Category: Jaylen

So that interview I wrote about yesterday? I survived it once again.

But not before flipping my shit because I was half-abandoned and expected to do the thing myself when I didn’t even want to do it in the first place. I mean, I felt like flipping my desk over (if it didn’t weigh a literal ton). But I got over it, and wonderful Alexis (I’m so sad she’s not my neighbor anymore, waah!) practiced the Spanish part with me and Mrs. Thelma helped me through it, as did the two ladies interviewing us. They really are great at what they do and totally put us at ease and made us laugh.

I wasn’t too thrilled when Carolina, the lady who did the Spanish interview, offered to get in touch with her contacts at the other Spanish stations to interview us and promote the program there, too. I just smiled and gave a thumbs up. She’s just being helpful, of course, but I did stumble all over my words during the Spanish part. You’d think that after 4 years of Spanish being a part of my job that it would sort of just FLOW, but it doesn’t.

I’ve got lots to catch up on tomorrow since I took half the day today to comply with my appointments.

I met my love (and Marco, and then ran into Michelle, EZ and Anabel) at Palenque Chicken. I love meeting him for lunch .

Emily had a follow up at her dentist’s office. Well, not really a follow-up; more like a second opinion. I couldn’t believe it when they told me she had 2 cavities her last visit (after 6 months). During that same visit, when it was time to schedule an appointment for her fillings they tell me they would schedule her fillings for her 6 cavities. I tell them they made a mistake; check the chart. Nope, it was hers.

I felt weird and frankly, I didn’t believe it. So I scheduled an appointment with the pediatric dental specialist for today. He checks her and says he sees 4 cavities. Still not the original 2, but OK. And then he says he recommends she gets caps instead of fillings. I’m squinting at the X-ray; the cavity is miniscule!! I don’t understand how something that small needs CAPS!!!

Emily and Alaethia leave with Mary to have lunch, while I go to my dentist appointment. I text Jorge and tell him about my concerns, then I text Mario and tell him the same. They both agree they need to see a different dentist altogether. I get to my dentist’s and tell Jennifer and Elda about it. Jennifer says she used to work for them and they were kind of shady. I freaking new it. I’m moving the girls to my dentist ASAP.

I get my check up done and for the first time in a long time, everything is A-OK!! Woo!

I came home to change really quickly, then went to the girls school to meet Mario and the girls for Meet the Teacher night. I updated Mario; the girls weren’t going to be in the same class as their BFF’s, Audrey and Maddie (both sisters, both the same exact age as my girls). It kind of worked out when Audrey and Alaethia saw each other from across the hall and ran and embraced. As did Emily and Maddie. It was the sweetest thing :). Jenny and I found the opportunity to tell them that Audrey’s class was at the end of the hall and that Alaethia’s was a few doors down. They got it right away, but they didn’t get upset. We did promise weekend play-dates at Ben & Jerry’s though, heh. You gotta bribe them SOMETIMES!!

Jenny complimented me and said that I’m “looking good”. I joked that I jog once a week to keep my figure LOL. I told her we should go together and she replied, “I run, to the fridge!” Buaha. I love her, she’s hilarious. And the compliment was much appreciated as I’m feeling quite gelatinous lately since I’m not working out OR running. Waah.

I took the girls to Ben & Jerry’s for a treat after Meet the Teacher:

We got home and I sent them to the bathroom to brush their teeth!

Mary picked the girls. She’d taken the boys to get haircuts. I think it’s amazing how they both tower over me (it was bound to happen, heh). I love those lil’ guys. I need to mention just how wonderful they are. They’re so loving and great. Eenan sent me this last night when I whined about how much I hate being in front of the screen:

Such a great boy :*)! I just wish he’d see what a handsome boy he is!! I’m afraid I passed on my low self-esteem to my eldest child. How do I fix that :(?

Lots of hugs and kisses were passed around and then my kiddos left :(. It sucks that this is the last week of summer.

Jorge got home as the kids were leaving and before I started making dinner, I checked on my succulents. They’re doing pretty good since I separated them all on Saturday evening with the girls’ help ^_^.

The succulents in the large pot were having trouble, as is the Haworthia Zebra in the smaller “garden” so I had gone with Emily to Home Depot to purchase some small terra cotta pots. (Then we had gone to Kohl’s to finish their school shopping :).)

(I’m not too fond of that photo; it was dark and the flash made the succulents turn weird colors >_<.) Unfortunately, I lost my large hen & chicks and my Echeveria "Lola". They were never the same after we got back from vacation. I'll never understand if it was underwatering, overwatering, sunburn or WHAT that did them in =\. It's frustrating. [caption id="attachment_2344" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Leaflets, propagating.[/caption]

I put all the leaflets I was propagating in this pot. Well, the ones that made it, anyway. The wonderfully budding Jellybean leaves all shriveled up, except one. And even that one doesn’t look like it’s doing too good =\. I just hope the rest make it!

