I know that I have mentioned that getting organized and my work - job work, house, and club treasurer work - done was much easier when my husband went out to work. Monday to Friday was basically my own time. I could do all my work in a couple of days if I wanted and relax the other days (never worked out that way though) or work a bit every day (more like most of every day) and so on.
I was/am self-employed so I have no boss to answer to. As long as I get my job work done by its due dates and accommodate my clients with times that are convenient for them, I could decide when to work at my job. This still applies, but I have to deal with husband and what he wants to do and work around that.
We share a home office - sit at desks across from each other - so I miss sitting there and making telephone calls for any of the various types of work I do with no one watching me, listening to me and often telling me what I am doing wrong, as well needing to make him at least mute the TV (I taught him to have the TV on while doing things, so this is my fault I guess) so that I can hear who I am talking to on the phone and they don’t hear Capt Picard loudly talking in the background (he keeps the TV on rather loud, to say it politely). I end up making telephone calls from bed instead, balancing paperwork and/or alternate PDAs on my lap so I can talk on my cell phone and still easily consult a calendar or bring everything down to the kitchen to use the table and still have to juggle what I am using. Even worse, there are calls I have to make that I don’t want him to hear and he doesn’t want to hear (mostly the doctor to make appointment for us as he does not like to know in advance) and to correct problem related to same. He commented to me that I had to make a couple of phone calls, in reference to picking new medical insurance for me for next years, and I pointed at a stack of papers - spread out in smaller stacks - and told him - “yes, as soon as I make all these other calls that are ahead of them”. A discussion followed on the problems I have making telephone calls - the above and also the fact that we spend too long outside every day running “errands”. I went a bit too far and had to apologize as I made him feel really bad - and I didn’t want to do that.
We wake up late (and stay up late) which is a problem and I am worse than him at this as I am used to waking up slowly and alone. We go out for lunch - despite my telling him before he quit his job that life is not a continuous vacation and we can’t eat out all the time - because he likes it and our lunches at Wendys cost no more than lunch at home - maybe even less. Now, if we went and ate and left that would be okay, but we sit there and watch CNN on the TV, well he does, I sort of hear it above me while I watch a European sports channel on the TV at the other end of the room. Then if it was up to me, we would go home, unless it was the day to food shop or some other needed errand. He does not want to go home and therefore we spend time in stores “Where can we go today” walking senselessly around the stores. We spent 2 hours yesterday buying food items to make dinner because I had mentioned a dish he used to cook and he decided to make it (I was trying to talk him into cooking). He could not find the kind of cheese he needed...
Now this week I had a bunch of problems hit me at once. A client I have had a problem with her credit card processor (I am sure I have mentioned this). I had called and dealt with it while she and I were both away. This week she is home and I need to go to her for the regular monthly accounting stuff. I had been told that the amount which was credit to her account was about $500 less than the sale that was being credited. So I telephoned on Monday (after the discussion above about telephones) to find out the breakdown of charges taken out - I was going to reimburse her for any fees resulting for my error and was told the amount I was told before was wrong and only the monthly fee that had also bounced back had been charged. I let out my breath - I didn’t have $500 to give her and was glad I did not have to. But, I was told, it looks like a sale she made is being held. Huh? It is a much larger sale than she normally makes and they need information to pay it. I got a list of the info and planned to get the info when I went in to her this week. I telephoned her Tuesday about it - she had telephoned me while I was out about it also. She had a telephone call that there was a problem with the sale - she was positive that she would never get the money for it from the processing company and there is a problem with IRS about it - because I had filled in a form wrong when she signed up with this company. Huh? She gave me the name and phone number of the man who called and I must talk only to him according to her - his number was a switchboard and she had no extension number or department name. I left a message with customer service at the number to call me. Today I called the department I spoke with about the sale on Monday, hoping it was the same department although a different phone number and the woman I had spoken with, very nicely tracked down how to contact him. I spoke with him and he needs a simple form. I know I did not fill in the original form and will deal with her about it. Tomorrow I will take care of all this, hopefully, when I go there.
I missed this month’s meeting of my embroidery group as we were away. Next month’s meeting is being led by a member and kits or part of kits and own material are needed for the meeting. It was mentioned at the meeting I missed to the members and a list was made for her to order for members. It occurred to me that not everyone was there who might want to do the project next month, and I contacted her about my sending out an email. I then did so with her info. The person who ran last month’s meeting, then sent me additional info about the supplies and I sent out another email to everyone - this one, for some reason, bounced back from one member because of what it said(?).
Our reenacting unit is doing an event midweek next week for a school. Suddenly the school needs paperwork - some I have to get from 3rd parties - including an invoice. We are not sure if the event will be on one day or the next (in case of rain the first day) and we are having trouble getting members who can come midweek. So I had to call the unit’s insurance company for part of the paperwork , do a form from IRS, and write 2 invoices (one for each day, just in case) and get them out.
Oh yes, the medical insurance I need to pick and sign up for? Well, after my call to the doctor on Monday I decided which one to take and we started to sign me up for it on the computer. Despite the fact that the signup period started November 1, the computer sign up was not yet working on November 11 and would start on the 15th (today), so we still have to go back and sign me up.
If my time was own as it used to be all this would be so much easier. Of course in addition to all this, I have had to reconcile bank accounts for us, our business, and both clubs, pay bills, juggle money in the bank so bills could be paid, plus all of the housework I could do. Due to weather and the fact that on Halloween when we went away, the recycling had not been taken, I put out 5 weeks of recycling this week. Similarly we had not been able to put out garbage last week - and the office garbage does not go out every week, only if the pail is full, I put out 5 bags of garbage for one pickup, instead of the usual 1.
Tomorrow I will drive for at least an hour, ride a subway for 15 minutes, then ride subway back 15 minutes and drive home for two - three hours (in is off peak, home is rush hour - sort of, 3 pm is rush hour these days) after working for 3 hours at client and it will not be fun this visit as I have to resolve the problems and make her understand what is going on with everything. Well, at least I get away from husband for the day and get to drive.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
One has to work with the time one has. Limits put on one’s times by someone else are just one more thing which has to be dealt with. Problems are not something which can be foreseen and planned for. We can only do what we can do.
Oh, and husband just came down and told me he made a sale on his online business and now, at 1:25 am, we have to get it ready to go out - and I do the paperwork.
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