Category: Birthdays

I have to be up in 5 hours yet I find myself lacking sleep. I’m exhausted, for sure, but not sleepy.

I spent my work day crampy, with a headache and with back pain, but I trudged on and helped Michelle with shopping for her events and I made some flower arrangements. Love that there’s always something different to do at work :).

I rushed to Walmart to get more party stuff, made dinner with my girlies, played a game, talked to the boys, bathed the girls, sold the girls’ last toddler bed to a Craigslist buyer and made cupcakes for Alaethia’s class. She approved :).

All while texting with Jorge, who’s out of town on a project :(. I’m glad we get to Skype!

I feel overwhelmed with joy with my family; I can’t even explain it. I’m so grateful to have my little lady at home with me–both of them–and I cherish our time together :*). I love that Emily told me, “I love hanging out with you Mama”, as she watched me frost the cupcakes. Best. Feeling. Ever!

It’s my weekend with my boys so I get them back tomorrow. I can’t wait to celebrate my little lady’s birthday! 6 years old, amazing! Time really does fly by guys! Tomorrow will be brief, because Mario gets her for 2 hours, but come Sunday it’s party time!

*sigh* I never finish with these darn posts!! I started this one last week and am JUST finishing it up (I hope).

I got out of work at 4pm on Thursday (the 9th) and stopped to get soups, orange juice and pineapple sherbert ice cream (spoiled? Yes, heh) for Jorge since he wasn’t feeling good. I’d eaten really well all day…and ruined it by buying these:

*sigh*

I was on my way home when Jorge called that he was on his way to the bank because he’d forgotten to go earlier. He didn’t sound good at all, but he insisted on going since the bank was about to close. He got home, had some juice and started tidying up. I told him he should really lay down and rest, but he said the drive and getting out of bed made him feel better. I was impressed; he vacuumed and did some laundry while I cooked dinner. I made chicken Alfredo. Emily had about 3 1/2 servings of the noodles!

The kids and I had some Oreos after dinner. I had 5 . I totally would have eaten more, but a voice inside my head kept saying, Quit your crap, fatty!

My love ate some soup and then continued cleaning. I think he just really likes that vacuum, heh. I painted the girls’ nails with the new polishes I’d bought and then they entertained themselves while we finished with the bedroom.

We got the kiddos ready for bed since we’d been invited to a gathering/party thing. We weren’t sure what the attire was so we dressed business-casually. I wore this one dress and of course complained about my fatness the entire time I dressed. I moped and pouted and asked Jorge what he thought of the dress. He opened the shower door, scanned me over and said, “God, you’re gorgeous. What are you doing with me?!” and dramatically closed the shower door. I told him, “Oh, stop it!”, and rolled my eyes. He continued with his compliments the entire evening. I even caught him gazing at me sweetly when I was putting my make-up on in the car and he said, “You’re so beautiful!” He always knows how to flatter me . I love him ♥!

I’ve always had pretty crappy self-esteem, and even with all his compliments I’m still hard on myself, but I’ve honestly never felt more confident than I have since Jorge and I got together :). (Even during my bout of weight-gain and bad acne .)

Anyhoot, we didn’t want to be out long since Jorge still wasn’t 100% and the kiddos were at home with Mom. We stopped at Starbucks to get coffee since both of us felt sleepy (and it was barely 9:45pm). We realized as soon as we arrived at the “party” that we were overdressed, heh. Everyone was in jeans and t-shirts. We said hello to the organizers, stuck around for about 10 minutes just so we didn’t seem rude, and left. We were all dressed up with nowhere to go, so we stopped for a quick drink at our favorite place.

I only had one because I could hear that voice inside my head scolding me again. Jorge watched a little bit of football and we talked about his weird bout of sickness that day. He had chills, fever, aches and felt dizzy and disoriented, but had no signs of any type of cold or stomach flu. I brought up his Guy’s Night from the night before and told him, “What if you gave yourself some type of weird alcohol poisoning?!” He got serious, then laughed and said, “Nahhhh. That couldn’t have happened, could it??” We laughed and joked about different reasons he may have gotten sick for about 10 minutes and then we headed home :).

