Tag: iPhone

Busy Holiday Season in the Making and Setting up My New iPhone 13 Pro Max

On By BackporchwriterIn Lifestyle, Tech4 Comments

Good morning! God provides just what I need when I need it. He plugs a little glimpse of nature here and there into my day.

It has been a quick and busy week. Not sure I mentioned the dishwasher is on the blink. The guy comes to fix it Monday. Til then we have all been taking turns doing dishes.

They came to fix Mom’s screen door on her patio yesterday and she put some pots and pans up. George took her to the mattress store as he picked her up from her house on the way from work and they stopped and she ordered the new adjustable mattress and the extender frame (or whatever she needs for the other room). The new mattress is supposed to deliver on Tuesday. We’ll see. She is still not moved in yet. And won’t be til mattress comes in and is set up.

Our neighbor has agreed to help George move her final few pieces of furniture Saturday. Then perhaps we can make more progress and get her set up to live there. Her kitchen and pantry and closet are about the only thing that is “ready to go”. I expect that she may be able to stay there as early as next week if the mattress arrives and all is set up.

Today we have an eye injection appointment. And since the office is closing down early (everyone – but me – gets to go see the new offices and will be provided lunch). I’m so disappointed but trying not to think of it. Yesterday I started packing up my office to bring things home. I just decided I have short weeks until the move. Not going to be there much. Next week is Thanksgiving, a 3 day week and the one after we are going to the mountains at the end of the week, so – there is only time to rush through work and no luxury of time to work on packing. So yesterday I began packing personal things and bringing them home. I’m not sure what the area will look like so I don’t know if my current decor will work. I’ll bring everything home and start over. I may even use some of the plants I had bought from my office, for home use. I will need to snag some boxes from the basement to bring more home today. I boxed up all of our 2020 records and moved those around the office and labeled them and now my back, shoulders, and alignment is acting up again like they did with last week’s move of Mom’s clothes. The TMJ seems to be back and forth. It loosens up with coffee. But never went back to the severity of the first day. My right knee and right arm/rotater cuff is worse from lifting all the weight lately with all the moves. As one of my dear friends says “honey, we are not spring chickens any more and we can’t do things like we used to”. So as of now, it my last official time to move these boxes. Someone else will have to move them around. I can pack ’em but someone else going to have to move them around. I’m resigning from lifting as of this writing. 😉 My friend is right. I’m not a spring chicken any more. I will likely take Tylenol to get through the day.

My iPhone 13 Pro Max came in Wednesday. The phone instructions at sign on, made it easy to switch the phone with a few exceptions. I was pleased all my apps, photos, contacts and everything switched over exactly as it was on the iPhone 8s. I only stayed up an hour past bed time to make sure all was well so I would be ready to go in the morning and not have any issues.

Well, duh. I went to hit my audible app to listen to my current audio book and it wouldn’t let me. First of all I had to sign in, then it told me there was no network available. What? I’m on 5G? Well, what I had done was set my phone apps up – which I guess was like a computer. And at home on my WiFi it all worked fine. Didn’t think to text or call anyone. So my cellular service was still attached to the other phone, lol lol lol! Oh me. So I got to work and after my garnishment check run, I looked on line to see if it was something I could do immediately to make it work w/o having to switch SIM cards etc. Is that what you call it? My old phone, and my new box and instructions were all at home. So I found the AT&T activation link on their website. Luckily since I ordered from AT&T it came loaded with the card and I was able to immediately activate this phone to use my cell number. It took them about 5 to 10 minutes to make it active. I was worried having Mom now to be responsible for, that she would not be able to reach me. So I resolved that. And I had an audio book on the way home. All that said I think I’ll like the new phone. I will try to do an entry soon with the differences that I like and what I’m having to get used to. There’s no home button anymore and that wigged me out at first. Screen shots are different and powering on and off is different. I’ve had to google a lot to get going with it. But I like the changes so far. Can’t wait to try to photography and the charging is supposed to be faster with the new charging cord/plug. I have more memory. But it’s heavier. And I need a new phone holder for the car. It’s going to be too heavy for my magnet based holder.

