Sunday Post with Berls | Week of April 17th 2022

Week of April 17th 2022

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 – Tuesday

Well, this week is already flying by! And it’s late, but I really want to get a quick recap in before I forget everything that’s happened so far this week!

Sunday, we (Dante & I) went to my friend Melissa’s for Easter with her family — Kiko stayed home and spent the day with his mom. Dante had an amazing time – he had an Easter Egg Hunt, played with the kids, drew with chalk and markers, chased bubbles, had his first light saber battle, and even a water balloon fight. I posted pictures on Instagram/Facebook if you want to see.

Monday, I actually planned ahead and took off. I had quickly picked up a grocery order on Sunday but that was it for my normal Sunday chores. So I spent most of Monday doing what I would do on Sunday – except Dante was at daycare. I really wanted to get a lot more done, but I’m happy with what I accomplished. Kiko’s phone microphone wasn’t working, so I also ran to the apple store to get it fixed for him – thankfully it just needed to be cleaned out and wasn’t anything serious. I got in a good workout too! The main tasks for the day were meal prep and blogging for the week (my big Sunday tasks). I also called the Developmental Pediatrician to find out everything they might need from us for Dante’s May 10 appointment and got all his various specialists to send over their documents. Sounds like the May 10 appointment will just be to get him setup for more testing, which I’m bummed about as it’s going to draw things out even longer before he can get ABA. Thankfully table time is going really well, and I do see progress. I just need more guidance I think and more things to do.

Tuesday was busy with catching up after a 4-day weekend. I also was really excited because I used some of my code that I’ve learned to add geolocation to one of our forms – it took me a couple hours, but it worked! I took a lunch break walk with Buffy, did some coding this afternoon, and got in a great Zumba (my Social Joy membership) workout. I’m struggling with one of the code challenges and spent a couple more hours on it this evening – the main reason I’m behind schedule this evening… and it’s still not done. But I’ll figure it out tomorrow hopefully. Dante’s table time tonight went really well – he made the “h” sound for house and horse, said “duck” and “momma”. He’s said “momma” plenty, but he actually said it while looking at a picture of me – improvement. And he continues to be super vocal.

My MIL is still staying with us, but I think she’s leaving tomorrow. It’s gone fine but I am looking forward to having my home back to normal! I know Kiko’s loved having her and I’m glad Dante’s gotten some time with his grandmother.

Wednesday

Today went buy in a blur. My morning went well – I was out the door on time with Dante to get to the office on time… until the parking garage was full. I drove all 8 levels twice and then went to the parking garage across the street and found a spot on the 6th floor. Took me about 30-45 minutes by time I got to my office. What’s really annoying is: (1) I pay for parking, (2) there’s a ton of available spaces that are reserved for faculty/directors/providers (aka the people who make big money), and (3) I wasn’t 100% sure I could park in that garage, but what was I supposed to do? The gate was open, so I went in. But when I went to leave this afternoon, someone had to let me out because my badge wouldn’t work. I took a picture of a sign that said “visitors and staff” just in case they try to give me a parking ticket.

Work was busy – but not in the productive way. I swear, every time I’m in the office I get so little accomplished because everyone is chatty. That will be my only day in the office this week though, so it’s fine. After work I stopped at my brother and Zach’s. We had a nice chat about many things, including Dante’s progress and upcoming appointment with the developmental pediatrician. Zach asked if I thought it would help to have a man at the appointment to make sure I don’t get dismissed. I hate that he might have a point. It’s not that he doubts my competence – far from it – he just has done a lot of reading and found that doctor’s take men more seriously. I don’t know. It’s a female doctor so MAYBE it won’t matter? Or maybe I should ask Phil or Zach to come along. Kiko’s language barrier means they wouldn’t make a positive difference.

I also had a call with my bootcamp project team, just to go over a few things we needed to work on. And then I picked up Dante from school. We had dinner and my MIL was gone when we got home, so our routine is back to normal (not that it was THAT altered). After table time I cleaned up the room and made it Dante’s space again. And now I’m getting ready to put Dante to bed and go to bed myself!

Thursday

Let’s see… today was okay. Ironically, in my reading this morning (almost done with Turn Autism Around) she talked about taking someone with you to appointments – not for the reason Zach had suggested yesterday, but because you don’t want to forget anything and may need help writing things down, etc. So I asked Phil and he’s going to take May 10th off to come with me. I think it’s also a good idea, since Phil is Dante’s guardian if anything were to happen to us.

