The Power Of Being A Mom

I've moved...

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:44:38 GMT

I've moved to a new blog world... I've set up my new home at Wordpress. I'd love for all you guys to keep reading!!!

http://elsuenoamericano.wordpress.com <~~~ That's me! :)

Harry Potter...

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:58:21 GMT

I've been watching some various Harry Potter & The 1/2 Blooded Prince media on You Tube... Gosh, I can't wait for that movie to come out! I don't think I've anticipated a movie so much since The X-Files back in '99!

My friend from work let me borrow all 7 Harry Potter books and I seriously finished them within 2 weeks. I felt so disappointed when I was done reading them... they're so good and it was such an interesting way to pass the time! Now I've moved on to the movies... I love 'em all.

Was that enough Harry Potter rambling to bore you out of your skull?? I'm sorry.

So... there is quite a bit of drama at work. Its a long, long, long story but the end result is that as of Tuesday I might be employed by another (actually a competitor!) restaurant! My manager, who is a very awesome woman, got sick of all the sexism, drama, and problems at our work and said Tuesday is her last day, and she's taking 6 of us with her on Tuesday and the rest in the next couple of weeks. I think I'm one of those 6, and I'm very excited.

I'm on my way to eat at Dennys right now... (hint, hint: Dennys = possible place of future employment!) Yummy!!!

A few pics... I'll update later today!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:56:57 GMT

Here are some few pics of the girls, starting with their Halloween pics, and then a few random pics... :)

And this is Jose and Olivia when we were in Mexico...

Hi!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:20:16 GMT

Yup. Its me. Posting for the first time in a year. Almost exactly a year, I think!

What's new about me?

*No more Werner Enterprises. I gave up my desk job, spent the summer in Mexico with the girls, and now work as a waitress a couple nights a week. I love it most nights, and make really good money.

*We're having our church marriage ceremony March 29th!! That means big dress, hall, DJ, beer, everything! I'm excited yet nervous.

*I've been going to RCIA classes all fall/winter to become an official member of the Catholic church.

*No more kids yet... soon, though, hopefully!

I love all of you guys and hope a few of you remember me!!

Sad news...

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 18:14:40 GMT

Yesterday, Baltazar's baby girl died. They don't know what she died from... They're still guessing leukemia, but I don't believe that diagnosis. Its depressing to think about. Poor baby girl.

That's really all I have to update on... Things are going pretty good around here.

La Vie Boheme...

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:41:19 GMT

Ahh... working a 1/2 day has got to be the greatest thing in the world next to having the day off. I feel really guilty though, since I dropped the girls off with Jose's Mom this morning. I thought I was just going to come home, change, and go on to work. But since I had already told my boss that I wasn't going in until 12:30, I felt really, really lazy once I got back to the apartment.

I want to go get the girls... I might just get ready and go spend the next hour or so over there. Sounds like a pretty good plan!

Izzy has been getting on my nerves SO BAD lately. I love her so much, but she can be soooooooooo annoying sometimes! I just have to keep reminding myself that she's only three!!! Last night I took a jewelry box away from her, and then Jose started complaining about it (Why don't you keep it out of her reach? She doesn't understand its just a toy? How many times do I have to tell you? Don't take it away from her! Blah blah blah...) and I THREW IT! How HORRIBLE is that!? I feel so bad... And she ran over to it, hugged it, and put it in her toybox. That just makes me SOOOOOOO sad. I'm crying remembering... I mean, she put the damned thing in her toybox so I wouldn't yell at her about playing with it anymore. Oh... I feel so terrible. But I just get sick of telling her not to do something a bazillion trillion times. Or asking her to DO something all day long. I know, I know... she's only three. =( I guess I'm just a little stressed out.  I needed to get that off my chest. Man, when I started writing about it I didn't think I'd end up bawling, though!

I'm trying to be patient. Patience has never been a strong point of mine... Jose has always said that I go from fine to freaked out about something in a matter of seconds. He used to always tell me to count to ten. I'm going to have to take that advice. Count to ten... Just slow myself down, take a deep breath, and count to ten.

Poor Izzy... =( I want to go squeeze her and hug her. And give her that damned jewelry box! LoL.

Well... This has sure turned into a downer of an entry. What else can I talk about that's not so depressing...

I just got done watching "Mean Girls"... I've seen that movie so many times and I don't get sick of it! It's SOOOO true! LoL. It makes me laugh a ton, too... "Are we still in a fight?"

"Well, are you still an asshole...?"

That's wonderful! =D

We sold my car. My beloved Chevy Cavalier has been sold. Sad for me! LoL. I *was* pretty sick of that damned car. It smelled funny (My compadre said it smelled like feet! LOL, ewwww) and the heat wasn't working. I was sick of arriving at work like a popsicle! The truck is sooooo much warmer and easier on the eyes! ;) The other day we were driving down L Street and Johanna was driving the opposite direction. Adriana was with her, so she turned to Adriana and said, "Damn, look at those awesome rims on that truck!" And Adriana told her, "Whoa, that's Liz and Jose!" LoL! That made me happy... :)

Selling the car will sure help us catch up, though!!!! Moving, buying the truck, Jose not working for a few months took a HUGE toll on our budget! The tax money disappeared as fast as a brick in quicksand. And we didn't even waste it like I had daydreamed about! LoL. Thinking about money (more like the lack of it!) depresses me SO much. I mean, other problems you can do something about. Money problems aren't as easy to fix! What are you going to do... rob a bank?! I don't think so.

I get paid three times this month. Woot! I'm so happy. One of those checks will be deduction free, too!!! No health, dental, vision, OR 125 plan! YAY! I can't wait to get that check...

