Oh y’all… it is such a gift to get up today, on a Monday, and not set an alarm. Of course, I woke up at 6:45 somehow anyway.

OK, let’s see; Friday. I didn’t make my students do much. We had a worksheet with a gratitude jar that we filled with words or pictures of things we were thankful for. It was the first day where I allowed little to no actual work to be done. They were mentally checked out anyway. 3:30 couldn’t come soon enough and to be fair, most of the teachers were bailing out by 3:15 and so did I. Holiday traffic seems to have begun; the roads were insane! But I made it home and Ash and I got all the paperwork sorted and sent for our AC loan. With that box checked off, we started to decompress and relax a little. We needed to hit Total Wine and while gone, got texts from the younger two saying they were heading to friends’ houses. My oldest was working. So, well, it was just we two. We drank some beer and played some bowling and that was about it! Oh no, I remember: it was maybe 7:45 and I got a hankering for Chipotle, so I ran up and got that and then we definitely watched a movie, though Lord knows by then, I’d turned my brain off so I don’t recall which one.

We both had to do runs on Saturday morning. Ash was going 6 and I only did 2. After all, I’m just running the 5k Thursday. I had lots of energy but this weird acheyness in my legs I’ve never felt before. Women on these perimenopause groups I’m in on Facebook report having body aches and hip pain and I think I am also experiencing this. I have gotten hot flashes mostly under control by adding sea kelp iodine and vitamin e to my daily regimen but now this! Ugh. The rest of Saturday morning was weird because for one, we were waiting on my dad. My mom had been visiting friends in Orlando for a week but my dad was going down to meet her then press on to my aunt’s house. He was going to drive seven hours straight through but my mom insisted he stay over. So he arrived shortly before 1 pm. While we were all hanging around waiting for him, one of the old brew club members had posted a commercial fridge he was getting rid of and Ash decided we would take it. It IS good for fermenting beer in so he and my oldest went across town to pick it up. This thing is a beast! It’s huge and very old but you know, those old appliances work better than most new ones.

Anyway, once my dad arrived we headed to Texas Roadhouse. My dad’s love language is paying for peoples’ meals, I think. Very good food, though my middle was hangry so we were all annoyed by his attitude. We came home so Elliot could go to work, then napped/watched college football for a bit before moving into bowling. My dad loves to play it too and holds some of the highest scores. I’ll be sad when we either reset the scores or upgrade to a newer edition of it. Anyway, we had a fun time, the three of us, playing that and listening to music. My mom is usually the glue when we are all together and my dad is sort of in the background so it was nice to do something with just him.

He left around 9 Sunday morning and then we went to Publix. I wanted to get all my Thanksgiving stuff before this week’s mad rush…and I did. Except for milk. I forgot milk somehow. I began on laundry and some house cleaning (oy, these kids’ bathroom!) and the menfolk did a little more work on the yard. The space where the deck once was is an on-going labor.

The morning moved way too quickly and before I knew it, it was nearly 12:30 and time to eat/watch football. I hadn’t gotten pizza in a while so that was what we opted for. One of our friends came over to watch as well; not our typical football friend but someone else, so that’s always fun. Dakota had some friends over in the afternoon and Elliot had his girlfriend over. I like being the host house; so long as I don’t have to cart anyone anywhere! I’m happy to sit in my chair and be available.

I did well in fantasy football this week, which was nice. I wanted to take a walk after the 4 pm games but I think all the stress of work this semester was finally leaving my body and by the time the rest of the family sat down to watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, I was dead asleep in my chair. Ahh, finally some rest!

The plan today is to keep grading for my online classes, get laundry put away, take a short run, then we have tickets for Wicked 2 at noon. I hope it’s good!