Category: Friendship

This entry will probably make male readers–if I have any–roll their eyes or cause said eyes to glaze over.

Tuesday, June 12th

It’s not often I wake up having a good hair day. That was probably one of my worst fears when Jorge and I got together: Was he going to run in the opposite direction the day we’d wake up beside each other when he saw my unruly mane? Luckily, he says he loves my crazy hair (I think he’s just being nice). Most of the time I flat-iron it. But when I don’t have much time in the morning I add a touch of gel and leave it to curl/wave. Only now–in my late 20’s/now that I’ve turned 30–have I finally embraced my curls. So, of course I’d take a picture of my waves the ONE TIME I woke up with them looking decent:

(My complexion was behaving itself, as well :D. That doesn’t happen often, either.)

I began my “spring cleaning” early at work. Robert inspired Michelle and I with his early cleaning. All I have to do is organize our storage area in the storage room and dust the top of my desk. I need to get some frames for my photos and spiff it up a bit :).

I got out of work and was greeted by this:

I love that darn kitty! I promised him I would never, ever let Jorge throw him out. Even if he does cause us to sneeze 100 times before we leave in the morning and rubs on our legs when we’re wearing black or dripping wet, freshly showered .

I changed into shorts and sandals and went to HEB to stock up on food/snacks for the kids. I’d be picking them up the next day from Mario’s and my babe’s boys would be there, too :).

I did my shopping, Jorge got home and we had some pizza that I’d brought home from work. I tell you, it’s super hard to lose weight working there! There were 2 pizza boxes left and I brought them home ’cause no one could take them and I felt guilty having them thrown out :(. (I know, I know: excuses, excuses lol.)

We did pretty good, pizza-wise; I only had 1 slice of the supreme and it was thin-crust. I casually brought up jogging and Jorge shot down that idea right away LOL. He said he wanted to watch “John Carter” and then we’d exercise the next day, for real. I said fine. I didn’t think I’d like the movie, but I’d picked the one the night before so I let him have it.

We picked up some Red Mango (used up both certificates, yes!) and then we got the movie.

I felt super guilty after my TUB of yogurt. I told myself that I was definitely starting my workouts the next day; whether Jorge wanted to or not. I feel jiggly and not happy with myself right now. I have no one to blame but myself. And Pinterest.

We ate our Red Mango and watched the movie. And then Jorge made fresh strawberry/mango Margaritas. (Hey, they’re sorta healthy!) It was SUPER GOOD.

And then I fell asleep right after that on the sofa and missed the ending . I’m a cheap date. I only need ONE, heh.

Wednesday, June 13th

The next day was spent cleaning up some more at work and in my free time I went through my Flickr pics and organized some of the photos. Sadly, there’s a huge gap from July 2010-October 2010, but that’s when the shizz hit the fan with Mario and I just lost the desire to take photos, blog, or do anything really. The photos from the past year and a half just made me so happy, though ♥. I can’t complain at all; we’ve been able to do so much with the kids, to our home and with each other :).

I left work at 3pm to pick up the kiddos and then we headed to Alaethia and Emily’s appointment. It was a completely new office and, Jesus, it took forever. The girls were at least entertained with TV and a few toys. Jaylen entertained himself in other ways:

And then he took a nap with his earphones on. I remember when he was around 2; the only way he’d fall asleep in his own bed was if he had his little blue CD player playing his nursery rhyme CD, aww :*)!

Eenan, on the other hand, was being loud and bothering the girls, so they’d start screaming, grrr. And once, Emily found one of those small bubbles the little toys from the machines come in and stuck the lid in her mouth. It got stuck the “vertical” way and she started freaking out. I almost started freaking out until she spit it out and made this funny noise, kind of like a “raspberry”. I immediately started to scold and lecture her and Eenan made the noise mid-lecture and I couldn’t help but crack up laughing! And then I snapped out of it and started lecturing him about not encouraging her or else she’d continue to do it .

The girls WERE NOT happy about being seen by the dentist, which is crazy since they used to love it. Alaethia got her Xrays taken just fine, but when it was Emily’s turn she started crying! 🙁 Her little lip quivered as she stared at me with her big eyes and then she just started bawling. My poor girl. I went and grabbed her as soon as they were done and consoled her. She was terrified. Her dentist, a nice Turkish man with a somewhat goofy voice (heh) started making her laugh. He gave them tons of stickers, crayons and coloring sheets. And all the assistants were admiring Alaethia’s long locks and Emily’s curls at the end of her straight hair. They started feeling more comfortable and got their cleaning done. They’re leaving the sealants for the 20th, tho. .