The commute has been less than desirable lately – time wise. It’s taken 45 min to an hour some days to take the back way due to traffic and stop lights and school zones. So I may have to take the interstate some, but maybe it will calm down with the schools out. I don’t know it may be worse and everyone will be OFF and OUT getting ready for Thanksgiving. Who knows. I’m just sick of the long lines of traffic and it’s about to get longer. I guess we’ll have to see how this new work place goes. I wish they would allow for remote work. But no I don’t think they trust us to get our jobs done at home as they mentioned they did not have the technology to manage that. I guess that is what they meant. I’m only guessing. And mostly they don’t have the equipment. But that would sure be a nice option to have. A lot of companies are allowing remote work. I’d also be willing to do 4 ten hour days and have an extra day off. But I don’t know that anyone would be willing to work with us on things like that. That would be ideal and save a trip in and back and save gas. It will be what it will be and we will have to see how it goes. I just do not like being on the interstate anymore with all the crazie racers and gun waving uglies. The police can’t control them now it seems. The interstate is a free for all racetrack and crime ladened spree zone.

I have had to change the font size and line height on every dang paragraph that I have typed here. It has been the most annoying blogging experience that I have had for a while. I’m not willing to do this every time I blog. But it if I don’t it tries to make the font really big and the spacing far apart. I’m not sure what is happening. Geez. I guess WordPress made some changes. But something has to give. I may have to change themes or something. I’ve been wanting to make some changes but it takes time and nothing is ever simple. I’m leaving the next paragraph as is for a test and we’ll see what it does when published. On my end it’s big font and too much line space in b/w:

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving. I am anyway. We each have what we need for cooking. And I will also do my Christmas cards that day. The day after Thanksgiving and over the weekend I’ll be doing our tree and decorating. And if Mom has moved I’ll also move into the bigger room because I’m becoming squeezed out of my office with all the gifts we have bought. It’s getting tight in there and hard to move around. I’m also looking forward to getting the rest of my clothes back out and in use as well as more of the fall ones. I think we are ALL ready for this phase of Mom’s move to be done so we can get back to somewhat of our normal routines and spaces and way of doing things.

Good news, the new video is finished. I plan to schedule it for live at 7:00 a.m. CST tomorrow (Saturday). I will put a posting as I have time. Tomorrow morning is very busy! It’s Fancy trim, I have to provide breakfast for the crew, and also have to drop keys off at the old storage place, and then get Mom to her house to show them where the furniture goes, then get back and pick up Fancy at the spa. So big day. May not get to post that video is up until late in the day, but tonight I’m going to do a quick run through of it in private mode and make sure all ok before making it go live. It’s always been ok, but should something go wrong it won’t go live.

Meanwhile in TX. Guess who is pulling up and standing and also taking minor steps while holding on to things. He’s saying Momma, playing hide and seek that he starts with his parents, and becoming more interactive. He’s waving and learning a word here and there. He’s learning vocabulary even if he can’t say it yet. He knows names, people, dogs, his cartoon TV characters, lol. And he can give a kiss but with a full mouth open ha. He’s fun to face time with.

And I need to go. I will be back on Sunday. We have plans with my SIL and BIL after the move tomorrow so I don’t think I can hop on here until probably Sunday but I will try to at least post the video if I can!

It’s getting into the real crunch of the season here. I’m trying not to hyperventilate and take one moment at the time. I’m probably going to be late to work, have to get off early, work late on other days, go in early certain days – it’s just all haphazard at this point and we’ll do what we can and what we have time to do and the rest of it will have to wait. It is what it is.

I guess we’ll come up for air in February. Or maybe Spring. February we will be busy catching up on what all we are behind on. January is just impossible. lol Trips and Year end. I think I’m moving the new year goals out to March 1. lol. Can’t plan anything for Jan and Feb.

Ok Over and Out. I don’t have much time to get ready so I guess I’ll have to take the interstate this morning. ::sigh::

Moving Mom, Unpacking, Eating Out, Pleasing Others

On By BackporchwriterIn Home, Life, Lifestyle, Relationships6 Comments

Odd Schedules. I have overslept the past two days ya’ll! I have been awake in the early morning post-midnight hours (shopping on Amazon and checking email, and doing things I’ve not had time to do all day ) only to fall back asleep around 3:30 and to be woken up by George. It’s been the strangest things. My alarm set didn’t go off, or if it did it was on silent which was likely the case. Therefore I have felt so disorganized. I have been off my routine and schedule and it has thrown me for a loop. My shower, coffee, prayer journal, blog or video editing hour, all out the window. Blood pressure meds forgotten and taken later at night and having to get up at night several times (water pill that is in it). You would think a couple days off would not be so hard on a person, lol!

