In progress...

Started a new project, because you know.... its not like I have don't have enough stuff going on. *grins* I swore after the baby blanket that I knitted for Jericho, that I would never knit another thing. I even warned my girls that knit blankets for their eventual children were out of the question, and yet I find myself casting on stitches to make little Jericho a baby sweater. I found the pattern at the Lion Brand Yarn website and its very sweet. I got the yarn yesterday, its Caron, Simply Soft and the color is Ocean. Its a very pretty dark blue... almost a dark denim color. I think it will be very sweet and manly lol... My only concern is that it calls for two little buttons. Can I secure them on tightly enough that they dont present a choking hazard? Or should i try to find a different way to close the sweater. So far I have about an inch done... the yarn is so soft in my hands and almost silky. I am enjoying the texture of it so far. Here is a picture of what the final project is supposed to look like.

 

In other fronts, work is going well, we are all adjusting to the husbands coming home on weekends, and staying up in that area during the week.  Maddy is doing well in school, and the eldest has decided to get married in the fall, though she has no details picked out.   The weather was glorious yesterday, in the high 50s with a warm wind, a hint at what is to come and it was so refreshing.  I can not wait for spring even though it brings the mud.  hehe.  

Guess thats all for now... still haven't found the camera or its cord, might splurge with some christmas money and get myself a new one.  

*hugs*

Reg

ps... as much as I love this yarn I bought for Jer's little sweater... how I long to use pink.  I definitely need a little girl to knit for.

Superbowl Fun

We had a lot of fun watching the Superbowl last night.  The game was riveting.  Unlike years in the past where we would watch a bit and then do other things and come back for the commercials and halftime show, we watched every minute of it.  I did manage to get some knitting done but for the most part we sat glued to the tv.  I do wish the Patriots had managed to win, but my hat's off to the NY Giants... it was an awesome game and they totally deserve that win. 

At one point Maddy started talking during a commercial and her father and I both said "Shhh Maddy the commercials are on".  She looked at us like we were insane and said "wait wut?"  I told her, "its the superbowl... if you gotta talk... do it during the game but please be quiet for the commercials" and she just laughed.

Personally I enjoyed the halftime show, although the reviews seemed to be mixed.  It was filled with pageantry, old and new artists alike (forgive me Madonna for calling you old)  *grins*  dancing and familiar songs. 

We had lots of yummy food,  most of which the husband had prepared while I was at work.  He is such a good egg, I might keep him for a bit longer. *wink*

All in all we had a very good time.

This morning we got him all packed up for another week at his job.  Its been tough with him living up there during the week and only coming home on the weekends, but we are managing.  We are both so grateful he was able to find this job.  He seems to be enjoying his co-workers, and the job is a nice challenge which is always a good thing.  He says he is meeting some really nice people and he has even found some co-workers with kids Maddy's age, and has found at least 2 that will be Sophomores with her next year at MCI.  Its going to be a challenge to help her adjust and fit in at the new school and yet help her keep her ties at the old one but we are going to try our best.  Its only an hour away and with FB, Twitter, texting etc she will never be too far from her friends at all.

My job is going well and I have made some nice friends there.  I am not sure how feasible it would be to continue working in the Augusta store after we move but I would sure like to try.  Even if its only a couple of really long shifts a week, as it wouldn't make any sense to drive 45 minutes to work for a 4 hour shift.  Oh well... we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

In regards to my crafting, I still have some work to do on Jericho's blanket, and my sister has given me a cross-stitch bib to work on for her.  She will be coming over sometime this week with her sewing machine in order for us to sew the backing and binding on the baby quilt she made.  I can't wait to see how its going to turn out.

Guess thats all for now.  Hopefully I will get at least one more post in before March.  lol

*hugs*
Regi

... And it's November!

Time sure flies when you are having fun!  *grins*

I have been getting between 32 and 34 hours a week at work and I am really getting into the swing of the job.  One of the CSMs told me last night that everyone has nothing but nice things to say about me... so that was good to hear.  I will have my 3 month performance review the first week of December and also my discount card.  That will be nice!!  Things have been getting busier and crazier at work as the holidays approach.  The weekend before Halloween everything was orange and black... costumes and scary themed food and candy.  I worked Halloween night and it was really dead.  I had a day off and when I came in next there were Christmas decorations up, Christmas trees in the entrys and Christmas music playing.  I felt a bit disoriented lol.

