Our Week - The One with Back to School, House Projects, an Ode to Internet Trolls, and a Thanks to Internet Angels

Last week we were back at it, and today’s post is a long one (as are all of my weekly recaps – LOL) so let’s just get right to it!

Monday, January 6

Monday was the kids’ last day off of school for Christmas break, so we used it as a reset day.  Brian had to work, so he was up and in his office working by 8 and I straggled out of bed a little after 8.  I’d promised Olivia that I’d make homemade waffles for the last day of break, so I got started on those, and then Brian ended up having to wake both kids for breakfast at 8:45.  We’ve always given them the option to sleep, but Jacob always wants us to wake him before we eat breakfast, and if there are homemade waffles involved, Olivia does, too.  Haha.

After breakfast, I headed to my office to get a few things done for the blog, and then I put on some real clothes and brushed my hair and teeth because my hair guy, Jamey, was coming at 10 to finallyyyy highlight and trim my hair and trim Olivia’s hair, too.  I was supposed to get my hair done at the end of November/early December, but then I got Covid for 9 days, had to catch up from having Covid, and then Christmas break was busy with some sick days thrown in.  That said, my hair was well over a month overdue, and it was looking rough.  My collagen peptides that I started taking have also made my hair and nails grow crazy fast, and while that’s a good thing, it makes it even harder to keep up with my highlights.

After Jamey left, I got showered and ready for the day, and then all of us had lunch.  After lunch, I headed to Walmart to pick up groceries for the next two weeks, and I sent the kids to play outside even though it was dreary and windy, and the temperature was dropping by the hour. 

They played outside the whole time I was gone (and then some) and when I got home, I got the groceries put away and put dinner in the slow cooker.  While I was at Walmart, I bought some of the Cesar wet dog food entrees that Maui had loved after teeth cleanings when she was little.  At that point, she hadn’t eaten anything in two whole days, so I decided to ditch the prescription food and grab something else.  I was so dang relieved when I spooned out half of a container of the new food and she ate the whole thing.  She ended up eating the other half for dinner, so we finally had a full day of her eating and keeping the food down.  Praise God!

After Maui was done eating, I headed to my office to finish my blog post for the next day and the kids did their laundry and had some screen time.  Right as I was finishing up, the power went out and came back on three times within about 15 minutes.  I had dinner in the slow cooker, so I had to keep going downstairs and turning it on again, and then finally the power went out a fourth time and it stayed out.  Sigh.  The wind was crazy all day because it was blowing in that winter cold front, so I’m assuming that’s what it was, but who knows.

The chicken wasn’t cooked nearly enough so it wasn’t edible, so I had Brian check the Georgia Power app to see if there was an ETA for the power to be restored and it said 6:15.  The dinner still had to cook for another hour and a half which meant we wouldn’t eat dinner until 7:45/8 if that was accurate, so I called my parents and they said we could bring the slow cooker to their house to finish cooking it.

I loaded everything up, and just as I was almost out of our neighborhood, I noticed that our neighbor’s floodlights were on and so were the streetlights.  Just as that was registering, Brian called to tell me that the power had just come back on, so I turned around and headed right back home.  Lol.  We were all really grateful because by then, the temp had dropped to the low 30’s and I was worried about having no heat.

We ended up eating later than I’d wanted since we had to go back to school the next day, but it is what it is.  While dinner finished cooking, I cleaned out the pantry and boy did it feel good to get that organized again.  It was overrun with treats and snacks and leftovers from the holidays, so it was long overdue.

Before

After

After dinner, I headed upstairs to do my Bible study while the kids showered.  I’d wanted to get in a workout, but after the power outage drama and the wasted time trying to figure out what to do with dinner, I lost time, so again, it is what it is.  And I chose the Bible study over the workout.

After that, I had a few extra minutes, so I took the time to measure my wall for some shelves I’m about to hang in my office, and then we got the kids in the bed.

B and I watched some of the recording of the Golden Globes from the night before, and then we headed to bed early since the next day was the first day back after Christmas break.  Normally, I’m ready to send the kids back and I’m excited for the fresh start, but this year, I wasn’t ready at all to send them back… probably since Christmas break wasn’t great this year and we didn’t get to do a lot of the things we wanted to do.

