So tomorrow I’m getting on a plane to go to our Tampa office to help
with a project. I’ve never really done that before and I’m not really sure what
to expect. I mean I’ve been to other offices in a bid to try and get them to utilize
a new piece of software but not to actually work on something with them. See we
have a client who requires that our firm “prequalify” to do work with them and
this year that office is taking that task over from me and my office. It probably
should have been theirs from the beginning, but I won’t bore you with that. The
point is they now want to “run the show” when it comes to this task and it was
suggested I come “down to help them” since it’s their first time. I took this
task over from a coworker when she retired about 5 years ago. So I’m not a
novice but I wouldn’t call myself an expert either.
Instead of spending last week preparing for this trip and these
Prequals I spent it doing a submittal in literally 4 days. Technically I did
the submittal in a day and they ignored it for 2 then we finalized it on the 4th
day. I spent the week before that helping another office with their submittal
while finishing up another submittal that was mine. Last week I also got
another draft out that’s due the week after I return but we also have a holiday
in which I plan to do not a damn thing and then at the end of that week I’M
GOING TO SEE GOLDEN OR I’M GOING TO GO INSANE AND START FLICKING PEOPLE IN THE
EAR! I’ll start with the Ear then flick other things should the need dictate.
Either way I’m going, and people just need to be ok with it. I digress…I think
that submittal is in good shape which is good cause it’s going to need to be
sent out early. There’s another one that my boss will need to finalize and submit
while I’m going but we don’t have a snowballs chance in haties of getting but I
sent out the 2nd draft of that one on Friday so it is in good shape
too. My boss might feel differently but that’s his problem now ha! My point….i
haven’t just been siting on my duff.
My second point …. At this point in the month we have typically spent
about 3-4 weeks working on this prequal project. My fear is that the office is waiting
on me to get there to START anything and that’s just not going to fly. They
want to run this thing so I’m going to let them, we’ll see how it all shakes
out in the end. The good news is that we have enough people that if we don’t
add anything we are still a-ok in our pre-qualifications, so that’s taken some
of my stress away but for the last few years we have picked a category and
focused on it to “beef up” and that’s not happening this year. A lot of things
at my place of business is changing and it gives me a great deal of anxiety …
the not knowing the plan stuff. In the past I’ve also not really known the plan
but I was too dumb to realize it. I liked those days. These days where I know
there’s something going on but there’s nothing I can do about it stresses me
like you’ll never know. The next year and a half will be a big eye opener for
me and several of my coworkers …. Even if they don’t know that yet.
I spent today doing laundry and packing and getting ready to go on
this trip. I’m going to try and enjoy it. I like the people I’m going to work
with. They want to take me to dinner Monday night which is nice. I don’t really
need them to babysit me all week so I hope after that we all just chill after
work and not necessarily together. I’m used to working 7:30-6pm but I don’t
know what their work days look like. Do they work through lunch ? Do they go to
lunch? Will I be expected to go with every day? I mean I might need some
getting away and dealing with my anxiety so I can walk back in to the office
for the rest of the day. Lots of unknowns for the week ahead. I am taking my
head phones and a charger for my phone cause when I need to I’ll just plug in,
check out, put my head down and get to work. At the end of the day that’s what I’m
best at.
I’m also kind of excited to get out of the office for a while. I’ve
never been to Tampa before I wish I had a little more “play time” to wander
around and see what the place is all about but I don’t think I’ll have a lot of
play time. I do get in pretty early tomorrow (Sunday) but I won’t have a car.
Thankfully god created Uber for that reason. I hope to explore some tomorrow if
nothing else I’ll need to venture out for food. I’d like to stop at a wallgreens
or CVS and get rations of the week, drinks snacks etc, but I think I’ll wait on
that for when I have the car Monday night.
It will be a fun week, and the mantra will be as soon as it’s done I
can start planning my trip to see Golden cause she and I are going to see her
soulmate Godzilla and I will actually be spending her actual Birthday with her,
something I haven’t done in years cause I usually take advantage of the holiday
but this year I’m going for her actual birthday and I’m super excited. I see
really stupid stuff in her future, we’ll see if I can pull it off.
Wonder what kind of cake she wants? I like chocolate so yeah that’s
likely what’s going to happen cause it’s about me as much as her right?!
