happy new year text on green background

Happy new year!

Hope y’alls had a good turn of the year. Here’s to 2023 for it to become way, way better than 2022.

Read more: Happy new year!

New Year’s Resolutions, anyone?

Since a few years, I feel way too stressed to do resolutions for the new year. How about you?

I do have a few plans, tho, also regarding some of my habits. So maybe that’s some kind of new year’s resolution:

  • keep my flat tidy, declutter and re-organize some stuff, especially my crafting supplies
  • more journaling 💜 and getting back into drawing and painting again
  • stretches and mobility for my body – I’m getting older and I feel it in my bones
  • vacuum my flat in decent intervals
  • plan my vacation days better and distribute them better throughout the year

I know, some of those sound like pretty “normal person everyday things”, but since my last burnout in 2020, I just can’t do stuff the normal way anymore. I also really feel like I changed a lot in the past three years and became a different person in that time. I moved on from a lot of stuff and I believe I can absolutely be proud of myself.

NYE 2023 plans, maybe

I would like to go on a little vacation next NYE. Since my dog Lucas does not take fireworks well at all, it would be nice to do some days of hermit mode somewhere reclusive. It would be nice to do this as a reset of the old and a fresh start into the new year – without all the stress and noise. But let’s see if we can make it happen.

Next up

Mid February, there’s going to be a week-trip to Malmö, Sweden. I have to leave Lucas at home, so I gotta ask my parents, if they are willing to take care of the little man for 5 days. I hope it won’t be too much of a hassle for them. Let’s see!

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COVID-infection logbook – Part III

Read part 3 of my COVID logbook. Be aware, I am posting about mental health, too! See Part I and Part II in the respective links.

Read more: COVID-infection logbook – Part III

Monday, Boxing Day – 26.12.2022

I’m depressed. My test today was still positive and I’m starting to lose hope to spend NYE with my bf’s family in Nuremberg. I am also still having symptoms: runny nose, coughing, mucus… I’m so tired of this BS, I’m so fed up with being sick. COVID just sucks every motivation out of me. 😔

Tuesday – 27.12.2022

I still feel utterly depressed and it’s all a drag, but it got a little better since yesterday?! But I still don’t know if I will be going to see my SO for NYE or not, I have been lonely and alone for Christmas… It was all way too much to take for me. I’m still testing positive today, but the stripe was so light, almost invisible. Not sure if I did it right? So I did a second test later that day, it was the same light stripe.

So, it’s finally getting better! That is something.

Wednesday – 28.12.2022

OMG, I’m testing negative! YAY!

I’m so happy.. and also, my mental health is back on track. Well, it wasn’t too great before the Covid infection, but it’s been better. So I’m kinda relieved I’m feeling a tad bit more like myself again. Phew… Still having a cough and my nose is so, so runny.

Thursday – 29.12.2022

YES. Again, negative! I told my Mom and asked if she wanted to meet up and she suggested to go fetch a coffee together. So, this is it. I guess I am done with this Covid infection, for now.

I’m also feeling way better. Like the fog has lifted. There’s a hint of motivation to tidy up my flat a little and put everything back in order.

Summary

I got sick with a sore throat on Thursday, 15.12.2022, in the evening. I went to work the next day, feeling kinda like developing a cold. Maybe mild rise of temperature, nothing serious. I got real sick the following Saturday, 17.12.2022, an tested positive on Sunday, 18.12.2022, and got a positive PCR test result back on Monday, 19.12.2022.

On Wednesday, 28.12.2022, I tested negative for the first time after the infection.

I hated this sickness very much and I do not recommend getting it. It’s awful, it messes with your brain so much and it’s really ugly. STAY SAFE! See you next year! ✨💜


Logbook Part ILogbook Part II

apartment bed carpet chair

I won a COVID infection 🎉 – Part II

Read more about my Covid adventure and how much I hate it – another 5 day log. This might be a little messed up, because I failed to write down stuff as it happened and my brain is a mess, too. So… I’m probably throwing facts into the wrong days. Bear with me.

Read more: I won a COVID infection 🎉 – Part II

Wednesday – 21.12.2022

After first feeling slightly better on Tuesday, and my voice gradually coming back, I felt a little less good on Wednesday. My parents came by today to deliver some groceries I asked for.

I feel my cough is getting more dry while I have a pressure in my chest indicating… I’m full of mucus that wants out, but the coughing was not strong enough to get it all out. Augh. Also, this illness is massively messing with brain chemistry. It’s awful, I feel super depressed and just lifeless.

Thursday – 22.12.2022

Still sick. Slowly coming to the conclusion that I will not spend Christmas with my parents after all. At least I felt well enough to be cooking something for my comfort: Spaghetti Carbonara. I was craving this so much! I asked my Mom to get me the ingredients, so I can make it. And I did. And it was delicious. So that was a little spark of light.

Lucas was being a little weird today, being very squeaky and I didn’t figure out what his problem was. In the evening, he just wanted to be alone, it seemed, and he vanished into the sleeping room. I thought he might just not feel to great himself, so I let him be. And later that night, I found him soundly sleeping on my bed. That poor puppo, maybe he was just not feeling great, maybe he’s getting sick, too.

Friday – 23.12.2022

Getting closer to Christmas. I feel sad. I started testing myself again, and of course, it’s positive, still. One little spark of light today was the delivery of yarn I ordered to crochet a hooded cowl.

Not wool, but polyacrylic in wonderful pastel rainbow colors. I love it!

