What happens then is that I get stage fright thinking about how it’s going to look when I post my goals midway through the month, just like I have pretty much every month since 2010.  I’ve joked before about being the worst PF blogger ever, but it’s times like these where I realize it’s true.

And so, you get my list of goals 22 days into the month.  I probably could have saved myself some effort by just posting a recap in… 1 week, when the month will be over, but then my faithful readers would miss that one week of suspense. I would never deny you those extra days of anticipation, the flutter in your stomach when you wonder if I’ll make my workout goal.

You’re welcome.

To Accomplish, January 2012

1. Reset 401K contributions and W4 withdrawals for 2012.
I try to estimate our income to figure out how many taxes we’ll owe and how much I need to contribute to my 401K in order to not owe anything on my taxes & not miss out on any employer match. I’m usually wrong and end up fiddling with the numbers in April, but I do this every January anyway. Might as well continue the tradition.

2. Work out 4 days per week.
I have to stop thinking that the holidays are a food free for all, where nothing I eat has calories and that 20-minute walk around the neighborhood is a real workout.

3. Read 10 books & write a quick summary/review.
This is related to one of my 2012 resolutions. I won’t share any spoilers!

4. Eat vegetarian for 1 week.
I was talking to a friend at work who is vegetarian, she mentioned that she thinks that it’s hard for people to get around the idea of a meal being something that doesn’t include meat. I grew up in a house where the meals were very traditional meat and potatoes type, and Chad’s house was similar. In our life together, our dinners have been pretty much the same. But there are plenty of other options, and they don’t all have to be breakfast for dinner or mac ‘n’ cheese type meals. I’m hoping a vegetarian week will be about exploring some foods we haven’t had before & expanding our ideas of meals.

We’ll probably just have cereal for dinner a lot.

5. Post my 2012 resolutions/goals on the blog.
I already have a big long list, but typing everything up is where the process falls apart. I will do this by the end of the month (in, erm, one week).

6. Research volunteer opportunities nearby.
One of my other resolutions is to give more – both time and money. I keep saying this, but it’s time I actually take action to do it!

In 2012, I think I’d like to set some more goals that will inspire me outside of work, similar to StackingPennies’ decision to focus only on goals she really cares about.  I’ll still set my financial goals, but I expect them to take a backseat to the things I really want to accomplish.

At any rate, I definitely did well on my goals this year.  I failed on the same sorts of goals I’ve always failed on (*ahem* blogging 2x per week), and did better than expected on some others.  Financially we’re doing well, even as the stock market eats up our retirement contributions.  As for everything else, the full list of goals is reviewed below:

Financial

1. Max out all retirement accounts. Done!
Pretty self-explanatory.

2. Save $25,000 in cash. Done!
We managed to meet (and exceed! slightly!) this goal despite the fact that Chad left his soul-sucking job midway through the year.  We were helped along by a sizable tax refund (I never know how much to withhold since Chad’s employment status has been so up in the air) and the fact that I worked over 200 hours of overtime.  These 2 things combined were enough to make up for the stipend Chad would have gotten if he’d stayed in the lab.

Technically, we cheated a little on this goal since Chad paid for a semester of school out of what I call his “secret savings account,” so in terms of actual money, we saved a little less.  Still, I don’t track his secret savings, and it’s partially made up of money set aside by his parents for grad school, so who knows what’s fair.

Around $2000 extra going to a travel fund to pay for our Ireland trip in 2012.

3. Earn at least $5,000 in overtime this year. Done!
I earned more than double this amount.  I will also never set this goal again – I ended up piling on overtime early in the year and getting sort of burnt out.  I met this goal by April or May, and then the rest of the year was so busy that I ended up working even more.  Overtime pay is not worth my sanity!

4. Stay within my budget on personal spending. Done!
If you remember, I settled on $200 per month plus a birthday “bonus” of $200. I ended up with about $350 left over, which is just enough to get Chad the Christmas present he wants.  A big portion of this money was spent on clothes, with books and music taking up a larger percentage after I got my Nook and my iPhone. 

In all honestly, this amount felt positively decadent, so it doesn’t feel like a huge accomplishment to have stayed within it.

Health & Fitness

1. Work out 4x per week. Mostly!
I managed to be fairly consistent with this, even through crazy work schedules.  No, I didn’t make it every week, but I’m calling it close enough.  This goal will definitely be repeated in 2012!

