Our Week - The One with Poker Night, a Galentine’s Brunch, and Beautiful Weather

Aside from all of the awful things going on here in the United States and the rest of the world, last week was a really good one for us!  We got to spend lots of time with friends and family, and that always makes for a fun week.  Here’s the recap!

Monday, January 27

Monday was the kids’ first day back at school in a whole week after our long snow week, and none of us were feeling particularly excited.  Haha.  Monday was the start of Catholic Schools Week, though, so the kids had that to look forward to.  They both had Mass Monday morning, so I sent them off in their church clothes, Jacob in his tie looking all cute.  ;o)

After I dropped them off, I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, and then I headed in at 8 for an 8:15 AM Home and School open meeting.  Those are open for all parents in the whole school to attend, but there ended up only being four of us, probably because a) the weather was yucky on Monday – rainy and cold – and b) everyone had a million things to catch up on after being out unexpectedly for a week.

Needless to say, our meeting was very short, so I was on my way to Publix before 8:30.  I had to pick up a few necessities, and then I headed home.  The rest of the day was spent working on blog stuff and doing laundry, and I also got dinner in the slow cooker before I left to pick up the kids from school.

When I was waiting in the car line, a sweet lady who reads my blog had reached out to me via email to let me know that she had read my post about potentially seeking an upper cervical chiropractor, and she wanted to let me know that she had recently started seeing one in an area that’s even closer to me than Atlanta.  She told me she’s had a really great experience with him so far, so I spent my time in the car line poring over his website, and it felt like a total God moment because he was my original first choice when I first started doing my research. 

After I decided on that doctor (prior to the blog reader reaching out to me), one of my friends told me that one of her local friends had started seeing a different upper cervical chiropractor in Atlanta, so I had considered doing that instead since I knew someone who could actually provide feedback about the doctor.  I wasn’t excited about having to drive to Atlanta, though, and that was really holding me back.  Atlanta is quite a haul for me considering I will have to visit twice a week for a while and then once a week for who knows how long, so it was the BEST news to hear from someone who has actually seen this other doctor who is closer to me.

When we got home, the kids unpacked their bags and had snacks, and I did my Bible study while they did that.  Olivia and I had to leave for a makeup guitar lesson at 4:30, so we hung out with Mr. Steve for 30 minutes.  Olivia worked some more on Defying Gravity, and it was a good lesson.

When we got home, I finished dinner – white chicken chili – one of Brian’s and my faves!  And the kids don’t like it, so Jacob ate his leftover spaghetti and meatballs from Saturday night, and Olivia had PB&J.  She wasn’t mad about it!

After the kitchen was cleaned up, I got in a mixed cardio workout, and I cleaned out my closet a little more while the kids got showered and ready for bed.  I also tried on the two dresses that I bought for the ball we are attending in a couple of weeks.  Then I worked on our Lego puzzle some more while Olivia crafted some wire flowers from the kit we’d given her for Christmas.  It is the cutest thing!

We got the kids in the bed after that, and then B and I watched an episode of No Good Deed before heading to bed.

 

Tuesday, January 28

Tuesday, I had nowhere to be during the day, so I dropped the kids at school and spent the entire day working on my very long blog post for Wednesday and doing laundry.  That pretty much consumed my entire time at home, and before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kids… with an open sunroof because it was beautiful outside!

After school, the kids got snacks and read for a bit, and I did my Bible study/quiet time while they worked on that.  Olivia had to be dropped at dance at five, and then I stopped to get gas on the way home while it was warm-ish out from the sun.  I cannot stand having to get out first thing in the morning to get gas when it’s 30 degrees.  No thank you.  I knew I’d thank myself Wednesday morning for going ahead and knocking out that task.

When I got home, Jacob and I headed out with Maui for a walk.  Maui used to get so excited about walks, but the last few times we’ve pulled out her leash and harness, she’s turned and run away.  :o(  I don’t know if it’s because it’s cold out (even though it was in the upper 50’s Tuesday afternoon) or if it’s because her legs are bothering her (they have been giving out on her on the stairs a little here and there lately), but she was not excited about it.

