Category: Alaethia

Sunday, April 29th – We woke up around 10ish and lazily sprawled on the bed. We contemplated what we’d be having for breakfast (or rather, what I’d be cooking, heh) and we both decided: let’s go buy barbacoa!!

So we washed up, got ready and started the hour-long journey. We found a store about a mile away that had barbacoa. We wanted a cup of menudo, too, but by the time we got to the beginning of the line, we found out they’d sold their last large cup. Grrr. So we drove all the way to Mission where Jorge knew for sure that they had some. I was just praying that we’d find some before noon, which is when most places stop serving. But we went to Taco Ole and they did have some and although we had to wait a while. As we’re driving home I can’t help but remember that I hadn’t been logging my calories/carbs/sugars like I had been . And this breakfast would most definitely throw me over my calories…so maybe it was just better NOT to log them, heh.

Breakfast was delicious. Many people don’t like menudo, or think it’s gross, but I love it. The boys loved it and I had to scold mom to stop eating so much. “Your cholesterol!!” LOL. It’s not often we have barbacoa and menudo, so it was a nice change.

We did some stuff around the house and then got ready to go to the Parade of Homes. You follow a map to all these beautiful homes and get ideas, contact decorators, home theatre installers, pool installers, etc.; or apply to build, and so on. Some of Jorge’s work was being showcased and he wanted to see what the competitors were doing. I wanted to see his work and the décor. I LOVE looking at homes!

The boys didn’t want to go and asked to stay with Mom. Mom said, “Just leave them here,” so we told them it was fine since it’s something they probably wouldn’t enjoy.

We saw 4 houses I believe. They were all near the house. I was amazed by the decor in some and majorly impressed by the homes that had an entrance that would lead into a courtyard with a pool and then into the main house. Those were gorgeous. And the bathrooms in some? Holy shizz, it was like I’d died and gone to heaven. I’d post the photos of the 2 that I actually took, but they were crappy and weirdly angled since we weren’t’ really allowed to take photos :P.

I have to say I was really impressed with Jorge’s projects. I know he excels at what he does, but when you see it in person, it’s nothing short of amazing :).

And speaking of, we saw some of his competitors’ work; sweet Jesus. Makes you wonder if they left wires hanging out or hung screens/TVs wrong or left a mess in the racks just so they wouldn’t get business .

So we finished seeing the houses. Got wrong directions to another one, so instead we went to Ross to buy…who knows what. I don’t even remember. I do remember that we both got annoyed with the crowds and started snapping at each other. So we got out of there and we sat in silence all the way to Walmart, where we were getting some stuff for lunch. As we walk in Jorge says, “You want to look at the flowers?” and then I couldn’t be annoyed anymore, heh. We bought some Dwarf Celosias (which the girls fondly refer to as Lorax Trees. Eenan corrected us later: “They’re called Truffulas” :)).

We got home, made lunch, and later I planted my flowers.

When I stood back, hands on hips, admiring my work Jorge comes over and stands next to me. He says, “The neighbors must think, ‘Look at that woman, glorifying that stump'”. I turn and smack him playfully on the arm. “My stump is beautiful!” I say.

Monday, April 30th – We were surprised the next morning with breakfast at Denny’s with our boss. Michelle and I drove to work together and I had this baby:

Totally didn’t even bother logging it into my calorie counter because, frankly, I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW.

We went back to work and I had a light lunch since I was still full from breakfast.

When I got home I did my usual ritual, which is walk through the door, hug and kiss the girls, go to my bedroom and then bathroom to change into comfy clothes followed by both girls, put my hair in a pony tail and proceed to the kitchen to figure out what to make for dinner. The girls brought little socks to me and begged for sock puppets. So I waited on dinner and brought out my glue gun, yarn, flowers from my scrapbooking stash, and buttons for the eyes. I got to work, cutting, sewing, gluing and they were thrilled.

By the time I was done with the sock puppets, I felt SUPER lazy. I didn’t know WHAT to make for dinner. I whipped something up, Jorge got home, we ate, the girls stayed with Mom while we grocery shopped and then we got home and unloaded groceries. I bathed the girls and got them ready for bed while my love made me his famous Margaritas. I put the girls in bed and joined him on the sofa, where he popped open a bottle of Shiner Ruby Redbird and we watched DVR’d The Voice.

April 9th – Started the week like I usually do: with a Monday morning meeting at work. Everyone goes around taking turns, talking about what’s coming up in the week for them. As I jotted down event after upcoming event, I started feeling a little apprehensive. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a worst-case-scenario-type person and my nerves quietly festered into fear. I vented to Jorge about this later and he told me no problem, don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. He said he’d schedule his work near Aly’s school and he’d pick her up. That was what concerned me the most. He’s so wonderful !

