Well, if the
title of this blog post isn’t the epitome of what a roller coaster life is,
then I don’t know what is. We went from sadness/disappointment
Monday to the highest of highs the very next day (our first snow in seven
years!) back to sadness on Thursday doing one of the worst things we have to do
here on earth… burying a loved one.
Needless to say, it was an emotional week – lots of ups and downs (and
just plain weirdness) – so I’m praying for a little bit of normalcy this week. That snow we had was exactly what we needed
to bring lots of happies to break up a week that would have otherwise been
pretty darn bleak.
Monday, January
20
Monday morning,
the kids were out of school for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so we slept in and
had leftover donuts for breakfast.
During breakfast, the kids asked to go do something fun like the arcade
or the trampoline park. My first
response was nah since we had just been out of town Friday and Saturday, but
then I thought about my word and goals for the year and the fact that there was
the potential for snow the next day (which meant we could be trapped at home),
so I said… why not?!
I immediately
texted a couple of my friends to see if they wanted to meet us. The bookshop that my friend owns was closed
Monday, but she was there doing some work behind the scenes and her son was
with her, so we offered to pick him up and take him out for a day of fun.
I spent about
30 minutes in my office getting a couple of things done, and then we all
showered and headed to the bookshop to pick up Noah. While we were there, we got to see the brand
new mural that was just painted behind the counter by a local artist and it is
just stunning! I love it so much!!
Once we were
done there, the five of us headed to one of the local trampoline parks, and to
our surprise, it wasn’t all that busy.
I’d thought for sure it would be crazyyyy since kids were out of school
and the temp maxed out around 34, but shockingly, it wasn’t too bad.
Brian and I
love that place as far as those kinds of entertainment centers go, because they
have a huge area where parents can just chill (lots of parents were on laptops
working) but you still have a pretty good view of the whole place.
The kids played
HARD for two hours straight – jumping on the trampolines, climbing the rock
walls, going through the obstacle courses, etc. – I love that the place is
geared towards older kids! It’s nice to
have a place for our kiddos to go since our other two trampoline parks are geared
more towards littles.
While the kids
played, Brian and I discussed potential plans for spring break, and we also
snuck some pictures of the kids. By
2:15, we were all starving and the kids were tired, so we went across the
street to have a very late lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and Khristina met us there to
pick up Noah.
We headed home
after that, and by the time we got home it was late. I didn’t have my blog post done for the next
day, nor had I done anything else I needed to do, so Brian was kind enough to
go grocery shopping for me so I could tackle those things. We had a great chance of snow coming in on Tuesday, so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of food and necessities.
We got word
early in the afternoon that school was closing at noon on Tuesday in
anticipation of the winter storm that was supposed to move in, but then, a
couple of hours later, they ended up canceling altogether.
I spent the
next couple of hours drinking hot tea and working, and then I made a very late
dinner – vodka sausage pasta, steamed broccoli, and cheddar bay garlic
biscuits. Brian and I also finished a
bottle of wine that had already been opened.
After dinner,
we watched the National Championship Game, and I got in a mixed cardio
workout. After seeing some of the
headlines from the day regarding the Inauguration, and the new president’s
first acts as president from my trusted unbiased source, I had some energy to
burn. It’s no secret how I feel about
our current president as I’ve been vocal about it here in this space for years. And while I acknowledge that he’s president
and I have been praying for him every single day to make wise decisions for the
good of humanity, I have to say that he has already disappointed me even more
than I thought he possibly could… and it’s only been a week.
Pardoning all
of those January 6 insurrectionists as one of his first presidential acts? Disgraceful.
And so very sad for all of those who were affected by the violence that
day… especially the police who tried to protect everyone. Randomly changing the name of the Gulf of
Mexico as one of your very first acts as president? Aren’t there more pressing issues?? Bless.
And Elon Musk doing a Nazi salute after his speech? Whether it was intentional or unintentional,
either way it was deplorable. He either
knew exactly what he was doing (which is terrifying) or he is ignorant for not
knowing what that gesture means (which is just as scary).
In addition to
that, there were so many other changes made that made me so sad for so many
people in our country… my heart aches for those who are going to be affected by
all of the things that are being put into place.
