A very social week

Last week I said that this week would be one of the most normal weeks that we'd had in a while. And I guess that was true. But there were also some out of the ordinary things that happened. And those are what we will talk about in this recap. 

First up are some cool drawings Charlotte and Lydia have been working on. 

Lydia has been working on this picture. There are about 6 dragons in this drawing.

And here's a cellular drawing Charlotte has been working on. This is the whole thing put together. 

But it's actually drawn on a lot of clear celluloid pages. 

As you take each layer away there is less detail.

The final page is cover of an Idaho travel guide. 

On Monday Brandon had a job interview. He'd made the appointment the week before when he was kind of feeling a little desperate. Our savings was running low and it felt like it was time for him to swallow his pride and take a job that wasn't quite what he was looking for. 

Well long story short, he didn't need to do that. He'd had to appeal his unemployment benefits claim. On Saturday, we'd received the letter stating that his benefits were approved. He was so happy to get that letter. And on Monday we received the direct deposit of all the weeks of unemployment benefits he was entitled to so far. I was able to refill a lot of the savings that we'd drained while waiting for those benefits. It was a good feeling to see our bank account balance go up instead of down. 

So he still went to the job interview, but basically it would pay as much as the unemployment benefits, and he's worth more than that. So he didn't pursue that job any further. 

Derrick had broken a braces bracket over the weekend. So I called up the orthodontist and they were able to get him in at 11:30 that day. So I picked him up from school and took him to the orthodontist. I was wearing my big coat because the morning had been cold. But by the time we left it was kind of warm outside and I took the coat off. 

Derrick was missing lunch and it really didn't make sense to take him back to school just to pick him up again in a few hours for bowling club. So I just let him come home early. 

At home the house was really warm so I changed into basketball shorts. I had to go pick up Charlotte for her scheduled orthodontist appointment to check on how her retainer is going. The weather was warm enough that I just wore those shorts. It was funny to walk into the orthodontist office like 2 hours after I'd left it - yet I was wearing a completely different outfit. That's fall in Idaho for you. 

That was actually the only funny thing happening thought. Charlotte was actually in tears in the car. I'd scheduled the appointment for 3:00 which meant I needed to check her out of school about 10 minutes early so we could be there on time. We've done that before without any hicups. But this time it didn't go so great. For one, I went to work early in the morning and Charlotte wasn't even out of bed when I left. So I never really talked to her about the appointment. Also art is her last class of the day. She was not happy to have to get checked out early from the class she's looked forward to all day. 

When she started crying I was like, "Um, this might be about more than just the appointment time."  We talked about it and decided that we need to be more intentional about the time we spend together. Otherwise Derrick and Veronica just kind of eat it up. 

So that night after dinner I took Charlotte shopping with me. We went to Walmart and bought a little Christmas tree. We have different plans for Christmas this year than usual. We are going to spend Christmas in a hotel. So we bought the little tree to be our tree in the hotel. Charlotte had fun picking it out and picking out the ornaments to go on it. 

We were also looking for a fuse bead gingerbread house set. But we couldn't find one in person. So I ordered her one online. And then we went and bought ice cream cones. 

Charlotte was feeling a lot better after all of that. 

On Tuesday Derrick wasn't really feeling up for school. I got him on the bus, but I told him I'd pick him up if he wasn't feeling well later. 

I dropped the twins off at school and then took the Odyssey to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. I love this time because the shop is hardly ever busy. I think I might have been the first customer of the day. They had me in and out of there so fast. 

While I was there I got a message from Derrick's teacher. Derrick wasn't feeling well. So when I was done I drove over there and picked him up. When I brought him home I told him he needed to rest so he couldn't watch any movies or anything on his chrome book. He spent a lot of time resting, but he also got so bored he took apart his fan and cleaned it and then put it back together again. 

