Today was… not what I wanted it to be. I felt like I was spinning all day, just turning in circles but not getting anything done. I did finish the calendars, and ordered them in time to get the fourth one free. But I didn’t check the original one enough, so I kept making changes on the copies that I then I had to go back and make in the original. It was such a giant waste of time, and it could have been avoided if I had taken the time to really check the first calendar.
I make three different calendars every year, one for us (the original) and then one for my parents (very close to ours, I mostly just take off my in-laws’ birthdays), and one for my in-laws. The in-laws one requires a lot of editing, because I add photos of our niece and nephew. It’s a lot, but my in-laws love it and they do so much for us, so it’s truly a small token in the grand scheme of things. Since the hard part is making the calendar for my in-laws, I order a second copy for my sister-in-law. She seems to like it. I also designed and ordered the ornament (more on that later).
I pulled out some school stuff and quickly started truly spinning my wheels. Luckily I brought home last year’s planner so I was able to get more done than I would have (thank you me that went into work on Monday!) I looked over my to-do list for the first time since before Thanksgiving and was able to check off more than I realized. That made me feel a little better. But I know tomorrow is going to feel hectic and unorganized and I hate that. Boo.
I’m purposefully keeping my afternoon open tomorrow. No one is going to the dojo, so I can stay at work for a little bit after my last class. And I’m not working out so I’ll have time to get stuff done at home too. I’m hoping that by tomorrow night I’ll feel more settled.
It’s always hard to go back to work after a break. I’m not ready to go back, but when I think of how long ago Monday feels, I am reminded of how long I’ve been off. I just hope I don’t have to pay too high a price for not thinking much about work this past week. We shall see.
I took the kids (and a friend each) to WinterFest at Great America (the local amusement park) today. We had a great time. We went on a ton of rides and took pictures with the lights and Christmas characters. My son rode on his first roller coasters and loved them. It was super fun. And exhausting. I’m ready to stay home and do nothing tomorrow.
We listened to Christmas music on the way down and back. Listening to four kids belt Wham!’s Last Christmas was the icing on the holiday cake.
I’m trying hard not to fall into an end of break funk. This break has been fine. It’s been good! I feel like I’m not checking all the things off my to-do list, but I also feel like I’m using my time relatively wisely. I’m certainly not wasting it. And there have been plenty of very lovely moments. I think my “Five” this Friday will be highlighting the positives of this break, to help combat the end of break funk I feel creeping in.
The Calendar
I’m actually a little behind on the calendar, but I’ve gotten a rough draft of it done. And looking through the photos from this year, I am reminded of how much fun we’ve had on different trips. Our trip to the snow in February was a surprisingly good time. The 4th of July at my uncle’s “farm” in St. Louis with cousins was super fun. The week after in Charleston with my cousin and her kids was amazing. And our week in Hawaii with my husband’s friends was incredible. We also had a great time at Universal Studios. That is FIVE really awesome experiences that we shared this past year. We are very lucky, and I have tons of photos documenting it all.
Visits with friends and family
I had an impromptu visit with a friend earlier this week. Wednesday night we brought dinner to friends and met their new baby. Of course yesterday we were with my parents and long-time family friends (my dad’s best friend from childhood) for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow we’re going to my in-laws in the morning and spending the evening with the kids’ friends at Great America. It’s been a nice mixture of family time and seeing other people. I’m glad for that.
Productive purchases
I have quite a few things for the kids for Xmas already, all purchased at deep discount. I got my parents and sister tickets to a show at SFSketchFest (a regular Xmas present for my parents, because I’m always trying to get them experiences, not stuff). For Black Friday we got a tent and two sleeping bag at almost half off (we plan to go camping this year, with my son’s 4th grade National Parks Pass), a bigger memory card for the Switch, and a new neck/back massager for me (my old one has been sewn back together so many times, I just couldn’t fix it again). I also got my son two pairs of the Nike’s he wears to shreds, and my daughter a pair of Converse (for Xmas). Woot!
Runs in the sun
I ran twice, last weekend of the Great Highway and today at my favorite park. I haven’t been up to the park in a while and it was nice to be up there in the sun. It wasn’t even windy! I really needed to get out, and away from my family for an hour today, and was so happy to do it here.
Downtown San Francisco past McLaren Park.Downtown SF and Sutro Tower (off to the right).
