Pictures!

We hit the mall and got quite a bit of loot thanks to my 36 year old sister (aka TEO) who has no shame and asks for candy AND that we took Jonathan and he “asked” for candy too. We got there early, 20 minutes before it was supposed to start, and that helped. By the time 6pm was rolling around some places were already out of candy. But, let’s start with Nikki’s party:

Look how cute she looks!! She kept the hat on for the majority of the time at her school and then at the mall, but not at all outisde.

There I am! How’d I do at dressing up without the red lipstick. Yea, I’m short and fat, but come on, I look cute! Right?

Here I am partaking in Jonathan getting candy at the mall. He did not join us outside.

Nikki usually went from house to house with TEO since they were both TorT, but at the end TEO got tired and I took Nikki to the last few houses.

And… we headed home! (That’s not our home, but it’s the last picture my brother put up.)

So over all the night went well. Nikki had a meltdown before leaving for the mall. TEO’s costume (recycled from last year) has a head piece that seems like a necklace. Nikki took it and put it on as a necklace. Nikki did not want to give it up. I tried to get her to wear a different necklace. No. Tried to tell her that she could use it AFTER Halloween. Nope. Tried telling her that wow! we’re going to go get candy! Nuhuh. Aha! I had an idea. MAKE UP! Let’s put some make up on! Worked like a charm. It was a complete on the floor rolling and shouting and kicking tantrum. After that things were better. Mostly. At first she refused to hold her bag up to get candy. I got frustrated (ironically I have VERY little patience for some things when it comes to kids) and told her, fine! We’ll go home if you’re not going to participate. And so she started participating (which was a miracle – that never happens!). Trick-or-treating in the neighborhood (and we stuck to ours) wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. We got a good amount of candy there too.

Nikki is spending the night tonight since it is Halloween and a Friday. She wants to watch Halloween cartoons but other than one that just ended I can’t find any, which sucks. She still isn’t into watching non-cartoon shoes. I’m not sure why, really. If it’s a maturity thing or a lack of understanding of English. I just found Goosebumps… we’ll see if she’ll watch this or not.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween – cause I have to.

I think it’s obligatory to say that today, right? So might as well get it out of the way I figure.

Nikki’s party at school is for parents as well so I’ll be going at 11 with Bro. I’ll still be dressing up. I’ll have a basket with the chocolates which I should be able to pass out without a problem.

I’ve discovered another problem. I do not have RED lipstick! What is Snow White without RED lipstick? At least she has brown eyes like me. I’ll stick on some mascara and the reddest lipstick I can find here (until I buy some cheap ass one at Target later today) and I’ll be fine. I’ll be the most awesome Snow White ever (in my dreams)!

We’ll be taking Nikki her costume, too, we’ll see if she actually puts it on.  Pictures to come!

Jonathan

Look at him!! What can be beter than a baby sleeping on your arm?

Dressing Up

Over the years I’ve dressed up as a Flapper girl (or whatever they are called), a pig (wtf?), a cheerleader (I even remember when my parents came home with the costume!!), a graduate (with my sisters HS graduation outfit), a witch, an angel, a BSB fan, a baby, and goodness knows what else. In the past few years I was a stewardess for a plane and a french maid. Oh! I was an M&M a couple of years ago, too. This year? I am SNOW WHITE!

I started off being an Angel because it was what I found at Wal*Mart. I liked it but I wasn’t loving it. I had set my eyes on the costume of the game Twister, but that was impossible to find. There was a lack of costumes in stores and I was disappointed so I bought what I found. Especially since, like most of you all have been saying, all costumes for women are pretty slutty and I work with kids, people! When I searched walmart.com and saw that this Snow White costume was available (one size fits most) and it was on sale for $20? I couldn’t pass it up. I’m glad I didn’t!

