Category: Friendship

This weather is putting a damper on my mood and making me sleepy and lazy. That, or it’s almost THAT TIME.

Let’s go backwards, shall we? I’m waiting for dinner to finish cooking Jorge to get home at the moment. I made a new sauce for the baked chicken I was making and it was SO GOOD. I used a 10.5 oz can of cream of chicken, 1/2 of that can of milk, 2 stalks (is that what they’re called?) of chives, 1 stalk of celery, about a little less than a handful of cilantro and half a serrano pepper and pureed them all together. I wanna grab some tortilla chips and just eat the rest of it O_O. I would have posted a picture of it, but it came out blurry and looked weird .

I cleaned the girls room from top to bottom and reorganized the closet. Sally and Quentin had come over and I made spaghetti and turkey meatballs while we caught up on the past 2 weeks. Prior to that I cleaned up the living room, sorted (more) laundry, cleared the dining table and had just gotten started on the kitchen counters.

Mario has the kiddos this weekend (probably another reason why I’m this way). I got to see them in the morning for a bit when I met him (and his mother) to give him Emily’s eardrops. I miss them all :(!

I asked the boys what they’d like for breakfast, eggs or cereal. They picked cereal, of course LOL. I made breakfast for myself: egg whites and yellow & orange peppers, cilantro, onion, tomato.

And hazelnut coffee that mom so nicely brewed for me when I woke up at 10am. Yes. 10am.

I’d fallen asleep the night before at 9:30pm or 10pm. With Ruffles on the sofa. I woke up just as Jorge was snapping a photo LOL.

I’d made baked fish (this time for all of us, heh) for dinner with a side of green bean casserole. Jorge installed a new camera lens on my Evo. Now I can take clear pics again :)! And I got a new cover for my phone so I won’t scratch it again…

I kept myself busy when I got home from work. It’s quiet and I get so bored without the kiddos here. So I cleaned till it was time to start making dinner, before Jorge got home with his boys. I had an observer:

Friday was a long, cold day. Kinda boring. Except for when we had almond cream cake from Sweet & Tasty for the boss’ birthday. Before that there was a tad bit of drama. Before that the day started out kinda crappy.

Mario’s weekend started on Thursday night. His mother came and picked up the girls, of course. I was happy I got to see my boys. My God, how I miss them :(.

I was just about to start baking some fish when we decided to go to on a little date to Kumori :). I still made dinner for Mom and then my babe and I got ready to go.

It was great and we had some laughs :). We got home and watched our DVR’d American Idols and then went to sleep :).

Thursday, after I picked up Aly from school, I picked up Mom and Emmy. They both had doctor’s appointments so we got those out of the way.

Wednesday was spent doing finance-related stuff at work. Got home, chilled with the girls, snapped a pic:

And we met Jorge at Taco Bell, which is what they wanted for dinner :).

Tuesday night was Alaethia’s first Open House :). She didn’t have much work, since she’s only been at this school for a month, but the work she has done is impressive! Even her folder is adorable:

Her teachers have wonderful things to say about her all the time *beams*.

We went grocery shopping right after, all us girls. Got home and made this wonderful dinner with my love (he got home right on time to make shrimp scampi, hehe):

Monday was a day spent in court, brought on by events from the week before.

And that’s that. Somewhat of a summary. I’d have gone into detail but it’s late now. We started watching Netflix movies, first “Limitless”, which was pretty darn good and then “Chaos Theory”, which is an older Ryan Reynolds movie. It was a little sad, comical at times, and had a happy ending. And now I’m sleepy and my love is passed out on the sofa next to me. Good night :).

Let me try and make this short and sweet (TRY). You knew that wasn’t going to happen, heh.

The week of Christmas was busy, busy. I was still out shopping for last-minute gifts on the 23rd. Mario and I worked out a schedule so we’d have somewhat equal time with the kids during the holiday. He had Emily Tuesday evening and Wednesday, then I went for the kiddos after lunch on Thursday and kept them till Saturday night, Christmas Eve. He picked them up that evening and brought them back to me Christmas after lunch. Then I kept them till Monday evening since I was off work :). It worked out pretty well.

Monday was pretty much get-everything-accomplished-at-work day since I was going to be off since Tuesday afternoon. I had vacation days I needed to take so that was pretty awesome.

Tuesday after work I spent getting stuff taken care of for several things, including the garage sale I was bravely attempting to have on Thursday and Friday. Got home and spent some time with my Emmos before Mario picked her up :).

