Our Week - The One with Fire Ants, Grandparent’s Day, a Crazy Georgia Win, and Getting All the Things Done

Most weeks fly by, but last week felt like it was 84 days long.  With all of the terrible things happening in the world, the anniversary of 9/11, a couple of not great things going on in our extended family, and our very busy schedule, it was draining, mentally and physically – it dragged on forever – but we had the very best lazy weekend, so I was very grateful for that.  Let’s recap!

Monday, September 8

Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I hit the ground running.  I had so much to get done because I knew I’d have no time to do anything Tuesday and Thursday as I was going to be at the kids’ school most of both days.

First up, I had a Home and School Advisory Board meeting at the school, and when that adjourned, I headed to the front office to meet up with one of the ladies to pull out all the stuff we needed for Grandparent’s Day from the closet in the gym.  We grabbed a gazillion tablecloths, a box of balloons, and the box that held the balloon tower pieces.  Since I’d never built a balloon tower (only the arches), I decided to bring the pieces home so I could make sure it was easy enough to put together.  I did NOT want to get to school Tuesday morning having zero clue how it all worked.

After I left the school, I headed to Publix for groceries, and then Brian helped unload them while I got everything put away. 

The rest of the day was spent finishing up my blog post for Tuesday, paying a bill, doing a couple of other random tasks, and cringing because I got a jury summons in the mail.  Sigh.  When I opened it and saw the date, I found that they have me scheduled while we’re supposed to be out of town for fall break, so I knew it would have to be rescheduled.

On the way to pick up the kids, I swung by the library to pick up two new Freida McFadden books, and then I sat in the car line and immediately started one of them.  I ended up going with The Teacher, and friends, it did not disappoint.  I was hooked immediately and I finished it in less than three days.

When we got home, I hung out with the kids for a bit, and then while they did their homework, I did my Bible study.  I folded and put away the towels that I’d washed over the weekend, and then I watered the indoor plants.

By the time I was done with all of that, it was time for dinner, and I’d forgotten to grab something I needed for the dinner I’d originally intended to cook, so we ended up having turkey and cheese biscuit sliders.  Just as I was about to pull them out of the oven, I heard blood curdling screams coming from the backyard where Jacob and Olivia were playing.  I couldn’t get to the door fast enough, and my heart dropped to my stomach as Olivia continued to scream.  Jacob was running to get me as I was coming out, and he said she was covered in fire ants.

Apparently, they had been playing in the grass, and Olivia fell.  In the 5-10 seconds that she was on the ground getting herself back up, her head had hit a fire ant bed (that she didn’t notice because Brian had just mowed), and there were hundreds of ants all in her hair and on her body.  She continued to scream every single time she got bitten and I rushed her up the stairs as fast as I could to get her in the shower.  The next 20 minutes was spent in the shower in my clothes combing and raking through her (very) long hair and brushing them off of her body as she continued to get bitten and cry.  It was the worst feeling knowing that I couldn’t get them off of her fast enough. 

By the time we thought we had all of them off, she was exhausted and itching and hurting and I was traumatized from hearing her in anguish for so long.  I was also nervous about anaphylaxis or some other kind of allergic reaction since she’d been bitten so many times.  We counted at least 20-30 bites, but I think that was conservative as more showed up over the next 24 hours.  If I had to guess, I’d say she’d been bitten at least 30 times, probably more.  Ugh.

She calmed down once the ants were gone and the shower was over, and we all sat down to eat dinner.  Right after I sat down to eat, I remembered our Bug Bite Thing, so I jumped up and grabbed it, and I sucked the venom out of as many bites as we could reach.  Thankfully, she only had 2-3 on her scalp (that we know of) and the majority of them were on skin where we could use it. 

After dinner, she got showered again (just to make sure there weren’t any lingering anywhere) and then we got some Cortizone cream put on all of the itchy bites that weren’t in her hair.  She already had Claritin in her system from that morning as she takes it regularly for seasonal allergies, and I have a feeling if she hadn’t had that in her system things may have been much worse.

