Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 6 (Two UCC Appointments, a Movie, Cleaning Out the House, and 4th of July with Friends)

We had another wonderful week of summer break, but my mind and heart have been with everyone in Texas after all of the flooding last week.  I cannot stop thinking about those families and those sweet campers who were lost and are still missing.  I wanted to share a few places where you can help if you feel called to do so.

 Samaritan's Purse

Convoy of Hope

World Central Kitchen

Monday, June 30

Monday, I was up at 7:45, and I got showered and ready.  I had breakfast and unloaded the dishwasher, and after that, I spent the morning working on blog housekeeping (catching up on blog reading, responding to all blog comments, etc.), and I worked on laundry.  The kids threw their load in late in the morning, and then we left for my Upper Cervical Chiropractic appointment.

We ended up being five minutes late despite the fact that we always leave some cushion, because traffic was backed up on the highway in one spot. 

My appointment went well – the doc did two taps on my right SI joint and one on my left SI joint, and he told me that my atlas and axis were holding strong, so he didn’t do anything there.  At one point, he was putting some pressure on each of the vertebrae all the way up my spine, and one of the ones in the middle popped, and it ended up causing a little bit of pain for the rest of the day, but not as much pain as the atlas and axis adjustments do.

The lines from my neck reading looked pretty decent, and I’ve definitely come a long way from those early scans when I first started visiting this doctor.  I wish I had pictures of the old ones so I could show y’all.

We headed home after that, had a late lunch, and then Jacob finished his ASL summer homework.  The kids also did their laundry after that since we were too busy to do it over the weekend, and then we all spent time together taking inventory on uniforms, socks, undergarments, backpacks, and all other school needs so I could start ordering the things they needed.

Olivia needed uniform skirts, and we lucked out because they just happened to be on super sale.  The school had alerted us days before to let us know there would be a sale, and I missed it, but thankfully, they ended up running it for one extra day and we saved a heap of money!

Once that was done, I spent some time emailing my senators to thank them for being in the NO camp for the “Big Beautiful Bill” that they would be voting on later that day. 

I got one more load of laundry done, I worked on my blog post for Wednesday, I started cleaning out my office a bit, and then I spent some time cleaning out the living room and the bar cart.  I was so behind on my cleanout for 2025 prior to June, but I’ve made some good headway this summer break!  I snapped this picture of my acupressure mat because this mat has literally been laying on my office floor for 2+ years with a towel rolled up under the top, so I could have easy access to it since my neck had so much tension for so long.  I used to lay down on it every single day, sometimes multiple times per day.  But ever since I started seeing this new doctor and he has shifted my atlas and axis back into place, my neck tension has completely disappeared aside from having a little here and there after an adjustment.  I haven’t had to use the mat in weeks, so I finally rolled it up and put it away, and I’m hoping I’ll never have to pull it out again… and if I do, hopefully it will be few and far between!  It’s so nice to have an empty floor in front of my bookshelves now!

I also cleaned out under the coffee table and got rid of a bunch of old stuff that was kept under there since Olivia was tiny.  That bottom coloring pad was massive, so there was no other place to store it, but she’s long outgrown it, so into the recycling bin it went.  It’s definitely bittersweet, though.

After all that, I whipped up some Taco Joes for dinner, and then after dinner, Brian and the kids and I finished our game of Scrabble since it was raining.

We fired up Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets after our game, and I did a quick stair stepper workout since I couldn’t walk.  I was desperate to walk, so I kept an eye on the radar, and the second the rain stopped, I cut my stair stepper workout short and headed outside.  It was getting late by then, so I didn’t have much time before it got dark, but I made the most of it by jogging most of the way. 

On one of the main roads in our neighborhood, I saw something running out of the corner of my eye.  We have a lot of dogs on the loose in our neighborhood lately, so I was worried it might be a big dog, but it turned out to be a deer!  And it wasn’t afraid of me either.  She stopped and watched me and even stood still while I took her picture.  We see deer outside of our neighborhood frequently, but I don’t ever see them in our actual neighborhood.

When I got home, we watched some more of Harry Potter, and after the kids were in bed, Brian and I finished Sirens.  I loved it!! 

