Back in Florida
Jun. 29th, 2021 07:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39In the morning I woke up in the guestroom in my Aunt's house, forgetting where I was for a moment before remembering.
I made the bed, got dressed, packed up, loaded the car, had breakfast, then locked up the house and sent a text to my Aunt thanking her for letting me crash at her place. Although I would have liked to drive for a few more hours the night before, I also need to save some money since I'm now out the cost of four tires and whatnot. Plus it forced me to stop and stay for a bit, and sometimes that's just a good thing to do.
What WASN'T a good thing to do was to hang around Cary for an additional 30 minutes waiting for La Farm Bakery to open.
I really should have hit the road at 7am, but instead that's when I got up. Now I knew I'd be hitting rush hour traffic in Orlando, but I had really wanted the extra sleep. And since I was leaving late anyway, why not visit my favorite local bakery!
Like many other restaurants, La Farm is having to reduce hours due to limited staff, and they've also upped their prices. But their bread is SO GOOD, and who knows when I'll be in the area again, and I wanted to support them! I waited in line, oogling at all the stuff that I wanted to buy (pretty much everything). They sell local honey and their own heirloom grain flour and French pastries and exquisite sandwiches, not to mention the array of rustic and loaf breads. I always have a hard time deciding what to get in there. But I settled on a sourdough multigrain loaf, since I won't have time to make bread for us this week.
Here's what it looks like, I didn't take a picture of mine but it's pretty much just like this only less staged and in a bread bag, lol. It's amazing, chewy like a sourdough yet hearty and fluffy like a wheat bread. I love it!
The rest of my trip back to Florida is hardly worth mentioning, except that it took about an hour longer than planned due to A) it being the Friday before a major holiday and B) it was raining cats and dogs from the moment I entered Georgia and everyone immediately forgets how to drive when there's water falling from the sky. There was a point where no matter how much progress I made, the GPS continued to say "2 hours remaining". Every few miles there was yet another fender-bender caused by some gaping tourist or oblivious cell phone addict. It was infuriating.
Jameson was waiting for me at the house, but as my arrival time was pushed later and later he finally had to give up and leave for his Head Over Heels cast party. I didn't blame him one bit (and plus, him leaving meant I could pull into the garage and unload out of the rain) so I decided to stop at the grocery so I'd have something to eat for the week. Once home I texted everyone to let them know I was ok, then unpacked, vacuumed, packed my lunch for work, did breakfast meal prep for the week, descaled the kettle, put away the coffee pot we'd gotten out for Jameson's dad, tore the sheets off the guest bed, dusted a little, ate something, and finally, finally, got a shower and went to bed.
Jameson came home around 2:30am, from the pictures it looked like he'd had fun :)
I wanted to catch up and all that but I had to be up for work in three hours and passed right back out.
My first day back at work was uneventful. I had almost a thousand emails to go through, so instead of wasting time with that I simply asked a coworker for the important updates which she had flagged for her own reference already. I had a little catch-up work to do, but otherwise it was like I'd never left.
After work and the commute home I enjoyed dinner with Jameson, and we got pretty much caught up on each other's doings. We're both in "summer break" right now, me from steno school and him from teaching, so we had a relaxing evening of just chilling together. I took the Pennsylvania rye and AP flour out of of their waxed paper bags and transferred them to sealed OXO containers. And I finally had a chance to check on my garden and it is OUT OF CONTROL.
First of all, the little cowpea sprouts I planted before I left are now massive vines taller than me and taking over the entire planter.
I pulled one of them out. Had no idea they'd get this big!
I think some of them already have peas growing? I've never grown peas before.
And the BASIL. Good lord. It's an absolute unit.
From soil level it's about 2 feet, 5 inches tall with at least four primary stalks. Guess I'm making pesto instead of bread this weekend!
The banana tress are also significantly taller, coming up to my chest now.
My single meyer lemon is almost the size of a golf ball, I have hope that it'll stay on the tree and grow into something useable.
