Category: Photos

I managed to waste hours of my life trying to figure out issues with WordPress, yesterday and today.  I can’t seem to access my login from a computer browser, and on top of that, old themes had a line of code that were causing my site to have ad banners on the bottom. Super annoying. I realized today that I am wayyy too old for this shit; I don’t have the patience anymore to sit and decipher the coding to find the errors, etc. I just want the shit to work when I finally get a chance to update 😕 .

Anyway. My original plan yesterday was to finish my Spring Break post and start on the food festival one. My big event that was causing me so much stress is now OVER!! *spins* I’m crossing my fingers that that was the end of the high-stress for a bit at work, but you just never know. (I just realized I’m clamping my jaw as I type this–no wonder I have to use a night guard 😆 ).

Anyway, Mom and I did some thrift shopping yesterday. I got some books, old records and some dresses and she got books and VHS tapes she’s collecting.

We were so lazy after being in line forever that we got Wing Stop for dinner.

My acne/hormones had mercy on me last week; even through the stress and that time of the month. A most unfortunate combination most of the time, but my face stayed clear, for the most part. But then this weekend came along and BOOM. Cysts on my chin. Grr. Jorge and I were finally going to Suerte’s Barbacoa and Big Red brunch and I knew I’d run into people so I was forced to put on makeup. Sure enough, I ran into Yazmin and then Maritza. Jorge and I looked for seats for a good while, but there were none, so we left :(. I was so sad. For the life of us we couldn’t figure out WHERE there was Sunday Brunch, so we ended up at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop.(Later on, we got some great suggestions on Facebook!)

(I was totally not wearing a bra with that blouse. TMI, I know. But never in my life was I able to do that before! And I didn’t feel gross! #breastreductionftw!)

Anyway, we ran into Kristina and my “new” cousin Josh, his wife and baby. We ran some errands, and then Jorge worked on his car as mom and I visited Gramma and went grocery shopping.
And then I was online with tech support and got nowhere *sigh*. At least I’ve still got access from the app. *knocks on wood*

This post should actually be titled: “Not Much of a Spring Break 2017”. But anyhoo…

In my previous post I mentioned I had a lot going on currently (at work, at home) that was stressing me out. I was even more stressed out about not being able to take sufficient time off work to take the kids somewhere during the half-week they were with us (they’d be with the other parents the rest of the Spring Break week). But, I told myself that I wasn’t going to let it get the best of me. I did good on my promise to myself, even when I was going 100mph at work.

We had several meetings on Monday alone and I even stayed at work late trying feverishly to finish all my tasks so I could take Tuesday off with the kids. I was ALLMMOOSSSTT done with everything, until I realized I needed my “Boss Boss'” signature on some important documents I needed to mail out. Darnit. So I came in for half a day Tuesday and rushed through the (growing) to-do list. By 12:30pm, I finally had everything done and I was OUT!!

I get home, excited, and walk into the boys’ room, only to find all of them except Julien still asleep. I annoyingly sing-song, “Get up, childrennn,” and it still takes them a while to groggily ask, “Why?” 😐

I tell them we’re going to Ben & Jerry’s, and the big boys protest, but I don’t care 😆 . I swear: these kids would rather lay in their rooms playing video games all day than going somewhere. 🙄 They all take turns showering and I ate lunch (a Hot Pocket. Can you believe that?? A HOT POCKET!! I never eat Hot Pockets, wtf!!), while I (wait for it) watched, “My 600 Lb. Life”. –The irony…

Eenan said he wanted me to sit and watch a new Disney show, so I did. The pilot episode of “Andi Mack.” He said the little girl’s art reminded him of me and he thought I’d really enjoy the story. And my boy knows his mama: it was great; I really, really enjoyed it!! One of the more mature shows Disney’s produced for sure. Can’t wait for the next ep!

So the kiddos finally finish getting ready and we take off. My 7 ducklings and I beat the rush; it got really packed as soon as I put in their last order.

We finished up and headed to the park.

While the big boys played football (minus Eenan, he stuck with the Littles and me) and the rest of us were at the playground, I had a conversation with Emily’s friend’s mom (AKA, Ryan’s aunt), about my little Emily’s behavior 😡 . She was being…proactive about a bully but started being somewhat of a bully herself telling her friend over iMessage that she was becoming “like her” (like the little girl they claimed was the bully) and whatnot. So much so, that her mom got on the phone and said her friend wasn’t available. Embarrassing! I had already gotten after her for being mean to Maddie, and now that. She got yet another lecturing, much to her irritation. I know she’s headstrong and really takes no sh*t, but I don’t want her to be the mean girl 🙁 . I have no experience in this, especially not with the boys or Alaethia! When Alaethia was having drama with her friends last year, it was nothing like this.

But anyway, her friend’s Mama and I spoke and got everything sorted. I’m glad that it wasn’t too awkward and that she didn’t tell me off for my kid’s behavior, heh. She was very understanding and we agreed we just want our kiddos to get along.

I dropped the kiddos off with Mom at home, picked Jorge up from work and then we took Jorgie with us to order Domino’s for dinner. Then the kids wanted to watch “My 600 Lb. Life” again. I’m converting them 😆 ! I don’t know why I like that show so much!

The day, unfortunately, came to an end and then it was time for bed since Jorge and I had work the next day ;? .

The kiddos left with the other parents on Wednesday afternoon and the rest of the week at work was a blur of working on Taste McAllen.