B and I weren’t quite ready for bed once that was over, so we decided to start that documentary Train Wreck: Poop Cruise that everyone has been talking about and – LOL and OMG it was awful.

 

Tuesday, July 1

Brian’s company does a “wellness week” each year during the summer, and they provide a “wellness day” to each of their employees during that week that they can have off and spend it however they choose.  Brian took his wellness day Tuesday, so we slept in, I made homemade waffles, and then Brian and the kids went to see the live action version of How to Train Your Dragon in 3D.  Since they went to see it in 3D, I opted out.  3D movies have always made me feel a little dizzy/off, so trying to sit through that with all of my vertigo and vestibular issues I’ve had for the last two years did not sound like a good time to me.  Haha.

Instead, I worked on my blog post for Wednesday (which was time consuming) and I did a load of laundry while they were gone.  Boring!  Haha.

When they got home, we all had a late lunch, and then I painted my toenails because it was long overdue.  I finished my blog post for Wednesday, and then I did some more blog housekeeping that was MUCH needed – I started updating the links on my blog pages (I was behind like 1.5 years – yikes), and I finally started working on my end of the year blog post.

I usually start my end of the year recap at the beginning of the year and I update it as I go, but this year, things just got away from me (as noted in said blog post), so I was nearly six months behind.  Sheesh.

After that was done, I put away all the laundry, I watered all the plants inside and out, and then I made turkey and cheese biscuit sliders for dinner.

Brian spent his afternoon booking our trip to Universal Orlando for fall break – eek! – and we’ve never been, so if you have any must-sees, must-dos, or must-eats, let us know!

After dinner, I headed out for a walk even though it was about to storm.  I ended up making it through my whole walk and the storm missed us altogether anyway.  The kids played outside all evening because it was nice and cool from the storms, so they finally had some good outdoor time.  It’s hard this time of year to get any quality outdoor time if you don’t have a pool because it’s so dang hot.

The kids and I all took showers late in the evening, and I caught up on organizing a few things in my planner/lists while they showered.  Then we got them in bed, and Brian and I finished the Trainwreck: Poop Cruise documentary.  It was so gross.  Bless those people who were stuck on that ship.  It would have been one of my worst nightmares.

 

Wednesday, July 2

Wednesday morning, I was up at 7:45, I had breakfast, and I unloaded the dishwasher.  The kids were still asleep when I was done with all of that, so I headed to my office for a bit.  I spent some time contacting all of the House reps for Georgia since the “Big Beautiful Bill” had passed in the Senate, and I asked them to please vote NO.  Spoiler alert, it passed as we all knew it would, but I wanted to do everything I could to prevent it.  It is just so sad to me that Congress just voted to take away basic needs for millions of Americans.  And also, the reps in the House will not provide their contact info unless you’re their direct constituent, so I contacted all of them on social media instead.  My local rep voted NO anyway, so I didn’t have to contact him.  But again, I just wanted to do SOMETHING… anything.

After that, I caught up on blog reading and I caught up on all of my blog comments.  I rescheduled my well visit in the fall because of a conflicting event, and I ordered new shoes for Jacob for school church days.

Jacob worked on some more summer homework, and we also placed several items in our cart that he needed for back-to-school, but I didn’t pull the trigger since I knew all of the big companies were going to be having all of their sales this week.

I got showered after that, and then the kids and I had lunch together, and then we headed to my Momma and Daddy’s house to let Jacob water all their plants since he has to get service hours for school and National Honor Society this coming schoolyear. 

While we were there, we saw that a couple of their baby birds had hatched in the nest in one of their plants.  We’d seen the eggs the last time we were there, and the little birdies were finally there on Wednesday!   The nest is buried so far down in a plant and only has the tiniest opening, so it was nearly impossible to get good pictures, but here are a couple.

While we were there, the doorbell camera alerted my dad, so the kids ended up talking to him through the doorbell camera the whole time we were there.  Haha. 