The carnivorous plants are very happy. I'm going to have to start giving away baby sundews I guess! There are at least ten baby sundews.
Next morning, back to work. Uneventful.
I feel a little tension, a little suspense, because there are things in motion work-wise that could end up being Good Things for me.
But it's all pending, so I've got to be patient and wait. Which is the worst! I hate being in suspense!
After work was dinner, and Jameson had some arranging to do for a friend, and I had to practice steno.
Then we enjoyed some chill time.
On Monday I woke up pensive, because of the pending stuffs.
I wish I could talk about it, but I'm sure that day will come later this week.
Basically I have two pending job opportunities, one of which would take me to a new department at work and change my entire job description, the other that would really, truly flip my life upside down. Neither has been offered but both have been hinted at. Every day until I hear something from one or the other feels like a freefall. I just want to knoooooooooow
At work I had a "calibration" with my boss, which is where I get evaluated for how I evaluate others. An evaulation pyramid, I guess. I did my best and everything turned out fine I thought. Otherwise work was ho-hum, nothing new.
Getting home was hell in a handbasket, traffic was awful because apparently the 4th of July holiday starts NOW for a lot of people and they are all very busy rushing to Walmart for sunscreen or whatever. I hope it pours all day on the 4th (yeah I'm a curmudgeon about traffic this week).
On the way home I heard some positive noises from some of the people on my references sheet.
I thanked them again for speaking to my work ethic, and tried not to get my hopes up or down.
I also picked up some 2 oz jars for which to gift pesto to my coworkers. I can't think of a better way to use THAT MUCH basil.
Now it is Tuesday morning and I am typing this up 30 minutes before I can start my work from home day.
Although I hate getting up early, I do enjoy how quiet it is, and how it's time just for me. I can sip coffee and eat slowly and ponder lots of things.
During my breaks I'll probably do a load of laundry, do a garden check, practice steno, and start the dough for English muffins.
I'm using a different recipe this time that is supposed to yield better nooks and crannies. We'll see!
I made the bed, got dressed, packed up, loaded the car, had breakfast, then locked up the house and sent a text to my Aunt thanking her for letting me crash at her place. Although I would have liked to drive for a few more hours the night before, I also need to save some money since I'm now out the cost of four tires and whatnot. Plus it forced me to stop and stay for a bit, and sometimes that's just a good thing to do.
What WASN'T a good thing to do was to hang around Cary for an additional 30 minutes waiting for La Farm Bakery to open.
I really should have hit the road at 7am, but instead that's when I got up. Now I knew I'd be hitting rush hour traffic in Orlando, but I had really wanted the extra sleep. And since I was leaving late anyway, why not visit my favorite local bakery!
Like many other restaurants, La Farm is having to reduce hours due to limited staff, and they've also upped their prices. But their bread is SO GOOD, and who knows when I'll be in the area again, and I wanted to support them! I waited in line, oogling at all the stuff that I wanted to buy (pretty much everything). They sell local honey and their own heirloom grain flour and French pastries and exquisite sandwiches, not to mention the array of rustic and loaf breads. I always have a hard time deciding what to get in there. But I settled on a sourdough multigrain loaf, since I won't have time to make bread for us this week.
Here's what it looks like, I didn't take a picture of mine but it's pretty much just like this only less staged and in a bread bag, lol. It's amazing, chewy like a sourdough yet hearty and fluffy like a wheat bread. I love it!
The rest of my trip back to Florida is hardly worth mentioning, except that it took about an hour longer than planned due to A) it being the Friday before a major holiday and B) it was raining cats and dogs from the moment I entered Georgia and everyone immediately forgets how to drive when there's water falling from the sky. There was a point where no matter how much progress I made, the GPS continued to say "2 hours remaining". Every few miles there was yet another fender-bender caused by some gaping tourist or oblivious cell phone addict. It was infuriating.
