2007 wrap up

i was taking a look back at all my past entries and . . . i've been through a lot this year. we've passed my birthday, easter, 4th of july, halloween and a thanksgiving. over all i had a really great 2007. i barely worked at all and yet i was paid as if i'd worked a great deal. i couldn't be more blessed this year. with the birth of my second son and the health of my entire family. however now the year is nearly over. we're winding down to the last few days of 2007. i'm both excited and upset. time is the enemy. i'm getting older, my baby's getting teeth, we are choosing a a middle school for my oldest son. but they say that bad things happen in sets of three and my time has come. a few weeks ago, while praying to the Lord, i told Him how blessed i was and thanking Him for all the good in my life. everything was well. however, its over now. my grandfather is in the hospital yet again. each visit getting more serious than the next. technically i'm prepared for the death of my grandfather. it is part of the life cycle and he's had a wonderful long life with many people who love him and will pray for him to reach heaven. that's only the technical part. in reality, seeing my mother's father pass will destroy me. secondly, i had a minor car accident yesterday all was well, there was no damage. until today when the lady changed her mind but my insurance refused to pay claiming it was equal fault. ordinarily this would be wonderful news (and it still is) but i work with this lady. we revered into each other in the company parking lot yesterday. superb. and something that would only happen to me. third . . . . the third thing is out there. hanging over me like my own personal storm cloud like in cartoons, only raining on me. i'm waiting for it. it's coming and soon. i need to be careful that i am not my own third event, but i'm sure i know what it is or will be.

sans dialog

i'm a looser

i feel like such a looser cuz i keep throwing pictures up here w/o any dialog. but i keep thinking. "who wants to read this crap anyway?" i mean seriously, i don't even think that my husbands reads it. which is kind of good cuz i can talk about other hot men if i wanted to. . . . but i wont. just in case ; ) i jest. anyhow, audience or no audience, i will continue to blog about my little family just for fun. it's entertaining.

we are preparing for thanksgiving today. my sister, mother and i went to the big wal-mart and got all the fixin's for turkey day. thanksgiving kind of snuck up on me, just like everything else this year. time goes by way toooo fast. the kids grow too fast. i try not to think about time too much because it will quickly lead to thoughts about death and the end of the world. i regards to time, my cup is 1/2 empty. i appologize.

happy thanksgiving to ALL my audience!!!

more montez's in the world

5

holy classifieds, i'm still unemployed. i was ok for a long time because i was so sure that it would be a quick turn around, but here i am on week 5! keep an eye out for me at the drive through window at your local burger king. i'll be the one sporting a paper hat and a headset. ok, so we're not quite destitute yet, but i've become accustom to a certain life-style. it's not quite Neiman's. it's more like JCPenny. i like JCPenny. they are classic and if you have a coupon you can get a lot for your buck!

also hitting a big mark today. . . baby tobe has entered month 5. his cloths say otherwise. he is a size 9 months. sheesh. his Halloween costume will stop at his calves, but he will wear it anyhow. it has sentimental value.

we cannot wait for trick-or-treating!!!!

holy manoly. . . . it's been 15 days

forgive me blogger for i have not penned. it has been 15 days since my last last blog. (Catholic humor)

here's a quick count of events since my last post. . . .

1 road trip to wimberly, tx to see my cousin and her baby; he's a cutie!

2 emails from tommie's teacher; tommie MUST sit away from other students

3 medications that i have to apply daily to my big toe before the "procedure"

4 to zero score at thomas' soccer game - we had the zero : (

5 dishes tasted at an elementry school event

6 mixed drinks at maria's birthday party (this event includes one slight headache)

7+ pounds gained by toby. he was 15.8oz at his last dr. appt.

8 job interviews; all promising, but no cigar

the book of tobit

toby's baptism day could not have gone better.

tobias was gracefuly welcomed to the Catholic community yesterday.

it was just number one

its been 6 days since my last day of work and i have been busier these past 6 days then i have been the past 6 months while working! actually, now that i think about it, i don't think that i will have time to squeeze in a 9-5 on my hectic schedule. today i had a 10am interview, a 1pm interview, i had to pick up thomas from school, run to pick up tobias and then take tobias to his 4 month doctor's appointment. i had been running around all day on nothing but a cup of coffee, a bottled water and a bologna sandwich. (i know, i'm like the only person in the world who eats bologna!) when we finally got to the hospital for toby's doctor's appointment, i had to take a break into the little girls room. so, i kindly asked thomas to please stand outside the bathroom and watch toby for me. "I'll just be a sec." i go in, pass the lovely couches and into my stall and then i hear . . . "mom, MOM, MOOOOOMMMM!" i quickly prayed that this yelling was coming from the child of one of the other three women in the restroom. no such luck. i call back, "yes, thomas?"

