Another Weekly Recap

I'm running low on vacation time as the end of July quickly approaches. You would think after a week on vacation, I'd come home and spend a week at home trying to regroup. Nope! I've managed to stay busy this week. Here's a bit about what's been going on this week:

Monday
Mr. B went to work and left me at home to tackle all the laundry that accumulated from our trip. I got a phone all from a former coworker, who moved to Japan to teach, asking if I was free to grab lunch. No, I didn't have to go to Japan....she was here in town. We met up in Arlington at the Boomer Jacks. I was so tempted to get a big burger and fries. However, I really hadn't consumed many veggies while on vacation so I felt I needed some nutrition. We both opted for the bottomless soup and salad option. It was nice to hear of her experiences in Japan and to catch her up on all the goings on at school. From Arlington, I headed straight to McKinney to visit another former coworker. She and I visited a few hours before our other friend showed up (another coworker). We made plans to get together to watch the "Men Tell All" episode of "The Bachelorette." She made us Tacos and a very delicious cake. We've been text commentating throughout the whole season. It was fun to have live commentary for this episode. It did take us a while to watch the 2 hour episode since we were constantly pausing it to make our commentary. The best part, my friend's husband was sitting with us and watching and commenting, too. It's awesome hearing a man's perspective on things. I also found it funny he was able to give me a ton of background info.
*Side note: I remember when my mother-in-law was really wanting me to work at an actual school where I had teachers down the hall I could talk to and form friendships with. She said that's what she wanted for me as a teacher. My fist 3 years I was in a unique, but still very enjoyable, teaching situation. I'm so glad that I have formed relationships with the women I work with that will last even if/when we no longer work together.* (I would also like to say that we were missing one of our "thread" members this night....you know who you are)

Tuesday
I spent a bit of my morning hanging out with my nephew who's in town from Austin this week. I took him to the library for story time and to check out some books. He wanted me to read a couple of the books to him while at the library. He's going into first grade this year, so I'm excited to watch him learn to read and write. He and I always have so much fun together.

When I got back home, I ate some lunch and took a short nap. I had a few hours to go before Mr. B got home, so I finished up the laundry and watched a few episodes of "Gilmore Girls." (yeah, I just started the series today, so I'm bout to go on another Netflix binger). When Mr. B got home and showered, we headed over to our preacher's house so his wife could teach me to make authentic Czech kolaches. You can read all about that experience here. Also, you can check out the recipe for kolaches on my "What's Cookin?" page. We stayed and visited for while and ate some of the kolaches for dinner. #becausewecan
Besides, it apparently was "National Junk Food Day."

Wednesday

Since we've been so busy and this was Mr. B's day off, we decided to keep it low key and chill today. We slept in until about 10:30. Mr. B's dad came over to help him put the new burners on his grill so we could start using it. We had kolaches and coffee for brunch before hanging out on the couch watching TV. We had a lot of Jimmy Fallon to catch up on since we were out of town last week. I was so lazy that I even dozed off on the couch for a few minutes. Around 2:00 we decided to get out of the house for a bit. We went to Target....this time I had supervision. We only bought a few necessities. We went to grab some ice cream at Marble Slab after our Target trip. It's over 100 degrees here.....we needed ice cream.

I got the salted caramel cake with peanut butter cups and heath bar mixed in. He got sweet cream with cookie dough, pecans, and caramel topping. 

We headed home and he opted for some video game time while I played one of my computer games. We fired up the grill for some brats. I had sweet potato fries with mine. After dinner, we went to church services before coming home and watching a few more shows on our DVR. Overall, it was a nice, relaxing day at home. One we both needed. 

Thursday

Mr. B had to work the late shift today, so we slept in a little bit. He woke up before me to take care of some yard work before it got too hot. We cleaned up the house since I was having guests over on Friday. Mr. B was so awesome because he got down on his hands and knees and scrubbed our floor. We ate a quick lunch before he had to head to work. I went to the grocery store to grab stuff for my lil party and our food for next week. I came home and unloaded groceries before settling down for some more Netflix binge watching....Gilmore Girls. When Mr. B got home, we watched a bit of TV before calling it a night.

Friday

Mr. B had to work that morning, so I slept in until about 9. I knew I needed to get up and start preparing food for my party. I had a couple of errands to run before everyone showed up. I had my team over for food and girl talk. Check out our spread!