We finally got to leave around 6:15pm. We got home, I changed and was going to start on dinner. The kids saw the pizza and wanted that for dinner. They never get tired of pizza. Alaethia ate two slices and they’re pretty big! She’s a bottomless pit, that one!

I made some simple chicken salad for us. We ate it plain, without chips or anything! Shocking!

I was pleasantly surprised when Jorge brought up exercising. He said we needed to do something. I brought up jogging at the park, he agreed. We changed, put on a movie for the kids and had Mom stay with them. I have to say, I missed that park.

We started off with power walking for 2 laps (which is about 2 miles) and from the 3-5 we jogged on and off. I love the feeling of the wind in your face, the expanding of the lungs, the strength of my legs; it’s just the best. We chatted about everything, discussed our old work-out regimen and what we’d be doing after the jog, and we hated on the athletic people who were jogging effortlessly, hehe.

We got home, made sure all was well with the kiddos and then we lifted some dumbbells. Alaethia asked to come in right before we started Ab-Ripper. She giggled when Jorge would struggle lol. I did every single rep. When we were doing Heels to the Heavens Jorge stared at me from his position on the floor across from me and said, “What the hell?! It’s like you never stopped!!” 😀

I am super proud of him, though. Even though his back was giving him some trouble, he did as many reps as he could :).

We finished and hobbled to the living room. We watched a bit of “Tin Tin” with them…until I passed out! He said he called me like 5 times and I didn’t wake up till Alaethia, who was resting on my hip, moved me lol.

They watched the movie while we showered. When we got out, Jaylen was falling asleep, Emily was asleep and Alaethia was totally passed out. Jorge picked her up to move her to her bedroom and she’d peed everywhere lol. Jesus. So we put the covers to wash and set the cushions to drain. I sent Eenan to bed (he likes to stick around and stay awake as much as possible). And THEN we went to bed.

Thursday, June 14th

We went in to work at 9am the next morning. We still managed to snooze till the last possible minute so we didn’t eat breakfast at home like we’d planned.

We drove to work together :). At work, I cleaned here and there and got rid of stuff on my computer. I had a few minutes before we left to the Luncheon, so I got on Pinterest. I read this article about bra sizes. Holy crap! I need to find my “correct” size. I seriously had no idea there were such things as THOSE SIZES. No wonder nothing ever fits me correctly!

I also saw this girl’s ab progress and it motivated me even more to continue with it. I wish I’d kept my photos from when I was actually doing P90X/tae kwon do religiously; I know for a fact that it works, so I’m totally going to make an effort!

We went to the luncheon and I helped with registration. Then we had lunch. It was pretty healthy: salad, fish in cilantro sauce, glazed carrots and roasted potatoes, but the fish was super salty . I had only half of my glazed carrots and one tiny potato. And then, dessert. Cheesecake. I admit, I ate most of it. But I left a little bit, which is more than I can say I would have done 2 weeks ago, heh. I even had my brewed tea without sugar and some water.

We got back to work and I continued with my tidying up. And some more Pinterest, hehe.

I got home, changed, chilled out with the kids and painted Emily’s nails while I waited for dinner dinner to finish cooking.

I made fish. I had no idea they were serving that for lunch and had already planned for it . But it was good :). Jaylen even had seconds!

Jorge got home from work and ate and we watched TV with the kids while our stomachs settled, for about 30 minutes. Then we got ready and went to the park. We walked 4 and jogged 1. We felt awesome afterwards. We stopped by Exxon to get something to drink since we finished our water. Everything had TONS of sugar. Or sucralose or some other type of sugar substitute. We found some Sobe Life Waters, which had lower sugar than all the other drinks, including tea or juice. I got pomegranate and Jorge got mango mandarin. We tried the other’s drink and we switched LOL. The mango mandarin one is SO GOOD!

We get home and park in the driveway. He says, “Ok, let’s bet. I bet that Alaethia’s whining for snacks, Emily’s throwing a fit and the boys were fighting so Eenan’s in our room. What do you think?” I say, “Somewhat the same; Alaethia fell asleep though, Emily’s throwing a fit and the boys did fight, so Eenan’s playing in their room and Jaylen’s in the living room watching TV or on my computer.”

