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

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.

Where has the time gone?

Ok I see by the date on my last post that its been some time since I updated this thing. Do I feel badly about that? Yes and no, yes because there is so much to tell you and it will take forever to get it all out. The highs and lows of the move, how it felt to take my firstborn to college and leave her there... the drama of being pulled over by the state policeman... how well Maddy is adjusting to being back in a public school atmosphere... and the joys of living in the country. The no part is due to the whole "blogging without obligation" thing i have going on in my sidebar... who ever thought that up was a sheer genius *smiles*.

The move:

Hah... i say that so calmly... as if its done. Well get that fool idea out of your head right now, the move is not over. Oh we had a good start, tons of boxes, two trips with the moving van, gosh we were so exhausted after that weekend, but a large percentage of our stuff was up here in the new place. However... we still have a basement and garage full of stuff. We are going to attack that in a 2 part effort... another rental of a moving van... and the rental of a dumpster. The dumpster will only be on the premises for 10 days, and we will fill that sucker as full of crap as we can. Not that i have crap in my house... but, well ok... after 11 years in the same place... we had some crap. Then the moving van will take care of the remainder.

Selling the old house:

We have a bit more work to do to get it ready for sell... at this point I am almost willing to just let the thing go to the first person who walks by with a 5 dollar bill and mild interest. Ok ok thats a bit of an exaggeration there... but I dont plan to hold out for top dollar in this economy. Hubby on the other hand is expecting a bit more and unless one of us is swayed over to the others point of view I forsee stormy clouds heading our way. But like many storms I know we will eventually sail out the other end into blue skies and so on... (after he finally figures out that his brilliant, adorable, incredibly talented wife was right all along. hahaha) Just a bit of mild humor there... ahem!

College:

We tried our best to do everything we could to get Eileen ready for college. We went to summer orientation, read everything we could get our hands on, discussed meal plan options with her... supported her in her course choices... everything. We listened to her fears, cheered with her when her roommate called... stayed up with her when she couldnt sleep... but we forgot something kind of important.

We forgot to get ourselves ready for having a child go to college. We forgot to prepare ourselves for that long walk back to the car after leaving our firstborn in a strange environment. We didnt think about what that long drive home would be like, the sleepless nights wondering if she was sleeping well, staring at a plate of food wondering if she would like anything they served... looking at the carton of soy milk in the fridge and knowing that none of us would drink it and she wouldnt be here to do so. Its like a part of you has gone missing...

6th Grade:

I loved homeschooling Maddy. Sure there were days that we both ended up frustrated... but all in all it was a rewarding experience. The decision to put her back in public school was an incredibly hard one. We have overall had a wonderful experience. Ok so the whole getting up at quarter to 5 to catch a bus that got her to school 30 mins early was a bit of a headache... but over the past several weeks we have done what we could to make it all work for us. For the time being Miss Maddy is driven to school and home again. I dont have a job yet and this allows us some extra time in the morning to sleep in a bit, and not have to be on anyone elses timeframe except our own. (with the exception of course of being at school before the bell rings) She has an awesome advisor team... and her core teachers and I are feeling our way about... its kind of strange... but we will make it work.

Dah State coppah:

long story short... over due inspection sticker... drivers side window that was stuck... his little visit with me on the side of the road cost us 133.00 bucks which led directly to a new car. weird eh? See I tried to get the dang thing inspected and it was going to cost us 2300.00 bucks... there were so many things wrong with it. Now we are driving a toyota corolla and loving it.

Life in the country:

So many things different. Cant run to the store real quick anymore to grab something i forgot... its an hour round trip and thats if i dont get out of the car lmao. If we lose power... we lose water... and we lose the ability to flush the toilet, though our neighbors were so very helpful on this front. " take a bucket down to the lake and get water to flush the toilets" hahaha So now we have bottles of tap water under the sink in the bathroom for just such an occasion... we labled them "potty h2o". We get all of 5 channels on tv with the antenna... and on a sunday afternoon we get football, football, baseball, lawrence welk and one other station and i dont remember what they were playing. Its a bit like culture shock I guess... Wheres the green mountain coffee at the gas stations... Wheres the flipping food channel? ...what do you mean no pizza delivery?

There is so much more to tell you but I am drawing a blank... and i seriously do need to get something posted...

~Regi