I’m still recovering from a nasty case of Covid that has hit me on the first day of our intercontinental holiday trip, because of course it has. I wish for a week off work where I don’t get sick within two days - it would be the first time this year. But we’ve finally hired a replacement for some of my more time-consuming tasks and once she’s finished training she’ll take a lot of work off me, so things are (probably) looking up!

Despite the vaccination and booster Covid has hit me hard, not to mention the bacteria coming along for the ride. I’m in week three and finally feeling better, but my sense of smell is still mostly gone, and I sincerely hope to get it back soon. A coworker has lost most of her sense of smell and taste some two years ago and the loss seems to be permanent, though she infected herself on purpose to get a certificate without the vaccination, so not much sympathy from me.

As soon as I’m confident that my replacement can do a good job, SWMBO and me are planning some kind of sabbatical to recover from the stress of the last few years. Work, the kids and tons of drama in the extended family have taken their toll on both of us (see “getting sick at the start of every holiday” above). We’ve also been married for more than a year now and still haven’t gotten around to planning our honeymoon. Some real us time is sorely needed.

SWMBO has also informed me this week that she doesn’t really want to live in the house that we’ve bought last november, though it was her who first saw it and told me that she really wanted to buy it. Apparently she really likes the plot of land (it is a nice and quiet place with a huge garden and a quite spectacular view), but she’s come to realize that she doesn’t like the house itself at all. It lacks a room for herself with a view of the mountains, the kitchen is too dark and small and the dark brown beams in the living room are depressing.
I’m not yet sure what to make of this. We were planning some remodeling anyways, but adding new rooms on the outside, extending a brand-new kitchen into the room where the office is now and either lowering the ceiling or moving some beams around the roof and repainting everything is an order of magnitude bigger than what we originally had planned.
We’re going to have to let this settle and make a wish list to present to an architect who really thrives on difficult challenges.