July, I am a monk who triumphs.

 I'm very proud of my July. I had to push through some challenges but I can see that I had good strategies and had learnt from past times.

So, as per my last blog post, July saw me doing 2 weeks lockdown and acting leader for work. First of all, lockdown. It was hard in some ways but good in other ways. Hard to lead people remotely. Hard without the usual routine of work and chats and cups of tea. But I made my office nice with candles, plants and an orchid that is currently in flower. I could see the sun track the sky each day as I faced the window. I listened to a lot of calming classical music. The job was stressful so I really had to create a tranquil environment.

I reflected afterwards that I was a monk. I worked on documents, contemplated plants, lived quietly alone, went for a lot of solitary walks.

I received chocolate flowers from Bec! I have made them last. It was a lovely surprise.

You might remember I also did a tidy up challenge every night. There is only so much TV you can watch night after night, and looking at messes is depressing, so this was a fantastic win.

The amount of clutter after I tidied my dresser made me obsessed with earring storage so I spent days researching that and in the end I bought this and I LOVE IT. Not just earrings but pills and hair clips and all those odds and ends are now hidden and uncluttered, protected from dust, easy to access. 

I also did some retail therapy for things that I wanted anyway, new fairy lights for my carols in the garage, and zinnia seeds for this summer. But basically things I wanted later this year anyway, but them early and getting deliveries broke up the monotony.

And the other thing I did was, I got all these woolen granny squares, finished off a few to complete what I needed, and joined them all together and edged it into a small pram blanket for lil Danielle. Baby 2 has not had as many gifts and attention as baby 1.

At the end of the 2 weeks of lockdown and leading from home, I committed to another 3 weeks of leading. I was feeling proud of myself for getting on top of it, and it does pay extra, so why not. And I decided to splurge on a nancybird handbag to celebrate my professional achievement and courage. It is a total work of art, and practical too.

There was a particular ongoing saga (continued from last month) at work to do with a recruitment I was managing, I hired someone and while he is working out well, his onboarding was not. I stressed so much for about 5 weeks about him not getting paid. Just when I thought I made progress, I would get another unintelligible email  from someone somewhere about it not happening for some reason and I should start some other complicated process. The problem was also not my fault but involved another managers' team members. A former staff member was stuck in the role so I couldn't get my new guy into it. By the end of my first week back in the office and 3 weeks into the issue I had to go and cry in my car after a triggering email (see below), coinciding with my hormones.

As of yesterday, my last day leading, my guy is being onboarded finally (after 4 weeks of unpaid work) BUT the other staff member is also being onboarded back into the role for some reason, instead of into her actual role in her new team. That was just hilarious, and it is no longer my problem.

With the coming of spring, I researched possum defence, and decided to cover my pergola with chicken wire to stop the possum defoliating them this year. They are going to flower this year I hope! 

My homegroup eating at the tavern, a rare opportunity to be all together and take of masks to eat. We are doing a lot of juggling and group splitting this term with the regional restrictions. We are also looking at peer discipling as well as Job.

After almost 2 months of not seeing the nieces, we had another family gathering for Dad's birthday. There was also a tree cut down which was dramatic but no damage done to the neighbours shed.

And then I decided to paint my living room YELLOW! And then I realised the full extent of that job. So I have started the prep work. I moved my photo wall to my bedroom. I moved my art and craft cupboard to the spare room/office/laundry room. I've measured and researched and made lists. Since my holiday is mostly now at home not in Brisbane or Sydney, I'm going to do the actual painting later in August. But there is much to do before that. Today I am going to box up all my books and put them in the garage and move my empty bookshelves out. Next weekend I will wash my walls and plaster the damaged paint. So hopefully when my holiday starts I can just drop sheet, tape and start painting.

