Category: Photos

I’ve totally stalled with the skinning/PHP’ing of the site. Actually, it’s more like I’ve come to a sudden halt. My brain+PHP+HTML=Mush. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I can’t get the site to do what I want it to do; I almost ruined it today . The tutorial I used to skin the site allows Iframes…all the others don’t mention iframes or how to incorporate them into the site. Yet, with the one I used…I’m still having trouble…I don’t even want to think about it right now. But then I really want to get it done . ARGH!

Anyway, as for the past few days…Wednesday was Tommy’s birthday so we got together at their house. I made one of the cakes–Monci took the other one. It was almost like Thanksgiving…Yadira was craving turkey and Tommy thought it would be cool to have turkey so Mary made the works. It was awesome. I made Yadira laugh her ass off when I told her about my little incident at the store. I’d write about it here but it’s a lot funnier if you actually “see” what happened LOL. It was a cool night. After we left the party we went to Autozone to get a part Mario needed and the next day he fixed the Sentra! It’s so good to have my little car back !

On Thursday after we took Eenan to school, I cleaned. And cleaned, and cleaned. The kitchen and livingroom were spotless. Mario even cleaned the bathroom without me asking him to! I still need to give the bedroom a good cleaning. I have to sort their toys once again since they won’t fit into their bedroom if we ever split the room. Here’s a pic of their stuffed animals in a pile:

Cheer Bear’s mine though . But yeah…and it’s so hard to choose what to get rid of because they’re so attatched to everything. They have a gazillion Care Bears. Here’s a pic of their toy boxes:

And that’s just one side of the bedroom . I’ve got my work cut out for me! Is everyone else like this? Do all other parents out there have rooms with toys popping out all over the place? I seriously don’t know how we’ve accumulated so much stuff…we *just* had a darn garage sale and we haven’t even bought the kids toys in forever!

Anyway, that day I took Mom to the store since she needed packing materials and cleaning supplies. I needed milk and got some pumpkin spice scented candles. They make the house smell so good! And they were only $.70 for both!

When we got back, Mario and I cleaned the car from top to bottom. We cleaned the spots on the carpet with Tuff Stuff (it works so well!) and detailed the rest of the car. It looks and smells great . After we were done, we picked the kids up, I gave Jaylen a quick bath since he was super sticky and then went to Jorge’s. We chilled out for a bit then the neighbor came over and we played darts. When it was my turn everyone was like, “Oh no! Here she comes!” I won the first two games I played, and then I SUCKED. I only won 4 or 5 games (compared to the 20 or so I won last time). I was so disappointed. I wanted to play darts so badly, and when I finally do, I did horribly. I blame it on the “new” darts…I couldn’t grip them correctly . On top of that, I started getting horrible pains in my knees, which caused me to focus a lot less. Grr I say. Mario didn’t do too well that night either…he only won 3

That day we also found out Mary had the beginning signs of osteoperosis in her back . About time the darn Surgeon General made it a point to get women checked for that. I wonder how Gramma and Mom are…if they have any signs of osteoperosis. Neither of them are big on calcium.

Friday I cleaned a bit more (I’ve had huge bursts of energy lately…I like it!) and I got out some costumes we had that the kids hadn’t worn before and tried them on the boys. Eenan liked the bee costume, but I think someone had used it before and broke the side tie and it was a bit small on him. Jaylen loved the spider costume.

After we picked the kids up and Mary got home we went on a search for Eenan’s costume. He wanted to be a tarantula from the beginning, but we had no luck finding one. We ended up getting him a Ninja costume he liked from Target. He especially loves the blade he got for it. Jaylen wanted to be a Ninja too, but also likes the spider costume so HE decided he’s going to be a Ninja Spider. He said he needs a sword LOL.

We picked up Chinese at the House of China and the General Tao’s chicken we got was awesome. I think it’s even better than Lotus’, and like, 3 times less expensive!

After we finished eating I went over to Mom’s and helped them pack. I thought they had more done, but nope. We got a good amount of stuff packed/separated for the garage sale. John and I were joking around and laughing our asses off most of the night–Mom kept getting mad at us and telling us to get to work. Just like old times LOL. We even “fenced”…he with a thousand year old duster and me with a toilet brush. I got him a few times LOL. Later Mario came over with Jaylen (Eenan was sleeping over at Mary’s) and he joined in on the jokes. It was fun and we made good progress. We came home and Sonia taught Mario and I how to play poker, so we did. We played a few games. It was fun .

