Sunday Post with Berls | Week of June 19th 2022

Week of June 19th 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 – Monday

Sunday was a BUSY day. Dante was up around 8am and I got him breakfast, put away his laundry and cleaned his/guest bathroom. Around 10am Franky came over with Helena to surprise Kiko (I knew he was coming) for Father’s Day. Kiko was barely waking up at that point. So I made brunch of pancakes, bacon, and eggs (honestly pretty much what I make every Saturday and Sunday, just for more people). Then Kiko opened gifts, they played a bit with Dante, and I ran to do my Walmart grocery pickup. Then they had to head out because Franky also had Father’s Day with his step-dad (plus it was Sunday so getting ready for the week ahead). Kiko had to work some more on his truck and I took Dante to We Rock the Spectrum. I’ve wanted to take him ever since I found it about 1-2 months ago. It was such a good time – it’s an indoor gym catering to kids on the spectrum. It was such a nice environment, the parents are so nice (it’s like we all know we have kids on the spectrum so there’s a bond and understanding right off the bat), and Dante had a blast. I posted pictures/video on Instagram of this and his splash park fun Saturday here and here if you want to see. Then it was home for nap and I finished laundry, our bathroom, and caught up on all my backlogged reviews. Then we had our dinner, played a bit, Dante went on a walke with Kiko, then it was bath and bedtime! A great day, until 9pm when Kiko got a call from his brother that his nephew’s widow’s AC wasn’t working. They live about 45 minutes away but no one but Kiko really knew how to fix it. So his other nephew picked him up and he was there fixing her AC until about 11. He got home around 12 and I couldn’t quite sleep until he was home.

Meaning I was a bit tired today (Monday). But I still got 6 hours of sleep and woke up to do my workout. I am really thankful for my new routine – our morning went well (I setup my blog posts for the week, meaning I should have time to start visiting blogs/replying to comments tomorrow!) and I was ready to start my day at our 9am scrum meeting. I finished my training videos this morning and started digging into Confluence documentation, trying to see what I can better understand. I sent 1 email with some meeting invites I realized I was missing – hopefully I’ll get a reply tomorrow. I also had my nutrition coaching call – this is the first one I’ve made in a while and it was good to be back. After work I ran a couple quick errands – two returns and a Target pickup. While I was out Kiko called me that he had one more thing he needed to do on the AC from last night, so he wouldn’t be home for dinner but should be home before bedtime. So it was just me and Dante for dinner. After dinner it was still really hot out, so I decided to take Dante down to the pool. It is closed to all but employees’ families Sat – Mon and after 7pm, making today the perfect day. It was freshly cleaned this morning but no one was in it all day! Dante had a really nice time and hopefully will sleep great tonight – he went right to sleep at bedtime (Kiko came home while we were in the pool). I’m just wrapping up a few things and then I’m headed to bed to read and then sleep — maybe before 10!

Tuesday

This morning I started my day with 30 minutes of yoga – I’ve decided to do cardio/weights MWF and Yoga TR – and I defintely needed it. My muscles were tight! After yoga I did my new morning routine, including blog visiting and replying to comments!! It’s only about 30 minutes, but wow that’s so much more than the time I used to have. After taking Dante so school I had to run by the bank for some cash for Kiko – he had a mechanic coming to fix the truck (and it appears to be fixed, yay!!) and he also wanted some Topo Chico (working in the heat). So I stopped at Target, bought a 12pk for him. When I got home he let me know I had bought the wrong ones – he wanted the green not the yellow. So after my 9am scrum meeting I ran to the store to do an exchange. I ended up having to just buy new because on my way in the bottom of the box broke and they fell out, breaking all over the parking lot (glass bottles). That was annoying and I was soaked. I guess thank goodness I wasn’t hurt by the glass at least. And a Target employee was right there to clean up the broken glass.

I spent the rest of the morning reading through Confluence documentation and then I had a new hire training. at 11:30 I had a lunch with my old team — another member is leaving and they were giving him a goodbye lunch and they invited me to join in. It was good to see them – I think I’m going to enjoy my new job but I doubt I’ll find a team I like as much as them. Since I was right around the corner from Phil and Zach I spent the rest the afternoon working from their place. They gave me some good tips for the job as I’m kind of nervous because we start a new sprint tomorrow and I’m not sure what they are going to expect from me. Hopefully the planning meeting goes well.

