Started Typing: 10:56 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 12:15 PM ET
Howdy, all! I’ve read everything, but don’t have the energy for quotes/replies. It was a very long week, capped off with some extra sadness about Bailey. She’s been gone for five weeks now, and suddenly it’s like I’ve moved into a different phase or something: I’m even more sensitive to pictures and memories, random dogs on TV/on FB/in real life, etc…and dogs seem to be flipping everywhere right now. *sigh* Grief be weird.
On Monday, my boss and I had new hires start – then my boss had to be downtown for the rest of the week, so I effectively onboarded both of them. The three of us spent a lot of time together in conference rooms, attending and dialing into various meetings so I could help explain things/answer their questions. They’re both subcontractors and neither my boss nor I has managed a subk before, so I also had to find out a few things related to that. I managed to do a few other work-related tasks, but dealing with the new guys was most of my week. Happily, I like both of them very much and think they will be great additions. My boss has another new hire starting on Wednesday; fingers crossed that he’ll also be a good one. 
I still have 2 openings on my team: when those are filled I’ll have 9 direct reports, which is more than twice as many people as I’ve ever managed before. None of them needs day-to-day direction from me, though, so any burden will be more administrative than managerial. I can definitely handle that, and would much rather have 9 mostly-independent employees than even 2 who need my daily support! Last week my boss and I were talking about the future of our broader team, and she brought up the idea of eventually adding another manager: we think that role would be added to my team, which would move me firmly into middle management. All good stuff, career-wise.
Yesterday morning I brought my car to the shop for some scheduled maintenance, and while I was waiting a guy came in with his (very energetic) dog to drop off his car. I got to pet the doggy a little, which made me happy, but then also suddenly made me cry. Not audibly, but I had to dry my eyes and blow my nose a few times. Luckily, I don’t think anyone really noticed. My dog-related emotions are definitely a little all over the place right now! Tomorrow I’ll be bringing dog bed #3 to the office, to give to a guy who sits near me and recently got a puppy: I really hope I don’t start crying then, too, but it’s a possibility. At least I know the folks at work would understand. My co-worker is grateful for the bed because he doesn’t have one yet (so far the puppy has just slept in its crate), so that will help.
I’ve been wanting to get an autumn wreath for my front door. During baseball season (March-October) I keep a NY Yankees sign on the door, but I take it down as soon as the Yankees are out of the postseason and the door has been looking a bit blah for the last week or two. My first thought for such things is always Target, but then I realized there’s a closer HomeGoods so I decided to go there after the car service (I also finally hit a car wash; the exterior had been needing it for a while). The hunt for a wreath was successful, and everything – car service, quick stop at the house to pee and drop off my iPad, car wash, and wreath shopping – took less than four hours. One of the things I love about living in a very-urban suburb is that nothing is very far away: the shop is 3 miles from home, as is the Home Goods (though in a different direction), and the car wash is on the way to the latter.
This morning, inspired by the exterior wash, I vacuumed the car’s floors and dusted the dashboard. I didn’t clean everything, but the interior definitely looks much better. Nothing will get all of the dog fur out of the carpeting save having the car detailed: while I was at the shop yesterday I asked for a recommendation, and I’ll give the guy a call sometime this week. I’m ready for that step.
Over the past few days I’ve also done some rearranging in the house, and a little decluttering. The initial de-doggy-ing five weeks ago inspired me to keep going in terms of clearing out and reorganizing some things, plus I’m starting to figure out how I might move some Lego sets around in order to accomodate all of my Christmas decor next month. I also realized that I have so many holiday Lego sets now that I should probably start assembling them sooner vs later, otherwise I might not have time to get them all done before Thanksgiving (I decorate the day after)! So Friday and yesterday I reassembled the sets I had from last year, and today I’ll start one of the smaller sets that’s still boxed. I still have 5 more weekends, but a few of the newer sets are pretty big…and, I’ve really been in need of the Lego therapy.
In other news, while I was outside this morning I noticed a quarter in the driveway so I picked it up. I hardly ever handle cash these days, let alone change, and I had no idea they’d made a quarter honoring the founder of the Girl Scouts!
https://i.ibb.co/N681Tnnc/GS-Quarter-MMP.jpg
Work is going to be quite busy again this week, plus I have election-related training on Thursday (Virginia votes on Nov 4) and tattoo removal appointment #16 on Friday. And, this coming Saturday would have been Bailey’s 17th adoptiversary – so, I don’t think the doggy emotions will be abating quite yet. It’ll likely be another week where I pretty much just lurk.
After 30 years of living in the bible belt, I’ve gotten used to planning meals out and shopping around Sunday and Wednesday services.