Our Week - The One with Quarantine, Week 36 (Thanksgiving Prep)

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We had a relatively low-key week which is pretty much unheard of this time of year, but I suppose when you’re in a pandemic and most stuff is canceled, that’s just the way it is.  I almost decided not to recap this past week as it was about as mundane as it gets, but as you all know, I’m preserving memories over here, so I just can’t quit the recaps no matter how boring they may be!

Monday, November 16 (Day 248 of Quarantine)

Monday morning, I had a follow-up appointment with my dermatologist, and then I swung by Target to return a few things.  The rest of the day was spent working, cooking, hanging with the kiddos, and watching TV after they went to bed.

Tuesday, November 17 (Day 249 of Quarantine)

Tuesday after I dropped the kids, I made a quick stop by Fresh Market to grab some chicken… gotta get that Tuesday sale!  When I got home, I did a dance workout, and then I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon wrapped up in my heated blanket, sipping on cinnamon tea, and listening to Christmas music while I knocked out more work.  I’m so far ahead on blog posts as I type this, and it feels great!  After this week, though, with the kids being out for Thanksgiving, I’ll be behind again by Monday.  Haha.

It was chilly all this week with lows in the 30s and highs in the 60s, so I made a huge pot of white chicken chili for dinner Tuesday evening, and B and I enjoyed that with a rare weekday glass of wine.  The kids won’t touch the white chicken chili, so they dined on freezer chicken nuggets, sweet potatoes, and some fruit. 

The rest of the evening was spent folding and putting away all of the laundry, reading with Olivia, and watching The Bachelorette.

Wednesday, November 18 (Day 250 of Quarantine)

Wednesday was another day of work, and then Olivia had dance class after school.  I got Jacob home and whizzed Olivia over there, and while she was in dance, I put gas in the car and then caught up on emails in the parking lot.  Parents aren’t allowed in the building at this time because of Covid, and I miss chatting with all of my dance mom friends so much.   

Speaking of Covid, thank you for all of your prayers for my family these last couple of weeks… my cousin and his family are all on the mend after suffering from Covid for several weeks.  My cousin is now out of the hospital, although still on oxygen at home, but things are looking up for all of them, praise the Lord.  Brian’s cousin, however, just found out she’s Covid positive, so please keep her in your prayers, too.  I feel like our Covid prayer list is never-ending these days.

As for another Covid update, that positive case in our afterschool program ended up being another isolated case as no other students or teachers who came in contact with her have tested positive that we know of.  Woo hoo!  Our school is doing the best job of preventing the spread so far… we’ve made it 15 weeks with only two positive cases in the entire school – babies through high school – and those positive cases didn’t seem to infect anyone else. 

That said, the return to school after Thanksgiving Break has me a bit worried, as I’m sure there will be people who will travel and get together in big groups and not follow best practices during the holidays… we are praying that there’s not a huge outbreak when students return.  Our school sent out an email asking parents to strongly consider keeping their kids home to learn virtually for a week after the break if they choose to travel or be in big groups, so I’m hoping everyone will make good choices and do their part to keep everyone safe at our school. 

Our family is forfeiting our large gatherings in favor of smaller gatherings, outdoors, with masks and social distancing, so we will be doing our part for sure.  That said, the weather is looking a little iffy here Thanksgiving weekend, and as of now, there are several chances for rain, including Thanksgiving Day and the days after which is when we’re doing all of our get-togethers.  Sigh.  If that happens, we’ll likely be giving up our plans altogether, so fingers crossed everything turns out okay.

Wednesday evening was breakfast for dinner, followed by hanging with the kids, followed by hanging with B.  Olivia has been begging for Christmas earrings since last year when she got her ears pierced, but I wasn’t able to find any nice ones last year that she could wear.  Her piercings were brand new at Christmastime last year, so her ears were sensitive, and I wasn’t able to find any that would work. 

Well, her ear piercings are now one year old, and they have healed nicely, so I decided to grab this adorable set from Target for her to try this year.  They were only $6 for all nine pairs, and y’all, she was ECSTATIC when she saw them.  We’ve been changing them out every single evening so she can wear a new pair to school each day and she’s pretty much in heaven.  So far, her ears seem to be tolerating them well, so it’s good to know that she can now probably get away with wearing “cheapie” earrings on occasion. 

Thursday, November 19 (Day 251 of Quarantine)

Thursday morning, I had to do my follow-up ultrasound for my mammogram.  My mammogram came back normal, but my tissue is very dense (yes, TMI) so they always require me to get an ultrasound in addition to the mammogram each year.  It’s a pain to have to go twice back-to-back each year, but it’s nice knowing that they get that extra look to ensure everything is normal in there!

And the good thing about the ultrasound is that the doc comes in and gives the results right then and there, so there’s no waiting around.  Sure enough, he said everything looked great, and I don’t have to go back for a whole year.  Woo hoo!

The rest of the day Thursday was spent catching up on some life stuff – room mom things, paying bills, Christmas shopping, personal emails, etc. – and then I worked on securing some more blog sponsorships.  Knowing the kids would be out of school for this entire week kicked my butt into high gear last week!  Haha.

B and I grabbed some lunch from our favorite Greek place, and the day just flew by!  Why is it that my favorite time of year is going by in the blink of an eye and the first eight months of the year felt like three whole years?!  

Thursday afternoon, the kids spent lots of time outside after they finished their homework.  They always come home from school wired and ready to run around after being in the classroom all day, so we’re trying to get them outside whenever we can.  Now that the time has changed, it gets dark here around 6, so we’re unable to do our family walks after dinner. 

