I quit my job. and I am focusing on knitting. (but I am still looking for a perfect job..which would be a school secretary of some sort) Anywayzzz, I’ve moved blogs. I am now here: www.gildaknits.blogspot.com Come and say hi, mmkay?

Merry Christmas y’all!

<3,
mommarocks

All I have for my Halloween pictures are these (which are from the day before Halloween):

It’s fine. Oh yah. I’m fine without the 2011 Halloween pictures, just fine.

Anyway, one good thing about working is that I want to spend QUALITY (not quantity) time with the kids. And guess what my daughter wanted to do…go to the craft store and get yarn so she can KNIT!!!! And then my son decided he wanted help teach.

Can I get an awwwwwwwwwe?

……………………………………………..

More on work life:

Gossip:

Day 4 – #3 (22 year old from Maine) quit.

Day 8 – #6 (older creepy man) was let go.

Can I get a whhaaat!

I have to finish my character sketches of the peeps that work at my place. These are the full time folks:

D – 25 year old girly girl. Lives with her parents in a ritzy part of town. Goes on facebook and fashion sites ALL DAY LONG!! When she was training me, she was actually looking at job openings. I said, “are ya kidding me?” She said, “Uh no.” At first, I thought I wasn’t going to like her, but now I really like her spunk & overconfidence. In fact, I kinda admire it.

S – A big woman with a big heart, I can just tell. She speaks very softly and doesn’t waste her words with nonsense. She has 5 kids.

R – 25? year old man. Very, very friendly. In fact, most of the temps have gravitated toward him, because he’s so friendly. Just met a girl. He invited the whole team out for drinks to meet her. I won’t be going. I’m lame like that.

E – 25ish year old man with two kids, just married his highschool sweetheart. Seems like your typical South Minneapolis hoodlum. I like him. His story is craziness. It goes like this: He was working with chemicals in some sort of plant. He really liked it, it was totally his thang. But there were lots of peeps that were on drugs and not following guidelines and doing things correctly. So, anyway, one day, he saw that a tube of some sort was unhooked and he ran to shut off whatever chemical was spurting out of it, but as he was running, it spout out at him and he slipped and fell into the chemicals. Needless to say, the chemicals burnt his body. Thankfully, it was a shift change and people were just coming in for their shifts so help was called right away. Unfortunately, he can’t even swim in a pool, run, wear certain clothes, etc., because his body was so badly burned. But he has such a positive attitude and keeps on going and going. I like him a lot!

N – I don’t know how old he is. He hardly talks. which is very, very hard for me. I want to know everything about every one. But after about 4 hours of working together, I found out that he also has a part time job delivering pizzas. And he’s married.

That does not conclude my list of peeps. But I have more info to gather before continuing. MWAHAHAHA. This has become my secret undercover mission. It gives me motivation to go to work. Otherwise, it really is just a glorified call center. Now, it is a novel in the works. bahahaha.

<3

Goodnight darlings!
XXOO mommarocks

I like working. I don’t think I like working full time. I’ll figure out my sweet spot for where I am comfortable with the amount of time I put in for the money I get. But I really needed to get a job quick. My kids have been at school while I’ve been sitting on my arse. And I wasn’t even keeping up with my blog. Or cleaning. Or anything, really. I thought it was a slippery slope toward self destruction or something. So, bam, I called up the temp agency & they gave me this assignment. Full time for 6 months. I can do it, yes I can!

I love the people interaction.

Now, I must give you the break down of the new characters in my novel life:

There are 6 other temps. We arrived at the same time on Monday, all set to go, with anticipation.

1. K – a 22 year old man-boy. Your run of the mill small town frat kid, but has a side of sensitivity. He’s an artist, but just graduated with a Major in Business. He has a girlfriend and they “will never break up.”

2. L – a 57 year old woman. Doesn’t have very many clothes, because she just recently lost about 60 pounds. Has two adult kids. Lives about an hour away. Used to work in security clearance jobs. Likes to talk about the weather and traffic.

3. E – a 25 year old-ish girl-woman who just moved here from Maine. Lives with her husband in their in-laws’ house about an hour away. Was going to go to school, but the school changed the schedule on her, so she just wants to work so she can save money to get out of debt faster. (If it were me, I’d opt for school, but hey – whatever floats your boat!)

