Week of February 13th 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
Today was very productive! After making my boys breakfast and getting the first load of laundry in, groceries arrived (thank you Instacart – best shopper today too!). I cleaned the fridge, and then started on meal prep. I finished up meal prep (see what I made on Instagram) just as we started our Readalong Chat, which was great as always. Then I put laundry away and put the last load in (Dante loves to help with laundry so that’s always a fun Sunday activity). I cleaned up the balcony – Buffy’s new grass arrived yesterday – and cleaned the bathrooms. I folded laundry while watching some tv – so nice to relax a bit – and then it was dinner time. After dinner I cleaned up and got my blogging for the week done, while Kiko did bath with Dante. We’re about to pick up toys, vacuum and get Dante in bed. Then I have our bedding to pull out of the dryer and put on the bed… and then off to bed!
Monday – Tuesday
I just realized I forgot to give y’all a very big GOOD update on the roach front! So there have been complaints coming to the office from our building – enough that they were warranted bringing out the pest company and having them do an evaluation. Long story short – they concluded that the new tenant’s apartment is the source of the problem and they’re seeing the infestation grow (which is why it’s so hard to keep them out of my apartment – not many people are willing to go to the lengths I am to get rid of them apparently). The devised a custom treatment plan to keep the infestation from growing and getting rid of roaches in “reasonably lived in environments.” It’s expensive and the apartments will not foot the bill. But they can require the source of the problem to pay. So treatments have begun… and one of 3 or 4 scenarios is going to play out:
- The tenants will not want to pay so much money, live cleaner and the roach problem will end.
- The tenants will not give a shit and pay for the treatments and the roach problem will end.
- The tenants will not be able to afford the cost, will move out, and the roach problem will end.
- The tenants will not be able to afford the cost and be evicted for non-payment, and the roach problem will end.
You see a common conclusion?! THE ROACH PROBLEM WILL END. I cannot accurately express the relief I feel. And I’ve actually done a really good job dealing with the problem myself. Since Kiko works here, he was able to tell me all the above and the results of the report. We have the lowest roach population of the entire building, despite being directly above them. Of course, that means we’re surrounded now (trying not to dwell on that). And I can say I haven’t seen a roach in a couple days.
Besides that… what else is going on? Well Dante had therapy this morning (Tuesday) and first of all, he was super vocal and basically talked without saying words (if that makes sense). And I discovered he kind of knows his letters?! He was playing this game on his pretend laptop and it would ask what letter goes with which animal and he got it right 95% of the time! What?! I also talked to her about his recent struggles at school and starting next week she is going to go to the school for his sessions instead of our apartment. I won’t be there so that I don’t disrupt the flow of his school day and she will observe him, see what she can do to help him better interact or communicate. I’m very excited to learn what she observes.
Today I also had therapy – and I decided to use the time to take a walk and it was so refreshing. I’m trying to get in a walk every day right now, until my back feels fully recovered and I can get back to the gym. Time to clean up and get ready for bed!
Wednesday
Well today I was just exhausted. Dante woke up at like 2:30am for some unholy reason. He was crying and walking around his room, so I went in and held him, rocked him, lie down with him and when he was asleep I left the room (around 3am). And within 5 minutes he was crying again. I watched on the monitor, to see if he was going back to sleep and saw he was getting ready to get back up and walk around. Kiko went in and I fell half asleep. around 3:30 Kiko came back in and because Dante was asleep. I looked on the monitor and couldn’t see him anywhere and the door was open. He had woken up and run out to the living room and started playing in the 3 minutes since Kiko left him #facepalm. So Kiko put him in his room and when it was apparent he wasn’t going to sleep, left him in there with the door closed. We took turns waking up to watch him on the monitor and he finally stopped playing at about 4:40 and lie down and went back to sleep. Needless to say I snoozed on my alarm at 6am… I crawled out of bed at 6:50, the last possible moment. And I just dragged all day.
Dante slept until about 9 and then I took him to school. I didn’t have a busy day, just a couple meetings. So I focused on getting ahead on my bootcamp, which is technically off this week. Next week I’m going to be busier at work I think, with a new employee to train, so I want to get ahead.
Oh and on Monday (I think, maybe yesterday?) I changed the batteries on our key fobs for my car because they weren’t working. Well… that made the situation worse and they really didn’t work. So Kiko and I have been calling around (after watching tons of YouTube and trying all kinds of things to reprogram the keys). In the end, we had to replace them. Kiko found someone who could come out today and he gave us two new key fobs for $280 and then used them to reprogram one of the originals (would have done both but Kiko didn’t have the other one available at the time). So didn’t love spending the money, but we have 3 working keys now. He did that while I was taking advantage of a brief break in the rain to go for a walk. I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow as much as it did today!!
