It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

It has been a zillion years since I’ve posted anything, not that time has any meaning anymore these days. Here’s a recap:

Dec. 2019: I finally achieved Executive Platinum status on American Airlines, thanks to my awesome job where I went here, there and everywhere, including southeast Asia 2x a year, and to Toledo, OH, at least once a quarter, which allowed for weekend trips to see the FamilyH in Michigan.

2020: No place to go. Yay.

Also in 2020: New boss. Job starts being not awesome.

End of 2020: Received notice in September that would be laid off in early November. It was like being put out of my misery. Especially when my boss was calling me constantly during the 60-day notice period and I was still putting in 10-12 hours a day – because, no plans in place for anyone to take on what I did. It was also touching to have so many of my shocked, angry and sad colleagues reach out to me. It was like being at your own eulogy while you are still alive. Closure achieved. Time to move on to the next adventure.

December 2020: I and the entire FamilyH crew tested negative for COVID so I hopped on a plane to hang out on the farm for the majority of December. It was much needed an necessary to push my personal reset button. At home in Arizona, my brain and body were still functioning at my prior level of toxic productivity. The panic attacks that came in the afternoons because OMG I MUST BE ON DEADLINE FOR SOMETHING BUT I AM NOT REALLY BUT I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD BE were freaking me out.

January 2021: Ahh, mental peace and stability. Started looking for a new job. Job search takes off like a climate change-influenced wildfire. Thankfully my job coach who came with my outplacement package was top notch and set me up to be prepared for interviews and such.

February 8, 2021: I start a new job, with people who won me over by saying things like “With your experience, you can come in here and be a rock star.” It’s a contract gig with an awesome company doing great things. It might be just temporary, it might turn into a long-term situation, or I use this to get into full-time consulting or string a bunch of contract jobs together to jump into a communications team, make a big impact, and move on. Regardless, I’m super duper excited and everyone has been warm and welcoming.

So – here’s to new beginnings. I hope you are all staying safe, healthy and positive.

Howdy all y’all from the blazing hot desert!

It’s been forever and a day since the last post. Sorry about that. I tend to unplug as much as possible in non-work hours. BSG and Winslow like to have me pay attention to them now and again. Also, my eyesight is at that point that to work on the computer with my glasses on, it has to be far away. Without them on, I’m hunching over the keyboard. Either way, I don’t see well and therefore it crushes my desire to write too much and increases my typos.

Blech. Aging. Maybe it’s time to look into glasses just for this midrange. Because hooray for more pairs of glasses. *unfocused eye roll*

Quick(ish) update.

1. Little Miss Stubby, who made her public debut on Vox when she walked across the street with me to check out a fallen tree after a storm, was put down in late April. She was such a good little kitty. Everyone loved Stubby. She became a full-time house cat in the last year, after I took her to the vet for her first check up. For a tiny cat (she maxed out at 6 pounds), she could knock her crate off the passenger seat and onto the floor when she was in the car. When she was at the vet’s she was the perfect angel. “Hello, nice people who help me!” When getting her teeth pulled didn’t solve an abscess problem, x-rays showed she had cancer. Poor thing. She is now in a beautiful box sitting next to Elvis’ box and has a clay marker with her paw prints under the patio tree that she would use to come in and out. We miss her. We take comfort in knowing we gave her a good life. That night, BSG wanted to give her a wake. We opened up a very nice bottle of wine and toasted to her. He started by thanking her for choosing us to be her family. 

That’s an old photo of her and Winslow that’s already in the WP library. Apparently WP won’t let you upload photos from a Mac hard drive. I know I’m bad at technology, but that’s just silly.

2. Work has been nutballs, in a good nutballs kind of way. I’m having a ton of fun and next week and then again in July, I get to go to our Toledo facility, which means flying through Detroit, which means seeing friends and family. Huzzah!

3. BSG and I went to Paris in April because his brother and SIL are living there temporarily for his work. It was BSG’s first time in Europe. The weather was beautiful and we had a glorious time. I’d post photos, but again, WP won’t let me. (Seriously, WTF?)

4. The temperature is supposed to be stupid hot this week. In April, I had a new A/C unit installed and last week the last of the single-pane windows were replaced. Bring it, summer!

5. Winslow has been mostly good. We still have to watch him like crazy or he will pee on something when we aren’t looking. Usually our favorite shoes or clothes. Or books. Or bikes. Or furniture. Or, or, or.