April 10th – The girls and I planned another little reunion. It was kind of an impromptu thing, with ideas thrown here and there and we finally agreed to do it at our place. OMG! I felt great about it and then I started feeling nervous, like, what if I couldn’t get the house spotless?! Or what if we couldn’t fit all these people on the porch?! Or what if work didn’t let me borrow tables and chairs?!

I got home from work and tidied up, watched TV with the girlies, and made dinner for all of us:

Then I bathed the girls, read their stories and they were out for the count. Mom said she’d watch the kiddos for us while we went out, so we decided yes, we would for once. We went to Chili’s and just chilled out. I was SO tempted to have my absolute favorite, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, but I woke up and weighed this in the morning:

…and I didn’t want to ruin it! I had a drink (ok, 2!) and we chit-chatted and played on our phones :). I told Jorge, “People are probably looking at us and thinking, ‘Man they’re in trouble. They won’t even put their phones down.’” He laughed. Little do they know we were playing Words by Post with each other LOL.

We were home by 11:45pm :). We got ready for bed, snuggled up and crashed out, heh.

April 11th – The day was a usual work day. It ended as a day where I involve myself in activities I probably shouldn’t, and by that I mean a cupcake bake-off LOL. I don’t know what I was thinking. EZ called asking me to participate, because he knows I like to bake and cook, but I told him Yes, I like to, but I’m not ready for a bake-off!.

I finally agreed to do it if Michelle agreed to do it with me. She said ok. So there we go, right after work, to HEB to buy our ingredients. We decided we’d be doing Rainbow Cupcakes. I’d never attempted these before, but I’d always wanted to and it seemed easy enough…

We got back and I started on the batter. I dyed it with food coloring and then the girls helped us mix. Then Michelle and I got started on layering. I took a picture of her because she said, “No one’s ever going to believe that I’m baking!” And they didn’t LOL!

Michelle thought it was the cutest thing that they pull the stools up to the counter and quietly watch me work. She asked, “Do they always do that?” And I said, “Oh, yes, every day.”

She asked Emily, “You like to watch Mama cook?”

Emily (who was being shyer than usual) nodded a timid Yes.

Michelle asked her, “You want to cook like mama?” and Emily nodded yes again, with a little smile this time. Aww

The inside:

We were proud of our cupcakes :). I thought they were super cute; something I’d definitely have to make for the kiddos, but in cake-form next time!

April 12th – We were excited about the bake-off. Everyone wanted to see our entries. We had to provide 3 for the tasting and 9 for the guests/donations.

I picked up Alaethia after school and had lunch with her and Emily, like usual. I was going to miss my little ladies. It was Mario’s weekend and I wouldn’t be seeing the girls right after work since Michelle and I would be heading to the bake-off right afterwards.

We submitted our entries, got a tour of the place, ate a teensy bit and waited. When all was finished Michelle and I didn’t win, but our cupcakes were the 2nd to go. It was a little upsetting that the winners were 2 of the people who work at the organization =\. And there was only one People’s Choice category and it went to a professional bakery. BUT, it was fun and a great experience. I’d never been a part of something like that and it was awesome :)!

Got home and called all the kiddos and spent time with my love :). He had some news for me: he wasn’t able to get the full day off on Saturday so we couldn’t go celebrate Sally’s birthday like we wanted to . I felt awful that I wouldn’t be there. I had to figure out how to work up the courage to give the news to Tina.

April 13th – I eventually told Tina before noontime that we wouldn’t be able to attend. She even tried accommodating us the best way possible but even then, he would get out too late Friday and we wouldn’t make it. I was so sad that I wouldn’t be able to spend our 30th together :(.

I tried inviting Sally to lunch, but she was with QC and said we’d leave it for another time. Jorge said we’d have lunch at Kumori, so I met him and his new employee there. I hope we didn’t freak him out with our jokes and constant “that’s what she said!” innuendos LOL.

My day got instantly better spending a little time with my babe :). Too bad I started feeling sick about an hour after lunch! I almost thought I had food poisoning, but I was just really queasy. I thought, “Not before the reunion!!”

I got home from work and Mom and I rushed to get some stuff for the party the next day and a few little decorations from Ross. I didn’t want to spend too much, but we got a few new rugs for the bathrooms, Mom got me Margarita glasses for my birthday LOL, new soap dispensers from Target and a few other things. I got home and started cleaning while the boys played in their room.