Off to bed, I’m exhausted.
Thursday – Saturday
Gosh where did the week go? Let me see what I remember…
Thursday I went to my brother and Zach’s to work. I don’t think anything particularly special happened? We spent a decent amount of time researching candidates for the primary election (early voting is currently open) and then when it was time for me to leave, they went to the mall to get a few things before their flight to Nashville that night. That night I tried not taking my Unisom to sleep for the first time – I’ve been drinking this nighttime protein shake and adding a supplement that’s supposed to help with sleep, partly with the goal of not taking Unisom to sleep anymore. Well I feel asleep great, but woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I ended up taking Unisom at 3:30 (so much worse than taking it before bed) and finally fell back asleep around 4.
Friday I woke up exhausted (of course, because I had only been asleep about 2.5 hours since taking the Unisom, even after letting myself sleep later than normal). And I dragged all day. I had to stop by the office to drop off proofs I picked up Thursday from the printer and to setup our new employee’s laptop (she starts Tuesday, working from home all week next week). I met up with her, she was there to get her badge anyway – and showed her where she’s parking, our office, her space, and got her laptop setup and working. After she left I finished up a couple things and went to my brother’s to finish my work day. I’m taking care of their cat while they are in Tennessee, and I knew he would enjoy some companionship while they were gone. I played with him a bit and then when I could clock out for the day I fell asleep on the couch with him. I got about an hour and felt much better. And I made sure to get to bed a bit early on Saturday — And I did sleep all night WITHOUT Unisom. I don’t know if I dare chance it again when I’m not sleeping on my feet though.
Saturday was my first Saturday off in 5 weeks – Bootcamp resumes this upcoming week – and it was nice to wake up with Dante and have nothing pressing to do. After making his breakfast (oatmeal) and mine (smoothie), we played a bit until Kiko woke up — I know he enjoyed sleeping in for the first Saturday in 5 weeks, since he’s been watching Dante while I’m in class. I made his breakfast (pancakes and bacon) and then I settled into the bedroom to watch some TV and just relax. Kiko called Franky and found out that they were just home for the day – so we ended up leaving around 1 to go see them (1 hr+ away). We had a great day playing outside with Dante, had a couple mixed drink (yum) and played some pool. We left around 8pm and got home about 9:30. I quickly ran upstairs with Kiko to put Dante to bed and then I went to my brother’s to take care of Commadore (their cat). He was eagerly awaiting me. I sat with him a bit and made sure he was good on food and water, cleaned out the litter box. I got home just before 11 and went straight to bed… but I had been listening to my audiobook this whole time and couldn’t seem to stop. So I didn’t actually go to sleep until Kiko came in after midnight . Whoops. But it was a good day and I got to sleep in because Dante just woke up at like 8 🙂
Blog News
Can you read a series in a month challenge is coming again in March! Sign up:
Last week on Because Reading
- [14 Feb] Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead ★★★★
- [15 Feb] Tell Me Something Tuesday: Favorite Romance Moments
- [16 Feb] Poke-a-Dot: Old MacDonald's Farm (30 Poke-able Poppin' Dots) by Melissa and Doug ★★★★★
- [18 Feb] Can you read a series in a Month? March 2022, Join the Challenge #Signup #SeriesinaMonth #booklovers
- [20 Feb] Sunday Post with Berls | Week of February 13th 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.
- COYER Seasons & COYER Community 2022 –
- Winter – 14 books
- Night Huntress Readalong that Anne is hosting along with a COYER Community chat. Next book is At Grave’s End for March 13th. I still need to read it.
- 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:
- Blog ahead at least 1 week. Somehow I’ve managed to maintain this. Content is getting a bit light because Michelle is on a blogging break, but I’m keeping at least 3 posts a week.
- Keep a blogging planner. This is officially a fail. I really loved the idea of this but I just don’t have the time.
- Visit & comment on 7 posts a week. I made it to 2 posts this week 🙁 But I’m hoping to get in 5 more today at least.
- Reply to comments each week. I read every single comment I receive. But I have a really hard time replying.This week I replied to comments Tuesday – Thursday. I will try to catch up today.
- Review books before starting a new book/on the same day – Mostly on track with this. I haven’t reviewed Spoiler Alert yet and I’m already more than halfway through with the next book in the series. But I’m thinking that since they cover mostly the same timeline, I’ll be able to write the reviews well together.
