Football, Fighting Cancer, and Beer.

The kids have officially been in school for two weeks now and....so far so good....

Both kids like their schedules and have a good amount of friends in their classes.  They have both adjusted well to wearing masks all day long except when eating lunch.

Sarah is having a small problem because she isn't hungry for breakfast before school. In previous years,she would always take a snack and eat it in class around 10:00.  She can't do that now because she can't take her mask off and she's getting hungry before lunch.  Thankfully though she has the first lunch period so at least she isn't having to wait until third lunch. 

They are doing lunch a little differently this year.  Instead of allowing everyone to eat in the cafeteria each lunch period has been split up into different pods.  Some kids are eating in the cafeteria, some in the gym, and others in different classrooms.  Peter is one of the lucky ones - he is in the cafeteria.  Sarah is in a classroom with I think 8 or 9 other kids.  Luckily a couple of her friends are in there with her but she said they are sitting pretty far apart so it's hard to talk.

Peter and most of his friends from the football team are playing in a 7 on 7 league.  It looks like many of the other neighboring high schools are participating as well. They have 8 scheduled game nights and each night they do 3 25 minute "games" where each team gets a certain amount of possessions where they run plays and try to score.  

The league is keeping everything legal so that they don't infringe on any of the state rules for high school football. For example, the team's head coaches aren't allowed to be there.  The assistant coaches can watch from the sidelines but each team has a different 7 on 7 coach that doesn't work for the school team.

Even though it isn't an actual football fame, Peter had a great time Friday night because he got to run plays and hang out with his friends.  Dan and I were excited to watch some football and talk to a couple of the other parents.  The games are played in a large soccer complex on half fields so there are multiple games going on at once.  We were actually able to watch two of the three games up close.  The third game was on one of the far fields and spectators weren't allowed on that end of the field. It's not your traditional Friday Night Lights but it's better than nothing.  

 

Sarah worked her last shift at the pool this weekend and is very sad that her job is ending until the spring.  She's made a lot of new friends and made quite a bit of money considering she only worked about 6 weeks.  She was lucky and was able to pick up a lot of double shifts. She gained a lot of confidence while working at this pool and is very excited to go back next year.

And speaking of Sarah, she was nominated for Student of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of the Triad.  Basically what that means is that she will be fundraising to fight cancer.  She has put together a team and will be leading them to raise money in the spring.  She was very honored to be nominated and is excited for this opportunity.  

We've had several Zoom calls with the triad liaison and Sarah is currently working on her presentation for her first team meeting.  

Dan and I celebrated our birthdays last weekend.  We had a nice lunch out at Firebirds with the family and then had cake and unwrapped presents.  Then he and I went to a local brewery for some drinks.

And that's about it from here.  I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy twenty years to us!

 Yesterday was our TWENTIETH wedding anniversary.

Here's what I posted to social media:

Grow old along with me

The best is yet to be

When our time has come

We will be as one

God bless our love

 

TWENTY YEARS ago, Dan and I shared our first dance as a married couple to this song. And in those twenty years, God has truly blessed our love. He’s seen us through great happiness and great sadness and everything in between. I prayed hard for a man to love and God outdid himself with this guy. He’s funny, intelligent, kind, hardworking, and doesn’t seem to mind that I’ve put on a few pounds.

 

Grow old along with me

Whatever fate decrees

We will see it through

For our love is true

God bless our love

 

 

Here's to a beautiful school year!

The new school year has officially started.  It's Peter's last first day and Sarah's second to the last first day.  And I'm a little sad.  But after having been away from school for over 5 months, they were ready and so was I. 

Here's my senior beside his kindergarten picture:

My heart!  

Their school is officially back on campus with all sorts of rules and restrictions.  I know it's going to be a strange year for them  and it certainly won't be the senior or junior year we had imagined for them (or that they had imagined for themselves) but I am praying that God will take the ashes of this year and make something beautiful from them.

Here's to a beautiful school year!

We watched live football on tv!