Mario left to Chris’ after that and Jaylen fell asleep, so I stayed up and watched the episode of Life As We Know It that I recorded and the episode I missed and downloaded. I wanted to start watching that show just because Kelly Osbourne was in it, but I really got hooked on it. It’s…different.

Yesterday we just lounged around. I helped Mary make some (very delicious) candy apples for Noey’s carnival at the college and later I made some killer cheese and chicken enchiladas for lunch. Then we got ready and picked Mom up from work and then went to see Gramma. We got there in time for her dinner, so I fed her again. I asked her if she liked it better at this place and she said yes, that the lady she shares the room with is very nice and gave her a roll of deoderant, goodies, and some hair clips. As she says that, she turns her head and shows me her hair and I see a blue clip that’s falling off. I fixed her hair and she looked so nice . I’m glad she’s not lonely and is doing well.

We went home and all piled up in the van to go the carnival at UTPA. Noey dressed up as a vampiress and looked awesome. I was angry at Mario because he didn’t want to go, but I sucked it up and decided I was going to have fun. Mom and John went too. We stopped at a bakery on the way over there and picked up some little cakes Mary’s friend from work had given us once. They are SO good. I’ve never tasted anything like them. That bakery brought back memories of the bakery Mom and I would go to when I was little. It smelled so old fashioned and really nice.

The boys had fun at the carnival. They could only get on a few rides…most were too big. Jaylen freaked out at this inflatable slide thing, but Eenan loved it. Jaylen went on the Moon Jump instead. He only got on it twice, since there were lots of kids who had to take turns, but they did get about 10 minutes each turn. They also got lots of free candy and nachos .

When we got home, Mario got here too. He’d left to Chris’, which pissed me off even more because I thought, “He didn’t spend time with his family, but he can always spend time with his friends”, and he’s always going to Chris’ at night. I normally don’t mind, but I wanted him to go with us somewhere for once. He was going to go back to Chris’ and I let him know how I felt about the whole thing. He just said “Whatever” and walked out. We’d gotten The Grudge (shh!) and I really wanted to watch it since I heard from everyone that it was really scary, and was disappointed that Mario wasn’t here to see it. So I just washed dishes. Mario calls about 30 minutes later and asks if I wanted to watch the movie. I said no, that I wasn’t in the mood anymore. When we hung up, he walked through the door. He ended up making me laugh, as always and we agreed to watch the movie. Eenan was sleeping over at Mary’s again and Jaylen was already falling asleep, so he brought the twin bed from the kids’ bunk beds and put it in the living room. We all laid there and got comfy. The movie though, was a HUGE disappointment! I expected it to be so much scarier than that. Some things were pointless. Noelia watched it the day before and said grown men were walking out of the theatre, so I thought, ‘If MEN were walking out, this has got to be a GREAT movie’. No way. They were walking out because it was WEAK! I dozed off at least 4 times while watching it, no joke–and I’m not one to fall asleep during movies. I’m so in the mood for something scary…especially since Halloween’s right around the corner!

Today we didn’t do much. I cleaned again, then later we picked Mom up and then went to see Gramma and then to H-E-B to get some fajitas for dinner. We took Gramma some pics of the boys. I didn’t have any of Jaylen…we only have them on CD’s or on the computer, so I took a picture of the boys and took my memory stick to Yadira’s and printed out a picture on her Canon picture maker. It came out so nice…I want one of those cameras/printers so badly! Gramma loved the picture . We got there after dinner, so we didn’t get to feed her and I think she missed that. She said, “I already ate…I was waiting for you!” Awww .

Wow this was long…gonna go find Cookie and put him back in his cage. We’ve been letting him run around the house and he loves it. He’s such a little fatso! He is constantly eating. I also have to follow him around and scoop his lil dumplings of poop . Here’s a pic of him resting on the twin bed before we took it back to the bedroom:

Goodnight!

