Our Week - The One with Quarantine, Week 28 (House Projects and SEC Football)

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Happy Monday!  I’m recapping our week last week so let’s get down to it!

Monday, September 21 (Day 192 of Quarantine)

Monday morning, I had to go back to the Kia dealership to finish up the paperwork on my new Telluride since their power had gone out when we were there Friday.  We were able to complete everything this time, and the SUV is officially mine!!

I ran a couple of errands afterward, and then went back home to work for the rest of the day.  Jacob had a baseball game Monday evening, and the weather was absolutely perfect for it… in fact, it was so perfect, that it was chilly enough for me to wear a sweater.  Yes, yes, YES.

Jacob’s team ended up losing in a close one, 8-7, but considering this was the same team who had whooped us the week prior, it was actually an improvement.  Jacob ended up with one single and he threw two people out at first, so it wasn’t his best game, but it wasn’t too bad either.

We grabbed Chick-Fil-A on the way home, and the rest of the evening was spent doing the usual evening routine and watching some Schitt’s Creek before bed… did y’all see all of the Emmys they won last weekend?!

Tuesday, September 22 (Day 193 of Quarantine)

Tuesday morning, we woke up to 55 degree temps, so after I dropped the kids at school I went for a run.  It’s amazing how much easier it is to run when it’s cool outside!!  All of my other runs have been done in the yucky heat and/or humidity, so it was nice to have some natural air conditioning this time.  ;o)

I spent the rest of the day holed up under my twinkle lights in my cozy office working, sipping on cinnamon tea, breathing in my fall essential oils, and watching movies that make me happy.  Gosh, I just love this time of year.

We had nowhere to be Tuesday evening, so I made slow cooker beef stroganoff, and we spent the evening in catching up on homework and America’s Got Talent.

Wednesday, September 23 (Day 194 of Quarantine)

Wednesday, I spent the whole day working on blog posts and trying to get ahead since we’ll be going to the mountains in a couple of weeks.  Ever since the pandemic started, I’ve been feeling like I’m drowning in blog work because I got so behind while facilitating distance learning.  I’ve been playing catchup ever since.

I also got caught up on a bunch of miscellaneous things that I’ve been needing to do – taking a refresher training course that’s required to volunteer at the kids’ school (not that we can volunteer at this time anyway), adding some new music and syncing my phone, downloading the new version of iOS (so many great new features!!), shredding some old files, etc.  Several of those tasks have been on my to-do list for a while, so it was nice to finally get them knocked out.

Wednesday evening, Jacob had his makeup game that was canceled the prior week due to the hurricane.  They lost 12-6 (yikes!) but he had a pretty good game, personally.  He ended up with one double/RBI, one single, and he scored a run.    

Thursday, September 24 (Day 195 of Quarantine)

Thursday it was cloudy most of the morning and rainy all afternoon and evening, so I spent the entire day in my office working.  I turned on my string lights and lamps, made a glass of hot cinnamon tea, grabbed a pumpkin cookie, wrapped up in my cozy blanket, and listened to my favorite morning show followed by some Michael Buble and Steve Tyrell. 

So much happiness right there in that sentence. :o)  I feel like I’m totally in my element now that fall is here.  September through December have always – and will always – be my favorite months of the year.  I’d choose cozy vibes over sunny summery vibes pretty much any day of the week.

Jacob’s game was canceled Thursday evening due to the rain, so we spent another evening in… I made breakfast for dinner and then we watched a little more of America’s Got Talent.  We’re almost caught up to the finale! 

Friday, September 25 (Day 196 of Quarantine)

Friday morning, I stopped by Walmart after I dropped the kids off at school.  I’m working on one last project for my office and I needed some neutral fabric.  In case you didn’t know, Walmart has an extensive fabric department (or at least all of our Walmarts do), and their prices are a tiny fraction of the cost of places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Joann.  I was able to get two yards of a thick, sturdy fabric for just over $2.  That same amount of fabric would cost, probably, $10-$12 at Hobby Lobby.

