New Job and Shawl progress

One week down on the new job & I do like it & so far, I like my co-workers!  Granted I have only spent 4 half days at my position, so every time I start to feel like I don't feel as comfortable in my new job as I think I should with 1 week in, I remind myself of that fact!  In fact, probably a bit less than that!  On Monday, we went in at 10 am instead of 8 am, but were told that we will be paid from 8 am since it was for their convenience.  We started our orientation then.  At noon we still had a Sexual Harassment video to watch before being sent to our respective spots - there were 3 of us being started - 1 installer, 1 help desk & me as the RMA assistant.  So we took a lunch break & then went back to do the video before going around & being introduced to everyone as we went to our desks.  So about 3 hours on Monday were spent with our immediate supervisors.  Then the rest of the week, we rotated around to different departments to see how things work.  Evidently the installer is now the only one of us that still needs more rotations before he is finished.  I am sure there will be times that we will still be called on to pitch in to help out a department with they have a deadline, but it won't be the same as this past week has been.  And N, my immediate supervisor says that she is very pleased with how fast I have been learning my job.  She is having me work only with 2 pieces of equipment to start - the receipt printers and the Verifone card reader machines.

I spent part of 2 days late week before last going through the sample lessons & tests for the Work Keys tests that I have to pass at the Silver Certificate level minimum to keep my job.  There are 3 sections I am to be tested on - Applied Math, Reading for Info & Locating Info.  I was exempted on levels 1-4 , passed levels 5-6 & failed level 7 on Applied Math. Exempted on levels 1-5 & passed Level 6 on Locating Info (no Level 7 on this one). Exempted on levels 1-6 & passed level 7 on Reading for Info. Level 3 is listed as a Bronze Certification, Level 4 as Silver (which is what I need minimum), Level 5 as Gold, Level 6 as Platinum. I think I have the Silver sewn up & possibly the Gold. Haven't had math since 9th grade Algebra that I barely squeaked through because of not being allowed to do homework. So am totally lost, I feel, with the ones dealing with area, radius, diameter, etc. But still feel that I am good, although I will still work some more on the math through 11/7.  The test is on 11/8.  My plan is to even go through the tests that it exempted me from, just in case & do at least 1-2 a day through the 7th.

It has turned chilly this weekend!  Had been as high as the 80's earlier in the week and yesterday it did get up to the low 40's, but it has been dropping into the 20's for 2-3 nights now!  I am not ready for winter!  I have been told that I will probably need to dress a bit warmer for the winter since our desks at work at on an uninsulated north wall that only has a narrow store room between us & the outside wall.  I am sure that I can handle it after my last long-term job where we had a similar issue, but I might have to take my electric throw to work & wear a couple sweaters or something.  Might even take in my fingerless gloves or make me some mitts to wear to work to be on the safe side.

I finished Chart 7 of the Back to the Garden shawl yesterday morning before starting my studying!  Then last night I completed another 3 1/2 rows on it, so just over 20 rows left to finish it!  I didn't get quite as much done on it this past week as I had planned, but it is still moving along!  Maybe it will be finished by the end of this coming week!

My dh worked 3 15 hour days this past week, so I had 3 evenings to myself, which was nice.  I had so many years with him working evenings that at times it is hard not having that quiet time to myself anymore.


With it being on the chilly side, yesterday I put a veggie beef soup into the crockpot.  Today I think I will try a new roasted veggies dish that I saw in the paper a few weeks ago, but also think I will add some meat to it as it cooks & cook it in the crockpot.  It has red peppers, carrots, acorn squash & onion in it.  A little dab of honey & then the spices.  I think it will convert to the crockpot with ease.

