I need a few more hours.

Damn. Where the hell did my weekend go?

I need a few more hours before I go to sleep, and I am tired. Pooped. Feeling pretty done.

It feels like this weekend ran away on me, and it just seems like it got frittered away somewhere. Some great stuff - and some lame elements too. And, I forgot this will be a 6 day week for me, I get to work Saturday since we are hosting an Open House. I don't even think I was asked, I think with my position, it is quietly assumed I will be present and get some extra time off at a later date.

The garage sale was a total bust. I think I sold 5 items, and bought a set of chairs, and brought home some plants. I barely came out ahead. I also got sunstroke, which started to kick in about 10 o'clock with a headache and nausea to go with the farmer's tan I got. There were lots of lookie-loos, but few takers. It did make it easier to let go of a bunch of stuff at the end of the day because I did not want to pack it up and cart it home with me, only to have to deal with it again. Done. Off to an organization that picks up and pays forward. Had a good day chatting with some old friends, and it was bizarre, the garage sale was in my home town, and half the folks I saw knew me from my days working in the local grocery store.

I didn't really get to see much of Ken. Between grocery shopping, and him running errands after work friday, we both crashed out on the couch. Then Saturday with the garage sale, and then I went to a friend's place for some visiting and Ken played hockey. It was nice though - we both left our respective "parties" at the same time and arrived home together. It was nice that Brandon was asleep, but we were both bagged, again. Still?

The weather held today - it was a great Sunday. Picked up a few more plants this morning, got Brandon some outdoor toys, cleaned up my deck area, gardened, ran laundry, the dishwasher, took our bottles back, grabbed some steaks for dinner, made dinner with my mom, and O M G. I'm watering plants, and realized that I bought ribs on friday night to take when we head out fishing in a few weeks.. and just about forgot about them. They were sitting in the fridge. I knew, deep down, if I didn't do them tonight I would be throwing money away and wasting good food.

So, even though I am tired as hell and would much prefer to be in bed with a good book right now, my guy at my side. I make ribs. I blog. I make the bed, and hopefully even get some laundry put away. Hell, maybe even unload that dishwasher so I don't start the week off with just an extra element of chaos.

On the flip side, it is starting to smell pretty damn good around here.

Whoosh.

The sound of another week, flashing by.

Why are the short weeks somehow longer than the regular weeks? This has been a better week - I am not as crispy or as fried as I was this time last week. It helps when your reports are running as they should, and the clients clamoring at your door have dulled to a quiet roar. Finally, a little breathing room.

That also means more records management. Damn, someone else that I have taken over tasks from kept a lot of paper. Way too much paper. It is hard seeing such incredible waste - especially when said person didn't always duplex either. It's weird the paranoia that there used to be to keep paper trails, and uber documentation, even documentation that could be accessed at any time, on-line. *SIGH*. Once again, makes me feel like a bull in a china store as I bring about more process changes.

Tomorrow morning I am piggy-backing on a friend's garage sale and hauling over some stuff to get rid of and hopefully make a meager profit on. The theme of "moving on" and "decluttering" continues. The spring clean up week helped, and this should help too. I am getting the urge to do more decluttering, but there hasn't been the time. I do miss having a day off every 2 weeks, but not getting up for work for 7:30 has been a blessing too, and getting off at 4:30, but I haven't really done much of that lately either.

I must say, my motivation got up and left this morning.

Once Ken and Brandon left, I think I stood around with a stupid look on my face for a few minutes. And then I procrastinated, and then I was late leaving the house. I would have been happy just hanging out in my ginch with a good book all day.

-

Not so bad.

35 has been looking pretty damn good so far.

Started out this new week, promising myself to not allow myself to ramp up stress-wise at a breakneck pace. It worked. It helps that I have sorted out most of the bugs in the report that I have to run, and I have finally had a chance to start to pick through, identifying what could stay, what should go, and what could move on. It's all in the details right now. At least I can see at what level the report sorts at (that was a mystery for the first 2 weeks) and semester start up is already moving quickly in to the past. I still think I have to take part of way too many meetings... but they are a necessary evil (apparently).

Ken's outta town for the night, and for a change, I didn't fall asleep with Brandon. Man, I have been bagged lately. Getting up before 6am doesn't help, but I think I was asleep before 10 three nights last week - LAME-O is me, The headache that didn't lift until Saturday probably paid a little part in that though.

Getting out of dodge for the weekend was a godsend. Not only was it good to spend time as a family with no distractions, the weather was good, got to see some new stuff, have some crazy new experiences... it's cool to think that in 3 weeks we are heading out for a real holiday!

