Hey, y’all, I’m
recapping last week today!
Monday, March
24
Monday was
suuuuper productive and somehow relaxing at the same time… it felt like I had
infinite time. I don’t know how that
works, but I sure do love days like that!
I actually didn’t sleep well Sunday into Monday, so I was worried Monday
would be a struggle, but it was quite the opposite.
I was awakened
30 minutes before my alarm to pouring rain, so I wasn’t convinced that it was
going to be the best day. I got the kids
off to school and then I made stops at the school office, Walmart, Publix, and
the gas station (all in the rain) before making my way home. We were supposed to have an all-school Home
& School Association meeting, but since I had sat in on the Advisory Board
meeting earlier in the month, I decided to skip this one since I had so much
else to do.
At home, I
flipped the laundry I’d put in before I left, and I got another load started
before settling in to finish my blog post for the next day and work some more
on my Maui blog post tribute. And I
looked at this picture that my Momma had sent to me on Sunday that she’d found
in her camera roll. Look at that sweet
baby girl.
Brian and I had
lunch together, and then after lunch, I got all of the laundry out of the dryer
and lay out on the bed before finally tackling the floors. I have spot cleaned here and there, of
course, but I hadn’t done a good deep clean of the floors since – and I’m
ashamed to admit this (well not really – haha) – since the end of
December. January was crazy and then
February was even crazier with Maui going downhill, and I chose to spend every
second of free time with her rather than keep up with the household chores and
I have zero regrets.
So anyway, I
got every bit of floor space sparkling clean on Monday, and that wrapped up my
deep clean. It felt great to have it all
done. I had just enough time to get
dinner in the slow cooker after that, and then I had to leave to get in the car
line.
I read my book
while I waited, and I also got some books listed for sale for my sister-in-law
in a private Facebook group. All of them
sold immediately, so I spent some time getting details to the girls who
purchased them, and then I texted Brian to go ahead and put one of them on the
porch since she was swinging by to grab it ASAP.
Jacob had his
first orthodontist checkup since getting his braces, but it was at 3:50 PM
which meant that we had some time to kill between school and his
appointment. I asked the kids if they
wanted to grab a treat somewhere and they both agreed on Culver’s. They love that place so much!
Just as we were
pulling in, I saw my parents’ SUV just a few cars in front of us, so I told
Jacob to text them and ask them if they were headed there, too. They were, in fact, headed to Culver’s for a
suuuuper early dinner, or “linner” as they like to call it, so we got to hang
with them for a bit. The kids got
concrete mixers, as always, and of course, we had to snap a picture with Pop
and Cokie! It’s not every day that you
randomly go to the same restaurant at the exact same time as your grandparents!
After that, we
headed to Jacob’s orthodontist appointment, and everything went great. The orthodontist said that his teeth were
looking great, and Jacob has had zero issues with his braces so far. He hasn’t even had to use wax a single
time. MUST BE NICE. Haha.
After his
appointment, we headed home, and I looked over Olivia’s weekly folder of work
that comes home every Monday. She’s
started out the fourth and final quarter of fifth grade with a bang, and we
know she’s going to finish strong!
I headed
upstairs to my office with some hot tea after that, and I got my daily quiet
time done. I spend this time writing in
my gratitude and prayer journals, reading my daily devotional, and doing my
Bible study. Some days this time feels
rushed, and it was so nice that it didn’t on Monday.
The weather was
still gross as it had been all day, so I didn’t send the kids out to play as we
usually do on Monday. Instead, they both
tackled some homework, studying, and tidying, and then I let them do some screen
time for a bit while I cooked dinner.
Dinner was easy
Monday night because the slow cooker had done most of the work for me, and we
sat down to shredded chicken tacos, chips, and fruit for dinner. Easy peasy.
This time of year, I rarely have the time to be cooking anything too
involved. While dinner was finishing up
in the slow cooker, I pulled all of Maui’s opened bags of treats out of the
cabinet. I’m not ready to get rid of any
of her stuff yet, but I do want to give the treats to someone so they don’t go
to waste. I texted my friend, Jeannine,
and asked her if we could bring them over for their new pup and she said yes.
After dinner,
we had an hour or so to spare before the kids needed to start getting showered
and ready for bed, so the three of us finally got the games cabinet all cleaned
out, and we were finally able to add all of the new ones they’d gotten for
Christmas and Olivia’s birthday to the cabinet.
They’ve literally been sitting on the floor in our front room since
December and February. Sigh.
