Once this was sorted out, and the other dogs ate as well, I continue to get ready to meet Sue for breakfast. Walking was a bit out of the question as my foot was still not able to go into a closed toed shoe because of my spider bite. Yuck! We had a nice meet up for coffee and a sweet treat. When I returned home, Jack and his buddies had tutoring. That afternoon Stuart made lunch for us and the Hills. We had pork belly which Mitch got at the Pork Shop in Queen Creek. Later that afternoon, my parents took us to get ice cream to celebrate Millie’s state gymnastics meet success. Elise came over once we were home. We shared a bottle of wine and I decided to stop drinking until Cinco de Mayo. I did this for a few reason. Number one, I felt maybe I was drinking a bit too much. Secondly, I wondered if I could go without. Thirdly, I desperately need to lost weight in order to fit into my summer shorts that I love.
Monday was school as usual. After school I took Millie to gymnastics, picked Jack up from volleyball practice, changed clothes, fed him and took him to the carpool pick up spot, went to Millie’s gym and decided to walk for four miles. I took her home after I got her food. She showered as did I. I put Millie to bed and then went to get Jack. He had a horrible cold, so I cranked him up with medication, had him shower and then sent him to bed.
Tuesday was relatively uneventful. Tuesdays are usually my non-eventful days. After school I did the normal pick-ups and then headed to dinner with my friend, Debi. We hadn’t seen each other since before Christmas so it aas good to catch up with her.
Wednesday school was as usual. We had an in-service after school which was relatively useless. Jack ended up staying home from school because he really was sick. I picked Millie up to take her to gymnastics. I then went out for a walk. There was a meeting for all incoming freshmen athletes at the high school. I thought I was supposed to go, so I did. It seems it was really meant for athletes that were not already in school at Casteel. I missed that part. I left there and headed to the grocery store for some items before I picked Millie up from gymnastics.
Thursday was the last day of our school week. Stuart ended up coming home earlier than expected as he had an issue at one of his schools. I took Millie to Target to get Ella some candy for her birthday party the next day. Stuart went to pick Jack up from volleyball. We took all the boys to volleyball academy. We went to eat dinner and then headed to Costco. Once we were back home, the kids showered and we all chilled.
Friday was Good Friday and we were up at 6:30 am. Stuart went out to get new golf cart batteries as it was the right weather to start using that again. I took Millie to Ella’s for a birthday party sleepover. I then went to purchase drinks for the upcoming celebration of Maytee’s 50th birthday. When I got home, Stuart and I took Jack to his friend Cadence’s house. I met her mother. We then went to deliver Millie’s swimsuit and towel she forgot. We decided to go out to lunch. We went to Costco to get ingredients for potato soup for my staff, food for Jack’s volleyball team, and juice for the mixers. It seems I had decided the week ahead was the week for me to do all the things. I got a message from Millie about a tik tok that was posted of Jack and Cadence. Oh my! It seems he thinks it is okay to record himself kissing this girl and posting it on social media. This boy might learn the hard way. No matter how much we tell him, he continues to make the same stupid errors. We got home from Costco and put everything away. I picked Jack up around 4 pm and spoke to him about keeping personal things personal. I then went into a sex talk, which wasn’t necessary, but I took advantage of him being stuck in the car and having to listen to me. When we got home, Stuart asked him what we talked about on the way home. I quickly said, ‘Sex!’ Jack said, ‘Mom talked about sex. I didn’t talk about anything.’ He wasn’t wrong! We made steaks that night for dinner and the Hills came over. When dinner was finished, we decided to play poker. We taught Mitch how to play. It was a lot of fun playing with fake money.
We got up Saturday morning and didn’t have to take Millie to the gym as she had an overnight the previous night and her friend’s mom took the girls. We decided to go to my mom and dad’s to help upload a photo to a book my mom has been writing. We took the golf cart. It is so great to have it running again. We then went to Wal Mart to get the rest of what we hadn’t gotten the previous day, but that was in the car, not the golf cart. Once we were home, Stuart attempted to put the tire on Millie’s Jetson. I just heard a lot of grunting and frustration from inside the house. I left to pick up Millie from gymnastics. She had begged me to go to KTR that afternoon, but that was a hard NO! I also spoke with her coach about what regionals looked like in Long Beach at the end of April. He just told me we would show up, collect her state leotard and she would compete. It seemed simple enough. When we got home from shopping, Elise, Mitch, Stuart and I took in the golf cart and headed to Creekside Taco Shack for lunch.
