Weekly Wrap Up - Thanksgiving & Valentines Week

I enjoy cooking holiday meals for my family, but typically our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners have been hosted at someone else's home.  I started our own tradition some years back of picking a random weekend in January or February and using it as our own personal little holiday dinner.  This past Saturday was the date I picked for this year's feast.   

I fixed a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing balls, corn pudding, hot rolls and cranberry sauce.   For dessert we had banana cake with chocolate frosting.  Yes, it was way too many carbs and there were no green vegetables, and it was amazingly good!!   We ate dinner around 4pm, then went to see Frozen II with friends at the $3 movie at 7pm.  We had dessert when we got home from the movie.

Sunday morning started off normal...and then it all went downhill.  We got to church and ran into the boys/dad from the movies the night before.  The Dad wasn't feeling well (he assumed it was something he ate at the theater the night before) and said he'd was going home but would be back to pick everyone up after church.  At the end of church, the dad wasn't there and we hung around for a good while waiting.  Then I made the executive decision to take everyone with me, and drop the boys off at their house.  This ended up being a good decision since the dad was too sick to even get to his phone, much less come back for the kids.   We came home, had left overs and dropped the girls off for their weekly babysitting gig and the evening went as usual.  Sometime around 11pm, Olivia woke up very, very sick and continued to be that way until around 9am the next morning.  She and I got zero sleep overnight.

Monday morning, around 10am I made a ginger ale/Gatorade/crackers run to the store.   I came home and disinfected the house and got laundry done. Lindsey knocked out her school work and Olivia slept.    I did a wellness check on the patient at 1pm and she drank a little broth and went back to sleep.  After dinner I had a graduation committee meeting.  Olivia was still sleeping when I left, but was sitting up in the living room nursing Gatorade when I got back.  I fixed her a bit more broth and a few crackers to go with it.   Thankfully, it was a quiet night and we all got to sleep.

Tuesday was rainy and gray.  Lindsey had all of her schoolwork done before noon.  Olivia slept until around 11:15am, then had some broth and stripped the linens from her bed to wash.  She then migrated to the sofa until she mustered the energy to get a shower.    I ordered graduation invitations, diploma and a "Senior 2020" t-shirt.   It's getting real ya'll!   Lindsey went to jiu-jitsu in the evening, but Olivia stayed home.

Wednesday Lindsey left early for her weekly babysitting gig.  I worked on product reviews and housework while Olivia slept.  I finally woke her up around noon so she could return to the land of the living.   She did managed to get a little school work done throughout the afternoon.  Lindsey finished up her school work when she got home from babysitting.  Olivia had a Youth Intern meeting at 5:15, and went to that, nibbled at the meal that was provided and then came home to return to the sofa.

Thursday I went grocery shopping early and ran by the garage to get the oil changed.  I had great plans of having a productive day, until I got at text at 11:00 am from my husband telling me they were sending all the workers home for the day.   Then I ended up getting a call about picking  up a neighbors child to get them where they needed to be.   Lindsey went to Jiu-jitsu in the evening, but Olivia missed class again.

Friday morning I was up early and out the door to do some Valentine's things.  I met my best friend 1/2 way between our houses (we're 2 hours apart) for morning coffee/breakfast.  On the way back I made a wide loop and stopped to visit my brother and take him some Valentine's goodies.  Then it was back home to celebrate Valentine's Day with the troops.  The husband brought home take-out Chinese for dinner and we made brownie sundaes for dessert.  

BLAST FROM THE PAST

This weeks' blast from the past post isn't a hands on project post like usual.  Since today is Valentine's Day, I'm sharing an article I wrote back in 2016 entitled Every Day Love.   It's just a little reminder that it's the little things, every day that mean more than that one date on the calendar.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day, and a great weekend!