No blogging for over a week! It was a week that I really needed a break. I even took two days off from doing firsts. I will add those days on at the end so I actually get 365 days in. Sometimes you just need to do things your own way.

I have decided if there are more days this year that I can’t get in a first I will just add them on and not feel the least bit guilty about it. This year is supposed to be about growth and mindfulness. It isn’t about stressing to accomplish something each day. It is about creating a great year.

So, now that I got that out of my system, here is what I have done this week.

IKEA shopping trip and Moving My Son Into An Apartment #229-230

I have always wanted to go shopping at IKEA. I have been to the IKEA store in Cincinnati a couple of times when we were doing travel baseball. I didn’t have room to take anything home except for a couple of small items.

When I thought about my son moving into his first college apartment I didn’t want to move things out of his room at home. We wanted his room to be nice, but nothing expensive. So I convinced my husband that we needed to make the trip to IKEA. I love the IKEA store!! We decided we needed a bed, box springs, a mattress, a desk, a chair, pictures for his wall, something for storage and a full length mirror.

Since we didn’t have a vehicle that would carry all that we borrowed my oldest son’s truck. Off we went to Cincinnati for a day of shopping.

The convenience of IKEA is amazing! Almost everything comes in flat boxes. The mattress has all the air sucked out and is rolled into a roll with a handle to carry it. We got a twin bed box spring with legs that you just attached for the bed. Easy, peasy!! We know that for the next few years we are going to be moving this same furniture around. The desk has a file cabinet size set of drawers, with a top that just sets on it with attached legs on the other side. The legs will just come right off and you have 3 pieces when you move it again. The chair was in a small box. We got a couple of portable shelving units that are on wheels. We got a great 3′ X 5′ picture of Paris for his room. He had already purchased a couple of smaller wall items.

We ended up buying a great stand up mirror. I really liked it. I was able to slip in two small items for me. Anytime my husband caught me looking at anything that wasn’t on the list he pulled me along. There wouldn’t have been any room for anything else in the truck anyway.

We took the furniture to Bloomington and dropped it off in my son’s new apartment. We met his roommates and then took off back home to drop off the truck.

The next day we loaded up our car and our son’s car and took off back to Bloomington to move him into his first apartment. This was a little scary for all of us. My son is not sure about making his own meals. He is used to having food made for him and last year he ate on campus.

You remember all those wonderful things we bought at IKEA? Well, someone had to assemble all those things! So, we drove a couple of hours to get to the apartment, spent several hours and lots of frustration putting his furniture together, and helping him to organize his room, and then 2 hours heading home. His room looked wonderful! The IKEA furniture was great once we got it put together. It was sad to go away and leave my baby again. It’s definitely not as bad as last year, but I miss him. Also he already had a full length mirror on the wall when we got there. I brought the box with the mirror home. When I get around to putting it together I’m going to use it. If he needs it next year he can take it with him.

Blog Issues

I keep having issues with my blog host. I go to my blog and it has totally disappeared. I decided to just not do anything with it for a few days while I figured out what to do with it. I was worried that I didn’t have back-ups again and I thought I had lost the last couple of months of my blog posts. It came back up and I was able to get it backed up again. I am switching hosts as soon as I can get it done. I am limiting my posts until I am set up with the new host.

I didn’t do a first for a couple of days since I was a little sad about my son and my blog. My friend’s mother died and I had to go to the funeral home. My middle son was having my problems and needed my help so it was time for a little break.

Botox and DJ Bingo #231-232

This first was not something I really did, but something that happened to me. I went to my dentist for a cleaning and check-up. The hygienist first comment to me was, “did you know we do Botox now?” My first thought was, “do I look like I need Botox? Wow! That really makes me feel great!” When my dentist came in to check my teeth, his first comment was “did you know we do Botox now?” Now it’s reinforced! They think I’m a great candidate for Botox! Apparently, my wrinkles are just jumping out at everyone!! The hygienist is probably in her 30′s and she told me she has gotten Botox. She didn’t have a single wrinkly looking spot on her face. Perfection!

As she explained it to me for me to look that good I would need to spend about $1000 every 4 months for awhile. After a while my muscles would relax some and I could come less often. Yeah! Right! If I had that kind of money I would be using it to travel and experience life, not put shots of Botox in my face!!

We went back for DJ Bingo on Friday night and I had my first win! I won a $15 gift card. We had fun and I won!!

Ghost Hunting At The Old Benton County Jail #233

I went with my friends on another ghost hunt. We went to the Old Benton County Jail that was built in 1876. The jail hasn’t been used since the early 1990′s. It was an interesting evening. I love all the old buildings. As far as I know we didn’t encounter any ghosts. They always check the pictures, videos and audio tapes for activity. Who knows, maybe we spent the evening with ghosts. I was amazed at all the old historical records that are setting there and deteriorating. It made me sad. I found a book with arrest records that started in 1896. It was fun to see what they were arrested for back then. I hope someone rescues those pieces of history soon.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge #234

I don’t need to add much to this. Just watch the video!

That was my week!