Weekly Review 101

Hello, readers! Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Review. This week was one of recovery. Not only for my family, but for many people in the region. After that nasty storm last week people are starting to get their power back, finally. The week was also filled with fun, loving, and kind of irritating moments (but that’s okay). Now, let’s get to this week’s review…

On Monday morning I woke up to Sparty (my mom’s dog) barking downstairs. Back in the day, we lived with my mom long enough to recognize what he wanted this early, and honestly, it’s what every dog wants, lol. He wanted to go outside. I went downstairs and let him out. I poured myself a bowl of Corn Flakes and the dog a bowl of his food. He came back inside and we ate together. I was sitting on a stool at the counter, he was behind me eating by the sliding door. Since it was so early, and I finished my food quickly, I took the quiet time to light a candle, open some windows, and do the dishes. It was a peaceful morning. 

During my lunch break I grabbed Sparty’s leash and took him for a walk. 

He’s not a fat dog, but he is a tad overweight, so I figured some walking would do him some good. We walked for 20 minutes and he was keeping up just fine. He dropped some presents throughout the neighborhood (I cleaned it up), and we went on our way. It was beautiful outside. By the time we made it back to our street we had only a few minutes left on my timer and Sparty was starting to slow down a lot. I had to reassure him we were almost home. When we went back inside the house he flopped on the floor. Then he went to drink a ton of water, Lol. 

After work I decided I needed to cut the grass again in the backyard, but this time I wanted to cut it even shorter. It was so tall when I cut it the day before that the mower left tons of grass clumps throughout the yard, and I wanted to see if I could go over them again and chop them up. Turns out, I made it worse! Oh well, I tried. When I was done I went and cleaned myself up while Lea finished making dinner. She made chicken-bacon-ranch wraps on our little indoor grill/panini maker. They were obviously delicious! As our little family sat and ate, we watched the crosstown classic, White Sox vs Cubs series. Later on I took Mr. O upstairs and put him to bed. I also fell asleep in his room and when I woke up I went to our room and passed out again. It was a good start to the week. 

In the early morning on Tuesday, Mr. O made his way into our room. He slept with us the rest of the night and then us two were up around 5:30 AM. We went downstairs and opened the windows. We ate breakfast, watched a bit of his show and then played before I had to get ready for work. I’m so blessed to get to work from home. I don’t say it often, but I am truly grateful for this gift. The extra time with my family in the mornings, evening, and even on my breaks is so special. I take it for granted most days, but I am so thankful for it. I guess most of the time it’s just routine and I don’t think about how lucky I am. 

Anyways, Lea took Mr. O to daycare and I took Sparty for another walk. This time we shortened it to 10 minutes. I feel like he appreciated that. The day went on and before I knew it, work was over. Lea and Mr. O came home while I was prepping dinner and doing the dishes. For some reason I always forget to put the silverware tray back into the dishwasher before I run it. I have it sitting next to me on the counter when I do the dishes because it’s easier for me to place the spoons, forks, and knives in there, instead of constantly bending over to do it. Lea laughed at me and we moved on with our lives. If you must know, I did put it back in as soon as I emptied the clean dishes! 

Once again, we watched the second game of the White Sox vs. Cubs series. It’s always fun when both teams are decent. Lea put Mr. O to bed and I worked on my Exploring the Region post for a little bit. On Wednesday morning I slept in. I’ve been doing more of this lately and I am enjoying it. Of course, it all depends on how Mr. O sleeps, Lol. When I was up and ready, I went and let Sparty out. The rest of my family was awake shortly after and we hung out for an hour before I had to go to work. While I was working, the plumbers came and worked on our basement. The spot they were working is right under my office and I could hear everything they were saying. It was entertaining for a minute, then I put my headphones on. Little did I know that wouldn’t make a difference. The work they were doing was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful they came and fixed our rough end, it was just so loud!

In the evening Lea and I went to Mr. O’s preschool for parent orientation. I KNOW! HOW IS HE IN PRESCHOOL ALREADY! It was so sad but I’m also so excited for him. On the way home, I picked up Culver’s for dinner. Lea had a meeting so we drove separately. When I came home, I saw Mr. O and my mom also got Culver’s for dinner, lol. After I ate, Mr. O and I played for a while before he went to bed. 

On Thursday morning we continued our normal routine. I had Mr. O up and ready for daycare and while we were brushing his teeth he started pointing and laughing at my shirt. “Are you laughing at my shirt?”, I said. “Yeah hahaha mine is cooler!”. I was wearing my Old Navy Fourth of July shirt. It has the American flag on it. He was wearing a shirt with a giant shark on it (which I picked out for him this morning, by the way). I didn’t have getting bullied by my 3-year-old on my bingo card Thursday morning, but I guess I have to be careful when choosing my clothes now. 

