Well, last week
wasn’t the greatest as you can tell from the title of this post, but it’s a new week now and I’m praying that this one is a
little better than the last.
Monday, June
12
Monday morning,
we hit the ground running because I had an orthodontist appointment scheduled
for 8:35 AM. Don’t ask me why on earth I
scheduled one that early in the morning during summer break – especially the
Monday after we got back from our beach trip – but I did. Won’t make that mistake again! Haha.
The kiddos had
to come with me to my appointment, but thankfully, they’re always really quick
these days. They just had to change out
the wires on my top and bottom teeth and then we were on our way!
Next up, was
Walmart to grab groceries. We were out
of pretty much everything since we’d been out of town, so we had a ton of stuff
to get.
After that, we
headed back home, and the kids watched cartoons for a few minutes while I got the
groceries put away. They played for a
bit after that, and I spent some time in my office getting as much done as I
could. I’d hoped to play catch-up
Monday, but we had too much scheduled, so I was on limited time and didn’t end
up getting much done.
Around noon, we
had a light lunch – mine was very light because my stomach was still a little
off on Monday (it had been weird Sunday, too) – and then we got a few things
done around the house. The kids then squeezed
in a few minutes of video game time while I worked in my office, and then we
had to head out to get Jacob to his makeup piano lesson from when we were at
the beach.
His makeup
lesson was at 3, then he had his regularly scheduled lesson at 4, plus Olivia
had a makeup voice lesson at 4:30, so we ended up being at the music school for
over two hours. Olivia and I both sat in
on Jacob’s lessons and he worked some more on Everglow by Coldplay that he’d
started four weeks prior before the long break.
Olivia drew on
the whiteboard in there while he learned, and I happily watched both of
them. I love watching my Boo and his
teacher together. On a sad note, while
we were there, Jacob’s teacher told me he is taking a new job, so his last
lesson with Jacob will be next week (or two days ago as you're reading this). The
school had asked him not to make the announcement to the parents and students
quite yet, but he didn’t want us to be blindsided, so he told me anyway. Y’all probably know I greatly appreciated
that since Jacob (and I) don’t like sudden change.
His teacher
gave me his blessing to let Jacob know, too, so he wouldn’t be blindsided at his
last leasson, and I was dreading telling him.
He has loved his music teacher from the very first day, so I knew he was
going to be crushed.
While we were
in there, we snacked on a bunch of Jacob’s teacher’s DumDum lollipops from his
treasure chest, so after we were done at the music school, we grabbed some more
from Publix to take back to him to replenish his stash. We had to stop there anyway since there were
things that we had to get that Walmart hadn’t had earlier in the day.
Once the Dum
Dums were dropped off with his teacher, we all headed home, and I immediately started
putting away the last of the groceries and cooking dinner because it was getting
late. Monday night was sausage, peppers,
and onions tacos with tortilla chips and fruit – a staple in our house.
After dinner, I
headed upstairs to get in a workout on my stair stepper while the kiddos got
showered and ready for bed, and Brian headed out to start mowing the lawn.
Once the kids
were ready for bed, we all watched an episode of Weird But True, and then
the kids went to bed. B and I started
the show Shrinking because we’ve heard amazing things about it, and I
loved the first episode. It gave me high
hopes for the rest of the season!
Tuesday, June
13
Tuesday, we finally
had nowhere to be, so I had already told the kids that we were going to have a
lazy day at home. I had a million things
to do, and I needed to take some time to get caught up on everything once and
for all.
I got up at
7:15, got showered and ready, got the dishwasher emptied, started a load of
laundry, watered all of the indoor and outdoor plants, removed my nail polish
and repainted my toes, and I ate breakfast, and the kids STILL weren’t awake
after all of that. I guess they were
still worn out from the beach.
