Post Covid Catching Up To Do List – Update

Happy Twosday, everyone!

A week later, I’m updating my “Post Covid Catching Up To Do List”

This is what I was supposed to do and what I actually managed to get done:

• Water my plants. I got this wonderful Moisture Meter that tells you if your plants need watering. I’m very hopeful I’ll never murder another plant. – Done
• Reschedule all my cancelled driving and driving theory lessons, so I can hopefully be done with my driving theory exam by the end of March. – Tried to but they won’t schedule them via email or phone, which is the most annoying thing ever. I’ll have to actually drive (obviously my husband and not me lol) 30 minutes to get there and schedule my lessons.
• Review my course materials from last week, which I definitely half assed. – Didn’t get to it yet. I haven’t felt like studying at all for the past few days.
• Do some grocery shopping. We desperately need toilet paper and a few other essentials.  – Done.
• Come up with a healthy meal plan for the next two weeks. – Haven’t done it. We have been eating out a lot due to different plans or outings.
• Catch up on laundry. – Still have a bunch of laundry to do.
• Mail out a dress I sold online. – Done.
• Order a new maternity support belt as the one I ordered was too small. – Done.
• Get my husband’s Valentine’s gift from the post office, where it’s being held since I couldn’t leave the house to pick it up. – They sent it back, unfortunately. Not buying it again because it was just a naughty postcard.
• Reschedule our second prenatal class we had to miss last week. – Waiting for them to contact us.
• Catch up on reading my favorite blogs. – Oops, nope.
• Schedule a dental appointment. – It turns out I don’t need it.
• Get a haircut and color. My roots are getting scary. (Scheduled for Friday the 18th!) – Done. Feeling much better.
• See my doctor about my glucose test results, which seem to be a bit off. (Scheduled for Friday the 18th.) – Done. The levels are borderline so I have an appointment with a Endocrinologist on Friday.
• Buy all the furniture we need for the baby; plus some items we are getting in order to change the way we store things around the house. (Trip to Ikea this weekend.) – We ended up visiting my in laws for the weekend, so we got nothing done but spend time with family. Still want to get this done before the end of the month, though.
• Go and check baby strollers. (Probably on the weekend too.) – Didn’t get done either as we were away for the weekend. Probably going to do it this weekend.
• Clean the bathroom. – Not yet. It’s getting harder and harder to clean or do anything where I have to bend over.
• Get my eyebrows done. – Not yet. They’re looking wild.
• Check our budget and write down all our expenses from last week. – Kind of. Just need to add some shopping I did on Friday.
• Schedule an appointment with my psychiatrist for (roughly) two weeks after my delivery (I had a videocall appointment on Thursday and my doctor said I’m doing extremely well so I don’t need to see her until after the baby is born). – Totally forgot about this one. Need to call soon.
• Organize my email box and computer folders. I absolutely hate a messy computer. – Done while watching reality TV.
• Take a few 3-4 Km walks. – I took one 5K walk and that was it.
• Clean the house. – Didn’t happen because we ended up going away for the weekend. Definitely doing it this weekend.

I’m definitely still catching up on things. Now that I’m on my third trimester, I’m probably going to be doing less and less but there are still a few things I’d like to get done before the baby is here, including a good Spring cleaning.

Wishing you all a lovely week!

Love,

Cheila

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Our Week With Covid – A Recap, Some Thoughts and a Catching Up To Do List

Hello Everyone!

I really wanted to keep posting every single day but I didn’t feel like writing for the past three days so I took a little break. Today I’m back with a recap and “Catching Up To Do List” as a few things were inevitably left behind since we couldn’t leave the house for seven whole days.

Here’s a couple of thoughts on our isolation week.

• My immune system is apparently very strong. How I managed not to get infected with Covid while my husband had it, I’ll never know.

• This is nothing new but I don’t do very well with sudden and unexpected changes in routine. Now, is this a personality trait or is it related to my Bipolar II? I’d say both. What I know is that I found myself quite depressed and weepy over my husband having Covid and the change of plans and routine it meant for us.

• Again, if my plans are thrown off and I’m not feeling super organized, I will stop taking good care of myself. We ate like shit the whole week and I didn’t drink as much water or took good care of my skin.

• I can’t sleep well unless I sleep in my own bed, next to my husband.

• It was very hard not being able to touch my husband at all. Apparently, I’m needier and touchier than I thought. Or is it maybe because I’m pregnant? No idea.

Now, I DO KNOW that these are all very much first world problems and that I should be feeling very lucky that I was not sick at all and that my husband got through it with nothing but one whole day of having a cough. I know how lucky we are that things were not serious and that we’re both healthy but I must be honest and comment on how much the whole thing has affected my mental health.

Thankfully, it is over and we’re now allowed to leave the house again.