We walked at a verrrry slow pace, made it to the end of our very short street, and then Maui was DONE.  So, Jacob and I headed back to get her home, and then he and I went back outside and got in a mile.  Right now since golf isn’t in session, he’s only taking piano lessons and participating in Velocity, but neither of those things give him a chance to burn any energy, so I’m hoping to start getting him out for more walks with me now that the daylight is getting longer again.

(Also, in the third picture down, that is the neighbor's tree behind my head... that is not my hair.  Lol.)

When we got back home, I had about an hour to kill before I had to start cooking dinner, so I spent the whole hour rearranging my bookshelves in my office.  I got them organized and styled for maximum functionality way back in 2017, but it’s been so long that I’ve collected many books that I didn’t have room for on the shelves, so I had to figure out how to create more space for the actual books.

That meant putting away some of the keepsakes (I’d only displayed some of them just to take up room on the shelves) and I got rid of a couple of pieces of décor that I no longer loved.  After that, I was able to combine a couple of shelves into one, move another shelf up, move my magazines to that empty spot, move my old children’s books down to the bottom, and then that opened up a whole new shelf for all of my devotionals, Bible studies, and non-fiction (personal development) books that I have already read and wanted to save. 

If you give a mouse a cookie then he’s going to want some milk… haha

So, naturally, all of these changes led to me moving around some of the décor, too.  I have saved all of my dried palms from Palm Sunday Mass for much of my life, so I moved all of them to a pretty container, and I placed them on the shelf with all of my devotionals and Bible studies.  Perfect!

Here’s the before for this shelf with the books… the bottom bookshelf was overloaded and spilling out onto the floor.

And here’s the after… the magazines on the bottom shelf were moved to another shelf, my old children's books were moved to the bottom shelf, and my devotionals now have a place of their own on the second to bottom shelf.

There were lots of other changes made to some of the other shelves, but I’ll probably share those when I recap my house projects.

I didn’t quite finish up with all of that because I had to stop at 6:45 to get cooking as Brian and Olivia were due to be home around 7:30.  I made fettucine alfredo, chicken, steamed broccoli, and garlic cheesy bread per Jacob’s request, and then after the kitchen was clean, I got in a functional strength training workout while Olivia showered. 

Once she was done, it was already time to get the kids in the bed.  Brian and I watched an episode of No Good Deed, and then we headed to bed.

On another note, my dog that I had when I was a kid all the way through early adulthood was my first baby, and he used to love it when I carried him around like a baby.  From the day we brought Maui home 15 years ago until about two months ago she has always LOATHED being held like a baby which always made me sad.  However, something has changed recently, and she LOVESSSS being held like a baby now, so I carry her all around the house like this now.  Expect to see a lot of pictures like this going forward because I’m going to document it foreverrrr. 

Wednesday, January 29

Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids off at school and then patted myself on the back for getting gas Tuesday afternoon because all I wanted was to get home and under my heated blanket.  Haha.

I spent the whole day working on the blog and I also took some time to work on my bookshelves some more.  I also finished (for now) styling my new acrylic shelves by shopping around my own house.  I love how it looks right now, but eventually, I’ll probably replace a couple of the items as they’re just temporary placeholders until I find what I want to put there permanently.

I grabbed the kids from school at three, and then we headed home.  Jacob had some homework to do, and Olivia had some reading to do, so I did my Bible study and quiet time while they worked on that.  Olivia and I drove to dance a bit later, and then when I got home, Jacob and I went out for another walk.  This time we left Maui at home since she wasn’t interested. 

When we got home, it was time for me to get started on dinner.  I made a one pan chicken, potatoes, and broccoli bake that I do pretty often, and I made some blueberry muffins to go along with it.  Brian and Jacob and I all ate together, and then we got the kitchen cleaned up.

Once dinner was done, Jacob headed upstairs to shower, and I got in a stair stepper workout while taking breaks here and there for my knees.  During the breaks, I folded laundry and got some of it put away. 

Once all that was done, I watered the plants, got into my PJs, and got ready for bed.  When Olivia got home, she got showered, we got the kids in bed, and then Brian and I settled in for another episode of No Good Deed.