The girls were asleep, boys were still awake (of course) when we got home. We gave them 30 more minutes and then all electronics were confiscated, heh. We snuggled in our room and poor Aly woke up with a knee-ache. Got the Motrin and her rice-sock heated up and she fell fast asleep again :).

Friday, August 10th

It was Friday and I managed to eat homemade food all week, with the exception of Tuesday, when we had Corner Stone Catering at work. I was pretty proud and felt pretty darn good :).

The morning went by pretty quickly. I got a few bills signed/approved and when the Boss Boss saw me he said, “Hey Shorty, are you wearing your ‘tall’ shoes?”

On cue I pick up my foot and show him my wedges. He laughs and says,”You know, I was watching the Olympics and I remembered you.” I laughed and knowingly said, “The short Gymnasts?” And he says, “YES. They’re the same height you are!”

Ahhhh. The short jokes will never get old LOL. And to think, as I get older, I’m just gonna get smaller

I The marketing rep from a local bank had stopped by and we chit-chatted for a bit. I’m hoping they’ll be sponsors for a few of my upcoming events.

I ate lunch, read some blogs, tried blogging (but didn’t get to do much) and then I covered the front desk for an hour. Maritza and Gerry got back from lunch and told me there was Starbucks coffee in the kitchen. They brought me a glass of iced coffee; about 12-15oz I’d say. And I prepared it with regular creamer and Sweet N Low. It was great! I went to Beto’s office to check on my hours (since we’re still cutting during summer) and he said, “Time to go!” This was around 2pm-2:30pm. I got my stuff and headed out the door :).

I got home and was greeted by 8 kids LOL. Briana had dropped off Nick and Mia for a few hours since her babysitter cancelled on her. The girls followed me around, we fed the new kitty, and then I had them play with their homemade Koolaid Play-doh while I made dinner.

Briana got here right when the food was out of the oven but couldn’t stay long. The rest of the kiddos ate and then I went outside in the 103 degree heat to clean the pool. Darn thing. The cover STILL flies off and the mesquite trees make a darn mess! So I busted out the hose and vacuum and got working. Jorge got here and changed and then helped me finish up. We all got ready and got in for a good hour or so. It dawned on me that this awesome summer is coming to a close very soon. It makes me sad, because then we’ll get back into the old routine, which means my boys will only be here every other Wednesday from Thursday-Monday morning . Ugh. I hate to think about it.

I bathed the girls, debated whether I should work out but instead I came to the living room with the kiddos and watched their shows with them. And promptly fell asleep. I think that’s a pretty good way to spend a Friday night :).

Saturday, August 11th

My love left to work 🙁 and I laid in bed, waiting for one of the kids to wake up. It’s usually Emily. I tossed and turned and COULD NOT go back to sleep. I waited and waited for a child to make one peep, like they usually do Saturday morning. But nope. An hour and a half later they were ALL STILL ASLEEP! Just my luck, eh??

So I finally got out of bed and weighed myself. I was pleased to see that I’d lost 2.5 pounds in a week (or 6 days, actually) from staying away from restaurants for the most part, and keeping track of my calories again. If I could just get some exercise in…

I went to the kitchen and started banging pots around to wake the children up. Kidding! But I did end up waking Eenan up, and then Emily. We were out of milk, so there would be no cereal (and I actually wanted some Special K for once), so I whipped up some homemade cinnamon vanilla waffles (2.5 pounds, what?). When I get that recipe just right I’ll add it to the recipes page :). I texted Sally to ask if she’d had breakfast yet. She hadn’t, so she was coming over, woo!

We gossiped over coffee while we waited for the waffles to come out and I removed little girls off the counter. Finally I gave up and just let them wash dishes:

We talked about everything under the sun. We talked about our Moms’ health, and then about our dads. Our dads go waaaay back. They were best friends before we were. I told her Dad still visits her dad often. When I get a chance to talk to him, he’ll tell me something like, “Fui a visitar a mi viejito. Le ayude componer su secadora.” I went to visit my little old man, I helped him fix his dryer.

