{SQT} A Field Trip Picture, an Invalid, and Don’t Skip a Lesson

Contractors came to install our roof last Friday morning so, in order to avoid the noise and music floating down our chimney, we went to the beach, which provided the perfect opportunity for those back to school photos I’m so bad at taking.

It was cloudy and cool, but not crowded so we enjoyed salt water taffy, arcade games, pizza, and crab fries. Teddy wore his Patrick Mahomes jersey and got some love, even deep in Eagles country.

Saturday was crazy with running around. Tony and I had spent days figuring out a way to make sure we could get everyone where they needed to be on time and still make it to Mass by 5 p.m. And then we woke up and discovered Tony’s car had a flat tire, despite being parked in the street away from the roofing debris. Unfortunately, the flat tire refused to budge, even with Tony’s gentle sledgehammer persuasion, so we couldn’t get the doughnut on. All our plans went out the window and I spent most of the day as a chauffeur. In between trips our dog pooped in the house and Teddy somehow DROVE THROUGH IT and tracked it all over the house.

I thought the one silver lining was the dumpster the roofers had left in our driveway. There was plenty of room inside, so, to save ourselves a special trip to the dump, we decided to toss in pieces of a large fence we are slowly taking down. I considered it my workout for the day as I lifted the pieces up and tossed them over the side. Sure it was hard work, but I could handle it! Later that night as I got up to roll Fulton, then Teddy, then Fulton again and so on, I noticed my upper back was sore. I manged to fall back asleep each time I woke up, but that morning as Tony tried to snuggle close, I found myself in too much pain to do so. I got out of bed and decided to eat something so I could take some pain medicine (ibuprofen on an empty stomach always makes me nauseous). But as I reached up to grab the cereal boxes, I realized something was very wrong with my back and I collapsed on the floor.

I was incapacitated and unable to do anything except take pain medicine and tell family members how to arrange ice packs on my back for the rest of the day. Of course Sunday is the one day a week we forgo nursing, and I didn’t have any luck calling in someone at the last minute. Skip ahead to today and I’m doing better. I’m still not transferring the boys into their chairs or doing much of the rolling at night, but I’m able to do pretty much everything else, even if I’m still sore and stiff. I did rest, but it’s very had for me to sit around and do nothing. I’d already scheduled an early birthday back massage for tomorrow so I’m hoping with a liberal application of some hot stones, I’ll start feeling even better.

Thankfully there was football on Sunday to distract me. I don’t have the time to follow it as closely as I used to, but I do enjoy watching the games. Fulton and Teddy are very much into learning all the teams, and the rivalries within each division and conference. I’m hoping it spills over into homeschooling and it improves their geographical knowledge.

I mentioned the new SMA drug a few weeks back and I’m excited to announce that both Fulton and Teddy will be starting it next week! Please say a prayer for no side effects!

Lastly, anyone who’s done DuoLingo knows about the insane amount of reminders and notifications you get from the app that encourage you to “keep your streak going”. And heaven forbid you want to take a break; the Duo owl lays the guilt on pretty thick. If you weren’t aware, there is a whole bunch of memes about the Duo owl. My older kids started sharing them with me awhile ago, but now that we’re all back to competing against each other, we reference the memes quite often (and search for new ones). Because I don’t want you to miss out, I’m sharing a few favorites, but any Google search will turn up a bunch more. Save them and keep them handy for those times when you want to skip a lesson!

That’s all from me. Thankfully, the muscle soreness hasn’t extended to my fingers and I can still type out this quality blog post for y’all to enjoy. Write down your own Takes and link them up below. Be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of the Quick Takes. I look forward to reading your posts!