Rainy Day To-Do List

I woke up listening to the rain and it was just cloudy/dark enough outside, I snuggled deeper under the covers and tried to go back to sleep. Which of course I can never do. But it sounded like a good plan. 

All these wonderful Rainy Day choices and I chose the cleaning one? Something's not right. But I had to tackle my Oh My God room, which is also my office, which is also my Scrap Cave (and all things crafty). A lot is packed into this 10x10 room. And it is not organized!

So I got the "office" work space looking a bit better – even ran out of Lysol wipes! But I have so, so far to go with everything else. Things just accumulate. Anyone need any random note pads?? This old newspaper reporter thought she'd always take notes on paper, I guess?

If I find any goodies that need a new home, I'll be sure to pass those along.

Of course, I did find a loose screw and wonder what's going to fall apart next. Probably me!

And yeah, yeah, I know. I've always had a screw loose. 😜

Land of the Lost :: Office Version

This was our second week of the every-other-week schedule of being in office. For the next 40 months. Nothing quite seemed natural yet since I parked on a different level of our parking ramp and had no idea how to get to my desk!

Sort of a maze to get to the only set of elevators in the building!

I was thinking in the morning that I needed something to identify my "street" to turn down... aka row of cubicles. So I brought in my two purple Carter beanie bears to sit on top of the tall cabinet. But they weren't tall enough. (For my height anyway.) So I ran to Hobby Lobby at lunch and was tempted with a lot of beautiful fall decorations and even Christmas stuff.

But you know Hobby Lobby has everything so I found the sign above in their Big Foot/Sasquatch section. Totally appropriate for our situation. So I found the ribbon row and the scissors row to be able to hang the sign at the end of our "intersection."

It helped me and a few others.

I also reached out to the employee I'm sharing a desk with. I realize he must be a tall person since I had to lower the desk, lower the arms of the chair so I didn't look like I needed a booster seat, and lower the height of the seat so my feet could touch the floor. I apologized that we'll both have to make adjustments when we come in for the next 3-4 years. 

And asked if I could keep some items in one of our shared locker drawers since I didn't want to haul stuff back and forth constantly. I mean important stuff like my birthday fairy supplies and well, signs to hang on the cubicle. 

I am so used to personalizing my space, I know this will be an adjustment. So I'm grateful he said take all the space I need.

Do you know what I didn't have trouble finding today? SentryWorld!

It was so fun after doing our United Way outing yesterday for our foursome to get back together for league (which is just 9 holes, by the way). We just kept the same running jokes and laughs going from yesterday. For those who don't know, that's the cure for a stressful day at work!

Got home in time to blog... and start to edit those senior photos from Sunday. Have a good, relaxing night y'all! If you're lost, ask someone to help you find the way! 

The Land of the Lost

I could have titled this blog "Land of the Lost" or "Somebody Moved my Cheese" and both would have been appropriate.

First, the 6:20 a.m. alarm is jarring after setting it to 7:25 a.m. to walk across the hallway and login at 7:30 a.m. for 6 weeks. Secondly, weather conditions were strange.

I feel like I was literally trying to find my way back to the office. And Mother Nature was saying, "Why? Just stay home." LOL. Wishful thinking.

My new digs. Of course it looks impressive. We happened to open it just before COVID. It's modern and also so foreign in layout that I felt everyone was quite lost finding our way around – from where to park, how to enter the building and how to set up our work station to where are the meeting rooms and what's the cafeteria like.

Summary: Confusion overpowered Productivity today.

Also our is on the 6th floor so my fear of heights/falling ramped up any time I was in a meeting or near the ground-floor indoor "courtyard" area. Uff da. I gotta buck up for the next 4 years. Feeling grateful we share a desk with someone so we're only in office every other week for this transition period!

Look up to stay positive about change. Don't look down! 😆

Shut Up!

Thanks to AI probably, my favorite "It's so hot it's madness" cartoon is now a bit more 3-D-ish. Still makes me laugh. 

Despite dripping in sweat.

I went outside two times today. Once mid-morning to water my hopelessly fried flower baskets. And then after work to get a few trifle ingredients and supplies for a family reunion. I really thought the chocolate would melt before that 8-minute commute home. 

Oooof. Car just couldn't cool off.

