Work life

Worked in Salem yesterday about 6 hours. It's pretty strange to be the only person in an office meant for 10 or 12. We have Zoom meetings twice a week, but some people I have never met in person. I sometimes take my shoes off, or play music. I hadn't gotten to that point, fortunately, when Charles arrived to spend a little time in the office. I immediately put on my mask, of course. I usually start the day by going to the mailbox in the hall. It's a big brick building with 4 or 5 floors--we're on the first floor with several other groups. So when I go to get the mail, I put on my mask and take my mailbox keys. There are two mailboxes, for suite 9 and suite 10, although we are actually in suite 12...no idea why. Sometimes there is little or nothing, except some junk mail. I love it when there are Essex Heritage envelopes; they are the ones with money in them! Three donations yesterday, one from a charitable fund. I stamp them right away For Deposit Only and the account number, and put them aside to enter in QuickBooks. I also enter the information in Neon, which keeps track specifically of donors and donations. Before I left for the day, I took them to the bank. So that's probably the most important thing I do, although it doesn't take up a lot of time, and some days there aren't any. My boss works remotely, apparently even when there's not a pandemic. She lives in Newburyport and this was supposed to be her "semi-retired" job, 21 hours a week and no commute. Life intervened. Her assistant became ill and is on medical leave. 

Monday, Monday

 Trouble sleeping last night, took pain reliever toward midnight for my shoulder. Woke up pretty groggy to a beautiful day. Now that I have to go to work every day, I have to do things like eat breakfast and get dressed, whether I feel like it or not. On the other hand, I feel fortunate to have a job! that I enjoy. and I will be home before 4. Maybe today is the day for working in my yard!

Yesterday was Sunday, my stay-at-home day. Pancakes with blueberries and bacon. On-line services at First Parish Beverly, plus virtual coffee hour. Leftovers for lunch, family trivia zoom. At 3:00, Amelia's craft club. Watched some of the Oscars after dinner (steak potatoes broccoli), but was tired and went to bed about 9:30. No good reason not to fall asleep, maybe I didn't get enough exercise? 

Another month goes by...

 I feel something strange--what is it? Happiness?? I didn't know it was missing...

We went out to dinner last night. The food was very good, we sat outside and it got cold. They brought us one of those tall heaters. Tamara, my Dad, Ray and I. Three of us have had all our shots, Tamara only one. My Dad paid! It was not cheap, but we figure we saved hundreds (thousands?) of dollars by not eating out for a year, so we can spend as much as we want any time! It feels a little shallow to be so easily enticed by something as worldly as dinner out. 

I have two part-time jobs. I like working. My Dad does not understand why I don't want to sit home and do nothing. Perhaps it is because my surroundings remind me of things I should be doing? It is a challenge to find the right balance. Certainly I want to eat well (and feed the people around me), but I do not want that to be my whole life. There is some cleaning that needs doing, but it does not inspire me. 

Tamara has withdrawn from school. Eventually, she found Zoom classes to be too challenging for her. She now has 3 job offers for the summer, so that will be good. She is trying to get an appointment to take her driving test again. She wants her friend Daniela to come spend the summer with us (which is fine) and work here. She is looking for places who will get her a temporary visa. Tamara seems happy and very agreeable. She puts away dishes, vacuums, walks the dog, and does anything else we ask her. She does not generally get up very early, but that is one reason working will be good. 

Ray and I made reservations to fly to Hilton Head for a week next month. Our friends have condo time shares there and we had a trip scheduled last year that we canceled because of the pandemic. Now we will go! Again, it is expensive but we have not been anywhere in more than a year. We will change planes in Atlanta, the hardest part of the trip, but we will then fly right to Hilton Head, rather than to Savannah or Charleston and rent a car. It will be warm...

Sunday morning

Time for me to apply for unemployment, for the last time for a while, I guess. Every Sunday, I apply for the week before. It is a fairly irritating process and I wonder how many unemployed people can't or don't do it. I hope there is still a way for someone without a computer to apply. I have to log in and answer the same questions every week. I am supposed to be able to prove I looked for work, if they ask. I do read ads every week, so I don't feel like I'm lying. And one time they did ask me to document. 

The days I am not working now feel strange to me. I am at loose ends and can't seem to find anything to engross me. I read cookbooks, cook, do the puzzle, work on genealogy...Ray has gone back to the office, which is good. I don't like to hear him talking to clients. Sometimes, I want to advise him. Don't give them so much personal information, for instance. You're taking too long for each one...so I would rather have him do that in the office. I feel less crowded, even though there is lots of room in this house. And then he wants to tell me about each case. I should be flattered, but I don't want to know. 

