the heat

I'm off of work and scheduled a furnace tune for today. It's supposed to happen "sometime between 8am and noon". It is now a little after 9am. So I wait. I guess I'll do this little mid-week debrief exercise:

1. Name one new thing you learned this week

I learned that dogs should NOT eat grapes/ grape products. Who knew??

Someone on NextDoor posted that her dog ate a grape. She was quite worried, wondering what to do on the weekend since her vet office was closed. And I was all, "Dog ate one grape? What's the fuss?"  Well, now I know!

2. Acknowledge someone for a job well done.

I'll give a shout out to Work Study - our student employee at work. She's a military veteran who now gets paid by the VA to go to school. She admittedly is not passionate about being a student, but realizes it's probably the right thing to do, plus it pays the rent. 

In the meantime, she's trying to figure out what to be when she "grows up" while taking general classes. She comes in to work a few hours each week and is a total people-person - has a way of engaging people in conversation and taking their minds off of the stressful testing environment.

3. Describe a good idea you heard.

I didn't actually "hear" this idea, it's something that I discovered while decluttering. So maybe I heard it from some decluttering angel? 

Anyway, here's my tip: I used to keep shoes I didn't wear regularly in their respective boxes in my closet. Dress shoes, winter boots, summer sandals, etc. I decided to get a small shoe shelf and chuck the boxes. In so doing, I unboxed shoes I realized I didn't want anymore. Keeping them in boxes was outta sight, outta mind, and I'd forget I had them. 

Once I shelved them, I saw I had redundant / unwanted shoes that went into the donation box instead. I mean, now many pairs of black business casual shoes or casual canvas sneakers does one need?! 

4. Describe a feeling you experienced.

Sarge told us a story about a time earlier in his life when he briefly worked as a repo man for a rental center. The worst repo he ever did:

They were sent to a home to repossess a large entertainment center, complete with big screen TV and gaming console. When they got there, young kids were sitting there, holding their game controllers and crying. It was right after Christmas.

The mom made a dramatic scene in front of the kids about how she hadn't received her child support check that month, so all that new stuff from Christmas had to go. Sarge said it was almost as if she'd planned the whole thing - buy all that stuff on credit only to have it repoed in order to make the dad out to be the Grinch. 

I doubt the dad was innocent in the whole thing, but Sarge's story just gave us so many feels, and not the good kind. Disgust, anger, sadness, blech. Some people.

5. Describe something that pushed you outisde your comfort zone.

I've not done anything particularly "uncomfortable" lately. After covid precautions lifted enough, I transferred to a local [P.E.O.] chapter, and shortly after that, they asked if I would serve as chapter president when this next year rolls around. I said, "uh, okay?". The P.E.O. year ends/ starts in March, which is coming up. My turn at prez is right around the corner. Uh, okay?

6. How will you apply what you've learned?

Be careful with the grape-dog combo!