She laughs and says, “That’s what we’re gonna say! I’m going to visit my viejita. She’s making waffles again!” It was hilarious :). I really do hope we’ll still be having waffles and coffee and gossiping years and years from now :).

We sat around talking for a while and then I paid some bills online and chilled out with the kids. The girls were all over the new tiny kitty. Alaethia randomly tells me, “I love little kitties more than big kitties. The kitties at Dad’s are kitties. But I’m pretty sure Ruffles is a LION” :). She’s so cute!

I paid some bills online (story of my life!) and then Jorge got home, early! We went to HEB for our weekly shopping and some BBQ stuff, since we were celebrating Mom’s birthday early. Her birthday is on the 19th and the kiddos would be with the other parents that weekend.

Jorge fired up the grill when we got home, brought down the projector and tuned in to his football game. Oh lordy. Here it comes! Guys screaming at the tops of their lungs on the porch LOL.

Freddy and his son came over and then Sally and Carlos did. We chilled out outside and watched our guys bond over football, aww LOL. The kids all ate and then played in the boys room. Emily, of course, was the only one who sat outside with us. She’s glued to me, always. But I don’t mind because she won’t always be :(.

Even though I was watching what I ate, I made Sally and myself some mango Margaritas. They didn’t come out as good as when Jorge makes them, though :(. And they could have been mango-ier but the girls kept stealing pieces .

Sally and me (or me and Sally, actually). With my curly hair, ’cause I was too lazy to flat-iron it. Or to put on make-up. Heh. This might be only my 2nd full-body photo on my blog, ever, if I recall correctly. But then again my mind isn’t what it used to be .

Anyway, it was another great night :). Quite a great way to end a great week!

It has truly been a great week :).

Sunday, July 29th

Eenan would be turning 13–YES, THIRTEEN!!–on Monday, the 30th. Since Mario was picking all the kids up on Monday night to celebrate Eenan’s birthday, we decided to celebrate on Sunday instead.

We slept-in somewhat, gave the kids a light breakfast, showered, got the kiddos ready and gave Eenan his gifts:

He was happy with his stuff and immediately opened up his sketch book and pencils and got to drawing <3. He's still into drawing, still loveable, still my sensitive boy (but don't tell anyone I told you so, heh). I knew he had to become a teenager eventually, but I feel like it just crept up on me. One day I'm lugging around this chunky, adorable baby and now he's 13 and at eye level with me?? (Ok, we all knew that would happen sooner than later, considering I'm 4'11"!)

Where did the time go!? The past year and a half or so were a blur, considering he’s in his dad’s custody most of the time, so it feels like I’ve missed things; like time’s passed so quickly even moreso :(. It still kills me, but I’m glad most of that whole drama is over for their sake.

ANYWAY.

We braved Golden Corral on a Sunday, because that’s where Eenan wanted to celebrate. During our drive there, several chaotic scenarios played in my head: the long line we were going to have to wait in, losing a kid in the crowd, the insane bill we were going to have with 3 adults and 6 kids, the girls (probably Emily) having a fit in public, one of the kids eating so much they barf. BUT, I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived and went straight to the cash register, our bill was half of what I’d budgeted, all the kids were calm and went in 2’s as they picked their food, the girls were very well behaved and ate their food before asking for orange sherbet ice cream cones with gummi bears and chocolate-covered marshmallows, and only Jaylen had a slight stomach ache when we left, heh. Jorge and I even behaved ourselves better than I thought we would :P. Everyone had a great time :).

I’m sad I didn’t get a pic of the kids at the restaurant, but everyone was up and down and just concentrating on eating :P. We got home and we chilled out the rest of the day. I made dinner, we watched movies. It was a great Sunday :).

While we watched a movie, Jorge downloaded a program on his phone and surprised me with this:

It still takes me by surprise how sweet he is !

Monday, July 30th

Eenan’s actual birthday! My big boy chilled out with me while I got ready for work and we had cereal together :).

Most of my work week involved planning for a video we’re working on to promote one of our upcoming events. Other than that, I spent the week covering the front desk during Rosie’s breaks.

