Off the Clock

As usual I can't get into the whole Christmas thing. I'm one of those people that hates Christmas. Yup. I'm an evil aweful person. For me Christmas has become a big "Survivor" type reality show where I have to figure out the perfect gift for a bunch of people that have no idea what they want, except that they definitely know what they don't want. I inevitably end up spending way too much money and still feel like a cheapskate. Then fighting the crowds, planning a perfect meal and timing it properly, and trying not to get into the wine too much before the food is on the table. Except this year my nephew and his wife have generously decided to put on the Christmas Day dinner. My niece is bringing the appetizers and my Mom is bringing desserts. Now I have to figure out something to bring - besides wine (because they don't drink). I found all this out yesterday, so now I have to go shopping again in order to find something. They are a young couple wi...

I don't often do the Meme things, but I've read a few about things you don't know about someone. This got me thinking about a couple of wierd things about me. I can't whistle. It's not for lack of trying, but I just can't whistle. I have tried all my life. I've had many different people try to teach me. But it just doesn't happen. No whistles come from my mouth. The other thing? (well, ok, there's way more than two things that are wierd about me, but that's all you get for today!) I can't roll my 'R's. Like in the Timmy's "Rrrrroll up the rrrrrim" contests. Or when imitating a cat purring. Then this got me thinking about Pepe Le Pew, and the cute little French kitty that he was always chasing. The kitty was always saying things like "Le Meow" and "Le Purrrr" while rolling it's 'R's. Adorable! So I guess there is a third thing for today after all. I love YouTube! You can fin...

As is often the case I have good news and bad news. First the good news. WARNING: MAJOR BRAGGING AHEAD!!! Exams are done. And marks are in. I got the mark I was hoping for in one class, but not quite in the other. However, even though I didn't get the mark I had hoped for in that second class, I ended up with the TOP FINAL MARK IN THE ENTIRE CLASS! WOOHOO! In a class dealing with computers with 250 students mainly my kids' age who have grown up with this stuff, I'm feeling pretty pumped. :) This old girl still has some good stuff in her yet. Then there's the bad news. I scare my kitty. I'm sitting here watching a very intense episode of my favourite show, Coronation Street , and I called Tabby over to sit with me. She finally deemed me worthy of listening to and even came over near where I'm sitting. Of course the closer she got the more exitedly I was with the "come on Kitty, come on!" with a crazy grin on my face. Needless to say she sta...

Yup, exams are officially done for me. You'd never know I only had to write two of them, would you? lol I've been fanatical about studying. Where was this attitude back when I was in high school? But being as competitive as I am I'm striving for top marks. Just because. I'm just geeky that way. So to celebrate I decided to finish up the shopping bags. I know my family will be thrilled that I got this done today. No, they're not fanatical about my shopping habits. I'm betting they'll be thrilled that I finally put the two sewing machines away that have been sitting on the kitchen table since I began this project. (Gasp! Did I type that in my out loud voice?) I made some changes to the bags from the first two. You are looking at "The Shopping Bag - Beta Version", otherwise known as "Shopping Bag 2.0". I was a little disappointed with the size of the first ones I made. They weren't quite big enough. So I took the leftover fa...

Who knew?! I have to admit I had a lot of fun taking this one. Always knew I was a geek. I've spent the last four days in Toronto for my union's Council where I'm a delegate. It was a really good council this year with lots of debate. Council is the parliament of our union, and we discuss lots of relevant issues. DH is also a delegate, so we got to go out for some really nice dinners together while in Toronto, including our annual dinner at one of the fabulous oyster bars there. Yum! And I got quite a bit of my Branching Out done on the train ride up there. Other than that I'm studying for exams for the end of the week. I may not be around much until after they're done, but wish me luck!

It’s just not politically correct anymore to use the plastic grocery bags when you do your shopping. I started noticing this here about a year ago, and then I really noticed it when I was in England earlier this year. The grocery store I go to now sells re-usable bags. They’re ok I guess, but they’re like a heavier duty plastic and I don’t imagine them holding up very well over time. So I’ve been using some canvas bags I’ve accumulated over the years. Whenever I’ve been away at a union conference I inevitably end up with another bag of some sort, whether it is a backpack or a canvas tote. Well I had the scathingly brilliant idea to use the canvas totes for bagging groceries. They are roomy and sturdy enough to fill them up without breaking, and they are showing no signs of wear after about a year of pretty regular use. The downside is that I used to use them for bringing my lunch and stuff to work when I was working on the factory floor. Therefore, even though they’ve been washed and I...

