Category: Photos

Finally, we finally have our internet back. Turns out one of our lines was bad. One of the technicians commented about how I should leave my hair “down” because it looked nice. I felt kind of uncomfortable and said, “It’s too hot” LOL.

Our phone’s still not working and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with our AC going out a few times. I’m thinking they moved (or cut?) the lines up there. It’s kind of a coincidence everything just stopped working all of a sudden.

Not having internet is such an inconvenience. We needed the internet for so many things this weekend and it sucked not having it LOL. But yay, now I can update and I need to answer e-mails/return visits.

Anyway, we went to Mexico on Saturday since Yazmin had a dentist appointment and we needed to pick up the Yu-gi-oh centerpieces for Eenan’s birthday party. There’s 12 of them and we have to paint them all! These are a little more detailed than all the other ones we’ve ever painted too.

I don’t remember much from that night…I think we just went to Yadira’s.

Mario had Sunday off, so we just cuddled in bed for a few hours and were just being lazy. We went to Yadira’s for a while and then I took John to the store and we went back. We were almost broke so we didn’t go anywhere (had our credit card but we’re REALLY trying not to spend that anymore). We came home, Mario took a nap, the boys stayed with Mary and I took John driving on the expressway. He did really well; I was surprised at how calm he was. All he needs to do is pay a little more attention when he’s turning into other lanes.

That night Mario left to see his good ol’ buddies: Watson, Robby, Art, and Jorge. I was pretty pissed and thought the worst, since usually, when he hangs out with Watson, he starts to be an asshole with me. He tried cuddling with me that night but I smacked his hand and sternly said, “NO”. I was still upset .

Yesterday, July 4th, Mario and I had a *lovely* morning .I guess you can say he made up for leaving while I was making dinner the night before. We got ready and left to watch War of the Worlds. I don’t know if it was how loud the surround sound was, but damn, that movie startled me. I kept grabbing on to Mario’s arm and pressing my ear against it LOL. It was good, but the end was kind of…abrupt? I don’t know how to explain it, but I did like it.

We came home, I made lunch, we ate and then we went to see Gramma at the nursing home to wish her a happy birthday. I drove there. We chatted with Gramma for a while and I showed her how long my hair was. She’d never noticed it since I always have my hair up since it’s so darn hot out. She said, “It’s so pretty! But doesn’t your head hurt?” LOL She’s so cute .

We went to the mall after we left but they were closing right when we got there, so we went home. We sat around and watched TV for a while and then Andy and Noelia got here. They brought fireworks for the kids and we all had a really nice time. Poor Andy burnt poor Mario with a punk by accident, but all was well. We also saw firework-show-type fireworks that the neighbors usually buy, so that was pretty cool.

And that was our weekend. I need to visit dailies and see what’s going on with everyone. I feel so…behind!

And OMG…now that I have my license, do you know what that means?? That means I can now legally drive to school, finish school and then get a J-O-B!!! But wait, I need to either find or go to Edinburg and buy a new diploma before I can get INTO school. But it’s okay…I’m on a roll. I KNOW I can do everything I’ve wanted to do.

I would have updated on Thursday, but my darn internet is down (typing this on Notepad on Friday, 7-01-05 @ 11:03pm) and Roadrunner’s offices close at 9pm. 24 hour service my arse.

Anyway, I DID IT! I GOT MY LICENSE!! Can you believe that? Because I still can’t . I think I’m most surprised out of everyone. I was nervous as heck. I only slept about 6 hours, we got there late, and I only got a chance to skim through the parts in the driving book that I had trouble remembering (I kept trying to remember the How Many Feet Does It Take To Stop At So-And-So MPH). Poor John didn’t get to even take the 1st part of the damn test because he needed a THIRD type of ID and he didn’t have one. He needed either his diploma (which hasn’t come in) or school transcript. Bastards.

I thought I was going to pass out before I took the test. Not only was I shaking when I was filling out the application, but I was yawning. I yawn, uncontrolably, when I have “butterflies” in my stomach. I yawned about 30 times and started feeling really lightheaded. Mario had told me we had a choice of a written test or a test on a computer, but they only do the computer test now. Mario and I’d been talking the night before, at around 1:30am, and since I was really sleepy, I remembered him saying something about how he missed 3 questions and didn’t pass the test the first time he took it. So I thought, “Okay, the most questions I can miss is 2”.

So, I’m taking the test, and I miss 4 questions. I was about to start bawling right there (didn’t help that it was officially Day 1 of That Time of the Month). Most of the questions I missed had to do with the How Many Feet Does It Take To Stop At So-And-So MPH. When I was done with the test, and the lump in my throat had grown to the size of a soccer ball, it tells me that I passed with an 84%. Later, Mario tells me he said he was 3 questions away from passing the test the first time he took it, not that he missed three LOL.

I was so excited that I passed . My driving test was set for 2pm, so we went back home (it was 11am) and went to the high school to get a copy of John’s transcript. As luck would have it, they’re closed till the 18th of July. Nice. Needless to say, John was really disappointed. So was I; I was really hoping we’d take (and pass) the tests together .

We ran a few errands, Mario put Vito’s new computer together and he quickly taught me to parallel park. I learned to parallel park in about 8 minutes. Granted, I’m not perfect at it, but I did okay. I practiced with a green plastic lawn chair and the wall to Big Mario’s tool shed.

We went back to McAllen after that and ate at a restraunt called El Molcajete. The food was so good — almost exactly like the Mexican food they make in Mexico. I wish I could have enjoyed my food more. I was so nervous I didn’t even finish my Coke, which is not like me at all.

