The high of my week was learning about my benefits for 2022! Working for a large, global company has some advantages, like the fact that we have a big human resources team that is devoted to finding ways to make their employees happy. Two of the benefits I’m most excited about are student loan assistance ($100 per month, straight to my loans!) and getting 36 FREE therapy sessions using a specific app. FREE THERAPY. OMG. I’ve been wanting to go back to therapy for a long time now, but since I’m on a high-deductible health insurance plan, each visit was going to be a pretty hefty expense. And now I can go weekly for, like, 9 months for FREE. Whaaaat.

The low of my week was making a mistake at work. I was working on a project (a redesign of a client’s website) and we were ready to send the new website to the client for their review and realized pages were missing—pages I was supposed to have written. It just completely fell off my radar to do that so I had to furiously write five website pages this week and add them to the site. Ugh. I hate making mistakes! I spent a good, long time beating myself up about it but my boss reminded me that I’m human and have a lot on my plate. And really, I didn’t set the project back at all and was able to get everything done in record time. But it still put me in a funk for a little bit!

A blog post I loved was The Last Time… by Runners Fly. She wrote a thoughtful post about how everything we do, we will someday do for the last time. But we never think about that and, as such, we can get caught up in the annoyances and get distracted by other things going on in our lives. But what if we took a moment to think about doing something for the last time? How more appreciative we may become! I really loved this post because, for me, I do think about doing things for the last time; it’s an anxiety trigger for me. There are times when I end a phone call with my mom and I go into a panic that that was the last time I will ever speak to her. (I end every call with “I love you” because I always want those words to be the last ones she hears from me.) It’s hard for me to appreciate these little moments I get with my mom because I’m just thinking about how scary this world will become when she’s no longer in it. (I may have dependency issues when it comes to my mom. Maaaaaaybe.) Anyway, I really want to get to a place where I can think of things I’m doing for the last time with fondness and not anxiety, but it’s a work in progress. This is probably a good exercise for me to start doing so I can train my brain to think more positively about stuff like this.

David suggests taking simple, mundane moments and behaving as if you’re doing them for the last time. Not in a depressing way, as in “If I get in a terrible car accident I’ll never be able to mow the lawn again!” but more of an exercise to become aware of how precious these activities really are. I did it the other day when I drove my daughter home from school.

A podcast episode I enjoyed was The Great Helga Hype on Decoder Ring. Such a fascinating episode about art and relationships and mystery. It’s all about an artist named Andrew Wyeth and this series of paintings he did about a woman named Helga. But who is Helga? What is her relationship to Andrew? What does Andrew’s wife think about this? FASCINATING.

I’m currently reading a lot of books, like always. I am still working through Jesus and John Wayne, but I think I should finish it up this weekend. I’m also halfway through Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall on audio. It’s so good. Yesterday, I started two new books: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson and The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite (a queer romance).

The best money I spent was $9 on an incline scratching pad for the girls. I’ve only seen Ellie using it so far, but she’s usually my early adopter. I think the incline helps her get a really good scratch because she uses it ferociously. It probably feels really good!

My plans this weekend include hanging out at home tonight (maybe I’ll set up my Christmas tree?!). Tomorrow, I have a writing date with Mikaela in the morning and then a day date with my mom in the afternoon. We’re going to test drive a Kia Soul and then go to our local Christmas shop to look at their decorations. (I’ve always wanted a big, beautiful wreath for my front door and I think this year is the year I finally make that happen). And Sunday is football with the fam, of course!

What was the highlight of your week?

The high of my week was having dinner with Mikaela and Olive on Wednesday night (aka, Olive’s birthday!) We went to a Mexican restaurant and they sang happy birthday to her with maracas. It was really cute! And just special to have this time with Olive on her birthday. I haven’t gotten to spend much time with Olive, since she was quarantined pretty heavily during her cancer treatment, and I’m glad I can finally actually get to know this special girl!

The low of my week was finding out the antibiotic cream my doctor wants me to use for the rash under my nose will cost me $107! Ack. Thankfully, I have an HSA, so I won’t feel the hit to my wallet, but dang. I hate being on a high-deductible plan for my health insurance, but I really love having an HSA. Except I’m not really saving much since I’m spending so much on copays at the doctor’s office. Meh.

A funny Tik-Tok I saw this week was this hilarious “if libraries were like delis” skit. Ahh, Internet people can be the greatest sometimes.

