life lately & a freebie

Um.. ok. Is this thing on? Test Test...

Wow, it's been a hot second, hasn't it... I mean, I think the last time I actually got on this thing was like a month or two ago. Well, it hasn't been for a lack of trying, I can promise you that.

For the past few months, my life has been so super busy. I have been like a chicken with my head cut off and I don't say that lightly- #chickenmom Why? Well, let's see....

I started a new job

Back in December, I left a job that I loved so I could be closer to home and closer to my son. I hated driving almost an hour to work and then there was a time change... basically I was getting so burnt out that nothing else was getting done. OR even mattered for that point.

After leaving the job, I promptly started a new one. One that was in my own time zone, and was only about a 25 minute drive from my house. Perfection. At first, I loved it. Yes, it was new and confusing, but hey, I got acquainted really fast with their way of doing things. AND I grew to actually like the job and fall in love with the kiddos. Unfortunately, as fast as I grew to like it, I also grew to hate it. AND I was mad. It didn't make matters better that I attended a wedding of one of my former co-workers and saw most of the old gals that I used to work with; which made me even cry and get madder. 

So fast forward a few weeks... I was trying to stick it out, was putting resumes and apps in like everywhere, and bam, I was written up for some bogus bullshit. I chopped it up to being new still and told myself to get better. The next week, I was written up again. This time my whole world came crashing down. I felt like I had made the wrong decision in going for my current master's degree (another post, another time) to become a BCBA (board certified behavioral analyst) and that I was the scum of the freaking earth and that I wasn't ever going to be good enough. After living in a crushed world for the weekend, I decided to take the bow and tell them to shove it- but I did it politely in an email. AND you know what- they didn't care. THEY DIDN'T FREGGIN CARE. I never got an email back said ok, we accept your resignation or hey, we want you to come in and talk to us about this, or whatever. I got nothing. It was like I didn't matter. I had worked at a job for almost two months and nothing. Nada. Just like that they took me off the schedule and didn't even say a peep. And before anyone says that I didn't send the email to the right person, let me clarify- I sent the resignation email to the OWNER. and she treated me like I was nothing.

Ok, I'm going to stop my rant there. I could and would go on, but I seriously doubt you want to hear me cuss up a storm. OH BTW, HR did reach out to me like a week after I quit and told me that I owned them such and such amount of money for my training, which made me final check out to be like $40. Yeah... then they asked me to do an exit interview. I flipped them the bird and didn't respond.

So after my soul-crushing ordeal, I finally landed an interview with a company that did home therapy with children with Autism. I had been talking to the HR lady since before I quit the job I loved, and she finally granted me an interview. Before then, I seriously thought about going back to the other one that was an hour away in a different time zone. But nope... I went to the interview and guess freaking what? I GOT ME A JOB!!

I have been working at the new job since March, and I LOVE IT. I do home ABA therapy with the children, which means I go to their house and play with them for the duration of the session. I do get therapy done in between play times, but there is never a dull moment. I love my kiddos. AND the best thing? My boss loves me. Well, I think she does... anyways.

So yeah, I left a job that I loved to go to a job that I hated; and then quit said hated job and now I'm working at a job that I love. Crazy how that came full circle...

I decided to take Summer classes

I have been meaning to write a post about why I even decided to consider going for a 2nd master's degree, but I have never gotten around to it. So here's the jist: I work as an RBT (Registered behavioral technician) doing ABA therapy with children with Autism. I have been doing that for the past two years, and I love it. Around a year ago, I decided that I wanted to become a BCBA- board certified behavior analyst- basically someone who writes the programs that I do with my kiddos as part of the ABA therapy. I pulled the trigger and now I am in my third semester of a five semester long program to give me the education I need to take a test to certify me as a BCBA.

Shooo… that was long.

Anyways, my dumb ass decided to take two summer classes this summer. Summer classes are accelerated classes. Instead of 16ish weeks, I get 8ish weeks; and with the same amount of work. Yeah.... So the reason that I took two summer classes? I had to retake a class because I needed an 84% and I got like an 81%. Trust me, until I figured that one out, I was going to only take one class.

So the classes have been faced pace to say the least. I have been working my booty off to get things done, and well, blogging, instagramming, facebooking, and everything else has suffered.

I finally got the right doctor

For the past two years I have been dealing with all of the symptoms of hypothyroidism... weight gain, tiredness, hair loss... whatever the symptoms, I have it all. So at the end of 2017, my psych doc ran an extensive blood panel on me and found out that I have hashimoto's disease. Basically it's an autoimmune disorder that is a different type of hypothyroidism (my thyroid is not producing enough hormone and my immune system is attacking my thyroid). I have been seeing an endocrinologist for the past year, but he has not been wanting to medicate me. He said he wanted to use the "wait and see" method. WHY? Because he said that every blood test he had ran on me was normal and that my body was apparently compensating for the low thyroid hormone. I grew very tired (no pun intended) of his crap, so I went to get a second opinion.

A few days ago, I met with my second opinion endocrinologist. They actually listened to me when I talked about my symptoms and it made me feel good. The NP that I saw asked me what I wanted to do. I chose the medication route. She said that she was going to put me on a replacement hormone, and would check my blood work in about six weeks. I left the office feeling like I finally had an answer and a plan of attack.

And the other endocrinologist? I promptly cancelled my next appointment with him.

I'll update in a few weeks on how I'm feeling.

So with those three things going on, I also decided to throw some other things into the mix....

I bought a new car

I got a new tattoo

I got a new plant (his name is Spike)

I bought a new camera

AND that is how life has been going lately... 

So if you scrolled all the way to the bottom for the freebie- here you go ->

Just right click and "save as".

It's yours to do whatever you wish with it- just don't go sell it, ok. Anyways, if you post it on Instagram, tag me- @tl_tinywishes so I can see what you did and I can comment that I love it!