Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 9 (Jacob’s Birthday, Poker Night, a Power Outage, and a Walmart Story)

Last week, it stormed pretty much all day every day, so we were laying low most of the week.  We had some good downtime, plenty of sleep, some productivity, and some fun, aaaand we celebrated Jacob’s 13th birthday!  It was a good one!

Monday, July 22

Monday, I woke up at 7:30, had breakfast, and worked in my office for an hour.  After that, I got showered and ready for the day as I had errands to run.  Since Brian works from home on Monday, I can leave the kids home with him which is so nice! 

I filled the car with gas, did my grocery shopping at Walmart, and then picked up the rest of the items from Publix that I couldn’t get at Walmart, and then it was time to go home and get everything put away.

While I was gone, Olivia worked on IXL summer homework, and Jacob played piano and hung out.

By the time I was done putting groceries away, it was time to have lunch, and then after lunch, I worked all afternoon. 

We had ranch chicken pasta for dinner with steamed broccoli and garlic cheese bread, and then after dinner, I went out for a run.  But first, a check on Olivia's sunflowers!  They're coming along!

There were storms all around during my run, but thankfully, the rain held out.  Since there were storms everywhere, it wasn’t quite as hot, but the humidity felt like 1000%.  I was DRENCHED by the time I got home.  I was still feeling good, though, so I did an 8-minute arms workout in the driveway and did my stretches before heading inside for the evening.

The kids had played outside while I was gone, and they were getting ready for bed by the time I got home.  Then once we were all showered, we pulled out the Lego puzzle we’ve had forever but haven’t ever put together, and we got the whole outline done before the kids got in the bed.

Last pictures as a 12-year-old!

Brian and I spent the rest of the night working on getting Jacob’s phone ready for the next day since it was his birthdaaaay!!!!

 

Tuesday, July 23

Tuesday morning, I got up and made homemade waffles for breakfast per the birthday boy’s request.  He and Olivia and I all ate together, and then we hung out for a bit after breakfast.  The birthday boy wanted to play video games after breakfast, so that’s exactly what he and Olivia did, and while they did that, I retreated to my office to get some work done. 

Mid-morning, I got showered and ready along with the kids, and then my friend, Khristina, dropped her son, Noah, off to spend the day with us.  She was so kind to ask the birthday boy what he wanted for lunch, and they came bearing gifts from Panera per Jacob’s request.  Khristina’s mom, Trish, was with her as they were going to spend the day together, so it was a nice surprise and such a treat to be able to see her, too.  Hiiii, Trish!!  I know you’re reading!  :o)

After they left, the kids and I all ate lunch together, and then the kids spent the rest of the day trading Pokemon cards, playing Twister, working on the Lego puzzle, and playing basketball outside.  And we had another look at Olivia's sunflowers.

 

While they were all distracted, I put the finishing touches on Jacob’s phone – adding various contacts like his grandparents and a couple of his friends, adding pictures to the contacts, updating the wallpaper on his phone (blue Lego bricks), and getting a couple of his apps ready.  Brian had already finished putting all of the security measures on there the night before, so it was ready to wrap.

Noah was picked up at 4, and then Brian got home shortly after that, and by then, I was practically dyyyying to give him his gift.  I had left the phone in its original box, but I wrapped it in tissue paper and put it at the bottom of a very large Amazon box.  Then I took all of Olivia’s loose Lego pieces and dumped them all over the top, filling up the box to the top.  I covered those with more tissue paper, and then wrapped it as a normal gift.

When Jacob went to open the box, he knew it was Lego because he could hear them shaking around, so he assumed it was a regular Lego set.  But when he pulled the tissue paper off revealing all of the loose Lego bricks (mostly pink and purple and pastels since they were Olivia’s – LOL), he was totally confused.  Olivia was, too.

