Midnight Goddess

Halloween’s less than a week away. We’ll be taking the kids to one or two of the malls this year as we have done for the past several years. It’s safe and we’re surrounded by many other families who trick or treat at the malls. We have yet to take the kids to the neighborhoods to go trick or treating. We did that with Memphis when we lived in WA. I think when Jaz is a little bit older, we’ll go from house to house.

Since Marty was off this past weekend, we went to the Spirit Halloween store on Stevens Creek to buy costumes for the kids. I figured it’d be the only time we’d have to go as a family to the store. When we got there, the store looked ransacked. I expected that because it’s so close to Halloween. We went to the girls’ section first. I didn’t even bother suggesting girly costumes to Jaz. I saw a race car driver’s costume and showed it to her and her face lit up. I knew at that point that I picked the right one for her.

It was slightly more difficult to find a costume for Memphis. He first wanted to be a toilet. I didn’t see the costume that he was referring to but I wasn’t too big on walking around with a toilet following me. Then he wanted to be Po from Kung Fu Panda. But I know he’s very sensitive about his head and rarely wants to put objects on his head for any reason. The costume required him to put on an insanely large Po head. Then Marty saw Iron Man and suggested that to him. When we were on our way to the store, Memphis had mentioned that he wanted a costume that had a mask to cover his face. He didn’t want people to see the sore on his face. The Iron Man came with a mask perfect for that. So Memphis agreed to be Iron Man this year.

To keep it simple, we grabbed two identical pumpkin buckets for the kids. It was the cheapest ones at less than $2 per bucket but the kids care. So I was happy about that.

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Marty was the first to get sick but it looks like he’s going to be the last person to fully recover. I think it has a whole lot to do with the fact that he is back to working hard everyday and he’s out in the elements. Jasmine had a bit of a runny and stuffed up nose as well as a slight fever. But she’s over it now. Memphis has been coughing, sneezing and blowing his nose. Today it seems he’s better but he has a very bad small patch next to the left corner of his mouth. A few days ago it was very raw. Now it looks like a nasty cold sore that burst open.

I was the 2nd person to get sick. And although it was pretty tough running the household and taking care of the kids while I was sick, I didn’t get nearly as bad as Marty. I didn’t get any sinus headaches. I got random cold chills, a stuffed up head and the occassional runny nose. But I’m pretty much over it now.

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I love Costco. Does that sound weird? I also love shopping at Walmart (especially the superstore in Gilroy) but that’s a different story.

Last night after me and Marty got showered and dressed, we took the kids to the local Costco store. We’ve been members of Costco since 2004 and used our Executive membership heavily when we lived in WA and NV. But our membership ran out 2 years ago and we never renewed it until last night. We just couldn’t muster up $100 to pay for the Executive membership.

So instead we agreed on getting the regular Gold membership which is really all we needed anyway. It only set us back $50 instead of $100. We had gotten the executive membership to get the 2% back that we had spent at Costco. Anyway, we turned in our old cards and got our pictures taken for the new ones that we got. Jaz wanted to be in the picture when I stood in front of the camera but she was too short to be seen standing in front of me. I figured that I wasn’t going to make a big deal about her being there since her face wasn’t going to show up in the final anyway.

Once that was done, we took a quick trip through the aisles. We only had a few minutes to look since the store was closing. The longer we stayed there, the more I wanted to whip out my wallet and buy stuff. Costco has a lot of stuff that we use but in bulk. Since we don’t have a whole lot of money right now to spend on things, we’ve made a habit of using our Safeway card whenever we need to buy groceries. We’re there at least 1-3 times a week and we definitely save money using our card. We also go to Walmart to buy things because Walmart is well known for their slashed prices.

I got hungry staring at all the food and drinks that Costco sells in bulk. I got happy when I saw that they sell Starbucks Frappacino Mocha in bulk. Yum! If at all possible, that’s all I would need in the morning. I’m not a big breakfast person.

Memphis was very excited by the toys, clothes, food and electronics. He spotted a section where Costco sells Webkinz in a 2-pack for only $20! And they’re the full size plushees. I also pointed out the Ipod Nanos. That’s the latest and greatest thing that he wants. I heavily suspect that Memphis is turning into a gadget and computer geek like me. Jasmine on the other hand was happy when she saw the Tonka garbage and dump trucks that were for sale. She’s a lot like Marty in that she loves big trucks and anything with wheels that go fast.

