Before: A sentient mop who loves me
After: silly and poodle looking
Costume day
I checked a few boxes in March:
Book-- Elphie: A Wicked Childhood
Albums: Lady Gaga Mayhem; Mumford & Sons Rushmere; Japanese Breakfast For Melancholy Brunettes
Cookies: Soft and chewy oatmeal chip (5/25)
New-to-me restaurant: Butterbird
Date night: SAME
Donations: We got a haul from Dorothy's room, Minnie's room, the small storage room, and the family room, bringing us to 9/25 loads to St. Vinny's.
Before I rest on my grocery saving laurels, I should note that we also did a Target run for cleaning supplies and a trip to the local grocery for wine, cheese, and salads-in-a-bag, and I don't know how much that cost because Ben went, and I hate checking my account balances. #badatadulting. ALSO, we spent all of the money eating all of our meals at restaurants last weekend because SO MANY KID THINGS. (Srsly we had lunch and dinner out Friday-Sunday, which is very much not like us, but was necessary.)
BUT! I only spent $308 at the grocery store! That;'s unheard of around here!
Menu:
Sunday (yesterday LOL): Burgers, chips and veggies and dips, green beans, peanut butter cookies (I had a Costco chipotle black bean burger wrapped in lettuce, and it was SO DELISH).
M-W: SO MANY options! Sandwiches and crudite, breakfast sandwiches, eggs, pancakes, and fruit, pizza, spaghetti, deli fried chicken-- I will fully commit to being a short order cook as we get through another week full of kid things. Also there is a very good chance that takeout is in the cards tonight because Minnie and Cooper have to come to campus with me for a 4-6 thing.
Thurs: Grilled chicken breasts, baked potatoes, broccoli, salad.
Friday: No clue! Maybe tacos; maybe spaghetti. We'll see where the wind takes us.
Weekend: Dorothy has a Chicago dance convention/competition, but Ben might take her because she has only one dance (it's only for the company dances, and most of hers compete at the club level), and she wears her hair down for it. Soooooo, I could be home alone with everyone else-- meaning I will probably throw money at my feelings.
Jack had his state speech competition on Saturday. He competes in a category called special occasion speaking, and in WI, this (funny-- think mini stand-up routine built around a specific topic to a fake audience) category has 3 prompts that the students can choose from. The prompts are determined at the state coaches' meeting in July, so kids theoretically have from July-December to work on their speeches, but Jack? Decided to write his 6-minute speech the week of the year's first tournament, where he placed 4th and then took off like a (non spaceX) rocket!
He has won so many competitions this year, and he was so happy heading into state (hosted at his very own school no less!) This year, students could choose from a motivational speech by a coach, a villain monologue, or a welcome-to-camp speech. Jack did the camp speech, and it was HILARIOUS and BANANAS. SO much physical humor! SO many dark jokes about middle schoolers! He did a cartwheel In a suit! And did a Russian jump that was always higher than classroom desks!
He was elated to make semi finals (he has never broken into out-rounds at state before). Coop and I went to the high school when the semis were over to wait and see if he made finals because we planned to watch. Well! Jack's coach could not contain his delight and told Jack he was the top speaker going into finals before the postings had even dropped. Jack was SO EXCITED. To make things even sweeter, 2 of his teammates also made the final (it's unusual for schools to have HALF of the final round, so the whole team was thrilled, and anyone not in their own round came to watch.)
Jack was AWESOME in the final round, and the whole round was just ridiculously funny. Kids! They're so smart and talented. Jack got to speak in his AP history classroom, and the room was stuffed to the gills with people sitting in the aisles and standing in the back. Jack got the most laughs for sure, and he was clearly so happy and proud of himself.
The whole fam came to school for awards, and JACK TOOK SECOND PLACE IN THE WHOLE STATE OF WI! His teammate got third, and his other teammate won. It was SO COOL!
1. I joked last month when I got to my office and saw the hall drinking fountain outside my door had been ripped out (presumably to install a new bottle filler drinking fountain-- YES!) that there was asbestos in the wall. AND THEN I CAME BACK THE MONDAY AFTER BREAK TO THIS:
LOL. I mean DUH. I spent the day in the museum lobby and at the student center. Good views abounded, and it was lovely to walk around campus.
WE did it!! By WE I mean BEN who painted, laid laminate planks, and assembled the bed and vanity ALL BY HIMSELF. (Coop put together an IKEA book shelf).
Ok! First up, Dorothy's room.
Here is the before:
