Hey hey, it's Friday again! This was a whirlwind week since I was gone Monday-Thursday for my work trip. Here are 5 things on my mind today.
1. I've definitely reached travel burnout. Usually the trips are shorter 2-night stays but this NJ trip kind of pushed me over the edge as it was a 3-night trip. Of my 5 remaining trips (one more trip got added for December but it’s a short one to Chicago), 3 are 2-nights, the other 2 are 3-nights. I am going to really try to rein in the 3-night trips in 2025 because it's just a bit too long to be away, especially considering that Taco wakes up during the night when I travel... I should get a nice long month+ break from travel in December/January, though. I really need a break!
2. The boys are SO excited for Halloween and we have a fun weekend of fall-themed activities on tap. Tomorrow morning there is a fall event at our church's pumpkin patch with a bounce house and such. Later that day we are going to a friend’s house for a pumpkin carving party! Then on Sunday afternoon, the PTA at Paul’s school is hosting a fall festival with bounce houses, face painting, etc. The boys have been wearing their costumes throughout the fall and are excited to get candy!! Paul will be Pikachu and Taco will be Chase from Paw Patrol. I hope this mild weather sticks around for Halloween. Last year it snowed the morning of Halloween!
3. I haven't talked about my RA for awhile, but that's not because everything is going splendidly... I still have a bad flare in the pointer finger of my right hand so the infusions have not been the wonder drug I was hoping they would be. My doctor doubled the dose of the infusion in October but that hasn't seemed to make a difference yet. If things don't improve after my next infusion in early November, we can shift the infusions from every 6 weeks to every 4. This flare has been going on for over 6 months now and I am so tired of it - and I'm also so tired of being on prednisone which makes it very hard to manage my weight. I keep telling myself that there will be a time after this.
4. Luckily I have some time off to look forward to in the coming weeks, though. I decided to take 2 days off during the first week of November and 3 days during the first week of December. I haven't had a shouldless day in quite some time and I was feeling like I needed more than just a day off to really replenish my energy reserves. The days off won't fully be shouldless days, though, as I have a few projects that I'd like to work on around the house, like organizing the shelves in our window seat. But the days are mostly meant to be relaxing, restorative days. I need to add up the number of days I've taken off this year because I think the count is rather low... but I struggle to take time off since my calendar is filled with meetings and such. But now I know I need to just plan it in advance or it's not going to happen.
5. I’m currently reading Ina Garten’s new memoir and it’s so delightful. Her warm, calming tone comes across the page. If I was an audiobook person, I would listen to this as she narrates it but audiobooks are not my jam. This book is the equivalent of a warm hug. I am so envious that she owns an apartment in Paris. What a dream!
What’s on your mind today?
10 comments:
Woof on the travel and yay for the upcoming time off. I hope that your agenda is shouldless first and organize window seats later. A fast forward button to get to the time after this for RA would also be nice.
Ina's book was like cuddling up with a glass of milk and a fresh baked chocolate cookie...or one of those brownies that she talked about. I need to find her brownie recipe and make it.
Your schedule sounds so overwhelming so I'm glad you have a stretch off over the holidays. Still. It's exhausting and especially when you add in the RA challenges. That's so frustrating that it's not responding as you had hoped.
Love that the boys are so excited about their costumes.
I have ONLY heard good things about Ina's book so I need to order that from the library ASAP. Actually...I'll go do it right now!
I’m sorry to hear you are still struggling with your RA flare.
I am glad your week is over and I hope that your schedule is less demanding now and you can catch up and relax a bit. I am sure that the RA issues make that hard at times, but I hope that you can get some relief from that soon!
I always had to pick a time of year and schedule my days/weeks off at the start of the year since we had such a big team and we couldn't take time off at the same time. This was both a blessing and a curse, as it made me kind of have to stick with what I had planned even though I couldn't usually do days off at the last minute if something came up. I missed many a cousin's wedding due to not having the flexibility later in the year to change plans.
Gah, the boys are so cute in their costumes! Your fall weekend sounds so fun.
UGH on the continuing RA flare- how frustrating. I don't mean to make light of it, but aren't you glad it's in your finger and not, say, in your ankle??? What if you were hobbling around on crutches or something for six months. Anyway, I hope something works SOON.
Yay for upcoming days off! You DEFINITELY need them.
I'm so glad to hear that RA is under control, hope it continues to improve so you can do less frequent infusion.
3 days trip could be tiring especially for your husband to wake up early for 3 consecutive nights. Hopefully you manage to shorten future trip and enjoy the December break.
I feel like maybe it's connected..your RA doesn't get better because you have to travel so much. Who knows if this is true or not. I hope that when you have a month+ off, you are able to get that darned flare under control and that your finger is all better. Hang in there.
I love that your kids are wearing their costumes so much. Way to get your money's worth out of them!
My step-mom just read Ina's book and loved it as well. Then she read Kelly Bishop's book (Emily from Gilmore Girls) and loved that one too. I haven't read either, but have heard only good things. I'm not usually a fan of the memoir, but these might change my mind. An apartment in Paris sounds like HEAVEN. In addition to their place in NYC (I assume, since Jefferey works there, right?) and the Hamptons property. I love Paris so much, if I had the money I would definitely have property there.
A 3-night work trip sounds ROUGH, especially when you have young kids at home. I hope you can limit those in 2025!
Hooray for taking some days off in November and December. You have MORE than earned that time off and I hope you have some very nice relaxing plans mixed in with the productivity. Hopefully taking some time off work travel and some relaxing days will help with the RA flare. Such a bummer that the infusions aren't quite the magical bullet you had hoped for!
Oof, I understand that you're done with traveling and I am glad you have a few days off coming up during the holiday season. I always love when you tell us about you shouldless days!
And look at how cute Paul and Taco look in their costumes :)
Seconding what Jenny said...my RA pain is largely in my knees & feet. It can be extremely frustrating, and there have been times I couldn't walk more than just around my house. Even that is hard to do because the house has stairs that I have to walk daily.
Post a Comment