Week 17 - Finding Some Happiness

With work in continual suck mode, my plan for the week was to find some happy to offset it. I had been developing some routine around working from home so it was time to embrace that.

Unfortunately my thumb was problematic on Monday. I don't know if it was all the gardening or knitting too much but it was sore and starting to swell. But it hadn't been that way when I first got up so I'd already taken my meds, which meant I couldn't take the 800mg ibuprofens my doctor had prescribed last time this happened. I dug out my brace and wore that all day, which made typing difficult. I started the big guns pills on Tuesday and between those and the brace, the pain subsided pretty quickly. I'll take that as a win. 

I needed a win because it was so windy that I couldn't have a fire for driveway knitting but it was otherwise too cold to sit outside so I cancelled. Bummer.

I went to Mocha C's for lunch again on Tuesday and ran 3 other errands that involved no human contact. That afternoon I started watching training videos for one of the programs I have to learn. BORING! When the day was done, I put together an under the sink shelf that I've had for years in a box in the laundry room. With that done, I completely organized that area, which gave me a sense of accomplishment. Then I moved all the violets I'd brought home from work to the front table, reclaiming my bar, and put all of the houseplants I'd overwintered outside. Making progress always feels great.

Wednesday was mostly a snooze fest of training videos but I ended it watching Survivor with Dawn again, which is something I look forward to. I also look forward to Thursday's lunch "hour" because one of my favorite knitting podcasts - The Grocery Girls - are live at lunch. I happily watch them while I eat. Then that night, I met Cindy at my favorite nursery to buy my first plants of the season. We had planned to find a wide spot in the road to sit and chat but Cindy needed to get home so we just chatted a bit in the parking lot. Flowers and friends are good, even if it's quick.

Friday ended with another train wreck at work. I had a 3:00 meeting on a new form HR needed designed and from what Layton (my friend in HR who I've been having lunch with every Friday for 20+ years) said, it wouldn't be too hard, until he sent an email that evening that blew the whole thing up. Instead of a little addition to an existing form, it would be days of work and there was a tight deadline. I went ballistic (more on that later), barely slept that night and yet again, Carolyn talked me down on Saturday morning. My concern was that my boss wouldn't support backing off even though Layton had completely misrepresented what he needed. Carolyn helped with an email to Ben and then I headed to Lincoln for some garden therapy at Nora's. 

On the ballistic note, Carolyn and I discussed the fact that these days lots of people have a hair trigger. It takes very little to go from 0 to 100 on the irate scale in a flash. I'd had 2 bouts of this in the past week and Carolyn had had one herself. I then found out that a fire storm of nasty posts on a friend's Facebook page, which I'd noticed and mentioned to Carolyn, was actually caused by a snarky comment I'd made. I felt awful but it was yet another instance of everyone being right at the edge all the time. I think the constant stress is taking a toll on everyone. Anyway.... back to happy.

Nora's daughter's school has a plant sale fundraiser every year so I'd ordered a few plants at the last minute. I called to see if she was home (duh!) and drove to Lincoln just after 5:00. It felt wonderful to be on the road, this being only my 2nd time getting out of town in more than a month. Then I realized halfway there that I'd have to drive right by Aldi so called Andrea to see what she wanted (she's been getting things for me at Aldi for the past month.) It felt great to be in a market and I thoroughly enjoyed shopping. Everyone was doing the social distancing thing and I felt as safe as I could. Then I went to Nora's and we walked around her yard looking at plants and chatting for an hour. I left with the plants I'd bought and a pot of lily of the valley she dug up that I had the perfect place for in my yard.

I was happy to find an email at the end of the day saying I didn't have to do the form and that Layton would be on his own. But did Ben tell Layton that? No. So I sent an email telling him as much. Fast forward to Sunday morning when Layton called to discuss it and come to find out, he didn't really need any of the changes he'd emailed because he already had all of that information. So I was back to the easy form and could now get it done before the deadline without working more on the weekend. Sheesh! HR is not known for their logic or efficiency.

A happy thing Sunday was doing my first mow of the season with my newly tuned up mower. I have hired out my mowing for the past 2 years and while John did an OK job, he missed things that I was happy to address. I then went on to edge my front lawn and since I had some nice grass that had been growing over the sidewalk, I planted it in some bare spots in my backyard. Then I reclaimed the garden bed at the top of the driveway and planted the lily of the valley then planted all of the perennials I'd brought home. It was a good day and it felt great to go inside and take a shower. I nuked the last of the casserole I'd made earlier in the week and called it a week.

So if work continues on its current trajectory, I will take solace in some of my new routines. Driveway knitting with friends on Mondays, with or without a fire and sitting 6' apart, Mocha C's for my fave lunch on Tuesday, Survivor with either Dawn (via Messenger) or Anne in person, Grocery Girls over lunch on Thursday, sharing food with Andrea and then spending weekends in the garden. I have no idea, nor does anyone else, how long this working from home will last but I'll do my best to soldier on and survive it. Hopefully between bouts of productivity, knitting and my happy routine, I'll make it.

Stay healthy everyone. And happy.