For a time, he was looking for Stubby in her usual spots at breakfast time. It’s still funny how for as much a bully he is to other cats, Stubby could always push him off his food and he’d be all “Wha?? MOM! DAD! She’s eating my food!!” Stubby was badass. Although at night, he would bop her on the head if she got too close to him. The night before she was put down, she went up to him and he licked her (a first) and let her lie on top of him to cuddle (definitely not normal). He knew and finally showed her some affection. He can be such a good boy. We do love him, as much work as he is.

Nothing else to report. Really, nothing. Life is pleasantly boring these days. Just work, work travel, and trying to not do much when I’m not working. As a matter of fact, there was a lot of stuff I was supposed to do on the computer this weekend. I came online to do that, saw Cranky’s post, was inspired to check in now that I’m here. And now it’s time to go to bed.

Sending all of my Vox/WP peeps much love. Let’s all be nice to everyone we come across and spread peace on a human level. Hugs.

Long time, no post. I do read your posts when they come in by email, and I try to get to replying. What I really need to do is a time audit so I can figure out where the time goes.

Here’s where I know it went this year:

1. In the course of four months, I made platinum level on my frequent flyer account. That was thanks to two trips to Malaysia, three trips to Ohio, one trip to New Jersey and two trips to Vegas. All for work. Sailor Babo went on the first trip to Malaysia. He’s patiently waiting for me to post his pictures for him.
2. Work is great, although it’s going to be challenging soon. Like probably tomorrow. We are in an industry that changes by the month, if not day, so we have to do an “adjustment” by the end of the year. My boss said that he picks me as the one to go the end of the world with him and I said I’m all in, and “this is the ship I want to go down with.” He then asked if I could get that on some t-shirts. Haha. Not that we are going anywhere, but hey, it’s the corporate world so who knows what the future holds.
3. Winslow is still a pain in the rear, but less so because we keep an eye on him. Although he did pee in my closet again yesterday when we left him unattended for about five minutes.
4. I had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago. I’m in the sling 90% of the time for another three weeks or so. A few days ago I drove myself around for the first time. Do you know how hard it is to try and turn the key in the ignition with your left hand? It’s so hard you might sprain your thumb. Yay. So now I’m down to four workable digits on one workable arm, which happens to be my non-dominant left arm. So that’s been fun. (I’m typing with both hands right now as my sling is in the wash and the discomfort is not so horrible at the moment.)
5. BSG is still fabulous. He’s been a great caretaker, yet again. Although he is worried about how quickly I seem to be falling apart. Thanks to DadH, I inherited joints and bone structure of dubious quality.
6. FamilyH had to sell all of the milk cows this summer. The milk market was such that they were losing money hand over fist for the last few years. It was a hard day. Thanks to a work trip to Ohio, I was able to shoot up to Michigan for a few days the week before the cows were sold off to parts far and wide. At least Brother Ray was able to talk a friend of his into buying his favorite cows to make sure they had a good, loving home.

So there you have it. Lots going on. Thinking a lot about all of you and hoping you are all well. Much love to everyone out there in post-Vox world.

This post has been edited a few times as apparently I should have reviewed and proofed before I published. That’s what I get for typing without my glasses on, because my new glasses are so strong I can’t use them close-up. Getting old sucks, especially when you aren’t even old yet. 😛

I have no idea where Winslow is. That’s a good thing. If I saw him right now I would drop kick him into oblivion.

Because of our constant vigilance, the house has been smelling cat-pee free.

Until an hour ago.

I was just petting Mr. Peebody and telling him how nice it was that he was behaving. He was all sleepy in the bedroom so I thought I could trust him for a few minutes.

Nope.

When I came back, he was still on the bed but the room reeked. He knew he was in trouble and took off. He nailed BSG’s new bookcase. It’s one of those four-square IKEA deals and Winslow was able to get all four squares. The worst of it was taken by his books and paperwork, of course.

I found Winslow cowering under a chair on the patio. As soon as I came out he jumped the wall, but not before I could give him a good thwack on his way down the other side.

So instead of getting some work done on my working-from-home day, I’ve been cleaning cat pee.

BSG is out of town and he will tell me that I failed at Cat Management. “See – this is what I have to deal with all the time. You are too trusting. You can’t give him a chance.” I know that’s what he’ll say. So here BSG has to deal with Winslow almost every day while I’m at work. Then when I’m in charge, he pees on BSG’s stuff.

Sigh.

