Searching for Normalcy

I had another nutso week at work. I’m trying to finalize a project that I inherited, which is always a challenge, and there have been a lot of complications along the way, including that it’s a moving target with data changing almost daily.

This week I was told to work with our department’s budget guru on certain aspects of the project, and while Budget Guru is brilliant and accurate, she and I might as well have grown up on different planets. We have completely different ways of approaching matters and communicating about them, so that even though I like her, it seems that whenever we have to work together, I find myself spending a lot of time wanting to strangle her.

I only barely escaped having to pull office time over the weekend. I would’ve been deeply unhappy with some people if that had happened, considering I brought work home with me nearly every night this week and worked part of July 4 and the Saturday after that!

The house is coming along nicely. Dan stopped by on Friday and said most of the sheetrocking and painting is done and it looks fantastic. I can’t wait to see! We continue to drop things off at the garage apartment, which is our staging area. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s something. The house should be ready for move-in the first week of August, but we’re not scheduling anything until we have a firm date.

Dan keeps going on and on about the things he wants to do with the house if we buy it. Replace this, add that, update the other. It makes me nervous, because he has a poor sense of money and it gets us in trouble. Furthermore, I don’t like how this whole deal is setting us back financially. If we weren’t having to break our lease and pay on two places in August, we would’ve been financially clear again by now, with the exception of the student loans. Instead, we’re throwing ourselves right back into debt again, and there will surely be other expenses that I’m not even aware of yet. There always are when you move. So every time Dan starts babbling about wanting to rip out the cabinets and put in new ones, I get twitchy.

I wasn’t feeling like a long run this morning, but since I always feel like having lots and lots of Indian food, I slugged out 13.5 miles. It’s a bad sign when you need to give yourself a pep talk in the early miles. Not much happened on my run, other than that I saw the most amazing spider web at Turtle Pond when I stopped for an electrolyte/water break. It was strung between a tree and light post and I was baffled how the spider accomplished it. I guess a spider the size of a quarter can jump pretty far!

My father is scheduled to return from Spain on Monday, so it looks like I’ll be busy with family stuff soon. I’ll want to see his pictures and hear his stories. And I need to take him to see the house and find out how much of a down payment he wants to help us with (since he offered). He’s only in town for two weeks, so with house, family and a busy work schedule, I hope I can just keep myself pulled together. I’m not one of those people who gets energized by being around a lot of people and having a big long list of must-dos. I need my down time or I start getting bitchy and neurotic.

It’s turning into such a crazy summer, and that doesn’t even include the creative projects I’ve got going on!

I just keep telling myself that all these demands on my time are temporary. It will pass and life will return to its normal rhythms. I really only have to get through the rest of July, and then August. Then, if luck is with me, I can settle in, start repairing the financial damage, and find a new peaceful routine to settle into.

Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 90 minute spin
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical, 10 minute stairmaster
Wednesday: 4 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 13.5 mile run