I also got to change up the art work in my office today. What I had sucked. It was some dark abstract painting that did nothing for me. Now I have 2 semi-decent pieces of art that help jazz up some pretty boring walls. At least I have a view!

Othello Tunnels

Best time to go is first thing in the morning - before the crowds. Now, with my new life, where 7am is the old noon, doing just that is a reality! We were out and about at a decent time, and were at the tunnels for just after 8, and then to Hell's Gate for opening. It was an awesome day.

My next career?

Gateway to Holidayland

My DH heard my pleas that we really needed to get out of dodge. From what he didn't say, actually finding a place to hang our hats wasn't an easy task, last minute, heading in to the long weekend, and the first nice weekend since last year.

I think I was reaching the end of my tether. I had a headache that wouldn't go away. Coffee wasn't helping, nor pain killers, or just trying to get more sleep. I think I was a tad stressed, and just needed a change of pace. The pain wasn't lifting, and it was going on days. And the early nights of crashing. And the waking up to do it again. Not that things have been that bad, or that stupid crazy (ok there were moments) just a cumulative effect of the whole ball of wax, so to speak.

So Ken planned an amazing trip. We made it to the gateway to the interior - which was just perfect. Far enough to be away, close enough that we didn't spend all day in the car. It was so needed. Sometimes being a tourist in your own backyard is the best thing you can do - discovered a cool place to eat called Skinny;s Grille, and a fabulous coffee shop called the Blue Moose.

I washed away the last 35 years in the face of an amazing waterfall - it was such an experience, words pale. The mist was tossed around by the wind from the temperature change (hot air and cold water), and I had to plunge my feet in to the falls to just experience it. Even though I didn't jump in to the water, I was soaked to the skin from the mist.

I think this is when my headache lifted.

My guys, checking out the falls. After seeing this, stopping in at Bridal Falls on the way home was no longer an option - it wouldn't compare.

I truly believe sometimes you have to get out of dodge to reconnect with yourself, get back to the basics, leave the noise behind, hold hands with your loved ones, and just experience something out of the ordinary. We did that - from cheesy Rambo-esque moments, to quiet moments having a picnic, to being awed by nature's beauty. So what I needed to refocus my energy.

500

Funny how things work out - I celebrate 35 aged and celebrated years, and I hit the 500 posts milestone!

I am lurking at home for a few extra minutes this morning. I am going for a massage before I head off to work. I figure they should just be happy that I am working on my birthday - it is one of those days I like being a princess and not working, but I just don't have enough extra days to pull it off this year. Granted, I am getting tomorrow off, but I am working from home, and ultimately, tomorrow is happening because of a daycare crisis - our daycare lady *gasp* has taken the day off. Apparently she has a life too. LOL

Ken and I went on a great date last night - it was awesome. Our nephew and his GF came over to watch Brandon, and I am sure that they thought I was hilarious - we caught an early movie, and it was just what I wanted from a summer blockbuster. I was also mildly surprised at how the story unfolded, it wasn't rocket science, but still a good flick. Hell, getting out, holding Ken's hand, and watching a movie all the way through in one sitting was great in itself!!! Ah, the NWO. Got home, and Brandon had gone to bed without us, without a fuss!! YAY! Another cause for celebration. Last time we went out he was terrible going down for my mom, so perhaps we have turned a corner. And yes, the dude is in his own room. He lurves his own bed.

Work has been slowly getting better, but I have had headaches most of the this week. I have no idea if it has been stress, or just not sleeping well, or if I am fighting something. The headaches are getting annoying though - so it waking up about 5 am. I am cool with 6, but 5 is pushing it a bit. At work, it has been kind of neat, I have run in to a few familiar faces, and caught up with a few old friends that I knew from previous incarnations of myself at previous employers. That has been good. It has also been strange, it feels like I have never left this place on the hill.

At least I bring a lot of other experiences to the table now - there is something to be said about a little bit of experience in the field rather than just going to school somewhere and then working there without experiencing anything else. My office is coming together, 6 out of 23 boxes are gone, and 11 more to go this week.

I have been exhausted this last week. I think everything has caught up to me - the stress of the job changes, Brandon being sick, and then it trickling through to us, and just the normal day in and day out stuff, like trying to get laundry done and put away before the week starts up again... sometimes that is a huge challenge.

And how offensive is it that one of Canada's most notorious waste's of skin ended up with a myspace page? BRUTAL.

