Weather and workouts.

They are calling for snow around these parts starting this afternoon.  Schools are letting out early so all the kiddos can get home before the roads get too slick.  The latest forecast calls for between 1 - 11.5 inches of accumulation! How's that for not having any idea how much snow to expect?

I am also anticipating that schools will be closed tomorrow if we get any amount of accumulation because we haven't had any snow days so far, so they might as well close to "be safe rather than sorry" and use up one of those snow days that are already built into the calendar.  It's supposed to be in the 50s this weekend so anything we get will be gone by Monday.

In other equally boring news, I have been trying to go to the gym at least 4 times a week.  I'm not doing anything crazy - 30 to 45 minutes on the Precor (elliptical) and then rotating through some of the weigh machines.

And guess how much weight I've lost in the last 3 weeks?

ZERO.

NADA.

ZIP.

ZILCH.

ZED.

(Okay, I'm done now.)

That's all I've got for today but I will be sure to check in tomorrow and let you know whether we got 1 inch or 11.5!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and whole lotta fat cat...

Dan made it home on Thursday evening and the rain eventually stopped.  It's still been cloudy but every now and then the sun pokes through and it gives me hope!  And the days are getting lighter and that makes me very happy!

On Friday, Valentine's Day, Sarah stayed in Kernersville with a friend who has her license.  They went to Chick-Fil-A and then to Starbucks and then back to school to watch the last varsity regular season home games.

Peter came home from school but then left before Dan got home to meet some friends for dinner in Kernersville before the basketball game.  So it was just me and Dan for dinner which I didn't even eat because I was still full from lunch. (My sweet brother took me and mom out for a delicious lunch at 2520 in Clemmons.)

Then Dan and I headed to school for the basketball games.  It may seem weird that we go to the games even though we don't have kids playing but I really enjoy watching high school basketball and we have season passes to all the sporting events so it's like free entertainment...or technically all ready paid for entertainment!

Sarah's friend spent the night Friday night and then they went out to lunch and shopping and basically Sarah was living her best life now that she has a friend that can drive. 

She was home in time for Peter to leave and go out to dinner with his friends.  So he is living his best life as well.  No worries - more brisket for us! 

Sarah started watching Survivor with us last season so after dinner the three of us settled in to watch the first episode of the new season.  Dan and I have watched all FORTY seasons!  Dang I feel old! 

We  headed to church on Sunday morning and then had lunch at mom's and before we knew it, it was Monday.  Dan had to work but Peter and Sarah did not have school.

I am a horrible mother and had scheduled dentist appointments for them both AND a doctor's appointment for Peter.  Peter was very annoyed with me because the doctor's appointment was at 8:30 AM.  This appointment was  a last minute thing (I failed to make him one earlier and he needs his physical updated to run track and it was all they had) but I was just glad they had an opening.  I had to listen to a lot of whining and complaining but I was okay with that.  I hate when the kids have to miss school for appointments and I love it when I can schedule around a day off from school!

Good news - no cavities!  Bad news - it's time for Peter to get his wisdom teeth out.  No news is good news - Sarah is fine for now but hers will have to come out probably next year this time.

And I almost forgot this little story...


Two weeks ago when it was so windy, our crawl space attic door (in the bonus room) blew open. I noticed the open door while looking for our cat who I could not find.  I poked my head in the crawl space and called her name.  I heard a frantic mew and began moving boxes around - this is the area where we keep all of our Christmas decorations.  I could hear her but I could not see her.

Finally, I realized that she was behind this silver paper that covers all the insulation and rafter beams.  She had managed to pull up the paper and jump(fall?) down into the eave of the roof. She was stuck because she is very fat and couldn't get herself back up - there was probably a 12 to 16 inch drop and in addition to that, there were roofing nails poking through the roof making it such that when she tried to get out, the nails would dig into her back.

I tried to get her out, Sarah and Peter even tried but she was trapped. Dan was at work and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours but my brother had just gotten home.  He assessed the situation, got an electric saw, cut out a piece of 2x4 so fat cat could get out and FINALLY she was free! 

I am very thankful that I noticed she was missing before I closed the open attic crawl space door.  Otherwise, we might be wondering where that awful smell is coming from....

Rain.

Well, it's raining again.  Or rather, it's still raining.  I'm over it. 

