Category: Work

I guess now’s a good a time as ever to update. I’m in the living room with Jorgie, Justin and Julien, who are all busied by electronics and we’re probably all a little under the tryptophan haze after having had Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch. My kiddos were picked up to spend the weekend with their dad’s family. It always feels a bit melancholy when they’re not here after Thanksgiving, but it is their Dad’s weekend and I’m glad we were able to be together for Thanksgiving. Providing that I don’t work next weekend (I’m REALLY keeping my fingers crossed), I’m hoping we’ll have a fun beginning-of-December, as the City is putting on their Holiday Extravaganza (not formally the name of the event, but it may as well be!).

So I’ll go back a few weeks and update on whatever I remember.

The week following Halloween was the first of many hectic weeks at work, little did I know. I started out by thinking up some centerpieces for the Annual Banquet, along with my other duties. The hours just whizzed by. It took 3 trips to Hobby Lobby to find everything we’d need for the centerpieces. My week in a nutshell: Put the centerpieces together, attend a small Expo (where we made some good contacts for my Expo), find a last-minute costume for the Annual Banquet (60’s theme this year!), and get ready for and attend our Wednesday meeting, then help get the museum ready for the Annual Banquet. It was a colorful week, indeed!

I picked the boys up on Wednesday since I’d be swamped on Friday, and their dad liked the idea since he was going to “borrow” them the next week on Wednesday for his birthday, too. So it worked out. Of course the weather would be cruddy for the Annual Banquet; it was drizzly and chilly. But it was a fun night! Anabel and Blanca did a great job :).

The decor was amazing and bright and the evening flowed like a dream.

We also got to admire the beautiful altars created to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Dania from the Incubator was one of the main artists that worked on the Alice in Wonderland-inspired altar. It was beautiful!

Also happening this night was a mysterious texter that was sending messages to Jorge letting him know she was thinking about him and that she knew where he lived. We immediately assumed it was his psychotic ex-girlfriend from highschool (who has on 2 separate occasions in 2012 and just this year attempted to get in contact with him again via Facebook), but as we got more information realized it was somebody completely unexpected! I’m gonna have to hide him!!

When I got home from the Banquet, and after settling down, Jorge and I had a long talk. We’ve both been so busy and exhausted that we’d failed to spend time together at home, and just talk. It was a good reminder and I’m glad he took the initiative to bring it up :).

~~~

I went home early due to too many hours at work and got to eat lunch with my love the next day at Espi’s. Didn’t stop me from working from home, though. We were on a time-crunch for our Expo and I wanted to get as many exhibitors as I could.

Picked up the kiddos and just had a lazy weekend. Spent most of the time outside, or lounging, or cleaning the girls’ room with them. Alaethia came and piled her Care Bears on the sofa and said, “We can get rid of these now.” My heart naturally broke into a million pieces :(. I remember when she would take every single one of them she owned everywhere she went.

Case in point:

The next work week was a blur of interviews (my first radio interview in Spanish, ever) and photo shoots for the Newsletter. It also included a meeting regarding the upcoming food festival over some cappuccino and lunch later during the week at Taste of India.

Which reminds me of the night John decided he was going to re-enact Sia’s “Chandelier” video. The kids were already in bed so only Jorge and I got to witness this hilarity. He saw the video one time and said, “Ok, I got it,” and proceeded to do his thang. And then he wanted to watch Bollywood videos he pretended to know the words to and I couldn’t UNHEAR him at Taste of India. Jesus.

Cut to my previous post update and then it was the 18th of November. Jorge and I’s Still-somewhat-unofficial-offical Anniversary date. 4 years and I couldn’t be happier :*).

Kumori was the 2nd place we ever had a date at. Our first was at Mimi’s but it closed down a year ago :(.

This week was hectic, too. I had to make centerpieces for Michelle and Ivan’s event, get the food festival brochure in the mail and work on the Expo and attend meetings. To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement.

The girls had art project after art project that week. They didn’t have to turn them in till December 1st, but Mom taught them to get things over with fast, and that they did. I had to pick up more pom poms and glitter, but I always welcome a trip to Michael’s hehe.

They also and homework galore. Jorge is such a huge help. He is WAY more patient at teaching little kids math than I am. It’s almost as though he enjoys it :). I got to get us some Delia’s one of those nights, so that was a welcome change :).

