Category: Weight/Exercise

Positive attracts positive.

It’s one of the motto’s I’ve lived by my whole life. It’s one of the things Jorge says he’s always loved about me: my positive outlook on just about everything. However, in recent days, my optimism was wavering.

I don’t know if it was that I was PMS’ing and emotional (TMI?), that the mother of a good friend I’ve known since elementary passed away (she grew up with Mom), that I was stressed and overwhelmed at work, that Jorge and I are so busy all the time that we hardly have time to spend with each other, that I wasn’t feeling good about myself or if it was a combination of all of that, but it made me feel helpless and was putting me in a foul mood ALL. THE. TIME. I had to remind myself not to snap at Mom and Jorge over stupid things. I had to remind myself not to lose my patience with the girls when they were fighting with each other or climbing all over me for attention.

I told myself this Monday that I needed to snap the hell out of it and be positive!

-Issues with work would get better.
-I’d feel better about myself if I got off my ass and jogged again.
-Jorge and I needed to make it a point to spend time together. And just talk.
-I remembered to embrace the little things and be grateful for my life, my kids, my family.

And sure enough. I kept my positive outlook all day. Even when I got a text from Mario letting me know that there was a “mandatory” meeting regarding Eenan going to high school next year (I KNOW. OMG.) and it was THAT DAY AT 5. Which is when I get out of work. But I told myself at least I’d get to see the boys for a while. Then I had to get gas in the Routan and was 30 minutes late, but Mario was nice enough to give me a run-down of everything. I went to see the boys and they updated me about their day and we joked around a while. I got home and thank God for leftovers. Mom had already bathed and fed the girls for me, thank goodness!! I read them their stories, we played a game of Hide Hello Kitty and I put them to bed. Mom stayed up while Jorge and I went for a jog. We got to spend time together for 4 1/2 miles :).

I woke up energized and got ready for work and made some French Toast for all of us. Dropped off Alaethia, got to work, prepared stuff for meeting and my boss and I were on our way. I simultaneously felt optimistic and pessimistic, but I focused on the good. We left the meeting feeling inspired. I told myself, Good things are going to happen for me today!

And they did!

My event started picking up. I set up meetings for the next day. Had a free lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. We got tickets to a free screening of Jack the Giant Slayer in 3D for Wednesday night, which meant spending time with my love :). I felt incredibly guilty going without the kids (I mean, GUILTY. A gut-wrenching, heart-wringing guilt), but I told myself it’s OK. I need to remind myself that it’s OK sometimes. It’s not like we’re out at bars while we’re supposed to be spending time with them or anything.

I got home and spent time with my little ladies. Made dinner. Did our nightly routine, put the girls in bed after we tidied up their bedroom and Jorge and I (quite reluctantly) changed to go jogging. It was FREEZING outside (well, for us. It was in the 50’s). They’re paving the road we jog on (FINALLY) but the smell of tar and the rocky, unpaved gaps were annoying. We only did 2 miles this time, but I’m glad we got off our butts for a while. We got home and caught up with one of our American Idol episodes. It was a great day!

I dropped off Alaethia at school the next morning and got to work. My meeting was pretty positive and then most of us from work attended the Mayor’s Prayer. The speaker was really inspiring and it was a nice ceremony. Not to mention the food was delicious. They served us a thick steak (which I only took 2 bites of since I have to be in the mood for steak. Such a waste!) and Chicken Cordon Bleu! And cheesecake :).

Got back to work, took care of some things and got more good news. My boss and I made some visits and got even more good news. I picked up Taco Bell for the girls after work, chilled out with them watching Disney and then my love got home. I reminded Mom of the nightly routine and she got the girls in the bath. Jorge and I left for the movies. It was packed, and we were a little lost, but we finally got to our seats and enjoyed the movie. It was much better than I ever expected. The boys are going to be so mad when they find out we went without them!

We drove around McAllen looking for a place to eat. All the good, non-fast food places closed at 10, which was when the movie ended. After 40 minutes of driving for nothing, we ended up at HEB where we got some sushi and beer. Now, anyone who knows me, knows I HATE beer. But I’d had this raspberry beer (the one on the left in the photo) at Roosevelt’s and I actually liked it and just so happened to find it at HEB. Who’da thought?!

My day went buy fast today. There was a meeting so I sorta helped with that. Went to HEB with Michelle to help her with some supplies she needed for an event tonight. We always find great deals when we go, heh. This time they had Wet-n-Wild cosmetics buy one get one free! And gummy snacks for the girls, too!