That evening Brandon was teaching at CSI in Burley. So he went out there. I was supposed to make tuna noodle casserole, but I realized there was no time to actually do that. I had to drive Veronica to theatre class, and then pick her up, and then drive her to basketball, and then pick her up and well there just wasn't time to really make a meal. So we all had frozen burritos that everyone just heated up on their own time.

Lydia decided she wanted to set up the little tree.  

She had fun doing that. We plugged it in and basically haven't unplugged it. It's like a tiny beacon of hope. 

Veronica was kind of nervous for theatre this week. I'm not sure why. But when I picked her up she was so EXCITED. She kept yelling "I LOVE IT SO MUCH."  They'd been practicing her scene and the song that she's part of. It was wonderful to see her so happy. 

Wednesday was a momentous day. It was the first time in YEARS that I slept in on a school day. Brandon has reintegrated into our morning routine and can get everyone where they need to be all on his own. He did it when I was in Boise and again when I was working the election, but I wasn't able to sleep in those days. But Wednesday morning I felt like sleeping in and so Brandon took care of everything while I was sleeping. It was so great!

I wanted to have a really relaxing Wednesday, but that wasn't possible. I'd had to cut my work days a little short on Monday and Tuesday and that meant I had to work on Wednesday. I planned to go to work in the morning and then take Veronica to therapy in the afternoon. But then I realized that her appointment was actually at 10:00. 

Fortunately, Brandon was available. So he took care of taking Veronica to therapy and I went to Castle Therapy to take care of things there. I put in a solid hour and got so much done. I was feeling great and on top of things when I drove over to Aspen Grove. As soon as I clocked into work there I got a call from the middle school. I was like, "Oh shoot!"

It was Charlotte. She wasn't feeling well at all. Brandon was still at the therapy appt with Veronica and wouldn't be able to get to her for about 30 minutes. So I left work and drove over to the school to get Charlotte. I took her home and then went back to work. 

Every once in a while I wonder why I don't work full time. This is why. 

I went back to work and was able to get back into the flow of things. When I come in on Wednesday's I hide in my office with my door shut. It's nice to get a lot of work done that way.  

That evening the Young Men and Young Women were doing a Veteran's appreciation activity. Usually they make gift baskets and drop them off at the Veteran's houses. That's what I thought was happening until about 6:00 when the kids were saying they didn't want to go. Brandon was like, "Well I'm going so all of you need to go."  I was like, "Wait what?" 

Brandon didn't know what was happening, he just knew he needed to be at the church for some sort of Veterans Day thing. I was like, "Oh this sounds cool." So I decided that Veronica and I should go too. And I told Brandon to bring the shadow box that had a bunch of his army souvenirs in it. 

The activity ended up being super cool. They had 6 or 7 tables set up. They had each Veteran sit at a table. The youth sat at the tables too and asked questions. The veterans would answer them. Then the youth rotated about every 7 minutes. 

It was so cool. I was keeping track of Derrick so I was rotating with him. I got to hear a lot of cool stories. Everyone except Brandon was a veteran of the Vietnam war era. Most of them had enlisted after college when their deferments ran out. 

The kids got really into the stories and liked them a lot. It was so cool to see the kids developing new respect for these older ward members. 

When the activity was over, Brandon and I hung around talking to the other adult leaders for a little bit. Our kids were playing hide and go seek around the church. They didn't want us to leave. They were having so much fun. Veronica was having an especially good time. She was like, "Oh I am so ready for Young Women's."

On Thursday I was determined to have a relaxing morning. So I watched a movie that I'd checked out from the library and had been hoping to watch on Wednesday. It was Spotlight. It was so good. I was sorting papers while watching the movie. But there were parts where I just stopped what I was doing and focused on the movie. 

In the afternoon I went to work. After work I picked Derrick up from school and took him to bowling club. I took this picture of him at the beginning. He has absolutely LOVED bowling club. 

Next week they have tournaments and Derrick was getting a little nervous about those. He actually worked himself up a lot and got really frustrated. He kept saying he wanted to quit because he wasn't good enough. We left early because he was so agitated. 