Winslow is now barred from entering the house for at least the rest of the weekend. That’s if he comes back. Which he will. He always does. It’s where the food is.

And we always make up eventually. It’s just heartbreaking that he has to be this way.

Hi everybody!

I should be working but hey, even smokers get to take a break twice a day so why I can’t spend a few minutes checking in with my peeps?

All is great here. Last week I needed to be in Toledo for work and since my company was flying me in and out of Detroit, I may as well stay a few extra days and spend the weekend with FamilyH. The visit also fell near my birthday so I took full advantage of that. Ever since moving to Arizona, my family celebrated everyone’s birthday with a big family dinner. I’d call home and hear “Everyone is here – oh, except for you.” *heart stabby*

So this year, all I wanted was a big family dinner. And I got it. MomH was excited and cooked up a nice spread. DadH helped set the table. The nieces brought their boyfriends. A cousin and wife showed up as did another family friend. It was a full, happy and loud house. Best birthday ever.

Plus, I saw my BFF for lunch and my college roommate and other friends on the way to the airport on Sunday. Then BSG cooked dinner (crab legs) for my actual birthday and we popped the cork on a fancy wine that was being saved for a special occasion. It was wonderful. I’ll see a lot of other friends for book club on Sunday (we read “The Nightingale” – excellent) and I’m bringing a cake so I can hijack a little time for a birthday celebration. We usually drink a lot of wine and talk a little about the book, so it will work out perfectly.

Work is great, BSG is great, Winslow is still a remorseless peeing machine. His indoor movement is strictly limited to where we can see him sleeping and if he can’t settle down, he has to be locked in The Hole or sent back outside. The bushes along my neighbor’s townhouse have a line of yellow and dying leaves right at cat-butt height. So do the bushes on my townhouse that face the street. We’ve watched him stand on the patio furniture and go to town on it. He has stood on our patio wall and peed into the tree. When he walks down the garbage cans with me, he stops to pee on all of the cars in the carports. If the car or truck is really high, he will crouch his front end down to get a higher trajectory.

He might have been a sniper or ninja in a previous life. He is fast and can get off a pee in my closet before you even know he’s in the house – or in the back room that is closed off except for a minute or two when you go in to retrieve something. As BSG says, “Where does he find the time??” He has killer accuracy. You won’t know that he peed on the dresser until you try to open a drawer that is stuck because of dried cat urine. When you get it pried open, you’ll discover everything in the drawer had been soaked.

Oh – and last fall we ripped out all of the carpet, which was ruined due to Mr. Peebody, and put in laminate flooring. The house looks great, we have new furniture, and that’s why Winslow has no more room for leniency. He soooo wants to pee on everything and we have to watch his every move. We are always doing Cat Management and it’s exhausting.

In other cat news, our little stray Stubby has decided she wants to be a mostly indoor cat. She even uses Winslow’s litter box, which is nice that someone is using it. She has a hard time eating and so I took her to the vet. She has stomatitis (sp) and it’s incurable. It’s like having bad gingivitis. So we’re trying all sorts of food for her and when it gets too painful to eat, we’ll do the right thing by her. She’s a sweetie pie. Winslow tolerates her like a big brother with an annoying little tag-along sister who adores him.

So that’s it from here. Hope everyone is doing well!

MWAH!

that I haven’t posted as much as I thought I have. In my brain I have all sorts of posts completed. 

To do: type, not just think 

By the time I get home – after work, after the gym, after showering, after making dinner and doing dishes (still no dishwasher), it’s almost time for bed. So I try to not get back online. 

I do miss the safety zone of the blog. Last night I tweeted from the Dbacks game about my love for the knickers and how much I can’t stand the PJ pants players wear these days. This morning I received an email from a sales rep of a social media platform company that mentioned my tweet, my past work experience from LinkdIn and references of a YouTube video and a Tweet from my company’s sites, not mine. 

Then he followed me and all my coworkers’ Twitter feeds and sent LinkdIn requests. The asks were over the top “I love what you are doing.” Um, you are making wild assumptions and the Internet stalking is super creepy. Hell, as all-reaching as that search tool is, he might be reading this post RIGHT NOW AS I TYPE. Oh, and he also likes my thought leadership, again referencing my knickers tweet. 

Sheesh. Also, I have no idea how people have time to be on so many platforms. FB is such a timesuck. And everyone is so angry and judgemental. Or maybe that’s just my feed. 