This past Friday was not as fun as previous weeks. I did talk to a couple clients on the phone, but there were no checks to write or deposit. The Treasurer didn't come by and chat. I did talk to another Board member, who has been handling our Paypal account, so now I have that on my plate as well. And l was able to get information on many donors who have given that way, and gave that information to my boss. I entered information from a few clients, but did not get as far as I thought I would. 

My Dad is not happy with my going to work every day, starting Wednesday. He says, "why don't you just relax, aren't you supposed to be retired? By the time I was your age, I had been retired for 10 years!" We did chat about it though. I don't have any interest in living on a sailboat or building my own house, well maybe a little interest. Maybe I'll build another house someday, but I wouldn't actually build it myself. I didn't say, "Mom didn't want to live on a sailboat either..." I said, we tried it and we didn't like it. Ray and I don't get along that well when we're home all day every day. Which is only sort of true. We don't always get along when we're both working, either. I don't seem to be getting done the things that I should, while I have time. Like clearing out the clutter. As my daughter the lawyer said, yes they have written a lot about that. The pandemic is not conducive to doing those things. At least not any more, maybe some at the beginning. 

So, oddly enough, now I have weekends again. Tomorrow is the last Monday I will not be working, at least for now. So, I will need to get things done on Saturday and Sunday, which we used to do. Of course, I am not working a lot. I will have late afternoons and evenings, too. Now the things include ordering food, rather than going to the store. In theory, February, which is long gone, is the month for using up the food we have on hand, especially in the freezer. That will coincide nicely with going back to work. 

I'm excited, but a little apprehensive. 

What's Happening?

Good morning! The number of things that happened yesterday is amazing! It was gray and rainy when we got up, like this morning, but it stopped raining and was sunny by evening. And the warmest it's been. I was comfortable all day and did not wear a turtleneck or corduroys. 

Early in the day, after Ray had gone to work and we had walked Cameron, I had a phone call from Jill, the woman who got me the job in Newburyport. "I wondered if you were interested in picking up a few more hours," she said. An organization I am familiar with, Essex Heritage, which sponsors Trails and Sails and took us to Baker Island a couple years ago, needs a "Finance Assistant." Their staff member is on sick leave and they don't know when she'll be back. It is a temporary part-time job doing things that are familiar to me, using QuickBooks: going to the post office, entering deposits and checks, etc. I said I was and she said the woman would call me. Here's the cosmic part: Her name is Patty. Yes, that's right. I now have two part-time jobs, one where the boss has my husband's name (Ray) and one where the boss has my name. Furthermore, I believe, they each hold a job that I applied for. I originally applied for the Finance Director job at Essex Heritage in Salem, but Jill thought I would be better for the Executive Director at Community Service of Newburyport. They are paying me less than I asked for, but if the job lasts more than a couple months, I will revisit that. So, now, starting Wednesday, I will be working 32 hours at 2 jobs, which is not really retired. I'm very excited and happy--and it's supposedly temporary, so we'll see. I could walk there in 30 minutes, which I might do sometimes, or take the train. 

Backing up, I also drove my Dad to get his license. Unfortunately, they insisted that he have a copy of his birth certificate, which we were not able to find. He and I were pretty surprised that they would not accept, for instance, an expired passport or his honorable discharge, both of which prove his place of birth and citizenship. While he was there, I dashed into Trader Joe's and bought a few things: bananas, yogurt, pork tenderloin...

Today is a drive-to-Newburyport day, so must get going.  

changing times

We had a minor catastrophe last Friday. When I ran my bath, the water pressure was low. I even went to see if Dad was running water, but he wasn't. I mentioned it to Ray and he noticed it later in the day. We thought we would check with neighbors and see if they were having problems, so we would know if it was just us or a larger problem. Late in the afternoon, after 5, Ray noticed that there was no hot water. He usually runs a little warm water on Cameron's dinner. He went down to check and there was an inch of water on the basement floor! The water heater had sprung a leak and been leaking for at least most of the day. He shut it off and bailed bucketsful of water and carried them upstairs and outside to dump them. He called DiPietro and left a message, but they didn't call back until Monday. We met with a guy named Shane on Tuesday. He was from Climate something, not diPietro. Yesterday some men installed a temporary 20-gallon water heater, so we now have a little hot water. 

It's a longer story, though. DiPietro installed "splits" in December. This is a new "in vogue" technology. It's basically a heat pump that connects to wall-mounted units. We put one in our den (where we watch TV in the evenings), one in our bedroom, and one in Dad's living room. They are meant to replace the hot-water heating system that uses baseboard radiators in the "new" part of the house--the back where I work on the desktop computer, and where Dad's bathroom and study are upstairs. The boiler was very old and was giving off too much carbon monoxide. They said they could not do the insulation in the walls until we replaced it. I was hesitant because it gets very cold here and I did not think heat pumps would keep us warm enough. The appeal, though (aside from it's supposed to be more efficient and save money) is that they function as air conditioners in the summer. We shall see. 