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The flea market was great! Although I feel guilty now for spending as much as I did, I got some really awesome deals. The lady I usually buy from was really excited to see us (us being Mom and I) since she didn’t see us last month. We keep in touch though and she calls me when she gets stuff in that she knows I’d like. That huge Cheer Bear cuddle pillow in the picture was only $5 and it’s brand new…they usually cost about $16. I got a “new” vintage Hugs since mine was missing the hair tuft and ribbon (my old one will go on my For Sale page). I finally got a talking vintage Secret Bear!! He was the last one I needed to complete my “vintage” collection. I still need the vintage Loyal Heart Dog, Harmony Bear, Proud Heart Cat, Playful Heart Monkey, Noble Heart Horse and all the other UK exclusives but those are wayyy too expensive. Maybe when I’m rich LOL.

I also got a Murky Dismal, Posie sprite, another Rainbow Brite pillow case, the vintage Care Bear cloud car, 3 vintage mini PVC’s, a “new” 6 inch vintage Grumpy Bear (mine had pulls on the emblem so I gave that one to Eenan since he wanted it), and that Strawberry Shortcake blanket in the background…Mom got me that one :). It’s beautiful, with no flaws what-so-ever. There were so many more things I wanted, like some Strawberry Shortcake dolls, a Strawberry Shortcake thermos, and two Popples I don’t have…but I had already spent enough. I was even contemplating selling all the things I bought since I felt super guilty for buying so much but Mario said not to. He’s so good to me :).

After we finished browsing around the flea market and dropped Mom off at work, we stopped by H-E-B and Mario bought some fajitas and catfish. He bar-be-cued, I made the rice and beans and we sat down to eat with the boys. The fish was SO GOOD! I’d never had fish like that. It’s like, cooking and seasoning food comes naturally to this man. I bow at his feet.

Yesterday, Monday, we dropped Eenan off at school, then dropped John off and Mom and I went to talk to his counselor, or the attendance clerk. They sent in a letter that John had 6 unexcused absenses…which was total bullshit. John was enraged, since he never skips class and always does his work. He had a follow-up appointment with the dentist and we went for nothing because all John did was talk to the dentist on the phone. Supposedly, they tried getting a hold of us. Sure.

John told me he didn’t want to be late for 1st period, because he had Calculus. While we’re waiting to talk to someone, a boy comes in and tells the other lady in charge that his mom got a phone call and that he got a report that he was absent the whole year so far to some class he didn’t even have. He tells me his mom was furious with him and I tell him John’s dilema. We wish eachother good luck and then they call us in. We all decided I’d be the one to talk, because I’m bitchy and just won’t take crap from anybody, and Mom kind of just nods and doesn’t “fight back”. And sure enough, I had the pleasure of talking to an asshole of a man. He kept making it seem like it was John who was skipping. I told him no, that John was a good kid and he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his credits or graduation. He printed out a paper showing that he didn’t just have 4 absenses for that class, he had a total of 12 and about 6 more for his 6th period class. I told him nope, no way…there was no way he’d be skipping. I showed him his schedule and progress report and told him John didn’t even have the teacher that was posted there. As if he didn’t hear me, he tells the runner to go get John from his class. She comes back and says, “He’s absent today”. I tell them, “I just told you…he doesn’t have that teacher! And there’s no way he can be absent because we just dropped him off. We came from his dentist appointment and he didn’t even want to be late. He said he had calculus first period.” They start searching for another calculus class and tell me there is none. That he’s got to be skipping. He says, “A lot of kids say they’re going to class, yet they really aren’t.” I tell him “He wouldn’t skip. He’s a good kid. I want to get this cleared up because I don’t want him to have to go to court, lose a credit or not graduate because of someone else’s mistake. He hasn’t been absent to those classes.” He says, “Well, if he does have this class, and he has 12 absenses, then he already lost the credit for that class.” It’s like I just wasn’t getting through to that man. They were having a meeting with all the parents at 9:30am about the kids’ attendance (hmm…wonder why?) and he told us to come back and he’d personally help us unravel the problem. Then he says, “We’ll take your brother out of class so he can tell us what the problem is. That’s if he’s even there.” OMG I could have smacked him! The nerve!

