Christine Annette's Open Salon Blog

Overtime

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:05:50 -0400

I’ve been working, with lots of overtime. We’ve gone back to the County project and it’s so busy there. I don’t blog much now, I’m too busy even on weekends. Today is Saturday, my “do nothing or do whatever” day.

It’s been a bit chilly for the last few days and today. So I actually had to put on the heater and a bathrobe. I was sleeping and dreaming. I still have the wildest dreams. It felt good to sleep in today, way too good. My kitty Nala sleeps up on top of her place where there’s a plastic storage unit. I put her tiny quilt and a towel on top of it. And there she sleeps near my bed every night. I found one of her toys on my bed too this morning. And both of her food bowls were empty. So she was a busy kitty last night while I was sleeping. I think it’s so cute to see her toy lying next to me when I wake up. Today she brought her mousie. Right now she’s outside on the balcony, looking over to the ground floor where she sees the other cats who live here. Sometimes she walks too far though. She loves to sniff around the other apartments too. But her favorite thing to do is sit and look down to the 1st floor and watch the other cats. When she comes back inside she has brown dirty smudges on the tips of her white mittens.

Work is so busy. It’s a good thing. I work and do almost nothing else. I used to stop at the library on the way home. But since all of this overtime has begun, I don’t. It’s too easy to get tired and feel grouchy if I don’t get enough down time. So I go straight home almost every day.

Ebay has been my friend. I bidded and won a lot of items on ebay. A lot of the items were jewelry in China. Owls are my new obsession. I never knew how cute owls could be. Owl jewelry, yes. Lately I’ve noticed a new trend. Not just on ebay but in retail stores. It’s feather earrings. So I bought a pair on sale. I may buy more too. And of course my ladybug fetish hasn’t gone away. I won a few pieces of ladybug jewelry and a purse too.

I also found a new women’s clothing catalog and ordered a lot of clothes. The garments are pieces that I can’t find in stores. So I got the packages yesterday. I ordered in extra large sizes except a couple of dresses. I like to get the larger sizes because I can take it in if I need to. Instead of sending them back. When I can’t try on clothes I can’t tell how they look on me. So ordering in the larger sizes works better. And I think that I am bigger now, so I need to get larger sizes. I’m not a teenager any more. Cannot wear size 10′s.

I’m noticing something, a phenomenon. Most of my old friends from childhood don’t work. I mean they are somehow managing to survive well without having to work. And only one is doing so with her husband’s income. The others are, or seem to be, independently wealthy. And single. How is this? I don’t know. I was thinking about this. If I had enough money to live well and not have to work would I? After living my entire life having to work to just survive, would I live and be happy not working? I’m not sure. But I may need to work to feel good about myself. I like working I think.

I know one fact for sure, I’d drive a nicer car. I noticed one of the cars my associate drives, it’s a Honda Fit. She said it only costs $15K. And she got her’s for $12K. I think I’ll look into getting one of those. But not until after the end of the year. I do love tiny cars.

And I want a laptop. I want one from the Goodwill. Since it’ll be my first, I want a cheap one. One that I can schlep around with me. This I want to get by the time I go on vacation in November. I have reservations in Solvang for Thanksgiving, for 3 days.

I still don’t have a t.v. I don’t miss it either. I listen to my co-workers talk about shows on t.v. And I think, I would rather read a good novel than watch the ~~shit~~ crap on t.v.

My Unpaid Vacation, Coming To An End

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:02:30 -0500

I tell people that lately I've been on an unpaid vacation. And This wednesday it ends. I finally go back to my job. Yesterday I received my final batch of paperwork from the HR Office. You know, the I-9, State form, direct deposit form, and the confidentiality agreement. The 22nd is the first day on the new project. And I have to admit, I am happy about this. I found the building already. And I am even more curious about the other employees. The only other person I kwow of that's called back to our job is Leticia. She and I have both been making guesses as to who is going to be there also.

I had another blog in the Google Blogger, but just deleted it. Nobody reads it, or posts replies on it. And it had a cute background template too!

