Category: Weather

It’s a sunny 79° outside right now. Needless to say it won’t be a White Christmas in south Texas this year. Bah humbug.

My immune system sensed that Christmas was ’round the corner because it decided to discombobulate after school on Thursday. I decided to drink orange juice this morning to accelerate my recuperation and sort of over did it as I now have a horrible upset stomach. I hate colds!

I spent Wednesday night getting everything ready for school: gifts, lasagna, cookies, camera. My car was packed to the brim Thursday morning. I got to school and took a few things in, and noticed all the presents under our “Christmas Tree”, which was a tree drawn with a marker on the dry-erase board. Romeo and Kimberly helped me bring everything else in and we put everything in it’s place. I read a card (a Cheer Bear one) that Ricci wrote to me. I initially thought Kimberly wrote it (I had my thumb over the name) and felt so embarrased when I said, “Aww, thank you, Kimberly!” and Ricci turns around and says, “THAT’S FROM ME!”

It seemed really odd to me while I was reading “Kimberly’s” card that everything she mentioned was what Ricci and I had been through. I felt like an airhead!

I really appreciate my friends though. I never thought I’d find friends like these and I just feel so blessed. It’s not because of the holidays, either. I think about them all the time and thank God for bringing them into my life.

Speaking of, Lucy looked really sad and…indifferent that day. I wish she’d just talk to me, but she seems to only open up to Mayra. It doesn’t bother me that she doesn’t talk to me, it just makes me feel a little disappointed. I wish there was a way I could make her feel better.

We reviewed chapters 2 & 3 of our new class, Business Communications, for the test we’d be having before our party. I can officially say, I highly dislike adjectives. Some of them are confusing to me. I can honestly say we weren’t taught certain things in high school.

Anyway, after reviewing, we opened gifts! From Kimberly and Romeo I got the Good Luck Bear baby, from Ricci a beautiful red glass pitcher with two glasses, from Mayra a gorgeous banana (?) clip, charm bracelet and red sequined purse; from Lucy a Hello Kitty toaster (exact one I got last year), Care Bear stickers, and glittery Hello Kitty switch plate; and from my Secret Santa, Rosy, a huge basket full of Sweet Pea lotions and bath stuff. I was thrilled with my stuff :).

I gave Rolando his present, which was a gift card to the mall since I COULD NOT figure out what to get him. I mean he gave ideas, but there was no way I could afford what he wanted. I figured I’d get him a gift card so he could choose what he’d like and actually LIKE IT.

I was utterly surprised when he rushed by, gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Mario got really lucky with you.” It could have also been that he was in love with the cookies and lasagna I’d made LOL. He kept saying, “WHY’D you have to be married?!” I guess what they say is correct: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!

Unfortunately for him, I’m perfectly happy being married .

I felt really warm inside hearing compliments about my cooking. That never gets old to me. We had a great time pigging out. We laughed and talked and had fun. Mrs. C-R was with us, too. Most of the other side of the class had left, but that didn’t bother me at all. Everyone who’s company I enjoy was there .

I planned to chill out with Ricci at her Grandma’s for a while after school, but I got a call from Mom that Eenan’d been stung by a bee. I rushed home of course, thinking the worst, but thankfully he was fine.

Mom agreed to watch the kids on Friday while Mario and I went out to finish our Christmas shopping. We picked up some McDonald’s, then we went to Norma C.’s car lot first where he’d install a radio in a car and then we went to the bank. We tried killing some time before he had to pick his check up from work so we went to check on our property in McAllen.

We got down and inspected the lots. Mario estimates that we’ll be spending at least $2,000 to get the trees uprooted only from the backyard. There’s so many trees on that lot it’s not even funny. It looks like a mini-forest in the middle of town, no kidding. I felt this overwhelming feeling of bliss standing there, making plans with him about our future home. I momentarily stopped hearing what he was saying and just stared at him standing in the ray of sunlight and I thought, I’m so glad I married this man.

I really can’t wait to build our home together. I can’t wait to go through life together and raise our kids together. This is so important to me. I just pray that we’ll be able to actually uproot those trees and that Mario can buy his motorcycle since work would only be a few blocks away.

We met up with Mary and Elda at Chick-fil-a to eat lunch, and shortly after Mario was called to pick up his check. Then came the hours of shopping, paying $10 for crappy valet service, and having a fit at Target because they wouldn’t let me exchange my Hello Kitty toaster for something that wasn’t in Housewares. They wouldn’t even let me take pillows! Pillows go in a HOUSE!

Mario stopped by this little stand he likes to buy hotdogs at, then we ordered pizza and rented movies. We ate fast food all day, how sad. BUT, I’m so glad we finished with our Christmas shopping.

We visited Gramma this morning and took her her gifts. I really miss her. It would be the perfect Christmas if she were able to spend it with us *sigh*.

I’m going to go back to Mary’s. I’ve been trying to rest, but with all the kids running in and out of the house it’s basically impossible. All the kids are playing in the bedroom and I JUST finished cleaning half of it so I think I’ll take them with me. *checks* Oh yeah, they’re making a mess.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas. God Bless!

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I got everything done really early yesterday, as Mario called me during school and asked me on a date. “Just us”, he said. You can’t imagine how excited I was about that.

I made dinner (lasagna), ironed everything and gave instructions to Mom on getting the boys showered and into bed (and prayed for the best). Mary dropped me off at Mario’s work, he changed, we ordered drinks from Whataburger and ate the lasagna and garlic bread I’d brought for us in the Yukon. We had 2 hours to waste before the movie, so we went to Wal-Mart and walked around. We decided on Jarhead, which we both wanted to see. It was a pretty good movie; the ending was kind of…”eh”, but overall it was pretty good. I saw Jake Gyllenhal (sp?) nekkid…and OMG I think I’m traumatized.

I even had a dream about him. He was about to kiss me; his baby blue eyes kept getting closer and closer. I turn my head and say, “No Jake! I’m married!”

See? Even in my dreams I’m faithful .

We didn’t get home till 1:00. After I took a shower it was 1:30 so it’s safe to say I went to sleep at around 2am. Not good. I feel so tired and drained out, especially since I somehow got a sore throat. Ricci didn’t come to school today, so it was really quiet on the way to school–I was positive I’d fall asleep on the road. And the fog! Never had I driven in such dense fog, ever.

We’re having a test on Chapters 1 & 2 of Operating Systems. I should read up a bit. I just hope I don’t fall asleep while I’m reading.

As tired as I am though, I really wish there were more nights like that with Mario .

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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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