This week (Tues til next Tues) my co-hort and fellow pharmacy technician is off for a vacation. I'm very excited - and jealous - that she's getting away and taking time off and all that, but I'm not looking forward to the extra work that means for me.
If anyone out there reads me faithfully you know I take Wednesdays off - a hold over from when I used to work every other Saturday. I liked the day off in the week so much that once I got away from working Saturdays I just kept the Wednesdays off as well. It's been working so far.
Tomorrow, being Wednesday, would be my "catch up" and sometimes "me time" day. This week, not so much. As I said at work today: "It's no skin off my nose to work extra once in a while." I stand by this statement but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it fully.
We actually have a great work environment at the store - my co-hort and I have the more "tedious" tasks divided up fairly equally and we alternate "jobs" pretty well so it works for us. Before she left we did a bit more intense work so there wouldn't be so much for me to try to stay on top of while she was away.
It's going to run very smoothly, of this I have no doubt. Today was a bit hectic as there was a very time-consuming task that took one of the pharmacists away from the regular work for more than an hour. That got us behind a bit, but we persevered. I definitely felt the strain though. When I'm leaving at 5 I want the people who have to stay that last hour to not have to catch up my tasks I didn't get to, you know? Usually one of us is there until close so it's not an issue.
In a normal week I can get the kids to the bus 3 mornings without feeling rushed because I either don't go to work (Wednesdays) or I don't start until 9:30. That's not in the cards until next Wednesday. I can already feel the morning strain - especially if I want to sneak in a shower before work!
The girls get on the bus about 7:45 and I have to leave at 8 for the "early" shift. But there is no way I can get them up earlier so I can, say, start their breakfast sooner so I can jump in that shower for 15 mins while they're eating. They're not ready yet to get seconds or get another glass of milk themselves. The kids are pretty time consuming. Even when I'm not on "primary morning parent" duty they still can't get through 15 minutes without asking me for something while I'm in the shower.
I'm going to miss my quiet Wednesday tomorrow. But the day will fly by, and luckily it's off week for dance (me and the girls) so there's one less stress - Emma doesn't have to be ready to leave for dance class at 5:30, which is the time I get home from work.
I've got a bet with myself as to which night I crack into a bottle of wine the minute I get in the door. I'm thinking I can hold out til Friday (that's normal wine drinking day, isn't it?) but I almost uncorked a bottle tonight. It might also depend upon how much fighting goes on with the kids over the week as well. Tonight was all right - dinner was in the oven when I got home! That was a splendid surprise, although the part where the furnace wasn't working quite right detracted a little from the excitement of not having to prepare dinner.
For the next week I have to remember to stop and take a breath. If I don't get every little thing done it's not the end of the world - in fact it'll be there for me to do tomorrow.
Any tips or tricks for staying relaxed at work? Share, please, in the comments. Or just comment so I know you stopped by. And thanks for reading!
~Jess
Showing posts with label work life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work life. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
Making (And Keeping) Friends Through All Stages of Life
I find the act of having friends changes many times through life. Is anyone out there still friends with kids from Kindergarten? I'd guess very few. I used to think I was not good at making friends, but I've since decided that's not the case. Sometimes the people you think you want to befriend are not the ones you should befriend.
It took me a long time to figure out who I actually wanted to be friends with in high school. Turns out who I thought I liked I didn't connect with. The problem turned out to be me. I didn't know who I was, so how could I know who to surround myself with? Once I embraced my quirks and individuality I found those people who liked me for me (and my quirks!)
Now that I'm a grownup and a mom, I feel friends are much different than when I was a kid. I had a collection of highschool friends, then University friends, and now, while I still talk to some of those past friends, my friend requirements have changed again. It's easy to be friends at school when you all have classes together, or live together, or share teams and other interests. Once you are truly on your own some of those friendships are hard to keep alive. For me, I moved into marriage and kids which left some of my friends behind. They were on the same path, just lagging a bit further behind than me. Also I moved apart from my friends - even thought we are still in the same town we are scattered around so we don't bump into each other without significant planning.
Once you throw kids into the mix, all bets are off. I chose to breastfeed, which means being with your baby 24/7 for what feels like ever. In reality it's like 4 months until baby can sleep for a long stretch or be more amused by other people, before mom (milk factory) can escape for a bit. I think it's normal to lose some non-parent friends at this stage. You're not in the same life phase, and oftentimes they just don't get what life is like with kids. But you are also in a perfect place to make new-parent friends. They can be found a playgroups, libraries, daycare centres etc.
Right now, in my life, I have very few friends that I see socially. I'm 35, married, 2 kids ages 4 and 6, working 30+ hours per week and blogging. There are a lot of people I think of as friends, but the categories they fall into are more co-worker, neighbour, and friends I talk to online but rarely see in person. And then, of course, there's my husband who's my best friend, and the friend I spend all my time with. :)
I try to plan and coordinate events or things to do with my friends, but life is busy for everyone. Now that my kids are finally out of toddlerhood and are happy with Dad or babysitter putting them to bed, I'm finding it easier to get out more. This Friday night I'm going to a concert - but likely by myself as I haven't found that perfect music-loving friend that would enjoy it as much as me.
