Tired, less sugar, and happy

I've been tired the last couple of days. All is well. I'm happy that it's the weekend!

I decided to cut back on sugar as of Friday. I have been indulging in desserts that I've noticed how I don't sleep as well as I used to. My clothes also fit tighter.

A break from meetings

I enjoy when my boss is away for one reason or another. It's a nice break from way too many meetings.

On Wednesday, he took half the day off. Our team has a daily chat towards the end of my workday. I find it a drag sometimes, because I don't exactly want to talk to them when I was to wrap up my work and call it a day. My manager can't end a chat on time, let alone any meeting.

I start my day earlier than most on the team. I can technically call it a day at 4:30 pm. I did that yesterday and it felt great.

Last Thursday, he wasn't feeling well and took the day off to rest up. It was nice not attending our weekly team meeting. 

I am fortunate that I get along with him. However, having him not remember how many years I have been with the company still rubs me the wrong way. It resurfaced last Friday. I nearly wanted to say, "Yes, it's ten years. You didn't see the e-mail to sign my e-card and only acknowledged my milestone when I had to tell you that you missed it in our daily chat."

Today will be interesting. There's a departmental meeting at the same time as our weekly team meeting. We'll see whether he will acknowledge that the former meeting is far more important than his.

Long week, especially dealing with a colleague who jumped the gun

This week feels long already. I had to deal with a project manager who can't read.

I had sent a bunch of links for a couple of developers to review, clearly asking them to review my work. This project manager decided to forward them to a different department and said that my work was done. What? It was an incredibly premature move.

It's sad that I had to explicitly state that it's not done in my eyes. My work needs an internal review first. 

It's unfortunate that the developer who originally forwarded his work to me had copied this project manager on it. Next time, I will remove her completely from the message when I respond because she can't read.

Ugh!

Wrapping up the weekend with businesses reopening

My weekend is practically over.

I went out on Sunday to pick up an order. I do like curbside pickup. I have been out on Sundays more often. It's nice.

Today marks the first day that businesses reopen in my area. It doesn't exactly make me want to dine out or hit a mall. It's a small sign of hope during this long pandemic, which is nice.

Have a great week ahead!

Shopping thoughts

I have been more nostalgic and reflective as of late than I typically am. I had a talk with a friend who is in the same boat. She blames it on the pandemic.

My region will have many restrictions eased as of Monday. It has been in lockdown for over two months. Yesterday, I went into a different part of the province where stores were open again. I didn't have any inclination to visit them.

It is one change that I have noticed since this pandemic started. I don't have a desire to go shopping and browse. I like curbside pickup. I look at what I want online, pay either online or at the store, and pick up my order. Done!

I simply get groceries and items at the drugstore. I also get takeout.

I haven't been to major stores, such as Walmart and Costco, since this pandemic started. I don't feel comfortable in them.

Maybe the urge to visit major malls and large stores will come back once we are all vaccinated. Right now, visiting them isn't a priority. 

Talking at 7 am for work

My manager wants me to give a talk about our team's processes to two colleagues in India. I'm talking in a few hours at 7 am.

There are times when I feel like he complicates my work life because he can't do this task. He doesn't have the hands-on expertise and he isn't great at speaking.

Hopefully, I'm coherent and functioning by then.

On a good note, I do like an earlier start. It means that I can end my workday early. The downside is that we are getting more snow, so it's not like I'll be out and about afterwards. At least I can admire the clean, white snow in a warm home.

Shoulder pain and lounging

I woke up on Tuesday with a pain in my shoulder. I have a feeling it's due to posture. Doing shoulder rolls and relaxing my arm has helped reduce the pain throughout the day. It's down to a dull ache that occurs occasionally.

I took a sick day to rest up. It was nice to lounge around once the pain had subsided.

We've got snow. I didn't bother shovelling it due to my shoulder. I will ease into it later on today.

Snow

My long weekend is over. Sad, but it's true.

We were supposed to get two waves of snow. The one on Monday morning didn't materialize, so I went out to fetch some lunch.

The second wave is here. We are expecting between 15 to 20 cm of snow. Fun!

Valentine's Day thoughts

I'm still up. It's Valentine's Day.

When I had a boyfriend, this day was just like any other. We said that we loved each other throughout the year.

Now that I am single, I simply look forward to eating chocolate and taking advantage of the post-Valentine's Day sales on candy.

It's all good.