A bit irritated right now.  Two years ago last month I had purchased a flute for a granddaughter to use for school.  With all the instruments I have purchased in the past from this company I have always made payments by sending them a check each month, except for the one I did for our grandson 2 years before.  That one I had given them my card # and asked that they take the payment each month.  Which they did and after 12 months, I had gone in & paid it off in full.  My plan had been to do the same for the granddaughter's flute, but by a couple months after signing the agreement, I lost my long-term job due to the economy.  So then started the last 2 years of 1 temp job and another that ended up being a seasonal job.  Then unemployment checks.  I knew I had paid 2 payments the 1st month since I told them I wanted the payments to come out automatically on the 25th of each month and they didn't want to go over 30 days for the 2nd payment to be made.  I was also told that they no longer handled the payments like that themselves, but instead had another company handle that for them, so I could expect my payments to be made to this other company.  What I wasn't told was that this other company would take $5 per month for the convenience of doing this!  I only found this out because I figured the 24 payments ( which has always been my experience with buying instruments) with the double payment in September 2010, would make my payments finish in July 2012 even though I didn't pay it off early like had been my original intention, so that I could save the interest on the contract.  Now after having a payment come out again in August for the full amount, I emailed this company & questioned them about it.  They emailed back that I still owed $65.09.  So I figured I must have been off in my figuring and that I would have 1 payment of $34.57 and then 1 payment of $30.52 and the last payment would be October.  Instead another full payment was taken in October and when I emailed asking for a refund of the overage, I was told that instead of being paid in full, I still owe $11.75 and was sent a print out of the account.  Well, I found what the problem is!  I was never told about the $5 per month that has been being taken out of my payments and so it has added about $140 to the original contract and so I feel that when I was told I still owed $65.09 in August, I was lied to since this didn't include the $15 in added fees that would be coming out as well and even now, being told I still owe $11,75 isn't the truth either since there will be a $5 fee added to that as well!  I have now emailed this company back telling them that this is all deceptive practices, these fees were never disclosed to me, that I will never allow myself to be put into any kind of a contract with them in the future and that I will warn anyone that I know of who might be considering entering into a contract with them!  It would have been 1 thing to be told of these fees up front and agreeing to them, it's another thing finding it out at this late of a date.  And another thing also by finding out they aren't being truthful to me when telling me what my balance is!

I've decided after the 1st of the year and after I finish a crochet tablecloth that I have started for a family member, I want to make myself some crocheted cafe curtains for my kitchen & dining rooms.  So I have for the last couple of weeks, clipped a 40% off 1 item coupon in the Hobby Lobby ad & gone in to buy 1 of the large balls of #10 crochet cotton.  I have 2 balls on hand right now & will get a few more.  Not 100% sure how many I will need for 3 windows, but I figure I would also do a tablecloth or 2 if I get too many.  This coupon brings an $18 purchase down to just $11.  I think though I might use the 1 this week to get a couple skeins of sock yarn for myself in 1 of the new colors I saw last week.  I try to do 1 pair for myself in each new color in my favorite yarns.  Since the coupon is only good on 1 item, I won't be able to get 40% off of each skein, but essentially it will work out to 20% off of each skein & I can handle that.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

I have a job!

I am happy to report that just a bit after 4 pm today I got the call I had been hoping for and I was hired at the job that I interviewed for last Friday!  I will start work next Monday morning at 10 am for orientation and after that will work 8-5 Monday through Friday.  So I called and cancelled the interview that I had set up for Wednesday.  I do have to pass a drug test, a background check and I need to take a WorkKeys test - but I don't think they will be a problem.

Knitting while trying not to panic

On Friday I ended up with a quandary about a job & I sure hope I didn't make a mistake, but right now, while waiting for a phone call, I am not so sure.  I had gotten a message from my son last week with a picture of an Facebook post 1 of his friends had posted saying that the company she is in the HR department of was needing some full-time positions filled.  I looked it over and of the 4 positions listed, I felt I was qualified for 1 of them.  I had an interview on Friday morning and felt it went pretty good.  Came home and found a message that the temp agency had a company wanting me to start a 3-4 week data entry job on Wednesday of this week.  So I called the 1st company back & left a message for my son's friend saying that while I would understand if they didn't want to say anything at all (I had told them this temp position was a possibility of being offered to me) and that I wasn't trying to put her on the spot, I would like to find out if she might have heard anything positive and/or know if there was a definite start date that I might be able to use to see if I could fit in the temp position (which the message at that time said it might only be 2-3 weeks - so a start date of November 7th or later might allow it to work out) since they had told me it would be about 2 weeks before they made a decision.  When she called back, she said that my call had given her an excuse to go talk to the 2 I interviewed with a bit earlier than she had planned to already and that I was definitely in the running.  They had interviewed another person Friday afternoon.  And that she would give me a call this morning since they wanted to sit on it over the weekend.

