Category: Photos

The past few days have been…insane. I’ve been up and about since 3am Friday and my feet hate me for it. They’re thankfully not swollen, they just feel like I’m walking on glass or something.

Thanksgiving went without a hitch. Mario woke up at 6:45am to help Mary put the turkeys into the oven since one of them would have to be hauled to our house since we were having 2 turkeys, as usual. He totally let me sleep in; I didn’t wake up till 9am. By the time I showered and made myself presentable, it was 10am. I woke Mario up, who’d fallen back to sleep, and got the kiddos ready and we went over to Mary’s. The food was delicious as always. We had turkey, of course, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, broccoli rice, green bean casserole and probably more that I can’t remember at the moment. I lost my ravenous appetite half-way through my meal since Jaylen had been playing in their clubhouse and lost his footing at the bottom of the steps. He scraped his back on the last two steps and naturally screamed his head off. Since Mario was playing pool (since he’d already finished eating), he sends Jaylen in so that *I* can take care of him. After cleaning him up with peroxide, q-tipping some Neosporin on the scrape and covering it with a bandaid, I didn’t feel as hungry anymore. I put my plate away and about half an hour later, joined everyone who was eating dessert. I’ve craved pumpkin pie with Cool Whip so much during this pregnancy! Thank God I’m pregnant during the Fall/Winter months LOL.

Dad called and said he unfortunately couldn’t make it. I sort of figured he couldn’t come since his car isn’t working but I was hopeful. We agreed to make plans to get together later though.

We chilled out the rest of the day and later on when Andy and Noelia arrived (she was meeting some of Andy’s relatives she hadn’t met before) we started to browse through the Black Friday ads. All who were going sat around the kitchen table and discussed our game plan: who was going with who, what each person was in charge of getting and where we would meet in each store. At first John was hyped about going, but ended up changing his mind. Mario thought he was going to have the day off, but was called in, which really sucked. Andy would be at Best Buy; Mary, Sonia, Yadira, Tommy, Noelia, Yazmin and I would be at Wal-Mart (eek!) and would split up there. After that, we’d go to Target.

We left the house by 3am. Mario would stay with the boys till 8am, which is when he’d leave to work and Mom would take over. Mary, Noelia and I left in my truck, then we dropped Mary off at Yadira’s.

I won’t go into detail because so much went on, but I’ll say this: people were trampled, we heard a woman scream in pain, a man punched another man (probably because of the portable DVD players that were on sale for $50) so Mission P.D. was called (there were 5 cars outside the store), a fight broke out in electronics over some cameras, and I heard a woman crying in the bathroom when I went to pee before we left. DRA-MA. It was terrible. When Noelia and I were together at the beginning, we got the present Eenan wanted, which was on sale for $28 (down from $38) and some game boards. My job later on was to find some DVDs that were on sale for $3.88 and then get 2 hand mixers that were on sale for $4 for Mary. I did both without getting hurt. A nice family let me scoot in with them before the caution tape was cut to get to the isles with sale items. Everyone was really cautious because of my big, protruding belly :P.

Poor Mary had trouble finding the iDogs she was looking for. When a nice lady she’d met had held one for her, this bitchwoman who looked like a bulldog told the lady she was with Mary and that she’d take the iDog for her. We got there right when they were making the exchange. I tell Mary, “Tell her it’s for you!” and the bitchwoman says, “Too bad. She gave it to me.” Grr. We saw her later when we arrived at Target and I silently hoped that I could somehow curse her causing her not to find anything she wanted LOL.

The line at Target was insane. We were somewhere in the middle but people’d been camping there since the day before. Weirdos. I don’t know what they’d be there so early for. I was there for DVDs, I found the toy we got Eenan at Wal-Mart for $15 so we exchanged the other one later, Game Cube games, a crock pot and I can’t even remember what else. It was much more civilized and controlled at Target. People who were trying to cut in line or wait at the front of the parking lot to run in with the rest of us who’d been in line were quickly sent to the end of the line by the employees. And there was plenty of merchandise to go around.

