Hello Monday!

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. 

I'm backing up to Friday; this is a friend of mine's niece. I only put it together a few weeks ago that this girl is who she is; I remember when she was born and adored her older sister. I knew their family before this one was even a thought, and I've swam in her pool many times! Isn't she a cutie? We wore pink on Friday, and she was all decked out. She's loved that we have this connection, and we're besties now. Well, me and all the girls are besties, truth be told. I adore them all!

I came home right after work to put on warmer clothes, then I headed to Chris' house. I love the drive there! My favorite way to go is down a scenic highway; it's twisty and hilly, and my favorite type of road. I talked to Marilyn the majority of the hour and ten minute drive. 🤣 

We love this coffee place in a nearby town and always make a stop there when we're together. Their iced coffee is to die for! 

I finally got around to seeing some of the rest of his property while I was there; it's so pretty out there! He has seven acres, and while some of it is wooded, there are some clearings that we can walk to and let his dogs run around at the same time. They love it out there and are living their best lives in the country. 

I did some house things on Saturday; my ex-husband had planned to come over on Sunday to move the rest of his things out of my home. In preparation of that, I packed up what was left over from my closet, bedroom, and bathroom. I put it all into a couple of boxes and labeled things in the effort to make it organized. This was a day that I had been dreading for lots of reasons, but I'm glad that it's behind me and that the reminders of him are finally gone. This is a hard part of the divorce process; we've been divorced since the end of March, and he's been out of the house for almost a year and a half, but it's drug on because of all the things I would see to remind me of him. I wasn't sad on the big day of this, but relieved to have it behind me. 

As a result of all of this, a huge bonus is that the corners of my bedroom that needed to be worked on are now clean! This was the pile of my personal things that I had to donate after it was all over and done with. I really need to work on picture albums and purge some of what I have. What do you do with your pictures? I'd love to hear any thoughts you might have. My sons don't want a bunch of pictures, and honestly, neither do I. I want to keep some, but I need to just toss some. I've already tossed what I have duplicates of. 

When I was finished with all of that, I called Marilyn and made plans to spend Saturday evening with her. We had hoped to have a fire in the fire pit, but it started raining as we walked outside to do that. Kendra joined us when she got off work, and taught us how to open a bottle of wine with a cork. We laughed when she said that Mar had her favorite kind of opener, because it's the kind that looks like a little person whose arms go up when the wine is opening, as if to say, "Yay! It's time to drink wine!" It was a fun night. I took my dinner with me, and they each ate dinner on their own before we met. We talked, we laughed, we gave advice, we listened to Taylor Swift's new album...it was a fun time. Once again...I'm so grateful for the gift of friendship! 

And as far as Sunday went, here's how that day went. My sons came over to help him, because they're amazing. I made a big breakfast for anyone who wanted it, and they all appreciate that I fed them. Marilyn snuck over for a half hour before she went to church that morning to help me put some of his things in a box and to get it all moved to one area. She did this in the effort to make things go by more quickly, because she knew we were all dreading this day.

In addition to my sons being here, his girlfriend was here and Chris was here to be with me. I put him to work, though, because he needed something to do. He hung my new TV for me (starting with the mount first), then he put together some new outdoor furniture I bought. After that we went upstairs to my room while I cleaned up and vacuumed up there, and then he made a repair to my bathroom cabinet. I appreciated that he did all of this for me, even if he did text me when he first arrived telling me that he was outside but stuck in his truck. He was nervous to be here, and although it wasn't reciprocated, he was kind to my ex-husband. 

Overall, things went so much better than I'd hoped. I'm so glad for this, and like I've already said, I'm relieved that it's behind me. I love having a cleaned house, and I really love knowing that a lot of the clutter is gone. While they finished in the garage, Chris and I sat down inside to watch Netflix for a while. They left pretty soon after we sat down, then we left to go grab our favorite pizza from Memphis Pizza Cafe before he headed back to Mississippi. I always hate saying goodbye to him! Our weeks go by quickly, but we don't get a lot of time together; I really enjoy the weekend time we get. 

For the rest of the evening, I relaxed on the couch and watched Hallmark movies while I worked on blog stuff for the week. What did you do that you loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn