We had another
good week (aside from being exhausted from the time change), and we had a fun and
very productive weekend! Here’s the
recap…
Monday, March 9
Monday morning was the first day after the time change, so I was on the
struuuuggle bus. I snoozed an extra time
and reluctantly climbed out of bed at 6:09 AM.
It was pitch black on the drive to school and all of us were feeling
extra sleepy. Olivia is just like her
momma… she likes sunshine in the morning on the way to school, and we get very
little of that here on the western side of the time zone, so she wasn’t happy
about the time change either. Haha.
After dropping the kids at school, I headed to Walmart to grab a few
things we needed, and then I headed home to tackle three loads of laundry and
finish my blog post for Tuesday. That
took all my free time Tuesday, and it was time to pick up the kids in what felt
like the blink of an eye.
We had nowhere to be after school – woo hoo! – so we headed home for the
rest of the evening. I did my quiet time
while the kids worked on some homework and studying (they didn’t have much),
and then Jacob played with his new speed cube (it’s a fancier magnetic version
of the Rubik’s cube). He is learning how
to solve the Rubik’s cube quickly, and Monday when I timed him, he did the
whole thing in less than two minutes. I
do not understand how anyone’s brain works that way. If you handed me a Rubik’s cube and gave me a
whole week to solve it, I’m not sure I’d be able to. So, watching somebody solve it in less than
two minutes is just mind-blowing to me.
Brian went to Sam’s and Aldi to grab a few things after he was done
working for the day, and while he was gone, I did a 20-minute strength training
session. I’m still using very light
weights (3 lbs.) so I don’t damage my neck, and y’all, for the first time in
literal years, I was able to work out a little almost every day last week without
having neck and/or face/back tension and/or dizziness. I felt like I actually got a normal workout
and it seems that my atlas is still firmly in place since I’m not experiencing
any dizziness!
That is a HUGE leap in my healing because arm workouts have caused bad
tension for the last 5-6 years, long before my dizziness and vertigo ever
kicked in. My doctors keep telling me
that I need to strengthen my upper back, shoulder, and neck muscles to
stabilize my upper cervical spine, but I’ve never been able to get to that
point because every time I try to strengthen said muscles, it pulls my atlas
all out of whack and causes and plethora of issues. So, this is huge progress, my
friends!!!!
My upper cervical chiropractor has truly been the biggest blessing! He has made my body feel so much more aligned
and in harmony than ever. I’ve struggled
with SI joint and sacrum issues for 15 years in addition to other things, and
my SI joints and sacrum feel FANTASTIC since I started seeing him. I haven’t been able to lay flat on my back on
the floor without significant pain in years, and now I can! I’m so grateful. I just assumed I’d be living with the wonky
SI joints for the rest of my life after my childbirth damage, but I was wrong!
After I was done with my workout, I worked some more on cleaning the
blinds in the kitchen. You may remember
from last week that I mentioned that those are more grimy than dusty, so they
had to be cleaned with Clorox wipes, and it took some serious elbow grease to
clean them properly, so I had to do that one set of blinds in three different
sessions so I wouldn’t mess up my neck.
Surprise, surprise. Haha.
I got started on dinner after that, and we had Taco Joes, fruit, and
chips. It was a nice, easy Monday night
dinner, and it’s also a crowd pleaser, so it’s a win-win!
After the kitchen was clean, we went out for our first family walk in
ages… the ONLY good thing about this time change is the extra daylight after
dinner. We walked about 1.5 miles
together, and then I went back out on my own to get in another 1.5 miles.
While I walked, the kids got started on showers and then I showered and
put the rest of the laundry away that was still out. I also did my daily Lent study and whitened
my teeth. I’ve needed to do that
desperately since I got my braces off, and it has been a process, but it’s
finally working!
Once everyone was all settled and ready for bed, we piled in the living
room to watch Jurassic Park 3 – well, part of it anyway – and then after
the kids got in bed, Brian and I watched the most recent episode of Paradise.
Tuesday, March 10
Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed home to
work on the blog and do more laundry. I
knocked out two more loads of laundry and did lots of research for my birthday
wish list post, and mid-morning, I was falling asleep at my desk, so I curled
up for a 45-minute nap. This time change
always kicks my butt HARD. I can
remember trying so hard not to fall asleep at my desk when I worked at my
corporate job, and I’m so grateful now that I have the luxury of taking a nap
if I need to.