Jacob finally
got up at 9:15 (which is CRAZY late for him), and I made breakfast for him and
sat with him while he ate. Since we were
alone together, I took the opportunity to break the news to him about his music
teacher leaving. Y’all, I knew he was
going to be sad, but I completely underestimated just how hard it was going to
be for him. He is devastated. I spent the next little while comforting him and
it was just a really tough morning. I’m
so bummed for him, and I pray that this doesn’t affect his passion for the
piano. I really think his teacher has
played a big role in that for him.
Olivia finally
rolled downstairs just before 10 (crazy!) and I made breakfast for her. She had a major (random) nosebleed while she
was eating, so that ended up delaying her breakfast for a bit. After that, both kids got settled in with a
cartoon, and I headed upstairs briefly to start a load of laundry and start
catching up on some blog reading.
After about 20
minutes of catch-up for me, Olivia and I got her letter addressed to her new
pen pal and we got it out in the mailbox.
She made a friend while we were at the beach, so they exchanged
addresses so they can be old-fashioned pen pals! Isn’t that so much fun?!
After that, she
and I spent some one-on-one time making bracelets together while Jacob tinkered
with his piano. We made matching red,
white, and blue bracelets for 4th of July!
I joined Jacob
at his piano after that, and I watched him play a bit, and by the time that was
done, it was lunchtime.
It rained on
and off all day Tuesday, so we stayed inside all day. After lunch, I stripped all of the beds and
washed all of the sheets, and then we went through the kids’ uniforms to see
what they need for the new school year so I could go ahead and place our order
with the uniform company. I don’t even
want to think about them going back to school yet, but the uniform company was
having a two-day sale, so I wanted to get our order in during the sale! They’re also known to backorder stuff
foreverrrr so I promised myself that this year I’d remember to order
early. Last year, I think we waited
until mid-July and the kids didn’t have some of the stuff they needed until
weeks after school started.
Once that was
done, I retreated to my office for the next couple of hours to GET STUFF DONE
and the kids played video games.
After I wrapped
up things in my office, I got all of the sheets back on the beds and I folded
all of the towels that had been washed, and then it was time to start
dinner. We did easy turkey and cheese
biscuit sliders for dinner. Brian was
originally supposed to have been away playing tennis during dinner, so I always
try to pick easy stuff on those nights, but his tennis match was canceled due
to the rain, so he ended up being home anyway.
After dinner,
the four of us got out for a family walk with Maui since there was a break in
the rain, and we made it nearly 1.5 miles before getting back home. I headed back out on my own after that to get
in a walk/run, but my hip/knee/SI joint issue ended up flaring up again, so I
ran for part of it and then walked part of it.
While I was
gone, B and the kids watched an episode of Weird But True, and after I
showered, we started watching America’s Got Talent.
Once the kids
were in bed, B and I watched another episode of Shrinking, and then we
headed to bed, too. On our way to bed,
we always check on the kids, and Jacob was still awake, upset about his piano
teacher leaving, so I lay down with him in his bed until he was ready to try to
go to sleep. I knew he was going to be
sad about this, but it is heartbreaking how much it has upset him. It is so hard having sad babies and not being
able to do anything for them to make it better.
Wednesday, June 14
Wednesday morning, I was awakened at 4:15 by thunder rumbling in the
distance, and by 5 AM we had a massive, full-blown thunderstorm with torrential
rain. Olivia ended up in our bed per
usual during storms, so between that and the storm, I never went back to
sleep.
I’d hoped to get a few more minutes of sleep at some point so I lay in
bed a little later than usual for a weekday, but it stormed for hours, so that
never happened. I finally got out of bed
at 7:45 and got showered and ready, and then the kids and I had breakfast.
After breakfast, they watched a cartoon while I finally finished getting
caught up on blog reading, and then they got ready, and we got out the door to
get them to my parents’ before my appointment with my therapist.
Thankfully, there was a break in the storms while we were out, but the
bottom fell out right as I got back to my parents’ house to pick up the kids. The weather was pretty extreme on Wednesday,
and we were under a tornado watch and a flash flood watch all day, too.
