Our Week - The One with Girls Night, Tons of Productivity, Sickness, and the Start of Thanksgiving Break

Last week was a busy one, but it was so very productive!  Let’s get to the recap!

Monday, November 18

Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I hung around for a quick meeting afterwards.  Once that was over, I had some time to kill before my appointment with my therapist, so I headed to Target.  While I was in there, I grabbed my first Peppermint Mocha of the season, and it was everything I’d hoped it would be!  It’s my favorite coffee drink of all time, and I really look forward them during the holiday season.

At Target, I had to grab a few essentials, and then I also did some browsing.  I could have walked away with a million things I didn’t need, but I’m proud to say that I only bought one item that I didn’t go in for, and it was only $1.  Haha.  I also saw my Aunt Joy while I was in there, so I stopped and chatted with her for a bit.  PSA, they have some cuuuute stuff in the Dollar Spot right now.

After that, I met with my therapist – bless her for having to listen to me after the couple of weeks I’ve had.  I know that’s her job, but sometimes I wonder how these therapists can constantly listen to people talk about their fears and sadness and worries and grievances all day long.  It just seems like it would be such a bummer.  Mine is just wonderful, though, and she has become more of a friend than anything, and I love her to pieces.  She has been a rock for me during all of this vertigo/dizziness/tension junk these last 16 months.

After I was done there, I headed home to eat lunch with Brian and then get some work done before I had to pick up the kids from school.  After school, the kids worked on homework and studying while I finished up my blog post for the next day and did my Bible study, and then I headed out to meet my girlfriends at a local brewery for girls night.

Jacob also brought home his shoe sculpture that he did in his 3D design class and it’s amazing.  He can actually wear it!

At girls’ night, we grabbed barbecue from the place next door and carried it over to the brewery, and since it was Monday night, it wasn’t very busy, and we had a nice spot outside under the twinkle lights all to ourselves. 

I got home from dinner around 8, and then I did a stair stepper workout even though my dizziness and boat rocking was horrid.  Olivia came in for a bit to show off her contortion skills, and then after that, Brian and I got the kids in the bed, and then we watched some of an old episode of Shark Tank before heading to bed.

Tuesday, November 19

Tuesday, I had nowhere to be which was nice since it rained literally all day long.  I got the rest of the laundry done, got fairly ahead on blog work in preparation for the kids being on Thanksgiving break (yassss), and I did a few other things that I’ve been desperately needing to do... all with my little sidekick.  I also made a new master list of all of the things that I have to prep for/do/purchase/get ready for the holidays, and I was instantly overwhelmed.  EEK.

 

My dizziness and neck strain were a little better on Tuesday than Monday, but it was still not a fun day in that department.  I had to lay on my accupressure mat several times throughout the day, so again, I didn’t get quite as much done as I could have, but I was grateful to have gotten as much done as I did.

The drive to pick up the kids from school was awwwwfullll as it poured down rain the entire time (when I say it literally rained all day without ceasing, I mean it, y’all), and I came upon a wreck that appeared to have happened just seconds before I came through.  There is a wreck in the same stretch of highway every single time it rains, and I don’t understand why the city hasn’t done something about it.  Perhaps lowering the speed limit right there would be wise?

Anyway, Jacob had Velocity after school, so Olivia and I had an hour to kill after I picked her up, so we drove to Bath & Body Works to grab some Crushed Candy Cane soap.  I love and use Mrs. Meyers Peppermint soap in most of the rooms in our house, but I’ve always used the B&B Works Crushed Candy Cane in our primary bathroom because it washes my makeup off of my hands better than the Mrs. Meyers, so it was time to restock.

Olivia loves going in there and smelling everything, so she was in heaven, and she picked out a hand sanitizer to keep in her backpack.  The drive there was long and slow because of the rain, and it was still pouring when we left, so we didn’t have much time in the store before it was time to leave to pick up Jacob.

When we got home, Olivia had just enough time to grab her snack and get changed into her dance clothes, and then she and I had to get back out in the rain (waaaahhhh) to go to dance.  By the time I got home for the night, I was frazzled.  Driving stresses me out on a regular day, so driving in the pouring rain in the (almost) dark gives me max anxiety. 