Honestly, I think he was just tired. Thursdays are really long days for him. I wake him up at 6:50 and he's on the bus by 7:30. Then he has a whole school day followed by bowling until 5:30. It's a lot for him. 

When he was calmer we talked about Bowling Club. He's going to try the individual tournament on Monday. And then we'll go from there. 

That night Veronica had her last basketball practice. I dropped her off, but Brandon picked her up because I went to a Relief Society Dinner. 

Our Relief Society always has a really nice "Friendsgiving" dinner in November. The counselor over activities puts it together and it's lovely. I was able to sit by my friends Lindsey, Jori, Diantha, Jennifer, and Darla. 

Darla was in an especially fun mood. She had a lot of funny things to say. The funniest part was when Jennifer asked how Darla's mother was doing. Darla is in her 70's and so her mother would be in her 90's. She was in poor health for a long time. Darla responded, "Well, she's passed so I think she's very happy now."  I laughed so hard. 

We finished the dinner, but there was a group of us that had no interest in going home. Kori and Carol moved from their table to talk with Jori, Lindsey, and me. We had a really fun conversation as the tables around us were cleaned off. Then we stood up and kept talking while they took down the tables. Then we moved to the hall while the room was vacuumed. And then we just kept talking. Jori and I will basically NEVER stop talking if we are left to our own devices so we could have stayed there all night, but we both decided that we should probably go home around 9:00.

I had big hopes for Friday, but I woke up around 1:30 with super bad heart burn. Apparently you can't mix tortellini soup with enchilada soup when you are almost 40 years old. 

I finally got back to sleep around 3:30, but then I had to get up at 6:50 to start getting the kids ready. Brandon had a job interview at 8:00 and so he couldn't help. 

I got everyone off to school okay and then emailed my boss that I wasn't feeling well. I told him I was going to rest and then see if I felt well enough to come in later that day. 

I waited on the couch until Brandon came home and told me how the interview went. It went well and there will hopefully be a second one next week. And that's all I'm going to say about it because I DO NOT want to jinx it. 

Then I went back to bed and slept for like 3 hours. 

After that I felt well enough to work from home. The receptionist had messaged me that there weren't any checks in the mail that day so I didn't have to worry about going into work to process the checks. That was nice. I just stayed home and did 2.5 hours of work from my kitchen table. I'm always so happy that's an option. 

Then I went back to bed and took another long nap. 

Jori was having a grown up movie night that evening and I was debating even going. But I realized that I could either sit at home and watch a movie or sit at Jori's and watch a movie. So I picked watching a movie at Jori's. I wore my pajamas and then made a nest of soft blankets and that worked really well.  

I'm so glad I went. Our friends Brad and Olyvia were there as well as Jori and Tim. It was fun to talk with all of them. The movie was Jori's favorite movie - Cyrano. It's a modern version of Cyrano D'Bergerac. Peter Dinklage plays Cyrano. He was wonderful to watch. And its a musical too. The singing was so good. 

When it was over Brandon and I stayed and talked with Jori and Tim until like 11:30. The movie night had started at 7:30. So yeah, it was another wonderful 4 hours of hanging out with Jori. In case you can't tell she's like my best friend. 

The kids had had a great time staying up watching their own movies. I love having older kids. 

We all slept in late on Saturday - well except Brandon who is nearly done with the novel he's been writing for years. He got up at 6:00 and worked on that. 

I spent a lot of the day organizing our craft room. It had a lot of stuff in there that just needed some attention. It still needs a lot of work, but it's looking a lot better. 

At 12:00 Veronica had her last basketball game. She did the tip off. She's like a head taller than any of the other players. So she just reaching up and hit that ball like it was nothing. It was so cool to watch. Brandon came with to this game. He said that was his favorite part. 

Here she is doing her thing under the hoop. When they are on defense that's where she goes to try to block shots. When they are on offense that's where she goes to try to get missed shots and put them into the hoop. 