First I don't post for weeks on end. Then I'm posting like there's no tomorrow! Have I ever mentioned my obsessive personality? But I have to tell you about this laceweight wool from Handpainted Yarn . I hate it! Now I remember why I put the partially knit Clapotis aside and didn't work on it for over a year. This laceweight wool is so fine - about half as thick as sock yarn, if even that - that it's almost impossible to knit with. It's like knitting with thread! Well, not quite, but almost. It's not too bad for straight knitting, but you need to be working with really good light and be super focused. I'm just not that focused. So after doing two repeats last night of the lace pattern for Branching Out, it's off the needles again. On the other hand I did find some leftover balls of Sirdar "Salsa" in the stash, a super-soft merino and acrylic 50/50 blend and a DK weight. It's left over from when I made " Tempting ". So I will ...

I've been playing around with the template for this blog. I've been bored to tears of the skin I had on it for years now, but didn't want to change it for a few reasons. First, I didn't love any of the free skins I was finding out there. Second, I had so much stuff in the sidebars that I didn't want to have to change it only to find that I couldn't figure out how to put that stuff all back in. And third, I was too lazy busy. So I just started playing around with the template that was on it, so the layout is still pretty much the same but now at least I have a little colour in my life. Last night I was looking for the leftover yarn from a pair of socks I had knit that now needed darning. It's been awhile since I've looked in my stash, and I couldn't believe how much great yarn I have in there! I also have lots of crap yarn, but that's another story. Anyway, I found a pair of socks I had forgotten about that I'm now determined to finish. I al...

After I finished the tea cozy, being the cheap bastard that I am, I decided to use up the leftover yarn by making a couple of trivets or hot pads to match. So I've spent the afternoon in front of the tv knitting and watching the original Canadian version of Beowolf (yum!) and CSI reruns with the fireplace on and a warm kitty on my lap. I ask you; does it get any better than this?!

Woohoo! I've actually finished something; the Kureyon Kozy I started back in August . Makes it sound like a huge accomplishment, doesn't it? Fact is it's been sitting on my bedside table just waiting for me to knit one short piece of I-cord. Now how pathetic is that?! But bottom line is it's done, and I happen to think it's pretty cute. Considering how many projects I've knit where I hate the finished product, that's an accomplishment all in itself!

I have been so bad about this whole blogging thing. The truth is my life is so boring I can't believe anyone would want to read about it! But I'm biting the bullet and putting up another pathetically boring post. But first a clarification; although I call Thumper my little rodent friend, the truth is he's a hampster. A very cuddly soft little rodent hampster with ticklish whiskers; and sharp teeth! lol He's definitely weazled his way into my heart already. So I was up in Port Elgin again last week to do a presentation about women in skilled trades. I can't tell you how much I enjoy that! Like everyone else I get really nervous when I have to do public speaking, but I'm completely at ease when I do this presentation. Maybe it's because it's a room of all women. Maybe it's because there's always a couple of sisters from my own local union there to provide moral support. Or maybe it's just because I tell lots of personal stories about m...

My family has grown this weekend. There's not just one but two new babies in the family! First DD came home Friday night with this little fella. His name is Thumper. I've told the kids "no more pets", so she was a little sheepish as she brought him in to show me, but how could you not love that little face?! I let DD think I'm not happy; don't let on any different! lol When she realized I wasn't going to send Thumper back from whence he came DD went out and bought some "accessories". I had a blast playing with this thing all weekend! lol Now meet Journey. My brother and his wife went and picked up a new rottie pup on the weekend. She's 10 weeks old and will fit right in with the two other dogs and six cats! lol The alpha dog, Thunder, has warmed to her already. Here Thunder is checking to see that she has everything she needs. Now click on the pic to see it full size. Journey's paws are already almost as big as Thunder's! ...

I pretty much live in blue jeans, and I don't usually get all fashiony when it comes to my jeans. In fact most of my jeans are down-right budget jeans, without a designer label in sight. However I was trying to find a pair of stove-pipe straight jeans to wear with my heels. I love the look of jeans fitted at the ankle with high heels. I tried many different stores, but all the jeans I could find with straight legs also had a mere 2" zipper. In other words they'd be extremely low cut. Now you might get away with that if you are 16yo, but at 46, I'm thinking probably not. I don't need the granny-panties exposed and showing off for everyone! Anyway last week a girlfriend suggested I try the Gap, and low and behold I found just what I was looking for. They weren't cheap, or at least $80 isn't cheap to me for a pair of jeans, but I felt it was worth it to get what I wanted. So what do I hear this weekend? That Gap has just been busted for using child la...

