I have the front of my christmas gift #1 done and half way through the back.  I am making excellent progress.  I love to play World of Warcraft and probably play more than is good for me but it is a fun game.  Anyway I seem to get a lot of crocheting done while doing stuff in the game.  They run what we call instances where groups of people do stuff together sometimes it’s a bunch of hurry up and wait.  I keep my crocheting here at the desk and work on it during a wait part or when my character is traveling from one place to another.  I tried stitching while sitting here, it doesn’t work at well   I think part of it is the lighting and part is the space on my computer desk.  Anyway will keep you posted on how the bag is going. 

I started a christmas project today.  I found a cool free crochet bag and I’m going to make one for my stepmother and my mother in law.  I went to http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/HookedBags.html and found a really good bag to crochet.  Going to give it a whirl though I am using Sugars ‘n Cream instead,  got a bunch of that on clearance this weeekend .  I’ll post a pic when I get more then a few rows done

Someone want to tell me why one mother can have 10 of her 11 kids in a store and have them all behaving no whining, no crying, no oh let me have this or that and a mother with just one can’t.  Theses 11 kids  stayed close to were mom, dad and each other where the whole time.  No one had to go chasing after one because they went off on their own and the oldest boy an obvious teenager was carrying his baby sister the whole time.  And oh yeah mom is pregnant with #12.    I can tell you part of the reason, actually probably all of the reasons.  First mom is a stay at home mom who spends her time with the children she has brought into this world and dad is the one who goes out and provides for his family.  They were probably taught at a young age how to behave in public and not cause scenes, unlike the mom who got tired of her little one crying in the shoppping cart so she put him on the floor to play with the ribbon on the selves that actually were for sale.  I’d bet anything these kids are homeschooled and have a very deep religious grounding.  All in all probably raised the way all kids should be, not necessarily the homeschool part but the look out for you sisters/brothers no matter what and a faith in God.  Mind your parents in public and don’t pitch fits and beg for stuff you know you can’t have or don’t need. I could go on and on about what I see has a large problem in today’s society when it comes to the care, feeding and raising of our youth today.  I guess having raised 3 boys to adulthood fairly successfuly makes me a bit of an expert in this area.  The youngest is still a work in progress but he will find his way soon (I hope ).

I have been given a challange.  My sister is going overseas for 6 months starting  soon.  She is always trying to lose weight and has been trying to help me get into better shape also.  She runs because she must as part of her PT for her job.  I probably wouldn’t run on a bet.  Anyway, I have been promising myself for years that I need to get into better shape and lose weight.  So the challange, she will be gone for 6 months,  I am going to lose 50 pounds while she tries to lose 20.  The prize is a treat for each other to lunch at our favorite restrauant.  Otherwise it’s a swift kick in the behind.  I am going to do this for her and most expectly for me.  Wish me luck (i’m going to need it) as all of this comes during the holiday season.  A notoriously bad time for trying to lose weight. 

I have worked in retail for almost 17 years in one form or another and I have noticed that companies put more and more stress on customer service but the customers are way more grumpy then they used to be and they seem to want something for nothing.

I had 2 ladies come into my store today to buy some yarn.  We sell a really nice yarn for not all that much money.  The price has gone up about 50 cents since we first started carrying it back in March.  When we first started carrying this yarn it came priced and now it doesn’t.  The yarn left in the store that was pre-priced had to stay the old price but the newer yarn has the new price on it.  Anyway these 2 ladies went to the register tonight with one skien of yarn at the old and 2 with the new price.  The cashier called me to explain why.  I did and told her to go ahead and let the ladies have the 3 skiens at the lower price.  They must have thought this meant they could get more at the lower price because they left the line came back to the yarn department and filled a whole shopping cart with this yarn and went back to the check-out.  We did not and would not let them have a whole shopping cart of yarn at the lower price when we 1). Clearly stated that they got the first 3 skeins at the lower price and 2) none of the new skeins they brought had the old price on them.  They got mad over this and said we couldn’t sell the yarn for more then we paid for it and they were not going to pay the higher price.  Now I ask you do you think these same women would raise such a stink if they went to buy milk one week and got is for $3.50 and then went back a few days later and the price was now $4.00. NO they would not, nor would these women stand in the middle of a gas station and tell the folks behind the counter that they couldn’t raise their prices or charge more then they paid for the gas.  Nor would they be as rude to the gas attendant as they were to the cashier at my store, all but calling her a liar.  To make matters worse they made a huge mess in the yarn area they were searching in and messed up some yarn so bad I have to make it down for clearance because I can’t sell it at full price now. 

