Category: Photos

Started on Friday, March 28, 2014

Haven’t posted in over a week. And I was doing so well! I knew my streak couldn’t last very long.

First and foremost, it’s Dad’s birthday today. I didn’t want to post about it on Facebook because I never posted about it before, when he was living, and I just felt…like I’d be two-faced if I did. I think that’s why I’ve been feeling inexplicably sad today. I’ve been seeing men who resemble him. A lot more than usual. And of course, I’m filled with sorrow and regret because I didn’t call him on his birthday last year. And I wish I could today :*(. I still feel so awful. I wish I could talk to him one last time.

Blah. I’m a blubbering mess now. And I just served myself dinner and lost my appetite. I’m sort of glad Mom went to her bedroom already to watch her novela after I made dinner, or else she’d ask why I’m upset and we’d have to have that conversation. She hasn’t mentioned anything at all. I wonder if she remembers. If she does, this is the type of thing we do: we avoid talking about it.

Happy Birthday, Dad :(.

Jorge isn’t home from work yet. I spent an hour and a half talking to the kids, who are with Mario this weekend. That’s probably another reason I’m feeling upset. I miss them already. Ugh.

Jorge is going to wonder what the heck happened when he gets here, so I’m going to distract myself by recapping the past week.

It was our weekend with our kiddos last week starting Thursday, so it was a whirlwind, which is always welcome around here :). For the first time, ever, we had Julien here since Thursday, too, and he was just wonderful. All the kids are. They just make everything happier, more fun :). Don’t get me wrong, they get loud, but we like it.

On Friday, after work, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my meds (like a good little elderly lady) and stopped by Hidden Treasures to look around. I found a perfect Baby Brite for $2! Which then got me taking my old dolls out to compare. The girls have a blast when I get the itch to do that :).

Jorge got home and presented me with yet another super-early birthday present:

Is this man wonderful, or what??

We chilled out with the kids on the porch after ordering some pizza for dinner. I got my results back from my 2nd cholesterol screening and they were great all around! So I let it get to my head and I had a slice of pizza. I hadn’t had pizza in over 2 months! (Do I take after Mom, or what?? John sure did let everyone know that on Facebook, grr.)

I retract my previous statement. We hung out with SOME of the kids on the porch. The boys of course remained inside, where there was video games -_-. The girls had their electronics, too, but at least they were using them in our company.

In our usual fashion, Emily and I cuddled up and passed out on the outdoor sofa. Those cushions are the devil! My love was on HIS iPad so he watched that bugs didn’t get into our ears or anything (well, I hope he did…) and then carried Emmos inside and took me to bed.

And then he wrote the sweetest, most heartwarming post on Facebook *sigh* . He still takes me by surprise to this day .

Jorge was off on Saturday so we lazied around with the kids all day. Sally and Priscilla were coming over in the evening to hang out, so a few things on our agenda were cleaning, feeding the kids, and taking them to the park. I’m happy to say we got everything done on time, hehe.

I was going to post photos of the kids at the park, but my stupid SD card in my phone is being an ass AGAIN and is eating up my damn photos :(. I only got to upload a few to the gallery. It’s done it once already with the 32G, once with the 8G and now again with the 32G. It’s super annoying.

Jorge and the boys were happy that I was having my Girls Night In because they got to play XBox in the living room (because they never get to, heh). Aly and Emmos got to play with Quentin and the girls and I watched everyone from our perch at the round table. Jorge ordered pizza (again, sue me!), Priscilla brought over some cake and dips, I had pineapple-coconut Moscato and Sally brought some red wine we didn’t even get to drink LOL. We mostly chatted it up and did some man-bashing, talked about how wonderful our men are, talked about when they’re not so wonderful, talked about the kids, and life and bills and you know, the usual.

We called it a night at 10:30ish and then Jorge and I hung out with the kids till I passed out on the couch with the girls again. At 11 LOL. I’m such an old lady!

We had the laziest of Sundays with all the kids. We did a load of laundry, only because we needed towels. Made breakfast and lunch at home and then my love ordered Chinese and sushi for dinner just in time for the Walking Dead. I love how it’s a bonding experience with the kids ^_^. As soon as it was over we got all of them to brush their teeth and get into bed. And then it was time for another work week.

