Category: Job Hunt/Work

August 18th – August 28th

Mon. 18th – the 20th – That week at work was spent adding the newcoming 6th graders into our database and the beginning of adding them to our Reading Renaissance database because our lovely coordinator deleted everyone from the database. We had this false sense of security that this year we were just going to add the 6th graders and voila! we’d be done! But no. So I had the pleasure of adding all the kids. One by one, I added them.

Tues. 19th – Mom’s 59th birthday. I rushed home and started on the enchiladas and rice I was making her for dinner. John wanted to get her a cake, which was better for me—one less thing to do, so we drove to H-E-B and got an Oreo cake for her. Got back and the food was ready. My dad-in-law was sick and sleeping, Mario was still at work so it was just John, Mom, Mary, the kids and I. I didn’t invite anyone else since in the past, when I have, no one makes it.

Thurs. 21st – My fingers were on fire as I added students to the database. At one point Mrs. V. passes by and says, “I’m really gonna miss you,” and smiles warmly. I told her, “Aww, I’m going to miss you, too!”
I made sure to clock out right on time, since we were still getting out at 5pm that week and I had to rush home, get the boys to the salon to cut their hair because they hadn’t had one since Natalie’s Quinceanera in June! And then we had Meet the Teacher night at their school. At the salon I’m relieved to find out Meet the Teacher night would be ending at 8 instead of 7:00, so I had plenty of time.

Jaylen got Eenan’s 1st grade teacher this year, which is great ’cause she’s awesome. And Eenan’s teacher is one I’d seen around before and I hear she’s great, too. She asked him questions and was really nice to him right off the bat. When we’d walked in she said excitedly, “Yay! I got Eenan!!” like he’s a prize LOL. She’s also going to be his UIL coach this year, which is cool. Eenan was a little disappointed to find out, though, that he wouldn’t be in the same class with his two best buds, Abraham and Rolando.

Fri. 22nd – Friday was our huge district meeting at the Dodge Arena. The girls from work and I decided to carpool, so we all met at the school at 6:45am, which seemed really early considering we’d been going in at 8 every morning. Well, it was something we had to get used to since we’d be going in at 6:30 again on Monday.

We went in Amaveli’s Tahoe and it’s always a laugh with those girls. I was so relieved they invited me to go along with them since I’d never been to one of those events before. I felt overwhelmed just thinking about it!
We got there right on time, waved to everyone we knew from other schools or departments (I saw my dad-in-law and Ricky there!), and laughed our butts off at our really funny, enthusiastic motivational speaker (who just happened to be nicknamed “Mr. Enthusiasm” LOL). We all agreed he reminded us of Mr. D.!

We went to eat at House of China for lunch. I was disappointed that they didn’t have the crab & cream cheese thingies I like and the green beans were crappy. Those were my favorite to have there when I was pregnant with Aly and was looking forward to both this time around. After we ate we went to Palms Crossing and visited the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where I bought a sal-y-limon & chile candy apple. If you haven’t had one, you must!! You don’t know what you’re missing. They’re SO GOOD. (Man, now I really want one…)

Mario had his Physical for Border Patrol that Friday. I was so nervous for him, but I knew he’d do well. He texted me to call him after work, so I did—and he passed!! He said he thought he’d done a little mistake during the stepping part (kind of like when you step up and down in aerobics?), but the instructor didn’t say anything so whew!

I got home and Mario, my dad-in-law and Mom were outside chilling out while the kids all sloshed around in the kiddie pool. It was a nice day. Alaethia was having a blast. Jaylen needed a nap so he quickly became moody =\.

Sat. 23rd – I think this was the day the two moms, my kiddos and I all crammed ourselves into my Equinox and went to town. We had bills to pay and then we met Mario for lunch at Jesse’s. I love that place. I had enchiladas as usual.

Sun. 24th – We lazied around all morning and around noon, when businesses open on Sunday, we went to Conn’s to dispute the extra $65 I’d noticed they’d charged us on our 47″ TV. We only had about $78 to go and once they credited that extra $65, we’d only owe $8!! We talked to the guy who’d originally started our account and he swore up and down he’d fix it. He told me to call on Wednesday to follow up.

Can’t remember much else from that day; I know for sure I did laundry and cleaned and got the boys’ backpacks and clothes for their first day of school ready the next morning (eek!).

