What a busy
week. Whew. This time of year is just nuts, but it’s busy
from the good stuff in life, so while we’re all exhausted heading into the new
week, we’re also happy!
Monday, October
16
Monday, I had a
super long to-do list, so I dropped the kids at school and took off
running. First up, was Walmart to grab
groceries for the next couple of weeks, and by the time I left that place, I
was in a MOOD. Our Walmart that I
frequent only offers self-checkout now, which is fine, but they recently got a
new “sophisticated” system, and that has resulted in soooo many issues and, in
turn, I keep getting harassed every single time I go. It never fails, on each trip now, the Walmart
employee will come running over telling me that he was alerted that I “missed a
scan” so he has to come over and review the video, and every single time the
video reveals that I, in fact, did NOT miss a scan. Sigh.
This time, he
was particularly accusatory (which makes me feel like a thief even though I
would never in a million years steal anything), and it happened not only once
while I was checking out, but twice.
Sigh. If Walmart can’t get a better
system and they’re going to continuously accuse their customers of “missing
scans”, then they just need to shut down self-checkout altogether. It’s utterly ridiculous for me to be
interrupted every single time I go because they think that I didn’t scan one of
the items that went into my bag. That
has never once happened to me at Publix.
And trust me, if we weren’t saving money by shopping at Walmart, then I
would just stop shopping there altogether.
Rant over. Haha.
Once that was
done, I went home, I got the groceries put away, and I spent the rest of the
morning and afternoon working on the blog, getting things done around the house
that have been hanging over my head, working on some things for the kids’
school, and various other housekeeping things.
We’ve been
having internet probs for a couple of weeks which is highly unusual, so we had
to have somebody come out to check, and naturally, he ended up coming and
shutting the internet off while I was right in the middle of important business. Sigh.
Monday was
definitely a Monday, but it was all first world problems, so I tried to keep
that in perspective.
At 3, I grabbed
the kids from school, and then we headed to the kids’ pediatrician’s office so
Olivia could get her flu shot. Jacob was
able to get his at his well visit, but Olivia didn’t, so we wanted to get her all
squared away, too. My little girlfriend
HATES a shot, but she did so well this year, and we were so proud of her!
After that, we
were able to go home and settle in for the evening. Golf is over now, so we finally have a free
weeknight! Woo hoo! The kids got started on homework, Jacob
started building bridges out of popsicle sticks for his science project (the
dreaded science project… uuuugggghhhh), and I wrapped up some housecleaning and
cooked dinner.
On the menu
Monday night was sheet pan roasted sausage and veggies. I throw different things in there each time,
and this time I did turkey kielbasa, yellow and red potatoes, onions, zucchini,
broccoli, and carrots. I made some
gluten free blueberry muffins to go with it, and it was a yummy, healthy
dinner.
After dinner, I
got the kitchen cleaned up. I mentioned
last week that Brian injured both of his knees at his tennis match last Sunday
due to the courts being slippery from the rain, so he was in pretty bad shape
all day Monday. I didn’t want him on his
feet, so I got the kitchen cleaned up, and then I headed to change and get
ready for a workout.
It was dreary
and cold Monday – the temp maxed out around 60 – and with the wind, it felt
even colder. I bundled up for my run,
and then I got in 2.38 miles. I also set
the wrong workout on my watch (a walk) when it was supposed to be a run, so
just know that I really ran. I also had
the best pace I’ve had since my vertigo started. And I was also treated to the most beautiful
sunset amongst the dreary clouds.
And speaking of
vertigo, my spinning was much milder when laying down and getting up from
laying down early in the week. For the
last few weeks, I’ve only had issues when reclining or laying down, sitting up
from a reclined position, and tilting my head up (looking up at the
sky/ceiling), and then also a little towards the end of a run. That has been constant for the last three
months and has not let up… until this past week. I was still having the dizziness in those
positions, but it was mild for the first time in three months. Aaaand then later in the week, the mildness
wore off and it was back to being super dizzy every single time I lay down or
got up from laying down. Sigh.
After my run, I
got showered, and then we all snuggled in to watch the rest of the Lego
Masters episode we’d started the week before. Brian and I watched an episode of Cruel
Summer after that, and then we went to bed.
