Father’s Day Feast

We had a lovely Father’s Day despite the weather not cooperating yet again. As I mentioned previously, Middle Son and his girlfriend are visiting from California. They took a side trip to New York City, retuning Sunday afternoon.

My husband’s cousins came over and joined us for dinner as well.

My daughter has been eating vegetarian for the past several weeks. I took the opportunity to try a new recipe (along with tried and true favorites).

This was the menu:
Appetizers - fruit platter, spinach dip in bread bowl, cheese and crackers, hummus and carrots, nacho chips and salsa. The inspiration for the artistic fruit platter came from my sister-in-law’s sister at the baby sprinkle I went to a few weeks ago.

Artistic fruit platter 

Main course - BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, roasted asparagus with pine nuts from the food network website (I omitted the dates), and roasted sweet potatoes with black beans. That was the new recipe which came from A Couple Cooks: Pretty Simple Cooking by Sonja and Alex Overhiser.

This was yummy

Dessert - brownies and cheesecake

It’s Monday so that means a recap of last week’s workouts: On Wednesday I ran 4 miles, on Saturday I ran 5 miles, and on Sunday I swam 40 laps - for a total of three workouts last week.

Thanks for reading!

Fri-Yay

Wow my post yesterday was a big giant waaah about the old job. I guess I needed to get it off my chest before I could really move on. Like detoxing! On that note here are some positive thoughts for Friday.

New Job
It’s my second day here at the new job. Yesterday was taken up by HR stuff and orientation in the morning. In the afternoon I got a brief tour of the building and shown where to read up about my new job on the computer. I got an ID badge. New Boss has Friday off so this is turning out to be a really quiet day. But day one is always hard and day two is always a thousand times better.

Middle Son
My middle son and his girlfriend came from California late last night. She will be here for a long weekend and he will be here for a week. I’m really happy and grateful that they are here. We haven’t seen him since Christmas. He wants to go out for dinner tonight and on Father’s Day. Sounds good to me. He wants a casual pizza restaurant tonight and a nicer restaurant Sunday. He has a lot of things planned as it’s her first time in the northeast U.S.

Shopping 
I was browsing online last week looking for something new for the new job. I saw a very cute dress at Target. The dress in this pattern was not available online. But another pattern was - go figure. The website said there was one available in my size at the Target in East Bejeezuz (don’t google it; that’s not a real place). It was only 5 minutes farther than the Target we normally go to. I got that dress. From thence to Loft where I got two tops and a pair of the wide leg pants that are popular now. Everything was on sale and the pants were on clearance for $19.88 (originally $59.99).

Other Stuff 
I went to a baby sprinkle for my niece. The concept was new to me but a sprinkle is a baby shower for a second baby. Since the mom already has the big stuff from her first baby, you sprinkle her with diapers, baby wipes, and other small baby gifts. What a wonderful idea!

I went to see another niece in her dance recital. Dance has come a long way since my daughter took ballet. Four out of five routines are hip hop, and there are a lot of boys. The costumes are hip hop street clothes. Most of the other dances were flowy contemporary numbers. Very few sequins, buns and tutus!

We went to watch my daughter go skydiving! It was her first time and it was on her bucket list. It isn’t on my bucket list! But it looked pretty awesome and she loved it.

Beautiful day for a skydive 

My mind was clearly stuck in a negative rut. Ending with a blessing:

New Beginnings

Today was my first day at the new job. So far so good. I shared my blog with former coworkers which meant having to be careful if I wrote about work. I am not going to share my blog here.

Before it leaves my memory (which is already happening) I want to post about the toxic trio that comprised my bosses at the old job.

When I started there almost 7 years ago I reported to the Director D. D was wonderful, kind, smart, funny, knew his stuff - a perfect boss. When he retired, D was on the committee for his own replacement. It was very important to D that the new person be someone who would be good to “his people”.

That good person was Director B. D and B overlapped for several months and that was a great time. Director B continued in the same manner as D. I was completely entrusted with my work duties. When I handed “packages” to D or B, they didn’t even glance at them. They signed right off on them. They trusted that I knew my job!

I should point out that I do not work in the medical profession where an error could be life or death. I work in a field where everything is fixable. If the rare error was made, it was my responsibility to rectify it.

When Director B retired, some higher power decided that the unit needed two Directors. That’s when they hired the two clowns. I called the top guy Stepford Boss (after The Stepford Wives) because he walked around like a robot who never shows emotion. His voice had no modulation - he talked like a robot too. If you asked a question he would quote regulations instead of just answering yes or no. He stayed away from us worker types and let his deputy run the show.

That of course was Asinine Boss, who had to create for himself a job where there previously was none. Nor did there need to be one. Asinine and I clashed from Day 1. He was contentious, angry, mysogynistic and always had to be right. He would change things not because they needed improvement but because he “knows better”. Not many people liked him.

Asinine decided he needed a lapdog so he recruited Useless for the task. Useless had been there longer than me and we got along ok in the old days. He was good at the work he used to do which slowly became obsolete as the unit created new systems. When the unit was reorganized, Useless went to work for Asinine and it was another story.

The management book my old bosses must have read 

So for the last few years I have had to report to 3 idiots instead of one human being. I have been doing the work longer than the three of them combined, yet I was micromanaged and criticized. Everything required three sign-offs instead of one. The packages would sit on their desks for so long that we would need to redo pieces because critical dates had passed (thus causing unnecessary work).

New Boss is young and he seems really nice. I think this is going to be a good new beginning.

My Favorite Fitness Instructors

Last week was unusual in a good way in that I did seven workouts. The best part was three of those workouts were classes taught by my favorite fitness instructors.