In the meantime, I had contacted the temp agency to ask what the options would be if I were to accept the temp position and then get offered the FT position & want to take it.  Would I just give a couple days notice or what.  They came back with 2-3 days notice would be fine, but after they contacted the company they were working with, he said he wanted someone who would give a 4 week commitment, but she agreed to give me a bit of time this morning to see what came of the other position.  So far, it's almost 10:30 - I've been up since about 7 and I haven't heard anything!

In the meantime, I finished chart 6B on the Back to the Garden shawl this morning.  It's still a little damp around the edges, so while I am typing this, I have the fan blowing on it to try to dry it enough to work on again.  I still have charts 7 & 8 to finish before time to bind off.  I am really hoping to have this shawl finished for my oldest daughter for Christmas this year.  I did finally break down and told her it was for her.  I had started it a year ago this past summer, but when my hand issues developed, I had to put it aside, there was a lot of aching in the hand even trying to work on it and I was afraid that if I kept on, my hand might not recover.  I still have occasional twinges in my right hand, but nothing like it was last year at this time!  I have not tried to pop my thumb on that hand since the issues came up, but occasionally it will pop on it's own.  I think that is probably a good sign since for the longest time it didn't pop!  So I think the tendon is getting back to normal!  I am still taking my MSM 1000 mg, but am taking 5 a day rather than the 8 that I started out taking - 4 per day is the recommended amount, so figure I am not taking a huge amount over, but slightly over now that it is close to being back to normal.

My dh started a 1 week vacation today.  I think it is his last week for this calendar year.  Tomorrow morning at 3:20 am he will leave heading to Chicago by Amtrak train to visit our youngest daughter & her dh.  He decided to pay about $40 more and get the direct route, so the trip will only take about 13 hours going and 12 hours returning.  He will arrive at about 3 pm tomorrow and it seems their apartment is only about 14 blocks from the station, so his plan is to just walk to their apartment instead of them taking off to go pick him up.  Then he will leave coming home at about 3 pm Saturday and arrive back here around 3:20 am Sunday morning.  So I will get my son or daughter to help me Saturday & we will take his van down, park it in the lot there - pretty much where I used to park for my last long-term job and then I won't have to get the granddaughter that I will have for the night up in the middle of the night to go pick him up.  If it were any of the other grandkids I wouldn't worry about it, but the 2 that are our sil's daughters are early to bed, early to rise kids, so it might be a problem to get them up at that time!

I have now moved into about 6th or 7th place in the I Love Yarn contest - I could sure use a bunch more votes if anyone is feeling generous!  You can vote once every 24 hours and you can even vote for more than 1 picture - I have a couple of friends I have been voting for also.  My entry is the Sugar Plum Fairy that I did last winter & gave to my niece J.  I sure would appreciate your votes!

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Job & socks update

This week has been going pretty good!  Our oldest daughter seems to have gone from working fill in & 1 permanent day per week to working at least 5 days a week.  And my job prospects seem promising this week!  I had 2 interviews on Tuesday.  The first would be at the court house, the second would be working for a business that sells hearing aids.  I got a call today that the 1st job had forgotten to have me take a test for my proficiency, so that is now scheduled for tomorrow at 12:45 pm.  Don't know whether to take that as a positive sign or not though.  Normally this test is done before the interview it seems, so unless I had a good interview, I would think they might be likely to ignore the fact that I hadn't done the test.  But maybe not.  The 2nd job, I did their test on my computer Monday night and I think that interview also went well.  Both said they hope to make a decision this week.

