there's a trans-siberian orchestra song in my head, but no lyrics
This week, you guys. I want to say there aren't even words, but clearly there are as I'm about to type a whole bunch of them. I told you on Monday that I just knew it was going to be that kind of week, and hoo boy, was I right. There were definitely positives too, but overall, by the time we reached today, I had thoroughly depleted my supply of fucks to give. I am flat out. I have definitely gone well past the point of stress and exhaustion to the land of just not being able to care anymore. It's really a good thing that the break is here, because I do not think I would be a functional employee anymore otherwise.
After Monday's incident of nearly forgetting my files on the way to one of my schools, I have been telling everyone that it's the kind of week where I would forget my head if it wasn't attached, and I will tell you just how that has played out. Mostly I think it was yesterday and today that were the most ridiculous, but honestly, who even knows at this point? Well, let's start with some of the positives: several of my coworkers got me gifts this year, which was very very sweet of them. Wednesday, Janet left a gift bag on my desk with a beautiful pair of soft warm gloves, which was especially helpful as I have been very much in need of a pair. I have a pair of basic knit gloves with little flip tops on the first finger and thumb, but they obviously don't keep my hands very warm. And the pair that New Jersey Janet gave me before I moved up to Canada had pretty much fallen apart by the end of last winter, so they're no longer usable. So these new ones that the other Janet got me are lovely, but they were a tad too tight because they were a medium, and even though the rest of me is generally a small, my hands are relatively big, so I usually need a large for gloves. However, Janet included a gift receipt with the gloves, so I figured, great, I can just exchange the size and all will be good.
HA. Clearly, nothing can be that simple. I went to the Mark's at Trinity Common first, because I was at a school near there yesterday morning, but they didn't have the gloves. So after work, I stopped at the Mark's at Queen and Airport, as it was pretty much on my way home. I parked, grabbed the gloves from the passenger seat, and got about ten steps away from my car before I realized I didn't have my purse on my shoulder. Which means, for those of you not intimately familiar with my quirks and idiosyncrasies, that I'd locked my keys in my car. As soon as I take the keys out of the ignition, I drop them in my purse, and as I get out of the car, I hit the door lock button on the door. So if I ever leave my purse in the car, I lock myself out. (Yes, I have actually done this before, though it was longer ago than I thought, which makes me feel a tiny bit better.) I went back to check, just on the off chance that I hadn't locked the car, but of course I had, and my purse, keys, phone and wallet were all inside. So I figure, well, I have the gloves in my hand, I may as well go into the store to see if I can exchange them and then ask if they'll let me use their phone to call Brad. I've got the roadside assistance through Nissan, but it's not like I have their number memorized. In fact, I have next to no phone numbers memorized anymore, which is oh-so-helpful when your phone's locked in your car.
Of course, this Mark's didn't have my gloves either, so I couldn't do the exchange, but the cashier was very nice and let me use the store phone to call Brad. Except, OF COURSE, he didn't answer his phone. He rarely has his phone on him anyway, and it's not like he could have known that this would happen, but I was exceptionally frustrated because I didn't know who else I could call to look up the roadside assistance number for me. After trying to reach Brad a few times with no success, I went back up to the cashier to tell her I had no luck. But a very kind woman who was paying for her purchase got out her smartphone and tried to look up the number for me, and when she couldn't find it, she looked up the closest Nissan dealership and let me use her phone to call them, because we figured they'd have the number, which they did. Hooray for the kindness of strangers, seriously. Definitely on my list of pay-it-forwards, if I ever have the opportunity to help someone else out like that. Once again, I used the store phone, this time to call roadside assistance, and found out that the soonest someone could get to me was an hour and fifteen minutes. Uggggggh. Thankfully, though, it actually only took them about half an hour before the truck showed up and a very nice man broke into my car for me.