Her team ended up loosing - which was sad. But everyone had improved a lot. Veronica was excited to get a medal. 

We went to the store and bought ice cream and root beer and had root beer floats at home. 

Veronica told me that she'd had blurry vision during the game and said that maybe she needed glasses. I was kind of brushing that off and telling her she'd just had her eyes checked. A few hours later Veronica found me in the craft room. She asked, "How do I know if I'm having a migraine?"

She said she had a really bad headache and I was like, "Oh shoot, I probably should have paid better attention when you told me your vision was blurry."

This is the second migraine that Veronica has had so fortunately I knew what to do this time. I had her go in her room and we turned off all the lights and made sure her curtains were shut really well. I gave her ibuprofen. I put ice in a ziplock bag and put that on the back of her neck. And finally I rubbed lavender oil on her temples. 

Her headache stopped pounding and she was able to fall asleep. I was sitting in the chair in her room and I took a nap too while she was asleep. 

She felt a lot better when she woke up. I took her on some errands to take three large toys to DI and then to buy ornament hooks at Walmart. 

That evening Brandon and I went to see Little Women at the Orpheum. Brandon got comp tickets to this play since he helped build the set. Jarod ended up giving us seats right in the middle of Row B. That's the closest I've ever sat to a stage. It was kind of amazing to be that close. Here we are before the show.

And here's the set. (This picture doesn't really do it justice.) There's a big area down below where the mail action happened. But there was also an "attic" area where some action took place. Brandon made sure the platform for the attic was very sturdy.

I heard so many complements about this set. There had been some scary moments with the stairs and platforms used in Spamalot. Brandon was like, "these actors DON'T have a clue about building things."  So he'd volunteered to help. And everyone was so grateful. 

Apparently one person had said, "Now, that's how a platform is supposed to feel."

The director Molly thanked Brandon after the show. She said that the set had been one of her biggest worries. She's been so relieved when he'd taken care of it. She was like, "It's everything I hoped it would be. Just just did it."  I was like, "That's how it is living with him."

Here's what I wrote about the show on Facebook. 

Brandon and I went to see Little Women at the Orpheum last night. It was a delight!

I've been a fan of Little Women since my mom read me the book when I was 9. I even did a book report on Louisa May Alcott in 5th grade. I really enjoyed the play. Some things were in a different order than the book/movie, and some things were condensed, but instead of annoying me it actually made me pay closer attention. Like, I knew what happened, but I really wanted to see how it would unfold in this story.

Brandon had no prior experience with the story. But he enjoyed the show a lot. I'm so happy we finally found a way for him to experience the story of Little Women.

Everything about the show was wonderful. The singing was incredible. I'm constantly surprised at how many talented sings we have in the Magic Valley.

The costumes were also stunning. In most plays you'll see maybe two or three costumes per character. I was expecting Jo to have like one dress as young Jo and another as older Jo and then maybe an extra fancy dress for the ball scene. Instead Jo - and all the other girls - were coming out in new outfits nearly every scene. I could have spent the whole evening just looking at only the costumes and come away satisfied.

And we have to talk about the set - because Brandon helped build it. He made sure everything was stable and sturdy. So many people were thanking him after the show. He kept saying, "well, I just pretend to be an actor, this is what I'm actually good at."

You can see the show next week from the 21st -24th. If you are local make sure you see it.

And here are some extra observations. Marmie was played by our friend Sarah. She was the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. In case you forgot, Spamalot only ended in September. She turned right around from that big role and started rehearsals for Little Women. She was fabulous in both roles. I'm just blown away by her talent. 

Sarah's husband Uriah played Professor Bhaer. He'd also been in Spamalot as Lancelot. I'd never quite bought him as Lancelot, but I totally bought him as Professor Bhaer. In fact, I totally forgot that he was married to Sarah. There's a part where Marmie interrupts Jo and Professor Bhaer as they are professing their love for eachother. It's a funny moment no matter what, but it's especially funny if you know that Sarah and Uriah are married in real life. Well I'd completely forgot that fact in the moment. It was only afterward that I realized how funny it was. 