Thursday was Michelle and Ivan’s event and that day felt like it just zoomed by. Friday came around and I was so overwhelmed (and PMS’ing, TMI) that I bawled by the end of the day. I hate that feeling. You know it’s coming, too. When your eyes well up and you get that lump in your throat and the waterfall of tears comes and there’s nothing you can do. Oh yeah, and it happened in front of my boss . FML.

I was relieved when it was time to go and picked up the kiddos. I spent time with them as much as I could since I knew I’d be working Saturday (for set-up) and Sunday (for the Expo). They’re just awesome ^_^.

How did those boys get so HUGE?? Can someone make it stop??

Set-up went well and the event went as good as it could go. 2 exhibitors didn’t show up, but at least they’d already paid =\. We didn’t have the 4,000+ people we wanted but it was a good event. And I was SO GLAD it was over!

I met an author that day who gave me his book to help with my acne problem. That’s what I love about my job: the people I meet. I know he and his lovely wife were placed in my path for a reason, and I’m glad to have met them :). (Especially after all the stress from the week before; my face was ravaged! :I)

I went shopping for something to wear for our 50’s photo shoot. Me and my brilliant ideas. We did end up finding a gentleman with a ’56 Ford Victoria, thanks to EZ and the contacts we made the weekend of the car show, but now we needed to find clothes! I was so stressed. I did end up finding some little red flats but who knew what else I was going to do.

So Monday comes around and I jump right into my next 3 events: the Mexican Artisan Expo, the Food Festival and the ladies’ project. I had tons to do and had to break up my time into sections because I’m notorious for developing ADD and not sticking to one thing and then I become overwhelmed. I went to Old Navy during my lunch hour to find something to wear, and found a 50’s-era looking jacket. The only one in the entire store in my size. Didn’t even have a tag and had a scrape on the “leather” arm, but it would have to do.

The car was beautiful! The couple who owns it were so nice and agreed to let us use it at the Festival, too!

I couldn’t keep my darn hair in the bandana. By the time I took this photo my curls had already fallen apart, but I liked how the final photo came out.

I got home that evening and made dinner and then made some banana bread while Jorge and Jaylen played Xbox and while the other kiddos chilled out. I was glad to have had such a productive day and had productive days at work on Tuesday and Wednesday, too.

Jorge’s boys were dropped off that afternoon and my kiddos were picked up. Jorge and I braved the crowds at HEB for last minute stuff and came out alive and well. Jorgie and Justin were picked up around midnight, for some reason, but all our kids would be back the next day for Thanksgiving :).

We had a really low-key Thanksgiving. It was a little different since there weren’t any kiddos around and it was quiet and Jorge’s family wasn’t here like they have been the past 2 years, but we took our time. I made breakfast for Jorge, John and myself and then we watched TV. Poor Jorge had a splitting headache, but we fired up the Sonos and got all the trimmings and turkey ready for dinner. He buttered up that turkey and wrapped it in peppered bacon, while I chopped and peeled and cooked :). Then we picked up my kiddos and his were dropped off by the time we got here. We ate around 6:30pm and it was amazing!

Jorge slowly went into a food coma, heh. We let him be, and the girls painted while the boys played video games. Eenan was taking advantage since he’d been grounded all week due to a bad report card =\. I put all the food away and washed dishes while my Emmos rinsed. Then we cuddled up on the sofa, Jorge woke up and he played with the kids while I slipped into slumber.

Poor thing had to work today. I woke up around 30 minutes after he left and made the kids banana pancakes. Around 10:30am I finally decided to get ready and check out whatever was left of the Black Friday sales. With all this buzz about “Black Friday” starting on Thanksgiving, I didn’t want to bother going out with the crowds. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Target was calm and neat. AND, I ended up finding some pretty good deals for the little ones! I’m only a bit sad I missed out on the $2 towels, heh.

My kiddos were picked up :(, I warmed up leftovers for the boys and I, I vacuumed a bit and that brings us to however long it’s taken me to type this out. Gonna get dinner ready for when Jorge gets home. Turkey, or turkey??

I managed to successfully complete my to-do list at work from yesterday and today.

