Category: Job Hunt/Work

Interview

After giving up and losing faith on the whole job-hunt thing, I got a call from one of the places I really wanted to work at. They called yesterday and we set an interview tomorrow at 2:30. It’s part-time, but I don’t mind at all since I probably won’t stand being on my feet for 8 whole hours. 4 sounds better LOL. And it’s close to home!

I don’t want to get too excited though. I’m showing, like REALLY showing, so I hope that doesn’t compromise their decision (although on the application itself, it said that they didn’t discriminate against pregnant women–we’ll see).

Speaking of showing, I wore one of my maternity shirts today and it fit. Just a few days ago, on the 4th of July, I didn’t look right in it yet and now I do. It’s so weird to me to be “this big” so soon in the pregnancy. With both my boys I didn’t start showing till 4 months. This is quite the change. Thankfully I didn’t have to go through the Awkward Stage (the one where your old clothes don’t fit, but you’re too small for maternity clothes) for too long, though.

Well, I’m ready for tomorrow. I’ve been rehearsing my answers to their potential questions in my head since yesterday. I won’t get my hopes up if I don’t get the job. It’s not the end of the world.

Gotta keep repeating that last sentence to myself.

Oh, and Mom’s appointment yesterday? Her diabetes was at 89 for the first time, ever. It was a relief for us (including the doctor) to see her glucose levels finally controlled!

MIA

I wish I could say that I haven’t updated because I’ve been working at my new fabulous job, but the truth is I’ve been running around doing errands and taking Mom to her doctor’s appointments since last Monday.

None of the places that I’ve applied at have called me back. Since we’re doing pretty good right now both Mario and I decided I shouldn’t be too worried about it. I guess I was in a rush to get a good job I’d like and stay with since we’re hoping to sell the property we have and move (probably to an area I didn’t want to move to in the first place). We’ll be remodeling our apartment in the next few weeks (my father-in-law will, actually) so we’ll feel more comfortable and will work with our space. I’m finally (hopefully!) going to have a walk-in closet!

I took Mom to her audiologist appointment on Monday morning. They tested her hearing and she’ll be getting a new hearing aid in a few weeks. The lady that was testing her and I got into a discussion about how her hearing loss may have been a result of the Diabetes, how her eye sight may be in jeopardy and how John and I might very well suffer from those two things also, because of our parents. Great. We talked about our diets and pregnancies and she said I may be in the clear since I haven’t gotten Gestational Diabetes with my other pregnancies. It was a great talk. It would have been great working there. I say that, because that’s the place I was going to have an interview at but couldn’t make it since I was grocery shopping, buying my new high school diploma, and saving John from his monsterous car. The man I spoke to seemed determined to hire me–he kept calling me back. Dammit! It wouldn’t have been too far from Mario’s work either.

That night Mario and I watched movies. After the movies, he went for a drive and while I waited for him to get back I flipped through channels. As I was passing through the community (mostly school district-related) channel, I noticed something about the last day to register kids at Eenan’s school was the next day. So on Tuesday, I took Jaylen and registered him for Pre-K. I was sort of iffy about it, since I wasn’t sure we’d make it because of our income and because all the kid speaks is English (they’re only letting kids who speak Spanish enter Pre-K now–dumb, I know). I gathered all the documents I needed and hoped for the best.

I guess in a way it’s a good thing I’m not working because if I was Jaylen really wouldn’t have been able to register. We made it since we were just under the income limit for a family of 4. The catch is, the first week of school they’re going to be testing the kids and if they know too much English, they’ll be withdrawn. What idiots.

I started thinking about it though and am worried for my little guy. Since he doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish, how’s he going to make friends? Mary assures me he’ll be fine, that kids play with eachother whether there’s a language barrier or not. I just hope he won’t hate it :(. It’s going to be tough to begin with since he’s SO attatched to me :(.