[edited on Friday, August 22, 2014]

I just realized the photo above is from August 15th!! The tiny, new buds have grown significantly in a week!

I threw in the other 3 that I’d been propagating separately, as you can see. Sadly, I’ve forgotten which they are! The little “beads” are Sting of Pearl leaflets and I know there’s a Donkey Tail Burrito. I thought there was a Golden Sedum, but I’m not entirely sure now, since it looks different O_o. Anywho, I can’t wait till they grow more!! The waiting game drives me crazy!!

And here is my windowsill at present:

*swoon* I could stare at them alllll dayyyyy!!

So, even if today started out pretty darn crappy, I have to say my family, friends and hobbies turned it around completely <3!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In my usual manor, I’m finishing this entry up a month after the actual date, but that’s how I do .

Dina, Briana, Javi and the kids got to come down for the holiday . There was a lot of laughing and running around, since Jorge and I had to share the kids with the other parents, like we usually do on holidays.

On Christmas Eve, we visited Gramma and took her her gifts :).

The girls and I visited Rosie and Michelle for a few minutes that evening. The girls had a blast with Sheeba, Rosie’s 4th baby, heh, and looking at their Christmas decorations. They go all out!

The kiddos all played with their cousins and Javi, Briana, Dina, Mom, Jorge and I sat around and opened our gifts from them. I wanted to wait till Christmas, but Javi said, “You’re adults, you don’t have to wait till freakin’ Christmas!”

Javi and Mia brought Ruffles some presents, too. Little toys with bells and a standing thing with a ball and feathers; he had a blast!

They brought us an awesome candle holder centerpiece for the table and 3 bottles of Moscato d’asti! I love my family, they know us too well!

We woke up early on Christmas morning and Jorge went to pick his boys up. They got back and then commenced the ripping open of packages and squeals from the kids. I feel so blessed and great inside that, er, Santa, got to make all their wishes come true. (This is around the time that Jorge would say the fat man gets all the credit .

Javi helped Emily put her Doc McStuffins Check-up Center together. That thing was the bain of Santa’s existence for the month of December .

Eenan, who asked for an old-school Gameboy, was–I think–pleased with his special edition Pikachu Game Boy and 4 games that came with it. Too bad one of them doesn’t save the progress, grr. Eenan hung out in their room while the other boys played a game of Monopoly while their new Xbox downloaded who knows what. This was their expression:

Alaethia opened every package she could find and when everything was nice and strewn all over their bedroom, we put their newest Barbie beach house together. She messed around with her new 2DS and then she, Emily and Mia played Barbie’s and Doc McStuffins together. Julien played with his toys for a while and got so tired he passed out. It didn’t help that the poor thing had a stomach virus. He arrived needing to throw up . That poor baby is sick from some ailment every weekend he visits, and when they don’t allow him to come, it’s because he’s got a brand-new virus of some sort. Anyway. I digress.

We hung around the rest of the day, enjoying the kids and our family :). We got mom a new TV that we got an INSANE deal on, but we aren’t sure if it’s a pro or a con, since I have a hard enough time getting her to do her chores as it is. I’m beginning to realize that what people say is true: as you and your parents get older, you switch roles .

Dina, Javi, Bri and the kids visited more family and then my kids were going to be picked up by their dad and would be back the next day. We took a few photos before they left. Don’t mind my make-up-less face and wild mane .

My loves were picked up and Dina, Javi, Bri and the kids came back. With a huge tray of cookies from Tony and Noni. I had these awesome little moon-shaped, powdered sugary cookies and I vowed to find a recipe on Pinterest and make them!

John, his girlfriend and her little girl came over for a while. It was the first time we’d met them even though they’ve been together a while. I was in the middle of making a crescent-wrapped brie when they arrived. I’d found the original recipe on Pinterest, but the link has since been turned into a spam-link so I winged it. Javi and Jorge brought back the peach jam I asked for, but brought garlic-flavored crescents back. I wasn’t sure how it was going to taste, but it was a huge hit!

John and his girlfriend and her baby left and I joined the rest of the family on the porch. We ate brie and had wine and just chit-chatted about everything, good and bad. I love when we just start talking about the past, the present, future, everything!

We went out to the driveway for a while so Julien could ride his new bike :).

We came inside and we sat around the table, on Facebook and watching TV. Javi and I scrolled through our newsfeed and saw some cute/cheesy/hilarious Christmas Family Photos. So we decided that every year from here on out, we were going to have our own Super Happy Family Fun Time Photo. And here it is:

We had actually taken several, one of them a super-hilariously cheesy one where we each had our hand on the person in front of us’ shoulder, very 1980’s, but Briana didn’t like how she came out and I didn’t like how I came out so we scratched that one LOL. We decided that next year, we were somehow going to find footie pajamas for everyone, with stockings in the background and a Christmas movie playing in the background, much like this one. Someone had a photo like that on Facebook this year and we decided we’re going to ONE-UP THEM.

We had such a great time and I feel so blessed that we could spend it together .