Category: OMG

Last Wednesday, after having yet another frustrating day at school with Quickbooks, I went to the post office and ran into an old friend, Jessica, from my OSM days. We caught up (she’s married, has a little boy, one on the way) and found out she’s been living 3 streets away from me for the past 4 years! What a small world we live in. I knew I’d seen her at the Dollar General once and she swears she saw me walking down the main street with a stroller (ah yes, when I was actually making an effort to lose weight) and at Wal-Mart. We talked for a while on Saturday; I need to remember to call her back.

Sometime at the beginning of last week, Aunt Nora called and asked if we’d like her old bedroom set since she was buying a new one. I remember LOVING her bed, and ask, “Is it the one I said I liked?” and she said, “Yup, that one.” Score. She gave us the drawers and bedside table too. The dressers she’s had since she first got married () but the bed is brand new. It looks beautiful :).

Mario was going to take the Sentra Saturday morning, but when he tried to turn it on, nothing happened. Turns out the starter died. All I could think about was my final on Monday and how we were broke, couldn’t afford a new starter and HOW WAS I GOING TO FINISH CHRISTMAS SHOPPING??

Mary came to the rescue and bought the part for us (we need to pay her back *adds to long list of debts*) and Mario waited around all day for someone to help him out to no avail. Finally, later at night, Jose came home and fixed it with the company of Mary and Big Mario. Mario was too upset to go out there.

Brushka had her second litter of kittens yesterday. Panthy-Poo (who’s solid black) was the one who mated with her, yet she had black tabby ones (probably from Panthy), gray tabby ones like her, and a WHITE ONE. I told Mario, “Aww, she’s so cute! If she’s got long hair like Artemis, I want to keep her.” And to my surprise he replied, “I kinda want to keep her too.”

Booka (as Jaylen calls her) will be staying indoors until we get her spayed. With all these new kittens, that brings the total to 14 cats and well, I’m too young to be a crazy cat lady . I hope we can find them good homes (Booka’s last litter: Bah, Enchilirido, and Goop, were all given to Ricky and they disappeared a week later since they had them outside. He lives in a ranch–I’d hate to think what animal, like a coyote, could have gotten to them). I gotta get Choco Cat spayed and John needs to get his cat spayed, too.

I went to school all by my lonesome today. Ricci moved to Mission, so she won’t be going with me to school in the morning. I gotta say, I’m so used to going everywhere with her it feels strange without her there LOL. I’ll be bringing her with me afterschool and dropping her off at her Grandma’s, where Goyo will be picking her and the girls up. I’m really glad they got their own place–they really needed it.

We got to school and I tried explaining to Ricci and Romeo how to do a few things (that I could remember) in Quickbooks when Mrs. C-R suddenly asked us to sit and get ready for our final. She said, “Your final is your assignment from Friday. There’s 3 cheat sheets, each one’s 5 points off of your final if you ask for it. There’s also a bonus you can do. If you get it right, it’s 20 extra points, if you don’t, it doesn’t affect your grade.”

My mouth dropped. I stayed an extra hour after school on Friday to finish that assignment because I JUST HAD TO get it right. And I did! When I was about 1/4 ways done with the bonus Company, Mrs. C-R places a letter on my desk. It says that I already had a 100 for that class (yeah baby!) and I could take the bonus if I wanted to. She also said she was proud of me (aww ) and to always keep my head held high. She left a P.S. that said, “Thanks for always helping out your classmates.” I was beaming and smiling from ear to ear. I gave the bonus a shot anyway (I think I messed up on a deposit though ) and thanked her for the letter. I’m going to miss her when I graduate .

I was so worried about that Final. I was sure I was going to bomb it. I even had a dream–no, a nightmare–Saturday night that I’d set my alarm wrong on Sunday night and woke up at 12:20pm. I totally missed class and Mrs. C-R wouldn’t let me re-take. I woke up with my heart beating a mile a minute!

I went to drop Mario’s lunch off at work since he forgot it and Mom, the boys and I went downtown to get Tio Arturo’s gift and to this Japanese store I’d always wanted to go to. After 30 minutes of looking for parking we went over there and I’m in love. Mom bought me a little Lucky Cat snow globe and I think I found my inspiration for decorating the living room. I’d always wanted an Asian theme and now I know where to go for all my decor :). They have gorgeous vases and such pretty paper lanterns.

