Sunday Post with Berls | COVID Quarantine Week 39

COVID Quarantine Week 39

I’m continuing with writing every day (thanks for the comments that you liked it). It does mean a longer post, so I’ll continue with my quick synopsis and marking those items in bold.

News at Home

The Brief Version –> Sunday I took on too much and went to bed way too late, but my 9 ft tree is up! Throughout the week I felt super down and really struggled to cope with juggling my full time mom and job responsibilities. Dante was fussy still at the start of the week, but thanks to an early nap for a Dr’s appointment on Wednesday, we may have figured things out. I blew out a surge protector, but before it died it did it’s job and protected my desktop AND laptop. We are almost done with our Christmas decorating, still have outdoor lights to do. Friday was insanely busy, but I might be getting a promotion! And Saturday was a much needed play-date. Oh and laundry from last Sunday is still not put away. I guess that means no laundry today, win! LOL!

Sunday

The day started slow and easy – breakfast, some blog visiting, etc. Then I started laundry. Then at noon, we had our FB Live Q&A session (which went really well after some initial technical difficulties). Put Dante down for nap, ate lunch, kept working on laundry and wrapped the only Christmas gift I’ve bought so far. Then groceries were ready for pickup – I usually do an earlier pickup but for numerous reasons it got pushed back to 4:30 pm today and that made my evening so hectic. Went for pickup at Walmart and Whole Foods, then to get the last few items at Target (in the store). Because I wasn’t able to pick up the money order for rent Saturday at the bank, I had to go to this place that only takes cash, which meant I first had to stop at the ATM. The whole thing took forever and I decided to just pick up dinner from Whataburger. Well, that took about 20 minutes longer than it was supposed to, but I still managed to get home with dinner on time. I plopped the groceries in the kitchen and then we sat down to eat, the idea being I’d put groceries away right after dinner.

Well we also still hadn’t put up our tree – which I really wanted to do this weekend. I bought a new tree this year and since we have vaulted ceilings, I decided to go tall – 9 ft. I love it… but I didn’t consider that taller also meant wider. Kiko was pissed because it took up more space than we had planned for and made blocking it from Dante a bit harder. Also… this was my first tree that was not prelit. I now fully understand the price difference. HOLY SHIT that’s a lot of work. It doesn’t help that I looked up how many lights to get, but not what kind of lights to get. Turns out, a white cord is not the smartest option. Kiko just wanted to fling the lights up, I wanted to weave them in so the cord wouldn’t show. Basically he just wanted it done and I wanted it pretty. I won, but did it by myself. Paused to help put Dante down for bed, but it took me from about 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. And I still hadn’t put away groceries, done dishes, cleaned up toys, finished putting away laundry, moved 1 load to dryer, written this post, etc. And we had to figure out how to block the tree still.

I put away groceries, cleaned up, moved load to dryer, fought with Kiko a bit while we figured out how to block the tree so Dante can’t get to it (which isn’t finished yet – we need to do everything after the lights, but the lights are pretty) and went to bed around 11:30. I changed my alarm from 5:45 to 6:45 (skipping my miracle morning routine) and called it a day. Whew what a day. I will buy new lights for next year!

Monday

Today was hard. I’ve just hit an unexpected emotional wall. I thought taking Thanksgiving week off would leave me feeling refreshed. While it did do that, I think it also gave me a glimpse of how easy life could be if I weren’t trying to do TWO full-time jobs at the exact same time. I feel guilty for even saying it, because I know I’m not alone in this struggle. But IT IS HARD y’all. I’m a very good multitasker, but the key to multitasking is prioritizing. How do you prioritize between taking care of your son who’s fussing and needing/wanting attention and doing your job which provides essential income for the family? I’m so torn and I’m just EMOTIONALLY exhausted. Dante was incredibly fussy today and at one point I left Dante in his bouncer fussing and screaming (I was fixing his lunch) and went into the bathroom, closed the door and just screamed. I want to go sit somewhere alone and just cry and eat ice cream.

On the plus, we finished our tree today and it looks lovely. We took some selfies in our new matching Christmas pajamas (a new tradition I’m starting). Tomorrow, if Kiko can remember to bring his tools, we’ll hang stockings and door wreath. Maybe sometime this week we’ll get lights up on the balcony. If I have enough lights I’m thinking we should also put some on the fire place. I still haven’t folded laundry from Sunday… maybe tomorrow.

Tuesday

Today started off much better. Dante seemed to be in a good mood and work was flowing along well enough. About 12 Dante started getting fussy and doing his screaming – boy’s got some lungs! – so we did an early lunch, let him play a bit and then put him down for nap. I had an hour long meeting at 2 p.m. and by all rights Dante should have been asleep until at least 4. Well he slept until 2:45 and started screaming. I had to just let him scream, I couldn’t leave the meeting to get him. And when I got him he did not want to be put down. I ended up finishing my workday with him in my lap playing on his tablet (yes, I’ve become one of those parents. It’s called survival). After work we played a bit and I scarfed down a sandwich – my lunch time is usually when I finish work but before he wakes for his nap. Basically I had no break today and I’m feeling pretty defeated.

On the positive side, Kiko finally brought up my new wine fridge from the truck! He got it from Franky’s mom when he helped them move this weekend – she’s upgrading and I got the hand-me-downs. So I now have a place to keep all my wine that needs to be cold, meaning I don’t have to plan ahead of time to put it in the fridge! And my wine of the month arrived today. Serendipitous! Better believe mommy had a glass! LOL!

