Bouncing Back

My elasticity for bouncing back seems to be less effective than in the past. I'm doing things, but I'm kinda on automatic lately. 

Tuesday i went to see A, and we had a lovely evening. On my way, I tried calling the older sis, but due to spotty reception the call dropped a few times... she texted me during those times, and...

I feel like she was a bit frustrated. Lmao.

I did get some pupper loves!

Sweet old girls have such big hearts!!

I had to work from home ok Wednesday cuz i had an appointment with the dentist to get my night guard. That's right, I grind my teeth at night, apparently, and my dental insurance actually covered some of the cost now. Woot. They did a 3D scan of my mouth to make the guard. So friggin weird to see my mouth on a computer. I think it is helping tho, at least the tension headache was a little less painful on Friday.

My supervisor is cute.

I also got a massage because I'd slept on my right shoulder wrong and it was HURT. Well, she was working on my neck and asked if I'd been having headaches. Um, yeah. Sigh... I'm all messed up. Got my questions answered about my bday present to myself, so that's nice. Hehe.

We had sushi night on thurs cuz I had a hard day.

Thurs and Fri were kinda business as usual. The title for my car finally came in, so I can update my name on that. Woot. That's a Monday project. 

My new magnet. 

Friday my odometer went to 111111... I made a wish that it makes it to 222222. 😁

Saturday we went to Rowlett for a celebration of life. It was good to see friends. We ended up hanging out and going for dumplings. Look. When I tell you that this place lives RENT FREE in my brain because the dumplings are SO GOOD, don't doubt me. I've been craving them... almost since I got back to TX, so 5 years?

We got chicken and small, juicy dumplings.

Crab rangoons

Dan Dan noodles. I'm sad to say that Mo makes better Dan Dan. I ate this, but I missed hers. Sigh. 

We came home via 121 so that we didn't have to deal with Arlington traffic around the game. I had to laugh cuz hubbs teases me about my bedtime, and I had the thought on the way home "gotta make it by 10." Like I was just gonna pass out once 10:00 hit. Lol. 

Hubbs is back at work today. I'm gonna go to Mass and then probably come home to sweep and mop. I've got some resistance band leggings, so I think I can get a pretty good workout/see if they work. I may get a couple more in a smaller size... it's weird cuz I didn't think they were working yesterday until I went to stand up and my glutes protested! Lol.

Hugs and love to all. I've got a short week this week, so hopefully I'll snap out of the funk. If not, I'm taking significant time off around my bday, and THAT should do it. 😁

Back to it

Life has gotten somewhat back to normal  here. Work is work. More on the quality stuff lately and less on the grant writing. We are still waiting to find out which ones we got. I think I applied for over $17M total since jan 1. No wonder ive been stressed. Most of the ones I applied for are 2 or 5 year projects. We did get one that we kinda knew we'd get, but the official email came thru, so yay!

Ace loves me 😁

We did get the boozy ice cream at the old Texas brewing company in burleson.

SO GOOD.

I'm going on about a month with a headache of some kind. Sinus issue (finally got ABX, don't worry), sleeping wrong, knot in my shoulder, you name it. I ended up taking sudafed, got that to a manageable level and then it didn't go away, so off to the doc for the big guns.

I've been lax in going to the gym lately, kinda just playing with about 4 lbs. Work is doing a fitness challenge with a payout, but I can't even be bothered to sign up. I'm not sure if it's the blahs or that having evenings with hubby and Ace is way better than going to the gym. I'm considering becoming (gasp) a morning workout person. I mean, hubbs leaves at 5 during the week and always wakes me up before he leaves, so what if I got up then? Plenty of time for a quick workout and shower and then off to work I go. And that doesn't cut into family time in the evenings. 

Also, it's nice to go for food after work.

Queso at eagle point.

We needed burgers. SO GOOD!

Saturday we went to the Burleson Brunch House. It was delicious. After that, we went to half price books, miniso, Barnes and Nobel, and 5 below. Then home. My right shoulder was killing me the WHOLE TIME. Muscle relaxers didn't touch it, so I brought out the big guns... Tylenol 3. The rest of the day was lazy.

My Brunch coffee. Brown sugar and cinnamon latte.

We looked around a liquor store and found these. We will let you know how they turn out.

