A Day in the Life: Monday 31.01.22 (Pregnant and on Medical Leave)

Good evening, everyone!

Day in the Life posts are my absolute favorite to read, so I thought I might attempt posting my own.

Expect nothing exciting, just a pregnant lady wobbling through her day while trying to get stuff done.

Here’s my day, Monday the 31st.

11.20 AM- Woke up. Late. Because I’m pregnant and tired and need all the sleep I can get.

11.22 AM – Breakfast. Toasted bagel with butter and some coffee with milk in my unicorn mug. Ate at my desk while checking on blog notifications, emails and news.

12.19 PM – Got my Covid booster shot. Signed up for it as soon as it opened for my age group. Covid is no joke and I want all the protection I can get.

12.46 PM – Stopped by Aldi to get orange juice and coffee filters. One of my pregnancy symptoms is being thirsty all the time, for something other than water.

1.39 PM – Very unhealthy lunch because I’m pregnant and that’s what I was craving. Ate at my desk (husband was in his man cave/office working) while watching Call the Midwife, season 11.

2.06 PM – Decaf and chocolate.

1.58 pm – Laundry, two loads. I feel like I do (or should be doing) laundry every single day. My husband either runs or goes to the gym 5-6 times a week, which adds up. I’m sure I’ll be forever buried in laundry once the baby is here.

3.30 PM – Laundry is hanging to dry. Most of our days are sunny, even in Winter, so we don’t own a dryer.

3.44 pm – Studied for this training course I’m taking. My husband keeps making fun of my glasses chain but I love it and will keep wearing it.

5.08 PM Also studying for my driving theory exam.

5.32 PM – Whipped up a quick dessert because our friends have just invited us for dinner at their new house and I wanted to take something. Took me about 10 minutes to make this.

6.09 PM – Showered and put on this beautiful dress which was a birthday present from my friend. She has yet to see me wearing so it’s the perfect outfit for tonight.

8.16 PM – Spent some time with our friends’ cat. Her name is Margarida and she’s the fluffiest.

12.57 AM – Back home after a wonderful dinner with out friends. Putting on my pajamas and starting my night routine.

12.58 AM – Getting in bed and finishing my day with some reading.

Good night!

Love, Cheila

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My 14-Step Mindful and Relaxing Night Routine

If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know how much I love a good routine. It makes me feel organized, safe and in control. I’ve been working on all kinds of schedules for the past few years, which means I often have to adapt and change my routines. Today I’m sharing my current night routine. I’m 25 weeks pregnant and on medical leave so I don’t have to get to bed at a very specific time. I aim to start my routine between 11pm and midnight.

Step One

Tidy my desk/work space. Write to-do list for the next day. I’m not working right now but I’m doing plenty of studying and blogging which means my desk gets really messy by the end of the day. Cleaning it gives me the change of a fresh start the next day.

Step Two

Make bed. Turn on space heater. Place pajamas and cozy socks on space heater. Our bedroom is super cold, especially because I like to keep the windows open during the day. I love getting into warm clothes, after a shower so my space heater is my bff. If I haven’t made the bed during the day, which is the case most days, this is when I’ll make it as I CANNOT go to bed unless it’s been freshly made.

Step Three

Shower. Wash face. Maybe wash hair. I don’t currently feel the need to wash my hair more than once a week though, since I’m mostly staying home. I exfoliate my face every single day using This Wonderful Soap. Seriously, if you have oily or combination skin, this soap is a game changer.

Step Four

Brush teeth. Floss. Clean aligners. Put on aligners. I don’t currently floss every day, otherwise my teeth and gums get too sensitive and make the aligners painful. I am, however, brushing my teeth every time I eat or drink something other than water, which adds up to about 4-5 times a day.

Step Five

Dry myself up after showering. Moisturize. I’ve been applying this Awesome Body Lotion which comes in a huge bottle, is very affordable and so good on super dry skin. I also apply this Burt’s Bees Mama Belly Butter on my growing belly.

Step Six

Put on PJs and cozy socks. Yes, I do wear socks to sleep. How can you not? My feet are always cold, even with socks on.

Step Seven

Take my nightly pills and pregnancy vitamins. Get some water. Not too much water though, otherwise I’ll spend the whole night getting up to use the bathroom.

Step Eight

Write on my 6-Minute Diary and on my Happiness Journal. I love to journal. It feels good to reflect on my day and to focus on being grateful and positive, something that does not come naturally to me.

