a good old-fashioned recap

The week before spring break, I was dealing with awful allergies and could barely look at a screen. Then, Sutton started getting sick the first day of break and that lasted for an entire week, overlapping with me starting to get sick by the 3rd or 4th day of break. Which then worsened as the week went on. So we've had two solid weeks of not feeling great at this point. Scott had been traveling and also sick and my parents came to visit and they got sick and Wells seems to have escaped this, but he was sick about a month ago so, realistically, he got it all started. 

I ranted about this on instagram a few days ago but honestly, that's where I've been. I kept telling myself over spring break that I had to "lock in". I even went out and bought a $7 iced coffee one day, thinking it would give me the energy and motivation to get something done. All I did for a week was putter, sleep, and scroll. My diet consisted of ibuprofen to stop the body aches because, while I wasn't feverish or feeling chills, I couldn't focus with the body aches. And Sutton was miserable too, so that added to it. Wells played board games with my parents and played outside with his friends. He had a great spring break! 

Anyway. 

Wells' soccer practice (where Sutton first started saying "my legs and arms hurt"..the body aches)

Homeland in bed

More Homeland. Quinn was always my favorite character on that show.

Turned 4!

You can tell she doesn't feel good but she did eat sushi because that's what she wanted.

realizing I don't have nearly as many pictures of Wells because he's bigger and faster and she's the one who won't let me out of her sight..

Flashback to March 2022:

I posted a few pics of Sutton on Facebook for her birthday and included a baby picture and someone I currently know wrote "congratulations" under it and I'm thinking "did she think I just had a baby?

Her 4 year old well-check (where they said it's just an upper respiratory thing)

New toys

That $7 coffee. I did not ask for whipped cream but she enjoyed sharing it.

More soccer.

Randomly falling asleep

New messy toys

She got a tent for her birthday and she would just randomly go sleep in it

The weather was 90s some days and windchill in the teens other days

Then...

Sutton randomly fell off a chair before school on Tuesday morning and we went to the ER and they had to put a staple in the back of her head.

She was promised ice cream for dinner so they literally just ate ice cream for dinner TWO nights in a row this past week because I was in survival mode.

More soccer practice but healthy this time.

And we went to a bounce-house birthday party on Saturday. 

...staple in the back of our head and all. 

Monday already?

Spring break started on Saturday, technically, but we have this week off. It's kind of weird because it's not like we didn't have 17 days off in January and February for snow and cold and ice, so spring break was not long-sought after this year. This year, our break began with a tornado warning and 4 days of 80 degree temps (last week). We turned on the a/c on March 13th, which has to be some kind of record. Sutton's birthday is tomorrow and, three years ago, we ended the day before spring break (she was born over spring break) with a snow day because we got several inches of snow on that Friday. 

(Will I be sad to leave Missouri? No. Not really.)

Last week was incredibly stressful just with life and trying to get things done. I had this thought on Thursday that it doesn't matter. it's physically impossible for me to get everything that needs to be done, done. so it is what it is. If you want context for Thursday, I had to get up at 5am, leave for school around 7am (entailing all the prep and getting ready in the morning for myself and two uncooperative humans), go to the post office during my prep, go to the store to get drinks for a potluck, come home, feed us and the dogs, go back to school from 5:30 to 7:30 for family game night, praying that maybe Scott could be home by 5:15 (he did make it home) so I wouldn't have to take Sutton with me. I also needed to somehow pick up the dog's heart medicine from the vet by Friday afternoon (20 minutes away) and finish my report card grades by Thursday morning. And it was 80 degrees and I had a cold all week. 

I personally am functioning this way because I see an end in sight and because I really enjoy my students and love teaching them this year. Also, this is how I'm contributing to the betterment of society. And Wells is doing great in 1st grade. I see the benefit coming out of all of this, even if it's hard in the moment. And obviously, this is my right now. There's been many experiences of right now in the last 15 years...teaching in all different places, deployments, moves/PCSs, remodels, settling into new places, etc. 

Army-imposed timelines are my friend and how I cope, is what I'm saying.

But here's the last few days:

Wells has two birthday parties (+ Sutton's) over spring break so we made a special trip to buy gifts. She wanted a daffodil in her hair. Fancy eggs are the same price as regular so we've been buying fancy. 

I went to get a massage the other day..it'd been scheduled since Valentine's Day..and they had a red light sauna. I've been following the red light trend for awhile but I'm not sure how worth it investing in one would be. 

Daycare picture.

While I think the Laniege lip mask is a rip off, my SIL got me this for Christmas and it's a perfect lip gloss. I'd completely stopped with gloss after kids because babies and toddlers are always smacking you in the face. This is such a good one. 