2. Keep a food journal on weekdays. Done!
How helpful was this?  Well, it certainly worked well to shame me after the fact.  It didn’t really work to keep me from eating things, though.  I think I’ll continue to track, since it has become a habit (I made a spreadsheet at work!), but I think some other healthy eating goals would work better.

3. Eat lunch with my coworkers one or twice per week. Fail.
This goal completely fell apart by… February.  I worked crazy schedules, but that’s not really the reason – mostly I forgot that I had even made this a goal.  Since I moved offices, I now spend plenty of time being social, and I need to work over lunch to make up for that wasted time!

4. Lose that pesky extra weight. Maybe?
I’m down about 3 pounds.  Does that count?

5. Cook more. Fail.
I had a few good months, but it’s so easy to slip back into the old habit where Chad cooks and I… sit on my ass and read blogs.  Yeah, epic fail.

Miscellaneous

1. Wear everything in my closet before buying any new clothes. Done!
I liked this goal so much that I’m going to repeat it in 2012.  It took me nearly THREE MONTHS to complete this goal in 2011, and while there were some pajama-only weekends and outfit repeats sprinkled in there, that’s an insane amount of clothes.  It also helped me be a little more strategic about my shopping, and really opened my eyes to how overstuffed my closet truly is.  It definitely spurred my closet cleanout, where I removed 5 trash bags full of clothes from my closet and didn’t feel a dent.

2. Blog at least 2x per week. FAIL.
I published 52 posts this year, which is an average of 1x per week.  Yep, worst blogger ever.

3. Make our apartment like a place real people live. Close enough!
Our apartment looks pretty good right now.  No, it’s not like the homes I’ve tagged on Pinterest – Chad always has to remind me that I can get an unnecessary drafting table once we buy a house.  Still, we made enough little tweaks that I’ve started to really like how everything turned out.  Which probably means that we’ll move in 6 months.

4. Stop cursing so much. Done!
Most of the people at work were surprised that this was on my list (remember – I’d asked them to police me if I dropped an F-bomb).  It wasn’t as though I was cursing in meetings or at inappropriate times, just that I think curse words are hilarious and add some extra oomph to social conversations.  At any rate, just being aware that I was doing it made the occurrences dwindle, and it has also bled into my life outside of work.  Even my football vocabulary has changed: now I mostly just chant “You suck. You suck. You suck.” instead of using the more colorful vocabulary I’ve been known for.

5. Read 50 books. Done!
Thanks to the Nook I got as a birthday present, I finished 85 books this year! No, it’s not like I was reading the classics, but still an accomplishment given that I’ve struggled in the past to reach 50.

6. Kick ass at work. Done!
I totally did.  Not only did I get the highest rating possible on my year-end review, but my West Coast mentor told me I deserved an early promotion.  Not sure The Powers That Be will agree with him, but it was high praise.  When I was asking around about that other job, several of the higher-ups I spoke to for guidance told me that I was one of our program’s rising stars.  For someone who has struggled with Imposter Syndrome for what feels like forever, that was awesome.

How did you do on your goals this year?

We did manage to meet a new milestone, and that is that we’ve now exceeded 1/3rd of a million dollars in net worth!  The only (First World) problem with that is that our normal deposits, even for a good month, just don’t affect that number much. Going from $50,000 to $60,000 sounds like a much bigger deal than going from $340,000 to $350,000, even though the amount increase is the same.

Note that these are joint values (i.e. they include assets from both my and Chad’s accounts).  They do not include money from rotating (i.e. checking) accounts or credit cards, and they also do not include the small personal savings accounts that Chad and I keep for ourselves.

How did you do this year?

We’ve had a giant tube TV since we moved to California 6.5 years ago, a giant tube TV that also looked as though someone had taken a bite out of the side due to an accident on the moving van.  We’d been talking about getting a new one when Chad started working, a date that moved further away as Chad decided to go back to school full-time.

Instagram makes everything look classier than it really is.

Still, after upgrading the little TV we kept in our bedroom, we were itching for a new flatscreen in the living room.  The want got worse every time we came home from watching football in HD at our friends’ house (you just can’t tell if that player’s foot was in bounds when you’re watching in standard definition).

After dragging my parents to Costco to look at TVs one more time, they finally offered to buy us one for Christmas.  It took up all of our Christmas budget AND I won’t be getting a birthday present next year, but I would say it’s worth it!  We now have this 47″ monstrosity that dominates our living room and is complete overkill considering that we only sit about 5 yards from it.

