Tag: work update

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Week in Review: July 26, 2026

I met with my psychiatrist this week, and we decided I would come off the new med I have been trying out. We are going to give it a few weeks with just the two I was already taking and see how I feel. I am hopeful that things will be okay; it would be nice not to have to try any other meds. I am also very hopeful that I will be less tired soon.

Work is going well. I went into the office on Tuesday to train two new employees. They are not in customer service, so they just needed the basics to be able to use the computer system in their area. I was pretty tired by the end from talking so much, but we had a really productive day.

I got some sad news this week that my library will no longer be offering Hoopla, which is an app that allows you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks as well as movies. I have a bunch of books on my to read list that were only available through that method (as opposed to Libby or as a physical book), and I really wish they had given us more notice so I could have prioritized reading those titles. I picked the one I most wanted to read and am working on reading that before access is cut off at the end of this month.

I found out later that they are offering a new app called Cloud Library. I downloaded it and looked for a bunch of titles from my list, but didn’t find many. I don’t know if that means they haven’t added many titles yet or if they don’t have the types of books I like on that app. The new app does not offer movies, either. Most of the books I want to read are available on Libby, so I am really hoping nothing happens to that avenue for borrowing ebooks.

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Week in Review: June 14, 2026

I had a pretty good week. My boss was on vacation and things were pretty quiet at work, so I got a lot of new products entered. I mostly puzzled in the evenings, other than taking Michael to his social skills group on Tuesday.

Last Sunday, we celebrated Pride Sunday at my church. I took a couple of photos, one of the artwork done during worship and another of the rainbow cupcakes we enjoyed after the service. It was a lovely service.

I had planned to go to Shakespeare in the Park with a friend, but I found out the performances are only held Wednesday-Saturday, so we weren’t able to do that on Sunday. We are hoping to make it before the run ends on the 20th.

My friend Kim came over for lunch and a movie on Saturday. Here’s a pic of her little dog Darcy curled up on my lap during the movie. So cute!

Today is my work anniversary, marking 31 years at my company! I can hardly believe it has been so long!

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Week in Review: March 15, 2026

Another busy week in the books! I spent most of the week in the office training a new sales rep. It went really well, and I am feeling good about his future in the job. Now I am back to working from home for the foreseeable future, which is nice.

Michael had a good first week at his job. He was pretty stressed the first couple of days. Tuesday evening we emailed the hiring manager with some questions, and she got back to us the next morning with answers to all of them, so that made him feel better. He was finally able to start asking the person training him some questions about specific tasks as well, so that was good. For him, the biggest difficulty isn’t the job itself, it’s his communication struggles.

Michael also had a birthday this week, turning 24 on Tuesday! I took him out to dinner to celebrate, and he chose Longhorn Steakhouse. It was very good, and we had a nice time. He celebrated with his dad and stepmom on Friday night.

I took my car in for an inspection and oil change and was very happy it didn’t need any additional work. I also went out to dinner with the friend who helped me drop off my car at the mechanic. We had a good time catching up over dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

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Week in Review: March 1, 2026

We got some great news this week – Michael got a job! He will be working part-time cleaning an office building. He starts on March 9th, the day before his birthday. I am so thankful he got this opportunity and am really hopeful that it will be a good fit for him.

Outside of that excitement, my week was exhausting. I had to go into the office all week to train a new employee. He did quite well learning the information, but it takes a lot out of me to be talking and interacting so much with other people. I am glad I had the chance to relax and recharge this weekend while Michael visited his dad.

Today is my dad’s 84th birthday. He lives far away from me, so we will just talk on the phone. I am grateful that he is doing well.

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Week in Review: February 15, 2026

This was a busy week. I went into the office for the first three days to train a new employee. It went very well, but it was exhausting. I am still going to be helping in that department, but the new person will be covering several of the tasks I was doing and I will be learning some new ones.

Michael has not been feeling well this week and after he complained of waking up with heart palpitations for three days along with being lethargic and having some difficulty breathing, I decided to take him to the ER on Thursday evening. We were there from 5:30 pm to after 1:00 am, but thankfully he didn’t have anything emergent. He is still not feeling great, so we will probably be following up with his primary care doctor next week.

I have not been doing as much reading or puzzling this week, so I was glad to finally be able to sit down on Friday evening and do the Valentine’s Day puzzle I posted yesterday. I am hoping to get back to more of my normal schedule this week.

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Week in Review: February 8, 2026

I have been feeling more stressed this week. I think I could use some of these stress balls! Work is super busy as I am helping out another department, and in my personal finances, I am trying to get some information I need to finalize how to handle something. After several attempts, I think I found someone who might be able to answer my questions (fingers crossed). There is also no news on the job front for Michael.

