Cordelia's Mom, Still

5 Days in the Concrete Jungle? I Think Not.

Posted on August 3, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

Who wants a four-day work week?

Apparently, lots of people, and there’s a movement afoot to make it more popular. I guess I’ve been ahead of the times for the past few years.

After 15 years at my longest job, my then boss offered me a raise because I did a good job even though the boss was driving me crazy. I was soooo exhausted. I had been working my ass off despite recently being hospitalized with ulcerative colitis – which was taking a serious toll on my physical well-being. So, I told the boss that instead of a raise I would really like to work one less day per week. And he agreed!

I love my four-day work week. Working four days instead of five, means:

♦ There is no “hump” day. Monday and Tuesday go by quickly because they’re the start of the week when I’m fresher. Wednesday, which normally is the middle of a five-day week – is only one day away from the new end of the week, so that on Wednesday, I think “I can get through today and tomorrow, and then I have three days off.” And, of course, Thursday – being the last day of the new work week – is spent energetically finishing up whatever needs to be finished up for the week. Therefore, there are no unproductive days in a four-day work week.

♦ Having that one extra day off per week – in my case Friday – allows me to make all medical and other appointments for Friday, thereby avoiding the need for sick time away from the office. Of course, if I actually get sick – like with flu or a colitis flare-up – I still might need a day off in the middle of the week, but that seldom happens. With the four-day week, even if I’m feeling poorly, I can usually talk myself into getting through because “It’s a short week. I can do this.”

♦ Driving back and forth to the office one less day per week saves on gas, even if I have medical appointments – because those usually are closer to home, and of course, I don’t have medical appointments every week.

♦ Laundry is easier. I only have four days worth of work clothes to wash, and I have three days in which to do that.

♦ I have one extra day for shopping or goofing off, without having to face those weekend crowds. Believe me, that does wonders for one’s mental outlook. There’s just something really cool about flitting around while my co-workers are at the office busily completing their tasks. Even though it’s my normal schedule now, it still feels like playing hooky.

♦ Even the weekends are better. With a five-day work week, the first weekend day is spent trying to catch up and de-stress, and the second day is spent preparing to go back. There’s really not much down time in a two-day weekend. With a four-day work week, assuming the “off” day is either Monday or Friday, the middle day of the resulting three-day weekend is pretty much stress free – so that I feel like I actually had some time off before returning to work the next week.

(Note, however, that all the above apply only for 8-hours days. If you wind up working 10-hour days in order to get a four-day week, you really haven’t gained anything.)

Imagine my chagrin when I took The Job From Hell and had to return to full-time. No wonder I lasted just over a year there – although even had I negotiated a shorter work week, the result would have been the same. That job was simply impossible no matter how many, or how little, hours were put in. The girl that replaced me quit after three months.

It was fortunate that I was able to land my current four-day-a-week job. I love my new job (I say it again!). By the time I get to the point in the week when I’m feeling a little tired, it’s already time to wind up for the weekend. Although I seldom feel that burn-out: there is little to no stress, there are rarely deadlines, and my bosses and co-worker are easy to be around.

The only thing better (if I have to work at all) would be a three-day work week. That will be the next step.

Or better yet – one of those work-at-home jobs (a legitimate one, if there is such a thing), or perhaps self-employment (like writing that best-selling novel). Working on that, too.

For those of you still stuck in the 9-t0-5, five days a week:

TGIF!!

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Health, That's Life | Tagged employment, four-day work week, job, working | 31 Comments

Climbing Out of the Money Pit

Posted on July 28, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

You know you’ve spent a lot of money on home improvements and/or repairs when your plumber sends you a thank-you gift!

Sure, it’s not the first time we’ve received a gift from a someone we’ve hired. When we installed a new furnace and hot water tank (simultaneously) at our old house, the HVAC guy sent us a company mug with cookies.

Our realtor also had cookies sent to us after we [finally] closed on the new house.

But I definitely wasn’t expecting anything in this morning’s mail. It was a nice surprise for several reasons:

After paying for the home improvements, there’s not a lot of money left for cookies and other non-essentials.
I’m glad the plumbers still want our business after the hell we put them through.
Before receiving that package, I had no idea what to write about today.

Otherwise, a pretty quiet day. After lugging home crushed stone for the edge of our driveway, hubby decided to order takeout for an early dinner. He got his usual cheese pizza, and I opted for the 4-piece fried chicken dinner (no coleslaw, please), which arrived with –

Four pieces of fried chicken. Period. No fries. No nothing else.