Andy met us there. Poor thing didn’t get the computer he wanted from Best Buy, but that’s only because psycho people were waiting there since 4pm the day before O_o. I could never do that. I’m crazy enough to wake up at 3am, but not actually SLEEP there.

Andy did, however, get Eenan’s main present for us on sale (almost $100-150 off!), so that was much appreciated.

We had breakfast at Burger King and a few more stops, like K-Mart (which didn’t have much on sale and not much left of what was actually good), Academy and another 2 stops at Target and Walmart to return stuff. We had a very successful shopping day. My legs hurt SO BAD after we were done shopping–I couldn’t even climb into my truck to drive home!

I know 3 things that I’m getting for Christmas, buahaha! Edward Scissorhands and Season 1 of Grey’s Anatomy from Mary and a Flickr account from Mom–woo!

Mario got out of work later than he thought he would, and because of a misunderstanding he didn’t get his paycheck cashed before the banks closed. Totally sucked. I was hoping we’d make it out to KB Toys to get Jaylen’s main present, but I sucked it up as best as I could and we just chilled out here.

I left to town with Mary the next morning while Mom watched the boys. We went to pick up Mario’s check at work, came back half-way and cashed it, then went back to town. We went to Best Buy, where I got 4 awesome DVDs for $20 (as you’ve probably noticed, I’m not mentioning much of what I got just in case I get some snoopy readers ;)! *cough*family*cough*) We went to Target again and then had lunch with Mario at El Pato. We dropped him off and finished our shopping (I’m so out of it I can barely remember where we went!) and we finally came home. I ended up finding Jaylen’s main gift at Target–the LAST ONE LEFT. I was so happy I almost cried. I was certain I wouldn’t be able to find it anymore and was kicking myself for not getting it the day before, but yay, we found one :). And cheaper than KB’s or anywhere else for that matter.

My feet were on fire that day.

I got the kids ready in their costumes for Brandon’s birthday party when we got home while they watched Ice Age the Meltdown. I *had* to get it; the cheapest I found it was $14.99 at one of the Targets in McAllen. All the other ones had it for $19.99, which I found really weird.

Elda had decorated the carport in a Haunted House theme and the kids were wearing their Halloween costumes. They had a moon jump and musical chairs and the food for the adults was menudo (the kids had hot dogs). It was really good and the desserts were cute. Elda borrowed my Betty Crocker Bake-n-Fill cake pans and made a spider cake with chocolate Twizzler legs.

John and I were going to go to Target after the party, but I could hardly keep my eyes open and my legs still hurt really bad, so Mary and Noelia offered to join us. Mom stayed with the boys while they watched Ice Age the Meltdown. John ended up buying an iPod after being annoyingly undecisive for half an hour. I got a gift for Catherine’s birthday, which isn’t till December 13th but I was getting such a deal I couldn’t pass it up. Mario had called while we were there and asked me to buy him a long-sleeved shirt since it was cold and he wanted Mary to drop me off at Jorge’s for a party they were having for Manny, their neighbor.

Mary drops me off, but we ended up coming home since Maggie was just home from work and in the shower and Mario wanted to rent movies anyway. We stop at Video Plus and rent some movies and get some ice creams. We get home, get in our PJs and about 15 minutes into the movie (You, Me and Dupree) decide we’re too darn sleepy to watch it LOL.

I dropped Mario off the next day since he wanted me to pick him up and go grocery shopping. I woke up that morning to Mary washing my mountain of dishes that were left in the sink from the past 3 days since I had hardly been home (and when I was, I was resting my poor feet!). I felt so embarrassed and kept telling her she shouldn’t have. I cleaned for a while and then John came over and watched the boys (I don’t want to leave them, they just hate going on any kind of shopping trips because ‘Mama takes too long’) while Mary, Mom and I went to Target yet again since Mom needed to get some Christmas gifts that were on sale. We’d done our gift exchange the night before and I had two boys I needed to get games for and they just so happened to be the exact amount of money I needed to spend on each gift, so I got them. I also got a gift for Mario’s godfather which I got for a pretty damn good deal. We’re thankfully almost done with Christmas shopping! We only need a few more small gifts for the kiddos and about 6 more gifts for the family and a birthday present for my dad-in-law. I’m so happy :).

