Pitiful Blogger

Ughhhhh. I am such a pitiful blogger. No posts since May!!! Lets play catch up. My DD moved home from Missouri and just got a job that she starts on Monday. DD #2 also just got a job and is living at home with the two babies. She also starts Monday. DS is moving home on Sunday and going to look for a job on Monday. Yikes. At least his significant other and their 2 kids are staying at home while DS finds a job and gets settled. Still a houseful and that makes for a zoo around here.

I got a job at the hospital in June, just office work, but it is a good place to work. This job started out M-F 3:30-8:30. Not the greatest schedule, but doable. Since then it has changed to M-T-W 11:30-8:30. Now that is a sweet schedule. 4 days a week off and I make as much as I did at my old job working 40 hours a week. Now, that is what I call a blessing. Things have a possiblity of changing again. I can work 7-4 M-T-W if I want, which, in my world is the best schedule. I like to get up in the morning, go to work and get my work day done. But, if I do that it will cost me about $120 a month in shift differential. Now I am torn and don't know what to do. I can live without the extra money, but to lose it just because of the different time of day I am working.....I don't know how smart that is. But, for me personally the hours are better at 7-4. Isn't it funny how when you get a job the money is all great and it is ENOUGH. Then maybe you work a little overtime, like I did last week. Those 16 extra hours were pretty nice on the paycheck and I still had my weekend off. I have visions of doll classes and doll conventions and, oh yeah, there is the scooter I want to buy and gee, if I just work a bit over I could have all those things. Next thing you know, you are back to just working for mo money. I am at a time in my life when I want to slow down, enjoy my family (even if it is really screwed up...I mean 3 kids from 26-32 back at home...that is screwed up), enjoy my grandchildren etc, etc. But, it is sooooooo easy to get sucked into that "if I work a bit over then .......... I have a couple of weeks to decide what I am going to do and it is all because I opened my big mouth and pointed out that they have 4.5 hours dead computer time by having me on the shift I am now. They could get more productivity for the same amount of hours by changing my schedule. THEN I realized what it was going to cost me. DUHHHHHHHH. So, I have been trying to adjust to some kind of schedule which is no easy feat when you have all these people moving home and you are trying to make room for them without giving up your sewing area and adjusting to working again. So there are my big excuses for being the "pitiful blogger".

I joined a group from doll street dreamers that made traveling dolls. Each person in the group made a doll complete with passport and journal to travel. The idea came from the cost of travel being so high that the dolls are traveling in our place. There are 48 in the group, I think. They broke us down into groups of 4 or 5 and we send the dolls RR style to each other. While we have a doll, we take her sight seeing and souvenier collecting for a week or two then send her to the next person on the list. This has been such great fun and everyone has given their dolls such personalities, you would think they are little people instead of just a doll. I am kind of hoping that after the 1st of the year they might mix up the trading partners and send them out again. My doll went to Shashi in England and Shashi has taken her to India. Wow. I live in Ohio and would be happy to go to Niagera Falls, let alone India. Since Shashi went to India, I have to girls visiting me right now. Well, I was trying to add pictures here, but it added them at the beginning of the post. Boo Hiss. The redheaded trollish looking lady is Izzie Sue and her moose Willie. She is in the garden waving goodbye to her fairy friends just before she left for England. The other is her close up. She keeps Willie with her at all times and if anyone gets "fresh" with her, and that is based on her definition of fresh, she is inclined to whack them with Willie. I have spoken to her about this behavior, but she just tells me to mind my own business. Same thing with her skirt. I told her she was too old to wear her skirt that short and she let me know that she was old enough to wear what she d___ well pleased. She can be quite a handful. She left out of here with no underwear but Shashi was kind enough to make her a pair of knickers that match her outfit so Izzie was happy with them, but then she was showing them off for pictures!! Shashi sent me pictures on the yahoo site of this latest behavior and I can't share them with you because I don't know how to get them from there to here. Oh, and Izzie is made from an Ute Vasina pattern. Thank you Ute.

Ok, the first picture is Sage (on the right) by Becki Proctor and Ella Mae (on the left) by Sue McFadden. This is a picture of them at our Ohio State Reformatory, which used to be a prison, but is now a historical site. Here the girls are posing behind bars...that will probably have their moms worried until I explain. The next picture is Sage, Ella Mae and Bear sitting with GD Kyleigh. The next picture is Sage and Ella Mae sitting with Gertie who sits on my mom's porch and keeps mom company when she sits there and watches the deer across the street. The last picture is of Sage and Ella Mae on the carousel horse at our carousel which was built in our downtown.

Well, guess that is all for today and hopefully, I will improve on my pitiful blogging in the future.