90 degrees when I turned on the car at 5pm

I bought a case of these teas at Aldi. They had one case. It was sitting with the alcohol. I checked it over multiple times to make sure it wasn't alcohol since it was for a potluck. They are so good. They are a variety pack of flavors and the peach is perfect. 

Packing lunches, always. 

Wells had to decorate a shamrock with things he's "lucky" to have. He wanted to put a picture of Jett on it. :( 

First try at Sutton's birthday cake: failed. (not the best start to Monday morning but I'm trying again). 

Friday things + the best soft pants

 

Spring break kicked off with Jett's birthday and like three cold and rainy days in a row. Not quite motivating. 

This is just one of those very dreary spring breaks. That happens some years. I remember being nearly snowed in during break in 2016, and then in 2017 I got a nasty sunburn because we were pouring concrete that week. 

For example, soccer practice was so cold on Monday evening that I had to keep going back to the car with Sutton. 

My parents are visiting which is so good for Wells, in particular. It has been very informative to me, however: Sutton is seriously attached to me. I can't even leave her in a room with someone else without her crying. I thought I might manage a solo trip to the grocery store. Nope.

Scott has a few days off this week so he is replacing our entire HVAC system in like 72 hours which hasn't caused me to feel anxious at all (jk super anxious...the HVAC system malfunctioning is something we've been dealing with for months on and off and it never fails to give me heart palpitations).

Other than that, tomorrow is Sutton's birthday so hopefully I have fun photos to share. Here's a refresher on Wells' first birthday, in case you missed it. No big party this time but, again, she won't remember it either way. We got her the playhouse but there's also a pile of gifts from family that, no doubt, Wells will fight her for. My parents got her a balance bike which she's not big enough for so Wells just rides it around the house. 

Other than that, I'm just wishing we're able to spend more time outside. 

(hiding in the car during soccer practice)

I'm still wearing soft pants. I highly, highly recommend these.  They run big so I always get a small and I've worn holes in my last few pairs because I wear them constantly...they are TWELVE dollars right now, so go get them. You can sleep, lounge, and wear out (with a decent shirt for a put-together look at preschool pick-up). They're the marvel of pants. 

I've just embraced soft pant life right now. I'm on the floor with a baby, I'm lugging groceries and strollers and running errands. Hair and makeup is fine. I'll do that. I will not put on real pants for anything right now. Sorry. 

The funniest thing I've seen this week:

S&T in days.

Monday, we went out for sushi. And then I picked up prescriptions (one for me, one for the dogs). Then we watched The Force Awakens and I really enjoyed it. If you'd like to talk Star Wars, I am now well-versed, so leave a comment.

Tuesday, I made oatmeal cookies for my dad's birthday and then I made caramelized French onion soup. Also, I cleaned the oven.  And watched about 5 more episodes of The Great British Baking Show. 

Wednesday, helped Scott work on the shed outside. Watched t.v. for a bit. Cleaned up the house a bit. Made donuts. Made pizza. Finished a book.

Scout, proudly sitting in the hole he dug, next to the new extension on the shed. (This thing will be bigger than our house when it's done.)

Thursday...we plan on hiking this morning and I'll maybe get to the stack of schoolwork awaiting me. (I hid it in the closet so as to put it out of my mind.)

Tomorrow, I have a massage and a bit of shopping/things to pick up. Maybe I'll get the grocery run out of the way too.

Questions I have for you: 

Which charcoal soap bar would you recommend? I'm leaning toward the Beauty Counter one but would almost like to try one that's not $24. 

Is there any way to keep chickpeas from exploding when you roast them? (see above-mentioned oven-cleaning)

Front end of spring break.

The Friday of spring break began with a blizzard, hurricane force winds, and a power outage. The moisture and cold was welcomed (I might be the only one who thought this) and the power outage was just an inconvenient side effect.

The dogs and I played a fun game of walk-around-and-pick-things-up after I got home from work.

Barrier blew down.

Ready for darkness. 

Since I didn't know if the power would be on, I picked up Panda Express and then my fortune cookie didn't have a fortune in it. Unfortunate, right?

Saturday, Scott went up north to do some exploring and run some errands.  I did laundry and ran my own errands. Or rather, I wanted to run some errands but I ended up just taking a nap and watching the season (so far) of Time After Time. I ordered what I needed on Amazon. Problem solved.

I thought I'd be reveling in just the idea of spring break but it just felt lacking. The stress of the last several weeks (months?) just added up and I did absolutely nothing with my first day off but I didn't even really enjoy it because I felt exhausted.

I finished Behind Her Eyes and I'm making my way through Red Rising though. Thoughts to follow in the next Show Us Your Books.

Fell asleep on clean bedding while watching The Great British Baking Show (now I'm really in the mood to bake).

