Our Week - The One with All the Homecoming Festivities and Momma’s Birthday

We had a really fun week last week, and my medicine that I started taking a couple of weeks ago for my vertigo seems to be working pretty well most days, so all in all, last week wasn’t too bad. 

Monday, September 18

Monday was the start of Homecoming week at the kids’ school, so they got to dress up each day.  Monday was “Your Majesty Monday” (dress like royalty), so I sent my little king and princess off to school bright and early.  In case you’re wondering, Jacob was the King of Georgia football, Stetson Bennett.  ;o)  And Olivia wanted to be a princess… not a queen.  She was very clear about that.  Haha.

I had to drop off some leftover snacks from Friday’s tailgate at the school office, and then I headed to Walmart to do our grocery shopping for the next two weeks.  Right as I got home, I got a text, an email, and a phone call from the school saying that they were on a soft lockdown because of a wanted suspect on the loose in the area.  Upon checking the news, I saw that there had been a domestic dispute that had ended in murder earlier that morning.  It hadn’t happened super close to the school, but it was close enough that they wanted to be extra careful since the suspect had fled.

The school ended up being on soft lockdown all day long because they couldn’t find the suspect – ugh – and they had to cancel all of the after-school activities on campus out of an abundance of caution.  During soft lockdown, the kids are allowed to change classes and move about the school inside the building, but nobody is allowed to set foot outside and nobody from outside is allowed to come in. 

Both kids were okay when I picked them up.  I was concerned they might be a little shaken up or worried about the situation, but thankfully, all was well.  I’m sure I was more upset about it than they were.  And thankfully, the suspect was caught the next day… and he wasn’t in the area of their school.

Jacob had a golf match (that was not at the school), so he and Brian headed to the golf course after we got home, and Olivia and I stayed home so she could do homework.  After homework was done, we raided her closet to find items for her to wear for the remaining dress-up days – nothing like waiting ‘til the last minute! – and we ended up finding everything we needed. 

Once that was done, she played some educational games on her computer for a few minutes while I finished my to-do list for the day, and then we headed downstairs to make mini pizzas together.  She ended up doing most of the work, and I was able to prep everything for Tuesday while she was working.

When the boys got home, we all sat down to eat together, and Jacob told us all about his golf match.  He had shot a 46, which was about average for him. 

After dinner, I got out for an evening walk/jog, and it felt fantastic outside!!  The temps finally dropped a bit last week and we got to enjoy lows in the 60’s every night, and even the 50’s one of the nights!  The air was also dry, so that made a huge difference after some humidity we’d had the previous week. 

My walk/jog went well, and I felt totally normal the whole time aside from a couple of minor dizzy spells towards the end.  My dizziness was in check for the most part last week, but my neck tension started to creep up Monday evening which did cause a little more dizziness last week than the previous week.  Hopefully my medicine will continue to keep it in check.

When I got back from my walk/jog, we finished AGT from the previous week, and then the kids got into bed.  Olivia asked Brian to burn her a CD of all of her favorite Halloween songs, so she’s been falling asleep to a bunch of creepy songs, and it is just the funniest thing to me.

After the kids were in bed, I showered and meditated, and then B and I watched an episode of Cruel Summer before calling it a night.

Tuesday, September 19

Tuesday morning was PJ Day at the kids’ school for homecoming week, and I totally forgot to take a picture.  Jacob wore the same PJs he wears pretty much every night right now and Olivia wore her Halloween nightgown… I think we all knew that was coming!  My festive girl.  Haha.

After I dropped them at school, I headed back home to work for a bit, and then mid-morning, I headed to the dermatologist for my annual skin check.  Everything went well, but she did say that I have one mole that she wants to start watching. 

I was in and out pretty quickly there, and I headed to Fresh Market next to pick up some chicken since they always have it on sale on Tuesdays.  While I was there, I also picked up some s’mores pretzels for the kiddos.  If you haven’t tried their specialty fall pretzels, then you totally should… they are all divine.  The Hot Cocoa flavored ones are excellent, too.

After I was done there, I headed back home to make lunch and work for the rest of the day, and then I swung by the gas station and my parents’ house on the way to pick up the kids from school.  We drove straight home after school so the kids could tackle homework before Olivia had to be at dance, and then after she was dropped at dance, Jacob and I swung by Publix to grab everything I couldn’t get at Walmart.

We got that stuff home and put away, and then we had to turn back around and get Jacob to a makeup piano lesson at 6.  After his lesson, we went home where we were finally able to settle in for the night.  There was a lot of coming and going for me on Tuesday.  Whew.

