It's Monday - a short week this week. I've been working this morning and now I am trying to decide if I should go to the store or wait for a phone call. I just KNOW that the phone call will come the minute I walk into the store.
That's been the hardest thing about working from home, I spose - deciding when I can run my errands. There are things that HAVE to get done some days and while I don't have time limits - the stock market does.
The phone call I am waiting on is from my boss. We were going through things around 9....a good time of day to go through things. Then, mid-conversation, clients "pop" in unannounced and we have to switch gears. I got some things done for them quickly, and now I am waiting to finish going through things with the boss.....waiting for about 3 hours.
We have Thanksgiving letters that HAVE to get printed today and mailed out. If I were there in the office, I would just print them and be done with it. But the way it works now is that I send a test letter to our joint printing "queue", he prints it to check margins, etc and then tells me it's ok to load the other 170 letters. I do that - send it to the queue and he prints them. The last 3 letters have been printing oddly. The "z" and the "k" in the address label of the letter are substituted as a funny symbol. It doesn't happen on my printer - only his. I have had him reinstall the driver, but still it happens to about 15 letters. I am told it is a printer memory problem by some software tech people but I think that is bull and of course they won't give me an answer as to how to solve it.
So while working virtually has it's pluses - it also seems to make some tasks take a lot longer.
You can't just shout something across the room - which we used to do a lot. You have to send a text or email and wait for a reply. And then wonder why the other person isn't replying soon enough.
I just checked our joint schedule and I see that he has an appointment from 1:30 - 3. That means that I can safely run to the store and maybe even squeeze in a workout. Will a shower be asking too much....
And of course he will be free to touch base at around 3:30 - just as the kids are getting off the bus and chaos is beginning to unfold. That seems to be the norm for a few days of the week.
On a positive note - I don't have to worry about scheduling time off for Thanksgiving. I just go. We haven't talked about holiday pay.....I send him monthly invoices for what I expect to get paid. Should I be nice and not charge for Thanksgiving - which is what a normal, hourly person would do - or should I just charge for it anyway?
You all know I'm not going to charge for it, so I don't even know why I'm asking.
On a side note - I'd appreciate any positive vibes you have to send to a friend. The associate pastor of our church, Pastor Kristi, is in Rochester today. Her husband is having surgery today to remove a brain tumor. He was just diagnosed last week. They are absolutely some of the most sweetest, kindest, sincere people you will ever meet. They could use a good thought. Their Caring Bridge page has been added to the list in the upper right corner.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
36
I have now been 36 for a little over 24 hours. Doesn't seem too bad.
We went out to eat last night and had a good time - the kids ate well and were manageable and agreeable, which goes a long way. And of course, we had key lime pie for dessert.
Katie, Will and I all auditioned yesterday for the "Shrek" musical at church. Will didn't have to read or sing since I convinced him that his first year should be a small, group role. He'd rather be Peter Pan. I sang Away in the Manger, and Katie sang Jingle Bells.
She is a quiet girl - not one to seek a lot of attention in front of people, BUT she flips a switch when it's time to audition or get on stage. I'm serious - you can SEE it happen. She gets up, stands next to the piano and belts out Jingle Bells, complete with expression and hand movements. I knew she'd do fine, and it was fun watching her. But what was MORE entertaining for me was watching the audience react to her. Their jaws were hanging open. I got so many comments and whispers about how she blew them away and that they forgot what a good singer and little actor she is. She read her scene, and again - had them laughing. She didn't use the script provided because she's had it memorized already and she did with such little attitude that everyone really enjoyed watching her.
(Ok, I may be a LITTLE biased here - I realize that. BUT, she did really well. And it takes a LOT of guts to stand up in front or 30 people or so and SING......ALONE.....with everyone watching.)
I told her how well she did on the way home and how proud she should be of herself. Then I asked, "How did I do?"
"Well, Mom, you've done better. You weren't the worst, but you weren't the best."
Brutal honesty.
We should know our parts by early December.
We went out to eat last night and had a good time - the kids ate well and were manageable and agreeable, which goes a long way. And of course, we had key lime pie for dessert.
Katie, Will and I all auditioned yesterday for the "Shrek" musical at church. Will didn't have to read or sing since I convinced him that his first year should be a small, group role. He'd rather be Peter Pan. I sang Away in the Manger, and Katie sang Jingle Bells.
She is a quiet girl - not one to seek a lot of attention in front of people, BUT she flips a switch when it's time to audition or get on stage. I'm serious - you can SEE it happen. She gets up, stands next to the piano and belts out Jingle Bells, complete with expression and hand movements. I knew she'd do fine, and it was fun watching her. But what was MORE entertaining for me was watching the audience react to her. Their jaws were hanging open. I got so many comments and whispers about how she blew them away and that they forgot what a good singer and little actor she is. She read her scene, and again - had them laughing. She didn't use the script provided because she's had it memorized already and she did with such little attitude that everyone really enjoyed watching her.
