Category: Food

Jorge and I were just discussing over dinner last night that one of these days–of course when it’s one of Mario’s weekends–I’m going to just NOT do anything: no housework, no work, no bill-paying, no errands, no driving Mom around. Nothing. I’ll just sit in my sweats, drink some coffee or tea and read and be lazy.

His reply? “You can’t. You just won’t.”

I must admit, he’s probably right. Already I’m thinking of what needs to be done when I get home.

I woke up today and first thing I did was make a call to the bank. I’m still trying to close an account and can’t seem to ever reach a manager!! Got up when I heard the girls’ TV turn on. I went into their bedroom and both were sleepy-eyed but smiling. I smooched and cuddled them. Alaethia snuggled under the blankets and said she wanted to watch the beginning of “Up”, since she missed it yesterday. Emily pattered down the hallway behind me and we had Lucky Charms together :).

Alaethia joined us and I tidied up the kitchen and living room. We sat down together and I read them 3 of their library books. John came over and handed me his final car payment and some of my mail that for some reason still goes to his mailbox, grrrr. I got 2 calls from work and walked Michelle through some paperwork. I dressed myself and the girls, did their hair (with, thankfully, little whining over hair-knot-yanking) and then made some quesadillas for lunch. I heated up leftover potato soup, chopped up fresh chives, made some peach tea. The girls ate and they loved the quesadillas. My love got here and I served his food. As I’m serving tea in the kitchen he yells, from the dining room, “Oh my God! This is so good! Why haven’t you made these before!!” I don’t know why I haven’t, heh; probably because we don’t buy flour tortillas often. These were only in the fridge because one of the guys brought them during the barbque on Monday night.

We chatted about his work, the girls, the kids’ Christmas presents. I’m still debating what to get the girls, plus we need to take our budget into account =\. And whether risking my life during Black Friday shopping is worth it. There are a few good deals so we’ll see.

We got ready to go since Mario’s mom was picking the girls up since she got out of work early. Mario supposedly couldn’t come after work because his truck was full of stuff and he didn’t have booster seats or something like that but he’s probably going to the gym after work or having company. Same ol’, but whatever. I only didn’t protest because I knew I’d be stuck waiting for Mother this entire time. And I am. 2 hours later. Although now I think of it, I shoulda said no and taken the girls for froyo :*(. Dammit!!!

This is before they left; this was as still as they’d get after 10 takes, heh:

*sigh* I already went to the bank to make John’s payment and I even took a stroll through the home depot garden center. I want to plant new greenery again…but I’m still skeptical. Like Jorge said, every time I plant something, something else destroys it.

Case in point: the petunias, impatiens & purple bougainvillea? Slaughtered by the hailstorm.

The 2nd round of petunias, celosias and the rebirth of the bougainvillea? All crushed by the roofers repairing the damage caused by the hailstorm.

So yeah. Makes me not want to try anything anymore :(.

Sweet Jesus, I’m becoming antsy! I’ve typed this whole thing on my Galaxy. I wanted to update about our eventful day yesterday, but I’ll save that for my laptop. I guess this will be the time I don’t do anything at all but read, sans sweats, coffee or tea or comfy couch =\.

Friday was a hectic one for me. It was my last day before my week “vacation” (and by vacation I mean staying home with the girls and being as lazy as I can :D), so I was haulin’, getting things done before I left work. I had to cover Rosie’s lunch hour so I had a quick dinner at Feldman’s with my boss. Yummiest lasagna I’ve had in a while:

Amazingly, I didn’t eat the whole thing, heh.

Picked up my boys after work and got the girls ready to go. Alaethia desperately wanted to go to a classmate’s party, and since she missed her friend’s party a few months ago I promised we could go. I was so exhausted though! But thankfully, Jorge was ordering a pizza after he picked up his boys, so I didn’t have to worry about dinner.

We went to Target and got the little girl a Cinderella doll, and we browsed the dollar section. The girls were satisfied with a little pack of 3D erasers (sushi for Aly, sweets for Ems). I totally made a mental note to go back and buy all the kiddos stocking stuffers before they ran out!

We wrapped up the gift in the car (I have made a point to always carry tissue paper!) and we were off. To make a super long, my-feet-ache-immensely story short: we arrived, the girls played for 2 straight hours.

They hardly sat to eat. I had a sliver of pizza LOL. But it was nice to meet some of the other parents. We’re still the “new family” in town, so it was nice to sit and chat with them and let them know we’re not some weird people.

My love, some buddies and the boys were here chilling out. Dina came by later (she had been presenting at the Island all week and got to visit!). I got the girls ready for bed and then I finally, FINALLY got to sit down, kick off my shoes and have a glass of wine with Dina and catch up :). We had some great conversation, even discussing some of Jorge’s ex-girlfriends, buahaha!

I had no chance of sleeping in on Saturday. The girls woke me up bright and early. I made all the kiddos some Sprinkles Pancakes, they ate, I got ready to go pick up cash from my love, deposit at the bank and then I went to Target to get the kiddos some stocking stuffers. I had to control myself and put some back; they had so many cute things!

I went to HEB next and OMG. I hate grocery shopping. Dina had already arrived at the house and was prepping the turkey for cooking. It took me a whole hour to shop, grr. I got home and Briana had arrived, too. I put all the groceries away with Mom’s help, made lunch for the kiddos (all different: some had macaroni, some had grilled cheese, some had chicken nuggets LOL) and THEN, I got to sit with them and watch part of John Tucker Must Die.

