Category: Gardening

Making Things Happen

Starting this post off with the more vexatious part…

Remember how I mentioned in my previous post that I’d need lots of patience this week? I was most definitely correct in my assumption. I’m usually pretty patient with people; I’ll brush something off if I’m bothered. But I just haven’t been able to brush this one thing off and I’m afraid I’m going to explode. I really do. I’m not the only who shares these feelings (which I’m relieved about! I’m not being oversensitive!), but when you’re going up against someone who gets their way 99% of the time, it’s difficult to see the light, y’know? I just think one should be more humble, more kind, but from what I’ve gathered in conversations with others, it’s just not in this person’s nature. And it’s sad.

Speaks volumes! Do unto others!!
Speaks volumes! Do unto others!!

Ahhhhh. See, now that’s better. I got my bit of therapy. Which reminds me of this article. I couldn’t agree more with it! Aside from chronicling my life, and my children’s lives, my blog (and “paper” journal) have truly been therapeutic for me.

So, anyway. I woke up at 5am Monday morning and told myself that I was going to kick that day’s ass. I dropped my boys off at school after we picked some Gatorades up for them. I got to work, went to our meeting, and when I got to my desk I wrote out a to-do list. I crossed out every single damn thing by the end of the day. I even had a work-related trip to Hobby Lobby, woo! I had to attend the Honduras Consulate ceremony at 5pm, which I’d forgotten about. I met my boss and Bob there and the first thing that happened was I was ushered off to the buffet table.

Authentic Honduran food!
Authentic Honduran food!

I was amazed by the unique spread. I didn’t even know what to ask for, so I went for a seafood soup and a type of bean and cheese taco in a flour tortilla. They were both AMAZING. The soup had a buttery, cheesy flavor. The Consul asked the man that made it (who also works at the Consulate) what ingredients made the soup “yellow” and he said it was “curry, saffron and a hint of mustard.” It was just so delicious!

I got home after the ceremony and Mom had already bathed and fed the girls. I helped them with homework, made Jorge dinner, read the girls their books and put them to bed. And then I sat with my love and painted.

Cheshire Cat mini pot
Cheshire Cat mini pot

I got those tiny pots at Hobby Lobby so I could plant my succulent leaflets in soil, now that their mother leaf was shriveling up.

My, how they've grown!
My, how they’ve grown!

These are the leaflets that have “made it” thus far, in their same planter. I’m still not sure WHAT I’m supposed to do with these (how often to water now that they’re in soil, for example), but they looked big enough to plant.

In their new home!
In their new home!

Tuesday was spent preparing for my event the next day. I’m thrilled that Michelle will be working with Laura and me on that one now :). It was a pretty normal day, except for having reception duty for a while in the afternoon. Then I went to HEB, got home and dropped the soap and supplies off, then John, the girls and I went to Wing Stop to pick up dinner.

Jorge was home right on time, we ate, and then I put the girls to bed after checking homework and then I happily snuggled on the sofa with my love, which caused me to pass out halfway through Sons of Anarchy. He’s never surprised anymore, heh. He’s the best, though, ’cause he pauses the show till we can watch it together when I’m conscious :).

I took Emily to test in the morning on Wednesday, dropped the girls off at their classes and then I met Michelle, Laura, Ivan and Thelma at the event. We had a great turnout, thank goodness! It was fun, and went smoothly, albiet about 20 minutes longer than usual.

I got to the office and immediately get a call from my boss to drop his camera off at their meeting at the Convention Center. Jorge and I were meeting for lunch, so I asked him if he wanted Subway in the plaza near the Convention Center. He said sure, so we meet there after I drop the camera off. We walk in, and posted on the sneeze guard is “Cash Only”. We never carry cash. So it was either Kumori or Johnny Rockets. Guess which one Jorge and Marco picked, heh.

It was such a great experience! I’d been there before with the guys from work, but this time they went all out. The customer service was great, music was great (thank you, Mother, for introducing me to this music since birth!), we got a show (the waiters and waitress danced for us!), and they served my ketchup in a smiley face!

You can't be sad at Johnny Rockets! You just can't!
You can’t be sad at Johnny Rockets!

Jorge said, “You just can’t be mad here. You can’t.”

