grumpygirl

First day

I survived my first day back at work today. It's been almost 20 months since I've been in the office, being paid. How weird is that?

Miss EM was with her dad and brother today, so I didn't have to worry about her, but her first full day at childcare without me is tomorrow so I may not be as carefree at work as I was today. We've done orientation a few times and she's generally ok there. She eats, sleeps and gets cuddles when she gets a bit sad sometimes, but there is enough going on to keep her interested most of the time. We can't all get everything we want in life all the time, can we? My working 2 days a week will mean we might get to go on some holidays together, finally!

So workwise, it is ok. Not many people knew I was going to be working there, let alone today, so there were a few questions, like where will you be sitting, who are you reporting to, which team will you be on and so forth, but for once, it didn't bother me in the slightest. I said I'd be there at 930am today and I got there, with 10 mins to spare, and the rest will sort itself out in time, right?

Someone found a desk with a computer, I got enough of a background briefing to get me started and I even got out and started making site visits for my report on system performance issues. So no complaints so far. I'm only a casual, so I don't get involved enough to really have much to complain about. I'm paid by the hour and my job is to either go out there, talk to system users, watch how they use their computers, and document this and write recommendations. Happy not to spend too much time chit chatting. Term 1 taught me to smile quitely lots (and naturally, hopefully), and that was good practice.

The new (ex-boss) will be good to work for, I think. She's hardly ever in the office, but I'll just update her via email when I have something to report, and she trusts me enough not to have to worry too much about more than my output. Her 2IC is going on maternity leave tomorrow, and it was weird working with her again. It was like we were polite strangers and not the friends I used to think we were. Like I've said previously, I now find that interesting at best, but I just don't have the brain space to think more about it, which is a good thing. So many new faces around the office, new location and the fact that it's moved from a project environment to an operational support one makes it almost like a new workplace. Enough friendly old faces around for me to feel sufficiently comfortable though.

Best get back to study now. Classes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, eek!

Back to work

So, buoyed by my 'success', I've enrolled in two subjects. (I have until week 4 to drop one anyway.) I'm also starting work next week on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Both kiddies will be in childcare on Thursdays and  BD will look after them on Wednesdays until a childcare place comes up for Miss EM and we'll switch WB from Tuesdays to Wednesdays.

It was all theoretical until I committed to a start date today, eeek!

Two days is not a lot of money, but every little bit helps, and working will be good for me.

Almost 4

Escape

I went to a knitting meet tonight. It seems to have been about um, 3 years since I last went to one. Wow. It was nice to meet knitty people and sit and knit sans interruptions. Even better, I didn't need to settle the children. Mainly Miss EM who requires constant feeding at night when she can smell me. I'll miss that part of escaping two nights a week. Will have to find more opps to escape...

She lasted 4 hours at childcare orientation today, including a 40 minute sleep.

Cast on another top-down cardi for Miss EM, sans hoodie this time. I only have two skeins of Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red, and I want this one to have sleeves, so a compromise was needed. The Rios is super soft and hopefully doesn't felt/pill like the normal worsted. But Rios, not so worsted. More DK-ish. I'm knitting it on 4mms.

Chicken curry in a slow cooker? Yum. Next time I'll have to start it early though so I can cook it on low for 8 hours rather than on high for 4.

What else? Madmen? Ace. Apart from the sleeping with prostitutes thing. And the wives of train buddies thing. And the getting the office manager pregnant, ignoring the kid, and having her pass it off as her husband's child. Purty clothes though.

Holidays

It's my last day of holidays today.

Not sure what I've achieved this holidays, apart from recovering from a cold and not doing schoolwork. I went to a bootcamp yesterday about manipulating financial data in excel and felt relieved. I navigate quite comfortably around excel, unlike some of the other students who were sitting around me. I also felt really happy to be in class again and realised this was because I didn't have my syndicate issues dragging me down. A whole new syndicate will come with it's own issues I'm sure, but a few weeks of ignorant bliss will be good. Plus this time around, I'll deal with issues at the start. I'm going to practise dealing with individuals this term, rather than last term's goals of learning to stay quiet, smile and trying to play nice with the children. I'm also going to practice something I've just heard Dr Gemma recommend on the CogKnitive podcast - try to take what people say (especially at work) in the kindest way possible, (regardless of what you know is really the case). It'll be hard for me, as I'm suspicious as hell, but let's hope it drives the bitches crazy.