I also had a call from a different temp agency than I had been working with.  During the time that I have had to apply for at least 1 job per day Monday through Friday (that is so hard in this town!), I had put in a few online apps with this agency.  So I got a call from them saying that they might have a 3-4 week temp job that could start as early as next Monday doing data entry and that they might have an insurance agency that is looking for a part-time employee now & that it might work into full-time later.  And that one could involve a day or 2 working in Wichita each week.  I took their test this morning from my computer.  I had intended to do it last night, but I didn't get home from the 2nd interview until shortly before D came home from work, so I got dinner.  Then before I got started, he came in wanting me to look up Amtrak ticket prices for him to go to Chicago next week to visit our youngest & her dh.  So by the time he checked to make sure where Union Station was from their apartment, contacted them to make sure if Monday or Tuesday was best, I checked several dates on the schedule for pricing, then we purchased his tickets to leave on Tuesday and return on Saturday - it was too late to be starting a 90 minute test.  My eyes were getting tired and I just didn't think I would test my best.  So I waited until this morning.

When I had spoken with the woman at the temp agency yesterday, she asked me if I preferred to test on Office 2007 or Office 2010.  I told her 2007 since really, I am most comfortable with 2000 or XP (2003, I think, but might be 2004 version).  So she said she would set me up to test on 2007.  Well, Excel was 2007, but Word was 2010.  So I don't know if she messed it up when she set it up or if it didn't allow older than 2010.  But I'm thinking maybe I should force myself to work more with 2007 at least, since I certainly can't afford to buy 2010 right now to practice with!

I restarted a pair of socks for K.  I had originally planned to do the Waffle Stitch socks by Wilma that I had found on Ravelry.  But I did that stitch pattern for my mil back in the summer.  So I decided instead to drop down from 44 stitches total to 42 stitches & do a cable pattern over 4 stitches with 3 purls between each cable.  So far it is going pretty good, even though the cable patterning seems to be drawing it in more than I expected.  So I think I will work the same # of rounds that I did for the oldest granddaughter and hope that this doesn't make it way too long.  It sure doesn't look to me like it is going to be too long.  But I should be able to try it on her in about 10 days.  So I am thinking I will continue on through the heel, but then stop & work on another gift until I can try it on her - then I don't have quite as much to rip out if it is too big.

I found a give away for 365 skeins of yarn (considered to be 1 year's worth of yarn) to celebrate I Love Yarn day on October 12, 2012.  I have uploaded my Sugar Plum Fairy picture there and I would love to win, at least 1 of the top 10 prizes, but I am currently in about 21st place.  Could I please ask all of you to go there and vote for me?  You are allowed to vote once per day & the voting ends on 10/15/12.  The link for my picture is http://offerpop.com/FacebookContestEntry.psp?c=204579&u=18998&a=254553244581393&p=194582633932169&rest=0&id=616674&rest2=0 - thanks in advance!

And tonight I found a new group of links to maybe download the torrent for the Amish in the City series that I have been looking for.  It looks like they had just uploaded it shortly before I found it.  So I am keeping my fingers & toes crossed that I will be able to view the last 4 episodes in full without it stopping 2/3 the way through.


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

A's Socks Finished and school menus

I have been battling a cold since last Tuesday and then night before last it turned chilly also.  We haven't yet turned on the heat, instead just dressing a bit warmer myself, but yesterday I was just so cold and so I laid down on the couch & proceeded to take a 3 hour nap!  Because of that, when it was bedtime last night, I wasn't ready to go to sleep - it seems I can never sleep if I have a nap.  So I was up until about 2-3 am and I finished the oldest granddaughter's socks just after midnight.  I then soaked them & put them on the blockers.  This morning they were dry enough after having a fan on them the rest of the night so that I could get a picture of them.

