Our Week - The One With Fall Break, Spirit Halloween, a Ghost Tour, a Hurricane, a Pokemon GO Walk, and Pumpkins at Callaway

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The kids had a short week at school for fall break, so we had an extra long weekend that was very much appreciated.  We stayed home this year for the first time in more than a decade, and it was so nice to just have time to relax, to get a few things done, and to do several festive Halloween things, too!  Let’s get to the recap!

Monday, October 5

Monday morning, I snoozed an extra time as usual, and then I drove the kids to school.  It was drizzly and yucky on Monday, so it wasn’t a great day to run errands, but we were in need of some groceries, so I went to Walmart and Publix after I dropped the kids.

When I got home, Brian helped me unload everything, and then I put away all the cold stuff before taking Belle outside.  She didn’t want to be out there long since everything was all wet, so we headed back inside and I grabbed a cinnamon sugar apple muffin that I’d gotten from the bakery + a cup of my beloved coffee…  and I think I’m now loving this flavor more than any of the other ones!

Belle went upstairs to my office with me, and she immediately curled up and went to sleep, thank goodness!  While she slept, I caught up on emails from the weekend, and I finished my blog post for Tuesday.  That took the rest of the morning, so by the time I was done, it was time to let Belle out for a potty break.

Brian was finishing with a meeting, so I got dinner in the slow cooker, I tidied the kitchen a bit and put up a few more of the groceries from my shopping trip, and then he and I ate lunch together.  The rain had cleared by that time, so I took Belle outside to play fetch, and then I went back to my office to order a birthday gift for my niece and start one of my holiday gift guides (already!). 

I freshened up after that and headed out to pick up the kids from school.  All three of us had dental checkups after school, but we had an hour to burn before our appointments, so we swung through the Dairy Queen drive-thru for Blizzards, and then I stopped by my eye doctor’s office to pick up another pair of trial contacts since my first ones didn’t work out. 

We still arrived at the dentist about 30 minutes early, but that was okay because I had to update online forms from them for all three of us, and they are painfuuuullll.  I always dread them because there are so many questions.  Each form had literally over a hundred questions that had to be answered, and I had to fill one out for each of the three of us.  It can only be done on your phone when I’d much rather prefer to do something like that on a laptop with a mouse (that’s the millennial in me!).  The forms took the rest of the time, and while I worked on those, Olivia changed for dance and both kids flossed and brushed their teeth in the bathroom.

Nobody had any cavities (!!) but my dentist did tell me that I have some obvious damage to my back molars from all the clenching I do in my sleep.  Sigh.  If only there was something I could do once and for all to make that stop!  I’ve tried so many things.

Olivia had dance at 4:30 PM on Monday, so she ended up being late, and after Jacob and I dropped her, we headed home.  I had just enough time to do a Bible study and my devotional before finishing up with dinner.  On the menu was BBQ chicken sandwiches, and the meat was tender and falling apart thanks to the slow cooker, so I just had to toast the buns and make some buttery garlic bread + cut some fruit for everyone. 

Brian picked up Olivia while I finished dinner, and then we all ate together when they got home.  After dinner and cleaning, I went out for a walk, and it was almost dark by the time I got home.  My days of after-dinner walks are numbered!

When I got home, the kids were already done showering, so I got showered and in my pjs, and then we all sat down to watch three episodes of Friends.  We’re making our way through season eight now, and I don’t want it to be over.  I SO love these evenings together watching my favorite show!

After the kids went to bed, I meditated, and then Brian and I watched some more of Outer Banks before going to bed.

 

Tuesday, October 6

Tuesday morning, I had a Home & School Advisory board meeting after I dropped the kids at school, so I stuck around for that.  We discussed all the upcoming events through the end of this year, so there wasn’t a lot for me to do since the next events I’m co-chairing aren’t until February and March.  I will be helping out with a couple of events before my own, though, because I’m always doing something there!

When I went to crank my car after the meeting, all it did was click and it wouldn’t turn over, so I assumed the battery was dead.  I called our resource officer, and he came right out with some jumper cables to jump me off.  Thankfully, it took about 30 seconds, and the car started right away, so I thanked him and drove straight to the store to have someone install a new battery.

