In a Blur

(started on 10-5-07 @ 9:30pm) Although I’m nodding off, I figured I’d try and update as much as I can since the house is nice and quiet. Alaethia’s napping and Mario, our boys, and all the male relatives are outside under the carport playing Halo 3 on Big Mario’s projector. I’ve gotta admit: it looks pretty damn cool.

So when I last left off it was Tuesday (the 25th of September) and I was going to have my benefits/insurance meeting. I got out of work feeling confident, with my head held high and my mind made up. I knew exactly what plans I was getting and had come to terms with how minuscule my paycheck would be, but it was okay because we’d all have insurance.

My smile was quickly wiped off my face when I realized exactly how much I was going to be paying. Even though I was barely having my insurance meeting the 25th, they wanted to charge me for the whole month of September, the new month of October, and for some reason they make you pay an extra month by default. Since they didn’t hold the $350 for the first two months from my first paycheck — which I’d just received that day — they were going to have to triple deduct it from my October paycheck! I almost fainted. As I was going through each sheet in my packet and feeling like my heart was falling rapidly down my body, the woman presenting told me it would be better to keep my kids on Chips, get the free insurance for myself that work offers, and Mario…well, he just wouldn’t have any.

I felt so helpless and confused I hightailed out of there before I started bawling in front of everyone. To add insult to injury I only had a month from the time I started working (Aug. 27th) to make a decision about my benefits. So that left me with a lovely TWO DAYS to figure out what the heck I was going to do. I was panicking tremendously because I didn’t bother renewing the boys’ Chips insurance (which they’d sent me late to begin with) since I was so sure I was getting it at work and I wasn’t even sure if we still qualified.

I get home and I’m so emotional that when my Dad-in-law asks, “How’d it go?” that I cup my hands over my face and start bawling. I feel so embarrassed and I’m sure he felt really awkward, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I explained everything that happened and he offers words of support and tells me we’d figure it out and that everything would be okay. I felt a little better and try to control myself. I get inside the house and Mom and John are both here. I immediately break down and tell them what happened and I’m halfway through when Mary, who’d just gotten home from work, comes in and then I’m explaining to everyone. I felt like my world was crumbling apart. I could have cared less if I had insurance; I was worried about the kids. John offers to lend me the money and I decline, then Mary offers to let me use the money for bills I was giving her towards the insurance and she said we could worry about paying her back during tax-return time. I felt really humbled and blessed to have such great family, and then felt awful that I’d have to tell everyone there would be a change of plans; I’d offered to take everyone out for dinner on Friday to Chili’s with my first paycheck, to celebrate, but that wouldn’t be happening now.

I figured I’d fill out the Chips application, which I thankfully still had, and would go with what Mary told me to do. Although I hate being in debt with people :(.

Mom stayed with the boys while Mary, Alaethia and I went to Mexico to buy Penicillin for Mario because he was sick. I got 2 more packs of birth control, so I’m good for the next three months. I got some potato chips, too, since you can only get those in Mexico (Mayra, remember the Tostitos and Crujitos chips we’d buy at school with the crema and Sabrosita salsa? THOSE!). I felt much better on the way home and began filling out all the paperwork I needed.

I was going to march up to the benefits dept. on Wednesday and let them know it was unfair and I would only allow them to deduct a double payment, not a triple. I felt really nervous and just down the next morning. Even Mrs. G. noticed. It was a slow morning and during my downtime I couldn’t stop thinking about my insurance problem, when suddenly I had a stroke of genius. I called Mary up and she didn’t answer, so I left her a message to please give me a quote for insurance for Mario. She calls me back with good news: she asked a girl at the office who is in contact with people from Chips (I’d been trying to call and never got ahold of anyone) and she said we may still qualify, even with me working. We were cutting it close, but we would most likely qualify. She gave me the quote for Mario’s insurance, and it was more than half off of what I’d be spending per month at work. So I decided to get him that insurance, faxed all the Chips stuff to their office and went into the benefits dept. that afternoon and got only the free insurance for myself and the dental insurance for both Mario and I (which is really inexpensive, surprisingly!). After I felt like a thousand pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I breathed a sigh of relief, Mary joked, “Now you can take us out to Chili’s!” Yay!