Wednesday was my 2nd doctor’s appointment at the new office I’m going to. This is the one where they wedge me open with a gigantic, icy-cold speculum and scrub me raw with a giant q-tip. It hurts all over again just thinking about it. Before the Pap, I’d peed in a cup and it showed not only Nitrates? (which meant a bladder infection) but glucose. They checked my sugar and thank God, it was at 94, which is really good. That scared the crap out of me though–I was sure I’d gotten Diabetes this time. Since then, I’ve been watching what I eat. I haven’t even been having my daily soda or binging on candy. I’m really trying. I REALLY don’t want to get Diabetes.

They prescribed some (huge) antibiotics for the infection, but I’m not sure if I’m totally over it yet. It still feels like my bladder’s going to explode yet nothing comes out–nothing but a trickle :(. I didn’t even feel those symptoms when they first diagnosed me, it was once I started taking the pills that I felt weird. I even started getting slight cramping in my pelvic area.

After the Pap, they took me into the Sono room and gave me another Sonogram. Telling from my last period and the sono, I’m exactly where I thought I was–10 1/2 weeks. I even saw my little Peanut’s beating heart again, beating at a healthy 155 BPM. And I don’t have Placenta Previa this time :).

Inside the black, kidney bean looking area is my darling little Peanut. She/he is the whitish looking peanut-shaped blob. She/he’s grown a lot since the last time!

Thursday–oh. my. God. That day was spent taking Mom all around the Valley to her doctor’s appointments. The boys were very well behaved, especially for having to sit still and be quiet for 3 hours at BOTH appointments.

The first one was her eye appointment, which took forever for absolutely no reason I could see. They have tons of nurses, and I’m not kidding you, the doctor only spends a total of 6 minutes with you in the exam room. When she finally got called in, they checked her eyes right away and that was that. 3 hours for 6 minutes–it’s ridiculous. Well, turns out she’s got the beginnings of Cataracts and has some retinal damage–all due to the Diabetes. She’ll be getting a new prescription for glasses soon. Hopefully she’ll actually wear them this time.

The next appointment was her Endocrinologist one, the one where you can’t understand a thing the doctor’s saying. When HE finally called her in, he upped her dosage of insulin since she still wasn’t controlled, gave her a new machine to check her glucose, and we both scolded her for not taking her high blood pressure and cholesterol medicines. She said she wasn’t taking them because he told her to stop taking her diabetes medicines. Yes, diabetes, but not everything else. And then she wonders why she feels sick. That woman drives me crazy!

He gave her a refill of one of her diabetes medications to take along with the insulin. She takes a total of 4 medications plus insulin twice a day. I NEVER want to get Diabetes :(.

When we were finally home free we stopped at a pharmacy near our town. She got the prescription for her medication, but not the one for her lancets. I was so frustrated (and we were all hungry–it was 3:15 and hadn’t eaten since 8:30 that morning) we just left.

Friday was a lazy day for all of us. I don’t remember going anywhere other than to the Dollar General to pick up some Bar-b-q sauce since Mario was going to grill burgers. It rained for a total of 2 minutes on the way back home. John and Mario washed both cars and then we bar-b-q’d. Those were some GOOD burgers.

Saturday was spent cleaning in the morning then finding out that Mom screwed up her bank account royally. She’s so overdrafted it’s not even funny. I get so frustrated with the way she handles (or lacks handling) her finances. It’s going to be a tough month for them now.

That afternoon we went to a party for Noelia’s friend’s little boy. I didn’t want to go, since the last pair of jean capris that fit me were no longer fitting me so well and all my maternity clothes were in storage. I sucked it up (literally) and Mary, Noelia, Andy, the boys and I all went. It was a Woody/cowboy themed party and the boys had a lot of fun since they had a moonjump and games. It wasn’t as painful as I though it was going to be.

Later that night when Mario got home, we went to Jorge and Maggie’s for a bar-b-q Jorge was hosting for Maggie’s birthday. Eric, Jorge’s friend, was the one bar-b-q’ing. The food was all really good and after Eric left, we saw Hiram snap. Eric kept teasing him and picking on him so I guess it was only natural Hiram snapped the way he did. He says he was playing, but we all thought he was pretty serious.