Step Nine

Apply face cream, hand cream, lip balm. I’m 30 now which means I can no longer slack on my beauty routine. I apply the Simple Water Hydrating Booster, the Uriage Roseliane Anti-Redness Face Cream (because rosacea) and the Burt’s Bees Vanilla Lip Balm. I think I should add some sort of anti-age moisturizer to my routine soon because my laugh lines are indeed starting to show.

Step Ten

Use the bathroom. For the 10th time. Unfortunately, not the last either.

Step Eleven

Get in bed. Put phone on charger.

Step twelve

Read. Watch massage videos on Youtube. Listen to a true crime podcast. Reading before I go to sleep is one of my absolute favorite things. However, if I’m feeling stressed or distracted, I like to watch massage/chiropractor videos because they help me relax. Most nights I fall asleep to a true crime podcast which sounds like the opposite of relaxing, I know.

Step Thirteen

Turn everything off. I never fall asleep while reading or watching videos. I need to turn off the lights, get comfortable and decide it’s time to sleep.

Step fourteen

Sleep. It can take me anywhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours. People who fall asleep in seconds are definitely God’s favorites.

What about you? Do you have a night routine you always follow.

What is something you always do before bed?

Love,

Cheila

Question of the day #28

What time do you wake up?

What are some of the things you do before heading out to work/school?

What’s the most important thing you absolutely must do in the morning in order to have a good day?

Do you have breakfast? What do you eat?

A Week + In The Life: 02.03.18 – 13.03.18 Journal and Updates

Happy Tuesday, everyone!!

I haven’t been blogging much since last week, have I? I thought I’d share a general update.

Friday: 02.03.18

I got off work at 8, as I do every Friday. I thought we could go and see The Post because I really wanted to watch all of the nominees for Best Picture before the Oscars, and it was the only movie that wasn’t available to illegally download. We checked a few places and decided where to go and to grab dinner first. There weren’t many options so Burger King it was. Just before eating, we realized we had gotten it wrong and that the movie session was at 10 p.m instead of 9.25 p.m and in a different place, ten minutes away. Oh, Well. No rush to eat. So we had our dinner and eventually decided we were too tired and lazy to go anywhere else. No movie. We headed home and went to bed.

Saturday: 03.03.18

I woke up late. I had plans to clean and such but it was raining and I didn’t feel like doing it. Rui had gone for a run and I asked him to bring snacks. I fell asleep again and had a long nap. When I woke up we decided to watch The Shape of Water, which I wasn’t so sure about to begin with, and ended up not liking that much. Rui really wanted to see it and actually liked it, though. We had popcorn, orange juice and strawberries. We watched Lady Bird and it was meh. It’s the perfect coming of age movie and I have nothing bad to say about it but it was just, I don’t know? Plain? Boring? I can see how it is a good, well-made film but the story is nothing special. We went to bed soon after because I was still very sleepy.

Sunday: 04.03.18

I woke up late again. We felt like going for coffee and a drive. I had the most delicious cake. We then went for a drive around this area we don’t know so well, just about ten to fifteen minutes from where we live. It’s this beautiful place where countryside meets the beach and it’s just breathtaking, really. We watched Call Me By Your Name and I loved it. Only thing to bother me was the title and the whole “call me by your name” thing. Why? Why would you ask someone to call you by their name? I get it, it was their thing. But why? I doesn’t make much sense to me. I did love the movie. I patiently waited for the Oscars ceremony to start (it begins at 1 a.m for me), while cuddling on the couch with Rosa. I knew I was pulling an all-nighter to watch the Oscars as I do every year. I’m not the most patient person so it is kind of boring to go through all of the breaks. I don’t know how you American friends do it with all the commercial breaks, really. There’s just so many. I went to bed once it was over but didn’t sleep at all because I had to be up at 7.30. As you probably know from my post, I am NOT happy about the winners.

Monday: 05.03.18

I was up at 7.30, no sleep and kind of mad about the Oscars. I’m not going to repeat myself and bore you to death because I’ve written a whole post about it. I’ll just tell you I was not very happy that The Shape of Water won Best Picture. I was expecting it to be between Call Me By Your Name and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri so I about died when the said “and the Oscar goes to… The Sha….” Rui, Rosa and his brother were sleeping but I yelled “What the fuck??!!” in the living room. I was that upset and surprised. It’s pretty funny now. I was too tired to write so I spent my time watching The Good doctor before I had to work. It was a calm day, though. I left work at 8 and slept early, like a baby.

Tuesday: 06.03.18

I honestly don’t remember much about Tuesday. I pretty much only worked and had a very calm day. I was alone because there were few kids and my colleague was needed to help with French in a different room so it was just me and a few 9th graders, studying science, which I love.

