Category: Shopping

I don’t check my mail for one day and I have 26 junk mail e-mails in my inbox. I hate junk mail .

Anyway, thank you all who’ve left me comments on my two previous entries. I really appreciate the advice and encouragement . I’ll try and get back to everyone soon.

Haven’t been online much due to studying the darn DL book and working up the courage again to drive. The night I “screwed up”, I actually cried myself to sleep (don’t laugh) because the incident kept replaying in my head and all I kept thinking was, “What if I hadn’t reacted as quickly as I did and just froze there?” I kept thinking about the kids. But I’m trying to get over it. Mostly because Mario made me snap out of it. Thank you, Babe.

I didn’t drive at all on Saturday. Well, unless you consider me going to the store a few streets down on a beer run for Mario and Cuate. But that was it. I was still too chicken.

Sunday, Mary drove to Brownsville and we went to the zoo to celebrate Natalie’s 12th birthday. It was Cata, Annie and their kids and Mary, the boys and I. No one else went because it was “short notice”, but we all had a great time anyway. I got some great pictures, and I even saw some HUGE red eared slider turtles. I hope my babies can get that big one day. And the cutest thing was that there were baby animals EVERYWHERE!

While we were on our way to the zoo, Mario called to let me know Choco Cat and Panthy Poo (Panther, Mom’s cat) had been mating. Sure enough, we get home and they were flirting with eachother. Now, Skinny’s trying to hump Brushka, and she’s letting him . I’m going to have 30 cats in a few months .

I don’t remember much from Monday (spent most of the day studying the DL book then took John driving around–he did really well). Yesterday, I finally got tired of running out of groceries and stuff like napkins and Clorox wipes, so I got the kids ready, made John go with us, said a prayer and drove to Mission, to Wal-Mart. Then we went to H-E-B to buy groceries. I did really good on my own, too! Usually, I have a hard time containing myself and buy things we don’t need (which is why I didn’t want to go without Mario), but I only spent $63 at Wal-Mart and $120 at H-E-B and got all the stuff we needed and a few extras.

It was SUPER hot when we got home. Turns out the darn air-conditioner pipe froze and so the air wasn’t working. Mary watched Jaylen while I took Angela and Eenan to their swimming lessons and then we came home. I was literally dripping sweat while I was making dinner (didn’t drip into the food though, don’t worry !). Then we went to Yadira’s, where it was nice and cool. She made enchiladas, too–salsa verde ones with LOTS of mozzerella cheese . T’was nice seeing everyone last night.

Today, I’ve got to finish reading that book because tomorrow John and I go and take the test *breathes*. I need to call the driving place because I’ve got a few questions. I need to remember to go to the ATM tomorrow since I need to go to the school to re-order my diploma. I also need to take the kids to the library and clean! I’ve been procrastinating for the past hour .

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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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The boys dropped out. They don’t want to go to the Reading Program anymore, so we didn’t go today. It’s not that they don’t like reading; they just don’t want to do the reports that are “required”. I don’t blame them. I’m not going to force them to do something they don’t want. I have to turn in 3 of their library books. They still have one left to read. I do need to go back to get their pictures for the Fingerprints Kit. I paid $10 for those and I bet thier quality’s going to be craptastic, too. Grr.

Yesterday was a bustling whirlwind. I woke up late…about 10:30 or so, I think? Since I kept waking up from the thunderstorm that rolled in about 2am. I didn’t wake up because of the thunder–I woke up because the electricity went out and I was HOT. I hate feeling sweaty when I’m sleeping !

Anyway, Mario was helping Tommy with something, then he, Jose and Tommy worked on Big Mario’s indisposed truck. I ran around feeding the children, myself, the turtles, cleaning up here and there, and by the time I knew it, it was lunchtime. I made carne guisada and rice for them to eat, took John to get some applications for a job, got the kids ready and headed out to the library.

They were having Story Time and were going to learn about spiders. The librarian read them a book, then they brought a basket of pipe-cleaners, styrofoam balls, tissue paper and googly eyes so the kids could create their own spiders.

The kids had a few conniptions because “the paper isn’t sticking!” and “I need gluuuuue!” and “MOOO-OOOM! I can’t get the legs in!”, but after helping them glue, and cut and stab the ball, they were happy with their little spiders .

Eenan played Sorry! with two little boys and then we came home. I can’t stand how hot it is outside at that time (2-3pm). The boys hate putting on their seat belts because, “IT BURNS US!”, as Eenan says.

Mario and Jaylen took a nap and when they woke up it was time for their swimming lessons. They had a blast, as usual, but this time, Jaylen didn’t want to jump off the diving board. He’d done so well before–he was more willing than Eenan!–but not yesterday . They got little certificates for completing Session 1 . They’ll start Session 2 on Monday.

Mario smoked a cigarrette at the park under a little pavillion, while I got the boys dried and dressed. When we get home, he says he can’t find one of the $20’s he had in his pocket. He was a bit upset and asked if, on the way to Mom’s (John and I were going to drop off some stuff), I could stop by the pool and ask if anyone found a 20. I tell him that, sadly, no one’s going to be that honest and return a $20 bill…not around here anyway. BUT, I went and checked at the park anyway.

I looked around the table he’d been sitting on and then scanned the grass. Sure enough, the bill was securely attatched to a weed, still nicely folded into fours. It obviously fell out when he took the keys out of his pocket. Thank you, God, for letting me find that money or else the husband would have been quite moody.

We left to Mom’s, talked for a bit with her and then Aunt Nora, then came home. Got here, then I went with Mario and Jaylen (Eenan was too busy having fun with the cousins) to Wal-Mart to find a 20-25 gallon aquarium for the turtles to have more room to swim in. (Had I mentioned we’re turtle-sitting Sammy and Brandon’s huge sliders? Well, we are. And they’re huge!) No luck. The only thing they had were 20 gallon tank kits–for fish, and they were upwards of about $75. No thanks.

Since the kids didn’t have to go to the library and they don’t have swimming classes tonight I’m incredibly bored. Boredom leads to eating. I’ve eaten so much junk food I probably gained the weight I’ve lost in the span of a few hours. Bad Yajaira. Bad.

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