Week of January 9th 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 a great day. I made pancake breakfast, did laundry, picked up groceries, cleaned up the fridge, got my blogging for the week done, and even visited some posts. Besides that, I played with Dante and we took a little walk. I also did my week 1 reading/videos for my nutrition program and setup my bujo for the week. So I’m all ready for the week ahead! Dante also did the cutest thing today: we put him down for nap and he kind of wandered around his room not ready to sleep. At one point he put on his boots and then lay back down in his bed. And feel sleep. It was made more adorable by the fact that he only had on a diaper – no pjs or clothes. So he fell asleep in boots and diaper. LOL! Anway, here’s to a good week!
Monday
Today was the first day that I really followed my new routine and it was GREAT! I’ve known for a long time that my miracle morning is key to being productive but for some reason I still hem and haw about waking up and doing it. Well I did it today and yep, it aligned me to be productive and focused today. I also started my bootcamp today and so far, it’s just the intro/setup but I do think that by the end of the week I’ll be into some real coding 🙂 #excited #nervous! I made it to the gym – I’m still going but thanks to Omicron I’m working out in my mask. By the time class (1 hour hot pilates) was over I was ready to get outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. However, I think if I can do that people can wear a mask while grocery shopping! Just saying. Also made my cauliflower shepherd’s pie for dinner – the leftovers will be dinner the rest of the week. Oh! and I had my first Revitalize coaching team call today — that’s the name of the program I started with my nutritionist. It was great and very motivating. So yeah, a very productive day!
Tuesday
Today was frustrating. Those who really know me, know that I HATE Apple. I know – and do not try to deny – that they make good products. But I don’t like the sense of (false IMO) superiority and elitism they instill. So you can imagine needing to learn both Windows and MAC OS for my coding camp isn’t my favorite thing. I love that my husband supported me by purchasing me a MacBook for Christmas– especially because personally buying it and handing over the money to Apple would have really sucked. But today one of the other reasons I hate Apple came to the fore with my bootcamp. For everything I had to do, there was a side note / extra step for Mac. And it was just frustrating. I also really don’t like their OS – I’ve come to realize today that a big part of that is that they use pictures instead of words a lot of the time, which for me confuses and looks junky/disorganized. I spent some time fixing up my desktop today so it wouldn’t bug me quite so much. But I got really steamed at one point and just needed to get the frustration out, so I went to the gym and got in a great workout. And on the plus, once I’m done with the initial setup, most of the actual work should be 99% the same between OS (except the section soely on Mac OS… and that says something too about how not friendly Mac is. You have to learn a whole separate OS for them). Anyway rant over. And please don’t leave comments about how great Mac/Apple is. I hate the company and regardless of how much you believe their claims of superiority, I won’t be swayed to suddenly like them.
In other frustrating news, I woke up to a text from Dante’s therapist that she had to cancel last minute due to a family emergency. She canceled last week because of a death in the family. I’m trying to give her grace – but she’s coming on the heels of him going from October – Present with a total of 4 sessions when he’s supposed to have 1 every week. The last therapist canceled a bunch of times, then she left and it took time for a replacement. This bugs me because talk about delaying any real help for him and I’m starting to wonder if I should cancel services. Especially since I pay the same rate monthly whether they see him 1 time or 10 times. It’s not a lot, but I thought I was paying that for 4-5 sessions a month not the random, sporadic 1 session here and there. I’m giving her a month and if things don’t get better (as in, no more missed sessions and actual productive sessions) then I’m going to talk to them about canceling and my reasons why.
Tomorrow’s a busy day – I have to go in and sub in nutrition because we’re so understaffed with COVID absences, plus I still have my job to do and the bootcamp. So off to bed!!
Wednesday
Today was pretty cool. So I dropped Dante at daycare and then went to my brother’s to work a bit, since he lives just 5 minutes from my job. That way I could leave most my things there and decontaminate after work without going home first – they are vaccinated, Dante is not and I want to take every precaution possible. At work I was working/volunteering in Nutrition and I actually had a blast. It was a nice change of pace from my normal sit at a desk all day – this is the first time in my life I’ve had such a stationary job, so I enjoyed the movement. I was working the line – as tickets came in and the hot and cold side prepared them I helped pull the orders onto the trays and load them into the carts to go to the hospital rooms. It was neat to see how this side of things works after having been a hospital “guest” numerous times in the past. It was also neat to see the ways we do things differently for the Psych ward and also the COVID floors. And out of appreciation for my volunteering to help them out, they bought me lunch! Unexpected and sweet – especially because Wednesdays are Chicken Fried Steak day, my favorite meal they serve!
