Our Week - The One with an Orthodontist Appointment, Field Day, and a Shakey Graves Concert

Hey, y’all!  It’s time for another weekly recap!  Last week was a busy, productive, and fun one!

Monday, April 28

Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed home to get stuff done.  I had no place to be while they were at school and we had no after-school activities, so it was ON. 

While they were at school, I tackled three loads of laundry, I finished my blog post for Tuesday, I got caught up on some emails, I moved 50 alumni from the original spreadsheet to the new database, I purchased new ballet shoes for Olivia’s recital, I sent out an email to all of the fifth grade parents about end-of-the-schoolyear events, I responded to about 50 blog comments (I was soooo behind), and then I started my blog post for Wednesday. 

In the car line, I mindlessly scrolled social media for a bit, and then I read my book.  When we got home, Olivia got her homework done and Jacob studied for a test while I got my Bible study done.  Then I put away some laundry and got my calendar organized.  So much stuff pops up this time of year that I have a running list of notes in my List Master app that often need to be transferred to my planner or elsewhere, so I took some time to get all of my random notes organized. 

After that was done, Olivia and I went outside to check on her sunflowers and we saw that there was a sprout!!  So exciting!

For dinner, I made bacon and corn pasta, and after the four of us ate together, we cleaned the kitchen. 

I took a few minutes to change out cords for my record player stand after that.  I was using a white one because it was the only one we had on hand, but it stuck out like a sore thumb on our brown floor, so it was nice to change to a brown cord.  The new brown one blends in perfectly!

After that, I went through Olivia’s weekly folder, I signed a permission slip for her last class field trip of the year, and I watered all of the plants while the kids rode scooters outside.

After all that was done, I finally got my tennis shoes on, and I got in an outdoor walk and an arms workout.  The weather was lovely, so I soaked up every single second.  I love my evening walks so much and I’m so glad that they’re back!

When I got home, I got showered, and then we all sat down to finish that dog documentary that we’d started on Friday.  I ended up sobbing through the rest of it… it made me miss Maui way too much, so I don’t think I was quite ready to watch something like that.

We got the kids in bed after the documentary was over, and then Brian and I finished the episode of The Last of Us that we’d started on Sunday followed by a little bit of Saturday Night Live.

 

Tuesday, April 29

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I headed home to work on a blog post until my appointment with my therapist at 9:15.  After my appointment, I had to swing by CVS to pick up a prescription, and then I headed back home to try to finish my blog post for the next day.  Spoiler alert… I didn’t.  Haha.

I did knock out 50 more alumni in our database and I also did a load of laundry, though!

I picked up Olivia from school at three, and we went to Chick-Fil-A for milkshakes while Jacob had Velocity.  I love our one-on-one dates so much and I’m going to miss them when they’re over after this week.

After we picked up Jacob from Velocity, we headed home.  Olivia had just enough time to change into her dance clothes and get everything ready to go, and I had just enough time to get the kitchen tidied, and then we were both out the door again to get her to dance.  And Jacob sent me some goofy pictures he and Olivia had taken in the car on the way home.

I dropped her off and headed home to do my Bible study while I enjoyed my afternoon cup of tea, I put up an “oops” blog post since I couldn’t get my real one done, and then I got out for a walk.  My knees have been killing me lately, so I haven’t been able to do much but walk, and even that has been putting strain on them. 

When I got home, Jacob got in the shower, and I made beef tacos per Olivia’s request.  When she and Brian got home from dance, the four of us sat down to eat.  After the kitchen was clean, I watered the plants, put some laundry away, and showered, and Olivia got showered while Jacob worked on some super crazy advanced math that he’s been teaching himself.  That kids loves math!

Once everyone was ready for bed, Jacob and Olivia hit the hay, and Brian and I watched some of Saturday Night Live before hitting the hay ourselves.

 

Wednesday, April 30

Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids, and then, thankfully, I had no place to be until I had to pick them up, so I knocked out a ton of stuff – I finished my blog post for Thursday, I got most of Friday’s blog post done, I started Monday’s blog post, I transferred 50 alumni from the spreadsheet to the new database, I got caught up on emails, I caught up on some blog reading (I’m still so behind), I tied up some other random loose ends, and I got some more laundry put away.

