Last week was soooo productive, and then we ended it at the annual benefit ball that we attend every year, so it was also a fun one! Let’s get to the recap!
Monday, January 22
Monday morning, it was freeeezing yet again, so I bundled up, and headed out to get the kids to school. On the way home, I stopped by Walmart and then Publix to grab our groceries for the next couple of weeks, and then I headed back home to get it all put away.
After that, I got dinner in the slow cooker (Ranch Chicken Pasta), and then I headed to my office with my fuzzy PJ pants, my slippers, a thick sweater, a blanket, my hot tea, and an orange cranberry scone from Trader Joe’s. Heaven.
The rest of the morning was spent working on blog posts, and then B and I had lunch together since he was working from home.
After lunch, I headed back to my office to update some album artwork in iTunes, and while I did that, I watched Friends. I also finished cleaning out my desk and started working on cleaning out my craft table in my office.
I picked up the kids at 3, and we were able to head straight home since we had zero extracurricular activities. That does make Mondays so much easier!
I immediately got started putting dishes away, along with the lingering groceries, and the kids got snacks and started on homework. While they finished up homework, I headed to my office with another cup of hot tea to do my Bible study for the day.
The temp actually got up above 50 degrees on Monday, so the kids played outside for the rest of the afternoon after they finished homework. And even though it wasn’t quite warm enough for my liking, I got changed into workout clothes and went for a run. It was breezy and partly cloudy, so it was a chilly one, but at least I got it done.
After dinner, we got the kitchen cleaned up, and I got showered while the kids worked on various projects they were doing for fun – origami for Jacob and another Barbie clothing creation for Olivia.
After that, they got showered, and I finished up cleaning out my craft table. I also got some other random small tasks done that weren’t on my list for the day.
Once the kids were ready for bed, we started another episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and then after they were in the bed, B and I started the new season of The Bachelor.
Tuesday morning, I got the kids off to school, I met one of my friends to pick up a painting for another friend, and then I headed home to work on the blog all morning. Mid-morning, I had an appointment with my therapist, and then I dropped off a couple of bags of donations from all of the stuff we’ve cleaned out.
After that, I headed back home to eat a quick lunch and wrap up various other tasks – more album artwork updating, cleaning out my office closet, working on an Amazon wish list for the Daddy Daughter dance I’m planning for the school, and a few other random things.
After school, the kids and I came home, and they did their homework while I finished up in my office for the day. Jacob and I dropped Olivia at dance at 5, and then we arrived home just as B was pulling in. I had just enough time to freshen up, and then I headed out the door for my girls’ dinner.
We all met at a new-ish local restaurant that Brian and the kids and I have eaten at a couple of times, and the food was delicious. We all hung out for a couple of hours, and then it was back home for the evening.
When I got home, B was still out with the kids. Olivia’s dance night ends late on Tuesday, so he’d taken them to Culver’s to eat dinner afterward. While they were gone, I got started on my mixed cardio workout, and I finished up shortly after they got home.
It was late when they got home, so both kids got showered and into bed, and then B and I watched the rest of The Bachelor that we’d started Monday night.
Wednesday, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed straight home to work all day – mostly on blog stuff, but also a few other things like the Daddy/Daughter dance, cleaning out my email inboxes, updating more album artwork in iTunes, and sorting the big pile of stuff that I’d cleaned out of my office. I had some items that I wanted to donate, some I wanted to sell, some recycling, and some trash.
After school, Jacob and I dropped Olivia at dance, and then he and I headed home. While he worked on homework, I got lots of items listed for sale on a local Facebook page, and then I got some ironing done. I rarely have to iron, but every time I do have to, I feel like I’m about 84 years old. Haha. I feel like nobody really irons anymore.
After dinner, Olivia finished homework, and then while the kids got showered and ready for bed, I got in a strength workout.
Once they were in bed, Maui and I hung out downstairs for a while and watched a couple of episodes of Friends, and then I headed to bed slightly earlier than usual. I was thankful I did, because we all ended up getting the worst night of sleep ever.
Brian ended up getting home from the concert a little before 1, so that woke me up, and then sometime shortly after he got into bed, his car alarm started going off. We park both of our vehicles in the garage every single night, but that night, he parked in the driveway so the garage door wouldn’t wake me, and the one night ever that he parked in the driveway, the alarm went off. Sigh.
He and I checked the cameras all around the house, and saw that we hadn’t gotten any alerts, so we both got up and looked all around the outside of the house from the windows, and we didn’t see anything suspicious at all. He ended up deactivating the alarm because there was obviously nothing going on out there, and we still to this day have no clue why it went off.
After that, I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I lay there forever, and then just when I had finally slipped back into dreamland, it started POURING, and Olivia came running into our room saying that it sounded like hail and she was scared. Usually, we’ll either get her back into bed or just let her get into bed with us, but it was so hot Wednesday night, so she ended up pulling up her sleeping bag next to my side of the bed and sleeping there for the rest of the night.
