Surviving the whirlwind

[grammarwoman]

Because "reaping" seems far more active of a verb than I can take credit for, when what I did was mainly stay afloat.

October is the month when my stress levels start to ramp up. The end of the month heralds both the Emperor's birthday and Halloween. This year he's turning 10 (!!!) and wants a Bowzer Jr. costume. (Because heaven knows he can't make it an easy store-bought option.) He also wants a sleepover with three friends instead of the usual "invite the class" birthday party...and I've gotten one "yes" so far, because I lost track of how close it is. *sigh*

This was because I had a Monday-Friday visit to the general office at the beginning of the month. (If you're getting replies to old posts, that would be why; I'm still catching up.) The visit was going fabulously - meeting my team face-to-face for the first time, finishing our current sprint - when I had a one-on-one with my manager that completely derailed me. Somehow I was supposed to read her mind that I wasn't performing up to the standards she wanted but never got around to sharing with me. So now I'm going to have daily check-ins with my old boss at my current location, who knows nothing about what I'm doing and no one I'm working with. Because my manager doing the things I asked for, that would have actually helped (arranging for a product review, code walk-throughs, and fixing the phones so we could hear each other on conference calls) was too hard for her or something.

I got home Friday night, dumped out my suitcase, did a couple loads of laundry, packed up again for me and the family, and left Saturday morning for an overnight trip for a wedding. It was a lot of fun to catch up with extended family and watch the Emperor get his groove on. Less enjoyable was listening to my husband complain about having to travel after his "hell week" of solo parenting the Emperor. *eyeroll*

Even with my complete lack of motivation to do anything that pleases my manager (because I'm a sulky brat like that), I have been kicking ass and taking names this week at work. I really hope my team members are noticing, since I can't depend on my manager to catch on.

I'm hoping I can get my stuff together and take tomorrow afternoon off, because I need some quality time cleaning the house, and not putting out one work-related fire after another. Here's hoping for a relaxing weekend for everyone.

Comments

[mashimero]

If you're making the costume, maybe you could look at Ninja Turtle costume DIYs to get ideas on how to do it?

I'm sorry to hear about your work situation. It sounds like a total shitshow :(

*gives you all the good vibes for the weekend*

[kass]

Oh, honey, so sorry about the tough week. (Also I roll my eyes at your husband, because mine says things like that sometimes too, and I am like: dude, I do it every single day, what is your problem. *grin*)

I hope you get tomorrow off, too! er, I mean, maybe that's today. Whatever. I hope you get some time.