When I arrived, there was only one guy working and he told me he wouldn’t be able to leave the counter to install it, but thankfully, another guy arrived for work just as I was trying to decide what to do next.  They had my new battery installed within five minutes and I was on my way home.

When I got home, I played fetch with Belle for a bit since she’d been cooped up for a couple of hours, and then I grabbed another muffin and a cup of coffee, and we headed upstairs.  Belle went straight to sleep again, and I spent the next couple of hours hunting, sharing, and shopping for Amazon deals.  I also started this blog post, and then Belle and I went downstairs for a potty break and lunch.

After lunch, I played outside with her for a few minutes, and then I did some work outside so she could get some fresh air, and then I went back inside to continue sharing deals and doing some other behind-the-scenes work.

Olivia had Velocity after school, and Jacob always loves to hang out with friends, so I didn’t have to pick them up until 4 PM which meant I didn’t have to wait in the car line either.  We headed home, the kids did homework and studied, and I shared a few more deals before folding and putting away the towels and watering my plants.  I had to get Olivia to dance shortly after we got home, so I had my cup of tea while I was doing my chores.

I dropped Olivia off at dance after that, and then Brian and I made breakfast for dinner.  It was slightly cooler Tuesday, so we decided to try to take Belle for a walk after dinner.  The first time we took her, she hated her harness, she hated her leash, and she had no clue what to do, so it wasn’t much of a walk as I ended up carrying her most of the way.  Lol.  This time, she started off a little slow, but after a few minutes, she was sprinting all around.  You could tell she was enjoying every single second of it.

When we got home, Brian had to pick up Olivia, so Jacob and I hung out in the living room.  I did a short stair stepper workout, and he did a Pokemon raid with Mack, and then he got ready for bed, and so did I.  We made it back downstairs just as Brian and Olivia were getting home and then she went to get ready for bed, too.

We watched a couple more episodes of Friends and then after the kids went to bed, Brian and I both made hot toddies because both of us were having throat issues (a cold for him, allergies for me).  We watched a few more minutes of Outer Banks, and then it was bedtime.

 

Wednesday, October 7

Wednesday morning, I was up at 6 AM, I drove the kids to school, and then I headed home.  Belle and I spent a few minutes outside, and then I grabbed another muffin and some coffee, and I got to work.  On the agenda Wednesday was sharing more deals, working on some blog content, ordering contacts, and doing a few things around the house.  I also worked on filming a couple of videos for something I’m working on.

The day went by in a flash, and it was time to grab the kids from school before I knew it.  After school, we stopped by my parents’ house to drop off my niece’s gift so my parents can take it to her when they visit.  My parents weren’t home at the time, though, so we didn’t get to visit with them.

We headed home after that, and the kids spent some time with Bellie, they spent some time thumbing through the new Target holiday catalog that had arrived, and then they played video games while I crossed a couple more items off my to do list. 

I made tacos for dinner when Brian got home from work, and then the four of us got out for a family walk with Bellie.  She did well on her third walk, and it was much faster than the previous two, since she’s finally getting the hang of actually walking instead of stopping 84,000 times.  Our neighbor from a couple of streets over, Joe, drove by as we were walking, and he stopped and got out to chat with us for a little bit, and then we were on our way back home.

The kids got showered and I did a functional strength training workout, and then, I showered, too.  We all watched a few episodes of Friends before the kids went to bed, and I wrapped up a few things for the blog/Instagram while Brian and I watched Outer Banks.

Thursday, October 8

Thursday morning, I was up at 6 AM, and after I dropped the kids at school, I ran home to try to tackle as much work as I could before they got out at noon.  Thursday was a half day to kick off fall break, and we were all SO THRILLED to have a stretch of 4.5 days ahead to relax. 

When I got home, I let Belle out, and she refused to go to the bathroom, so of course, she ended up going in my office.  Waaaahhhh.  She doesn’t have too many accidents these days, but I had a feeling it was coming since she wouldn’t go outside.

