Sunday, September 29, 2013

Jail House Rock

Who knew that I would love working in a jail?  But I do.  I am not going to lie and say it is the best job ever, but after 6 months, I am starting to find my niche.  Yay!  I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in library drudgery, but salvation was at hand.



It has not been a smooth transition, there have been a few bumps along the way.  I miss my friends at the library and in jail you don't make many friends, but I still like it, a lot.  I work hard too.  My days are long and the work load is huge, but I am humming while doing the job (humming because I can't really whistle). 

 
My boss made me permanent with a note that he was very glad I decided to come to work for the jail.  He made me feel like a valued employee and for that I am grateful.  I see more bumps on this path I am on, but you know I have hope.  Who knew I would find hope in jail?

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Angel Stays

Some have heard already, but just so everyone knows Angel is no longer a foster dog, she is home.  Natalie and I decided to keep her.  She is a very sweet dog, so how could we not keep her.  I must admit having her here is different for me.  I realize that I truly am a cat person.  But I keep saying to Angel, just because I am a cat person it doesn't mean I am not an Angel person too. 



Angel's life is very different with us.  She does not live in kennels, but on my futon.  We walk in parks together and she gets to go to my knitting group with me.  I have been going to this group for years now and I have no assigned seating.  However, Angel has her own spot on the couch.  She is much made over by the group and she patiently lets all of us faun over her. 



Natalie has even went as far as knitting her a sweater.  Whippets get chilly and a sweater for her is a must. I am sure there will be more sweaters being knit for her in the future. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Boss of my Knitting

In case you have missed it I am a knitter.  My knitting is a personal thing that gives me joy and knitted things.  As personal as knitting is to me, I find knitting with a group of other knitters is usually a good thing.  Knitting tribes are places to get and give advice, learn new techniques, and just generally be in the company of other people who share your passion for all things fiber. 



I am by no means in the expert class of knitting, but with my tribe I did not think it was a competition to out do one another.  In fact I have always been impressed by how supportive they have been.  I have also seen some of the most advance knitters I know make errors in their knitting.  Those little errors give me hope that one day I too can reach that level of skill.

No matter what the level of knitting that is happening around me, I make it a point to only praise the members of my tribe and encourage them to keep on knitting, no matter what I see them doing.  I find most of my tribe subscribes to this philosophy.  MOST, however a few are sitting there judging my work.  This weekend while I was knitting one of the women asked me, "I know that is really pretty, but what are you knitting?"



I explained I was knitting a pullover and my current piece was a sleeve.  She immediately started picking apart my choice to knit it that way.  I countered that I was following the pattern.  I might as well have said, I was knitting a garter stitch scarf with a crochet hook from the disdain I heard in her voice.  Apparently, only poor knitters follow patterns and I should have obviously knitted the whole thing in the round.  A choice I had already eschewed.  I turned off her judgment and thought, "You are not the boss of my knitting!"   I may ask for advice or help with a pattern, but I get to decide what and how I knit. Take your unasked for and unwanted judgment and be the boss of your own knitting not mine, thank you very much. 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

When I wore Teal

 
 
My baby sister kindly took a video of our 1992 Commitment Ceremony and had it converted to DVD.  The company that did the conversion from tape to digital also added 3 one minute videos to the DVD with highlights of the video and cheesy music.  If you ignore the music, you get a 4 hour production distilled to a very small bite-sized nugget of the nineties.  Teal dresses, mullets, and a few of you my friends litter this video.  Please be kind, we all looked younger then.