Working Through It

Wed. 17th – Work was so hectic that day. We had several classes in the library and at the same time we were having advisory students checking out books. It was insane. It was the first full week we were checking out books and I got a taste of what it would be like in the weeks to come. The training of students, re-training, checking-in and shelving of books was never-ending. I felt very stressed out.

Things were much better at home: I didn’t have to make dinner! My dad-in-law bar-b-q’d so we just sat around talking and relaxing. I packed myself some Hot Pockets for lunch the next day and since Mario’s not taking lunch for work anymore (not by choice; they don’t have a fridge) I didn’t have to worry about that. Mary’d stayed home from work because she’d caught Jaylen’s 24-hour bug, but she chilled out with us for a bit while Jorge came over. By the time we were ready for bed (at 9:30) I had the beginning signs of a sinus headache. Great! And to make it worse, it took Aly 30 minutes to fall asleep.

Thurs. 18th – Work was much, much better! God sent over a few substitute teachers who helped out with the re-shelving, so getting the rest of my work done went much smoother. We don’t get many that help out—most of them hide, believe it or not–so I was really grateful to the ones that came.

Friday -19th – Mrs. V. didn’t go to work that day. She had tons of stuff to do to prepare for her daughter’s quinceanera the next day. She left me a to-do list and I finished everything in an hour. I’d taken my laptop, just in case I got some free time, and although I did, I busied myself by pulling all the unlabeled books from the shelves. I need a batch of 30 to make the Reading Renaissance labels and I had two batches, plus one of about half that I didn’t get to finish at the end of the day.

The students had their first dance of the year. After Mrs. Ruiz and I went to lunch we saved some room for some nachos. I got some nachos and some corn-in-a-cup. Everything was so good.

I got home and we made plans to visit Gramma that night, since we didn’t get a chance to go the week before and wouldn’t be able to visit her on the weekends now.

Alaethia was being silly and laughing with Gramma. The boys were surprisingly well-behaved. When we got home we went over to Mary’s. I was startled when I felt a sort of fluttering in my belly! When we were here at home and Mario, Aly and I were sitting in the living room I felt it again, but only for a second. I had a good day, I have to admit. Poor Mario didn’t have a good evening at all, though. We’d decided to have movie night with the kids, but he changed plans to work late so they’d finish that job and he wouldn’t have to go in the next day. Well, it turned out that the job was finished, but there was one measly thing wrong…and Mario was the only one who was appointed to go in the next day. I had a few opinions to express but decided to keep my mouth shut since Mario felt angry about it enough already.

Sat. 20th – Mario finished what he had to do in 2½ hours. He got home and we went to McAllen. We went to Conn’s to ask about our (47″ LCD TV) payoff. They’d already credited our account the $65 they owed us from charging us property insurance when we didn’t order it, but the girl I spoke to on the phone confused me about my payoff date. We spoke to our sales guy and he said we definitely didn’t need to make any payment till December 2009 because we were so far ahead on our payments, but our “no interest” deal would end January 2009. Cool. I told him we’d pay the rest off in a week.

Mario and I were both hungry so we ate at Joe’s Crab Shack. It was my first time there, ever. I know one of us had the Fisherman’s Platter and the other had the Shrimp Platter. Yum. I could eat seafood all day. Except that I got really nauseous after eating about 3 calamari rings for some reason. I usually love calamari!

We stopped by Mario’s old workplace to buy some RCAs since Mario was going to mount the LCD—finally, after 8 months of having it. He kept being swept away by crowds of his old co-workers so I just stayed at the front with the girls. When he was finally done socializing we went Downtown to find my dress for my boss’s daughter’s Quinceanera that night. Mario complained the whole time and even threatened to leave me behind if I took more than thirty minutes. I rolled my eyes and walked into the first store I saw that carried maternity wear. I walked straight to the back, found a dress, some earrings and a bracelet—all for $19! That showed Mario ;).

We got home and Mario called Jose right away since he said he’d help him mount the TV. And they got to work. There were wires everywhere, but they did such a great job. Alaethia doesn’t smack her head when she passes too close to it like she would when it was on the entertainment center.

I got ready, Mario got ready in about 5 minutes and we left the kiddos with the grandmas. We couldn’t find the ballroom and finally called Tommy to get directions. We got there a half hour late, but at least we got there. Everything–the ceremony, presentation, Noelle’s dress, etc.–was beautiful. Mrs. V. really outdid herself. When we went up to congratulate Noelle, I introduced Mario to Mrs. V. I almost cried when she told him she thought I was awesome and that staying at home after the baby’s born is the best thing we could do for our kids. I couldn’t help rushing forward and giving her a huge hug. She really is the best boss ever.

When Mario and I were sitting at the table talking to Mr. Dennett, his wife, and Mr. Rios, I felt fluttering in my belly again. I kind of sat there quietly waiting for another one, but nothing happened. We ended up leaving the Quince at 9:40 since we were going over to Yazmin’s to celebrate her birthday, which was the day before. We stayed till almost 11. I was beat.

Sun. 21st – Mario was in a hurry to get the living room looking its best and decided we needed a new, thin audio pier. So we sat in bed, Alaethia rolling around between us and a laptop on each of our laps and searched online for an audio pier that was nice but not too expensive. We found one online at Walmart that they also sold at the store. We still checked Big Lots when we went to town and they didn’t have anything at all. Walmart had tons of audio piers, but not the one we wanted. Finally we went to Target and found the perfect one, even cheaper than the one we were going to get at Walmart!

Ah yes, I forgot. This was the day Mario threw a fit because of Whataburger. The one here messed up his order—actually, they gave him a completely different order so he asked for his money back. The one in Mission had a huge line. When we were on our way home, we picked up Whataburger at the Palmview one the way home and they messed up too, but he called the guy back and he fixed it. I do hate when Mario gets like that, but it’s a pet peeve of his to have his orders severely messed up. He puts up with my pet peeves, so I guess.

Mon. 22nd – Mrs. V. didn’t go to work that day because she was busy returning stuff from the party. I finished labeling the books I had left over from Friday and stayed busy throughout the day. It was nice and relaxing. When I picked the kids up from school all is well until we get home. Eenan’s forgotten his homework, again. I got after him and he threw a fit, as usual. I really don’t know what’s wrong with him this year. His teacher had already told me he was talking so much that he wouldn’t even get his work started. Then another teacher told me he still wasn’t turning in his work. I’d already told him to write a note to himself with the day’s work and to put his worksheets into this binder immediately after receiving them. But he doesn’t pay attention. I don’t know how to help him with that! Or how to help him at home. He explodes with attitude about every half hour on some days. I need a Supernanny.