“Ok,” he says, “Let’s go see.”

So we get down and quietly walk through the garage and the laundry room and open the boys’ door. We both say, “What the–??”

Jorgie and Justin were there. All 4 boys are quietly playing, peacefully.

Jorge asks when they got there, they said a few minutes before. We weren’t expecting them that night, but it was nice that they got to come over :). They told us they had a doctor’s appointment in the morning (finally) due to their bad coughs so their mother would pick them up. We let them know they wouldn’t be staying up long. None of them were happy about that LOL.

Friday, June 15th

It was cleaning day at work and we got to wear JEANS! Since I’d already done most of the cleaning during the week, all I really had to do was dust everything and organize a few binders.

I was finished and satisfied with my work. Then I made the mistake of opening my desk cabinets up top and thought, Hmm. Maybe I should put the binders from 2010 into the storage room filing cabinets?

So I took them all out. Michelle passes by and says, “Oh my God! Your desk is messy again!”

It was awful. I had no room in the storage room cabinets and stuffed one of them to the top so now I can’t open the darn thing. Grr. BUT. I put my trays in one cabinet at my desk and freed up a lot of desk space. And now I only have current binders. I told my boss we need to go through that stuff. Some is 5+ years old!

I finished just in time for lunch and met my love at Palenque Chicken. We joked around with his co-workers and just had a good time. I love meeting him for lunch :).

I got back to work and get a text from Jorge about 20 minutes later. All hell is breaking loose with the boys. Fighting over games, picking on each other–the works. It became a HUGE drama because, of course, as much as we love each other’s kids, we both become defensive over our own children. We’re human. Didn’t help that some dumbass was making it an even bigger drama show than it should have been. (We knew this because we gathered the kids later and talked about it.) But it put a damper on the day a little.

I was scheduled to work till 3, so I went to do some Father’s Day shopping, even though I wasn’t in the best of moods. Jorge is always stealing my Iso-cool pillow, so that was one of his gifts. Too bad they weren’t in stock . I’d have to wait a week for it. I figured I’d be creative and put in a little IOU tag or something with the rest of his gifts.

I started getting prices for the girls’ future twin beds (they’re growing out of their toddler beds fast!). I wanted bunk beds, but there weren’t any in stock and the ones they had in the catalog look too masculine. As I was walking, I saw a patio table and chairs. An employee jumped at the chance to get a sale and gave me an amazing price for them, since it was the last set. We’ve been wanting a patio set, but when I asked if they were getting any new ones the employee said no. I okayed the last set with Jorge (whom I had to tell about the pillow because he was wondering why I’d go to Furniture Row all random-like) and we got it! For about a 3rd of the cost AND 6 months, no interest LOL. I’m almost done paying it, and we just got it, that’s how cheap it was!

I got Jorge some clothes at Old Navy and headed to his work to pick him up. I was slowly getting out of my funky mood, but when I had to wait an additional hour and a half…I wasn’t so cheery anymore. When he finally got out, we decided to get Subway for us and the kids wanted pizza. So that took a while longer. And then we realize the passenger-side tail light was out…and we were being followed by a cop. So we quickly stopped by O’Reily’s and he changed out the light.

I was annoyed at how late we got home. The girls were all over me ’cause they missed me, aww :*). We chilled for a bit, let the food settle, and then we went for our (quiet) jog.

We walked the first 3 miles, then jogged the last 2. I finally stopped with the ice queen facade after he bumped me several times and I grabbed his hand. We had a talk when we got home and–eventually–all was well, thank goodness :).

Saturday, June 16th

I was meeting Sally for breakfast the next morning, at Jimmy’s Egg. It’s a fairly new restaurant and one of my co-workers was raving about it and we both wanted to try it. We hadn’t hung out in a long time; probably since before our birthdays. We made plans to take the littlest ones with us.

We caught up: gossiped, talked about the kids, our love life, work. It was nice to just chill with a girlfriend. I let her know how crazy the past few months were for me, and all my time and energy was focused on my family. She totally understood.

The kids played and giggled and colored. Then our food came and OMG. I have never had better whole-wheat pancakes in my LIFE. They were cinnamon-y and so delicious! Too bad I didn’t get a photo! But Sally did take one of the girls and me:

I look so sleepy in it, but I like it :). Sally and I were too caught up in the gossip and the kids that we didn’t take one with each other LOL.

