We had another slow week that ended in a three-day weekend. Can’t ever go wrong with that! Before I get started on this week’s recap, I thought I’d mention that I’m going to make a small change to these weekly recaps. As I’ve mentioned already, I decided to discontinue my What’s Up Wednesday posts since I felt like they were a bit redundant, but there were three sections of those posts that I worried I’d miss since I never post about them otherwise – What I’m Reading, What I’m Listening To, and What I’m Watching. I think it’ll be fun to look back at those things and since they typically vary from week to week, so I decided to start adding them to my weekly recaps most weeks so I’ll be able to look back on them one day.
Monday, January 13
Monday was a gym and get
stuff done day. It was really warm
earlier last week (highs in the 70’s which is nuts!) but the gym didn’t appear
to have the air on, so I struggled
through my workout. I’m so conditioned
to working out in cooler temps that I was barely able to hang on in the hot and
humid gym. Needless to say, I wasn’t
super excited about my workout results and I was pretty peeved at the gym for
not having the air on.
I’m really taking my 2020
word of the year to heart this year and I’m also reeeeally trying to relax a
whole lot more instead of filling every spare second with productivity, and I
did a fantastic job of that all week last week.
Every evening after dinner the kids typically play together and I’m
usually prepping for the next day and getting last minute things done, but this
past week I used the time to crash their playtime – playing with them in the
fort they made one evening, watching Jacob put together Legos one evening,
watching the UGA basketball one evening, and spending lots of time just
BEING. I do spend time relaxing each
evening once the kids go to bed, but it’s nice to spend time relaxing with them, too. I know all of this downtime won’t last long
with baseball season looming on the horizon, so I’m taking my lazy time while I
have the chance!
Tuesday, January 14
Tuesday morning I was at the
kids’ school all morning helping enter raffle tickets for our upcoming ball
into our database. There were several
hundred new ones that had been turned in, so it took five of us ladies all
morning long to get them keyed into the system.
It’s tedious, but it’s always nice to be able to chat with them while we
work!
Tuesday evening while the
kids were showering and getting ready for bed I picked up my book I’ve been
reading and I snuggled up on the couch with Maui
and finished it. Normally while they’re
getting ready for bed I work on getting more things checked off of my list, but
I’m really learning to just be still and I’m loving it. If you haven’t read When Less Becomes More I
highly urge you to pick it up. It’s been
mind-changing for me. So much that I’m
going to be dedicating an entire post to it sometime in the near future.
Wednesday, January 15
Wednesday was another gym
day, and another hot, humid one at that.
I struggled during my workout again, but at least I got it done. The rest of the day was spent at a doctor’s appointment,
and catching up on blog stuff. I had
also done all of the laundry the two days prior to Wednesday, so I had some to
iron and tons to put away.
Wednesday evening I made my
first Whole 30 meal ever! For the
record, we’re not doing an actual round of Whole 30 – we’d never survive. We love going out to eat too much. And our moms’ cooking. And beer.
And wine. But the way I see it is
this – IT’S ALL ABOUT MODERATION. I
personally have never understood how people do extreme dieting. I feel like I would be setting myself up for
failure if I was depriving myself of everything that I loved.
Instead, we typically eat
pretty healthy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week long, and then we
splurge on the weekend. I cook pretty
much every evening Monday – Thursday and I try to cook healthy-ish most
evenings. I’ve wanted to incorporate
Whole 30 meals into our dinnertime routine for quite sometime now and I decided
that 2020 would be my year to do it.
That way, we’re getting super healthy dishes throughout the week, and we
can splurge a little on the weekend without feeling guilty or junky. That’s what works for our family, but of
course, it doesn’t work for everyone!
So anyhoo, I found this
Rosemary Balsamic Sheet Pan Chicken Bacon and Apples with Brussels Sprouts
recipe and it was delicious. The only
thing I didn’t abide by for Whole 30 was the bacon… I know Whole 30 requires
you to have a particular kind of bacon, but since we aren’t doing an actual
round of Whole 30 I didn’t bother. I’m
not even sure where to find it in town anyway.
But the meal ended up being really good.
The kids didn’t love it, but B and I did! Our kids are crazy picky anyway, so it was
expected.
Thursday, January 16
Thursday morning I attended
the monthly Home and School Association meeting at the kids’ school (PTA for
those of you who call it something different), and then I tied up a bunch of
loose ends on the blog.
Olivia had ballet Thursday
after school and we were all very excited because the theme of her May production
was going to be announced!! Right when
we walked in the door we saw a huge mural of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as
well as a Snow White cutout, so we knew immediately that’s what it would
be.