I’d started this to-do list last Tuesday, because I knew I wouldn’t be in the office till Monday. I was still at work, but we had a Delegation coming in and I’d be away from my desk. Which made me nervous as heck because I have several events I’m working on and deadlines!!

I was nervous about the visit itself since we weren’t 100% in charge of the activities, but we went along for everything anyway and the things that didn’t work out were really only behind-the-scenes stuff and the back-up plans worked out really well. It was a stress-free visit, for the most part.

My treat during these visits is usually the food itself, heh. Don’t get me wrong: I really do love to learn about all the inner workings of our city and I always love visiting all our “landmarks” and the people! I love meeting all these different people. But my absolute favorite part is the FOOD!

I was so sad I couldn’t finish that cheesecake! *sigh* I love food, what can I say, heh.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was the low-key visit to Quinta Mazatlan.

I would love to own a home like Quinta. Or to at least have a garden like the front yard at Quinta. And that succulent fountain they have. And this swing hanging from a gorgeous old oak tree:

The ladies and I had fun taking turns and taking photos. They were such a great group! I was so sad that I couldn’t properly say goodbye to everyone since they were let loose at the mall for some shopping during their last hours of the visit and I needed to leave to pick up the kids.

I picked up the kiddos and Emmos was tired and was throwing a tantrum. I can’t even remember over what. The other kids and I spoke about her, and the reason why she’s spoiled sometimes. We picked up pizza, got home and Emily was still sobbing and went to her room, but she’d calmed down. I’m walking down the hallway and she opens the door to her room and says, “Mama? Can I speak to you in private please?” My mouth drops at how mature she sounded. I said sure, and opened the door and we sat together on my bed. She very maturely let me know what was on her mind, and I told her what was on mine and that I would work on being better, on being more patient. I pulled her near me and embraced her and said, “I’m convinced you’re a 20-year-old in that little 5-year-old body.” She has her moments (such as tonight; she was tired and mopey and didn’t want to do her homework), but she’s just such a great little lady .

My heart feels like it’ll explode from the love sometimes. I passed by the boys’ room and saw them all in there, peaceful, happy, without a care in the world and I’m just so grateful I had to capture the moment.

(Pay no attention to their messy, unmade beds .)

The girls and I passed out on the sofa and Jorge moved us to our beds. We had to get up early for Jaylen’s game on Saturday.

We all woke up super early (except Eenan, of course!) and Jorge, Justin and Jorgie went to Justin’s game and the girls and I went to Jaylen’s. We dropped him off at school, and since we had an hour-and-a-half to waste before the game started I took the girls for breakfast at McDonald’s.

Jaylen did so well at his game! He’s progressively getting better.

It still made me cringe every time I saw one of the kids get hurt, though, ever since Jorgie broke his leg (I’m still pending that post!). Several boys on the White Team got hurt. Jaylen told me one of them dislocated his shoulder *shudder*.

I waited for Jaylen, picked the girls up (they’d left with Mary to Sonia’s) and then we got stuck in traffic. There was a 5-car accident on the Expressway thanks to non other than a drunk driver. When we finally got through, I picked up Justin, who was with Jorge at a job site. Took the kiddos home, then made them lunch.

Sunset Sessions was that evening so I got the kids all pumped up to go. Well, all of them except the 2 teenagers. Eventually Jorgie was convinced so only Eenan would be the one to stay home with Mom. Emily and I went to HEB to get picnic stuff. We were finally going to break-in the picnic basket Aunt Sylvia gave us and the girls were super excited.

AND THEN IT STARTS RAINING. And the lights go out at HEB. While we’re still inside. And didn’t even have my phone.

Dammit.

Jorge wasn’t going to be out of work on time and there was no way I could move Jorgie along in his wheelchair in wet grass/mud. So we scratched the idea. There was an audible, “Ahhhhhhh!!!” from all the kids. Even Justin said, “We don’t get to plan things often and then this happens!” No kidding!

So, what else do you do when you have a blanket and a picnic basket packed and it’s raining? You have a picnic on the porch, of course!

It was Michelle’s birthday that day, but we didn’t get to hang out. She called that she was on her way to Sunset Sessions but she understood that the rain+kids wasn’t a good idea. I promised her we’d celebrate later.

About 30 minutes later, the rain stopped and a rainbow popped out. FML LOL.