Jorge got home and we ate dinner. We were totally hyped up, we told ourselves THIS. THIS WAS THE NIGHT WE’D DO SOMETHING. We’d become such homebodies lately and I was already getting into a crappy mood earlier that day because Emmos wouldn’t be home for 2 nights. So we decided we’d go out, somewhere cheap and just have a drink. I’d invited Michelle but she was out shopping. JR said he’d come over and we’d go somewhere. We were already getting tired and sleepy and had snuggled into bed :lol:, but Jorge said, “No, no. Let’s get up and get ready.” So we did.

JR arrived, changed, and we went to Cigar Bar. Although it was going to make my hair stink, I like some of the drinks there and we never spend too much money. So we sat and talked and had fun. The guys got hungry so we went to Jack-in-the-Box and they ordered tacos. Typical guys :lol:. They were being hilarious. I even had a mystery-meat taco LOL.

I had an appointment Wednesday morning and then I got home, my babe got ready and we picked up some tables from work. We got some wrapping paper and other stuff we’d need and then dropped off the tables. THEN we both finally ate at Palenque Chicken. Love that place :).

We spent the evening getting junk into the garage and organizing for the garage sale. We were just about to go get some dinner when the doorbell rang. A total stranger was asking if they could see the garage sale stuff. We said sure and she bought a WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF. Kary came over and her mom took most of the girls’ baby clothes and the huge desk. Michelle and Rosie were right: advertising does work!

I woke up when Jorge did for work the next day. I took my time, didn’t even bother to make my hair decent since I figured I’d have plenty of time to do it after I got back from posting signs on the corners around the block. I open the garage…and I kid you not, it was like ZOMBIES were attacking from under the garage door!! I look at mom in horror, who’d followed me into the garage to help hang clothes up. I literally sold most of the stuff in under an hour. I texted Jorge to tell him how much we’d made around 11am and he was in shock. As was I. I was so grateful, too, as we still had gifts to buy and we’d just spent a good amount at my appointment the day before.

We had no idea how that people wanted our junk, but they did, and on that cold, bleak morning, too! Mom later told me that there was already a line of cars parked outside at 6am when she’d woken up. I had the garage sale posted for 8am, but no way were those people waiting!

I closed shop around 2pm. Went to pick up the kiddos and we sang and talked on the way home. I missed them so much! I spent time with each one and had to keep rotating, heh. Eenan was showing me his Sims game, Alaethia and Emily were watching videos on the iPad. Alaethia’s really been into cooking shows and baking lately. All she wanted to do was watch Barbie Princess cakes videos. That’s what she wants me to make her for her birthday next month (5, already, eek !). She has so much faith in her Mama :P.

And Emily, she loves BABIES. That’s all she wants to do is watch shows about babies and Youtube videos about babies. That’s all she wanted for Christmas: dolls and babies.

I made dinner, we watched TV with the kids and they settled down. I don’t remember what we watched but we all ended up falling asleep on the sofa again, scattered everywhere.

The next morning Emily woke up with an ear infection. She tugged at her ear and cried. Mom gave all the kids breakfast while I closed up the garage sale. We’d gotten 2 people in the entire day so closing early wasn’t a problem. All the stuff that’s left would be taken to Goodwill. Eventually.

We made our way to the doctor. I was, in a way, glad Emily’s symptoms started showing up when they did, as the doctor’s offices would be closed till Tuesday due to the holiday. I took Alaethia in, too, as she’d also had symptoms of a cold and Mario hadn’t taken her in. Good thing I did: Emily had a severe ear infection and Alaethia’s was just starting out. Both of them had red throats and I asked them to prescribe something for Alaethia’s eczema, which has gotten a lot worse. Mario never took her in for new meds. (I’m happy to say it’s begun to clear up since she started taking that steroid! My poor girl was already in pain :(!)

Emily had a slight meltdown in the lobby as we waited for their prescriptions. Ok. I won’t sugarcoat it. It was an INSANE MELTDOWN. All because my phone was dying and I asked her to please put it back in my bag; she couldn’t play Angry Birds on it yet. Well, she’s used to getting her way at a place I won’t mention (not my house), so she had a fit. Not to mention she was irritable because of her ear and it was time for her daily nap. So I quietly took them to the van, buckled them in and drove around to the pharmacy drive-thru. Without losing my mind. I’ve still got it!

We stopped at HEB for a few things (yes, I braved it even with Emily’s tantrums) and when we got home, I gave the girls their meds. Emily fell asleep immediately. I made lunch and we kind of just had a lazy day the rest of the day. The kids continued it with Mom, who’d made popcorn and snacks :).

