Author: Yajaira

I’m starting to think that maybe this whole school thing wasn’t such a good idea. Don’t get me wrong; I’m thrilled about going and I love what I’m learning, but I can’t think good thoughts and be happy about it when I’m not sure how we’re going to make it through the two weeks till Mario’s next paycheck. At this point, I’m not even sure how we’re going to buy groceries.

Mario was expecting a nice, hefty check this pay period. He’d done a big system in a Jeep and then he and Albert worked on that airplane. He made about $250 less than what we anticipated he’d make. I need to pay my damn tuition payment, which is $125. That money could go towards groceries, or things we need around the house. I was so excited when Mrs. C-R was telling us about our Word Expert Certificate exam. The best score is a 1000 and a passing score is 630. I’m almost positive I can pass it, not exactly with a 1000, but I can pass. She also said she’d give students who got a 1000 $25 out of her own pocket. She then told us if we pass all 4 parts of the test (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint) we get our Masters as a Microsoft Specialist. THEN, she told us how much it would be to take the test: $70-$85. Doesn’t sound like too much, but when you’ve got all these other bills…

I seriously don’t know how we’re gonna do it . I started bawling my eyes out while we were talking with Mary and instead of Mario being compassionate and understaning he yells, “Don’t start. You’re pissing me off. I already told you I’d take care of it.” Real nice.

AND THEN, Aunt Nora and everyone else told Mom they don’t want Jaylen going over there. I don’t know why, but they don’t. If we ever get into the CCMS program, we were going to drop Jaylen off over there and Mom would watch him and she’d get paid for it (and she could finally quit her job). John and I could go to school together and all would be peachy. But, as luck would have it, things never seem to work out for me. I’m really pissed at Aunt Nora.

*sigh* Anyway, enough of that.

We got our study guides back…I got a 92 :), which is pretty darn good considering a lot of the class got 60’s. We did a quick review of Chapter 10, the last chapter before our exams on Tuesday. It’s safe to say I forgot every single thing. Mrs. C-R spent so much time getting some students “on the same page” that by the time she got to the next section, I’d already forgotten how to do the previous. Good thing I copied the files onto my jump drive; I’ll study them here at home this weekend.

I helped Mrs. C-R install Word 2003 to Lucy’s laptop and Mayra’s computer. Ricci and I didn’t leave school till 1. Went to pick up Mario’s check, cashed/deposited it at the bank (and almost side-swiped someone on the way there because my dumbass self always gets into the farthest lane instead of the closest. Mario constantly tells me not to do that and now I know why ), took $100 back to Mario for lunch, gas, and whatever else, went to H-E-B to get some pretty flowers for Mom since it’s her birthday, took them to her at work (she loved them !) and then we finally came home. I got down at Ricci’s to say hi to her grandma and we talked for a bit. I didn’t even get to call Rejeana to get directions to her house to go see Renetta and her new baby! I feel so bad. Gotta jot it down and remember to go see them.

I guess that’s it. I’ve done my bitching for today. Gonna TRY and watch XXX State of the Union with Mario and John. I feel so tired and sleepy already. Gotta wake up at 7:30 to go exchange Eenan’s clothes (we went yesterday, but Jaylen threw the most embarrassing fit on the floor of JCPenny, so we came home). I was supposed to get a haircut, but I don’t think I will. Eenan definetly needs one; gotta go do that too. I don’t even feel like going to the wedding anymore. Everyone’s gonna be all glammed up (nails done, hair styled/some highlighted) and I’m going to look like absolute crap. Blah, we also gotta go to Circuit City and get a few bucks back (thank GOD).

I never just get to CHILL OUT.

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At school updating again. Kind of funny I update more at school than I do at home, heh. We’ve got 10 minutes before Mrs. C-R picks up the rest of the study guides from the rest of the class. It was hard. We started it yesterday and I finished the rest of it at home…took me a pitiful hour and a half! When we came back today though, I was relieved to find out I’m not the only one having trouble with it. I wonder how many I missed?

