tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72580274647341216852024-03-14T02:02:41.921-04:00Red Haired Lady CrochetsA BLOG ABOUT MY CRAFTY PURSUITSLaurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-7844979881100896292009-11-01T23:00:00.007-05:002009-11-01T23:22:07.909-05:00I'm Back!<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Yep, I realize it's been 5 months since I've updated my blog. Wow! I actually didn't realize it had been that long until I went on here. Just want to let everyone know I'm still alive, and post an update on what's been going on with me (warning - this is a LONG post!).</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The past few months have been really busy (and interesting). I (finally!) started a new job at the beginning of September. A real, permanent full time job with better pay and benefits! I'm working as an administrative assistant for a nonprofit organization that oversees and provides food and services to over 100 hunger centers and hot meal sites in the Cleveland area. It includes one hunger center in my suburb, which had been a great help to my husband and I during our employment struggles of the past year and a half.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>So, it's not the best paying job, or the most exciting, but I am making a lot more than at the BOE (no more phone calls from irate voters either, ha, ha!), have a nice boss and coworkers, and a lot more flexibility with my schedule (no more last-minute, mandatory overtime!). It's also in a great location downtown - 5 minute walk to the bus stop (no more taking two busses every day either!), and close to restaurants and shopping (well, what little shopping we have downtown anyway). Mostly I'm just thankful to finally have a permanent job, and to be done with all the stress and frustration of job hunting. I was especially thankful after my first week there, when my boss had me send our rejection letters (!) to all of the applicants (over 50) who I beat out for the job!</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>On the down side, my husband is still laid off, and hasn't even gotten many interviews. He's been out of work for 7 months now, and is feeling pretty depressed about it. Fortunately Ohio has had a lot of unemployment pay extensions, so when his unemployment ran out in September, he was able to get an extension, and keep receiving benefits. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>In other news, my daughter started 6th grade at a new school this fall. She was diagnosed with a math learning disability in 3rd grade, and we've been struggling with her previous Catholic school since then to get her the help she needed. She was being pulled out of class several times a week for tutoring, but was showing no progress in math, and too many of her regular teachers had little patience with her learning problems. Several of them completely disregarded her IEP, which allows her accomodations like extra time on tests. Her 4th grade teacher essentially told me that Bethany was lazy, and that she could do fine in school if she was more motivated. </strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>At the same meeting, the school gym teacher expressed her "concern" about Bethany's lack of interest in sports, and her difficulty in learning the rules of basketball. WTF??? I'm not athletic. I've never been athletic, and never will be. I admire people who are athletically talented, but I don't think the world is going to come to an end if a child can't play a sport! I think the emphasis on gym class should be the children getting exercise, and if they participate in class, that should be enough, and from what the gym teacher said, Bethany <em>was </em>participating, even if she didn't enjoy the class. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>After 4th grade, things just really went downhill for Bethany. She had a terrible year in 5th grade, failing nearly all of her classes, despite her keeping up with her assignments and homework. Her teachers, unfortunately, did a lousy job keeping my husband and I informed about exactly how badly Bethany was doing in school. She hated going to school, and was getting increasingly anxious and frustrated. I also found out, belatedly, that Bethany had problems with a number of kids harrassing her and making fun of her (which her teacher never mentioned to us), and which she said her teacher did next to nothing to stop. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The school principal waited until several weeks after school ended to inform us that Bethany would have to repeat 5th grade unless we could get her private tutoring 4 days a week, several hours a day, and Bethany could "demonstrate competency in the 5th grade" material. Besides the fact that with my husband being laid off, and my working at the BOE for $10 an hour, that paying $200 or more a week for tutoring would have been impossible, I also felt it would do little to help Bethany, because I've felt for quite a while that she possibly has ADD and anxiety in addition to her learning problems. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>After a lot of research and discussion, my husband and I decided to try to put Bethany in a small (110 kids from kindergarten to 8th grade) Catholic school here in the Cleveland area, for kids with learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, and mild autism, about a 20 minute drive from our house. It's a beautiful school, in a converted mansion that a wealthy Cleveland area family left to the Catholic diocese in the 1950's, to be turned into a school for learning disabled kids. It's on 5 acres of land, all wooded, with a lot of deer and wildlife. The school is only one of two of its kind in the Cleveland area, and draws kids from the entire seven county region. Some of the kids have an hour to a hour and a half commute to school every day. It's also very racially and economically diverse, considerably more so than Bethany's last Catholic school. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The school has an excellent track record for its kids going on to be successful in high school, and go to college, and quite a few of their graduates have gone on to graduate from Ivy League colleges. I even found out that Bethany's LD tutor at her previous school is a graduate of this school as well. I had read about the school in our local newspaper a few years ago, and it seemed like the right place for Bethany, but I figured we couldn't afford it, and I wanted to keep her in a school in our neighborhood. I contacted the principal of the new school, and she was absolutely wonderful from the time she first emailed me - so kind and understanding and helpful. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>We went to visit the school, and I was really sold when I saw their beautiful art therapy room with clay, a pottery wheel, kiln, sewing machine, fabric, all kinds of drawing materials, and, the best part, knitting needles, crochet hooks, loom and yarn! Yarn! I asked the principal about it, and she said some of their autistic students like to knit in class, because it helps calm them down, and helps them pay attention. How awesome is that?! </strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The principal and teachers truly made us feel welcome at the school, and thankfully, they were not only able to admit Bethany, but, even though we got Bethany enrolled late in the summer, enough financial aid to knock the tuition down from $10,500, to $3,500, the same tuition we would have paid for Bethany at her previous Catholic school. It's still a struggle to pay with my husband being out of work, but I am so grateful Bethany is going there now. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Bethany is in a small class of only 15 kids (only three girls including Bethany!) with two teachers, and they have the ability to pull the kids out into even smaller groups, even to teach kids individually. The kids can take classes at higher or lower grade levels, depending on their needs. Bethany is in 6th grade, but is taking 5th grade math. She's getting weekly art therapy and occupational therapy, because she struggles with handwriting. The 6th, 7th, and 8th graders also have a bi-weekly social skills class. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Bethany's only been there 3 months, but already it's been like a complete transformation. She wakes up every day eager to go to school. She does her homework without me reminding her, and without complaining. She's making a lot of friends, getting along well with all of the kids, participating in class, and keeping up with all of her assignments. She got her first quarter report card, and got A's and B's in every class. Her improvement in math has been nothing short of amazing. Her teachers are kind and caring, and I can tell they truly enjoy working with special needs kids. Everything about the school is very child centered, and much less strict than her previous Catholic school, yet they still hold the kids to high standards, and believe that all kids can be successful in school, despite their learning problems. I truly regret now that I didn't try to enroll Bethany there a few years ago. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>My son Dominic, who started 1st grade this year, is still at Bethany's old Catholic school though. I don't care much for the school anymore, but the public schools in my suburb are for the most part lousy, and nearly all are in a voucher program through the state of Ohio (Ohio EdChoice), so I am able to receive a voucher to pay Dominic's full Catholic school tuition. I feel this is the best option for him right now. My husband and I are hoping eventually to move to another suburb close to Bethany's new school, that has very good public schools, and send Dominic to public school. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Hard for me to believe, but high school is only a few years off for Bethany, so I am already thinking about where I'll send her to high school. I don't know how well she would do in a large public high school, with her special needs, and having only been in small Catholic schools, and I don't want her to feel singled out and stupid being in a special education program within a regular school. It's going to be a tough decision when the time comes.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>In addition to being busy with my new job and the kids being back in school, I've been busy with doctor's appointments for Bethany in regards to her school struggles. My husband and I took her to a developmental pediatrician at a local children's hospital here, and she after meeting with us individually, meeting with Bethany, and various testing and questionaires, the pediatrician diagnosed Bethany with an anxiety disorder and ADD. She gave us a referral to a psychologist at the same hospital, who specializes in anxiety in children, and also said she said she'd like to see how Bethany would do with a low dose of Prozac. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>I personally would like to try counseling first, and see how Bethany does with that. She's already on several medications for asthma and allergies, and I'm reluctant to put her on something else too. I'm also concerned because there's been a lot of things in the news lately about how one of Bethany's asthma medications, Singulair, which she's been on since she was 5 1/2 or 6, Singulair, can cause psychological side effects in some people. The FDA just recently mandated a warning label for the medication, about side effects including depression, fear, and mood changes. I'm going to talk to the psychologist about whether I should stop giving it to Bethany. It has helped her asthma a great deal, but I won't keep giving it to her if it's at all responsible for her anxiety. My husband and I have an appointment for a parents-only consultation with the psychologist on November 21st. I just want to get Bethany the help she needs now while she's still young, so she won't have to struggle as an adult. </strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Well, I hope that wasn't too boring! I have been knitting (a lot!) over the past few months. I haven't bought any yarn in ages, and my only decent pair of knitting needles is a pair of size 8, circular bamboo needles (I've come to the conclusion that I hate metal needles, and that I'm not too fond of straight needles either), so the only things I've knitted are stash yarn projects, where I can use size 8 needles. I've been meaning to take pictures, and post on here, but my digital camera has been messing up lately. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post in the next week or so. Now that I've gotten the hang of knitting, I'm really enjoying it! I still like crocheting, but I'm glad to be able to do both crafts. Maybe one day I'll get around to learning how to sew too!</strong></span><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">For anyone who's been patient enough to read through this whole long post, here's a picture of my kids in their Halloween costumes yesterday. Of course, as luck would have it, it was 60-70+ degrees for the past two weeks, windless, and sunny, through Friday, then Saturday ended up barely 50 degrees and cold (yes, I'm a wimp - 50 degrees is cold to me!), overcast, and windy. We took the kids trick or treating with my brother and sister in law, my sister, and the kids' cousins and had a great time. My daughter also had a sleepover with her best friend, her 11 year old cousin Rosie.</span></strong><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">My brother and sister in law recently moved to an upper-class suburb, and wow, those folks out there sure were generous with the candy! A lot of people were giving out full-size candy bars, some 2 bars per kid! Sure beats when I was a kid, and was lucky to just get mini candy bars, and of course, there were always some folks who gave out stuff like apples, boxes of raisins, or (usually from the older people), bags of pennies, ha, ha! </span></strong><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">So, here's my hippie girl and Harry Potter boy (who refused to wear his Harry Potter costume glasses for the picture) at my sister's house:</span></strong><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Thanks for reading!</span></strong><br />
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<strong></strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-63137966722449066872009-05-25T22:43:00.023-04:002009-05-26T00:09:15.674-04:00Updates<strong>Wow, I was just looking at my blog and realized I hadn't updated it in nearly two months. I didn't realize it had been that long.<br /><br /></strong><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Well, where to start...</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong><br />I'm still working at the Board of Elections. When I went back in March, they brought back me and 4 other temps with the plan of eventually hiring us to fill 5 open permanent positions they had. The 5 positions ended up being cut to 2, and then brought back up to 4. 4 positions and 5 temps interested in them = 1 person not being hired. Several weeks ago the positions were opened for any current temps to apply. They interviewed 9 people (all temps from different departments), including me. Last Thursday they announced who was hired, and well, I was the one person from my department who wasn't. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>What's so frustrating is that the lady who's head of the department told me how happy she's been with my work, how the quality of my work is excellent, etc., etc., but they didn't choose me because I can't work a lot of overtime during election seasons (because of my kids and if my husband goes back to work on nights). Of the other 4 temps they did hire permanently, three are young, single, and childless, and the fourth has a teenage daughter in her last year of high school, so none of them have child care issues to worry about. Stupid me assumed my not being able to work a lot of overtime wasn't too much of a problem, since they brought me back as a temp this time, even though they had dozens of other temps to choose from, who could work a lot of overtime. </strong></div><div><strong><br /></div></strong><div><strong>I'm still employed at least, probably through the end of the fall, maybe through the end of the year, but having that permanent position would have meant more money. Health insurance (which I desperately need since my husband's and kids' insurance runs out June 30th, and I haven't had medical insurance in over a year). Sick time. Vacation time. Holiday pay. When I wasn't the only temp in my area, it wasn't so bad. We (the temps) liked to commisserate about the lousy job market and our need for permanent employment. Now, being the only temp, I feel like the unpopular kid who didn't get invited to the big party of the year. It was really, really hard dragging myself into work on Friday knowing my best chance at permanent employment had been dashed. </strong></div><div><strong><br /></div></strong><div><strong>I hate having to start all over from scratch now - fruitlessly searching for jobs, applying and hoping for interviews, going through interviews, hoping to be hired, and being disappointed all over again when I'm not. I'm truly burned out on it. If my husband weren't still out of work, I wouldn't feel so overwhelmed, but his being out of work just compounds my stress.<br /><br /></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>About the only good news we've gotten lately is that our landlord, who has amassed quite a collection of rental properties, and who is looking to add more, asked my husband today (knowing our situation and given my husband's maintenance skills) if he would be interested in coming to work for him as a property manager, handling repairs on his properties, working with city inspectors and the Section 8 program (for his tenants that get assistance), etc. It wouldn't pay as much as my husband was making at his last job, but it would relieve a lot of stress financially, while my husband's waiting to when/if he'll get called back to work at his old job.<br /><br /></div></strong><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Last Friday, my 11 year old niece, Rosie, slept over on Friday and Saturday night. On Friday night, we ate at Cici's Pizza (if you've never been to one, it's a good, cheap alternative to fast-food restaurants). Saturday turned out to be rainy and chilly most of the day, but the kids talked my husband and I into taking them to the playground. There's a fantastic playground here next to a Jewish community center, all set up to look like a miniature town, with a pretend bank, fire station, school, houses, etc. It was built by volunteers and with donations, as a public playground for both disabled and non-disabled kids. The kids had a lot of fun, despite the rain. Here's some pictures:</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339971249772645618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/Shtjjy1_TPI/AAAAAAAABck/ADb08h_tBTo/s400/Kids.jpg" border="0" /></strong></div><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/ShtmsW7lZhI/AAAAAAAABdU/uPjLrJpVnck/s1600-h/Playground.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339974695433627154" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/ShtmsW7lZhI/AAAAAAAABdU/uPjLrJpVnck/s320/Playground.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong> </strong><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/Shtmy7V7CSI/AAAAAAAABdc/XVnw1AUEKk8/s1600-h/Playground2.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339974808286988578" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/Shtmy7V7CSI/AAAAAAAABdc/XVnw1AUEKk8/s320/Playground2.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><br /><br /></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/Shtm8ZJGyiI/AAAAAAAABdk/ZzEskiTGo_4/s1600-h/Playground3.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339974970905119266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/Shtm8ZJGyiI/AAAAAAAABdk/ZzEskiTGo_4/s320/Playground3.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong> </strong><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/ShtnDjw20RI/AAAAAAAABds/qMj4SMnyz98/s1600-h/Playground4.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339975094015283474" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/ShtnDjw20RI/AAAAAAAABds/qMj4SMnyz98/s320/Playground4.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong><br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><br /><br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><br /><br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong><br /><br /></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>After the playground, we went to the library and rented some DVD's. The girls and I watched "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl", about a 10 year old girl growing up during the Depression. I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be a pretty good movie. Christina, I think Piper would really like that movie. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>In fiber-related news, after two and a half years of drooling over knitting patterns, admiring gorgeous projects on crafty blogs (ahem, Bezzie and Christina!), I decided to sit down, break out my knitting needles and some books, and learn how to knit. After struggling mightly with casting on (long-tail cast on), knit stitches, purl stitches, and binding off, I finally got the hang of it, and have now been knitting for 3 weeks! Yep, it's true! I even have a finished knitting project to show!</strong></div><br /><div><strong>Ta da! It's a knitted kerchief with a crocheted edging, for Rosie, who asked me last weekend if I could knit or crochet her something (and she's such a sweet kid, how could I say no?).</strong><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339964348828067074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 302px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/ShtdSG0lpQI/AAAAAAAABcM/DXRo-hx1xlo/s400/Kerchief.jpg" border="0" /></strong></div><div><strong>I got the pattern from a library book, "Find Your Style and Knit it Too". I had several pairs of knitting needles I had collected over the past 2 years, during previous unsucessful attempts to learn how to knit, but my Dominic, having decided that knitting needles make good pretend pirate swords, lost or broke nearly all of them, except for a size 8, 16 inch bamboo circular needle, and a couple of aluminum straight needles (which I despise - I have the hardest time keeping the stitches on them). I wanted to knit something besides swatches, and having little extra money for new needles or yarn, I decided on this kerchief, which was perfect to make on the circular needles. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>This is actually the second one I've made. The first was in some stash Cotton-Ease, and I ripped it out and restarted it literally at least 15 times. I kept messing up the yarn overs, purling when I was supposed to knit, and knitting when I was supposed to purl. I finally finished it after several days, but it had a lot of mistakes, and I just wasn't happy about giving something with a bunch of mistakes away. Yesterday afternoon, I started on this one, in some stash Sugar N' Cream (Pinky Stripes), and finished it this morning. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>I have a stack of knitting books from the library sitting on my kitchen table now, tempting me with all their patterns. I've come to the conclusion that knitting is considerably slower than crocheting, that it's much more complicated, and it's way harder to fix mistakes, but so far, I really like it! For my next project, I'm hoping to knit this baby blanket (a big impetus for me finally learning how to knit!) for my husband's best friend and his wife, who are expecting their first child (a boy) in August).<br /></strong></div><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339977036567222114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 291px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/Shto0oVVF2I/AAAAAAAABd0/bP5X-mrSZco/s400/Baby+Blanket.jpg" border="0" /></strong> <div><strong>In non-knitting related news, I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day. My husband and kids and I went to my oldest brother's house for a cookout. My brother's wife is Arabic (Palestinian) and a wonderful cook. Her aunt brought over a whole lamb for the cookout, and we had chicken kabobs, lamb kabobs, the most delicious hamburgers (from the Arabic meat shop - they had garlic, onions, and spices ground right in), and tons of side dishes and desserts. The kids had fun playing with all of their cousins, and of course, I was happy to see my little 16 month old niece, Jenna. Isn't she just the cutest little thing?!<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339969193789342674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/ShthsHtXw9I/AAAAAAAABcc/wmknoK-RDyg/s400/Gehan+%26+Jenna.jpg" border="0" />Of course, now that I know how to knit, Jenna is going to be totally spoiled with all kinds of cute, girly, hand-knitted gifts!</strong></div></div><p><strong>Well, off to bed. Holiday Mondays always go by too quick! </strong></p></div></div></div></div></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-40147552816203764442009-03-31T22:08:00.024-04:002009-03-31T23:22:51.523-04:00Feeling Better!<strong>Well, after a lousy past week, I'm finally feeling better! </strong><br /><br /><strong>I started back to work at the BOE yesterday. I was glad to have a job to go back to, but still feeling kind of depressed, thinking that I couldn't do any better than a $10 an hour temp job, even with all my education and work experience. I felt a lot better when I found out that the BOE might be hiring me and the other 4 temps they called back, permanently! They transferred 3 employees to another department, another employee retired, and one either quit or got fired - I'm not sure with. The head of the department said they have 5 openings now, and that's why they hired back just 5 temps.<br /><br />My self esteem had taken a big wallop after I lost my pre-BOE job. But, after hearing the head of the department and another supervisor say they chose us 5 temps to come back because of how well we did on the assessment test, our quality of work when we worked for the BOE last year, and because they felt we would do the best at the job, I felt pretty good.<br /><br />We're getting our own desks (instead of the long tables we sat at as temps last year), phone extensions and email addresses, so that looks promising. Geez, I know that's pretty pitiful that I'm getting excited about having a desk, after having my own office at my pre-BOE job. Yes, I had my own office, but it was only because my department only had 4 employees, including our boss, and there were 4 offices, so we each got one. If there had been more employees, most of us would have been stuck in cubicles. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I do get hired permanently, because I'm burned out on job hunting, and it would be a huge relief to finally have medical insurance and vacation time again, not to mention better pay.<br /><br />I feel like maybe my luck is turning around, because a lot of good things have happened to me since Friday. I had been worried sick the past week over my gas and electric bills, which living here in freezing Cleveland, where it's cold 6-7 months of the year, had become really unmanageable. I was able to get help paying them from a local agency on Friday. They not only gave me money towards each bill, but put me on a percentage of income payment plan, which cut my monthly payments in half.<br /><br />I was worried about having enough money for bus fare to get to work all week, but then I got my state income tax refund yesterday, which my husband and I had been waiting on for well over a month. The majority of it got taken by the Ohio Department of Transportation for this minor accident my husband had two years ago (and no, they still haven't fixed the fence he hit, which they are charging us for). I was waiting for the balance of the refund to be sent to me, and wasn't expecting it for another week, but luckily it came sooner. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Today after work on my way to the bus stop downtown, I ran into an old friend of mine, who I used to ride the bus with everyday, but lost touch with, and hadn't seen in a year. That really made my day! </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that since Friday, I've had 4 sales in my Etsy shop! The extra money came right in time, because my husband needed some money for gas to get the kids to and from school. I'm hoping the rest of the week will continue to go as well! </strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><strong></strong><strong>I also have a few crochet projects to show (please ignore the odd photo placement and the messed up line spacing at the end of this post - Blogger wouldn't cooperate for me today). First is a sweater for my "dog niece", my sister Shauna's dog, Autumn. She had asked me to crochet a sweater for Autumn. We went to Walmart, and she bought some Simply Soft Eco yarn in green and off-white for the sweater. I'm using a pattern from Crochet Today. She's really happy with it so far. I'm nearly done, but ran out of green yarn, so I'll finish the sweater when I have a chance to go back to Walmart, and get another skein. </strong><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLR5T6Sh-I/AAAAAAAABa8/9a8zVuF8NlE/s1600-h/Nubby%27s+Coat+-+Front.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319544892405483490" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 217px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLR5T6Sh-I/AAAAAAAABa8/9a8zVuF8NlE/s320/Nubby%27s+Coat+-+Front.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLSFl43euI/AAAAAAAABbE/QilcaNAWrUM/s1600-h/Nubby%27s+Coat+-+Back.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319545103389784802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 218px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLSFl43euI/AAAAAAAABbE/QilcaNAWrUM/s320/Nubby%27s+Coat+-+Back.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><br /><br /><div><p><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319546389590869314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 282px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLTQdXGhUI/AAAAAAAABbM/WSjqBy80uKw/s320/Mom%27s+Pillow.jpg" border="0" />Next is a pillow for my mom for her birthday in February. She likes birds, and her favorite colors are blue and green, so when I saw this </strong><a href="http://www.coatsandclark.com/Products/Publications/AfghansAndThrows/J27-0005+Home+Style.htm"><strong>”Bird on Branch” pattern</strong></a><strong>, I knew it would be perfect for her. </strong><strong>Next is a hat and a market bag that I made for my Etsy shop. </strong><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLUxBRNXYI/AAAAAAAABbc/i1YA45tNaoI/s1600-h/Tweedy+Green+Hat.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319548048497270146" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 253px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLUxBRNXYI/AAAAAAAABbc/i1YA45tNaoI/s320/Tweedy+Green+Hat.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong> </strong><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLW_VGqNiI/AAAAAAAABb0/W1Iimc3KoLY/s1600-h/Tweedy+Green+Hat2.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319550493363156514" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 241px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLW_VGqNiI/AAAAAAAABb0/W1Iimc3KoLY/s320/Tweedy+Green+Hat2.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong><br /><br /><br /></strong></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong><br /><br /><br /></strong><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319557541707896914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 238px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SdLdZmO_2FI/AAAAAAAABcE/UsIK6iIHjXg/s320/Market+Bag.jpg" border="0" />I used some leftover Red Heart Fiesta from my mom's pillow for the hat. The bag is one of the items that sold in my Etsy shop. It's made with Lily Sugar N' Cream in pink camo and olive green. The suburb I live in has a farmer's market on Friday evenings during the summer and early fall, and I'm debating making some more of that bag, and trying to sell them at the market. They're always looking for more vendors (some sell things other than produce), and the market attracts a pretty large crowd. I wonder if it would sell well?<br /><br />That's about it. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I get hired permanently at the BOE soon.</strong></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-32956017221217207272009-03-25T10:38:00.003-04:002009-03-25T11:14:05.414-04:00When it Rains It PoursYes, I realize I haven't updated my blog in over a month. It's not that I haven't been crocheting anything - I have made a few things. It's just that I know most of the posts I've done over the past 6 months have been negative, and I didn't want my blog to only be about negative stuff that happens to me. I was waiting to post until I had something good to report. Well, unfortunately, the past few months have not been good at all, and March has been especially bad.<br /><br />I've had a total of one, yes, one job interview since last November. It was for a secretarial position with my college alma mater. I asked one of the ladies I interviewed with when they plan on making a hiring decision, and she said they want to fill the position quickly, so the person they select will be starting within 2-4 weeks. Two to four week is "quickly"??? Why do colleges and government agencies have to move so incredibly slow with their hiring? I'm trying not to get my hopes up about that job though, because not much of anything has gone well for me lately.<br /><br />After fighting with the unemployment bureau since the middle of December, I finally had my appeal hearing yesterday. It lasted all of 10 minutes. Basically the judge told me since my base period employment was with a church, and churches, under Ohio law, don't have to pay into the state unemployment fund, I am not eligible for unemployment. I asked why the unemployment bureau's website says that employment with a nonprofit or government agency is considered "covered" employment, even though they don't pay into the unemployment fund, the judge told me that does not include churches. Church employees simply can't get unemployment pay. I was so angry and upset over that. Just because an organization doesn't HAVE to pay into the unemployment fund, doesn't mean they SHOULDN'T. And in my opinion, a church of all places should care enough about their employees to want them to be able to collect unemployment if they are laid off. Oh well.<br /><br />On top of feeling miserable and depressed all day yesterday because of that, my husband got laid off last night. Yep. This was my worst nightmare - both of us being unemployed at the same time. His company has had three rounds of layoffs since November, and made the remaining employees take several unpaid furloughs. They laid off 14 more people last night, and my husband, having the least amount of seniority of the employees in his department, was one of them. He'll get two weeks of severance pay, his week of vacation paid out and then unemployment.<br /><br />I can't even begin to describe how frightening this is, to have bills piling up, being crunched just to afford basic living expenses like food and utilities, and then to have my husband lose his job on top of it. As soon as his severance pay runs out, I'm going to apply for food stamps. I feel ashamed having to do that, but it doesn't look like I have many other options. The other big problem is what we're going to do when his medical insurance runs out on June 30th. I can probably get Medicaid for the kids, but now my husband won't have medical insurance either (I haven't had insurance since I lost my church job almost a year ago), and with him being diabetic and on several medications, that really worries me.<br /><br />I haven't even had a single sale in my Etsy shop, other than a hat that one of my husband's nieces bought. I recently joined a few Etsy groups - Etsy Hookers (<a href="http://www.etsyhookers.ning.com/">www.etsyhookers.ning.com</a>) and the Etsy Cleveland Street Team (<a href="http://www.clevelandhandmade.com/">www.clevelandhandmade.com</a>) - sorry, couldn't get the one-word links to work. I've been trying to promote my Etsy shop through both, but still haven't gotten any sales. I'm totally discouraged. I also created a website for my husband's DJ services about a month ago (through Microsoft Small Business - you can set up a website for free for the first year and only $14.95 for each year after that), and have been advertising on Craig's List, but he hasn't gotten any jobs yet, either.<br /><br />About the only good that's happened lately is I got a letter from the Board of Elections saying they are hiring for temporary positions again, and are inviting temps who worked for them in 2008 to reapply. A lot of things about the BOE rubbed me the wrong way, and I'd prefer not to go back there, but I don't have much of a choice at this point. This year though, they're making everyone who applies take an assessment on their computer system, before being hired. I have no idea why, because when I was hired last year, not only did I not have to take any kind of assessment, I didn't even have an interview! I know how to use their computer system, but I don't have as much experience with it as many of the other temps, who had worked there off and on for several years, and that worries me.<br /><br />If I don't get the BOE job, we'll really be in a mess, because I have no other job prospects lined up right now. I've been looking for jobs, but here in Cleveland, there's so few to choose from, and among the ones I've applied for, I haven't been getting interviews (the college job an exception). There was a job fair here recently, and 7,500 people showed up to apply for 1,500 mostly minimum wage to $10 an hour jobs. It was so crowded, the police had to turn more than half of the people away. I had wanted to go, but it was in a suburb I couldn't reach by bus from where I live. I don't feel so bad now, because I'd probably have been lucky to even get in the door.<br /><br />Well, I have a few crochet projects photos to post - stash yarn projects. I'll post those later today, or tomorrow.Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-17972482641265337952009-02-04T23:56:00.011-05:002009-02-05T01:05:52.476-05:00My Etsy Shop!<strong>Well, after much hard work, I finally got my <a href="http://www.redhairedladycrochet.etsy.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Etsy</span> shop</a> up and running! Please come by and take a look!</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I owe many thanks to <a href="http://www.yarnchick.blogspot.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Naida</span></a> of Crochet Mama's Blog, who made the too-cute banner for my shop. Thank you so much, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Naida</span>!</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Other than that, not much has been going on here. My sister and brother in law invited me and my husband and kids over for dinner last weekend, for the kids' birthdays. We had stuffed shells (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">mmmm</span>!), garlic bread, and an ice cream cake. My husband and brother in law also went on a date. No, not really, ha, ha! They both wanted to see this vampire/werewolf movie (I can't even remember the name of it), and neither my sister or I were interested in it, so my brother in law suggested the two of them go together before dinner. I didn't mind. I like horror movies, but I just can't get into the vampire and werewolf ones. My sister and the kids and I stayed at her house and made plans for a surprise for her husband for their one year wedding anniversary, which is coming up in May. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I'm also still looking for another job, without much luck. I have mixed feelings about going back to work though. Financially, I need to go back to work, but when I do, I'm going to miss being home with my kids in the afternoons after school. We have a lot more time for homework and school projects, and I don't feel so chronically crunched for time anymore. But, I don't have the luxury of staying home much longer, so hopefully another job will turn up for me soon, or I'll at least get approved for the unemployment pay. I'm expecting to hear something from the unemployment office next. God willing, it'll be good news. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>About the only other good thing about being out of work right now is not having to trudge outside into the snow every morning. This has a been a particularly bad winter here in Cleveland. We had almost 41 inches of snow in January alone, and another 12 inches just in the past few days, and the kids have had two snow days from school in January alone. This is the second snowiest winter we've had since 1978. So, what happened to global warming??!!</strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-31180054330615254872009-02-01T23:48:00.014-05:002009-02-02T01:02:26.930-05:00Happy (Belated) 11th Birthday Bethany!<strong>January 29th was my daughter's 11th birthday. I meant to post something then, but I've been sick for the past week with a nasty cold. I'm finally starting to feel better now. