Jeans and Sneakers

Finally done with this!!  Well, after I take it off the pins, I’ve got to weave in a few ends, but I’m not trying to rain on my own parade.  I probably should have woven them in first, but I don’t really care at this point.  I’ve started an Anthropologie Inspired Capelet to celebrate.  I’m really using up my stash yarn this year, it’s awesome.  I unraveled a tube top I knitted in my first year of knitting that didn’t work out, and I’m using it for the capelet.  I still have most of a cone of it left. . .and I have a sweater in mind for it.  It’s half merino half acrylic, so it’s really squishy.  I hope it doesn’t smell like the Cascade 220 smelled when I washed it.  It smelled BAD. I should invest in some wool wash.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day.  I’m going to Rob’s grandma’s house for dinner, and then to my mom’s house to hang out.  Should be a packed day (I’m going to be so sick, dinner, and then cookies at my mom’s, lol).  Today I have to go pick up some flowers.  I think I might get my mom some too.  And I have to start my trial run Magic Loop socks so that I can show my mom tomorrow how that works.

I’m in a pretty good mood today.  It was sunny out before, but the clouds have come in now.  It’s still a good temperature and I opened some windows to get some fresh air in the house.  I also cooked the greasiest breakfast ever, and I’m kind of regretting that.  But what can you do.

Things are in the works, I’m still broke, but trying to figure out ways to compensate.  We’ll see if any of it pans out.

I guess with everything that’s NOT been going on, my life’s been pretty boring lately.  With no job, I was hardly leaving the house, and here at home I was only looking for jobs and watching tv at night.  I don’t even know if that’s going to change now that I got a job. . .

See, horrible blogger, I GOT the job I wanted, Marketing Assistant for a German company in the Wind Farming industry.  I start on Tuesday.  While I’m happy that I’ll be working again, and that I’ll have money coming in, I’m kind of worried about being back out there, working. . . I’m sure it’ll be fine.  I’ll be fine.  But I’m a worrier, so worry I will.

I did get out this weekend though.  We went to go visit Rob’s Mom’s new horse at the barn.  And by new, I mean new to us, since she’s had him since sometime last year.  He was a big sweetie, always hungry and liked to give kisses.   :]  There were other animals there too, I especially liked the goats, sheep, and donkeys.  There was one goat there who totally wanted to be my friend.  They were all really curious and made the cutest noises when the barn people were bringing out their food.  It was a fun time.

I’m going to be pretty broke for awhile, so I don’t really see me doing much of anything, especially since the prices of gas are ridiculously high.  Maybe I’ll stop by the library and pick up a book to read, or start watching Voyager.

I started knitting a different sock pattern with the springtime sock yarn I have, the one that was giving me issues with the Dream Sock pattern.  But wouldn’t it just figure that I went and messed up already, and pretty far down, I’m either going to have to live with the mistake, or rip it back to just before, and knit it all again.  It’s frustrating.  Maybe I’ll wind up some cascade 220 and start on the Hemlock Ring blanket. . .I miss bigger yarn/needles.

A friend from high school requested I post up new pictures on my myspace, he said he wants to know what’s going on in my life.   Well, I haven’t taken any pictures.  I don’t really have any friends I hang out with, and I don’t really go anywhere or do anything, so there’s nothing to update about.  I posted up a pic of the house in reply.  That was kind of snotty, since it’s bigger than his house, but I really don’t care at this point.

Been thinking about painting too, but haven’t gotten around to sitting down to do it.  And every time I see a skein of hand spun, I get an itch that says “I WANNA SPIN!” but I’m still kind of scared to really try. . .that woman did a number on giving me a complex.  They’re not even in business anymore.

One more day of “freedom” until I start working again, and I don’t really know what to do with the time.  I can’t even relax and try to enjoy it because that’s just not my style.  I guess I’ll just try to distract myself.

I have a second interview with my first choice company.  It’s this Friday.  Tomorrow, I also have a second interview with a different company that I’m not so interested in, but it’s good to have a backup plan, right?

I’m kind of nervous, the person I would be working under is also the woman who interviewed me, and she sent me some links on “How to survive your second interview” when she asked if I could come back.  I’m wondering if she’s pulling for me or if she thinks I need pointers.  Either way, I plan on being fully myself at the interview, any “preparing” or anything like that on my part makes me feel like cheating in a way. . .or more accurately, fooling them into believing I’m their gal.

Actually that bothered me a lot when I was reading the articles she sent me.  They were entirely geared towards a generation of people who are taught how to learn to pass tests, but not how to learn.  The articles advised to prepare for every possible question or tactic, as if telling the reader to be ready to fool the fooler.  That’s not how things are supposed to work.  If I can’t be myself at an interview, then I can’t be myself at that job, and I don’t want it.  I am not such an imbecile or delinquint that I do not know how to conduct myself, nor do I have to “prepare” my answers.  If you ask me a question, I’ll tell you the truth, that is how I work.  No preparation necessary.