We stopped to see Gramma for a while and put up her Christmas decorations per her request. She’d also asked me to make her a Christmas CD so I obliged and we were listening to it while we put her tree up. I miss my Grimmy and wish she could be here for Christmas :(.

We picked Mario up when it was time to do so and we went grocery shopping. I love when he’s there–it’s so much easier to pick stuff to cook during the week when he makes suggestions.

I was on a cleaning frenzy yesterday and sat like, 2 times during the whole day. Mario even had me drive over to his work during lunch to drop off some stuff and pick up a pizza for him. I had to get more cough medicines for the kids since Eenan’s teacher was complaining that he’d gotten the whole class sick which is a bunch of bull. She told the nurse I should have kept him home, but hello? He coughed maybe 3 times all day long–how could I keep him home for a cough?!

I actually got to take my morning nap today (didn’t fall asleep till 1:30am yesterday) and then cleaned, sewed curtains for Mary, and cooked. I had everything done by 8:30pm, which is why I actually have a chance to update. The kiddos are actually sleeping pretty well during the night which I’m so grateful for. I haven’t heard one cough. Thank God for Triaminic, Vicks Vaporub and humidifiers!

I have my 31 week doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I’m so excited. I’m actually getting really nervous and anxious now since there are only 9 weeks left! I have so much to do before she’s born. Mario and I decided we should get my registry done as soon as possible, while I can still walk. John and Mario are always teasing me about how big my belly is and how it seems to grow every few minutes LOL.

Oh wow, the weather should be nice and cold by Thursday. I can’t wait!

I shall shower now. I plan on sleeping early tonight, no matter how late Mario gets here (it’s Tuesday–they have beers on Tuesday).

Upon entering the bathroom to inspect Jaylen’s bootie (he asks me to, to make sure he’s wiped well) he says, “This is the best day!” I ask him why, expecting him to say because it’s Halloween or because of all the candy he received at school but he says, “Because I did Regular Poop!”

He got better about 20 minutes after the cool bath I gave him on Friday night and he promptly fell asleep (this, of course, was after Over the Hedge had already finished). I instinctively woke up every hour-hour and a half to check up on him and thankfully he was fine.

He was so cute though. He was slumped over next to me on the couch while we were watching the movie when I started coughing hysterically. He reaches over and pats me on the leg to calm me down. I tell him, “Aww baby, you’re so sick and here you are worried about me.” He says in his crackly voice, “I’m worried about you and my sister.” How sweet is that?!

The Mucinex I gave him, however, totally messed up his stomach. He woke up Saturday morning with terrible diarreah. I felt so bad for him. He went through his whole drawer of underwear almost.

I felt bad leaving him, but I had the baby shower to attend and although he wanted to go, it was at a fancy place and there was no way I was going to take him. (Though I’m sure he would have behaved better than Eenan would at an event that would take that long.) He and Eenan stayed with Mom, who’d be giving Jaylen his medicine (not the Mucinex, never again!) and giving them lunch shortly after I left.

I was going to the shower, which was for Mario’s cousin Betty, with Mary and Noelia. We stopped by Target first to get Mario a jacket he wanted that was on sale. Noelia thankfully found the only one in his size tossed off to the side so I grabbed it and we dropped it off to him. It was the second day of the sale at Mario’s work and man were they busy!

Mary needed to get some Amoxcil for Angela (who’s insurance sadly doesn’t go into effect till December just like my boys’) so we went to Mexico to pick some up.

We were going to a pharmacy that’s right across the street from the bridge. Thank God, because I didn’t know how far I could walk! The horrible pains I was having before had gone away, but I was afraid they’d come back from walking too much. Anyway, we got to the pharmacy and while Mary paid for the meds, I looked around at the junk food and got some chips (Tostitos?) that we used to eat back in school and some sugary things like Gansitos, which Mario loves (I don’t). I felt nauseous the whole night before and barely ate breakfast, but I opened up the bag of chips when we were on our way to the baby shower and ate the whole thing. I hate feeling nauseous. Thankfully I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been nauseous this pregnancy *knocks on wood, just in case*.

