Tag: Work

Weary of Ticking Boxes but Pressing On

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Well, I had to research who Og Mandino was. lol. Apparently he wrote a book called “The Greatest Salesman in the World”. And apparently it was a very successful book with reviews like “he captured it all right here”. So if anyone is in sales go back in time and give it a read, I guess? Anyway, as for me, I’ll take the quote in itself. Determination is a strong suit! And I’ve been determined this week to get caught up. I believe I have! I am now where I normally am when closing a quarter. I’m to the point of waiting on others information. All my withholding returns are done. I’m ready to do the unemployment returns but will do them when the information packets come my way. There are other reports I can skip ahead and do in the interim that I had said last time I would do. So I will do those. I have a lot of payroll related things to do today like process garnishment checks and upload 401k but this afternoon I will about be caught up to where I normally am in a quarter end. I will come in this weekend if I have things to do, but won’t if I don’t.

I WILL say, that I am “weary” though and losing my spunk. I’ve pressed hard this week both at work and at home. I’ve ticked off boxes like mad. I can say already I’m ready for a down day. A day to just do whatever. I thought about getting a pedicure, mainly just for the soak and the soft feet and the massage, but I think I’ll just do them on my own one more time or two and then go in the spring. I’m on the fence, but perhaps I should go just for the morale of it.

The coffee is good this morning. And speaking of coffee, I got my 6 month subscription started, so my first shipment is on the way. The sample packet was shipment one. So this is shipment two. I’m unsure if I have to schedule each one or if they just ship a month apart. They had a nice website but that part was a bit unclear and confusing. It’s Driftaway coffee. A bit pricey, but makes a great gift! I think the pricing is about $17 per 11 oz. Not something we would pay for during the year. But George loved giving the gift of food items this year. And we enjoyed the “test kit”. We make it fun and only drink THIS coffee out of a china cup! 😉

The To Do List is below. It’s kindof an expensive to do list too. Which is another reason I kinda want to put my nails and toes on the back burner! I had though I was getting the back up drive and external hard drive for Christmas, but didn’t. So….it is something I need to have. I think I’ll order the back up drive first and then maybe in a month get the external Lacie to house the movies. But George wants me to go ahead and order the lens for my camera as that is my birthday present. He keeps asking if I have ordered it but have hardly had time. I need to get going on the Big Sur download but need to make sure I have some time to deal with it all. I just need TIME! And time is something that is luxurious right now. This below is only one of 4 project lists. lol I will have probably 5 more projects added to the first one in a day or two. Once my chair arrives, that will take precedence and I’ll be setting up my office corner and moving things around. I look forward to this and I’m going to be royally pissed when it comes in if I don’t have time to work on it. lol.

So yeah, I’m weary of working as fast as I can to tick off boxes, but I still keep going. I will have to stop and insert some morale boosting activities. At home that would be a show or just doing what I want to do for a few minutes. At work, that might mean a lunch out. Or leaving on time one day instead of staying over. Or perhaps not coming in on a Saturday. I probably still will though if there is work to do so that next week is not so stressed. The last week of the month following a quarter end is always stressful. I’m slumped over my desk, shoulders hurt, don’t drink enough water, don’t take enough breaks, don’t eat right, stomach distressed, and working like a slave trying to get it all done. It is usually the week in which I either get diverticulitis or that fever thing I get from being tired. I usually end up in tears before the week is out as the data always comes at the last minute and then bam it is all on me to finish! I do love my job but I will say I hate those weeks like that. And I dread next week and I will need all the morale boosting things I can come up with next week.

So there you have it. The state of my current being. I’m still positive, just weary, and trying to prevent being overly tired or allowing the negativity to creep in. I’m kinda sitting on the fence right now. LOL I do start to get a little rattled when I cannot get done things I need to get done. I’ve been able to get a lot done this week despite how busy it’s been so I’ve tried to be patient with myself and understand it is not all going to get done at once.

Notice cleaning house is not on the list. It should be! As well as putting up Christmas related things and getting my house back to order. I have to have a weekend off for that. If I’m working, not much of that will happen this weekend. In a way that makes me mad. But like I say, I’m trying to be positive. Maybe it is ok if the tree stays up til Valentine’s. Yes, my soul shuttered as I typed that. That is NOT OK!

