In Fast Foward

A week (actually, more!) in fast foward:

Monday, the 16th – Went to Ross to exchange a cami with beads I’d bought (I don’t wear camis or tanks alone since I don’t like my arms and I already had a brown cami to go with the shirt I bought the beaded cami for) and Mom wanted to buy capris and blouses. I couldn’t find a thing at first and all the purses I liked were too expensive for my tastes, but I ended up finding the perfect one ($10.99) and a blouse I really liked at the last minute — when I was in line, even. Jaylen was going to get a dinosaur comforter with his birthday money, but he wanted a game for the Gamecube so he changed his mind. He’s like his mother.

We went to Target and got the game he wanted and I bought two blouses and scrapbooking letter stickers with giftcard I got back from exchanging the gift Pete and Sally gave me.

I went to Sally’s in the evening to drop off the maternity clothes I was giving her and we sat around and chatted with her mom. I took Alaethia with me. The boys wanted to go at first, but when I told them to take something to entertain themselves with because we were going to be talking they said to have fun, just take a picture LOL. Boys!

I stayed till 6pm and then Sally had to go pick up groceries to make dinner and I had to get home and make dinner. I was almost to the expressway when Alaethia started crying because she was still hungry, so stopped at Mario’s work to feed her. He stood there with us for a while while I fed her and when she was done we came home. Aly and I–Mario stayed of course. OH yes, this was also the day Eenan got into the truck when I picked him up afterschool and he told me he had his first crush. The cutest thing is he’s known this little girl since Pre-K. She likes him, too LOL.

Tuesday, the 17th – I told myself I wasn’t leaving the house all day so I could do my housework but since Mario left in a hurry that morning, he asked me to drop off his lunch to him because he didn’t have a chance to get it in the morning. So there Mom, Jaylen, Aly and I go. I was about to just come home but figured I’d stop by the Habitat for Humanity thrift store. I’d never been there before and just recently found out about it. I ended up finding 3 Fire King Primrose plates for $1 each, two books ($1.50) and a pretty trivet ($3).

Good thing I was still in town since Mario called asking if I was nearby so I could buy him a blue Full Throttle drink, which he’s currently obsessed with. After picking the kids up from school, they all stayed with Mom while I took John to Target (again) to get a PSP and some games. I did not feel like going back to town, but he kept insisting and finally bribed me with a blouse :P. Everytime he does me a favor he has to get some kind of compensation from me for doing it, so, since I was using my gas and going against my will, I gladly accepted the bribe. He bought me a blouse exactly like the one in the first picture (the apron-y looking one) but in green. I’d completely forgotten to take Aly’s diapers to exchange so I would have to go back later in the week. (And then I wonder how I waste so much gas?)

We went to H-E-B to get a few groceries. I bought some low fat Ben and Jerry’s, even though John tried to stop me. He does this as a favor to me, since I’m “trying” to watch what I eat, even though I may hate him later on. I told him it was okay though, he didn’t have to look out for me this time. It’s FAT FREE!

Since the new H-E-B is colossal I got completely lost. The store’s split in two, sort of, and I couldn’t remember where the darn dairy section was. As I was pushing the cart and John was walking beside me, I say, loudly, “Where’s all the food?!” and an employee behind me said, “Right that way ma’am, behind that center wall.” How embarrassing. I never made it to the dairy isle though. There was a huge bin full of $1.99 books and I got distracted. I bought TTYL by Lauren Myracle and a Megaman comic book for the boys. I wanted more, but I held back. Once I was home I quickly made dinner and cupcakes for Jaylen’s class since the next day was Jaylen’s actual 5th birthday.