I told him to start digging, and he finally got to the bottom and pulled out the tissue paper wrapped phone.  When he pulled the tissue paper off, he. was. shook.  Then his shock turned to pure excitement.  We got the whole thing on video and it’s a video I’ll treasure forever.  It was priceless.  He couldn’t believe that we’d finally given him a phone.  After years of asking, he’d finally given up about a year ago, so he wasn’t expecting it at all.  These faces... PRICELESS.

 

We spent the next hour or so going over how to use the basic features, showing him the security measures that we have in place (we’re being fully transparent with him as we expect him to be fully transparent with us), showing him all of the fun stuff it can do, teaching him proper phone etiquette, customizing a few things, and most importantly, going over THE RULES. 

I plan to do a full blog post on all of this sometime in the near future, so stay tuned…

By the time we were done with all of that, it was time to get ready for dinner.  We let the birthday boy choose, and his pick was Culver’s.  Lol.  That boy loves some Culver’s.  Haha. 

We all enjoyed our burgers, and Jacob got an ice cream there as his birthday dessert, and then we headed home as a huge storm was about to blow through. 

I got in a stair stepper workout, and then the rest of the evening was spent watching America’s Got Talent, and watching Jacob receive text after text and call after call from extended family members on his very first phone.  All of his grandparents, his uncles, and several of my aunts, uncles, and cousins all called and texted him and it was so sweet. 

The kids got in the bed late, but Brian and I were dying to know how Presumed Innocent ended, so we watched that even though it meant staying up really late for a weeknight.  Y’all.  That show was SOOOO GOOOOD.  We both loved it.

 

Wednesday, July 24

Wednesday morning, I was up at 7:45…I slept in a few extra minutes since B and I had stayed up so late the night before, and then I headed downstairs to have breakfast, unload the dishwasher, water the plants, and do all of my morning chores.  Jacob came down while I was still in the kitchen, which has been rare this summer as he’s been sleeping in until nearly 9 most mornings. 

I helped him set up a couple more things on his phone, and then I headed to my office with hot tea in hand to catch up on some blog reading.

Olivia came in my office around 9 because she’d finally gotten up, and then she headed downstairs where Jacob was already eating breakfast.  Olivia has been skipping breakfast most mornings this summer – she’s never been an early morning eater, nor does she like to eat first thing when she wakes – so most days she’s just been skipping breakfast and then eating a big lunch. 

Since Jacob didn’t get his cell phone until the end of the day on his birthday, I let him spend a fair amount of time with it Wednesday morning, and he and Olivia played a game on there that we’d let him download. 

Mid-morning, I also sent him a couple more contacts to put in his phone and he texted a couple of his cousins on Brian’s side of the family since they’re all older and already have phones.  He is LOVING being able to get in touch with everyone.  It’s a whole new world!  For him, and for me.  It is wild having my child’s phone number in my phone now.  How on earth did we get here so fast?!  Haha.

After that, Olivia and I headed to her bedroom to start the process of… cleaning out the dumpster fire that is her room.  Y’all, I know I say this every time, but it’s true every time – I think it was the worst it’s ever been.  Haha.  She somehow always outdoes herself.

After an hour and a half in there it looked like an even bigger mess than when we’d started, and I was so disheartened that I had to take a break.  Cleaning out her room is a massive task that usually takes days.

We headed downstairs for lunch after that, and then the kids got dressed and ready for the day while I showered. 

At 2 PM, we had a massive storm roll through and then it was dark and stormy for the rest of the afternoon, making for the absolute coziest day.  It made me so ready for fall!  Since we couldn’t do much, Jacob played video games, Olivia made slime, and I worked in my office, and then I did my quiet time and Bible study after my work was done for the day.

After that, I went back into Olivia’s room to tackle some more cleaning out until it was time to get dinner on the table.  While I worked in her room a ton and got a lot done, it still looked like I’d hardly put a dent in it.  Sigh.  Haha.

We had leftover ranch chicken pasta and steamed broccoli for dinner since my slow cooker recipe always makes a ton, and we had that with some garlic cheese bread.  B and I even had a glass of wine!