The pizzeria owner was apologetic and compensated by providing a triple order of fries. I’ll be eating fries for a week.

Which is not good for my colitis …

Guess we’d better keep that plumber on redial!

Happy Weekend, Everyone.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Image by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Household Items, That's Life | Tagged contractor, debt, Dessert Deli, gift, home improvement, plumber, Roy's Plumbing, thank-you | 18 Comments

Let It Rain – Inside

Posted on July 21, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

“This house looks familiar – were we here before?”

“Yeah, we did a door. The electrician was here then, but the fence wasn’t”

Actually, that company also did our bathtub overfit, but it was a different crew. Still, I found it amazing that any workman would remember an individual house when he’s probably been to hundreds of them over the last year. Hopefully it’s a compliment – that the house was memorable, and not that its owner was a loony tunes no one could ever forget.

Anyway.

Every window in my house has now been replaced. We did 7 last year, and the final 7 this week. For the second set, we opted to go with Comfort Windows & Doors because we’ve used them a number of times before, at our old house and at our new house, and have always been happy with their work. Plus, their quote came in slightly lower than the last window company we used (who also did an excellent job, but hey, money is money).

It was 90 degrees F that day, but the two-man crew were troopers. They worked diligently, and then called for reinforcements early in the afternoon. Most of the windows were upstairs, requiring that the outside trim be fitted while perched on a ladder. The extra 4 men made the work go so much faster.

Puppy Cody was barricaded into half the living room, while I sat at my computer. Cody is barrier-trained, so we were comfortable with merely leaning baby gates against some dining room chairs to make a “wall”. For extra security, I kept Cody on a long leash for most of the day.

While I knew that extra men had arrived, I really wasn’t paying any attention to who was where. Hubby had been going in and out of the house all day, so when I heard footsteps in the living room, I just figured it was him.

Until Cody growled. And it was a nasty growl. Scared the heck out of me.

I looked up to find one of the new men inspecting the living room window – he had been sent in to do the caulking, but hadn’t been told which windows were new and which had been done last year by the other company. The poor guy was already a bit confused – and the dog didn’t help.

Bless Cody’s little canine heart. She would not go past that barrier, but neither did she want some stranger in her living room while mom was not paying attention. That growl got everyone’s attention!

Other than that, the install went smoothly, and by 4:00 pm, we had all new windows.

I had never heard of “rain” glass before. For the two bathrooms, we had chosen the standard pebbled opaque bottom panel for privacy. When the salesman showed me the other option – rain glass – I just knew it would be perfect for the downstairs bedroom (maybe soon to be the home office/study). The window in that room looks out onto the side porch, and anyone could look in if the glass were clear. Now there’s some privacy. The rain glass is not completely opaque so Cody can still look out and see if anyone is standing on the porch – she just can’t tell who it is. That’s ok, it’s really not her job to identify people – she only needs to let us know that someone is there.

And apparently we can depend on her to do that.

After which, she’s likely to run and hide somewhere, but I’m ok with that, too. I don’t require perfection.

Hope your weekend is peaceful and fun, or productive (whichever you prefer). If you have a pet, give him or her a hug from Cordelia’s Mom.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Household Items, Pets, Teddy Rosalie, That's Life | Tagged Cody, contractors, dog, house, Puppy Cody, rain glass, security, windows | 26 Comments

Justice Will Be Served (Finally)

Posted on July 13, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

Just off the presses this week – the crooked owner of Classic Fence Company has pleaded guilty to deliberately bilking his customers and may be going to jail (read story, here).

I didn’t realize when we signed up with Classic Fence in August 2017 that Fred DeNormand had been stiffing his clients since 2016. I had found no negative reports in my on-line research, and he sounded so pleasant the couple of times I spoke with him on the phone. Perfect con man!

I still wonder what made me use the credit card for that down payment. At that time, it was a badge of honor for me to pay cash for everything – but something (or someone up there) whispered in my ear that perhaps on this one occasion, I should use the credit card “in case anything happens.” I got my money back through the credit card company, but I suspect all those Classic Fence customers who wrote checks or paid cash will be waiting a long time for repayment. After all, if the guy didn’t have money to pay his employees or his business taxes (I checked), how is he suddenly going to cough up nearly $140,000 to refund all those down payments? There are judgments on record against him since 2017 – good luck collecting on those!

Meanwhile, Puppy Cody and I are enjoying our nice fenced-in yard, as you all know. A couple of runs the full length of the yard while chasing bunnies, and Cody is ready to nap the rest of the day.