33 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, February 12, 2020”

  1. I’ve been trying to crochet at least one square a day for the #dailyFeb2020 challenge. Some days are harder than others!

    On Sunday I turned my attention to the quilting challenge of coming up with a mini quilt that went with the theme of the upcoming quilt show “Hearts in Flight”. I studied pictures of the Blue Angels, and then started cutting things out. I think it works. No telling what I’ll do with it after the show though.

    Here’s the link – the first picture is some crochet squares, but the second is the mini quilt prior to binding. It’s on its side, so the hearts don’t look like they’re flying so much.
    https://www.instagram.com/p/B8XlKzvhqFv/

    Last night I finished up the binding, so it’s basically ready to go. Now on to the mini quilt for the silent auction to benefit the SPCA. It needs to be animal themed, so I think I’m going to do the Sugar Glider pattern I got as a benefit for wildlife harmed in the Australian fires.

  2. The weather’s made me pause my gardening. It’s the lull between the storms today – sunny but cold – but I’m going for a walk to have a change of scene. I’m waiting to hear from Penguin about a mystery edit and trying to stay calm about not earning. I’m editing the last two years’ worth of garden photographs, in the hope it’ll free me up to do more photography and also get me ready to approach some picture libraries.

    I’d like to sort out my workroom at the weekend, since it’s going to be wet and windy. I still haven’t finished moving into it, and I hate not being able to find things.

    1. Jane, do you ever sell your photography? Maybe as you edit, you can post some to sites for selling?

      1. That’s what I meant by my reference to picture libraries: I want to investigate the possibilities. I did try to get taken on back in the days of film, but though there was interest, I didn’t manage it. And I gave up on trying to get commissions as my endometriosis became really disabling. Once digital arrived, of course, the bottom fell out of the stock photography market; but perhaps by now it’s worth a go.

        1. Jane, have you considered selling your photos at arts and craft festivals? We have them all over the place ( especially in the summer and fall, leading up to Christmas). There are at least 10-12 in my immediate vicinity between late Sept. -early Dec. and that’s just within a half hour drive. I see booths with lovely photographs available at every festival I attend.

          1. I’ve given up on that. It cost far too much in time and materials, and there didn’t seem to be a market locally for colour photography, or not at prices that made sense for me.

  3. I’m trying to edit the resume and write a cover letter! I’m being encouraged to apply for a bew position at work, and I’m gonna go for it! I wasn’t until yesterday, so I wasn’t mentally prepared at all. My resume isn’t awful, but the paging is all off. Gotta find a way to reduce space on the experience side 2without cutting points… so rewording for sure. Blegh.

    1. It’ll be good for your interview to have refreshed your memory and take a look from another perspective on what you’ve done before. Not so much fun, but useful. Good luck!

  4. Odd topic for a Working Wednesday (and I didn’t do it today, anyway), but I signed up for a retirement seminar scheduled for November. The seminar is held by our inhuman resources department. As a courtesy (since it affects work scheduling), I let the boss know the date and so on.

    I got a reply to that email in a hurry. “Are you thinking of retiring?” Well, I suppose that would affect scheduling more than just the seminar, right? So I told him, “I have no idea when I’ll retire, but I turn 69 soon, and the seminar says it’ll be good for three years. If I haven’t retired by then, I’ll attend another seminar.”

    Honestly, I’m not sure when to make retirement official.

    1. Same same. I’ve been told it’s illegal for a boss to ask about retirement plans, but maybe that applies only if they want a date, as mine did. Some days I’m more than ready, and
      some days I think of all the benefits to this sweet pt job. Not today, but some days. : )

      1. Judy, cherish a part-time job with benefits. The boss and his boss would like me to become a part-timer when I retire. The state’s hiring processes are glacial, so it’d buy them time. I was a part-timer 26 years ago, what’s called a P-14 with the Commonwealth of Virginia, and what I can tell anyone who asks, is “No leave. No medical. No positive adjustments to retirement. No benefits whatever.”

    2. Gary, believe me you’ll know when you know. I retired ten years ago this month but was asked to come back part time. I worked two days a week and of course lost all my benefits even garage parking and had to park outside. It wasn’t really an inconvenience but just saying. Oh, I did get to keep one benefit though, the company continued to contribute to my 401 retirement package. I worked two more years until the day I went into work and looked around and decided I couldn’t do this anymore. You will just know.

        1. I think the same thing will happen to me, but without that pesky part-time phase. I could walk into HR tomorrow, but I am Not Ready. I’ll know when it’s time, and then courtesy will keep me a few weeks longer, and then I’ll live on Federal Retirement, State Retirement, and Social Security. And Medicare.