Jorge and I went to pick up the tables and chairs from work and came home and put them in the garage. Jorge wanted to take me to dinner: our traditional birthday dinner at Pappadeaux, but I was skeptical. I hadn’t eaten since lunch; I’d only had a sip of his Sprite and I felt nauseous all over again. I didn’t want to puke 🙁 LOL. But we went anyway and I’m so glad I felt ok enough to eat.

Everything was so delicious. I ate so much during the appetizers that I couldn’t finish my food OR my free birthday cheesecake!

I had my poor babe on an emotional roller coaster. I’d feel fine and then I’d feel ill, so I’d laugh and then I’d kind of mope and try and calm my nausea. He dealt with it all really well though ♥!

We got home, earlyish, and I made myself some manzania tea to settle my stomach before we sat down to watch DVR’d American Idol. I was kind of regretting stuffing myself with appetizers, but I’m glad I was only nauseous and not full-blown sick. I snuggled up next to Jorge on the sofa, with my hot tea and my favorite blanket and he took the words right out of my mouth when he said, “I love this. I love when we get to just relax together.” Me too :).

April 14th I woke up to “Happy Birthday, Baby!!” He snuggled me for a while and gave me a kiss on the forehead. He walked to the door and said, “Sleep in, Baby, it’s your birthday,” and sleep in I did! For the first time in a LONG time I allowed myself to sleep in till 10:30am LOL. Mom had already served the boys breakfast. I told them to get ready while I got ready. We were picking up my kiddos and having lunch at Peter Piper Pizza. I’d asked Mario earlier in the week if I could “borrow” them, since it was his weekend and he’d agreed. I thank him for that. It made my day to see my kiddos on my birthday :*)!

Mom, the boys and I picked my kiddos up and I was greeted by 4 Happy Birthdays ♥! We got to PPP, ordered our food and I got a bajillion tokens. They played to their hearts’ content and then we ate. Emily threw one little tantrum, because Alaethia had gotten a prize and she didn’t, so we went and got her some tickets and the guy gave her 3 of the prize she wanted :).

We ran into Salvador, one of our old classmates at Tae Kwon Do. He’s already a black-belt! It made me a little sad; I was hoping to be the first “family” of black-belts to graduate together at our school . But oh well, things happen.

I let the kids play another long while. They were reluctant to leave even when I gave them an extra 20 minutes. We took pictures; Mom didn’t do to well with my phone…she cut half the kids’ heads off LOL. So Jorgie took the pic of my kiddos and me :).

Of course it was dark because my phone ran out of battery and Emily is forever turning when the picture’s shot LOL.

I dropped my babies off :(, and then we stopped by HEB to get some food and stuff we’d need for the reunion. It was fast with Jorgie and Justin ticking things off the list.

I got home and cleaned in a frenzy. I didn’t have much to do, the house is usually tidy, but the bathrooms got a good scrubbing, I cleaned behind and under the fridge (which was acting up ever since they fixed the freezer), and I hung up all the laundry. Jorge got home and swept/washed the porch and cleaned up the pit. I vacuumed the living room and dusted and took a shower and got ready. Felipe and Freddy had come over and helped him put the tables and chairs up.

He showered and got ready and we made a quick run to Feldman’s. We got back and the girls slowly started arriving. It was great seeing everyone and chismiando :). Jorge ended up calling Freddy to come back because none of the guys who’d RSVP’d came LOL.

My Love was so wonderful. He did all the cooking and made us Margaritas and was just such a great host. When we were inside together once I apologized that he ended up doing everything on his own. He said, “I want to, Babe. Anything for you, Love. It’s your birthday.” All the girls kept telling me how lucky I am. How very right they are :*)!!

They sang Happy Birthday to me and we had 2 different cakes :). Daisy brought a Better-than-sex one and Mom had bought me a brownie ice cream cake. Justin was so sweet; he got all involved with the cake and candles and serving :).

I had such a great, great birthday! It was honestly one of the best in YEARS. I felt…special :)!

We had the boys get in bed and I finished catching up. The last of the girls, Jessica and Daisy, ended up leaving around 1am. I need to make more time for my friends. I had no idea how much some of them were going through right now. I need to be a better friend!

I stayed up with my Love and Freddy till I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore LOL. I actually went to bed around 3am for once!

Freddy kept telling us how lucky we are to have each other. I couldn’t agree more ♥!