After we were done there, Olivia had another appointment at the orthodontist to clip her wires.  Her teeth are moving so quickly that her wires keep shifting to the back of her mouth and poking her, so this was her second emergency appointment in just a few weeks to get the excess clipped off from the back.  This time, the girl put in a new wire, and she was able to bend it down and cover it with something so as the wires move, they shouldn't poke her anymore.  It’s amazing how much her teeth have already moved.  And we were grateful that they were open for emergency appointments… the practice was actually closed for Fourth of July week, but they had a skeleton crew there just for emergencies. 

On the way home, we stopped at CVS to pick up my prescription, we went to Publix to grab some stuff for our Fourth of July get together, and then we headed home.

The kids had some screen time, and I tackled a couple of annoying tasks that had been on my to-do list forever.  I also updated my bucket list spreadsheet (I should really share this on the blog sometime!), and then it was time to make dinner.

We had sheet pan sausage with lots of veggies for dinner, and while that was baking, I put away the nonperishable items that I’d left on the counter after our shopping trip.  I also got the kitchen tidied.

After we all ate dinner together, I got my new basil planted.  The one I’d planted at the beginning of the summer died while we were at the beach, so I’d bought a new one at Publix.  I also checked on Olivia’s sunflowers, and the big one was looking a little droopy.

Brian mowed Wednesday evening, and I walked three miles while the kids played outside.  I felt great Wednesday evening, and my walk was wonderful!  Ever since I started seeing this Upper Cervical Chiropractor, I’ve noticed that my pain in my left SI joint has completely disappeared (he has been treating it, too, as he could tell – without me telling him – that it was out of place because it was swollen the first day he saw me), and I’ve also noticed that my knee pain has started to improve despite the fact that I have not gotten new walking/running shoes.  My neck also has the best range of motion that it’s had in years, and I have only had the really bad neck tension once since I started seeing him.  So even though the dizziness, brain fog, and other issues are still lingering here and there, I can tell that I am making great strides towards having a healthier body.  He told me that the dizziness, tinnitus (it may never resolve), vertigo, and all of that is always the last to resolve because nerves take so long to heal. 

After my walk, I got showered, and then we continued watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  After the kids went to bed, I did my quiet time (I’ve been doing it in the evenings lately but fail to mention it in most posts), Brian and I started an episode of The Chosen, and then we headed to bed.  I’ve been reading every night before bed, and it has just been wonderful.  I just love summer break, y’all, and I am so grateful to be able to take this time off with the kids every year.  It is truly a blessing to have time to slow down for a couple of months.

Thursday, July 3

Thursday morning, I woke at 7:30, I had breakfast, I unloaded the dishwasher, and I watered the plants – my morning routine – before heading to my office to work on a blog post for Friday. 

At 10:15 AM, Brian and I dropped the kids at my father-in-law's house because I had another UCC appointment + another medical massage.  I didn’t want them to have to sit there for 45 minutes in the lobby, so instead, they spent the morning with Grandpa playing board games.

At my UCC appointment, the doctor told me that my atlas and axis were still holding even though it had been six whole days since he adjusted my atlas (and even longer since he’d adjusted my axis), so he was very pleased with that.  My neck temperature also looked pretty good… not too many hot spots, which means that the nerves weren’t super aggravated. 

While I was there, he did two taps on my right SI joint, and he did three taps on my atlas… even though my atlas is away from the nerves at this point, and it is holding, the doctor still has a little bit of movement left to do to get it perfectly back in place. 

After my adjustment, I had my medical massage, and it was amazing yet again.  The masseuse works directly with my doctor, and he gets to see my chart to know what bones have been moved, and therefore, he knows which muscles to target, and it is just amazing. 

After my massage, we drove home, and Brian and I swung by a local chicken finger place to grab some chicken fingers and fries… I was so hungry by then that I ate them in the car.  We grabbed the kids from my FIL’s house after that, and then I showered when we got home so I could get all of the massage oil out of my hair.

The kids had music lessons Thursday afternoon, and Jacob had a makeup lesson, so we had to be there at 3.  I felt good enough to drive since it’s close to our house, although, I had to be careful about turning my head since the doc still doesn’t want me moving around too much after an adjustment. 