Turns out our 92-degree high in Rapids was 10 degrees "warmer" than average. And you know I love summer. I'm 100% solar powered. But dang, this is gross.

On the flip side, the A/C is so cool in the house I had my little space heater running in my office today. 

Yes, I am officially at the age where my body doesn't know what it needs or what it wants or what to do with it when I got it!

Just breathe, stay hydrated, and be safe my friends. I promise not to whine about the weather tomorrow. (Honest... it's Trifle Tuesday!)

Flower Girl

I realized today a distinct advantage of working from home during the summer is that you can set your "lunch hour" to whatever time you want and you can use it to run into town for the farmers market. 

Today my lunch was from 9:30-10:30 a.m. I bought sour dough bread and cinnamon rolls from friend Christina and then, on a whim, bought flowers for myself. Well they were all purple and white Glads and I couldn't resist! We all deserve flowers so it was just the right thing to do! 

That pretty much brightened my mood for the rest of the work day, that's for sure.

Golf league should have been – and well, was actually fun – but I had my worst round of the summer. Still, who cares, we were up against the first-place team and we still had a summer's eve out on the course. Gotta remember that when I look at my high score!

Plus, we made it a pre-birthday celebration (er, acknowledgement) so that was fun, too.

For those keeping track of my t-shirts – I think just you, Lisa – today was one of the shirts I made when my sister Nell and I went to Alaska in June of 2021. Since all of us kids start with the letter R I had to make that part of the design. I had 2 other shirt designs, too, so I'll have to dig those up. Greatest most breath-taking trip ever! If you haven't been, go! If you are going soon... do you have room for one more?

More Cake? Well, Sure!

The question isn't will I turn older next week. The question is whether I'll gain 5 pounds before my next birthday. Because I have the best coworkers!

OMG. Steff created the most tasty 3-layer coconut cake I've ever had the privilege of tasting! So good!

A little back story on how I fell in love with coconut cake. 

Throughout my growing up years, my mom and her sister Virginia would visit each other quite often. I felt like it was weekly. Taking turns at each other's homes. It always required some bakery items to go with the coffee, of course. Occasionally, when Mom was "hosting," she'd buy one of those Pepperidge Farm Classic Coconut Layer Cake. Could not get enough of that flavor! So good. So that was a lovely treat today!

My almost birthday twin Darcey and I felt spoiled yet again! We had to pose one more time by my ice cream light (my real twin gave me a few years ago) before I unplugged it and brought it home. 

Tomorrow's the last day in our current digs. I said loudly this afternoon, "OK, is anyone bringing treats of any kind tomorrow? Otherwise, I'm packing up my little plates and bowls." 

No response so I think the party's over. I mean I guess we're still pre-gaming!

After work, our team went to Guu's on Main in Stevens Point because our Nashville team member is with us this week and they have at least 6 flavors of deep-fried cheese curds. She was suitably impressed. Even though it's funny sometimes how we want greasy, gooey goodness to represent our state!

Go, cheese!

P.S. Unrelated to anything... my friend at work and I went to the Herrschners warehouse sale at lunch today. Holy million people but also million deals. Get there! I think it goes through Sunday.

P.S.S. It has rained all day. Apparently hubby still had golf league. Probably wearing his long underwear. Yep, mid-June and temps in the 40s and 50s. Be careful out there!

Waiting For The Magic To Happen

 

I almost titled this blog "Ditto" because not much has changed from yesterday. The Magic Pills we finally got late last night from the pharmacy didn't exactly kick in and cure everything. Or much.

Yet.

We are terrible patients with no patience. 

So for caution's sake, I professionally distanced myself from work and stayed in the home office today. I socially distanced myself at choir practice, sitting 3 pew rows back during practice. (Jim tackled practice at his church tonight as well.) 

And maritally distanced myself as both Jim and I pretty much stayed to our own offices/separate rooms. Based on our back-and-forth hacking heard across the house, we're still on the Respiratory Struggle Bus. Where is that darn next bus stop so we can get off??

Thanks for the kind words and prayers. We're adults. We've got this. I just happen to have a blog that allows me to whine about it. SORRY!!

Be careful out there!

May the Course Be With You

It was a great day at the office today – since 6+ hours of it was golfing for United Way! Hey, it's all for the kids! 

