Category: Work

Jesus. I get SO BORED when the girls leave to Mario’s house for the weekend (our “weekends” start on Thursday). I’ve texted Jorge at least 5 times asking if he’s on his way home yet, heh.

I really should have started blogging as soon as they left instead of idly browsing through Facebook. I’m actually quite surprised I didn’t bust out the tortilla chips and Pace salsa while I waited for Jorge to get here. I’ve had an insatiable hunger these days, probably due to the fact that I’m Pre-PMS’ing :D. Yay!!

Work has been HECTIC, but as exhausted as I’ve been I was a good girl and made my love his caldo de mariscos (seafood soup). I forgot to take a photo, can you believe it?? I also made some garlic asparagus. I really need to update the recipes page. But, well. I can hardly find time to BLOG, let alone add recipes *sigh*.

I’m proud of the fact that I made a meal plan and stuck to it; we didn’t go out to eat or order food for dinner all week (well, with the exception of yesterday. I made dinner, but we stopped by Jack-in-the-Box for some mango tea…and some jalapeño poppers *sigh*). We can’t help lunch sometimes, but I made all our dinners *beams*. I’m still trying to get Alaethia to eat, say, Green Chicken Curry Salad. She’s still my picky one. Emily will eat everything :).

Anyway, it’s been a long, tiring week. We have an event coming up (which we lost 2 months of organizing due to the date we chose for it and it’s been nerve-wracking) and the 2 weeks prior are the busiest and most stressful. I was feeling kind of mediocre and unprepared at the beginning of the week. I almost wanted to just call in and hide under my blanket and sleep all day with Emmos on Tuesday, but I didn’t.

My darn van had left me stranded last week and we’ve yet to get it fixed. Jorge laughs at me because he says I’m the only person in the world that complains about driving a BMW, heh. It’s just so stressful; I’m always afraid someone’s going to dent it with their door or that I’m going to scratch the leather =\. I’ll never hear the end of it, heh!

My mood didn’t get any better when I was browsing through Facebook and read that a teenager that attended Eenan’s school had been hit by a car and killed walking to school in the morning. I know Mario or his mother drop the boys off, but an irrational part of my brain panicked and called Mario to make sure all was well with the boys. It was, of course, but Eenan and all his friends had grown up with the boy :(. I spoke to Eenan when I got out of work and he sounded ok. He explained he was never particularly close with him, and he was a troubled kid, but he said everyone was quiet around school, taking in the news. I can imagine what that did to their brain, their emotions. I’ll never forget the 1st time someone I knew–someone young–died. I was in 5th grade and it was a classmate’s little sister. Died in a tragic accident at the Livestock Show monster truck show. I learned at the time that life could change/end in a second.

I wanted to just come home and hug my babies, I wanted to just be with all 4 of them :(. I spoke to the boys for a long time that night. I miss them :(.

The news of the little boy’s passing was terrible. But it made me realize just how lucky I am to HAVE my babies regardless of the distance, to have a job even though I get stressed, to have at least one working car, to have a roof over our heads, to have Jorge, who busts his butt on the daily to make sure we have everything we need; to have all my loved ones alive and well, to have food in the fridge and in our tummies even though I complain about feeling fat all day long =\, to be happy with what we DO have, even though sometimes I complain about how unfair it is that undeserving people get way more help than they ever should.

I’ve been repeating this to myself when I’ve felt a little overwhelmed throughout the day. The positive attitude resonated in all areas of my life: my event started picking up, I accomplished my tasks at work so far, and then yesterday Jorge and I got some great news! I’m just so incredibly thankful for everything :*).

Oh, man. I made the mistake of buying a Ben & Jerry’s pint of Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream from the corner store and I managed to scarf down HALF so now I’m having a sugar crash. Poo. I’ll try and update some more tomorrow. My brunch date with Sally fell through for Saturday and I’m kidless so my new plans for this weekend include sleeping in, spending lots of time on my site, Facebook and Pinterest; cleaning a little, maybe buy some pants somewhere (I’ve received TONS of great coupons lately!) and perhaps–if I’m lucky–scrapbook before my super duper busy weekend next week. I’m going to take it a day at a time and ENJOY IT.

