Halfway Through

This week is hard. These meetings are kicking my butt. Monday morning, I worked hard to get as much of my job done for the week as possible. Monday afternoon, we gathered in the main conference room for the start of our 3 1/2 day meeting. Monday afternoon and most of Tuesday we learned about global taxes. Yes, my life really is this exciting. Tuesday afternoon, we started presenting on our assigned product lines (called portfolios). We were running behind. We didn't take an actual lunch break. There are no scheduled breaks- just quick little 5 minute breaks. I barely have time to grab the next part of my healthy snack/meal plan. I've been going in my office and running furiously in place for 3 minutes. If I get up to use the restroom, I run in place before washing my hands. I managed to take about 10 minutes outside at lunch (I was second in line to get food so I used everyone else's food gathering time to pace the parking lot). I did do a little "Just Dance" at home Tuesday evening. If I'd had the energy, I would have gone for a brisk walk with a little light jog. But I'm exhausted. It's like starting a new job and going into intensive training. You don't speak the language. You don't know the products. You don't know the locations or key terms. You are delved into an entirely new mode and method for everything. My brain is exhausted. Conversations literally sound like this- I say literally because I actually started jotting down the acronyms being thrown around: What about the MFS? The MOMS for MFS has the P&L and GOSM is going to take the 3PL and confirm it with SO-COM. Also, don't forget to take the NPD team into the hopper. And we need to discuss where the ARTS are located globally. ARGH! I listed about 25 different acronyms. No wonder my head is swimming!! So I'm really missing exercise. I'm not getting regular breaks so that I can go and make phone calls or walk or anything. My eating is going well. I've been taking my own food. For breakfast, I had plain greek yogurt with some honey and cut up strawberries. For a snack, I had a mini bagel with peanut butter. Lunch was brought in- I snagged half of a chicken caesar wrap (chicken, caesar dressing, lettuce, tomato on some kind of green tortilla). I skipped the chips and soda and cookies- had water and the cantaloupe I brought in. In the afternoon, I had cottage cheese, a couple brussels sprouts, a handful of nuts (almonds and macadamia). But I can tell the stress is wearing on me- I want to stuff my face on the couch right now. I'm not hungry so I'm going for ice water instead. I'm stressed over missing my run today. This should be day 3 of week 3. Our meeting starts at 7:30 a.m. We aren't scheduled to end until 6 p.m. We have run over our stop time every day- and remember, no scheduled breaks and we worked through lunch today. It sucks, it's stressful, I'm ready for it to be over. I'm incredibly blessed to have my husband. He's the glue this week. He is running the errands, at my beck and call via text, helping my evenings be calm. He's been very understanding and supportive and helpful. Love that man! A sampling of his helpfulness on Teagan's birthday: He drove her to school. He came across town and picked up the edible fruit bouquet I'd ordered for her. He drove across town and delivered it to her at school. He went up to that mall and got cupcakes from The Cupcake Camper. He picked her up a little early from school and took her to the grocery store to buy ingredients for her favorite dinner- chicken nachos. And when my meeting ran over, he started making dinner with her and Zach and it was coming out of the oven when I walked in the door. He picked out books for her birthday present and didn't complain when I came home even later on Monday because I wanted to hit Old Navy to get T a new birthday dress. He's handling it all- taking on a lot of my balancing act. Think of me today and tomorrow... I'm halfway through this really hard week!