My niece, who got married in August, is pregnant.  Well technically, she was pregnant at the wedding, but it was early on yet and very few people knew.  She now has a baby belly... although its a little one and she finds out on Wednesday what the gender of the baby is.  I keep reminding her that not all babies want to share that info right off... but she is confident her child will behave and show the appropriate bits hehe.  Boy does she have a lot to learn about being a parent lmao... i cant wait to see it all unfold.  I hope her child is as much a joy and handful as Miss Sarah was for her parents.  I am trying to figure out what to make for this little one.  My sister is making the traditional (well in our family) cross-stitch blanket.  My eldest has stated she is making a quilt, so either i make some clothes for the child or knit something.  I may just go ahead and make a quilt too... a baby cant have too many quilts, but we will see.  I found a very cute pattern for a knit hat... it resembles a small berry, pattern can be found on Ravelry here.  Also found a pattern for a little knit blanket with a waffle pattern that looks adorable.  I think I will wait till we know on Wednesday (or dont know for that matter) before i finalize my plans. 


Paul and I had a long talk yesterday... he told me he fully intends to take the new job in Jan.  Its going to be very hard for the family to adjust but its going to be a good thing.  The pay is wonderful for this area, we will have medical insurance for the first time in a very long time... 401k, etc... and the town this business is in has a wonderful highschool.  Its actually a private boarding school but families that live in the town get to send their high school kids there.  Maddy will have the opportunity to get a fantastic education which will only benefit her in the future... and its half way between my sisters town and the town my eldest daughter lives in.  I just found out today that the library there is a Carnegie library.  That's exciting!  They also have an Egg festival in July... a week long festival of egg stuff.  >.>  hehe.  It will be nice to be part of a town again.

I guess thats it for now... i will try to post pictures of the projects I am thinking about doing for the baby.

*hugs*
Reg

Whoa... It's October already?

Hah... been some time since I posted, life has been a bit crazy.

Training went well, had about 3 days with my sponsor before I was set free.  I made sure that the CSMs up front knew I was a bit nervous being alone, so for the rest of my first week and all of my second, I was put at a register near a more experienced cashier.  It went very well.  I have been getting an average of 32-34 hours a week and they have mostly been afternoon into late evening shifts.

About 2 - 3 weeks after I started at Walmart, the husband went into work and left unemployed.  He was laid off with a bunch of his other co-workers.  They are all considered displaced workers as their jobs went to a company in Canada. As such he has additional unemployment benefits such as training etc.  Its been such an odd transition... He was the breadwinner and i the stay at home parent... and now its completely reversed.  He has a good job prospect about an hour north of us but that position doesn't start till Jan 3.  In the meantime he is enrolled in a program to help Maine workers start up businesses etc.  When he was laid off the last time (2008) he was in this program then as well. We are both hoping it will take off this time, he has a lot of great ideas.  We are just taking things a day at a time at this point, its all you can really do in these situations. 

I need to start getting my Christmas projects done, I know what I am making for a few people, need to figure out the rest of it soon.

I will try to remember to post every so often ... especially when the holiday projects start flowing.

*hugs*
Regi

Update...

Well lots of stuff has been happening around the old homestead.

I finished up my "orientation" to my job and moved on to the actual cashiering part.  Oh my gosh there is so much to remember, so many steps to making the process flow smoothly.  Codes to remember for fruits and veggies, procedures to follow for dealing with food stamps and wic, processes to go through for filling and selling phone cards, checks are used differently now... i was so surprised.  Anyways I have been on the registers for 4 days now, 2 days by myself.  I am still having to ask for help from the nearby cashiers but its happening less and less.  Had my first unhappy customer today and I just gritted my teeth, smiled and wished her a "pleasant day" all the while wishing her to the deepest parts of Hades.  One wicked weird thing happened... im still a bit in shock over it.  When my family moved here to Maine back in 1975 or 1976, the first girl I met was named Wanda.  We became very good friends during Junior and Senior High.  We lost touch after I went to college, I invited her and her mom to my wedding but they were unable to attend.  Over the years I have attempted to find her.  I even joined that classmates site just to see if she was registered there, as well as the Facebook group for our class.  I haven't been able to find her in any phone book or by asking ppl who live in our old hometown.  Today I was working the register and a couple came up.  I check them through when the woman said Regina?  I looked at her and smiled, lots of ppl say the cashiers name so I didn't think anything of it.  She looked at me and said " Do you remember me?" I looked again and saw my best friend from when we were children.  "Wanda?" I said... I was so surprised.  Come to find out she lives not 15 mins from me.  Unfortunately she doesn't use Facebook and I didn't catch her married name.  Hopefully she will come to the store again.  How amazing is life at times.

