Yay Friday!

[mommyatty]

DS started school this week, and DD was supposed to have field hockey camp every morning. Then a water main burst, so they closed down the school Wednesday and Thursday because they had no water. So she’s back today and so happy. DH likes all three of his teachers. They all seem super nice. And he’s been talking to a boy in his class, and they’re sitting next to each other at lunch, so that’s good too.

This weekend is fairly calm. DS has his ninja and XP games stuff. DD has her back to school picnic in the morning. That’s really it.

[twinmomma]

It's show weekend for the girls! They have a performance tonight and tomorrow during the day. I love their passion for theater, even though they're always just in the ensemble/chorus. They've made a couple new friends that they've eaten lunch with every day during the two weeks of camp too, which is nice. Sometimes they just band together and aren't great at letting new people in unintentionally. I do feel bad that DS can't come see it, he's with his mom this weekend and asked her if there was any way they could fly out tomorrow instead of tonight so he could see the show, but she said no. He was pretty disappointed.

I signed up for a gym membership this week, so I'm going to start going on Monday when the class schedule gets released. I chose this gym because they have classes I'm interested in at times that work for my schedule. And I was able to get a super discounted membership with no contract through my health insurance. so I've decided to give it a shot! DH thinks it's silly that I don't just work out at home on our Peloton bike, but he doesn't get that I'm kind of over that and need something different with a little more outside accountability to jumpstart things.

[librarychica]

I slept super well last night and was up and productive early. Even took the kids to school (normally an H task) so he could have a lazy morning. I’m hoping I can check everything off my list and duck out early today.

It’s been a good week. The girls are happy in school, we’ve made it to the Y a few times as a family, work is chugging along. It’s been a little up and down there.

This weekend is kind to busy. H and I are going out to a Filipino restaurant we’ve been wanting to try. They’re usually one of those $120-a-plate places but they have an August special with a less extravagant menu so I grabbed us a reservation to celebrate a good friend’s engagement. But I had to pay in advance! Lol, I’ve never done that.

Saturday evening we are going to a dinner theater with my goddaughter and her family for a birthday. Sunday afternoon we’re having lunch/going swimming with my parents. I am sure DD will have some homework too. She’s already had homework and has two quizzes today and it’s still the first week.

[rere]

Everyone is home! For now. I took off today and we need to load Dds stuff for her apartment, unload and set up her room, and drive the 2 hrs back. Not exactly a fun Friday, but this is the only day we could make it work.

Tomorrow, dd and I are shopping for last minute school stuff and ds and dh are going to a car show. They are hoping Ds gets some bites on selling his Camero. Then we are all going to the cabin and lake for a barbecue and Down Syndrome fundraiser.

Sunday is hopefully a chill day and we are going to have everyone's favorite, grilled burgers. Dh may give in and buy a new charcoal grill. Ours finally went down but we have a smoker/grill and gas grill, but according to the kids, they are inferior for burgers.

[sdlaura]

I’m feeling more organized today than I have in…months? Since school got out mid-June?

One of my clients told me that mercury has been in retrograde since early August and messing everything up, and we’ve definitely been having a ‘when it rains it pours’ period of time. DH’s aunt just entered hospice, our close friend who had a pulmonary embolism recently had exploratory surgery on his clotted veins and it was not a good finding, both our cars needed work, our solar power system broke and that costs us like $50 a day of lost power, I lost that big client. And then Monday DS3 started a new preschool class and I had to fly up and back to a client meeting, Tuesday the three older kids started school and I had to fly to and from another meeting, Wednesday I flew to and from yet another meeting. It was brutal.

But anyway, things are now looking up. I got to WFH yesterday and today and I feel like I’m finally getting things together. The kids are all liking their classes so far and DD is figuring out middle school. Yesterday was DD’s 12th bday and we’re now giving her the use of a phone so she’s excited. She and one of her good friends are being offered spots on a 14U travel softball team where DD would be the main catcher and the coaching staff seems good (including two college softball players). And this weekend we only have one thing on our calendar! DD’s friend is having a birthday sleepover and the family also invited all the families for happy hour at the start. So I got a babysitter for the boys so we can relax and will either just stay there or head to dinner after.