All of this to
say, I have a lot of readers from other countries, and I just want to let all
of you know that not all of us Americans are like the people running our
country. I promise there are so many of
us who are decent humans and want the best for our fellow humans and we are all
wondering how on earth we got here with this administration… again. Some of us are just as perplexed and sad as
you are.
But – I do know
that God is ultimately in control, and I will just continue to pray for the
current administration and hope that they can learn to push their own egos
aside and also learn to have some compassion for others. And in the meantime, I’m just going to
continue praying and continue supporting all of those who will actually work to
make our country a better place. I saw
this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. that somebody posted on Instagram, and I
thought it couldn’t have been more fitting for the day since MLK, Jr. Day fell
on the same day as the Inauguration.
While I worked
out, the kids got showered and they watched some of the game with us. Before bed, we pulled out ALL STOPS for snow
– everyone (Brian and myself included) wore our PJs inside out, we all slept
with spoons under our pillows, and we flushed an ice cube down the toilet… AND
IT WORKED. Woo hoooo!
Tuesday, January
21
Tuesday, the
kids had virtual learning because they were still calling for snow in the
forecast, so we all slept in while B headed off to work. I got up around 7:45 and then Olivia and I
made homemade waffles together. Then,
after breakfast, the kids got their schoolwork done.
Thankfully,
they don’t do live Zoom meetings anymore for lessons, and instead, their
teachers just pop some assignments into their Google Classrooms, so they were
both done in less than two hours. They
are able to do them at their own leisure, but since the snow was supposed to
start in the early afternoon, I told them to go ahead and knock them out in the
morning, so we didn’t have to deal with them later on.
While the kids
did schoolwork, I knocked out my blog post for the next day, and then I got
showered and ready. Brian was allowed to
leave work at noon because of the weather, so he arrived just as I was
finishing up getting ready. He was
supposed to have had clients in town all week, but they canceled their trip
Sunday afternoon after seeing our weather forecast and they decided to go
virtual instead. This isn't something you see every day!
He joined us
for lunch and then locked himself in his home office for the rest of the
afternoon for his meetings. During lunch
(grilled cheese and tomato soup – the perfect snow day meal!), very light, tiny
snowflakes started falling and we were all glued to the window while we were
eating. Olivia snuck outside while I was
making lunch and then she couldn’t finish lunch fast enough so she could get
right back out there!
The snow
started falling harder after lunch, so Jacob and I went outside with her, and
it was the best thing ever to see snow again for the first time in SEVEN
YEARS! The last time it snowed, Jacob
was six and Olivia was three, so she doesn’t even remember it. She has been begging for snow every winter
for years, and I was so glad that God answered all of her prayers this year
after such a long wait. <3
It was FRIGID
here while the snow was falling, and here in the south, we just don’t have the
proper clothes for that – thank goodness I’d gone to Target to buy last-minute
snow jackets and rain boots for them! – so we had to take lots of breaks to
warm up inside.
For our first
break, Olivia made some hot chocolate, I made some hot tea, Jacob had some
white chocolate Oreos (treats all around!) and we turned on some cozy jazz and
sat around the table. The kids wanted to
play Chutes and Ladders (soooo random since they’re both older now – haha) and
then we worked on our Lego puzzle.
Once we were
nice and toasty, we headed back outside, and oh my word, the snow was really
sticking by that point. We weren’t sure
how long it was going to last, so I wanted to get a family picture and a family
video for our One Second a Day annual family video, so on Brian’s next break,
we set up the tripod and took as many family pictures and videos as we could
squeeze in during his 15 minutes. Haha.
The kids and I
stayed outside soaking it all up for a while, and then we came in to take another
break and warm up again. On that break,
I scrolled social media for a bit to see what local meteorologists were saying,
and I looked at all of the snow pictures that had been posted by friends and
family so far… SO FUN. I also got a
couple of things put away in my bedroom.
Meanwhile, the kids played video games. I still couldn't believe this view from my office!