 

Tuesday, January 7

Thankfully, I hadn’t planned anything for Tuesday, so it was easier to transition back into the real world.  Waking up at 6 was no fun at all after 17 days straight of sleeping in, but I took solace in knowing that I could go straight back home, make some hot tea, and snuggle up in my heated blanket to work all day.

I ended up working on the blog pretty much all day, and then I picked up the kids from school when they got out.  Olivia had dance Tuesday evening, so she got her homework done, and then I got her to dance.  It was coooold all day so I wore my warmest fleece!

When I got home, Jacob and I bundled up to take Maui for a walk.  I’m trying to get outside more this year, even if it means going out in the freezing temps.  Maui wasn’t having it because it was so cold, so I ended up carrying her 90% of the way, but it was nice to spend some time with my Boo one-on-one.  He’s so funny and we had the best little chat.  Our walk ended up being reeeeally short since Maui was freezing, but it was nice to have gotten out even if for ten minutes.

When we got home, I got the kitchen cleaned up and then I got started on dinner.  I made parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes, and honey glazed carrots for dinner, and then we all ate together when Brian and Olivia got home from dance.

Tuesday, all of the fires erupted in LA, so we spent some of the evening watching the news (which we rarely do) so we could see the latest.  The devastation there is just heartbreaking.  I cannot imagine the horror of watching your house go up in flames and losing every single thing you own except for the clothes on your back.  So many people lost everything, and although they will be able to rebuild, where do you even begin when your entire community is gone?  My heart goes out to everyone affected. 

Brian’s cousin and his wife live in LA, so I reached out to him Tuesday evening to make sure they were okay, and thankfully, they were.  He told me that the closest fire to them was nine miles away, so they were safe.  Thankfully, as I type this on Friday, they are still safe… hopefully they will continue to be spared.

After dinner, I did a stair stepper workout while the kids finished getting ready for bed, and then once they were in bed, B and I watched a few more minutes of the Golden Globes. 

Wednesday, January 8

I knocked out two blog posts after I got the kids to school and then I headed to my orthodontist appointment.  As predicted, I got the news that my braces are going to have to stay on for at least another six months.  I had a feeling it was coming, so I had already prepared myself for it.  My original treatment plan was for two years which meant that I’d be able to get them off around the beginning of February, but now it’s looking more like August or later.  I’m also starting the rubber bands again, which most docs are thinking contributed the onset of my vertigo in July 2023, so I’m hoping this round goes a bit better.  Fingers crossed!

After my appointment, I headed home to grab lunch and feed Maui.  The new food that we’d started feeding her on Monday was great at first because she was eating it, but apparently it doesn’t agree with her tummy because she didn’t keep it down Tuesday night.  We tried a different flavor Wednesday, but unfortunately, she couldn’t keep that down either.  So, we tried her prescription diet wet food again and she still won’t eat it.  (And we’re not at all surprised that she wasn’t able to keep down the new food we tried because we had tried it when she was much younger after she had to have a couple of teeth pulled, and she couldn’t keep it down back then either.) 

I grabbed the kids from school at 3 and then headed home to get a few things done before I had to take Olivia to dance.  I happened to check my DMs on Instagram to see that I had a nasty comment from a blog reader.  Apparently, she had just watched my Instagram stories where I talked about our Christmas break, and my Christmas break recap wasn’t cheerful enough for her, so she sent me a message to let me know that “my negativity was wearing on her” and that I should “stop being a queen.”  Lol.  There was more to it than that (and it was actually a lot meaner), but that was the gist.

While criticism does come with the territory when you put yourself out there for the world to see, thankfully, internet trolls have been few and far between in my 10 years of blogging.  Three or four years ago her comment might have gotten to me, but these last few years I’ve learned not to let stuff like that bother me.  I once heard that someone else’s opinion of me (especially someone I don’t know) is really none of my business so I shouldn’t waste time worrying about what other people think, and man, did that resonate with me!  Nobody can be or will be everybody’s cup of tea.  It’s impossible to please everybody. 

