It’s Monday and I did not hear my alarm clock. I got up at just nine in the morning and I ran to the laptop. Once I see that everything is well on my end I get up and make myself my morning coffee. In the morning all is running smoothly and I am very happy that it is so. In the afternoon someone inquires about the car-seat I have for sale in the facebook marketplace. They are interested and will pick it up today. I’m always very happy when someone picks up the items I have for sale. I don’t want them to go to the dumpster as they have so much life left in them. I’m glad it is going to a good home. The person is also taking a large bag filled with clothes that my little one has outgrown. I’d rather do that as I’m not sure I like the donation process. The items go back to a store where people can purchase them back at a lower price and then that money that is collected goes to the charity. But al the while, someone has got to pay the employees, rent, electric and so many other things. How much actually goes back to those in need. I’d like for someone to explain this to me in further detail before I donate again. I’m skeptical about it.
The afternoon also went by smoothly. There are a slew of projects that I am now part of and I am excited about them. They are brand new and I can start right from the beginning. One of them is starting right from scratch. No trying to figure out any messes that are were there in the past. Surprisingly I am very excited about this one.

It’s Tuesday and I have been up since four this morning. I woke up with my husband’s alarm and I helped him wake up and then I couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up and out of bed too. I made myself my morning coffee and wondered around the house for a bit. He got ready for work and I helped a little bit. Once he left I get back to bed but couldn’t sleep so I’m watching Bridgerton on Netflix. I want to see what the hype is all about. I’ve got to say that I enjoy it. I love period pieces with their lavish dress and beautiful furniture. I truly enjoy the furniture most of all. Don’t know why but all of those intricate details on furniture just tickle my fancy :). I watched a few episodes and am in love with the main characters. They give me all of the feels. The show reminds me of Gossip Girl, but in the 1800’s. Yes the teenager in me is watching this show. Once my alarm goes off at eight thirty, I turn off the show and get ready for my work day. I have plenty of time to go through my morning beauty routine. I get dressed, make the bed have some more breakfast. Then I get moody. I am on social media and all I see makes me want to tell some people to just shut the f!*k up. There are posts about subject from people who have no business speaking of them such as politics or religion. There are others with words of wisdom, which should be a good thing, but I am no mood for people’s opinions today. I’ve probably been awake for too long and shouldn’t be dealing with anyone. I need to tell my brain to take it easy today. Ok brain, everyone’s opinion matters including yours. I have to remember that everyone is entitled to their own thing even if it includes things that no one cares about…easy Isabel, let it go.

In the evening I started to take down some of the Christmas decorations from the kitchen and living room. My husband was watching something that I didn’t want to bother with on TV. My little one was busy with her toy and I was bored. So I started to wash things and put things away in their rightful boxes. My little one noticed what I was doing and she got sad that I was putting all of the pretty Christmas things way. She decided that it was time for me to stop doing that and to play with her instead. So, we got out all of her LOL dolls and we played for a little while. Shortly after it was bedtime. I also went to bed but I stayed up for a while as I could not fall asleep. I finished watching Bridgeton. If anyone has seen it let’s discuss. I didn’t particularly like the ending. It’s as if season 2 will not be coming and that makes me a little upset since I really like the series. I still couldn’t sleep so I searched and searched Netflix and I eventually landed on Ozark season 3. I love Jason Bateman. He is the director and the show is fast paced and it is so good. Eventually I fall asleep with it on.

It’s Wednesday and I should not have watched so much Netflix. I got up way after the alarm clock and got to work with my pjs on. I’ve been working on myself and getting to my work home office early so I can get started right on time and get everything done by the five o’clock bell. Not today! Today I had pillow marks on my face when I got started lol. I took a small break and got my coffee going and then got a message from a colleague to see if I could be part of a meeting they had set up. I of course agreed. I then had to get “dressed” for work. So I got rid of my pjs and put on real clothes with an addition of pretty jewelry so I would look presentable for this meeting. Good thing too because we were actually on camera as I met some new people that I will be working with in the future. The meeting went smoothly and I will be receiving more work to do in the future. This is ok. We call it job security! The more work I have the more secure my job is. And that, for sure, is a good thing. There are a lot of people out there without a job and I am thankful that I still have mine. In the evening I am watching the unraveling of the news. The white house has been breached. It is crazy out there. Stay safe everyone.

It’s already Thursday and the day is flying by. I got up at the same darn time as yesterday. Way after the alarm and right on time for work. I wanted to get up early this morning to get a good start, but I just can’t roll out of bed early enough. At work I have much to do. I have some leftover work from yesterday and today I am learning a new application. During one of my many meetings my head was spinning as I had to pee so bad and I had forgotten that I have meetings back to back. Oh brother, this meeting couldn’t go and end fast enough. Half the time during this thing, I tuned out. I’m glad it was recorded so I can go back to it and re-listen. I drink way too much, coffee and water that is. I have to take a break almost every hour. I aint’ got no time for that. I have meetings and emails to respond to. It’s a good thing I no longer have two hour meetings. Those were brutal.

It’s Friday and I’ve gotten work messages way before nine in the morning. I hear the ‘ping’ on my laptop as my alarm was going off. People are eager to work today.
Midmorning I have a meeting with my little one’s school to see how her future at school is going to be. The meeting went perfectly well. My little one is doing great in school. Thanks to Grandma who is continuously pushing her to do better and better in school. And of course, daddy. He stays up with her and does homework with her until nine at night most days. She has matured very much and I am a very proud mama.

After that meeting, I have another meeting; with my boss this time. Today I am very happy since getting the good news about my little one. I am in a very good mood and my conversation shows as much. All is going well today. Overall the week has gone well. I’m very surprised there weren’t any hiccups. I know, boring!

Until next time.
Stay Safe!
Best,
Isabel

I take my beauty routine seriously. Every night I wash my skin with a light cleansing foam to clear off all of the impurities from the day.

Just a little dime size amount will do the trick.

I gently bub the cleaner in to every crevice of my skin.

Next I pat my skin dry with a towel and let it dry for a few minutes before I add retinol oil. I use a nightly resurfacing retinol oil that I’ve purchased at TJMaxx.

It has the right amount to bring back the moisture on my skin.

After the oil has been added I get my pjs on and let the oil be absorbed by my skin. I wait from twenty to thirty minutes for it to soak in and then I add a moisturizer.

The advanced clinics retinol moisturizer is light enough to use on top of the oil so it will be absorbed by the skin.

I am now ready for bed and dream a little dream.

Until next time.
Stay Safe!
Best,
Isabel

Over the weekend was our birthdays, my husband and I. Back to back! He is on the 26th I am on the 27th of December. We celebrated with fruit cake and rum cake. For some wild reason he likes that fruit cake, and I love the rum cake. We celebrated at home with our little one and my mother in law. No one else, we’re staying safe from covid after all. For his birthday, I asked him to go ahead and get himself something pretty as he doesn’t want me to go out to the stores. I touch things too much and he is afraid I may bring home the covid virus as I am not as careful as he would like. With that, I asked him to make a purchase for me. I wanted him to get some orange liquor, Grand Marnier. Instead he got himself some moonshine. The apple pie flavored kind. I placed it in a nice birthday bag and gave it to him in the evening right after we sang him happy birthday.
As for my birthday, it was so much nicer. I got a really, really nice watch. It’s golden and it has a couple of exchangeable bracelets, I am so excited that I am able to change the look of the watch. I also received a few pretty shirts and some sweet goodies. I also received a beautiful necklace that is made from Portuguese tiles. I am so happy with my gifts. It’s one of the best birthdays I’ve had so far. In the afternoon we went for a drive around town to get out of the house for a little while. In the evening we get home and sing me a happy birthday. My daughter decorated the cake with a ton of candles, we could see it from space.

