The week ahead

Wow, this weekend has gone too fast! It was a wild work week, and next week promises more of the same. I mentioned a couple of months ago that my peer was taking an unexpected medical leave, & I would have to do both of our jobs. The only reason I survived (mentally) was reminding myself that he would be back soon, & things would even out. He turned in his notice on Tuesday. Two of my other peers also turned in their notice. Suffice it to say, this is a very difficult job, & challenging place to work, & it's not getting any easier with an extremely small staff. I did almost the same job back in Seattle, but had a staff four times the size. My manager & I need to have a very direct conversation about what I can do with the current team & workload.

We also have our international teams visiting, so I have 12+ hour meetings/offsite this week, and I worked on an urgent issue all evening on Friday, & yesterday. I'm extremely burned out, and I've only been at the job for 90 days. Not a good sign.

Enough about that. I need to get outside & enjoy the sunshine today, as well as do yoga. My back & neck are killing me from stress.

Here's what else I need to do today (fun things first!) :-):

1. Take a hot bath
2. Read for at least 15 minutes
3. Take Sam to the library. He forgot to bring home his book for a report that's due soon.
4. Plan a menu.
5. Plan the week ahead - it's a crazy week, so we need to coordinate kid stuff to ensure that everyone gets picked up & dropped off.
6. Decide what to do for the boys birthday party - invite friends via email or mail invites.
7. Return my parents call.
8. Work on the budget.
9. Work. :-(
10. Laundry
11. Sheets

If I accomplish that, I'll feel very good.

And, on to the positives! 

• There was *very*  little snow at Tahoe/Squaw, but I did manage to ski one of the days. It will likely be my only ski day of the season, so I enjoyed it!
• Check out that sunset (and, lack of snow) 

• M & I had a date night last night! I saved some Christmas cash to pay for the sitter, so it was nice not to scramble to find cash (I never carry cash!) & to know that it was paid for.
• My cleaning lady is on vacation (I know, first world problems), & even though this was really, really not the week for me to have to clean the house with my work schedule, I did it! Saved $90, which we applied towards our dinner out. It's a good thing, because I had to pay for several meals on my work trip - very annoying - so our dining out budget took a hit.
• In just a few weeks, we have a lot of celebrations coming up - my birthday, Sam's birthday, & our trip to visit family. Can't wait!

Off to start tackling my list!

Happy Sunday.