Two down!

Two patterns have been written, one has been sent out to the test knitters. I haven't sent the other one simply because I'm waiting on a couple of people to get a free account on the system I'm using. I'm lazy and don't want to do attachments to emails.

Now it's time for a little food/knitting/movie break, then I try to bust out the third one....or at least get a start on it.

And can I just rant a little? Don't companies have people testknit their stitch patterns? I'm using about 17 different stitch pattern books and liked the looks of one picture better than another. Then as I was writing it out, I thought it looked funky so I pulled out the needles to knit a swatch. Sure enough, instead of the little motifs I was looking for, I got zigszags of eyelets. Went to the book with the picture of a similar pattern that I didn't like as well. That one came out with the motifs the way I wanted them. What the heck?!? Needless to say, I used the second one because I just wasn't in the mood to rewrite a stitch pattern that should have been correct in the first place.

Now I'm done.

a work rant

I'm a reasonable person. I know that I work in a service industry that requires me to work holidays. Fine. As my contract stands, I have to work every other holiday. Thanksgiving was my holiday this year. Christmas is not, but according to my place of employment, Christmas Eve is not the holiday.

I haven't been home for Christmas the last 3 years. My parents have always had to come to Omaha because I usually end up having to work Christmas Eve when it's not my holiday.

So this year, in September, I counted ahead in my schedule and saw that the way my work days are, I could go home the weekend before Christmas, ask for the 4 hours off (the 7 pm to 11 pm shift) Christmas Eve, then have 3 more days off until I had to be back for working the weekend.

And I was denied. There is no one for me to switch with and to add insult to injury, they didn't just schedule me 7-11, they put me on for 3-11. I would make the 5th nurse on this shift. Grrr....

....then this weekend I see a sign at work from the lady who does the schdule saying that they're going to be short this Friday for night shift and they need people to pick up. So I figured I'd offer a deal. I'll work the 12 on Friday if she let's me off my 8 on Christmas Eve.

Denied again!

So I'm just a little ticked off at the moment and I'm feeling the plague coming on that will definetely take me out of commission on the 24th.

And I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense to anyone, but I had to get this off my chest and I just came off working 3 12-hour shifts. Off to bed with me now.

not even close

I totally didn't get my list done. That's okay. It'll still be there next weekend.

Right now I'm in a little bit of crisis mode, but I can't do anything about it until the waking hours.

Here's the thing. I registered for this nursing conference that's about a 7-hour car ride away from me. My boss is going with. She sent in her registration snailmail in mid-September. I faxed mine in on Sept. 21. On October 5 (Friday), I called the office that's handling the registrations and was told by a lady that she was putting the confirmation packets together and they would be mailed out on Monday (which happened to be a holiday). I asked her to please confirm that I was on the list since the fax machine I had used had never spit out a little confirmation copy for me. I heard her tapping on the keyboard and she told me that I was on the list. This is important because the deadline for the conference registration is this next Monday, the 8th.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. My boss tells me that she had gotten her confirmation packet in the Tuesday mail. I hadn't checked my mailbox on Tuesday so I was sure it would be there when I got home. I checked....no packet.

As of the mail on Saturday, Oct. 13, there was no packet for me. I just checked my credit card transactions, and they haven't charged my card for the conference fee yet. I really want to go to this conference because I've already taken the time off work and it'll earn me over 3/4 of my continuing education credits that I need to renew my license next year. So I guess I'll be staying up later this morning to call the Mayo people and find out what the heck is going on. Because I certainly don't want to go up there on blind faith, enduring a 7-hour car trip with my boss only to be told that I'm not registered.

And yeah.....I said Mayo. As in Mayo Clinic. As in the place I did my 3-year nursing school clinicals at. As in internationally-renowned. And if they managed to mess up a simple conference registration and then have an office employee lie to me over the phone that I was registered, I'm not going to be a happy camper. And they will hear about it.

I'll update later.

what I'm gonna do....

I've decided not to call the Humane Society about the warning they sent. There's a couple reasons behind this. #1 - I hate confrontation. Even if it's not with the people that made the complaint (who I will cease calling neighbors because they've never acted like neighbors should), I don't like being all accusatory....especially with a 3rd party, which the Humane Society has turned into. #2 - I'm not going to sink to the next-door person's level. Except maybe telling her son to get out of my front yard if he tries to sled down it this winter. Because if he gets hurt, she'll probably try to sue me or blame me somehow.

So here's my solution. I went online to Drs. Foster and Smith and bought a bark correction collar. Yes, it's a shock collar. I'll admit that Phoebe does have a barking problem, but I try to correct it or get her inside ASAP if she's outside. But the barking continues inside...especially out the front window at people and it can be really really loud if the windows are shut because it tends to echo. I should have the collar within a week, then we'll start with the training.

I've been mulling this over all night and I finally just decided to be a better person about the whole thing. We'll see if it works.