Wednesday: 07.03.18

It was just me at work as well. The kids are all studying math so we only had three for Portuguese, which means only one of us was needed. My colleague got the day off and I got those three 9th graders. It was pretty chill. I left work at 7. We had pasta for dinner and watched an episode of This is Us.

Thursday: 08.03.18

My turn to have the day off!! My colleague handled the two kids we had for the day so I didn’t have to go to work. I slept and listened to podcasts for most of the day. Rui came home and wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate International Women’s Day. I was pretty stupid and picked this greasy food truck where we had hot dogs. They were good, though.

Friday: 09.03.18

I’m at work but don’t have to actually do any work until 3 p.m. I’m about to go and look for some lunch because I didn’t pack any lunch today. I’ve watched an episode of Call The Midwife and I’ve written this post. That’s about it. We’re not doing anything tonight. I’m just cooking some easy pasta and that’s about it.

Saturday: 10.03.18

As usual, I woke up pretty late. I really wanted to clean the house but I don’t like doing it when there’s so many people trapped inside because it’s raining. I decided it wouldn’t happen and simply moved from the bed to the sofa. We watched Veronica, this Spanish horror movie I had read about before. It’s by Netflix and I had read it’s one of the scariest movies ever and that many people can’t even finish it. It’s quite popular right now too, have you watched it? It’s pretty good and scary as a horror movie should be but I didn’t find it that different and didn’t understand why someone would not be able to watch until the end.

Sunday: 11.03.18

I slept late and didn’t do much, to be honest. We felt like watching something and I was more inclined towards a documentary or series but we ended up watching this amazing film Monster (2003) about the infamous American serial killer Aileen Wurnos. Are you familiar with her story? Let me just tell you that the name of the movie is probably ironic, since she was the one surrounded by monsters and abusers her whole life. Yes, she did kill six to eight men but I cannot say how I would treat men later in life had I been sexually abused, assaulted, and prostituted by my grandfather to his friends at the age of eleven. One of her grandfather’s friends actually got her pregnant and she had to give her baby up for adoption. She was 13. Then he kicked her out of the house when she was 14. She had to live in the woods and begin working as a prostitute to support herself. She sold her body her entire life. They say she was raped and badly beaten by a client who was about to kill her, but managed she killed him in self-defense. Then her killing spree began and she ended up in prison, being executed by lethal injection in 2002. There’s no excuse to commit murder. You don’t go around killing people just because you had a difficult childhood. But in her case, I can honestly feel sorry for her. She was never loved, cared for or wanted. She was treated like garbage by men her entire life, since she was so young. There’s only so much your mind can handle before you snap. What do you think about this? Is she a monster or someone who took the most horrific forms of abuse for thirty years and simply had enough? I would love your opinion on this.

Monday: 12.03.18

Pretty uneventful. I woke up early but wasn’t feeling so well so I went back to bed. I woke up very late and met a friend for coffee before I had to go to work at 5. I left work at 7, came home, had dinner and laughed my ass off while watching Impractical Jokers with Rui and Brother. I then went to bed and listened to a few podcast episodes until I fell asleep.

Tuesday: 13.03.18 – Today

I got the day off from work. The kids are studying Chemistry and Physics and so they didn’t need both me and my colleague (we don’t work with Chemistry, Physics and Math). The same is happening on Thursday, the 22nd and she is staying home, while I’m going. I woke up late once again. I think I might need to decrease my sleeping medication, because I’m sleeping way too much and that usually means I need less of it.

I listened to a few podcasts, as I do every day. I’ve grown to love podcasts an audio books so much in the last few months. I took care of some laundry because there is always some laundry in desperate need to be done, especially when it has been raining for the past few weeks. I cleaned a little bit around the kitchen, decluttered our cleaning supplies cabinet and cleaned the bathroom. I’m sitting here having a snack and writing this post, just before I start dinner and close everything up (I opened all the doors and windows to let the house get some air). After dinner I’m having a shower and watching a few episodes of Divorce.

Random Picture Dump:

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What have you been up to?

xx

Desenho sem título (4)

Weekend Plans: 02.03.18 “Raining All Weekend” Edition + How do you feel on Fridays? Do you work weekends?

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Happy Friday Dear Blogging Family,

I’m not really sure if I’m super happy it’s Friday or if I’m having a hard day because I’m tired and I still have to get through many hours of work.

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How do you usually feel by Friday? Ecstatic or dead? 

Does the day go by really fast or super slow because you cannot wait for the weekend to begin? Share your thoughts with me.

