What a week and what a weekend! I’m starting the new week on the struggle bus after our busy weekend + lack of sleep, but I wouldn’t change a thing!! Well, except for maybe getting a Georgia win. That would have been nice. ;o)
Monday, September 22
Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I went to Walmart to grab groceries. I have been boycotting them since Jacob’s birthday cake debacle back in July, and as much as I’d love to keep shopping at Publix permanently, I’m sure Walmart’s prices are more affordable, so sadly, the boycott ended last week.
When I got home, Brian helped me unload everything and I got it all put away. I immediately had to leave for my annual skin check at the dermatologist once the groceries were put away, so I headed that direction next. Everything went well, and it was an easy checkup. I spent my whole life in the sun every summer and I did go to tanning beds in high school and college (not much, but still), so I am always relieved to get a good report each year. If you haven’t had your skin checkup, let this be your reminder. ;o)
When Jacob got in the car, he told me he didn’t have his phone because it wasn’t in his designated pocket in the phone locker at the end of the day. They are not allowed to have phones at school, so they have to put them in these little safes at the beginning of the day and then the safes are delivered to each last period class so they can grab them on the way out. I am fully supportive of the “no phones during school hours” policy… I think it’s great and I’m so glad that they started doing that this year!
I was concerned that his was missing, though, of course, so I called Brian to get him to look at Life 360 to see where his phone was. (I was driving so I couldn’t do it myself.) The phone was, indeed, on campus and it wasn’t moving, so we knew that it was somewhere. We drove to the school office and it turned out that the cart that holds all of the safes had been turned around backwards for the first time, so Jacob (on autopilot) stuck his phone in the slot in the safe he always puts his in, but it happened to be the wrong 7th period class because the cart with all of the safes was backwards. They are clearly marked with the teacher’s last name, so if he had paid attention to that, it wouldn’t have gotten in the wrong pocket to begin with, but as a creature of habit, he just expected the cart to be sitting in the same direction as always.
Apparently, this happened to several other kids, too, so he wasn’t the only one. Haha. The principal was super apologetic that the cart holding the safes was turned in a different direction, but I told her that it was a good lesson for Jacob so he’ll remember to doublecheck not only the “spot” but that his teacher’s name is on the safe, too. His phone was, indeed, in the teacher’s safe who was on the opposite side of the cart as Jacob’s teacher’s, so we were out of there in no time with his phone in hand.
After that, we headed home and then I got my quiet time done before making fettuccine alfredo with chicken and broccoli + garlic cheese bread for dinner. While I was doing my quiet time, Olivia came in to show me her homework... they had to find a real life example of a ratio, so of course, she chose Taylor Swift!
Tuesday, I dropped the kids at school and then I spent the morning catching up on emails, paying a bill, and getting Ed Sheeran concert tickets. Brian and I had signed up for the fan presale, and we were able to get right in. We ended up getting some great ones for the Atlanta show, and then Brian later got us some even better seats for the Nashville show. We were hoping to go to the Nashville show to make a little trip out of it, so I think that’s the one we’ll end up going to, and we’ll sell the Atlanta tickets. Unfortunately, the ATL tickets went on sale first, so we got those just in case we had bad luck trying to get them for Nash, but thankfully, there wasn’t a problem. I still have PTSD from the TS Eras Tour ticket fiasco, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. I always have major anxiety trying to get concert tickets now. Haha.
At 10 AM, I had bloodwork for my upcoming well checkup with my general practitioner, so I arrived at the doctor's office just before 10. That way, I could get checked in and hopefully get into the app to try to get Ed Sheeran tickets for Nash as that’s what time they went on sale.
When I arrived at the office, the lady told me that they no longer had a lab onsite and that I needed to visit a third-party location to get my blood drawn. I was so confused because they had set this appointment on this specific date and time at the doctor’s office, and they had been sending me text and email reminders about it for weeks. Not sure why they would do that knowing that they didn’t have a lab onsite, but it was annoying because I had gone way out of my way to get there only to have to turn around and go right back where I came from as the third-party place was right near my house. Sigh.
