Week 23 - LONG Short Week

What an incredibly LONG short week! The days seemed endless and emotions were running high. I’m just glad it’s OVER!

Tuesday was catch up day at work so I’d be ready for solo deans’ reports since Dale was at Disney for the week. I got lots of stuff done and was able to do a few things for Nora too. After work, I went thrifting and bought a bunch of sweaters – some for felting and a few to try taking apart for the yarn, something I’d been reading about on Ravelry. A skein of luxury yarn costs a ridiculous amount but you can buy sweaters for pennies at thrift stores and there are directions for how to look for the kind of seems that allow you to take the sweater apart and reclaim the yarn. So I started deconstructing a sweater on Tuesday night and it was interesting. Not something I’m going to keep doing but I wanted to try it. Cross that off the list.

I started running reports from home at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday and kept up a quick pace when I got to work. I had decided not to stress about it but just plod through and by the end of the day, I had both mine and Dale’s tied, which surprised me. I still had plenty more to do (deans’ reports are just the first step) but was feeling great. I went to the pool afterwards and then had a nice chat with Andrea, who had just gotten back from a trip.

Thursday was more of the same – running reports, doing emails (91 of them!) and updating spreadsheets. But I had started the day on a high note, seeing that my swappee had gotten her package and loved it. Then I had a nice lunch with Dodie and even got a free frapuccino at Starbuck’s. I was feeling great! And then the phone started ringing. My stressed boss was not happy, having found a few minor mistakes (attachment in the wrong place in one email, missed a new dean on another and attached one file twice on a third) and my supervisor was hearing about it. Really? First time doing them solo and I got them in 2 days! Regardless, I went into beating myself up mode and it wasn’t pretty. I left work fighting tears and vented to all my friends in the pool then to Carolyn on the way home. I felt sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat. Like I said, not pretty.

I woke up Friday feeling much better and determined to go in and make NO mistakes, chalking the previous day up to stress on everyone’s part (there’s too much of that lately.) I had a productive, nice day and was looking forward to a calm and productive weekend, glad the four day work week that felt twice as long was over.

It was a nice weekend. I had Friends on Saturday morning and then ran errands in town, stopped at Andrea’s and then got BK for lunch. I spent the rest of the weekend getting stuff done. The guy who tills my garden did it Saturday evening and I called Paul, a friend of my friend Donna, and he agreed to make wooden edges for my veggie garden beds. I was SO excited to finally go back to how I gardened back east so got out my graph paper and seeds and planned my garden on paper. Paul and Donna came on Sunday morning and we talked details. He’s also fixing my trellis bench in the backyard and installing baseboards in my bathroom and family room. SO exciting! I got tons of chores done over the two days too. What a nice weekend, which I needed badly.

I did a lot of cooking on Sunday and so will start the week with a frig full of healthy food. Thursday was also our last day in the old pool so we’re going back to Mabel Lee, which is so exciting. I’m hoping that being in the deep pool again will do wonders for me knee. So there’s a lot to look forward to this coming week, despite the 100 degree temps to start the week. But it’ll be cooler by week’s end and I’ll be out planting my veggies in my new raised beds. Better late than never.