Not sure if there's a moral to my story, but I've always been interested in the social changes people go through in life. Anyone out there have any other thoughts on making friends throughout life? Or tips for maintaining friendships through the busy stages of life? Please leave a comment if you read this all the way through (it's a long post for me!) and share your friend-making stories. Hope you enjoyed!
Toodles!
It took me a long time to figure out who I actually wanted to be friends with in high school. Turns out who I thought I liked I didn't connect with. The problem turned out to be me. I didn't know who I was, so how could I know who to surround myself with? Once I embraced my quirks and individuality I found those people who liked me for me (and my quirks!)
Now that I'm a grownup and a mom, I feel friends are much different than when I was a kid. I had a collection of highschool friends, then University friends, and now, while I still talk to some of those past friends, my friend requirements have changed again. It's easy to be friends at school when you all have classes together, or live together, or share teams and other interests. Once you are truly on your own some of those friendships are hard to keep alive. For me, I moved into marriage and kids which left some of my friends behind. They were on the same path, just lagging a bit further behind than me. Also I moved apart from my friends - even thought we are still in the same town we are scattered around so we don't bump into each other without significant planning.
Once you throw kids into the mix, all bets are off. I chose to breastfeed, which means being with your baby 24/7 for what feels like ever. In reality it's like 4 months until baby can sleep for a long stretch or be more amused by other people, before mom (milk factory) can escape for a bit. I think it's normal to lose some non-parent friends at this stage. You're not in the same life phase, and oftentimes they just don't get what life is like with kids. But you are also in a perfect place to make new-parent friends. They can be found a playgroups, libraries, daycare centres etc.
Right now, in my life, I have very few friends that I see socially. I'm 35, married, 2 kids ages 4 and 6, working 30+ hours per week and blogging. There are a lot of people I think of as friends, but the categories they fall into are more co-worker, neighbour, and friends I talk to online but rarely see in person. And then, of course, there's my husband who's my best friend, and the friend I spend all my time with. :)
I try to plan and coordinate events or things to do with my friends, but life is busy for everyone. Now that my kids are finally out of toddlerhood and are happy with Dad or babysitter putting them to bed, I'm finding it easier to get out more. This Friday night I'm going to a concert - but likely by myself as I haven't found that perfect music-loving friend that would enjoy it as much as me.
Not sure if there's a moral to my story, but I've always been interested in the social changes people go through in life. Anyone out there have any other thoughts on making friends throughout life? Or tips for maintaining friendships through the busy stages of life? Please leave a comment if you read this all the way through (it's a long post for me!) and share your friend-making stories. Hope you enjoyed!
Toodles!
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Working Mom Stress
I am currently quite content with my work life/home life balance. I work 4 days a week with my day off being Wednesday, which breaks up the week quite nicely. I use my day off for fun things like laundry, groceries, vacuumming, general tidying and sometimes (only sometimes mind you) a haircut or waxing appointment. The kids are at school and daycare, but I usually collect them early so we can get homework done and have some time together. It's been working out very nicely.
Now one of the girls at work has given her notice and we will be short staffed on Wednesdays. Logical that I would jump back into the Wednesday shifts I worked a year or more ago. But I don't want to - and I have a boss who asks your opinion (usually) before big changes are made, which is great, but saying I don't want to work Wednesdays does not mean I will not get scheduled on Wednesdays. I've already given a list of days I'm unavailable, based on appointments and plans made earlier under the assumption that I wouldn't be working those days - and that actually turned out to be almost half the Wednesdays of the summer. I do hope boss-man does think about hiring someone part-time. I'm feeling serious anxiety about the whole thing.
To top it off, eldest daughter is enrolled in a modelling/acting/talent course at an agency, and when she completes that (at the end of July) they will be marketing her for jobs in that arena. That means there's the potential for auditions and such in Toronto or other areas that we would have to plan around with short notice. Also not looking good for short-staff problems at my workplace. I did inform boss-man of this as well, in hopes of enticing him to think seriously about hiring other help.
Toodles!
Now one of the girls at work has given her notice and we will be short staffed on Wednesdays. Logical that I would jump back into the Wednesday shifts I worked a year or more ago. But I don't want to - and I have a boss who asks your opinion (usually) before big changes are made, which is great, but saying I don't want to work Wednesdays does not mean I will not get scheduled on Wednesdays. I've already given a list of days I'm unavailable, based on appointments and plans made earlier under the assumption that I wouldn't be working those days - and that actually turned out to be almost half the Wednesdays of the summer. I do hope boss-man does think about hiring someone part-time. I'm feeling serious anxiety about the whole thing.
To top it off, eldest daughter is enrolled in a modelling/acting/talent course at an agency, and when she completes that (at the end of July) they will be marketing her for jobs in that arena. That means there's the potential for auditions and such in Toronto or other areas that we would have to plan around with short notice. Also not looking good for short-staff problems at my workplace. I did inform boss-man of this as well, in hopes of enticing him to think seriously about hiring other help.
Toodles!
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