I spent the rest of the morning working tackling my list:

 

-       Adding a few dates to my planner

-       Cleaning out some of my List Master app and transferring tasks where appropriate

-       Doing some blog housekeeping

-       Looking at data from the Amazon sale to see which items were your favorites

-       Working on this blog post

-       Finishing my blog post for 11/18 (trying to get ahead)

 

Late in the morning, I took Belle outside to potty, but I made her walk down the stairs by herself and she finally did it for the first time ever!  I placed her on the second to top step, so she’d already be in the middle of the stairs, and then I placed her two front paws on the step below her.  She ended up going all the way down after that all by herself!  She was very slow and tentative, but she did it!

I had to pick up the kids from school at noon, and we swung by the CVS drive-through on the way home to pick up my allergy eye drops.  Jacob had taken the PSAT at school Thursday morning, and he told me he felt confident!  He said that he’s pretty sure he got every single math problem correct except the last one, and that was only because he ran out of time.  I wish I had half of his math brain!

When we got home, we had lunch, we took Belle out 800 times only to have her pee on the floor in my office five minutes later, and then the kids settled in to play video games for a bit while I caught up on blog reading and responding to blog comments.  I also went through emails, checked in for an appointment this week, and applied for ShopMy, the newest influencer platform.  It didn’t take long, and I was accepted into the program within a couple of hours.  Now I just have to learn how to use it!  Just what I need… another platform to keep up-to-date!  Ha!  All that took up the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go to music lessons.  Oh, and I did watch You’ve Got Mail as my happy background noise… because of course I did.  Haha.

The kids had to be at their music lessons at 3:30 PM, and I sat with Olivia.  She decided to give up on the Katseye song for now because it’s soooo fast paced and she just isn’t experienced enough to keep up with it, and she decided to start learning Babylon by Taylor Swift!  Mr. Steve said it’s such a great song because she gets to pick and strum, and the tempo is a little challenging, but not too challenging for her level.  She struggled with it at first, but once she got her finger placement down, she picked it up pretty quickly.

After music lessons, we went back home, I put some chicken nuggets in the oven for Olivia’s dinner, and then I did a Bible study and my devotional while Olivia got ready for dance and Jacob played outside with Belle.

Olivia and I had to leave right after that, and I dropped her at dance and headed back home.  Brian left for a tennis match right as I walked in the door, and I got started on dinner – chicken and rice stir fry with various veggies and pineapple.  Jacob and I were the only two at home, so he and I ate together.

During dinner, Belle scratched the door to let us know she needed to go outside, and then she managed to go back in all the brush that Brian has been clearing out in the back corner of the yard around the big trees back there.  She never goes back there, so we’ve never had to worry about it, and of course, she decided to do it the one time Brian wasn’t at home. 

I didn’t want to go back there to get her, so I asked Jacob to bring her ball outside, and we were able to bribe her to come out with a game of fetch.  After I threw the ball a few times, I scooped her up and carried her back inside so I could finish my dinner, and then Jacob and I cleaned up together. 

After dinner, we took Bellie for another walk, and it was dreary and near dusk when we left.  By the time we got home 25 minutes later, the clouds must have uncovered the setting sun, because the sky started to light up bright pink and orange and it was STUNNING.  It was one of those nights where everyone stops to take pictures all around town, because it was all I saw on Facebook and Instagram for the rest of the evening.  Per usual, the pictures never do it justice, but I sure was grateful to enjoy that time with my Boo.

Brian was playing tennis, and he stopped to snap this photo from the court… just LOOK AT THOSE COLORS.  And this photo is not edited in any way.  Just stunning.

When we got home, Jacob went to shower and I jumped on my stair stepper for a short workout since the walk was only around a mile.  When I was done with my workout, I took Belle upstairs with me in the bathroom while I showered and got ready for bed, and Jacob played video games for a bit.  Once I was ready, I tidied my closet and did a little bit of social media work on my phone while we waited on Brian and Olivia to get home.

Brian finished tennis in time to pick up Olivia from dance, and she showered when she got home.  Then, we popped some popcorn and settled in to watch a couple of episodes of Friends before the kids went to bed.