 School starts tomorrow.  I keep telling Dan that my brain still thinks it's mid-March when everything shut down and I can't believe we have lived through spring and almost all of summer and the kids are starting another school year when in my mind they never even finished the last one.

And yet, here we are.  

Peter is at school this morning.  He is a student ambassador this year and they along with student council and the bigs (upperclassmen who are assigned to the freshmen and transfer students to help them adjust) are welcoming all the new students to school today so they can go through a day before everyone comes to school tomorrow.

Speaking of Peter, he shaved his beard last night.  He's been growing it since mid-March and was very proud of it.  I had actually gotten used to it and even though I don't like beards, thought it looked very good on him.  It's going to take me a minute to get used to his new look.  

We spent Saturday night watching college football on tv.  It was Austin-Peay vs. Central Arkansas and even though we didn't care a thing about either team, it was actual live football and it was great to see.  Peter said he was going to enjoy it and any other college football game he got to see on tv because who knows if it could be the last.  I appreciated his wisdom  to enjoy each thing as it comes as if it could be the last because with this pandemic, who knows.  He ordered pizza, made a bet with a friend to make it more exciting, cheered like it was his favorite team, and generally just enjoyed himself.  It was a good evening.

Dan built a little fire pit for us to enjoy this fall but we tried it out earlier this week.  It was a little too warm for a fire but the kids really wanted s'mores.   I think Dan did a great job! 

Cathy sent me a recipe for tomato pie.  I made one and it was really good!  The recipe can be found here.

 

Last weekend we celebrated my brother's 50th birthday.  Here are a few pictures:

 

Has it been two weeks already?!

 Wow!  Has it really been two weeks since I last posted?  I thought for sure once school was over I would get into a  rhythm and post more frequently.  Honestly though, I have been out of sorts since the middle of March when everything went crazy.  And here we are 5 months later and things are even crazier than before.

The NCHSAA (the organization that all NC public school and many private schools are members) released their plan for sports for the upcoming school year.  

Nothing will start until November.  Everything will have a shortened season with less games/matches.  And football has been moved to very early spring (end of Feb through the beginning of April).

This means there is a slight chance that Peter will get to have a football season.  But I imagine like everything else. it will not happen.  

I am trying not to let worry get the best of me.  I am praying that the kids will have a wonderful school year even though it will look totally different than anything we could have imagined.  Peter's senior year will be very, very weird but I am hopeful that it will still be full of good things.  

Speaking of school, all the Catholic schools in the diocese will start back the first week of September.  I am praying that everyone will stay healthy and that the schools will be able to remain open.  That's a BIG prayer but that's what I'm praying.  

Yesterday, Sarah and I were back-to-school shoe shopping when my car wouldn't start.  I called Dan and he came to give us a jump.  The car needed a new alternator so that was a fun unexpected expense. After we dropped the car off to be fixed, Sarah and I headed back to Target to get her school supplies.

She spends a lot of time picking out notebooks with matching folders and making sure everything is color coordinated.  Peter could  care less about school supplies.  During the first week of school, I will get texts stating things like: I need a three ring binder for science, you need to order my math book, can you pick up a three subject notebook, do we have loose-leaf paper....

The kids had dentist appointments earlier this week and thankfully no cavities.  I always hold my breath.  Sarah has her well check appointment today and then afterwards we are going to the mall to get pants for school.  

This afternoon Peter will head to school for a college application boot camp.  He has already started filling out the info on Common App but I'm hoping that after this boot camp, everything will be filled out (correctly) and that he will have a good start on his essay.  He sat down to work on the essay the other day and basically stared at a blank Word document for a while and then gave up.  

Spotted a whole flock of geese flying over head on my morning walk.  Fall is coming and this is a sure sign.

 

Pretty sunflower.

 

Delicious BMT!

 

I discovered a new account on Instagram called Go Clean. She has a hack for cleaning hardwood floors. She uses hot water, a little Tide laundry detergent, and an O-Ceder Spin Mop to get her floors clean (She's a professional house cleaner.) Colleen shared her account and this hack and I purchased the spin mop at Walmart ($9.98) and gave it a shot. Look at the dirty water from just my kitchen floor. So gross but so satisfying to see! 