We received our weekly Covid update from the kids’ school Friday afternoon, and y’all, we are celebrating SEVEN HEALTHY WEEKS at our school!!!!  We have had zero Covid cases among faculty, staff, and students for all grades (daycare starting at age 1 all the way through high school seniors) in the seven weeks we’ve been back.  It’s truly a miracle, and we’re praying it continues.

Friday evening, we grabbed takeout from one of our favorite Mexican places, and then after dinner, Olivia had a virtual slumber party with all of her friends.  Her friend’s mom arranged the whole thing, and she even sent goodie bags to school with her daughter to hand out to the girls for the party. 

The bags included fingernail stickers, a face mask, lotion, glow sticks, and ingredients to make s’mores, so the girls were able to do their nails and face masks together and eat their s’mores together, too.  They spent the rest of their time chatting and showing each other their dolls and other toys and it was seriously the sweetest thing.  We can’t wait until Covid is over so we can get them together for a real sleepover.  ;o)

Her virtual slumber party ended around 8:30, and then we all watched some more of America’s Got Talent, before sending the kids off to bed so B and I could watch the new Father of the Bride 3 special that was just released!!!!  FOB 1 and 2 are some of my favorite movies of all-time, so I was ecstatic when I saw that they were doing this special.  It’s only about 30 minutes, so it’s not a full movie, but it does have the full cast and some of the same music, and it was just really cute.  A little cheesy, but cute.  I just adore Steve Martin and Diane Keaton.

Saturday, September 26 (Day 197 of Quarantine)

Saturday was GAME DAY!!!!  Our first game of the season!  Woo hoooo!  (Our season was delayed because of Covid, of course.)  We started the day with some Halloween waffles and then I got in a good cardio workout while watching Game Day.  I got some laundry done, and B put my Georgia plate on the front of my new Telluride, and that was the extent of our productivity.  Haha. 

The rest of the day was spent in front of the TV watching all the SEC football we could possibly watch.  Our Dawgs struggled the first half of our game, but we ended up blowing them out the second half, so all ended well.  Our QB1 opted out and left us high and dry a few weeks ago due to Covid, so I have a feeling this entire season is going to be a struggle.  So very 2020.  I’ve already made my peace with it, though, and I’m just grateful to be able to watch them play.

Sunday, September 27 (Day 198 of Quarantine)

Sunday morning was church, cinnamon rolls, and planning the week ahead, and then I worked on a few projects around the house for the rest of the morning.  B helped me hang my new bulletin board behind the door in my office, and now my office is officially done.  Prior to this, I had a collage wall behind the door, but it was only there temporarily until I decided what I wanted to put there permanently.  I ultimately decided to hang a bulletin board so I can change things out as I’d like to.  For now, I’m just going to use it to hang my all-time favorite pictures from our travels, pictures with old friends, pictures with famous people I’ve met, and old concert, sports, and show tickets… kind of an ode to life’s adventures…

I updated my iPhone to the new iOS recently, and I was ecstatic to see that the update fixed a year-long issue I’ve been having with transferring my pictures and videos from my phone to my computer.  For the last year, I haven’t been able to transfer videos off of my phone at all… whether doing it manually or using the program that transfers them automatically.  They error out every single time, and it has been a nightmare every single week when I try to transfer my pictures off of my phone to use for the blog.  Seriously, a nightmare.  Because of that, I haven’t been able to delete anything from my phone, and I also haven’t been able to transfer any of my photos and videos to my external hard drives or to Amazon. 

That means that I’ve had thousands upon thousands of pictures clogging up my phone and my computer this past year, and it’s been a major pain in the ass (excuse my language but that is how strongly I have felt about this issue, lol).  I discovered this weekend that the iOS update resolved my problem completely, so I was finally able to go and pull all of the missing videos from my phone and get them archived appropriately. 

Now I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks transferring everything from my computer to my external hard drives and my backup cloud on Amazon and cleaning everything off of my computer and phone.  FINALLY.  I am seriously so happy about this that I could just cry. 

Sunday afternoon, we got Panera takeout for lunch, and then we spent the afternoon inside, tidying up, playing video games, and working.  It was a dreary/rainy day, so we didn’t spend much time outside early on.