The morning drive was beautiful. What really made it better was listening to the Spidey and His Amazing Friends playlist on Spotify. Mr. O tapped his feet and tried to sing along, but I wasn’t allowed to sing. I’ve been better about dropping him off and leaving. He still whines and tries to glue himself to me, but when I get him off of my leg now I say bye and hurry out the door. It’s sad, but he needs to learn. I was told as soon as I left he was all smiles and laughing. I need to stop giving in to his big, blue, watery eyes, lol. 

The drive home was more peaceful. I had my playlist on, which has more relaxing music on it. I opened the windows and let the cool air flow through. In the afternoon, I took Sparty for a short walk again. We didn’t even make it around the block before he went number 2 twice! After the second time I called it a day and we went home. I only brought three bags with me and I couldn’t enjoy the walk because we had to keep stopping. After work, Mr. O and I played outside and eventually found ourselves at the park. 

We were the only ones there and we had a blast. For a little over an hour we ran around the jungle gym, Mr. O went down the slides, and climbed all over the place. We played “Paw Patrol” and pretended the jungle gym was our headquarters. Mr. O’s imagination is so cute and interesting. I didn’t come up with a single thing, he thought of everything. When Lea told us dinner was almost done, we walked back home and cleaned ourselves up. We had a popsicle too! When dinner was done, we ate and watched an episode of Smallville. I’m almost done with the series (again). This time, though, I’m not going to watch it again for a long, long time. It is my favorite show, but I watch it too much. I’m going to try and wait until Mr. O is a little older and watch it with him for his first time (when he can actually understand it). After dinner I gave him a bath and put him to bed. It was another good day. 

On Friday I woke up to let the dog out again and I have never been so certain in my life that we are never getting a dog. I love Sparty, and I like dogs, but I don’t want one. I love our cats, but after them I don’t want any more pets. The only way I can see us having a dog is if we have no choice but to take Sparty in again. Or if Mr. O really wants one when he is older, but he will be taking care of it! Once again, since I was up so early with Sparty, my family was still upstairs sleeping peacefully. I did some chores and then prepared for work. In the evening, Lea took Mr. O to get a “back-to-school” haircut and then to my aunts to play and visit. While they were doing that, I went over to my friend Toby’s house and “Uncle Snak” was there too. We stopped at the liquor store (not for me) and then Jimmy John’s, before heading back to Toby’s to play video games. We ended up playing Mario Party all night. Eventually, another friend of ours joined us and we were able to add an actual fourth player instead of playing against the computer.

During our first game I think I played the worst game of Mario Party ever. I came in last place and was given a pity star. HOWEVER…in our second game I think I played the best I will ever play. At one point I had the most coins in the game and stars, but I still ended up in second place overall. It’s okay, it was a fun night. 

On Saturday morning I went to get a haircut. My hair was extremely “long” and curly. It wasn’t long in the normal sense, my hair doesn’t grow that way, but it did get really curly and kind of bushy, I guess you can call it. When I came home my cousin and his wife came over to visit. They were in town from St. Louis, MO visiting family and for a birthday party and wanted to swing by. It was so nice to see them and spend time with them. I appreciate them driving out here from IL (where his family is) to hang out. Mr. O had a blast too! Lea made cinnamon rolls and bought donuts, so we ate and talked for a couple hours, mixed in with some playtime as well. 

When they left Mr. O would not nap, so we came back downstairs and played Super Mario on the Nintendo. Mr. O and I finally got the star we’ve been after for months! We were so happy and he was so proud, lol. Then Mr. O and I went over to my mom’s house. She needed help moving her fridge so I helped her pull it out while Mr. O played with one of his great-grandma’s in the other room. An hour or so later, we all met Lea and Cheers and ate dinner. When we left, Lea, Mr. O and I went into the thrift store next door. Lea bought a couple of old tea cups while Mr. O and I roamed. 

On Sunday, the day I am writing this blog, I was woken up by Mr. O. We were nose-to-nose as he stood on the side of my bed smiling at me. He said, “Dada! Dada!” over and over again until I was finally up. While I lay there with my eyes closed for a few more minutes, I could hear (and feel) him on my bed playing with the cats. Apparently, Ninny (Winston the Cat) scratched him and he ran to Lea in the other room asking for the water bottle to spray him, lol. I must have fallen back asleep because I don’t know why he didn’t just ask me! 

When I finally woke up and got out of bed, Mr. O and I went downstairs to eat breakfast and play. We played with his blocks all morning, and then he played outside while I cut the grass. Currently, he is napping, Lea is crafting something for her Mom’s Group, and I am writing this while listening to relaxing music and reminiscing on the past week. It was a good one!

A Moment I’m Still Thinking About

They likely won’t read this (even though they claim to subscribe!), but I’m still thinking about how fun it was to hang out with the guys on Friday night. No cares, no worries, just four dudes hanging out, playing childish games, and eating food into the late hours of the night. Three of us have known each other since kindergarten, and we met Toby in middle and high school, so we’ve all known each other for a long, long time. I hope Mr. O finds friends like that when he starts school. It’s been a blessing all of my life!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of my Weekly Review! If you did, you should subscribe. Come on, just do it. Press the button! Type your email in! It’s free! 

Peter

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