Tuesday, October
17
Tuesday was crazy…
there was just so much to do on my list, and every time I crossed one task off,
three more would pop up in its place. It
was just one of those days. I ran
errands in the morning – gas, the library to return books, Walmart (again) to
grab something for Jacob that I hadn’t known he needed, and then the
cardiologist.
My cardiologist
appointment was, thankfully, very quick despite the fact that there were
literally 30-40 people in the waiting room when I arrived. They did an echocardiogram just to check my
heart to make sure everything is good there since I’ve been having this
vertigo. I have to have one more test on
Halloween (an ultrasound of my carotid arteries/back of my neck) and then I’ll
get the results from both tests together after that.
After my
appointment, I headed straight home to get to work. I’m currently “blogging by the seat of my
pants” again AKA finishing every blog post the day before they go live, and I
always hate that because it puts on the pressure. I like to try to blog 2-3 days ahead at
minimum, but that hasn’t happened since this vertigo started. I feel like I got so behind on so many things
since I wasn’t functioning at 100% for so long, and now I’m paying for it.
The rest of the
afternoon was spent working on blog stuff, catching up on emails, fielding
numerous emails/texts/phone calls from parents at the school regarding Jacob’s
teacher’s cancer news and our upcoming auction, planning for several events at
the kids’ school, and trying to get organized by making various lists for the
many things we have going on right now.
I grabbed the
kids from school at 3, and then we headed home immediately so the kids could
get started on homework. Both of them
had LOADS to do on Tuesday, and Jacob’s science project has been looming over
our head for weeks, so he worked on that diligently until it was time to get
Olivia to dance.
After we
dropped her, he and I headed to Publix to grab all of the stuff that Walmart
didn’t have, and then we used self-checkout and didn’t get harassed by an
employee a single time. ;o)
He and I headed
straight home after that to put groceries away, and then Jacob buckled down and
worked on his science project some more.
He is testing the weight capacity of different types of bridges, so he
has to build nine bridges out of popsicle sticks, and y’all, wood glue does not
dry quickly, so the process is slow-going.
He’s enjoying the process, though, so that’s all that matters.
We also found
out Tuesday that Jacob was accepted into the National Junior Honor Society at
school!!!! We are so dang proud of
him!!
While he worked
on his bridges, I tidied the house, finished my to-do list, and then I got in a
stair stepper workout. I was soooo
tempted to skip the workout and use those 36 minutes to cross a few things off
of my ever-growing list, but I did the workout instead, and I was so glad I
did. You’ll never regret doing the
workout.
Once that was
done, it was time to cook dinner – fettucine alfredo with chicken, steamed
broccoli, and Cheesecake Factory bread – and then we all ate dinner together
when Brian and Olivia got home.
Brian’s knees
were feeling about the same on Tuesday.
He was able to go to work, but he said that they were extra stiff since
he wasn’t able to get up and move around as much there. Healing is definitely going slow for him right
now.
After dinner,
the kids got showered and ready for bed, and we got them into bed immediately
since Tuesdays are our late nights thanks to dance.
After that, I
got ready for bed, I meditated, and then B and I watched the last episode of
season two of Cruel Summer. I
LOVED the second season, too. It wasn’t
as good as the first, but it was definitely another solid ending that I didn’t
see coming.
Wednesday, October 18
Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and I settled in at home
to do some blog work all morning. Two
big boxes of Amazon Prime Day items were delivered late Wednesday morning, so I
also spent some time going through those items and getting them put away.
After lunch, I headed out to run a bunch of errands – the gas station to
grab a lottery ticket for an upcoming birthday party, CVS to grab a
prescription, Hobby Lobby to shop for items needed for Olivia’s fourth grade
class pumpkin, Staples to do an Amazon return (why they are starting to use
Staples now is beyond me), Publix to grab a couple of bags of candy for Trunk
or Treat at the kids’ school, and then to the school to drop off all of the
class pumpkin supplies + juice boxes for the class Halloween party. Yes, I definitely did that early, but I just
want to get things off of my list when I can!
While I was at Hobby Lobby, I glanced over at the car next to me in the
parking lot and saw this…
And it about gave me a heart attack.
Lol.
