May was a blur, partly due to activity and partly due to
being sick. It was also a bit
frustrating on the job front which occupied a lot of my mental real estate. Here is a rundown of some of my activity and
thoughts from the month.
PA Trip
My big event for the month was a trip to Pennsylvania to see
my sister and Baby T. My sister is going
through some personal drama at the moment.
I will not get into her private details, but the situation was such that
I was not super comfortable staying with her this time. I knew that she wanted me to be there despite
the things happening though, so I went through with a sleepover on an air
mattress in my niece’s room. Baby T left
me alone in her room the first night while she slept with my sister, but she
joined me in her own bed the next two nights.
I think she enjoyed the sleepover, so I am glad I stayed for her sake. The rest of the trip went as expected. I arrived on a Friday, and mostly just hung
out with my sister and Baby T. We had
dinner, watched some TV, played with toys, and talked until bedtime. Saturday was breakfast with my parents and
then the day spent at my grandmother’s house. Most of the local family was
there to help grandma out with several home maintenance/cleaning projects. My mom also bought a birthday cake for me and
the family sang Happy Birthday. The
evening was another quiet night with my sister and Baby T. Sunday I met up with my college friend for a
late lunch at Emporio: A Meatball
Joint. It is currently one of my
favorite places to eat around Pittsburgh, and she likes it enough to make the
drive down from Greenville. Sunday
evening, I went to my parents’ house to visit, because I felt like I owed them
a few extra hours since I did not spend much of the weekend actually
talking to them. Monday morning, I
packed up and left the house as my sister was leaving for work. I stopped for breakfast with my grandma at
Bob Evans, and then headed on home.
No Husband Weekend
The last weekend of the month was a very rare event where I
had no husband at home. He does not go
away without me very often, so I try to cherish the few times that it
happens. In this case, he went to a
weekend music festival a few hours away with one of his friends. He left Saturday morning. I spent most of the day with the wife of the
friend that accompanied him. We went to
a small town festival about an hour away but did not spend much time
there. We left from there and went to
Hillsborough Winery & Brewery. I got
a glass of a sparkling white wine and a pretzel board. There is plenty of indoor and outdoor
seating, ample parking, a decent food menu to go with the alcohol, and gorgeous
views of the vineyard. We went from
there to Bear Chase Brewing Company. I ended
up not getting anything here, but just sat with my friend while she enjoyed her
flight. Bear Chase is also a very nice
venue, but it was incredibly crowded for the afternoon with a lot of families
running around. We ended the night with
pasta and gelato from Ciao, a local Italian restaurant. Sunday, I wanted to stay home to relish the
silence of a house to myself. I went on
two small errands during the day, but otherwise stayed in as planned. I decided to go with a media free day to enhance
the silence, so no TV, no podcasts, no Youtube, and very little online
activity. I mostly read, wrote, slept,
and enjoyed my time. Monday, my husband
was home incredibly early which is typical for him. We had our neighbors over for dinner since none
of us had Memorial Day plans. It was a
good weekend. I just wish I got them
more often.
Birthdays &
Anniversary
May always seems on the busy side because my birthday, my
husband’s birthday, and our wedding anniversary are all in it. I like to laugh and say we planned it that
way so we could just celebrate for the whole month. In reality though, I feel like these special
days tend not to be such a big deal in our house. We have dinner and give presents for each
birthday. I kind of miss the family
gatherings that were the norm growing up, so I was glad to receive birthday cake while I was in PA even though it was
technically a week after my birthday. We
always did cake and ice cream with the family when I was little (for everyone
not just me), but it is hard to recreate as an adult. My family is too far away, my husband’s
family is not a good substitute, and while going out for friend’s birthdays is
normal in our group, I somehow cannot bring myself to order cake and invite
them all over for it. Our anniversary is
usually spent on a nice dinner, but my husband seemed uninterested in it this
year. We ended up just going to Foster’s
Grill. We never do presents for the
anniversary, which has always been my choice.
I guess it just seemed a little bland this year compared to prior years,
but I think that is where our life is at the moment.
Sick
I brought home a little souvenir from PA. My niece was coughing while I was there, and
I started a few days after I got home.
It started with coughing and chest pain, progressed to nasal congestion,
then drained out, and resumed to just coughing with less chest pain. It is about two weeks after symptoms began,
and I still have a little residual coughing, but it is mostly cleared at this
point. This put a damper on my spirit
and motivation for the month. It was not
a super productive month, but between being out of town and being sick half the
month, I feel like I have an excuse.
CPA License
I bought the AICPA Ethics course. I have actually completed all the modules at
this point. I was originally going to
take the final exam today. However, I
got a little side-tracked with other things.
Plus, I thought it might be better to take it when I am home alone. I am not expecting any issues with it, but it
always easier to accomplish things when no one is here to distract me. Once I pass the Ethics exam, I have some
paperwork to complete and then I should be able to submit my initial
application. I also emailed the VA Board
of Accountancy with the questions I had pertaining to my incomplete checklist
on the site, the missing Congratulatory Letter, and the experience
requirement. I received answers to all
of that very quickly. Fingers crossed, I
will have everything submitted by the end of next week, barring any surprises
in the application process.