I bought a coupon for a restaurant called Butter Cream Deli Cafe and met Sally there :). I hadn’t seen her in a month or so, since Alaethia’s birthday party. I missed her! She looks just lovely; the epitome of glowing pregnant woman :). We ate our delicious sandwiches, crepe and ginger peach green teas and caught up on this past month. I loved that place! And it’s down the street from work and affordable to boot!

I took care of a few things when I got back to work. Super happy that we got some GREAT news!! My boss and I did more visits and our last stop was Tapioca Rush:

Jesus. Most of my photos are of food. Heh. What can I say, I love to eat!

I probably undid all my hard work the past two days, but I’ll get back on it :).

I got home and chilled out with my girls before Mario came to pick them up. I gave him instructions on their meds, etc., and they were off :(.

I blogged a bit, made dinner and then, once Jorge got home, began to get ready to go celebrate Jeramie’s birthday. I texted Michelle to ask if they were still at El Divino but they were wrapping things up and leaving. I wasn’t feeling much into going out, so I was secretly glad (isn’t that awful??) but we’ve become such homebodies. What we did instead was head to Walmart to pick up a few things. We saw a few…people from our past. It was weird. But we went about our business. We strolled the entire store and ended up at the electronics department. We saw some laptops on sale and Jorge found the perfect opportunity to try and sell one to me. It worked, heh. And the only reason I agreed (finally) was because it was SUPER ON SALE. He’d been trying since before Christmas to buy me a new one, but I could always think of something much better to do with the cash. I was ok with this one :). Typed up my first blog post on it!

AND I did my nails, too! I’m on a roll!

I’m so glad things have made a 180 for me. I need to remind myself that things will always be better.

Shoot. I’ve been through worse! This is cake!

*sigh* I never finish with these darn posts!! I started this one last week and am JUST finishing it up (I hope).

I got out of work at 4pm on Thursday (the 9th) and stopped to get soups, orange juice and pineapple sherbert ice cream (spoiled? Yes, heh) for Jorge since he wasn’t feeling good. I’d eaten really well all day…and ruined it by buying these:

*sigh*

I was on my way home when Jorge called that he was on his way to the bank because he’d forgotten to go earlier. He didn’t sound good at all, but he insisted on going since the bank was about to close. He got home, had some juice and started tidying up. I told him he should really lay down and rest, but he said the drive and getting out of bed made him feel better. I was impressed; he vacuumed and did some laundry while I cooked dinner. I made chicken Alfredo. Emily had about 3 1/2 servings of the noodles!

The kids and I had some Oreos after dinner. I had 5 . I totally would have eaten more, but a voice inside my head kept saying, Quit your crap, fatty!

My love ate some soup and then continued cleaning. I think he just really likes that vacuum, heh. I painted the girls’ nails with the new polishes I’d bought and then they entertained themselves while we finished with the bedroom.

We got the kiddos ready for bed since we’d been invited to a gathering/party thing. We weren’t sure what the attire was so we dressed business-casually. I wore this one dress and of course complained about my fatness the entire time I dressed. I moped and pouted and asked Jorge what he thought of the dress. He opened the shower door, scanned me over and said, “God, you’re gorgeous. What are you doing with me?!” and dramatically closed the shower door. I told him, “Oh, stop it!”, and rolled my eyes. He continued with his compliments the entire evening. I even caught him gazing at me sweetly when I was putting my make-up on in the car and he said, “You’re so beautiful!” He always knows how to flatter me . I love him ♥!

I’ve always had pretty crappy self-esteem, and even with all his compliments I’m still hard on myself, but I’ve honestly never felt more confident than I have since Jorge and I got together :). (Even during my bout of weight-gain and bad acne .)

Anyhoot, we didn’t want to be out long since Jorge still wasn’t 100% and the kiddos were at home with Mom. We stopped at Starbucks to get coffee since both of us felt sleepy (and it was barely 9:45pm). We realized as soon as we arrived at the “party” that we were overdressed, heh. Everyone was in jeans and t-shirts. We said hello to the organizers, stuck around for about 10 minutes just so we didn’t seem rude, and left. We were all dressed up with nowhere to go, so we stopped for a quick drink at our favorite place.

