I got dressed and went to Walmart to get some needed groceries. I then came home and laid on the sofa. We went to Mitch and Elise’s for lunch. I still felt like crap. Shortly after lunch, Stuart left for Gallup. We did a whole lot of nothing in the afternoon. Millie took a shower at about 730 and laid on the sofa. At 8:30, I told her what time to go to bed. She tried to bargain for another 20 minutes, but I said no because she had a late night the previous night. She flipped her switch, and it ensued in an argument. I finally told her I needed a 10 minute break from her, but she insisted that she needed to prove her point to me. I continued to tell her she was not going to prove her point to me because I was the mother and this is how it is. She followed me to my neighbor’s porch where she screamed ‘You slapped me! You hurt me!’ This was all on the Ring, which was her way of manipulating Stuart in Gallup, knowing full well he would call me or reprimand me. I quickly went inside and explained to her that if our neighbors reported this to the police, someone might come and take her away from us. I also stated if that was what she wanted, then she might as well keep doing what she was doing. She stayed in her room after that. When I did finally let her talk to me, she continued to say the exact same things that she has said before. Then I said I needed another 10 minute break, and if she came downstairs that I would have to take some things away from her other than her phone, because that’s what she lost for yelling at me and telling me that she hated me. I hate nights like this. I took my 10 minute break over at my neighbors house on her porch. When I came back, Millie was a little more calm, but not much. We ended the way we almost always do, both in tears and both apologetic.
Monday morning she got up with very little fuss. I took Jack to school and returned to collect her, but she wasn’t ready. I just was quiet and patient, and she got in the car a little bit later than I wanted, but I also didn’t want to fight with her. At school, we did some review of some math standards that we had taught throughout the year. We also watched videos regarding science standards from grades 3, r, and 5, as we would be testing on those after spring break. I left school at 3:30 to collect Jack, and then we took Millie to gymnastics. We came home and Jack had a bite to eat and did some algebra homework. I then took Jack to the carpool spot. I ran my car through the car wash, and then I decided I would go to urgent care. The previous Saturday I developed a little itch on my pinky toe. I kind of thought it was athlete’s foot. However, it developed into a blister on Sunday and then a massive mess on Monday. By the time I took Jack to volleyball, I noticed a red line on the top of my shin that felt like a bruise, but was very warm to the touch. I just suspected some kind of blood poisoning from a bite of some sort. So I went to urgent care and got that taken care of. I picked up my prescription and then collected Millie from gymnastics.
Tuesday morning Jack lied to me about feeding the dogs. He is such a goof! I ended up taking his phone away from him for the day. When will this boy stop lying? Also, my dad found out he would have his pace maker put in March 20. Jack losing his phone for his lie turned out to be more of a pain for me than him.
After school the kids went to the park and then stopped at Grammie and Pop’s for a surprise visit. I made dinner, which is super rare.
But dinner was great! I spent the rest of the evening watching trash tv, always my favorite.
Wednesday my toe was not any better. I took the antibiotics on an empty stomach, so barf I on the trip to Casteel. Poor Jack said we could just go home if I was sick. I told him I would message him about who would be picking him up from school. He reminded me he didn’t have his phone. He just didn’t understand how I could throw up and carry on. The show must always go on! I came home and picked up Millie to go to school and plodded through the half day. We had student led conferences and afterwards I picked Millie up to take her to gymnastics. I had dinner with my friend Mindy from my school last year. It was really good to catch up with her.
Thursday morning we got up and got going. School was a little different because we still had student led conferences in the afternoon, but there were no specials because the specialists were conducting field day on both Thursday and Friday. So I would have a special for an hour on Friday, but none on Thursday. However, I have library on Thursdays, so my students were able to go to the book fair. At lunchtime, I went to the bank to get money for Mexico. When I had a break during student led conferences, I went and shopped for things for a charcuterie tray to make for Grace’s baby shower. Grace is Jennifer Harley‘s daughter. I had volunteered to do that before I knew Millie had a gymnastics meet. So I told Jennifer I would get it together and then she would need to come and pick it up from me on Friday evening. When I got home from student led conferences Jack was gone. I had messaged my mom and dad to pick Jack up to take him to the carpool spot. I ran down to their house just to say hello because I hadn’t seen my dad in over a week. I was fighting a cold and didn’t want to get him sick. His pacemaker surgery was scheduled for March 20. I suppose they didn’t feel it was as urgent as my parents had felt it was. Once Millie and I were back home, she went up and took a shower. When she came downstairs, she was starving so had some snacks and then laid on the sofa and watching television. Elise came over for about an hour to visit and then I was off to pick Jack up from volleyball carpool.