Anyhoo – all is well here. BSG is great. Winslow is a charmer, if not a pain. Work is going well and I have no complaints. 

College football season is here. GO GREEN! 

This what Winslow looks like when he’s behaving and we can relax for a while.  

 
This evening he walked with me to get take out the garbage and get the mail. He took this opportunity to go all out peeing on one of his favorite bushes. Now we have a few hours without worrying about an indoor pee incident. 

First, thanks to all of you who sent me nice notes and kind words from the last post where I accepted a job with the really nice people. It’s been fun being a “real” employee and not just a contractor with no stake in the game. Sure, there are benefits – like, well, benefits – and drawbacks – like, not having the flexibility I had before. That said, I’m pretty happy with the current situation.

Winslow has been better, although not perfect. He was doing so well, then has decided behaving appropriately all the time was a drag. Now that it’s over 110 degrees (in June?? WTF??), he can’t go outside as much. We’ll let him out at night as it gets down to the 80s, so at least he has that. We’ve been letting Stubby in to cool off, which she appreciates, but she can only stand being inside for so long before she wants her freedom again.

BSG and I are headed up to northern Wisconsin next week to visit the relatives at their resort, do some canoeing, eating, kayaking, eating, fishing, eating, etc. This is the branch of the family with my cousin-in-law who won the Lay’s potato chip contest. MomH, DadH and Brother Steve are driving up to join us. We’re all looking forward to it. It’s an amazing place for a family vacation – here’s a link to their website in case you are ever in market for a vacation in the Northwoods.

Sailor Babo is also ready for the trip, as he hasn’t been out and about lately. He did take a turn in the washing machine recently, thanks to Winslow Peebody. He came out smelling fresh as a daisy, thankfully.

I guess that’s it for me. I’m still trying to figure out some kind of schedule now that I’m not working every night after coming home from the main job. I’ve noticed that I don’t get on my personal computer much and I’ll even forget to pull my phone out of my purse. Even though going on a digital diet wasn’t intentional, it’s what has happened. It feels good to be disconnected.

Kind of like my thoughts at the moment. I hope everyone is doing well and that you are having a good summer!

I haven’t been around much lately so here’s what I’ve been up to over the past few months:

1. Work
2. More work
3. Even more work

You may or may not recall, or knew, that one of my clients (the really nice people who are great to work for) had asked me to come on at 40 hours a week. As long as I was a contractor, I wasn’t going to give up my other clients. This was for the most part fine, as the others had hired more people on their staffs so I wasn’t needed as much. But they still needed me enough that I was working on their stuff almost every night and every weekend.

I was tired. I was overwhelmed.

Then about a week or so ago, the really nice people asked if I would do them the honor of coming on board as a real employee. Oh, yes! The job has been fun – hard, challenging and rewarding – and the people are fabulous. We have a great team in the Communications department. I’ll be official on Monday but my announcement went out yesterday to the broader organization. The congratulations notes have been so nice “Glad you are finally official! It’s about time! Welcome to the team, although you’ve always been a part of it!”

On the day I signed the papers, I called my other clients and let them know I was giving up the freelancing biz and going back to Corporate World. They were sad to lose me and happy for my next opportunity. To not leave anyone in a lurch, I also gave them contact info for a few freelancers who might be a good fit for what they needed. I even sent a tin of cookies to one of the clients who hired me at the very beginning of my solo career. They were all happy about that.

So that’s done. And band is over for the season (which took up one to two nights a week).

It feels good to not be running on adrenaline and to actually have time to take care of myself, pay attention to BSG (who is still wonderful) and Winslow (who is behaving a little better now that he can go outside, although he wants to beat up almost every cat out there).

I hope to catch up with everyone’s escapades and be around a bit more! I miss you guys!

We’re now a few days into Lent, which my childhood knowledge of its observation can be summed up as “something Catholics do.” Now that I’m older and have a more, shall we say – nuanced – understanding, for the past few years I’ve been thinking about what I would give up to give me something to reflect on for 40 days – as that’s how I’ve chosen to think of observing Lent.

Then over in the Jewish tradition is a day where you have to atone for your sins by apologizing to everyone you’ve done wrong in the past year (which I may have completely misinterpreted, too). That’s pretty impressive – and intimidating.

So maybe what I’ll do next year, if I get up the courage, is to do a theological mashup with “40 Days of Atonement.” Then I could cover all the stuff I’ve done over the years that I still feel bad about.

I was pretty obnoxious for a really long time. That would totally take more than one day.