The baby shower was really nice. They decorated everything simply but it looked so nice. They had a rubber ducky theme going on since Betty’s having another boy (her 3rd baby as well). They’d told her up until two weeks ago that she’d be having a girl, so of course she was thrilled. Well, she goes for her 8 month appointment and they tell her she’s having a boy after all. I heard the aunts saying she’s going to try for a girl, because she was really upset that she wasn’t having one this time. This is the reason I’m still waiting to buy all the adorable pink things I’ve seen; I want to be absolutely sure that I’m having a girl. I have a feeling I am, and have had a feeling this whole pregnancy that she’s a girl, plus two positive sonos that showed she was a girl but I haven’t been given a sono of her privates! If only I had that picture in my hands and I could “see” for myself, I’d feel more at ease. Betty’s the 4th woman I know this year who’s been told she’s having this baby and ends up with the opposite gender.

I won the first two games of the baby shower: a nursery rhyme fill-in-the-blanks and a Purse Scavenger Hunt. Since I won two at Venessa’s the week before all the aunts kept saying stuff like, “Why should I even bother when Yajaira’s going to win?” and other stuff like that LOL. I decided to just not give it my all on the third game since I was sure they’d never invite me back to another shower :P. It was fun. I came home with a Bath and Body Works lotion, sponge and shower gel and two foot creams/sprays. Yay!

As soon as we got home I got the kids dressed up in their costumes for the Jamaica. Jaylen hadn’t gone to the bathroom for about two hours, so that was a relief since I wasn’t sure there were bathrooms at the place. The boys were all thrilled; Eenan in his Shadow Ninja costume and Jaylen in his Darth Vader one. Mom came along, and Mary was babysitting Matthew and Angela so they came along too.

There weren’t many games to play so we just got some waters, nachos, a turkey leg for Mario, and a fruit cup. The kids went on a train ride where Mary gave them half a pickle each. It didn’t occur to me at all that it would mess up Jaylen’s stomach, again, until they were around the corner. By the time they got back, he’d finished the whole thing.

The kids were moody since there was nowhere to sit and it was still light out so it was getting hot fast. We said hi to Yadira, one of her co-workers and Jaylen’s teacher, who were all volunteering at booths and then we left. Mary stayed behind with Angela and Matthew and I brought the boys home. We had just gotten to the driveway (we went walking, it was less than a block away) when Eenan freaked out over some bees and knocked Jaylen over. Poor Jaylen went skidding on his wrists since he was holding onto his water and a bag of candy they’d given him. I bandaged him up when we got inside and he just rested on the couch. He was still doing good diarreah-wise, but still looked down.

Eenan went to church with Mary while Angela stayed with me till Tommy picked her up. The poor thing had a fever, so I gave her Tylenol right before Tommy got here. Poor kiddos :(.

Mario got home later and we watched The Neverending Story, which the kids hadn’t ever seen. Eenan left half-way to Mary’s to sleep over and Jaylen stayed up for the whole thing. He ended up falling asleep on the couch so Mario moved him to his bed and we watched TV a little longer till we started to get sleepy. I went to bed first, and as soon as I felt Mario get into bed I hear Jaylen call us. He said he’d check what happened. The poor thing had an accident in his bed; the diarreah was back full-force thanks to the darn pickle I stupidly let him eat. We changed his sheets and put the dirty ones in the wash, wiped down his (plastic-covered) bed with Clorox Anywhere spray (love that stuff), gave him a quick wash down in the shower and put him to bed. He was fine the rest of the night but I still woke up every two hours to check on him.

I woke up to Jaylen looking really sad and telling me he was running out of undies again :(. I felt so bad. I made pancakes that morning hoping the bread wouldn’t mess up his stomach too much but the syrup must have made it worse. I had some errands to run and groceries to get, so Mom watched the boys while John and I went to McAllen.

