I'm sorry, msbelle. Wishing you clarity of expression and communicating what you need boss to hear.

It's odd, but like breadmaking, ironing is a zen kind of thing for me. Not like I do a family's worth of shirts, dresses, and trousers every week. But ironing napkins, handkerchiefs (my dad's--he always carried one), pillowcases, all simple flat things, was rote and simple. I did have to be careful around the embroidery on the pillowcases, but getting the lace edging my grandmother tatted all flat and pretty again was nice. And when I had a few chosen pieces of work clothing--a re-tailored Egyptian cotton tuxedo shirt with miles of pintucks and French cuffs, a chambray mid-calf skirt, a blue chambray shirt, etc.--it was nice to take the time to ease out the wrinkles, to edge the point of the iron into difficult spots and see them relax into their proper shape. It was the luxury of having those moments of time to take that care that made me happy to iron.

My mom offered me her breadmaking machine, and I declined. Aside from the fact that we've reduced our bread intake drastically, it's the mechanics of breadmaking that I love. I will knead for hours on a bad day, putting all my aggressive instincts toward producing something good and positive.

I am documenting the shit out of everything do, plus things I see that need doing, plus anything I could be doing but that co-worker has not shown me how.

Yeah, that was going to be my only idea. Good luck! Fucking yikes is right.

It usually takes about a week of staring at it before I can work up the spoons to start typing.

Hard same. Which means I better start staring!

it's the mechanics of breadmaking that I love. I will knead for hours on a bad day, putting all my aggressive instincts toward producing something good and positive.

I have realized this weekend that I don't care about the mechanics of baking at all! Like, I already thought it, and then I was kneading bread this morning like, "ugh, am I done yet?" What I like is having baked.

Obviously, we need a Jesse-Beverly collaboration.

Oh shit, this place has a separate guest cottage AND a Treehouse. And in a great part of Berkeley: [link]

Timelies all!

I'm not even sure if we have an iron in the house. We may, but neither of us have used it in all the years we've been in this house.

Obviously, we need a Jesse-Beverly collaboration.

It's true that I would be happy to have any bread that Beverly made.

Also co-worker would be less overwhelmed if she had any process documents in place about what she does. None. It is a whole thing to get trained on how to do anything.

That is something you could volunteer to do to emphasize your value.

Job~ma for msbelle.

Covid~ma for Steph and Tim.

My parents both got their second vaccine doses this weekend!

Were we talking about ironing recently?

For the record, I'm still not ironing my fancy sheets.

I made rye bread this weekend. I wouldn't say it was a zen experience, since I spent most of the time worried that I wasn't doing it right. Like, "The recipe said the dough would be sticky, but is it supposed to be THIS sticky?!" Anyway, my loaf isn't going to win any beauty contests, but it's delicious!

I am leaning HARD into starting a process document project within the Department, but I fully expect to be met with resistance. Stuff being i people's heads is way too much of the culture (despite there being case after case of evidence of how that has hurt the Dept when people leave) and Big Boss strikes me as an "I don't want to know about the how everything works stuff."

I am going to go into the office tomorrow and plan to just go in everyday to work on some items that keep getting pushed down the list. If I go and sit with people, some of it will get done, so that is what I will do. None of the stuff that I plan to work on immediately is COVID related, so maybe that will help Big Boss see worth (not as if COVID stuff is going away in the next 6 months and someone has to be doing all the tracking they are demanding).

It's true that I would be happy to have any bread that Beverly made.

Hard same. Or amych -- I mean you've seen those pictures. Or flea. Oh, right. Gluten free. I think bread is the one free pass I'd take if I could do one.

Well, shit, msbelle, that is some messed up "thinking" on big boss's part.

ETA: and shift's bread, too!