Friday morning when Jack was awake he asked if he could skip school. I normally am not up for that, but his midterm finals were over and grades were already reported so I saw no need for him to go to school if he didn’t want to. Millie was awake and ready for grandparents breakfast. Grammie and Pop picked her up at about 7:10 and headed off to Grandparents’p breakfast. I had my second appointment with the eye doctor. So I wasn’t going to school that morning. My friend Sam took a picture of Grammie, Pop, and Millie once they got to school for the breakfast.
I got back to school just after lunch and finished out the quarter. After school, my teammate, Merkel, came with me to get our Rv.
It is possible that I got a little too close to the pump and hit the grey pile-on as I was pulling away from the gas station. Oops! Once we have the RV back at the house, I backed it on the driveway and we went inside for a beer. It was the perfect way to end the quarter.
Saturday Millie had a gymnastics meet and Jack had a volleyball tournament. It was a terribly busy day for sure. After Jack’s volleyball tournament I made him go to his last basketball game. I know Pop dreams of Jack being a basketball kid, but I just don’t think he loves it like he loves volleyball. Unfortunately, the community of basketball players are ruled by one individual at his grade level and Jack wants it to be a total team effort. He wants his teammates to encourage him, not cut him down. He has this climate with volleyball, but did not have it with basketball. My boy is a party kid and just wants to have fun, so we will support whatever he wants. After the activities of the day, Stuart and I came back to the house and hung out in the RV. He had leveled it that morning and it was plugged in for electricity.
Sunday morning we got up and started all the things needing to be done before we went to Mexico. Millie had friends over because the mom guilt got to me. She has few playdates because she is always so busy. So I told her she could have friends over for a while. Our day was consumed with vacation prep.
Monday morning we were up and out by 6 am. Off to Mexico for a week of beach fun. I will say, it may be one of my favorite places as the moment. The kids love it and so do we. We got set up by about 12:30 pm and then went down to set up the beach site.
We set up the new matrix volleyball net, which was a bit more difficult than we had anticipated. We decided to have dinner out that evening. So we went to a local taco shop with Todd and Kyle who had decided to come for the first half of the week.
Tuesday morning I was up at 4:30 AM to take Moose to the bathroom. I then came back to the RV and had a little bit of a sleep. I was up for good at 7:30 AM and the day was a beach day. We had Jack’s volleyball teammate, Aidan, and his dad, come and hang out with us at the beach. We went to Manny’s for lunch. Moose was a stellar dog. The kids saw some scantily dressed women at Manny’s, which might have matured them just a bit. It was spring break, after all. When we left Manny’s we came back to the beach. The volleyball net became a draw to all the kids on the beach.
Around 4 PM, Stuart and Todd went for a massage, but came back shortly after they left as there was no availability. In the evening we locked Moose up and went to have tacos again. When we got back, Moose was barking up a storm. We had hoped no one got concerned for him, but decided we would not be able to do that again.
Wednesday we got up around 5:30 am to the sound of rain. It seldom rains when we are in Mexico, but the weather has been quite unusual this year, so we just rolled with it and made it a game day instead of a beach day. We spent the day playing games and sitting outside the RV. Todd and Kyle came over around noon and Stuart and Todd went to get their massage. It turns out, that once again, Todd booked a couples massage. It also turns out that couples massages are cheaper. Ha! The kids and I played games while the dads were gone. We also did a drawing game that they loved. When Stuart and Todd got back we went to have seafood at a local place. Todd knows all the best places to eat in Rocky Point. It is so great to have him with us.
After lunch, Todd went to get the armrests of his car he had reupholstered while the kids went down to the beach. Stuart and I went to have a beer at the bar. We then came back to camp for dinner. Stuart, Todd and I played Hearts and everyone was in bed by 9:30 pm. Jack traded beds with Millie on Wednesday night which turned out not to be the best decision. He is really too big for our RV. He is also a bit like me, claustrophobic. So laying on a bed that close to the ceiling was not his favorite. Needless to say, they traded back the next night and Stuart ordered him a 4 man tent to pitch the next time we came to Rocky Point.