Jacob had his two piano lessons and Olivia had her guitar lesson, and we also found out that Mr. Steve’s 3:30 student permanently moved from their 3:30 spot, so we were able to snag it, which means that going forward Jacob and Olivia will be able to have their lessons at the same time every day, which means we only have to spend 30 minutes there per week instead of an hour.  Woo hoo!  That’ll definitely come in handy during the school year when time is so precious.

While we were there, Olivia gave Mr. Steve an octopus made with her Rainbow Loom, and he was amazed.  She has gone from making bracelets to making Pokémon characters and all sorts of animals, and they are amazing.  She had shown a couple to Steve at her last week of lessons, and Steve had asked her if she could make him a blue octopus since it’s his favorite animal, and she did just that.  She has been using YouTube videos for some of them, but some of them, she has created all on her own!

After lessons, we headed back home, I finished my blog post for Friday, and then we had breakfast for dinner, including chocolate chip muffins to surprise Olivia since she’s been wanting them. 

After dinner, I had a mild headache and backache, and I was a bit dizzy, so I decided to skip my workout.  Brian had to finish mowing, and the kids played outside and then showered, so while they did that, I worked on updating my medical and health spreadsheet (yes, I am a nerd and I keep a spreadsheet of all of my medical issues, illnesses, vaccines, doctor visits, etc.).  I was behind on updating it, so it was nice to get started catching up.  I’m telling y’all… I’ve been catching up on aaaallll the things that I’ve gotten behind on this summer!

We finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Thursday night, and I started cleaning out my List Master (now just called “Lists”) app while we watched.  Y’all, I want to like Harry Potter soooo bad, but it’s just not my thing.  It puts me to sleep.  Lol.  The only way for me to stay awake is to work on something mindless while I watch, so I have been cleaning out and reorganizing some things in my List Master app while we watch… another task that’s been on my to do list for far too long.  I am really delving into the to-do list this summer and accomplishing a lot of things that I have been wanting to do forever!

After the kids went to bed, Brian made Old Fashioneds for us so we could test out our new ice cubes (so fun!), and we finished the episode of The Chosen that we’d started the previous night.  Then we started We Were Liars… the first episode was a little cheesy to me – I couldn’t get past the very bleachy blonde hair, some of the acting, and some of the filming quality – but it held my attention, and now that we’re halfway through the series, I’m HOOKED.

Friday, July 4

Friday morning, Brian was off for the holiday, so we all slept in, and then I had breakfast and unloaded the dishwasher while everyone else was still sleeping.  I read some blogs, finished catching up on my medical and health spreadsheet (WOO HOOOO!), and then tidied my office.

We didn’t have any plans until the late afternoon / early evening, so we had a lazy day for the first part.  Unfortunately, I also had a HORRIBLE headache all day that medicine wouldn’t touch + dizziness and brain fog (due to my adjustment + a hormone shift, I think), so I just wanted to lay low anyway.

We all had a light lunch, and then I got showered and ready for the day.  I ended up editing all of my pictures for Monday’s blog post, and I finally listened to the new Teddy Swims album that he released a couple of weeks ago.  We’re going to see him in concert next month, so I need to learn all of the new songs he just released so I can sing along!  :o)

Around 3, I headed downstairs to get everything ready for our Fourth of July get together.  We usually have a lot of people over every year, but since most of them were out of town at the beach this year, we kept it low-key, and we just had my friend, Jeannine, and her family over.  She’s been wanting me to watch Hamilton forever (I know, it’s crazy that Brian and I had never seen it… we had tickets to see the play back in 2020 and it got canceled because of Covid – waaaahhhh), so we decided that 4th of July would be a great day to do that.

When they arrived, Brian made a big batch of margs for us, and then we all settled in to watch the first part.  We took a break midway through to grill hot dogs, and Jeannine’s husband had made some hamburger sliders that were DELISH.  We also had a bunch of sides, and Jeannine made the cutest Hamilton signs for a couple of them.  ;o)

After we were all stuffed, Brian made another round of margs and then we settled in to watch the rest of Hamilton.  I have to say, I am not a fan of musicals, but I loved Hamilton.  I had such high hopes for it because of all the rave reviews, and it did not disappoint.  I just told Brian the other day that I think it’s about time to download the soundtrack!!  The song at the end… sheesh.  It made me tear up!