Cleaning out
the games cabinet made the kids remember just how many fun games they have, so
Olivia announced that we needed to play What Do You Meme Family. That game is hilarious and easy and super fun
for the whole family, and we highly recommend it.
After that, we
sent the kids to shower, and I recalibrated my new Apple Watch. My Apple Watch decreased my calories burned
significantly after an update about a year ago, and it has been horrible ever
since. Brian read an article that said
after a lot of use it can be wise to “recalibrate it” so it can relearn your
movements to be more accurate, so I decided to try it. It does NOT erase any of your workout history
or any of your data, so it’s perfectly safe.
The only thing it resets is the “learned behaviors” of your movement
while you’ve been wearing it.
All you have to
do to recalibrate it is push a button in your Apple Watch app on your phone and
then you need to take a 20-minute walk outdoors on a flat surface. Thankfully, the weather had started to clear,
so I was able to get out for my walk, and I was treated to a gorgeous sunset
that was revealed as the wall of clouds moved out. When I got back, I also did an arms workout, got some of the laundry put away, and I got ready for bed.
After we got
the kids in the bed, I finally unpaired my old Apple Watch and reset it to
factory settings so Brian can sell it on eBay.
And then he and I finished watching You are Cordially Invited. It was cute enough, but it wasn’t great.
And that was my
accomplished, get stuff done, and have some fun Monday!
Tuesday, March
25
Tuesday was
quiiiite a bit different after the awesome Monday I’d had. It started out similarly in that I hadn’t
slept well again, but I think it was because the air has been stagnant since
we’re in that limbo where it’s not cold enough to need the heat, but it’s not
hot enough for the air to kick on.
Anyway, the sun
was shining Tuesday, and it warmed up a bit, which was nice, but the pollen was
so awful Tuesday that I felt terrible all day.
My nose has been running like a faucet for several weeks, but Tuesday it
was on another level. Then in addition
to that, I was very short of breath all day to the point where it was making me
dizzy, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything.
I also had a really bad day of neck, face, and jaw tension from my
rubber bands, so it was just a yucky day all around.
I dropped the
kids at school and spent the entire day working on my blog post for Maui with
the exception of stopping for an hour in the morning to meet with my
therapist.
Despite working
on the post all day, I was still nowhere near done by the time I had to pick up
Olivia from school, so when she and I got home, I went right back to work while
she did homework.
Brian picked
Jacob up from Velocity and then the two of them went to play golf for a little
bit of practice.
I dropped
Olivia off at dance a bit later, and then I went right back home and worked on
Maui’s blog post until 6:45. Whew. It was a labor of love, that post (aaaallll
the pictures!), but it was so worth it to have all of her memories in one
place.
As soon as I
finished, I wanted to move my body, so I got my shoes on and went for a super-fast
walk, getting home just in time to start dinner, load the dirty dishes from
breakfast and lunch in the dishwasher, and tidy the kitchen before Brian got
home with both kids, as he and Jacob picked Olivia up from dance.
We had
breakfast for dinner, and then the kids and I all showered and got ready for
bed. There was literally laundry all
over our bedroom because I had to air dry a bunch of it since it didn’t get
done before I had to pick Olivia up from school, so I tackled that, too.
After that, I
did a super late Bible study, and then after we got the kids in the bed, Brian
and I watched some of American Idol.
Tuesday was
just one of those days where I felt like I was spinning my wheels all day and
not getting anywhere, so between that and all the allergies and braces pain, it
was a rough one.
Wednesday, March 26
Wednesday morning, I was determined to have a better day than
Tuesday. I dropped the kids at school
and then I headed home to get down to business.
On the agenda – blog stuff. First
up, I responded to the backlog of blog comments that I’d gotten behind on. Then, I caught up on my blog reading for the
week. And after that, I managed to knock
out Friday’s blog post and Monday’s blog post from start to finish. Granted, those weren’t posts that took as
much time as some of them do, but it felt good to get them off my desk.
After that, I got some of the laundry put away because I was tired of
sitting at my desk, and then I came back to my desk to catch up on the blog
post you’re reading now.
Once all that was done, it was time to go pick up the kids from
school. I drove Jacob straight to the
golf course where Brian and my MIL and step-FIL met us, and then they stayed
with Jacob for his match. I had to get
Olivia home to study, get her snack, make her dinner, and then get her to
dance. And I did my Bible study while
she studied.