When we got home, I made lunch for the three of us, and then the kids
played video games while I worked. We
had so little outdoor time last week because we had soooo much rain.
After lunch, the kids played video games for a bit, and I worked on blog
stuff. I also spent some time thumbing
through the new Bibles I’d purchased so I could decide which one to keep and
which one to send back. I ended up
settling on the NIV Beautiful Word Bible, but I also found that it comes in
different covers, so I ordered one more with a different cover to see which one
I like better. My main issue with the
NIV version was that I’m worried the cover will eventually look outdated, and I
wanted a more classic option, so I found another option that I’m hoping will
fit the bill. We’ll see.
After that was done, I worked on a couple of organizing projects – all of
my purses/belt bags/clear stadium bags/wallets/pouches were in disarray, so I
finally got them cleaned out and organized.
Then I also organized all of my bracelets. I’ve taken up bracelet-making as a hobby, so
I have TONS of bracelets now, and I needed to get them all organized so I could
see what I have.
By the time that was done, the kids were long done playing video games
and they had moved on to playing with their marble run. It was STILL storming outside, so we were
stuck inside for the foreseeable future.
I was just getting started on dinner when my phone rang, and I saw that
it was Brian. He had already texted me
to say he was leaving work, so I knew he was on the way home, and the only time
he ever calls me on the way home is when he gets stuck in traffic from a wreck
to let me know he’s going to be late.
Well, unfortunately, this time he was calling to tell me that he
was the one who had been in the wreck.
Sigh. Thankfully, he was totally
fine, but his SUV was not. He was
actually almost home when it happened – he was only a couple of miles down the
road – and he hit a slippery patch in the road.
Once he hit the slippery patch, the car fishtailed and spun out of
control, and he couldn’t do anything to get it back on track.
He ended up spinning around and then plowing up an embankment into some
trees backwards. Thank GOD nobody else
was around. That road that he was on is
not terribly busy, but there is usually a pretty steady flow of traffic during
rush hour as people are coming home from work.
There are also a lot of dump trucks that go through there because of a
business that’s just off of that road, so I’m grateful that none of those were
coming through as he lost control.
Thankfully, Brian was totally fine.
He said that he didn’t get hit by anything, and he wasn’t even sore or
anything. And although the vehicle would
still start, there was no way he could drive it because the front bumper had
fallen off, he was stuck in some trees, and all of the side airbags had
deployed.
The spot where it happened is around a very dangerous curve and on a
hill, so he told me he didn’t want me to come to him right away because there
would be no place for us to safely pull over there. Instead, he called 911 and waited for a police
officer and a tow truck to arrive.
Once the police officer had filed the report, Brian walked to the nearest
business, and the kids and I picked him up and took him home from there. When we got home, B called our insurance
company to file the report, and it was actually a very quick process.
Once that was done, we made breakfast for dinner – eggs, grits, bacon,
sausage, and toast – and it was a late one because of all of the events that
had transpired.
After dinner, the kids got showered and I got in a stair stepper and arms
workout, and then we watched a couple of acts on America’s Got Talent
before getting the kiddos in the bed.
B and I watched another episode of Shrinking and then we called it
a night.
Thursday, June 15
Thursday morning, we were awakened really early yet again by more storms
that were rolling through. I got up and
got showered, got breakfast for the kids and me, and then I retreated to my
office for a bit to get tickets to see Phillip Phillips in concert in Atlanta in
October.
Brian was able to work from home Thursday which was a blessing since we
only have one vehicle for the foreseeable future. He got a call from the insurance company
first thing Thursday morning saying that he needed to go get everything out of
the vehicle so insurance could move it to their facility and inspect it, but
they went ahead and told him that it’s likely totaled. They said when side airbags deploy, that
pretty much always results in a total loss of vehicle. Sigh.
Thursday was rainy yet again, so the kids spent some of the morning
starting summer homework (they each have some online work to complete, and they
also have to read), and B headed out to grab everything out of his vehicle at
the tow place.
