Well now

I was going to come and write a rant about the workforce today and how unreliable people are. We hired a Nanny to work Tuesday and Thursdays and she was supposed to come today to get an overview from our current nanny. Well we thought she didn't show. We've called and left messages for her and she didn't return the calls so we thought we were stood up. D was cursing the youth of today and went out to get the mail and found a note. She was there, no one was home, she waited 10 min, then left. Ok... But only 10 min? You were hired for the day, what else do you have to do but wait until someone comes back.

It has been on on going issue as we have set up interviews of people not showing up. It drives me absolutely crazy. I don't care if they decided that they don't want the job or if they are worried that I'm going to chew them out or something, but a phone call is all I want. Instead I spend the day waiting around and then they don't show. It is so incredibly frustrating to me. The best part, is that some of the people who scheduled interviews and didn't show up have called again, thinking that it is a new add in the paper.

As we have tried to work out this child care situation D and I are leaning more and more towards me quitting work. I think that I am starting to come to terms with it. It would be hard on several levels. First and foremost financially. We would have to get rid of cell phones, no cable no internet, possibly re-finance the house back out from 20 years to 30 years, and live on a budget that had pretty much zero dollars written in for additional spending. This hopefully would change as I get my business off the ground. I have decided to start an in-your-home cooking business. I do your shopping, cook 5 meals you pay me a flat fee+ groceries. My SIL is going to give it a whirl with me. I am hoping to get 4 regular customers. This would open my days to spend with the pickle and financially put us in pretty much the same place we are currently. My fingers are crossed that this will work. I feel that it is only a matter of advertising to enough people.

Things are definitely in limbo and I'm feeling some stress. Crafting has been put to the side lately. Mom asked me to come up with some sort of Doggie bib that an associate of hers is looking for. Maybe I'll have time to try some things out this weekend. I need to get back downstairs and work on my nephew's quilt.

Just the Two of Us

The Pickle and I are on our own for the rest of the week. I am interviewing a nanny candidate solo this evening. D talked to her on the phone and things sounded pretty good. She currently has a job as a nanny but it is only part time. So hopefully we can get a friend to be willing to do a nanny share with us once I go part time.

We went down the street last night to bring dinner to our neighbors who just had a baby. She is a beautiful little girl. She has a bit of a pointy head but somehow missed out on the rest of the squishiness new babies often had. Rebecca's mom was there and was totally hogging the baby. He he he. Hopefully one evening we will get a chance to give her a cuddle. It was shocking to compare the pickle to a new born and sweet to remember him at that age.

I have finished the second Mr. Dangles, in pink. I would take a picture but the digital camera's battery is out. I sent my first present to my secret pal. I'm a little worried, I have sent her and e-mail and an e-card and she hasn't checked her mail. Hopefully things will become more interactive as time goes on.

Don't get me wrong

I love being married, I even love it more after having the Pickle join our house. But.... I feel like my creativity is being severely limited. When I got my first real job I decided that it was a waste of money to continue renting. D and I were dating, but not yet engaged, when I bought the house that we currently are living in. It was great. I moved from a 1 bedroom apartment to a three bedroom house with a wet basement. Some how everything I owned expanded or doubled. Some how I pretty much filled the house. Then we got married. Poor D. When he asked where his stuff was going I usually responded by saying the dumpster outside his apartment. I know this wasn't fair. So I sucked in my breath and tried to curb my pack rat ways. D likes to tease that I am a child of the depression because I have a hard time throwing anything out. Left to my own devises I would probably lay trapped for weeks under a pile of old catalogs before anyone knew I was missing. This all leads to me being a bit deceptive when I craft. I wait for stolen moments when I am alone and dive head first in usually without the proper tools or planning, just to get it started. D was gone for 4 days this past week, two of which were weekend days. I only started 1 project. I felt that I showed great restraint. D didn't really see it that way. It was a small project, wooden blocks for the pickle (It is impossible to find those old fashioned plain old wooden blocks.) Now I just need to get a drum sander for the drill press. Had the Pickle helped me out a little bit on Sunday and taken a nap when he was supposed to I think I could have had this project 75% completed. D was thoroughly annoyed at the start of yet another project and the fact that during his 4 day absence from the house the pile of catalogs that he is not allowed to throw away, might have grown a bit. I have plans for them! .... I'm going to cut out pictures to glue to the blocks! And I'm going to make some sort of a collage one day and need the pictures for color hues. Long of the short... I sometimes dream of the days when the house was mine and there was no one looking over my shoulder wondering when I was going to finish, or where I thought I was going to put it.

