doing it all – Working Mom

Covid has finally hit our home

Rumor is that the pandemic is going to be declared over soon. Up until now we have managed to avoid getting it… So, when it hit our home it wasn’t even the kids that brought it into our home or me working in patient care… It was my husband, who rarely goes anywhere. We have no idea where he picked it up since I am the one who is always out and about. All and all he has a pretty mild case. Fever for a few days, but not super high. The cough is probably the worst part for him. The kids are pretty mild. occasional cough, no fever. I am still negative and symptom free. How did this happen?

Apparently, we are not immune. Well, I might be.

I personally can’t wait to move on to post-pandemic bliss where we worry about something other than germs. I’m looking forward to masking going away and seeing peoples faces again. I hope the plexiglass barriers go away so I can hear what cashiers are saying again. I look forward to not yelling all the time so people can hear me through the mask and plastic barrier.

I miss pre-pandemic life…and pre-pandemic prices. But it isn’t all negative. I’m just going to say it… I LOVE curbside pickup! I love being able to get pretty much anything delivered. As a busy mom, not having to park, go into a store, shop, checkout and go back out to my car and just being able to order what I want and just pull into the designated area and pick my items up is amazing! I am hoping to never go grocery shopping again. Having someone do it for me then drop it off at my house is the best thing ever!

I’m looking forward to business hours going back to normal so I can enjoy supporting small businesses again. I don’t know about everyone else, but having places closed on Sundays and evenings is tough for me. Saturdays are often busy with events so I run errands on Sundays. Now I may eventually get use to this but after years of only the post office, Chick-fil-a and Hobby Lobby being closed on Sundays other places that use to be open all weekend (or open until 6-8pm) being closed now is apparently hard for me to get use to. I guess I’m just an old dog now and having trouble adjusting.

Maybe this is the “new normal”.

Maybe this is just temporary until people go back to work and places are fully staffed.

Maybe I just need to learn to check the hours of places before I’m standing at the locked door looking for the hours…yeah, it’s probably this one.

Honestly, this is not a new thing for me. I have often wondered why so many places don’t open until 10 or 11. I’m usually up, dressed and ready to start my day by 7 on the weekends (6 on weekdays because I start work at 7:30 AM) who are these people who don’t get out of the house until 11? By 11 I’m usually hungry and trying to figure out what I want for lunch.

So for this year I’m going to try something new… check the hours and days places are open before I go.

Bucket List – Grand Canyon

Pretty much everyone I know knows that I am big on setting goals, making a plan and achieving those goals. That includes bucket lists. Everyone should have one. If you don’t, start one. Spend the $0.50 and get a cheap notebook or spend more and get something better, but do it. Some people do electronic but for this I think physical paper is best. There is something very satisfying about actually crossing it off and seeing all you have done.

I started the bucket lists back in the late 80’s early 90’s before a bucket list was a thing. It was just a list of things I wanted to do someday. Through the years I have added things and crossed others off. In some cases my ideas or goals changed as I grew older so I took some items off because they were no longer important to me as an adult. I have lost track of how many lists I have had through the years as notebooks filled or fell apart and I copied my items left to a new book. I have since dedicated a whole page to some items (like see all the California missions and all the California lighthouses) so the goal is at the top and all the items needed to achieve the goal are listed under to be crossed off as I go to them. (A note about the missions…ask for a mission passport in the gift shop at the first one you go to and get the stamps at all the missions as you visit. I went to 4 before I found out about this)

You may wonder what all that has to do with the Grand Canyon…well it has been on my bucket list since I started my bucket list. Then when I went to Vegas for my 21st birthday I saw a brochure for helicopter flights to the Grand Canyon where you actually land inside the canyon, have a picnic then fly out over the Vegas strip at night. OMG I was in LOVE with the idea but that price…ouch. It went on the bucket list where it sat for 26 years.

You read that right…26 years. In May 2022 I finally achieved that goal and it was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. Flying in over the desert, dropping into the Grand Canyon and flying through below the rim so you can see all the little slot canyons that branch off to the sides… it was every bit as amazing as I dreamed and totally worth waiting 26 years to do rather than just giving up because the price was too high.

The point is no matter what the dream is you can achieve it. It just takes planning and determination. No one needs to know you are working on it. Even if you just put $1 a week into an envelope to save up for something special you will eventually get there. Make a list. Make a plan. Achieve your dreams. Time will go on if you achieve your dreams or not so you may as well be amazing!!

My hubby and I posing for a photo on our anniversary in the Grand Canyon.

