Category: Shopping

Been trying to update all day and of course, never got a chance. Oh, what I’d give for wireless internet and a damn laptop. I’m gonna start saving for one, dammit (a laptop).

Anyway, my birthday was lovely . Thank you all who wished me a Happy Birthday…I’ll get back to you all individually soon!

My birthday was so totally not what I expected for some reason…and that’s good. I didn’t think we’d do anything to begin with, but we did, and on my actual birthday, not on the weekend like I initially thought.

I woke up and got Eenan ready for school then dropped him off. The first thing he said when he woke up was “Happy Birthday, Mama!!” Then, when I left him at his class his teacher wished me a happy birthday too. I thanked her and asked how she knew and she said, “He’s been talking about it non-stop since Monday”. My baby! *tear* When I got back I just sat on the couch and idly watched TV. Mario woke up, wished me a happy birthday and then asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I was craving an omelette and so he made me one. It was the cheesiest, tastiest omelette with ham, jalapenos, and cilantro I’ve ever eaten and although I may have gained 5 lbs. that morning, OMG it was SO worth it!

We plopped ourselves on the couch after our gluttonous breakfast and after flipping through channels, Mario decided to cancel the Starz package and got Showtime. After a few seconds of flipping again, I found one of my favorite 80’s movies, For Keeps?. Mario, being the wonderful husband that he is, sat through it and toughed it out to make me happy .

We picked Eenan up from school and I see him bringing a cupcake with him. Ms. O. told Mario (since he’s the one who got off the car to get him) that a little boy had a birthday party and Eenan refused to eat the cupcake…he said he was keeping it for me since it was my birthday . How freaking sweet is THAT? He even brought me a party hat…aww!

I took my time getting ready when we got home. We’d be meeting at Yadira’s for my birthday. We had lasagna, spaghetti and salad and everything was delicious. Bless Mary’s heart for cooking everything . They also surprised me with an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen! I’d told Mario I’d love to have one and they got me one! It was delicious. Mario ended up having two slices LOL.

After cake, I opened my gifts. Mary and Big Mario got me a gorgeous heart-shaped ruby necklace (that I’m dying to wear somewhere!) and Cata, Annie and the kids got me two cute T’s–one with Tinkerbell and one with the Pink Panther. Yazmin wrote me a letter on a Hello Kitty card and gave me two Hello Kitty Uno cards with a 2 and a 3 on them…too sweet . I was a happy, happy girl.

My nose was red-raw because I was constantly blowing it. Egh! I’m just glad I wasn’t as sick as I thought I was going to be. I think *knocks on wood* that I may have actually skipped the cough part of this thing!

The next day was the usual. Jaylen and I just chilled out here. I had cleaning to do, so I was kind of relieved that Sonia would be picking Eenan up for me. John came over since he’d be spending the weekend here for Jaylen’s party. Mario got out of work a little early and took me out to a movie for my birthday. We watched Beauty Shop. Mario was cringing at the thought of watching a “girlie movie” but he actually enjoyed it. My favorite line in that movie’s got to be “It’s hotter than a jalapeno’s coochie out there.” That’s how I’d describe a south Texas afternoon . The only thing I didn’t like was that we once again sat in front of a bunch of annoying little kids who were constantly kicking our seats. I refrained from smacking the little girl behind Mario and instead yelled at her to quit her shit. What is it with these morons? I don’t pay almost $8 to have my damn seat kicked .

After the movie, we went next door to Wal-Mart and Mario bought me two DVD’s I wanted, 50 First Dates and 13 Going on 30–both make me cry like a baby at the end . We tried looking for Independence Day for him, but had no luck.

The next day after we ate breakfast and Mario left to work I got ready and went to town with Mary to run errands. Eenan stayed with John. First thing we did was pay bills. I paid all of them and it felt so nice getting everything out of the way. Then we went to Target where I bought a cute brown shirt with embroidered flowers on it and my favorite bras which were on sale. We went to Pet Smart for rat food and I saw some red eared sliders–they were HUGE. My babies are going to (hopefully) get that big one day .

We went to the new Wal-Mart, which was extremely crowded, to get a few things we needed for the goodie bags for Jaylen’s party. I also found Pocky sticks! I’ve never seen them at the other Wal-Mart, or anywhere else for that matter.