Monday went by pretty quickly. Well except for the last hour and a half since it was my shift for reception duty. Got home, took the girls to the doctor, were there and at the pharmacy for about 3 hours. I was so tired (literally nodding off while we waited) that I stopped for Wing Stop for dinner. We ate, I got the girls in the bath and went to the laundry room to get clean towels…just to walk into a puddle in the boys’ room. The darn water heater was leaking from the pipe that hadn’t been replaced recently. Thankfully our landlord and plumber are wonderful and they fixed it that night. That was a long day!

Michelle and I spent all of Tuesday looking for the right flowers and vases for some centerpieces I was doing for a luncheon the next day. I really wanted some simple hydrangea ones, but we opted for yellow roses when we couldn’t find enough hydrangeas =\.

That was the day I started eating junk again. A lady brought me a donut while I was at reception. Then Wednesday, after I got back from lunch, Jessica and I ate 2 small pieces of Sweet & Tasty cake =\. TWO.

I felt better about my stuffing-my-face guilt when I got home to find a package ^_^. My Fisher Price Cartoon Viewers had come in! The girls enjoyed them so much, it made me happy ^_^. And so did Jorge when he got home, hehe.

I also received this:

Never see these under $50 and I most definitely didn’t get it for that ^_^.

I rushed home Thursday evening to see the girls before they left for the weekend with their dad. We got their stuff together and I made turkey chilli and then they left around 6 :(. Jorge and Jorgie and Justin arrived and we ate dinner and then settled down to watch Anchorman. The boys and I had never seen the first one, and since Jorge wanted to watch part 2, he insisted we watch it. It was good LOL.

Friday was a regular day. I dropped off some fliers at a nearby community center, paid bills for work, updated some files and picked up my Emmos ^_^. She happily ate a popsicle and then I stopped by Tacos Kissi to meet my love who had ordered me some sushi.

I literally ate in 10 minutes, asked for my cucumber lemonade to go, and kissed my love on the cheek as I got up to go. He blinks as he jokingly says, “I feel so…used.” LOL I had reception duty since 1, with a break from 2-3:30 and then went back. There was hardly anyone in the office so my last 1 1/2 hours felt like 5. I wanted to gouge my eyes out.

And then I updated some of my 80’s pages and got really depressed before I started typing here. My love got home and he saw what a wreck I was and he was loving and listened and gave his gentle 2-cents. He took me to the living room where we watched “Anchorman 2” and I felt better :).

I tried sleeping in the next day but my love’s alarm kept going off and then I was hot, then cold, then I needed to pee so I just got up. Dayse and Karina and I were meeting for brunch at Dayse’s apartment and to meet her 2-month old baby, Sadye! We chatted and I made pancakes and Dayse’s hubby made us a fab quiche. It was wonderful catching up! And of course Dayse would be the most glamorous, put-together mommy of a 2-month-old in existence!

I feel so blessed to still be friends with these wonderful girls! No matter how much time passes in between our visits, it’s like there was never a gap at all. I love my girls :).

I got home around 5 and Mom and I went to run errands for her and then we visited Gramma :). She’s doing well, thank goodness. Mom helped her eat her dinner while we chatted. Then I dropped Mom off and I picked up Wing Stop…again, while I texted with Aunt Nora :).

Jorge and I caught up on our shows, and like always, I passed out on the sofa next to him. He woke me up around 1:00am and we went to our room. As badly as I wanted to pass out again I had to take my meds and wash my face. By the time I got back to bed my love was passed out and I was so refreshed from the face-washing that I couldn’t sleep anymore. I stayed up watching this weird movie called “Venom”…and then I really couldn’t sleep. I stayed up till 3am, hearing noises and getting up to check what they were and worrying about things, like were all of our kids safe at that hour? I cuddled up to Jorge as much as I could without throwing him off the bed, wrapped his sleepy-limp arm around me and finally, finally fell asleep.

