October Surprise

I bet you didn’t have a new post from me on your 2020 bingo card, haha!

To be honest, neither did I, but I’ve got a lot of time on my hands these days so I thought it was time to dust this thing off and bring it back to life.

What. A. Year.

I don’t even know where to start, although there’s not much to catch you up on since we haven’t been able to do much the last seven months.

Fall is my favorite, but specifically October!

I quite my job the end of February and planned to take March off and then start the job hunt. Yes, I know, it’s best to have a job lined up before quitting, but I had been struggling a lot the last year and it was just time to move on. My bosses were great, but there were some things about the job that I wasn’t enjoying, and they needed the position to focus a little more on sales which just isn’t me. We tried to come up with another job I could do for them, but we just couldn’t make it work.

Little did we know that the world would fall apart in March!

I’ve applied for some jobs and even had a couple of interviews but nothing has panned out yet, so for now I’m a stay-at-home-dog-mom which is honestly my dream life, I just wish there was a way to get paid for it! Thankfully we can survive on one income for now, but it’s certainly not as carefree of a lifestyle as it used to be. I still feel like I’ll end up where I’m supposed to be, when I’m supposed to be there, so we’ll see what happens. There’s a good chance I’ll actually start working for Mr. Won’t Run at some point. We met at work and have always thought it would be fun to work together again. We’ll see. I am very aware of what a privileged position we’re in and that so many are not as fortunate, especially in these covid times; I am consciously thankful every day and not taking anything for granted.

A couple of good things have transpired thanks to these weird times…

I DISCOVERED (and love) GROCERY PICK-UP! I mostly shop at Fred Meyer, and I know they were doing this before covid, but I just never jumped on the bandwagon until now and I seriously love it and will continue doing it indefinitely. I love the ease of gradually building my grocery list online as we run out of stuff and as I randomly think of things we need, and the fact that I don’t have to deal with parking or maneuvering my shopping cart around oblivious people who think they own the aisle they’re in. It also relieves the aggravation I feel about the store remodeling and moving everything around, because now that I’m over 40 that’s apparently something that makes me irrationally angry. And hey, if you’re a parent who enjoys the alone time of grocery shopping, you should still take that hour or two it would normally take you, but just grab a coffee and sit in your car reading or napping instead, then grab your groceries when they’re ready and head back home. It’ll be our little secret, okay?

I’M TURNING INTO A MORNING PERSON! Sleep has been a seeeeeriiiiioussssslyyyyy meeeeesssssed uuuuup roller coaster the last seven months, but I think I’m finally on track, and guess what… I’m a 5am person now! Sometimes even a 4/4:30am person even though I still think that’s a little too much, but sometimes I wake up and I’m just Awake, you know? I’m just as shocked as you are.

The one thing I have found unexpectedly hard to handle is how to structure my days, which means most of them disappear into unproductive nothingness. Like, what the heck is a schedule? We don’t have kids to take care of, just Koko, and since I’m really not going anywhere or meeting up with any friends… you can only clean the apartment and watch Netflix so much. The first few months I really embraced the laziness, although I preferred to think of it as recovery from the last year of stress; I was basically just sleeping, eating, and watching covid news 24/7. Eventually the constant news and doom-scrolling social media became bad for my mental health and I’ve been consciously trying to take a step back, but also stay informed which is a tricky balance.

To help me fill my schedule at home, I’m starting a YouTube channel, hahahahahaha!

Mr. Won’t Run has has been telling me for years that I should, but I just couldn’t imagine what I would do one about. I’m not an expert on anything so it’s not like I could teach people something, which is what I thought YouTube was mostly about, and I rarely like photos of myself so why in the world would I want to be on camera?! But then… I started to actually watch YouTube, and videos on starting a channel, and I came around to the idea. I think it will be good for me to have a project to focus on, and there is literally a channel for e.v.e.r.y.t.h.I.n.g. and not everybody is an expert, and almost everybody has crooked bottom teeth. So I figured why not, but what would my channel be about?

Face masks! The skincare kind, not the covid kind.

(via @babeandbeauty on Instagram)

I love doing face masks as part of skincare, and selfcare as a way to relax, and I have a bunch of different ones I need to use so I figured why not do a channel on that and take everyone along for the ride. Plus, it’ll keep me accountable to actually do my masks, and my other skincare in general since I’ll be up close and personal on camera. Vanity is a great motivator.

I figure I can do a review of the product to help people decide if it’s one they want to try, and I also want to do comparisons of similar masks in specific categories (hydrating, brightening, etc.), as well as comparing similar expensive/inexpensive masks to find out if lower cost dupes can perform just as well. And when I get brave enough about being on camera I think it would be fun to do a live “mask and chat” episode once a month or so. I’m certainly not a face mask expert, I’m just a fan. Seriously, my friends will tell you, if we go away for a girls weekend I bring a bunch of face masks for everybody. They’re just fun and feel a little bit “extra”, and who doesn’t love a little pampering.

I was planning to launch October 1st, but apparently my computer needs a new graphics card in order to edit videos so I’m waiting on my I.T. guy (Mr. Won’t Run) to sort that out, so now I’m hoping to launch by November 1st. And hoping that putting a date out there will actually make me do it, because my fear and self-doubt try to talk me out of it every. single. day.

I’m calling it Currently Masking, and if you want to watch me fumble my way through, you can subscribe here!

Do you mask? Do you have a favorite, or one you want me to review? Drop it in the comments and I’ll check it out!

I’ll keep you posted, and until next time… wash your hands, make a plan to vote, and be kind.

PS – Seeing as how I don’t even run anymore (thinking about changing the blog name), it doesn’t seem right to keep referring to my husband as Mr. Won’t Run, so… his name is Karl.☺