Thursday morning we got up and got things sorted out to go to the beach. We then headed to Manny’s for breakfast.
Skip and Sherry were due to arrive around noon, but it ended up being closer to 2 pm. By that time I was in pain from something that I am clearly allergic to. Ugh! My feet and hands were burning and I could get no relief. In hind site, we think I got sun poisoning. Being on antibiotics, in the sun, while drinking? Maybe this combination was not the best. We made dinner that evening. We had frito pie. It was delightful. We played Spinner for a while and then retired for the night.
Friday I actually went out on the paddle board. The sun was beating down on me and about did me in. I did better than I thought I would, but I never stood up on the board. I just sat and paddled. The wind kicked up later in the morning and we ended up leaving the beach for lunch and the adults did not return. We actually had a tasting of Irish beer throughout the day since it was St. Patrick’s Day.
The beers!
The self-proclaimed honorary Irish.
After lunch, I decided to take a nap. I felt a bit feverish and in a bit of agony. Even after my nap, I still was a bit miserable. Sherry had cortisone cream which helped, but I was struggling.
We had corn beef and cabbage for dinner, which was yummy. I took a shower after dinner and then the adults played dominoes for a couple of hours. We were in bed by 10 and asleep by 10:30 pm. I slept rather well as I took a Benadryl tablet and it put me straight to sleep.
Saturday morning I felt a bit better, but my lips were really swollen. We went to the beach for a bit and then headed to a hidden oyster farm where we consumer 4 dozen fresh oysters. Yum!
Jack was in heaven.
The carnage!
The harvest was in the water behind us.
Sunday the wind was awful and the beach was not really in our plan. We did go sit on the beach in the late afternoon but didn’t last long. We ended our day by packing up and getting things ready for our journey the next day. Sherry and Skip provided tacos for dinner and we had a fire just outside our trailers.
Monday we were up and out before 6 am. We were home just after 11 am. Jack was a great help in unpacking the RV. I did 4 loads of laundry as well as getting the RV cleaned and ready to go back to storage. Stuart took the RV back to storage, we packed up and left for Gallup just before 4 pm. Jack was going to be picked up for club volleyball and them spend the night with Gavin. My mom was coming to get Millie after my dad had his pace maker procedure. I was going to cancel going with Stuart, but my mom insisted she wanted the kids to stay with her and we should carry on with our plans.
We got to Gallup and unloaded, showered and cozied up on the sofa as it was snowing outside and had snowed all the way to Gallup, once we were in the mountains.
Tuesday morning we were up at 6 am and headed to Tohatchi. I spent the day observing and coaching. I would love this job if it were not for the travel. This fave me a new appreciation for what Stuart deals with regarding the drive each week.
Tuesday evening we stopped at Wal Mart, which was a horrible experience. The booze area is separated from the rest of the store. I had left my ID in the car and they refused to let Stuart buy beer because I didn’t have my ID. He had his, but because they stated we were together, they couldn’t sell it to us. It was aggravating to say the least. So then we had to stop at Albertsons where they checked my ID and Stuart paid. Go figure! It rained and snowed most of the day and into the evening. Once we were back at Stuart’s apartment and had unloaded the groceries, we watched some television for a bit. We then went to Fratelli’s for dinner with Dawn, one of Stuart’s colleagues, whom I also worked with in the summer, and the principal from Tohatchi, Robin, and her husband, Duwayne. I had heard a great deal about this place and was finally able to experience it. We then went to Townplace Hotel where some of the other consultants were meeting up for drinks. Melinda Reynolds was there as well as other people I had heard a great deal about for the last year and a half.
Wednesday morning we got up and packed to leave from Tohatchi to go to Navajo Mountain, Utah, where another one of Stuart’s schools is located. We spent the day at Tohatchi. Jack called in the middle of the day to voice a complaint about Millie. I told him that Grammie and Pop were in charge and he had better never disrespect them like this again by calling me and trying to get me to undermine their authority. This was all over a cell phone stand.
