Week in Review: Town Meeting, That's Cheating and Good Eating

Since tomorrow is Veteran's Day, I will wrap up the week today on this Thursday that feels like a Friday.  Happy Veteran's Day and THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE SERVED!!  Let's look back at the week with my family of civilians...

The biggest news of the week is that we were able to get a variance passed in our town that is the first step in allowing us to buy The Ice Cream Cottage as its own lot.  It's currently part of the lot of the restaurant next door which would make buying it on it's own nearly impossible.  There was always the option of turning the two buildings into commercial condos but we were hoping not to go that route, so this is a wonderful first step to separating the buildings and lots.  I learned that I do not care for politics at all (I was already pretty certain of that but this confirmed it) and town meetings can get very awkward and aggressive and I'm glad I was sitting in my seat waaaaaay in the back corner:

We were the last item on the agenda, so the room had cleared out at this point, but it was pretty packed and heated in the beginning.

On Sunday, the Washington Redskins Commanders played against the New England Patriots and we were a house divided.  Brendan played the role of Switzerland and made sure to cover his bases with a Washington shirt and Patriots hat!  Congrats to the winning Washington Commanders (and honestly I am happy that they won even though I'm a Pats fan, because a sad husband is way worse than the Pats losing).

Eamon went to the actual game with some cousins (it was his bday present) and was able to meet Michael Vick and play catch with some other big football guy that I can't remember the name of.

Maggie went to another Sweet 16 party which meant having to buy a black dress because all of the guests had to wear black or white while the bday girl has a colorful dress.  These parties are like mini weddings and I'll just save my money for the actual wedding instead.

She is having a busy two weeks as she is in Driver's Ed!  Aahhhhh!  Get off the roads ;)  The basketball girls started gym workouts this week as well to prepare for tryouts at the end of the month, so she has that going on too, even though we picked her drivers ed classes to happen in between sports seasons.

My Andrew cut off all his hair!  He and a friend did it together, and he said it feels so freeing:

This week's local news was talking about a girl whose face/teeth got badly injured during a field hockey game from a ball hitting her.  The ball was hit by a boy on the opposing field hockey team.  He was allowed to play with the girls because there is no boys field hockey team.  The poor girl's injuries have sparked debate about boys being allowed to play on girls teams.  It's absurd to me to allow it.  Maggie has played against volleyball teams with boys on them for the same rule that they don't have a boys volleyball team.  Can't these boys just pick another sport, or join a boys team in another league?  Like when that boy serves an ace or makes a really great kill against a girl, does he feel good about himself?  Hearing this news made me happy:

Anyways, enough about that, here's something funny.  We came home one day to find some of our leaf bags had been vandalized!

Declan and Brendan were on the case, and solved the mystery fairly easily as they now know their grandpa has a love for pranks and spraypaint.

I found a perfect pair of casual pants that I can wear to work, and bought them in four colors.  They are comfy, not tight anywhere but not too loose, the perfect length with an elastic waist.  I literally just wear them Mon-Thurs and then we can wear jeans on Friday.  It's like my own version of a uniform.  Nobody has noticed yet!

Phil and I started drinking this before bedtime and I think it does actually make us feel calm and sleepy.  I used to take magnesium capsules every night but I can feel the effect of this much better (or it's placebo effect, but I'll take it).  

Sometimes I have no idea what my teens are doing in school, because they are so self-sufficient and I don't need to hover, and then I find out how involved they are.  Maggie joined the Catholic Athletes for Christ chapter that opened at our high school:

Eamon joined too but he wasn't at the first meeting because he was at Holy Cross College at the National Honor Society State Conference in his role as NHS Treasurer:

We ate a lot of chicken this week for some reason, including Sheet Pan Fajitas, Healthy Orange Chicken:

 As well as Southwestern Chicken Salad:

And I found the prize in my lunch of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, minus the mushrooms because I'm not a fun guy ;)

I texted that photo to Phil and he said "So that's where it went!"  Those bay leaves are so hard to find sometimes!

I hope you all have a wonderful prize-finding Veteran-loving long weekend :)