We probably still could have seen that Penn State sucked, even in standard definition.

My original plan was to write a post titled “Gifts that cost money” and it would, of course, be about how upgrading our DirecTV to HD would increase our monthly bill by $XX, meaning the gift would commit us to enough extra money that we could buy the TV again.  I was not prepared for what actually what happened when we called: our bill dropped by $15 from the “discounted” price we had to call every 3 months to maintain.  And the features are a little better; we got the new dish for free, got the upgraded HD DVR and we can watch DVR’d shows in the bedroom.

No, we’re not “saving” any money, since we’re still shelling out $50/month to watch TV.  And while I still think the TV commits us to some extra expenses – shelling out for BlueRay versions of things, new cables required for everything, etc. – I still think it’s a fun gift.  I just wish we’d done it earlier in the football season!

Did you get any fun gifts this year?  Are they going to cost you extra, or save you some money?

Because of the desire to cut costs in our organization, my ex-boss’ bosses are still debating how to list the job posting.  They seem to be reaching a consensus to list it as a very low-level management job, despite the fact that it comes with a group of 25 underlings and a host of other program management responsibilities.  In fact, the level is so low that the most senior people on my program can’t even apply because it wouldn’t pay even close to what they’re making now.

Our group works well because of the camaraderie between members of our group and the free rein we’re given as long as we get our work done (and we get a lot of work done).  This often means pancake breakfasts, bets on football games (whoever loses the bet buys bagels for the whole office), midday coffee breaks in the conference room, etc. As such, there is a desire to keep the management job “in the family,” i.e. making sure no new guy/girl is going to come in an attempt to change the culture.

At this time, there are only 2 people who have the required experience and also don’t make too much money to apply. I am one of them.

I’ve been getting a little bit of pressure to apply for this job.  Part of it is that there’s no one else since the job is ridiculously underpaid for the amount of work (they think I don’t know this), part of it is that they’ve done the same math I have, and they know I’m one of two potential “insiders,” and hopefully part of it is because they like me and think I’d be good at it.

As a career move, it’s not a bad one.  I’d be making more money more quickly – it would amount to the promotion I planned to ask for this year (I am convinced it will be denied this year and next year, but possibly 2013), or just slightly over.  It would set me up for more management responsibility in the future, all the way up to CEO. (Just kidding.)  I do think I’d enjoy the money aspects of it, given how much I enjoy my own, much smaller, budget.

Still, I’ve always said that I wanted to stay technical.  I love the challenge of engineering, the moment of clarity when you’ve finally figured out the solution to a problem.  My career aspirations were always to be an expert, to run the analysis that drives the evolution of technology.  I hoped I would be smart enough to get there.

In the teeny, tiny, gossip-ridden office I work in, everyone would know if I applied, interviewed, or was offered the job.  Which means they’d also know if I turned it down.  In all the pressure to get me to apply, I was assured that I’d have a good chance of getting it.

I just can’t decide if I’d want it.

I’ve been loathe to acknowledge the temperatures dropping.  But yesterday I had to scrape ice off my car for the first time, and apparently, our heat vampirism is no longer enough to keep our apartment toasty.  After a night of waking up freezing because Chad had wrapped the second comforter around himself again, leaving me nearly uncovered, I checked our thermostat.

55 degrees. Oh.

So the heat has been turned on, and we’ll probably have to keep it going until April.  Still, I’m glad I won’t be walking around my apartment wearing gloves this winter.

What’s your temperature limit? At what point is it too cold for you to keep your heat off anymore?  I work with a guy who said he keeps hims thermostat at 55 degrees when he’s home.  Could you do that?

I am a Penn Stater.

When I applied, it was just because I knew my parents couldn’t afford more than a state school, because my sister went there, and because I knew I’d be a shoo-in with my high school GPA and extracurriculars.  However, after starting my Freshman year, I fell in love with the campus, the anonymity of being one in 40,000, the instant bond of being part of the Penn State family.  And I fell in love with the football team.

There’s something about the stadium, the 100,000 fans crowded together, all strangers bound by a common love.  It’s hard to describe the atmosphere, the excitement, the energy of hundreds of thousands of fans screaming the same cheer.  My younger sister, a senior in high school, was set on going to another university; after attending a football game, she wanted to come to Penn State.

Everything this past week has been a nightmare: the horrific crimes perpetrated against children, the implication of several of the university’s highest-ranking officials, the loss of a beloved coach.