Olivia’s class had been
allowed to make guesses as to what it would be, and she guessed The Little
Mermaid, but she didn’t seem to mind that she had guessed incorrectly. She came bounding out of class excitedly
announcing that she’s going to be a chipmunk and a magic mirror in the recital,
so we can’t wait to see what her costumes will look like!
Friday, January 17
Friday was my free day. I worked a little on the blog in the morning
and then started some research on a new SUV.
I’m hoping to get something new once we get our tax refund so I wanted
to round up as many midsize SUVs as I could so I could decide which ones to
test drive. I’ve had my eye on a Kia
Telluride for a few months now, and I’m HEAD OVER HEELS for it, but I do want
to see what else is out there before making a final decision. I drive vehicles for a good decade before I
get something new, so I like to make sure I choose wisely. B was kind enough to start my research for me,
sending over a list of as many midsize SUVs as he could think of plus their
starting prices, so I knew which ones to research.
I crossed many off of the
list based on looks alone, but I’m thinking that I definitely want to test
drive a VW Atlas, a Honda Pilot, a Hyundai Palisade, a Toyota 4Runner, and of
course, the Kia Telluride. I will say
this, though – after reading all about the Telluride and seeing it in person,
I’m pretty sure it has my heart. I just
don’t see any other vehicle being better than that one! I mean, it looks so much like a Range Rover
without the crazy price tag! It’s
gorgeous and I don’t really get excited about vehicles.
I picked B up from work for
a lunch date Friday afternoon and we went to our new favorite local Greek
place. This meal is so freaking
delicious, y’all! It’s probably my
favorite thing to get for lunch ever. I
get romaine lettuce, steak (theirs is so freaking tender and good), garlic
green beans, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, cucumbers, and tzatziki sauce. My gosh,
it’s so fresh and divine. After lunch, I
tried to convince B to take the rest of the day off and test drive SUVs, but he
had to go back to work. Boooo.
After I dropped him back at
work I headed back home and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out my
master closet. I do it about once or
twice a year and it always feels so good to empty some hangers and have some
extra space. I cranked up some T Swift
and before I knew it, an hour and a half was gone, and so were 30 tops, 6
bottoms, 6 pairs of shoes/boots, 3 handbags, 2 necklaces, and 2 old shoe boxes. #ByeByeBye
By the time I had bagged
everything up it was time to pick up the kids from school. We spent the afternoon hanging out at home
and then when B got home we headed back out for Mexican. After dinner, we drove by the Hyundai lot,
the VW lot, the Honda lot, and the Kia lot to stalk some SUVs. It was dark by then and we had the kids with
us, so we weren’t able to test drive them, but at least I was able to see the
Hyundai and VW in person since I hadn’t seen them before. The Telluride is still the prettiest. ;o)
The rest of the evening was
spent snuggling up on the couch with my lovies and watching The Good Dinosaur
by the fire. It finally got cold again
Friday night and I am not mad about it!! After the movie Jacob asked me to take a picture of his little mouse LEGO creation. Lately he's been into making his own stuff instead of just putting together the sets that he gets, and I thought this mouse was the cutest! He's just so darn creative!
Saturday, January 18
Saturday morning Olivia woke
up with a light rash on the sides of her face, and I didn’t think anything of
it until she mentioned that two other kids at school had been sent home from
school with red dots all over their faces.
We kept an eye on the rash all day and it didn’t seem to get worse at
all, so we chalked it up to nothing and went about our day.
The kids and I cleaned out
their art bins and cabinet in the kitchen and then after lunch we had a very
lazy rainy afternoon curled up on the couch and loosely planning our Disney
trip. We have to book our fast passes
soon so we wanted to get everything together to give to our travel agent.
I found this little gem in Olivia's art folder and it's just so perfectly her. We call her our "jolly gal" because that's exactly what she is! So happy all the time and just loves every single thing that life throws at her!
Saturday evening we went to
church and then a bunch of people from my mom’s side of the family and us (15
total) all went out for dinner and drinks at the brick oven pizza place right
by church. We had the best evening
eating and drinking and laughing and it was a fun time. I just love our extended family so much. We always have a great time together and I’m
so lucky to have most of them right here in town. I do not take that for granted.
After dinner, we grabbed
Blizzards from DQ to eat at home and then after B and I put the kids to bed he
and I watched a bunch of Gossip Girl episodes.
We’re coming down the home stretch, rounding out the fifth season and I
cannot stop! It’s so good.
