Headed Home Soon

 Plans are coming together for our next trip to Chicagoland.

My car SHOULD be back with us this coming week, and we introduced a new house sitter to the cats yesterday.

This coming week, I have to go for labs, and then my next treatment. 

Dave and I are both in physical therapy now, so there are those appointments, too.

We're going to hire a lawn crew to come right before we leave town, and ask them to cut the lawn really short.

Nearly every minute of our time in Illinois is booked. I hate when that happens, but we didn't do it last time, and there are lots of people who want to see us, and who would be hurt if we didn't make the effort.

We WILL have time to travel a bit downstate, to where the "double brood" of cicadas will be!

Nothing much else to report.  I can't wait to be away from work for a week.  It's been bad lately, as previously posted.

This past week was no exception.  The biggest frustration is that, when called upon to explain myself and my actions, there's NEVER a reply (the accusations come via email, so my responses go back via email).

Never an "Oh, I see... okay, thanks."  So, I am left wondering when the next shoe will drop. What the next microscope exam of my work will entail....

The weather has started to get hotter.  It's been relatively nice, so far, but this weekend, and part of next week, will be miserable.

Did some intensive cooking yesterday, which turned out wonderfully.  

Today, I am taking it easy, with some home made bolognese sauce out of the freezer, pasta, and a salad.

Have a great week, and I may or may not take my lap top on vacation, so there may or may not be a post next Sunday!

Missed it by... that much....

 We could have gotten in the car, late on Friday night, and driven outside of the city to see the Aurora.

But we didn't.... and so we missed our chance to see the sky light up with magic.

Last night was full cloud cover.

Sigh.

Not much to report this week.  

I had my intake visit for physical therapy, and have been doing my home exercises.  I will go twice a week for a few weeks.

The rental car we got is a Toyota Camry.  I will be taking it for a spin today to get used to it, before I have to drive it to the office tomorrow.

The body shop said that they SHOULD have our car back to us by this coming Friday.

I had some issues with work this past week.  The director sent a SCATHING email to me and one other person who does refunds.

Instead of asking us questions about why things were being done the way they were, she attacked us, and ended her email with something like "We'd like to be able to trust you to do your jobs."

It was REALLY bad. I mean... how is that supposed to accomplish anything but bad morale?

SO, tomorrow, I have to be trained on the things NO ONE EVER said I needed to be doing, and I have been doing the refunds for going on 11 years.

By the time I process a refund, ALL of the preliminary research is supposed to have been done.  THAT is supposed to be the only way an account drops into my "bucket."

But, apparently, that preliminary work is not being done, and NO ONE TOLD me that it's now MY job to do other people's jobs as well.

Yay.

The most aggravating thing is that the director, and my supervisor, and the new ... whatever she is.... have meetings, and discuss how my job should be done, but they don't include me. 

They don't ask me questions, and NONE OF THEM HAS EVER SAT WITH ME TO LEARN THE PROCESS.  I have offered OVER AND OVER to train my supervisor, but she completely ignores me every time.

Anyway, I am not looking forward to going to work tomorrow, and being treated like an idiot in person.

SO, that being said, despite the rain, I need to go for a walk in the woods.

Have a great week!

The news was good!

 All scans came back looking good, and the bloodwork was great! 

Bones are STABLE, no progression or growth of the lesions in the liver, or anywhere else, and the heart it normal!

The only thing of concern was that I have high "bad" cholesterol, and my new primary care provider has recommended Omega 3 supplements, which I started yesterday!

Treatment went fine on Thursday, and I am set up for the next two.

PCP wants me to have blood tested again for bad cholesterol after 3 months.

In other news, I FINALLY have an appointment for physical therapy for the pain from the auto accident.  It took a MONTH to jump through the hoops, and to get the referral to go through.

The weather this past week has been okay.... we are getting rain.  

I have decided to try planting some things again, in my whiskey barrels, but have not had the chance to refresh the soil yet.  This weekend is rainy, so it won't happen now, either.

I worked hard around the house yesterday.... laundry, cleaning, cooking, AND I mowed the back yard.  

Dave got the "sidewalk scraper" out and cleared the brick patio of grass and weeds, so that we can possibly use it today for our Pagan holiday.

A friend is coming over, and we are having a nice, big dinner salad, and strawberry shortcake.  

I grilled the chicken last night, and will chop up the salad shortly before she arrives.  She is bringing the cake for the shortcake, and the strawberry sauce is making itself in the fridge.

I will also whip up some real cream to go on top!  Happy Beltaine to us!

This morning, we are trying a new, labor intensive recipe for breakfast.  

Tortilla de patatas!  

It's basically a pie made of potatoes, onions, and eggs.  Dave wants to add some chorizo, so we will do that, too.

He is peeling and slicing the potatoes, and I will get into the kitchen here, shortly, and brown up the chorizo, chop the onion, and get it all into the pan!

More storms are expected, so we probably won't get to have a fire in the fire pit, as I had wanted to do for the holiday.  We shall see.

Have a good week!