Jameson was waiting for me at the house, but as my arrival time was pushed later and later he finally had to give up and leave for his Head Over Heels cast party. I didn't blame him one bit (and plus, him leaving meant I could pull into the garage and unload out of the rain) so I decided to stop at the grocery so I'd have something to eat for the week. Once home I texted everyone to let them know I was ok, then unpacked, vacuumed, packed my lunch for work, did breakfast meal prep for the week, descaled the kettle, put away the coffee pot we'd gotten out for Jameson's dad, tore the sheets off the guest bed, dusted a little, ate something, and finally, finally, got a shower and went to bed.
Jameson came home around 2:30am, from the pictures it looked like he'd had fun :)
I wanted to catch up and all that but I had to be up for work in three hours and passed right back out.
My first day back at work was uneventful. I had almost a thousand emails to go through, so instead of wasting time with that I simply asked a coworker for the important updates which she had flagged for her own reference already. I had a little catch-up work to do, but otherwise it was like I'd never left.
After work and the commute home I enjoyed dinner with Jameson, and we got pretty much caught up on each other's doings. We're both in "summer break" right now, me from steno school and him from teaching, so we had a relaxing evening of just chilling together. I took the Pennsylvania rye and AP flour out of of their waxed paper bags and transferred them to sealed OXO containers. And I finally had a chance to check on my garden and it is OUT OF CONTROL.
First of all, the little cowpea sprouts I planted before I left are now massive vines taller than me and taking over the entire planter.
I pulled one of them out. Had no idea they'd get this big!
I think some of them already have peas growing? I've never grown peas before.
And the BASIL. Good lord. It's an absolute unit.
From soil level it's about 2 feet, 5 inches tall with at least four primary stalks. Guess I'm making pesto instead of bread this weekend!
The banana tress are also significantly taller, coming up to my chest now.
My single meyer lemon is almost the size of a golf ball, I have hope that it'll stay on the tree and grow into something useable.
The carnivorous plants are very happy. I'm going to have to start giving away baby sundews I guess! There are at least ten baby sundews.
Next morning, back to work. Uneventful.
I feel a little tension, a little suspense, because there are things in motion work-wise that could end up being Good Things for me.
But it's all pending, so I've got to be patient and wait. Which is the worst! I hate being in suspense!
After work was dinner, and Jameson had some arranging to do for a friend, and I had to practice steno.
Then we enjoyed some chill time.
On Monday I woke up pensive, because of the pending stuffs.
I wish I could talk about it, but I'm sure that day will come later this week.
Basically I have two pending job opportunities, one of which would take me to a new department at work and change my entire job description, the other that would really, truly flip my life upside down. Neither has been offered but both have been hinted at. Every day until I hear something from one or the other feels like a freefall. I just want to knoooooooooow
At work I had a "calibration" with my boss, which is where I get evaluated for how I evaluate others. An evaulation pyramid, I guess. I did my best and everything turned out fine I thought. Otherwise work was ho-hum, nothing new.
Getting home was hell in a handbasket, traffic was awful because apparently the 4th of July holiday starts NOW for a lot of people and they are all very busy rushing to Walmart for sunscreen or whatever. I hope it pours all day on the 4th (yeah I'm a curmudgeon about traffic this week).
On the way home I heard some positive noises from some of the people on my references sheet.
I thanked them again for speaking to my work ethic, and tried not to get my hopes up or down.
I also picked up some 2 oz jars for which to gift pesto to my coworkers. I can't think of a better way to use THAT MUCH basil.
Now it is Tuesday morning and I am typing this up 30 minutes before I can start my work from home day.
Although I hate getting up early, I do enjoy how quiet it is, and how it's time just for me. I can sip coffee and eat slowly and ponder lots of things.
During my breaks I'll probably do a load of laundry, do a garden check, practice steno, and start the dough for English muffins.
I'm using a different recipe this time that is supposed to yield better nooks and crannies. We'll see!
