The Virtual Wren

When I got to work today I found that everything I was supposed to do today was already done and there was nothing for me to do and no reason for me to stay there. So I went shopping and taught myself all about gilding page edges. Very amusingly, the first thing you have to treat the edges with is a paste called Fontenay to seal up the paper so it doesn't absorb too much adhesive.

Naturally, I had neglected to have any on hand so while the pages were still a little wet, I've been separating them and inadvertently reread the book:

43.


Mine looked worse than that so you can see why I decided to experiment on it- it needed rebinding anyway!

I'm spending the evening going through all my perfume imps and sniffies with six wishlists in hand. After I have done that (tonight and tomorrow), I'll look and see what I can decant for people and do a spot (large spot!) of decanting on Wednesday. Thursday I should be able to package everything up to mail out Friday. That's the plan anyway...

I also need to make up a non-perfume fairy package- possibly Thursday or Friday. These are going to be some awesome fairy packages, some of them!

Two things trouble me. One, I don't have but six of the nine wishlists I should and two- the best laid plans of wrens and all that.

Right now I'm being very very sleepy and I don't know why. I worked over in floral today- I didn't get everything done but I didn't expect to. Cheryl kindly left me more to do than I could possibly get done every day I'll be over there.

Ok, that last might need some explaining. I don't work floral very often except at holidays and I hate having to be at work but having nothing to do. I don't know the department well enough to find things to do if I run out. If Cheryl is there, I can ask for something else to do but when she is on vacation- I'm a bit at loose ends. The last couple of times she had me fill in for her while she was gone, I ran out of things to do. The last time, in sheer desperation, I tidied the entire department. It is possible that she was trying to avoid a repeat of that as well as keep me from being all upset. She did tell me that there was more on the list than I could possibly do and don't worry about not finishing it- don't even try.

So I didn't. I did what I had to do back in produce and then went up front and cleaned the cut case, pulled some roses that were looking ratty, watered everything in sight (this was one of the things that really did have to get done) and took down all the 4th of July decorations. And reworked the plants and arrangements that had not sold into daily things (Get Well, Birthday, Sympathy, General Summer).

So not too much- but I am very very sleepy and I don't know why. It doesn't help that I was sitting at the kitchen table to work on fairy packages and Anna-kitten stole my seat when I got up for more coffee. I'll make her get up and get back to work momentarily.

Grrr! That woman!

I had today off... necessary since I had to take Emily to the doctor for her med check up.

I started out by taking her to school and having the conference that I didn't have Thursday... her teacher is going to make sure that everything gets into her bag and goes home with her. Embarrassing for her, to be treated like a first grader, but what else can be done?

Then I went to the post office (man, do I owe them cookies!) and got fussed at. Not for having so many packages but for skipping Friday and Saturday. (You don't call, you don't write... where were you?) While processing packages, I explained that I wouldn't be coming by nearly as often any more... which seemed to make my people sad.

Good heavens, was it really all that? I guess it was...

Then I returned my recalled White Rabbit candy and went to lunch with 80s where a good time was had by all. He was in fine form today and kept making me laugh.

Run back to school and pick up Emily and get her to the doctor. Dr changed her meds to 30mg of Vyvanse starting tomorrow and we'll see how it works. While we were there, I ran into the other front desk person from Sarah's office who is still there. I burbled about how well life was going for me and she grumbled about hers.

Then to Arby's to pick up dinner, at Em's request.

Then back to the doctor because we forgot to give Emily her flu shot. As it turns out, she got the nasal inoculation so "shot" is a misnomer.

We took a turn by 80s house to drop off something he inadvertently left in my car and then to my work to fill Em's new script and activate the "free 30 days" card they gave me since insurance wouldn't pay for it without Dr calling them first. If it works well, she'll call next week.

Then home to get Emily started on a huge pile of homework due to getting her out of school early.

In the middle of this, Sarah calls wanting to know why it was necessary to tell everyone I met that knows her just how happy I am and how much less stress I am under. After pointing out to her that I am happy and less stressed...and having her reiterate that I was 'talking down about her' and she 'always treated you well' and 'I thought we had a relationship' and some chomping about how little notice I gave her, I told her 'Sarah, it's not always all about you.' Which set her off even more... beginning with "F*ck you." To which I responded "Good evening, Sarah" and hung up.

WTF? What on earth is she thinking? Does she really think she is better than me that she should call me after almost a year and still expect me to play nice-y nice? This is exactly why my current job is so much less stressful. No one at work would dream of calling me at home to discuss something I said in a public place that they thought might reflect badly on them personally. Good God, lady, get laid and get a LIFE... that isn't mine!