About two weeks ago I bought more underwear at Victoria Secrets. Did I mention that...? I'm so addicted to that underwear. Isn't that crazy?! LoL. But its soooooooooooooooo much more comfy and sexy than my Hanes Her Way panties! LOL, Jose was forever making fun of my Hanes. =)

Maybe with my last check this month I'll buy a bra... That's a lot of dollars, though!!! I bet they're so comfortable, though! We'll see.

Jose just called me, and asked what I was doing. Heee heee.... He thought I was at work!

Bye!!! =)

QT... I need to go NOW.

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:35:35 GMT

I had cereal, animal crackers, and a slice of cheese for breakfast. Mmm... LoL, hopefully that will tide me over until lunch! I did very well not snacking like crazy yesterday at work, but then on the way home I bought a candy bar! LoL. Damn, at least I tried. :)

I made pork chops for dinner last night. They were so damned good. I amaze myself more and more each day! =D I tried eating pork chops differently last night, though. Instead of dipping them into ketchup like normal, I put them on a tortilla with some salsa and a few slices of avocado... Mmm. It makes my mouth watering just thinking about it!

I want to stop at QT on the way to work and get a frozen cappuccino. I better hurry this entry up and brush my hair if I plan on getting there in time!

La la la la la...

Jose's brother's daughter is doing a little better. She was released from the hospital, but she's back in there now. She's been hospitalized for over three weeks this time. Balta says he wishes they would just tell him what's wrong. They do tests and tests and change her medicine all day long but her fever just won't break. Hopefully they find out what she has so they can get her on the right medicine.

Oscar (one of Jose's cousins that live here in Omaha) left Friday for Mexico. He's going to spend 2 weeks down there. I sent a back full of older clothes of mine, some pictures, and toys to Jose's family. I also gave his brother my stereo, since I've only used it once or twice and then moved it into a box in the garage since the girls kept trying to shove CDs and DVDs into it. He was sooooo happy that I gave it to him! He sent it to his wife, since he's here in Omaha, too. A stereo like mine (it cost me $189.99 back in June of '05) would cost around 300 US Dollars or 3300 pesos! Ouch!

I want so badly to go back and visit. We've "talked" about me going to do my first communion down there.. Jose would stay here and I would take the girls down there for a month or two. This would have to be before Izzy enters school, though, and when we have more dollars. LoL, right now we're so damned broke I don't see a trip to ANYWHERE other than the poorhouse any time soon...

What is the poorhouse exactly...?! My Mom used to always say that when I was little...

Once, when my sister got into a fight with her roommate, my mom and me went to move out my sisters stuff and the roommate was crying like an idiot. My Mom stormed up to her and yelled, "CRY! Because the more you cry the less you'll PISS!"

Gotta love Mom. =)

I better go... As much as I don't want to, I *have* to go to work sooner or later! (sigh) Bye!!!

Tim McGraw. Mmmmm....

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 20:19:32 GMT

After watching "Flicka" (awesome movie, I loved it!) I have fallen in love with Tim McGraw. He is hunkiness to the 10th power. Damn that guy is FINE. I've been watching music videos with him allll week. The one from Flicka is the best. Same goes to "Over and Over" with Nelly. *sigh* Such hotness!

Here are some random pictures from the last few days:

I *love* the one where Isabel is giving Olivia a kiss. LoL, it makes me so happy! :)

Not too much is going on. I LOVE living at the apartment. Love it, love it, love it. It's amazing! Life seems so much brighter without all of Jose's people hanging around all the time. They're just so God damned needy... Now that we've moved out we here from a least a couple of them various times every day. LoL, if its his brothers, I don't answer my phone! I'm a bitch, but I'm also sick of making phone calls for them and translating mail and looking up stuff on the computer... Once in a while it is okay, but not a zillion times a week. For Jose, sure. Fine and dandy. But I'm not married to his brothers... you know what I mean?

I have to pee soooooo bad.

Thursday we were hit by a HUGE blizzard. It was TERRIBLE!!! Wednesday night we left the girls at Jose's Mom's house, since I knew it was going to snow. But I didn't know it was going to snow that much!!!! I was one of the few people that made it into work! Of 13, there were only 6 of us!!! =D

I better go.... C~ya!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:32:30 GMT

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Nothing special has happened on mine so far. Someone DID leave chocolates on my desk at work this morning, and I love chocolate, so that's cool. I'm hoping Jose gets me something. It can be a little something. I just want some kind of token to recognize the day from him. And he's well aware of that, so I'll be damned disappointed if I don't get anything! LoL.

I've worked so much this morning. I feel so proud of myself! My good friend from work has been really sick, so I did all her work. I'm proud to have done a job I've never done before with hardly having to ask questions.

Yesterday we signed the lease and paid rent! The apartment is OURS! Yay! We did a quick walk-through last night, and we have to document any flaws. The bathroom off of the master bedroom had a VERY messy toilet. Rust stains, maybe...? I wonder if maybe whoever lived there never used it. Who knows. Anyway, Jose has been moving stuff all day. I'm so excited. I can't wait! He was going to go pick up the furniture we wanted for the girls' room...

=D

I want to go NOW and start getting stuff arranged! =D

Gone!

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:37:13 GMT

They are gone! His Mom, his neice, his neice's baby, Rigo, Omar, and Sergio... All gone! Time for rejoicing has arrived! And, man, I sure did rejoice almost all weekend. I've never enjoyed the house we're living in as much as I've enjoyed it since Saturday afternoon. It just seems like such a nicer place with only 4 people living in it! It seems BIG even! The girls are thrilled with their room. I'll post pictures when I get home. I moved in Livie's bed along with ALL their toys! They played and played with everything Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday morning!

