STFAH: July 31, 2020

And so ends another month in this year, 2020. I worked from home today, and my sister had the day off. It wasn't a terribly busy day but I also had some busy work to go over that I spent a lot of the day on. I also watched Beyonce's Black is King, which is phenomenal! It's the kind of art that you feel honored to have had a chance to watch. It's so positive and glorious. I can't wait to watch it again!

After that, we watched a couple movies from our summertime movie list. Heavyweights, and then Mighty Ducks 2. After work, we headed out to Fred Meyer to get some stuff and then came back to order Red Robin for dinner. An episode of Hey Dude and now Meatballs, is rounding out the evening.

It's not as hot as it was the last few days, which is good. It's supposed to cool off a lot tonight and then not be as hot tomorrow. That should be nice for our social-distancing small family gathering tomorrow. I have missed getting together with my family that I am really excited about tomorrow. We bought stuff to make S'mores, which should be tasty and fun!

I think I'm going to spend the evening gathering recipes for my Christmas blog project. It's never too early to sort that stuff out!

Today I Went to Work: 7/30/2020

Everything went really well today. The read and sign didn't take too long. The deliveries went out in a good amount of time. I got all the big stuff done. I did run out of time to get everything done, though I did organize the stuff I was working on to make it easier to do a little each time I'm there. I wish I could have done more, but I'm learning that I'm only one person and I really can only do so much in a day. I did have a nice chat on the phone with my boss. We're both assuming this way of how we work will continue for the foreseeable future. Well into next year, for sure.

It was hot today! We have kept our windows closed so far and it's not too bad in here, I have to say. I'm thinking around 9pm we'll probably open the doors and windows and see if we can't get a breeze going on.

My pickles arrived today! I'm about to try them in a while. I hope they'll be amazing! I can't wait to report to my friend from New York what I thought of them!

My sister has the day off tomorrow and I'm working from home. I suspect we'll watch a lot of movies from our summer movie list. Hopefully it won't be too hot tonight!

STFAH: July 29, 2020

Today was actually a really nice day. I had some stuff to do for work for the start of the day. We're continuing to perfect the stuff we're now doing electronically since we're in the office much less than we used to be. I'm learning how to mark exhibits electronically and I figured out how to get the signature packets to work electronically today so we can get them to people immediately instead of waiting to use the printer/copier.

When it slowed down, I had time to do a chapter of my antiracism book and I sat out on the lanai reading and it was perfection. I noticed that our tomato plant has a flower on it now and 4 or 5 things that will become flowers. When it got too hot, I went back inside and started my annual viewing of Anne of Green Gables. I also had time for an episode of the new Charmed on Netflix when I was finished.

The afternoon went pretty well too. I logged into the front desk and helped out there too. When I logged off for the day, I used the treadmill for the first time in the new apartment. It's a great set up, and I have a fan on my back the whole time. It's definitely going to work well for hot days. The den is in the far back of the apartment and doesn't have any windows, so it stays a little cooler in the heat.

My spices that I ordered last week arrived from Market Spice. I do like supporting them. They're still not opened at the Pike Place Market yet, so I hope they're doing ok with their online business.

I go to the office tomorrow. I have enough to keep me busy for probably at least half the day. Depending on how long the read/sign takes, I may be able to leave early and finish the day working remotely from home. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to work from home on Friday. I'm supposed to meet up with my bff to socially distance chat for a while and then pick up food to take back to our respective homes. I haven't seen her since February, so it's well overdue to see her again!

Another good night's sleep would be lovely if I could manage it! I don't want to jinx myself, but so far it hasn't been too bad at night with the fans on. But the real test will be August...that's always the worst month of the year for heat!

Today I Went to Work: July 28, 2020

It's my birthday!!! I went to the office for the first part of the day because I had too much leftover from yesterday to not come in. I was able to get everything caught up and I'll be able to work from home tomorrow. I'm going in Thursday because somebody is coming in to do a read/sign so I'll come in to handle that. There will be enough stuff built up again to keep me busy. If everything goes as planned, it means I might work from home Friday, in theory...

When I finished work, I walked to the Pike Place Market and bought some goodies from the Mee Sum Pastry stall, and then picked up a pulled pork sandwich and potato salad from the bbq place. That's the first time I've dared to go into the actual main market, but it wasn't busy and there was plenty of open windows so I didn't feel too concerned. It was a nice lunch, and I worked from home the rest of the day. I also bought a coconut roll, my favorite from the pastry stall, accompanied my dinner. I also bought an almond tart to eat for my birthday dessert.

It's puff pastry. A little dry. Tasty. I probably wouldn't get it again, but it's a nice light sweetness, which is good on on a hot night like this. I don't like super sweet things in hot weather.

I got some fun presents from my sister and parents. Candy and lots of activity books! I'll be set for keeping busy during this pandemic for some time to come!

The mask I ordered from Etsy arrived in the mail today. Once I finally got in the building because they changed the building keys after I left for work and was in the middle of dialing the manager's office when somebody came and let me in, I found the package in the mail! I had too much fun looking through these masks and picking out just the right one. But I chose this one because it's almost like a time capsule item. It'll always remind me of when this pandemic took place!

It fits in perfectly with my Golden Girls-themed bathroom. Hallmark channel has been airing Christmas in July all month which means The Golden Girls has been preempted this entire month, so I'm missing it! I can't wait to try this one out!

