This Is What Happens When I Only Blog Once a Week

I'm sitting here blogging because I'm avoiding the dishes. Which is dumb, because I've been avoiding them since Tuesday. I was so determined to keep up with the dishes this week, and wash small piles of dishes every day, instead of waiting for a mountain to form, and then tackling them. There is no mountain. Yet. I should probably keep it that way.

I'm sitting here blogging because what I really wanted to do was laundry. Again, something else I've been meaning to do all week, and I just forgot. Which is a shame, because someone else decided to do there laundry today. So both machines will be occupied for a few hours.

I hope I at least get one load done. There is a certain sweater that needs washing that I want to wear tomorrow (and I've known this all week long, so it's my fault that I waited till now). But this sweater HAS to be washed, because it's my nicest one, and Art and I are going to our very first company Christmas party tomorrow!

It's his work party, and I want to make a good impression on all these people I hear so much about. I'm kind of nervous. To be completely honest, I'm mostly nervous about meeting one person in particular. I've heard about her and I've seen pictures of her, and she is basically the hottest woman I have ever seen (in real life. Movie stars don't count as "real"). So I'm a tiny bit jealous that Art works with her, and I'm just afraid I'm going to feel drab while being in the same room as her.

Yeah yeah, I know you're all going to think/say "Jenene, you are so beautiful, don't even think those thoughts." Thank you, that's very kind of you. I'm not fishing for compliments. I'm just spilling my thoughts.

Enough about laundry and jealousy. I got a new can opener today, and I'm more excited about it than I probably should be. But ours is a piece of junk, and this one is made from titanium alloy, which just sounds so fancy. Fancy for a can opener. And it was on sale. Plus, I got to spend a few minutes at the kitchen store at the mall. I love that store. Which is funny, because I'm not someone who loves to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But I just love that store! And I'm really tired of going to war just to make some mushroom soup.

I also got my boot fixed! What boot, you ask? Well. Art bought me a beautiful pair of boots for Christmas almost two years ago. Beautiful, expensive boots. And I wore them for three months, and then the zipper on one of them broke. I was a little unimpressed, considering how much money they cost. I couldn't take them back to the store, because I was in Canada, and Art bought them in the US. So I brought the boot to a shoe repair, and it she kept saying "Come back next week", and then the next week it wouldn't be ready, and I would have to wait another week.

By the time the boot was fixed, it was spring, and too warm to wear them. Then I got married, and moved, and didn't take them with me. My mom brought them with her when she visited last fall, and I discovered that the zipper on the other boot was broken. How does a zipper break on a boot I'm not wearing? Anyway, I didn't get that one fixed last year, because we were broker than broke, and boot zippers were NOT a priority.

Finally, last week I was determined that I would wear these boots again. Art paid good money for them, and had never seen me wear them, and they still look new. So I brought it to a shoe repair place at the mall, and THIS guy knows what he's doing. He said "Come back next week", and sure enough, they were done in one week. And here they are!!!



This picture is two years old. That is not my current sidewalk/yard. We do not have snow. But that is the only picture I have of them. Aren't they splendiferous?

So yeah. I'm pretty happy about that. I also bought myself some chocolate today, because I haven't done that in a while.

And then tomorrow I get paid, and I'm going to do my online Christmas shopping this weekend. Except I have no idea what to get for Art. Ideas? My budget is $15.

Ooh, and I learned to crochet a little while ago! I haven't practiced much, but it's easier and faster than knitting. So I should probably do more of it. But I'm too busy these days watching Art's birthday present. I bought him Season 5 of The Office, so we've spent our evenings blazing through those discs.

We have a tradition with The Office. It's our show. And we don't watch it on TV. We wait until the season is over, and then we buy it when it comes out on dvd a few months later. And then we watch the whole thing in as few days as possible. It's great. Those evenings are not a waste of time at all. Because it's our tradition. So don't tell me anything about Season 6. We'll be watching it next September.

Someone else bought Art Season 2 of The Office for his birthday, so we'll probably watch that once we're done with Season 5. I remember really liking Season 2. And now we have the whole collection.

So let's see, what haven't I talked about yet? Oh work. How is work? Work is.......you know what? Work isn't stressful. It's draining. There's a difference. When we're all busy cranking through order entry because they're coming in like crazy, that is stressful. But since there are so many random things that prevent us from entering orders because our new database isn't completely done being programmed for all the things we need to do (and won't be for at least another year), it takes so loooong to get anything done.

We all have so many questions, and we can hardly keep track of some of the answers we've been given, and the people who can answer us are being pulled in every direction......work drags. Everything we do drags. It's not stressful, it's draining. I can't wait until most of these kinks are worked out, and we can finally start feeling like we're getting into a rhythm.

Thankfully, my manager is hiring another seasonal to help us out. She's going to start conducting interviews next week already. So I might have a new coworker just before Christmas. And they will be doing what I'm doing. I'm not sure if I will still be doing what I'm doing. We kind of need two of us working "behind the scenes", because one person cannot keep up. I would know, because I've been trying to keep up, and it's not working.

Someone said that there is a chance that we might be working over our Christmas break. Our company closes for two straight weeks over Christmas, which is great, because Art and I are going to Manitoba for Christmas this year. But the break is unpaid for me, because I'm still seasonal.

Anyway, there is so much backlog to catch up on, they might need us on those "closed" days (except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). Art and I will still go on our one-week trip, but I wouldn't mind being able to work on those other days. More money for me. So don't tell any of my coworkers, but I actually hope they end up calling us in.

So yeah. It's not exactly fun, but I like feeling necessary, like I'm making a difference. Anytime I feel like complaining, I remember that this time last year, Art had just lost his full time job, and I was crying out to God in desperation. Now, we're both working full time, and we are staying ahead of the bills and rent. I have a lot to be thankful for.

I don't know why I always end these posts with work-related things. I don't want to end on a depressing note. So I'll end by telling you that I'm hoping to set up our tiny Christmas tree this weekend as well. I bought some more decorations from the dollar store last weekend, so I think our tree will be perfectly full this year. Yay!