When we were done eating Sally and QC came over for a bit and he played with the girls. It’s so fun watching them play together :). The girls kinda fight for his attention, tho :P.

My boys had all eaten while we were on our way home and Jaylen took the girls’ leftover pancakes LOL. Mario came for the kiddos about 30 minutes later and Sally left. I tidied up and then went to buy groceries. My LEAST favorite chore. Other than laundry.

That’s where I found out my driver’s license was expired. And they didn’t let me buy Jorge’s Shiner LOL.

When I got back home I found a 12-pack of Shiner beer carefully placed beside the garage. My first thought? SHINER FAIRY!? But no, it was Jorge’s friend/employee, who was kissing butt for getting in trouble that morning for calling in and later busting himself partying when he butt-dialed another co-worker LOL.

I made dinner and Jorge got home. His sister came over with her kiddos and we caught up. Two of Jorge’s friends were coming over so we gathered outside in the garage. Jorge put the new patio table together (and playfully joked, “You see what she has me doing? The night before Father’s Day?!” LOL) and after he was done Briana and I came in so I could make us some Margaritas. It was seriously mostly strawberries (and 1 mango) because the strawberries looked close to spoiling and I wanted to save them LOL.

We had our drink and laughed at the guys. Briana whispers to me, “Is that really all they talk about? Farts?” Buahaha! I thought that was hilarious. (And yes, they do!)

We got a visit from Big Red, a neighbor’s beautiful Labrador, who has seemed lost in recent days because his buddy, a tiny white chihuahua, moved away :(. It’s the saddest thing. It’s like he comes to our yard to look for him, because he remembers this is where they’d play and take a short-cut to the other neighborhood behind us .

Briana and Mia left (Nick was sleeping over) and then it was midnight. We said our “Happy Father’s Day!” to everyone and the guys left about 30 minutes later. As Jorge and I were getting ready for bed I asked him, “What do you want to do for Father’s Day, my love?” He said, “Nothing,” and smiled. I asked, “Really? Nothing?” He said, “Nope. I just want to chill out at home and do nothing.”

Sounds like a plan :).

Saturday, June 9th

I managed to sleep in a little, till about 9am; despite Jorge’s SUPER LOUD alarm blaring for 15 minutes straight, even after several slightly stubbly (heh) kisses on the cheek, forehead and lips while he got ready. Aw. I wish I could just keep him with me on a Saturday morning .

I could have slept more, but I had too many errands to run and didn’t want to be rushing at the last minute, like I usually am. So I made myself some coffee (fat free creamer and Splenda–bleh. I’m trying to cut down on sugar since I haven’t been feeling very well and don’t want a repeat of 2008.) and some egg whites with a slice of chopped up turkey breast. I had Jessica’s baby shower to attend at 3 and then Jorge and I were going to have a big dinner, so I was going to keep my calories down as much as possible throughout the day.

I showered and did my girl thing; redid my toenails, flat-ironed my hair, etc. Got ready and went to the bank with Mom, then to my other bank, then to Old Navy to get Jess’ baby a few things and some jeans for Jorge for Father’s Day. We were making excellent time. We visited Gramma after that. She’s doing much better, thank God. She’d had an X-ray and the preliminary results showed that she was developing pneumonia again :(. The last time she had pneumonia she was in the hospital for weeks and very, scarily ill. But she’s taking her medication and she’s moving around in her wheelchair during the day and doing physical therapy a little bit. I’m glad the nurses finally paid attention; her coughs would turn into pneumonia before because she didn’t want to to get out of bed and they’d listen to her .

Mom stayed with her and told me to pick her up after I left the baby shower. I came home to change my shoes and rushed to Jessica’s. After getting lost for a few minutes I ended up at the right place, heh. We chitchatted and I got straight to helping her with the 8-layer dips, guacamole, the garlic bread and other things here and there. She was going all-out and feeding us WELL. She even made these super cute drinks:

I totally want to make these. With some Sparking peach champagne or Moscato!

People were having trouble finding Jess’ house and she was getting shaky from being on her feet and cooking all day so we all made her sit to eat. I had one of the dips, a few chips and a skewer of bacon-wrapped chicken. Everything was so good! Totally gonna have to make those. I’m thinking of throwing a dinner party, maybe before she has her baby and before Carmen leaves to her new station in Virginia. We’ll have another mini-reunion :).