Mario was off on Sunday. We woke up late, then around 1:30 we went to Monci’s birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. It was really cute. She threw the party for herself (this is an older lady) and had Play-doh for the kids to play with and kept on bringing the pizzas and hot wings. We went out for the piñata (she had a Disney Princess one ^_^) and Jaylen had a blast. Eenan didn’t want to hit the piñata at first, but once we told him, “You can’t get the candy that fall out of it since you’re not hitting”, he quickly got in line. Jaylen had both pockets full and even made Mario carry some in his cargo shorts LOL. It was nice and overcast and cool outside–my favorite kind of weather. When we were done at the party, we stopped at H-E-B since Mary needed some stuff and then we went to her storage unit to get my maternity clothes out. The shirts are still way too big, but the capris fit wonderfully :).

Mario bar-b-q’d again that night, but this time we had ribs. He slathered them in bar-b-q sauce about 5 times on each side, so when they were done, they were gooey. Yum! We made avocado dip and it was delicious.

After Mario left to work on Monday, we all got ready so I could take Mom to get a loan from her loan company. At least she’ll have some cash to last the month, but she still has other payments that need to be withdrawn. Oy. I dropped some stuff off to Mario at work and then I took John to donate plasma at the plasma center. His idea. Sucky thing: the boy forgot his social security card. Hello?!

I stopped at H-E-B afterwards to pick up the sodas we were in charge of for the burger/hotdog bar-b-q we were having on the 4th. Then we stopped at the pharmacy to pick up Mom’s lancet prescription. I had John help me rearrange furniture later on during the day so that the space is clear for when my dad-in-law moves the door to our bedroom. That door’s going to be the entrance to the hallway and since he’s making the walk-in closet he needs to move the doorway about 2 feet to the right. I can’t wait to see how it all looks!

(Internet Explorer’s such a bastard. I’ve had this post as a draft for the past two days, since I’ve been slowly updating and I’ve been saving as I go along. As luck would have it, I didn’t save the last 3 paragraphs I’d typed up and IE got one of those stupid errors where it needs to shut down. Grr!)

Anyway, the rain that we’d been anticipating all week finally came crashing down Monday night. We were all excited. Mom, Mary, Big Mario, the boys and I were all sitting outside under the porch, enjoying the coolness the rain had brought. I even let the kids run around in the rain for a while (and then brought them in and gave them a shower and some Tylenol, just in case). Panic started to set in when the rain kept coming and the back of the house, which has our front door, the “laundry room” and Mary’s back door connected, started flooding–fast. I saw the news and in 30 minutes it had rained 5 inches–much more than our city gets in a year probably. It rained a total of 13 inches I think. My dad-in-law had to go around the house and dig trenches to let the water through. Thankfully, the water didn’t come into the houses. The lightning and thunder were crazy though. I started writing a post that night and it got wiped away when the electricity went out.

The 4th of July: Gramma’s and Natalie’s birthdays. We woke up late-ish, got ready (I looked really pregnant!) then all went to visit Gramma at the nursing home. We’re all broke, but we stopped by H-E-B to at least get her a little chocolate cake.

We sat with Gramma and talked for a while. Eenan kept her entertained while he made up stories and acted them out. Jaylen was too busy making his cinnamon gum “not hot” so he wet his shirt in the bathroom trying to drink water LOL. After we’d spent about 45 minutes with Gramma we left.

Mario had been talking about the house we want and the property his Godfather owns. The one that’s in the middle of nowhere–even more middle of nowhere then we live now. I can appreciate shrubs and cattle and hay bales–I love to see that actually, but I never wanted to live it.

We’d live down the same street Jorge and Maggie do, but much farther. I kept telling Mario I hated the idea of living all the way over there, but he told me about all the new stores they’re building (we’d at least be close to a Wal-Mart, but not H-E-B!) and how there wouldn’t be room to build everything we want on a regular lot in the city. To convince me, we went to see the property. 5 acres of empty goodness. There’s also a plus–we wouldn’t get charged taxes if we had some kind of livestock on the property, so we’re thinking of getting a few cute goats. No, really, I’m serious.

So he convinced me a little. We want a huge house, with a huge carport (not a garage, we’d rather use the square footage for another room or two), we want a screened in back porch that leads to a deck with a nice set of outdoor furniture and a chimney, sink, and counter for bar-b-q’ing. We passed by a house that had the type of backyard we want, so hopefully I can get a picture soon.