Good TV + Reading
I watched Season 1 of Yellowjackets by myself and my husband and I are finishing Season 2 of The Bear. Both were stellar. My son and I finally started Season 2 of Loki, which is also great. I’m also listening to a really good audiobook (La Ciudad y la Ciudada – the Spanish version of The City and The City by China Miéville). My husband is reading it in English and it’s fun to talk to him about it (it has a very strange premise). It’s been nice to have the time in the evenings to watch some TV. I’ve also had some time (though not enough) to read my print book, which is also really good (a police procedural in Spanish called Las Madres).
Tackling the to-do list
I may not have gotten as much done as I wanted, but I have crossed off many a to-do list item. The tree is up and decorated (and withstanding the frequent assaults by the cats). {I am SO GLAD I got an extra box of the lights we use from Costco years ago – they change from white to colors and I love them and when half of one set went out this year I just grabbed the new box!} The TV is now secured to its stand (because said cats have started attacking it too). My daughter’s art nook is ready for her to create her three submissions (due mid-December!) The advent calendars and other treats for at least the first half of the month are ready for our Elf on a Shelf’s arrival (our Elf leaves little gifts to make the wait more manageable, she does not surveil bad behavior). The new bathroom tile has been chosen (this took WAY longer than expected) and will be ordered soon (I just have to ask the handyman some questions about quantity). A bunch of old junk got picked up. The outdoor couch (from the pandemic days) was retrieved by a new owner, leaving a ton of space in the shed. Stuffing was made and shared (yes I only bring over the simplest side dish). Christmas resents were purchased. My niece’s birthday present was ordered. The car was serviced. I ordered new glasses (including my first dedicated pair of reading glasses (with my astigmatism Rx included). FSA paperwork was submitted for the second half of the year (which will help pay for all those productive purchases!) It’s a lot of things! And they’re all done now!
And there are still two more days before I go back to work. Tomorrow is probably a wash, but Sunday I can get things done. Just writing all this out has definitely helped tame the End of Break Funk I was feeling. And now to finish Season 2 of The Bear!
After a weird and at times trying conversation with my husband in the car, we are with friends tonight. Our kids are home along and I appreciate this very much. and that might be it for today.
Please enjoy these photos of the deYoung Open, which we saw together.
My husband has been dealing with what we think is clinical depression for about a year now. Some days/weeks/months are better than others. Some are worse. We’re in a down swing right now. He’s struggling. Which means I need to step up, both pragmatically and emotionally. It’s been a lot. It’s throwing various wrenches in my week. I’m tired and wishing I could do more. And annoyed I have to do so much.
In the meantime my car was serviced. I took advantage of the Target near the car service place (and its sale) to get some presents. I cleaned the compost and recycling bins, which were so gross and smelled so bad every time I walked past them on the way to my room.
They’ve literally never been so clean.
The kids and I put ornaments on the tree. Panther tried to knock a bunch of them down. I started the calendar on Shutterfly.
We’re ornament-heavy tree decorators.
And I almost forgot to post today. I thought I’d have more time to participate in NaBloPoMo this week but it feels like I have less.
Trying to roll with the punches right now. Just trying to show up how and when people need me. Trying to get things done and chill out.
Today was all about helping future me out. I went to work to get some stuff done so that next Monday morning me was not totally overwhelmed (just normal overwhelmed probably). And I took the Basics and Form classes from someone who is sick today so I wouldn’t have to teach them in December. Neither were tasks I wanted to do, but now that they are done, I’m glad I did them.
I think a lot about “future me” and how I can help her out. I sometimes think about “past me” and how she did me a solid. Generally, in the moment I try hard to anticipate how I might be feeling later. Like with the martial arts classes – I knew I’d have more bandwidth, both physically and mentally to reach that class today than I would at any point in December. When the opportunity to take it today came, I took it immediately, even though a part of me was really bummed to have to do it during my break. I know December me is going to be so happy it’s done.
On a more frustrating note:
My SIM card stopped working mid-bus ride today and I’ve spent the last 90 minutes trying to figure out what to do about it. I can’t access Verizon’s customer support because they send me a text to verify my account when I try to log in and of course I can’t receive that text at my number. It’s the most infuriating Catch-22. My husband is now chatting with someone for me – thank god we’re on a family plan together – but it’s of course taking forever and may not resolve the issue. I do NOT handle this kind of tech failure shit well so it’s been frustrating.
