Category: Alaethia

Leave it to WordPress to completely disregard what “Save Draft” means. Darn thing didn’t save my almost-finished entry!!

Ok. So, starting over. This has been quite a month of blessings :).

Started off the month celebrating Alaethia’s 5th birthday party. It was a cold and drizzly weekend, but I should have known better as her birthdays have all been during that type of weather. The kids couldn’t even enjoy the awesome moonjump Michelle’s dad hooked us up with. But at least they got to jump in there for a little while when it dried up the next day.

We had court just a few days later. I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve regained custody of my little lady, Alaethia . Those who follow me on Facebook were witness to my happiness :). It’s a dream come true! We’ve seamlessly fallen into a great routine. (Another plus is that I’ve lost 5 pounds since I started taking my lunch earlier to pick her up from school since I’m not eating at restaurants everyday, heh.) I can honestly say I FEEL like a mother again–I mean, I’ve had my Emmy, but getting Aly ready for school, getting updates from her teachers, dropping her off and picking her up, it’s just wonderful :*). I’d gone a year and a half without taking my kiddos to school :(. I’ve sincerely missed it.

I’m so thankful to Jorge, Mom, John and Sally for their unending love and support. And so grateful to my bosses for being so understanding with everything going on, even when I had an event coming up. I feel genuinely humbled by the love and generosity that surrounds me ♥!

Dina, Briana and the kids visited and Dina stayed with us :). It was fun watching shows and just catching up :).

A few days later it was Valentine’s Day. We hadn’t really made plans, but my love surprised me with reservations at Pappadeaux!

We got out of work, I picked up a few things for the girls, gave them their medicines since they were getting over a cold and made sure they were good before we left.

We sat outside the few minutes we waited for our table to be ready, listening to the wonderful singer who sounded like she was playing right off my iTouch LOL. She sang two of my favorite Adele songs and Norah Jones. It was great just being with my babe and spending time together. We’d had a hectic month so far and it was nice to just relax with each other and EAT, heh.

We had our usual fried alligator, some awesome shrimp dip, and oysters on the half shell which I LOVED! Jorge was quite pleased that I liked them, too :).

I can’t even remember what entrees we had, but OMG they were delicious. And we had New York style cheesecake for dessert. Lordy. I’m drooling just THINKING about it!

We had such an amazing night. We checked on the girls when we got home and they were sound asleep. We sat outside on the porch and reflected on the amazing day and year that we’ve had :D.

A week later, on Saturday, Sally and John came over. Sally and I took turns making waffles for the kiddos. For lunch, ’cause we’re awesome like that!

Sunday, we woke up from sleeping in. Yeah, right. The latest we can sleep in is 9am :P. We snuggled in bed before getting up to start the day. I had my eyes closed and opened them to find him sweetly staring at me. I cover my face and whine, “Baby! My hair is everywhere and I probably look terrible!” He laughs and says, “Oh, baby. It’s been 10 years, you don’t have to worry about that anymore.” I giggle and say, “10 years?! Silly!”

We got up and got menudo and barbacoa tacos from Taqueria 7 Hermanas, one of my exhibitors who just so happen to be really close by. We ate and then went to Home Depot to get spotlights and got the sudden urge to start a little flowerbed. We had all our supplies and, although we didn’t exactly know what we were doing, we got working straightaway. I’m so proud of our work!

Our yard is looking so nice!

All week was spent doing Food Festival related stuff. It was an INSANE week, but when it came down to it, I was so proud of the event! Since we did a few things differently this year, we have a few things on our “things to change” list, but all-in-all, it was great! Mario took my kiddos (it was his night with them) and my love took his boys and they had a great time! Jorgie got to celebrate his birthday there :). I was so glad they had fun. I was debating whether I should post the video of the event or not, but heck, why not?

It was my little Emmos’ birthday on Friday, the 24th! We snuggled her with kisses in the morning and I let her know I’d be home after lunch.

It was strange returning to work on Friday and although we were busy with finances and other things having to do with the event, it was calm! Roda and I worked on the tally sheets and media surveys and I was out by noon. I picked up Emily’s gifts and she opened them when I got home. My babe had taken the day and was working on the last of the home-automation stuff he wanted to do. The girls and I took Mom to her lab appointment and then we got home and sang Happy Birthday :)! I got a great deal on her cake from Sweet and Tasty (another exhibitor, heh).

