Happy Monday, y’all! This week was far less exciting than last
week, but still good, nonetheless. Let’s
recap, shall we?
Monday, January 17
Monday, the kids were off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so we had a
quiet day at home. I had to finish
catching up on things that had been neglected Saturday when we were in
Athens. We started the morning with
breakfast and cartoons, and then I got a few things done in my office. We worked on some more laundry, tidied a
couple of spaces, played lots of games and did some crafts, and we spent the day indoors because it
was soooo cold. The temp maxed out at 39
Monday and it was gloomy all day, so nobody wanted to set foot outside.
After lunch, the kids played some video games and I fought with my
computer… it’s suuuuper old, and its age has been showing for quite some time
now, and Monday was just a really bad day to try to get anything done. I had a blog post that needed finishing for
the next day, though, so I plugged on and did my best.
I had to stop at 3 to get Olivia to dance. They are typically closed on holidays, but
for some reason, she had all three of her classes on Monday. While I took her to class, B and Jacob
attempted to get outside and play some basketball, but they didn’t last too
long because of the temps. When I got
home, I found them at the kitchen table playing another board game.
I was able to finish my blog post when I got back, and by the time I was
done, it was time to cook dinner. Since
B was off of work Monday, he was able to go pick up Olivia, so I didn’t have to
delay dinner and that was really nice. I had grabbed some child-safe knives from Amazon, and I taught Jacob how to chop veggies for the first time... first up was zucchini!
Olivia was thrilled Monday evening because she found out the theme for
her end-of-the-year dance production.
It’s going to be… Sleeping Beauty!!!!
The dance teachers always let the girls guess what they think it will be
the week before the big announcement, and for the first time ever, Olivia
guessed correctly! She scored a piece of
candy for being right. ;o)
After dinner, we all hung out for a bit.
The kids spent time reading Trivial Pursuit cards to each other to see
how many questions they could answer – spoiler alert – not many. Hahahaha.
And B and I sat by the fire.
After the kiddos went to bed, B and I watched the rest of Shark Tank
and an episode of Emily in Paris, and then we went to bed early.
Tuesday, January 18
Tuesday
morning, I got the kids off to school and then I headed to Publix to do our
grocery shopping for the next two weeks.
Y’all. Half of the dang store was
empty!! I mean, they were out of
everything! As a matter of fact, they
were out of so many items that I wasn’t even able to get everything for three
of the meals I’d planned to cook.
The canned
biscuit/cinnamon roll section was completely empty. Not a single can of any brand or type in
sight. The cereal aisle was mostly
cleaned out and they didn’t have a single box of Brian’s favorite cereal in any
flavor. Most of the spice section was
randomly cleaned out. They had zero
packaged sausage other than one brand I’ve never heard of. They had one single loaf of bread that I
couldn’t get my hands on fast enough.
They had zero packages of salad dressing mix. The frozen foods section was probably about
40% stocked, and they didn’t have half of the items we needed. The packaged noodles section was probably
only about 30% stocked and most types were completely wiped out. I had to substitute different types for both
noodles that I actually needed. The
bottled juice section was nearly empty.
They had zero packages of cream cheese (and I needed two for my slow
cooker recipes – waaaahhhh). And
finally, they had no eggs except for a couple of cartons of some special
kind/brand that I would never buy. I
mean, what?!
It seriously
looked like one of those grocery stores you see in the apocalypse movies except
for the fact that our store was clean and there was nothing on the ground. It was nuts.
And I didn’t even look at the paper products or cleaning products or
bottled water… I imagine that stuff was probably all gone, too??
Yikes.
Anyhoo, I got
the groceries home that I was able to buy and then I headed to my office to
work for the rest of the day. After
picking up the kids from school, I got the pantry cleaned out, and then it was
time to get Olivia to dance.
While she was
at dance, I dropped all of the donations off and then I stopped by a small,
local grocery store to see if I could find any of the items that I hadn’t been
able to get at Publix. I was able to
score the ranch dressing seasoning packets and the cream cheese that I needed
for my recipes, so it was a success!
They didn’t have a canned biscuit or cinnamon roll in sight, though, so
that was a bust.
When Olivia and
I got home, I cooked dinner, and then I cleaned out the fridge and freezer
afterward. I’m really good about staying
on top of those areas throughout the year, and since I meal plan, we don’t
usually have much waste, so there wasn’t much to do there.