It was still raining when we finished up with dinner, so I did an indoor workout – strength.  After my workout, Olivia asked if we could read her book some more (we started The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls months ago, but never finished it), so we snuggled up in my bed and read together until Jacob was done showering and getting ready for bed.

After that, we watched some more of America’s Got Talent, and then after the kids went to bed, B and I watched some more of The Bachelorette before going to bed.

 

Thursday, July 25

Thursday morning was the usual morning routine for me, and then I ended up having to wake Olivia around 10:15 because she had been asleep for over 12 hours, and I was worried she wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep Thursday night.  These kids have done some serious sleeping this summer!

Once she was up and ready, we got back in her room and finished up in there.  It took a couple more hours, but we finallyyyy got the whole thing cleaned out and organized.  It was a TON of work, but I’m happy, and most importantly, she’s happy.  She always LOVES when her room is tidy, yet she will not keep it that way for longer than, like three days after we do these big cleanouts.  Haha.  Meanwhile, Jacob worked on a wooden piano puzzle that he'd bought with his own money...

The rest of the afternoon was spent having lunch, getting ready, doing some work, and then taking the kids to music lessons.  Olivia made the decision to definitely make the switch from voice lessons to guitar lessons, so she had her last voice lesson with Mrs. Janice Thursday.  They have a two-week break from music, and then after the break, she’ll officially start her guitar lessons.  EEEEK!  I think I’m just as excited as she is!

When she told Mr. Steve on Thursday that she was officially making the switch, he was thrilled, and he told her that her homework over the break was to make a long list of songs she wants to learn.  She told Steve, “Okay, but just know that it’s gonna be all Taylor Swift!!”  Hahahaha.  And he was like, “That’s ok, girl, I’m happy to do it!” 

He has several students who already play TS nonstop so he knows it all anyway.  Haha.  And he actually enjoys a lot of her music, too.  He’s a musician so he knows a good artist when he hears one.  ;o) 

And then he told her that he’s going to make learning to play the guitar so fun that she’s not even going to know she’s learning… even during the “boring” stuff.  He did tell us that she needs a capo if she’s going to be playing a lot of TS, so naturally, Olivia just had to go buy one right then and there.

While we were at music lessons, Jacob worked some more on honing Clair de Lune, and his piano teacher was just amazed at how quickly he picked it up.  And his mind was blown because Jacob already has it all memorized… he doesn’t even need the sheet music.  That prompted his teacher to mention casually that he needs to consider doing another recital.  I don’t think he’s 100% opposed to it, but we’ll see…

Since Olivia just had to have a capo right away (haha), we drove to the local music store to pick one up, and on the way, we swung by the library to pick up a book for me.

At the music store, we browsed for a bit, grabbed the capo she needed, and we let her select a guitar pick.  She wanted a purple one, and that was exactly what she got.

While we were there, I discovered that they offer piano and guitar lessons in the morning and early afternoon (unlike the kids’ music school).  I’ve been so inspired by Jacob these past couple of years that I’ve been wanting to take piano lessons, but wasn’t sure where to take them since the kids’ school doesn’t offer them early enough in the day.  Now I know where I can go should I decide to take the plunge!

After we were done there, we headed home for a Bible study and breakfast for dinner.  After dinner, I decided to get outside for a workout, and Maui was wanting to go so badly that I decided to get her out for a walk before I did my own.  We got about a quarter of a mile away from our house and it started pouring.  I picked Maui up and made a run for it, and bless her, she was SOAKED by the time we got home.  It was so funny to watch her reaction because she hates getting wet so much.

By the time we got home, the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, and then by the time I got Maui dried off, the rain had stopped completely.  I got back out there for a walk/jog, and during my entire workout, I was treated to a massive rainbow that stretched across the whole sky.  My workout lasted about 30 minutes and the rainbow was there the entire time, only fading just as I reached my driveway.  It was such a treat!