I immediately headed to my office to do my Bible study, and after that, I did a quick email check to see that I had an email about the school doing the Reindeer Run.  Huh?!  I have co-chaired the Reindeer Run all three years that we’ve held it, and this year, they had told me multiple times that we weren’t doing it this year, so it was completely off my radar. 

I was totally confused when I saw the email, so I sent a quick email back, and immediately, my contact at the school called me back to tell me that the kids and some of the parents were disappointed that we weren’t going to do it, so they decided to go ahead and do it.

Between stressing about my to-do list, driving in the pouring rain all day, a couple of other things that we’ve had going on that we’ve been stressing about that I’m not mentioning here for the privacy of others, and then getting the email about the Reindeer Run, I was majorly stressing.  So, I finished my Bible study, grabbed a glass of wine, and then headed downstairs to make dinner only to find that I had forgotten to take chicken out of the freezer the night before, so I had nothing to cook.  Lolololol. 

Thankfully, we had some leftover Pizza Joes that I had frozen after poker night, so Pizza Joes and steamed broccoli it was!  Ha!

When Brian and Olivia got home, we had dinner, and then after dinner, I got a text message from the girl at our school who I work with closely for all of the alumni relations stuff saying that she’s moving away in December.  I didn’t see that coming at all, so that was another shock to the system.  But she and her family are moving to be closer to family, so I’m really, really excited for her.  I’m just super sad because she’s really great at doing all of the advancement and alumni relations stuff for our school, so it’ll be a big hole to fill.  And now I won’t have her has my point of contact for my “job” that I do for the school for alumni relations stuff.

It is what it is!

It’s a good thing I adopted that new mantra a few weeks ago because I have been having to use it FREQUENTLY lately.  Haha.

After the kitchen was clean, I got in a mixed cardio workout, and then we got the kids in the bed, and then Brian and I watched some of an episode of Saturday Night Live and headed to bed a little earlier than usual.

Wednesday, November 20

Wednesday, I dropped the kids at school, headed to Target AGAIN because I’d forgotten to grab everything we needed for our North Pole breakfast while I was there Monday (forehead smack), and I also grabbed a couple of things that I didn’t need this time.  I reeeeally wanted this gorgeous pearl bag, but I just knew I’d never use it, so it would be pointless to have it. 

After that, I headed back to the school to meet with our Home and School teacher liaison about the Reindeer Run.  Thankfully, I’d kept a detailed spreadsheet with all of the info from the previous year, and I even included notes afterward for what worked and what didn’t, and how we did on quantities for everything for the hot chocolate bar.  So that made things much easier for planning for this year.

After our meeting, I headed home to work for the rest of the day, and it was a very productive day despite the fact that my neck and shoulder tension and dizziness was still very present.

On the way to pick up the kids, I went to pick up a case of Maui’s (very expensive) new food, but she’s eating it like a BOSS so that’s all that matters!

After school, the kids and I headed home.  They did homework and I got my Bible study done, and then I dropped Olivia at dance and headed home to cook dinner.  The boys and I had stir fry, and I also made some blueberry muffins to keep on hand for my morning snacks for the rest of the week.

After dinner, I headed upstairs to do a very gentle strength workout.  I can definitely tell that doing upper body strength workouts are terrible for me when I’m going through these phases of neck and shoulder tension and dizziness.  It definitely makes it worse.  I miss doing my arms workouts, though!

After my workout, I got all of the laundry put away and I also talked to my Momma on the phone for a good 45 minutes.  They had been out of town for nearly 10 days, and I hadn’t seen them in ages, so it was nice to catch up. 

By the time I got off the phone with her, Olivia was home from dance, and she had finished showering, so Brian gave her a little gift that his coworker had brought home for her.  B has been working on a project for a client in Toronto, and his coworker happened to have to go while Taylor was there for the Eras Tour, so her hotel was handing out Eras Tour friendship bracelet kits.  She thoughtfully gave it to Brian because she knew that Olivia is a huge fan.

After that, we got both kids in the bed, and then B and I watched some of the CMA Awards before heading to bed.