I grabbed the kids at three, and then we headed home.  I did a Bible study and then I corrected some blog typos that Brian had sent to me.  He reads every day and texts the corrections to me, so I guess you could call him my editor.  Haha.

While I was doing my Bible study, I had an actual vertigo spin (it was over in about 5 seconds, but so violent), and it scared me to death because it came out of nowhere.  I wasn’t doing anything but reading, so there was no reason why it should have happened, and I was just grateful it happened when I wasn’t doing something like driving.  I hadn’t had one in a couple of months (since Maui was dying), and I’m not quite sure where this one came from.  I suspect that it was from my braces rubber bands, though, because at that point, I had been wearing the rubber bands again for weeks, and my jaw had reached the point of being positioned where it was when my original vertigo started.  I’d been having tons of jaw, neck, shoulder, and face tension for days, so all signs are really pointing to the braces rubber bands/jaw change being the culprit of the vertigo.

I was so disheartened that I immediately sat down at my computer to contact an upper cervical chiropractor that I’d been contemplating contacting for a while.  I’d never heard of an upper cervical chiropractor until recent months (they’re totally different than regular chiropractors), and we don’t have one here in town, so that’s why I’ve been holding off.  I took that vertigo spin as my sign that it was time to do something about it.  I also discontinued my rubber bands that night.

After that, I drove Olivia to dance, praying all the way that the vertigo didn’t happen again (it didn’t) and we blasted Taylor Swift with the sunroof open all the way there.  Not going to let this stupid vertigo steal my joy!

On the way home, I had to stop for gas, and then when I got home it was time to tidy the kitchen and make dinner.  We had some white chicken chili in the freezer, so I heated that for an easy meal, and I made Jacob some frozen chicken corndogs.  Not the healthiest meal for any of us, but at this time of year when things are crazy, it is what it is.  Fed is best.

I also had a glass of wine with dinner with the hope that it would untense my neck muscles since nothing else was working, and it did help them loosen up a bit.  Mission accomplished.

While dinner was heating, I took some time to deep clean our Brita water pitcher.  We use that thing a TON, and I rarely think to wash it (I know, gross!), so I got it all clean, got a new filter put in, and got the filter flushed.

After dinner, I walked by myself for 1.5 miles, and then I swung by the house to grab Jacob to walk another 1.5 miles with me.  I love this walking buddy of mine!

When we got home, I watered all of the plants indoors and outdoors while Jacob showered, and then I got showered and in my PJs. 

Olivia arrived home from dance with all seven of her costumes for her recital – EEK! – and she was so excited she couldn’t stand it.  Wednesday night is her super late dance night, so it was too late to try them all on, but we did get all of them out and look at them.  They are so dang cute as usual!

After that, I helped Jacob pack for a field trip the next day.  They were traveling two hours away, so he needed sunscreen, an external charger for his phone, money, snacks, water, etc. so I helped him make sure he had everything he needed.

We got the kids in bed late, and then Brian and I watched a few minutes of Saturday Night Live to wind down before heading to bed.

 

Thursday, May 1

Thursday morning, the kids and I had to be at the school no later than 7:30 to drop Jacob off for a field trip.  They were heading to an old plantation (as they’re learning about the Civil War) a couple of hours away, so they had a long day ahead of them.

After I got them dropped off, I headed home to work.  I got my blog post done for Friday, I started my blog post for Monday, and I chatted with the upper cervical chiropractor’s office because they responded to my email that I’d sent from the day before.  We arranged for a phone consult the following Monday so I wouldn’t have to drive all the way there. 

After that, I headed to the orthodontist for my checkup, and it was timely indeed, as I’d stopped my rubber bands the night before since everything was going haywire again.  My orthodontist told me that it was time to stop the rubber bands anyway (thank goodness) and he said that we’re coming down the homestretch now. 

