Category: School

Rash, Verbs, and Scales

I got home early yesterday to take John to the doctor as I’d promised. Mario took Noelia’s car to work, so she was without a ride and needed me to take her to Gizmo’s vet appointment and to her college to fill out some paperwork. We went to her college after the vet. She’s in tears as she’s approaching the car because they dropped all of her classes. What morons. Supposedly she needed some signature, or something like that, and since they didn’t have it they dropped her classes. I hope she can somehow get them all back. It’ll mess up her whole graduating schedule if she doesn’t get these classes .

Noelia stayed at the college so John, Gizmo and I came back home. We got lost (I thought 107 went straight to our city?) and were afraid we wouldn’t make it to pick Eenan up from school but we did. Since John’s insurance was all screwed up he wanted me to be there to talk to the doctor and nurses. After dropping Eenan off with Mom I took John back and long story short: he doesn’t have Shingles. He does, however, have a contagious virus of some kind. The doctor told us the name but it was something really long and complicated that started with Coc it’s Coxsackie Virus–no kidding. John said, “Great. I have the Cockysuckyvirus.” ROFL

We’re starting this weight-loss thing in class. It’s kind of like The Biggest Loser, except with a lot less money involved. Everyone that’s participating is putting in $20. Whoever loses the most weight by March 20th wins the money. So far there’s about 6 of us. Mayra and Rolando have a bet going on too–whoever looks better (doesn’t matter who’s lost more weight) by the time the contest’s over gets the $100.

I weighed in at 120 lbs. My short term goal is 10 lbs., long term 15. I don’t really want to go under 105 because I don’t want to become all scrawny like I used to be (although that seems like a long shot from what I look like right now LOL).

I have reservations about joining, though. Since yesterday I’ve wanted to start watching what I’m eating and getting some walking on the tredmil/crunches in, but I just don’t have time and I’ve been consuming carbs as if no one’s ever going to make bread again.

Yesterday I drove around all day. Today I’m studying for my final (and typing this up–stalling? Not really ). I’ll lose $20 if I don’t lose the most weight. And I can’t see myself “in shape” either. I guess I’ll never get anywhere with that attitude though, huh? I have till the first week of February to make up my mind and turn in the money.

I should get back to studying. I’m doing a few of the lessons that are in the book and I’m doing pretty good. It’s just those darn future progressive, present perfect tense craps that are totally throwing me off. Darn, it’s 7:10. I should have started on dinner 10 minutes ago.

See what I mean?

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Christmas Eve 2005

It’s a sunny 79° outside right now. Needless to say it won’t be a White Christmas in south Texas this year. Bah humbug.

My immune system sensed that Christmas was ’round the corner because it decided to discombobulate after school on Thursday. I decided to drink orange juice this morning to accelerate my recuperation and sort of over did it as I now have a horrible upset stomach. I hate colds!

I spent Wednesday night getting everything ready for school: gifts, lasagna, cookies, camera. My car was packed to the brim Thursday morning. I got to school and took a few things in, and noticed all the presents under our “Christmas Tree”, which was a tree drawn with a marker on the dry-erase board. Romeo and Kimberly helped me bring everything else in and we put everything in it’s place. I read a card (a Cheer Bear one) that Ricci wrote to me. I initially thought Kimberly wrote it (I had my thumb over the name) and felt so embarrased when I said, “Aww, thank you, Kimberly!” and Ricci turns around and says, “THAT’S FROM ME!”

It seemed really odd to me while I was reading “Kimberly’s” card that everything she mentioned was what Ricci and I had been through. I felt like an airhead!

I really appreciate my friends though. I never thought I’d find friends like these and I just feel so blessed. It’s not because of the holidays, either. I think about them all the time and thank God for bringing them into my life.

Speaking of, Lucy looked really sad and…indifferent that day. I wish she’d just talk to me, but she seems to only open up to Mayra. It doesn’t bother me that she doesn’t talk to me, it just makes me feel a little disappointed. I wish there was a way I could make her feel better.

