Office Parties, Holiday Prep, Anniversaries, Working, and Illness...These Are A Few Of My "Favorite" Things...

Well, like the title of this post says, I've been over-indulging in a few "favorite" (and not so favorite) things this past week and have neglected to troll my FAVORITE blogs OR post anything on this lovely site of breaking news...maybe having a weekend off from work will allow me the necessary time to play catch up. (And BTW, the photo is NOT a pix of any of my coworkers and no animals were harmed in the process of acquiring it!)

So in a brief update, I will provide a tiny tidbit of titillating type and catch all y'all up to speed...because my life is sooooo exciting. Sigh...OK, maybe not "exciting", but it has been busy!

OFFICE PARTIES: After preparing what amounted to enough Grandma Goldie's Holiday Snack Mix to feed a small, third world country, (and baking a bazillion loaves of banana and pumpkin bread) I rented a medium-sized UHaul truck and drove my bounty into work for distribution. As is typical, fighting broke out amongst the clan as snack bags were sized, weighed, and compared to one another for exact "fair" serving amounts. The Washington State National Guard was deployed to *keep the peace* in the cubicular land I call my office.

This week also brought to close one of my supervisor's careers as she waved good-bye into retirement without so much as looking back (good for her, I say!)...and retirement DOES spells "P-A-R-T-Y" in my office. I didn't have to do much for this event as our faithful party planner extraordinaire in the office took care of all the details (including what can only be described as an orgasmic cake eating experience...something we call the "Cora Cake" event) and provided a lovely send off for said "supe" (pronounced "soup" for those of you not familiar with inner office terminology. LOL). It was a nice gathering and I got to spend some time with my previous Big Boss Lady as well as one of my prior supervisors...old home week was a great event as I have had the pleasure of working with some wonderful folks who crawled out from under their OWN rocks of retirement and came in to attend the party.

HOLIDAY PREP: I'd like to say I have finished this yearly ritual of self-defeating purpose, but alas...I have not. For someone who does not even CELEBRATE traditional winter holiday events, I sure seem to be spending a considerable amount of time PREPARING for them! I have finally mailed off packages to my buried-in-snow sister in the Midwest...perhaps by spring, she will be able to make the trek to her mailbox to retrieve my niece and nephew's gifts.

ANNIVERSARIES: Yesterday, December 14th, marked the 20th year anniversary of my eldest sister's death. I suppose that is all that needs to be said here, except I miss her dearly.

WORKING: I actually had the pleasure of going out on some "interesting" cases this week, which required me to use the remaining brain cells I have left to problem solve with patients and their families...I prefer it when my work is "interesting". "Interesting" reinforces why I do the work I do..."interesting" gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling inside, melting some of the icy cynicism that tends to accumulate around my heart after weeks of observation of systems failure in the mental health world.

ILLNESS: All good things come to an end...eventually. My post shingles flight into wellness mode screeched to a halt by Thursday of this week. I awoke with the shared blessing of a sinus headache, most likely passed on to me by one of my ailing coworkers...several peeps have been out sick with some form of cold or flu and I suppose it was only a matter of time before my germ-magnet-immune-system latched onto an infected airborne particle. This sinus pain also came with the onset of nerve pain and aching in my left shoulder and arm...an MS symptom my body often reverts back to whenever it needs to remind me I have holes in my brain. My calves and hips have tightened up once again, giving me the look of the bell ringer at Notre Dame when I first begin to stroll...fortunately, the wonders of pharmacology DO seem to assist with this symptom. I am still over a month away from my next dose of Novantrone, so I am ever-hoping this tiny "flare up" is simply the result of whatever BUG I have been inoculated with. Time always DOES tell...

My cat is now standing on my chest and staring at me, as if to say, "It's the weekend dammit and you are home...pay homage to my presence". I must go serve my humanly duty and become slave to her every desire! If there IS such a thing as reincarnation, I so hope I come back as a cat...sigh...