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Category: Week in Review

Happy Friday

Chitchat Week in Review 2 Comments

Just thought I’d do a random chit chat type post today and just throw in a hodgepodge of pictures to go along with it.

 

It’s been a bit of an odd week where there were a few days where I wasn’t even sure what day it actually was. J didn’t have classes on Tuesday so I think that’s what threw me off a bit.  And I’ve never managed to get it right. Just realized today that this is not the last week of October. Geez. Do you ever get the days and weeks mixed up? Please tell me I’m not alone in doing this.

I’ll also blame the stores. Had some errands to run and felt like Rip Van Winkle. Wondering if I slept through Halloween and Thanksgiving because it’s Christmas!

MONDAY and TUESDAY

Monday, I ended up not working. A bit of a communication mix up. While I didn’t mind not working, the lack of communication frustrated me a bit. Tuesday was walking day (I shared photos from my walk here) We did not have enough players for our Bunco night so four of us went out for dinner instead.

It was okay, the company was nice but the food was just average. And with the price of dining out/food lately, that was a bit disappointing. I did get a complimentary drink with my dinner since they were out of my first choice of an adult “beverage.” So not all bad.

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY

Wednesday, I didn’t do much of anything. Posted here, watched the season finale of Daryl Dixon. Have you been watching it? I’m not sure what to make of the episode…The last episodes of Fear the Walking Dead start on Sunday so I’ll be watching that now. Don’t even ask me to explain how I can’t do scary but love the zombie shows.  Oh, I forgot I did make this apple cake minus the custard sauce (too many egg yolks for me, melted ice cream works fine) though it turned out a bit dry. My husband and the boys weren’t big fans. It’s not super sweet so I’ve just ate it for breakfast the past two days.

Thursday, I went on another walk in the morning. Worked in the afternoon. And in the evening a friend and I went to see the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie. Really enjoyed it. Not a big Swiftie but she is super talented and I’d go to that movie again. Wow, I imagine it was a spectacular live show.  My friend and I did wonder if at the live show the time between sets might have been a bit longer. After the movie, we stood in the parking lot visiting for a bit. Then, at home, J wanted to talk. Not about anything serious. However, I feel like if your older kid wants to share things with you, you listen even if the pillow is begging for your attention as well.

FRIDAY (TODAY)

I’m calling it Frittata Friday instead of red Friday because somehow all my Chiefs gear is in the wash. SIGH. At least I’ll have a shirt ready for Sunday. Actually, I was proud of the frittata as we used the last of a bag of mini peppers which means I managed to not let it go bad. We had a pepper popper pizza (recipe off the bag) for lunch one day, pepper steak for dinner another night, and then the frittata for lunch. Oh, I should probably share that I use this recipe for my frittata base. We don’t care for potatoes in our frittatas so leave them out.

And after running to the store earlier, it seems like prices went up again? And how about a sale on Halloween candy?  I had to run to the store because I’m making ranch chicken enchiladas using the slow cooker for dinner tonight and had somehow picked up a Hidden Valley Ranch “Dill” dip mix instead of the original stuff. Thought that probably wouldn’t work so went and picked up the right mix plus some yellow rice (forgot it on Monday), chips, and salsa to round out our meal. Curious to see how it turns out.

WEEKEND PLANS

Tonight after J and I return from his class (he goes to class, I sit in a sunny/shady spot in the car and read), I’ll probably not do much. TV viewing I imagine, the new episode of Loki is out so I’ll watch that and maybe a not too scary Halloween movie.

Now that I know it’s not the last week of the month, our weekend is open as our friends won’t be hosting a bonfire until next weekend. Tomorrow morning I’ll visit the local farmer’s markets in search of some good bread, maybe do some more yard work and work on getting more plants ready to transition inside.

Sunday’s the Chiefs game in the afternoon and then, depending on whether J wants to drive himself to band practice or not, a Target trip in the evening.

A pretty low-key weekend on our horizon and I’m okay with that. Do you have exciting weekend plans?

 

 

 

Saturday Slowdown

Blog365 Week in Review 2 Comments

Well, I think perhaps I might know the cause of my headache yesterday. I needed sleep apparently. So rare for me but I slept until 8AM this morning! And I went to bed before 9PM last night.

I’m still moving slow but I don’t feel bad and my headache is gone. So glad, I was a bit concerned I was possibly coming down with something. A teacher at work was out last week as her young son had the flu.

I’ve decided to just spend the day relaxing and catching up on a few things. Paying some bills. Cleaning the house a little. Maybe watching a little tv. Washing my “hang to dry” clothes. Included in that load, my Chiefs gear for tomorrow.  And of course, visiting my blogging friends!