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If you work weekends, which I have for so many years before, I hope work is good to you and that your day off comes soon enough. I didn’t mind Saturdays but I always hated working on Sundays. Imagine working 8 p.m to 1 a.m on a Sunday. Gosh, I’m tired just thinking about it.

Thankfully, I no longer work on weekends, which is great for other reasons too, as Rui used to be at home while I was working because he never worked weekends.

So Friday is here and I need to make some plans.

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This weekend I’d like to:

  • Watch the Oscars, obviously. This Sunday. I mean, for me it’s actually on Monday, since it does not start until 1 a.m. I really hope I don’t get sleepy and miss it like I did last year. #shameonme
  • Watch the six nominees for best picture I haven’t seen yet. I’m hoping to get started on this tonight. How am I going to watch 6 movies in 2 days? Well, it’s raining so it’s not like I’m actually going anywhere. We had planed on doing some gardening but that is obviously not happening because of the bad weather.
  • Laundry. When it’s raining, we use our indoor hanger combined with our dehumidifier and our space heater, sometimes. We don’t own a drier. I kind of thought about buying a washer/drying when we bought our washer a few months ago but it was twice as expensive, it’s a waste of energy, not environmentally friendly, and we don’t have a real need for it because we get so much sun in Portugal, which allows us to dry our clothes outside most of the time. It’s also easy to dry them inside when it’s raining. If we’re desperate or if it has been raining for a few weeks we just go to the wash station to dry our laundry. It’s not expensive and it only happens on occasion. I have a ton of laundry to put away too.
  • Clean/Organize our bedroom (which doubles as my home office). This includes: Dusting, cleaning the surfaces, vacuuming the floor and rugs, mopping the floor, changing our sheets, cleaning the windows a bit. We have this table (that used to be Rui’s desk) that I’m using as a vanity but it’s huge (1.50 m long) and it’s taking way too much space so I’m definitely disassembling it and storing it in the garage because I don’t think we have a place for it anywhere in the house. Our bedroom is big enough but this table just takes too much space and I don’t want the room to look too cluttered.
  • Clean our living room. We should definitely get our sofa covers washed. I feel like we’re always doing this but they’re whitish and we have a dog. She doesn’t think to clean her dirty paws before going inside, the bitch! I hate to throw a blanket on the sofa but I need to accept the fact that old people are right and it really saves the covers a lot of washed. If IKEA didn’t charge 60€ for covers for a 300€ couch I would have bough new covers by now. I feel like they’re too expensive and I’d be better off buying a new, used sofa. We need to dust, vacuum and mop the floor.
  • Clean our kitchen. I really want to go through every single item in our kitchen and do a general de-clutter and deep cleaning. Let’s hope I’m not as lazy as last weekend.
  • Work on my freelance work project for a few hours.
  • Read blogs.
  • Update my planner for next week.

What about you? Big plans for the weekend?

Let’s talk soon.

Desenho sem título (4)

*Beautiful rainy pictures are from Pixabay

Weekly + weekend + February update

Good afternoon 😃

Happy hump day!

(I just hate this expression. It sounds like something naughty. It’s like Spanish. It’s a beautiful, sexy language, so when I hear someone speak Spanish I immediately think about adult activities. It’s me, right? I’m troubled. I know.)

Enough of my dirty, crazy mind.

I haven’t posted since Friday and I totally owe you an update on my weekend, my to-do list, this half week and February in general. Here we go. I’ll start by telling you what I was up to last weekend.

Saturday – 24.02

I went to bed pretty late on Friday. We had dinner with friends and it was really nice. We had a lot of fun as usual and spent a long time throwing boy name suggestions at my pregnant friend. They have a name picked out for a girl but no name for a boy so we had fun sharing and hating each other’s ideas. By the way, they have just announced publicly so I can disclose more. One of my besties Patrícia is 13 weeks pregnant. She’s the first one to get pregnant in our group of friends and we’re just so excited. We keep referring to the baby as she but they have no idea if it’s boy or girl, which is really funny. Here’s the little cutie:

We’ve been friends for a very long time and are very, very close so our kids will be calling us auntie. I’m so happy and excited. You know how much I love a pregnant lady and how obsessed I am with babies. Congratulations mama! I love you and I love your baby already. ❤️

Anyway, I’m talking about Saturday, not Friday. But I do have a point. Because of dinner I went to bed late which means I took my pills pretty late and that plus being very tired resulted in me waking up at almost 3 p.m the next day. Oh yeah. We wanted to go out but I wasn’t feeling well (side effects from no longer taking some of my medication, which I don’t mind at all) so we decided we would only go out to buy dinner. We went to Aldi but there was nothing we wanted and it was almost closing so the security guard was giving us dirty looks. Feeling pressured, we decided to try a different store. I was about to pass out because of said side effects and hunger so I just picked my usual carbonara pizza. Rui picked something else. We tried a new drink and a new dessert (a new weekend challenge) and we weren’t impressed by either. Remember, when I say “drink” I mean “non-alcoholic beverage”. I don’t drink AND I take medication. We wanted to watch a movie but I was too sleepy, so we just went to bed.