So other than complain about the weather, what's been going on around here?

Well, we went to the high school basketball game last Friday night.  The girls won, the boys lost. 

We did things around the house on Saturday morning and then in the evening, Sarah and I joined Jennifer and Cheyanne at the Girl Scout Cookie booth.  Oh and oddly enough, last Saturday it stopped raining long enough to snow.  It was big wet flakes that didn't stick but it was a cold evening to be selling cookies.


Due to the cold and that the fact that there weren't a ton of people at the grocery store at 7:00 PM on a Saturday evening, we shut the booth down early.  Peter had spent the day working on a group project and was going to dinner at Panera to finish the presentation so Dan joined Sarah and I for dinner.

Then on Sunday morning, Dan hoped on a plane to Germany while Peter and I went to Boy Scout Sunday at the church where he is a scout.  Peter was involved in the Eagle Scout ceremony - one of his friends was receiving his Eagle award and I was helping out in the kitchen.

The troop does a big spaghetti lunch after the service to raise money.  The parents do the cooking and the scouts do the serving.  It was a long morning and afternoon but we survived!  I actually spent most of the morning with Sarah's girl scout leader.  We were in charge of washing all the dishes. Thankfully this church has an industrial dishwasher which we were using. But it wasn't huge so we did multiple loads.

We had quite the system down.  Frances rinsed and loaded.  I removed,dried, and put away.  By the time I got done putting away, there was another load ready to be done.

We washed pots, pans, silverware, and serving trays for over TWO HOURS!  And that was with this industrial machine.  This machine was basically like a pressure washer for dishes that used ultra-hot water.  I got lots of good steam facials and we were both sweaty by the time we got done!

Later that evening, the kids and I went to Mass (Dan went Saturday night) and then we grabbed salads from Chopt to-go.  Jennifer's older daughter was working and we were happy to get to see her while we were there.  Plus our salads were really good. 

This entire week I have been off a day.  You know - on Tuesday you think it's Wednesday, on Wednesday you think it's Thursday, so that's made this week seem longer than normal.

Dan will be home tonight assuming the weather doesn't mess up his flights.  The weather forecasters are saying that when the rain moves out tonight, a cold front will come through so it might actually feel like winter around here this weekend.  I don't care how cold it is as long as it STOPS RAINING!

Okay - that may be a little aggressive but that's not too far from how I'm feeling!

A very odd day!

Yesterday was quite an unusual day!

Sarah was extremely disappointed about not making it to states but the mother of the women's team captain took her daughter, Sarah, and another swimmer to Cary to watch the meet.  Some other girls were planning on going as well but unfortunately had conflicts and couldn't attend.

The only downside to Sarah going was that the meet was in Cary (2 hours away from our house) and it started at 9:00 am.  And the people that were taking her live in Greensboro which is 45 minutes from here and they were leaving at 6:30. So that meant we were out of the house and on the road to Greensboro at 5:45 am.

I do not like to drive at night and I do not like to drive in the rain.  But the worst driving for me?  Yep - driving when it's dark AND it's raining.  And that was what was happening yesterday morning at 5:45 am.

I have an astigmatism in my left eye and my vision is horrible in both eyes so when you combine that with night and rain, I feel like I'm not seeing much of the road.  But I made it safely to Greensboro and back home again with a whole lot of prayer and white-knuckle driving.  I had an appointment to get my hair fixed this morning and I told my stylist that even though it was only 8:30 in the morning, I felt like I needed a shot of whiskey or something to calm my nerves.

But never fear, instead of day-drinking after my stressful drive to Greensboro and I back, I chose instead to come home and put on an episode of The Bachelor. It was the perfect morning for such because it was still raining and they were calling for thunderstorms, flooding, and high winds all day and we were even under a tornado watch (which means conditions are right for a tornado).  In fact, before I even got home from my hair appointment they had decided that schools were going to dismiss early because of the bad storms.

As I was enjoying the ridiculousness that is The Bachelor, my phone started shrieking.  My weather app was letting me know that we were now under a tornado WARNING which means get in the basement right now!.  At that some time my mother called to check on me, my cells phone rang - it was the guy wanting to know if I wanted to sell my car - the answer was no, and I was texting Peter, Dan, and Sarah to let them know the weather here in Davidson County.

