Category: Photos

Good day today. Did not a thing in class. Nothing but chatting on Yahoo with everyone, which was fun. We do, however, need to study for our final in Accounting tomorrow. God help us all.

I’m about to go and pick up my rings. I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally wear that ring on my finger!

Quote of the day:

John: What does ostracize mean?
silence
Me: …I know! It’s when an ostrich is exercising. You know, like jazzercising?

That’s got to be the most airheaded thing I’ve said in my life.

OKAY. I think what Eenan just said beats that “Quote of the Day.”

He says, “Mom, you look like a teenager.”

I say, “Yeah, because I’m short.”

He comes up to me to measure himself against me and I say, “You’ll be taller than me by the time you’re in 5th grade!”

He looks a bit annoyed and says, “Mom, stand up!”

I’m silent for a bit, trying to register what my child just said and I squeal, “I AM standing up!”

Ah. Someone else to add to the short jokes.

[edit 8:34pm] I got them! Mario might have to have his resized AGAIN, but they’re beautiful :).

We did a bit of shopping (Mom, Noelia and I), since we had to wait an extra hour and a half since they weren’t ready. I hope they don’t take too long after we take Mario’s back in. He was kind of upset about how big it fit :(.[/edit]

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Mario and I are in one piece after our Black Friday shopping. We got up at 4:30am and went to Wal-Mart (Mom watched the boys) and got Jaylen’s Powerwheels. I was almost hyperventilating and worried sick that they wouldn’t have any since we got there at 5:08am (the sale started at 5 and people usually stay there since 12 midnight–no, really), but there were plenty. Mary asked us to get 2 Cabbage Patch babies and 2 Fairytopia Barbies for her, but when I went to get them an employee told me they were gone within the first 5 minutes. So were the computers, DVD players and laptops. There were so many cool, inexpensive things; the DVD players, which we need since our living room one died on us, were only $10 and WE DIDN’T GET ONE. *stabs something* Mario and I decided that next year we have to put aside at least $500 to do all our Christmas shopping in one morning.

The mob of people wasn’t as bad as it was in previous years. People actually weren’t pushing and shoving this time! Well, at Wal-Mart anyway; who knows what it was like at the other stores, like Best Buy. They had computers for $150! Can you believe that? I’d have elbowed someone to get a computer at that price .

Mom and I got up early on Saturday morning to join Mary for another round of 7am sales. John stayed with the boys this time. We hit K-Mart first and got a lot of cool stuff (I found Sammy and Brandon’s gifts there–they’re our gift exchange recipients, the other two are Sonia and Yazmin). Then we went to Target and then to Wal-Mart and the other K-Mart. I did pretty good and only spent $73 in total. We only have 6 family gifts to get and then my gift exchange at school (still have no idea what to get that person) and my gifts for Ricci, Mayra and Lucy. Mario’s got 2 more paychecks till Christmas, so I think we’ll do pretty good.

We (John, Mario and I) went to eat at Jesse’s first (where John was quite impressed that Mario has his “own” table. He kept making jokes about how Mario was a mafia mobster LOL) and then we went to the mall. Got a few things at Bath and Body Works (LOVE that store), John got a game at EB Games, and Mary asked us to pick up some stuff from the Disney Store and then JC Penny.

Since I’d drank SO much sweet tea at Jesse’s, I really needed to go pee. I searched everywhere for a bathroom and they were either closed, the lines were a mile long or, in JC Penny’s case, I couldn’t find it. I was so frustrated (and my bladder in pain) that I just went straight to the jewelry department and got what Mary asked me to. John and Mario were waiting a few yards away and on my way back I notice Mario’s checking his ring size. When I approach them I notice he’s at the wedding rings! We get to talking with the sales lady and we get our fingers sized and get to talking about prices. It all happened so fast. Since Mario forgot his wallet they ran my credit and we just waited, with our hopes as low as they could be since we’d just tried getting a laptop on credit last week and it didn’t pass. Well, I passed for $1,500 (more than the darn laptop, mind you) and we are officially getting our wedding rings! Finally, after 6 1/2 years! They’ll be ready by Wednesday, are white gold with diamonds (or cubic zirconias, don’t know and it doesn’t matter) and cost less than $800! We were expecting much more than that; even the sales lady was surprised.

Some of you may or may not know, but a month after Mario and I got married I lost my wedding ring. A month! We got into an argument in the parking lot of H-E-B, I handed him the ring and told him to give it back to me when he decided to be nice to me (drama queen, I know) and he THREW it at me and it got lost in our then-car, a green Ford Taurus wagon. I remember we forgot what our fight was even about as we frantically looked for the ring and never found it. I still wore my engagement ring, but stopped wearing that about a year later as it CRACKED where it got re-sized. I still have it in my jewelry box but never got it fixed.

So that was a nice surprise. Our Christmas present to eachother. Couldn’t have gotten a better one *beams*.

I’ll leave you with a picture of the new dining set Mom got us last Monday night. It’s my Christmas present from her. We FINALLY have a dining set. It gives the whole apartment an actual ‘homey’ feel .

[edit 6:33pm] Aw, Mr. Miyagi passed away :(. [/edit]

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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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