Brian got done
with his scheduled meetings early (woooo hoooo), so he and I enjoyed a couple
of scones from Trader Joe’s (and another cup of hot tea for me) while working
on the puzzle some more, and then the four of us headed back outside until
dark.
The kids had
snowball fights, Olivia danced around, they drew in the snow, and we all just
soaked up every ounce of goodness of the day.
We even tried to sled on the kids’ beach boogie boards (LOL) but they
weren’t slick enough to move, so Brian had to pull them.
The snow
literally fell all day from about 1 PM to 8 PM so it was magical being
able to be out in it. It was a day I’ll
never forget. And such an easy way to
stay PRESENT… my word for the year.
Right before heading
inside, we measured the snow to see how much we’d gotten, and we were already sitting
at nearly two inches, but the snow continued to fall for a couple more hours,
so we’re assuming that we hit just over the two inch mark.
We all came in
just before dark (except for Olivia… she stayed out past dark) and we warmed up
by the fire for a few minutes before making dinner. B and I made breakfast for dinner, and we had
some mimosas from some leftover champagne to celebrate our first snow in seven
years.
They announced
that school would be closed again Wednesday pretty early in the afternoon, so we knew the kids didn’t have to get to bed early, so we started a new
show with them called The Unlisted.
Then after they went to bed, B and I watched some more of Silo
and stayed up way too late.
One of our
neighbors had walked out of our neighborhood to the main street, and this is what
it looked like so it was a good call to close everything on Wednesday,
too.
I also stepped
outside to take a nighttime snow picture and it was incredible how bright it
looked outside even though it was the dead of night!
Wednesday, January 22
Wednesday morning, Brian got up at 7:45 to head downstairs for another
day of meetings, and I got up shortly after.
We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then both kids tackled their
schoolwork before heading outside to play some more.
All of the local police and authorities + meteorologists and news outlets
were urging people to stay home because they said every single road in the
whole city was one big sheet of ice as it had gotten down to 19 degrees
overnight. There were loads of wrecks
for those who did try to get out, so they begged and pleaded for people not to
leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.
The screenshot below was posted on Facebook from our local sheriff.
Living this far south, we rarely get snow, so when we do, it completely
shuts everything down because we don’t have the infrastructure to support
it. There’s no reason for them to spend
millions of dollars on salt trucks and snowplows and everything else just to
use them once every 5-7 years. So, when
it snows, we are at the mercy of the sun and the temperatures to melt
everything.
The high was only 39 on Wednesday, and while some of the snow and ice
melted, we were told it wasn’t going to be enough to completely dry everything
up, so all of our schools announced early in the day that they would be closed
(virtual) again Thursday. This post
below was from one of our local meteorologists and these were my thoughts
exactly!
While the kids tackled schoolwork, I did some blog work and did a quick
check of social media to look at everyone’s snow pictures. When I popped on to Instagram, the first
thing I saw was the POTUS account at the very top of my stories feed. I clicked on the bio and saw that overnight Meta had forced my Instagram account to follow both the POTUS and FLOTUS
accounts.
My brother and several other people I know had this happen to them on
Facebook, so I had just checked a few days prior to ensure that neither my
Facebook or Instagram accounts were following either of those accounts and they
weren’t. So as much as Meta wants to
deny (yes, they are denying it) that they’ve not forced anyone to follow those accounts, I know that they’re
lying because it happened to me firsthand.
I unfollowed both immediately, and I’ve been checking periodically to
see if they’ve forced me to follow them again.
So far they haven’t, but just a heads up to all of you on social media…
Meta IS forcing some accounts to automatically follow the new administration, but you CAN unfollow them.
All social media has always been shady, but apparently Meta has gotten even shadier since the new POTUS has taken office and I can't say that I'm surprised. I can tell you in all of my 20 years on
social media (and I know Instagram inside and out), I’ve never once been forced to follow someone I didn’t want to
follow until just last week.
I had an appointment with my therapist at 11:15, but since nobody could
leave their homes, we ended up talking on the phone instead. The kids played outside all morning long, so
they definitely made the most of it.
After my appointment, we all had lunch, and then the kids headed back
outside to play some more while I finally got the laundry put away that had
been sitting in my bedroom chair for 10 days.