I had to wake Dante up because he still wasn’t awake at 8:30 and if I don’t get him to daycare by 9am, I’m late for meetings  (not to mention they stop serving breakfast at 9). I focused pretty diligently on work tasks first thing and then took care of some odds and ends (dentist for Kiko, pictures of vehicles for insurance, etc.). Then I finished up my bootcamp work for the week – one challenge had me stumped since yesterday and I figured out today that I’ve been doing it right all along, I just was having a browser incompatibility problem! I also noticed a posting for a summer internship – part time and paid – that I think I have a good shot for. So I’m going to try and get my application in this weekend. It would be perfect timing, as the bootcamp ends June 4th and if I could get some real experience, maybe I would be better able to find a job this fall.

This afternoon I had a couple meetings, got in my workout, did some work on my bootcamp portfolio project, showered, and then took a walk while joining in on my nutrition program’s Thursday call. This evening table time was a bit of a struggle; I was tired, and Dante was distracted. But he also said some more sounds that matched up to the pictures I was showing him. And in general, he’s more vocal. I decided to buy him some more puzzles, since he seems to love them and their a great skill builder. And I’m going to try and wrap things up here no later than 9:45pm tonight so I can get in bed a little earlier, hopefully read a little more than my 20 pages before passing out tonight!

Friday – Saturday

Another busy couple of days. Friday Dante was up early for him (7:30), which actually worked out really well since it meant I got him to school a little earlier. He really fought me on getting dressed today – this has been happening a lot lately and I honestly just want to cry sometimes, it’s so overwhelming. My day flew by with tons of work – I was working on automating a power automate flow and that took a few hours. And then I had a meeting, which was supposed to be 1.5 hours and instead took 2.5! By then I had just enough time to basically wrap up for the day, get dressed and head to my brother’s. Kiko and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary this weekend (the 24th is 17 years) and Phil babysat so we could go out Friday night. At Phil and Zach’s I spent about an hour with them, talking and working on code. Then we picked up Dante, McDonald’s (standard Friday night Dinner because Dante will always eat it…. I know, I need to do healthier but sometimes it’s just nice to not worry about if he will eat something), and left Phil and Dante so we could go to the movies. The movie was scheduled for 7 and we didn’t arrive until 7:10… plus concessions took like 10 minutes, BUT we were on time. We saw Father Stew which Kiko really wanted to see. I liked it well enough, but I’m SO NOT religious, so that element was lost on me. Add to it that an audience member seemed to think she was at church and what was a funny/emotional drama became slightly uncomfortable. But it was a good movie and I enjoyed just being out for the evening. When we got home, Phil and Dante had had a good night – but there had been a diaper changing fiasco. Dante wouldn’t be still for Philip changing a poo diaper and it got all over Dante’s sheets. Phil actually washed them for us though and was just like, “yeah, IDK, he might need a bath” LOL!! He was fine – no bath necessary – although I’m guessing Phil went home and showered LMAO!

Saturday everyone slept in, I was up around 8:15 and took care of a bit before starting breakfast – eggs and pancakes for the boys – which I finished just 2 minutes before bootcamp began. Bootcamp went really well. The instructor stayed on with me and another student about 30-45 minutes after class helping with our portfolio project. And really great news! He said, “You are both exceptional and you’re exactly what I look for in a junior developer. Sorry, Tim (that was the other student’s name) you’re in Iowa. But Kim, I’m in Dallas and I am responsible for hiring and managing Jr. Developers at my company. I don’t have anything right now, but I will keep you in mind. I don’t say that to students, like ever. But the way you take direction and work, I know you’d be an asset to the team.” And then he proceeded to show me how I could beef up my LinkedIn profile. So that happened. I was on cloud 9 for about 10 minutes. That’s 2 out of 3 instructors who have told me I’m someone they would refer/hire and that they don’t ever do that, but they think I’m worth it! I think I’m going to make it in this career change y’all! And then I came off cloud 9 and got busy with my life. Took Dante to the park and that was disheartening. I took him to a park without swings, hoping that would inspire him to play more. And it didn’t. He went down the slide 1x on his own and then I spent the rest of the time chasing him so he wouldn’t run into the parking lot. He took his shoes off about 5 times and just sat throwing woodchips a few times. I gave up and walked him back to the car (30-minute walk) and he fell asleep on the way, so I guess that exhausted him too. I let him nap when we got back by the car and just sat on a bench with him in his stroller, listening to my audiobook and kind of wanting to cry. On the plus, I joined some local autism groups for parents on Facebook and am finding one of them to be an especially good community. I’ve asked some questions and gotten some really helpful advice, plus people who have also used the doctor Dante will be seeing May 10th. Anyway, after Dante’s nap, we came home. Kiko was away getting a new battery for his truck and then visiting with his mom (she’s staying with a different sibling now), so it was just me and Dante tonight. We did table time and he loved some new puzzles I got him. He’s making lots of sounds, but no real words. I tried doing some imitation exercises with him but they were a complete fail – every time I started one he threw the items and walked away from the table; so I got out a puzzle to bring him back. At least the pointing and sounds are coming along.

