since Jorge helped us out A LOT, but I felt so overwhelmed. And then Mario tells me his dad wanted all the stuff out by THIS WEEK. I started freaking out a little but Mary later told me I didn’t have to rush. Thank God.

Mario got home later on and helped me. Everyone came over since Jorge and Jose were leaving for Arizona the next day to try and fix as much as they can around Jorge’s house so he can sell it and build here in Texas soon. After Mario and I had put as many toys as we could into 1 gallon Ziploc bags (we plan on selling the bags full of toys for $1 each) we went in for some dinner since we were starving. We sat around and laughed with everyone for a while then went back out to tackle the toys. I have to admit I felt a pang of sadness as we decided which toys were going to be sold, which were most. Mario even put the vintage Spiderman toys in a bag for sale! Someone’s going to get really lucky with those.

I saved some stuff for Alaethia, even though Mario objected. He said, “She doesn’t need old stuff! We’ll buy her new stuff!” But you can’t find those toys anymore, so I’m keeping them whether he likes it ot not. But I’m so happy we completely went through the two 30 Gallon boxes and a few 15 gallon ones. I still have some to go though, but it won’t take long so I’m, uh, stalling.

Saturday, the 21st – We all ate breakfast and Mario left to work. I made the boys clean their room, which turned into a complete drama-fest. I even took incriminating pictures where they’re crying hysterically to keep as blackmaik for later :).

We didn’t end up leaving till 12 noon, which I hate since it means we won’t get home till even later. I picked burgers up from Whataburger for the boys since they wanted to use their Justaburger coupons. Jaylen fell asleep in the car so he didn’t eat his burger, but Eenan did. Our first stop was Goodwill and as soon as we get there, Jaylen throws an embarrassing fit. He’s in the cart Mom’s pushing screaming, “Give me my burger! I’m STARVING!” over and over again. I could not give him the darn burger or else we’d be kicked out so after 10 straight minutes of him screaming, I gave him a quick pinch on the arm and that only made it worse. I don’t know how Mom would do it. She’d hiss at us through her teeth when we were being pains and if we didn’t stop, we’d get a pinch and that would certainly make us shut up quick. It’s the opposite with my kiddos.

He eventually stopped, because he found a hot pink iDog and wanted it badly. I told him if he’d behave the entire rest of the time we were there, he could take it–IF it wasn’t super expensive. Mom and I walked around and looked for stuff but stock wasn’t as good this time as it usually is. I found a few scrapbooking supplies and Mom bought a cute lamp. Went to pay for everything and spent around $4–the iDog was $2.

Mom and I picked up Whataburger for ourselves when we were done at Goodwill. We went to Ross afterwards to exchange the blouse I wore for Jaylen’s party because it shrunk horribly. It could have fit a toddler as a nice dress.

It didn’t take too long to find something in exchange for it and I found a lampshade for Mom’s new lamp pretty quickly. The line was super long and it felt like I was never going to get to the darn register. When I finally did get there, the ladies laughed the whole time I was doing the exchange. That just goes to show how much my blouse shrunk!

We went to visit Gramma next. She held Alaethia for a good, long while and stupid me, I forgot my camera! She also told me, rather cryptically since Mom was there, that my grandfather went to visit her. She described him as short, very fair-skinned like Mom with dark glasses. I couldn’t understand much else of what she said, but I plan on giving her a visit when I’m alone.

Sunday, the 22nd – I woke up at 9:30 and bathed the boys. Took Eenan to CFF then came home and took a shower while Alaethia slept in her swing. I didn’t have time to bathe her, so stinky as she was we all went to church, including Mom. Mary usually takes Eenan with her, but since she was to be busy all of Sunday I took him. It’s awful of me, but I rarely go to church since Sunday’s are the only morning I actually get to sleep.

Anyway, all my kiddos behaved wonderfully. I’d bought the boys a little Crayola pack with markers and notebooks from Goodwill a few weeks ago and told them to take it with them. Worked like a charm. Alaethia was in such a good mood, too, thank goodness and only wailed once when it was time for a bottle.

When we got home I gave Aly a bath and Mario finally woke up (must be nice to sleep in till 12:30!). We had two parties to go to, so we waited for him to get ready.

As we’re leaving to the party Alaethia starts getting really fussy. I think she’s teething already. She got a slight fever and we started to panic, since I didn’t have anything with me. I started looking around my bag for Cindy’s number, to let her know we might not make it and at least ask for the girls’ sizes since we were on the way to get them a gift, and to my horror I remember the precise moment that I placed the paper I wrote her number on on my desk–and that’s where it stayed. It started to rain so that made it even worse. It was such a disaster. And I felt so bad since I’d already let Cindy know we’d be going.