We picked up John’s guitar first then stopped by Circle K (or Stripes, whatever) to get something for Mario to drink and snack on at work. They were super busy again so he appreciated the gesture since he didn’t even have a chance to get anything and they don’t usually go out for lunch at all on Sundays.

We went to Target next, where I got the boys a pair of jeans each (can you believe they grew out of all their jeans already!?) and I got a 20″ TV for our bedroom that was on sale for $89.97 (put it on my credit card, eek!). We went to Ross next, which John loathes, but I love. Everyone talks shit about it but I love buying nice clothes for half the price they usually go for (I owe my huge collection of cute T’s to that place–they usually have the exact same ones places like Wet Seal have for half the price!). I do hate that the damn store’s been turned upside down and it takes forever to pay for the stuff though.

I went with the intention to buy a huge bolster pillow to make sleeping easier but I only found one and it was torn. I figured I could sew it, wash it and make covers for it but only if they’d give me a good discount. While John goofed off and took pictures of ridiculous things I found two cute maternity blouses (one in black and one in pink) and a pair of khaki cargos with pink stitching. It came out to $28, which I was super ok with. They wanted to sell me the pillow for $9, even with the tear so I said nah. I’ll go back and check again later.

My feet were killing me, but I still had to get groceries so we went to Wal-Mart first for house supplies and toiletries and then to H-E-B for the actual food. I remembered to get Jaylen his Gatorade and soups and my pumpkin pie. Dumbass that I am I totally forgot the Whipped Cream! You can’t have pumpkin pie without whipped cream! I also bought all the stuff I’d need to make Dirt Cups for the kids’ classes, which are cups full of pudding, crushed Oreo’s and a worm on top :).

Mom had made burritos so I didn’t even have to make dinner–yay! After giving Jaylen his Gatorade and soup, he was doing much, much better and I prayed for the best since he had school the next day. He hates to miss and I like that he’s gotten perfect attendance so far, but I wasn’t going to allow him to go if he kept having accidents.

Thankfully he did just fine at school the next day. I told his teachers about it and they told me they’d call if they needed me to pick him up. I asked how many kids were in each class and there were 20 in each including the teachers. Crappy thing: they weren’t allowing anything like cupcakes or anything homemade, but were allowing bags of candy. Grr. I understand they’re doing it to be safe, but I would not poison my child or his classmates AND I’d already made the expense for the Dirt Cups and would have to make an additional expense since they wanted candy instead. They’d also stated they were only allowing children to dress up in Fairytale costumes but c’mon, who was going to dress their kid up as Peter Pan, or a Prince or something? I figured I’d send the boys off in their costumes and if they didn’t like it, I’d happily take them a change of clothes.

I picked Jaylen up after school and we made our way to the Dollar General, where I was hoping I’d find cheap, good candy. WRONG. I spent $13 just on 3 bags of candy that I was praying would be enough for both classes. As soon as we got home I started seperating the candy and putting it into the candy bags (thank God I still had unopened bags from last year that I didn’t use). After stressing out and getting exactly 20 of each candy for each class, I had just enough for 40 bags.

I picked Eenan up and we chilled out at home for a while till John got here. Jaylen’s tummy was doing great and Eenan was thrilled that his new DS had come in. Mary’d sent his old greenish one to get repaired and instead they sent us a brand-new red one since they didn’t have the green one. He didn’t care–I think he likes this one even more. Mom watched the boys while John and I went to the bank so we could both deposit. He wanted to go to Target, so we went really quick where he got some stuff for his guitar and bought us both some Starbucks. My little brother has his own money and is buying me Starbucks–he’s growing up *tear*.

I started on dinner when we got home: chilli. I’d been craving some good chilli and found a seasoning packet for some. It was delicious!

Mario got out of work late since it was so busy and ended up staying even later since the guys were having some beers. I got everything ready for the next day, even though my feet were killing me. They don’t swell up, but they just ache really bad at the end of the day. I took a shower and went to bed while watching TV. I love that there’s a TV in our bedroom now; I need the white noise to fall asleep when Mario’s not home.