We got home and showered to go to dinner at Clever Koi with Mary and Todd. We then saw Simon and Garfunkel in downtown Gilbert. The Hale Theater puts on an incredible cover band series. This is the third group we have seen there.
After the show, we popped into Oreganos for a drink and snack.
Easter found us at home with the Easter bunny not disappointing.
We had an early lunch at my parents. Stuart had the leave in the early afternoon so our lunches are generally early on Sundays. After we left Grammie and Pop’s, we road around the neighborhood in the golf cart. Stuart left for Gallup and the kids and I went back out on the golf cart. Our neighbors came with us.
Monday we had more state testing. We seem to drag things out a bit in Queen Creek. Jack forgot his volleyball shorts at home despite me asking him multiple times. He asked me if I could bring them to him. I told him he would get them as soon as I got to the gym that afternoon. It seems he would have remembered everything for the first volleyball match of the season. He was so excited that he totally forgot! I took Millie to gymnastics after school. I went home so the dogs could go pee. I picked up Weston, our neighbor, to go to Jack’s volleyball match against Payne Junior High. He played really well and they won. Weston has just started rec volleyball so enjoyed the match a great deal.
I dropped Jack and Weston at home and then went to Millie’s gym. I walked for about 30 minutes, picked her up and then got her food. When we got home, Millie and I showered and came downstairs to watch television. Millie and Jack fell asleep on the sofa. Clearly they work and play hard.
School on Tuesday provided more testing. I sent Millie home with Elise after school because I had a benefits meeting. I returned and peeled potatoes in order to prepare to make potato soup that evening. I went to get Jack from volleyball practice and brought him home. I headed out to have dinner with the girls (Mary, Elisa and Sherry). I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get heavy cream. Once I was home, I discovered that Millie had not eaten dinner because she didn’t come home at the proper time. I got angry with her and ended up boiling over my potato soup. The first batch was not quite as tasty as the second batch, but everyone would just have to deal with it. While making the potato soup, because I had to let it cool, I put together our new towel holder that is going to go by our pool. Our old one was wooden and cute, but the wet weather this winter warped it to the point of the doors no longer closing. So it was time for a new one.
The inside.
The outside.
Wednesday was a hot day at school. We were very productive in class, which is not always easy during testing. Millie went home with the neighbors as she does every Wednesday. I had team leader meeting until four. I then went home and picked Millie up and took her to gymnastics. I stopped by Casteel to pick Jack up from volleyball. When we got home I got things prepared for the team meal that I was providing on Thursday. I then went to Fry’s to get ice for the cooler. After I got the ice, I went and picked Millie up from gymnastics, got her Whataburger for dinner, and delivered her home for a shower. Millie went to bed at 9:30, Jack went to bed at 10:30, and I went to bed at 11. Days pass quickly with our schedule.
Thursday morning all of the drinks were in the cooler, the uncrustables were in a large baggie, also in the cooler, the box of chips, and the box of rice crispy treats were sitting on top of the cooler. Jack had to lift the cooler into the car because it was too heavy for me. I do love having a strong 14-year-old. I delivered the food to the front office of the school and returned home to pick Millie up for school. School was long, but we left at 3:30 and the next day would be Friday so I would live. We got home and let the dogs out. Millie decided not to go to the volleyball match with me. Luckily, the match was early and we were able to come home afterwards. I brought all the carpool boys home with me after their game with Newell Barney. They virtually destroyed the other team. At any rate, we came home and had chicken tenders, and filled up their water bottles, then we headed out to club volleyball practice. Once we were home, the kids showered, they had a bite to eat, and then everyone went to bed.
Friday morning was a regular morning. School kind of drug on, unfortunately. At the end of the day, Jack had been picked up by my dad and delivered home, Millie and I went home and I got things ready to go to our friend Jane‘s house for Maytee‘s surprise birthday party. When I got to the house, our friend, Lori, Christian, and Jane were there. Ken had asked me to buy all the wine for that evening and things for mimosas the following morning. I didn’t realize that Jane and her husband had a wine room. I’m not sure why you would ask someone to bring wine when at the hostess’s house there is a wine room with over 500 bottles of wine in it. However, he did and I obliged.
Saturday there was more birthday party stuff. We went back to Jane’s for a brunch and facials and massages. I hate that stuff, so I bowed out.
Saturday evening we went to a restaurant in downtown Mesa for another part of the celebration. It was her 50th birthday, so there were many parties for sure.
