Just Business

Wait, wait. That can’t possibly be right. Last posted on May 1st? Twenty-six days ago? I don’t think so. I can’t imagine how 26 days could have gone by since my last post…

On second thought, yes I can. Of course, between family fights, meltdowns, emergencies, surgeries, hospitals, full Court calendars and ridiculously busy work weeks…yes, I guess I can see exactly how I haven’t posted in 26 days. So, for my loyal readers out there, I apologize for the delay, and thank you for sticking around. It appears life in general just got in the way of my life. How rude. I hate it when that happens.

So, a few housekeeping matters. Thanks to the linking of my blog with two more blogs, I seem to have acquired some new readers. Welcome, and thank you for helping me keep my average of 5 hits per day. It’s a little odd to know that there are people out there whom I have never met reading what happens in my life – and enjoying it! But I am flattered that I can entertain, even at my own expense. If you are not aware, and as a reminder for those returning visitors, I have posted to the right of the text an email notification system called blogarithm.com. If you enter your email address in there, you will receive an automatic email whenever it is that I get around to posting something new on my blog. Just as a warning to all, though, I have been informed that blogarithm is sometimes slow, and you may not get the email until the day after I post. I have also been informed by the blogarithm people that they have sold out to another company and are in the process of updating all of their systems. So far I’m not aware of any changes I’m required to make to my link to their subscription service on my blog due to these changes, but if for some reason you are subscribed and not receiving the reminder emails, please leave me a comment and let me know so that I can figure it all out. All in all I hope not to have to change services, but will certainly let you know if it comes down to that.

Directly under the blogarithm link, I also have a guestbook that can be signed to let me know you have visited. This is kind of nice as well, because I know I have regular readers out there who I have either never met, or have had no idea that they are reading. It’s wonderful to see who has stopped by to check it out. So, if you’re so inclined, please sign my guestbook!

Also, you may have noticed that I have changed the look of my blog. I realized after spending a considerable amount of time re-reading some of my posts that the previous color scheme and backgrounds were a little difficult on the eyes. And not very creative. It just so happened that friend of mine who also blogs had just changed her format as well, and provided this link for free backdrops: http://www.mybackdrops.blogspot.com/. The woman who owns the blog, Holly, is absolutely FABULOUS, and was willing to actually sit and talk poor, computer illiterate me through installing a new backdrop when I got stuck. Pretty good for a complete stranger, huh? If you choose to use any of the backdrops on her blog, I would ask that you follow her requirements for doing so, let her know you found her site through my blog, and that I raved about her and all the help she gave me. She really was very wonderful. Anyway, I found several backdrops that I really liked, but Sweetpea helped me make the final decision. What do you think of her choice? Leave me a comment and let me know, so I can pass on to her the success of her good taste. :-)

You few regular readers may have noticed that my last post (the Mother’s Day post) was not really in sync with the rest of my posts. I wanted to explain that I did that post as an entry into a Mother’s Day contest on http://notesfrommynest.blogspot.com/. I blogged with a friend, and gained three entries (I believe) into each of the drawings available in the contest. The bad part was that the hostess of the contest gave the subject for the post. I found it a hundred times more difficult to write on a subject mandated to me, than on any subject that just came into my head. And really, the post took me twice as long as any other I’ve done, not to mention it came at a time that was probably the WORST week I’ve had in I can’t tell you how long. I’m also not pleased with the quality of the work, but the good news was that the contest was not based upon the content, only the post actually having been done. The rest of the good news is that I won two of the drawings: a gift certificate for an online store called Starlooks Boutique (for kids and babies), and some Daily Home Planner software. I’ve received the gift certificate, but have yet to have enough time to browse and see what I might like to get for Sweetpea (might let her pick her own). I am anxiously awaiting the software, it sounds pretty cool. These wins are especially awesome because I am particularly unlucky when it comes to drawings. I never win any drawing I enter. Ever. Content based contests, maybe, but I think I’ve only won four drawings in my entire life. These count for two, and a third someone entered my name for me, which is probably why I won. Never would have won had I filled out that little slip myself. So all in all a pretty neat deal.

And the last item of business, I am informed that the picture on my Weird Sightings post of the moron driving the car with the mattresses on top is not, in fact, a Toyota. My mistake. Apparently it is a Mazda. Ahem. Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to offend the people of Toyota by saying their car is perfect for morons.

So on Wednesday of last week I informed my boss I would not be in the office on Friday. By the time Thursday was over, I had worked enough to have my 40 hours for the week, and was horribly, terribly exhausted. He politely reminded me that I am an exempt (i.e. salary) employee, and can therefore work more than 40 hours if the work calls for it. I politely reminded him that I had worked two 12 hour days in the last week, and that I am exempt, not indentured. He laughed and told me to enjoy my day off. So, after four days off from work, I go traipsing back into the office this morning, completely unaware that I was not in the least prepared to work.

First, I sat for two hours reading, just reading, all the crap I’d missed while I was gone, both work and personal (though more on the work side.) Somehow, don’t know what it was or why, but I felt as if I’d been away from the place for a year. I was having a really hard time getting back into the swing of things. It took me three times as long to review and endorse the Orders this morning, and twenty minutes to answer one short, two-line email. Anytime anyone would ask me a question, I found myself standing there staring at them for a minimum of 30 seconds. Not staring at them like they were an idiot, but like I’m an idiot and I didn’t have a clue what language they were speaking, let alone what it is they just said to me. In the first three hours of work I had had to ask people four times to repeat the question, and I ran out of lifelines at about 11:30. I'm still not sure what my final answers should be. So goes another truth: it always takes a minimum of a day back at work to recover from your vacation.