I slide my head over and whisper, “I’m bringing you here when you’re mad then!”

I spoke to my boys on the way home from work. Eenan was having a bit of a teenage thing with his dad about curse words and he was venting. We talked about his day, like we usually do. I vented with him about something that was annoying me. And then I spoke to Jaylen, who sounded a bit croaky ’cause his school-issued chin-guard slipped off his chin and clocked him on the throat during football practice :(. We’d ordered some mouth-pieces and chin-guards for our 3 football players, but Jaylen’s chin-guard was missing a metal clip. I told him Jorge and I would replace it.

I get home and Mom had already fed and bathed the girls (woo! Bless her!), so that gave us a chance to paint together at the table, while I thawed some fish. They finished painting their mini pots and while I painted mine, they decided they were hungry again so Emily made herself some PB&J and Alaethia made herself a SALAD. Yes, a salad. She loves them. She asked me, “Mama, why don’t you make salads anymore?” Which made my stomach sink. I really SHOULD be making salads *slumps*.

I finished my pot:

A random-stitchy pot!
A random-stitchy pot!

And then the girls played. Mom stayed with them while Jorge and I went to put gas in my truck and replace the clip for Jaylen, which we did. Now my poor boy will hopefully not have that problem :(.

I actually stayed awake (for the most part) to watch “Are You Here?” That was pretty depressing! And Zack Gallafinakis (sp?) should never NOT have a beard :P!

Today was another productive day. Walked the girls to their classes. I’m so glad both are doing so much better in the morning. Emily’s attitude towards school now is like night and day!

We had an impromptu photo shoot today (well, impromptu for me, anyway) which went into lunch. I thought I missed the seminar I was supposed to attend, but I arrived only 5 minutes late. It was supposed to last 2 hours, but it only lasted around 30 minutes O_o. I got out of there, talked to the girls a bit and ate my Jason’s Deli at my desk. Of course finishing the chocolate chip cookie first. What is it about me and sugar?!

The afternoon went by fast. Did some planning regarding the Food Festival. And then I was on my way home. Jorge arrived with Jorgie and Justin and I moped about cooking. Jorge said, “Get the chicken out, I’ll cook.” I stared idly into the cabinets and I said, “It’s ok, I’ll figure it out…” I left the kitchen, came back in and he said, “Get out of here, I’m cooking.” Woohoo! You don’t have to tell me twice!

I lay in bed and called the boys while my love cooked. We talked about their day; Eenan’s excited about Super Smash Bros demo coming out at midnight and Jaylen didn’t have practice and got to relax. And read :).

Jorge came to snuggle with me…and we both passed out!

He woke up before me and finished up with dinner. It was amazing!

Dinner, courtesy of Jorge!
Dinner, courtesy of Jorge!

I got some comments on Instagram, which eventually led to me flipping through my photos and I was sad to see how “healthy” my posts were 2 months ago. I turned my laptop around and showed Jorge. I said, “Look at those healthy meals! And that watch with burned calories on it!”

He says, “If that watch cost money, you better use it.”

He realizes what he said. I turn slowly and say, “Um. How about that exercise thing you bought??” He smacks himself on the head and says, “Stupid Jorge. You walked into that one!” Buahaha.

I had said, at 9pm, that I was giving myself 30 minutes to allow my food to settle so I could get on the treadmill. It’s now 10:47pm and instead I’m blogging. Lord help me. I need to start exercising again. I feel so lazy and sloppy :(. And to make matters worse, I’ve not been eating as well as I should be, and my 3 month-check-up is tomorrow morning. Ay Dios Mio! I’m never getting off those cholesterol meds!

Wish me luck!

The Good, The Bad, The Wonderful

I think we’ve successfully gotten into somewhat of a routine now that school’s started. Unfortunately, that means waking up at 5am every. single. day for me. And being exhausted by 8pm. And passing out on the couch. And forgetting to wash my face at night. And starting the cycle again.

