My Birth-Week :)

April 9th – Started the week like I usually do: with a Monday morning meeting at work. Everyone goes around taking turns, talking about what’s coming up in the week for them. As I jotted down event after upcoming event, I started feeling a little apprehensive. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a worst-case-scenario-type person and my nerves quietly festered into fear. I vented to Jorge about this later and he told me no problem, don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. He said he’d schedule his work near Aly’s school and he’d pick her up. That was what concerned me the most. He’s so wonderful !

April 10th – The girls and I planned another little reunion. It was kind of an impromptu thing, with ideas thrown here and there and we finally agreed to do it at our place. OMG! I felt great about it and then I started feeling nervous, like, what if I couldn’t get the house spotless?! Or what if we couldn’t fit all these people on the porch?! Or what if work didn’t let me borrow tables and chairs?!

I got home from work and tidied up, watched TV with the girlies, and made dinner for all of us:

Then I bathed the girls, read their stories and they were out for the count. Mom said she’d watch the kiddos for us while we went out, so we decided yes, we would for once. We went to Chili’s and just chilled out. I was SO tempted to have my absolute favorite, Spinach and Artichoke Dip, but I woke up and weighed this in the morning:

…and I didn’t want to ruin it! I had a drink (ok, 2!) and we chit-chatted and played on our phones :). I told Jorge, “People are probably looking at us and thinking, ‘Man they’re in trouble. They won’t even put their phones down.’” He laughed. Little do they know we were playing Words by Post with each other LOL.

We were home by 11:45pm :). We got ready for bed, snuggled up and crashed out, heh.

April 11th – The day was a usual work day. It ended as a day where I involve myself in activities I probably shouldn’t, and by that I mean a cupcake bake-off LOL. I don’t know what I was thinking. EZ called asking me to participate, because he knows I like to bake and cook, but I told him Yes, I like to, but I’m not ready for a bake-off!.

I finally agreed to do it if Michelle agreed to do it with me. She said ok. So there we go, right after work, to HEB to buy our ingredients. We decided we’d be doing Rainbow Cupcakes. I’d never attempted these before, but I’d always wanted to and it seemed easy enough…

We got back and I started on the batter. I dyed it with food coloring and then the girls helped us mix. Then Michelle and I got started on layering. I took a picture of her because she said, “No one’s ever going to believe that I’m baking!” And they didn’t LOL!

Michelle thought it was the cutest thing that they pull the stools up to the counter and quietly watch me work. She asked, “Do they always do that?” And I said, “Oh, yes, every day.”

She asked Emily, “You like to watch Mama cook?”

Emily (who was being shyer than usual) nodded a timid Yes.

Michelle asked her, “You want to cook like mama?” and Emily nodded yes again, with a little smile this time. Aww

The inside:

We were proud of our cupcakes :). I thought they were super cute; something I’d definitely have to make for the kiddos, but in cake-form next time!

April 12th – We were excited about the bake-off. Everyone wanted to see our entries. We had to provide 3 for the tasting and 9 for the guests/donations.

I picked up Alaethia after school and had lunch with her and Emily, like usual. I was going to miss my little ladies. It was Mario’s weekend and I wouldn’t be seeing the girls right after work since Michelle and I would be heading to the bake-off right afterwards.

We submitted our entries, got a tour of the place, ate a teensy bit and waited. When all was finished Michelle and I didn’t win, but our cupcakes were the 2nd to go. It was a little upsetting that the winners were 2 of the people who work at the organization =\. And there was only one People’s Choice category and it went to a professional bakery. BUT, it was fun and a great experience. I’d never been a part of something like that and it was awesome :)!

Got home and called all the kiddos and spent time with my love :). He had some news for me: he wasn’t able to get the full day off on Saturday so we couldn’t go celebrate Sally’s birthday like we wanted to . I felt awful that I wouldn’t be there. I had to figure out how to work up the courage to give the news to Tina.

April 13th – I eventually told Tina before noontime that we wouldn’t be able to attend. She even tried accommodating us the best way possible but even then, he would get out too late Friday and we wouldn’t make it. I was so sad that I wouldn’t be able to spend our 30th together :(.

I tried inviting Sally to lunch, but she was with QC and said we’d leave it for another time. Jorge said we’d have lunch at Kumori, so I met him and his new employee there. I hope we didn’t freak him out with our jokes and constant “that’s what she said!” innuendos LOL.

My day got instantly better spending a little time with my babe :). Too bad I started feeling sick about an hour after lunch! I almost thought I had food poisoning, but I was just really queasy. I thought, “Not before the reunion!!”

I got home from work and Mom and I rushed to get some stuff for the party the next day and a few little decorations from Ross. I didn’t want to spend too much, but we got a few new rugs for the bathrooms, Mom got me Margarita glasses for my birthday LOL, new soap dispensers from Target and a few other things. I got home and started cleaning while the boys played in their room.

Jorge and I went to pick up the tables and chairs from work and came home and put them in the garage. Jorge wanted to take me to dinner: our traditional birthday dinner at Pappadeaux, but I was skeptical. I hadn’t eaten since lunch; I’d only had a sip of his Sprite and I felt nauseous all over again. I didn’t want to puke 🙁 LOL. But we went anyway and I’m so glad I felt ok enough to eat.

