Category: Decorating

The title says it all. I was in the front office all day again today and it was much less nerve wracking than it was yesterday. It would get hectic at times–with 3-4 calls at once–but then I’d have these nice 10 minute gaps of silence. Everyone who passed would look at me sympathetically and say, “It’s boring, isn’t it?” But I enjoyed the peace and quiet.

My quiet moments in the morning were spent reading articles on CNN.com and Yahoo.com. Then we went to lunch. We were treated to Subway today, YUM! The girls and I sat around and talked about my pregnancy again. They’d asked if I’d told Mrs. V. yet since I’m going to quit right after the baby’s born and I said yes–it went much better than I thought it would. Most of them said it was a great thing to stay home with the two little ones. I’m thrilled about it, to tell you the truth. I know I’m making the right choice :).

After we got back from lunch I went to my desk to get my book and read part of the afternoon and then they brought over the messenger bag back packs we’re giving away during registration. My job was to put a notebook and ruler and in each bag. I got done pretty fast with those, then started alphabetizing some forms for Mrs. V. I almost got done with those.

We got to leave half an hour early because we only took a 30 minute lunch, so that was awesome. It was so nice and relaxing driving home. It was overcast and sprinkling and the a/c felt divine. Got home, joked around with John, sat outside with Mom, the kids and the in-laws for a while, took Mom to Dollar General and then went back to chill out with the in-laws. They were bar-b-q’ing and invited us for dinner. It was great just sitting outside with no worries. I didn’t have to make dinner or lunch for tomorrow since they’re treating us and Mario switched his days off so he’s off tomorrow instead of Friday. I spoke to Aunt Nora on the phone for a while (who called to congratulate Mario on getting past the first two parts of the Border Patrol process). I watched half of Return to Oz with the kids. They’d been itching to watch it and I finally found it. All 3 of them were sitting down quietly watching the whole thing. Alaethia won’t sit still for cartoons (well, except for PopPopPants once in a while, which is Spongebob Squarepants) but she’ll sit completely through both Oz movies!

I feel so relaxed right now. I helped Mario out with upholstering our kitchen chairs a little, but Alaethia’s moody because she’s sleepy so here we are, in bed while I type and we watch the Olympics. I hope she sleeps through the night tonight. I even gave in and let her have some milk instead of her usual water because it sucks that she wakes up at 3 and then at 6–one hour before I have to wake up to get ready!

Goodnight!

It’s been in the upper 30s and 40s since yesterday. It finally feels like winter. I realized today that I loved winter a lot more when I was a stay-at-home mom and didn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn in the freezing cold to go to work. It was much nicer when I could just snuggle in bed with the kids all morning =\.

I’d also enjoy the cold a lot more if it weren’t the same temperature inside my workplace as it is outside. Seriously. It’s like 40-50 degrees in the library. We’d spent all last week with sweat trickling down our backs and they finally fixed and set the air conditioning at 65° — a day before the “cold front” made its way down here. And since the air’s constant, it doesn’t turn off when it’s cold out or anything. We have no control over it and it’s awful! My boss was wearing her husband’s thick hunting jacking and I was wearing a thick cable-knit hoodie sweater AND my big poofy coat. It’s been cold and unbearable the past few days. I was actually pretty comfortable today though, except for my hands, which felt like they’d crack from frostbite.

So much has happened since I last updated, and yes, I realize I still haven’t updated with the second half of that entry. I just never have time for anything other than work, the kids and maybe squeezing some alone time with Mario, if we’re lucky. (Either that, or it just so happens that I finally have the computer on my lap, ready to type up an entry or something, and Mario suddenly “needs” to use it, too.) I’ve learned to balance my time much more effectively than when I first started working though, so that’s good. I just wish I had a bit more time for myself (at least half an hour!) and at least 2 more hours of sleep per night. But other than that, I’m pretty satisfied with life at the moment.

Work is great. We’re finally having this semester’s orientation and have officially opened the library. All the books are on the shelves (I had lots of help, but I busted my ass getting those darn books up!) and everything’s being set up little by little. We still don’t have electrical drops or phone jacks, therefore we still don’t have our computers set up and we’re working from laptops but we’re managing. Mrs. V. and I used to joke around when we first moved in that it was like we were our very own little third world country, but it’s gotten much better since then. What a difference two weeks make!

The boys are doing magnificently in school. They’re both great readers and are doing well in practically all subjects and I’ve gotten back into the habit of having them read 30 minutes before running off outside or playing their 30 minutes of video games. I had a chance to get some free books from work, so the kids can’t say they don’t have any new books to read, heh. I’m glad they don’t give me trouble about reading and I hope to maintain that routine till they’re in middle school, at least. I see some of our middle schoolers and how nobody encourages them or cares if they read and these kids are at 1st-3rd grade reading levels. It’s sad!

Alaethia’s just a joy. She’ll be a year old (eek!) on the 24th and I’m in the middle of planning her party. It won’t be anything extravagant at all, just close family and friends. We figured we wouldn’t go all out this year since she doesn’t even know what’s going on. Maybe when she’s 3. I just really can’t believe how fast this year’s gone by. We’re already mid-January…before you know it it’ll be Valentine’s day and then I’ll be planning Jaylen’s 6th birthday party. Then Eenan’s 9th. Holy cow, I’m going to have a nine-year-old!