By the time Hamilton was finishing up, we were approaching dusk, so we headed outside to do some fireworks.  We usually go all out with big ones, but this year, we kept it low-key with just a few of the waterfall fireworks, some sparkers, and the ever-popular parachuting men.  The kids were excited because Jeannine and her fam had found a Pokeball firework.  Haha.

We finished up a little after dark, and Jeannine and the boys headed home.  B and I cleaned up the porch and the kitchen, and then he and Olivia went outside to watch our neighbors do their fireworks while Jacob and I lay on my bed and chatted.  I still had a massive headache, and I knew fireworks weren’t going to help + the doc had already told me he didn’t want me to crane my neck for a long period of time to watch them, so I was happy to stay inside in my PJs.

We got the kids in bed around 10:45/11-ish, and then Brian and I watched another episode of We Were Liars before heading to bed really late.  The fireworks had ceased around 11 in our neighborhood, but then some of our neighbors decided it would be fun to start another round at midnight, so it took a little longer to fall asleep with all the noise.

 

Saturday, July 5

Saturday morning, I slept until almost 9, and then I made homemade waffles for breakfast.  We had a low-key morning and afternoon at home, and we got a lot done.  I finished my blog post for Monday, I started my blog post for Tuesday, I cleaned out the rest of our kitchen cabinets, I cleaned out the drawers in the kitchen that hold Olivia’s art supplies, I got the towels washed, and I cleaned out my office.  There wasn’t much to clean out there since I cleaned it out so well a few years ago and now I just maintain it.  Plus, I’d already done some rearranging/cleaning out in there earlier this year, so there wasn’t much to do.  I checked the room off the list for the year, though!

Drawer Before

Drawer After

Trash pile

Meanwhile, the kids did their laundry, they deep cleaned their bathroom, and they helped Brian clean up the trash from the fireworks from the night before.  Brian also worked on a couple of things around the house that he’d been wanting to do.

We all got showered and ready later in the afternoon, and we headed to 5:30 Mass.  All of our family had just gotten back from their trip to the beach, so nobody was there except for Mama Cass.  She said she was tired from traveling all day, but that she wanted to go to Mass Saturday like she always does so she could rest on Sunday.

After Mass, Brian and the kids and I walked her to her car, and then we headed to the local Mexican place we love to meet my parents for dinner.  They were exhausted, too, but they wanted to see everyone, and we were happy to have their company and hear all about their trip.

We got home early enough that I had some remaining daylight to squeeze in a two-mile walk.  While I did that, Brian and the kids watched Universal rides on YouTube since we’re planning our trip there in the fall. 

I got showered, we got the kids in bed, and then Brian and I watched another episode of We Were Liars before going to bed.

 

Sunday, July 6

Sunday morning, I was up at 8:30, we had cinnamon rolls, I watched my sermon, and I organized my planner for the week ahead (which is an easy job this time of year when we don’t have much going on).

I also worked on my end of the year blog post for the rest of the morning since I was (and still am) so behind. 

We all got showered and ready late in the morning, and then we headed to my mother-in-law's and step-father-in-law's house to celebrate my brother-in-law’s birthday.  They made a huge spread of food – even bigger than usual – and we all ate way too much.  My BIL had requested a lemon pound cake for his birthday dessert, and it was just delicious. 

When we got home, I had just enough time to list a bunch of clothes for sale in a local Facebook group, I transferred all of the pictures from my phone to my computer and got those organized, and then I finished my blog post for Tuesday.

We went to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, and it was so nice to be with everyone since we’d missed it for the last couple of weeks while they were gone.  My Momma made her famous ziti (the best!), and some brownies from a Dolly Parton mix, and they were soooo delicious… definitely going to start trying the Dolly baking mixes going forward.

When we got home, we started Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and I organized some notes for things Jacob needs to do for his Confirmation this year at church while we watched.  We are now three Harry Potter movies in, and I still don’t like them.  Sigh.  I really, really want to love them, y’all, but I just don’t.

After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched another episode of We Were Liars, and then it was bedtime for us!

Happy Thursday, y’all!