Oh hey, while I’m at it … check out my super awesome Cousin Ryan Bergenty
and his NASCAR blog via Yankee Racer, he’s the Car Chief for the #1 car (see dude on far right above)… which
just happens to be on my TV right now …. He’s a pretty good behind the scenes
tell it like it is kind of guy. It’s a fun read so check it out. He married my cousin
Ashley and they produced the cutest little person earlier this year. They are a
cute little couple and I’m proud to call him family. She I’ve called family or
years so I’m proud to say that too.
That reminds me i still owe you guys a recap of my NC trip after I left the SMPS conference .... it's coming .... ha! :D Anyway … hope everyone is having a good week . . . . . what are your
plans for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend?!
Last week was awesome, fun, tiring, and
uplifting. It ended with a 14 hour work day that lasted long into the night but
it was well worth it … at least that is what I keep telling my exhausted
mind/body.
See last week my church had Vacation Bible
School. It was not only my first time experiencing VBS at my new church but it
was also the first time I led something at my new church. Future Note to Self: don’t
dive in with both feet, sit back, help out but don’t lead that’s how the
pressure gets to you.
That’s not to say it wasn’t a GREAT week and the kids seemed to really enjoy it but the unknown of it almost did me in before we started. See this church uses a VBS kit which comes with ideas for Music, Crafts, Science, Bible Study, and themes for the week. We decided on Super Heroes for Christ which was right up my alley. Finally those DragonCon Tshirts were going to be put to use during the week not just on weekends as I run errands.
When flipping through the
pack I thought Science sounds cool. Another lady in the church said she’d help
me with it, I was like score let’s do it. Then life happened. Each group (3 varying
age groups for the kids, 1-5, 6-8, 8-10 or something like that – the piece of
paper is on the other side of the planet and I’m being lazy (AKA it’s it in the
other room) had a “leader” and 2 helpers in which one of the helpers was a
youth (aka too old for VBS but still wants to participate, but not quite old
enough to be a leader). We ended up being short 2 leaders so I lost my original
helper. I was assigned a new helper and she was …. Great … when she was there. Night 1 she brought her husband and a dice game that she was more interested in than helping (tho in her defense she didn't have a lot to help with (more on that in a minute), then night 2 when I really could have used her help she was sick, and night 3 she was very helpful, then night 4 she had bingo and didn't come, tho she had told me earlier in the week that would be the case. So at least there was that.
Our VBS was 4 days long, with the last day a “pizza
party” in which the parents got to see all that the kids did during the week. This
meant I needed 3 days of activities. This being my first time I decided on one
experiment a night that I could really practice and know how to do for all age
groups. This would be mistake #1. Future
Note to Self: Next year think about the age group you will be doing the
experiment with and then adjust accordingly.
Let’s start at the beginning shall we. I knew
VBS was coming, I had a plan, I checked in with the VBS leaders to make sure it
was a good plan and they all agreed that it was. I kept asking how many kids do
I need to plan for, they kept saying the year before they had over 30. I was
like um…ok….how does that work with each group, which is my largest one? How
long do I have to entertain them? What happens if they start to get on my
nerves? What happens if I ruin these kids for life? What if they hate me? What if they won't listen to me? What if they listen to closely and the adult in me says something only adults should hear? I worried that they wouldn’t be interested at all or that they would be too interested and ask questions I couldn't answer. My church had never done Science before as part of Bible School so really no one knew what to expect so not much advice for me. Could I deliver?
I was pretty sure I drove them all insane ... but I was scared ..... mostly of the unknown,
I kept telling myself I’d be fine after night one. Frankly, I was
doubting myself and part of me was hoping I’d break a leg, get in a wreck, and would
get out of it all together. I think I scared the preacher cause he kept
checking on me between groups, he could tell I was nervous, he could tell I was
freaked out, but he kept telling me I’d do great...relax.... which was oh so helpful. Don't tell someone having a panic attack to calm down that's not helpful at all and I was most definitely in panic attack mode on several occasions. To his credit he did spend a lot of time in my
room on day 1 but I think that was more moral support than fear I’d screw up
one of the kids. At least that’s my hope. I think he really likes me, I hope so
cause I think he and his family are fantastic. I’m really glad I found this
church, and I think they are glad I found them too, which is nice.