By the time
that was done, it was time for the kids to get showered and ready for bed and I
got in a quick stair stepper workout while they did that. Afterward, we all watched a Fresh Prince,
and then it was off to bed for the kids.
B and I stayed up and watched Ordinary Joe and This is Us
and then we went to bed, too.
Wednesday, January 19
Wednesday, we
didn’t have anything on the schedule for the entire day, so I spent the morning
in my office trying to get ahead on the blog (the struggle is real) and
catching up on life things. It’s already
time to do school registration for next year and it was time to get Jacob
registered for baseball, so I checked those things off the list, too.
Jacob surprised
us this time saying that he didn’t think he wanted to play baseball this
season, but he ended up deciding to play one more season. He told us that he wanted to switch to golf,
but since he’s still so inexperienced, we told him it might be best to do one
last season of baseball so that will give him the spring and summer to practice
golf and learn the rules and such. We
didn’t want him to jump into anything with so little experience. We hope to get him to the golf course a bunch
and maybe put him in some private lessons so next school year he can play for
his school.
After the kids
got home from school, they did homework, Olivia and I played a game together
while Jacob finished up, and then after that, they headed outside to play
basketball while I went for a run. It
was my first run since November and man, was I feeling it. Within 30 seconds of starting, I felt a
twinge in my knees and my legs felt stiff.
I also got that tight, cold feeling in my throat and chest, and I was
struggling, y’all. Lol. I pushed on for two miles and may have felt
like I was going to die by the time I was done, but I got it done. I really need to start running somewhere
other than our neighborhood. It is so
hilly.
When I got
home, I showered quickly and got into my PJs, and then it was time to cook
dinner. I made some stir fry with
chicken, rice, broccoli, red peppers, and pineapple, and then we all sat down
and ate dinner together.
After dinner,
the four of us played a round of Pictureka, a new game that Olivia got for
Christmas, and then one round of Brian’s old childhood game, Mad Magazine. Olivia had said Wednesday morning that she
wanted to have a family game night Wednesday, and she got her wish. ;o)
After that, the
kids showered and got ready for bed, and while they did that, I got the games
cabinet cleaned out. The kids have
outgrown several games and puzzles, but they do still play most of the games we
have, so I wasn’t able to get rid of much.
But I was able to say goodbye to a few things.
After the kids
were in bed, B and I watched two episodes of Emily in Paris, and then we
called it a night, too.
Thursday, January 20
Thursday morning was rainy and cold, so I dropped the kids at school and
then headed straight home to snuggle in a blanket at my desk and get some work
done. Mid-morning, I got up from my
desk, and I took some time to clean out my office. You may remember that I did a massive
clean-out back in 2019 (I think?) and I literally went through every single box
and file and everything else (including all of my keepsakes), so my yearly cleanouts
since then are much easier as I don’t go through every single keepsake box and
file. Instead, I focus on the areas that
I use most often like my desk, my craft table, my bookshelves, etc. Since I’ve been excellent about maintaining
my office since 2019, there wasn’t much to get rid of, and the whole process
was pretty quick and easy.
After lunch, I finished up cleaning out my office, and then I had to head
to the kids’ school early for a meeting.
I’ve mentioned before on here that I’m the playground committee, and we
had a follow-up meeting to discuss how to proceed now that we’ve officially met
our fundraising goal for the new equipment.
By the time the meeting was over, it was time to jump in the car line,
and then the kiddos and I swung by my parents’ house to pick up some leftover
beef stew my momma had made and saved for us.
Since my momma is retired now, we were able to see her, too, and that
was just the best!
After that, we headed straight home to hibernate because it was just so
darn cold and rainy. I had listed our
couch on Facebook Marketplace the night before, and my phone was blowing up all
day with people inquiring about it, so I had scheduled a lady to come pick it
up, but the rain continued all through the afternoon and evening, and we had to
reschedule. Boooo.
Instead, I worked on clipping the plant in my office that's been out of control, and I put a few clippings in water to try to root them. Wish me luck because I do not have a green thumb!
I had done a slow cooker meal earlier in the day, so dinner was hearty
and easy – beef stroganoff! – and I also made some broccoli and blueberry
muffins to go along with it. I’ve made
it my mission to teach the kids more life skills this year, so I ordered some
child-safe knives from Amazon last week, and the kids have been learning how to
chop fruits and veggies. I let Olivia
chop for the first time Thursday evening, and she did a great job on the
broccoli!