I have been left with lots of catching up to do, though. Being a list lover, I’ve made a “Post Covid Catching Up To Do List”:

• Water my plants. I got this wonderful Moisture Meter that tells you if your plants need watering. I’m very hopeful I’ll never murder another plant.
• Reschedule all my cancelled driving and driving theory lessons, so I can hopefully be done with my driving theory exam by the end of March.
• Review my course materials from last week, which I definitely half assed.
• Do some grocery shopping. We desperately need toilet paper and a few other essentials.
• Come up with a healthy meal plan for the next two weeks.
• Catch up on laundry.
• Mail out a dress I sold online.
• Order a new maternity support belt as the one I ordered was too small.
• Get my husband’s Valentine’s gift from the post office, where it’s being held since I couldn’t leave the house to pick it up.
• Reschedule our second prenatal class we had to miss last week.
• Catch up on reading my favorite blogs.
• Schedule a dental appointment.
• Get a hair cut and color. My roots are getting scary. (Scheduled for Friday the 18th!)
• See my doctor about my glucose test results, which seem to be a bit off. (Scheduled for Friday the 18th.)
• Buy all the furniture we need for the baby, plus some items we are getting in order to change the way we store things around the house. (Trip to Ikea this weekend.)
• Go and check baby strollers. (Probably on the weekend too.)
• Clean the bathroom.
• Get my eyebrows done.
• Check our budget and write down all our expenses from last week.
• Schedule an appointment with my psychiatrist for (roughly) two weeks after my delivery (I had a videocall appointment on Thursday and my doctor said I’m doing extremely well so I don’t need to see her until after the baby is born).
• Organize my email box and computer folders. I absolutely hate a messy computer.
• Take a few 3-4 Km walks.
• Clean the house.

This is pretty much all I’m going to be doing for the rest of the week. I’ll also be watching an unhealthy amount of Love is Blind, Marriage At First Sight AU and 90 Day Fiancé because I’m on a trashy reality TV kick, triggered by the boredom of last week.

I shall now excuse myself and go do another load of laundry.

I hope you’re all having a nice week.

Love,

Cheila

Planning my Week: Sunday 26.01.2020

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Are you happy that it’s Sunday and you (hopefully) had the day to yourself or are you already feeling blue over the fact that tomorrow is Monday?

I’m the latter. Not because I hate Mondays but because I never feel that I’m quite prepared for the week  ahead or organized enough. I feel like I’m always this half organized mess. Just last week, my husband was very proudly making a list of all the things we had accomplished over the weekend. As for myself, all I could think about was all of the things we didn’t get done. He says that the house will never be clean enough for me and that I tend to see the glass half empty but still… I definitely think I could do a lot better most times.

Anyway, apparently I don’t consider 3 planners to be enough (I shit you not I do have 3. Maybe I’ll blog about why I have 3 planners and what I use them for) so I’ve decided I might as well use my blog as a backup to do list.

 

Monday – 27.01.2020

Obviously I’ll have to work, because I need a roof over my head and to pay bills and eat. On the plus side, I do like my job and my coworkers are awesome.

I have a therapy appointment scheduled for 7 p.m.

We need to stop by the store and get some groceries as well, nothing special but I did have to make pancakes without eggs today. We didn’t go during the weekend because Rui was sick (serious case of man flu) and you all know by this point that I can’t drive and we live in the middle of nowhere.

Also, I’m in charge of buying the presents every time someone has a birthday at work and I’m very late this time so I should get that done ASAP.

 

Tuesday – 28.01.2020

Work again, unless I win the lottery over night.

Uni classes start on Tuesday. Which is very scary. I’m not used to being there. There’s kids there. By kids I mean 18-year-old students and they’re very scary and annoying. I don’t want to look like the geriatric student. Also, I’ll have to tell some professors that I’m a working student and that I won’t be able to attend class, only do the work via some sort of e-learning (reading all the materials, going to the tutoring sessions and handing in the essays), which some of them hate. Back me up, people.

 

Wednesday – 29.01.2020

Work, work, work, work, work, work. UK banking needs me. And one very angry customer needs help with “taking ya mum outta the tub”. That was one the best ever.

I’ll then have my appointment with a nutritionist at 5.30. I’m obviously nervous about this because I’ve actually met one who flat out discriminated me because I was fat. You’re a nutritionist, aren’t you supposed to make fat people feel like you have their back? I wish with all my heart that I was making this up. I left her office in tears. Well, this lady works at my psychiatrist’s office so I have a good feeling about the whole thing. We’ll see.

 

 Thursday – 30.01.2020

I’ll be working as usual. I could marry a rich guy but that would be illegal now.

I don’t think I have anything happening other than work so this would be a nice day to get home super early and like tidy something up like laundry and maybe the kitchen.

Oh, and we should go buy a present for our friend whose birthday is the next day.

 

Friday – 31.01.2020

You’ll be able to find me at work. For which you’d need to know where I work. Which I can’t tell you. All you need to know is that it is a banking related. UK. Angry customers mostly.

After work we have a birthday dinner for one of our dear friends, Sara. We actually got married in the same year, which is great because we got to share and experience so much together.

Saturday and Sunday –  Not planning yet.

Extras: We do cook at some point during the week, either of us. Usually for more than one meal and to take lunch to work. We also do laundry and put it away as we go, not as fast as we should/like to. Rui does usually clean the kitchen, though I’ve been trying it to do it more. The heavier cleaning happens during the weekend, but we do not clean the whole house top to bottom every weekend. I’d love to, but then I wouldn’t do anything else.