We spent the rest of the day playing and just being together ♥. we’re planning something special for Emily & Jorgie’s birthdays. I wanted to go with the whole moonjump thing but who knows how this crazy weather is going to be.

Mario picked the girls up when he got out of work that evening. Jorge and I had no idea what to do with ourselves in such a quiet house, which is usually the case when the kiddos aren’t here. I had a few gift cards from my exhibitors so I asked him what he thought about having dinner somewhere. He thought it was a great idea. Our first choice was closed so we went to our second, which was Hooters LOL. I was a little skeptical since the last time I’d been there was in 2008, when I was unknowingly pregnant with Emily and I’d had fried pickles and felt extremely nauseous, heh. But we had some this time and I was fine!

The next day we sorta slept in (yes, no kiddos and we still couldn’t manage to sleep in! We showered, cleaned up a bit, packed, went to the bank and stopped at Starbucks for some drinks. We’d been making plans for a month with Michelle & EZ to go to the beach, but the weather was just being uncooperative. Jorge and I, spontaneous as we are, decided we were going anyway :).

We talked about anything and everything on the way over there, it was a great :). Our first stop when we got there was lunch at Daddy’s, Jorge’s favorite place on the island. The food was so darn good. We’d been eating so much fried stuff I was sure I’d gained the 5 pounds I’d managed to lose!

We had TONS of food leftover so we packed it up (and had it for dinner at the hotel, heh). Speaking of, that was next on our to-do list: finding a hotel.

We got a great deal on a great room. We rested and then went for a chilly walk on the beach. I’d never been to the beach when it’s cold, it was nice :). I’d also never in my life seen so many jellyfish at one time or these weird clay balls. Poor Portuguese Man-o-War jellies :(.

We got to the hotel and ate dinner and then got ready to go to Louie’s Backyard to watch the UFC fight. I hadn’t had a Margarita in forever and ordered two of the best strawberry ones I’ve ever had! We also ordered these addictive quesadillas, which they messed up and brought us a whole other plate of LOL.

I have to say I had a great night’s sleep considering that I wasn’t in my own bed. Woke up refreshed! We had breakfast at the hotel and checked out. We drove around a while thinking of what to do next. The day was gorgeous so we decided to go to the beach for a while. We changed into our bathing suits in the van, which was quite a feat but we did it, heh.

We collected some shells and got back in the van and drove down the strip. We had an impulsive idea to go and do something crazy, but after thinking about it for a bit we decided we wanted to accomplish this when we were better prepared. So instead, we went to Pier 19 to have lunch. Courtesy of the restaurant :).

And after lunch, we went on a bay fishing trip! Also courtesy of the company ;).

I’m not crazy about my appearance in this pic, what with me being makeupless and my hair being frazzled by the humidity but I loved this trip and I want to remember it &hearts!

Dolphins! I caught them just barely, as they were going back under water.

We didn’t catch a darn thing LOL. We kept getting bites, but nothing got hooked. Well, I’d hooked a catfish…that quickly jumped back in the water! Apparently you don’t have as much luck fishing after a cold front . Now we know for next time. Because there will be one :).

My babygirl, my little fairy princess diva, is 5 years old today! :*) I can’t believe how fast time flies. I feel like I’ve missed so much the past year and it hurts :'(, but at the same time it’s made me appreciate and value the time we do spend together all that much more.

I took her shopping for her gift this past weekend. She, Emily and I made a trip to Toys R Us to get her the Dora kitchen she’d been asking for. Once we got there and she saw everything else, she couldn’t decide. She wanted a Barbie kitchen instead, then some Blythe/Pet Shop playsets and then she finally picked two Barbie playsets:  a “pancakes” one and one with a full Barbie-sized kitchen. She’s really into baking and watches baking videos on YouTube (supervised, of course). Her favorites are Barbie cakes and some about Japanese candies o_O. I’m hoping to have a little birthday party for her next weekend, when they’re with me. I hope funds allow and I can make it happen!