When I heard about the case (later than everyone else, I’ve been working graveyard shifts since last Thursday), I cried.  I wasn’t familiar with Sandusky since my time at PSU came after his retirement, but as a victim of sexual assault and the sister of a rape victim, I understand just how much pain comes from that experience.  There are no words for the monstrosity of someone doing that to children.

I understand why Joe Paterno had to be fired.  I can’t help but hope that further investigation, which can proceed now that the hordes have extracted the first pound of flesh, will show that Joe’s worst crime was just that he did not do enough, that he trusted in the integrity of university officials.  I still believe that he is a good person at heart, despite how he has been painted this week.

Lots of people, protected by internet anonymity, say that we can’t possibly care about the victims and our university and our coach.  That if we defend our school or Joe, we don’t care enough about the children.  I have enough room to grieve for all three.  And I refuse to participate in the game where we all try to prove that we care the most about children being molested.  You know who hates child molesters?  Everyone.  Who cares the most?  Everyone.

If you want to post something hateful, that’s fine (if you’re a first-time commenter you’ll have to wait until I moderate it, but I promise to let all non-spam comments through), but put your money where your mouth is.  I often post about how I want to donate more to charities, so here is my chance to show that I care.  Hopefully, we can channel our outrage to something greater than a million angry comments on the internet.

How are you doing with your yearly goals?  Do you prefer the end of the year, when you’re almost done, or do you prefer January, when you get to write down your goals with the promise of fresh starts?

To Accomplish, November 2011

1. Make 2012 budget.
Since I finally switched banks to simplify my obsessive tracking of our finances, this means that I can get rid of several of the budgeting tricks I employed to simplify our previous arrangement.  I’m hoping that will make tracking spending easier next year.

2. Work out 4 times per week.
Oh, the old standby! 

3. Read 8 books.
I’m abandoning the idea of reading 100 books by the end of the year – I’d have to read something like 15 books in both November and December to pull this off, and I don’t even think that’s possible.

4. Try 3 new recipes.
I keep adding new recipes to Pinterest, but I’ve been slacking on actually cooking them!  Actually, this goal may be somewhat hard to meet since I’m working funny shifts for most of November, plus we’ll be out of town the week of Thanksgiving.  I mean, that still leaves me with at least 5 times the number of days I’d need to meet this goal, but you know.  Any excuse to not cook!

5. Make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.
For some reason, Chad’s family does not have pumpkin pie at their Thanksgivings.  Sure, they have pumpkin-flavored desserts like pumpkin cheesecakes, or Chad’s famous pumpkin whoopie pies, but no pumpkin pie!  Which is my holiday Holy Grail of Desserts.

I figure, instead of complaining, I should make my own damn pie.  So I shall.

6. Do a net worth update.
I used to keep up with this monthly, but ever since I took my NetWorthIQ widget down, there has been no motivation to update it!  Still, I need to get a new look at our net worth, and I owe the blog an update as well.  I think I swore to do it quarterly, and I think I’ve only fit in one so far this year!

7. Schedule a massage.
November is going to be stressful.  Due to the aforementioned crazy work schedule, as well as another 2 presentation I’m giving to large audiences near the end of the month, I think I deserve something luxurious.  Hence, massage.  I may wait to actually get the massage until December, but I must book it by the end of the month!

Also, sometimes the studio audience laughs at nothing.  They cannot be trusted.

To Accomplish, October 2011

1. Work out 4 times per week. Done!
Okay, so the last week I only got in three workouts because of the freak snowstorm that we had last Saturday.  I’m still calling it good because everyone gets to be fat once in a while.

2. Read 8 books. Fail.
I made it through 6, with 3 more in the works.  Remember how I said I’ll switch between different books?  Yeah, that killed me this time!  Oh well.  I may not make it to 100 books by the end of the year (I’d say that’s distinctly unlikely!), but I’ve already beaten my goal of 50!

3. Try at least 3 new recipes. Done!
Here they are:

Moo Shu Veggies. These were really good, but when I tried to make them a second time, I discovered that you have to be really careful with the amounts. I tried to eyeball it, and everything ended up way too salty. And I say that as someone who loves salt!

Southwest Beef and Bean Burger Wraps. These were so good, although the refried beans made the burgers way too crumbly. Also, I ruined a pan with the grease.

