The #chainofhope is no more. Every paperclip has been removed. Every box on the chart marked-off.
Today was the celebration.
The end.
No more condescending emails.
No more tense interactions.
Done.
Finished.
In the words of the Von Trapps, "So long, farewell."
I have learned several things over the course of my four-and-forty years.
If you wash a 100% wool sweater and place it in the dryer, it will go from womens medium to sized-to-fit a three year old.
If you want to save money, use cash envelopes. Take whatever is left over and convert it to quarters. Put the quarters in a jar. Cash in the jar every 3rd month (or quarterly...PUN TOTALLY INTENDED).
Never ever try to quit coffee on a Monday (or any other say that ends with Y).
When nearing the end of your work career, be kind and ease your coworkers into the transition. Dumping stuff on everyone at the last minute is jerk-ish.
Never scrimp on bad coffee.
Buy the airline ticket.
Laugh more. It's good for you.
Wear the cute shoes. Life is so short.
I have challenged myself to post 1 song every day of this glorious work week because of Fri-YEAAAAAAH!!!!!
I chose today's song, Chris Tomlin's "Resurrection Power," because when I first heard it, it spoke to my heart.
https://youtu.be/AxH8Q8ue65o
I don't have to react to rude coworkers.
Condescension is not the end of the road.
I don't have to respond. Period.
Boy what a change of events. I remember it was noted by RAL. RAL inquired of the dynamic duo as to why I was being kind as if that was something new. No, honey. I was never mean; I just set a boundary that you did not ever understand.
I have the Holy Spirit indwelling me and His power is so much more than enough.
In just a few hours Costco opens.
I have been counting down to this glorious day since last January.
Costco opening means the end is near.
The end of the deletor deleting stuff that's important.
The end of the mis-filer misfiling stuff because the alphabet is hard.
The end of nonsensical nonsense.
Yeaaaah Costco!!!!!
Four more paperclips on the chain of hope.
My favorite conversation from today....
Batman: "Did you have a nice time with your mom?"
Me: "Yes!!! And do you know what I forgot?"
Batman: "What?"
Me: "I forgot how NOT stressed-out you feel when you come back after a vay-cay. I literally do not feel stressed at all."
Batman: "Hmmmm..."
Me: "I mean I got the cake ordered and the plant ordered. I got stuff done. I didn't even have an iced chai yesterday. It is great." *whispers* "No stress."
Batman: "Hmmmmm...."
Me: "Waaaait. Now that I have told you that I am stress free, are you going to tell your neighbor and then it's going to be tag-team stressin' me out?"
:)
Who needs working stories on ones blog when you can write about your conversation with your 85-year old neighbor.
Neighbor: Betty
Age: 85 (Duh, I said it a sentence ago.)
Me: "Betty, Happy Friday!"
Betty: *carrying a white grocery sack* "Same to you."
Me: "What are you up to?"
Betty: "Well, the neighbor called and said there's a turkey a-nesting. Have you seen the turkey?"
Me: "YESSSS!!!! It runs between our houses!"
Betty: "Well the neighbor said it laid an egg in her yard and she wants me to get it."
Me: "What are you doing with the bag?"
Betty: "I am going to get the egg!!!!"
Me: What about the turkeys?"
Betty: "If they give me any trouble, I am going to beat them with my cane." *she holds up her cane and wiggles it*
When we got back from the lake, I checked Betty's driveway for turkey feathers and/or any sign of turkey or Betty trauma. Everything appears in order.
Wonder what happened to the egg....?
Thank you for continually throwing me under the bus. I will really miss that.
I will miss you like I miss the 7th grade gym mile....never and not at all.
Xoxoxox,
Me
Some more possible card sentiments...
Proverbs 6:6 (Just the reference.)
Bye.
Bye! See ya!
When I mentioned all the options to my friend, she said the safest was "Bye." But I really like the Bible reference. :)
Sincerely,
Me
The Done-iest Done that there ever was
I need to come up with something witty for a retirement card. So far I have...