Olivia and I also had a little bit of time to sort a few things in her
room since she’s wanting to do a big room cleanout. We didn’t get much done, but anything at this
point is helpful. Haha.
When I got home from dropping her at dance, I got the kitchen cleaned up,
and then I headed out for a quick run… don’t know what happened to my pace
either. I was sitting between 10:41 and
10:50 the whole time, and then at the very end of my run it jumped up by a
whole minute. Makes no sense
whatsoever. Hopefully recalibrating my
watch didn’t mess it up.
When I got home, I started on dinner which consisted of leftover burgers
Brian had grilled that we’d stuck in the freezer, some steamed broccoli (a
random accompaniment), and some fruit.
Jacob told me all about his match – he’d gotten a bogey and two double
bogeys which is pretty good considering this new course he’s playing on now is
huge compared to the one he’s played on in previous seasons.
After dinner, we cleaned up the kitchen and then I got showered. Jacob got showered after I was done and I put
away some of the laundry while he was getting ready for bed. Brian left to pick up Olivia from dance, and
while they were gone, Jacob and I pulled out a new puzzle to start. This one is only 550 pieces and there are a
lot of unique parts to it, so it won’t be nearly as tough as any of the ones
we’ve worked on in the last few years.
We listened to 90’s R&B music while we worked, and it made my heart
happy.
When Brian and Olivia got home, Olivia got showered, we got the kids in
the bed, and then Brian and I watched some more of American Idol before
bed.
Thursday, March 27
Thursday morning, I had nowhere to be, so I settled in for some blog
work, and finally, some alumni relations work.
The school hired me earlier this school year to update a big database
for them with all of our alumni, but I’d been locked out of the spreadsheet for
months. Someone was finally able to get
me back in Wednesday night, so I have a LOT of catching up to do now. I ended up working on that for a couple of
hours, but that only put a small dent in it.
After school, the kids and I went to music lessons. Jacob practiced a couple of songs in his
book, and Olivia asked Mr. Steve to teach her how to play Happy Birthday
because she wants to play it for my Mama Cass at her 96th birthday party in a
couple of weeks. She picked it up very
quickly, and she even learned a cute little slide in the middle.
After music lessons, we headed home.
The kids got some studying done and then went outside for a bit, and I
got my Bible study done and then headed downstairs to put a frozen pizza in the
oven. At that point, I was checked out
for the week, and since Brian had a tennis match, I decided not to cook. While the pizza was in the oven, I cleaned
out a couple of our kitchen cabinets, and I got rid of a bunch of mugs and a
couple of other items. I love the way
the Rae Dunn mugs look, but I rarely use them because I don’t love how
chunky/large they are in my hand… especially since I drink tea. So, I decided to get rid of a bunch of my
collection to make room for other mugs since I collect so many different ones. I’m going to sell the Rae Dunn ones in that
same local Facebook group that I sold the books, so hopefully I’ll get most of
my money back for them.
I grabbed a glass of wine with dinner, and the kids and I all sat down to
eat as Brian headed off to his match.
After dinner, we got the kitchen cleaned up, and then the kids had some
screentime. While they had their
screentime, I worked on the alumni relations stuff for a good 30 minutes, and
then I got in a strength workout while the kids got showered and ready for
bed. It appears that my watch is still
crappy with the calorie burning even after the recalibration. As a matter of fact, it may be worse. I only burned 60 active calories in 30
minutes. I used to burn at least double
that for a strength workout. Boooo.
After my workout, I got ready for bed, and then the kids and I worked on
the puzzle for a bit while Brian ate a late dinner. B joined us for some puzzling after he was
done eating, and then we got the kids in the bed.
Brian and I ended the night with some more of American Idol and
then I started a new book since I’d finished the one I’d been reading. I’ve never read The Fault in Our Stars,
and a friend let me borrow it, so I finally started that one. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but so far,
I like it.
Friday, March 28
Friday, I had nowhere to be, so I spent the day catching up on emails,
blog comments, blog reading, working on this blog post, and then working on
alumni relations stuff for a couple of hours.
I also downloaded some new music, got my quiet time/Bible study done
early, and I tied up a bunch of loose ends since we were leaving for Nashville
on Sunday.
After school, the kids and I headed straight home, and I worked on alumni
relations stuff for another 30 minutes.
Then, I got to packing. The
weather is supposed to be awful the whole time we’re in Nashville – tons of
rain – so between that and the fact that the temps are going to span from
really cold to really hot, we’re all having to pack a large variety of clothes
and shoes because there’s no telling what we’re actually going to need.