And tomorrow we're going to sign the lease at the apartment! YAY. We still need to buy the dresser and TV stand for the girls' room. We found the PERFECT set at K-Mart but they were sold out! We're going to check out the other two K-Marts in the area, and we'll go from there I guess. And we're buying them a Dora table and chairs set...

This weekend was pretty good. Saturday I worked until 4pm, and then I got home and organized the girls' stuff, threw some away, moved others... We went grocery shopping (SOOOO exciting to grocery shop! LoL!) and then chilled out at home all evening.

Yesterday we all got up kind of early, and went to Wal-Mart. I bought stuff that his Mom had taken, like a broom, dish soap, laundry soap, mop, Pine-Sol, etc. Mmmm... I bought Gain Joyful Expressions laundry soap and fabric softener. It smells so good! We ate lunch, I cleaned some more, and then we took the girls to Kids' Explore at the Mid-America Convention Center in Council Bluffs.

It was ... okay, I guess. TONS of people. After waiting in line for the bounce house for EVER, some lady shoved FIVE little girls in front of my girls. Hell no. I didn't wait 20 minutes in line to let some impatient chick cut in front of me. Way to teach the girls how to WAIT. I called her out on it, and she got all pouty but DID go to the end of the line. Jose said she was glaring at me the rest of the time, but oh well.

Me and Izzy ice skated there, since they had free ice skating. She HATED it. Olivia would have had more fun than she did! LoL. We also watched a Mariachi band, country line dancing, karate, and the girls got a couple of tooth brushes each from the various booths!

I wouldn't pay the $24 we paid to get in again. Waste of money. Maybe if they were older, like 7 and 5...?

We went to visit Jose's Mom after that. She started crying that she missed the girls (Awww...) so they stayed the night there. This morning I ran over eggs, apples, oranges, and nectarines for them, and then I came into work. Blech. :(

Ludacris. One sexy dude.

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:59:36 GMT

I was watching the "Runaway Love" music video last night, and I could NOT get over how sexy Ludacris is. I was seriously drooling, eyes glued to the computer, imagining what I would do to that man if I had five minutes alone with him.

LoL, I'm such a dork. But its true.

That's a wonderful music video, too. It makes me want to cry.

Anyways, music videos are my new obsession. It all started the Saturday before New Years. It was the first Saturday I ever had to work, and the girl sitting next to me was watching the Top 11 music video countdown on AOL Music. Since then, I can't get enough! LoL. My favorite videos right now are "Runaway Love" and "Irreplaceable".

Tonight is the Valentine's Day dance at the Guacameya tonight. I'm so excited. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I won tickets off of the Mexican radio station. Yeah, I did mention that earlier last week. I picked out my outfit last night. I'm going to wear my favorite Levis, a black button-down blouse I bought while in Mexico, and the boots Diana's boyfriend bought me from Texas. I'm so excited to wear the boots! I've never owned $300 footwear before! LoL. They make me feel so sexy. At first I was seriously regretting my purchase, but oh well! You only live once, so I might as well enjoy it.

Moving out day is getting closer... I bought Olivia's bedding from SwapBabyGoods.com (thanks for the link, Jen!). It was $15, including shipping!!! New, it would have been over $30! Yay for getting a bargain.

LoL, I just realized how odd it seems to talk about $300 boots and then in the next paragraph saing $15 on baby blankets. :)

Anyway, I bought her the Dora toddler bed set. I'm going to get Izzy the Dora twin bed set. I can't wait to get their room set up.

I need to pay my cell phone bill, and pay the speeding ticket Jose got while we were driving down to Mexico. The Kansas state troopers got him going 87 in a 70! The ticket is $135. Bill pay bores me so much!

...

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:39:37 GMT

I'm a little irritated right now. Grrrr... I stayed home from school to go out tonight with Diana, and now she doesn't want to go. Even though I called three times during the day to make sure we will still going. What irritates me is the only reason she doesn't want to go is because her boyfriend got home from work early... (sigh) I'm also a tad jealous, to be honest. Oh well, though. Shit happens. I'll have a blast chilling here at home, relaxing with Jose and the girls.

Today sucked at work. I got into an arguement with the girl next to me about her being a lazy, lazy person and then I got yelled at for going to break late. I was on a call with a driver is why I went late! Next time, instead of helping the driver, I'll just tell him, "Sorry, my boss gets pissed if I go to break late. You'll have to call back after my break time!"

My friend from work hasn't been there this week, either, and I miss her.

What a drag of an entry!

LoL... what's something positive...?!

I had McDonalds for lunch and it was AMAZING. I'm finally getting over my Taco Bell phase. Which is so crazy because I would think to myself every day that I'd never be able to get over it!

Jose just left to go get me some sweat bread from the Mexican bakery... Mmmm. I'll have to take a picture of it when he gets here. It is SUPER yummy!

Bye!

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:24:26 GMT

Before I go to bed, here are some quick shots from Mexico. =) The first one is me and Jose's neice (CeCe, she's Karina's *the neice that lives with us* littlest sister), the next one is me in front of the liquor store (where we bought three HUGE bottles of Tequila! LoL), and the last one is Jose and his sister's car. It was actually his car back in the day, and he actually drove it ALL the way down to Mexico when he left. It's a 1991 Honda with over 200,000 miles on it!

