Category: Grimmy Grim

It’s a sunny 79° outside right now. Needless to say it won’t be a White Christmas in south Texas this year. Bah humbug.

My immune system sensed that Christmas was ’round the corner because it decided to discombobulate after school on Thursday. I decided to drink orange juice this morning to accelerate my recuperation and sort of over did it as I now have a horrible upset stomach. I hate colds!

I spent Wednesday night getting everything ready for school: gifts, lasagna, cookies, camera. My car was packed to the brim Thursday morning. I got to school and took a few things in, and noticed all the presents under our “Christmas Tree”, which was a tree drawn with a marker on the dry-erase board. Romeo and Kimberly helped me bring everything else in and we put everything in it’s place. I read a card (a Cheer Bear one) that Ricci wrote to me. I initially thought Kimberly wrote it (I had my thumb over the name) and felt so embarrased when I said, “Aww, thank you, Kimberly!” and Ricci turns around and says, “THAT’S FROM ME!”

It seemed really odd to me while I was reading “Kimberly’s” card that everything she mentioned was what Ricci and I had been through. I felt like an airhead!

I really appreciate my friends though. I never thought I’d find friends like these and I just feel so blessed. It’s not because of the holidays, either. I think about them all the time and thank God for bringing them into my life.

Speaking of, Lucy looked really sad and…indifferent that day. I wish she’d just talk to me, but she seems to only open up to Mayra. It doesn’t bother me that she doesn’t talk to me, it just makes me feel a little disappointed. I wish there was a way I could make her feel better.

We reviewed chapters 2 & 3 of our new class, Business Communications, for the test we’d be having before our party. I can officially say, I highly dislike adjectives. Some of them are confusing to me. I can honestly say we weren’t taught certain things in high school.

Anyway, after reviewing, we opened gifts! From Kimberly and Romeo I got the Good Luck Bear baby, from Ricci a beautiful red glass pitcher with two glasses, from Mayra a gorgeous banana (?) clip, charm bracelet and red sequined purse; from Lucy a Hello Kitty toaster (exact one I got last year), Care Bear stickers, and glittery Hello Kitty switch plate; and from my Secret Santa, Rosy, a huge basket full of Sweet Pea lotions and bath stuff. I was thrilled with my stuff :).

I gave Rolando his present, which was a gift card to the mall since I COULD NOT figure out what to get him. I mean he gave ideas, but there was no way I could afford what he wanted. I figured I’d get him a gift card so he could choose what he’d like and actually LIKE IT.

I was utterly surprised when he rushed by, gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Mario got really lucky with you.” It could have also been that he was in love with the cookies and lasagna I’d made LOL. He kept saying, “WHY’D you have to be married?!” I guess what they say is correct: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!

Unfortunately for him, I’m perfectly happy being married .

I felt really warm inside hearing compliments about my cooking. That never gets old to me. We had a great time pigging out. We laughed and talked and had fun. Mrs. C-R was with us, too. Most of the other side of the class had left, but that didn’t bother me at all. Everyone who’s company I enjoy was there .

I planned to chill out with Ricci at her Grandma’s for a while after school, but I got a call from Mom that Eenan’d been stung by a bee. I rushed home of course, thinking the worst, but thankfully he was fine.

Mom agreed to watch the kids on Friday while Mario and I went out to finish our Christmas shopping. We picked up some McDonald’s, then we went to Norma C.’s car lot first where he’d install a radio in a car and then we went to the bank. We tried killing some time before he had to pick his check up from work so we went to check on our property in McAllen.

We got down and inspected the lots. Mario estimates that we’ll be spending at least $2,000 to get the trees uprooted only from the backyard. There’s so many trees on that lot it’s not even funny. It looks like a mini-forest in the middle of town, no kidding. I felt this overwhelming feeling of bliss standing there, making plans with him about our future home. I momentarily stopped hearing what he was saying and just stared at him standing in the ray of sunlight and I thought, I’m so glad I married this man.

I really can’t wait to build our home together. I can’t wait to go through life together and raise our kids together. This is so important to me. I just pray that we’ll be able to actually uproot those trees and that Mario can buy his motorcycle since work would only be a few blocks away.

We met up with Mary and Elda at Chick-fil-a to eat lunch, and shortly after Mario was called to pick up his check. Then came the hours of shopping, paying $10 for crappy valet service, and having a fit at Target because they wouldn’t let me exchange my Hello Kitty toaster for something that wasn’t in Housewares. They wouldn’t even let me take pillows! Pillows go in a HOUSE!

Mario stopped by this little stand he likes to buy hotdogs at, then we ordered pizza and rented movies. We ate fast food all day, how sad. BUT, I’m so glad we finished with our Christmas shopping.

We visited Gramma this morning and took her her gifts. I really miss her. It would be the perfect Christmas if she were able to spend it with us *sigh*.

