Last week was pretty
good overall, with the exception of Monday, and I didn’t feel quite as
exhausted and overwhelmed as I had the week before when we got back from our
trip, so that was nice. Here’s the
recap!
Monday, April
15
Monday, most
definitely started out as a Monday. I
woke up at 6 as I always do, and I headed straight to the shower to wake
up. Boy oh boy, did I get a wakeup call
that I did not want! Our water heater
had gone out sometime in the middle of the night and I had to take a cold
shower… on a morning where it was only 54 degrees out. EEKS.
I don’t think I’ve ever washed my hair and body so fast in my entire
life. It was awful.
After that, I
got the kids to school, and then I headed home to work and do laundry for the
rest of the day. Sunday I’d had a
terrible time with technology, so I was hoping for a better day Monday, but
unfortunately, I did not get my wish. My
iPhone was still not playing well with my PC, and I still couldn’t retrieve my
pictures from the week prior. I also had
a blog post deadline looming later that day.
I ended up
having to go through my camera roll on my phone and email myself every single
picture and video from the past week – around 120 of them – and to say it was
time-consuming is an understatement. I
was so frustrated by the time lunch rolled around, and I ate with B as a
much-needed break.
After lunch, I
got right back to it, and I managed to knock out the blog post before it was
time to leave to pick up the kids, but that didn’t allow for much else.
As I was
leaving, the plumber was arriving, and by the time we got home, they were
finishing up. They said that one of the heating elements had, indeed, gone out in our water heater, but they said that it was
pointless to replace it as the water heater was 15 years old and it would
probably die soon anyway. He recommended
getting a new one, so that’s exactly what we did.
The plumber
picked it up for us and got it installed, and while we had him there, we asked
him if he could check our water pressure and our thermostat for the hot water
while he was at it. For the entire 15
years we’ve lived here, we’ve had the most non-existent water pressure. And our “hot” water was always so mild that
we always had to turn the shower nozzle all the way to the hottest it would go
to take a comfortable shower. I’ve never
been able to take a bath because the water wasn’t ever hot enough.
He did check
both of those things and he confirmed that our water pressure was, indeed, very
low, and the thermostat was, too. So,
after fifteen years in this house, I don’t even know what to do with
myself because we have so much hot water!
And someone can now use a faucet or flush a toilet while someone else is
in the shower without the shower water going down to a literal trickle. It’s amazing.
Why we waited
this long to get someone to do something about both of those issues, I will
never know.
When we got
home from school, I did a Bible study while the kids did homework, and then I
helped Olivia study for an upcoming test.
The kids played outside for a bit, and then Jacob watched some YouTube
while Olivia worked on her song lyrics.
I’d put Ranch
Chicken Pasta in the slow cooker Monday morning, so I had minimal prep to do
for dinner. We ate that, along with
steamed green beans and garlic cheesy bread for dinner, and then after dinner,
we all went back outside because it was glorious.
Brian and the
kids played wiffle ball while I got in a run, and then I grabbed Maui and took
her for a walk after my run because I wasn’t ready to go inside.
After that, the
kids and I all took showers with our new water situation, and it was
ah-mazing. I can’t believe we waited
that long to get someone to check the pressure and temp for us. It makes a HUGE difference.
After my
shower, I hung out with Olivia in her tent for a while, I put away some
laundry, and we got the kids in the bed.
Once the kids were in bed, B and I watched some more of American Idol,
and then I finished my book before bed. It
ended up being a pretty good ending after a crappy start!
Tuesday, April
16
Tuesday morning,
I woke up to the most glorious hot shower with the best water pressure we’ve
ever had in this house, and boy, was it a much better way to start the day than
I did on Monday!
I got the kids
to school and then I headed home to work on the blog and laundry all day
long.
At 3, I grabbed
the kids from school, and we headed home.
The kids both worked on homework while I did my Bible study, and my
Bible study was particularly good that day.
I love it when the words on the page just jump out at me! This was one of those days that I even took
the extra time to do a little doodle.
Although, I need to get some better pens for doodling as these aren’t
ideal.
After that,
Jacob and I swung Olivia by the dance studio and then we headed home. I got an email sent out to my fellow 7th
grade room moms with all of the details about the upcoming 7th/8th grade dance
that we have to plan, and then I headed outside to greet my mother-in-law and
step-father-in-law who were dropping off their pressure washer for us to
borrow. She said that it hadn’t been
used in over 20 years so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best!
After they
left, I got in a short strength workout, and then Jacob and I took Maui for a
walk around the neighborhood. Since
Jacob’s golf season got cancelled for spring, I’ve been trying to get him
outside in other ways to keep him active.