She was mostly back to her jolly self after that, but I could tell that she was exhausted from everything that had transpired.  She is always dancing around the house and singing nonstop, and she wasn’t doing any of that Monday evening.  :o(

While the kids showered, I went for my evening walk, and then I got showered.  I was still paranoid about Olivia having a reaction from all the bites after that, so I texted my friend, Jessica, who’s a nurse to ask her if she thought we needed to take her to acute care or anything.  She assured me that if Olivia was going to have a bad reaction, it would have already happened.  We did check on her before we went to bed, and I also set an alarm for 3 AM to check on her one more time in the middle of the night for my own peace of mind, and she ended up being just fine.  The whole ordeal was very draining for all of us, though, as you can probably imagine. 

After everyone was showered, we got all caught up on America’s Got Talent, and I put together the balloon towers to make sure I knew what I was doing.  I also watched some tutorials on how to do the balloons around the towers so I would know what I was doing the next day.  One way is pretty simple as long as you have the round plastic pieces that the balloons insert into, but I had no idea if we had any of those, so I watched another tutorial on how to build the towers with balloons without the round plastic pieces.  That way look awfuuuullll so I was very grateful we ended up having the round clips!  WHEW.

Brian and I watched some of The Leftovers after the kids went to bed, and that was our day.  When I went to check on the kids before bed, I had to snap a picture of Olivia because she looked like a little burrito.  Lol.

Another thing to note is that I stopped using my neck pillow on Sunday to see if it helps any with my neck and shoulder issues that I’m still having, and so far my pain and dizziness continues to wax and wane.  I honestly think my neck and shoulder muscles are just completely out of whack as they are still settling into their new positioning due to my bones continuously changing + me trying to be more mindful of my posture.  I was told this would be a lengthy process, and I guess the doc was right. 

 

Tuesday, September 9

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed straight to our church to start setting up for Grandparent’s Day.  We have a lovely chef at our school who now prepares all of the food for our events, so gone are the days of us having to estimate how many donuts and how many boxes of coffee to purchase for these days and having to pick them all up to get them there. 

Since I no longer have to focus on the food, that allowed me to focus on getting the balloon towers put together and get the tablecloths on all of the tables, etc.  I had three lovely ladies show up to help me, and shout out to them for blowing up and tying all the balloons while I got them situated on the rings and put the towers together.  I am TERRIBLE at tying balloons (I can literally do one or two and I’m DONE… and it takes me probably a full minute to do each one) so I was very grateful for their help.

Once all that was done, we got our picture snapped before the chaos, and we immediately headed out front to hold the doors open for all of the grandparents who were already starting to stream in.

Our school is so large that we have to do two separate days – one for the middle and high schoolers and one for the preschool – fifth graders, and Tuesday was middle and high school, so I got to see my babies along with my in-laws.  Unfortunately, my own parents couldn’t make it.

For Grandparent’s Day, the kids go to Mass with their grandparents, and then they go to our visitation hall to enjoy pastries, coffee, juice, and pictures.  Our church holds 800 people, and yet we had so many people on Tuesday, that about 50+ of them had to sit in our visitation hall where they livestreamed Mass from the sanctuary.  Since there were so many watching Mass in the hall, all of us volunteers stayed in the kitchen that’s attached to the hall to make sure all of the extra food was unwrapped and ready to go, and then we chatted (very quietly) while we waited for Mass to end.

Once Mass was over, the floodgates opened and everyone POURED into the hall.  It was PACKED.  I greeted everyone and helped the administration direct people down both sides of the food tables to ensure that traffic kept flowing, and then I replenished anything that ran out. 

Once everything started to slow down, I ducked away for a second to kiss my babies and say hi to my in-laws and snap a few pictures of them together.  The line for pictures in front of the step and repeat/balloon towers was long as we had a student from our TV Production department taking professional pictures with the school camera that we’ll have printed and sent in the mail to the grandparents.  My family didn’t want to wait in the line, so I had to take my own.  ;o)

After everyone was gone, we got the remaining food wrapped back up and placed in the kitchen, and we moved all the empty trays, tongs, drink containers, etc. to the carts in the kitchen to make it easier for our chef and his staff to grab later.  We also had to strip the tablecloths from the tables, move the balloon towers and the step and repeat to the back, and clean the kitchen and floors. 

I got home sometime after 12, and I only had a little over an hour before I had to go back to the school to grab the kids, so I ate a quick lunch and worked on a couple of things for the blog, and then it was time to roll.