The Road (less traveled) to Lake Tahoe

In an effort to make the most of my time on Earth I decided to take a little road trip with one of my best friends. Just one night in Tahoe, CA but we were going to take the road less traveled to get there and hit Apple Hill on the way home. Awesome ideas right? Yeah, it was mostly an awesome plan. Her sister has a condo in Tahoe we can stay at for free so it really seemed like a win-win situation.

Our trip started out awesome. I have fallen in love with the Roadtrippers website and app for planning journeys. We had this down. So we start out and get a bit lost looking for the covered bridge. We ended at a dead end road with no bridge in site. So we backtrack to an area where groups of people were gathering to go white water rafting that we passed on the way in and ask them if they know where the bridge is. They point behind an giant abandoned building. Yeah, it never occurred to us to search behind a giant abandoned obvious horror movie in making building in the forest with no one around to hear our screams. Yeah, it sounds like a horrible idea. So we head off in our capris and flip flops to the giant abandoned building…because why not?

As we get closer to the building we see a small ranger station off to the side (a good sign) but they are closed and do not open for a while but without any fencing to keep us out we head off down the path to the spooky building and the bridge that lays beyond. We instantly decide that the building is the PERFECT set for pretty much and B horror movie, post-apocalyptical movie or a gangster or crime movie where they either hide bodies or kill people. But, we are determined to find this bridge so we continue on.

As we round the far end of what is left of the massive structure we finally see the bridge and what appears to be the old dirt road that use to cross it that looks as if it meets up with the dead end road the GPS took us to around a familiar looking hill. bushes, trees and tall grass have since grown over the parts of the road farther from the bridge explaining why there was no sign of it or the river below from the dead end. We have arrived! We wander around the area exploring, cross the bridge for a look from the other side and find a nice picnic ground that you can access from another road that would have made a much easier route than the one my GPS took us on.

As we are leaving other people start to show up and we stop at the ranger station on the way out and look at the cute museum about the gold rush, mining, logging and the wildlife in the area. There is even a photographer taking portraits of a couple models outside the abandoned building. We continue along our journey stopping at anything that looks interesting and eventually stop for lunch.

After lunch the small towns thin out and we start to see more signs for camping and little to no signs of civilization. then all of a sudden we round a bend in the road and the road thins out to one wide lane and a truck is coming straight for us. We scream and pull over. But we can still read the street signs so we figure this was just an idiot that didn’t realize or didn’t care that this is obviously only one way and he was going the wrong way.

About 30 min later we are desperately looking for the end to this road from hell. It is indeed 2 way, with apparently no rules and a massive cliff on both sides one going up and one going way down (on our side) there are no shoulders or guard rails just a fall to your obvious death on the lush green carpet that is actually giant trees that are so far down they look like shag carpet. We are obviously going to die.

We stop at every area that allows us to stop and catch our breath getting out of the car to see all we can of this area we are NEVER coming back to again. We also understand why the road is closed in high winds, rain, fog and snow. Totally makes sense. It is a death trap with no cell service. We finally make it out and almost cry with relief after several close brushes with death over the last few hours. We scrap the rest of our stops on our trip and just go straight to the safety of the condo in Tahoe.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and we decide to go back to Tahoe (staying on 50 and not taking the “road less traveled” ever again) to explore more of the area. It is beautiful and the condo was perfect for us. I am currently pondering a gag gift for my friend for Christmas to do with this road trip. I am not sure what exactly I will come up with. Perhaps a travel mug with “I survived Ebbetts Pass” or something. We were kinda hoping for a gift shop at the end with such items and were sad when there wasn’t one. I now feel the need to create an item of some kind for her with that sentiment. I had to take a LIVE A GREAT STORY photo at one of our stops along the way. Because we absolutely got a story out of it! We even have video of some of our 360 degree turns with death defying drops just inches away from the edge of the small, steep road. It was obviously made for horses and not cars. But, hey…If you are feeling adventurous in good weather give it a go. Make sure you have a full tank of gas, an empty bladder and steady nerves before you go.

Living with Diabetes

It is my first holiday season as a diabetic. As I enter into it I’m still pretty bitter about being mandated to get the covid booster that almost killed me and every time I stick myself I’m reminded of this fact. I’m trying NOT to be bitter and move on but it is difficult as the holidays approach and I’m constantly checking my sugars to make sure I didn’t go overboard with all the fatty, carb filled bits of deliciousness that make the holidays so decadent.

So far I’m managing pretty well. I survived thanksgiving keeping my sugars in range. Tonight I have my first holiday party of the season. Christmas Day will be the biggest challenge for me since we are having guests over and tons of food and desserts…and probably lots of leftovers hanging out in the house to tempt me in the days following.

