Last week was a
GREAT one, and I’m recapping it all here today!
Monday, September 1
Monday, we were off for Labor Day, so we slept in and then we had some
leftover pumpkin donuts for breakfast.
Since Jacob was still on his retreat, Olivia and I snuggled on the couch
after breakfast and finished watching the New Heights podcast episode with
Taylor Swift. I had already seen it
three times at that point, so that was my fourth time around. Haha.
When that was over, I worked for just a few minutes in my office, and I
did my Bible study before getting showered and ready for the day. The three of us had lunch together and then
Olivia and I set out to shop a little.
She needed a few things, so we went to Target as that’s her preferred
place to shop for clothes and accessories, and I had a few necessities to pick
up as well. We also, of course, had to
browse all of the fall and Halloween things.
While we were browsing, Olivia spotted the It’s the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown vinyl and it was special edition – the record is shaped like
a pumpkin and it’s clear!!
We have watched that movie every single Halloween night since Jacob was
born, and we listen to one of the songs in our Halloween shuffle, but I have
never owned the entire soundtrack.
Olivia said, “Mommy, you have to get that! It’s shaped like a pumpkin!”
And I was like, “You don’t have to twist my arm!” Hahahaha.
Such a bad influence, she is. ;o)
And while I was there, I also grabbed one of the deluxe TS vinyls that I
don’t have that are exclusive to Target.
I have no idea how long they’ll carry them, so I’m trying to collect
them before they’re gone forever.
(Assuming they will eventually be gone.)
After spending over an hour walking the aisles, we finally got checked
out, and then Olivia asked if we could stop by Starbucks for a cake pop. I don’t drink a lot of coffee – only a few
times a year, mostly in the fall and winter – and I NEVER drink coffee in the
afternoon, so I wasn’t going to get anything until I realized it would be the
perfect opportunity to try a pumpkin cream cold brew. I have had it on my fall bucket list for
years, and I have never gotten one, so it was way past due! And I loved it! I’m not a cold coffee drinker at all, but I
really do love that one.
We headed home after that and got our purchases put away, and after that,
it was lazy time. Olivia watched some
crafting videos, and I did some work in my office – all while stalking Jacob’s
location as they were on their way home.
I also washed a quick load because Olivia wanted to wear her new fall
sweater vest. How cute does she look, y’all?
We got to the church to pick Jacob up a little after 6 PM and they
arrived a few minutes later. I have
never been so excited to see three school buses pull into a parking lot!! I was giddy and couldn’t wait to hug him!
We had to wait for the luggage to be unloaded, and once we had all of his
things, we headed to dinner. Since it
was so late, I couldn’t cook, so we swung by one of our local Mexican
restaurants to grab a quick dinner and some margs.
Jacob talked nonstop about his trip, and he filled us in on all of the
fun things they’d done – small groups, competitions, human pyramids (he had to
be on the top – ha!), bonfire time, worship music, Bible studies, activities to
strengthen trust, talks about life struggles, games, a glow dance party, and
free time where they could swim in the lake or pool or play foosball, table
tennis, etc. We got to see some of the
pictures from his trip, and it looked like the best time! He had THE best time, and he was so grateful
that he decided to go. He was also
exhausted from getting very little sleep the whole time.
When we got home, he got unpacked and showered, Olivia got showered, and
I headed out for a sunset walk while they did all of that. The sunset never disappoints.
When I got home, we sorted the laundry, and the kids were in bed by
nine. Brian and I watched some more
college football and then we went to bed early to start the work and school
week on a good note. I was so happy to
have all four of us back under the same roof.
Tuesday, September 2
Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I went home to get
some stuff done. My whole day basically
consisted of finishing my blog post for Wednesday (because these weekly posts
are doozies) and doing laundry… I got four loads washed, dried, and laid
out. Oh, and I downloaded a few new
songs.
When we got home from school, I got my Bible study done while Olivia did
her homework. Brian was going to take
Jacob to play golf, but Jacob texted him to tell him that he was too exhausted
and wanted to skip this week. He had a
full long weekend with barely any sleep, so I think he was just counting down
the minutes until bedtime.
He washed his sheets and then I let him be lazy and play video games for
the rest of the afternoon since he needed to rest.
I dropped Olivia at dance, and then I walked when I got home. I showered when I got home, and then it was
time to cook dinner.
I put some cinnamon and pumpkin spice oil in the diffuser and played my
new It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown record while I cooked and it
was the most festive little evening. We
had barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and blueberry muffins
for dinner when Brian and Olivia got home from dance, and then Olivia got
showered and ready for bed.