Mom’s Closing. However, having giving up all those said things above, I was able to get Mom closed on her house Friday. First of all on the way out (because with Mom you leave an hour before you really need to, lol) we had time to go sign her up for her Water service and stop at “Ready Teddy’s” for a breakfast sandwich. Mom laughed b/c she said “Ready Teddy’s” sounded like a sexy lingerie place instead of a coffee cafe. True That. I had never been – except for maybe a coffee through the drive through. We decided we only had time for drive through Friday before the closing but we had the BEST breakfast sandwiches. I mean REAL bacon, mayo, tomatoes that tasted like they were from the garden. We’ll be back there I’m sure. We had to laugh again at their “401k plan” to which we happily contributed.

Back at Mom’s house, most of the things had been done: The sod in place, the garage pressure washed, the blue electrical marking touched over. The screen door however, to the patio does not work. Oh they put it on, but it won’t slide. At all. I mean they had to known. It’s too big for the door. So I’m not sure what happens now. I feel like they will make it right but we’ve closed so it might be all Mom’s problem at this point. Also the dishwasher top pull out is really tight so she will likely have to contact the appliance company for that under the warranty. We don’t have the fobs to the clubhouse yet, but that may come later as the clubhouse had been hit by the tornado back last spring and it’s being remodeled. We “think” we have mail keys but there is no way to know what number her mail box is as nothing corresponds. It has a number on the key but that doesn’t work and there is no other corresponding number. There were probably 30 or 40 mail boxes – it’s almost like they do mailboxes in an apartment complex. And I wasn’t going to try all of the mail boxes so she’ll have to call and find out about that.

We went to Target and she bought sheets and towels and also kitchen towels and washrags. We did good to remember to bring her toilet paper stash from home, lol.

We were able to figure out how to “program” her keys. Thank goodness I video’d the explanation. It was pretty simple, just a bit awkward. I had never seen anything like that where you had to have a tumbler to reprogram keys. The original key we first got in with is no good but we programed her key set in all the key holes. If you program one key the rest of the keys cut the same way work. We were proud of ourselves for getting that figured out. We decided we didn’t need to paper the cabinets b/c it just needed a wipe out. So we are only putting papers in the utensil drawers. We will return the other liner to Lowe’s and get a bit of money back. We sealed her grout in the kitchen and also did the granite.

By this time we were ready to get a late lunch about 2 p.m. as we had done all we could do. Mom was getting tired. And so we went to Local Joe’s as we were both wanting “meat and three” – most of us just get a meat and two, lol. But we call a place that has the meats and veggies – a meat and three – for those not in the south. In some places they are called “cafeterias” if there is a line you go through like you do at Local Joe’s. Mom and I got catfish, lol. I got green beans and navy beans. Oh it was so good. Their hushpuppies had a bit of jalapeño in it – just enough to be good and not too hot. They also have yeast rolls which I said no to but Mom got one and shared a bite with me and it was so good. Then the man came around with fresh baked hot chocolate chip cookies and served us each one off the pan. No worries as they were small ones that met by “two bite” rule, ha!

I’m sorry I’ve not been good at taking pics lately. Life is just so overwhelming that I end up forgetting the blog and vlog and just diving into whatever is going on. Having an extra person to be responsible for just takes a lot away from you it seems. It’s all consuming as my thoughts are all wrapped up in trying to please her and anticipate what her next “thing” is going to be as she has such rigid rules and ways she likes to do things. The air has to be just right, certain doors left closed or open, and when we are doing things – she gives you several “to do’s” – look up this or that on the internet, lock this or that, close this or that, look at this or that. So I’m trying to explain why I don’t have time to take pics of things or even have my own thoughts. lol. I’m not trying to complain here just trying to explain why I can’t get pics taken of what we are doing. I can’t get her list checked off fast enough to whip the camera out. I’ve had to tell her two or three times in the last day or two “hang on – one thing at a time”. She will “stack you up” with to do’s like I’ve never seen. I remember it as a teen too. Of course as a child or teen she could do that. As an adult, she will have to wait til I can get to her. And I try to meet her needs on a whim but I’m only one person and I have needs too, so my thought time is being all taken up as is my creative time but we knew this would be a crazy period. So we just have to work through it. Both she and I will have to grow and maintain a bit of patience. It’s not all going to happen in one or two days or even a month. It’s going to be a very long and ongoing process to get her settled in. If indeed there is such a thing. lol.