I just tried it on (because damn, looking at all your pictures of kids dressed up make me jealous! I want to dress up too!) and it looks GREAT! Okay, the lack of bra made the top blue portion look a bit distorted (cause DD’s should not be braless) but it was otherwise amazing! It’s a teeeeny bit too long. I’m going to try it on with some sort of heels tomorrow – but I’m not sure any will be comfortable enough to walk around in. The way the costume is made, though, it’s unfinished and so I can cut some off from the bottom without anyone noticing a difference. I will, though! It will be shorter so I won’t be stepping on it (or getting it all dirty or WET since, people? No rain here in FOREVER and when does it plan to rain? TOMORROW!) and I can wear some flip flops or something comfortable while having them covered by the long skirt. PERFECT people!

We’re doing TWO trick-or-treating things. One from 5-7 at the mall, where we’ll go at around 5pm, then come home and continue on to the normal neighborhood work. We’re not actually going in our neighborhood because we don’t think we’ll have much luck. Barely any decorations put up… it just looks desolate. On the otherside of Highway 27 (aka a 2-3 lane (each way) boulevard) there are more houses decorated, including a couple with A LOT of decorations. There used to be one house (in our direct neighborhood) that did amazing decorations for both Halloween and Christmas but they moved a month or so ago. So after the mall we’ll be left at the neighborhood to our west (walking distance) and so some trick-or-treating there.

Now friends of mine, tell me – how many of you go trick-or-treating with your kids but end up eating most of their candy? That’s how it will be around here since Nikki is very picky as far as what she eats. She loves chocolate, but not all. Remember then S&M candy bags we got the other day? She’ll eat (and loves) the Reese’s Penut Butter Cup! She tried the regular Hersheys… too hard! she claims. I will just have to hope that there are some that she doesn’t like that I do and that Bro doesn’t get to them first.

Nikki goes to pre-school at a neighborhood house (yes, our own neighborhood). It’s part of this program called LAUP (Los Angeles Unified Preschool) and it’s SUPER cheap ($60/month or FREE if you qualify). When I’m home and not at work I pick her up when she gets out at noon. Tomorrow they will have a Halloween party. Nikki is bringing ice cream (cookies’n'cream, her favorite – from Rite-Aid aka Thrifty!). We had also planned on giving the kids the Whopper candies we got in the S&M bag (since damn they made up 75% of the bag) but we got a better idea after I tried on my costume! I’m going to put on my costume to go pick Nikki up from school and hand out candy to the kids. Okay, I’ll probably end up giving them to the mom because the kids that aren’t picked up at 12 stay and are in “nap time” at that time. ALTHOUGH since it’s Halloween maybe not? We’ll see. Good idea, huh?

Who would have thought that I could write so damn much about Halloween? I’ll try my best to take good pictures tomorrow (including one of myself, of course).

Oh, the only big problem with my costume? My hair is long! I did dye it dark so it looks black! Woo!

My Dear Aunt Gladys

I’ve been meaning to write a post about my aunt Gladys for quite a while. I’ve been putting it to the side for a while because I know it will bring up memories, heartache, lonliness, and just general sadness. I haven’t been sure that it was something I was ready to go into just yet. Or ever. But I also think that it’s important for me to get all my thoughts, feelings out. I think it’s important that I share with you what a great aunt she was.

Before I go into it 100% let me give you some background. Gladys is my aunt on my dad’s side, the only one I have. She was 17 years older than my dad. She never married and never had children. She had a long lasting love affair with a man much older than her (whom at the moment I can’t remember if he was married during the time or not). My dad was almost like a son to her and she was almost like a grandmother to me.

My aunt came and visited the United States many times while I was growing up before I headed to Argentina for the first time. When I did go to Argentina the first time (where all my relatives are) she was the only relative I actually knew. I don’t remember specifics of this trip or of the ones she made here, though. We (my mom and I) stayed with her the times we went to Argentina (mostly, sometimes we stayed elsewhere for periods of time). When she came to the US she would stay with me in my room.

Like I said, she was like a mother to my dad and so she was also very close to us. Even though she had other nieces and nephews (closer to my dads age than ours) and great-nieces and nephews living closer to her (read: in the same continent and town) – I think that my siblings and I were always closer to her and appreciated her more than they did. (Further proof of this will be given later on).

