Here we are. A new chapter of my life. The one where I take a break from social media. It’s funny because I’ve thought about doing this so many times for years but never could muster up the courage to actually do it. I had to take a long hard look though at my stats before I even came to the realization that it didn’t even matter! I could leave social media and still sustain my business. I know there are plenty of people who do it. I just was scared that I couldn’t.
But here I am.
So to catch you up (in case you missed my last post or skipped through my long series of stories) I’m taking a break from Instagram! I have already been on a break from Facebook for the last few months. My personal Facebook has been deactivated for some time now. Why am I doing these things, you may ask…well after the crazy year that we’ve had, and how vicious people have become, it really was all to benefit my mental health. I was losing it. I was angry all the time. I was frustrated with people who I never even see or have contact with outside of the internet. Real conversations don’t really happen anymore. I began to think I knew someone just because I followed them. But the truth is, you can’t know someone if you’re not around them, and never actually speak to them. So I’m calling it out: social media sucks. I hate it. The little glimpses into people’s lives that make us feel like we’re actually involved are so deceiving. And I’m ready to make a change.
Here’s the thing though, there are a handful of people who follow me to keep up with my family and who we actually talk to and know well. They’re mostly our family who live out of state. Not having that connection with them is a bit devastating. Thus enters this post – Jalosky Weekly – Volume 1. I want you to still be able to keep up with our adventures, just not in real time.
I’m excited about this, because it means I’ll actually have to keep up with my phone photo editing. I’m so bad at that! Heck, I’m bad at editing any photos for myself. It’s mostly a time issue and I have trouble prioritizing myself over a constant desire to work on business things. But here we are. I’m going to try my hardest to keep up.
So just one more thing before we start: is this permanent? Truth is, I don’t know yet. It may be. Just the two days I’ve experienced so far have left me feeling more present and relaxed. If that continues and I don’t encounter any real issues, then yes, I’ll be departing social media for real. But for now, I’ll be gone through Easter (at least).
There are some really big events between now and then, including my girls’ birthdays! So hang tight, grab your coffee, and settle in with me each Saturday evening for a review of our week!
Here we go!
This week started off the way it has for the last month or so. We get up on Saturday, Jonathan makes breakfast, then he and Layla are off to take his mom to dialysis, while Alethea and I conquer the grocery stores.
She and I got a late start and didn’t leave until after lunch time. Because of that and the impending doom of a snowstorm, the stores were majorly crowded! It was exhausting and was taking us forever to make it through. She ended up falling asleep in the shopping cart. Thank God for shopping cart covers! I made it out with a few steals, including a button up shirt and a pair of shoes for $2 each. (I’m a good deal shopper.)
Sunday rolled around, and we were so excited because the day had finally come! We were dedicating Layla at our church! We had put it off repeatedly because of restrictions and the virus and just life. But this was the week! It was happening. So Sunday morning rolled around and a big snow storm arrived! Sadly, this meant that only a handful of people came to church. Our families filled most of the seats. But technology is great right? Dozens of people were able to watch online, including our out of town family!
Big thanks to my sister, Kara for taking photos!
Alethea got several write on wipe off books for Christmas. Her favorite this week has been the dot to dot one. She is learning how to follow paths, draw lines, and trace things. When she’s done, she takes the eraser to it and then does it all again the next day! She loves them! She also loves to draw in my planners for some reason. This week she got into my new one for 2021, and I couldn’t even be mad, because she traced the lines in the calendar and did so well, I was more proud than mad. Haha. I guess that’s what being a mom is really like, right?
Well the snowstorm brought us a lot of fun. Monday, we went over to Kara’s house to play in the snow with my niece and nephew. We built a snowman. Played on the swing set. Pulled the sled around their yard. Alethea and Layla just had a blast! And we were able to log more time for our 1000 hours outside challenge.
This winter has been tough. It’s been so cold and windy, we haven’t been able to get outside much.
Layla learned this week that she could crawl up the stairs. It was terrifying! She’s only 10 months old and quite frankly, not ready or stable enough to do it well. So now we have to be extra careful when she is roaming free because this girl is FAST! She’d be half way up in seconds.
I made chicken & shrimp Alfredo and Alethea learned how to suck the linguine noodles into her mouth like lady and the tramp. She ate it every day this week for leftovers (no pb&j!) and it made her so happy.
We got even more snow, and we’re able to go sledding outside our house. We have a pretty big hill in our hard and Alethea and I went down several times! It was so much fun. Then she and I built our own snowman, and finally got to use the amazing snowman kit that my sister Amy got her for Christmas. He was a real handsome snowman indeed!
Gosh, I can’t even remember when the sun last shined down two days in a row around here. But this week, it’s made an appearance at least 3 days! Even though the stupid groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter, I am really hoping we start getting some more sun! It’s really lifted our spirits!
We played a lot in that sun this week, though we were indoors. Our upstairs gets a lot of sunlight and is just amazing!
I gave our bathroom a little refresh and ordered a new shower curtain off of Amazon. Let me tell you, small changes in these times when I’ve wanted to change literally everything in the house (thanks to being stuck here all the time) really lift my spirits. I had a hard time choosing, but I went with a really simple blue and grey leaf design, only because I couldn’t find any good Stargate ones. Haha.
Before & After:
The absolute worst thing ever happened yesterday. Alethea’s beloved purple and white blankie that my sister Ruby made for her when she was born, which she can’t sleep without, nearly ripped right in half! It’s had a few holes in it for a while, but somehow one of the ends came unraveled and it was a disaster. She spent hours yesterday, just sobbing because it needed to go to Aunt Ruby’s house so she could attempt to repair it. It was the end of her world. We tried to give her every other blanket in the house as consolation and to sleep with and she rejected them all. Even the matchin “little blankie” Ruby had made for her. Nothing would do the trick until I told her she could keep whatever random blanket she wanted, as her very own. She settled for a fuzzy hot pink one, and after a few more tears, finally settled down and went to sleep. Half hour later, Ruby texted me the glorious photo of it all out back together. She even repaired the holes that were in the middle! Fingers crossed that it lasts us a while longer. We already mentioned to Ruby that she needs to start working on a full size back up. Haha
First thing this morning, when Alethea woke up, she came right up to me and said “Did aunt Ruby fix my blankie yet?” When I told her yes, she did! She was sooooooooo happy and excited. And she’s been thrilled since we went and picked it up this morning.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading along! Tune in next week for some more excitement!
Love Deeply. Live Passionately.
Ellen
