Category: School

4 months have never zoomed by so fast. I started classes on January 17th and by the time I knew it, it was Spring Break and then I was suddenly cramming for finals and classes were over on May 12th.

This was the most stressful and equally fulfilling experience I’ve had in a long time. And besides re-learning algebra and learning so much in bio, I learned even more.

I learned that studying till 2am was fruitless; I was nodding off, half-paying attention and by the time I woke up the next day I didn’t have any recollection of what I stayed up studying the night before. I learned that coffee and Georgia Peach Bang energy drinks (which I bought from Dollar Tree every chance I got) don’t keep me awake at all. I could drink both and STILL fall asleep sitting in my desk chair.

I learned that I can say no! It was hard, and it sucks having to say no to friends, but I literally spent every free moment I had studying: when I had a free moment at work and then from the time I got home till it was time for bed. All I did on Saturdays was study to get all my assignments submitted by 11:59pm.

I learned that I’m not dumb! Even at 41 years old, I can still memorize (not the photographic memory I had 25 years ago, but it works), I can still pass exams. I passed my remedial algebra class with a 100% average! You don’t know how satisfying it is to log into my school dashboard and see “TSI Compliant.”

I got a B in bio. I was nervous about that one. I bombed the Final, but I did do excellently in everything else, including the lab finals. Plus I had tons of extra credit, so I got a B in the end. I got an A in Algebra and an A in the remedial class. I was so upset and on pins and needles leading up to when grades would be posted because I was certain I wouldn’t pass Bio and I did!

I am now registered for a summer minimster. I had NO idea it was a minimster, so I hope it isn’t extremely hard. And I’m also registered for my fall classes. I feel like I am actually going to do this! It’s nerve wracking and exciting. But for now. I’m still trying to finish my book (“The Book of 2 Ways” by Jodi Picoult) and catching up on my shows (Grey’s Anatomy and A Million Little Things) before classes start again on Monday. I’m ready!

I’d been wanting to do one of those One Photo an Hour/A Day in the Life posts, but I never remember or my phone dies or something else like that. I decided to try on this day, but only after already having made breakfast and showering, of course LOL.

So I drank my coffee and straightened my hair, all while Ruffles was knocking on the door, trying to get out.

Around 11:00am:

Around 11:30am:

The birthday boys were on a mission to spend their birthday money. We stopped to pay John’s car at the bank and then went to Target:

But they didn’t find anything. Instead, I found some garden things and little garden stones for the girls to paint in the Dollar Spot :).

We went to Barnes & Noble next. We were at the light at Ware Road and a car stalled in front of us. It was the most heartwarming thing seeing people from across all 3 lanes of traffic stopping to help these people move their vehicle. You don’t see that very much anymore.

We got to Barnes and walked the isles and flipped through a few books but they didn’t find anything. It was 1:00pm so picked up some pizzas and we ate at home with the rest of the family:

The kiddos were all nice and full and all except Jaylen and Justin sat with Mom to watch their Disney shows. We went to Walmart next, where we walked for what seemed like forever until they decided on Nerf guns. I was pretty proud of them choosing something other than games; especially since they had more than enough to buy a video game each .

We got home and they all started putting the guns together. I went outside with the girls to paint their little butterfly “stepping stones” around 4:00pm:

I snapped this just as Emily dabbed her face with the paint LOL. She’s so cute ♥!

I watered my little flowers as they finished painting. These are some of the survivors of 1st hail storm. I’m so happy they made it!

We went back inside and washed up. It was almost 5:00pm. I kept telling myself NOW I shall sit! But I passed by the girls’ room and saw this:

So we started cleaning. I use the term “we” lightly, heh. I didn’t get an “after” shot because…I forget why. But imagine the room with no toys on the floor and nicely organized in boxes in the closet, vacuumed, and beds made :).

It was almost 6pm and I told myself, OK, seriously now. SIT. And I did. And I totally had intentions of just kicking my feet up on the ottoman and blogging but the boys came running inside for some drinks since they’d been hunting each other with the Nerf guns. They left trails of dried mud, so I cleaned them up. Then the girls wanted snacks, so I made PB&J sandwiches. And then Jorge got home. We tried cuddling and just shutting our eyes for a few seconds, but someone was arguing with someone else so we got up to stop the commotion. We literally laid down about a minute :P.

I made dinner and then we had cake for the boys, finally! I think I was more excited than they were! I LOVE that cake!

I can never get a pic when everyone is smiling LOL! We watched their shows on the TV the rest of the evening until it was time for bed. I’m pretty sure I ended up passing out whilst watching TV.

As you can see, I kind of forgot about the hourly photo thing. But this is my Saturdays in a nutshell when it’s my weekend with the kiddos. Some of the busiest, loveliest weekends ever :).

Mario and I were debating for a while whether we should fix up our old e-machines desktop computer and that day we finally decided to buy the hard drive it needed to work again. The moms stayed with the kiddos while we went to Office Max, where we saw a 500g ATA hard drive on sale for $99 in the ads. We got the hard drive and Norton. Turned out we got the wrong hard drive. We were starving, so we decided to exchange it after we ate. Mario asked where I wanted to go and I hinted Kumori, but I knew he wouldn’t want to go. But then he starts turning into the lane and he stops at Kumori! I was thrilled. It was turning out to be such a great day. The weather was nice and overcast and I just love days like that.

We ordered some spicy calamari and Mario got some Yakimeshi Beef (fried rice with beef and veggies). He loved it. I joked that I’d probably starve if I had to eat rice with chopsticks all the time; my rice kept falling all over the place.

I ordered my usual rolls, the Fiesta Rolls. Mario couldn’t decide what he wanted. He said he liked the rolls I took him a while back, the Earth Rolls, which consist of fried rice, spicy shrimp, veggies and cream cheese but he hates cream cheese. I told him he could just order without it. That’s what I do—order my Fiesta Rolls without the fried salmon skin, yuck. We had a really nice time, just us in the quiet, dark restaurant enjoying the rain that had just started pouring. I couldn’t stop grinning at him across the table. I was still in complete disbelief that we’d spent three whole days together (well, half of Friday since I was working). But still, it was fantastic!

We went back to exchange the hard drive but ended up returning altogether because they didn’t have the one we needed. It was quickly starting to flood; one thing I don’t miss about living in McAllen. Adan told us to go to Comp USA because they most likely carried the ATA hard drive we needed. I hadn’t been to Comp USA at all since they relocated. The store’s HUGE. We found a 400gig for $79! I was in love.

We went to Walmart to get another DVD shelf to match the nice one we bought a few months ago. The old one we had was rickety and I was terrified that it would fall on top of Alaethia, since she has this obsession with ruining my DVDs at the moment. We got a few more things we needed and then went to H-E-B for groceries. We got home, I cleaned up, did laundry, dishes, and all the other housework. Got the kids in the shower and didn’t even iron. I packed myself some Hot Pockets for work, which I was craving. They’re livesavers. Adan and Mario were chilling outside with Jorge and Jose by the time we went to bed. Aly wouldn’t go to sleep at all; Mom let her sleep while we were in town. We were up till 1am! Then she woke me up at 3:30 for a glass of milk. I couldn’t fall back to sleep and just tossed and turned. I hate that! Needless to say I was exhausted in the morning!