August into September 2022 - Crazy at Work

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

I meant to come back with another post before this.  But that's how life is going these days.

So, where was I?  Oh yeah, back in August of 2022.  Right after I got back from my Alaska cruise, we found out that one of my co-workers was taking an promotion and leaving our department for another one.  That left a huge hole in the department since she'd been there for years and knew her job forwards and backwards.  Unfortunately, a lot of her job fell to me on top of what I was already doing.  Since August is a quarter end month (thanks to our slightly off fiscal year), that meant things were extra stressful and extra crazy.

Just how bad?  I worked 19 days in a row the end of August and beginning of September, including all three days of Labor Day weekend.  And that was just to get us through the stuff that had to be done for close.  I (sadly) wasn't ahead after all of that.

They did hire someone pretty quickly, but he didn't work out.  Fast forward to April, and we finally have a replacement, who is working out well.  In the meantime, we had a temp, who was fantastic.

Fortunately, things seem to have gotten a little better after that.  I mean, it is still crazy, but not that crazy now that I have some feel for what I am doing.  But it is very hard to take time off.  I took two days off in April, and I didn't really catch up until the end of the month.  They've been good about letting me take time off (as you'll see as I keep updating), but there's just so much work before and after any more.

July 2022 - Alaskan Cruise

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

Well, I didn't intend to leave this blog alone for 10 months, but here we are.  Time to start catching you up on everything I've been up to, isn't it?  (Beyond time, actually).

When last I posted, it was July of 2022.  When that post actually went live, I was on an Alaskan cruise.

I'd been wanting to take advantage of some deals for a while, and things finally came together.  Alaska wasn't my first choice because I had only been on one cruise before, and it was to Alaska.  But I went, and I had a good time.

Unfortunately, the ship was having engine troubles, so we essentially missed two ports.  But the two ports we did stop in were great.  I went rafting on one of the stops, and zip lining in the other.  It was fun to see places I'd been with my family six years earlier again.  And we made one additional stop I hadn't seen before.

I went by myself, which had some good points and bad points.  I do love the freedom of doing what I feel like when I feel like it.  Unfortunately, by the end of the week, not having anyone to really talk to was getting to me, and I was ready to be off the ship.

I got to hang out with a co-worker who lives in the Seattle area when I got back, which was an added bonus.  She played tour guide in Seattle, which I hadn't been to in decades.

Sadly, I brought an extra souvenir home with me from that trip - Covid.  I was sick for about a week, although after the first couple of days I started to feel better.  I'm still working from home, and I was able to work just fine most of the time.  I did take one afternoon off, and the next day was when I was really starting to feel better.  I am glad I was able to work from home since it was busy (actually, it's always busy) at work, so I didn't have to miss anything due to being sick.  I would have hated to have all of that land on my co-workers.