Less Hustle More Coffee

Good morning and thank goodness it is Friday. I know I have a stressed looking picture there today but honestly I have not had much of an opportunity to even get stressed. lol lol The load may be there and I finally got the numbers to do most of the returns, but it was time to do payroll related activities for the week. I’ve had *some* time to work on returns and have made some progress, but I won’t finish since I was not given the opportunity to get it done on time. The *opportunity* didn’t exist, so why stress over it. It will be what it will be. Actually getting the numbers late has stressed me out less than ever. Because I already knew the situation was impossible. That said, I did make some progress and *may* make some more today *if* there is time left.

I have to leave at half day today as it’s Mom’s eye injection. I was told I had Monday to do returns *but* being out half a day today and I have to be fitted for a crown at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning. When I made the appt months ago, quarter end was supposed to have been over as I said don’t make the appt in July. Monday is August 1. So *no* sadly, I do not have Monday as by the time I get there I’ll have to do PTO’s and time sheets. Anyway to process anything after noon on any given day always posts the $ the following day for banking.

I also have several “hours” in the “bank” from where I have worked over some or gone in earlier since I began keeping up with the hours. I wanted to make sure the company is getting a full week from me. They are and then some, but I’ve had to cut back my hours some with Mom and the new dog and additional responsibilities at home as I am having to cook more. Still I’m getting my time in. Sometimes it may be a 7.5 hr day but the next may be 9. Most are over 8 or more for sure. Knowing I have the hours in the bucket helps with doc appts and such as they happen across the year. So when I made these for this next week, I didn’t know that our department would be so behind. I will deal with our inefficiencies as best as I can and it will be done when it gets done and I get the *opportunity* of time to do it. One can only do the best they can with the tools, the time, and the data they have when they have it. Then we can make some coffee. I mean come on, do you not pay your employees and work on tax returns instead? Not unless you want a riot, lol! So, it is what it is.

I did tell my boss that it made me look like the bad guy to file returns late, and she said it wasn’t my fault. Still I will put notes on each one that is late explaining *why*. So I’m over it. You can only control your own actions but you can wave a magic wand and expect things to come to you on demand. lol. If that were the case, I’d certainly NOT be where I am today as those powers would be worth more than anyone could afford, I’m afraid. lol.

And if life doesn’t calm down we may ALL be having to do something different to FUND our every day needs. People have suggested to me that it may be worth looking at what my job is worth on the market for the few years I have left. I love my job though (most of the time). I’m not sure if our company is giving raises to us office folks any time soon for either merit or cost of living. I’ve been there 10 years this month! How ’bout that? I don’t think they honor our service anymore – unless you have 30 years. I did make sure we honored and appreciated employee service when I was in HR. But when I left I think it stopped. They did honor someone that was there 30 years yesterday with a BBQ lunch and that is awesome. I hope others were not missed that have been in that same scenario.

I love my job but I will say that working from home would be an ideal situation for me. I’m not in the market and have not been looking. But the cost of living is going up but raises are not. The older ones always seem to suffer through times like these. While the younger ones switch jobs a lot and go up in their salary demands, those that are loyal and STAY don’t get to do that and raises don’t go up as fast as the monetary amounts you can gain from switching jobs. I hate that but you have to decide if you want the money or to stay. I really don’t want to have to learn a new job again, personally. And then I’m old so who wants to pay for that? The older ones that are loyal just kinda get stuck in the corner and forgotten sometimes in businesses. And I’m not one to go throwing my weight around to get multiple increases like I’ve seen across my life. But mainly we just do what we have to do when the time comes to do it or opportunity presents itself.

So it the weekend coming up. We have some errands to run for mom in the morning and then Sunday will drop them off to her on her way to church. I have a lot of things to get done at home this weekend. And most of all I need some down time to rest. I get really tired by days end these days. Just work, commute, dealing with responsibilities, taking care of home, the dog, and Mom’s needs – and then trying to have time for George and I and some personal time to answer texts, emails, and maybe watch a show or read or work on movie or the blog – it’s challenging. The weekend definitely is where we find some joy as we can breath for a bit again.

Wednesday night Mom had her hair appt so I left Antioch, went to Lebanon to get her and took her to Mount Juliet to get her hair done and we ate close by at CP by the Lake. They had a BBQ and Ribs platter for $17. Look how much food. I was not able to eat all the ribs. I loved the BBQ and ate about two ribs. I took the rest of the ribs home for George. Then I took Mom home and ordered some things she needed and got back home just in time for bedtime.