In other news, I got my first pfizer at the new belmont bunnings mass vac centre! I had a day off on the day the bookings opened and it took ages because the website was glitchy, but I got booked, and drove over one afternoon a week later to get my shot, and it was so fast and easy. I feel a bit conflicted. On the one hand I feel like I am not the most needy person eg not a frontline worker, but on the other hand, I am keen beans for vaccines, and the sooner everyone gets done the better so because I am eligible (rheumatoid arthritis is good for something) and I can get time off work easily, I will help by getting that % of vaccinations up. I still feel privilege guilt though, especially that I had access to pfizer. I would happily delay my second shot to divert more to Sydney, so I am waiting to see what happens there. Hope they do it.

I also went to the steggles factory on my way home. I've been really enjoying the chicken I got. I got some japanese style katsu thigh, and some peri peri which was absolutely DELICIOUS. I have had Ros over for both of those meals. Big home made chicken feasts.

The other thing I did today was start the spring jobs in my garden! It seems early and cold, but my poppies are putting up buds! My roses have tiny buds all over! The lemon tree has the beginnings of tiny leaves. So I fertilised the lawn and roses, and put out the citrus leaf miner pest trap to protect my lemon leaves.

I've got a little lockdown positivity project in the works but I can't share that yet. 

So basically, I am very proud of myself for getting through this month, doing so many productive things and mental health things, and things for others which I've even forgotten already like going for walks with T and thanking people and writing to people and praying and things like that. It was a hard month, I would not repurchase, but so many good things happened as well and I am thankful.

June extremes.

Ah June. I have decided that I am a winter person. Once you get used to the cold it is refreshing, and there is so much happening in nature. I’ve put off Jillian workouts to go outside after work and walk and run around the suburb.

I suffered a mouse in my house. When I saw it one night I did a stocktake of my pantry and took out all the things in edible packets. Mouseproofed it fully by containers or refrigeration, found my last sachet of ratsack, and eventually it must have died because I found green poo behind the couch. It forced me to be extremely clean in the kitchen, running the vacuum nightly.

I saw my whole family at my sister's birthday fire. I gave her a Tile to find her keys and phone.

We had coloured fire!

Older niece has been enjoying developing her fashion sense. I am enjoying getting sent photos and videos of her looking ecstatic in a bright pink raincoat or purple shorts over pink trousers. Mum got this coat at an op shop. She seems to recognise fashion.

I made these cabbage and mushroom pasties from 6 seasons. I like them but I'd just use bought pastry next time not hand made.

Work was busy during June. Unfortunately a chain of leadership changes forced me and another colleague to share 6 weeks of acting leader duties. This meant I had/have the job of recruiting - advertising, interviewing, and then the nightmare of adding someone in payroll which is an absolute debacle this week. Currently 2 people who have moved on are still hanging like parasites to the role I am giving my new hire, and I have to send many forms off into the void and hope someone fixes it so that my new hire actually gets paid next week.

The office puzzles have continued, and I’ve done some satisfying work that I’ve wanted to do for a long time - updating these magnets being one.

Garden update. It’s 3 years since I planted my bare root roses. So this winter I gave them their first significant prune, at least 2/3 of them removed. Most of the leaves have been removed by the ringtail possum and I am currently trying to plan their defence for spring so that I don’t lose all my first roses. I’m currently thinking of chicken wire over the pergola, because they don’t like climbing upside down on loose wire. Other efforts would involve bird spikes and sensor lights.

Flashback 3 years ago to when roses were planted.

Before pruning:

After pruning but before possum ate every remaining leaf:

Leaves being picked off.

A random thing that happened after we got a smart meter (lightening strike), is now I get put on Spike Hours, which is like a flybuy challenge for using less energy at certain peak hours. Since I often go out for a walk or music practice in the evening I’ve been earning points easily.

Speaking of fruGal, my phone battery was dying incredibly quickly so I tossed up between buying a new phone or just replacing the battery, and onvicted by a current focus at church on giving so that you feel it, so that you are making SOME kind of sacrifice, I opted for the battery, which saved $1k. Then I gave it away.

I’ve started drinking coke zero regularly. Probably shouldn’t but there you go. It’s got no sugar and no alcohol so it seems relatively harmless.

