Category: Memories

Our weekend began with Jorge going out with Robert for his birthday–a rare outing for both of them, especially Jorge. Eenan and Jaylen were taking their time replying to my calls and texts so I met Sally (and Charlee) for drinks and gossip at Applebee’s while I waited to pick them up.

It was finally time to pick Eenan up (Jaylen had UIL in the morning and he didn’t want to wake up at the unGodly hour of 4:30 to make it there on time, so I don’t blame him). We chatted a little and then Eenan and I came home.

Jorge and I had a bit of a…wrinkle in communication and had an argument. A long, horrible argument. Thankfully, we both woke up in much better moods. Jorge went off to work and I got to sleep in a tiny bit more. I made cream cheese eggs and bacon for myself and the kids (well, the ones that were awake) and had my coffee while they played their video games. Then Jorge came home early and we hung out outside with the neighbor’s cat, whom the girls have named Alamo and have taken ownership of 🙄 .

We had a rather normal Saturday of cleaning and watching TV. Then we dropped Jorgie off at a Quinceañera, where I embarrassingly yelled “Jorgie, your collar!” as he walked into the hall, to which he returned back to the car and hissed, “Oh my God, I had just worked up the courage to walk over there!” But still leaned into the window so I could straighten his collar out.

Jorge and I wanted junk food, so we stopped by Snowball Express and ordered a Maranada (an unhealthy but delicious mix of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, roasted corn, mayo, nacho cheese, cheese and who knows what else) and a fancy pineapple drink (“Rusa”). To say that I haven’t been very “Keto” lately is an understatment, but my pants and acne would concur.

There was absolutely no way to get a good photo of that drink. It was obnoxiously tall.

We dropped the snacks off at home with the kids, but not before having a few bitefulls. It was chilly so we decided some pan dulce from Café de Paris would be excellent. It did not disappoint. They have the softest, tiniest conchas!

Needless to say, after all the darn carbs I had, I passed out on the couch.

Sunday was spent doing the usual: laundry, groceries, cleaning and more laundry. And then we went to the Pumpkin Patch for our annual photo. The kids thought I was joking that they were going to be 25 and I was still gonna gather them all for the photo–BUT I’M DEAD SERIOUS.

I’m glad they’re such good sports. Although by the 3rd photo for each pose, their smiles gradually morphed into frowns 😆 .

I just love Autumn!

I had one of thee best birthdays!!

But FIRST! Sally’s birthday is on the 13th 😀 ! We usually have an all-out lunch before both our birthdays (where we gorge and split the bill) but we hadn’t had a chance that week. She was having a get-together Friday night, so right after work, I got home and got ready to go to her “Let’s Taco’Bout It” Bash at The Quarter.

We had some laughs and caught up. I made friends with a good friend of Sally’s, Irene. Super sweet lady! I saw several familiar faces and met a few new ones :).

The band took forever to start (that, or I’m just old LOL.) Poor Jorge got home around 7:30pm, but he was tired so he opted to stay home. Sally and I hung around for a bit and I started yawning around 11pm 😆 , so I drove her home after a good Chisme-Fest.

The 14th is my birthday! This is honestly the first year in my 30’s that I didn’t dread adding another year to my life. Up until last year, I just felt like I was getting older and looking the part, but I felt pretty damn fantastic this year! (Thank you: Keto 😆 )

Poor Sally had to work in the morning; originally she was my date to the Selena Brunch. Anyone who knows me knows I ADORE Selena and anything Selena-related–especially if it’s at Suerte Bar & Grill!

[Sidenote: I literally play Selena daily–the entire month of April (much to my family’s chagrin 😆 ) since it’s the month of Selena’s and my birthdays.]

The first (and only) time Jorge and I had tried to go to a brunch at Suerte it was PACKED. So we learned to arrive early. We arrived a whole hour early…and had to wait a little to go in, ha. So we took some photo ops:

(It’s funny!! Calm down…)

We sat at our usual table, near the awesome piano-ofrenda.

I took a photo of this wonderful man, whom I was super grateful to for granting the only wish I had for my birthday: attend the Selena brunch 😆 .

We perused the menu:

And I KNEW nothing on the menu was Keto-friendly, but it was my damn birthday, darnit! And I was going to enjoy it, guilt-free!

Close up of them sweets:

Jorge asked if I liked the concha and the marshmallow, to which I replied, “They taste…purple.” They totally did; they were airbrushed. But I ate them anyway!

We finished up and went to visit the family at Rebecca’s, a cabrito restaurant (Jorge and I only had some Mexican diet Cokes since we were still stuffed). Dina and Javi had come down to bring Grandma some equipment and it was great to have them over for my birthday! We would be meeting for dinner later in the evening.

We left for the mall next. Just as I suspected, Jorge took me to Pandora 😀 ! He knew I wanted a new charm that came in, so he got me 4!

I love them!!

Jaylen was at a chess meet so we scooped him up and then headed to the house. Jorge stayed at home, but Jaylen, Mom and I took off to pick up the other kiddos at their dad’s. It never fails–the kids are always with the other parents on my birthday 🙁 . So I have to borrow them for a little bit.

We celebrated at Rolling With Cream. They have an awesome sugar-free base, so Mom and I were set!

Loved getting to spend time with my babies! They always want to hear stories lol.

I took them back to their dad’s, and when I got home there were balloons! Jorge stayed behind to order some and he stuffed them into the car. Such a sweetheart, I swear!

We took off at 6pm for dinner. I didn’t know the location of our destination, and was rather confused when we were driving South on 10th St. But he drove into Tony Roma’s and I was way too excited to have ribs!!