Mon. 25th – I was so sad I wouldn’t be there to see them off since I’m taking off to work about 30 minutes before they even wake up, but Mario dropped them off. He said they did really well and took tons of pictures (which I still need to add to Flickr!). They both loved their teachers; Jaylen was especially excited. They high-fived each other when Jaylen told Eenan how much fun he had in the class with his (Eenan’s) former teacher. It was too cute :). Eenan was a little sad, however, because Rolando and Abraham weren’t in his class, but he said on the plus side he’d behave better this year without the distractions, aww. We later found out that Rolando hadn’t showed up to school all week!

Tues. 26th – Can’t remember much from that day…I think I mainly stuck to doing stuff to the database: adding students to the checkout system and continued adding them to Reading Renaissance. Mrs. V. said I could start on the classes that were going to attend the Star Testing first and the teachers could help me with the rest. I completely intended on finishing it on my own before Friday. A pounding sinus headache hit me around noontime. I felt awful.

Wed. 27th – I had a doctor’s appointment at 4pm. I picked up the boys, took quick shower , and rushed over there. Made it right on time. I weighed 130 (!!) already. My glucose and blood pressure were fine. Still no pap smear, though I’m not complaining. I told the doctor about the sharp pain in my right side behind my ribs; he said it may be my gallbladder. He freaked me out saying they’d operate after delivery if they had to — what? I didn’t think it was my gallbladder, but he told me to do some detective work and check if I got the pain after I ate anything spicy or greasy. I got an appointment for the Friday after that week, but cancelled it at the last minute because I suddenly stopped getting the pain right after that appointment O_o.

I asked for something for the horrible sinus headaches I’d been having. He gave me two bottles that had only 4 tiny pills in them. He said be careful when you take them, I’m much bigger than you and they knocked me out.

When he began doing the ultrasound and saw the baby sort of hiccup as soon as the doctor put the monitor to my belly. I think it was asleep :). It moved its little hands and kicked its little legs. He checked the baby’s gender; I told him I had a feeling it’s a girl, because my symptoms and everything else were so similar to Alaethia’s. As he slid the monitor around my belly he said, “I think so, too.” And then I see it! What looks like a tiny “peach”! But then he says, “No, no! Aha! It’s a boy!!” I sort of saw what he was talking about; a tiny little orb between the little legs. I feel awful saying this, but I felt a little disappointed. I kind of had these visions of having two boys and two girls. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for either a boy or a girl–too many things went wrong with Jaylen’s pregnancy and I learned not to take anything for granted. I just want a healthy baby. But the weird thing is: I still feel in my heart of hearts that it’s a girl! We’ll see what turns up in 3 weeks on Sept. 17th!

I told Mom and Big Mario about my appointment and when they told me to go rest I excused myself, took a pill and got comfy on the couch for when this deep sleep should hit me. I even did some boring check-balancing to bore myself into oblivion…but nothing happened. I stayed awake till 9:15pm–when Alaethia and I both crashed out on the couch. Everyone just left us alone and let us sleep. I woke up at 10:30 and moved both of us to the bedroom. Mario had already kindly made me some Jalapeno Tuna for work the next day.

Thurs. 28th – I woke up the next morning hoping I’d slept off the headache, but nope, it was in full swing. I decided I’d call in for the morning and go in in the afternoon to finish up the copies that awaited me. I slept that whole morning and when I woke up at 9am I still felt a little groggy and the back of my eyes still hurt, but I felt much better than the days before.

I got to the library at 10:30 and started working. I was sure I’d finish with everything I needed to do by the next day.

Flurry

(Fri. 15th) Just as I suspected, I didn’t have any free time Friday afternoon. I set up about 4 more carts, checked who had what laptops, and renamed the barcodes to the new format we’re supposed to follow. Got home and had some cucumbers with lime, Tajin chile and Louisiana Hot Sauce since I was starving already. Spent some time with Mom, the in-laws and the kids. Mario calls and asks if someone can drop me off so we can cash his paycheck (at Walmart since the banks would be closed) and go shopping. So Mary drops me off and the moms take care of the kiddos. I leave with Mario and we go to Walmart and once he cashes his paycheck we decide not to shop for anything after all. As we’re walking back to the car we notice I’m waddling. I tell him, “Wait…let me try to walk normally.” So I kind of strut, like I’m walking on a runway and I sort of look like I’m not wadding anymore. Only my buttcheeks start to burn so I figure I’d rather just waddle.