"are you going to go number one or number two?"

unemployment

monday night i got the biggest surprise of my life. i was completely caught off guard when my corporate office manager, Bonnie, called me to let me go. she said that she was sorry, and thanked me for everything. i'd like to say that i've never been fired before, but this not my first time in the unemployment line. i was fired when i was 16. i worked for Celebration Restaurant as a hostess. the manager said that i was way too "reserved" and that he was sorry and thanked me for everything. twelve years ago, i hung up from that phone call and drove down to Eckerd Drug Store, filled out a paper application and was hired within 20 minutes. monday night i hung up from that phone call and cried.


yesterday, i had my exit interview with Bonnie; she flew down from Portland. she told me that the board of directors had to fire my boss. since i am his assistant, i was also no longer needed, my position was eliminated. i was sooo angry with my boss but i got a chance to talk to him about it and he said that he was super sorry. so now i'm hitting the pavement (i.e. internet) looking for a new way to pay the rent.


if all else fails then i will drive down to Eckerd Drug Store, now CVS, and fill out a paper application.

soccer

fall 2007 soccer season is here! since tom has missed a couple of seasons i was concerned that he'd be behind the other kids. he was not. he was awsome and i was really happy for him. they did loose thier first game but that's ok. off to a bad start but there is potential there for a great season! tommy lacks hussle but other than that he's gotten 100xs better over the years. i even caught him doing a clever head pass, which was uber cool. soccer mom was never a dream of mine, yet here i am and i couldn't be happier.

winter shopping

thursday night my mom gave tobe this cuuuutte little outfit, but it was a size 6 months and i though, "sheesh, this is too big and it'll be cold before he can wear it." so when i got home i tried it on him just for kicks. and to my surprise, and later concern, it fit! not a-little-to-big fit or a just-right-fit, but a one-more-week-until-it's-too-small fit. so i dropped everything and ran to toby's dresser to survey it's contents. sure enough i had been subconsciously making piles of fit vs. doesn't fit clothing inside. the pile of doesn't fit had quickly overwhelmed the left side of the top draw. later that night, before i had a chance to communicate my panic to rodney, we saw a news story about a huge consignment event. rodney must-a read my mind when he offered to take me to shop for winter clothes for the baby. so this is where we spent our friday morning, sans children, and we had a blast! now, toby is set for the coming winter months. . . . hopefully.

quick catch up. . . . .

Dental Care
I had a two hour visit to the dentist this morning. It left me with the entire right side of my face numb for hours. I could not speaking and was even drooling a bit. Making matters worse, I got to work, thinking I'd be alone in the office today, only to find my boss here in a meeting with someone else! Classic Matilda Moment. The left side is scheduled for later this month, yikes!

The VMA's
Poor Brittney. Enough said.

Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner
Loved it, Loved it! Jennifer Weiner did a fab job on this book. Some of it was a little far-fetched. For example the heroine gets everything her little heart ever desired and all her enemies got exactly as they deserved at the end. Not resembling real life not even closely. However, it’s just a book and those are the things that we can fantasize about, right? The main character, Cannie, is super successful, sharp, witty, with a pretty face. BUT she’s a size 16. Cannie let’s this tiny detail rule her entire life! Jennifer Weiner teaches Cannie her lesson and sends her off with a happy ending, my favorite. The book also includes some hilarious innuendoes.

Teething

Before I left for Portland, Thomas was sick and my heart went out to him. That helpless feeling just eats me up. Then, upon my return from Portland, my other baby, Toby, starts running a fever. He’s TEETHING! He’s only 3 and ½ months old, so this was totally unexpected. He’s drooling like a drippy faucet and gnawing on whatever we put near his mouth. Thankfully, on this round, the fever only last a day and half. I did have to miss a friend’s baby shower, so that kind of sucked.

