a really good joke follows

i'm full time starting next week but that really doesn't
mean much since i won't qualify for benefits for six months, or
vacation days for a YEAR since my starting date.  basically my pay will
go up a little bit, and that's about all.  oh, and i have to work a minimum number of hours a week, so they can't call me and tell me not to come in like twice in a row like they did a couple of weeks ago.

also, it's amazing how an every-other-weekend schedule can have a person working the same number of days in a week, but still make you tiiiiiiired.  it's the way they fall: the last two weeks went three days off, six days on, one day off, four days on.  and now i have another three-day weekend.  i think i like the idea of my days off being slightly more spread out in that i have been dead on my feet the last couple of days, making designing kitchens (which we have been doing a lot of) a far more interesting and frustrating experience.  (this along with the people who insist that we do carry x product when i know we don't, and refuse to believe me.  and then follow it up with "well, y store carries it" and me thinking ...and this pertains to me, how?)

i didn't really miss the work force much, i've got to say.

BUT this last monday was good!  i went to ames and met up with my friend toni (this being the best photo of her ever and very expressive of what it's like to work in an alaskan salmon cannery).  she is originally from des moines, but has escaped to the bellingham area, and came back for her mom's surprise party.  it was so fantastic to see her, and to reminisce about naknek and all the jokers we knew up there.  and, since her boyfriend still works for ags i got to hear all the newer news too.  i found it interesting how, even though we've been friends for a couple of years now, i never realized how much we actually had in common. i supppose 16-hour work days and intense sleep deprivation aren't really conducive to conversations that extend past donuts and fish.

i've also finished knitting my three hats, minus the earflaps and pom poms.  i'll work on that this weekend along with continuing the search for my shoes.

a post.

i missed the inauguration, i had to work.  i hear it was pretty fantastic, though. 

had a good weekend, hung out with liz, didn't do too much.  we did a wine tasting at a winery near omaha, i went to my first target in over a year, and drove a lot in windy, blowing weather.  basically, it was really relaxing, and so nice to see one of my friends again!

i've been working on the knitting project.  i'm pleased with it overall, it's a bulkier yarn on a little bit bigger gauge of needles than my last hat, so it's going really fast and i'm already done with the first hat (minus earflaps and pom).  the earflaps will take longer, i suspect, but no worries!  i also had to buy a couple of packets of hy-vee cherry drink mix to supplement the final color--it was too much like the orange at the bottom of the hat, and now the yarn smells a bit like cherry!

work is going okay.  we have a new manager, he transferred over from millwork, so things are moving a little smoother than before and i'm actually learning stuff like, how to design kitchens and countertops and such.  so it's better than before, but i do miss having regular hours.

this is not a hat:

that is my yarn (six skeins of bulky merino).  and where is the color?  in those jars.  another project before i can start knitting those cunning hats, but at least it looks like it'll be fun.  or at least interesting!  unless i get up early tomorrow though, it'll have to wait until sometime next week, as i already have weekend plans that involve a drive to omaha.

between blizzards

i went out by the river this afternoon and went snowshoeing. 
good thing i didn't check the temperature before i went out, feels like -22?  i wouldn't have gone if i'd seen that!  i had enough layers on, that it didn't actually feel so bad though. 

and i can't believe it's snowing again.

rumors

my friend petra, who is an even bigger rugby fan than i am, informed me that supposedly the all blacks are going to play a match in denver this coming season.  i've scoured the internet, but haven't been able to confirm said rumor.  all blacks?  vs. australia?  in the u.s.?  you know that i would buy tickets for that as soon as they went on sale!  oh, if only it transpires to be true!

lost & found

my photos and sister's birthday present from last year, that have been lost nearly these last twelve months--my dad found the package in a filing cabinet in our garage!

now, if i can only get new zealand post to find the package containing my journal...

finished!

i finally finished one of the many things on my list!  as far as knitting this hat, i got that part done when i was in nelson, but i wasn't sure how to sew it up.  i finally got everything out the other night, and asked my mom to help me decipher the instructions.  i didn't do the best job, you can see where the stripes don't quite line up (and there are a few lumps in it), but it's done.  my first knitting project.  (okay, so there is still a loop for hanging it up that belongs on it, but in time!)

this morning i'm going to head to the bee hive here in town, and see if i can't pick up some supplies to start a new project:

jayne cobb's very "cunning" hat from firefly.  i think i might be making a few of them in the end, so hopefully by that time i will be very adept at knitting hats.  and the patterns i've found for this one are all on circular needles. so it will be an interesting time of it.  (to look on the bright side, at least that way i won't have to try to match up any stripes when i'm finished!)