I have still bee faithful to exercise every morning – at least 10 to 18 minutes. I get up at 4:30 and by the time I potty, make coffee and feed Dexter it’s usually about a quarter til 5. George gets up at 5 and then I get in the shower. Then I blog and/or work on movie until 6:30 and then get ready for work, take care of Dexter to make sure he has his treats and music (French Cooking Channel on Pandora, lol) and then out the door. I haven’t weighed. My guess is that I’ve not lost a lot but my weight seems to be distributing itself. I can tell my knees and legs are stronger when I go up the stairs. I’m not having to pull myself up them as often. The goal is to remain mobile as I age and to lose a couple of sizes at least. That would be nice.

At work I eat all day long though. I am not sure why. I just get hungry or agitated or something that makes me want to munch. I try to make it healthy but still it’s more calories. So I may have to figure out what changes to make there with this.

I have had a time and a half this week with this video. First it was a LOT to sort through. I had a lot of footage, some of it not so good so I had to get creative to salvage it, and finally got finished. I did the upload which took forever to get uploaded to YouTube. Then I decided to move some files around and got ahead of myself as I moved the movie upload file which was in the middle of uploading. So I deleted it at 59% loaded as it got stuck b/c the file was moved. So then I uploaded it again and it took about 24 hours (b/c I was not here to jiggle the mouse to keep it awake). Finally uploaded and I got the thumbnail done on Canva. And got the video scheduled for Saturday at 7:00. So George and I watched it last night. I can watch it since it’s my YouTube although the public can’t see it til tomorrow. Well the TEXT was corrupted in the video and didn’t all come through in 3 different places in the video. So I had to go and delete that one. I went to my original on Final Cut Pro and the text was fine in the movie, but I cut it out in most parts so as to not take a chance in case it would corrupt again. I exported with a different name and then uploaded to YouTube – well it’s at 71% and is loading pretty fast as I started it last night. I hope it will be ready by 7 a.m. tomorrow. I will even stay up late if I have to or get up early. But I’m so close. I will come in and leave a link IF it uploads. It’s so aggravating. So much so it makes me want to throw in the towel on doing these. I mean if it is going to to change the video on you, after all that work….so now I’ve also got to watch the entire video again once uploaded to make sure it doesn’t happen to other parts. I’m sure it probably just got corrupted somehow with the re-upload.

I’m anxious to start the 2022 one and I plan to go fast and quick with those so I can get on to doing some more intentional things which I actually should start working on filming NOW so I’ll be ahead of THAT game. It will still have our fun family outings involved but will have some definite intentional vlogging of things of interest. Hopefully. Instead of just whatever was in my video/photo library for the time period, lol. The intentional filming will take more time. For example if I do a video on how I got started into vlogging and what it is like making a video – that’s intentional and will take some planning and overlays, and lighting set up and all that. I’m not just pulling out the camera in a moment. So I’m getting close to getting caught up. That is almost laughable though b/c time keeps on moving forward and it’s August so instead of 9 months behind now I’m 8 months? I just know I don’t have the footage for a lot of the months, so hopefully now in 2022 files it’ll go quick. I’m anxious to get to the Dexter point and will have to do a new intro. I’m tired of the old one anyway. So no I’m not giving up. I do want to find more time still to work on things. Life is just so busy.

Pray for my Little Roo (grandson). He has a fever and it came on suddenly. I hope he is better soon and I’ll be praying for him all day today. I worry about my little fella out there in TX.

Better go. Always rushing to get through with something and get out the door….again! George has a half day also today and will get home earlier to Dexter after he gets his glasses fixed.

OK so over and out and I’ll leave the link to the video (hopefully) in the morning around 7 a.m. if all goes well. It’s 73% loaded currently. ::sigh:: so I’ll have to finish it up tonight with title, description, and thumbnail and ending cards. Geez. Maybe it would go quicker if I did it with lower quality settings. But the video needs all the help it can get til I can learn to use my camera better. The iPhone works so much better (right now for me anyway). I did some test footage but haven’t transferred it over. I’m not sure my microphone works well. So testing that out too. I think the audio with Final Cut Pro is not as good as iMovie for some reason. Anyway, over and out. Otherwise I will sit here all day and vlog.

I’m not sure anyone is reading this mess anyway, lol! I wondered if maybe I should just quit blogging altogether. It crosses my mind from time to time.