Weekly Review 40

Hello readers! Welcome to my weekly review, where I share my previous week with you. 

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Bright and early Monday morning, I went to grab Mr. O out of his crib to start our day. I made him breakfast, we watched a couple of his shows, and then I had to lock myself away in my office for most of the day so I could work. It was a slow day to start the week (which is always nice), and it wasn’t too eventful. After work I made nachos while Lea and Mr. O were playing and FaceTiming in the other room. Then, after dinner, I played with Mr. O for a bit and we had a blast! Well, he did for the most part, lol. He climbed on my back and rode me like a horse. He was tugging my collar and screaming “Neigh! Neigh!”. I love his little imagination, even if it causes me pain sometimes. About an hour later, Lea gave him a bath and it was a normal night for us after that.

On Tuesday it was Mr. O’s first day of daycare. Lea took him that morning and when she said goodbye to him before she left for work, he did not care! He was content with all the new toys at the daycare, the other kids, and the dog, lol. It’s a smaller daycare; it’s run out her (let’s call her Ms. Rachel) house, so her dog is around too and Mr. O loves him. It’s nice and gives us peace-of-mind that he will get the attention he needs since she only has a handful of kids at a time. While Mr. O was at daycare having the time of his life, and Lea was at work, I was at home. I still had some time before work, so I decided to call this heating and cooling place because we were having issues with our air circulation upstairs. They sent someone out the same day to check it out for us. I love this place. They have the kindest people who come and help. They are called Summers Plumbing Heating and Cooling and they have helped us so much over the last few years since we moved in. Thankfully, we didn’t have to repair anything. As it turns out, our dampers were turned the wrong way, which was blocking the airflow to our second level. I felt so stupid when he was explaining it to me, but that’s the thing about this company –they don’t make you feel stupid!

The employee was very nice and took his time showing me and explaining to me what the issue was. This is the second or third time they’ve come out and it’s ended up being something so easy to fix, lol. We’re still learning! We’ve only owned a home for a few years now. Later in the evening we played and Mr. O and I worked on a few of his little puzzles. It was fun, but he was honestly no help! He would take pieces and hide them from me, then give them back and walk away. I was left all alone. It’s okay though I eventually figured out these puzzles meant for toddlers! On Wednesday we were alerted that our county was under a tornado watch AGAIN. It’s been a wild year so far with our weather over here. It’s kind of annoying. One day it’s too cold, then too hot, then raining, then severe thunderstorms with a chance of a tornado. It never ends!

Thankfully, the storm and tornado watch was in the early afternoon, and quickly went away as the day went on. After work I bought Lea and I tickets to a White Sox game for next weekend. We haven’t gone in a few years and are excited to have a few hours to ourselves watching our favorite team. Then, with the heavy rain, I found a bunch of ants intruding into our home. I dealt with them swiftly. They felt no pain. In the evening I grilled steaks. They were just okay. I could have done better, I’ll admit, but I haven’t made steaks in a long time. That’s no excuse! I have to be better. On the bright side, Lea liked them. So I guess that’s cool.

Thursday was a bank holiday, so I had the day off from work. While Mr. O slept in, I was able to clean up around the house and feel accomplished very early in the day. I love that feeling! Around 9 AM, the little guy woke up. We had our usual morning: food, TV, playtime. Then, it was time for a nap. Since he slept in so long, he had to take a later nap, which was not good because he still was not tired. He eventually fell asleep though. While he was resting, I sat on our porch as a breezy, slow, midwest summer thunderstorm rolled through. It was so relaxing. The birds were chirping, the wind was blowing, and the little rain drops were falling all around as I was rocking back and forth on the porch. Later that night, when Lea and I were putting Mr. O to bed, he wanted to wear his Buzz Lightyear pajamas. So we put them on him and then all of a sudden he put his fists in the air and screamed “FLY!”. Next thing we know, he jumped past Lea and dove off his changing table towards his crib. Fortunately for him, I have super fast dad reflexes, and caught him one handed by his chin before he busted his face on the side of his bed. Lea was able to catch his legs, so that also helped me catch him, lol.

On Friday morning I dropped Mr. O off at daycare. I thought for sure he would be sad to see me leave. Nope! He ignored me when I tried to say bye and gave me a half-hug when I went to give him a hug and kiss. That little stinker! On my way home I stopped at a CVS near our house to pick up some Sudafed. I finally finished my antibiotics for my sinus infection and I needed Sudafed to help finish this thing off. The workday was, once again, uneventful. Although, I did find out I was chosen to be on a new team that was created. I guess that’s good. I don’t know, honestly. We will see how it goes. I can’t go into detail about it on here so it’s hard for me to explain why I’m so “Meh” about it. Anyway, on Friday evening my in-laws came into town, and I went to pick up dinner from this place called Station 21, in Crown Point, Indiana. The food was good (as usual), and we had a fun night hanging around the house.

On Saturday morning I was up really early. So, I started writing my next historical post for my Exploring the Region series. As you’ll see, I’m writing about the Hesston Steam Museum, and, as it turns out, it is where we went on Saturday with Mr. O! It was so much fun and he was in awe of the trains. We even bought tickets for a ride on their steam train and he loved it. It was such a great experience and we will definitely be going back. The only downside of the trip was the weather. It was in high 80’s, low 90’s so it was very hot.

Of course, we had to stop by the gift shop to pick out shirts, children’s books (about trains), and buy Mr. O a new train set (which he takes everywhere with him now). You can read more about the history of the museum, and about their organization, in my latest Exploring the Region post. I will be working on it more this coming week, so it should be ready to publish in the near future!

On Sunday I was up early again. This time there were dishes that needed to be cleaned, so I didn’t get a chance to work on my writing again. Once everyone woke up (hours after me. I’m obviously the hardest worker in the family *sigh*), we went to eat breakfast at Cedar Lake Kitchen. I love it there. The food is good and atmosphere is great. When we came home, my in-laws left and I got started on cutting the grass. It was even hotter on Sunday than it was on Saturday! Sorry to gross you out, but I was sweating so bad my shirt looked like I jumped in the pool, lol. However, it needed to be done. I neglected the yard for two weeks since I was sick. Now, I am feeling much better, and, as Tony Soprano said, “From now on, every day is a gift.” He said that after he survived getting shot. I’m saying it after surviving a sinus infection. It’s kind of the same, right?

I hope you all had a great week!

Peter