Wednesday, the 18th – I dropped the boys off at school the next morning with cupcakes and Capri Suns. Since Eenan wouldn’t be involved in his brother’s festivites (different classes and all) I saved some cupcakes for Eenan at home and we had tons of Capri Suns left over. After I’m done dropping the stuff off and talking to Jaylen’s teachers I’m walking out and notice they’ve locked the gates. Grr. The last time that happened, I was 6 months pregnant and had been told not to lift anything over 10 lbs. and there I go having to push 60 lb. gates open. This time I wasn’t the only one trapped inside. Two other moms who have their children in Jaylen’s class were trapped inside with me. One of them got down and opened the gate so we followed her out. I was the last one but hell no I wasn’t going to close the gate. That was also the day they totally screwed up the Pre-K kids’ pick-up zone. It’s not at the North side of the school, which is really crowded and annoying. For some reason they’ve switched areas with the bus students.

After picking Jaylen up I went to Target with Mom and the kiddos to exchange the hearts blouse I’d bought on Monday. I ended up not liking how it fit me (even though I absolutely fell in love with the print and color) and exchanged it for a teal blouse:

I also exchanged Aly’s diapers. She’s in size 2 now :). She’s been so smiley, cute, girly, and screamy as of late. She’s even started laughing when we nuzzle in her neck and make raspberries on her tummy. And she’s developed this habit, where she likes to be in her swing with her lion pillow Pete and Sally gave her on her lap. Sometime–I’m not kidding you–that’s the only way to console her. And I think she’s going to be a hair-lover like Jaylen. Though her motor skills aren’t fully developed and don’t allow her to do what she wants to do with her hands, she does rub them around her hair when she’s drinking her bottle. It’s the cutest thing :).

After Target I stopped by Home Depot really quick to return a hose we’d bought for the wet/dry vac that was too small.

Noelia made a chocolate cake to celebrate Jaylen’s birthday. Before everyone got there Mary gave him her gift of a dinosaur comforter and shams and two Dinosaur books. That’s what he wanted, a blanket and books. Specifically, dinosaurs. He’s completely into dinosaurs again, which surprises me but I think it’s great. Dinosaurs are probably one of the coolest things kids could be into :).

I bought some of my photo albums over to Mary’s that night while everyone was there and I realized I look a lot like Jaylen and Alaethia when I was a baby. I always thought they took after Mario more, but after looking at a portrait of a little Mario I noticed Mario looked more like Eenan as a child! Crazy, this DNA thing! I need to scan and post those pictures into my Flickr. Hopefully by the end of the week.

Thrusday, the 19th – I don’t remember much from Thursday for some reason. I remember Mario getting out early from work but he was out with his uncles, I think? I don’t remember going anywhere–ah, yes! It was the day I tried to clean up and get things organized for the garage sale. But that never works out.

Friday, the 20th – Eenan was going on his bowling field trip. I’m not sure if it was for All A Honor Roll or The Millionaires Club (club for kids who’ve read 100,000 words, I think? But it doesn’t make sense–shouldn’t it be a million words?). Mario and I accompanied Jorge to a meeting he was to have about his new job down here while Mom stayed with Alaethia. Things fell through with Jorge’s appointment but we went to pick up the trailer at Sonia’s so that we could finally get the rest of our junk out of storage. John picked up Jaylen for us while we got all the crap out.

While we were getting everything out I noticed Jorge had a Dirt Devil vacumm in there and I jokingly say, “So, uh, you wanna give me this vacumm?” and he said, “Sure, if you want it. I already have 3 others.” Score! My Eureka broke down on me after 6 lovely years and I only bought a tiny little portable vacumm a few months ago. It pisses me off because it uncharges so quickly. I tried the Dirt Devil later on during the day and it’s AWESOME.

I had such a feeling of relief and like a 100 ton weight had been lifted off my shoulders as we stuffed the last box into the truck, strapped everything on the trailer down and drove out those gates. $45 we’re saving a month and no more calls that our payment hasn’t been received when I’d paid it a week before because of their crappy lack of documenting.