Then I was a bit tired of socks, so I got out the tablecloth that I am making for my niece to work on for a bit while I continued to wind down.  I gave up when the lamps in the living room turned off with the timers.  But this morning, I have pulled back the socks that I am making for K. to work a different pattern.  I started them with the same waffle pattern that I had used for my mil's socks back in July, but I am a true Gemini and I get bored with doing the same pattern more than once.  So I have worked out a pattern that I think will work for me in a cable design.  Will see - might have to do some adjustments so that it will go over the entire leg once I get to that area, but hope not.  I am knitting a few more plain rounds before I start the patterning, so I might work out how it will be if I add another purl stitch between the cables so that when I add in the back of the leg, it all comes out even.

I have recently come across a new blog that I am enjoying -  A Joyful Chaos - it is by a woman who grew up Amish, married her dh while still Amish and then as a couple they decided to leave the Amish faith.  I am reading it from the beginning and am currently up to early 2010.  She intersperses her posts with posts that are stories from her childhood.  She is a very good storyteller as she writes these stories of her life.  This is the kind of things that I love - I love reading about peoples lives and learning about them.  I love history when I can learn it in this kind of way, but give me dates & facts and you will lose me every time!  It's like when I can relate it to people, then I find it interesting.  I think I have decided that part of my interest in all things Amish stems from growing up in a United Pentecostal Church, which I would also classify as an anabaptist sort of religion.  Not that they practice just adult baptism, but they don't follow infant baptism.  The person being baptized needs to be the one requesting baptism and so are considered as being old enough to make the decision to do so.  I myself was baptized at 10 years old - February 12, 1969.  Anyway, I see so many similarities at times and since I had to work through a lot of different feelings when we left that church/denomination, I am interested in other peoples thought process as well when they have decided to do a similar thing in their lives.

I am in a group on Facebook that is about growing up in my hometown - Hutchinson, KS.  One of the recent threads has been about whether it was just a local thing or whether others also had grown up with the tradition of having cinnamon rolls for dessert when they were served chili.  I remember all through school that any time we were served chili for lunch, we also got a huge, delicious cinnamon roll!  I haven't done this with my family while they were growing up and I haven't asked my children if they had a similar event while going to school.  But I do remember having it at school while growing up.  I know that we didn't eat lunch at school every day all year, in fact, I think we only usually ate at school during the winter months until we got into the higher grades and so had a closed lunch period.  So as such, I don't know if in grade school they lunches included chili just during the winter months or if it was also served in the warmer weather as well.  I know now, I only want chili or other soups in the cold weather or when I am sick.  So like yesterday - it was only in the 40's out, so I stuck a turkey vegetable soup in the crockpot to simmer for dinner!  It was so good!  What about you?  Did you grow up having cinnamon rolls with chili?  Were there other menus that always seemed to go together?  Someone mentioned applesauce being served also with the chili and cinnamon rolls, but I don't remember that one.  Another dish that was mentioned was potato boats!  I still like those and served them when my kids were growing up.  A slice of bologna topped with a mound of yummy mashed potatoes and then topped with shredded cheddar cheese.  I think some even sprinkle on some paprika, but I never did - figured it was just for looks anyway.  How about you - have you ever eaten potato boats?


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Earthen Ruins finished!

This time I have several things to chat about!  First off this past Friday I went to watch my oldest granddaughter participate in her last tennis tournament for this school year.  She has improved a lot this year, but they still didn't win.  It was a misty day, so everyone was trying to stay out of the weather and the officials were trying to dry out the tennis courts.  I left there about 3 pm, came home, took another bath & prepared for the start of my 35th high school reunion.

