Category: Holiday

Thank you to all who gave me suggestions for presentations; I really appreciated the comments .

I decided on doing my presentation on MRSA (or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), which is the bacterial infection Jaylen had gotten around the time he was 2. I didn’t have a chance to work on my PowerPoint at all during the weekend, but I got it started on Monday at school and finished by the first hour on Tuesday. I really wasn’t nervous about presenting since I had everything memorized. What I was nervous about were the people Mrs. C-R was going to bring in to critique us.

I went to bed super early on Friday night. I was exhausted. Mario got home really late since he was working with his friend so I didn’t even get to see him.

Saturday morning was spent helping Elda and Mary get the “haunted house” ready for that night. After a few hours of hot-gluing spiders and bugs to plastic champagne glasses and passing hanging bats and spiders to Elda, who was nailing them to the ceiling, we left for town. Mom got me a costume (“Moonlight Fairy”) at Party Universe and Mary picked up a few more decorations there. We went to Mom’s storage unit to look for her witch costume but only found her broom and hat. I felt miserable that she’d bought me a costume and she wasn’t going to wear one, so I fixed up a hooded black gown that Elda had brought for me to borrow. I cut the hood off, sewed some spider web printed lace onto the collar and added a few wisps of hanging tulle to match her hat. I was relieved when I showed it to her and she loved it .

We stopped by H-E-B and picked up some baking supplies and headed home. At 5 p.m. I started getting my boys into their costumes for the Jamaica (fall festival) they were having at Eenan’s school. I got Angela’s face paint done (she was a dead cheerleader) and after Jaylen threw a fit that he didn’t want to be in his Ninja Turtle costume, we (Mom, Brandon, Eenan, Jaylen, Angela and I) left at almost 6:30.

That’s Jaylen (without his costume) and eating his nachos. Eenan and Brandon won a 3-liter and 1-liter soda (respectively) when they played a ring toss game. We got all the kids nachos and raspas and that’s basically all we did. We got home at 7:30, dropped the kids off, picked Ricci and her girls up (her cousin, Alex, and new boyfriend, Goyo, brought her sister and cousin), and when we got home I was greeted by everyone rushing me to get ready since they were ready to let the kids into the haunted house. I didn’t get to take a shower, shave my legs (and boy did they need shaving!), curl my hair, put makeup or my glitter on—nothing! All I did was put my dress and wings on and that’s it.

Ricci’s costume was cute. (Gotta remember to ask for permission to post the pic I took of her). She was dressed as a Mexican character named Chupitos, which was hobo-like. She had a bottle of Presidente and everything . She dressed Rashelle as Chucky and Belinda as a little bumble bee.

We went around the haunted house and everything was just really fun. The kids had a blast. I think I saw them about 5 times the whole night since they were too busy playing with their cousins.

Mario got here after work and we all chilled out with the rest of the family. He was a bit upset he couldn’t be there since the beginning, but thankfully almost everyone stayed a little later just to chat with him for a while.

After I dropped Ricci and the girls off at home, Mario and I picked up some McDonald’s and stayed up talking with Jose, Elda, and Chris. We didn’t go to bed till 2am! Latest I’ve gone to sleep since I started school.

We slept in pretty late since Mario doesn’t go in till 12 on the Sundays he works. Too bad I sent my poor husband off an hour earlier than I should have. That’s right, I forgot to change the clock back an hour .

Mary, Mom and I went to Mexico to get candies and medications. After that we went to Joy Dollar real quick, and then to the mall’s food court to grab some lunch. When we were done eating, we got up and started walking towards JCPenny and I saw a familiar face. I met Johanna! I’d never met anyone I knew online so it was pretty cool. Her little boy is adorable !

We went to JCPenny where I took about an hour and a half to find my “professional” outfit. I ended up having to chop off and sew about 5 inches off the darn pants, but I did a pretty good job. I’d post the pic I took up, but a lot of my classmates are in it and I’m not sure how they’d feel about me posting it on the ‘net .

We went to El Centro Mall where we were meeting Elda and Brandon. There, I found a really cool and inexpensive shoe store and bought the cutest shoes for my outfit. We went to the movies to watch The Brothers Grimm, or whatever it’s called for the second time. I wasn’t paying much attention to the movie and all I could think about was how the boys were at home with John and I’d been out all day and really missed them. Funny how you desperately want a break and all you can think about is them when you finally get one.

Monday and Tuesday were spent worrying about our presentations. Monday’s also the day mom went home *sniff*. Ricci came over and worked on hers both days. Elda and I took the boys trick-or-treating (all except Jaylen, who fell asleep while he was in his costume and didn’t go ). We took them to the Police Department, the Leo’s store and a whole bunch of houses, including Elda’s grandmother’s. That lady’s house is immaculate! The neighborhoods over there were all nicely decorated and almost every single house was giving out candy. Our neighborhood? Almost everyone turns their lights off. Rudeness!

