Category: Couponing

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!

This will be quick, because it’s almost 1am and I need to shower!

– *Finally* fixed that Flickr album error yesterday. Darn thing!

– Work was interesting. The excitement of the day was a homeless, dressed-too-young elderly lady (no really, you could see her wrinkly buttcheeks =X!) with a shit-ton of belongings trying to get a Marriott hotel shuttle to pick her up…and host her at their hotel. For free. Eventually, she did get a Fairfield shuttle to pick her up. I wish her the best =\. Interested to know what happens to her.

– It started to rain, which is my favorite weather, ever. Not so much my favorite traffic, as everyone flips out and comes to a complete halt on the Expressway. Thankfully, I made it to pick up the kids in one piece.

– Saw a double rainbow on the way to Burger King:

– Ate with the kiddos and stayed within budget, thank goodness. I had the newish California Whopper and it was SO GOOD! I had asked for the Jr., but the guy charged a Jr. and gave me a huge burger. Eenan helped me with it, though :).

– The kids were hyper so we went to the park to burn off their energy, heh. They were all on the slides, then the swings and then the girls wanted to go for a walk, so we did :).

– Dropped them off with their father. Grandmother. Because Father was nowhere to be found, of course.

– Picked up dinner for my love, who was at home watching the game with his buddies.

– Clipped coupons :).

– Sat outside with the guys while I was on my laptop. Started thinking about the glazed, chocolate & sprinkles Krispy Kreme donut I had around 3pm. And my California Whopper. And the strawberry muffin I had for breakfast with my coffee (which seemed innocent at the time but I didn’t know I’d eat so much other crap throughout the day =\). And the sips of Jorge’s extremely sweet Mango tea. I decided: THAT’S IT, FATTY. Time to get on the ball again. I started watching P90X results videos on YouTube to get hyped up and motivated. Even my babe was watching over my shoulder during commercials and we decided Sunday is the day. Sunday we start FOR REAL. I gotta get the meal plans and videos off my external harddrive and start planning things out. I don’t think we’ll be doing all the videos, since time doesn’t allow, but we’ll incorporate jogging and whatnot. I’m excited :D.

– I jogged/walked on the treadmill for 37 minutes and burned 250 cals while watching “Something Borrowed” :). Love, love, love that movie ♥!

– Did some push-ups and Ab Ripper. Ok–SOME of Ab Ripper. I am severely out of shape! But that’s all gonna change :).

– We got a random knock on the door from PD asking if someone was screaming in our house. I was like, “Wha?? No.” I was out of breath from working out and then Jorge is walking down our extremely long sidewalk from the backyard. The cop shines the light on him and says, “Do you know this man, ma’am??” I say, “Him? Oh, he’s my boyfriend.” And they bombard Jorge with handshakes and ask if anyone lives in the house next door. We say no, people moved out. They ask if the gate is always open like that, we say no. I remember hearing something like a baby crying or a howl while I was jogging, but I thought it was another TV in the house. Really strange.

– Babe came in and told me about his day :).

– And now…it’s 1:14am and I work in the morning and I should be in the shower by I’m HYPER and NOT SLEEPY!!

As we’re sitting out here on the back porch, just the two of us (“Father of the Year” kept Emily tonight to “spend time with her”…shouldn’t that have been done yesterday?) I swear it’s becoming more hot and humid as it gets later. That’s just so wrong!

My babe’s playing Angry Birds and I’m STILL having to change settings to private on different media because Psycho can still get into my stuff. You’d think these people got what they wanted (freedom, pity), why are they still being pests?

ANYWAY, that’s neither here nor there. It was such a long day, but usually that’s how Mondays go. This one event I’m working on is becoming a bit…discouraging. It’s not something a lot of people really have an interest in, so it’s super hard for me to find sponsors/players. I’m hoping some of the bigwigs from last year step up and save this event. I’d hate to be co-in-charge of something and have it fail :(.

As for this weekend, it was great spending time with all the kiddos. My days really were a blur of cooking, snacks and cleaning, but it was great nonetheless. The kids finished their first week of school and they all did pretty well. Alaethia was amazing, but I already knew she’d be great. She really is an independent little diva, even though THOSE PEOPLE try and hinder her. I’m so proud of her :*).

I went to her first day of school, which was incredibly disappointing for the fact that they had all the little pre-kinder kids quarantined in the cafeteria so they could be ripped from the parents as soon as we stepped in and they were quickly ushered to their teacher. The principal shooed us all away and said, “You’ll just make it worse if you stay here…” Awful, awful people. Didn’t even get a decent picture!

My babygirl!!

We were sitting outside Friday night after one of my babe’s friends came over to visit and left early. He saw a HUGE disgusting-looking possom and commenced to throw stuff at it, smack it with a rake, poked it with a broomstick and then–WAIT FOR IT–severed the poor thing almost in half with a shovel. I have to admit, it was nasty and sick looking, probably had rabies, but it was quite a horrifying thing to see :(. I sat there, wide-eyed and staring at him and he says, “You’re not gonna leave me in the morning, are you? I’m not gonna wake up and all your stuff’s not gonna be gone…right?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I wasn’t that freaked out, but I did state that it was a little psychotic of him to go apeshit on the animal =\ LOL. Still, I’m glad our kids and the kitties of the neighborhood are safe.

I dropped off my babe at work on Saturday since he’d be getting out really late. I spent Saturday morning paying bills (yay, not!). Grabbed a cappuccino (which was amazingly, surprisingly good!) from Target, where I went to get hair ties since mine popped >_<. Went a few stores down to pay a bill and then came home. Started on lunch, went with Emily to supposedly only return the kids' library books but she begged to get some more so we did. Back home and cleaned more. Watched the kids watch Ghost Hunters while I did laundry. It was super cute how mesmerized all of them were! I got ready to pick my babe up and stop by Kohl's after that. We'd scored $45 in Kohl's cash after we did the kids' back-to-school shopping and they were having a great sale so we were TOTALLY gonna use them. He was running late, so I stopped by Kohl's first. With our allotted amount, plus 20% off I scored a tee & polo for my babe, a cute sundress for me (why can't all cute dresses be $8!!?), a dress for work, a blouse for work and some bangles :). For practically FREE!! We picked up dinner and then chilled out the rest of the night. I've been so sleepy lately it's not even funny. I'll be watching a movie with the kids and there I go: ASLEEP. Sunday was a lazy morning (love those). I seriously spend about 70% of my weekends in the kitchen. I made some pretty darn good omelets for breakfast (John came to visit for a bit. Actually, no. He came to do laundry LOL) and then I made possibly the best bacon/turkey club sandwiches ever. Too bad I didn't buy another packet of bacon; 3 of the boys asked for seconds!! And we were so hungry I didn't get a picture, either, heh. We did things around the house and by afternoon got all the kids to bathe LOL. It seriously takes about 2 hours, what with the "Turn that game off and shower!" and "Ok. You've been in here long enough. Time to get out." LOL The day just went by too quickly; by the time we knew it we had to drop the kiddos off :(. My babe and I met at Red Mango afterwards. We watched some of the game (yep, he's totally gonna get me to start watching LOL. I'm not into it, but it makes him happy so... :)) and then we decided to cook. Of course we'd be missing something so we went to Walmart and got our ingredients and then came back and cooked. By the time we sat down to eat it was 10:30, blah. BUT. The food was totally worth the wait.

Jorge is now doing crosswords on the iPad. I swear it’s not because he’s waiting for me to finish this :P.

Man, it’s lonely and quiet without the children! Let me see if I can drag this man inside to watch a movie :P.