When George is around I can get in more pics as he can entertain her for a few minutes so I can get a thought in edgewise, ha! So once George got home and did a few errands he needed to do, when he was ready we were going out to eat. Mom decided not to go. She didn’t want us to bring anything back. I think she is exhausted and overwhelmed. She is used to just sitting in recliner most of the day on her tablet scrolling. She will usually get up and do up some dishes or sometimes fix a dish or crock pot meal or a dinner. She fixes her quick meals and takes care of the dog but mostly is sedentary and so with us going around doing things all day – it just takes a lot out of her. She has not been getting her naps in the afternoons as much because of the calls she has made or we’ve been busy shuttling her here and there. So she is very very tired. So another reason I think she is so tired she doesn’t really even want much to eat.

So George and I went out on our own to M L Rose. It was kinda like a date night in a way. We had an hour wait so we sat at the bar and got a beer. They have a great tap. I got a hazy IPA which has kinda been my go to lately when we go out.

So we had a good time chatting and talking and then finally we got a table. This place is quite the restaurant favorite in Mount Juliet. There are several favorites but I think this is the new one.

My salad was really good. It was supposed to have blue cheese but it was feta. All good though. It was a strawberry walnut salad. I don’t think I even got chicken on it this time. I just really wanted to eat light as Mom and I had catfish for lunch. ;-). I drank a big beer size glass of water – true to my new goals – and so then when we ordered dinner I ordered a flight! LOL. It just kinda came out of my mouth when she said “what to drink?” I wasn’t driving – it’s been a long dang month and Mom just closed on her house so it seemed fine. They had a flight of local brewery favorites and it sounded so good.

But then……..While we ate dinner, George asked me if I would come out of my bedroom more. I’m like what???? Our conversation went something like this.

G: Will you come out of your bedroom more?

S: What? What do you mean? I’m hardly in there. I go to bed at 8:30 because I’m exhausted. I get up an hour early so I can get a bit of time to myself in the mornings and spend time in prayer and Bible reading, do my blog entry (which I’ve done for what 20 years or more now?) And then I rush off to work. When I come home I do chores and maybe get a sneak in time to do order’s on Amazon, check off things from my to do list, or check email before dinner as he likes to be the one to cook -so I have some time then to do chores and to do’s.

S: When are you thinking you want me to come out of my room?

G: Maybe come out of your room one morning a week?

S: And do what? What do you want me to do when I give up my “me time hour”? Watch you get ready for work? Watch you read YOUR email? What am I supposed to be doing with this hour?

G: Never mind, just never mind! I just want to watch our show again.

S: Well we can do that when we get to eat dinner on the couch when Mom is gone, and watch a show again. We can’t watch our show in the mornings, lol.

So I immediately clammed up. I don’t understand and if he can’t explain then I can’t help him. And he was unable to explain what he needed from me, other than he wants to watch our shows again. That is fine but usually after dinner is when we can do that and he is off in the back in the bedroom on the computer in Mom’s temporary bedroom. So………….give up that time? lol That is probably his only hour of the day to get things done. And then he has an hour in the mornings too and then he has an hour after I go to bed. If I get an extra hour it’s in the middle of the night at 1:30.

So I’m not sure what all that is about, but I clammed up because I just don’t understand what he wants from me and it immediately made me feel like I’m inadequate and not pleasing and I started to go into that mode of being frustrated to the point I wanted to cry until I remembered some of my recent training on relationships and boundaries and self-care and manipulation and all that. It’s the other’s responsibility to be able to state what they need. It’s NOT my place to try and figure it out and be made to feel guilty or controlled by another. So…….I immediately shoved it away to pat myself on the back for what all we have been able to do with the time we have.

If a need cannot be described then I can’t meet it. I can certainly watch a show with him but it requires him to be present too. I mean what do you do with that conversation? I decided to do nothing because I can’t deal with things I don’t know what I’m dealing with. I cannot meet a need if I don’t know what it is – to be fair. So other than this blog entry of simply mentioning it – I’m tossing it out the window. I will be happy to adjust when I know what the adjustment needs to be and it makes sense. I’m not going to give up an hour and sit on the sofa and just be there for the sake of just sitting there while others do things they want to do. That doesn’t make sense.