This picture showed up in my Timehop and I just had to share it here. It's probably my favorite OOTD picture we've ever taken together. I cannot deal with all of her accessories. Hahahaha.
Sunday, January 19
Sunday morning I saw Olivia’s face and immediately jumped in the shower to get ready to take her to acute care right when it opened. Her rash had taken over her entire face and it was looking rough. I was pretty sure that I knew what it was – Fifth’s Disease – because Jacob had it when he was a baby, but I wanted to be sure. We were supposed to be seeing all of our family Sunday afternoon and evening and I didn’t want to infect anyone.
Olivia and I arrived at the
pediatric acute care 15 minutes before it opened and we stood outside by the
door to be first in line. By the time
they opened the doors we had at least 8-10 families behind us in line so I was
SO thankful we’d had the forethought to get there early. By the time we got inside and got her signed
in, the entire waiting room had filled completely and there were so many people
in there that there weren’t even enough chairs to go around. There were sick kids everywhere, and we’re not just talking a little sick… they all looked rough. The flu is running rampant here in town so I’m
betting several (or most) of them were probably there for that. #Ugh
I wouldn’t let Olivia touch
anything inside (LOL), but thankfully they keep the waiting room dim and they
play a movie on a giant movie screen, so she was able to watch Toy Story 3
while we waited. Thankfully, since we
were first in the door, we were first to get called back to a room, and we were
in and out in about 35 minutes total.
The second the doctor walked in she said matter-of-factly, “Yep, that’s
Fifth’s Disease.” And then she told us
that once the rash is present, the child is no longer contagious. The child is contagious for 7-10 days prior
to getting the rash, so there’s no way to even know when they’re carrying the
germs. Sigh.
She said it’s not dangerous
at all, not life-threatening (obviously) and all it’s been so far for Olivia is
just a rash. By the time we’d gotten to
the doc her rash had spread down her neck and all over her chest and tummy and
back, and she also had a few speckles on her arms as well. The rash on her face had gotten so bad that
it had all run together and looked like one big red mark on her cheeks with
some speckles across her nose. That’s
how you know when it’s Fifth’s Disease – because it looks like the child’s
cheeks have been slapped. It’s so weird.
We were told there’s nothing
you can do for it since it’s viral so we just have to let it run its course,
and the doc said there was no need to quarantine her since she was no longer
contagious. She told us to keep her
comfortable with children’s Claritin and Benadryl for the itching and she sent
us on our way. I hated that we had to go
to acute care and be exposed to all of those other germs, but I was glad to
have a definite diagnosis and a doctor’s note saying that it was okay for her
to go back to school on Tuesday. I
didn’t want to just send her back to school looking like that without a
note. I’m sure I would have been getting
a phone call. Haha.
We went to my MIL and
step-FIL’s for lunch Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a delicious Mexican
feast. My MIL makes the best enchiladas and they’re always one of my favorite things
she cooks. The kids did play outside for
a bit afterward, but it was so cold that the outdoor time didn’t last long.
After we left my MIL’s
house, we headed to Walmart Neighborhood Market to meet someone who was buying
Olivia’s old dollhouse. I’ve been
listing things on Facebook to sell and we’ve sold pretty much everything we’ve
listed. The lady who met us was in a Kia
Telluride and she let me take a peek inside.
She said she adores hers and I told B that it must have been a sign that
she was in one. ;o)
When we got home, B and the
kids played video games as they almost always do on Sunday afternoon so I was
left with an hour or so of free time.
Normally I would have used the time to work on the blog, but instead, I chose
to work on a couple of organization projects that I’ve been wanting to
tackle. I also got caught up on a few
things that had been tossed to the side, and by the time we left for my parents’
house I was feeling very accomplished.
We celebrated my uncle’s
birthday at Sunday dinner complete with my Momma’s famous vegetable
lasagna. It’s one of my favorite dishes
ever and it was a great way to end our Sunday!
I keep saying I’m gonna post the recipe on the blog but then I never
have the chance to take pictures of it, so I never do. One of these days, y’all!
Currently Reading
As I said before, I just
wrapped up When Less Becomes More and it has completely changed the way I think
about things. I plan to dedicate a full
blog post to it sometime, but in the meantime, I cannot recommend this book
enough to all of you ladies regardless of whether or not you have children. It will definitely make an impact and change
the way you think about busyness.
I’m also still working on
finishing up Christmas Shopaholic. I had
intended to finish it by now, but once I started When Less Becomes More I
couldn’t put it down. I reached for it
every spare second I had. I think I read
it in just four or five sittings.
