Category: 80s

Since the other parents and us are switching turns with our kiddos every Thursday for summer, I have to keep myself busy when they’re not home or else I become extremely bored, and a little weepy at times 🙁 .

One of the afternoons 2 weeks ago when I was picking Jaylen up after work (he’s going to his dual-enrollment classes during summer), we saw a pile of cacti waiting for brush pick-up in front of a house. When I got to Mario’s, I asked him if he had any old tarps or anything I could pick up a cactus with. He said he had an old pool, so he cut some pieces up and Jaylen and I stopped in front of the house.

We both stood there, hands on our hips, figuring out how to roll the cactus on the plastic. Jaylen said we’d pull the plastic close and roll a cactus with the other plastic and we’d each hold a side of the plastic and place it in the car. As we’re contemplating, the owner of the house walks out. I get nervous, and slightly embarrassed since I’ve never done anything like this, but I wave and smile. He comes over and tells us to pick the ones we want and he put two in the car for us, just like that with his bare hands!

So I had two giant cacti I had to somehow get into the ground, somewhere in the yard!

On one of my trips to Walmart for some cacti soil, I found this adorable baby!

We had a busy week coming up at work, and since my boss wouldn’t be in on Monday we crammed all the to-do’s into Friday, which included finding transportation for a group coming in from Irapuato. So as we’re waiting for someone to assist us at this one car rental place, this kitty jumps on my lap!

Then we stopped by this Mexican candy shop on the way to another place: Dulcerias Pinkies! My first time there, ever, and it was just like the isles and isles of awesome candies we’d buy in Reynosa for the kids’ parties (back when we weren’t scared to cross 😕 ).

We had a photo shoot for Mr. Kirk Clark at 4pm so we rushed over. After the photos were done, Mr. Clark invited us to SALT for drinks and hors d’ ouvres!

I love hearing his wonderful stories and the inspiration behind his beautiful artwork! He invited us all to stay for dinner, but Jorge had just gotten out of work so I thanked him profusely and excused myself. At least my boss and Gerry stayed to join him.

My love got home and we decided to have a date-night that evening. We used our gift certificate, so that was even better!

Saturday came around and I decided to make myself some breakfast instead of going jogging or to yoga (again 🙁 ) since I was still pretty sore from my procedure on Thursday. Breakfast on my porch is one of my favorite things, ever. If the darn mosquitoes weren’t so abundant I would have totally done some yoga right there.

I repotted some of my overgrown cacti and my new prickly one into clay pots.

While I was at it, I decided my poor large FREE cacti had waited long enough, and finally planted them (very carefully).

I showered, then Mom and I were going to go visit Gramma and grocery shop. We were talking about plants and she tells me to stop by the nursery near the house, so I oblige, heh.

We found so many awesome plants, and for cheap!

I even got a few extras in one of them!

We dropped them off at home and then visited Gramma and did grocery shopping. I had an awesome lentil soup made for when my love got home from work :).

I cleaned and repotted some plants on Sunday after breakfast.

And made us some awesome salmon sliders for lunch.

I took down all my succulents from my windowsill garden in the kitchen and vacuumed/dusted everything. I vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom, too. I always spend all day on my days off running errands and doing housework and then I regret when Monday comes 😆 . But I put on my big girl panties and conquered the entire day, completing all bullets on my to-do list at work. And that deserved some homemade Fancy Ramen when I got home from work, and later, Salty Dogs for the hubs and I.

Jorge and I had actually made plans to go to Suerte Bar & Grill since the weekend on Monday evening since we were kidkess, but when the day actually came…we kinda stalled at getting ready until we thought, why go out when we can have drinks at home? And it was glorious!

On Tuesday, I stopped by Valley Garden Center after work. I needed some big clay pots to repot the cacti from Saturday that didn’t fit in the ones I already had, and ended up getting some adorable tiny cacti!

And then came Wednesday and along with it the whirlwind of gluttony during work for the next few days!

I had already made a “New Year’s Resolution” to myself that I would post a little something every day (just like I made a pact with myself that come January 1st, it would be the 1st day of the rest of my life that I ate 100% healthy and just tonight Emily, Alaethia and I polished off the last of the New Year’s Eve queso dip *sigh*); but it’s already the 3rd day of January and I’m really not even sure if I’ll end up finishing this post, heh.

But anyway, since the last time I updated, the kids were all at the other parents’ houses. Jorge and I chilled out a lot and I cooked a lot. That’s usually when I try new things; when the kids are away. It’s a good distraction and we can try foods the kids wouldn’t regularly eat willingly, heh.

So Sunday I made this:

Right after we watched “10 Things I Hate About You”. Always one of my favorites. Heath Ledger *sob*.