Let’s just do a week in review post for today as somehow, though it was filled with fun things, last week felt like climbing a mountain!

MONDAY/TUESDAY

Monday is honestly a blur.  I know I worked in the afternoon for a very short amount of time. Just long enough for a teacher to go and take care of some paperwork. Remember taking J to his baritone lesson and trying to place the piano piece we heard while leaving.  His instructor’s wife is a piano teacher and gives piano lessons upstairs while her husband gives brass lessons downstairs. So frustrated as I couldn’t place it yet knew it was Beethoven. So simple, why didn’t I remember the title of the piece: Fur Elise.  Well, I guess college music appreciation wasn’t a total fail as I did get the composer right at least.

Tuesday was a fun although busy day with our first annual Galentine’s Day Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the Plaza. I spent most the day running around trying to figure out the gifts for small tokens of love and friendship. A whole post about the day and our dinner coming soon.

Galentine’s Day gifts ready to go

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY

I planned to spend all day Wednesday focusing on my husband’s birthday. Making his cake. Cleaning the house. However, a very early phone call from a teacher led to me working part of the morning. Still spent the day doing those things just not as much time on either of them. Out to dinner at a local steakhouse, joined by my brother-in-law and his wife. They declined coming back to the house for cake at the last minute. I think they didn’t want to stay out later in the rainy weather. It was okay though I was a bit disappointed they didn’t join us for cake.

A late evening text changed my work hours on Thursday from starting at noon to starting at 9:30. And still staying until 6. We awoke to that crazy snowfall. The snow was so heavy as I cleaned off my car. Great snowman weather but by the time I left work, almost all gone! Actually, almost all gone by 2PM. Work was a bit crazy and tiring but not awful. The day had started too early, first with the gray alarm cat waking me at 4AM, only to be woke once again with the no school phone call from the public school at 5.

FRIDAY/SATURDAY (today)

Yesterday I worked a full day in the class I typically work in most often. The class I started this year working in for a full week. I am in there again on Monday, working for a teacher lucky enough to go to the Super bowl this weekend. Very excited for her!

Something Red for the Chiefs!

It was share day and the letter “e” sound as in elephants and eggs. First kid presents his share item and we are stumped. Tiny Minecraft figurines. Huh? In frustration, he blurts out “they’re effigies!” Okay, then. “A sculpture or model of a person.” (Google dictionary). We all learned a new word. Always interesting. After that, the items were more typical: eggs, elephants, an “empty” box…

The rest of the day was fine although I did find myself with a bit of a bad headache as the afternoon wore on (suffice it to say a preschool classroom is not an ideal setting for that). Came home, everyone did their own thing for dinner, and then, I went to bed early.

As I said earlier in my post, I’m just planning to have a slow, relaxing Saturday catching up on things before the big game tomorrow. And just one last random photo. I’ve been trying to capture a decent shot of my hyacinths with the “real” camera on and off all week but the phone camera did the job:

How was your week? How are you spending your Saturday?

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day 41/365

Sleepy Saturday

Chitchat Week in Review 4 Comments

Um, I just learned something new as I started this post. And it has a new title because of it. I wondered why the red squiggle line was under the first word of my title. Sleepy is fine obviously.

I started to call this post “snoozy” Saturday. Um, turns out that word doesn’t mean exactly what I thought it means in all circles. I thought it meant sleepy and drowsy and according to the normal dictionary it still does. However, in the urban dictionary it has some entirely different (and not so appropriate) definitions. Oh my, I AM old. Anyway, post title switched to Sleepy Saturday. 

Why is it a sleepy Saturday?

First, It was a long week

Not a bad week, just a long one. Remember way back in Monday’s post when I thought it was going to be a busy week? I wasn’t wrong. For the first time in some time, I ended up working every day. Originally, I had Tuesday but ended up working a half-day that started early. Add in taking J to his lesson Monday night and a fun night out with friends on Wednesday. And waking up at 4:00AM for every day of it. Not on purpose, our little gray cat doubles as an alarm with only one setting.

Work wasn’t bad as I was in my favorite classroom for most of it but it’s still tiring working with preschool kids. Thankfully, we were able to be outside a lot during the week prior to the cold front moving into our area. And that brings us to the next thing in the making of this lazy day.

The Weather

Perhaps all those people putting up Christmas lights and trees (I did see one all lit up in someone’s window as I drove home on Thursday evening) triggered something. It went from 70 degrees on Wednesday evening to a cool, rainy Thursday. The temperature went from 50 to 45 degrees as I drove home that evening (and just for your reference, I’m talking about a 10 minute drive). Yesterday, we woke up to cold, felt like it was in the 20’s though the actual temperature was in the mid-30’s.

