Category: Job Hunt/Work

I had a morning of broken sleep yesterday, and it wasn’t because of Alaethia. It was because of that damn phone. I leave it on in case of emergencies but I’m seriously going to start disconnecting it until I’m ready to wake up. I gave up on sleeping after the third call and made Alaethia a bottle since I heard her stirring in her crib. I get a call 10 minutes later from Maggie. She’s in the area and stopping by. Mario was already up and gone by the time I got up. He arrived a few seconds before Maggie did with McDonald’s — lovely breakfast of cheeseburgers.

(Okay, I’m watching Scarred Trauma Live on MTV and they just showed this guy named Kenny Hughes trying to grind down a rail and ripped his butthole up and had to get stitches between his butt cheeks. Seriously. That’s just wrong. This show makes me PRAY that my sons never take up skateboarding. I actually had half of this whole entry written and I got so grossed out with this other guy who totally cracked his CALF BONES in two that I pressed something and it wiped my entry clean.)

Anyway, Maggie and I searched for jobs online and then we just chilled out. Mom got home from her doctor’s appointment in time to make it to the movie, so we got ready an extra hour early (not counting the other hour we were keeping open to get good seats) to get extra tickets for Maggie and John. And by “got ready” I mean getting everyone dressed, getting Alaethia’s diaper bag ready with her things plus stuffing two Hi-Cs for the boys inconspicuously under an extra onesie and her formula; and stuffing a few candies in my bag. The men left in the Equinox, the women (and Eenan) in Maggie’s car. We got the tickets and still had about an hour and a half to waste so we went to Home Depot since Mario needed to get some tools. Maggie and I oohed and ahhed over stuff and discussed painting. Mario got what he needed and we got a rug for the boys’ room, finally. Thank goodness for our HD credit card.

We went back to the theatre and bought popcorn and drinks for the adults. The boys play at the arcade for a while and when they start seating for Order of the Phoenix, we get in line to get our tickets checked. My worst theatre nightmare began to unfold in front of my eyes. Mom, Maggie and the kids get through, I pass, and then they hold John and Mario back. Mario’s holding the diaper bag. I’m assuming it looked suspicious (A MAN holding a diaper bag? What?) because they tell him they need to check the bag. He looks up at me, startled, and I stare back, wide-eyed. I’m thinking, I’m not going to get to watch Harry Potter because I sneaked Hi-Cs into the movies. NO…I’m not ever going to be allowed back into the theatre, ever!

I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. Maggie turns her back to us and says, “I can’t look!” They zipped open the bag, in slow motion, and gave Mario a nod to go ahead. WHEW! I asked him, — when we were a good distance away — “Did they see the drinks?” He looks totally in awe and said, “No. I guess they were really hidden!” He told me later during the movie that his heart sank when they stopped him LOL.

All in all, the movie was awesome. It’s Harry Potter, what can I say. Alaethia slept the entire time, except for the last 10 minutes. The boys were great — well, Jaylen fell asleep for a little bit. Eenan came to sit with Mario when the action started and he only got mildly teary-eyed. I won’t give my opinions out in the open because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but if you’d like to read what I thought scroll down to the “more” section.

(I think I might pee myself or vomit if I keep watching Scarred. This guy just tore open his NUTS. But I can’t turn away!)

We went to Mario’s work so he could pick something up and then we just chilled out at home. Mario left (or escaped, like John says) and I had break from the boys since they went over to Mary’s. They came back and we had a simple dinner of sandwiches. I fed Alaethia and bathed her. The boys ended up sleeping over at Mary’s and Mario and I had a lovely evening of surfing the web, playing with Alaethia and eating ice cream while watching Talladega Nights. Intimacy? What’s that?

As for today, I would have liked to stay home and thoroughly clean this place, but I wanted to go to Target to get the boys the Transformers bedding sets since it was the last day they’d be on sale. We got two sets of sheets and only one comforter at the first Target we went to, plus two tank tops for me (I only like the Mossimo ones from there and they were on clearance!), a cereal storage container, and a game that the kids bought with their combined money. Mom got Eenan his birthday gift, too. We ended up having to go to another Target in McAllen, since that was the only one that had comforters in twin-size. target is going to raise my credit limit on my card up to $10,000–we’re such good customers.