[mae0111]

It was a long week. The kids are in their last day of camp today, and then nothing organized for the next 2 weeks until school starts. I say "nothing organized", but we have orthodontist appointments, therapy appointments, picking up laptops, school orientation for DD1, and club soccer starts for DD2. We will try to get to the beach house a couple times for short stays over the next couple of weeks, before the madness really kicks in.

I may have some of the kids' friends over today after camp to swim and hang out, but right now the weather looks a little iffy, so I haven't committed. Tomorrow we have someone coming to find a leak in our newly-lined pool (I'm extremely unhappy and we're losing gallons of water an hour). Hopefully it will be an easy fix. DD2 has a birthday party on Sunday. It's for a good friend, but they do not travel in the same friend circles... so DD2 is not friends with any of the other kids going. And a few of the kids going are... not nice kids. I'm pretty surprised that her friend hangs out with them. So she's got some anxiety about that, but doesn't want to miss it. Hopefully it goes OK.

[waverly]

Tonight I have an exciting cat vet appointment.

Saturday- no plans

Sunday- soccer tournament 90 minutes away. Luckily it is played over a multi day period not all the same weekend, and the next two games are home games.

PDQ- may delete

Deleted

[mommyatty]

waverly- yes, she’s treating you like you’re her secretary. I would shut that down hard and without regard to niceties.

[waverly]

mommyatty, She pulls me in because she phrases it like oh I just don't know what the procedure is, and then bam. Or what should I do with this application, and I say well I sort my applications into yes, no, maybe, and she asked if she can put them in my no file. I mean, get your own no file...

We also had to have 6 meetings to discuss me looking up data and reporting it to her when she can look it up herself. Luckily this only takes about 1 minute per week and isn't a problem, but setting up the procedure was annoying. She also get reports to her email but those weren't good enough, and she didn't understand them despite her being very intelligent.

[mommyatty]

waverly, yep, she’s treating you as her secretary. I would deflect everything with “you should talk to your boss about getting a copy of the procedure”, “if you’re having trouble organizing your files, maybe you should talk to your boss about some training on organization”, “gosh, you’re going to need to discuss having these reports explained to you by your boss. I just don’t have time.” If her boss pushes back, I would say bluntly, “I’m sorry, has someone told you I’m a floating secretary? Because I’m not. If she needs administrative help, maybe you can hire an assistant for your department.”

There is very little I go full-on “f you, I’m not taking this” about at work, but being treated like a secretary pushes every one of my buttons hard. Weaponized incompetence doesn’t just apply to worthless husbands. This woman is a great illustration of that.

[waverly]

mommyatty, I think the problem is that the HR hiring procedures are not written down. So there were multiple complaints that she didn't have the correct application (again HR and boss and not me).

I should have referenced the boss when she asked me about what should I do about this application. "You can work with boss to review applications." But she meant it as a complaint against the other hiring manager, so I treated it that way, but is kind of the dumbest complaint I ever heard that someone passed on an application to you. Just file it and move on.

I involved boss and second in charge in the report procedure because it was so ridiculous. I'll try to push back a bit more and say "ask boss".

[supertrooper1]

waverly, exactly what mommyatty said about weaponized incompetence. This was huge at my old job. People would pass stuff off because they would say they didn't know the procedure, but in reality it was because they were lazy and didn't want to learn. There was a lot of stuff that I had to learn on my own and figure out, but I did it and didn't pass anything off because I didn't know how to do it. Or I asked someone to show me.

[supertrooper1]

I'm so glad it's Friday. Work was miserable and stressful this week since so many of my coworkers were OOO and I covered their emails. My usual go-to people for questions were also out. I had to go into the office one day and my office mate drove me batty with her constant chatter. It's been a long two weeks without DS and I'm so excited for him to come home tonight.