On Monday, I had a combination endoscopy/colonoscopy. The procedures went well and the results from both were good. I am especially happy about the endoscopy because there were no eosinophils found in the biopsies, which means that my condition is under control with the medication I am on. That is a welcome change from the first 50 years of my life, with a lot of that being before I even had an accurate diagnosis.

Today, I was invited to go to a performance of Hadestown: Teen Edtion. The performance was incredibly good; it was hard to believe some of the cast were really teenagers! I did find the event quite draining, however, especially sitting in the loud, crowded auditorium before the play and during the intermission. I would have loved to have some noise canceling headphones at those times.

I have to go into the office Monday and Tuesday to do some training, so those days are going to be quite busy for me. I’m hoping things will quiet down a bit after that.

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Week in Review: January 25, 2026

Here’s a picture out my window right now. I’m so glad to be inside and not need to go anywhere or do anything today. I’m also super glad I work from home and don’t have to worry about this tomorrow morning!

This was another quiet week for me. I went to the eye doctor’s office to order new glasses and picked out a really pretty purple pair. This was after I had ordered online to save money and waited 6 weeks to get the glasses only to find out they came with non-removable safety shields that weren’t pictured in the try-on window on the website. Those have been returned and now I am waiting for the new ones to come in.

Michael had a phone interview for a job on Thursday, so we spent Wednesday evening getting prepped for that. When the interviewer hadn’t called by 15 minutes after the scheduled time, I had him call her. Turns out she had put the interview on her calendar for next Tuesday despite confirming the Thursday appointment by email! She did go ahead with the interview on that call, so now we wait to see if he gets it.

I had an interesting week at work. We needed some help in our accounting department, so I learned a bunch of new things so I could help out for a little while. I am also documenting the tasks I am learning so I can help train when new people are hired. I have found it really enjoyable, much more so than when I am asked to help with customer service related tasks, I think because I like concrete, objective tasks with little interaction with people.

On the puzzle front, I am making progress on my to do pile but have also broken down and ordered a few new puzzles. My to do pile is down from 71 to 55, which is great progress! I have ordered 4 new puzzles, however, all higher end brands that are hard to get if you don’t grab them when you can.

I haven’t finished any books in the last few days, but I am enjoying a reread of Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon. I read it many years ago as a teenager and am happy to say it has held up really well.

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Catching Up – July 2024

I wanted to write a catch up post since it has been a while. The main areas I want to cover are Michael, work, health, church, and friends.

Michael left his job in May. He was having an emotional crisis and just couldn’t handle it anymore. I’m not going to post the details because it’s not my story to tell, but it was a difficult time. It has taken a while to get new services in place, but we are meeting with a new employment agency next week, and he is planning to complete a community based work assessment. This will involve working for a few hours at several different jobs to see what he likes and has aptitude for. It will also help the new agency to get to know him.

Work is going well. I am continuing to enter new products and also supporting the staff with the ERP. I recently approached my boss about reviewing my title and compensation and did get a new title and a raise. My title has changed from Data Specialist to Software Analyst, which I feel is a good reflection of what I have been doing for a while now.

I have been making a lot of progress on my health lately. I met with a new psychiatrist. She is a nurse practitioner at the Penn State Hershey autism clinic. Our first appointment was about an hour and a half, and we covered a lot of information in that time! We decided to keep my meds where they are for right now and reassess at our next appointment. I am currently taking Risperidone and Sertraline. I am thinking of trying to switch from the Risperidone to a mood stabilizer that would be less likely to cause weight gain.

I also had an EGD recently to check for the level of eosinophils in my esophagus. The pathology report seems to say there weren’t any, which is good news, although the doctor did say there were rings and inflammation visible, which is continued evidence of EOE. I have a telehealth appointment scheduled with my allergist to discuss next steps and what medication would be most appropriate for me.

Another important step I took was visiting a new dentist. I have had one bad experience since leaving my previous dentist due to an insurance issue, but I was hopeful about this one because I had gotten a good referral to them. I was so pleased with them – everyone was friendly and helpful. The doctor explained everything very well, and we are going to work through my dental issues over time. I am scheduled with them for a cleaning and two cavities to be taken care of. I also got referrals for one tooth extraction and one possible root canal. I think that will be a good start, although there will still be more to be done.

My diabetes is going okay. I have had a harder time lately keeping my carbs down. My A1C recently went up from 5.9 to 6.4. The doctor was still happy with that, but I know that I need to do a better job. It’s a constant struggle!