This morning, it was so cold that I had to turn on the Netflix fireplace (and bump the actual heat up a bit)! The little gray cat stayed out only a few minutes. The temperature was in the 20’s but felt like 14 degrees. It’s cloudy and dreary out. I’m not supposed to be freezing while filling bird feeders in November. Feeling this funny:

Photo found on “My Crazy Page” on Facebook.

 

That said, if you want to put up your Christmas decorations, go ahead. To each their own. I guess the weather is right for it anyway.

Holiday Planning

And it’s not as if I’m not thinking about the holidays at all. It’s just we have a November birthday to do first (J turns 18 on Tuesday! Yikes. When did that happen?)

My simple holiday plans so far:

  1. The boys (and husband) are going to write down 5 things they want for Christmas or for every blank space on the list, they’ll be getting underwear. They might get underwear anyway but just not as much if I get an actual idea or two out of them.
  2. In looking for the mini Keurig, I found my Christmas journal from 2021. Nice surprise (so much for the Rudolph day celebrations/planning for 2022 though. Oops!). Reminded me I wanted to do a Christmas tree theme for decorating this year. Based on a stack of Christmas tree mugs I picked up on clearance last year.
  3. If we end up having Christmas at home again, I definitely need to plan the food better. And for my own sanity, make everyone commit to a time to start things.

The holiday planning makes me think I also need to do a bit of blog post planning…

Blog Posts I Want to Write and Share Soon

I’ve been striving (not always successfully) to post abut 3-4 times a week. I’d like to continue that but sometimes I have ideas when it’s not convenient to sit down and write. Here are some of those ideas that have been swirling about in my mind lately.

  1. Keurig vs Coffee Maker. If you’re wondering why I was actually looking for the Keurig, it’s because I only use it when my husband is off hunting.
  2. A series: Winter Wednesdays, I really do want to do this. I want to work on embracing winter by doing something to celebrate it each Wednesday of the season.
  3. Sharing my fall/winter holiday reading list. I try to move from thrillers to “lighter” selections for the holiday season.

I do have more but should probably get back to accomplishing some household chores today while all is quiet around here. Mostly, I’m just focusing on laundry today (so I can watch tv and fold clothes, ha!).

What are your plans for this Saturday?

 

 

 

Surprise! Another Post!

Chitchat garden areas Week in Review 2 Comments

Not that I’m counting but I think this means I’ve posted four times this week! On a bit of a roll. Nothing special, just another random one with a review of the past week.

Believe it or not, these morning glories and this post inspired me to write today!

I’ve been tossing morning glory seeds around this post ever since my husband took the fence down a few years ago.  This post is right next to our backyard vegetable garden. I have visions of morning glories winding their way up and around the post. Every year: NOTHING.

However, Tuesday morning as I went out to check the garden. What did I find?

A morning glory tucked behind a few of its leaves quietly blooming away! A nice surprise from a rather rough morning.

Shall we grab a cup of something. And review the week. Maybe lavender? 

This planter, I waited so patiently for it to go on clearance at the grocery store, makes me so happy. And I decided to share the unedited version so you can see the mess on our outdoor table on the deck. I have visions of this gorgeous deck with plants but this is the reality. Maybe next summer.

This Week

Monday and Tuesday

Monday was our 24th wedding anniversary that we celebrated by doing absolutely nothing. I did at least bother to get my husband a card. I’ve just about simmered down over him mostly ignoring it. I did buy myself a few flowers at the garden center. Of course, I’d have done that no matter what.  Not all his fault as I did work that day until almost 6, then take J to his baritone lesson. And the weekend before was busy as well. Next year better be a fantastic trip somewhere though!

Tuesday was rather rough as I mentioned. J didn’t go to school saying he just needed to sleep. We’d got off last week to such a good start that this came out of nowhere for me causing my optimism about the new school year to take a dive. At least I found my morning glory that morning.

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday turned out to be a much better day. Took the cat to the vet in the a.m. (finally!) and let me just say putting a cat in a carrier is not a fun one person job.  I thought I had work training but I ended up not having it. So happy about it as I wasn’t in the mood. And G bought my lunch, it was just McDonald’s but it was good. Everyone went where they were supposed to go that day as well.

a bloom on my fall garden zucchini plant

Thursday ended up a full day for me. I worked from 8 until 4. And while I didn’t have the time for Thankful Thursday post (need to get back to those), I did find lots of little items of gratitude. Got to work in my favorite classroom. The school lunch wasn’t messy (it’s a bit of joke for us that whenever I sub for a certain teacher who helps the kids clean after lunch, that day’s lunch is always one of the messiest!). The garden continues to do well.

