random stream of consciousness from Friday morning at work

8:15 - Duane greeted me with a series of sneezes. He has the loudest, most annoying sneeze. It makes you say, "bless you, now stop it!" He said, "I know, put out the cat already!" Speaking of cat… I'm spending way too much time alone with Stubby. We've started having conversations where I am certain he understands me.
8:30 - eating my fruit and yogurt parfait, enjoying my mccafe iced coffee. It ain't starbucks but it will do. Have sort of a slight sinus headachey thing. Nine hours until time to start the weekend. Letter from insured wanting to negotiate value of their home. *eyeroll* At least once a week I have some genius tell me that since the resale value of their home has decreased, their insurance should have gone down. Heather's professional response: "Although your home may not sell for as much as it would have three years ago, the cost to REBUILD your home has increased." Usually the folks complaining about their homeowners premium live in homes valued in excess of $300k. So cry me a river. (that would be my unprofessional response).
8:45 - Ginger is out for the day again so I'm doing her job again. The change from receptionist to agent was great all 'cept for the fact that the receptionist is out an average of two days a week. I'm not bitter… it's been slow here… gives me something to do… but I'm jes' sayin'. Shirley has watered the plants - her official Friday chore. She gets excited when it's time to get the water pitcher out - signals the end of a week. I wore my hair pulled back in a low bun today. It's a look I usually avoid ever since Michael told me that I don't look good with my hair pulled back. I'm trying to break all those habits he instilled in me… things like being afraid to leave a speck of anything in or around the sink, making sure all laundry is folded and put away the day it's washed (who does that?), not wearing open toed shoes, not singing along to the car radio and about a thousand other of his controlling neurosis he burdened me with for two and a half years. Why I am thinking about this at …
9:00 on a Friday morning? Who knows. That's where my mind goes sometimes. I love casual fridays. I'm wearing some cute capris and my comfy walking shoes. (edited to add - and a cute top - because some of my readers would go there!) I need to put these walking shoes to work more then I could wear more of the cute capris I own… Theresa brought french toast sticks to work. I am avoiding them. I've decided that I don't care for dinner any more… just a bowl of cereal and I'm happy. My grocery list this week will be cereal, milk, yogurt and fruit. And things for Austin to eat. Austin has early release today and my summer stress begins… where is he, what's he getting into, who's he with, is he breaking any laws? Is he breaking the ten commandments? Will the City of Cleveland Police Department be calling me today? Is my homeowners insurance up to date? For the months during our renovation at the office and the months following Duane would give people what I call "the new addition tour"… since the fire, I've noticed him giving the "fire tour"… which cracks me up! And explains why he was washing off the tops of the trash cans outside… The oldies station we listen to here at work is playing some great dance/karaoke songs this morning. I'm trying to keep lipstick on today. It's a lot of work. Just remembered we have change at the bank - "Kevin…. Do you mind going to the bank?" and now it's
9:15 Baby Josiah is gaining weight. Keep praying. Since Misti is at the hospital and doesn't have internet, I've been getting updates 3rd or 4th hand but I'm still relieved to know things are improving. Wonder how busy we'll be today? The Friday before a holiday weekend can be really slow or it can be crazy. It's never middle of the road. Busy is good because time passes quickly. I've started following a lot of new blogs. My old list was not updating often. Blog traffic has slowed in my neck of the blogosphere. Over the weekend I plan to catch up and comment. Honest!
9:30 Eight more hours until the weekend! My hair is still wet. It's like a sponge. I'm seriously giving thought to chopping it all off - maybe even to a chin length bob. Don't quite have the courage yet. But I'm thinking about it. One of my clients just came in with his pinkie wrapped in gauze… cut it and had to have five stitches!
9:45 Just saw something creepy crawly crawl thru the lobby. Not sure what it was but it was big enough for me to see from my office. Ick! Head still hurts. Halfway through my iced coffee. Haven't started my water for the day. I'm determined to get the water in… so often what we mistake as hunger is really thirst. I consider this a major foundation for weight loss and heaven knows, I need to lose weight! Almost finished with the beginning of day report. I don't mind doing it… but I hate the part where we call people to remind them that their bill is past due. Makes me feel like Vinnie the Loan Shark. Just checked the Duval County Clerk of Court website to see if there's any update on my divorce. Nope. Still married. For what it's worth. We've been separated for 8 months now. Been busy with taking payments so far this morning. People are paying bills… I don't mind that kind of work day but there's no cha-ching in it for me.
10:00 Seven and a half hours until my weekend starts!
10:15 Just did a flood quote. I hate those. Hate them. For those of you who think you want national healthcare, I would encourage you to try to navigate any of the government insurance plans already in place. Seriously. I'm never confident that I do the quote correctly. The last flood policy I did was a nightmare… I get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when someone calls for a flood quote. I'm shedding. I find my hair everywhere. I just pulled a hair out of my waistband of my capris. Long curly hair.
11:00 working on the stupid flood quote. I hate flood. I hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Duane refuses to deal with it (his perogative, right?) and therefore we have to figure it out with the help of a flood underwriter. Between the flood policy, trying to work and rework and insurance value on a home to please these folks and taking random payments every ten minutes my mind is mush. It's switching gears that messes with me.
11:30 Six hours to go. Yes, I'm counting. I'm really counting. Theresa has left for the day - gone to Honors Day at her kids' school and then to her boys' spring football game. It's down to me, Kevin and Shirley. And Duane, of course. He's a great hands on agent. Most aren't. You wouldn't find most agents hanging out on a Friday before a holiday.
11:45 My hair is still wet. Every time Ginger is out of the office SOMEBODY in her family calls looking for her. I don't know if she's not good at getting out the word when she's going to be off or what… her mom just called. I'm taking lunch at noon… not sure what I want to eat… yesterday I went out for mexican. There is a nice, quiet mexican restaurant in town with really good salsa. The waiter was so excited to see me reading my bible on lunch. He told me he thought it was great. I told him it was for survival! So far this week I've had leftovers two days, had subway one day and had mexican. I didn't bring my lunch today because there were no leftovers… I had cornbread for dinner last night. Just cornbread. I really don't have much of an appetite these days. Not that you can tell by any weight loss or anything like that. I think I forgot to take my meds this morning. Maybe. Can't remember. Just got an email from Whitney in Jacksonville. She's sick of rain. It's overcast here and there's a chance of thunderstorms but it's not bad. Posting…