I'm taking a sick day today. I've got a cough and a horrible scratchy throat and I'm all achy. DH wants to take me out to one of my favourite restaurants tonight to celebrate my birthday but we may end up ordering in pizza instead if I'm not feeling any better. So to pass time I'm watching daytime TV (which I NEVER do; who knew there were so many judges on tv!) and surfing. So the red cell-phone case came in. I love it! Ok, I don't love the clippy thing for hanging it on your belt. I'm always knocking it off and smashing the phone on the ground. Not good. But just as a case, I think it's pretty awesome. Notice I painted my nails to match? LOL And for something completely different, do you know something people never do anymore? Sew. Well other than my mother that is; she still sews all the time. I grew up sewing and I can remember stealing shirts from the goodwill bag my mom kept and cutting out sleeves and collars or just using the fabric to...

When it came to kid's shows as my kids were growing up there were some... ok most... of them that drove me round the bend. I remember when the kids were small and you'd sit and watch tv for a bit with them some shows were completely mind-numbing. Like the time DS got mad at DH for snoring in the theatre when we took him to see the Pokemon movie (it was me that was snoring in the theater!) But there are a couple of kid's shows that wove their way into my heart and still remain there today. One of them was Sherry Lewis' Lamchop and Friends. When I want to annoy someone I'll still sing "this is the song that never ends..." trust me you don't want me to finish that. The other all time great kid's show is Sesame Street. Sesame Street writers had the smarts to include bits that were way above the kid's heads but would make the parents laugh. It would appeal to all ages. I remember sitting with DD when she was 21 months old (I remember that bec...

Rick James may have sung about a super-freak, but I've become a Freaky-Geek! Sing along with me now; I'm a freaky-geek, freaky-geek, I'm super geeky... MEOOOWWW! sigh Yes, it's a sickness, a SICKNESS I say! I've bought another new techie toy. A Palm Treo 700 Smartphone. It's not bad enough that I still had a year to go on my OLD phone and plan (two years old is old for technology, right?) And it's still not bad enough that I'm increasing my phone bill to include getting my emails and being able to surf the net. What's REALLY bad is that I've wasted my entire day surfing Ebay for accessories to go with it; after all, we're all about the accessories aren't we?! There's a reason the other smartphone is called a "Crackberry". Yup, I'm addicted. I'm a slave to my techie toys. So any day now I'll get a fabulous red hard case in the mail to protect the new baby and a car mount so I can watch it always even ...

But first, a couple of housekeeping items. And no, housekeeping hasn't been keeping me busy; my house is a mess right now! In my last post I mentioned how my trip to Tupolo Mississippi was a one day trip. I have to clarify; we drove down one day, spent the next day there visiting (the "one day trip") and the next driving home. So while it was crazy it wasn't completely insane! lol Knitty-Kat is in town this weekend for a soccer tournament, and is asking what to do while in Windsor. Unfortunately it's Saturday afternoon and I only just got the message. But just in case she happens to check in, it's a great time to take a drive in Essex County and check out the roadside stands or make the trip to Collasanti's greenhouses. Point Pelee is a great place to go for nature walks and get lots of really good pics. And there's also a lot of wineries in the region for a wine tour. If you want to take a trip across the border to the States, if you take the...

DH and I did the annual labour day parade this morning. This is huge in our area, where all the union locals march down the riverfront and then join for speeches, hotdogs and a beer tent. Frankly it's amazing we made it this year because we just got home at 4am from a road trip to Tupolo Mississippi! My brother and his wife recently moved down there and we're the first to make the trek down to visit. It took us 17 hours to get there including a two hour holdup at customs and a couple of meal breaks, but we made it home in just over 12 hours. Not bad for a day's visit! lol I couldn't get away for longer but we felt it was important to make the trip anyway. I didn't see any armadillos, although DH did see one at the side of the road. Ok, it was a tail and a bit of armour. But I did see cotton fields (we don't grow cotton in Canada) and I even picked a couple of pieces of cotton to bring home and show the kids. I didn't get any pics of the kudzu that y...