Then Jorge humored me on yet another one of my ideas: a solar-light jar that I’d like to hang from a tree. So we took apart a $1 solar light from Dollar Tree, I puff-painted a Prego Jar and voila! It worked :).

The next 3 days at work would be a hectic blur of e-mails in Spanish, since the Mexican Artisan Expo is coming up next week. Literally, that’s all I did for 3 days.

Got home and made dinner on Monday night:

It was a hit with the guys :). I can’t remember what brand the packet was, but it was a Tuscan sauce you add sauteed chicken and rotini to. It was tasty.

I went to visit Minnie from Hidden Treasures after work Tuesday since she had a Puppy Brite she was clearancing out. I was hoping to make it on time to look around but her shop was closed. She surprised me with the FREE Puppy Brite and told me about her future plans for the shop.

She’ll be leaving January but will return February with Hidden Treasures. I’m happy she’s staying. I owe her for starting me on my obsession, heh.

I had ordered 100+ photos for $.10 each from Walgreens when the sale came around. I ALWAYS miss it, and haven’t printed any photos in about 2 years! So I took advantage. That night, after making dinner, I went through my scrapbooking stash and took a whole bunch of stuff out for a scrapfest :). Jorge sat at the table playing a game and John sat at the table using his phone, so we sat there and joked while I cut and pasted away.

The weather was dreary and cold on the 31st. I met my love for lunch anyway since I needed to remove my face from the computer. The e-mails were so monotonous and the office was as cold as a meat freezer (it always is *sob*) I just had to get away. So we went to Texadelphia, since he didn’t want to have Jason’s Deli -_- . I was trying to go for a “healthier” choice and picked a chicken sandwich on wheat bread but it was drenched in so much vinaigrette that it ruined my sandwich. The fries and queso were great, though!

I picked the kiddos up from their dad’s that evening, dropped them off with Mom and met Jorge at HEB to buy the New Year’s Eve stuff. It was raining by this time and the girls were sniffly so fireworks and s’mores outside were out of the question. Jorge’s boys ended up staying at their mother’s (where they did do fireworks and 2 ended up coming back sick, grr).

We decided to make queso dip, pigs in a blanket and watch some TV. The kids were ok with it. We also got some Welch’s sparkling grape juice for the kids to toast with us at midnight ^_^. I didn’t want wine, but Jorge convinced me, and the d’asti I love was on sale so I got it.

As soon as we walk in the door Mom comes in to help unload groceries…and immediately drops the wine bottle. I couldn’t believe it.

Sally and her George were supposed to come over but George worked late and then plans changed so they ended up doing their thing. I know I’m getting old because I was perfectly ok with chilling with Jorge and the kids watching Cristela and snacking on stuff :).

It sucked that Jorge’s boys weren’t here, but I was happy to bring in the new year with the rest of the family. When midnight came around, we toasted with the kids, gave hugs and kisses all around and went to bed a while later, hehe.

We spent Thursday feeding the kids and spending time with them. Jorge even found the last episode of Season 1 of “Selfie” on an app on his iPad and we watched that. Then it was gingerbread time. The kids’ dad gave them 3 boxes of gingerbread projects to do and this was the 1st:

We gathered all the kids to watch “The Book of Life”.

It was as adorable and colorful as I thought it was going to be :).

My poor Jorge had to work Friday :(. I spent the day lazying with the kids ALL DAY LONG. Well, after going to Walmart to get some cereal and other groceries.

I put the ingredients for beef stew in the slow cooker and then the kids and I watched all of Season 1 of “Friends”. And then my last Christmas gift from Jorge came in: my Keurig!

You would think someone who loves coffee as much as I do would have asked for one as soon as they came out, but I’m such a cheapskate I couldn’t justify spending money on one. We have one at work that Ivan provided for us in the copy room and it really is convenient. My love just so happened to get this one for a steal so I’m THRILLED!

Jorge calls around 5:30pm that their company party is that evening…and that spouse are welcome to join. I was suddenly extremely grateful I had the foresight to make dinner in the slow cooker. I had about an hour to do my hair (which was in all it’s curly, lion-mane glory) and find something to wear. After several runs bath and forth between my closet and the laundry room, I found an outfit. Mom served dinner to the kids and then Jorge and I were on our way to the Blue Onion.

We had such a good time; they even had a trivia game for the employees. And the food, OMG, the food! I could gorge on the pita and hummus all day!

