Weekend Recap

I'm a little late on the weekend recap, but I don't have much to report.  It just keeps snowing around here and I am so OVER IT.  Enough already.

I came down with a cold towards the end of the week.  It wasn't bad at all, but it did make me really tired and fatigued.  So I spent much of the weekend being lazy.  I couldn't get to bed early enough and I couldn't sleep long enough.  Luckily, I'm better now so it was just a quick bug (thankfully!).  The guys caught it too, but so far everyone is ok.

The boys had swim lessons on Saturday.  These are working out really well.  The boys enjoy the lesson and it's a great way to burn some energy until we can play outside again (seems like that will never happen!).

One of the weekend days, I came downstairs to find A and W playing chess.  Cutest thing ever.

S is officially potty trained.  It took forever and lots of bribes.  It wasn't that he couldn't, it was that he didn't want to.  And I kept waiting and thinking he'd figure it out.  I think I'm a pretty decent mom for the most part, EXCEPT when it comes to potty training.  I just hate it.  So I'm happy we're done with that phase.  An added bonus to waiting so long is that S is actually potty trained through the night too.  He wakes up dry, which is awesome.  So I can officially stop buying diapers!

A had jury duty this week (heehee), but he ended up not getting picked and leaving the courthouse around noon yesterday.  He asked if I wanted to grab lunch.  Work hasn't exactly been my favorite place to be lately so I was excited to head out.  Our quick little lunch date was a good reminder that we need more time together.  The last time we had a date was on New Year's Eve and it was a quick lunch.  He also bought me clearance Valentine SweetTarts and I can't stop eating them!!  A, if you're reading this, send more SweetTarts!!  Actually, don't because the amount of sweets I've been eating in comparison to time spent on the treadmill is just plain depressing.

Work Travel

I didn’t mean to disappear.  I had to travel for work last week and had such mixed feelings about the trip.  On one hand, I was really excited for the opportunity to visit Ireland (number one on my bucket list – followed by Italy if you’re wondering) and also meet my colleagues at the Dublin office.  But on the other hand, the work trip meant I was away for S’s birthday and I was feeling extremely guilty and sad.  I also had to travel to Wales for a meeting with a clinical manufacturing company.  The meeting coincided with their production schedule and couldn’t be moved.

Anyway, the trip went really well and I appreciate the opportunity, but I’m happy to be home.

Yesterday, I learned that my boss put in for a promotion for me only to have it denied by the VP of our group.  He apparently holds me responsible for an FDA response we received over a year ago.  I have no problem taking the blame when I’m at fault, but this one isn’t on me.  Not to mention, it was a year ago.  It’s just another pathetic excuse and a reminder that while work trips can be nice, they don’t make up for being treated poorly.  I’m still looking for another opportunity - hopefully with a company that values my contributions and allows me to progress.

So how about a few pictures?  While I really enjoyed Dublin, I’m itching to see other parts of Ireland.  I definitely plan to return!

DUBLIN

Coordinated with the airplane!

 NORTH WALES

Weekend Recap

I feel like I’m partially to blame for all the snow and cold.  Not so long ago I thought, “this winter has been relatively mild – not too much snow, it hasn’t been that cold…”  Don’t tempt Mother Nature, people.  She’ll fight back hard.  Monday, all the guys had a snow day thanks to the 7ish inches of snow we received on top of the foot we already had.  Luckily Mondays are a work from home day for me.  School is closed Wednesday (tomorrow) and so is my office (but I have to work from home – boo) because temperatures are not expected to reach higher than -11 with a low of -21.  That’s the actual AIR temperature.  The guys also have no school on Thursday as the high temperature for that day is -3.  Holy moly.

Anyway, our weekend was somewhat busy.  Friday, we were told to work from home because it was so cold.  I won’t argue with that.  We had to take the kittens to the vet for a check-up that evening.  Franklin and Theo are 7 months old now, but I think they’re still kittens?  The vet tech loved them.  They are very social cats and she couldn’t get enough of their cuddles.  Afterwards, we picked up pizza and headed home.

Saturday, S woke up way too early AGAIN.  We grabbed lunch and attended a memorial service for my Great Uncle who passed away a couple months ago.  My kids are 6 and almost 4 and they’ve attended at least 5 memorial services, probably more.  It makes me sad.

Sunday, we went to church and then walked over to W’s school for a pancake breakfast and Open House.  We visited W’s classroom and oh my gosh, they do the cutest projects.  Puffy paint bears, igloos, penguins.  On one of the projects, the students listed their favorite thing to do at school.  The majority said playing, seeing friends, free time, etc.  W’s said doing math.  Yes!!  I really love his teacher and it always catches me off guard when she refers to me as Mrs. W.  Haha.  We are really struggling with where to send S for preschool next year.  It turns out that the 3 full day preschool program at W’s school we were considering is already completely full with kids who are already in the 3 year old class and had early registration.  We are leaning towards keeping S at his current preschool, which I love, but we’ll be left with the same challenge of finding someone to watch him during the afternoons.  Ugh.  It's never easy.  This will be the last year we need someone to watch him so hoping things work out.