I still need to get back to the gym. I have not exercised since returning to work a month ago. It’s just so dark and cold in the mornings. I know I’ll be fine once I get going after a couple weeks but sticking my toes out from under the covers at 4:30 AM to fit in a workout before work is not as appealing as keeping them under the covers until 5:30 and getting an extra hour of sleep. For decades getting up early was not a problem for me at all…but I have struggled with getting back to it since the pandemic threw me off my game.

The pandemic may be an excuse. But when everything was closed for 1.5 years I got out of the habit of going. Then things were iffy and opening with limited hours when they did open because there just wasn’t the staff to be open. My gym just opened back to its regular pre-pandemic hours a few months ago. I leave for work at 6:30 AM so their 7AM opening time just didn’t work for me so my membership was on hold until they changed the hours.

Now how do I get my groove back? How do I not only keep my eating habits and blood sugars under control but drag my butt out of bed and work out before work again? How do I manage the insatiable hunger when you first start working out again with managing my sugars? How do I fit in my evening yoga again when the studios have closed? Do I just do videos at home? Where do I practice? Downstairs is out with the dog thinking I want to play. The garage is out because it’s freezing out there in the winter. Maybe rearrange our bedroom to make space?

Recently, my husband brought up the idea of creating me a space in the backyard and putting in a “she-shed”. We have a corner that is surrounded by mature trees and nothing seems to grow in the shade there. Could this possibly be a solution? What would I do with the space? Greenhouse? Not likely since it’s too shady. Art studio? Possibly. Yoga studio? Possibly. Combo of the two? A better possibility. I’d need power out there for a space heater/fan and light. In my mind I’m picturing an adorable “tiny house” structure similar to our current shed.

I guess only time will tell if the she-shed happens or not and what I do with it…but while I wait I better figure out how to get up early and get my butt to the gym.

Live A Great Story

Let me just start by saying I am an old dog. I am not very good with learning new tricks. I can learn them…only it takes me a minute and possibly a couple google searches and some YouTube videos to work it out. I start with that because a few years ago I hit influencer status with my Instagram. I did not know it. I just post a “photo of the day” and let it go. I have a “super fan” aka…stalker on there. But living in the San Francisco Bay Area weirdos are kinda common so as long as they didn’t get too psycho, It doesn’t phase me.

Then one day out of the blue I get an email asking me if I am interested in doing promotion for influencers. I laugh it off because…well, I’m just a Mom. I’m not famous. I barely know how to run my social media. So (since I have no idea what they are talking about) my co worker asks me how many followers I have. I look (and it takes me a minute because I have never used the app) and I have over 10,000. She is shocked. I ask her if that is a lot and she…well she says things I shouldn’t type out here. So I google influencers and find out I actually meet the criteria. I agree to it and they send me miniature leggings. Apparently there people didn’t look too hard into me because I have not been a size that could fit into those pants in probably…well 30 years…maybe longer. We all got a good laugh from that and life moved on.

Recently I got an email from LIVE A GREAT STORY talking about their brand ambassador program and asking if I would be interested in a collaboration… Ummm… ABSOLUTELY! I love the concept and have written about my love of both LIVE A GREAT STORY and MOM, I’M FINE on here before. This is a collaboration I can really get into!

So I agree. They send me my login information and I literally spend roughly 4 hours trying to figure it all out (old dog and all). But I am all set up now and I am happy to announce that I am now a Live a Great Story ambassador! My first box of swag just came today. I’m pretty excited. Two sweatshirts and a bunch of stickers and buttons to get started. It is so much better to work with a brand I actually like and believe in than one that I have never heard of.

LIVE A GREAT STORY means something different for everyone. For some people it is a reminder of the travels they have taken. For others it is the live they are living after overcoming a grave illness or injury. Others are starting over after a tragic loss or life changing event. We all have a story. We write another page every day we wake up. Sometimes we just need a little reminder to make it great.

If you are interested in picking up a reminder to LIVE A GREAT STORY yourselYou can check out the whole LIVE A GREAT STORY line here and save 10% with free shipping over $50. liveagreatstory.com/sunshinejodi13 or use coupon code sunshinejodi13.

My weight loss journey-November update

It has been a while since I have updated my progress. Not that it hasn’t been on my mind but life happens…in my case work.

I’m sure I have mentioned my hatred of the insane workloads and all the mandatory overtime with all the 12 hour days and 6 day weeks. Finally September arrived and my coworker took the overtime allowing me a bit of normalcy back in my life.

Then the day from hell happened and I finally cracked. I got to work at 7:30 AM as usual and the alarm was going off. With the engineers on strike there was no one to turn them off. It took until 3:30 in the afternoon to get the alarm shut off. Also the AC was stuck on Arctic blast and our department was 56 degrees…also unable to be fixed. By the time I left work at 4:30 I was in tears. My nerves were shot. My eyelids were twitching and I had a pounding headache.