4. K – a 20 year old-ish girl. Tall, skinny, blonde hair. Doesn’t talk much. Seems shy & innocent. She’s a youth leader for her church. (which, btw, I think is awesome – no judging about the innocence. )

5. D – creepy 50 ish year old man. He’s not creepy in the sense that he’s a stalker or anything, but he’s an overachiever in a creepy way. If that makes any sense. Like, he almost bows down to anyone who helps him. Sometimes I think it is cute & funny and other times, I think, “dude, stop it!” I do have to say that it is very nice to have someone be thankful for my help, but I wish he was a bit more confident. I think he’s single and maybe a recovering addict. Maybe. He hasn’t told me, but I think that’s his story.

6. J – 19 year old baby! Oh Lordy. I’ve made friends, of course, with the youngest of the group. She’s just a baby, with a baby herself. Not really a baby, but a preschooler. She has a 4 year old. Lives at home, but is still with the baby daddy, who is 21. She’s overly confident. I think she should go to school and get a career. But what do I know!

7. Then there’s me. I’m a 35 year old former stay at home mom with two kids. Been out of the job world for over 5 years. I like to show pictures of my kids, dogs, and husband. I also like to talk about any and every Bravo show. I dress way too professional for this job (considering the dress code is everything but muscle shirts).

Those are my temp peeps. Just wait until I tell you about the full time peeps at this place! What a bunch of crazies (in a good way).

maybe tomorrow…or maybe not.

peace out, yo! – mommarocks

Last weekend, my friend, Kristy, and I worked the HandmadeMN Market. It was the first time I had a real partner. I’ve brought my niece & kids before, but they just sit there rolling their eyes. This time, Kristy helped me sell, sell, sell. Yeehaw. She also brought some things she made, which were soooooo cute & adorable. AND a couple of peeps came by offering to put our things in their stores. AWESOME, riiight?

After the craft show, we went to the West Bank (by the U of M) to see my husband’s friend’s band (wait! Was that correct punctuation? Ever since my test, I have been second guessing myself!), called The Formal Age.

This past week, my son went on a grade wide camping trip to an environmental school. Being the mom that I am, I only half let him go without me. I spent one of the three days with him
(It was sooooo cold that day!)

And since I had my camera on the way home, I thought I’d take some photos while driving. Shhhhhhhhhh, don’t tell my mom. or the cops. Here was my best one:

And since I spent a day with my little 5th grader, why not spend one with my kindergartener, too?
Learning:

Singing:

Last year was a real sucky school year for my 4th grader (now a 5th grader), but this year is totally RAD! And I looove my kindergartener’s teacher. It’s been only 2 months and my daughter is already practically reading chapter books.

Well, tomorrow is Halloween. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

Charlie in a cow suit:

DS in some funky glasses:

And guess what?! I got a job. It’s a temp job, but it will suffice. And the hours work so we don’t have to get daycare (except on school days off – and boy, there sure are a lot of em) and the term ends just before Summer. So, wouldn’t it be perfect if I could just work temp jobs all year and have the summer’s off? OR, better yet, I will get my dream job of being a school secretary. I’m sending this dream out into the web orb, hoping it will come true…..

Anyway, in the time being, wish me lots of luck and have a HAPPY HALLLLLOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN.

<3 mommarocks

Mine:

His:

After dinner, we went to a show at the Ordway. We saw Come Fly Away With Me. It was a night to remember, for sure. Let’s just saw I was SHOCKED! I just read the description for the first time (my husband picked it out) and if I had read it before I went I would’ve never realized that the Swinging Night Club was an ACTUAL Swinging nightclub. As in, there was a lot of SWINGING, wink wink, if you get my gist. It was very sexy, very seductive, very much not for the prudes. which is what I felt like when in the middle of the show, the dancers started stripping & grinding on stage. I looked around to gather the audience’s reaction (my husband and I were probably the youngest in the crowd) (it was Frank Sinatra music, after all). To my surprise, the elders enjoyed rather fully and even gave a standing ovation!!!!! It was a very fun, sexy night.

The next night, we went to our monthly Dinner Club gathering. This month’s theme was Northern Indian. It was a rather enjoyable time had by all and the food was super yummy & true to its ethnicity. If you ever have a chance to do a dinner club, do it!!! It really is fun to get together and be foodies for an evening.