On Tuesday I did HIIT with Erin. Erin used to teach until an injury forced her to take a six month break. She returned a few months ago. She is the type of instructor that makes you want to go to class just because it’s her. She is positive and inspiring without being tough or annoying. She doesn’t walk around the class giving pointers; she does it with us. She doesn’t call anyone out for taking it down or using tiny weights. Yes, that would be me.🙂

On Wednesday I did Zumba with Tammy. She stepped down from teaching Zumba a few months ago but happened to be subbing. Tammy is delightful and welcoming. She starts every class “Welcome to Zumba. I’m Tammy. Is this anybody’s first time at Zumba?” Her classes are well planned out from warmup to high intensity, which is important for me in getting a great workout.

On Friday I did yoga with Suzy. This was a real treat because I’m usually at work. I took Friday off (after giving notice Thursday that I am leaving for a new job). The retirees that make up most of the class arrive early, so when I got there 5 minutes ahead the room was already dark and soft music was playing. As soon as she said “Welcome. This is an all level Kripalu yoga class” I could feel calmness entering my mind. Suzy is serenity personified.

In addition to these classes I also did a trail walk on Thursday. It was a trail run but I could not face a slog through a submerged trail that night. Instead I stuck to the dry areas. The nice part was walking allowed me to appreciate the trail instead of just looking down for tripping hazards.

On Friday I ran 3 miles before yoga. On Sunday I swam 50 laps. That’s when I realized that if I worked out once more that day I would have seven workouts for the week. The only thing I had not done was biking.

So I did a 55 minute bike ride on our local rail trail. It used to be railroad tracks but was converted into an amazing paved path for biking and walking. I finally rode far enough to see the bench that our friend had dedicated to his late parents.

It was a good week for working out!

Pretty flowers on my trail walk Thursday 

Sticking with the dry trail 

Reading Lately

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
This is a long book (529 pages) but it is the good kind of long. It could have gone on forever in more ways than one. For one thing, Kate Atkinson is an amazing writer. Second, the story itself could go on for eternity.

It’s the story of Ursula Todd, the daughter of an English banker Hugh, and his wife Sylvie. On the night Ursula is born, in February 1910, a snowstorm keeps the doctor and the midwife from attending the delivery. Hugh is away tracking down his erstwhile sister Izzie, who has run off with a married man. Only the 14-year-old maid, Bridget, is present for the birth.

Ursula is born blue, the cord wrapped around her neck. But, the very next chapter, it is the same snowy February night except this time Dr. Fellowes arrives in time to save the baby girl.

Thus begins the tale of Ursula, who, as she grows up, dies and is born repeatedly. In each new life she  has vague memories of lives past, like deja vu, that guide her to make different choices. Seemingly small changes in Ursula’s actions can and do result in very different outcomes.

By the time Ursula is a young woman it is the 1930’s and Hitler is rising in power. Ursula’s experiences are unique. Knowing what she does, can she do something that will change history? The very first chapter is a clue to the end of the book. You may find yourself going back and rereading that short opening chapter.

Life After Life reminded me of “Groundhog Day”, the movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, which just so happens to be one of my favorite movies.

In the movie Phil Conners keeps trying to do things differently and most of the time, the outcome is better. But remember the homeless man who dies that night, no matter what Phil does to try and help? The nurse at the hospital says “Sometimes it’s just someone’s time to die.”

Returning to Ursula, will she use her unusual power to save the world from its destiny? Can she? Read this book and find out.

I highly recommend 

The Eagle Has Landed

I got the job! I found out yesterday afternoon. Since I wanted to call my husband and Useless was right there in the next cubicle, my coworker told me to say “The eagle has landed!” I don’t believe I’ve ever said that before!

I never thought I would be changing jobs at this point in my life. I have 3.5 years to go until retirement. I am old enough to retire now but I want to have 30 years of service with the government. If I retire prior to having 30 years my pension would be subject to a significant penalty. So, yes, my new job is also government but I will be moving to another agency.

This feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I emailed my Director and the administrative assistant only. I gave one week notice and I asked for tomorrow off. I’ve already filled out paperwork. I did not email Useless or Asinine. I’m not sure if Director is even going to say anything to them.

I am so thankful that I have this opportunity to make this move. It feels like it’s going to be good.

Another Race

On Saturday I ran the Freihofer Run for Women 5k. My daughter ran it as well. Here are my results:

My pace was 11:12 and I was number 125 out of 233 in my age division. It was good.

Last week’s workouts: Zumba with Michelle on Wednesday, 3.4 mile trail run on Thursday and the race on Saturday.

I’m still waiting to hear from the job that I interviewed for a month ago. They called my references and the potential new boss called me on May 22 (almost two weeks ago) to say they were submitting the appointment package to HR. It is a mystery why this is taking so long.

Meanwhile I applied for a promotion in my current office. The woman who retired from this position did work of a completely different nature than my work. She had a subordinate who is clearly next in line for that job and very capable. I don’t even want that job but it would have looked “odd” if I didn’t apply.

Our administrative assistant set me up for an interview which is in 10 days. It’s so ridiculous because I’m right here. They could interview me any old time, right? However, here’s the conundrum - Mr. Next In Line did not get asked to interview. Nor did another applicant from our unit who would be as good of a fit as me.

I have more years over both the other applicants, but only a year or so more than Mr. Next In Line. Something is going on. Are they going to restructure the unit and change the job description? Another mystery that I won’t have an answer to until the interview.

Such are the mysteries of the work world.