Brian and I made toasted marshmallow old fashioneds after they went to bed, and then we watched the Ted Lasso finale (I cried soooo much) and then we started the most recent episode of SNL.

 

Friday, October 9

Friday morning, I slept until almost 9 AM and I headed straight downstairs to let Belle out.  Jacob and Olivia both came downstairs while I was outside with her, and then we all had breakfast.  I unloaded the dishwasher, took my vitamins, tidied the kitchen, and made my coffee, and then I headed to my office just as B was coming downstairs.  He and Jacob both had mild colds all week, so he needed the extra sleep.

I added a few things to my planner, I checked on some stuff for the blog, and I made my to do list for the day, and then it was time to get showered and ready because we had lots of fun things on the agenda!

The four of us headed out just before lunchtime to put gas in my car and then have lunch at the new Mexican restaurant not too far from our house.  There was another Mexican restaurant in that same location for years before this new one took over, and we have been going there for lunch right before we go to Spirit Halloween for years – it’s a tradition – so the kids were SO sad when it closed late last year.  Thankfully, the new Mexican restaurant is even better than the old one, so we’ll be able to keep the tradition alive!

Brian and I splurged and got lunch margs since it was a vacation day, and I got a bowl with chicken, cheese, lettuce, guac, sour cream, pico de gallo, rice, and beans, and it was all so delicious.  Their margaritas are just mid, though.  That’s the one thing that I’m not impressed with there.

After we were done there, we dropped off all our old egg cartons at the recycling bin at Publix down the street since our city doesn’t recycle Styrofoam.  Then, we headed to pick up Mack and Buckley from their house so they could join us at Spirit Halloween!

Khristina and Noah met us there, too, and we had the best time walking around looking at all the fun Halloween things.  Olivia bought some hair color and some face jewels for her costume, and Jacob looked around at costumes, although he didn’t find exactly what he was looking for.

We ended up staying there for nearly an hour and then we said goodbye to Khristina and Noah before heading to Target to find Halloween gingerbread houses.  The boys wanted to look at Pokemon stuff, too, and of course, we had to look at some of the other Halloween stuff.

By the time we left Target, the rain had really settled in, and the wind had picked up because the outer bands of Hurricane Isaias were hitting.  We took Mack and Buckley home, picked up a dozen pumpkin donuts for the weekend ahead, and then headed home for the rest of the afternoon.

I got a cup of tea and headed to my office to work on this blog post for a bit before breaking to do a few things around the house.  And we had a million packages that had arrived from the Amazon and Target sales, so I opened all the Amazon ones immediately because I knew it was all the pieces of Olivia’s costume that she’d picked out.  She tried it on immediately and loved it.

Early in the evening, we headed downtown to grab a quick dinner at a cute little market with a bunch of different food options, and Brian and I split some mozzarella sticks and a pizza.

We had tickets for a ghost tour at a local theater, and we were all soooo excited.  This theater has been around since the 1800s and all the locals have heard all the lore about the ghosts that haunt it.  I took acting classes at that same theater back when I was a kid, and I got to take a behind the scenes tour while I was there, and they told us all about the ghosts then, too.  I remember it being so spooky.

Our ghost tour started at 7 PM, so we walked to the theater from the restaurant (in the rain because the outer bands of the hurricane were moving in), and we arrived a few minutes early. 

The tours are small, and we only had 17 people in ours, and they did the whole thing in the dark which made it even spookier.  The tour was about an hour, and it started in the concession area, where we’ve been tons of times since it’s open to the patrons who see the shows.  He told us all about the stained glass, which is original to prohibition times, as the theater was part of an underground ring that smuggled alcohol in underground tunnels.  He said when the light was on in the green part of the glass it meant you could come in, but if the red part was lit up, that meant you couldn’t enter.  So cool that the glass is over 100 years old!

While on the tour, we got to visit lots of areas that are usually off limits unless you work there.  We were able to go in the costume shop, we were able to see the area where they make the sets and props, we went on the stage, and we visited the entrance and heard the story of the little girl who died on that very tile floor over a hundred years ago when the theater had a general store on the ground floor.  That little girl is said to haunt the costume shop and sort all the buttons by color and shape.  So creepy.  Then, the tour ended in the second loft that’s been closed for decades.  That was definitely the creepiest area of all.