So the Friday before VBS started on Monday I ran
around town in a downpour buying my supplies, horrible rain would be a theme of the week I would learn. At one point there was talk of cancelling VBS for fear no one would come in the monsoon that settled over the City that week but they came, Gosh love them they came every night. A lot of what I needed I already
had at the house, that was by design as Marcy’s funds are low and I didn’t want
to beg the church for money cause I wanted their money to go to the other
groups. This being their first time with Science I didn't want to take away from what they normally do for this new thing. On that particular Friday I was also assigned a submittal that would have to
completed in less than a week with a PM who is notorious for not completing
things in a timely manner. Add to that another submittal (that goes in this
Tuesday) which I hadn’t really started yet, because of a different submittal/PM not deciding what he wanted yet, and it was
shaping up to be a really stressful week that would start before 6am and end
after 9pm with no lunch break which has made for a zombiefied Marcy this past
weekend. That being said I did go to lunch one day, well actually my friend forced me to have hearing that I hadn't eaten anything but popcorn for 3 days.
So Monday came, and I was physically ready, mentally was another can of worms. I had
a plan I just had to execute it. I left work about 4 because they wanted everyone
there early for registration and to make last minute plans. I had told my boss
about this and he was A. shocked a science class was going to be taught at a
church function, he even asked if it was legal. I said I think so. B. when I actually
got up and left at 4 with no prompting from him he was shocked. He was pretty sure he was going
to have to kick me out of the office. He said he was proud of me. ha!
Monday – activity SINKING SODA - Did the can
sink or float? Why!?
Bible Study 1
Samuel 16:1-12
In our Bible Story, God told Samuel “Humans
see only what is visible to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the heart”
This experiment tackled the idea that while they
look exactly the same they reacted differently when put in the same situation. That
they would prejudge these soda cans and be shocked by how they acted in the
water because it didn’t do what they expected. Basically, don’t judge a book by
its cover. I liked this idea. The idea that they need to look into the persons
heart not solely base things on outward appearances. In this day and age and with these grade groups this can not be restated nearly enough.
Why I chose this ….. frankly I wanted
something I could control. I wanted something that if we were running out of
time I could just end, I wanted something that was easy for night one. This would
be mistake #2. Future Note to Self: Easy
is not always the best option.The biggest problem with this experiment
was that it just didn’t take up enough time. Not even a little. I mean come on Marcy
you are dropping cans in a big bucket what did you expect. My group ended early
which threw everyone else into a tail spin cause then kids were in the hallway
making noise distracting the kids who were still in class. I felt awful, I felt
I had let everyone down. (which may have been the other reason the Preacher
spent most of night one assuring me that everything was going great). I also didn’t buy the right cans. I had a good
variety, but I should have bought better. All floated except one, the coke. I should
have had a better variety which might have sparked more conversation. After a
while they all guessed that they would float cause ... well.... they all floated.. and these kids weren't stupid.......... argh....... Stupid…stupid…stupid (bangs head on wall in frustration).
Lastly most of the kids were more interested in if I would give them the sodas
or dropping the cans into the bucket, and splashing the water than they were in
why they floated or sunk. It got away from me really quick. I am not going to
lie, especially with the little kids who discovered early that If they dropped
all the cans in they could almost overflow the bucket. It was a tough night 1 yall.
I’m not going to lie.
Here’s the experiment if you are interested ….
Tuesday – activity Balancing Hex Nuts – the power
of magnets
Bible Study 1
Samuel 25
In our Bible Story, Abigail became a hero by
using her courage and inner strength
Why I chose this ….. cause I thought it was
cool. Basically you have to balance hex nuts on the edge of a cup. Something I showed
the kids the night before and none of them believed they would be able to do
it. I was determined they would all be able to do it. Group 1 realized they
could stack the hex nuts on the magnets then place the entire contraption on
the cans (which were reused from Night 1) and move them down to the cup. I
thought these kids are geniuses. It never dawned on me to flip it over. Then
they also flipped over the cup. So instead of balancing it on the edge of the
cup with a large margin of error they had a large flat surface to deal with.
Again brilliant. I’ll never forget when a kid who struggled with it was finally
able to do it and was jumping up and down so excited and I high fived him for a
job well done and for not giving up. Ironically the little kids did the best
with this but of course they required the most hand holding. The older kids
quickly turned the magnets into cars and could care less about balancing
anything. I just let them do their thing, they had a ball and I relaxed and talked with the other adults for a bit. Ironically the older kids did the exact same thing the preacher did when I first handed him the magnets. It was kind of funny.
Here’s the experiment if you are interested ….