It was already going to be 5:30. The baby shower was till 7, but since Jorge and I had to take off to Brownsville by 6, I had to leave early :(. She served me a plate of the main dish–lasagna and garlic bread–and I got ready to leave. As I said my good-byes her mom says, “We need to do this again!” And then she looks at Jess’ belly and said, “Wait.” I said, “Yes, again. Under different circumstances!” LOL

I miss my babies like crazy. I spoke to them while I was on my way to pick Mom. It was brief, and Jaylen was, er, on the toilet when he was talking to me LOL, so that was a short chat.

Jorge was already home; showered and taking a nap. The poor thing had a dramatic day at work. They were almost done with a project when one of his employees made a huge mistake and they had to clean it all up. Luckily, it was all done and he got out early like he’d planned to.

We got our things together and headed to Brownsville. I spent the drive untangling my gold chains, stupid things! But we chitchatted and had a relaxing drive. We got to the restaurant and got out seats since we were on the list, but they charged us for the boxing bracelets. And then there was another misunderstanding, but Jorge explained that his friend was the owner and then it dawned on them that, YES! They did tell us you were coming! And the night went smoothly from there :).

Jorge updated his status on Facebook, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :).

It felt nice to just get away for a bit. We quite literally pigged out. I joked, “See what happens when you deprive yourself?” 😛

This was a mango Margarita. One of the best I’ve had:

This was a tamarindo Margarita. It was good, but you could only drink so much because it was so sour!

This was dinner. I brought more than half home LOL.

Aaaaand I ate ALL of this one:

Cut down on who’s sugar intake?!

Oh. My. God. Beef O’Brady’s in Brownsville. Every darn thing was super tasty. Totally recommend.

It was hard for me to stay awake after that brownie. I was sugar-crashing hardcore. But I did pay attention to the fight and OMG…what a rip-off. Had we paid for it (our bracelets were refunded and we transferred it to the waiter as his tip), I woulda been angry. Jorge called it. He said they were setting up Pacquiao for failure so Mayweather would step in and say Ok, now I wanna fight. Sucks that his sons were present for the very first time and saw their dad lose .

We got in the car, Jorge was driving. Since we were both getting sleepy we blared Phillip Phillips and Elise Testone full blast and sang our hearts out :). I love that :).

We got home, changed into PJs and sat in the garage until this old lady started nodding off. I got ready for bed and he watched TV till he fell asleep; his nightly ritual :). Awesome day, indeed!

April 9th – Started the week like I usually do: with a Monday morning meeting at work. Everyone goes around taking turns, talking about what’s coming up in the week for them. As I jotted down event after upcoming event, I started feeling a little apprehensive. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a worst-case-scenario-type person and my nerves quietly festered into fear. I vented to Jorge about this later and he told me no problem, don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. He said he’d schedule his work near Aly’s school and he’d pick her up. That was what concerned me the most. He’s so wonderful !

April 10th – The girls and I planned another little reunion. It was kind of an impromptu thing, with ideas thrown here and there and we finally agreed to do it at our place. OMG! I felt great about it and then I started feeling nervous, like, what if I couldn’t get the house spotless?! Or what if we couldn’t fit all these people on the porch?! Or what if work didn’t let me borrow tables and chairs?!

I got home from work and tidied up, watched TV with the girlies, and made dinner for all of us:

Then I bathed the girls, read their stories and they were out for the count. Mom said she’d watch the kiddos for us while we went out, so we decided yes, we would for once. We went to Chili’s and just chilled out. I was SO tempted to have my absolute favorite, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, but I woke up and weighed this in the morning:

…and I didn’t want to ruin it! I had a drink (ok, 2!) and we chit-chatted and played on our phones :). I told Jorge, “People are probably looking at us and thinking, ‘Man they’re in trouble. They won’t even put their phones down.’” He laughed. Little do they know we were playing Words by Post with each other LOL.

We were home by 11:45pm :). We got ready for bed, snuggled up and crashed out, heh.

April 11th – The day was a usual work day. It ended as a day where I involve myself in activities I probably shouldn’t, and by that I mean a cupcake bake-off LOL. I don’t know what I was thinking. EZ called asking me to participate, because he knows I like to bake and cook, but I told him Yes, I like to, but I’m not ready for a bake-off!.