Portland
This is my second time in Portland for work. It was great to go out there and mingle with all my Pacific Coast Co-Workers, but it’s always hard to be away from my family. (even if it is just for a couple of days) I being brave before I left, right up until Thomas got all teary-eyed on me when we said good-bye at the airport. I was over it by later that night. I went to happy hour. I watched everybody shoot pool and then I had a couple of drinks and some appetizers. Then a few of us went to have dinner. I tried the Washington Crab! Traveling back was a nightmare. My train to the airport left at 3:45pm PST where I caught a 5:30pm flight to Arizona. Then from Arizona to DFW was another 3 hours, getting me to Dallas at 2am CST. I got home, kissed the boys, took a shower, broke Rodney’s glasses when I stepped on them, and hopped into bed. And by 4:30am I was up again feeding the baby. My life had returned to regular programming after only 2 and half hours of sleep.

103.2 fever

turns out. . . thomas was sick. it started on saturday with a fever and then a sore throat. thomas is weird because you'd never know he was sick. he does not constantly complain of his ailments the way that i do. i can't understand that boy sometimes. i feel like if you're sick then everyone should know it and feel sorry for you. because of his lack of complaints, i didn't even notice that he was sick until we got home from church on sunday afternoon. so he flopped down on the couch and stayed there until this morning. yesterday was the hardest because his fever sky rocketed to 103.2. by "hardest", i mean hardest on me. tommy was fine. he watched a pokemon marathon. i, on the other hand, had to balance toby on one hip while caring for thomas. i tried to pawn off toby to my mother, but it was a no-go. then i called my phone nurse service all teary eyed, lump-in-throat and all. i felt helpless; all i could do was schedule and appointment for first thing in the morning. dang this labor day.

this morning's visit to dr. ernie proved helpful. we learned tommy didn't have strep but had a viral infection in his throat. a quick stop at the pharmacy. we returned home to find that thomas feels much better, but now my throat is feeling a tad quirky. it always works that way for me.

the twins

************

i spent a little time shopping with sarah and toby on saturday. we're looking around for a baptism outfit for tobias. the options are limited for boys. but the highlight of my day was hanging out at my mom's house with david's twins. these poor babies will always be referred to as "the twins". we could individualize them but it's soooo much cuter not to. they are a rarity in our family that just referring to them as "the twins" makes me feel special just by having twins in our family. thanks david and vanessa; you have fabulous procreation skills! their little personalities are developing too. xavier is happy and laid back like a sleepy puppy. while leilani is sensitive and finicky like a flower.

thomas also brought some excitement to my saturday, but i will save him the embarrassment and NOT blog about it.

1998

nearly 10 years ago, this was us. . . . . .

many times, i jump first and then think later. this causes a lot of what i do to be harder than it was supposted to be. on the other hand, it also causes me to do a lot of things that i probably would never do. so now i have a whole lotta "life experiences" under my belt. but i learn from my mistakes and how can i learn if i don't make those mistakes to begin with. so the logic here is . . . . i will be freakin' genius by the time i'm 40!

monday madness

up at 6:30am, it's time for school. rodney and i have been looking forward to this day for several weeks now. we got everything together and got tommy there on time even though it was a mad house at the local elementry. every parent wanted to drop their babies off for the first day of school. however, i did noticed that we were one of only a hand-full of parents who walked in their 5th grader. i don't care; he's still my baby. i'll walk him into his first day of 12th grade too!

after all tom's homework was done and before Kyle XY started, vic stopped by to drop off my new PUMA bag! i love it. i wanted something cool to travel with on my up coming trip to portland. he stayed for a bit to share some of his own drama, so thank goodness i had Kyle XY set on the dvr!

jam packed weekend

we stared our weekend really early, like at noon, on friday afternoon. rod and i had a meeting with the priest at our new church regarding tobias' coming baptism. it was a great meeting. father josef was fabulous to us. he spoke with kindness and wisdom. both of which were greatly appreciated. he also gave thomas some great advise that i can only hope that tommy takes to heart. anyhow, now we're all set for 9/30 for toby's baptism. sarah and morty i hope you two our ready to take on that challenge of being my son's spiritual leaders!!

saturday we spent literally 12 hours away from home running around. it was a long day for the kids and i felt horrible about it. poor toby was soooo tired. but we got a bunch of stuff done including some last minute back-to-school shopping. plus we had so much fun. rod and i even threw in a little adult fun. we ditched the kids and hung out with maria, kevin, sarah and patrick for a quick appetizer and drink at matt's.

