Category: Memories

Monday, October 27th – I had a long to-do list that needed to be accomplished before 4pm. Alaethia’s 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Hammond, had approached me about encouraging her to join UIL Creative Writing. So I did, and she accepted and she gets out of practice at 4pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. I was glad to pick her up and find that she really enjoyed herself :). When I’d brought it up to her the day before, she was nervous and got teary about it. She had flashbacks from last year, when she tried out for Chess Club and she was left in the cafeteria with the bus kids, they tried putting her on a bus and she didn’t even get to try out till Mario got there and couldn’t find her. So, I got where she was coming from, what with being traumatized and all. But, Mrs. Hammond walked her to the pick up area so she could become familiar with the routine, so that was great :).

Got home and talked to the boys, then helped Jaylen re-do his Powerpoint presentation that we’d worked on over the weekend. Helped the girls with homework, made Frito-pie chili (awful, you don’t have to tell me!!) and then watched “Guardians of the Galaxy” with them and Jorgie and Justin. Of course I missed the entire thing ’cause I fell asleep, heh.

Tuesday, October 28th – Tuesday was another day spent going non-stop at work; calling potential exhibitors for the upcoming Expo and working on January’s 1st Expo. It was another day I had to get my to-do list done before 4pm. Although it felt amazing to get 30 extra minutes at home with the girls, I helped Alaethia with her math till 7pm. The way they teach that math, OMG, it’s ridiculous. Completely different from the way I learned math, but well, that was decades ago!

Once the girls had finished up homework, eaten dinner, showed me videos on Youtube and were put into bed, Jorge, John and I watched Sons of Anarchy. My favorite part of Tuesday :).

Wednesday, October 29th – I got the girls ready to go right on time and dropped them off (in the drop-off area–such big girls!) and then I made my way to United Way to meet the girls for a Forum we were invited to. It was very informational and we got to have some snacks. Ms. Thelma outdid herself with the decorations, like always :).

I arrived to the office and ran to the kitchen/conference room to help serve fajitas for the luncheon at work. We had so many people arrive, which is good, but out of 200, only 100 RSVP’d =\. We almost ran out of food; the staff got to scrounge around for bits hehe. Still, I was grateful for my awesome taco and then went to the front desk for reception duty. I wore heels that day for the first time in months…and realized right away just WHY I never wear them anymore. Grr. My feet haven’t been the same since, I think. #oldfart

Thursday, October 30th – Got to work after dropping the girls off and my boss and I started the day by scouting new exhibitors. We actually got one to sign up on the spot! It’s amazing how many new health-related businesses there are since February!

Got back and got ready for a lunch meeting regarding that same Expo. We’ve been having weekly meetings since it’s so close. I’ve never had so much Jason’s Deli in my life hehe.

Since Mario had already taken the girls (his weekend), Rosie and I took a stroll through a nearby thrift shop to find something 60’s-esque for the Annual Banquet. Michelle, Rosie and I had realized with a jolt of shock that the Annual Banquet was in a week…and we had no costumes yet.

So we looked around and found a few things and laughed at a few other ensembles but didn’t find anything we actually liked once we tried them on. We decided to check out Amazon with Michelle the next day.

Friday, October 31st – Halloween! This would be the first Halloween in 3 years we don’t have my kiddos. I’d gotten away with having them so far, even when it was their Dad’s weekend, but he asked to have them this year =\.

We had cake from Maritza and those delicious cookies Trisha brings from Sweet N Tasty every year. I got ready for our Food Festival meeting and once we finished up with that, met Valerie at her workplace. She’d invited us a couple of weeks before to try out their amazing burgers and visit the facility since we’d never been.

It was a great visit; they were having their Halloween costume contest and pumpkin-decorating contest, so that was fun to watch/judge.

And the burgers…oh my gosh, the burgers. They really were amazing!!

We headed to make more visits for the Expo. Got back to the office and checked out costumes with Michelle and Rosie. We ordered some and crossed our fingers. Then I made some calls and took some payments and made my way home.

I was feeling a little lonely since the kids weren’t home. We’d been invited to Jim and Joyce’s yearly Halloween party but I wasn’t feeling much up to going. Jorge got home and at the last minute, we decided hey, we’re kid-less, why not go out and enjoy ourselves?

