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After weeks and
weeks of rain, gloom, and cold weather, the sun finally started shining this weekend,
so we are rolling into this Monday feeling pretty darn good… even though it’s
raining again today. Haha. This past week we celebrated our best guy’s
43rd birthday, and we also started celebrating our best girl for her birthday
as well. Let’s get into the recap!
Monday, February 15 (Day 339 of
Quarantine)
The kids were
out of school on Monday for President’s Day, and the weather was awful, so we
spent the entire day at home. It was
cold and it rained nonstop all afternoon, so we were verrrry lazy. I spent some time reading in the morning,
then the kids tackled some homework, and then the kids and I sorted through two
huge bags of jewelry that belonged to my Nana.
My parents are still going through and cleaning out all of her old stuff,
so they keep on sending stuff our way. Olivia particularly loved this butterfly clip, so she kept it. <3
Jacob’s
baseball practice was canceled yet again for Monday evening, so we spent a
quiet evening in with leftover pasta, wine, the rest of American Idol
that we hadn’t finished from Sunday, and then The Bachelor.
Tuesday, February 16 (Day 340 of
Quarantine)
Tuesday morning,
we woke up to a light dusting of snow on the rooftops and the potential for
black ice on the roads. One of the back
roads near our house was a little dicey, but our commute ended up being nice
and smooth. The kids were delighted to
see all of the snow-covered rooftops, and Olivia whined, “NOT FAIR!” about a
hundred times on the way to school because we didn’t get actual good snow that
she could play in. Haha.
That said, we
were absolutely heart-broken and devastated watching the disaster unfold in
Texas last week. All of that snow and
below-freezing temps + the power outages made for an absolute nightmare for
many Texans, including several of our family members and friends, and our
hearts go out to all of you. Our weather
here is pretty comparable to the weather in Dallas, so I was in complete
disbelief at all of the snow and sustained temps near zero degrees. I can’t even imagine what things would be
like here if that happened, and I’m praying we never find out. Our city isn’t remotely equipped for that
kind of weather.
After I dropped
the kids at school, I headed straight to the grocery store, and it was nearly
empty as it usually is at 7:45 in the morning.
I had to stop and get gas on the way home, and wooooweeee, was it
cold. The wind chill was in the teens
and the air felt so cold and wet that I thought my hand was going to get stuck
to the gas pump. Yeesh.
The rest of the
day was spent catching up on a few things, working, prepping for upcoming
birthdays, and meeting with my therapist.
I’m STILL having daily tension headaches – sometimes debilitating – and
she advised that I get some testing done to see if I’m deficient in a
particular nutrient or having some kind of hormonal imbalance. I mentioned to her that I’d stopped taking my
Flonase, and she said that could be the cause, too. She said that she takes Flonase daily and if
she forgets to take even a single dose, she gets a headache. I’m thinking that may be the culprit…
I grabbed the kids from school at 3 and Jacob and Olivia were both all a chatter about their Fat Tuesday class parties. Both of them were adorned in beads, and Olivia's teacher had given her a pretty mask.
Jacob’s
baseball coach asked me to be the team mom for this spring season, and I had a
team mom meeting Tuesday evening. I’ve
never been a baseball team mom before, so there was a lot to take in and learn
– concession duty, raffle tickets, barbecue sales, end-of-season celebrations
and trophies and gifts for the coaches.
Obviously, things will be a lot different this season because of Covid,
but it’ll still require a good bit of planning on my part.
The meeting
lasted about 25 minutes and I was relieved that it was quick because about 90%
of the other moms weren’t wearing masks… it wouldn’t have been that big of a
deal if we had been outside, but we weren’t.
I was pretty shocked considering our league has tons of safety
precautions in place… our coaches and kids always wear them at practice, so it
was a bit mind-blowing that there were only two of us in the room wearing them.
After the
meeting was over, Jacob had his baseball uniform fitting. He has alternated between #11 (for Jake Fromm
from UGA) and #34 (for Hershel Walker from UGA) for the last seven seasons of
baseball and soccer, and he was excited to get his first choice of #11 this
season after having #34 for the last two seasons.
By the time we
were done, it was nearly 6:30, so we grabbed Panera on the way home since I had
zero time to cook. B and Olivia were
waiting for us at home with a fire in the fireplace because it was
FREEZING.
Wednesday, February 17 (Day 341 of
Quarantine)
Wednesday was a
dance workout followed by work and birthday gift-wrapping, and then after I
grabbed the kids from school, Olivia had dance class. She was extra excited when she got back in
the car because they finally started learning their ballet, tap, and jazz routines
for their big recital in May. Not sure
what that recital will look like this year due to Covid, but I’m assuming
they’ll figure out some way to have it safely just like they did last year.