On a serious note, I really, really hope everything works out with Chips. I’m going to call Monday to follow up on the fax because they sent me a “you haven’t sent your renewal” letter and since they take so long sending their mail out in the first place I don’t know how long it’ll be before I hear from them. I don’t want my kiddos to stay without health insurance, especially the boys who’re in school and get sick all the time.

I picked Jaylen and Brandon up from school on Wednesday since Eenan was having UIL practice. When I went back to pick Eenan up, I brought his best friend, Rolando, home with us. I offered to pick him up from practice every Wednesday and bring him home from Meets if his parents wanted. I met his mom for the first time that day. I’d already met his dad when Eenan had gone over to his house after practice once. He’s such a sweet kid and so respectful and polite. I’d totally adopt him LOL.

Thursday was the morning I dropped my darn phone into the toilet before I left to work. Those darn black pants with the tiny back pockets. The phone just slipped out when I pulled my pants down. It had already almost happened once at work while I was wearing those exact pants, except the phone crashed right on the floor. I pulled the phone out, removed the battery and left it drying on a towel after a quick spray of Lysol. I felt so naked that day without my phone.

We had our first pep-rally that Thursday, so the parent volunteers and I were helping Mrs. V. with all the cheerleading stuff and anything else she needed help with. Mrs. G. brought us some Burger King breakfast around 10:30, and I was so grateful because the biscuit and sausage they’d brought for me that morning (school food) tasted and smelled like catfood. I feel so bad for the kids who don’t eat at home and have no choice. We had a kitten (yes, a kitten) stuck in one of the walls of school for two days, so I saved the awful meal for him, just in case. (The custodians ended up scaring him and he ran out into the parking lot later on that day.) We closed the library at 12:30 and went to the gym and then I realized I wasn’t going to have lunch. The pep-rally was a great success and finished when school ends for the kids, at 2:30. I went up to Mrs. V. and asked her what I should do and she said I could leave right then. Awesome.

I was starving, so I get home and John’s here. He jokes that he wants Kumori and since he doesn’t like Chili’s and wasn’t going with us on Friday Mom watched the kiddos while we left to Kumori. It was so awesome to eat sushi after what felt like forever. Too bad I completely forgot to ask for my Fiesta Rolls without the darn fried salmon skin they put in there. Bleh. John had already eaten chicken strips from his work that didn’t agree with his stomach so he didn’t enjoy his food as much either. I picked up dinner for the family (Burger King) on the way home since there was no way I’d have enough time to cook and do everything else. I don’t want to get too used to getting take-out, but gosh, it sucks to have to cook all the time now that I’m working!

Friday passed by pretty quickly and when I got home we all just chilled out till it was 6:00. We met everyone (mom, Mary, Jorge, Andy, Noelia and the rest of us) at Chili’s at that time. It was a great meal and it was nice talking and catching up with everybody. The first thing I ordered was the Spinach and Artichoke dip and Alaethia helped me eat it. She LOVED it! We had a really nice time. Hope to do it again. And it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it was going to be, so that’s a plus!

That was also the night Mario decided to use our almost-paid-off Circuit City card to buy the Xbox 360, the Legendary Halo 3 thing, and another controller. It came with a helmet and poster. He was in heaven. And now we’re in debt again LOL.

Eenan had a UIL competition on Saturday, so we woke up bright and early and I dropped him off. We freaked out a little because everyone was parked on the edge of the street since the custodians or whoever were supposed to open up the place were late. They eventually came and opened the gates and when I was done being paranoid and collecting numbers to reach the sponsors I came home. I cleaned a little then Mom, Alaethia and I went shopping. Jaylen stayed with Mary. I made the mistake of going to Ross first, where I was supposed to find some nice work shirts, a shower curtain and a bath rug, but ended up finding a white $13 jacket, a nice shower curtain, 1 blouse and some photo boxes. No nice work shirts and all the rugs were torn. We were in line for 45 minutes and I was not going to make it on time to pick Eenan up from the meet. So I called Mary and she said she’d get him. He placed 7th :).