We got home, and we had Brains, which were red Jello in the champagne glasses we’d decorated. Jaylen didn’t get to go trick-or-treating, but Eenan split a little of his candy treasure with him . John also dressed up for the occasion. He was half Freddy Crouger (sp?), half werewolf.

Eenan wanted to sleep over at Mary’s that night and then we dropped Ricci off and the rest of us (Jaylen, Mario and I) went to Jorge and Maggie’s. On the way over there it stormed horribly. I kept closing my eyes in the passenger seat since I was terrified. Jaylen on the other hand was having a blast looking at the blinding lightning. .

We got there and ate some of the bar-be-que Jorge and Hiram got to cook before the storm came. We talked with the men out in the garage and then Maggie and I went in to talk chisme (gossip). I was really, really shocked by what she told me. I never expected that. I won’t go into it because it’s not my place but…she never should have allowed that. That’s all I’m going to say.

As for today: the presentations were all really cool. The girls told me I was one of the calmest and did a good job. They all did really well, too. We didn’t even have “people we didn’t know” in the class. I just hope we get really good grades. This is the first class I haven’t gotten a single 100 in! I love PowerPoint, but I’m just glad it’s all over. To celebrate, Mayra, Ricci and I ate at Taco Bell. Wish Lucy’d gone with us!

Ahh…I should start on dinner. I’ve really got to start updating more often.

A convo with John:

John: My poor car! It’s going to be winter and it’s going to be more fucked up! And YOU PEOPLE never looked at it.

Me: You people? I’m not a mechanic.

John: *pokes me in the back as I’m passing by* You look at it! You can fix computers, a car isn’t far from it! YOU FIX IT! FIX IT!!

(He really is that crazy.)

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Finally, we finally have our internet back. Turns out one of our lines was bad. One of the technicians commented about how I should leave my hair “down” because it looked nice. I felt kind of uncomfortable and said, “It’s too hot” LOL.

Our phone’s still not working and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with our AC going out a few times. I’m thinking they moved (or cut?) the lines up there. It’s kind of a coincidence everything just stopped working all of a sudden.

Not having internet is such an inconvenience. We needed the internet for so many things this weekend and it sucked not having it LOL. But yay, now I can update and I need to answer e-mails/return visits.

Anyway, we went to Mexico on Saturday since Yazmin had a dentist appointment and we needed to pick up the Yu-gi-oh centerpieces for Eenan’s birthday party. There’s 12 of them and we have to paint them all! These are a little more detailed than all the other ones we’ve ever painted too.

I don’t remember much from that night…I think we just went to Yadira’s.

Mario had Sunday off, so we just cuddled in bed for a few hours and were just being lazy. We went to Yadira’s for a while and then I took John to the store and we went back. We were almost broke so we didn’t go anywhere (had our credit card but we’re REALLY trying not to spend that anymore). We came home, Mario took a nap, the boys stayed with Mary and I took John driving on the expressway. He did really well; I was surprised at how calm he was. All he needs to do is pay a little more attention when he’s turning into other lanes.

That night Mario left to see his good ol’ buddies: Watson, Robby, Art, and Jorge. I was pretty pissed and thought the worst, since usually, when he hangs out with Watson, he starts to be an asshole with me. He tried cuddling with me that night but I smacked his hand and sternly said, “NO”. I was still upset .

Yesterday, July 4th, Mario and I had a *lovely* morning .I guess you can say he made up for leaving while I was making dinner the night before. We got ready and left to watch War of the Worlds. I don’t know if it was how loud the surround sound was, but damn, that movie startled me. I kept grabbing on to Mario’s arm and pressing my ear against it LOL. It was good, but the end was kind of…abrupt? I don’t know how to explain it, but I did like it.

We came home, I made lunch, we ate and then we went to see Gramma at the nursing home to wish her a happy birthday. I drove there. We chatted with Gramma for a while and I showed her how long my hair was. She’d never noticed it since I always have my hair up since it’s so darn hot out. She said, “It’s so pretty! But doesn’t your head hurt?” LOL She’s so cute .

We went to the mall after we left but they were closing right when we got there, so we went home. We sat around and watched TV for a while and then Andy and Noelia got here. They brought fireworks for the kids and we all had a really nice time. Poor Andy burnt poor Mario with a punk by accident, but all was well. We also saw firework-show-type fireworks that the neighbors usually buy, so that was pretty cool.

And that was our weekend. I need to visit dailies and see what’s going on with everyone. I feel so…behind!

And OMG…now that I have my license, do you know what that means?? That means I can now legally drive to school, finish school and then get a J-O-B!!! But wait, I need to either find or go to Edinburg and buy a new diploma before I can get INTO school. But it’s okay…I’m on a roll. I KNOW I can do everything I’ve wanted to do.

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 .

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 .

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]

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