Thursday night we met Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken and Mom for a fantastic dinner out. It was so good, so enjoyed, and for me – so needed. A glass of wine to sip, and family all around spells out good times.
Early in the morning I was back at the office for a big fat day of to do’s. I was worried about being able to pull it off. I did get a whole lot done, but not as much as I wanted. That means it will spill over into Monday. Maybe one day I’ll be able to dip further into the list. It’s a lot for a new person to absorb and try to do but when I’ve been stuck, I’ve asked for help. I’ve been stuck a lot but it’s getting better. A week and a half is not a good training time to learn a new payroll system, learn how to pay taxes, learn how to cut checks, and so forth. I do have “staying power” within me though. One boss from my past called me resilient. Another called me “his rock”. And another said I’d be working for him if I didn’t live so far away. lol Those are fine echoes to hear in ones head. Compliments are hard to come by these days. So you have to hold on to the ones in the past. The person training me told me I was doing a good job and I thanked her for that. I just make silly mistakes on things that normal people wouldn’t, like hitting the “*” key on my calculator thinking it’s going to multiply for me – like it does in excel. It’s not that I thought about it at all – it’s just that is what my brain/fingers did on it’s own without thinking, lol. I have however, laughed with coworkers at work and with family about my silly mistakes and me sitting there thinking “what the hell is wrong with this calculator – it keeps totaling me out”. I’ve used my solar calculator – gosh I think I’ve had it since Dillard’s – lol. I’m using a big calculator now and it’s a honker and I’m getting used to it. So once I finish the taxes in a hurry then I can start on payroll Monday.
I had to take last Thursday to stop and do a few things like garnishments. I had 19 of them. But thankfully I only had to process 5 of them. Most were termed. Someone laughed at me when I said “Thank goodness they are termed”. They said don’t let anyone hear you say that. Oh my gosh can you imagine me trying to do 19 garns? Five was enough!
So I’m being baptized by fire. The week is getting easier, as are the tasks – some harder for me than others. And it just needs to fit in a normal week and the hours need to be shortened. Next week will be a sure fire test, b/c Monday is George’s birthday and I’ll be leaving fairly early. I will have to leave by 6. Tuesday we are going to a UB40 Concert. And George is going to take care of doggies, drive in to my work, bring us food to eat quickly, and then we are going to Uber in to town for the Concert and Uber back to the office and then drive home separately. So at least I’ll get to work til 6 ish that night so maybe it won’t be too hard to get everything done.
I will say that I’m able to relax more this weekend and less worried and anxious about the job. I have been scared the last couple or three weekends – however long it’s been just b/c I knew I had a big responsibility and a big learning curve and I wasn’t quite sure how long it was going to take me. Most things are clicking now and I’m developing my own systems for doing things and my good teacher is explaining to me “the why” of things and helping me to think like an accounting person – to understand “why” and “how” so that I’m not just following a process but understanding what is happening. Til I get everything grounded though – my notes and processes are working pretty good. Take me away from my notes and tell me to do something different and I’m liable to foul it all up – and have!
A much easier week though and will still assess the hours, b/c I have really missed going home at a decent hour. But it sure makes you appreciate the weekends that much more. At least I love the job or I’d have had to say “no thanks” at the hours. Hopefully it will continue to improve and if it doesn’t you will hear me whine and complain and moan until it does or something changes. I keep saying “we shall see” and “we simply shall”.
Katy sent me an encouragement card and also a Starbucks card. Yes, I cried. I was just so touched that she would do this. I think she could read between the lines and tell that her Momma was the ultimate stressed. God has been good. He knew I needed a change. And although this one has been probably the most stressful job change I’ve had, I really like the job. People keep telling me that I had very little time to learn and jumped in the frying pan when usually it takes a long time to learn. I appreciate the comments on that but I will tell you that I just had a lot of pressure, big shoes to fill in those that have done this before me. And I didn’t want to let anyone down. It’s been hard to sleep at night, and when I did I dreamed of time sheets, garnishments, and to do lists and so forth. But God has led me through the fear and told me “You are enough. I’ve called you into this position. It’s my voice you are following. I will lead you. You can rest in me.” Ahhh, The first week when I trained I was excited but tired and began to be scared that I could learn it all. The first week by myself, I came home every night that week for three nights in a row and cried and asked God if I was being punished, lol. This past week I’ve been too tired to care, but as determined as a pestering fly on a caramel iced cake in July. I was going to conquer this come hell or high water, come day or night, sunrise to sunset – by Joe it will be conquered. I’m not entirely there yet but feel I’m at Camp 2 waiting to take the summit. The oxygen level is getting low but I’m going to do it. I’m just bothered though that I’ve not been able to get back to everyone that is asking for things and I have a lot to follow up on but so far most have been patient. I’ve just had to keep going to meet deadlines and try to catch up later.
This was a fun surprise and one that I will use too. I had just bought one but it is not as fine as this. Love it! Only for being safe for the quarter, do you get the gift. Anyone’s injury or accident would knock us out for the quarter. I love it! So special!