We picked up Mario and then met Mary and the boys for lunch at Burger King. We chilled out and talked for a while, then dropped Mario off and went over to Sally’s mom’s house where Sally and Pete were. We picked up the invitation for their baby shower and OMG, Sally’s belly’s gotten so big! She’s still got 2 months to go. The baby’s gender is still a surprise. I can’t remember if they know or not, but I admire their strength LOL. There’s no way I could have waited to find out the genders of my babies. We caught up and laughed and Alaethia kept freaking out because she didn’t recognize where we were, and then we went to visit Gramma. We kept making jokes and she was laughing her butt off. She also told us the lead singer of a Mexican band, Los Bookis, is her boyfriend, aww LOL. She scared the crap out of me when she was going to choke on a Hershey’s, though. We didn’t make her laugh again till she finished it LOL.

What was really sad was that her room mate, Carolina, isn’t there anymore :(. The last time I remember seeing her, she was playing with Alaethia and was smiling and really cheerful. The next time we went she was at the hospital and this last time all her stuff was gone and someone else was occupying her bed. So sad. I hope nothing bad happened to her. Or maybe it happened like it did to Gramma the time she went to the hospital? She was only gone two days and they moved her out of her old room and in with Carolina. I need to ask what happened.

We didn’t get a chance to go grocery shopping or to Walmart because Mary needed to leave somewhere but the boys didn’t want to go. So we went home. She didn’t end up going anywhere after all and I got ready to go to church with her and Eenan (Mom stayed with Jaylen and Aly). It was a nice service, even though Eenan was bored. He even freaked me out by giggling when he saw the word “Sex” in Sexto in the prayer book. I pretended not to be horrified and asked where he heard that. He said Rolando told him but he didn’t know what it means. Thank God. I’m so not ready for that talk yet. He’s barely in 3rd grade for Pete’s sake! Thinking back though, that’s when everyone started becoming curious and asking questions when I was little. *gulp*

As we’re walking back from church that night (it’s a block away) Mary says she feels like having a strawberry margarita and says we should totally go to The Outback to have some drinks. Mario had gone straight to Chris’ to help him fix something and came straight home when I called him about going out. Mom stayed with the kiddos and then we all picked up Jorge and went. That was the best margarita I’ve ever had in my life! Too bad it’s so darn expensive. Everything there is! And the waiter lied to me. He said the spinach and artichoke dip was so much better than Chili’s, no comparison. Not really. It was too darn salty. The bread they give you with butter was SO GOOD, though! And so were the lobster-crab cakes I had.

Let’s see. We chilled out most of Sunday and then Mary, Mom, Aly and I all went to the groceries. The boys stayed with John. Later that night, after Mario got home from work (it was his Sunday to work) Jorge, Mary, Jaylen, Aly and I went to visit Cat and Annie at their new house. Eenan was too busy watching TV so he stayed with Mom. Their new house is awesome. Too expensive for the square footage, but it’s because of it’s location that it cost so much. It’s a gated community and they live right next to the community park and pool! It was a little awkward after a while though, because some drama got stirred up as usual, so we came home. I didn’t mind; I needed to get the kiddos ready for school the next day.

Gotta finish this up…gotta start dinner!

I came straight home Monday and took Mom to the bank to deposit money John lent her because she’d overdrafted. I don’t know how many times I have to tell her to write her expenses down in her transaction book! Alaethia got sick on Wednesday night; she was up every two hours and at 3am I realized she had a bad fever. 103° is what the thermometer said. I gave her a lukewarm bath and she played happily in the water. That’s why were never know when she’s sick; she never actually “feels” hot like other babies and she’s in a good mood. Only her neck and legs feel hot when she’s got a fever.