Jorge got home and debated for about an hour whether he was going to take up his boss’ invite to go to the ranch. He eventually decided “yes” and took Justin with him. I hung out with the kids for a while, watching TV and put them all in bed. The girls were happy to snuggle with mama :).

Woke up the next morning and made the kids wheat pancakes. Relaxed, did laundry, then Jorge got home and I made shrimp Alfredo. More tidying up and then I decided that I would relax. But not before making banana bread.

And then playing 4-square with the girls. And THEN I got to be lazy for a few minutes before I started on dinner. I hadn’t made tuna casserole in a while. The girls helped me with the ingredients and then Eenan started joking around, like always. We get into a conversation about why we’re not very huggy with Mom and both John and I tell him, “Well, we weren’t really brought up that way. She’d hug and hold us when we were little, but as we got older well, she just wasn’t like that.” Justin’s standing next to me and pats my shoulder and says, “I know the feeling.” So I say, “Get over here!” and grab him into a hug. I say, “I think it had the opposite effect on me; I think that’s why I love hugs and hugging the kids.” Emily, then Jaylen and Alaethia run into the group. Julien hears the commotion and goes into his famous running hugs. Then Eenan comes in for a hug. We’re all giggling and in a huge, wonderful group hug and poor Jorgie rolls in from their bedroom and says, “Hey, what’s going on?” We all laugh and then I realize that I hadn’t preheated the oven. John says, “Well if you weren’t over there getting group hugs…” Buahaha!

We ate dinner quickly and gathered around in the living room to watch “The Walking Dead”. It was 2 minutes in before we sent the girls to their room. It was much more gorey this time!! But such a good episode!

Put all the kids to bed and then a new week began. And I kicked Monday (and Tuesday) in the ass!! I even went on an interview. As much as I dislike those, because I’m always afraid I’ll screw up, I just went with the flow. And it worked out :).

We picked up a cake to celebrate Michelle’s birthday at work:

I got home from work and took Eenan to get a haircut with Emily in tow, of course. Mario waited for the kids while we got home and he took the boys =\. I’ll never get used to that.

EZ, Michelle and I went to Wing Stop today to celebrate her birthday. And I finally got one of my projects completed this afternoon and finished today’s to-do list. I have so much to do still, but I hope I can keep the same momentum going! I feel good about everything I got to accomplish. We sent all the kids to bed and we’re catching up on “The Voice” before I have to shower. Have lots going on tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll feel like this at the end of the day:

Thursday, September 25th was a hectic day for both Jorge and I.

He had their yearly Expo at his workplace and I had to run around all over the place and try and make it on time everywhere.

I left work a little early to pick Jaylen up at school after football practice. I was earlier than he expected (to which he said, “I had just gotten comfortable and sat down to watch a volleyball game *insert sigh*”) LOL. We picked up Eenan and waited about 20 minutes for some pizza (they’d been wanting to try the pretzel crust one) and then Jorge and I met at the house with all the kids, we practically tossed paper plates out like frisbees and had them all sit down to eat. Jorge changed, left to work, then I changed as quickly as possible. I made it to the Expo by 7 and was taken on a tour by my Love :), where he showed me his latest creations.

Michelle, EZ and Ivan showed up a while later, as did Jenna. Jenna and I’d never hung out other than the Expo the year before, or comments here and there on Facebook and she really is such a sweet girl :). We walked around, ate, looked at the latest techie things and then the guys and Michelle left. Jenna and I stayed behind, eating and chatting and then headed to Roosevelt’s, where one of the Reps was taking us. Jorge didn’t want to be rude and decline so we went. It’s one of the very few occasions we stay out while we have the kids.

We ran into Jenny and her hubby, John, there and said our hellos. Then I tried my hardest to stay awake. I didn’t even want to order anything. I always feel like we’re taking advantage of the poor Reps =\. But we did have fun, and chatted and reminisced about the Expo last year and all the Shenanigans that happened. We said our goodbyes since we had to be up super early to take all the kids to school the next morning.

We got up, quite reluctantly, woke the kiddos up and got ourselves ready. I realized again that morning that feeling as groggy and tired as I did is exactly why I don’t like going out on a work night. I knew it was going to be a looong day.

