I'm Back!

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!).

 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.

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!

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.

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. 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 was participating, even if she didn't enjoy the class.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?! 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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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:

Thanks for reading!

Updates

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.

Well, where to start...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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!

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?).

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.

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.

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).

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?!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!

Well, off to bed. Holiday Mondays always go by too quick!

When it Rains It Pours

Yes, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 (www.etsyhookers.ning.com) and the Etsy Cleveland Street Team (www.clevelandhandmade.com) - 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.

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.

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.

Well, I have a few crochet projects photos to post - stash yarn projects. I'll post those later today, or tomorrow.

My Etsy Shop!

Well, after much hard work, I finally got my Etsy shop up and running! Please come by and take a look!

I owe many thanks to Naida of Crochet Mama's Blog, who made the too-cute banner for my shop. Thank you so much, Naida!

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 (mmmm!), 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.

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.

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??!!

Happy (Belated) 11th Birthday Bethany!

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. 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!

It really doesn't feel like it was that long ago that Bethany was this little:
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.
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!

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:
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.

I 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.

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. Happy belated birthday, Bethany! And rest in peace, Dad.

Happy 6th Birthday Dominic!

Yep, today is my son's 6th birthday!

Lesa, I copied the "cake" you had on your blog! : )

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:

But now he's this big:

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 embarrassed if I hug or kiss him. Happy birthday to my sweet little boy!

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 BOE 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.

We weren't scheduled to go back to work until the 29th. 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 29th, 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.

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 BOE, 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 pre-BOE 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.

However, I found this on the unemployment bureau's website:

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.

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 recieved the decision today, and well, 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 BOE cutting the temps' hours after the November 4th election.

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 BOE, 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.

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 seniority 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.

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 Etsy 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 Etsy shop (I don't have the software to make one). Those will have to wait a while too.

Belated Merry Christmas

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 have to pay into the unemployment fund, doesn't mean they shouldn't.

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.

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.

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).
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.

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.
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.
Here's my adorable little niece, Jenna with her dad: And Jenna with Bethany:
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.

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.

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).

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!

The second surprise was a package of gifts for my kids from
Katrina, which arrived on my birthday. Here's what she sent:

a Hannah Montana bag and notebook for Bethany:
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:And yes, there's more - two beautiful Christmas stockings!

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!

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.

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.

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!

Lots of Hats!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. I can't even afford to take her, and I feel terrible about it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.
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!

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.
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.

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.
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.
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!).

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.

Well, off to clean up the house and finish laundry and go to bed...

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

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:
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!

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.
More pics of the hat:















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?!

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).
Here's another of Bethany, with Jenna: And here's my Dominic playing with his cousin Kaitlyn:
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!

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...

True Stories from the Board of Elections

WARNING: LONG, TEXT-HEAVY POST!

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:

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?"

Voter: "I received my absentee ballot, and I want to know why John McCain is at the bottom of the list of presidential candidates".

Me: "The candidates are printed in a random order. They are in a different order on every ballot".

Voter: "Why is that?"

Me: "To avoid the appearance of the Board favoring any one candidate".

Voter (sounding doubtful): "Is Barack Obama at the bottom of any ballots?"

Me: "I'm quite sure he is"

Voter: "I don't believe that. I want to speak to a supervisor".

Voter: "I'm filling out my absentee ballot. Should I use a black or a navy blue crayon to complete it?"

Voter: "I'd like to know how I can vote by absentee ballot".

Me: (Explaining the absentee ballot process)

Voter: "Oh, I thought I could just tell you my votes over the phone".

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!"

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).

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.

Voter: "I'd like to know when I'm going to receive my asbentee ballot".

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".

Voter (screaming): "I sent in applications twice, for both me and my mother."

Me: "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but we haven't received the applications".

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!"

Me: "Let me have you speak to my supervisor (because I don't get paid enough money to be cussed at).

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.

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?"

Employee (hilarious 75 year old temp employee): "Well, they're allowed to run for office (ha, ha!!)"

Voter: "I just sent in my ballot, and I realized that I forgot to vote for the vice president!"

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!)".

Voter: "I looked online to see if my absentee ballot was received by you guys, and it says it was challenged".

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".

Voter: "My ballot was just challenged because I'm a Republican".

Me: "No sir, we've had plenty of Democratic ballots challenged as well".

Voter: "Well, what if I can't come down to the Board to fix it? What if I'm incapacitated?".

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".

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???)

Voter: "I received a letter saying my absentee ballot was challenged because I did not put my ballot in the ID envelope".

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".

Voter: "They're (Republicans) trying to keep my vote down, mmmm, hmmm, but no, sir, I'm not going to let them!".

Voter (male - speaking to my pretty, young, coworker, Lola): "Does my registration say whether I'm married or single?"

Coworker: "No, it doesn't".

Voter: "Well, I'm single. You sound pretty."

Coworker (laughing): "I am!" (and then proceeds to get asked out on a date by caller, ha, ha!)

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.

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.

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!

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".

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).

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.

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).

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.

A couple other temps have griped because I haven't been working 12+ hour days like many of them, but 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.

Well, off to bed. Stay tuned for some crochet project photos in a couple of days!