I found my bag of Halloween makeup (bought tons last year on clearance) and made a quick zombie costume. Jorge got out of work a bit later than he planned, so he didn’t dress up. We waited for my kids to arrive (their Dad was nice enough to bring them over) and we had Krispy Kreme donuts I’d bought from a fundraiser and had a quick visit.

Those two!! Hilarious!

My kiddos left and then Jorge and I took off to Jim’s. Jim and Joyce were dressed as hippies (doubled as their costume for the Annual Banquet–smart!!), Thelma and her hubby were a cloud and a person struck by lightning, Michelle was a Christmas “HoHoHo” 😛 and EZ was a priest. We had fun chatting and eating little snacks.

Jim and Joyce always out-do themselves! It wasn’t a very long visit, but we were proud of ourselves for leaving the house for once hehe. All-in-all it was a great Halloween!

Saturday, November 1st – Jorge went to work and I stayed in bed, covers over my head. He kissed me goodbye and told me to sleep. And I did: till 8:30am. And it was AMAZEBALLS!! It was the first weekend in a few months that I didn’t need to be up at 5 or 6am!

I made myself some breakfast and coffee and ate outside on the porch while I read my book, all huddled up in my hoodie and sweatpants.

My happy place <3[/caption] It was 75 degrees outside and such a beautiful day. I put my phone down (where I was reading my eBook) and admired the birdies perched on the branches and flying around. I eventually got sleepy and curled up on the sofa to allow myself to pass out. Then I remembered I had to withdraw money to pay bills and I got over the sleepiness right away. But oh well; duty calls. I even did grocery shopping, cleaning and visited Gramma with Mom :). Evening came and I spoke to my kiddos to see how their day went. Then Jorge and I went over to Noni's for a BBQ. The food was awesome and so were the Peach Belini's and hanging out with Lisa and Joyce is always fun. There were technical difficulties with the movie we were trying to watch outside, but they changed it over to a game and we enjoyed conversation instead. We had officially gone "out" 2 nights in a row! I sat there, taking it all in (TWSS), and thought, Wow. 4 years later and here we are. 4 years ago was a crazy time for us, but we pulled through and here we are together :’).

We had a low-key Mother’s Day, and it couldn’t have been any better :).

Jorge and I slept in and then we lazied around.

We picked the kiddos up from their dad’s (since he had them the weekend):

And went to visit Gramma:

After visiting with Gramma we picked up a botana from Espi’s ^_^. Always a hit, hehe.

The girls gave me their gifts they’d made at school:

And Eenan gave me the sketch he made for me :).

On the way home from dropping off my kiddos, Jorge and I stopped for a Pineapple Preparada from this drive-thru that’s all the rage:

We spent the evening watching TV and relaxing. Dina sent me an eCard, which I hadn’t been able to view on my phone. I viewed it at work the next day and got happy-teary :*).

A beautiful eCard from Dina <3[/caption] She's the best <3. She wasn't feeling well and we weren't able to visit her, but were hoping we'd be able to soon. I love my family!!

You know how I mentioned that the kids and I didn’t have to go anywhere on Monday since they had Spring Break and I had gotten 2 days off?

Yeah. That didn’t happen.

Jorge has the house automated, which is a beautiful thing when I have to wake up at 6am every morning. The accent lighting under the bed turns on, the air conditioning turns off (since I absolutely despise feeling cold in the morning), the lights slowly turn on (from 20% to 50% in 10 minutes), as does music over the speakers. Meanwhile the TV turns on to channel 5 news in the bathroom. It’s perfect.

But I didn’t have to wake up at 6am Monday morning, so I had to wake up and turn everything off from my phone. No biggie. Then Jorge’s alarm for work goes off at 7:00. Then 7:15. Then 7:30. I crash out when I make sure he’s awake and getting ready and am briefly awakened when he kisses me before he leaves.

Then my boss calls at 8:15am to ask where some documents are. Then John texts me at 8:30 about going car shopping (his car’s transmission had died on him the week before). Then Gerry begins to text about some linens I had in my car that needed to be taken to the cleaners and could I go drop them off? FML.

We’d stayed up late with the kids the night before and I figured they’d sleep late anyway so I, somewhat reluctantly, decided I’d just get up and get ready to pick John up and go to the place Briana had just bought her car at last Saturday.

But first: he treated me to breakfast!

All was forgiven!

(Not really, but it subdued my morning “Snickers Moment” ^_^.)