After our walk,
it was time to start dinner, but when I went to pull out the ingredients for
sausage, peppers, and onions tacos, I discovered that last week when I was on
the struggle bus, I’d forgotten to buy the sausage. Lol. That
meant – breakfast! It’s the one thing
that I always have on hand.
When Brian and
Olivia got home from dance, we all sat down to eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, and
toast, and then it was off to shower for Olivia. I tackled a little bit of laundry and tied up
some loose ends from the day, and then we got the kids in the bed.
B and I watched
more American Idol, and then we headed to bed.
Wednesday, April 17
Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I had to run a
few errands – the library to drop off some books, my annual ENT checkup, and to
put gas in my car.
I have a standing annual appointment with my ENT doctor to get my ears
cleaned out, because for some reason, my body makes excessive wax, and my ear
canals get blocked to the point where I lose some of my hearing. My doctor told me there’s nothing that I can
do about it and that some people’s ears just make more wax than others. He did tell me about an at-home earwax
removal kit that I could do on my own, but since I’ve had so much trouble with
my ears throughout the years (eustachian tube dysfunction when I was pregnant,
ringing in my ears since 2018, and now this vertigo), I’d rather just pay the
$45 copay once a year to get my ENT doctor to remove it safely. The last thing I need is an at-home kit making
my issues even worse.
Since my last visit one year ago, he said both of my ear canals were at
80% blockage which is just so crazy to me!
I can always tell when they start to get full because the ringing in my
ears starts changing pitches randomly, and the ringing also gets louder on and
off sometimes.
While I was there, he asked me how I was doing with my vertigo and
dizziness since he was the very first doctor to treat me, and I told him I’m
still having dizziness every single time I lay down, every single time I sit
up, and occasionally when I’m walking or running. I also told him about my two brief vertigo
spells back in February, and he could not believe that I’m still going through
this. He said that he’s never seen anything
like this before in all of his years of practicing. He said, of course, there are people who have
Meniere’s Disease and various other diagnoses that cause them to have ongoing
issues with dizziness and vertigo, but since all my tests came back clean, they
were able to rule all of those things out.
So, he is perplexed.
He ended up talking to me about it for quite a while, and I told him
about my theory that it could be the braces and the fact that my face and jaw
have changed so drastically… that in conjunction with the fact that I also have
cervicogenic issues because of my anxiety.
He told me that at this point it sounds like a solid theory, and he told
me that he kind of wants to make me a case study since there’s not very much
data out there about this.
Since all of my other doctors have released me (other than my primary
doctor, of course) – especially since the neurologist released me – he wants to
take me back on as a patient again for the vertigo so he can monitor
everything. Whether he is actually going
to make a case study out of this, I don’t know, but I am going back to see him
in six months so he can check on me again.
Leave it to me to be the weird medical girl! Sadly, this is not the first time (or even
the second) in my life that this has happened.
Sigh.
After my appointment, I headed home to work for a couple of hours, and
then I headed to my appointment with my therapist. After that, it was back home to eat lunch and
finish up working for the day.
After school, we dropped Olivia at dance, and then Jacob and I headed
home. I did my Bible study and wrapped
up a couple of things while he did homework and had some computer time, and
then he and I headed back out to pick up Olivia since Brian was going out to
dinner with friends.
Olivia ended up getting out super late like she does pretty much every
Wednesday, so we decided to stop by Chick-Fil-A on the way home. Normally, we get it to go, but we decided to
eat in the restaurant Wednesday, and I was so glad we did because we had the
best experience.
While we were eating, an older gentleman walked over to our table with a
bagful of hand-carved and painted hearts, each one with a different Bible verse
on them (all of them had John 3:16 on one side and a unique verse on the other side). He gave one to the kids to
share… their Bible verse was Ephesians 6:1-3… “Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. Honor your
father and mother – which is the first commandment with a promise – so that it
may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
After that, he asked me if I wanted one, too, and he asked what color I’d
like. I told him I’d like a purple one
(because he was out of pink… y’all know I would have chosen pink!), and he
ended up giving me this one with the Bible verse Philippians 4:6-7… “Do not be
anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
The verse could not have been more perfect for me!! It’s one of my favorites of all-time, second
to Proverbs 3:5-6.
He was just there, spreading kindness throughout the restaurant and
expecting nothing in return, and it was just the loveliest thing. It made my whole night!
After the kids were done eating, they asked for milkshakes, and I just
happened to have a free birthday dessert on my Chick-Fil-A account, so I said,
“Why not?” They both opted for cookies
and cream, and they enjoyed every single sip.
We headed home after that, and Olivia tackled her homework. I helped her study for her word work test,
and then I headed upstairs for a stair stepper workout while both kids got
showered and ready for bed.