Rather fortunately for all concerned, Emily got her homework done... neatly, quickly and well... and I got a PM from my switch witch to let me know who she is and that her planned final package is going to be late. I don't care, knowing who she is... and finding out just at that moment... was the tonic I needed against Toxic Sarah.

Yesterday was a practically perfect day. I picked up my mail before work and it had an imp I had ordered, my new Hold On To Your Horses book by Sandra and an unexpected package of Glitter from Suileach on the forum. (Isn't that the definition of glitter? That you weren't expecting it?)

Glitter

I get my mail first thing before work so all I could do then was read the postcard and wait for lunch break but it was such a warm fuzzy 'awww!' feeling. I went through the whole morning in kind of a rosy fog just waiting until I could look at it.

And then the package itself! There are two Tolkien ones and I'm going to frame the Hobbiton one and hang it some where in my new library as soon as I get it finished. I always thought Tolkien could write better than he could draw but there's something sweet and totally sentimental about the drawings he did do and I love them all. Hobbiton is possibly my favorite just because I always wanted to live there!

I've never seen this Erté print... and Erté One of my favorites! And this print is simply beautiful!

I was really tickled by the hot chocolate malt... I've never seen anything like it before and even if Emily gets it, I'm going to thieve a taste first! And tea! I love Earl Grey and there are two different kinds and I'm looking forward to trying the cinnamon tea because I do like cinnamon as well... plus I have just never seen teas in tiny boxes like this.

I've never tried the soap although it smells luscious or any of the imps (delight!) and the only one I have had time to test is Geek... which is a win on me :) I'm also tickled by the little velvet bag... My daughter has one because she has Hope and Faith (on hold until she's older and more responsible) and I've been tempted to get a second set just so I could have the little bag for me.



When it rolled around to time for my break, the girl who was supposed to be relieving me at 5 came in... and instead of a break I got to go home early! (more squee!)

I got home in time to call the doctor about Emily's skin weirdness (which we decided on the phone was ringworm... no visit needed) got the name of the medicine, including the generic name... I love my pediatrician!, and had time to go out and aquire not only it but everything else I intended to shop for this weekend. So now I don't have to go anywhere until Monday morning and can spend the time cleaning, packing up rollerballs and working on the library.

By the way... does anybody know what's up with the contraceptive sponges? They seem to have vanished from everybody's shelves again.

We got home in plenty of time for 80s to visit after work which was really fun. Next week we're planning on playing Jack or watching a movie or something since we haven't done either in quite awhile.

So now I have an entire day at home cleaning and playing... so it looks like this will be a Super Saturday! (Is that sad that a great day is one I get to spend working on my projects? Maybe I'm just getting old...) I'm planning on popcorn and a movie tonight while I'm doing some of the more sedentary projects... I haven't decided on a movie yet but I do still have Perfume to watch after Emily goes to bed.

I've had a busy weekend doing not much of anything at all. I did manage to get Eliz's phone swapped over into her name. She was terribly mad that she had to pay an extra $150 deposit over the deposit I had already paid... the difference between having excellent and established credit and just starting to build your credit.

She is going to get her license next Wednesday she tells me and then I have requested next Monday off so we can get the car swapped into her name (and emissions, tag, title etc)and then the only thing left will be insurance on the car.

I don't think she has the first clue just how much more stuff she's going to have to do. Deposits and getting utilities turned on, etc. All the general stuff that's always been beneath her notice because that was something for the Mom-unit to do. I notice that her world view is unequal... it's ok for her to treat me one way but katie-bar-the-door if anyone treats her that way.

My very very old cat suddenly has a swelling on the side of her face. It does not seem to be sore or bothering her very much so I'm going to give it a couple of days before I take her to the vet. Mostly because I know what they are going to say... I should put her to sleep. Maybe so, but until she's uncomfortable or hurting, I don't see any reason to.

No school today and no postal service so I will have to mail packages tomorrow. I am going to have quite a few but almost all of them are pre-paid so it's a matter of running in and dropping them off before work.

Speaking of which, I leaned over today to fix a problem with someone's order and he took a big sniff and said "You smell nice!" (I was wearing Madame Moriarty) I just smiled at him and said "Why, thank you!" (Sometimes living in the South has it's advantages) Just in case anyone wants to think it was more than a compliment on my perfume, the gentleman in question was with his boyfriend so I don't think so. :D

In spite of not having much to do this weekend, I still did not finish cutting out as much fabric as I have for the Storm at Sea quilts and I also did not finish even one turn quilting on Merry Halloween. *pout* I did manage to get to the SAS store and get some decent work shoes in brown... consequently, my knee does not hurt as much tonight as it might otherwise do... my feet only hurt up to the ankle instead of all the way up to my hips. This is a good thing!

