And that's why I've neglected LiveJournal shamefully.

So this weekend I was mentioning to my brother that althoug my company has been weathering a lot of criticism in the media we are still a good place to work. We are a strong company who cares about the employees. We have good benefits. The executives' pay and benefits were pretty high (although not out of line with execs at other companies), but the company was going to be making some changes to address exec pay and bonuses and satisfy the public's complaints.

This morning there was an announcement that the executives salaries would be frozen,  but their travel allowances increased, and everyone's benefits cut. Starting in December my paycheck will be about $35.00 less.  That adds up to aout $925 a year. Also, the Extended Illness Bank would be frozen and none of the 800 or so hours I have banked can be used. Ever. If I am sick I have to use PTO. It used to be that I could use PTO for the first 3 days and after that the paid time off would come from my EIB.  And Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can not be used to take time off to care of a sick family member.  That makes the "Family" in the FMLA kinda off, huh?

I'm pretty bummed out.

mood: grumpy

So back in mid August I was having daily headaches, so I made an appointment to see my doctor. The soonest they could see me was Sept 21. So I made the appointment. Then on Sept 21 the doctor's office called to say Dr. Nelson was out.  &^$%&! They would call me and re-schedule. But they didn't. So I called them just now and have an appointment for Friday afternoon.  The headache is gone, but I can ask about the Kenalog shot. Allergy season is wicked bad right now.

I've had a headache for over four weeks, now, and it's tiring. I got home from work yesterday and laid down around 4:30 for a nap. I woke up at about 7:15, hungry and still headachy. I took some Tylenol and started to make supper. I turned on the TV and Good Morning America came on. Strange...

OMG!!!! I slept around the clock! I'm late for work! No wonder I'm hungry!

My life is not all that exciting. But here's an update:

1. The toilet was FINALLY fixed this afternoon. It's gonna take me a while to get used to just pushing the handle down and walking away. But it's real nice to be able to keep my tissues, candle and air freshener on top of the tank again.

2. I started a new pair of socks last night. A lovely wool-silk blend yarn in blue, teal and cream. I think I'll do a pretty simple pattern like beaded rib on the leg. I'm supposed to go to the RedHawks Stitch N Pitch tomorro night but the weather man says thunderstorms so we'll see.

3. I went to the Northen Prairie Fiber Atrists Guild meeting on Sat morning and loved meeting new people. I consider myself a competent--even accomplished--spinner. But boy howdy, the lace those gals were spinning made me gape. Another lady was spinning a quiviut-alpaca blend that was so soft  I could have petted it all day long.

4. The guild is doing a mystery shawl Knit Along. That is where the pattern is emailed out, 60 rows at a time, once a month for 11 months. I bought 4 balls of lace weight alpaca silk blend in off white. I've cast on and made it to row 8 five times. Someday I'll get to row 9, I promise.

5. I have resolved to lose 25 pounds by January 1, 2010. That means I have to lose an average of 4 pounds a month. Given the fact that I have never successfully lost weight, that is an aggressive resolve. I like to blame my failure on the steroids I am on.  It may actually be that. I had a couple stitches put into my calf a couple years ago and it took 5 months to heal completely. So obviously the steroids do affect me.

6. I am enjoying spinning on my new wheel so much that sometimes I don't want to quit to go to bed.

7. The MN Twins are just about to start and I need to do the supper dishes soon so I'm going to sign off.

mood: hopeful

About a month ago my toilet would not stop running after flushing. At first I could fix the problem by jiggling the handle, but when it got to the point that I had to lift the tank lid and stick my hand into the tank to manually put the rubber stopper back in I decided it wasn't getting better. About 2 and half weeks ago I called the apartment manager to report the toilet issue. A week passed an no one came to fix it. I called again, got the voice mail and left a message. Another two days passed and I called again, because I was having company for the weekend and i didn't want them to have to fool with the toilet. The girl who answered sounded bored to death. She would *yawn* check the work order list and it should be fixed soon.  Nothing. Two days ago i called again. This girl (not the bored one) was sure she had written up the order. Either way, she promised it would be taken care of by Thursday.

