Discouraged

Well, I still haven't heard anything from the nonprofit organization about that job. : ( I called the supervisor last Monday, and left a message for her, but she hasn't called me back yet. When I called, her number rang once and then went straight to voice mail, and when I called again on Tuesday (I didn't leave a message that time) it did the same thing, so I'm hoping she was just on vacation or out of town last week (she travels a lot for her job).

Nevertheless, I'm discouraged because I talked to another lady I listed for a reference, and she told me no one from the organization has contacted her for a reference. It appears then that the organization only contacted my last job (I listed one of my former coworkers, and the HR department). That was on June 17th, and now it's almost July, so I think things aren't looking too good as far as me getting the job. Oh well. I've seen a few other job openings elsewhere that look promising, so I've been applying for other jobs. I just need to find something quickly.

I finally got my check for the grants proposal project, so my kids and I went to the movies yesterday. We're fortunate to have a movie theater within walking distance of our house. We went to see Wall-E. It was a cute movie, although it did take awhile to get to the point. The kids really liked it though, and they were excited because they each got a free Wall-E watch and some trading cards with their tickets.

I also sold a textbook on Ebay, so I used the money to order some yarn online from Knitting-Warehouse.com. I bought the last ball of TLC Cotton Plus I need to finish my Cupcake sweater, so I'm going to try to finish it this week and post pictures. While looking for yarn on Knitting-Warehouse, I saw that they have a bunch of pretty new yarns: Red Heart Collage Yarn, Red Heart Designer Sport Yarn, Red Heart Heart & Sole yarn (sock yarn - good for you knitters out there!), Red Heart Soft Baby Steps Yarn, and Red Heart Zoomy Yarn. Here's a link- http://store.knitting-warehouse.com/yarn-coats-red-heart.html (I couldn't get the one-word link to work right).

Anyway, thank you everyone who left such kind comments in response to my post last week. My husband started his welding classes last Monday. They're going well, but he's pretty much been sleeping all the time when he's home. I'll be glad when the classes are done.

A Few Little Things

Thank you to everyone for your nice comments and suggestions about the wedding expenses - it means a lot to me. My sister offered to let me borrow the money for the dress alterations, and I'm going to sell my collection of loom knitting books (nothing wrong with loom knitting - I just haven't done any since I learned how to crochet) and use the proceeds towards my salon expenses. I have a couple of textbooks I can sell, too.

In crochet-related news, I was looking at the new items on Knitting-Warehouse.com, and saw they have more new yarn/colors posted - Lion Brand, Caron, Lily Sugar N' Cream. I fell in love with these crochet labels though - I think they are just too cute! They have knitting labels too. The crochet labels are going on my wish list of crochet things to buy when I'm working again.

I also found out that Lion Brand has a new yarn blog, Lion Brand Notebook. Check it out here.

Finally, another blog I like, Five Minutes for Mom, is having a Two Weeks of Toys Giveaway - visit their website to enter. I love their giveaways - I actually won a $400 (pink!) Dyson vacumn cleaner through their website last fall. Ironically, I have almost all hardwood floors in my house, but the vacumn cleaner is still great for the carpeted stairs and sunporch and rugs.

Thanks again for everyone's comments and suggestions. I may have some more baby projects for the band basket to post soon.

Bad News

Well everyone, I got let go from my job on Wednesday. I was kind of expecting it to happen, so it didn’t come as a total shock. I’m also scared about how my husband and I are going to manage on just his income until I find another job. I’m also feeling like a total loser for losing my job in the first place, although I was unhappy there for a long time, and should really have found another job a long time ago.

I was expecting to be paid for my unused vacation time (nearly 4 weeks), but the HR department decided that the time was “unearned”, meaning that it accrues throughout the year, so they are not going to pay me for it. Oh well. I got my last paycheck on Thursday. I have a little over $15,000 in a pension fund (not bad for only having been there 3 years), but I could only withdraw it if it were less than $10,000. Basically the money will stay in my account until I turn 55. I contributed a small amount of money to an annuity while I was working, and will probably be able to withdraw that, so that will help a little, plus my husband and I will be getting our tax rebate money in May. If you go the IRS (IRS.gov) website, there’s a chart showing when the rebates will be sent. People who got their tax refunds direct-deposited will get their tax rebate money deposited to the same account. My husband is going to try to pick up as much overtime at his job as he can, and that will help too.