I’m going to go back to Mary’s. I’ve been trying to rest, but with all the kids running in and out of the house it’s basically impossible. All the kids are playing in the bedroom and I JUST finished cleaning half of it so I think I’ll take them with me. *checks* Oh yeah, they’re making a mess.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas. God Bless!

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A lot’s happened since I last blogged. As always, as soon as I’d sit down in front of the computer to try and update, I’d remember I had to do something else. So, a summary (which will be long anyway):

Wednesday: Took our Final Exam on Access. I think we started it at 9:00 (or was it 8:30?) and I finished by 10:30. I thought I’d done okay, since it was a pretty difficult exam. I pulled my Harry Potter book out of my backpack and waited for the girls. To make a long story short, I heard sniffing coming from behind me, slamming of books, and at around 11, Ricci came up next to me and told me she was done. She wasn’t and was clearly upset. she was having trouble with her exam and so was Mayra. Their Relationships just weren’t working and that’s what makes the queries, reports and forms work. Poor Lucy’s database kept messing up so she lost her report and form, which I’d clearly seen her finish. After Mrs. C-R and I talked to Ricci in the bathroom, she composed herself and came back to the class to try again. After a while, I started panicking because I thought I’d gone through the exam too fast and *had* to have messed up somewhere.

We got our Exams back a few (painstaking) days later and I got a 96. I usually cry and throw fits if my grade’s anything less than a 98, but I thankfully accepted the grade–I thought I was going to do much worse!

We went to pick Mom up after school and then went grocery shopping that afternoon with Ricci. Dropped Ricci off, came home and took Mom to the Housing Authority to get her an application. The lady at the window told us we could fill out the application, but they wouldn’t be helping anyone till next year, maybe, because they were only accepting people from Louisiana. Just our luck. Mario had stayed home to watch Jaylen while John did his observation and picked Eenan up, too. Mario took a nap while I dropped Mom off, which I was really annoyed about since I hate driving over there alone.

John went in for his observation that morning and to his last class that night. He’s officially a substitute teacher now . Next on his list: his driver’s license.

Thursday: Can’t remember much from that day except that by the end of the day I was exhausted. I’d even forgotten an appointment I’d had that afternoon.

Friday: Was falling asleep in class…

(…Cntd. @ 6:42pm from home…)

Anyway, I was falling asleep in class so I really wasn’t “aware” of what we were learning in Chapter 2. Before we left class Mrs. C-R lets us know we’re having a quiz on Monday, so we might like to study. I totally forgot about this during the weekend.

After school Ricci and I met Mary at Target, where she was picking out her and my gift for Belinda, Ricci’s daughter. I got her a little outfit, so we took it with us so Ricci could dress her up before the party. I took Ricci to get a few things for the party (the piñata down Conway, a few more goodies from H-E-B) and then we went to her house where I’d help her with a few things. We ate lunch (menudo that her grandma made, yum!), and then went outside to find a huge jug for the tea they’d be making. We spent so much time looking for it that I didn’t get to help her with anything else since I needed to pick Eenan up. I picked the kids up, came home, ironed all our clothes and then went back to help her a bit. They sent me to the store to get forks and as soon as I’d gotten back with them Mary called that she was home and ready. Came back, picked her and Sammy and Brandon up and we went back to Ricci’s.

It was a nice party. There were lots of kids there and they all got along really well with Eenan and Jaylen, especially Jaclyn and Natasha, Ricci’s sister and cousin, respectively. Mayra went for a little while with her little girl, Sharlyze, and it was the cutest thing when Belinda and Sharlyze held hands and walked into the dining room together. I got to meet Mayra’s sister and mom, who are both really sweet.

The kids hit the piñata, got candies when it broke open, and then they got candy bags. We sang Happy Birthday to Belinda and ate cake and then we came home.

Saturday: Mary treated us (John included) to Peter Piper for lunch. The kids had so much fun. Mary took Eenan and I took Jaylen and they played the usual games. They both really like skee ball, this other one where you slowly roll a ball to a different colored slot each time, and one where they throw ping pong balls into the bucket that lights up. They got a pretty good amount of tickets, got their prizes and then we got there just in time to eat pizza.

We watched Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit, which was totally much cuter and funnier than I thought it would be. John was in a huff and was scowling the whole time because he couldn’t believe that I was making him watch that “stupid cartoon”, but he was laughing his ass off the whole time. The kids loved it; they thought it was hilarious.

We went to pick Mom up after that and then went to JCPenny, where she was taking John shopping for “professional clothing”. He found 3 shirts and 1 pair of slacks; he actually looks pretty decent when he’s not wearing baggy clothes.

We went to see Gramma after that. We spent time joking around with her and talking about our week. Mary was picked up by Tommy and Yadira while we were there since she was tired. Eenan, who isn’t much of a shopper (just like his father), left with Mary. Mom, John, Jaylen and I went to Target after that since we had time to kill before Mario needed to be picked up.