The boys had
just left for baseball when we got home, so Olivia did her homework and
practiced her splits while I prepped everything for dinner and got lunches made
for the next day. We still had some time
to kill after that, so she showered and then we read some of her AR book
together. She’s in first grade this year
but her AR level is 3-4.5 (third and fourth grade level) now, so she’s reading
long chapter books now and rocking them!
I had breakfast
for dinner on the table as soon as the boys walked in the door, and then we got
both of them off to bed just before 8:30… later than usual, but baseball seems
to cause that a lot.
Thursday, February 18 (Day 342 of
Quarantine)
Thursday, I spent the whole morning researching primary care
physicians. I haven’t had a primary
doctor since my early 20’s, because most of the time when I have an issue, it’s
something that one of my specialists needs to handle (midwife/OBGYN, allergist,
ENT, gastroenterologist, dentist, optometrist, etc.). The few times I’ve been sick and needed
antibiotics, I’ve just used one of the local urgent care facilities, so I’ve
never made it a priority to have a PCP.
I’ve been meaning to find one for over a decade now, and have never taken
the time to do so, but at the urging of my ENT doctor last year, I finally
started to research them last March.
Just when I narrowed my search to a few, the pandemic started, and all
of them stopped taking new patients.
Argh. At my recent visit with my
allergist last month, he urged me to try again now that everyone knows how to
operate in a pandemic, so I started my search again.
Y’all, I have been fretting over this decision so much… I know exactly
what I’m looking for in a doctor, but it’s so hard to find one that checks all
of the boxes. The most important thing
to me when looking for one (aside from competence, of course) is good bedside
manner. I want someone who is going to
actually care about me and listen to me and not try to rush me out the door so
they can move on to the next patient. I
LOATHE when the nurses handle everything and then the doctor is only with you
in the room for two minutes.
I’d also love to find someone in a smaller office so the wait times
aren’t super long, and it’d also be really nice if I don’t have to drive to the
other side of town to get there. I’m
also leaning towards wanting a female doctor because it just seems that she
would understand the female body better than a male would since she lives in
one. Haha.
And while older doctors who have been practicing for decades are usually
my favorite because they have so much experience, I do not want someone who is
going to retire in the next few years, because then I’ll be right back where I
started – without a doctor. I need
somebody who can be in it for the long haul with me, but I also don’t want to
see somebody who is brand new and has no experience. Is this all too much to ask? Haha.
So anyway, I turned to Facebook to ask for recommendations from friends
and family first, I researched all of their suggestions, and I finally narrowed
it down to two. Now I just have to make
the final decision and make the appointment.
Whew. If you’re still reading
this, then God bless you… I’ve been rambling on forever.
Anyhoo, Thursday evening, Jacob had baseball practice at the indoor
cages, so it wasn’t canceled despite the fact that it had rained all day yet
again. Olivia and I hung out at home, reading
together and then doing her seventh birthday interview. I cooked dinner and had it on the table when
the boys got home, and then it was time for the whole showers and bedtime
rigamarole.
B and I watched some TV as we always do, and B was kind enough to rub my
neck because I’d had yet another horrible tension headache all day. Yet another reason I need to get to the
doctor…
Friday, February 19 (Day 343 of
Quarantine)
Friday, I
dropped the kids at school and worked most of the morning, and then
mid-morning, I left to run a few errands.
Jacob’s baseball practice was canceled yet again Friday evening because
of all the rain we had, so we were able to have another quiet Friday night at
home.
I took down all
of the Valentine’s Day decorations while Brian finished working, and the kids
played outside. Then we got Mexican
takeout, poured some margs, and watched Flora and Ulysses on
Disney+. We’ve watched so many movies
during this pandemic that we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, y’all. Lol.
Saturday, February 20 (Day 344 of
Quarantine)
Saturday morning,
I made my momma’s pancake recipe and finally got it right… third time was a
charm, I suppose! I’ve always made
homemade waffles, so I’m no pancake expert.
But since Olivia declared pancakes to be her favorite food just
recently, I decided I should probably find a good recipe for them.
After
breakfast, I spent some time in my office meditating, reading my devotional,
and doing my daily Lenten video. During
Lent, I’m trying to spend more time in quiet time, so I’ve been taking my time
each morning with it.
After my quiet
time, I got in a very quick cardio workout, made the bed, tidied up a few
things, and started some laundry, and by the time I was done, it was time to
get ready and eat a quick lunch. Jacob
had baseball practice at 1, and we decided that we’d all go since it was
Brian’s birthday and the weather was beautiful.