 

That's about it for me. I hope you are all doing well!

Just another update...

 Another week has passed which means another week of me thinking every morning that today is the day I will write a blog post. And then before I know it, it's bedtime.

This doesn't mean I'm necessarily doing anything, it just means I'm lazy.  That and the fact that not much is happening. 

Let's see if I can come up with at least a few things that have been going on around here.

Sadly my  great aunt was put into hospice last week so my mom, my brother, and I visited her on Wednesday. I'm so glad we did because she passed away early on Friday morning.  We went to her funeral on Monday.  It was a very small gathering of family only outside on the graveyard. Her family is planning on a big gathering once we are past all of this corona crazy. Aunt Nell, we will miss you! 

Sarah's been working a lot.  There seems to be a lot of drama at this pool which means a couple of guards have been let go and a couple others have let their certifications expire so more shifts for Sarah!

Here she is headed out to work!  So cute!

 

She worked a double last Friday and is working another one today.  A double is TWELVE straight hours.  That's a lot for one day!

Peter has applied at a restaurant near school where a friend works.  He said they need busboys so hopefully Peter can get on there.  This would be good especially if there's no football season.

Our governor just extended Phase 2 for five more weeks so we are still waiting to hear how that will effect fall high school sports in the state. They said they should be able to announce something on August 17th.  In the meantime, Peter is still attending football workouts and enjoying the exercise and the time with friends.

Our tomatoes are finally starting to turn red.  This is the longest it has ever taken them.  Not sure why but Dan has done some googling and thinks it's because we've had a lot of 90 plus degree days and that halts the tomatoes progress.

 Regardless, we are finally getting a lot and I've made salsa, caprese salads, and had lots of tomato sandwiches.  

 We've got all kinds of tomatoes: pinks, yellows, big boy, and cherokee purples.  Some of them still look a little green on top because I picked them a little a day or two early so they wouldn't split. We've gotten a lot of rain recently and too much water makes tomatoes split.

Our bell and jalapeno peppers are coming in now too.  Our cucumbers are finished but we decided to plant some more to see if we could get a second crop.  That will all depend on the weather.

Isn't this caprese salad lovely?  The basil is from our garden as well.  So yummy!

I also made a delicious pie for Sunday dessert last week.  It was so good.  It's a blueberry lemon cream pie from Chef in Training. So good!

We've got a few sunflowers this year.  We planted them in the front of the house for a change and we planted a smaller variety.  I regret the decision to plant them out front because they are busy and look wild but   I am enjoying their blooms so I guess I'll take it.

I'm still walking at least four or five times a week. I've upped my miles and am now doing 4 each morning.  Yesterday was extremely foggy but it made for a pretty walk.

And that's all I've got for now!  Have a wonderful weekend!

A little bit of this and whole lot of nothing!

It's been a while since I checked in here so I thought I would give a brief update of what we've been doing.



...insert the sound of crickets chirping...




Well, that about sums it up!

Ha!

I feel like I don't do anything anymore.  I get groceries, cook meals, and do laundry and that's about it.  I really need a hobby or something to do with my time.  Any good suggestions? 

Every time I pick up a book, I get bored and can't seem to focus. Maybe I just need a better book. I've tried painting and I find that very stressful. The fact that I'm not artistic and paint like a toddler is probably the reason. I see a closet or a drawer that needs to be organized and it all seems pointless. It's just going to get messed up again. 

I do try to walk 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week but again it seems pointless as my weight remains high.  Every morning I think perhaps I should do Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred again but I get annoyed at the mere thought of that. 

Does anyone have any good hobby suggestions?  I really probably should just get a job and I most likely will sooner rather than later because my kids are practically GROWN and don't need  me any longer.

Speaking of getting a job - Sarah started work at a pool over the weekend.  She was nervous on her first day but she said it went well.  Yesterday, today, and tomorrow she is taking an SAT Prep Class at the community college but will head back to work on Thursday. 