Or so we thought.

As soon as we got to the parking lot of Target, Mario called and said he was out–40 minutes earlier than what he initially thought. I told him we’d just gotten there–that we’d be over there in 20 minutes. We went around looking for storage boxes and a garment rack for John’s stuff (since his crap’s strewn all over my living room) and checked out the Halloween stuff. Mom got Jaylen a Ninja Turtle costume, some sais and a double-ended sword for Eenan’s ninja costume (that Andy’d bought for him). By the time we got in line at the check out, we’d already been there 40 minutes . Needless to say, I was in a hurry to get to Mario’s workplace since I didn’t feel like being yelled at. I even ran one of those “yield on green to oncoming traffic” signals and could have possibly killed us all. I was so tired my heart didn’t even start racing, as it usually does when I encounter a near-death experience (which are usually not brought on by me, surprisingly). Thinking of it now, it was the most irresponsible thing I’ve ever done while driving. John yelled out, “The OTHER time, you didn’t see the stop sign. THIS TIME, you didn’t even CARE!”

It’s funny to me now, but it was so, so wrong of me. .

We hadn’t eaten since before noon, so mom asked if we’d like to get a bite to eat. We went to this taqueria that Mario had been wanting to go to. He ordered what he’d been craving: tripa tacos and a hotdog wrapped in bacon with pico de gallo in it. Mom and I got steak tacos (which they make just like they do in Mexico!), John got a bacon hotdog and the kids got regular hot dogs. The food was delicious—they even gave us complementary beans, which were the best I’ve ever tasted.

We dropped Mom off after that and made the long commute home. When we finally got home, I helped John set up his garment rack. We hung all the clothes on it and what happens? The darn thing falls apart! We took everything off of it, wheeled it into our bedroom and he started hanging all his clothes on it again. Mario and I lay on the bed and watched John have his crisis with the rack. It was the most hilarious thing I’d seen all day–even funnier than Wallace and Grommit. I was so exhausted that night that I fell asleep right there, in the clothes I was wearing. I didn’t even get to go to Ricci’s second party for Belinda, which was at her ex-in-laws’ house. I was hoping we’d be home much earlier, but I sort of had a feeling that with everything we had to do, we wouldn’t make it.

Sunday: Spent the day cleaning and reading. Took a shower mid-afternoon and then went with Mary, Elda, Sammy, Brandon, Angela, Eenan and Jaylen to the Jamaica, which is a festival/fair type thing that was hosted by the church. They have little games and lots of food. The kids got on the moon jump (which took a total of 40 minutes to stand in line and then have them jump in), played a few little games and we ate nachos and grape soda. All in all, it was a fun night. Yazmin was at the sponge throw getting, er, sponged LOL, and I also saw Ricci’s little sister and her cousin.

Spoke to Ricci that night and apologized for not making it to Belinda’s party. She asked if I’d studied for the quiz on Monday and of course I hadn’t. I’d totally forgotten about the quiz!

Monday: Was relieved to find out Mrs. C-R was giving us 30 minutes to study. I read through the chapter (which was really long) really quick and memorized the key terms. When we got the quiz I jotted down the first thing that came to my head and I was certain I’d gotten everything wrong. To my surprise, I managed to get a 98! .

I went to make Mom’s storage unit payment after school (and got $10 back, woo! Gas money!) and then picked up some cough medicine for Eenan and a few things for Mary. I only found one single brand of medicine, which is generic. What ever happened to the Triaminic soft chews and tongue tape? Was that forward I received actually true? They really did get rid of all the kids’ cough/cold meds?

And now I’m here, stuffing my face with popcorn and waiting to make dinner (should have waited on the popcorn). I tried winning the 30,000 from Wild 104 today but of course I never got through. Well, I did get through once, and then the operator came on to tell me I hadn’t gotten through after all. Grr.

Maybe next time . Oh the things I could do with that money!

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Mario called last night before he got out of work and in a rush said, “I’m gonna be a little late. There’s an emergency meeting. You’re not even going to believe what I tell you. There are two things. The second one’s going to blow your mind. I’ll call you after the meeting.”

20-30 minutes later, he calls.

“Well, what happened?” I say, my heart beating a hundred miles a minute. By the tone of his voice I knew it was something shocking.

He replies, “Two guys got fired. One was Joe.”

I gasp. He’s one of the best speaker box makers, ever. I didn’t understand.

“Who was the second?” It felt like I had a weight in my chest. The same feeling I had when he told me he’d lost his job at the hospital in April of 2004. I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers and silently prayed that it wasn’t him.

“Jorge.”

My eyes about popped out of my head.

“WHAT?! How? What happened??”