Yesterday I took my friend and co-worker Leticia to drop her car off at my oh-so-wonderful mechanic's shop. (I have no idea why the font just changed). She needed lots of repairs done on her car. She jokingly calls him my "husband". So the car was left overnight there, and after, she and I took a fun day to go to the Costo right over here on the corner. I had no idea that their food cafe area was even there. And that it's so cheap to eat there! And I had a big hotdog. The hotdogs are good too!

we then did the tour of inside the store. As we neared the jewelry section (and their jewelry is beautiful) I heard Leticia kind of yelling and pointing at something inside the case. I realized that her words were "here's your wedding ring!" I could not even imagine seeing the kind of beautiful rings and everything else that Costco has. She was pointing at a gorgeous diamond set in silver. So for the rest of the day and today, she and I referred to my mechanic as my "husband". She sugested that I call him and tell him that I "just found my ring". But I didn't.

I received the strangest letter in my mailbox yesterday. It's a complaint letter from the Air Quality Management District. An "anonymous person" called them to complain that my car was seen on the block near my school, "emitting excessive smoke" at 1 o'clock A.M. And in it they sent a form for me to fill out. This supposedly happened on February 6th. So at the bottom of the form I replied that at that time of the morning I am sleeping, and my car too. The letter also states that this does not affect my DMV driving record.

I took that letter to my mechanic's today, showed it to him. First he just commented on some people having nothing better to do. And then he said that now they are going to be looking to see if my car passes it's smog check this year. He winked at me as he said that. I said to him "that doesn't mean that you get to charge me a lot for smogging it again".

My cat Nala has a hernia. Yes, that is what I said, a hernia. She's had this pink growth on her belly, almost right in the middle. For a couple of years I thought it as a large nipple. I touch it and move it around and she doesn't even notice it. But Friday it looked like it had grown a lot. I took a few pictures of it with my cell camera, and took a trip across the street to the veterinarian. The 2 ladies in the front office told me it's a hernia. I made an appointment for her to have it looked at.

I've been doing a lot of reading. A. Lot. Of. Reading. Instead of posting a book every time I read one, I'll just make my Library Thing list here.

I also made another site. A-Little-Nutcake or the Sundance Dollhouse.

And I actually managed to make a few sketches.

I had fun sketching these.

I Gave Up Smoking

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:01:56 -0500

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

The Letter

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:01:40 -0500

This last Monday I finally received the letter that I was hoping to receive. It came earlier than I thought it would. It’s the letter from my company telling me when I go back to work. February 20th is the estimated start date. It may be earlier than that. I’m excited too. My friend and coworker Leticia also received hers. The company sent them through email. The job site isn’t our usual place. It’s in the larger offices in the same city of the County.

I was enrolled in a daytime art course in college. So I had to drop it on that day. I wasn’t going to want to ask my manager for those days off. I need to work more than I need to be in school. I could have asked him to allow me to arrive late to work on those two days of class. But I didn’t even want to do that. The letter specifically stated that we were to adhere to certain hours for our schedule, due to the amount of and nature of the work.

Now I can sort of unwind and get ready to go back to work.

I went to a get-together at WISE Place. It was not as fun as the most recent get-together. It was nice to see Kathi Bowman. I did get a little dressed for the occasion. I can’t help but notice that I’m aging. I notice it the most when I try to put on makeup and a nice outfit, I just don’t look the same.

Which leads to another subject, hot flashes. I’m having them in a major way. I used to be able to blame it on the heat during the summer, or other stuff. But I am actually having one now as I write this. So anyone who reads this, please comment if you know of any kind of natural supplements I can take. I know about black cohosh. And I heard that flax seed oil is good for this too. I’ll be making a trip to the health food store soon.

My brother arrived in south California Thursday. He’s in San Diego now, woking (volunteering) for a company from Missouri, at at trade show. I guess it’s a trial period, where he and this company decide if they like each other. He’s going to be here sometime around February 2nd to visit me and his friends in the area. He called me this morning. He sounded stressed and a little mad. It isn’t surprising, since he spent the entire weekend with his father (the person who is supposed to be my father too) and his wife.

It’s been raining a bit here. And it’s a little cold at night. But I can handle it, considering that I spent 2 months in weather that was quite a bit colder than this. Oh and it was this time last year that I moved into my apartment here. Actually it was the 23rd of last January.

I’ve been finding and making these pixel dolls online. I sort of have a collection of them now. I love them, they’re so cute.

