Our Week - The One with the School Book Fair and a High School Baseball Game

This past week was another busy, but good, one and I’m recapping it all today!

Monday, March 21

Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and I hit the ground running.  There was MUCH on my to-do list (as you’ll see below), but I was feeling ambitious and ready to knock it all out.  I spent the entire day working on blog posts, making some calls, buying the last few things for Easter, and clearing out my inbox.  I had some frustration with my new computer, and my IT guy (AKA Brian – haha) wasn’t at home because he’s working at the office again, and there were several other things that happened throughout the day that made it feel like a true Monday, but I got lots done, so I guess that’s all that matters. 

After school, we headed straight to dance to drop Olivia, and both kids did homework in the car in the parking lot while we were waiting for her class to start.  After that, Jacob and I had just enough time to get him home to get changed for baseball, and then we headed straight back out to the ball fields for an early game.  B met us there and stayed with Jacob, while I headed back to dance to pick up Olivia, and then she and I headed back to the ball fields for the game.  Whew.   

Since Jacob’s game was early, it overlapped with dance, so we ended up missing the first 45 minutes of it.  The game was really close the whole time, and we were down for nearly the entire second half of the game.  During the last inning, we had two outs and we were still down, but we managed to score all the runs before our third out putting us in the lead.  The other team had the last at-bat, though, but our boys ended up holding them, and we managed to pull off the win to stay undefeated!!  It was a nail-biter, though!! 

Jacob played a great game getting two solid hits for singles, he was walked once, and he scored one run.  He also made one of the key plays in the last inning to prevent the other team from winning because he threw one of the last batters out at first.

The game ended up running late, so it was nearly 7:45 by the time we left the ball field.  B and Jacob stopped by Chick-Fil-A to pick up dinner on the way home, and Olivia and I headed straight home to get everything unloaded and get the table ready for dinner. 

After dinner, the kids got showered and we got them in the bed, and then B and I watched Shark Tank before heading to bed, too.  I ended up turning out the lights a little earlier than usual because this time change is STILL kicking my butt.

Tuesday, March 22

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I headed home to work.  Right after lunch, I met Jacob’s class in the school library to assist with the school book fair.  I always loved book fair day at school when I was little, and I could tell that all of the kids in Jacob’s class felt the same way.  They were all so excited to be there, and they all picked out some good stuff to take home.

Once that was over, I had an hour and a half to kill before I had to be back in the car line, so I ran a few errands – the vet to pick up Maui’s medication, UPS to drop some Amazon returns, and Walmart to pick up the last of the Easter egg hunt stuffers.  Since we’re getting back from Disney one week before Easter (and since our kiddos only have a four-day school week that week), I want to have all of the Easter prep totally done before we leave for our trip.

After school, the kids and I headed home so they could get homework done, and then it was back out to get Olivia to dance.  It was a beautiful, breezy day, so Jacob and I read in the car with the windows rolled down while she was in class, and after that we headed home.

Just as we were walking in, B was leaving for tennis, so he wasn’t around for dinner.  I made breakfast for dinner as I do quite often, and then the kids played for a bit while I got things prepped and ready for the next day. 

Next up, was a workout for me while the kids got showered, and then when B got home, we got the kids in the bed.  He and I stayed up long enough to watch This is Us, and then we went to bed, too.

Wednesday, March 23

Wednesday morning was rainy, so the commute to school was long and yucky.  After I dropped the kids, I spent the rest of the morning holed up in my office working and getting things done.  I ended up crossing everything off of my to do list early, and the rain had mostly cleared by lunchtime, so I ended up leaving the house an hour before I had to be in the car line to run some errands.

I finally cashed in some lottery tickets that we’d been given for Christmas, I dropped some donations, I ran to the bank, I stopped by Walmart to look for something specific that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else (with no luck), and I dropped some books at the library.  It was a suuuuper productive day and I ended up getting much more than I’d even planned.

We had zero activities on Wednesday (it’s our only free weekday this time of year), so we headed straight home after school and relaxed.  I did a stair stepper workout while the kids finished homework, and then they played basketball outside for a long time while I started dinner.

I snapped this picture of Maui because she looks so dang cute in her lavender sweater!!