She also asked me to bring more examples of my “creativity”.  Then specifically asked me to bring a brochure I’ve done, if I had one.  I don’t have one.  I’ve never made a brochure before, and I told her that at my first interview.  Whatever, I’ll bring what I have, and if that’s not good enough, oh well.

My plants are growing, and that’s good.  I fixed my hat, but now I have nothing currently on the needles.  I frogged the springtime sock because I hate the yarn, and it was making hideous holes despite wrapping in the short-row heel the pattern was calling for.  I need to do something else with that yarn, I just don’t know what yet.  Maybe still socks,  just a better pattern.

I’ve been pretty hormonal lately, and it’s not too fun.  Kind of hard with my current schedule to keep myself from thinking too much, or sleeping too much.  And I lack the motivation to do the things I always said I’d do if I were home all day.  Eventually, I’ll get a job, and things’ll balance out for awhile.

I had a kitchen onion that started growing. So I decided to really let it grow and get a pot and everything! While we were at Home Depot picking out a pot and some soil, we decided to get some seeds and grow some other stuff too. I got Sage, Basil, Thyme, and Oregano. Rob got Spearmint and Broccoli!! I can’t wait till they germinate and start poking their little heads out!! YAY Plants!

In other news, I have a job interview tomorrow. It’s for a company that’s pretty close by, so I hope they’re offering decent pay. We’ll see when I go tomorrow. It would be nice to have steady incoming cash again.

This weekend my dad and sister came over for dinner. We had a pretty good time. There’s things going on with everyone that concerns me. . .but there’s not much you can do about other people’s lives. You can just let them know that you’re there.

Rob got some Perfect Shot Wiimote guns, and I can’t wait to get some games that we can use them with. House of the Dead II and III is coming out for Wii soon, and that’s just going to be awesome.

I started knitting Koolhaas, out of some of the leftover Malabrigo I have. . .mmmm, I love this stuff. I have another skein too, and I’m going to try and make matching mittens with it, I think. I also want to start the Hemlock Ring Blanket out of the leftover Cascade 220 from my dad’s sweater. I’m not thrilled about having a navy blue blanket, but maybe it’ll surprise me and look really good. Worst comes to worst, I can probably dye it some other dark color that has blue in it. Lol.

Actually, I have a lot of knitting projects I want to get started, and most of it would use up yarn in my stash. I have two designs I want to make, a leftover-sock-yarn blanket, and either Monkey or Pomatomus socks out of some sock yarn I have, not to mention some kind of knee-high socks out of some Henry’s Attic Kona I have that would have to be dyed, and a female Cobblestone sweater with a possibly modified boatneck. . . all which should technically help me to not spend any money (I HAVE the yarn for all of these projects. And I thought I’d never accumulate a stash, lol), along with the help of the full series episodes of DS9 and Voyager. And then I can finally get my washer and dryer! But I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to land a job first.

I’m sure there’s more to write about, but I can’t think of it at the moment. :] Plants!

First and foremost, I’m happy to finally be able to post a picture of a finished object!!  YAY!!  Today I’m wearing my very own Forecast sweater.  It’s come out beautifully, and I couldn’t be happier with it.

Things in other quarters aren’t so great.  I quit my  job today.  I was trying my very hardest to not walk out, to just deal with the crap they were giving me, but every person has a limit, and they found mine.   I’m not going to go into juicy detail, I’d rather just put it behind me and get moving forward.

I’ve been all over job boards all morning.  Now is NOT a good time for me to be unemployed.  While I do have somewhat of a plan to try and work for myself (again, no statyous this time though), I need time and money to get there.  Time, I now have.  Money. . .well isn’t that always the issue.

Things have been moving along slowly, I still have no washer and dryer, due to an unexpected dentist visit that pushed back the appliance plan for two months.  The kitchen, however, is pretty much done.  The only thing that might change in there is Turbo’s little area, as we’ll be downstairs most of the time after it’s finished, and he should be where we are most of the time.

Other than that. . .we’ve been watching A LOT of Star Trek: DS9.  I never really got into the show, but now I’m hooked.  I think we’re on season 5.  We’ve got Voyager cued up for when we finish.  Woot.

Baking has been awesome in the new oven.  I haven’t burnt one thing yet.  It’s so nice to have an oven that properly heats your baked goods and stuff.  :]  I found a recipe on Monday for homemade potstickers, and I think I’ll try them tonight. . .now that I don’t have anywhere to be in the morning.  :[

That’s pretty much it, I paid this month’s bills, so hopefully I don’t have any breaks in paying for stuff.  Wish me luck on the job search, I’m going to need something to help me reach my ultimate goal.

But still, it feels like a lot has happened since the last time I wrote.