I finally agreed to do it if Michelle agreed to do it with me. She said ok. So there we go, right after work, to HEB to buy our ingredients. We decided we’d be doing Rainbow Cupcakes. I’d never attempted these before, but I’d always wanted to and it seemed easy enough…

We got back and I started on the batter. I dyed it with food coloring and then the girls helped us mix. Then Michelle and I got started on layering. I took a picture of her because she said, “No one’s ever going to believe that I’m baking!” And they didn’t LOL!

Michelle thought it was the cutest thing that they pull the stools up to the counter and quietly watch me work. She asked, “Do they always do that?” And I said, “Oh, yes, every day.”

She asked Emily, “You like to watch Mama cook?”

Emily (who was being shyer than usual) nodded a timid Yes.

Michelle asked her, “You want to cook like mama?” and Emily nodded yes again, with a little smile this time. Aww

The inside:

We were proud of our cupcakes :). I thought they were super cute; something I’d definitely have to make for the kiddos, but in cake-form next time!

April 12th – We were excited about the bake-off. Everyone wanted to see our entries. We had to provide 3 for the tasting and 9 for the guests/donations.

I picked up Alaethia after school and had lunch with her and Emily, like usual. I was going to miss my little ladies. It was Mario’s weekend and I wouldn’t be seeing the girls right after work since Michelle and I would be heading to the bake-off right afterwards.

We submitted our entries, got a tour of the place, ate a teensy bit and waited. When all was finished Michelle and I didn’t win, but our cupcakes were the 2nd to go. It was a little upsetting that the winners were 2 of the people who work at the organization =\. And there was only one People’s Choice category and it went to a professional bakery. BUT, it was fun and a great experience. I’d never been a part of something like that and it was awesome :)!

Got home and called all the kiddos and spent time with my love :). He had some news for me: he wasn’t able to get the full day off on Saturday so we couldn’t go celebrate Sally’s birthday like we wanted to . I felt awful that I wouldn’t be there. I had to figure out how to work up the courage to give the news to Tina.

April 13th – I eventually told Tina before noontime that we wouldn’t be able to attend. She even tried accommodating us the best way possible but even then, he would get out too late Friday and we wouldn’t make it. I was so sad that I wouldn’t be able to spend our 30th together :(.

I tried inviting Sally to lunch, but she was with QC and said we’d leave it for another time. Jorge said we’d have lunch at Kumori, so I met him and his new employee there. I hope we didn’t freak him out with our jokes and constant “that’s what she said!” innuendos LOL.

My day got instantly better spending a little time with my babe :). Too bad I started feeling sick about an hour after lunch! I almost thought I had food poisoning, but I was just really queasy. I thought, “Not before the reunion!!”

I got home from work and Mom and I rushed to get some stuff for the party the next day and a few little decorations from Ross. I didn’t want to spend too much, but we got a few new rugs for the bathrooms, Mom got me Margarita glasses for my birthday LOL, new soap dispensers from Target and a few other things. I got home and started cleaning while the boys played in their room.

Jorge and I went to pick up the tables and chairs from work and came home and put them in the garage. Jorge wanted to take me to dinner: our traditional birthday dinner at Pappadeaux, but I was skeptical. I hadn’t eaten since lunch; I’d only had a sip of his Sprite and I felt nauseous all over again. I didn’t want to puke 🙁 LOL. But we went anyway and I’m so glad I felt ok enough to eat.

Everything was so delicious. I ate so much during the appetizers that I couldn’t finish my food OR my free birthday cheesecake!

I had my poor babe on an emotional roller coaster. I’d feel fine and then I’d feel ill, so I’d laugh and then I’d kind of mope and try and calm my nausea. He dealt with it all really well though ♥!

We got home, earlyish, and I made myself some manzania tea to settle my stomach before we sat down to watch DVR’d American Idol. I was kind of regretting stuffing myself with appetizers, but I’m glad I was only nauseous and not full-blown sick. I snuggled up next to Jorge on the sofa, with my hot tea and my favorite blanket and he took the words right out of my mouth when he said, “I love this. I love when we get to just relax together.” Me too :).

