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catching up The longer I don't write, the more difficult it is to start again. There seems to be an overwhelming number of things to write about and because of that, I just decide not to. Things are generally better, although I'm a bit down today. I took an entire day off yesterday...I didn't shop, I didn't leave my apartment; I just saw on the couch, caught up on my soaps, and knitted a scarf. Over the past week, I was able to purchase a great deal of $5 a skein yarn for only $1 a skein, saving a tremendous amount of money. And making it actually profitable to sell scarves online. They are different varieties of fun fur, and I'm loving how they are coming out. I about finished one yesterday, and was so proud of it. And when I showed Artboy, he couldn't even muster a reply. This, from the same guy who told me to never give up on my artistic endeavors just a few short days ago. Been doing more work towards starting a business. I go through moments where I'm really excited, and then other moments when I'm just "meh" about the entire thing. Choosing a name that hasn't already been used as a web address is proving to be difficult. The OA is now officially gone. We had a new person take over starting at the first of the year, and the OA was here for two weeks, "training" her. It wasn't a good experience for the newbie, as the OA was not a happy camper that she was no longer going to be here. She was absolutely nasty to her, and didn't really teach her anything. Which I supposed was really okay, as the New Assistant has lots of experience. But it was a couple tense weeks, but now all is great. I absolutely love the NA. It's amazing to me how much better the work environment is without someone constantly complaining about something. I had a dream this weekend about work. Lisa has been pretty nasty to Jess and I lately, and she was yelling at me in my dream on Sunday morning. I just lost it in my dream...was yelling and going on and on. I decided that my dream was a hint that I needed to start speaking up, or someday I will absolutely lose it. So when she emailed me this morning, telling me that she'd done part of something she had turned over to me, which would require me to do a lot of extra work to figure out what she did and didn't do, I emailed her back, saying, "Didn't you turn that over to me?" When she replied that yes, she had, but that she was just catching up and then decided to just do it all, I replied back, asking if we could either let me do it all, or have her take it back because it's not an efficient use of time. Our process already sucks, but she makes it worse when she decides to do what she did. I haven't heard back from her, and I probably won't until next week, if she replies at all. Today at lunch, she came by the office, wanting Jess to do something for her. Jess had a lunchtime appointment and wasn't there (besides, it is LUNCH time!) and she wanted me to do it instead. I told her I would be happy to help her at 12:45 when I came back from lunch. "Oh, you are at lunch?" "Yes, Lisa. Everyday at 12n." It's only been that way since the moment I started working here. Last Friday, Mike asked if I was coming in over the weekend to do some insurance billing. I laughed and said, 'No." When he asked me why not, I said, "Because I have a life, Mike." He said something about a good use of boundaries. I'm here 8.5 hours a day, Monday - Friday, and I work hard when I'm here. I know that there are plenty of people out there who take their work home, or don't leave at the end of the day....or come in on the weekends, but I'm sorry. I'm not one of them. If there is something that absolutely needs to be done by a certain time and I won't have it done on time if I don't work late, I will stay to finish. But otherwise, it doesn't matter if I stayed late every day, the to do list would never be wiped clean. There will always be tomorrow. I don't live for my job. I work hard when I'm here, but outside of my official work hours, that time is mine, and I'm not willing to sacrifice it. I suppose I am fortunate to have a boss who doesn't believe that your entire life should be devoted to your job. But a lot of my counselors only have their jobs, and they never take their days off. And expect others to follow suit. I'm sorry. I'm not paid enough to live here. Actually, you couldn't pay me enough to take a job that required me to be here all the time. In family related news, my sister in law moved back in with my brother. I hope they can work things out, but it's weird. My brother had just told my mom a couple weeks prior to her moving back in that he was happy with how things were then..that he wasn't ready for her to move back in...that they had a lot of things they needed to work out. We went to my cousin's wedding in Prescott last weekend. I didn't really want to go. My cousin and I have never been close, and when I emailed her to congratulate her on her engagement, she never replied. The only reason I agreed to go was because when my uncle told us about it in TN, he was super happy that we would all get to see each other. He kept telling us how much it meant to him, so I really felt I needed to go...for him. Then Artboy couldn't get the time off from work, and we received our invites the day before the RSVP date printed on the invitation. ..like she really didn't want to invite us. My uncle had mentioned getting a block of rooms at the hotel the wedding was to be held at, but never mentioned it again after that day in Oct, so we went ahead and made our own arrangements, using Artboy's discount. We'd originally reserved 2 rooms..one for Artboy and I, and then one for my mom, but when Artboy couldn't go, Mom and I used one room, and my brother and SIL used the second room. A week before the wedding, my uncle still didn't have plane reservations, hadn't been fitted for a tux, and said that he might need to bunk with my mom and I. Mom told him she wasn't sure if we had two beds in our room, and that with it being a holiday weekend, it was already sold out. Then his wife's ex husband was taken off life support, and it sounded like he was thinking of not coming because of that. We could all understand his wife staying behind to support her children, but we couldn't imagine that he would miss his own daughter's wedding because of it. The Thurs night before the wedding, he called to tell us he wasn't going. He said that he'd told my cousin and that she was fine with it (and my response was, "The hell she is!") I can't begin to explain how angry and disappointed I am in him. He has never been there for her...and he was upset with her because she had asked her brother to walk her down the aisle instead of him. Is it any wonder she did?? So, we were all going to a wedding we didn't want to go to...had only decided to go to support my uncle...and he wasn't even going. We drove up to Prescott on Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel, and mom and I went shopping. We met my brother and his wife for dinner at the Olive Garden that night. It was the first time I'd seen her in many months, and when I went to meet them, I gave her a big hug and told her it was great to see her again. It was snowing, which I was super excited about. And we had a great time. Mom and I went shopping again the next day, and then got ready for the wedding. We were seated in the back by the bar, and basically ignored. The bride wore a black and dark red dress, looking very goth. Short short bright red hair with long black pieces of hair sticking up. The ceremony was nice and the reception very long. I wish they'd cut the cake sooner, rather than a couple hours after dinner. As soon as the cake was done, we left and went back to our hotel. Sunday was spent at the town square before we started driving back home. Over all, it was a nice weekend. My uncle called that night we got home to find out how the wedding was, and I was so afraid my mom was going to have me talk to him. She's worried about him, thinking that he is very depressed since not being able to go, but I don't have any sympathy for him. My grandmother thinks he just didn't have the money to come, and if that was the true reason, he should have just come out and said that instead of using the lame excuse he did. It makes it seem like he chose his step-family over his daughter. But even if that was the reason, it isn't like this wedding just came up out of the blue. He had time to start saving money...I know things are tight for them, but if something is important enough, you make that a priority. Why keep everything hanging until the last minute if you know you don't have the money? My mom prepared the house for him to come stay. She cleaned out the closets, washed the comforter and bed linens and did a thorough "spring cleaning" of the place. And as usual, he flaked. I'm not surprised. Yet I am surprised that he would miss his daughter's wedding. *sigh* |