Sunday Post with Berls | The one where Dante danced

The one where Dante danced

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kim @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

News at Home

Sunday

Today I took it easy for the most part. I did pick up groceries, but my meal planning was very low key this week so there wasn’t any real meal prep to do. We had COYER book club today and it was a fun chat – and I added like 30 books to my TBR list LOL! My back is still hurting so I canceled the gym for tomorrow. Bummed but I think trying to go before I feel 100% better will just backfire.

On a fun note, Dante learned to dance! So I’ve tried to dance with him so many times but he’s never gotten into it. Well they have dance and movement time every day in daycare and I guess seeing other kids dance, he finally picked it up. He started jerking side to side to the music and even bouncing while siting. I wish I had it on video, because it was the greatest, cutest thing.

Monday

I’m glad I chose to skip the gym today, as my back hurt worse this morning AND I’m feeling some pain in my neck and shoulder as well today. UGH. Work wasn’t too bad today. I had 2 meetings. And one of my coworkers broke her foot and another’s cat is sick (probably going to have to put him down), so it was a sunshine committee day. Me and Cayley went to Trader Joe’s to buy some flowers and then we also had to stop at Target to get vases. It was a nice surprise for them, just something to say we hope you feel better. And then I started working on some decisions regarding starting classes this fall and student loan payments… still have some decisions to make.

Dante did well at daycare (he seems to always do well anymore, yay!) and this evening we’ve been playing and are getting ready for dinner. I put away some laundry and watched some TV already, so it’s a nice slow night 🙂

Tuesday

Today was a pretty good day. I took the day off – kind of an emotional healthy day I guess? I had to get the oil changed and they came back with a few things that need to be fixed on the car. BUT it’s almost all covered with the extended warranty (which expires in December, so yay for being before the warranty expires). If all goes as it’s supposed to, I’ll be dropping the car off next Wednesday and getting setup with a rental for the duration of the repair (also part of the warranty). And we’ll just be out the deductible and 1 maintenance repair… hopefully about $350-400.

Then I visited a friend I haven’t seen since November 2019. We used to teach together, but she moved about 1.5 hours away and then COVID, etc. I’ve wanted to see her place – they bought 40 acres and built a house and are raising cows, horses, and chickens – so after my oil change, I headed out there. It was a nice drive, listening to my audiobook, and I had such a great time seeing her. We went out on the buggy and she showed me the property. This is my dream life LOL! And we had lunch and caught up a bit before I had to leave to make it back in time for Dante’s pickup.

Dante was pretty fussy tonight – I think it was a mosquito bite bothering him. After I put witch hazel on it he did a lot better. He skipped nap again, so I’m sure that didn’t help.

Wednesday

Today was another decent day. It was my work from my brother’s day and I wasn’t busy at all. I had 1 meeting and then a couple emails. Besides that we hung out, I made one of their Hello Fresh Meals for lunch (tacos, yum!), we walked to CVS and bought some Ben & Jerry’s (also yum!) and then they helped me with selecting the courses I’m taking this fall – I landed on a web design class and a JavaScript class. Super excited and glad I can put my student loans on hold when they resume in October. And hopefully, this will help me with launching a new, better paid career.

I also called the Spectrum because my bill has gone way up – promotional period on my internet ended – and I wanted to downgrade my plan to something more affordable. They couldn’t downgrade (stupid) but they did enroll me in a federal program that discounts my bill by $50/month. So yay!

Dante had a good day at daycare – no nap, but they tell me he’s so good. He just plays quietly while the other kids nap. So that’s good to hear. And when we came home he wasn’t fussy and we just had a great evening.

Thursday

What a day! Dante woke up in the middle of the night – first time he’s done that when he wasn’t sick in… I don’t know, a year? It was 3 a.m. and he started crying and trying to put himself back to sleep. So I let him be. But after several failed attempts he started really crying around 3:30 a.m. so I went in a rocked him back to sleep. He fell asleep immediately and stayed asleep until I woke him at 7:45 this morning. But MAN are we spoiled, I was exhausted this morning.

While I was working — well at work, but not really working because I had nothing to do lol — I finally got the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from Dante’s eye appointment July 1st. And discovered that they had overcharged by $165! Oh I was so pissed. I had just KNOWN it was too much to be paying. Well, since they never answer the phone and are impossible to email, I ended up using my lunch break to go up to the office. They were of course so apologetic, but they also tried to tell me there was a credit on my account. So basically they weren’t going to tell me they owed me money until I came for another appointment in 6 months (which, of course I’m not doing)! I was livid, but I got my refund – assuming it shows up on my account in the next 5-8 days. If not, I have a direct number to their billing.

Back at work I started reviewing some of the notices we’ve had about returning to COVID operations and got really sad. We were THIS CLOSE and now Texas has declared a state of emergency again and things are looking really bleak. I’ve suspended my gym membership because studies are showing vaccinated individuals can carry Delta and I feel like that’s an environment that could easily result in bringing it home to Dante. On the plus, there is real progress on a vaccine for Dante’s age group… I’m starting to hope we might have a vaccine by the end of the year! That’s sooner than I had dared to hope.

