I got some news early in the week that would rock my world at work. It didn't sink in immediately but by Thursday I was in tears. But before then there was some joy.
I was due to start working in the office on Wednesday but Darla had convinced me to meet her at the East Campus Union for their mardi gras lunch. I started working early with the intent to drive in for lunch and then work in the office for the afternoon but the weather was drop dead gorgeous and that changed my mind. It would be much nicer to work at home all afternoon with my windows open and dressed comfortably so that's what I did. After a super yummy lunch with Darla (always a treat to see her), I drove home and worked late to make up the drive time. After work, I made coffee cake to take to the office and prepped to be up and out on Wednesday at the time I'm usually getting out of bed. Have I mentioned before that I'd happily work from home for the rest of my years at UNL? Oh well. Once day a week, which is approve through August, won't kill me.
I had been told on Monday that Nora would be taking a leave of absence and I'd have to take over the new budget system that she wrote and has been working with for 2+ years. Did I mention that this is budget season? I wasn't in the know on the reason for the leave and regardless, I'd have to fill in. Nora would be scheduling zoom training sessions each day until her leave would start a week from Thursday. I got the series of invites on Wednesday morning and the first one was that afternoon. After eating lunch on a bench with Cindy and Lana (it was so warm we had to get out of the sun), I put on my headphones for the first session. It was 100% useless with lots of blather about budget philosophy and no practical directions on what I'd have to actually do. Reality began to set it.
After a night of stress dreams (the kind where people die), I called Nora Thursday morning and told her that I needed operational direction rather than what we had covered on Wednesday. We had a good talk and she said she'd work on a timeline before our next zoom but when I asked her if she'd be available while on leave for questions, she said no and my tears started and didn't stop for quite awhile. Lacey, the boss of all of us who worked up the ranks from an accountant and who I've worked with for years, called and set my mind a bit at ease. The afternoon zoom was more focused but there was still a ton to get through.
After more stress dreams, I woke up tired and Friday was another bad day. We had Frevvo (our online forms software) problems all morning and our afternoon zoom stretched for more than 2 hours at the end of the day. I was toast!
I was a zombie all weekend. I even went back to bed after breakfast on Saturday and finished a book - something I haven't done in years. I'd been reading in the wee hours when I couldn't sleep so it was nice to read at a normal time. I streamed and knitted all afternoon and on Sunday, I did the bare minimum of chores and a bit of cooking, starting with chili, which I rarely make. My old friend Janice, who I hadn't talked to in years, called out of the blue that afternoon and we talked for hours. It meant my homemade baked beans didn't come out of the oven until after 9:00 but they would get me through the next super stressful week so I guess it was meant to be.
So it was a pretty crappy week but was only a taste of what the next week would bring. And the recharge weekend I had was a good thing because I'd need all the mental and physical energy I could muster. To end on a happier note, here are some socks I knitted for my oldest friend's birthday, which I did manage to mail out mid week.
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