Friday night, I had to leave earlier than I would have. But George came to my work with sandwiches and we ate them on the way to the funeral home in Joelton, TN where visitation was held for one of his Aunts.
We came home and I immediately landed in bed for a wonderful night of rest, knowing I didn’t have to hop up at 4 a.m. Of course Maisy woke me up at 5 ish. I got up at 5:30 and took her out and Roger wanted to go. We stepped outside and Roger caught a deer eating at George’s one tomato plant. They found it. They had bit right into a big green one we were waiting to turn. Roger barked him away but it was too late.
We sipped coffee this morning and headed in with the doggies to a new trim place in MJ Town. The people are really nice and I am booked for two more times. Each time I go I have to book them out about 5 or 6 months out. I have one in Oct and one in Dec. Next time I go I’ll book February. I told her to give him a good close trim and she did. And we did not know the dogs when we went back. lol lol lol. Our groomer would never groom them that close. I was so excited. I love them being close. They look so good. After we dropped the dogs off we went to yard sales and then back home to await to pick the doggies back up.
Maisy looks like a black and white Yoda and Roger just looks handsome like a fine little man. Maisy is cuter though with her little Papillion wings on her face, but I’m loving her all trim though. They also seem to love it too. They have had a pep in their step today and have run and played and you can tell that they feel awesome and free! We do that when we get our hair cut, lol. Roger no longer looks fat. lol
So with dog trims over pretty early, we were able to make it to George’s company picnic – perfectly! It was at the National Guard Armory there in Gordonsville. And we were able to eat BBQ, baked beans, mac and cheese. And when we signed in they gave us a tee-shirt with the company logo and then also a tote bag with a sun visor, lip balm, an ink pen, and several other things. I loved the tee shirt and was excited that I got one too. Then we headed out to a local grocery store there to see if they had anything different. We bought a few things. I bought a dish towel for a $1.00 and a new oven mitt for $1.00 and some bananas. And I might have splurged on these M & M’s a bit, telling myself I needed some protein, some coffee, and the sugar was not THAT bad if I didn’t eat too many, lol.
We came on back home and George mowed. I vacuumed and wrapped gifts for George’s birthday and really needing to sit down as we’d been on our feet all day so far. So I did and watched several of my shows. So I’ve been RV’ing in South Carolina, the Smokies, and checked out a Sports Mobile Classic 4X4 camper van in Nevada. I’ve been sailing, snorkeling, and scuba diving in the South Pacific and I’ve been sailing around Ireland, and also Cuba. It’s been a full day. I was totally relaxed and ready for it.
Then we went out to dinner tonight at George’s request as it’s his birthday weekend. We ate at a new Pho Restaurant here. The first time I had Vietnamese Pho was in LA. My blog buddy Jo Ann took me there and I loved it. I begged for us to find a place to get it. We finally began going to a few places that popped up in Nashville. And George likes it now and we actually have two places in town you can get it. Both very good. We enjoyed it. I was mad that I left my phone at home b/c it was on the charger, but I wasn’t mad for long. It was nice to not have it actually. I just wanted it for the pictures. George was glad, secretly.
And now it’s almost bed time again and I’m going to read about the Russo’s. I bought Joe’s book from the You Tube RV show. And he’s about out with another one soon. So I’ll buy it too. I just need to read some more if I’m going to buy them. I may ask for things for Christmas from all my favorite shows. It supports them and will make me happy to wear their tee shirts or have their totes, etc.
Anyway, we have a big day planned tomorrow. More birthday crawling. And I’m missing Global Celebration with Isagenix. While it makes me sad, I’m still going to be able to go and pick up my tote full of free stuff tomorrow as I’d already paid for my ticket. But it’s unreasonable of me to take this new payroll job and then demand to keep my vacay when this seminar thingy falls on Monday and Tuesday the two critical days. George said I could go tomorrow if I wanted. But there is no reason to have one toe in and not be able to do the others. I don’t know what happens when we have Monday the Labor Day off. We lose a day in doing time punches. I don’t know how that works? Or does our deadline extend by a day? I have no idea? I guess I will know soon. Thank God we don’t have plans for that. I will have to discuss our planned vacation soon. I don’t know how that is going to work but we have planned to go to Texas for Thanksgiving. I’ve given up so much so far for this position, I hope I don’t have to give up that too. That is the only week Katy is off that we could go and George is off that week. I guess we need to pray about it and I’ll need to talk to someone soon about that. And how to handle. I usually will just take Friday’s here or there. But this is important to us so we’ll see.
I ordered this today….
And this… a bathroom shower mat. Also Publix was having a sale and I bought a lot of things. And we went to a store that had good wines on sale for 5.99! So George laughed at how I was enjoying buying myself things on his birthday weekend! lol And my computer froze on me so I’ve had to bring this to a close on my phone. Glad the draft saved! Talk to you eventually.
It makes my day when I hear from you…