We got a bit lost on the way there since I took the “back road”, thanks to Mario’s shoddy directions. I eventually found the place. We got what we needed then had lunch at Chick-fil-A. Yum. I’d been wanting to eat there since forever. Mom’s treat :). Alaethia was such a good girl, even though she had me carrying her the whole time we were there. She’s been such a good girl in general lately, though. I love her to bits!

We visited Gramma for a while, where Alaethia was having a blast playing hide-and-seek with Gramma. Gramma was laying down and I was sitting at the foot of her bed with Aly on my lap and Jaylen next to me, shielding Aly’s view of Gramma. Aly kept leaning back to catch a glimpse of Gramma and when Gramma would talk to her Aly would hide in my neck and giggle. She did this about 20 times till she got bored and made me stand up. We came home, I made dinner, we chilled out at Mary’s, I got Jaylen’s bed ready with his new sheets (I didn’t do Eenan’s yet since he’s sleeping over at Mary’s, again, and Aly quickly got bored with her toys in her crib), and now I’m here updating with a sleeping Aly at my side. I’m hoping I’ve gotten her to start sleeping a bit earlier. That would make life even SWEETER.

(more…)

Well that didn’t last long. The giddy happiness I felt on Friday is no more. I don’t usually write about our hardships on my blog, but I can’t get this out of my head. I have to vent.

The situation at Mario’s work turned into yet another drama and in the midst of it all Mario had to hand over $150. Out of his own pocket. $150 that we needed for bills. His paycheck was going to be short as it is because of his vacation pay (which, after 2 years of him working there, they still haven’t increased), so we were going to be cutting it close as it is. But I would have budgeted. Now I have no idea how we’re going to make it till the next paycheck. I’m going to have to withdraw money from my Target Visa, which I didn’t want to have to do at all. Which will then raise the finance charges, which will ultimately cause us to have to pay much more a month. John said he’d lend us the money, but I feel totally, well — for lack of a better word — weird borrowing money from my little brother. And then what if we can’t pay him back? No, no. I’d rather just take the risk with my Visa.

How the heck did we get to this? Everything was peachy and now I’m panicking, worrying about what’s going to happen next. I’ve been looking for jobs left and right even before this happened, but everything I want is either taken or I’ve been overlooked. I’m not used to that. I’m used to wanting something, going for it, and having it in the palm of my hands. I don’t want to have to call the Career Services department at my old school because then they’ll be calling me EVERY DAY to go in for interviews to jobs that are either too far away or just suck. Blah.

And on top of it all Alaethia still goes to sleep at 2am. If she falls asleep before then and I think, Awesome, I’m putting her in her crib and going to sleep! she’ll wake up as soon as her head grazes the softness of her mattress. I’m totally thinking of taking up Maggie’s offer of working with her. The plus is that it’s close by. I’ll be going in in the afternoon, but the shitty thing is that I won’t be getting out till 9pm. There goes all my time with the kids :(. The pay isn’t anything to celebrate about, either.

And I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m GOING to watch Harry Potter next week.

Right now would be the perfect time to fall into some money, like an inheritance left to me by some long-lost relative. Or winning the lottery. Not state lottery; I’d be happy with $500 off a scratch-off. Or finding a $100 bill on the ground somewhere. I wouldn’t feel guilty about taking it because there wouldn’t be anyone around…

Okay, enough of the day dreaming. I just have to keep thinking positive! That’s it. We’ll make it. We’ll figure it out. We always have. And that reminds me of the song that Mario had me listen to a few days ago. I’ve been absolutely in love with “Hey There, Delilah” by The Plain White T’s. He said he thought of me when he heard it, aww :). It’s funny how it’s sort of fitting right now.

(P.S. I added the radio.blog on the right as you’ve probably noticed. After messing around with it for a while I ended up with those two awful lines of numbers up at the top. I can’t be bothered to fix it right now, as unsightly as it is. And I had to resize it to fit in the column so it’s sort of hard to see the text, but enjoy anyway.)

I dropped the kids off at the usual time this morning. My UIL Boy, Eenan, happily went into his class, although he complains about having to go to school every morning because he says his teacher’s too mean. I call him my UIL Boy because he auditioned to be in UIL yesterday afternoon for storytelling (first time he stays after school, ever!) and he made it in! 9 kids out of 2nd and 3rd grade were chosen and Eenan was one of them. When I picked him up from auditioning yesterday he beamed while I talked to the teacher. She had nothing but good things to say about him. She gushed, “Oh my gosh, he’s going to do great! And that voice? He’s going to melt the judges!”

