Category: Events

Seems like Mario and I are commuticating by Post-It notes lately. I wake up at 6, leave to school at 7 so I don’t get to see him “awake”. He gets home anywhere from 8:30 to 10 p.m. and I’m usually getting ready for bed at that time. I leave notes for him like, “Don’t forget your lunch!” on the coffee pot where he’ll see it. It’s a bit depressing, but I knew it would happen once I started school .

We spent a little bit of time together yesterday. He worked till 3 p.m. even though it was his day off, but he had a huge System to finish up. We watched TV for a bit and then I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. He wanted meatballs and I’d never made them before so I looked for a recipe online and combined 3 different ones together and made some pretty damn good meatballs. I added too much salt, but even then they tasted awesome. I shall post the recipe sometime, if I remember and have time.

Tonight, he got out at who knows what time, dropped his co-worker, Mario, off at home, and went to drop something off at Jorge’s and he’s still there and will probably still be there till 2am. The one time he could get home early, and he doesn’t. Grr.

Anyway, it’s been great getting to know Ricci the past few days. She gets here early, we leave, hang out at school with the rest of our friends and then when we come home we chill out here at my house and then I drop her off. We have a LOT in common. It’s nice having a friend to chat with about everything. She brought tamales for us for breakfast a few days ago, which was the sweetest thing. She also took me grocery food shopping, since we were running low LOL, to “pay me back” for taking her to and from school, which I told her wasn’t even a big deal since she lives super close to me. It’s not like I’m spending extra gas or anything, but she’s just a really nice person. I’m not used to that kind of a friend (*thinks back to the olden days*) and it’s quite refreshing.

I was the first to finish all of today’s assignments (we’re using Mail Merge in Word, which is so nifty!), which was really cool. A lady came in looking for blood donors and I jumped at the chance. Although I’m terrified of needles, I really, really wanted to donate…there’s a shortage. I had an appointment the first week of school, but something happened to some equipment and they left early. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I got to talk to two girls who are in my class I never got a chance to speak to before. One of them had already donated so she kind of walked us through it. They gave us juice and snacks and a t-shirt and a $5 coupon to the movies, which is AWESOME since Mario and I wanted to go this weekend . We even got to keep the little foamy ball we squeezed for dear life, but Jaylen already lost it.

We had a pizza party. Our “group” sat together and we had a good time. Something happened that kind of made us think a little less of some people, but I won’t mention it just in case my URL gets out–don’t want to cause any problems.

I’m so tired. Electricity went out so I was reading The Chamber of Secrets, which I still haven’t even gotten halfway on, and now I’m super sleepy. My arm feels all funky, too, like it’s sore or something, but not where they stuck the needle–it’s more like my shoulder .

*yawn* I need to put these boys to bed. They won’t stop screaming their little heads off !

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Watching a high speed chase/kidnapping going on in California on CNN right now. I’m so glad it ended peacefully. The guy had two women and a toddler and infant in the car. I wonder what happened? What caused him to snap and do that. WTH? They’re walking him to a patrol car and as he was passing one of the suspects he either tried to kiss her or snapped at her.

It’s been a while since I updated. Mmmm…Got a 20 gallon tank for our turtles on Sunday. Went to Petland, bought one for almost $40. Went to Petsmart to get the rats’ food and found a 20 gallon for $32–I TOLD him (Mario) they were more expensive at Petland–everything there is! So we bought the $32 one and returned the one from Petland. When we returned it, we also got a leash and harness for Cookie . He’s getting huge for his cage, so it’s nice to take him out and get some exercise.

We had to rearrange the entertainment center to put the tank up there–there was nowhere else!

We decided to eat at Fuddruckers that day. I’d only eaten there once before and it was years ago and Mario wanted to try it out. My burger came out to $8.16, and it was a 1/2 lb. of meat! I couldn’t finish the darn thing. I ate about a quarter of it. I should have gotten a kid’s burger! The thing I liked the best was the seasoned fries I ate with nacho cheese . I also ran into a friend from my Mission years–Marissa. She’s kind of cooky and boy crazy LOL.

We met with everyone at the movies and while they watched The Longest Yard, we (Mario, Jaylen and I–Eenan was with Elda, of course) watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was SUCH a good movie! I had my doubts, but I really liked it. I can honestly say it’s one of my favorite movies.

All I remember from Monday is taking Eenan and Jaylen to their swimming classes. I ended up having to take Jaylen out . This time, there’s a bunch of kids and not enough coaches (there are enough coaches, but I take it some of them are lazy and spend their time hiding in the office–I’ve seen them ). They expect the toddlers to learn how to swim when there’s 3-5 of them with one coach. The coach that had Jaylen and two other little boys could not control them. The parents of the two boys ended up getting into bathing suits and “helping” the coach–hello? I’m not going to be all ridiculous and get in a bathing suit. Isn’t that what they’re being paid for? To teach? If they can’t handle it, shouldn’t they get more coaches out there?

Eenan’s also in a “class” now–Angela’s with him and so are two other boys. Eenan already went through the 1st session and now he’s going through it all over again. So basically I’m paying for the same damn classes again.

That day, they learned NOTHING. I got so fed up watching the coach struggle with all the toddlers (shit, I’m not going to risk Jaylen drowning) I went and got my money back. I tell the old-hag of a supposed “lifeguard” that I want to remove him from the class because he really isn’t going to learn anything like that and she smirks and says, “Well, these aren’t private classes. One coach can have up to 5 kids.” I think that’s totally ridiculous.