There seems to be an underlying problem but I am not sure what it is. Maybe he thinks I am too independent. Is he wanting to control my time? I have no idea. But he is not happy for some reason. I can’t fix everyone’s happiness if I don’t know what they need. ::Sigh:: So as I went to sleep I just gave it God. I’m only one person. I can’t please everyone. I try but it’s never good enough and it will never be. But I’m not going to suffer in silence if someone else cannot voice their opinion.

So I made the decision to get up the next day and do what I know to do. Live the best I can with God’s help and try to do as much as I can with the time we have and still be my own person somewhere in the process. We don’t get to really program those around us like they are a TV station we turn on and off. So I’m confused by the whole conversation. All that said, I’m still sad knowing there is some issue that I am unaware of what it is. Is he feeling insecure? Does he think something is going on with me? Is he worried about me? Or us? I have no idea. And it’s not healthy to make things up and not fair to me to have to guess. So out the window it must go. I have too many other things in my head to try to guess how someone needs to be pleased if they cannot tell me with words what they need. If it’s simply a show I can certainly watch a show with him but he needs to be present too, lol.

So yesterday morning, I took George to get the UHaul truck. It was a foggy cold morning. I went back to our house to load a bunch of Mom’s hanging clothes in the car from the basement. And put in all that I could put in my car.

George went to the storage unit and brought a load over. We unloaded a lot of corning ware and a lot of unneeded things. But we began washing things in hot dishwater. Much of it has been in the cabinets for years anyway. We put much of the corning ware up and her clothes that we took.

About 1 we went to Zaxby’s for a salad and got George a sandwich too. And that was good. We worked some more and Mom was worn out. She rested off and on and we quit working around 3:30 or 4 p.m. and headed back to the house.

George loaded boxes from the basement into the U-Haul and I loaded suitcases filled with Mom’s clothes from the basement as well as other boxes that I could lift and carry. We both had our own tetris games going.

Last night around 7 p.m. George and I went to get groceries and then went through this Hibachi drive through place and took dinner home. I took a shower and went to bed. I was up twice in the night since I took my BP meds late and then at 3:00 I just stayed up so I could get laundry done, put up the dry goods of groceries we were too tired to do last night, and be able to get my prayer journaling done and Bible reading and blog entry. I feel like a real person again. Sortof. lol.

But it is time to eat breakfast and get on with another busy day of setting up and unpacking. Furniture – most of it – won’t come until next weekend. We were supposed to go get my iPhone 13 today ordered but decided we will need to do it at night one night.

While in the drive through last night, I worked on setting up the “scheduled summary” on my iPhone after a recent update. I chose what apps I wanted to see notifications from at certain times of day ONLY. It seems lately that my phone is wanting my attention. I’m allowing calls, messages, weather, emergencies, and yes even WordPress notifications to come through immediately. But news items, Facebook, Instagram and other messages have to wait until certain times of the day. I’m ok to check it in the mornings and again at lunch, and again after work, and again before bed. I want to know what the headlines are but dang – they send alerts every few minutes so no more of that. It’s so distracting. I may change it to three times a day but I like kinda knowing what is going on with our nation so we have a heads up. Things are so volatile now.

Ok ya’ll what an entry! Let me know if you made it to the end. I’ll try to come back with a blog entry in the morning on Monday. I think today is Sunday, lol. I’m so off schedule. I have a busy 3 days coming up. I will do what I can to bring some pics back. I’m a little worried about this 3 day week but a lot will have to be shoved into the next week until I can catch up. It is what it is as no one is doing my job while I’m gone. So it will be what it will be. Again, hard to please and hard to be everything everyone needs me to be.

EVERYONE has NO CHOICE but to be patient including myself. I don’t have wings, don’t have a magic wand, and no magic potion. And according to some, I don’t have what it takes to make them happy or complete. But you know what? I have me, I have God as a resource. That may not be much. I may not mean anything or mean much to others than whatever it is that need from me at the moment it is needed, whether it be doing their laundry or setting up their household or getting their payroll done. But I am me and I am going to be happy with me even if no one else is. I know what I want. All I can do is try to understand and change accordingly to help others with what they want, if it is something I can provide or change or am willing to change.