After that, we had just enough time to start our new fall puzzle and
watch a little bit of America’s Got Talent (that we’re so behind on).
After the kids went to bed, Brian watched some of the US Open and then we
went to bed early again.
Wednesday, September 3
Wednesday was a busy day for me as I checked lots of items off of my
to-do list:
-
Washed, dried, and laid out the last load of laundry
-
Did my entire blog post for Friday from start to
finish
-
Paid a bill
-
Watered the indoor plants
-
Put away some of the laundry
-
Caught up on blog reading (I was days behind again)
-
Got some Amazon returns ready
-
Went to Staples to drop said returns
-
Went to Kohl’s to look for socks, but they didn’t
have what I was looking for
-
Went to Dick’s to purchase socks that Kohl’s didn’t
have
-
Went to library to pick up my hold
-
Went to the eye doctor to pick up my trial contacts
-
Went to my friend, Khristina’s, bookshop to pick up
a book Jacob needs for school
Whew! While I was there, I got to
see Khristina’s mom who is one of my faaaavorite people – hi, Trish! And I got to chat with the two of them for a
bit before heading to the school to check Jacob out early for an appointment.
After weeks, his dermatologist appointment had finally arrived, and we
were so grateful. He’s been having a
rash, dry skin, and swelling around one of his eyes since mid-July and it took
us this long to get in with the dermatologist.
The meds his pediatrician’s office put him on didn’t do a thing for it,
and even the meds that his eye doctor put him on didn’t fully work. They definitely helped, but it just wouldn’t
go away.
The dermatologist was awesome – she said that it’s most likely dermatitis
(just an inflammatory skin condition that can pop up for tons of reasons) and
she said that it’s really hard to get rid of.
She gave us a prescription for a new ointment, and we have a care plan
for the next month. If this doesn’t
work, she said that it could be eczema (although that’s not likely), so we’ll
go back to see her in a month if it’s not gone.
This poor kid has yearbook pictures in a couple of weeks, so I’m hoping
that this finally gets rid of the problem.
He’s been such a trooper and hasn’t been that bothered by it, but I know
if it were me, I would be so mad to have a red ring around my eye. Haha.
While we were there, the dermatologist asked him what grade he was in,
and when he said 9th, she asked him if he was taking biology. He told her he was, and she told us that she
used to teach 9th grade biology. She
asked him a few questions that went totally over my head (as I don’t remember
much from biology – haha) and he was able to answer every single one of
them. She was super impressed and I was,
too, because I didn’t realize he had already learned all that just four weeks
into the school year.
We were in and out of there in, like, 20 minutes, so we ended up getting
home at the same time we get home from school every day. Brian had picked up Olivia and they had just
walked in the door when we got home.
Brian helped Olivia study for her math test on Friday for a bit, and I
cleaned up the kitchen and did my Bible study before dropping Olivia off at
dance.
When I got home, I made sausage, peppers, and onions tacos for dinner,
and then Brian, Jacob, and I ate together.
After dinner, I downloaded some new music for Jacob per his request and
then I got out for my walk. I got to
talk to my buddy, Joe, who lives around the corner. He just found out he has prostate cancer, but
he’s feeling at peace with his doctor and his treatment plan, and I was happy
to hear that he’s doing well.
When I got home, I got showered, and then I put the rest of the laundry
away while Jacob showered. Brian had
already left to grab Jacob’s prescription, and to pick up Olivia from dance.
Once Jacob was all ready for bed, he and I pulled out our new
fall/Halloween puzzle and worked on that for a while. We finished the whole edge, and then we
started working on the middle.
When Brian and Olivia got home from dance, I meditated and lay on my neck
pillow while she showered, and then we got the kids in bed. Olivia is always exhausted on Wednesday
evenings after dance, and she had done such a serious workout that night that
her legs were shaking. She was like, “Mommy,
check this out!!” Haha.
By the time Brian and I sat down to watch The Summer I Turned Pretty,
I felt relaxed and caught up. My to-do
list for the day was completed, and I never felt like I was flying by the seat
of my pants. I had time for fun and
relaxation that day, and it was a good feeling.
Most days, I feel like when I allow myself the time to have fun or
relax, I sacrifice productivity, but that was not one of those days, and I was
grateful.
I’ve been trying to make more manageable to-do lists for each day to
allow for margin in my day, and it’s been so nice. I also stopped sharing them on Instagram
because I felt more pressure to pack them and more pressure to complete them (a
good thing because it held me accountable, but a bad thing because it stressed
me out some days trying to get everything done), so if you’re wondering where
they went, that’s the reason behind it.