Another thing that happened this week was an unfortunate run in with a case of water... in trying to help a customer I hurt my back and its had an impact on the week for sure.

And the last huge thing that happened was that my husband was laid off on Wednesday.  All the management team was notified that there would be another round of lay offs in September.  He has spent the last two weeks helping to choose who would stay and who would go among the hourly employees.  I would see him come home all tired and just discouraged.  He hated helping to make those decisions but it had to be done.  On Tuesday some important customers came in and he dressed up for his meetings with them, but when I asked him about it that night, he said he hadn't gotten to meet with them at all.  Then bright and early the next day he was informed that they had to cut several people from management and he was unfortunately one of the ones to have to go.  *sigh* I am just flabbergasted at this... he had been told that his job was safe... he has taken not only a pay cut to help keep the company up and running but never got his initial raise that was promised to him in his employment contract from 3 years ago.  Because his job is being lost to Canada, he and the other employees are considered displaced employees and they have additional benefits under state or federal guidelines... but that doesn't help right now.  I am really discouraged and just plain tired.

New Job!!

I started my new job today.  I 'm training to be a Walmart cashier. When we were introducing ourselves to other employees they would ask the group of us what positions we were going to be in.  They would nod and nod when someone said backend... assembler... but when the other woman and I said Cashier (or in her case Customer service desk) they would almost cheer.  One of them looked at me sadly and said... it will be ok.  Im totally not sure how to take that.  At one point I heard two people talking about how they were wicked short on cashiers... that they needed to hire 6 new ones and then some left.  I am a bit nervous but I know it will be ok. I am definitely not going into this blind... I had a choice between being a cashier and working the jewelry counter... and I think i got the better end of the deal.  *smiles* I have worked a register at a fast food restaurant, a bookstore, a clothing store and a department store... sure payment methods may have changed a bit over time but customers haven't.  You will always get the happy ones, the stressed ones... the angry ones and its important to take each one individually.  Dont let one unhappy customer ruin your whole day and make it a priority to send each customer off with a smile if you can.  Its like a game I play... can i make that person smile before they walk out the door.    

Anyways... this week is all about learning store policies, getting to know where things are and training via the computer.  Then for the two weeks following that, I will be training with my sponsor, that is a person who does the job I am training for and who will teach me what they know.  After that I will start settling into my schedule (while I am with my sponsor I will be working their shifts with them).

I am tired tonight...but its a good tired.  =D

Thankful thursday on Saturday

Its been a crazy week in the Smart household.  =)

On Sunday Irene hit and we lost power until Tuesday.  It is the longest we have been without power here in this house and for that we are very fortunate.  There are still people who are waiting to have their service restored.  Living out in the country means we are on a well... and the electricity powers the pump that brings water into the house.  A situation that many many people are familiar with, but it was eye opening for me when we moved here 2+ years ago.  I will never forget, shortly after we moved here we were pulling into the driveway and our landlord was by the barn and said in a very matter of fact way... "we have been without power for 4 hours or so now.  If you need water for the commode you can get it at the lake" and he pointed down the road.  I had no clue what he was talking about until we got inside the house and realized without electricity we had no water... and no ability to flush the toilet.   I think it hit me wicked hard at that moment how very different our lives were going to be in this new home.  Hahaha.  Since that time we have had bats in the house, a snake that likes to come visit the sun room.  Beavers swimming feet from us at the lake... deer behind the house, stopping and waiting for turkeys and all their babies to cross the road lol.  Very different from living in perhaps Maines second largest city, coffee shoppes at every corner... a library with 3 branches and a grocery store within 5 mins.  Anyway... we got our power back Tuesday afternoon and we were so very happy.