My parents have a big back yard, and have finally gotten comfortable enough with the idea of a socially-distanced small Friday Night Crew family gathering. Saturday night we'll try it out. Every safety measure will be taken, but it's just getting too lonely to not be around family anymore. Hopefully it'll work out well and we might do it more regularly.

Well, it's hot out, hopefully I'll be able to sleep well tonight. I slept better yesterday but I need to sleep well again tonight to get more on top of it again. The way I set up the fans in my room, it does seem to keep me pretty cool, or at least neutral temperature, which is good. I'm working from home tomorrow. We'll see how the heat is. It's most likely going to be too hot for an outdoor walk, unless I get up super early, but I might be able to use the treadmill, finally. We shall see!

Today I Went to Work: July 27, 2020

I couldn't sleep very well last night and ended up waking up early. I would normally not do this, but I wanted to see how much I was facing and maybe get a head start, so I fired up the work laptop and logged in to check out the in-box. It wasn't too bad, but I got things uploaded and ready to go before shutting it down again and trying, unsuccessfully, to get back to sleep. I'm pretty tired today!

I spent another full day at the office and didn't finish everything, so I'll go back in tomorrow too. If I don't get too much new stuff, I'll probably only need a few hours to half the day. Then I'll go home and work remotely the rest of the day. Depending on how hot it is and what time it is, etc, I may overshoot the bus stop and go to the Pike Place Market to pick up some birthday goodies.

My parents stopped by to drop off my birthday present, so I have something fun to look forward to tomorrow. Rumor has it my sister has a present for me too! I finally got the gift card my friend from New York got me for the Pickle Guys. I had to email them, and one of the employees called me back today and I spoke to him and got it all figured out. They should be here Wednesday or Thursday and the gift card covered the cost of their 2-qt special! I'll be trying out their half-sours and full-sours. I can't wait! That's definitely a fun birthday present!

It is soooo hot today! Dinner tonight was "clean out the fridge" on a plate. Nothing worthy to note. We watched an episode of The Office, and then moved onto The Good Place, only to learn the hard way that there are only three of the four seasons of The Good Place currently available there. I've seen the series before but I feel bad that my sister has to wait until whenever they put up the last season to see how the show ends. Onto Hey Dude for the rest of the evening unless there's enough time for me to finish the night with an episode of Highway to Heaven. I hope I get a good night's sleep tonight...!

STFAH: July 26, 2020

Today felt like a typical Sunday. It was a combination of sitting around watching movies, and doing some chores. I did the by-hand dishes, filled and ran the dishwasher, took out garbage, compost, and recycling, swept all the floors, and brought in the mail. I also did two loads of laundry, folded, and put it all away. For movies, we watched Swiss Family Robinson, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Holes, and now we're finishing the weekend with The Parent Trap. That's one of my favorite movies of all-time!

We did run back out to Fred Meyer this evening really fast because we had a box fan that we lost the cord to, so we ordered a replacement cord, only to find that it doesn't work. It's going to be too hot this week without a bigger fan, so we ran and got one. We picked up dinner on the way back in while we were out.

I go to the office tomorrow and we'll see how horrible the in-box is...I'm anticipating a full day at the office tomorrow and Tuesday. It won't be fun, but it'll be so fast-paced I won't have time to be too miserable!

STFAH: July 25, 2020

Though I didn't go to work, I did run errands. The day started with a trip to The Grateful Bread bakery in Wedgewood for delicious baked goods, including the sesame bagel that is soon to be my dinner after this is posted.

When we got back, our parents stopping by to drop off a couple things, to pick up some empty boxes, and to help me get my wifi up and running again, which it is currently. Hopefully it'll stay that way this time!! They highly approved of where we placed the lamp in the hallway and our Disney shrine. I still have more unpacking to do before I take pictures, but maybe we'll do some of that tomorrow.

Next was Fred Meyer for our shopping for the next two weeks. We went upstairs and explored the garden section and bought a tomato plant, a Greek oregano starter, and an Italian oregano starter at discounted prices, which was awesome! The accompanying planters and soil was also purchased. Then we stocked up on groceries except the few things I couldn't get there.

After that, we took my MCU movies over to my cousin's house so she can start a rewatch with her family. We're looking for a couple pieces of furniture and our Fred Meyer was no help. The one over by my cousin's was also no help, sadly. I think our search will have to turn online now.

A stop to Central Market for the last items on my shopping list was next, and then we picked up lunch and took it home to start our Hayley Mills Movie Marathon. We made it through The Moon-Spinners and Pollyanna today. A bit of a cheat, but Swiss Family Robinson, which doesn't have her, but her father, will be tomorrow. We'll end the weekend with The Parent Trap. My sister doesn't like Summer Magic, so I'll watch that on my own sometime.

I spent a good part of Pollyanna looking up news articles for my Pollyanna blog. I thought it was a good use of that time!

After the movie, I potted the news plants and made a huge mess on the lanai, but I'm hopeful that the plants will survive and thrive if I take good care of them. I purposely picked plants that will do well in a good amount of direct sun. And stuff I enjoy eating. Always important.

Watching the DCOM Jumping Ship now, and about to get my dinner! All in all, a very pleasant day!

