Tag Archives: Life

Frazzled


I posted on my Facebook status today, just this one word: Frazzled.

My brain has had to be so ON the last 3 days – that I can feel the synapses burning from overuse. A football meeting directly after work on Monday followed by more work I had to complete from home that wasn’t done until 9:30pm. Yesterday was the first of 3 AP tests for 16. Of course all 3 are morning exams. So I went in to work for 3.5 hours in the morning after dropping him off, then picked him up, and we went home so that could work until his dentist appointment (didn’t want to drive back to work for just 2 hours). After the dentist I worked at home again until 6:30. Today was AP test #2. This time, I picked him up and brought him back to school and then came back to work. But of course the proctor for his exam messed things up and they didn’t get out until 12:35. They were supposed to be done before noon. When I got back to work, it was more mania until a little after 3:30. It’s just been a series of days with system problems, people making careless mistakes and things falling on my desk to cover gaps again.

None of this would be that difficult except for PEOPLE needing THINGS and with QUESTIONS and never having a moment of quiet to get anything DONE (dammit!). I can handle the tasks – I just need to be a Hermit for a day to get them all done properly. So it took 3 days and 2 evenings, but it’s done. And I’m frazzled.

So today I was happy that the rain had stopped, and I could take another walk. I mixed in a few photos from my house over the weekend when we had an amazing sunset. I loved the glow from the sky on the roses in the side yard.

Yes, that is a helipad in one of the photos. When I walk out of this building I head down the property to the helipad which is, of course, abandoned and not being used, but does make for a nice quiet place to walk around and take in the view across the freeway and listen to some birds. the towhee cousins were out and about quite a bit. Both brown and rufous sided. That blue roof building is some other business across a canyon from ours. No clue why it is such a bright blue, but there it is!

Anyway, here’s hoping that tonight is quiet without too many demands from the other occupants of the house and that I can just watch TV and stay offline. Thankfully there is a break in the AP schedule – the last one is next week so tomorrow is just a normal school day. No earlier than normal drop off or mid-day pick ups. Phew!

Walk #3

Priorities


I didn’t join the usual group on a long trail run today. The IT band on my left knee has been barking way too much, and since I don’t have any specific goals to run a long distance anytime soon, I thought it best to just start taking it easy with shorter (4.5 miles) less technically challenging trails like the 56 near my house. What I love about that trail is that you really CAN zone out mentally and since I was by myself that is exactly what I did.

And it was good.

OK, so my knee wasn’t so good – it started tightening up as usual around the 2 mile mark despite the easy footing and relatively level ground and mellow pace. That probably means I should stay off of it entirely, but…I need to at least run a little bit!!

Anyway, it was good because I needed that zone out time.

It’s been a little crazy around here.

Por ejemplo – here’s the calendar on the ‘fridge for the next few weeks (mind you, this is after crossing off a week of items from last week)

photo

 

It occurred to me as I was running and thinking about how I am only writing in here once a week and feeling guilty – hey it’s a miracle it happens once a week! So, guilt has been released :)

Here’s what I know is going to have to be my priorities for the rest of 2013:

  1. Daily house/cat/kid upkeep
  2. Day job
  3. Football liaison tasks
  4. Blogmutt writing
  5. Running
  6. Everything/everyone else!

Numbers 4 and 5 might swap around depending on how much extra cash I need in a given week. So far, I’m earning between $48-$72/week or, as I like to call it “gas money” :) My goal is to AT LEAST sell 5 posts per week which means writing  5-6 per week (given that about 10% get rejected no matter how well you write). I’ve got 6 in the queue for this coming Thursday, then 4 each week after for the next 3 weeks. That means I really don’t NEED to write 5 new ones this week  or the next which is probably just as well looking at that schedule up there!

The point is that I think I needed that time on the trail to just let my brain settle on this ranking.

That list doesn’t even include the new task I inherited for the football team – website mistress…err..webmistress..er…webmaster….err….crazy person who never learns to stop saying “I can do that?” Yeah..so that was four hours today learning how to use the software and switching every page at all levels to have 2013 information.

Also – yes! 16 is now wearing contact lenses! And I will have “driving glasses”. My near-sightedness has returned somewhat. Just enough that I will feel better having some cheap frames to wear while I drive and watching football games at night. I don’t – and won’t need anything for reading despite my age since the lasik surgery back in 2006 will keep that issue at bay for a quite a bit longer.

