Category: Grimmy Grim

(Mon. June 30th) – Spent most of the day lazying around with the kids. Andy and Noelia invited us to their house for a bar-b-q. We ate (and I had this awesome Jack Daniel’s pink lemonade drink) and just hung out the rest of the night with them. Mary and Jorge were leaving and, since Mario was going to install Noelia’s radio into the Sentra, the kids left with them.

The men stayed outside and Noelia and I went inside to look at her photo book and got on Ancestry.com to look at Noelia’s family tree. Very interesting! I need to start updating mine.

(Tue. July 1st) – Can’t remember much of what we did during the day (man, my brain’s really turned to mush lately! I can’t remember anything!) It was Maggie’s birthday that day. She’d told us the Friday before that she wanted us all to go over, so I got ready. I caller her up to see if we were still on but she told me her mom was unfortunately at the hospital. We already had sitters (Mom had Alaethia, Mary had the boys) so we called up Adan to go to Whiskey’s. We get there and Mario had forgotten his ID at home so we go back to get it.

There’s hardly anyone there and there’s no kareoke going on. Phooey. I’d been craving a Piña Colada so I got one. It was alright. The best Piña Colada I’ve had so far has been from the Blue Shell restaurant, hands down. But it was good. Mario and Adan played pool most of the night and although they asked me to play a few times, I felt really tired and sleepy but didn’t want to ruin their fun so I just sat at the table surfing the web on my phone. I caught up on reading some blogs, so I can’t say I had a horrible time LOL.

(Wed. July 2nd) – We met Mary at the Carmike theatre and watched Wall-E. I am so in love with that movie! It was the sweetest, ever. I hope they make Wall-E and Eve plushes…I’m totally getting them!

We went to Wal-Mart in the evening to get a few things and print out some pictures for Dad from the Kodak kiosk. Of course we get there right at 8pm and they turned off the machines because the photo place is closed. Grr. We drive over to Target and get them there. 28 pictures for almost $7 isn’t bad, but I would have much rather ordered them on Winkflash.com if I’d had more time.

(Thurs. July 3) – We left around 12pm to visit Dad. Mom went with us again, even against our protests. We told her not to because she was rude the last time but she insisted on going. Fine, whatever. We stayed for a few hours talking about the big Digital TV thing next February, the kids, stories from when I was a baby, and I even got some info about his side of the family for my family tree. We ordered pizza for lunch. And he loved the pictures we printed for him.

We stopped by Mr. G’s Fireworks warehouse in Alamo and got $45 worth of fireworks. Mom got another $30. The kids were set. Maggie calls just as we’re leaving and invites me to go to Mexico with her and Judith; they wanted to buy bottles. I say sure, I can get a few packs of birth control while I’m there, since I didn’t get to buy them before Natalie’s Quinceañera since they didn’t end up going to Mexico. Mario drops me off. We stop at ATM’s to get money and go. They get three bottles to celebrate Maggie’s birthday and I get the birth control and some cigarettes for Mario, since they’re $2.50 over there.

Once you buy the bottles the cashier gives you a slip of paper and a delivery guy takes the bottles to you by bike to the bridge (I’m still not sure why they do that). Well, we had some trouble getting ahold of the bottles. We had to go back to the store to ask what was going on. We finally get the bottles and make the semi-confusing trip around the bridge back to the US. While we’re waiting in line Judith quickly tells me to switch places because she can’t drive (for a reason) and so we switch. I feel weird when I first drive others’ vehicles, but I drove all the way home.

I stayed with Judith at her apartment where she got ready and Maggie went home to shower. I felt so uncomfortable and sweaty LOL.

As I was waiting for Judith I noticed the Mission yearbooks were stacked on one of her shelves so I flipped through the 10th grade one. I was in there, but thankfully I didn’t look that bad LOL. As I was going through the pictures I realized I hardly remember anyone. It’s kind of sad, really, but I was so consumed with my relationship with Mario that I didn’t care if I had friends back then. Especially because the friends I had made at the time had all either backstabbed me or just disappeared. So I learned to keep my distance.