After school, I chatted with one of my brothers on the phone for about 30 minutes, and by the time he and I hung up, it was time to take Olivia to dance.  I talked to my mom on the phone for about 45 minutes when I got back home from dropping Olivia, and then I finally set out for my walk (and forgot to take the picture until later that night).

I got home just before Brian and Jacob – they had gone to play golf together – and then I got showered before making vodka sausage pasta, steamed broccoli, and garlic cheesy bread for dinner.  I also indulged in a glass of wine since we had a bottle that was open from Sunday.

After dinner, Olivia got showered, and then we got the kids in bed.  It had felt like such a long, draining day – good and bad (the bad left unspoken for the privacy of others) – and I was ready to just lay on the couch and watch some mindless TV.  Brian and I watched a little bit of an episode of The Leftovers, and then we called it a night.

 

Wednesday, September 10

Wednesday, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed home to GET STUFF DONE.  Wednesday was one of those days where I tackled so many things that bullet points are in order rather than full sentences and paragraphs…

 

-       Cleaned out my email inbox

-       Downloaded some pictures that they’d sent from Jacob’s retreat

-       Signed us up for our first college informational night (four universities are visiting)

-       Joined Brian’s “Amazon family” because the way our account was set up before is no longer an option going forward

-       Started and finished blog post for Friday

-       Updated my Mediavine ad text for monetization on my blog

-       Caught up on my planner

-       Called the jury manager to change my jury duty date since they sent my summons for the week we will be out of town for fall break (and God bless the sweet jury manager who assisted me… she was so kind – she gave me four different weeks as options and she let me choose which one to do)

-       Finally responded to all of my blog comments… I was SO behind

-       Cleaned out my main list in my List Master app that I use frequently… it’s a catch all for anything that pops in my mind so sometimes I have to take the time to organize the random things that I’ve added to the list by adding tasks to my planner or to other lists, etc.

-       Tackled some random other blog housekeeping things

-       Got the breakfast and lunch dishes in the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen

-       Prepped for the afternoon ahead

-       Caught up on my gratitude journal, devotional, prayer journal, and Bible study since I’d missed the previous day

 

And all the while, unfortunately, I had to pop Ibuprofen and keep my heating pad on my neck and shoulders because my muscles were RAGING on Wednesday.

After all that was done, I freshened up a bit and then I headed to pick up the kids.  We all had dentist appointments at 4, but we had some time to spare in between, so I gave the kids snacks in the car, and we sat in the dentist office parking lot while Olivia did her homework.  She had her long dance night Wednesday, and I didn’t want her doing homework at 9 PM.

Once she was done with her homework, we all went inside, and Olivia got changed for dance before all three of us were called back for our appointments.  We all received great reports, and we headed out the door so Olivia could eat dinner (that I had packed before I left the house) in the car while we drove to dance.

When Jacob and I got home, I immediately got started on dinner – parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli, and I also made some homemade chocolate chip banana muffins.  I haven’t made them in years because for some reason both of our kids don’t like bananas (BECAUSE THEY ARE CRAZY!  Haha.) and I’ve missed them so much.  They are actually best the second, third, and subsequent days rather than fresh out of the oven because it gives the banana flavor some time to come out. 

Brian and Jacob and I all ate dinner together (Olivia was at dance), and then we got the kitchen cleaned up. 

Jacob and I got out for a walk together after that, and then I did a very short strength workout when we got home.  The rest of the evening was spent getting showered, getting the kids in bed, and then starting The Summer I Turned Pretty, but not finishing it because I was exhausted mentally and physically.

There was a lot of violence in our country last week.  There was yet another school shooting on Wednesday, a young Ukrainian girl was stabbed to death on a train for no reason, there was more violence than usual locally, and a prominent conservative figure was shot and killed while speaking at a university.  While I didn’t agree with much of Kirk’s rhetoric, there is absolutely no reason why anyone should be gunned down for voicing their opinions.  It is truly appalling, the things happening in this country, and the violence needs to stop.  I’m especially tired of hearing about innocent children being shot / killed in the one place that should be the safest place for them to be.  Our country is failing our children daily.  They shouldn’t have to live in a world like this, and I do not understand how many times this will have to happen before our administration will finally take the steps to make a change.