Jorge tells me to wait in the car and takes the balloons with him. I can’t help but wonder what he’s up to. He comes back for me and the host ushers us to the back room. (The same room the Chamber had my farewell lunch at.) He says he has a surprise…and there are Sally and the kids!

I was so happy to see her!! It was such a great surprise!! But there was more!! My in-laws arrive next and then stroll in Linda and Tommy! I was so surprised to see them I gasp, “Whhaaaattt??” And go to them to hug them.

Of course Linda hands me a gift in a penis-shaped bag 😆 !!

We ordered starters and drinks and chatted and had a great time.

And then our food came:

We continued to talk and chat and the family bonded and suddenly they dim the lights. It takes me a bit to understand what’s going on and then waiters are singing “Happy Birthday!” and bringing in a cake in single file. Sally ordered it, and it was a delicious mostachon!

She giggled when I blew out the candles and plucked out the Princess topper, saying, “That doesn’t go there!” 😆

I’ve never had a surprise party in my life!! It was so wonderful of Jorge and Sally to put it together!! They’re both just too wonderful to me, and I’m so blessed to have them in my life!

Once we were done I thanked everyone for everything. Jorge and I went home, and I opened my gifts:

Then, we ended the night doing one of my faves: snuggling on the couch in my blanket with one of my shows. And passed out immediately 😆 .

The birthday celebrations followed the day after! Sally and I went to get mani-pedis. The shop is across the street from my work so this would be convenient if I ended up liking it (and the price). I’m a cheapskate, and could think of better things to do with that money, but the idea of having cute, unchipped nails for 2 weeks sounded fantastic! Plus, my Mama-in-law gifted me birthday money!

Sally and I walk in and start ooh’ing and ahh’ing over the colors. I got a little anxiety-stricken when the lady came to ask what colors I wanted–I WAS STILL DECIDING!! But she was ready to go so I panicked and picked something safe: bubblegum pink and gold glitter on the ring finger.

I was semi-mortified about getting a pedi…my feet aren’t exactly the most feminine…

I was surprised she didn’t have to bust out a sandblaster, to be honest >_<… I don’t take nearly enough time to pamper myself (because I’m a cheapskate), and you could totally tell.

But, anyway, we got hot-stone leg massages and just chatted the whole time. It was such a great experience and something I can definitely get used to!

A couple of days later my boss treated me to lunch at Yoko’s Sushi. I got my usual riceless Yume. SO delicious!

Still can’t believe what a great birthday weekend it was! Planning on making Year 36 a successful and productive one. I’ve got many goals I want to crush–I just need to stop being afraid of failing so I can get it done!

Today is Good Friday, which means I have a day off from work. The kids are with the other parents, and since the family is coming down from Austin and we’re hosting everyone on Easter Sunday, I figured it was the perfect chance to tidy up and take care of some more tidying-up-things I hadn’t had a chance to do. But first, I wanted to go jogging! I started up again this past Tuesday when I went with Emmos.

And then Wednesday, both girls went with me and we literally RAN since it was about to start raining.

So of course I would wake up today feeling like a chicharron; completely sore and immobile. And guess what? I slept till friggin’ 10:30 a.m.! So I didn’t accomplish that part of my to-do list. I made some breakfast, Keto Pancakes, instead!

And then I got to cleaning. First I started with my bathroom, which the cats completely destroyed. I love Kika, but my gosh, that cat is sooo messy!

I’d recently finished the book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” because this chick needs HELP with tidying. So I used the KonMarie method last week by starting with all the clothes I own…and got rid of 1 garbage bag. ONE. UNO. I must have done something wrong! But Jorge installed a 2nd rod below one side and now I have space for my pants! Now all my clothes finally fit, thank God. Maybe that’s all I needed! 😆 I still have a mess on my futon though: stuff that needs mending, stuff that needs to go to the cleaners and stuff I want to sell on eBay. (That last one probably isn’t going to happen and the stuff’s gonna end up at Goodwill anyway *sigh*.)

Anyway. Cleaning out my closet entailed pulling out my large storage bin of photo albums. Those albums have been in that bin since Mario and I got divorced and that bin followed me to each house, each closet I’ve had since. They stayed in the bathroom all week until today when I removed some 80’s toys from the bottom shelf of one of my bookcases and organized all my albums. Of course, my ADD didn’t allow me to just PUT the books on the shelf; I had to look through each one of them. I’m not sure if flipping through and seeing my boys as babies, frozen in time, and now I don’t even speak to them on some days because they don’t answer their damn phones! Or seeing the girls as babies, or all the family photos with my ex-family, or photos I had of Jorge with other girls I despised LOL (we were friends our whole lives, remember?), or seeing photos of Gramma and just missing her…but as the day went on I felt this huge cloud of sadness just engulf me completely. I had already finished cleaning the bathroom, the bookcase and was halfway through organizing and chucking stuff in the kitchen when I realized I felt…defeated. I looked around and I felt tired, and I felt like I wasted my day off…and then I suddenly started bawling. For no reason. I just stood there in front of the sink and cried and sobbed. And I just let it happen. I went outside to the porch to get some fresh air, and just as I was calming down, Sandra calls me. I take a deep breath before I answer and we talk and I tell her she called at just the right moment. We talk about her goings on and my goings on and then we hang up. I was tossing out papers in the kitchen and was about to start vacuuming when I decided I needed a break. So here I am. It could also be that I haven’t really eaten; I just had some iced coffee and a few bites of a One bar. But writing has helped. And I called the kids to get an update on their day, so I feel better.

Maybe cleaning made me emotional 😆 ! Jorge got home later on and we went to pick up wings at Pizza Hut and as he’s telling me about all these awesome plans I just start bawling again! He said I was scaring him and that I have no reason to stress right now…and I really don’t! So, who knows, but I feel better now, thank goodness!