Time to take a break

 What do you do to relax?

These past two years I feel like I have forgotten how to relax. It reminds me a little of grad school and how afterwards, I had to spend like 2-3 years learning how to enjoy time off. I was deliberate in doing things that made me slow down. For example, I lived about a mile from work and could easily drive or bike, but most of the time I chose to walk because the walk was just lovely. I also joined a book club. And, I started biking with a group of friends. I did some other fun things like hiking and camping around the PNW where we had just moved to.  

Right now, I am coming off of probably the hardest two year stretch of my life. I need down time more than ever. Except, we still aren't back to normal - so still very difficult to plan things or find extra time. I do have a lighter teaching load in the spring and summer. Also, I'm not traveling at all for work (yay)! So there is some potential there. 

Here are some things I do to relax:

- Watch TV (this is so rare these days!). We like light things like sketch comedy shows (e.g. Saturday Night Live), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Schitt's Creek, etc.

- Read (I joined a book club about a year before the pandemic and still go sometimes). My favorite thing in the summer was to read in the hammock outside on Sunday afternoon.

- Have friends over. We have kept doing this despite the pandemic, although we cancel a lot due to various sniffles or quarantines. It is so huge to be able to laugh with friends right now.

- "Mom" dates - we go out to an outdoor restaurant and have drinks and chit chat. These are usually spontaneous because none of us can ever plan anything anymore.

- "staycation" - except staying home doesn't work at all for us so we compromise and take really short trips and spend more $$ on a really fancy place to stay (since we aren't flying or staying long) and that makes it extra fun. Hence the place in Wisconsin with a tree house and kayaks the place in the Ozarks with a water-side balcony and a pool and the super cute craftsman in Des Moines with the retro theme.

- Get a massage. I do this routinely anyway because of my dystonia but it's officially for relaxing too. The great thing is my new massage therapist is right next to the most amazing pie shop and a stationary store - my version of heaven.

- Do nothing. Sometimes I just lie on the floor while the Studly Hubby is putting PJs on the kids and I do absolutely nothing. It's beautiful.

2021 in review

 Before this crazy year ends, I want to get a summary posted.

Here is a review:

- in early 2021 (starting in Dec. 2020 actually) we approved a vaccine for Covid, less than a year after it started spreading globally. This is nothing short of a scientific miracle and brings tears to my eyes even now.

- There was a little lag in getting shots out as they ramped up production, but 3 (!!) different vaccines were approved by spring 2021 and by the summer there was pretty wide availability. With a little finagling, the studly hubby and I both got our vaccines by March.

- Once we were both vaccinated we put little L back into daycare, which was just after spring break. Layla had to finish out the year homeschooling because they didn't have any physical space for her whole class to come back to. Both kids went back full-time for the summer camp program and they were both back in person starting in the fall. Every step was very weird for them.

- With Little L going back to school, I could start physically going to work. I was much needed there. Once I came back I could meet with my people face to face and also give hand-on direction in other ways (e.g. to find things, look at equipment or data, chase down other people, etc). It was, and has been, a long road back.

- The Studly Hubby navigated an exploding (in a good way) job market. Over the year he switched jobs 3 times. Each job change brought a raise and new set of responsibilities. All three were remote positions and the last one is not even in Kansas. He is now directing a team of software developers for a job in Connecticut and getting paid about 30% more than he was this time last year. 

- Once the vaccines were approved a new set of problems arose. It turns out many (MANY) people refused to vaccinate and vaccine misinformation was rampant. It was aggravating to say the least. 

- Another issue was that little kids weren't approved for vaccinations until mid-fall and kids under 5 still aren't approved. We put Little L into the Pfizer clinical trial for kids under 5 starting in the summer and found out he was placebo after his 5th birthday and the 5-11 age group was approved in early November. He got vaccinated immediately afterwards. 

- Between low vaccination rates (around 60% for Kansas and currently about 73% nationally) and kids not being approved for vaccinations, our kids were sent home on quarantine over and over again due to positive cases in their classes, or we were out getting tested for our own fevers, coughs, etc. We managed to dodge Covid but just barely.

- Kids finally got vaccinated by early December and then a new variant hit (Omicron) that is somewhat resistant to the vaccines, starting the whole thing all over again. We decided to go ahead with Christmas break plans and see family near and far, but are testing and isolating like crazy. 

- Needless to say, the year has been pretty exhausting.