Fiber Arts and FO Friday

Happy Friday.  Tomorrow is Duane's birthday and I'm calling into work to spend the day with him.  Considering seven months ago, the Dr.s didn't think he would make it through the week, it makes this 50th birthday extra special.  The purple sock won't be finished in time.  I will be making him something special on Saturday. It calls for a pound of bacon.  He picked a really nice place for his dinner.  I'll take lots of pictures and try to post Sunday night when I get home from work.

Excuse the clutter.  Who has time to straighten up? 

I finished my Mitt Envy mitts this morning before I left for work this morning.  It's cooling off quick now, so these were right on time.  I used a fingering weight 3 ply yarn that I had spun in late 2008 from merino/tencil fiber I had bought at Rhinebeck that year.  Spinning the yarn was a royal pain in the arse.  The resulting yarn however, was wonderful to knit with.

The pattern is simple to follow.  Pretty quick compared to most of the projects I knit.  It took me a total of between 14 and 18 hours.  I received a few compliments at work today.  One girl from training class suggested I make a bunch and sell them at work.  When I told her how many hours it takes to make a pair and that nobody would pay me worth my time, she said, "Wow, that long?  Yeah, forget that idea."  Non-knitters can be so clueless of how much time we put into things.

My nails just grow like crazy since I turned 30.  I haven't been able to find either my clippers or my file the last few weeks.  I would find one and the other would come up missing.  I must have smacked my right pinkie  nail on something during the night.  When I woke up this morning there was a crack just below the quick of my nail.  Ow, ow, ow!! All day.  I sure found both clippers and file tonight and shortened all my nails.  Now, it's hard to type, I'm not used to short nails.

Permit me a minute to vent.  Work is sooo stressful.  Today was horrible and I asked the scheduler if they were giving VGH (voluntary go-home) could I please leave either 15 or 45 minutes early, so I wouldn't have to run for the bus home.  She was great, and said she would pencil me in 45 minutes early so I could take the early bus.  I needed it after today.

They are big on AHT (average handle time) is supposed to be under 90 seconds.  The New Moon, I had so many nutty callers, I blew my AHT that I worked so hard to get around 81 seconds for the week.  There are bonuses for AHT between 80-85 seconds.  They are big on AHT's, my team leader asks every day what our AHT is in chat.  I shouldn't be worried as mine has been under, but I'm feeling the pressure with AHT's and schedule adherence.  Yesterday it was 3 hours before my first scheduled break. UGH! That's a long time when your answering calls in rapid succession.

Thankfully, my friend got VGH at the same time tonight, so she drove me home.  I had a huge head and neck ache.  Except she vented to me the whole way home. AGH!!!  Oh well, (sigh) it's give and take.  Better than that long walk in the dark and a long bus ride. I could vent for hours about some of the calls I get, but that would bore you to death probably.

I'm the type of person that gives a 100% no matter what the job I'm hired to do.  Whether it's at the pizza place I worked at for a few years after I injured my back as a nurse, or nursing, or this call center job. I had someone make fun of me for working at the pizza place after being a nurse.  Hey, it was better than standing in the welfare line.   I'm sure it will get easier eventually.  But several times during the day, I want to go up into the mountains to scream after dealing with some of those people on the phone.  Except, it's a long walk to the mountains on any side and I'm just too tired.  Some days your the windshield and others the bug.  Today, I was the bug.

On a lighter note.  Having the music on my phone sure does help with the long walks at quick pace.  That's when I remember to charge my phone. (I forgot to last night. *smacks forehead)  They don't know it, but Jimmy, John, John-Paul and Robert helped me make the walk Wednesday night in twenty-two minutes.  Which was good, because the bus was three minutes early.  I just made it.  Listened to When The Levee Breaks because Mama, you've got to move.  Then Bring It On Home.  Yeah, I wanted to get home.  Bron-Y Aur Stomp.  My favorite, hard not to get moving with that one. Finally, How Many More Times.  By that time I was thinking, How many more steps.

Thanks for reading.  Better post after Duane's birthday.  I promise.

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I'll leave you with mine and Dammit's favorite Led Zeppelin.  Oh wait, Dammit says his favorite Zeppelin song is whatever one that is playing at the moment. Smart rabbit.