 

Thursday, September 11

Thursday morning was Grandparent’s Day, round 2… this time for the littles.  I dropped the kids and then drove around to the church to start getting things ready.  Thankfully, the balloon towers had held up, so we just had to pull the step and repeat back out and then move the balloon towers back out, and then we had to put all of the tablecloths back on the tables.  Our chef and their whole team were already in there putting out the pastries and setting up the coffee and juice when I arrived, and we had a few volunteers to help out again.

We greeted grandparents, got them seated with their grandchildren, and then we hung out in our visitation hall until Mass was over.  The schedule was the same on Thursday as it was for Tuesday’s group, and once everyone was done visiting, we got everything cleaned up.  I made it out of there by 11:30 Thursday with a whole trunk load full of tablecloths to wash over the weekend.

When I got home, I ate lunch, I caught up on blog reading, and I watched a couple of 9/11 tributes before it was time to pick up the kids.  September 11 will always be a day of reflection for me.  That day back in 2001 was one of the most impressionable days of my entire life as it was the first time that I really understood the level of evil that exists in the world, and I haven’t been the same since then.  I don’t think any of us have.

I read my book in the car line, and then the kids and I headed to music lessons.  I sat in with Jacob on Thursday, and he worked on a few more songs in his book + a song from the Minecraft video game that he loves so much. 

When we got home, I hung out with the kids for a bit, I did my Bible study, and then I sat and finished my book – The Teacher by Freida McFadden.  I’m telling y’all, if you’ve never picked up one of her books, you should.  I’m on my third by her and I can’t put any of them down because they are so good.  They are all so twisty, and I have yet to guess an ending correctly because there’s always a second twist you don’t see coming!

After I finished my book, Brian and I made breakfast for dinner, and then I headed out for my walk.  While I walked, I talked to my friend, Jen.  We talked about all of the things that had transpired in our country that week, and it was nice to be able to get out some big feelings with someone who I love and trust.  She is my oldest friend who is still in my life (we’ve been friends for 34 years – since fourth grade when we were just 9 years old) and I’m so grateful for her friendship.

When I got home, I got showered, we watched some more of America’s Got Talent, and then Brian and I made Manhattans while we finished the episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty that we’d started the night before + one episode of The Leftovers.

 

Friday, September 12

Friday, I was just so happy because it was Friday, because I had nowhere to be, because I had an evening at home with Brian and the kids to look forward to, and because we had two days stretching in front of us that was reserved just for relaxing, church, family time, and football!

I dropped the kids at school, and then headed home to check a bunch of stuff off the list:

 

-       Downloaded Ed Sheeran’s new album (that is fantastic, by the way)

-       Washed and dried 25 of the 32 tablecloths from Grandparent’s Day

-       Caught up on emails

-       Joined our church on the Hallow app (I was already on the app, but I was excited to see that our church now has its own community there, too)

-       Called the dermatologist because Jacob’s dermatitis had flared up terribly again just a couple of days after he had to stop using his meds, and they gave us a new treatment plan to try to get it under control

-       Caught up my planner

-       Composed Monday’s blog post from start to finish

-       Synced all of my new music

 

And all the while I chatted with Emily all morning.  Although that’s pretty much an everyday thing!  Haha.

In the car line, I posted some blog stuff to Instagram and read my book – The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden, and then the kids and I headed home. 

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out at home – I did my Bible study, the kids relaxed and played video games, I folded and hung all of the tablecloths I’d washed so far, I started my blog post for Tuesday, and I cleaned off my desk.

Brian picked up Five Guys for dinner and we mixed up some Moscow Mules.  I finally got to use my new bat cocktail glasses, and I just love them so much!  :o)

The kids got showered after dinner, and then I helped Olivia decorate for fall some more in her room.  She’d made a handmade pumpkin banner, and she needed help hanging it.  I read my book for a bit while the kids finished getting ready, and then we all sat down to watch KPop Demon Hunters.  Olivia had already seen it four times by that point, and she’d been begging us to watch.  I have to say, it was better than I expected, but I wouldn’t say I loved it.  It was pretty good, though, and the soundtrack is awesome.  We do love the music from it!