Maddy started high school the next day.  She is now a freshman... its so hard to comprehend... my baby is in high school.  It definitely didn't hit me as hard when the eldest was a freshman.  Wednesday the school was open to only Freshmen and Seniors... the upper class-men were there to help the younger students acclimate.  Then Thursday and Friday all the students were there and Maddy is loving it so far.  She adores her English teacher, the woman has a System of a Down poster on the wall that Maddy thinks is wicked cool.  They are reading the Odyssey next and when Maddy raised her hand and asked... "What if you have already read it"  The teacher was very excited, even more so when Maddy shared at the end of class when they were doing a "lets get to know each other" exercise that she loved Shakespeare.  My daughter is going to love her English class.  They did an experiment in her earth systems class already and she was so excited about that... and very disappointed that some of the kids in another class were being idiots as she put it.  When handed a globe and asked to pick out a country and give a fact Maddy said " This is Australia... here (she pointed) is the great barrier reef and blah blah blah something about sharks." ( Maddy loves sharks and has since she was maybe 7 years old)  Another student pointed to Canada and said " this is Canada... Justin Bieber comes from there." and another said " this is Florida, its hot there."  She is already being driven insane and we got a lecture in the car  about idiot students.  *sigh*

Then on Thursday I went in for an interview for a job, but after waiting almost an hour they asked if they could reschedule it due to the computers being down.  That evening the husband had a phone interview with a new company that does things just up his alley.  The interview was over an hour long and afterwards I could see how very excited he was about the possibilities.  Its a company here in Maine that does some similar things to his current company, but they will be able to use his test engineering background.  The problem is that this company is almost an hour from the house and we are locked in to this house for another year or so.  Maddy has just started  high school... I dont want to rip her out of it... but on the other hand the husband seems so very intrigued by this new company... and the current company is getting ready to go through another set of layoffs.  His job is safe for the current time but during the last round of layoffs another manager that had been there longer then Paul got demoted with a paycut in order to keep her job.  We have already been through a layoff (before we moved to this area) and it took him 6 months to find this position.  If the current job hadnt shown up we would have had to move out of state which I wouldnt have minded but would have torn him up.  =(  Next step is a visit to the facility including meetings with HR, owners, and other engineers.   I just want him to have a job where he is challenged and where he absolutely enjoys his work.  I would also like to have health insurance again... its been sometime since we had that.  This new job has a fantastic benefits package which would be lovely.

Friday I had my interview (and boy was that nerve wracking) and they offered me a job as cashier, but only if I passed the pre-job screening and a background check.  Later on in the afternoon they called (which I missed because I didn't have my phone with me) and said everything looked good and I needed to call and set up a time for orientation. 

This weekend the kids (Eileen and Shaun) want to come visit us on Sunday, we also need to get down to visit Paul's parents, borrow the truck from them (until we can get another vehicle) and the landlords want to do their yearly walk through and get a list of things that need to be worked on.  Busy busy busy.

So... back to the thankful thing...

I am thankful for..

~ opportunities that are coming our way.
~ cool english teachers who inspire my 14 year old.
~the fact that my daughter will never conform to fit other kids ... but in fact will continue to march to the beat of her own drum.
~ the lake at the end of the path that allowed me to get water each day we were without power so we could flush the commode ... hahaha.
~backgammon =)

~Reg

And so it goes...

Things have been running rather smoothly as of late.

Math everyday began seamlessly, with only one squawk from her,and I let it pass over me. When the Madster saw I was firm on it she buckled down and the math time is happening even more quickly then before. Spectrum Spelling 5th grade is going quite well... and she is rather enjoying the nonfiction reading workbook we began this week. We are enjoying "The History of US", she seems rather excited by the chapters we have read so far... and the sidebars seem to be a big hit with her. We never did pick up the Rosetta Stone Spanish again... It was quite the investment and I know she wants to learn it, so its a matter of finding a spot for it. This week we worked on Owls, Bats and Ants (for science).. she has a ant project to finish up this week.

I really like the oak meadow social studies/english combo... not too sure about the Environmental science aspect of it. I think if we do homeschool next year we will find a different program for her science. Perhaps a more hands on one that has projects and puzzles and worksheets... she really seems to like that. The reason the SS and English is working I think is that we supplement it heavily with the suggested books and readings... and if we find something we enjoy (such as diaries of kids of the time, we devour them as well) I need to make sure we have a week where we do some of the projects for her colonial/revolutionary america section... making butter, embroidery , making candles, and so on.

