Marvelous Monday Update 8/29/11 (on Tues)

Hard to believe it's the end of August already? With my nose constantly in textbooks, I missed summer. Boo!

GARDENING
My vegetable garden didn't fare so well this year. With all the rain, the tomatoes split, got buggy, and rotted on the vines. Only one cucumber vine grew and I got two cukes off it. The spinach didn't grow at all. Again, Boo!

Despite the weather conditions, my flowers did great. Remember the sunflower seeds I received in an exchange from Betty in NV? They are taller than my neighbor's garage.


I was really excited last week when I saw the heads were finally starting to bloom and bees were helping the pollination. :)


My double knockout roses are blooming for the third time this summer:



THE BROOD
Celete must be getting older. I took her for a walk on the walking path near my house. In times past, she was able to do the whole thing, albeit a bit pooped worn out by the time we got home. This last time, she stopped about 1/3 of the way and had to rest. Three-quarters of the way, I had to carry her because she refused to walk. After a while, I put her down and she walked. Less than a block from home, she refused to walk again. Poor doggie. It wasn't even hot that day. I've decided to leave her home when I walk the path, because I don't want to be carrying the dog!

Here's a pic of her from last week where she was enjoying the cooler temps. She's also sporting her summer 'do.


Charley. What am I going to do with that bird? She has two issues going on, or maybe I have two issues with her. One, she is projectiling poop (Yes, poop!) all over the walls near her cage. I swear she sticks her stinky butt rear end up to the bars of her cage and let's it fly! I clean it up when I find it, but it's staining the paint on the walls. Any bird owners have that problem? Issue #2 is that she lays eggs and tries to sit on them... for weeks. She pushes them around in the bottom of her cage, and tries to shove her body between the bars to get closer. She's quiet during that time, but as soon as I clean her cage she's back to squawking unless I sit within eyesight.

STITCHY STUFF
Several of my readers have asked about the iStitch Stitch-Along (SAL). It's being hosted by Carol at her iStitch blog. Initially, she agreed to let 100 stitchers participate. Then she opened up 25 more spots. They filled up fast! I think I found out about it during the last 25 openings. Every two weeks, she will release another part to the mystery SAL. If participants stitched it according to Carol's instructions, it can be mounted on a box from Hobby Lobby as seen HERE.

Last Friday, Carol sent out Part 2 of SAL. By Saturday night, I had Part 2 stitched! What do you think?


I also started the ornament for HOE's "Words of Christmas" exchange. I finished the stitched part, and am almost done with the beading part. Then assembly and viola! Finished.

I received my HOE Lizzie Kate-themed ornament today! It came from Jayne at Jayne's Stitching Tales... all the way from the UK.

Thank you, Jayne!
It's adorable.

The postman was really good to me today! I also received the sweetest card from Glenna in KS thanking me for the great job I'm doing as coordinator of BFC in the ILCS group. She also included two skeins of floss... How thoughtful *big smile*. Thank you so much, Glenna!



SCHOOL
School is really sucking the life outta me up all my free time. Last week, we had our first quiz -- Luckily, we get to take them twice. The first time I got a "C"... Yikes. The second time I got 100%. Note to self, print the quiz questions and answers out when you take it the first time in case you don't remember how you answered the questions!

I have a 3-page "descriptive essay" on Monetary Policy due this week. (Let's hope it's not quite as descriptive as my last blog post!) Plus 3 chapters of reading (another 90+ pages), written assignments for each chapter, AND online postings.

Next week is midterm already! No re-takes on that bugger.

Until next time,

Good Riddance!

Some of my enthralled fans long time readers may recall me sporadically mentioning my second job (unaffectionately called J2). I started working for J2 a year ago. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?



I applied for a job on craigslist. Note to self: Employers who advertise on craigslist are usually cheapskates (don't want to pay for advertising) and are probably undesireable places to work. I digress. I applied, interviewed and was hired on the spot for the wage I quoted.

I was hired to work 8-12 hours a week. I ended up working 16-20 hours a week, while working 32 hours at J1 -and- going to school. I managed to get the books caught up as much as possible considering the "bosses" were never there to answer questions, or refused to inept at using email or pen and paper in response to my emails. I pretty much came to the conclusion: "If they're not going to take responsibility, I can only do so much."