We went to Maggie’s and Mario was already there. Us girls went to Wal-Mart to get a few things (like chips, dips and stuff to make Margaritas with) and got some McDonald’s to eat. We ate at Maggie’s and just when Mario had finally come in and was about to sit and eat his dad calls him and asks if he can pick him up and take him home. He does that, then finally goes back and eats. We hung out till pretty late just talking outside. The girls shared with each other how we’re all “late” and how we’re freaking out.

On the way home Mario tells me he’s had a great time his whole vacation. I tell him I have, too, because it’s great having him home and spending so much time together, like the good ol’ days when I was a housewife. He asks, “Hey, did you ever get your…you know?” I had already mentally tracked my cycle while the girls and I were talking about it and there was no way. I figured I was just late for some reason, probably because I’d stopped taking the pills so abruptly since I ran out. We were both a little more at ease.

(Fri. July 4th!) – We wake up the morning of 4th of July and it’s POURING. So much so that these little guys made an appearance:

The first thing I think is So much for the fireworks! We didn’t let it dampen our festivities, though. We had to get creative, like rolling the grill under the side porch, but we made it work for the most part. The boys put on their water shoes and ran all over the driveway in the rain and even had a mud fight (which I had no idea was going on or else I’d put a stop to it!). Alaethia was loving the water and being carried around by her Bimpa. Mom, Mary, Jorge, Mario and I were all sitting around chatting. I’d been wanting a Chelada for a while, so Mario prepared one for me. It was so good!

The girls were all inside, nice and dry, and the guys were outside chilling out and making the food. Well, Mario was. He’s always appointed the cook because he’s so good at it.

It was Gramma’s birthday, but the weather was so bad and we had no idea how bad it was in McAllen, so we didn’t go visit her. I felt horrible all day, but I made a vow to see her the next day.

It was also Natalie’s birthday, so we celebrated with cake after the bar-b-q. We sat around talking for the remainder of the day, since it never stopped raining. We thought for sure we wouldn’t be able to pop any fireworks, but there was this nice gap when it was only drizzling and the kids started popping them. Alaethia was terrified at first and was clinging onto me, then to Mary, then to Big Mario and then to Elda.

By the end of the night she was perfectly fine and clapping.

Once we were done sweeping up we left Aly with Mom, Eenan with Mary and took Jaylen with us to Jorge and Maggie’s. They invited us over for burgers. The burgers were delicious! We sat around a while and Judith asked me to go with her to her apartment to get a bottle and the stuff for the Margaritas. She made some AWESOME Margaritas. It was like eating a raspa. We sat outside and talked and then Judith’s friend stopped by so we went inside. They’d been friends since high school and were telling us about all the crazy things they’d done as teens up to now. I was slurping down my Margarita like crazy, until my lips felt like I’d eaten a pound of sunflower seeds. I had to stop!

As we’re getting into bed we realize that it’s Mario’s official last night off. Back to work the next day. I was so sad. I wish we were millionaires and we could just stay home with our kids and enjoy each other and spend our days together. We totally needed this vacation. It reminded me just how wonderful it is to be married to him :).

Couldn’t find a more perfect title for my entry. Rushing. It’s how I live my life these days. I rush to work in the morning. I rush around getting everything done that I need to get done at work, I rush at the end of the day so that I’ll get out on time — at 3 — and I rush all the way down that long, empty road to the boys’ school to pick them up. I get home and I rush around running errands, helping with homework, spending time with them, spending time with friends and/or family, making dinner, working out (yes, I’m REALLY working out!), getting everyone bathed, into bed, spending time with Mario and rushing into the shower myself, ironing and rushing to get into bed by 10:30 so I’ll at least get 7 hours of sleep — which usually doesn’t happen. And in the morning…I do it all over again.

