Meanwhile back in Crazy Town

This week has been another roller coaster. We did more lay-offs at work. Thankfully I managed to come through unscathed, but a few friends were not so lucky. It’s an odd situation. On the one hand you are breathing a huge sigh of relief you still have a job in this economic climate. On the other hand, you’re feeling bad about your friends who lost their jobs. And then you feel guilty for feeling relieved because they don’t have that option. I’ll be glad when this economic cycle starts swinging back up the other way. I know it will, but right now there are days when things can look pretty bleak.

On the plus side, at least it has hammered home the need to leave below my means. Luckily the BF is adamant about doing this which should keep me on the straight and narrow. Not that I spend money left, right and centre, but sometimes I can get that ‘need it now’ rush where you try to rationalize why you simply MUST HAVE SOMETHING. When in fact, you really don’t need it. Or at least you don’t need it right this minute and perhaps you can save up until you can afford to pay cash instead of whipping out the ole credit card.

So once the lay offs were done we were hit with another snow storm. Oh joy. I went into the gym on my lunch hour and it was barely snowing. I came out 40 minutes later and there was at least 2 inches of snow on the ground. I went up to the office and told my boss I was leaving now, but my usual 10 minute ride home took nearly an hour and at one point another idiot nearly side-swiped me when he lost control of his car. I managed to avoid him thankfully.

Then today I find out I have to pick up a job from one of the people laid off. Now, when I started this job I flat out said – I am not doing phones, no way, no how. They said fine, wasn’t an issue, no problem. But with the lay-offs our receptionist’s usual lunch time replacement is gone. So my boss asked me to do him a favour and pick up one lunch hour a week. I was not happy. It felt like a demotion, which is maybe being a bit dramatic about it, but that’s how I felt. I started my career on the phones and suddenly 22 years later here I am back on them? What the hell??

Sigh…but my boss and I have a really good relationship and he hated asking me but what can you do. So we worked out a deal that made us both happy and I picked Monday lunch to get it done and out of the way for the week, and then promised not to answer the phone with ‘Good afternoon, what the @#$% do you want now.’

Writing-wise it was a good week. My goal was to edit / rewrite 6 pages a day, five days a week. Monday and Tuesday I managed 6 pages, but I missed Wednesday because I forgot to reset my alarm and slept in. Then Thursday I squeaked out 7 pages. Then today I went on a tear and blew threw 15 pages to end the week with 34 pages – 4 pages over my goal. Whew.

Work-outs are also going great. I’ve done two days of cardio and weights, one yoga class, 35 minutes of cardio yesterday, followed by about 40 minutes of shovelling. Today I survived my first Spin class in several weeks and then tomorrow its Boot Camp day. I am fitting into my new jeans too and already I’m a bit concerned about the waist. They fit fine on the legs, but the waist is a bit too big (my usual dilemma…argh). I’ve belted it up for now and we’ll see how that goes. I hate the feeling of the waist being bunched up though so I might need to look at tailoring.

Puppy news – STILL trying to decide on a name, but I was talking to the breeder and I can go pay the puppies a visit next weekend at which time I should know which one is mine. And I get to bring it home for good on March 21st.

And there you have it, the weekly recap.