A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family just this moment.
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| photo cred: Stacy B |
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| photo cred: Stacy B |
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| photo cred: Stacy B |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 598+ hours (of 1000)
Took a nap outside on the grass - hah! I get to that point of exhaustion and need for earth reset about twice a year. I just find a spot in the front yard and pass out for 2 hours - hahahhaha, feral woman. Brandon saw me out the window and said he thought, "oh good, she's finally resting." HAH.
Reading and finishing 2 books this week. First, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. I really loved it, such a full sweeping and epic story where all my questions and loose ends got tied up at the end. I really enjoyed it and would love to read more by him. Also starting and then finishing Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman - just in time for spooky season (he wrote Bird Box)! Very spooky and now we are all talking about "Other Mommy" and pretending we have one because we like scaring ourselves to death.
Listening and finishing The Reformatory: A Novel by Tananarive Due and feeling my blood pressure rise as I neared the end of the book. Honestly, I was breathing quickly and stressing the heck out from chapters 37 on. One of the best books of the year for me!
Proud of Gem and Violet who spent most of their Sunday volunteering with the youth group at church for their annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser.
Decorating for spooky season! We pulled out all the Halloween books and decorations from the attic and it was also a good opportunity to do a little bit of housekeeping up there too. The kids and I made a real mess of everything over the last three years with kids' clothes bins and it makes me sad every time I go up there. So with the help of the kids, we did a little clearing and cleaning out while also bringing down the decorations
1 month sober from alcohol. Ever since doing Whole 30 last summer, alcohol has caused issues for me; mental / emotional and physical. My anxiety and shame are off the charts for a few days after drinking any amount which is reason enough to be done. But also physically, I feel extreme side effects like dizziness and upset stomach and headache. I mean it is actually poison, so that all makes sense - but I have been a social drinker since I was in my 20s...alas - 40 years old and that's a no from me. I wanted to be an example to the kids that you don't need alcohol as a coping mechanism either (I feel like that's mostly why I wanted a drink - I was overstimulated and wanted to take the edge off). The only time I miss it is when we are at a function and everyone else has a drink and I just want something in my hand - hahhaa, fomo! We don't drink soda at home, so I get myself a fizzy drink instead and feels fine to fake it.
Rusty's oral surgery consultation in Monroeville (about 2 hours away) to get that extra tooth removed. He got some x-rays and we set the date for two days before Christmas. That sucks, but I'm glad that is a day that we are all off already for the holiday break and that he may also be distracted by all the lights and fun that it will be helpful to recovery. Three teeth will be taken out; two baby teeth and the extra tooth in there inhibiting his adult tooth to come out. Glad that the surgery is on the books and that I was there for the consultation (I called off on our Act 80 day). We got a special lunch date together at Burgatory and enjoyed their delicious milkshakes and sent pics to Daddy to make him jealous, heh.
Tracking all the tiny things that is required by motherhood. Olive had preschool snack this week, Gemma needed money for the upcoming soccer banquet, Rusty and Violet took in supplies for the fall fest party organized by the PTA. I switched out the extra clothes in the babies' backpacks to match the weather. I pulled down bins of winter clothes for Red and Olive and switched them out and got some bags ready to donate. Motherhood is death (exhaustion at least, hah) by a tiny thousand cuts.
Admiring the full moon out here looking GORGEOUS!
Watching Grey for a hives all week. It's been flaring up after every time he eats which is crazy because he's never been allergic to anything. He is getting welt-like hives all over his body which are super itchy and irritated. We've been trying to track to see if there is any common theme besides after eating and it was so bad on Thursday night that we cancelled our anniversary dinner reservations and B took him to urgent care to get a steroid! The internet says (LOL) that it could be an allergy to something environmental but then it flares up after food because his body is already on high alert from the environmental allergy that it goes into attack mode just in case...? So with that in mind, I realized that after 14 years of using All Free & Clear laundry detergent because we always had a baby in the house, I switched to a detergent with the scents. So I'm really hoping it's that and I'm rewashing everything in ALL Free & Clear again to see if it helps!
Our 16th wedding anniversary! (thank you all for the sweet messages and calls!) We spent our anniversary night back where it all began at Conemaugh Valley at the football game! What a dizzying feeling it was to be married for 16 years with our 6 babies on the same field that we were holding hands and kissing back when we were teenagers. (love you B. this life is better than any high school doodles I was making up way back then).
Thankful for haircuts for all my boys. Lamont stopped over on Saturday night and got all my fellas cleaned up and fresh with haircuts and beard cut for B.
Nephew playday so that Uch and Kev could put on the annual You in Flood City Zombie Crawl for the town. They had over 300 zombies show up (!!) and all the local bars and restaurants had a packed house all night. (Uch, you are so amazing!) The fella nephew boys got to spend the evening and it was wonderful as it always is with cousins. Grey and I let baby Blair have a jello super-stimulation session, hahaha, letting him squish and smash a tub of jello to liquification. So much trampoline tackling games for the who cousin crew into the dark when we had to turn on the flood light until it was time to come inside and all fall asleep all over the living room in piles of snuggles.
Teaching only four days this week due to Indigenous Persons day. We had an Act80 day, but I took off to take Rust to his oral surgery consultation (yay!) In the elementary school, we finished up the Day of the Dead lesson and then moved onto the Day of the Dead crafts! Spanish Expo moved into week 3 (geography), Spanish 1 was working on their weather projects and oral presentations. Spanish 2 started the Spooky stories unit - one of my favorite units!
Sporting with some winter decisions for Rusty. He's too young yet to play basketball and wasn't interested in doing wrestling again this year - so inspired by our friend and one of Daddy's football players (Aiden "Burnie") Rusty is going to try the swim team! Rusty does really love swimming and he has the upper body for it - so he got registered this week attended his first swim practice this week. He loved it! Violet had a basketball practice and she and Rusty both had equipment turn in and end of season parties for football on Saturday. Gemma had one soccer practice and her last junior high soccer game this week then open gym for basketball on Saturday. Grey and B had team dinner and film on Sunday, four football practices, and an away game at Conemaugh Valley on Friday night.
Making homemade stromboli, taco pasta, chicken & veggie biscuit casserole, sloppy joes with shells&cheese. For our anniversary dinner date night (reservations cancelled for Grey's visit to Urgent Care) so Brandon brought home sushi for us from Nyko's! Violet made egg sausage casserole for Saturday breakfast and Olive contributed to breakfast by trimming all the strawberries!