He explains to me what happened, which I won’t mention here since it’s about work and all, but it was something that could have easily been avoided. I still can’t believe it. When Mario got home from work, he ate dinner, we spoke more about it and he got dressed and went to visit Jorge. I don’t know what they talked about since I was in bed when Mario got home, but I just feel so bad for them. I can only imagine what Maggie’s feeling right now. They have a house to pay for!

Their situation opened my eyes and reminded me that not everything in life is certain, most definitely not your job. This we know from experience since Mario’s been laid off twice from good jobs. It scares me to think that one day, if we ever buy a house and a new car, that we may not have a job to pay our bills with for whatever reason. Granted, Jorge did this to himself, but still. When Mario was “laid off”, it was due to budget cuts and stupid things like that. I just hope they’ll be okay. I really don’t know what they’re going to do.

As for Eenan, we had another tough morning. I thought for sure he’d be okay, but then we walked down the hallway and realized he was the only kid from his class there. He didn’t want to wait alone, so I waited with him. I talked to him and he got a little sad, but Angela and her two friends showed up and they sat with him (angels, they are). When I was walking away, I realized I hadn’t told him I loved him, so I went back. He tells me he loves me and then Vianca tells me he cries when the teacher gets mad at him. We’d spoken about the boy, Joshua, who had spun him around and dropped him, and he told me he hasn’t bothered him since. So, the only thing I can think of that makes him dislike school is his teacher . I don’t want him to be miserable all year. I’ll talk to him again today and if it is his teacher that he’s not comfortable with, I’ll see about getting him switched to another class. We’ll see.

School was good today though. We arrived a few minutes late since Ricci wanted breakfast from Whataburger. We’re learning to use Excel now and the lesson was kind of confusing, but we eventually figured it out. We use lots of numbers with Excel…kind of makes me nervous LOL. I have every intention of coming home after I pick Eenan up (I have to leave in 20 minutes) and making a list of our budget to use as a monthly template. It’s so nifty .

The girls (Mayra, Ricci, Lucy) want to have lunch together again sometime this week, maybe Thursday. We just need to figure out where to go.

We got out of school at 11am since two girls are taking the Microsoft Certification exam. I stopped by to see Mario and drop off his PDA charger and we chatted for a bit. God I love that man. I wish we could spend more time together *sigh*.

We left Mario’s and went to see Gramma at the nursing home. She told me how she was worried because we hadn’t gone to see her. I explained about how I didn’t have the car on the weekends (Mario takes it to work instead of borrowing Jose’s gas-guzzling truck) and how Mom’s had appointments so she hasn’t been able to visit on her days off. During one of our quiet moments, she grabs my hand and lights up, suddenly remembering something.

“Mija! One of your friends works here! She’s a nurse. Go, go find her and talk to her. Go!”

I was a bit shocked and say, “I told you I knew your nurse! We went to middle school together. I don’t know where to look for her though, Gramma.”

Just as I said that, Letty, pushing Gramma’s roommate in her wheelchair, walks in.

We caught up on a few things; the typical What’s Been Going On In Your Life Chat. We also talked about Cassandra Niño, a girl we went to middle school with (Letty’d known her her whole life), who died in a car accident brought on by a drunk driver. She was 23 and was about to finish school to become an RN. It’s so sad. I was surprised by how affected I was by this, since Cassandra and I weren’t exactly close friends, when I found out about it. She was so young .

We chit-chatted more and checked off who we’d seen that we went to school with. She saw Jessica working at a pawn shop, and I quickly asked which one, so that I could go stalk her and ask her why on Earth she hasn’t contacted me yet. She’s also seen Dayse, who I haven’t spoken to since the summer of 9th grade, and she saw Angie, who was very pregnant and still working at one of the Wal-Mart’s as a manager.

I gave her my e-mail address. Hopefully, we can keep in touch.

I took the practice test on the Microsoft 2002 Core Exam and got a 92. The exam we’re taking is the 2003 edition, so it’s a tad bit different but Mrs. C-R said it’s basically the same thing. I’m going to try the Practice Expert Exam, which is what we’re going to be taking (Microsoft Office 2003 Expert exam). I got to question 46 after I finished my work at school and man it’s confusing. The way they word the questions is just so puzzling. I wonder if the two girls who are taking the exam will pass. If they can pass, I think I can pass.

My, how I’ve babbled on. I actually don’t have to do anything today, and that is wonderful. I still need to go to the store to get Gramma some baby powder and room spray (per her request), but I’ll do that tomorrow and take it to her on Friday. I should get to visiting some dailies/answering e-mails, vacuuming, washing towels and then hopefully, reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, comes out in November and I want to read both books before it starts showing. I think I can do it. I read about 2-3 chapters just while I’m waiting in line to pick Eenan up from school.

Mmm. Some ice cream with marshmallows sounds divine while I surf .

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