We reviewed chapters 2 & 3 of our new class, Business Communications, for the test we’d be having before our party. I can officially say, I highly dislike adjectives. Some of them are confusing to me. I can honestly say we weren’t taught certain things in high school.

Anyway, after reviewing, we opened gifts! From Kimberly and Romeo I got the Good Luck Bear baby, from Ricci a beautiful red glass pitcher with two glasses, from Mayra a gorgeous banana (?) clip, charm bracelet and red sequined purse; from Lucy a Hello Kitty toaster (exact one I got last year), Care Bear stickers, and glittery Hello Kitty switch plate; and from my Secret Santa, Rosy, a huge basket full of Sweet Pea lotions and bath stuff. I was thrilled with my stuff :).

I gave Rolando his present, which was a gift card to the mall since I COULD NOT figure out what to get him. I mean he gave ideas, but there was no way I could afford what he wanted. I figured I’d get him a gift card so he could choose what he’d like and actually LIKE IT.

I was utterly surprised when he rushed by, gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Mario got really lucky with you.” It could have also been that he was in love with the cookies and lasagna I’d made LOL. He kept saying, “WHY’D you have to be married?!” I guess what they say is correct: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!

Unfortunately for him, I’m perfectly happy being married .

I felt really warm inside hearing compliments about my cooking. That never gets old to me. We had a great time pigging out. We laughed and talked and had fun. Mrs. C-R was with us, too. Most of the other side of the class had left, but that didn’t bother me at all. Everyone who’s company I enjoy was there .

I planned to chill out with Ricci at her Grandma’s for a while after school, but I got a call from Mom that Eenan’d been stung by a bee. I rushed home of course, thinking the worst, but thankfully he was fine.

Mom agreed to watch the kids on Friday while Mario and I went out to finish our Christmas shopping. We picked up some McDonald’s, then we went to Norma C.’s car lot first where he’d install a radio in a car and then we went to the bank. We tried killing some time before he had to pick his check up from work so we went to check on our property in McAllen.

We got down and inspected the lots. Mario estimates that we’ll be spending at least $2,000 to get the trees uprooted only from the backyard. There’s so many trees on that lot it’s not even funny. It looks like a mini-forest in the middle of town, no kidding. I felt this overwhelming feeling of bliss standing there, making plans with him about our future home. I momentarily stopped hearing what he was saying and just stared at him standing in the ray of sunlight and I thought, I’m so glad I married this man.

I really can’t wait to build our home together. I can’t wait to go through life together and raise our kids together. This is so important to me. I just pray that we’ll be able to actually uproot those trees and that Mario can buy his motorcycle since work would only be a few blocks away.

We met up with Mary and Elda at Chick-fil-a to eat lunch, and shortly after Mario was called to pick up his check. Then came the hours of shopping, paying $10 for crappy valet service, and having a fit at Target because they wouldn’t let me exchange my Hello Kitty toaster for something that wasn’t in Housewares. They wouldn’t even let me take pillows! Pillows go in a HOUSE!

Mario stopped by this little stand he likes to buy hotdogs at, then we ordered pizza and rented movies. We ate fast food all day, how sad. BUT, I’m so glad we finished with our Christmas shopping.

We visited Gramma this morning and took her her gifts. I really miss her. It would be the perfect Christmas if she were able to spend it with us *sigh*.

I’m going to go back to Mary’s. I’ve been trying to rest, but with all the kids running in and out of the house it’s basically impossible. All the kids are playing in the bedroom and I JUST finished cleaning half of it so I think I’ll take them with me. *checks* Oh yeah, they’re making a mess.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas. God Bless!

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Pleasantly Surprised

Last Wednesday, after having yet another frustrating day at school with Quickbooks, I went to the post office and ran into an old friend, Jessica, from my OSM days. We caught up (she’s married, has a little boy, one on the way) and found out she’s been living 3 streets away from me for the past 4 years! What a small world we live in. I knew I’d seen her at the Dollar General once and she swears she saw me walking down the main street with a stroller (ah yes, when I was actually making an effort to lose weight) and at Wal-Mart. We talked for a while on Saturday; I need to remember to call her back.