I struggled to pick out what I wanted to wear, but I decided on about
half of my outfits, gave up, and then moved on to Olivia’s room to help her
pick everything out that she needed. We
got her (mostly) packed, and then I moved on to Jacob. A lot of the stuff he needed was dirty, so we
gave up on that, and then I went back to packing myself.
A little after six, we headed to my friend, Jeannine’s, house for poker
night with our usual group… it was much needed after a very busy week! They’d picked up pizza and had a big salad
with tons of toppings, so we all grabbed a plate and a beer and then sat around
all evening while the kids hung out in the den and outside.
The adults played poker all night, and my friend Jeannine had bought a
little deck of movie trivia cards that we went through randomly all
evening. And, of course, we chatted the
night away and got caught up on all of the happenings in everyone’s lives. We see each other often, but there’s so much
going on right now that there’s a lot to catch up on after not seeing each
other for a couple of weeks!
We got home sometime just before ten, got the kids in the bed, and then
Brian and I sat down to watch the first episode of Adolescence. Whew.
I had been hearing amazing things about it from tons of people, but
y’all weren’t kidding when you said it’s hard, but necessary, to watch…
especially if you have kids. I hope I’ll
be able to get through it.
Saturday, March 29
Saturday morning, we slept in, Olivia made homemade waffles – she used
the waffle iron all by herself this time… she’s been too scared to use it prior
to this – and while she did that, I unloaded the dishwasher and assisted her as
needed.
After breakfast, we got word from my brother that their beloved Doberman
of nine years had just passed suddenly Saturday morning. Our whole family was crushed to hear about it
as we loved Toby so much. He was such a
good boy – so gentle and loving – and he will be missed dearly. I dreaded telling our kids since Maui’s loss
is still so fresh, and they both shed a few tears over sweet Toby.
After breakfast, the kids started their laundry and watched some TV,
Brian went to repair the gate that just broke on our fence outside in the last
storm we had (I have a feeling our whole fence is going to fall apart now), and
I almost finished a blog post that needed to be done before we left for
Nashville.
The rest of the day was spent packing.
My head, neck, face, and jaw tension were off the charts, and between
that and the pollen I felt awwwwful all day.
Packing was a challenge because I was so dizzy, and I was also
overwhelmed and overstimulated with the kids coming in and out and asking
500,000,000 questions about the weather, what to wear, what to pack, and a ton
of other things, so I finally gave up and took a break around 3:30.
I went to my office, lay on my acupressure mat to try to relieve some of
the tension and dizziness, and then I did a Bible study. All of that turned things around, and then I felt
refreshed just in time to get ready for church.
We’d originally planned to go to hockey game with friends Saturday night,
but everyone was exhausted and overwhelmed from all of the busyness lately, so
we decided to take a rain check.
After church, we went to dinner with our usual group – my parents, Mama
Cass, Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg, and we also had my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Chris
join us. We went to the little pub down
the street from church that we love so much, and thankfully, they were able to
seat us within about 15 minutes, which is usually not the case when we have a
large group like that.
Right after we’d just sat down, some of our old neighbors walked into the
restaurant. We hadn’t seen them in
yearssss, so it was wonderful to see them.
They moved into our neighborhood when I was probably eight or nine years
old, and their boys who were slightly younger than I was, were my first
neighborhood friends. We grew up playing
street hockey, building forts, playing Sonic the Hedgehog, and swimming in our
neighborhood pool.
Eventually, they had another baby, and I used to baby-sit him for them. They moved out of our neighborhood a few
years later, and I continued to baby-sit for them even after they moved.
We are friends on social media, but I hadn’t seen Kim or her husband in probably
25 years, so it was great to hug their necks.
They went to sit and eat at the bar, and Kim eventually came back over
to snap a picture with me so she could send it to her son who I was closest
with.
After dinner, we headed home, the kids got to bed, and then Brian and I finished
episode two of Adolescence. We
also apparently got halfway through episode three, but I passed straight out on
the couch and Brian didn’t notice until we were halfway done. Guess we’ll have to start that one over. Haha. I’m
always particularly exhausted at the end of the day when my tension and anxiety
are high, and Saturday was a bad one, so my body needed the sleep.
Sunday, March 30
Sunday, we got up, had cinnamon rolls, I finished a blog post, I watched
my sermon, we got ready, we finished packing, and we hit the road for
Nashville. I’ll recap that day in my
Nashville post, so stay tuned for that!
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