Needless to say, we slept till 10:30am. I made us omelets (egg whites for me) and we lazied around the rest of the day. Showered, went to Best Buy, picked up food at Antojitos Mexicanos (which I’m regretting right about now), Jorgie and Justin were dropped off, I talked to my kiddos on the phone, watched the season finale of The Walking Dead (could have done with a better ending, darnit!), I talked to Eenan for about 45 minutes, discussing the finale. And he has a test tomorrow so I sent him to bed. And now I’m going to enjoy my final hour of being lazy before starting a new work week. Wish me luck!

I started off the day by getting the girls and myself ready and making myself a smoothie (they ate honey-nut Cheerios). I added strawberries instead of peanut butter and cinnamon and it was so yum!

Dropped them off, got my stuff together at work and Laura and I made our way to our event: the crafty classes. We learned to make little dolls and baby toys today. I didn’t get to work on mine, but I brought my materials with me.

I love that we get to put these classes together and then learn things along with the ladies ^_^. It went by so fast that by the time I knew it, it was time to pick up Emmos.

Ate some leftovers here at home and the mailman dropped off my super-early birthday present from Mom and my love ^_^.

Emmos and I oohed and ahhed over them, did her homework and then I went back to work. There’s actually a story behind those Party Yum Yums. The original auction that I was stalking went for triple what I wanted to pay. The seller and I had already been messaging back and forth about non-related things, but when I didn’t even bother bidding on that auction ’cause it was so ridiculously expensive, the seller messaged me a day later to ask which Yum Yums I wanted and what I wanted to pay. I gave her the amount of the “birthday money” I’d been allotted and voila! They were mine!! That was so awesome of her ^_^.

The afternoon went by fast since we had a quick photo session and then I delivered some plaques and was left with 30 minutes back at the office. Love these types of fast days!

Got out of work, went to banks while I spoke to Eenan on the phone, and then decided to stop by some thrift shops on the way home. No luck at the first 2 but was pretty happy with my haul from Goodwill :).

A 25th Anniversary Swarovski Crystal Care Bear (I have this one MIB, but I *had* to get it ’cause I’ve never actually held one in my hands), a new with tags Tenderheart Bear, a litter of vintage Pound Puppies and Pound Purries and a 1976 Dakin owl. *squee*

So all-in-all, it was a pretty darn good day for vintage toys!! Yay!

Then my love got home and we decided on IHOP instead of cooking, so double yay!

Spoke to Jaylen briefly, as that one hardly ever makes conversation. It’s very rare. He’s usually distracted by a video game he’s playing. Eenan on the other hand, can stay on the phone with me for an hour. I hope Jaylen eventually opens up =\.

We get to IHOP and all I want to do is shove wheat pancakes in my mouth, but I opted for grilled chicken and broccoli *sigh*. The girls had their favorite: mac-n-cheese.

We got home and spent a good hour on our electronics and then the girls brushed their teeth and got into bed. Jorge is putting a load of laundry to wash and then we’re watching American Idol. Couldn’t think of a better way to end a day ^_^.

I had this pasta at House.Wine. a couple of weeks ago and have been wanting to make this ever since.

You’ll Need:
2 tblsp. olive oil
2 tblsp. minced garlic
10-14oz. whole-wheat angel hair pasta
1 cup chicken broth
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tblsp. onion powder
2 tblsp. wheat flour
1 2 1/4oz jar of capers (I used Goya brand)
1/2 tsp. crushed black pepper
A few dashes of sea salt
1 4oz. package premium sliced smoked salmon (I used Vita Classic Peppered Salmon. Keep refrigerated till ready)
Parsley & crushed red pepper as garnish

Heat sauce pan over medium heat.

Meanwhile, mix chicken broth, lemon juice, and onion powder in a bowl. Add wheat flour and whisk. Add capers. Set aside.

Boil wheat pasta till cooked (not mushy, somewhat al dente). Drain when done.

Saute minced garlic in olive oil for 3-5 minutes, making sure not to burn garlic.

Add chicken broth mix to garlic. Add pepper, dash of salt. Simmer till sauce becomes thick, stirring occasionally.

Open package of smoked salmon and separate slices. Plate your spaghetti and add sauce. Add sliced salmon on top and sprinkle crushed red pepper and parsley on salmon.