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Friday night in Chicago

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You’d never guess how anxious I was two hours before this happy family photo.

You see I hate traffic, I hate congestion, I hate hoardes of people, and I don’t do well with the unknown…yet we were on our way to downtown Chicago with the kids to meet an out-of-town friend for dinner. I wasn’t even driving, but just simply being a passenger is enough to raise my anxiety levels (I can literally feel the anxiety rising up in my chest). Now, it’s not debilitating by any means and I can always power through, but it’s why I tend to be a homebody. The good part is that Tom’s presence makes me feel better and the kids get to see me handle something not fun…and everything usually ends up just fine.

We had delicious 🍕 pizza at Genos East Pizza, delicious 🍨dessert at Shake Shack, we drooled over everything at Dylan’s Candy Bar, and then went a little 🛁 bath bomb crazy at Lush Cosmetics (I’m not sure if I should thank or curse my friend Sara who introduced me to them). And I survived to tell the tale. 🥰

The kids loved it and we had a good time so I guess my anxiety was worth it…but I was glad to get back to our little burg.

Our family selfie!

And since we did have someone to take our photo…

I love me a rainbow…

I am so glad I remembered that Lush was on Michigan Avenue, and as luck would have it it was directly on our way back to the car!!

This is what dedication looks like.

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So a few days ago it was 70° and gorgeous and walking through the neighborhood was a dream. It was also perfect timing for me as I had recently restarted (for about the 10th time) my weight loss efforts and walking is my thing (it’s the only exercise I did when I lost 141# a few years ago).

So fast forward a day and it snowed. Then I burst a blood vessel on my toe and it was painful to walk. So today it was super windy and a little chilly but it was at least sunny so I bundled up and off I went, hood up and everything (I stopped short of a scarf and gloves). I’ve gained a bit of that 141# back but I’m now determined to get it off again.

Today’s life tip brought to you by me and Lake County 911.

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OOPSIES!

Guys, you should really learn what cell phone button presses set off the emergency contact/911 sequence. (FYI, for iPhones you rapidly press the top or side button five times.)

I had my phone wrapped in my leggings waistband and wanted to turn the volume down without unwrapping it… Nothing was happening and then I heard a weird loud noise I’d never heard. I quickly unwrapped my phone to see my phone dialing 911. I hung up (wasn’t sure if it had connected yet) and then had to stop my phone from dialing my emergency contacts.

THEN I had to answer a callback from Lake County 911 checking if everything was okay.

I explained what had happened and told her I was mortified. 😣 They were nice about it.

Upshot? Lake County 911 is on the ball.

Is this a good look to watch Ozark on Netflix?!

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Because that’s what I’ll be doing in about five minutes once our son goes to bed. I LOVE doing Facebook party demos except for the minor fact that now I look great but it’s 8pm on a weeknight and I have nowhere to go. First world problems, amirite?! Maybe I should start scheduling them for FRIDAY night…except honestly we are pretty much homebodies and we likely wouldn’t be going anywhere then, either. Maybe a quick run to SamsClub? Target? Dairy Queen? #momlife

A first and last time for the video game place.

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We came home from a play date with friends and the kids wanted to go across the street and play with the three neighbor boys. They went over and the kids weren’t home but the dad offered to take Katie and Owen to them—they were at a local gaming place. They were both willing to spend their own money to do it so I then offered to pay for them, thinking that they would be able to play a multiplayer game with the other boys instead of being limited to two people per game like they generally are at home on the Xbox.

Fast forward to receiving this picture from the dad and this is what was going on: everybody was on a different computer doing something different. In other words, paying for exactly what they could be doing at home for free. so we had a conversation about that when they got home. Katie spent two hours on YouTube and Owen played by himself for two hours which is just an insane waste of money.

Kids.

Mammogram Redux

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So if you remember I had a mammogram a little while back. I don’t care about them, they are no sweat, who cares, just another day. I got a phone call a day or so later saying everything looked good on my bloodwork, so I forgot about it.

Well, if you can guess where I’m going with this… About 5 days later I get a registered letter from the hospital and…I was getting called back for further evaluation. So, the other call was obviously ONLY for bloodwork and NOT the mammogram…which makes sense now, but when you have been to the hospital four out of five days for many different appointments, there could be confusion.

Thankfully I am not one to spiral and I did not even google anything…but still, I won’t lie, there was that moment of panic. So I had to wait for my PCM to call back with a consultation order and then I got to schedule the callback mammogram.

The day of I still wasn’t really worried or concerned. I knew the likelihood of finding anything was low, but in the back of my mind…the niggling voice was still there… What if??? Which got worse as the ultrasounds continued (they had to do each side) and then it was over and I was waiting for the doctor.

He came in within five minutes and said straight up “You’re all clear. Everything is benign. See you in a year!”

Phew.