Five on Friday (February 16, 2018)

So here's the truth this week. I feel like crud, I'm drowning in work, I feel like a part-time kid chauffeur (this would be full-time but my parents help us out a lot) and maid, my house is a disaster, I'm not keeping up with any area of my life. I'm not even keeping up with the Olympics this time around, which is really sad!

And I am having a brain MRI tonight because of two weeks of headaches. Good news is that ovarian cancer rarely moves to the brain. Bad news is that it does sometimes and the friend responsible for hooking me up with Dr. C died 2 years ago when her ovarian cancer metastisized to her brain. Good news is that there are plenty of other things that could be causing headaches, and I feel fairly confident it's one of those other things. Not cancer. Also good news - we're hoping to use this Friday night MRI excursion to Nashville as a dinner date. I'm craving pizza.

Five quick things for the week:

1. Valentine's Day was uneventful. I didn't even see my Valentine because I spent it at Vanderbilt and he spent it at work and church (also work). Tuesday afternoon I arrived home to discover 4 very cute lemon yellow stacking chairs in my living room. We hope to use them as extra seating both in the living room and at the table when we have company, and I love them. After 20 years of marriage, Brian knows me pretty well.

(these chairs are much cuter in person - picture taken on an incredibly gloomy day)

2. I did my best to compensate for our non-Valentine's Day by putting together a pretty dessert last night using my fancy blue glasses (a gift many years ago from my grandma). 

3. I read 2 books this week and they were both good. Love and Other Consolation Prizes is a 5-star read for me, and I can't wait to read more from this author. I flew through Girl, Wash Your Face in one sitting. It wins the award for best cover.

4. Thursday was an early dismissal for the kids. Rory and I had about 90 minutes to kill because of Camden's basketball practice (we do this 3-4 times a week), but on this occasion, we decided to spend the time at Golly G's. She ate two ginormous scoops of ice cream while I had an iced Cuban and worked. We also spent time discussing the fact that she told a little boy at church this week, "Thanks for asking. You're a nice kid, but I would rather die than be your girlfriend." Yikes!

In her defense, it's not easy at any age to turn down a boy (who is standing right in front of you along with a wingman), and we certainly haven't had the discussion on how to do this at 11. Unfortunately, she has been put in this position more than once (and always at church, btw), which means that we should have already had this discussion. In fact, she has several younger boys who routinely tell her they dream about her and openly let her know how much they like her, think she's beautiful, etc. It was a good learning moment, and I tried to take full advantage of the opportunity to discuss boys. And kindness. Because let's be honest, she's going to have many, many opportunities to turn down boys over these next 10ish years.

5. Our weekend is jam-packed. Camden has a basketball tournament this weekend; we're hoping they make it to the final game tonight. Saturday is parent's night out at church. Brian has a slime night planned, and we currently have about 45 kids scheduled to attend. In addition to church, of course, we're celebrating my Grandma's birthday on Sunday. Happy Friday, friends.