While they all did that, I worked on some blog stuff and I got some
things done around the house, and by the time all of that was done, it was time
for lunch.
After lunch, the kids played with their marble run for a bit, and they
also played video games, and I worked on blog stuff. It was a pretty uneventful afternoon thanks
to the weather being yucky again.
For dinner, I made Taco Joes and steamed green beans, and by the time we
were done eating, the rain had stopped – THANK GOODNESS. We were able to get out for a walk around the
neighborhood with Maui, and the kids played on the neighborhood playground for
a bit as well.
After that, I squeezed in 2.38 more miles on my own while B and the kids
headed home. I tried to run again, but
my hip/knee/SI joint issue was still causing problems, so I ended up
alternating between jogging and walking… mostly walking.
When I got home, I showered, and then we finished this week’s episode of America’s
Got Talent before the kids went to bed.
Once they were in the bed, it was another episode of Shrinking for
B and me, and then bedtime.
Friday, June 16
Friday morning, we woke up to MORE RAIN – sigh – so the kids settled in
for some cartoons after our morning routine, and I got caught up on blog
reading and did some blog work.
Mid-morning, I headed out to run some errands – Walmart to do some
returns, Walgreens to pick up Father’s Day cards, and then the liquor store and
gas station to grab a couple more things – and then I headed home.
Thankfully, the rain stopped before I started my errands, and then it was
just cloudy for the rest of the morning.
When I got home, I rounded up the kids, and then we took a trip to the
library because Jacob’s book for summer reading was finally available.
My friend, Jeannine, texted me while we were there and asked if we wanted
to meet them at one of our favorite local places near our church to have lunch,
so we happily agreed and we headed straight there.
We met up with her and my friend, Heather, plus Heather’s mom and all of
our kiddos so we had a big group. We
ended up having to wait a while for a table because the place was packed, but
the kiddos didn’t mind because they spent some time playing in the game room
they have there… their favorite part.
;o)
We ended up getting two booths back-to-back right by the game room, so
the kiddos all sat together at one while the adults sat at the other.
After lunch, we headed home, and when we walked outside THE SUN WAS
FINALLY SHINING. Amen.
We headed home and spent a little bit of time outside followed by some
tidying up followed by some video game time.
I got the Father’s Day gifts wrapped, and I got my office nice and tidy,
and B got the lawn mowing done (they let him off early for the three-day
weekend), and by the time all that was done it was time to decide what to do
for dinner.
None of us were terribly hungry since we’d eaten lunch so late, so I ran
out and picked up a light dinner from our favorite local barbecue place. They have an AMAZING smoked turkey sandwich,
and it was all I needed since I was still pretty full from lunch.
After dinner, the kids were begging to play on the playground at their
school since it was just installed shortly before they got out for summer
break. So, I called Jeannine and she and
the boys met us there for some late evening playground time. We had the whole thing to ourselves, and we
ended up staying until 8:30. The kids
had a whole lot of energy to burn since they’d been stuck inside for so long.
When we got home, the kids got showered and in the bed, and then B and I
watched two more episodes of Shrinking.
And y’all, I am UTTERLY OBESSESED with this show. It is so good. I had seen high praise everywhere for it, so
my expectations were through the roof, and normally when my expectations are
that high, I usually end up disappointed.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it is one of the best shows I have ever seen. Every single character was cast perfectly and
there is not a single one who I do not love.
The character development is excellent, and I fell in love with each of
them after just one episode. The show is
clever and witty and laugh-out-loud funny at times, and it’s heart-warming and
you’ll laugh and you’ll cry, and you’ll just be downright floored by some of
the things that are said.
I feel like there are just so many excellent nuggets of life advice to
take away from every single episode and there are just so many
thought-provoking lines. At the end of
episode six, Harrison Ford’s character gives a couple some marriage advice and
all he says is, “Stay open. Two
vulnerable people will always find a way to connect.” Y’all.