Tribe…yeah, it spoke. 😉

Maternity Looks Good, iPhone Aesthetic, Deadlines, and Encouragement

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Good morning! I just wanted to share some of Katy’s maternity pics. They turned out so pretty.

The dress is pretty too. She is getting big with baby! And can you believe it is about 6 to 7 weeks til term? She could go early as well. So we will be grandparents soon. The due date is January 19th. I have an idea. Now that you all have seen the pics and know the due date. Give me your best guess as to the date our little grandson will be born? Put the date below in the comment section. We will see who gets the closest.

I just love this dress. I love that color. I love greens, blues, turquoise. But that is the prettiest color. She wears a hat well. Love these and just had to share.

Our Christmas Tree

Snapped a pic of our main Christmas Tree for you. It went up fairly quickly this weekend. I loved having George put ornaments on the tree with me. There are a lot of ornaments and it’s always special to have someone helping to put them on the tree. Mostly it’s been me as decorating was more my forte, but Christmas trees were meant to be decorated together. More fun that way.

Maisy Update

She continues to improve. She continues to eat, drink water, and yesterday’s perk was that she was more alert. This morning when I put her on the floor, her tail perked up and she ran to the front door. That was new. She’s normally moving slowly and often in a medicated “stare”. She had to go! Our nights we have been getting more sleep with her on the meds as she is tapped out. That has been nice as we’ve needed the rest. I’ve thanked and praised God for her turn around and continued improvement. I knew I loved her. I didn’t realize how much I guess. But her near loss has torn me up. And the last few days I have gained hope that she will be on the mend or at least with us a bit longer. Don’t stop praying. God hears our prayers. There are so many of us pulling for her and he saw my tears. He is the Great Physician and the Great Vet too! I give Him the praise. I’m also proud of Maisy for being tough and determined. I’m proud of George and I for being determined to get the pills down her. One person would not have been able to do it. I also am proud of you all for your kind words of comfort as you know I have been just terrorized watching her be so sick.

She ate a lot more this morning too when we got up, so her quantity of eating is increasing.

My iPhone Wallpaper/Background

Here’s what the background looks like. I posted some free backgrounds on yesterday’s post if you want to download. I love the pine trees. I have my most used apps on the front page.

Here is my 2nd page.

The third or fourth pages don’t matter so much. I hardly ever need anything from there. lol

My phone has been slow yesterday. I don’t know if it is APPLE or if it’s just that I have too much on there. I probably need to go through and do a cleaning out. Audible for example probably needs to be deleted of some books.

Diary of Yesterday

It was a payroll day. The day was good for the most part. I was rushing a bit because I knew that I had to pack up and take a lot to my car for working from home today. As well I had a lot more added to my day to get stuff done I couldn’t do at home. And to prepare and gather the work that I would be working on today such as tax files and such.

Well usually payroll days are quiet. I had more interruptions yesterday I think that I normally would have in a week. I usually don’t get any calls anymore so I’m not complaining really. Most people e-mail. But I had a lot of things to rise up end of Monday and early yesterday that took away from the payroll time. Just people waiting til the 11th— or 14th hour in some cases telling me things that are needed or involving the payroll that I’m currently doing. A bit later and the train would have pulled from the station, but it delayed things. So I did w/o taking a proper lunch and of course the work day spilled into me staying past the time most everyone else had left. I ate at my desk for lunch though and kept chugging down the track and that saved a few minutes.

I try to train people to get me things on time and I ALWAYS let them know when they are late because people need to be told that – otherwise you’ll be getting payroll things after payroll is done for the prior week payroll. And what am I saying – that still happens every week. Still………..I keep reminding. Some don’t like it when you ask for things on time, but I guess that is on them. We have a right to try and get things done on time right?

I think I’m turning into George. He turns everything into a song! And well so did I yesterday.

OK so you know Chicago’s song – “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?” I keep humming that line in my head, LOL LOL LOL

Does anybody really know what time it is
Does anybody really care (care about time)
If so I can’t imagine why (no, no)
We’ve all got time enough to cry And I was walking down the street one day (people runnin’ everywhere)
Being pushed and shoved by people (don’t know where to go)
Trying to beat the clock, oh, no I just don’t know (don’t know where I am)
I don’t know, I don’t know, oh (don’t have time to think past the last mile)
(Have no time to look around) And I said, yes I said (run around and think why)

Well it’s not the proper lyrics to match the exact situation but that one line is. I keep singing it like this?