Today I Went to Work: July 24, 2020

I went into the office again and it was another marathon day. I didn't even finish everything. My boss said he'll try to log in over the weekend and try to get us caught up. We're down to three employees currently until the other one gets back from vacation, so we're all doing more than we typically do. It's certainly given me a chance to become more familiar with the other stuff that I don't normally do. We have some video stuff that came in towards the end of the day that I immediately put off till next week when I have more time to concentrate on it. I am thoroughly exhausted and definitely ready for the weekend.

Tonight's dinner was Azteca, delicious as always. They've finally brought desserts back onto their menu, and I enjoyed flan for the first time in forever and it was so good! I always have half of my dinner leftover, so that'll be dinner tomorrow too.

This weekend will include our parents stopping by tomorrow to see if my dad can get my wifi to work again. It stopped working a day and a half after we set it up. And there will be a stop at the bakery we discovered a couple neighborhoods over. And a trip to my cousin's house to drop off my MCU movies she wants to borrow. And grocery shopping. And in between all of that, the plan is to have a Hayley Mills movie marathon. We'll see how much we manage to watch! Oh, also continuing to unpack and organize the new place.

I'm not going to plan anything fancy for dinners next week. I think I might need to try going into the office each day in hopes of catching up and staying caught up till my coworker gets back. It'll probably get to the point where I don't have to be there all day and then finish the day working remotely from home, but I think being able to use the printer and get stuff worked on as it comes in rather than letting it build up is vital when you're working solo. This week taught me that. I feel so spoiled at feeling put out over having to come into the office every day during the work week...! I do try to limit my time on the bus during the pandemic, though, so it is something I will probably only do during this time.

STFAH: July 23, 2020

Another day working at home today. There was a good amount of work to do at the start of the day, and I didn't do any unpacking today. Today's big news was tuning in to watch the announcement of the hockey team. We have a name and a logo now!!

We are the Kraken! There are anchors on the arms of the jersey and the tops are the top of the Space Needle! I need to try to buy a hockey puck online soon. I am way more excited about this than I anticipated, but I have a home hockey team now!!!

I finally had time to do another chapter of Me and Antiracism. For some of it, I sat out on the lanai and read/wrote. It's really nice out there! I'll have to do it more.

After work, I went out for a walk, and my left foot is having some problems. I think my shoes aren't supporting me like they were before. They are a couple years old now, and even when I put inserts in them, it still didn't help. I think I need to start looking around for new shoes soon. Shoe shopping in a pandemic, fun fun fun!

I ordered a few more spices this evening from Market Spice. They're having a 15% off sale, so I'll be trying their bbq seasoning, taco seasoning, and an Ethiopian seasoning blend that sounded cool. I tried to redeem my friend's gift card, but I guess I have to download an app and it's a bit more complicated than I anticipated, so I need to wait for a time where my sister can help me. But I can't wait to try the pickles!!

Working in the office tomorrow. No idea how long I'll be there. Mostly exhibits to deal with, but I think mentally preparing for a full day there is best. I stress out less if I'm not thinking I could get home sooner if I just worked faster. Azteca for dinner tomorrow night!

STFAH: July 22, 2020

Today is the first time I worked remotely from the new apartment. It worked just fine. I had some busy spurts and helped with the front desk in the afternoon, but I also had a good amount of time to work on unpacking and rearranging the den and hallway. I made some really good headway and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

We still have a lot of boxes in the living room that need to be worked on. My sister and I probably need to work on them together, and I'd love to get it done by or on the weekend, if possible. Then it'll feel like we've truly moved in and can start to actually live here.

I rearranged some stuff from the den into my bedroom, and moved a lamp down to the hallway and it just works so perfectly there. I can't believe I didn't think to put it there sooner because it's like it was always meant to be there. Also took out a load of recycling to clear out the place some more.

Using the stove for the first time to heat some green beans. Exciting. Potato-sausage-sauerkraut roast in the little oven today.

I also did some online stuff that I've been needing to do. Nice to be catching up with all my stuff. Soon I'll hopefully be able to get back to editing my book.

Loving the cooler weather today! I took a warm shower after my walk outside after logging out of work. Wrapped in a blanket now. Love it! Working from home tomorrow too.

Today I Went to Work: July 21, 2020

Two days in a row! And once again I was there till closing time. I am not used to having to work in the office so much anymore. I was able to catch up with nearly everything, and had a ton of mail to go out today. Of course I missed the pick up time so it'll all go out tomorrow, but it's done, and that's what matters!

I did take a lunch break, but there was just too much to do to do proper breaks. And I wore a mask the entire time except when eating/drinking, even when I was the only one there cuz my sister researched it and apparently AC in buildings can really spread coronavirus, so I decided to be extra careful even though it made it hotter.

We had a problem creep up last night, a leak from my tub, and I was told not to use the shower till they could get it fixed. Luckily they fixed it today and it apparently wasn't the problem they anticipated so it was an easy fix. No leaking tonight after my shower, so hopefully it's resolved!

I work from home tomorrow and I hope to get some unpacking/organizing done in the den. A lot of the rest of unpacking hinges on that. My sister got our Disney shrine complete, and I added a few final items after I got home today. I want to wait till the place is really up and running to take pictures to share.