Oh, but you should have seen the poor boy learning how to put in those daily wear contacts! He is lucky that his prescription is the same in each eye so we wont have to keep track of leftie and rightie. And the folks at the Optometrist were SO good and patient with him showing how to put them in and take them out. I, of course, was the usual supportive mom sitting and giggling at his red red eyes with the tears flowing out of them :)

Hah – I did the math and I’ve run 143 miles this year! Maybe my knee is right to be cranky and demand some rest. Perhaps I’ll listen to it and go enjoy some quality sofa time now. As you can see, that is a rarity!

 

Riding in the sunset for a while


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Photo by @KCAlfredphoto 

Torrey Pines golf course at sunset.

I thought this photo was perfect – I was going to look for something that depicted “swamped” or “rat race” but really, in keeping with my NO Whining & NO Gasbags motto for 2013, I must say that while I will need to maintain a more intense level of focus and sticking to tasks for the next couple of months, it’s for GOOD reasons.

  1. My co-worker (staff member in my department) is having a baby in early April
  2. We have a new software program that will, over the long term, make her tasks a lot easier
  3. Technology will allow me to do a lot of work from home so that I can still make dinner, work out, and snuggle with cats here and there.

February and March will fly by. I’ve got to get all our leases into the new system before the end of this month so that we can spend next month tweaking with reporting and auto loads to the AP system for a more streamlined rent payment process (that will benefit two departments). I have to interview temp employees and hopefully have one chosen and working with us in March. On top of the usual tasks in these months of performance evaluations and budget planning for the next fiscal year. Wee?

Plus I need to keep posting on the pergola site once a week. Plus I’d like to run now and then. Plus, oh yeah, don’t I have kids and a boyfriend and stuff?

What that means is likely just weekly check in posts with the money & exercise habit progress reports and not much else. It means no Facebook except on the weekend maybe. I’ll post on twitter, but I wont be reading 100% of my timeline. I’ve currently got four books in my Kindle that I will use as complete down time breaks. I’ll take off all work of any kind on Sundays. But yes, I will be working at night and on Saturdays for the next month for sure, and possibly into March.

The payoff will be sanity while Tracy is on leave and beyond.

And it really isn’t that bad. 16 isn’t playing sports so there isn’t a pull there. His grades are not AWESOME, but they are also not HORRID this year and that is without me monitoring anything. We just had some wonderful, solid time together – all of us – while I was recovering from surgery.

Speaking of which – oh my goodness is it ever freaking awesome to be done with all THAT! Back to normal and feeling great. Phew!

Part of the responsibility of being a manager is having to cover vacancies and I am up for it. I actually really enjoy it as long as I have the space to focus on it. And it’s only for 4-6 weeks and as I check off each lease and task from the list, the load will ease.

I do have a 5k trail race on schedule for this Sunday so I will probably share pics from that – a new trail out in Mission Gorge that I am really excited to check out. Then a 6k trail even in late March at Black Mountain. SO not to worry – I’ll be getting some sanity restoring outdoor running time in :-)

How could I not with that beautiful scenery above displaying just how wonderful it is to live in this beautiful part of the world?

 

Warning! This is your brain on Zyrtec!


Well, MY brain anyway ….

The ol’ barometric pressure took a nose dive last night and right on cue my sinuses filled with pressure.  Consequently I’ve been either excessively foggy headed and tired from the pressure itself or, the Zyrtec I take to relieve it somewhat. Take your pick – either way, I am not at my sharpest but with the meds, at least it doesn’t hurt :-)

Here are some random ramblings of my brain in this condition. I should probably apologize ahead of time to the many many people I may will offend or piss off.

Nah…..why start now?

**** There are Christmas lights on TWO houses around the corner from me! TWO! And not just put up because you hired one of those light hanging services to come do it just to get it over. I’ve seen those. They go up, but don’t turn them ON at least until after Thanksgiving. No, these two houses are LIT UP! ON November 17th!! Now, I am the Mrs Griswold of the block and I love exploding in lights more than anyone, but NEVER…NEVER…before Turkey Day! Heck, with Thanksgiving being so early this year I may not even hang my outdoor lights immediately.

Maybe. Don’t hold me to that :-)

**** This one wont offend anyone – last night was the final Friday Night Lights for us this year. Since 16 is a junior and was hurt most of the season I am OK with it, but also very sad for the seniors who played their last game together. Apparently they were all crying on the field after. Especially big #78. Even though he is the only one guaranteed to be playing Division 1 football in college, it was very hard for him to say goodbye to the coaches and players who basically taught him the game. He hadn’t played youth football like so many others because he was too big so his only football experience is at the high school. It’s no wonder he had the hardest time seeing that end. I’ll be sad to see many of the parents move on. This senior class was a great group of families and kids. We’ll have a finally banquet for the kids in early December to really wrap up the season and I think extra tissues will be needed all around!