When we were on our way home there was this green truck in front of us. It suddenly stopped in front of the drive thru shaped like a 6 pack of Cokes so we stopped too, naturally. Then we felt this huge smack that jerked us foward. Someone hit us. Since Jaylen had been moody, I’d reluctantly sat him on my lap and he fell asleep. I’m so, so grateful that nothing worse happened. I couldn’t sleep that night thinking, “What if he’d taken his seat belt off if he was in his seat?”, “What if it would have been much worse and he was on my lap? What if he flew out the windshield?!” “We were in the van, what if we were in one of the smaller cars?” I’m extremely anal about them being in their seat belts and I couldn’t believe we get hit when he’s not in it. Instinctively I wrapped myself around him when I felt the van jerk foward and immediately afterwards I felt my back start throbbing. When we were getting off to check the van, I hear Mary say, “Oh my God, he’s leaving!” Asshole . I asked the men that were standing nearby if they saw where he went. He’d reversed and then made a U-turn and sped off and according to the men, his whole bumper was hanging off. There was glass everywhere and it wasn’t from the van. All that happened to the van was a piece of plastic fell off of something, the bumper got scratched and the license plate fell off. May karma strike that man and his car .

After calming down and shaking it off, we came home. Mary made broccoli rice for Mario’s Grandpa Leo’s birthday party and I cleaned up and then bathed the kids. I took an Advil after bending over the tub to wash them because my back was killing me. We left to pick Mom up from work–she’d be spending the night also for Jaylen’s party. We went to the other Wal-Mart afterwards to pick up a few more things they didn’t have at the other Wal-Mart and to exchange a gift Mom bought Jaylen since Andy bought him the same one. THEN we went to Grandpa Leonel’s party. The food was awesome and they even sang Happy Birthday to me LOL. The kids had fun running around with the puppies and all their cousins. On the way home, Mom gave me my birthday present from her–a beautiful silver heart-shaped necklace with lots of little pink and white stones on it .

When we got home I fed everyone and then we worked on the rest of the Ninja Turtle centerpieces–just touch ups here and there. I got everything ready for the next day and finally finished around 12am.

The next day we all got ready, had breakfast and then got ready to leave to town since we had lots of stuff to do before the party. Mom and Eenan would go with Mary and John and Jaylen would go with us. We went to JCPenny to leave a payment and get Jaylen some new shoes and a shirt for Mario. Then to Payless to exchange some shoes Mom had given me…I got some cute, brown Airwalk flip flops to match my blouse. Then we went to Pet Smart to get the filter for the turtles’ tank, some crickets for them, water conditioner and some new, bigger pebbles for their tank since we removed the gravel ones (they might think they’re food and eat them). I still want to get them a background for their tank and a cute ceramic/resin? palm tree they had there .

We went to Wal-Mart again to get Jaylen a new gift from Mom and John needed some stuff so he got them. Then we went to Best Buy to get Independence Day for Mario and then to Home Depot for heaven-knows-what that he needed and then to Dairy Queen, which was right across from the party, to get Mario some food since he was “starving” and said the pizza wouldn’t fill him up. I got a yummy caramel Moolate *swoon*.

When we got to the place, Eenan was already playing and Jaylen quickly joined him. John watched them for us while we got stuff ready at the tables.

Aunt Nora and Tio Arturo were some of the first to get there. We mingled while we were waiting for them to bring out the pizzas. Albert’s wife, Jannette, got there with her two nieces and her baby, Alan. I sat with her for a good while and we ate and talked. She’s nice . Jaylen had a blast. We brought everyone together to sing to him while he and Eenan poked at the cake as usual LOL.

After we ate cake, it was time for him to open his gifts. I think he needed a nap by then because he was quickly becoming irritated. He was grunting when I’d ask him to take pictures with his gifts.

He opened a few presents and then got to Andy’s, which was the Rafael (or Rafayeld, as Jaylen calls him) set with the bandana, sai (?), belt, and elbow/knee pads. He didn’t want to open anything else after that. Then Eenan wanted to play with it so all hell broke loose LOL.

