Work, the flu, and chubbiness.

I am absolutely loving my new job. The office is so relaxed and friendly, yet proficient and renowned for being one of the nation’s best independent mortgage lenders.

And I still can’t get over the sense of camaraderie here!

I’m used to previous jobs where you take a deep breath and hold it as you enter the building, preparing yourself for the stress ahead.

I would enter my old work and instantly feel the tension, like a palpable cloud surrounding the building with a gloomy and unhealthy mist.

I’ve been in 2 jobs where I’ve been thrown under the bus by people looking to shake the blame off themselves and get ahead.  It’s disgusting.

So to be here, where you can’t walk down the hall without being smiled at or asked how you and your loved ones are, or have a coworker offer you a brownie or handful or Skittles…well, it is certainly different!

I could get used to this, and I quickly am!

It is still a little jolt of happiness when I see my husband roaming the halls, working his ass off for the IT Department.  I sneak over to his desk sometimes to make sure he is drinking water and has a bowl of cashews or a sandwich to munch on, as he becomes a workaholic and refuses to take time for himself.

As I’m going upstairs and downstairs I glimpse friends, and sometimes family (Eli’s brother-in-law and some of his distant relatives also work here), and I get calls from my buddies asking if I can sneak away for some food, or just to chat over a cup of tea for 10 minutes.

I’m part of a highly selective Coffee Clutch on the first floor.  I am their fifth member! They rotate buying 3-3-1 beans that are quite fancy, and the President of the Coffee Clutch keeps the machine at his desk.  It is highly regulated, and the best coffee I’ve ever had.  Ever.

My department is supposed to be relocating tomorrow…hopefully.

We are a newly created department, Centralized Disclosures, and we aren’t centralized yet—our 7 members are spread out all over the second floor!
But it is a good thing I have to dart around continually to seek them out, because otherwise I’m going to get chubby; the company serves snacks constantly! Yesterday we had a companywide meeting that concluded with breakfast treats (cinnamon rolls, strudel, bagels!), and this morning I had a meeting complete with cranberry orange muffins and fresh squeezed juice! 
Oh, and the lunch I am munching on as I write this was a surprise treat that a bank we work with ordered for us---more than 100 sack lunches from Paradise Bakery!

I am blissful.

The only drawback that I’ve experienced so far is that I have a miserable bout of the flu, instigated by being too cold at my desk.

I think I picked it up over the weekend and on my first day here (Monday) I felt warm, which everyone thought was crazy because they always complain about the cold temperature in the office, and many people have heated blankets at their desks (space heaters not allowed  L).  I now know I had a raging fever!
Yesterday I absolutely froze to death and lost my voice during the last hour of work, then completely collapsed when we got home.

The fact that my ear is still clogged up and I can’t hear out of it is just making everything worse!

But today I have my heating pad and I’m cramming down vitamins and EmergenC and Zicam.
Well, back to work!