If that isn’t the most beautiful and true statement, then I don’t know
what is. That hit home so hard,
and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since I heard it.
I’m telling y’all, this show is just brilliant, y’all. Brilliant.
Saturday, June 17
Saturday morning, we got up and had homemade waffles for breakfast, and
then we started doing all the things.
We’d gotten some pinestraw delivered that morning to put down in our
landscaping beds, so B headed out to do that while I got in my workout for the
day.
After my workout, I headed outside to clean up behind the straw laying, sweeping off
the sidewalks and porches and driveway, and getting all of the loose, dropped
straw in the beds. After that, I watered
all of my outdoor plants, cleaned off and changed out the front door mats,
planted sunflowers with Olivia, and got all of the plants in my bedroom trimmed
and re-soiled. Whew. The kids helped and played outside all
morning with us, and then we all had a light lunch at home.
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| Before |
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| After |
The afternoon was laundry, finally getting some stuff put away that’s
been sitting out for far too long, washing Olivia’s bed canopy that fell down
months ago that we haven’t had the chance to put back up, and the kids put away
all of their clean laundry. Then, I finally relaxed outside for a bit and read.
They played video games for a bit after that, and I spent some time
reading in the back yard, and then I spent a few minutes working on blog stuff
in my office before it was time to get showered and ready for the evening.
We originally had some plans for Father’s Day Saturday evening, but they
had to be postponed until next weekend, so we ended up going to 5:30 Mass with
my family and then out to dinner with my parents and my Mama Cass instead. We went to our favorite local Mexican place
since we hadn’t been in a while, and then we swung by Dairy Queen for Blizzards
on the way home since we hadn’t had that in a while either… we love to support
them since our next-door neighbors own it.
By the time we got home, it was too late to watch anything with the
kiddos, so we got them into bed a little early-ish for a Saturday night, and
then B and I watched a couple more episodes of Shrinking before we
headed to bed.
Sunday, June 18
Sunday was Father’s Day, so I got up early and went to grab some donuts
from our favorite local place. We all
had breakfast together and gave Brian his gifts after that, and then the kids
watched some cartoons while I got in a yoga workout and watched the local sermon that
I watch every Sunday morning in addition to attending our own church.
My MIL and step-FIL didn’t cook lunch on Sunday, so we decided to take
the kiddos to see the live action The Little Mermaid at the movie
theater. They had an 11:45 AM showing,
so we were able to get there before the theater got too busy. We all ended up loving the movie SO MUCH… it
was fantastic… definitely my favorite live action Disney movie so far!
I cried numerous times and pretty much bawled my way through Part of
Your World. The original movie came
out when I was just seven years old, so it always brings back sweet memories
from my childhood… it was my very favorite Disney movie until Beauty and the
Beast came out a couple of years later, and Ariel has always been one of my
favorite princesses. In addition to
that, I’ll now always be reminded of our beloved Father Manny’s homily last
weekend where he tied that movie and song in with Jesus and how much He loves
all of us and wants to be part of our world, and I love that it’ll
always have two meanings for me now. If
you haven’t seen the new one yet – GO.
It is excellent and I’m already ready to go see it again!
When we got out of the theater, the clouds and rain were rolling in, and
the rest of the afternoon ended up being rainy and yucky yet again. Sigh.
When we got home, Brian and the kids played video games, and I worked on
the blog, and then we headed to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner. My Momma made meatloaf, mashed potatoes,
green beans, black eyed peas, and biscuits – my all-time favorite meal of hers –
and it was a great evening hanging out and celebrating my Daddy for Father’s
Day.
When we got back home, it was bedtime for the kiddos, and then B and I wrapped
up the first season of Shrinking.
It was soooo great, y’all, and I’m already missing it! I’m excited and ready for season two!
Happy Wednesday, y’all, and here’s to (hopefully) a better week for us!