Well I’m off of here before I convince myself that I’m in a bad mood. I’m not. I’m going for more coffee and it’s all going to be ok and we’ll work on ALL AGENDAS. Mine, yours, everyone’s until it’s all done!

Coffee, Shopping, a Hot Toddy, and a Hot Spot!

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized6 Comments

For the “Birthday Day” Meal we went to Olive Garden. We were going to do take out. But the day had its challenges (made me mad is what that means) so I asked if we could just eat in instead of toting food home and eating it half cold.

I decided on Chicken Parm. I ate half and took the rest for lunch on Monday. It was delish. I went for the birthday dessert. Another layered Cheesecake. The one we had at Hermitage Steakhouse was better but don’t let that sway you, as they were BOTH very good. The one below was very RICH in chocolate and that is not bad right? The one at Hermitage Steak House was lighter, and had a variety of flavor and texture and sat on a bed of very tasty raspberry which gave an explosion of flavor. I could be a cheesecake connoisseur? Looks like I already am, lol.

And for those of you not on Instagram, here was a story I posted. I video’d pouring my wine, thinking it would be a good B roll shot on a video but probably not. This is what George did……See if you notice. How can you miss it.

He’s a mess for sure.

Shopping Experience Not a Good One

Shopping in today’s world is not a very pleasant experience. I needed another pair or two of jeans for the Texas trip. I only have one pair of jeans that fit good. Let’s just say that the last year has been a good comfort food year making the pants quite the tight ones. I had given all mine to Good Will, not ever going back, but ennnnhhhhh, looks like we ate what we wanted, so I’m baaaaack at full size! lol. And now without proper clothes. I had ordered some tops recently mainly for home. The tops seem to be easier to deal with as I have always liked them oversized and baggy. But the jeans, after Thanksgiving and Christmas, are just not fitting anymore. So we went to Belk. I thought maybe things had relaxed a bit but no dressing rooms. So I had to buy 6 pair and take them home and try them. Costs a fortune to try on clothes. I told the lady ringing us up we’d be bringing most of them back. Bless the hearts of anyone needing those sizes for the period of time as I had them at home. (That seems more germy than just going in a dressing room, as now my germs from home are back in their store.) Maybe they store them somewhere to let the germs die? So bless the hearts of anyone needing close to my size b/c I had them all at home trying them on. You have to take out a small loan to go buy a pair of jeans so you can buy the whole lot, take them home and keep ones that fit and take them back. We just used the credit card. (Rolls eyes). Then when you wanted to pay for something – it was a cake walk – keep walking around and around until the music stops and there is your register where you can pay. Every register had a person there but they were “closed” – “keep walking”. I was thinking the stores are desperate but there all 12 of us people were there wanting to buy things and only one person ringing it up. I don’t know that I’ll ever go out shopping again! I’m sure I will but this was insane. We just didn’t have time to order them and them come in – in time.

Coffee Tasting Experiences Continue

Well, I’m not sure I have a lot to tell. But I’ll just start typing and we’ll see what comes out. First I need to go get more coffee. We are taste testing the coffee gift still. We like all the coffees so far. Today was the 4th and final one of the kit we have. It looks like we cannot go wrong. The quality of the coffee is exceptional. I am learning how to taste “the tones” of the coffees. Today is fruity. Not really, but there is a faint taste of peach when you first sip. Just slightly. It’s hard to describe. But it’s ever so slight but still very good dark coffee. Am I becoming a coffee connoisseur? Sounds like it. We have to go in and rank them on the website. That’ll be hard to do. Not that it means anything here, but for the sake of me remembering, I’m posting this so I can come back and look. We have to wait til we get back from Texas to order it.

My ranking:

  1. Profile 3 (Guatemala) – Tones of Tropical Fruit, Lemon, Brown Sugar
  2. Profile 2 (El Savador) – Fudge, Toast, and Molasses
  3. Profile 1 (Ethiopia) – Tones of Peach, Lemon, and Orange
  4. Profile 4 (Brazil) – Tones of Marzipan, Chocolate, and Earthy

I am shocked that Brazil made 4th. But it’s like the cheesecake. It’s all VERY GOOD COFFEE. How does it compare to Starbucks? Hmmmmm. This gets difficult to put into writing but I’ll do the very best I can.