It’s Monday and it’s back to the grind once again. It’s the last week of the year and I’m still in a festive mood and have rice pudding for breakfast. Promptly at nine in the morning I log on to work with the lights out in my bedroom/office as my husband is still sleeping and I do not want to wake him. As for home, today we are finally cutting the cord with cable. We are continuing to keep the internet since we don’t have any other options in my neighborhood. But cable has gone bye bye.
Today is also affirmation day. I’ve been writing on my journal all of the things for the end of the year and for next year. Things such as I am successful, I am worth it, I am enough, I’m proud of what I’ve become and others. After I am done with my affirmations I’m feeling cheeky and put on a shirt that makes me laugh “Like a boss” lol

It’s Tuesday and I am dragging today. I feel like I need a real vacation. A getaway from the house to a beach somewhere with warm weather. We didn’t get to go to the beach this year because of covid. Once this craziness is over, I will want to go on a real vacation. Somewhere where we’ll stay for at least a few days. Here’s hoping that covid goes away soon, or a vaccine is found, or something!
This morning my baby’s Godmother came by and left my girl gifts from Santa. She’s an early bird. We must have been sleeping when she came by. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She always has her little Goddaughter in mind. My baby girl loves everything she received.
In the afternoon, I received a message that someone wants to purchase something that I have placed for sale. I have two headboards for two beds and the person only wants one of them. So I decided to give it to them at no charge. I grabbed it up from the basement, cleaned it up and placed it outside by the garage so the person can pick it up. The buyer told me they are thankful and I am happy that the piece is going to a good home.
All the while throughout the day, my mother in law and husband are cooking a Portuguese dish called “cozido.” It’s all sorts of boiled meats and vegetables. The house smells fantastic. In the evening, my husband was cutting up all of the meats and then placing them on one of our pretty platters. Dinner is so good and dessert is even better. The leftover puddings from Christmas.

It’s Wednesday and I get up at the nick of time to get to my office. I take a few minutes to make my coffee. And then I take a minute to spill it on my shirt uggg. Should I change my shirt for the day or leave it on? I’m not going anywhere nor do I have any live meetings today. What to do, what to do?! At work, it is very slim today when it comes to people. A lot of my team members are out for the holiday and my morning meetings are very short and it’s lovely. Meanwhile, I have zero energy to get any work done. I am looking through my motivational notebook to get some energy, to no avail. Maybe in the afternoon I will get more energy to get my work done.
It’s the now the afternoon and my energy is still low. My husband has advised me to make a couple of laps around the house. In turn I get outside and get in some fresh air. It’s not too cold out there today and I stay outside for a few minutes taking in the fresh air. I get back inside and am refreshed for a little while. Work continues to be a drag, but it’s over quickly and I then get to go and play with my little one.

It’s Thursday and it is New Years Eve. I get up nice and early, on time, to get to work from my bedroom/office. I am a happy camper today. I get to send out a lot of good wishes to my family and my work friends, a happy new year wishes. The teams will know that I have not forgotten them and that I will always remember them during times of happiness.
I am grateful for this year. Our health is in tact and both my husband and I continue to have our jobs. Also, our families are all safe and sound. In the evening my little one and I dance the night away for New Years Eve. We have dinner and then danced some more. We pause and are also coloring a house that her Godmother gave her for Christmas. Overall it was a quaint New Years Eve with champagne at the end of it all. Happy New Year to you. I hope the new year brings you lots of health and wealth. Especially the health part. It’s still crazy out there. Be safe! The rest of the day was nice and easy. There was an issue with my site at one point, but we fixed it with the help of our developers.

It’s Friday, New Years Day. The alarm went off and I turned it off and went back to sleep. I wasn’t able to sleep much last night as I was too exited to sleep. I started watching Toy Story 4 but eventually fell asleep, at like four in the morning. I get up at around nine and send out a bunch of text messages to friends and family to wish them a Happy New Year. A bunch have replied back, the rest I’m thinking, they are still asleep. At my house, everyone is still sleeping. It’s nice and quiet. I make my morning coffee and then get online and start looking at affirmations. I write these down on my journal so I may look back at them and maybe put a smile on my face in the future. Or maybe, my daughter will read through them when I am an old woman and reminisce on the old times and the struggles. Because the struggle is real!

It’s Saturday and we all sleep in. We were up late again and today we are resting. In the afternoon we go out for a New Years drive and are out for a while. We get home and have pizza for dinner. My mother in law announces that my little one is upset we didn’t take a photo for New Years. So I ask her if it is ok if we take it today. She excitedly said yes. So we get out the party hats recreate New Years Eve and take our photo.

We then have dessert of cinnamon buns and pudding. I have a hot chocolate with marshmallows and my husband has his decaf coffee. Shortly after, we all get to bed. I can’t sleep so I am watching Netflix until the wee hours of the night. And then it is watching me as I fall asleep.

Until Next time.
Stay Safe!
Best,
Isabel

Over the weekend, there was about a foot of snow and we got outside and played for a while. At one point we made a nice and big snowman. I was surprised that I didn’t freeze my behind off. The temperature was about 35 and it was cold but I didn’t freeze. I will be honest and say that I really dislike the cold and the snow, winter in general is not my favorite. I’d rather the sand and shore. I was dreading going out there. But, my little one begged and begged so I gave in and got our winter gear and we got outside and played. Even daddy got in on the fun and helped us make the snow man. For buttons, we used mini pumpkins and gourds that we still have from Thanksgiving. The eyes are two limes. My snowman has green eyes…my favorite lol. The nose is a carrot, of course and the mouth is a round stick. We also gave the snowman antlers and a Santa hat.

Since daddy was helping to make the snow man, he couldn’t help it but also give him a behind. The little one wanted to give him a tail and daddy told her that he just farted white snow flakes. So of course I had to have a picture of her holding her nose to the snow stench.

Today is Monday and it is another day that I have off from work. I get up at the same time and get down to the basement and get to work on getting items out of there. Such as cookie jars and other dust collectors. I’ve cleaned them up and I’ve added them to the top of my china cabinet. I initially didn’t want any dust collectors up there, but instead of having them in the basement, they are now in the living room. My husband and I had a long conversation of what to do with our daughters crafts. We decided that we will be purchasing bins with drawers to add all of her craft items. We will most likely have this rolling cart in the basement so we can make a mess down there and leave the living room tidy. My little one loves to paint and do crafts, so we will continue to have more and more items for her to practice her craft.

It’s Tuesday and I am on the hunt for a piece of furniture to add to the space that is close to the front door. I love anything that is Victorian style. I’ve been looking through vintage shops and facebook marketplace. I’ve looked and looked and eventually found a really nice piece that is a dark in color, it has some red accents and painted on flowers. I think I may just have found my piece. I’m really picky and for me to like something takes a lot. Usually it’s money. Victorian pieces tend to be very expensive. Unfortunately, my husband is out of commission. His back gave out on him and he will not be able to get out there and get the piece of furniture for us. So I may not be able to get this one.
I’m very exited this afternoon as someone is interested in the two mid century end table that I’ve had in the basement for a long time. The person picked them up and was so pleased that they sent a thank you. The pieces were initially dusty and a little dirty from being in the basement for so long. But my mother in law, the perfectionist that she is, cleaned them up for the buyer. She even put polish on the pieces. I was ready to give it to the person as is, but my mother in law wouldn’t have it. She thought it would be a better experience for the buyer if the pieces were nice and clean. Of course she is correct. In the end I am pleased the buyer had a good experience.
In the evening, I am back in the basement. We have a box with my husbands old shoes. These are so old and haven’t been worn in years that they have some mold on them. He’s never going to wear these again, so we toss them in the garbage. In it’s place, we add my daughters LOL dolls in the box. She has a lot of those toys and it practically fills up the storage box. This is helpful to clean up the basement area a little bit so we make some room for her to play in.
In the basement, I’ve also found a set of dishes, mugs and glasses that used to be in my husbands bachelor pad. I’m not sure why I was saving them. Sentimental I guess. I looked through the box and noticed all of the items were mismatched and random. There were a couple of mugs from Allstate insurance, where my mom used to work. Some other mugs from WALK 97.5, a radio station I used to work at when I was in my 20’s. I took pictures of them all and placed them on facebook marketplace. I placed them online for free. I also found an old Christmas tree and placed that one along with the dishes. Within a few hours someone was interested in picking them up. I truly hope this is going to a good home and not to a person who will resell the items. I’ll have to have faith and think well of people during this time of year.