I’ll leave you with a few pics from the week. (Most you’ve seen on Facebook or Instagram already, heh.)

Kika, who snuck into the girls’ room and snuggled with Alaethia:

My love and our huge snuggly kitty:

Emily and her duckies:

At the Corner Bakery Cafe ribbon cutting. I can see this becoming a place Sally and I can frequent for brunch :). The artwork on the walls are snapshots of sights around the city!

Me, in JAYLEN’S shirt. Accidentally threw it on and it instantly confused me. I was thrilled because I was having a pretty shitty I-feel-fat day =\ and my 10-yr-old’s shirt fit! But then I was a bit sad because that’s it: my boys’ clothes fit me. That means they’ve grown and will continue to grow :*(.

The Jr. Roll at Yoko’s Sushi. Was fortunate enough to have lunch with my love and Sally today :)!

Cute pumpkins, painted pink for Cancer awareness, at Texas Oncology:

And that’s it! Goodnight :).

Dang. It’s been a while since I updated . I seriously can’t even remember the last time I updated, or what it was about. My memory has been something else lately, and by that I mean I can’t remember shit =X.

— I just checked to see when, in fact, I did last update; it was WHILE Jorge was in Indiana. And I got my days and events from work all mixed up. Had to get on here and fix it!

I had an event on Thursday the 30th; a dinner to celebrate the 20th Anniversary as Sister Cities, and I wore the tallest shoes I’ve ever owned. Luckily, all went without incident, heh.

This was our wonderful dinner, which I hardly got to enjoy because I was running around all over the place making sure everything was going as it should:

Jorge went to Indianapolis again to the Cedia convention the 2nd week of this month for training and to receive an award :). I’m so proud of him, he really has no idea . We talked as much as we could, texted when he wasn’t in classes. It was a bit easier for me to be without him this year since I had the girls to keep me busy :). We even got to make mini pizzas :).

Last year was HARD, since I only had Emily at the time and she kinda lazied around with me and then escaped to Mom’s room when she was sleepy LOL.

Thursday was when I picked my boys up, brought them home and then went to the mall for Fashion Night. It was a really fun event. Too bad we didn’t get to eat anything since the herds of people (who didn’t even attend the show) all got in line. It was insane, heh.

The kiddos and I had a quiet weekend at home that week. My love got home Saturday afternoon :). It was SO NICE to have him home, and cuddling and just being together ♥.

Oh yes, I don’t know if I’d mentioned it already: we got a new kitty named Kika! Another Maine Coon. She’s finally warming up to us. She despises Ruffles, probably because he beats her up every chance he gets. Grr.

Aly had Grandparent’s Day lunch this past Monday. Both the grandmas and myself went. It was actually really pleasant :).

The rest of the week was pretty normal. Spending time with the girlies and my babe all week, doing our usual routine :). I did my motherly duties early Wednesday night and put the girls to bed and mom babysat. My love and I were invited to Frida’s for Retro night and it was super fun :). My love even bought me a rose, aww!

It was Mario’s weekend with the kids so I kept busy. We had a Mixer at work Thursday night so I made my appearance and came home with my love :). We were invited to watch the game but we stayed home and ate junk from Jack In the Box and caught up on our shows instead :). Friday was a GREAT day at work! Sponsorships and exhibitors started coming in for one of my events and I’m so relieved. It’s always nerve wracking having to wait! I just hope every day is like Friday; then we’ll fill up for sure!