By the time all that was done, I still had an hour before the kids got
out of school, but since I was already there and I had no other errands to run,
I just went ahead and jumped in the car line.
I used that hour to clean out both email inboxes, respond to some DMs,
and make a phone call for our seventh-grade class auction basket. It was actually a very productive hour in the
car!
After school, we got Olivia to dance, and then Jacob and I headed home so
he could work on his science project some more.
He worked diligently for about an hour and a half while I wrapped up
some things on my to-do list, and then I pulled out some beef, rice, and
peppers skillet leftovers from the freezer to heat up with dinner. I served that with some tortilla chips and a
bowl of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi), and we had that for dinner
when Brian and Olivia got home.
After dinner, we got the kitchen cleaned up, and then a bit later I
headed out for another run. I’m losing
daylight very quickly at this point, and my days of evening walks and runs are
numbered. I’m surely going to miss them!
When I got home, the kids were finishing up showering and getting ready
for bed, and I got showered, too, and then we watched an episode of Lego
Masters before the kids went to bed.
Brian and I watched another episode of Only Murders in the Building,
and then we headed to bed, too.
Thursday, October 19
Thursday was BUSY and quite a doozy of a day. I dropped the kids at school, headed back
home to work for an hour, and then I had to be back at the church to go to Mass
with Olivia and then attend her first quarter awards ceremony.
At our school, the kids go to Mass weekly, and they start introducing the
kids to Mass in Pre-K4. Since Pre-K4
kiddos have short attention spans and have a tendency to be wiggly in
situations where they have to be still for a while, they pair each of the
Pre-K4 students with a fourth grader (their “prayer partner”) and the fourth
graders sit with them in church and encourage them to behave/be quiet/pay
attention/participate appropriately.
Thursday was the first day of the school year that the Pre-K4 kids joined
for Mass, so Olivia was paired with her prayer partner, and I sat with both of
them amongst all of the Pre-K4 kids and fourth graders. It was the sweetest dang thing, and the
funniest dang thing because those kids were soooo wiggly, but it was so sweet
to watch the fourth graders care for their prayer partners. I think I giggled through half of Mass
watching all of the shenanigans, but it was just the cutest thing at the same
time.
After Mass, third grade – fifth grade stayed behind to have their
quarterly awards ceremony. Olivia made
Principal’s List, she got the AR goal award, and she got the religion
award.
I snuck out after fourth grade was done, and then I headed straight to
meet an old coworker for lunch. We
always go to the same place – my favorite pizza place in town! – and we sat and
talked forever. I’ve known him since I
started at my old corporate job nearly 20 years ago, and he and I hit it off
immediately and have been friends since then.
He’s one of the few I keep in touch with from my old job, and I look
forward to our lunches every few months.
We usually try to go once every 2-3 months, but we hadn’t seen each other
in EIGHT MONTHS this time, although, we’ve had a few phone convos in between to
catch up. We either kept missing each
other with scheduling, and then summer came, and I had the kids home all the
time, and then I had vertigo and couldn’t drive for a month, so before we knew
it, eight months had gone by without us having lunch together. And I think that’s the longest we’ve gone without
having lunch since I quit my job six years ago.
All this to say, he hadn’t seen me since I had my braces put on, and he
could not get over how different my face looks since everything has shifted.
After lunch, I headed back home to get some more work done, and then I
headed to pick up the kids from school.
We had just turned onto a neighboring street, when I got the alert on my
dashboard that my tire pressure was low in my rear driver’s side tire, and it
said that the PSI was ZERO. Sigh. We drove to the nearest gas station, which
is, thankfully, right by the school, so I could try to fill it with air to get
us to the tire place to get it repaired.
Well, upon inspecting the tire, it was clear that air was going to do no
good because it was flat as a pancake. I
called Brian, and he offered to come put my spare on, but he’s still struggling
with those MCL sprains, and I knew there was no way he’d be able to get the
lugnuts off without having to step/stomp on the wrench since they’re always on
so tight. My dad is also still having
core issues after a surgery a few months ago and he can’t lift anything heavy,
so I didn’t call him either. We don’t
have roadside assistance with our insurance anymore either, so that wasn’t an option. Sigh.