Most of my menu I found on Pinterest. I'll link up to the recipes. I had: 

• fresh veggies with ranch Greek yogurt dip (2% Fage greek yogurt-17.5oz and 1 pack of ranch Greek yogurt dip mix)
•  cheese cubes
•  tortilla rollups (you can mix and match these tons of ways)
•  guacamole chips that I bought at Aldi
•  my guacamole recipe (recipe on my food page)
•  caprese salad (fresh mozzarella and grape tomatoes with greek dressing and Mrs. Dash garlic herb seasoning)
•  and assortment of crackers and bagel chips from Aldi
•  apples with caramel apple dip (I used heath bars instead of snickers)
•  meatballs (grape jelly, BBQ sauce, and Kroger homestyle meatballs)
•  cheesy chicken ranch dip (I used 2 pkgs of ranch dip mix on accident and it turned out great....and I used a crockpot since it's too hot for ovens)

I had a lot left over, so Mr. B and I will have food for a while to munch on. I love visiting with these ladies. Even though 1 has retired and 1 is leaving to be a first time mommy (insert squealing excited face here) and one is moving to 2nd grade, we still plan on keeping in touch via text. #thankgoodnessfor21stcenturyliving 

None of us can believe that it's almost time to start another school year in a few weeks. #summerstaylonger

#ineedmore10amsleepins

#notdonebeinglazy

When everyone left, Mr. B and I just hung out and watched some TV and enjoyed left over snacks.

Saturday

While Mr. B was at work, I went up to the church building to help decorate our classroom for VBS this upcoming week. I spent 3 hours just visiting and hanging things on walls. I headed back home and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls while eating some leftover snack food from the day before. I thought I might want a nap, but then I started getting an influx of ideas for my classroom while I was trying to concentrate on sleeping. So, I called my mom to share and see what she could get done on her end. I still want a nap, but I know that I'm leaving at 4 to head to our friends' house for a pool party. Last night's sleep was interrupted by an idea for a a new post to my Forever Faithful page. I got a sweet thank you note from my now retired coworker. In this note, she wrote about each one of us on the team and what she liked about each one of us. I love how she shared each of our unique quirks and personalities from her perspective. I thought of a way to incorporate what she wrote about me into a post for my page. Click here to check it out.
So 4:00 came and it was time to head to Plano for another pizza/pool party with the gang. I was pleasantly surprised at how quick the drive went this time. We made it there in about 35 minutes! We spent some time lounging, splashing, and tossing each other around in the pool before getting out and munching on chips/dip and veggies. We went back in and the boys went to get the pizzas. After pizza, we sat around just talking and decided to play a round of Guesstures boys vs. girls (the boys won this time....boo!). Us girls decided we wanted coffee and time away from the boys (all they wanted to do was sit and play on their phones). We headed to Starbucks for coffee and girl talk. Since it was near closing, we were offered free cake pops by the barrista.
 #yayforclosingtimefreebies
 #noboysallowed
I had to give De'Von a hard time because he promised the selfie stick next time we all got together. Well, he forgot it (but he'll blame it on Christy since he was working and she was at home). Since we had no selfie stick, this was the only pic that managed to get taken that night:

Thanks to Adrian's mad photography skills, Mr. B looks photoshopped in while I appear to be licking him....#weirdphotos

We headed home around 10:30, took a shower, then went right to bed.

Sunday

Mr. B had to work that morning while I went to church. I spent my afternoon writing, reading some blogs,  making my famous potatoes, sleeping, and watching Gilmore Girls. Vacation Bible School started today. Mr. B and I went to church Sunday afternoon. After church, we headed to game night at a friend/coworker's house to eat and play games. Homemade chicken strips (that were totally bomb, BW) and my potatoes were on the menu. If you wanted veggies, you had to have the pico or avocado slices. #whoneedsveggies

We played several card games. It's pretty safe to say that BW and I have a competitive streak. Mr. B and V are just trying to stay in the positive point range.....when it comes to Nertz, that is. I won't say who won that game (I totally did!) because that would be bragging.......

I did, however, finally let BW win at least one other game we played that night. After all, I was at his house and I try to be a good guest. Since it was the first time at their place, I finally got to meet the famous Leroy the Cat. He even was kind enough to take a pic with the whole group at the end of the evening.

I know another game night will happen again because BW is waiting to finally beat me at Nertz:)

Yeah, so that was my busy week! While I still have 3 "official" weeks before I go back to work, I know that this upcoming week is really my last week with absolutely no school work. I need to read (I've been such a book slacker this summer), shop (not really, but really), and watch more Gilmore Girls. I refuse to look at that pile of school stuff sitting in the corner in my house.