Feast or Famine

I work in an office which has some problems…okay a LOT of problems. It’s an old nursing home that was closed in 2006 and was vacant for 2 years…besides the ghosts of course. Prior to this our office was in an old Victorian house that had a ton of problems of its own and we were happy to leave. Looking back though, we should have fought to stay.

The first issue we had was cleanliness and mold. The building is very rarely cleaned by the staff that should be cleaning and mold grows way more frequently than it should. All of the staff has experienced sinus issues over the last 4 years but we are told that we are crazy. They have had people come in and test the air and they tell us everything is fine even though we never see the reports. They tested for a second time last year and finally a mold remediation company came in to clean…but remember, everything is fine.

For the last 2 weeks it has been a balmy 80 degrees and I have even had to purchase a few short sleeve options because I refuse to tear apart my basement looking for my summer clothes. We complain that it’s too hot and our cries go unheard so we open windows and hope that the 30 degree weather outside will bring us some relief. I’d complain to our slumlord but he pays my salary so I digress.

Today I walked in to the building at 8am and wanted to head right back to my car. It was so cold that I refused to remove my coat. Luckily I dress in layers since I never know what I am in for. We all assumed that since we complained how hot it was that we were now being punished. All morning everyone complained as we typed with fingerless gloves stuffed with hand warmers while sitting on top of our space heaters. I finally left to get some soup and blast the heat in my car while enjoying my heated seats. I didn’t want to come back but I did and I had an email update on the situation.

It turns out that after several departments in the building complained someone finally looked in to the problem and our boiler was not working. In addition to having no baseboard heat our ceiling vents have been blasting us with A/C all morning. A little while later I received another update that something shorted so there is no hot air and someone had left to go get a new part. I swear that we are like the Boy Who Cried Wolf over here. They never believe us when we say it is too hot or cold or muggy or dry. This place is a disaster and I wish there was another place for us to go. Instead I dress for any possible weather scenario and hope for the best.

New Schedule

Let me start by saying I am NOT a morning person. I have become a little better at waking up early since having Nate but whenever I get the chance to sleep in I certainly take advantage. On weekday mornings I struggle to wake up before 7am and rush around like a nut trying to get Nate and me out the door on time. It never happens and he is always at least 5 minutes late to school which luckily doesn’t matter because it’s before care and not his actual class. The funny thing is that I always run a quick errand before work (gas, breakfast or groceries) and I always arrive early. If I’m late for work it throws off my whole day.

My mother had to schedule foot surgery so we needed to juggle our schedules a bit for the immediate future. Love switched back to nights (4pm to midnight) and I go in an hour earlier and work 8am to 4pm and drop Nate at school at 7am. When Love comes to work at 4pm he drops Nate with me and Nate and I head home. Today is day 3 and Nate was much better for me this morning because I woke him up at 6am. Last night he told me that I wake him up too late and he feels rushed and that is why he gets cranky. Weird because I am the total opposite: I got to work this morning and realized my shirt was on inside out.

The real adjustment for me is going to bed early. I am used to being wide awake at 11pm and dragging my ass out of bed at 7am. I’m more of a 10 hour a night sleeper than 8 hour. In order to get 8 hours I need to be asleep by 10pm but to be happy I need to be asleep at 8pm and that is not happening. Nate is still awake at 8:30pm and I have been forcing him to fall asleep and he doesn’t like it. Basically our new schedule includes a lot of arguing between me and a very stubborn 4-year old. Pinot Grigio take me away…

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Daze

It’s been a rough few weeks for me. I’m actually being modest in saying it’s been rough because it has actually been kind of hellish for me. Two weeks ago I was sick and then Nate got sick which was lovely because I was off for a whole week. If you’re not a parent then you have never experienced being really sick while caring for your child. It’s much harder when the kid is a baby and you really have to do everything for them but Nate is no cup of tea lately. I was trying to rest so I could feel better and get back to work (my boss was taking vacation and I get so much more done when I don’t have 100 extra things thrown at me on any given day) and Nate made it impossible. I left work early on a Tuesday sick and Sunday morning I finally felt better and that’s when Nate’s cold kicked in and he sneezed for 3 days straight. Have I mentioned that I hate the winter?

Nate allowed me to sleep in until 8am each day but from there it was a constant barrage of asking for food, to change the channel, put him on the computer, wipe him after he pooped…I could go on for days. Of course each of these requests usually occurred after I had just dozed off or just got back into bed and got comfy. My kid is lucky he is cute because even when I get annoyed at him it doesn’t usually last long. I was so happy for the weekend to finally come because Lenny could at least help while I finally rested. Then Monday arrived and we spent the entire day in my bed because he was sick. I vowed that I would kill someone if I didn’t get back to work on Tuesday.

Tuesday through Thursday were lovely quiet days at work and I got a lot done. Since things were going so well there had to be something brewing right? Everyone was talking about the blizzard that was headed our way and it even had a name…Nemo. If only I had known that the storm named after a cute cartoon fish would reek havoc in my life I would have…well done nothing because what could I have done? I left work an hour early Thursday and headed to the grocery store like every other Long Islander. I got my bread and milk and a bunch of other crap we really didn’t need because if I was going to be trapped in my house for another 3 days I was going to have a variety of foods at my disposal. I also hit the pharmacy and stocked up on cold medicine just in case Nate got sick again.

Nate and I stayed home Friday because my Mother panics when it rains so snow throws her into a freefall. It rained all morning and at 2pm turned to ice and continued for 5 hours. Love went out and shoveled the ice after it turned to snow and we were asleep during the worst of it. We woke up Saturday to 18 inches of snow and we were lucky. My parents got 33.5 inches which was the most snow in all of New York. We are also lucky to live in an Incorporated Village because our roads were cleared before we even got out of bed. Today is Tuesday and some streets on Long Island still have not been plowed. The LIE was closed until yesterday morning Westbound on the East End and opened today going East. Many school districts are still closed today. There are many spots that have been plowed but as you are driving your lane suddenly ends as if the plow made a left around something and now you are doing the same…only heading into oncoming traffic. The worst roads were those where people had to abandon their cars because they were stuck with other people and had to give up trying to get anywhere.

The forecast is for more snow tomorrow and I don’t think I’m ready for it. This kind of weather makes me wish I was a kid again and I only saw the fun in snow…too bad I am a grumpy adult with a bad back lol.