I responded politely to the woman and told her that we’ve been experiencing some tough things recently (a lot of which nobody knows about because I don’t post everything here for privacy) and that I was sorry for her that she felt the need to reach out and be unkind about it and then I got back to the other stuff I was doing. 

Later in the evening, when I was checking Instagram again, I saw that she was back in my DMs and she had not only doubled down, but tripled down, and even quadrupled down on the mean comments.  She proceeded to tell me all that her family has been through (that I won’t post here for her privacy), but after that, she sent me the following messages:

Again, I responded with kindness, and then once again she came back and said something snarky.  I sent one final message to let her know that I wished her no ill-will and that I hoped that things would get better for her soon and then I told her that would be my last response as there is no need to keep going back-and-forth. 

Of course, she had another yet another snarky comment, but always true to my word, never responded again. 

I wouldn’t have typically entertained her antics for so long, but I truly did feel for her because she obviously has a lot going on in her life and she must have needed to take her anger out on someone… I guess I happened to be the easiest target that day.  She was also very obviously trying to pick a fight as she wouldn’t let things go and she kept trying to provoke me, but she came to the wrong place for that.  I don’t fight with random people on the internet.

So anyyyywayyyy, all that said, as I sat down to write this portion of the recap, things just started to flow, and I thought I would use this experience as a fun writing exercise because as always, I have so much to say!  ;o)  Here are a few random thoughts from me about my blog, blogging in general, internet trolls, and life in general…

 