Since my love and I went to work together that day (and had lunch together at Espi’s :D), I went to make a payment at Conn’s after work (man, I can’t wait to get ish paid off!), and then I went to Old Navy since I had a coupon. I’m really upset, though, that I let $15 worth of coupons expire! Grr! BUT, I did find the two dresses I wanted for months in my size and I scooped them up before I couldn’t find them again later (like that darn black/white flowy blouse I wanted, grr.) I know “winter” (ha!) is coming and I should be buying slacks since none of mine fit but 3 pairs (the others fit me big! Hallelujah!), but it’s just so much easier and cheaper buying dresses then it is to buy slacks and a blouse. Plus, I get to wear my cute shoes :P.

I picked up my babe and Michelle called that they were at Jalapeños. Oh, that place. Strongest Margaritas (and cheapest! $1!) on the PLANET. Not joking. We went over for an hour, since his boys were on their way to the house (someone was in a hurry!). Sure enough, just like last time, darn things hit me FAST. We got home and I PASSED OUT. Then I woke up, spoke to my kiddos and couldn’t fall asleep till 2:30am. GRR!

The next morning I had my usual brunch with Sally :). We went to Le Peep this time since Jimmy’s was packed. Then we went to Lowe’s and I came home. Mom had already fed the boys and I went to HEB to grocery shop. Got home, unloaded, and started cleaning the house since we were having guests over for the boxing fight. My love got home, we finished cleaning and then we prepped the food for the BBQ. It was an exciting fight, and it was great sitting outside on the back porch watching the huge screen and eating great food :). Reminds me of our Autumn and Winter last year. I really look forward to seasons and holidays with my love and the kids, more than ever :)!

As for today, we woke up, bought menudo and barbacoa and watched football and even got to catch up on XFactor. It’s been a great, lazy day. I had time to organize my closet and plan a few of my outfits for the week :).

I need better shelves for my shoes and I need to downsize on the tank tops, heh. I didn’t even want to get the other side of the closet in the pic since it’s an unruly mess of scrapbooking boxes :P.

Mario called me around 5pm that my poor Emmos was stung by a jellyfish at the beach :(. I didn’t even know they were over there and I almost flipped out, but I kept calm. I just hope my little lady isn’t in too much discomfort. I miss them all :(! And it sucks that I’m not there to make her better, but she’ll be with me tomorrow ♥.

I got to cut my Babe’s hair earlier this evening and then I showered. When we’re walking down the hallway we embrace and he cups my face in his hands, pulls me away to look at me and says, “You’re so pretty! I like when you’re not wearing makeup.” How wonderful is that man?? He compliments me like, 50 times a day. It’s the best feeling, ever :).

We just ate dinner; buffalo chicken and mashed potatoes. I bought this Knorr seasoning packet where you toss chicken and the seasonings in a bag and bake for 35 minutes and it came out pretty darn good. Jorge and the boys cleaned their plates, so that’ll be something I’ll be buying more often :).

I’m going to finish watching this game with my love (which really means I’m going to browse through Pinterest while he watches, heh) and then we’ll hopefully get to catch up on The Voice. Maybe. I feel so sleepy! Here’s hoping this next week is a great one and I hope Monday has mercy on me!

*sigh* I never finish with these darn posts!! I started this one last week and am JUST finishing it up (I hope).

I got out of work at 4pm on Thursday (the 9th) and stopped to get soups, orange juice and pineapple sherbert ice cream (spoiled? Yes, heh) for Jorge since he wasn’t feeling good. I’d eaten really well all day…and ruined it by buying these:

*sigh*

I was on my way home when Jorge called that he was on his way to the bank because he’d forgotten to go earlier. He didn’t sound good at all, but he insisted on going since the bank was about to close. He got home, had some juice and started tidying up. I told him he should really lay down and rest, but he said the drive and getting out of bed made him feel better. I was impressed; he vacuumed and did some laundry while I cooked dinner. I made chicken Alfredo. Emily had about 3 1/2 servings of the noodles!

The kids and I had some Oreos after dinner. I had 5 . I totally would have eaten more, but a voice inside my head kept saying, Quit your crap, fatty!