After school, we left Tohatchi to drive 4.5 hours to the Utah school. I have definitely gained a new appreciation for all the driving Stuart does each week. We arrived at the house where he stays while in Utah, but the door was locked and the lady who drove the key up had the wrong key. We followed her to the school and got the right key, unloaded, found out some fuses had blown so had difficulty blowing up our airbed. Stuart got all of that fixed and discovered the hot water wasn’t on, so had to light the pilot. We called Jack to see how he was. Apparently he had a great camp at the high school the previous day and this day. He was really excited about volleyball tryouts the following week. He said he would call us back once Millie was home.
These were the boys at the volleyball camp.
Navajo Mountain is the backdrop for the teacher accommodations provided by the school.
We decided to try to get our Hulu up and running so we could watch one of our series we like. We spoke to the kids and tried to stay warm.
Thursday morning I decided the blow-up mattress was too full the previous night and I had a headache. So Stuart said he would fix it for the following night. We got up around 6:30 am and got ready for the day. We also woke up to the fact that my brother in law, James, had a stent put into his heart to open up a clogged artery. Stuart called his mum as he knew she would be fretting over the entire event. James is 4 years younger than Stuart, so it was really quite a shock. But at least they found the problem and fixed it.
We headed to school. There are a total of 70 students in K-8 and another 30 students at the high school. Each classroom in the elementary had between 6 and 12 students. This day was a bit boring, if I were to be honest, that is until we spoke with the 5th and 6th grade teachers. They both needed help in their review for state testing. I was on it like white on rice. They needed all standards organized in a reasonable way to help them create review material for the next four weeks. I was nearly giddy about the work I would need to get completed the following day.
School was out at 3 pm and we were back at the house by 3:15 pm, watching Netflix. Around 7 pm we decided to eat dinner. We still had a few hours of the evening left. I never have this kind of time an afternoon after a work day. Stuart went to bed just after 9 pm. I took a shower and watched the Bachelor. When I went to bed we had let some of the air out so it was much more comfortable.
Friday we were up and at school by 7:30 AM. I had a lot of work to do. I am pleased to report that I got the first week’s worth of lessons completed and was able to present them to the teachers by 1:30 PM. Both teachers were thrilled at what we gave them. We left Navajo Mountain around 2:30 pm and it started to snow. We got home just before 7 pm and went to Grammie and Pop’s to pick up the kids. We got ack to our house and I started laundry. I had kind of forgotten the amount of laundry I still had from Mexico. I resigned myself to not getting all the laundry done that evening.
Saturday we got up and took Millie to gym. Later in the morning, Jack went to Carter’s. He ended up sleeping over, which we suspected would happen. When we picked Millie up from gymnastics, we told her we were going out to dinner that night. We said she could either stay home by herself, go to Grammie and Pop’s house, or come to dinner with us. She opted to stay home by herself. Stuart and I went to dinner with Ken and Maytee. We had a nice time catching up with them. When we got home, Millie was still awake. She stayed up until almost 10:30 pm.
We woke up Sunday morning just after 7 am. The dogs were manic. I decided that evening I would put one of the training colors on Moose. We crate them at night, and when we come downstairs, they act as if they didn’t remember we lived in the house. I picked Jack up at 9 am from Carter’s house. When we got home, Jack had chores to do. He opted to do the majority of them the following day as he was going to not be at school while Millie and I started our fourth quarter. Stuart made lunch of ribs, roasted potatoes and broccoli. Stuart left at the same time Elise and I took the kids to Fun Box, the claimed largest bounce house in the world. It had been set up since November and this was the last weekend. We had purchased tickets in December and it got rained out. So we had to use them this day.
After we left Fun Box, we got home, and I took Millie to a birthday party at Elevate. Jack and I just watched television until I had to go back and collect Millie.
Monday we were up and out of the house, but Jack was still at home because Chandler had a teacher workday. Millie had a bit of test anxiety. I took her in the hallway to tell her what bullshit these tests were. I asked Merkel and Sam to let Millie know the same, which they did. When I got home Monday afternoon, from taking Millie to gymnastics, Jack was on FaceTime with a girl. I made him bring his phone down and introduced me to her. It was embarrassing for him, but he did it very willingly. I’m glad he still shares these things with me. Jack and I headed to Brophy for a volleyball meeting for the parents while the boys were at practice. I was supposed to be the carpool driver, but all parents had to be at the meeting. In the end, all the parents decided to stay and bring their own kid home. When we got back to our house, Grammie had picked Millie up from gymnastics and got her food. She then brought her back to the house and had her take a shower and she went to sleep on the sofa.
