Sleepytime Gal

Having been up in the wee smalls a bit the previous night, I opted to take Robin up on his offer last night for a sleep-aid pill. I don't know if I'm just under the weather in general or if the pill did something to me that it didn't do to him, but I had trouble waking up all morning, which made work tricky. I ended up taking a couple PTO houers, saving stuff that required more brainpower for my office day tomorrow. Now that the sun's gone down I find myself getting sleepy again, but definitely no more little pills for me!

Voluntary Inactivity

As the days shorten all I want to do is sleep. I'm making healthy choices, adding lots of veggies, and soon I'll be back on the exercise bike (just waiting for the toe-soaking routine to end), but still, sleep is like the best thing for me. And I did get a few naps in today, but it never seems like enough, as there are always interruptions, mostly consisting of noise from one neighbor or another. Still, not a bad day at all. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to sleep some more.

New Toy

The new iPad mini, the only one I can actually comfortably hold in my hands (I still have the smallest version of iPhone too because, you know, tiny hands) came out yesterday, and since my old one was limping along we decided to order me a new one, which arrived today! Robin handled setup, which was pretty zippy, and I'm up and running! I probably spent way more time on it than I should have, as my shoulders and arms are definitely sore now, but it was worth it. I thin I'm going to enjoy my online games a lot more now! It was a good day to spend with Robin as well, we shopped and had sushi and generally enjoyed each other's company, which is what it's all about.

The Keys To It All

I came back from this morning's blood draw (a 45-minute wait for a 2-minute jab and draw) to find our apartment door stuck. Not having a great deal of upper body strength, I naturally assumed Robin had forgotten that he wasn't supposed to lock the door before his morning nap, reached into my hip pack for my keys, and found... nothing. I started banging on the door as I frantically searched. Still nothing but a justifiably disturbed husband who assured me that the door was just stuck and I needed to put more effort into opening it the next time. "Never mind that," I exclaimed in a state of near panic, "I can't find my keys!" Well, long story short, they were buried in the hip pack we took with us to England, in a zippered portion I'd neglected to search the first and second time I went through everything. Robin being the calming influence he is, I was ore or less back to normal by lunchtime, caught up on job stuff, and the keys are now back in my current hip pack where they belong. I really dislike scaring myself so much.

A Calming Influence

That's what one of the partners who sits near my workstation calls me. She knows that, even though I don't support her, she's always calmer when I'm around. I can hear Robin laughing now, as he's MY calming influence, but I'll take it! And it makes the workday that much more pleasant when I'm in the office. Also, it's Bonfire Night in Lewes and other places in England, looking way forward to seeing it all televised once we're living there. In the meantime,

 

Remember remember, this Fifth of November

We foiled Republicans' plot

I see no reason not to prosecute treason

They'll reap what they've sown, that's a lot!

 

Mental Checklist

Well, I say mental, but poor Robin has to hear me list things all the time. It's part of my compulsion, I am the girl of 100 lists. Finally succeeded in getting meetings scheduled for my newest partner assignment: check. Made lots of headway on annual meetings for another partner: check. Printed out my October financials and remembered to finally make out my rent check: check. I mean, done. Made my favorite salad (arugula, tomato, onion, cheddar cubes) and ate it in under an hour: yup! All packed up and ready for tomorrow... well, one never knows but at least I'm prepared!

AI-AI-AI

My foot feels well enough that I could walk around Manhattan (even the two avenues from the office to the subway in the afternoon) with no pain at all, which surprised me considering how long I've had issues with the left foot and my left side in general. Believe me, at my age I take nothing for granted any more! And I'm grateful as today was full of schleppage from floor to floor, as I attended two AI-related sessions with fellow exec assistants. The sessions were interesting but all in all not terribly relevant to the job I do. I increasingly feel as though my work experience makes AI redundant in my day-to-day, but we'll see. Things were a bit better on the new-partner front but I still have a bit of unease there. Deep breaths!

It's Always Something

Well, we have the apartment back to where we want it, box-free. The read comics and jackets were picked up this evening (by separate neighbors) and our couch is once again free of paper detritus. We deserve some down time now! Unfortunately I don't really get that too much with my new job assignments, particularly the most recent partner I am now supporting. I can't seem to do anything right with her. I'm still hoping I'll get the hang of supporting her, but if I can't count on my almost-half-century of administrative knowledge I'm not sure on what I can rely. Just time, I suppose. Time and the knowledge that I'm, as a former colleague put it, "looking for the off-ramp" and retiring within the next couple of years.

The Day My Music Died

White Rabbits! And things are looking up, and away. The foot is improving, Robin got my Yahoo mail working again on the default mail app on my mobile devices, the supermarket app is working correctly as well now, I finished my favorite game's weekend challenge, and thanks to that extra hour of sleep I was finally able to tackle two of the four boxes of stuff what I've saved from 25-50 years ago. All the songbooks I'd collected back when I played guitar, all the pages of meticulously-copied lyrics with their chords notated, all my stuff from my days in Rutgers' Queens Chorale, all gone now. I shall not be bringing my 50+ year old guitar with me to England, that's going to my musician friend Phyllis. I don't remember when I stopped playing, it was probably sometime during my first marriage, but in any case if I ever take it up again I will no longer need the paper I'd retained that was the main method of musical communication. Paper is heavy, and if something no longer sparks a memory (let alone joy) it doesn't need to come with me. I couldn't bring myself to look over the greeting cards I've kept (I now have four boxes worth), maybe I'll review them again post-retirement and pre-move. But the gist of it is, this long journey that got jump-started back in August when Robin moved the AC then had to empty the rafters and one non-stop bullet-dodging thing led to another... it's finally over. It's all put away or shredded or properly stored. Even the side quests like my latest batch of read comics and all those jackets we culled have now found new homes and will be picked up tomorrow. We are back to where we should have been months ago; even better actually, as we've cleared out stuff we hadn't intended on doing for at least another year. I applaud standard time!

Best Foot Forward

Happy Hallowe'en! And my biggest fear of the last week has now been allayed. My toe is not in fact broken, just badly bruised. The foot doc recommends thrice-daily soakings in warm water and epsom salts as well as careful monitoring. But what a relief! Psychologically my foot feels better already. Now if only I could fix tech that's gone awry. Apparently while trying to re-log into my grocery store's app which has been down for a couple weeks, I found out I hadn't been getting new email on my iPad or phone from my Yahoo account since Monday. Robin and I tried to fix both, and I wound up downloading the Yahoo mail app which is working at the moment but I still want my device's default email app fixed, and I still can't log into the supermarket app. On top of that, Liverpool lost. :( Ah well, tomorrow is another day. Too tired today to tackle the last of the "rafter boxes" so we can finally store them in the office closet, and thank goodness we get no trick-or-treaters as very few folks even know where this house is, so all I need is, say, an extra hour's sleep...