Five Spice Turkey Lettuce Wraps. I used shredded chicken instead of ground turkey, but these were still really good!

4. Talk to my coworkers. Kinda?
I managed to sneak in a 5-minute conversation with one, but it was cut short, and definitely wasn’t as in-depth as I would have liked!  November is looking way too crazy for work stuff already, but maybe I’ll push this to December or even next year.

5. Read a book on a programming language. Done!
I started with a really easy one, and now am trying to slog my way through some code that others have written, in the hopes of improving some of our tools.  It’s funny because just learning the simple nomenclature stuff made those previously incomprehensible codes make sense!

6. Take car of all of my car inspections/bills. Done!
This was an easy one, but that’s probably just because Chad did almost everything, running around to all the different places to get the car inspected.  I went online and paid one bill.  Because I’m a contributor.

I’m going to miss my boss!  He never took anything too seriously, and sometimes would hang out and chat and joke with us on Friday mornings or over lunch.  I’m convinced he’s a big part of the reason that my department has a reputation for being the happiest group at our work site.  And lest you think that this is great for the workers but bad for the company, our group is actually one of the best-performing.  And!  We get a lot of long-term employees who enjoy working here so much that they stay for decades.

He’ll still be working for our company, based out of our work site, and this is really a very nice step up for him.  I’m excited for him, and yet…

Since this is my blog and I’m a very self-centered person, I have to wonder what this does for my plans to get promoted next year.  It’s hard enough to get a promotion when you have someone advocating for you, and I don’t know how easy it will be trying to convince someone who has very little idea of what I’ve accomplished.

Well, I guess this will take some of the pressure off.  At the year-end review, I think I’ll bring it up as a “What do you thing my chances are?” and see if he’ll be willing to give me some concrete advice on what will be the best way to stand out, to show that I’m able to fulfill the next level (our promotions are mostly just pay-grade – the people several pay bands above me do essentially the same work but just have more years experience).  After all, he’s been a manager for years and years, and he knows how higher-ups make the decision to promote.

Or is that really tacky and desperate?  I feel like I will never get the hang of work etiquette.

Have you ever had a boss leave?  Was the change good or bad or not a big deal?

(By the way, a couple people asked how I read so much.  This is due to a combination of a.) there is no TV in the summer, so reading became my TV, b.) I check e-books out of the library, so I have to read them before they expire, and c.) because I get my books from the library, they are usually all over the place, so some are not what I would consider “good” books.  Also, since I read almost exclusively on my Nook, I can see the page I’m on and total page count – it makes reading a book sort of like a challenge.  I’m not really sure how to explain it, but I find it very motivating!)

Also, holy crap!  It’s October!

To Accomplish, October 2011

1. Work out 4 times per week.
I was on travel part of the first week of October, and will be heading out again next Sunday for another trip, but I’m going to keep up with my workouts, even if I end up doing a Netflix workout video in my hotel room.

2. Read 8 books.
OK, the original goal was 10 books, but since we’re halfway through the month and I’m still working on Book #3, I’m going to lower my standards.  (By the way, I’m working o the second book in The Hunger Games series, and I cannot recommend these books enough.  Chad has been getting irritated because I will just flat out ignore him (or grunt) if he tries to talk to me while I’m reading!)

3. Try at least 3 new recipes.
And no cheating like last month, where I found a recipe and made Chad cook it!  Yes, technically I tried it, but that was not how I meant it!

4. Talk to my coworkers.
This is a repeat from September.  It’s not looking so good for October, either.

5. Read a book on a programming language.
I discovered that my work has an internal website with a ton of technical manuals, including books on programming.  In engineering, this is a very useful skill, so I’ve made a list of some of the languages I’d like to learn.  Most are pretty user-friendly & simple, so I’m going to make it a goal to read books on at least 2 of the easiest ones.

I almost majored in computer engineering for my undergrad degree, but discovered during my first semester that I am not a great programmer and also that I don’t like it very much.  I went with a different major and it was definitely the right choice! Still, I’m trying to overcome my distaste and keep reminding myself about all of the programming my coworkers have done to simplify our work.

6. Take car of all of my car inspections/bills.
The best thing about California was that owning a car required little more than writing a check for registration every year, but if you had a newer car, no inspections or smog tests were required.  Virginia is great in a lot of ways, but they are totally annoying about cars!  I have to pay property taxes on my car, get 2 different inspections, pay for licensing, and pay registration fees.  It’s too many things to keep track of, and I am highly disorganized.  And also, I procrastinate.  And also we had to do some repairs on my car last month, so I’m still sort of mad at it.