And while I know how to change a tire, I cannot lift a tire because they
weigh too much. Not to mention I was
wearing a skirt since I’d been at church earlier that day.
I knew there were loads of people I could call who work at the school,
but they’re all ladies who I knew probably also couldn’t lift a tire (lol) so I
called our school resource officer and asked if he could help. He’s SO kind, and he would do anything for
anyone, and sure enough, he came right over and changed the tire for me. I’m so beyond grateful for people like him
who will drop what they’re doing to help someone in need.
The kids were supposed to be at music lessons at 3:30, but I knew we’d
never make it, so I had to call them and tell them we wouldn’t be there. Instead, we drove to the tire place right
near our house to see if they could patch it really quick, but the guy there
informed me that due to the area where the tire was punctured, they couldn’t
patch it and I needed a whole new tire.
And y’all, I JUST HAD NEW TIRES PUT ON MY CAR, LIKE, TWO MONTHS AGO.
Sigh.
Since I needed a new tire, I knew I wanted to get it done at the
dealership since I have a contract with them, so we got back in the car to head
home and call the dealership. On the way
home – and I still can’t believe this – I got the notification on my dashboard
that my spare tire was going flat, too.
Whyyyy. Haha.
I have THE WORST LUCK with flat tires.
I seriously get them, like, once a year.
I just had one last December.
We ended up getting home later than expected because of all of the flat
tire business, so the kids scrambled to get homework done and study, and Jacob
worked on his science project some more.
I made breakfast for dinner since it’s quick – eggs, grits, bacon, sausage,
and toast – and then after dinner, Jacob got back to his science project while
Olivia jumped in the shower.
I wanted to run Thursday evening, but it was drizzly, and I was frazzled
from the busy day, so I did a quick mixed workout at home – arms, squats, stair
stepper, and a few other random things – and then I tackled a few more things
that needed to be done.
Olivia has a new trick that she learned at dance, and she can now stand
on her hands with her legs sprawled out over her elbows and support all of her
weight like that for a few minutes. She asked
me to take a picture, and I wasn’t going to say no to that!
We all settled in to watch TV after the kids were ready for bed, and
first up, we watched Olivia on the local news!
One of our meteorologists had visited with her class earlier in the day,
and Olivia was front row center during the filming. That’s her pointing at herself. Haha.
After that, we watched some of The Amazing Race, and then B and I
watched The Golden Bachelor before heading to bed, too.
Friday, October 20
Friday was the start of a very busy weekend, but first on the agenda was
getting a new tire for my Telluride. I
drove the kids to school in B’s SUV, and then he met me at Kia in my SUV. I didn’t want to drive the kids all around on
the spare tire, especially since it had started going flat, and thankfully, B
was able to make it there without any issues.
After we dropped my car, he and I headed to Home Depot to scope out some
artificial Christmas trees. We have
sworn every year for the last 2-3 years that it was finally going to be the
year that we get an artificial Christmas tree, and we still haven’t made the
purchase. I think this year is finally
going to be the year, though.
I am incredibly picky about artificial trees. I only want one with the branches that look
real, it must be SUPER ULTRA full of branch tips, and it needs to have a
gazillion lights. Seriously, the more
the better. You can never ever have too
many lights on a Christmas tree.
Ever.
I had scoped out a couple that I wanted to look at, and upon seeing them
in person, I realized that while they looked really great, they weren’t quite
as big as what we need in our living room.
I also hate that many of the artificial trees at Home Depot use the microdot
lights. I’m old-fashioned and I want
traditionally-shaped lights. While we
were there, I did find one that was similar to the others, and it fits all of
the qualifications. It doesn’t have
quite as many lights as I’d like, but it has enough to be acceptable, so I
snapped a picture of it, and I’ll probably order it this week.
After we were done there, we swung by Lowe’s just to check out their
selection, and all of their trees were horrible with the exception of one, but
the one good one was almost twice the price of the one at Home Depot.
After that, we headed home, and I got cozied up in my office. The day had started out drizzly and cold, so
I was chilled to the bone and all I wanted to do was warm up. I spent the next few hours working on blog
stuff, working on school auction stuff, downloading some new music – Pentatonix
has a new Christmas album! – and unboxing aaaallll of my Amazon Prime Day
stuff. We ordered quite a few Christmas
gifts, so I had to get my Christmas gift spreadsheet updated, too.
