Category: Outings

Wow. I’m seriously taking forever to update my blog.

I’m constantly busy; it feels like I never get time to just sit and take a breather. It also seems like I only get to update when I’m done early with an assignment at school (finished my Key Terms first, yay!). Today for example, I have to drop some movies off at Video Plus, mail some letters, go home, change, make lunch for John, Jaylen and I; pick Eenan up from school and take the boys to the dentist at 2pm, then I have to pick Mom up (who will be waiting at Target after her doctor’s appointment), go and see Mario at work (he hasn’t seen the boys in literally 2 days), drop Mom off at home and THEN I can go home. When I’m home I’ll have to clean, cook, bathe the boys, get them in bed and get everything for school ready and bathe myself. Never get a break. My deepest appologies to those who’ve sent trade requests from The Pixel Train and The Quilting Bee — I will try my hardest to find some time to update. I haven’t even checked up on my cliques, and I know I’ve gotten lots of submissions lately. I won’t even count on the weekend to chill out in front of my computer because we have another wedding on Saturday and who knows what on Sunday. Boo.

Chris and Nancy’s wedding reception was lovely. Nancy looked so beautiful in her wedding dress. I was so envious of her pretty tiara. I half-joked to Mario that I wanted to renew our vows just so I could wear a tiara this time (I had no idea what I was doing when we got married, I let Mary make most of my choices and thinking back, I would have done so many things differently). Maybe one day *dreams*.

I felt horrible that night though. We’d gone to the mall to get the rest of Eenan’s school clothes and saw so many cute outfits I wanted. I even thought of getting a certain one at JCPenny, but thought, “Nah, I have my dress at home.”

When I was getting ready that night, I notice I’m INCREDIBLY over-dressed. Elda was even in JEANS. And everyone somehow failed to let me in on this. It took me an additional 30 minutes to finally find SOMETHING to wear, which ended up being my Back Up Dress–a black one with white flowers that is so out of style, that I’ve worn to everyone’s wedding/special occassion/funeral. I tried having a good night, despite my horrible attire, but that idea went out the window when this ho-bag Mario used to be friends with (who used to be a stripper) started parading herself around the ballroom trying to get Mario’s attention. She finally succeeded when she got in line behind us to take pictures with the bride and groom, and just said, “Hi Weesie!” (Mario’s nickname). She must have been satisfied after that because she just walked off and didn’t even bother taking pictures with them. I loathe people like that .

We left the wedding early and went to visit Maggie and Jorge for a while. I was so tired (and it was WAY passed my bedtime) that I don’t even remember half the stuff we talked about. Mario had a few beers so, as sleepy as I was, I drove home. Slowly.

Don’t remember much from Sunday. Oh yes, we went to the movies to watch Valliant, which actually didn’t suck as much as I thought it would. It was cute and the kids loved it. I had no idea they actually gave out real medals to animals during WWII.

I had to help Eenan get to bed early for his first day of school the next day. He looked so handsome in his new school clothes and I didn’t have any trouble waking him up. Ricci got here early, so we left by 7:15.

His teacher didn’t get there till 7:30.

After she got my info and talking with her about pick-up schedules I didn’t get out of the school till 7:46. We’re usually at school by 7:56–there was no way we’d make it on time. We got to school at 8:10. I appologized to Mrs. C-R, but she was very understanding.

We studied for our certification exams and our final exam that day. I had so much to do at home that day (grocery shopping, laundry and all the other daily chores) that I hardly got to study. I only studied while John, Jaylen and I waited for Eenan to get out of school.

I ended up getting a 97 on my final–and I was disappointed. That’ll probably sound incredibly anal and perfectionist-y of me (I’ve heard it from the whole family since I was moping around all day about it), but I knew the two answers I missed and put in the wrong ones for not paying attention. I could have kicked my ass. My class average is a 98. I’m one of the top 4 (the others have 98s too). I can live with it.

As for our bills and stuff: I used the money for my tuition to buy groceries. I had no choice. I went in to talk to the Financial Aid people about paying my loan on the 12th instead of the 5th and she happily wrote a note in my file. She said if I ever have trouble again to go ahead and let them know and we’d work something out. Big, big weight off my shoulders. I was so worried.

I feel so tired. We get to leave in less than 40 minutes. Getting out early since a few people who didn’t come in to take the exam yesterday are taking it today. Woo. I so want to get a chance to take a nap. But, since Brushka’s indoors now since she’s going to have me some kittens (I’m gonna be a grandma!), I need to bathe her and clean out her litter box and fix the trashcan lid so she won’t be getting in there anymore . She took a buffalo wing bone out last night and left it on the carpet in the living room. There were ants crawling all over the place *shudder*. We’ve had such a bad ant problem lately. I blame the children for sneaking food into the bedroom…

Woo. Almost time to go . I can get SOME chores done early.