The icing on the cake is that tomorrow I need to take my car in at 8:30am to get serviced. There is a Verizon store not too far away and I suppose I’ll just sit there until it opens tomorrow if need be. I did put my daughter’s SIM card in and my phone recognized it, so hopefully it’s the SIM card and not my phone’s SIM card reader. My iPhone is a 13! It should not be crapping out on me yet!
Sorry for the super short post, but it’s all I got in me today. The thought of being out in the world tomorrow without a car or phone is not a pleasant one.
UPDATE: My husband was able to get them to activate an eSIM in my phone so it’s working again. Thank goodness!
Today was another nice day of break. After two days of gray and rain, the weather today was beautiful. I took my son and his friend (who spent the night) to the Great Highway with their bikes. This time I felt great running and would have wanted to run much longer but I was having some hip pain, so it was probably best that it was a short run.
At home I got the Christmas tree up and secured. Last year our kittens were only five months old and fairly new to our family at Christmas. I was nervous about putting up the tree so I secured it to the sides of the two doorways it sits between. I left those anchors up all year so I could do the same again. The cats are bigger and heavier and no less curious. They climbed into the tree quite a bit last year but it never fell over. I hope that track record continues to stand (the not falling over part I mean).
So this is how I cat proof our Christmas tree. I zip tie it to a small table and then tie it with twine to anchors in four spots on the sides and to another spot behind on the wall.
All that keeps the tree standing. But what about the ornaments? Last year I only used the non-breakable ornaments. This year I’m going to leave the tree up for a couple days with just the lights so I can see what the cats do with it. If they aren’t in it much I might put some of my favorite photo ornaments up toward the top, where they don’t usually get to. We shall see.
What? Me climbing the tree?Piece of work.
How do you keep your decorations safe from four-legged friends?
It can be easy to see a one-week break as an opportunity to do ALL THE THINGS and hard to remember that life still has to happen, even if formal work doesn’t. It took me a lot of years to pair down my expectations of week-long breaks to better reflect what’s possible. I still need reality checks from time to time.
This morning I sat down with my planner and gave myself the reality check I needed. I wrote a list of what I want to get done, and the specific time commitments we have, and started prioritizing things in recognition of the fact that it’s just not all going to get done.
And we’re off to a good start. I went to the dojo today for General and Sparring. Sparring was really fun because it was only blue and red belts there so it was all ground grappling. I love ground grappling and have a lot to learn, and everyone had something valuable to teach me.
My daughter is at her grandparents’ house and my husband is out with a friend. My son has a friend over tonight so I’m not on call to keep him occupied. We a got pizzas and played Ticket to Ride and now they are watching a movie. I got my 1B tests scored while they were playing and finished a book I’ve had from the library for MONTHS.
I’m quite pleased by my first day of break. I hope the rest of the week can be as nice a balance of productivity and down time as today was. Hopefully my morning planning will help make that possible.
And now this cat would like me to stop writing so I will oblige her.
Five things on a Friday seems to be popular around these part of the blogosphere. I’ve never done one before, but I think I can probably figure it out. 😉
So five things I’m thankful for at the start of this Thanksgiving Break:
Appointment Availability
I can still not believe I can take the car in and get a new prescription this week. The car has needed to be serviced for MONTHS and I really want to take advantage of vision insurance covering one pair of glasses per calendar year. The fact that I can get both done when I have the time and space to do so is amazing.
Older kids
And I don’t have to worry about child care coverage while I do these things because my kids are old enough to stay home by themselves. So while I’m making my way home Tuesday morning after dropping off the car my kids will be watching themselves at home while my husband is at work. It’s a whole new world.
Bringing a side
I can also check off these old, festering boxes on my to-do list because I am not in charge of Thanksgiving dinner. My parents make the main meal and I just bring stuffing, which is my favorite thing. I am not a whiz in the kitchen so I appreciate not having the stress of pulling of such a large culinary event.
Margins
I have plenty to do this week but I’m pretty sure I’ll have the margins available to get most of it done. We aren’t traveling and we don’t have much planned. I’ll spend half a day at work closing out the first trimester and preparing for trimester 2. I’ll score some tests at home. I have plenty of photos curated for the calendars I need to order. My daughter is ready to help me put up the tree and decorate the house. I think it will all be pretty doable, especially if I use my time strategically.
Family and Friends
I’m excited to spend some time with my parents and my in-laws this week. A couple friends are not going away so I’m hoping we can hang out. I think a few of my kids’ friends will be around. I’m taking them and a friend each to Great America’s WinterFest the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It should be the perfect mix of hanging out at home with the family, being with extended family and seeing friends.