For Covid
precautions, they don’t want parents and siblings hanging around too much
during practice, so Brian, Olivia, and I did a couple of laps around the park,
and then caught the last half of his practice from a distance. I hadn’t been to a practice this season, so I
was finally able to see what Jacob and his teammates could do… they’re all
looking pretty darn good and we’re thinking that he could end up having a
pretty good season. I guess we’ll see…
We got home
mid-afternoon, and my parents dropped by to see Brian for his birthday and to
bring us some leftovers – yassss! We
hung out with them outside for a bit, and it was a nice visit, especially since
the weather was so lovely.
Saturday
evening, B requested pizza from one of our favorite local places for his
birthday dinner, so I made the quick drive over to pick it up, and then we all
enjoyed it together back at home. I
always get B a new beer to try on his birthday, preferably one that has a new
bottle cap for his beer cap map, so he and I tried one of the new ones with
dinner, and it was so delicious.
After dinner, B
opened his gifts and then we busted out the cupcakes that I’d bought for his
birthday so the kids could go ahead and have theirs. B and I were still too stuffed. After that, we watched The Neverending
Story per Brian’s request and he and the kids both enjoyed it. I, on the other hand, thought it was one of, if
not THE, worst movie I’ve ever seen.
Hahahaha. I know it’s one of
those movies you probably have to see when you’re a kid to appreciate, and I never
saw it. And if I did, I don’t remember
it. But anyway, I just did not
understand all the hype around that movie, and apparently most of my Instagram
followers didn’t either as I took a poll and 71% of people thought it was terrible,
too. Hahahaha.
The kids had a
slumber party in Jacob’s room for the second night in a row, and then B and I headed
back downstairs to watch some more of our shows and dig into the delicious
cupcakes I’d gotten him for his birthday!
Sunday, February 21 (Day 345 of
Quarantine)
Sunday morning
was cinnamon rolls and virtual mass, and then I started prepping for the week
ahead before getting ready for the day.
We had a socially distant outdoor lunch planned at my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law’s
house to celebrate Brian’s and Olivia’s birthdays and we were SO excited. We hadn’t seen them since our weird, outdoor
Christmas celebration and it was LONG overdue.
My MIL and step-FIL
cooked all of our favorite things, and we all sat outside on the back deck and
ate at separate tables. The weather was
incredible, y’all! Just incredible. It was 63 degrees and sunny, and there wasn’t
a single cloud in the whole sky.
Seriously just perfect, and it was exactly what we all needed after being
cooped up at home for weeks on end with all of the yucky weather.
Brian and
Olivia both opened their gifts and then we had cookie cake for dessert per
Olivia’s request. We were all enjoying
the weather and the visit so much, but sadly, we had to call it a day just
after 3 because we had to get Jacob to baseball practice. We’re hoping that the weather will be nice all
the time soon enough so we can start getting together again for lunch more often.
Brian took
Jacob to baseball practice while Olivia and I hung back at home. She had just received a bunch of birthday
loot, and all she wanted to do was put together her new Lego sets and do her Magic Ink books! I did some work while she did her new activities in my office, and then I got
dinner on the table just as the boys got home… leftovers from my momma! Yum yum!
It was a wonderful weekend and a great way to celebrate two of my
favorite people!
And now for a few current things…
Currently
Reading
For
the month of February, I read Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison in honor of Black History Month,
and I cannot tell you how much it spoke to me.
It was equal parts heart-breaking, informative, and inspiring, and I highly
recommend it if you’re looking to learn more about what you can do to help pursue
racial unity.
Currently
Watching
We’ve
been watching The Bachelor, This is Us, Shark Tank, Saturday
Night Live, and All American on TV, and we’re also working our way
through New Girl and The Good Place on Netflix. New Girl is absolutely the cutest and
funniest show and I am OBSESSED with it, y’all!
I heart Nick so much. I’m also
still working my way through Dawson’s Creek while I work… it was my
favorite show when I was a teen (aside from Friends, of course), and I’m
loving revisiting it all these years later.
Currently
Listening To
I’ve
been shuffling my entire music library since the beginning of this month, and
it’s been so fun to listen to some songs I haven’t heard in, probably,
years. I have 5,000 songs in my library
and my taste in music is verrrrry eclectic, so you just never know what’s going
to pop up – Dave Matthews Band, Shai, ACDC, NKOTB, LSG, Blake Shelton, Counting
Crows, Led Zeppelin, Nsync, Boyz II Men, 311, Rod Stewart, Frank Sinatra,
Claude Debussy, Lauren Daigle, The Beatles, Weezer, Sublime, MercyMe, Lil Jon –
I could go on forever!
Happy Monday,
y’all!