Between me feeling like an idiot for locking myself out and being frustrated with Brad for not answering his phone, I ended up exploding at him when I got home, which didn't really help anything, especially because it wasn't his fault and I was able to resolve the situation anyway. :-/ Then I fought my way through traffic to get to knit night because I really wanted something fun and relaxing after that ordeal, and I nearly threw a temper tantrum when I went into my bag for my knitting and realized I'd left my pattern at home. I was utterly exhausted by the time I got home around 9:30, so when I found that Rose (the downstairs neighbor) was already parked in the driveway, I just parked behind her instead of texting her to see if she could move her car so I could get in the garage. Naturally, given my week, this means that when I came outside this morning, there was a ticket waiting for me on my windshield for blocking the sidewalk. Pretty sure it was at that point that I just gave up on caring. Who gets a ticket in their own driveway, seriously?! Again, totally my own fault; I KNOW you're not supposed to park blocking the sidewalk, I just didn't have the energy to care or do anything about it last night. Sigh.
So anyway, like I said, there have been other positives. Sue, the person I made the mobius cowl for, sent me an email Thursday asking if I had time to stop by her school to pick up a little Christmas gift, so I went by at the end of the day. She got me a happy sweater with yellow polka dots and a skirt with a cable knit pattern that is like a sweater for my legs! (Can't find that one on the website.) Both things make me very happy because it's been . . . a really long time since I've been able to buy myself any new clothes. Like, easily well over a year. And then today, Heather, who I did the stupid presentation with this morning, gave me a pair of fun patterned socks! How sweet!
Besides the lovely and unexpected presents from people, I have managed to finish all of my pre-trip errands: I got some American money, I picked up yummy Canadian chocolates for people, and I got my audiobooks from the library. I did laundry today so that the stuff that can't go in the dryer will have time to dry, and all that's left is the dreaded packing. That will happen sometime tomorrow, but probably not until after I hang out with Becca for a few hours. :p Oh, and I did manage to exchange my gloves this morning for the right size, plus since they're now on sale, I got a store credit for the difference! We'll count that as a win.
I am almost positive that there were other things I was going to mention in this entry, but my brain has gone blank. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to just sleeping in tomorrow, especially since it's the only chance I have to do it before I leave. Oh, but they're also forecasting 20-30 cm of snow tomorrow . . . or not! I just checked again, because it has changed several times in the last few days, and now they're not actually calling for any snow at all, just lots and lots of freezing rain. That's fine, rain all you want, just don't make me have to shovel snow again before I leave! Let's hope the weather in Jersey and Virginia is at least a bit better than it's been up here! Anyway, I'd imagine I won't have a lot of time to be on LJ while I'm traveling, so if I don't get on here again before then, have a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year to all of my friends!
After Monday's incident of nearly forgetting my files on the way to one of my schools, I have been telling everyone that it's the kind of week where I would forget my head if it wasn't attached, and I will tell you just how that has played out. Mostly I think it was yesterday and today that were the most ridiculous, but honestly, who even knows at this point? Well, let's start with some of the positives: several of my coworkers got me gifts this year, which was very very sweet of them. Wednesday, Janet left a gift bag on my desk with a beautiful pair of soft warm gloves, which was especially helpful as I have been very much in need of a pair. I have a pair of basic knit gloves with little flip tops on the first finger and thumb, but they obviously don't keep my hands very warm. And the pair that New Jersey Janet gave me before I moved up to Canada had pretty much fallen apart by the end of last winter, so they're no longer usable. So these new ones that the other Janet got me are lovely, but they were a tad too tight because they were a medium, and even though the rest of me is generally a small, my hands are relatively big, so I usually need a large for gloves. However, Janet included a gift receipt with the gloves, so I figured, great, I can just exchange the size and all will be good.
HA. Clearly, nothing can be that simple. I went to the Mark's at Trinity Common first, because I was at a school near there yesterday morning, but they didn't have the gloves. So after work, I stopped at the Mark's at Queen and Airport, as it was pretty much on my way home. I parked, grabbed the gloves from the passenger seat, and got about ten steps away from my car before I realized I didn't have my purse on my shoulder. Which means, for those of you not intimately familiar with my quirks and idiosyncrasies, that I'd locked my keys in my car. As soon as I take the keys out of the ignition, I drop them in my purse, and as I get out of the car, I hit the door lock button on the door. So if I ever leave my purse in the car, I lock myself out. (Yes, I have actually done this before, though it was longer ago than I thought, which makes me feel a tiny bit better.) I went back to check, just on the off chance that I hadn't locked the car, but of course I had, and my purse, keys, phone and wallet were all inside. So I figure, well, I have the gloves in my hand, I may as well go into the store to see if I can exchange them and then ask if they'll let me use their phone to call Brad. I've got the roadside assistance through Nissan, but it's not like I have their number memorized. In fact, I have next to no phone numbers memorized anymore, which is oh-so-helpful when your phone's locked in your car.