Alaethia’s learning more words every day. She says mama, dada, pamper (pamp-oh), papa (which means “food” in Spanish slang), hi, by, yay, and other stuff I can’t remember at the moment. She’s still not walking completely on her own; she still needs help from people or furniture, but she’s getting there. Her favorite snacks are those little Gerber puffs and she finally learned to drink from a straw — at Taco Bell LOL. Oh yeah, and she shakes her bootie. Like, literally shakes it and moves her little hips and everything. When she started doing this I asked Mom, “What do you teach her while I’m at work, woman!?”

Aww, Eddie and Sylvia’s baby was born today! About a week early (he was due on Aly’s birthday, actually). How cute!

We spent tonight at home. Mary picked up Chick-fil-A for dinner and then Chris and Mario took the TV over to Mary’s house and we all watched Resident Evil 3 over there (which Alaethia and Matthew caused mischief and tried beating each other up). It was a nice night :).

I think that’ll be all for now. I’m going to have some nice hot chocolate and watch some HGTV. I’ve been really into decorating and color schemes lately. I actually painted my bathroom (lilac) 2 weeks ago, the Sunday before I went back to work. It looks pretty cool. Took some getting used to after having stark-white walls for 8 years but it’s growing on me. Now I just need a nice new shower curtain and a bath rug. I kind of wanted to go to Ross and check out what they have, but it’s too cold and rainy to drive. Actually, I’m going to have to pick Mom up from an appointment tomorrow morning and then go to a birthday party in the afternoon. Man. I’d really like to just stay in one of these weekends, especially when it’s cold and dreary like this. Mario just bought a new Wii controller off of Eddie’s friend (Angela had accidentally flung our second one through a frame a while back so we were left with only one) and it would be nice to play Cooking Mama (one of my Christmas gifts from Mario) or Super Mario Galaxy with the boys tomorrow. On our new 47″ TV Mario just *had* to get this past Tuesday (and so I missed American Idol–grr!). That thing is massive. It looks like a 60″ in my tiny living room!

Okay, I was going to save and publish but the internet’s down. My luck, right?

I just finished reading The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, and although it was a sudden ending (I want MORE, DARNIT!), I really loved the book. Now I can start on Shopaholic and Baby!

I have to run a few errands but I figured it’s a good a time as any to start this post — because I will post it today! Alaethia’s still asleep because she kept me up till 1am last night. She was literally tossing and turning and rubbing her face between the pillows until I was so exhausted that I put her in her crib. Then she fell asleep with no problem. Figures.

Okay, I left off on Saturday, Dec. 15th previously. I forgot to mention, Rolando, Eenan’s best friend, had slept over Friday, the night of my Christmas party, because they had a UIL meet the next morning. Mom babysat all of them for us and said they were very well behaved. I was still very tired since I didn’t get to sleep much, but I got them ready and dropped them off. I picked them, and Angela, up at noon. For some reason, Eenan didn’t get to participate in one of the categories but got 4th place in the other.

As the kids are piling into the car I smell something. Alaethia had poopie. I get to changing her and am horrified to see that she’s got diarrhea. She’d just had a diaper change before we’d left home, yet she’d already developed an awful diaper rash. Her first severe diaper rash, ever.

We rush to drop Rolando off, and of course I get distracted talking to his mom, Maxine, and catching up on things. We all rush to Catherine’s birthday party, which is all the way in Mission. As we’re arriving I notice that Alaethia’s gone to the bathroom again. It was awful. I’d never heard such blood-curdling screams while changing her diaper. It was heartbreaking.

The boys had fun at the party and I ran into Art and his little boy. He’s so big already!

After the party we went home and just chilled out the rest of the day. Poor Alaethia was not up for anything else. She was sick for about 4 days, poor thing.

With a pang of guilt I realize it must have been the queso fresco we’d eaten the night before that might of gotten her sick. Hypchondriac, paranoid mother that I am, I start panicking that she’s got some kind of weird bacterial or viral disease because I fed her bad cheese. But no. A visit to the doctor let’s us know otherwise: she’s got a virus. Although I feel horrible for her I’m glad it wasn’t me that caused her to get sick. Now I know: no more queso freso for her!

On Dec. 20th we drove through the Festival of Lights on Ware Road, at the park. It was nice. We bought some kettle corn and switched the car radio to the station that had accompanying Christmas music.

Friday, Dec. 21st – We picked up Noelia and went to Wal-mart, Long John Silver’s, and the mall. Aly got a Care Bear that she picked out herself at K-B Toys.

Sat, Dec. 22nd – We visited Gramma at the nursing home. Her hair was done in braids. We delivered her Christmas gifts. Of course she says, “Why did you bother?” as always.