After I finished I went to my brothers and put my clothes into a trash bag, which they will stay in until I can wash them. And I took a nice long hot bath – Phil has an amazing tub and I sometimes like to use it because I have a crap tub. I have bath supplies at his place. And then we chatted a bit and I headed home. The one negative today is that I got very little bootcamp work done so I will need to catch up tomorrow.
In other AMAZING news, Dante’s daycare teacher told me that he’s started saying his name!! I haven’t heard it yet and cannot wait. But I’m so excited <3!
Thursday – Saturday
The last few days this week got really busy I guess! Thursday I mainly spent working on my bootcamp materials. Friday I had a little bit more to do for bootcamp, but mainly I was super busy with work. I had a few meetings and several more calls trying to setup some things for my boss. Some of that was interviews, hiring a new hospital coordinator. I look forward to getting a new person in place – I’ll be busy with training them at first, but once they get acclimated I’ll go back to not being as busy.
Saturday I had my first bootcamp session and it went really well. The instructor is great and really experienced and I feel like I have a good handle on the material thus far. I’m also seeing lots of discussion on the slack channels about job opportunities for bootcamp graduates, which is also super exciting. I hope that means finding something won’t be too difficult when I finish.
Walmart was out of times for grocery pickup tomorrow by Thursday again this week, so I had to figure out something else. I don’t have time to go in the store (plus I really don’t want to with COVID) and last week I went to like 4 different Targets to get all of our groceries, which was also too time consuming. I ended up finding this deal that if I paid using a chase card (which I have) I could get Instacart with free deliveries until the end of April! It’s still more expensive than pickup, because of tipping and the grocery stores are more expensive than Walmart I think, but man is delivery convenient. It may be worth the added expense, at least until April. I went ahead and did an order this afternoon and it was delivered by 6, on my doormat! I asked for them to do contactless delivery and they did it perfectly. So I don’t know, I may continue. I know my brother uses it almost exclusively and loves it. I just worry that the tipping will add up and I cost too much. We’ll see.
Oh. And roach update 🙁 I thought they were gone. I hadn’t seen any all week, and then Saturday morning they appeared en masse. Which confirms (in my mind) that our new neighbors are a roach motel. Because basically the apartments sprayed, we did roach bait and they were temporarily gone. But they came back in basically the amount of time it took for them to migrate from their apartment again. I’m going to have to change out the roach bait weekly I think. And I’m researching what else I can do. If you know anything – besides moving and burning all my belongings – please let me know. This is LITERALLY my worst nightmare.
Blog News
Last week on Because Reading
- [11 Jan] Tell Me Something Tuesday: My 2022 Word
- [13 Jan] Goodbye's a Witch by Danielle Garrett ★★★★★
- [14 Jan] Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost ★★★★
- [16 Jan] Sunday Post with Berls | Week of January 9th 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 – 5 books this year
- Bookish Resolutions – Here are my goals:
- Blog ahead at least 1 week. I have all my posts for the upcoming week scheduled ✓
- Keep a blogging planner. I missed updating it on Friday this week, but I’ll do that tonight.
- Visit & comment on 7 posts a week. I did a good job visiting Monday – Wednesday. Thursday – Saturday not so much. But I definitely made it to at least 7 posts this week.
- Reply to comments each week. I have a few comments to reply to from the last couple days, but I’m mostly caught up and should be catching up on this tonight.
- Review books before starting a new book/on the same day – So if I finish a book while I’m driving, for example, I’ll start the next audio book right away. But that means I need to review the one I finished that day. But I could also write a review several days later – IF I haven’t started the next book yet.
- The Backlist Reader Challenge – 0/50
- 2022 Audiobook Challenge – 5/75
- 2022 Library Love Challenge – 1/24
- 2022 Finishing the Series Challenge – 0/5 series 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).
This week’s goals:
- Drink 64 oz water daily – ✓
- Miracle morning daily – ✓
- Get in my steps daily – ✓
Next week’s goals:
- Miracle Morning Daily
- Drink 150 oz Daily
- Daily reflection at night before bed
- 1 veggie per meal, plus 1 veggie pack daily
- 4 workouts (1 strength, 2 cardio, 1 flexibility)
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?
Well even with a few frustrating days/moments, it seems like a pretty good week. And I get your frustration with the two systems. I used to have one for work and one for home, but now we’ve converted everything to Apple. It took some getting used to, and now it’s all I use. Good luck trying to maneuver all of that work and back and forth.
My week last week was long – I am getting over a head cold and I didn’t feel great most of last week. So I didn’t workout and now I’m already feeling too lazy. *sigh* Hopefully once the weather (and my head) clears I can get back in a routine.