She drove herself to her class and like I said, my kids are practically GROWN and don't need me any longer.

Peter continues to apply for jobs but has had no luck so far.  Part of me just wants to tell him to give up at this point because school will be starting in less than a month.  But, another part of me thinks he should keep looking because if there is no football season, he will need something to do in his spare time and a part-time job would be good.  Although applying for college will practically be a part-time job so again, I'm torn.  He is taking a boot camp in a couple of weeks at school to get ahead of the application process, the essay writing process, etc.

Speaking of school - the first day for my kids is August 25th and yes, they will be going back to actual school.  (At least for now.  I hope they are able to stay open.)  There is a remote learning option for kids who don't want to be back in the actual classroom.  This week, the school will be sending us an email with all the protocols and what being back in the classroom will look like.

Dan continues to work from home and because all of the public school systems in our area are starting with remote learning, I imagine his work will remain remote as well. 

Our tomatoes are just starting to turn red and I was able to have my first tomato sandwich yesterday for lunch.  I also made this delicious Caprese salad as a side dish.  Tomatoes with a side of tomatoes is normal, right?

I wouldn't be a good southern girl if I didn't make my tomato sandwich with Duke's and drink it with a glass of sweet tea!

Dan and I continue to keep the local brewery in business with our Sunday evening dates.

And that is pretty much all we've been up to.

Cape Cod 2020 - Part 2

On Tuesday we headed to Boston. It's nice that the Cape isn't too far and it makes for a nice little day trip. Peter found a shoe store he was interested in going to so we dropped him off there and drove around while he looked. (Didn't want to pay for parking becasue parking in Boston is expensive!) We didn't have to drive around too long because the store he was in was small and very expensive. After that we decided we would end up staying in that area as it was near where we stayed when we went to the Patriots game.

We parked in the garage at the hotel we stayed in and went into the shopping malls that were attached to the hotel and the overstreet bridges.   The mall is pretty high-end and Peter wanted to just look around the Versace store. 

We were greeted at the door by an employee and I told her we just wanted to look around the store.  I'm sure she could tell by the way we were dressed that we weren't actually going to be purchasing anything. She said that was fine but that due to Covid-19 we would have to be escorted around the store by an employee who would be wiping down anything we touched. 

Um, no thanks.  So after doing a little window shopping we left and went for a walk through the Boston Common and the Public Garden.

Then we went to the Nike store where Peter wanted to browse the latest shoe offerings and Sarah went to Anthrolpologie.  After visiting those stores we had lunch outside on the sidewalk at Mangionne's Italian Restauarnt. 

When we got back, we biked over to Seagull Beach and enjoyed a nice windy walk by the ocean.

On Wednesday we were up bright and early because Peter and Dan were going fishing!

Sarah and I drove them to Hyannis and dropped them off at 7:30 to catch the boat they were going out on.  They spent the morning fishing for porgy and scup while Sarah and I enjoyed coffee, breakfast, and shopping in Hyannis. 

We picked them up around lunchtime and headed to The Skipper for some lunch. 

Clam Chowdah!

Trying to be healthy after the chowder!

On Thursday, Dick and Jillian came to visit and they brought Uncle Bob!  It was so nice to see him looking so good after his bout with Covid-19!

We went to lunch at Captain Parker's (more chowder!) and then went to the beach.

After they left we headed out for some Mexican food!

It was very humid on this day!  Look at that wild hair!

  We also drove out to Gray's Beach to watch the sunset.

On Friday we spent the day cleaning, packing up, going to the dump, etc.  It was a cloudy day with nothing exciting going on but we did manage to go to Dunkin Donuts for coffee drinks (the kids both have their favorites), and we ordered pizza for dinner which is our last night at the Cape tradition and of course, ice cream. 

We had a great time at the Cape.  It was definitely different this year with the masks, all the restaurants with tables set up in the parking lot, and just a lot less people than normal.  I am thankful we were able to go and I'm hopeful that next year will be more like we are used to.