Dinner tonight was frozen pizza that I baked in the little oven so it didn't heat up the place. That oven is quite possibly the best purchase I have ever made in my entire life. It uses less energy than the regular oven, and doesn't heat up the place. It's not ideal for all the stuff one needs an oven for. I'd never use it to bake pastries or bread, but for a roast chicken or a frozen pizza, it's wonderful!

It's still pretty warm today, but it's definitely not as bad as it was yesterday. It wasn't too bad when I went to bed last night, but I didn't fall asleep till later than I wanted. It was one of those "too tired to sleep" times. Hopefully I'll be just tired enough to sleep tonight!

Today I Went to Work: July 20, 2020

What a day at the office!! I was there till just after 5pm and I still didn't get everything done. I have stuff in the in-box I never got to, and everything still has to get prepped for mailing or delivery. My boss jumped in and helped while I took a lunch break, but it was definitely out of control. He's coming in tomorrow and I said I'd come in too so I can finish up everything. It'll be the first time I have actually seen him in person since the middle of March! It's actually two moves ago because the last time I saw him in person was the week before I moved to this building and I ended up taking the whole week off to deal with it. What a strange thought! I haven't seen my boss in person for four months!

I was about 20 minutes late to work today cuz there was a bus stuck in the Northgate park and ride and nobody could get into it until they towed it out of the way. It was a pretty annoying start to the day! But there was a highlight: I saw 100% mask-wearing everywhere I was today. That was pretty cool!

We have started our annual viewing of Hey Dude tonight. This is the best time of year for it, when it's super hot out.

And we have just gotten word that there is a leak somewhere in our place that maintenance will have to take care of. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon!!

STFAH: July 19, 2020

We are 100% moved in! Today I woke up for the first time in the new place. Thankfully I slept really well, but I'm still exhausted. We took it easy today with unpacking. I got the kitchen functional, and did two loads of laundry. We started setting up what we're calling our Disney shrine, which is something we wanted to do since we moved out of the Crown Hill apartment but there was no way we could do it in the downstairs place. It's exciting to finally have the space to work on it!

My parents came over again and my mom generously cleaned out the old place for us. She's the queen of house cleaning and has her methods that work for her and it's easier for her to do it on her own, so we just stayed out of her way. We still have a ways to go with unpacking our place, but we needed a lighter day, so we'll just keep working on it a bit each day till it's done. Then I will work on pictures to share!

We also drove out to my parents' house afterwards to pick up a couple shelves to bring back. One will probably end up in the den and one will become part of our Disney shrine. We picked up Heaven Sent chicken for lunch on the way back in.

We watched Princess Diaries 2 and some more of The Good Place this afternoon. Then we went out to Fred Meyer for a few more household items we need. After that was a stop at Panda Express for dinner, which we ate while watching The Good Place. Now we've settled in for the night with our Netflix shows. We're finishing out the season of The Great British Baking Show and won't be starting the next one as we have our annual summertime tv shows to start tomorrow.

I go into the office tomorrow, my first day solo, and I'm pretty nervous. Hopefully it'll all work out ok, without any major issues. We shall see...! Wish me luck!

STFAH: July 18, 2020

I am exhausted, but we are 99% moved in and have begun cleaning the old place. We just have the cleaning supplies to bring upstairs when we're done cleaning tomorrow. I unpacked a bunch of stuff too. My bedroom and bathroom are fully functional. I unpacked my cookbook shelf. The kitchen needs a lot of work still, but I hope to get going on that tomorrow. I'll also do my first laundry in the new place tomorrow.

I arranged online for the cable to get turned on upstairs today and most of it worked out ok. The internet switched over fine, but I had to call and have them do some stuff on their end to get the tv and phone to work. But the guy I walked to was super nice, so it was fine.

We ate out for all our meals today. Burger King breakfast, MOD Pizza lunch, and Gyro Hut dinner for me and Taco del Mar for my sister. The restaurants are right next door and I was gonna do TDM, but changed my mind at the last minute. We also stopped at Baskin Robbins where I got a milkshake. Tasty!

I took my first shower in the new place tonight and it was lovely! I changed my bedding after the mattress was moved upstairs, and hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep tonight! Watching the first Princess Diaries movie tonight and relaxing.

My parents have helped us so much with both of the moves, and they do so much for my grandparents that we wanted to do something fun and special for them, so we bought them a Roku and a year's subscription to Disney Plus so they can have fun with all the cool stuff to watch. They already got it set up and have started watching things already!

STFAH: July 17, 2020

My parents came over again this morning and we moved a lot more stuff upstairs. We only worked till around 1:30 but we moved up all but the last stuff, like the mattresses, tv/electronics, the chairs and desks, and the last of the stuff in the kitchen. They're coming back tomorrow and we're going to finish out the move. The internet should be switched upstairs then too. If all goes according to plan, we'll be able to keep unpacking and even start cleaning a bit too, though most of the cleaning will be done on Sunday.

I also worked remotely and it was a good balance. I go into the office on Monday by myself and there's definitely stuff for me to work on but in theory it won't be too terrible.

The new place is really shaping up and I am going to take so many pictures of it! The fabric we ordered for the lanai table came today and we put it on and it's absolute perfection! Our place faces the fire station so we can watch all the goings on there, so it'll be quite interesting!

So, tonight is the last night in this place. It isn't the best apartment, but it was sort of a "any port in a storm" situation when we were priced out of our old place just before a pandemic hit. You sort of take what you can get. But sometimes you have to just wait patiently for the right thing to come along, and luckily it was in the same building!