I am getting tons of good ideas from the Homeschooling forum I joined. I just wish i had found it so long ago. Its called The Denim Jumper

On the job front I put in some more applications and I even got to speak to a manager... I was quite impressed... Hubby continues to look and actively seek jobs as well. Something has to break free one of these days... it just has to.

The upstairs bathroom is in progress finally... not sure if i mentioned it before but its been a bare shell of a room forever now.. in fact its the reason we couldnt refinance last summer. Heck the plumber has already been paid and the fixtures bought... it was a matter of getting it gutted and the floor ripped up etc. the plumber stopped by yesterday at hubbys request and so its begins... I cant wait to get that project done. That will be the last big, big project we do in this house. I so cant wait.

I guess thats all on this front... have been working a bit on my soaps as of late which you can read about in my craft blog which is listed somewhere here... Have a wonderful evening....

~Regi

ch..ch..changes..

Life is changing... the merry-go-round that seemed to be running smoothly took a drastic nosedive and has transformed itself into a roller-coaster. Up and down, around the curve... the last few months have been mind-numbing.

Hubby was laid off in March after a couple of months of short weeks. He has been searching for a job, I have been searching for a job and we have been in a bit of a slump. We have tightened our belts, held tight to our girls and through all of this we have learned some surprising things about ourselves and what we are capable of.

Hubby has a hot job prospect in central maine... but its been an incredibly slow process. We should hear by Thursday, and we are all keeping our fingers and toes crossed for good news. We are acting on the premise that the job is his... and that the job offer will be one we can accept, in which case we go into overdrive getting the house ready to sell.

Maddy and I have continued to homeschool through out this. I readily admit that somedays were incredibly short and other days it just didnt seem to stop. We are still working in our Saxon math book... and the things she is learning boggle my mind, I sure wish i had access to such a book when i was her age. Perhaps my fear of math wouldnt have followed me into my 40s. *smile* Social studies is going well... We are learning about the beginning of the revolutionary war... She seems rather fascinated with the whole thing. In science we are learning about ecosystems... what happens if a creature is taken out of its environment and moved to a foreign one... etc. We are using the Oak meadow courses for both Social studies/English and Environmental Science. Not sure i would sign up for the science again... but the other is pretty dang awesome.

I am in hopes of updating this blog a little more frequently... until we talk again...

I wish you peace,
Regi

changes

Since the last time I posted we have been through many changes in our family.

Our beloved "Ms Bear" has passed. The entire family was affected but Maddy who loved her bearbear best has had a pretty tough time of it. Bear had been withdrawing a bit and we thought it was because Jasper had been a bit rough with her. I went down to do laundry one day and found her laying in her kitty bed, she looked fine to me until i went to pet her. She was skin and bones. Ms Bear was an extraordinarily fluffy cat. Even sick as she was she was poofy. So when we would see her .. we didnt notice she had lost as much weight as she had. I called the vets office the next morning and took her in. They did an xray and discovered a mass in her lungs. The cat was struggling to breath. The vet was very honest that Bear was dying and encouraged us to have her put to sleep as she was suffering. We spent a bit more time with her... and then brought her back to the doctors office that afternoon to have her put to sleep. Paul and I stayed with her and stroked her and then went home to comfort our girlz. Maddy is having a really tough time of it... Ms Bear was her best friend ... and had been with Maddy since she was about 3 years old. We love ya ms bearbear!

Pauls hours were cut down to just two days a week shortly after my last post, and he and I started looking for work. He found a company in Central Maine that was interested in possibly making a position for him.. but in the middle of the talks, Pauls job was terminated. Just not enough business to keep him on ... and then the company in Central Maine decided that it was important that the third owner who lives in NJ meet with paul before any decision was made. Its a wee bit scary... neither of us working... bills pouring in... but we keep on going. We are both looking hard for postions... trying to keep things on an even keel for the girls.. trying to keep some semblence of normalcy in our lives. As long as we trust in each other... and that this is something we are meant to go through and that something better will arise out of it... it will be ok.