I have to admit, it beats being bored like I sometimes was when I was a stay-at-home mom, but I also have to admit that after all these months of working: I’m still not used to it!

The last time I wrote I was weaning Alaethia off the bottle. I’m proud to say that that last time I updated was the last “bad” night we had while weaning. So, in total, it took 2 days to wean her off. Record! It took 3 days each with the boys. One of my proud moments as a mother, if I do say so myself!

The zoo was awesome! Mario didn’t get to go because we went on a Saturday and he works on Saturdays. But he didn’t want to go anyway. He’s been a sport in the past but he doesn’t very much enjoy himself LOL. Anyway, it was a cool day and Alaethia was dressed in fresh capris and floppy hat and the boys wore caps and jeans since it was cool in the morning. The aviary was closed but they had this cool new addition where we feed parakeets and cockatiels! That was probably the kids’ (including Alaethia) favorite part of the whole visit. I took some pretty awesome pictures; first time at the zoo with my Kodak Z650.

I didn’t take as many pictures of the boys with Alaethia as I wanted. Our traditional picture with the large, metal (?) alligator had two takes…the second one with a crying Eenan because he didn’t want to take the picture. I only got one with the turtle at the Reptile Room of Jaylen and Alaethia…and it was blurry. We didn’t even get one with the lion statue. Oh! And speaking of lions: all the animals were in heat! I took an awesome picture of the lioness on her back, roaring like there was no tomorrow. At first we thought it was a fake roar being emitted from some type of huge speaker. But nope, it was a real-life lion looking for her man…who was lazily licking himself feet away from her in a corner. Typical!

The boys got to pet a snake but I didn’t even get pictures of that. Or of them lovingly stroking a Silky Chicken…the fluffiest damn chicken I’ve ever seen! He was so cute and so tame. He’d let everyone pick him up and he’d just hang there, all limp LOL. I didn’t get pictures of the camel licking Alaethia, just on my cell camera. My camera and batteries aren’t used to me taking THAT many pictures in a few hours. It just died on me.

We bought souvenirs ($40 worth — EEK!) then ate at the mall in Brownsville. When we were getting back into the Equinox Eenan and Jaylen climbed in and I began to fasten Alaethia into her new big-girl car seat. It always happens: Mom doesn’t check to see if any of the kids are leaning on the door and the boys always lean on the door. You can imagine what happened next. Mom opened the door and out flies Eenan, back-first onto the sharp, bumpy pavement. It happened so fast I didn’t even have a chance to react, and even if I did, I had Alaethia in my arms and I was on the other side of the vehicle. I’d never heard Eenan utter such an earsplitting scream, and he screams a lot. A huge bump quickly formed where he hit himself. We held cold bottles and cold, wet napkins to his head since the ice in the ice chest had already melted by then. We kept him awake for 3 hours and he never showed signs of losing consciousness or slurred language so we didn’t rush to the hospital. We went to church that night and I prayed and prayed that he’d be alright and that the bump would go away. I prepared him for a visit to the doctor on Monday if the bump still hadn’t gone away.

We attended Mario’s cousin, Amy’s, baby shower on Sunday the 10th. It was at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. She looked too cute. She’s small-framed and even though this is her second baby, she’s still tiny.

I took Eenan to the doctor after school and work Monday afternoon. His bump had mostly gone down but I was taking him in anyway, as a precaution. Turns out it had been a Hematoma but since nothing odd or scary happened during the first 24 hours, he was absolutely fine. THANK GOD.

I spent Tuesday night finishing up my darn sewing project, the bag. I attended my last sewing class on Wednesday the 13th. We finished up our bag and then got a quick lesson on using patterns. We prepared pajama bottoms; all we had to do was sew them up at home. I still haven’t finished them!