I also tidied the whole house… I love a good, tidy office!
Olivia’s thoughtful little self sent me an email mid-morning just to say
hello, and it just made my day. I love
her so much.
I grabbed the kids at 3, and when we got home, I did a Bible study and
quiet time while the kids did homework, and then I put the laundry away. I also restocked all the bathrooms with the
toilet paper and tissues B had picked up from Sam’s, and then it was time to
take Olivia to dance.
Brian got home from work as she and I were walking out the door, and he
and Jacob headed to the driving range to practice hitting some balls.
When I got home, I put the last of the laundry away and then I did my
Lent study, got organized for Wednesday, and caught up on some life stuff.
I did another strength workout after that, and then I got out for a nice,
long walk before showering and getting dinner ready. We had turkey and cheese biscuit sliders for
dinner when Brian and Olivia got home from dance, and then I chatted with my
girlfriends via text while Olivia got showered and ready for bed.
The kids went to bed shortly after that and Brian and I finished the
episode of SNL we’d started and then we watched some more of the movie Sinners.
Wednesday, March 11
Wednesday morning, my hair stylist was scheduled to come do my hair, so I
slept until 6:30 AM when it was time to wake the kids, and then Brian took them
to school for me.
I got the last load of laundry in the washer and finished my blog post
for Friday when my hair stylist called me to tell me that his truck battery was
dead and that he needed to reschedule for Thursday.
I went ahead and showered and got ready after that since I wasn’t getting
my hair done, and then I started my blog post for Monday before picking up the
kids from school.
Olivia asked for McDonald’s for dinner since she had her late dance night
and wouldn’t be eating with us at home, so we swung through the drive-through
on the way home to get her some nuggs and fries, and while we were there, both
kids got Shamrock shakes. They’d never
had them before, so it was a first for them!
When we got home, both kids had some studying to do, I did my Bible and
Lent studies, and then I did a 20-minute arms and glutes workout.
Olivia ate her dinner while I prepped for dinner for Brian and Jacob and
me, and then I dropped her off at dance.
When I got home, I was able to get dinner in the oven pretty quickly
since I’d prepped everything before I left, and while it baked, I cleaned the
dining room windows and finallyyyy finished cleaning the kitchen blinds. They look brand new!
We were supposed to have some severe weather during the night, so Brian
headed outside to secure everything for that, and then he and Jacob and I sat
down to teriyaki chicken, rice, and broccoli for dinner.
After the kitchen was cleaned, I set out for another walk/jog, and it was
just perfection outside. It was 81
degrees and sunny and the whole neighborhood was hustling and bustling with
walkers and bikers and basketball players and kids playing. Gah, I love this time of year when everything
finally warms up again!
When I got home, I watered the outdoor plants – they survived the winter!
(so far, anyway) – and then I got showered and ready for bed. Jacob showered after that, and I prepped for
Thursday while Brian picked up Olivia from dance.
When she got home, she got showered, the kids got in bed, and Brian and I
finished Sinners. I thought it
was okay. Michael B. Jordan was fabulous
in his role (and I’m so happy that he won the Oscar for best actor for it!!),
but it was way too over the top bloody for me.
Thursday, March 12
Thursday morning, storms rolled through early, but all was well at our
house. I slept in until 6:30 AM again
and got the kids up, and then Brian took them to school for me again since my
hair stylist needed a redo.
I worked on my blog post for Monday, started on a blog post for April,
and started on a blog post for summertime while I waited for Jamey to get here,
and then he arrived at 9:30 AM to do my cut and color. I asked him to cut it shorter this time and
do the color a bit blonder since spring and summer are both right around the
corner, and I love how it turned out! I
feel so much lighter!
I got showered and washed all the color out after he left, and then I got
ready for the day. I grabbed some lunch
after that and I had just enough time to work some more on my blog post for
Monday before I had to leave to pick up the kids from school. I also had another email from my girl, this
time in French. She is learning so much on
Duolingo and she is practicing nonstop even though we have no clue what she’s
saying. She always has to translate for
us. Haha.
