Category: Family

How to Buy Me

Aly actually stayed asleep last night after I put her to bed at 10:40. She didn’t wake up for her first bottle till 2:30 and then again at 5:30. She scared me in the morning. I kept checking up on her because she didn’t wake up till 10:30am! Even though she fell asleep early, I had trouble falling asleep. I had a thousand things on my mind and Mario was out with his buddies so I wasn’t comfortable. I cant sleep when he’s not home. When I finally had fallen asleep he called to let me know he was on his way and woke me up. Then he woke me up again when he got here and Aly woke up for her bottle at that exact moment. Still, I got roughly 7-8 hours of sleep and after a cup of coffee and hazelnut coffee cream I felt refreshed all day.

The kiddos chilled out all morning and behaved a little better than they had been. John came over after I’d served the boys lunch and sat next to me at the table. I was quick to let him know how upset I was that he hadn’t offered to go with me to town the last 3 times I’ve gone and he sort of brushed it off. I held my tongue and he said, “How about some sushi?”

You don’t have to tell me twice. All was forgiven!

I had some errands to run anyway, like depositing at the bank (where we talked to Yadira for a while), and getting a few things and going to the salon.

They practically know what we get at Kumori already. They brought us our lemonades and Miso soup and this time John ordered an extra plate of rolls: the Bonsai rolls. He got them because they were inexpensive; didn’t even check what they contained.

They bring us our Spicy Fried Calamari (which we ate in record time) and our rolls. I’d asked for my usual Fiesta rolls with no salmon skin. The waiter brings us our plates of rolls and when he places mine in front of me says, “Fiesta rolls with extra salmon skin?” I felt a mix of emotions: felt bad for the cook because the rolls looked really nice but I loathe salmon skin, felt bad for myself because I was going to have to wait longer for a new order and I was starving, and I felt bad for the waiter because I might just yell at him for getting the order wrong. As I sat there in silence staring at the rolls, wondering where the salmon skin was, the waiter starts laughing and says, “Eh, I’m just kidding!” I start laughing, relieved for all of us, and the waiter leaves and I glance at John. He’s smirking and says, “You looked like you were gonna kill somebody.”

I happily eat my no-salmon-skin rolls and John tries out his new Bonsai ones. He makes a face and says, “It has a familiar taste.” I try one and DAMMIT! there’s salmon skin in it…and broccoli. Ahh, “bonsai”…makes sense. Little trees. I tell him about my connection and he says, “I HATE broccoli.” Still he ate the whole plate of them.

It was good. I think they put something in it — chemicals or something — that make you crave it like crazy. I want some more.

We went to Mario’s work next, to steal their internet so I could order something for Jorge on Ebay but it was blocked. So we leave to the mall where John spent an eternity at JC Penny looking for work-out shoes. We checked out a few stores then left to Target. We got Mom what she needed, I got what I needed, including some white pillowcases and some white curtains. I get home and realize I got sheet ones. Not what I wanted. So I’m taking them back and getting the teal ones to match the sheets, even though they were a little more expensive. I like no light seeping through the curtains in the morning.

I got the kids fed, bathed, and in bed by 10 tonight. Aly WAS asleep, but she started stirring when the phone rang (Mario’s on his way from picking up a goat…long story) so now she’s fully awake. I’m so nervous about my interview tomorrow. I hope, hope, hope I get this!

Shopping Day

Today was the total opposite from yesterday. Yesterday was laid back, no driving. Today: chaos and driving to town twice.

The kids and I slept in a little and Mario called at 11am asking if we could drop his lunch and wallet off to him at work.

The boys quickly ate cereal and I ate (eggs and coffee) and fed Aly her oatmeal cereal. After washing dishes and getting everyone ready we left at 12:45. We dropped Mario’s stuff off first then went to Target. I got bibs for Alaethia, a rattle she fell in love with, some underclothes for me, a separator thing for my scrapbooking drawer (clearance!), a turquoise sheet set ($7.99!), a Game Cube game for the boys (that they took forever to decide on! There were hardly any to begin with since they’re going to discontinue it soon *sniff*.), laundry detergent and picked out a playpen for Aly. They didn’t have either of the ones I wanted — the pink one or the Zazoo one that matches her high chair — so I ended up with a navy/green plaid one that cost $50. Oh well. At least it was inexpensive. I used my 10% off coupon and saved $22. Woo!

I get us some Burger King because the boys took so long deciding on what to buy and we were starving. We get home and I start to set up the playpen. John gets here and sees me struggling. After 15 minutes I couldn’t get one of the darn sides to snap straight and realize I’m going to have to exchange it. John bailed on me and left as soon as I mentioned needing to go back (I’ll remember that!) so Mary offered to stay with the boys while Aly and I went. I exchange it with no problem, thank God.