Does anybody really know what a deadline is?

Does anybody really care?

Gotta add a little humor in one’s day to keep the humor buttons pushed and to smile instead of scowl. I’m the one trying to beat the clock here! Oh well, it’s just my self taught work ethics trying to come out. Standard work standard time every time. But we don’t live in a perfect world. I have to try and remember that. No one is perfect. But we all could do better. I think it’s wrong to just accept poor performance. If something needs to improve for next time – let’s do it. If something is wrong let’s fix it. I don’t really think that is asking too much. Personally or professionally in life. We’ll never get better if we accept that it is ok to sub perform. Then we’ll always sub perform.

So end of day I’m boxing, packing, and trying to figure out how the monitor is going to work as last time I think I had a different cord or maybe even another monitor. I can’t remember. But I asked a kind coworker how it would work. And he showed me which cord. He asked why I was having to box things up and why if it’s so much trouble wouldn’t I just stay in the office during remote week like other managers. I explained I had requested to do so but despite that request, I was on the schedule to be off. And so I would comply. I told him no one really knew what all it involved and probably didn’t mind that I would have to carry so much back and forth – after all it’s me doing the carrying – but I’d try to comply with their wishes even so.

Anyway George helped me get the monitor upstairs and then I brought my purse, work bag, laptop case, and box of work and supplies for today’s needs. I think I spouted off that my 58 year old self was a bit old for this much wagging stuff around every other days and something about that not being the norm or we’d have to do something else! But for a week I’m trying to comply. Lord willing and I don’t pull a muscle.

I will pack it all up today and take it back tomorrow. Probably even the monitor b/c I think I will really miss having the monitor Thurs. Then pack it up and back home Friday. It’s a LOT of trouble. But it is cool to get to work from home. Or is it? I think we are back on our normal schedule next week.

Once home I returned messages. One from my sister, one from my neighbor, and caught up on a few things here. George fixed Chinese tacos, we watched Below Deck, which to me is not very good this season. I was struggling to stay awake. We had to give Maisy meds in TWO sessions. The big liver pill is every evening and it’s a huge one. We had to break it up last night into little pieces as she fought us on it. And then before bed we had to give her the rest of the meds.

Cuddles and Snuggles

Maisy, Since she has been sick she cuddles more. Or is at least within reach. She used to be within reach for only the first few minutes of bedtime. I sing to her every night and tell her how pretty she is and how God gave her to me and that I love her. And when I begin to drift off she moves off into the middle of the bottom of the bed. But the last couple of nights in particular she has remained within my petting distance and even against my legs. It’s been good for both of us while she is so ill to be within touching distance. She licked my hand last night after I sang to her. She hadn’t been doing that while she’s been sick. So I cherished that even though I really can’t stand for a dog to lick! lol

Encouragement

So, all that said, we ALL need some encouragement. Life is hard. Each day has such a struggle it seems – whether it be within ourselves, with others, or both. Or whether it just be life’s circumstances – a pandemic, a sick fur baby, aging parents, estranged relatives, having to stay apart from people you love, missing your friends and family, and daily stresses. We are all struggling or fighting some battle. We are ALL on EDGE. Reach out and encourage someone today. This is the first lesson of my Happiness audio by Max Lucado “Happiness Happens”.

I chose this audio because I let everything frustrate me. I start the day with a smile and a pep in my step but by mid morning most days, I’ve been tested and tried. How does a persona like mine make it in the world? You have high expectations of trying to make the world better and people look at you like you have a third eye? LOL. I just shake my head and spout a few words and go on to the next frustration factor. As said, it’s NOT wrong to try and make things better. So we keep trying, we keep encouraging. I have to push through my frustrations and try to find the positive side. We have to hold our negative thoughts captive before they get air time. While carrying monitors and boxes out the door during a Pandemic it’s easy to spout off! I want to encourage others, but I will say that even the encourager needs encouragement some days.

One thing I love is that each day starts anew! Let’s try again! And here we go. Life is good this morning, let’s keep it going!