On Wednesday, the school also posted a picture of the Class of 2029 – Jacob’s eighth grade class that will be starting high school next year – and so far, soooo many of the kids have already enrolled to stay there at the high school next year.  Like, 75% of his class has already enrolled.  Much of their group has been together since they were just four years old, so I’m thrilled to know that the transition to high school is going to be with many of the same people.

Thursday, November 21

Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and I had just gotten back home and settled in at my desk when I got a call from the school principal saying that Jacob was having a really, really bad nose bleed and that it was making him woozy.  He wanted me to go pick him up, so I got right back in the car and headed back to get him.

Bless him, his nose bleed apparently went on forever and the assistant principal had stayed with him through the whole thing.  He told me that Jacob had almost filled an entire trash can with tissues because the nose bleed was so bad, and he told me that it made him panicky since it was so much blood that wouldn’t stop.

He had blood all over his shirt and even a couple of spots on his pants – I’m telling you, it was a BAD one – so I took him home so he could change clothes and rest for the day.  He hates missing school, so I knew he was truly not feeling well when he wanted to leave.

For the rest of the morning, I got some work done, stopping periodically to check on Jacob, and then at 11, he and I ate a quick lunch together.  I had to eat really early because I had Thanksgiving lunch with Olivia at her school at 12:15 PM.  They always do a huge Thanksgiving spread, but I can’t eat huge meals like that during the day, so I always eat lunch at home first and then go sit with her.

The Thanksgiving meals stop after fifth grade, so this was officially our last Thanksgiving meal at school with our kids ever.  So, so bittersweet, y’all.  I can’t believe we’re going to have a middle schooler and a high schooler next year.  HOW.

After I left the school, I’d hoped to go walk around the new Homegoods that just opened in town, but since Jacob was at home, I headed back to him.  I had about 30 minutes before we had to leave to go back to the school to pick Olivia up, so I deep cleaned the toilets and dusted the whole house.

Jacob was feeling great by then, so he ended up coming with me to pick Olivia up from school so he could go to his piano lesson right afterward.  At piano lessons, Jacob worked from his lesson book the whole time (much to his dismay, I’m sure – haha – he would prefer to learn other songs that he’s interested in) and then Olivia finished learning all of the chords for Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. 

When we got home, I got my Bible study done, and then I helped Olivia study for a couple of tests.  When Brian got home, he and I made breakfast for dinner, and then afterward, he helped Olivia study some more.

Thursday evening, I felt like I might be coming down with something – Jacob had a runny nose and a mild cough a couple of weeks ago and then Brian got it last week and then Jacob got it again last week (which is so strange), so I was pretty sure I was coming down with it.  Both of theirs were super mild and were negative for Covid, so we’re assuming it was just a little cold. 

Since I felt a little questionable, I skipped my workout (again, which is SO rare for me), but I wanted to let my body rest.  Instead, I spent the evening getting the rest of the Christmas decorations up and taking it easy.  And this girl tidied her entire room without being asked and she organized her bed to make it extra cozy.  After we got the kids in bed, I made a hot toddy, and Brian and I watched college football before heading to bed.

Friday, November 22

Friday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I headed home to do all the things since it was the last day before the kids got out for Thanksgiving break.  On my to-do list was to work on a few more blog posts and get the rest of the house deep-cleaned – countertops and floors, which are my least favorite of the chores.

I expected to wake up Friday morning feeling bad, but I didn’t feel too bad at all.  My throat was mildly scratchy, and I had a mild cough, although, mostly I just felt like I had to clear my throat a bunch, so I wasn’t sure if I was actually sick or not. 

Friday ended up being a suuuuper productive day – I was way ahead on the blog, we had a clean and tidy house, and I had tackled a bunch of tiny, annoying tasks that I’d been putting off forever.  That gave me peace knowing that I could spend a lot of Thanksgiving break relaxing without having a bunch of stuff hanging over my head.

When I picked the kids up from school, we headed straight home, and they played video games for a bit while I did my Bible study and wrapped up tasks for the day, and then I headed downstairs to mix up some drinks while Brian went out to grab pizza for dinner.  Also, look at my new mirror ball throw pillow that I didn’t need but definitely had to have.  ;o)  And also look at my sweet girl… it finally got cold here last week, so we had to pull out the heated blanket for Maui.