I picked up a cupcake for her (and Emily) on my way home from RGV Cupcake Factory and went to visit her tonight. I visited with the boys a bit, too. Jaylen made me laugh with this weird finger game and I told the boys about how Jorge and I had put a lint-roller tape on Ruffles’ back and he just collapsed, it was the weirdest thing lol.

Before that Tia Sylvia and Tio Mateo came by to visit. Tia’d called me Sunday to let me know they had some fairly new furniture they were getting rid of and they were bringing it over. They sent pics and everything looked awesome and matched our existing furniture!

They get here, we catch up cause I hadn’t seen Tio in decades (for real) and they start bringing the furniture in. I was in shock: everything was BRAND NEW! And gorgeous!

They gave us these matching chairs. I LOVE their shape! I wanted a white one from IKEA that was this exact shape.

We’re still trying to figure out how to make these work in the living room space, and of course we need some accent colors. How I wish the darn thing wasn’t recessed !

They gave us 4 matching counter-height stools. Two of those we scrunched in with the bistro set in the kitchen nook, the other 2 are up next to the kitchen counter. This is actually the set Jorge and I got each other for Christmas. We couldn’t figure out what we wanted, and when he brought up getting the set I couldn’t think of anything more perfect. We’d been wanting this set for a while and it just completes the kitchen. (Yes. We’re weird like that, heh.)

They also gave us a waffle maker, a chopper, a picnic set, a full set of dishes, & two futons that match all the other furniture. One went in the boys’ room, the other will go in our bedroom. As soon as we figure out how to arrange everything :confused:.

Anyway, we had Papa Murphy’s pizza which we’d never tried but I was recruiting them for my event so we gave it a shot. Best. Pizza. Ever. Take-and-bake? Fresh Subway-esque ingredients…it was awesome.

We went for our jog afterwards and just talked and enjoyed the cool breeze. I love that park :).

I’d written an entry last week, all about New Year’s, but the darn draft didn’t save. So. I have to redo that. Lots of stuff had been going on, including Gramma being hospitalized, but she’s so much better now. I’d been under a lot of stress, but thank GOD things are looking up :).

Ok, it’s late, gonna shower!

November 8th – I picked up some groceries after work, got home and Emily and I picked up Jorge at work. She wanted to get off the van to see Jorge’s workplace, so we went in to visit. We talked to Jorge’s co-workers (the girls fawned over how pretty she is ♥) and then we found him. Emily ran straight into his arms and we walked back to the van. Emily asked if we could go to “the place with the gummies” (Red Mango), so we took the little princess :). She was feeling so, so much better from her cough and cold. She wasn’t up the entire night coughing, thank goodness.

Emily added the gummy bears, I swear!

We ate at the restaurant and then we came home and had some dinner–backwards, yes LOL. The good thing is, Emily’s a great eater. I’ve probably mentioned it before but she eats everything: from spinach to tamales. One of her favorite things is spinach salad with walnuts, strawberries and vinaigrette. So I wasn’t too worried that she’d had her sweets before dinner :).

We watched TV for a bit and then we got ready to go for a jog at the park. God, I love that park. It’s so spacious and open and you can just breathe out there. Emily stayed with Mom (she had a sugar crash from the gummies, I think heh) and we took off. We walked 3 laps and jogged 2. Yes, actually jogged. Jorge is about a foot taller than me so his legs are much longer and it takes some effort on my part to keep up, heh. But he’s great and actually waits for me when I start getting winded (I remember how jogging with someone else SUCKED because he’d leave me behind all the time. I hated it ).

The night was fresh and we just talked about everything: our teen years, old married life, our life together now, our kids…it was easy to just walk and jog all those laps :).

The next day, the 9th, was cold and overcast outside. I caught up on details for my event at work and met my love and his co-worker for lunch at Siempre Natural. We decided that if we were going to eat somewhere it was going to be healthy. Didn’t want to ruin our exercise. I had a damn good grilled chicken salad and we shared a bowl of fideo (carby, but it was a small portion, heh).

Mario came to pick up my Emmos that day since it was his night. Jorge got home and we went to Ross to look for some slacks for him and a dress shirt for Karina’s wedding that Friday. Didn’t take us long to find him a nice outfit and then I got myself a plum blouse and some gray dress pants for work the next day :).