The next day, Tuesday, the old-hag lifeguard tells all the parents that these aren’t private classes and that some parents are getting frustrated because their kids aren’t learning fast enough. I glare at Yazmin, who was sitting next to me and loudly say, “Oh, I guess she’s talking about me?”, and sarcastically smile at the old-hag (yes, that’s now her name). She kept going on and on about how the kids may not learn anything what-so-ever, but that’s due to the child themselves. Bullshit. It’s safe to say Eenan won’t be going back to Sessions 3 and 4.

Yesterday, as karma would have it, the pool messed up . Supposedly the kids are going to get to make up for the lost time next week, but I highly doubt it.

We had a busy day yesterday. Ate breakfast, we all got ready (John, the boys and me), went to the bank to cash Mom’s check, then I drove…ALL THE WAY TO MISSION! I had to pay for Mom’s storage unit and really had no choice since it was late. I did alright. I wasn’t even as nervous as I thought I’d be. Next, I shall drive to McAllen .

Took the kids to the library, where they made a little frame out of popsicle sticks and puff paint for Father’s Day . They had fun, but started acting up after being there for almost an hour so we left, went to Dollar General for a phone line, bread, chocolate milk and curtain rods. Then we went driving with John for a while. He drove to Dollar General to pick up some stuff for himself and we came home. He did well. It was SUPER hot outside though, so we cut it short. I started feeling really ill–naseous (couldn’t even watch Food Network without feeling like I was about to hurl!), my stomach was churning and I was getting a migraine. I unwillingly got Eenan ready for his swimming classes and they ended up being canceled so he, Jaylen and Angela played here while I layed on the couch and played Hangaroo with John. I made the kids PB&J sandwiches and laid down again. I felt better after 2 hours so I made dinner. When Mario got home we went to the 3 convenience stores around here to get brownies and vanilla ice cream for I’m Sorry Cake, but 1 was closed and the other two had no pints of ice cream .

Now, I’m here, stalling. I need to clean out the 10 gallon tank and put the turtles in there for today. Mario got some plexi-glass and is going to make a dam-type thing for the turtles. They have a lot of water in the new tank and Sammy and Brandon’s turtles keep knocking down their basking rocks, so they can’t bask properly . I also gotta put clean clothes away and basically clean. I haven’t done anything in 2 days, heh . I should get started or else I never will.

We were bored out of our minds (which meant the boys were quickly becoming fussy) so I took them to the library. They picked out a few cute books (Eenan: The Very Hungry Caterpillar & The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle — LOVE his books! Jaylen: Calico Cat’s Exercise Book by Donald Charles and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs! by Sandra Boynton. Since there were many kids at the time and they were all coloring and playing games, Jaylen and Eenan sat down and started coloring pieces of construction paper while I was getting our library cards. Later, a librarian tells me about how they’re having a Summer Reading Club and it’s barely the 2nd day so if we’d like to join we were more than welcome to. I say sure, and fill out their forms. So now, after the kids read their books, they either draw a picture or write a short summary (“book report”) of what they read and they turn it in the next day. The club runs from yesterday LOL till July 1st. On the first, they’ll have a party if they had good attendance (we go each day from 2-3…didn’t ask about weekends though…). The kids think it’s pretty good. They already love to read and now hopefully Jaylen can start feeling more comfortable around other kids and won’t be so scared when he starts school. Which will be in 2 more damn years!! I hadn’t bitched about that yet, have I? Well, let me begin…

Most of the (retarded) cities around our area aren’t allowing 4 year olds to attend school (Pre-K) unless they’re dirt poor and speak only Spanish. The rest of the kids have to wait to attend their first year of school in Kinder, when they’re 5-6!! What kind of crap is that?? I think it’s great they’re taking the initiative to help Spanish as a Primary Language students, but what about the other kids? Is MY kid going to stay behind because he actually speaks English?? So when the Spanish-speaking kids learn English and the alphabet, and math and to write, MY KID is going to be left behind barely learning those things? I mean, c’mon! When Eenan was in Kinder this year, they were reading 2nd grade-level books! How’s Jaylen going to be able to do that if he doesn’t know the basics first?! I think it’s just ludicrous.

Anyway, after the kids had their fun and checked out their books, we came home and I cut John’s hair, then Jaylen’s, gave him a quick shower since he’d already had a bath, did a bit of laundry, then got the boys ready for their swimming classes. They had so much fun and I was having a heart attack! Jorge, Eenan’s coach, took him to the 13 foot pool. Then Michael, Jaylen’s coach, took him…and let him get on the diving board! Jaylen isn’t scared of anything. He nonchalantly sauntered across the plank and fearlessly jumped into Michael’s open arms. My eyes were about to pop out of my head and my mouth dropped to the floor. Eenan went too, but he was a little more hesitant, but carefully made his way across anyway–and loved it! I was terrified, but Mary assured me it was okay. I know the guys are good coaches, but these are my babies!!

Yadira, the girls, Elda and the boys all went to see Eenan and Jaylen practice today. They played in the park for a few minutes after the boys were done, while the adults talked on the sidewalk. Then we came home. Everyone went to Yadira’s to eat pizza and John went out with his friends. I started on dinner and Jaylen was fussy and ended up falling asleep, so now I’m here, in an unusually quiet house and it’s just weird LOL. I guess I’ll have some dinner:

…and then I’ll finish up with laundry and snuggle up on the couch, watch TV and eat some ice cream with caramel topping . I actually lost a few lbs. because I’ve been limiting my food intake and not chowing down all the junk food in sight. I’m down to 115 . (For new readers: Don’t freak out. My goal weight is 105 because I’m only 4 ft. 11in. tall!)

Okay, food smells good. Really hungry. Gonna eat.

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