Sunday I got up and walked with Sue. I told her of my weekend woes. She had invited us to come swim that afternoon, but we had more birthday celebrating to do with Maytee. We also had more birthday party stuff. We went to the afternoon party, but only stayed until Stuart had to leave for Gallup. I then took Jack to get his hair cut, and slipped Millie in for a trim as well. We went home and took the golf cart out for a bit. We went to my mom and dad’s house to drop off some things. I was getting ready to go to Gallup on Wednesday and Thursday, of that week, to work so I was going to leave on Tuesday after school. I took two personal days to go and worked with Melinda Reynolds. So my parents were going to keep the kids. I took the directions down to them of all the things the kids would be doing those two days and also some medication, snacks, and lunch food. After we left their house, we drove around on the golf cart for a little bit and then went home and settled in for the evening.
Monday morning we got up and everybody got ready for school with no fuss. Stuart messaged me in the morning to tell me that likely he would be coming home on Tuesday evening and working from home on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So all the things that needed to be done with the kids would land on him. It ended up that my mom and dad did not need to keep the kids. However, they were still going to take the kids to see the new Mario movie. When Jack was little, my dad would play Mario with him in the pool. Jack was Mario and my dad would be Luigi. I have no idea how this game started, but I suspect it had something to do with the Wii.
After school on Monday, I took Millie to gymnastics and then headed home to let the dogs out. I then went to Casteel to watch Jack play volleyball. He was not terribly pleased with his play, but I told him not to worry too much about it. After the game, the boys headed off to club volleyball practice. I went to the chiropractor for an adjustment, and then I drop by my mom and dad’s house to pick up the things I had left there the night before. I then went home for a little bit and had a bite to eat. I picked Millie up at about 7:30 PM and got her some food. When she got home, she finished her food and then went to take a shower. Just before 10 o’clock I picked Jack up at the carpool spot and we headed home for the night.
Tuesday was school. Stuart decided to work from home on Wednesday through Friday so was heading home on Tuesday. This made plans totally change for us. I told Grammie and Pop they would not have to do all the things after all. I left school as soon as students were gone. When I got home, I loaded my cooler, changed clothes and was ready when Melinda got to our house. We left for Gallup. We stopped in Payson at Culver’s and saw Stuart for a brief moment. The kids went to the new Mario movie with Grammie and Pop and reported it was quite good. Melinda and I got to Stuart’s apartment just before 9 pm, with the time change. We then had our dinner of charcuterie. We were in bed by 10 pm, sharing the double bed Stuart sleeps in. I slept like a corpse as not to roll over on Melinda.
We were up at 6:15 am and got ready to go to St. Bonaventure for the day. I helped in a 1st grade classroom. I modeled a rounding lesson. It was so fun. There were only 10 students and they were so sweet. I then had lunch with Melinda where we talked about where we were going to dinner and also spoke about going to the Nugget Gallery, a place with Native American jewelry and crafts. In the afternoon I visited a 5th grade classroom where they were studying Ancient Egypt. Sadly, the teacher was reading the material to the 8 students in the class and then telling them what to write on their paper instead of letting them discuss the answers and come up with their own responses. After I left his class, I attended the middle school science teacher’s class. He was so engaging and related the topic of matter to their everyday life.
After school, we stopped at the Nugget Gallery, where I bought a new turquoise ring. We then went to Earl’s to have dinner, and buy some jewelry that they were bringing by the tables. But once we got there, we decided we didn’t wanted to eat Earl’s food. So we drank our Diet Pepsi‘s and paid for them. And then we went off to Fratellis to have Stuart’s wings. Yes, there is such a thing on the menu called Stuart wings. We saw a number of Empower consultants there and had a little chat with them. When we got back to the apartment we started watching a standup comedian on Netflix named Leanne Morgan. She was hilarious. Then Carrie, Stuart’s landlord, had Robin, the principal at Tahatchi Elementary, up on her porch. So Robin messaged me and asked me if I wanted to come up. Melinda and I went up and visited for a while. It was fun!
Thursday we were up and out of the apartment with all of our things packed up. We headed back to St. Bonaventure school and spent the day there working. Melinda had bought a ring with a purple stone, known to be rare in the native jewelry world. The stone fell out in the middle of the day. A guy who was related to the secretary came and fixed it for her. She was thrilled, but it delayed our leaving the school right after school. We got home around 7 PM. I had left my purse in Melinda’s car. So I had to drive down to her house to pick it up before collecting Jack from volleyball carpool spot at 9:30.
On Friday morning I had to get my third shot in my eye. Seems my dad had an appointment to get a shot as well. So I took the opportunity to take a selfie. People, this is what getting older looks like, you start having the same doctor appointments as your parents.