Today I Went to Work: July 16, 2020

I went in and we put in several hours at the office. My coworker goes on vacation starting next week and I'm supposed to be the one in the office while she's gone. We went over pretty much all the possible scenarios but something unique will always come up, usually on the first day, so I just have to deal with whatever happens.

On the moving front, I packed and moved up most of the kitchen stuff this afternoon. My parents are coming back tomorrow to help move what will probably end up being the rest of our stuff. We might end up sleeping upstairs tomorrow. We won't have internet yet, but it should only be for one night.

I still work from home tomorrow, in the midst of moving. It's not the easiest to juggle and I'll be really glad when this is all over!

STFAH: July 15, 2020

The move started today. I got the keys and my parents and I started moving around 9:45am and we worked till about 4:30pm with a bit of a lunch break in the middle of the day. I ordered teriyaki from the place down the street and my mom and I walked over to pick it up while my dad kept moving stuff.

We moved a shockingly large amount of stuff today! My dad left partway through and got some more boxes and picked up the flatbed cart they ordered. It definitely helped us take up more than before each time. Pretty much all of my stuff is moved, except for stuff I need to use till Saturday when my parents come back to help us move the last of the stuff.

At the same time, I was working remotely and occasionally had to stop and work on stuff before joining my parents again. It was a pretty slow day, which was nice. We had some stuff came up and decided to swap coming into the office tomorrow and not Friday. The rest of my time moving will be concentrating on the kitchen, which is largely untouched. It should be better with the flatbed cart.

So much fits in the den! We're going to actually have space to live and move around in now! It was so worth all this trouble leading up to the move. I knew it would. It'll be nice to actually live up there too, starting on Saturday.

For some of the time, I stayed in the old place setting up boxes and the next set of stuff to go upstairs and my parents would take it up, or we'd cross paths along the way and switch keys. It actually helped us to social distance better, which is good right now!

I am exhausted and hopefully I'll sleep really well tonight!

Today I Went to Work: July 14, 2020

Well, it has been a day...that actually started last night. My parents were planning to come over tomorrow to help us get jump-started on the move, focusing on some of the heavier thing to go into our den, but we got word in the evening that my dad had to take my grandfather to the hospital for a fever. They had to give him a covid test, but it was always suspected to be something else as he's not been exposed. My parents were going to self-isolate until the test results came back, meaning they'd be out of the Wednesday helping and depending on if the results actually came in on time, they might miss Saturday since test results have the tendency to come back very late. But we heard this morning that my grandfather is responding well to tylenol and his fever is breaking, meaning it's definitely not coronavirus. So, my parents are back on to help us tomorrow after all!

But I didn't know that until I was on the way to work and texting with my dad. My day actually started at 4am when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I just fretted about how to start moving all by myself tomorrow. I did come up with the idea that I needed to procure a flatbed cart, which we had had to move out of the old apartment, and would at least triple what I could carry with just the dolly. And I was already going to get up at 6am to start working on the lease that the apartment manager assured me would be up and ready to go well before then. Spoiler alert: It was not.

Today was a good day at work, but a hectic and very stressful day of trying to communicate with the apartment manager about how the lease and payment was not getting done because we couldn't see any of it on their website. It turns out the upgrade has caused their system to glitch all week long and she said if nothing else we'd just push the move-in to Thursday which was unacceptable. Luckily, at the last second, she was able to get everything to work and now we have signed the lease and paid the money we were supposed to pay so that means that I should be able to get the new keys at 9am tomorrow. I will still be working remotely and going in to the office again on Friday, hopefully not for too long, but it should also give me plenty of time to help with the move.

It was a very stressful day, and things went from absolutely dire to back-to-the-plan by the end. And I am exhausted! I really hope I sleep ok tonight and that I'm in tip-top shape for the rest of this week and weekend to come!

STFAH: July 13, 2020

I worked from home today. It was busy to start with and then it tapered off so I worked on packing more of my apartment. I've basically run out of space to put stuff so we need to just start moving stuff and then the rest will flow pretty easily, I think. I talked with the apartment manager and we need to do a couple things tomorrow to get everything squared away, but she said we will be getting the keys on Wednesday, no matter what.

I go to the office tomorrow, but hopefully everything will work out time-wise to to get everything sorted out for the apartment. There's a little bit of everything to work on in the office. This is also the last week before my coworker goes on vacation for 2 weeks, so that's really helping my anxiety levels...!

After work ended today, I went out on my walk and the weather was perfection. I really love the street that the city closed off for walking. It's so pretty. It's nice when it's not too hot out. On super hot days, the treadmill will have to do!

My dear online friend from New York surprised me tonight with a gift card for a pickle shop that she and her family have supported for generations that I am really excited to try out! I'm going to order some after we finish moving so there will be less confusion about addresses. It was so nice of her to do this for me!

Taco dinner tonight and leftovers for tomorrow before we switch to takeout during the move. I'm going to fill/run the dishwasher tomorrow, then we switch to paper plates and plastic forks for a few days. I just wish this move was over...!

STFAH: July 12, 2020

Today was a really stay-home day. Pancake and sausage breakfast to use up a few more items in the cupboards and freezer. Tasty.