I only had one because I could hear that voice inside my head scolding me again. Jorge watched a little bit of football and we talked about his weird bout of sickness that day. He had chills, fever, aches and felt dizzy and disoriented, but had no signs of any type of cold or stomach flu. I brought up his Guy’s Night from the night before and told him, “What if you gave yourself some type of weird alcohol poisoning?!” He got serious, then laughed and said, “Nahhhh. That couldn’t have happened, could it??” We laughed and joked about different reasons he may have gotten sick for about 10 minutes and then we headed home :).

The girls were asleep, boys were still awake (of course) when we got home. We gave them 30 more minutes and then all electronics were confiscated, heh. We snuggled in our room and poor Aly woke up with a knee-ache. Got the Motrin and her rice-sock heated up and she fell fast asleep again :).

Friday, August 10th

It was Friday and I managed to eat homemade food all week, with the exception of Tuesday, when we had Corner Stone Catering at work. I was pretty proud and felt pretty darn good :).

The morning went by pretty quickly. I got a few bills signed/approved and when the Boss Boss saw me he said, “Hey Shorty, are you wearing your ‘tall’ shoes?”

On cue I pick up my foot and show him my wedges. He laughs and says,”You know, I was watching the Olympics and I remembered you.” I laughed and knowingly said, “The short Gymnasts?” And he says, “YES. They’re the same height you are!”

Ahhhh. The short jokes will never get old LOL. And to think, as I get older, I’m just gonna get smaller

I The marketing rep from a local bank had stopped by and we chit-chatted for a bit. I’m hoping they’ll be sponsors for a few of my upcoming events.

I ate lunch, read some blogs, tried blogging (but didn’t get to do much) and then I covered the front desk for an hour. Maritza and Gerry got back from lunch and told me there was Starbucks coffee in the kitchen. They brought me a glass of iced coffee; about 12-15oz I’d say. And I prepared it with regular creamer and Sweet N Low. It was great! I went to Beto’s office to check on my hours (since we’re still cutting during summer) and he said, “Time to go!” This was around 2pm-2:30pm. I got my stuff and headed out the door :).

I got home and was greeted by 8 kids LOL. Briana had dropped off Nick and Mia for a few hours since her babysitter cancelled on her. The girls followed me around, we fed the new kitty, and then I had them play with their homemade Koolaid Play-doh while I made dinner.

Briana got here right when the food was out of the oven but couldn’t stay long. The rest of the kiddos ate and then I went outside in the 103 degree heat to clean the pool. Darn thing. The cover STILL flies off and the mesquite trees make a darn mess! So I busted out the hose and vacuum and got working. Jorge got here and changed and then helped me finish up. We all got ready and got in for a good hour or so. It dawned on me that this awesome summer is coming to a close very soon. It makes me sad, because then we’ll get back into the old routine, which means my boys will only be here every other Wednesday from Thursday-Monday morning . Ugh. I hate to think about it.

I bathed the girls, debated whether I should work out but instead I came to the living room with the kiddos and watched their shows with them. And promptly fell asleep. I think that’s a pretty good way to spend a Friday night :).

Saturday, August 11th

My love left to work 🙁 and I laid in bed, waiting for one of the kids to wake up. It’s usually Emily. I tossed and turned and COULD NOT go back to sleep. I waited and waited for a child to make one peep, like they usually do Saturday morning. But nope. An hour and a half later they were ALL STILL ASLEEP! Just my luck, eh??

So I finally got out of bed and weighed myself. I was pleased to see that I’d lost 2.5 pounds in a week (or 6 days, actually) from staying away from restaurants for the most part, and keeping track of my calories again. If I could just get some exercise in…

I went to the kitchen and started banging pots around to wake the children up. Kidding! But I did end up waking Eenan up, and then Emily. We were out of milk, so there would be no cereal (and I actually wanted some Special K for once), so I whipped up some homemade cinnamon vanilla waffles (2.5 pounds, what?). When I get that recipe just right I’ll add it to the recipes page :). I texted Sally to ask if she’d had breakfast yet. She hadn’t, so she was coming over, woo!

We gossiped over coffee while we waited for the waffles to come out and I removed little girls off the counter. Finally I gave up and just let them wash dishes:

We talked about everything under the sun. We talked about our Moms’ health, and then about our dads. Our dads go waaaay back. They were best friends before we were. I told her Dad still visits her dad often. When I get a chance to talk to him, he’ll tell me something like, “Fui a visitar a mi viejito. Le ayude componer su secadora.” I went to visit my little old man, I helped him fix his dryer.