I wanted to start taking lunch all week, 1, because if I ever go through with trying to eat healthy, it isn’t going to happen in restaurants. And 2, we spent a SHIT TON of money the week before eating out, going out. We’re blessed and lucky to have these extra funds, but we need to stop spending so much on unhealthy food . I’d like to put that extra cash towards paying off some of our bills!

The only bad part about eating at work is that my day goes by much slower when I don’t leave work for lunch. The crappiest part is not seeing Jorge :(. But we both wanted to start eating better, so we were going to try.

I got out of work an hour early, got some things at H-E-B and then got home to make sure my babies were ready. Mario picked them up and as soon as they left I started making dinner for Jorge, Mom, Jorge’s boys and myself. Then I started on a cake for Eenan. It was going to be a regular round cake, but then I thought I’d try making a Minecraft Creeper cake for him. I risked it being an epic fail since I didn’t have fondant to make it nice, or a square pan to make a cube, but I ended up cutting up a rectangular sheet cake into 4 and dying the batter green :). End result:

The kids got home as I was decorating it. It’s messy and I thought it was pretty crappy, but the boys were actually impressed, heh. They each started making requests for their next birthdays. They always know how to make me feel good .

Jorge got home and we sang Happy Birthday to Eenan :).

My darn flash kept taking too long, so poor Alaethia was struggling to keep her eyes open, can you tell? LOL

He WANTED us to push his face in the cake. Then his face had a black hue the rest of the night LOL.

We told the boys to shut off the video games and watched “Wrath of the Titans”. Of course the girls and I passed out, but the boys enjoyed it :). I love my family ♥!

Tuesday, July 31st

More video planning at work. More covering reception. I believe this was the day I received yet another copy of the final decree of divorce (yep, STILL haven’t signed the Final, despite having our “final hearing” since April 18th!) and I sent back some corrections.

I ate lunch at work and started feeling REALLY ill. Same thing had happened the day before, but this time my eye was twitching, I was nauseous and I had heart palpitations every few minutes. I had been getting a feeling like my heart was skipping a beat for the past few nights, but this time they wouldn’t stop. Michelle said I probably had anxiety. I looked up my symptoms and 80% of what I read said I had anxiety. I didn’t know what I’d have anxiety about. I mean, I worry about bills and stretching our paychecks much more than any normal person should, but it’s the norm for me. Other than that, the only thing I felt might be stressing me out was the fact that we were going to need to get another vehicle soon, since Javi was picking up the F-150 after it being in our possession for a year and a half. Jorge had already had several appointments that his boss had set up with different dealerships, but he wasn’t happy with any of them.

I made it till 4:40pm; almost till 5. I got home, greeted all the kiddos, changed and made fideo with chicken and squash for dinner. During prepping ingredients for dinner Alaethia asked for a piece of watermelon, 2 jumbo marshmallows and a small glass of milk. When the food was almost done, she came up to me and told me, with a squeaky, small voice, that she’d thrown up. I cleaned her up and put her in the bath, all the while lecturing about how I told you, one of these days you were going to eat so much you’d barf!

Still, it didn’t stop her from sitting at the table with all the other kids and eating her entire bowl of fideo, heh. I’m glad she was ok :).

Jorge got home and we ate, and then we sat to watch Gymnastics on the Olympics. He went outside to start skimming the pool and I helped. As we cleaned we talked about the car dealerships and what our options were. We discussed current finances and what was going to be necessary to make a new car possible. And then my eye started twitching and I started getting heart palpitations! I told Jorge, “You see! It’s the car thing stressing me out!” LOL

We swam around with the kids for about an hour. I got the girls inside for a bath in the tub, read them a story and tucked them into bed. Alaethia’s doing great and falling asleep in her room and staying put till the morning. Emily: not so much, heh. She still sneaks off to Mom’s room every-so-often. We’ll get there one of these days :).

Wednesday, August 1st

I managed to eat lunch at work for 2 days in a row…and then Michelle said she felt like having Olive Garden’s soup and salad lunch. That might be healthy…if I could refrain from eating 5 of the delicious bread sticks .