That also meant that I couldn’t get Ed Sheeran tickets for Nashville, but thankfully, Brian was on top of it, so he got them while I was driving.
Thankfully, the third-party place had a location inside Walgreens that wasn’t busy at all, and I was in and out in under five minutes, no appointment needed.
I headed home to eat after that because I was starving – I truly do not know how anyone can skip breakfast or fast. If I miss a meal, I get dizzy, lightheaded, and I feel like I’m going to pass out. Oh, and did I mention that I get hangry, too? Haha.
I felt so much better after I ate, and then I got to work. I worked on my blog post for Wednesday, and I also popped in to look at Ed Sheeran tickets as the Atlanta show was still releasing new seats little by little throughout the day. I swear, these ticket companies change their strategy so often I never know what to expect.
When the kids and I got home, I did my quiet time and then I finished The Housemaid. I’d gotten right near the end in the car line, and I was so sad when the line started moving because I couldn’t wait to finish it to see what happened, so of course, I had to finish it when I got home!
Brian got home around 4 and he and Jacob headed to play golf. I got Olivia off to dance, and then I finished my blog post for Wednesday when I got back home. Since Tuesday is our late dinner night as Olivia doesn’t get out of dance until 7:15, I have to get my workouts in before dinner, so I went for my walk after that.
As I was nearing wrapping up my walk (but was still a couple of streets over from home), my friend, Shaun, who is also my go-to DJ, called me to schedule a couple of dates for school dances. Since I wasn’t home, I didn’t have my calendar, so he and I chatted while I walked home and then for a little bit after I got home. I got him scheduled for our two dances in early 2026, so I can cross that off the to-do list! He books pretty far in advance since he does weddings and other events, so I wanted to get that booked to ensure we weren’t scrambling at the last minute.
When Brian and Olivia got home from dance, we all sat down to eat, and we had leftover guac that Brian had made from Sunday to go along with it. He makes the best guac, and it’s always a treat. One of these days, I must post the recipe here on the blog!
After dinner, Olivia Facetimed with her friend, Maren, for a bit and then she got showered and ready for bed. I got all the plants watered and then we got the kids in the bed. Brian and I watched an episode of The Leftovers and then we hit the hay.
Wednesday, September 24
Wednesday, I had nowhere to be, so I got home and settled in to knock stuff out…
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Did my blog post for Friday from start to finish
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Caught up on emails
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Ordered Jacob some new school/church pants
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Caught up on blog reading
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Worked on end of the year blog post and caught up on
a month of posts
Once all that was done, it was car line time. When the kids and I got home, I did my quiet
time and then the three of us Facetimed my mom for her birthday.
Olivia had dance, and she was especially excited to get there because she had her pre-pointe evaluation (to see if her ankles/legs/feet/toes are strong enough to move to pointe next year), so she wanted to get there early. I dropped her off and then dropped the sunroof and sang at the top of my lungs all the way home because it was gorgeous outside.
When I got home, I popped a pizza in the oven for Brian, Jacob, and me, and I tossed a salad with goat cheese and dressing to accompany it. While the pizza was baking, I replaced all the batteries in our candles on the mantle (something I’d been needing to do forever) and then we ate dinner when the pizza was done.
After dinner, Jacob walked with me for about 1.5 miles, and then I went for another two miles by myself. When I got home, I showered and then I spent some time in my office while Brian headed out to pick up Olivia from dance and Jacob showered.
Once she was showered and ready for bed, we got both kids into bed and then B and I watched another episode of The Leftovers.
Thursday, September 25
Thursday, I got the kids to school, and on the way the song Mrs. Jackson by Outkast came on. I was singing along, and the kids were chilling as they always are, and then all of a sudden Olivia said, “What is this song? It is such a vibe.” Hahahaha. I was like, yes, yes it is! And then I realized that while I’ve played Outkast for them, they must have not heard that one. I love that she loved it, though. My kids do love some 90s music! Raising them right!