1. Life is full of peaks and valleys.  I feel like I have been in a valley for nearly a couple of years due to various things that have happened, but mostly because of the vertigo, dizziness, tension, etc. that I deal with every.single.day.  Yes, I know it is not the end of the world.  Yes, I am confident that things will eventually get better.  Yes, I know that there are people who are going through much, much worse than what we have been through.  Unfathomable things.  There are people in my own family going through much worse as I type this, and they are in my prayers every single day.  And I am so grateful for all of the good things in my life.  But am I allowed to be honest and share my feelings / disappointments / challenges here in my own space on the internet?  Also, yes.  I’m not trying to say that my life is worse than anyone else, nor am I writing these things as some kind of pity party to seek sympathy.  I am simply logging this time in my life like a journal.
2. Please note that I tend to use sarcasm quite frequently here on the blog (and in everyday life) and my sarcastic comments, sensationalism, and funny memes that I post are just that… for sarcasm and laughs.  Not every single negative thing I post is a genuine complaint.  I am fully aware that a lot of my grievances are first world problems.  I just want to make that clear for everyone reading because I am thinking that some people may not understand that.
3. I may share a LOT here on the blog, but I actually only share a fraction of our lives.  There are MANY things that we have experienced in that last couple of years that have been really tough, but I don’t share them here for the privacy of my family.  That said, the hardships that I actually write about in this space are in fact not necessarily even our biggest hardships.  There is a reason why the expression, “you never really know what somebody else is going through” exists.
4. Since I have been in a “valley” for the last couple of years, my struggles probably have been bleeding over into my writing and the overall tone of this blog.  I have always come to this space authentically, and life is not always sunshine and rainbows.  Some bloggers like to paint a pretty picture of a perfect life, but the truth is, nobody has a perfect life, and I am not here to fool y’all into thinking mine is.  I want others who are struggling to know that they’re not alone… that there are people out there in real life who are also going through hard things and that life is not one big highlight reel. 
5. I definitely won’t apologize for my “negativity” “wearing” down this reader who felt the need to complain.  If she doesn’t want to be here, she doesn’t have to be.  I have never forced anyone to read my blog… she found me on her own.  And the sole purpose of my blog has always been to document my life and to be authentically me. My name is literally in the blog title because this is my space.  Lol.  I started this blog as a scrapbook for my family and then it ended up being something much bigger, but even so, its most important purpose is still to be a scrapbook for me and for my family… good and bad.  It’ll be awesome to be able to look back one day and see all of the joys and blessings showered upon us, reminisce about the wonderful times we had, and see how much we’ve overcome, big and small!
6. Regarding negativity, I have actually mentioned NUMEROUS times here on the blog and on Instagram that I tend to focus on the negative things rather than the positive things due to my anxiety.  So, this should come as no shock to anyone who has been following along for any amount of time.  Lol.  I even started a whole entire series last year here on the blog to try to help me put the focus on the positive things… my gratitude series.  I am nothing if not self-aware.  :o)
7. As a writer, writing is not only my creative outlet, but my therapy.  It helps me process the things going on in life, and sometimes writing these posts is all I need to gain a little perspective.  When life is happy, I am going to write about it.  When life is messy, I am going to write about it.  When we are on a peak, the writing will be very happy.  When we are in a valley, there will be some negativity mixed in with the happy.  That’s just life!
8. They say that you haven’t officially made it until you have haters, so I guess I’ve officially made it.  Lol.  I wasn’t going to bring this up in this post, but ultimately, I decided to do it because several of my fellow blog friends have been seeing an uptick in the internet trolling lately, and I want them to know that they’re not alone.  <3
9. Everyone has the freedom to take the time out of their day to say mean things to people on the internet if they want to, but that speaks volumes about their character and their negativity.  I find it quite ironic that someone said a bunch of negative things to me because they were tired of my negativity.  Pot?  Kettle?  Lol. 
10. I think it makes me even sadder to know that this person is probably around my mom’s age.  I would be APPALLED if I found out my Momma was saying things to people like this on the internet.  She would absolutely never!  I might expect it from a younger generation, so this was a bit of a surprise.
11. The meaner the comment and the more comments that are sent, the more unhinged a person looks, and the easier it is to let it roll off… especially if you send a hateful message, wait a couple of minutes, send another hateful message, wait 15 minutes, send another hateful message, wait 30 more minutes, and send another hateful message… all before I’ve ever even seen the first one.  (Yes, we can see the time stamps.)  Who actually takes that much time to ruminate on all the hateful things they want to say to a person and then just keep going back to fire them off as they think of them?  It’s mind-boggling that anyone would want to be that kind of person.  During that hour you could have been so productive!  You could have read a few chapters of a book.  Gone outside and taken a walk.  Caught up with a friend on the phone.  Meditated.  Done a Bible study.  And the list goes on.  There are so many other (positive) ways to spend your time.  And time is so very precious.  Why waste it being hateful on the internet to someone who you don’t even know?
12. I am human just like the rest of you, and I am grateful every single day for God’s unwavering grace.  Yes, I make mistakes.  We all do.  But I wish others would learn to extend that same grace to their fellow humans instead of extending hate. 
13. To all of you readers who not only stand by our family on our peaks, but also in our valleys, thank you.  I am humbled that you come here day after day to read about our lives… even when I am complaining about first world problems.  ;o)
14. And finally, I want to thank the Holy Spirit for flowing through me as I typed messages back to the person sending the mean ones.  Sometimes it’s hard to take the high road (especially when someone doesn’t deserve it), but you’ll never have regrets when you do.

 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.  Hahahaha.

And jokes aside, I truly do feel for this person who sent these mean comments to me because she’s been through a lot (assuming she was being truthful), and even though she told me she doesn’t believe me, I have been praying for her and her family, and I do not wish her any ill-will because that’s not who I am.  And even though she is supposedly “out” and not following me anymore, in case she does read this, I’d like to say thank you to her for the thought-provoking topic.  It was a good writing exercise, and it was also the perfect way to reintroduce myself for those of you who may be new around here.  (And I’m saying this with zero sarcasm, truly.)

It's also good for pageviews and revenue because everybody loves a good internet hater story!  ;o)

Anywayyyy, we made breakfast for dinner – eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, and leftover chocolate chip muffins that I’d made Tuesday night – and then after dinner, I did my Bible study while Jacob got showered. 

Brian left to pick up Olivia from dance, and Jacob and I hung out at the piano for the rest of the evening while B was gone and while Olivia was showering and getting ready for bed.  I just love watching him play.  He truly has a gift, and this boy was made to play this instrument!