Welp, I should get to baking those Snickerdoodles. I’ve got TONS of baking to do before Thursday!

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We got rear-ended this morning.

I picked Ricci up at her house (a little late since Mary had called and asked me to find a bottle of pills for her that Norma C. needed) and she quizzed me on our study guide since we’d be having our final today. Mayra called us and said she’d seen us leaving Ricci’s street. She was going to stop by Whataburger because she was craving a biscuit, so she’d see us at school.

When we get to the 10th street exit, Ricci asked me, “What does Partitioning mean?”, when the world around us seemed to start whizzing by. I see a red F150 getting closer and closer so I started to brake. I braked so hard I smelled rubber burning. I was seriously about an inch away from the truck’s bumper. Another red truck came out of nowhere and went straight across nearly hitting the concrete barrier. Then I see the white truck and white car that had crashed. Ricci and I looked at eachother, eyes bulging out, breathed a sigh of relief and BAM! We got hit.

I groan and fear the worst. The impact was so hard I was certain my bumper was on the road or totally smashed in. I get around the car and the woman who hit me says, “I’m so sorry, Miss. I tried braking, I really did, but everyone stopped so fast…”

I assess the damage: 3 scratches, that’s it. We already had another 3 scratches about an inch away, so I thought we’d leave it at that. Why make a report for just three scratches? After all, a few days after we’d first gotten the Sentra a guy rear-ended us (Mary was driving) and nothing happened to the bumper so Mary didn’t file a report.

The lady asks if I’m sure we’re okay, and I feel fine so I say yes. We get into our cars. I whisper to Ricci, as if the lady can hear us, “Get her license plate number; just in case.”

I couldn’t stop shaking. Ricci was having a hard time breathing because she was that scared. My foot wouldn’t stop bobbing up and down on the gas pedal. It was the weirdest feeling. All of a sudden I felt this warm, achy sensation wash over my back and then the throbbing started. I ask Ricci how she feels and she says her back hurts. I reply, “Mine too.”

A few feet later we see another car accident. And then another; there was glass everywhere. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Mayra calls us and asks if we’re okay, if we’re stuck in traffic. I say yes, that we’d just been hit. We decide to hang up since traffic’s moving at a snail’s pace and our exit to school was nearing.

When we’re at school, we tell the teacher about why we’re late (20 minutes), and relay the details to Mayra when she gets there. She said, “Everything happens for a reason. I never go to Whataburger. Imagine if I hadn’t?”

If she hadn’t, she would have been in the midst of the accidents, maybe even gotten hit much worse that we did. As she says this, I think about how I was later than usual picking Ricci up since I had to look for the pills. I tell them about this and about how much worse the accident could have been and Mayra says, “It just wasn’t our time.”

How right she is.

It may be corny that I got all worked up and started thinking about how lucky I am to be alive, but it’s just a fact that we were indeed lucky. Had we left at the regular time it could have been us in the horrible accidents. Us with glass shattered all over the road.

I’ve felt terrible all day. A Tylenol and 2 Asprins later and NOTHING. I feel worse than I did this morning. I stopped with Mario to see him really quick and leave him some nachos I’d bought him after school and then went to drop the pills off with Mary. She checked the car and said it looked fine, but if I still felt bad tomorrow I should call the police and give them the lady’s license to get ahold of her. I feel bad about this, as the lady would have probably willingly filed a report if I’d asked to. I’m so dumb .

On a brighter note, I probably aced my final and I have 5 extra points so that’s pretty cool. We played a game yesterday in class and I was appointed captain of one of the teams, so I got to choose who was in my team. I picked Lucy first (who isn’t really talking to me again. I don’t know why .) and then Joey, the other captain, picked Ricci. The look on her face. She half-jokingly called me a traitor all day . My team ended up winning (like, duh ) so we got the 5 bonus points for our final. She kept saying things like, “I have to study extra hard because I don’t have 5 extra points!” She will never let me live it down.

I’m going to bed, I guess. My back is throbbing. It hurts where I got the epidural with Jaylen. I hope I can sleep well. Our bed is so soft it kind of caves in in the middle. I feel sore even when I’m not getting into car accidents–I can imagine how I’m going to feel now. One thing’s for sure though: I’m NOT missing Harry Potter!

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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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