And actually it's even funnier because Older Jo was played by Sarah's sister. So she was interrupting her sister and her husband together.  

Our little friend Payton was in the play as a Troll. (There's a bit of a play within a play where Jo reads one of her stories and it's acted out on stage.) I knew that Payton had that part, but I didn't realize it was a singing part. She did so well!  Her actors bio said, "Payton is 9 years old and this is her 4th play."  I keep saying she's going to be ready to direct a play in like 5 years because she's been on set so much. 

We had several friends in the audience. At intermission Brandon made the rounds and talked to people. Our neighbor Dianna was there and I talked to her. When we came back together Brandon was like, "Oh we are invited to Rachel and Avery's birthday party tomorrow."

At the end of the play we spent a long time talking to people about how great the play had been. It took us a long time to even make it to the lobby. 

We were home by about 10:30. I went to bed, but I just kind of sat in bed and smiled happily for a long time. I love live theatre anyway, but it's especially wonderful to be part of the theatre community. I'm still kind of in awe that this is my life. 

We slept in late this morning. So it was kind of a rush to get out the door for church at 10:30. I said the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting. 

After church Charlotte was hard at work on her fuse bead gingerbread house. It had come in the mail on Saturday and she'd wasted no time getting to work on it. 

We had our little Come Follow Me study which is basically just watching the Line Upon Line videos and the Book of Mormon video. The kids were really into the story of the Brother of Jarod. 

Then Brandon and I went to the birthday party. We planned to make just a little appearance and maybe stay for like an hour tops. Then we walked in and I was like, "Oh I want to stay here forever!"

Everyone was in their pajamas. It was at Rachel's mother in laws house and it was so inviting. There was a lot of good food on the counter. 

I was wearing jeans like a sucker. So after about 15 minutes of me regretting that decision I decided to go back home and get in pajamas and maybe pick up a kid or two. 

So I got in comfy pants and talked Veronica and Derrick into coming with me. Veronica was coming because Payton was there. Derrick was coming for the soda. 

We came back to the party and soon they were putting together a group to play a game called Mysterium. It's kind of like Clue. My first thought was "I hate board games. I do not want to play that."

And then I thought, "Actually, I think I'd like to play."  So I joined the group. Out of the 6 of us only 1 had ever played. So that made it fun for us to all learn together. I liked it a lot. 

And then we played Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit and I had a good time playing that too. I told Brandon, "today I learned I like to play board games with adults."

I was on a team with Rachel's husband Ethan. He's actually one of my oldest acquaintances/friends from Twin Falls.  He was the school counselor at our elementary school when we first moved to Twin Falls. When Charlotte had a hard time adjusting to the new school and started showing signs of anxiety we had a meeting with her teacher and the school counselor. That was like September of 2019. Fast forward 5 years and 2 months later and we were playing a game together. 

Ethan and I were probably the only two non-actors in the group. We were playing Trivial Pursuit with King Arthur, the scary pirate that killed Brandon's character in Treasure Island, Sir Robin, Dr Livesey, and Charlotte and Lydia's mom from Music Man. 

Other people at the party were Gwendolyn from the Importance of Being Earnest, a foreign princes from Little Mermaid, Miss Prism from Earnest, Mrs Paroo from Music Man, and Brandon's dance partner from the Finland scene in Spamalot. 

It was a talented group. And really fun too. 

We left around 5:00 which was two hours longer than the hour I'd thought we'd stay. 

Gosh I love our theatre family. 

And now here we are nearing the beginning of the next week. Its our last week of school before Thanksgiving break. There's a lot scheduled. I somehow managed to schedule both a well women check and a dentist appointment. I'm not looking forward to either of them. 

But the rest of the week should be good. 

Anyway, thanks for reading.