Sunday afternoon, I went to a dear friend’s house for a hot cocoa party.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was the cutest.  We each made several different hot cocoa mixes: raspberry, peanut butter, chai, mocha, gingerbread, peppermint, and more and then taste tested them.  So so fun!!  I brought home three different mixes to keep me warm on these chilly days.

I'm Sorry!

It occurred to me yesterday that I hadn’t received any blog comments in a long time.  I don’t have a lot of readers and I don’t receive many comments, but it’s unusual for me to get none.  I clicked on the Comments Awaiting Moderation tab and lo and behold, there were quite a few waiting for my approval to publish.  Previously, I had always received an email indicating there was a comment waiting for me and for some unknown reason, those email notifications stopped.  I love blog comments (except for those annoying spam ones) and I promise I wasn’t purposely ignoring you.  And if you asked a question, I will surely respond!

Weekend Recap

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

We had a winter storm warning and snow was predicted to fall Friday night through Saturday morning.  We had no weekend plans aside from our usual errands and I had visions of sleeping in, awaking to a beautiful snowfall, and sitting across from the fire place enjoying a cup of coffee while the boys played quietly with their toys or read a book.  Let’s all just have a good laugh at that unrealistic vision.  Hey, a girl can dream.  S awoke at 5:45 Saturday morning for no good reason and remained a cranky terror for the remainder of the day.  There were two cups of coffee, but they were not consumed quietly while enjoying a fire.  Rather they were guzzled in between time outs and talking tos.  Instead of sitting under a blanket easing into the morning, A and I worked on cleaning the filters and jets on our bathtub (so so gross) and playing about 15 rounds of Memory with W.  The boys did venture out at one point, but it’s been really cold (single digit temps) and they only lasted about 30 minutes.

Sunday, we ventured out of the house for church, Starbucks, and grocery shopping.  At least S slept a bit longer and was in a better mood.  A made a prime rib for dinner – the first time he’s ever attempted to cook one and it was so yummy.

Monday, we all had the day off for MLK Jr. Day.  It was the first time I can recall having the day off.  Unlike Saturday, I did get to ease into the morning a bit.  S wanted to watch Paw Patrol so we cuddled on the couch while I had my coffee and W slept in.  A headed out to get a haircut, only to find out the barber shop was closed, but brought home coffee and juice.  That afternoon, we headed to a basketball game at my high school.  The boys had never been to a basketball game before and to my surprise, W really seemed to enjoy it.  S was bored, but he’s still 3 and I wasn’t expecting him to be very interested.

Most of the weekend was spent in comfy clothes with my hair up.  It was nice not to have to go anywhere.  We cooked a couple meals in the IP (love that thing!), cleaned and worked on things around the house, played games, and A and I even watched a movie.  I’m kind of hoping for another snow storm so we can have a repeat – but not until later February, please.  This girl has a few busy weekends coming up. :)

In other news, I met with a financial adviser today.  It was incredibly stressful and scary.  Talking about finances with anyone (even my husband) gives me major anxiety.  I consider myself a smart girl, but 401Ks and investments make me want to run far, far away.  And apparently save some money, but never say no to sale shoes is not the best retirement plan... who knew?!?  The finance guy did say I was still young, which made me want to hug him so there's that.  Though he probably wasn't impressed when he asked what age I wanted to retire and I just laughed and said, "Ummm... is retirement even an option?"  We'll see where this goes.  Apparently I'm complicated enough to need more than one meeting.  To be determined...

Finally, in other random news, I'm determined to walk on the treadmill again multiple times a week.  To keep myself going, I started listening to the Up and Vanished podcast - I find it fascinating!

Weekend Recap

Monday morning after a snowfall…

Me:  Let’s hurry; we still need to get dressed and get coats on!

*Proceeds to help S.  Pants on, shoes on, stand him up to button pants only to realize that pants won’t button.  Shoes off, pants off, new pants on, shoes back on.

Me: W, you need to get dressed, we’re supposed to leave in 5 minutes!!

W: Mom, I can’t get my vest on!

*Helps with vest and haphazardly tucks his shirt in.  Good enough.

W: Mom, I need snow pants and boots to play outside!

*Crap!!  We have approximately 1 inch of snow, but Heaven forbid anyone sets foot in it without snow pants, boots, hat, mittens, etc.  School rules…

Me: Ok, you get the snow pants and boots.  I’ll get your shoes.

*Proceed to help W get his shoes on.  Why did I ever think tie shoes were a good idea for someone who can’t tie shoes?!?

*Realize after getting shoes on that W is wearing the wrong socks.  Shoes back off.

Me: W, go get the right socks (they’re only allowed solid color, black, grey, navy and he’s wearing bacon socks - I would much prefer the bacon socks, but I don’t make the rules).