When I got home, I got showered and ready for bed, and then we got the kids in the bed shortly after.  Brian and I watched some more of The Bachelorette even though neither of us are really paying attention to it as we’re both doing other things on our phones or whatever, and then we headed to bed.

 

Friday, July 26

Friday, we had a pretty lazy morning, and then after lunch, the kids and I had to go to Walmart to pick up a few things since we were hosting poker night with our friends that evening.  I had grabbed a case of beer, and it was in our cart while we were doing self-checkout.  I had gotten every item scanned and bagged and was just about to scan the beer when Olivia walked by the cart and just barely brushed her fingertips over the top of the case. 

Immediately, a Walmart employee (who had been hovering over us like a vulture during the entire checkout process) came flying over saying, “Ma’am, I can no longer sell you that beer.”  I was like, “Why?”  And she said, “Because your daughter touched it.”  I, of course, thought she was joking, so I started to scan the case, and she said, “NO!  Ma’am, I can no longer sell that beer to you!”

I was completely baffled, of course, and I asked her what on earth she wanted me to do.  She told me we would have to take that case back and get a new one.  WHAT?!

Well, at this point, all of our items had been scanned and bagged, so I wasn’t about to cancel the transaction only to go grab a new case of beer and get back in line, and I certainly wasn’t going to leave my kids there alone while I went to grab another case, so I told the lady that if they were going to have such a ludicrous rule, then she could take the case of beer back and get another one. 

She ended up sending another employee to go get it and then she proceeded to lecture us in a very condescending voice the whole time the lady was gone, saying, “Let this be a learning moment for all of you… blah blah blah.”

I.Was.Furious.

Meanwhile, Olivia is shocked and her cheeks are turning pink, so of course, I turned to her in the midst of all of this telling her she’d done absolutely nothing wrong and that it was a dumb rule (if it really is even a rule, which I highly doubt it is), and that this lady was completely out of line.

I asked the lady why on earth they had such a ludicrous rule and she said, “Because police come in and do busts all the time, and I could go to jail if I don’t take this case back and get a new one.”

All because a minor touched the box.  She didn’t even touch an actual bottle of beer.  It was just the box.  She was obviously not trying to purchase it herself, nor was she cracking one open and drinking it.  She wasn’t even trying to scan it. 

She literally just touched the top of the case.

Y’all. 

Seriously.The.Dumbest.Thing.I’ve.Ever.Heard.In.My.Life.

She was apparently power hungry and/or having a bad day, so I was as polite as I could be (even though I wanted to go off on her for treating my child that way), but I try so hard to set a good example for the kids and be kind no matter what.  This was a big challenge, though.

On the way home, the kids and I had a long talk about everything that went down, and now the kids think it’s hilarious because they have a funny story to tell.  I put Walmart on blast in my Instagram stories and I tagged them, but I’m sure they get tagged in a million different posts every day and they never responded to mine. 

After I posted my stories, the DMs came ROLLING in and, oh my word, there were so many of them.  Every single person who DMed me was appalled that it had happened to us, and many of you told me your stories about your bad experiences at Walmart… and they were ABUNDANT. 

Needless to say, we won’t be purchasing our alcohol from Walmart ever again, and I think I’m going to be taking a break from shopping there for groceries for a while, too. 

I only recently started shopping there for groceries because Publix had gotten so expensive, but I’d honestly much rather shop at Publix “where shopping is a pleasure” (and it truly is) than save money and get harassed every single time I shop at Walmart.  Because don’t get me started about the “missed scans.”  Almost every single time I go now, their employees come running over saying that I “missed a scan” and then I have to wait for them to review the video, check the system with the items in my bag, and hold up the line only to have them tell me, “Never mind, you didn’t miss a scan.” 

SIGH.

