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Last week was a
busy one and I’m grateful that this week will be a little more chill! Let’s get to the recap!
Monday, October 12
Monday, the kids were still on fall break from school, so I slept until
8:30 AM and then I lay in bed for a few minutes just soaking up the last lazy
day. Brian was already up because he was
working from home, so I didn’t have to rush to get up and let Belle out.
I headed downstairs in my pjs, and I made my breakfast, unloaded the
dishwasher, took my vitamins, and tidied the kitchen, and then I made a cup of
coffee to take to my office while I worked.
The kids got up right around the same time I did, and they had a lazy
morning playing video games.
I took Belle upstairs to my office, but she was being annoying and
getting into everything, so I took her back to the kitchen about 30 minutes
later. I look forward to the day that
she’ll just lay down and nap consistently.
Haha.
On the agenda Monday was to finish my blog post for Tuesday and to get
all the laundry done, so that was exactly what I worked on all morning. I also sat down with Olivia to order some
squishies that she wanted to buy with her own money, and Jacob and I also
ordered his Halloween costume.
Right before lunch, I got dinner in the slow cooker, and then all four of
us ate together. We cleaned the kitchen
after lunch, and the kids did some Pokemon battling and trading while I
finished my blog post for Tuesday and got some blog housekeeping done.
Later in the afternoon, I made some hot tea and did my Bible study for
the day, and then I put on some workout clothes and ran Olivia over to
dance. When I got home, I did a stair
stepper workout, and while I did that, Jacob made cinnamon muffins for us to
have with dinner / for the week ahead.
I went upstairs to shower as Brian was leaving to pick up Olivia from
dance, and then I finished dinner. Since
the slow cooker had done most of the work, I just had to boil some noodles and
steam some broccoli, and I also made some chocolate chip muffins since Olivia
doesn’t like the cinnamon ones.
We all had dinner together when Brian and Olivia got home, and then
afterward, I cleaned the kitchen while Brian got out in the yard to do some
work. We have a couple of huge oak trees
in the backyard that we grew from saplings, and the branches have always hung
down and nearly touched the ground.
Belle never went back there for the first couple of months after we
brought her home, but lately, she’s been more adventurous since she’s settling
in, and now it’s her favorite place to be.
The problem is that there’s a lot of overgrowth back there, and likely
poison ivy, and possibly snakes?? so Brian went out there to clear out some of
the branches he’d cut down and clear out some of the brush so Belle doesn’t get
into anything she shouldn’t be getting into.
There’s also a big hole in the back corner of the yard. There’s a big dropoff at the back of our
property that leads down to the neighborhood walking trail, and when we had our
fence installed, we had them put it right near the edge of the dropoff. Since then, the ground has eroded a bit
underneath, so the back corner of the fence is hanging off the dropoff which
means there’s a hole that Belle could crawl under and get out. So, Brian filled the hole with a bunch of
brush and pine straw.
We’re hoping to have all that cleared out so it’ll be a safe space for
her and for us, and that we’ll be able to get to her easily if she decides to
run back there and hide. It’s soooo
annoying right now when she goes back there because we aren’t able to get to
her because of all the thorny vines and brush, and there have been some days
where I thought I was going to be late picking up the kids from school because
I couldn’t get her to come inside. Haha.
While Brian worked in the yard, the kids got showered and ready for bed,
and I meditated and lay down to rest my neck.
I had a little vertigo spin while I was sitting at the table for dinner
and that made me soooo frustrated and sad.
I haven’t had actual vertigo for a long time now – just the lingering
dizziness which is totally different – and every time I have one of those
little vertigo spins it freaks me out because it makes me remember just how
awful it was.
After Brian was done working in the yard, we all settled in to watch a
couple of episodes of Friends, and then I finally opened a Walmart
package that had delivered a couple of days prior. When I opened the package, I saw that they’d
delivered totally the wrong item. I’d
ordered some Vicks VapoRub, some of my Neutrogena face cream, and a gift for
Olivia for Christmas (yes, very early), and instead, Walmart had delivered a this Paris Hilton kitchen item. WHAT?!
Y’all, I cracked up when I saw it because a) how on earth do you mess
that up?? and b) Paris Hilton is still relevant?? She has her own line at Walmart?? I was soooo confused.
Anyway, the reason I mention this in my post is because I immediately
jumped on the Walmart app to get the issue corrected, thinking it would take
all of 30 seconds. I’ve had issues with
Target before, and it literally takes just a couple of clicks in the app and
they issue a new order to send you your correct items. Well, y’all, per usual, Walmart’s customer
service SUCKS and I had to jump through hoops to get everything sorted out.