We stopped by H-E-B again for the light olive oil we didn’t find at the other one. When we got home, we chilled out outside with everyone and talked about houses again. Andy and Noelia might want to build on Jorge’s land also. While Mario started the fire I talked with Jorge, his Godfather for a while. When Mario got the phone, he spoke with Jorge about the property and I guess it’s all set. 1/2 to a whole acre is promised to us. We just need to get started on selling the other property and all that jazz.

Yadira and Tommy got here with the patties and Mario cooked them up. The food was great and everyone was here. The men were outside while the women were inside taking about babies and other women things. Annie did a necklace gender prediction thing and at first I believed it (it said I’d be having a boy this time–again!) but when it started acting funny and not working for the other women in the family I thought ‘nah’. I don’t know, and I don’t want to jinx it, but I really think I’m having a girl this time. I just feel it. Could be wishful thinking, but we’ll see in 2 1/2 more months. (It seems like forever!)

When it got dark the kids all popped their fireworks. Eenan was actually outside this year, enjoying himself. Previous years he’d be out, then go inside because he either got bored or the neighbor’s huge fireworks displays were really loud. He’s getting braver though :).

And now today, it starts again. Mom has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. John’s vacation is over and started school again today so let’s hope his car behaves itself and I don’t need to go pick him up. Poor dude. I wish things would just be easier for him. That car doesn’t help.

Busy Thursday and Friday

Thursday was the type of day I absolutely hate. It was so hectic and there was much driving involved–bleh.

First stop: dropping off some applications and resumes nearby. Who knows when they’ll call me.

It took a total of 15 minutes to finish up there, and then it was time to drop John off at school. Since his car was overheating the day before and I was going to be in town anyway, I figured I’d drop him off. He had a final and was being a bit annoying, whining about how he was going to be late when he was clearly already late (45 minutes). Mrs. C-R knew he would either be late, or wouldn’t go at all.

Next was Mom’s endochrinologist appointment. They took forever there. It took about an hour and a half for them to just call her in, then another hour for them to actually see her. A nurse came and called the kids and me to go in with Mom. She said “Your mom and the doctor are having a hard time communicating.” I thought, ‘Mom must not be able to hear him correctly’, since she’s deaf in one ear.

I get into the office and the doctor yells, in an accent I can barely understand, “Does joor mahther hev memory problem?” Well, shit. Mom not being able to hear to begin with and then him with that accent was not a good combination. I tell him, “No. She’s hearing imparied. She wears a hearing aid in one ear.” He nods and then proceeds to yell at Mom and she doesn’t understand him anyway, so I have to repeat everything to her. She’ll be injecting insulin twice a day now since her pills never helped her with the diabetes. She was being a drama queen and almost cried when he told her she’d need to give herself injections. Later on during the day when she tried it, she was afraid that the needle had gotten stuck in her stomach since she didn’t feel anything LOL. I told her it wasn’t a big deal.

The boys were sort of well behaved the whole time. They kept moving the chairs they were sitting in back and forth and kept fighting to sit next to me but other than that, they did good for being there so long. The other kids in the lobby were running everywhere.

As soon as Mom was done, we went straight to pick up John. Only it wasn’t so straight since I had to go down this road I didn’t know and had to go all the way around the expressway to turn around and go East. Grr.

We get there and I go to Mrs. C-R’s room so that I can print out a resume to leave for the job position they were hiring for. I got everything I needed, then went to the front office to leave the paperwork. The lady I was supposed to talk to was out to lunch. I was to come back in an hour.

We go next door to Wendy’s. There’s NO PARKING since it’s lunch time. We end up going through the drive thru and find a solitary parking space and eat there. The kids are still behaving, yes! John starts feeling sick after he eats two burgers and then I notice my baked potato with chives is missing it’s melted cheese. I go back, since I’ve GOT to have cheese on my baked potato. When I get back, John gets even more naseous since he smells the cheese. We wait till 1:30, which is when I’m supposed to go back to the school.