When we got home, I got dinner in the oven – one pan sausage and veggies and gluten free blueberry muffins.  Since I have super high inflammation in my body (that is possibly causing a plethora of problems), I’m slowly trying to cut back on gluten.  I may try to go completely gluten free soon.

While dinner roasted in the oven, I squeezed in a 30-minute stair stepper workout while Jacob worked on his science project notecards, and then when Brian and Olivia got home from dance, we all sat down and ate together.

After dinner, I put away some laundry and got into my PJs, and I did a Bible study while the kids showered and got ready for bed.  There was no time for them to watch TV Tuesday evening, so we got them in bed and then B and I watched another episode of Cruel Summer before heading to bed.

Wednesday, September 20

Wednesday was Western Wednesday for homecoming week, and we aren’t big western people over here, so there wasn’t a cowboy hat or a pair of boots to be had for either of the kids, and I wasn’t about to buy one just for this day knowing it would never be worn again.  Therefore, their outfits were a biiiig stretch.  Haha.  Jacob wore a plaid shirt… with shorts.  Because nothing says cowboy like blue chinos!!  Hahahaha.  I told him he looked more like a frat boy than a cowboy, but he refused to wear jeans.  What is it about boys never wanting to wear actual pants of any kind?!  Haha. 

Olivia ended up wearing jean shorts, a tank, and a denim jacket, and we fashioned a bandana out of some fabric I had lying around…  hence the weird non-western colors.  Haha.  Oh well!!  On another note, just look at that sunrise Wednesday morning!

After I got them to school, I headed home to work all morning, and then I went to my eight-week orthodontist checkup.  They removed both wires this time and put new ones in, and y’all, prior to my appointment, I had a massive gap in my bottom teeth (legit, you could roll a dime or a penny through it because it was so big) and when I got home and looked in the mirror, the gap was totally gone.  Whaaaat.

The girl had done a bit of tugging when putting in the new wire, but that happens every time, so I didn’t think anything of it, so I was SHOCKED that she had moved that tooth so much.  Yeesh.  My mouth was surprisingly not sore when I ate lunch, but later in the evening it was verrrry tender, as was the rest of my mouth.  That was definitely my most painful checkup yet.  That pain doesn’t really bother me much, though, and I didn’t even bother to take any pain meds. 

While I was there, I talked to my orthodontist in great depth about this vertigo I’ve been having since it’s been so long since it started.  I had mentioned it to him at my last appointment, and he told me he’d never seen anything like it in his 20+ years of doing this, and I let it go since I hadn’t had the vertigo that long at that point.

This time, he told me yet again that he doesn’t personally know anyone who has ever suffered from vertigo during braces treatment, but he went on to say that obviously all of the muscles in your face and head are connected, so it’s not totally out of the question that it could be the cause.  Before my vertigo started, they had done something at my appointment four weeks prior that made my jaw shift dramatically over the next four weeks leading up to the vertigo… my top jaw was pulling to the left and my bottom jaw was pulling to the right.  I did read that if your jaw gets out of alignment, it can pull on the muscles that attach to your inner ear, and obviously, the inner ear is what controls your balance.  So anyway, it’s a theory to pursue, even though, ultimately, I would not be surprised if it was actually my anxiety that is causing it. 

Anyway, the orthodontist did mention that my jaw was not aligned, so he gave me some new rubberbands to wear at night… one end attaches to my upper left canine, and the other end attaches to my lower right canine, and that is allowing the jaw to realign and come back to center where it should be.  I’m not convinced this will fix the vertigo, but time will tell.

After my appointment was done, I swung by a different Publix than I normally go to because we were in desperate need of two items that my neighborhood Publix (and Walmart) hadn’t had.  I had success there and then I headed home to finish up with work for the day.

I grabbed the kids at 3, and then we dropped Olivia at dance, and then Jacob and I headed home where we were able to stay for the rest of the evening.  When Brian and Olivia got home, we ate dinner together – stir fry with rice and veggies – and then after dinner Brian helped Olivia study for a test while I went for a run. 

I had another successful run even though I was feeling a little tired for it, and I did have a couple of dizzy spells that forced me to slow down. 

Back at home, I got showered and ready for bed, and then we got the kids in bed a little earlier than usual.  B and I watched another episode of Cruel Summer, and then we went to bed a little earlier than usual as well.  This medicine for my vertigo kicks my butt and I’m drowsy within about 30 minutes of taking it.

Thursday, September 21

Thursday was Decades Day for Homecoming, so I dropped off our little 90’s kids and then headed to physical therapy for my vertigo.  After that was done, I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working at home, and then I headed to an appointment with my therapist right before it was time to pick up the kids from school.