I enjoyed posting them for a while, but towards the end, they were no
longer serving me, so I’m now keeping them private. You better believe that I still have a daily
to-do list every day, though. Haha.
Thursday, September 4
Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and I had a scare on the
way back home, when I almost hit a deer.
There are deer everywhere here in Georgia, and we see them all the
time. We had a whole family behind my
parents’ house for years, and our neighbors would put out salt blocks for
them. I know many people who have hit
deer as they tend to run out in front of moving vehicles often, but I have been
so fortunate not to have any close calls.
Thursday morning, I was almost home when a doe came bolting from the
trees right out in front of me. I was
going 45-50 mph (the speed limit), and I slammed on the brakes so hard that my
tires screeched. It was one of those
moments when everything happened so quickly, yet it also felt like slow motion,
and I thought for sure my right front end was going to hit it, but thank God,
it made it across unharmed. I also had
another car behind me, and thankfully, they were able to react quickly enough
to slam on their brakes after I did so as to not hit me. It could have been a very bad situation and
I’m so grateful it wasn’t. I was quite
shaken up after that, though.
Just last week on the same road, a vehicle in front of us almost hit a
doe, and then a baby deer came running out after it’s momma and it almost
crashed into the side of the same vehicle, but it kind of bounced off the side and
ran away. The kids and I saw the whole
thing because we saw them standing on the side of the road as we (and the
vehicle in front of us) were approaching, and we were horrified when we saw the
momma and the baby deer run out.
Thankfully, the doe made it across unharmed and the baby – even though,
I’m pretty certain it touched the vehicle (at the very least) – hopped off,
too, so I think they’re both okay. Guess
I’m gonna start going 25 mph down that road from now on. Haha.
When I got home, I spent the morning prepping for Grandparent’s Day at
the kids’ school to make sure I had all of my ducks in a row. I’m chairing the event, so I had to send a
couple of emails, and I needed to schedule a time to pick up all of the items
from the school to prep.
My Yahoo mail account has been warning me that my storage is almost full
(yes, I still have and use my OG Yahoo email account as my primary email… it’s
probably 25 years old), so I spent some time cleaning it out on Thursday,
too. I thought it was crazy that it was
almost full until I realized the issue – I email myself lots of pictures for
the blog, and even though I delete the emails after I save the pictures, apparently,
they stay in your sent folder foreverrrr, so my sent folder was
RIDICULOUS. It was taking up half of the
storage, so I took some time to delete a couple of years of those emails.
After that was done, I placed an order for a few items that we need, then
I did my entire blog post for Monday from start to finish. I was trying to get ahead because this week
(as you’re reading) is super busy and I knew I wouldn’t have time to do much.
I did a little bit of blog reading while I ate lunch, and then I started
my blog post for Tuesday. I wrapped up
the afternoon with an at-home pedicure, I worked on my blog post for Tuesday
some more, and then I synced the new music I had downloaded a few days prior.
I had to get gas on the way to pick up the kids from school, and y’all, I
will be DANGED if I did not have another issue on the way to the school. I was almost to the school at a massive
intersection when a man walked right out into traffic. He stepped out right in front of the car in
front of me. The car had to swerve to
not hit him (almost hitting the car in the lane next to them), and the man
jumped backwards when he realized he was in the middle of traffic. When he jumped backwards, he almost jumped in
front of my vehicle, so I had to slam on the brakes again, just narrowly
missing him. Good grief.
We had a greenlight and the man was not at crosswalk, so even though the pedestrian always has the "right of way" it was incredibly dangerous for him to do what he did. He appeared to
be older, but not elderly, and he appeared to be in his right mind, but who
knows… I was worried that maybe he had dementia or something because it just
didn’t make any sense for him to be walking where he was considering he was not
on the pedestrian sidewalk nor was he even at a crosswalk. It was bizarre. I did see in my rearview mirror that he made
it back to the median, so hopefully he made it where he needed to go. It scared me to death, though.
Anywayyyy, whew. In the car line I
continued reading my book that I’d started the night before – Never Lie
by Freida McFadden – and I couldn’t put it down because it is SO good. I haven’t read a page turner like this in
forever. I literally couldnot put it
down and I read it every single time I had a spare minute.
The kids had music lessons after school, and congratulations were in
order because Olivia’s guitar teacher had just gotten engaged! I sat in with Olivia this week since I sat
with Jacob last week, and she worked some more on her song from Interstellar. Steve wrote out the tab for the last part of
the song, so she now has the whole thing.
She knows the first part really well now, and she’s gotten really good
at the fast part in the middle. I really
hope she decides to do the recital, but we shall see.
