It seems that lately I’ve been having some strange Thursdays. I don’t know if I’ve stumbled upon bad karma with Thursday or what, but today was yet another wacky day.

Oh, the day started out just fine. I woke at a reasonable hour, enjoyed a cup of coffee and read the updates on Facebook. Then I decided it was time to bring in wood for the wood stove because 1) the pile was getting low and 2) I actually had the time to do it this morning.

So I bundled up and went outside. We keep a wheelbarrow here that’s used to transport the wood from the stacked pile outside to the back door. Then I carry it into the house from there.  A few days ago I had help from Bobby, and we filled that wheelbarrow up to the brim then wheeled it into the garage so we’d have “spare” wood in case I couldn’t get out to that pile in the back due to the snow we’d had.

I only had the pull that wheelbarrow about ten steps. I started to do so when I realized that we’d not loaded the thing right. There was too much weight on one side. I felt the wheelbarrow begin to tip and tried to compensate by pulling on the other side but my boot slipped on the ice and I lost all leverage. The wheelbarrow began to tip over. Instead of letting it go, I held on and futilely tried to steady the load. That didn’t work. Down went the wheelbarrow, the wood, and Windy.

With a great adrenaline rush that totally woke me up, I jumped up off of the ground and shook the snow off of my pants. Then I had to pick each piece of that wood off of the ground and carry it all into the house. I accomplished that and then went with that damn wheelbarrow to the wood pile in the back yard. I needed to load it and unload twice more. As I was doing so, a bitter and powerful wind began to blow, whipping me in the face repeatedly like a leather belt.

I pushed through all of that and successfully finished the wood project for the day. Then I went and did the morning yoga routine. I needed to go through those stretches since I probably twisted my back all out of alignment when I fell. My left hip was a little sore from the slip and fall. Thankfully I still have extra padding there, but I have the feeling that I’ll be sore tomorrow. The yoga helped me to stretch, but also to relax and prepare for the day ahead. Or so I thought at the time.

I drove to work at my normal pace (which is slow) and all was well until I sat down at my “station” and the darn computer wasn’t working right. So I had to quickly switch cubicles and get to a working station and plug into the monitor within 30 seconds. I just made it.

Now I began to get stressed over that when I realized that today was a testing day at work. I had signed up to test for a higher level of typing, which means a little raise. First I had to take a written test which was multiple choice and I sat there over-analyzing every question and choice because 1) I couldn’t remember all of the correct answers and 2) I thought they were trying to “psych” us out with some of the questions. After the test the supervisor called me back to the office (not a good sign) to ask me about one of my answers. It turns out I had checked every choice, when I was supposed to have put the choices in order from 1 to 5!  I had completely mis-read that question! Lucky for me the supervisor took pity on me and gave me a second chance to do it right.

Still, I thought I’d failed the test. As it turned out, I got 99 out of 106 points and that’s still an A. Then I had to take a typing test. I was still realing from the written test and tried to calm myself down which only fueled my anxiety. What happened to that “mantra” I was supposed to be telling myself? It must have fallen over and landed with the wood this morning!

Anyway, I passed the typing test enough to make the grade and the end result is that I will receive a little raise starting next week!

Phew.  I felt immediately relieved. Four hours later it was my lunch time and I was walking up the stairs to the office, feeling pretty good about myself, when I tripped on one of the steps! This time my reflexes kicked in just in time for me to catch myself from falling. Who else but me falls…UP ?

I have to say that I was very glad to get home safely tonight. It has been a strange day and I am glad that tomorrow is Friday. These Thursdays are really becoming a challenge for me!