Edited to add: I'm shredding the warning notice I got into tiny little bits. That'll make me feel better too. And I finished my Bellatrix socks.

It's done!!!...and a loss

I have a yard!!!!! The landscaper people came back today while I was sleeping and finished off the last 10 feet or so along my fence, so I now have a full backyard of grass (minus the underdeck area that they weren't supposed to take up but did).

The parents were here this weekend and we did a bunch of putzy stuff around the house. Namely, redid the inner workings of the other toilet (without a recurrence of the exploding toilet we had last time), fixed the plunger in the bathroom sink, put up a tomato cage in my garden, broke out the watering tractor and watered the heck out of my new sod, and Dad used the new powersprayer to stain my backyard fence. The deck will get stained the next time they come down to visit if I can find the stain.

Saturday afternoon/evening, a couple of losses almost happened. I spotted my dad's dog, Cozy, coming up the stairs with something red and fibery hanging out of her mouth. It was a piece of roving....my CMF roving that was still attached to the spinning wheel. She had DECIMATED close to 3 oz of the roving that I still had left to spin. I screamed, the dog ran, and that dog was very lucky my dad was there, or she would have been very dead. I was able to salvage most of the fiber and finished spinning it up last night. It was a pain in the butt, but it did get done. Now I just need to ply it.

I think that's it. I promise promise promise that I'll have pictures of the progression in the backyard tomorrow. I'm just too lazy to walk all the way out to the dining room and get my camera right now.

ugh

I'm tired, too full (ate at Applebee's for dinner, and I don't want to fold laundry. Plus I have a headache.

On the other hand, I did get a lot of spinning done tonight at Touche. In between laughing at Deawn, and commiserating with Eliza about drama that's going on, it was a good time.

Now I'm off to pop some tylenol, fold towels and sheets, and maybe spin some more. I want to get the first half of the CMF roving done tonight.

Oh! Almost forgot.....and it would be nice to forget.....my scrub tops that I ordered for work finally came today. So I'll be in my lovely shade of navy blue come July 1.

nothing to show

I still haven't gotten my pictures off my camera, so I've got nothing to show ya.

However, there is other knitting news! First up, I finally finished off the baby kimono sweater from Mason Dixon Knitting. It's completely sewn up and right now I'm debating between buttons, snaps, or ribbons for a closure. I still have to knit the Miss Dashwood hat for the little girl this is going to. Knitting pretty pink girly things is fun!

Monkey sock #2 is two repeats and a toe from being done! I might get the foot done before I go to bed, but leave the toe so I have something to work on at SnB tonight. The CTH Life's a Beach colorway is coming out beautiful with this pattern. I think I'll have to do another pair of Jaywalkers once this is done.

BMFA sock club kit.....I've resigned myself to a year of disappointment and practicing patience. With the February kit, I didn't get it until almost March 10 because it was one of the last ones to go out. This month I'm trying to avoid spoilers like the plague because I don't want to see the color until I get mine in the mail. I have heard about the yarn content and name, but I haven't looked for pictures or color descriptions or pattern descriptions at all. I'm also avoiding the sock club blog until my package comes. I have seen that people east of the Mississippi have gotten their packages. So I was content to sit back and wait. Then about 10 minutes ago, I see that Violet has posted on the LnV messageboard about the yarn. I can only assume that she's gotten her package. And now I will go into a whine.....BUUUUTTT IIIIIII WWAAAAAAAANNNTT MMMMMMMMMYYYYY KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!!!!! *whine*

Ahem....done now.

Monday I stayed awake after working my 3-night weekend to put in calls to 5 different landscaping places. All I wanted was someone to come out to my place and give me an estimate on how much it would be to till up and re-sod my dead backyard. I heard back from one place and the guy came out today to measure and take a look at the mudpit my backyard has become with all the rain. I didn't get a dollar amount, but he took measurements and said he'd get back to me. I may have to finally meet my neighbors to the east....just to ask them if it's okay for the landscaping guys to drive the sod machine on their property to get into my backyard. Because evidently the gates in my fence are too narrow and they'd have to take down a 6-foot section of fence to get the machine in there. Lovely. Hopefully I'll hear from a few more places this week or early next week.

Photo meme - the first 6!

So Judith and Erin both posted their requests for pics of stuff and here they are!!

Judith wanted to see.....


....pictures of me as a child (I had to ask my mom for scans) so here are two from when I was about 2-years-old.




....a pic of Phoebe being doing something she's not supposed to. This one was hard. I'm resorting to an old pic of her chewing a bottle because it's almost impossible to catch her doing something naughty when the camera is in reach.


.....and *cues the fanfare* a pic of the neighbor cop. You have no idea how lucky you are to get this one, but he was outside washing his motorcycle today, so I grabbed my camera and took an extreme zoom picture from my computer room window. This was the best of the bunch.


Erin wanted to see.....

....my knitting spot (I'm throwing in the view from my knitting spot as well).