I’ve started using a year planner for my personal life. So I can see my schedule with a birds-eye view. I have church things/people in one colour and family/other friends in another colour. I want to be intentional with my wishes to spend more time with certain people. An example being my nieces, monthly. I took one of these home from work for the purpose.

This is me doing a political photo shoot at work when some MPs visited to see the bee palace construction site and generally learn about Tocal. AM follows Tocal on instagram so I presume my instagram updates of the construction sparked his interest lol. I was dressed up nicely on the Friday anyway, as it was the day I panelled job interviews.

THe next week we had a team workshop in Orange. We went there via Denman and Rylestone and Denman is actually very cute. A snug little town against some hills.

Orange is the gentrified country city of the central west. A pleasing number of fairy lights. I managed to squash a visit to one of the lovely shops after one of our work days, and did a lot of walking around. I had one breakfast in a cafe, the other morning I ate leftover quiche in my hotel room. We had 2 lovely dinners. And a very productive 2 days of work which put the wind in our sails for the rest of the year.

We toured the bug archive.

Meanwhile an outbreak was growing in Sydney. The minister who visited Tocal caught Covid.
On Friday night night I risked keeping my plan of driving to the Central Coast for the weekend with AMM, and had a lovely chilled time. We went to Long Jetty where some markets were (masks on).

And there are quite a few cool shops. Some of them a bit samey in mass produced on-trend neutral beachy decor, but some of them unique, especially Sorry Grandma. Worth following on insta for some bright funky retro joy. And memories of my grandmother's houses for sure.

We had a smoothie in the sun and read the news that we were going into lockdown. Darn it. My fun day meant 2 weeks at home.

I purchased this giant knit in one of the shops. Cross between knit jumper and oodie. I felt a bit boring buying it because I really feel more for bright colours, but there are so many times I just want a big comfy jumper and I suspected I would get the cost per wear out of it. Turns out great for working from home.

 

On Sunday I went to Tocal and got my equipment included heated foot mat. Parents dropped off a folding table and WALA office complete.

I enjoy having a window to look out of and tracking the sun throughout the day. I have been lighting candles also.

Since I've been acting leader I've been effectively doing 2 jobs and that's a heavy workload. Especially the pain of trying to get my new team member onto payroll. Let me just say that Ive spoken to someone in HR and she said "this looks like a mess, but I can't change anything" so I've just been sending the aforementioned forms into the void and hoping I don't accidentally fire anyone. Mind you someone did get accidentally fired as well. But that was not one that I touched.

 
Which is to say that I have had to take a one hour lunch break each day because it's really exhausting and stressful and I don't like it. So I go for a walk, cook lunch, sit outside and try and break the day into perspective. Being home is nice so that my lunch break is at home and doesn't feel like a work lunch break at all. I get to think about jobs in the garden.

One of my colleagues dropped chocolate off on saturday and I really appreciated it. I had to clarify for him that I'm not enjoying this week, I'm not ambitious, I like my normal job, but basically there was a chain of command that led to people not really having a choice so I'm just putting up with it, making the sacrifice and trying to survive. If the recruitment + payroll wasn't causing drama it would be much easier, it usually just involves approving time sheets and running a meeting once in a while and you get on with normal life. But this week has been a shocker, and I have to remind myself things are hard, go slow, take it easy, be patient, don't beat your head against a wall, be patient and let it be.

Since I've got nothing on at nights, and there is only so much TV even I can watch, I've been doing a daily tidy. A contained zone each night after dinner.

I was underwhelmed at the difference it made to my dresser, I've just got too many pill bottles and earrings everywhere now. So I did a lot of research on earring storage. When you can't control work, control your earrings. And I've bought something on amazon.

I had a good idea one morning tea, and so this weekend I built this little side table out of old garden planks.

 

I also ordered myself a new set of fairy lights to replace the one that was destroyed by the lightening strike earlier this year. And my final purchase was 3 types of zinnia seeds for this summer! So next week or so should be a bit fun waiting for parcels to arrive.

 

I've got one more week of leading and lock down and then at least I can go back to the office. Fingers crossed stop team leading too but who knows. One more week.