BUT!! The girls are doing well in the morning. We had a couple of days when Emily cried and didn’t want to stay at school, and a couple of other times when she got in a bad mood before leaving the house, but she’s doing so much better, thank goodness. Waking up at 5am and waking the girls up by 6:30am means that we leave the house by 7:35am and Emily gets to test her book. It annoys me that–even though I wake up at 5am–I’m still arriving at work at 8:15 >_<. I'm just glad my bosses don't mind. That first week was crucial to the girls (especially Emily) getting accustomed to attending school again, so it was crucial that I drop them off in the morning, but a group from Irapuato had scheduled a visit for the end of that same week and I had to be at work super early Thursday and Friday. Ugh. It's always fun taking the groups on tours, don't get me wrong, but I just wish it had been a different week. I worked late Wednesday to meet the group at the airport with my boss, and when they took too long to show up I left to a training Michelle, EZ, Wally, Maritza and I had. We all passed! We started the tour Thursday morning with breakfast at Cracker Barrel: [caption id="attachment_2424" align="aligncenter" width="300"]A somewhat healthy meal from Cracker Barrel A somewhat healthy meal from Cracker Barrel[/caption]

We finished up there and continued with our tour for the entire day; a lot of it being outdoors in the heat, and later: humidity >_<. It was a late night for us. We didn't end up eating dinner till 10pm and left Republic of the Rio Grande at 11pm. (My first time there, ever.) Needless to say, I was beat. The girls were already in bed thanks to Mom so I re-tucked them in and kissed their foreheads =\. I had an early morning. Michelle met me at the office to help me pack up my truck with all the stuff we'd need for the El Salvador Consulate Ribbon Cutting. Thank God that went without a hitch; though the building was teeny tiny and hot. Bob and EZ helped us take all the equipment and stuff back to the office and then my boss and I were picked up by the limo where we met the group at the Library. We went on our way for the rest of the tour and it was supposed to be another late night, but I got out of going to the going-away party. It had been raining all day, I was tired and wanted to go home to the kiddos <3. It was a mix of bubbles and painting and the boys being silly, like always. I cleaned and was literally in the kitchen most of the day so I gave myself a break to re-pot some of my succulents. I love them, but sometimes they stress me out! I just want them to LIVE. I don't know what got into me, but I saw my plain clay pots and decided to draw and paint them. I didn't really even measure, so it was a bit crooked, but I think it came out alright: [caption id="attachment_2407" align="aligncenter" width="300"]My first painted sugar skull pot My first painted sugar skull pot[/caption]

I had to come in to make dinner, but I couldn’t wait to make more. I got a lot of compliments on it :).

We had movie night with them on the porch, which we hadn’t done in a while. We got snacks together and watched “Blended”. It was SUCH a good movie!!

Movie night!
Movie night!

The next morning (the 31st), I had the itch to make a good breakfast. I had been wanting biscuits forever and decided to make some from scratch! They were a hit (thank goodness hehe)!

Homemade biscuits in the making!
Homemade biscuits in the making!

The girls had a playdate with their BFF’s later that day. They’re not in their classes together, so Jenny and I agreed that we needed to have a playdate every once in a while so they could spend time together.

We started the date off at Ben & Jerry’s then went a few doors down to Barnes & Noble.

The BFF's!
The BFF’s!

They spent a lot of time, running through the isles and giggling. We were surprised nobody kicked us out or “ssshhhh!!”‘d us heh.

They had a short playdate back at Jenny’s and they were so disappointed when it was time to go, but I had laundry to do and dinner to make and they only had a couple hours before they needed to get in bed.

It was Dad’s 1-year-anniversary since his passing. I’d been thinking about him a lot; regretting, still, not taking that final photo at the hospital. Not having that last bar-b-q :'(.

Woke up early again on Labor Day to drop the boys off at school. There was tons of traffic, so for the 3rd morning in a row, Jorge dropped the girls off. I spent the day cleaning, visited Gramma with Mom, ran errands and cleaned some more. I at least got to paint one of my pots :).

It was back to the grind on Tuesday. That was the morning Emily had her first meltdown, which I should have seen coming when I went into their room at 6:30am to snuggle them awake. As I lay there next to her she softly says, “I don’t want to go to school today, Mama.” She was fine until we got into the cafeteria. She cried and wouldn’t let me leave and then Alaethia became sentimental for her sis and started crying, too. A counselor had to intervene and held her back. I hate when they do that, but I know I have to let her be strong and leave. It’s just heartbreaking to look back and see the counselor holding her and Emily pulling forward with her arms outstretched for me :(. Alaethia calmed down, too, but not before saying, “Why can’t you just take her home, Mama??”