I ended up having to chat with an AI bot in the app before finally being
transferred to a human in the app, and the human wasn’t any better than the AI
bot. I ended up going back and forth
with him for THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES to get him to resolve my issue, and the best
he could do was refund the whole order.
He couldn’t ship any replacements, so I immediately took my business
elsewhere. He also made it seem that I
was the problem and that he was going above and beyond his pay grade to make
things right, and that he was doing me a HUGE favor for refunding the items,
and I was like, WHAT?! Your
employees at your company are the ones who messed up the order. Are you kidding me?!
So, I ended up wasting the rest of my evening chatting with some AI-like
human only to be told that they couldn’t even ship a replacement order. Sigh.
Brian watched football while I was dealing with that, and then we went to
bed.
Tuesday, October 13
Tuesday morning, I slept until 6:30 AM and I skipped my shower since my
hair guy was supposed to be coming to highlight and cut my hair
(finallyyyy). Brian went down to let
Bellie out first thing as he usually does, and when he came back inside, he
told the kids and me that he’d seen a really crazy thing in the sky, and he’d
filmed it because it was just so bizarre.
We all watched the video with our eyes bulging because it truly looked
like aliens (LOL), and we later realized that there had been a rocket launch
that morning and we could literally see it from our house!!!! My first thought was that it was a rocket,
but I quickly squashed that idea because a) I usually know ahead of time when
there’s going to be a launch, and b) I had NO CLUE that we would ever be able
to see a rocket launch all the way here in Georgia, but y’all, we could see it
plain as day right from our back yard!
It was SO COOL and I’m so sad that the rest of us didn’t get to see it
in person.
I dropped the kids at school and then headed straight back home to knock
out some work before Jamey came. I was
able to catch up on emails and start my blog post for Wednesday before my
appointment, but then I received a text from Jamey saying that he had been up
sick all night and he couldn’t do my hair.
I was absolutely desperate at that point, because my roots were inches
long and my hair length was ridiculous since Jamey hadn’t cut it the last time
I saw him. I wasn’t sure how long he’d
be down sick, so I immediately started researching salons to see if anyone
could get me in the same day.
We have 84,000 salons here in town, and sadly, there wasn’t a single one
that could get me in the same day, but I was able to find one that looked good
that could get me in Friday, so I went ahead and booked the appointment.
Jamey has been doing my hair for 15+ years, and before him, Sara did my
hair for almost 10 years, so after having the same two people do my hair my
entire adult life, I was terrified to see somebody new. Needless to say, my research took me nearly
two hours because I wanted to make sure I found a place that was on my side of
town, I wanted to find someone who had lots of experience, I wanted to find
someone who had reasonable prices (which apparently is nobody these days
because I am spoiled since I’ve been charged the same price for 15 years), and
I wanted to find someone who could get me in the same week.
It was SLIM PICKINGS finding someone who could do it the same week, but I
found a girl, I stalked all her socials (LOL), and I finally took the
leap. Jamey’s hair salon closed a couple
of years ago after his dad (the owner) passed away from cancer, and he’s been
kind enough to do my hair at my house ever since then even though doing hair is
no longer his primary job, and I’ve been dreading the moment that I had to find
someone new. And even though this is
hopefully just a one-time thing seeing someone else, it was still
nerve-racking. (So dramatic, I
know. It’s just hair, I know. Haha.)
Anyhoo, that research ended up consuming my morning unexpectedly, and
before I knew it, it was lunchtime and I’d barely gotten anything done. I took Belle outside and played with her for
a while, and then I ate.
Then, after lunch, I filmed a Reel.
Sigh. Haha. I asked y’all on Instagram
recently what you wanted to see more of from me here on the blog and over on
social media, and with regard to social media, a lot of people said that they
wanted to see more everyday life and that they wanted to see more Reels, so I’m
going to tryyyy, y’all.
I ended up filming how I put away laundry (riveting, right? Haha) and what would have normally taken
about 15-20 minutes ended up taking more than an hour since I had to film
it. I’ve mentioned before that I
absolutely love watching Reels, but I absolutely loathe making them because the
editing is so tedious (and I’m a perfectionist which doesn’t help one bit), and
doing this Reel reminded me just how tedious it
is.
I had just a few minutes to finish my blog post for Wednesday and work on
some other blog housekeeping before I had to pick up Olivia from school. I let Belle out quickly and then drove to the
school. Jacob had his first e-sports
meeting of the new schoolyear, so he had to stay until 5 PM, and Olivia had
crochet club until 4 PM, so I didn’t have to wait in the car line, which was
nice, because it did give me more time at home.