After that, it took me forever to fall back asleep again, and by the time I did, my alarm started going off. So yeah, it wasn’t the best night of sleep. Haha.
Thursday morning, Brian headed straight outside to check on his vehicle, and there wasn’t a single thing wrong with it, and there was also no sign of tampering. No clue why the alarm went off, but we’re thinking it was a fluke. If someone had been out there, our cameras would have caught it. It was just so strange.
The drive to school Thursday couldn’t have been worse if it tried. It’s dark this time of year when we leave the house, so we were driving in the pitch black. Just as soon as we pulled on the highway, it started POURING down rain. And I mean, the hardest rain you can imagine. I couldn’t see a thing, so I slowed to a crawl. The speed limit on that highway is 70 mph, so naturally, there were plenty of crazies whizzing past us, but most people hung back and were going as slow as I was or even slower. About halfway there, we saw a sea of brake lights, and sure enough, there was a horrible wreck, as there always is on that highway when it rains. It happens every.single.time on the same stretch of highway… I just don’t understand why the city doesn’t lower the speed limit right there.
The wreck looked awful… a truck was completely upside down and just obliterated. Unfortunately, we had to drive right by it, and I hated that the kids had to see it. We said a prayer for everyone involved as we drove by, and we ended up making it to school on time even though we were stuck in traffic for quite some time.
There was another wreck on the northbound side of the highway just down the way from the other wreck, so I knew not to take the highway home, and I just took the backroads instead. The rain let up for a few minutes, and then it POURED all the way home after that. I haven’t ever been so thankful to pull in my garage and get out of the car. Whew. A ton of my anxiety stems from driving, so driving in the pitch black in the pouring rain is one of my ultimate triggers.
The rest of the day was dreary, so I stayed in all day working on the blog and various other tasks. By the time I picked the kids up from school, the sun was trying to peek out from the clouds, and it was 75 glorious degrees, so I opened the sunroof, and I blasted the new Justin Timberlake song all the way to school. It is just SO GOOD.
After school, the kids and I went to music lessons, and Olivia told me that she is considering doing the voice recital again this spring. I was SHOOK. Last year, she was brave enough to do it, and she totally nailed it, and then she promptly burst into tears when she got back to her seat with us. She had been so nervous and had held it all in for so long that she was just traumatized. She swore she’d never do it again, but she was recently inspired after reading that Taylor Swift used to be nervous getting on stage when she was younger. My girl is obsessed with Tay, and apparently, she would do anything for her... even getting up on stage and singing a solo again. Haha.
At piano lessons, Jacob worked some more on Fur Elise. He has nearly perfected that entire song from start to finish, and it is LONG. There are parts of it that I didn’t even know existed. The song is wildly famous and recognizable, and I couldn’t believe that there is one part that I’d never heard at all. That boy and his piano skills just amaze me, though. He is truly a natural.
After music, we headed home, and the kids worked on homework for a bit. Then they headed outside because the weather was glorious! I spent the whole afternoon trying on dresses for the ball we attended on Saturday, and when I tried on “the one” it was love at first sight. I usually waffle between a couple (or even a few) different ones, but this year, there was a clear-cut winner. I cannot get over the fur on the hem… it’s giving Romy and Michelle vibes. I’ve wanted a fur hem ever since I saw that movie when I was a teenager. Haha.
After dinner, B and I cleaned up the kitchen, and then I took down all of our Christmas cards. :o( I looooveeee our Christmas card wall, so I always leave it up way after I take down the rest of Christmas, and it’s always such a sad day to take them down. I sure do enjoy seeing all of those smiling faces every day and I’m going to miss them until next year.
Friday morning, I swung by the school office after I dropped the kids, and then I ran a couple of errands – UPS to do an Amazon return and Target to grab a couple of things, and then I headed back home to work for the rest of the day.
The kids and I went home after school, and once they’d tidied up, they played video games for a bit. Well, Jacob did, anyway. Olivia has been into making her own videos lately, so she’s been recording herself with her laptop. She doesn’t post them anywhere (obviously), but she loves recording them and watching them back.
While they did that, I turned on my favorite Phil Wickham acoustic album and I did my Bible study for the day, and then I tackled so.many.tiny.things. that have been piling up and weren’t even on my to-do list for the day. I got so much stuff done, and it felt great to have all of those insignificant tasks off my plate.
Brian picked up dinner from our favorite barbecue place, and then after dinner, Olivia and I narrowed her Daddy Daughter dresses down to two, and we ordered them to try. While the kids got showered and ready for bed, I did another Bible study and read for a bit in my office, and then we all piled on the couch to watch another episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is so boring to me (I have always hated Greek mythology), but the kids are absolutely loving it.
After the kids went to bed, B and I finished The Stranger (and loved it), and then we started Safe, which is another miniseries by Harlan Coben. Haha. We are loving all of those.