  5. I’m trying to sketch something every day for the Feb. challenge; I don’t manage it, but I’ve already done more than I did all of last year, which is a sad comment on my level of commitment.
    Also edging closer to actually clearing clutter/organizing, instead of reading about doing so.

  6. The day job is tolerable and pretty much unchanging. (Read boring. I hate being bored.) Other than that it’s ukulele and dog walking (can’t let my daughter’s dog run they way I can mine.)

    I’ve been thinking about writing. That count’s right?

  7. In the last week we had a meeting with our financial advisor, finished putting the drawer pulls on the kitchen cabinets, cleaned said cabinets, gathered up more stuff to be donated, hung a display case, shoveled snow, shoveled more snow (seriously, we’ve had 8-10 inches of snow in the last couple of days), pulled snow off the roof, and trimmed dog toenails. When I was picking Jasmine up to put her on the bed so we could do her nails she threw her head back and hit me in the face. My glasses frame cut the bridge of my nose in two places, the nose pads bent, and I had the teeniest bit of bruising around my eye.

    We also fixed some wonky dresser drawers and I finished painting the dresser. We have casters to put on but the holes from the previous casters are too big so we are going to fill those and then make new ones. This is the dresser that I store my fabric in so my sewing room is a giant mess.

    We also bought a new range. Right before Christmas the old range started dying. I use the world old to mean previous because the range was hardly old. I finally get sick of trying to figure out if the oven was going to work and we decide to buy a new one. It was an adventure of gigantic proportions to find the one that I wanted because it was discontinued as of February 29 and not many stores had one. We went to Edmonton to pick it up, ran a bunch of errands, and were still home with enough time to take the old one to the dump.

  8. We are- as usual- working on the house. The last week was spent sorting through boxes we stored in the second bedroom when we started the remodel 5 years ago. I have given 3 boxes of books to Goodwill after sorting through them for ones we should keep. And I have placed all the artwork which hasn’t been hung, because hey, the walls in the upstairs still need to be repainted. I am giving serious thought to whether I really want to hang all that stuff anyway, especially some of my painting which I have not missed being up. But the second bedroom is mostly clear of junk and we can now rearrange the furniture by pushing it to the middle of the room so we can finish the woodwork and start painting the walls. Also it was necessary to paint the alcove the new wine cooler was placed into and repair the wall next to it and repair and move the cabinet where the paints and chemicals are are stored so it looks less like a mess we don’t care about and more like storage for something interesting. And that is done. Now to finish painting the area before are company arrives next week.

  9. I know that you are worn down by Nita but I can’t wait to have it in my hands! I swear everything you write is gold. Keep the faith! and keep on crafting!

  10. Working on not freaking out about computer problems at work with the ONLY person who understands our database out of town for a funeral!!!!!! Had the brilliant idea of using the old laptop that still has windows 7 on it, and sure enough, it opened. So still can’t use it on the integrated system, but at least I can look at the data!!!!! This is the latest in a series of unrelated technology problems in the last two weeks. I keep resolving or partly resolving them, and then a new one pops up. Perhaps I angered some technology god? Just need to determine how to appease it.

  11. The plumbing leak just got repaired. Now two other workers need to come to fix the inside of the wall, and to patch and paint the wall.

    I am not doing that work, but I feel as if it’s work keeping on top of all things.

  12. There are rodents. In my walls. Rowdy so-and-sos! Started last Thursday, Alice and I gave up trying to sleep through the pantry siege and walked across the garden to sleep with Mum. Clearly this is the beginning of a war! I called the pest guy who said he’d come next day, in the mean time we set traps, put out baits and plugged up the holes we could find with steel wool. We had wind a rain next day, meaning Larry couldn’t come, schedule and weather have brought us to his proposed arrival today, it’s raining at the moment, so we will see! Meanwhile, I’ve had the odd quiet night, but there’s he occasional ruckus in the walls and a reasonable amount of ceiling skittering. I hate rodents. I don’t really, I suppose, but like snakes, I’d prefer they were outside.
    They’ve taken the baits, avoided the traps and rearranged the steel wool to suit themselves, I’m hoping Larry does come today, I can’t win this war without reinforcements.

  14. I’m just admiring everyone else’s work.

    I hit a metaphorical wall this week, when I woke up one morning with two painfully non-functioning wrists and assorted other woes. The wrists are better, but I’ve lost my creative mojo. Giving myself a day off today and will get back to #dailyfeb2020 tomorrow.

  18. I got hit with the flu this week. I had my vaccination, but they are never 100%. So I’m working on recovering (and doing a poor job of it thus far).

    I’m also working on my book coaching website as I prepare to hang out my shingle this spring! And working through the final edits of the next book in my series, which comes out in March. So, yeah, no time for this flu nonsense.

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