for fun: Do/Would you still put on all your makeup and decent clothes if you are quarantined

[Lois R]

Cynthia, how are you feeling today?

 

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, awhfy said:

Happy almost bday Kat!  Have something bad for you to eat & some really good wine

I've got a piece of cake and a can of Uinta Birthday Suit beer.  Tasty stuff.  I might have it tonight since I am working tomorrow.  

[cruise kitty]

Happy Birthday Eve, Kat!   Enjoy your cake & beer :)

 

  I do wonder if your ambivalent feelings are about retirement, or the beginning of the end of our Covid nightmare... it's a weird feeling of being vaccinated, which is great, but things still not feeling normal yet... (at least around here) does that make sense?  Anyway, hope your birthday is special :)  Big change from last year, right?  & that's worth celebrating for sure!

[slidergirl]

5 minutes ago, cruise kitty said:

Happy Birthday Eve, Kat!   Enjoy your cake & beer 🙂

 

  I do wonder if your ambivalent feelings are about retirement, or the beginning of the end of our Covid nightmare... it's a weird feeling of being vaccinated, which is great, but things still not feeling normal yet... (at least around here) does that make sense?  Anyway, hope your birthday is special 🙂  Big change from last year, right?  & that's worth celebrating for sure!

I think it really is retirement.  I'm feeling better and I'm vaccinated,  I'm going to be heading out on a mini road trip down to So. Utah the end of next week.   The rest of me feels "normal" - I don't go out to restaurants much, usually get take out, I don't go to movies.  I go to a concert or two indoors but we have our concerts up here outside in the Summer and I maybe hit up one of them.  I think it's the fact that I'm heading into the "great unknown" of what I'm going to do if I'm not working.  I've been living by the seat of my pants since I got divorced.  Work kept me busy.  Now I'm going to have to come up with things to keep myself busy.  Kind of daunting.   

 

The beer.  My gosh it is a really good summer beer.  Fruity with guava mojito flavor.  It is a good alternative to wine - I HATE those hard seltzers.  

[cruisemom42]

23 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

Cynthia, congrats on your 1st jab...  hopefully minimal reactions.....  on another note,  how do you feel about possibly working from home permanently?  For myself, I'm looking forward to more people being at the office with me.. it's still lonely there as most are waiting for their 2nd shots... I miss being completely on my own schedule, but honestly the last few months I had started to fall behind... in just these few days I'm close to being caught up 🙂

 

Thanks -- everything went really smoothly. The site is a huge stadium and it was honestly a bit freaky -- I haven't been among that many people since flying back from Naples more than a year ago....  The jab was a non-event for me, just a tiny bit of soreness and I was definitely tired last night.

 

How do I feel about working from home more or less permanently?  Definitely mixed emotions. I've done it for over a year, but always with the assumption that it was not the norm but just a detour.  Everyone in my function worked many more hours than normal last year due to several different factors (plus COVID), most of which are too "in the weeds" to talk about.  But it felt like the kind of superhuman effort you can make for a while --- like if you are in a battle zone --- but that over the long run is not really sustainable. 

 

I do work well at home, but I'm the type that can work anywhere.  I miss seeing my colleagues that I've worked with, some of them, for almost 20 years. While video conferencing is good, it's not a substitute.

 

I have a lot to weigh up. I'm not sure I can carry on working like I have (especially with no travel to give me a break) for more than another year or so, but I always thought I'd work longer. Now that we're getting vaccinated and it appears things will start to open up, I'm sure DS will shortly be able to move into his condo.  Now may be the time to fix up the cottage, sell at a good price, get a condo and retire. 

 

 

10 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Cynthia - congrats on the 1st Fauci Ouchie.   As for working from home:  I did it for 10 years for Cisco Systems.  It does take a certain kind of self management that you don't have to do when you work in an office.  We had a weekly group phone meeting - only 2 of us were telecommuters.  We were really pioneers in remote work.  I actually enjoyed working from home - I didn't have to worry about workplace interruptions and I could concentrate.  Well, I did get interruptions from the dogs and cat...  

