Lessons Learned

In no particular order other than what pops into my head as I ponder this topic from events of the past month or so:

• Change is a constant – remember that new office we moved into in late summer? Well, I received notice on a Monday afternoon that we had to vacate it starting Thursday. I had less than 48 hours to view and approve floor plans to build cubicles in a similar space upstairs. It’s smaller, still has windows, and my area has a corner window, but I also lost the most space. Oh, and this is also most likely temporary. 6-9 months perhaps just like the other room. Yay! (that was sarcasm).
• Australian teenage rugby players are a lot of fun to host as they travel to play teams stateside. Wait, make that *heaps* of fun to use their terminology.
• When sharing a rental car on a long road trip, and a hotel room with your teenage son, you should probably not both eat chili in a bread bowl. Ever. From ANY source, but specifically not from the food court at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. FYI.
• It sucks to be steamrolled. I was fired from a job for the first time ever and over something I did not do. I am no longer writing blog posts for Blogmutt. From their end, they seemed certain I had plagiarized an article. From my end, I pushed back many times since I had NOT. But, they have a zero tolerance policy on that topic (which makes sense from their business model standpoint) and unfortunately I happen to have experienced that their owner is not the most pleasant sport who gave me no benefit of the doubt for even a second. So I am done with that and at first I was going to pursue another paid writing gig, but then I thought better of it. I’m taking a break on that for now and only writing for fun because it did start to be a chore (and at only $8 an article and still taking me 30-60 minutes to write it wasn’t worth it).
•  It is NOT a good idea to run during a Santa Ana heat wave. Not even a normally easy 3 miles on your local trail. 20oz of water consumed by mile 2.7 and I was struggling mightily.
• It’s a Small World After All – oh wait…ear worm warning! I know, too late 🙂 A high school classmate emailed me because HER son is also going to UNM this Fall. It will be nice to know someone else there on drop off weekend!
• Sometimes, you have to be a bit insistent that you are no longer a football liaison/volunteer. I’ve graduated. I don’t want the emails and no, I will not attend the continuing fundraiser planning meetings every week again this year. Say it with me again: I’ve GRADUATED! Tag, you guys are it. Happy to answer one off questions, not sitting in meetings anymore!
• Be careful who you ask for a good recipe using fresh vegetables. Make sure you are asking a similarly minded, similarly time and money pressed mom who understands what teens will eat (or not). Otherwise you may get a suggestion such as this which I shall not be following since it involves a blender which I don’t have and am much too lazy to consider cleaning after use – I do appreciate that she includes frozen fruit though-  A for that effort, but can you tell she hasn’t had her first child yet?:

“I find that smoothies are an excellent way to get the younger lot to eat healthily. They disguise the vegetables perfectly! Fruit is an excellent way of masking the vegetable taste in a smoothie but it’s best to add in at least 50% veggies, especially the dark green ones as they are nutrient rich and will prevent the sugar highs. Try blending 2 cups of leafy greens with 2 cups of frozen bananas or frozen berries with 2 cups of plant based milk such as almond milk. You can actually make your own almond milk by blending 1 cup of almonds with 6 cups of water. Drain the milk through a nut bag”

 

• No, I wont be making my own almond milk.
• Since I wont be blending smoothies from scratch or making my own almond milk, or writing for anyone else, or attending football meetings, that means that I can instigate the Merry Merry Month Of May again! Aren’t you excited? I found a list of blog post ideas that I will surely ignore at least 1/3 of the time (No, I wont be making and sharing any craft ideas for Pinterest!) that should at least inspire me to write *something* semi-entertaining every day.