Wrong Side of Bed Days

Today was one of those days where I woke up in a bad mood and it didn’t get better. As a child on days like this, my mother would say I got out on the wrong side of a bed. I was a bit literal as a child and would be a bit baffled by this because for many years, my bed was against a wall and thus there was only one side on which I could exit but, as I got older, I realized it wasn’t a literal phrase.

Still, I do try to get out on the same side of the bed every day anyway. This isn’t always easy when the pups are splayed out and I have to climb over them. Since Sookie has taken to sleeping on my legs, this is rather difficult.

Nevertheless, I do feel like I got out of bed on the wrong side. I’ve just felt crabby all day. Work isn’t going fabulously lately. I feel like I’m doing a lot of work but nothing is happening and I’m stuck in a rut. I’m hoping it’s just a phase again and that things will pick up but I do prefer it when I have a lot of things happening.

The problem with work is that even when I don’t mind going, it ends up being the recipient of my bad mood. This is the problem with spending 8+ hours a day in the same place. Even when it’s not work causing the bad mood, I take the bad mood with me.

Still, for a bad moody kind of day, it went pretty quickly. I don’t feel like I got anything accomplished but that’s because it was one of those days where I had a lot going on but nothing to show for it at the end of the day.

On the plus side, it’s a beautiful evening. The sun is shining and the humidity is low. Since it’s July, days like this will become rarer so I am taking the time to appreciate it while I can. This includes mowing the lawn which is a necessary evil. I’m sure I’ll get to relax outside afterwards but, for now, lawn mowing has become less of the bane of my existence and, instead, I actually quite like it. I find it relaxing. Well, I should say, I mostly find it relaxing. It’s not so relaxing when there are three beasts in Dog Whisperer’s yard trying to yap themselves to death as I mow but, generally speaking, I’ve found that if I yell at them, Dog Whisperer comes out, throws me a dirty look and brings them inside. I’m not fond of having to yell, honestly. I’d prefer that Dog Whisperer actually noticed that his dogs were close to apoplexy in their loud, shrill annoying barking but, alas, he rarely does. If I yell, I think he hears that, especially as it’s generally, “SHUT UP!” I don’t think he likes me shouting at his beasts but someone has to do it, I think.

I’m finding that in addition to the fact that the dogs are rather annoying with their frantic barking, my dogs are often blamed as being the noisy dogs. This is because I walk the girls every day and I get out and about. People like to stop and greet us and several times, I’ve had comments such as “Are these the ones that like to make all the noise?”

I have to politely explain that while Rory and Sookie do have a yip on occasion, they are not constantly yipping at everything that moves. I don’t like them getting blamed unfairly. I do confess that lately, Rory has been quite…vocal…outside but it’s by far a different type of vocal that the cacophony of demented barking that comes from next door.

Rory’s barking is more of a summons. When Sookie and I sit down in the evenings or if I’m blogging and on the computer, Rory has taken to going and sitting outside the back door on the grass. Then, without fail, she sends up a couple of barks. Her bark isn’t a woof…it’s more an indignant cry. It seriously sounds like she’s yipping: “Come out here! I’m bored!” And she keeps making the sound until either I or Sookie goes out to see her. Usually it’s me. Rory proceeds to get excited to see me and follows me back inside. If I dare start emailing or blogging, the whole process starts over. Only am I ready to sit down and watch her play with her toys, perhaps joining in, does she settle down.

Yes, my dogs are needy. I probably shouldn’t indulge them but I do. I have to admit that I quite enjoy it. They have personalities and that makes life more fun.

Also, they somehow manage to drive the bad moods right out of me when I get home from work and there’s a lot to be said for that.

If only I could take them to work.

Happy Wednesday and thanks for reading!

Dreary Weather Mondays...

Is it redundant to say that today was another True Monday? I say that every week but today, it was especially true. I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. It was dark outside whereas even at our early 6:03 a.m. wake-up time, it's usually starting to get light by now. The puppies needed to go out and let me know quite clearly that there would be no laying in for me today. After we'd taken our morning jaunt outside in the wet yard, they decided they wanted to go back to bed. I would have loved to have given in to them and climbed back into my toasty nest but, alas, my precious PTO is low at work and I couldn't justify it.

I was the first one in the office. It was deadly silent when I went into Cubicle Land. They've taken to turning off the air conditioning/heat at night and so the absence of the hum made it seem even quieter.

Everyone seemed to be getting a late start today as I remained the only one in the office for at least 20 minutes longer. Even though I take in a travel mug of tea each morning, I like to get the coffee rolling for those who aren't as caffeine-prepared in the mornings as I am. However, today, I went to make coffee and discovered that only the decaf pot remained. Someone had taken the regular coffee. Not sure whether it was intention, I decided not to make coffee until the pot returned. Normally, someone removes it over a weekend to run vinegar through it- our water in this area is the type that creates a lot of build-up over time and makes us have to clean the coffee pot to make it drip more quickly.

Anyway, it turned out that there was some kind of disaster with the coffee pot and it was NOT coming back so someone braver than me decided to confiscate the decaf pot and convert it to the True Ways of Coffee. We no longer have a decaf pot, at least for the time being. We only have two decaf drinkers in the office most days anyway. Besides if they really want their decaf, they can always confiscate the hot water coffee pot. Yes, we have a hot water coffee pot for the tea drinkers. Of course, it doesn't really boil the water but it gets it hot. We also have a water cooler that dispenses boiling hot water and there's no waiting for it to heat up. So, you can see why I found it a little strange that the decaf drinkers got bumped but, well, office politics are everywhere, even with the priority of the hot-beverage drinkers.

The rain stopped but the whole day passed in a dreary fog. I had a chat with my boss on Friday and felt quite good about telling him in a polite way that I felt like Harry Potter. Today, however, I was back to being Harry Potter which, while not unexpected, was slightly disappointing. The project I'm working on is currently at a standstill because it just won't run through the database. I've tried all the fixes I know how to apply and nothing is working. I know it's not me. My boss thinks it's me. Thus, when I ask him for assistance, he dismisses me with one of those vague, 'try this' solutions that I've already tried and when I ask him for help, he forgets I asked five minutes later.

Still, I have other work to do in the meantime. It's just not the type of work that makes you want to sit up, punch the air and say "YAY! TODAY I GET TO TRY TO TRANSLATE TECHNICAL JARGON INTO ENGLISH AGAIN! HURRAH!"

I've been working on this project for a while. It's not moving very quickly. It's necessary but boring. It's not a good 'rainy Monday' project either so you can imagine that by 4:15 p.m., I was ready to come home to the puppies.

They seem to be in crabby moods too. Rory keeps biting at my feet. Sookie keeps following me, giving me sad, sulky looks. They both want to sit on my lap and then, when they do, decide they want to get off again and start squabbling.

Still, now we're home and the only thing to do on an evening like this is to sit down and let the day pass quietly while watching some Jack Bauer. He puts it all into perspective, really: A rainy, dreary Monday is hardly a bad day when you're dealing with terrorists or nuclear bombs or betraying women or crazy women or women you have to shoot or best friends who betray you to the the-almost death....you get the idea. So, really, this day hasn't been so bad. It's just been a bad mood day.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. I hope it either rains or is sunny. I hate this dreary, nothing type of weather that won't really do anything except hang around, not making up its mind if it wants to rain or clear up. However, even if it is like this tomorrow, at least it's not a Monday. Something about that makes the day already better. I wonder why that is.

Happy Tuesday!