See? 2025 Lindsay is really
letting that Type A personality go!
(Although, I have to admit that some days it’s been hard… I hate walking
in my bedroom and seeing a pile of laundry on the chair.) I sure did love this view while I was
folding, though!
When the kids came in, the three of us worked on cleaning out the playroom
some more, and we got very close to being done, but again, I lost patience
because it was a wreck (the pictures don’t do it justice), and I retreated to
my office to work for a bit. I reeeeally
let things go last week with the kids being out of school the whole week, so I
had a lot to catch up on.
Wednesday evening, we made turkey and cheese biscuit sliders for dinner,
I got in a strength training workout, and then we watched a couple more
episodes of The Unlisted with the kids followed by Silo for B and
me.
Also, one of our neighbors took a drone shot of our neighborhood from
their yard, and it looks so beautiful all blanketed in the snow!
Thursday, January 23
Thursday morning, I woke at 7:45 and then lay in the bed for a few extra
minutes because it was so cold I didn’t want to get out. Haha.
Then, I headed straight to my office to reschedule Jacob’s appointment
to get his braces. His appointment was
at 9:45 and the roads were still awful in some places, so I wasn’t even going
to attempt to try to get there.
I was worried they’d have to push his appointment out by weeks, but they
ended up seeing people on Friday to make up for all of the cancelations, so
they were able to get us in Friday morning at 9:50 AM. That was also good news since we were going
to attempt to make it to my uncle’s funeral at noon Thursday.
Once his appointment was changed, I headed downstairs to make breakfast,
and then I spent an hour in my office trying to get my blog post done for
Friday. I had to stop at 10 to get ready
for the funeral, and all the while, I kept checking our neighborhood Facebook
page to see if anyone had successfully navigated out of the neighborhood. Upon checking, I saw this post from one of
our neighbors. This is the road that we
turn directly on to get out of our neighborhood and it’s the way that we go to
school and church every single day. The
road was still completely iced over and there was a tractor trailer stuck at
the top, so the entire road was completely blocked. It’s a long, hilly, winding road that’s lined
by trees, and it barely gets any sunlight, so it was expected that it would be
in bad shape.
There is only one other way out for us, and upon checking, there was a
wreck at the other entrance/exit to our neighborhood, blocking our only way out. Thankfully, the wreck was cleared before we
had to leave, and one of our neighbors had said that the path out that way was
clear aside from some little patches of ice here and there. So, we decided to venture forth to the
funeral because I really didn’t want to miss it.
Brian’s SUV has four-wheel drive, so we were able to use that on the way
to the church. Thankfully, there were
only a few icy patches, and even though it took us almost twice as long to get
there, we made it safely!
When we arrived, they had a visitation, and that was followed by the
funeral at noon. My uncle was a
physician’s assistant for 20+ years at a local hospital, and he was also an EMT/paramedic
for 20+ years. He also spent time in the
Army National Guard where he served as a medical officer. In his free time, he volunteered at the local
fire department as a firefighter, and he gave his time to our church’s outreach
center. He was truly a good man in every
sense of the word… softspoken, a first responder, always patient, always a
helper.
Because of his time spent as an EMT, they had a few people there to pay
tribute to him at the end of his funeral Mass, and because of his time in the
Army National Guard, they played Taps and presented a flag to my Aunt Becky
which about did everyone in at the church.
That is always the saddest thing to see, but it was such a lovely
tribute.
After the funeral, we headed to the graveside for a quick service where
my cousin gave a speech and made us all cry, and then the local EMT service did
a “last call” for my uncle over their radios as we laid him to rest. There was not a dry eye anywhere.
The service ended with a man playing the bagpipes… my Uncle Bob was very
proud of his Scottish roots, and it was one of his last wishes to have a
bagpiper at his funeral. It was FREEZING
out, so the graveside portion was brief, and then we headed to my Aunt Joy and
Uncle Greg’s house to eat and hang out.
We’d missed Christmas with all of them, so it was nice to be together,
although, it would have been nice if it had been under better circumstances. But we are all so grateful that he’s no
longer suffering and that my aunt and cousin and all who cared for him on a
daily basis no longer have to watch him suffer.