I need to have some lunch (leftover chilli!) and then start on those Dirt Cups. Since I didn’t make them for the kids’ class I’m going to make them for us here at home. Hope everyone has a great night of Trick-or-Treating!

[edit @ 2:36pm] Alaethia’s got the hiccups! [\edit]

I can’t even find a place to begin–I’ve taken way too long to update.

I was too busy from the 12th to the 14th uploading old entries from 2004 & 2005 whenever I had the chance to get online, so I never updated my blog. Manually, one by one, I added the old entries. Which sucks. But anyway, I got a few months done (September 2004 to January 2005) and plan to get the rest of 2005 to 2006 done in the next few weeks. I’m even considering adding 2002-2004, but we’ll see. Sounds like a bit of a stretch LOL.

Wed. night, 11th – Mario was at Jorge’s and I was in a horrible mood. I felt better when I heard a knock on the door and my dad-in-law presented me with a squirmy, terrified Blue Spiny Lizard. He was at Ricky’s ranch and he found him in the sink outside. The boys named him Dragon :). He’s a beautiful shade of blue-ish/brown.

Anyway, the while stripe on Dragon’s collar and the white spots on his upper neck aren’t always there. He’s usually dark, but his spots/stripe turn white when he’s alarmed or frightened. Liz has definitely enjoyed his company. I thought she’d be territorial and kill him or something, but she’s actually very friendly with him and is even learning new things from him!

He loves to dig himself up in the sand and sleep that way. The first time I caught him doing that, my heart sank because I thought Liz killed him (and had the courtesy to bury him) or he died on me.

And here’s Liz learning the craft of obscuring oneself:

Pay no attention to the cricket carcasses and droppings…they had a feast that day.

So far Liz has learned to bury herself and jump on the ceiling of the tank. Dragon does that; jumps on the ceiling and sleeps there. Well, one day I found her hanging on the side of the tank. She didn’t quite make it on all fours up there, but her two front legs were clawed to the top. I took a picture, but it’s blurry so I won’t add it here. I think it’s really cute that Liz usually sleeps on top of Dragon :).

Thurs. Oct. 12th – I didn’t have to watch Matthew the next day, since Tommy’s taking care of him now. After I picked Jaylen & Brianna up from school I came to drop Brianna off with Mom and took Jaylen to his WIC appointment. We actually get WIC for him. I’m surprised, as it’s the only thing he qualifies for.

We get there, take a number and after 10 minutes of Jaylen playing with the (germ-infested) toys, they called us in. I found it strange from the beginning that they were asking to take my weight and height. I kept asking, “Isn’t this for my son, Jaylen?” and she kept assuring me that no, it wasn’t. She pricked my finger to check “my” iron and upon scanning my chart says, “You lost a lot of weight, right?” Stunned I tell her, “No? How much does it say I weigh?” She says, “186 pounds.” I laugh and say, “No. Are you sure that’s my chart? I’ve never weighed 186 lbs. in my life!” Again, she assures me that it is, and sends me to the next room.

The lady tells me, “Hi, Jaylen.” I nudge him and tell him to say hello. She gets a weird look on her face and asks me what I had to eat the day before. I had a bad feeling, so I tell her, “Are you sure this appointment’s for me? I thought this was for Jaylen?” She says, “It is. Aren’t you Jaylen?” I say, “No. I’m Yajaira, Jaylen’s MOM.” She gets really embarrassed and appologizes profusely and says she’ll get his chart. Apparently, they had mixed my number up (2) with another lady’s (21) and the only reason the second lady believed me was because she had Jaylen’s info on her desk for the appointment.

I look at my poor, throbbing finger and the lady notices and says, “Miss, I am SO sorry they poked you.” LOL The rest of the appointment went without a hitch, especially since Jaylen saved himself from a finger prick!

Kinda scary that something like that could happen. I kept thinking about how horrible it would have been had we been at the hospital or something. John and I were joking around saying I’d go in for something like a bad cold and come out with my leg amputated. Terrible joke, I know, but it’s a very possible scenario!

