Weekend of Birthdays

Well it’s taken me long enough. As usual, something always comes up when I feel like blogging, like a screaming baby for example. Either that, or Mother has me driving her around to thrift shops, can you believe it? (Heh, let’s blame only Mom for that one).

I’ve done not-a-thing around the house, even though I really should. I’ve been slowly getting to things today, like folding all the clean laundry but GOD. I HATE laundry!

I also have no motivation to clean as there’s boxes and bags of crap strewn all around the house. I’ve still not gotten the rest of my junk out of storage and Jorge (Mario’s godfather) didn’t take me seriously when I told him I needed help on Tuesday night. He just said to take the trailer myself. “It’s not hard to drive with a trailer!” Yeah, right. So I haven’t made any progress on the sorting for the yard sale. I really want to have that yard sale. The good thing is I probably won’t have to worry about where I’ll be storing my things! We emptied out the living room closet and Big Mario let me use his deer blind as a storage room, too! I plan to stack Rubbermaid totes to the top of each and hopefully I’ll get to keep all my collections here at home instead of someplace where they might get stolen. I’d just die of sadness if that ever happened!

Geez, I’ve already written a novel and I haven’t even gotten to the weekend’s activites!

Let’s see. On Friday, after picking Jaylen up from school, we went and cashed Mario’s paycheck, separated the bill money and then ate a quick lunch at McDonald’s. Since I’m on a “diet” I had a salad, buahaha. Now don’t laugh. I’d been doing really well on it. I knew though, that since there were many birthdays coming up, the few ounces I’d lost were going to be doubled :(.

Anyway, we went to Pet Smart to get some stuff Jorge needed for his dog and what did Mario do? He was taking forever and Alaethia and I’d been waiting in the car. She was getting antsy so I went in to look for him and Jaylen. There he was, in the furry animal section and he was buying RATS. Again! He missed his rats so much he fell in love with the only two that were for sale. A black and white one and a bald one. Ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, but he’s growing on me. Mario’s always wanted a bald rat. He “says” he bought the bald one because he didn’t want to separate them and have one die of sadness, but I think he just bought it because he wanted a bald rat. First thing I told him: YOU’RE cleaning out their cage! Not me! I’m not getting stuck with that atrocity this time. He won’t clean my turtle tank, so I won’t clean his rat cage. Fair is fair!

We went to a thrift store next. I remember seeing, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” there, hardcover, and it was in excellent, almost un-used condition. Totally had to get it for Sally (okay, that was her news. She’s preggers!! I didn’t mention it last time because I wasn’t sure if she’d want me to let the news out in case anyone she didn’t want knowing found out, but I think it’s okay! I’m SO stoked for them! Pete and Sally? Having a baby! Like, OMG!)

As I happily walked to the counter I noticed the lady who likes to charge a few extra bucks for everything was the cashier that day. Damn! I give her the book to ring up and brace myself for the price. “One dollar.” I handed it right over and didn’t say a thing. She did start up conversation about how the doctors don’t really walk you through stages of pregnancy anymore and you really have to rely on advice from friends and family. I had to agree. If I didn’t already know almost everything since I’d already had two kids, I would have been completely lost. Dr. C. hardly ever explained anything!

We rushed home to pick Eenan up from school then left the kiddos with Mom so I could go shopping real quick and so that we could go to Home Depot.

Mario gave me $100 for my birthday (because he didn’t know what to buy me LOL) and Mom gave me $40 (for the same reason). We went to Ross. The word Ross means “You’re going to be here at least two hours” and Mario knows that. He was not a happy camper. I did pretty good though. I found 21 blouses I liked almost immediately and since you can only take 8 shirts at once it took a while to try them all on. After everything I ended up with only 7 that I looked decent in. I actually looked decent in 9, but I left two behind (idiot). I also found a cute Levi’s flower-print bag and a photo album. All for $85!