We slept in a bit today and then I dropped off Jorge’s wallet to him at work and I ran errands. My day consisted of ordering more pictures ($.09 at Walgreens till 11:59pm!), watched the first episode of Dr. Who with the kids and cooking and got a head start on the laundry. Jorge walks in and says, “What are you doing?? That’s my job!” and made me stop, heh. We’re watching a UFC Fight while the kids either lazy around on the sofa next to us or are playing Xbox.

Well, what do you know, I wrote a whole post and I may actually publish it. This should have probably been my “resolutions” post, but it really is the same bullet points as they usually are: eat healthy, exercise, lose weight, not stress, be a better fiance/mom/daughter/sister, be nicer to everyone around me, etc. I hope to accomplish those and if I could shave off some debt and save money it would be the cherry on top ^_^.

Started on Friday, March 28, 2014

Haven’t posted in over a week. And I was doing so well! I knew my streak couldn’t last very long.

First and foremost, it’s Dad’s birthday today. I didn’t want to post about it on Facebook because I never posted about it before, when he was living, and I just felt…like I’d be two-faced if I did. I think that’s why I’ve been feeling inexplicably sad today. I’ve been seeing men who resemble him. A lot more than usual. And of course, I’m filled with sorrow and regret because I didn’t call him on his birthday last year. And I wish I could today :*(. I still feel so awful. I wish I could talk to him one last time.

Blah. I’m a blubbering mess now. And I just served myself dinner and lost my appetite. I’m sort of glad Mom went to her bedroom already to watch her novela after I made dinner, or else she’d ask why I’m upset and we’d have to have that conversation. She hasn’t mentioned anything at all. I wonder if she remembers. If she does, this is the type of thing we do: we avoid talking about it.

Happy Birthday, Dad :(.

Jorge isn’t home from work yet. I spent an hour and a half talking to the kids, who are with Mario this weekend. That’s probably another reason I’m feeling upset. I miss them already. Ugh.

Jorge is going to wonder what the heck happened when he gets here, so I’m going to distract myself by recapping the past week.

It was our weekend with our kiddos last week starting Thursday, so it was a whirlwind, which is always welcome around here :). For the first time, ever, we had Julien here since Thursday, too, and he was just wonderful. All the kids are. They just make everything happier, more fun :). Don’t get me wrong, they get loud, but we like it.

On Friday, after work, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my meds (like a good little elderly lady) and stopped by Hidden Treasures to look around. I found a perfect Baby Brite for $2! Which then got me taking my old dolls out to compare. The girls have a blast when I get the itch to do that :).

Jorge got home and presented me with yet another super-early birthday present:

Is this man wonderful, or what??

We chilled out with the kids on the porch after ordering some pizza for dinner. I got my results back from my 2nd cholesterol screening and they were great all around! So I let it get to my head and I had a slice of pizza. I hadn’t had pizza in over 2 months! (Do I take after Mom, or what?? John sure did let everyone know that on Facebook, grr.)

I retract my previous statement. We hung out with SOME of the kids on the porch. The boys of course remained inside, where there was video games -_-. The girls had their electronics, too, but at least they were using them in our company.

In our usual fashion, Emily and I cuddled up and passed out on the outdoor sofa. Those cushions are the devil! My love was on HIS iPad so he watched that bugs didn’t get into our ears or anything (well, I hope he did…) and then carried Emmos inside and took me to bed.

And then he wrote the sweetest, most heartwarming post on Facebook *sigh* . He still takes me by surprise to this day .

Jorge was off on Saturday so we lazied around with the kids all day. Sally and Priscilla were coming over in the evening to hang out, so a few things on our agenda were cleaning, feeding the kids, and taking them to the park. I’m happy to say we got everything done on time, hehe.

I was going to post photos of the kids at the park, but my stupid SD card in my phone is being an ass AGAIN and is eating up my damn photos :(. I only got to upload a few to the gallery. It’s done it once already with the 32G, once with the 8G and now again with the 32G. It’s super annoying.

Jorge and the boys were happy that I was having my Girls Night In because they got to play XBox in the living room (because they never get to, heh). Aly and Emmos got to play with Quentin and the girls and I watched everyone from our perch at the round table. Jorge ordered pizza (again, sue me!), Priscilla brought over some cake and dips, I had pineapple-coconut Moscato and Sally brought some red wine we didn’t even get to drink LOL. We mostly chatted it up and did some man-bashing, talked about how wonderful our men are, talked about when they’re not so wonderful, talked about the kids, and life and bills and you know, the usual.

We called it a night at 10:30ish and then Jorge and I hung out with the kids till I passed out on the couch with the girls again. At 11 LOL. I’m such an old lady!