It’s 7.13 P.M and I want to start my bedtime routine soon so I will now publish this post, fix something very quick for dinner, make sure my purse is clean and tidy for the week, shower, mentally pick something to wear tomorrow and go to bed at about 9 p.m to read until I fall asleep.

What about you? What does you week look like?

What do you still have to get done tonight before you’re done preparing for your the new week ahead?

Have a lovely week!

Mrs. Martins (Chey)

Photo by Irina Iriser from Pexels

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:

What have you been up to?

xx

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

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

*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.

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:

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.

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

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

And really bad picture of a lovely sign:

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:

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.

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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.

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Random photo dump:

See you, guys!!

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.

• 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?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Daily Planner and Journal – 09.02.2018 “Smelly, Paranoid, Stormy, Hairy and Cold + Love You Jack Pearson Edition”

It’s Friday everyone!!

You happy? Hope so.

You know I’m only half mean girl, right? But the truth is: I’m on the bus and someone really smells. Not sweaty, more homelessy. It’s making it hard for me to breathe. I refuse to breathe through my mouth because if I don’t want to smell it, I certainly don’t want to eat it. I’m probably going to hell. I hope it’s clean there.

Oh, I just got a sign. The driver decided to turn on the heating. I’m not making this up, you guys. There’s hot air coming from the vents. Just what we needed in this crowded, smelly bus.

Moving on…

We’ve finally watched This is Us. Rui loves the show as much as I do but he was not too impressed with the Super Bowl episode. I wish I could discuss this and not spoil it. I loved the episode. I cried a lot. Let’s leave it at that.

It’s the just the best show. If you aren’t watching it you’re 100% missing out, both on the show and the endless changes of conversation with the rest of the world, since everyone is talking about it.

By the way, doesn’t Mandy Moore have this beautiful good person smile? In every single picture.

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I’m finally off that awful bus, thankfully. Yes, I’m working. I’m with a student. I do blog while they’re doing their exercises. Or I read or pretend to update my schedule. I think it’s DEAD CREAPY to stare at them from across the table when they’re working. They get 100% my full attention when I’m helping them, teaching, explaining, answering questions, but I give them some “privacy” while doing their worksheets or writing.

I remember sitting across from a teacher countless times and some of them would look at me while I was working (or worse, taking a test) and I would get paranoid: “Why are they looking? Can they read what I’m writing? Can teachers read upside down? (WE CAN) Is she looking because I’m doing something wrong? Does she think I’m stupid? Maybe I shouldn’t write this, she’ll judge me”.

So, you see. The paranoid student became a paranoid teacher, who doesn’t like to stare. I’m not as discreet if we’re working as a group because I look around at everybody.

Did you experience such issues as a student?

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Remember I told you I had to work on about 1500 beauty product descriptions for a website. I’m lucky I can write because, apparently, I cannot read. It’s 1000 actually. I didn’t work too much yesterday so I’m still at about 320, I think. Thankfully, it’s work I like to do. I was hoping to work this morning but I took my pills too late last night and I slept in (and still feel very snoozy). I think I’m working a little tonight. Or maybe I’ll leave it because it’s Friday night and work on Saturday and Sunday. I’m hoping to be done by Sunday, that would be great.

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If you (not so) secretly follow the Kardashians (which Rui always uses against me) you probably now by now that Kylie Jenner had given birth and that she named her daughter Stormi. I mean, when I first saw it I thought it was cute because I thought it was short for something. Nope. It’s her name. Okay, it’s kind of nice that her parents like butterflies and that butterfly effect shit about causing a storm but I don’t know. I like candy and I’m not naming my first born “Skittle”. I guess I’d like it better if it were spelled “Stormy” or “Stormee”. I’m not feeling the final “I”. Just needed to discuss this with someone, obviously not Rui 🙄

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I’ve began reading this book – which means I’ve got it, opened the first page and haven’t touched it yet. The app is new too, for my non-kindle ebooks that I get somewhere online.

Are you familiar with this tittle or author? I picked it randomly and have no idea what to expect or what’s it even about.

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It’s Carnival here on Tuesday, which means people get costumes, get drunk, there’s parades and parties and such. It’s similar to Halloween but scarier because there are a bunch of dudes that decide to dress up as women so you see way too many manly, hairy legs in skirts.

I haven’t celebrated since 11th grade since my girlfriends and I dressed up as FBI agents. I’ll probably get back at it once I have kids and dress them up as little bees and such.

So…

At least we get Monday and Tuesday off. I get Wednesday too (Rui doesn’t) but I need to get to work in the morning for this tutoring session for a student who needs extra help.

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I’m sitting at my classroom with my colleague and exactly two students. Everyone else is either gone already or not coming. It’s usually like this before a holiday.

It’s freezing and it’s going to rain but that doesn’t seem to stop the parades or party goers.

Yes, it’s cold for us. And it gets way colder at night.

It’s taken me 3 hours to write this post.

I would love to hear about your past costumes!!

xx