Wednesday – activity making their own Silly
Putty
Bible Study James
1:5
Believer asks God for wisdom and understanding
about daily decisions. There is one requirement for this help however, the
request must be made with no wavering or doubt as a doubter isn’t sure whether
God hears him or if God even understands his problem. Such a man is double
minded; he attempts to divide his trust between God and himself.
Why I chose this ….. cause I thought it was
cool and I also wanted the kids to have something they could take home to
remember the week by. I spent the week hyping this up, on Tuesday night after
getting home from VBS I decided to try out my plan, thank GOD for this. My plan
sucked. It didn’t work at all it was beyond awful. I was super stressed. I had
6 hours to come up with plan B. I wanted something that would allow me to use
as much of what I already had so panic was really setting in. I felt unprepared
and angry with myself. Then I found a video online that saved me. See the original
plan called for Corn-starch and water. However I wasn’t aware there was this
thing called “liquid starch” which is apparently what I needed not powder
starch which is what I had. Powder starch and water creates a hard rock that when you are moving it around is fine the second you stop it immediately goes back to a liquid, incase
you are interested. I have a Walmart that opens at 6am. I was there when they
opened the doors buying the DAWN that was going to save my life. I bought two
giant bottles and another thing of corn starch just incase. I then went to work
and stressed about it all day long, I was like ok this is it...last night and I'm going to fail and make a fool of myself. I left the office at 4 went right to the church and
tried the new recipe. This one required faith on the part of the kids cause
there was no real recipe to follow. It depended on how much corn starch you
added vs how much soap was added and how fast the kid was stirring. So huge margin of error. This too went sideways very quickly, especially with the little kids. They made a HUGE
mess, there was cornstarch everywhere and of course we were in the middle of
the worse week of rain in our little city all year and the bathrooms started
overflowing so on a night when I really needed to get in there to wash little
hands we were unable to. I ended up having to take them into the men's room which prompted lots of "what's that" questions when they came face to face with a urnial filled with gross looking water. In the end it all worked out and every kid took some putty home
but the stress of this day will be with me for my entire life. I hate feeling
unprepared and I was definitely not prepared for this but it was fun and all
the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.
Here’s the experiment we ended up doing, if
you are interested …. This girl saved my life !
The one thing all week that I kept forgetting
to do was the “bible study” part of everything, you know the REASON for VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL in the first place. I was so excited about getting
to the activity that I often blew past the reason those kids were there …
learning about Jesus and God. This would be mistake #3. Future Note to Self: Next time have the
Bible Study first then do the experiment, cause doing it after never
worked.It was hard to get their
attention back once we were in the activity, then before you know it the session is over and they are leaving. It was a disaster.
Mistake #4: Time management. The way the schedule worked out, I had a break between each group, which was nice. I wish I had used it better. To eat, to relax, to reset up for the next group, to clean but mostly to walk around to the other groups to see what they were doing. How they handled their classes, what they did to get the kids to pay attention, what they were doing in general etc., Future Note to Self: spend some time walking around to see what others are doing so you can do better for your group. Or so you can see if you were doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing. Peace of mind always results in relaxation moving forward.
At the end of the week they asked the kids
what their favorite activity was and I was told Music always comes out on top,
this year however they all yelled science. I wasn’t there to hear it as I was
trying to clean up the giant mess of cornstarch left in our room, but it made my heart swell that they all felt
that way. The man who runs the VBS program gave me a huge hug and thanked me
for all I did. He said I can never leave now. Which made me feel really good.
So while it was a long stressful week it was a
great week and I’m glad I helped out. I did end up having to work until 9:30 Friday
and will also be at work 7am Monday morning but after Tuesday I hope to get
back to a more normalized schedule. Zombiefied Marcy will have to last a few
more days, I miss sleep, I used to enjoy it. I hope to do so again one day.
Unlike Golden I am NOT a member of Team No Sleep. I am very much PRO-Sleep and if I were being honest I also like pants.
Anyway … that’s been my last week …. Hope you
all have a fantastic week ahead.
"Adult Things Suck!" This was a text I sent to Golden after telling
her about my stupid week, it was also in response to a panic attack I had
thinking of all I have to do next week, and the week after that. The Adult
Marcy wants to sit down with my work laptop and spend the weekend attempting to
get ahead. The Kid Marcy wants to set Adult Marcy on fire, Curl up in a ball,
and watch 1980 cartoons while sucking my thumb with one hand and twirling my
hair with the other as someone brings me cheese balls from a blue planters can
with the yellow lid. Yeah it's important that it be that specific.