After dinner, the kids got showered and then we had our first fire of the year while we watched The Wizard of Oz.  The kids hadn’t ever seen it, so we wanted to get them prepared for Wicked since we planned to take them Monday during Thanksgiving break.  They actually both seemed to like it, which was a shock since they don’t typically like old movies. 

I’ve seen that movie a ton of times, but I hadn’t seen it since I was probably 12 years old, so it had been about 30 years, and it was nice to have the refresher for myself, too.

After the movie was over, the kids got in bed, and then I made myself a hot toddy while B and I watched an episode of Outer Banks.  My throat felt a little worse since it’s common to feel worse at night, but I still didn’t feel bad.  It was more annoying than anything as every time I lay down, my throat got super itchy, and it was making me have to swallow and clear my throat a lot.  I always hate that.

 

Saturday, November 23

I ended up sleeping pretty decently Friday night into Saturday and I woke up feeling pretty good.  My throat was slightly scratchier Saturday, but I didn’t feel bad any other way aside from maybe(?) having less energy.

Brian picked up donuts from one of our favorite local places for breakfast, and then after that, he and I settled in on the couch for ESPN College GameDay.  I allowed myself to be lazy all morning because I wanted to give my body time to heal. 

Mid-morning, I called my mom to update her on my sickness as we were supposed to go to church and dinner with them Saturday night, but we agreed it was probably best for everyone that we didn’t go to church or dinner because we didn’t want to run the risk of getting everyone sick right before the holidays.  I was so crushed because we had missed church the previous two weekends, and I really wanted to go, but it would have been selfish to expose everyone to germs… especially Mama Cass.  So, to everyone who goes to 5:30 Mass at my church we stayed home so you wouldn’t get our germs… you’re welcome.  Hahahaha.

We made the most of the day at home, though.  We had a light lunch, and then afterward, I decided to do a stair stepper workout while we watched the Georgia game.  I kept it much lighter than usual, and it did tire me out faster than usual, but I never felt bad or anything.  I also tested the lighting in our back yard around 11 AM because I knew that we needed to take family pictures in the coming days and I had no clue what time was best to take them.  This was not ideal.  Haha.

The kids played outside on their scooters for a while to get some fresh air and get out of the house, and then I showered at halftime and then used the whole second half of the Georgia game to work on alumni relations stuff for the school.  I hadn’t worked on it in a while because we’ve been swamped, so it was nice to knock out a big chunk of it.

After the game was over, I got the sheets back on the beds (freshly washed sheets for everyone!) and I got a load of towels in the washer.  Then I retreated to my office to update my Christmas gift spreadsheet.  I’d bought a couple of gifts while we watched College GameDay, so at least I got a couple of things done while I was being lazy.  ;o)

Saturday evening, it was a bummer to have missed Mass and dinner, but we really didn’t want to get anyone sick, so Brian picked up Five Guys for dinner and we stayed home so we could keep our germs to ourselves.  We watched Home Alone 2 with the kids and I passed out on the couch and slept for most of the rest of the night other than for a bit while Brian and I watched Outer Banks, and then I slept a good long time that night, too. 

Sunday, November 24

When I woke up Sunday morning, I felt totally normal – no more scratchy throat, no more feeling tired – so I’m assuming whatever I had was a quick 48-hour thing.  PRAISE.  Either that, or my hot toddies knocked it out quickly.  I told y’all I swear by those things.  ;o) 

We had leftover donuts for breakfast, and then I headed to my office to get my planner ready for December, watch the sermon I watch online every Sunday morning, do a 30-minute yoga session, and then do my Bible study.

My MIL and step-FIL didn’t cook Sunday, so we had a light lunch at home, and then Jacob’s friend, WJ, and his mom swung by our house to grab Jacob to hang out with them all day and then sleep over.  They had also invited our whole family to hang out at their house Saturday night, but we’d declined since we were supposed to have been going out with my family, and then when my family canceled, we didn’t want to go over and hang with them and run the risk of me giving them germs.  So hopefully we’ll be able to get together with them some other time.