It’s Wednesday and today is the last day of the week at the “office.” I get up at the nick of time work and log on. After a little while I am feeling festive. Today I will wear one of my holiday sweaters.

I log on to work and notice no one from my team is online. I think I’m flying solo today. I check all of my sites and ensure everything is working. I’m really hoping nothing breaks today. I don’t want to have to figure out which person I have to talk to in order to get everything back online.
Thankfully, today was all smooth sailing. No issues at all at work. It was so good, even some items that tend to give me trouble worked flawlessly. Hey, maybe it’s my lucky day.
In the evening my husband and I get together and rapped a few songs till the wee hours of the night. Kidding, I mean wrapped. We were wrapping gifts and having coffee for a while and then switched to tea. We have a lot of gifts that Grandma Clause got for our little one and we need to wrap them all. After a while I was asking “can’t we just put the darn gift in festive bags and call it a day?” No! Santa wouldn’t do that? Ok let’s do this. We wrapped until about three in the morning. I took all of the gifts and hid them in a deep corner of the basement so my daughter wouldn’t find them. Then to bed we go.

It’s Thursday and it’s Christmas eve. We all get up way after our alarm clocks; at ten or so in the morning. After breakfast we are ready to cook our traditional Christmas eve dinner of cod fish and octopus. It’s delicious, trust me! With that, my husband decides that it would be a good idea to go out to the wild to get wine for our festivities. So he leaves us. My mother in law and I are left to cook. We start off by making dessert. First, we make the rice pudding then a bread pudding. After that we get going on a french pudding that needs to go in the oven. We love our puddings in this house. Next, we get going on the cod. As we are cooking away we have some cocktails. I have a cosmo and my mother in law has some coquito. All is good as long as we have some cocktail. We have our drinks in margarita glasses. We’re not picky. As long as they taste good, we’ll drink them out of random glasses.

We cook and cook the day away. Our cod is fried as well as the fries. The octopus salad is fantastic. We only have it once per year and I always look forward to it. Since we are having dinner from the sea, we have white wine with our meal. All of the Portuguese traditional dishes as well as some Portuguese wine. We are very serious about our traditions in our house.

For dessert we have the rice and bread puddings as well as traditional fruit cake. For some reason my little one wanted to place candles on the fruit cake and celebrate today as if it’s daddy’s birthday. So we lit up the candles and ran with it; minus the singing. As per my mother in law, it’s bad luck to celebrate prior to ones actual birth date. But hey, why not blow out the candles?!

It’s Friday and it’s Christmas day. I get up a little after my little one. I really wanted to see her little face when she saw all that Santa left for her. But me and my sleepy head stayed in bed way after her. By the time I got to her she was already half way unwrapping her gifts.

The little one got everything that she asked for and some more. Grandma Clause made sure of that. Out of all of the gifts she opened, the first gift she wanted to play with was an accessory box from LOL dolls. It has a headband, bracelet, sox and other accessories for her to wear.

While she she is playing with her new toys, my husband and I are prepping for dinner. We take a break from cooking to take our traditional Christmas morning photo with our pjs.

After taking about a dozen photos, we get back to cooking up our roast, pealing potatoes for a casserole and a setting up the mushrooms and onions for the green bean casserole. Everything made from scratch, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We also bake some sweet potatoes. I am so exited, I haven’t had this type of sweet potato in such a long time, I am looking forward to putting it my belly. I set up the table with dishes that I received as gifts from my wedding shower. I love this set. It’s called ballet ribbon and I really love it. I’ve wanted to purchase a couple more sets but they don’t make them anymore. I have to be creative and look for them at other websites besides Bed, Bath and Beyond, which is where they are originally from. I’ll have to give myself the gift of more sets real soon. Meanwhile we have the radio on, from my Alma-Ata WALK 97.5. I used to work there when my passion was to be an on-air personality. That is a story for another time. Anyway, we are listening to all of the Christmas music our little hearts desire. The radio’s music is a little more upbeat than the one we were listening to earlier that was on a TV channel.

We fill up our bellies with dinner then took a break and watched a movie on TV. Well, the rest of the family did. I was cleaning the dishes and throwing out all of the trash. The toys have so much packaging and plastic that it filled up all of my garbage pails.
Finally, we have dessert and it is delicious. We eat and eat and we have tea with our dessert. Except for my husband. He has coffee. For some reason, he wants to stay up all night. So the fruit cake is the same one as yesterday’s. No one has touched it. It will also serve for my husband’s real birthday. And, I’m afraid for mine as well. If not, no worries, my husband is on it. He bought two fruit cakes for our birthdays! I’ll be honest, fruit cake is terrible. I do not like it at all. But ever since he saw a photo of my a birthday when I was little and he’s fallen in love with having fruit cake as a birthday cake. So, the photo is of when I turned three or four. My cousins were over to celebrate and the cake is a fruit cake. The candles are match sticks. We didn’t have much back then so we had to be creative with our celebrations.

It’s Saturday and its my husbands birthday. We have our breakfast together. I then want to take a photo with the family and he complains that he doesn’t like to take picture. Too bad, it’s your birthday and we are going to document it lol.

In the evening we go out for a drive and my husband insists that he must get gifts for all of us. He can’t help it, for his birthday, he wants to be the giver. He’d rather give gifts to his family than to receive them. So we go to the bedding place and he purchase his mother a gift. We also go to TJMaxx and he gets me a gift. But he holds on to this one for tomorrow as it will be my birthday. Later at night we get home and sing happy birthday to my husband.

It’s Sunday and I wake up at six in the morning. My tummy is rumbling and I have an inkling for some chocolate. The only chocolates we have in the house a filled with liquor, so I pass on those. Then I remember that we have Nutella. Oh yeah! A spoonful of that will do the trick. For breakfast I have my usual coffee and I am in the mood for some rice pudding. But not before I take my traditional birthday photos.

Clearly my partners in crime are not too thrilled about photos right in the morning. But hey, this is real life. It’s my party and I’ll demand photos if I want to.

Until next time.
Stay Safe.
Best,
Isabel

In the morning I start off my beauty routine by using a retinol moisture rich cleanser.

I use a retinol moisture cleanser that I have gotten from TJMaxx a while back. They don’t always have this brand, so I buy a few of them when they are available.

After cleansing a I add a natural wrinkle serum. The Brooklyn Made Natural Anti-Wrinkle Serum. It is a little more oily than serum, but its sent is fantastic! It is made with apricot oil, infused with calendula, carrot seed oil, rosehip oil, lavender, rosemary and other essential oils. I got this one from a local store in Port Jefferson Long Island called Simple Good.

I add the serum all over and let it dry for a good fifteen minutes.

After the wrinkle serum, I apply sunscreen all over. I will be going outside to play in the snow this afternoon with my little one. Sunscreen is always needed on the skin. I have a fifteen SPF lotion from Simple Skin Care brand. This one can be found in your local pharmacy. I bought mine at my local CVS.

After sunscreen, I wait for the cream to settle for another fifteen minutes or more.
I then add the vitamin C. The Advanced Clinicals Vitamin C lotion can be found at TJMaxx or Marshalls. I bought the spa size so I would have enough for my everyday routine.

After the vitamin C lotions settles my skin is ready for makeup.
During covid, I haven’t place any makeup on my skin and it is clearing up nicely.

