Happy...whatever....

I had grand plans to do this end of year wrap up post then I just didn’t which is kind of a fitting way to end 2021 actually. I am currently sitting at my kitchen table writing this and watching mom juice about 75 Limequats which are apparently what you get when you plant a lemon tree and a cumquat tree to close together …or some BS like that. So that she will have juice for pies but she can throw out the Limequats. PS they are very very tart so the Lemon is strong in that quat.

I am also setting up my dad’s new Samsung phone (I’m a multi-tasker afterall). A few months ago my father destroyed the back of his phone. Like destroyed it. Little pieces of glass everywhere. We took it apart and tried to put a new back on but it wouldn’t hold as the glue or tape on the back had lost its sticky. So me and the engineer decided to take the back off and put superglue on it and well it held but it wasn’t pretty. It was only a matter of time before that failed so for Christmas I got him a new phone. I also got my mom a new one so they now have the exact same phone.

Mom’s phone was different. She had the old Microsoft phone, maybe one of the last phones still working. AT&T sent her a text saying yeah we aren’t supporting that phone anymore so we are going to send you a free one. I was like yeah right delete it mom it’s a scam. DON’T CLICK ON ANYTHING!!!!! … amazing how many times I have to tell them that. Then a few weeks later we got a letter … saying the same thing. No phone. A month or so later I called them and after being on the phone for over an hour and the dude trying to sell me everything under the sun we determined that in fact they were sending my mom a phone and we should get an e-mail when it is shipped. Damned if we didn’t. They sent it and it was the slowest piece of shit I’ve ever held in my hands. I knew eventually that would get on her nerves. The box was in my bedroom but I hadn’t wrapped it yet. One night as we watched yet another Cheesy Crimas movie it happened. She announced to the room that she wasn’t going to have a phone, didn’t need a phone and didn’t want a fucking phone for Christmas! I sat there through her rant and the next day spent the morning setting up her phone (hence why I’m setting up dads (you just did it after all)) then I went to give it to her and while she was mad a hell and didn’t want to take it, she felt like it was too expensive, she eventually did and I think is very happy that I did give her one. It still frustrates her sometimes but I do think she likes it. I hope so anyway. As an adult it’s rare I can give them Christmas presents they aren’t expecting and neither saw that coming. It was a nice feeling.

 It’s currently 84 degrees outside on this New Year’s Eve which is just stupid. The air outside is heavy with moisture and there’s a feeling of bad weather in the air. I hope it holds off cause well I’m not sure why. I’m not planning to go anywhere and I really feel like I’ll be asleep long before the ball drops but it just seems strange going into the new year with tornados in the air. Then again maybe that’s how 2021 should go out the door.

 I’ve been sick the last week or so. Not Rona, I don’t think. I’m 98% sure it was a sinus infection. I was all snotty and gross and congested. I never did the RONA test, I just stayed home, worked from the house and am now feeling much better. Tho my left nostril has some explaining to do. For some reason it refuses to work but jokes on him I’ll just breathe through my mouth! I never had a fever, never had a headache, lost sense of taste or smell, and never really felt “bad” thus why I don’t think I had the RONA. Then again I’ve had both my shots, I’ve had the booster, I wear the mask when in public and so if I did get the RONA I was going to be mad as hell. However I also understand I’m very likely to have had it, never really know it and spread it, hence my staying home this past week. Several of my coworkers didn’t come back from Crimmus cause they had tested positive or were in contact with others who tested positive so next week at work should be … interesting. My partner in crime Golden has also been battling sickness this past week, however as a medical marvel that’s more the norm for her than the surprise.

