Check-in #7

Sunday evening has come. Already. And again. For us here in SoFlo at least. For some of you it’s probably already Monday. Are you ready for another working week? I am not so sure, honestly. After a week off it’s hard to get my head back in the game. Thankfully, I do not have to do that just yet. I will get started tomorrow morning.

So my first week off in forever (over a year) ended up being super nice. Weather wise and else as well. What did we do on a week off during a pandemic you should ask? Well, see for yourself.

Yes, you guessed it. Thanks to the mainly incorrect weather forecast, there was plenty of playtime and then some. I am the photographer so no pictures of me, but trust me, I’ve been there too. And had a lot of fun.

The mornings started like always with a jog around the pool. But since I did not have to work, I got to enjoy my coffee in the yard watching Henning and Sam play and swim. And while I enjoyed myself, so did the mosquitoes. Currently I am still having over 10 bites. One day the “itchiness” was so bad, I decided to take a benadryl (anti histamine pills).

And that, dear fellow Covid-19 warriors was a really bad idea. Let me just say, if you are having problems falling asleep and over the counter sleeping aids aren’t cutting it for you, give benadryl a try. I spent almost the entire rest of the day trying not to fall asleep. I am sure watching me sit on the couch trying to watch TV and dosing off a million times must have been quite funny. Lesson learned. I will have to put my big girl pants on and go through the itchiness.

Also, that was the kick-off of mosquito season for me. Which means no leaving the house for any kind of outdoor activity (even if it is just for minutes) without insect repellent on my skin. Ever. It’s a hassle, yes. But 10+ mosquito bites that are all itching at the same time are much worse. As is trying to stay awake on benadryl. And I am just not as cute as this little monster, when I am sleepy but trying to stay awake.

We played a lot, but there was also wanderlust. And that led us to the hair salon (don’t get me started) and to the outlet mall. I already told you a little about our shopping adventure in our now normal.

Question. Do you know your size well in let’s say your favorite brands? You don’t? Then I highly recommend checking your closet for sizes. And yes, go ahead and try some of the stuff on in case you enjoyed being home and having time to cook a little too much. Why? No, I don’t want you to tell me your size. You will need to know it well, when you go clothing shopping next time.

Fitting rooms are off limits for most stores right now. Of course you can buy, try at home and return. But if you drove let’s say almost 1.5 hours (one way) to get to the shopping mall of your liking, that might be a little bit of a stretch for returns. Or a good excuse to go shopping once again soon. That’ll work too.

I felt like store employees were a lot more excited to see customers come in than I remembered. Their jobs definitely have not gotten any easier. Most stores only opened one check-out and dedicated one employee to clean the counter, pin pad and everything with disinfectant. After EACH customer. Definitely clean.

Almost all people were wearing face coverings. Not all of them actually covered their “faces” but rather just the mouth. I really so badly want to print mask wearing instructions explaining, that unless they are a) dead or b) have their nose only so that their faces do not look so flat, they actually CAN exhale (and inhale for that matter) the virus through the nose.

It seems like Naples does not mandate face coverings in stores, as every store had different rules. Well, every state and county does, so why not every store? Common sense? Hahaha, that’s a good one!

Wearing a face mask is not for me, guys. It really hurts me on my ears, a lot. No matter if the mask is super tight or fitting a little more loosely. This gives me even more appreciation for front line workers. Many of which also did not have to wear a mask in their job (BC).

It’s summer here in my neck of the wood and for many of you as well. A word of advice – no matter how much you dislike it, try to dress for the body you got, not the one you would like to have. Seriously, are that many people not having good and candid friends or are they just ignorant? And no, I am not judging. I have been there. Well, not exactly.

I have been at a point in my life, where I should have bought 1-2 sizes larger to be able to at least wear nice, fitting, business clothes. I did NOT wear my nice but too small business clothes. Instead I had a “uniform” made off a pair (several) of nice-ish leggings and long dress shirts to cover my body up as much as possible.