Much tv and movies were watched today. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Cars, a Disney Channel summertime musical special, High School Musical 2, and now an episode of The Good Place to be followed up with an episode of The Great British Bake Off and probably finishing the evening out with an episode of Highway to Heaven.

Three loads of laundry was the only chore I did today. We're going into a bonkers week, so I took the opportunity to really relax today!

STFAH: July 11, 2020

We didn't stay home entirely. It was a grocery shopping day for us and we also wanted to look at stuff for the new apartment, so we did a few stores. I found the cutest deck chairs at Fred Meyer but they were $55 each so we decided to look around and see what else we could find, and I'm glad we did. We went to Lowe's and found the perfect set: 2 deck chairs and the perfect table. Right height and size. It turned out that the floor model was the last one they had so we got a sweet deal discount on it. Originally $255, on clearance for $218, but since it was the floor model they knocked it down to $175!! We also got some cute tropical pillows to go with it, and a nice citronella candle. Seriously, go to Lowe's, they deserve your business! They were so nice and kind to us. And so were our parents who bailed us out by driving down with the van to take it all back for us. When they come on Wednesday, it'll be the first stuff we unpack. I've spent the evening looking up cute tropical cloth on Etsy to buy material to make a tablecloth for it. I've narrowed it down to two options. I'll take pictures when we move and whenever we get the tablecloth set up.

We picked up a roast chicken at Fred Meyer and made a late roast chicken lunch which will also be leftover dinner tomorrow too. We made up a meal schedule for the next week since starting Wednesday, we'll pretty much be eating out for the rest of the move.

The rest of the day was spent watching fun stuff. The Three Caballeros, which was the next one of our Disney rewatch. Newsies, still not my favorite, but at least we watched the whole thing this time. A few episodes of The Good Place, and now an episode of The Great British Baking Show. It's been so cold today, I'm looking forward to wrapping up in my bed tonight and getting nice and toasty warm!

Today I Went to Work: July 10, 2020

The first time I've done three days in a week since starting back to work. It wasn't as long a day as the other two, which was nice. We did a little bit of everything, and nothing was too stressful, which was nice. Before heading to the bus I stopped off at the Pike Place Market and got a few things for my dinner.

When I got home and showered I logged onto the work laptop for the last hour of the day and time passed pretty fast. My sister ordered Red Robin for dinner so I had her add on some onion rings for me so that filled out my meal and the stuff I got from the market. An eclectic meal, but a delicious one!

I am so sleepy tonight. I think I'll sleep well. We don't have many weekend plans except to do grocery shopping. We'll see what we end up doing, besides watching movies and tv!

STFAH: July 9, 2020

Today was a working remotely day. It wasn't a very busy day, so I worked on packing in the slow times. It was a bit frustrating because my remote connection kept disconnecting and freezing the laptop, and it turns out it was doing the same thing to my boss too. My other coworker seemed to have no problem, so I ended up shutting down the remote connection and just focused on the front desk in the afternoon so she could log in and work on anything that came in to my desk. We're going into the office tomorrow, so we'll catch up with whatever else is there. It shouldn't be too much, hopefully.

So, yes, packing officially started today. It's hard to pack too much because there's no place for boxes so we're going to do what we can but a lot of it really will be "pack box, carry box upstairs, dump box out, take box back downstairs, repeat." I just won't know till it starts. But I did one other thing today for the move. I called the electricity company and switched over my address and the start/end dates for the addresses. That should be the last of the address change drama, which is good.

Today on my lunch break I took a walk outside. It's really humid right now but not super hot. It even sprinkled a little bit while I was out. I just needed to get out of the house for a bit. It was nice, because where I walk, it's the only place in the whole city that I've ever been where you can smell the pine trees and it smells like the woods! It was quiet and over half the time I was out, nobody else was around so I was able to take my mask off. It felt lovely and freeing. When I got back, I spent the rest of the break reading Roots.

I actually cooked dinner tonight. I used some pork chops out of the freezer and veggies from the fridge, a can of coconut milk, and a curry packet to make a stew. It was a bit spicy, but tasty. My sister enjoyed it too.

Since we finished The Baby Sitters's Club on Netflix last night, we started The Good Place tonight. It's a rewatch for me, and a first watch for my sister. She's enjoying it so far, so I think we'll add it to our nightly viewing. We're onto The Great British Baking Show now.

Almost the weekend...Almost there...!

Today I Went to Work: July 8, 2020

Another long day at work but not too stressful. Very productive. We're going to go in on Friday and then try to not come in again till Tuesday, which will work very well for my schedule as I just realized tonight that I get the keys to the new apartment in a week!! Then I have to move while working from home. I'm feeling a little stressed, but it'll be all over soon enough and will be worth it in the end.

I'm trying to be gentler on myself at work and accepting that I'm still learning how to do everything and will make mistakes. It will help with the stress overall.

I think if I have time tomorrow in between work stuff, I'll start packing. My sister talked to my parents and I guess they're going to come over and help us move while I'm working at home? Like, they're just gonna do it for us?? I'll help on my breaks and lunch and after and before work, but it'll be strange having them do my moving while I'm there working remotely...But it's also very generous of them. I think it also allows for better social distancing. They'll be working in other places in the apartment and then going upstairs to the empty place and we'll have all the windows everywhere open for good air flow. It'll work out, because we have no choice...!