Of course, this Mark's didn't have my gloves either, so I couldn't do the exchange, but the cashier was very nice and let me use the store phone to call Brad. Except, OF COURSE, he didn't answer his phone. He rarely has his phone on him anyway, and it's not like he could have known that this would happen, but I was exceptionally frustrated because I didn't know who else I could call to look up the roadside assistance number for me. After trying to reach Brad a few times with no success, I went back up to the cashier to tell her I had no luck. But a very kind woman who was paying for her purchase got out her smartphone and tried to look up the number for me, and when she couldn't find it, she looked up the closest Nissan dealership and let me use her phone to call them, because we figured they'd have the number, which they did. Hooray for the kindness of strangers, seriously. Definitely on my list of pay-it-forwards, if I ever have the opportunity to help someone else out like that. Once again, I used the store phone, this time to call roadside assistance, and found out that the soonest someone could get to me was an hour and fifteen minutes. Uggggggh. Thankfully, though, it actually only took them about half an hour before the truck showed up and a very nice man broke into my car for me.
Between me feeling like an idiot for locking myself out and being frustrated with Brad for not answering his phone, I ended up exploding at him when I got home, which didn't really help anything, especially because it wasn't his fault and I was able to resolve the situation anyway. :-/ Then I fought my way through traffic to get to knit night because I really wanted something fun and relaxing after that ordeal, and I nearly threw a temper tantrum when I went into my bag for my knitting and realized I'd left my pattern at home. I was utterly exhausted by the time I got home around 9:30, so when I found that Rose (the downstairs neighbor) was already parked in the driveway, I just parked behind her instead of texting her to see if she could move her car so I could get in the garage. Naturally, given my week, this means that when I came outside this morning, there was a ticket waiting for me on my windshield for blocking the sidewalk. Pretty sure it was at that point that I just gave up on caring. Who gets a ticket in their own driveway, seriously?! Again, totally my own fault; I KNOW you're not supposed to park blocking the sidewalk, I just didn't have the energy to care or do anything about it last night. Sigh.
So anyway, like I said, there have been other positives. Sue, the person I made the mobius cowl for, sent me an email Thursday asking if I had time to stop by her school to pick up a little Christmas gift, so I went by at the end of the day. She got me a happy sweater with yellow polka dots and a skirt with a cable knit pattern that is like a sweater for my legs! (Can't find that one on the website.) Both things make me very happy because it's been . . . a really long time since I've been able to buy myself any new clothes. Like, easily well over a year. And then today, Heather, who I did the stupid presentation with this morning, gave me a pair of fun patterned socks! How sweet!
Besides the lovely and unexpected presents from people, I have managed to finish all of my pre-trip errands: I got some American money, I picked up yummy Canadian chocolates for people, and I got my audiobooks from the library. I did laundry today so that the stuff that can't go in the dryer will have time to dry, and all that's left is the dreaded packing. That will happen sometime tomorrow, but probably not until after I hang out with Becca for a few hours. :p Oh, and I did manage to exchange my gloves this morning for the right size, plus since they're now on sale, I got a store credit for the difference! We'll count that as a win.
I am almost positive that there were other things I was going to mention in this entry, but my brain has gone blank. I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to just sleeping in tomorrow, especially since it's the only chance I have to do it before I leave. Oh, but they're also forecasting 20-30 cm of snow tomorrow . . . or not! I just checked again, because it has changed several times in the last few days, and now they're not actually calling for any snow at all, just lots and lots of freezing rain. That's fine, rain all you want, just don't make me have to shovel snow again before I leave! Let's hope the weather in Jersey and Virginia is at least a bit better than it's been up here! Anyway, I'd imagine I won't have a lot of time to be on LJ while I'm traveling, so if I don't get on here again before then, have a lovely Christmas and a happy New Year to all of my friends!