Until next time.
Stay safe!
Best,
Isabel

Confession, I love placing items for sale and getting a hit. It’s like fishing to me. When you get a bite and then you reel them in. It’s a nice adrenalin rush. I’ve placed a bedframe online and I’ve gotten a bite. Alright! a bite! Someone is interested in taking it. I’ve even contemplated giving it away for free to this person. Simply placing a sign on it that states “FREE! Happy Holidays!” However, I’ve been ignored. I hate it when I get a potential taker and then they ignore me. At least tell me you’re no longer interested. I feel those who ignore me are simply cowards. They don’t want to talk anymore. I hate it when people ignore me like that. I’m sure you would feel the same. If someone said they wanted the thing you’re trying to get rid of and then the person doesn’t reply back. But then not to show up and ghost you. I’m putting up for sale so it doesn’t go in a dumpster. It’s a sturdy piece of furniture and I can’t give it away to charity at this time. I’ve tried. They don’t need it. I blame corona. This b*tch has been taking everyone for a spin. Maybe it’s what’s keeping everyone at bay. Or who knows, maybe they are just a bunch of jerks.
Anyway, it is Sunday and we have breakfast together as a family of four. During the week we all have breakfast at different times due to our work/school schedules. But on Sundays, we do our best to sit together at the dining table and eat together and laugh as much as possible. After breakfast, daddy and baby girl are working on school work and I am working on cleaning up. I’m putting clothes away, filing paperwork and cleaning up the bedroom. Today, I have the feeling that I want to clear everything out. I would like to place everything in the garbage and start new. Does anybody ever feel like that? All of the stuff in your house needs to go. Furniture, decorations, clothes. Everything needs to go. Start fresh. Is this how someone came up with the show Wife Swap? Let me get rid of everything, including my family. And let me go somewhere else with just me and my personality. Wish I would have come up with that one back in the day.

It’s Monday and it’s five in the morning. I couldn’t sleep at all. I kept on waking up and opening my eyes thinking it was time for work. But the I would look left and my husband is still sleeping. He gets up at four for work so I’m still good for my nine o’clock start. I look through social media for a little while and see a message from Mel Robbins on twitter. Something along the lines of; if you’re seeing this message in your social media feed, turn it off and get out of bed. So I left! I left twitter and logged on to instagram. Who are you Mel Robbins to tell me what to do?
It’s now eight in the morning and my head is pounding since I didn’t get a wink of sleep. The pain starts from my eyeball all the way around to the top of my neck. I get bored with social media and get out of bed. I go ahead and make my morning coffee eat a Hawaiian roll. I’m thinking that eating something may make my headache go away. Nope; was I wrong. My headache kept on. Less so on my brain and more on my eyeball. This is when I call my dear friend Ms. Tylenol. Dear Ms. Tylenol, get to my brain and do your magic tick. Shortly after, my eyeball stops hurting and I am good to go. Too bad it’s already close to my workday. While getting ready I am listening to the Elvis Duran replay channel. Today’s episode is without Elvis. And, I don’t hate it. I thought that without the master of ceremonies, Mr. Duran, the show would be, well a sh*t show. But no, it was nice and smooth and it continued to be the circus show that it usually is.

I leave the show on and am tuning in and out as I’m siphoning through my emails. Then, my alarm goes off. Guess it’s time to get going! Oh wait…I’ve already been up for hours. Time to go lay down? Nah! It’s time to look through all of the random non work related emails like the Zoe Report.
During my lunch hour I head down to the basement and take a look around at what I can clean up. I’m in the mood to get rid of things we don’t need. I look at one of the pieces of furniture that we have made by White Clad. I don’t know if I should keep it or get rid of it. It has a rotary piece on top that used to be for a tv, I think. Anyway, take a look at the pictures below. Should I keep it or sell it?

In the evening we do some more homework with the little one. She has so much work to do all of the time it’s no joke.

It’s Tuesday and I am getting ready for tomorrow’s snow storm. I see the storm reports all over my social media. I’m going through my social media posts so I can keep the dream that I had out of my head. My dream was that my car flipped upside down. I wasn’t in it. Not sure who or if anyone was. All I can remember is that it was with it’s front grill on the ground. It scared the living daylights out of me. I keep on having very vivid dreams and some of them are simply too much. So I get to work and try not to think about it.
In the afternoon, I am working on my classes for Business Analyst. They are long and very excruciatingly tiring. I take a break to write out Christmas cards to my friends and family. My little one wants to write out cards too. One for her daddy another for her school friend. She drew her school friend a picture too. It’s very cute. After this little break of hers from school work she has lunch I go back to my learning. I keep on having to take frequent breaks because I’m just not having it today. I’ve checked my social media a bunch of times. Written on my journal and have gone onto youtube a few other times to take frequent breaks from my classes. Trying to let it all sink in to my brain. Good Lord help me on learning all of these process.

It’s Wednesday and I get up nice and early. I get my coffee going and see my husband watching tv on the couch. It’s going to snow this afternoon, so no work for him today. As I am drinking my coffee, he tells me that he is going to bed lol. He must have watched tv all night and eventually fallen asleep on the couch. Now I am at work in my bedroom/office and he is also in the room sleeping. Thank goodness he doesn’t snore. Well, not anymore. He used to snore but now that he’s gotten his tonsils out, it’s nice and quiet. Thank goodness he did it. I used to have a hard time sleeping back in the day. In the past, if I’d wake up from a bad dream or for whatever reason, I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep because he used to be so loud. Apparently, I am now the one who snores. How the tables have turned.
I have meetings today all day and I hope I don’t wake him up this morning. I also have a virtual holiday party in the later part of the morning and I may be a little loud at this event. Even though I have my headphones on I won’t be able to whisper. Anyways, I’ve put on my ugly holiday sweater, my holiday leggings, a pair of pretty red earrings and am ready for my meeting.

And my internet is down. What a piece of garbage! While in my holiday meeting, I was trying to tell my team my traditions and what we do on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, then the internet gave out. I couldn’t hear what the team was saying, only bits and pieces. The system kept on freezing. Fu*king internet! This is my only time to talk to upper management in a more relaxed sense and the internet fu*ked me over. I’m so pissed off right now! Towards the end of the meeting, I was eventually able to log back in and wish everyone a happy holiday and happy new year. I flippin’ hope they heard me.
It’s just about four in the afternoon and it is snowing pretty hard out there. The superintendent of the schools already called and they have cancelled school for tomorrow. With that, I go outside and turn on the blow up toys so they don’t get buried underneath the snow. I also get out the shovel and take care of the steps and walkway so it won’t be so bad tomorrow. It is cold out there and it is slippery already.

It’s Thursday and I woke up feeling wonderful. I had a great dream. I was running on the path to a nearby hidden beach in my hometown of Tojeira, Sintra in Portugal. We used to live in a house that was a few miles away from the beach and we used to walk there every once in a while. There was a hidden path that we used to take where we walked through the woods and a big hill. In my dream I was running on the dirt path going towards that hidden beach. On the path, I passed a group of little kids who were on a nature walk with their class. I said hi to everyone as we all know each other over there, it is a small town after all. And I kept on going towards the water. I was so delighted during my dream and my run that the alarm went off and I turn it off so I could go back to my journey. I wound up never getting to the sand, but I sure did see the winding path and hill to get there. It was blissful. Below is a picture of the beach that I dreamt about. This is not my photo. I found this one online and it was taken by a random person.

Unfortunately, I then had to get up and out of be and get to work. It snowed overnight and there is a a lot of snow out there. Since I am now working from home, the “office” will never be closed. So, no snow day for me. I’m ok with that. Today is the first day in a long time that I didn’t need to get up at the a$$ crack of dawn to clean off the car and the drive-way. I have a very long drive-way and it takes a long time and a lot of arm strength to clean it up. As I am working the internet gives up on us…Again! The lights are also flickering. I get my phone charging and am about to send a text to my boss to let her know my internet is down, when it comes back up. The internet keeps on being inter mitten this week and it is driving me bananas.
I have youtube on and am listening to a podcast. It keeps on spinning, you know the deal, when the internet is not on, the page pauses and a circle keeps on going round and round. When it comes back on, I keep on listening to it while working. It’s an interesting podcasts. It’s about stress and how it can take a toll on your life. If you’re interested; it is called SECRET To Making STRESS YOUR FRIEND. It’s a bit long and honestly, I tune out here and there as I am taking care of some work items. Meanwhile, I am thinking about my lunch hour. There is a lot of snow out there and my little one wants to go out and play in it. Gonna be honest here and tell you that I really dislike the cold and really don’t want to go outside. I need to play and need to shovel the stairs and the walkways, but I really don’t wanna, I’m dreading it. I’d rather stay inside in the warm where I can wear my comfortable PJs and type the day away. I’d rather do anything else than be out in the cold. I am a warm weather person. I like the to wear light clothing and the sunshine. Wearing a ton of layers of clothing and boots and gloves and a heavy hat…uggg. Oh sure it is pretty, but I’ll leave it to the winter people and would rather stay inside.
So, during my lunch hour we get outside and play in the show for a while. I take out the shovel and take care of the steps both in the front and the back yard. As I am doing that I am being bombarded with snowballs from my little one. They are small ones but she does have a good arm and keeps on aiming for my face. My eyeglasses are now all wet and I can’t see too well Rotten kid! lol After I shovel, we dig out the blow up toys and then build a snowman. It was little guy, but it did the trick. We used sticks for the arms and another stick as a zipper instead buttons. We don’t have any coal for the button, but have branches for a zipper lol. The snow is compacted and my little one kept on picking up pieces of ice and throwing them at me. She has a good arm and the darn ice hurt as it hit my body. If not ice, she was throwing snow right at my face. My glasses were dripping wet by the time she was satisfied with throwing snowballs at me. We were outside for way over my lunch hour.

