I love fall when it's not raining

It's a dreary rainy day here in Ohio and I'm feeling a little blue.  Made a mistake that may affect some customers and I always take those mistakes so seriously.  It's just that the mistakes were so stupid and unnecessary!  It isn't brain surgery, but still...

I haven't even felt like stitching for the past couple of days and I was on such a roll and excited about doing some quick Christmas gifts.  Hopefully by tomorrow I will come around and be the happy self I was a few days ago.

Thanks to everyone who offered me bits of the burnt orange thread I was looking for.  I appreciate it so much!  Lee, who was in town for a day, brought what she had and it was just right.  Thanks again Lee!

This is a little Mary Garry sampler I started this past summer.  The fabric is Weeks Cappuccino, thread is GA weathered barn.  

I love the color of this fabric, but not so crazy about the feel of it.  It is very soft and my stitches don't look nice and neat.  I had forgotten to start at a vertical thread and it was kind of bugging me, but I stitched up a bit to the side starting on the vertical and it didn't seem to make any difference.

There are some other Mary Garry charts I'd like to get my hands on but man, the prices on EBAY are ridiculous.  I did pick up a couple at very reasonable price, but they are not my favorites.

As some of you know, I work retail.  No, it wasn't my chosen career or a calling, it just happened.  At this time of year, it is retail hell.  I am constantly amazed by to what lengths people will go to save a buck and how little control some people have over their finances.  And in this sour economy, businesses have decided that they can make do with fewer employees, especially full time employees.  That means everyone gets very overworked and stressed, and when you think you can't do one more thing, they add on even more responsibilities.  I'm not talking about my own responsibilities necessarily, but when higher ups are stressed, it all trickles down to the rest of us.

So much for economic recovery and hiring more employees.  Big business has found they can just "make do."

Ouch!

A few weeks ago I signed up for a Pilates class at the place where I exercise. Somewhere along the way it got changed to something called Pilates "Fusion". Pilates on Tuesdays, yoga on Thursdays. I did not want yoga...I signed up for Pilates. Now there is a very tender spot in my back from all the weird twists and turns from the yoga class. You want me to do what???

The instructor was telling us what to do as we did it, without the benefit of watching her first. Do you know how hard it is to watch someone while trying to maintain the downward facing dog pose? When it came to the yoga style push up I pretty much said no, I can't do it. I eventually tried and did manage to get a little way down. I don't know if I'm going back because I can't afford to hurt my back right now. I think I will take a Pilates class somewhere else.

I've been trying to keep consistent with my stitching, but there were a few days this week that I didn't pick up a needle. That's OK, I'm making progress on Bitter Flower and looking forward to the next project and maybe an ornie or two.

I gave up one of my responsibilities at work this week. I made a mistake (not a big one in my eyes but it made a few people unhappy) and the criticism that followed put me in a funk. I don't like to be a quitter, but my goal right now in life is to focus on family and home and finding peace in life...I don't need the stress. Retail is very stressful right now. They have us doing multiple tasks at one time and at the same time maintaining that ever cheerful and helpful demeanor. I can do that most of the time but when I have to work 6-7 hours without getting a break, that kind of puts me over the edge.

I have always felt very insecure in my working life. Even being well educated doesn't always prepare one for the real world environment. I never have felt worthy enough to go back to a job in science and therefore have taken the jobs that are the easiest to come by. Low pay and not much satisfaction.

Thank God for my dear husband, who has stood by me through all my ups and downs and has been in the same job for 30 years. I know he itches to retire but is sticking with it until our kids are out of college (unless we win the lottery!). He never complains, even when it's 90 degrees outside and he is working 7 days a week. A good man.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pity party for one

Wish I could quite working! As you may have surmised, I work customer service at a large retail chain. It was all kind of by accident, I needed a job, they were hiring, I applied, and about 3 1/2 years later, I'm still at it.

Today I had a run in with a credit services manager over the phone and he called our store manager about it. The credit guy was rude and wouldn't talk to the customer I was trying to assist. I was stunned. So I was rude right back. Therefore the call to my manager. Then my manager called me into his office so I could explain myself. Fortunately he believed me my explanation. I know I should have handled it differently, but many times we do things without thinking them through, and I was just trying to make the customer happy.

I don't think I will call credit services again unless absolutely forced to. I will make the customer call so he/she can wait forever to speak to a real person.

So it's not rocket science or brain surgery and who really cares? No one really, I just hate feeling like I made a mistake and hate feeling like crap for the rest of the day and for however long it takes for me to forget about it.

Sometimes I so regret leaving my career job. Why the heck did I bother to get that MS degree anyway? By now I could be almost ready to retire with a good pension and solid pay, but instead, working 6-7 days in a row for measly pay and tedious, unrewarding work.

It was becoming a mom that changed things for me, so I always need to remember that is why I made the choices I did.

And...I give great customer service!

Volunteering

No new pictures of stitching, though I am working on Spring Has Come and my next ornament. There's no doubt about it...I AM A SLOW STITCHER!

I just was thinking about what a good week we are having at work (major retailer where you can expect great things). We have volunteer opportunities throughout the year, but for some reason have several in the space of 1 week and some larger events happening soon. If we have 5 volunteers work for 3 hours each, the retailer will donate $500 to the cause, provided they are approved by the corporate office.

Our events this week and in the near future:

• MDA lockup
• local elementary school after school nutrition program
• Helping our local parks department with their Easter egg hunt (we painted an outdoor kiddie city for them last year
  
• Relay for Life team
• Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk
• Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides walk

We are able to wear jeans to work by donating $3 each time and our money goes towards the cancer events. Everyone wants to wear jeans and it is such an easy way to donate money. It kind of unites us as a team to know we are helping others.

Thanks for visiting and have a fine day!

Some stitching updates and other ramblings

I really haven't gotten the hang of blogging yet. It always takes me so long to post my photos! I have been using Adobe Photoshop Elements and it drains my computer of memory. I haven't learned the ins and outs of this program yet, so it is hard to play around with it when the program keeps freezing up on me. Time to install more memory? I think so...

Anybody out there use Photoshop Elements? Any suggestions?

I managed to stitch a few ornaments, all of which I showed off on Let's Stitch. May not seem like much, but it is a big deal for me to get these little projects done (well, almost done...need to sew them up). Since I haven't cross stitched for quite a few years, it feels great to have done this! Looking forward to larger projects after the holidays, including Me, Myself and I RR.

I started a new ornament this morning that I hope to finish up today, in between some more online shopping and household chores. I am so far behind this year!

My retail job has been draining this year. Many hours, mostly starting at 6 or 7am, dealing with customers or dealing with errors made by cashiers or managers. One of my managers, who I am quite fond of, broke down and cried yesterday. I think it was a good release for her ( I was the only one who was with her). We are short handed because they didn't hire as much seasonal help this year, so everyone is really pushed to the max. The day after Christmas I have to be there at 6am to start taking back the masses of merchandise that customers return. It is quite wild...we have piles of clothing to process and put back on the floor. Crazy!


Happy Holidays fellow stitchers!