We came back home and chilled out here, fully expecting it to start raining over here and get all the garage sale stuff wet, but it only sprinkled slightly. Aly was better in the afternoon, so we tried leaving the house again and all was fine. We were afraid Eenan would throw a tantrum, since he doesn’t usually like going anywhere with us (especially not to Jorge’s) but he made a new friend while we were there. The kids had a great time and Alaethia was in a pretty good mood, especially since I brought along her lion plush. I met a friend of Maggie’s who’s also a friend of Noelia’s who’s expecting her 3rd baby. We had some good laughs.

Monday, the 23rd – I OVERSLEPT. I guess I turned the alarm off, which I had set to 6:45 without realizing. I finally got around to waking up at 7:35am, which is the time the boys should be walking out the door so Elda can drop them off. I called Elda to let her know, then quickly got the boys’ breakfast (Kix) ready, got them dressed, brushed teeth and brushed hair and out the door we went. I got to the front of the school by 8:00am exactly. That was usually the time I’d end up dropping them off when I’d take them anyway. I’d try being out the door by 7:45, which is around the time they should be in their classroom, but we’d never make it on time LOL.

I was exhausted, to say the least, so I tried to sleep with Aly after Mario left to work. Well, she’d slept so much already she woke up, drank a bottle, then stayed awake. Which she usually doesn’t do. She fell asleep at 10:30 and I set the alarm to wake me up at 11. During my crappy 30 minutes of “sleep” I was woken up by Mario’s rats drinking water and because I heard a car get here.

Mom’s Goodwill lamp wasn’t working so we picked up Jaylen and went straight to put gas and to Goodwill. I didn’t find anything for myself, but I did find some brand-new velvet posters for them and a Pokemon neck pillow. We still had time till we had to pick up Eenan, so I stopped by the Texas Thrift store. I immediately found a book I’d wanted, What to Expect the First Year and went to look for a Popple I’d seen there before. I get to the register and they wouldn’t sell me the darn Popple because it didn’t have a price tag. I even spoke to the manager and she was a total bitch so it’s safe to say I’m never going back again. Why the heck wouldn’t you want to sell something? She made it seem like I pulled the tag off or something to cheat them. You’re a freaking thrift store, for chrissake.

Mom said I should have tossed the book in their face (like I threw the Popple on the counter) but I really wanted the book and I’d already paid for it LOL. We went to Michael’s next, where I read in Sunday’s ad that they were having a 70% off scrapbooking accessories sale. Sale, my butt. There was hardly anything and the papers were all thrown in boxes. A lady and I helped eachother out and got stuff out of boxes and showed eachother papers we thought the other would like. Half an hour later I’m done and I pay. I got loads of cute 12×12 papers for $.10 each! I can’t wait to scrapbook, if I ever get time. I have a Winkflash order of 22 photos coming soon and with that order and the other one I ordered before I have so much stuff to scrapbook with.

Mario got home around 9pm so we watched TV, put the boys to bed, I folded clothes and entertained Alaethia while he was online then he folded clothes while I updated and then carried her around till he got too sleepy. I stayed up an additional half hour with her and went to sleep at 12:30ish. She woke up at 5am for a bottle, which really sucks since I have to wake up at 6:45, but at least I get to sleep for a few hours straight.

Tuesday, the 24th – Alaethia turned 3 months old! I tried napping with her again in the morning but that didn’t work out. I got about an hour of broken sleep but she was all bright-eyed when she woke up since she slept from 5:30am to 9 and then from 9 to 10:30. I decided I wasn’t going anywhere since I’ve been “in the streets” all week, like Mom says, but after flipping through the scrapbooking papers I bought Monday I realized I was overcharged for some and I got 5 smaller ones I wasn’t too fond of. So after we picked Jaylen up from school, Mom, Aly, Jaylen and I went straight over there and I exchanged them. I still got some that were $.25, but most were $.10, which is great. Another lady and I were talking about the papers and how we love to scrapbook and she said, “This is an expensive hobby! Of course I told my husband I was coming!”

An elderly lady was talking to Jaylen, who was in the cart Mom was pushing around (I had Aly in her stroller). She’d heard Jaylen ask if he could be ungrounded since he was now behaving (he’d been throwing a fit in the car, as usual lately) and she thought it was the cutest thing. She said, “I think Mama will consider. I’ve noticed you’ve been a good boy.” He beamed and gave me a meaningful look, as if to say, “You see?”

