We had a really nice weekend!
The main event for us was Asher’s big Conference swim meet on Saturday, which is the beginning of the post-season for high school swim. They taper them to perform well at this meet, the boys all wear their fancy racing tech suits, etc.
The meet was Saturday afternoon at 1:00, but the parents all traditionally host a big breakfast for them before Conference. They had a shake-out swim practice from 9-10, then breakfast, then some team time before eventually warm ups and then the meet went from 1-4… and then the kids went out for pizza after. SO, basically a whole day event.
It consumed my entire day, too, between driving him to practice, running to pick up 20 yogurts (my contribution to the breakfast), then back to school to help set up the breakfast, and then Ivan and I both had volunteer jobs during the meet.
My volunteer job was SO EASY this time. I was a “door monitor” and basically just had to sit on a chair on the pool deck and make sure parents didn’t go out onto the athlete portion of the pool area. I had a front row seat to the whole meet. 🙂
Asher swam really well! He had personal best times on his 2 individual events (50 free, 100 free) and had awesome relay splits too.
Next weekend is the Sectionals meet, but he wasn’t sure if he’d be swimming at that one. There are only limited entries, and as he’s only a freshman, there are obviously faster upperclassmen who get most of the spots. But, he found out Sunday night that he did get selected to swim at Sectionals, which is great for him! (He’s the only freshman going from his team.)
Most of all, he’s happy to get another week of swim (otherwise his season would have ended after Conference), and to be at the next big meet with his team. The next meet after that is high school State, which he won’t qualify for, so his season will be done after Saturday. He is SO BUMMED for the season to end!!!!!! He has seriously, seriously loved everything about high school swim. (He’ll go back to his club team for the tail end of that season and the Regionals meet in a couple weeks, but then will have a month off from swim completely.)
I managed to leave my phone at home on the charger on Saturday, unfortunately, so I have ZERO photos from the big Conference meet. UGH. I got a cute one of his whole team at the breakfast, but it’s too hard to block out all the faces to post here. 🙂 (Also, I’ll admit it was also kind of nice to NOT have my phone and just be totally unplugged for 4+ hours!)
My parents were in town all weekend, from Friday night to Monday morning, too. We went out for Mexican on Friday night and my dad went to watch the swim meet Saturday (my mom unfortunately had a little issue where she took some medication on an empty stomach right before the meet and got really queasy feeling, and thought she was getting sick, but turns out she wasn’t…. but stayed home from the meet just in case). At night we all watched a movie called Unstoppable on Prime Video which was really good (one of those inspirational sports movies about a one-legged high school wrestler who goes on to make it big in college wrestling).
Sunday we just were around the house, mostly, and talked etc while I did some chores and cleaning. Ivan got groceries, Asher worked, and my mom and I ran a few errands. Then, of course, we watched the Superbowl!
Some years we’ve done the whole “Superbowl snack spread”, but I had NO desire to cook or prep anything this year. So, we just ordered a couple pizzas and sent Ethan to pick them up, and called it good. 🙂
A pretty busy weekend overall, but lots of fun stuff.
Oh, and on an unrelated note, the internet understands my pain re: giving up soda. Saw both of these this weekend and was like YES, THAT’S EXACTLY HOW I FEEL!!!! 😩😩😩
Wish I could say it’s been “‘out of sight, out of mind” for me, but I’m on Day 42 with no soda and still really miss it…. 😣😕 Argh.
(I think maybe my situation is a little different from some in that I don’t like coffee, and I really don’t care about alcohol at all?? (I mean, I drink a little, but mostly just socially, and I am rather indifferent to it/ don’t love it.) So there’s literally NOTHING else that truly tastes “great” for me to drink. Some people so look forward to their morning coffee, or love to drink a cold beer or wine with a dinner out…. Not me. I hate coffee. (I do like my hot tea, but it’s like, fine. If someone said I could never have it again, it would be no big deal at all. Which I don’t think most coffee drinkers would say.) Same with alcohol. I’d have zero issue never having another sip again in my whole life, and I’m usually pretty meh about it even when I order it. Lol. (Like, I’d way rather be drinking a soda…).