5 below has GIR!

And ZIM!!! Hehehe... got ones for Mo, too.

My shoulder has decided to HUUUURT. I had to take some of the Tylenol 3 I had left from my gallbladder surgery. I feel like it must be muscular, but maybe a nerve got pinched or something. All I know for sure is that it hurts to move. Sigh... why is my body choosing to rebel?? I swear, I'm nice to it (most of the time). I booked a massage for Wednesday and I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

Anyway, I hope you are doing well. Happy first official day of summer to you! May you have long days and pleasant nights. 😁 much love, your hurting blogger 🤕🥺😆

Burned. Out.

I got myself a new bag from Lettoria (cuz they seem to be going out of business and it was on MEGA sale). I took it to Mass the other day. A lady came and sat next to me in the pew. I was wearing black leggings and my boho top (kinda tie dye white/brown/black). Very flowy. ANY way, after Mass she complimented my bag and we chatted a bit. She asked if I'm goth. Honestly, I've never categorized myself as a goth. Do I find beauty in the dark and macabre? Yeah. Do I ever do the "goth" makeup? No. Too much work. Do I mainly wear black? Not so much these days. Sometimes the only black is from the strap on my fitness tracker. Maybe the straps on my sandals. Anyway, I always found labels to be too constricting. So I ask you... am I goth? Or do I just have Gothic tendencies? What really IS a goth? 

The bag in question. Named her Lucy cuz I feel like it's the kind of bag J would have named. 😁 I love her. 

Then on Monday I got to work and opened the present A sent me...

She says she ordered it in black. I 100% believe that she ordered it in black. Am I ESTATIC at the looks I'm gonna get when I whip this out of Lucy and use tap to pay? YES, YES I BLOODY WELL AM!! Am I planning a fairy costume centered around this colorful star of whimsy? You bet your butt!! Is it one of the best things I've ever been gifted? Darn tootin'!! Hehe.

Now that all the grants have been submitted, I can 100% say that May was one of the MOST stressful working months I've EVER experienced. Back from vacation and BOOM! Joint commission. BOOM! All the rural Texas strong grants are announced with less than a month to apply. BOOM! Multiple 50+ page RFAs with ALL the criteria. Just pile it on, I got it. Sigh. 5 from the same grantor but 1 had a MASSIVLEY different application than the others, but all were fairly similar while being JUUUUST different enough. And we aren't talking small monies, here. I think just knowing that I'm the only one with access to all the systems, and if we didn't get one in it would be on me added to the stress. The6 did end up extending some due dates, but it was a LOT. Then last week's persistent sinus issue on top of it all just wore me down. I felt like Sisyphus with his rock. So now, the rock has fallen down again and I'm enjoying my walk down the mountain. 😁 or I paused at the top and am filling my lungs for a primal SCREAM before I go back down. Cuz I'm burned out. Burned. Out. Or as one of my coworkers put it, "you can tell you've lost your fun." Yeah, too much all at once. Chaos. So. Many. Meetings. Keeping SOMEONE on track with what is ALLOWED. Partnerships. Baseline data. Talk of hiring me a helper. Talk of moving my office. Emails requesting quotes. Building budgets. Making the budget work with "spend cycles." Tasks to complete. Addendums that ALL need to be signed and included with application. I suspect the state knew how much stress they put everyone under cuz the fireworks when you submit the application ALMOST gave enough dopamine to forgive them the HORROR of the tight schedule. My CEO is not allowed to say "grant" to me for a WEEK. 

I've been enjoying getting back to the other part of my job (you know, the Quality part), and kinda had to remind myself how to do it. Unfortunately on Wednesday a web site that I have to use decided it didn't want to work for me, which was crazy, and OF COURSE even tho I put the website address in the email TWICE the rep came back with "make sure you used xxx site, copy and paste this EXACT SAME BLOODY URL and let me know." Shock of shocks, SAME BLOODY PROBLEM. I really, really LOATHE when someone assumes I'm just bloody STUPID and THATS the problem. I even SAID I checked with my IT guy. Nada. But sure, tell me you think I'm stupid without telling me you think I'm stupid. Now im burned out and full of rage. JUST the right mix to go into a meeting about issues with the EHR. 🙄 My next substantial time off will be around my bday. Hopefully weekends will sustain me until then. Ok. Work rant over. On to the fun stuff. 