Our company's theme for this year's fundraising campaign is United is the Way so it naturally lent itself to some Star Wars themes. (Above) Which is why I teed off by Yoda (who I am taller than!) on the first hole.

But wait, this is a fundraiser! So we paid $20 to spin the wheel and we lucked out with the Luke and Princess Leia ball placement. Making it an easy birdie on our first hole!

Later on the course we ran into one of our fellow marketing dudes who was videoing things for the event. But was totally in costume!

Here's me trying to use my throat-crushing powers for good! Though coincidentally have Darth on our hole helped get my drive on the par-3 green. Let's not examine if my powers lean more to the dark side.

To be honest, most of the day was fighting wind (you can see above) instead of evil. But we can't deny that when it was behind us, it was an actual helpful factor.

Despite the morning chills (I'm serious about the wake-up temps of 52 degrees) it turned out to be a pleasant day with some cursing – but consistently gorgeous views. And so many laughs. 

I'm wishing us all a great week with continuous out-of-this-galaxy golf outing feels! 😁

Masters Week at the Office

For golf fans and golf "watcher" fans, this week is special. Not only is the Masters a unique championship  – with its pristine course and mostly uninterrupted commercial coverage – but it has some fun, heart-warming elements to it, too. Like today when we can see the littles of the players dressed in their cute little caddie uniforms. Precious!

I am not embarrassed to admit this putting green 18 inches away from my desk is not just for Masters week. It's been there nearly 4 months and we do not wait for special occasions to use it! (What can I say? Marketing is the Fun Department!) 

But it seemed natural to take a turn or two this week while one of our "news" TVs was tuned to the Golf Channel.

The plus side? I'm thinking that if I actually do devote a little more time to this distraction (a.k.a. stress reliever), I might be able to figure how to putt straight by the time I get on the real course.

Just another perk at work!

I look forward to watching what I can in the coming days. A weird combination of my PGA TOUR faves and "those LIV guys". Always interesting and hopefully entertaining.

FORE! 🏌

Before and (Unfortunately) After

After a very rainy Tuesday, I decided to take a "before" picture of our front yard after work, knowing the scenery was going go change in less than 24 hours.

 

And it surely did. And since they did classify today's weather as a Winter Storm Warning, I worked from home and didn't want to deal with that early morning transition from rain to ice to snow on my commute.

Although we were in the 3-6 inches of snow range, I think we just got like 3-4 inches of really wet, heavy stuff. Thankfully, the snowblower dude in my home office could handle it.

This Bluejay Drive Office has such a talented and committed team! Love it! (And him, of course.)

After work, we both were planning to go to Ash Wednesday service – he was reading at his church and I was singing at mine – but the weather changed my plans, at least. I guess when we're Lutheran we can postpone Ash Wednesday to "Ash Thursday." Either way, it's better to be safe, I guess!

But in between the rain and winter storm, there was some excitement. We went to our boys regional basketball game last night. Almost always it works out that Assumption plays at Port Edwards and gets eliminated from the playoffs from the get-go. But last night we faced New Lisbon. And although tied at halftime, we came away with a 19-point victory. What a fun game! 

So if you're following Assumption sports, our Lady Royals play a sectional game against Pacelli Thursday at Adams-Friendship. And our boys travel to the #2 seed Marshfield Columbus Friday night. 

The weather dudes say we're tracking to hit 63 by Monday so I think we'll be free to move about the country, or county.

Be careful out there!

So Cold it's Painful

Two things to note about this screenshot. First of all, it's bleeping cold out. Secondly, note the time.

About the only time I get up at 5:48 a.m. I'm usually trying to catch a flight. Or, in this case, it's me up half the night coughing and shivering and hoping to get more than 3 hours of sleep.

That was not the case. I actually went back to bed with 2 Ibuprofen P.M.s at 6 a.m.  My body must be immune to them. I couldn't sleep then either. So I got up and completed a work day. I just hurt!

But now, almost 12 hours later, I'm already pondering the earliest bedtime possible. This house is an infirmary!

Didn't realize January would be so tough. But here we are, surviving January 47th like a boss. We got this!

Be careful out there!

Who's in Charge of our Future?

Who's in charge of our future? While we'd like to think we are each in control of our destiny, it isn't always us. Sometimes it's divine intervention and other times it's those darn weathermen.