I applied for a few jobs, and am hoping to find a temp job in the meantime. I would really prefer to stay in the nonprofit field, or get into a government job, but if I have to take something with a private company, I will. A friend of mine works for the IRS in Cleveland, and told me they are hiring, so I applied for a job with them. They don’t pay a whole lot to start out, but employees get free bus passes, plus get 3 raises a year, including an annual cost of living increase, which sure beats anything most private companies here in Cleveland are offering, unless of course you work for the famed Lincoln Electric, which has its headquarters right here in the suburb where I live. Lincoln Electric is famous for its mammoth year-end bonuses, averaging $27,000 per employee. Yep, that’s right - $27,000 per employee. Not to mention that their manufacturing employees often earn six-figure salaries. Of course, the good pay means you practically need a shoehorn to get in there. Well, I can always fantasize about earning that much money, LOL! Right now I’d be happy with anything that pays enough to cover my bills. My husband's company though, is going to be paying for him to take a welding course at Lincoln Electric in May, and hopefully once he completes the training, he'll get a nice raise.

Well, since I got my final paycheck for a while, I paid as many bills as I could, and bought my kids some spring/summer clothes, since they’ve outgrown nearly all of their clothes, and I figured I’d better get them some clothes now before I’m completely broke and can’t afford any at all. My husband and I went to a kids’ resale shop, Once Upon a Child. I love that store! I always find so many great deals there. They only sell clothes that are in like-new condition (some stuff is brand new) and in style. I got my kids 20 shirts, 14 pairs of shorts/pants, 2 jackets,1 dress, and a couple of toys. The grand total? $189.00 including sales tax (yep, here in Ohio we pay sales taxes on everything except for food). I think that’s pretty darn good, and a heck of a lot cheaper than what I would have spent at the mall. And everything was name-brand, mall-store type clothes – Gymboree, Tommy Hifiger, J. Lo. (didn’t realize she even has a line of kids’ clothes), Talbots Kids, Limited Too, etc. A lot of my daughter’s friends shop at places like Limited Too, and I checked out their prices, but I can’t see spending $25 for one kids' shirt. Fortunately Bethany doesn’t mind wearing second-hand clothes.

My favorites are this dress and pants for Bethany, and shirt for Dominic - I love bold, bright, colorful prints. The dress is new, and was only $7.50, the pants were $5.50 each, and the shirt was $3.50.

Bethany and I also met my sister downtown today. She was going to the salon to get her hair colored, and a trial hairstyle run for her wedding. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me to take pictures. She was at the salon for a long time, so Bethany and I walked over to our one shopping center in downtown Cleveland, Tower City Center to get some lunch. I bought Bethany a dress from the Children’s Place to wear to the wedding rehearsal dinner: The tag on the dress had it as marked down to $14.99 from the original $29.99, but when the cashier rang it up, it came it at $10.99. The matching headband rang up as only $1.99. The Children’s Place is one of the few non-resale shops where I will buy my kids’ clothes, because they are not that expensive to begin with, and they have such fantastic sales. I love that they put their clothes on clearance while they are still in season, so I can actually buy spring clothes on clearance in the spring. I also get coupons from them in the mail, where I can save an additional 15-25% off the already reduced prices.Well, since you’ve been patiently reading so far, I do have a crochet project to show.I finally finished my mom’s poncho that she asked for last spring. I know, that's terrible. I should have made her one a long time ago. I started it in the fall, and got bored with it halfway through, and put it aside. Now that I have some extra time since I’m not working, I pulled it out and finished it. Hopefully it will be big enough – my mom gained a lot of weight when she quit smoking. I used a K hook, 6 skeins of Bernat Softee Chunky in “Nature’s Way” and a partial skein of Softee Chunky in “New Denim Heather” for the trim. Since I just did the poncho in boring double crochet, I wanted a fancy border. I got the border design from the book “Cozy Crochet”. It was actually a thread crochet design. I’m probably going to hold onto it until Mother’s Day, and give it to her then.