Since I got done with the study guide at home, I sat with Mrs. C-R at her desk and she gave me a little tutorial on a graphics program (that came with Word and I don’t remember). She made such awesome stuff and gave me the names of some sites to get nice backgrounds off of. I can’t wait to get started. I want to make some really nice pictures to hang up on our walls. Cuate and Mario moved the weight bench out yesterday so now we actually have some empty space in the living room (yep, it was in the living room; total eyesore!). Since the weight bench isn’t there, now that huge, unfinshed closet isn’t as masked as it used to be…so I really need to buy some nice fabric to make a long, long curtain. I hope I can find something with squares in the colors navy blue, baby blue, orange and green. Those colors really look nice together. Mario didn’t believe me until I showed him .

Speaking of Cuate, Mario had him do this HUGE tattoo on his back. I’ll try and get some pictures up. It’s a tat of a cross in memory of Anthony, his cousin who passed away when he was 13 from cancer.

Just got done with Chapter 10’s key terms. Our last chapter, eek! We have our exam on Tuesday. I’m SO glad it isn’t set for Monday since that’s when Eenan starts school and I have no idea how that’s gonna go. I think I’ll wake him up whenever I wake up (which’ll now have to be 6 and not 6:20 ) and get us both ready. Hopefully,we’ll be ready by 7:15 so I can drop him off, meet with the teacher and so forth, then leave for school and hopefully not be late.

We have so much to do this weekend. Eenan and I need haircuts, we need to exchange the clothes that fit him too big (of course, he’s short like his mama). We need to get him a few more pairs of clothes and I forget what else.

I volunteered John to babysit during the wedding, which he doesn’t mind since we’ll be paying him for. I can’t imagine being out with the kids at a formal occassion like that for a few hours–they’ll go stir crazy and I can already see them running amuck around the hall, and I can see Jaylen screaming his head off and hiding under the table . It’s getting harder and harder to go out in public with them–sad to say, but it’s true. I had a horrible time on Tuesday when I took John to his follow-up appointment at the doctor’s. And I thought they’d get better as they got older. Boy was I wrong .

Oh gosh, I totally forgot to call the doctor’s office to set up an appointment for Eenan’s 6 year physical…brb.

K…it’s set for 6:30. Gotta get his vaccines, if he needs them, before they don’t let him into school.

Alrighty, done babbling. I’m on my last break and I don’t think we’re gonna get to finish this chapter and our test’s on Tuesday!!

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I had a great day on Thursday. Maybe it was just that I was uberly excited about having a 3-day weekend, but that day was radiating with goodness.

I had an assload of trouble with my assignment that day–which sucked, because I HATE having a hard time with anything. Usually, everyone’s asking help from me, but that day I was asking help from Romeo and Kimberly, who are sweeties and helped me figure everything out (and then I helped everyone else figure it out LOL). I now understand fill-in fields and Ref Fields in Word. I thought I understood them when we were doing the tutorial with Mrs. C-R, but I was obviously wrong! But other than that, my day was awesome.

I took my tower in and Mrs. C-R installed Word 2003 for me. How freaking awesome is that?? I was so happy about it, since I had ancient Word 1997 on my computer. I love Word . You can do so many things with this version. I went crazy yesterday saving all the bookmarked pages of my favorite Crafts to Word, for easy viewing. Before, if I saved any, I’d save only the text in Notepad, which sucks because you usually need a visual reference. I just love it .

Ricci treated me to Stars after school and then we chilled out at my house for a while. Mario had the day off and was being a total…prick is the best word I can think of at the moment. I finally snapped at him after I’d had enough (and had been embarrassed enough) and he behaved himself .

I wire-tied the computer wires together and made the back of the desk all nice. Before, if we dropped something back there we’d find it easily since it always landed in the nest of wires. Now, something will definitely break if it falls back there since the wires are nice and tidy.