**** Speaking of parents…so…I live in an area that may have or may not have a reputation of potentially being another location for The Real Housewives. Plenty of excess money and time goes around in certain parts. Not the WHOLE area mind you, but there are some very very ritzy pockets and if their kids go to public school, the end up where we are. I’ve now been to dozens of baseball, football and girls volleyball games over the last two years and I noticed something about the volleyball crowd recently.

Some of them need to lose the phone numbers to their plastic surgeons. Really. I mean it. There are way too many Dolly Parton and Cher look-a-likes in the stands at the gym! I have no clue why there appears to be a higher percentage per capita of such examples in that particular crowd vs the other sports but…yeah..it’s kinds scary to see them up close.

**** I should follow up after the rant earlier about the busy body/bullying co-worker to report that – as I suspected would happen – about an hour or so after I barked at her, she came by in her classic passive-aggressive manner and struck up a totally unrelated conversation but then managed to “slip in” her version of an apology. Having known her my whole adult life, I know her patterns all too well and she didn’t disappoint. Ah well….some people just never grow up or learn real empathy. I just wish those types would be quieter :-)

And now I need to get to bed and hope that I wake up with a bit clearer head tomorrow. We have a trail run planned and I want to enjoy it like I enjoyed the run on Wednesday.

 

 

I am SUCH an only child!


Why do I state this?

Because the best way for me to regain some semblance of sanity when I am feeling anxious over being in limbo..or stressed…or in any way out of sorts….the BEST thing I can do for myself is get as far away from people as possible.

It doesn’t have to be for long, but it needs to just BE.

So today since I had a mid-day appointment with the final exterminator, I decided I didn’t want the hassle of driving back and forth from work. So I took the day off.

I still got up at 6am and listened to the radio show I like.

But instead of going to work, I drove down to the local trail.

And I ran.

No music, no more radio show, just me, my breathing, my thoughts and the trail.

I initially thought I might run for 3 miles. But about 1 mile in I decided on 5. The temperature was perfect. I’d planned ahead and drank plenty of water and ate some energy beans for breakfast #1 so I knew I was prepared nutritionally to just go. So, I did.

I ran slow – 12 min miles. But I never stopped. Up and down one end of the trail and the other and part way back again to reach the 5 miles total almost exactly at the 60 minute mark.

And OH IT FELT SO GOOD!!!

My brain churned over and walked through and then let go of all the crap.

And my feet kept churning along too.

I genuinely smiled and said good morning to everyone I met on the trail (and for 8am on a Wednesday there was quite a lot of trail traffic!) I took note of every bird and lizard and rabbit that crossed my path. I inhaled as I passed the bales of hay – twice!

As much as I love running with my friends there are just days when, well, I NEED to run alone.

At the 5 mile mark I was feeling my left knee tighten at the t-band and it still does feel sore even after stretching and rolling. It’ll be fine. We have regular 8 mile Sunday morning runs starting this weekend and I wanted to be ready. After not running in 10 days and that last run being rather horrid, I really needed something before Sunday to know I could keep up.

After the run, I went up to Starbucks, ordered Breakfast #2 and then…I sat down in a big leather chair in the shop and just relaxed.

Sipped my gingerbread latte. Ate my breakfast sandwich. Scrolled through twitter on my phone. People watched.

Almost and hour…just sitting. And being.

And pardon my french, but damn that was so fucking amazing and necessary!!!

Limbo


I do not like limbo.

No, not the dance – I was actually once quite good at that :-)

No, I do not like being “stuck in limbo” as the expression goes.

It is, of course, the lack of control that is quite frustrating.

Before I launch into the complaints – one bit of very good news – 16′s concussion seems to have healed. It was almost like that visit to the neurologist after the MRI was the final corner. He started scoring much lower on his symptoms around the middle of last week and then he went in Saturday specifically to fill in a ’0′. Even though he probably wont play football – the team won Friday night but plays the #2 seed this week and chances of winning are rather low – he at least wants to get back to being able to list weights and run with the team after school and during PE so he will start the “gradual return to activity” process this week. Cognitively he has been 100% symptom free for a couple of weeks now and no further academic support has been needed at all.

Anyway…..

So the house needs to be tented for termites and we are in the process of getting bids. My neighbor doesn’t really care, but since I am borrowing money from the BF to get my side done, that means that he has an interest in which company we choose. Which is good, because he drives a hard bargain and will end up saving money all around for us. But, it’s also nerve wracking because it means more termite company visits and then coordination between all interested parties to choose who we go with and then when it is done.