Sheepie and Peanut Butter kept me company all day per Olivia’s request
since she hadn’t been able to bring them in the car that morning due to all of
the switching around of cars from my service appointment.
Mid-morning, I got a call from the school that Olivia had fallen off of a stool backwards and hit the back of her head on a corner of a table. They told me that she seemed fine and that they would ice it, and that they didn't think it was necessary for me to come and get her, so I told them to call me if she started feeling bad.
My phone rang again about 30 minutes later and I immediately felt panicked because it was the school calling again to tell me that she kept saying her head was really hurting. They told me they still didn't think I needed to come pick her up, and they told me that they could give her some pain reliever with my permission, so I told them to go ahead with that and to not hesitate to call me if she was still feeling bad after that.
Thankfully, I never got a call again after that, but she did have a little knot on the back of her head when she got home. Hits to the head always scare me to death, so I was grateful she was okay.
I took a break midday to go grab my Telluride. They had replaced the tire – it was, indeed,
not able to be patched – and I almost fainted when I saw the bill. Just painful since we’d just put new
tires on it. Why oh why are tires so
expensive?!
The service advisor also confirmed that the spare tire was quite low, but
not as low as I had thought, so they filled it with air and checked it for
holes as well while they had it, so hopefully I’m good to go for a while!
School dismissal came way too soon, and then when the kids and I got
home, we all got prepped and ready for the school fall carnival. It started at 5, so we got there right on
time and we spent the next couple of hours there chatting with friends while the
kids ran around. I took zero pictures of
Jacob – I try not to bother him too much now that he’s in middle school, haha –
but Olivia and her friends are always down for a picture, and they asked me to
take several. The witch pumpkin is Olivia's class pumpkin, and the Coco pumpkin is Jacob's class pumpkin!
Brian and I had a 40th birthday party to attend for one of our friends,
so we left the carnival a little early with Olivia in tow. Jacob spent the night out with one of his
friends (for the first time ever!) so he just stayed at the carnival and went
home with his friend, Jack. On the way
out, we grabbed Olivia a hot dog and a bag of chips from one of the food
trucks, and then it was on to the party.
B and I felt bad about having to drag a kid along to an adults only
party, but the birthday boy wanted us to come and he told us it was fine to
bring her along. We went prepared with
the Nintendo Switch so she could play that in another room if she got bored,
but it turned out that she just wanted to hang out with all of the adults all
night. Haha.
The party was catered so we had some yummy pulled pork, mac n cheese,
collard greens, and broccoli casserole, and then we all sat around and chatted
for the rest of the evening. The party
was for one of Brian’s old coworkers who is one of our dear friends, so
everyone else at the party was Brian’s current and old coworkers.
Around 9, the party broke up, and we all went home. B and I got Olivia in the bed, and then he
and I watched Only Murders in the Building until heading to bed
ourselves. When I did my nightly tuck-in
of the kids, I was so sad to see Jacob’s empty bedroom. Why oh why do they have to grow up so fast? Sigh.
Jacob’s friend’s mom did send me a couple of pictures throughout the
evening, though. They sat around the
fire pit cooking hot dogs for dinner, and then they made s’mores. :o)
Saturday, October 21
Saturday morning, Brian and Olivia and I got up and had homemade waffles
for breakfast, and then we watched some ESPN College GameDay. While we watched, Brian came across a great
deal on a hotel in New York City that’s a better chain, a better location, and
a better price than what I’d already booked, so he booked that one for us, too,
and I’m going to cancel the other one.
After that, I got up and got my booty in gear because I only had a few
hours until we had to leave for Atlanta to see Phillip Phillips in concert!!!!
First up, was a cardio workout followed by a couple of loads of laundry +
all of my Saturday chores. Jacob got
home mid-morning and he’d had a blast.
In addition to the hot dogs and s’mores they’d also watched a movie,
hung out, and they had Waffle House for breakfast. I can’t even believe it, but we’ve never
taken our kids to a Waffle House before, so it was his first experience. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve been
there since I was like, 19, and it was probably at 3 o’clock in the
morning. Haha.