My reunion started with the homecoming football game.  I found the group that we were to sit with & so did some others, but not all found it, it seems.  I took some socks that I am knitting for A. and worked on them while we watched the game.  At least 1 classmate said she knew it had to be me if I was knitting.  Our school lost miserably - 10 to 34.  After we left there, we went to a local deli/bar that seems to have been a hang out back in the day for most everyone except me.  I was good and only had a diet coke, but chatted with quite a few in both places.  I headed home about 12:30 am, to sleep about 1:30 am, then back up at about 6 am to get started on a new day.  Since my hair was cut so short, I have to make sure it is dry - which I don't use a blow dryer unless I absolutely have to, then the straightening iron to put some body into it so that it isn't just flat & male looking.  I headed out the door about 9:15 for the 10 am brunch & got things set up.  We had a Memorial List of classmates that have passed away.  I also used an arrangement of flowers in our school colors that I had made a couple years ago.  We had about 30 people show up for brunch and ended up being told that we would have to leave soon as they had a 1:30 reservation for the rooms we were using.  I came home from there and delivered an Avon order that still needed delivered.  Changed & headed to a local Mexican Restaurant that everyone seems to like (not my favorite though).  I set up the flowers, Memorial List, name labels & got ready to start taking money.  We had 58 pay through our arrangements and then some decided to eat on their own tab.  Of course, that didn't help us in recouping the costs that had been spent for arranging things -postage, postcards, etc.  So we came up a bit short.  I am not sure exactly how short, but I know 2 receipts worth had us already at about $8 short.  I feel bad that I don't have the money right now with not working to help at least spread the loss out.  Maybe I can send something after I get a job though.  After the Mexican restaurant we went to another bar & hung out there until about midnight.  I again had diet coke, but this time I got annoyed at the server!  She served me a small wine glass of diet coke (which really wasn't great since the CO level was too high) and when I paid & then asked for a refill, I was charged $3.30 and told I could have no more than 4 refills before she would charge me another $3.30.  I told her I felt that was poor customer service, that I knew for a fact they pay less than 25¢ per pop (probably for all the glasses I had, in fact!).  I almost told her that I knew for a fact that I could buy 5(5) 2 liter bottles at the grocery store this week for just $5.  Instead I just made it so that she really earned the 70¢ I gave her as a tip before I was told about the refills - I would wait until she had served everyone else at our table, refusing refills until she was completely done, then had her go get me a refill.  Petty yes, but I think they should rethink their policy!  At dinner I paid $16 total that included my meal from a buffet, all the drinks I wanted of the non-alcoholic nature, my tip, the tax & part of it went towards the expenses for setting up the reunion!  Anyway, I left at about midnight, came home, got a bit of sleep & headed to the high school for our tour on Sunday morning at 10 am.  We thought we had it arranged for the circle drive as we knew it in high school, but they now have a new circle drive & so over half of us were in the wrong place.  But we got it figured out and got our tour, which was great!  So many things are changed from when we were students there!

Sunday afternoon I headed to the mall for a job interview.  It seems that there is a calendar/games store that is opening this coming Thursday and they want a manager for it.  I'm not sure manager is an accurate description of what they want though since it seems that if I were to be hired for the job, I would be working alone until at least Thanksgiving, when it sounds like some additional help would be coming in.  I'm not even sure how many hours per day the store would be open, but the hours that were mentioned for the manager position is 9-5 Monday through Friday.  The pay is supposed to be up to $10 per hour, which would be a bit less than I have made in the past - my last job, I was getting $11 per hour and another job before that was $15 per hour, but it is better than nothing.  The downside of it, to me, is that it would just be until February and then I would need a new job, but wouldn't have worked enough time to earn unemployment again.  I think that is 7 months, but I would have only worked 5 months.  I haven't heard anything yet, but I left him a message asking about his decision.

Monday I blocked the Earthen Ruins shawl.  I need to figure out where I tucked my tape measure so that I can get the final measurements, but I believe it is slightly larger than the Ruby shawl was.

Today I had my once every 6 months dental cleaning and check up, so not my mouth feels all nice & clean again.  Unfortunately, I also have a clogged, scratchy feeling to my throat today, so not sure if allergies or a cold coming on.  I know the weather is continuing to cool off more each day.  It's supposed to be down into the 40's by Wednesday or Thursday of this week with rain I think for the weekend.


Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!