Fun day of shopping, indeed. I would have been much happier but as I got to the car I could almost see steam billowing out of Mario’s ears. He’d left to the car sometime during the 20 minute wait in line. He tried being really nice though, since my birthday was the next day and all. Any other day and he definitely would have been livid.

I’d spoken to Sally to ask where we were going to meet to celebrate her birthday after all. Pete had let me know earlier during the week that he was taking her to Kumori’s, a sushi place, and that’s where we’d be meeting at 8pm. Mario nor I had ever had sushi and I thought it would be a great experience, so we made a date. We sped to Home Depot and it took us an additional hour to find everything we needed. Mario needed, what was it? Some tool, and tape and since we were using our card and had seen a sign that said “No interest for 12 months if you spend $299 or more on your credit card!” and fell for it like dumbasses, we went around looking for stuff we needed that would total up to $300. We ended up with a wet/dry vac, Mario got a jigsaw (which I really want to learn to use), a Dewalt radio (that charges with the tool charger), a hat/coat rack and other random stuff. We paid and rushed home and I changed. Mario stayed in his t-shirt and cargo shorts. I wanted to tell him to get a little more dressed up, but he was still fuming from having to wait so long at Ross so I just kept my mouth shut.

We finally made it to Kumori’s — 30 minutes late at that! I felt so embarrassed, especially since poor Pete had reserved the table since 7:30pm and he was there alone! I was nervous about trying the new food and I was afraid Mario wasn’t going to be a good sport, but I got the Fiesta Rolls and they were delicious! I have to cut them in half, which totally ruins the whole roll, but if I put the whole thing into my mouth it’s just wayyy too much stuff going on so I’d start getting tired of chewing LOL. Mario got spicy fried Calamari and it was delish. The misu soup was great and I really did have a great experience. We met Sally’s friends from work and their significant others and they were all really sweet. Each one of them let us try something and taught us how to eat whatever we were eating. I had an excellent time and Mario warmed up to everyone, thank goodness. He said he’d never try the sushi again, but he loved the calamari.

We took pictures outside and then left to Jalapeños, which is a bar and grill. I got to see Carmen and Karina again :). The girls kept trying to get me to dance, but I was stuck between Mario and Karina’s brother so I thankfully couldn’t get out. I’m not a dancer at all. I have no rhythm. Mario and I left to the bathroom once and when I came back they made me dance. I felt like a complete douchebag but I have to admit it was fun. The girls can dance though!

My feet were killing me by the end of the night. Well, not really the “end” of the night — I make it sound like we stayed there till it closed. No, this old lady was falling asleep by 11pm. We left at 11:30 since we still needed to stop by Wal-Mart and poor Mother was still with the kids. Jalapeños was quite an experience though. Live music by a cover band, loud and smokey. I hardly go to places like that but it was fun. I do love to talk and eat though and you couldn’t really do either.

We went to Wal-mart to get the rat bedding but not before I ran — barefoot — straight to the shoe department and got myself some new sandals for my aching feet. It was AWFUL. I’m never wearing those darn heels again! We got home at 1am (yes, we spent that long at Wal-Mart and then take into consideration the half hour drive home). I didn’t go to sleep till 1:30 since Alaethia woke up right when we got here.

There’d be no sleeping in the day of my birthday, the 14th. I got up early and got Mario’s things for work together and left with Mary at 8:15am. I didn’t have breakfast, which would have been my Special K cereal. Yadira asked Mary if she could stop by Aziz and pick up some tacos and cappuccinos for her and her co-worker. I ended up caving in and got a carnitas (fried pork) taco with a free 12 oz. cappuccino. I didn’t even know they did that!

We went straight to Mexico after that where Yazmin was getting her braces adjusted. They took forever. When she was finally let out we went to the candy store. I found no Darth Vader bags but got $35 worth of candy, which I think was pretty darn good. We went to get cigarettes for Mario and instead of getting him just a few boxes I got him a whole case, is it? I was so proud of my decision, because it was a great deal (even Mary got some for Jorge), but when I took them to Mario later we realized I got the wrong ones. Great. Our last stop was the pharmacy, where we picked up birth control and chips. The wait for crossing the bridge was almost an hour long. While we were waiting Mary bought me a fruit cup. I tried to enjoy it but the man drowned it in chile!