I finished my hand dyed jaywalkers.  I suck at taking pictures of them though.  Maybe I’ll take some later and edit the post.  I’m being pretty lazy right now.  Haha.

No word yet about the house.  Though one of our friend’s gf’s did let it slip to our old roomate Chris, who we were going to surprise with it, since we’d be so much closer to him, and hardly ever get to see him now.

Nothing else has changed at work.  They sent out a memo saying there’s going to be a sales meeting in January, that everyone is required to attend– even those not in sales.  That mandatory crap is really starting to get to me.  You can’t tell people they HAVE to be there when you’re not paying them for it and it’s outside of work hours.

Ok, now I’m a believer in bad news first, so here it is.  I have to sell my car.  I’m so so so very sad about it.  I love that car.  I’ve only had it since May, but I’ve become so very attached to it.   We found out where it’s leaking oil from, and while it can be fixed, probably, the real question is, is it worth dumping that much money into the car (especially when we’re buying a house), considering it’ll never be worth more than a few grand, no matter what I do to it.  Plus, there’s some serious rust on the bottom of the car, and much body work would have to be done to save it, or I could just get another chassis in better condition and switch all of my stuff over since the interior is in pretty good shape (but so much work!!)  I talked it over with Rob and we both agreed that the best thing for me to do right now would be to sell my car, and then either try to find another 7 for a good price, or pick up a decent interim car.  I’m pretty devastated about it, but I’ve already found at least one car that might be a suitable interim car.  We’ll see how that goes. :[

Good news. . .The job I went to check out yesterday morning is AWESOME.   Totally awesome, and the only down side for the moment is that the training period has some seriously low pay, but the owner said depending on how quickly I pick things up (which is really fast, especially when I'm learning things that I'm doing on a daily basis), the training period could be really short.  I went in yesterday and was seriously wowed.  The work that they do is amazing, and they're expanding by a lot.  I'll tell more about it if I actually get the job. . .I'm going to call the owner tomorrow and tell him I want in, and hopefully that'll seal the deal.  It's closer to the new house, and would be me doing artful stuff every day.  I'm so excited.

I haven't had a chance all weekend to pick up my sweater and work on it at all, maybe I'll do that today.  Friday night we went to see The Mist which was pretty good for a SK book-turned-movie, and yesterday I was all over the place, going to the interview, picking up my secret santa present, looking at my car with Rob, and then Chris came over to have Rob look at his car and play some video games, so I didn't really have a chance to whip it out and try it on to see if it's long enough.

Oh!  And I successfully managed to find a xmas present for Rob..  :]

I started Forecast! Hopefully I can make it into a beautiful sweater for me to wear all the time!!

Here’s a pic of me in my new scarf.  It’s awesomely warm.  I finished it last Friday at work, and just in time for some cold weather.  Too bad now it’s warm again.  Oh well, It’ll be ready when  I need it.

I’ve got too much going on in my head.  I’ve been on and off stressed and distressed and depressed, and I think I need a vacation.  :/

Honorine is done, pictures to follow.

So 24 hours ago I was absolutely convinced that quitting my job was the right thing to do, that I’d be nothing but miserable there, and I pretty much thought that my boss would try to convince me to stay again, and not accept my letter of resignation.

Well we had a little chat today, and he was more than reasonable, and he said that he understands how I feel  (though I kind of wonder about that with some of the questions he was asking) and that he respects my wishes, and that he’s going to start interviewing people next week.

I left the meeting with a good feeling, because even if he doesn’t understand why I felt it necessary to leave, he’s not pissed off at me, and I’m more than certain he’ll be a great reference.  But now, about two hours later, as I’m thinking about how probably by the end of the month, unless something spectacular happens, I’ll have no steady source of income.

I mean, that was supposed to be the whole plan right?

I know.  I’m supposed to take myself seriously, try and find a part time job at least, but seriously try to get out there and sell these dolls I make.  But holy crap!  Just sitting here thinking about the prospect has me shaking in my chair.  I got home and started thinking ‘well maybe I’m just retarded and the job isn’t really that bad, maybe I could email my boss and tell him I’ve changed my mind!! I really do want that car, and. . .’ But I know that’s just the Friday in me talking.  Just because right now it’s the beginning of the weekend and for a whole two days I don’t have to even think about waking up early and spending 9 hours in a cold office with people who make it hard to conversate.

Come Monday, I’ll probably be ecstatic.  And maybe I can actually do this.  But from my current Friday point of view, it’s terrifying.

In other news, all knitting endeavors have gone on hiatus while I try to get this damned doll done.  Of course it’s the damned doll at the moment because I’m worried it’s not going to be good enough, but we’ll see how the thing turns out.   I’m not even done with the shaping yet and I’ve still got the painting to do, and I wanted to mail it out tomorrow.  I should stop blogging and get cracking.