Wednesday was such a stressful day at work. I spent the morning creating and sending out purchase orders, which is a new chore I’ve recently inherited. It’s such a pain do to those things. Plus the program wasn’t working on my computer so I had to keep bothering the ladies in the office for one of their computers. They didn’t mind, but I still felt like I was intruding. When I got back to the library I was in shock to find it completely full of kids. It was loud and my headache got worse. Then this kid made it worse by just being completely rude. I sent him back to his class and told him to come back when he felt like being respectful.

Valentine’s Day, well, it sucked. We were broke so I already knew we weren’t doing anything special. Mario didn’t get home early at all, either. And I don’t know what caused it, but we had one of our “talks” that we’ve been having quite often lately and he ended up leaving to Adan’s (his cousin) a street away instead of kissing and making up or something. Well, it’s not like it would have been much kissing since I had to go to sleep for work the next morning. Mary even offered to watch the kids during the weekend so we could get away alone together, but they’re having this huge sale at his work for the next two months and they’re not getting any days off. Yippy.

We had our first school dance at the new campus, the Favorites. We closed the library down since my boss was one of the coordinators and I was helping with the sashes and photos. Mrs. G. visited us and updated us on her life. Us being Mrs. R. and me. It was a nice afternoon. I had to rush home and get Aly and the boys ready so we could go pay bills. Mom tagged along. I was in such a rush, it was awful. I also had to buy an outfit for that night, since it was my company V-Day party. It took me forever, of course. Almost halfway home I realize I didn’t pay my Conn’s payment. I almost wanted to wait, but there was no way. It would ruin my no-interest, no-payment for 12 months!

I got ready in a record half-hour and still left a little late to pick Mario up from work. I was picking him up and he was leaving his truck in the garage at work. He changed and then we got to the restaurant. A new Mexican restaurant called Juancho’s. A whole lot of co-workers made it this time and we had a really nice time. My strawberry Margarita was delicious and the food was awesome. And Mario and I spent time together and laughed like the day before had never happened. After we’d had our fill of talk and food, we went over to Adan and Jason’s. We stayed there till 1am and then I got home and crashed the hell out!

I dropped Mario off at work the next day and rushed home to pick everyone else up. I shopped a little at Target, which was my Valentine’s Day present from Mario: shopping. I bought some really cute shoes and some blouses. Which was awesome because I’d be able to wear them with jeans the next week since we were having a fundraiser the whole week of the 18th to the 22nd. Mary’d gone with us that day. We paid bills, saw Gramma for a while, ate at The House of China (yum!), went to the movies to watch The Spiderwick Chronicles (which was an awesome and super cute movie! Now I want to read the books!) and then we topped it off by going to Walmart. I was SO TIRED.

We had another baby shower to go to, this time Cindy, another cousin of Mario’s. They had such cute decorations and even chocolate-covered strawberries! Alaethia started walking a lot more after that day. I think it was because everyone kept asking if she was walking yet and we’d say, “Well, sort of. Not really. Sometimes.” She’s doing pretty well taking steps on her own, but she’s not completely walking on her own yet. She is, however, dancing like there’s no tomorrow! And she “sings” which is really just humming. As soon as she hears music, she starts shaking her little hips and waves her arms up and down. She’s got excellent balance when she dances, too! And she’s still got her little “fangs” on her upper gums, but her two middle ones are coming in, too. Gotta get a good picture of the fangs. She’s just darling. And she’s only waking up once at night, thank goodness!

Oh, I forgot to mention: when I’d taken Eenan to the doctor the Monday before, I weighed myself and OMG, I weigh 127.5 lbs!! That’s seriously the most I’ve ever weighed while NOT pregnant! The most I should weigh for my height is 125, so I’ve got a slight problem here. Mary and I decided we were going to start working out. So we work out 3 times a week (it would be more if we had time!) for half an hour to 45 minutes. We worked out Wednesday and Thursday and stopped from Friday to Sunday. I’ve been trying my hardest to eat a little healthier, but my gosh, with my schedule at work I’m always starving and when I get home I pig out. And here I thought working would keep me from snacking. I weighed less when I was at home all the time!