One of the good things about going back was that I put gas in the Equinox for $2.45 at the H-E-B plus. That’s the cheapest I’ve seen it over here. A guy that looked like Steve-O offered to pump the gas for me since I was carrying Alaethia. I was touched/terrified for my life.

Everyone’s at Mary’s having lasagna when I get back home. I help Jorge look for a battery for his laptop, eat, then set up the playpen. This one snapped into place quickly and firmly. I’m so relieved, and glad that I returned the other one. I’m terrified of those things collapsing and possibly hurting Alaethia.

I searched online for info about the place I might be working at and my heart sank when I realized just how far it is. I called Mario, who was chilling out after work with the guys, for reassurance. We talked about it a little, about the boys getting to school and all that, and I feel much better about it now. If I do get this it’ll be great. It’s a start and hopefully, in the future, I could possibly transfer closer to home.

I bathed Aly after that and then got the boys into bed. I’m going to start having them get ready for bed earlier every day now that school’s around the corner. They fought me on it; Eenan even cried. Then they asked if I could set the timer on the TV to turn off and then asked for a story. So we did all that, plus I made sure to close their curtains and shut the doors to their closet, because Eenan has a “thing” about them being open. I got Aly to sleep about 20 minutes ago and now it’s my turn. Gotta start doing this every night from now on.

Kismet

I unwillingly got up this morning to iron Mario’s clothes and then took a semi-broken nap with Alaethia after serving the boys breakfast. The boys were both awake super early and were being supervised by Mom. Aly and I got up and had breakfast and later on John came by with a proposition: take him to Circuit City and I’d get paid for it. Awesome. I chose the same payment as last week: lunch at Kumori!

Mom offered to watch the kids (thank God! I’m still recovering from yesterday’s embarrassment…). I would have taken Alaethia but I wasn’t sure if Kumori was baby-friendly.

We went to Circuit City first, where he spent almost a hundred bucks on games for his PSP. He loves that thing a little too much. And then we went to have lunch. I love that place. The ambiance is just fantastic and the service is awesome. I wanted the same thing I’ve had the last two times I’ve been there — Fiesta rolls — but this time I was smart and ordered them without the fried salmon skin. I had to poke it out the last time we went and that caused the rolls to fall apart. The salmon skin was too crunchy and it was grossing me out.

I actually got to take pictures! John didn’t let me take any last time because we were out in the open but this time we were in a booth! We had Miso Soup first:

Miso Soup

Then Spicy Fried Calamari:

Spicy Calamari

And finally, the best part, my Fiesta Rolls:

Fiesta Rolls

God I love those things! That’s my favorite restaurant at the moment. I could totally eat sushi all day. I never in my life thought I’d say that LOL. I have Pete and Sally to thank for introducing me to that place. I’m so glad I’ve got John to accompany me there. Mario’s not too fond of sushi (although he did love the spicy calamari) and Sally’s pregnant so I can’t take her with me!

We had a few more errands to run, like making John’s car payment and then stopping with Mario to talk about the return I needed to make at Home Depot. A drill he’d recently bought went on sale so we needed a price adjustment. We get there and they do the return/price adjustment with no problem. The time comes for me to give them the credit card to do the re-sale and lo and behold, Mario forgot to give it to me. So there we go again, back to Mario’s work, to get the darn card.

We make the return with no problem this time and make our way to the trim and moulding department to buy the trim we need for the kitchen/living room walkway (that we’re finally working on). Turns out the trim was way too long for my little SUV so we left.

I’m fumbling for my keys as we’re nearing the truck when I hear the familiar ringing that my phone makes when someone’s calling from “private”. I debate not answering it at all, because it’s usually some annoying prank-caller, but answer it on time. It was the call I’ve been waiting for all summer: a phone call from the place I most desire employment. I got the details about my interview and fumble around for a pen to write everything down. I’ve been thinking about it all day. So much in fact, that I’m now wondering if I heard everything she said correctly. I’m starting to doubt whether I heard right about where we’ll be meeting. I’m so excited. If I get this…it’ll be the best thing that ever happened this summer. I still have huge reservations about leaving Alaethia while she’s so young, but if I get the job at this place I’ll have a set schedule and I’ll still be able to spend plenty of time with the kids.

I’d been applying to jobs all summer and finally gave up when the only call I got was from a photo place and I just wasn’t interested after all. I actually turned down the interview the day before Alaethia got sick with the Roseola virus. I hope that was a sign; a sign that there was something better in store for me.

Thursday is the day I find out if life will become a bit more perfect.