This is all complicated because I have the cats. I need to find a place to go for 3 days and 2 nights (usually a Wed-Fri). It needs to either be a place where I can relax about leaving the cats for the day while I go to work, OR, it needs to be timed so that if I have to not go into work that it will be OK and that I should have internet access to potentially work from wherever we will be.

Even though I found a fairly close hotel that will allow the cats and is less than $100/night, I am not sure some dumb fool from the hotel wouldn’t go in the room even WITH a DO NOT ENTER order and then the cats would race out. Nor do I want to lock them in a bathroom if I have to leave. Chip is enough of a nutjob to stress himself right back into bladder problems again.

Then there is a GOOD complication, but a complication non the less. 27 got a temp job – yay! It is up near where I work (mostly yay!) BUT…the hours will most likely be really odd because it is a customer support job for a retail vendor that needs folks maning phones during the holiday rush order season (Nov-mid Jan). As an example his first day of training is actually an evening shift 5:30-9:30 on Thursday night this week. Until that is done, he wont know what hours/days he will be working. So neither of us can really go stay those two nights any place too FAR away since we need to share the car. 16 can go to his dad’s but it also means he cannot walk home those 3 days once school is out. He HAS to hang out on campus until his dad can pick him up.

So yeah, timing is going to be stressful and right now I just don’t know how it will all fall into place.

I mean, I know we will make it happen and it will work out, but right now I cannot SEE that for sure, so…limbo.

Same goes with my “female” problems. We know what it is (fibroids) and what to do (outpatient procedure) but I cannot schedule it right now until the termite thing is done. Plus, it will be another lost day at work AND I will need to arrange a driver which is probably easy enough actually once we know 27′s work schedule. If he cannot do it, I am sure that the girls will help out – BUT – limbo!

So, one week later there is still a feeling of apprehension/anticipation over things I cannot entirely control – sorta like the election last week :/

Oct 28 – Last Day of Vacation


Set my alarm for 5:45 this morning. Why?

Because Renee was starting her race at 7:50 central time and I wanted to track it. I setup my laptop right next to my bed and just had to roll over and hit refresh on the website obsessively while watching Up.

The IronMan 70.3 is as you see below – 1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike and then a teensy little 13.1 half marathon run. So my morning was pretty filled with refreshing the results page and also her facebook page where Eve was posting pics and updates. A little after 11am – the page was properly completed:

 

Came in under 6 hours, 13th in her age group – after starting the swim in 33rd, that’s a helluva closing push!

Please note her half marathon pace – AFTER the swim and the bike. Her average for 13.1 miles was still faster than my stupid little 5k at the end of the relay last week. And I nearly puked just trying to run at a 9 minute pace for 3 miles!!

She is one Tough Chick. And now, she is also an Iron Man :-)

After that was done, I went to go visit Marie in her new house. She’s nicely settled and we had a great afternoon yapping away. She even took out all the old baseball cards that I wrote about! She still has hers….mostly because her husband also collected and made sure they kept hers and his over the years.

I’m proud to say that I made it through the entire week without once checking in on work emails. I think that’s a first for me since they gave me a work laptop back in 2002!

And yes, I did clean every window sill and corner in the house yesterday. Including the fireplace.

 

The weights are there to prevent Amber from pushing the screen open and getting in there. I used to find ashy paw prints on the floor when she would nudge it open. Although, now that it is cleaner that it has been in years, it isn’t such a big deal anymore.

The termites might still be here (for now) but it is CLEAN in the places I can see :)

Oct 20 – The Roller Coaster Ride of Life Continues


Following up on the stolen car from the Oct 13th post – they found it!!

My parent’s got the call from the police in the wee hours of the morning Friday am and were able to go pick it up from where it had been abandoned. Which was just one exit up the road from where it was stolen. Other than the license plates being removed, the car is fine. Intact. Nothing broken. Probably used for some drug running or who knows what for the last week and then left there when they were done with it.

So – YAY!

Also, this week’s Friday Night Lights Game was MUCH better with a 24-7 Falcons win over a team that was actually sloppier than our own can be ;-) But, you have to beat those teams when they hand you the opportunity and they did.

YAY!

My vacation week officially begins now. Lot’s of appointments and busy work errands will be handled. Hopefully I’ll get to just put my feet up at least one of the days.

YAY!

My neighbor who I share a wall with (duplex) has been having her side painted and we are splitting the cost for the front of both to be painted so it doesn’t look out of balance. While doing the job, the painters have found signs – bad signs – of termites. Not that we didn’t know about this since the area is notorious for the little buggers and the duplex behind ours just had their place tented.

So now, after fence replacement all around, and painting of the front, I have to figure out how to pay for termite treatment :-(

BOOOO!