Nope. Today is friday, and the toilet flushing is still a manual process. Why did I pay my rent this month? A friend at work offered to have her mother-in-law (who doubles as the wicked witch of the west when she doesn't get her way) call the office to complain. I understand this elegant elderly lady has been known to screetch at a volume that results in bloody eardrums and shattered goblets. If it isn't fixed today I'll have to wait until at least monday since the maitenance people don't work weekends. I hope they put their goblets away and invest in earplugs, because I think I'll practice over the weekend and come monday I'll be doing my best to bloody their ears and shatter their goblets.

mood: cranky

The event was excellent.

We had 18 classes on a wide variety of fiber arts topics like bobbin lace, blackwork, history of gloves, weaving terminology, embellishments on secular clothing, knitted stockings in the medieval period, laid and couched work, choosing colours for embroidery, card weaving, drop spinning, english work (opus anglicanum), beginning embroidery: split stitch, stem stitch and chain stitch, Care of fabric and more. 

Attendance was very good, over 60 people came to the event.  Everyone seemed to have a good time. When not in classes folks gathered in the common room and worked on projects while chatting.

The A&S competition was awesome and the entries diverse. The winner over all was Baroness Saraidh with her marvelous hand woven velvet. The second choice was Lady Isobel with her intricately embroidered early period collar and cuffs. Princess Elizabeth also selected a gentle to award for their handwork, but that person had already left and will be given their scroll and prize later.  The raffle for Lord Raymond's hand crafted card loom was won by Anplica Fiore. Which was nifty, as she had just finished the class on card weaving.

Lunch rocked. Chicken and barley soup and home made flat bread made with walnut flour. Yummy. With the cold wet weather soup hit the spot. At the end of the event I asked the attendees if they would like to come to another event like this and it seemed everyone would. So at the shire meeting I will bring up doing a Silks & Needles event bi-annually. yay!!

location: home mood: satisfied music: Suicide Kings tags: embroidery silks, needles & more sca korsvag

The event is less than a week away and I've got it pretty much in control, but there are still more tasks to get done.  I love needlework, especially historical needlework (medieval/renaissance, not victorian) so hosting a day of classes on historic fiber arts is just up my alley.  From the responses we have received, it would seem I'm not the only one to enjoy historic fiber arts.  19 classes in 5 hours. Prettty cool, huh?

1. Collect the names, addresses, websites of various businesses in Fargo/Moorhead that fiber art enthusiasts may like to visit and print them out as a handout at troll.  Nordic Needle, Prairie Yarns, Beads on Broadway, Fibers & Pieces of String, Barnes & Noble...

2. Finish writing the laid and couchedwork class handout.

3. Put the class kits together.

3. Buy the supplies and hand them out at the meeting on Wed to make the event tokens.

4. Verify that the volunteer is still able to take charge of the A&S competition.  Also buy the cups and beads for the bean count.

5. Make up the  signs for each classroom listing which classes are in that room at what times.

6. Pick up the Nordic Needle gift card for the A&S champion.

7.  Clean the apartment and get out extra bedding/towels for crashers.

Almost done! Can't wait for the event!

location: home mood: busy tags: needles & more needlework, sca silks

The event is getting closer. Things are falling into place.

I had originally planned this event to be a small, more local gathering for folks who wanted to learn embroidery or card weaving. I thought we'd get about 30 people attending and have 6 or 7 classes... Instead we have 18 classes and people from all over the kingdom coming, including HRH Elizabeth. I'm really excited about the event having such a large number of diverse classes! There should be something for everyone. And after classes they can run the 15 or so blocks to Tarrach and Fina's house to congratulate Aiden on graduating High Scool (and buy some balls to throw while he's in the dunk tank. Ia's idea to help him get some more money for college) Hopefully, weather permitting, there will be fighting at the park for those who do not wish to attend embroidery classes

Still need to gather a list of all the local businesses like yarn, fabric, bead, craft, needlework, book stores to have available at troll. Need to pick up the $25.00 gift card from the Nordic Needle as the prize for the A&S competition--and should send out another reminder about the A&S competition to the Northshield hall. Need to get the site tokens ready to go.   And maybe a reminder about which classes require a Pre-Reg and which classes requriethe students to come with supplies?  Other than that, this is event is done!

location: home mood: excited tags: embroidery silks sca

I ordered it from the company that put it together. It arrived promptly and is currently burning a hole through my counter. I want to watch it, but i have invited friends over to view it on this Thursday night, so I figure I should wait until then. It looks really interesting, tho. See the trailer here