Last night was a meeting for the parents of the senior band students. And my husband actually went with me. Sure he was probably regretting it though as I’m not one to say nothing (ironic as I was always “the quiet one” who hardly spoke in high school and college). That could be a post all by itself so perhaps I should remain “the quiet one” in this space. Trying to remind myself that as a been there done that parent, I need to think kinder thoughts toward the first time parents of seniors. The difference between the parents of G’s class and J’s class, sigh. Give me the class of 2019 parents any day of the week. Has always been an issue for me.

TODAY: Happy Friday, the start of Labor Day Weekend

Everyone is once again where they belong today. I’m enjoying a few hours of bliss in an empty house before I go pick up J from school and run him to a 3p.m. appt. I’ve watered the gardens, started some laundry. Taken a quick run to the store as we were out of cat food. So I picked up a few snacks for the weekend as well as some strawberries on sale. While I could be filling the house with the scent of an autumn candle, I opted for baking an angel food cake instead.

The rest of this weekend should be low-key for us: out with friends on Saturday night and no plans as of yet for the other days. I’m hoping we manage a visit to a local festival for kettle corn and pork rinds (tradition) and of course, my garden chores are always there.

How was your week? What plans do you have for the upcoming weekend?

 

 

Stalking Sparrows

Birdwatching Thankful Thursday Week in Review 2 Comments

Welcome to my random bird-watching, thankful Thursday (except it’s Saturday), and week in review post! This is a combined catch up post if you don’t mind. It’s been a bit of a busy week.

Of course, I’m so thankful for the love of feeding the birds and bird watching I picked up from my parents. And to see the migrating birds making their way through our backyard again.

Stalking My Sparrows Plus A Few Others 

I’ve had to pick up my bird book a few times this week. I believe this little guy pictured above is a Lincoln’s sparrow! New visitor to our yard. A few more:

Not the best quality photos as we’ve had rain and/or clouds pretty much every day this week. Another sparrow that’s been hanging out with us is one of my favorites, the white-crowned sparrow:

Such neat looking birds! Before I share the photos of a couple different species, I want to mention I’ve also seen but not caught on camera a song sparrow and (one I had to look up in the book again!) a Harris sparrow. Exciting times around our feeders. Including two more non-sparrow favorites, hoping for better photos soon:

Rose-breasted grosbeak
Ruby-throated hummingbird

This concludes the bird-watching part of my post. Moving on to more Thankful Thursday and Week In Review content.

Teacher Appreciation Week

This was teacher appreciation week and I worked a couple days of it. I’d have worked more but G had car troubles so I had to balance my work week with a chauffeuring gig.

I love how the MPTO at my school includes me and the other substitutes in all their gestures. It is so kind and makes me really thankful that I took a chance on working at a small, private family run school about 6 years ago. A school that’s really grown I might add. The appreciation gestures included: K-coffee machines with coffee and cereal choices (for “cereal-ously” good teachers) on Monday, Lunch from Whataburger on Tuesday (I missed that one, bummer), plus the goodies pictured above, snacks on Thursday, and I’m sure something special yesterday as well.

Excited and thankful to have some of my summer schedule sorted as well including a week with an easy 7:00a.m. to noon shift.

Quick Recap of the Week

Before I end my post, here’s a quick recap of the things that have kept me away from the computer most of this week.

Monday, I worked at 7:00a.m to 3:30 shift, followed by a grocery store run. Thankfully, my favorite grocery store’s still doing the Monday gas discount with purchase. Very much needed.

Tuesday, a day of appointments.

Wednesday, another running around day plus the spring band concert. The kids were amazing as always!

Thursday, another crazy work schedule day. I worked 7:00a.m. to 1:30p.m., came home and picked J up from school, then returned to work from 3:00 to 4:30 as a favor to another teacher who needed to get somewhere before they closed at 5.

Finally, on Friday, I woke to find my fuchsia bloomed! Took G to work, met friends for coffee at new (to me) coffee shop north of the river (always love when I get to go on the bridge over the Missouri river). Went shopping at the nicer Target up that way. More chauffeuring. Concluded the day with take-out and a re-watch of Dr. Strange.

Weekend Plans

Looking ahead to the rest of this weekend, it’s still a little busy.

G was going to take me to the new Dr. Strange movie but I’d forgotten my husband and I had dinner plans with friends. So, hopefully, we’ll go next week when the crowds are maybe a bit better anyway.

For today, I plan to do a bit of laundry and yardwork, lots to be done outside.

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How was your week/what things were you thankful for in it? And finally, do you have any exciting weekend plans?

 

It’s The Holiday Season

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Hopefully, you had a good Thanksgiving (if in the United States) and are ready for the holiday season.

Sharing the video of one of my favorite songs of the season as believe it or not, I did not take a single photo yesterday!

To say this has been a week of ups and downs is likely an understatement.