We got home and proceeded to sort through all the boxes. We spent the whole day outside sorting stuff. We even forgot about lunch. I was so stressed Mario kept getting on my nerves, even when he wasn’t purposely trying to. He was off helping Jorge most of the afternoon, which I didn’t mind at all since Jorge helped us out A LOT, but I felt so overwhelmed. And then Mario tells me his dad wanted all the stuff out by THIS WEEK. I started freaking out a little but Mary later told me I didn’t have to rush. Thank God.

Mario got home later on and helped me. Everyone came over since Jorge and Jose were leaving for Arizona the next day to try and fix as much as they can around Jorge’s house so he can sell it and build here in Texas soon. After Mario and I had put as many toys as we could into 1 gallon Ziploc bags (we plan on selling the bags full of toys for $1 each) we went in for some dinner since we were starving. We sat around and laughed with everyone for a while then went back out to tackle the toys. I have to admit I felt a pang of sadness as we decided which toys were going to be sold, which were most. Mario even put the vintage Spiderman toys in a bag for sale! Someone’s going to get really lucky with those.

I saved some stuff for Alaethia, even though Mario objected. He said, “She doesn’t need old stuff! We’ll buy her new stuff!” But you can’t find those toys anymore, so I’m keeping them whether he likes it ot not. But I’m so happy we completely went through the two 30 Gallon boxes and a few 15 gallon ones. I still have some to go though, but it won’t take long so I’m, uh, stalling.

Saturday, the 21st – We all ate breakfast and Mario left to work. I made the boys clean their room, which turned into a complete drama-fest. I even took incriminating pictures where they’re crying hysterically to keep as blackmaik for later :).

We didn’t end up leaving till 12 noon, which I hate since it means we won’t get home till even later. I picked burgers up from Whataburger for the boys since they wanted to use their Justaburger coupons. Jaylen fell asleep in the car so he didn’t eat his burger, but Eenan did. Our first stop was Goodwill and as soon as we get there, Jaylen throws an embarrassing fit. He’s in the cart Mom’s pushing screaming, “Give me my burger! I’m STARVING!” over and over again. I could not give him the darn burger or else we’d be kicked out so after 10 straight minutes of him screaming, I gave him a quick pinch on the arm and that only made it worse. I don’t know how Mom would do it. She’d hiss at us through her teeth when we were being pains and if we didn’t stop, we’d get a pinch and that would certainly make us shut up quick. It’s the opposite with my kiddos.

He eventually stopped, because he found a hot pink iDog and wanted it badly. I told him if he’d behave the entire rest of the time we were there, he could take it–IF it wasn’t super expensive. Mom and I walked around and looked for stuff but stock wasn’t as good this time as it usually is. I found a few scrapbooking supplies and Mom bought a cute lamp. Went to pay for everything and spent around $4–the iDog was $2.

Mom and I picked up Whataburger for ourselves when we were done at Goodwill. We went to Ross afterwards to exchange the blouse I wore for Jaylen’s party because it shrunk horribly. It could have fit a toddler as a nice dress.

It didn’t take too long to find something in exchange for it and I found a lampshade for Mom’s new lamp pretty quickly. The line was super long and it felt like I was never going to get to the darn register. When I finally did get there, the ladies laughed the whole time I was doing the exchange. That just goes to show how much my blouse shrunk!

We went to visit Gramma next. She held Alaethia for a good, long while and stupid me, I forgot my camera! She also told me, rather cryptically since Mom was there, that my grandfather went to visit her. She described him as short, very fair-skinned like Mom with dark glasses. I couldn’t understand much else of what she said, but I plan on giving her a visit when I’m alone.

Sunday, the 22nd – I woke up at 9:30 and bathed the boys. Took Eenan to CFF then came home and took a shower while Alaethia slept in her swing. I didn’t have time to bathe her, so stinky as she was we all went to church, including Mom. Mary usually takes Eenan with her, but since she was to be busy all of Sunday I took him. It’s awful of me, but I rarely go to church since Sunday’s are the only morning I actually get to sleep.

