I feel a sin coming on...

I have lots to talk about and I'll probably run out of time, but the good news is I just finished my taxes so now I can use my refund to buy a new computer! Woo-Hoo!

I must confess my sins. I'm a thief. I'm stealing time from my employer. I do this by sewing at work.

I don't mean actually sewing with cloth and thread (but I'd do it if I could get away with it). I mean I draw/plan quilts. I'm currently cleaning the sewing room and I decided to make some the things in the umpteen magazines I have. So each day I take a magazine to work, find a pattern I like, and draw it on graph paper.

This is not an all day activity. I am still working. Some. AJ used to work at a major textile company as a computer programmer. She got fed up with her job so she started playing computer games. Each day she did the bare minimum required and then she spread out some paperwork on her desk in case anyone walked in, then she played Solitaire. All day.

When she told me this I was astounded. 'You didn't get caught?!' Nope. In fact, no one even noticed which made her feel worse. Her job was truly pointless.

Eventually she felt guilty so she stopped and went back to doing her job. No one noticed that either.

My job is frustrating. I have a lot of problems and no way to solve them. When I go to my boss he wants to joke and play. He doesn't want to be the boss, he wants to be every one's pal. So I try to tell him we over-ordered, now we have more pumps than we're going to use in two years and he just blows me off. 'We'll use them eventually.' The fact that we spent over $3,000 on something we didn't need doesn't seem to bother him at all.

His boss is not much better. Foo just turns things around so that it's my fault. For instance I complained about the over-ordering to him and asked that a.) the purchaser use the same software I do so he could check inventory before placing orders and b.) that someone CALL ME before an order is placed so I can verify whether or not the items is actually on the shelf. Foo's solution- I need to check the clipboard.

We write down what we want to order on the clipboard and then our purchaser orders it. So I call him and explain what Foo said and asked him to call me before he orders anything.

He refused. 'That could get busy' he said.

So now I go in every morning, FIND the clipboard (strange how suddenly it's no longer in the usual place) and check to see who wrote want. In one week 3 items were placed on order. (Damn busy.) But part of the problem is the purchaser comes to work an hour before I do and he leaves 30 minutes after I do. So he's ordering when I'm not there. We still order what we already have in stock, and it's my fault for not checking the clipboard.

I've given up. I'm just drawing a paycheck now. Like AJ I do the main part of my job first thing in the morning. Then I spread some notebooks around and open my inventory software. And I draw. I sketch quilt ideas, I jot notes, I trace, I estimate yardage, I even get my markers and design fabric. And if I figure out how to sneak my sewing machine into my filing cabinet I'll be a whole lot more productive.

Sorry I've been gone...

But I have been busy with all of daily life's little battles.
I still have long days. I still get up, make coffee, wash clothes and dishes, pack lunch and breakfast, get dressed, feed dogs, and empty trash. Then I go to work where they have suddenly decided to be concerned about budgets, accounts and spending. I had to prepare a long report of my entire inventory. I had to added up the cost of repairs on all work orders since January (and we've racked up a large amount already). Then after reviewing all 50 odd pages, I ended up with more paperwork and monthly reports (thanks, Foo).
The Rhino is somehow ordering what she shouldn't and charging it to maint and while no manager has enough balls to tell her to stop, they all want ME to ensure less money is spent. Sometimes I wonder why I even go to work.
Speaking of work, I decided it is my right to earn a living doing something that I actually enjoy so I've started dying and painting fabric. When I get up a good inventory (and I am a long way from that) I will begin selling on esty. I thought about doing the flea market route again but I decided against it due to the cheapness and dirt. I'm not trying to put down flea markets b/c I shop them often, I'm just saying the most of them are hastily thrown together booths in long rows in run-down buildings and the people who shop them are looking to spend a couple of bucks. Quality usually doesn't enter the equation.
There is a thing in a town near me call 'Trade Days' and it's sort of a open-air market/yard sale type of thing held on the first Saturday of every month. It's more diverse than a flea market and there's more art than junk. So that's a possibility.
I'm still making quilts and I still have more orders than I can make which is good. One of my friends needs extra $ and I'm thinking about hiring her to help me. She left her cheating husband. I helped her move. It was wild. She had already decided to leave him but she was going to wait until they got their refund so they could pay down some bills. She didn't want to screw him over and also she didn't want to pull the kids out of school. But he found out what she was planning so she called 2 weeks ago Wednesday and said, "I'm leaving tonight. Will you please bring your truck?" Nothing was packed. We were throwing things in trash bags and tossing them on the trucks. We had her SUV, my truck, her sister's truck, and her mom's truck and we still couldn't get it all in one trip. She left a lot behind but she said she didn't care she just wanted to be gone. A word of advice- when leaving a spouse try to keep it a secret and move while the spouse is at work. Even better would be being more careful about who you marry- but that's another post.