MONDAY and TUESDAY

Monday was a lovely day of mostly happiness. Started the morning with a haircut, always enjoy my “hair-apy” sessions so much. And my lovely hairdresser always gives a small Christmas gift to her clients. Guess I should’ve taken a picture of that. A little plastic cup with a straw filled with candies, lip balm, and lotion. The saying on the cup:

May your day be as amazing as your hair!

*Very grateful for her, she’s been my hairdresser since I was in high school!*

Then, I kicked off my holiday season a bit early by doing a bit of shopping. Hit a few shops on the east side of town that I don’t get toward quite as often. Picked up a tin of my husband’s favorite cookies, J’s favorites, and few other stocking stuffers. Plus a chocolate Advent calendar.   The chocolates were so pretty, I couldn’t resist!

A happy Monday, and then came Tuesday. SIGH. Crashing down.

Anxiety rushed back at J. It’s so hard to watch someone you love suffer. And we won’t even get into the guilt it brings. Suffice it to say I struggled the whole day as well.

However, G was kind enough to see just how much I was struggling and bought me lunch. (While his kindness helped my mood, Taco Bell didn’t do much for my stomach already upset from poor food choices from earlier in the day)

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday helped me climb back up the good mood ladder a bit. Time spent with loving preschool kiddos is such a mood boost! And J didn’t have school anyway so no worries there.

One of the students in the afternoon class told me several jokes. I love when the preschool kids tell me jokes. Sometimes they make no sense but his were really funny. Sample:

What do lazy dogs do for fun? 

Chase parked cars!

Ha!

Yesterday (Thursday) was of course, Thanksgiving. And I’ve had lots of thoughts about the holidays and then, even more thoughts here.

It was a strange day here with just the four of us. My husband cooked the turkey on the pellet grill and I made all the sides: cranberry sauce (Wednesday night), pumpkin and chocolate pies, cornbread, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (cheated, used instant), corn, and we also had dinner rolls (cheated, bought at Hy-Vee, not great).

As I cooked, mostly, I worked through a bit of grief and memories. Cried my way through some Facebook photos and memories.

I think I needed this holiday with just the four of us to grieve the loss of our Oklahoma holiday traditions. Hadn’t had a chance to do that yet as our aunt passed away in October 2019 so close to the holidays that I think I was simply in shock. And last year, the pandemic didn’t allow much room for any other thoughts as things were just so different all the way around.

After dinner, we did manage to lure the kids from their rooms for a few rounds of Uno. And then, J and I played Go. I think the boys had a good holiday. Hope so anyway.

Upcoming Weekend

While I thought about kicking off the holiday season with a bit of Black Friday shopping, the allure of staying in my pajama bottoms was too great. Did do a tiny bit of on-line though.

My plans for the weekend involve mostly laundry, deep cleaning, and Christmas decorating. Maybe putting together a list of Christmas books to read and movies to watch. Last year I made a point to watch a Christmas movie every day in December (not sure I managed every day) and really enjoyed it. So, a planned repeat of that is in order.

So far, I’ve deep cleaned the main bathroom and put up the Christmas shower curtain. Just taking my time with everything today.

How was your week (and holiday if you celebrated)? What do you have planned for the weekend?

A Few Favorite Things

Week in Review 2 Comments

How about a few favorite things instead of a summary of this week. Let me tell you it’s been a week and a half. It’s Friday afternoon and I’m still in my pajamas yet to shower. I did get up and at them the rest of the week but…whew, this week was a bit of a tootsie pop-y week. Guess that’s a nice way to say it?

And it took more than 3 licks to get to the center (end) of it. I always enjoyed this commercial.

There is so much I’d like to say about this week and so much I don’t feel like sharing. Monday was J’s birthday, that was good. Tuesday through Thursday, I worked and that was okay. I did set off their alarm accidentally on Tuesday morning (Oops! Thankfully, I could quickly call and let the alarm company know it was an accident. Getting proper codes and the alarm turned off inside the building took a little longer.). Between some rough mornings at home and kind of tough (not terrible though) work days, by yesterday afternoon I felt pretty much emotionally depleted. Still kind of there if I’m honest.

Like I said earlier, instead of too many details, I’m just going to share a few favorite things that got me through the week.

Snacks and Drinks

So, I’ll just confess I’m a stress eater. Sugar? Okay. However, some days just call for CRUNCHING. And these are my latest favorites for that. They’re also a little salty but that’s okay as well.  a few favorite things

(By the way, I know I don’t talk about our other “football” team often but I hear Sporting KC is in the playoffs! Someday I’d like to get to one of their soccer games as I hear they’re quite fun)

a few favorite things

I try not to indulge in soda or pop (my dad called it soda pop so don’t ask me) too often but this is definitely my all-time favorite. As a mostly Coca Cola fan, that’s saying something. Mango Pepsi for days when it’s just too warm out there for hot tea. And hey, it does have 1 percent of mango juice.