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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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I’m here at school right now. Sort of a free hour since I finished today’s assignment yesterday–cheater, I know :P. I’m writing this in a tiny Notepad window and will transfer it to GM during my break since we can’t be on the internet during “class”.

Things have been going pretty good. School’s fun. The drive to and from isn’t as lonely since Ricci goes with me :).

Friday, I donated blood (did I mention that already?) and I’ve got the huge bruise to prove it. The nurse moved the needle to the side while it was in my arm and said, “It might bruise a little, okay?”

“A little’s” an understatement! I look like a heroin addict ! I did get a T-shirt and a $5 gift card to the movies though .

Saturday was spent getting the last minute things together for Eenan’s party. We had Eenan’s “official” party on Sunday at Municipal Park in McAllen. I spent most of the day and night painting those blasted Yu-gi-oh’s, which I didn’t even get a picture of! I’ve still got 4 unpainted ones at home, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to paint them anytime soon. Mary picked mom up that afternoon since she’d be spending the night at the house to attend Eenan’s party.

The next day we woke up early and Mom, Mario, Jaylen and I gobbled up a quick breakfast at Whataburger and went to the movies.

Jaylen and I had already watched The Fantastic Four, but Mario and Mom hadn’t so we watched that one. There were a few things I missed the first time, since I kept having to get after Eenan who insisted on running into the isle .

We went back home and finished getting everything ready. Ricci was going to go to the party with us, but called and said she wouldn’t be able to make it. About 30 minutes before we left, she called and said she was on her way so we could leave together. Yay :). Eenan and Mom went with Mary and John (who was complaining about having to go), Ricci, her daughters, Jaylen, Mario and I went together. And we all fit!

Mary had gotten some great tables at the park, under shade and everything. Everyone got there and Mario, Noelia and Andy went to get the pizzas at Little Ceasar’s, which was a block away. It was nice. The kids all had a blast running rampant around the park. Eenan and Jaylen got along wonderfully with Belinda, Ricci’s eldest daughter. They had fun hitting the piñata, eating cake and Eenan loved all his presents. There was a moment where all the kids suddenly needed to go to the bathroom, but there was no way we’d be letting them go to the public restrooms there–they were disgusting. Let’s just say there was a mound of human poop smoldering in the hot sun outside the women’s restroom…so you can imagine how gross the inside of the bathrooms were! We ended up walking a block down to Circle K since Jaylen and Belinda couldn’t stand it anymore.

We went to Wal-Mart after the party since Ricci needed to pick something up for her little girl and got Eenan a gift he loved (a Blue Eyes White Dragon toy) and then we went to drop Mom off.

The next day Ricci and I came to school and after school we went to Mary’s office to pick up an insurance card, got the plates for the Prelude (the woman who attended me was a total witch!), then we went to the bank. After that, we picked her girls up and went back to my house to chill out. We watched a movie, Bruce Almighty, while I made lunch (chicken with celery gravy and garlic potatoes), and then we watched two more movies (50 First Dates and The Notebook). When dinner time came around, Ricci made a fabulous dinner of shrimp and rice–it was SO good. She even washed dishes and made tea, and it all took her about 30-45 MINUTES! I’m such a slow poke–that would have taken me 2 hours to do .

Yesterday was our friend Mayra’s birthday. Before we got to school in the morning, Ricci and I stopped by Wal-mart to pick up some cookies and drinks. Mayra brought a cake and after class we went to the lounge and had a little party. (We had to do 1 page report on the Three Branches of Government. We got our info from the internet–I can’t believe how long it took me. I hadn’t written anything like that in about 6 years!) It was nice. Rosie, Lucy, Ricci, Mayra, Joe and even Mrs. C-R ate together and talked. Mrs. C-R told us we’re a great class *pops collar*.

I dropped Ricci off, then went home, fed the kids, got them ready and we took John to the doctor. His chest pains–nothing serious, probably a muscle acting up. He got an EKG and everything. He got a physical, got blood drawn, and we told the doctor about his depression and he’ll be seeing a psychiatrist in November, maybe sooner if we can get the date moved up. I just hope they don’t fuck him up even more .

I hope I can get a chance to clean today! After we got home from the doctor yesterday I spent the remainder of the day (till 8pm to be exact) editing/colorzing some pictures of tattoos for Cuate, Mario and Jose. Mario wants to get another tattoo and Cuate’s gonna do it for him. Oy.

I have so much crap to do at home. I’m hoping to finish quickly and then get some rest! We don’t have school on Friday, but I highly doubt I’ll just get to veg out on the couch and do nothing all day. It’s good to dream though .

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