When Olivia and I got home, I made dinner for her, and then we opened
Amazon packages that had been delivered because her squishies
were in there and she was ecstatic.
While she got ready for dance, I did a Bible study and my devotional, and
then I dropped Olivia off at dance.
Brian picked up Jacob from e-sports on his way home from work, and then
the boys and I had turkey and cheese sliders on Hawaiian rolls with chips and
fruit. Simple and yummy.
After dinner, I went to walk for a bit, and then I showered while Brian
picked up Olivia from dance.
We all watched an episode of Friends before the kids went to bed
and then Brian and I watched some more of Outer Banks.
Wednesday, October 14
Wednesday morning, I was up at 6 AM, I got ready and did all my other
morning things, and then I took the kids to school.
When I got home, I had a cup of coffee and I worked on some blog
housekeeping, and then I had to be at primary doctor’s office for my annual
physical. I’d already done my bloodwork
a couple of weeks prior and she said that everything looked good except my
cholesterol is a little elevated (mine is genetic, unfortunately), but she said
she’s not concerned at this time since I’m not obese, I don’t have diabetes,
and I don’t have hypertension. I also
eat pretty healthily and I work out regularly, so hopefully I can keep it in
check, even though she said when it’s genetic, it can come for you no matter
how healthy your lifestyle is.
While I was there, I talked to her about Ehlers-Danlos and POTS since
I’d had two other doctors tell me they suspect I am a candidate for testing for
both of those, and she agreed on both accounts.
She said based on everything she knows about me, it does sound like it’s
likely that I have both, but she said the surefire way to know is genetic
testing, but that costs and arm and a leg, so I’m not going to pursue it at
this time. She told me in the meantime
to drink a ton of water and continue eating a ton of salt (for the POTS). My BP is always crazyyyy low (and my sodium
was also on the low side on my blood test despite the fact that I eat a TON of
salt) so my body obviously needs it.
Guess I need to be more consistent about consuming this every day.
They offered me my flu shot while I was there, and I said yes so
fast! I have been getting a flu shot
every year for 20+ years and ever since I started getting it, I have avoided
getting the actual flu. Prior to that, I
got the flu often, so I never miss my flu shot!
After my appointment, I had to swing by Walmart to grab some supplies for
poker night and our tailgate later in the week, and then I went home to put the
groceries away. I played outside with
Belle for 30 minutes after that, and the whole time we were out there she
wouldn’t go to the bathroom. When I took
her up to my office, the first thing she did was pee on my floor, so I promptly
took her back downstairs to the kitchen.
Bless.
After that, I started and finished my blog post for Friday and then I had
lunch and went outside with Belle for a while again. While she ran around, I started editing my
Reel that I’d filmed, and I also responded to a few emails.
I picked up the kids from school when they got out, and then we headed
home. I worked on editing my Reel some
more and I added a bunch of stuff to my calendar. We didn’t have anywhere to be (thank goodness
for a midweek break!) so the kids played video games for a bit and then they
played outside with Belle.
I tidied the house and then when Brian got home, he and I made breakfast
for dinner together. We took Bellie for
a family walk after that and then I walked one more mile by myself. I did a functional strength training workout
when we got home, too, and then once everyone was showered and ready for bed,
we watched three episodes of Friends, and then Brian and I started the
last episode of Outer Banks.
Thursday, October 15
Thursday morning, I was up at 6 AM, I took the kids to school, and then I
headed home to start my blog post for Monday.
I had an appointment with my therapist for the first time in a couple of
months, and on the way there, I swung by UPS to do an Amazon return + Target to
return a few things, and then I headed to my appointment.
After that was done, I went home and spent some time with Belle outside,
I had lunch, and then I took Belle to my office to get some work done. She was trying to get into everything, so I
locked her in the kitchen yet again.
Haha. This puppy phase is going
to do me in, y’all! Haha.
I finished my blog post for Monday, and I did some more blog
housekeeping, and then it was time to pick up the kids from school. They both had music lessons after school, and
it was my day to sit in with Jacob. He
started working on The Great Pumpkin Waltz on his own at home last week,
so he had brought the sheet music in for that to work on it during his
lesson. It’s amazing how he can just
pick something up and play it now.
