Tag: month in review

January Shenanigans

January Shenanigans

Boy, January was a whole month, wasn’t it? Let’s do a little Top 5, because I don’t feel like doing this in paragraph format. Also, I don’t think I have enough individual shenanigans to fill out a Top 10. This month has been crazy though.

1. Trade Show Madness

The biggest trade show in my industry happens in January & it was so much fun! The leadup was pretty stressful – we’re an extremely new team and we had a lot of responsibility at the show – but we pulled together and it was an extremely successful show. Everyone is incredibly proud of our work.

2. Team Building

I got to know my team (and some coworkers on other teams) SO well. We got to hang out at the show and after, grabbed food, complained about our feet together, and honestly got to bond in a way that I don’t think I’ve done with any coworkers before. I’ve never been to a trade show before either, though.

3. Covid

Even though I’m vaxxed and boosted, used so much hand sanitizer, and kept my mask on even when everyone else took theirs off, I brought home Covid. My symptoms have been pretty mild – sinus congestion & drainage, cough, severe sore throat, fatigue, and loss of smell/taste. I honestly think that I also got a sinus infection on top of Covid, because the sinus symptoms have not stopped. I have gone through several boxes of tissues. The cough had calmed down a good deal, but it still pops up sometimes. Thankfully, the fatigue was gone after a few days. The loss of smell/taste is the biggest bummer. What a depressing thing.

4. Shane & Covid

My guy had Covid SO MUCH worse than I did. He struggled getting enough oxygen – he even blacked out a few times. His throat was exponentially worse than mine as well. He didn’t have as much sinus trouble though, and no cough. He can also still taste. We’re both on the mend, though. Both of us get tired pretty easily, but it’s a lot better.

5. Fake Nails

While frequenting CVS the past little bit, I wandered into the little beauty area and decided to get some glue on nails. Since I was waiting on a prescription that visit, I had plenty of time to consider all of my options. I’ve literally never had fake nails before, and it turns out I love them. They’re so fun. Have I had to replace 2 in the past 2 days because the glue kind of sucks? Yes. Am I really enjoying them anyway? Also yes. Will I keep buying them? Absolutely. Will I one day go get acrylics at a nail salon? Probably, but I kind of the like the cheapy ones for now.

-S

January Wrap-up

What I Read

  1. Duchess by Deception ~ Marie Force {ARC from Goodreads}
  2. Alaskan Holiday ~ Debbie Macomber {ARC from Goodreads}
  3. Avalon ~ Mindee Arnett
  4. The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House ~ Stephanie Lam {begun, not finished yet}
  5. An Impartial Witness (Bess Crawford, 2) ~ Charles Todd {begun, not finished yet}

What I Watched

Movies:

TV Shows:

What I Cooked/Ate

  1. Hummus wraps with veggies and {a fairly mild} hot sauce. They also have cucumbers, onions, mushrooms, and banana peppers.
  2. Sweet potato hash with chorizo and eggs.
  3. Eggs Bennies, of course. We’ve been cutting back but it still happens.
  4. The traditional Steak n Shake monthly meal.
  5. We also had pizza twice and got Chinese take-out once. I’m trying to not eat out, but it was a rough month. This was not the total amount of fast food I ate in January.

What I Did

Image of a sunrise at the beach with a bird in the foreground

Sat on the beach with Shane as the sun rose on New Years Day. A super hopeful beginning to the year.

Visited Huntington Beach State Park with Shane and his mom. We went to see Atalaya again, since she’s never seen it. I love that park.

I also spent a weekend at my parents’ place. I stopped by on my way home from campus on Friday and left on Sunday morning. Shane even came and spent the night with me on Saturday night. This is big because my parents’ dog has a habit of biting at Shane.

I can’t talk abut a lot of stuff that happened this month, but basically it’s been a really rough month and I spent *a lot* of time sitting on the couch playing Solitaire on my phone.

Used a couple bath bombs from Christmas and they made the water look like Kool-Aid. Big fan.