Once we finally got back inside and I get to my bedroom/office, I noticed a bunch of messages that I missed for work. Oops! I get a quick lunch in as I am working and answer all of those messages. After I getting back from shoveling and getting snowballed, I am mentally drained and my brain hits the wall. I’m trying to get back to my work but I am texting my friends instead. Later in the day I have a meeting with my mentee and find out the poor thing has covid. She is isolating along with her family and I’m hoping she and her family get well by Christmas. After, we have a lovely conversation I quickly have to run as I have yet another meeting. The meeting is short and it gave some people on the call a lot of work to do. Thankfully the work wasn’t for me. I feel for my coworker who has a ton of work to do before the end of the year. But sorry, not sorry! As for me, I have a lot of marketing items that I need to update. Thankfully, the team has provided them to me early enough so I can do a few of them at a time and have enough time to get everything done on my end by weeks end.

It’s Friday and I have been up since three in the morning. It was so bright outside due to the snow and the light reflecting inside. I thought it was already six in the morning. I drank some water as I usually do in the morning before I get out of bed and then looked at my phone and notice it was only three. I tried on getting back to sleep but it was really tough. I eventually put the pillow over my head and was able to fall asleep for a couple of hours. I had a dream that I was in a bus going to Vegas with my brothers and a few of their friends. I just remember that one of the friends was very obnoxious and I wanted to strangle him. I then woke up very angry and noticed it was only four in the morning. Good Lord, I thought, when will it be time to get up for work? Seriously! I am looking forward to getting to work. I must be sick or something. I again put the pillow over my head and eventually got back to sleep. This time my dream was about an old boyfriend that I had. I remember he came to visit me at my place of work at one time to let me know he gotten engaged. So I congratulated him and he looked a little sad about it. So I asked him if he would rather have me say no, don’t do it. Let go of her and be with me instead. I remember he smiled and didn’t say anything. Only that he was going in that direction. I said that I didn’t know what to tell him besides congratulations. By the way, this was way before I met my husband. I was actually single at that time. But I didn’t have the heart to break them apart. So odd that I remembered him today. I truly hope he is doing well. He used to have a business but I noticed it closed down otherwise I would have visited to see how he’s been doing. He’s a really great guy but was much older than me and we were going in very different directions at that time. It would have never worked out. I was in school and he had already been working for a few years and he didn’t get it that I wanted to be free, not from a relationship, but my soul. Plus he was the jealous kind and that does not work for me. I won’t go wondering off, don’t worry, I am not that type. Never been, never will.
In the afternoon, I have a bunch of meeting and don’t get to do much, work wise. I take a quick break for lunch, but have a meeting right after. Not much gets resolved in these meetings. We talk about issues and the fact that they need to be resolved. No duh! This meeting however, may mean that I have a lot of work to do in the future, but I am not sure. Like most meetings that I have, we will probably have another meeting about this meeting. I take a break from my meetings and work and send out an email to my cousin from Portugal. She told me about her plans for the holiday season and I respond with the same. My plans for the holidays are simply going to be, well, simple. We are all going to stay put, at home. Covid is still going on strong and the family is staying away from each other. It’s a little sad but that’s ok. Better to be safe than sorry.

Until next time.
Stay Safe.
Best,
Isabel

Another fun filled week with a day off, getting dressed up with nowhere to go. I did lots of clearing out our space and a ton of working.

It’s Monday and I am off from work today. I thought I would get up at noon. Instead, I am up at nine. I have lots to do at home and am exited to do it. I have my breakfast and then get to work. I have to clear out one of the sides of the basement so we may place our winter coats. We are moving the coats from one section and placing them by one of the windows. We don’t want mold to grow on the coats where they currently are as the section is dark and it can get moldy. I get rid of a bunch of things from the basement and put them out on the curb. Some of the items are all of the printers that I’ve had in the office for a long time and they need to go. One of them is a recent one that we bought that is no longer working to our needs. We bought another one that will last us much longer. Or so we hope. Other items are a decorative photo holder and another is a headboard for a bed. We’ve had these for a while in and they are of no use to us any longer. I’ve also let my circle of friends know about them on facebook. If anybody wants, please take I will give them all away at this point. There are a lot of other things that I want to get rid of, but am not sure if my husband needs them. Or wants to keep them for future use such as wiring and extra roof shingles.
In our office, I get out some of the books that we have and place them in a box to donate to the library. I called my local library and they are not taking any donations at this time. I’ve called another library and they are only taking donations on Saturdays at noon. Ok great! I explained that I’d like to simply drop off a box and no contact with anyone. The woman on the other end, said that I will need to actually talk to someone. Grrr! I don’t want to see anyone, especially during these covid times. Why can’t I just drop them off? I have a bunch of other books that I need to get rid of. They are from way back in college and I have no idea why I kept them. There are a slew of them and they also need to go. If you know of anyone who is in the television, radio and film field let them know I have a bunch of book they can take.
All I have to do now is go to the small section of my basement and get rid of some of my husband’s old clothes and a dish set that we have saved up…for absolutely no reason.
It’s midnight and I cannot get to sleep. I’ve already had a midnight snack. A cup of Nutella with peanut butter. I then watched a movie, “What Men Want.” It was cute but not enough to lull me to sleep. Now I’m with eyes wide awake. And am thinking of what I need to do tomorrow. Oh brother, it’s going to be a bad morning tomorrow. I’m worried that I’m not going to be able to wake up early enough for my morning coffee. Still tossing and turning and trying, but sleep is not coming my way.

It’s Tuesday and, surprisingly, I get up a little bit before the alarm clock. I had so much trouble getting to sleep last night and I am so surprised that I have enough time to make my coffee and have my breakfast. I have a warm roll with butter. Yum! Haven’t had a roll in a long time. It was delicious. I get ready for my workday and today, I am dressed to the nines. I have a meeting with upper management this afternoon and I am physically and mentally ready. I have my beautiful Fossil watch and my favorite bracelet that looks like a Tiffany. I’ve also got my large earing’s on and a nice necklace. I am so ready to get this meeting started.

I had the day off yesterday so I am looking through a slew of emails that I need to take care of and a bunch of meetings that I missed.
So, I get all dressed up and ready for my live meeting and am all exited about it. After a few hours of work…and the meeting with upper management gets cancelled. Well, postponed. I’ll be next week instead. Meanwhile, I am listening to the Elvis Duran Replay Channel and truthfully tuning out; too much to do and little time to enjoy the show. During my lunch hour I get outside and pick up the garbage pails from the street. Then I get to the office and get out books that I no longer need. I have been holding on to textbooks from college such as Announcing, Radio 101, Photoshop 7, Audio Recording, Video Editing, Media Law, Broadcasting Business and so many other textbooks. I was holding on to them because I thought I may need them in the future. Who am I kidding?! I will never use these again. Plus they are old, they’re probably not even relevant anymore. I’ve asked my friend Sara if she knows of a library or anyplace else for that matter, if they would take these books. She right away sent me a link for one of the libraries on the island. I can only drop them off by appointment only. I’m hoping the books will go to a good home.
Today my Christmas gift came in the mail. I’ve received serving spoons for the set that I wanted for my wedding. Yup, I am still collecting items from my wedding. I love my set but they don’t make it anymore as it has been discontinued. I think its so elegant and pretty. Even, I think, the name of the set is pretty. The collection is called Ballet Ribbon. I still need a few things from the set and I will be hunting them down for gifts for myself. Happy Christmas to me! This year, I will be getting exactly everything that I want from Santa lol. And don’t you worry, my little one is getting everything she wants from grandmaclause too lol. Mommy and daddy are picking up the rest. After all, Christmas gifting is more for the little ones.