When we got home, I made Olivia some chicken nuggets for an early dinner,
Jacob played with Belle outside, and I did a Bible study before freshening
up. I dropped Olivia at dance and then
headed to my favorite Thai restaurant to eat dinner with my girls!! Only four of us were able to make it this
time, but all four of us were able to be there by 5:30 PM, so that was good
because we beat the crowd (downtown was PACKED), and I was home by 7 PM. That was especially nice since I felt so
behind on everything and still had a lot I needed to get done.
When I got home, the boys were watching some more of the movie Bumblebee
that they’d started forever ago, and I immediately changed into workout clothes
and did a mixed cardio workout since it was too dark outside to walk.
After my workout, I tidied my closet and our whole bedroom and bathroom
because everything was a mess, and then I got a couple of things caught up in
my planner. I also made my to do list
for Friday since it was going to be a busy one, I watered my plant babies
(finally), and I tackled a bunch of other random little tasks that I’ve been
needing to do. I finally felt somewhat
caught up after all that, and I was able to breathe a little easier.
Brian picked up Olivia from dance, and they got home around 8:30 PM. She immediately got showered and ready for
bed, and while she did that, I secured the bats to the mantle since they had
all fallen since I hung them a couple of weeks ago. I ended up using these
to secure them and they worked like a charm.
Going to start using that every year going forward! I've been using them for other things for more than a decade, but for some reason I never think to use them for stuff like that! They're pretty brilliant, actually.
The kids were in bed by 9 PM and then Brian and I finished watching Outer
Banks. While we watched, I pulled up
the ballot for Georgia since we were going to vote Friday morning because I
wanted to review the amendments. I
always like to go in prepared and fully researched so I don’t get blindsided by
anything unexpected.
Friday, October 16
Friday morning, I was up at 6 AM and Brian and I took the kids to school
together since we were going straight to the voting precinct to vote
early. We were literally in and out in
less than five minutes and we were home by 8 AM.
I had a million things to do Friday, one of which was my hair
appointment, and those always take so long I knew it was going to consume most
of my day.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed straight to my office to start and
catch up this blog post. I’m already at
3,510 words as I type this, so as you can imagine, that took a while!! I also took the time to catch up on a few
emails and do the never-ending blog housekeeping, and I also spent some time
with my planner getting a few things organized, and then it was time to shut
everything down and get started on a few things around the house before I left
for my appointment. Side note, I never get tired of this view...
First up, was getting dinner in the slow cooker. I don’t usually cook on Friday nights, but it
was our turn to host poker night, and I decided to make my slow cooker BBQ
chicken for sandwiches for poker night since it’s yummy and easy.
Once that was in the slow cooker, I scarfed down some scrambled eggs for
a weird late brunchy/lunchy thing since I had a hair appointment from 11 AM – 1
PM and I couldn’t eat at my normal lunchtime, and then I headed out.
As I said earlier in this post, the same guy has been doing my hair for
around 15 years, and he wasn’t able to do it this week, so I was
desperate. I ended up booking an
appointment at a new-ish salon, but the girl who did my hair has been doing it
for years, and she did a fantastic job.
The salon was beautiful since it recently opened in a newly constructed
area, and it’s only 10 minutes from my house which is a bonus. It was so serene in there (unlike the hustle
and bustle of most salons), and they played excellent music the whole time so
it was an all-around great experience.
Unfortunately, the price to get my hair done there was an arm and a leg
compared to what Jamey has charged me for the last 15 years, but I know I’m
lucky in that department since prices have gone up so much. As much as I’d like to start going to this
girl at this salon all the time, I definitely can’t pay that much every time,
so I’ll probably alternate between her and Jamey until Jamey decides he doesn’t
want to do my hair anymore.
After my appointment, I had just enough time to run home and have a green
protein smoothie and start prepping for the game on Saturday, and then I
painted my nails and headed out the door to pick up the kids.
When we got home, I did a few more things in my office, I finished
picking out my clothes and packing for Saturday, and then I went downstairs to
get ready for pooooker niiiight! I had
already put the chicken in the slow cooker, so all I had to do was make some
mac n cheese (my Momma’s recipe!) and set everything out. On the menu was barbecue chicken sandwiches +
hot dogs, mac n cheese, cole slaw, and chips.
I was a whirlwind for the next 45 minutes, getting the house tidied and
cleaning some random spaces, getting dinner prepared, etc. and Brian and the
kids helped a lot, too. Jacob vacuumed
(since our kitchen floor is always a disaster now) and Olivia cleaned the
toilet to make sure it was good for the guests, and Brian did all the other
things, and then Jeannine’s and Khristina’s families arrived a little after
5:30 PM.