Currently Watching
All of our regular TV has
ramped up again so we’re currently watching Shark Tank, The Bachelor (helloooo,
Peter), This is Us, Modern Family, and I’m the most excited because A Million
Little Things starts again tomorrow!!!!
I’ve been waiting for this moment for months!
We’re also still working our
way through Gossip Girl and I just can’t stop.
I still can’t help but wonder why the heck I didn’t watch it when it was
on regular TV. It’s right up my alley.
Currently Listening To
Now that Christmas is over I’ve
switched back to my jazz and standards.
I play a lot of Jazz for Studying on Pandora and I love shuffling all of
my Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, and Steve Tyrell on my phone. There’s just something about cold weather and
jazz music that makes me feel so good and cozy.
I also got an Echo Dot for Christmas (finally) and I’ve been asking
Alexa to shuffle 90’s R&B when I’m in my office. So freaking good, y’all.
Happy Wednesday!
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You have me so excited to read When Less Becomes More! And I had no idea A Million Little Things started tonight - super pumped about that, too!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely need to read when less becomes more! Your sheet pan meal looks delicious! One of the boys had fifths disease when they were little and I was freaking out and then I realized it’s not that terrible.
ReplyDeleteWe actually just went through the SUV shopping fun last summer! We ended up choosing a VW Atlas and I️'m in love with it! Definitely check it out and test drive one :) I️ do have a blog post about our SUV shopping experience if you need some inspo! <3
ReplyDeleteOoooh I'm so glad to know that! Thanks so much for putting in your two cents! I'll definitely be test driving that one!
DeleteSo much to comment on! Fifths disease sounds awful, but glad that it wasn't contagious any more. Mini Fox woke up sick last night, hoping it isn't too bad when she wakes up today. Glad that you are really taking your word of the year to heart, I know my kids love when I just sit with them and not try to do all the things. I just got a Honda Pilot last month, I love it! But that Kia is pretty too. I drive my cars 10 years as well, but loving having a new car after having my last one for so long :) Plus I went from a sedan to an SUV, which it's so nice to be back in a big car!
ReplyDeletePoor Olivia. I'm so glad she wasn't contagious. I vote YES for the Kia...love it!
ReplyDeleteVery exciting on the SUV. Hope Olivia is feeling ok!
ReplyDeleteLindsay! Whew! What a week - love the SUV, meals and LOVE Gossip Girl (I now want to re-watch from the start) and I sure hope Miss O is feeling much better!
ReplyDeleteoh and I can't get enough of the fringe boot outfit!!!
ReplyDeletealthough it sounds like your mind is made up, I have a GMC Acadia, and I love it. Also, it's funny to read a car list from someone not from Michigan. ;) Most buy from the Big Three (Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler). Also sorry to hear about Olivia. It stinks that you have no idea she is contagious until it's too late. Hope she stays healthy now.
ReplyDeleteMy SIL had one of those several years back and I think they liked it! I'll have to check it out! And thank you. She's doing fine, but just very itchy.
DeleteI am reading when less becomes more as well and love it. I just find myself saying amen a lot.
ReplyDeleteYESSSS!!!! Same!
DeleteSo glad Olivia is doing better, poor thing! I need to pick up that book, and yay for car shopping! I have been loving my Acura MDX (and had the RDX before it which I also loved), and Acuras like Hondas will carry you for a good decade and last forever <3
ReplyDeleteGreen Fashionista
I remember my mom freaking out when I had fifth's disease as a kid. So glad it wasn't too bad. I love that Kia and I hope it works for you! I don't know how people do extreme diets either, everything in moderation works best! Glad you are being more present! It really helps!
ReplyDeleteI can still to this day remember when I got the Fifth Disease when I was a kid... that was DECADESSSS ago.
ReplyDeleteThat's what freaks me out going to doctor's offices, - ALL THE SICK PEOPLE - ughhhh
Look at that Throwback pic - how little she was!!!
I can remember Fifth's Disease going around the daycare where I used to work every year.. hope she's feeling much better and no one else catches it. We have a Traverse and while it is our second Traverse I can't say I LOVE it. I'm really not one to care much about cars and only picked it since I was already familiar with it.
ReplyDeleteThank you! And thanks for the info on your SUV. I'm not super familiar with that one so I'll have to do some research!
DeleteI love the Kia Telluride. I have never seen it before you posted about it. Definitely test drive all the vehicles and get an idea which you like the most. I had no idea what Fifths Disease was until you posted about it as well.
ReplyDeleteI loved When Less becomes More. It was a great book!
ReplyDeleteOooo a new car is so exciting!! love that Kia!!
ReplyDelete