Sunday: 25.02

We woke up earlier on Sunday and decided we definitely had to go out and get a few things. Rui needed new running gear (my man runs 12 km, 3 times a week, I’m so proud of him!), I needed some new underwear and socks and we definitely needed some groceries. My mom happened to call while we were having a very late breakfast. We bugged her so much to come with us that she eventually accepted her defeat and said she would come, after endlessly complains about “why am I going shopping with you? It’s boring enough to do my own grocery shopping.” I think it might have been the promise of ice cream. We picked her up an hour later and off we went. We do have lots of fun together, the three of us. I was too lazy to wash my hair so I wore a hat.

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It was not cold at all and my mother said I looked very silly with mah beanie. She said I had tricked her because I mentioned I was going to take a shower when I hung up the phone earlier. I told her I hadn’t lied at all. I did, in fact, take a shower. I never said anything about washing my hair.

First, we went to this huge sports store where Rui got new running shoes, socks, shorts and a t-shirt. I got a new swimsuit and mom got bored. We stopped by H&M to see if they had the panties I like but they didn’t so I had to buy this jeans:

I mean, they’re pink and 9,99€. I had to have them. Does anyone like colored jeans? Not even this really nice pastel pink? Okay. Well, they do match about 50% of my closet, so.

Mom was way too bored at this point so we finally took her to McDonald’s. We chatted for a while and then we took poor Isabel home. My favorite grocery store is near my moms house and so I convinced Rui we HAD to shop there instead of going to a supermarket close to home. I found a few nice, cheap packs of panties (yes, I do buy my everyday panties in boring packs) and got about 10 pairs for 10€. I got a few pairs of socks too. We got 2 cute mugs but I forgot to take a picture of Rui’s. This is mine:

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It says free but I totally had to pay for it. I promised I didn’t tell that stupid joke to the cashier. But only because I forgot. We got many things for a cheap price. That’s why I love this store so much – great variety and awesome prices. I thought I would take a picture of my shopping cart. Not that you can actually see much.

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And then I got home and decided to take pictures of my kitchen shelves:

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Two of them, anyway. I promise I have more food. Here’s our breakfast/coffee station:

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And really bad picture of a lovely sign:

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We made a big pot of rice and veggies for dinner, with some fish fingers. Easy and I could eat it every single day. Then, bed.

Monday: 26.02

I didn’t sleep well so I woke up late on Monday and didn’t do anything of what I intended to do. I worked from 5-7, got home and deep cleaned/de-cluttered the bathroom, while I made dinner. We had leftover rice with sautéed black beans, onions, peppers, green beans, sweet corn, mushrooms, olives and cherry tomatoes. It was yummy and healthy and no-meat which is always a win in my house.

Tuesday: 27.02

Again, I slept nothing.

I woke up way too late and had to take a taxi to work. It was raining so the kids were literally wet and wild. There were so many of them and they were crazy. It was a madhouse and there was nowhere to sit for 3 hours. I forgot we had this dinner with friends and to tell Rui I was off at 8 and not 7. But we made it to dinner on time. We met with his friends at this nice little restaurant and had a great time and a lovely meal. We got home late and I decided “Fuck no, I’m not going to wake up late again” so I didn’t take my sleeping pills. I didn’t sleep at all, obviously, so I spent all night listening to podcasts.

Wednesday – Today: 28.02

I got up at 7 a.m for coffee and breakfast and got ready to go to the pool for some hydro gymnastics class. While having coffee, I realized my pink and white pajamas kind of matched my pink and white mug:

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Such is life. I might have issues. Either that or I own too much pink. So yeah, that’s it. I’m currently writing this post before work. It will be pretty crazy again. So excited.