sunday was uber hot! the boys and i ran out to the book store and the grocery store and then vowed to never leave the comfort of our air conditioned home again! thomas spent the evening getting used to the idea that school starts in the morning. 8am buddy!

no salad for the crears

i made a salad for dinner. a salad that cost me $20 and 45-minutes in the kitchen. but my family refused to eat. they said it had weird stuff in it. but i've really been thinking lately about how i eat and what i feed my family. it's become important to me lately.

i am an adult and would like to eat like one, yet i often find myself in front of a bowl of Chef Boy’Ordee and i wonder how i got there. More than once i’ve eaten cereal for dinner and reheated pizza for breakfast. i’m trying to avoid this and eat better . . . healthier. i’m not getting any thinner or younger. So i open the fridge and cupboards to see where i stand. hummmm. . . ice cream, cookies, popcorn, Nerds, macaroni, frozen waffles, Coke and Kool-Aid. so, i’m not off to a good start. but i can take baby steps to get us where we need to be. this is why i like going out to eat so much. when i dine out i am able to treat myself to a vegetable. i can’t blame my family though. i should set an example, but it is sooo easy for me to fall into the trap of convenience foods and I give into their demands. Rachel Ray, i need your help! what is easy to make, kid friendly and healthy? i’m going to sit down with Rodney and see what compromises we can come to regarding our diet.

but not tonight because i want to go to Braum’s. nothing makes me feel better like a whopping scoop of Rocky Road! (baby steps)

tax free sunday

i saved a total of $3.80 this weekend during tax-free shopping. after friends gave rave reviews of steve & berry's, i decided to check it out. i was not much for bitten. it was cute stuff but a bit casual for this shopping spree. i was in the market for work attire. i did, however, fall head over heals for their huge line of button up shirts. they had short-sleeve, long-sleeve, solids, and prints, and everything in between. i settled on two short-sleeved button ups that were 2 for $20. not a bad deal. next to ross, i think i've found another fav for clothes shopping. then we left that mall and headed over to our favorite better mall just down the way to meet up with my brother and nieces.

saturday night

well, i wasn't upset for long because this night i went to hang out with people who have stuck around me for few years now. embasing my flaws and failings. highlighting my postive chararteristics and virtue. not once competeing with me, judgeing me nor have they looked down at me. just being my friends and allowing the same in return from me. i had previously misunderstood. we had dinner al fresca. we shared the recent events in our lives, some advise and even a few tears. (we're women so all of that is totally allowable) after dinner we hit up another swanky place on knox/henderson for just one more drink. i didn't get home until 12:45am. which, by the way, is the lastest i've been out since tobe was born.

saturday day

i took tommy to a friend's birthday pool party. i did a drop and go, which is the coolest part about tommy being 10. i came back an hour early to hang out with sarah. she was there i she didn't want to sit poolside alone. understandable. at the party, i ran into an old friend's ex-boyfriend and their son. their son and my son grew up together; in the same daycare until they were 5. tommy has no memory of this boy. and seeing him after so long was odd. he's about to turn 11! i couldn't help being overwhelmed by nostalgia just looking at him. i knew his mom so well. she was my best friend for so long and now it's been over 10 years since we were best friends and 3 years since we've even spoken. after we left the party i was upset and sad remembering my lost friendship. a friendship i've grieved for so many years now. just when i think i'm over it something like this happends. it really is a small world.

rule #1 about being married. . . .

(to me at least) don't go out to dinner with my family and leave me at home. i don't care what i said. yes, i said "i don't want to go", but he knows EXACTLY what i meant.

what started this terrible situation? well, it started because the cable went out. (not my fault by the way) well, days before i had noticed that there is a reset option on the front of the box, so i offered this suggestion to rodney. "babe, if you hold down the power button you can reset the box." this spiraled him into a rage of "you talk to me like i'm an idiot" "why don't you think that i know what i'm doing" etc. i knew that i had undermined his manliness so i backed off but later i had to ask about the shirt he was wearing. it was a misssstake.

after putting me in a terrible mood, rodney became re energized and happy. he got dressed and then laid on the bed with tom watching disney tv. while i, pouted and didn't get dressed on time to leave for dinner. so he left w/o me. . .