This was last July. By November, I was sooooo ready to resign. In addition to the aforementioned making it difficult to do my job, you can read about the profanity and scantily clad women HERE. I sucked it up and convinced myself to hold out until something better came along.

Next thing I know it's May and still no luck in finding another part-time gig. Everything previously mentioned had not changed. It became a running joke between the BF, BFF, and I as to how many minutes I would be at work before I heard the F-bomb. LOL

I did not know when I was hired how BAD the company was financially. The VP claimed it was due to another company not paying them for a subcontract job they did. I have to disagree since J2 owes their suppliers wayyyyyy more than this company owed. Anywho, in May liquid crap stuff started hitting the fan. First it was direct deposit payroll... All of a sudden, they decided to no longer do direct deposit. Then it was the IRA contributions... no more. That part didn't affect me because I was part time. Since it was part of my job, I DID ensure those contributions were paid until the cease date. Then... we didn't know from week to week whether we were getting paychecks! Ack! You can read more about that HERE.

Let's mosey on to July of this year, shall we? By this time, J2's bank had cut them off. They had maxed out their almost million dollar line of credit, were overdrawn on both the operating and payroll checking accounts, and couldn't make the loan payments. The whole time they were whining complaining about how it's the bank's fault! Whaaat?


Then the brilliant idea was hatched. I think perhaps they tipped a few too many at the pub one night. Start a new company! Then file for bankruptcy with the old one. Read all about it HERE. You really can't get the full effect unless you read it.


Then things really started getting exciting! The PM of the old company (now a partner in the new company) was insisting that the new company be run like a company should be. The bosses of the old company wanted to play "business like always", which is why they were in the predicament they were in with the old company. Btw, did I mention their father owned a company that filed for bankruptcy a decade previous? And they had another company that filed the big "B" about 6 years ago. Do ya see a trend here?? Anywho, the owners of J2 (who were Dad and Uncle of the other partner of the new company) really had the intention of using the PM as a "face" to the new company so that suppliers and potential jobs didn't know who the company really was.

Almost one month to the day of starting the new company, it got to the point where there was no communication between the PM, his partner, or the bosses at J2. The PM quit - I'd like to think he said "F-this! I'm not putting my home on the line for this." He was gone within the week. The bosses at J2 were reportedly telling people the PM was fired. The secretary said it was a lie... She heard him quit. Next thing we know, there's a new PM. Ironically, he was on lay-off from the aforementioned company that owed J2 money, LOL.


By the middle of August, the secretary quit. Afterall, they DID tell her to seek other opportunities. She is a single mom, so I really don't blame her.


Are ya still with me? Riveting, I know! Almost like a soap opera, isn't it?

Last week, I saw that the son of the bosses (Yes, the last remaining partner of the newly formed maybe defunct company) was trying to do J2's payroll. Incredulously I asked, "Are you doing payroll?" As he fumbled around, I could clearly see he was having trouble. I informed him that I knew how to do payroll. The VP (who hired me to do that stuff), looks at me and says, "You do? Huh." All I could think was "O-M-G!". I told them I would do payroll and did.



This past Wednesday, I had to call J2 whereby I found out they hired another secretary/office girl/whatever title they came up with. So, this is TWO office girls they've hired and neglected chose not to tell me! So, Friday rolls around. Just call me Girl Friday because that's the day I go in to make sure the books are in order, to do tax returns, and union reports, close out month end, etc... since they decided the last secretary could do the other things I did. Now they've hired a new one...

I get there on Friday and introduce myself. She starts complaining about the lack of training. It was all I could do to not say something sarcastic about training to laugh or smirk. I proceeded to tell her that when I started a year ago, I had to pretty much figure it out on my own. I asked her where she worked before and she started bragging about how she had an "accounting background" because she worked in the office of the country club. Oh really? OK. She proceeded to ask what I did at J2... THEN says, "Well, later I'll watch over your shoulder to see what you do." I thought to myself, "The H-ell you will." She also admitted she had no payroll experience other than submitting hours to ADP. So, I showed her how to do payroll. Rather than doing it herself, she had me do it and watched. Usually not a good way of learning, but hey... Who am I to argue?