It took me several attempts to get it somewhat right and also, I had to unravel a lot of progress in the process. But I finally got there, even if I got the stitch count wrong, and I continued and it looks so nice. I’m so happy with the outcome so far.

Saturday – 24.12.2022

So, today is Christmas, at least in Germany, and I’m alone instead of sitting in the kitchen with my mother, making Tapas and being cozy, I am home alone, on my couch, crocheting, eating sweets to cope and still being Covid-positive.

Sunday, Christmas Day – 25.12.2022

Still got a positive Covid test. I’m tired… the lines are also more prominent again. Let’s see how many more blog posts I need to get all of this covered until testing negative. 🥺

f*ck this sh*t, man

Logbook Part ILogbook Part III

man in yellow protective suit

I won a COVID infection 🎉 – Part I

Read my 5-day log about it here.

How it started – 15.12.2022

I have been avoiding a COVID infection for the longest time. So when I started getting a sore throat on Thursday evening, 15th Dec., I didn’t think much of it. It made me thirsty as heck, tho, and I probably drank 2 liters of water on that evening alone. Of course, that much water in the evening leads to a very sleepless night with having to pee all the time. And thus, I was kinda groggy the next day when I went to work, throat still sore.

Read more: I won a COVID infection 🎉 – Part I

Friday, 16.12.2022

On Friday, still not thinking much of it, I went to work, although I thought about not going and calling in sick instead. But then I thought, besides of the sore throat, I was feeling okay-ish and if it got worse, I could still go home earlier.

I ended up going earlier, indeed, so there’s that. and I kinda felt weak and cranky and I curled up on my couch. I went to bed early and had a weird night, having to get up every other hour. I was feeling strange, like I was getting a fever, but then not really. Just the beginning of feeling sick.

Saturday, 17.12.2022

Finally, the weekend. Biggest accomplishment of this day was finishing my star-shaped crochet blanket. Other than that, I really did not do anything. It formally was planned to head out, meeting my parents for a walk with our dogs, but I told my Mom that I wasn’t feeling well, so we postponed it.

I stayed home, I started to slowly get a productive cough and was feeling miserable with a slightly heightened body temperature. Very slightly. Still, I wasn’t thinking Covid, but I planned on doing a test the next day to be sure this was only a cold or a bronchitis.

The night was filled with lively dreams and utter sleeplessness in the early morning hours. Luckily, my doggo let me sleep a little longer than usual, so there’s that.

Sunday, 18.12.2022 – Testing positive

The cough got worse over night and I felt even more miserable. After forcing myself out for walkies with Lucas and being very frustrated and irritated with him, I made myself a cappuccino, sat down.. and coughed so much and so strongly, I decided to take a test. The first one was almost instantly positive with just a very slight control bar visible. I was like “wait a second, this looks wrong?” – yeah.

So, I took a second test and it was positive after a few minutes already, too. Just like the first one, just with a more visible control bar. *Winning sound playing* congratulations to me, I won a COVID infection!

During the day, I really felt sick and tired. And constipated, like every sinus and everything in my head was stuffed. My nose is runny and my cough is productive, strong and hurtful in my chest and head.

So I’m also taking pain meds to cope. My skin, especially in my kidney region, gets really, really tender and touching it hurts a lot. Even my clothes rubbing on it is awful. Most pain meds reduce fever as well, but coping with pain is more important to me than letting my body temperature do its thing against the virus. I hope this does not impact with getting better.

Monday, 19.12.2022

Today started out with me having no pain, but feeling utterly sick. I booked a PCR test for later that day to have an official document stating my infection. It came back positive in the evening. Tell me something new, huh?!

I developed a low fever during the day, causing me to sleep through most of my afternoon and evening. Nothing much to add: thick and nasty mucus, growly cough, runny nose… and everything hurt in a very specific way I cannot quite describe. I also hate how my skin gets so sensitive to touch when I’m having a fever, it’s awful to even move.

I called in sick for the whole week. My boss was very understanding, but I sure also sounded massively sick on the phone, as my Mom told me later when I called her. Yeah, well, must have been because I was also feeling like shit. My task of the day was driving to and from the testing station safely, and I made it. There was black ice in the morning, luckily, when I had to go, it was all gone again and the streets were sanded and all was fine.

I got to bed early that evening but I could not fully fall asleep until 20:30, when I got up for a toilet break. I decided to take some pain meds, to maybe be able to find a comfortable sleeping position then. It seems to have worked, in the end. I slept good, but very sweaty.

Tuesday, 20.12.2022

Everything feels still feels very sick, but gradually maybe getting better? At least Mom said “oh you sound better today!”. That’s a news! Other than that, I don’t have a fever anymore, for now, and I feel as if a fog has lifted, so that’s a thing. But my brain chemistry is really messed with and I can’t smell as good as I could before, my appetite is LOW aaand my heart-region feels weird… The coughing is better, though, and the nose is not as runny anymore. So here’s hoping I can spend the holidays with my family, maybe. 🥹 Let’s see.


Concluding this post with a huge “COVID SUCKS, DON’T GET COVID!” and see you in the next post.



Logbook Part IILogbook Part III

Tumblr

I’ve been wanting to write more blog posts and post more art on my own website/Blog for months and I just can’t get my head around doing it…

Now I’m reviving Tumblr and crossposting seems like the way to go. Writing on one platform, distributing it over the internet to the other platforms I feed. Maybe changing to Tumblr/WordPress completely in the end, it would be so much less stressful? I guess. I don’t know for sure!

Just thinking aloud. It’s all a mess atm. Anyhow, my Tumblr is valhundart.tumblr.com – feel free to follow me there!