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!!