 

I feel weird in general.  My birthday is tomorrow.  God, I'm getting older.  Do I have to start thinking about how old I am when I want to do something?  Is it something a woman at my age should be doing?  Alone? I just feel weird.  I don't know how to "verbalize" it.  Maybe I need to get going on a trip next week to get me out of the weird funk I'm in.  Sorry for the self-pity here.  

  

 

"Fauci ouchie" -- I like that. 

 

Yep, we have good tools for working remotely now -- makes it very easy. What I like less is the escalating pressure to work more hours. Even though I worked long-ish hours at the office, I was very good about not bringing that home once I left. Now it seems like there's an assumption that everyone should be available from 7am for early meetings to 8pm to turn around inputs that arrive to me at the end of the (normal) working day....

 

Thoughts on your birthday -- keep moving confidently forward. Consider the risks and plan accordingly.  It's far-sighted to realize at some point we have to make a few adjustments, but don't make them prematurely!

[cruisemom42]

7 hours ago, Lois R said:

Cynthia, how are you feeling today?

 

 

Hi Lois -- thanks for asking. I tried to include your quote with my long response above but for some reason it didn't work. It was easy peasy; just so happy it is done and already have my appointment for the next one!!

[purduemom1]

Hi Girls, thank you so much, Debbie and Kat. Yes, no parent should ever outlive their child(ren). Kat, it’s always difficult to find words, but yours were very much appreciated as are those from everyone else. Just thinking about this forum and how many times we have sent encouraging words to one another. Can we count this as a good Covid affect? I think so!

 

Thinking about those who have worked from home because of the pandemic and the different reactions. I totally get what Cynthia has said and I also understand Debbie’s viewpoint. The different viewpoints are very interesting, something that probably would not have been a subject of conversation had it not been for the pandemic.

 

Kat, first of all, happy birthday and I hope you have an enjoyable day. Seems like birthdays can bring on many different feelings and then add thoughts about retirement and it’s the perfect storm. I like what Cynthia said:   “Thoughts on your birthday -- keep moving confidently forward. Consider the risks and plan accordingly.  It's far-sighted to realize at some point we have to make a few adjustments, but don't make them prematurely” 

 

Debbie, I also agree with your statement that even with the vaccine things just don’t feel entirely normal. We hear the doctors and scientists say we aren’t back to normal yet and everyone is wearing masks so hard to ignore these constant reminders. Baby steps for me......
 

OK on an entirely different note, finally, my new microwave will be installed tomorrow! Can’t wait to  get the little back up micro off the counter and put it away. It seems like ages since the old one bit the dust. 
 

Tomorrow we are also going to get our TDAP vaccine to protect our granddaughter from Pertussis. Should be fully effective by the time we visit.  
 

On that note, good night all. Again, Kat, lots of good wishes coming your way. 
Sharon

[Lois R]

Good morning, 

Kat,

[Lois R]

Hi again,  Cynthia, did you receive my email? Just curious if you were able to reach out to Lisa?

 

And glad to know everything went smoothly with the shot.

 

Speaking of shots, and not in a good way.....another shooting yesterday☹️ 5 killed in

South Carolina.....and 2 were little kids...omg.........when will it end?

 

I have been researching cruises to see what is opening up this summer.  I know Celebrity

is sailing out of St Martin.  And Crystal cruises is sailing out of Nassau!.......I don't usually

ever go to the Caribbean in the summertime but this year I might have to make an exception!

[awhfy]

Well, our 3year old H2O heater bit the dust 🤬. It does have a 10 year warranty, so we’ll see when the repair gal gets here. Just irritating 

 

Happy real bday Kat

 

when I retired (wow, it’ll be 10 years the end if September). I went from working 60+ hours a week, every week to complete halt. The fact that I had rotator cuff surgery 3 days after retirement did help!  The folks in my office didn’t think I’d be able to stay gone, I was a one deep position. I thought it hysterical that I was initially replaced with 3 people, now it’s 5 (but I never seemed busy). I do miss the travel (2+ weeks a month) & the social interaction. The fact that Les was already retired & had a well balanced schedule for himself (go out for errands, only make right turns, never shop on weekends, spend lots of time in the gym) did help. I still get the occasional call to come do a special ceremony or event & some I do.  Of course our vacation travel increased. That’s what’s been hardest about this past year for me. I’m very hopeful for our October b2b cruise out of Galveston. Melody 

[slidergirl]

Thanks ladies for the birthday wishes.  Always puts a smile on my face to know that, regardless of where we are, we are there for each other.