Thursday hubbs and I celebrated the end of the grant madness with Torchys tacos and a marg. Then we went to HEB to wander and do some light grocery shopping. Hubbs was able to get his bfast for his bday! On friday we got up and puttered around. We ended up ordering pizzq from joes pizza, pasta, and subs. It was SO GOOD!! I think we have a new favorite. We weren't sure if we'd have people over on Saturday, so we cleaned just to be sure. 😁 Saturday we went to the farmers market and picked up the cinnamon rolls I bought for out friends. Then we finished cleaning and went to frescoes cocina! Then we wandered Geek Out and went to Twisted Sisters for dessert. Then wandered to Eagle Point for drinks to end the evening. It was a good time.

Frescoes

Twisted Sisters

Eagle Point. Much fun. Hubbs had a good time 😁

So, hubby is a year older, we had a good weekend with lots of relaxing and seeing friends, and tomorrow its back to business as usual. The apt is nice and clean, tho. Hehe.

Ace was being a cutie as I was trying to read. 

I hope all of you are having a good start to your summer. Much love, MUAH! 😘

Granted

Down to just 2 grants left to submit. Waiting on 2 things. One CEO signature and one CFO money stuffs. Nothing like getting emails on June 4 informing you about a grant opportunity that 1) you already submitted and 2) was due on MAY 28!!! I'm convinced that HHSC has NO IDEA what they are doing. So, so tired of government stuffs.

Thursday night we went on a little date to celebrate grant stuffs being done. We went to torchys for a Mexican candy marg and their taco of the month... the frontman. Then we wandered around HEB for a while. Got some fruit, some juice, some kitty cat treats, and a couple other things.

Took Friday off since grant was due on Thursday. Hubbs and I went to get my oil changed, then went to the tax office to see about my title, then went for a Costco date!

Breakfast of champions! 

We got the boy a new scratching post! He seemed to like it. It took me a little bit before I realized we gave him what it says on the banner.  

Ok, so I need to share this because it's funny and it has to be a marriage thing. The other day I went grocery shopping and while at the store, I decided to get us a sweet treat. So I went to the little Debbie section and saw... strawberry Swiss rolls. I thought that could be good (never saw those before), so I bought them and brought them home and put them in the sweet treat container. Didnt think about it again. Then while hubbs and I are out and about on Friday he says, "oh, I've had some of those things you bought." Me: "oh, yeah, I bought them for us." Him: "But they were DIFFERENT. They were STRAWBERRY! I almost came to wake you up to make sure you were ok!!" Me: (laughing) "What??" Him: "I mean, one thing I can say about you, and I love, by the way, is that you are consistent. So something so new was strange and alarming." (I'm paraphrasing here, but that was the gist.) Me: huh... consistent... well, can't deny that... "I didn't imagine that they would be cause for concern." So, we now have phrases for if either of us are ever taken over by something else. And I can add "consistent" to adjectives that describe me. I maintain its not SO crazy. I love traditional Swiss rolls, and sometimes I get a hankering for the strawberry shortcake ones, so strawberry chocolate Swiss rolls HAVE to be good, right?? Hehe, anyways, that convo warmed my heart and... made me happy to be married, in a way. Like, it's nice to have someone who knows me so well, and who cares enough to want a code phrase in case of alien/spirit takeover. 🥰

Saturday we goblined and enjoyed our Costco haul (we may have splurged a bit). My sinus issue came back with a vengence so I'm seriously considering actually going to the doc on Monday. We made food, Jay played with his new remote controlled backhoe, and may have traumatized the kitty a bit. 

I don't think he likes his sibling. LMAO

The new CAT tried offering a catnip treat as a peace treaty.

ACE wasn't having it.

Hubbs was actually king of the monsters. Hehe, was fun learning how to play. 

So Sunday is mass and then getting ready for the week. The last 2 grants are due Tuesday and Wednesday, and I'm taking next Friday off as well. Meal prep will just be boiling some eggs for the week, since the Costco haul took care of a lot of it. I hope all of you are doing well, much love!!

first Sunday I change the sheets and my helper is HORRIFIED!! Lol... kitty wakes up and chooses VIOLENCE!