Anyway, all my kiddos behaved wonderfully. I’d bought the boys a little Crayola pack with markers and notebooks from Goodwill a few weeks ago and told them to take it with them. Worked like a charm. Alaethia was in such a good mood, too, thank goodness and only wailed once when it was time for a bottle.

When we got home I gave Aly a bath and Mario finally woke up (must be nice to sleep in till 12:30!). We had two parties to go to, so we waited for him to get ready.

As we’re leaving to the party Alaethia starts getting really fussy. I think she’s teething already. She got a slight fever and we started to panic, since I didn’t have anything with me. I started looking around my bag for Cindy’s number, to let her know we might not make it and at least ask for the girls’ sizes since we were on the way to get them a gift, and to my horror I remember the precise moment that I placed the paper I wrote her number on on my desk–and that’s where it stayed. It started to rain so that made it even worse. It was such a disaster. And I felt so bad since I’d already let Cindy know we’d be going.

We came back home and chilled out here, fully expecting it to start raining over here and get all the garage sale stuff wet, but it only sprinkled slightly. Aly was better in the afternoon, so we tried leaving the house again and all was fine. We were afraid Eenan would throw a tantrum, since he doesn’t usually like going anywhere with us (especially not to Jorge’s) but he made a new friend while we were there. The kids had a great time and Alaethia was in a pretty good mood, especially since I brought along her lion plush. I met a friend of Maggie’s who’s also a friend of Noelia’s who’s expecting her 3rd baby. We had some good laughs.

Monday, the 23rd – I OVERSLEPT. I guess I turned the alarm off, which I had set to 6:45 without realizing. I finally got around to waking up at 7:35am, which is the time the boys should be walking out the door so Elda can drop them off. I called Elda to let her know, then quickly got the boys’ breakfast (Kix) ready, got them dressed, brushed teeth and brushed hair and out the door we went. I got to the front of the school by 8:00am exactly. That was usually the time I’d end up dropping them off when I’d take them anyway. I’d try being out the door by 7:45, which is around the time they should be in their classroom, but we’d never make it on time LOL.

I was exhausted, to say the least, so I tried to sleep with Aly after Mario left to work. Well, she’d slept so much already she woke up, drank a bottle, then stayed awake. Which she usually doesn’t do. She fell asleep at 10:30 and I set the alarm to wake me up at 11. During my crappy 30 minutes of “sleep” I was woken up by Mario’s rats drinking water and because I heard a car get here.

Mom’s Goodwill lamp wasn’t working so we picked up Jaylen and went straight to put gas and to Goodwill. I didn’t find anything for myself, but I did find some brand-new velvet posters for them and a Pokemon neck pillow. We still had time till we had to pick up Eenan, so I stopped by the Texas Thrift store. I immediately found a book I’d wanted, What to Expect the First Year and went to look for a Popple I’d seen there before. I get to the register and they wouldn’t sell me the darn Popple because it didn’t have a price tag. I even spoke to the manager and she was a total bitch so it’s safe to say I’m never going back again. Why the heck wouldn’t you want to sell something? She made it seem like I pulled the tag off or something to cheat them. You’re a freaking thrift store, for chrissake.

Mom said I should have tossed the book in their face (like I threw the Popple on the counter) but I really wanted the book and I’d already paid for it LOL. We went to Michael’s next, where I read in Sunday’s ad that they were having a 70% off scrapbooking accessories sale. Sale, my butt. There was hardly anything and the papers were all thrown in boxes. A lady and I helped eachother out and got stuff out of boxes and showed eachother papers we thought the other would like. Half an hour later I’m done and I pay. I got loads of cute 12×12 papers for $.10 each! I can’t wait to scrapbook, if I ever get time. I have a Winkflash order of 22 photos coming soon and with that order and the other one I ordered before I have so much stuff to scrapbook with.