I am still loving my church, The Journey. I am actually watching the service from this morning as I write this post. I didn’t go because I was feeling depressed when I woke up and couldn’t get myself together to go in person. Thankfully, they stream the service online. I have joined the community ministry team and am looking forward to my first event with them, the Back to School party. It’s a Saturday afternoon community event with free food and haircuts and backpacks with school supplies. I am going to help with registration.

With regard to friends, I am still seeing Kim most Saturdays for lunch and a movie. She is going through a difficult time right now. Renee has been busy, but we still text and talk sometimes. I am hoping to plan a visit soon. I have done a couple of things with Suzanne, and she is a good support if I am having a hard day. On a sad note, I haven’t had any contact with Jessyca for several weeks. She lost her job and the last I heard from her was two days after that happened. She has not responded to any of my messages since then. I am so sad about this because I miss her a great deal and I also am quite worried about her.

So that’s an update on my life right now. I feel good about the progress I have made in a lot of areas, and I am looking forward to continuing my efforts to make things better.

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Catching Up – October 2023

Wow, it’s hard to believe it has been over seven months since my last post! A lot has happened in that time.

  • Told my husband I wanted a divorce
  • Found a new home for our dog
  • Sold our house
  • Paid off our debts with the proceeds
  • Found an apartment for me and my son
  • Finalized the divorce
  • Went back to my maiden name
  • Found a new church

I am really happy in the new apartment, and I love the church I found. I have only been going for about six weeks, and I just attended a mixer for new people yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I am also part of a table group that meets every other Wednesday night, and later this month I am going to a three-week class called Intro to the Journey to learn more about the church.

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes, which has precipitated some huge changes in my life. I have had to change a lot about how I eat, including quitting Mountain Dew cold turkey. The combination of the new diet and the medication I am on seems to be helping, as I have a lot more energy now. I have been able to get a lot more done at work and even work some overtime again. I had been feeling discouraged about my energy levels for a while and assumed it was autistic burnout, but it seems like the way I had been feeling was actually a physical issue.

I have even started puzzling again. I am working on The World of the Bronte’s. It is the same style and size as The World of Jane Austen, which I did a while ago and framed. Once this one is done and framed, I’m going to hang them both on the wall above my TV. So far I have sorted the pieces, done the border, and worked on a few of the buildings.

Michael seems to like the new place as well. We finally have a good Employment Specialist, and he has two phone interviews this week. I’m really hoping they go well!

So, that’s the update for now.

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November Update

I thought I would sit down and write an update as to what’s going on these days.

The holidays are going to be different this year.  Normally, we get together with my husband’s family for Thanksgiving Day and also for Christmas Eve.  But my father-in-law is still undergoing chemo and needs to be very careful to avoid catching anything, so we are not going to be getting together this year.  My parents both live in Illinois, so we don’t usually see them at the holidays either.

My in-laws decided to splurge this year and got us a grill as an early Christmas present.  It’s the same model they have, and it’s really nice.  We have used it a couple of times already.  Speaking of early Christmas presents, we have done a little shopping for ourselves as well.  I got new drapes for the dining room and a replacement set of Little House books since my originals are in bad condition and I still enjoy re-reading the series from time to time.  Joe got barbecue tools and a cover for the new grill.  Michael has been updating his wish list on Amazon for any family that want to get him something.

Michael has been struggling a bit with the hybrid schedule his school is on this fall.  His grades aren’t as good as they normally are because he has missed a few assignments or not read all the directions for the week when he is online.  He has also been feeling a bit stressed/overwhelmed with things.  His psychiatrist has increased one of his meds to help, and we are also back to biweekly sessions with his therapist.  The autistic support teacher is also meeting with him over Zoom once a week to review his assignments and the directions for the week in his classes.

For his senior year, Michael is taking English, Chemistry, Financial Algebra, and four credits of Electronics Technology.  He was originally going to take a couple of half-credit electives, but he doesn’t need them to graduate so he decided not to take them.  The seniors have online school Monday – Wednesday and in person school Thursday and Friday.  Thursdays are his academic classes, and since there are only three of them he gets out at 11am.  Fridays he has his shop all day.  The shop teacher has them working on individual projects for part of the day, and Michael is programming a video game for his project.

Work has been busy but not overwhelmingly so.  We are still working towards our new computer system and are finalizing all the product data uploads now.  We hope to be live before Thanksgiving.  I think the timing is good, because we will have a few weeks during our typically slower time to get used to the new system.  Then when things pick up in January, everyone should be pretty comfortable with it.

So that’s the news for now. Hope you are all doing well and staying healthy.