And (DUH moment here, thanks for reminding me girls!) Baltazar's daughter *does* have leukemia. The tests results confirmed the diagnosis. But... the thing is, EVERYONE that dies young down there, either dies from alcoholism or leukemia. As sad as it sounds, I'm suspect that when the doctor's know that there is something wrong but don't know what, they just say its leukemia. I'm praying that maybe its a virus or something and she gets better soon.

Mexico Lindo Y Querido...!

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:58:34 GMT

Boy oh boy, this was sure a weekend to remember...

This is going to be SUPER L-O-N-G, so I'm going to but it behind a cut...

I guess I'll start at Wednesday night. Jose picked me up from school, and asked me what Leukemia was. Just hearing the word was enough to make me go into panick mode. I asked him why, and he said that Baltazar's baby might have it. Baltazar has been living with us since September 2005, and his baby girl was born October 2005, so he has never met her (she is in Mexico with Balta's wife and two other children). She hadn't been sick, either. The last few weeks she'd been running a fever and sleeping a lot. Once they took her to the doctor, they immediatley sent her via ambulance to Agauas Calientes, which is about a little over an hour away.

When I got home from school that night, Jose had me looking up flights. We looked at flights leaving from Omaha, Chicago, and Kansas City, but that's as far as it went.

Thursday afternoon, while I was at home before school, Jose called and had me looking up more flights. I would give him prices, he would call Balta, and then he would call me back and I would look up another flight. We still didn't buy anything.

I hurried home that evening after school, since I was going to help Diana do her taxes on the internet. Once we got done with her taxes (I couldn't do it, but I gave her a friend's number who did them pretty darned cheap for her!) Jose came into the room and we started talking more about the situation. The baby was worse, and Balta wanted to leave ASAP. Diana mentioned that it was very unlikely that the airport would let him board a plane without some kind of government issued ID. After talking some more, we decided it wasn't worth the risk of buying a $500+ plane ticket and not being able to board the flight. The only other option, though, would be the bus lines that run down to Mexico. On a bus, the trip would easily run longer than 3 days.

We talked some more, and decided to drive Balta down to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico (RIGHT across the border from Laredo, TX and about 16 hours from Omaha) and have him board a flight in Nuevo Laredo. We left right away, around 10:30pm Thursday night. Jose's Mom said she'd be more than happy to take care of the girls for us, and I called my Mom to have her pick them up on Saturday for a few hours so they could get out of the house for a while.

Fast forward to 5pm Friday afternoon. We were now in Laredo, TX. The idea had been brought up during the drive about us driving Baltazar ALL the way to Jalisco, which is about 8-9 hours further south of Nuevo Laredo. Admittedly, I liked the idea. I have never been to Mexico, and it is something I day dream about sometimes! But I have heard horror stories about how scary and dangerous the highways are down there. I told Jose that it couldn't hurt to look into how much tempory car insurance would cost us, and that if we would be able to get permission from customs to take the truck into Mexico, that I would be willing to go. Oh, and I also told him we HAD to be back in Omaha by Monday, since I called in Friday!

We checked out the insurance ($58.00 for 3 days, which Balta paid), ate, and were on our way to Mexico!!! As we drove over the border, I felt a surge of excitement. Especially as we drove under the sign which read "Bienvenidos A Mexico!". We went to customs, and after an hour of running back and forth with paperwork, both myself and the truck were okayed into Mexico!

Right when we drove into Nuevo Laredo, it was obvious we weren't in the USA anymore!!! At stop lights, people would run to jump on your running boards to wash your windows. People selling cotton candy, churros, newspapers, burning trash in the sreet corners... It was so exciting to me to be IN Mexico! Even more exciting to be on our way to Jose's home.

Jose's brother called his wife shortly after entering the country, and the baby was doing worse. I felt soooo sorry for him; to see him hurting so much. He was so worried... He didn't talk much, just kind of sat there, staring out the window... He called a few hours later and she was doing better. By that time, we were all getting excited. Balta hadn't seen his family in almost two years!

I slept most of the way down there. The highways weren't the terrible, horrible, dangerous place that they were made out to be. Lots and lots of semis, moderate traffic. One entire state had flashing lights along the sides of the highway, making it look somewhat magical! I think it made a different that we were driving on the Cuota freeways (which kind of means toll way, we had to pay every couple 100 kms), instead of the Libre. On the Libra (free), is where most of the semis go. It's two lanes (one going/one coming), lots of hills and swerves. Every once and ahile, the Cuota would end, and we'd jump on a piece of the Libra. Phew... A little nerve wrecking, but nothing that bad.

Around 4am we arrived to Lagos De Moreno, Jal!!! We dropped Balta off at his house so he could drop off his luggage, and we then went to Jose's Mom's house (where his two sisters and two other brother's also have houses). Sipriano was waiting for Balta, and they took off for Aguas Calientes to see the baby. It was so exciting to meet everyone!!! Everyone was SOOOO nice. We chatted a little awhile, and went to bed for a couple of hours.

Everything was so new... The smells of the Ladrilleras (where they make bricks!) and Suavitel fabric softener and the roosters crowing, the rain drops falling on the tin roof...

When we woke up, we went to get carnitas (pork meat similar to what is used in tamales). We took most of Jose's neices and nephews with us! LoL. There were probably ten little kids crammed into the truck!!! They were so excited with the truck!!! We went and bought the carnitas, went "home" to eat, and then off again!

We went and visited Jose's grandparents. They were SUCH nice people!!! Then we went downtown... WOW!