STFAH: July 7, 2020

Today was a busy day working from home. There was a solid 2 hour start of the day working on transcripts. I was actually surprised at how much came in since last night. There's a lot to be done and a lot of exhibits to deal with, and my coworker has to come downtown tomorrow so I decided I'd come into the office so she can help me with stuff. There was some drama with my laptop and one of the websites I was trying to use, so we're gonna look into it and see what's going on.

I feel like I'm putting too much pressure on myself to be perfect at my job and then I'm constantly disappointed, and assuming that my work is disappointed too, when I make a mistake. I have to remember I'd only been there about a year when the pandemic hit and then I was not working for over 2.5 months and under stress that whole time. And now I have to relearn my job, much of which has changed because we're working from home. I have to learn to work from home. And now I'm also learning not one, but two other job's worth of functions. I am probably being too hard on myself and expecting too much, too soon, but this seems to be how I always am with myself. I expect perfection and feel worthless when I don't attain it. It's probably not healthy...

I got my blood test results, or some of them, back today. Some came last week but I didn't care about those. It was my cholesterol numbers I've been anxiously awaiting. Last October, I had my numbers tested and came back with an astounding 426 for my triglycerides, which basically means I was bleeding butter. I knew it was most likely not accurate, because we had just finally gotten my thyroid numbers back under control after being in flux for nearly two years while we adjusted my meds. Thyroid function affects cholesterol/triglycerides, so I wanted my thyroid meds to have more time to regulate that before I did anything about the triglycerides. I was going to do diet/exercise and I did for a while, but then the move and the pandemic and sprained ankle hit and that was out the window so I just hoped for the best. As of last Thursday, my triglycerides are down to 219. It's still too high, but it's less than half it was in October, so I will take that and work with diet and exercise to keep lowering it naturally. I was happy that it had come down so much in that time frame without really actually doing anything for it.

On my lunch break today I walked to the German bakery nearby and bought pretzels and a raspberry dessert for tonight. It wasn't until I got home that I remembered today was supposed to be the "buy nothing day". Oops, at least it was a small business. I just had to get out of the house and I've been wanting to go there but too afraid to so far, but they keep their doors open and everybody has a mask on, so it's not too bad. And on my break and the rest of my lunch, I read Roots some more. It's such a good book. I know it'll be upsetting, but it's a really well-written story, and I appreciate that more now as an adult reading it.

Still working down food from the freezer and fridge. Got rid of some phyllo dough I'd had for longer than I realized cuz the expiration date was 2016...!! Spaghetti and garlic bread tomorrow night.

Today I Went to Work: July 6, 2020

Today was a busy busy day at work, but also not too stressful cuz two of my coworkers were there and nobody needed immediate attention from me so I was able to just focus on actually getting work done. We ended up with so much mail to take out today! I'm getting a good amount of practice doing the job our former coworker did which is important since I'll be doing it all when my other coworker goes on vacation later this month and into the first part of August. I did find out though, more little miracles, that she's going just after I finish moving, so there will be that little bit of extra support at work while I straddle working from home and moving at the same time.

I stopped by the post office on the way home to pick up address change forms to turn in tomorrow to get the ball rolling on that. There are two major things I need to deal with next: cable company and Seattle City Light. I might try online updates first and see what I can do there and only call if I absolutely have to.

Meals until the move will be a little lackluster as we work on cleaning out cupboards and the freezer as much as possible. We got too much stuff at the start of the pandemic, not knowing what we might run out of, and now that we know stores are just fine, we don't need to keep it all.

Tired tonight...Gonna sleep well probably. Watched two more episodes of Baby-Sitters's Club, then a couple episodes of Nailed It, Now onto The Great British Baking Show, and probably finishing off the night with Highway to Heaven. I lead an exciting life!!

STFAH: July 5, 2020

Luckily I was able to get a good night's sleep last night in spite of the fireworks. They went on a bit late but I was able to sleep in enough to make up for it. The day was a pretty relaxed Sunday. We had a few things to pick up at the grocery store even though technically it's an off shopping week for us. We went early and it was not very crowded, so that was good.

Most of the day was spent watching the three Back to the Future movies on Netflix. The first movie is referenced in Stranger Things, so it was a perfect day to watch them. And I'd never seen the third one, so it was fun to do all of them. Afterwards, we did a couple episodes of The Baby-Sitter's Club and now onto The Great British Baking Cook Off.

Tomorrow's an office day so I have to get up earlier tomorrow and hopefully I'll finish up what was left over from Thursday and catch up with whatever has come in since. I did get a load of dishes done in the dishwasher and two loads of laundry done today. But other than that, it's been a pretty lazy day here!

STFAH: July 4, 2020

Today has been a super indoor day. We took out compost/garbage/recycling and that was the most of leaving the apartment. We did our Stranger Things Season Three marathon today. We started off with a good breakfast, bacon and Eggo waffles, in honor of El's favorite food. During the watch I downloaded pictures for my and my friend's posts on our tumblr page, copied out recipes, and did some sudoku puzzles.

After the marathon ended, we watched The Flight of the Navigator, the last of our 4th of July movie list, except for Captain America, which I might watch later this week, if I feel like it. Now we've finally started Hamilton and we're maybe ten minutes into it and it's absolutely mesmerizing. I can tell this will be a multiple watch for me. We'll see if my sister likes it, though...!