 

Thursday, January 30

Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and I headed home to work on the blog, clean out my closet some more, and do some planning for the Daddy / Daughter dance, Valentine’s Day, Brian’s birthday, and Olivia’s birthday.  February is always a little crazy around here!  While I worked, I watched the coverage from the jet/helicopter crash in Washington DC and it was just devastating to see.  My heart goes out to all of those families who will be living without their loved ones.  January was such a month of tragedy and sadness for our country.

Oh look, another picture of me holding Maui like a baby.  ;o)

Thursday after school, the kids and I went to music lessons.  Jacob had a piano lesson first, and then Olivia had her guitar lesson.  Her guitar teacher had lost a very close family member over the previous weekend, so Olivia had made him a wire flower with her new kit along with a little note to let him know we were praying for him and his family, and he loved it.  It was the sweetest thing.

Her teacher wants her to start learning some traditional finger techniques for guitar now, so he gave her two songs that would help her learn, and she was able to choose which one to do.  The first option was Landslide by Fleetwood Mac and the second option was Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift, and I’m sure all of you know which one she chose!  Haha.  Yes, she chose TS, but I’m hoping she’ll eventually try Landslide, too.  I love that song.

When we got home, I did a Bible study while Olivia did some homework, and then I helped her study for a math test for a while.  She was doing a bunch of work with fractions, and fractions are one of the few things that stuck with me all these years, so I was actually able to help her for once.  Usually Brian (or Jacob) helps her with math, and I’m the English / Literature / Spelling / Grammar / anything-but-math guru.

Brian and I made breakfast for dinner when he got home from work, and then after dinner, I got ready for bed, and I finished cleaning out my closet.  I was going to work out, but I decided to skip it.  Rare for me, but I wasn’t feeling 100% so I didn’t want to do anything too strenuous.

Once the kids were in bed, Brian and I finished season one (the only season so far) of No Good Deed, and I really enjoyed it.  It was a bit quirky, but it definitely held my interest!  As a matter of fact, it was getting late when we started the last episode, and it was longer than the others so we said we’d just watch half and go to bed, but then we couldn’t stop, and we ended up watching the whole thing and going to bed late.  Haha.

 

Friday, January 31

Friday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and I picked up some boxes from the school office for the Daddy / Daughter dance.  I’d ordered a few things from Amazon through the school’s account, and they’d all arrived.

Brian met me there a few minutes later, and then we attended the parent high school strategy meeting since Jacob is heading to high school next year.  *Tear*  Their school offers loads of courses including Honors, AP, and dual-enrollment classes where they get actual college credits right there on their own campus, so the meeting was very helpful to us so we can help keep Jacob on the right path that he should be on based on his interests / needs / requirements for heading off to college.

The meeting lasted a little over an hour and then we were on our way.  Brian headed back home to work, and I had to run a few errands.  First up, was Homegoods to shop for some items for our bar cart for the school auction, and I ended up staying in there foreverrrr because, obviously. 

After I was done there, I ran to Walmart to grab some fruit for my Galentine’s brunch Saturday morning, and then I stopped by the liquor store to grab all of the essentials for the bar cart – Grey Goose vodka, Patron tequila, Woodford Reserve Double Oaked bourbon, and a nice bottle of cabernet.

By the time I got home, it was time to eat lunch, and then I had about an hour to get some work done in my office before I had to pick up the kids from school.

After school, the kids and I headed home, and once they’d tidied the house, they had some screen time while I did my Bible study and finished up some work.

We had poker night at our friends’ house, and we were extra excited about it since we’d missed it in December due to Olivia’s flu.  Unfortunately, my friend, Jeannine’s husband couldn’t make it, so we were down a person, but we did have a lot of fun.  We had pizza, had some drinks, and indulged in some boozy chocolates that they had while we played poker.  The kids played together in the living room as they always do.  Aaaand, of course, we had some moments of uncontrollable laughter, as always.

When we got home it was nearly 10 o’clock, so we got the kids in the bed, and then Brian and I started Severance.  I was pretty bored with the first episode, and I ended up falling asleep towards the end.

Saturday, February 1

Saturday morning, I made homemade waffles for the fam and I only ate a little bit because I had a Galentine’s brunch to attend at 11 AM.  After breakfast, I drank my tea in my office and caught up on some blog reading, and then I showered, got ready, made my contribution to the brunch – a fruit platter – and then I was on my way.