Finally found a doctor down here. The appointment was rescheduled twice but 3rd times the charm. I really like my doctor and she’s super responsive.

~S~

October Wrap-up

What I Read

  1. I Remember You: A Ghost Story
  2. The Right Hand of Evil
  3. House of Ashes
  4. Christmas With You (will be up on the blog in December)
  5. The Twelve Slays of Christmas (will also be up in December along with the sequel)

What I Watched

  1. I am The Pretty Thing That Lives in The House (pass if you can)
  2. Malevolent
  3. The Conjuring
  4. Some Doctor Blake Murder Mysteries
  5. A full 3 Collections of Forensic Files

What I Cooked/Ate

  1. Chicken Bog – I used a rotisserie chicken instead of boiling mine, but it turned out amazing.
  2. Cheese Fondue
    • I bought a fondue pot for Shane’s birthday even though it’s not until mid-Nov.
  3. Broth Fondue
  4. Roughly 7 dishes to use up the leftover dippers from the fondue. Including a pizza topped with all the leftover cheese and veggies. It was delicious.
  5. Sushi from King Kong Sushi….repeatedly
  6. Sushi from the grocery store by my house because it’s actually incredibly good.
  7. Eggs Bennies from our favorite little diner. We go about once a week since they serve b-fast for me and lunch/dinner for Shane when he gets off in the morning.
  8. An insanely messy meal from Steak ‘n Shake (autocorrect made that Steak ‘n Shame and it’s not wrong).

What I Did

I’m about to be too honest with y’all, but here goes. This month we had a flea invasion (from an untreated puppy). I have spent weeks this month washing clothes then having to wash them again, having a hard time breathing from all the diatomaceous earth we had to put on the carpet, watching Tau to make sure the flea medicine didn’t kill him, washing more clothes/sheets/comforters, and so on and so forth. All while my hands were torn up from flea bites – I have a really bad reaction to them. I literally bandaged my hands and wrists like I had been in a fire so I wouldn’t scratch them. It was a nightmare. It’s been 3 weeks from the first bite and they’re finally fading. BUT there are no fleas in this apartment anymore. If there were, they’d be biting me. I’m a magnet. Tomorrow we get to vacuum up the diatomaceous earth and dust the entire apartment cuz that stuff gets everywhere. Last month was hurricanes, this month was bugs. Next month will be family (I kid, I kid). 10/10 will probably pet the puppy again. After I check that it’s been treated. I helped a twitter friend’s friend fix a WordPress issue at 11 at night while mostly asleep. Posted my favorite post of all time that literally no one looked at, but I’m still super proud of. Picked Laurie up and carried him a good ways from the bedroom to the couch without getting scratched. He’s a hefty boy and he usually struggles to get away from me so hard that I end up bleeding. He’s mellowing. I’m glad October is gone and I’m glad I’m starting November by cleaning up the wreckage and getting a fresh start to the month. ~S~

September in Review

Here’s a little roundup of the last month. Memories and all that.

Read:

  1. Crazy Little Thing by Tracy Brogan
  2. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Review)
  3. A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis (Review)

Watched:

  • Castle Rock! So creepy and weird and awesome.
  • Cardinal.
  • La Mante.
  • The latest series of Death in Paradise.
  • Finished up Father Brown.
  • Forensic Files. So much.
  • Jack Ryan (on Amazon)
  • Too many YouTube videos about Bullet Journals & planners.
  • Too many YouTube videos from Chef John, Binging with Babish, Sorted Food, & Bon Appetite.

Did:

  • Fled to higher ground before Hurricane Florence.
  • Saw My Favorite Murder live in Charleston & wandered around with Shane’s brother and his girlfriend the next day.
  • Atalaya Craft Festival at Huntington Beach State Park.

Cooked:

  • Bacon wrapped chicken bites
  • Pimento cheese stuffed mushrooms
  • Greek marinated chicken skewers with tzatziki sauce

That one sentence about Hurricane Florence took up about half of September. Hopefully October will be less disastrous.

-S-