Beau's grandson is spending the night tonight and then we're going to our county fair tomorrow. We'll meet Beau's son and DIL and probably spend the day at the carnival. I used to enjoy going to the fair, but the introvert in me hates running into people you know and making awkward small talk with them. It's also weird going with Beau's son because Beau insists on paying for everything, even though his son can afford to pay his own way. It ends up costing Beau a fortune when it shouldn't since he's on reduced wages right now. I would pay for us, but I don't want to pay for Beau's son and his family too.

Sunday, Beau, his son, and brother are going riding. I'm taking DS back to school shopping.

I've been feeling grumpy and bitter about a lot of things lately and I need to figure out what needs to change to make myself happy.

[mae0111]

Re: Weaponized Incompetence at work... I have found that the best way to treat that is to speak to the person like they're an idiot, make sure they know that you know that they're an idiot, and then they go away with their stupid problem.

Years ago, I was approached by someone needed help with at PPT presentation for our mutual BIG BOSS. That was not my job - we had an entirely different department for that... but it required a form to be filled out, and the coworker told me that her project was TOO IMPORTANT and she was TOO STRATEGIC to waste time filling out a form or doing a PPT presentation. So I looked her in the eyes and said, very cheerfully, "OMG! Powerpoint is sooooo easy! I mean, you really can't figure it out? Because what you're describing would take me like 10 mins. So, I mean, if you REALLY can't figure out this SUPER SIMPLE problem in something as EASY as PPT, I'd be happy to just do it for you. Then I can send it right to BIG BOSS for you, since you can't waste time on administrative things like emails. Don't worry, I'll CC you on the email!" *smile and bat eyelashes*

She walked away and never asked me for help again. She was fired shortly thereafter.

For another coworker that didn't approach me like that? I will absolutely jump in and help. But waverly, she seemed almost passive aggressive about getting you to do her job/fix someone else's mess.

[waverly]

mae0111- Yup she was mad because she piggy backed off the other hiring managers applications and then realized that other hiring manager had used an older version. That's why you don't piggy back off other people's work. It absolutely was passive aggressive.

[186momx]

It's cloudy, gray, and threatening rain all weekend plus we got fire smoke smell going on.

Thinking about taking a day trip over to the coast. I will take the dog with and do a beach walk, hit up the outlet mall, beach walk again, and grab an early dinner before driving home. This is something DD and I love but DH will insist on going and then be cranky due to weather or something and I just want a chill day in my happy place.

[macmars45]

I get to go back to work on Monday! Only for two days (Monday & Thursday for trainings etc before full time again on the 26th). Ten weeks of summer break is 6-8 weeks too long.

[sandandsea]

We’ve had a crazy busy week and my work bff for the past 15 years is leaving which totally sucks in every possible way. She wants an easier job and I totally understand but it sucks. I’m so sad. We have a quiet weekend so ds1 had 2 friends over for his first slumber party last night. The boys had a blast and they’re staying until after lunch today. I am going to a game night with friends and their husbands tonight but Dh is staying home with the kids as he’s had an awful work week and will have to work through this evening too so I’m going without him.

My goal for the weekend is to be able to do laundry, get clothes set out for the week, school lunches ready for the week and all the other prep stuff to make next week better for us. I was able to do it last weekend and it totally saved us this week so trying to do it while I can.

[k3am]

First full week of school in the books! Week 1 was only two days. DD’s elective is dance. She has NO experience, so they put her in basic dance, but she auditioned to be moved up and is now in intermediate, so her schedule has been all reworked. And the girl wouldn’t have even told me, but she had to explain why she skipped lunch! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Through a series of unplanned play dates, DH and I have tomorrow to ourselves and need ideas for a date day. Hike? Wine taste? Look at countertops? No idea.

ETA: not looking at countertops. Everything is closed on Sunday.

[sdlaura]

k3am I vote hike and lunch or some kind of food or drink. Have fun!