I feel like a whole bunch of big things happened in one month and I ran out of resilience!
First, some little highlights. I am super into candles so I treated myself to buying a few at TK Maxx. They are so cheap! And I really enjoy hunting down evocative smells. These ones have cardamom, rosemary, patchouli, oud, things like that.
I cracked out the new unopened flanelette sheets!
This is Sweep in a yellow jumper matching the walls.
I tried to paint my front door but there was oil paint under my primer!!!!! I borrowed a friend's sander and removed as much primer as I could. Back to square one.
Here are some fun times! I went to Kickin Inn Cajun Seafood with R and Sh, it was tasty and fun, but expensive and messy. Maybe not an experience I would repeat but very glad to do it!
There were many birthdays! This was a document burning fire for Dad's birthday. JK had trivia. Johnny turned one, but I missed that one.
The first half of the month featured my job application. The process went for weeks. There was for example a video app that recorded your answers to preset questions, you had a few chances to re-record it but the whole thing had a time limit so it was intimidating. I knew that there were over 200 people applied for my job, so I was getting more and more anxious just about not messing up and looking stupid compared to all the potentially amazing other candidates.
I highly recommend this podcast. It helped me prepare for the interview and gave me the confidence to sell myself.
I think this is my interview outfit. I actually dressed a little more professionally and wore makeup a lot in the leadup, partly to subliminally impress everyone with my professional looks lol, but partly to give myself that power. Now I've totally forgotten about it.
This is where I did my interview on Teams, I had my laptop there, a whole lot of notes and my resume, a glass of water and a box of tissues. Prepared. I felt OK at the end, I definitely finished strongly, but I spent DAYS afterwards rethinking everything I said in painful regretful detail.
I bought myself a new pair of pilates socks as a reward!
JK moved out! It happened rather suddenly. I noticed a fb post from one of her old housemates, she caught up with her a few times and talked about things and thought about things, and then it was decided! I had mixed feelings, it is a positive move, a real turning point and an end of the "cocoon and recover" era, but it is a big change for both of us too. The move went very smoothly overall.
We have been having the exteriors of the units repainted. Not a lot of work for me but just another big thing going on, involving a bit of logistics.
Parents went away and I added Banjo breakfast and dinner to my routine for a week.
I went to a Dr appointment in Newcastle on the wrong day, so I instead bought some goat cheese at Harris Farm and walked along Bar Beach.
I took a day off and went to Sydney to play the hymns for D's mum's funeral. I woke up with a sore throat.
I really hit the wall this week. All the anxiety of the job application kind of switched into some of my work projects and into managing the logistics of everything that was happening with the house, the dog feeding etc. So I was actually glad to get sick and take some days off work. I didn't quite do it properly, I always feel like a throat infection isn't really the same as a cold or flu because I'm not sneezing or snotty, so while I rested a lot, I also moved furniture, went to the movies, and went to church. I tried to go bak to work on MOnday, which I also had my carpets steam cleaned in the morning, but ended up sleeping in the afternoon and then sleeping on Tuesday too. I had coldsores. It was really an exhaustion situation.
This is an example of the furniture moving and junk sorting I undertook, because the carpets needed a clean after 9 years of me and 18 months of a puppy, and with a lot of empty space after the move out it was the perfect time to declutter, move furniture and get the carpets cleaned. It was terrible timing for my health, but I am very happy it is done! The house is so fresh now. More on that next month.
This is me having lunch with a throat infection at my parents house for the last Sunday lunch before they move house.
Anyway, being sick ended up being a very helpful circuit breaker and reset. Some guilt-free days to rest, and letting go of work stress. My motto for the rest of the year is now 'slow and steady'.
