I'll Never Fall in Love Again - Dionne Warwick

 There's no hidden meaning behind my choosing this song today LOL  I just really like it.  I actually heard the original version from Promises, Promises this morning on the radio and thought that Dionne had recorded it as well.  Of course she did.  Her voice and Burt Bacharach's music go hand in hand.  She charted with this one up to #6.  I always enjoy a good Dionne vocal! Enjoy!

Quick Capstone Update

 

Well, I am into week 3 of my capstone project class.  It's going ok, to be honest.  It is a lot of reading and researching things online.  That is fine and I need to keep reminding myself that it is fine.  I am doing some evidence-based research and so it's not exactly hands on active. So when I feel like I'm not doing anything, I have to remind myself of that.  I am on the right track and that is what matters.  Each week, we have competency reviews and that is going ok too.  I am looking back at classes I have taken and drawn from them. I know I can do better with them if I will start earlier in the week with them.  I tend to do things in a linear way and that is always at the end of the line. I need to shake up my way of doing things to produce a better product.

Anyway, I have reached out to some people and communities about LGBT sensitivity training for their employees and trying to find out what has been successful and what has not.  I have not heard back yet, but I am not giving up on that.  I am also sitting through as many online trainings as I can that are available to me.  It has been informative and even if it is not quite as on topic as I would like, I still find something useful in them.  Like I am finding training on DEI as opposed to specifically LGBT and I still watch those because I can cull from that as well.

It's a good process so far but being sick has put me way behind this week.  I know I can get things done, it will just take careful planning. Even sitting at the computer for more than one hour exhausts me.  Oh, well.  No one said this would be easy!  But I'll get it done!

No adulting for me this week

 

I am taking a break from being an adult for a few days LOL  I tested positive for Covid on Tuesday and it has wiped me out. While I am definitely on the mend, each day presents new and different challenges and symptoms.  Today it's like a very severe cold.  But that beats the fever I had and the aching joints.  Still, I am putting aside my adulting duties while I recover from this. God bless my roommate and the people I work with for taking such good care of me.  And I will admit, it is nice to be the one taken care of for change!!

Normally, I have my list of things I have to get done every day.  I have thrown that one out the window this week.  I need to rest and not stress myself over domestic duties. I also need to focus on my schoolwork.  I have not felt like doing anything these first few days of the week but I need to focus what energy I have on that because there is a lot to do between and now and Monday.  I will get it done, it is just going to have to be in different intervals and I am going to focus on some different things this week.

As much as I don't like being sick, it could definitely be worse.  I will get done what I absolutely have to and leave everything else by the wayside until I'm back up to par. That is all.

Being sick

 I don't enjoy being sick.  I don't think anyone does. And after 5 years of avoiding it, I finally have covid.  It has been a rough 48 hours but I'm feeling better today.  Just incredibly tired right now.  Anyway, normally when I get sick, I get depressed. But I'm not this time.  I am in a relatively good mood for feeling like complete crap LOL

But I've been thinking about how being sick when I was growing up was never a scary time for me.  Mom was a great nurse, and she always made us feel cared for. In the late 70s and early 80s, we did, in fact, have the saltines, ginger ale, chicken noodle soup and The Price is Right to cure whatever ailed us.  That and love almost always seemed to work.

While I have all of those things in stock just in case, I doubt that they cure covid LOL.  But that's ok.  I'm taking things slowly and will be better.  It is just nice to remember being taken care of back in the day.  It's comforting. 

50 at 50 - travel

 One of the things that I want to do this year is get some travel in. I haven't really traveled in a long time.  Not even weekend trips here and there.  It has not really been in the budget, but I do know there are ways around that. And I will be looking into those ways this year. But I also have not really made the time to do it.  I have not planned in advance, which I really need to because of work.  There are a few places that can be day/weekend trips that would not be affected by my work schedule.  I just need to coordinate better so that I can make it happen.  These are places I have been to and want to revisit.  I will post later the places I've never been to that I would like to travel to. Here are a few of the places I'd like to go this year:

Charleston, SC - The last time I was there was about 15 years ago.  I did not get to do much sightseeing as we were there for a wedding and that took up most of the weekend.  Would be lovely to go exploring the city again.

Old Salem, NC - This one is just one county over, so I really have no excuse other than my laziness for not going. And it's been over 30 years since my last visit!

Wilmington, NC - I used to go here every summer when Aunt Billie was living.  I have friends there that I would love to go for the weekend and visit.  One of my favorite cities!

Colonial Williamsburg - It has probably been 40 years since I was there.  Mom and Dad took us for a family vacation once.  I still have the fife that we bought as a souvenir!

Savannah, GA - when I was at Tybee Island with the Abernethy family about 16 years ago, we took a day trip into Savannah.  It was a wonderful time, and I would love to go back. 

Hopefully I will make it to several of these places this year.  And if I do not, I will keep them on my list of things to do and adventures to have!

Gifts for others this year

 While there is no question that I love giving gifts to people in my life, I think that this year I am going to start doing something different.  I want to give some gifts to people that I don't know.  Since I do not have an immediate family of my own and by that, I mean having children and grandchildren, I feel like I could use my resources to make some child's Christmas better.  I do realize that we are half a year away from Christmas, but why wait to get started?  

The thought occurred to me the other day when I was on Facebook and a picture of a Holly Hobbie tea set showed up on my feed from one of the holiday groups that I belong to.  It's something that Santa brought to me when I was about 4 years old. I loved that set and wish I still had it.  Oh, well.  Anyway, remembering how special Christmas is to children really got to me because Santa coming was such an event to me as a child.  While Santa did not bring me everything I wanted, I cannot imagine what it would have been like to wake up on Christmas morning and Santa had not been there at all. By the way, I have rectified Santa's oversights and bought some of those missing toys for myself.  

Yes, I bought her for myself after Santa forgot!

So, my goal this year is to set aside a certain amount of money each month and go shopping for toys.  With the tariffs upon us and prices rising, I know it is going to be doubly hard for some people to provide for their children at Christmas. I would love nothing more than to be that Santa for kids who might have to go without.  It's just something I have been thinking about, and I really encourage others to do something similar. Giving to others is often the best gift I can give to myself. 

Multitasking

 I am not a very good multitasker. I never have been.  When have to many things going on at one time, I never seem to get them accomplished.  And if I do, then they are not up to the level that they should be if was focused on only one thing at a time. That is one of the things that makes trying to balance home life with school difficult for me.  I have a lot of things I need to get done around the house each week while at the same time I have a lot of schoolwork to get done as well. I know that I can get lots of things accomplished if I put my mind to it. I just need to find a system that works better for me.  

I make a daily list of things to get done around the house.  I'm thinking that I need to start doing the same thing with my schoolwork.  Map things out and get them checked off one by one instead doing a little here and a little there. I believe that will motivate me more to reach the goals I want to.  I really do wish that I was one of the helicopter people with octopus arms that could do a thousand things at the same time but alas, I am not.  Not even close. Tonight, I am doing laundry.  I have schoolwork that I need to be doing as well but I cannot focus while I've got laundry going.  Yes, it sounds weird, but it is what it is.

Everything will get done.  I will see to that. It just may take longer than I hoped but the end products will be what I want them to be.  That is all.