In spite of the new technology, it was often very cold in our house, especially in the mornings, especially in the back where I like to work on the computer first thing when I get up. I was pretty annoyed at myself for buying it and at the salesman for possibly misleading us. And the alternative was a new efficient water boiler that would include a water heater! And cost less! So we were calling diPietro to see if we could still get that, since our water heater had now died. But what actually happened is somehow Ray got a rival company run by a guy named diPietro who is brother to the first DiPietro. Apparently, they had some disagreements in how they do things, but have similar businesses. I thought maybe the original company could be talked into giving us some discount because they misled us and we were giving them more business. But this company, of course, will not. This guy, Shane, said they would never have sold us splits to heat the main part of the house (well, it's not really)...and they only sell xyz brand, not the ones we got...

Now we have to find the right document to prove we had the energy audit...so we can borrow some more money (hopefully, the bank will want to lend it to us) to pay for the system we should have gotten. And we'll have plenty of heat and hot water, in time for summer. And, maybe, we'll enjoy our splits providing ac. 

Almost Spring

When I walked the dog this morning, it smelled like rain. No snow left on the ground, not too cold, but really overcast. Originally, they were forecasting snow tonight, but it looks like it will be too warm, or if it snows, it won't last. 

Ray went to the H&R Block office this morning about 4 or 5 to work on taxes before anyone else came in. I went back to sleep, which I apparently am learning to do. I think that's a sign that I am less stressed, happier.

I have a new job 24 miles north. That's the only thing wrong with it, I have to drive almost an hour to get there and home. It's a pleasant ride, through the marsh and small towns. I just hate driving that much. I have a belief that the more I drive, the greater the chance of an accident, even if I'm incredibly careful. There are other people out there, people who may have something happen to keep them from being careful. And there are environmental reasons, although I drive a small hybrid. 

Anyway, it's really great. I work from home on Tuesdays and have a checkin with my boss, the Executive Director at 10. I have a laptop from the organization to do my work. It is sadly a Windows machine and there are things I don't love about it, but I can keep my work stuff completely separate from my home stuff, with different email addresses and passwords. I work 6 hours 9-3, nominally, but I can have a lunch break and work a little later (or earlier). I can walk around my house and see my family or use my own bathroom. 

On Fridays, I drive up to the office and let myself in with my key. I lock the door behind me and turn on the lights and sometimes the heat. I take out my laptop and connect it to the outlet under my desk. Every hour or so, I stretch and walk around the space...there's not much to see. After a few hours, I get the post office key from my boss's desk. He works Monday-Thursday and we came up with this plan for now, during the pandemic. I walk to the post office past the old houses and the little coffee shop. I keep my distance from anyone I see and wear my mask. I don't think I will see anyone I know in this town. When I get to the post office, I make sure no one is in the doorway, duck in and unlock the box. Last Friday, it was empty for the first time, which was a little disconcerting. I felt like I was getting away with something, to get to walk on the clock, with nothing gained. But there might have been something. On my way back, I picked up a chai I had ordered by phone before I left. The coffee shop has a little takeout window in the middle of the front, so it's very easy to pick up without having much contact with people. There was someone ahead of me, so I just stayed back and waited. 

One of the first things I did for this employer is to set up QuickBooks (an old desktop version) on my laptop. I have my own login and I suspect QB is already on the laptop on a different login, but my boss seems a little nervous about technology. One of these days, I will figure out how to access it. The Treasurer has been handling the bookkeeping for several months, maybe years. They also have a paid accountant, and I don't know what they do. I met with the Treasurer, Suzie, and she handed me her records: two rubber-banded clumps of checks and bills. There is no spreadsheet, or even a hand-written ledger. When she prepares a monthly report, she told me, she gets the bank to send her a printout. I saw the one for February. It shows the beginning and ending balance for the month, how much came in and how much went out, but not what it went for! I entered the information from the last month or so of rubber-banded information and I will keep trying to improve them. Last week, when I met with Suzie, I showed her my report and she was very impressed. There are only a few checks in and out, so it won't be a lot of work to keep it up. Ideally, my boss would request a check when he wants one and I would prepare it and have the Treasurer sign it. In reality, she will come sign checks whenever he wants, so I end up entering them after the fact instead. Fortunately, they keep plenty of money in the account. If there are checks to deposit, I take them by the bank on my way home every Friday. 

My other main task has been looking for information about databases on line. The client files are in a file cabinet and we hope to convert them to digital before reopening to the public in the Fall. There are lots of products to keep track of donors and do fancy fund-raising, but they are quite expensive, and not really what we want. Some are quite well-known. The one I am hoping works for us is called Charity Tracker. It's much easier to use than the fancy ones.