It was up there that our tour guide told us the story of Edwin Booth (John Wilkes Booth’s brother) and how he did a long run of Hamlet at that very theater in the 1800’s.  After that run of Hamlet his career fell apart, and it’s said that his ghost has haunted that theater since he passed away in 1893.  The lore says he’ll haunt the building until Hamlet is performed again, so the theater refuses to do another production of Hamlet.

We all LOVED the tour.  It was so much fun and so very appropriate for this time of year.  ;o)

We got home a little after 8 PM, everyone put on some cozy pjs, and we popped some popcorn to enjoy while we watched Friends.  After a few episodes, the kids went to bed, Brian and I made toasted marshmallow old fashioneds, and then we finished the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live.

We let Belle out one more time before bed, and the wind was CRAZY because the hurricane was moving closer.  It was very unsettling since it was pitch black outside.  We went to bed sometime after midnight with our phones on and everything ready in case we had to take shelter from tornadoes.  Brian had secured the outdoor things, hence all the pumpkins in our front room, so that was one less thing to worry about.

Saturday, October 10

It stormed like crazy all night, and the wind woke me up a couple of times, but thankfully, we didn’t personally have any issues nor did we lose power.  I got out of bed around 8:30 AM, I let Bellie out, and I immediately jumped onto Facebook so I could see how everyone had fared around town.  There was a lot of damage here in town – trees down (some on houses) and many homes without power – but overall, everything seemed to be okay here.

Once everyone was downstairs, we had donuts for breakfast that we’d picked up the day before, and then I unloaded the dishwasher and tidied the kitchen because it was a mess.  After the kitchen was clean, I made a cup of coffee, and Brian and I settled in to watch College GameDay on the couch while the kids did their laundry, tidied a bit, and played video games.

After a couple of lazy hours, I finally got up to get a few things done.  Jacob started on his Halloween gingerbread houses and I helped Olivia make some Halloween cake pops with the kit she’d gotten Friday.  Once the cake was out of the oven, it had to cool, so we all ate lunch, and then Olivia formed the cake pops, and we put them in the freezer to set per the instructions.

My friend, Jeannine, had invited the kids to do a PokemonGo walk, so Brian dropped both kids off with her.  Olivia was supposed to have had dance Saturday, but they canceled it late Friday night in case the weather was bad.  The storm ended clearing out much earlier than expected, and it actually turned out to be a decent day.  It was mighty breezy all day, and the clouds were swirling all around constantly, but the rain had completely moved out.

While the kids were gone, I put our new sheets on the bed, I tidied my closet, I washed three loads of laundry, and I took Belle for a walk.  She enjoyed every single second – she is really growing to love our walks – and when we got home, she was so sleepy.

 

I went back out to walk some more after I dropped her, and then I showered while Brian picked up the kids from their Pokemon walk.  They'd had the best time and Aunt Neenie had taken them for ice cream, too!

When they got home, I helped Olivia melt the chocolate so she could decorate her cake pops, and she and Jacob dug in immediately after they were done.  They both said that they were delicious, and Olivia enjoyed making them so much even though it was a long process, so it was a big win!  Such a fun activity for a lazy day.

After that was done, I took a cup of hot tea to my office to do a couple of things for the blog, check my emails, and work on this blog post, and then I had to lay out the last of the laundry for the day.  No makeup, comfy clothes, nowhere to be.  Just the BEST.

Brian ran out to Five Guys to grab dinner for us, and I made us some prickly pear mules to have with dinner.  I need to share that recipe because they’re delicious!  While Brian was gone, Jacob took Belle upstairs and let her explore so she could acclimate to the rest of the house.  She doesn’t get a chance to just roam upstairs because there’s too much for her to get into, so he stayed right on her heels the whole time to make sure she didn’t do anything she wasn’t supposed to.

We watched the end of the Texas vs. Oklahoma game during dinner, and we were shocked that Oklahoma won. 