Ok.. now that I am awake, there is more news.

I found the perfect artwork for the huge empty space over my bed... it's the 1997 poster from the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters Oregon. (Picture here.) Fortunately, I am not having to pay quite that much for it. I wrote Mr McGregor and pleaded my case (which is that I love that piece of art but there's no way I could afford it) and he has found me one at a discount because of corner damage. I'm going to frame it anyway, I couldn't care less if the corners are battered. I'm a quilter not an art collector.

If I haven't mentioned it before, I finished the last set of shelves in my sewing room. I still need to get the treadle machine down from the attic and refurbish it but now I have a corner to put it in. I also need to work on the door. It has fallen aslant and only latches properly with a great deal of effort. This is not acceptable... I want to be able to use that door as much as I want and not have to take ten minutes to make sure it's closed when I do.

There is a bear in the neighbourhood... one of the neighbours saw it crossing the road in our woods the other day. Also Simba-of-the-Bent-Ear has not come home. I am afraid he has encountered the bear. (Or the wolves or something like that.)

80s has done something amazing and perfectly foolish. The other day he went out (in this heat!) and put the engine back in his car... all by himself. I don't know whether to be admiring that he managed it... or furious that there wasn't even anyone else at his house when he did it. I have kind of settled on being quietly both and ignoring the visions I have of the cherry picker falling over on top of him on that slanted gravel driveway.

My trainee finally showed back up to work yesterday. There was a miscommunication on which days she was supposed to be working. Since I am about sick of all the extra work time and we haven't hired anyone else, she is not going to be fired.

This week at work has been a right hair-puller so far. First, it's the first of the month so I have lots of extra work anyway with closing out the books and figuring up statistics and taxes for July. Then day before yesterday, I get a call from someone who says we have bought a huge ad with them... where is it? Well, this is the first I have heard of it so I got them in touch with Sarah. Yesterday morning I came in and the request for a 9" X 7" ad was on my desk. Make this up ASAP since it was supposed to go to the printer back in June. So I dropped everything else and hacked up ad copy and emailed it off.

But it doesn't end there... I'm getting back to my usual first-of-the-month work... and this woman calls and tells me the ad will be in black and grey... all that colour I used is going to just look like blobs... and it's all wrong. It's top-heavy and unbalanced... and it's not camera ready because it's too big. I talked her through using her graphics editing software to crop down to the size needed (my program will NOT spit out a 9" X 7" copy... the best I can do is 8.5" X 11" but I left in crop marks for her to follow) Then I go back to the ad... remake it in black and white (her software would have done that too but it was too hard to explain it over the phone) and email it off again. What I want to know is how do you call yourself a publisher and tell someone that you'll make up the ad for them (which is why I never heard about it... Sarah was told that all she needed to do was submit the logo file) when you don't even know how to crop a jpeg file? Idiot.

I love my job but that was unnecessary.

Oh no! I just realized... when I take down the quilt to mail it off to State, I will loose my design wall too! I'll just have to hang a piece of white cloth up in it's place.

I've always maintained that September was a month of surprises and new beginnings for me. (It also happens to be one of my favorite months.)

Something really good and really unexpected happened today... the last few minutes before we closed the store, one of my favorite customers called and offered me a job. Inside... 40 hours a week or close to it... not weather dependant... Monday through Friday... $8 an hour. Uhhh... how fast can I say yes? There aren't any benefits.. she runs her own small business.. but I don't have benefits where I am anyway. And she wants me. Not just someone who can do the job but me, specifically. That feels so marvelously good! The funny thing is that, while she's a customer of mine, I'm also a customer of hers... She's a massage therapist and when I have gotten into a bind that I couldn't work out, she's fixed it for me. Now, for various reasons, she needs a receptionist who can also be a cashier, a sales person, do a bit of data entry.. ie, a girl Friday. Sounds like what I'm doing now except for the heavy physical part. And I get to wear real clothes and not feel like I've been dipped in grease after work. I could even go straight from work to a PTA meeting... something I could not do now.

It's time I got rid of this permanent tan I've had for the last four years... and the impending skin cancer that goes with it.

I'm very excited... and a bit nervous. I always am when I'm starting a new job. I won't actually be starting for a little bit. I want to give notice where I am and smooth over any bad feelings... especially since the owner of the business I now work at is a client where I am going!