I mentioned that I was in Newfoundland the other week. I'm finally posting some pics to give you an idea of the rugged beauty of that province. We did some touring around the countryside and admired the ocean cliffs, as well as doing some whale and puffin watching. But I wasn't home long enough to post about it because I had to leave AGAIN for a conference. As much as I used to think that the travel that comes with my job would be fun, right now I'd just like to spend some time at home! I guess it's true that the grass is always greener. Sigh . But this conference was amazing. It was our annual Women's Conference, and for the first time I was a discussion leader. To sum it all up all I can say is we have some amazing sisters in our union and they made it all seem easy. No pics from the conference, but I think I over-compensated with the Newfoundland ones! lol

I was reading this page from feministing.com about relationships and how Anne has written an article stating that intelligent women suck at relationships. As I've always thought of myself as reasonably intelligent, this made me think of my own relationships. Yeah, I've had a few. And yeah, many of them have sucked. But is that related to my particular level of intelligence? Anne's theory is that women who do well career wise don't do well at their relationships. She says " So what does all this mean? Well, I believe that at the root of all this is the fact that many women with a high IQ have a perilously low EQ (that's their emotional intelligence quotient). Put more prosaically, this would explain why bright girls are often fools in love ." Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm not so sure any particular demographic holds the record for bad relationships. From my own skeletonous closet I've had relationships with guys who were lazy,...

I've got three different posts I'm working on. And there's lots of pics (if Blogger is being cooperative today). I just got back from a week in St. John's Newfoundland (amazing!), and a political post has caught my eye and made me respond, but I figure I'll start with the knitting post. This is supposed to be a knitting blog after all. I know, hard to believe, isn't it? The story is that my hands have been too sore to knit. But I love the teapot I bought in England (it's Le Creuset from France, but I can get accompanying pieces like the the matching oval cast iron casserole dish Mom bought me right here at home) so much that I decided to knit the Kureyon Kozy from Knitty.com for it. I had Noro Kureyon in mind when I thought of making a cozy because I thought the way the colours morph in the wool would be a good match for the way the colours morph in the Le Creuset, so I was glad when I found a pattern designed specifically for it. Now to me Noro Kureyon ...

It's been about six weeks since I've posted! A big thanks to Knitty-Kat for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to get posting again. My life has been absolutely insane, and not necessarily in good ways. Well, to be fair, it wasn't all bad, but the bad was bad enough to keep me from posting at all, as I can't be upbeat when I'm dealing with crap , and I don't want to use my blog for whining. It already takes up too much room in my head, I'm not giving it more room on my blog. Now don't feel bad, I've been keeping a low profile in real life as well and I wasn't even up to telling my closest friend what's been going on until yesterday. So as far as the crap goes, let me just say that if you don't already have any let me highly recommend that you don't get yourself any teenagers. And that's all I'm going to say about that. So I went to England! Yup, Mom and I spent two weeks last month getting back to the "mother coun...

Sauntering Soul has tagged me in a very flattering way. The "tag" is to list five "Thinking Blogs" that affect you, whether by making you think about things, or by touching your emotions, or just raising your curiosity about different things to try or places to go. Apparently there's no tag-backs so I can't tag Bev , but if I could I'd tell you how much I look forward to her posts. Bev is one of the bravest women I (cyber-)know, dealing with relationships, family, work (including jumping from a long-term job to a new one; that makes her my hero!) and life in Atlanta with her cat Bailey. She is charming and funny and I'd love to have coffee with her one day. So here's the rules: 1. If, and only if, you get tagged (but heck, even if you aren't, run with it anyway! lol) write a post with links to five blogs that make you think. 2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme. 3. Optional: Display your award prou...

If you've read my last post you'll know that DH and I are ready to move to the next step of our relationship by moving in together. Ok, ok, so it won't be for a few years yet, you don't want to rush these things! So in the meantime I had another man move in with me yesterday. No, I'm not a woman-of-questionable-morals; my DS has come home! I haven't written much about DS. I love this guy to death, but there's no denying that he's been a major challenge all his life. To sum it up he is extremely impulsive and makes some very bad choices. Doesn't sound much different than any other teenage boy, except in DS's case if you were to take that and square it you might start to get the picture. Anyway he moved in with Ex during the Aweful Rebellious Summer of '06. Unfortunately he and Ex have always had an extremely volatile relationship, and now this living arrangement has all come to a nasty end. Fortunately I've always been able to main...