After lessons, we headed home, and I tackled the dishes while the kids
studied. I also did my Bible study, and
then I read for a bit while Brian mowed.
He had come home early from work to get the mowing done before dinner
since he had some free time. After
working two weekends in a row in August, he’s finally slowed down a bit at
work, so he’ll be able to take some time off early here and there.
When Brian was done mowing, he and I made breakfast for dinner together,
and then I went for a walk, watered the outdoor plants, and got showered.
Olivia wanted to show us the hip hop routine that she’s been working on
in dance class, and then she showed us an original that she is choreographing
herself.
We finished the evening with a little bit of America’s Got Talent, and
then Brian and I finished the episode of The Leftovers that we were in the
middle of before going up to bed early.
He watched a little bit of the pro football game while I read my book. And in case you’ve ever wondered what it’s
like being the parent of a teenage boy, this is it – he texts me random emojis
(including one that he created himself – that dog is a picture of Olivia’s
stuffed animal. LOL.) when he’s just one
room away from me in the house.
Hahahaha.
Friday, September 5
Friday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then headed home to
work. I worked some more on the post
you’re reading now, and I did my entire blog post for Wednesday. It was nice to be so far ahead, if only for a
few days.
I had some training to do for the school, so I tackled that
mid-morning. They don’t allow anyone to
volunteer at our school unless they’ve been through the training as its purpose
is to protect all the kids at the school.
We have to get our certificates updated every five years, and it was
time for me to get mine done yet again.
I had a quick lunch with Brian after that, followed by a quick
appointment, and then I had just enough time to organize my planner, make my to
do list for the weekend, and catch up on some blog reading before heading to
get the kids.
I nearly finished my book in the car line – seriously so good – and I
only had one chapter left, so I finished it when we got home. After that, I got my Bible study done, I
prepped for our school tailgate, and then Brian and the kids and I went to grab
Mexican food for dinner real quick before the tailgate. We had lots of snacks and sweets and drinks
at the tailgate, but no real food, so I wanted to eat before we went because I
didn’t want anything from the concession stand or the food truck.
When we arrived, several ladies were already there to set up. The theme was “rodeo,” so I had purchased a
tablecloth that looks like a bandana, and one of our sweet moms who runs a
professional balloon arch company had done the best balloon tower for the
middle school table. We had snacks
galore along with glow sticks for the kids, and the next hour was spent
socializing with all the other families.
We did a quick cleanup after the tailgate was over, and then we all went
into the football game. It was hot
Friday, and I started getting overheated during the game, but my body wasn’t
sweating, so it wouldn’t cool down. That
ended up making me dizzy, and I didn’t feel great for the rest of the
evening. We ended up leaving at halftime
(which was the original plan anyway) and I was so relieved to be in the air
conditioning.
After feeling so normal for several weeks, it’s been a rude awakening to
have the neck issues and dizziness again – I’m 99% sure it’s from using that
neck pillow since it all started shortly after I started using it, so I’m going
to have to talk to my doctor about it to see if I need to continue or be done
with it. Ugh. He did tell me this could happen, but I’m
just not sure if it should be happening as often as it has been lately. Who knows!
I guess anything is possible when you are literally realigning your vertebrae
little by little every single day.
When we got home, I got showered and in my PJs and I felt a little
better, but once my neck flares up, it’s hard to get it to stop.
After the kids were showered, they got in bed, and Brian and I watched
college football for the rest of the night.
Saturday, September 6
Saturday was a lazyyyy day and I loved every single second of it. I made homemade waffles – pumpkin shaped ones
again for the kids! – and then we settled in on the couch for ESPN College
GameDay. I literally sat there until
almost noon while the kids did how to draw videos right behind us at the
kitchen table. They drew a bunch of
optical illusions that turned out so cool!
And Jacob taught himself a magic trick for how to make a pencil disappear.
At noon, I stripped our bed and got the sheets washed, and then I got the
front porch decorated for fall… it was the last thing that I had to decorate,
so I’m officially done with the whole house!
Olivia is already begging to put up the Halloween stuff, but I told her
that had to wait until October 1. ;o)
I did do a stair stepper workout in the early afternoon, but it was
half-hearted. Once that was done, we all
had lunch together, and then I got showered.
Georgia was supposed to play at 3:30, but due to some inclement weather
that was supposed to roll in late in the afternoon, they moved the start time
up to 2:30 PM.
We started watching that and we made it to halftime, and then the weather
got really bad during halftime. They ended
up evacuating the stadium, and the game went on a two-hour weather delay. I listened to the Georgia Bulldogs Network to
get updates, and I also kept looking at the radar to see what it was looking
like because we had no clue when the game was going to start again. I also texted with Heather because her
husband and daughter were there and she kept me updated, too.