My love ate some soup and then continued cleaning. I think he just really likes that vacuum, heh. I painted the girls’ nails with the new polishes I’d bought and then they entertained themselves while we finished with the bedroom.

We got the kiddos ready for bed since we’d been invited to a gathering/party thing. We weren’t sure what the attire was so we dressed business-casually. I wore this one dress and of course complained about my fatness the entire time I dressed. I moped and pouted and asked Jorge what he thought of the dress. He opened the shower door, scanned me over and said, “God, you’re gorgeous. What are you doing with me?!” and dramatically closed the shower door. I told him, “Oh, stop it!”, and rolled my eyes. He continued with his compliments the entire evening. I even caught him gazing at me sweetly when I was putting my make-up on in the car and he said, “You’re so beautiful!” He always knows how to flatter me . I love him ♥!

I’ve always had pretty crappy self-esteem, and even with all his compliments I’m still hard on myself, but I’ve honestly never felt more confident than I have since Jorge and I got together :). (Even during my bout of weight-gain and bad acne .)

Anyhoot, we didn’t want to be out long since Jorge still wasn’t 100% and the kiddos were at home with Mom. We stopped at Starbucks to get coffee since both of us felt sleepy (and it was barely 9:45pm). We realized as soon as we arrived at the “party” that we were overdressed, heh. Everyone was in jeans and t-shirts. We said hello to the organizers, stuck around for about 10 minutes just so we didn’t seem rude, and left. We were all dressed up with nowhere to go, so we stopped for a quick drink at our favorite place.

I only had one because I could hear that voice inside my head scolding me again. Jorge watched a little bit of football and we talked about his weird bout of sickness that day. He had chills, fever, aches and felt dizzy and disoriented, but had no signs of any type of cold or stomach flu. I brought up his Guy’s Night from the night before and told him, “What if you gave yourself some type of weird alcohol poisoning?!” He got serious, then laughed and said, “Nahhhh. That couldn’t have happened, could it??” We laughed and joked about different reasons he may have gotten sick for about 10 minutes and then we headed home :).

The girls were asleep, boys were still awake (of course) when we got home. We gave them 30 more minutes and then all electronics were confiscated, heh. We snuggled in our room and poor Aly woke up with a knee-ache. Got the Motrin and her rice-sock heated up and she fell fast asleep again :).

Friday, August 10th

It was Friday and I managed to eat homemade food all week, with the exception of Tuesday, when we had Corner Stone Catering at work. I was pretty proud and felt pretty darn good :).

The morning went by pretty quickly. I got a few bills signed/approved and when the Boss Boss saw me he said, “Hey Shorty, are you wearing your ‘tall’ shoes?”

On cue I pick up my foot and show him my wedges. He laughs and says,”You know, I was watching the Olympics and I remembered you.” I laughed and knowingly said, “The short Gymnasts?” And he says, “YES. They’re the same height you are!”

Ahhhh. The short jokes will never get old LOL. And to think, as I get older, I’m just gonna get smaller

I The marketing rep from a local bank had stopped by and we chit-chatted for a bit. I’m hoping they’ll be sponsors for a few of my upcoming events.

I ate lunch, read some blogs, tried blogging (but didn’t get to do much) and then I covered the front desk for an hour. Maritza and Gerry got back from lunch and told me there was Starbucks coffee in the kitchen. They brought me a glass of iced coffee; about 12-15oz I’d say. And I prepared it with regular creamer and Sweet N Low. It was great! I went to Beto’s office to check on my hours (since we’re still cutting during summer) and he said, “Time to go!” This was around 2pm-2:30pm. I got my stuff and headed out the door :).

I got home and was greeted by 8 kids LOL. Briana had dropped off Nick and Mia for a few hours since her babysitter cancelled on her. The girls followed me around, we fed the new kitty, and then I had them play with their homemade Koolaid Play-doh while I made dinner.

