More bigwigs at work yesterday. I was glad that I had good clothes on except for the fact that it was too cold for me to wear sandals & so I had socks & sneakers on which spoiled the effect somewhat. They didn’t notice. I kept my feet under my desk as much as possible.

I have been thinking a lot about why work still annoys me- after all I’m not talking my self hoarse any longer- I don’t have to worry about my ‘tone’ on the phone & if I have a cold no one but my coworkers & I know about it. I think it’s the 5 days a week thing. I really started hating it when we were on mandatory overtime on Thursdays for me.

That was a lot of the problem. If I’d been able to work an extra hour overtime each day after work & still have 2 days off I probably would have been fine. Although I do admit that I was easing into it at the end- on my pay weeks I would do some of the shopping  alone after work on Thursday which took a lot of the stress out of my Friday.

Part of the bad thing about being on a 4 – 10 hour day shift for more than 4 years is that combined with a 40 minute drive each way there is no time for anything but work on your work days. I got in the habit of doing next to nothing else on my work days. Just get up- go to work- come home- maybe go online for an hour or so & then watch tv until bed time.

I can’t seem to make myself not do that now that I’m working 5 – 8 hour days. I do have to cook a few more nights a week because ms 18 feels she shouldn’t have to cook on the 3 days a week she works. Although if I buy simple enough things- ms 12 wants to learn to cook & is more than willing to make dinner on 18’s work nights (part of it is I’m not home until nearly 5:30 at the earliest & the kids don’t like waiting that long for dinner.)

Of course unless 18 & the BF don’t move out as quickly as they hope to (And I admit it’s looking more & more like that will be the case) I’ll be making dinner a lot more – due to 12’s learning curve. Although I admit that she’s quick on this & already has almost my whole desert repitiore down pat. Which makes it nice for all of us although not so good for our waistlines.

I’m still working on my chore lists for 12 & 9. Trying to print them out is always an adventure- my printer skills are nil. Mostly because we have not had a printer until this summer so while I’ve dealt with monitor issues- mouse issues- scanner issues & keyboard issues (to say nothing of the woeful lack of memory my computer has left) I have never had to deal with printer issues – except once every 3-4 months when I’d try again to get one of the printers we had to work (one missing ink & not a popular sized ink cartridge- one with no power cord- requiring one which was the same brand- not a generic power cord & one that just didn’t work- no one could determine why not) this fourth printer is actually 18’s BF’s not mine & it works ok.

It wants to print everything I write in 1 inch tall letters though & one night after getting it to work I dreamed I was trying to piece all the papers with the huge writing together to make one large contract that I had to sign once I got it together! That was interesting- the papers were blowing around everywhere & I wasn’t allowed to use tape- just lie them down on a football field!

Our Halloween plans are still up in the air- mr 9 is determined to go trick or treating. I wanted to take them to trunk or treat at a local church & to my work the night before Halloween- which we may still do. I don’t know though- ms 12 is so moody just now- and she’s of the opinion that she’s too old to trick or treat. Then on the other hand she’s always pointing out friends houses & insisting that we have to stop there on Halloween for trick or treat. So I have no ida what her plan is so far.