Just a tad...

Work's over, the kitchen is clean, so I check the TV Guide to see if there's anything interesting on tonight. I find this:


Wait...what? She "endures" a decades-long slumber?

Oh the poor thing.

I've just returned from an interstate business trip and had to make arrangements today for next week's trip. I'll spend three days in one state, then travel to another for the next two. None of these are states in which I live. Two days of travel this week and I'm exhausted. Next week, I know, will be brutal.

So here, in no particular order, is what else is exhausting me:
  • My dad. He's recently spent time in the hospital - second (or is it the third?) time in the last 12 months. He started out skin and bones; now he's lost 20 pounds because hospital food is so crappy. He's being very well cared for but I'm painfully aware that he's not getting any younger. So I worry just a tad.
  • My house. Literally half of it is still out of commission. With my work schedule cranking up, I haven't had the time nor the energy to tackle all the unfinished projects, so there they sit. This morning the flusher handle broke off the only toilet that's working. I overreacted just a tad.
  • Work. I have been assigned two new projects at work. They are each enormous. I came in with three: have just closed one (but am dealing with some trailing tasks),  my role in another is teensy-weensy, and the third takes a fair amount of my time and concentration. So the addition of two enormous and complicated projects is stressing me out a tad.
  • People. I've recently been mentally gnawing on some family drama, and I've got one particular project stakeholder who's trying very, very hard to throw spike strips in front of me. Although I can navigate all this stuff, it is a tad exhausting.
  • My grandson. His egg donor is a complete waste of atoms and molecules. We are drumming our fingers on the table waiting for the next court date. It's next week. I really wish I could be there (the schadenfreude is palpable when she's in the courtroom) but I have to be at a work function. In another state. So I'm a tad annoyed about that.
  • My bed. It sucks. I need to buy a new one but I suffer from research-itis so although I've needed a new bed for at least three years now I haven't bought anything yet. Plus, the time to shop is not plentiful. The irony is that I have probably spent 1,242 times the money that a better bed would cost on massages to fix me when my current bed attacks. I'm a tad uncomfortable.
  • My yard. I was just about to sign a contract with a dude to level my back yard, fix all the drainage issues, and pour a humongous, beautiful patio but then he went nuts on me and got all threatening and harassy. Now I'm having to delay that job until I can find the time to research and find a new contractor, plus I'm compelled to spend some of my valuable time warning the general public about him (Contractor's Licensing Board, Angie's List, etc.). Normally I would just let it go, but he went a tad bonkers.
  • My fridge. I think it's trying to die. Last week it had two strokes and everything in the freezer melted. I let my frozen foods camp at my son's house for a few days, but after cleaning the back and rebooting the fridge a few times it appears to be working again. So I let the food come home. Only now I obsessively check several times a day to see if it's still working. And I'm continuing the fridge-research I started last week because I think the threat of getting a new one is making the old one try a tad harder.
  • My clothes. I work from home, okay? I've been working from home for almost two decades. (I started when I was five.) Now when I travel for business I am expected to be ... professional. I'm not equipped for this. Now I need to shop. I loathe and despise shopping. Way more than a tad.
Aren't you sorry you asked? (Oh yeah - you didn't.)

Aren't you a tad tired of how I wrapped all that crap up with the tad bow? (I know I am.)