Stores, stores, stores!!! Mostly little stores that were more like booths... Shoe stores, knick knacks, religious items, teen clothes, old lady clothes, cowboy style clothing, baby clothes, fruit stands, resteraunts... Blocks and blocks of stores!!! I had $1500 Pesos ($150) to spend at the time, and bought undershirts and panties for the girls, shoes, jeans and two blouses for me, cowboy style jeans for Jose, some stuff for his Mom, hair stuff for the girls as well as stockings and socks, toys, and Mexican candy!!! YAY!

It was raining like crazy, but it was still well over 50 degrees. The rain didn't bother me one BIT. Me and Jose's neice went from store to store until I ran out of money, and then Jose came and got us. Then, me and his sister and sister-in-law went back downtown! I spent another $1900 pesos!

That afternoon, we went and visited his aunts and uncles. The day went by WAY too fast! I was wishing the whole time that the girls were there!!! Isabel would have had a blast playing with her cousins!!!

Towards the end of the night, we headed back to the house so Jose could load up the truck. We left around 10:00pm, his brother Sipriano driving us as far as Nuevo Laredo. He hopped on a bus to get back home, helping out with the drive since Jose was SOOOOO tired!

Balta's baby was getting better and better each day. She's supposed to be released today!

So... that was my crazy weekend!!! Not too much is new. We GOT THE APARTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! =D We're moving in and signing the lease 2/13! YAY TO US! =D

Work is lame.

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:40:41 GMT

Did I mention that on Monday we went and applied at these apartments? The price is a little higher ($626/mo), but they are sooooo nice. We went about a week or so ago to look at them, and I was very pleased. They were oh so spacious! If I remember right, there were two pretty good sized closets in each bedroom! There were also two bathrooms. While we have no reason for two bathrooms, that might come in handy when Izzy finally gets around to wanting to potty train. The apartments are also pretty close to a QT gas station (my favorite gas station EVER for many reasons!) and a Taco Bell! Yay for close proximety to Taco Bell!

I hope we get approved. I don't see why we wouldn't. Our credit isn't horrible, and neither of us have criminal backgrounds. Wish us luck! I can not wait AT ALL to get out on our own. Yay...

I've already started planning meals... Dorky, I know, but I'm excited. I haven't cooked a meal in ages! Jose's Mom does all of the cooking. I'm also planning on getting the girls on a nice bedtime routine...    (sigh) Exciting stuff! I've found the Dora bedding sets I want for the girls, and I'm all eager to hang up all their clothes and buy them a new dresser and night stand. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the loads of toys they have! We'll figure that out later...

Yesterday I got into trouble at work for being mean to one of the driver's. She was being SUCH a bitch, though, and I don't regret AT ALL being mean back to her. Where does she get off thinking she's going to cop an attitude with me, stubborn that I was WRONG. Um... last time I checked I was the payroll consultant. Not her. LoL, I'm dwelling on it, though. I just need to move on and get over it.

Oooo! On Monday night, I won tickets to the Valentine's Dance the local Spanish radio station is throwing! YAY for free tickets! Banda Briza (a local band that plays AWESOME!) is going to be at the Guacameya. Tickets are going for at least $25, so that's pretty cool. I was very excited to have won!    I can't wait to go now!

Well...

That seems to be it. The girls are doing good. I took them over to my Mom's house last night. My Mom kept telling me how much fun she and my aunt and uncle had at the party on Saturday. The girls played like crazy at my Mom's. They love it over there! :)

Talk to you guys later.

Pictures From Party...

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:25:27 GMT

YAY for pictures!!! Since there has been a HUGE demand (okay, okay, only jenn5388 asked, but still...) here are the

Izzy getting ready...

Izzy and her cake...

Izzy at the church...

Izzy and her Godparents:

>

Izzy and me and Jose (ignore me, I look like a major dweeb for some reason!)

Izzy and her pinata (I think I mentioned how ugly of a Dora it was!)

Izzy and Diana's sisters:

No pictures of Livie!!! I feel so bad, but I wasn't the one taking pictures! I've mentioned before how my digital camera took a dumb, so I had to rely on other people to take the pictures for me. Anyway, I think they turned out very pretty! I can't wait to see the video! I turned it to Walgreesn to get it burned onto a DVD. YAY! =D

PARTY!!!

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:47:37 GMT

The party was FANTASTIC. It was such a success! I bet there was 150-200 people there!

The morning started out hectic!!! Me and Jose left early to go buy some last minute things we needed for the party. While we were gone, Diana came to pick up Isabel and get her ready for the mass. When me and Jose got home, he took off again, while I took off with his neice to Gordmans so she could exchange a blouse she had bought that was too small, and we ran over to Wal-Mart so I could buy Olivia a dress for the party. I also ended up buying her a pair of beautiful hoop earrings, but she's already lost one!

Anyway...

We got home, and got ourselves ready, and headed over to the church. It was just Jose, me, and Karina, since Jose's Mom stayed home to cook the food and his brother's were working. Once Diana and her family showed up with Izzy, I wanted to cry!!! Izzy looked so gorgeous! The church part was pretty quick. A short explination, and the Deacon "blessed" her with holy water.

After church, it was run, run, run all over again!!! It seemed like we had a bajillion things to do in such a little amount of time! Me and Diana showed up at the hall at 4, and decorated like crazy! Everything looked so pretty! We bought pink and green table clothes, and pink and green streamers. It looked so festive! Jose showed up with the keg, cake, and food, so we started serving salsa into bowls and placing them on all of the tables. We also set out sodas and salt shakers on every table.

At five on the dot, the first guests arrived! From there, things got CRAZY BUSY! LoL! We were serving food like crazy! I didn't know I was such a good waitress!