After dinner, the kids worked on their comic books that they’re currently
writing, and I did some minor redecorating in our dining room, and then while
the kids showered, I got in a short cardio workout. B made a quick trip to our neighborhood
Walmart Market to grab a couple of essentials, and then we got the kids in the
bed.
Once they were in bed, we watched an episode of Emily in Paris,
and then B watched another episode of Bobafett while I caught up on
social media for the day.
Friday, January 21
Friday morning,
I got the kids to school and then I spent all morning working on the blog in my
office. Right as Brian and I were just
getting ready to eat lunch, my phone rang, and it was Jacob saying that his
throat was hurting. Ugggghhhh.
I headed straight
to the school to pick him up and, thankfully, he tested negative for
Covid. He currently has a kid out in his
class who does have Covid, though, so I wasn’t totally convinced he didn’t have
it. Sometimes those tests give false negatives
in the beginning of the illness, so I knew we’d need to lay low all weekend. Thankfully, we’d planned to do that anyway,
so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
I picked Olivia
up from school later in the afternoon, and then the kids played and watched
some YouTube videos until it was time for dinner. I spent the rest of the afternoon in my
office filing a few things and getting a few keepsakes put away in the kids’
keepsake boxes, and then B picked up pizza from our favorite place.
After dinner,
we all piled on the couch and started season 2 of Secrets of Sulphur Springs. Our whole family looooved season 1, and we
were all so excited to see that the whole season had been released on
Disney+. We ended up watching the last
episode of season 1 to reacquaint ourselves with the storyline, and then we watched
the first two episodes of the new season.
After the kids
went to bed, B and I watched an episode of Emily in Paris and then B
started the new season of Ozark.
I’m not a fan, so I promptly fell asleep. Haha.
Saturday, January 22
Saturday morning,
Jacob woke up feeling fine… he still had a bit of a scratchy throat, but had no
other symptoms, so thankfully, it hadn’t manifested into anything major
overnight. We made homemade waffles, and
then I sipped on some hot tea while the kids watched cartoons. Mid-morning, I got in a cardio workout, and
then I did my usual Saturday things – laundry, tidying, etc. while B headed off
to a tennis match.
The kids were
busy all morning playing in the playroom and then doing their laundry, so I took
some more time to continue refreshing some of our dining room décor from items
that we already have, and I also got a few other minor projects done around the house. By the time I had finished with those, it was time to make lunch for the three of us.
B got home just after we'd finished, and after eating a quick lunch, he and the kids went outside for a long time and played
basketball. I was wondering if our kiddos
would tire quickly of basketball, and I’m happy to see they haven’t yet.
By the time
they got back inside, it was time for them to do their afternoon tidy up and
then they played video games for a couple of hours. It was soooo cold all day Saturday, so I didn’t
want them spending too much time outside, especially since Jacob had a scratchy
throat.
While the kids
played, I got some work done, and then I spent some time in our laundry room
trying to figure out how to get everything settled in there. You may remember that I started a laundry
room refresh back in 2020, and then Covid closed everything down, so we weren’t
able to hire someone to come and build the shelf/table over the washer and dryer
like I’d originally wanted.
Fast forward
two years, and we just bought a new washer and dryer – this time a top-loader –
so I can’t even have the shelf/table installed like I originally wanted. Therefore, I wanted to figure out how to have
a narrow ledge installed instead, but because the ledge can’t be as wide as it
was going to be originally, I had to come up with another solution for storage.
I finally
figured out that if I move a couple of things around in there that we can buy a
small cabinet to hold all of the items that’ll no longer fit on the shelf, and
then we can just have someone install a small ledge over the washer and dryer to
hold decorations, and that will cover up the ugly plug and wires. Our laundry room is tiiiiny and it also
houses our breaker box as well as the box that holds our router and all of the
wiring for our internet, so there is barely room for anything else.
Once I knew
that I wanted a small cabinet to put in there, I immediately checked Amazon,
Target, and Walmart.com, and I found the perfect one to go in there. It had to be just the right dimensions to
fit, and thankfully I was able to find exactly what I was looking for without
compromising any of the functionality or style.
I went ahead and ordered that, and now I’ll just have to get it all put
together when it arrives later this week.
Eek! It’s exciting to have things
underway again after a super long hiatus.
