It’s HOT. Fresno summers are excruciating. Regular triple digits. Though it has been less triple digits in a row this year…it’s still HOT.

My ADHD brain just had to see the temps from this summer out of curiosity…here’s what I found:

And I work at a store part time that has awful, ineffective AC. So I am always quite hot, which makes me physically exhausted. And I’m 52, so my body doesn’t bounce back quickly anymore.

I have 3 days “off” (though I have work from home to do for my other job), and my body needs the rest. Seriously. My body has been telling me…screaming at me lately…that I need to let is recover from the heat and soreness from work. I’m just tired and I usually listen to my body. So I am not jumping up to get on the computer yet to do my work even though I have loads to do. My body needs to rest.

So I am sitting here listening to this fantastic book series I discovered at work…The Unwanteds. And playing one of my favorite game apps, a jigsaw puzzle game.

This one:

It helps me relax and rest.

I need it.

Last time I posted I mentioned that I got 2 part-time jobs: Fresno Discovery Center and Barnes & Noble. I have now been working at both for about 8 months. I still love both of them! (Although there are many times I am EXHAUSTED!)

Surprisingly, even after 22 years of being out of the workforce, it didn’t take me very long to get used to being at a job again. And the fact that things are constantly changing, with me going back and forth between 2 jobs…never the same thing for long…I have managed to not get bored yet! This was always a major issue for me in my past life, working a 40-hour work week at one job.

AND both jobs each offer their own fairly varied work on any given day…so my ADHD brain has been happy.

There are definitely times that I wish I didn’t have to work so much…but there tends to be plenty of time off spread throughout my schedule…often a rough, very busy/hectic week is followed by a slower one. So it’s been working out quite nicely!

Adam is still looking for full-time work but is getting a little freelance work here and there. Not enough for us to not be financially strapped, but it helps. And I know it will get better at some point. For now, my income has been mostly helping us pay the bills fairly regularly.

It’s not perfect, but it’s going better than it has since Adam’s unemployment ran out and things got scary for a while there.

I’ve settled into my new life and am starting to finally get back to working on my websites. I am currently in a hyperfocus working on FresnoFamily.com. (It’s rough looking right now because of this.) It’s going to be getting a complete overhaul again…found some new plugins to make it all snazzy again!

And I took down Tina’s Learning Adventures because it was costing me so much in annual fees for the paid plugins I used on it…and I wasn’t getting anything out of it since I stopped working on it ages ago. I lost my steam on that project, so I backed it all up and pulled it all down off the web. I still have the backup files and the domain so if I decide I’d like to go back to it at some point, it won’t be an issue. But for now, it’s a relief to have it off my plate and the fees no longer to worry about.

I’m not sure where that leaves my planned podcast project, since it was going to be called “Tina’s Learning Adventures.” I still would like to do a podcast again…just haven’t been able to find the time or energy to get that going. FresnoFamily.com is more important right now since it has a whole lot more done on it already (since it’s been a site since Jan 2001! Check out the archived pages to see how much it’s changed over the years! I love looking back at all that!) I’m now thinking that maybe I want to do a podcast that has more than just homeschooling info (though I still would like to do that)…maybe something with books, since I’m immersed in that world now and I’m LOVING it so much! Working in the kids’ department, I find so MANY great kids’ books!

I am absolutely obsessed with reading (rather, LISTENING) to books for the past couple of years…and that certainly hasn’t changed since I started working at a bookstore! I find new reads CONSTANTLY! My TBR list is HUGE and grows daily! I’m on track to read another 100 books this year again! (I read 107 last year!)

One thing I haven’t written about and I don’t feel like writing about it here now…my dad died on December 10 last year. And my mom is in the process of moving to New York state to live near my brother and his wife in a senior community she fell in love with when she recently went to visit. So many feelings and I’m not in a writing-about-my-feelings kind of mood right now, plus I have work to do on FresnoFamily.com today, so it can keep to another day.

That’s all I feel like writing today so I am going to close this out and publish so I can have a little time to work on my website project before I have to go to physical therapy, where I’m getting work on my hips. Toodles!

Our financial situation has been BAD for over a year now…well for years really, but REALLY BAD the past year…and continued to get worse all the time.

Adam’s unemployment ran out, and we were out of options since all his searching for a job in his field have been unsuccessful.

We’ve been on food stamps since the beginning of this year so that has helped us out tremendously, and got government aid to get our mortgage and PG&E up to date. But now we are right back where we were…needing income NOW.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t look for work sooner…it’s because I’ve been an at-home, homeschooling mom since my first baby. I run online businesses (unsuccessfully…no money coming in for years) but had wanted to stay home and be there still for my last homeschooler, who is finishing up high school at home. But things change and needs arise that require sacrifices.

So I managed to get not one but TWO awesome jobs! I haven’t really started either yet…but I’m SO EXCITED! Especially since I’ve had a rough time transitioning back into the world since isolation during the Pandemic. I MISS being around people regularly! But we are all vaccinated and have handled COVID once already, so my worries in this regard have eased considerably. And it’s time for a change for all of us…many good changes.

Both jobs are part-time, and both are jobs I’ve done before and LOVED.

The first one is for the Fresno Discovery Center, where I worked prior to having kids (late 90s) when I first moved to Fresno and kept connections with for many many years. I helped organize the Fresno BabyFest there for 6 years when my kids were little, worked on the Board of Trustees for a number of years, and did a few other events and activities there over the years as well.

It’s a great place and since I worked there it has changed SO MUCH for the better! Barely surviving the Pandemic, it is still cruising along!

So I am soon starting an educator position there again and I’m excited to jump into teaching kids about science again!

The other job is for Barnes and Noble. I didn’t work there before, but I worked nearly a year at Borders Books in the late 90s. And since I’m a total bookworm, and recently I have become even MORE so, being ahead of schedule to complete my goal of 100 books in the Goodreads Reading Challenge this year! This job is just PERFECT for me right now! I’ve always loved working in retail since I like working with people…and books are a no-brainer for me!

Still waiting to hear when I start orientation for BN, but I have already started to observe field trip classes taught for FDC and learning the ropes.

It’s a very exciting new change in my life and I look forward to seeing where this goes from here!