Sometime at the beginning of last week, Aunt Nora called and asked if we’d like her old bedroom set since she was buying a new one. I remember LOVING her bed, and ask, “Is it the one I said I liked?” and she said, “Yup, that one.” Score. She gave us the drawers and bedside table too. The dressers she’s had since she first got married () but the bed is brand new. It looks beautiful :).

Mario was going to take the Sentra Saturday morning, but when he tried to turn it on, nothing happened. Turns out the starter died. All I could think about was my final on Monday and how we were broke, couldn’t afford a new starter and HOW WAS I GOING TO FINISH CHRISTMAS SHOPPING??

Mary came to the rescue and bought the part for us (we need to pay her back *adds to long list of debts*) and Mario waited around all day for someone to help him out to no avail. Finally, later at night, Jose came home and fixed it with the company of Mary and Big Mario. Mario was too upset to go out there.

Brushka had her second litter of kittens yesterday. Panthy-Poo (who’s solid black) was the one who mated with her, yet she had black tabby ones (probably from Panthy), gray tabby ones like her, and a WHITE ONE. I told Mario, “Aww, she’s so cute! If she’s got long hair like Artemis, I want to keep her.” And to my surprise he replied, “I kinda want to keep her too.”

Booka (as Jaylen calls her) will be staying indoors until we get her spayed. With all these new kittens, that brings the total to 14 cats and well, I’m too young to be a crazy cat lady . I hope we can find them good homes (Booka’s last litter: Bah, Enchilirido, and Goop, were all given to Ricky and they disappeared a week later since they had them outside. He lives in a ranch–I’d hate to think what animal, like a coyote, could have gotten to them). I gotta get Choco Cat spayed and John needs to get his cat spayed, too.

I went to school all by my lonesome today. Ricci moved to Mission, so she won’t be going with me to school in the morning. I gotta say, I’m so used to going everywhere with her it feels strange without her there LOL. I’ll be bringing her with me afterschool and dropping her off at her Grandma’s, where Goyo will be picking her and the girls up. I’m really glad they got their own place–they really needed it.

We got to school and I tried explaining to Ricci and Romeo how to do a few things (that I could remember) in Quickbooks when Mrs. C-R suddenly asked us to sit and get ready for our final. She said, “Your final is your assignment from Friday. There’s 3 cheat sheets, each one’s 5 points off of your final if you ask for it. There’s also a bonus you can do. If you get it right, it’s 20 extra points, if you don’t, it doesn’t affect your grade.”

My mouth dropped. I stayed an extra hour after school on Friday to finish that assignment because I JUST HAD TO get it right. And I did! When I was about 1/4 ways done with the bonus Company, Mrs. C-R places a letter on my desk. It says that I already had a 100 for that class (yeah baby!) and I could take the bonus if I wanted to. She also said she was proud of me (aww ) and to always keep my head held high. She left a P.S. that said, “Thanks for always helping out your classmates.” I was beaming and smiling from ear to ear. I gave the bonus a shot anyway (I think I messed up on a deposit though ) and thanked her for the letter. I’m going to miss her when I graduate .

I was so worried about that Final. I was sure I was going to bomb it. I even had a dream–no, a nightmare–Saturday night that I’d set my alarm wrong on Sunday night and woke up at 12:20pm. I totally missed class and Mrs. C-R wouldn’t let me re-take. I woke up with my heart beating a mile a minute!

I went to drop Mario’s lunch off at work since he forgot it and Mom, the boys and I went downtown to get Tio Arturo’s gift and to this Japanese store I’d always wanted to go to. After 30 minutes of looking for parking we went over there and I’m in love. Mom bought me a little Lucky Cat snow globe and I think I found my inspiration for decorating the living room. I’d always wanted an Asian theme and now I know where to go for all my decor :). They have gorgeous vases and such pretty paper lanterns.

Welp, I should get to baking those Snickerdoodles. I’ve got TONS of baking to do before Thursday!

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