The kids had music lessons after school, and it was my turn to sit with
Jacob. He practiced a couple of songs
from his lesson book and then he worked on the ones that he’s doing for fun,
and he sounded fantastic. His teacher is
asking him if he’ll consider doing the recital this year but I’m not sure he’s
interested. He doesn’t like getting up
in front of people, so we don’t push him.
I popped in at the end of Olivia’s lesson, and Mr. Steve started gushing
and telling us that we raised her right because she knew the song It’s Been
a While by Staind. Haha. In our house any time anyone says, “It’s been
a while,” we’ll all start singing the song, and apparently Steve said those
magic words and Olivia started singing the song. Needless to say, he was impressed that she knew
it at all. Hahahaha.
Brian met us at the music school when lessons were over so he could grab
Jacob and get in some more practice at the driving range, and Olivia and I
headed home. She showed me her
pre-pointe dance routine for the recital so far, and then I got all the dishes
put away. We both tidied the house
together, and then she worked on her French on Duolingo while I did my Bible
study and Lent study.
When the boys got home, I did another 20-minute strength workout, and
then Brian and I made breakfast for dinner.
After dinner, I went out for another walk, and I was soooo bummed to
have to bundle up because the storms that morning had dragged in another cold
front. Boooo.
When I got home, I showered, the kids showered, we finished Jurassic
Park 3 (I worked on redoing my letterboard while we watched), and then
Brian and I watched another episode of Shrinking after the kids went to
bed.
Friday, March 13
Friday, I snoozed an extra time since B didn’t have to be up early, and I
got ready and got the kids off to school.
I had quite a list of things I wanted to accomplish on Friday and I had
a successful day. I…
-
Finished my blog post for Monday
-
Finished Easter basket shopping
-
Researched restaurants for dinner Friday night
-
Shipped a Poshmark order
-
Made sure the kids had something in their closets to
wear for St. Patrick’s Day
-
Made sure the kids had something in their closets to
wear for Easter
-
Caught up on both email inboxes
-
Started catching up on blog reading (I was behind by
1.5 weeks)
-
Whitened my teeth (been doing this daily for over a
week now)
-
Called my allergist to discuss a bill, but their
system was down
-
Placed a Target order
-
Started this blog post and got caught up to the
current moment
-
Worked some more on catching up on blog reading
(still didn’t get totally caught up)
After school, the kids and I got home, the kids got changed, and the four
of us were on the road for Atlanta by 3:30 PM.
We had tickets to see the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the
Cursed Child, and we had to get there, park, walk to the restaurant, eat
dinner, and walk back to The Fox Theater before the show started at 7 PM. That didn’t give us much time, especially since
Atlanta traffic is typically pretty awful and very unpredictable.
Thankfully, our drive was smooth.
We did run into rush hour traffic that added on an extra 30 minutes to
our route, but that’s pretty much a given and we expected it. And while driving through downtown, we saw
our first driverless car! None of us had
ever seen one before, and by the time we left Atlanta, we had seen four of
them. It is just the weirdest thing to
see a car go whizzing by with literally no one in the car at all. SO wild.
(And one day in 2058 I’ll probably be rereading this post and laughing
at thinking driverless cars were a wild concept. Haha.)
Brian had reserved parking for us before the event, so we drove to our
parking lot and then we had about a 20-minute walk to the restaurant we’d
chosen to try before the show. We don’t
eat meat on Fridays during Lent, so we thought a pizza place would be the best
place to go, and there was a cute little place called Ray’s New York Pizza that
we knew would be quick.
When we arrived, we realized it was smack in the middle of the Georgia
Tech campus because there were college students everywhere and Brian and I were
the oldest people in the restaurant aside from one elderly couple who left
shortly after we arrived.
Brian and I ordered drinks from the bar – a Manhattan for me, of course –
but they definitely didn’t know how to make my old-lady drink on the college
campus because it tasted pretty much nothing like one (and it was most definitely not supposed to have ice, but hats off to them for having the big, fancy ice cubes!). Haha.
Thankfully, the four cheese pizza and garlic knots were delicious and we
all enjoyed it very much.
We got out of there just in time to make the 10-minute walk to The Fox
and still have plenty of time leftover to take a bathroom break, get
refreshments (candy for the kids and waters for all of us), and get to our
seats. My father-in-law ushers at The
Fox Theater for fun (it’s volunteer-based) so he has been to tons of shows
there. He was working the night that we
were there, and he happened to be right near our section, so he ushered us to
our seats.