We spent the rest of the evening eating, drinking, and playing poker
while the kids hung out in the playroom.
Bellie got to meet all our friends for the first time, and then she
passed out in my arms for the rest of the night at the table because it’s
exhausting being a puppy. Poker night is
always one of our favorite nights of the whole month and I truly cherish these
friendships so very much. We’ve been
doing these monthly poker nights for nearly FOUR YEARS now and I love it so
much.
Everyone left a little after 9 PM, and the kids went right to bed since
we had to be up early. Brian and I
stayed up a little longer, watching The Housemaid (finally) and then we
cut it off halfway through to go to bed.
Saturday, October 17
Saturday morning, we were up at 6:30 AM to get ready for the game. We were out the door by 7:45 AM to get Bellie
to my parents, and then we hit the road for Athens. The rest of the day was spent tailgating with
my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg + my cousin and her fiancé and all their friends,
and the weather was just perfection.
Fall finally arrived just in time for the game! It was cool, crisp, and sunny, and we loved
every second of it.
Meanwhile, Bellie did a whole lot of this...
We arrived in the stadium for the game and cheered on our Dawgs all afternoon
/ evening. We went in undefeated and
left with our first loss, but it was such an exciting game. Georgia and Auburn have one of the longest
rivalries in college football history, and you truly just never know what’s
going to happen when we play. Auburn may
have been unranked, but I’m not surprised at all that they beat us since they
were long overdue… we’ve beaten them for the last eight years, so I had a
feeling it was coming. And there were so
many other upsets this week besides ours, too.
On to the next game!!
We didn’t get home to Momma and Daddy’s house to pick up Belle until 11
PM, so we grabbed her and headed straight home to go to bed. We were all exhausted.
Sunday, October 18
Sunday morning, I slept in until 9 AM, and I let Belle outside since I
was the first one up. It was 48 degrees
Sunday morning and it was just glorious.
Gah, the cooler weather is always so invigorating after a long, hot,
miserable summer.
I made homemade waffles for breakfast, and then I immediately headed to
my office to do all the things – transfer photos from my phone to my computer
and get those organized, get my planner ready for the week ahead, work on this
blog post, catch up on emails, etc.
Meanwhile, Brian worked out in the yard getting some more of the brush
under our trees cleared out and he also put gas in my car while the kids
showered, did their laundry, and played video games.
We all had leftovers from Friday’s poker night for lunch, and then Brian
headed off to a tennis match while the kids and I stayed home. I got all the towels washed, I helped Jacob
buy some sheet music and a Lego set he wanted, and I worked on this blog post
some more.
I headed downstairs to make a meal plan and grocery list, but Bellie was snoozing,
and when I sat down to pet her, she climbed in my lap and went promptly to
sleep again. So instead of doing what I went
downstairs to do, I ended up sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor snuggling
with her for a while. I had to get ready
for church, so I woke her from her snuggly cocoon, and then I took her upstairs
with me while I got ready. This on repeat for the next few months!
The kids and I picked up Mama Cass on the way there and then my Aunt Joy
met us there to help Mama Cass get inside and get to her seat since Brian wasn’t
there to assist. She has to be dropped
off close to the building and she needs assistance getting in, so we always
have to have someone to drive and park the car and someone to help her, which
meant I needed assistance.
After church, I pulled the car up to the church and Aunt Joy walked Mama
Cass out. I drove Mama Cass and the kids
to my parents’ house and Brian met us there with Belle for Sunday dinner. We celebrated my littlest brother’s BFF /
roommate’s birthday with chicken alfredo, salad, broccoli, bread, and a Hershey
cake, and it was a nice night catching up with everyone since we hadn’t been to
Sunday dinner the weekend before that.
During dinner, we were discussing grandparents and grandchildren and
their relationships, and Mama Cass told everyone that I go above and beyond for
her, and it made me tear up. She has
always been so independent (she mowed her own lawn until she was 91!), and I know
it’s killing her having to rely on so many of us these days to get her where
she needs to go. I just hope she knows
she is not a burden in the least. I cherish
every single second with her, and I’m so honored to be a very small part of her
village. Gah, I’m tearing up typing
this. I just love her so much.
We got home a little after eight, and we all got into pajamas. I made a quick meal plan and grocery list
since I hadn’t earlier in the day, and then we had just enough time to watch
one episode of Friends.
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched some more of The
Housemaid, and then it was bedtime!
We also received an email from Olivia's religion teacher over the weekend, and I thought it was just the most thoughtful, sweet thing and I wanted to drop it here to remember forever.
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