In addition to
the cabinet, I’ll be moving a couple of items around, I have to move the
ironing board organizer to a different wall, we have to find someone to install
the ledge, I need to hang all of the décor that I’ve had forever, and
eventually I’d also like to get a new light fixture to hang in there as the one
that’s in there is the old, ugly builder-grade light that doesn’t provide
enough light.
By the time I finished
with all of that, Brian was heading out to grab dinner at Five Guys, and I headed
downstairs to set the table. After dinner,
we watched two more episodes of Secrets of Sulphur Springs followed by
one episode of Mighty Ducks Game Changers, and then 1/2 of a Secret
Benedict Society.
B and I watched
the season 2 finale of Emily in Paris and then another episode of Ozark,
and I took that time to clean out some of my List Master app before falling
asleep again.
Sunday, January 23
Sunday morning,
B headed out to grab some donuts for breakfast.
As a mentioned before, we still can’t find the canned cinnamon rolls anywhere
here in town, so B went out and bought some for us instead. We watched Mass virtually, and I got my
planner organized and ready to go for the week ahead.
After breakfast,
we tested Jacob for Covid a second time, and he was negative once again. He still wasn’t having any other symptoms,
and the rest of us were still fine, so we figured it was fine for him to go
back to school on Monday. I ran it by
his teacher via email, and she responded almost immediately saying he was good
to come back.
After testing, the
kids watched some cartoons, and I played around with the décor in our dining
room and front sitting room some more.
It always takes me forever to get things exactly how I like them and I often
have to leave things out and sleep on them for a while before I finalize them.
All the while, I
was still dealing with selling our old red couch on Facebook Marketplace. UUUUGGGGHHHH.
People are just AWFUL on there, y’all.
AWFUL. The first lady who wanted
it and reassured me over and over again that she was going to come get it ghosted
me on Friday, the day she was supposed to pick it up. So, I contacted someone else who said they
wanted it, and she told us she’d stop by Sunday after church and then she
ghosted me. A third person was just
completely noncommittal and wouldn’t even tell me a day and time that she
wanted to come look at it, and then I had another guy who kept messaging me way
too much, but his Facebook profile was super shady so I wasn’t about to give
him my address. Sigh.
After lunch, B
and the kids and I went outside to play basketball, and while we were out there,
we saw the people who just bought the house across the street from ours taking
a walk, so I ran over there to introduce myself. They have two boys (one who is older than
Jacob, and one who is Olivia’s age) and a Goldendoodle puppy, and they were
super, super nice. It was good to
finally meet them. I’m so awkward and I just
don’t like knocking on someone’s door if I don’t know them, so we hadn’t had a
chance to meet them yet. Them taking a
walk around the neighborhood sure made that easier!
The rest of the
afternoon was spent doing a little bit of work while the kids played video
games (it was freezing again Sunday so we didn’t stay outside too long), and
then for dinner, B and I ate some leftover white chicken chili that my mom had
cooked that we’d frozen.
After dinner,
the kids got showered, and while they did that, B and I filled out some paperwork for Olivia. We received a letter from her school on Thursday saying that she has met criteria to be in the Challenge (gifted) program at school, and they want to test her further.
After the kids were ready for bed, we finished the episode of Secret Benedict Society that we'd started the night before, and then after the kids were in bed, B and I watched Shark Tank as well as the end of that crazy NFL game.
And now for a few current things…
Currently
Reading
This
month, I’ve been reading the new Nicholas Sparks book, The Wish, and I’m really
enjoying it.
Currently
Watching
With
B: This month, B and I have been
watching This is Us, Ordinary Joe, Supermarket Sweep, Shark
Tank, The Bachelor, and Saturday Night Live on network
television. And we, of course, watched
the National Championship game earlier this month… GO DAWGS. Then for streaming, we’ve been watching
season 2 of Emily in Paris and Bobafett, and we also started the
new season of Ozark. Not my
favorite, but B loves it.
With
the Kids: We’re still working our way
through The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and we also picked Mighty Ducks
Game Changers, Secret Benedict Society, and Walk the Prank
back up after a long hiatus. We started
the new season of Secrets of Sulphur Springs and we also watched Sing
2.
Alone: My TV watching in my office has ceased for
the most part and I’ve just been listening to music, but I have watched The
Big Wedding, Father of the Bride, and My Best Friend’s Wedding
recently.
Currently
Listening To
The
90’s pop station on Amazon all day, erry day… THE ACTUAL BEST!!!!
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
