There is work, and then there is WORK!

 

 

I am a travelling on-call.  I go to offices where the Branch Office Assistant is on vacation or ill.  Filling in.  Most of the time it is planned well in advance, so she leaves me a list of things to do.  Sometimes I go beyond my responsibilities a little, a put away Christmas decorations, take the turkey candy bowl off the desk, recycle stale candy (I have to sample to see if fresh for clients!), and try to leave things better than they were before I came.  I finally invested in some awesome graphite lock-ease, to make the door locks easier to open!  They send me a key and I am amazed at what people will put up with, tough to open doors are fixable with a few well placed squirts.  Squeaky door hinges are silenced.  Squeaky chairs.  Twisted phone cords unraveled.  Everything dusted...

 

 

Trying to shake off the guilt of working outside our home and coming home to a dirty sink, hungry people.  I had a super busy day at the office.  And I wish I could have been home, working, cleaning...really.

 

The first day I was there alone, without the financial advisor.  I did all the paperwork waiting, then found the vacuum, cleaned up, rearranged a little, moved the couch to focal wall and moved around pictures (they were all hung another 2 feet higher with no relationship to each other or the furniture, and I am a snob about pictures) and made myself at home.

 

It is hard for me to leave decorating tragedies alone.  Should have taken before photos.  Trust me, it was worse, much better now!

 

The financial advisor's wife called and said, "I have heard how great everything looks since you arrived!  Someone after my own heart!"

 

I leave a smiley face note telling the regular Branch Office Assistant that everything can easily move back to original spot, that I am a self-admitted decorating snob who has watched way too many DIY shows...and I miss my home.