When Olivia got home, she was thrilled because they’d danced to songs from Wicked.  Tuesday they’d danced to Defying Gravity and Wednesday they’d done a little tap number to Popular, so she has been in heaven.  Wicked has been her obsession since we saw it in the theater Thanksgiving week, and she cannot get enough of the soundtrack.  We’ve been listening to it on repeat!

Once she was done getting showered, we got both kids in the bed, and it was so late that it was time for them to hit the hay.  B and I spent just a few minutes downstairs finishing up the Golden Globes, and then we headed to bed, too.  We only hit the highlights, so it didn’t take us long to get through all of it.

Thursday, January 9

Thursday morning, we woke up to a mess in the bathroom because Maui had gotten sick everywhere… the last of the remnants of the bad dog food that never agrees with her, and she was so pitiful all day.  I could tell she didn’t feel well.  I tried her prescription food again, but unfortunately, she wouldn’t touch it all day.  Sigh.

After I dropped the kids at school, I had about an hour at home to do some work, and then I visited with my therapist for the first time in a few weeks.  Then, I headed straight to the school and made it there just in time for Olivia’s second quarter awards ceremony.

Once that was over, I headed back home and worked for the rest of the afternoon, grabbed the kids from school, and then headed to music lessons.

There was a lot of talk of snow on Thursday as there was a chance of us getting some in the early morning hours Friday.  All of the school districts around us closed down as well as our local universities, but our local school district decided to stay open, so the kids (and I) were incredibly disappointed.

At music lessons, Jacob’s lesson got canceled because his teacher had car trouble.  For guitar lessons, Mr. Steve wrote out some chords for Defying Gravity per Olivia’s request, and she was playing the first few lines of the song before we ever left.  She still has yet to learn an entire song because she is always SO excited about moving on to the next thing.  Haha.  All of it is good progress, though, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter.  She and Mr. Steve jammed together for part of the lesson.  Then she shushed us for talking too much and him for playing because she wanted to play it on her own.  Lol.  He thought it was so funny.  I happened to be videoing it, and it was the cutest thing.

When we got home, I got my Bible study done, and then I headed downstairs to reheat the leftover ranch chicken pasta for dinner.  I steamed some broccoli and warmed garlic cheese bread again, and we ate that while watching Jimmy Carter’s funeral in Plains, GA. 

After dinner, I got in a good mixed cardio workout while the kids showered, and then B put a fire in the fireplace while we watched an episode of Time Bandits.  Olivia also serenaded us with Defying Gravity on the guitar.  ;o)

At bedtime, Olivia slept with her PJs on inside out and she put a spoon under her pillow because a couple of different people at her school (who are from up north) said it’s a tradition to do those things when you’re hoping for snow.  My girl was desperately wanting snow, so she pulled out all stops.  Haha.

After the kids were in the bed, B and I watched Notre Dame beat Penn State (as a Catholic, I was pulling for them!) and then we went to sleep.  I actually was asleep before the end of the game, so I had to wait and see the outcome Friday morning.

When we went to bed Thursday night, there was a chance of snow at 6 AM, 7 AM, 8 AM, and 9 AM the next morning, so we weren’t quite sure what to do since school was still in session.  We decided to play it by ear and make a decision in the morning.

 

Friday, January 10

Friday morning, my alarm went off at 6 AM, and instead of getting right up, I looked at my weather app first.  It said 100% chance of snow at 6 AM and 100% chance of snow at 7 AM.  I got up and looked out the window and everything was dry, so I just decided to go ahead and get showered and ready and proceed with going to school.

Poor Olivia was so disappointed, but she recovered pretty quickly.  I got the kids to school and it sleeted for the first half of the drive turning over to cold sprinkles by the time we arrived.  There was hardly anyone on the road for the whole drive, and the school looked like a ghost town when we arrived.  There is normally a long line at the light to get out on the main road, but there were only two cars when I left, so I had a feeling most people just decided to keep their kids home anyway.  I knew that meant that my kids were going to ROAST me when they got home.  Lol.