The show started promptly at 7 PM and ended at 10 PM with one
intermission. The show was good – probably
fantastic if you’re a Harry Potter fan – and there were so many special effects
that were incredible. I still haven’t
quite figured out how they made a couple of them happen.
That said, I’m not a Harry Potter fan (I know, I know – I’ve tried,
y’all. I’ve really tried.) so I thought
it was quite a bit too long and I kept checking my watch a lot towards the end
because I was ready to get up and move around a bit. My neck felt extremely stiff throughout the
whole performance, so that made it hard for me to sit still.
I am glad that we went, though! It
was worth the watch! And Brian and
Olivia – the two in our family who actually like Harry Potter – both LOVED
it. Jacob even liked it and he doesn’t
like Harry Potter either. He did think
it was a bit too long like I did, though.
When we got home, it was nearly midnight, and we all had to be up earlier
than usual on Saturday, so it was lights out for all four of us.
Saturday, March 14
Saturday morning, Olivia had the first of several weekend dance classes
to prepare for her upcoming recital.
This year she is participating in some extra dances in addition to the
seven dance styles she already has so she has two Saturday classes and four
Friday night classes over the next couple of months.
She had to be at dance at 9:15 AM, which isn’t terrible, but after
staying up so late, none of us were looking forward to setting an alarm. I rolled out of bed a little after 8 AM, I
woke Olivia, and then I headed downstairs to make waffles so she could have
some fuel in that little body of hers.
She and Brian ate their waffles and headed out, and then I ate and
cleaned up the kitchen. I woke Jacob at
9 AM per his request (he doesn’t like sleeping too late), and then he ate his
breakfast as well.
While Jacob ate, I got everything tidied downstairs and then I made a cup
of tea to enjoy while I tackled a few things in my office. I had several things to do in there and many
things I wanted to do around the house, and here’s what I ended up
accomplishing on Saturday…
-
Washed all primary bedroom bedding – sheets,
mattress pad, comforter, quilt, extra blankets, pillowcases and shams, etc.
-
Continued catching up on blog reading (still didn’t
fully catch up)
-
Caught up on emails
-
Made some updates in my planner
-
Washed all of Jacob’s bedding – sheets, mattress
pad, comforter, pillowcases and shams, etc.
-
Caught up on my Lent studies (I was a day behind
since we were out of town Friday night)
-
Signed Jacob up for his upcoming retreat
-
Whitened my teeth again
-
Cleaned the blinds and windows in the foyer
-
Watered the outdoor plants
-
Worked on some blog housekeeping
-
Emailed volunteers the details for the Mother Son
dance
-
Tidied the whole house
-
Tackled a few other random non-urgent tasks that
have been taking up too much space in my to-do list
Brian was kind enough to pick up Olivia from dance, too, and while they
were gone, Jacob got showered and got his bedding back on his bed. One thing our kids will have no problem doing
when they grow up and leave our house is laundry. They have been doing all their laundry from
start to finish for years, and that includes stripping the beds and getting the
sheets and bedding back on.
When Brian and Olivia got home, we all had lunch together, I watched
Olivia’s new dances that she’d worked on, and then she got in the shower.
After that, I got right back to crossing tasks off my list:
-
Put all bedding back on my bed
-
Washed all the cleaning rags
-
Helped Jacob troubleshoot an issue he’s been having
with a school assignment
-
Edited Olivia’s story that is going to be published
in a book per her teacher’s request
-
Tried to sign up Jacob for some volunteer
opportunities at the local library, but they aren’t currently accepting
applications
-
Ordered some tights
-
Helped Olivia clip the excess off her LED lights in
her bedroom
It was quite a productive day. Eight
loads of laundry – DONE. A bunch of
random tasks checked off the list. And the
spring cleaning is coming right along!
*Pats self on back.*
After all that, I wanted to get outside for a walk. It was 77 degrees and sunny, so it was on the
warm side with the sun beating down. I
got in 2.02 miles and then headed back home to grab a quick snack and do my
devotional for the day.
I had a few more minutes to spare before I had to shower for church, so I
put a few books on hold at the library for Olivia and me, I organized my TBR
book list a bit, and I downloaded a couple of songs I’ve been wanting to get.
