*thud*

So here I sit, in the middle of a 6-day work stretch. I worked this last weekend (Friday through Sunday), I've got tonight off, then I'm back at work tomorrow from 3-11. I'll be working Wednesday and Thursday too. Friday will be devoted solely to sleep. There will be no major partying this New Year's Eve for me. Just a quiet night at home, doing laundry and dishes and eating an enormous amount of junk food while watching movies. And waiting for my berry cobbler to finish cooking in the crockpot. Happy new year to me.

On the bright side, this morning marked the first time for me to not be carded while buying alcohol! Although, now that I think about it, they probably didn't card me because not too many underage people buy their wine at 8 AM along with dog kibble and oreos. Yep.....exciting life I lead.

I think I'll be able to finish my fifth crocheted bath pouf tonight and then log some knitting time on my Lenore sock. I'd like to finish the sock now, but I kind of want to hold off so it will count toward the finish-a-long that L&V will be starting in the new year.

So yeah...that's my boring new year's eve plans. Now I need to go move the laundry.

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.

an update

Well, at least it was a quiet weekend at work. It was also the last weekend that I got to have my nursing student with me. He did a great job and really got to learn a lot. And gave me time to knit at work. *wink wink*

That's how I managed to make so much knitting progress this weekend. Normally, when I have a work weekend, my knitting time drops off to nothing. But including the time I've spent knitting tonight, I'm already past the heel gusset of the Fawkes sock that I cast on last Thursday.

I also got my big Knitpicks order in the mail over the weekend. I ordered some of the single pockets for my options set, a book that Mom wanted, Knit Kimono for me, and 44 balls of Wool of the Andes to make an afghan for a co-worker. That's right 44 balls. And I spent over an hour tonight just winding them into cakes. They're all stacked into a box right now so all that's left is to cast on. I'm planning on using them to make the Ombre Alpaca Blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but in greens. I got (from darkest to lightest) Evergreen, Grass, Fern, Asparagus, Avocado, and Cloud. Think it should be pretty, but I'll have to resist the siren song of the socks and chevron scarf in order to get this done by October. At least now I can stop feeling guilty about the Colorful Waves afghan (another knitpicks creation) that I had started last fall as a wedding present. I've got this instead and at least this will be easy tv knitting.

I'll admit it....

I caved. Miss Violet just makes sock yarns that are too pretty to resist. So a skein of Nasht sock yarn is now mine. I went 53 1/2 days without buying yarn for myself. The counter has now been reset. And may I point out that I work with a bunch of enablers. They were the little devils on my shoulder whispering "Buy it! Buy it! It's only one skein."

So I've decided to give up the yarn diet for Lent. I'll still be following it, but I'm not going to deprive myself if I see something really beautiful.

And the good news from my boss. I'll be going to a conference in Boston with her and 4 other co-workers in early April....in fact, it's the week before I head out to Virginia Beach to visit Sarah. So I'm going to have a lot of traveling under my belt. And the best part....is that my work picks up the bill for the conference!