(Ok, I may be a LITTLE biased here - I realize that. BUT, she did really well. And it takes a LOT of guts to stand up in front or 30 people or so and SING......ALONE.....with everyone watching.)
I told her how well she did on the way home and how proud she should be of herself. Then I asked, "How did I do?"
"Well, Mom, you've done better. You weren't the worst, but you weren't the best."
Brutal honesty.
We should know our parts by early December.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
I AM still alive
Spending more time at the computer working every day means I spend less time at the computer doing the enjoyable things I used to do! (Like blogging here.) I have started writing a few times and then I get a "chime" that a work email was delivered and I switch to that.
But not today! Today I am determined to get something written here! Let's see - what's been going on...we had Halloween! Hans was a butterfly, Katie was a devil and Will was....drumroll......Batman. That's 3 years, I believe. Talk about easy costumes! Overall, this Halloween was pretty low key. I have a picture of Will, but nothing of Katie I just realized. And no pictures of our pumpkins that John carved. (Amazingly, of course!) We had a Batman symbol, a cat, a bat, and a scary face.
We had school conferences, and both are doing great. Katie and Will are both in high math and reading classes and enjoying them very much. Katie is just finishing up a 3 week project on health disorders and diseases. She chose epilepsy and presents her research during a school health fair Friday afternoon. I WILL have pictures of that!
Will starts basketball after school today. It is every Wednesday and lasts til mid December I believe. He is VERY excited!
Hans and I attempt the CGC test on Saturday again. There are 10 test items and we only failed 3 of them last time. I'm hoping for 8/10 this time or better. It's still the "accepting grooming" that give us problems. The kids, John and I can brush him and he's totally calm. But let someone else take the brush and it becomes playtime. However - if my hand had an overpowering smell of chicken that seems to keep him distracted enough to allow someone to brush him. So I (literally) am going to go out between test items and lather my left hand in "broth a la chicken." I can't "treat" during the test, but I can have a smelly hand.
Auditions for the church musical are this weekend too! The musical will be "Shrek!" Will wants to be a part of it this year as well so I am taking him with us and asking that he be made part of the "townspeople" or "kingdom" mob. Katie wants to be "Gingy" (the gingerbread man). I have a list of possibilities, but am very happy with anything outside of Shrek, Fiona, Donkey or Farquaad. Pinocchio seems like a LOT of fun, but I'm not sure if I could talk and sing in a squeaky voice for that long! Otherwise, the "shoemaker elf", "fairy godmother", or other fairy tale creatures will all be fun. Each has lines and solo parts. I bought the DVD of the musical so we watched it the other night to get a better idea of what each part consisted of. We should find out in December!
But not today! Today I am determined to get something written here! Let's see - what's been going on...we had Halloween! Hans was a butterfly, Katie was a devil and Will was....drumroll......Batman. That's 3 years, I believe. Talk about easy costumes! Overall, this Halloween was pretty low key. I have a picture of Will, but nothing of Katie I just realized. And no pictures of our pumpkins that John carved. (Amazingly, of course!) We had a Batman symbol, a cat, a bat, and a scary face.
We had school conferences, and both are doing great. Katie and Will are both in high math and reading classes and enjoying them very much. Katie is just finishing up a 3 week project on health disorders and diseases. She chose epilepsy and presents her research during a school health fair Friday afternoon. I WILL have pictures of that!
Will starts basketball after school today. It is every Wednesday and lasts til mid December I believe. He is VERY excited!
Hans and I attempt the CGC test on Saturday again. There are 10 test items and we only failed 3 of them last time. I'm hoping for 8/10 this time or better. It's still the "accepting grooming" that give us problems. The kids, John and I can brush him and he's totally calm. But let someone else take the brush and it becomes playtime. However - if my hand had an overpowering smell of chicken that seems to keep him distracted enough to allow someone to brush him. So I (literally) am going to go out between test items and lather my left hand in "broth a la chicken." I can't "treat" during the test, but I can have a smelly hand.
Auditions for the church musical are this weekend too! The musical will be "Shrek!" Will wants to be a part of it this year as well so I am taking him with us and asking that he be made part of the "townspeople" or "kingdom" mob. Katie wants to be "Gingy" (the gingerbread man). I have a list of possibilities, but am very happy with anything outside of Shrek, Fiona, Donkey or Farquaad. Pinocchio seems like a LOT of fun, but I'm not sure if I could talk and sing in a squeaky voice for that long! Otherwise, the "shoemaker elf", "fairy godmother", or other fairy tale creatures will all be fun. Each has lines and solo parts. I bought the DVD of the musical so we watched it the other night to get a better idea of what each part consisted of. We should find out in December!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