She called us often and we called her as well. She sent us birthday cards and letters. A couple of months ago I was looking over the letters I had from her and couldn’t help but smiling. As a teenager (and maybe a little bit now) I loved, LOVED the Backstreet Boys. She would listen to me talk about them and would ask me questions. In one of her letters she asked about them and told me how she had thought of me when she saw one of the member’s siblings on the news in Argentina. It was that sort of thing that I enjoyed. But it was much more.

I remember one of her trips here pretty clearly. It was 1991 and my eldest sisters’ college graduateion (from UC Berkeley). Not only had she come but my uncle, 19 years older than my dad, had also come. He was a big man (he passed away 10 years ago this past September). My family drove up California from Los Angeles to Berkeley for the graduation. We stayed with my sister and my brother – who shared a one bedroom apartment. It was very interesting – since there were 8 of us in that apartment. My uncle, being the eldest, got the bed and the bedroom (and the TV).

….let me take a second to  tell you that my dad’s mom was from New York and he along with my aunt and uncle learned English as children. My uncle and aunt both made trips to the US as children and young adults – although they never brought my dad. My aunt even studied and taught on the East Coast when she was in her 20s…

So uncle Kent was in the bedroom. there was a futon type thing (I can’t remember exactly) where my aunt Gladys and TEO slept. Mom, dad and I were on the cushions from another couch. My sister was on the ground in a sleeping bag and my brother on another couch. It was VERY interesting. Especially since we all wake up at different times and have different umm… noises coming from us during the night. There is video of this, no worries.

That trip was also memorable for getting stuck in the snow in the mountain (running out of gas and not realizing the rental van had a second tank with gas). Being the ONLY ones on the mountain road. Lots of things. Lots of memories. Lots of them on video, thank goodness.

My aunt visited here last in 2000 (I believe). We went back up north and visited my sister and her husband (this is before any of my nieces were born). It was a, well, typical family Christmas in our family. From that time until 2005 I didn’t see my aunt. I think it might have been the longest period of time I had spent without seeing her. By this time the letters were less frequent although phone calls were always made (thanks to Skype they became more frequent and longer). In 2005 a cousin of my go the Internet and asked me WHY I hadn’t come back to visit them. I didn’t really have a response. My mom hadn’t gone back to Argentina since before her mom passed away in 1998. I hadn’t even considered going by myself (since my mom had no interest and still has none). I decided to look up flight tickets. To my surprise they were only $618 round trip! Wow! I didn’t imagine them being that low. I had that much in my savings! So after talking about it with my parents and siblings I decided to make the leap! I bought my ticket and in July headed to Argentina. Of course my aunt was EXTATIC and I stayed with her while I was there.

Alright, for now this is all. More to come.

Day Before Halloween

I am joining NaBloPoMo. I mean, I post everyday of every month 99.9% of the time anyway, so might as well join the fun. Hmm. Do I have to post on their site or can I blog on my regular blog. I’ll just link it straight to here. Might not be pretty, but I like it!

I actually had a longer post planned… but now I see that it’s time to go to work! (Did I mention that I got 2 additional calls after the original one I accepted?)

What was that?

One day? Nope! I just got a call from another teacher at Lim school – she needs a Sub for tomorrow cause she is damn sick. Trust me, she is. She sounded like she was 80 years old she’s so sick! Luckily she thought ahead of time and made plans for a sub before leaving work today.

That makes me feel better.

Fucktards. So I have access to the hours that I will be paid for in a time period, right? so I went and checked and saw that I have 35 hours, which okay. BUT the first 6 days that I worked at L school? Not on there. So the SSA or SAA or whatever she is has NOT submitted my hours/days for payment. Today was the deadline! So I’m only getting those 35 hours. Or 5 (6 hour) days and 1 five-hour day. So my big ass check isn’t going to be so big ass anymore. It’s going to be $865 for those 5 days and then $144 for the 1 day. A total of just over $1,000. BUT that’s before taxes. So maybe $900? Not sure. While it SHOULD have been $2,047. So I’m a bit pissed off right now. tomorrow during a break I’ll call Iv (the person at L school in charge of it) and see if she’s going to get this done. Now, I should have checked days ago and made sure it was in for this paycheck, BUT I couldn’t log on and couldn’t find ANYTHING. So I decided to try again now – and I id find it, thank goodness.