Me: S, get your coat on!

S: I can’t!

*Proceed to help W get shoes on again and S get his coat on (which I am CERTAIN he can do himself!).

*Everyone appears to have the right socks and shoes on and pants that fit.  Progress!  We’re making progress!

Me: Where are your gloves?

*Blanks stares.

*Mom finds the gloves.  Because mom are the finders of ALL THE THINGS.  Especially those things that are literally right in front of you, but you’ve gone blind to for some unknown reason.

*Ok, everyone has their coats, hats, and gloves!!

Me: Everyone into the car!  Don’t let the cats out!!

*Crap!  S needs his snow pants and boots, doesn’t he?  Again, that inch of snow is wreaking havoc and requiring us to bring ALL THE EXTRA GEAR.

Me: W!  Your snack!  What was your snack?!

*Grabs the gold fish crackers, snow pants, and boots.  Forgets the children.  (just kidding)

Happy Monday.

I’m a person who needs some down time, chill time, whatever you want to call it.  I need quiet time to think, to relax, to unwind.  I haven’t really gotten that lately and I also haven’t been getting enough sleep - it’s turning me into a stressed, cranky, crazy person.  On top of that, I'm meeting with a financial adviser next week to discuss my retirement plan.  I thought I was doing ok and then I read somewhere that you should have 3X your salary saved by age 40 and 2 million by retirement.  WHAT ?!? WHAT?!?  I am freaking the heck out.  I’m sorry, A!  This could be the end of my shopping habits forever... insert bawling emoji.

Back to the original point of this post, the weekend recap... After getting home at midnight on Wednesday and waking up every week day at 5am, I was really looking forward to a little extra sleep on Saturday.  And S woke up at 5:04am.  A very kindly ran out and got me coffee.  I really tried to be in a good mood, but man, I was tired and just feeling defeated.  After coffee and breakfast, we headed out around 11am.  Our plan was to have a quick lunch and then head to Chicago for Paw Patrol Live.  We were supposed to get a “dusting of snow”, but the weather report indicated zero inches and I wasn’t too worried.  Ha.  We went to lunch at a brand new restaurant and it was crowded.  I probably should’ve planned better, but just wasn’t expecting a crowd since we were early.  I should also mention that snow was coming down steadily.  So definitely NOT a dusting.  Lunch took longer than expected, our drive took longer than expected, but we eventually made it to the show – just a couple minutes late.  I have to say, lunch and the drive were a bit frustrating, but totally worth it every time I looked at S.  The boy loves his Paw Patrol and I couldn’t help smiling at A as we both took in our mesmerized boys.  After spending too much money on popcorn and souvenirs, the show was over and we headed back to the parking garage to begin the long drive home.

Our drive home took forever.  The roads were terrible and there were quite a few accidents.  We had to stop for a bathroom break.  Finally, 3 hours later, we were home.

Sunday, I had to head to the mall to get one ring repaired and another sized.  That was a bit of a disaster.  One jewelry store couldn’t tell me the cost of repair – just that they’d call me.  Ok?  And then when we tried to pay for sizing at a different jewelry store, their computer froze three times so that process took forever.  I did find some super cheap pants for the boys – Gap was closing in the mall and had everything at a deep discount.  Seems like all the malls are disappearing and it makes me sad and nostalgic.  When we arrived home, the boys played in the snow for an hour and a half and I made chicken and risotto in the instant pot.  I'm kind of obsessed with the IP!!

Friday Thoughts

We survived the first week back to school, but holy moly, it was busy!

On Wednesday, I had a school board meeting.  It lasted 6 hours and I finally pulled into my driveway at 12:06am.  I get up at 5am so Thursday was definitely a rough day.  While this has proven to be a much bigger time commitment than I anticipated, it’s been a very rewarding experience and has sparked my interest in becoming more involved with education (particularly in low income communities) from an administrative perspective.  It seems unlikely that S will return to this preschool next year and I’m extremely sad about it.  The preschool only has half day classes and I definitely don’t want the same baby-sitter we have this year.  As a result, we will probably choose a preschool that offers a full day class.  I’m still hoping we can find a way to make the current preschool work for us, but preparing to make the switch.

On Thursday, W had his first chess club meeting (is meeting the correct word??).  My kindergartner is in the chess club and also does his homework on the bus (which is no longer than a 10 minute ride – ha).  Since I consider myself a nerd, I think his nerdlike tendencies are adorable. J

S is obsessed with Paw Patrol.  It’s the first time either of my boys has been super into a show.  They would watch various cartoons before, but nothing comes close to the Paw Patrol love.  As an early birthday treat for S, A and I are taking the boys to Paw Patrol Live tomorrow.  They have no idea and I hope they’ll enjoy it.

In other news, just when you think our President can’t get any worse, he shuts down the government and throws a tantrum over a wall.  So. Over. It.