No Rest for the Weary

 I expect at least some of you want to know whether I made my deadline of closing the books of 2004 by the end of February, thus earning a $300 bonus.

Well, no.  Not exactly. 

When I left work this evening, there were three reports I still needed to compare to the trial balance.  There was also a largish stack of loose printouts mixed in with two notebooks on my office floor.  (Sorry, no new picture tonight.)  If the three accounts are right--and they should be--then I still need to hole punch and organize most of the printouts, put them all in the notebooks, burn a CD to give the tax accountant, and hie me over to the Swan and Speedway area to drop the stuff off. Still, that's not much, compared to where I was in the process 48 hours ago.

Why am I not still at work then? "Blame" my boss for that.

He came into my office just before 5 PM, and told me not to stay to finish it all tonight.  "Tomorrow will be soon enough," he said.  He teased that it meant no bonus, but it was only a tease.  "Get some sleep," he said.

I told you he's the best boss I've ever had.  This is yet more evidence for my claim.  Mind you, he told me this while waiting to hear back about the status of his wife Sandy's latest trip to the ER at Tucson Heart Hospital, and trying desperately to catch up on a backlog of work for our clients.  The phone didn't stop ringing all day, and Mal took most of the calls. If you believe in such things, please say a little prayer for Sandy tonight, and for a client of ours whose husband died over in Hawaii this weekend.  That was one of the many calls I took today.

But the stressful final workday in February is over now.  Tonight John and I went to a new restaurant in town called Claim Jumper, apparently part of a chain out of California. (With that name, it would pretty much have to be a California chain.)  I loved the architecture, the fresh mint sprig in the ice tea, and the roasted asparagus.  John was unimpressed with the cobb salad, and put off by the crowd, the wait, the noise and the high prices.  Still, it gotus out doing something different.

Tomorrow I'll finish up the 2004 reconciliation, start cleaning my office and make a preliminary stab at catching up with current work.  Tomorrow night I'll probably start on the Quantum Leap article I promised to Sharon.  After that, I've got to get started cleaning.  My dad will be here for the graduation ceremony in less than three weeks! 

When all THAT's done, maybe I'll have a couple of weeks to work on the novels before I need to start studying for the CPA exam in May.

Still, I'm feeling pretty good tonight.  One obligation is almost completed.

So why does my back hurt?  Perhaps it's the lack of sleep, but I think my back knows that the pressure's not off yet.  See, when I do get caught up at work, it will be time to start job hunting.

But not tonight.  Tonight I sleep--after I update the church website, that is, and work on JW, and...!

Karen

P.S.  Check out Sara's silly reader participation serial about the King and Louie:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/qelenhn/
Funny stuff!  If you like Douglas Adams and James Thurber, you'll probably enjoy this!