They played a little more and then the party was over. We thanked everyone for coming and then dun*dun*dun…it was time to pay. We were SO surprised to find out it was only $281 this time. We’d given $100, and Mom had given $100 for the deposit, and Mary put in the $81. I’m so glad they help us out each year and I’m so glad it wasn’t so pricey this time (there’s usually a whole lot more people). One year it came out to $725…yeah, heart attack .

We dropped Mom off at home and she noticed she didn’t have her shoes–she’d left them at our house so I said I’d go drop them off. I cleaned up while Mario set up the new stuff in the tank for the turtles. Then John, Jaylen and I left to Mom’s. I wasn’t too nervous driving all the way over there, which surprised me since it was my first time driving all the way over there without Mario instructing what to do and where to go. The off-ramp made me nervous, but I did okay, and when we passed by the big Coke drive-thru I got nervous too, because I remembered when that idiot hit us. Other than that I did good. I sat and had a chat with Mom and Aunt Nora for a good hour and then we left.

John stayed over again that night since he didn’t have to go into school till noon on Monday. I cut his hair that morning after dropping Eenan off and then helped Jaylen open the rest of his presents, when he finally remembered there were some (he was still clutching on to his sai sword thingy Andy got him though!). I cleaned the house most of Monday…it was chaotic. Sonia picked Eenan up again for me that day since I wasn’t going to use Noelia’s car. I went to the Dollar General with Mary for a few odds and ends and got some scrapbooking stuff. I want to start scrapbooking so badly, but need more supplies first. I’ve got so many ideas! When we got home, I started on Jaylen’s cake. Since the 18th was his actual birthday, I was baking him a cake to celebrate. He wanted green frosting, so I used up 1/4 of a bottle of green food coloring to do it. Then I drew Rafael on it LOL. He liked it. He blew out his candles, then we ate cake and he opened his presents. Later Yadira stopped by with the girls and they had some cake too. Yadira said she didn’t like yellow cake (all we had) but she tried it and ate it all. She said, “And I really don’t like this. Dammit, Yajaira!” I guess it was good cake !

We talked about the kids’ first days of school and then she mentioned maybe putting him in Head Start next year, since he’s already 3 and is potty trained. I’m not sure if we’ll qualify, or if I even want him to go there (she took Angela out since the teachers or whatever they are were being sort of negligent). But then I really want to start school and get a job and all that jazz…so ugh, we’ll see.

After everyone left, we came back here and Mario got home. He ordered Flight of the Phoenix…very good movie.

As for today, it was spent cleaning once again. After picking Eenan up from school we went to the Family Dollar where I bought 3 stacking shelf things for them to put their toys in. Jaylen’s Ninja Turtle box became too small after all the Ninja Turtle gifts he got this weekend and their Dinosaur boxes are overflowing. I got them to help me clean the room because it was a disaster and I painstakingly scrubbed crayon off the floor since Jaylen decided to scribble all over . I got all my chores done early and still got to enjoy American Idol and I Want a Famous Face, or whatever it’s called. It’s already 12:23 though, which sucks because I actually thought I was going to get to sleep early. I forgot to wash Mario’s work clothes during the day and had to stay up for that . I’m ready to crash right now.

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Been a while, hasn’t it? Everytime I sat in front of the computer to blog I was summoned by the children or husband or there was something I hadn’t done (cleaning, laundry, etc.) and had to do it. I actually started on this entry since the 22nd and have been adding bits here and there when I get the chance. I managed to start on some graphics for the visitor content on…I don’t remember when. Nothing big or “wow” or anything, but I was feeling pixelly and generous . Let’s see how long that lasts.

Let’s see if I can summarize everything without making each day a novel, but you know that never happens .

Friday was the usual–dropping Eenan off, being home with Jaylen, picking Eenan up from school and then just relaxing after that. I made lasagna for dinner while I watched America’s Next Top Model and then Mario got home. We ate, Eenan left with Mary to sleep over at her house, then Mario, Jaylen and I got ready to go to Jorge’s. We got there and they we bar-be-cuing. While the men tried to get Jorge’s Chevy to work, Maggie and I talked and then went to her mom’s house since her sister-in-law wanted to see the baskets she’s selling. She’s selling Easter baskets–and lots of them! We bought two of them for the boys and Mario got me a huge mug with bunnies on it with a bunny plush inside with some candies. Too cute . We got back and ate and after talking for about another hour we came home.

