I hope that the wonderful bloggers who have been doing NaBloPoMo are not dragging – because you have reached the end! And oh, it’s been wonderful reading your posts every day.

I started posting every day (a complete change for me!) on November 8. I now have it in mind to post daily until December 8, so that I can at least say that I did a whole month of daily posts. 😉 So I’m not quite done yet.

In my regular day-to-day life, though, I am dragging. The time between Thanksgiving and the end of the semester is always a bit of a slog, and it feels even more so this year. Meetings filling up the calendar, stressed students making appointments to talk about final assignments, planning for next semester and next year… it all seems to come to a head at once.

The phrase I’m keeping in mind right now is, “The only way through is through.” So much truth in that short statement. So I’m moving through, getting through the days, and remembering that eventually, the current slog will end.

Do you have a mantra or phrase that you bring to mind in tough times (or, really, any time)? You know me, I love quotes… so if you have any to share, I’d love to hear them.

Have a wonderful Thursday, my friends.

I know many of you juggle more than I can ever imagine. Kids. Spouses. Busy jobs. Busy lives. Friendships. Blogging. (:>)

And yet, for each of us, what we do every day becomes the norm. Our definitions of “the norm” change over time, of course, but generally speaking, I think we all acclimate to what our lives are in this moment, and we do what we need and want to do to have the life that we have right now.

I could go off on a tangent about how I am very, very lucky to have the life that I want, and not have my life dictated by someone else. But instead, I’m going to leave you with this poem, to remind myself (and, perhaps, you?) that sometimes it’s okay to just be.

A Poem for Someone Who is Juggling Her Life

This is a poem for someone
who is juggling her life.
Be still sometimes.
Be still sometimes.

It needs repeating
over and over
to catch her attention
over and over,
as someone who is juggling her life
finds it difficult to hear.

Be still sometimes.
Be still sometimes.
Let it all fall sometimes.

Rose Cook

I hope you have some time to be still today (however that looks for you), my friends. I’ll be over here trying to take my own advice.

I’ll apologize in advance for a short post that’s potentially a bit of a downer, but this is top of mind this morning and it seems I’m sharing things more frequently here, so…

Have you ever held someone to a standard, and been disappointed when they didn’t live up to your expectations? (Why do I suspect that is a rhetorical question? Perhaps I should ask if there are any unicorns out there who have never been disappointed by someone else…?)

It happened to me yesterday, and it was hard to swallow. I expected one outcome and got something completely different. Were my expectations too high? Maybe. But then again, maybe not.

Whatever it is, it’s hard.

I’ll be honest, quotes about disappointment are pretty much a bummer across the board, but this snippet (no attribution from the source I used, but if I find one I will add it) stuck out to me: Don’t lower your standards, but do remember that removing your expectations of others is the best way to avoid being disappointed by them.

And after all of that, I’m still going to wish you a happy Tuesday, that it is a good day in your world (peppermint mocha coffee creamer, anyone?), and that you end the day content with your place in this world. <3

An unexpected one, but not questionable.

A few weeks ago, Stephany posted about how she was grateful that it was finally peppermint mocha season. OK, I confess – I scoffed. I’ve never been one for holiday coffees (no, not even pumpkin spice) and usually go for plain nondairy creamer in my coffee.

But something about “peppermint mocha” made me think that I might actually like that taste. So when my grocery store had it on sale last week, I picked some up.

Friends, this was not a questionable decision. It tastes so good – and so different from my usual! It’s a lovely way to oh-so-slightly emerge from my grinchiness and embrace the season. So thanks, Stephany! And go me, for making a good decision. 😉

Happy Monday, friends. I hope re-entry after the holiday for those in the US is as smooth as possible. Post-holiday Mondays are the hardest Mondays, for sure.

Ever make a decision and then stop, and think, wow, that was really dumb? (If you said no, then I want to learn your magic, because this happens to me about every other week, if not more frequently…)

Last week’s questionable decision: Opting to get my new laptop last Wednesday morning at 8 am.

I’ll let that sink in. Who would choose to get their new laptop on the day before a long holiday weekend, when University staff are not working and even the Help Desk has a skeleton staff? Oh, and how about we make it a day when the person who needs the laptop also has a bunch of meetings scheduled? Me! That’s who.

(#facepalm)

Things got off to a rather inauspicious start when I went down to IT to find the assigned IT person missing. I assumed it was the result of a bathroom run or something along those lines, so cooled my heels for 5 minutes. Until it occurred to me that it was decidedly unlikely that the IT person was coming back any time soon. Had they forgotten? Had I messed up the day and/or time?

Nope. They were just waiting outside my office. Oh. Apparently this is a we-come-to-you thing now? Which was fine but it might have been nice to know.

Anyway! New laptop was obtained, my non-standard software was installed and all was good. Except, well, not exactly. I double-checked on one non-standard program – nope. Not there. And of course that program would take a long time to install, putting me at risk of missing the next meeting, which was pretty important. I sighed, realized that I could use my tablet for the next meeting (not ideal, but needs must…), and went down to IT to install the program. Where I learned that hey! They could push it out to me over the VPN later that day, rather than me hanging out in the building. Problem solved!

I zipped home (the benefits of living nearby), finally had a snack, and got my new laptop connected to the WiFi and the VPN. And realized that another non-standard program had not been installed.

Sigh.

One important meeting and frantic email to IT later, the IT person was installing the 2nd missed program on my computer. It worked (whew) and I thought all was good.

And then, the next day (ahem, Thanksgiving, if you’re keeping track) a few things went sideways. The 1st missed program (the long download) wouldn’t open – error message. I couldn’t open Microsoft files on the server-based drives in protected status – so I had to disable that. Outlook thought my personal folders were corrupt and wouldn’t connect properly. Etc. I now have a sticky note on my desktop titled “Things that are messed up”, LOL.

I’ve managed to MacGyver myself into a functioning (new) laptop over the weekend, but you can bet that I will be sending an email to IT later today that outlines the “things that are messed up”. Meanwhile, I am not making any decisions until I find my brain.

What about you? Any questionable decisions lately? (Please tell me I’m not the only one?)