Last night my cat Nala was so cuddly. She’s so cute when she gets like this. I think she’s a moody little kitty. I was out for most of the day yesterday, so she probably missed me.

After the Holidays

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:01:28 -0500

Been doing a bit of thrift store shopping after the holidays. I have a new favorite store now. It's called Savers

Today there was a huge, and I mean huge sale there today. I found these totally cute salt and pepper shakers.

I used my 20% off coupon for them. Every time you donate, they hand you a green card (no, not that kind of green card), with that discount on it. I used to say that Goodwill was my best place, but I found a new one. I bought a really cute Calvin Klein dress there last week for like almost nothing, like brand new. But I accidentally deleted it from my computer today, so can't post the picture. The clothes that I take pictures of don't look very good when I shoot them with my cheap digital camera anyway.

I've been sort of getting things for my place too. Like those plastic white storage bins with drawers, for my clothes. I picked up another one today there.

Yesterday I went to the WISE Place for a "Day of Self-Esteem. The day was put together by a Jewish Synagogue. It was so fun. I got a free haircut and clothes galore. They also had jewelry and makeup for anyone who was there, all for free! When I went by the jewelry table nobody was looking or taking any jewelry. So the woman there encouraged me to take more than one item. I found the most beautiful brooch and a necklace for my mother. And they even gave me a box to put it in, so I can mail it on mother's day. My friend Susie was there too. This is her going wild shopping through the clothes racks. And the garments were not cheap. There were brand name designers including JJil. And some of the clothes had the price and tags still on them.

ables.

This is Terri and the woman from the Synagogue, I forget her name. But she's sooo nice.

All of that shopping yesterday prompted me to go home and get a pile of clothes ready for the donations at Savers.

Below is my kid (kitty) Nala.

My birthday was on the 6th. I didn't take any pictures. But I went to brunch and had huevos rancheros at one of my favorite Mexican places. And then I went shopping. But I also had to fill my car with gas. So that kind of used up most of my birthday/shopping cash. Nevertheless, it was a good day, with lots of sunshine.

Last week I met with a couple of coworkers. We also went out for brunch and had Mexican. They're from Mexico and said that the food was really good. They know, they said, from how good the salsa tastes. I didn't take any pictures.
Even thought we don't go back to work for a couple of more weeks, a few of us keep in touch. Not that they like to talk about work (they don't), we still stay friends. Needless to say, I am totally looking forward to getting back into the swing of working.

The weather has been warm here. It's been in the 80's. But today it cooled off. And I think there was rain last night. I thought I heard it while I was laying in bed reading.

To a lot of people this may sound weird, but I have no television. And I don't miss it. Sometimes I think that it would be nice to stay in and just watch the PBS channel. But I don't have one, and I don't know when I will.

I've been keeping a list of all the sewing patterns I want. So I again went to the Joannes fabric store nearby. There was a sale; Simplicity patterns for 99 Cents. But most of the patterns weren't in stock. Then I came home and went through my boxes of patterns and took out the ones that are now too small for me. Size 10, so funny that I used to wear size 10. Well, they are going to the donations.
The idea that I now again have to collect the sewing supplies that I used to have, bugs me. I've been sewing my whole life. But when they were stolen up north, it was one of the losses that bothered me the most about the move.

I saw a Singer machine on sale there today for $99. That's good. Maybe when I get my tax return money this year.

There are so many things that I need to buy.

It was funny, that last week I got a burst of energy and actually cleaned a lot more than usual, including 4 loads of laundry. And I also scrubbed the ground in my car port area. I cleaned the oil spots that were there. It's great, I never tried that before. My mechanic gave me some powder to throw on the ground and it worked great. I bought some vinegar and mixed it with water and sprayed a lot around my kitchen. I like the smell of vinegar, it smells clean to me.

My kid Nala was peeing on my blankets. So I washed them all and sprayed them with some spray for cats, to make her stay off my blankets. It smells good too. It worked for about one and a half weeks. And then last night she peed again. I also got a can of really good smelling carpet shampoo and sprayed the entire bedroom carpet with it.

A week from today it the first day of school, for the Spring semester. I cannot wait! I love school, like I did when I was a kid. I can't wait to get to the art computer lab again.