I decided I wouldn’t go into work Thursday morning. I hated to call in after only working a month and a week, but she needed me. I got the boys ready in the morning and made sure they went to Elda’s, tried calling the number we’re supposed to call to report absences but it never worked, got Mario’s stuff ready and made him breakfast, I called everyone I needed to call at work to let them know I was going to be out and then called the front desk to let them know I’d be in half a day (or so I hoped). I ate breakfast, got Aly in her carseat and Mom accompanied us to the doctor when it opened at 8:30. There were only 3 people in front of us but it was still 10am by the time they called us in. I was panicking since I had to be at work at 10:30. I was about to ask someone to hurry when the Nurse Practitioner walked in. Alaethia had a slight infection in both ears. She was prescribed antibiotics, Tylenol, cough/congestion medicine, and ear drops. I got home just in time to give her Tylenol; I’d have to pick up her meds after work since I wouldn’t have time to do it that morning. I didn’t take my lunch with me because I was under the impression that I wouldn’t have a lunch since I was going to be making up my hours. Turns out I get 10 days of sick leave and I’d only used up half a day so I didn’t have to stay in extra time after work, yay! I started feeling a little under the weather myself that day and I’m still trying to get over this darn sore throat.

We went to Cat and Annie’s house on Thursday night to have cake and pizza for Isiah’s birthday. I went over and saw Nelsy’s (Annie’s sister, who lives right across from her) house and Mario got there right when we were walking back. I came back home with Mary, Mom and the kids and Mario was in his truck. We arrived before he did and we watched him drive into the driveway. When I walk over to him he asks, “What did I run over?” and I look under the car. It was one of the two kittens :(. Now 3 have been run over! I don’t even know how it happened; he drove in really slowly!

Friday went by pretty quickly and I was so grateful to get home and spend time with Mario, mom, John and the kids. We called Chris and Nancy after a while to accompany us to a liquor store to buy Midori to make drinks with since we invited everyone over for Bailey’s milkshakes. NOBODY CAME. It was a pretty hard bitchslap to the face, but oh well. That was the night I started this entry, when Mario set up the projector to play Halo outside with his cousins.

Yesterday Mary and I went to Target in the afternoon to get stuff for Annie and Cat’s housewarming party later that day. I was still pretty upset that not even they came the night before so I wasn’t going to go, but I was convinced. Mary got us some mango smoothies and then we came home. We wrapped stuff up, I got the kiddos ready and then we left to the Housewarming/Tupperware Bingo. The boys immediately went to the pool when we got there. Jorge and the men who were at the pool were watching them. Alaethia was still feeling sickly so she was incredibly moody, but my spirits lifted when I won 2 bingo games in a row! Mom won the last one and gave me her Tupperware and I gave one to Mary because she didn’t win anything =\. I got myself a Jell-O Mold! Woo!

Mario was waiting for us at home. He’d rented movies and set up the screen again and we watched Premonition outside. The movie (and watching it as if we were at the movies) was awesome. Elda, Jose, their boys, Jorge and Tommy joined us about halfway through the movie. That’s definitely something we should do more often!

I woke up early today and cleaned the house! I had tons of laundry to put away. Mom thankfully does laundry for me throughout the week, but I do not have time to put anything away after work. I didn’t get everything done but at least we can walk through the living room now!

I also finished reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. I can finally turn it in LOL. I ordered Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic and Sister off Ebay, so I can’t wait to get started on those. Then I can start reading all the awesome books I keep running into at work!

Yay, I finished the entry! I never thought it would happen. Now I can start dinner. I’ve really gotta start making time to blog. I hate not blogging as often as I did before, even though it was sparse at that time, too. Anyway, Alaethia’s moody and crawling all over me, so I have to calm her down before I start cooking. Hope all of you are well, that your eyes didn’t glaze over and that you’re not in a coma after reading this entry LOL.