Today I returned to work after 4 days of packing. I was looking forward to it as relief from the oppressive last few days. When I woke up I realized that I was supposed to make deviled eggs for a fund raiser we are having tonight (see www.brinimaxwell.com ). So I boiled the eggs and decided to do the deviled part on my lunch break.
When I got in the office you could cut the tension with a knife. This happens every August. We call it Augustitus here. Everyone cries, yells, swears, threatens to quit. It's a charming work environment. We do too much in the summer. Too many unpredictable fund raisers, too many complicated fund raisers and not enough money generated for the pain they are. Suddenly, the house of boxes didn't look so bad.
As predicted the day started off with crying. It was about 100 degrees, humidity at about 80%, running around and a lot of misery. I updated the agency website and completely screwed it up. I am the agency's executive director and default IT person. Come to think of it, I'm the default executive director too. I confess, I know nothing about IT. But everyone else knows far less, therefore I'm called upon to fix people's computers.
In the midst of destroying our website, I also signed a buy-out agreement crafted and reviewed by a huge team of lawyers, had a store redirect a delivery of furniture to my moving company because I couldn't put it in the house I'm buying, sent my most recent bank statement and signed commitment letter to the mortgage company, talked to another lawyer about tax issues, and listened to the distant but persistent sound of ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching. I could buy a small condo with what I'm being charged by lawyers and movers who are moving me 2.5 miles down the street.
I need to go back to the deviled eggs. I come home at lunch, walk in my door, and found the painter hired by the condo association in my kitchen washing out brushes in my kitchen sink. I don't think I've mentioned that I am not laid back about company. I need advance notice. I need things to be very put together. I need hors d'oeuvres or something inviting. Catch me off guard and it isn't pretty. (This is an inherited trait too). But I mean this about friends. You can imagine how I feel about it when it's a stranger popping in uninvited.
5:30 I've been sent home to change my dress because my bra shows all over the place. The show starts in an hour and a half. I'm welcoming the audience, so we thought it only appropriate that I not embarrass the organization. Deviled eggs, wardrobe changes, these are the things I do when I'm not packing boxes. And very odd things to do for my job.
10:30 Home from the fund raiser. It worked out very well that I changed my dress. I put on pearls, a rare moment indeed. When I got up to address the audience, a guy in the third row yelled out, nice dress, you look great. (He was clearly high on something and made a scene thrugh the entire show). I curtsied and welcomed everyone. Show was long. Went to the reception for VIPs and schmoozed, got my photo taken with Brini to be posted later, then went in the kitchen to wash dishes. I felt as though I was staggering on the way home but we served only a nice, refreshing, light and not too sweet non-alcoholic fruit punch. My legs were just wobbly from exhaustion.
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