Mario and I woke up early Saturday morning since he had to go to work. I made breakfast, we ate, and then he left. Mary was outside cleaning and asked me to look through some toys the boys had outside in a box and see if there was anything we should throw out. Ended up getting rid of a plastic wagon that had too many spider/beetle eggs to count; a whole bunch of broken toys and pieces of toys that belong to other toys that had been sold at the garage sales. I helped her sweep the ceiling of the roof over the deck, which was covered in cobwebs. We have a Daddy Long Leg spider problem…they’re everywhere! Especially outside. I cleaned the outside of my kitchen window and the door and after everything was nice and clean, I noticed how old and dirty the door looked. So I painted it. I washed all the windows, then came inside and washed the window from the inside and removed all the curtains since they needed a washing. Sonia, and Annie and Catherine were all here so I came in and took a shower. I went back to Mary’s to chat with everyone when I was done and somehow we got into the discussion about breasts and bras. Annie told me mine looked nice and asked to see my bra. I stupidly asked, “How?”, and she said, “Do it like you’re gonna flash me.” So, embarrassed and shy as I was, I showed her and Sonia my bra LOL. I’m super shy about showing people my body, even if it’s just my stomach, so that was weird for me. She said my boobs looked so nice it would make a woman want to squeeze them . Never gotten a compliment like that before!

Noelia arrived with Andy a while later. He ate and we all talked to him and he seemed really comfortable. I ran back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom to mingle and bathe the kids at the same time. While I flat-ironed my hair, Jaylen was with Noelia and Andy and was wrestling with Andy. He loved that LOL.

Everyone left and then Mary, Yazmin, the boys and I left to a birthday party. It was Melba’s little girl’s 2nd birthday. The kids had fun jumping in the moon jump for about an hour, they ate and then got their candy bags with these noisy-as-hell balloon things, we said our good-bye’s and thank-you’s and we left. We went to Wal-Mart and bought a turtle-shaped sandbox for Jaylen (Mom’s birthday present to him). After that we went to H-E-B to get a few groceries. Yazmin went with me while Mary stayed in the van with the boys and the cashier fluirted with me a bit…I still got it! We got some Taco Bell after that and ate in the van while we waited for Mario to get out of work. Mary took the Sentra to get that nasty noise fixed (the exhaust had two holes!) so he was without a car. We went to Jorge and Maggie’s after we got home and Mario changed clothes. Maggie and I had margaritas again and had a long talk about parenting.

Sunday, we woke up early to go deposit money at the bank and lo-and-behold, it was closed. It used to be open on Sunday’s…dumb bank. Mary was watching the boys for us (who were in their new sandbox before we even left!) since we were celebrating our 6 year wedding anniversary that day (since our actual anniversary’s on Easter). We went to Home Depot to get a few tools Mario needed and I oogled over the beautiful kitchens. If we ever get our house I want a nice, spaceous kitchen that has a place for every, single thing. I want it to be as un-cluttered as possible–not jam-packed the way it is now . We went to Sears for, of course, more tools and then to JCPenny to make our JCP card payment.

We decided we’d try TGIFriday’s since we’d never been there. We ordered motzerella sticks…the best I’ve had in a long while. We talked and enjoyed the atmosphere (and I realized I analize things too much. I kept wondering “Who cleans all the way up there?”, “Did they get permission from each company to display the vintage posters?” I can’t ever just enjoy my surroundings…I always ask questions and it can become quite annoying ).

Anyway, Mario had the Jack Daniel burger and I had the new Sizzling Chicken and Shrimp plate. OMG…I was in absolute heaven. Everything was REALLY good. I even got two huge heaps of mashed potatoes (the BEST I’ve ever tasted)…but I only ate one heap . We contemplated ordering dessert, since we were so very full, and ordered the Brownie Obsession. Oh. My. God. It was soooo good. Mario kept saying he couldn’t possibly eat dessert and ended up eating half of it LOL. We forced ourselves to eat it because it was just that good.