Anywayyyy, once we were done there, I came home and tried to get some work done, but instead, spent my next hour responding to all of your DMs, and I also saw this Reel in my Instagram feed that University of Georgia football Equipment posted... that's UGA's QB1 + my cousin's arm, and on his arm, he is wearing a bracelet that Olivia made for him.  She was ecstatic.  She's basically famous.  ;o)  That prompted me to go look at my collection that she's made for me, and I have quite a few.  Lol.

Late in the afternoon it was time to get ready for POKER NIIIIGHT!

It was our turn to host, so we did a whole taco bar – I’d been cooking chicken in the slow cooker all day, so I shredded it all up, and then we had hard shells, soft shells, lettuce, cheese, homemade guac by B, tortilla chips, cilantro lime rice, and refried beans, and it was all so yummy.

After everyone was done eating, the kids went to play and all of us adults played poker for the next few hours.  Our poker playing is always slow and distracted, because we’re always so busy talking, and this past Friday night was a particularly good one with lots of fun and laughs.  Per usual, I took zero pictures or videos because I was having so much fun in the moment, so I have nothing to show for it.  But that’s okay.  Haha.

After everyone left, B and I did a quick clean of the kitchen, and then we got the kids in the bed.  B and I ended the evening with a couple more episodes of One Day, and then we headed to bed.

 

Saturday, July 27

Around 4:30 AM, I awoke with a start, and I realized something was wrong… our ceiling fan wasn’t on, and it was dead quiet in the house.  I realized right away that the power was out, so I got on Facebook to check our neighborhood page, and sure enough, everyone was reporting that the power had gone out at 2:30 AM due to someone hitting a power pole on the main road near our neighborhood.  Georgia Power had reported that the power would be back on around 4 AM, but it had gotten pushed back to 5 AM, so I tried to go back to sleep. 

Unfortunately, I can’t sleep when I’m hot, and I struggle to sleep without a fan, so I lay there foreverrrr never falling asleep.  Eventually, Olivia woke up and got scared because her night light wasn’t on, so she ended up coming in our room and sleeping on the floor in her sleeping bag.  I think I finally fell back asleep sometime around 7, but then I woke up around 8 unable to go back to sleep because it was just so hot. 

I got out of bed, and checked the status, and Georgia Power was then reporting the power wouldn’t be back on until 9.  They eventually moved it back to 10, so at that point, I knew they obviously had no clue what time it was going to be back on since they’d been pushing the time out for six hours.  One of our neighbors reported that they had the entire two-lane highway shut down and they were rerouting traffic, so I don’t know if that was because of the wreck or the power outage (or both).  We never heard what happened to the people who hit the pole, so hopefully they’re okay.  The last couple of times this happened, it was due to drunk driving, so I’m assuming that’s what happened again, but who knows.

We didn’t want to open the fridge and we had no power to make toast or eggs or waffles, so Brian went out and picked up donuts for breakfast, and we ate them with bottled water from the pantry.  The power finally came back on a little after 10, but by then, the power had been out for 7 hours and 40 minutes, so we had to throw out most of the stuff in the fridge – meats, cheeses, eggs, other dairy, leftovers, certain sauces, etc.  I was SO SAD.  It always kills me to throw away food, and we’d just gone grocery shopping, so the fridge was pretty full.  Not to mention we had tons of leftover chicken, rice, and beans from our taco bar that I’d planned to eat for my lunches all week that had to be thrown out.

Before the power came back on, Brian and Jacob had left to go get haircuts, and Olivia decided to tag along, so I got in a mixed cardio/strength combo workout while they were gone.

After that, I got showered and ready, and we headed out to meet my father-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew for lunch to celebrate my SIL’s and Jacob’s birthdays.  We went out to lunch and then back to my FIL’s house for cake and presents, and then we headed home.

I had a million things to catch up on, so the rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry and housework and catching up on a few life things.

We went to 5:30 Mass Saturday evening, and it poured the whole time.  Afterward, we went out with our usual group for dinner at the local pub down the street from church.  It was still raining when we left.  It stormed every single day last week except for Friday, I think.  We have had so much rain in July.

