Hi friends,
Today is Sunday, time to look back in the rearview mirror and talk about my week in and out of the blog. As usual I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted for years by Kimberly @caffeinatedreviewer .
I will also combine with my monthly wrap up for July
In my private life
This week I was back to work at home and the week was …hard.
I love my job but I need a clean break between job and private life or I won’t be able to be efficient. And working from home all the time for months now it’s an every day struggle.
I lived a burn out when I was 21 and I know my limits and how I work best to be in for the long run.
That means that I need some ME time, doing things totally different from my job like blogging, reading, hiling, making funko pops and bookstagramming. Just to recharge or reload the battery.
But hey, I am resilient and I will ponder kick back 😉
The interesting part of my week, and that’s sad when you think of it like that, was a visit to the speech therapist… for me!
With working from home and being in skype meetings all the time, my voice has changed and my vocal cords don’t close anymore.
I am no singer but I can’t reach some tune anymore and by the end of the day, my throat is hurting and I can only whisper.
Well, going into speech therapy is like entering priesthood!
You sign a contract vowing to: avoid alcohol, stop smoking, sleep a lot, not drinking too much coffee or tea, avoid long chat on the phone, avoid AC, sit and walk straight ….
No kidding!
Because all these factors influence our voice. I am lucky that I already did most of this!
I had to go to the hospital, wearing a mask and being checked for fever at the entrance. Then I had to sing, blow air, shout (can’t think of what people milling in the hall were thinking while earing shouts and my false falseto ) etc.
The bad news: no health insurance will reimburse my costs. The good news: that’s because my problem is not bad enough.
So yay, I’ll be in for three to five appointments.
I have to drink an infusion with thyme, clove, cinamon, honey the whole day.
And the most difficult is that I have to inhale while making sentences.
Easy you think? Well no! I have a ginormous lung capacity thanks to swimming for more than 40 years. That means that I can speak long sentences while inhaling only at the end.
Well, that’s bad for the voice and I have to inhale sooner. This is very weird as I have to “stop and resume” in the middle of my sentence. That also means that you can’t rant or shout or be very passionate while doing this!
I swear I’ll have to explain to my colleagues of they won’t recognize me 😀
One positive light this week!!!
An author contacted me on Instagram to commission and funko pop after one of her characters.
Usually, I don’t create pop for people I don’t know but she showed me a picture of her character and I fell in love with it!
You can see his face on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1207011806161370&set=p.1207011806161370
Basically, he is a fae with pointy ears, olive complexion, white hair in a bun and blue eyes. He is also wearing a suit with a waistcoat.
So I did it yesterday and I am very happy with how he turned out! It was a real challenge as I had to redo the hair totally, something that is still the hardest part while making custom funko for me.
I started from this funko pop:
And you can see below what he looks like now 🙂
I will ship it to Switzerland Wednesday and she was so happy that she asked me to make his mate! But I asked for a few weeks as I have lots of ARCs to read this month!
On the blog (click on the graphic to read the post)
I won’t talk about all the books that I have read in July (I thought I had read few books in Julybut it was still an honorable month with 10 books!) but will give you my favorites!
The Empire of Gold by SA Chakraborty: ALL the stars! 
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 
Flock by Author Kate Stewart 1/2 and total mindf@ck !!!
Take a Hint Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert 1/2
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo 1/2
And this week’s quiz is from Epic reads again and they ask us :
Which Book’s Color Palette Fits Your Vibe? Click on the graphic to take the quiz.
How was your month? Do we have books in common? What were your best reads?
Sophie
The work/life balance is HARD with all the working from home, so I feel ya! I’m super grateful that I can get physically into the office now two days a week as it really makes a difference… My company is pretty much expecting this pattern to continue until March/April next year at a minimum! :/
Sorry about your voice! I’m glad it’ll get better though and it isn’t something irreparable or long lasting.
Your custom funko is so cool!!
It’s hard to have a good work live balance and working from home is tough. I enjoy it, but even then it’s definitely something that takes a long time to get used to, I can only imagine how much harder it is for everyone’s who stuck working at home forcibly now. I hope you can avoid a burn out.
I hope the speech therapy helps. It sounds difficult to become conscious when you’re breathing when talking as that’s such a subconscious thing.
Wow that’s awesome an author asked you to make a Funkopop of one of her characters! It turned out great!
Thank you Lola!
Oh no! Rest that throat Sophie and feel better soon! And p.s. I love that Funko, great job!
Thank you Trisy!
Wow, Sophie! What a commitment to get your voice back on track! I am in awe of your ability to do all of that! I hope that you enjoy the books on your August tbr as much as these ones. 🙂
Thank you!!!
What an odd effect to having to work at home: voice issues. Hope you get back to 100%, Sophie! I also loved Beach Read!