As people started getting down eating, and the flow of guests slowed down, we started worrying about the pinata. It was FREEZING out! So... we had the two tallest guys stand on chairs, and hang the pinata between the two of of them! LoL. Izzy was a little hesitant at first, but quickly warmed up to the pinata idea! She had a blast whacking at it! LoL. After her, we let the kids hit it in order of size. When the busted the pinata, Izzy DOVE into the pile!!! LoL. I was amazed! She was fighting as good as the other kids for her share of the candy!! When she filled her fists, she ran over to my Mom to "unload" and she dove right back into the madness! Livie was sleeping in a corner on a pile of jackets at this point! LoL. I had the kids hurry and line up for the goody bags, and all 60 of them were gone in SECOND! A few kids didn't get one, but others were more than happy to share.

We did the cake after the party. I bought a HUGE-O Dora cake, and only a few pieces were left! YAY! LoL.

After the cake, it was DANCE TIME! That was probably around 9:30pm. I had LONG since taken off my shoes! My poor feet were KILLING me!!!

I was so happy to see people dancing and having fun!!! Me and Jose danced ALL night!!! YAY! Izzy (and Livie once she woke up) just played all night! Everyone seemed to be having a bunch of fun! :)

It was a very, very fun night! And Izzy got some awesome gifts! :)

That's all for now. I'll update again later! =D

Beep. HONK.

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:01:51 GMT

Stress, stress, stress...

Jose is *beyond* stressed right now. He hasn't worked a full week since BEFORE Christmas! Its not his fault; the weather has been pretty crappy. He calls his boss every day, and every day the same story. "Oh, I'll give you a call tonight and maybe we'll head down there tomorrow." Its been a month of tomorrows!!! (sigh) I try not to get worked up about it, since there isn't too much I can do. I feel bad for him, though, to see him worrying so much. Hopefully (*crosses fingers*) he gets his social security card in the mail today so he can go apply for a job around here. The Tyson Chicken plant here in Omaha starts at over $10 an hour. A lot less than he'd be making if he was actually WORKING, but also $10 more an hour than NOTHING.

The party preparations are going okay, despite the major lack of dollars. I bought some table clothes last night, and the ribbon to tie on to the recuerdos. The ribbon will say "Isabel Maria" and "Mis Presentacion". YAY. The DJ did call and bail out on us, but Diana is meeting with another one tonight. I hope he comes through!!!

I'm just kind of blah feeling. You know what I mean? I'm stressed about Jose and the lack of work. I'm stressed about the party and feeling bad about Diana paying for the DJ, when they already paid for the hall. I'm stressed about finding an apartment and having enough money for a deposit. I'm stressed about getting my damned W2s SOON so I can do my freakin' taxes.

My tax refund would suuuuuuurrrrreeee help the money situation!! LoL.

I have a cold, too. (sigh)

Maybe today will get better!!! Bye!

Taco Bell Lunch Again...

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:26:38 GMT

Here are three pictures. One is from October when I drove out to California with Jose to pick up his brother. It was taken somewhere in Utah. The other pictures are just some pictures from this weekend. I would post pictures more often, but the flash bulb blew out of the camera I bought in November. I don't know if it can be fixed, or even if it could, how many dollars it would cost. I've just been using my old camera from back in the day, which also doesn't have a flash. It takes great pictures, though, when there's enough light!

This weekend was pretty much uneventful. Saturday night we took the girls, Jose's Mom (I am still not very happy with her at all, but I'm not going to raise a stink about it!), Karina, and Karina's baby to one Jose's friend's son's third birthday party. Pretty average party. It was snowing like crazy outside, so all of the parties activities were contained to the basement of the dinky house. There were tamales, cake, Jello, candy, and a pinata. LoL, of course there was beer and tequila, but we didn't partake in those activities!!! =D

I called the liquor store yesterday to compare keg beer versus canned beer prices for Izzy's party. Keg Budlight will average me $0.44 a beer, compared to can beer costing me $0.77 a beer. We're going to buy one keg, and a case or two of Coronas. The Dora cake I wanted will cost $39.99 at Hy-Vee. It looks like such a beautiful cake! So... I need to call the Hootch Hutch and order the keg, as well as call Hy-Vee and place the order for the cake. YAY. I'm getting so excited about Izzy's party!!! She's going to have a blast! Saturday night, when she seen the cake and everythin the little boy had, she kept asking me where HER birthday was! LoL.

I'm bored!!! LoL. I've done more work this MORNING than I usually do in a couple of days! Friday I had a little "chat" with my supervisor. Nothing serious... Talk of moving me to an earlier schedule (Whoo-hoo, that means 7:30 until 4:00!!!), talk about my projects, a little warning about cutting back the chatting and internet use. But it did make me want to do better. LoL, I'm a dork...

I guess that's all for now!!! =D BYE!

Shasta pop!

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:55:39 GMT

Back in the day, my Mom would always bring me one can of Shasta strawberry-kiwi soda and a bags of sunflower seeds every Friday when she went grocery shopping. I would eagerly await the X-Files (back then 7pm on FX) to consume the goodness. Those were the days! LoL, and I wonder why I didn't have many friends!

Am I the only one who was kind of a "loner" in high school? Junior High was TONS worse! This sounds very pathetic, but I don't think I had more than one or two friends! In High School, there has always been Diana, but other than her... I didn't really have many friends. I wonder what was wrong with me. After I met Jose, he made up for my lack of friends! And actually, since I've met him, I've "blossomed" more as a person. Know what I mean...? I think I'm easier to get along with, less judgemental of people... And that's always a good thing!