We were supposed to go to a movie after lunch, but we were so full and sleepy we decided to go home. We took a 2 hour nap with the boys and when I woke up I finished cleaning up since I’d left everything undone the day before. We went to Wal-Mart later on and got the house supplies, a corkboard for Gramma’s room at the nursing home and Eenan got himself a fish . He’d been wanting one forever and “saved” a dollar in quarters to buy him LOL. It was the cutest thing. His (I’m assuming it’s a he…) name’s Goldie and he’s a goldfish. He’s been doing pretty good with feeding him. He’s going to take Goldie and Smokey, the gerbil, to school when they go back to school next week for show-and-tell. Ms. O. asked me if we really had that many pets, to which I replied, “Oh my gosh…yes we do” LOL. We’ve got a petting zoo!

We went to see Gramma after that and put the corkboard on the wall and arranged all the pictures she had tacked on her wall. We’d get frames, but I don’t think they’d allow that many holes in the wall . So, a corkboard seemed like the next best thing. We talked and laughed with Gramma and asked her just WHAT she was watching since it was a “sexy” movie LMAO. We joked about that the rest of the time we were there.

We went to H-E-B and picked up a few things to bar-be-cue since Mario was in the mood to cook-out. We got home, set Goldie up in his new home and then I got everything ready, put Eenan to bed, and joined Mario outside by the fire pit. It was such a nice night out. We talked and laughed and it was so nice that Jaylen ended up falling asleep on a lawn chair LOL. We brought the food inside when it was ready and we watched The Ladykillers while we ate. It was a great day .

Monday and Tuesday were basically the same thing that happens everyday. Except now that we have the sandbox, the daily schedule changed a bit. Now I pick Eenan up from school, we get home and he does his homework, they get in the sandbox, take their showers, I make dinner and we eat, they watch TV/play while I make Mario’s lunch for work the next day, and then they brush their teeth and go to bed. Now, if only we could actually stay ON schedule…

Poor Eenan didn’t get home from school on Wednesday till 4:07pm. He gets out at 3:15 . Since Noelia wasn’t coming home after school and I couldn’t borrow her car to pick him up, I had to call Sonia to pick him up for me. Well, she forgot and I got a call from Ms. O. at 3:47 that he still hadn’t been picked up. I panicked and appologized and said someone would be right there. She told me not to worry, that he was there with her. So, I call Sonia and she’s like, “OH MY GOD, I FORGOT, I’M SO SORRY!!” and said she’d go get him. He gets here and he’s all cheerful and told me, “Where were you, Mom? I missed you!” I asked him if he was scared and he said no, that Ms. O. was with him the whole time. Aww . She’s such a good teacher.

Wednesday night was spent stuffing/covering the Easter eggs the kids and I had dyed on Tuesday. Eenan needed 2 dozens for their Easter party. I also had to bake 24 cupcakes, and ended up having to make 2 boxes of batter since I over-filled the first 12 cupcakes . When we picked Eenan up today (Mario had the day off), Ms. O. told me how she had him pass out the cupcakes and he would lick the cupcake before he gave it to the kids LOL. She didn’t know how many he licked before she noticed. Silly kid…I can’t believe he did that!

While Eenan was in school I typed out a formal letter (2 actually) for Ricky and then we went to JCPenny to get Jaylen some shoes. Luck would have it that they didn’t have his size. I think the two employees who were helping us just didn’t bother to check. They were having an awesome sale if we used our card too. Grr. I spent the rest of the day hauling ass around the house, cleaning. Elda, Jose and the boys get here tomorrow and I didn’t want this place to be a mess. I still have to mop and tackle the bedroom and bathroom, but I did the most important parts (kitchen and living room). It’s 1am now and I just got the best, most wonderful massage from Mario and am so ready to sleep. G’nite!

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Thursday was spent in town all day. Ate at Burger King for breakfast (healthy! *sarcasm*), went to JCPenny for Eenan’s shoes, Target to return/exchange some things (exchanged a shirt for the Cheer Bear Cub I wanted–only to have it go on sale again this Sunday!), a shoe store who’s name I can’t remember for Mario’s shoes, Wal-Mart for house stuff, Star’s for lunch, back home so the boys (including Mario) could all take naps, spent some time outside talking to Big Mario and ooohing over the truck he bought (very cute 70’s stripes along the side!), went to RGVmag to get our “prize” since Mario answered the mystery thing correctly (and I’ll be coming out in the magazine in a few months–I looked like total crap!), stopped at Mario’s work, took Eenan for a haircut (only $3.75!), visited Mom & John for a while, went to H-E-B for groceries, picked up a pizza from Pizza Hut (our prize!), and then I got home and made mole/rice for Mario’s lunch the next day, tried watching a movie with Mario on the futon but kept dozing off, and then I went to bed. *whew* Yeah, it was as hectic as I just described .