When I finally decided, that I had to accept the size I had let myself get to and bought nice clothes, it also gave me the confidence to start with my WW journey. Why? Because you are much more confident when you accept yourself the way you are. But also, wearing clothes 2 sizes or more too small in summer should be considered an assault.

The Covidiot in Chief has not yet managed to fully destroy this country while I was on PTO. Why I am sounding so surprised? Because I am? I mean it’s a surprise bag every single day. And it’s not, that he is not trying. But at least some Republicans seem to have found their conscious. A previous President and a Secretary of State have hinted, they would not vote for him or support him. Thank you, I guess?

We are lucky, that Sammy is a dog and not a cat. For many reasons (if you are a dog person, you usually are not a cat person..). One being that I saw a report, that cats are very territorial and could develop anxiety because their humans are at home too much. My fantasy can take me weird places, when I think about the revenge ideas cats could come up with. Scary!

Lucky for us, Sam is not anxious about having us around. As long as we play by his rules, which include dispensing treats on a regular basis and no cuddling unless he is lying on his back with all four legs in the air ready for a belly rub. But no, he is definitely not anxious about us being around so much.

Good thing about this whole pandemic thing is, I really think I am not touching my face anymore. You are not there yet? Do yourself two favors. Carry a glass of red (or white) wine in each hand. There you go. You got this! A new habit takes at least 65 repetitions to form though. You might want to alternate water and wine or you might become an alcoholic. But at least one that’s not touching their face anymore.

I am not sure I am going to live to see it, but reading a history book in 2055 must be quite interesting. I envision a chapter for basically every week of 2020. From almost WW3 in January, Australian bush fires in February, Corona virus in March and April, giant murder hornets in May and another murder by a police officer resulting in riots, but hopefully also in a peaceful revolution, in June. I would not want to have to learn about all of that in school. And the year is not yet over. 6 more months to go. Should we be scared? Probably!

At least Henning, Sam and I are having something to look forward too. We just booked our cabin on top of a mountain in North Carolina’s part of the Great Smoky Mountain region. It promises a stunning view, 2 fire places, a hot tub and a lot of nature and not so many people. If any. And not having people around is actually the new vacation trend for 2020. Who’d thought? Our trip will be end of October which will hopefully have us see some pretty fall foliage but also have cold enough evenings for a fire in the fire place or fire pit and of course there will be S’mores.

https://abnb.me/rb4XVWzik7

We will have to wait a couple of months, though. How? Of course, one day at a time. Are you usually enjoying both weekend days or is your working week actually “beginning” on Sunday afternoon? Some of us are starting to feel slightly stressed about the fact, that it’s almost Monday. And of course that takes away from your attempt to get some rest on your well deserved weekend. If that’s happening to you, try the following.

• Prepare your Monday morning on Friday afternoon, before you are ending your Business day. Not Sunday afternoon.
• Check your calendar and set a reminder if needed to make sure you are ready on time on Monday without having to do that on Sunday.
• Don’t read emails on the weekend (I am not perfect at this myself, but I am trying!).
• If you are into cooking, prepare meals for your week or at least for Monday. It will make for much more relaxed breaks on Monday as it takes away most of the preparation time.
• Do your meal prep on Sunday if you need to distract yourself from thinking about work and meetings on Monday and during the week.
• Make nice plans for Sunday or just hang-out. You can stress about Monday on Monday.

Just some tips, in case the fact that working environment and the personal time environment are exactly the same has also impacted how you are perceiving your Sunday. And don’t forget your rituals to start and end the working day. They are especially important on Mondays. My Monday will be interesting for sure. I am seeing 1,000+ emails in my near future. But a lot of them will be interval reports and I am for sure not going to read any of those.

Have a great working week ahead! We will chat again on Wednesday (ish) depending on my work load. For now, I am going to finish watching our TV series with Henning and then join the pooch in bed for some (usually super short) cuddle time.

Keep your distance, wear your mask, stay healthy and take care!

Hugs,

Nannette