I'm been awfully busy lately. Someone broke a window at work Saturday night and while they didn't get anything the window has become one more thing on our list of things to be fixed. While we were discussing the window, I again brought up the subject of scheduling since my schedule will have to change once school starts. So now the owner has finally decided that it's worth the extra $25 for Emily's daycare in the morning for me to keep opening and closing the store on the manager's day off.

Bother. I don't want to be the assistant manger.. I don't want to be any kind of manager! Even if it's only two days a week that still takes me away from my girls too much and they don't get food on time or bed on time.

In a related story, I am beginning to think that part or all of Emily's problem is sleep deprivation. The child will not go to sleep when she should and this means she never is ready to get up in the morning... which means she's always somewhat sleep deprived. I've started her on a nutrition supplement that I hope will help some... because the ritalin is obviously not doing enough any more.

Since tomorrow is Emily's school registration (as well as garbage day) and what with everything happening at work, I really haven't had time to get either stressed or much depressed about tomorrow which is a good thing.

I am also having a slow fight with 80's. His girl is in town (and it was delightful to see her! My manager thinks she's hot.) so we haven't been able to talk (if that's what one would call it) long enough to sort through it. I suppose it will keep. I wish I thought it would go away... but I know better. he's mad at me and until he's grouched at me enough, he'll stay mad at me. I suppose that's why they dropped stuff off at work today... he can avoid talking to me for weeks if he doesn't have anything of mine to return. So that's one more distracting, upsetting thing.

Later: After having thought about it, I think I am not so unhappy to be me. I'm not "hot"... but I'm so healthy it's almost scary and I guess healthy and alone is better than sick and "hot".

Much later: Birthday at 1:30 am... I don't know if I'll sit up for this one. Somehow it's not as exciting any more as it once was. My brother has sent me a card saying "I suppose birthdays are necessary......... but every damned year?!?" Maybe next year I will abstain from having a birthday.

Statement as of 4:30 AM EDT on July 23, 2005

... High heat indices anticipated this weekend and early next week...

The combination of temperatures in the 90s and humid conditions
... Will create heat indices ranging from the upper 90s in northeast
Tennessee and southwest Virginia to near 105 degrees across most of
southeast Tennessee by Monday afternoon.

The heat index is an estimated temperature considering the
additional effects of humid air on the human body. Humid air slows
the cooling effects of evaporation... thereby making it feel hotter
than actual air temperature because perspiration is evaporating less
from your body. Both the temperature and heat index are measured in
the shade. Direct exposure to the sun can add another 15 degrees of
stress to your body.

(Oh boy... 120°F.)

Sunstroke... heat cramps and heat exhaustion will be possible with
prolonged exposure and or physical outdoor activity.

(You mean, like my job?)

Some heat wave safety tips are...

Slow down and try to schedule strenuous outdoor activities during
the coolest times of the day... such as the morning and late evening.

(Which means we will be busiest in the middle of the day.)

Drink plenty of water or other non-alcoholic beverages.

Dress for Summer and avoid getting too much sun. Sunburn makes the
job of heat dissipation that much more difficult.

(Wear Suncreen! Yeah, my mantra)

Spend more time in air conditioned places.

(Instead of outside where I'll be working.)

Remember to think about your pets as well. Make sure your
outside pets have access to shade and plenty of clean water.

Fortunately, I'm somewhat acclimated!

I went to work today inspite of stormy skies... and found that Ryan decided to take today off... and tomorrow... and Monday. Is it my imagination or am I managing that store more than he is? Today we had two new employees that I had to do the paperwork on and they'll be showing up for their first day of training tomorrow. I just hope Ryan remembers to stop by the store long enough to set them up in the computer... I possibly won't have time to figure it out and I certainly have never been shown how. It has also been suggested that I go through the applications and call some promising people in for interviews. I think I am doing Ryan's job as well as my own (both of them and that only counts the ones I have at work). I'm certainly there more than he is.

He was there yesterday... which is just as well since there were only 4 of us that showed up and no one even got a break. Very irritating since I had chores planned to do on my lunch hour. On the up side, Chip did buy us lunch and we did get to eat some of it while it was still hot. (mmm... Krystals! You have to be southern to understand.)

My room still is not finished. This guy has promised to finish it "this weekend" for four weeks running and hasn't hit a lick on it. He made the same promise today... somehow I don't much believe him. I do wish he'd at least hang the door... the wasps are beginning to build nests on my new ceiling.