I go home and still feel like hell. My Blood pressure is high so I go to bed. Surely I’ll feel better in the morning. I wake up the next day (a Saturday) and my husband tells me “happy weekend! You don’t have to go to work today!” I start crying. My pulse starts racing. I can’t get it together. So he gets up and tells me to take my time. He will get the kids up and start breakfast.

I can’t get it under control. I try to get out of the house and take one of my kids to the pumpkin patch and start having chest pain. I think this is it. That place is actually killing me. I turn around, take my son home and go to the ER.

I get a full work up to make sure I am not actually dying and end up with a diagnosis of extreme stress, a chill pill and a follow up with my medical dr who then takes me off work and puts me on anxiety medicine to try to help me get under control.

A few weeks later I’m starting to feel human again. I made some changes at work (including actively looking for another job). I slowed down and I get done what I get done. If people need to wait oh well. Maybe they should hire enough staff to cover the volume of work that needs to be done. I’m fully booked to the end of the year. Today I started the pile of consults that need to be seen but there’s nowhere to put them. I’m not overbooking myself again so people get seen in a timely manner.

I am also waiting on a surgery date in January for carpal tunnel surgery. So I’m not booking anyone in January until I get that date. I’ll book up to that day…when I get it.

Even with all that is going on and Halloween I still managed to loose just shy of 6 lbs in October. I’m hoping I can continue to slowly loose the weight through the holidays because overtime just started up again with today as my first 12 hour day again. I agreed to 1 a week and I choose what day it is and no more Saturdays.

I’m really hoping I get the job I applied for a few days ago. It is my light at the end of the tunnel. 20 min commute vs 1 hour, 1/4 the patient load and higher pay. At first I was thinking I would maybe pick up 1 Saturday a month to help my current coworker…but my husband is right. I’m already detaching from that job in hopes of getting this new one. Once I leave, I will not be back. That mess is their problem, not mine.

Not my monkeys, not my circus.

I just keep focused on the light, think positive and hope like hell that I get that job and can move on.

It came up too fast and now it’s over…

Well, that time is here and gone. I was planning on a slim, sexy body for my brothers wedding and while I failed at that, I am about 35 lbs lighter than when I started and still looked better than if I was 35 lbs heavier. As an added bonus all the running around and dancing left me 4 lbs lighter after the 4 day weekend.

I’m not stopping here. I am still determined to get back into shape. The pandemic may have thrown me a curve ball but I’m slowly working on it. One this this weekend has shown me is that my day job, commute and lack of movement on weekdays is really what is stopping me from being fit and fabulous.

I need to figure out how to add exercise to my weekdays sans-gym. Even moderately active will be an improvement on my 3000 steps a day I get chained to my computer. I need to figure out something to get moving to reach my goal of being fabulously fit at 50. (I have 36 months to make this happen, but I’m aiming for 24 or less so I have it off for a year before my 50th)

It is said that a journey of 1000 miles begins with a first step. Tomorrow I’m taking that first step and going back to my mosquito, wild animal walks around the park and back in the mornings. I have insect repellent and pepper spray. So as long as I don’t spook a skunk or come face to face with the bobcat or mountain lion that occasionally wander our neighborhood I should be good. (I have only seen the bobcat. But my friend a couple streets over has seen the mountain lion ahhh the joys of living close to nature)

36 months to 50…

I got this!

My weight loss journey-the hubby joins me

Things are returning to “normal” in our house. The kids are back in school and my coworker is trying to buy her 1st home and actually wants to work ALL of the overtime until she is settled and I am happy to let her! With this weeks overtime behind me and no more in the future I’m feeling human again.

With my husband on board with the weight loss it is making my life easier with less temptation. Our new fridge was delivered a week ago (the old one finally died.) so we are stocking back up on healthy food and cooking at home. It was rough going for the few weeks between “fridge isn’t working” and “new one is here” but we survived.

My hurdle now is exercise. With masking back at the gym it’s a no-go. I can’t do cardio in a mask. I already wheeze like crazy without the mask adding to my struggle. I was full on ready to get back to my walking around the park and back then the fires started and now the air quality is “chunky” with a mist of ash falling constantly. I’m pretty sure the smoke and ash are not good for my lungs. My current plan is to skip cardio and work on my core and stretching until masking at the gym goes away or the air is breathable outside again.

Halfway through august and I’m down 3 lbs so far. At least it’s going in the right direction.

My weight loss journey-July 2021

Holy setbacks Batman!