I spent the weekend at DH's house last weekend and I've been sleeping like a baby ever since. We had lots and lots of discussions and I now have a game plan . DH and I agree; depending on what the company does it may be two years, or four years, or even seven years from now, (seven being the most since that's when I can retire with a full pension) but once I'm done working where I'm working I'm selling up and moving in with him. It was funny having the conversations because we probably turned over every possible scenario in the course of hashing it out. Let me say that DH is ecstatic about the concept of me moving in with him. I can't get over how much that man loves me! And while I am also very much in love with him, I'm also the more cautious one. I've already "walked down the aisle" ( cough TWICE cough ) and don't always trust my judgement anymore. I get paralyzed with "what if's"; what if he turns into a monster once...

I'm feeling better today. Just writing about it yesterday helped me to start organizing my thoughts and get things into focus. I spent some time today with DD working on getting a summer job. By bringing her to the Worker's Adjustment Centre to have her resume looked at she's starting to see that it's not just her struggling to find work and not to take it personally that she's having a hard time. Being down there talking with friends who have already lost their jobs helped put everything into perspective for me. I've decided that I will get through this. I've had wonderful opportunities in life so far and it's no good getting upset because life decides it's not going to run smoothly along the well laid out plans I had made. Life doesn't work that way; it likes to keep us guessing. I've never dealt well with change, and it's time to get over that. Every single time in my life when something bad has happened, something good was wai...

I'm numb. And sick. I'm sitting here trying so hard not to panic that I can't organize my thoughts. I couldn't even tell DD without crying. I've just been told that the company that I've worked for for most of my adult life has made it known that they are aiming to be pulling out of my city within the next four years or so. In fact the date they have stated will make me 5 months short of being able to go out with a pension. OMG. To give you some background this company has been around in my city for over 100 years. We had almost 6,500 hourly workers (plus I don't know how many salaried) just three or four short years ago. This is the main industry in my area. My Dad worked here. There was a time I thought my kids would work here. My DD was working on getting the same trade as me (tool & die) to carry on the tradition. I've known that things are bad but I never believed it would get this bad. I've always believed that I'll retire w...

I have a confession to make. While I was in Brazil I managed to get addicted to something. I can't seem to shake it, even though I've been home for a month now. Shoes! Normally I wear three pairs of shoes. Tan leather basic shoes, black leather basic shoes or running shoes. That's it. That's my life. I do own other shoes, but for 95% of my life those are what I wear. Well. Let me just tell you that the women in Brazil wear GORGEOUS shoes! You sit at the airport or at the mall and watch them walk by. You don't see any scruffy runners or basic oxfords. High heels are the order of the day. Annie introduced me to a chain of shoe stores in Brazil called Datelli. They are known for carrying beautiful leather shoes including larger sizes. Annie's DD is 5'12" (in her words) and so whenever one of them is down there (the DD's boyfriend is from Brazil) a Datelli outing is in the plans. Are these shoes not beautiful? And the red/tan purse; it ...

Day 6 March 21, 2007 A crazy hectic day. We spent the morning touring a steel mill where they produce steel pipe use in the natural gas and oil industry as well as for hydraulic cylinder bodies. It was extremely interesting for me, particularly since the environment was very similar to our own Ford Foundry. The Manager who gave us the tour said that I must work in medical when I told him about my experience in the foundry. His face fell when I told him what I do; there are no women working in this plant other than in management positions. We had some discussions about this but I’m not hopeful that things will change there any time soon. After lunch we visited the October 7 school. This is their union education center like our Port Elgin. It is named the October 7 school in memory of a strike in 1963 where 33 workers were killed and 3,000 injured. I was impressed with the facilities and the programs offered. The problem is they had a very long power point presentation about the...

Day 4 March 19, 2007 Today was a busy day. We started off meeting with the Brazilian delegation at the union hall, about a 45 minute drive away. We had meetings with the health and safety director and the women in the health and safety department. This is the area where most women are active. This section is mainly for Jeff! Lol Their union structure is quite different. Not all workers are members of the union, but legislation makes it mandatory for a tax to be taken for dues that goes to the union and I think to the employer as well (tough working with interpreters sometimes). And all workers are represented in bargaining even if they don’t choose to join the union. Those that choose to join pay additional dues by choice and are subject to layoff and other forms of intimidation such as the threat of their wife/husband being fired or even police harassment. And not all workers are represented by the same union; you can have several different unions representing workers in the s...