Buckled Down - and Anticipated Rewards

I have been very buckled down the past two weeks. I reached a point at work where I could not tolerate being so far behind, so I dug in and pushed an incredible amount of paper through the computer. I have finally almost completely caught up from my medical leave.

So, what did I accomplish? I was able to print out financial reports for the first quarter of the year for the board meeting next week. And, they will be included in the meeting packets being mailed out today rather than handed out at the meeting, so that folks will be able to actually review them. It doesn't sound like much. To get there, I had to do a lot of data entry - the final 2008 budget, three months of cash receipts and billings, three months of arcane non-cash transactions that make little sense outside of the magical world of FASB compliant accounting.

The grant and contract billings are in the mail - all of them. Hopefully they will be followed by a stream of cash flowing back towards the agency - soon.

I turned off all the toys. No blogs, very little AIM. I have a cell phone - if you need to talk with me, call me. Phone calls take a heck of a lot less time than chatting on the interwebs. I was also enabled in the quest by my husband's schedule. He has been out at dinner meetings and was out of town for two days this week. When there is no one home, it's easy to stay at the office and feed the computer.

I'm not quite done. There still is an annual report for 2007 due to the university, an economic impact analysis, and the homework I have to do for the in-service on program evaluation. All due by April 30. Oh yeah, there is also the filing. I think that next week is going to be quite busy.

I get one reward today - I am taking the day off. The weather has turned glorious, and Robert and I are going to paint the bottom of the boat and clean the interior. We're also going to check out a used dinghy. It won't be long before Minuet is in the water again.

My other reward is the mirage-like vista of a normal schedule that wafts in front of my eyes. If I can keep the toys turned off, I think it might be possible. "Work starts at 9 and ends at 5." Repeat with feeling until you believe it.

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