All seven of us girls were able to make it again, which is always a treat, and we ate a bunch of yummy food, had mimosas, chatted, enjoyed the beautiful tablescape that Jessica did, and we laughed a ton as we always do.  It was great to do our monthly catchup, and as always, I’m so grateful for each and every single one of these ladies. 

When I got home, B and the kids were just finishing up lunch.  The kids had already done their laundry, deep cleaned their bathroom countertops and toilet, and they’d spent a lot of time outside because it was soooo lovely this weekend.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on house projects and tying up a bunch of loose ends.  I finally unpacked the bar cart for the school auction and started putting it together.  I got through step two and promptly left it sitting there for Brian to finish because I was already frustrated, and I had too much to do than to waste time trying to make sense of the horrible directions that came with it.  Lol.

After that, I rounded up all of the donations, trash, and recycling from my closet and the playroom, and I got them all bagged up and taken to their places.

Then, I spent some time rounding up and organizing all of the things for events that we have coming up – the daddy / daughter dance, Valentine’s Day, Brian’s birthday, Olivia’s birthday, and the school auction.

My office was also a mess because I’d been cleaning out some things in there, so I got it back in order and I then I got my Bible study done. 

By the time all that was done, it was time to freshen up for church and then head that way.  Afterward, we went to our favorite Mexican place for dinner, and we had a big crowd – the four of us, my parents, my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg, Mama Cass, and my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Chris.  It was so nice to catch up with everyone and see them because we hadn’t spent much time with any of them lately.

Brian and Olivia wanted Dairy Queen Blizzards after that, so we swung by DQ on the way home, and then the kids got in bed shortly after we got home since we’d stayed at the restaurant so late.

Brian and I watched an episode of The Chosen, and towards the end I started dozing off because I’ve just been so tired lately.

 

Sunday, February 2

Sunday morning, I got up and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then afterward, I headed upstairs to listen to my Sunday morning sermon and get my planner ready for the week ahead.  I also knocked out my Bible study.  I typically do yoga on Sunday mornings, but since I’d skipped my workout Saturday for my Galentine’s brunch, I decided to skip yoga Sunday and get in a cardio workout outside since it was so gorgeous.  I had to wait until later in the day to do so, though, because it was still chilly in the morning.

Brian finished putting together the bar cart first thing, and then he and Jacob left to get Jacob a haircut.  While they were gone, I styled the bar cart, ordered a couple of last-minute things we needed for it, and then I helped Olivia study for her religion test.  She also studied for a social studies test, and while she did that, I took down all of the Christmas cards, got them hole punched and labeled, and put away.

All of the supplies for Olivia’s Valentines had arrived, so she and I worked on getting them put together after that, and the boys came home with lunch from Panera in the middle of it.  After we ate, we finished the Valentines, and then I headed upstairs to change into some workout clothes.

It was a glorious 68 degrees and sunny Sunday afternoon, so I went for a walk/jog, and while I was gone, the kids played outside.  When I got home, I had a million things I needed to do to prep for Monday, but instead, I hung out with the kids outside playing basketball and learning Olivia’s jazz dance for her recital.  It was too beautiful of a day to waste inside.

I finally dragged myself inside around 3, and then I showered quickly and then settled in for some blog work and a viewing of The Wedding Planner.  Now that the weather warmed up a bit, I finally took The Holiday off of repeat and switched back to The Wedding Planner.  Haha.

We went to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, and my Momma made the most delicious ravioli lasagna + some of the best cookies ever for dessert.  The whole meal was a hit, and we stuffed ourselves silly.  I even went back for more dessert because it was so delicious.

When we got home, we let the kids watch some of the Grammy’s.  Olivia was on Taylor Swift and Cynthia Erivo watch, so she was delighted to get to see Taylor on the red carpet and many times in the audience.  We made the kids go to bed around 9:30 even though Olivia was wanting to stay up to see Cynthia Erivo sing, but I’m glad we didn’t let her wait up for that as I think she ended up going on sometime around 11 PM. 

Jacob had trouble falling asleep Sunday evening, so he came downstairs a couple of times, and Brian and I ended up staying up to watch the whole show so I could see who won album of the year, so basically everyone except Olivia barely slept Sunday night. 

And that was our week!  Happy Tuesday, y’all!