I’m also trying to finish up my sister’s wedding shawl. I should be done with it in a few days. I’ll post pictures when I’m done.

New Yarn!

No, I didn't buy any new yarn, but I went over to Knitting Warehouse - www.knitting-warehouse.com, to look at something, and noticed a bunch of new yarn listed under their "Newest Items". Caron has a line of new yarn called "Simply Soft Paints" and Lion Brand added some new colors to their Cotton-Ease line. I love me some Cotton-Ease, so I'm thrilled that they added some new colors! Go check it out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! My son was so wound up about Valentine's Day this morning. He told me Miss Tammy (his teacher at daycare) said the kids "are going to be king of hearts and queens today", LOL! He's a funny little boy.

I decided to go the card shop downtown yesterday at lunch time to get a card for my husband, and some Beanie Babies for the kids. I should have known better. I got to the card shop, and there was a line at the cash register starting at the front of the store and stretching all the way to the back, and people were three-deep at the rack of Valentine's cards. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that a card shop would be packed the day before Valentine's Day. I gave up trying to buy a card (ended up getting one at the drugstore instead), and just got the kids' Beanie Babies. I got Bethany a pink teddy bear, and Dominic a dolphin (he loves the Veggie Tales "Jonah" movie, and has little figurines of the characters from the movie, except for the whale, so I thought he could pretend the dolphin is a whale). I gave them to the kids this morning, and they really liked them.

My husband came home from work this morning with a card, a box of chocolates, and these beautiful roses, for me. Isn't he sweet?! My kids got loaded up with candy at school and daycare, of course. Bethany didn't get nearly as much candy as Dominic, so she tried to get into his candy, and he told my husband, "Everytime it's a special day, Sissy gets into my candy!". They managed to get into my candy too, but that's OK, because I already had enough Valentine's day treats today.

I gave my husband some man bath stuff from Bath & Body Works for his gift. OK, I know that's probably not the ideal gift for a man, but there's so few places left to shop in downtown Cleveland anymore. Dozens of stores downtown have closed over the past 10-15 years (our economy here is in bad shape). We don't even have any department stores left. My husband and kids and I went to Pittsburgh (they have an incredible children's museum) in 2006 and we ended up driving through downtown (after Mapquest got us completely, horribly lost on our way to our hotel after going to Kennywood amusement park - long story), and even Pittsburgh's downtown looks more alive than Cleveland's does (at least they have a department store left) - now that was depressing!

We went to Chicago in 2005, and I was in awe, I mean absolute awe, over the blocks and blocks of stores they have downtown - everything from low to moderate priced stores like Payless and Sears, to top of the line upscale stores like Tiffany's and Bloomingdale's. They even have a Joann Fabrics downtown. If I worked in downtown Chicago, I'd be in trouble, because I sure would go broke with all those stores there!

Anyway, I have a few crochet projects to show. I've been meaning to post them for a while, but I've been totally sick all week. I have a horrible cough that won't go away. It gets worse at night, and when I lie down, and in addition to not being able to fall asleep, I wake up half a dozen times a night coughing, and am now just completely exhausted. I've been taking over the counter cough syrup, but it doesn't help much. I'm really hoping this isn't turning into bronchitis. I had bronchitis about 6 or 7 years ago, and it took over a month for the cough to go away, plus the prescription cough syrup and antibiotic made me so nauseated that I couldn't get out of bed.

On top of the lack of sleep, I've been busy planning my sister's bridal shower that's coming up next month, and have been swamped with that. At least I got to stay home from work on Monday, because my kids' school and daycare were closed because of the cold (only 7 degrees), and I got to leave work at 3PM on Tuesday (with pay for the rest of the day) because a bad storm was rolling in.

I did get my sister's ringbearer pillow finished, finally. I had both of the crocheted pieces done, and tried single crocheting them over the pillow, but a bunch of the ribbon rosettes and pearls popped off while I was crocheting. Then when I finally got it put together, I realized that the heart looked all distorted. I ended up cutting off the cover, throwing it away, and crocheting two new pieces. Luckily I had bought extra rosettes and pearls, so this time I glued them on after I was done with all the crocheting and the border, and it came out a lot nicer looking this time.I'm still working on my sister's shawl as well. I'm about 75% done with it, but think I'm going to need a few more skeins of yarn.