When I got home from dropping them at school, I had a free day to get stuff done – no appointments and nowhere to be – so this was the list I tackled:
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Caught up on responding to blog comments
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Caught up on emails (this is pretty much an everyday
task)
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Worked on a few blog housekeeping things
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Shopped for The Life of a Showgirl movie
premiere shirts with no luck
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Unpacked a couple of packages
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Updated my Christmas gifts spreadsheet (because,
yes, I have started shopping!)
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Got an Amazon return ready
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Cleaned out my list of books I want to read on
Amazon since so many have been read and there were some that I am no longer
interested in
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Ordered my contacts for my left eye… finally. I’d been testing out some trials and I
finally settled on the ones that I wanted for my left eye. Still working on the right eye, though.
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Caught up on blog reading
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Photographed front porch for fall home tour… was
going to photograph the whole house, but torrential rain decided to roll in and
it was pitch black in the house for the rest of the day
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Started my blog post for Tuesday (this one that
you’re reading now)
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Researched Christmas concerts because I’m dying to
take the kids to one… unfortunately, there is nothing that works well with our
schedule this year
In the car line, I started yet another Freida McFadden book – The
Tenant – and it’s really good so far!
Because of course it is. Haha.
While I was sitting in the car line, I could see a horrible storm brewing north of us, and we ended up having to drive straight into it to get to music lessons. We haven’t had a drop of rain in weeks – probably over a month! – so it was desperately needed, but it was very unfortunate timing for us since we had a long drive on the highway, and it was POURING. When I say pouring, I mean I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of my car and everyone was driving about 35 mph in a 65 zone.
Jacob’s first piano teacher who we used to see on the road often actually ended up being in front of us the whole way (at least I’m pretty sure it was him… it was hard to tell in the rain, and I wouldn’t have known it was him, but he waved). We never see him anymore, so the kids were excited.
When we got off on our exit to get on another highway, we hydroplaned slightly because so much rain had fallen so fast, and it scared the daylights out of Olivia (and me). We thankfully stayed in our own lane, and it only lasted a couple of seconds, but apparently, Olivia could feel that floating sensation because she told me her stomach dropped and she asked what the heck was going on.
We made it to music lessons unscathed, thank goodness, but it was not a fun drive. It was my day to sit with Jacob, so I went in his lesson while Olivia did guitar with Mr. Steve, and both kids were excited because the old receptionist, Jack, popped in to say hi. He was one of their favorites and they were so sad when he took another job. They love when he comes back to visit.
Towards the end of the lesson, Steve put his face in Mr. Jarrett’s window to get my attention, so I stepped out, and he was like, “I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of our girl.” He then told me that she had played the whole Interstellar theme from start to finish in four minutes (which is one minute longer than the actual song), so she told him she could do better, and she ended up playing it perfectly in the exact amount of time that it takes to play the actual song. He said she played it perfectly and beautifully and he was so proud of how well she had worked this past week at home to learn to play the strings gently rather than plucking them so hard. He was just gushing about it, and I hate that I missed it! That’s the only bad thing about the kids having their lessons at the same time – I can’t be in both at the same time each week, so I have to take turns.
We drove home in torrential rain after music lessons and the road that’s being widened was washed out in areas, so the drive was a little nerve wracking yet again. I was relieved to be home for the evening.
When we got home, I spent some time with the kids and then I got my Bible study done. Olivia FaceTimed with her friend, Maren, to study, and then we had breakfast for dinner.
After dinner, I wanted so badly to walk, but the weather wasn’t cooperating, and it continued to rain all evening long. We needed it desperately, though, so I couldn’t complain!
Instead, I switched to my fall and winter bag – I have two Barrington Bags that I swap out (a pink and white plaid one for spring and summer and a black and white gingham bag for fall and winter) – and then I cleaned out the drawers in our primary bathroom. I got all of the compartments wiped down and cleaned up and it looks so great now!