We got up later and started on the sides. I made green-bean and bacon casserole. Before we knew it, everything was done! We were just waiting for Jorge and Julien to arrive :).

Mia and Alaethia:

The boys:

Emily and Julien:

The family:

The food:

I realized later there wasn’t one photo of me this time =\. Oh well. Next time!

The food was soooo good! Briana left a while after with Mia and Nick slept over. Dina and I joined Jorge and Tony outside after I put the girls to bed and we had a glass of wine. I had gotten 2 bottles of Moscato for $2.50 each at HEB! I regret not buying more, to keep for special occasions. I still have one of them left since we only had 2 cups each. I was so exhausted that I was literally nodding off, so when Dina excused herself I excused myself. I wish we’d had more time to catch up, but she had to leave at 5am =\.

Julien came to bed with me since he was tired, too. He woke up twice, because of his congestion, but he slept like a rock the rest of the night. As much as I wanted to sleep in, I was still awake before everyone else at 9am! I read a while and then Julien began to stir. Jorge woke up and then I got up and started making breakfast. Somewhere in between we got into an argument, and proceeded to ignore each other the rest of the day, heh.

I’m always skeptical about writing about any arguments we have (because we do, but thankfully not often) because the last time I did about a year ago he got a text from his ex telling him she loved how we were “always” fighting. But, this is my blog and I haven’t censored what I write in 10 years and I’m not about to start now over some over-dramatic, wishful person.

So, with that said, he left his omelet (that I painstakingly diced veggies for) on the table. To get cold. After 30 minutes I called the boys over and Justin and Jaylen shared it. If it’s one thing I hate, is cooking and my food not being eaten -__-. And I knew giving his food away would boil his blood, buahahaha!

So, the day went on. Eenan and I worked on his science project. I made lunch for the kiddos…which…just so happened to be cheese and bacon omelets LOL. They all wanted some. Except for Jorgie and Jaylen. They made their very own pigs in a blanket (with supervision, of course). Proud mama here :).

The boys went out to play football, then later played Yugioh cards. And we didn’t even have to ask them to get away from their games!

I showered and then I went with Eenan and Emily to get Eenan’s hair cut. Jorge and I texted each other back and forth (while I pleaded with Emily to quit hiding under the bench seat at the salon), and we both got over it, thank goodness.

He was on his way to drop Julien off and was really upset about it. Julien didn’t want to take his seat belt off and was crying when his aunt came out to get him. Aww :(.

Got home and my love and I snuggled and made up. As I nuzzled his neck he whispers, “I can’t believe you gave my food away! It was ruthless!” I giggle and say, “Well. I wanted you to know I meant business!”

Before we knew it, it was dinnertime. Leftovers from Saturday it was!

Jorge had all the boys bathe while I was gone, so all we had to do was eat and then we all huddled in the living room with some popcorn and pickles to watch The Walking Dead. As hectic as our Sunday evenings usually are, I love them :).

The kiddos were all in bed right after Walking Dead, and Jorge and I were in bed by 10:40! We crashed out immediately. I don’t know if it’s because I fell asleep so “early” or if I was afraid my phone would die and I wouldn’t hear my alarm, but I kept waking up after 4am. I got up when the alarm went off at 5:45am and woke the boys up. I wore the same t-shirt I slept in, heh, washed my face, slipped on some jeans and flip flops and we were out the door. Late, because Eenan couldn’t find his sweatshirt and was looking for it.

I dropped the kiddos off, got gas in the van and came home. I could have slept, but I didn’t. Yes. I know I’ll regret this later, heh.

The girls were up an hour later and asked for cereal. So we sat and ate together. Then we started cleaning the kitchen. They, as always, wanted to help:

Alaethia noted, “The fridge looks like a giant tree. I’m not kidding–look at the lines it has!” I just said, “Oh yeah!” LOL

I started cleaning the bathroom, then their bedroom, then I showered and then I bathed them. Then I made lunch (chicken curry salad) since my love was eating lunch at home ’cause he’s been working nearby :D!

The girls and Mom ate before he got here, but I waited so Jorge and I could eat together. He got here, kissed me, and we chatted about our day as we ate. It was so nice. We haven’t eaten lunch together in about a week, and it was great to eat and then have a 10-minute cuddlefest hehe.

He left and we got ready for Mom’s appointment. The girls picked their movies, their Hello Kitty plushies and we were off. I was regretting not taking a nap as soon as we parked; my book, the overcast sky and cool air conditioning was making me sleepy. And then Mom is walking up to the door and I’m thinking, “What the–?” She tells me, that for some reason, she didn’t actually have an appointment. Grrrr. I could have finished cleaning during that time!

So we came back home, the girls changed from their boots to flip flops and put shorts under their skirts and we went to the park. They played on the jungle gym while I swayed on the swing right in front. Then they moved to the other toddler side of the park:

They kept asking for 5 more minutes so I tried luring them away with smoothies from Burger King. Emily STILL bawled that she wanted to stay, then bawled because she wanted a chocolate shake and NOT a smoothie. And then we got home and she crashed out, heh.

Emily woke up, fought with Alaethia over who knows what and then they had snacks and now they’re playing peacefully, thank goodness! My poor babe was almost on his way home and then he got called, but hopefully it’s quick. They’re going to have their Monday Night Football bar-b-que, which means I don’t have to cook! Woo! I’m hoping to wake up early tomorrow and make my love breakfast (and maybe this time, he’ll eat it >_< !!).

*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!