I go into the waiting area and give the receptionist my resume. I’m looking around and think, “Wow, I wonder what these people are here for? What are the suits and ties all about?” I notice women start going in and they’re wearing fancy dress clothes, too. I look down at myself and look at my nice, white button up top and my jean capris and brown flip flops. I felt so out of place! When the lady I was supposed to speak to gets there, they ask, “Who’s here for the group interview?” All the nicely-dressed up people stand up and follow the woman. The receptionist tells me, “Go! Follow them!” I was going to say, “But I just wanted to drop off my resume…” when a lady pats me on the back to move along.

I tell one of the ladies leading us to the room that I’m just there to leave the resume. She tells me to join them anyway. I say, “I’m not even properly dressed!” but she assures me that I’ll be fine.

I won’t even go into detail about the interview, but I can say that the position was not what I had in mind. Jumpy hours, working Saturdays, somewhat lying to people: no way, not for me. Some of the other people who were there (and seemed like they really wanted the job) were much more qualified. I wouldn’t feel comfortable in a position like that one.

An hour and a half of my life, wasted. We stopped by Mom’s pharmacy before we came home so that she could pick up her insulin.

We left the house really early on Friday morning. We needed to go to Mary’s office, Target, pick up and cash Mario’s paycheck, set up an appointment for Louie at the vet, and eat since Mario hadn’t had breakfast. We ate at Taco Palenque (sp?) on North 10th. It was really nice, and clean! The other one on S. 10th is always so…grimy.

They had a buffet table with all the salsas imaginable. All the chips you could eat and even Agua de Jamaica. If it’s one thing I have Ricci to thank for while we were friends was her introducing me to Agua de Jamaica (and Mangonadas!).

I had a plate of fajita panchos, Mario had a fajita plate and the kids had enchilada plates (which they barely ate, grr). Once we stuffed ourselves we took the kids out to play in the little playground they have enclosed in a courtyard-type-thing.

We made our way to Target, where we got Louie a bed, toys, turtle food, Mouse Trap for the boys and a shoe shelf. We got done there and went to set up the appointment for Louie at the vet and then picked up pizza for Noelia and John and a salad for Mom.

We get home and Mario and the kids put Mouse Trap together. Louie is in love with his new bed and is rolling around it in along with his Black Sheep toy. I found it the perfect opportunity to take a nap and Mario soon followed. (John was here on the computer, so he was watching the kids).

We wake up, just 20 minutes before Louie’s appointment. John forgot to wake us up! Mario drives as fast (and safely) as he can. Louie looked really sad; he probably thought we were going to give him away since the only other times he’s been in cars is when he’s being transported to new owners, poor thing. He does really good on the road and doesn’t have any accidents at all at the vet’s. Everyone that saw him fell in love with him. People kept saying how sweet, nice, playful, cute, kid-friendly he is :).

They called us in and Louie starts getting nervous. He weighs 5 lbs. 8 oz. and is 8 weeks old. We took a stool sample in, since we were suspicious that he had some type of worms and he did: hookworms and tapeworms–eww. The very sweet vet gave him a medication for the hookworms, his first set of shots, flea medication that should help with the tapeworms and she gave us a pill to give him at home for the tapeworms. He was really well behaved. He wimpered a little when he got his shot, but he was still really sweet afterwards. They want to see him back in 3 weeks.

We went to PetSmart and got him training treats, potty training spray, a brush and a clicker. What Mario wants that clicker for is beyond me, but he got it. Everyone that passed us at Pet Smart would stop to pet and play with Louie and at least 4 people asked where we got him and if they had anymore pups like him LOL.

As soon as we got home I took Mom to the Dollar General to get some stuff she needed. We got back and Mario and I made tacos for dinner and then we just chilled out.

While I was online I did something to f*ck up my Falbum…God that sucked. I had to reinstall it this morning. I didn’t plan to do anything today but be online and sleep, but Mary wants to take the kids to Peter Piper and the movies. I don’t even really want to watch that movie, Poseidon. I think the kids’ll freak out with it.

Grr. I just noticed that the cheddar Bugles I bought at the Dollar General yesterday are missing. I wanted to sneak them into the movies :(. — Nevermind, I found them :).