The last bridal shower present I have for my sister is this hydrangea unity candle.

It's personalized with her's and her fiancee's names (Shauna and Rich) and their wedding date. The bridal shop called today to let me know that mine and my daughter's bridesmaids' dresses are ready to be picked up, so I'll be getting those soon. Mine is periwinkle blue and my daughter's is lavender. I'm excited to see how they look, because the store didn't have any sample dresses in that style in those colors.

The second crochet project I have is a hat I crocheted for my friend Latanya for her March birthday. After I sent her crocheted Christmas presents (which fortunately she loved), she started throwing hints for me to crochet her a hat or a jacket. I don't have the skills to crochet any jackets yet, but I can do hats. I used Bernat Organic Cotton in Prairie Rose and Desert Bloom for the hat. The organic cotton is a little pricey, but so much softer than regular cotton and I figured Latanya would like because she's really into organic and natural products.

The hat pattern is a "Gidget Bucket Hat" from the book "Get Hooked Again", and I figured it would be a quick, easy project...ha! This hat drove me absolutely crazy! If it weren't for a gift, I would have just scrapped it. I don't know if something was wrong with the pattern, or if I just have a big old head, because I just could not get this hat to fit right. The pattern called for an F hook, but I crochet tightly, so I used a G, and got the right gauge. The book said at the correct gauge, the hat would crochet up tightly, but would stretch to fit most heads. Well, the hat came out so small and short, it would have fit my 5 year old son. I tried again with an H hook, and it came out too big. I went back and forth with different size hooks, and ended up using the G, and adding some extra increases and rows until I finally got it to fit.

I literally must have made and took apart four hats before I got it to come out right. It's still a little tight, but at least I can put it on. The pattern didn't call for a turning chain between rows, and I'm wondering if that was part of the problem. It didn't occur to me until after I finished the final hat that I could have added a turning chain between rows, or maybe even done the hat in half-double crochet instead of single. Oh well. Hopefully it will fit Latanya OK.

I'm also working on my PIF gifts, and am about halfway done with those, but can't show them here - I don't want to ruin any surprises!Have a happy Valentine's Day (what's left of it, anyway!)

Jenna with a "J" and Crochet Goodies

I don’t have any finished crochet projects to show yet. I’m still working on my sister’s wedding shawl and ring bearer pillow, and trying to get my mom’s poncho finished up before her February 27th birthday. I have one panel done so far. Like Christina and Lesa though, I do have some crochet goodies to show!

I was keeping my crochet hooks, stitch markers, yarn needles, etc., in a drugstore makeup bag, and was tired of always having to dig around it in trying to find the right size hook I needed, my scissors, etc. I couldn’t find a hook case I liked at any stores, so I ended up buying a hook roll and notions bag from a seller on Etsy, Blue Kitty Designs. How cute are these?! I love the retro pattern and colors!

My hooks and notions have now gone from this:


to this:

The hook roll isn’t big enough to hold all of my hooks, but it has room for all of the ones I use regularly.The hook roll and bag came in the mail on Friday (I ordered them on Tuesday and got them on Friday – talk about fast shipping!) along with my February/March issues of Crochet Today and Crochet Magazine, and some yarn I had ordered from Joann’s for one of my PIF gifts (I have two PIF gifts to make). That made for a very good Friday!

I just got back a little while ago today from my brother Joe and sister in law Gehan’s house. My husband and kids and I went to see my new niece, Jenna. Yes, I finally got the spelling straightened out – it’s Jenna with a “J”! It’s actually ironic that’s she’s named Jenna, because if I had a little girl this last time I was pregnant (the one I miscarried) my husband and I would have named her Genevieve. I guess great minds think alike! My husband said I did good going to see her. He meant because I still have some sadness over my miscarriage. I do still feel sad about it still, and can’t help but wonder what it would be like if I had been able to carry the baby to term.