Let's skip along to when the bosses finally show up, OK? Both were in an office and I asked if they had a minute -and- I closed the door. Very diplomatically, I said: "Now that you've hired someone with accounting experience, what are your long term plans for my position?" I totally caught them off guard! The VP (the guy who hired me, remember?) stammered and could hardly look at me, kept mumbling "I don't know." The president told me that they were looking at getting an investor and he had 5-6 accountants of his own, yadda, yadda, yadda. He eventually said, "Probably 2 weeks to month"

Oh really, and at WHAT POINT were you going to spring this on me? AFTER I train the new girl? I didn't say that, but it's what I was thinking. Talk about an insult to the intelligence! Did I mention the president also said, "We'd understand if another opportunity came up". Sound familiar? It should -- it's basically what they told the secretary. Oh, and did I mention they told me they were starting *another* company (a THIRD one!) if this new investor gets onboard. Again, my guess is the new investor will be the "face" of the company so no one will know who's really involved.

Oky doky. For those who don't know me, I can be pretty good at hiding my emotions. Where as most people would've said "F-You" and stormed out, I calmly went through my day. I finished up payroll (and added the hours I planned on working that day). They signed the paychecks, not even questioning or noticing that my paycheck was twice the normal amount. Two days worth instead of one. I knew if I didn't add my last day's hours to the previous week's, I'd never get paid for it. I closed out the books for the month I was working on, and proceeded to do most of the next. I cleaned everything up and left a note as to how far I got.


The whole day I was fuming inside... not so much about getting let go, I'd been expecting that... it was more about the fact that they *thought* they were going to use me and then lay me off.



Now remember how I said I was ready to resign November of last year? Really, I was. I had a resignation letter ready to go, saved on my desktop at home. On my lunch hour Friday, I went home and got that resignation letter. I put a copy in my employee file. I worked until 5pm, set the alarm, and locked up like I always did. I promptly drove to the post office, put the key in with the resignation letter and mailed it.

I'm sure they've gotten it by now. I did apologize in my resignation letter. "I apologize for the lack of 2-week notice, but due to circumstances beyond my control my resignation is effective immediately." There were many "circumstances" beyond my control that went through my brain... none of which I could state in a letter, though. LOL

Like my coworker at J1 said: Yes, I need the money but I also need my sanity, too. There was too much drama, unprofessionalism, and unethical things going on at J2. Then to insult my intelligence.


Buh-bye!

Freebie Friday

Breast Cancer Awareness Ornament
by Dragonfly Stitches
(Click HERE for the freebie)

Bird on Blossom

... finally winged it's way to its new home.

I participated in a private mailart exchange with Evalina of This and That. I sent off the envelope over three weeks ago and was becoming worried it would never get there. Finally, I received word from Evalina that she received it!

Here's what I created for Evalina:

Clickable for Larger Photo
Design: Bird on Blossom
from book, A Cross Stitcher's Odyssey
Designer: Joan Elliott
Fabric: 22ct Hardanger, hand-dyed by moi!
Stitched: One over one
Fibers: DMC
Embellishments: LaMode buttons #4537, fabric trim

So now I'm anxiously waiting for hers to get to me :)

Marvelous Monday Update 8/22/11

SCHOOL
Whew! Last week was rough. Despite spending the last week of my summer "break" reading the 93 pages for the start of school, the tough schedule had me beat by the end of the week. I managed it all, and got ahead start on this week's homework. We have a quiz this week and I have to start my 3-page descriptive essay on Monetary Policy, so we'll see how IT goes. I'm sure the instructor is on crack thinks students don't have a life outside of the online classroom.

Only 7 more weeks to go.... 7 more weeks

SHOOT THE DOG -OR- THE OWNER?


Now ya'll know that I love animals, right? Right. My northern neighbors not so much. Last year, they decided to take a foray into dog breeding become backyard breeders. They built two small kennels and put two Siberian Huskies in each one. These dogs rarely get to leave the kennels... no walks, no runs, no nothin'. Over the weekend, the female must've gone into heat because the other dogs would not SHUT UP were carrying on something fierce. Finally by 4am Sunday morning, I called the police (Yes, the dogs carried on all day and all night!). Sunday and this morning, the dogs were still whining and yelping because they couldn't get to the female.

So... Do I shoot the dogs? Or, the owners?* LOL


STITCHY STUFF
Since school sucked up and destroyed consumed all my free time last week, I only have a little stitchy "finish" to show. I managed to finish Part 1 of the iStitch SAL.


I did put a few stitches on Blossom Splendor, but not enough to warrant a photo.

Until next time,

*Disclaimer: I would never shoot anyone or anything. It was a rhetorical question