Thursday was Eenan’s GT Parent Night. It was nice. There were several schools there and his class sang a song and they had this awesome display where they made sea animals with clay. He made this awesome barracuda! We had snacks at the cafeteria and then we bought chicken from Church’s. Totally defeated the purpose of working out, but we ate first and worked out afterwards. Yadira worked out with us that night. It was fun!

Not too sure what I did Friday…oh yes! The whole family was here and we all helped out dicing and slicing stuff up for the shrimp cocktail we were having that night. Eenan’s friend Pat came over for a while and his mom and I had a chat outside for a while. I had no idea his mom was the school nurse!

I cleaned house most of Saturday morning and we left to town about 4pm. The boys stayed with Mary, thank goodness, because I was going to Ross and they HATE Ross. I bought a few house things there: a lilac bath rug, some floating shelves for the living room and a huge pillow because I needed a new one. We went to see Gramma after that and then we came home. Then Mario and I and the kids (minus Eenan) went to Jorge and Maggie’s. I hadn’t seen her in a month and she’s been working! A pretty good job, too! We chatted and then I painted Alaethia’s toenails for the first time ever and then we came home.

It was Jorgie’s 7th birthday party the next day. Mario and I picked up some brisket plates I’d bought from a co-worker and then we had a mini shopping spree at Target. Gosh, I love Target.

The kids had a blast on the Moon Jump, including Alaethia. Maggie out-did herself with the food, as always. I got to see Jorge’s Mom, sister and cousin. I hadn’t seen them in forever!

Mario had the brilliant idea to pick up his dad’s screen, projector and the 360. Let me just say my 8 and 5-year-olds kicked 20-something-year-olds’ butts!! They came in second each time. They were only beat because Jorge or Mario would win at the last minute LOL.

Mario ended up staying there and I came home with the kids since I had to get ready for Monday. I was a bit upset about that. Even moreso when he never got home and then ended up sleeping at Adan’s because he didn’t have a key to get in the house, the moron LOL. He SAYS he knocked on the window so I’d let him in and he did text me, but I guess I was dead asleep. Oh well.

Monday was like every other Monday, including running around paying bills. Tuesday was SUCH stressful day at work. First, the internet was down most of the day and so I ended up with a huge pile of books that didn’t get checked in. Then at the last minute I’m asked to set up a projector, digital document camera and a laptop (and a screen, which I had to track down the janitors to put up) when I had 10 minutes left before I had to clock out. I ended up staying 20 extra minutes, which made me super late picking up the kids. At least I had dinner with Jessica to look forward to! I hadn’t seen her in forever! 5 years in fact! It was so fun. We went to Dustee’s Accessory shop and then ate at Chili’s. We ran into another classmate’s hubby and we spoke to him for a while and then when he left we gossiped and just had a great time. I don’t want to lose touch with her again! She’s one of my very best friends. I still need to meet up with Karina, Sally and Carmen sometime this week, I hope. I’m glad to be at a point in life where I’ve “found” a lot of my long-time best friends. My life seriously didn’t feel complete without them!

Today was a much easier and low-key. We had faculty meetings in the library all day so it was closed to the students. I had a chance to catch up on checking in books, shelving books (and Mrs. R. came in today and she’s LOADS of help!), chatted with my boss and then helped one of our best helpers reach his reading goal so that he can go with us to the field trip to Fantasyland Skate Center next Friday. He’s already half way there!

So there we go. Whoo! I made dinner tonight and worked out and got my blog typed up and finished for once! I didn’t finish up laundry, nor did I finish hanging up the laundry I did yesterday, but that’s okay. I deserve some time for myself, I think.

I just finished reading The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, and although it was a sudden ending (I want MORE, DARNIT!), I really loved the book. Now I can start on Shopaholic and Baby!