On the way there, Jorge calls and lets me know he’s been having a meeting via cell phone with a guy from a dealership. I talked to him and gave him some info, too, and Michelle and I enjoyed our lunch. I managed to only have 1 1/2 bread sticks *beams*.

My love texted me and let me know we were approved for the car. Now we just needed to get them to give us the monthly payment we wanted. Which we got :). We’d be going in the next morning!

I got out of work and hurried home to make sure my kiddos were ready. I smooched them and helped them get their stuff together and Mario got here for them. I changed and went to Jessica’s to pick up a kitten. Little did I know he was a very tiny kitten and wouldn’t stop meowing and refused to drink from a bowl :(.

I made us some seafood soup when I got back home. Jorge loved it. I have to admit, I wasn’t too crazy about the octopus LOL.

We sat on the sofa and watched the newest Kevin Hart comedy. It was funny, but I enjoyed the one that came before this one a lot more.

Thursday, August 2nd

I had no idea how busy my day would be. As soon as I got to work I started typing out the scripts for the video interviews we’d be shooting that afternoon. Jorge calls me at almost 10am to drive over to the dealership. Jorge’s boss and the guys there really outdid themselves; they helped us out a lot :). The man who helped us last, Augie, was such a sweet man. He kept talking about his wife and was giving us marriage advice, aww. We were done in under 2 hours and got to drive our new BMW to lunch, heh :).

I know. A BMW. I never in a million years thought I’d OWN one of those, ever!

The afternoon went by fast after we shot our videos at work. I went to Old Navy after work to get Alaethia some jeans since they were on sale. I found myself a cute red top for the pie party at the boss’ house that night. And then I waited in line for close to eternity.

I waited for Jorge to get out of work, and then for my black cardigan to dry in the dryer. We finally made it to the boss’ house at 9pm (in our new car, woo!), had a slice of blueberry cheesecake and a slice peanut butter pie. I’m proud of myself for only having 2 slices; I’m pretty sure I had about 5 last year, heh.

We were polite and sat for a while but left since we didn’t know any of the guests. All my co-workers had already gone home. I found out some of them were talking about me earlier that day, so I can’t say I was sad that some of them weren’t there, grr.

Jorge and I got in the car and decided to go to Cigar Bar for a few drinks since it was early. We laughed and watched Olympics and took pics. We even ran into Karina at Delorean’s next door :).

It was a great night :).

Friday, August 3rd

Friday felt like such a long day for me, probably because I stayed in for lunch. One of the highlights of my day was when Nancy, my first boss at my current workplace, told me she knew it was me in the bathroom stall next to her when she looked down and saw turquoise toe nails and tall fushia wedges, heh. As we walked down the hallway she says, “You are JUST DARLING. Hey…do you have a boyfriend?” When I blushed and answered yes she said, “Shoot. Of course you do!” And began to tell me how she met this rich, handsome young man and wanted to find him a girlfriend and I was the first girl to pop in her mind. I guess that’s a pretty nice compliment, heh!

I’d bought one of those Deal of the Day coupons so Jorge and I had a dinner date at La Jaiba and I couldn’t wait :). I love our dates :).

I tried calming the tiny kitty down when I got home. He’s so screamy and loud :(. And he scratches and has razor sharp teeth. I can tell I’m getting old, because when I was younger I had no qualms about staying up all night with kittens and puppies and keeping them quiet and entertained. Now, I have no patience!!

*sigh*

My love got home and we got fancy for our date :). There was an insane amount of food, and it was all so good :).

We joked and laughed and he reached across and rubbed my hand and said, “We need to continue to do this. Spend time with the kids, have friends over, but once every week or two we should have a date where it’s just US.” I agreed :).

We wanted to watch a movie, so we stopped by a Red Box. We decided, after flipping through selections, that we’d just rent “American Reunion” from DirecTV. I’m so glad we did; it was hilarious :).

I was going to finish writing about Saturday, but I’ll finish with that later. I’m sleepy. I’m going to go and enjoy a full night’s sleep without heart palpitations :).