April 15th We woke up early considering how late we fell asleep. I got up and made us breakfast: omelets of course, per my Baby’s request, heh. We ate leftover cake as we watched Jerry Maguire–well, sort of, until we realized that the weird smell our fridge was emitting was becoming annoying and really nauseating. We decided we’d go look at fridge’s, just in case. If they were too expensive then forget it.

We went to Conn’s and found the fridge he’d been looking at online and it was a great price! We were approved for it right away and the paperwork as done, just like that! THAT’S the type of stuff I’m used to, not the being denied just about everything a year ago when I was barely salvaging my credit after SOMEBODY ruined it .

We stopped at Target afterwards…for who knows what LOL. I can’t remember. And we had some nachos and Icee’s. I weighed 115 on my birthday–my short-term goal!–and I was sure I’d gained it back in those 1 and a half days!

We did our Sunday routine when we got back. The Golf Tournament was the next day and I was SO GLAD to be wearing jeans to work, hehe. We relaxed and caught up on our shows. I’m so thrilled and humbled and GRATEFUL for all the wonderful people in my life, my kids and Jorge and family above all :*). My next 30 years are going to be GREAT!

This weather is putting a damper on my mood and making me sleepy and lazy. That, or it’s almost THAT TIME.

Let’s go backwards, shall we? I’m waiting for dinner to finish cooking Jorge to get home at the moment. I made a new sauce for the baked chicken I was making and it was SO GOOD. I used a 10.5 oz can of cream of chicken, 1/2 of that can of milk, 2 stalks (is that what they’re called?) of chives, 1 stalk of celery, about a little less than a handful of cilantro and half a serrano pepper and pureed them all together. I wanna grab some tortilla chips and just eat the rest of it O_O. I would have posted a picture of it, but it came out blurry and looked weird .

I cleaned the girls room from top to bottom and reorganized the closet. Sally and Quentin had come over and I made spaghetti and turkey meatballs while we caught up on the past 2 weeks. Prior to that I cleaned up the living room, sorted (more) laundry, cleared the dining table and had just gotten started on the kitchen counters.

Mario has the kiddos this weekend (probably another reason why I’m this way). I got to see them in the morning for a bit when I met him (and his mother) to give him Emily’s eardrops. I miss them all :(!

I asked the boys what they’d like for breakfast, eggs or cereal. They picked cereal, of course LOL. I made breakfast for myself: egg whites and yellow & orange peppers, cilantro, onion, tomato.

And hazelnut coffee that mom so nicely brewed for me when I woke up at 10am. Yes. 10am.

I’d fallen asleep the night before at 9:30pm or 10pm. With Ruffles on the sofa. I woke up just as Jorge was snapping a photo LOL.

I’d made baked fish (this time for all of us, heh) for dinner with a side of green bean casserole. Jorge installed a new camera lens on my Evo. Now I can take clear pics again :)! And I got a new cover for my phone so I won’t scratch it again…

I kept myself busy when I got home from work. It’s quiet and I get so bored without the kiddos here. So I cleaned till it was time to start making dinner, before Jorge got home with his boys. I had an observer:

Friday was a long, cold day. Kinda boring. Except for when we had almond cream cake from Sweet & Tasty for the boss’ birthday. Before that there was a tad bit of drama. Before that the day started out kinda crappy.

Mario’s weekend started on Thursday night. His mother came and picked up the girls, of course. I was happy I got to see my boys. My God, how I miss them :(.

I was just about to start baking some fish when we decided to go to on a little date to Kumori :). I still made dinner for Mom and then my babe and I got ready to go.

It was great and we had some laughs :). We got home and watched our DVR’d American Idols and then went to sleep :).

Thursday, after I picked up Aly from school, I picked up Mom and Emmy. They both had doctor’s appointments so we got those out of the way.

Wednesday was spent doing finance-related stuff at work. Got home, chilled with the girls, snapped a pic:

And we met Jorge at Taco Bell, which is what they wanted for dinner :).

Tuesday night was Alaethia’s first Open House :). She didn’t have much work, since she’s only been at this school for a month, but the work she has done is impressive! Even her folder is adorable:

Her teachers have wonderful things to say about her all the time *beams*.

We went grocery shopping right after, all us girls. Got home and made this wonderful dinner with my love (he got home right on time to make shrimp scampi, hehe):

Monday was a day spent in court, brought on by events from the week before.

And that’s that. Somewhat of a summary. I’d have gone into detail but it’s late now. We started watching Netflix movies, first “Limitless”, which was pretty darn good and then “Chaos Theory”, which is an older Ryan Reynolds movie. It was a little sad, comical at times, and had a happy ending. And now I’m sleepy and my love is passed out on the sofa next to me. Good night :).