I had to drop my Telluride at Kia for a recall first thing, so Brian met me over there, and it sleeted all the way home.  I spent the whole day working under my heated blanket because it was COLD and super dreary, and it was just a really cozy day.

Here’s the evidence that we actually got some winter weather… ice in the crevice of our roof.  Lol.

It rained all the way to pick up the kids from school and it rained all evening and all night.  We were sitting at, like 33-35 degrees for most of the time, so if only it would have dropped a few more degrees we might have seen some snow!  Also, the kids did not roast me... Jacob had gotten to attend a pep rally (even though he said about half of the kids were not there Friday) and Olivia got to have several "brain breaks" AKA dance parties throughout the day because they had a few kids out in her class, too.

When we got home from school, the kids did some screen time, and I worked on a few minor projects around the house, paid a couple of bills, and got some random things done that have been needing to be done for a while.  I also did my Bible study.

Brian headed out to get a haircut and then to pick up dinner later in the afternoon.  We had Culver’s per the kids’ requests, and then while the kids got showered, I got a couple more things done around the house.  Then we all settled in for a couple more episodes of Time Bandits by the fire, and after the kids were in bed, Brian and I watched the second half of the Texas vs. Ohio State playoff game.  We were bummed that Texas couldn’t pull through for the SEC!

Earlier in the day, I got a DM on Instagram from someone who had just started following me, and she told me that she had found me through an old Pinterest pin, and that she wanted to reach out because she has lived with vertigo for a lot of her life.  She and I ended up chatting back and forth all afternoon and she was SUCH a Godsend because she connected me to a private Facebook group with over 10,000 people who are JUST LIKE ME.  Manyyyy of the people in this group had braces (or some other major dental work) done as an adult and they started experiencing all of the exact same things that I’ve been experiencing – vertigo, dizziness, unsteadiness, tension, pain in the jaw and neck, etc. 

Y’all.  I literally teared up when I was accepted into the Facebook group because I started reading about everyone’s stories, and they are JUST LIKE ME.  All of the weird pains and sensations and issues I’ve been having for the last year and half (plus most of them have tinnitus which I have had since 2018) were right there in this Facebook group.  Many of them suffer from Meniere’s Disease (which has already been ruled out for me) and many of them suffer from vestibular migraines (something else that I’m pursuing because of that other kind woman on Instagram who found me late last year to tell me about her experience).  But that wasn’t the most amazing part… the most amazing part was that everyone (including the kind woman who reached out to me and connected me to this group) said that my “atlas” is probably out of alignment. 

Y’all.  I have seen 84,000,000 doctors, specialists, physical therapists, you name it for this and not a single person has mentioned an atlas.  Nor have I ever once come across that term in all of my hours of research that I have poured into this trying to advocate for myself.  It turns out that everyone has something in their neck called an atlas.  If that atlas gets pushed out of whack (from every day life, trauma, major dental work, etc.) it throws everything else out of whack because that’s the place where your balance lies.  There’s obviously tons of science behind it (trust me, I watched about five videos on various websites Friday night and have already done tons of research) and it sounds exactly like what has happened to me.  I have been saying all along that my neck has been the cause of the vertigo and dizziness and that the braces were the cause of my neck getting out of whack, and I’m pretty sure that I’m right after doing all of this new research and reading everyone else’s stories in that Facebook group. 

This sweet girl found me on Pinterest, took the time out of her day to read about my story, and then took even more time out of her day to DM me and send me all of the resources I need to possibly get better AND answer all of the questions I had.  So, to her – A HUGE THANK YOU – because I am calling my TMJ doctor this week (I have been on a hiatus with him since I’m currently having orthodontic treatment) and I’m going to talk to him about this “atlas” theory.  As well as vestibular migraines thanks to the other girl who contacted me late last year.

The internet can be a really awful place sometimes (see Wednesday above), but most of all, it has been a great place for me because I have connected with some of the kindest souls on the planet.  People who reach out to perfect strangers because they see that they are struggling and know that they could potentially help. 