A podcast episode I enjoyed was Strange Bedfellows’ episode on “A Scot in the Dark” by Sarah MacLean, mostly because they had Tanner’s wife, Jaime, on and I always love the way the dynamic changes when she joins the podcast! It was such a fun listen.

I’m currently reading four different books, again. I’m still slowly making my way through Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes du Mez. It’s good but hasn’t been life-changing for me so far. I’m also reading Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, which I am finding so valuable. There is so much about disability rights that I don’t even think about, like deaf people in prison not having an interpreter. (That seems like such a human rights violation!) I just started A Gentleman Never Keeps Score, a queer romance by Cat Sebastian. And, finally, I’m still making my way through A Better Man by Louise Penny (just two hours left to listen to!)

The best money I spent was $100 on Christmas presents! Woohoo—finally got my Christmas shopping started. I don’t buy Christmas presents for a ton of people (my extended family doesn’t exchange gifts, and that is such a blessing, lol), just my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, my nephews, my stepdad, and some friends. It feels good to get it started, though!

My plans this weekend include dinner and/or a reading date with a friend tonight. Tomorrow, I have a writing date with Mikaela and then in the late afternoon, it’s time for one of my most-anticipated events of the year: RUNNING OF THE WIENERS! AHHHHH! They didn’t have this event last year for obvious reasons, and I can’t wait to see how Chip and Lucy do in their races. Mostly, though, I’m excited to be surrounded by dachshunds for a few hours tomorrow. MY FAVE. And Sunday will be a low-key day of watching football with the fam!

What was the high of your week?

The high of my week was starting NaBloPoMo! I basically started this on a whim, after reading a post from San two days before the challenge was set to begin. It just felt like the right time, since I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year (writing 50,000 words in one month) and since I was away from blogging for most of October. It’s been fun so far and I have my whole month planned out. It feels really good to get back to writing and my blog.

The low of my week was dealing with this minor skin rash beneath my nose. It’s been bothering me for a few weeks now, and I know I should see my doctor about it but at first, I wanted to see if it would go away on its own and then I got sick and didn’t have the energy to worry about it. But it’s still bugging me. Right now, I’m putting Neosporin on it at night and it seems to be helping. I’m going to keep applying it for the next few days to see if it cures the rash. Otherwise, to the doctor I go!

An internet resource I’d like to share is Anne Helen Peterson’s newsletter. I subscribed to this newsletter a few months ago, and I really enjoy it. I don’t read every email that comes my way (I typically skip anything involving an interview) but I do love the way she writes about being a woman in today’s society (especially a childless woman) and work. She’s also been doing a deep dive into the weird subculture of Peloton, which I am loving. That was actually the reason I subscribed! As much as I love Peloton and have a special fondness for some of the instructors (Cody Rigsby 4Ever), it is a weird, wacky world and I’ve loved her pieces on the subject.

A podcast episode I enjoyed was an episode of Over My Dead Body. This season has been truly fascinating with lots of interesting twists and turns. I’ve enjoyed it! I don’t listen to a ton of true crime podcasts because I’m too much of a scaredy-cat, but this one is really, really good. This season, they’re following the investigation of a police officer who was murdered.

I’m currently reading four different books at one time! What the what. My “slow but steady” read right now is Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes du Mez. I’m reading about a chapter a day. In between that, I’m reading Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig, which I am loving, and Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis. On audio, I’m listening to the 15th book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, A Better Man. Whew!

The best money I spent was $4 on a package of SUPERPRETZEL Soft Pretzel Bites. You don’t even know how excited I got when I saw these bad boys in the freezer aisle the last time I was in Publix. They haven’t been stocked for over a year at this point, and it’s made me really sad. (They had the regular big pretzels, but not the bites.) I love popping a few bites in the oven for a mid-afternoon snack, and I had to restrain myself from buying out all of the packages.

My plans this weekend include possibly test-driving some cars (my friend who just bought a car said that most dealerships have barely anything to test-drive these days, which is WILD, so we’ll see if I can make this happen). I’m doing it solely for research purposes, as I am not yet ready to buy. I also have Olive’s 2nd birthday party to attend (what a joyous party that will be!) On Sunday, I have a writing date with Mikaela and football with the fam. It should be a good weekend—and it’s going to be a CHILLY one for Florida! (Saturday’s high is 64!)

What was the high of your week?