- The Backlist Reader Challenge – 4/50
- 2022 Audiobook Challenge – 15/75
- 2022 Library Love Challenge – 2/24
- 2022 Finishing the Series Challenge – This is a new challenge for me, but so in-line with my current goals. I have a ridiculous number of series I’ve started and never finished. My goals is to be a B-List Finisher (and catch up on at least 5 series) this year. I’ve started catching up on 1 so far.
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 day of each month only (so I don’t get too attached to the scale).
How I’m getting there in this week:
- Miracle Morning Daily – did this!
- Have a VVFP (Very Very Full Plate/Vegetable Vegetable Fat Protein) Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner – Did this Monday – Friday all meals, Breakfast only Saturday.
- 2 or less extras each day – didn’t do this on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday 🙁 I’ll do it today!
- Drink 100 oz. of water a day – Did this every day but Friday.
- Get in a good walk 4 days this week – I need to get in 1 more walk today!
Weight gain/loss for the year so far: +3.9 pounds Feb 1. I won’t weigh again until March 1.
Added to My Shelf
OMG I went crazy this week! So I was behind reviewing the Tantor emails and sent in my requests this week for the past 3 mailings. Ended up with A LOT of books… plus I bought 1 too! Am I the only one who gets stressed out when they see this many books to read, even if excited to read each and every one?
Roaches are so gross! I’d be pissed if they came into my apartment. I really hope the plan works and kills them all. 🙂
Thank you, me too! I’m so obsessively clean, so these neighbors moving in and bringing roaches has been such a source of anxiety for me. I have almost managed to keep them out myself, but I’m fighting a losing battle on my own. Fingers crossed it works!!
YEA!! I hope the roach problem resolves PERMANENTLY and QUICKLY! That’s great news.
I saw all of those books in the Tantor request – there were so many all at once, I’m glad someone decided to take them on! I look forward to your reviews. My week was pretty low key – went into my office one day, went out downtown Boston on Saturday… that was a lot of fun. Other than that, I cannot wait until I’m on vacation next week!
I know, I couldn’t resist. Now to actually get through them all! LOL!
Downtown Boston sounds fun! Why did I think you were in Florida?! Enjoy your vacation 🙂
Holy Tantor Audio…. I always request 2 or 3 each email. I am sorry about the roaches. I could not sleep. Hopefully, it gets resolved quickly and key fobs are awesome until they aren’t.
LOL “key fobs are awesome until they aren’t”. Yes, exactly!! Thank you, I’m praying that the roach situation will end soon! Have a great week 🙂
Wow, that’s a lot of books to listen to.
I’m glad you’ve got a solution of sorts for the Roach issue, horrid little things they are!
Wishing you a great reading week
Thankfully I listen MUCH faster than I read. But yeah a lot of audio in my future!! Thankfully most of them are on the shorter side, so I’ll be able to push through them fast. Thanks, I’m so relieved about the roaches.
Have a great week!
Well yay to the roaches leaving. UGH. You certainly did get the big book, actually audiobook haul. You get the most done, so productive. And it seems like so many meals you are a short order cook. You make 3 meals, something different for each of you. I did some of that but mostly tailored meals so it included some things my daughter would eat. Now I eat gluten free for her, and have worked the recipes to be gluten free for her. I hope this is a great week and you have an easier schedule with the new person starting.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
LOL well I only do it for breakfast and only on the weekends. Dinners, Kiko cooks his own and Dante’s actually. I make all my food on Sundays and reheat through the week.
Hope you have a great week 🙂
I’m so glad the roach problem will end!!! What a relief. I hope you get some better sleep this week.
Thanks Samantha! I’m so excited on the roach front!! Have a great week!
I’m really glad there’s movement on the roach problem. I hope it’s all resolved soon! (One way or another.) And that’s great that the therapist can spend some time with Dante at school and get a sense of what’s going on there and how to help him. How cool that he is learning his letters, too!
OMG, that is a lot of new books! I would be freaking out, I think. I’ve actually been trying to cut back on how many books I request, because I haven’t been doing a great job of keeping up. I don’t know how you do it all, Berls — parenting, the blog, your work, your bootcamp. You’re amazing!
Thank you so much Lark, that’s so sweet <3! I do my best and sometimes it goes well and sometimes not so much lol!
Yeah, I'm kind of freaking out too... but I couldn't resist. The good thing is that I really do love that author (that makes up the majority of the books) and her books are like candy to me. So hopefully it will be quicker than it feels at the moment.
Hope you're having a great week!
I’m glad to hear your roach problem will be dealt with.
Thank you! Me too! Hope you’re having a great week!