Meanwhile…

My job is undergoing one of those temporary ‘madness reigns supreme’ cycles. I have way too much to do, and yet a lot of it is of the ‘start this running, then, uh, wait’ variety. I try to move on, but sometimes I find that trying to multitask results in things being done badly so then I stop that.

And sit there.

Watching the timer increment. 17:29, 17:30, 17:31…

**sigh**

Meanwhile, back in Real Life…

There is laundry all over every surface in this house.

The dishes are being done in strange little bursts at odd hours.

The kitchen floor could really use a good washing.

We’ll not discuss the bathrooms, because it is a horror that should not be discussed in a public forum. There might be children online tonight.

I still need to finish our taxes. But I am procrastinating because we need to send a check to Uncle Sam this year.

I just learned that I may have charge of a nine year old boy Saturday. All. Day. Into. The. Night.

WAY into the night.

When my husband was planning to tell me this is a mystery – I only found out because I suddenly thought to ask, “Wait. What is High School Buddy doing with #1 Son while he’s down here?” (High School Buddy is a single dad – he can’t do as my hubby does and kiss up like crazy, beg, plead, promise mad return on investment and produce boxes of chocolate ask me to watch the Denizens for a day-into-the-night while he goes off to party-hearty with his friends.

He’s a sweet kid, easy to have around (we had him here for an entire week and didn’t kill him, which tells you something about the ‘sweet and easy to have around’ quotient on this particular nine year old) and honestly, I don’t really mind. It’s just…when were you planning to tell the person you volunteered for this that she had been volunteered?! Or am I really that predictable? “Sure, she’d be happy to entertain him for twelve, fourteen, twenty hours while we’re gone – she loves kids!”

Yeah. For dinner. High temperature roast, a nice pepper-rub, maybe a little balsamic vinegar, they’re great.

** le sigh**

I predict a weekend with a lot of “And you know what? And you know what else? My dad says? Hey, can I play a video game? And have a snack? Aunt Tama, how do you do that thing? With the thing? You know, that one thing? Where there’s the numbers and stuff…?”

…I can feel the headache coming on already…

(I really don’t mind. I make a fuss here because, well, I can. But he’s fun to have around and the girls love to have other kids over for ‘playdates’) (a term I still loathe, by the way)

I also managed to screw up big time at work. A couple weeks ago I deactivated a control report because it was being flakey. At the time I said, “OK, guys, this thing is being flakey. Rather than irritate the dickens out of you, I’m going to take it down from the site to work on it.”

And then? I forgot all about it. FOR TWO WEEKS. It controls customer pricing, it’s kinda important.

I.
Am.
Such.
An.
Ass.

The only thing worse than doing something like that, is being blindsided when it is discovered by someone ELSE. Say, oh, I dunno, your boss, who has managed to forget the whole conversation ever happened.

ARGH. The worst part is, I don’t know whether he’s crazy, or I am. Because we are both the sort of people who tend to not hold onto things we hear.

Which reminds me. This, THIS RIGHT HERE, is why I hate the trend in business today where you’re supposed to use the phone because it’s “personal”. News flash, Gordon: I don’t remember what you said for even two minutes (if I even heard you in the first place, which is not a given). When I hang up, the following command is sent to my brain:

DELETE * FROM BRAIN
WHERE CONVERSATION_TIME >= GETDATE() – 5 SECONDS

So I had all these conversations on the @*^&@ing phone about these things and then? *poof!* Never happened. Forgot all about them. During the call, I deactivated the reports, fully intending to get back to them after I had cleared another fifteen fires off my desk. And then? I went on my merry way.

Until my boss called and said, “What the @*^&?” (Well, actually, he didn’t – he never cusses. I think he’s against such talk. Which can occasionally be awkward for me because, uh, well, I’m…not so much…against it…)

I just about wanted to go hide in the closet, people.

However, in a spurt of stubborn ‘dammit I am going to accomplish something tonight!’ (well, actually, last night, but who’s counting?), I finished the romper (except for the buttons – in spite of having several jars full of same, I can’t find ‘the right’ ones so I’m going to have to go pick up a few ‘plain old red’ round buttons).



See? I told you it was a QuickKnit™. I have had almost zero knitting time since Stitches (and I didn’t bring this to Stitches, I brought Cromarty, which I now have decided I still want to do, but not in this yarn), and yet here it is. Finished but for the buttons. And also I have decided that I need to find a nice onesie to go under it.

I don’t know how well the details really show up, but it has cute little red diamonds in two of the blue stripes and yes, I resisted the urge to put HUGE WHITE STARS in the middle of an EXTRA WIDE BLUE STRIPE. So. Still kinda 4th of July-ish, but not ‘and now, we will take an aluminum bat and beat you about the head with our 4th of July Theme’.

I hope, anyway. Eh. You know what? I have put my children into bunny suits for Easter, and once put a defenseless Eldest into a “flag” dress for 4th of July and have even dragged one of them through Disneyland in…wait for it…a Winnie the Pooh outfit.

So. Parents are crazy, and some parent will squeal with delight and put it on their baby for the family reunion and the kid will have something to tell his therapist about years later, hallelujah, amen.

And yes. That stained ugly nasty green thing there? That is the chair in which my butt is firmly planted for anywhere from eight to fourteen hours every single working day. Lovely, huh? Actually, I hate this chair. We got it when a former employer threw it away, which should give you a clue about the comfort and functionality of it.

But I swear to Dog, one of these days, I’m getting an ergonomic Captain of the Star Ship Chaos chair. With heated cup holder and massaging backrest and Easy Button and THE WHOLE NINE YARDS (of finest leather).

I mean it.

I will.

Right after I have a Starbucks outlet installed in my front room.

I have priorities, people, I have priorities…