Month: February 2014

Not quite ready

Leave a Comment

You know when there are things you want to talk about but you’re just not ready to?  They’re not necessarily bad things, but maybe there’s been too much discussion already, and even though you want to tell someone, you’re also tired of talking and thinking about it?  I feel kind of like that about the house, the (non-existent) job search, and Riley.  There aren’t really any updates about the house and the (non-existent) job search, but I still feel like they’re both talked out.  Still uppermost in my mind, but talked into the ground.  And Riley – maybe tomorrow.  Today, I’m really tired.  Early bedtime tonight.

Winter musings

4 Comments

I should love February.  It’s got a three-day weekend in it, it’s short (a plus in winter), and oh, yeah – it’s got my birthday in it.  If anything would be make like this month, that should do it.  But it’s DREARY.  Winter is still here and the sky is always gray and it’s still cold and just yuck.   Yuck and ew.  My birthday only helps for a couple of days.  It doesn’t make me stop wishing February would just end already and let spring get here faster.  Of course, then I’ll be disappointed by early March.  I’ll be all, “Yo, March!  What’s up with this cold weather?  Don’t you know it’s supposed to get warm as soon as you get here?  What’s wrong with you?  WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?”

A solution: move south.  Or west.  Likelihood?  Very very very very UNlikely.  Besides, I don’t hate winter.  It’s just not my favorite season.  I like it in small doses.  I like it when I’m warm and dry and cozy inside and looking out on the nasty and wet cold weather.  Fires in fireplaces are nice – I wouldn’t get that if I moved somewhere without winter (well, I wouldn’t appreciate them as much).  And snow is pretty, until it gets gray and slushy.  I can pretend I’m a tracker when I see rabbit footprints in the snow.  Snow makes me wonder what a real tracker would make of Riley’s footprints now that he’s missing a foot and has an odd gait.  I don’t find myself pretending or wondering those things when there’s only mud or sand outside.  Maybe I would in sand, but it would be about birds, not rabbits, and they’re not as cute.

There – I can be positive about winter.  Was that convincing?  Maybe I need a daily mantra.

Winter’s not so bad.  Winter’s not so bad.

No, I need it to be more positive.

The sun’ll come out tomorrow.

Nope.  Too positive.  Also untrue.  Also also, no need to burst into song.  That could get awkward, especially at work.

Turn that frown upside down!  Turn that frown upside down!

Psychotic.

This might not work for me.  I just googled daily positive affirmations, and oy.  So not me.  Maybe the bursting into song thing is better for me.  I could go with Oklahoma (Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day) or Mr. Rogers (It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood) or Sesame Street (Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away).  Or Dean Martin (Good morning, life).

Whoa – as I was typing this, the sun came out.  Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up.  (Okay, sure I could, but that would be cheap, and I will not stoop so low.) Aaannnd it’s gone.  But hey, it was there for a few seconds.

Mm. Bacon.

Leave a Comment

Dinner tonight was going to be salad from Panera until I decided to go to the store on the way home.  Then, grilled cheese sandwiches.  With tomato (for John).  And bacon (for both of us).  Because yum.  So now bacon is cooking and the house smells delicious.  I probably won’t think so when I still smell bacon two days from now, but that’s Future Me’s problem.  For now, I can look forward to bacon on my grilled cheese sandwich, bacon on my turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow, and bacon for Riley as a treat.  If there’s any to spare.  Then I might take a break from bacon.  Despite what the internet has been saying for some time now, it is possible to overdo bacon.

Stuck in the airport with you

Leave a Comment

I am all about stress-free travel. Delays? No problem. (As long as we get home the same day.)  Of course, it would have been nice if the airline had figured out the extent of the delay before we left the house. Instead, our delay came in increments of 15 minutes.  Never enough at any one time to justify leaving the airport, but overall our flight was two and a half hours late.  You know what, though? We just called the pet sitter and arranged for another visit, bought some Starbucks, and read our books. Not exactly comfy-cozy (airport chairs), but relatively quiet and interruption-free. Neither of us has gotten much dedicated reading time lately, so this was a gift.  And now we’re home and SO ready for bed.

Birthday Shenanigans

2 Comments

I’ve been trying really hard to be a caring manager and a good boss, create a fun working environment, all that sort of thing, but I keep almost screwing up birthdays. (Hey, celebrating team birthdays is fun.)  I have everyone’s birthday on my work calendar, so I know when they’re coming up.

Incident #1: My calendar showed one for a new team member for last Tuesday (the 21st) and another one for last Friday (the 24th), so Tuesday morning, I went to Wegmans and picked up some balloons (we know how to party around here) and another coworker picked up cupcakes.  Well, Tuesday was the day the snow started midmorning and we all headed home early.  Coworker #1 (whose birthday it was) checked in with me because she wanted to avoid the commute altogether and work from home.  Whoops.  So much for her birthday stuff.  I emailed her back and wished her a happy birthday.  She responded with confusion.  Turns out her birthday was the following Monday – I was just completely wrong.  Nice.  The rest of us couldn’t let the cupcakes go to waste (or wait overnight), so we divvied them up and took them home.  J  She doesn’t know that.  And since Coworker #2’s birthday still really was Friday and he wasn’t coming in at all that day (Tuesday) because of the snow (so he wouldn’t know) AND he was going to be out on the actual day of his birthday, I moved the balloons over to his desk.  Recycling.  We had cake for him on Thursday.

Incident #2: The following Monday, Coworker #1’s ACTUAL birthday, I had planned to pick up a cookie cake and balloons on my way in.  TOTALLY forgot.  Thankfully, I get in almost an hour before she does, so I went racing back out to the store.  Back no more than a minute before she got in, but it totally counts.  She doesn’t have to know that, either.

I think I’ve wandered from the point.  What is my point?  Oh.  I’m trying really hard, guys, and still can barely get birthdays right.  It’s a wonder I ever get the real work right.

Take deep breaths and count to ten

Leave a Comment

I’ve been really irritated with Amazon this week.  It’s probably (almost certainly) not their fault, but that doesn’t change how I’ve felt (and how I feel now – there’s no need to be rational).  I got my new phone last Saturday (which you already know).  The Sprint store didn’t have any accessories for it, so the first thing I did when I got home that night was go to Amazon and order a screen protector and a case (three, actually – I can’t decide until I see them in person).  Unfortunately, nothing I ordered was being fulfilled by Amazon directly – they were all coming from the sellers.  My order status was “Preparing for Shipment” starting Saturday night all the way until last night, when the stuff finally shipped.  That might have been okay, but the estimated delivery dates were Jan 31st to Feb 4th the entire time, and there was a message about the status that said the delivery dates wouldn’t be affected.  I’m going to have to call bullshit on that.  If you don’t ship until late Wednesday night, there’s no way the package is going to be delivered by Friday (short of using some sort of express shipment method, which I did not pay for and was not expecting).  So why not adjust the delivery dates?  That’s totally something Amazon controls.  Yes, I’ll probably still have it by the time I get back, but all week I’ve been hoping to have that stuff before we leave for the weekend and now my hopes are dashed.  Dashed!  Manage my expectations, Amazon!  It would have been so easy to set me up for mild disappointment that I wouldn’t have my stuff in time instead of irritation that you jerked me around.  I’m running around with a phone that doesn’t have a screen protector and has NO case whatsoever and now I have to travel with it that way.  Disappointment is acceptable.  Irritation is, well, irritating.  Too bad I don’t go to yoga anymore – maybe yoga would help me transform my irritation into acceptance.