I’m so bad at updating sometimes. I get so lazy and have no desire to be online. Which can be good, I guess, but then I get pissed at myself because I have so much to write about and I just *have* to write about everything don’tcha know? Anyway…
Mario worked Thursday and got Friday off instead. We spent a day in town. I felt awful that I had no $$ to get Mario a gift for Father’s Day 
. We went to JCPenny to get his dad some gifts from us and Mom and he got himself some shorts and a shirt, which he said was the Father’s Day gift from me, but it’s NOT. That’s one of the reasons I’m in a hurry to go to school and get a job–so I can buy him stuff myself. That’s what I loved about working…it was so nice having money and buying him stuff whenever I wanted. It was nice surprising him and not having to ask for money when a holiday or special occassion comes around and I want to get him a gift 
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I got a cute, teal blouse when we were there. I wore it the next day when Mary, Noelia and I went to Noelia’s friend, Vinny’s, baby shower. She’s having a boy and just looks so cute all pregnant 
. It seemed like almost every woman there was pregnant or had a newborn in her arms. My biological clock sensed that and automatically screamed, “You must have a baby soooon!” Even Mary told me, “Andale, Yajaira!” (C’mon, Yajaira!) and then later Vinny’s aunt said it, too. But I need to keep pressing “snooze” on that darn clock and make myself wait till I get my license, go to school, get a job and then get our house. Once we get our house, then and only then will we try.
I felt a little uncomfortable in my clothes since I hadn’t worn a skirt in forever. I was also afraid the tire around my waist was going to pop out when I sat down 
. It boosted my confidence when a girl Mary was talking to said, “She doesn’t look like she has kids!?”, when Mary brought up that I was her daughter-in-law and that she had two grandsons. I needed to hear that LOL. That’s another thing, before I even think of having another kid I need to get in shape. The last thing I need is to get pregnant and gain even MORE weight and have a harder time losing it. Ugh, I don’t even want to think about that LOL.
Father’s Day was alright. The kids made a little trinket-box-type thing and a key rack for Mario and Big Mario. It was Mary’s idea . The kids painted them and they looked really cute. I cleaned up that morning and then later we went to Yadira’s where we were going to have lunch. Mary made everything, as usual. I felt horrible later that afternoon because she felt bad. She’d done so much for everyone, cooked all the food on her own, and a few people were a bit unappreciative .
That morning we thought Daniel (the turtle) had become a father LOL. I thought, ‘How appropriate; on Father’s Day!’. We found these little white balls that were in clusters in the water and we automatically thought they were eggs. I got some info online and could find NO pictures of Red-eared slider eggs so I followed the incubation instructions and incubated them. Later, I did find some info and pictures on the eggs and realized they were too small to be eggs. I think I may have been incubating semen 
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Since we have the 20 gallon tank now and are still turtle-sitting Sammy and Brandon’s turtles, Jackie and Daniel couldn’t bask properly. The big turtles kept knocking them off or, more annoyingly, shifting all the stacked up lava rocks and spreading them across the tank. Mario got some plexi glass and glued it to the tank to make a sort of ‘dam’. We filled up the seperated part with rocks (I even found some really pretty ones at Family Dollar!) and then put lava rocks on top for them to bask. I went to Big Mario’s stash of bricks and rocks and found even more lava rocks–heavier and hello, they were FREE! We spent $10 for a bag of lava rocks at Pet Smart, and they’re really light so the turtles can easily push them. After boiling all the rocks and stones, I stacked them up like stairs so the turtles could get to the dam easily.
It took them a while to get used to it, especially Jackie. She kept biting at the rocks LOL.
Went to visit Mom last night with John and the boys. Didn’t go as expected. There was arguing–as usual. Will probably vent about it privately later on. Gah.
I should get back to cleaning. I’m getting junk together to have yet another garage sale. I REALLY need to go through my drawers and closets and I’m dreading that 
. I also need to get more info online about the schools I’m thinking of going to. I think I already know where I want to go. John may go to the same one and we can go together. We’re either going July 25 or September 6. I really hope everything goes as planned. I’m becoming impatient–it feels as though I’ve put life on hold. Truth of the matter is, I couldn’t fathom anyone else raising my kids, which is WHY I actually HAVE put life on hold. But it’s time to get it back on track again. I KNOW I can do this.
[edit] 3:08pm. I can’t find my diploma ANYWHERE!!! I was about to cry and hyperventilate earlier. I don’t know what happened to it. I had it on the very top shelf with my Salutatorian plaque and all the school info and my scholarship (gotta call and check if that’s still good) and it’s not there 
. I was frantically looking for it and John says, “Aww, bless your little determined heart.” Grr. 
. I need to call the school like, 5 minutes ago, and ask if I can get a new one. I can’t believe it’s lost!! [/edit]
[edit again] 3:48pm. Just called my old school. I can either get a copy for free or a new one for $8 and I’m probably going to just get the new one. I hope they have a new style for it, too. The old one looked FAKE…it had a pinkish little owl printed on it (which was our mascot–don’t laugh!). I remember I took it with me for a job I was after a few years ago and the lady looked at me like, “You’re kidding, right?” when I presented the diploma LOL. The lady said she’d look me up and see if she can find my file. That scares me a little…”if” she can find it?? Anyway, hopefully all will be well. I also called to the College itself and got the info for admissions and financial aide. I feel so nervous. I have so much to do in the next few weeks: get my license, replace my diploma, set up an appointment with the school for both John and I to check if we qualify for financial aide, not go insane!! I’ve been out of school for way too long; this seems so overwhelming!! [/edit]
. Mary took me (and all the boys) to JCPenny to pay our credit card bill. I still am too chicken to drive around McAllen. One of these days I’m just going to grab the car and go. That’s the only way I got myself to start driving around here. And speaking of, I feel so much more comfortable driving around this city than I did before–even when cops are around! It would have sucked if I’d been driving the Sentra though (been driving either Noelia’s Geo or John’s Civic). Mario got stopped on the way to work and got off with a warning for our stickers being expired. Eek.
. They’re $2, and almost as cute and detailed as the 
! The clutter’s really driving me mad. It makes me want to run out of here screaming, that’s how messy it is.