Jacob wasn’t loving the movie, so he retreated to his room for a bit, and then he came back down to watch a little bit of America’s Got Talent before bed.  After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched some of The Leftovers and then we went to bed, too.  It was such a relaxing evening at home.

 

Saturday, September 13

Saturday morning, Brian headed out to get donuts, and I ended up sleeping in until 9 AM.  Yikes.  I was exhausted after the crazy week, so I guess I needed the sleep.

We all had donuts for breakfast and then we sat and rotted on the couch for three hours watching ESPN College GameDay.  We literally had college football on from 9 AM until midnight (aside for a few minutes in the evening when we caught up on some TV with the kids) on Saturday and it was glorious.  Haha.  We did actually get some stuff done, though…

 

-       Washed the last 7 tablecloths

-       Washed all towels

-       Kids got their laundry done

-       Kids got their bathroom deep cleaned

-       Caught up on my planner

-       Corrected some blog typos B had sent me earlier in the week

-       Caught up on blog reading

-       Folded and hung the last of the tablecloths

-       Placed an Amazon order

-       Sorted dirty clothes

-       Washed a load of clothes

-       Got my Bible study done

-       Folded and put away all towels

-       Got planner ready for the week ahead

 

Brian had a tennis match at 3, and the Georgia vs. Tennessee game started at 3:30, so I ended up starting it without him because I always feel like it’s bad luck to start it late and get caught up.  Thankfully, kickoff wasn’t actually until 3:50-ish and Brian was home by 4:30, so it didn’t take him long to get caught up.  I continued watching upstairs until he was caught up and then I joined him downstairs. 

The game was WILD from the get-go, and Tennessee gave us a run for our money.  At the end of regulation, the game was tied, and all Tennessee had to do was kick a field goal, so we thought the game was over and we’d lose, but their kicker ended up shanking the ball and he missed (I felt so bad for him, though, because those kickers get beaten up on social media), so we went in to overtime.

Tennessee got the ball first in overtime and we held them to a field goal, so all we needed was a touchdown to win, and we got it!!  After trailing for nearly the ENTIRE game, we were shocked that we’d actually won, and our whole family was jumping up and down and screaming.  Olivia captured it on video, and I posted a snippet of it on Instagram Saturday night because it was so funny. 

Needless to say, we were elated after that win, and it was just the best game.  I LOVE a good nail-biter of a game, and it’s extra special when we win, of course!  (And of course, we're forever stalking my cousin, Wil, on TV.  Jacob took a picture of him and texted it to him.  Hahahaha.)

During the game, we’d had pizza delivered, so we’d already eaten dinner by the time the game was over.  And Olivia had baked brownies (with a little assistance from me) during halftime, so the kids had yummy treats for after dinner.

After the game, we caught up on America’s Got Talent with the kids, which didn’t take much time since we were almost done anyway, and then we watched YouTube videos of a few rides at Universal Studios to see which ones were our must-dos. 

The rest of the evening was spent flipping through the various college football games, and Brian also made margs… he’s been trying to perfect our recipe, and we just can’t seem to get ours to taste as good as the ones at the beach.

Brian and I ended up going to bed around midnight, and that was our lazy / somewhat productive day at home!

 

Sunday, September 14

Sunday morning, we slept in, had leftover donuts, and I listened to my usual sermon while I did yoga.  Brian worked outside in the yard for a bit, and the kids worked on some how to draw videos that they love to do.

I also caught up on a few emails and I transferred the photos from my phone to my computer for the week.

After that, it was time to get ready for Sunday lunch with my in-laws.  They made cashew chicken and rice + some sides, and we hung out over there until about three.  We had about an hour at home to prep for Monday, and I got the photos organized that I’d pulled off of my phone earlier in the day.

We went to 5 PM Mass, and then Mama Cass rode to Momma and Daddy’s with us for Sunday dinner afterward.  That 5 PM Sunday evening Mass is so nice, y’all… we are loving having that new time available to us during football season!

For dinner, my Momma made her famous cheesy chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and bread, and we enjoyed our dinner with a full table. 

Brian and I ended the weekend with more football after the kids went to bed – he watched the Falcons and I read my book because I can’t put this new one down either – and then I fell asleep on the couch before moving upstairs to go to bed early to start the week out on a good note!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!