 

Oh my - it was a lazy day at work.  3 more days to go.   Well, there was one weird thing.  I was looking out the window when I saw these 2 guys walking up the street.  One guy was dressed totally unlike what one would expect on a sunny relatively warm day - long black overcoat, scarf, and carrying a briefcase.  The other was dressed rather as he was a "dude" - bandana on head, sweatshirt, sweatpants.   Well, they walk into the condos, don't even look me and my co-worker and head up the stairs.  I didn't know what to think - I don't know everyone staying here and I had been off 2 days.  But, my "spidey sense" was up.  My co-worker said overcoat guy had come in 2 days earlier with an older man and woman.  They sat up in our lounge.  She went to "investigate" and heard them talking about spirits, healing, some other things.   Well, today, she decided to go up and ask him just what he was doing here.  Guy says he's thinking about renting or buying here and was showing his friend the place.  She said this is for owners only and they had to leave.   Anyone wanting to buy would have an agent and DRIVE up here, not take the bus and walk up the street!!!    Just weird.  

 

Here's my "bad for me" Birthday Dessert:  a piece of blackberry lime cake (from Whole Foods) and a tasty can of Uinta "Birthday Suit" beer.   I found a carton of specialty super-sweet blackberries at WF, so I bought them to top off the cake.  And, I have some left over to go into my cereal tomorrow!

[awhfy]

Kat, never disregard that ‘spider’ sense. 

[cruisemom42]

23 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi again,  Cynthia, did you receive my email? Just curious if you were able to reach out to Lisa?

 

And glad to know everything went smoothly with the shot.

 

Hi Lois -- I have to admit that I only use that account infrequently and mostly for arranging private tours. When I saw your email I went to check but -- because it is my second gmail account I got confused and entered the wrong info. Now I am temporarily locked out until I have time to resolve it!!

 

I didn't contact Lisa yet. I am trying to figure out what to do about a cruise coming up with final payment due in a month (on Celebrity). I don't think it's going to sail but I am playing "chicken" with X, hoping they blink first and cancel it so that I can do a lift and shift to 2022. If that happens, it would impact my ability to take the Silversea cruise I was thinking about.  So I need to resolve that first.

 

[Lois R]

Hi Cynthia, ohhh ok...no problem🙂

[slidergirl]

13 hours ago, awhfy said:

Kat, never disregard that ‘spider’ sense. 

I ALWAYS trust my spidey sense!!!  

[awhfy]

That volcano on St Vincent is terrifying. The cruise ships floating in the area are doing yeoman work evacuating folks. Guess it’s good they didn’t have passengers

[slidergirl]

Just a quick note:

 

If anyone is still out there looking for a purse, daypack, roller, Sherpani is having a 40% off sale just today (Saturday).  2 of my favorite bags that I have, the Dispatch and the Tempest are in the sale.  The Dispatch is my daily "purse" and the Tempest I use as my purse when I travel.  

[Lois R]

Hi Kat, I have never owned anything by Sherpani.  They have some nice looking bags! And

they look very functional and good for traveling too!

[slidergirl]

5 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi Kat, I have never owned anything by Sherpani.  They have some nice looking bags! And

they look very functional and good for traveling too!

I love Sherpani.  I've been buying them for years and years.  I always take a Sherpani shoulder or crossbody bag when I travel.  

[slidergirl]

Sad day.  My last day at work.  We finished up all our chores yesterday, we the 2 of us here are just going to sit and listen to music all day.   It's not a bad way to earn money, though.  Only 4 of 37 units are occupied and they are owners in-house.  The last guests left this morning.  It's been a good Winter season for me.  I'm really grateful for their understanding that I wasn't all back together and well when I started back in November.  I couldn't even make it up the one flight of stairs between the lobby and lounge - now I can bounce up there all day long.  My "brain fog" is still hovering around, but it's now become a bit of a joke for all of us when I can't remember a name for something or someone.    At least I have a few months to decide if I want to come back.  