Starbucks coffee is very strong in taste. VERY Strong. Lots of earthy and chocolate vibes. It’s almost as if it is roasted having in mind that flavors and creams will be added to it. In their store I have to add cinnamon to calm it as it is so bold and strong. At home we add more water to it and get it just like we like it. I like to grind the beans for a fresher taste and not allow any fillers, not that they would but it gives peace of mind. Still the flavor is very robust and earthy – which we like very much.

This coffee is different somehow. It’s still a very robust coffee – looking this up in the dictionary – meaning of strong and rich and sturdy. The beans are to be ground fine to get the most of the flavor. The body is lighter – and somehow drinking out of a china cup helps release the finer tones of the flavors – although I’ve not tried it in a regular cup so not sure how accurate that statement can be other than I know this to be true in the past when drinking coffee from a delicate cup.

So basically this is a good sturdy coffee in which you can taste the slightest tones of flavor. A very good pleasant experience on a higher end of the spectrum of this morning ritual of goodness we pour inside ourselves every morning. It’s been one of conversation and sometimes laughter when we compare by using numbers. It sounds like “who’s on first?” from a Saturday night live skit. Well the 3 is better than the 4, but I really like #2, which sends one into howls of laughter in the kitchen. You really like #2?

And to be honest, the ranking – they are all so close in comparison that whatever they send us and in what order, will be fine with me.

Getting Ahead Before I Get Behind

So a friend gave me this daily calendar at work. It has nice sayings on it. I will be taking lots of pics of them. And will put them on my blog here. A perfect saying. I went in to work yesterday early and stayed a bit over. Left at 5:45 a.m. -ish here at the house and got home about that time in the p.m. yesterday.

I made good headway into getting my monthly taxes by the 15th paid in case we dart out to Texas. That way that deadline won’t be missed. Now all the deadlines are at the end of the month. But it takes all month to get there. Except for that one week where I’m waiting on things from others and that is how I believe I’ll be able to make it by taking the week off to Texas. Looks like the timing will be perfect too. I got critical things done for the first week of January and the last week of the year. And then I’ll have the end of the month to crunch things up and catch things up.

Prepping for Texas and a Hot Toddy

We are mostly packed and gathered for the Texas trip. Dear Daughter’s doc appointment is today in Abilene and perhaps we’ll know something today if they are inducing and getting it on the schedule.

I had meant to change purses, do my nails and toes, and repack my vitamins last night but honestly all my good hours were spent at work. When you work 11.5 instead of 9, you have given up your spare time at home. So I will try again tonight. I’m NOT hopeful as it will likely be another long day. It’s a payroll day.

Yesterday my left ear went silent on me. It seems to be better this morning. I could not tell what was going on with it. Maybe water had gotten in my ear somehow from the shower? George fixed me a very small hot toddy. I held a hot compress to it and I tried googling how to unstop your ear. I could not tell the exact moment that it went back. I think either it was gradual, or I got used to it. It’s not as annoying anyway. But sleep helped I’m sure.

So my next To Do items Isome previously mentioned) are:

  • Change purses
  • Nails and Toes
  • Download Big Sur
  • Cancel Sophos
  • Find Security Replacement
  • Catch up on Email

Revamping the AT&T Cell Bill

Not sure I mentioned it but we stopped at AT&T to check on temporarily adding a line for my iPad. He asked if it was cellular ready. Duh…I seem to remember choosing one that was not, now that he mentioned it. It was cheaper and I didn’t need it at the time. But he upgraded our plan to allow for a Hot Spot. The plan actually costs the same but it switches us to paperless billing (dangnabbit). But we took the bait so I could have a Hot Spot. I’ve needed one a few times this year. So all is well and I can use my iPad while we travel.

I better get ready and go to work. Likely won’t get there early today. But I can’t give ALL my spare time to work just to have a week off. I mean if you work all the hours of your vacation the rest of the month, is it really a vacation? One could certainly argue you got time off in a row, but honestly, it’s never time off. The hours are going somewhere else in the month. You can betcha sweet dollah on that one!

Ya’ll have a beautiful Tuesday. And I’ll be back at some point with news on the plans. I am having a bit of blues that our holiday days are over. I wanted to get more done. But we did good I guess. We got enough done. I know there is another mis typing in this entry but I couldn’t find it, to fix it. And need to go to work, so just forgive me instead! We are REAL here!