In this world and on the internet, be a kind, helpful person… don’t be a mean one.

 

Saturday, January 11

Saturday morning, I made waffles for breakfast, and then afterward I caught up on some blog reading. 

Brian helped me work on a project mid-morning.  Every year, I put up a rainbow favorite things Christmas tree in my office in November and December, and every January, that wall that it’s on always looks so sad and boring when I take it down.  I have been wanting to put something on that wall for years (in addition to the oil painting that I did when I was five years old), and after collecting a couple of beautiful books that I wanted to display, I decided that some acrylic floating shelves would look beautiful there. 

I measured and got everything marked on the walls and then Brian drilled the holes and got the shelves hung.  These shelves are gorgeous in person, they are fairly deep so I can layer the items, they were easy to install, and they’re super sturdy… supposedly each shelf can hold 50 lbs.! 

While Brian hung the shelves, I worked on scanning our Santa pictures to digitize them, and it was nice to get that task crossed off the list. 

After that was done, I got some laundry going, and then I made grilled cheese sandwiches and a green protein smoothie for me for lunch.  I also had to stop and take a picture of the reflections all over our living room from my mirror balls!  So pretty!  And the picture doesn't do it justice at all.

 

After lunch, we also blessed our house for the year ahead (finally).  We’d gotten the little kit at church the previous weekend and we were supposed to do it on Epiphany (January 6), but I forgot about it.  This was such a great way to kick off the new year, though!

After that was done, Brian and I finally discussed plans for the long weekend ahead.  We wanted to use the three-day weekend to our advantage, but we weren’t sure where we wanted to go, and we ultimately decided to go to Athens for the Georgia vs. Auburn basketball game.

I also took some time to sit down with Olivia to see what she’s envisioning for her birthday (even though I was fairly certain I already knew), and sure enough, her plans and theme were exactly what I’d imagined she’d wanted.  Easy peasy. 

After that, I started playing around with my new shelves to see how I wanted to style them.  The pics I posted on Instagram aren't anywhere near the finished product, but it gave me an idea of what I want to do, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Seeing them in place also made me realize that I should buy two more so I can add one more to the bottom, and one more to the top.  That way the whole wall will be uniform.  The painting will rest on the top shelf, and the wall will look better since the adjacent wall on the corner has frames that go from floor to ceiling.  This will make the entire corner cohesive.  The shelves should deliver later this week, so stay tuned for the final outcome!

After that, I did some blog work for a few minutes and then did my Bible study, and then I got out for a verrrry short run as I was out of time and I needed to get showered and ready for church.  It was freezing Saturday, but it was sunny, so I decided to brave it, but yeah, it’s really hard to run in freezing cold weather.  My lungs and asthma do not like it.  Haha.

At 5:30, we went to church followed by dinner with my parents and Mama Cass at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  On the way home, Brian and the kids had to make a DQ stop, and then we headed home to get cozy for the night.

Maui wouldn’t eat again all day, but while we were gone, she finally ate a few bits of her dry prescription food that we leave down for her at all times, so that was a relief.  It’s not enough to help her gain weight (like she needs), but hopefully it’s enough to sustain her.  I was just grateful that she finally ate something.

We watched another episode of Time Bandits with the kids, and then Brian and I watched some more of Silo before calling it a night.

 

Sunday, January 12

Sunday morning was the usual – cinnamon rolls, yoga, my online sermon, and planning the week ahead – and then we all got ready and headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for Sunday lunch.  I hadn’t been there for a regular Sunday lunch (only just once for our makeup Christmas on New Year’s Day – LOL) in a couple of months due to sickness, busyness, and more sickness, so it was nice to be back to our regular routine.  We hung around there all afternoon getting caught up, and then it was time to head home.

The kids got showered and prepped for Monday when we got home, and I did some blog work, sorted laundry, washed towels, and prepped for Monday as well.

We ended the evening with Sunday dinner at my parents’ house, and as always, it was a great way to end the weekend! 

When we got home, B and I booked our AirBnb for Athens next weekend, and then we watched some more of Silo before calling it a night.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!