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298067198255472482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SYaEC-Qqn2I/AAAAAAAABak/i8mctA6hB50/s400/Cake.jpg" border="0" /></strong><strong>If there's anything in my life that makes me feel old, knowing that I'm now officially the mom of a preteen (yes, Bethany likes to inform me that she's a preteen now) is it, ha, ha! Only two more years until she's officially a teenager - yikes! How can it be that dating, driving, and high school are only a few years away??? Gulp! </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>It really doesn't feel like it was that long ago that Bethany was this little:</strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298063787140933186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 273px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SYaA8a3lZkI/AAAAAAAABaM/nOHbaXZMDHU/s400/Baby+Bethany.jpg" border="0" /></strong> <strong>Now I have this almost as tall as me, going through puberty, becoming concerned about clothes, and hairstyles, talking about what's cool and what isn't from a 5th graders' perspective (apparently the kids in her class spend a lot of time discussing that), wanting a cell phone, and looking forward to be old enough to babysit, preteen.</strong><br /><strong></strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298068886489945762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 224px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SYaFlPbIVqI/AAAAAAAABas/JAQjrujI53M/s400/Bethany.jpg" border="0" /><strong>But I also have a smart, funny, creative, sweet, pretty girl, and I'm proud to be her mom. She made me especially proud the other day when she told me that even though her little brother (Dominic) annoys her sometimes, that she still loves him. Awww!</strong><br /><br /><strong>Although the 29th marked a happy occasion in my life, it also marked a sad one. My dad passed away 4 years ago this month. His funeral fell on Bethany's 7th birthday. I thought it would be fitting to post this:</strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298066519749087250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 301px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SYaDbeoI0BI/AAAAAAAABac/juMK8oVviZk/s400/Laura+%26+Dad.jpg" border="0" />This is me (a much thinner me - I actually weighed less 9 months pregnant with Bethany than I do now -sigh...) and my dad at my older sister Desiree's wedding in 1997. I was 5 months pregnant with Bethany in this photo. I still miss my dad a lot, but I'm thankful for the time I had with him, and I take comfort in knowing that he's no longer sick or in pain.</strong><br /><br />I<strong> also have something wonderful to remember my dad by - my black and white kitty, Stormy (AKA "Mitten" because of her little white mitten paws). I was going through a really rough period in my life in the winter of 2001, personally, financially, and health wise. My colon became infected and ruptured unexpectedly, requring me to have emergency surgery to remove a foot and a half of my colon. I spent a week in an ICU, and came home with a colostomy. My other black and white kitty at the time, Sasha, who I had for 6 years, got lost right before I went to the hospital. The local animal shelter found him a few weeks later, but he died at the shelter the next morning, before I had a chance to come pick him up. I was heartbroken, and it was a lot to deal with so soon after my surgery. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>A few days later, my dad and brother went to the drugstore, and my dad saw a tiny black and white cat wandering around in the parking lot, freezing, and trying to get into the store - my Stormy. My brother grabbed her, and they brought her home for me, and it did a lot to cheer me up. I still have her now, 7 years later, and she holds special meaning to me, since my dad found her. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298075353243501842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 374px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SYaLdp9UxRI/AAAAAAAABa0/SzvoqWj5Sm4/s400/Stormy.jpg" border="0" />Happy belated birthday, Bethany! And rest in peace, Dad. </strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-38367793380116244872009-01-20T09:42:00.014-05:002009-01-20T11:16:29.563-05:00Happy 6th Birthday Dominic!<strong>Yep, today is my son's 6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span></span> birthday!<br /><br /></strong><div><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293386687714779682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SXXjJZwFYiI/AAAAAAAABZA/jGxBX9Rw_0g/s400/Cake.jpg" border="0" />Lesa, I copied the "cake" you had on your blog! : )</strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>It's hard to believe my little boy is 6 already. It went by so fast! It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was this little:</strong></div><div><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293389754632744114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 264px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SXXl766TrLI/AAAAAAAABZI/l15IZfBJZc8/s400/Dominic.jpg" border="0" /></strong></div><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293390376776704130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 264px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SXXmgIk_III/AAAAAAAABZQ/9pC4FloMMDA/s400/Dominic2.jpg" border="0" />But now he's this big:<br /></strong><p><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293390790951932930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SXXm4PgDlAI/AAAAAAAABZY/YAVKWjOVDI8/s400/Wedding+010.jpg" border="0" />He even lost his first tooth last week! One minute he wants to do every thing by himself - getting mad if I try to help him zip his coat, or put on a DVD for him to watch (he's better at operating the DVD player than I am, ha, ha!), and then the next minute he'll run up to me, throw his arms around me, and tell me "I haven't had any hugs today!" or "I haven't had any kisses today!". I'm not looking forward to the age when he'll get <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">embarrassed</span> if I hug or kiss him. Happy birthday to my sweet little boy!</strong></p><p><strong>I realize I haven't been updating my blog much lately. I've been so preoccupied with my job situation lately that it's been hard concentrating on anything else. As you probably already surmised, I was laid off from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">BOE</span></span> again. They laid off all of the temps on Christmas Eve, but never bothered to notify anyone. Yep. I didn't work on Christmas Eve because of the weather, and most of the temps left early that day. From what I heard from another temp, one of the supervisors said late in the day (after most everyone had gone home) that Christmas Eve "might" be our last day.</strong></p><p><strong>We weren't scheduled to go back to work until the 29<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span></span>. I came down with a horrific case of the flu two days before that. I hadn't been that sick with the flu in years. I barely made it out of bed to go to work on the 29<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">th</span></span>, but dragged myself into work anyway (as did most of the temps), only to find that all the temps were indeed laid off on Christmas Eve. No one got a call saying they were laid off, and the supervisors were shocked that so many people showed up to work. What did they expect?! The supervisors were trying to find work for the day for people who showed up, but I felt so sick and apparently looked so bad that the head of the department took one look at me and sent me home.</strong></p><p><strong>I had applied for unemployment pay after my first layoff in mid-December, and got the determination on Christmas Eve. I was turned down, because according to the unemployment office, I didn't have at least 20 weeks of "covered" employment or earned at least $206 a week before taxes during my employment. I earned more than $206 a week with the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">BOE</span></span>, but was only there about 15 or 16 weeks.Upon looking into the unemployment law though, I realized that they were looking at any employment I had during what they consider my "base period", which is from 7/1/07-6/30/08. I was employed at my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">pre</span></span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">BOE</span></span> job during that time period. That employer was a nonprofit (church), which don't pay into the state unemployment fund, so the unemployment office told me that employment would most likely not count. </strong></p><p><strong>However, I found this on the unemployment bureau's website:</strong></p><p><em><strong>What is covered employment? Under Ohio law, most employers are required to pay contributions for unemployment insurance. Work for such an employer is "covered" employment. Work for a nonprofit or government agency is "covered" employment, even though the employer does not pay regular contributions, but instead reimburses the cost of unemployment benefits paid to its former workers. In that case, my employment with the church qualifies as "covered employment" for the purposes of receiving unemployment pay. I filed an appeal that day (stating that I did indeed have at least 20 weeks of covered employment, with all of the necessary information), and just received a new determination today. </strong></em></p><p><strong>So, in that case, my employment with the church IS covered employment! I filed an appeal on Christmas Eve, and was told it would take 21 days for a decision. I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">recieved</span> the decision today, and w</strong><strong>ell, I was still refused unemployment benefits, for the same reason as before! I'm so angry I could scream! I've been out of work nearly a month with no pay. Prior to that, I hadn't had a full paycheck in over a month, between my first layoff, and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">BOE</span></span> cutting the temps' hours after the November 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">th</span></span> election. </strong></p><p><strong>I filed a second appeal today, which will go to the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission, who will grant me a hearing on my appeal. In the meantime though, I can't afford to wait another three weeks to a month to see what will happen with my second appeal. I feel just sick over this. I've been applying and applying for jobs and haven't had a single interview in months. A friend of mine - a temp from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">BOE</span></span>, who recently found a permanent job, and who has HR experience, revamped my resume for me. Maybe that will help, but I'm not very hopeful, given all the bad luck and disappointments I've had over the past year with job hunting.</strong></p><p><strong>In other news, my husband's company just laid off 1,300 people across Ohio and I think Pennsylvania. This is the second round of layoffs they've had in a month. Fortunately they haven't laid off anyone from my husband's department (maintenance) yet, but he's worried that it might still be coming, and with him having the least <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">seniority</span> of anyone in the department, that wouldn't bode well for him. I'm praying they don't lay him off, because we'd be just absolutely screwed financially.</strong></p><p><strong>I have finished some crochet projects lately, and I'll post them in the next day or so. I've been working on some things for my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Etsy</span></span> shop. I set one up, but haven't put anything up for sale yet. I need to get a foam mannequin head to display hats, and some kind of banner for my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Etsy</span></span> shop (I don't have the software to make one). Those will have to wait a while too.</strong></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-84844727764490242942009-01-07T12:24:00.003-05:002009-01-07T12:26:40.575-05:00Wordless Wednesday - Cat Bed? Who Needs One?!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SWTlnjE_nYI/AAAAAAAABY4/dAnSpN7moOA/s1600-h/Stormy2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288604330033651074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 272px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SWTlnjE_nYI/AAAAAAAABY4/dAnSpN7moOA/s400/Stormy2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-1076958983289872402008-12-28T00:44:00.022-05:002008-12-28T03:28:10.674-05:00Belated Merry Christmas<strong>I hope all my blog readers and fellow crafters had a good Christmas! Mine was OK. To be honest, my job situation has had me pretty distracted lately, and really put a damper on Christmas for me. I went back to work about two weeks ago. The first week back, there was a big water main break downtown a few blocks from the BOE, and the BOE had no water service, so we ended up being sent home at 9:30 in the morning. We had to work on Saturday to make up the time, but Saturday was only a partial day, so between that and the time I missed from work when I took the Census test, I was short a few hours for the week.</strong><br /><strong><br />This week I stayed home on Monday and Wednesday because the weather was so bad. I've lived in the Cleveland area my whole life, so I've dealt with some pretty nasty weather conditions traveling to and from work. I can deal with snow and cold, but after falling on a patch of ice downtown last year, and breaking my right wrist, I'm paranoid when it comes to ice. Now that I have no medical insurance, the possibility of breaking something else really worries me more than it would normally.<br /><br />We had freezing rain Sunday night, and by Monday morning, the roads and sidewalks were completely ice covered. My husband had an awful time getting home from work, and said the sidewalks looked even worse than the streets, and he doubted I'd be able to make it to the bus stop OK. A lot of the ice had melted by Tuesday, so I went to work, and then we got hit with even more freezing rain on Tuesday night. When I looked outside on Wednesday, the sidewalks just looked rainy, and not icy, so I got dressed, left the house, and didn't even make it halfway down the street without nearly falling a few times, because everything was completely ice covered. I couldn't even walk in the street, because the street wasn't salted. Things were so bad, many freeways were even shut down overnight, because of the high number of car accidents.<br /><br />The suburb I live in used to be pretty good about getting the streets, including the side streets salted, but this year they really seem to be lax. I haven't seen a single side street salted (including mine), and the main streets don't seem to get salted until after the morning rush, which is useless. I read in the newspaper a few months ago that the state of Ohio is expected to have a road salt shortage this year (there's endless amounts of salt underneath Lake Erie, but apparently the mining companies can't mine it quickly enough to keep up with demand), so I'm going to be generous and assume that's why the roads aren't getting salted on time.<br /><br />I felt terrible having to miss those two days of work, when I already haven't had a full paycheck in a month. The BOE kept changing their mind about which days they were going to close for Christmas, and finally they decided to close through Monday, which is great for regular employees, who have paid time off, but not so great for temps, who get nothing. On top of that, we're just about finished with the voter history, and from what one of the other temps told me, based on what she heard on Christmas Eve, next Tuesday might be our last day of work. The BOE had been pushing us to finish up the voter history by December 31st, presumably to get us off the payroll before the beginning of the year, so I'm anticipating being permanently laid off next week.<br /><br />I knew this was a temp job, so I guess I shouldn't be upset, but at the same time, I had expected to find another job before this one ended. I applied for unemployment pay when I was laid off the first time, but my claim was denied because I hadn't been at the BOE for at least 20 weeks (I've only been there about 16 weeks). Normally they'd take into account my prior employment as well, but my last job was with the national offices of a church, and churches are not required to pay into the state unemployment fund, so the 3 years I spent at the church don't count as "covered employment". In my opinion, just because an employer doesn't <em>have</em> to pay into the unemployment fund, doesn't mean they <em>shouldn't</em>.<br /><br />I'm just really scared about how my husband and I are going to manage once I'm laid off again. We're already struggling as it is, and I can't stand the thought of having a repeat of this summer, where we had to choose between paying the rent and buying food. The selection of jobs out there has been pretty slim lately, and I haven't even been able to get any interviews for the ones I've applied for. Things have gotten so bad here in the Cleveland area that one of the major hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic, has a hiring and raise freeze. I ran into a friend of mine who works for the other major hospital system in the area, University Hospitals, and he said they cut all of his overtime. My landlord has a tenant who works for Lincoln Electric, another major employer here in Cleveland, and his tenant told him Lincoln laid off a ton of employees, basically anyone who has been there less than 3 years. This is the first layoff Lincoln has had since 1948 - 60 years! If that doesn't show how bad things are with the economy, I don't know what does.<br /><br />Needless to say, Christmas was pretty lean for us this year. I spent about $250 on presents for both of the kids, and wouldn't even have spent that much, if not for my mother and sister giving me $75 to use towards the kids' presents. My husband and I didn't buy each other gifts this year. Even though I didn't buy a whole lot, the kids were happy with what they got. On Christmas Eve we usually go to my older sister Desiree's house for dinner and a gift exchange among the kids. This year I didn't know anyone had organized a gift exchange, and no one told me about it until a week before Christmas, when I had already spent my extra money on my kids' gifts. My mom bought gifts for me to give to my niece and nephew (whose names I had for the gift exchange), which I really appreciated, because I was pretty much broke before Christmas.<br /><br />Since I didn't buy anything personally for my niece and nephew, I wanted to crochet something for them. I raided my yarn stash and made hats for both. The first is a newsboy-style cap that I crocheted for my 11 year old niece, Alexis (Desiree's daughter). </strong><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284723074098429378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 273px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVcbot_yfcI/AAAAAAAABXk/F4GkpbrhkSI/s400/Alexis%27s+Hat2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284723499183241282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVccBdj5-EI/AAAAAAAABXs/Zslw47LNyF4/s400/Alexis.jpg" border="0" />I used some Red Heart Kids and Caron Simply Soft from my stash. I had barely a full skein of the Red Heart kids, and it ended up being the exact amount I needed for the hat. The pattern was a free one I found on Ravelry ("Swirls Cap"). I'm really happy with how it came out (although I think the swirls would show better in a solid color yarn), and I anticipate making a lot more of these. Everyone raved about it.<br /></strong><strong></strong><br /><div><p><strong>My kids had fun on Christmas Eve. My sister has a big house, so there's a lot of room for them to run around and play with their cousins. Here's the "three amigos" - my Bethany, her cousin Alexis (middle) and her cousin Rosie (right end). That's Alexis's dog, Tanner, in the photo. He's a Labradoodle (Labrador and Poodle mix). Alexis is allergic to dogs, but Labradoodles are hypoallergenic and don't shed (his fur feels just like a lamb's wool - I bet someone could even spin it into yarn!), so Alexis isn't allergic to him.</strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284723761977703442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVccQwi_PBI/AAAAAAAABX0/TWABGg2Iyt4/s400/Frankie%27s+Hat.jpg" border="0" />My kids had fun on Christmas Eve. My sister has a big house, so there's a lot of room for them to run around and play with their cousins. Here's the "three amigos" - my Bethany, her cousin Alexis (middle) and her cousin Rosie (right end). That's Alexis's dog, Tanner, in the photo. He's a Labradoodle (Labrador and Poodle mix). Alexis is allergic to dogs, but Labradoodles are hypoallergenic and don't shed (his fur feels just like a lamb's wool - I bet someone could even spin it into yarn!), so Alexis isn't allergic to him. </strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284724664233228194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVcdFRtd96I/AAAAAAAABX8/BHju9VlDUrc/s400/Girls.jpg" border="0" /></strong><strong>Here's my adorable little niece, Jenna with her dad:</strong> <strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284725167789937010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVcdilmvkXI/AAAAAAAABYE/jSon0SNE8rA/s400/Jenna+%26+Joe.jpg" border="0" /> And Jenna with Bethany:<br /></strong><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284725512007352610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 340px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVcd2n6kgSI/AAAAAAAABYM/thwmz_zSAGU/s400/Bethany+%26+Jenna.jpg" border="0" />My birthday was December 26th, and my brother-in-law's was the 27th, so my youngest sister Shauna baked a Christmas tree shaped cake for us on Christmas Eve. I turned 35 on the 26th. Only 5 more years until I turn 40 - boy, does that sound depressing! I was feeling pretty lousy on Christmas, about my job situation. A temp coworker and I were joking around about how it's a good thing we can't see into the future, because if we had looked ahead to 2008, and saw ourselves at the BOE scanning signatures in poll books for $10 an hour, we'd have wanted to scream. I told her if I could have looked into the future to see what I'd be doing when I turned 35, I'd really be upset. </strong></p><br /><p><strong>I get introspective around this time of year, and I can't help but feel disappointed in myself. I worked so hard to get an education and work experience - I dropped out of high school in the 11th grade and worked at a fast food restaurant, but I went on to get a GED, went to a trade school to learn some office skills, graduated from college after attending for 10 long years off and on, started graduate school, and got progressively better paying jobs. Now here am I am feeling like none of it mattered. I have a $10 an hour temp job (the last time I earned $10 an hour was in 1999), that is ending shortly, and no prospects for another job. I'm still renting. I have a mountain of bills I can't pay. I have no medical insurance. I can't sleep at night and have been getting stomach pains from the stress. I've taken my graduate education off my resume, thinking it probably makes me look overqualified for most jobs I've applied for, and now I'm at the point where I'm wondering if I shouldn't list my bachelor's degree either, which is a pretty depressing prospect. </strong></p><p><strong>I woke up on my birthday not even wanting to get out of bed. My husband tried hard to cheer me up, and I appreciated it. He bought me birthday cards from him and the kids, and bought me some slippers and a fleece blanket (since I'm always freezing). He had gone to Walmart, and wanted to buy me a sewing machine, but couldn't find one he could afford. I appreciated the thought though. My sister Shauna gave me a pair of (pink!) fleece pajamas, and the Doris Chan book, "Everyday Crochet" (crochet books are good!). My good friend Latanya, who lives in Dallas (and who makes me jealous with reports of the warm weather down there!) sent me two flannel nightgowns for Christmas and my birthday. My husband and I kids I went out to eat at Bob Evans for dinner. We don't eat out very often, and when we do, Bob Evans or Red Robin are about as expensive as we get. We're on such a tight budget right now, that I wouldn't have gone if not for having two coupons for free kids' meals and drinks (which the kids got from Bob Evans' free birthday club). </strong></p><p><strong>I also got a couple of surprises in the mail recently. Last week I got a box in the mail, and I had no idea who it was from. I opened it up and found a beautiful pink knitted scarf (interestingly the exact color of my winter coat), and some pretty pink yarn. I was racking my brain all day trying to figure out who it was from, until I realized it was probably a PIF gift. I was right - it was my PIF gift from Hayley of Knittyauntie.com. It wa a really nice surprise!</strong></p><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284734108012447826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVclq-h5CFI/AAAAAAAABYU/ezKW1yLOD9w/s400/Scarf.jpg" border="0" />The second surprise was a package of gifts for my kids from<br /></strong><a href="http://sewalicious-designs.blogspot.com/"><strong>Katrina</strong></a><strong>, which arrived on my birthday. Here's what she sent:<br /></strong><br /><strong>a Hannah Montana bag and notebook for Bethany:</strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284734735215540290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 386px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVcmPfCwuEI/AAAAAAAABYg/zn9-r6uxFbc/s400/Bethany%27s+Bag.jpg" border="0" />a Disney Cars apron (great for arts and crafts!), and a Cars wallet (I didn't get a chance to take a photo) for Dominic:<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284735639933623922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVcnEJYXHnI/AAAAAAAABYo/3x-xPBrxOWA/s400/Dominic.jpg" border="0" /></strong><strong>And yes, there's more - two beautiful Christmas stockings!</strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5284754623332834290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 367px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SVc4VIDbW_I/AAAAAAAABYw/rNaSpc-xqac/s400/Stockings.jpg" border="0" /> <p></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Katrina handmade the bag, the apron, and the stockings - aren't they awesome?! The kids love getting mail, and they were thrilled with everything Katrina sent. Bethany thought Katrina had bought the bag, because it looks so well made. The apron looks wonderful too! Thank you so much, Katrina! I am always amazed at how generous fellow crafters on the web can be. Katrina's package really made my day!</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>That's about all that's been going on lately. My husband's company is shut down until January 5th, so I've been enjoying having him home at night, and it helps that he'll be able to stay home with the kids for their Christmas vacation. Other than the hats I made for Christmas, I haven't crocheted anything else lately. When I'm worried about things, I can't concentrate on crocheting. I've been reading a lot lately though. I just finished a couple of books - "Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother's Story" by asha bandele (no typo - she spells it lowercase), which I got free from Amazon.com through their Vine program, and "Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx" by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. Something Like Beautiful was good, but Random Family was fantastic, definitely one of the best books I've read in a long time. I highly recommend it. </strong></p><br /><p><strong>I still have no satellite TV service, so I've been checking a lot of DVD's out from the library lately. My husband and I watched Michael Moore's "Sicko" yesterday. It was excellent, and heartbreaking, too. One story particularly bothered me - a 30 something year old man, married with kids, who died from leukemia because his insurance company would not pay for a bone marrow transplant (his son was a marrow match) because they said the treatment was "experimental". The whole documentary is a real condemnation of the state of health care in this country. </strong></p><p><strong>Well, it's pretty late, so I need to finish this up and go to bed. Can you believe that after -20 degree (with wind chill) temperatures and freezing rain for the past couple of days, that it's actually 64 degrees and dry here in the Cleveland area right now??? I'm trying hard not to get my hopes up that it's going to stay that way! </strong></p></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-54592065190877624922008-12-16T18:53:00.003-05:002008-12-16T19:13:00.946-05:00Quick Update<strong>Well, I started back at work at the BOE on Monday. Can you believe it??? They laid off 13 of us last Tuesday, then Thursday, the Secretary of State ordered them to lay off the remaining 10 temps, which they did, and told them not to expect to come back until around the first of the year. But then they called us on Friday afternoon they called all of the temps from my area, plus a lot of the laid off temps from the absentee ballot department, to start working on voter history for the November 4th election.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>There's about 50 of us sitting in a big room working on poll books assembly-line style. When I was in my regular department, the supervisors didn't mind if temps talked, listed to I Pods, etc., were a couple of minutes late to work, etc. as long we got our work done, but now the supervisors are walking around staring at us all day, glaring at anyone who talks, coming down on anyone who's even a few minutes late to to work, and pushing us to work faster. Supposedly they have a deadline to get the voter history done, but I suspect they just want us to get done as quickly as possible so they can lay us off again (the head of HR keeps stopping by to find out how much work we've completed so far). </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Unfortunately, I found out that I probably won't qualify for unemployment pay once I'm laid off for good, because I've only been at the BOE about 13 weeks so far (I would need 20 weeks of covered employment - i.e., working for an employer who pays into the state unemployment fund), and my previous employer was a church, which aren't required to pay into the state unemployment fund. I'm trying hard to find another job before this BOE one ends. I am glad to be back at work in the meantime. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I took an employment test for a temp job with the Census Bureau today. It was being held at my alma mater, Cleveland State (conveniently located a few blocks down the street from the BOE). One of my temp coworkers (another CSU graduate) and I walked down there today at lunch time to take the test.They have some thousands of jobs open, but most of them are "field" positions - going door to door surveying people, for $9.99 an hour (really! They pay $9.99 an hour!). No thanks - that sounds like too much stress and aggravation - being outside all day in bad weather, dealing with people who might be rude, nasty, crazy, or perverted, being sent into rough neighborhoods, working nights and weekends and holidays. They do have some office positions open, but not as many. Most people want the office jobs, so I don't know how much luck I'd have getting one, but I figure it doesn't hurt to try. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I don't have any crochet projects to show - I'm working on something for a coworker, and I'll post pictures when I'm done, but I do have something else crochet-related. I came across <a href="http://www.lazymamadesigns.blogspot.com/">this</a> on a fellow blogger's website and think it's important (not to mention pretty alarming) for any crafters who sell their work to read. </strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-50806215288216247332008-12-10T22:32:00.010-05:002008-12-11T07:40:43.113-05:00Work<strong>Well, I got laid off from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">BOE</span> yesterday. Sigh... We finished most of the work from the November 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> election and a small local election on November 18<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span>, so it had been pretty slow the past two weeks. The head of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">BOE</span> wanted the director of my department to get rid of all 23 of the temps, but she only let 10 (including me) go instead. She kept apologizing to us, and said she feels terrible having to lay people off so close to Christmas, and with the economy here being so bad. The director is pushing for her to lay off more temps, if not all of them. We're supposed to be called back in a week to a week and a half to update voter history for the November 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">th</span> election (when we get the poll books back from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">BOE</span> warehouse where they're being used for an audit), but I can't see them calling us back before Christmas. </strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><strong>In the meantime, this leaves me in a real mess financially, especially coming after having a short check from being off for Thanksgiving. I applied for unemployment pay yesterday. I don't know if I'll get approved for it, but even if I do, it takes 3 weeks to get the first check. I felt nauseous last night worrying, could barely sleep, and woke up with a headache. God willing another, permanent job (or at least a better paying temp job) will turn up for me quickly. The Census Bureau is hiring for some temp jobs in Cleveland, to start in February, so I'm going to go take their employment test next Tuesday. </strong><br /><br /><strong>Well, I do have a couple more crochet projects to show. The first is a hat and blanket set my coworker, Lola, paid me to crochet for her daughter. I finished them about a month ago, but never got around to blogging about them. </strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278373007281860594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SUCMSLsLr_I/AAAAAAAABXE/hzYsm3Mc0W8/s400/S7300602.JPG" border="0" />The hat is from "Stitch N' Bitch: The Happy Hooker" (I added a flower and used half double crochet instead of double) and the blanket is just rows of striped half double crochet with a fancy border. Lola asked me to put flowers on the blanket too, so I sewed one to each corner. Here's a close up of the trim:</strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278374521233577058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SUCNqTmZlGI/AAAAAAAABXM/5SvCWPsS2sU/s400/S7300606.JPG" border="0" />I used Red Heart Super Saver in Petal Pink and Soft White. I don't normally use Super Saver, because I think it's scratchy, but I was looking at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Walmart</span> for some yarn, and all they had in pink and white was the Super Saver, not to mention that I didn't have much money to spend on yarn at the time. I hadn't used Super Saver since I first learned how to crochet, and I was surprised to find that it doesn't feel nearly as scratchy as it used to. I guess Red Heart made some improvements to it. I washed the blanket and hat, soaked them in fabric softener, and dried them with a dryer sheet, and they came out pretty soft afterwards. Lola was really happy with them.<br /><br /></strong><p><strong>Lola's daughter turned one year old last month, so I crocheted a poncho for her, from a free pattern I found online (I added the flower and the picot trim at the bottom). The pattern used a "crossed bar stitch". I really like the stitch pattern. I used some white Vanna's Choice Baby yarn from my stash, so all I had to buy was the red for the trim. Not a bad gift for $3.00! Here's the poncho:<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278375836304903890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 297px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SUCO22n1jtI/AAAAAAAABXU/eKKCHN8DQvo/s400/Baby+Poncho.jpg" border="0" />And here's a picture of Lola's daughter, Heaven, wearing it: </strong></p><p><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278376107195605858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SUCPGnxNo2I/AAAAAAAABXc/xqqzjbT6qAY/s400/Heaven.bmp" border="0" />Isn't she cute?!</strong></p><p><strong>Well, off to get the kids' clothes ready for school <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">tomorrow</span>, and watch an episode from one of the "Medium" DVD boxed sets I just got from the library. </strong></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-75007055700691328462008-12-07T23:30:00.005-05:002008-12-08T01:27:07.136-05:00Lots of Hats!<strong>I enjoyed reading all of your comments about dressing vs. stuffing, LOL! I see I still can't find anyone to come to a consensus about what the difference is, if any!</strong><br /><br /><strong>It's been a depressing past week since I last posted. The three days off from work for Thanksgiving were nice, except that I won't get paid for any of them. I didn't take them off by choice - the BOE decided to close all three days, and they don't give temps holiday pay. If I had a choice between taking Wednesday and Friday off without pay, or working, I would have gone to work, because I need the money so badly. </strong><br /><br /><strong>I've been working a 9:30-5:30 schedule at the BOE since I started in September -not my choice - that was just the shift they had open. Well, the day before Thanksgiving, the supervisor in my area who's usually there until 5:30 decided she wanted to leave at 4:30, so she sent me and the one other temp who stays until 5:30, home early (without pay for the last hour, of course). At 4:00 this past Thursday, she informed us she couldn't stay until 5:30, because the BOE put a freeze on overtime. We had to leave at 4:30 again, leaving us another hour short. Friday morning, me and my coworker come in at our regular 9:30, and are informed that we would be leaving at 4:30 again. Naturally, we were upset. We're already going to be short 23 hours on our paycheck next week between Thanksgiving and the two hours we had to leave early, not to mention have to leave early on Friday. </strong><br /><br /><strong>My coworker and I asked the supervisor if we could just skip our lunch (we get an hour) but she said it would have to be approved by the head of the department, who wasn't in on Friday. After that, we decided to go to HR, and the head of HR approved us skipping lunch so we wouldn't be short an hour on Friday. He also told us that now that election season is over, everyone at the BOE would be going back to an 8:30-4:30 schedule. How nice of them to notify us at the last minute. Neither of us has a problem with coming in at 8:30; it just made us mad that they didn't give us any kind of advance notice, so that we ended up short those hours. Being short two or three hours might not seem like much to a supervisor who probably makes $50,000+ a year, but to an employee who makes a measly $10 an hour, it does matter. </strong><br /><br /><strong>I get paid next week, and I've just been feeling sick with worry over how I'm going to manage with my check being so short. I normally get about $600 after taxes (and that damn mandatory 10% Ohio Public Employees Retirement System deduction) every two weeks, but with all the hours I'm short, I'll be getting about $380 on my next check. My husband and I haven't been able to buy a single Christmas present for the kids yet. My husband also gets paid next week (our last checks before Christmas), so we were planning on going Christmas shopping next Saturday but with my check being short, by the time we pay a few bills and buy groceries, we'll be lucky if we even have $150-200 left to spend on both kids. I know that's better than nothing, but even at Walmart, that doesn't go far. </strong><br /><br /><strong>To make matters worse, it feels like everything around my house is falling apart or needs to be replaced all at once. My 6 year old washing machine is nearly completely shot. It won't spin at all (and it's beyond repairable), which means my clothes all come out sopping wet, and take multiple cycles in the dryer to dry. I put a load of jeans in the dryer today, and no, I'm not exaggerating, they're were still damp after 3 hours of drying. And then remember I mentioned that the picture tube blew on my TV back in August? When I started working for the BOE, we got a used 32 inch TV from a TV repair shop for $200. It worked fine until last week when the picture tube starting going on it, too. It shuts off and won't come back on for 10-15 minutes at a time. Even my artificial Christmas tree barely made it up this year - my husband had to tie the top together - how ironic is that?? My daughter and I are also both desperately in need of hair cuts (I got mine cut last in March, and hers in June). On top of that, I really need to get my cat to the vet, since it looks like she's developed some kind of skin infection, plus she's due for her shots.</strong><strong> I can't even afford to take her, and I feel terrible about it. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Oh, and I almost forgot - remember last January I posted about a minor accident my husband had on the freeway coming home from work one morning (slid on some ice and hit a fence)? Well, the other day, he got a bill in the mail from ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation), billing him $175 for the fence! How crazy is that??? First of all, he only had the accident because the roads were icy and NOT salted (he wasn't speeding or driving recklessly), and secondly, the fence was barely damaged (my husband pointed it out to me one day when we drove past)! And, they haven't even fixed the fence yet! Both of us have been paying taxes to the state of Ohio to years. Don't part of our tax dollars go towards road repair??? ODOT will just have to get in line behind all of the other places I owe money to. </strong><br /><br /><strong>My husband and I have cut back drastically on every expense we could since I lost my last job in April, and even after I started working for the BOE. Our satellite TV service is off (not a huge deal, since I wasn't a big TV watcher, but I miss watching "Medium" on Lifetime on Saturday nights). Our cell phones are off (which is a big deal, because I have no way to reach my husband at work at night, and it's extremely hard to reach me at the BOE, since although the temps have phones, we don't have direct numbers, or even extensions where we can be reached). We rarely go anywhere on weekends anymore, except for grocery shopping or the occasional relative's house. We rarely eat out anymore, and I pack lunches 99% of the time. But even so, we're just still scraping by. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I am thankful to have a job at all, but it's depressing going to work every day, and barely bringing home enough even for the essentials, let alone anything extra. I get totally depressed every winter, between the snow and cold, the early nightfall and missing my dad who died during the winter, and worrying about money on top of it just makes worse. </strong><br /><br /><strong>My Bethany went to Girl Scout camp this weekend though, so at least she had a fun weekend. Her troop went to a camp in Richfield, Ohio, a rural town about 45 minutes from Cleveland. We drove out there Friday evening to drop her off. They went camping there last winter, too, but we're not really familiar with the area, so between that, and it being dark, we totally missed the camp entrance, drove way out of our way. She had to be there at 6:45, so we left the house at 5:45, but with getting lost, we ended up not getting there until a little after 7. Luckily a few other parents were also late, and the troop leaders were still waiting for stragglers, so she didn't miss out on camping.</strong><br /><br /><strong>I was up until 2:30 in the morning on Thursday night, packing Bethany's stuff for camp (everytime I'd think I was done I realized I forgot something), cleaning up the house, taking care of paperwork for the kids for school (it seems there's always something to complete), etc, and ended up getting 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up for work on Friday. Me, my husband and Dominic all fell asleep about 8:30, after we got back from dropping off Bethany. I can't remember the last time I went to sleep that early. Bethany and Dominic usually drive me crazy on weekends with their squabbling and pestering each other, but when Bethany's at camp, the house feels lonely. I kind of missed it though when we picked her up at camp this morning, and she and Dominic started bickering in the car, LOL!</strong><br /><br /><strong>At least one good thing has happened lately. I got a call on Friday about a benefits assistant (HR) job I applied for with an iron ore mining company that has their headquarters in downtown Cleveland. I didn't get the message until I got home from work, so I'm going to call her tomorrow. Please wish me luck that a better job turns up for me soon. </strong><br /><br /><strong>Well, since I've probably bored you with all the non-crochet related stuff, I have some crochet projects to show. I've been on a hat making spree lately. I think hats are probably my favorite thing to crochet. They're quick, but have enough shaping to keep me from getting bored, and it's easy to adjust the sizing. The first two are a couple of hats I crocheted for The Ships Project - a group that sends hand knitted or crocheted hats to U.S. troops stationed overseas. </strong><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277275490361339938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 280px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STymGSjc8CI/AAAAAAAABWk/evemp3WbaAE/s400/post+stitches+hat.jpg" border="0" /> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277275679490094226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 310px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STymRTHQtJI/AAAAAAAABWs/u92e_bvSKhg/s400/single+crochet+hat.jpg" border="0" /><strong>I used some Caron Simply Soft Shadows yarn from my stash for both. The pattern for the first was from Interweave Crochet. The hat was worked with front post double crochet stitches in the round. I really like the texture, but the bottom of the hat keeps curling up. I added a few rounds of single crochet at the end, but it still keeps curling. The second hat is just a basic beanie done in extended single crochet. I really love how that one came out! </strong><br /><br /><strong>Next are some chemo caps I crocheted for ladies who visit a local cancer support center here in the Cleveland area. My husband's mother died of breast cancer when he was a teenager (many years before I met him), so this was something meaningful for me. I used some Caron Simply Soft Brites from my stash, and a free pattern I found online. I've been working on these for a few months, but just now got around to taking a picture. </strong><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277275184580309682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 207px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STyl0fbksrI/AAAAAAAABWc/TqGmetm1iVs/s400/chemo+caps.jpg" border="0" /><strong>My youngest sister asked me to crochet her a hat to wear around her house, since she's freezing all the time, so I came up with this. It's a rolled-brim hat with a motif at the top. I used some green (her favorite color) TLC Cara Mia yarn from my stash. I love that yarn! I bought a ton of it on Ebay last year. The pattern is from a British crochet book, "Beautiful Crochet for Heads, Hands and Toes". Yes, I know the pictures are crappy, but I was trying to hurry up and take them on Thanksgiving, before I left for my brother's house, because I wanted to give the hat to my sister when I saw her there. </strong><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STykKWNBVcI/AAAAAAAABV8/ubY8IAXKkXc/s1600-h/Shauna%27s+hat.jpg"></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277275944131237938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 274px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STymgs-oGDI/AAAAAAAABW0/zj-X6jmmfzk/s400/Shauna%27s+hat.jpg" border="0" /> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277276212537120338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STymwU3k1lI/AAAAAAAABW8/GeYdbu9jS6s/s400/Shauna%27s+hat2.jpg" border="0" /><strong>I usually crochet during my breaks at work, and so I've had a few coworkers offer to pay me to make them things (although only two actual orders so far). I made this hat, leg warmers, and fingerless gloves set by request from a coworker. The pattern is from the book "Easy as 1-2-3 Crochet". I used Bernat Softee Chunky (one of my favorite cheap yarns) in hot pink and white. </strong><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277274797983240738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 315px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STyld_PpkiI/AAAAAAAABWU/G3mQbdLMEe8/s400/Hat+Set.jpg" border="0" /><strong>Are you tired of seeing hats yet? I promise I only have one more! The final hat is another one made from Caron Simply Soft Brites. It was a free pattern from the Caron website. I just made it to use up some of my stash yarn. I didn't have anyone in particular in mind for it. </strong><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277274152487007442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 210px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STyk4alWtNI/AAAAAAAABWM/L-dQYJJybRo/s320/cloche.jpg" border="0" /><strong>For the past few months I've been thinking about opening an Etsy shop to try to make some extra money. I don't usually have much confidence in my crochet projects (I always feel like everyone else's projects look so much better than mine), so I didn't know if I could actually sell anything I make. After getting lots of compliments at work for things I've crocheted, and now starting to get requests to make people things, I've been thinking more seriously about opening the Etsy shop. I've been making a list of ideas of things to sell (I decided to save the black/bright hat for it), and looking at my stash (I don't want to spend a lot of money upfront in case I can't sell anything) to see what I can make from it. If any of my blog readers who are Etsy sellers have any tips on getting started, what sells well, etc., I'd really appreciate hearing them (I know I need a better way of displaying hats!). </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>My husband has been DJ'ing (don't know if that's how it's supposed to be spelled, and too tired to care!) parties for the past decade - not regularly, just here and there, but he decided he wants to start pursuing it more actively, since we really need some extra money. My plumber brother set up a website for his business through Yahoo Small Business, and their websites are free to set up, and only $8.95 a month to run, so I've been working on making one for my husband's DJ services. Even if he only did a few parties or weddings a year, that would still be a huge help to us financially. </strong><br /><p><strong>Well, off to clean up the house and finish laundry and go to bed...</strong></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-31368434935377370602008-11-30T23:20:00.023-05:002008-12-01T00:30:39.186-05:00Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!<strong>Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! </strong><br /><br /><strong>My husband got up early and made (from scratch!) red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (my favorite kind of cake!), and two sweet potato pies. I didn't try the pies - I'll let you in on a little secret (I don't like pie). I know, I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like pie. I love nearly any kind of chocolate dessert, but I don't even like chocolate pies (yes, I'm weird!). Here's what's left of the 32 cupcakes: </strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274677137013244274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNq6OCMgXI/AAAAAAAABUc/LgOHSK0oSO0/s320/cupcakes.jpg" border="0" /></strong> <strong>Maybe you, my blog readers, can help me with a debate my husband and I have had every Thanksgiving for years: I say that "stuffing" and "dressing" refer to the same exact food, and the two terms are just used in different cultures, that black people (my husband is black, as most of you already know) usually refer to it as dressing, but that white people refer to it as stuffing. My husband insists that's not the case, that stuffing is a dish made with white bread, and that dressing is a dish made with cornbread. I've asked numerous people their opinion, and get different answers. Any and all opinions would be appreciated (I know you'll side with me, right?!), ha, ha!</strong><br /><br /><strong>My husband and kids and I went to my oldest brother's house for dinner, and of course, I couldn't come over without bringing a crocheted gift for his daughter, my adorable 10 month old niece, Jenna. I crocheted her a pumpkin hat from Crochet Today magazine. I was looking at the pattern and realized I had all the yarn colors I needed in my stash (left over from another project). I used Vanna's Choice Baby yarn. I was afraid the hat might be too small, but it fits perfectly. Here's Jenna with her dad, my brother, Joe the Plumber, LOL! It's true! His name is Joe and he has his own plumbing business.<br /></strong><strong></strong><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274677365881603810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNrHioqhuI/AAAAAAAABUk/uzYjwztrDgo/s400/Joe+%26+Jenna.jpg" border="0" />More pics of the hat: </strong><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNrUKAKAoI/AAAAAAAABUs/ghxtrR_dAdM/s1600-h/pumpkin+hat+1.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274677582607549058" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 246px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNrUKAKAoI/AAAAAAAABUs/ghxtrR_dAdM/s320/pumpkin+hat+1.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong> </strong><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNrdMvlG5I/AAAAAAAABU0/FN1XPkE53mM/s1600-h/pumpkin+hat+2.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274677737962150802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 260px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNrdMvlG5I/AAAAAAAABU0/FN1XPkE53mM/s320/pumpkin+hat+2.jpg" border="0" /></strong></a><strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>I had a nice time at dinner. The men entertained themselves by passing around dirty emails on their cell phones, while the women had an intelligent conversation about socialism, the economy, and the state of health care in the U.S. Now, which gender is the smarter one?! </strong><br /><strong><br /></strong><strong></strong><strong>My kids had fun too, with their cousins. Here's my Bethany with her cousins, Rosie (with the brown hair), and Alexis (with the red). </strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274678093997365698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 258px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNrx7E_WcI/AAAAAAAABU8/zp7UrqgstNs/s400/Girls.jpg" border="0" />Here's another of Bethany, with Jenna: <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274678391879617010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 393px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNsDQxpyfI/AAAAAAAABVE/KKHA6EWo8_o/s400/Bethany+%26+Jenna.jpg" border="0" /> And here's my Dominic playing with his cousin Kaitlyn:</strong><br /><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274678693746470466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNsU1UUbkI/AAAAAAAABVM/lLETJFhUB9A/s400/Dominic+%26+Kaitlyn.jpg" border="0" />Dominic was whiny because the older girls went in Rosie's room and closed the door, and wouldn't let him in because he's a boy. He didn't want to go play outside with his boy cousins, but he cheered up after Kaitlyn started playing with him. After we got home, he drew this picture for Kaitlyn (I scanned it and emailed it to my sister), LOL!<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274678860633507986" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/STNsejBSiJI/AAAAAAAABVU/h10KotqUkDQ/s400/Dominic%27s+Drawing.jpg" border="0" /></strong> <div></div><div><strong>Well, back to work tomorrow. I had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off this week. It was nice getting to stay home, but I won't get paid for any of the time off (temps at the BOE don't get holiday pay), so that presents a whole bunch of other problems. Sigh...</strong></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-58493591557086188512008-11-16T23:15:00.003-05:002008-11-16T23:25:30.807-05:00We Have a Winner!<strong>Thank you to everyone who entered my blogiversary contest - I appreciate all of your comments!</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>And now for the winner...</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Denise of Knitchat.com (a</strong><strong> fellow crafty blogger and Ohioan too)! Denise picked 999, the closest number to 998, from the Random Number Generator:</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong>Random Integer Generator<br />Here are your random numbers:998<br />Timestamp: 2008-11-17 04:15:19 UTC<br /><br />© 1998-2008 </strong></span><a href="http://www.random.org/mads/"><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong>Mads Haahr</strong></span></a><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong> </strong></span><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer"><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong>Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional</strong></span></a><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong> </strong></span><a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong>Valid CSS</strong></span></a><a href="http://tsdigitalarts.com/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong>Web Design by TSDA</strong></span></a><br /><span style="color:#ff99ff;"><strong></strong></span><br /><strong>Congratulations, Denise! </strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-10772548507061554462008-11-09T22:46:00.004-05:002008-11-09T23:12:41.937-05:00Blogiversary!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SRe0nj40xgI/AAAAAAAABTY/5nkyIo1b6zk/s1600-h/happyblogiversary.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266876880974562818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 175px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 163px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SRe0nj40xgI/AAAAAAAABTY/5nkyIo1b6zk/s400/happyblogiversary.gif" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">Today is my one year blogiversary! Woohoo! </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">I started this blog mainly to keep track of my crochet projects. I didn't know if I would even get any readers, let alone any regular readers, or whether I would even have enough to write about to keep it going for a year. I'm thankful for all the great people who regularly read my blog, and I look forward to reading your comments. I also appreciate all the kindness you've shown me through the rough recent times in my life with my job situation and whatnot.<br /><br />So, to thank all my lovely blog readers, I'm having a giveaway!<br /><br />I'm giving away this "spa set", crocheted from Red Heart Eco-Cotton in the "Candy Marl" color. The yarn is actually made partly from recycled t-shirt scraps. There's a scrubby washcloth, back scrubby and soap sack. The pattern is from the book, "Easy as 1-2-3 Crochet".<br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266875564419915394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 236px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SReza7VvHoI/AAAAAAAABTQ/oo2gAH5VGe8/s400/bath+set.jpg" border="0" />To enter the giveway, just leave me a comment with any three-digit number from 100-999, by 11PM EST on Sunday, November 16th. I won't update my blog again before then. On the 16th, I'll use the handy-dandy </span></strong><a href="http://www.mathgoodies.com/calculators/random_no_custom.html"><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">Random Number Generator</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"> to generate a three-digit number, and the person who picked the closest number will win.<br /><br />Good luck!</span></strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-22149216567753217102008-11-03T23:35:00.008-05:002008-11-04T23:15:54.705-05:00True Stories from the Board of Elections<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SQ_ZA4Z1eLI/AAAAAAAABS4/arSjO-6fwuA/s1600-h/elephant.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264665098583374002" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SQ_ZA4Z1eLI/AAAAAAAABS4/arSjO-6fwuA/s200/elephant.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SQ_ZVS6Ty8I/AAAAAAAABTI/QlEAKwJNt7A/s1600-h/donkey.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264665449296284610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SQ_ZVS6Ty8I/AAAAAAAABTI/QlEAKwJNt7A/s200/donkey.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div><div align="center"><strong>WARNING: LONG, TEXT-HEAVY POST!</strong> </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SQ_ZKgEnUxI/AAAAAAAABTA/8TBDWcQ9xik/s1600-h/donkey.jpg"></a></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>I was just looking at my blog, and realized I haven't posted since November 4th. I didn't realize it had been that long. I've been meaning to post, but seven hours a day of answering phone calls from irate and/or confused voters, not to mention answering the same questions over and over and over, for the past month, has left me exhausted. Since Election Day is nigh (thank God - I am burned out hearing and talking about ballots!), here's a little sampling of some true phone calls we've received in the registration department at the Board:</strong></div><div></div><div></div><div><strong><em><br />Voter: "I am a Native American woman, and I read my Bible every day. My husband, God help his soul, is a Republican. I'm a Democrat, and I want to know why my husband received his absentee ballot in the mail, and I haven't received mine. Are you only sending out ballots to Republicans?"</em></strong></div><div><br /><strong><em><br />Voter: "I received my absentee ballot, and I want to know why John McCain is at the bottom of the list of presidential candidates".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "The candidates are printed in a random order. They are in a different order on every ballot". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "Why is that?"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "To avoid the appearance of the Board favoring any one candidate".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter (sounding doubtful): "Is Barack Obama at the bottom of any ballots?"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "I'm quite sure he is"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "I don't believe that. I want to speak to a supervisor". </em></strong></div><div></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em><br />Voter: "I'm filling out my absentee ballot. Should I use a black or a navy blue crayon to complete it?"</em></strong></div><div><br /><strong><em><br />Voter: "I'd like to know how I can vote by absentee ballot".