They put in new top and bottom wires, and I have to wear them for eight weeks.  Then at my next appointment, he wants to shave between a few of my bottom front teeth to make them come together better (similar to what he did with my top teeth earlier in my treatment).  It will also allow my bottom teeth to nestle under the top ones better (right now I’m having issues with my top canines banging into my bottom teeth).  Then, I will have to wear new wires for eight more weeks, and then he thinks I’ll finally be done.  So that means four more months – hopefully sometime in September – and I’ll get these horrible things off once and for all.

After my appointment, I swung by Dick’s Sporting Goods to try on a pair of Hoka tennis shoes.  I’ve been having knee pain for the last few months, and I think it’s due to my shoes.  I’ve done a lot of research and asked around, and every single article (and person) I have come across highly recommends Hokas if you have knee pain.

I only went there to try them on, as I was not purchasing anything that day, and the sales person was really great and helpful.  Hokas do, indeed, feel like they provide maximum cushion, comfort, and relief for joints, so I’m hoping to purchase a pair soon.  They are PRICEY, though. 

After that, it was back home to eat lunch, catch up on some more blog reading, and get 50 people transferred over to our new alumni database, and then I had to leave to pick up Olivia from school.  Jacob wasn’t due to get back from his field trip for another hour, so we’d already canceled and moved his piano lesson to another day.

Olivia and I went to Target after school to pick out a birthday gift for her bestie whose party she’s attending later this week, and while we were there, we got a couple of makeup items for her that she needed for her recital.

After that, she and I went to her guitar lesson.  Olivia has pretty much perfected I Knew It, I Know You by Gracie Abrams, so it was time to move on to a new song.  She wanted a couple of different songs by Judah & the Lion, but neither were good guitar songs, so Mr. Steve and I went back and forth during the whole lesson throwing out our favorite guitar song suggestions (and playing snippets of them) while Olivia shot them all down.  Haha.  Steve and I agreed on Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer for her, but so far, Olivia has not relented.  Haha.

While we were at guitar lessons, Brian picked up Jacob from school after his field trip.  They got home before we did, and when we walked in the door, Jacob surprised Olivia with a stuffed animal he’d gotten from the gift shop.  Y’all!!  It was so sweet of him to have thought of her.  <3  He had actually texted Brian and me earlier in the day to tell us to show Olivia a picture he’d taken for her at the place they’d been.  It was a picture of a stuffed animal that Olivia already has.

When we got home, I got my Bible study done, I cleaned the kitchen, and then Brian and I cooked breakfast for dinner.  I was on the struggle bus and feeling like I hadn’t gotten much done all day, and I had a million things to do, but I chose to pot my new plant instead because it had been sitting in the temporary pot on our counter for too long and it was starting to dry out.

I got in a two-mile walk after that while the kids showered, and then when I got home, I got all of the laundry put away and I got showered, too.

Olivia tried on all seven of her costumes, and all of them fit perfectly… they are all so cute!!

We got the kids in the bed shortly after that, and then Brian and I watched some more of Saturday Night Live before going to bed.  When I went to check on Olivia before we went to bed, I saw that she had her tiny little Jesus laying on the pillow next to her.  She has been carrying Him everywhere with her lately.  So sweet.

Friday, May 2

Friday, I dropped the kids at school and then I worked with Shelley and Brittany, two of the other ladies on the Home and School Advisory Board to prep for Teacher Appreciation Week which is this week.  We have various things going on each day for them including a breakfast, snacks, and other themed days, and we wanted to set up our tables Friday, so on Monday we could just set up breakfast quickly and not have to worry about the decorating.  The decorating took a couple of hours, and then I headed outside because it was Field Day, and the kids were outside doing all of the activities. 

Since Jacob is in middle school, they had various things going on around campus, but I did get to see him in passing on the sidewalk after he and his friends had gotten their shaved ice treats.

I spent the rest of the morning chatting with friends and hanging with Olivia’s class as they did their activities, and by 11 AM they were done.  Jacob had just texted me saying that they were pretty much done as well, so instead of letting them stay the last hour (it was a noon dismissal day) and me having to wait and then sit in the car line, I just checked them both out and we headed home early!  Woo hoooo!