....my current favorite WIP (there's only two things on the needles, so this was a pretty easy choice). The Rock 'n Weave socks in STR medium weight Rocktober. I'm working my way out the gusset of the second sock. Hopefully will have them done this weekend.


....and what I'm going to be spinning next. I'm currently working my way through 8 oz. of Superwash merino in Goblin Elbows Blue from The Dyeing Arts. Next up is going to be one of my Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop rovings....either My Boyfriend's Back or I've Got You Babe.




And that's it for now!! Anyone else have 3 things they want to see me take pictures of? I probably won't post them this weekend because my parents are here, but I'll get to them early next week.

Now I need to finish my coffee so I can go outside and scoop dog poo before my parents get here. My dad's dog likes to eat poo, so right now she'd think my backyard was a buffet.

The Uniform Debacle

The company I work for (a health organization with several hospitals in the city) has decided to change its uniform policy. I didn't care at first. Scrubs are scrubs. I'm basically trading my sleeping pajamas for my working pajamas. Comfiness abounds!

As of now, we're allowed to wear pretty much anything we want. I've got a whole closet in my spare room that is full of print scrubs that my mom has sewn for me. Half could be worn year round and the other half is for specific holidays.

July 1 that will all change. As a nurse, I must wear navy blue pants, a navy blue jacket (if I choose) and either a navy blue or sandstone (think khaki) scrub top. Shoes must be either navy or white. And socks are supposed to be white socks or nude stockings (hah!).

I can see depression looming.

So Friday morning I finished working a shift and went downstairs at my hospital to one of the conference rooms where we could try on the different styles of uniforms. As I full-time employee I was given a voucher good for 4 pieces of clothing. Not four uniforms.....four pieces. Given that I work 3 12-hour shifts in a row when I work weekends, only having two uniforms just isn't going to work for me. So I was already expecting to spend money.

And I'll just pause here to state this. I'm tall. Ok...5'10". But I inherited my dad's 6'3" legs. I must must must have at least a 33" inseam on my pants and a 34-36" is preferable to allow for shrinkage in the wash.

So I tell this to the little "personal shopper" lady who is trying to help me find what I want. I told her what I needed with pants (plus that I wanted cargo pockets on the pants....that's where I carry my work phone) and with scrub tops (front hip pockets and I'm also pretty skinny so I didn't want to swim in it).

This lady hands me a pair of cargo flares (not one of the included free styles and not in talls since they don't come in talls) and a medium women's top that actually fit what I wanted. Go into the dressing room. Try to put the pants on. The crotch is all the way up and the cuff of the pant is ending 3-4" above my ankle. Duh! I knew they wouldn't work but this lady wouldn't listen! The top was actually okay, but a little bit on the sloppy side of big. So I stepped out, traded the medium top for a small one and asked if they had any men's pants that fit the bill.

Took my small top and men's pants (and the ladies looked scandalized that a girl wanted to wear men's pants!) back to try them on. The pants were great....aside from the fact that they have an elastic waist and a zippered fly on them. But the top....oh the top! It fit great around, but they must think that the difference between someone who wears a medium and someone who wears a small is about 8" in height.

I kid you not! The top ended at the top of my hips, the pockets rested on my belly, and in order to get into the pockets (which I have to do at work about every 2 seconds) I would have to feel myself up. Lovely. Back out to the ladies I go. Asked them if they had tall people in mind when they designed these stupid outfits. No answer. Asked for a small men's top with front pockets (also not a design included on the free voucher). They had to hunt for one for me to try on because they figured that no men would want to try on a small. Stupid people.

Finally!!! Halleluiah!!! A combo that fit!!! Now for that I was completely decked out in men's clothing I moved over to the warm-up jackets. Normally I wear a v-neck cardigan with snaps. They only have v-necks with buttons and the large was huge and the sleeves ended two inches above my wrists. Switched over to the snap-front round neck and it's sleeves were also too short, but not by as much. Then I noticed that the cuffs had been rolled up by the person before me. Yes!!! And the jackets count on my voucher!!!!

So I'll be ordering four free jackets and four of the men's small scrub tops. What's that? Why no pants? Because they didn't have any talls to try on. The regulars fit, but only just and I'm scared they'll shrink in the wash. I'm going to order from a Canadian scrub company that I've always bought my pants from because navy is navy right? My boss is continuing to wear her Cherokee pants, so I figure I'll be safe. I may order one of the "required" brand just in case one of the house supervisors decided to go all fashion police on us. But I've already stated that to them that if there are people coming up the floor at two in the morning and insisting that we show them we're wearing all Landau brand, then I'm leaving this company.

Oh!! Didn't tell you the best part. All tops and jackets are going to have my company's logo embroidered on them. So they're basically branding us. What's next? Barcode tattoos? GPS locator chips? And may I note that the uppity ups who made this clothing change decision don't have to wear the stuff. They get to merrily keep wearing their suits and dress clothes for the little office jobs.

I'm going to be kicking and dragging my feet all the way to July 1.