Everything was so delicious. I ate so much during the appetizers that I couldn’t finish my food OR my free birthday cheesecake!

I had my poor babe on an emotional roller coaster. I’d feel fine and then I’d feel ill, so I’d laugh and then I’d kind of mope and try and calm my nausea. He dealt with it all really well though ♥!

We got home, earlyish, and I made myself some manzania tea to settle my stomach before we sat down to watch DVR’d American Idol. I was kind of regretting stuffing myself with appetizers, but I’m glad I was only nauseous and not full-blown sick. I snuggled up next to Jorge on the sofa, with my hot tea and my favorite blanket and he took the words right out of my mouth when he said, “I love this. I love when we get to just relax together.” Me too :).

April 14th I woke up to “Happy Birthday, Baby!!” He snuggled me for a while and gave me a kiss on the forehead. He walked to the door and said, “Sleep in, Baby, it’s your birthday,” and sleep in I did! For the first time in a LONG time I allowed myself to sleep in till 10:30am LOL. Mom had already served the boys breakfast. I told them to get ready while I got ready. We were picking up my kiddos and having lunch at Peter Piper Pizza. I’d asked Mario earlier in the week if I could “borrow” them, since it was his weekend and he’d agreed. I thank him for that. It made my day to see my kiddos on my birthday :*)!

Mom, the boys and I picked my kiddos up and I was greeted by 4 Happy Birthdays ♥! We got to PPP, ordered our food and I got a bajillion tokens. They played to their hearts’ content and then we ate. Emily threw one little tantrum, because Alaethia had gotten a prize and she didn’t, so we went and got her some tickets and the guy gave her 3 of the prize she wanted :).

We ran into Salvador, one of our old classmates at Tae Kwon Do. He’s already a black-belt! It made me a little sad; I was hoping to be the first “family” of black-belts to graduate together at our school . But oh well, things happen.

I let the kids play another long while. They were reluctant to leave even when I gave them an extra 20 minutes. We took pictures; Mom didn’t do to well with my phone…she cut half the kids’ heads off LOL. So Jorgie took the pic of my kiddos and me :).

Of course it was dark because my phone ran out of battery and Emily is forever turning when the picture’s shot LOL.

I dropped my babies off :(, and then we stopped by HEB to get some food and stuff we’d need for the reunion. It was fast with Jorgie and Justin ticking things off the list.

I got home and cleaned in a frenzy. I didn’t have much to do, the house is usually tidy, but the bathrooms got a good scrubbing, I cleaned behind and under the fridge (which was acting up ever since they fixed the freezer), and I hung up all the laundry. Jorge got home and swept/washed the porch and cleaned up the pit. I vacuumed the living room and dusted and took a shower and got ready. Felipe and Freddy had come over and helped him put the tables and chairs up.

He showered and got ready and we made a quick run to Feldman’s. We got back and the girls slowly started arriving. It was great seeing everyone and chismiando :). Jorge ended up calling Freddy to come back because none of the guys who’d RSVP’d came LOL.

My Love was so wonderful. He did all the cooking and made us Margaritas and was just such a great host. When we were inside together once I apologized that he ended up doing everything on his own. He said, “I want to, Babe. Anything for you, Love. It’s your birthday.” All the girls kept telling me how lucky I am. How very right they are :*)!!

They sang Happy Birthday to me and we had 2 different cakes :). Daisy brought a Better-than-sex one and Mom had bought me a brownie ice cream cake. Justin was so sweet; he got all involved with the cake and candles and serving :).

I had such a great, great birthday! It was honestly one of the best in YEARS. I felt…special :)!

We had the boys get in bed and I finished catching up. The last of the girls, Jessica and Daisy, ended up leaving around 1am. I need to make more time for my friends. I had no idea how much some of them were going through right now. I need to be a better friend!

I stayed up with my Love and Freddy till I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore LOL. I actually went to bed around 3am for once!

Freddy kept telling us how lucky we are to have each other. I couldn’t agree more ♥!

April 15th We woke up early considering how late we fell asleep. I got up and made us breakfast: omelets of course, per my Baby’s request, heh. We ate leftover cake as we watched Jerry Maguire–well, sort of, until we realized that the weird smell our fridge was emitting was becoming annoying and really nauseating. We decided we’d go look at fridge’s, just in case. If they were too expensive then forget it.

We went to Conn’s and found the fridge he’d been looking at online and it was a great price! We were approved for it right away and the paperwork as done, just like that! THAT’S the type of stuff I’m used to, not the being denied just about everything a year ago when I was barely salvaging my credit after SOMEBODY ruined it .

We stopped at Target afterwards…for who knows what LOL. I can’t remember. And we had some nachos and Icee’s. I weighed 115 on my birthday–my short-term goal!–and I was sure I’d gained it back in those 1 and a half days!

We did our Sunday routine when we got back. The Golf Tournament was the next day and I was SO GLAD to be wearing jeans to work, hehe. We relaxed and caught up on our shows. I’m so thrilled and humbled and GRATEFUL for all the wonderful people in my life, my kids and Jorge and family above all :*). My next 30 years are going to be GREAT!