The lady was in line behind me and as I patiently tell Jaylen, “Don’t touch the flowers or you might break the vase,” while I’m counting money, she tells me I’m a good mom. She said if I wasn’t, he wouldn’t have immediately listened to me. She said this just as a boy that looked around 2 threw a can of Coke at his mom and screamed behind us LOL. She’s the 2nd stranger to tell me this. The first one was another older lady who reached out and gently grabbed my arm to tell me as we were leaving an Applebee’s once. It makes me feel good :). Especially since I don’t always feel like I’m doing a 100% good job as a mom. It’s…reassuring.

I stopped by the Habitat For Humanity thrift shop to pick up two books I’d seen the last time (Bet Me by Jennifer Cruise and The Cat Who Covered the World by Christopher S. Wren–it looks cute!). I stopped by real quick to see Mario and then we picked up the kids. We got home and I got Eenan to start on his homework. John had called me while we were at Michael’s and complained that I always go everywhere without him and begged me to take him to Target. Jokingly, I say, “Buy me a blouse again and I’ll take you.” He said okay, a $10 one, and hello, you don’t have to tell me twice! So we go. I took the $10 instead after seeing the gas prices. $2.79–4 cents up since the morning. Everywhere else it’s still $2.63!

He got stuff what he needed at Target and I got a few groceries and two card making kits. He got a game at Game Stop and we came home. There was drama at home, but can’t really talk about it. Mario came home early and I made a quick dinner. The kids watched TV, bathed, then fell asleep. Aly’s stayed up till 12:30am again so I was a little irritated. Even moreso since I found out that Mario was messing with the computer and accidentally deleted my 50+ songs I’d downloaded last Tuesday and never got a chance to add to my iPod :(. But, at least he put up the coat rack I bought at Home Depot.

I was going to publish the entry last night but I jotted everything down in quick little notes and nothing made sense. So I’ve been fixing it little by little all day. I started at 11:30 and it’s 6:02 now. And that’s because most of the entry was already written. Never time for anything, I tell ya. I made sure to stay my butt at home today, but it’s not like I’ve gotten much done. I plan on getting at least the kitchen tidied up by the end of today. There’s still some yard sale bags all over the place so that doesn’t exactly make the house look neat. I can’t wait to have the yard sale!

I also can’t wait to start updating more frequently. I’m not liking having to cram all my days into one humungous entry! I’m sure you guys think the same thing ;).

I took care of Saturday in the previous entry so now I’ll catch up from Sunday-today. I wish I did One Photo An Hour all the time so that I can remember everything, heh.

Sunday, Apr. 8th – Mario was off on Sunday, Easter, and since we stayed up so late the night before, we slept in a tad Easter morning. I woke up around 9:45am, got myself and the kiddos ready and we went over to Mary’s. We basically chilled out all day while the men were outside bar-b-q’ing. When the food was done we ate. And boy did we eat! I had bar-b-q’d fajitas and pork ribs, broccoli rice, beans, potato salad and I can’t even remember what else. It was all so delicious. We sat around and talked some more and then devoured the desserts. I had some blackberry pie Elda made and some cherry and pineapple Dump Cake Mary made. It was SO sweet, but incredibly delicious.

The kiddos all opened their baskets around 4pm. There was lots of hustle and bustle around since everyone was packed in Mary’s living room.

After they’d all spent about an hour with their new goodies, we went outside to crack the piñata Mom had bought for the kids. It was cold outside, but we braved it since the kids were excited. This was around the time Mario started to feel tired and went to sleep. I wish I could just up and go to sleep whenever I felt a little tired. I’d be sleeping all day!

Since it was so cold and muddy from the rain the day before, we decided not to crack the eggs. For the second year in a row. Last year, we opted out of cracking eggs since it was in the 100’s and was extremely hot. Who’da thought it would be in the 50’s this year?!

So, we’ve got lots of eggs, once again, for next year.

Since we were stuffed from lunch still, I made sandwiches for all of us and Mario and I sat on the futon to watch Desperate Housewives. He commented, “The highlight of our lives, huh?” LOL

Monday, Apr. 9th – The kids had the day off the next day, so after Mario left to work I got them ready and we went to Joy Dollar. I needed to ask Ricci about a car charger for my phone, so I stopped by and talked to her for a while. They didn’t have any and another customer walked in so I said by and wandered off to get batteries and some new flip flops. I got two, black and pink ones, for $1 each. And some batteries. Yay for cheap purchases! I keep telling everyone not to step on me though. You never know if the straps will unravel LOL.