Oh, but mostly important, I took my husband on a little adventure to get a pedicure. Yup, that’s right. You see, I would offer to do his nails, but why not just have someone else do it? So, that’s what we did. We got the luxury pedicure. So, we had a sea salt scrub and a clay mask – all on our feet. All the while we sat in a massage chair!!! It was very pleasurable.

What a busy weekend.

We also went bowling with the kids and my brother & niece.

And we went shopping at TJ Maxx where I got some new sunnies. do you like?

And now for the big news………..

I received my test score from the Administrative Assistant test. I got 111/136, 81%. But I did not make it to the next level (an interview). They were taking 90% and above. Gosh darn. Yesterday, I received two rejection letters. This is getting old.

There were the older ladies in their business suits. Older ladies with their gold sparkly flip flops and big hair. There were people who smelled like they hadn’t taken a bath in over a month. People who didn’t brush their hair. There were men. Sloppy looking men and, yet, well put together men. There were people who took the time to pay attention to how they appeared and those who didn’t. There were people who smiled and more that didn’t. It was very humbling.

When the test finally began, I was all nerves. I am a bad test taker. Or maybe I have bad grammar. The first section of the test was grammar. Oh, and did I mention that this was a paper test, one that we had to fill in bubbles (helllooo, isn’t that so 1995?)? I sped through the test, and since I had time, I went back and changed all of my answers. FAIL. Well, probably. Okay, I told myself, do NOT do that on the next section. Oh, did I also mention that each section was timed? Yeah, fun times. Anyway, I just went with my gut through the rest of the sections. They were punctuation, spelling, vocabulary, and filing.
Here are some sample questions that I have been fretting over since I took the test:

1. Which is correct:
a. Mr. Jones’s golf clubs are in the garage.
b. Mr. Jones’ golf clubs are in the garage.

2. Which is correct:
a. Washington D.C. is our Capitol.
b. Washington D.C. is our Capital.

I started to panic. Capitol, Capital. Mr. Jones’s or Mr. Jones’? I could hardly recognize the words (nor the rules). I had to write them on a separate piece of paper. Test them out. Do you ever have to do that? You look at a word you’ve written a bazillion times and all of a sudden, you are not sure that it’s even a word.

Well, turns out, after research on the net, I was correct in both instances. Who knows if I got anything else correct though. The test was one and a half hours. Good times, I told ya. It’s good experience though, right? …. I’ll know in a week if I passed and my status, if I make it to the next cut; the interview.

Well, darlings, as I try to find my way in the world by trying to find a job so I can rake in some dough, I’ve also been spending my time doing other things, too.

Like, blogging.

And going to see my man at lunch time:

And knitting.

And shopping……look at these cute rain boots, y’allz – they’re so radical!
(and I look so silly!)

(Rad is my favorite word. So look what my friend sent me:

so funny!)

And getting the kids all ready for school. Check out this shirt a friend of mine made:

And y’know, there’s never enough time in a day, so there’re always things to do….

laters skaters,
xxoo mommarocks

I learned a bunch this past weekend. Mainly,
1. Get up, don’t knit, talk to the peeps. They’ll buy more!!
2. Try & focus your efforts on 3 things. Having too many different items is overwhelming. I think I’ll keep diversity in my shop, but for shows, I’ll focus on streamlining.

Oh. And I was thinking, ‘everyone knits.’ Right? So, I think it’s high time I started to learn how to spin & hand dye. And also, I need to get all of my patterns written down. I’ve started taking photos of complicated things I do, so I am getting there….

_________________________________________________________

Today, I went shopping at Goodwill. I love Goodwill. I haven’t had me a good trip to the Goodwill in a while though. I decided I have enough vintage sheets – and anyway, they’re starting to charge 5.99 and upwards for them – so I made a bee line for the dresses. And wouldn’tyaknowit, I ran into someone I knew. So, we gabbed and gabbed and gabbed some more. All gossip about the school system. See, once you become a parent, that’s just what happens. You gab and gossip about the whats and whys and doings of the school system, because you pay taxes and your kids go there doggonit, so you’ve got a say. RIGHT? Right. Anyway, the conversation got me all charged and ultimately gave me some good Goodwill juju.