Wednesday

Today was a good day for the most part. Dante was not fussy – we didn’t even need any Tylenol or Motrin today. I did an earlier lunch than normal and earlier nap, and I think he responded super well to it. My motivation was that he had a doctor’s appointment at 4pm, meaning I’d have to wake him a full 50 minutes before his normal wake up time if he went down at his normal time. He fell asleep about 40 minutes early though, so he got basically his full nap. So I’m going to try that moving forward, though what sucks is it does mean he’ll be ready to wake up pretty much when I finish my work day. Less brake for mom, but if the day isn’t as hard, I won’t need as much of a break right?

His doctor’s appointment went well too. It was a follow up from his surgery this summer and all is well. The doctor wants to see him one more time, in a year. And then we’ll just need to monitor at regular pediatrician and adult physicals throughout his life. But that was a definite relief.

My power snapped off in my kitchen and office area today with an audible crack. Everything came back on immediately, except my computer. At first i thought it was the outlet, but it turned out to be that the crack blew my fuse protector. Which sucks, because I had to buy a new one, but yay, it did it’s job and my computer and work laptop, which were both plugged into it, are just fine. I ordered a new surge protector for car pickup at Target and it was ready by time I finished with Dante’s appointment. And the fuse protector I got is awesome. Yes, I’m excited about a fuse protector. The one I used to have was old and probably on it’s last life. This one has 10 plugs and is designed to accommodate those big plugs by going in multiple directions. Plus, it has to USB plugs. I’m thrilled 🙂

We finally hung up our stockings… so all that’s left are the lights. And we officially have gifts under the Christmas tree now. I also finally found the tool to adjust Dante’s step stool – it has multiple heights and the one he was at he outgrew – he can use it to hoist himself onto the counter. So I lowered that today too. Oh and i made a potato gnocchi soup modeled after the Olive Garden soup that turned out super yummy. I’ll be eating it all week.

AS I said, a much better day.

Thursday

Things are definitely on the upswing! Yay! Dante slept until 8, played until breakfast at 9, and wasn’t fussy AT ALL. I did lunch a half hour early like yesterday, which resulted in naptime about 1 hour early and he napped for 3 hours – I had to wake him up! Hallelujah!

Work was steady all day and after I’d already signed out for the day my boss called and since Dante was playing happily, I went ahead and did some work for her then. The good news is that I’m not supposed to work OT, which means tomorrow I’ll be out early. Maybe I’ll finally put away that laundry from Sunday (yep, it’s still in the dryer and in a basket in my closet…)

And we ended the day starting a new show (we’ve been watching Blacklist for months now, but finished it yesterday)  – we watched Away on Netflix with HIlary Swank. So far, I like it.

Friday

So much for me getting a break today. Work was so busy and I was having to order 14 different meals for our virtual holiday party on Monday — which was a pain because the DoorDash, Grubhub and the bank didn’t like that I was ordering so many meals. Long story short, I ended up working about 1 hour of OT. Which wasn’t bad in itself, but then Dante also decided to only nap for just under 1 hour. In addition, my 6 months is coming up and my boss basically told me that if I want the Sr. Data Analyst position in our department, it’s mine (assuming she can appease HR with my scanty qualifications). It’s a promotion which is good, and she doesn’t actually need a Data Analyst. What she needs is a project specialist / project manager… but in the current climate, if she tells her boss that, he won’t give her a new position, he’ll just take away the one he has vacant. So instead, she wants to place me in that position until she’s able to either convert it or create an additional position. So I had to massage my resume a bit and applied for the job. Fingers crossed I’ll be getting a promotion soon.

Saturday

Today was exactly what I needed. First, Dante slept in until almost 9 a.m. Then, after breakfast we went to my friend Melissa’s for a play-date (she’s the friend I have who also goes no where and sees no one, so we feel as safe as possible doing these play dates). It was a wonderful day. the weather was gorgeous, so the boys played in backyard, throwing balls and bubbles. We ordered Olive Garden for lunch and while the babies napped we had wine, laughed and cried together. When the boys woke up we decided to do some dancing with them. It started with some baby shark, turned into some turbo kick with Dante in my arms and ended with the boys in the playroom while Mel and I did some Sean T Cize. All in all, an emotionally healthy, food not-so-healthy, but active day. We ate left over Olive Garden for dinner and then Dante and I left. She lives 30 minutes away and Dante fell asleep almost immediately on the way home, leaving me with an audiobook. It was bliss. The only negative is that I did all that dancing and bouncing in boots and my right foot hurts a bit. Oh and my laundry still needs to get put up. Seriously, no big in the grande scheme of things.

Blog News

I’ve slowed my pace a little, but overall, I’m really happy with the amount of blogging I’ve done this week. I’m still producing about 1 post per day, visiting blogs almost daily and replying to comments a few days a week. I feel hopeful that I’ll be able to keep it up long term.

Challenge update

Have you signed up for COYER 2021? Michelle and I are doing it even bigger this year and I’m super excited.

Around the Blogosphere

Have you heard about #audiblegate? I was living under a rock until I read Linda and Brandee’s post. I’m appalled and, though I probably shouldn’t be, shocked. My yearly subscription was due to renew and I decided to cancel it after reading how audible is treating authors. I’m checking out Author’s Direct and Audiobooks.com in the meantime. I have so many audiobooks, plus my libraries to get through, that it’s not a huge loss. And I’m sure they won’t really miss me. But maybe if I’m one of many who protest, Audible will care? I just know I can’t in good conscience support a company that is HURTING authors.

Added to My Shelf

I’m trying to be more responsible about keeping track of the books I acquire, so I’m going to start sharing them again. If I share them here, surely I’ll remember to add them to Goodreads, right?

How was your week? What are you Reading?

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