I have to run a few errands but I figured it’s a good a time as any to start this post — because I will post it today! Alaethia’s still asleep because she kept me up till 1am last night. She was literally tossing and turning and rubbing her face between the pillows until I was so exhausted that I put her in her crib. Then she fell asleep with no problem. Figures.

Okay, I left off on Saturday, Dec. 15th previously. I forgot to mention, Rolando, Eenan’s best friend, had slept over Friday, the night of my Christmas party, because they had a UIL meet the next morning. Mom babysat all of them for us and said they were very well behaved. I was still very tired since I didn’t get to sleep much, but I got them ready and dropped them off. I picked them, and Angela, up at noon. For some reason, Eenan didn’t get to participate in one of the categories but got 4th place in the other.

As the kids are piling into the car I smell something. Alaethia had poopie. I get to changing her and am horrified to see that she’s got diarrhea. She’d just had a diaper change before we’d left home, yet she’d already developed an awful diaper rash. Her first severe diaper rash, ever.

We rush to drop Rolando off, and of course I get distracted talking to his mom, Maxine, and catching up on things. We all rush to Catherine’s birthday party, which is all the way in Mission. As we’re arriving I notice that Alaethia’s gone to the bathroom again. It was awful. I’d never heard such blood-curdling screams while changing her diaper. It was heartbreaking.

The boys had fun at the party and I ran into Art and his little boy. He’s so big already!

After the party we went home and just chilled out the rest of the day. Poor Alaethia was not up for anything else. She was sick for about 4 days, poor thing.

With a pang of guilt I realize it must have been the queso fresco we’d eaten the night before that might of gotten her sick. Hypchondriac, paranoid mother that I am, I start panicking that she’s got some kind of weird bacterial or viral disease because I fed her bad cheese. But no. A visit to the doctor let’s us know otherwise: she’s got a virus. Although I feel horrible for her I’m glad it wasn’t me that caused her to get sick. Now I know: no more queso freso for her!

On Dec. 20th we drove through the Festival of Lights on Ware Road, at the park. It was nice. We bought some kettle corn and switched the car radio to the station that had accompanying Christmas music.

Friday, Dec. 21st – We picked up Noelia and went to Wal-mart, Long John Silver’s, and the mall. Aly got a Care Bear that she picked out herself at K-B Toys.

Sat, Dec. 22nd – We visited Gramma at the nursing home. Her hair was done in braids. We delivered her Christmas gifts. Of course she says, “Why did you bother?” as always.

Sun, Dec. 23rd – We celebrated Andy’s birthday at Mary’s. Andy and Noelia were leaving early, so the kids, Mom and I visited Pete and Sally and Quentin. We took over some cookies I’d made and the boys had some that Pete and Sally gave to us. The boys behaved a little wildly, which was kind of embarrassing. Alaethia was a good girl. She even let Pete carry her for a few seconds LOL. Sally’s done wonderful things with their house. I loved the color of their kitchen! It was teal.

Mon, Dec. 24th – Aly was shaking her bootie! Like, really shaking it. It was the cutest thing :).

The women did some last minute baking and wrapping, as always. Angela and Eenan were very busy getting everything ready for Santa that night. Angela was in charge of the stockings and Eenan made a sign for Santa so he’d find his cookies.

Tues, Dec. 25th – We woke the kids up early, though not as early as all the other years because everyone else doesn’t get here till around 8:30. So we woke them up at 8. We had to put the monitor on for Alaethia because she was being a lazy bump and wouldn’t get up.

The boys opened up all their gifts, and loved their “main” one, the limited edition Zelda DS.

Jaylen, as you can see, looks very sleepy still LOL.

Alaethia had a great time during her first Christmas. She was more interested in ripping off wrapping paper than her actual toys and clothes, but she had fun.