I treated myself to a mid-week glass of wine, which is very rare, and then we all had dinner together when Brian got home from work.  Now that the time has changed, we typically like to spend time outside after dinner, but the back yard was still soaked from the rain, and we were all exhausted (we’ve been soooo busy!), so we all collapsed on the couch and caught up on some of American Idol.  That show is at least two hours every week, so we’re waaaay behind since the kiddos don’t watch much TV during the week.  We’re on the go so much this time of year that everything else gets put on the backburner.

On Tuesday, Olivia also brought home an official letter welcoming her into the gifted program at school because she did so well on her gifted placement test!  She scored in the 99th percentile for mental ability and she had super high scores in all of the other categories, too, so we think the program will be good for her.  She is all kinds of excited about it, so we didn’t hesitate to sign the consent form.  She absolutely adores school – she’d rather be there than anywhere else – and we are so grateful for all of the amazing teachers who have helped her thrive there.  We’re so proud of her!

Thursday, March 24

Thursday morning, I had book fair duty again at the school, so I dropped the kids and then pulled over in the parking lot to start bright and early at 8 AM.  Olivia’s class came in at 8:20, and I helped all of her classmates pull posters, find books on their reading levels, and calculate their totals.  They are just so precious at this age, y’all.  So precious.

I left around 9 and then headed to pick up some goodies to surprise Olivia’s teacher on Friday.  Friday is her last day, and the kids are all so sad to see her go, so I wanted to do something special for her on her last day.

The rest of the day was spent working on blog stuff and tying up some loose ends, and then I grabbed the kids from school promptly at 3 so we could get home and get everything done before Jacob’s baseball game.

The kids worked on homework while I cooked dinner, Olivia got showered, and then we all had an early dinner when B got home from work.  Then it was on to the ball field… our second home this time of year!  Olivia always gets to hang with her baseball bestie, so she was excited!

Jacob’s team ended up playing awesome again, and Jacob had one of his best games ever as he made two key defensive plays during the game.  He caught a line drive for an out – his first catch in a game ever! – and he also threw a kid out at first base.  Offensively, he had one single that was also an RBI and he scored a run.  Then he struck out once and he was walked once.  His team ended up winning again, 13-7, putting them at 7-0 for the season. 

We have the next two weeks off for spring break, so it was nice to be able to go into the long break undefeated.  His team is ROCKING IT this year!

Friday, March 25

Friday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then headed home to squeeze in an hour of work before heading to the physical therapist.  I’ve been having tons of neck, upper back, and shoulder stiffness/tension for several years now (I carry all of my stress and anxiety there), and it’s been particularly bad for the last six months.  I’ve tried many things, and I’ve seen a couple of different doctors for it, and nothing has helped.  I finally talked to my ENT doctor a couple of weeks ago to see if there’s any kind of physical therapy for the cervical spine/neck area, and he was able to put in a referral for me.

The physical therapist I’m seeing has been doing PT on the cervical spine for 28 years, and he has worked with pro football teams as well as college football teams, so I feel like I’m in good hands.  Upon arrival, he ran several range of motion tests on me to see what we’re dealing with, and he basically told me (in much nicer words than I’m about to use) that my neck is JACKED UP.  Haha.

He worked on me for 45 minutes, and I had immediate relief.  Immediate, y’all.  He was able to get my neck “unstuck” and he did some tissue release on the back of my head/base of my skull that has been a complete Godsend.  My range of motion is incredible now… I didn’t realize just how bad off I was until he got me moving some more. 

As I type this, I’m two full days past my visit, and my neck has just been as loose and wonderful as can be!!  I haven’t had nearly as much tension in my neck, shoulders, and upper back, and I haven’t had any headaches since then either.  My neck has also stopped making crunching noises when I turn my head.    

He did tell me that we have a long way to go because there are lots of areas that are still tight, and he told me that we have to work on training my body to remember the new looseness since it’s been stuck in the same patterns for so long, but he said that he’s sure he can help me get back to normal as it’s all textbook stuff.  I’m going to start seeing him once a week when we get back from Disney World until everything is back to normal. 

After my appointment, I headed back home to eat lunch with B, and then he and I finished our Disney itinerary.  We obviously don’t know exactly how things are going to go each day, but we wanted to put together a loose list of things that we want to do, in the order in which to attempt to do them so we can maximize our time there.  I’m sure our days will end up looking nothing like what we put down on paper, but at least we have a plan!