I picked Jorge up from work and then we stopped for some snacks at the Food Park before going shopping at the mall (oh, joy 🙄 .

I had to mentally prepare for an interview I was having with Chef Larry the next morning. I despise interviews; I get nervous and bumble all over myself and my skin wasn’t cooperating with me AT ALL. Plus: not happy that the camera adds 10 more lbs. 😥 !! But I sucked it up and went with it. Alan Campbell was our host and is such a jokester, so he eased us into the interview and was really good about prompting us on what to say.

I had an event at the food park that Friday, so of course, we had to indulge a little. I mean, why not? We were already there!

We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning out our garage. John still had TONS of boxes in there, plus his table and chairs from when he lived with us and used the garage as a storage unit. I called and asked him what to do with everything and he said to chuck it. 😐 Really?? We coulda chucked them a long time ago!!

So several trips to Goodwill, Walmart, Target, Home Depot later, we got rid of tons of junk and bought additional storage bins and shelving. It hadn’t looked that nice and clean in a looong time!

I took the opportunity to clean up the box of Dad’s records I inherited. He had lots of old-school “Regional Mexican” records, but he had the Beatles, some opera and waltzes as well!

We also got some pavers and new mulch to re-do the greenery bed under the kitchen window. We were literally in the dark, with the flashlight of our phones, digging and planting and so on. But we finished!

So although we didn’t get to do much for Spring Break, our time with the kiddos and each other was pretty damn great 😀 .

We’re pretty saturated with birthdays during the months of January and February, heh. Jorgie and Emily’s birthdays are the last 2 for February.

Jorgie usually gives us a list of stuff he wants, even though–out of all the boys–he asks for the least amount of stuff, and usually pretty affordable stuff, too. This year, he didn’t ask for a thing, except cash. When I texted him again a few days before his birthday for ideas, he replied with, “Why don’t we all go to Cracker Barrel?” Such a good kid!

Emily, on the other hand, wanted to do Sky Park (we had a Groupon, woooo!) and she had a small wish list of stuff like Squishies, Chubby Puppies and Shopkins. At the bottom of the list it said, “But I’ll be grateful for anything!” I gotta brag: do we have great kiddos or what??

I met Mary, Emily and Alaethia at Toys R Us the weekend before their birthdays. It was their weekend with the kids but the girls wanted me to tag along, so I obliged of course. Emily chose all her birthday presents and their both made out like bandits.

The day of Jorgie’s birthday (Thursday the 23rd), Jorge and I sit for lunch at Republic of the Rio Grande and he breaks it to me that Jorgie wanted to save his money because he was dating a girl and things were getting serious and he wanted to talk to us. I was shocked, and all these thoughts started spinning in my head. What does he mean “serious”? I had Eenan when I turned 17, so that was the first thought that was swirling in my mind. Jorge assured me it wasn’t anything like that, so that was a relief!

We picked up kiddos all over the place that evening and then picked Mom up and headed to Cracker Barrel. 

We ordered our food after the kids took their “usual” seats.

Then Jorgie pulled Jorge aside and he explained about his girlfriend while they played checkers. Jorge comes back and whispers what happened, and that he wanted to have a talk with me as well. Oh boy.

We eat once allll our food gets there. We had the best service that evening! 

We finish up and Jorge takes Mom and all the other kids home while I take Jaylen and Jorgie with me to the mall. Jaylen had a presentation the next day and needed a full outfit. We had only a few minutes to make it to the mall, but it felt like I coasted over there on autopilot as Jorgie told us about how he feels about this girl…and how he wants to use some of his birthday money to get her a necklace he’d seen. He put his feelings out there and I was proud and relieved that he trusts us enough to pull us aside and talk to us about this. And of course, I gently, but sternly, explained that he may feel like he loves her, but she may not be his last girlfriend, she better not hurt him and vice versa, she needs to be a good girl, about protection (we’d already had that talk several times), and we went on and on. Jaylen and Jorgie got measured for shirts by Mr. Shapiro, whom I’d already met at work. He’s such a sweet, patient man, and helped us even when the doors were closed and the lights were dimmed signalling that the store was about to close the registers. He called in that he still had customers and continued to help us. The boys were happy with their stuff (Jorgie got lucky since it was buy one, get one for a penny) and I couldn’t stop thanking Mr. Shapiro.

We talked again all the way home, and Jaylen was sworn to secrecy. Jorgie continued with trying to convince us to help him purchase this necklace.

Emily’s birthday was Friday the 24th so after a crazy day at work, I escaped for a bit to pick up Emily’s cupcakes and met Mario at her school to have her little cupcake party with her classmates.

Her dad gets to have the kids for 2 hours on their birthday, and she chose to go to the Food Park 😀 . I just so happened to have Karaoke Night that night, so it worked out! Mario arrived with the kids and Jorge arrived with our other kids. And it wasn’t awkward, thank goodness! Emily got to spend time with her friend Danica, who is my co-worker, Ryan’s, little cousin :).

It was a great night, and Emily said it was the best birthday, ever!

We did some things around the house on Saturday, including some errands, like groceries, which Jorgie happily offered to help with. Then we made some dinner and headed to Sky Park. I made the mistake of taking most photos with Snapchat…and my phone was running out of storage space so it didn’t let me save them 🙁 .

That’s all I got! The next day we cleaned and ran more errands and headed to the mall for that necklace. The conditions: he will pay off the remainder by washing the cars…and happily posing for all the photos I deem necessary 🙂 !