By the time they were ready, it was time to get them in the bed. Since B wasn’t home yet, I did the bedtime
routine with both of them, and then after meditating, I headed downstairs, gave
Maui her treat, and then she and I curled up on the couch together to
read. I had started a new book earlier
in the day, and it was so good I couldn’t put it down, so it was nice to have
some reading time.
B got home shortly after that, and then he and I watched a few minutes of
American Idol before heading to bed.
Thursday, April 18
Thursday morning, I headed straight home after dropping the kids, and I
got to work. I had a super productive
morning, finishing up one blog post and putting big dents in a couple of other
Disney posts. I also worked on some
other odds and ends – “life stuff” as I like to call it – and then just before
lunch, I headed to our local plant nursery to pick up everything for
summer.
I ended up with four ferns – two hanging and two potted (per usual) –
along with two herbs (rosemary and basil), and various other flowers to plant
in my pots. Oh, and a massive bag of
potting soil. We can’t forget that!
When I got back home, I unloaded everything, put the ferns in their pots,
and then I headed inside to eat a quick lunch at my desk while finishing up my
work for the day.
After school, the kids and I headed straight to music lessons, and then
we headed home for the evening. Their
school had a fine arts night, but we decided to skip since neither of them were
performing in anything.
Instead, I got my Bible study done and put the laundry away, we had pasta
leftovers for dinner when B got home, and then we all spent the whole evening
outside. B started up the pressure
washer and got some spots off of the back porch, and then I got all of my new
plant babies potted. The kids played
kickball while we did that, and then Olivia helped me plant a little bit.
After all of that was done, I headed out for a short run, and then I did
an arms workout in the driveway when I got home. I also snapped some “before” pictures of our
driveway since I’d hoped to start pressure washing it soon, and I also checked
on my plant babies to make sure they were doing well.
After that, it was inside to shower and get in PJs, and then we watched
some random YouTube videos of roller coasters in Six Flags in Atlanta. Jacob gets to take a class trip there next
year, and he’s never been, so he wanted to watch some of them online. He loves a roller coaster, but he’s only ever
been to the ones at Disney World, and they’re a little tamer than the ones at
Six Flags. He still has a whole year
before his trip, so time will tell whether or not he’ll want to ride certain
ones.
After that, B and I got the kids in the bed, and then I went to
meditate. Right as I was heading
downstairs, I saw that Taylor Swift had posted a little sneak peek of her music
video with Post Malone, so I popped back into Olivia’s room to show her.
As I was leaving her room, I told her I loved her, and then she told me
she loved me more, and then we both said, “I love you more than Taylor Swift’s
new album!” at the same time! Hahahaha.
For a little back story, we have this thing that we do where we try to
outdo our I Love Yous and we’ll say that we love the other more than ___
(insert something fantastic that we both love).
And it was so funny that we both said that at the same time.
Also, this is how she's been sleeping every night lately... she's been making a fort over her head. Haha.
Once the kids were in the bed, B and I headed downstairs to watch Saturday
Night Live with Ryan Gosling. I had
already seen a bunch of clips on social media as a couple of them went viral,
but I was happy to watch them again because they were so hilarious. Did y’all see that skit they did with Beavis
and Butthead?! I had tears rolling down
my face because I was laughing so hard.
I seriously have not laughed that hard in a long time. Jacob had come out of his room to get some
water right when Brian and I were finishing up the skit, and I’m sure he
probably heard us laughing and thought we were straight crazy. Haha.
Friday, April 19
Friday morning, we awoke to the news that Taylor Swift had surprised
everyone with, not one, but TWO new albums… or technically, a double album, if
you will. I was elated and I couldn’t
get the kids to school and back home fast enough to download it. EEK!
It’s so good!
I spent the rest of the day *trying* to work and listening to that
album. It’s 31 songs (two hours and two minutes
to be exact), so it is quite a time commitment.
Not to mention I was trying to decode every little lyric and searching
on social media to see what everyone else was speculating. Ahhhh, the joys of being a Swiftie! <3
There was also lots of work that needed to be done, so I had to turn off
TS a few times throughout the day so I could focus on my writing, but I couldn’t
wait to get back to the album on the way to pick up the kids from school! I ended up listening to it most of the time
that I sat in the car line, but I was also SUPER into the book I was reading,
so I did take a few minutes to dive back into that.
It was a good day for music and books!
;o)
After school, the kids and I headed straight home. I did my Bible study while they got everything
unpacked and put away from the week, and then Jacob had some computer time
while Olivia read.
Olivia had a birthday party to go to at 6, so we had dinner super
early. Brian picked up Five Guys and
brought it home since it’d be quick, and then we all headed to the birthday
party since it was at a local entertainment center. Jacob had been wanting to go, so we figured he
and B could hang out while Olivia and I did the birthday party thing.