At the same time though, after seeing Jenna go through two diaper changes (including one so bad she needed a bath to get cleaned up!) and two feedings during the couple of hours we were there, made me realize that having a baby at this point in my life (with my husband working night shift, me working full-time and being in grad school, and having one kid in school with nightly homework, etc., and one about to start school in the fall), would have been totally overwhelming. I told Joe in a few months (when Jenna is a little older) he can drop her off at my house, and I’ll babysit her so he and Gehan can have a night out and I can get my “baby fix”, LOL!

Anyway, little Jenna is just ADORABLE! I wish I had some pictures to show of her, but my digital camera batteries had run low right before I tried to take some pictures. My husband took a few pictures with his cell phone, but he has the phone with him at work, so I can’t download the pictures right now. It’s funny how chunky she looked in the pictures my brother sent, but when I saw her in person, compared to my kids, she looked so tiny! I had forgotten how little young babies actually are.

My brother is such a proud dad – he barely put that baby down for a second the whole time I was there. He has 3 boys from his first marriage (two stepsons and one biological son), but this is his first girl, so I think it’s extra special for him. His second-oldest son, who’s 15, actually went to Wal-Mart and used his own money to buy Jenna some clothes – he bought her the cutest little bodysuits and hats and booties. For a 15 year old boy, he did a really good job shopping for her! I thought that was really sweet of him.

Speaking of baby clothes, I was planning on crocheting a few clothes for Jenna – the sundress I started, a sweater and maybe another dress, but after seeing how many clothes Jenna has (a dresser and a closet stuffed full) between gifts from family and friends, now I’m reconsidering it. I don’t want to spend hours making something that she’ll probably end up only wearing once before she outgrows it. I’m thinking now about crocheting something for her bedroom – maybe an organizer to hang on the door (to hold diapers, pacifiers, etc), or maybe a rug.

Besides crocheting, I also enjoy painting and stenciling wood items, so I am also considering painting a shelf for Jenna's room. I’ve never shown any of my painted items on my blog, so here’s one I did last year – a desk for my daughter’s room (I think you can click on the pictures to see it in more detail). My husband and I bought the desk for $25 at a secondhand store. It was brown with ugly tarnished gold knobs. I sanded the desk down and sprayed it with white primer, then my husband spray painted it pink and cream and I stenciled the flowers on the side with stencil crème paint. My husband then sprayed the whole thing with a coat of clear polyurethane, and replaced the knobs. One of these days I need to buy her a pink desk chair to go along with the desk.















Back to the crocheting, another thing I was thinking about making is a nursing shawl for my sister-in-law. She’s breastfeeding Jenna, and just drapes a receiving blanket over her shoulder when she breastfeeds. I was thinking it might be nice for her to have a pretty shawl to use when she goes out with the baby. I didn’t breastfeed my kids though, so I’m not sure if it’s a good idea or not, and if I do make one, what shape it should be – rectangular or triangular? Maybe any of my blog readers who might have breastfed their kid(s) could advise me.

Shoparooni

OK, this isn’t a crochet post, but I just had to share a link to these. I think they’re just TOO cute, and the description is pretty funny too! Based on the description, yes, I think I need some of these a**-kicking shoes to defend myself against the myriad perverts in downtown Cleveland, where I work, LOL! They’re for sale at this little boutique called Shoparooni, that opened in the North Collinwood neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland.

I grew up about half a mile from this store, and my mom and brother still live in the house I grew up in. The neighborhood was always a working-class one, and over the years has become lower-income, but funny to me, a fair amount of trendy art galleries, shops, and restaurants are starting to pop up in the neighborhood. I guess I just find it funny because the area was so blue-collar when I was growing up, definitely not a magnet for any $50 a bottle wine-sipping, art-gallery hopping types. I’m glad to see the area picking up though, because over the past decade, it’s suffered from a lot of vacant buildings and houses, and an increasing crime rate.

Back to the shoes though, if you like retro stuff (I love 1950’s things – my kitchen is decorated in a 50’s diner theme!), check them out! There’s a lot of other cute and unusual things for sale on this website and in the store too, and you can even shop by price – “Strapped”, “Budgeteer”, “Payday” and “Big Spender”, LOL!