I knew the market had been bad, but I didn’t realize how bad.  My account was down $17,000!  Which means that I’ve lost (well, on paper) all of the money I’ve put in this year, including my employer match.

I know I’m too young to worry about what the balances are now (and that I should be celebrating the opportunity to buy low), but it still hurts.

I’m just going to have to keep singing this song from The Simpsons and just not look at my investment account balances.

How are you handling the market downturn?  Are you nervous about the lost money, or are you excited about getting a deal?  How do you deal with the stress?

(P.S. October goals coming soon – I promise!)

Wow, epic fail this month.  I have plenty of excuses (and all of them are work-related), but it’s still a little frustrating.  Some of these I just forgot about, and some I just ran out of time on since I was on travel last week.

How do you keep track of your goals throughout the month?  I guess it would help if I kept up with blogging more, then I’d probably see the post way more often!

1. Work out 4x per week, 2 of which should be running.  Fail.
I got my ass kicked by work this month – it was the first month where I consistently didn’t meet my workout goals, averaging only about 2-3 trips per week. The running thing totally didn’t happen after the first week.  I have to cut myself some slack because my work schedule really didn’t make much time for anything else, but I definitely need to get back on the horse next month!

Chad as actually been going to the gym himself!  I’m very proud that he manages to find the motivation to get in some physical activity every day.  I’m hoping he can keep it up now that our vacation is over.

2. Read 10 books. Done!
Technically I finished book #10 on October 1st, but I’m calling it good.

3. Pack away summer clothes. Fail.
However, we haven’t really reached fall yet, so I’ve still needed my shorts and tank tops.  I did pull out some of my fall clothes (wishful thinking!), but it’s still too hot to wear them.

4. Try at least 3 new recipes. Kinda?
I officially made two recipes.  I also kind of eyeballed some shrimp stir fry (which is where I dump vegetables, shrimp, and a bunch of seasonings in a pan and hope it works out), and got Chad to make a third recipe.  I did some aspirational grocery shopping today (read: spent a bunch of money on obscure ingredients in the hopes that it would motivate me to cook), so I’ll repeat this goal for October!

5. Chat with a couple of my coworkers about their jobs. Fail.
It’s easy to blame this on a bunch of different factors – some work stuff came up at the last minute (I even wrote a post about it!).  Still, I’m mad that I didn’t force myself to do this. I did at least let them know that I’d be coming to see them, so hopefully I can get this done in October.

6. Don’t worry too much about money while we’re in California. Done!
I’m glad – I didn’t let money worries stop us from doing anything while we were in California.  We didn’t attempt to do much, and luckily the best stuff (volleyball on the beach, fighting about college football) are all free!

What does it say about me that one of the two goals I actually managed to finish this month is me doing absolutely nothing?

7. Go to the tailor. Fail.
Uh oh.  Better get this done, I don’t want to actually have to get rid of my stuff!

I had to work on Saturday.  And last Saturday. And Labor Day weekend. Without going into too much detail, it was not exactly planned.  My boss always compares us to firefighters: sometimes we might sit around playing cards (if only we actually got to play cards, that would be sweet!), but when the bell rings, we are there to restore order. So there was a “fire,” we had to put it out.

I got phone calls at 2:30am, worked over the holiday weekend, missed the Penn State season opener, and just generally ran myself ragged.  And in all fairness, there were people who ran themselves even more ragged, but I’m learning that some people just do that and them working more than me doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to be tired.

Chad commented yesterday that he thinks I’ve been working too much.  What could I say?  I have been.  It’s stressing me out!  And next week I fly to California for some training (and OK, I’m stretching it into a long weekend visiting my sister).  In October I’ll be traveling again, up to Pennsylvania.  I may have to work a semi-graveyard shift from Halloween to Thanksgiving.

There is no end in sight, and it’s stressing me out! It’s hard to believe that I took a vacation only last month.  I’ve been go-go-go since we got back.

See, I’m the kind of person who needs to go hide in a cave in order to decompress.  I need a few days of doing nothing to start feeling rested.  In lieu of a day off, I’ve just started turning down every social invitation I get because it just sounds like too much work.  I even have to avoid just chatting with my coworkers because the earlier I finish my work, the earlier I can go home.

Here’s hoping I get a few days off and that balance is restored before too long!