1/17/25

 Yay! It’s Friday! Avery decided the she is moving back to the dorm tomorrow. Boo! It was so nice to have her home. She has been so thoughtful and helpful. Plus I enjoy her company. It is nice to have a little extra estrogen in the house.

I decided that I better stock up on snacks and food for Ethan and Paul while I am in Florida. I am looking forward to the warmer weather and seeing grass. 

This will be the first time I am away from Moe. Moe will have to spend his day in the crate (not his favorite). The other dogs like their crate and I don’t anticipate an issue as they are more flexible. 

I don’t want to leave him out because he gets on the furniture and is not respectful or trustworthy. He has earned a place in his crate for that length of time.

Tomorrow I will work on food prep so the boys have healthy meal options. I spoil them. I enjoy it though. They are easy to please and it allows me to cook which I enjoy.

Another one of my goals is trying to be better at having difficult conversations. They make me uncomfortable. I don’t enjoy it. I would just prefer to retreat! Like a dog wandering into the woods to die alone. That is what I would prefer. Ok maybe that is being a tad too dramatic.

I had to lead a meeting with a difficult conversation with someone today. Ugh! I kept going over in my mind phrasing things with curiosity instead of blaming or accusations. Blaming and accusations are so much easier, but never productive. Sometimes I rehearse ahead of time. I start with what I want to say, then clean it up in a way I would want someone to talk to me.

I have visions of starting the meeting with something like “So….what the f@$k were you thinking?”  It seems as though that is not a welcomed conversation starter. Then it turns into “Walk me through the scenario so I can better understand the current outcome.” That seems better received.

Am I the only one that does this? Overthinking seems to be very easy for me.

I over prepared (of course) for the meeting to sooth my nerves. I went over possible issues that could come up and how I would address it from multiple angles. I had a specific outcome I was aiming for. I was prepared to be met with resistance. Luckily, it turned into a really productive meeting and I was thankful at the end of it.

 It had an unexpected twist and I was thankful I addressed the issue. It is much easier to ignore things and quietly stew about it. But this was something that was not being fair to both parties. Apparently I feel strongly about things being fair. Ha!

Overall, it was a good day.