Pete and Sally invited us over (I’m so happy for them !). We put all the kiddos to bed and we headed over to their house (which is quite literally, down the street). All the kids had their phones just in case they needed us.

We had such a great time! Louie and his new wife, Jennifer, were there. Hadn’t seen Louie in YEARS! Jes was there, too and of course, Pete and Sally and Jorge and I. I’m so glad he can so easily get along with my friends. It means a lot to me that he makes an effort, especially with Pete and Sally, who are really important to me. I remember when someone else told me he had nothing in common with them and hated hanging out with them, which really pissed me off. (That’s actually around the time he told me he hated it so much that I should go hang out with Sally alone. Downtown even! And then the downward spiral of drama started. Just sayin’.)

Anyway, it was great :D. We made a cake and brownies and had some Margaritas. We kept making jokes about the shower to Pete, it was hilarious. A great, great night!

I woke up early the next morning, Christmas Eve! Made the kids breakfast and we ate together (my love had to work half a day =\) and then I started cleaning up. I got some Snickerdoodle batter ready around noontime, but since I had to chill the batter a while, I didn’t have them ready by the time Aunt Nora, Linda and her hubby, Tommy, came to visit. They brought everyone of us presents :*), how very sweet of them! We got to chat a while and Linda was in love with Ruffles :).

Mario came for the kiddos around 7pm. They’d gotten to get a few Snickerdoodles since I’d had a chance to make some before they left and I had them pose with the tree:

Jorge made us some bacon-wrapped, cream cheese & crab stuffed jalapeños that evening.

I can usually have about 5 of those babies. I had 2…and then I picked out this huge, dangerous looking one and I took a bite. I literally felt like my ears were bleeding. I felt nauseous–man, it was awful! No amount of milk or cookies or anything would help! Jorge thought I was being dramatic, but I told him to taste it and he said, “OMG, Baby, I’m so sorry!” 😆

We watched a movie while we wrapped the rest of the presents. I actually passed out while taking a break from wrapping but he finished. He did a great job with the boxes and even finished with Santa’s handwriting. He’s just so wonderful !

We woke up the next day and just enjoyed each other’s company :). We agreed to get each other a gift we’ve been wanting for a long time so we’d be ordering it soon :). I’ll post it when we finally receive it next Wednesday ♥.

Mom woke up and she opened her gifts from us :). She’d already given us ours: she pitched in to get us our gift from each other, heh. Jorge went to pick up his boys and Mom and I visited Gramma. We chatted a while and even shooed away her nosy, thiefy roommate . She was even snooping in Gramma’s wardrobe while we were standing right there! We’ve already brought it to the home’s attention, about this lady and her klepto-tendencies, but they say “she doesn’t know what she’s doing”. That may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that it stresses out my poor Gramma!!

We got home around the time Jorge did. His boys opened their gifts :). Then Mario dropped off my babies and they got to open theirs :). It was a mad-house of giggles and wrapping paper. It was wonderful :)!

We ordered Domino’s (one of the only places open that day LOL) and spent the rest of the day opening plastic packages and downloading apps on their little tablets. The house was in shambles, but we left it all alone and spent the rest of the even enjoying our kids. I felt so blessed, so complete!

November 8th – I picked up some groceries after work, got home and Emily and I picked up Jorge at work. She wanted to get off the van to see Jorge’s workplace, so we went in to visit. We talked to Jorge’s co-workers (the girls fawned over how pretty she is ♥) and then we found him. Emily ran straight into his arms and we walked back to the van. Emily asked if we could go to “the place with the gummies” (Red Mango), so we took the little princess :). She was feeling so, so much better from her cough and cold. She wasn’t up the entire night coughing, thank goodness.

Emily added the gummy bears, I swear!

We ate at the restaurant and then we came home and had some dinner–backwards, yes LOL. The good thing is, Emily’s a great eater. I’ve probably mentioned it before but she eats everything: from spinach to tamales. One of her favorite things is spinach salad with walnuts, strawberries and vinaigrette. So I wasn’t too worried that she’d had her sweets before dinner :).

We watched TV for a bit and then we got ready to go for a jog at the park. God, I love that park. It’s so spacious and open and you can just breathe out there. Emily stayed with Mom (she had a sugar crash from the gummies, I think heh) and we took off. We walked 3 laps and jogged 2. Yes, actually jogged. Jorge is about a foot taller than me so his legs are much longer and it takes some effort on my part to keep up, heh. But he’s great and actually waits for me when I start getting winded (I remember how jogging with someone else SUCKED because he’d leave me behind all the time. I hated it ).

