Saturday, May 31, 2014

Still Keeping Calm...

Just a short post. Work is getting to me. One of my supervisors sucks. Her opinions and observations of me are inaccurate. She does not take any criticism. I thought it was only me feeling this way but it is the majority of the staff. Even those young teachers are perplexed by her behavior. I have tried speaking to her but her famous line is "We agree to disagree". I found out that she was placed in my school as "a favor". In education talk that means she probably had to be removed from her former post for various reasons and placed somewhere else. I know what the reasons are. She doesn't know that I was at the wedding of her former principal. She doesn't know that I know what she tried to do. However, I will maintain my professionalism throughout this "crisis". It is a small speck in this great universe of my life.

I have started to bring knitting to work. I knit during the end of my day. It has made me a better person. It has destressed me. I am counting down the days. I usually don't do this.

Knit on.

Friday, April 04, 2014

The End of a Tough Week...



I was so glad today was Friday. It's been a tough week for this hipknitta. First on Monday, I was 15 minutes late to work. Don't ask why. I just was. I pulled up my big girl pants and clocked it in. I didn't argue. I didn't whine or complain. I was late. It did put my nose a little out of joint for the rest of the day but I think it was because I was definitely tired from the weekend. I had to get up at 5:30 every morning to get my son to the bus for the debate tournament. By 1:30 in the afternoon, I thought it was around 4:00. By Monday, it caught up with me.

On Thursday, I cracked the screen on my 3 month old smartphone. Don't ask how did I do that. I just did. My screen was 75% black. I ran to Best Buy and found out that my insurance deductible was $149! I won't be getting a new phone for 1-5 days. How much do you want to bet that it would be 5 days? I can still use the phone with my car's bluetooth but I can't unlock it, get messages, etc. I will be sucking up that deductible when the new phone comes in. I was so pissed but I must admit that I did not miss the phone too much today.

Finally, I read one of my observation reports from my assistant principal. She came into my class during the last 15 minutes over a month ago. She claimed that I was "insensitive to my student's needs" because I told a student to "Just adapt" to a seating situation. Me? Insensitive? I almost cried! That's how "insensitive" I was! I will be meeting with her on Monday to ask to have that subjective term taken out of my observation. We were supposed to meet withing 24 hours after the observation but that never happened. I can barely remember the reason why I said what I said. Me? Insensitive?

After my third attempt at trying to find this woman, I gave up and went to the teacher's lounge. Since I didn't have a phone to "play" with, I had my knitting along. I knitted a few rows on a pair of socks that I am making for Ben. My tension slowly slipped away and I felt a lot better. Knitting is my drug.

Saturday, March 08, 2014

When Work Interferes With Knitting

I haven't knitted in over 2 weeks. I was working on a baby sweater and the baby was born on Tuesday. After texting congratulations to the new grandmother I added, "Gotta finish his gift" to which she thanked me for. Started socks for Ben. Barely made it past the ribbing. Feeling slightly guilty. But work interfered with my knitting. Someone once told me that he made himself knit for at least 30 minutes a day, like exercise. I think my health care professionals would prefer me to exercise for 30 minutes a day and I'm not talking about my hands. So how do I stop work from interfering with my knitting and overall creativity? Maybe I should schedule 30 minutes a day. Wait. Am I talking about knitting or exercising? Let me set my priorities straight.

I desperately need to exercise. I've been told my my doctor that I should and a cardiologist about 4 years ago. No, I don't have a heart problem but she recommended that I should start doing this. Maybe I should schedule 30 minutes a day for exercising, like walking and then knitting later as a reward for exercising?

Oh about work? I should really try to do as much as possible there, not at home.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Friday, February 21, 2014

My Second Career



I have been working for over 30 years. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. "Walk into the light, Carol Ann." I do want to walk into that light and I have been thinking,"What will I do then?" For some reason, unbeknownst to me, I feel the need to start looking for a new career. Ideally I would like to do something part time that would generate some decent bucks. It's all about the Benjamins, right? Since I have a BS in Biology, I am naturally drawn to science-y stuff. I also wanted to work in a hospital setting. Don't know why. Maybe I am a frustrated doctor but I would really like to try that. So I got it in my head that I would work in a laboratory doing whatever. I thought it would be a nice change from being in front of a classroom constantly talking. There wouldn't be any work to take home. It would all be left there. However, I was clueless. I had no idea how people became lab techs. I thought you just apply and the place trains you. That's a big N-O! After doing my initial research, I found out that I would haveto get another BS in Clinical Lab Specialist. Ok...still not so bad. I was a biology major (x amount of years ago) and not all of my courses are obsolete, are they? I was asked to send in an unofficial transcript to one college and they will determine what I would need to take to enter their program (other than the fat tuition). I called another place where I could do distance learning and then I could intern in my area since they are located in Brooklyn. However, I would be unable to sit for the qualifying certification exam since my BS was not in the right area. OK, scratch that. Then I looked up how to be a phlebotomist. I imagined myself sticking someone with a needle. I think I could do that. Blood doesn't bother me. I think the sticking part will bother me more but I could get over it. So I made some calls about that. I'm interested in a summer program so I have to call again in March for the summer schedule. I'm just glad I'm thinking about it and actually doing something about it. My next step is to contact my local hospital and see what advice they can give me. The worst thing they can say is NO!

My other second career is creating beautiful things from knitting. However, it's not the most lucrative thing I can do and it's not generating a decent amount of income but I'm still not discouraged. I just listed 3 new pairs of handknitted earrings and got 17 views in less than 3 hours. It really made me feel good. One pair was favorited by a person who I found out later sold beads. I guess she's hoping I become a customer of hers! She lives in the Czech Republic. I don't think so. The fact that people look at my stuff makes me want to create more. I know my designs are offbeat but that's what makes them mine. They are different. Who wants to wear the same thing that everyone else is wearing? Okay. Sometimes I want to wear what everyone else is wearing but not all the time. So if you are reading this, please take a look at my etsy shop. The link is right over there...to the right. Let me know what you think. This hipknitta wants to keep busy.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Mojo MIssing




I've lost my mojo. I don't want to use the words "burnt out" but my creative juices aren't flowing. I feel bad neglecting my blog. I feel bad about not enjoying my knitting right now but that be due to the project I am working on or just my mood. My mojo is waning. Maybe it's this winter. I am so sick of snow. We had another foot yesterday. Where the hell do I live? Definitely not in the mountains! We have colder temperatures and probably more snow than Sochi. I have lost 4 days of work due to the weather. I don't like to do that. I am actually feeling guilty about missing today. Not much I can do. The snow plows have undid all of the hard work I did yesterday. I walked over to my car today after shoveling the driveway AGAIN. When I saw the snow pushed up to my front bumper, I just said, "What the fuck!" I called in my absence.

So how do I get my creative juices running again? First, I have been spending a lot of time of Ravelry looking at patterns. That has been helped a lot. It even has me thinking of writing my own pattern for something and posting it. Then I started to think about all of the things I want to knit after I finish something I am obligated to knit. This includes my Samba Shawlette, socks for Ben, a slouchy hat for me, my mother's shawl and a new afghan. I'm not loving my present project which is a gift for someone so I can't write the details. When it is finished, I will post it on Ravelry.

Actually, writing about my mojo has been pretty helpful. Cathartic. I missed writing. Sorry for letting my followers down. See you all soon.