Tag: working from home

How I like to unwind after a chaotic week
Life

How I like to unwind after a chaotic week

Deby Ciui (Chewy)Leave a comment

If the lack of posts says anything about this week, it should explain just how chaotic and crazy this week has been. Busy enough that I really haven’t had much time for a little piece of quiet. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I am a mom that wears many hats: wife, mother, engineer, teacher, student, etc. This week we finished the first quarter of the preschool curriculum (A-Z, A is for Adam. Curriculum is from Masterbooks) next week we get to start over, as in starting from letter A again. Apart from the joys of homeschooling, work has been notoriously busy and on more than one occasion have had the whole house asleep before I sign off for the night, hazards of working the second shift. Finally, the icing on the cake, I am behind on my own school work, Operations and Supply Chain management class (which is so unbelievable dry), which means even later nights ahead.

To summarize the above self-pity session, it has been a busy week. When life gets so busy that it feels like the remote control is stuck on fast forward, this is when I desperately need to take some time and unwind and rejuvenate.

Coffee, coffee, coffee

Boulevard West in Clayton, NC

First stop, COFFEE more specifically, coffee shops. Working from home is fantastic but I love it when I can take a moment of alone time to myself. I love small coffee shops, especially when I get to try a new ones and I like to take the time and actually sit there. For starters, I get to savor my coffee, read, write in my journal, or sometimes just people watch. One of the cons (or pros if you’re antisocial) is lack of human interaction. Sometimes you just need a moment to interact with other people who are not your husband or kids. Then of course, Coffee in and of itself, is soothing and while I don’t handle the caffeine the way that used too I still enjoy my cup of coffee every day, sometimes two.

Rub a dub, dub, soakin’ in the tub

Floating candle bath bomb. Awesome, pretty, slightly hazardous if you have long legs.

Option two, is my most used option and is my go to for after those tough days at work. Late night bath soakin’ in the tub. There is nothing more relaxing to me than taking a hot (or boiling if you ask my husband) bath. Sometimes I read, books, webtoons or webnovels. Sometimes I watch a show, and other times I just pop in some headphones and just enjoy blocking out the sounds around me. The experience exponentially improves when I have candles and bath salts/bombs.

If you feel “burnout” setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself.

Dalai Lama
The view from my window
Life

The view from my window

Deby Ciui (Chewy)1 Comment
Rain and wind from hurricane Ian

For 8 hours a day (minus breaks to get up and move around), I work from my desk. I made the decision to re-arrange my office one day and pushed my desk against the wall so that I have a nice view out the windows and the decision was absolutely worth it. It gives me the opportunity of breaking up the monotony of working with views from outside the window. Last Friday I worked while watching the winds from hurricane Ian bending the trees in our yard and sending branches flying by, thankfully we were more on the outskirts so just lots of wind and rain. Then one night last year I was even able to witness a very bright meteorite light up the night sky That was a pretty cool thing to see.

Squirrel enjoying a pinecone bird feeder the girls made

Some times the view is pretty much the same, yard, trees, sunlight. Sometimes you see the neighbors, or someone walking through the park. Sometimes you find dogs on the lose scavenging in your yard (yes this has happened). There are also times one of the kids from the neighborhood tries to sneak up on the house and play ding-dong-ditch, that made me laugh until they did it when Emily was taking her nap. But my favorite thing to see is all the different wild life that shows up. I enjoy it so much that I have set up many things to attract more animals in view as well, lots of bird feeders and seeds. Unfortunately, this caused me to make the mistake of doing an amazon subscription on bird seed and well… I now have several bags of it it my garage.

One of my favorite reasons for living in a more rural area is getting to enjoy the sights that you don’t really see very often in a more crowded city or town. Every spring I get to see does and their fawns playing in our backyard and sometimes even see them in the middle of the day. I’ve seen opossums, owls, several cats and the occasional fox. Squirrels have apparently taken refuge in our yard, I once counted 6 different ones all spread out across the yard. They’re a comical bunch and I enjoy having them around, up until its gardening time when they like to steal my tomatoes.

Birds at the bird feeder guest starring Phoenix the cat

As someone who also has a very active imagination, I’ll admit I’ve also had those moments where I can get lost looking out the window and just daydreaming in another world. Sometimes the lighting and view is just right to trigger that creative spirit and I’ll be thinking of adventures and plots and characters.

A short story is what you see when you look out of the window.

Mavis Gallant