I think it was that afternoon that we got home and found Gerby-gerb (our Gerbil) dead :(. He was a little old man already, in gerbil years anyway, and had passed away. He’d already been with us for about 2 years, and they don’t have a very long lifespan so we figured it was old age. Jaylen cried of course and we all felt really bad (including my dad-in-law) since we had him for so long and he was the last rodent we had left :(.

Since it was during lunchtime and my dad-in-law was home, he helped us give him a little burial and even made him a little cross. I played basketball with Jaylen for a while to take his mind off Gerby and then we came in to do his homework.

Grimm, John’s cat, went missing two-or-so days before and we couldn’t find him anywhere. We all thought the worst and after not seeing him for two weeks now I can’t shake the feeling that something happened to him :(.

Fri. Oct. 13th – I dropped the kids off at school that morning, came back home, snuggled up with Mario and took a nap till around 11am. We needed to go to Weslaco to the radio station to pick up the Scream Factor X tickets I’d won, so Mario, John and I climbed in the truck and we picked up Jaylen and Brianna.

The drive was fine halfway over there and then it started pouring. We couldn’t see anything in front of us and everyone slowed down from 65 mph to around 40–it was that scary. We finally found the exit and found the station just as quickly. Thankfully we had an umbrella in the car so Mario and I got down. Got the tickets and ran (as carefully as possible) to the car.

The drive back home was just as terrifying. We counted 5 accidents on the way back, including one where a tan truck had spun around and was facing the wrong way–scary.

We stopped at Wal-Mart really quick before going back home, where Mario bought John a pre-paid Cingular cell phone as a surprise.

We had lunch at home, then picked up Eenan afterschool and went back to town. We came to JC Penny first to pay our bills, and I finally caved in and bought some much-needed bras. Granny bras. I made the mistake of checking my size online and ended up with a huge (and I mean huge) size. I felt so bad about myself. I unhappily grabbed four bras and we paid for them. $60. Bleh.

We got a few things we needed from Wal-Mart and then headed home. I’d gotten paid for my last week of babysitting and stored away $60 for Mario’s birthday. Woo!

While on the drive back home I started freaking out because I knew there was a reason we should have deposited money in the bank that afternoon. Mario said it was okay, I could do it in the morning. Still I had a nagging feeling, and after scrolling through my mental bill-checklist, I realized I needed to deposit to pay for our Capital One credit card. I didn’t get to deposit and send the payment out till the next day of course, so we got charged a whopping $60 extra! I hate credit cards! I hate how “in the hole” we are right now. We never even wanted credit cards and look what happens…we can’t even get that darn Capital One card paid off because of all their ridiculous fees (and I’m not just talking about how I screwed up, either).

Sat. Oct. 14th I spent the next morning paying two more bills: Home Depot and Target. We went home and I can’t remember much now, but I think I just cleaned and we just chilled out the rest of the day.

Sun. Oct. 15th The next evening we left home about 3 hours before we needed to be in line at the Scream Factor X Haunted House. We’d never been there, but from what I’d read and heard, we needed to be there pretty early if we didn’t feel like waiting in line for hours.

We took the kids to Burger King for some dinner. After we all ate, they played in the Play Park or whatever it’s called, for about 10 minutes and then we left. We gave the kids a pep talk about how it was Family Night at the haunted house, but if they felt scared by any characters at any time, then they could yell, “Monster Be Good!” and the monster would behave itself. They loved this idea.

We get to the haunted house in McAllen, which used to be a hotel called the Rio Hotel. There were already 20 people in line. The kids were antsy and thirsty and hell, I was thristy, but I never better than to drink an ounce of water because there were no bathrooms in sight. We stood in line for about an hour; it was hell only because of the three loud and hyper little teenage girls behind us. Then I hear the Scream Factor guys telling a woman there were 7 to a group. I counted and it just so happened we’d go in with the girls. Grr. I thought, ‘Great, they’re going to scream so much they’re going to scare my boys!’