It was a good week. Thank you! I’m already having a better week with my technology so fingers crossed it keeps improving. I have such a well-developed Windows “echo system” that Apple just doesn’t make sense to me. But I have to use it to be a complete web-developer. So I will!
It’s hard once you break routine – even if it’s for a really legitimate reason like your cold – to get back into it. One step at a time! and a little extra rest won’t hurt since you’re still not feeling 100%. The weather is always a challenge for me too!
I don’t know how you manage everything you do! You are amazing!
The therapist situation sounds frustrating. I mean, I do understand that things come, and if she has just had a death in the family, there may be all kinds of things she now has to take care of. But it sounds like you are paying an organization for the therapy, and it would be perfectly reasonable for you to talk with them about your concerns about A) how many sessions Dante has missed, and B) why you should be have to pay for sessions that were cancelled by the therapist.
I hope you are able to sort out the roach problem. Would contacting the apartment management be any help? I’m sure they don’t want roaches in the complex.
Yea it is frustrating. He’s scheduled for a session tomorrow morning. We’ll see if it happens or get canceled AND if it feels productive. I brought up the cost recently and that’s when I was informed that I’m technically only paying for one session due to the cost-share plan (it’s a state program), so all the additional sessions are part of his plan but “free.” While I get that, I was told a monthly expense for weekly sessions. That cost made sense, but for haphazard sessions, IDK. So we’ll see how things go moving forward. He’s progressing really well still, so I also am just wondering if the sessions are necessary anymore (since I doubt his progress is from the sessions).
Thank you. I did a bunch of research this weekend have ordered some supplies from Amazon. I think tomorrow and Wednesday I’ll be able to get this place setup to be a roach killing machine. Unfortunately the apartment management can’t do much beyond what they already have – spraying the whole building. My husband works here and he said that honestly, he sees worse in a lot of apartments because a lot of the residents are just filthy. I have no idea how people can live that way. We have a lot of refugees living here, so I guess they’re used to a different living standard. *sigh* I’m just determined to get rid of them in my little corner of the complex!
Sounds like a busy week!
Gah it was! I think that will be true most weeks for the foreseeable future!
I started using Amazon Fresh when me and my family got Covid almost a month ago. We’re still sick so I’m still using it. They are pretty good about having almost everything in stock except for some frozen items recently. I had used Anycart but it was through Albertsons and they got so many things wrong or they would just be out of everything. So I stopped using them. Try Amazon Fresh and see if it saves you some time.
Oh that’ s a good idea! We have Amazon Prime so it would be free. I’m so sorry to hear y’all got COVID, I hope you’re starting to feel better!
Your week went well considering all the moving parts you have. I’d be upset about the therapist and maybe talking to them sooner. I’ve used Instacart a lot over the last couple years. I cancelled last spring after we were vaxxed because yes the tipping and they actually charge more for each product. But I also got the free Chase thing a couple months ago and I am back doing it again. I switched to curbside pickup at BJs because it’s cheaper and also tried the curbside for Harris Teeter and Walmart since they aren’t on Instacart. I use it for Aldis and Food Lion which seem less expensive to begin with and also for Sprouts and Wegmans because they are way on the other side of town. But I can get Amazon Fresh with Whole Foods for no charge delivery because I have Prime but they don’t have as many things I want. Many of those I only do once every month or two for specialty gluten free items. The regular stuff tends to be Aldis and Walmart and sometimes Food Lion. The shopper makes a big difference but if you complain they give you credits or don’t give you that shopper again. I haven’t had that happen very often though, most are very good. Anyway, I highly recommend Aldi for food – meats, produce, staples. I tend to Walmart for the toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. I hope this week is smooth and productive also!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
I am amazed how much time having my groceries delivered saved me, so I think I will keep doing it… but I may try to use cheaper stores like Aldi’s. And then also Amazon since I also have prime. With me doing the bootcamp for 4 hours each Saturday, this time saver will be huge!
Yeah I’m not happy about the therapist situation. I’m hoping things will improve this week. If not, I’ll say something. If it does, I’ll give it amonth to see if it feels like it’s worth the cost.
Sounds like a productive week! That’s great that you’ve returned to the morning routine that you know works for you. I’d be so frustrated with the therapist. I get that stuff happens, but you’re also paying even when they cancel on you. Ugh. I’ve only used Instacart once and while I loved the convenience I think maybe I didn’t get the best shopper. I had a couple issues with what was delivered (life sugar free fudge pop that were completely melted). Hopefully next time I’ll get a different shopper.
I think the shopper definitely makes a difference; we were lucky to get a good one this time. And yeah, the therapy thing is bugging me a lot. Very much hoping this week she will come, be on time, and it will be productive. If not, I’ll start having conversations.