While I was there I heard back from the place I’m trying to get Dante’s speech therapy setup with – in the same building as his ABA. They said he will most likely need 2 hours a week and they actually have 2 days at 3pm (the time I would need) available starting next week! Yay!! After dinner and getting Dante to bed I spent probably an hour completing their intake paperwork. Kiko and I also started talking about what things are going to look like once his starts ABA. Our initial plan had been Therapy in the morning, daycare in the afernoon — until he starts school in September (when he turns 3 he’ll be eligible). But now we’re looking at ABA therapy from 8:30 – 3pm Monday – Friday and then Thursdays and Fridays speech therapy from 3-4. So basically we need childcare from 3:30 – 5 Monday – Wednesday and that’s really it. That’s not even 6 hours a week. No way we’re going to continue paying $230/week for daycare for 6 hours. I think we’re going to see if I can just work those 6 hours a week with him here (most people aren’t productive for about 6 hours of their work week anyway, so as long as I’m really productive the other 34 hours I don’t know that it would matter). And the two days a month that I have to go into the office, Kiko should be able to get off work early. So there goes my free time, once ABA starts that is. But honestly, I think it makes the most sense. And who knows, he may go down for a nap when we come home… 3:30 has always been his ideal nap time AND even though he hasn’t been napping much, he’s going to be working hard all day, so maybe! If it doesn’t work out, we’ll hire someone from Care.com. It’s only until September and then who knows what things will be like with his school. I cannot wait to have all this figured out!

Wednesday

For the most part, a good day today. I got in my workout and morning routine, Dante got to school well and I got started on my workday. The coworker I had been told would be my best resource came back from PTO so I sent him a message to start getting some answers to questions. He was really responsive – within 10 minutes he had setup a call for me, him and another Front End to meet this afternoon and go over my questions. I had my appointment for fixing my Samsung Phone at 3pm but we had our Sprint Retrospective at 2pm… and the Samsung repair place is a full 30-45 minutes away from my apartment. I scheduled it before they had sent me all the appointments, having noticed that we didn’t tend to have afternoon meetings. So I used a 12pm call that was for new hires to listen in to drive out to a Starbucks just 2 minutes away from the Samsung store. I sat outside – some would say it’s too hot but for me it was a gorgeous 80 under an umbrella with a good breeze – and took my Retro meeting from there. The Retro went really well – (1) they did some goofy teambuilding type questions and I’ve determined I’m going to need to up my pop culture knowledge LOL (with what time? not likely to actually happen)… but it was fun and I felt like I was able to really connect a bit better with the team and (2) I got some work to do!  It’s just a 1 point discovery that I really have no idea how to do yet but I know I can figure out.  I also got some answers to a couple questions I had been seeking and got added to a couple teams I needed to be added to (Microsoft Teams). Someone did mention they were taking off for July 4th and I thought to myself “aren’t we all off for the 4th?” and knew I needed to follow up on that one when I met with Adam and Gaurav (the Front Ends) later that afternoon.

The meeting with Adam and Gaurav went really well. They gave me lots of information, I have tons of links to start reviewing things, and I think I can get started on my Discovery ticket for this sprint. I also learned some interesting (?) information  about PTO/Time Off. I was given 3 weeks of PTO per year, and this includes my sick time AND holidays. We do not get any days automatically, we have to take them. I was not thrilled to hear that, as you can imagine. They told me that everyone tends to take the federal holidays — whether they be in US taking the US holidays or in India taking the Indian holidays. Ok, so at least there’s not an expectation that I will work holidays. But man there goes all my vacation time, right? Not really. When I asked about taking time off – because I will probably want to take the 4th and definitely the 8th for Book Bonanza – they said you just send an appointment to everyone to let them know you will be out. There’s also a place where you can keep track of the time you are taking BUT it’s solely for you to use. No one keeps track of your time off. Basically, I have unlimited PTO. No one really cares how much time I take off, as long as I’m getting my work done. Obviously I shouldn’t go hog wild and take tons of time off over the next couple months but I don’t have to worry about the time I take either. Nice!