Tomorrow (Sunday) will be a busy day of cleaning, meal prep and getting ready for the week. Plus, COYER book club!

Blog News

Last week on Because Reading

• [18 Apr] Happy Sugar Life, Vol. 1 by Tomiyaki Kagisora ★★★★
• [19 Apr] Tell Me Something Tuesday: Blogging Platforms
• [20 Apr] Waiting on Wednesday ~ Spooky and MG
• [21 Apr] Practical Hexes by Kim Richardson ★★★½
• [23 Apr] The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite ★★★★½
• [23 Apr] Beastly Bones by William Ritter ★★★★
• [24 Apr] Sunday Post with Berls | Week of April 17th 2022

Challenge update

This week I finished:

I’m participating in 7 Challenges, plus the Goodreads Challenge, this year. Here’s how I’m doing.

1. COYER Seasons & COYER Community 2022 –
   1. Winter – 22 books (final count for Winter)
   2. Spring – 12 books
2. Bookish Resolutions – This was a challenge that Michelle used to do without me and she took last year off. This year we’re bringing it back together. Details on post, but basically I’m setting 5 “bookish” goals for the year: Here are my goals:
   1. Blog ahead at least 1 week. I’ve been blogging every week on Sundays for the upcoming week.
   2. Keep a blogging planner. Keeping up with this ever since I changed my method in March!
   3. Visit & comment on 7 posts a week. Yes! I did really good visiting this week. I mean, I’m still behind, but real progress was made.
   4. Reply to comments each week. Sorry, I read them all but no replies 🙁
   5. Review books before starting a new book/on the same day – nope. Need to write reviews for every book I finished this week :/
3. The Backlist Reader Challenge –  19/50 books
4. 2022 Audiobook Challenge –  36/75 books
5. 2022 Library Love Challenge –  12/24 books
6. 2022 Finishing the Series Challenge – My goal is 5 series.
   • In Progress:
     1. Mine by Cynthia Eden- read book 4 this year, still need to read 5 and 6.
     2. Amos Decker by David Bald Baldacci – read book 2 & 3 this year, still need to read 4-6 (#7 expected later this year)
   • Completed:
     1. The Ivy Chronicles by Sophie Jordan – read books 2 and 3 this year, finishing the series.

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

My big goal for 2022 is to lose weight every month. I’m not setting a specific number goal; I just need to make sure I’m going the right direction (down) every month. I will weigh in on the last (or first) day of each month only (so I don’t get too attached to the scale).

My goals for this week were (Monday – Saturday):

1. Drink 110 oz of water daily – ugh, I was doing so good and IDK what happened. I’m struggling to get in even 80 oz all of a sudden
2. No Soda –  – ugh, maybe this explains the above? I let soda back in. Why do I do this to myself? I didn’t drink soda Monday – Thursday, but struggled Friday and Saturday.
3. VVFP meals (2 veggie servings, 1 healthy fat, 1 protein) – this was fine except for Friday dinner and Saturday lunch & dinner.
4. Veggie pack snack daily – When I eat my veggie pack I do well with eating… and I only ate it 2 days this week.
5. no more than 2 snacks daily – Fail, every single day.
6. Exercise 4 days  – If you count my walk Saturday (30 mins each way), then I made it.

Weight gain/loss for the year so far:

• +3.9 pounds Feb 1.
• -3.0 pounds March 1 (for the year, so total loss for Feb was 6.9 lbs!)
• -3.0  pounds April 1 (for the year, so no new loss in March, but no gain)

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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