While we were there, I got some brand new baby snuggles as one of my
cousins had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and that was definitely the highlight
of the day. I miss having a newborn so
much – that phase is really just too short – and I enjoyed every single second
of holding her. She’s a tiny peanut… two
weeks old and she’s still tinier than both of my babies when they were
born. Haha.
While we were at Joy and Greg’s house, we got another message from the
school saying that all schools in our county were going to be closed yet again
on Friday. We were shocked. I thought for sure they’d have us back in the
classrooms on Friday, but again, since the temps never got out of the 30’s
Thursday and because it was cloudy, there were still some patches that were due
to ice over again Thursday night, and they didn’t want to take any risks having
the school buses out.
Brian still technically had to work some more, so we left Joy and Greg’s
before anyone else did, and we headed home so Brian could log some more
hours. While he did that, I finished my
blog post for Friday, I stepped out to enjoy the gorgeous snowy sunset, and
then we heated up a pizza for dinner.
None of us were very hungry after our very big, very late lunch, so we
all just wanted something small.
We ended the evening with a couple more episodes of The Unlisted,
and then Brian and I watched another episode of Silo.
Friday, January 24
Friday morning, I was up at 8, I got breakfast and spent a few minutes in
my office, and then it was time to get ready to take Jacob to his orthodontist
appointment. We had to go a roundabout
way to get there since we weren’t sure if that curvy, winding road just outside
our neighborhood was safe, but we got there easily as there were only minimal
spots with ice.
Jacob’s appointment only took an hour, and then we headed back home
twinning in our braces!
When we got home, I cleaned up the kitchen and tidied some of the house,
and then we had lunch. After lunch,
Olivia and I finished cleaning out the playroom while Jacob got his schoolwork
done (Olivia had done hers while we were gone), and then Jacob and I got a
couple of projects done in his bedroom.
He wanted to move some of his Lego sets around and make room for new
ones he’d gotten for Christmas, so we had to get out the step ladder to get it
done.
After that, I spent some time wandering around downstairs trying to
decide where I want to put my new record player… we don’t have a free surface
available, so I’m trying to figure out how to move things around to get it put
up somewhere. I didn’t come up with a
solution on Friday either. Hahahaha.
After that, the kids and I all sat down together to start catching up on
a few pages in our daily devotional that we’d missed, and then they played
video games for a bit while I spent some time working and *trying* to catch
up. I really didn’t get much done last
week since the kids were home all day every day, but I didn’t even care… it was
so nice to be able to slow down and enjoy the time with them.
For dinner, we decided to get out of the house since we hadn’t been out all
week other than the funeral, so Brian suggested the new Mexican restaurant that
I went to with my girlfriends the previous week. He and the kids hadn’t tried it, so we all
thought it was a great idea.
We arrived at 5:45 thinking we’d beat the crowds, but apparently every
single person in the city was out and about on Friday evening (probably because
everyone had been cooped up for days), and the wait was 50 minutes. Sheesh.
We did NOT see that coming.
Thankfully, the wait didn’t seem that long, and we had a beautiful
atmosphere to enjoy while we were waiting.
I’m seriously wishing I could somehow make my office look like
this! Haha. And Olivia asked if we can make her bedroom
look like this, too. Hahahaha.
We did end up having to wait the full 50 minutes, but we all agreed it
was worth the wait. We ended up getting
a really good table, and the food was delicious. Jacob was able to get a cheese quesadilla and
rice which was perfect since his mouth was sore, and everyone enjoyed their
food.
When we got home, the kids got showered, I got my quiet time done, Olivia
tried on a couple of dresses for the Daddy / Daughter dance (this is the one
she decided NOT to keep and it was stunning), and then we all sat down to watch
more episodes of The Unlisted, and then Brian and I finished Silo
season two. WHAT A CLIFFHANGER,
Y’ALL. OMG, I can’t believe we have to
wait a year or two to find out what happens next! That show is really good.
Saturday, January 25
Saturday morning, we all slept in, I made homemade waffles for breakfast,
and then I spent some time in my office working. I neglected it a lot last week, so it was
long overdue. I declared Saturday a “get
stuff done” day and boy did I get a lot done.