Then the sad part… I went to Samsung and they couldn’t fix my phone. The most likely conclusion is that the phone I bought “unlocked” was actually not an unlocked phone but an IMPROPERLY jailbroken phone, resulting in an inability to push updates. I’m really bummed because this means I have to swtich phones with Kiko (or buy a new phone, which I am not doing right now). We switched phones this evening and I was STILL trying to get myself properly setup at 11pm. I was THIS CLOSE to tears. I still may cry. It’s funny, I can be a very adaptable person but where my phone is concerned I struggle. Years ago I had to make the switch from a Windows Phone to an Android because Windows just wasn’t getting the support, apps, etc anymore. I LOVED my Windows phone. Only phone OS I’ve every truly loved honestly, to this day. When I switched to Android I tried so hard to make it like my Windows phone and when I just couldn’t I had a meltdown. Like sobbing. I own that this is probably overly dramatic but what can I say, it’s how I felt and while I have resisted the meltdown thus far, I do feel it coming. I want my phone organized a certain way and so far I’m really struggling to get my iPhone setup that way. On the plus, Kiko is really happy to have my Android. It has instantly solved all his problems. He can now call Mexico. He isn’t having any connectivity issues thus far. It would appear the problem was his phone, not the service.

Oh and then I also got an update from the ABA Center Dante will hopefully be attending. They heard back from insurance:

I just heard back that the BCBA will need to call in directly and speak to a representative to submit everything.  Amy plans to do that as soon as she can.  They are usually pretty good about letting the BCBA know if it is approved while they are on the phone.  I will let you know as soon as she is able to speak to someone.

So yeah that has me nervous. I asked if that was normal or if I should be worried. They responded that “The majority of insurance plans will let us submit documents via fax or through an online portal. A few of them require a BCBA to call in and talk to a rep. It is just how they handle their business.” So, no I don’t think I need to be nervous. And hopefully it does mean we’ll have a confirmation of benefits soon since they should give it over the phone rather than having to wait for them to review documents. But man, I can’t help it. Needing a phone call definitely has me on edge. Also heard back from Speech that they got back benefits and it’s going to cost $68.24 per session, and he’ll have 2 sessions per week. So with ABA we’re at $311.48 per week in therapy. Honestly not horrible since daycare is $250 and honestly around here most people pay close to $350/400 a week for daycare. But defintely will need to cancel daycare, no way we can swing both! I’m going to talk to daycare tomorrow about Dante stopping soon but not having an exact date. Got to bed way too late because of all the phone mess 🙁

Thursday

My plan was to sleep in a little bit today because I went to bed so late. Tell me why I woke up 15 minutes BEFORE my normal alarm?! Grr. It’s okay though, I had some things I didn’t get to last night so I was able to take care of them this morning and get caught up. I did run out of time to blog visit, but every morning can’t be perfect, right? I spent a little more time this morning setting up my phone – including setting it up for work, which was the whole reason for this. Thankfully that went perfectly and I’m adjusting ok to the phone.

I spoke to Dante’s daycare this morning and they said it’s fine, they understand that I won’t necessarily be able to give them the normal 2 weeks notice. When we know he’s covered, just let them know, even if it’s Friday and he’ll start the following Monday. They know I’ve done my best to communicate and they also understand insurance is impossible to predict. Plus, I’ve treated them well these past couple years 🙂 I’m kind of sad to think we’re finishing up there, they’ve been a good place. But also really happy to have Dante’s services nearly secured.

Work was fine – I had a training that was 2 hours long but also HILARIOUS. I almost want to go work with them (except hell no would I want to do that work LOL). I spent a good amount of time reading through documentation for my Discovery ticket and I’m not sure I know what I’m doing but I’m trying to know lol. I’ll have questions tomorrow I guess. Kiko also finally had his doctor’s appoitment that we scheduled last month. This is his first real appointment – not sick appointment but actually just a check up – since before we met 20 years ago. Yeah, it’s taken a lot to get him there. Found him a doctor that speaks Spanish so after helping him complete his paperwork he was good to go on his own! yay! And I had therapy at the exact same time, on the phone in the waiting room basically.