So we went on to the place Briana went, and to make a long story short: John has no credit. 0 And because of this, he was presented with a 2004 who-knows-what, with peeling leather seats and dents all over the place. Oh yes, and they wanted $3,000 down. WTF.

So we scratched that and John immediately shut down and wanted to forget the whole thing. I told him Jorge’s friends, the ones who hooked us up with our vehicles, could help. I asked Jorge to call them and he did. They told us to go right over but John was unsure. So while he debated I stopped by Hidden Treasures, hehe.

Minnie, the owner, and I reminisced about the kids and how long I’ve been stopping by her store. I don’t stop by as often as I’d like, but I do at least twice a year. And I also snapped this pic:

How true is that? I picked up a Strawberry Shortcake rag doll (even though I already have one, heh) but you couldn’t beat the price. I also found a $2 Glow Worm that still had the battery compartment. Jorge IMMEDIATELY claimed it as his that evening ^_^.

We went home to make sure the kids were fed and so I could snuggle the girls for a while. They weren’t falling apart without me, though. They were having fun on their iPads and sprawled all over the living room. We chilled out for a while until John FINALLY made up his mind. We ate lunch, and I once again unwillingly got ready to go. I half-jokingly jabbed at John that he was ruining my day off.

We dropped the stupid linens off at my work and then we left to the dealership. We got to Weslaco, in the ugly, drizzly rain. To make another long story short (a story about 4+ hours long), John saw some cars, we spoke to RG and Ringo, they ran some numbers, we sat for a long time, John almost lost his shit because he was second-guessing EVERYTHING, I almost lost my shit because John was losing his shit, they got him the car he wanted, he was on the phone with insurance companies forever and FINALLY: he drove off in his new Dart. He kept it in the Dodge family LOL.

After dinner, the girls had a tea party:

Jorge, Justin, Jaylen and Eenan were in the background ^_^. Jorgie snuck in and I snapped a pic. Justin got away LOL

Jorge and Jorgie, Jaylen and Justin went to pick up a game at midnight at Game Stop, while Eenan played on his computer and the girls and I lazied around on the couch. I love how he’s all into these things with the kids :).

I spent the next day at home, at least, but I spent a lot of it cleaning and doing everything I didn’t do during the weekend, like laundry (grr).

I spent time playing Candy Land with the girls, then Jenga and then they got bored and abandoned me LOL. Later on I got the kids in on cleaning. Jorge was impressed when he got home :).

The weather was better so I planned to take the kiddos to the park, but there was 6 of them and one of me and the last thing I needed was an accident to happen *shudder*. Hate the thought. It’s not like the boys wanted to move anyway: they were too enthralled in their new game.

I taught Eenan how to use the skillet to make over-easy eggs and I made lunch for everyone else:

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out. It was back to work for me the next day and the kids would be leaving with Mario for the rest of the week after we got out of work. We split their “holiday” like we usually do. I just wish I’d gotten to spend more time with them =\.

It was a day of “catch up” for me at work. I had tons of bills to process and turn in for my department and they were due that day. Thankfully I’d already gotten everything started on Friday before I left. I got to meet my love for lunch at Tacos Kissi (LOVE that place! Became one of my faves!) and Marco and Jessica joined us. I ran some errands for work and the day went by pretty fast. I rushed home so I could get see the kids and make sure they had their things ready. Mary was already here waiting, grr.

So I made dinner for Jorge, Mom and I, which was garlic parmesan chicken, roasted broccoli and some guac. Javi and Eric stopped by with a gift for Jorge and I:

It was great! The pickles, candy and drink itself were so good. I didn’t eat the shrimpies (watching the cholesterol still), but it had TONS of shrimpies.

The guys hung out a while and they had dinner. They were already planning to go get tacos, but I guilt-tripped them into eating the plates I’d saved for them since they kept complaining they were hungry LOL. They cleaned their plates ^_^.

My boss was out on Thursday and it was sort of a slow day. I ran some errands for our bossboss and then it was time for lunch with my love. We went to Roosevelt’s this time. We finally made a date to go there! I haven’t had many opportunities to hang out with my love for lunch since I pick up my Emmos, so it’s really nice when we can go :).

I probably shouldn’t have had this meal, but it’s one of my faves. And I didn’t feel like having salmon or grilled chicken again =\.