When we got to the DPS, I started to get nervous all over again, but I can honestly say I was more nervous about the 1st part of the test than the driving part. They made us wait in line and turn our engines off, so I was sweating like a pig in 102° heat. A scary, mean looking lady did the inspection on the car, but a really sweet lady was my instructor. I was shaking by the time she sat in the seat but she broke the ice when she lost her pen under the abyss that is the passenger seat (Mario’s quite messy). After she finally found her pen, she directed me to two yellow poles, where I’d be parallel parking. Parking between two poles made me much less nervous than parking between two cars–which is what I thought they were going to tell me to do. I parked the best that I could. Then, we went around the block a few times and I messed up twice and even said, “Oh”, after realizing my mistake *slaps forehead*.

I thought for sure there was no way I’d passed. When we get back to the parking lot, she says, “Well, Mrs. V….”, and the lump in my throat automatically comes back.

“You passed your exam. Congratulations.”

She hands me my papers and tells me to go to the office to set everything up. I reach for them and she notices my hand’s shaking like a leaf. She smiles, since she probably sees that a lot, and I say, “I was SO nervous!”.

I ran to Mario and Jaylen (Eenan was with Mary) and told him I’d passed. He said he was proud of me and reminded me that I’d done it all on my own–and I can’t believe it, but I did. I taught myself to drive mostly . I set my goal, and I accomplished it. It even says on my calendar on June 30th: “Must get license by THIS day!”. According to my test record here, I need to work on my positioning and signaling for parallel parking, observance to corners, and control and positioning on my left turns LOL. And my picture on my driver’s license? I fear the day it comes in the mail…I was red as a lobster from the heat, I was sweating, I only had ONE EYEBROW PLUCKED (didn’t get to finish after Mario taught me to parallel park!), plus they make you take your glasses off and I couldn’t get my eyes to focus! I know I came out either squinting or with one eye straight and one eye to the side or something .

We went to Wal-Mart and got a few things we needed (new blinds, printer ink, undies for the boys) and I got myself some green spongy flip-flops and some Jolee’s scrapbooking stickers that say “New Driver”. Woo! Mario said he wanted to get me something nice to celebrate and I said he didn’t have to do that but I think I’m going to ask for some Kodak printing paper and ink so I can scrapbook again. Hee .

Today (Friday), I drove to McAllen (man was that scary! Traffic was SO congested!) and we saw Gramma at the nursing home. She’s doing good, thank goodness, and she was surprised and proud that I’d gotten my license. We took a few pictures with her and came home. I spoke to Mom and she was even more surprised and said she was proud, too .

Came home, and took Yazmin to McDonald’s and took John to Star’s and got ice cream for everyone who wanted some. Mario got home from work and wanted something from El Pato and the boys wanted Happy Meals so back we went. He laid his seat back and just chilled out while I drove–I’ve NEVER seen him that relaxed when I’m driving. What a difference a little piece of paper makes!

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I don’t check my mail for one day and I have 26 junk mail e-mails in my inbox. I hate junk mail .

Anyway, thank you all who’ve left me comments on my two previous entries. I really appreciate the advice and encouragement . I’ll try and get back to everyone soon.

Haven’t been online much due to studying the darn DL book and working up the courage again to drive. The night I “screwed up”, I actually cried myself to sleep (don’t laugh) because the incident kept replaying in my head and all I kept thinking was, “What if I hadn’t reacted as quickly as I did and just froze there?” I kept thinking about the kids. But I’m trying to get over it. Mostly because Mario made me snap out of it. Thank you, Babe.

I didn’t drive at all on Saturday. Well, unless you consider me going to the store a few streets down on a beer run for Mario and Cuate. But that was it. I was still too chicken.

Sunday, Mary drove to Brownsville and we went to the zoo to celebrate Natalie’s 12th birthday. It was Cata, Annie and their kids and Mary, the boys and I. No one else went because it was “short notice”, but we all had a great time anyway. I got some great pictures, and I even saw some HUGE red eared slider turtles. I hope my babies can get that big one day. And the cutest thing was that there were baby animals EVERYWHERE!

While we were on our way to the zoo, Mario called to let me know Choco Cat and Panthy Poo (Panther, Mom’s cat) had been mating. Sure enough, we get home and they were flirting with eachother. Now, Skinny’s trying to hump Brushka, and she’s letting him . I’m going to have 30 cats in a few months .

I don’t remember much from Monday (spent most of the day studying the DL book then took John driving around–he did really well). Yesterday, I finally got tired of running out of groceries and stuff like napkins and Clorox wipes, so I got the kids ready, made John go with us, said a prayer and drove to Mission, to Wal-Mart. Then we went to H-E-B to buy groceries. I did really good on my own, too! Usually, I have a hard time containing myself and buy things we don’t need (which is why I didn’t want to go without Mario), but I only spent $63 at Wal-Mart and $120 at H-E-B and got all the stuff we needed and a few extras.

It was SUPER hot when we got home. Turns out the darn air-conditioner pipe froze and so the air wasn’t working. Mary watched Jaylen while I took Angela and Eenan to their swimming lessons and then we came home. I was literally dripping sweat while I was making dinner (didn’t drip into the food though, don’t worry !). Then we went to Yadira’s, where it was nice and cool. She made enchiladas, too–salsa verde ones with LOTS of mozzerella cheese . T’was nice seeing everyone last night.

Today, I’ve got to finish reading that book because tomorrow John and I go and take the test *breathes*. I need to call the driving place because I’ve got a few questions. I need to remember to go to the ATM tomorrow since I need to go to the school to re-order my diploma. I also need to take the kids to the library and clean! I’ve been procrastinating for the past hour .

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