April 14th I woke up to “Happy Birthday, Baby!!” He snuggled me for a while and gave me a kiss on the forehead. He walked to the door and said, “Sleep in, Baby, it’s your birthday,” and sleep in I did! For the first time in a LONG time I allowed myself to sleep in till 10:30am LOL. Mom had already served the boys breakfast. I told them to get ready while I got ready. We were picking up my kiddos and having lunch at Peter Piper Pizza. I’d asked Mario earlier in the week if I could “borrow” them, since it was his weekend and he’d agreed. I thank him for that. It made my day to see my kiddos on my birthday :*)!

Mom, the boys and I picked my kiddos up and I was greeted by 4 Happy Birthdays ♥! We got to PPP, ordered our food and I got a bajillion tokens. They played to their hearts’ content and then we ate. Emily threw one little tantrum, because Alaethia had gotten a prize and she didn’t, so we went and got her some tickets and the guy gave her 3 of the prize she wanted :).

We ran into Salvador, one of our old classmates at Tae Kwon Do. He’s already a black-belt! It made me a little sad; I was hoping to be the first “family” of black-belts to graduate together at our school . But oh well, things happen.

I let the kids play another long while. They were reluctant to leave even when I gave them an extra 20 minutes. We took pictures; Mom didn’t do to well with my phone…she cut half the kids’ heads off LOL. So Jorgie took the pic of my kiddos and me :).

Of course it was dark because my phone ran out of battery and Emily is forever turning when the picture’s shot LOL.

I dropped my babies off :(, and then we stopped by HEB to get some food and stuff we’d need for the reunion. It was fast with Jorgie and Justin ticking things off the list.

I got home and cleaned in a frenzy. I didn’t have much to do, the house is usually tidy, but the bathrooms got a good scrubbing, I cleaned behind and under the fridge (which was acting up ever since they fixed the freezer), and I hung up all the laundry. Jorge got home and swept/washed the porch and cleaned up the pit. I vacuumed the living room and dusted and took a shower and got ready. Felipe and Freddy had come over and helped him put the tables and chairs up.

He showered and got ready and we made a quick run to Feldman’s. We got back and the girls slowly started arriving. It was great seeing everyone and chismiando :). Jorge ended up calling Freddy to come back because none of the guys who’d RSVP’d came LOL.

My Love was so wonderful. He did all the cooking and made us Margaritas and was just such a great host. When we were inside together once I apologized that he ended up doing everything on his own. He said, “I want to, Babe. Anything for you, Love. It’s your birthday.” All the girls kept telling me how lucky I am. How very right they are :*)!!

They sang Happy Birthday to me and we had 2 different cakes :). Daisy brought a Better-than-sex one and Mom had bought me a brownie ice cream cake. Justin was so sweet; he got all involved with the cake and candles and serving :).

I had such a great, great birthday! It was honestly one of the best in YEARS. I felt…special :)!

We had the boys get in bed and I finished catching up. The last of the girls, Jessica and Daisy, ended up leaving around 1am. I need to make more time for my friends. I had no idea how much some of them were going through right now. I need to be a better friend!

I stayed up with my Love and Freddy till I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore LOL. I actually went to bed around 3am for once!

Freddy kept telling us how lucky we are to have each other. I couldn’t agree more ♥!

April 15th We woke up early considering how late we fell asleep. I got up and made us breakfast: omelets of course, per my Baby’s request, heh. We ate leftover cake as we watched Jerry Maguire–well, sort of, until we realized that the weird smell our fridge was emitting was becoming annoying and really nauseating. We decided we’d go look at fridge’s, just in case. If they were too expensive then forget it.

We went to Conn’s and found the fridge he’d been looking at online and it was a great price! We were approved for it right away and the paperwork as done, just like that! THAT’S the type of stuff I’m used to, not the being denied just about everything a year ago when I was barely salvaging my credit after SOMEBODY ruined it .

We stopped at Target afterwards…for who knows what LOL. I can’t remember. And we had some nachos and Icee’s. I weighed 115 on my birthday–my short-term goal!–and I was sure I’d gained it back in those 1 and a half days!

We did our Sunday routine when we got back. The Golf Tournament was the next day and I was SO GLAD to be wearing jeans to work, hehe. We relaxed and caught up on our shows. I’m so thrilled and humbled and GRATEFUL for all the wonderful people in my life, my kids and Jorge and family above all :*). My next 30 years are going to be GREAT!