When Life Gives You Flotsam, Make It Scrimshaw

Between the flooding in my office and the beginning of a seasonal job in the plant retail industry, this butt is beat.

The flooring is pending replacement, so I am on standby with my office. It has been a slow process (the flood was Easter's rotten egg to us), and the finish date is uncertain. Hence why I was hunting for a part time, short term job. To be honest, it's a little like re-living my youth... but without the awesome workhorse body. Today was the first day, And the most overwhelming part dealt with my lack of a barcode scanner for some of the store merchandise that is out of my preview. Thankfully there were staff members just a quick dash away.

The other challenge is technological. When your online training does not look like YOUR version of an app, this old liberalism brain starts spinning it's tires. Imagine it like finding a cricket in a house made up of dollhouse. You KNOW it's in there, and you have to check every nook and cranny. Until you find the issue, it keeps annoying the crap out of you. Thankfully I had a good trainer who didn't feel the need to micromanage, but was still available to answer my questions and SEE the problem I was having with the app.

The job ends in July, so I will have a month of ab workout and pounding pavement like when I worked at Arnold's Greenhouse.

My husband got the promotion he was aiming for, so we had even more to celebrate. He was made for the job, and the added authority will give him the tools to streamline that he did not have before. He had taken the week off to work on the garden, and it is coming along nicely. The tomatoes are a foot tall and ready to be buried. It will be nice to have fresh zucchini for the kitchen. Our store of rhubarb was put into a strawberry banana rhubarb pie for Mother's Day. Yes, it was awesome! I tried a unique pie crust recipe that uses butter and sour cream, and it was divine to work with! I've used the Betty Crocker recipe my whole life, but that didn't hold a candle to the new recipe with sour cream. It doesn't stick!

For a quick celebratory dinner before the Pokémon Go feature hour, I made a version of goulash with a yummy lentil-flour rotini, beef, cabbage, roasted diced tomatoes, marinara sauce, worcestershire sauce, onion, and copious amounts of garam massage, garlic powder, and pepper. I tossed in a little rice wine vinegar as well in lieu of ketchup. As tradition in my kitchen mandates, I did not make a recipe. Oops. Otherwise I would have shared it. Between you and me, Brock doesn't eat a ton of veggies, but he liked the goulash with cabbage instead of green pepper! Yay. With the rest of the week to make Reubens and to finish off leftovers, I am thankful I will not have to cook much after work. Thank God for small favors. Perhaps by the time my office is fully functional and my seasonal job is done in July, I will be much healthier and more energized. It is amazing how much vitamin D levels affect the gastrointestinal system and hormones! And with the need to use both sides of the body equally, my back and neck will thank me.

The sun is setting now, and kids are nesting. My oldest opted to work on homework instead of cleaning her room- something that I am thankful that I never once have to remind her to do. She LIKES school. I suppose as long as she doesn't get lost in there the room-cleaning can wait until summer.... maybe.

On second thought, I think I hear muffled wails for help....

I rarely post selfies, but here is a pre-outdoor job picture of myself. Next time I make a mug shot it will be tanned and leaner.