Friday, September 26
Friday morning, the kids wore green in honor of a student who passed away from their school. He was a year ahead of Olivia and sadly, he passed away unexpectedly last week. It just breaks my heart, but I love that all of the kids at school honored his memory. Please keep his family in your prayers.
Just as I was getting ready to leave for the car line, I saw that Taylor had put up another countdown that ended at 4 PM and it was her “grand finale,” so I knew it was going to be signed merch. I’ve always wanted signed merch but have never bothered to try to get anything from her, so I thought I’d try this time. I also wanted to get something for Olivia for Christmas.
When we got on, both of us kept getting errors when trying to add anything to our carts, but after about three minutes, the errors stopped, and I was able to get hand-signed CD #2 (there were four different ones) on one device and hand-signed CD #4 on another device (I was using my phone and my computer). There was a queue to check out and my wait times were 9 minutes and 12 minutes. Brian was able to get hand-signed CD #3, but his wait to check out was 32 minutes so I told him to stay in there just in case mine didn’t go through. There are lots of stories of people getting them in their carts and then the merch selling out before their time in queue comes available to check out, so I didn’t want to exit any queues until we were certain our orders went through.
Sure enough, I was able to check out and get both of mine (one for me and one for Olivia for Christmas) and then I just went ahead and told Brian to get his, too, because there have also been stories of peoples’ orders going through, but then getting canceled on the backend if there’s not enough merch. There’s such a high demand and the website always gets so bogged down that I’m sure it’s hard for the system to keep up.
Brian and Jacob left to get haircuts and Brian was able to check out as soon as he got in the haircut chair, so I’m assuming we’ll be getting three as long as none of the orders get canceled. If we do end up with three, we’ll probably end up selling ours to a Swiftie who didn’t get one because there were loads of people in my TS group who didn’t get one.
Funnily enough, my friend, Emily, was also on standby and working to get one for me just in case I couldn’t get in there, and she was able to get hand-signed CD #1. She told me that her wait time was longer than mine, so I told her to stay in until my order was complete, and once it was complete, I told her she could cancel hers.
Well, she ended up getting it anyway because she wanted a copy of the CD, but she said that she’s going to send me the signed insert because she doesn’t want it. So now I have all four of the signed photos coming my way! Haha. *Hopefully, anyway*
Once all the TS loot was secured (WHEW!) I did my quiet time and Brian headed out to pick up barbecue from our favorite local place. While he was gone, Olivia baked brownies for our tailgate on Saturday, and then we all ate dinner when he got home.
After dinner, I went for a rare Friday evening walk. I usually rest on Fridays, but since we had nowhere to be and since I hadn’t been able to walk on Thursday, I decided to head out. My walk ended with a gorgeous sunset, and of course, I had to stop and take a picture.
After I finished packing, we finally finished America’s Got Talent and then after the kids went to bed Brian and I watched some college football followed by a little bit of The Leftovers.
Saturday, September 27
Saturday morning, we were up a little earlier than usual, we got showered, finished packing, had a quick breakfast, and then we were on the road by 9:15 to go to Athens for the Georgia vs. Alabama college football game.
Olivia’s best friend’s dad and his son stopped by our tailgate for a bit, so we hung out with them for a while. We had a couple of brief rain showers blow through unexpectedly (the chance of rain was supposed to have ended at 10 AM), but thankfully we were under a tent, so we were able to stay dry. The sun was out for the rest of the day, and the weather ended up being amazing. It wasn’t too hot, and it wasn’t too cold. So rare for football in the south. Most of the time it’s still pretty hot in September, so we got lucky.
Since we were in the stadium earlier than usual, we headed to our seats for a bit to check out the new seatbacks. We get season tickets, and we pay extra to have the built-in seatbacks, and they finally replaced the old ones this year. The new ones are much better because they don’t hold water when it rains.