After school, we headed straight to music lessons, and Olivia was surprised with a certificate for being the Student of the Month!  Apparently, they used to do a student of the month award way back, and then they stopped doing it.  But they decided to start doing it again, and Olivia was the first one to receive it!  She was SO excited!

After music lessons, we headed home for the rest of the evening.  I helped Olivia study for a test, and then I cooked beef and parm pasta with zucchini for dinner.  We were able to have an early dinner Thursday night which was nice after a couple of later dinners the previous two days.

I headed to walk after that, and I had to take it easy because I had started having some mild dizziness.  Before the dizziness started, my neck had been feeling tense again, so I’m convinced my neck is causing the dizziness.  And the neck tensing is probably caused by anxiety.  So now I’m on a mission to see if there’s anything I’m doing or eating that could be causing my anxiety to be worse.  I’m hoping to see an endocrinologist soon to make sure it’s not my hormones causing it.  Or to see if I have a gluten sensitivity.  Or a magnesium deficiency or something similar. 

I do have very high inflammation in my body according to my most recent blood test, and I’m wondering if that has something to do with the anxiety, too, since it can exacerbate it.  I totally feel like a detective over here trying to figure all of this out, y’all.  Even though we’ve ruled out tons of things, there are still just so many possibilities.  Sigh.

After my walk (with a couple of spurts of running when I could), I got showered, and then we sat down and watched a ton of America’s Got Talent.  We usually only have about 15-30 minutes per night to watch anything with the kids (sometimes zero time at all), so we were way behind.

After we got them in the bed, B and I watched another episode of Cruel Summer.  Y’all, that show is SO GOOD.  I just love it.

Friday, September 22

Friday, I had no appointments or meetings, so I dropped the kids at school and then headed home to work all day.  Friday was extreme school spirit day for homecoming week, so they were especially festive.  It’s the socks for me.  ;o)

At 3, I grabbed them from school and then we headed home for a bit to unload from the week, freshen up, and reapply face paint, and then the four of us headed back to the school for all of the homecoming festivities.

Our school recently added a massive athletic center across the street from our main campus, and they hosted a cocktail hour at 5 PM for any alum who wanted to come tour it.  We hadn’t had the chance to see it, and we’re always down for a cocktail (hehe), so we got there right at 5 to check it out. 

Renovations are ongoing so it’s not quite done yet, but it is going to be an impressive space when it’s done.  There is a huge indoor practice area with turf for the football team, there is another huge indoor practice area for the other sports teams… it has retractable batting cages and will eventually have an indoor area for the golfers to practice that will include some sort of interactive simulator.  Then there is also a huge viewing room with stadium seating and big leather customized chairs for the sports teams (mostly football, I’m sure) to review their games.  I am just so excited for all of the things our school is doing and I’m so grateful that our babies get to experience all of this first-hand!  It’s incredible how far the school has come since I graduated in 2000.

After cocktail hour, we made our way to the practice field on the main campus for the alumni social.  We had to check in and grab our name tags, and all of us were cracking up because they had pulled all of our old senior yearbook pictures to put on our nametags.  It’s crazy how many of us had brown hair back then and have blonde hair now.  ;o)

The alumni social was a lot of fun.  We ended up having nine people there from our class (two boys not pictured because we couldn’t find them at the time), and it was a fun time catching up.  As you can see, most of the people who were there from my class are all of the ladies who I do my monthly dinners with, so I see them all the time anyway.  Haha.

My momma and daddy and Mama Cass were all there, too, since my mom and all of her siblings graduated from there, and I was so excited to see Mama Cass out and about.  I sure hope I’m that much fun when I’m 94!!  She is down for pretty much anything and she was the hit of the social!!

The football game started at 7:30, so we headed in there, and we ended up staying until a little after halftime.  Jacob and Olivia both had friends at the game, so we barely saw them the whole night until it was time to go.  Per usual, neither of them wanted to leave and we had to tear them away.  Haha.

When we got home, Olivia got showered so she could get all of the hair dye out of her hair, and then both kiddos got into bed late.  B and I crashed on the couch and watched one episode of Cruel Summer, and then we were off to bed, too.

Saturday, September 23

Saturday morning, we were up a little earlier and I made homemade waffles for breakfast.  I mentioned earlier that I’m trying to start cutting out gluten (not all of it, but some of it for now), so the waffles were the first gluten I’d had in days aside from the beers I’d had at the alumni social the night before. 

After breakfast, I squeezed in a quick mixed cardio workout, and then it was off to shower and get ready for the day because we had some errands to run. 

First up, were pictures for the directory our church is putting together.  That took less than an hour, and by the time we were done, it was time for lunch.  We’ve been wanting to try to a new-ish local place that’s popular for their brunch, and we were able to get right in without having to wait.