She laughs and says, “That’s what we’re gonna say! I’m going to visit my viejita. She’s making waffles again!” It was hilarious :). I really do hope we’ll still be having waffles and coffee and gossiping years and years from now :).

We sat around talking for a while and then I paid some bills online and chilled out with the kids. The girls were all over the new tiny kitty. Alaethia randomly tells me, “I love little kitties more than big kitties. The kitties at Dad’s are kitties. But I’m pretty sure Ruffles is a LION” :). She’s so cute!

I paid some bills online (story of my life!) and then Jorge got home, early! We went to HEB for our weekly shopping and some BBQ stuff, since we were celebrating Mom’s birthday early. Her birthday is on the 19th and the kiddos would be with the other parents that weekend.

Jorge fired up the grill when we got home, brought down the projector and tuned in to his football game. Oh lordy. Here it comes! Guys screaming at the tops of their lungs on the porch LOL.

Freddy and his son came over and then Sally and Carlos did. We chilled out outside and watched our guys bond over football, aww LOL. The kids all ate and then played in the boys room. Emily, of course, was the only one who sat outside with us. She’s glued to me, always. But I don’t mind because she won’t always be :(.

Even though I was watching what I ate, I made Sally and myself some mango Margaritas. They didn’t come out as good as when Jorge makes them, though :(. And they could have been mango-ier but the girls kept stealing pieces .

Sally and me (or me and Sally, actually). With my curly hair, ’cause I was too lazy to flat-iron it. Or to put on make-up. Heh. This might be only my 2nd full-body photo on my blog, ever, if I recall correctly. But then again my mind isn’t what it used to be .

Anyway, it was another great night :). Quite a great way to end a great week!

So. I’m going to try and make it a point to blog during lunch, like I TRIED to do those few months that I actually stuck with eating homemade food at work. I feel a little weird, since a co-worker doesn’t go to lunch till 1 and he’s probably wondering what all the keyboard tapping’s about over here when I’m supposed to be on break .

Anyhoo. I did end up doing Ab Ripper last night, and a few reps with dumb bells. It took me a while to start working out after I finished blogging because I had a kitty to feed again, had to get the girls in PJs and have them brush their teeth, Emily was upset because she wanted the kitty to be glued to her side:

And then bought Eenan some type of points with my Paypal account. It took forever to get changed (well, it felt like it) and FINALLY I could start. I didn’t know what to watch, so I put it on the Health and Fitness channel. Nothing inspires you to work out like watching a documentary following a 600 pound 24-yr-old girl on her weight-loss journey. I did those Ab Ripper crunches like I never stopped doing them!!

I went to the kitchen to organize my breakfast and lunch for the next day. I tried salvaging some strawberries (I still threw half out. Hate that!) and froze them for smoothies in the morning for Jorge and myself. The guys left and he came in and collected all the boys’ electronics so they could go to bed. I showered and threw myself in bed next to my love. I was TIRED.

I woke up to Jorge telling me he felt like he had a fever. I was so out of it last night that I didn’t feel him turning me, nor did I hear him talking to me. He had chills last night so he increased the temp; that’s the only reason I woke up once, ’cause I was sweating LOL. Poor thing. He seems to have caught Remi’s virus or something. He even went in a little late to work.

I made us our smoothies:

I’m going to freeze too-riped fruit from now on for smoothies or what have you. I despise throwing out food!

The blending woke up Eenan. He’s the lightest sleeper of all the boys. The rest of them slept through the noise. I got all my stuff ready while Eenan followed me around, like he usually does :). I said see you later to my guys and got to work.

I ate, got ready for a recording at a local gym, got complimented, which was nice ’cause I hate the dress I’m wearing (I feel like a 12-yr-old/old lady LOL) who are partnering up with us for an upcoming event. I can’t wait. I love the whole “feel” of this new concept. I hope it works out how we want it to!

My boss and I stopped by Starbucks, right after talking about calories and such, heh. But we behaved. I got a lemonade passion tea, my fave.

Jorge let me know he was going home already. Poor thing. He’s not good at being sick at all, heh.

He texted me to let me know our insurance screwed up. So now that’s going to be a call or visit I so don’t want to make. Grr.

And now it’s lunch and I was still so full from breakfast that I didn’t even eat my pear with my sandwich. But I did have sour cream and onion chips. Damn you, H-E-B, for your buy Oscar Mayer sliced turkey, get free chips coupon!!

Here’s hoping the day goes by fast. I might get out early. My love needs me!