I didn’t make it on time to my morning meeting, and my boss asked me about my absence at the end of the day. I apologized and explained about the girls and he listened and empathized. Thank GOD.

Jaylen’s Meet the Teacher night was that evening and of course, his teachers had nothing but nice things to say about him. He’s such a good boy :). His football coach also said, “He’s doing well. I put him up against some big guys and he took some pretty good hits.” Oh, my little guy!!

I went back to Mario’s to see Eenan and the boys and I took a selfie:

With my big boys!
With my big boys!

I love my guys!

Emily did a little better the next morning. There were still a few tears, but nothing like the day before. Alaethia was alright, too. It was pouring, so they were grateful I still took them all the way into the school. I was drenched :(. I headed straight to the place of one of the events I help coordinate. We had a great turnout, despite the pouring rain. Dania, one of our local artists, made a wonderful, inspiring presentation. Her story really hit home and I felt motivated. Jorge kept saying how good I was at painting my sugar skull pots and I decided that I may just start selling them :).

I got home that evening and the girls were inspired, too. They asked to paint some pots, so I let them while I made dinner :).

Inspired!
Inspired!

Eenan’s Meet the Teacher Night was Thursday evening. Again, good things from his teachers, of course. He DID get his phone taken away during his World History class that day, and the teacher held on to it to give it to us that evening, but he wasn’t angry about it. He said he wanted to hold it hostage so we’d show up for sure, hehe.

He’s doing PE this year and he runs and works out every day. He’s sore all the time, just like the other 3 boys who are in football LOL. I’m glad they’re all getting physical activity this year!

I worked for only half a day on Friday, which was awesome. I met Jessica at Cheddar’s and we celebrated her birthday almost a month late, heh. We caught up on all the gossip and life in general. It was good seeing her :).

I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few supplies for my pots. I love that place! I could spent hours (and tons of cash, heh) there! But instead of doing that, I scurried out of there. It’s dangerous!

I was bored all evening without my love and the kids, who were at the other parents’ homes for the weekend. Jorge was driving back from working at the Island. I’d wanted to go to the Music After Hours-Craft Fair, but I had already gotten into PJ’s and felt lazy, heh. When he got home we sat at our kitchen nook while he played his Clash of Clans and I painted :).

My first 3!
My first 3!

The one on the far right is one I’ll have up for sale. I was pretty amped up about starting this :).

We made ourselves go to bed since Jorgie, Justin and Jaylen were all having games the next morning.

We were so proud of those boys :). Mary had Emily and Alaethia with her and we all sat together and cheered Jaylen on. I was crossing my fingers that he’d get some play time, so I was thrilled when he went into the field every single time :)!!

Coming back in from the field
Coming back in from the field
#7!!
#7!!

jake3

And they won!!!

I stayed at home mostly that day, paid bills online and painted another pot. A black one this time. I got a lot of good feedback for that one!

When Jorge got home that evening, he asked what I wanted to do after all. We had discussed the night before that we were totally going to go out, maybe to a bar…but we decided on Kumori, heh. In our defense, we did have a cucumber Martini! It was great just talking and spending time together, just us two :).

Cucumber Martinis and Sushi with my Love :)
Cucumber Martinis and Sushi with my Love 🙂

We debated doing something after dinner…but decided we would just go home. And we were both okay with that :).

I started painting another pot as we sat at our usual spot in the house. This time the pot was for Dina :). Briana was in town so I wanted to send it back with her when we saw her the next morning :).

Dina's planter and the 1st 2 I'm selling :)
Dina’s planter and the 1st 2 I’m selling 🙂

I sent her a photo and she liked it :).

Jorge and I woke up the next morning and got ready to go to Peñitas to meet Briana and the kids. We had breakfast from Subway (been wanting one of those breakfast sandwiches for ever!) and then were on our way. We tidied up the house a bit, caught up, I brought back a few wild succulents and then we said our goodbyes and Jorge and I ran some errands at Walmart. We dropped the stuff off with Mom and then met Jr. at his apartment so we could go hunting with him. It was hot, but it was fun :).