Briana got here right when the food was out of the oven but couldn’t stay long. The rest of the kiddos ate and then I went outside in the 103 degree heat to clean the pool. Darn thing. The cover STILL flies off and the mesquite trees make a darn mess! So I busted out the hose and vacuum and got working. Jorge got here and changed and then helped me finish up. We all got ready and got in for a good hour or so. It dawned on me that this awesome summer is coming to a close very soon. It makes me sad, because then we’ll get back into the old routine, which means my boys will only be here every other Wednesday from Thursday-Monday morning . Ugh. I hate to think about it.

I bathed the girls, debated whether I should work out but instead I came to the living room with the kiddos and watched their shows with them. And promptly fell asleep. I think that’s a pretty good way to spend a Friday night :).

Saturday, August 11th

My love left to work 🙁 and I laid in bed, waiting for one of the kids to wake up. It’s usually Emily. I tossed and turned and COULD NOT go back to sleep. I waited and waited for a child to make one peep, like they usually do Saturday morning. But nope. An hour and a half later they were ALL STILL ASLEEP! Just my luck, eh??

So I finally got out of bed and weighed myself. I was pleased to see that I’d lost 2.5 pounds in a week (or 6 days, actually) from staying away from restaurants for the most part, and keeping track of my calories again. If I could just get some exercise in…

I went to the kitchen and started banging pots around to wake the children up. Kidding! But I did end up waking Eenan up, and then Emily. We were out of milk, so there would be no cereal (and I actually wanted some Special K for once), so I whipped up some homemade cinnamon vanilla waffles (2.5 pounds, what?). When I get that recipe just right I’ll add it to the recipes page :). I texted Sally to ask if she’d had breakfast yet. She hadn’t, so she was coming over, woo!

We gossiped over coffee while we waited for the waffles to come out and I removed little girls off the counter. Finally I gave up and just let them wash dishes:

We talked about everything under the sun. We talked about our Moms’ health, and then about our dads. Our dads go waaaay back. They were best friends before we were. I told her Dad still visits her dad often. When I get a chance to talk to him, he’ll tell me something like, “Fui a visitar a mi viejito. Le ayude componer su secadora.” I went to visit my little old man, I helped him fix his dryer.

She laughs and says, “That’s what we’re gonna say! I’m going to visit my viejita. She’s making waffles again!” It was hilarious :). I really do hope we’ll still be having waffles and coffee and gossiping years and years from now :).

We sat around talking for a while and then I paid some bills online and chilled out with the kids. The girls were all over the new tiny kitty. Alaethia randomly tells me, “I love little kitties more than big kitties. The kitties at Dad’s are kitties. But I’m pretty sure Ruffles is a LION” :). She’s so cute!

I paid some bills online (story of my life!) and then Jorge got home, early! We went to HEB for our weekly shopping and some BBQ stuff, since we were celebrating Mom’s birthday early. Her birthday is on the 19th and the kiddos would be with the other parents that weekend.

Jorge fired up the grill when we got home, brought down the projector and tuned in to his football game. Oh lordy. Here it comes! Guys screaming at the tops of their lungs on the porch LOL.

Freddy and his son came over and then Sally and Carlos did. We chilled out outside and watched our guys bond over football, aww LOL. The kids all ate and then played in the boys room. Emily, of course, was the only one who sat outside with us. She’s glued to me, always. But I don’t mind because she won’t always be :(.

Even though I was watching what I ate, I made Sally and myself some mango Margaritas. They didn’t come out as good as when Jorge makes them, though :(. And they could have been mango-ier but the girls kept stealing pieces .

Sally and me (or me and Sally, actually). With my curly hair, ’cause I was too lazy to flat-iron it. Or to put on make-up. Heh. This might be only my 2nd full-body photo on my blog, ever, if I recall correctly. But then again my mind isn’t what it used to be .

Anyway, it was another great night :). Quite a great way to end a great week!