The kids both got breakfast plates complete with eggs, sausage, homemade biscuits, and fruit, and I opted for the BLT.  Brian ended up with the best meal of all, though… fried chicken with pimiento cheese and raspberry jalapeno jelly on two thick slices of French toast dusted with powdered sugar.  Oh. My. Word.  Y’all.  It was so delicious.  It was so huge that he ended up having a good bit leftover, and I ended up nearly finishing it because I just couldn’t stop eating.  Haha.

Once we were done there, we headed to a local bakery to pick up a birthday cake I’d ordered for my Momma, and then we finally headed back home.  The rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry, getting some things done around the house, and lounging, and then we headed back out at 5 for 5:30 Mass.  For some reason during Mass, I experienced a lot of dizziness and I’m not sure what prompted it, but thankfully, it wore off shortly after that.

The Georgia game was on at 7:30, so after Mass, we picked up pizza from one of our favorite local places right by church, and then we headed home to eat and watch the game.  Georgia had a slow start, but we ended up whooping the other team as we should have.

By the time the game was over, it was late, so B and I called it a night and headed to bed.

 

Sunday, September 24

Sunday morning, we did cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then we had a lazy morning.  The kids watched a movie, and I watched my Sunday morning sermon while I got my planner ready for the week ahead.  I also got in a yoga workout and got some papers filed away in the kids’ keepsake boxes. 

We ate a light lunch at home, and then we all headed outside to hang out in the sunshine for a bit.  Brian and Jacob worked on chipping and tee shots in the back yard, and Olivia and I caught bugs… or she did, anyway.  I don’t touch bugs.  Haha.

She had asked me to help her make a leaf pile to play in, but sadly, there were no leaves, so we couldn’t do that.  Soon enough, though.  Soon enough.

After spending some time outside, I headed in to shower and get ready, and then I worked on blog stuff in my office for a couple of hours while Brian and the kids played video games.

Sunday was my Momma’s birthday, so I cooked Sunday dinner for everyone, and I made my mom’s white chicken chili that we all love so much.  We spent the rest of the evening celebrating my Momma, and it was a great way to end the weekend.  That caramel chocolate cake was to die for, too.

 

And now for a few current things…

 

Currently Reading

 

We have been busy this month, and the medicine I’ve been taking for my vertigo has been making me soooo sleepy before bedtime (when I do the bulk of my reading), so I haven’t read that much this month.  This month, I finished The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner.  It started out very slow, and I thought about throwing in the towel, but it picked up eventually, and I ended up thinking it was just okay.  Not great, but not a total waste of time, I suppose.

 

Now I’m working on The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan.  It really grabbed my attention from the beginning, but about midway through the book, I thought it started getting a little slow.  I’m hoping to finish it by the end of this week, though, and I’ll try to remember to let y’all know what I think!

 

I’m also still making my way through Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by Craig Groeschel, but I didn’t pick it up at all this month.  As I’ve said before, it requires some serious critical thinking, and with this vertigo/brain fog, I’m finding stuff like that pretty challenging… not to mention we’ve been SO BUSY this month I just haven’t had the kind of time to dedicate to it that I’d like.  I’m hoping to start getting back into it soon.

 

I was also able to do 10 days in my Bible Recap this month, too, and the month isn’t quite over yet!  I’m making that my priority over the book above for now.

 

Currently Watching

 

With B:  This month, we’re still making our way through season 3 of Only Murders in the Building (which I’m still not loving), and we also finished Nine Perfect Strangers which we both LOVED.  We also just started Cruel Summer, and I am loving that SOOOO much.  It is so good.  And, of course, we’re watching tons of college football along with ESPN College GameDay every Saturday morning. 

 

With the Kids:  We’re still on a break with Weird But True, so we didn’t watch any of that this month, and we also haven’t watched anymore of Welcome to Earth.  We are still making our way through America’s Got Talent… this season is neverending.  And we started the new season of Nailed It.  This one is called The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge and we’re loving it so far!

 

Alone:  I’m still just watching The Wedding Planner on repeat.  It never gets old, y’all.

 

Currently Listening To

All the standards and cocktail jazz!  That kind of music is always soothing to my soul, and I’m really loving listening to it while I cook in the evening.  I’m also still throwing some 90’s R&B in while I drive, and I still can’t stop listening to Hymn of Heaven (Acoustic Sessions) by Phil Wickham.  I’m also overhearing plenty of Halloween tunes because Brian burned CDs of our favorite Halloween mix for the kids, and they’ve been listening to them on repeat.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!