After my shot, I had a bit of time before I had to be back at school, so I went shopping for some shoes and might have bought more than one pair. I went to school for the second half of the day. When I got home from school, a pool guy came by to give an estimate for a deep clean of the pool. Millie had been asked to come to a gym friend’s for a sleepover. We stopped at Gina’s and got our Lululemon treasures before. When I got back, Elise came over for consoling. They had to put their dog Henry down due to old age. Stuart made dinner of chicken cordon blue, roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was delightful. Elise came over for the evening and we sat out on the back porch. Mitch did not come over because he was so sad about having to put Henry down. I can only imagine it won’t be long until they get a new furry friend.
I took Jack Saturday morning to the Hurley house for his ride to the volleyball facility. This was the last tournament of the spring season. He was pretty anxious about winning. I have to admit, as much as I have grown to love volleyball, I am excited for it to be over for a few weeks. He will still have school volleyball, but summer volleyball doesn’t start until the middle of May. And then we are full on again! Stuart and I stopped to get breakfast burritos at Los Favoritos.
The first team, which Jack is on, didn’t win the tournament, but they played really hard. I stayed to watch the last match and had to pick Millie up from her friend Mallory’s house. Grammie and Pop drove me to pick her up while Stuart stayed with Jack at the volleyball facility for the second team’s final match. Once we were all home, we sat around and relaxed. Millie had been at a sleepover and hadn’t taken her pill in the morning, and in the afternoon, it totally slipped my mind, until she erupted. Dang! These epic explosions leave a scar on all of us, unfortunately. We sat on the front porch in the early evening and attempted to escape the meltdown.
Sunday morning we were up and did some chores around the house. Stuart and I went to Sue and Tim’s for brunch and to swim in their new pool. The food and company were delightful. Their pool is perfect and heated, which was a bonus. Stuart left for Gallup from Sue and Tim’s, and I went home to check on the kids. Jack, Millie and myself went to pick up Cadence, Jack’s little girlfriend. They came back to the house and watched a movie upstairs in the loft, and Millie was there as a supervisor. They then went swimming and I fed them chicken nuggets and potatoes. We took Cadence home around 7 pm. We brought Weston and Cole with us, and stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back to our house. Elise was not feeling well and Millie asked if they could go with us.
Monday morning I got up and took Jack to school and returned to pick Millie up. We got to school and we were back to our regular schedule because testing was over. After school I took Millie to gymnastics and Jack stayed to watch the varsity volleyball match after his practice. I picked him up after having done some shopping, and we went to collect Millie, getting Burger King for both of them before we picked her up. When we got home, I had messaged Millie to let her know or remind her that she had not taken her pills for the afternoon. With this message I sent a request that she be very observant of her behavior, so that we did not have any kind of incident for the evening. She was actually really good, and went to bed with no fuss.
Tuesday morning I got up and took Jack to school. When I returned Millie had some very tight shorts on. I warned her that she would probably get dress coded at school. She insisted she wouldn’t. I decided not to fight with her and she agreed to put an extra pair of shorts in her bag. When I got to school, I went into the principal’s office and asked her if she would dress code Millie. I told my principal that Millie would have responded very poorly with me, and I wasn’t willing to take that on this morning. I also asked my principal if it was too early to introduced the term ‘camel toes’ to Millie. She laughed, and we went out to recess duty. Millie was dress coded and was thankful that she brought her extra pair of shorts. After school Millie and I headed to Target to buy her some new shorts. We also bought Stuart’s birthday presents. I then dropped her at the house and went to watch Jack’s volleyball game. Once Jack’s ball game was finished, and they had won, he and I went home and picked up Stuart and Millie and went out for a family dinner for Stuart’s birthday, which was the following day. Stuart had driven home from Navajo Mountain and was home by the time Jack and I were finished with his volleyball game.
Wednesday morning Stuart and I got up and Jack was already downstairs and had fed the dogs. Stuart took Jack to school and then took his car to see if he needed a new set of brakes. It turned out he did not, so we were relieved to save the money. I took Millie to school and had a meeting at the end of the day that kept me from taking her to gymnastics. Stuart took her to gymnastics and then picked Jack up from volleyball practice. We then went to seek out a cat for Millie. It turns out the cat we found had a brother. So, it looks like instead of one cat we may be getting two cats. We have lost our minds! Millie has begged for a cat since leaving our cat, Pumpkin, in the UAE three years ago.