I ended up with a Bitter coat (by SJP – that line is no longer available, so this was a major FIND!!), Gap jeans, and a Target sweater. All for under 20 dollahs. So, here I am modeling it for ya:

Tomorrow, I take the test for the city clerk position. I am so nervous!! I went to the library and got books on grammar. I’ve taken the sample tests and it isn’t looking good. I’m just not a test person. I panic. I sweat. My hands get a clammy and my mind goes blank. So, wish me luck for tomorrow.

<3 mommarocks

So, life lesson #2: TV isn’t THAT bad, is it?

By the way, she told me this when we were in the waiting room at the pharmacy. Turns out she has strep. Great. I swear, if the other kid gets it, too, I’m gonna…I’m gonna go after that strep and strangle it.

Have a good weekend, y’all. Tomorrow, I have another craft show. So, wish me luck!

A post wouldn’t be the same without a photo, so here’s one to make ya giggle:

Last night, as I lay my head to sleep, I was thinking about this lil ol blog. How I’ve neglected it for so long. And I couldn’t wait to wake up to post again, to give this blog some lovin’. But, as it turns out, my daughter had a temp and I kept her home from school. So, this is my first chance to write somn’ (she’s napping).

What I was thinking about is that I want to start keeping a log of things that I’ve learned in my life. You know, leave a little legacy for my blogworld. So, without further ado, here’s what I came up with last night:

Life lessons number one:

1. Never, ever, ever buy a used vacuum cleaner.

Now, ponder that whilst I show you my photos of what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks:

We went to the drive in with some buddies:

L had a fashion show with a friend:

L got her ears pierced:

L has been obsessing about American Girl. These dollies are filling that void until she gets one for Christmas (which we never promised, but she seems to think so):

I had a crafting/ice cream party:

I finally wrote down one of my knit patterns. And two of my friends test knit it. Here’s my version:

(but check out my friend Kristy’s

I had my first craft show of the season (there’s tons left…it’s only October!!)

I went on a date night with my man. This is where we had dinner. They had a mashed potato bar. YUMMMM

and this is where we headed after that:
(pic from the rooftop bar at Crave in downtown MPLS)

I had chai with my friend:

And then took photos at Lake Calhoun:

Another friend bought a custom order of my very own pattern – in teal. And I crocheted a flower. I must say, it is pretty dang cute!

This crow was in our backyard for a few days. Really creeped me out.

And since I didn’t do justice for our Winnipeg Photos, here were my favorite two from our trip:

And that’s it in a nutshell.

Good day. The sick one just stirred….

As you know, my little darling started kindergarten. So, I have two kids in school all day. The first week was very rough for me, because I realized how much I missed my little best friends (especially my daughter – shhhhhhhh!!!). I kept busy doing stuff around the house, mostly painting and rearranging. I gave myself a week to do all of that, because I thought I’d find a job the next week. Yup, I really thought that. Woops. Where have I been for the last five years? Oh, that’s right! I’ve been a stay at home mom. Before that, I could apply for a job and get it, simple as that. I have a degree, a good personality (I like to think), I’m pretty smart…Dangit, the work world has changed since I was last a part of it. I’ve never had so many rejection letters. So, two weeks later, I applied at a temp agency. I drove downtown and got all dressed up. Oh, here’s a couple of shots I got while down there:

I’m diverting here, but I just have to tell you how funny it is to take photos downtown. Every time I aimed my camera, at least 5 people would look to see what I was taking a picture of. And then they’d look perplexed; ‘what’s so interesting about that building?’ It was amusing.
When I walked into the temp agency, it was PACKED! I had used this temp agency before ( about 15 years ago) and the last time I was there, it was a quiet place. One where you could go, spend a little time choosing what you want to do and when, etc…. Well, well, times have changed. Immediately, I realized I even have competition at the temp agency. It feels really weird to be in this predicament. I’ve always felt special, but I don’t know anymore…
Woe is me.
Since then, I’ve had more rejection letters. But today! Today, I learned that I made it to the next level for a city clerk position. I didn’t get an interview. I get to take a test. Yay. I’ve never been so excited to take a test. If I have a top score, I will pass to the next level: the interview.

Anyway, I’ve been doing a lot and I have a bunch of photos, but I am going to finish tomorrow. I am so bored, I need to have something to look forward to. And blog peeps, I’m turning to you for my entertainment

So, I’ll see you tomorrow with some photos of what I’ve been doing the last few weeks…..