Yup, that skipping CD of a mind that I have is at it again.

Looks like we are getting out of dodge this weekend - I am not sure where, but Ken has something up his sleeve. I am tempted to ask where, but it is nice not knowing at this point and just being surprised, and happy knowing we are getting out of dodge.

And my dear friend Kelz had a baby girl!!! Welcome to the world Niamh!!!!

And my dear friend Clay is safely back in North America! Another reason to celebrate.

It feels like life has been happening fast and furiously. Days are going by way too quickly. It is kind of mind boggling actually. If tomorrow is as bright and beautiful as they say - I can't wait to get out for a walk at the beach with Brandon... should be good.

Perhaps I should start getting my day together... I don't think showing up to work in my robe today is such a great idea.

That's a wrap.

What a week.

I haven't been this glad it was a Friday for a long time. No wait, I think I feel this way pretty much every Friday night. What a fricken long, tiring, stressful, clusterfuck of a week.

It is my first taste of being in charge - I think it has gone fairly well, especially considering my first stint at being the point man also coincided with the third busiest time of the year for us. I had at least one staff member off every day. An integral program failed all week long. I realized I was sending the same information every day, no changes, causing a lot of delays for many people (unintentionally) because part of the file that I was grabbing was listed in lower case letters instead of upper case letters, and in no training manual, or in the training I got from the person I took over from (in their defense they were a temp, and frankly didn't have a huge vested interest in the program, beyond the small fraction of what they were shown) was it listed that it was important to have the whole file name listed in upper case letters. I assumed that the extension part could be lower case... well. Huge mistake. Most of the issues should sort out tonight.. the rest will hopefully sort out on Monday when I run my program again - I asked for a data refresh and that is being run tonight. Fingers crossed, it goes well and by Tuesday I can let the mob.... er... folks that are clamoring at our door know that everything is all good.

This is a short lived stint, since my supervisor is in Hawaii, but a welcome one. I was at my old job 10 years and never got to take the reins, and I have been in this just barely a month and I have been making decisions left, right, and centre, hosting team meetings, checking in with folks, and running with the ball. It is nice to feel valued in a different way, and to have more control... and best of all, to have a window with a view. Some days, my office is so bright I have to angle my monitor so I can actually see what is going on. Crazy! What a nice change from the broom closet I had at the old place, and then the box within a box, within a box, within a box I had not even a year ago.

Some days I can't believe the changes of the last year.

Then I met with the anal retentive archives dude yesterday, hoping to get rid of the 22 boxes in my office. A grand total of 6 boxes are officially ready to go. I then needed to spend a few hours I didn't have fixing another 11. One will stay put until they have a chance to go through the types of files in there and assign a retention period since we started making up our own numbers. Then I have another 6 boxes beyond my door that I think I am just going to be in denial about and wait for a motivated day when I feel the urge to do one final push for records management and get it out of here.

Of course, I love it when things get done, like yesterday. The wheels they don't turn so fast in a large institution. I am hoping those 6 boxes are gone next week. An approval to send off the other 11 to the archives would be nice as well, and I will optimistically hope that they will be gone the week after. Who knows about the rest.

In another 6 weeks the rest of my office furniture shall arrive.

Next week I may go and switch out the art work I have. It is some funky interpretive that I have hanging on the wall that does nothing for me.

That said, it has been a decent week at work - I have certainly bonded with my coworkers, and well, I have learned a few things the hard way. Seem a few stars, and well, some that fulfill different roles in the overall scheme of things.

What else?? It feels like work has dominated this week.

Brandon is fighting a cold - which is a far cry better than fighting the flu. Ken's between the pipes tonight, and I went out for dinner with Brandon and my folks to this funky little Italian place up the street. It was brilliant. It was a great departure from this week - marking a real end to it, and running in to the weekend. Granted the beer I had probably helped.. that and the latte with a shot of sambucca dropped in to it also helped.. LOL

Man, I can ramble when I set my mind to it.

My next goal is to update Brandon's adventures. I have been remiss in the last 6 weeks. It has been hard enough putting a few thoughts up here, every now and then, than trying to put up some new pics of him. It's Mum's Day this weekend. Wow. It is starting to feel real - like it isn't just about my mum anymore. My daycare lady floored me today when I picked B up - she had a picture she had made from hand cut outs, and B's picture in the middle, and a poem. If I was a crier, I would have been croaking out big crocodile tears. As it was, I was a little emotional but none of the wet stuff seeped out.

So, off I run.