there's no place like gnome.

I don’t even remember who posted it or where I found it but a couple nights ago I stumbled across this –

I can.not.stop.laughing. I’ve texted it to friends. I found a way to include it next week in my weekly “Monday Meditation” email to the hospice team. I thought about it while driving today and snickered in the car. I just talked to Dave about it tonight and I could hardly get through explaining why it’s so funny to me. Whatever this is, it’s my sense of humor in a nutshell.

I hope it makes you laugh too.

Two things made today extra exciting.

First, I received my first dose of the covid vaccine. The health care company I work for declared hospice employees with direct patient contact to be “tier 1.” As soon as they got their first shipment of vaccines, they began distributing to tier 1 employees. For me, that meant today. There was some gravity to moment; it’s been a long year and (I hope) this means relief is in sight in the year to come, especially for all the health care workers who certainly work with covid patients more than I do.

Second, across from the hospital where I received my vaccine today was a Caribou Coffee. Guys. A Caribou Coffee. In Milwaukee. (A MN coffee chain, dontchaknow.) Now, I know there are Caribous in Wisconsin but I thought the farthest east was Madison. Milwaukee, people! Of course I stopped after I spent my 30 minutes sitting in an auditorium following my vaccination. Now, unfortunately, it’s not a full-on Caribou; it’s shared with an Einstein Bagels. However, I will take whatever amount of Caribou I can find on this side of the state. #icedvanillalatte You can bet when I return in three weeks for my second vaccine dose I’ll stop again.

Salted caramel butter bars. Now, these aren’t new to my recipe box (We served them at our wedding.) but I recently made a pan to take into the office. Here’s why: in my interview for my current job, the last question I was asked was what I would bring to potluck. My interviewers stressed that this was a very important question. Salted caramel butter bars were my answer. Well, potlucks aren’t happening right now (thanks, pandemic) so I made a pan for people to take through the week. Let’s just say they were fans.

Christmas movies. Dave and I are making a list of our favorites to work our way through in the next couple weeks. There are the classics – Home Alone, Elf, Rudolf, Christmas Vacation – and there are others – Just Friends, Gremlins, Die Hard. (Die Hard was the movie last night. I promptly fell asleep.) What’s on your Christmas movie list?

Ted Lasso on Appletv. This is seriously my favorite show of the year. Absolutely delightful. Uplifting. Funny. I will recommend it until I’m blue in the face … and I think I might watch it again before the year is up. (It features a hilarious Back to the Future reference as well. Bonus.)

Vanilla cashew clusters. I bought five pounds of cashews at Costco and plan to make these like it’s my job this weekend. They’re a great treat that’s super mailable and a bit different than a traditional cookie. I’m not sure I’ll be baking any traditional Christmas treats this year when there is no place to take them …

Charlee Bears. We’ve been going through these like crazy as training treats for Einstein. (Of course Emmett gets some too.) We were introduced to these while in NC earlier this year. They’re perfect for putting a handful in your pocket and having treats at the ready. They’re also Emmett and Einstein approved.

The pups have recently found themselves subscribed to Barkbox. We’ve only gotten one box so far but it was the Home Alone themed box and it was absolutely genius. (Check out the theme – seriously. Whoever came up with those toys and treat names, give them a prize.) It will give the little one some toy variety and new training treats each month. As if they weren’t before, they are full-on spoiled at this point. No denying it.

Now things are going to get really exciting …

Car trash bag. I basically work out of my car now so I needed a garbage solution for gum wrappers, mask bags, etc. so I sewed up a version of a trash bag. I loosely followed this pattern, adding in a couple adjustments for more shape. The chaplain who trained me saw it and asked me to make her one. It’s a handy thing (that can be sewn with pretty fabrics) to have. Perhaps it’s a practical sewn item that could get added to Sew Practical’s inventory at some point.

I could blame a couple of things. 1. A puppy who wakes up at 4am and thinks it’s time to get on with the day. 2. Navigating a new job that includes lots of chatting for this introvert. 3. Pandemic, eh? 4. Less day light. 5. Too little coffee. 6. Pressures of the season to get all-the-things done. 7. Any number of other things I’ll think of later that may or may not be actually related.

Life has indeed been pretty tiring lately. Maybe for you too. Today was one of the days the puppy was up at 4am to go outside. I put him back in his kennel with some calming sleepy time music playing (We’ve seriously found that helps.) but to no avail this time. He was alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic. We made it to 5am before we headed to the living room for play time. Overall, he’s a pretty good pup. And he’s darn cute to boot.

My new job is slowly becoming less new. I am mostly done with my orientation and taking on my own caseload of patients and families. My days include a lot of driving, phone calls, and computer charting. I’m also trying to get to know my coworkers – as it’s my job to be a source of support to them too – but golly, that’s not easy in a Microsoft Teams world.

I was talking to Dave about the exhaustion (He’s there too.) and he gave back a phrase I’ve given him many times: small wins. We could maybe call them small joys too. Here’s what I got:

• Two Christmas trees are up and they have lights. That might be as far as we get this year but the lights are lovely.
• A puppy who has now learned to ring the bell to go outside for bathroom breaks.
• A Christmas throw just ready and waiting to be quilted.
• I’m going on a joint visit with a nurse on Monday = a chance to see a coworker in person.
• At least the dog sleeps until 4am instead of, say, 2:30. Perspective, right?
• Christmas shopping (online) for the nieces and nephews.
• To combat the exhaustion, I’m on a kick to walk/jog 50 km by New Year’s day. (It’s catchy if you say it aloud – “50k by New Year’s day.” 12 down, 38 to go.)

Small wins. Small joys. They add up. Fuel to keep going in the midst of exhaustion. Name your own. It might help.