Job Search
My job search has been frustrating this month. I will take some responsibility as I have not
been as diligent about searching and applying for jobs as I could be. However, the things that I have been applying
to are going nowhere. I did not get the
job that I interviewed for last month. I
have not really heard back from anywhere else, except a couple rejection emails
from places that never contacted me. I
appreciate the emails though, because then I can at least cross them off
the list completely. I thought I was off
to a good start last month when I got contacted by two of the first places
where I submitted applications, but it seems to have been a false start. I still have enough time and money that I am
not super anxious, but I need to start trying harder and redefining my
process. Part of this means looking
within to determine what I am really willing to do in terms of commute, salary,
and responsibilities. Part of this means
trying harder when applying for jobs as I admit I have been a little lazy about
crafting cover letters and modifying my resume to the specific job. I also need to start getting creative about
job searching as the boards do not seem to get me close to where I think I want
to be. Hopefully, I will have something
better to report next month.
The Witness
I picked up a video game in May. I tend to not play too many video games,
because they take up a lot of time and most do not really interest me
anyway. Of the video games I have played
in the past, my favorite genre is the puzzle game. The Witness came out a few years ago. I heard the guys on Giant Bombcast discussing
how great it was back then and it peaked my interest. My husband bought it for me about a year ago,
but I never got around to playing it.
This seemed like a good time to start it, seeing as I have the time to
put into it now that I am done with the major studying but not yet back to
work. In total there are 664 puzzles to
solve. I am currently at 384-ish. It is possible for me to “complete” the game
without doing all the puzzles, so until I get into all the areas it is hard for
me to tell what I have missed. I am not
a puzzle purist. I looked up some
general tips and tricks at the beginning, which gave me some basic puzzle mechanics
to get me started. I looked up two more
pointed hint guides to get through two puzzles where I was stuck though I did not
look up the actual solutions on them. I
looked up the actual solutions on a handful of puzzles in an area of the game
that relied on audio tones to solve them.
Historically I have had trouble with sound-based puzzles, so I do not
feel bad that I cheated in this area. I
am much more interested in getting through the game to the end than I am about doing
it 100% on my own. I do put effort into
solving things myself first. I certainly
walked away and came back to puzzles after learning more in other areas of the
map which made previously unsolvable puzzles suddenly clear. I feel like it is a lot more fun to look
stuff up after a certain amount of effort than to have to walk away completely
because I have reached a wall on a particular item. With any luck, I will have completed the game
next week.
Personal Products
Project
I am still just trying to work my way through all the
products I own. I am making the best progress
on skincare. Although I have a few
categories that I just have too much based on how much product I can actually
use (hello lip balm even after decluttering most of the unopened ones I had), I
have managed to get through a number of half-used bottles and sample sizes in
other areas. I feel like bath & body
products are hopeless. I have a lot of
gifts from people in this area. I am
trying to make myself use things regularly, but I have so much I probably can
go for years without running out on certain categories. Plus, I have a few staples that I really want
to repurchase even if I technically have other things that would work (i.e. –
my beloved CeraVe SA Cream even though I have multiple scented body lotions I
could technically use). Haircare is an
area where my routine is fairly minimalist, but I have a lot of random samples
of products mostly from the subscription boxes I used to get. I have been trying to branch out and try new
things occasionally, but progress has been slow. Makeup is the area where I feel the most
guilt. I have a ton of product from
subscription boxes, but I also have a lot of random items I purposely bought
myself because they were pretty and popular on Youtube. I have decluttered a lot of makeup items over
the past few months. I am trying not to
throw things out that are still technically usable but I admit there have been
one or two that I just knew I would never use again for whatever reason and so
tossed. It has become obvious to me
how much makeup I have accumulated and how little of it I can actually use
up. Still, I am trying to just rotate
through it and slowly pare it down as I go.
For May, I used up/trashed 10 items – 1 lash primer, 2 eyeshadows, 1
liquid highlight, 1 nail polish, 1 firming face mask, 1 SPF face moisturizer, 1
face mist, 1 perfume, and 1 body oil. I did
not buy anything for the month. Next
month, I plan to do a half year summary of everything I used up and where I
stand going forward. I am toying with
the idea of doing a lessons learned series during the second half of the year,
one for each main area of skincare, bath & body, haircare, and makeup.
Books
I have no real commentary on my reading selection for May. I read some decent books, but nothing that
stood out as particularly amazing or terrible.
Here are the books I read during the month with my ratings (1-Awful,
2-Disappointing, 3-Decent, 4-Good, 5-Amazing).
Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate – 4 stars
Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark – 3 stars
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson – 3 stars
The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter – 3 stars
The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, &
Amanda Pressner – 4 stars
There you have it, my month in review. I am planning on a quiet June filled with festivals,
hiking, and other simple summer fun.
See you next month!
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