I…
-
Rescheduled the kids’ music lessons that they’d
missed during the snow day
-
Paid a couple of bills
-
Bought Daddy Daughter dance tickets for Brian and
Olivia
-
Cleaned out both email inboxes
-
Printed some tax documents
-
Reordered Maui’s prescription
-
Transferred some funds from Venmo, PayPal, and
Poshmark to our checking account
-
Ordered Olivia’s Valentine’s Day stickers from Etsy
-
Placed a Target order for candy and cello bags for
her Valentines
-
Placed an Amazon order for baker’s twine to tie up
her Valentines
-
Ordered Olivia’s birthday shirt (yes, she still
requests one every year for her theme – haha – but this year it doesn’t say
“birthday girl” so she can wear it year-round)
-
Got some stuff filed and put away in my office
-
Checked on a couple of Amazon returns to make sure
my credits were issued
-
Got another Amazon return ready
-
Downloaded the new Teddy Swims album!
-
Brian installed the new light fixture in the entryway from the garage
-
I started rearranging my bookshelves in my office to
make room for more actual books and I cleaned out a bunch of stuff… I’ve had a
lot of décor as filler all these years since I didn’t have enough books to fill
it, but now that I’m collecting more books, it’s time to rearrange!
-
Started styling my new acrylic shelves in my office
It was a productive afternoon… about the only one we had all week! Haha. I
really wanted to keep up the momentum, but I forced myself to stop so I could
get in a workout instead. I got in a
two-mile walk/jog because the temperature finally hit 50 degrees, and it felt
great since it was sunny, too! We
haven’t had much outdoor time the last couple of weeks because our temps have
been incredibly cold (especially for here), and I’ve been missing my outdoor
workouts something fierce.
When I got home, it was time to get ready for church, and then after
Mass, we went to dinner at the local pizza place right across the street with
my parents, my brother and his roommate, and Mama Cass. Their service was particularly slow, so we
got home really late, but we watched an episode of The Unlisted with the
kids to let them unwind, and then Brian and I started a new show called No
Good Deed on Netflix. So far, I’m
intrigued!
Sunday, January 26
Sunday morning, we slept in and then it was a typical Sunday – yoga,
online sermon, Bible study, planner ready for the week ahead (and the month
ahead), showers, lunch at my MIL and step-FIL’s, some work and prep for Monday
when we got home, and then dinner at my parents’ house. The kids also made a mini Monopoly game out of cardstock and paper and markers for Olivia's stuffies (LOL) and it turned out AMAZING.
We watched the KC vs. Buffalo game, and I was thrilled that KC won! Olivia and I have been enjoying being
honorary fans of the Chiefs (because of Taylor and Trav, of course) since our
Falcons are so terrible. Lol. I’m looking forward to seeing Tay (and
Travis!) at the Super Bowl!
What a week! We were so grateful
for the magic in the midst of the mess. I
saw this post by @iansimkins on Instagram, and it perfectly summed up the week
for me.
And now for a few current things…
Currently
Reading
In January, I started and am about to finish The Rewind by Allison
Winn Scotch.
I also started my new devotional Everyday Gospel by Paul David
Tripp. I’ll be working on this one all
year long.
And finally, I’ve been working my way through the Bible for the second
time around, along with my new study… The Bible in a Year with Father
Mike Schmitz.
Currently
Watching
With B: In January, B and I finished season two of Shrinking and
we started and finished both seasons of Silo. We watched a few episodes of Shark Tank, we
watched The Golden Globes, and we also, of course, watched all of the college
football playoff games and the National Championship game. We just started the new show No Good Deed
this week and it’s good so far.
With the Kids: This month, we finished
Time Bandits and we started The Unlisted.
Alone: I’m still watching The Holiday on repeat while I work in my
office when I’m not listening to music.
I just can’t let that one go this year.
Currently
Listening To
January has been a mixture of cozy jazz and old standards, random new pop
favorites, and I just downloaded the new Teddy Swims album, so I’m sure that
one will be on repeat for a long time!
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
