As most of you know from some of my previous blog posts, Eliot and I have been busy doing a lot of traveling as of late. We went to Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving week with Eliot's family. Then, we had back-to-back Disney Cruises and spent a few days at Walt Disney World before and after those with my family for about 2 weeks in December. We went to my parents' house for Christmas. Then, we were home less than 24 hours before hopping on a plane to California to spend the end of the year and New Year's skiing in Tahoe with Eliot's family.
Basically, from November 25th to January 22nd, we were only at our house for 14 days total. (In other words... we were home for 2 weeks in an 8 week period of time.)
Of course, all that traveling makes you very susceptible to illness. I knew going into all of these trips that both of us would end up sick. Unfortunately, I became ill after our November trip, and continued to be sick all they way through the beginning of this month. Eliot was also sick after the November trip and was through mid-January.
On top of all that, this was the first time since I was a child that I got the flu. I spent the last few hours of the last day of our Walt Disney World annual pass laying in the Magic Kingdom First Aid Center curled up under my new It's A Small World blanket trying to rid myself of a 102 degree fever. The next morning, I was in the emergency room, diagnosed with the flu, and stuck in Florida for 2.5 extra days since I couldn't fly home.
Since Eliot's and my return to Maine (four weeks ago today), I've been desperately trying to get better and to get myself back into the groove of our everyday life. Let me tell you, that's really weird when you haven't had a "normal" schedule for over two months. (And even then my "normal" schedule is weird anyways with being self-employed.) Thankfully, things are heading in a more positive direction now. I'm not quite into a groove, but I'm finally feeling like I'm making progress.
After spending the past four weeks focusing on getting better and resting, it's nice to finally feel like I'm accomplishing something. I've spent most of my days laying in bed, sleeping or relaxing on the couch. Most recently, I've been focused on cleaning the house and getting stuff more organized. I'm trying to catch the spring cleaning bug early since the weather here has been freezing or snowy. We still have a lot of house projects to work on, but I'm hopeful that they will get done this year!
We've also been busy working on Happily Ever Hatter. Eliot and I made a bunch of new designs for all of our recent Disney trips so we could take photos in the parks and on the Disney Dream cruise ship. Since we've been home, I've been updating photos and listings. We still have a lot of samples that are works in progress so I'm working on those. We're also launching a new product in March so we're working on finalizing designs, samples and listings for those too!
Eliot also asked me to help him with his Snowblade Creations Etsy shop. I've already made listings for his new business card holder designs. We've got a lot more designs that he's going to be working on, but those will probably come out slowly over the next few months since we've got so many other things we're working on.
The "upside" of my being sick for so long is that I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest, Etsy and Instagram as well as doing research. I have a ton of new ideas for our home decor business, Happily Ever Hatter, Snowblade Creations and for some personal projects for the house. I have lists for my lists and they've only grown. But, if that's the positive side of being sick, I'd like to think that it will all have been worth it as we start to create my ideas over next few months!
Thankfully, it hasn't been all sickness, rest, work and no play. There have been a few shimmering moments in between all of the naps and couch potato time. I very much enjoyed eating my Mickey cake pop and the Minnie Mouse candy apple that I brought home from Disney. Eliot and I also went to our first Maine Mariners hockey game a few days ago. (They started playing in Portland last season and we never made the time to go.) We also got to see Elissa at a University of New England hockey game last week. I can still count the number of times I've left the house on one hand, but it's been good to get out of the house... even if it is freezing out!
Now that I'm settled back into everyday life in Maine, I'd also like to get back on here more often. I had so many things I planned to work on in between our California and Florida trips and once we returned home from Florida. I usually do a "Year in Review" before the new year and this year I also I wanted to do a post about "Looking Back at the Decade". I also have a bunch of other blog posts that are half written up. I'll be working on getting those together in the next few weeks. They're a little less timely now, but I still want to write them up. I enjoy looking back at them myself and I know that I'll be disappointed if I don't finish and post them!
Finally, I know a lot of you come to my blog for my free Mickey and Minnie monthly calendars. Obviously, my health has been my top priority the past few weeks. I haven't been able to find a solution to my conundrum and lost software. Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that the calendars are not going to happen this year. I've been stressing out about it and avoiding answering any emails until I knew what was going to happen. I've decided that I need to just let it go for now. All is not lost though... I'll be posting about an alternative in the next day or two for those of you still looking for something to Disney-fy your calendars!
Long story short: being sick for weeks on end was definitely not in my 2020 plans. But, if that's what it takes for me to get myself well-rested and back on track, I'm going to trust that it was all for a reason. After all, my 2020 word of the year is "positivity" and I'm determined to focus on the positive.
You haven't conquered me yet 2020. Now, let's get down to business... °o°
Sorry to hear you have not been feeling well, glad you are better... You have been missed!
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