Enjoy your retirement; I know we will.
Some people are like clouds; when they go away it's a brighter day.
Hope you have the retirement you worked for.
Bye Felicia.
My coworker: "I am exhausted and my brain hurts."
Me: "Welcome to my world."
Narrator: "Also known as hashtag Bye Felicia."
A huge shout-out to just boxing-up files and not scanning them.
Wow.
It's so cool that we have a favorite scanner that makes scanning a cinch.
Don't use it.
Take all the IMPORTANT files and cram them in a box and take them downstairs cause you know --> outta sight outta mind.
Last night I went to put the inspectors' timesheets on Jude's chair and it hit me... I stood in his doorway and cried. Cried for his wonderful life lessons...cried for his family who miss him...cried because he is gone.
Our new "normal" just takes time to embrace.
There are days when laughter bubbles-up inside me.
There are days when sadness overtakes me.
The past 5 days have been combination of both.
My coworker passed away.
Little things remind me of him.
My other coworkers are grieving and in an effort to work through this as a team, I have adopted a stop-what-I-am-doing-when-they-come-to-talk-about-Jude mentality.
We have to work through this because...
...it hurts.
...it is real.
...we all loved Jude.
...we want to remember.
My door remains open and my heart full of funny memories.
It's the final countdown!!!
Do-do-do-do
Do-do-do-do-do
In 6 weeks there will be NO more "can you secretly fix this letter cause the formatting..." or my personal fave, "Batman wants the letter to look like this. Why am I given THIS????" *waves letter*
No more rhetorical questions.
No more questions that require me to answer, "I have wondered that for circa 10 years."
#byefelicia
1. Coffee
2. Showered
3. Breakfast
4. Went to work.
5. Played nice with my peeps.
6. Went card shopping.
- spent 27 minutes of my life looking for the perfect card. Found it. Bought it. V-logged about it.
7. Home for cauliflower pizza crust pizza
Women who say men are women haters are really women who hate, loathe, despise men.
Through no fault of mens' own, these women (the declares of men hating women) have married deadbeats or are dating deadbeats.
Instead of saying they (the women) made a poor choice on spouse / dating partner, they declare men to hate women.
I can't even believe I figured this out while blow-drying my crazy curls. Wow. Just wow. This is so revelational.
THIRTY-TWOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! That's all. Thirty-two little paperclips are strung together.
My new work song is Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive."
First I was afraid, I was petrified.
When a productive person says "No rest for the weary," I can totally empathize.
When a lazy person says it, I find myself thinking, "Well, bless your heart. There's really no rest for the lazy."
In my working experiences, I have found that on days when everything is NOT threat level midnight - my day drags on and on. Busy days go by in a snap.
It really must be exhausting for the aforementioned quotee. To think that 2 months out of 162 has been "busy." Because I love math, do you know the percentage is 0.012345679. Ahhhh....the digits are in order except they skipped 8. Maybe 7 ate 8. :)
Hate to be the reality check but really - no rest for the weary doesn't apply.
I have my original protege. We are going with Starter. As in the pitcher who leads off the game.
Since we are near the end of THIS game (HAPPY DANCE), my 2nd protege is going to be Bullpen. As in the pitcher you bring out for the second half.
I love the one who helped me to determine the 2nd half entrance.
Starter and Bullpen.
Hey batta-batta-batta!!!
Today I went looking for a document and discovered that it was scanned much like a single slice of bread PB&J sandwich. All the words (the peanut butter and jelly) were smooshed inside the scan because the document wasn't flattened in the scanner.
All the PB&J is what matters....which is also true of a real sandwich. Nobody wants bread. We want the PB&J. And in this case, I just wanted the words. ALL THE WORDS!
Thankfully I am a semi-hoarder when it comes to email and items that may be compromised by my protege. I had a legit scan and was able to delete the bogus one.
While I was in The JoAnn Fabrics store this afternoon purchasing pre-punched paper for my 2024 garden journal, I said to myself, "Self,...