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for Asher getting to swim at Sectionals next weekend! He’s worked hard and I love to see him seeing the results.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Alright, I’m laughing so hard at the diet Coke one (“thanks for encouraging me on this journey!”) He definitely nailed it. WHY is this so hard? Shouldn’t we be craving healthy things??? It just seems like there’s something wrong with the universe… or possibly, my body (maybe that’s it.) Anyway… the inside of your body is definitely happier without soda, so just keep focusing on that.
Anyway, congrats to Asher! I’m glad he’s doing so well, and that he’s enjoying it so much. The whole meet does sound really fun, and an incredible bonding experience for the team.
I ended up going out to dinner (with Birchie!) and missing the first half of the Super Bowl, but then watched the second half. I also usually make some kind of special “Super Bowl dinner” but honestly, it was GREAT not cooking this time. I could just enjoy the second half of the game and not have to worry about cleaning the kitchen. I might order pizzas next year!
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I saw that you met back up with Birchie! So fun! Definitely worth missing part of the Superbowl for, especially if your team isn’t playing, lol! And yes, the pizza thing worked out great. 😉 Sometimes it can be fun to make some yummy snacks, etc, but I just didn’t feel like the hassle this year.
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congrats to Asher! so nice to see them enjoying the sport, right? no matter where they go with it, they enjoyed the ride.
I can’t think of a drink that I can’t give up if it’s really bad. I like coffee, really good coffee, but I can go months without it. diet soda I drink it sometimes but the longer I don’t drink it, the less appetizing they become. I like tea but again I am okay with just hot water. Kudos to you for holding up the restraint. If I have to give up something I really love (maybe oatmeal?!) I will have a hard time.
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Haha, so funny to think that you’d have a hard time giving up oatmeal!! I mean, I get it! And I know you love it. But I just haven’t had oatmeal in months now (even though I do like it, I don’t LOVE it or anything). So strange how our tastebuds are all so different and crave different things!
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This is exactly why I chose not to give up coffee. I do have to moderate and only drink one cup a day, though between you and me it’s a very strong and sometimes very large cup of coffee. But it brings me so much joy! I don’t know what the solution is for soda where it has to be an all or nothing, but at least the internet sees you.
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Haha, NO judgement from me on your “one” ginormous coffee. 😉 LOL! I am glad that you have something you love AND that you’re successfully able to moderate it. I feel like ultimately I do want to revisit the moderation idea, just because the idea of completely restricting it 100% forever sounds sad and kind of miserable. I don’t know. For now I’m just thinking about it but am continuing to stay totally off while I mull it all over. My moderation attempts in the past have not been successful, but I feel like it’d be my ultimate goal to make that work. I think if I DO try to go that route, I’d need to have very specific guidelines about when and how it’s allowed. Which seems pathetic, but it sounds like other people have sort of similar “rules” around coffee or other things, so maybe it’s not as a strange as I think.
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I still haven’t tried Dr. Pepper, but you know it’s on my list of things to do in 2025! I’m soooo curious.
I am terrible at stopping things completely. I automatically feel frantic if I say I can NEVER have something again, but then I also sometimes struggle to moderate.