On the way to the party, we did swing by Target first because… I had
ordered the Taylor Swift Target exclusive special edition vinyl and I wanted to
pick it up… even though I do not own a record player. Lol.
The place where the birthday party was held is really unique. Brian and I, nor Jacob had ever been, but
Olivia had been raving about it since going with a friend months ago. They have various rock-climbing activities, a
foam blocks pit, trampolines, various other activities, and a zip line that
attaches to the ceiling and lets the kids fly around the whole venue.
Both kids played hard all night and they both had a blast. Neither of them wanted to leave. Haha.
And they were sweaty and exhausted by the time we got home at 8:15.
When we got home, it was showers for them, cocktails for B and me, and
then after they went to bed, B and I finished SNL, and then we watched an
episode of The Chosen before calling it a night.
Saturday, April 20
Saturday morning, we slept in, and then Olivia helped me make homemade
waffles for breakfast. After that, I spent
a few minutes on my computer while I drank my tea, and then it was time to get
down to business.
I threw in a load of laundry and got in a short mixed cardio workout, and
then it was time to head outside to do all the things. Our new outdoor rugs and pillows had arrived,
so I got the back porch swept off, and the kids helped me move the furniture and
lay the rugs while B edged the yard and blew off the clippings.
After that, we moved everything off the front porch and fired up the
pressure washer. I did the whole porch
and a small portion of the sidewalk, and then my hands turned to jello from
having to hold that handle down for so long.
Brian took over after that while I went in to make lunch, and then we all
took a break to eat.
After lunch, it was back outside for everyone, and I watered the plants
and got everything back on the porch while B finished pressure washing the
sidewalk. I also switched out our welcome
mat from our winter mat to our summer mat, and B switched out the Georgia flag
for the American flag.
He also used the pressure washer to wash off all of the front porch furniture
because it was filthy. And then I finished
up the last square of sidewalk for the pressure washing. I freaking love pressure washing so much… it is
one of the most satisfying things ever to me.
I just wish my hands and arms would physically allow me to do more of
it. My hands get tired and weak so
fast! They were shaking for the rest of
the night after that.
Porch Before and After:
Sidewalk Before and After:
Just look at how filthy the sidewalk was!Meanwhile, the kids worked on their laundry and got showered, and then
later in the afternoon, they played video games for a bit.
I spent a few minutes in my office working on a blog post, and then it was
time to get ready for church. What a
productive day, though!
My cousin who lives in Washington was here with her boyfriend Saturday night,
so she came to church, and then my whole extended family did Mexican for dinner
at our favorite local place. We had a
big group Saturday night!
After dinner, we headed home, and thankfully, all was well at our house. Just as we were leaving for church, a massive
thunderstorm was starting to roll through, and our neighborhood Facebook page
had alerted all of us that the power had gone out. They got it back on just before we got home,
though, so that was a relief.
When we got home, we all hung out for a bit and Jacob tinkered at his piano,
and then after we got the kids in the bed, B and I watched two more episodes of
The Chosen. The episode of Jesus
with the kids… OMG. So sweet.
B and I were so tired from all of our manual labor that we ended up going
to bed earlier than usual for a Saturday night, and that was a good thing,
because we ended up having the loudest storms ever in the middle of the night
which resulted in me lying awake forever because the thunder was so loud, aaaand
Olivia ended up in our room because she was scared. In other words, I hardly got any sleep Saturday
night.
Sunday, April 21
Sunday morning, I didn’t roll out of bed until 8:30, which is later than
normal for me, so we ended up eating breakfast a bit later than usual, too. We had cinnamon rolls, and then I headed upstairs
to get my planner ready for the week ahead, watch my Sunday morning sermon, and
do some yoga stretching… my usual routine.
Jacob had a birthday party at 10 AM, so Brian went to drop him off at the
local arcade down the street from our house, and then he came home. We swung by on the way to my MIL and step-FIL’s
to pick him up, and he’d had a great time with all of his besties.
Lunch at my MIL and step-FIL’s was nice.
We hadn’t seen them in a couple of weeks, so we were able to catch up a
bit and eat some yummy food. As usual,
we sat around the table chatting long after the meal was over, and then we
headed home.
When we got home, the kids scrubbed their bathroom, tidied up, and
prepped everything for Monday, and then they had some screen time for the rest
of the afternoon while I worked. Those
Disney posts are so much fun to write, but they are so time intensive!
I had a productive afternoon, and then it was time to go to my parents’
house for Sunday dinner. My Momma made
her famous spaghetti, and it was delicious, as always. It’s always a favorite!!
After that, it was more chatting around the table, and then home to get the
kids in the bed. B and I watched some of
American Idol, and then we headed to bed early to start the week off on
the right foot!
Happy Tuesday, y’all!