Work Day From Home, Sleepless Night

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized5 Comments

This was my work scene yesterday. I figured out how to get mouse, keyboard, monitor and all hook ups going and calculator and got the boiled eggs done for breakfast and water set for the morning. The scene of course is complete with cat and dog. Also you can see my coffee on the desk shelf there. Can’t beat a window view – partially blocked by monitor of course but you could see the birds. lol

Little Bit kept me company for a good chunk of the day. And Maisy absolutely loves this spot.

My view at the monitor. LOL I could wave at my neighbor Christy!

After work we went to Academy Sports to get George some more steel toe shoes so he has another pair he can wear for work. They are tennis shoes. This is a Christmas gift he requested. We bought a few little other things for stocking stuffers. Then we came home and I shopped for some extended family members via Amazon as he put dinner together. We had an unusual dinner. But it was good.

Fresh Spinach Ravioli (homemade in our area – that we bought) stuffed with bacon and onion and topped with a red pesto sauce, served with a side of bacon beans – all topped with parmesan. We love this ravioli. What a treat. The red pesto sauce comes from ALDI.

We tried watching a show, Derry Girls on Netflix which was a popular show in Ireland. I didn’t really like it. We watched another show after that to try it. It was Arrested Development. It was ok. I think I was really just tired and not in the mood to watch anything, but I definitely did not and would not have liked Derry Girls had I been in the mood to watch.

And that was our day. I slept good until about 12:30 or 1:00. Roger wanted down. George took him for water or outside. Not even sure. He wanted down again around 1:30 so George got up again. Then Maisy wanted down so I took her out. I tried to feed her (I do that any chance I get) but she was not in the mood to eat in the middle of the night. She did eat a few bites throughout the day yesterday. George is home today and is going to fix her some hamburger. I think she is about chickened out. I’m trying to hold off to the weekend for grocerying but when I do I’ll get her some bone broth.

It’s hard to keep Roger and the cat away from her while she stares at her food and decides to eat or not. DRives me nuts. We’ll have to start separating them I guess. Usually they both gobble things down and then whoever has any left the other will eat it. Little Bit the cat is normally outside but he gets to stay in some when it’s real cold. He won’t go in the house and is “trained” (self trained, ha) and will only go in the grass. So that is good. We can trust him to come in and nap, hang out some, and then go back outside. He’s good about letting us know when he needs to go. He circles us and meows. When we get up he starts running in front of our feet toward the door as if “follow me” and he goes out.

Well I have a big day at work today. Have to do all the things I couldn’t do here yesterday. And have to do a check run and run a mock payroll to get the exact net amount on some checks we have to have early that just can’t wait another business day or two until we do payroll. We live in such a “right now world” and some state’s laws are just not adhered to what is reasonable. So we try to comply with unreasonableness. So yeah I get to go be unreasonable today and that is my story and I’m sticking with it. LOL

I hope my one monitor works and that it is still hooked up. I hope the cord I brought home doesn’t impact the one at work. If not EVERYONE will have to wait for what they need. Ain’t nothing happened til the computer’s working, and I can see what I’m doing on the screen.

And in case you need something to get that favorite fisherman in your life that has everything else, here ya go! They had these at Academy Sports. Some poor fellow will get these for Christmas. They would provide humor to a family gathering, I must say. Can’t believe it’s Thursday already. The weeks I work partly remote sure go by fast. Back home again tomorrow. Next week I think is a 4 day week back in the office and on a normal schedule except that I have a PTO day next Friday in which I will do stocking stuffer shopping for George and wrap his gifts in the afternoon.

Ok off to get this busy day started. Maybe we’ll get more sleep tonight. I think it was close to 3:30 when Roger finally got settled. Alarm went off at 4. I slapped at two different alarms for almost an hour, then George’s went off. Geez. Sleep is hard to come by with these old doggies. Not to mention having to get up a time or two for our selves.

Ahhhh I gotta quit typing and go do my hair and my eyes and put shoes on give Maisy her meds, lug my stuff down the stairs (2 trips unless GEorge helps) and then head to work, lug all that in the door to my office door (dropped off at front door) then go park car, the lug it all back to my office after doing a temperature check, then get it all plugged in and going. Yes, it’s a LOT of trouble. But at least I’m leaving the monitor home and will just have to do with one in each place. It’ll take me longer to do things but it’ll be what it’ll be. Ok I’m stopping now. ;-D