Mario got home around 9pm so we watched TV, put the boys to bed, I folded clothes and entertained Alaethia while he was online then he folded clothes while I updated and then carried her around till he got too sleepy. I stayed up an additional half hour with her and went to sleep at 12:30ish. She woke up at 5am for a bottle, which really sucks since I have to wake up at 6:45, but at least I get to sleep for a few hours straight.

Tuesday, the 24th – Alaethia turned 3 months old! I tried napping with her again in the morning but that didn’t work out. I got about an hour of broken sleep but she was all bright-eyed when she woke up since she slept from 5:30am to 9 and then from 9 to 10:30. I decided I wasn’t going anywhere since I’ve been “in the streets” all week, like Mom says, but after flipping through the scrapbooking papers I bought Monday I realized I was overcharged for some and I got 5 smaller ones I wasn’t too fond of. So after we picked Jaylen up from school, Mom, Aly, Jaylen and I went straight over there and I exchanged them. I still got some that were $.25, but most were $.10, which is great. Another lady and I were talking about the papers and how we love to scrapbook and she said, “This is an expensive hobby! Of course I told my husband I was coming!”

An elderly lady was talking to Jaylen, who was in the cart Mom was pushing around (I had Aly in her stroller). She’d heard Jaylen ask if he could be ungrounded since he was now behaving (he’d been throwing a fit in the car, as usual lately) and she thought it was the cutest thing. She said, “I think Mama will consider. I’ve noticed you’ve been a good boy.” He beamed and gave me a meaningful look, as if to say, “You see?”

The lady was in line behind me and as I patiently tell Jaylen, “Don’t touch the flowers or you might break the vase,” while I’m counting money, she tells me I’m a good mom. She said if I wasn’t, he wouldn’t have immediately listened to me. She said this just as a boy that looked around 2 threw a can of Coke at his mom and screamed behind us LOL. She’s the 2nd stranger to tell me this. The first one was another older lady who reached out and gently grabbed my arm to tell me as we were leaving an Applebee’s once. It makes me feel good :). Especially since I don’t always feel like I’m doing a 100% good job as a mom. It’s…reassuring.

I stopped by the Habitat For Humanity thrift shop to pick up two books I’d seen the last time (Bet Me by Jennifer Cruise and The Cat Who Covered the World by Christopher S. Wren–it looks cute!). I stopped by real quick to see Mario and then we picked up the kids. We got home and I got Eenan to start on his homework. John had called me while we were at Michael’s and complained that I always go everywhere without him and begged me to take him to Target. Jokingly, I say, “Buy me a blouse again and I’ll take you.” He said okay, a $10 one, and hello, you don’t have to tell me twice! So we go. I took the $10 instead after seeing the gas prices. $2.79–4 cents up since the morning. Everywhere else it’s still $2.63!

He got stuff what he needed at Target and I got a few groceries and two card making kits. He got a game at Game Stop and we came home. There was drama at home, but can’t really talk about it. Mario came home early and I made a quick dinner. The kids watched TV, bathed, then fell asleep. Aly’s stayed up till 12:30am again so I was a little irritated. Even moreso since I found out that Mario was messing with the computer and accidentally deleted my 50+ songs I’d downloaded last Tuesday and never got a chance to add to my iPod :(. But, at least he put up the coat rack I bought at Home Depot.

I was going to publish the entry last night but I jotted everything down in quick little notes and nothing made sense. So I’ve been fixing it little by little all day. I started at 11:30 and it’s 6:02 now. And that’s because most of the entry was already written. Never time for anything, I tell ya. I made sure to stay my butt at home today, but it’s not like I’ve gotten much done. I plan on getting at least the kitchen tidied up by the end of today. There’s still some yard sale bags all over the place so that doesn’t exactly make the house look neat. I can’t wait to have the yard sale!

I also can’t wait to start updating more frequently. I’m not liking having to cram all my days into one humungous entry! I’m sure you guys think the same thing ;).