Apparently, Forsyth County (where the high school and Dan's work are located) was also under a tornado warning.  Peter said he and some classmates and a teacher were taking shelter under a stairwell and Dan said he and all his third-floor coworkers were sheltering in a hallway on the first floor.

For about thirty minutes the rain was pouring, it was very dark, and it was very windy but thankfully no actual tornados.  Peter was released from under the stairs and the administration decided if the driving kids had permission from their parents they could go ahead and leave school for the day.  So he came home.  Dan wasn't so lucky and got to stay at work for the rest of the day.

Roughly two hours later, the storm had made it to the Raleigh area where Sarah was.  A large group from Bishop were eating a late lunch during the break between the afternoon and morning sessions and the tornado warning meant that they all had to hang out at the restaurant until the storm passed that area.

The swim meet was over around 8:00 and Sarah got a ride home with a family that lives closer to us.  We picked her up from their house and got back to ours around 10:30.  She said she was tired but that she had a great day.  I'm glad she got to go even if she didn't get to swim! And I'm thankful that everyone made it home from everywhere safe and sound.

 Bishop is on a two-hour delay but the school system in the county where we live is closed due to flooding and power outages.  People on both ends of our road are without power but thankfully we have managed to keep ours on  It continued to rain all night and the winds whipped around waking me up multiple times but the sun is finally out this morning! It's still pretty windy but as long as it's sunny, I'm good!

Claire, Sarah, Bridget

Car problems.

A couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday, we took Dan's car in to be inspected.

The mechanic came in the waiting room to tell us that the car battery died while they were doing the inspection and that  we would have to get a new battery and then come back in 24 hours to have in reinspected.  So we got the new battery and went back the next weekend and had it reinspected.

And guess what?  The tread on the tires was too low and it did not pass!  (Seriously!  Are we 12?  Do we not know how to maintain our cars?)

So Dan and I switched cars one day and I got news tires and an alignment because, of course, it was out of line.. out of align?  Anyway, we FINALLY got it to pass and everything was right with the world...

Until the door locks on my car started acting up.  If you will recall, about a year and a half ago, the driver's side door started to act up.  It wouldn't lock or unlock without the key and I had to have the actuator replaced.  (Actuators aren't cheap, by the way.)

So when the front passenger side door started not unlocking I looked the other way hoping that the problem would "fix itself".  Y'all know as well as I do that a problem with your car will never "fix itself". And I'm not sure why I'm putting that in quotes. It just seems appropriate.

Not only did the problem not "fix itself", it got worse!  In the course of a few weeks the other two doors would lock but not unlock and the hatch would also lock but not unlock.  But it would do it randomly, sporadically.  Sometimes two doors wouldn't unlock.  Sometimes just one.  Sometimes the hatch wouldn't unlock but other times it was fine. Sometimes everything worked perfectly.

It was very frustrating for me but it was embarrassing for Sarah.  We drive carpool to swim practice and she was mortified when the doors wouldn't unlock.  Most of her friends have cars where you press a button and the hatch door will close automatically.  But my car is a bare bones 2012 model so you actually have to use your arms to close the hatch and all doors (GOD FORBID!!!) and she has always been embarrassed by that. Now add to it that sometimes the hatch won't even open and the doors have to be manually unlocked, it was almost too much for her to bare.

I finally had enough of it myself and decided I would take it in and while I was there get a replacement key for the one I lost. Sadly this key never turned up even though I have continued to look for it .  Dan was tired of borrowing my key whenever he was using my car and it is ridiculous to only have one car key - what if I lost the other one?? So I was going to bite the bullet and get another key. (Car keys aren't cheap, by the way!)

Yesterday, I arrived at the dealership by 8:30, told James, the service advisor, the car's woes and agreed to let them do my car inspection since it was due next month. In 45 minutes, I got a text from James with a handy little video link.  I clicked on the link and it was a video from Gilbert, the technician, explaining that my rear tire was showing secondary rubber and would need to be replaced to pass inspection, (Tires aren't cheap, by the way!) AND that the front bushings were cracked and leaking and needed to be replaced.(Bushings aren't cheap, by the way!)

Oh and he could only get one door to not unlock so they were only going to replace that one actuator.

