Category: Gardening

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’d been wanting to do one of those One Photo an Hour/A Day in the Life posts, but I never remember or my phone dies or something else like that. I decided to try on this day, but only after already having made breakfast and showering, of course LOL.

So I drank my coffee and straightened my hair, all while Ruffles was knocking on the door, trying to get out.

Around 11:00am:

Around 11:30am:

The birthday boys were on a mission to spend their birthday money. We stopped to pay John’s car at the bank and then went to Target:

But they didn’t find anything. Instead, I found some garden things and little garden stones for the girls to paint in the Dollar Spot :).

We went to Barnes & Noble next. We were at the light at Ware Road and a car stalled in front of us. It was the most heartwarming thing seeing people from across all 3 lanes of traffic stopping to help these people move their vehicle. You don’t see that very much anymore.

We got to Barnes and walked the isles and flipped through a few books but they didn’t find anything. It was 1:00pm so picked up some pizzas and we ate at home with the rest of the family:

The kiddos were all nice and full and all except Jaylen and Justin sat with Mom to watch their Disney shows. We went to Walmart next, where we walked for what seemed like forever until they decided on Nerf guns. I was pretty proud of them choosing something other than games; especially since they had more than enough to buy a video game each .

We got home and they all started putting the guns together. I went outside with the girls to paint their little butterfly “stepping stones” around 4:00pm:

I snapped this just as Emily dabbed her face with the paint LOL. She’s so cute ♥!

I watered my little flowers as they finished painting. These are some of the survivors of 1st hail storm. I’m so happy they made it!

We went back inside and washed up. It was almost 5:00pm. I kept telling myself NOW I shall sit! But I passed by the girls’ room and saw this:

So we started cleaning. I use the term “we” lightly, heh. I didn’t get an “after” shot because…I forget why. But imagine the room with no toys on the floor and nicely organized in boxes in the closet, vacuumed, and beds made :).

It was almost 6pm and I told myself, OK, seriously now. SIT. And I did. And I totally had intentions of just kicking my feet up on the ottoman and blogging but the boys came running inside for some drinks since they’d been hunting each other with the Nerf guns. They left trails of dried mud, so I cleaned them up. Then the girls wanted snacks, so I made PB&J sandwiches. And then Jorge got home. We tried cuddling and just shutting our eyes for a few seconds, but someone was arguing with someone else so we got up to stop the commotion. We literally laid down about a minute :P.

I made dinner and then we had cake for the boys, finally! I think I was more excited than they were! I LOVE that cake!

I can never get a pic when everyone is smiling LOL! We watched their shows on the TV the rest of the evening until it was time for bed. I’m pretty sure I ended up passing out whilst watching TV.

As you can see, I kind of forgot about the hourly photo thing. But this is my Saturdays in a nutshell when it’s my weekend with the kiddos. Some of the busiest, loveliest weekends ever :).

Right after my previous post yesterday, I started on my to-do list. I accomplished most of my tasks.

I paid the bills online, then I put my bedsheets to wash (haven’t gotten a chance to wash everything, but I *have* to do that today. Oh, how I hate folding…), and went to Dollar Tree to get a few things for an Easter Egg wreath. I’d seen Laurie’s post about this wreath and it looked easy enough. I couldn’t find a cute bow (that was already made, heh) or basket grass, so I’d try at HEB later.

We visited Gramma and chatted for a while. Her new roommate was still a little loud, but wasn’t screaming like last week. She did ask me, several times, to help her, call her mother, help her get out of there, etc., but once I called a nurse for her she quickly stopped. The nurse gave me a meaningful look, like she does that all the time. Poor lady . And poor Gramma most of all!

Mom asked where I wanted to eat. Since she’s on a strict diet and can’t really have carbs at all it was hard to choose a place, but we ended up going to Kumori since she could get riceless rolls. (I was unsure how to bring this up to Jorge–going to Kumori without him–but once I saw his FB photo post of his sub at Texadelphia I figured it was ok, heh.)

We didn’t have to wait and our food was out super fast. Mom’s plate was a little…little but she said it was filling.

We made our way to grocery shop, which I loathe probably a bit more than folding laundry, but it was a surprisingly fast shopping trip. I got a few more Petunias And I found some basket grass for the wreath. I’d have to do without the bow .

I was just getting home when my love called that the boys would be dropped off by their mother. Good thing I’d just arrived. I put everything away, with Mom’s help, and the kiddos got here. Jorge got here a few seconds later and we sat outside chatting with Freddy. He’d brought us a bottle of red wine, from 2000. I forget the name at the moment. I really wish I could let red wine grow on me, but all the ones I’ve tasted so far are way too strong and dry . I usually stick to Moscattos or Moscatto D’astis.

I put the baby down for a nap and mom stayed with him while Jorge and I finished cleaning the shower. I got started on dinner: lasagna and garlic bread. We ate and then I got started on my Easter egg wreath. My babe cut the cardboard for me, because I failed miserably when I tried, heh. I need to glue more fluff around the edges and I might even stick some flowers on there, but we’ll see.

For now, I’m just happy having a cute Easter wreath!

We chilled out after that because Jorge was exhausted from work. We wanted to watch a movie with the kids, but we knew that we’d end up passing out. We went to the bedroom and the baby fell asleep quite easily and slept the entire night! I woke up at 9 and was completely refreshed :).

I made regular and banana pancakes and hazelnut coffee for breakfast. We lazied around till lunchtime, I spoke to my kiddos (miss them !!), and then my love hung our drapes in the dining room. They make such a huge difference in the room!

The drapes were a gift from one of his customers. They are expensive panels!

We couldn’t put up our brown micro-suede panels, because they sort of clash with the drapes. I really hope we can find a place for them; they’re so nice! –Nevermind! We’re removing the collage frame and putting one suede panel on each north and south wall, instead of flanking the drapes like we’d originally wanted to. It works!

We have to remove the Van Gogh painting from the northside wall of the dining room that Jorge’s mom gave us because the orange in the painting clashed with the drapes, too. But we moved it to the wall where the bistro set us and it goes really well :). I’d been thinking about the color scheme for the kitchen and, thanks to the painting, I think we’re going with blue and orange :).

And right now Jorge is dropping off the little guy and I’m getting ready to go outside and salvage my little flowers! I need to accomplish a few more things before this day is over. We’ve got an early day tomorrow, as we usually do on Mondays :).