Thursday was school as usual. Stuart took the Bronco to have the emissions tested. It passed! So it isn’t terribly pretty, but apparently it is road worthy. Once school was out, Millie and I went home. We went to pick up Uncle Russ and go with him to an early dinner at Oreganos. He was in town for the weekend, doing some recruiting. Since we wouldn’t have an opportunity to see him any other day but Thursday, we did our best with an early meal and then he went with us to Jack’s volleyball game at Queen Creek Junior High. Casteel thrashed Queen Creek. Jack served 16 balls in a row, but was upset he didn’t get to show off his hitting skills in front of Uncle Russ. He is a funny kid!
Once the game was over, we dropped Russ back at my mom and dad’s. We then went to TC’s for quiz night. Todd was meeting us there and Elise and Mitch were going as well. Todd got there before we did and said it was packed and there were no tables. I then called and checked on reserving a table, which was no use. It was so disappointing as this was the plan to celebrate Stuart’s birthday. As we started to park I got a text from Todd that said “Stu’s bday, I got this!” When we got into the bar, there was Todd, sitting at a table for six people. That guy can get anything he wants. It was awesome! He lands peanut butter side up nearly all the time. The night was so fun. The Pheasant Pluckers (our team name) did not win, but we had a lot of fun and decided this would be a summer activity for us. When we got home, Millie had packed. Jack packed and I wrote a list of what needed to be done before leaving for California the next day.
Friday morning I was awakened at about 3 AM with horrible stomach cramps. I couldn’t decide if it was a stomach flu or food poisoning. I tossed and turned until 5 AM and got up and tried to get ready. I was in serious misery. When I did finally get ready, Millie was awake and downstairs, and I made sure she had all of her things packed for California. Her friend Mallory was going to take her to Long Beach. I drove her to their house and they headed out. It just made more sense that she would be able to be there and get a good night’s sleep before her competition. And I think Kelly, Mallory‘s mom, was willing to take Millie because her two daughters might fuss on the way over. Millie was able to be the mediator. When I got home from taking Millie, I attempted to clean the house and get things ready for Jennifer to come stay at our house. Stuart told me to just go ahead and take Jack to school and that he would finish off the house. I felt like absolute garbage, but headed onto school after I dropped Jack at school. I did a whole lot of nothing for the entire day. I told my students that I was afraid I either had food poisoning or stomach flu. I told them I needed to them to finish their unfinished work and get on with things. I told the office and my team I wasn’t well in case someone came in and saw me doing nothing.
I left school at 2:30 and my team dismissed my students. I napped for about an hour before we went to pick Jack up from volleyball practice and drive to California. I felt horrible the entire way. To make matters worse, I had a stinky 14 year old sitting right behind me in the car. Blah! We got to the hotel just before 11 pm. I made Jack shower and then I showered. We all hit the sack.
Saturday morning we met up with Kelley, Mallory, Charley and Millie for breakfast. Millie and I went to pick up Millie’s state team leotard and someone had already signed for it. I messaged her coach and he got back to me an hour later and told me he hadn’t picked it up. He went over to where it was and figured out that someone had signed for hers on the wrong line. So he picked it up. I let Millie know none of this. She would have freaked out. She really freaked out when it wasn’t there initially. Jack and Stuart met us just outside of the convention center. We all walked to the stores. We did a little bit of shopping and then Millie and I headed back to the hotel. We got all of her things for her competition and then we went to the convention center to watch Charley compete. Millie wanted to be there for her team mates. They were all competing according to their age group, aside from the state teams. Charley didn’t do as well as she had hoped and actually cried after the competition. While we watched Charley, Stuart and Jack rode scooters around Long Beach. After Charley finished, we went and got some lunch and Charley’s mom bought her some new shoes, so that helped. Millie and I ended up going back to the convention center where I put her hair up in her bun. She was there in plenty of time.
Her competition was amazing. She was competing with the best 30 gymnasts at her level from Northern California, Southern California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona. She placed 3rd All Around and her team won 2nd out of 5 teams. She got 5 medals and a plaque. During her competition we told her if she got a perfect 10 we would get her a cat, knowing full well that no matter what, she was getting 2 cats. As her competition went on, the thought of cats helped her not be stressed. Her last event was the bars. She asked me if she got a 9.8 would I get her a cat. I said ‘yes’, really thinking she would get at least a 9.8 as it is her strongest event. She got a 9.725. Oops! So as we were waiting for the awards, she then put it forward that is her team won 1st or 2nd would I get her a cat. I said I would.
Millie is far left.
Coach Ryan and Coach Hannah are two of the people who have made her who she is as a gymnast.
Well, they got 2nd, so on the way out of the convention center we showed the kids their new cats. They were so excited. So Winston and Frankie will be collected on Monday after school.
Back to the hotel for a bite to eat, showers and bed. It was a great day for sure!