In a nutshell, I spent even more money than I was expecting to spend and will most likely have to go back when the other doors won't unlock.  (Although they did say that sometimes one bad actuator can effect the others so there's a chance fixing the one actuator would fix the whole problem.  I'm not sure I'm buying that but I'm hopeful.)

They weren't going to be able to repair everything yesterday because they didn't have the actuator in stock so they gave me a loaner.  It was a 2020 Accord with only SIX miles on it!  It's been so long since I've driven a brand new car - 18 years to be exact!

The leather steering wheel was lovely and the large touch screen panel was so nice.  Sarah was ooohhhing and aaahhhhing over the new car when I picked her up.  But honestly, I didn't love it.  I like sitting high up in my old Pilot and being in a sedan just felt so low to the ground.  Not to mention the fact that I had to hoist myself out of it.

This morning before it was ready to be picked up, I got a text and later a phone call from someone at the dealership asking me if they could buy my car.  (He was the guy in charge of used car sales.)  I told him I wasn't in the market but I would take a look at his offer.  He emailed it over to me this afternoon and it was a little above Kelly Blue Book so it was a decent offer, I guess.  How convenient that they are interested in my car when I just  replaced the tires and the bushings.  I feel like I need to drive it for a while to get my money's worth!

And that's my sad expensive tale of too many car repairs

Regional Swim Meet

The regional swim meet was on Saturday afternoon.  We met Dan's sister for lunch on Saturday near the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The meet didn't start until 4:15 but she had to be there at 2:00 so I drove her to the GAC while Dan and Cathy went to visit the site of the Guildford Courthouse Battle which was a significant battle of the American Revolution.

We arrived at 1:45 and she joined her team.  I got my ticket and got in line.  The doors opened at 2:30 and a group of Bishop parents were able to save several rows so we could all sit together.  And more parents saved rows a bit behind us.  It was nice to be together so that whenever anyone on our team was racing we could all cheer.

Sarah was swimming in two individual events and two relay events.  Her biggest hope for scoring in the top 8 was with one of the relay teams.  Sadly though, her relay teams weren't fast enough to make it to states and neither were her individual times.  BUT - she was happy that in both of her individual events she recorded PRs.  Unfortunately that happiness was overshadowed by sadness that she wouldn't be going to states to swim.  She's still feeling sad about that but  the men's team did great and she's excited for them. They came in third over all and there are quite a few from the men's team that will be heading to states to compete on Thursday.

I'm so proud of my girl!  She spent the last month dealing with injuries but thank to ice, Advil, and lots of prayers by this mom, she was able to swim pain free on Saturday.  She's more determined now than ever to stay in shape for summer league, to continue to improve and come at it hard in the fall so she can make it to states!

Here are a few pics from the meet:

The best thing about the hot pink tech suit?? I could always spot Sarah on the deck or in the pool!

The tech suit.

Last week we ordered Sarah a tech suit.  If you aren't familiar, tech suits are super tight extremely thin bathing suits swimmers use to reduce drag to hopefully help them go faster.

Last year all the girls on Sarah's team either had their own or borrowed one to use for regionals and states.  Sarah borrowed an old one from another swimmer because I had no idea these things even existed/

In order for your tech suit to do it's job it must be very very  tight and take a long time to put on.  Apparently the one Sarah borrowed last year slipped right on so it was most likely too big or had gotten stretched out over the yeras and thus probably INCREASED drag.  Oh well, live and learn.

Tech suits range from $99 to $999.  Suffice it to say, the one we ordered was on the low end of the scale.  I figure if she wears it to regionals for the next three years and to states if she makes it, thats a total of up to  6 times.  Even on the cheap end, that seems like a lot for 6 swims but maybe it will help.

Tech suits aren't sized the same as regular swim suits so we had to take all of her measurements and hope for the best.  However, her measurements put her in the range for two sizes. So I ordered both and I'm so glad I did.  The first one we tried on, she could not even get it over the top of her thighs. The second bigger one was easier to get on.  And by easier, I mean we were actually able to get it on.  It took us almost 10 minutes.  In addition to being tight it is thin and you have to be careful not to rip it. We were so excited when we finally got it on her!

She's very nervous about the regional meet  because this year they are only taking the top 8 swims from each region in each event to go to states.  Last year they took the top 12 and her really team barely squeeked in. 