Brian had a tennis match at 2:30, so that left Olivia and me to ourselves, and we decided to have a little girls’ date.  She’s been needing some clothes for winter, so we headed to Target to browse, and we lucked out because the girl’s clothes were 40% off.  Woo hoooo!  We were able to load up on all the essentials she needed (and one cute bow Christmas sweater that she didn’t technically need LOL) and we didn’t have to spend an arm and a leg.

We spent forever in the dressing room, and we found a bunch of keepers, and then we grabbed a few other things we needed before walking up and down the Christmas aisles and the toy aisle to browse.  Olivia had some of her own money that she wanted to spend, so she bought yet another stuffie – three, in fact (two were tiny) – and then we decided we’d been there long enough (almost two hours LOL) so we headed home.

On the way home, we stopped in the Burger King drive-through so Olivia could redeem her free soft serve ice cream cone that she’d gotten from school for her birthday (forever ago – haha) and then we headed home.

When we got home, I fed Maui, and then I threw all of Olivia’s new clothes in the washer before heading to my office to work for about an hour.

We FINALLY got to see my parents Sunday night for Sunday dinner at their house.  They’d been out of town for a while and then we’d skipped Sunday dinner when they got home, so it had been three weeks since we’d seen them… that might be the longest I’ve gone without seeing them in person ever… aside from 2020 and Covid and all that.  Blech. 

Momma made one of our favorite chicken and rice casseroles, green beans, and my favorite carrots of all time + rolls and then we had apple cinnamon crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was so nice to catch up with them after it had been so long!  And that was our week!

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

This month, I started Hope in the Dark: Believing God is Good When Life is Not by Craig Groeschel.  Sounds dramatic, because yes, my life is good for the most part.  But I’ve been struggling lately again with tons of dizziness, tension, and boat-rocking after months of it not being so bad, and it’s been causing more anxiety, which has caused me to feel like I’m spiraling again.  To get ahead of it, I’ve been turning to comfort books like this one because they help keep my mind strong and they help me focus on keeping more of a positive mindset.  It’s true that the things you focus on the most are the things that you become.  So, I’ve been choosing to fill my mind with uplifting books, uplifting music, and lots of time with family and friends until this all passes.

I’m also still reading New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp as my daily devotional and the next time I post about this, I’ll be almost done with it as the year will be nearly over.

And I’m still working my way through The Bible and The Bible Recap… I’m on Day 351 as I type this which means I will be done reading the entire Bible from cover to cover in just two weeks!  I can’t believe it! 

 

Currently Watching

With B: In November, we watched a few episodes of Saturday Night Live, we finished The Golden Bachelorette, and we watched a few old episodes of Shark Tank.  We also watched a couple more episodes of The Chosen and we started (and are about to finish) season four of Outer Banks, and of course, we watched a lot of ESPN College GameDay and college football.  Oh, and totally random, but after taking a 10-15 year break from it, we’ve started watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune again occasionally.  Haha.  So random.  Oh, and I almost forgot – we also watched some of the CMA Awards.

With the Kids:  This month, we started watching Christmas movies, and we made it through Home Alone and Home Alone 2 – two of our favorites!  We also showed them The Wizard of Oz for the first time ever since we planned to take them to Wicked during Thanksgiving Break.  We’ll also be watching The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade followed by the dog show on Thanksgiving Day, and we’re also about to start watching Is It Cake: Holiday on Thursday when it comes out!  We’re all really excited for that one!

Alone: I’ve been watching Serendipity and The Holiday on repeat while I work in my office when I’m not listening to music.

 

Currently Listening To

In November, it was all about Abe Paker and Judah & the Lion’s new album + a whole lot of Taylor Swift as well as my favorite worship music.  But most of all, we’ve been listening to Christmas music!!!!  I have several different Christmas play lists on my phone that I’ve been listening to, and sometimes I just shuffle all of my Christmas music because my collection is EPIC.  We’ve also been listening to the Holiday Favorites station on Amazon because it’s free! 

Happy Wednesday, y’all!