After that, I got ready for the day, I threw a load of towels in the
washer, and we headed to 5:30 PM Mass.
After church, our usual group headed to dinner, and Mama Cass got the
full birthday treatment because her 97th birthday is coming up later this
week! Gah, I just love her so much. Doesn’t she look incredible?! And her mind is still sharp as a tack, too!
When we got home, we started watching Zootopia 2, but we stopped
about halfway through because it was getting late and I wanted the kids to get
a decent night of sleep since we’d gone to bed so late Friday night. Olivia was tired anyway because she’d stayed
up late, gotten up early, and danced for three hours straight. As a matter of fact, she lay her head on my
shoulder in church at one point and I thought she was going to fall asleep. Haha.
After the kids were in bed, Brian and I started the new show, Rooster,
with Steve Carrell and it was pretty good.
After that, we watched the second episode of DTF St. Louis and I
fell asleep because I’m not a big fan.
Sunday, March 15
Sunday, I slept until almost 9 AM (whoops!) and we had cinnamon rolls for
breakfast. After breakfast, the kids did
their laundry, and then we washed all of Olivia’s bedding – sheets, comforter,
shams, pillowcases, mattress pad, weighted blanket, and about 84 other blankets
she has (LOL) – so she could get the full spring-cleaning treatment like the
rest of us did on Saturday.
I did my Sunday morning routine – planner ready for the week ahead,
sermon, photos off phone, organized photos – and then I got up to fold and put
away the towels and open a couple of packages that had arrived Saturday.
Brian worked in the yard all morning and early afternoon, pulling all the
overgrowth off the fence, spraying weeds, and killing the poison ivy that had
started to grow, and the kids and I all looked at my niece’s wedding photos. I hadn’t shown them to Jacob or Olivia yet,
and they were in the wedding, so they were excited to see them.
I went for a quick walk before lunch, and then we all ate together. Then afterward, Brian helped me take the
screen off the kitchen window so I could clean it and the window a bit better. For some reason that screen and window were
way dirtier than the rest of the windows in the house and it needed some extra
TLC. That’s also the window I look out
the most since I’m at the kitchen sink often, so it’s nice to have a much
clearer view!
The kids got showered after lunch and I started cleaning our primary
bathroom shower because it’s gross. I
didn’t get very far, though, because I didn’t want to overdo it with my neck
and shoulders.
I got ready for the day and then I settled in my office with a snack and
some hot tea to relax. And by relax, I
mean work on this blog post while I watched The Wedding Planner. Haha.
My favorite friar also messaged me to send me the link to the Mass he’d
done earlier in the morning and I watched his homily. He is my favorite speaker, and I miss his
homilies so much, so it’s always a treat to get to see one of them when they
are recorded.
Around 5 PM, we got the news that all schools would be closed on Monday
due to the impending inclement weather.
The severe weather risk included tornadoes, and it was all due to hit in
the early hours of the morning right around the time that the school buses are
picking up and the parents are driving to school and dropping off. I always haaaate this time of year because of
the severe weather and I’m still scarred from March 3, 2019, when a mile-wide
long-track tornado barely missed our house and carved out a path of destruction
right near our neighborhood. Gosh, we
were lucky that day.
We went to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner as we always do, and everything
was delicious as always. My Momma made slow
cooker ravioli lasagna, and we had salad, bread, fruit, and a new parmesan
carrots recipe that was to die for… soooo delicious. She also made a brown sugar pound cake which
is one of my favorite desserts of all-time… Momma just doing the most!
Since the kids were out of school Monday, we lingered at their house just
a tad later than usual and then when we got home, we popped some popcorn and
finished Zootopia 2 with the kids.
I also charged all the external chargers, made sure that the flashlights,
batteries, and other necessities were in our “storm shelter” AKA the closet
under the stairs, and Brian pulled down all of our helmets to put in there as
well. The kids gathered their most
important things (Pokemon cards for Jacob and Sheepie for Olivia to name a
couple) and they had them in a bag ready to grab in case the tornado sirens
went off during the night.
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched the most recent episode
of Saturday Night Live and then we went to bed on high alert with phone
volumes up so we wouldn’t miss any weather alerts.
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