After dinner, the kids showered, and then we turned on the Georgia vs. Alabama game.  It was such a close, crazy game as always, and I was soooo nervous the whole time we watched, so I did what I always do when we’re in a close game… I got up and did stuff while I watched.  I did a stair stepper workout, I folded and put away the towels, I put away the last of the laundry from earlier in the day, and then I finally settled on the couch to watch.

We ended up winning in a verrrryyyy close one.  There were some controversial calls, as there always are in a UGA / Bama game (TYLER SIMMONS WAS ONSIDE! for all you longtime Georgia fans – hahahaha) and it was just an all-around crazy game.  But we won!  And we don’t have a great record against Bama – they beat us most of the time – and we hadn’t won a game in Tuscaloosa since 2007, I think they said?  So, we were ecstatic to finally knock them off in their own stadium again.  Long overdue.

Brian and I went to bed sometime after midnight again, and I slept like a baby.

 

Sunday, October 11

Sunday morning, I slept until 8:45-ish and then I headed downstairs to let Bellie out into the chilly morning.  It was still a bit breezy from the hurricane, it was cloudy, and it was in the mid-60s, so I was shivering with my bare feet.  After she went to the bathroom, we headed back inside.  The kids came down to eat breakfast, I unloaded the dishwasher, tidied the kitchen, took my vitamins, and did #allthethings, and then I grabbed a leftover donut and my coffee and headed to my office with Bellie.  She decided to be a menace immediately and she did not want to be contained, so I promptly took her right back downstairs to the kitchen.  Sorry, Bellie.

I turned on You’ve Got Mail and then did my Sunday things…

 

-       Transfer photos from my phone to my computer

-       Organize the photos (though I didn’t have time to finish)

-       Get my planner ready for the week ahead

-       Work on this blog post

-       Fix some blog typos in a previous post

 

It was time to get ready for the day after that, and then we all headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s house to celebrate my step-father-in-law’s birthday.  We hung out over there for much of the afternoon, and then we headed home to get a few things done around the house before we had to leave to meet friends for the rest of the evening.

I finished organizing my photos that I’d removed from my phone, I worked on this blog post, I sorted the laundry, and then we got ready to go to Pumpkins at Callaway with friends!  We’ve been going every year since 2021 with the same group, and it’s become one of our favorite traditions each year.  This year, we were just missing James and Khristina.

The weather was perfection on Sunday after the hurricane.  It was sunny and breezy, and the high maxed out in the low 70s, so I was able to wear long sleeves comfortably!  When we got there, we met up with everyone else on the mini golf course, and then we walked through the woods to see all the sights during the daytime.  The fog machine was on in Foggy Hollow, and it was spreading all throughout the woods, making for an ah-mazing sunray display through the trees!  Just look at those photos!

After we walked the course, we went into the big tent for a while to see all the activities and do a little bit of browsing (Olivia wanted to look at squishies) and then we took the trolley over to the corn maze and sunflower field.  The sunflowers were on their last leg since we went later in the season (and I’m sure the tropical storm winds the day before didn’t help), so we didn’t bother to take any pictures there like we usually do.  The kids all did the corn mazes – the easy one once and the hard one twice – while all of us adults chatted for a bit.  We grabbed some food from the food trucks after that – mac n cheese and sausage – and then sat and ate.

Then, at dusk, we took the trolley back to the other side.  We had to grab sweaters from the car because it was getting chilly, and then we watched the dance party by the big pumpkin tower for a bit.  They were teaching everyone how to do the Thriller dance, so that was fun! 

We all walked through the woods one more time after that, and then the kids went back through by themselves.  We walked through the tent one more time so the kids could grab trick-or-treat bags, and then we hit up each of the candy stations on the way out.  The kids racked up considering there were only three candy stations, and they ate some of their candy on the way home.

We got back home just after 9 PM, got into pjs, watched an episode of Friends, and then after the kids went to bed, Brian and I made toasted marshmallow old fashioneds while we watched the Falcons play.

The kids had one more day off Monday, but Brian had to work, but he was able to work from home, so we stayed up late yet again.

It was a nice change of pace to stay home for fall break, and we are all happy and well rested going into the new week! 

Happy Tuesday, y’all!