This evening we watched a movie and really just relaxed. Getting to bed on time tonight and it feels good!

Friday – Saturday

Friday was good but busy. I had a decent amount of work to do actually, with my 1 point Discovery lol. At one point there was a massive miscommunication and for about 1 hour I was under the mistaken impression that I was on call next week. Which freaked me out. Thank goodness it was a misunderstanding. My brother teased he was all set to find great deals at Sam’s next week too! Kiko hurt his finger last weekend when he was helping fix his nephew’s widow’s air conditioning and he’s being an abosolute baby about it. If I hear about his finger hurting one more time, I may chop it off myself lol. That’s about it for Friday except the obvious, massive gut-wrenching anger at this country for once again proving that we are no where near the best place to live. I knew it was coming and still, the Supreme court’s reversal of Roe V Wade was a huge hit. I just don’t see how anyone can look at this as anything but a BAD thing. As the law that led the way for all other privacy based laws, the far-reaching consequences of this decision are so much bigger than women’s rights (which is already a HUGE reason to be pissed). I’m an extremely active political person – I’ve worked several campaigns – and you can believe this is just adding more fire to my resolve to finally turn Texas Blue in this upcoming election. I don’t know where I’ll find the time, but some things are too important to not find the time.

Saturday was a very busy day. Dante was up at 7:30 (his normal time really) and we had breakfast and then were out the door by 8:30. I had to drop Buffy off at the groomers and then we had a play date (just 5-10 mins from the groomers appointment). Dante had a blast playing at the park and then we visited at my friend’s house (the park is across the street from her place). We picked BUffy up around 12:30pm and then came home. Kiko wanted to go see Franky so we got to their place around 2pm. There we played a bit, got in the pool for a little bit, and then watched some old (season 2) episodes of The Walking Dead. We got home around 9:30. Just wrapping up a few things, including grocery order and then headed to bed.

Blog News

I blogged last week!! Yay! I don’t think I’m going to make it on Can You Read a Series in a Month though 🙁 Still 5 days to go but not looking good!

Last week on Because Reading

• [20 Jun] The Other Half of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost ★★★★
• [21 Jun] Tell Me Something Tuesday: Book no-nos
• [22 Jun] Witch Way Did He Go? by Dakota Cassidy ★★★★
• [22 Jun] Witches Get Stitches by Dakota Cassidy ★★★½
• [22 Jun] Witch It Real Good by Dakota Cassidy ★★★★
• [23 Jun] 🎧 Just a Few Witchless in Seattle Books I Read (catch up pt 2) ★★★½
• [24 Jun] Pure Seduction by Ella Frank ★★★
• [25 Jun] COYER Sign up for SUMMER!!! Time to Sign up, Summer COYER Starts July 1st
• [26 Jun] Sunday Post with Berls | Week of June 19th 2022
• [26 Jun] The Sunday Post ~ HOLY CRAP! A lot has happened! ~ Week in READview! 2021

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 -33 books (final count for Spring)
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 managed to get back on track this week and hope to get posts for next week done today.
   2. Keep a blogging planner. Not keeping up with this right now
   3. Visit & comment on 7 posts a week. Got back to visiting this week.
   4. Reply to comments each week. Got back to replying this week too.
   5. Review books before starting a new book/on the same day – Not exactly, BUT I am caught up on my backlog of reviews.
3. The Backlist Reader Challenge –  34/50 books
4. 2022 Audiobook Challenge –  55/75 books
5. 2022 Library Love Challenge –  20/24 books
6. 2022 Finishing the Series Challenge – My goal is 5 series.
   • In Progress:
     1. Mine by Cynthia Eden- read book 4 & 5 this year, still need to read 6.
   • Completed:
     1. The Ivy Chronicles by Sophie Jordan – read books 2 and 3 this year, finishing the series.
     2. Amos Decker by David Bald Baldacci – read books 2-6 (#7 expected later this year)
     3. Witchless in Seattle by Dakota Cassidy – read books 8-13 this year

Added to My Shelf

I got caught up on my Tantor Audio emails this week so this is a doozy!

How was your week? What are you Reading?

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