The game was a nailbiter and it came down to the very end only for us to lose. Those of us who have been longtime Georgia fans are used to losing to Bama, though, so I’m sure most of us had prepared our hearts for it. I know I did. That said, the whole experience was still 10/10 despite the loss. It was truly the most fun (and exhausting) night. There is NOTHING like Sanford stadium during a night game with a big opponent. It was electric in that stadium all night long.
We were all exhausted, so we immediately washed faces, brushed teeth, and passed out.
Sunday, September 28
Sunday morning, we slept in until 9:15, rolled out of bed, put on real clothes (kind of), and went straight downstairs to get breakfast before it was over at 10. They always have a great breakfast there with tons of things to choose from including waffle irons with Belgium waffles, so we all got waffles and scrambled eggs. I grabbed some coffee to help with my awful neck and headache that I had from sleeping in a bed that was not mine. For some reason, I didn’t sleep well AT ALL, so I was on the struggle bus for sure.
I typically shower and get ready in the hotel before we go home, but I realized that it would take even longer to get all my stuff out and then have to pack it all back up, so we ended up skipping all that, and just packing up and heading home unshowered. I was still in my PJ top and sweatshirt when we arrived home. Haha. We had a gorgeous view from our hotel window, though!
After showers, we all had a light lunch, and then it was time to get busy. The kids showered, unpacked, did their laundry, deep cleaned their bathroom, tidied the house, and got ready for Monday, and I got a bunch of stuff done, too:
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Unpacked
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Sorted all dirty clothes
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Did three loads of laundry
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Tidied the whole house
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Watered the indoor plants
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Watered the outdoor plants
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Got everything ready for Monday
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Caught up on emails
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Got my planner ready for October
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Got my planner ready for the week ahead
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Made my to-do list for Monday
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Transferred all photos and videos from my phone to
my computer
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Sorted and organized all photos and videos
And by the time all that was done, it was time to go to Momma and Daddy’s
to celebrate my littlest brother’s birthday.
He’d requested chicken, potatoes, green beans, and mac n cheese, so it
was some gooood eating.
We all sang to him and gave him his gifts after dinner, and then we had chocolate chip bundt cake for dessert per his request. Per usual, I was stuffed when we left.
And now for some current things…
Currently
Reading
In September, I read seven books. WHO EVEN AM I? I think this is my all-time record for books in a single month in my entire adult life. So, what did I read? A whole lot of Freida McFadden for starters. Haha. I read Never Lie (5 stars), The Teacher (5 stars), The Boyfriend (5 stars), The Crash (4 stars), The Housemaid (5 stars), and I’m wrapping up The Tenant now, so I can’t quite rate it just yet. In addition to all of those Freida McFadden books, I also finished The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung American’s Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon and it was fabulous. I don’t like reading about history very much, so it took me some time to finish it, but it was just wonderful. And Sharon is a gem if you don’t already follow her on Instagram.
I’m also still reading my devotional for 2025 – Everyday Gospel by Paul David Tripp. And I’m reading my Bible along with The Bible in a Year with Father Mike Schmitz.
Currently
Watching
With B: In September, Brian and I finished The Summer I Turned Pretty and we’ve started and are making our way through The Leftovers. It’s three seasons so it’s taking a while to get through, especially since we’ve been watching college football on the weekends. We are also still in the middle of The Chosen and we need to pick that back up sometime.
With the Kids: In September, we finished part 2 of Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter), and we also finished America’s Got Talent. We’ve also been watching Universal Studios rides on YouTube to prepare for our upcoming trip.
Alone: I watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days every Sunday afternoon for a while during my Sunday afternoon office work, but I recently switched back to The Wedding Planner. I never, ever get tired of it.
Currently
Listening To
We’ve been listening to the It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown vinyl on repeat + we broke out our Halloween playlist. I’ve also been listening to Ed Sheeran’s new album on repeat – SO GOOD. And of course, always DMB and Taylor Swift. Oh, and I’ve been listening to my 90s R&B from my collection because for some reason, it always reminds me of fall – probably because I listened to so much 90s R&B that first fall that I started working at the movie theater in 1998!
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
I love the rainbow over the stadium!
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