We ended up at Red Mango again since it was down the block, hehe :). That was all we were having for dinner, so it was ok! I had the perfect night planned in my mind: Red Mango, XFactor and cuddling–but one tiny thing that had nothing to do with us made the night take a different turn. We’re so alike and we react so similarly that we kinda sat there and stewed for a bit. And then we looked at each other and got over it, just like that . THEN we enjoyed our yogurt and show :).

I was helping Michelle with one of her events the next day. I did a few things related to my event and then helped her out. It went well, and we had great food! I cheated and had cheesecake but it was a HUGE slice and I couldn’t resist! There were TONS of cheesecakes left and food, so I made a plate for my love since I wouldn’t be home and left him the 4 slices of cheesecake at work. He behaved himself and only had one (and I regret it now, but we behaved so well that 2 of the cheesecakes were eventually thrown out 🙁 ).

Thursdays are usually hectic for me because it’s when I go to La Joya and it’s usually the night we have events at work. That would be one of those nights.

We had a Mixer at the Incubator and they weren’t expecting a huge turn-out, so our “boss boss” required us to be there. The Incubator is at my old elementary ♥. I became quite nostalgic being back there. Walking up the front steps into the hallway that used to have the light blue water fountain. Walking into the odd glass-doored room that had the main office on the left side and the cafeteria and stage on the right. Jamie gave me a tour of the office, which looked almost identical to the one I remember. The cafeteria looked so much smaller than I remember, but that could be because they built offices inside. The stage was still there but was missing the faded red velvet drapes. The floor was different too; it no longer had the blue tiled floors with the yellow tiles that spelled “S H” in front of the stage :(.

Leading out of the glass-doored room was the long hallway that lead to all the other hallways “outside”. Sam Houston was one of those old-fashioned schools that had outdoor hallways. It SUCKED when it was cold and you forgot your sweater and had to go to the library or the restroom LOL.

The exact same yellow follow-the-leader lines from back in the day still remained, albeit chipped. The only bathroom I could find (that was down that loooong hallway with signs that said, “Bathroom Down the Hall”…”Almost there”…”Keep Going”, no joke LOL) was one of the boys’ bathrooms where the “tunnel” with the mural of the huge golden cougar head was. I can’t remember now if the old cougar was still painted on the wall . I laughed to myself as I entered that bathroom because, for the first time ever, I was in the boys’ bathroom at Sam Houston :P. It was a big no-no to go in there when we were little hehe.

I actually behaved myself for once and stayed completely away from the delicious looking brownies and sweets. I didn’t even have the shrimp & queso dip, can you believe it? That’s what happens when I’m actually working out: I make an effort to watch what I eat. Otherwise, I really don’t care =<. I mingled a bit with some of our members at the mixer and then made a run for it to pick up the kiddos to eat dinner. Since it was already a lil late we had snacks at Burger King. We sat and talked about our day, the boys talking about the games, of course, and the girls being silly and needing to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes O_o. It's way too short a time to spend with them. I hate it .

I got home and my babe and I snuggled on the couch and watched DVR’d XFactor. He made us some Abuelita Hot Chocolate since I was getting sleepy :). We stayed up a bit longer…and then I crashed out at 9pm! He woke me up about midnight so we could go to our room. Lo and behold, after washing my face, brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed…sleep left me completely. Figures. I was up till about 2!

The next day, was 11/11/11! I helped Michelle with her Lunch & Learn meeting. It ran a little late, which was perfect because I got to meet my love and his co-worker at Deli Salads. He’d been raving about that place and he was totally right, the food was great!

We chit-chatted and watched the news. Jorge told me about the Blu Cig, an electronic cigarette he’d been researching and finally bought that morning. He said so far, he was doing pretty good and hadn’t smoked anything but the Blu!

We finished up and I headed across the street to Red Lobster to pick up some gift cards they were donating to my event. The rest of the day kinda went by fast :).

Karina was getting married that day! It’s about time LOL. I stopped by the church to see if I could catch some of Karina’s ceremony, but I got there only to see them taking pictures. We talked a bit and then I went straight to pick up the kiddos after work and then we picked up a pizza for them. I had to do it: I had one breadstick, but I was STARVING.