Sun, Dec. 23rd – We celebrated Andy’s birthday at Mary’s. Andy and Noelia were leaving early, so the kids, Mom and I visited Pete and Sally and Quentin. We took over some cookies I’d made and the boys had some that Pete and Sally gave to us. The boys behaved a little wildly, which was kind of embarrassing. Alaethia was a good girl. She even let Pete carry her for a few seconds LOL. Sally’s done wonderful things with their house. I loved the color of their kitchen! It was teal.

Mon, Dec. 24th – Aly was shaking her bootie! Like, really shaking it. It was the cutest thing :).

The women did some last minute baking and wrapping, as always. Angela and Eenan were very busy getting everything ready for Santa that night. Angela was in charge of the stockings and Eenan made a sign for Santa so he’d find his cookies.

Tues, Dec. 25th – We woke the kids up early, though not as early as all the other years because everyone else doesn’t get here till around 8:30. So we woke them up at 8. We had to put the monitor on for Alaethia because she was being a lazy bump and wouldn’t get up.

The boys opened up all their gifts, and loved their “main” one, the limited edition Zelda DS.

Jaylen, as you can see, looks very sleepy still LOL.

Alaethia had a great time during her first Christmas. She was more interested in ripping off wrapping paper than her actual toys and clothes, but she had fun.

Wed, Dec. 26th – We stayed home and enjoyed the mess and new stuff. The kids were all so excited with their new gadgets and games. Alaethia especially loved one of her gifts from Mary, which was a Laugh and Learn table. She shook her bootie to the songs like there was no tomorrow!

Thurs, Dec. 28th – We celebrated Grandpa D’s birthday here at Mary’s.

Fri, Dec. 30th – We went to the movies…though at this point, many months later, I can’t remember what we watched.

Sat, Dec. 31st – New Year’s Eve! Always fun. I think we went to the movies. We bought fireworks. It was cold outside, but we popped fireworks anyway. Just covered Alaethia up really well so she’d be warm. The boys had fun. Mario was letting them pop fireworks on their own, which made me really uneasy, but he was watching them. Alaethia looked so cute. Yadira, Noelia and I put 4 pig tails on Alaethia and she looked too cute!

1-4 – We visited Gramma. Aly was hugging and snuggling with her. Gramma couldn’t stop laughing, because Alaethia was doing her burrowing thing when she was snuggling up with her. Gramma had a nice, soft blanket, which drives Alaethia crazy. She loves soft blankets!

1-5 – We went to Mexico to get candies for Alaethia’s party. We were wary because of the frequent recalls of Mexican candies due to lead poisoning. It’s mostly tamarindo/chile candies that have lead though, so we steered clear of most of them.

We got almost everything we needed. We got some centerpiece plushes, Strawberry Shortcake, of course. And some Strawberry Shortcake tin boxes for the candies. We got a bottle of Buchanans and a case of cigs for Mario. And when we were back here we went downtown to see everything for Natalie’s 15th. Got home, unloaded and went back to town with mom and the kids. I bought some lilac paint from Walmart that was on sale. I’d get to painting the bathroom sometime.

1-6 – I spent the last day of my vacation painting the bathroom the lovely shade of lilac I’d bought at Wal-Mart. I went with Mario to the hardware store to get supplies (his dad needed some for a project, too) and Dollar General. I did the texture first and after it dried I painted. It actually dried a few shades darker than than the paint chip, but oh well. I finished by the end of the day. I was exhausted and SO not looking forward to waking up at 5:20am for work the next morning.

1-7 – Tired. Arrived to work…to an empty parking lot! Grr. Then it dawns on me–it’s a Workday which means no students. Which means we go in at 8am!! I could have been sleeping! As I’m frantically searching the website on my Centro a counselor arrives. At least I wasn’t the only one! We discussed what we should do. She said the custodian had just arrived, so she was going to stay. Like hell I was going to stay all alone doing nothing. I hadn’t even brought my book with me! I thought of the gas I was going to waste, but I went home and slept…for about 10 minutes. Blah.

I left the house at 7:40 and got to work just in time. My boss got there late and I’d already started working on a few things. She reminded me about a meeting and breakfast being served at the cafeteria, so I went along. Mrs. V., a few other teachers and myself chilled out till around 9:30.

1-10 Alaethia is obsessed with deer jerky. So am I.

1-11 – I got my Christmas bonus! Well, it’s not exactly a bonus since we “save” $58 from our paycheck every month. I’d been wondering when we’d get it.

We started getting the final things ready for our students to start circulating again. I came home and we bar-b-q’d. I played outside with the kids. Mario took our bedroom TV outside and we watched movies out there. When we go in to eat at Mary’s a Lack’s business card floated to the floor when I opened the door. Hmm.

1-12 – I dropped Mario off at work, late, and he was pissy. He knows he’s going to leave the house late when I drop him off. I don’t know why he expects any different.

We went to Goodwill. I only had Jaylen and Aly and Mom went, too of course. We got lots of bargains!

We picked up Taco Bell and visited Gramma. She caught me completely off guard and asked when she was going home :(. I felt so horrible. I didn’t know what to say. I told her we didn’t have the resources to care for her the way they can at the nursing home. She was teary-eyed and everything. It was heart breaking :(.