 

Bluebird day today!  It's a great way for the 2 ski resorts in town to end the year.  We started having the 20-somethings guys skiing yesterday in Tshirts & shorts.  One guy had on a basketball jersey and he had really short hair so he had all of the back of his neck and shoulders exposed.  I bet he had no sunscreen on and he's probably a hurtin' puppy today.  A few girls were out in their sports bras.  Ah, to be young...

 

Tomorrow starts the packing for camping!!!  It's all over the livingroom - I never put it away all winter.  I do have to put my solar lamps out on the patio tomorrow also to get charged up.  I think I'm going down to Salt Lake tomorrow - picking up my new tent (it finally arrived there!) and a new mattress.  Of course, I'll make a stop off at Trader Joe's for some provisions - nuts, soup, cheese, meats.  All the things I can take with me.  

 

Later!!

[PurpleHays]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:18 PM, slidergirl said:

Thanks ladies for the birthday wishes.  Always puts a smile on my face to know that, regardless of where we are, we are there for each other.

 

Here's my "bad for me" Birthday Dessert:  a piece of blackberry lime cake (from Whole Foods) and a tasty can of Uinta "Birthday Suit" beer.   I found a carton of specialty super-sweet blackberries at WF, so I bought them to top off the cake.  And, I have some left over to go into my cereal tomorrow!

That looks scrumptious!

 

April birthdays are the best. Hubby's was the 4th and mine is today. We had a cocktail party yesterday (Saturday) with a ton of hand made by me appetizers. I cooked for eight hours and was almost too pooped to party.  My younger daughter made two cakes--peanut butter and jelly and walnut/pomegranate. Both were delicious. We invited several folks that have April birthdays and sang Happy Birthday to all of us. I sent a lot of leftovers with my hubby and his cousin when they went to WV today.  My gifts included my older daughter, grandson, and her boyfriend visiting from CA. We had new family photos taken. And, best of all, Hubby went to WV and I am utterly alone in the quiet. AHHHHHH.

[cruise kitty]

dang, I didn't see Kat's post till today, so I missed the sale :(    

 

@PurpleHays Happy happy birthday to you!  & enjoy your alone time... we all need that sometimes :)

 

Kat, congrats on last day of work, bet it's bittersweet :)   & have fun packing for your camping trip :)

 

speaking of work, it seems that my work got used to me being reachable & willing to work 24/7 in the last year...  & now that I'm back in person, they still expect me to be available 24/7...  very annoying ;)  

[Lois R]

Christy,  Hope you had a............

[purduemom1]

Christy, happy birthday  a bit late. What a nice celebration you had even though it sounded like a lot of work for the birthday girl. Being with your family must have been the best gift ever! How long will your daughter and family be with you?
 

Kat, so your last day has arrived and now the fun can begin starting with the camping trip! Woo hoo!  By the way, I also agree that it is great that we are all there for one another. Wouldn’t be possible if you hadn’t started this thread. 
 

Debbie, it sounds like you are so good at your job that the others can’t get along without you! Sometimes setting limits can be difficult. Good luck!

Sharon

[awhfy]

11 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

That looks scrumptious!

 

April birthdays are the best. Hubby's was the 4th and mine is today. We had a cocktail party yesterday (Saturday) with a ton of hand made by me appetizers. I cooked for eight hours and was almost too pooped to party.  My younger daughter made two cakes--peanut butter and jelly and walnut/pomegranate. Both were delicious. We invited several folks that have April birthdays and sang Happy Birthday to all of us. I sent a lot of leftovers with my hubby and his cousin when they went to WV today.  My gifts included my older daughter, grandson, and her boyfriend visiting from CA. We had new family photos taken. And, best of all, Hubby went to WV and I am utterly alone in the quiet. AHHHHHH.

Christy, Happy bday to you!!  My hubby’s bday is this Friday, the 16th. 

Edited April 12, 2021 by awhfy