About my weekend to-do list:

  • Deep clean/organized the bathroom; – Done on Monday!
  • Deep clean one of our bedroom walls that is getting moldy (there’s this perfect detergent that cleans any trace of mold or humidity marks without any damage to the surface); – Done on Sunday.
  • Deep clean/purge our kitchen;
  • Laundry, always; – Some, obviously.
  • Make a dental appointment; – I did, but then I had to miss it for work.
  • Schedule a vet appointment;
  • Force Rui to schedule an eye doctor appointment;
  • Meal plan and prep for next week; – I have the plan on my head. It counts for something.
  • Charge my power bank;
  • Work on my freelance project;
  • Clean living room;
  • Clean bedroom; – Hoping to do this today. I hate cleaning during the week but it really needs to be cleaned and organized.
  • Change bed sheets;
  • Get two gym bags ready in advance;
  • Get my clothes ready for the week;
  • Do a little grocery shopping; – Done.
  • Do some gardening;
  • Watch a movie or two;
  • Try making homemade granola/cereal bars;
  • Get my eyebrows done;
  • Write a few letters;
  • Sell a few things online;
  • Get something for my dry ends; – Done on Sunday.

About February:

  • Finish my big freelance work project and get maybe one more. Extra income is always welcome.
  • Go to the pool 5 times a week. I’m really enjoying it. – No. I’ve been going twice or 3 times, which is weird for someone who has never actually done any regular exercise. I would really love to go every weekday. I love it, I sleep better, my back doesn’t hurt, my day runs smoothly, I’m in a better mood, etc. So many benefits.
  • Keep on leaving my nails alone (not biting them) – Done!!!
  • Keep on drinking 1.5 l of water every day. – Yes!!
  • Blog every single day. – I don’t think so. But I’ve definitely got my groove on. I had lost in somewhere in August and am now getting back to my normal rhythm. 
  • Read 3 books. – No, but I’ve been listening to so many podcasts. That counts for something? No?
  • Read as many blog posts as I can every day. – Yes. I’ve been better at this.
  • See/talk to family and friends as much as possible. – Yes, yes, yes!!
  • Keep my de-cluttering/rearranging/reorganizing process. – Going!
  • Remember my year 26 challenges. – Yes!

Well, I must confess I did/am doing better than I thought. Not such a bad month after all.


Random photo dump:

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See you, guys!!

Desenho sem título (4)

Plans and Goals for March

Good afternoon and happy Thursday! I’m sure you’re all happy it’s almost Friday, aren’t you? So am I. I’m kind of tired.

Although I love to make plans and to set goals, I’m not as keen on it as I have been before. Why? Well, only because I don’t want or feel the need to push myself to do too much at this time of my life. I do push myself a little every day, of course. I make sure I drink water, I try to read more, to be organized, to blog and so on, but only because life is so busy and fast-paced these days and we’d never get anything done if we didn’t make sure to make it happen. However, I think I’ve lost the my lifelong tendency to be mean to myself, so I make sure not to push too hard or expect too much, which is huge for the girl who once asked her doctor what’s the absolute minimum you need to sleep to function, so I could fit more into my day.

All of this to say I do make plans and have goals, I just don’t care too much if I don’t accomplish them. I try and like to be productive and crazy busy is my favorite mode, I mean, I’m still the same person, but I understand that’s not always the best for me.

If you are one of those people who like to keep adding to their plate and pushing themselves too hard, I strongly advise you to take a step back and take it slow a little. I’m speaking from experience here, trust me. You could be seriously damaging both your physical and mental health. Be kind to yourself.

Plans and Goals for March:

  • Celebrate our 5th anniversary. We’re planning on maybe taking a little trip to a city I’ve never been to, here in Portugal. We have friends there too so we’re probably going to visit them.
  • Plan a little getaway trip.
  • Paint our house. We really wanted to have done this last Summer but ended up not doing it. I think we’ll do it this month instead of waiting for the Summer. We really need to paint all of our inside walls and our patio walls too.
  • Spend Easter with Rui’s family. Although they’re catholic my family don’t celebrate Easter so we always spend this holiday with Rui’s side of the family, traveling to his hometown and spending the long weekend.
  • Get little Easter treats for everyone, on a budget. I hate this time of year because we always spend so much on chocolate. I hate giving presents that people are just going to eat and be done with 😂
  • Have my sister over for a few days.
  • Watch the Oscars.
  • Make sure the kids finish this term with good grades. Please, God! Put some sense into their little heads. They can be so lazy and careless. I try to do my part but I cannot study for them or force them to work.
  • Finish my freelance work project until the 15th.
  • Blog every day. There are a few things I really want to post this month:
  1. Guest Post Sunday
  2. Freelance Work and how I make money online
  3. How we save money part II
  4. Question of the day
  5. The loveliest quotes
  • Get our garden ready for Spring.
  • Lose 10 pounds.
  • Go to the pool at least 3x a week.
  • Keep on decluttering.

What are your plans for March?

