After handling a demanding client, I tripped off on my morning visit to the post office and the overnight delivery box, then to the grocery where I picked up a quart of milk for the office and was back to open and sort the mail. After that, there was a stack of files to dive into -- eight or nine letters to be typed up and sent out, and the files organized and straightened up. By the time I had the letters done, it was lunch time. While I read a bit of A Prayer for Owen Meany, I had a simple lunch of ramen noodle soup, cruskits, and homemade oatmeal-raisin scones, washed down with a bottle of homemade iced tea. (Aside: For reasons beyond my understanding, the Australians, who drink more tea than anyone but the Irish, have not embraced iced tea as the perfect year-round beverage it is. I have made it my task to introduce as many Aussies to the wonders of fresh-brewed iced tea as possible in the hopes of converting the nation -- or at least being able to get a glass of iced tea in a restaurant without paying $5.00 for the privilege!) Lunch over, I got back to work, figuring out some accounts and finalizing the letters to be mailed out. By that time, it was time to head off to the bank for the daily deposit and then, after answering a few phone calls and taking a few messages, it was time for the afternoon post office run. In the weeks since I started, I had gotten to be friendly acquaintances with the people at the post office, and I enjoyed my work-day visits with them, especially since they had taken such a keen interest in some of my personal packages to be mailed out. One clerk was very nervous when I mailed back my absentee ballot for the Louisiana gubernatorial election. She was very relieved when I told her that the ballot made it just in time to be counted. It was a friendly post office, and I am sure the inefficiency of the mail as not the fault of the employees of the office. My walk back from the post office was to the last chapters of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (I discovered over the winter LibriVox and had been listening to the podcast recordings of classics as I walked around town). Back at the office, I finished up my work for the day, preparing a few things for the next day and then got ready to go home. It was Monday and dearest is always a bit late picking me up on Mondays, so I knew I had a bit of time to wait.
That was when my boss called me in his office. I guess I should have guessed something was up the way that the other girls in the office left quickly and earlier than usual, but I was in my own little world, thinking about the stuff I needed to do the next day and the dinner I had planned for that night (Salisbury steaks with gravy over noodles and sunshine carrots with fresh from the garden baby carrots from dearest's uncle's garden). I suspected nothing, so it came as quite a shock when my boss told me that he appreciated my work and told me he needed me to go out and finish up. I thanked him for the opportunity and went back out to my desk, where I switched the mouse back to a right-handed mouse, shut down the computer and packed up the few personal items I had at the office, first and foremost my new mouse. I left the key to the front door with a calculation of my final paycheck hours and headed out to a bench to wait for dearest. There was no reason to stay in the office any longer than necessary.
When dearest arrived to pick me up about ten minutes later, I told him the news and we headed home. At home, I prepared the meal I had been thinking about all day and enjoyed it. Then I sat down to decide what to do next. And that's where I got stuck, and where I have been stuck since Monday evening -- what to do next. I am not sure what I will do, but as soon as I figure it out, I'll let you all know. In the meantime, there is a backlog of posts that need to be made, so stay tuned for some fun stuff.
Ohh, and while I am thinking about it ...
Roll Tide!!!
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