I can’t wait to start shopping regularly at Costco again. Regardless of what our financial situation is, we’ll always shop at Safeway, Costco and Walmart… no matter how much money we end up making. We can be filthy rich and we’d still be regulars at those stores.

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I had planned on taking Memphis to Great America this month. But I wasn’t able to do both Great America and Gilroy Gardens on our budget. We managed to do GG for his birthday. The next best thing was to suggest to my in laws that they take all of us to Great America when they come down to visit.

My in laws arrived around dinner time last Thursday. Marty was still working so me and Jaz drove to Super Egg Roll which was just a minute away by car. The in laws and Memphis met us there. We had dinner there because Robbie was craving their soup. We ordered soup and mango smoothies for Marty to go. Unfortunately, the lady only packed a small cup of sauce with the soup which was not nearly enough for Marty. He had me toss most of the soup down the drain.

Friday, the in laws took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. It was a nice peaceful several hours for me. I finished up my pack and put it up for sale. So far I’ve only made one sale and 1 pending from it. But that’s ok. When it is my time to success like crazy, God will let me know.

Saturday, we all got up relatively early. The in laws brought over some donuts from Yum Yum Donuts for our breakfast. Once everyone was ready to go, we headed to Great America in Robbie’s Explorer. It’s a nice ride and I thought about maybe getting one for myself. But then I decided that I still want a Mercedes SUV.

It was hot that day so I was glad that me and the kids were in light clothing. It was pretty crowded in the lines. We saw one blonde woman who must have been close to our age. She was wearing tight ass jeans, a top and bright pink high heels… in fucking Great America of all places! And she had makeup caked on. You could chisel it off with tools.

Once we got inside, we were sort of wandering around for several minutes until we finally decided to head over to the Nickelodeon area for Memphis. This was part of Memphis’ extended birthday anyway. Being an adult, I hadn’t been to GA since I was in high school. That was 13 years ago. There were a few things that hadn’t changed. But there were a lot of new rides and new sections. The last time I went, I was there as a teenager looking for cute guys.

The kids got on some kiddie rides and I also took photos of them with some of the Nick Toons characters. The whole point was to make sure the kids were having fun.

Marty was antsy to get on some adult rides with me. So the first ride we got on was the big boat that turns completely upside down. It was fucking awesome and we were both screaming like little kids. Marty got on the Drop Tower by himself. I wish I took a photo of the expression on his face as he was falling. It was so hilarious. I could hear him screaming like a girl on his way down.

Everyone except Marty had lunch in the food court area. The kids had pizza and me and the in laws got teriyaki bowls. I also had tuna sushi. The teriyaki didn’t taste like teriyaki. The best part was the sushi. It was scalding hot by then and unfortunately we sat at a table without an umbrella.

After lunch, the in laws took off back to Nickelodeon with the kids and me and Marty got to spend a couple hours riding the rides ourselves. It was so much fun since we had never done that before in the 10+ years we’ve been together. Marty tried to win a big stuff animal for the kids but the game was rigged. A man who can smash through concrete with a sledge hammer… he couldn’t hit the bell with the supplied carnival sledgehammer. He was pissed.

Overall it was a good day for everyone. The kids got to do something fun and different. It was their first time at GA and their first time riding a roller coaster. It was our first time as a couple at GA. The only bad thing about the trip was that we all got sun burned bad, me especially. I’m still hurting, even now. But what matters is that everyone had a great time.

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Ok, this post is a day late. But that’s ok.

I was worried for a few weeks because we’ve been on a tight budget. In fact, we’re behind on several bills. We just barely paid our rent today. Anyway, I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to afford to do anything for Memphis’ 7th birthday. He’s such a sweet, loving, intelligent boy. He can be pissy and demanding sometimes. But all kid have their moments. I didn’t want to disappoint him on his birthday.

I wanted to buy Memphis at least a few things: Nintendogs Dalmation and Friends DS, Buildabear DS, a portable dvd player, Spongebob Season 1, and Wall-E DS. I also wanted to take him to Gilroy Gardens. He had expressed interest in going there since none of us have ever been there before. I had researched it and found out that if we buy the tickets online, it would save us $30. I made the decision to save at least $200 for the gifts.

