Almost Normal (But Somewhat Out of Practice)

This past weekend felt weirdly close to a normal, pre-COVID weekend, probably as close as we've been since it all began.  In fact, it marked the first time we stayed in a hotel as a family since the middle of October 2019, more than 18 months ago when we went to the then-defending NBA champion Raptors' preseason game and saw the championship trophy in person the same day.  Now the Raptors are out of the playoffs, so it's clearly been a while.  It seems crazy that it was our first hotel stay in a new decade that's nearly a year and a half old already.

Heading into the weekend we were basking in the glory that was finally getting into the sunny 60s we should have been having for a couple weeks now.  Everything is exploding outside, from the pretty stuff you want to see, to the stuff you don't (stupid weeds are already out of control).  I took a little walk around the yard on Friday during lunch, which was one of the things that kept me sane last year.  This is what I found...  

This entire azalea is now in bloom.  It's not the healthiest thing--it gets a fungus every year--but it had a ton of buds this year and they are gorgeous!

Found these cute wild violets in the way back near where I want to plant pumpkins.

The weather wasn't the only thing making me absolutely restless on Friday afternoon as I finished off work for the week.  We found out literally Friday morning that Jacob's tournament that was supposed to be in Buffalo that weekend was now going to be played in Syracuse on Sunday, which meant getting a last minute hotel.  So between that, getting my new hair curling tool (!), and the weather, I was definitely distracted!

On Saturday morning, I wanted to get out for a run before a busy few hours prior to getting on the road.  It was a solid three miles of distance but with a couple short walking stints.  Hopefully now that the weather is better I can get more consistent and get my bike up and running, too.  But at the end of my run I captured this sort of ethereal photo of the crab tree next door against the bright blue sky.

After my run I ran out to Five Below, Old Navy, and both Lowe's and Home Depot because Lowe's didn't have what I needed.  I needed to pick up a bunch of miscellaneous things at Five Below, I tried to get a new set of masks for Carter at Old Navy because a few of his went missing (no luck, oddly), and I mostly needed shepherd hooks from Lowe's but figured I'd pick up mulch and garden soil if I was going to be waiting in line anyway.  They didn't have any hooks, though, so I went to Home Depot, which was an absolute madhouse.  But I braved it and got what I needed.  That meant I could come home and try to work on the yard a bit before we left for Syracuse.  

I put potting soil in two hanging pots I got from the dollar store weeks ago and hung them on their hooks where our two trees used to be.  I put soil in our rectangular planter that held my beloved zinnias last year, then decided I overbought on seeds (they were so cheap at the dollar store and appeared to be the same brand as I had last year) so I brought out an old hanging pot and another pot I had kept on the patio last year and filled those, too!  I had a mix of zinnia seeds--some from last year's packet, some that I tried to preserve from my favorite blooms last year, plus a couple new packets of zinnias and a pack of something called cosmos.  So now I have all sorts of pots planted and just have to wait!

This coming weekend I hope to have time to plant my garden, put down some mulch, and attempt two other experiments--planting morning glory seeds in the soil under our lamp posts in the back (in hopes they'll climb up) and throwing down some garden soil in a patch in our way-back to plant all of our crazy pumpkin seeds from last year.  I'm not sure it will get quite enough sun, but I think it's worth a shot!  More critters back there, I suppose, but we'll see how it goes.  Anyway, I wrapped the planting up as quickly as I could and scrambled to get things together to leave.  I feel like we're a little out of practice for these weekends.  My list is still good but the last-minute stuff felt harder this time. 

 

We wanted to get on the road before 4pm so we could make it to our dinner destination, FLX Fry Bird, the same place we discovered a few weeks back when we were out that way for a tournament.  We were supposed to have another tournament nearby this spring and wanted to go back, but that one got changed so we figured this was a good opportunity to try again since it was only about 10 minutes off the Thruway.  Ironically, we just found out today that we'll be back at the same spot as the first tournament, so we could return again--haha!  The kids will ask, trust me!  Anyway, dinner was great!  We took some pictures in our joy upon arrival...

Carter was very excited about his chicken and waffle with syrup.  Look at that happy boy with his giant piece of chicken!

This was my meal--basically the same except I tried gravy this time instead of the "loaded" one I had last time with burger toppings like lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and a secret sauce.  This was really good, though--nice peppery gravy!

We were really in great spirits once we left and finished off the last 45 minutes to Syracuse.  The hotel was decent, especially considering we got it that day.  It was close to the highway, close to the gym, and close to the mall!  We ended up going out to the giant mall in the evening just to keep ourselves awake and check out a few things.  Jacob ended up getting a couple things and we browsed (and once again no luck at Old Navy on the kid masks, which was so weird) until most things were closed (as it seems they close before the mall due to COVID now--probably staffing).  