The rest of the day was spent working in my office, and then I headed to the school to drop some goodies for Olivia’s class because it was her teacher’s last day.  They were on the playground when I arrived, so I passed out cupcakes, and we gave their teacher a little gift from the class.  I still had some time before I had to get in the car line, so I sat outside and chatted with her teacher for a bit… the weather was beautiful, and it was nice getting the fresh air and watching the kids play.  Olivia’s teacher has been such a gem this school year, and Olivia adores her, and we’re going to miss her so much.  Leslie, if you're reading this, we loooove yoooou!

On Friday at school, the Catholic church held a special Mass to pray for peace in Ukraine, and the kids watched some of it live at school.  Olivia knelt down to pray at some point, and her teacher snuck this picture of her.  My precious girl. 

When we got home from school, I tidied up the house, and then at 4:15, we headed out for a very early dinner before heading to the kids’ school to watch the varsity boys baseball game.  Dinner was Mexican at our favorite place down the street from the school, and then we went to the game.  My nephew, Brian’s sister’s son, plays for the team, and since they normally play out of town or while Jacob’s playing, we’ve never gotten to watch him play.  Friday evening at 5:30 was perfect, and the weather was perfect, too, albeit a little chilly.  We had a great time and we ended up winning 12-2!!

After the game, we headed home, the kiddos got ready for bed, and then we all piled on the couch to watch American Idol.  After the kids were in bed, B and I watched A Million Little Things and a couple of episodes of The Other Two, and then we called it a night, too.

Saturday, March 26

Saturday morning, B went out and picked up donuts from our favorite local place, and then we hit the ground running.  We had nothing on the agenda all weekend other than church, so I wanted to tackle lots of projects.

First up, was the kids’ bathroom.  You may remember that we started a refresh in there a couple of months ago, and then we never had time to finish it.  Saturday was finally the day, y’all!  B got the new trim for the towel hooks hung, and then I got it caulked, sanded, and painted.  After that was done, I tackled the laundry and did a cardio workout, and then I got started on my pictures/phone/importing issue that I was STILL having even though my computer is brand new.

By the time all of that was done, it was time for lunch, so I threw together some stuff for us, and then it was time to put a second coat of paint on the trim in the bathroom.  Once that was done, I fought with my phone and computer FOREVERRRR trying to get the pictures to import from my iPhone to my Windows computer, and NOTHING worked.  Ugh.  I ended up throwing a tantrum and then giving up.  Haha. 

I was the most frustrated and in a terrible mood after fighting with the computer for nearly two hours, so I went outside and lay on one of our lawn chairs in the sun and read my book for 30 minutes to chill out.  It’s amazing what a little bit of sunshine will do for you!

Meanwhile, B and the kids played basketball outside because the weather was so nice.  While they were playing, our travel agent’s son dropped off some goodies for us since she knew our trip was coming up.  The kids came BURSTING in the house, and they were so excited about their new Mickey and Minnie ears and their Mickey Mouse Goldfish.  So fun!

By the time I’d finished reading, it was time to get ready for church, and then the four of us headed out.  After Mass, we stood outside and chatted with my Mama Cass and a couple of my aunts and uncles, and then we stopped by the pizza place across the street to pick up dinner.

We took that home, and then after dinner, we resumed our TV watching – America’s Got Talent: Extreme and American Idol.  After the kiddos were in bed, B and I watched a few more episodes of The Other Two and then we called it a night, too.

Sunday, March 27

Sunday morning, we had leftover donuts for breakfast, and then I tackled the pictures/phone/importing issue yet again because I knew I needed to have it all figured out before our Disney World trip.  I worked on the issue for two whole hours, googling everything, reading a ton of articles, and trying every single workaround I could find to get the dang pictures off of my phone.  And nothing worked.  The import would start, take 7 pictures off, and then I’d get a “Something went wrong” error.  No bueno when you have thousands of pictures to import.  Waaaahhhh. 

I was bound and determined to figure out a fix for the issue because I needed a clean slate before my phone gets bogged down with Disney pictures, so I continued to torture myself.  While I worked on that, B got the towel hooks hung on the trim since the paint was finally dry, and just like that, the kids’ bathroom was complete!  Finalllly!!!!  I'll be sharing it on the blog soon, so stay tuned!