The night was fresh and we just talked about everything: our teen years, old married life, our life together now, our kids…it was easy to just walk and jog all those laps :).

The next day, the 9th, was cold and overcast outside. I caught up on details for my event at work and met my love and his co-worker for lunch at Siempre Natural. We decided that if we were going to eat somewhere it was going to be healthy. Didn’t want to ruin our exercise. I had a damn good grilled chicken salad and we shared a bowl of fideo (carby, but it was a small portion, heh).

Mario came to pick up my Emmos that day since it was his night. Jorge got home and we went to Ross to look for some slacks for him and a dress shirt for Karina’s wedding that Friday. Didn’t take us long to find him a nice outfit and then I got myself a plum blouse and some gray dress pants for work the next day :).

We ended up at Red Mango again since it was down the block, hehe :). That was all we were having for dinner, so it was ok! I had the perfect night planned in my mind: Red Mango, XFactor and cuddling–but one tiny thing that had nothing to do with us made the night take a different turn. We’re so alike and we react so similarly that we kinda sat there and stewed for a bit. And then we looked at each other and got over it, just like that . THEN we enjoyed our yogurt and show :).

I was helping Michelle with one of her events the next day. I did a few things related to my event and then helped her out. It went well, and we had great food! I cheated and had cheesecake but it was a HUGE slice and I couldn’t resist! There were TONS of cheesecakes left and food, so I made a plate for my love since I wouldn’t be home and left him the 4 slices of cheesecake at work. He behaved himself and only had one (and I regret it now, but we behaved so well that 2 of the cheesecakes were eventually thrown out 🙁 ).

Thursdays are usually hectic for me because it’s when I go to La Joya and it’s usually the night we have events at work. That would be one of those nights.

We had a Mixer at the Incubator and they weren’t expecting a huge turn-out, so our “boss boss” required us to be there. The Incubator is at my old elementary ♥. I became quite nostalgic being back there. Walking up the front steps into the hallway that used to have the light blue water fountain. Walking into the odd glass-doored room that had the main office on the left side and the cafeteria and stage on the right. Jamie gave me a tour of the office, which looked almost identical to the one I remember. The cafeteria looked so much smaller than I remember, but that could be because they built offices inside. The stage was still there but was missing the faded red velvet drapes. The floor was different too; it no longer had the blue tiled floors with the yellow tiles that spelled “S H” in front of the stage :(.

Leading out of the glass-doored room was the long hallway that lead to all the other hallways “outside”. Sam Houston was one of those old-fashioned schools that had outdoor hallways. It SUCKED when it was cold and you forgot your sweater and had to go to the library or the restroom LOL.

The exact same yellow follow-the-leader lines from back in the day still remained, albeit chipped. The only bathroom I could find (that was down that loooong hallway with signs that said, “Bathroom Down the Hall”…”Almost there”…”Keep Going”, no joke LOL) was one of the boys’ bathrooms where the “tunnel” with the mural of the huge golden cougar head was. I can’t remember now if the old cougar was still painted on the wall . I laughed to myself as I entered that bathroom because, for the first time ever, I was in the boys’ bathroom at Sam Houston :P. It was a big no-no to go in there when we were little hehe.

I actually behaved myself for once and stayed completely away from the delicious looking brownies and sweets. I didn’t even have the shrimp & queso dip, can you believe it? That’s what happens when I’m actually working out: I make an effort to watch what I eat. Otherwise, I really don’t care =<. I mingled a bit with some of our members at the mixer and then made a run for it to pick up the kiddos to eat dinner. Since it was already a lil late we had snacks at Burger King. We sat and talked about our day, the boys talking about the games, of course, and the girls being silly and needing to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes O_o. It's way too short a time to spend with them. I hate it .

I got home and my babe and I snuggled on the couch and watched DVR’d XFactor. He made us some Abuelita Hot Chocolate since I was getting sleepy :). We stayed up a bit longer…and then I crashed out at 9pm! He woke me up about midnight so we could go to our room. Lo and behold, after washing my face, brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed…sleep left me completely. Figures. I was up till about 2!

The next day, was 11/11/11! I helped Michelle with her Lunch & Learn meeting. It ran a little late, which was perfect because I got to meet my love and his co-worker at Deli Salads. He’d been raving about that place and he was totally right, the food was great!

We chit-chatted and watched the news. Jorge told me about the Blu Cig, an electronic cigarette he’d been researching and finally bought that morning. He said so far, he was doing pretty good and hadn’t smoked anything but the Blu!

We finished up and I headed across the street to Red Lobster to pick up some gift cards they were donating to my event. The rest of the day kinda went by fast :).