Fortunately, things cleared up a bit by dinner time, and after our Sunday charcuterie, we were able to go for a walk around our neighb.  We finally let the kids play on our neighborhood playground and we were all so excited about that!!!!  Seriously, we’ve lived in this house for eleven years next month, and we’ve never once taken the kids to our neighborhood playground.  They ended up loving it, and I’m sure we’ll be back!

Now for a few current things since it’s the end of the month...

Currently Reading

 

Well, I’ve officially lost my reading mojo.  Once fall comes around, I start to feel inspired and invigorated after months of endless heat, so that means I mentally make the switch from wanting to lay around and read all the time to working on doing all the things… house projects and blog stuff, decorating, creating, organizing, and prepping for the holiday season ahead.  We’re also really busy in the fall with back-to-school stuff, baseball, and dance, plus aaaallll the festive fall activities, so I just never make time to read during the day.  The only reading I actually do is right before bed, but I’m always so exhausted by the end of the night that I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow.

 

With that said, I only read one fiction book this month, and I’m not even done with it yet.  Majesty is the one I’m reading and I’m absolutely loving it.  I really do just need to make the time to finish it because I’m dying to see how it ends.

 

I’m also just finishing up White Fragility which has been excellent.  I know I’ve mentioned it several times here on the blog, and I believe more than ever now that all white people should read this book.  It will truly make you think about things differently, and it will help you understand exactly what systemic racism is, and why something needs to be done about it.

 

I’m also still sloooowly working my way through Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts.  So far this one has just been okay for me.  I had really high hopes for it, but it hasn’t been quite what I expected, and therefore, I haven’t enjoyed it as much as I thought I would.  Hence, the reason I haven’t made it a priority.

 

Currently Watching

 

Oh let’s see… on TV, we’re just finishing up America’s Got Talent and we’ve also been watching a bit of Dancing with the Stars.  We’ve never been huge fans of that show, but we have been known to pop in here and there to watch certain people.  This season, I have been loving watching AJ from Backstreet Boys, Nelly, and of course, the hot mess that is Carole Baskin.  Lol.

 

We’re also rolling through Schitt’s Creek and I’m so glad we decided to give it another try.  It took me a long time to get into it, but am loving it now… it’s absolutely hysterical.  I was so glad to see that it swept the Emmy’s because they deserve it.  The cast is just incredible, and each character plays their roles perfectly!!!!  I just can’t even pick a favorite character because they’re all so unique and funny in their own ways.  David and Alexis just trip me out, though.  “Ew, David.”

 

You may remember that last month we had started watching West World, and I just realized this very second that we haven’t watched a single episode all month.  It went downhill quickly after the first episode and I didn’t love it, but B hasn’t been watching it lately either. 

 

In addition to all of that, I’m watching 90’s and early 2000’s romantic comedies like it’s my job.  Seriously, I’ve watched The Wedding Planner a dozen times, My Best Friend’s Wedding a handful of times, The Big Wedding twice, Sleepless in Seattle, What a Girl Wants, and a few others.  Father of the Bride 1 and 2 will be on my list soon… thankfully, I have the DVDs since they’re not streaming anywhere right now.

 

And we also watched a few movies with the kids this month – Night at the Museum 1 and 2 and… Hocus Pocus...  because ‘tis the season.

 

B and I have also watched a couple of movies here recently, one being the new Father of the Bride 3-ish short as I mentioned earlier in this post.

 

Oh yeah, and college football.  Lots and lots of college football.  Amen.

 

Typically by now we would have started watching all of our favorite prime time shows again, but sadly, they’ve all been delayed because of, yep, you guessed it, Covid.  Sigh.

 

Currently Listening To

 

If you thought this would finally be the month that I didn’t mention Taylor’s Folklore album, then you would be wrong.  Yep, it’s still going strong.  Haha.  I’m also listening to my favorite morning show (Elvis Duran) every weekday morning like I always do, and I’ve had jazz and old standards on repeat, too, because they give me all the cozy fall vibes. 

 

I also recently discovered that Usher has a new single – Bad Habits – and it’s soooo good, and I also downloaded Jealous by Labrinth… if you haven’t listened to that one then you must stop what you’re doing and listen to it right this instant.  My goodness, it’s beautiful. 

Happy Monday, y’all!

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