We swung by Publix for milk, eggs, and cheese, after that, and then when we got home, I cleaned out the fridge from the power outage earlier in the day.  After the kids went to bed, B and I watched some more of the show One Day.

 

Sunday, July 28

Sunday morning, we had leftover donuts, and then I did my yoga, sermon, and planning for the week ahead.  Then, it was time to get ready for lunch at my mother-in-law's and step-father-in-law’s house.  Finally!!  We hadn’t seen them since the beginning of June, I think?  Due to lots of vacations and illnesses, the timing just didn’t work out for weeks.  So, it was nice to finally see everyone.

It had been so long that we had three birthdays to celebrate – my brother-in-law’s, my sister-in-law’s, and Jacob’s – so they made a huge spread of everyone’s favorite foods and then we had two desserts – a lemon pound cake and a cookie cake. 

Since my mom and dad weren’t doing Sunday dinner, I ate way more than I normally do there, and I was stuffed by the time we were done.  After that, we all hung around and chatted and caught up, everyone opened their gifts, and we had dessert. 

We got home around 3:30 and then I started doing some work in my office around four.  Since we weren’t going to my parents’ house, I worked until six, and then I got a few things done around the house.

At 7, I spontaneously decided to go ahead and run to Publix – Publix, not Walmart!!  Haha. – to restock our fridge after the power outage.  I was in and out and back home in less than 30 minutes and I wasn’t harassed by a single employee.  ;o)

Brian and I were so full from lunch that we skipped dinner, opting for some cheese, crackers, and fruit + a glass of wine, and we heated up some leftovers for the kids so they could eat a real meal. 

All the while, we watched gymnastics on the Olympics since they were doing the Prime Time good stuff like womens’ gymnastics. 

After dinner, I took Maui for a (very) quick walk… I swear, every single time we go now she goes a shorter distance before turning around to go back home.  It was extremely dark as there was a storm on the horizon, but thankfully we made it back home this time before the bottom fell out.  Maybe she was able to sense there was a risk of getting rained on again.  Hahahaha.

The rest of the night, Brian and the kids watched Olympic swimming, and I sorted laundry and did a couple of other things around the house.

Brian watched House of the Dragon after the kids went to bed, and I read my book… and then fell asleep on the couch.  Haha.  And that was our very lazy, stormy week!

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

This month I read This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune (4 stars), Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering (5 stars!!  It was SO good, y’all!), and Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering (4 stars). 

I also finished Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life by Craig Groechel (5 stars) after taking a break from non-fiction.  I absolutely loved this book.  There were so many takeaways.  He is seriously such a talented writer and a great motivator and encourager.  All of his books are excellent.

I’m also still reading New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp as my daily devotional. 

And I’m still working my way through The Bible and The Bible Recap… I’m on Day 241 as I type this (Monday), and I lost a few days this month since we were so busy some of the days.  I’m 30 days ahead still, though, so I still have a big enough lead to where I should be able to finish on time this year. 

 

Currently Watching

With B:  This month, we finished the newest season of Trying and the newest season of The Morning Show, and we started and finished season one of Presumed Innocent which was SO GOOD.  We also started the new season of The Bachelorette (although I’m paying zero attention to it), and we started Mythic Quest and I found it too boring to continue.  Brian likes it, though.  We are now working our way through One Day on Netflix.  Brian has also been making his way through House of the Dragon, but I ignore that entirely.  Haha.  Oh, and we’ve been watching The Olympics, of course.  We had started season two of The Chosen at the end of last month, but I don’t think we watched any of it this month.

With the Kids:  We’ve just been making our way through America’s Got Talent, and we also watched the movie School of Rock with them.  Oh, and the Olympics with them as well.  They are both highly invested in gymnastics.

Alone:  Just The Wedding Planner on repeat, although, most of the time I’m just listening to music while I work.

 

Currently Listening To

Taylor (always), DMB (always), and Abe Parker, Teddy Swims, Phil Wickham, and Brandon Lake.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!