Thankfully I only gained 1 lb in July and that is a miracle. Between the 4th of July holiday weekend and the 60+ hour work weeks I am amazed that is all I gained. I’m the type of person who draws a line in the sand, regroups and starts over. That is what August was going to be for me…a fresh start. With the overtime behind me I’m getting back to my meal planning and back to the gym! I had a plan…and it was a good one then Thursday, July 29th I get told that the overtime is going to continue through August oh, and by the way you are working on Saturday too. I almost cried.

My work week has been 8-5 Monday, 8-7:30 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday then back to 8-5 Friday and Saturday. Yes, you read that right…6 days a week and three 11.5 hour days. Oh, and I have an hour commute each way. I’m struggling. I’m exhausted. I’m desperately trying to regroup and try to figure out how I can make this work. My decision…food is key. I just do not have time or energy to exercise so my diet needs to be near perfect.

I have had suggestions from fit people I know try to help me figure out how to fit exercise in my day. I’m up by 5:30 AM and leave the house about 6:30 AM and get home around 6 or 8:30 PM depending on the day. I get ready for bed at 9 and I’m asleep somewhere between 10-11pm. Giving me 5.5-7.5 hours sleep depending on the night. My early days I spend as much time as possible with the kids before they go to bed because I don’t see them at all on my late days. That is honestly the hardest part…not seeing the kids.

So I average about 6.5 hours of sleep a night and I’m at work, commuting or with my kids the other part. What do I give up? Work is set and I don’t want to work the OT as it is, but it isn’t optional. Sleep? I’m exhausted as it is. Time with my kids…yeah, I’ll give up sleep first. My kids are still little and they grow up so fast. I’m not making excuses. It’s just my reality. I have pondered this trying to work out a solution on those many hours commuting. I have goals so I was going to cut my gym time down to 30 min. But as if the OT wasn’t crushing enough Friday I get an email from the gym saying they are going back to mandatory masking for everyone while in the building vaccinated or not as of August 1st. That sealed the deal for me and I put my membership on hold.

So that’s where I am. My first month that I did not loose anything and actually gained a pound. I am determined NOT to gain anything in the month of August and my goal is to lose at least 4 lbs with diet alone. I’ll check in again at the beginning of September with an update.

Coming out of the pandemic…slowly

I’ll say it… I love NOT wearing a mask. I love to see people smiling and greeting each other. I love hearing about families and friends reuniting. I love that things are slowly getting back to the old normal. Screw the new normal. New normal sucks. I want the old normal back.

Honestly the only good thing that came out of covid was curbside pickup everywhere. I love not having to get the kids out of the car to grab a few items in the store. I order online. I get an email when it’s ready I drive up. They throw my order in my car and I’m out. L-O-V-E it!

I look forward to the day that no one even mentions “social distancing”. I don’t like people all up in my face to begin with but I’m really tired of not being able to tell where the line is because it just looks like a bunch of random people standing around on their phones.

Along that same line…I’d like the whole “Karen” thing to just stop. Seriously, just stop. Also, I’m tired of people telling me to “be safe” all the time. I don’t recall ever telling anyone to “be safe” in my life. I have asked friends if they need a condom. I have told friends to call or text me if they don’t feel safe. I have told my kids to get down that’s not safe. But it’s not a parting greeting for strangers. Goodbye, see you later, have a great day, enjoy your weekend… those are awesome ways to part. But honestly, I’m annoyed by “no worries” as well. For example, let’s say a patient comes in 3 hours late for their appointment and it’s 4:59 and you get off work at 5:00. They explain that their appointment just wasn’t at a good time for them so they figured they would just come in now because that works better. Here I’m thinking “no way in hell I’m staying late for an inconsiderate jerk. You need to rebook. I’ll see you in 2 months” but then I hear my coworker tell them. “Oh, no worries. She’s still here and can see you before she goes home.”

No worries really? No worries should be for something that you are ACTUALLY distressed about. Like “OMG my purse was just stolen and my keys and phone were in it and I’m a total wreck! How am I going to get home? How do I call someone without my phone? What am I going to do?” Telling someone “no worries. Let me help you figure this out. Do you know anyone’s phone number that may have a spare key to your car?” No worries should be for someone who is ACTUALLY worried who is experiencing something outside their control. Not just anyone with an excuse for their own bad behavior.

We can do this people! We can get it together, be kind, get back to work and have some patience for those who have worked through the entire pandemic from the medical staff to the grocery clerks to the server at your local eatery. They are exhausted, understaffed, tired of being yelled at for things they have no control over and dealing with the public (many of them who lost their minds) for the last year and a half.