Mario called when we were finally driving back over here and asked if I wanted to be dropped off so we could go to lunch at Jesse’s (one of my favorite Mexican restaurants) to celebrate my birthday. I said Sure! On the way there Mary asked what I wanted to do. I already felt a little sad that nobody asked if I wanted to get together or anything during the week. Usually everyone’s birthdays are planned days, even weeks ahead of time and this year nobody bothered to ask. I really did feel shitty. Since we didn’t have plans Mario and I decided we’d go eat at Olive Garden with friends and have lunch with the kids. Well, since it was already lunchtime and we weren’t with the kids it threw everything off. I didn’t want to spend all kinds of money on dinner, even though it was my birthday. I wanted it to go as planned, but let’s face it: it never does :(. After I told Mary my plans she said she needed to call everyone and tell them about not going over for ice cream cake, which is what she was planning. I immediately felt guilty and thought of the kids and how I hadn’t seen them since the night before so I decided not to go to the Olive Garden. I would have felt guilty spending MORE money what with Jaylen’s party the next day. So I decided to have the Dairy Queen ice cream cake after all.

I was dropped off and as soon as I get inside the shop Mario asks, “Did my Mom leave yet?” I say yes and ask why. He says because he got the shaft and got busy doing a custom job with one of the guys. I told him he should have called me to let me know not to stop by but he said he didn’t even have time. I walked around the shop for a while and then Mario took me to the breakroom. He said he’d try and finish as quick as possible. I spoke to Mayra for about an hour to pass the time. And he still wasn’t being let go for lunch. I tried my hardest not to get frustrated but my patience was wearing thin. I kept thinking, “It’s my birthday for Chrissake!” and started feeling really moody and emotional. He peeked around the door when I started feeling like this and asked me if I wanted to leave or pick something up for us to eat. I said no, I’d wait. I didn’t want to have to pick something up and eat in the darn breakroom and I mean, c’mon? How was I going to just leave with his car? How would he go to lunch when they finally decided to let him out? So I waited. After another half hour I got tired of waiting and got ready to leave. As I’m walking towards the shop to find Mario I feel a lump the size of a tennis ball form in my throat just thinking of how shitty it was going to be that I had to go home and how awful my whole birthday was going to be. As I’m blinking away tears two girls from the store are approaching me as they’re making their way to the breakroom. Then a whole bunch of people start meandering all over the place and suddenly want to talk when I have this darn knot in my throat. I couldn’t find Mario anywhere and I just wanted to leave. He never showed up and then it happened. The tears started flowing out. Stupid Transitions lenses; they don’t get dark enough. Everyone could tell I was bawling my eyes out. Mario finally appears and I ask him for the keys. He can see that I’m beyond frustrated so he goes to get them. He took forever. He’d clocked out and said we were leaving to eat immediately.

I’m still bawling as we arrive at Jesse’s. He was being an incredibly good sport though and was sort of just ignoring that I was silently crying. I kept trying to make myself stop but I just couldn’t! I didn’t even know WHY I was that emotional. Most of the time my plans are ruined anyway, not to sound so pessimistic but it’s true, and I can usually deal pretty well. But not this time. Mario continued to talk about things and was sort of trying not to mention what was going on so that I wouldn’t feel worse. He never once snapped at me and just let me bawl while looking over the menu. I made the poor waiter uncomfortable and everyone around us was just staring since we took a table that was in the center. Even the manager kept staring.

I calmed down since Mario kept carrying conversation but everytime I remembered something my lips would start quivering and the tears would flow again. And I swear, I wasn’t PMSing! I guess I just want to have a nice birthday, just one year, where everything goes right. Where it’s my day.