It just seems to go to a larger problem,  people are getting ruder and ruder when they are in stores and restaurants and companies are working overtime to teach their employees how to be nice to people.  Maybe someone should teach people how to be nice to the folks who work in stores and restaurants. 

I could go on and on about this subject but I’m tired and have to get some sleep.  I have to go to work again tomorrow.

Had a not so good day yesterday but then it got better.  Work was a bear.  I should tell you I have a very dreamy job if you are a crafter of any sort.  I work as the Department Head in the Needlework Dept at our local Hobby Lobby, (which of course doesn’t help me save money as I’m a needleworker ).   I have however managed for the most part to be good.  I don’t have one of every style of yarn I stock,  our xstitch area while semi large is very generic and I go for speciality fabrics and more complex and detailed charts.    Anyway I have been working on a yard reset in my department to allow for some new yarns we are due in which I am sure well be very tempting.  It is hot in Georgia anyway you look at this time of year and yesterday just after the store opened the electricity went out due to a bad transformer,  try working by emergency light and no AC for an hour.  I got hot and just basicly stayed that way all day.  Got home and my husband was in a pissy mood because of his work.  I did cool off and played my game most of the night and seemed to relax and feel much better.  I am off today and do plan on getting some stuff done around here in hopes of getting a rein in on the minors messes all over.  Wish me luck

This is going to be a fresh start in the Blog world for me.  I haven’t done much blogging recently but am trying to get control of some aspects of my life and if I don’t make a note of it somewhere I will never know how well I’m doing.  

  I need to get a better handle on my health and fitness.  I am overweight and out of shape.  I spend way to much time in front of the computer and that is not good.  I need to walk more but it has been way so hot there I don’t even want to go outside.  I need to grin, bear it and go do the mall walk with the older folks.  Heck if they can do it I can do it LOL.    I have a nifty little Ipod Nano, need to set up a music program for walking and Just Do It.  I walk better to music anyway. 

 Secondly my house is in serious need of revamping.  I painted the living room, put up new curtains and never go in there.  I surface dust and vacumm but that’s it.  It really needs a good going over.  And don’t even get me started on my sewingroom,  that room is in serious need of help.  As is my bedroom,  it has turned into the room we sleep in and nothing more. New curtains and cushions for the bench would make a world of difference in there.

 Lastly, my finances,  I have some major home repair issues coming up in the next few years as my house is 17 years old.  I need a new AC.  Living in the SE makes that a major need.    I also need new floors in the kitchen, breakfast/computer room and laundry room.  I would like to get rid of my carpet and put down hardwood in the livingroom, hall and diningroom.  I think my husband and I can do the wood by ourselves in the diningrooom as a test run,  it is a perfectly square room.  Not to large with no weird angles.  If we can do that one we maybe able to handle the livingroom/hallway.  The tile will have to be done by a pro I am sorry to say.   We at some point in the next few years will have to have most of the windows replaced, and get vinyl siding.  I am also sure in the next 3 years a new roof will be needed but seeing no signs of that as of yet. 

 Oh well enough rambling for now, time to go make breakfast and tackle the living room.

Well I’m going to try again with the blog thing, hope this time I can keep it up.  We will see