The first week back to work after a long break is dreadful. After the initial shock wears off, it’s not THAT bad but I’m already tired even though I’ve cut out social media after 7 p.m. and implemented a new bedtime of 9 p.m. when I can get it.
Right Now:
Nothing. We are all taking it easy. My daughter starts classes again tomorrow so we will stay home today and just huddle together for comfort. I exaggerate but not by much.
This Week:
We have one more sane week before production week for Oz begins. It will not be that bad but we have to check the schedule every day because the call times for each day are different and you cannot miss anything during production week. Also, auditions for the high school musical (Grease) are supposed to happen this week.
Reading:
Finishing up my #FirstBook, Stretched Too Thin by Jessica N. Turner. I wanted to select fiction for my first book of the year but this book is a necessary read for me. It’s “in my face” and making me uncomfortable because it forces me to look at how I’ve been doing too much. Like I said, a necessary read.
Watching:
Finished Murphy Brown. I may have already mentioned that last week. Still working our way through The Haunting of Hill House. Watching Marie Kondo and her tidying in bits here and there. I am also getting into The Office.
New Things I’ve Tried:
I was listening to The Happy Hour the other day and a gal by the name of Tara-Leigh Cobble was on. She is the founder of D-Group and the creator of The Bible Recap podcast. I’ve been doing pretty well with my hunting and pecking away at the Bible, but she mentioned a chronological reading plan where you read the entire Bible in a year, but in chronological order. Takes about 15 minutes a day to read the scripture (or have it read to you through the app), and to listen to the 6-7 minute podcast discussion for that day. Fifteen minutes total. Not bad, right?
Podcasts are my jam these days. I cannot tolerate news radio in the car but want something more stimulating than the same song playlist over and over. I find myself looking forward to my commute (crazy) when I know I have something good to listen to.
Grateful for:
Time to reflect. Although I was back at work this week, my tidying efforts continue to pay off. Coming home to a tidy, uncluttered space gives me a chance to decompress from the day and reflect on what other changes need to be made. I keep saying I am going to write a post about that. I will soon.
My question to you, is there something you’ve been wanting to do or try that you’ve been talking yourself out of?
I have two. I have wanted to write a book for so long but I always thought that book would be a novel. Now, I am feeling that it will be more of an inspirational type book. Not quite sure. I also feel led to lead some sort of women’s group outside of my life group.
Have a great week!
Book Chatter 
Getting back to real life after a vacation is always tough. I can’t think of anything I’ve been talking myself out of but I’m sure there must be something. I’m going to think on it some.
I’ve always been a big dreamer but I also claim to be a realist. I am constantly dreaming up things. But then the realist knocks it out of me.
Getting back to work is a shock to your system. Especially if you start out on a Monday.
Den and I both want to take piano lessons. We want to buy a piano and then take lessons every week. I hate that our goals are about purchases but we need to get a new sofa, too. But I want a piano before the sofa! Once we get the new sofa the old sofa is going into the sunroom slipcovered so that we have two big sofas ready for comfy reading!
Piano lessons!! That is exciting! And doing it together would be so much fun. Picking out a piano would be fun too. My pup loves it when my daughter plays her keyboard or her ukulele. She just sits in the sun and listens and when she stops playing to goes looking to find out why the music stopped.
We have four full days of heavy rain here this week. I love it.
Glad you got though your busy week without too much street. I’m enjoying your Instagram daily posts – some of the ideas are so simple, yet helpful. I think of lot’s of things I might like to do but, the idea flees as quick as it arrived so I guess it wasn’t anything I’ve obsessed over. I’m no longer a planner like I had to be when the kids were home….if that makes sense?
The non-planner thing totally makes sense. When I sit down to update my planner so much of it is stuff my daughter is doing that affect me in some way. As for me, I always have these big ideas. I have them, I feel compelled or called to do something about them, but then they just continue to percolate and not really go anywhere. However, I do feel as if I am getting closer to whatever I am meant to do or start. It’s just right there.
Writing a book sounds so overwhelming to me, but you write well so I am sure for you it would be less stressful. I have been loving your daily tidying up posts! Today I went through my “tech” drawers and got rid of so many manuals (even the one for my flip phone from 2000!), old cables, etc. That felt super good.
In my tidying, I found a bag of appliance manuals and not one, not one of them belonged to an appliance I still own. LOL. I just love tidying up. I should have been a professional organizer.