Friday the boys and I just chilled out here and when Mario got home from work we went to Jorge’s (with only Jaylen, Eenan of course was sleeping over with his Nana). Don’t really remember much from that day…it’s a bit of a blur.

The next morning I made breakfast and saw Mario off to work then got the boys ready since we’d be going with Mary and Yazmin to watch Robots. It was too cute and funny. The boys actually sat through the whole thing and didn’t ask to go home once. When 4pm rolled around I took the meat, sausage, and fish down so it would thaw and made a chocolate cake and flan. I got myself ready and called Mary since she’d be watching the boys for us while we went to Hiram’s get-together. Mario got there and we got all the stuff we needed for the bar-be-cue together. On the way over I had this nagging feeling we forgot something. I think I told Mario twice, “I hope we didn’t forget anything”. We get there, say hi to everyone and take all the food to the kitchen. We were already late and we had the majority of the food. When taking all the ingredients out of the bag for the guacamole dip I was going to make, we realize we forgot the darn meat! He took off in a huff and came all the way back home to pick it up. I met Naomi and Eric, then later on Albert, Jannett and their baby, Alan; Frankie, and the Cat (as they call him) arrived. Joe and Hiram were already there with Jorge and Maggie. All in all it was a great night. Lots of laughs and Alan fell in love with me. I don’t think a baby I don’t know’s ever just jumped on my lap like that. He was the cutest thing with the BIGGEST eyes I’ve ever seen! Hiram got a little wasted and was being hilarious. He ended up with cake all over the place and was even spanked with a huge plank by Eric LOL. He complimented my cake and said he was impressed…that only his mom made cake that moist..aww! Maggie liked the flan…she ate half the pan by herself, no joke!

Everyone was really nice. I was a bit leery about going since there were going to be all these people I’ve never met there, because everyone (mostly the guys Mario works with) like to talk shit about the wives and how ugly/fat they are. Mario told me not to worry because I wasn’t fat/ugly and because everyone thought I was cool and not bitchy LOL. That made me feel a little bit better .

Sunday Mario was off work and we just stayed home all day long. It was so boring LOL. He made dinner that night which was Penne Pasta with spaghetti sauce, ground beef, and mushrooms mixed in. He topped it off with parmesean cheese and some spices and some garlic/parmesean bread…it was SO good.

Today was the first day back at school for Eenan. Back to the same ol’ routine…egh. He did good though…didn’t give me a hard time when he woke up or anything. ‘Open House’ was tonight and it was the first day of their book fair. Mary, Noelia, Jaylen, Eenan and I all went walking to the school. Ms. O. had nothing but nice things to say about him. He’s such a good student, I’m so proud . He went around the class showing us everything they do, where he sits, and was even showing Jaylen stuff like puzzles and their games. We went to the book fair and they got Unlovable, How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? and Little Quack’s Hide and Seek. They’re all too cute, but I especially loved Unlovable. Now I want a pug .

Tomorrow they’re having “Muffins for Mom’s Day” for Public School Week at 10am. Since I won’t have a car (Mario will be at work by then) I’m taking Jaylen in his stroller and we’re going for a walk. Hopefully it’s nice out, like it was today. It’ll be good exercise.

For dinner tonight I made Chicken with a Twist, without the ‘twist’ since I used elbow macaroni (I had nothing else!). It came out pretty good–the boys even ate it. Let’s see if my toughest critic, Mario, likes it. He’s finally home from Jorge’s .

Hah, he liked it, who’da thought? I really need to go see Gramma this weekend. Mom called and told me she was very depressed and was complaining about a pain in her chest. I hope they get her checked out and that nothing’s wrong with her. I kept thinking about her and was praying she was okay. I wish I could see her more often . Okay, Jaylen’s heavy and is on my lap trying to go back to sleep so that’s my cue. Goodnight.

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