I was talking to 16′s dad about it at the game and he mentioned an option to check into instead of just automatically tenting the place and having to clear out (humans and cats) for 2 days.

Does anyone know anything about orange oil treatments for termites?

Since I’m off work I’ll do some research on this but if anyone has any personal experience, I would love to hear it.

Oct 14 – Mama said there’d be days like this


Now, you can take that line from the classic song and interpret it many ways.

Most people take it to refer to the less than perfect days.

Sorta like Friday. Which started out so so. I was bored out of my mind because the one thing I really needed to get done at work was completed in 10 minutes before 8am had even clicked over (yes, I get started early when I don’t have to drop off 16 to school).

The rest of the day I was pretty bored and rather discreetly futzed around on twitter most of the day.

Got to the Friday Night Lights game around 6pm. It was an away, though not terribly far away (thankfully!). Literally one school district east of us actually.

The night started out quite pleasantly as I ran into a long time friend from our baseball years and caught up with him for a bit. My parents showed up and we settled in for the big game. The high school we were visiting put on the best National Anthem ceremony all year with a color guard and full band and the stadium – even though quite packed – went completely silent while the color guard marched to the center of the field. It was really beautiful.

Then the game started and while we came out on the short end (14-13), it was exciting and there were some good plays by our boys DESPITE the truly horrendous officiating. So we trudged off the field not feeling quite so uplifted any more. My parents and I parted ways in the parking lot and I made my way home. Then my mom calls “We can’t find our car…are you still here?” Uh oh. When she found out I was already on my way home she told me to go on and they found security to help them go up and own the aisles.

Unfortunately, the car was gone :-( A 2000 Honda Civic with no extra security on it was just ripe for car thieves who probably got in and out of there in less than five minutes. So I did ended up going back and picking them up and taking them home.

So damn aggravating!! Police reports and insurance claims and DMV and…sigh….at least they have another car, but it means postponement of a planned vacation and since they didn’t have comprehensive coverage, it also means figuring out how to pay for another car.

Stupid thieves.

The funny thing is, I woke up Saturday still with that bad taste in my mouth and thought “Ok Saturday, what can you do to make up for Friday night because that pretty much sucked and I need a palate cleanser!”

Enter, The Boyfriend……who came over to spend the day with me since he’s been out of town for work for the last 2 weeks. Got him caught up and started on thinking about finding a replacement car, caught up everything else, went for a trail run and had lunch. Oh yeah. Lunch. Remember how I asked for a palate cleanser? Well, I got it:

Lou Malnatis deep dish cheese pizza

The best pizza that I have ever had, no contest. Lou Malnatis. <——— Click on that link! Order some to be shipped to you. You will love me and thank me for it. I first had some when we went to Chicago for the August Moms reunion several years ago. When I learned they shipped, I used to order some once a year or so as a treat. Then I just forgot about it or else didn’t have the money to justify it…I don’t know what happened. But….as soon as The Boyfriend landed there he remembered it and asked me the name and found the one closest to where he was staying and ate, well…a lot of it while he was there! He brought me back this one and I ate every last crumb. They taste really amazing even after freezing and shipping/transport. And the deal they have for 6 pizzas on their site right now? REALLY GOOD.

Would it be horrible to serve pizza for Christmas? :-)

So yeah, there’s days like Friday, and then days like Saturday. Mama said there’d be days like this. I prefer to think about the yummier, happier ones when I hear that line.

Oct 12 – Pardon my French, but I need this book


 

This went flying around on Facebook and what I want to know is – how do these things pop up JUST when I need them?

Because what had just happened when I logged in and saw this?

I had just realized that I didn’t pack a lunch and would have to spend unnecessary money at the cafeteria unless I was willing to drive home to get food. Which I wasn’t since I needed to leave early to get Son #1 to an appointment. Also? The selections on the menu were not spectacular. Chicken + Rice in a wild mushroom sauce (I hate mushrooms) or wheat pasta with veggies. Healthy yes, but appetizing? Tasty?No.

Then I kept getting interrupted while preparing a reconciliation. The interruptions were from someone who was waiting for the information FROM said reconciliation. Which I couldn’t complete. Because he kept bugging me! (of course, I could have ignored the emails for 30 minutes but….yeah…see that book title?)

Then when I finally finished it and went to post a $10 million entry, I borked it up. Had to back it out and repost. Double work. Yay!

That was all before noon.

So when I saw this cartoon I said “Oh, hell yes – THIS, right now!”

Someone commented that if this book existed it should be required reading in high school.

Truth – it would sure be a ton more useful than Gatsby ;-)