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: (Explaining the absentee ballot process)</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "Oh, I thought I could just tell you my votes over the phone". </em></strong></div><div><br /><strong><em><br />Voter (who starts screaming as soon as I answer the phone): "I received an absentee ballot, and voted for the president. I put it in the mail and just realized that my ballot only had the presidential candidates and judges listed. Where's all the other idiots I've been hearing about on TV, those congresspeople. I wanted to vote for them too!"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "Ma'am, every ballot lists all of the presidential candidates, judges, congressional races, and local issues. There are four pages to the ballot (two double-sided pages marked "vote both sides" in bold lettering). </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter (still screaming): " This is bullshit! My ballot only had two pages. I know I only received two pages because I'm a Republican. I'm tired of this Democratically controlled county, and I'd better receive a new ballot or I'm going to the media, and not the Fox 8 News (a local news station), I'm going to CNN and the national news. </em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em><br />Voter: "I'd like to know when I'm going to receive my asbentee ballot". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: (Gathering caller's name and address to see if we sent out the ballot). "Ma'am, I don't show that we've received an application for a ballot from you". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter (screaming): "I sent in applications twice, for both me and my mother."</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but we haven't received the applications".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "You're a liar (spewing obscenities at me)!" I sent in those applications and I know they're there! You probably threw them away because I'm a Republican! Those applications had better turn up by Wednesday, or I'm going to the media!"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "Let me have you speak to my supervisor (because I don't get paid enough money to be cussed at). </em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Later my supervisor tells me the caller told her to "go to hell", and the supervisor told her, "Well, I wouldn't tell you something like that". Caller finally decides to just vote at the polls.</strong></div><div><br /><strong><em><br />Voter: "There's a group home at the corner of my street, and someone came by to take the residents to vote. Are mentally retarded people allowed to vote?"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Employee (hilarious 75 year old temp employee): "Well, they're allowed to run for office (ha, ha!!)"</em></strong></div><div><br /><strong><em><br />Voter: "I just sent in my ballot, and I realized that I forgot to vote for the vice president!"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Employee: "The vice president and president are elected together. If you vote for a presidential candidate, you automatically vote for their running mate as well. You can't mix and match presidents and vice presidents (ha, ha!)".</em></strong></div><div><br /><strong><em><br />Voter: "I looked online to see if my absentee ballot was received by you guys, and it says it was challenged". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me (looking up the information): "Yes sir, it says your ballot was challenged because you did not fully complete the identification envelope. You'll receive a letter from the Board giving you until November 14th to come in and fix the errors in person so your ballot will be counted". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "My ballot was just challenged because I'm a Republican".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "No sir, we've had plenty of Democratic ballots challenged as well". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "Well, what if I can't come down to the Board to fix it? What if I'm incapacitated?".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me: "Let me get your phone number, and I'll have someone from our absentee ballot department call you to see what else you can do".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "OK, I'll give you my work number, I'm at work right now" (hmmm, he's incapacitated, but he's still able to work???)</em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em><br />Voter: "I received a letter saying my absentee ballot was challenged because I did not put my ballot in the ID envelope".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Me (looks up voter's information: "Yes, that's correct. You'll need to come down to the board in person to correct it for your ballot to be counted".</em></strong></div><div></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "They're (Republicans) trying to keep my vote down, mmmm, hmmm, but no, sir, I'm not going to let them!".</em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em></em></strong></div><div><strong><em> </em></strong></div><div><strong><em><br />Voter (male - speaking to my pretty, young, coworker, Lola): "Does my registration say whether I'm married or single?"</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Coworker: "No, it doesn't". </em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Voter: "Well, I'm single. You sound pretty."</em></strong></div><div><strong><em>Coworker (laughing): "I am!" (and then proceeds to get asked out on a date by caller, ha, ha!)</em></strong></div><div><br /><strong>You can imagine what a month this has been for me. If I hear one more conspiracy theory from a voter, I'm going to pull my hair out! Now, this doesn't even include the many voters who want to tell me in great detail their opinions of the election system, the wording of issues on ballots, and the voting process. I want to tell them I'm a measly $10 an hour temp; I have no control over the election system. I've been biting my tongue, being as pleasant and cheerful as I can manage, and counting down the days until this election is over. </strong></div><div><br /><strong>Today I received 207 calls in 6.5 hours. Yep, that's approximately 31 calls an hour. I'm tired. As one of my (Republican) coworkers put, "I wish these people who are accusing us of things could just come down here to work for a day and see what really goes on". My thoughts exactly! We are absolutely, incredibly, nonstop busy. There's barely time to breathe let alone worry about people's poltical affliation. </strong></div><div><br /><strong>The job isn't all bad though. For the most part I like my (well, most of them, anyway) coworkers. I've met some other temps who have been really great. One lady (who is also looking for a permanent job for after this one ends) and I have been exchanging job hunting tips, and news of job openings, and encouraging each other in the job search. Laughing about crazy calls from voters helps relieve the aggravation too. A few ladies from our absentee ballot department had me cracking up one day when they told me about how some voters (who are required to provide identification information when requesting an absentee ballot) in lieu of a driver's license number or photocopy, have sent photos of themselves. One lady sent a photo of her and her boyfriend on vacation at the beach, complete with herself circled. Another lady sent a photo of herself standing in her front lawn, holding an American flag, her house address visible in the background. Ha, ha! </strong></div><div><br /><strong>I must say though that not every phone call I've gotten has been from someone rude or just plain dumb. I've gotten some really nice phone calls - people who have gone out of their way to be polite to me and people who have been genuinely appreciative of the help I've given them. One lady told me "Thank you for your service during this election season". Another told me, "You know, people always complain about the Board of Elections, but everyone I've spoken to there has been so nice and helpful". </strong></div><div><br /><strong>And, I must admit, it makes me feel good to see so many people excited about the election. One young woman, just turned 18, voting for the first time, asked me when the election results would be shown on the news. She said when she was younger, she always liked watching the results come in state by state, and she's looking forward to voting and watching the results on TV. Another young woman, a college student, called about her absentee ballot. I told her it had been mailed, and to please be patient, because we had over 250,000 requests for ballots. She sounded nearly in tears when she told me how happy she is that so many people want to vote. I've gotten calls from people who haven't voted in 20+ years who want to vote now. Calls from felons fresh out of prison who are thrilled to hear they can still vote (in Ohio they can vote; they just have to re-register). Calls from people who are hospitalized with serious illnesses, but still want to vote (the Board has employees who go to the hospitals to help patients vote absentee). </strong></div><div><br /><strong>I went to work this past Saturday to earn some overtime, and got recruited to help out the poll workers in the basement. We were only supposed to be open from 9-1 for voting on Saturday, but people started lining up at 8AM that morning. By 1PM, there was a line of people stretched from the poll workers tables, all through the room, down the hallway, up two flights of stairs, in the lobby, and all the way down the street three blocks away. The county sheriff had to go out and cut off the line at 1:30PM, but there were so many voters that the last one in line finished voting at 3PM. Apparently, we're the place to be these days, because we've gotten visits from a few celebrities (the rapper Lil' Bow Wow was there, and of course all the young ladies ran down to the lobby to gush over him), from the mayor of Cleveland, and from the secretary of state, among others. All of the local news stations have been in and around the building taping segments, and CNN even sent Anderson Cooper to visit the Board and do a story. CNN has had a news truck camped outside for days. I must admit, as aggravating as the job has been at times, it has also been pretty interesting getting a first-hand look at how the election process works.</strong></div><div><br /><strong>In other news, I almost forgot to mention that I had a job interview today, for a position with my alma mater, Cleveland State University. OK, it's just a secretarial position with the law college, but hey, it pays better than the pitiful $10 an hour I'm making now, and I'm pretty sure it's a union position too, not to mention that I'd have some health insurance. Bringing home $600 every two weeks after taxes, with no medical insurance or vacation time, just isn't cutting it. The interview went pretty well, I think. They're supposed to make a hiring decision by Friday. Please keep your fingers crossed that I get the job. My husband is back to working 5 days a week, but his company is still planning on shutting down for two weeks unpaid at Christmastime, so I sure can't afford to be unemployed then (the job at the Board is expected to end around November 28th, if not sooner). </strong></div><div><br /><strong>Well, I've got to get to bed so I'll have the energy to deal with another couple hundred phone calls tomorrow. At least I'm not scheduled to work tomorrow night. A lot of my coworkers have to work their regular shift, then head over to the Board's warehouse to open, sort, scan, and count ballots. They're (literally) going to be there all night, looking at about an 18-20 hour shift tomorrow. </strong></div><div><br /><strong>A couple other temps have griped because I haven't been working 12+ hour days like many of them, but<em> </em>with 10 year old and 5 year old kids, and a husband who works nights, I just can't do it. I sure could use the extra money, but no way am I leaving my kids home alone early in the morning (before my husband gets home from work) so I can get to work at 7AM, not to mention that with an hour and a half, two bus commute, I'd have to leave the house at 5:30AM just to get there by 7. No thanks. I've been upfront with the supervisors in my department about my situation with the kids and my husband's work schedule, and they've been OK with it, so I don't give a &%$# what a few coworkers have to say about it. My kids, my family, and my safety are going to come first over this job. </strong></div><div></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Well, off to bed. Stay tuned for some crochet project photos in a couple of days! </strong></div></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-46652275030063412712008-10-04T15:27:00.011-04:002008-10-04T18:30:40.354-04:00Sigh...I<strong> know, I haven't updated my blog in a while. I have been doing some crocheting lately. I finished the front of my son's "D" pillow. I crocheted some chemo caps for a local cancer support center, and I started on a lacey wrap from some TLC Cara Mia from my stash. I planned to post some pictures, but honestly I just don't have the energy for it right now. The last few days have been a mess. I've had a terrible cold all week. My face is swollen, my head hurts, my nose is stuffed up and drippy, and I have a cough that keeps me up all night. I've been taking cold medicine, but it doesn't help. Both of my kids are sick too. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Then on Thursday my husband got some bad news at work. First the factory he works for cut out all the overtime (which we were really depending on). Next they let all of their temps go (some of which had been with the company over a year). Now they had a meeting with the employees and said they are going to start voluntary layoffs, cut the remaining employees down to a four day work week starting in mid-October, and shut down (unpaid) for two weeks between Christmas and the first week of January. I'm feeling sick just thinking about it. We're already scraping by what with the overtime being cut, me making so much less than I did at my last job, plus food, gas, and utilities constantly going up, and now this happens.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>His company says they're struggling because of the economy, but my husband says the consensus among his coworkers is that the company was doing fine until they brought in a couple of new managers, who made a bunch of poor decisions that made the company lose a few major customers. But of course, nothing will happen to the managers. It seems like the higher up a person is on the "food chain" of a company, the fewer repercussions there are if they screw something up. The CEO of our largest bank here in the Cleveland area, National City Bank, ran the company into the ground, to the point where their stock is now going for less than the price of a hamburger, but he was still able to retire this year with a $46 million dollar retirement package. Just sickening. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>My job at the board of elections is still going OK at least. Last week the head of the registration department stopped me and asked what my name is. I told her and she said she's been meaning to find me to tell me thank you. I was confused until she said the two supervisors (below her) had been telling what a good job I've been doing and that they're very happy with my "work output". I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it made me feel good because in the 3 years I spent at my last job, I'm hard pressed to recall a single time that my boss actually praised for anything I did well (yet she was always waiting to criticize me if I made a mistake). </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Still though, the job is going to end either around the election or near the end of November, and I'm trying hard not to worry about the worst-case scenario of my husband being on shut down with no pay around Christmas and me not having found another job. I've still been looking for a permanent job, but the job market just seems to have really dried up around here. At least from talking to my fellow temp coworkers I see that I'm not the only one struggling to find a regular job. When I was first let go from my last job, I was hoping to find something at least using my degree, but now as pitiful as it sounds I'd be happy just to find a secretarial job as long as it's something permanent, and I can some health insurance. I'm way overdue to go to the doctor for my annual gynecological exam and I have a bunch of dental work I need done, but I can't do either. I'm also scared to death of getting sick with anything that requires a doctor's visit or prescriptions while I have no insurance.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I'm overwhelmed right now in every sense of the word. I'll try to post some pictures of my crochet projects when I feel better. </strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-30865349713512158352008-09-21T12:15:00.006-04:002008-09-21T12:21:01.369-04:00Contest AlertGo over to <a href="http://www.redbookmag.com/sweeps">www.redbookmag.com/sweeps</a> and you can enter to win one of two $176.00 Jimmy Bean's Wool Eco Dishcloth sets. Hurry up though, because the contest ends September 24th.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248510168424341426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SNZ0MLz1X7I/AAAAAAAABSw/k5378ZHP9bw/s400/eco240.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><div></div>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-37372432216503340212008-09-17T23:06:00.007-04:002008-09-17T23:39:35.885-04:00Pillows!<strong>Remember I said I had some small crochet projects to show?</strong><br /><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong>Well, here's two of them:</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong>The first is a pillow I crocheted for my 10 year old niece Rosie (my niece Jenna's older sister) to match her bedrooms. Her bedroom is lime green (yep, it's bright!) with a lime green, hot pink, and white floral bedding set. I think this pillow matches pretty good. </strong><strong>I used a 14" pillow form, and sewed two pieces of gingham fabric (with my crappy hand sewing skills!) over it to make a cover. </strong></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247199324948214962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SNHL_DU1NLI/AAAAAAAABSQ/Axbax6rNY2w/s400/Rosie%27s+Pillow.jpg" border="0" /> <div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Here are the stats:</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong>Pattern: Afghan Reincarnation - Crochet Today, December 06/January 07 issue</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky in Hot Pink, Hot Green, and White</strong></div><div><strong><br />Hooks: J & K</strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>I also have a picture of Rosie with my Bethany, when they had a sleepover a few weeks ago:</strong></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247199606812278754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SNHMPdWdf-I/AAAAAAAABSY/gzdri0tU41g/s400/Bethany+%26+Rosie.jpg" border="0" /> <strong>Aren't the matching dresses cute?! My mom bought them for the girls last year.</strong><br /><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>The other project I have to show is a pillow I crocheted for Bethany. I saw a pattern for crocheted letters in a book, and thought of making a monogram pillow. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Here's a photo and stats:</strong></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247199856491028130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SNHMd_eg3qI/AAAAAAAABSg/SPetHmDFe9I/s400/Letter+B+Pillow.jpg" border="0" /> <div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Pattern: Letter from the book "201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Projects, and Ideas"</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Yarn: Vanna's Choice Baby in Lamb, Aqua, & Mint</strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>Hooks: I & K</strong></div><div></div><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong><br />I used a single crochet square worked in rounds with an I hook for the base. For the letter I crocheted with a double strand of yarn and a K hook to make the letter B extra-big. I think it would probably have looked better done in a chunky weight yarn, but I couldn't find an inexpensive chunky weight in the colors Bethany wanted. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>I'm going to crochet a D pillow for my Dominic soon. Poor kid never gets any thing crocheted for him. It's just so difficult finding crochet patterns for boys that are beyond the baby/toddler years. Dominic is crazy about pirates, and loves dressing up as one. He had a pirate hat from his Halloween costume last year, but it's been long since lost, so he gets dressed up in the remaining pieces from his costume, and then puts a pencil case (unzipped, and turned sideways) on his head for a hat, ha, ha! It's hilarious! I'm going to have to snap a picture of him the next time he does it, so I can embarass him with it when he gets older. </strong><strong>The other day he asked me if I can "yarn him a pirate hat". He's going to have to settle for one from the store, because even if I did have a pattern, I think that's way beyond my level of expertise. </strong></div><br /><div><strong></strong></div><div><strong>In other news, the new job is going good. The work is pretty boring, but it's easy, and the supervisors are nice. The only thing I really dislike is the commute. The board of elections is in downtown Cleveland, but on the edge of downtown, so I have to take two busses to get there. I live barely over 10 miles from downtown, a 20 minute commute by car, but between the bus rides and all the waiting around for them (since our local transit authority recently cut a bunch of busses from the routes) I have to leave a little after 8 in the morning just to get there by 9:30, and then I get off work at 5:30, and don't get home until nearly 7. </strong></div><div><strong></strong></div><br /><div><strong>It's hard because I only have about two hours with the kids when I get home for baths, homework, etc. At least the position is only lasting about two months. Hopefully after that I'll be able to find a permanent job where I can get home earlier in the evening. </div></strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-72357378164289115632008-09-14T23:38:00.008-04:002008-09-15T00:10:10.544-04:00Baby Gifts<span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong>My husband found the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">USB</span> cord for my camera, so I have some crochet project pictures to show.<br /><br />First is a dress I crocheted for </strong><a href="http://sewalicious-designs.blogspot.com/"><strong>Katrina</strong></a><strong> for her new baby. The pattern is the Lacy Baby Frock from the July/August issue of Crochet Today. It's a 6-12 month size. I used a G hook, and some Red Heart Hula yarn from my stash. It's such pretty yarn, but so hard to crochet with because the colored strand comes loose easily, and the yarn tends to unravel. The pattern was really easy though - I finished the dress is a little over a day. </strong></span><strong><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246090492421471010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SM3bggRV-yI/AAAAAAAABR4/pBFkoTQXpNo/s400/Baby+Dress.jpg" border="0" /></span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;">The second is a hat and poncho for my 8 month old niece, Jenna. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246095028134782482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SM3fohHqphI/AAAAAAAABSI/UmgjU3brsEw/s400/Poncho+%26+Hat.jpg" border="0" />I used some stash Cotton Ease in Candy Blue, an H hook for the hat, and a J for the poncho. The pattern is a free one from </span></strong><a href="http://www.luv2crochetblog.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong>Luv to Crochet</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong>. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong>Here's Jenna with her mom, my sister-in-law, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Gehan</span>. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246091405253372178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SM3cVo1baRI/AAAAAAAABSA/uS3YcC7HtN8/s400/Jenna2.jpg" border="0" /></strong></span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong>Now, I know I'm probably naturally biased because I'm her aunt, but I think Jenna is just an adorable baby!</strong></span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong><br /><br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:lucida grande;"><strong>Well, I have to get going to bed, because I have to go work tomorrow. Wow, that feels weird to be writing that, after being out of work for so long!</strong></span>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-59262779601596914312008-09-13T01:00:00.012-04:002008-09-13T01:44:33.608-04:00Good News!<strong>Guess what?! I got a job! I'm so excited! OK, it's only a temporary one - doing data entry for the local county board of elections, and it only pays $10 an hour, but it's a job nonetheless! I start on Monday. I'm really looking forward to getting out of the house, and bringing home a paycheck again, but I'm going to miss being home with my kids in the afternoons after school, and being able to go with my husband to pick them up everyday. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>It's been pretty interesting watching the daily debacle of pickup time. The school has had so many problems with parents driving recklessly near the school, and in the parking lots, that they had to institute special driving lanes for parents, and designate certain doors for kids who are being picked up, and for kids who are walking home. It doesn't seem to matter though, because so many parents just blatantly ignore the rules. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>The parents who drive have to circle around to the back of the school, and get in line to pull up to the side entrance to pick up their kids. The kids wait with their class and a teacher, who walks them to their parent's vehicle. Just today my husband nearly got sideswiped by a parent who decided they didn't want to wait, and pulled out, speeding through the parking lot. A couple of times, parents decided to park right in the path of the line of cars, blocking traffic. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>And. in the school newsletter this week, the principal mentioned a mom who (dropping her kid off at the wrong entrance), let her kid out of the car, and while the kid had barely stepped onto the curb, sped off, and nearly hit him or her! Can you be in that much of a hurry to get to work or wherever that you would nearly hit your own kid??? I'm constantly amazed by the sense of entitlement some of the parents have, this rules- be-damned attitude. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I've been meaning to update my blog, but I've been busy with homework and school-elated things. My Dominic is still getting used to kindergarten. I didn't expect him to have much of a transition period, because he went through several years of full-time preschool, but the first few weeks of kindergarten have been tough for him. I guess it's because kindergarten is more structured - no naps, less playtime, and he has a new teacher and new classmates. He's also getting used to having homework (twice a week). My daughter actually had homework 5 days a week in kindergarten, but she went to a different Catholic school (which closed after she finished kindergarten). Dominic told me "kindergarten is a lot of hard work", ha, ha!<br /></strong><br /><strong>My Bethany likes her 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span> grade teacher, and is happy that a lot of her friends are in her class, but her learning disabilities really complicate school for her. I'm working on getting all of the testing done to determine if she has ADD. As time goes on, I'm more and more convinced of it. She has little focus and concentration, even when it comes to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">actitivies</span> she enjoys, and she is so disorganized and forgetful. She doesn't get her classwork done in time, and perpetually forgets to bring home books and papers she needs for homework, or forgets to write down assignments. She underwent a ton of testing as part of her learning disability diagnosis, and it showed that she has a normal IQ, and above average vocabulary and reading skills, but her grades are all over the place. She'll get an A on a test or assignment one week, and an F the next, and she's failed math the past few years, even with receiving one on one tutoring several times a week. It's frustrating, because she's a bright kid, but it doesn't show in her schoolwork. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Bethany's 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> grade homeroom teacher was fortunately very patient with her, but the other 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">th</span> grade teacher, who taught science to Bethany's class, just seemed in my conversations with her to completely disregard Bethany's learning disabilities, and seemed like she just thought Bethany was being lazy when she didn't do well in class. Her 3rd grade teacher was even worse. In my opinion, a teacher should expect that not every kid they ever teach is going to perform at a normal or exceptional level, and in Bethany's case, she can't help having learning disabilities. Learning disabilities don't equal lazy or dumb. We have an appointment coming up with a pediatric neurologist in October, and hopefully that will get us closer to determining if Bethany does indeed have ADD. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Oh well, I guess that's enough ranting for now. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I took Bethany to her pediatrician for a follow-up appointment for her infected hand on Tuesday. Unfortunately, even after a 10-day course of an antibiotic, a steroid, and an antihistamine, her hand is still infected. She's back on the antibiotic for another 10 days now, and has a cream for her hand. I feel so bad for her because the antibiotic leaves her tired, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">headachy</span> and nauseous, and the cream stings her hand. I'll be glad when the infection is finally cleared up.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>As far as crochet projects go, I've been working on a few small projects lately, but can't post the pictures. My computer at home (despite only being 5 years old) was on its "last leg" so my husband's best friend gave him a used computer he didn't need any more. The "new" computer runs a lot better, but I realized it doesn't have a slot for a camera memory card. I have to download pictures from the camera with a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">USB</span> cable, which unfortunately I misplaced and can't find anywhere. I'll post the pictures when the cable turns up.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I also want to say thank you to Christina, who sent my kids a package of goodies last week! She sent puzzle books, little toys, hair accessories for Bethany, stickers, crayons, and cookie and brownie mixes. The kids love getting mail, so they were very happy to receive it. Thank you again, Christina!</strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-57933925955428574502008-08-26T13:49:00.008-04:002008-08-26T14:04:15.053-04:00Frustrated<div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><strong>Remember I said in my last blog post that it seems like everything something goes right for me; something else goes wrong right afterwards?<br /></strong></div><div><strong>I was right.<br /><br />Over the past two weeks, my Bethany developed patches of peeling, sore, bleeding skin on her right hand. I thought it was probably just her eczema flaring up, so we had trying to keep it moisturized, and putting hydrocortisone cream on it. It seemed to be getting worse over the past few days, and I was worried it was infected, so I took her to the pediatrician yesterday.<br /><br />Yep, it’s infected. And worse, her doctor thinks Bethany has an MRSA staph infection (antibiotic-resistant). The thought had crossed my mind, and I was praying it wouldn’t be one. The MRSA is some scary stuff. Apparently it’s pretty bad too. I feel like the worst mom of the year for not realizing sooner how serious it is and not getting her to the doctor sooner. The doctor thinks it started out as eczema, and then got infected from Bethany scratching it. He said it’s been kept quiet, but there’s been an outbreak of community MRSA cases in the Cleveland area lately. Just my luck for my daughter to get it.<br /><br />On top of that, her eczema went haywire, and now she has white blotches on her face and arms. She had some as a toddler, but they went away, and I don’t know what made them come back. We ended up with four prescriptions – two oral antibiotics, an oral anti-itch medication, an ointment, and a body shampoo. I’m going to have a make a chart to keep track of what she has to take when, because she’s already on three daily medications just for her asthma and allergies. Arrrggghh! I have to take her back to the doctor after Labor Day to make sure the infection is clearing up, because if it doesn’t, she might end up having to be hospitalized. I’m hoping and praying that won’t happen.<br /><br />I’m also hoping and praying neither me nor my husband or son ends up contracting the staph either. I’ve been without medical insurance since April – my husband and kids are on his medical insurance through his job, but we couldn’t afford a full family plan – so the last thing I need is to end up needing to go to the doctor or need any prescription medications.<br /><br />I’m still looking for another job, without much luck. Bezzie and Christina, it’s funny that you mentioned trying to find a law firm that would hire me without any legal experience, because when I was looking at the job ads in my Sunday newspaper, I saw a listing for a paralegal at a bankruptcy firm downtown, that said no experience necessary. I’ve been trying since Sunday to get my #$%@! printer to work so I can print out a cover letter and resume to fax to them before the job gets filled.<br /><br />Financially, I desperately need to go back to work, but I’m also feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of going back to work full-time. Bethany’s learning disabilities made for a really difficult school year last year. She requires an inordinate amount of help with homework, and between not getting home from work until 6-6:30PM, and having to cram homework, baths, dinner, etc. into the 2 ½ hours before bedtime was so hard. And with Bethany’s learning disabilities, it seemed like there was always some kind of meeting or conference I had to take time off from work to attend, or a doctor’s appointment to take her to.<br /><br />Now that Dominic is also in school, and having homework (although only two nights a week) the prospect of going back to work full-time again really overwhelms me. I worry not just about the lack of time, but also if I end up working somewhere where I have no flexibility with my schedule, and I can’t take time off for school conferences, etc. Before my husband started working nights, we both did a pretty much equal share of housework, but once he started on nights (he ends up sleeping most of the time when he’s at home), I ended up with most of the housework too, and top of all the other “child care” duties. I would love to be able to just work part-time, but financially it’s not an option for us, and that’s frustrating.<br /><br />Anyway, I do have a finished crochet project to show. I was looking through some old crochet books this weekend, and came across a pattern for a purse crocheted with Moda Dea Ticker Tape and Cotton-Ease. I’ve had some Ticker Tape in my stash for over a year, that I bought on EBay, but ended up not using, and I couldn’t think of a project to make with it. When I saw the pattern for the purse, I realized it was just the thing. I crocheted one for my best friend for Christmas. I changed the colors, added a flower (can you tell how much I like crocheted flowers?!), and used pink plastic handles instead of bamboo ones. </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238886567147651122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLRDk3VmwDI/AAAAAAAAA4k/kFug491NH7o/s400/book+page.jpg" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238885523398358450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLRCoHEYdbI/AAAAAAAAA4c/VLG89vQ97QE/s400/ticker+tape+bag.jpg" border="0" />The pattern was labeled “Intermediate” and I’ve so far only attempted “beginner” and “easy” patterns so I’m pretty proud of myself for managing to make it, especially since the pattern called for front post double crochets – those post stitches used to scare me, LOL! The top came out a little wonky though. I think I messed up the stitch county and didn’t decrease enough at the top. But, my friend doesn’t crochet, so I don’t think she’ll even notice. She loves pink, so I think she’ll be really happy with the purse. It’s nice to have a Christmas present finished months ahead of time. It was a quick project too – I started it on Saturday and finished it on Sunday.<br /><br />Here are the stats for the bag:<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc66cc;">Pattern: “Tropical Colors Purse” from Big Hook Crochet<br />Yarn: 2 skeins Moda Dea Ticker Tape in “Pink Passion” and 1 skein Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in “Bubblegum”<br />Hooks: Size K for the bag and size H for the flower<br /></span><br />I have some pictures of the kids from their first day of school too (last Thursday). <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLRD36yXsWI/AAAAAAAAA4s/cNuEt213lqc/s1600-h/bethany+at+school.jpg"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLREGFBlBmI/AAAAAAAAA40/lWrA9QvfJEE/s1600-h/dominic.jpg"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLREVSzrYMI/AAAAAAAAA48/D-jDEeaY5Zs/s1600-h/bethany+at+school.jpg"></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238887977314467634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLRE28nkvzI/AAAAAAAAA5M/p1TUo5YBTdg/s400/bethany+at+school.jpg" border="0" />The first day of school is a “drop-in day” where the kids come to school with a parent, visit their classroom, meet their teacher, put away their supplies, pick up books, etc, and then go home. It’s a Catholic school, but the kids get to dress down the first day. Kindergarteners don’t wear uniforms at all, but the older kids wear uniforms after the 1st day. Bethany isn't too fond of the uniforms, but I like them. It’s nice not to have to coordinate outfits every day, plus there's no arguments about clothes, or competion among the kids at the about how they're dressed. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238888176584332642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SJGrBqkDgBI/SLRFCi9NlWI/AAAAAAAAA5U/GJ25LTaWP8E/s400/dominic.jpg" border="0" /></strong></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><p><strong>Well, I have to finish this up so I can go pick the kids up from school. </strong></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-55914314518115268932008-08-23T15:15:00.004-04:002008-08-23T16:33:56.764-04:00Rock Bottom<strong>No, I’m not referring to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">SpongeBob</span> Rock Bottom episode (you can see I watch too many cartoons!). I feel like I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ve</span> just hit rock bottom this month in every possible way. My job search. Financially. Stress-wise. Everything.<br /><br />September 9<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> will make 5 months that I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ve</span> been out of work. I can’t believe it. I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ve</span> applied for dozens of jobs – nonprofit jobs, corporate jobs, government jobs, jobs requiring a college degree, jobs only requiring a high school diploma, but nothing. Other than the fingerprinting/processing session I went to for the IRS on the 6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">th</span>, nothing.<br /><br />Remember I said I’d even take a job at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Wal</span>-Mart just to have some income coming in? Well, I applied at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Wal</span>-Mart about a month ago. And K-Mart, and Sears, and J.C. Penney, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">CVS</span>, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Walgreens</span>. and a bunch of local chain stores. And again, nothing. I don’t understand it. Is it because I appear overqualified to work in a store? Is it because I’m limited to the hours I can work with my kids, and my husband’s work schedule? I don’t know what more to do.<br /><br />I got totally discouraged after going to the IRS processing sessions and finding out that they have 300 people being considered for 50 jobs. There were about 100 people just at the session I went to, and I sat there for 4 hours while they fingerprinted everyone, went over a mountain of forms we had to complete, and they checked everyone’s forms to make sure they were filled out correctly. They have to do federal, state, and local background checks on all 300 people, run the fingerprints through, and audit everyone’s past 3 years tax returns. They said it’ll take two to three weeks, and after that they’ll contact anyone who passes to take a telephone assessment test (mock customer service phone call). After that, based on the results of the test and scores from the online assessment everyone had to take when they first applied for the job, they’ll make hiring decisions.