Well I am still here. Although I think we must all be pretty busy this week. I know work is crazy for me right now. Trying to adjust to the lead role and keep up with the work load. I have 3 new people coming on board in the next 4-6 weeks so hopefully 3-4 months from now life will be easier.
Work has slowed way down for me. I still have lots of it but the pace went from 100mph to more like 15mph. I'm having a hard time adjusting and keep finding myself wanting to sleep at my desk. I've walked 3 times in the last 4 days and it has felt wonderful. Been gone about an hour each time with the dog and feel so much better afterwards. I think this is going to be my new thing after DD goes to bed at night. Saw the chiropractor yesterday afternoon and it was an adjustment gone awry that contributed to my emotional train wreck of a weekend. I feel a lot better this morning and he even did something with my legs to take away my shin splints!
I am swamped with grant deadlines. Also, fillable pdfs are often done poorly, I'm supposed to filling out this data management plan, but they only give me room for like 3 words in the text fillable parts. But they ask me to write a paragraph length answer....le sigh.
Things are good here, crazy with the semester winding down soon, and a ton of grant proposals due.
I finally wrapped up our year-end with the auditors and almost feel like I've caught up from being off for surgery and my boss' vacation week. Add in the doctor appointments and sick kids, DH deciding now is a good time to tile our shower and I've felt like I'm drowning. I keep thinking May is going to be my month.
I'm four weeks post op and my foot hurts worse today than it did two weeks ago. I had to start using a dynasplint last week to increase joint motion and flexibility. My foot has become more swollen because of it. Trying to stay positive that the surgery worked.
I have another day out of town this week on Thursday. It is a day trip, but 2.5 hours away, so I will have to leave by 5 am and will get home around 6 pm. Plus a lot of meetings this week. Hopefully I will get out of her around 10 am though on Friday and plant some flowers.
Random. Ds got his truck back but he emergency brake was broken. Eeyore, aka DH, was all gripping about the truck, saying, this was just all we could provide. Like the kid was some poor street urchin who was given scraps of bread for food. No. You and DS wanted to fix that old truck. He wanted to drive it. I would have taken all that money you put in, sold the truck and bought a nice Corolla. Dh said that DS wanted it. So? He's a kid. Again, you are the dad. I trusted your judgement on this because I know nothing about cars, and now you tell me you were trusting the judgement of a kid.
rere I would kill DH. I seriously have zero ability to tolerate stuff like that - luckily, I think DH has realized that and keeps his level of challenge just a hair below my threshold.
I booked the house for my annual sorority reunion. The owner said “oops it’s not available”. WTF. Booked a second property, waiting on confirmation. I am “helping” because we go in something like 7 weeks and one of my friends is having a total meltdown trying to make everyone happy. I chose a ranch on a nature preserve with kayaks, hiking and a pool. No one wanted to do a resort and I can’t do a random house in the middle of nowhere, and this place looks pretty amazing. Plenty to do and gorgeous. Cross your fingers please the booking is confirmed today!!
Post by covergirl82 on Apr 23, 2019 11:14:37 GMT -5
Random... I just was at an all-staff meeting all morning with everyone who rolls up to the same SVP (probably close to 75 people there). At the end there were kudos and recognitions. One director got up to recognize another director for her stellar performance at the SIDE GIG they do (some MLM). I don't think I was the only one who thought it was super weird (and inappropriate) to recognize someone for their side gig at their regular job.
I left early this morning, and our dog, who is old (almost 13 year old GSD), wasn't up yet. DH left me a VM while I was at the all staff meeting to say that she looked bad this morning and he had to help her get up (her back legs have been weak for a while, but she's been able to get up). So now I'm afraid that she could be dying or dead when I get home. I'm picking up the kids on my way home, so now I wonder if I should leave early to go home first and check on her. I'm just concerned how the kids would react if they came home and she was dying or dead. This is the first furry family member I've had, so I've never had to deal with this situation before.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Apr 23, 2019 11:30:25 GMT -5
This is random, but by DH shaved all his facial hair. Without it he looks...well...weird. He just has a face that has tons of character, which is different from the ruggedly handsome look he has when his face is covered in facial hair. My son in particular is freaking out, but it's cracking me up.
WWWP DO question: At what point in this whole "you are the new head of your department" should I talk to them about a raise? My boss is still lurking around packing up his stuff. He's going to probably stop coming in at the end of this week, and then I'll be on vacation for a week. After that he's going to be moving his furniture probably 5-6 weeks from now. Yes. He owns his own office furniture.
By the way, work is tense as fuck. I'm going to see a therapist on Thursday and it's directly related to that. I'm hesitant though. I had found a therapist from a recommendation, but she doesn't take my insurance. So I then found one who is in my area who does take my insurance...but she's younger than me. I'm not sure I want to talk about career problems with someone younger than me. Is that stupid?
I mean, I have all kinds of garden variety anxiety things going on but there is the career discussion too and I just would like someone wiser than me to talk to about it. Maybe when I meet her I'll think she's wiser than me even though she's younger than me?
mustardseed2007 - can you try the therapist, and use a career coach if needed later for that specific element? I’m betting typical therapy will either help with the anxiety or uncover that it’s entirely normal career stuff you need guidance to handle. Kind of a “you won’t know until you try” thing.