For example, when the weather alert this afternoon indicated we were in a Winter Storm Warning tomorrow, we stood up and took notice. Especially when they predicted 5-8 inches of snow versus the 3-5 inch projection yesterday.

And when later forecasts put my house (red dot) in the 6+ inches region, I began to take it seriously. Who knows what will come during my morning commute time? I hope it's actually nothing so I can participate in some  fun "Last Day in the Office Before Christmas Break" activities. 

I'm realistically thinking that won't be the case since my school district and the Stevens Point one (where I work) are both calling off classes tomorrow. 

I'm grateful I can work from home any time I need. Hope you all can stay safe tomorrow too! 

Back to the Grind – If I Can Log Back In

This image is quite legit. After 10 days out of the office and inactivity, I struggled with a few routine tasks at work today.

Nothing major, just – where do I park, how do I purchase a Diet Coke at the cafeteria, and oh what's my password again?! We actually keep the same password for about a year. The good thing is that you can remember it. The bad thing is that it always falls about now (8 days, according to my annoying reminder) and I have to set it, then remember it AFTER Christmas break!

My mind is not quite prepared for that.

The good news is that today was the first day for Secret Santas on our writing team. I got some Very Milk Chocolate Cocoa Mix that I can't wait to try!

The other positive thing is that my 4 p.m.-ish departure from work means I'm guaranteed some sort of sunset on my commute home. Very vibrant strip tonight! 

Unfortunately, next week I'll have to adjust to dark on the way to the office. And dark on the way home.

Maybe by then I'll resent my password to IhateTheDark24-7!

Lucky Number 7

When they say time flies when you're having fun, they're not wrong. I can't believe today already marks 7 years at my "new" job. I actually thought it was 7 last year, but I miscalculated. One, I'm a writer not a math person. Two, I blame COVID. They were basically lost years working from home. But they counted!

Things I enjoy about being a writer in a marketing department for a business insurance company...

1. I pretty consistently have a colorful morning commute. Yes, orange barrels ARE colorful! But the sunrises can be amazing, too.

2. I have the best team on the planet! Honestly, most people do stay in jobs because of the people. If you have great co-workers – for whatever reason – you don't want to even think about leaving. You don't want to miss out. (It does also help if you love what you do.) Lucky for me, I've got both job enjoyment and like-minded potty-mouthed (or at least, unfiltered) friends. Ha. Works for me!

3. Not all surprises are bad. Though my job is to quickly accept and adapt in many cases, there are also days I wouldn't have imagined 7 years ago. Today, for example, I spent the day with a bunch of reps from NBC / GOLF Channel to discuss the golf tournament my company sponsors on Maui each January. Just crazy. But in such a good way.

4. And of course, working from home on Mondays and Fridays never gets old! Dang. I just realized it's Wednesday so I'll have to set an early alarm in the morning. That's OK. I'm putting on a Halloween costume and heading to the office. It's what we do in the Fun Department!

Here's to another 7 years. Or less. I hope they go as fast as these last 7. Retirement is a lovely light at the end of that tunnel!

Monday Surprises

When the first sight to greet you on a Monday morning is cat puke on your office carpet, you know it's going to be a great day. I mean after that, how can it not go up?

And it did! You'll never guess who finally came to visit. Mr. Sun! About time, dude! I almost didn't recognize you.

I knew temps were suppose to rise this week, but it certainly was a nice surprise to have to squint outside!

I got another surprise, too. Not as good... at least to start with. As my team Birthday Fairy, I pride myself in keeping track of this special occasion so I can decorate the person's desk and... of course, make them a treat (a.k.a. trifle). When one of my co-workers inquired what I was making for the other co-worker's birthday tomorrow, I was speechless. Ope! Missed that one. 

But even though I don't have an oven to bake the cake part, I managed to cobble one together thanks to the bakery section at the store! It's some sort of peanut butter and chocolate vibe. Hope the random mix of things taste OK together. (That would not be a good surprise.) So far, though, I think I'm batting a thousand. I'll let you know.

Now, at day's end, I think there's one more surprise that may be coming. After cleaning up that Princess Pukes-A-Lot mess this morning, I also found a singular "turd" (for lack of a better word). Where is the rest of Princess Poops-A-Lot's gift? 