There were some fireworks last night and many M80's today so I'll be curious how late the fireworks will go tonight but at least I have another day to recover if it ends up being a late night!

STFAH: July 3, 2020

I woke up early this morning and was so congested I couldn't get back to sleep and I am sooo tired now! I boiled the potatoes and eggs for my potato salad for the weekend. We started the day with a trip to my parents' house to pick up boxes and the hand truck for the move. I feel like we just gave back the last of the boxes not too long ago and now we're taking them back again!

When we got back home, we watched the last two episodes of Stranger Things season 2 so we're all ready for our season three marathon tomorrow. I made my potato salad and we placed an order for Domino's which just sounded good today. We stopped by the pharmacy on the way so I could pick up my prescriptions, so I am set for some time to come now. Then we picked up lunch and brought it back home to eat while trying out the new Baby-Sitter's Club Netflix series with is absolutely delightful. I will be watching the rest of the series, for sure! It's been updated for today's world, but totally keeps the essence of the stories. It's great.

After we finished two episodes of that, we switched to our annual 4th of July-themed movies. Annie, The Music Man, and now, Camp Nowhere. Tomorrow is the marathon and depending on our timing, we might do Hamilton afterwards. If there's no time, we'll probably do that Sunday.

Potato salad with dinner tonight. Dinner was baked beans with Polish sausages cut up into them. An upgrade from beans and wieners. Strawberry lemonade to drink. Very summer timey foods for this weekend. From here on out, I'm going to focus on cleaning out the freezer before the move, so my meals over the next couple weeks won't be terribly exciting.

Today I Went to Work: July 2, 2020

I knew today was going to be hell day, and it was...! I logged into work for a couple hours this morning before heading out to my doctor appointment. The doctor wasn't too bad except I had to fast for my blood draw which is always problematic for me being a lifelong hypoglycemic. But I managed ok for the most part. I'm down 15lb. since last year, which is great, but the doctor was actually concerned because she says during a pandemic, typically people are gaining weight, not losing weight. I told her all about the stress and anxiety I've been experiencing this year and what I've been doing about it and she was satisfied that I have it under control, and that I am aware if it all, which is the most important thing. I also got a tetanus booster and a blood draw while I was there. And I got my annual medicine refills, which is nice. They won't be ready to pick up till tomorrow, but that's ok. I am a short walk from the pharmacy.

I went to work afterwards and was running around the whole time. The people came for the read/sign 20 minutes early and stayed till 5:45 finishing it all up. We close at 5...So yeah, I knew it was gonna be a rough day, but the pay off is a three day weekend! Worth it in the long run. I had so much going on I wasn't able to get it all done so I'm for sure going to the office on Monday to play catch up.

I did manage to eat a good lunch when I got there and it lasted me the rest of the day till I got off the bus to go home. There is a Panda Express next door to the Bartell's and they are now open to let people in and I needed food that was already made right then so I went in and got some. First time I've had it since we moved in March. It's not always my favorite but tonight it was the most delicious thing I've had in a long time!

I got home after 7 tonight!!! It was absurd! But I'm home now, showered, fed, and trying to drink some water which was sadly lacking from most of my day today. Relaxing this weekend...!

STFAH: July 1, 2020

Gosh, what a day! I worked from home and it was a pretty busy day. In between I did a chapter of my antiracism book where I was inspired to make a Facebook post that ended up exploding out of control and ultimately ended with me unfriending somebody I've been on FB with for over a decade and knew in high school. It was upsetting, but it was getting abusive, so I had to just cut her off and stop the issue. Those of us who are dedicated to antiracism work will experience this over and over. You will lose friends and family over this. Some people can go some of the way, but can't go the rest of the way. Some people think they're woke, but it turns out they're just sleepwalking. When it's pointed out, they can't handle it or themselves.

On another front, I reached out to our building's manager with a question about a light outside our apartment that's messing with my sister's ability to sleep and also to ask how moving into another unit works. How do waiting lists work, etc, and availability of bigger units. The manager came back and said there happened to be a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, plus den available a floor up from us and it was unlocked so we could go look at it if we wanted to. So, of course we did. It's perfect for us. It would resolve all of the issues we have with our current apartment. When we told her we were impressed, she said that they like us and want to keep us on and even though they usually have to have a person follow out on their first year of the lease, they were willing to roll it over to a new lease and we could have the place in two weeks! We'd get a week to move and clean this place up. We've only been in this place since the middle of March so we don't have much cleaning to do. A lot of the stuff to move we can just do on our own, but our parents will lend a hand with the bigger stuff. It's going to be bonkers for the next few weeks, but it should be worth it in the end to have a more livable apartment that we could actually live in for several years. It'll be better for both of our mental health.

I go to the doctor tomorrow for my annual check up to get my prescriptions renewed. Boy will I have some stuff to tell her about how my stress levels have been over the last year...! Nothing more fun than going to a doctor's office in a pandemic too, so that'll be super fun. And then I go to work afterwards for the afternoon. Long, probably not too fun day tomorrow, but day off Friday. It'll be worth it in the end, I think.

Spaghetti for dinner tonight. Always delish. Stranger Things, The Great British Baking Show, and Highway to Heaven to follow tonight. Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight. I feel anxious and excited and stuck in a holding pattern for the next couple weeks...!