Another annoyance was a lady who was from Mexico and said she just had to have her daughters cut in line with their friends because they needed to leave back home soon. Everyone in line was livid, so the guy didn’t let them go through. It’s clearly stated in the rules that no cutting is allowed or you’d go to the very end of the line. They just waited on the sidelines. I was pissed to find out though, that they somehow slithered their way through and got in because we were leaving right after they were!

Thankfully, by the time we went in something happened at the front and there were 3 kids, two girls and a guy, waiting. They let us through with them, but they were still a little loud. We went in to the dark, smokey room while they told us the rules. I went first, with Jaylen pressed up in front of me and Mario was behind us with Eenan pressed up against him. We round the corner and one of the girls, the last of her bunch, yells and steps on Jaylen’s foot. I yell, “Hey, watch it!” and push her (along with her friends) a few feet, where they thankfully stayed the rest of the tour.

The kids did so much better than I thought they would. There were no tears, and minimal screaming. They loved that they could tell the monsters to behave, and used it to their advatage–they wouldn’t even let the monsters growl or anything before yelling, “Monster, be good!” At one point Eenan yelled, “Monsterbegood!” over and over again because it was so dark. We went down these creaky old stairs that led us outside, where girls that were working there complimented the kids. She said they were the youngest they’d seen all year that had actually made it that far.

We went in through another door where they led us to a creaky, old elevator. It wasn’t a smooth ride at all! It kind of jerked from side to side as it went down. The kids loved it, though.

We went through a few more dark, cobwebby isles, down some with strobe lights, and finally, at the end, we went through a long, cylindrical tunnel with tiny light bulbs and black light that spun around while the ladder we walked on moved in the opposite direction. Same one they have at Ripley’s Believe it or Not in San Antonio! It feels totally weird; like you can’t keep your balance and are falling right off of it. The guy noticed I was pregnant when I was halfway through the tunnel with Jaylen and asked, “Ma’am? Do you need help? I can help!” But we were good. It was a fun night :). Mario went to Jorge’s after he dropped us off at home. I could have cared less since they Desperate Housewives was on and my feet were killing me!

Wed. Oct. 18th I don’t remember much from Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday I went to the groceries with Mom and Jaylen, before we picked Eenan up from school. This was also the day that Jaylen decided to dress himself in this lovely number:

I actually let him stay in it before he threw a fit. Thankfully, he at least agreed to remove his beanie before we entered the store LOL.

When we’re back at home and I’m putting groceries away, John knocks frantically on the door and barges in. He’s got a look of terror on his face and he says, “Something’s wrong with Wookie!” I’m confused, since we hadn’t seen Wookie in days but I follow him anyway. Sure enough, there’s his beloved Wookie, and she looks in really bad shape. It pains me to remember the details; she looked so ill.

If you have a weak stomach, please skip this paragraph.
She couldn’t walk. One of her legs was literally dangling as she tried to take steps. There was a horrible smell coming from her belly and when John checked to see why, he said she had green stuff, green gooey stuff spewing out of her and there were little while worms slithering all over her belly. I worked up all the courage to check for myself; I thought he was seeing things. But no, he was right. The worms weren’t exactly maggots; they were too small. But they were clearly there and we didn’t know why. Part of her tail was missing, too. Her breathing was labored and we just decided that she was suffering. Who knew where she was the few days she was missing and just what the hell happened to her? We decided she needed to be euthanized, but we had no idea how to go about it. John was in tears and could barely look at her. With Mary’s and Elda’s suggestions, we decided to give her some sleeping pills, to at least help her die a bit peacefully, albeit slowly. She passed away the next morning when John had already left to work and I was out (can’t remember where at the moment…grr). My dad-in-law was home, thankfully, and did us the favor of burying her by the time we got home. He was really upset about it, too, since he knew we’d been looking for her and her brother, Grimm. I’m afraid to know what happened to him. I don’t even want to say it but…I think the same thing may have happened to him, but he didn’t find his way home :*(.

I think this is all that happened throughout those days. I’ve taken way too long to publish this. It was collecting dust in my drafts =X. (Finally posted on Nov. 21st, 2006)