I scrambled to get everything done for the rest of the day, and then it
was time to go. Olivia had put on a
denim skirt and a sweatshirt that belonged to me when I was a kid, so of
course, I had to take a picture of that.
;o)
Then at 3, B and I dropped the kids with my parents, and we headed to
Atlanta. We met Fahed and his partner
(the same guy who we’d celebrated the night before for his birthday!) for
dinner since he lives in Atlanta.
We hit up Hobnob Tavern in Atlantic Station for dinner, and it was
delicious. The food was tasty and fresh,
and the company was great, and it was just a really lovely evening.
While we were out and about I got this text from my Momma… she had done a
fancy hairstyle for Olivia for church per her request.
After dinner, we walked around Atlantic Station and chatted some more,
and then it was time for B and I to head over to see Phillip Phillips!! The concert was at Center Stage Theater, and
it only holds about a thousand people, so the show was very intimate, and I
loved every single second of it. We had
seats in the second row behind the pit, and we were actually invited to watch
from the pit, but we opted to stay in the seats. With B having his knee injuries and me still
having this vertigo, it probably wouldn’t have been a wise choice. Haha.
Jonah Kagen (who I’d never heard of prior to this concert) opened for
Phillip and he was great! And then
Phillip ended up playing many of the songs I’d wanted to hear, although, he
didn’t play either of my all-time favorites of his (Wanted is Love and his
cover of Wicked Game). But the show was
great, and I enjoyed it so much. I’ve
loved him for eleven years, and I picked him to win American Idol from
his very first audition. I’ve followed
his career since he did win back in 2012, and I’ve been wanting to see him in
concert forever, so it was nice to put a check on the concert bucket list.
After the concert was over, we made the drive home, and on the way I uploaded
a few videos to my IG stories from the concert.
About an hour later, I got the notifications that Phillip Phillips had liked
all of them and that he had shared one of my stories in his stories. Total fangirl moment, y’all. ;o)
Sunday, October 22
Sunday morning, B and I slept in, and then we got ready and out the door
to pick up the kids from my parents’ house by 9:45 because we had tickets to
the Lego Convention in town at 10 AM.
But first, a quick trip to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte and cake
pops!
At the Lego Convention, we met our friends Khristina and Ian and their
son, Noah, and we all walked around together.
They had some really cool stuff including really huge Lego builds, unique
Lego builds, discontinued sets, and lots more.
The kids were able to meet Kerry from “The Grandpappies” who were on the
last season of Lego Masters, and they thought that was neat. He was so kind and he chatted with them for a
bit.
We stayed there for a couple of hours and then we grabbed sandwiches at
Jersey Mikes before we had to get Jacob to a birthday party at one of the local
entertainment centers. He spent the next
three hours eating pizza and cupcakes, playing laser tag and mini golf, and
playing arcade games with his three best friends. Just living the life!
While he was there, Brian, Olivia, and I headed home, and Olivia helped
me get the house tidied and photographed for the Halloween home tour blog post
that was scheduled to go live the next day.
Nothing like waiting ‘til the last minute!
After that, she studied and did some “how to draw” videos while I did
#allthethings – prepped my planner for the week ahead, caught up on the morning
sermon I listen to every Sunday morning, transferred pictures from my phone to
my computer, sorted and edited all of the photos for the home tour post, and
put the home tour post together. Then I worked
on getting some things ready for the week ahead – I sorted all of the dirty laundry
to be washed, I tidied up some of the spaces in our home that were looking
rough, and I got some stuff prepped and ready for the kids.
Brian picked Jacob up around 4, and then when they got home, he had to
study for a test on Monday, and then he and Olivia played a very short few
minutes of video games before it was time to head to my parents’ house for Sunday
dinner.
Momma made spaghetti and salad and bread, and lemon crinkle cookies for
dessert (one of my favorites!), and we ended up leaving there around eight so
we could get the kids in bed early. They
had both stayed up late Friday and Saturday night and they were exhausted.
Brian and I watched an episode of Saturday Night Live, and then it
was off to bed for us, too, so we could get a good night’s sleep to start all
over again on Monday!
Whew!
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