Don't tell me Utz has decent cheese balls cause I'd hate to call you an asshat to your face.
It's planters or nothing people!!!!
Adult Me has to deal with insane coworkers who
often fail to make life any easier for me. Adult Me is suppose to watch what
she eats, exercise, and be polite to people when I want to grab them by each
ear and pull like I'm pulling a Christmas Cracker so I can finally get a new
paper hat.
Totally pulling off the Cracker Paper hat my furry Friend!
Adult me has to deal with all the crazy of a full time job them come
home and help two aging parents navigate the crazy that is life, including
fixing dinner, doing treatments, and making sure they are taking their
medicine, while often forgetting my own.
Adult me is crushing the rest of me. This
stupid need to be productive, to do the right thing, to take on more than I
can, to do it all is going to kill me one day. I'll either have a heart attack
or I'll drive my car off a bridge either way I'm sure to get wet. You'd think
down time would be my salvation but typically I'm so keyed up I never get to
really enjoy it. I can't remember the last time I was truly 100% relaxed. That
can't be good for you right ?!
Adult Me puts off doctor appointments as well
as other things that would make my life better in the long run because there is
no time or it can be taken care of later. Things that aren't necessary so I
don’t deal with it. By necessary I mean I'm not bleeding, I don’t see exposed
bone or will I immediately die from whatever problem I am having it is just
annoying.
Then again there are things Adult Me can do
that Kid me never thought of…. I bought the Trolls movie this week just because
I could (tho I have yet to take the time to watch it – damn adult me!) ….. I
have a cell phone that keeps me connected in times of crazy ….. I can buy all
the chips I want, sure they aren't planter cheese balls in the canister –
seriously Planters what’s that about -- but I can EAT THE WHOLE BAG …… I could
order myself a pizza at 3 am and get any kind I want….. I can also send money
to a friend having a tough time ….. I can drive a car, sure it is only to work and home again but I'm not
focusing on that right now…. Oh and I can buy me a blizzard any day of the
week.
So yeah … being an adult is ok….. Sometimes, I
guess, kinda.
At
our office we have a blood drive every 6 months or so. The blood mobile comes
to our office and we sign up, walk downstairs and spent about 30 minutes or so
in the buss answering all these insane questions, get poked, lay around for a few minutes, then get a cookie a glass of
juice and head back to work. It’s a wonderful opportunity to help our
community. Typically they stay from 8:30-1, sometimes longer if there’s a
stream of people trying to get in. There happened to be a blood drive on Sep.
11th and the blood mobile ended up staying until well after 6pm.
Today
was a blood drive day, or as I call it “Blood Sucking Day!” I got my submittal
emailed to the other office (who was going to print/bind/and hand deliver it
(see yesterday’s post if you have no idea what I’m talking about) and the
receptionist called and said it was my turn. I grabbed my ID and took off downstairs.
I read the paperwork and headed to the bus. I went into the room to answer the insane
questions and the nurse went to take my blood pressure. She put the cuff on my
arm and started squeezing. She jokingly asked, high or low? I said high … it’s
always high. She was listening to my blood pressure and went huh…. Let’s try a
different cuff. This one doesn’t always work right. She went out and got
another cuff and came back. She started the process again. Upon finishing the
task she said … that’s not … ok I’m going to get someone else to listen. She
called one of the other ladies into the room and she completed the process
again. After this time they both looked at me like I had a lobster on my head
doing a dance and shouting profanities.
It
was determined that my blood pressure was too high for me to donate. As I said
it’s always high, sometimes more than others but usually on the higher
spectrum. They gave me a sheet of paper with the numbers on it and I was sent
on my way with a big speech about getting it checked out. I told them I would.
I made my way back to my desk and my boss saw me, he said that was quick. I
told him what happened and now he’s all stressed out. It’s like everyone thinks
I’m going to keel over dead at any moment.
I
tried to tell him it’s been a super stressful week, from my friend’s surgery,
to the last minute submittal and the long hours it’s just been a long week. I
feel fine but I do have to admit it was nice of him to be concerned. So for today I’m thankful to have a boss
that seems to appreciate what I do, appreciate who I am and who actually looked
at me today and said “If something happens to you not only will it affect our
work in a negative way but also I’ll miss you!” So I guess that means I’ll make
a doctor’s appointment, something I truly hate to do. Good guilt trip Steven …
well played sir!