Once B finished the bathroom, it was time for him to get ready for tennis, and after he left, the kids and I had an early, light lunch.  After lunch, we took Maui for a nice long walk around the neighborhood because the weather was beautiful once again, and when we got home, the kids played video games for a bit while I got my car all prepped and ready for our Disney trip.

I keep a bunch of things in the car in case of emergency, and I’ve been asked by numerous readers if I can do a blog post about it, so I finally took the time to clean it out, add a few things, gather it all together, and photograph it.  That post will be live in a couple of weeks per your request so stay tuned!

After that was done, I got showered for the day, and when I was showering, a lightbulb went off about my pictures/phone/importing issue.  At that point, I couldn’t get the system on my computer (One Drive) to import the pictures at all, but I’d found a workaround to manually import them outside of One Drive.  However, when I used the workaround method, the pictures were being renamed with generic file names like 001, 002, 003, etc. and it was going to be a nightmare for storing and backing up my photos on my computer, so I knew that wasn’t going to work either.

When my lightbulb went off, I realized that maybe there was a way to change the settings on the computer to import the pictures with different file names.  DUH.  And sure enough, B googled it, and you can.  Bless.

I hopped back on the computer after that, and sure enough, I was able to customize the way the computer imports the file names so now it’s going to be awesome and organized!!  I just have to pray that my workaround continues to import the pictures… sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, so you just never know.  Sigh.

Blogger friends who have WINDOWS computers – do y’all ever have this problem?!  There are tons of articles on the internet about Windows computers not importing iPhone photos and videos easily, so I know I’m not the only one.  If this has happened to you, how did you fix it?  And if you didn’t fix it, how do you get your pictures from your phone to your computer to use in blog posts??  I mean, I could email them all to myself, but that would just be ridiculous.  I probably should have just gotten an Apple computer...

Anyhoo, after I figured out how to have the files named in an organized fashion, I stayed in my office and worked for a couple of hours.  The kids played basketball outside for a bit, and by the time we were all done with that, it was time for dinner.

Neither set of parents cooked on Sunday, so we just got Five Guys takeout for dinner.  After dinner, we got all settled in the living room, and we showed the kids a couple of rides at Disney World on YouTube so they could know what to expect and decide if they want to ride them.  After that, we watched a couple more acts from America’s Got Talent Extreme and American Idol, and I worked out on the stair stepper while we watched.

After the kids were in bed, B and I watched Shark Tank, and then we turned on the Oscars, but apparently, we didn’t watch long enough because we went to bed before the whole Will Smith/Chris Rock face slap.  I ended up watching it the next day and YIKES.  A tasteless joke on Chris Rock’s part, and an even more tasteless reaction on Will Smith’s part.

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

 

This month, I’m reading Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover, and I’m loving it.  I’m almost done with it, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it ends well.  This is my second Colleen Hoover book and I’m definitely a fan of her work.  Now to read all of her other books!

 

Currently Watching

 

With B:  This month, B and I have been watching This is Us, Shark Tank, The Bachelor, and Saturday Night Live on network television.  Then for streaming, we finished Raising Dion (I had mentioned last month that we’d finished it, but we actually had a few episodes left), and we started and finished The White Lotus.  After we finished The White Lotus, we started watching The Other Two on HBO Max.  The Other Two is super funny, but it’s definitely trashy.  I can’t say that it’s going to be one of my favorite shows ever, but it’s entertaining enough to keep watching.

 

With the Kids:  We finished The Amazing Race and now we’ve started the new seasons of American Idol and America’s Got Talent: Extreme.  Because those two shows are taking all of our spare time, we’ve put The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Mighty Ducks Game Changers on the backburner to revisit soon.  We have been watching Mighty Ducks for, like, a year, y’all, and we just need to get it done.  Haha.  The kids never want to watch it, but they always seem to enjoy it when we do.

 

Alone:  I’ve mostly been listening to music while I work, but I’m still turning on The Wedding Planner, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and The Big Wedding every now and then to have as my happy background noise.  Apparently, I love a movie about a wedding.  Hahahaha.

 

Currently Listening To

 

We’re still jamming to the 90’s pop station on Amazon, and I’ve also been shuffling some random playlists on my phone.  We’re also still talking about Bruno.  ;o)  Pretty soon we’ll be shuffling the Disney playlist on repeat!!!!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!