Yesterday work stunk. LoL, today it does, too. I don't usually work Saturdays, but one of the girls was sick, and to be honest I can use the overtime! 8 hours of overtime will be VERY nice on my next check! Too bad that's two weeks away! :)

Yesterday we didn't do too much. We went to Hy-Vee, where I deposited my check in the back. Shannan (one of the few people left from when I worked at the bank back in '04-'05) was AMAZED at how big the girls have gotten! She just laughed when she seen Isabel. I didn't take it offensively, though. She is kind of a massive toddler. =) We chatted a little, and then I bought some shampoo, conditioner, deoderant (much needed! LOL!), and chocolates. Mmmm...

LoL, I guy just came over, introduced himself, and then proceeded to bend over to read what I was "blogging". He had dried boogies in his nose. Ewwww!

We had company over last night; Isabel's Godparents. Nothing new with them...

Blah.

One more hore to go!!! =( I can't WAIT!

Open Season. REAL Quesadilla.

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:07:24 GMT

This afternoon, I ventured forth to a new territory! I went with Diana to an authentic Mexican resteraunt, and had a REAL Quesadilla, with a homemade tortilla. Mmmm... sliced avocado on top! Damn, it was some good eatin'! I was very, very pleased.

I'd probably still take a Taco Bell Chicken Quesadilla (had one earlier in the morning, actually!), but it was still yummy. Nice to know there are other options out there for me.

Like previously mentioned, Jose had his appointment for his residency today. There were two set backs. #1, immigration hasn't received a response from the FBI yet on Jose's name check. That's no biggie. He's clean, it just takes a while in some cases. Set back #2 in in regards to something Jose did WAY back in '99 when trying to get papers. Long story, so to make it short and sweet he needs to file a waiver to get that erased off of his record. The lawyer said it's no biggie, either, just more dollars. (sigh) Money, money, money!  If it gets him good and legal, though, I'm not complaining!

We went to look at more apartments this morning. We went to two. The first one turned me off with the $60 application fee! Ouch! The second ones were VERY, VERY nice! But they cost $626. No heat, though. Hmmm... Jose said if worse comes to worse, we'll move there. We still have over a month, and most places won't hold an apartment over 10 days.

Very nice to have a day off. Ahhhh....

Oooo!!! We went to look at dresses for Izzy today for her presentation!!! They are GORGEOUS, complete with a crinolin (sp)! Super puffy, princess-ey style dresses. Izzy is going to look so pretty! I can't wait! I'm taking TONS of pictures! We also looked at recuerdos (little "things" you hand out w/her name and date on 'em to the adults) and table clothes... Stuff like that. I seen a bunch of stuff I wanted to buy!!

Open Season is coming to DVD soon! YAY! I took Izzy to the $1 Theater to watch it. We got through about 45 minutes of it, then she told me she was sleepy and wanted to come home! LoL.

...

I guess that's all for now. I *know* there was something I wanted to write about. DAMN. What if it was important...?!

BYE!

Mmmm Bop!

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:07:05 GMT

I have been sucked in tot he addiction of Userpics! Ahhhh...! I just switched my account over to a paid account to so I could upload 30 userpics. Oh, imagine the possibilities...

My world is pretty calm today. I'm getting Taco Bell for lunch. Any time there is the prospect of a Chicken Quesadilla in my near future, I'm a happy gal. Mmm... just imagining the warm, soft tortilla and gooey cheese with jalapeno sauce. I have to stop! I'm going to start drooling on my keyboard.

We did end up looking at the apartment yesterday. I coaxed Jose into trying to make in there before 5:00, so we sped our way down Highway 370 until we got into Bellevue. I got into the office at 4:56, and practically begged the lady to show me the apartment. She was very nice, and obliged. Yay!

Pros: Price, new carpet, "clean looking", ground floor (no downstairs neighbors complaining about foot steps!), tons of closet space
Cons: Small kitchen.

Since the only con I can think of is the small kitchen, I think we'll go in Thursday to fill out the application. Oh, and I don't know if I mentioned this yesterday but the first month is FREE. Whoo-hoo! Also, regarding the kitchen, I'm no Emerill. I won't be spending THAT much time in the kitchen, especially not enough time to worry about it being dinky. There is ample counter space and TONS of cuboards (sp.!?), so that's all that counts.

I don't think I've mentioned Izzy's party on here before... It's going to sound rather silly. But let me explain. In some parts of Mexico, a child's third birthday is when they "present" the child to church and to God (this is different from a baptism in some way), and a huge celebration follows. The child has its own mass, and also a Godmother for the event. Diana was chosen to be Izzy's Godmother for the presentation, and since I wasn't planning on having a large party, Diana's boyfriend (awesome guy!) offered to pay to rent the hall! His buddy is also going to DJ for us!!! LoL, this is going to be quite the party...

I'm getting excited about the party. Izzy is REALLY excited about having a "dance" party! And she keeps telling people she's turning five! LoL.

Well...

I'm off to search for user-pics! YAY! =D Bye gals!

Do You Believe In Magic....

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:55:36 GMT

Jose is off yet again. Damned weather. Too cold and too snowy to work. I know its not his fault, but it still bugs me that he's not working! That's what sucks about construction jobs, though, its completely weather-dependant. His boss called, though, and says Thursday after Jose's immigration appointment they're going to be going to Missouri and staying through the weekend. It'll suck not having him home all weekend... But it sucks even worse being broke! LoL. That sounds bad, but I'm sure you know what I mean! These last couple of months he's only worked a day here, two days there, take a week off in between. We need to catch up!