One that I HAVE done before, is limit things to my birthday and Christmas. As silly as this sounds – and I never did eat it much – but my go-to is Twizzlers. Every year for Christmas I get a bag and every Christmas I eat the ENTIRE BAG myself. In like…less than a day. I tell myself that’s the time of year I binge Twizzlers. I eat them with impunity knowing I’ll get to binge one bag again in 6 months at my birthday. I don’t crave Twizzlers, I don’t feel upset when my little binge is over, but it is SO satisfying and delicious and I love that I’ve paired it with special occasions (just my birthday + Christmas). I’m not saying you need to change your stance on the soda thing at all, but I do wonder if staying off it will ever feel easier and if there might be some way to moderate it that ends up feeling better emotionally. Also, I realize a person has to drink something, so you would confront pop a lot more than I confront Twizzlers 😉
One final thought: you are not a better human, wife, mother, daughter if you quit or do not quit soda. This is not a moral decision, it’s a personal decision. Every decision has consequences. Drinking pop has consequences and not drinking pop has consequences. I think it’s all about deciding what consequences you’re willing to endure. BUT it’s NOT a MORAL DECISION!
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Sent you a text response, but thanks again for this thoughtful response. ❤️ I think that’s what’s making me feel angsty- the idea that I CANNOT ever have the soda, like it’s some kind of forbidden fruit. And just that nothing else even remotely really scratches the itch. (So many of the replacements are sort of “fruity” in nature, like my flavored water drops, or sparkling water, etc. It’s okay, but I’m not really into fruity flavors that much!! Soda isn’t like that.)
But, like I’ve shared, I have not done so hot on moderating in the past. See my response to Birchie above- I think if I do try to moderate it, I would need very specific guidelines and it would need to look very different from my past attempts. Still thinking about it! 🙂 I do feel like being able to figure out how to have it in a healthy moderation would be my ULTIMATE “win”. I don’t really like either other option- drinking a ton of it (no!) or completely giving it up forever (eh, sad and irritates me!).
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I have the same feelings about the Super Bowl as Charlie did. It was quite a snooze. I’m sure was exciting for Eagle fans to watch them obliterate the Chiefs, but I would’ve preferred a closer, more exciting game.
congrats to Asher! That is great that he gets to swim at sectionals and had a great first experience with the high school swim team. Seems like a great group of kids.
the soda thing is hard. That is probably how I would feel about coffee, although I did give it up during my pregnancies when it didn’t sit well with me and the smell was a turn off. But when you are someone that doesn’t have a lot of small pleasure in your life, like a little treats that you really enjoy, it’s hard to give up something that you enjoy so much!!
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Yes, I feel like many other people would NOT want to give up their morning coffee!!! But I don’t have that. Also, I feel like I just don’t have really many other vices that some other people may. Like, I’m not really a big sweets person- I can have cookies and ice cream in my house and I will go days or weeks without touching it. I like chips/ snacks but I’m not particularly “snacky” either. And I already talked about alcohol and other beverages not being a draw for me… I feel like there’s nothing I’m really that into except for my soda treats!! Ha.
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I stopped having Dr. Pepper at home and let me tell you, I sometimes forgot how much JOY I found in just letting myself have a small can of Dr. Pepper during the day. It’s very sad to crack open a seltzer when all I really want is that sweet, sweet taste of good ole DP. But I’m doing it! (And letting myself have DP when I go out so I’m not 100% off the soda.) But I also drink coffee so that helps, too. I fully enjoy that morning cup!
Congrats to Asher! What an amazing season for him!
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That’s great that you’ve managed to successfully cut it out at home! I think you’re on the right track. That’s ultimately what I think I’d like to do- have it sometimes, but not ALL the time! Cutting out one big “setting” i.e. at home is a great way to automatically cut a bunch out. I hadn’t been buying regular Dr P at home for a long time now, but I had been buying Diet Dr P…. and then having regular soda when I was out places. It just still seemed to add up to a lot, since we eat out pretty often and then I’d find myself getting it at a drive thru or gas station etc…. I don’t know- I’m trying to think what successful moderation would really look like for me. IF I try that route, I think I would need it to be very, very well defined. (And yes, that first sip from an ice cold can sure tastes great!! I usually love a fountain soda, but a crisp can can be amazing too…)
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I just commented and it got eaten. Dang it! The short of it was that I like coffee! Haha! How long are you planning on staying off soda for?
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