Aroma Therapy

My current favorite scents. I know I mentioned being taken with the cold brew Irish cream coffee at Starbucks. This candle is a cheaper way to get my thrill.

And for the diffuser, here’s a rather odd scent for a summer lover to be a bit enamored with lately:

It’s a very peaceful scent. Not sure how else to describe it. (Please forgive the blurry photo)

Self-Care

Not my favorite term but it fits for this category. Of the few, 21 for 21 items on my list from the beginning of the year, a skincare routine has actually somewhat lasted.

Maybe because I allowed myself to indulge in these Philosophy products.

Today, I tried a sample of a clay mask which I’ve added to my list of full-sized products to buy. Thankfully, they last a long time. The sample sized set pictured was on sale so I went with it.

Shall We Just Howl? Or Cry?

At least as possible explanation for the week, I saw the full moon starting on Wednesday evening. And again as J and I walked around a local park late yesterday afternoon. Missed the eclipse though. Went to bed early last night and just couldn’t quite get out of bed this morning. I must’ve needed the sleep. 

A Theme Song For My Week? My Month?

Seriously, this week has just left me a bit burned out. Perhaps the whole month.

And of course, I just found out that we need to go get J sized for a tux for concert season. (My fault a bit as I forgot about it and sizing/money is all due on Monday) So much for pajama day.

*I should say that I did stop and find bits of gratitude that helped get me through this week as well: beautiful weather early in the week, time with those wonderful preschool kids that filled my heart, time with my own kids as well, open bathrooms at the park yesterday afternoon (always a gamble in November!), and amazing helpful co-workers. And a spot on verse in the Jesus Calling book this morning.

What kind of week have you had? Any favorite things helping you get through it?

 

 

A Slightly Slower Paced Week

Week in Review 4 Comments

The week moved at a slightly slower paced speed for the second week of November. As I review my week for you, I’m again sharing bits of gratitude I found in each day.

MONDAY

Worked half a day and would you believe it’s the only day I worked all week? I’m still in a bit of shock about that. In the afternoon, I ran to the grocery store where I discovered a new Starbucks favorite treat. Though I probably wouldn’t want it in today’s cold blustery wind, the 70 degrees on Monday was perfect for an Irish Cream Cold Brew. It’s definitely going to be my treat drink of choice on warmer days. Finished off the day by taking J to his lesson and reading my book for a bit.

Gratitude items from Monday: Beautiful weather, discovery of a much needed new favorite coffee treat, and a chance to work and see my favorite preschool kids. (Hint: They’re all my favorites!)  slightly slower paced

TUESDAY

Our beautiful weather continued on Tuesday. And since I had the day off work, I took the opportunity to finally go for a walk at one of my favorite local parks. After picking up J from school, I then went with my husband so he could complete his purchase of a new truck. He’s been driving an 2004 with many miles and has been looking for almost a year now. So it was quite exciting that he finally found what he wanted and got a deal on it (no small feat, it’s definitely currently not a buyers market for automobiles).

Gratitude for Tuesday: A beautiful much needed walk in the nature of the park, my husband finding a truck after a very long search, GPS in my car to help navigate rush hour (he found his truck on the Kansas side of the state line and I had to make my way home through downtown during rush hour traffic). 

WEDNESDAY

Another day at home for me. Such a strange week, needed the down time but still had lots of people in this house still needing me. Had to find insurance information for my husband. G borrowed my car for most of the day (better gas mileage) to do a school project. I spent a bit of time working on a new blog post about some of my favorite authors. Later, my husband took J and I in the new truck out to Culvers for dinner. A no cooking night is always a win!

Thankful Things from Wednesday: Another day to enjoy being at home, dinner out with (most) the family. 

THURSDAY

I found myself shocked (and if I’m honest, a bit relieved) to once again not get called into work on Thursday. Did a little birthday and Christmas sorting (J’s birthday is next week). Got a wild hair and baked a fruitcake, we’ll see how that turns out. And had a nice get together/Mom’s Night Out with friends. I missed the last one so it was nice to catch up with everyone.

Thankful Things from Thursday: another day to relax at home (almost caught up on the laundry even!), time to bake, a chance to see friends.

FRIDAY

We went from super sunny fall days early in the week to a cold, blustery 38 degrees currently. And I know I saw snow flurries earlier as well! So far today, I’m just having a lazy day. Ate some snacks, watched some TV. Honestly, I’ve done pretty much nothing so far with my free Friday. Did remove some weird looking white cocoon thing from my Meyer lemon tree (whole branch is gone now) but that’s about it. G even bought my lunch at McDonald’s so I didn’t have to worry about that either. 