I had a few groceries to get, but I didn’t feel like driving all the way to H-E-B so we went to Dollar General. After Mom and I got everything we needed we came back home to put the perishable foods away and then went to the new beauty salon. NEVER AGAIN! The darn woman totally ruined my boys’ hair! I had to keep telling the nit-wit to fix this or that on Jaylen and she kept cutting Eenan’s hair crooked so she ended up cutting it super short. Then she has the gall to tell me that if the hair looks uneven, I need to find exactly where the “part” is so that it’ll look right. WTF? No other beautician’s ever told me I have to find the part to make it look right. When we got home and Eenan shook his hair out after his shower we noticed it was 2 inches longer on the left side than the right. I had to fix it myself!

And don’t even get me started on Mom’s hair. She kept insisting that she get highlights and kept telling her she’d leave them for a lower price if she got them that minute! She left her hair all uneven in the front, too!

I’d been avoiding going to McAllen all day so that I wouldn’t spend any money, but then Mario called and asked me to drop the camera off to him since he was doing a custom job on a car. So there John and I go, to drop it off. We left the kiddos at home with Mom so that we could stop by the storage unit to get more of my boxes out since they’re closing on the 25th. (Bastards.)

We drop the camera off and then John asks to stop by the mall, so we go. First stop was Hot Topic, where he found the Skelanimals blanket he’d been wanting to get Alaethia since she was born.

He looked around at a game store and then we left. I stopped by the H-E-B at Shary Crossing to get gas since it was cheapest there: $2.49 at the time. My gas tank’s on the right, and it’s so annoying to find a gas pump that’s empty where I can just squeeze in and it was no different that day. All the people were going in the opposite direction of how I was driving in so I went around. My luck would have it that suddenly everyone was turning the opposite direction again when I reached the other side! There was an old lady in front of me, at the diesel pump so I knew I was going to have trouble getting out. Turns out she was paying, but for my pump, not the one she was at. She starts telling me I need to move, and this is after I’ve already paid my money for my gas. The attendant calls me on the speaker to wait so she can reset it since the old woman had already paid. Total chaos. Everyone was staring right at me — so embarrassing! To top it off, the lady had blocked me in, so I had to ask the guy in the white Mustang behind me to please scoot back a bit so I can back out. Thank God he was nice about it and didn’t give me any problems or ugly faces.

We go to the storage unit next, where I’m kind of hoping the manager is present so that I can yell at him and release my anger. He’s not there. Poo. I wanted to ask him for half the month’s rent back since they were basically kicking us all out and I was planning to be out within the week. I spoke to him later on and he acted like a complete idiot. Supposedly didn’t know anything about the storage units and when they’re closing or anything. The only thing he did know was that he couldn’t give me my money back. How convenient!

Mario got home late that night since he was working on that car. Around 8pm I notice that Alaethia feels really hot, which isn’t unlike her; she’s a sweaty baby. Still, I got her pacifier thermometer and to my surprise it read 101.1. Not good. I gave her some Tylenol and her fever was gone within half an hour and didn’t get one the rest of the night. She didn’t fall asleep till at least 1am because of her cold and stuffy nose. She woke up at 3 and then again at 5, so I knew she was feeling worse and decided to take her to the doctor the next day.

Tuesday, Apr. 10th – The boys went back to school and I was exhausted from getting a crappy night’s rest. Alaethia was asleep after the kids went to school and stayed asleep even after Mario left to work so I decided I’d leave the doctor’s visit till after I picked Jaylen up. I took a nap with her until it was time to pick Jaylen up.

John had the day off, so he accompanied us to the doctor’s office. Mom was at her own appointment, or else she would have probably gone with us, too. It didn’t take long to get in, thank goodness. She weighed 10.10 lbs. and was either 22 1/2 or 23 1/2 inches long. I can’t remember now =\. The doctor checked her up and down and nothing. No infections anywhere. He gave her some Tylenol just in case and prescribed some more cold medicine (like the one she had last time) and some new nose drops.

While we were there, I weighed myself and to my absolute horror, realized I’m back at 122. Not cool! I have no one to blame but myself, however. Eating burgers at 12am and stuffing myself silly with ice cream will surely pack on the pounds. But it’s so delicious :(.