It ended up being great because Brian and I were leaving town later in the day to see Shakey Graves in concert, so that gave me an extra hour at home to get some stuff done!

When we got home, we had lunch, the kids tidied, showered, and packed for my parents’ house, and then they played video games for a bit.  Meanwhile, I finished my blog post for Monday, started my blog post for Tuesday, and got 50 more alumni moved to the new database. 

By the time I was done with all of that, I had just enough time to do my Bible study and enjoy a cup of tea, and then it was time to get freshened up and changed for the concert.  Brian and I dropped the kids at my parents’ house, and then we had to come back home and turn off the hose that Olivia had left on while watering her sunflowers.  Lol.  But first, a date night picture!  And, of course, Jacob had to take silly pictures of himself while he had my phone.  He does it every time!

Thankfully, we’d allowed for a lot of cushion in our timing, so it wasn’t a big deal.  We hit the road for Macon after that, and it was a super easy drive as there was barely any traffic… a major difference compared to when we drive to Atlanta!

The concert was smack in the middle of downtown Macon, and their downtown area was jumping since it was Friday night, so it was hard to find a place to park.  Once we drove around for a bit, we finally found a few spaces open further away from the venue and they were only open because you had to pay to park there.  Thankfully, it was much more affordable than Atlanta and Nashville parking, so we grabbed those and then walked to the restaurant that we’d picked out on the way there – Piedmont Brewery and Kitchen. 

Dinner was yummy, although super garlicy – I had a BLT with garlic aioli and a side of mac n cheese, and both the BLT and the mac n cheese had loads of garlic.  I loveeee garlic, but it this was way too much, so while tasty, the meal felt soooo heavy. 

After we were done there, we walked over to the venue – Hargray Capitol Theatre – which was just a couple of blocks away.  The theater is small-ish, only holding 650 people, so the concert was pretty intimate.  Brian and I had tickets for the seats in the balcony.  Since I’ve been having dizziness and vertigo, I didn’t feel comfortable being on the floor and having to stand the whole time, so it was nice to have the seats.  The seats weren’t assigned, though, so it was first come first served, and somehow, Brian and I lucked out and got front row center.  There were people sitting on both ends of the front row, but I asked one of the couples if the seats in the middle were taken, and they said no, so we ended up getting them.  Score.

While we waited for the show to start, the kids were texting us pictures that they’d taken with my mom.  Olivia loves a good photo shoot and Jacob loves a good silly face!  We also sent one back to them of us in the theatre and we have a photobomber behind us.  Lol.

Shakey Graves was really good.  Brian is a bigger fan of his music than I am, although I do love several of his songs.  But seeing him live is always good because he puts on such a great show!  Plus, you all know how I feel about live music… it’s my favorite thing!  He had an opener – Ruby Waters – and she had a beautiful voice, although, her music wasn’t really my favorite.  She did sing a Sheryl Crow song that was really good, though!

My favorite thing about the whole night was the mirrorball.  This venue had a big, beautiful mirrorball, and they used it all night long.  Those things really are so magical, y’all!

After the show, we headed straight home, and there was zero traffic on the road, so we made it home in record time, despite the fact that we had to drive home in some pretty hard rain for a few minutes.  We got home a little before 1 AM, and I was out like a light.

 

Saturday, May 3

Saturday morning, we slept in, had breakfast, and then I headed to my office to drink my tea and chill for a bit.  It was rainy/dreary all day, so we ended up having a cozy day at home.  I intended to get a little bit of work done early on, but instead, I lazily scrolled through my phone while I enjoyed my tea, and then I spent some time uploading concert videos to my Instagram stories. 

While scrolling social media, I saw that the official government run White House and POTUS accounts had shared an AI picture of Trump posing as the Pope and I was in disbelief.  I have so much disdain for this current administration and the way that they have been handling many things these last three months, and I have kept most of it to myself as I know most people don’t come here to my blog to read political commentary.  But recently I have felt very convicted to speak up because I feel that we as human beings have a moral responsibility to speak out to oppose actions that are harmful and/or dangerous for others and/or our country and to speak up for others who cannot speak for themselves.  If we don’t, who will?