I knew it was going to be an even longer day when we realized we’re all running late. I didn’t even get to make some coffee. We’re on our way, I pick up Gatorade for Jaylen (and Big Red gum for Eenan) and drop them off still on time, thank goodness.

I stop by the new Starbucks that I’d still yet to visit. There was only one entrance and exit and I wasn’t fond of the $4 I spent either, heh. Am I a cheapskate? Yes, yes I am, but I knew I couldn’t function without a coffee or latte.

The morning went by pretty fast, thank goodness. I was meeting Thelma and our instructors for our entrepreneurship project at Hobby Lobby to buy the supplies they’d need for the class on Wednesday. By the time I knew it, it was lunchtime and I met my love at Tacos Kissi. Such good sushi!

The afternoon went by fast, too, but not before Jorge and I got into spat by text. How I dislike those .

I picked up my boys and girls (Mario took the girls home with him so I picked them all up together). Dina, Briana and the kids were waiting for us at home :). We ordered in pizza and just chilled out at home. I think we were all exhausted and we all went to sleep earlier than we usually do when they come to visit. We all had an early morning the next day, since the 3 boys had football games!

I always wondered how it would work; like, would I make it on time the days Jaylen has games back in our city after dropping him off in the city he goes to school in. The first time we were presented with this type of morning was when it was storming and the game ended up being cancelled. So this was the first official time I’d attempt to accomplish this.

I dropped him off, drove alllll the way back, came home, got the girls ready and packed a bag of waters and snacks, then we made it to the school down the road where Jaylen would play. He was a bit disappointed the week before because he only played once but this time he was a receiver for the entire game! He did really well, although their team unfortunately lost .

We left the game after they played and I came home with the girls before we had to drive back to pick Jaylen up. Both the girls watch all these doll videos on YouTube and Alaethia had been wanting to do a project for a while. This one was baking breads and pastries for dolls. It was pretty neat :). We just mixed:

1 tablespoon of corn starch
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of water, although we used a little more since it wasn’t mixing well.

Then we microwaved the mixture for 1 minute, let it cool, and kneaded it.

We shaped the pastries and let them air-dry while we picked up Jaylen:

When we got back home, we baked them for a while, let them cool, then painted them with acrylic paint:

Alaethia recycled a Prego lid to use as a pastry tray .

Briana, Dina and the kids returned from the boys’ game and we chilled out the rest of the day :). Emily started feeling under the weather. She’d mentioned that her ear felt weird the night before, so I asked her several times throughout the day if she felt okay, otherwise I’d take her to the doctor. She said yes each time, so we stayed home.

She woke up the next day feeling worse, so we’d be visiting the Urgent Care that night. She got a fever, and once she gets a fever she pretty much goes downhill. It’s pretty scary, so I didn’t want to take any chances.

Dina, Briana and the kids left that morning. It always feels like we don’t get to spend enough time together and it sucked because I was so exhausted this weekend .

I made everyone breakfast; well, the ones who wanted bagels with salmon and cream cheese:

It was a few hours before Urgent Care opened, so we did a few things around the house, like replanting things and setting up the birdfeeder, now that it finally stopped raining.

Even though she felt sickly, Emmos played football with her bro:

She got tired and Justin came out to play with Jaylen. The kiddos later helped clean up. Eenan was caught in the act:

We had a late lunch of fish tacos, which, thankfully, the kids all liked (except Emmos. She had soup).

We got ready and left to the doctor around 5:30. And were there till 9pm, for them just to tell us she was fine and prescribed congestion medicine. That’s what I get for giving her Motrin for her fever, I guess. She didn’t have a fever when we arrived, and they said that supposedly her throat and ears were fine. I knew I’d have to take her back to the doctor later. Grr.

And sure enough. She woke up feeling even worse. I kept her home from school, gave her Motrin & her congestion medicine and made plans to leave work early to take her to her actual doctor. When I picked her up, Mom gave me a run-down of their day. Emily tells me, “I love my grandma, Mama. ‘Cause she takes care of me when I’m sick.” Aww!

By the time we got to the doctor, she was clearly showing signs of infection in her throat so they prescribed an antibiotic.

I got home and talked to the boys. Had a conversation with Jaylen. It was music to my ears :). Something I’d been wanting to hear for a long, long time . Now to get it all to fall into place .