Thank you Rachel!
I agree that working from home makes it harder to separate from it. I’m getting better at it now but struggled with it a lot when we all first got sent home because of COVID.
I know Suzanne. I have to find different routines in the week and on the weekend.
Oh my goodness, cutting back on coffee!! I really take my voice for granted, I hope you manage to get it sorted, your infusion sounds lovely.
I love funko pops, I have too many, your custom one is so clever, it looks great!
Thank you so much Heather!
I read A Discovery of Witches, I think two years ago? When the show was released. I’m not sure if it was one or two years ago bc sure it hasn’t been that long… Well, my point is that I absolutely loved the whole trilogy! (wich I devoured if I’m being honest) The show was pretty good for me too, hopefully they release the rest!
Hope everything goes well with your voice and that you have a great August!
Thank you Aldii!
OMG THAF FUNKO IS AMAZING! (yes, shouty caps!!!)
Your exercises from speech therapy do sound hard, I speak 1 million words before I take a breath so can sympathise! The tea sounds OK, how does it taste?!
Thank you Caro!
I don’t think I could inhale while speaking – that’s some difficult stuff! As always, your Funko pops are amazing, Sophie – of course the author was thrilled with it!
Thank you so much Teri!
Working from home makes finding that work/personal life balance so much harder. I think a lot of us are feeling similarly. We need distance – but it’s hard to get that right now. Sorry to hear about the voice issues. They really take the work seriously, making you sign an agreement to all those things! I hope all the efforts pay off soon.
Me too Tanya!
Me time is important, I hope your voice issues resolve quickly.
Wishing you a great reading week
Your custom funkos are always the coolest!
Thank you Mogsy!
That’s good that you know your limit now! despite having been fucked over at my first job… I can’t say that I got my lesson . I tend to rationalize and push and push because after the fact, I keep telling myself that “hey, it’s not too bad. You can hang on!” and well… up until the moment where I can’t and snap ♀️
oh.my. god. the caffeine part is already not fun but the AC??!! if it’s as hot where you are as we have right now.. i’m sorry but HOW can you possibly live without it? I lift my hat to you, you van do this.
Well I just have to Kristina. I guess?
Good luck with speech therapy! My last job destroyed my voice for a while, but it has healed now. That’s good because there’s no way I could have afforded therapy. Have a great week!
Thank you AJ an dI hope I will heal as well!
It is hard to find work/ life balance in the best of times and Covid is not helping!! And wow your speech therapy sounds involved, but hope it works out great for you. You gotta do what you gotta do, right? I had to laugh at the singing part. 🙂
That Funko looks amazing!
I’d have payed to be able to hear you sing though. 😉 I’m glad to hear it’s not that bad though and was surprised to hear about lung capacity thanks to swimming! Take care, Sophie. 😀
Ha! It was pitiful Lashaan believe me!
oh no I am so sorry to hear about your voice…that is horrible. Hope that therapy is making things better for you. Your funko pops are so adorable.
Thank you Renee!
I know when I taught at university I would sometimes have voice issues because I was trying to project. But I used to be on the phone almost all the time at work and it was ok. I hope it works out. For me, I think the separation between work and home might be important and I might have to set a schedule or routine to help with it. I enjoyed a Discovery of Witches and Take a Hint, Dani Brown.
I am so impressed at how you dealing with the problems affecting your voice – which should stand you in excellent stead in getting it fixed. It is so much a part of our identity, being able to communicate effortlessly and fluently with others. I love the funko character – you are so clever! I hope the coming week sees real progress with your inhaling – have a great week full of wonderful reads:)
Thank you!!!!
Wow, I hadn’t thought about how difficult it can be to speak. I know that when I was living alone and not going out that often (before I came here), my voice would seemingly disappear.
I love your little funko pops. Thanks for sharing…and thanks for visiting my blog.
Sorry to hear about all your WFH troubles. The voice thing must be so stressful. I hope the tea is palatable. That Funko is fabulous! What a transformation!
Thank you Sam!!!
Happy August!
I tried to concentrate on breathing in while talking and almost hyperventilated! Lol, hope the therapist can help you 🙂
Ma too Jacquie!
Speech therapy sounds super intense, Sophie! I hope I’ll never have to go because yikes. Don’t take my coffee from me xD
Bwahahah let’s cross our fingers Stephanie!
Love, love your funko pops!!
Also, some advice on managing so many aspects of life and still kicking ass? Pretty please, I am struggling here. -puppy face-
Thank you Poulami and my advices are: take one day at a time, one thing at a time. And when you are panicking about something, answer this simple question: will you remember this moment on your dath bed? No? Then it’s not worth the panic.
Okay. I love you.
I love your pop vinyls so much. I really need to order some from you when you have time. 🙂
Thank you so much!!!!
You’re welcome!