 The reason for the year end post is that I realized not too long ago that our little Blog turned 7 this past August … one day I’m going to actually remember the birthday of this blog but alas this was not the year. I thought well that’s not really a milestone age .. I mean it’s not like 5 or 10 it’s just a 7 .. but to me that is a pretty big deal. For 7 years I’ve wasted your time with drivel that fell out of my head and some of you read them all, some of you didn’t and that’s ok ..the point is that despite my best efforts .. this blog isn’t dead yet. That’s 250 blog posts (once this one goes live), some that were substantial, some that were by Golden, and some that were just to say I posted something. Not surprisingly that first year (2014) I had over 83 posts but that was also the year that I did a post a day in November and with this thing being new and all it was fun and interesting still. The second biggest year was 2019 which came after a year with the lowest number of posts, also the year that really tried to take us down but didn't succeed. 2019 was my re-launch of this blog so to speak and we haven’t looked back since. Sure, there are some months with one or no posts but hey I did keep it going. This year we have had 10 posts, well 11 once this one goes live.

I’ve been thinking about how different life was 7 years ago. 7 years ago … I had a boss that was literally sucking the professional life out of me, to the point where I had started looking for a new job. I knew the grass always seemed greener on the other side. I loved the company I worked for and most of the people, but I was just done with her. HEAR THAT AMERICA IT’S NOT ALWAYS WE DON’T WANNA WORK IT IS SOMETIMES WE DON’T WANT TO WORK FOR SPECIFIC PEOPLE!!!! Nothing I did was good enough, and if I ever tried to step up and do more than expected I was suddenly “out for her job.” I had gotten to the point where I took everything that was personal out of my office. No pictures on the walls, no sitting around fun stuff to show it was my office, even my candy dish (which always bothered her cause A. she couldn’t stay out of it (somehow that was my fault) and B. cause my coworkers would stop by and chat as they got a piece and never stopped to chat with her). I wanted to be able to literally go down to HR say I’ve had enough and quit. I didn’t expect her to let me work a 2 week notice and so instead of her standing there watching me pack a box of my stuff I could grab my purse and get the *uck out. My coworkers noticed I didn’t put anything up for the holidays, they noticed the lack of personal stuff in my office and started trying to build me up, which frankly made her even madder. They were dark days for sure work wise. Now it's 7 years later, I just celebrated my 18th anniversary at the same job, I've got an amazing boss, I have been promoted twice and just celebrated my first year of being the manager of my department with my own staff. I have taken on more responsibility than I have ever had, and I love my job more today than I did back then, tho it often stresses me past the breaking point but that's on me not them. So, she can suck it! :D 

However, I guess she can be credited with not only hiring the boss I currently have but also with this blog as the stress of the office was making me not want to do anything outside of work either. I was spending so much energy in the week not cussing her out that by Friday I was mentally drained, and Golden came up with a fantastic idea of starting this blog to refocus that energy. I will always love her for that. I would give anything if could find something similar for her. She’s made guest appearances on this blog from time to time and frankly she is much better at this than I am. The way she tells a story, the humor, the details, the drama. She uses worked like a pen in the way that I only wish I could. She paints a story in someone’s head and damn I wish I could do that. I’ve begged her to try her hand at writing a book, I think it would be a best seller. I’m going to keep at her and keep striving to be more like her in every aspect that I can.

 7 years ago, Golden was also in a place with her job where it was taking the very soul out of her body. However, unlike me she was released and found a new path and now she is in another job that she really likes but that has taken everything she has to survive it during this pandemic. The crazy thing is she is really good at this job, it’s just …. too much sometimes. Staff shortages and overtime hours is starting to take a toll, but she’s survived it and hasn’t murdered anyone and for that I’m both grateful and a little shocked. See Golden is a 100% essential worker who works at a facility that runs 24 hours 7 days a week. As I mentioned previously Golden is a medical marvel and needs the downtime that her current situation is just not supplying, I pray that in 2022 she gets some rest, some peace and finds a balance between work and not work. Heck even when off they call her more than she tweets which is a problem. Even in her downtime she’s never too far away.

SHUT up … as I was finishing this I got an alert that Betty White has left us … damn you 2021 … but well played 2022 … don’t let that be on your shoulders …….. damn ….. rest well Mrs. White we’ll take it from here.

 So, I’m ending this on that note …. See you guys on the other side…. I hope.

Marcy