I'm sure I'm just letting myself over react and I'll perk up tomorrow.  In the past I've considered myself a competent -even talented- spinner and fiber geek. I have a very small pool of self confidence but one of the areas I felt good about was in what I had to offer as a teacher of spinning and knitting. The past couple years I've sort taken charge of the spinning stuff at a local demo. I like being in charge and taking responsibility to intyroduce children (and their parents) to spinning and telling them how large a part of daily life spinning and cloth production was in the Viking era.  But this year they've asked someone else to be in charge. Part of me says: "That doesn't mean they thought you did a bad job. They're just letting someone else have a chance at it." But the rest of me is hurt and feeling un-valued and wondering if maybe I didn't do as good a job as I thought. I'm pretty shy and it is hard sometimes for me to speak to a large crowd. And children tend to annoy me. But still I had thought I did a good job of it.

Oh, well, I'll feel better about it tomorrow.

mood: sad

This weekend at 12th Night in Castel Rouge I received the Janet Arnold book  Patterns of Fashion 4. Thanks, Eithni! Aesa told me you went to some trouble to be sure it got to her before they left for the plane.   This book is marvelous! It has several color photos, which is an improvement over the other books in the series. I barely got to look at it, as many other people wanted to look thru it. But since I've gotten home I've spent hours poring over it. I'm hoping to make a new chemise for my late period garb. Now I can be authentic!

location: home mood: excited

I walk to work and I am dreading it tomorrow. But honestly, is it worth it to drive 3 blocks? Through the drifts?And run out to start the car every other hour in the parking lot at work to be sure it will start again at 3:30? And then brush the snow off to drive home? Wil lthe car start at all tomorrow? The blizzard warning ends at 6am tomorrow morning, but the winds will still be strong enough to make drifts.

Ugh. Here's a pic from my window. Note that after the garages all that can be seen is a wall of white,. There are more apartment buildings hidden in the white, but you can't see them because they are all of 100 yards away.

Hope all my friends in the area are safe and warm at home today.

I walked home from work, and the wind and snow made it cold, slow going. But i got home and took off my shoes and put my cold feet into my fuzzy slippers and then stopped in the kitchen to give the beef stew in the crock pot a stir. Hm. Watery. Maybe a little barley will soak up the excess water. Then I put on Bing Crosby so he could croon about Christmas and hauled out the Christmas tree and began setting it up.

I love Christmas. The lights, the cookies, the decorations on the tree...  The cats are extremely fond of those things too. Excuse me while I chase down the Christmas balls that keep magically jumping onto the floor. 

location: home mood: happy music: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas tags: christmas cat kitteh

I am thankful for tea. A cup of tea doesn't actually cure all ills, but it helps calm the shattered nerves of a woman who has nursed her beaten car home from an accident. I'm thankful for friends give hand made mugs and elephant teapots to drink the tea from. I'm thankful for the concerned words from friends who care. I am thankful for friends who are able to come over to look at the beaten car and pronounce it salvagable, even if only temporarily, and promise to look at it again on Sunday and get it drive-able again. I am thankful for  a quiet apartment where a woman can cry in private without an audience judging her. I am thankful for cats who look curious and sympathetic when they jump into a lap and purr. 

I suppose the traditional thing at Thanksgiving is to be thankful for things that are a little more vague. But these are some of the things i am more immediatly thankful for.   

mood: thankful music: Christmas

is almost a complete time waster. Really. I spend an hour a day on it playing stupid meaningless games, and then have nothing to show for it.

mood: annoyed

One of the people I work with is a difficult person. She doesn't follow direction and does things her own way, even if her way is directly opposite of what our team's processes are. I've worked with her for 8 years. I've never liked her. I know she has been given feedback by every team leader she has worked under. Several times this week my team leader asked me to get her examples of what this person was doing that was different. Direction was given to the entire team about how exactly the work was to be done. Each team member signed off on it, stating they understood what the process was. This person also signed. 

But she continued doing things her own way. This morning we were informed that this person had been fired. We were all shocked. I feel a teeny bit guilty, since I was the one who had brought some of the issues to team leaders' attention in the past. And I helped gather the data the proved that this person wasn't following procedure. But I also feel glad that she is gone. If only she had mended her ways...

mood: distressed