Question is: Do we look for it or perhaps count on Tuesday having a day break surprise that means the day will just keep getting better?

Hope you get some nice surprises this week! But, per usual, be careful out there!

Power Play

There's a surprising amount of clipart images related to squirrels and electricity.

In reality, this what it looks like when Mr. Squirrel says "Hold my beer and watch this!" Then runs into our transformer.

And then it was lights out for us and the next-door neighbor at 9 a.m. On a day when I'm working from home of course. I managed to use my hot spot from my phone but that was sketchy. Thankfully they restored power in an hour! 

After work, it was golf for me and my neighbor and football stats for hubby on the road at Marathon. For the record, Marigene and I had more fun. The Royals were losing by 40+ last time I checked. 

Hopefully our Friday night "games" for all of us improve!

The Sky is Falling! Or is it?

We had a bit of a Chicken Little freakout moment when we arrived in the office today for the first time since Thursday. I guess a lot can happen in that span of time – including a leaky pipe somewhere that results in very soggy and saggy ceiling tiles.

Was the sky falling?! We were more than a little concerned the leaky tile on the right was about to burst with a gushing waterfall. But when our maintenance folks arrived on the scene, they determined it was soaked but there was no more water leaking.

As I videoed them poking a hole in the tile and nothing burst on the scene but soggy particles, I told the guys, "This doesn't make very compelling video!" It sure didn't. But after expecting the worst, I'm also glad there wasn't a huge mess.

Made me think of how many times I'm more like Chicken Little and wondering if the sky is going to fall rather than realistically looking at a situation and seeing it's not as bad as it appears. 

Nine out of 10 times I stress first, then take a deep breath and assess second. This is when hubby says I'm being dramatic. Guilty as charged. 

Lord, help us to trust that You have our best interests at heart. That not every perceived mountain is much more than a mole hill. Pour out Your calming spirit on all of us and restore our trust in You! Amen.

Working It

Love this work tip! But returning isn't all bad. Even though I've been back working since I hopped off the Norwegian Epic last week, I hadn't been back AT work until yesterday.

Felt like I'd been gone a month. I mean it was half a month technically, so no surprise there. Not sure which comment I heard more: "Nice tan" or "It was so quiet around here without you."

No surprise there either!

It was good to be back to my spoiled two-large-monitors setup, that's for sure. And seeing people. And getting back into a routine. It's been crazy busy and that didn't slow down while I was away.

Ended up working late yesterday since I had to stay in Stevens Point anyway. Last night was senior night for our Pacelli-Amherst-Assumption-Northland Pines Co-op hockey team. It takes a lot of small schools to build a team!

No offense to my cool boyfriend Mr Zamboni, but the atmosphere was very anti-Aruba. Complete opposite of my surroundings the week before. But I still enjoyed getting back at taking pictures. And seeing one of our Assumption boys score a goal. And winning the game!

Got home late for a "school night" so I just crashed and dealt with photos today after work. And had to catch up on a few others things – including time with the kiddos. Not sure how long Carter and Mamie will be here, but I guess we'll have them another 48 hours since we're doing fish fries Friday. I have to remind myself that he's working during the day so I'm not missing out on anything when I'm at the office.

Except that Crack Chicken. And thankfully there's still some of that left! 

And Hump Day is already over so this week is flying. Thankful for that, too. 

No so thankful to hear winter is coming. Might have to wear a coat by the weekend. Be careful out there!

Making Good

Thanks to the pandemic and working out of the office for 800+ days, I am way out of practice in my role as Birthday Fairy for my team. So out of practice, I missed a birthday last week. No worries. It was just my boss!

He came to work to an empty desk – no streamers, no balloons, no clever signs – and an empty treat table – no trifle! 

All I could was have us sing to him and promise to make a trifle of his choosing. He chose "something butterscotch." M-m-m-m. Love butterscotch! So I did my made-to-order make-good trifle after work. 

I started with a naked Hornet's Nest Cake. Usually it has pecans on it when I bake it but I went without. Wanted the butterscotch flavor but didn't want all the nuts. I layered that with whipped cream, crushed pecan shortbread cookies, and butterscotch pudding.

Not the prettiest trifle I've made. But danged if even ugly trifles don't taste delicious!! 

This birthday fairy may just earn her wings back. Wish me luck!