Today was a not-so-good day, but I ended it on a positive note

1. I either broke a toe or at least hurt it to the point where its causing a heck of a lot of pain (chronic pain I can deal with, acute, I'm a wuss) and I've got it taped up. This caused me to be late to work--an especially touchy thing these days--and to generally blubber through the early part of our company holiday meal whilst waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in.
   
2. There was a serious misunderstanding regarding my time today. I won't go into lots of details. Suffice to say I had a major case of confusion regarding our 7-minute payroll window, which apparently doesn't have anything to do with tardiness--although I'd say many employees are also under that impression, so I panicked when I was told I'd been tardy at the other day by clocking in two minutes after the hour (making, with today, two tardies, and for me, tardies=occurrences (as if I never bothered to show up) and eight of those get me fired, although one will go off every 90 days so long as no others accrue. Practices vary around the hospital, usually varying by director or departmental needs in terms of the flexibility of the schedule, but I'd worked nearly eight years thinking that so long as you got in by the 7-minute window you were on time...which may explain partly how the whole issue came up in the first part. Believe it or not, this is the only job I've had in 18 years where timeliness was an issue (I think I was late enough once at a toy story to warrant a talk, beyond that no trouble). Of course, I wasn't dealing with depression and anxiety issues back then, either. :) Plus, the system wasn't showing me clocked in when in fact I was, so my boss thought I didn't have my badge and hadn't bothered to tell her at the time I came in. It finally showed up after I clocked out and back in for lunch. Needless to say, it was frustrating on both our parts, but we talked it out and I think I'm clearer on expectations and I did share some concerns, and so I think things will be fine from now on. But taken as a whole, and with the painful reminder of my lack of grace from the morning, I really just felt like a f&%*up.
   
3. Then it was home to make spanikopita and baklava for the party tonight.That worked well although I wound up actually baking the baklava over at N's and I probably should have kept a better eye on it, because her oven cooks faster than mine. Still, both were well received. We exchanged presents. My Secret Santa and I managed to draw each other's names, and she's drawn my holiday presents two years running and my birthday. :) I gave her some nifty socks in a stocking and she gave me some onyx earrings (I've lost virtually one of every pair of earrings I own along the way) and a nifty toy/puzzle/bulid-your own dragon. The hardest part was 'hatching' it from the egg, since I'm still gimpy with my hand, but it was fun to play with and is poseable.
   
4. After we'd all exchanged presents and stuffed ourselves silly the party eventually broke up a little earlier than I'd expected (lots of busy people trying to get together for a bit), so I went home and worked on the whole knitting thing. I'm not a visual learner--I learn by doing, and diagrammes give me fits, although I do try to read all the manuals, unlike most technonerds. It took me the better part of an hour practicing the whole casting onto the needle thing until I could get the loops fairly evenly spaced, and I finally did it by modifying their directions somewhat because my hands are either not big enough or not nimble enough to hold precisely in the right way. Once I did that, things went pretty quickly. Then I started the knitting process. That was easier, although sometimes I relied on my hands rather than the needles to get the yarn through the loops...like most beginners, I'd started out a little too tight and not relaxed enough. After a little while I had three rows finished and decided that although it had become increasingly relaxing to do I should overdo it...my skin around the scar has separated and is starting to peel off as the new skin heals and the old sloughs away, but too much manipulating of things can still make it hurt a little, although not as much as the other is now.
   
5. I picked a friend up from work a little later than normal (after 12:30) and we went to the store and Taco Bell and he got me something as a thank you. I'm not sure I can continue doing such late nights, as it's become progressively later (it started at 11, then went to midnight), but we'll see. But I have to admit, I'm awfully tired (still not getting much sleep with the sinus issues) and I'm emotionally on edge at what should be a hormonally good time, etc. I'm thinking about taking off the Monday-Thursday between Christmas and New Year's, for a total of eleven days with the weekends. It's a slow time, of course, and with the house in good shape and a little time before the next surgery, I think it may do some good to get some rest and maybe even go to a museum or the gym...something fun and different. I can't lift weights until at least February between the two hands but there's a new Gold's Gym opening up on Saturday that has a pool and of course I can always bike or walk. It certainly would help my mood, don't you think?