Later on, after I’d already picked up Eenan, Mom, Alaethia and I went to drop off the prescriptions. It would be a two-hour wait. I figured we could walk around and buy a few things, but nope, we were done after half an hour. I got some more Special K cereal in chocolate for my “diet” (they actually had it, Mayra!). So far, I don’t think it’s working! I have been eating only a bowl for breakfast, lunch and having a well-portioned dinner. We’ll see if anything happens.

I made meatloaf for dinner that night, mostly because Mario’s co-worker wanted some. He told Mario he loved how the meatloaf smelled when he’d microwave it when he’d take it for lunch. Mario took him some and he said he loved it. Yay :). I didn’t have as much as I usually do and I was starving later on but I didn’t let myself break and have say, one of those delicious chocolate Pop Tarts that are in the cabinet *cries*.

Wednesday, Apr. 11th – Alaethia slept much better the night before — all through the night actually. She didn’t wake up till 6:40am, which is when I wake the boys up to get ready for school. After the boys left to school and Mario left to work, Aly and I slept in a little more till it was time to pick up her brother.

Mom, Alaethia and I picked Jaylen up and then we went thrifting! Too bad it was an incredibly disappointing day. I saw “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” at both stores we went to, but I thought, “Eh, what do I get it for now?” So I just left it.

We stopped by H-E-B to pick up the prescriptions we’d left the night before and Mom got down to get some groceries. I stayed in the car with the kiddos and read “Shopaholic Takes Manhattan” while we waited. Those are really the only moments I actually get a chance to read.

We got home, I ate my Special K and then picked up Eenan. I decided I’d stay away from the computer if I wanted to get anything done around the house. It looks like a tornado crashed through the place now that I have garage sale bags and Sterilite Tote boxes littered everywhere till Mario can remove the shelves from the living room closet. Mary had called and asked for a number she’d e-mailed to me, so I had no choice by to plop myself on my computer chair and check my mail. And Myspace. I had a comment from Karina and it said that she, Carmen and Sally were having dinner that night so to let them know if I wanted to go. I look at the time: she’d sent it since 10am!

I look at the clock. 5:15. I call Sally up quick, praying that there was still time for me to get ready (I really needed a shower!) and thank God, they were meeting at 6. I had 15 minutes to shower and get ready since it takes 30 minutes to get to McAllen. I got ready as fast as I could, bathed the boys, gave Mom instructions on what to give them for dinner if I was too late getting back, made sure Alaethia’s stuff was within reach and kissed them all goodbye and left.

I left the house at 5:50. I had the cruise control set at 70; fast enough to get there quick, but slow enough to keep from getting pulled over. I made it there at 6:10, woo! It was so great walking into Chilli’s and seeing the girls together. It felt just like old times. We all hugged and had a great chat, mostly updating eachother on our lives. I threw my diet out the window just for that night, and my jog, too, as I was supposed to start walking/jogging again that night. But flabby legs and tummy? Friends? Friends totally win!

I had some nachos, as I didn’t want to eat a huge plate of food as I usually do and just enjoyed the atmosphere and the laughter. We made plans to meet for Sally’s birthday on Friday night and then, as we were getting ready to leave since Carment was already 20 minutes late to work (she was on her lunch break! The rebel!), Sally shares some incredibly awesome news with us! I won’t mention it here, as I don’t have her blessing yet, but OMG, I’m THRILLED for her and Pete! I need to get more details. I tried calling her tonight but got her voicemail. I can’t wait to see her again :). I’m counting the minutes till we all have dinner tomorrow :)!

Thursday, Apr. 12th – Today was a pretty low-key day. The morning was normal and I got to nap again with Alaethia in the morning. I’m taking advantage as much as I can, because I hate feeling like I’m dragging in the afternoon. Mom kept nudging me to go thrifting again, but I didn’t have cash and they don’t take Debit so I declined. I also was still disappointed that I didn’t find anything at all yesterday. I cleaned up a little bit, then had a quick chat with everyone at Mary’s and a bit of food she made, then I came over here and made Mario some dinner: pork chops and cheesey broccoli rice. Too bad he’d already eaten at work since one of the reps treated them to pizza. Grr!

I got the boys bathed and ready for school tomorrow. They’re totally into “The Tall Book of Nursery Tales,” which Jaylen found at Goodwill a week ago or so. I just found out yesterday that it’s vintage: from 1944! The pictures are lovely and the pages are immaculate. It doesn’t even look like it belonged to anyone!

Ok. I wanted to get this entry up and I did it! And Alaethia just fell asleep so it’s time for me to hit the sack as well. Goodnight!