In the past, a closing has been a joyous occasion- champagne, high fives, hugs and happiness. This week, was a milestone for the Bravo family. Phil and I learned a lesson of hard knocks. We closed on a property we purchased back when we were blissful, DINKs. For a time we were doing great, getting our hands dirty in real estate. After a while, the dirty hands got old (pulling a dead cat out from under the house on my lunch break) and even sad (a tenant stealing the copper out of our AC system causing lots of damage$$). We've finally decided to end the nightmare and got someone to buy the house- meaning we had to bring a big, fat piggy bank to the closing. So, while we were happy to get rid of it, we were sad to take a nasty hair cut. Lesson learned. Let's say good-bye to our little nightmare:
It was a week of ups and downs. Some moments I felt like Super Woman- baking squash M&M pancakes for breakfast <things I snuck squash into this week: pancakes, muffins, smoothies and chili>, researching and walking to vote, planning a cool nursery 2 play date at the park and taking the girls to a Frozen Princess party at Chick Fil A...then other moments I just couldn't get it together when I was anything but a super woman- lots of temper tantrums and fighting (the older two are already at it), a whole mile walk with a crying toddler, a crabby mood that I couldn't shake, dual meltdown while I'm trying to get blood work done (perks of being O-), toys everywhere, lunches un-made, rooms a wreck (and no I haven't even started on "the new boy" room (as Marly calls him). I'm glad that I have friends I can hang out with and let the sloppiness occur and just being around other moms makes it better. As Gara pointed out, at least we were able to have an adult conversation at lunch with the children were quietly tearing apart her living room pulling out dozens of puzzles and dumping all the pieces on the floor. So while the moms were putting them all back together, they moved on to destroy another room. And Stephanie always welcomes me with a big glass of good wine (that somehow tastes fine while pregnant -since most wine doesn't). I have a good village! I paid it forward by bringing the Mitchell's dinner and meeting baby Mollie and dropping off a nursery thank you for a new worker and bringing dinner and lunch to Kathleen who had to burry her dad this weekend. I got out of making dinner twice (CFA) and Zoie's for Ellie's school fundraiser. Friday evening Phil found me hiding out on the porch in the dark (time change) while the girls were having a major dance party while waiting for him to come home. We did a low key dinner at TCC then headed to bed early. Saturday I made breakfast and we headed to Alex's soccer game and dropped Abigail with my parents for the day. Then, we took the older girls to Tallahassee for the homecoming football game! Being back on campus was so nostalgic for Phil and I (and romantic). The girls and I toured my sorority house. I showed them my old rooms. Future legacies?! We were so lucky to meet up with the Thoresens and they got us into a fabulous tailgate party at the new Old School club. The girls were super excited to go to the game! This was Marly's first FSU game. Ellie hasn't been since she was a year old! They loved the cotton candy and watching Chief Osceola and Renegade! It was nice to pull out a win and do the chop with thousands of fellow fans. It was a long walk back to the car, and an even longer drive back to Jax (especially when you're the one driving and everyone else is sleeping). This morning was even more painful. We got up and went to 8:30 mass. Donuts motivate us all. I got to sneak out for a pedi party to celebrate Mercedes' pregnancy. Later, after a power hour, we walked up to get Chinese food for dinner. It was a good way to end the week.