Went back to work and cleaned my desk and some files. That took quite a while since I’d been sort of ignoring my mess, heh. My love wanted to look for some shoes for work and I wanted to get a price adjustment on 2 pairs of pants I’d bought for work at Old Navy, so I picked him up and we went. I got a whopping $30 back from my price adjustment, which was awesome. Jorge was impressed and so was the cashier, who had no idea LOL. I remember from my Old Navy days from 2000-2001 heh.

We went to Macy’s and my love had no luck finding shoes. They had a very small selection. So we picked up Jorge’s car and we came home. He and the boys had food I couldn’t eat for dinner, so I was satisfied with some multi-grain Cheerios. And then I passed out LOL.

I picked up some coffee and oatmeal for myself at McDonald’s the next morning since I was in a hurry to get to work. Laura, Ms. Thelma and I were going shopping for materials at Hobby Lobby for Latina.Hope. I was super excited. We got to go shopping and not spend our own money, woo!

Well. I still bought some crocheted lace for some straps I need to replace on a sundress and a display for my bracelets. (I had to put it in my closet ’cause Kika and Ruffles would knock it into the sink with my luck.)

I spent the rest of the morning organizing my charm bracelet supplies, typing up a tutorial and then it was lunch time. As much as my job stresses me out sometimes, some days are just AWESOME.

I met my love at Espi’s this time, where I had some chalupas. Probably could have done without the tortilla, but I’ve been doing alright.

I headed over to the antique shop next door where the owner and I got into a long-winded conversation about 80s toys and so on. He has my contact info just in case he gets anything in, woo!

I went grocery shopping after work (ugh) but it had to be done. I served Jorge and Justin some dinner when I got home and we chit chatted about their day before their mom got there. Jorge was home before she got here (of course) so he at least got to see the boys for a while.

We freshened up, as we actually made plans to do something on a Friday night, heh. Junior called us right before we left and asked us to go over since he had a surprise for us. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we’d be there right after dinner.

We met Esmer and Robert at Beef’s. It was nice catching up and talking about everything with them. They reminisced about their times at work together and then we got into how our past marriages exploded in our face and how Jorge and I ended up together. We’ve hung out many times before, but we’d never really gotten into talking about WHY it all happened. It was…therapeutic to vent about it all. I need actual therapy to forgive and forget I think, LOL.

So we ate (I had blackened fish, broccoli and rice and I have to say it was great!) and then we said our ‘see you laters’. We went to Tony’s afterwards. Our surprise was Rick!! We hadn’t seen him since he left back in 2011! The old Shack-mates (except for Billy and Roly) were back together again. We had another reminisce-fest and just had a great time singing, laughing, dancing and taking photos. Rick told us tons of times how glad he was that we ended up together and that we’re perfect for each other and compliment each other. I got teary several times, heh. I love those people!

Javi joined us later. It was the latest we’ve stayed out in probably 3 years LOL. It was so much fun!

Poor Jorge had to work in the morning but he was so tired he called his guys and pushed their schedule to 10am LOL. I’m glad he can do that. I made sure he woke up and then I passed out till…noon. I know. I NEVER sleep that late!!

I ate some cereal and chit-chatted with Mom. I went to my room to have my coffee and lazy in my PJ’s. Of course I started cleaning and forgot about my coffee for a while. I did some minor sprucing up to my 80’s page and I realized I wasted about 2 hours doing that LOL. I was inspired after receiving 2 packages:

I’m still missing 2 Fluppy Puppies (I had no idea until recently!) and these Nosy Bears are 2 of the rarer ones that I got for a bargain.

I got dressed and Mom and I visited Gramma for a while. She’s doing good, thank goodness. I love that little lady. I seriously need to make more time to see her. I feel crappy that I don’t sometimes :*(.

I got home and made some amazing fish tacos, if I do say so myself ^_^. I tried a new avocado-cabbage slaw. Both Mom and Jorge loved them.

We had told the guys we were going to go out to Hillbilly’s tonight, but Rick was recovering, Jorge took a nap, Javi’s out at a fight, Jr. is out with friends and so on. I spoke with the kiddos and since then I’ve been typing this up, watched and won an auction for Lisa on eBay, watched shows on DIY Network and once Jorge woke up we watched cat videos, more home improvement shows and have been on our respective electronics. And we’re ok with that, hehe. It’s been a pretty darn good week. Can’t wait to see my babies!