Buck Fuck! I want my money!

This is going to be cross posted in my other blog.

GRE

The reason I have to take the GRE is because my undergraduate GPA was 2.99. In order to NOT take it I needed a 3.0. VERY frustrating. But, whatever. I’m looking forward to it because it means I have to study and do something other than sit on my ass all day. Although it would help if my niece weren’t around everyday so I could study with my mom. That’s another story, though. The idea of studying something other than concepts or research is exciting. For the past couple of years I’ve only been studying researchy type things. Writing lesson plants (that never happen in real teaching – mostly). I’ve studied methodology. But I want to learn something I can grasp on to. I think this will give me the opportunity – even if it is lower-high school level math and such.

Looking at the courses I will have to take – they will involve mostly Seminars so it’ll be more of the same. No actual “learning” per se, but hearing and shit.

But before any of that happens I have to APPLY to CSUN to be in the masters program. DAMN this process sucks. How many units did I take? I don’t know! Do they really think this is common knowledge? Should it be? And don’t THEY know this? I did my entire career at CSUN. Now I know why you can save it and come back to it later. Now I’m on the website for CSUN. On my “portal” or whatever they call it – and can I find a damn thing? Okay, how am I supposed to know how many units are transferable? I’m assuming all since they are all from the same damn school! Aww crap. Now I have to write 3500 words (or less) about why I want to get a masters. Cause I do. How about that? Why does there have to be a reason for it? Okay. I’m done with this for now. 3500 words? What the hell do I write? This is why a lot of people don’t go for a masters or more. Why make the process so freaking difficult? Sheesh!

Anyway, I just realized I returned my books to the library wayyy late and now I owe $10. Great. Oh well. Not much I can do about it at this point, is there? Plus the money will go to the library which is a good thing.

So I feel totally helpless and like a loser at the moment. I’m working 1 -3 days a week. The 3 isn’t bad, but the 1 is (such as this week). I feel like I need to do something, but I’m not. I can’t even get myself to write a measly 3500 words! (or less!!) I should be able to come up with something as stupid as that for goodness sakes! After all I did spend 4 1/2 years earning a BS in JOURNALISM. Writing is what I do. Not very well, maybe, but I do it.

Maybe I’m having a hard time because I don’t know why I want to get a masters. I mean, there are the obvious reasons: more money once I get a real job. Plus I need to clear my credential. But other than that? Why do I want to earn a masters. My dad would have his dream come true if I did – after all no one else in the family has complete this (okay, not true – I have Drs and Lawyers in my family) but of my immediate siblings and parents I’d be the first. But that’s not for me, that’s for him. So what do I want? I don’t know.

So help me out. Why should I get my masters?

9:30? Already?

It’s 9:30 and I haven’t posted yet? Call off the hounds, I am here! It was just a very long day. I worked, met with the advisor at CSUN, and went to the mall for 2 hours.

I have to take the GRE. Great. I have to get at least 50% in ONE of the three sections.  Math. Reading. Writing. I’m going to study the math section the most, and then review the other sections. Well, not the writing. But the reading. I bought a book for the math and hopefully then do the reading and writing online.

My legs ache from being on them for so long today. Plus I’m tired and my gums hurt. It’s time for bed, I think.

I. Hate. Yahoo. DSL.

Or AT&T. Whatever it is. This Internet is a PIECE OF CRAP!
Pages won’t load and they look like they are half-assed. I mean, FUCK it! I want CABLE back!

Right now I’m cranky and I was happily browsing blogs but am now UNABLE to do so because of stupid DSL.

Grr.