Wed, Dec. 26th – We stayed home and enjoyed the mess and new stuff. The kids were all so excited with their new gadgets and games. Alaethia especially loved one of her gifts from Mary, which was a Laugh and Learn table. She shook her bootie to the songs like there was no tomorrow!

Thurs, Dec. 28th – We celebrated Grandpa D’s birthday here at Mary’s.

Fri, Dec. 30th – We went to the movies…though at this point, many months later, I can’t remember what we watched.

Sat, Dec. 31st – New Year’s Eve! Always fun. I think we went to the movies. We bought fireworks. It was cold outside, but we popped fireworks anyway. Just covered Alaethia up really well so she’d be warm. The boys had fun. Mario was letting them pop fireworks on their own, which made me really uneasy, but he was watching them. Alaethia looked so cute. Yadira, Noelia and I put 4 pig tails on Alaethia and she looked too cute!

1-4 – We visited Gramma. Aly was hugging and snuggling with her. Gramma couldn’t stop laughing, because Alaethia was doing her burrowing thing when she was snuggling up with her. Gramma had a nice, soft blanket, which drives Alaethia crazy. She loves soft blankets!

1-5 – We went to Mexico to get candies for Alaethia’s party. We were wary because of the frequent recalls of Mexican candies due to lead poisoning. It’s mostly tamarindo/chile candies that have lead though, so we steered clear of most of them.

We got almost everything we needed. We got some centerpiece plushes, Strawberry Shortcake, of course. And some Strawberry Shortcake tin boxes for the candies. We got a bottle of Buchanans and a case of cigs for Mario. And when we were back here we went downtown to see everything for Natalie’s 15th. Got home, unloaded and went back to town with mom and the kids. I bought some lilac paint from Walmart that was on sale. I’d get to painting the bathroom sometime.

1-6 – I spent the last day of my vacation painting the bathroom the lovely shade of lilac I’d bought at Wal-Mart. I went with Mario to the hardware store to get supplies (his dad needed some for a project, too) and Dollar General. I did the texture first and after it dried I painted. It actually dried a few shades darker than than the paint chip, but oh well. I finished by the end of the day. I was exhausted and SO not looking forward to waking up at 5:20am for work the next morning.

1-7 – Tired. Arrived to work…to an empty parking lot! Grr. Then it dawns on me–it’s a Workday which means no students. Which means we go in at 8am!! I could have been sleeping! As I’m frantically searching the website on my Centro a counselor arrives. At least I wasn’t the only one! We discussed what we should do. She said the custodian had just arrived, so she was going to stay. Like hell I was going to stay all alone doing nothing. I hadn’t even brought my book with me! I thought of the gas I was going to waste, but I went home and slept…for about 10 minutes. Blah.

I left the house at 7:40 and got to work just in time. My boss got there late and I’d already started working on a few things. She reminded me about a meeting and breakfast being served at the cafeteria, so I went along. Mrs. V., a few other teachers and myself chilled out till around 9:30.

1-10 Alaethia is obsessed with deer jerky. So am I.

1-11 – I got my Christmas bonus! Well, it’s not exactly a bonus since we “save” $58 from our paycheck every month. I’d been wondering when we’d get it.

We started getting the final things ready for our students to start circulating again. I came home and we bar-b-q’d. I played outside with the kids. Mario took our bedroom TV outside and we watched movies out there. When we go in to eat at Mary’s a Lack’s business card floated to the floor when I opened the door. Hmm.

1-12 – I dropped Mario off at work, late, and he was pissy. He knows he’s going to leave the house late when I drop him off. I don’t know why he expects any different.

We went to Goodwill. I only had Jaylen and Aly and Mom went, too of course. We got lots of bargains!

We picked up Taco Bell and visited Gramma. She caught me completely off guard and asked when she was going home :(. I felt so horrible. I didn’t know what to say. I told her we didn’t have the resources to care for her the way they can at the nursing home. She was teary-eyed and everything. It was heart breaking :(.