I hope we have everything in order for the immigration appointment Thursday. This is *big* time. He'll be getting his residency! Yay! Wish us luck!

I also made an appointment for Izzy's 3-year check-up and the follow-up to her bladder infection for that morning. Might as well squeeze as much as I can into one day, so I don't have to take any more time off of work!

Jose's people found somewhere to live. A 2 (TWO!) bedroom apartment. So, there are going to be 4 brothers, his Mom, his neice, and his neice's baby all crammed into a tiny 2 bedroom apartment. Does that not sound crazy to you?! They're just moving there because they're too damned lazy to actually LOOK for someone decent to live. And this place definately does NOT qualify as being decent! I mean... I don't know. It's kind of run-down. One of the bedrooms is SUPER little, and to get into the bedroom you have to go through the bathroom. What if someone is showering and locks the door?! I guess you're just stuck there until they get done. That would suck!!!

I've been searching For Rent's website, and found THIS apartment that I like a LOT. $515 a month!!! The first month is FREE! Free just screams "DO IT!" to me, so I'd love to go check them out tonight after work. I might have to do that! I'm going to ask my boss if I can leave about 20 minutes early so me and Jose can run out there. Man... a pool would be freakin' awesome. But I just remembered the whole being off on Thursday thing, so I'll just go over there Thursday.

The new place thing is so exciting...!!! The girls are going to have THEIR OWN ROOM!!! Whooo-hooo! I'm buying all Dora stuff! Dora sheets, blankets, comforters, lamps... Anything I can find an afford!

I'd love Dora-themed letters to hang on their wall... I'll have to check Ebay! =D

Bye!

Boots and Everything Else.

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:33:30 GMT

Sorry for no update in ages. Things havebeen kind of hectic. Problems w/the in-laws. These problems have led us into looking for an apartment. I already called our landlord and told him we'd be moving out before February 15th. Me and Jose are going to be moving into a 2 bedroom apartment, just us and the girls. Anyone who has read my journal for awhile knows this move in WELL over due. I'm so sick of putting up with my childish in-laws. I'm not even going to go into the details because this entry would just turn into one huge, long rant. But I am seriously fed up.

Christmas was awesome, as was New Years. We didn't do anything spectacular for New Year's Eve. We went to the Horseshoe Casino, and then we went to watch "Rocky Balboa". Rocky was a pretty good movie!

Izzy got a bladder infection a couple of weeks ago. She's not potty trained yet, but will always pee on the potty first thing in the morning. She started going "Ow, ow, ow..." while she was peeing. Having had a bazillion infections myself, I took her in that morning and sure enough. Bladder infection. I'm taking her bad Thursday, and I don't think its cleared up. She was taking the antibiotics like a pro... Hmmm.

Olivia is doing good. She's such a silly girl! LoL, and she always wants to talk to EVERYONE! What a chatterbox! Izzy has always been a pretty good talker, but Olivia is awesome! She especially loves to talk on the phone. When Jose is out of town, she'll beg me for the cell-phone.

Diana's boyfriend went to Texas this weekend and bought me back a pair of awesome, high-heeled cowboy boots!!! I'm so excited. They're going to be the most expensive shoes I ever owned... but it's worth it! I can't wait to wear them dancing...

That's it for now! Bye gals!

ADDICTED.

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:58:23 GMT

Holy crap, I'm addicted to Neopets! Seriously addicted. I've been playing with this game ALL day.

Here is my link, if you want to join. Referells = NP (Neopet money!) for me. http://www.neopets.com/refer.phtml?username=lizmartinez84

That's my dork-rant for the day. Phew...

I was in a car accident on the freeway Friday morning. My poor car is wrecked! Half of the front driver's side all but fell off. No headlight/turn signal. It looks so shitty. Thank God I was wearing a seat belt, though! I just kept thinking how much worse it could have been. I mean, I was going over 60 miles an hour! Some idiot was driving all crazy, caused another dummy to swerve really hard. He realized he had over corrected his car, so he swerved twice as hard the other way. He put himself parrallell to oncoming traffic! I banged right into him. Cops, fire trucks, ambulances came. The whole nine yards. A witness followed idiot #1, who got scared once the cops started tailing him, so he ditched the car and ran. He had no license, no insurance, and the car didn't have plates. He was ticketed, which screws me since I don't have uninsured driver's coverage on my car, so now I have to suck up the damages. Grrrr.

Christmas shopping some more this weekend. I bought Jose's Mom a very nice velour track suit at JCPennys. It matches the K-Swiss shoes I bought her! Yay. I also bought my neice a little velour Nike sweat suit. Super cute. Yesterday we went to the Gretna outlet stores, and I bought some more gifts. I got Jose a pair of really nice shoes from the Bass Outlet. They were priced $90, and I got them for $19! He is going to LOVE them! I also bought Karina's baby two outfits from the Carters Outlet. Man... The Osh Gosh and Carters store had some NICE, CHEAP clothes! I *must* got back there and get the girls clothes!!! I could easily become addicted to those stores!!! The Bass Outlet had some awesome boots as well. (sigh) Jose's Mom bought me a very nice burgondy blazer for Christmas there. I tried it on, and wanted to buy it, and she told me she'd buy it for me! YAY. LoL... Now I need Burgondy shoes...!

I feel so dorky today. This whole entry and spending the whole day on Neopets sure makes me feel like I'm about 13...

Saturday was Diana's sister's 13th Birthday. That's crazy!!! When I started hanging out with Diana she was in kindergarden!!! =) Diana made a super yummy cake! Mmmm...

La la la la la...

=D Bye!