Mom left to work with Noelia and I told her I’d give her the details after I got things fixed. Mario, Jaylen and I ate breakfast, then around 10:45 we went back. They sent us to the attendance office, then to the library. There were other parents in line before us…all there for the same reason as we were. Out of all the parents there, only one of them had a son who really wasn’t attending class. The man we were talking to had the audacity to tell this other lady, “A lot of the times girls skip classes because they have some sort of problem. Maybe they’re on drugs…or pregnant…” I couldn’t believe my ears! He could tell her this in private. He’s making the poor woman have a heart attack, and he doesn’t even know the real reason why her daughter’s skipping or if she’s even skipping at all! I was really pissed, as was Mario, that they don’t even give kids the benefit of the doubt…he didn’t even think that it could possibly be a counselor’s fault, or the computers messing up (they did after all have a virus in the attendance room’s computer–the reason why we were at the library). He talks to another lady…now this one’s pissed. She tells him her daughter is a great student, she’s never absent just because, she’s in all sorts of extra cirricular activities, and that she doesn’t get home from school till 7:30 because she’s so involved. The man of course says there’s many reasons why she could be skipping. The daughter gets there and the man practically screams at her asking, “Tell me the truth? ARE YOU SKIPPING OR NOT? Because I have the computer right here, and I can check if you are or not.” She looks terrified and says, “No sir, I’ve never skipped class! I mean, I’ve had absenses but my mom knows about them. They’ve all been excused.” He asks her if she has the excuses and she says, “Well, no I turned them in to the teachers.” Duh mister. It’s not like they get to keep the excuses. He then sarcastically says, “Oh yeah? Well, let’s check last year…let’s see what kind of record you had…” He brings up her file from the year before and it shows she had 33 absenses for her 8th period. Again she says no, that she didn’t skip. I then hear that the same exact teacher/class they’re accusing John of skipping is the one that’s showing up for that girl too. I then interrupt the man and say, “Don’t you think it’s maybe the teacher who has the problem? Maybe she’s not taking attendance correctly? Or maybe it’s the computers?” John gets there and he tells me again he doesn’t have that teacher, that he has another one and that’s the one he’s had since the 2nd week of school. He also says it’s weird and that they changed his schedule to the class they’re accusing him of skipping just that day. How convenient. I’m still arguing with the man and Mario chimes in saying, “There’s over 2,000 kids in this school…and I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anyone, but don’t you think there’s a margin for error??” The man shuts up and says for us to go to the lounge and he’d meet us there since they needed the computer in the library. When he gets there, he looks a bit embarrassed and says, “I just checked on the computer, there aren’t even any absenses showing up for John anymore”. I feel like rolling my eyes and tell him…”See, I told you my brother wouldn’t skip school.” Turns out that the bumbling morons in charge of scheduling gave John TWO 1st period classes…the one he was being accused of skipping and the actual one he was taking. They didn’t even know the teacher he had was a pre-calculus teacher. The man starts saying something about John maybe having to make up some work and I say, “Woah, wait a minute. You’re telling me HE’S going to have to make up work when this isn’t even his fault?!” The man says, “Well, I’ll get this taken care of personally. You won’t have to transfer to that other class…I’ll make it so you stay in this one. I’ll get it taken care of by the end of the day. I don’t want to say ‘yeah, they’ll take care of it’, then the counselors don’t do anything and I end up looking like an ass.”

We all thought the exact same thing, “Too late…”. I swear, I think the reason he helped us out so much was because he wanted to prove us wrong–he wanted to prove that John really was skipping. I had my doubts…I started thinking, “What if John really is skipping??” But I gave him the benefit of the doubt because he wouldn’t lie to me. And if he did, I was already planning how to hurt him. I’m just glad that’s over. Stupid school. I feel bad for the kids who’s parents didn’t even bother going and getting the facts straight. The kids can’t even talk to their counselor without having to sign a waiting list! Can you believe that?? John and that man told us about how on the first day of school, there were 200 kids sitting in the cafeteria because they didn’t have a schedule. Pure chaos. They need to get some kind of system going on in that school…and soon. Grr.

Welp, gonna go update some pages and junk. Gotta get some more coffee…Zzzzzzz…Greymatter is ruining my entries after a few hours. It removes the emoticons and and the music & mood fields…does anyone know why it’s doing this and how I can fix it?!?

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