I made sure mom had everything she needed, made sure the Roku was connected so the kids could watch a movie on Netflix and then I got ready for the wedding. Once Jorge did get home we kinda rushed around and then we picked up Gina so we could find the wedding together.

It took us forever. Dayse even called and we were all driving around aimlessly. She finally got ahold of Karina and we eventually found the place, but we missed the dinner LOL. It was still pretty darn great to hang out with my buddies :). Gina, Dayse, Martha, a girl I don’t remember named Anabella, Karina of course and even Juan B., who was there with his band. My babe was social and wonderful and got along with the husbands, hehe. And he looked so darn handsome :). Never, in all my years of knowing him, have I ever seen him in slacks, willingly LOL.

Dayse took a picture of us with my phone, but not before I started fidgeting with my black cami trying to cover my extreme cleavage. Dayse smacked my hand away playfully and said, “You need to stop being so self-conscious! You’ve always been this way. People PAY to have those!”

Jorge gave both she and I a knowing look, because he knows exactly how self-conscious I am. But, we took the picture and I think it’s my favorite of us!

We had to get back home to the kiddos so we didn’t stay too long. We politely declined going to the after party for menudo LOL. We said our goodbyes and then we headed home. All the kiddos were very cutely strewn across the living room on every surface. We left them all where they were, they looked so comfortable. We tiptoed to our room and I changed into PJs and then my babe and I sat outside on the porch and talked :). It was a great night.

The kiddos and I had a lazy Saturday. The boys played Xbox, the girls circled stuff in the Walmart and Target catalogs that they wanted for Christmas and I searched for new themes for my site. The girls and I did our nails and then Alaethia asked me to straighten her hair. I was skeptical, but I put the straightening silk in her hair and only pressed it lightly.

She was so happy with her long locks :). She’s already becoming conscious about her image and it makes me fear for the future :(. I had such low self esteem growing up and I don’t want the same for my girls. Alaethia already talks about wanting to change stuff about herself; her hair: wants it straight. Her skin: says she wants to be like me and Emily. I want my girls to know that they’re beautiful exactly how they are!

After I pretended to do some of Emily’s hair (she wanted to be like her sister LOL), I made lunch, paid a few bills, got some groceries and then made dinner before everyone started arriving for the Marquez/Pacquiao fight. Even Michelle came over…and she brought Margaritas hehe.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me these days. I was seriously nodding off during the fight! Didn’t help that Emmos was sitting on my lap and I would rest my forehead on her head LOL. I got to see how unfair a fight it was, at least, but as soon as Michelle left I went straight inside and sat on the sofa with the kiddos…and quickly fell asleep!

The next day was our usual Omelet Sunday :). As Jorge and I sat at the table and he raved about his omelet I told him, “You know what they say: the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I knew I could hook you with those.” And he says, “Oh yes. It has nothing to do with the fact that I was in love with you forever, right?” Awww

I can’t remember too much from that day at the moment…I’m pretty sure it was spent cleaning the house, as our Sundays usually are. If I remember correctly, I made cookies for the kiddos that evening and were running late to drop mine off with Mario since the cookies were taking forever (and that’s ’cause it’s those premade ones that come in the tub; bought two from co-workers for their kids’ fundraisers).

We all piled into the van and took the long drive. For having 6 kids in the car, they were all quiet and well-behaved ♥.

We dropped off my kiddos :(, then Jorgie, Justin, Jorge and I went to his mom’s for a bit. We played with the doggies outside and then we took Old 83 to get a Michelada at Ramos’ Drive-Thru (and we also got snacks for the boys and some Flamin’ Hots with Cheese and corn for us…I forget what they called it. I wasn’t a fan >_<). Being in that part of the Valley reminds me of the few months before moving in to the house. I felt all warm and fuzzy, memories fading in and out of my brain like a slideshow :). We stopped for some Subway, but I only got a soup because I was already full from drinking some of the Michelada and that weird Flamin' Hot concoction. I also felt guilty about ruining my healthy-eating streak. I was officially down 5 lbs. in the week that I started eating well and jogging. The boys got in bed shortly after and we watched TV. I knew it was going to be a pretty busy week since my event was that next weekend, so I enjoyed every bit of my evening ♥.