Tuesday I got up early and took Jack to school. I came back and got Millie and we headed off to school as well. We had our first Arizona State assessment. It was the science test. It was to be in three parts and done over three days. Each appointment they have the kids fill out an emotional check sheet. This was the first time Millie was old enough to fill it out by herself. I spoke to the doctor about one of the answers she gave when I asked if she ever felt sad. She answered that she did several times a week. Of course this made me very sad. After speaking with a doctor for a bit, Millie decided that maybe counseling has some things she was willing to go back to. Tuesday night we had nothing to do, which I always love.
Wednesday was another day of testing at school. Wednesday after school I took Millie to gymnastics and then went and picked Jack up from volleyball tryouts at Casteel. He was so excited for school volleyball. He and I spent the evening at home until I had to leave to pick Millie up.
Thursday was the last day of science testing and I went to pick Jack up after his tryouts for volleyball. I was driving carpool that evening, so Millie decided to go with me to take the boys to volleyball practice. I took some papers to grade, but ended up talking to one of the new moms. I don’t always like the new moms. Some of them are very needy. I can’t have needy people around me.
Friday school was great. There were no tests. We got home from school around 330. I picked Jack up from volleyball tryouts at 4 PM and he let me know he made the team. That was no huge shock. Once we got home, Stuart had taken a half-day off and was home to go with us to KTR. Jack apparently had a date. It was Stuart and my anniversary and so we decided we would drop the kids and go have a beer. Jack wasn’t terribly keen about Millie going with him. However, I told him he had two choices, he could take Milly with him or I could sit in the lobby for two hours and wait for him. He decided that it wasn’t a bad thing for Millie to go. After we got home, we just hung out at the house and the neighbors came over. We then made a plan for Sunday lunch.
Saturday morning we were up and out the door at 5:50 AM. Jack had a tournament in Glendale and we volunteered to take all of the boys so they would arrive at 7 AM. Their first match was it until 8 AM, and by that time all the parents were there. Because the first match wasn’t until 8 AM, Stuart and I went to eat breakfast at a place called Miss Genie G’s family restaurant. I am pretty sure that Genie G was the waitress that was waiting on us. When Stuart asked for some more creamer, the waitress said, ‘God dammit they never order enough. What the hell?’ Stuart and I both discussed, when we got back in the car, that when she said ‘God dammit’ we both could hear Mack Standifird saying, ‘God dammit, Mary’. It was quite a funny moment. When we got back to the gym, where they were playing volleyball, there was no place to park in the main parking lot. So we parked on the backside of the school. Jack played quite well, but they got beat by their nemesis team. They have a mental block when it comes to this particular team. Stuart and I left the volleyball tournament around 1030. Millie had to be at gymnastics state meet by 1:45 PM. I had texted her coach earlier in the week to ask if she was going to qualify for regionals. What he told me really shocked me. He let me know that she would likely qualify and that currently out of 359 athletes at her same level, she was ranked number one in the state. I know she was good, but I had no idea she was that good. Of course, we think she’s good, but we know nothing about gymnastics.
Needless to say, she did quite well at the meet. She received first place in all events and first place and all around. This is not only qualified her for the regional tournament in Long Beach, California at the end of April, but she also was one of six gymnast picked to represent the state of Arizona on the Arizona Xcel silver gymnastics team. We were beyond thrilled for her. But because her processing skills are a little slower than ours she wasn’t excited at that very moment. She was obsessing over the fact that I told her she couldn’t have a sleepover at our house that night. But in the end, her friend Mallory‘s mother, Kelly, invited a bunch of girls to sleep over. So she was thrilled. She ended up going home with Kelly from the team awards that evening. When we got home from the gymnastics meet, Jack had been returned to the house. After his tournament, he went with some of his friends to a GCU volleyball match. It was a very productive, yes, sometimes exhausting month.
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