Gratitude so far for today: a cozy warm house, spotting the weird white cocoon thing before whatever was inside it joined our family (we’re at occupancy around here!), a thoughtful older son who always asks if I want something when he goes out for lunch, a free day! 

Our Upcoming Weekend

For the first time in probably 2 months, I can sleep in tomorrow morning. Probably won’t but it’s nice to know we have nowhere to be. G and J have dinner plans with their grandpa but I don’t know what I’m doing yet. Sunday morning, J plays with his baritone instructor’s band during a church service so I’ll probably attend that. Chiefs game on Sunday evening of course. Over all, a nice slightly slower paced weekend even. And for that, I’m very grateful. 

Where did you find gratitude during the past week? Or what about the upcoming weekend makes you want to give thanks?

First Week of November Happenings

Week in Review 2 Comments

Thought I’d hop on here and share a few tidbits about my first week of November. Much like the rest of 2021, it went by in a blur.

Since it’s November, I’m also going to share a few bits of gratitude from each of my days.

Monday was a slow day with J staying home from school and missing his baritone lesson that night as well. Didn’t quite know what to do with myself with a free Monday. It’d been a while. I’d like to say I accomplished a lot but honestly, I don’t think I did. Seems so long ago even though it was only a few days. Oh, I did manage to take down all the Halloween specific decorations indoors and started on outdoors but it started raining so today I’ll finish that chore. And I almost forgot the most important thing, we changed trash companies! No more 2 inch folder of customer service complaints to track.

Grateful for a free Monday and the much needed rain. And a new trash company!

Caffeinated and Vaccinated

Tuesday, J had no school and I opted not to work as I made an appointment to get a booster COVID vaccine shot. *Insert many unkind words directed to Johnson and Johnson regarding the one and done shot. Cruel trick to play on those of use very scared of needles* For anyone interested, the booster was Moderna, mix and match for me.

Before I went and tested my bravery, I made a very quick grocery run. Then, I went to my appointment at Walgreens. They were busy but I got in and out fairly quickly and even picked up a bit of bargain Halloween candy (May or may not have picked up some Halloween bargains at the grocery store as well. However, those purchases were put away for Christmas.). Really, most of the “caffeinated” part of Tuesday came from chocolate in the leftover/bargain Halloween candy. At least, I skipped the Starbucks this time.

Grateful for an amazing pharmacy tech at Walgreens who was super understanding and distracted me to the point the shot didn’t even hurt! Also, science. And Halloween candy on sale.

What’s on TV on Wednesdays

I could’ve have worked on Wednesday but didn’t want to take a chance on getting there and feeling bad. So, I basically had an all day TV marathon on Wednesday. Probably did some other stuff as well but can’t remember it. Netflix choice of the day: a complete catch up of DC Legends of Tomorrow and a start of seasons 6/7 of The Flash. Nothing requiring too much concentration. Wednesday evening we watched The Masked Singer.  

Thankfully, my husband had brought home a rotisserie chicken from Sam’s club so no dinner worries either.

Grateful for so many choices of TV programs, limited mild reaction from my vaccine on Tuesday (mostly just tired and a bit of a sore arm but nothing like the first time). 

Working for a Living

Since I didn’t feel too bad with vaccine side effects, I went ahead and agreed to work Thursday. A full day but it always feels like a shorter day when it starts at 7:00a.m. and ends at 3:30p.m. Can I just say driving to work as well as arriving there in full on dark stinks? Can not wait for mornings to be light once again. More excited about that than the extra hour of sleep most of us are getting back tonight.

Grateful for a peaceful work day in the preprimary classroom. And enough food in the fridge that I didn’t really have to cook for a 3rd day (leftover roast transformed into BBQ sandwiches for dinner)

Finally the Weekend

Friday started as a bit of a comedy of errors as I worked but the teacher that called me in also called in 2 other subs! Oops. Bit of a mix up but it was fine and I was only there for a half-day. Sometimes, it’s hard to work on Fridays but I do always enjoy seeing the kids as well as what they bring for share time (every Friday). Last night we didn’t do much, I watched a bit more of The Flash, not the best season, and we had pizza late.

Grateful for getting to spend time with so many amazing preschool kids at a job I still love six years later. Beautiful fall weather. Changing trees and more crunchy leaves under my feet each day. 

Today, I took J to all-district band tryouts early this morning, then he went to a friend’s house. Later, my husband and I are going out to dinner with friends followed by a game night, I think. Tomorrow, an extra hour of sleep and watching the Chiefs game are the main to-do list items. And getting outside as it’s supposed to be close to 70 degrees. 