We had the laziest of Sundays with all the kids. We did a load of laundry, only because we needed towels. Made breakfast and lunch at home and then my love ordered Chinese and sushi for dinner just in time for the Walking Dead. I love how it’s a bonding experience with the kids ^_^. As soon as it was over we got all of them to brush their teeth and get into bed. And then it was time for another work week.

Monday went by pretty quickly. Well except for the last hour and a half since it was my shift for reception duty. Got home, took the girls to the doctor, were there and at the pharmacy for about 3 hours. I was so tired (literally nodding off while we waited) that I stopped for Wing Stop for dinner. We ate, I got the girls in the bath and went to the laundry room to get clean towels…just to walk into a puddle in the boys’ room. The darn water heater was leaking from the pipe that hadn’t been replaced recently. Thankfully our landlord and plumber are wonderful and they fixed it that night. That was a long day!

Michelle and I spent all of Tuesday looking for the right flowers and vases for some centerpieces I was doing for a luncheon the next day. I really wanted some simple hydrangea ones, but we opted for yellow roses when we couldn’t find enough hydrangeas =\.

That was the day I started eating junk again. A lady brought me a donut while I was at reception. Then Wednesday, after I got back from lunch, Jessica and I ate 2 small pieces of Sweet & Tasty cake =\. TWO.

I felt better about my stuffing-my-face guilt when I got home to find a package ^_^. My Fisher Price Cartoon Viewers had come in! The girls enjoyed them so much, it made me happy ^_^. And so did Jorge when he got home, hehe.

I also received this:

Never see these under $50 and I most definitely didn’t get it for that ^_^.

I rushed home Thursday evening to see the girls before they left for the weekend with their dad. We got their stuff together and I made turkey chilli and then they left around 6 :(. Jorge and Jorgie and Justin arrived and we ate dinner and then settled down to watch Anchorman. The boys and I had never seen the first one, and since Jorge wanted to watch part 2, he insisted we watch it. It was good LOL.

Friday was a regular day. I dropped off some fliers at a nearby community center, paid bills for work, updated some files and picked up my Emmos ^_^. She happily ate a popsicle and then I stopped by Tacos Kissi to meet my love who had ordered me some sushi.

I literally ate in 10 minutes, asked for my cucumber lemonade to go, and kissed my love on the cheek as I got up to go. He blinks as he jokingly says, “I feel so…used.” LOL I had reception duty since 1, with a break from 2-3:30 and then went back. There was hardly anyone in the office so my last 1 1/2 hours felt like 5. I wanted to gouge my eyes out.

And then I updated some of my 80’s pages and got really depressed before I started typing here. My love got home and he saw what a wreck I was and he was loving and listened and gave his gentle 2-cents. He took me to the living room where we watched “Anchorman 2” and I felt better :).

I tried sleeping in the next day but my love’s alarm kept going off and then I was hot, then cold, then I needed to pee so I just got up. Dayse and Karina and I were meeting for brunch at Dayse’s apartment and to meet her 2-month old baby, Sadye! We chatted and I made pancakes and Dayse’s hubby made us a fab quiche. It was wonderful catching up! And of course Dayse would be the most glamorous, put-together mommy of a 2-month-old in existence!

I feel so blessed to still be friends with these wonderful girls! No matter how much time passes in between our visits, it’s like there was never a gap at all. I love my girls :).

I got home around 5 and Mom and I went to run errands for her and then we visited Gramma :). She’s doing well, thank goodness. Mom helped her eat her dinner while we chatted. Then I dropped Mom off and I picked up Wing Stop…again, while I texted with Aunt Nora :).

Jorge and I caught up on our shows, and like always, I passed out on the sofa next to him. He woke me up around 1:00am and we went to our room. As badly as I wanted to pass out again I had to take my meds and wash my face. By the time I got back to bed my love was passed out and I was so refreshed from the face-washing that I couldn’t sleep anymore. I stayed up watching this weird movie called “Venom”…and then I really couldn’t sleep. I stayed up till 3am, hearing noises and getting up to check what they were and worrying about things, like were all of our kids safe at that hour? I cuddled up to Jorge as much as I could without throwing him off the bed, wrapped his sleepy-limp arm around me and finally, finally fell asleep.

Needless to say, we slept till 10:30am. I made us omelets (egg whites for me) and we lazied around the rest of the day. Showered, went to Best Buy, picked up food at Antojitos Mexicanos (which I’m regretting right about now), Jorgie and Justin were dropped off, I talked to my kiddos on the phone, watched the season finale of The Walking Dead (could have done with a better ending, darnit!), I talked to Eenan for about 45 minutes, discussing the finale. And he has a test tomorrow so I sent him to bed. And now I’m going to enjoy my final hour of being lazy before starting a new work week. Wish me luck!