❤️

Weekend Plans: 23.02.18

Happy Friday fellow bloggers,

Let me tell you I’m very ready for the weekend. Not that I had a bad week or a particularly tiring one, I’m just in need of some sleep and “do nothing” me time.

I was out too much last weekend, which wasn’t that much, I just went for dinner twice, coffee once, a doctor’s appointment and a walk on the beach.

Our house needs some cleaning, desperately. I’m sort of behind on my freelance work project, meaning I’m on deadline but not where I’d like to be by now. My plants need some attention because I’ve been neglecting them for the past few weeks, while it’s rainy and still Winter. The weather is getting better and I need to make them ready for Spring.

Next week is going to be harder because the kids are preparing for their second and lasts tests of the second trimester. There will be so many hours of English, Portuguese and History tutoring. Fifteen kids for two teachers. Fifteen kids that are, more often than not hyperactive, overtired, nervous and anxious and nervous about the exams. Oh, have I mentioned their attention span issues? I’m in for a treat. Not that I mind, actually. I do love the business, endless worksheets, silly questions, dozens of exercises, hugs, jokes, kisses on their favorite teacher ever (yeah right, kid), gum begging, cracker crumbs, cellphone sneaking and laughter attacks. I love them, I have to admit. They are one of my biggest joys and sources of entertainment. However, they’re children. They’re 13, 14 or 15. They’re needy and childish and chatty and impatient. They complain and throw fits and call for me endlessly until I finally direct my full and undivided attention to them. They test me and push my buttons and make me mad. That can be harsh on your body and mind. It makes me tired for sure.

All of this to say it’s going to be a harder week. I don’t mind and I like the faster paced days but I get tired quickly and each day is a little more difficult, which then turns the weekend into a sweet, sweet reward.

Anyways, we’ll talk about next week when we get there, right? It makes more sense.

Tonight I leave work at 8, and we’re meeting friends for dinner, which always makes me so excited. We have come so far. When we were all working and going to college or having those entry level demanding jobs we would go 2 or 3 months without seeing each other and now we have dinner once a week, almost without fail. I love it. I’m feeling like pasta today, I think 🤔

It’s almost the end of February and I’ve done almost nothing of I what I wanted to do this month, so I know I’m not killing it when it comes to goals. I’ve been more active as a blogger and as a follower/reader, which is more than enough for me.

This weekend I really want to:

  • Deep clean/organized the bathroom;
  • Deep clean one of our bedroom walls that is getting moldy (there’s this perfect detergent that cleans any trace of mold or humidity marks without any damage to the surface);
  • Deep clean/purge our kitchen;
  • Laundry, always;
  • Make a dental appointment;
  • Schedule a vet appointment;
  • Force Rui to schedule an eye doctor appointment;
  • Meal plan and prep for next week;
  • Charge my power bank;
  • Work on my freelance project;
  • Clean living room;
  • Clean bedroom;
  • Change bed sheets;
  • Get two gym bags ready in advance;
  • Get my clothes ready for the week;
  • Do a little grocery shopping;
  • Do some gardening;
  • Watch a movie or two;
  • Try making homemade granola/cereal bars;
  • Get my eyebrows done;
  • Write a few letters;
  • Sell a few things online;
  • Get something for my dry ends;

I know it looks like a lot but I’ll have help for the household chores. Rui does a lot and his brother, who is staying with us, is helping too.

Have a good weekend!

❤️❤️

A Week in The Life Kind of Post – Updates

Last time I posted any kind of planner and journal was on Wednesday morning. As usually, I didn’t follow through with everything I had planned, but I think I got quite a few things done.

On Tuesday Evening, I promised I would show you how our dinner experiment would go and if it was tasty. Remember? Trying this Indian store bought sauce for the first time?

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It was really good. Not too spicy at all. Really yummy!! Would definitely buy again. We ate it with broccoli and rice. That’s sparkling water with lemon and red currant syrup.

I had to go to work for two hours on Wednesday morning and then I came home to this:

(I mean before being folded)

And this:

Nap hard, play hard.

I then worked for a few hours and got a few other things done, before taking a break and watching an episode of a show before they boys came home.

I can’t really remember what I did on Thursday but I obviously had to work so I did that for sure. I went to hydro gymnastics on Friday morning, worked and then we went out to dinner with my friends. My pregnant friend is already showing and I’m so happy for her. We had a good time.

On Saturday, we had to get up earlier than usual because I had an appointment with my psychiatrist at 1.30. I talked about it here:

I Have Great News

I looked like this:

That evening, we had dinner with one of Rui’s friends. I should say our friend, otherwise he’ll get pissed at me for saying he’s only friends with Rui, although they have known each other since high school. There was a game on and we watched it while having dinner.

