Life may be a stress inducing chaotic mess right now, but I'm still glad to be here.
I continue to worry about *everything* right now. I hate that because some how, some way, some idiot decided that a global pandemic was politically motivated we are still here, a year and a half later. Except maybe denial is even greater right now?
If you are one of my friends (or a random stranger that stumbled upon my blog) with school age children, you have my awe. I simply cannot imagine how difficult this is when you aren't just trying to keep yourself happy and alive, but you are responsible for others too.
I'm so tired of this. I can feel quarantine creeping back in. I might not go full quarantine unless directed, but I think I'm going to start scaling back on things that I can.
I'm already wearing a mask in public again and I am so annoyed by it. I miss smiling faces. We still tend to be mostly homebodies, only going out with friends in isolated cases. But I'm not sure how much longer I will keep that up.
Cases are on the rise. The vaccine alone is not foolproof.
I'm even toying with canceling Sunday Funday early. We canceled today because of weather but if I'm completely honest I was already considering it. I wanted to host a house warming/engagement party soon but now I don't know if it is a good idea.
We got last minute tickets to the Garbage/Alanis Morissette concert at Starplex (if you know you know) Friday night. I wore my mask anytime we were walking around but took it off once we were seated on the lawn. But I was definitely in the minority. Masks were not mandatory and normally since I am vaccinated I would have taken that as a sign to not wear it.
I don't know what the final attendance numbers were, but that place was packed. I know a lot of people miss concerts - especially Rob - but I fear we are going to start seeing them postponed/cancelled again if people don't get their shit together. And Rob has a lot of concerts lined up this fall, not the least of which is Genesis in DC.
Though I did get him to agree that since that is my birthday weekend, if it gets cancelled we will take that money and go someplace tropical instead. So that's a #winwin for me.
To be clear, I am excited about going to DC but you also know how I feel about the beach.
But also, I was very nervous. And I probably will be for a few weeks, maybe a month. Because next weekend we are heading down to San Antonio for Savreet's White Coat Ceremony. And although she said they have broken it down into smaller groups because of Covid, I'm not sure how much smaller they will be.
Then in September we are going to Maine for the weekend for wedding planning purposes. And while the northeast has seen the least amount of increase in Covid cases, they are still seeing an increase.
Plus air travel.
Then the day we get back we have tickets to see Eric Clapton - another lucky case of someone giving us tickets. Then rescheduled Kansas on the 18th and the Eagles on the 21st. Assuming they don't reschedule again.
And then I might have to hibernate until Halloween.
Because...H A L L O W E E N.
And then I might have to hibernate until my birthday.
So yeah. Fun times.
But speaking of actual fun times, I went to a sensory deprivation thing with Chase last week. They don't call it that anymore, but that's what it is...or it can be if you want. If you want sound, you can have it on. If you want the light to stay on you can, or you can float in total darkness - which for the record is the actual point.
Also for the record I'm sort of afraid of the dark and therefore chose to keep the light on the entire time. It's a low level blue glow sort of light but lights off was total darkness and that's too much for me. It was relaxing though and I do think it was worth doing. We went to the Float Spot in Frisco.
We did an hour and a half which for me was kind of a long time. Also I have a really hard time shutting my brain off. But it was kind of nice just floating and not doing anything else. I fully expected to fall asleep but I didn't. I did come out of it feeling very relaxed and I slept like a baby that night. I'm not sure I would do it again, definitely not that long, but that's mostly because I am cheap and I can float in my back yard (but also it's bad for hair color and if you see my new 'do then you will understand I need to protect it at all costs).
I understand some people can't float - Rob can't float. He is a great swimmer but he does not float. But with this, it is impossible to not float.
Me? I just flip onto my back and I can float for days.
I'm very buoyant.
It's funny. At the beginning of the month Rob and I sat down to review our finances and budget so we can actually pay for this wedding and honeymoon we want. And Duncan has taken on a lot of his expenses already - ahead of schedule. We are down to just paying for car insurance and his rent. Which yes, is still a big chunk o' change but so much better than where we were a few months ago.
But also I gave Rob this huge speech about how we have to stop all of our superfluous spending and being more mindful of our purchases we do make.
And then it was the boys' birthday and I spent more than I should on that.
And then it was my treat for the float for Chase's birthday.
And then I got my hair done yesterday and that was not cheap but OMG it was worth every penny.
And then we are going out of town next weekend and even though it is a quick overnight trip it does include a hotel and meals and gas....so that's another expensive weekend.
Meanwhile Rob is doing great on curbing his spending.
Oh and I submitted my name for underwriter this week! I told my manager I think I am ready to move into that direction. I've been told for years that I should be an underwriter because I process with that mindset anyway. And my initial needs list almost always aligns with the underwriter's condition list - I still miss things because I am not looking that closely yet but I feel like I have a solid grasp. I don't know how long the process will take but I have set the wheels in motion. I hope it moves quickly though - I definitely need a new challenge work wise.
I haven't spoken about him in a while but Mister Manfred is still the best little dog we could have hoped for. He does appear to be going through a teenage phase - he tries to hump every dog he meets. And ever since we went on vacation his separation anxiety has gone through the roof. He still won't use the doggie door. And his dog training was cancelled so we need to find something else. He has not embraced pool life yet but his doggie friend Gracie loves the pool and I'm hoping that the more she comes over the more he will see how fun it can be. He's still a snuggle bug and he still looks good in bowties.
So this #SundayFunday we will be relaxing indoors. budgeting and wedding planning. And bingeing Lost Girl.