<br /><br />I’m just getting discouraged now because it’s been a little over two weeks and I haven’t heard anything back yet. I don’t have any reason not to pass the background check. I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">ve</span> never committed any crimes, or cheated on my taxes, but I still can’t help but be anxious. I’m so unbelievably depressed over my job situation.<br /><br />It’s been a horrible, horrible, month financially. My husband has been working 6 days a week and we still are barely managing financially. After he pays the rent, we have $500-$600 left to cover groceries, utility bills, auto insurance, auto loan, gas for my husband to get to work, and prescriptions. It just <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">doesn</span>’t work. We had to pay our rent out of my husband’s first check of the month in August, and it took his entire check. Every penny of it. We <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">couldn</span>’t even go grocery shopping. I ended up having to swallow my pride and go to hunger center to get food for the kids. We’re fortunate to have in the suburb where we live. As a parent, it was the absolute worst feeling in the world to have my kids hungry and worried about what they were going to eat, and not being able to go to the store just to buy some food. I’m praying we don’t ever have to go through that again.<br /><br />I told my husband if I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">didn</span>’t have any education or work experience, I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">wouldn</span>’t feel so bad, because at least I could go back to school and get some skills to get a job, but what’s wrong with me that I have a college degree, that I have years of work experience, and I can’t even get a job as a secretary or a cashier, so I can feed my kids? The past few weeks were terrible trying to scrape together money to feed the kids. My family tried to help me out when they could, but everyone in my family is struggling financially with different things to, so they <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">couldn</span>’t do much. My husband’s best friend lent him some money, which helped a little. My husband used to DJ parties on the side, so he has some musical equipment. He ended up taking a $500 mixer to the pawn shop to get some money for groceries. They gave him $40. I felt so bad that he had to do that. My husband's birthday was on August 15<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">th</span>, and I couldn't afford to do anything for his birthday. No special dinner at home. No dinner out. No presents. I couldn't even afford a few bucks to buy a cake mix and frosting. I felt so bad about it.<br /><br />On top of all that, I had no home phone or Internet service for 3 weeks. We just <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">couldn</span>’t afford to keep up with all of our bills, and so the phone and Internet had to go temporarily. We have cell phones (a necessity with my husband working nights – there’s no other way to contact him at work except by cell phone) so at least we had some phone service, but it was awful having no Internet service. I felt so cut off from the world. It’s next to impossible to look for work anymore or apply for jobs without Internet service. Even stores want you to apply online. I listed my cell phone along with my home phone on my resume, cover letters, and any applications I filled out prior to my home phone being off, but now I’m worried if anyone employers tried to call me, found my home phone off, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">didn</span>’t bother to call my cell phone. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>My husband finally got his second paycheck for August this week, I got some a small refund of excess grant/loan funds from my graduate school program (I’m working on an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">MPA</span> through an online program with the University of Texas at Arlington – their state university system), and some friends of my niece who are getting married gave my husband $350 to DJ their wedding. It was a huge relief to finally be able to go grocery shopping, and buy the kids their school supplies and uniforms and get their asthma and allergy prescriptions refilled. The kids started back to school on Thursday. My daughter started 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">th</span> grade, and my son started kindergarten. I was afraid we <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">wouldn</span>’t have any money in time to get the stuff they needed to school, but fortunately we did. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I was able to pay our home phone and Internet bill on Monday, but it took the phone company (I have Internet service through them) until Wednesday to turn the Internet back on, since they had to put it through as a new order. It seems like one thing goes right for us and two other things go wrong. I swear, not more than 5 minutes after my Internet service came back on, our TV in the living room broke. The circuit board blew, and the whole thing reeked like smoke. Granted it was a cheap TV - a small 19 inch that we paid about $120 for, but still, it was barely a year and half old! Our TV before that, a 32 inch GE, lasted for 12 years before the picture tube died. Our remaining TV (and it's going to be our remaining one until I get another job) is a tiny twenty-year old 14 inch TV in our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">bedr</span>4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">oom</span> that my husband found a few years ago. But hey, at least it still works. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>I'm convinced, just absolutely convinced that everything is made cheaply anymore, and made with functional obsolescence built right in, so the consumer is forced to replace everything frequently - appliances, cars, houses, everything. As luck would have it, not only did our TV go, but our washing machine is nearly gone too. It's a 6 year old Kenmore up and down washer/dryer set (the kind that are made for apartments and condos). The set wasn't cheap - we paid $975 for it, and it's a pretty basic set, but it was all we could find that would fit in the condo we lived in when we bought it. We've had nothing but problems with it since we bought it. We've gone through multiple belts, a new washtub, on and on, and spent at least $500 in repairs on it over the years. Now it barely agitates, and won't spin at all, so I have to run clothes through 2-3 drying cycles to get them to dry, since they come out of the washer sopping wet. My husband took the washer apart, and found out that the ball bearings are shot. It would cost as much as a new set to get them replaced. So much for that. My youngest sister offered to give me her old washer from her apartment where she lived before getting married (her husband owns a house and already had all the appliances he needed). Thank God for that, or we'd be heading to the laundromat every day (a huge hassle with laundry for a family of 4), not to mention expensive. But, am I right? Is everything made cheaply anymore?</strong><br /><p><strong>Now that the kids are in school, and I don’t need to pay for daycare for them if I find a job, I feel even more pressure to find a job. I don’t even know where to apply anymore. It feels like I’m either overqualified or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">underqualified</span> for everything. There are tons of lower-paying secretarial/administrative jobs, but when I apply for those, I don’t even get so much as an interview.<br /><br />I applied for a job requiring a degree with a local nonprofit organization a few weeks ago. It’s a job requiring a degree, and one very similar to what I was doing at my last job. I saw this particular job open months ago, applied, and never heard back from them. When it came open again, I reapplied, and they called my cell phone over a week ago for a phone interview. The asked me how much I was making at my last job, I told them, they said this job <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">wouldn</span>’t be paying as much (about a $5,000-$8,000 a year pay cut), and asked me if I would still be interested in it. I told them yes (at this point I can’t afford to be choosy about how much a job pays), they sounded surprised, and said they would call people for in-person interviews in a few days. Well, that was over a week ago, and I haven’t heard anything more from them.<br /><br />I desperately need a job. Sure I’d love to have a job paying at least what I made at my old one, but I’ll take pretty much anything at this point, but it seems like all employers see is “overqualified” and won’t consider me. It seems like the only job growth here in the Cleveland area is lower-paying jobs no one will consider me for, or jobs in the legal or medical fields, that I won’t be considered for (I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">ve</span> tried) because I don’t have experience in those fields. It’s a great time to be a legal secretary or paralegal (I see tons of law offices hiring for paralegals with experience in debt collection or foreclosures – no surprise with Cleveland being one of the poorest cities in the country, and having among the highest foreclosure rate in the country), and a great time to have any skills in the medical field (because if we have nothing else, at least we have two major hospital systems here in Cleveland).<br /><br />I spent 10 years (off and on) working on my bachelor’s degree (between working full-time, having kids, dealing with family health problems, etc) and sometimes I feel like I wasted my time, like I’d have been better off just going through some kind of technical training in the medical field or legal field or something. At least I’d be employed right now. It’s frustrating and depressing. Honestly if I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">didn</span>’t have kids (because of not wanting to move them away from my family) I’d leave the state tomorrow. It seems like there’s nothing around here for college graduates.<br /><br />About the only good thing that’s happened lately is my husband finished his welding class. It was a long 6 weeks. Between his work and school schedule, and lack of money, we’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">ve</span> done nothing fun all summer. I’m not upset about not being able to take a vacation – even when we both were working, we could rarely afford vacations. But, I’m sad that summer is pretty much over and we haven’t been able to even do so much as take the kids to the zoo, or a drive-in movie or an amusement park. We <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">couldn</span>’t even do much of any free stuff, like go to the library, because I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">couldn</span>’t even afford to scrape together a few dollars for bus fare to get there. My daughter was actually excited to go back to school this week, because she was so bored at home, and that made me feel terrible. I love my kids, but I got burned out being home with them everything single day too, with my husband not around to help, between his work and school schedules, and no time to myself at all.<br /><br />Pretty much all the kids have done all summer is play with other kids on the street. Most of the bratty kids stopped coming around my house after I told them they’re not welcome here if they’re going to be rude to my kids and start fights with them, but that little brat “M” has really gotten on my nerves. Last weekend she rode her bike down to my house, and started harassing Bethany right in our backyard. When Bethany came in to tell me, she left before I could say anything to her. Bethany left to walk down to her a different friend’s house down the street. She has to pass M’s house on the way, and M and a bunch of other girls stood on the sidewalk, blocked Bethany’s way, and started threatening her, saying they were going to beat her up. Bethany came home crying and told me, and I walked back down there with her. Some of the kids had gone home, but a few, including M were standing in front of her house, and had the nerve to tell me and Bethany we <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">couldn</span>’t’ walk past. The hell with that. I told them it’s a public sidewalk, and we most certainly are allowed to walk past. I walked with Bethany to her friend’s house, and was talking to her friend’s mom for a while.<br /><br />When we went home, M’s mom and dad were outside, and the mom told me I’m not allowed to speak to her daughter! Excuse me?! I told her your daughter has no right to tell me where I can and can’t walk. The mom had a nasty attitude and told I still can’t talk to her daughter, and to come to her if my daughter has a problem with hers! No, it’s not Bethany causing the problems; it’s her little brat of a kid who won’t leave Bethany alone. Maybe if the mother actually kept an eye on her daughter, she’d see how she actually acts. I told my husband if that kid comes back in our yard again harassing Bethany, I sure will have something to say to her, and if she or any of the other girls lays a hand on Bethany, I’m calling the police. I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">ve</span> had enough of these kids thinking they own the neighborhood and have to listen to any adults. My husband said M is lucky this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">isn</span>’t the 1970’s, because back then, some old lady down the street would take her aside and spank her, and drag her back home to her mom. I think he’s right. When I was growing up back in the 70’s, adults <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">didn</span>’t hesitate to call kids out if they were doing something wrong. </strong></p><br /><strong>Well, I guess that’s about it. I don’t really have any crochet projects to show. Between worrying about finding a job, being broke, and dealing with the food situation, I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">couldn</span>’t concentrate on crocheting anything. I might have something to post soon though. </strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-4409281828390826752008-07-30T02:12:00.005-04:002008-07-30T02:50:48.000-04:00No RespectIs is just me, or has parents disciplining their kids and teaching them to respect adults fallen by the wayside anymore?<br /><br />Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion, but something has really been bothering me lately. Since my kids are home for summer, they've been spending a lot of time playing with other kids on our street, mostly all girls. A couple of times they have had problems with a few of the kids. There's one girl, about 9 (I'll call her "M") who I particularly don't like. She's been mean to Bethany multiple times, calling her names, criticizing her, and yelling at her.<br /><br />A few weekends ago, M had the nerve to come down to my house, get rude with with my daughter, and then push my son (who's only 5) because he accidentally bumped into her on his tricycle. After I told I wasn't going to allow any pushing, she left.<br /><br />A few days later, she came back over our house, rang the doorbell, and when Bethany answered the door, asked if Bethany could bring our wagon out (we have an old plastic wagon the kids like to pull each other around in). When Bethany told her (not rudely) that she wasn't going out right now, M, stuck her tongue out at Bethany, and slammed my door! She came back about 15 minutes later, and I answered the door, and told her Bethany wasn't coming out right now, and that I'd appreciate it if she wouldn't come by my house being rude to my kid, and slamming my door.<br /><br />The kids and I left a little while later to walk to the corner store, and while we were gone, M came over with her mother, and asked my husband what was going on. My husband told her Bethany's had problems with M, and she just stood there, and looked at her mom like my husband was lying. He told M's mom she should go to talk to some of the other parents in the neighborhood, because other parents have told us M is also nasty to their kids.<br /><br />Now, today my kids were playing outside in my backyard with some girls from the neighborhood, and Bethany asked if they could on our screened porch. I told them OK, but to keep the noise down, because the inside door to the porch is right across the hall from our bedroom, where my husband was sleeping after having worked all night and then gone to school. Bethany told the girls she was playing with (about 8 total) that they all couldn't be on the porch at the same time, because her dad was sleeping. Apparently some of them (including M) got mad at her, told her to shut up, and ganged up on her, yelling at her and Dominic, calling them names, and being outright nasty.<br /><br />I heard Bethany sobbing, came to see what was going on, and found Dominic trying to defend her, and the girls still screaming at Bethany. I told them to go home, and that they're not allowed to come by my house, being mean and rude to my kids, and the kids started arguing with me, and one of the girls tried to tell me that Bethany was calling them "bitches".<br /><br />Now, I'm not one of those parents who thinks my kids walk on water and never do any wrong, but my daughter does not swear. I have never heard her utter a single swear word, ever. The only swear word my kids have ever heard come out of my mouth in front of them is "damn", and whenever Bethany has heard me say it, she tells me I shouldn't use words like that. Now, I'm supposed to believe she called those girls bitches??? Oh, and then to make matters worse, Bethany told me when she told the girls not to all go on the porch at one time, and they started the fight with her, she said she was going to have me come out there, and a few of the girls told her so what, they don't have to listen to me!<br /><br />Don't have to listen to me?! An adult? On MY property? Now mind you, these girls range in age from about 4 to 10 at the oldest, and are already that disrespectful of adults?! I'm sorry, I'm just really bothered by this. It makes me wonder what kind of mentality their parents have, if the kids are that ill-mannered. I don't care who Bethany and Dominic play with, as long as the kids are polite and behave themselves. But, I can't help but wonder if I did the right thing by intervening when those kids were picking on Bethany and Dominic, or if I should have let them work it out on their own?<br /><br />What do you think?<br /><br />In any case, I'm proud of my little Dominic for standing up for his sister. Even though they squabble a lot, I know they still love each other. Both of my kids take <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Singulair</span> tablets daily for their allergies and asthma, both pediatric versions, but Bethany's pills are 6mg, for ages 6-12, and Dominic's are 5mg for ages 2-5. Well, when we were getting ready for bed, I was tired and distracted and accidentally gave Dominic one of Bethany's pills. I didn't realize it until I was throwing away Bethany's empty pill package, and she noticed (she remembered she had one pill left after taking her pill that evening). She was so worried about Dominic she couldn't fall asleep until I called the poison control <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hotline</span>, and they said he would be fine. They said a kid would have to take a dozen of the pills at once before having any adverse effects. That make me feel pretty proud that Bethany was that concerned for her little brother.<br /><br />Oh well. I've got to get going to bed. Enough griping for one night (er, early morning)!Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258027464734121685.post-32362507857023967482008-07-26T13:28:00.003-04:002008-07-26T13:34:09.788-04:00Something Cool!<strong>No, not a new job (I wish!), but still something cool...<br /><br />I got an email from Amazon.com the other day inviting me to participate in their new "Vine" program. Here's what it said:<br /><br /><em>Greetings from Amazon.com!</em><br /><br /><em>As one of our most valued customer reviewers, we would like to offer you a special invitation to join an exciting new Amazon program called Amazon Vine. As a member of this exclusive community, you will have access to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">pre</span>-release and new products across all Amazon categories, and the opportunity to be among the very first to review them. There is no cost to you to participate or to receive Vine products. We are simply asking for your time in writing reviews for the products you select from the program. </em><br /><em></em><br />Basically I get an email newsletter every month, with new products I can review, I get to pick up to two products, they send them to me for free, I review them, and I get to keep them when I'm done! I got my first newsletter yesterday, and picked out two nonfiction books to review (I mostly read nonfiction). Hopefully one of the newsletters will include some crochet books too.<br /><br />I'm pretty excited - I love to read, and what could be better than getting new books for free?!</strong>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615627617811272007noreply@blogger.com6