Saturday morning, I made homemade waffles for breakfast per usual, and then we watched another episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians while I painted my nails for the ball Saturday night.
The rest of the morning was spent getting some stuff done in my office, working out (mixed cardio), doing laundry, cleaning my wedding rings, tackling some house chores, and trying on dresses one final time just to be 100% sure.
We all had lunch together, and then I retreated to my office to get a few things done. It rained nonstop the entire afternoon, and while that made for a very cozy day, it was not ideal for the benefit ball that we attended Saturday night.
Thankfully, by the time B dropped the kids off at his mom’s and got back home to pick me up, the rain had stopped, but the humidity was sitting at a million percent, so my hair looks rough in all of the pictures despite my efforts to make it fancy for the evening. It was also a challenge to get a good outfit picture because it was so dark outside, and therefore, it was really dark in our bedroom.
Sunday, January 28
Sunday morning, we slept in, and then B and I had breakfast together. He then got ready for the day and left to pick up the kids while I sat down with my planner and my cup of cinnamon tea. I got the month of February all ready in my planner, and I also prepped for the week ahead. After that, I listened to my Sunday morning sermon and did some yoga, and then when B got home with the kids, we all sat in Olivia’s new tent fort that she got for Christmas and we played a game of Sussed.
After that, we all had a light lunch, and then the kids headed outside to play for a long time. It was cold and dreary yet again, but at least it wasn’t raining! We had so much rain last week!
While the kids played, I got showered and ready for the day, and then I settled back in to my office to get some work done for the afternoon. We were pretty lazy all day since we’d had a late night and since it was so yucky outside again.
I ended up getting some pictures deleted from my phone, and I organized all of my new pictures from the week. I also worked on a couple of blog posts. And I did all of that while I watched Taylor Swift’s boyfriend play in the championship game. ;o)
At 5:30 we headed to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, and we finished watching the game over there. Olivia and I were, of course, cheering for The Chiefs, and they won. Woo hoo! And just for the record, I have been pulling for them for the last few years before Taylor was ever in the picture. ;o) We are Falcons fans, but they have been pretty terrible for a while, so we cheer for them all season long, but then when they don’t make it to the playoffs, I become a temporary Chiefs fan. ;o)
Momma outdid herself for dinner with beef stroganoff, some new green bean recipe that involved bacon and onions, and my faaaavorite carrots recipe that I need to get and share with y’all sometime. It was all so delicious.
By the time we got home, it was time to get the kids in the bed, and then B and I watched another episode of Safe and some of the SNL JT episode before calling it a night.
And now for a few current things…
Currently Reading
I started and am nearly finished with Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. It’s filled with very detailed ways to live life as a good Christian… being the hands and feet of Jesus, keeping God at the forefront of your mind, etc. I am really enjoying it so far and I hope to complete it by the end of the month.
I also started New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp for 2024, so I’ll be reading it the entire year as there’s one entry per day. This devotional is the gift that keeps on giving day after day. Paul David Tripp is an excellent writer, and I feel like I’m being blessed over and over each day that I read. I look forward to it every day.
I’m also still working my way through The Bible and The Bible Recap… I recently finished Numbers and I’m now working my way through Deuteronomy. I’m on day 77 as I type this, so I’m 49 days ahead of schedule if I want to finish it by the end of the year. Again, I’m truly enjoying this experience, and I intend to do some version of yearly Bible studies every year going forward.
Currently Watching
With B: This month, we started and finished Fool Me Once and The Stranger on Netflix, and we LOVED both of them. We also started Safe, which is another Harlan Coben series. We also watched the Dan Levy movie Good Grief on Netflix and we enjoyed that, too. In addition to that, we’ll turn on Saturday Night Live occasionally when we have nothing else to watch, and we also started the new season of The Bachelor with Joey.
With the Kids: We finally restarted and finished The Big Nailed it Baking Challenge and then we started Percy Jackson and the Olympians. We also watched the movie Turning Red since we’d never seen that, and Brian and Jacob watched Spiderman 2 while Olivia had a friend over for a sleepover. We also took the kids to see Migration at the movie theater and it was cute!
Alone: I just restarted Friends for the 8,400th time, and I’m watching that sometimes while I work. Most of the time I just listen to music, though.
Currently Listening To
Well, Justin Timberlake just dropped a new single, and I have been all over that for the last few days since it came out. It is so good. I love that he’s gotten back to his OG style… I hope the rest of the album is like that! Before that came out, I was listening to Teddy Swims on repeat. I found him in recent months and all of his stuff is just so good. Oh, and Taylor and Ed and DMB. Always, those three.
Happy Tuesday, y’all!
That is so cute that Olivia is inspired to sing a solo because she heard about Taylor Swift being scared as a kid too. The ball looked like fun!
ReplyDeleteI know, I couldn't believe it when she said that. I'm hoping she really follows through, but I will completely understand if she doesn't. And yes, we had a great time!
Delete