It’s Wednesday and I’ve had the wildest dreams last night. In one of them I wasn’t able to walk up stairs or get up off the floor. I didn’t have enough strength on my knees to climb stairs. I was in gym class back in my junior high school and couldn’t be with the rest of the class on the bleachers inside the gym. My other dream was at a cousins house and we were decorating a wall. They wanted to make a wall out of rocks, like the ones we see all over Europe. My little one and my husband were drawing on the rocks and I was painting gargoyles and angels in white to decorate the wall along the way. The wall was really pretty and colorful. The last dream I can remember was with water. My husband and I were somewhere in the Bahamian Islands or some sort of paradise island, and I was splashing around in a small natural pool by the beach. He was working on making a natural pool right on the ocean. I was then swimming around by myself when a young man threw some sort of pixie dust on me. This dust made me stay stuck at the bottom of the ocean. I had a swimming mask on and thought I would drown since I couldn’t go up for air. But oddly enough, I was able to breath underwater. He was chasing after me, so I tried to swim away from him. All of a sudden the pixie police came and hunted the young man down with their own dust and grabbed him. I then went over to my where my husband was working and I told him what had happened. He didn’t look concerned and kept on working on the natural pool. Oh no, no, no. I thought, and that is when I lunged at him. I was so angry that he didn’t pay any mind to the adventure that had just happened to me. Come on husband! I was just hit with pixie dust. That should have thrown him over the edge lol. That’s when I woke up. All startled since I was fighting with him over this. Then, I looked at my phone and holy batman, it’s five after nine. I gotta get up and get to work. I jump out of bed, put on my eyeglasses and log on to my email. I already had thirty emails and five instant messages. One of these messages was from the boss. Oh man! Today of all days that the boss messages me, I had to oversleep. I answer all of the messages and luckily none of them were urgent. I then get to the kitchen and make my morning coffee. Shortly after, I on to a conference call. This one I could have skipped, there is nothing for me to add to this particular meeting, only listening in to what everyone else is doing. There goes half an hour of my life that I will never get back. After that meeting I get some more coffee and take my medicines. I then put on my lotions and potions on my skin and get ready for another conference call. I fell like I’m all over the place today. With all of the conference call and my brain not sitting still. I’ve got a lot on my mind today. Getting up later than usual has gotten my anxiety working overtime. Pay attention, is what I’ve been telling myself all afternoon. I have a webinar and can’t keep focus. It’s now two in the afternoon and I’ve hit the wall. I’m also getting cold this afternoon. I get out one of my husbands sweatshirts and get myself nice and warm. The last couple of days I’ve been feeling nice and warm, even hot at times. But not today. What the hell is going on with me this week? Am I going through my changes? Good Lord, I hope not. To get some energy, I get out of my bedroom/office and go to the basement so I can clean some more items out. Even with my sweatshirt on, I continue to be feeling cold. All I do is dust off a few things and shortly after I eventually leave and go back to my bedroom/office. It’s nice and warm in there. Tonight I go to bed early on time and eventually fall asleep after looking through all of my social media and commenting and liking all of my friends’ posts. It’s a bad habit to have the phone in bed. But this is the only time that I get to really look through my friends posts. You never know if someone is feeling down and a like or a heart on their post will make their day. I feel like that sometimes. A simple like does make my day.

It’s Thursday and again, am in bed way past my alarm clock. I woke up early and looked at my phone, just for the time, and noticed I had another two hours to go before work began. So, I rolled over and fell asleep again. I really should stop doing that, I get lazy in the morning and then don’t want to get out of bed, at all. I eventually do get out of bed, right at the nick of time, for work and get online. Looking forward to today as it seems like it’s going to be an easy day. So far, all I have to do is remove items from my websites and do my monthly audits. Let’s hope it stays this way.
Today is the first day of Hanukah and I’ve sent my dear friends well wishes on this festival of lights.
During my lunch hour, I am clearing out the basement yet again. We have have a bunch of gallons of paint that we no longer need. I’ve taken them out to the curb and I hope someone takes them all and uses them for their needs. I had some time left over during my lunch hour so I also clear out a few of the branches from the front lawn. It was a bit warmer outside this afternoon and I took advantage of it.
In the evening, as I’m still working, my husband is outside with our little one placing our Christmas decorations on the front lawn. We have a unicorn holding a present, a snowman, Mikey and Minie holding a snowman, a Santa on the potty. My husband and daughter thing the Santa on the potty blow up balloon is just so hilarious. I prefer the traditional ones. But, who am I to judge? The work day isn’t over and I have to pause and go look for spikes to keep the inflatables down. I’m looking and looking and can’t find them anywhere. No worries, the hardware store is still open. We have a quick dinner and then he goes out to the store to get the pikes. I’m sure he’ll come back with more than just spikes. You know what they say about boys and their hardware stores. Can’t come home with just one item. It’s like going to Target. Ya go there for one thing and the magical wonderland that it is, you come home with a cartful of stuff you probably didn’t need in the first place. So, my husband comes home with stakes and a couple of extension cords. Did we need those extension cords? Probably not. See, just like Target! He also came home with a sweet treat for the little one. Who can blame him? Getting a sweet treat for his little girl, the apple of his eye.
We get outside and place the stakes on the ground to make sure the characters don’t blow away with the wind. Darn it, it’s cold outside! We could see our breaths out in the air. We are all done with the steaks and finally get inside to get warmed up. It’s a good time for some hot chocolate. But we don’t have any, so milk and cookies it is.

It’s Friday and I wake up filled with energy. This energy thing is a very rare occasion. I have so much energy that I could go for a run, but it’s too close to nine and I won’t have enough time for that. Instead I have my coffee and get ready for my day. I have a bunch of conference calls before noon and need to be ready for them. None of them are on video, so I don’t need to get all dolled up, but I do need to be mentally ready. Getting physically ready also helps, so getting dressed out of my pjs and making the bed are helpful too. Busy, busy all day with work. During lunch I go outside and breath in some fresh air…and get the garbage cans back back from the curb to their rightful place in the back yard. Then, back to the grind. I work and work until the five o’clock whistle. Once the whistle stops blowing, I just keep on working. While I’m working I’m listening to Marie Forleo. She has a channel on youtube called Marie TV. Today, I am listening to her interview with Brene Brown. The show is called Brené Brown Shows You How To “Brave the Wilderness.” I just love Brene’s voice. It’s very soothing to me. She says that once something happens, she assumes the positive intent in it. I have been feeling the same lately. Every time I speak with my new coworkers, everything that comes out of their mouth, I’m assuming the good intentions.
In the evening we are working with my little one so she can record her homework online. She needs total quiet and so we all leave the room so she can record herself for her teacher to hear. I go into my bedroom/office and turn on my laptop. What do I see but someone from work calling me. I, right away click on the hang up button. I don’t want to talk to someone from work at seven in the evening. I like my job, but not that much. Then I notice the call again and I right away select the red button to hang it up. I’m about ready to turn off the laptop when I notice the calling screen is stuck on my monitor. Now it keeps on showing that so and so is calling lol. I’ve had enough calls for the day. My laptop is ready for retirement.

Until next time.
Stay Safe.
Best,
Isabel

Over the weekend, we worked on the yard and cleared out the leaves from the front yard and half of the back yard. I will need to take the leaf blower again next weekend and finish the job. My back, arms and hands are feeling the hurt from raking and using the leaf blower. My little one and mother in law helped us out too. On Saturday, we were working until dark to get the majority of the leaves out of the grass.