I have recently (embarrassing to admit this) realized that some things in life are just stressful. And they can’t be done better or differently to make them not stressful. I have found peace in that, but I know it makes me sound a little crazy.
mustardseed2007, if they are telling you you'll have a new role, you need to understand the new compensation package that goes with the new responsibilities.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Apr 23, 2019 11:41:33 GMT -5
2chatter, Totally. I think what I'm going through is objectively stressful, and as I'm taking on specific tasks and making plans on how to handle specific tasks, it's moving into a more manageable range. But last week when I was making the appointment I told her "I'm dealing with something right now that is objectively stressful and I'm about to loose my shit over it, I need someone to help me function." And really that's what I want.
Post by covergirl82 on Apr 23, 2019 11:52:31 GMT -5
mustardseed2007, I'm sure I could get squeezed into the vet; our vet is actually the breeder we bought our dog from, so our dog has a special place in her heart. I just can't drop my dog off at the vet though - she has severe anxiety about going to the vet and would probably literally have a heart attack if I just dropped her off. I think I may leave early to go check on her, and then that way I could still get her into the vet this afternoon if need be.
mustardseed2007 , DH tried one therapist who seemed a bit out of it like she wasn't even listening to him. So he tried a different one at the same practice, and she was the same age maybe a year or 2 older, so it was helpful to him to have someone who has gone through the same types of life events/ timing. He tried a career counselor but they rejected him because really he needed a therapist. I think if he went to one now he would be accepted now that he has done the therapy work, but he had to do that first. The way one of the career counselors phrased it was therapy was for the past and career counseling was for the future.
I would think soon on the asking about compensation for the new role. I am not sure how formalized everything was, but I think when we had the acting department head it was told to her when they asked her, and when I took it on it was like yeah there will be more, but the boss had to do the budget first but of course not a private org and we were in budget season for July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Post by traveltheworld on Apr 23, 2019 12:49:26 GMT -5
We had a really good weekend - the perfect mix between hanging out with friends, and just family time. I even managed to clean out the closet for both kids and myself.
Random question - we decided that we'll throw a birthday party for DD (she'll be turning 4). We'd like to invite kids from her pre-school class, but I don't know any of the kids nor the parents as I never do drop off / pick up. Here's the problem - the place we booked can accommodate 18 kids. There are 35 kids in her class. The director emailed me the contact list with all the parent emails; but how do I figure out which kids to invite? Or how to figure out how many to invite?! DD frequently talks about 4 or 5 kids, but what about the rest?
traveltheworld, I would just invite the most talked about kids in the class (maybe try to get her number up from 5 to 10) plus family friends etc. OR invite the whole class. I think it is hard to invite 2/3rd of the class because there would be hurt feelings.
I've been swamped at work. We moved to a new building, so this week is all about settling in and getting my life back together. Plus, it's school vacation week, so I've got the kids all week and we're going out of town Thursday/Friday. I'm here, just busy!
I’m traveling for work today and got a call that DS2 took a tumble at daycare and split his head open above his eye. Acting fine but we should probably find out if he needs a stitch or two to reduce possibility of scarring. So I land back home at 4:40 and have a doctor appt for him at 5:40.
Here’s a random - how do WPs feel about backpack leash things? We’ll be taking a 10-day trip this summer and I’m debating whether just turned 2-year-old DS2 needs one. We didn’t have one with the two older kids but now we’re on zone defense. We’ll be in two airports, on 3 ferries, 3 days in downtown Seattle and all days near piers and water. Or do I just insist he stay in a stroller?
sdlaura, I had zero shame about backpack leashes. My kids used them all the time. I figured people who wanted to judge, could judge. They weren't wrangling twins in public spaces. Plus, I could throw a diaper and some wipes in each bag and eliminate the need for a diaper bag for some trips. lol
sdlaura, I have no feelings. I never had one, but my sister did. My kids tended to stay by except DD, I remember trying to run into the street a few times. I had her, so it wasn't like I had to chase her more than a step or 2, but then she would flail in my arms typical drunk toddler style. I think I would buy one to have in case, and use it if I have to. Otherwise yeah, the stroller, but then sometimes they fuss in the stroller, so one takes them out and then they try to run.
sdlaura - if it’s his forehead and they tell you a stitch or two - get plastics. DS has a giant scar from “just a couple stitches, won’t leave a mark” and the plastics guy said everyone except plastics has great intentions and sometimes it’s okay...and sometimes it isn’t which is why you always, Always start with plastics.
I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but our office building (and most of the buildings in our plaza) have been sold. The developer buying them is trying to buy everyone out of their extended leases so he's not stuck waiting 4-7 years for key tennants to move out before he does anything with it.
We're currently shopping for new office space. Original indications was that there was a target 1.5 blocks away that would work, but now I'm hearing rumors that aside from our branch, they will probably move everyone out of downtown. My (very well connected) spy (aka coworker who knows everyone and everything) tells me that the location they've identified is about 5 miles away. And that those 5 miles will more than double my commute, making it 45 mins to an hour + each way. To travel a whopping total of 12-14 miles from door to door.
And all I can think of is... if this happens, I'm selling my house and moving somewhere we can live on one salary and I don't have to spend my life being an angry bitter person in my car. Nevermind the fact that I'm antisocial and probably won't make any friends. Still better than sitting in traffic all day.
I'm ridiculously bummed out about this, and I don't even know if it's true.
k3am I don't think I could do it. I have a 14 mile commute which takes about 25 minutes plus drop off for Ds. I am pissed by the time I get to work most mornings due to: taking 2-3 lights to get off the ramp, slow drivers in the fast lane (#1), insane teenage drivers, neverending construction and lane closures. I called someone a dick last week (not my finest moment) in front of ds trying to get to my exit.