D flies out tomorrow to go back to Alabama. I'm not sure what he is dreading more. Leaving the Pickle again or leaving me to my own devises for 4 more days!

Ugghhh

We called the possible nanny candidate last night to offer her the job, and.... she said she wasn't interested. What?! Ultimately she was looking for less hours. I wish she would have said something while we were talking to her. I feel like we might have been able to work something out. Or if she would have done full time for the next month or so there is a good possibility that I will be going part time at work. The other interview we had set up took another job, so we never even met with here. We are getting down to the wire. Hopefully we will get some more interest this week.
D is on travel status starting today. He is going down to Alabama to do something with home owner claims from Katrina. The Pickle and I are on our own until Saturday.
I finished knitting the pink Mr. Dangles last night. Tonight I'm planning on stitching him up and stuffing him. I need to dig through the stash and see what color combo to do the next one in. Hopefully I have something girlie. I'm making 3 and planning on using them as the name tags on the Pickles cousins Christmas gifts. I thought that I'd sew the girlie ones a little dress and embroider their names on it, and for M, make some overalls or something and put his name on it. 1 more to knit. When I get done with that I'll have to decide if I'm doing one for S in South Africa.
I am excited for new TV shows. Survivor is starting tonight! I need to tape it, knowing that 8:00 is when the Pickle goes down. I don't want to miss any of it. I really need to get on ordering a DVR from the cable company.

Movin' on..

The interview with a potential nanny went great last night. D and I talked and we have pretty much decided to hire her. We have one more interview tonight but I don't think she can be better than our current candidate. One positive thing regarding this nanny is that she is older and doesn't have the stresses that a college kid has. She doesn't need to pay tuition, rent etc. She probably won't be tying one on every weekend and is much more likely to show up and show up on time. I feel good about this choice. She said some things that I really liked such as how she wants to spend time loving on a baby that she would watch. Or current nanny was trying to push independence and I don't think was spending enough time in contact with the pickle and I hoped she would. The other comment that the new nanny made was that she didn't have problems having a spoilt child but she did not put up with a brat. I think that we are on the same page with this woman.

I'm waiting to hear who I'm matched with for the secret Pal 6. I was contacted by my spoiler... HI KIRSTIE!! but I haven't received the person who I'm supposed to spoil. I e-mailed my group leader and hopefully will find out soon. I was at the store yesterday looking at some things that I was thinking about getting, but then I decided I didn't know if they knitted, or crocheted or what their other interests were so I had to hold off. Hopefully it gets straightened out soon!

While at the store I saw a new magazine that looked pretty interesting. I think it was called Get Crafty or some thing like that. In it, there were all sorts of ideas. I came this close to getting it for the cute flower needle point patterns in it but then thought long and hard about my current unfinished projects and decided that I couldn't commit to it at this time.

Issues...

We are back to having Nanny issues. I am about at my wits end with this. Our nanny has put in her notice and decided to move to LA. She will continue to work for us through the end of the month if we need her. Yesterday evening she called, and wanted to know if she could take the pickle and go baby sit for some other family. We said no, that she couldn't do that and she just did not understand why we would have a problem with it. We have been very lenient with her, allowing her to take him to visit a friend of hers a couple of times, she has gone out to lunch with a friend etc. We have had discussions about how the pickle is her 1 and only priority while she is working for us and yet she thinks that it would be ok to take him to someone else's house, who we don't know, so that she can watch their kids and make a little extra money? I don't think so! The most frustrating part, for me, is that she brought it up again this morning when she came to work. This has been theme, she continues to push what she wants long after we have given her our opinion on the matter. We have two interviews this week for potential replacements. The one we are meeting with tonight is very promising. She is older (35y) so I hope that we would not have to deal with some of the issues we have had. She is married and I assume that her husband works, therefore we would not be the sole support for her household. I think that while this is a frustrating time, things are going to work out for the best. Our current Nanny was just not a good fit for our household.
On other fronts.... mom is setting up a table at a community fare. She is going to sell some baby related embroidery. I am thinking about throwing together a few baby slings and sending them up with dad this weekend. Just to see if they will sell. In order to to this, I need to put together an instruction sheet for the slings. That is what I'm dragging my feet on. Oh yeah... and sewing them out!
Things are looking promising at work for me to move into a part time position. There is going to be one posted next week. There is one woman who has more seniority than me who may or may not be interested in it. I'm hoping that she has come to terms with full time work, or isn't interested in the area (vector borne). My fingers are crossed!