At the very last minute I was able to save enough for all the gifts. But there was still the question of how to make enough for the Gilroy Gardens trip. However, God was looking out for us. Marty was able to collect enough metal for recyling which would be used to pay for our amusement park trip.

Memphis really wanted a big party like Tyler but one, I didn’t have enough $$$ for that and 2, I don’t deal well being surrounded by a lot of people for a long period of time. I didn’t want to disappoint him which is why I figured taking him to Gilroy Gardens would be a good alternative.

Yesterday was Memphis’ birthday. When Memphis got up and raced to the family room, he looked around the room. I think he was expecting a big party, decorations, a cake, and a ton of presents. I could see a flicker of sadness in his eyes when he realized there was nothing waiting there. I greeted him a happy birthday and gave him hugs and kisses. I told him that when Dad gets back, he can open his presents. He waited anxiously while he slowly ate his breakfast.

Marty then called me up and said that it didn’t take long at Sims and he also found Buildabear DS, the last of the things on my shopping list. When he got home, I quickly wrapped up the gift and dropped it in a large Spongebob bag that held the rest of Memphis’ gifts. When I came out with the bag, Memphis’ eyes grew wide. I snapped a bunch of pictures as Memphis eagerly ripped open his gifts. He was so happy and excited getting all the gifts. I knew that me and Marty did good and that I picked the right ones for Memphis.

After everyone was dressed, we headed to Gilroy Gardens. I had already bought tickets online. It was scorching hot when we got there but there weren’t very many people. I was glad about that and the fact that I made sure me and the kids wore shorts. We didn’t have to wait in line because of the fact that we already bought our  tickets. Plus, there weren’t very many people and we had arrived at 2 pm, 4 hours before the park was going to close for the day.

Gilroy Gardens was pretty cool but I wouldn’t buy season passes. It was interesting looking at the circus trees. I did take a few photos of those. We also got on a few rides that the entire family could get on: Panorama Wheel, Sky Rail, and Backroads. When we had first arrived at the park, we had to walk far just to find the restaurant where we wanted to eat. It wasn’t even a restaurant. It was like a food stand with very few places outside to eat. It was also right next to the water park. A bunch of kids in bathing suits were running around and getting wet. Neither Memphis or Jaz showed any interested in getting wet, thankfully. I did bring towels but they didn’t want to go to the water park. When Marty brought the food over, we tried to sit at the picnic table and eat. But the hamburger tasted nasty. The patty and lettuce were dry and sandwiched between wheat buns. Memphis ate most if not all of his burger. And we kept getting pestered by annoying bees. At one point, a bee landed on my burger and started walking all over. I lost my apetite at that point. That lunch was not worth even half of the $40 we spent on it.

We also checked out a few of the shops. Amazingly enough, Memphis didn’t want to buy anything. I was actually prepared to buy him and Jaz each something. But they didn’t want anything.

We did have fun at Gilroy Gardens. But there was a lot of walking and too much heat involved. I think the worse thing that happened was when we all sat down on a bench to cool off with churros and cold cokes. I wanted to rearrange my bag and nearly had a heart attack when I realized it wasn’t on my shoulder. There was a look of crazed anger in Marty’s eyes as he sped off to the Sky Rail, the ride we were last on. I was panicking because I was afraid of the huge embarassing blowup that I would have to face. I didn’t want this to happen on Memphis’ birthday.

When Marty arrived with no bag, I started to get even more nervous. He told me that a lady over at the other ride said that she saw a black bag hanging from the Panorama Wheel. We looked over and saw my bag hanging on a pole at that ride. I thanked God for looking out for me as I retrieved the bag. I also thanked Marty for not getting mad at me.

We left around 5 pm. Everyone was exhausted from all the heat and walking. Even Memphis wanted to go home. So I wasn’t going to push it. The park was going to close at 6 pm anyway.

When we got home, we just relaxed and Memphis played with his new things. We had a quick and easy dinner of honey BBQ chicken while Memphis had left over pizza. Then we took off for Bart’s house so Marty could get paid for the previous week’s work.

After that, we got home. I baked a chocolate cake that filled the apartment with a sweet aroma. Unfortunately, when I pulled it out, the center was still liquid. So Marty picked up a chocolate cake at Safeway. Memphis put the candles in the cake and Marty lit them up with his torch LOL. We sang Memphis a happy birthday and he blew out the candles. He had made a wish that he can have a puppy. Someday…

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