Grateful for a chance to chat with the mom of a good friend of J’s during the tryouts (I rarely see her as she works weekends), friends, and fine fall weather.  

What things were you grateful for this week or weekend?

Whoops, Another Week Went By

Week in Review 4 Comments

Is that a song title?  Or maybe a lyric in a song? I’m not sure. All I know is here we are again with me posting bookends. A post to start the week and one to end it. Can’t promise I’ll be better about it next week either.

So, let’s see what happened around here on this short 4 day week?

An Unexpected Day Off! Sort of…

I was supposed to work Tuesday but then, she cancelled me. Offered it up if I just wanted hours to come be extra help for them. However, I politely declined (especially as it was in the pre-primary classroom) and payed the price I suppose. J woke up wrought with anxiety on Tuesday and stayed home from school. SIGH. How’s the old saying go? Two steps forward and one step back. Thankfully, the rest of the school week worked out just fine for him.

It did feel as though everyone needed me for something on Tuesday and so no my unexpected day off I accomplished basically nada.

A Working Wednesday

So much for my grand escape for working in the pre-primary classroom. I ended up working for another teacher in the classroom next door. The kids are cute and fun but every time I work in those classrooms, my back hurts and my hands dry out from the constant washing/sanitizing. Still, I like to put in time down there on occasion as it helps to know the kids as they move up to primary. And I do like the teachers, just not overly fond of the age group (18 months to 3 years though mostly barely 2).

Thursday, Time to Clean And Me-Time Guilt

I could have worked again (in primary) on Thursday but opted not to as I’d already had my day at home (ah-lone) planned out. Why is it I felt guilty saying no? If I’d had plans with a friend, I’d been fine but instead I felt guilty that I didn’t rearrange my day for them. Ugh. The perils of being a sub.

A bit of an aching back and feeling stressed from the disaster mess in the house, I had to make the time to stop and take care of things including myself.

Not overly important, except perhaps to the birds, but I did run and get bird seed to finally fill the feeders again. I’d been neglecting them as I didn’t want to make the poor birds easy prey for Chip. Still no word on if he wandered back out of the woods at his new home yet.

Also, ran to the Dollar Tree. Who are these people who find great organizing bins and decorating items there? Am I even shopping in the right store? I grabbed some stick scarecrow people for outside and a few random snacks for the weekend but for containers? Nothing suitable.

Friday (Today), First More Guilt, Then Football

Turned down work again today, honestly I’m feeling crabby and just need some time to decompress.

I’m also working every day next week so want the time to get things done. September is typically my slow time in the sub area so I’m feeling the need to carve out and protect my personal time. Of course, I still feel a bit guilty doing that which logically, I know is silly.  If the teacher had asked me last night, I’d perhaps have been more willing but I don’t feel 45 minutes notice is respectful of my time so I politely declined. (Note: It was the same teacher from yesterday so she had to have had an inkling she needed a sub prior to this morning) Have I mentioned I’ve been feeling a bit grumpy and unsettled with the need to decompress this week?

It’s red Friday here in KC aka Chiefs Kingdom aka The Football Town. Could’ve went out early and made a donation to get a Chiefs flag but opted not to do that. If it’d been a garden flag, perhaps. However, I am wearing my red shirt. Not a Chiefs shirt because I don’t own a short-sleeved one and it’s supposed to be 90 degrees today.  Different kind of football tonight, high school football! Excited for marching band. Could hear the percussion practicing while watering my flowers this morning.

Rest of Today and The Weekend 

The rest of today, I plan to do a bit more cleaning. Might tackle an organizing project. Take a trip to Target (Personally, I do best with their containers). Maybe repot some plants. Time to start thinking of gradually returning my houseplants indoors.

I finished up Hot Mess House on Discovery Plus. Enjoyed it, I really do find her organizing style/solutions inspiring.

Need to remember to cancel Discovery Plus though I haven’t watched all I wanted yet. My plan is to cancel all our streaming services at some point and then go back and pay for each one on an annual basis. Trying to figure out how to do it so we don’t interrupt things.

Couldn’t get to the closet to get my garden flag out for Labor Day but now that I’ve cleaned, I definitely pulled it out for this weekend. Can’t believe it’s been 20 years since 9/11.  I can remember with uncertain clarity where I was (home) and what I was doing (Taking 4 month old G for a walk around the block in his stroller as it was a beautiful September day. Stopping to talk to the neighbors and tell them how I’d just watched on Good Morning America how a plane “accidentally” collided into the World Trade Center. Returning from the walk to tune back into the show and learn that it was no accident and a second plane had hit the towers and hearing of the other horrors of that day.)

Seems as if we no longer stand united and it’s sad. So tired of all the division and negativity in this country.  Time to turn off the news and social media sites and go outside for a bit.

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