Secret Pal Six Questionnaire

I'm so excited. I signed up for the Secret Pal Six exchange. Below is my questionnaire. I have several ideas for things to send to my secret pal. Being a knitting newbie I hope I'm not a dissappointment as a giver!

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

I would say that I'm not a yarn snob. I have inherited a stash from my grandmother and I'm working my way through it. I use what I have.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I do not spin, but I would be interested in giving it a try, I do Crochet.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

I have no allergies, but do not smoke and avoid smoky places (Yeah for the smoking ban in Columbus!)

4. How long have you been knitting?

I learned to knit from my grandmother when I was young and promptly forgot about it. I have recently taught myself again in order to make cute stuff for the Pickle.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I do have an Amazon wish list.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

I have no preference, but do not use candles very often.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

I prefer salty snacks to sweet snacks. I'm not a big fan of chocolate, preferring sour, tart, licorice types of candy. I will eat chocolate but would rather have a very small amount of excellent chocolate than a lot of hersey's kisses etc.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

I love to quilt, I was into stained glass for a while, but it has fallen to the wayside. I love to give all things crafty a try at least once!

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I'm a big fan of Alt-country, folk sort of stuff. I spend most of the day listening to the local NPR and love their mix of non-top 40 music. I can play Mp3's

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

My favorite color most recently was lavender. I think I might have moved on though. I'm feeling cool colors lately. I'm not that into bold primary colors and I don't deal all that well with primary red.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I have been married for 3 years and had a baby boy (the pickle) in March. We had a gold fish but he recently passed.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

Life dreams.... Lately to stay home with the pickle and explore my creative whims with no one looking over my shoulder asking when I'm going to finish it. I think that I would like to go back to school to become a dentist. I would also like to start a business doing home cooking for people in their homes.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

I have no preference right now, as I'm just working through an inherited stash.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I don't have enough experience with different types to have a preference yet.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Funny hats for babies and knitted stuffed animals. I'm trying to knit a stuffed animal for everyone in my family to use as a gift tag this Christmas.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Knitted stuffed animals or characters.

17. What are you knitting right now?

Mr. Dangley.

18. What do you think about ponchos?

Normally I think I would not be a poncho person, but my office is usually freezing and I think a poncho would be a good thing to have at work.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

I have yet to knit anything on circular needles, but would love to give it a try.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I'm currently using aluminum, because it is what I inherited. I have not tried the others to know if I have a preference.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

Not yet, but would love to be!

22. How did you learn to knit?

My Grandmother taught me when I was about 10, and I promptly forgot it. I then taught myself again about a year ago from a book, in order to knit a funny baby hat.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

Knitting?? 1 month. Otherwise??? 3 years???

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

No favorite animated character, but I do like ladybugs.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

My Birthday!

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Dust.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

None

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?

Nope, but I'm always open to suggestions!

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another??

I'm looking for an easy baby sweater pattern and I'm always on the look out for baby hats or other goofy baby items.

Long weekends rock!

What a great weekend. D and I went to the OSU game on Saturday. Tailgating just isn't the same. D keeps talking about how we must be getting old. The game was pretty boring. I had fretted about what to do about being away from the pickle for so long. I decided to take a hand pump with me, when I went to pump I realized I brought the wrong parts! I worked things out, but will definitely make sure I have the right parts with me next time. The Pickle stayed with D's mom and the little girl down the street came to help babysit. She loved it. Strangely enough I actually felt a little better knowing that she was going to be there with my MIL. Odd that I feel more comfortable with my MIL watching him, when there is another child in the house.
Sunday we had my brother's and parents over for a cook out. It was a nice day. We grilled a pork loin that was phenomenal, and also made some chicken on a stick. We played a little 'football' with Ellie and the kids down the street. She had no qualms about going after that ball! It was pretty funny watching her school the little 4 year old boy in the neighborhood.
It was nice to have Monday off. D had to do a little work due to the hurricane. The pickle and I spent the day walking the neighborhood and chatting with the neighbors. We had the B's over for dinner. It was a great weekend full of friends and family.
We are still on the hunt for a new nanny. After having some experience now, I have a little better idea about what we are looking for, I think. Hopefully we can find it.