I dropped Jaylen off at his class next and his teacher calls me. She told me about how middle school kids go to their class to read to them and help them with work and that Jaylen and Brianna were chosen to go on a field trip to the movies and for pizza. She mentioned they’d leave on a bus and get dropped off at school and Jaylen starts freaking out about how he doesn’t want to go on a bus and wants me to go with him. He’s traumatized from the time they almost forced him into one the first week of school. He’s warming up to the idea though. I’m proud of him :). I’m a little nervous about him going on a bus myself, especially with middle school kids (though I’m sure adults will accompany them) because these days you just can’t trust anybody but I’ll make sure to talk to him about strangers, not letting anyone touch you in the bathing suit areas and staying with his group at all times. Yes, I’m addressing the 2nd one already. I’ve heard too many horror stories on the news lately.

I got home extra late this morning since Jaylen was nervous about the whole field trip thing and wanted me to stick around a little longer. I came home to wake up Mario and then left to my doctor’s appointment.

They gave me my sugary, coma-inducing, orange Fanta-like drink to check my glucose. My nurse, Laura, told me it’s the equivalent of 2 1/2 Snickers bars and that one lady actually had to eat the bars instead of taking the drink since she puked. It felt horrible going down my throat, but I drank the whole thing (about 4 ounces). I had to wait an hour and then they’d draw my blood.

They took my vitals next. Weight was at 130.5 lbs. and my blood pressure was fine. Good. Then I gave my urine sample.

They called me into a room at 9:30 and the nurse tells me there’s good news and bad news.

Great. My first thought: The bad news is that telling only from my urine I’ve got diabetes. But the good news is that I don’t need insulin.

She says, “The bad news is Dr. C. isn’t here today. He has 5 patients in L&D. The good news is his assistant is here. Would you like her to see you?”

Relieved I say, “Yes!”

The Dr. comes in, Edith I think, and she asks me questions while Laura checks the baby’s heartbeat with a Dopplar. Her heartrate is at 154, aww :). I love that sound.

My due date is officially set for February 2nd instead of January 28th. She checks my ears, nose and mouth and asks if I have any questions or concerns. I tell her how I’ve been feeling a tightening around my abdomen that makes it hard to breathe sometimes and wanted to know if those were Braxton Hicks contractions. She says I shouldn’t be having them yet, it’s too soon. She asks how much water I drink; I say approximately 3 liters a day. She rules out dehydration and asks if I have a history of preterm labor. I tell her my experience with Jaylen’s pregnancy and says she’s going to give me another appointment for next week so that Dr. C can further evaluate me. I asked what was the most I was allowed to carry now, because I’m taking care of a baby, plus another cousin and my own two kids. She says she’ll allow 15 lbs., but that’s pushing it; she only recommends carrying 10 lbs. at most. She asks how much the baby weighs and I tell her 20 something pounds. She says, “Oh no, that’s too much. That’s probably also why you’re feeling this pressure in your stomach. It’s your body’s way of letting you know you’re overdoing it. It’s not good that you’re also watching two more kids than your own; I know how stressful two alone can be. I suggest you start making other arrangements as soon as possible.”

I already let everyone know that this week will be the last week I’ll be babysitting. It broke my heart to tell Yadira, especially since she’s got so many things weighing on her shoulders right now, but I had to. Now I just need to take it easy and worry about not stressing out with my two boys. I hope this isn’t the beginnings of preterm labor. It’s got to be stress or something. One thing’s for sure though: I need to pay very close attention to Alaethia’s kicks and do Kick Counts every night, just in case.

I have the rest of the day free. It feels kinda good :). I need to pick up Eenan and Brandon in half an hour and the rest of the day is mine to clean and spend time with my kiddos. Yay :).

[edit] I just won tickets from Hot Kiss 106.3 (while waiting for the kids after school) to the Scream Factor X Haunted House! I’ve never won anything from a radio station in my life. I’ve had it on that station all day, just because, and when they announced the number I said, “Eh, what the hell, I’ll give it a try.” I was even all confident to John to leave it on that station because I was going to win. I was caller number 3 first, and then number 10! *squeal*

I was reading the rules, and it says not recommended for pregnant women but we’re going on Family Night so I should be alright. If the kids get scared all they have to say is ‘Monster Be Good!’ and instead of being scary the monster will turn funny. I’ve wanted to go to this place since I first heard about it years ago. I’m so excited! [\edit]