It’s Monday and I get up right at nine for work. I’m hurting from the weekend’s work and do not want to get out of bed. I eventually roll out and get to the kitchen really quickly and make my coffee. As the coffee is brewing I am online making sure all is well with my sites and that everything else is all good. After I check my email, I get to the kitchen again and have my breakfast, very quickly I might add. I then get online and am working on the product that is launching tomorrow. Meanwhile, outside it is raining and very windy. I’m praying the trees in the yard stay put. The pines are fragile and I am very afraid they may break.
I’ve received a phone call from my doctor and received my blood work results. The doctor told me my cholesterol is a bit high and that I need to go on a low fat diet. He recommended I go see a hematologist as my anemia levels are high. This could be why when I’m in the shower, a lot of my hair falls out. I’ll go see this new doctor and find out.

It’s Tuesday and it flew by. I had a product launching and the day went by so quickly I don’t even know what I did. I have been in my pjs all day and didn’t even make the bed, that’s how busy I am today. There was a course in between my day and some more work. I continued to stay online and work until nine in the evening. Once I could no longer look at the screen I get right to bed.

It’s Wednesday and I got up right on time to get my product launch under way. It’s been a rough week on waking up on time. I’ve been getting up right at the nick of time to get online and get my work done. My alarms go off and I keep on hitting the snooze button. Actually, I’m just simply turning off the alarm. Forget the snooze. I tell the alarm to F off and I’m turning over and getting back to sleep. I keep on having trouble falling asleep and then in the morning, I’ve been paying for it. Today is my mom’s birthday. I’ve called and called to wish her a happy birthday, but no one is answering the phone. We’ve been distancing due to covid an I haven’t seen my parents in a long time. But I do give them a call every once in a while to see how they are doing.

In the evening, my little one pooped the floor…literally! Let me tell you what happened. During dinner time, she called for me and yelled for me to bring her wipes. I get up off the bench and run on over to her in the living room. I see her holding her underpants and I see poop on the floor. Frantic! I asked her what happened. She told me she couldn’t hold it anymore. So, I run to the bathroom to get her wipes and a bag so I could pick up her poop from the floor. I’m thinking… what has happened to my baby girl? I hope she isn’t getting sick or something. I have the bag and the wipes and I get on my hands and knees to pick up her poop from the floor. I place the bag on top of the poop, as if I’m picking up poop and noticed something wasn’t right…The poop was hard and it was cool. I look up and everyone is smiling and as I throw the piece of rubber on the floor, they are all laughing at me. It was a rubber piece of poop that was on the floor! My little one got me, and she got me good. I really thought she went on the carpet today.
After I got over myself of feeling embarrassed, I eventually gave her a high five. It was a really good prank. I blame daddy as he bought a bag of tricks so they could play tricks on me. The next trick was a slimy spider that was on top of my mouse in my bedroom/office. She didn’t get me this time, spiders don’t bother me too much. Unless they are crawling around. Eww.

It’s Thursday and today flew by very quickly. A lot of content to post and a lot of testing for one of the sites I work on. In the evening, I was completely drained and was feeling cold. So I put on my comfy jacket and watched TV. At one point I even fell asleep when my husband called on me to help out with the printer. The printer that we have is not working. The wifi is no longer working and placing the wire and printing directly isn’t working either. This printer has become a nice paper weight. I am not very happy with my purchase. Now I have a printer with ink and it doesn’t want to scan nor is it printing correctly. Meanwhile my little one is drawing a red Robbin with daddy. He is such a good artist and he teaches her well. Shortly after she colors her Robbin we go to bed as it’s already ten o’clock.

It’s Friday and as per usual, I get up at the nick of time, right before nine in the morning. I get myself online to check my email. I answer some emails and then get myself some breakfast. It’s going to be another long day with meetings and work. I’ll have to take my shower during my lunch hour today. It’s not an easy feat. I have a lot of hair and it takes a while to wash and dry. I’m planning on donating it and need to take very good care of it. And so, it takes me a while to get it done right.
In the evening we eat dinner and I get myself to bed early. Tomorrow we will be taking care of the basement and cleaning it up. Need to get ready for that.

Until next time.
Stay Safe
Best,
Isabel

I survived the week at work after coming back from a week off. Had a Thanksgiving feast. And I had a very proud mama moment with my little one.

Good Monday Morning! My behind has been up since three in the morning and I’ve been doing everything under the sun but my work. I’ve had breakfast with the family. Everyone has been up since four. This is the time my husband goes to work and we are all in the kitchen with our morning routines. My mother in law is cutting up the fresh baked bread and giving everyone a buttered slice. I think this makes her feel like she is back at her coffee shop helping out her customers. At least I’d like to think so since she has been serving all of us. The little on is on the couch watching her cartoons and my husband is outside smoking his cigarette. I know, it’s a bad habit. We’ve been working on him to get him to quit, but he’s not convinced yet. Soon, hopefully! I’ve been looking through twitter and intagram to see what and who is up. Not many are up at this hour. Everyone is doing the right thing by being asleep or better yet, getting their exercise in for the day. I then get dressed and make the bed. I am in my bedroom/office by five thirty and would like to get to my work. But I am procrastinating. I was off last week and on Saturday I checked on all of the work that is waiting for me, and it is a lot. There is also an email from the boss that is questioning me why I had a particular meeting without her. Honestly I was ambushed, the person who set up the meeting told me they wanted to talk about the site that I’ve been working on for years. Turns out they wanted to talk about a new site they are working on. The boss would have liked to have been in this particular meeting. And I do not blame the her. This is the type of meeting that I have no business being in head of. Now I have to let the boss know why this happened. Not sure which way to go about it. Do I say I was ambushed? Will I sound like a moron if I say it like that? Or should I just send an apology? Will that, make me sound like a moron? I don’t want to sound like an idiot. But I also want to make sure I’ve got it under control. Need to figure it out this morning before the day begins so I may be able to answer that email.
It’s now ten in the morning and the wind has been knocked out of my sails. I’m in the need a break, very soon. I need a focus for this week and to think of it, for my life lol. Having trouble keeping focus and motivation right now. I have so much that I need to do that I’m beginning to have a terrible anxiety filled morning. One item at a time, I keep telling myself. But holy hell, there are a lot of items that I need to do. Listening to Rachel Hollis and she tells me that “focus and planning what is needed.” And that “a routine that supports the plan is key. Consistency, habit and ritual are what needs to be done.”
While I’m catching up on my work I am listening to the Women in Tech panel from last years CES. They talk about how these women on the panel got inspired to be in STEM, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and tech data. As for me, I’ve been thrown into it. And don’t get me wrong, this is ok by me. As a young child I was fantastic at math, but then lost interest and lost my ability to be a better math student. But you never know where you may wind up in the future. This current career that I have is all about solving problems. Oh brother, I am having problems solving my own issues. Now I have to solve other peoples issues! Lord help me!

It’s Tuesdays and I wake up in a relatively good mood. I had dreams about being at the local pool with friends. Another dream was about being at Kalahari with my family and having a great time. My dreams were all about swimming, water and laughter. They were very relaxing and fun types of dreams. Lately, I’ve been having angry types of dreams where I’m throwing things at people or getting into screaming fights. Very aggressive. Today’s dream was bliss compared to the others. I got up then had a quick breakfast. I then got online to check on work. What do you know, but one of the sites I work on isn’t replicating, it’s basically not working. I’ve had to scramble to talk to my developers to get the site syndication back up and running. Then looking at my email, there are a bunch of people sending messages wanting to know where their content is. Ahhh, too much pressure! Work overload within the first half hour of my day. OK, I’ll have to take it with stride. One email and one piece of content at a time.
In the evening I have a zoom date with a friend. We talk and catch up for about an hour. It’s so nice to catch up with old friends. It makes me feel great to connect during this crazy covid season.