We decide to go to Chili’s for dinner. He ordered a steak, I ordered a triple dipper (with two sides being spinach & artichoke dip–yum!). We talk about everything under the sun and it’s so nice spending time with him; just us for once. We discuss him leaving to the Border Patrol academy; we have no idea when they’ll decide to call him up. We talk about the baby and how we’d like a girl so we’ll be an even ratio of boys to girls. We talk about the kids; about Eenan and Jaylen starting school on Monday and how cute and brilliant Alaethia is. I tell him how I don’t want to feel “rushed” this time around with this baby like I did with Alaethia. Not that anyone rushed me–I did it to myself. I told him I was going to promise myself I’m not going to allow myself to feel like a failure just because I’m at home; I’m going to enjoy the kids and being a mom, because right now, aside from being a library clerk, motherhood’s my profession, and that’s okay.

We went to Adan’s afterwards and just chilled out talking with him and Aide and later on Tommy, Jorge and Angela stopped by. I was having a great time but sleep took over and I asked Mario to bring me home.

(Sat. 16th) I slept in as much as I could the next morning. I had the brilliant idea to have my leftovers from dinner for breakfast. I had the most awesome coffee. I never get to drink it anymore since I’m working again, so I quite enjoyed it.

I regretted my breakfast immediately; I got nauseous from the spices in the Southwest Eggrolls. Since I had bills to pay I took a shower and then got the kids ready. We left around 11:30. Went to the banks, Ross to exchange a blouse (I got bath rug instead since I either couldn’t find anything that I didn’t already have or everything was too big), and then we met Mario for lunch. We decided on Taqueria el Zarape. We each ordered a huge torta, which is like a sub-type thing with shredded meat. After only a few bites I felt nauseous again. Bummer. I should have just ordered the bistek tacos I usually do.

Once we dropped Mario off we went to Target, where I returned some pants and the boys got some Legos, their current obsession. They’d already gotten a small Lego set each from Mary, so I told them they wouldn’t be getting anything else for the next two weeks.

I went to pay our Conn’s account and wasn’t pleased to see that our “payoff” was 12 more than it should be. We’re on the “no interest” plan and didn’t order anything else, so I had no idea what was going on. I wanted to go and argue about it but Mom was waiting in the car with the kids so I didn’t. We went to see Gramma next where the boys put their Legos together.

(Sun. 17th) I wanted to stay home all day Sunday and get everything ready for the boys for their first day of school the next day but Mario was off work and wanted to go to Conn’s and ask what was up. I’d done the math and realized they were charging anywhere from $10-20 extra a month. This last payment was supposed to be our last one (which we’re paying off way before the 1-year-no-interest thing is over) and was supposed to be around $73, not $137, as stated in the statement. So they charged us $65. Once they credited that back to our account, we’d only owe around $8!! So we talked to the guy who was in charge of our account and he said he’d get it all settled. I can’t wait to get that payment out of the way. We’re trying to get all our little credit card bills out of the way by the time I stop working in Dec./Jan.

We drove around the Ware Road shopping center (forget the name) and went to Ben & Jerry’s. I had the best fudge brownie ice cream (in a sprinkle waffle cone :D). I wish we had the kids with us–they would have loved it! Next time.

Mario was craving a certain type of fajita so we searched all over town for them and finally found something similar at a meat market we’d never been to. We went to Dollar General to pick up a few things and went home and had a little bar-b-q with the family.

(to be continued…)

At Lunch

I could get used to this hour-lunch deal. Well, not really because then I’d have to get out at 4 and who’ll pick the boys up from school when it starts? But anyway, I’m enjoying it while I can. I have about 12 more minutes left of lunch. I already finished my book Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella and had an excellent lunch. A few coworkers brought a potluck of food…it was delicious. There was even a chocolately desert that I adore. I’m so full right now. My boss will be out part of this afternoon so I’ve got a few things to do and hopefully I can get a chance to just tidy up and maybe read a little, but I highly doubt that. We’ve done some excellent work getting the A/V equipment ready…I just wish we knew where the rest of the carts were! How can you lose a huge metal cart?

Anyway, I’m so glad it’s Friday. Not that I’ll get to relax much since I have to go grocery shopping and get the boys’ backpacks and so on. But I’ll get to sleep in a little, yay!