Karina was getting married that day! It’s about time LOL. I stopped by the church to see if I could catch some of Karina’s ceremony, but I got there only to see them taking pictures. We talked a bit and then I went straight to pick up the kiddos after work and then we picked up a pizza for them. I had to do it: I had one breadstick, but I was STARVING.

I made sure mom had everything she needed, made sure the Roku was connected so the kids could watch a movie on Netflix and then I got ready for the wedding. Once Jorge did get home we kinda rushed around and then we picked up Gina so we could find the wedding together.

It took us forever. Dayse even called and we were all driving around aimlessly. She finally got ahold of Karina and we eventually found the place, but we missed the dinner LOL. It was still pretty darn great to hang out with my buddies :). Gina, Dayse, Martha, a girl I don’t remember named Anabella, Karina of course and even Juan B., who was there with his band. My babe was social and wonderful and got along with the husbands, hehe. And he looked so darn handsome :). Never, in all my years of knowing him, have I ever seen him in slacks, willingly LOL.

Dayse took a picture of us with my phone, but not before I started fidgeting with my black cami trying to cover my extreme cleavage. Dayse smacked my hand away playfully and said, “You need to stop being so self-conscious! You’ve always been this way. People PAY to have those!”

Jorge gave both she and I a knowing look, because he knows exactly how self-conscious I am. But, we took the picture and I think it’s my favorite of us!

We had to get back home to the kiddos so we didn’t stay too long. We politely declined going to the after party for menudo LOL. We said our goodbyes and then we headed home. All the kiddos were very cutely strewn across the living room on every surface. We left them all where they were, they looked so comfortable. We tiptoed to our room and I changed into PJs and then my babe and I sat outside on the porch and talked :). It was a great night.

The kiddos and I had a lazy Saturday. The boys played Xbox, the girls circled stuff in the Walmart and Target catalogs that they wanted for Christmas and I searched for new themes for my site. The girls and I did our nails and then Alaethia asked me to straighten her hair. I was skeptical, but I put the straightening silk in her hair and only pressed it lightly.

She was so happy with her long locks :). She’s already becoming conscious about her image and it makes me fear for the future :(. I had such low self esteem growing up and I don’t want the same for my girls. Alaethia already talks about wanting to change stuff about herself; her hair: wants it straight. Her skin: says she wants to be like me and Emily. I want my girls to know that they’re beautiful exactly how they are!

After I pretended to do some of Emily’s hair (she wanted to be like her sister LOL), I made lunch, paid a few bills, got some groceries and then made dinner before everyone started arriving for the Marquez/Pacquiao fight. Even Michelle came over…and she brought Margaritas hehe.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me these days. I was seriously nodding off during the fight! Didn’t help that Emmos was sitting on my lap and I would rest my forehead on her head LOL. I got to see how unfair a fight it was, at least, but as soon as Michelle left I went straight inside and sat on the sofa with the kiddos…and quickly fell asleep!

The next day was our usual Omelet Sunday :). As Jorge and I sat at the table and he raved about his omelet I told him, “You know what they say: the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I knew I could hook you with those.” And he says, “Oh yes. It has nothing to do with the fact that I was in love with you forever, right?” Awww

I can’t remember too much from that day at the moment…I’m pretty sure it was spent cleaning the house, as our Sundays usually are. If I remember correctly, I made cookies for the kiddos that evening and were running late to drop mine off with Mario since the cookies were taking forever (and that’s ’cause it’s those premade ones that come in the tub; bought two from co-workers for their kids’ fundraisers).

We all piled into the van and took the long drive. For having 6 kids in the car, they were all quiet and well-behaved ♥.

We dropped off my kiddos :(, then Jorgie, Justin, Jorge and I went to his mom’s for a bit. We played with the doggies outside and then we took Old 83 to get a Michelada at Ramos’ Drive-Thru (and we also got snacks for the boys and some Flamin’ Hots with Cheese and corn for us…I forget what they called it. I wasn’t a fan >_<). Being in that part of the Valley reminds me of the few months before moving in to the house. I felt all warm and fuzzy, memories fading in and out of my brain like a slideshow :). We stopped for some Subway, but I only got a soup because I was already full from drinking some of the Michelada and that weird Flamin' Hot concoction. I also felt guilty about ruining my healthy-eating streak. I was officially down 5 lbs. in the week that I started eating well and jogging. The boys got in bed shortly after and we watched TV. I knew it was going to be a pretty busy week since my event was that next weekend, so I enjoyed every bit of my evening ♥.