☀️ Hello, Monday! ☀️

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine had a theme—canceled plans. The weather here was iffy all weekend, and though it wasn't extreme for me personally, my heart goes out to the people whose towns that had tornadoes touch down. We had a lot of flooding, but I feel like we fared pretty well, in spite of the torrential downpours that lasted for hours at a time. 

Because of this, I don't have a lot to talk about in the way of my weekend, so I thought I'd talk about my agenda for this coming week instead. 

I did get out on Friday: first with Mom. 

I ran to pay my water bill, then we had lunch and called it a day, because the weather was getting bad again. 

I had this delicious tornado roll, and we shared fried rice. We barely ate the rice, so I brought it home for my Jonah and he ate it for dinner that night. It's his favorite! 

Marilyn came over that afternoon and then we left together at the same time. She went to a birthday party for one of her little greats, and I went to dinner and a movie with my friend. It was a fun night! I enjoyed my (farm to table) meal of grilled chicken tenders and sweet potato fries, then we saw the movie The Friend. It was excellent! I'm so glad I got out that night. 

Chloe is always super excited to see Mare! She adores her, and I think Mare feels the same. 

This was what I drove home Friday night listening to. I loved the Indigo Girls when I was a teenager, and this was one of my favorite songs. I still remember every word of this song!

I got up on Saturday morning and washed my hair, and then my sheets. When they were done I put them back on my bed, and then got "ready" for my day. I stayed in these clothes all day!

I made this for dinner Saturday night: chicken parmigiana with spinach. It was delicious! I didn't do much that night except watch tv and text friends; I ended up talking to a friend from about nine that night until 1:15 Sunday morning! We had a lot to talk about, evidently. 🤣 We hung up, and I was wide awake! I ended up listening to a song and fell asleep during that, and then was back up by 5:45 to get dressed for work. 

This was me dragging myself inside. I was tired! I came home after work and ate lunch/worked on blog stuff for the week, then I went to run errands with my friend Abbey. I was supposed to go to their house last night, but her husband wasn't feeling great. So she picked me up, we ran a couple of errands together, then she brought me back home. Errands with friends is my favorite!

I talked to my friend again that night, and that was all I did this weekend! I don't mind too terribly bad, because I have a very full week ahead. I am glad for this, because even though I used to love to stay home and considered myself to be an introvert, I've completely changed and am the exact opposite now. I need things to do every night and I cannot stay at home for more than one night at a time! I am also realizing that I'm more extroverted than I ever thought; maybe it's life circumstances that have changed me. I feel like this is common for divorced women; I've heard people say they were the same way when they divorced. It's really strange, but I seriously love my new life, so long as I get lots of hugs often and I get to see my family and friends. 

Here's what this week looks like: 

• I'm home today, so I'll do house things and then I'll grocery shop. Tonight my best friend and I are going out to dinner together, and I'm excited about our one on one time. We never do this! 

• I work tomorrow until around one; I'll come home for a bit, and then I'll leave again for Bunco at five thirty. This happens on the second Tuesday of every month! I love this group of women and am so glad they invited me to be a part of their club.

• I work on Wednesday, pretty much all day, except for the few hours I have in between 12:30 and 5:00. 

• I work all day on Thursday, and then I'll go to Sam's again afterward. I may go back to work and unload it all, or I may wait; I'm not sure. That night my friend Marie invited me to her elementary school's play, The Jungle Book. I sing with Marie in choir, and she's one of the music teachers for a local school here in town; I love to support my friends in their endeavors and I love seeing kids do this kind of thing. Abbey and her family might meet me there, but even if I'm alone, I don't mind. I'm excited about this!

I have to pause here and say that I'm super excited to be able to support kids again in the coming school year. As a teacher assistant, I plan to be there for all of the things I can be to show my love and support for my school. I cannot wait for this, friends, and for the fun days ahead of parties, school events, getting into plays and games for the town high school for free or at a huge discount, and dressing up for fun themed days! God is so sweet to allow me another go at this, and I am so thankful. 

• I'm off again on Friday, so I'll run some errands early that day, and that night I'm working at the gala that Marilyn will share about either that day or in her Hello Monday post next week. I'm excited to do this at a fun (fancy) place, and that I get to dress up for the event. I love having an excuse to dress up! I'm excited to do this with Marilyn and sitting with her and the pictures that I'm sure we'll ask people to take of us. It's the small things in life, friends! 

• I'm sure I'll see Mom and Trish on Saturday, and I may go out with my friend that night. If the weather is nice, I thought it'd be fun to do something outside like mini golf or something along those lines. 

• Sunday is church/work again, and then I'm sure I'll do something that night. Stay tuned! 

That brings me back to a week from today, and I have plans that night as well; it'll be our monthly The Bright Minds Book Club dinner. That's one thing I need to do today: I need to find the book and read the whole thing this week! 

See what I mean about needing to stay busy? I'm not complaining about this and am so grateful to have a full calendar. I know it's foreign to some of you, but for those of you who have walked through divorce, I'm sure you get why I have to stay active. Do you have questions or thoughts about this? What are you doing this week that you're looking forward to? I'd love to hear from you! 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all. 

Jenn ❤️🩷

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