Happy New Year! 2022 for the win?

 

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Happy New Year to you all! Hopefully, this year will be a bit kinder and gentler to us. I think we all deserve it, don't you?

I wound down 2021 quietly. The cold that had been lying in wait for a couple of weeks finally showed its face last weekend, so I spent a few days feeling run down and sapped of energy. It was very mild - a bit of a stuffy head and a scratchy throat - and then it was gone, fortunately. A couple of nights of Lemsip helped (not a favourite, but it did the trick). I hate being sick, so am very glad it didn't morph into something bigger and more debilitating. I did take a test just to make sure, and it was negative, so that was good, although it did feel *a bit* different than a regular cold. Anyhoo. All gone now, whatever it was, fortunately.

So Christmas & New Year were very quiet, and I postponed my two walks. One because I was feeling low, and the second because the weather was wet and not much fun for walking in. Both are going to be rescheduled so am looking forward to getting out and about again with my friends. So I've basically spent just over a week in my flat, puttering, sleeping, resting, and relaxing. I must be an old woman now because I keep dozing off on the sofa in the evening (and sometimes not even the evening!). Haha! But I'm going with it because I obviously need the rest. My holiday to-do list is barely touched, but whatever. I got a few things done and that's fine. The rest will have to just move to my regular to-do list, and I'll tackle them another time. Nothing was/is especially urgent, it's just nice to have big chunks of time for them.

My sister, brother & SIL had a video chat on Christmas Day which was good, and I got a tarot card reading from my sister yesterday which was excellent! Back in September/October-ish, I looked up my numerological number for this year - a 3. It means a year of activity, creativity, self-expression - but with a lot of hard work at the emotional/spiritual level now in order for it to actually bloom. The seeds of all this were planted last year, so this year should be the reaping of that. It depends entirely on how willing I am to do all that yucky stuff of 'clearing the (mental/emotional) clutter'. Yikes. But, yay! I'm 55 this year and I'm honestly fed up with just drifting along. That's fine for a while, but not an entire lifetime. I have to get out of my head and out of my own way, which has always been my problem.

So, otherwise, what have I been up to the past few months? Not all that much, honestly. The excitement, if you want to call it that, only started in October, and is all work-related.

My colleague P retired 1 October. A modest affair, she only started clearing out drawers and cupboards that day (?) and we have stumbled across about a million and a half things since that really don't need to be there. Anyway, same with drawers that retired colleague, J, gone since the end of last January, left behind. The problem is, who has time to go through that kind of stuff once they're gone? It's going to have to be a work in progess starting this year.

Once P had gone, T, H & I carried on well enough for, oh, a week or so, and then T went off sick rather suddenly, a couple of days before H was due to go on holiday for a week. So, fine. That rather abruptly left me to do all of the work. P was in the background typing reports (something she was always happy to help with), and I called in our part-time typist, S, so I could at least have someone at the office with me. S is not fast, but she's steady and doesn't do anything but type, so at least that was covered.

Anyhow, long story short, T never did come back. She kept extending her sick leave, and then she found a new job and resigned instead. I had a funny feeling she wasn't going to come back, so wasn't entirely surprised when my boss told me. There were some shenanigans in the background, her new job offer was withdrawn, she threatened to sue (which would have had no legs), essentially got paid off, but burned her proverbial bridge to an absolute crisp. Good riddance we said.

So, it was just H & I for about 6 weeks, me essentially running the office and throwing H into the learning fire for the job bookings. She did fantastic considering it was unplanned and unwelcome. S was in quite regularly helping out and by the time I was at the office on 23 December, our typing folder was empty. Amazing! 

What it meant for me, however, was a nice bonus at Christmas (on top of what we normally get), and a new job title. I will essentially be the Office Manager/Sr Administrator (yet to be confirmed) because I was basically doing it all once T left. To be fair, it's also by attrition, as I'm really the only 'old guard' left, the one with the most experience at the office. It will also mean another raise, so I have that to look forward to at some point as well. We have a new colleague starting, we assume, in January sometime, so I'll be doing some training and have to organise bits & pieces for that as well.

So, phew! I was ABSOLUTELY exhausted, stressed, etc. I was going into the office at 7:30 most mornings and putting in an overfull day, not taking the time I needed to unwind properly once I got home, and then just spending my weekends too tired to do anything of note. I wasn't eating properly, just shoving easy stuff (aka carbs) into my face, and that definitely didn't help when I was already feeling exhausted so obviously I put on weight, too. Ugh.

It all means a bit more of a struggle to get going this year, particularly as I'm so content at my flat. It's warm and cosy and I've arranged my plants just so. I bought three jigsaw puzzles at thrift shops before the holidays, but haven't looked at them since. But they're there if I want to pursue them later. I've been reading and watching movies and shows over the holidays, and I more or less feel ready to go back to the office (I guess? :P).

What have I been watching?

• Schitt's Creek (brilliant series)
• Hoarders (thought provoking)
• Hoarding: Buried Alive (as above)
• Obsessive-Compulsive Cleaners (as above, but the complete opposite end of OCD - the pandemic must be an absolute nightmare for these folks)
• Thunder Force (silly, verging on ridiculous, but Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman are excellent)
• Expedition X (suprisingly good; all my other paranormal shows have no new episodes yet)
• Red Notice (fun. I love The Rock, and Ryan Reynolds, although his character has a few too many one-liners)
• RIPD (Ryan Reynolds, fun)
• Kingsmen: The Golden Circle (not as good as the first, but entertaining and have waited a long time to see it on TV)

So, plenty of mindless stuff, entertaining and fun. Just what I need. As for reading, I managed to find a few more NetGalley reads but have managed to slow that down a bit and actually read some of the ones I own now (you can see my list over there ---->). I think one thing I need to do this year is broaden my reading horizons. As much as cosy mysteries are fun, there's a lot more out there for me to discover. I at least seem to be getting my reading mojo back, ticking 81 books off for last year.

Anyway. I don't have any particular new year resolutions - perhaps to be kinder to myself, get out of some bad habits (to that end I deleted Candy Crush from my iPad yesterday!), and spend more time in nature. I don't really have an excuse, a bird-watching paradise literally across the road. But a daily walk at lunch (or as often as possible) definitely won't hurt my head or my waistline!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, safe and fun 2022!