What's in a week?

Monday: arrived at the office to find another break in--number five in a year. Stolen: my dual monitors, an old TV, and the vacuum cleaner. Carol and I both found random items missing from our desk drawers. Robbers nabbed a pack of candy cigarettes from my top drawer (but left the Thin Mints) and Carol reported missing work gloves and granola bar.

Needless to say, not much work happened Monday.

Tuesday: I worked from home in the morning. Mike set up my office CPU at home and I was able to get things done that required no Internet. I went to SLC in the afternoon to pick up supplies I needed for Wednesday.

Wednesday: Gave away Sunstone magazine at the Weber State women's fair. Got to talk to a lot of people about Sunstone. One asked why we don't sell Sunstone at Deseret Book? They're just not that into us?

After the fair wrapped, I met Mike and Jessica at the house and they talked me into going to the pound to see a dog they'd seen there the day before. After some negotiations, a ruddy German shepherd came home with us. Yowza.

Thursday: I'm working from home in the morning and headed to the office in the afternoon. I have some working files on my laptop, but realize too late that the work I thought I'd saved to the network was saved only on the computer in Ogden. Sigh. I do the best I can. At home, Jessica had already eaten so we ended up going to Blockbuster for videos (and a poster of Edward she was smitten with). Mike comes home late from class and we all retire.

Friday: [are you exhausted yet?] Jessica's flight left in the morning, so we all trooped to SLC. Dog's first day alone/outside. Mike had to go back to campus for a meeting. I stayed at the office trying to work out the kinks of new Quark software and having to do extra installs to be able to print, etc. Sunstone West is close at hand and there's a ton to do--not great timing for all the extra time and energy sucks of the week. Took the train home, but instead of working, I caught up on Go Fug Yourself's version of March Madness.

Saturday: trying to keep the dog off our bed is a major undertaking. The crate I bought is not for crate training (WTF?). And I found that the dog pooped twice and peed once in the guestroom, necessitating a trip to buy nature's miracle TODAY.

I'm teaching Sunday school tomorrow and have not yet cracked the material, plus there's loads to do for Sunstone West.

Any wonder this week seemed interminable?

Numbing Disappointment

With a To Do list that never seems close to being done, you'd think I'd be happy when one item drops off, right?

Not so much.

Last fall, I scoped out a foundation that makes grants to non-profits in the western U.S. and planned to apply during their spring grant cycle.

Started amassing the information. Updated a policy they require with all applications. Formulated ideas about specific projects with concrete goals and objectives. Emailed the administrator to ask a question (as the web site suggested) about how to organize the proposal when it covered three specific projects.

The admin wrote back to say I should not put in a proposal at all. They are not funding any new organizations this year and will be cutting funding to groups they already work with.

I started bawling.

I had TOTALLY been counting those unhatched chickens. Never mind that I've never written a grant proposal in my life. I have great ideas. I'm an excellent writer. Surely, they'd see the merit in my proposal.

So, one less thing to do in the upcoming week. And I'm completely bummed to cross it off my list.

Turbo Blogging

Two things I've decided will help save my sanity during busy season: fitting in 30 minutes of exercise a day (even if it's in three 10-minute increments) and doing a little turbo blogging--whatever rant or quick bitch I can throw together in 10 minutes or less. It will mean more frequent posts for the three or four readers who have not already abandoned hope.

Today's turbo blog is about brand loyalty. I normally go for generics when product A is indistinguishable in most respects from product B (i.e. canned beans, stock, onion soup mix). I'm more likely to pledge my aligience to specific products if:

1) I grew up using them (Dove soap, A1 Steak Sauce)

2) If it's recommended by physicians (Cetaphil, shampoos to control scalp problems)

Or 3) if it's the product that first introduced me to the genre (Playtex tampons).

Regarding that last example, I recently forewent brand loyalty for a bigger box/better bargain on Kotex tampons at COSTCO.

Big mistake.

Kotex had the paper wrapper and flushable applicator--perfect trappings for the environmentally friendly gal I aim to be. And the bigger box/better price I mentioned.

Sadly, they do not perform as well as my former brand. Now I'm stuck with a ginormous box of a product I don't like.

Thrift will NOT win over comfort and performance again. Period.