My brain hurts

I've been freaking out a bit this week. Last Monday, the 15th, when all the shit was hitting the fan in Boston, I realized that I have 3 months to Little Moe's due date.

That's three months to:

• Get the baby's room ready
• Gain some more weight (but not much more!)
• Buy stuff for Little Moe so she won't be naked all the time (though if she's like her father, she'll want to be)
• Figure out this breastfeeding stuff
• Get some sleep before I won't be sleeping ever again
• Exercise so I'm not a total pudge during delivery
• Get all my projects done at home so I don't have to think about those when I'm trying to learn how to take care of Little Moe

I also have only three months to:

• Figure out how much time I'm taking off of work (I'd like to take 12 wks, but I'm thinking I might do 9 full weeks and then come back half time for 3 more - I don't know).
• Figure out who is going to cover for me while I'm gone
• How to train said person or persons for basically everything I do
• How to get them paid
• How to sleep at night worrying about if they're doing it okay or not
• How to sleep at night wondering if they're doing it better than me

The biggest issue is that I have no idea who's going to sit at my desk. My boss is all about stealing people from other areas, which is great, but my job is more than just sitting at the desk and answering phones. And it's not just normal projects, it's a bunch of little stuff. And if it ends up being not one person, but several, then there's little continuity, so whatever information I put together for them will have to be detailed and understandable and accessible. Right now I have a lot on a secured shared drive, so I'm trying to figure out what I can take off and put where, so whoever he steals from wherever can access it.

So do I make a list of "How to do Moe's job" in detail - down to the last step, or do I just say screw it, let them only answer the phones and let it the rest pile up and I'll do it when I get back? And if I do make a list - how detailed do I get? I'm also worried about my email, because I only have so much space and everything comes through me. We do have a telework agreement in place, so I am debating on bringing home the laptop, but not sure the boss will allow that (and I think hubby would disown me if I did).

On top of that, my backup for a lot of stuff may also be gone during the same time frame, which will really suck. That's still up in the air - and I'm waiting confirmation on that.

I'm seriously considering working a half day, at least, each week while I'm on maternity leave, just so I can keep up with stuff and check on things - even if it's a Friday afternoon when most people are gone, just so I can go through email and do the little projects that aren't bad, but are a little tough to explain.

I don't know. My boss doesn't seem too worried yet. But then again, he's better under pressure (I usually am too, but the clock seems to be ticking a little too fast these days).

Less than three months!!! AAAARRRGGHHH! I don't need this stress. Oh and add on top of that: I have my 2-hour glucose test on Monday and I have this feeling of dread that my doctor is going to want to put me on bed rest, which will really screw up my life. Praying that doesn't happen.

Anything else in my life that I can worry about? lol

Tulsa, baby

I was selected, luckily, to go on a work trip for a symposium on issues relating to our enlisted folks. It was really exciting and I was curious what issue I was going to get assigned. Five of us flew down to Tulsa - Chief U, Chief W, Ross, Brittnie and me. Our hotel room was awesome. Basically it was going to be this big symposium with a dinner that night with a presentation of the Order of the Sword.

The Order of the Sword is huge in the enlisted world. We present it to one officer who has really championed for the enlisted man/woman and our recipient this year was one of the best. And, for fun, I got to wear my mess dress, which I don't get to very often. :)

 I know this one is blurry, but Brittnie was nervous taking the picture. That's LtGen Harry "Bud" Wyatt. He's AWESOME. :) I'm so excited to meet him...and the man is TALL.

Our group - Chief U, me, Ross, Brittnie, and Chief W.

On our last night, we headed out for some fun on the town. We ended up at a bar drinking crap beer (it was cheap) and watching the Wisconsin/Nebraska game. We had a good time and a lot of laughs.

Purging weekend

I spent the weekend at work. I love going to work when I'm a) motivated, and b) all alone so I can crank up my stereo. My tunes were rockin' while I cleaned out 1275 emails from my inbox and various folders, emptied out my recycle bin and cleaned up a bunch of little projects. This was an awesome weekend! I wish I had more of these.

Work trip fun

Every now and then, my boss lets me travel for work. This doesn't happen often, so I'm always excited when I do get to go...even if it's to Arkansas.

This year, I got to go to training on SharePoint. So excited I was...not. The training was okay. A lot of it was talk, talk, talk by the instructor and then follow the directions on the example/training sheets and call it good. For some reason, a lot of the class had trouble with this. Apparently reading wasn't their forte. I got worried a few times because I was done way ahead of everyone else, but eventually I got over it and enjoyed the break. Of course I used those breaks to go back to my room and work.

I relaxed the first couple nights but then I decided to get out of the room and hit the town. So I hung out with a Chief and LT.

The first night we went to a baseball game. The Chief got cheap tickets from someone, so we were able to get nice seats for low cost.

It was an awesome night for baseball and the boys even bought me a Guinness. I couldn't argue with that. And I got myself some cotton candy. :)

The next night we had our class outing and went to a really great restaurant - awesome food, great drinks, and good music.

Friday was our last day and we got out of class early. The three of us, and one other gal, went out to lunch. Southern barbecue and I wasn't as impressed with it as I was with Texan. E told me later that Arkansas uses a mustard base, which wasn't all that great.

For our afternoon fun, the girl went back to pack, and Chief, LT and I went to the Clinton Library. That was awesome. We got our picture taken in front of the "Oval Office" by a security guard. We had to laugh because he commented on LTs shoes. :)

The library also had a display for the St. Louis Cardinals. I had to send several posts to K, since I know she grew up cheering for them. Gotta love Stan.

After this, we walked over a very long bridge and around a corner and down another block or two (the lady at the Library information desk said it was much closer) to see the USS Razorback. That was very cool. I know I had been on a sub tour one other time, but this was a smaller group and since I'm married to a Navy boy it was much more interesting.

 A big prop and anchor. I kind of wish I could bring this back home, but I don't think it'll fit in my carryon.

I had to take this picture. The cup with the shaving brush is just like one that Dad had. I kind of wonder if Mom still has it.

Friday night, we went out to a place like Carnaval (up here) where you can eat all the meat you want. They served their sides family style, which was okay, but I really wasn't impressed with the food. After, we headed to a hole-in-the-wall club where our teacher was playing in a band. That place wasn't bad (considering it was a true hole-in-the-wall) but I had forgotten what it was like to go to a bar or club where they allow smoking. We walked in and it was like walking into a wall of smoke. Uffda. It was fun though.

The next morning I headed home. All in all, a good trip and I met some great peeps. Not sure I learned a lot though. :) Oh well.

But the bigger kicker was as I was driving home from Mpls (where I flew out of since it was cheaper and because our airport ramps were under construction over the weekend), I ran into two of my friends from college...at a rest stop! How random is that?!? It was so fun to run into Al and Rachel. We caught up briefly but they were on their way to SoDak for a week long vacation. Of all the gin joints in all the world...