It’s Wednesday and I’m feeling blah and overwhelmed at the same time. Looking at what I need to do for work is making me a bit overwhelmed and I’m feeling…blah. While I procrastinate, I keep on playing with my hair. Putting it up half, half down, all up at once and then all down. Can’t figure out what to do with this top mop today! Eventually it decides for me and all up and out of my face it is. At work, it is a relatively calm day. A lot of people are out for the Thanksgiving holiday so they may have an extra long weekend. Good for everyone. I am catching up from being out last week and I am getting a lot done this afternoon. In the afternoon, I decided to send out a Thanksgiving note to my team wishing them a happy and safe holiday. Looks like most of the team is out of the office lol But those who are in sent a reply back wishing me the same. I love it when a plan turns out well :). Looking back, in my 20’s, tonight, the night before Thanksgiving, used to be the biggest party night of the year. My friends and I would go out to the club and dance the night away. I would always dance a little bit on the wilder side so no one would try to dance with me. I would always rather dance all by myself than to dance with some random stranger.
While I’m working my little one is off from school and she gets to sleep in for a little while. All in quiet in house until later in the day. In the afternoon, she watches grandma make the rice pudding and other delicious sweet treats ready for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow, we will all be around the kitchen stove getting the turkey and the side dishes ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. It will only be the four of us as we will be staying away from everyone during this covid season.
After work, we work the night away around the turkey. We made a brine for it and prepared a lot of the items for the side dishes.
The brine for the turkey needed ice for. This is so the turkey wouldn’t be sitting in warm water overnight and maybe go bad. My husband decided it would be best if he went to the local convenience store to buy a few bags of ice to add to the it. So, he left at ten thirty in the evening and didn’t come back for another hour at eleven thirty. The convenience store is right up the block. It should have taken him fifteen minutes not a full hour. It was one of those, I’m going out for cigarettes and he never comes back home kind of situations lol. While he was away, I sat on the couch and watched old episodes of Sex in the City, the ones where Aidan and Keri get back together after she cheats on him with Big. Anyway, I was waiting and waiting for him to get back from getting ice and eventually turned off the tv and was getting ready to go to bed when I heard the car and it’s loud hip hop music coming out from the speakers. I was in the hallway, going to the bedroom and I turned around and went back into the kitchen. As soon as he got into the threshold, I automatically asked him “where have you been for the last 45 minutes?!” He said he was in the car for all of that time. He said the tire pressure was off and he was trying to troubleshoot the problem. Yeah, Yeah that’s what they always say. He thought I was mad, but I wasn’t. I just simply joking with him. So, we kept on working on the turkey brine and some of the other dishes and eventually we get to bed by one in the morning.

It’s Thursday, Thanksgiving day. We all get up way after the hour we should have to start up with our cooking. It’s eleven in the morning and we are still in bed. My husband eventually gets up before all of us and announces the time. Really loudly by the way. So, I get up too and we head to the kitchen in order to have our coffee and start with our Thanksgiving cooking. We start off with the cooking the apples for our apple pie. My husband made the dough yesterday and placed in the fridge and today is the day for cooking the apples with some orange zest, sugar and other yummy spices. We cook the apples in our new iron cast pan, thank you mother in law for the gift of cast iron, and the result is pure apple deliciousness.

Up next are the green beans casserole, then the candied yams and mapled carrots. The turkey is next. In the basement, I go ahead and search for the turkey tray, it hasn’t been used since last year and I have no idea where it is hiding. I finally find it in one of the deep corners and bring it up to the kitchen. He cuts all of the vegetables and fruits and places them on the bottom of the pan along with some oil for aromatics. This turkey is going to turn out fantastic.

As we are doing all of this cooking we are splurging on one of the pumpkin pies that was made last night. It is so good, we eat all of it as we are cooking the afternoon away. All the while my little one has made us a turkey drawing and some other paintings.

Today, I am the human dish washer. After every time a bowl is used and completed with it’s task, I am there to wash out that bowl and put it away in it’s rightful place, until it is needed again. I do this ALL afternoon LONG lol. Don’t know how my hands aren’t all dried up and wrinkled due to all of that soap and water.
We have the majority of the items cooking or heating up in the oven and then after all, my husband decided that it would be a good idea to make our own cranberry sauce. We had bought the canned kind and the raw fruits. I thought the raw cranberries was for the stuffing. However, his decision was wise, the home made cranberry sauce is really good, I can’t believe how good it turned out. The recipe was the one on the back of the bag. It is a simple recipe. It calls for sugar and water and probably butter, butter makes everything better. Anyway, it turned out really good. Who knew it would turn out so good! We mainly at that one and left the canned cranberry sauce. Now we know for next year to make it from scratch.

We continue to cook by making mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. All from scratch, because that is how we do in this house :). By six in the evening, everything is good and ready to be eaten. I set the table with our golden tablecloth. I’ve had this tablecloth and napkins since before we bought this house, this is how much I love this golden brown color of a table cloth. I set the table with the blue dishes that we got from target a few years back. I think these were also a gift from my mother in law. Starting to see a pattern here, of gifts. Didn’t realize how much stuff she has given us. Thanks mother is law! We also place the red wine on the table along with the beautiful and simple red wine glasses. My little one has her own “wine” glass with some apple cider with cinnamon.

My little one requested that we have a full fledged Thanksgiving dinner with year. Including a turkey bird and all of the fixings. How can we say no to that little face. Daddy surely can’t, so we did it all. Well, most of the traditional dishes. She had a bite out of all of the dishes and then was ready for dessert. We ate like kings and queens. Stuffed our bellies with all of the goodness that was created during the afternoon. My husband found the wish bone and grandma and my baby girl made a wish. My little one’s wish was for the corona virus to go away. What a good wish. I am so proud of my little girl.

Dessert was pumpkin pie, rice pudding and flan type of cake that my mother in law usually makes for the holidays. We eat and eat and eat. Then we get to the couch and are watching tv for a little while. Daddy eventually falls asleep on the couch and grandma and the little one go to bed by midnight. I stay up for a little while and notice the old Hitchcock movie “The Birds” was on. I’ve never seen the movie in it’s entirety, only bits and pieces, so I stayed up for as long as I could to watch it. Didn’t realize how good the movie is until tonight. I watched the movie until one in the morning, about half the movie and then I couldn’t stay up anymore. I turned off the tv and went to bed. I will need to find this movie and watch it all. I saw it in color this time and it is fantastic. I only saw one continuity issue during the entire time. The time that the main character gets hit in the head by one of the birds. When they get into the diner her head is bleeding and the blood is dripping down the side of her head. The next scene there is no more blood. Ahhh editor, you screwed the pooch on this one. Also, we could notice when they were driving that they were in front of a screen. But that is how they did the movies back then.

It’s Friday and we all get up at eleven, again lol. However, my husband has been up since about eight and he made the crust for the apple pie. We didn’t make it yesterday because the crust kept on breaking. I rolled it out on the table and it kept on cracking. So we tossed it out and made a new one. Since we were making so much good food already, we skipped the pie. Instead, he made it first thing this morning. I don’t know where he gets all of his energy for cooking. I am terrible at it and wish I had the patience to cook. As for me, I usually burn food because I start to do other things and forget about the item on top of the stove. I am more of a baker. Get all of the ingredients together and then have the oven timer tell me when it’s done. I delegate to the oven lol.
Today I am looking for a nice gift for me lol. I have a set of Waterford Ballet Ribbon that we picked out for our wedding shower some ten years ago and I need serving spoons. I’ve been looking all over the internet and have finally found a few sets that I can buy that won’t break the bank. I’ve looked for the the glasses that are part of the set and they continue to be seventy dollars each. Even discontinued, they sure are pricey. I decide not to get the glasses. Instead, I get myself a birthday present. I’ve gone to RueLaLa and purchased myself a few sets of the serving flatware. The tax was a bit much, just under twelve dollars, as was the tax. But it was the best price I could have gotten. I’ve told my husband that now he doesn’t need to worry about getting me gifts. I’ve gotten myself a birthday present that I really want and need.
In the evening we get out of the house for a little bit and play pokemonGo. We then get home and sit on the couch for a whole ten minutes before we get an urge of an appetite and get some dessert in our bellies. The little one eats some of the flan, I have the rice pudding and my mother in law and my husband also have the flan. After our bellies are full, we get ready for bed.

Until next time.
Stay Safe
Best,
Isabel