I've moved to the weekend mode for this term, which involves a Fri/Sat/Sun intensive 3 times over the next 12 weeks in Weeks 2, 6 and 10. It should be ok, just a bit intense for the first class because I'll be squashing in 4 weeks of prep in 2 weeks, rather than 4 weeks over 3 or 4 weeks. Still haven't had confirmation from an ex-boss about casual work 1-2 days a week, so am in a bit of limbo there. Sort of relieved as I need the study time this week and next.

Also, Miss EM is starting childcare on Thursdays from next week onwards. We're doing bits of orientation here and there, and she seems ok with it. WB will be there too, so he can always pop into the babies room and say hello. Not that he'll remember as he'll be too busy playing with his mates all day long.

So that leaves us free on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for days out for anyone interested. Although I'll probably be trying study some on these days too.

What else? We piggy-backed on the insurance repairs for the Xmas storms and had some rooms painted. Loving the Whisper White around the house, it's so much better than green, crazy yellow and old pale yellow. Stupid helper-painter dripped paint all over the sheer blins in WB's room which made me CRAZY and took hours and hours of clean-up, but I managed to make them pay for trimming the bottom of the blinds which will get rid of most of the stains. First time I played calm and got what I wanted. Maybe I did learn something from school!

It kind of spoilt my enjoyment of the new painwork, but as time passes, I'm more and more pleased with the change the white makes. Here are some pics of the first coat.

The house still looks empty as we've not had time to re-decorate, plus waiting for paint to dry takes some time. The second bathroom and study are packeded to the rafters though.

Can you want more hours in the day and yet more sleep?

How?

How the hell did I not only pass my financial accounting subject, but get 70%? (remember I got 58% on the mid-term) Yay me! Now I can throw away all my paper notes. Good riddance!

A bit disappointed I only got 77% for the Managing People subject in the end (I got 80% on my mid-term).

Never happy, am I? SO RELIEVED though. Really didn't want to have to repeat the accounting subject.

Tony

So WB came home with the Mother's Day card for me from childcare today.

Who's Tony you're asking? Our hairdresser. Yep.

My boy is SUCH a preener. He's always loved getting his hair cut. He'll sit there completely still and completely silent. And now, he's always asking to go to Tony. Mum, my hair has grown, we need to go see Tony. Mum, see this hair has grown, we need to go see Tony. You get the picture.

Accidental

Guess which one accidentally ended up in the washing machine? (Hint: they both used to be the same size). It's amazing really, it's shrunk in size, but hasn't felted. It's just big enough to be a tunic for Miss EM.

Long time no see

Hmm, it's been a while. Classes are over for the term and I have exams on Tuesday and Friday next week. Once I get past those, I'll have a proper think about switching to weekend classes (3 weekends out of 12). I've been at school most weekends because of my syndicate group who have no concept of time management, so I figure I might as week make the most effective use of my time there on the weekends. SO glad I'm unlikely to have to work with this group again. I did my best to learn from them, using them as guinea pigs to practice my people skills on, but towards the end, I think it was an achievement to just not kill them.

I've been quite productive knitting-wise, as I've done lots of reading and procrastinating of late. I finished a hoodie made of Dream in Color Classy for WB (so fast on 5mm needles). a short-sleeved hoodie in Madeleinetosh DK for Miss EM and a River Dress in Miss Babs Yowza for Miss EM. Have yet to take pics of the latter two. Love them all, machine-washable is so the way to go at the mo.

I finished the border of the second Greeny Circles blankie a while ago and gifted it yesterday to a school friend who is moving to Hobart. To live with her partner who lives there. She's due in July too, along with everyone else in the world. Apparently there was a really nice weekend in October...?

Blogging will resume once hols begin, I suspect. The kids are great, can't wait to spend some proper time with them. Or for Miss EM's hair to grow a bit longer rather than be in this slightly weird in-between phase.

Two

Two REALLY cool videos I saw in class last night

The first is about research into motivations.

The second is about selective attention.

Off you go them. Let me how you go.