after they got home and after an hour long fight including tears, thrown objects, empty divorce threats and one slap to his forhead, we some what made up and watched a funny movie with tommy. but later in the night i forced him to ask me how i fixed the cable, and i said. . . . i reset the box. this is a lie, or a part truth, because i had to call AT&T and have tech support reset the box.

i'm sure that one day i will be able to laugh at this, unfortunately. . . . . . today is not that day.

summer swimming

but really i was on my way to the pool!

i took tommy swimming at the Y for an hour today. it was beautiful outside. since the temp is a whopping 105 degrees, the pool was a tubbath kindda warm. supurb. we waded around a bit. then headed out. i had to run a couple of errands then we came home for a leftover dinner lunch.

a regular weekend

the boys and i cruised north park for like 3 hours on saturday. fun stuff. i met up with fabi, maria and the rodriguez's there. did a little window shopping. but mostly i just wanted the exercise.

sunday, the boys and i went to church. got tom signed up for sunday school this year. yikes! then i got a killer headache so tobe and i took a LONG nap midday. tom was with pat and alek getting wet in the front yard. yeah! that's how us mexican's do it; in the front yard.

that's about it for the weekend.

icecream cake for jocelyn

our niece turned 7 last week. my brother had us over for delivery pizza and icecream cake. the kids got all sweaty running around and then went swimming.

paris hilton called me ugly

after a short (very short) session of swimming at rodney's sister's apartments we headed home. it was toby's first time in a pool, but we were ready to get our sundy evening started. pj's, tv, dinner, all-around-just-sitting-around. so we're driving, minding our own business, but as we discussed current events this little black car cut off rodney UGLY. she missed us by literally one centimeter. rodney goes all roadrageish, cussing etc. . . we drive on. but the skinny-white-big sunglasses-paris hilton-wannabe flips us off. so, rod rolls down the windows to ensure she hears his rantings this time. she yells back to us "so what, your ugly; you know what, you're both ugly!" . . . . . my feelings were hurt. seriously. i mean, her beef is with rodney, not me. so why i'm am bashed. do i look ugly? does the red of the car make me look fat? jeez! but in turn i start laughing. laughing at her cuz she is obviously drunk (hello! she called me ugly) she has a cigarette in one hand and i'm sure her cell phone in the other (none on the wheel, that's for sure). she's hilarious. i laughed and laughed causing her to become even more enraged. the more angry she becomes the funnier i find this whole thing, but i know i have to be responsible. so i roll up our window and motion for her to go away already. she won't go away! so rodney yells and she skwaks ALLLLL the way down frankford road.

finally, we continue on our way and stop at a gas station. i look back at thomas for the first time. he hasn't taken his eyes off of his gameboy once.

super hot saturday

we partied at the neighbor kids birthday party last saturday. it was way too hot for that shananagins, but uber fun for tommie. he had a good time. he turned the transformer pinata into a homemade costume for himself. it was awsome. rod and i pointed and laughed and took pictures of him.

it was worth going because they had fruit-kabobs. a fruit-kabob is serveral types of fruit, cubed and stuck on a stick. it was the coolest thing i've seen lately.

toby didn't mind the heat one bit. he was cool the whole time. his hair got all sweaty and then curled up the way that it does. rod and i pointed and laughed and took pictures of him.

the grandkids

so. . . my mom now has 9 grandchildren. that's crazy. seeing as how the oldest of her 4 children is only 32. (or 31, i forget) then the youngest is only 23!! over the past 15 years we have added these buggers one-by-one to the family. diney being the oldest and tobias being the youngest see the visual aid to help identify all 9 of these monsters. (top row left to right) alek, diney, xavier, hayden (bottom row left to right) thomas, lalahni, josilyn, jocelyn, tobias.

other than being unacceptably HOT outside on sunday, we had a great time taking pictures at the lake. combined, i'm sure that we have over 200 pictures, but i only have 9 that are presentable. hey! it's hard to get 9 kids to look in the same direction at the same time! and as you can see from the picture above we didn't succeed at all.

Look! I started a blog.

so. . . . i've nearly lost all interest in myspace and have decided to put my focus into another fun and addictive online activity. . . . blogging. yes, blogging is a verb now. i stole sarah's template and have begun. hopefully, i'll do a good job keeping up with it. since my job requires very little of me. playing on the internet is both accessible and convenient.
not only will i keep updates on thecrears, but also the hobgoods, llanes, and montezs. why. . . cuz i love them and they keep me entertained. without them i would only have me and that would be boring.