We headed back and pretty much just started getting ready for bed, but not much sleep was had that night, by any of us.  The kids flopped around, and Craig and I dealt with elbows and kicks.  Craig was worried about Carter falling out of bed, and I just couldn't sleep deeply for anything, for no other clear reason, despite taking sleeping medicine.  Morning came too early and it was hard to drag ourselves out of bed.  I finally got up and showered, but in the end it wasn't soon enough--everyone followed behind me and we ended up running late.  Again, out of practice!  Breakfast was limited but we did what we could to grab items before leaving.  We just should have packed before that and eaten in the car.  Oops.  On the bright side, before all that I did get to curl my hair with my new CHI Spin and Curl, which curls my hair SO good!  I have lost my touch with curling irons, and now that my hair is so long, I was ready to try something fun and different.  This makes it so easy and it looked really cute.  I loved seeing it in the mirror looking so pretty and different than how straight it is 99.9% of the time.  One of those little things that can make me happy when things get complicated, I guess!  I won't do it often, but maybe once in a while when I need a boost.  And maybe when that gets boring I'll finally cut off a couple inches!

Even though we were running late, only part of the team was there when we arrived.  So in the end it wasn't a big deal.  We got out to a great start, and Jacob scored 7 of the first 9 points to put the team out to a big lead.  But then things got more challenging and eventually the lead slipped away.  They ended up losing by four points in overtime, which was a bummer.  Carter and I ran out for a caffeine fix for me and a donut for him in between games, and then we watched game 2.  Jacob ended up with only two points in that one but he played really well and his team squeaked out a win.  Because there wasn't a deciding third game, if they could have won that first game, they'd have won the tournament, so that first loss was a big bummer.

Streaking toward the hoop (in black)

We stopped at the outlets on the way home and I finally found masks for Carter at Old Navy #3!  We looked at Nike and Under Armour and the big boys got breathable masks for working out.  We stopped in Victor for a late lunch (Chipotle for the boys and wood fired pizza for me!) before heading home.  After unpacking and starting laundry, I managed to summon enough energy to hack my way overgrown burning bushes, too!  It was so needed because I couldn't really see anything off the porch!  All in all, it wasn't a bad 24 hour trip, and it felt like a very complete, well-rounded weekend, even if we're not the smoothest travelers at the moment.

The beginning of the week has been a story of highs and lows.  Last night Carter had his second soccer game, and he rocked it!  After not scoring in his first full season (other than maybe a shared goal), he got THREE goals!  It was awesome.  He said his coach said to move out of the pack, so he did and it worked!  It was so cool to see!  His team is really good, too, so it's been fun to watch.

   

Tuesday was not so good.  I had to go to the doctor's office for the follow-up to the sinus CT scan I had last week, but on the way I got in an accident.  Much like my last accident that happened when I was pregnant with Carter, this one started with a swerve.  A dump truck was changing lanes and didn't see the car that snuck into the exit lane behind them, and that car swerved when the truck almost hit it, which set off a few swerves that made it over to me two lanes over.  I ended up hitting someone in the side and banging up my front driver side, which I think might have saved me from getting hit harder in the front by a different swerving car.  Fortunately it was driveable and I wasn't hurt, but the driver of the car I hit has a sore back and neck, unfortunately.  And the worst part?  None of the vehicles that started it all apparently had any damage because all of them (including one that ended up turned the other way) left before the cops arrived.  So I'm guessing I'll end up liable, which sucks.  But I'm thankful it wasn't worse.  The ironic thing is that my past accidents have both happened while pregnant and I totaled my car both times, so in comparison this seems simple.  But I'm still frustrated.  It just complicates everything, costs money, and will probably screw up our insurance.  And I know this probably just makes me look like a terrible driver, but I'd really appreciate if people would stop swerving in front of me!  Adding insult to (near) injury, I couldn't reschedule my appointment until July 1, which puts off this part of working on my smell issues and also puts off getting a first opinion on the issue I'm having with the pulsating noises in my right carotid artery.  I guess I can work on acupuncture in the meantime and look into smell training, but it really just sucks all around.  Oh, and we had a weird outbreak of carpenter ants in our bathroom today after seeing a few here and there in the last month, so that was concerning as well.  I need to talk to my friend who works for the company that treated our mice last year, but it's not going to be cheap.  Pretty sure they're coming from around our toilet, which probably has the wood they like courtesy of water seeping under the toilet when it overflows.  That might mean we need to remove the toilet to find the nest (we need a new one anyway), but I think we probably need to replace our valve, too, since it leaked the last time I touched it.  Everything just keeps adding up.

So, not the best day today, but hopefully we can work through this stuff quickly and get back on track soon.