My hunter!
My hunter!
Near the Rio Grande River
Near the Rio Grande River

My love did pretty good, although he lost a few birds in the field. Jr. and I just lounged around watching, and we can’t forget the amazing bar-b-q Jr.’s Dad’s friends had made!

We cleaned up and I was relieved ’cause I REALLY needed to pee. The guys kept telling me to “pop a squat” but I just got the heebie jeebies thinking about it. *shudder* I was grateful to arrive at Jr.’s, where we hung out with Rudy and then came home :).

It was back to the grind the next day. It was such a good, productive week, and I’m grateful :). I’m hoping we can do really great with these events. I just have a feeling they’ll be great. I hope I can continue to be excited and motivated about it and not feel overwhelmed and stressed *crosses fingers*.

I made a Halloween wreath on Wednesday night after I spoke to my boys. It’s always good getting an update from them, though they were somewhat distracted this week, with their games. Eenan did let me know he’s been reading my blog. I still don’t know how I feel about that LOL.

Emily has done so much better all week, I’m so proud of her :).

Thursday morning was a bit hectic and it seemed to continue all day. I picked the boys up in the evening after work and Jorge picked up his. My boys and I had all different sorts of conversations. I’m glad we can be so open in our talks :). We got home and I made dinner and then we put all the kiddos to bed.

Took the boys to school the next day. We didn’t converse as much as usual because Jaylen was reading his book. The day was already so much better than Thursday. Something happened that bothered me, but I eventually shook it off after I had lunch with Jorge. We went to Mom’s Smokehouse and we had this:

"Cheezpotle" Elote and Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas!
“Cheezpotle” Elote and Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas!

Yes, you read that correctly: Cheezepotle Elote and Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas. Since I was already in a crappy mood I was annoyed that there wasn’t any “green” in my tostada (some avocado or lettuce, c’mon!) but it was just amazing!! I could go for one of those elotes again!!

I picked up my kiddos after work (the girls included, since Mario took them with him when he picked them up). It started pouring as soon as we got to Dollar General. I needed detergent and of course they had a garden sale so I got a bird feeder and a bathmat for the boys’ bathroom and a few other things. It took us a while to get home since it was pouring. We had pizza night when we got home and just relaxed the rest of the evening since our 3 football players had games very early today.

Thunder woke me up around 3am and when we woke up at 5am it was still going. We knew there was no way they’d play in this weather, but we got no warning from anyone. The kids ate, got ready and Jorge took his boys to their school and I took Jaylen to his. We could hardly see in front of our windshield, the rain was SO BAD. I was going 30-40 miles per hour on the expressway, sometimes even less, hydroplaning all over the place. When we finally arrive at the school, all the parents and kids are still in their cars, in the darkness and only the headlights showing how hard the rain was coming down. A few brave kids got down to ask if they were playing and the nice boy in the car next to us signaled a “no”. The other kids signaled everyone else and little by little everyone left. Jaylen said, “I hope they don’t make those who left do Lombardi’s!” LOL

So we made the trek back in the scary rain again. It was worse for poor Jorge, who drove all the way to Palmview and they said the game was still on, so he drove back to McAllen, where the game was being held, just to get a call when he’s almost there to go back to Palmview ’cause they cancelled the game. Eff our lives!!!

Poor Jorge had to go back to work, but I threw myself on the sofa where I eventually passed out and kept waking up ’cause the boys were playing Destiny. I asked Emmos to take a nap with me, but she wanted to play instead hehe. I got to rest just a bit before hanging out with the kids, picking up McDonald’s for the boys and getting the girls ready for Jessica’s little baby’s party. It’s POURING again by now and we park at the party place. We try 2 unsuccessful times to get out of the car and into the building, but the rain is just awful and the parking lot was flooded. Jessica and I are going back and forth on text and Facebook and after the girls and I have been trapped in the car for over an hour she calls to ask if I can see the empty parking space. Then she says, “Can you see the Boot Jack?” and then I feel like a complete moron because we’re at a completely different party place!! My poor girls were looking forward to it and I didn’t pay attention so they didn’t get to have fun. Ugh. We tried making it the last 30 minutes of the party, but the rain was so bad down Dove Ave. that I didn’t want to risk driving with the girls anymore so we picked up Burger King and headed home. They didn’t seem to mind, thank goodness!