Whew, you made it through the first week back! I’ve been enjoying your instagram posts, too. Can’t think of anything I want to do that I’m taking myself out of…though my husband could probably list all sorts of things that I’ve talked about at one time or another. Hope you have a good week, Ti.
The first week back is rough, for sure. My daughter heads back to school today and was having a really hard time this morning but I know once she is there it will be okay. She begins musical theatre again today in school. She had to break from it last semester due to volleyball so her return to it is exciting. Especially with her being in the Wizard of Oz at the same time.
I definitely plan to work on more decluttering this year. It is super hard for me to get rid of things, but I plan to push harder at it. I really don’t want my house to look the way my parents house did.
Also, over the years, have been wanting to be part of a womens group, other than my book club, but haven’t come up with a viable focus yet.
My parents were not hoarders but were poor. I grew up poor so our home or whatever we called a home at the time, was never a place that I could invite anyone to. I didn’t even know what a normal home looked like until I was close to 13. So, I hear you on the decluttering. Sometimes, when it comes to the stuff my kids had when they were young, I have a hard time. Like blankets they were given, special dolls, etc. I made a choice to keep the very special ones and I’ve taken pics of some and gotten rid of them. But some are in a pile of “not sure yet” and if I am being honest I am not sure when they will be dealt with.
As for the women’s group. Women are very different from men. Men can see each other once in awhile or strike up a conversation on the fly but women are typically more reserved. Getting them together takes more effort because of schedules but I’ve found that once they are together, it’s valuable time spent together. Especially if there is a good balance to the group. I am seriously just considering having people over for coffee now and then just to give them (and me) a break.
I love this concept of a women’s group and I think I may need something very much like it. My blogging community has filled this role for me in some respects, but most of the time that’s not happening in face-to-face real time. Granted, between my work hours and commute hours and all the other life stuff I’m not sure where it would fit in, but it would be worth trying.
I would love to do a breakfast thing. Breakfast, early on a Saturday morning would be great.
I always have a hard time the first day back after a long vacation, but then once you get into the swing, you’re back at it.
To your question, I’m working on my bucket list of things I haven’t done, like ice skating. I want to do other things that kids did when they were little but I didn’t. I also want to finish that poetry manuscript this year, but my writing is so erratic and very few focus on one theme…might have to be a multi-themed book. We’ll see what happens.
Tell me more about your bucket list items. I saw your ice skating pic the other day. What else?
You would be great at writing an inspirational book. or I could see a novel too. I hope your work week gets better. I wouldn’t mind taking a short wordpress course (to know a bit more) and I need to apply for Canadian citizenship which I’ve been putting off for awhile. But there never seems time. Good luck with your interests.
I read the Bible from front to back every year but this year I decided to read it in chronological order. I plan on checking The Bible Recap podcast out.
I’ve been wanting to join a book club but have talked myself into waiting until we move so I won’t have to switch.
I’ve read the Bible in chronological order before. We did that one year at our church. It was quite interesting. As to the idea of writing an inspirational book, I say – you go for it! Who knows what in your life has been preparing you for that, Ti? And a women’s group just for coffee and conversation might be just the thing for you. Good luck with thinking about new pursuits. I’ve already shared my new ‘piano’ journey. Ha!
Thank you!! I do plan to do something with my idea to write. My mind is on fire right now with all the things I want to do.
I can’t think of anything right now I want to try that I haven’t…I’m not reading through the Bible, but I am trying to start my day each day with Morning Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer and end my day with an abbreviated Examen. So far this year, I’ve kept track each day of what I am most grateful for and, on some days, what I’m least grateful for.
Two years back I tried to utilize a gratitude jar, where you write what you are grateful for and then place the slip in the jar. The idea being, that at the end of the year, you can read all the slips of paper. I think I got to day 28 and then it was so repetitive. It just felt too much like work.
This Bible app thing I am doing is going well. I’ve already read through two books of the Bible and it’s not even one month. YES, they are books I’ve already read but I have a newfound appreciation for them. My one complaint is that the Bible app keeps stopping while I drive which is annoying. I pick it up again but it almost always starts over which is a total drag.
I don’t usually make it that far with things like the Examen. But I still am going to try. For me, it’s a good day-to-day reminder, plus on an app, I can look back and see the good things in my life.
i also try to read the daily Bible study at She Reads Truth but the app costs money, so I try to read it online each day but then I miss a few days and then it feels like too much reading to catch up.