Sunday...
Didn't do a whole lot.
However, things can rarely be as easy as we wish and the power went out again Sunday evening. Scott built a fire and hooked up the generator and we watched Return of the Jedi (I'd never made it through the second half) and now I'm all ready to watch The Force Awakens and my self-imposed Star Wars challenge will be complete.

Today is pouring cement. I'd rather do that if it means I'm on spring break.

Obligatory dog collage:

They found a bird under this old platform but couldn't get to it. 

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Linking up with Biana!

How to have a Spring Break without going anywhere

I got a massage. 

I mailed all gifts and packages.

I ran annoying errands. 

I watched some shows (binging FNL while I work on house projects/clean/grade/etc,  finished The Man in the High Castle, watching season 2 of Bosch, started and finished The Returned, keeping up with Jane the Virgin and 11.22.63).

The library was a bust. I have a pretty extensive to-read list on Goodreads and my libraries had next to nothing. I don't really like buying books, so I just kind of stall out. Thank goodness for audiobooks.

I need some new sneakers. I have some that are fine, but I think I need ones with more cushion if I'm going to be doing any kind of impact movement. These are more like court shoes.

I need a new Pilates mat. I almost always do Pilates or yoga on carpet, so thickness hasn't been an issue. But the mat I have was a gift from my cousin when I was in college. It was probably less than $20 and it's followed me from house to house for TEN years now. In fact, I specifically remember packing up my bedroom to move from Pennsylvania to Alaska and Scott handed it to me and I was all, "No...I don't need that" and he was like, "Just take it...we have a U-Haul to fill". And I moved it to four different houses before I actually started using it. I did Pilates without a mat for an entire year (again, carpeting) before realizing the mat did kind of make a difference.
Anyway. Need a new mat. Haven't gotten one yet. To-do list fail. Pilates mats are actually different than yoga mats anyway, and what I have is definitely a yoga mat.

So I checked off about half of my to-do list. I did not get a pedicure because it's snowstorming today and tomorrow. Maybe next weekend. Same with the rings.

I have made remarkable progress on the basement and I think it's getting more and more homey (is that a word?)...

So not the most exciting break, but it's better than last year when I had the flu or the year before when I had the stomach flu.

I'll take it.

Errands and Things

I'm looking at spring break as a time to relax but also as a time to take care of stuff that I can't usually do with a completely rigid and inflexible schedule. Because I have a completely rigid and inflexible schedule and it's starting to get to me.

For example...

The pharmacy I go to is on the Air Force Academy, which is an hour from my house and about 30-40 minutes from my work.  So when I need any kind of refills, I have to either take half a day off (waste of half a day) or schedule it for a day I'm already off. My last pick-up was a day in January when Scott was off, so I took off. Before that it was Christmas break, and before that it Thanksgiving break. They're not open on weekends OR any bank/school holidays. Life is very inconvenient sometimes.

Same for going to the eye doctor. I hate the eye doctor a lot. I always have. It's always such a production.  I needed an appointment though because my prescription had expired in November and I was about to run out of contacts and 1-800-Contacts doesn't let you use expired prescriptions. The very last place I'm ever going to waste a Saturday or an evening is at the eye doctor. So I went on Tuesday, and there was a bunch of paperwork even though I was already a patient there and then there's the whole contact lens fitting thing: they always reschedule me to go BACK for another appointment so they can "make sure" my contacts are fitting correctly.

I've worn contacts for 18 years. I guarantee you that they will fit.

And then they try to dilate my eyes and I tell them no because last time it was miserable. Also, I hate eyes....and I have no one to drive me home. I can't believe they let me drive home last time. That was irresponsible on their part but, then again, this is an eye doctor on a military base so...as is true when dealing with military doctors...credibility isn't usually high.

Tuesday's trip was less traumatic than usual, but I think that's because it was an older male doctor and he actually explained what he was looking for while he was shining bright lights in my eyes. I appreciated that. And upshot is that at least my eyes are healthy. I don't have a whole lot of health problems, but I rarely go to the doctor these days without them telling me something is amiss.

Anyway.

Then I went to Starbucks and they dropped my drink all over the floor.

Iced coffee with cream and sugar. Much cheaper than fancy syrup-infused iced coffee when all I really want is iced coffee.

Also, I ordered something from Target.com and it just never showed up. I never got any kind of confirmation emails about it so I couldn't track the package. When I talked to customer service this week, they pulled the item up right away when I provided my email. So there had apparently been an order. But the representative placed an order for another one at no charge and gave me an order number and said a confirmation email would be sent to me. I never got an email. So I'm just kind of wondering how this will play out...will I get two? Will I get any at all? If I get two, I'll give one away on here. Because no one needs two identical 2016 calendars from Target. I probably didn't even need one.