So here we are, lazy and home and I’m so glad. Poor Jorge was stuck in Brownsville for a while and he said the road was completely flooded, even on the Expressway. We ordered pizza and I’m hoping to finally, finally sleep in till at least 7 tomorrow, heh.

And I hope our pond dries up a bit >_<. [caption id="attachment_2421" align="aligncenter" width="300"]The backyard! The backyard![/caption]

My Kind of Friday

It was a pretty good Friday, considering I crashed out pretty hard last night, stopped my alarm instead of snoozing and waking up at 7:20am instead of 6:30am, heh.

I had my oatmeal at work while catching up with Michelle and simultaneously getting my work done. I accomplished everything, thank goodness. We’re gonna have a busy day next week and I need to mentally prepare myself >_<. Oooosssaaaahhhhh..... My love was working out of town and wouldn't make it back on time for lunch so I made plans with Sally. We met at a fairly new vegan restaurant called the Green Owl Deli. I'd told Jorge about it, but I lost him at 'vegan' LOL. It was such a cute place. I want to decorate ONE of the rooms in my house like that (Jorge would probably allow one of the bathrooms or laundry room only, but I'll take it!). It was just so cozy, whimsical and cute! [caption id="attachment_2359" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Cute decor!! Cute decor!![/caption]

I totally wanted to take more pics but I didn’t want to be THAT PERSON, heh. It was impressively full for being a fairly new restaurant. I still wish poor Buttercreams Deli had made it; it reminds me of that place a lot. I miss the crepes!

Anyway, the prices are, well: pricey. But you can’t beat the unique paninis and sandwiches and desserts they have.

Hibiscus tea and strawberry salmon panini

Sally and I both had the strawberry salmon panini with swiss cucumber sprouts and hibiscus tea. OMG. SO good!

Sally covered lunch so I got us some desserts. I got myself the Mostachon (which I ate at 4pm, heh) and it was amazing!

The afternoon went by semi-quickly. I was going to donate blood after work but the bus was 40 minutes late and I got lazy after picking up my prescriptions at HEB. So I came home and paid attention to my succulents. (I just realized how, um, elderly those few sentences sounded, buahaha!) Then my love got home and we ordered some Wing Stop. I talked to my babies on the phone (they’re still at their dad’s this weekend). Emily’s getting a cold, which sucks because school is JUST STARTING. Eenan was concentrating on buying some commissioned art from some kid-artist. He’s into all things illustration and pixel right now (his mother’s son??). Jaylen’s being a good boy and reading and doing his last-minute summer homework like he should be. Eenan’s had some…trouble feeling motivated about his >_<. And my Alaethia is all about her LPS (Littlest Pet Shop) right now. It's all she ever talks about. Just like all her mom ever does is talk about plants LOL. Which leads me to the next part of my post: I got the itch to do something creative. I'd seen these cute little cork planters on Pinterest. They were pretty pricey so I decided I wanted to make some myself. Jorge carefully carved out the tops for me and hand-drilled a drainage hole. And then I got to painting :). [caption id="attachment_2361" align="aligncenter" width="300"]Part 1 of my cork planters Part 1 of my cork planters[/caption]

All painted!
All painted!

I finished painting them (it took forever since I didn’t have proper brushes; I used the girls’ very worn-out ones). I sprayed some cactus soil with water and carefully pushed it into each cork top. I snipped the tops of some of my succulents and using the end of a paintbrush, made a litle hole to stick the cutting into and then carefully topped off the soil. And voila!

The finished product! I love!
The finished product! I love!

I want to make more! And I didn’t have to pay $65 for the pair! Although, personally knowing how long the work takes, I can understand why they charge that much! Jorge joked that he’d happily carve more out for me if I sold them for $65 buahaha. Now let’s just hope that the little plants survive!

Ok, bedtime for me. I had a teensy bit of wine when I started this entry and it hit me already. Lightweight ^_^!