We’re having a nice evening at home – all in our undies because it’s HOT and the AC is struggling to keep up. Personally this works way better for me than the cold, so I am not complaining 🙂

Friday

Today was an easy day 🙂 I slept in a bit but it wasn’t a big deal since I still was ready on time and got Dante out the door on time. At work I had practically nothing to do. I had 2 meetings, sent 1 email and… that’s it. My good friend (a teacher) has been sending me things to print and laminate, since my boss said it was fine if it wasn’t excessive. So I printed out about 30 pages for her today, laminated them and got them all cut – I plan to see her Sunday and can give her everything then.

I wrote a review for the awful eye experience we had and it was so cathartic. I hope it saves some families from the experience we had.

Then I went to my brother’s for lunch and finished out the afternoon working from his place. This evening we stopped to do the registration on our truck and picked up dinner. Dante got super fussy again tonight – I think skipping naps is catching up to him, even though I know they try to get him to sleep at daycare. I think the timing is just off for when he’s ready to nap. He didn’t nap 1 day this week!  I’m not sure what we can do about it though, besides continuing to make sure he gets a good night’s sleep.

Saturday

Today was SUPER productive. Dante got me up around 7:30 a.m. and he had breakfast by 8. I wrote a review while he ate breakfast and then I watched a little TV with my breakfast. I got laundry started and was SUPPOSED to go get groceries and stop at the bank at 11, but Kiko is on call and he got called out. My pickup window was 11 – 12 and when he still wasn’t back at 11:45 I decided to get Dante ready and take him with me for pickup. I got Walmart and Target, followed by my weekly car wash. Kiko called that he was back home while I was going through the car wash (which Dante had mixed feelings about LOL). This was perfect timing as the last 3 errands I had to run I needed to go inside, something I don’t do with Dante due to COVID. I picked up McDonald’s for their lunch and dropped Dante off. Before I got 3 minutes down the road, Kiko was calling me that he got called again and it was urgent. So I turned back around and just ran the groceries upstairs and fed Dante while Kiko was out. He got back 30 minutes later and I ran back out to go to the bank (had to do ATM because they were now closed), a place to get money order for rent (because bank was closed) and then Ulta for a few items.

When I got home, Kiko got called out AGAIN. While I had been gone he’d kept the laundry going thankfully and I was able to make Dante’s bed and put him down for a nap. While Dante napped I put away groceries, did meal prep for next week, and deep cleaned the kitchen (including cleaning out the fridge and pantry). By time I finished that Dante was up, but Kiko was home and took him outside to play and go for a walk while I put up laundry and cleaned the bathrooms. I needed to sanitize the humidifier too, so I got that boiling while we ate dinner. After dinner we played with Dante a bit and then it was bedtime. Now I”m about to watch TV while doing a little blogging and putting away the last load of laundry.

A very productive day! I got all my chores for the weekend done so we can enjoy a play date tomorrow with no worries about getting ready for the week ahead.

Blog News

Last week on Because Reading

• [26 Jul] Fairy Tales with a Twist: Alice
• [27 Jul] Tell Me Something Tuesday: Reading Spots
• [28 Jul] Waiting on Wednesday ~ Seven
• [29 Jul] Under Glass and Stone by A.N. Willis ★★★
• [30 Jul] Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ★★★
• [30 Jul] What the Lady's Maid Knew by E.E. Holmes ★★★★½
• [30 Jul] When You Least Expect It by Haley Cass ★★★★½
• [31 Jul] Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ★★★
• [1 Aug] Sunday Post with Berls | The one where Dante danced
• [1 Aug] The Sunday Post ~ I am in the weirdest reading mood ~ Week in READview! 2021

Challenge update

This week I finished:

I’m participating in 4 reading challenges this year. Here’s how I’m doing:

Backlist Reader hosted by Lark @ Bookwyrms Hoard: 29 books

Library Love hosted by Books of My Heart & Angel’s Guilty Pleasures: 5 books

New Release hosted by (un)Conventional Bookworms: 5 books

COYER (Summer) hosted by Because Reading: 11 books

FitReaders (hosted by Jen @ That’s What I’m Talking About & Felicia The Geeky Blogger)

I am incredibly frustrated with myself. I feel like I’ve lost all sense of the habits I learned to lose weight and I’m steadily marching back to that place I was 10 years ago. And I can’t let that happen. So I’m getting tough with myself. Here are my goals for August – basically aligning to what I did to lose weight initially:

1. 4 days a week, 45 minute workouts
2. only eating between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
3. no eating out for the month of August
4. No snacking
5. water only with the exception of 1 glass of wine on Saturdays
6. No drinking 30 minutes before or after meals
7. No stepping on the scale until September 1st (I need to learn to focus on how I feel and eating based on my health not a number on the scale)

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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