While the weather delay was in effect, I got my Bible study done and I got
all the towels washed. Brian left to
pick up dinner from our favorite barbecue place after that, and he got home around
6, just as we were kicking off again to start the second half.
Georgia got the win, though our offense didn’t look great, and I got
completely caught up on my One Second a Day video for 2025. I was four months behind on it, so that was a
HUGE accomplishment. And I didn’t even
have that on my to-do list for September!
After the game was over, Olivia made some brownies for us, and while they
were baking, I got out for a 1-mile walk.
It was short, but it was nice to get out and get some fresh air…
especially since the weather was nice.
The sun had already gone down, and the temp had dropped to upper 70s so I
didn’t have to worry about sweating and showering again, which was the
goal. Haha.
When I got back from my walk, we blew through three episodes of America’s
Got Talent because we were soooo behind.
We skipped a lot, and since most of it was just results, there was a lot
of fast forwarding. I still don’t think
we’re caught up completely even after all of that, though.
And apparently while I was gone, Jacob did some of his creepy photography
with his camera, and they took this picture of Brian with Olivia’s floating
head. This is not photoshopped… this is
just the way he took the photo with his camera.
I have no clue how he does it.
Haha.
The kids got in bed a little before 10 and then Brian and I watched
football for the rest of the night.
Sunday, September 7
Sunday morning, we slept in and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and
then I watched my sermon while I got my planner ready for the week ahead. I did my Bible study and quiet time, and then
I got ready for the day.
Brian’s mom didn’t make lunch on Sunday, so we decided to go out. The kids have been begging to go to Spirit
Halloween (yes, already), but it wasn’t open yet on Saturday (nor did their website
have an opening date), so we didn’t think it was going to happen this
weekend. Well, they happened to open one
of our locations on Sunday morning, so it was perfect timing.
We have a local Mexican restaurant near our house that’s closing
permanently, and it happens to be the one that we eat at for lunch every year
before we go to Spirit Halloween (the kids made it our tradition), and Sunday happened
to the be their last day open, too, so it worked out perfectly… we were able to
do our tradition one last time of eating there and then going to Spirit
Halloween. The kids put on their sad
faces for the picture. Haha. I am sad because they do have the best
margaritas in town, and they also have the best queso, but honestly, I wasn’t a
fan of many of their entrees, so I actually got something from the kids’ menu Sunday. Haha.
Brian and I don’t usually drink at lunch, but we had to get one last
round of the best margs ever, and we also asked for their recipe on the way
out. The problem is that they make them
in bulk, so there was no way for them to tell us the specific measurements for
just one.
After lunch, we went to Spirit Halloween, and the kids were excited to
see all of the weird animatronics.
Olivia is super jumpy, and she always jumps every time those things
move, but she loves it. Haha. We ended up strolling around for at least 30
minutes, maybe longer, and unfortunately, I started having some neck strain and
dizziness while we were there. I was
carrying around my big bag so I think that played a role, and walking slowly has
always been a trigger for my dizziness since it started in 2023, so I guess I shouldn’t
have been surprised. The doctor did tell
me that this is all part of the process as my neck is moving, but I’m soooo
tired of it. It was so nice to feel
normal for a few weeks and I am currently hating that neck pillow as it realigns
my vertebrae. Sigh.
After we were done there, we headed home.
The kids got showered and prepped for the week ahead, and then they
played video games for a bit while I worked in my office and watched How to
Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Our church decided to start having a Mass at 5 PM on Sunday evening for
all of the families who travel all weekend for sports, so that is convenient
for us, too, because now we can stay home all day Saturday and watch football,
and not have to wake up early to get to Mass on Sunday morning. This past Sunday was the first week with the
new Mass time, and there were soooo many people there. I thought for sure there would hardly be
anyone there, but it turns out that most of the people who are always at 5:30
Mass with us on Saturdays were all there Sunday at 5 PM. Haha.
This Mass is going to be a little shorter than traditional Sunday Masses,
too, so we will be able to go and still get to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner
on time.
Since we were on that side of town, we picked up Mama Cass after Mass and
then headed straight to my parents’ house.
Momma had made her famous vegetable lasagna… soooo good. And it was a great way to wrap up the weekend!
When we got home, we go the kids in bed early – like at 8:45! – so Brian
and I had time to watch one episode of The Leftovers and go to bed early
ourselves. It’s always nice to get to
bed early on Sunday to start the new week out feeling well rested! Although, who am I kidding?? I never feel well rested when I have to wake
up at 6 AM. Ha!
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