Video of my late friend

I wanted to sleep in on Friday. I did manage to get more sleep, but I received a couple of text messages at 09:00.

They were from my dear friend's husband. She had passed away in early January. He was using her phone to text me, like he did back in January, and said that it automatically put all photos featuring her into a video. He then texted me this video.

It's a nice keepsake to have. When we met up, we rarely took photos together or of each other. I have a handful of them from trips spent with her over the years and I cherish them. This video is special, to remember her by.

The last photo is recent one, probably closer to her passing. She looked thin and tired, which would be expected going through chemotherapy.

I have been thinking about her often. It's nice that I am now keeping in touch with her husband.

Happy lunar new year!

Happy lunar new year! 

It's the year of the ox. I am oxcited!

Long weekend is nearly here with my new toy

One more workday until my long weekend. Yay!

I'll have lots of time to play with my new toy. I found the online manual. I have read it. I am ready!

Give me Liberty!

It has finally arrived! My Womanizer Liberty is here!

It took a week longer to arrive. A COVID-19 outbreak happened at a Canada Post sorting facility, so extra precautions were taken.

The lilac looks prettier when I took it out of the packaging. I had to charge it. The instructions that came with the Liberty aren't complete, but how to pleasure yourself got to the point!

I'll let you know how happy I am soon!

Out and about on Sunday

I went out on Sunday. It's rare for me to venture out on Sundays. However, I have done it twice within the past month.

I don't mind going out on Sundays. I find it more relaxed than Saturdays. I am a homebody, though. Going out on Saturday and Sunday feels like overkill!

It was nice getting some takeout for lunch. I found a decent Hakka restaurant on my way home from fetching an order for curbside pickup.

It's a shorter week for me. I have decided to take this Friday off for Lunar New Year. I rarely take this day off from work. Monday is a holiday, so I get an extra long weekend. Yay!

Sleepy

My weekend is going well, except that I was up till 4 am yesterday. I got up at around 9 am and lounged.

I am sleepy. I'm only up because I'm drying my hair, so I thought that I'd quickly say hi before I crash.

Snow, errands, and recipes

It's snowing. I was hoping to run an errand later on today, but I think that I'll just stay at home and try on Sunday instead.

This business has curbside pickup from Wednesday through Friday, and Sunday. I am typically running errands on Saturday. So, I have either Friday or Sunday to drop by the store and pick up a couple of orders.

It used to be open on Saturdays. However, with this second pandemic lockdown, it has revised its hours. 

At least I get to stay home all warm and cozy. I am currently going through a new cookbook, dreaming about which recipe to try first.

Taking myself out of a group at work due to workload

Last year, my manager made me participate in a group in our organization on how to improve various processes. I did like participating, but my workload became extremely heavy in August and kept on building.

I ended up being a leader in a subgroup with three other people. All were guys. They didn't take much initiative. I set up the meeting for us to talk, I took notes and meeting minutes, and I presented our findings to our team. The next step was to present them within our organization.

I didn't have time to put a slide deck together or give a talk. I had an annoying woman who took over from someone within our group, hounding me when I could present. I felt like I was giving excuses, but I wasn't. I put in so much overtime to get my deliverables out the door that I was exhausted.

As a last resort, I asked the three guys on my team if they could help me out. Crickets.

The group leader has changed again. I have worked with this person and we get along. She asked whether some folks in the group would like to take a break from it due to deliveries. I pondered it and decided that I needed the break.

I didn't discuss it with my manager. I wanted out because I felt like I wasn't getting the support from my little team and my workload continues to be heavy.

I felt good about my decision. It's right for me.

Sleeping much better

I took a break from blogging last night. I needed it.

On Sunday night, I was so exhausted from not getting enough sleep over the weekend. I found myself on my bed, with my head without a pillow underneath and where my feet should have been, fast asleep, without my comforter pulled over me. I haven't done any of that in years.

Last night, I slept well. Here's hoping that I can continue the trend. The winds are gusty tonight. Luckily, I sleep with earplugs these days.

Sleep and an upcoming longer weekend

I didn't sleep well last night. I walked too much on Saturday that my right foot was causing me some grief. Eventually, I did fall asleep, which was great.

I'm back to the grind on Monday. I just realized that it's almost February. It is rare for me to take Lunar New Year. However, it lands on a Friday this year and the following Monday is a Canadian holiday. I want to take advantage of a longer weekend.