We had leftover baked ziti for dinner, and then the kids did some crafting.  B and I watched a couple of more episodes of Emily in Paris, as well as one episode of Magic for Humans, and then we went to bed.

I've been indulging in the Publix seasonal ice creams these last couple of months, and oh my word, their peppermint ice cream is the best!

Friday, November 20 (Day 252 of Quarantine)

Friday after I dropped the kids at school, I spent the entire day working up a storm to tie up all the loose ends before Thanksgiving break.  I don’t want to have to work that much this week, so I wanted to get as much done as possible, and there were several important tasks that need to be completed for the collabs I’m doing.

Maui discovered the joys of my heated blanket, so I had the pleasure of her company pretty much all day.  She would NOT get out of my lap.  Lol.

Friday evening B had to work late, so I picked up takeout from Five Guys, and then we watched The Grinch (the newer animated one).  After the kids went to bed, B and I watched the season premiere of A Million Little Things and it was just so good.  That show is just the best, y’all.  We followed that with the newest episode of The Mandalorian, and then it was bedtime.

Saturday, November 21 (Day 253 of Quarantine)

Saturday morning, I ended up sleeping until 9 AM.  I had trouble falling asleep Friday night and ended up lying awake in bed until sometime after 1:30 AM, so I guess my body needed the extra rest.  I probably would have slept longer, but Olivia came in our bedroom at 9 to tell us she was hungry.  Lol.  Bless it. 

I made pancakes for breakfast and we watched ESPN College GameDay, and then I got in a cardio workout after breakfast.  I spent the whole rest of the morning and early afternoon tidying the house and doing laundry to get all of school germs out of the house.  I washed the kids’ bookbags and lunchboxes, all of their uniforms, all of our masks, and everyone’s sheets.  And I may have added some oily goodness to the dryer balls to make the sheets smell like The North Pole.  ;o) 

After lunch, we all went out in the back yard, and B and I spent some time prepping the porch for Thanksgiving since we’ll be having my parents over to eat outside.  We cleaned out the herb pots and stacked them up in the outdoor storage closet, gave the porch a good sweeping, and put a few other things away to make room so we can all spread out on Thursday.  The whole porch needs to be clear in case that rain chance turns out to be true.

B and the kids set up the soccer goals afterward and ran around for a bit while I finished tidying.  I received my Target shipment of peppermint Mrs. Meyers soap and I was soooo excited!  The peppermint scent is only sold online, and it sells out quickly every year, so I was excited to have finally gotten my hands on some.  Last year, I couldn’t get it at all.  :o(

After a nice long time outdoors, the kids came in to play video games in the late afternoon, and I got our bedrooms photographed for my Christmas home tour next week here on the blog.  I always like to photograph everything just before dusk so I can capture the house in natural light, as well as after dark so I can capture the warm glow of the twinkle lights after the sun goes down.

B picked up takeout from our favorite Mexican place, and we dined on tacos and queso and margs for dinner.  The UGA football game was on at 7:30, so B and I settled in for that after dinner, while the kids watched a movie upstairs in the playroom.  We ended up winning – with our third string quarterback (who may end up actually being good) – but it definitely wasn’t the prettiest game.  Ugh.

Sunday, November 22 (Day 254 of Quarantine)

Sunday morning was church and cinnamon rolls, and then the kids watched some TV.  We went outside mid-morning so the kids could play… Brian and Jacob hit some golf balls in the back yard, and Olivia and I did some sidewalk chalk… something we hadn’t done since the peak of quarantine back during the late spring/early summer.  Olivia and I played a few games of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, and then we all got ready for the day.  Side note, Maui has started sleeping with her tongue hanging out lately, and it's the funniest thing!

B picked up Panera and brought it home for lunch, and then we walked to our neighborhood playground again.  We’ve done lunch and neighborhood playground three Sundays in a row now, so I guess you could say it’s our new tradition.  It’s nice to be able to take a walk in the afternoon and not melt into a puddle from the heat and humidity.

The kids played at the playground for an hour or so, while B and I walked laps, and then we all headed home to tidy up and settle in for the evening.  More video games for the kids and work for me was followed by white chicken chili and a glass of wine for dinner, and then we all watched the new Lego Star Wars Christmas special on Disney+ followed by the American Music Awards and The Undoing.

Mundane, but good. 

Now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

 

Just trying to finish up Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts.  I’d like to just give it up altogether, but there are some great nuggets here and there, and I don’t want to miss any of them.  I’ll have this one completed within the next couple of days for sure.

 

Currently Watching

 

We’re working our way through all of the network TV - The Bachelorette, Shark Tank, This is Us, Supermarket Sweep, A Million Little Things!!!!, and Saturday Night Live.   We’re also working our way through The Mandalorian as the new episodes are released, Magic for Humans (a show that we watch on occasion when there’s nothing else on), as well as Emily in Paris.  We also just started The Undoing on HBO, and y’all, it is SO good.  It’s suspenseful from the first episode and it always ends on a cliffhanger to keep you coming back for more.  I just adore Hugh Grant.  Where has he been these last 15 years?!

 

We’ve also started working our way through all of our favorite Christmas movies, as well as some new ones.  So far, we’ve watched Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Noelle, The Grinch (new animated one), and Holidate.  Four down, so many to go!

 

College football has also been on our TV a lot, but not as much as it should… there have been several games postponed due to positive Covid cases, so we’ve been missing it!  UGA missed one game due to the other team having positive cases, but thankfully, our team seems to be avoiding it so far.  Knock on wood!

 

Currently Listening To

 

Christmas music, all day, every day.  Literally.  Lol.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

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