1- “2027 Call Schedule” arrived in my work inbox last week. It’s always a bit jarring to be planning up to 18 months ahead, but this is just how it works in my particular division (and actually works pretty well most of the time!).
As it turns out, I’ll be covering Christmas week again in December 2027 (which will mean 2 years in a row, as I’m covering it this year too). I am not the only provider that doesn’t celebrate Christmas in a religious way, so at first I admit I was a tiny bit miffed. But then I reflected and realized that typically Josh will need to work at least part of Christmas week anyway — so it’s not like that was going to be an ideal window for a long vacation. Our nanny always takes off during that time, but now the kids can just . . . stay home. It’s not a terrible time to be on call, as there will be no school drop-offs and activities generally take a pause, too. Plus, somehow the hospital can be a bit quieter (not the PICU/NICU but in some areas). It will all work out.
I guess the years of blowing a sizable chunk of my PL budget in late Dec/early Jan are over. That just mean more flexibility other times, and I suspect taking 2 weeks over the summer will become the new normal for us.
Everything evolves!!
2- Back to School. We have just over 2 weeks (!) which is fine with me. I started thinking about my Ideal Week with new fall schedules in mind and then realized — womp womp — Josh still won’t be driving for a few weeks into the academic year. I’ll have to create two versions: one for Before and one for After.
3- I do need a vacation. I *did* have some time off over the spring, so I can’t complain too much! But truly, (as you all know!) I had been looking SOOO forward to our two week venture away. I’ve already thought through most of my PL for next year (I use a Google sheet I made that calculates for me so I know I won’t run out!) and one thing that is important to me is never having TOOOO long of a stretch without some time off. I *have* taken a number of shorter stretches, though I often take away from creative time rather than blow through too much PL. I think my last full week off was in the beginning of April and I don’t have another FULL one scheduled until New Year’s.
For me, that is a little too long.
(Feel free to download and save your own copy to customize with pay period dates, hours earned, etc)
4- Speaking of digital planning . . . I am considering a personal experiment for next season where I see what it is like to plan mostly digitally (I say mostly, because I will still want to do some things on paper, especially daily planning and journaling). In full transparency, this is not because I actually want to switch to a digitally-based system; it’s just that I want to have a deeper understanding of the positives/negatives of going more digital so I can have a broader perspective for my planning work!
It’s one thing to say my systems work with any medium and another thing to actually test that out. SOOOOO I’m considering using mostly Google products for Q4, though I could be convinced to try other tools if any of you feel I am missing out on something amazing (I do think Things 3 has a very pretty interface, for example).
5- DOWN WEEK: Just being honest – this week was tough!! I’m the only driver and the kids have been home all day (this has been tough on Josh, too). A was super helpful yesterday and did a ton of cleanup AND finished our family photo albums – ALL OF THEM!!!!
(I am waiting for an ‘unlimited pages’ coupon on Shutterfly and then will order them all, 2022, 2023 and 2024! 2025 was already done — also by her.)
ANYWAY, I decided that working out could just fall off my to do list for the week and jokingly called it a “Deload Week”. (more like a no-load week). I mean, if I work out consistently even ~48 weeks of the year — that’s pretty darn good, right? Sometimes I do have a harder time not being rigid with my own expectations but I’m really glad to have exercised (pun intended?) some self-compassion this week.
AAAAAND my little Starbucks blogging party is over and it’s off to work!
12 Comments
Question for you: Why would you drop working out for the week? It seems like such a source of joy for you. Is it that you don’t have time this week with all the schlepping? Maybe I am not understanding something…
It’s a fair question -I just honestly felt like getting more sleep (i initially wrote being lazy but that wasn’t the right wording) — and not getting up as early! I do usually enjoy it and don’t have to drag myself but for this week, it was feeling like a drag/obligation so I figured I might as well lean into that!
Ah! Got it! You know how I feel about sleep. 🙂 I bet you emerge from this week feeling more rested and refreshed. I hear you on the vacation. I also try to space out trips/time off and I can definitely feel it when I’ve had to use a bunch of vacation for conferences and it’s several months between real vacations. I hope next week feels better!
Some weeks, something has to give. You will get right back into your habits next week when you are feeling better and have more margin. It’s tough to lose a driver! Plus even though Josh is often gone until after dinner most nights, there’s still probably more that is falling on you when he’s not very mobile.
I have a full week off coming up at the end of August and I can’t wait. That’s usually the only full week off I take each year. So the last solid stretch of time off I had was when I was on short term disability last Sept/Oct which was obviously NOT a vacation. 🙁 I have unlimited PTO so I could take more time off, it just doesn’t happen at this stage of life since we take smaller 3-4 night trips with the kids when we do travel. I am hoping we will take a full week off next June when we celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (location TBD but it will be a National Park hiking trip, but staying in a hotel or airbnb – no camping to be clear!!).
I actually feel like it’s super common for people with unlimited PTO to take less PTO and feel so much more pressure around it, vs peopel who get an allotment are more likely to feel like it’s a legit work benefit they get to use (obviously I fall into that camp!). I really hope you can get a nice long stretch for your anniversary trip!!
I agree and then there is no PTO payout when you leave the company. It’s definitely to the company’s benefit to have unlimited PTO. I do encourage my direct report to track his and target using 4 weeks/year at least.
I fully understand why you’d want to retire in the next five years! Unlimited PTO sucks.
It really does… it’s obviously to the corporation’s benefit!!
Digital planning?! Never thought I’d see the day! 😜
Honestly kinda cool that you are willing to try something new for the love of the job (and selfishly I will benefit from this content!)
That is so sweet that A wants to do the family photo books!
I think A. ought to give us a tutorial on getting these photo books done — because I keep meaning to get to it, but never have! I know she might not want to appear in person on the blog (and it’s great that you respect her wishes in that regard!) but if she wanted to write down some tips I’m here for it.
Sneakers – Long time reader who’s husband broke his heel bone (jumping off a 1 foot stand to get to our daughter who had fallen off a horse while jumping -she was fine) – and it was a long recovery and a lot of me doing everything – and we only have one, active kid. I asked for help every time it was possible; I stopped doing things that were more duty than fulfilling (religious school for me and daughter) – and I stopped counting how long the recovery was taking at 5 months. And really, to get him to where he was able to hike for long periods and regain all the cardio for it – it was 2 full years. If I’d kept counting – it would have driven me (and him) nuts. Little joys and hang in there.