On Sunday, we invited that same friend for coffee at our favorite cafe. Rui’s brother, Tiago, came with us this time. Rui’s friend really wanted to buy us a drink so we drove to the beach (10 minutes away) o have something.

It was a beautiful afternoon. We went grocery shopping and I making dinner while looking like Hulk.

It was really yummy!

Oh, I forgot to say, I made some spaghetti with the store bought sauce for the boys lunch and they said it was pretty good. I didn’t eat lunch so I have no idea.


Monday – I started this post, and wrote this:

I am in a good mood and feeling positive despite not sleeping a wink and having had a bad day tomorrow. My mom had to take my grandmother to the hospital yesterday. They called an ambulance and were there from 7 p.m to about 1 a.m. I wanted to go there but my mother said there was no need because only person would be able to get in and we would just be waiting outside for hours, having to get up early for work today. So we stayed home and I went to bed but I kept waking up and texting my sister and mother. My mom finally texted me saying she was home at about 2.30 in the morning and I fell asleep, but woke up several times after that.

So, about my grandmother. You know she suffers from dementia. Most of her brain cells are dead and it’s simply getting worse. She was also somewhat dehydrated. She is really thin because she has no appetite and doesn’t really feel like eating. That’s why my mother took her to the hospital. Unfortunately, there’s no getting better for her and we all need to make peace with that which is really sad. Heartbreaking. If she were to see herself now, God. But she doesn’t,  which is a good thing, I guess. She can’t tell how bad she is. But we do witness everything and it hurts.

My grandfather passed away when I was 19, a week after my birthday. He was old and sick but I wasn’t expecting it. No one had ever really died. Not my people. But then he did. It was pretty traumatic, let me tell you. My family pretty much fell apart and was never the same after that. I guess he was the glue and we had never realized it.

I met my father’s mother but she was very old. She used to visit me when I was little and I think she was in her seventies. Then she passed away. I don’t remember that much about her, other than she would visit me. I never met her husband, my grandfather. He died before I was born. Everyone tells me he was extremely violent towards his wife and children, so may he rest in hell, I hope it’s warm and cozy there.

I’m closing the sad subject here.

Thank you for reading.


I was able to wake up earlier on Monday and go to the 9.15 a.m hydro fitness class. It was a lot of fun and harder than usual, which I like and my lower back didn’t.

Well, let me tell you, I’m 90% sure the teacher was high as a kite. Oh yeah. He was looking at the horizon rather than looking at us, he would smile and laugh alone and close his eyes for way too long. He was also enjoying the routine way too much. It was so funny. I’m going again next Monday to confirm if he’s a stoner or if he just looks like one.

I had plenty of veggies for lunch:

I worked, worked, worked, got home and went to sleep.

On Tuesday, I wanted to go back to the pool but was still sore so I just went to work and decided to go back on Wednesday, which I did. The class was pretty intense but with a different teacher. Because it was Wednesday, I had to wear pink:

Joking. It was a coincidence.


So, today is Thursday and I’m still sore from yesterday which feels pretty good. I stayed home and tried to sleep in because I haven’t been sleeping at all. I couldn’t get more than 30 minutes to 1 hour of uninterrupted sleep. Don’t know why.

I’m about to get to work, I’ll work from 5 to 8 and then head home.

Tomorrow I plan on going to a hydro gymnastics class and then a swim class as I’m trying to improve some techniques. I have to dedicate some hours to freelance work and then work from 5 to 8 again. We’ll have dinner with friends after work.


As promised,

Here are some pictures of my planner:

Would you be interested in a post on how I organize it? I would love to do one.

To finish, I’ll leave you with some Springy pictures. Thank you for reading.

February Goals: 11 days late

Before I was a blogger, I was a blog reader.

I absolutely loved reading about goals, to-do lists and routines.

When I started this blog, that was one of my main focus. With time, things changed.

I’m still very much a goal maker and definitely a list lover. I just haven’t been sharing them, for some reason. But I do have goals and things I would like to do this month.

February goals: 11.02 – 28.02

Featured Image -- 3820

  • Finish my big freelance work project and get maybe one more. Extra income is always welcome.
  • Go to the pool 5 times a week. I’m really enjoying it.
  • Keep on leaving my nails alone (not biting them)
  • Keep on drinking 1.5 l of water every day.
  • Blog every single day.
  • Read 3 books.
  • Read as many blog posts as I can every day.
  • See/talk to family and friends as much as possible.
  • Keep my de-cluttering/rearranging/reorganizing process.
  • Remember my year 26 challenges.