Sunday, June 29, 2008

It's Been A While

Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush Mystery Quilt that I have finished. Just have to do borders and quilt.

It's been a while since I last blogged. I went out and got a job at a bakery/deli at one of our local grocery stores. I thought I was being hired to help at the counter, do cake decorating and make sandwiches. It turned out I was hired to do all the dirty pots and pans, take out 5-33 gallon trash bags, sweeping, mopping, cleaning the fryers and every other nasty job they could inflict on me. I hardly ever got to work on the counters, make sandwiches and never got to help with cake decorating. I was taking 15-20 Extra Strength Advil every day just to make it thru my shifts.

So, I quit! Didn't give a notice......just walked in and quit! This is not like me as I have never done that in my life with a job. I have always given notices. This job just pushed me to far and I couldn't stand it another day.

So, I'm unemployed and will be out looking for another job tomorrow. I'm going back to the Truck Stop and ask for my old job back in the Deli. At least there, I worked the counter and register. We had to sweep and mop a very small area and take out 2 kitchen size trash bags. We did not have to do any dishes.........they all went down to the dish room and the dishwasher did them for us. I guess I had it good and didn't realize it. Anyway I'm going to talk to my old supervisor and see if he might has a opening for me. It will be full time work. I will have insurance and other benefits by working full time.

I've been busy doing my crafts. I recently finished 12 Dotee dolls for a swap. We was to make one to represent each month of the year. I had a lot of fun making mine. I also received my box of 12 Dotee dolls from Robin in Virginia. They are so cute. She named each one of them. I will take photos and upload them later. Rich and I both loved the one for March.......she called her Patio McFurniture. She has green hair, clothes and accessories. Robin said that her husband helped design her and named her.

I've also been quilting. I have my Orange Crush Mystery Quilt top finished. I now need to sew the blocks for the borders. After finishing the borders I need to quilt it. I've been practicing machine quilting on smaller quilts......just don't know if I can do a queen size quilt on my small machine. I might just tack it out. I really need to get busy and finish some of my quilts. I have several of them in various stages of completion. I have them all in boxes labeled and stored in the corner of my dining area.

Talk to everyone later.

Shirley

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day

You might be wondering what a cotton boll has to do with Father's Day!!!! One of my earliest memories of Dad was when I was around 3 years old. Dad and Mom left Oregon for California. Dad and Mom got a job picking cotton by hand in the fields in California. We were the only white family there, all the rest were black. As Dad picked cotton he had a canvas bag that would drag on the ground behind him. Dad would let me ride on the tail end of his cotton bag while he went up and down the rows picking cotton. I believe Dad said they got paid a dollar a hundred pounds of cotton picked....not quite sure I'll have to ask Dad if he remembers. Anyway, I would take the picked cotton and make animals out of them. I would show Dad my chickens, rabbits, cats, and dogs that I would make. Dad said the black cotton pickers would laugh and carry on about the little blonde girl riding on her Daddy's cotton sack making little animals. After a long day of picking cotton we only had a utility trailer with a tarp on top to sleep in at night. Dad said my Grandmother was beside herself because her first grandchild was sleeping in a utility trailer. After a while Dad rented a house and we moved into it in Madera, California. I remember getting up early with Dad when he went to work and watching cartoons on the TV. We had several channels to choose from. My favorite cartoons were Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy. After a while we moved back to Oregon and lived close to Grandma........and she was thankful!

I'm a Daddy's Girl!!!!! I always have been and always will be one. My Dad is the most important person in my life other than my wonderful husband.

Happy Father's Day! Daddy

Joys of Summer





I'm finally seeing some blooms on my flower plants. I planted sunflowers, nasturiums, calendula, gladiolas, and marigolds. This morning I picked English peas. I'm going to see if I can find some new potatoes to cook with them. I had a couple of volunteer plants come up and I think they might have some little potatoes I can dig early.
I survived my week of training on my new job. Boy, was I tired after being off work for 2 1/2 years and going back to work. I got a job working in a bakery/deli at our local supermarket. I will only be working 15-16 hours a week......basically 2 -7 1/2 to 8 hour days a week. That's all I think I can handle with this job. It's pretty strenuous work. There is a lot of lifting and cleaning besides helping the customers at the counter. I told Rich that it would be a great job if I was 30 years younger. But not now at almost 56 years of age. I will hang in there until we can move closer to Roseburg where Rich works at the VA hospital. With the price of gas we cannot afford to live 28 miles one way to his job. There is more opportunities for me in town too!!!! I'm hoping to get a job at Joann's or Michaels. Then there is always other stores that I can check for a position.

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful summer so far.