Overt racism, bigotry, misogyny, and blasphemy are not going to make our country great, and neither is defunding our education system, cutting food assistance, plucking people from the streets and deporting them without due process, and so many other things that our government is doing.  And making a mockery of our country by turning our government run social media accounts into meme accounts?  Yikes.  How shameful, disrespectful, disgraceful, and disturbing.  

And the saddest part to me is that many of these people are doing these things with crosses around their necks and Bible verses in their social media bios.  Unfortunately, Christian Nationalism is alive and well in this country, and it's not a pretty sight.  

My parents took the kids to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, and then they brought them home, so Brian and I didn’t even have to leave the house.  When they got home, they did their laundry and cleaned their bathroom, and I got 60 alumni moved to the new database. 

Late in the morning, my cousin’s girlfriend texted me to let us know that they’d received Olivia’s drawing of their dog who we’d met during Easter weekend, and they wanted to Facetime with Olivia to tell her thank you.  So sweet!  And doesn’t her drawing look just like him?!  My girl loves to draw!

After that, we had lunch together, and the kids caught us up on their adventures with Pop and Cokie, and then I rounded up all of the stuff that I need to drop for donation.  Olivia and I also wrapped a gift for her friend who’s having a birthday later this week. 

Then, I finally unrolled the rug that I bought a month ago with my birthday money.  I’ve been putting it off because Brian and I can’t get it under our bed by ourselves – we’ll need several people to help – but I knew that I needed to get it opened to make sure I didn’t miss the return window in case anything was wrong with it.

The rug is GORGEOUS, and I’m so impressed with the quality, especially since the price is so good.  The band is a brand that I love and trust, and I’m just so glad I found it… now to get it under our giant bed.  Cringe.

I ended up rolling it out upside down and placing some heavy old yearbooks around the edges to flatten it out, and then I headed to my office to check out the new bag I bought that I’m going to try to start using as my daily bag.  I need something smaller since my neck and shoulders are having so many issues.

I got my wallet changed over to a smaller one that I had on hand.  Prior to this I was carrying a traditional full-sized wallet with a checkbook and everything… somebody bring me my cane!!  Haha.  But seriously, every now and then I DO still have to write a check.  Is that not wild?! 

I didn’t have a chance to change bags completely because I needed to get my Bible study done, and then after that I rushed off to get ready for 5:30 Mass because I was running late.

After Mass, my mom’s entire extended family met at our favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate my Aunt Becky, my Uncle Greg, and my cousin, Courtney’s, birthdays.  Thankfully, they’d made a reservation because we had close to 25 people, I think.

After dinner, Olivia wanted DQ, so we stopped by to get a Blizzard for her.  Jacob had cake at the party, so he didn’t want one, and I don’t ever partake anymore since I’ve found that ice cream doesn’t settle well in my stomach.

We got home just in time to avoid a massive thunderstorm, torrential rain, and wind, so I was grateful for that! 

After the kids were in bed, Brian and I watched the most recent episode of The Handmaid’s Tale followed by a little bit of Saturday Night Live, and then we went to bed.

 

Sunday, May 4

Sunday morning, we slept in, I made homemade waffles for breakfast since we didn’t have them on Saturday, and then I did my usual sermon, yoga, planner for the week ahead routine followed by entering 65 alumni into the new database.

I did my Bible study next, and then it was time to get ready for the day.  We had lunch with my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law, and then the rest of the afternoon was spent at home.  The kids lazed around and played video games, I got some blog work done, and Brian watched some TV.  Olivia also practiced a few of her routines for her recital to make sure she has them down.  The older she gets, the longer the routines get, so she has a lot to remember.  Not to mention she had to learn them for seven classes this year, and she has two different ones for ballet and two different ones for jazz, I believe.  It’s a lot!

For dinner, we headed to my parents’ house, and Momma made slow cooker ravioli that we love so much. 

Brian and I ended the evening with the most recent episode of The Last of Us, and we called it a night!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!