I did have some delicious beef enchiladas with salsa and guacamole. On the way back to drop him off I appologized for being such a pain and he was very understanding. When we leaned over to hug eachother he said, “It’s okay. It’s your birthday and you can cry if you want to.” That’s why I married the man.

I was tired and still feeling down so I was dreading having to go to Party America, but I had to find goody bags for the party. I called Ricci to ask how many children she was bringing with her, because she has 3 girls of her own and I wasn’t sure how many sons her ex-mother-in-law had (she was sending them with her). She said she’d most likely make it, so I added 5 extra goody bags to the list. I planned on only making 20, but since I added 5 more I figured I’d just make 30, just in case, since most of the candies come in even numbers and sometimes people bring extra kids.

I browsed through the entire store and found some Darth Vader bags hidden on an endcap. 8 baggies for $3 — um, no thanks. I figured I’d just buy black ones to match Darth Vader, and I found some: 20 bags for $1.79. I got 2 packs, a ribbon that said “Birthday Boy!”, some candles and some Spiderman cupcake cups since I was making some for Jaylen’s class on his actual birthday, Wednesday the 15th.

I called Mom and Mary to let them know I was on my way home. As I’m getting into Sharyland I realize I forgot to get something in town the day before: diapers for Alaethia and…there’s something else, but I couldn’t remember.

I cut through three lanes of traffic (safely, of course) to get to the exit for Target. I bought a white tank top to go under some of my new blouses (why’s everything so darn see-through these days?), the diapers, an outfit for Alaethia for Sunday, and some other random junk. When I’m getting home I suddenly remember what I needed to get: shirts for the boys for the party! I’d have to go back the next morning.

I spent the rest of the day moping around and then making the party bags for Jaylen’s party. It was a disaster. I realized some of the candies I’d bought, some I remember from childhood, were completely dried up. No wonder the darn man at the candy shop sold them to me for so cheap!

The bags were so narrow that the darn chip bags wouldn’t fit into the goody bags so I had to leave them out. Grr. I didn’t even buy party favors or anything since I was so sure the bags would be nice and full. They looked really empty, especially since I made the 30 bags. If I’d made the original 20 there would have been plenty to double up with and make nice, full bags.

Mario called around 7pm to pick him up. John volunteered to go with me. He made me laugh all the way over there and we even vented about how crappy our birthdays have been the past few years. It was mostly my fault his birthday sucked last year. I was working and the boys had dentist appointments and John took them for me when all he wanted to do was spend the day at the mall and have some cake. But he got no cake either :(.

I was laughing the whole time we were in the car waiting for Mario. As usual, they tell him he can go and then hold him up. When Mario finally got into the car he said they could all hear me laughing hysterically. When John’s trying to sing songs in Spanish, you just can’t help but laugh that way LOL.

We came home and then we had some Ice Cream Cake. Best thing EVER. Annie, Cat and the kids came over and so did Elda, Jose, Jorge and all the kids. Yadira, Tommy and their kids were already heading to dinner instead of coming over to have cake, which made me feel a little worse, but they ended up coming over. I tried to forget about everything that happened that day, though, and slapped on a fake smile. I didn’t even take decent pictures. I had no desire to put makeup on or anything =\. And now I regret it.

This’ll be it for now. I’ll update again later about Jaylen’s party on Sunday up until today. This blog got incredibly long and I don’t know how much longer Mario can keep Alaethia calm and quiet. She’s been cooing like crazy lately and has actually laughed a few times! Especially when I nibble in her neck. She’s also got this weird habit of wanting to be in her swing with a throw pillow on her lap. It’s the only thing that’s calmed her down for a nap lately. Being carried by Daddy helps, too.

I’m in shock that Jaylen’s FIVE already. Everyone always asks if he’s the older one and my heart sinks with panic when I say, “Nope, he’s the youngest boy!”

Oh, and Eenan has his first crush. My kiddos are growing so fast :(.