That night, I went around feeding all of my pets and found it a bit strange that Pecan didn’t start furiously munching on his cage when he heard me rustling through the bags of food. I got a handful of Hamster food, opened his cage and he still didn’t run up and try to bite my hand off. After searching around his cage, I found him in the corner, dead . My poor little old guy. We’ve had him for over 2 years, and the life span of a Siberian Hamster is only 3 years . I scooped him into my hand and sadly stroked his fur. I sorrowfully tell John, who was in shock that Pecan died, “Well, at least I can touch him now.”

John dramatically yelled at the ceiling, “Why him?? Why not me???” He sure knows how to make light of a situation LOL.

I felt so bad; I even cried a little. I’d just been telling Ricci earlier that day about Pecan, my peace offering from Mario. I’ll miss the little, evil guy . I’m never, ever getting a Siberian Hamster, as cute as they are, again. They just don’t live long enough *cries*.

I went down Main Street in McAllen with Noelia and the boys on Friday. She was looking for some white shoes and she wanted to get some nice shirts for the boys, since we’re trying to convince Mario to take a family portrait. The boys are getting older and we don’t have one family portrait.

Anyway, I saw so many nice things in the little shops. There are some really cute beaded shoes I want to go back for and a whole bunch of cute shirts. Noelia even bought some backpacks for the boys: a Spongebob one for Jaylen for $2.99 and a Yu-gi-oh one for Eenan for $1.99!

After we got home I started writing Eenan’s name on all his school supplies and then at 6:30 we went to the Watermelon Feed at Eenan’s school. I found out who is new teacher is and they were passing out supply lists (which I already had—we’re almost done with buying his supplies!). We had a few watermelon slices and Eenan had a blast playing with Sammy, Brandon and Jaylen on the playground. We saw Ms. Ortiz, Eenan’s kinder teacher and her new baby, who has the most gorgeous blue eyes, ever!

I went to JCPenny with Mary yesterday. She took Eenan shopping for some school clothes. The Arizona brand was having a sale where you buy something at regular price (which, in some cases, were already on sale) and you got a 2nd at a dollar. She got him two nice dressy shirts, 3 cute T-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts. She also got Jaylen two dinosaur T-shirts and spent $104! I think that’s pretty darn good. We just need to get Eenan his shoes, a few more shirts and some more jeans (he’s still got lots of good shorts for last year) and he’ll be all set for 1st grade .

Later that day we went to visit Mario’s grandma and then went to a party at the “new” Gorilla George’s. It’s now called Jagz, and it now SUCKS. Before, you’d pay for each pizza, and depending on which package you ordered, you’d get so many bracelets for the kids to ride the rides all day. Now, they have to pay up to $1.50 PER RIDE. It’s like Mr. Gatti’s, where you put X amount of money on a card and they swipe it at each ride. What parent wants to go to a party and spend y’know? They also individually count each adult and child, which means you’re paying even more. THEN, the darn rides eat up double the money it costs to ride, which is completely unfair. There’s workers floating about, but they’re wearing civilian clothing, not a uniform, so you can’t tell them apart and ask them to check the machines and give you your money back. I think it’s really crappy. It’s safe to say we won’t ever have a party there for the kids scared the crap out of me because Jorge and Hiram were acting weird when she asked about a new girl at work? Well, there definitely is a new cashier and we just find it strange and unsettling that they were acting so nervous when she asked. She asked how things were going for me at school and after telling her how great it’s been she got really excited and said she’d love to go. For some reason though, Jorge doesn’t want her to go. He says the tuition, which is $11,850 for 9 months (and isn’t bad because it’s a private college), is the same as “a car”, and didn’t even want to hear about it when she started telling him. I wish she could go. God knows he makes enough money to afford the monthly tuition charge. But I don’t know; I feel so bad for her. I’m just glad Mario’s so supportive.

Plans for today include wasting away in front of the computer for a few hours, making 2 CDs Mario wants, making a copy of my ROM’s for my friend Joe, then laundry, mopping, and trying to put together Eenan’s darn portable closet, which took a crap for the 4th time .

Aw. I’m listening to “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain and I miss Mario terribly. It’s going to be one of Chris and Nancy’s wedding songs. They get married next Saturday. How exciting! I need to get my hair did .

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