Based on the psych sheet that came out, Sarah is going to have to shave A LOT of time off all her swims in order to make it to states.  So it's not looking too good at this point.  

And in addition to all of this, her shoulder hurts.  She's meeting with the team trainer today, but we think it's just an overuse issue that time will heal.  So for the rest of the week she's only going to practice kicks and not strokes and hopefully it will be ready to go on Saturday morning.

Here's hoping the hot pink tech suit will help her swim super fast!!!

Grades, closets, and a busy Sunday.

So many things to update on.

The kids did well on their exams and their final semester grades were solid.  And I have to give a big shout out to St. Joseph of Cupertino!  I have asked for his intercession a lot this school year and he always comes through.  :)

This past weekend was fairly busy.  Peter went to the school's Broadway Review to support some of his friends who were participating.  He really wanted to go to the away basketball game as well but I'm proud of him for choosing to support his thespian friends.  The theatre kids don't get as much love from the student body as the football and basketball teams do.

On Saturday, Peter asked for help cleaning out his closet.  We went through all the things and got rid of a lot of the things and kept a lot of the things.  The closet looks much better now and it inspired me and Dan to clean out our closet as well.

Dan and I took 5 large bags to Goodwill and then took a lot of things to Jennifer to see if her men can use any of them.   I was extremely tired after all this closet cleaning but I am very happy with the results!

Sunday was a busy day.  We attended the 9:15 mass where our parish was celebrating Catholic Schools Week.  Afterward, Sarah and I worked the Girl Scout cookie booth for four hours with Jennifer and Cheyanne.  Thankfully it wasn't too cold and the girls sold a lot of cookies and got a lot of tips!  (The tips go straight to our troop and are always very much appreciated!)

And then we headed to Kernersville for Sarah's swim banquet.  That was a lot of fun.  Her swim team is made up of a bunch of really great kids and I'm so happy Sarah is a part of the team.

She has qualified for 4 events in this weekend's regional swim meet - two relays and two individual events.  She's excited about regionals but she doesn't feel like she's going to be able to qualify for anything for states.  She would have to shave a lot of time off to be able to do that but I suppose anything is possible.  And now her shoulder is bothering her so that's not going to help. 

We joined a new gym last week and I've been going every morning when the kids leave for school.  I'm hoping to get back into shape by the summer.  Perimenopause,  my love of food, and my strong desire to do nothing are really wreaking havoc on my figure!  :)

The struggle is real!

The conference swim meet!

Whew!  We are finally back to regular life! 

The long weekend was good.  I had to have Sarah out the door by 6:20 AM on Friday to make it to mandatory swim practice.  And then on Saturday, we had to be out the door by 6:20 AM to have Sarah at the YMCA by 7:00.  (Needless to say, when we finally got home Saturday afternoon I took a nap - something I never do.)  I'm always up early but for some reason having to be up AND out the door was too much for this old lady!

We dropped Sarah off at the Y and then Dan and I grabbed some breakfast because the meet didn't actually start until 8:30.  Sarah's knee was still sore from her injury but she powered through.  She had already made regional cuts with her backstroke but she also wanted her relay teams to make it as well. And they did!  Her team qualified for both the 200M Medley Relay and the 200M Freestyle relay!  She was so happy!

Now she has two weeks to practice to get ready for the regional meet and hopefully by then her knee will be fully healed.  She is hoping that their regional times will qualify them for states.

After the swim meet, we headed with a lot of the other team members to get lunch together and then I came home and Dan and I ran some errands and then I had my little nap! I made a delicious brisket for dinner and then we relaxed for the rest of the night.

On Sunday we went to Mass, had lunch at my mom's, relaxed and then on Sunday evening Dan and I went to Maxburger and had a couple of drinks. 

On Monday Dan had to go to work and the kids slept in while I went to get groceries.  When I got back I took Sarah to Target.  She wanted some new earrings since she now can wear them and she's only got a few pairs that she likes.  And then I took her to swim practice. 

And here we are on Tuesday morning.  I went to the gym this morning and now I'm headed out to get new tires for Dan's car.  Then I'm coming home to pay some bills and catch up on some boring household things.  BUT - I do love ordinary time and errands and household things are about as ordinary as it gets!

Here are a few other pictures from Saturday: