Well it's been quite a week here.  At work I have a class of trainees who just don't listen.  They are making me crazy.For example right now is the busiest time of year in our industry, and the simple hard fact is if a customer misses their appointment, whether it's their fault or ours, all we can do is book the next available appointment which is usually a week or so out and then send through a priority request for an earlier appointment if there is any cancellations.  Under no circumstances do we call dispatch and ask them to send another tech.  The answer is a foregone conclusion NO, and what 's more they are run off their feet as it is without us calling.

So, I told them, I sent the a reminder email, we had a meeting, there was a corporate  wide notice sent to them, and still every day at least one of them says  "he missed his appointment, should I call dispatch?"  They are making me nuts.

So today I decided to finally use the $100 in gift certificates to the local spa which my daughter gave me for Yule last year.  I went at 10 this morning and it was amazing and a real bargain.  I had a manicure, followed by a massage and hot rock treatment.  Then I had a facial, full body herbal mud wrap, and a hot tub.  It took over four hours but what an amazing way to spend four hours.  And to top it all off, I got a special deal and it only cost me $27 on top of my gift certificates. (my daughter says I have "hooker red" fingernails LOL).

Then my daughter Kat and I went thrift store shopping for a few things for Eve.  She is growing so tall and needs new clothes for daycare.  Got her a couple of pairs of jeans and a shirt for the winter.

After that I had to break down and go to the laundromat.  My washing maching (which is included in my rent btw) broke down three weeks ago and I have been avoiding going.  I did a load of laundry at Magpie's place a couple of weeks back and my son has done a little at his buddie's place, but the bulk of it has been piling up.

Well, with four adults and a child in the house (or for the purposes of laundry 5 adults since I discovered after the fact that the mountain included the boyfriend's dirty clothes too) the laundry had really piled up.  In the end it cost me $75 to do it at the coin laundry.  Yep, you read right. $75!! I about choked.

You can bet I am going to be telling the landlord that I expect that to be deducted from my rent next month. After all, laundry facilities are part of my lease and if he can't get off his butt and get me a new machine in here then he can pay my bill.

Weather here is cold and damp today.  Thank you Hannah!  Still given what other have had to face with weather lately, I can't complain.  Read the farmer's almanac last weekend and it says that for my area at least the winter will have less snow and be milder than we are used to, so here is hoping.  After last winter (which they predicted accurately) we need a break.

Sorry to see the leaves changing already.  They have been calling for volunteers to work on Thanksgiving already.  Not me thanks.

I am fighting the urge to start packing for Mexico LOL.

Eithne

I wanted to share with you something of my amazing friend Jo.  She was one of the wonderful pagan women I spent the weekend with.

Jo is a tiny bit of a woman, married with two children.  She is an amazingly talented seamstress and has always made a living making clothes for people.

All of her life she has been fascinated by Africa and as an adult she has been horrified by some of the human rights violations and the suffering, particularly of woman in many African nations.

But what she would ask herself could one small woman in Canada do.

So she decided to take her talent for sewing and see how it could be used to help some women in Africa.  She has started a sewing cooperative in Rowanda, where widows of the genicide make pyjamas.  They are wonderful old fashioned, classic pyjamas, made from organic cotton and paid for at fair trade prices. 

She travels there once a year or so and she taught the initial group of women to sew, then she created the patterns for them and she markets their pyjamas through the internet at the moment and will be marketing them through stores in the future when they have enough inventory to do so.

She also brings back from Rowanda every year beaded jewellery and bags which the women make in their spare time to help support themselves and their children.

As part of their jobs as part of the cooperative, the women also get medical help for their children and themselves and they grow vegetables to help feed their families.  They also have an exercise period every day at work, to keep them healthy.

She started out doing this with nothing and now after about three years has managed to get a grant for a little over $50 000 per year for the next three years to keep her work going.  She has enlisted the help of a number of people in Rowanda to help her and she continues to work here on behalf of "her widows" as she calls them.

Right now she is busy creating new patterns in all the sizes from xxs to 5x for terry bathrobes, both full length and 3/4 length, so that her widows can add these to their inventory.

Meanwhile, she makes no profit from their work.  It is all theirs.

So this just shows what one small woman in small town Canada can do if she sets her mind to it.

Well I am just home from the Widow's Weekend and got to spend the time with five of the strongest, funniest and most wonderful women I know

Saturday we got up early and went Yard Sale-ing We had a blast and I got a bargain in two large bags of fabric for $10. One of the other women bought a bag too so when we got home we dumped them out and after we had picked out what we wanted made the rest available to everyone else.  I got a beautiful five yard piece of pink velveteen that I am going to make into something wonderful for Eve although I am not sure what yet.

Magpie bought a dinner set and two chairs and two end tables.  It was hilarious as we travelled north in Bear's car and it was packed to the roof going up so coming back there was no room to spare.  She spent the whole weekend trying to figure out how she was going to tell him that he had to pack this stuff on the roof.  Finally though they decided to leave the two chairs there and go back for them later.

Saturday afternoon most of them went for a spa treatment, a massage or a manicure.  I could not afford to go as I am saving my pennies for something more important.

Sunday we went to the beach for the afternoon and in the evening we went out to dinner.  I have to admit I was horribly disappointed with dinner, and felt bad because our hostess had spent the whole weekend bragging about this amazing restaurant and how it was owned and run by friends of hers.  So when my food came both cold and the meat was like shoe leather, I know I should have just sent it back, but everyone else seemed to have a great meal and I didn't want to upset her, and besides with all the time we had waited for our meal, sending mine back would have meant that by the time they cooked mine again, everyone else would have been finished eating and I would have been eating alone.  So I kept my mouth shut while everyone else praised the meal, knowing that I would never eat there again anyway.  Still in the end it cost me $50 for a bowl or reasonably good soup and a really really bad steak.  All in all a very disappointing meal.

When we got home we did tarot readings.  I had my tarot read by one of the few people I know who I trust to read as well and as accurately as I would do.  She said she wished she could tell me better things but she couldn't.  She did reassure me that despite what some people might believe, what I am doing in my home life, in supporting my kids as much as I do and in raising Eve, I am doing the right thing and that eventually things will go my way.  She told me that I would not get one of the five manager positions that are coming up in the next week or so.  She seems to think that there is something else on the horizon for me and that I might even leave my present company, although I can't for the life of me see how, given that at my age, people aren't jumping out to hire me.  She also said that there was no one romatically coming into my life any time soon.  Surprise surprise!

Today, we had our usual cloting exchange where we all bring whatever clothes we have that we no longer wear or no longer like and throw it all in a pile and then everyone picks through it and takes what they can use.  Anything left over is then taken to the local thrift/charity store.

So all in all I had a great weekend, so tell me why do I feel so damned down.  I don't really know where this came from but I feel lonely, left out, invisible. 

So while I had a great weekend and should feel great, I feel blue.

Here's hoping I can chase that off quickly.

I will live through the next 24 hours and try not to tackle all of life's problems at once.

I will improve my mind, I will learn something that requires effort and concentration.

I will be agreeable.  I will look my best, speak in a well modulated voice, and be courteous and considerate.

I will not find fault with a friend, relative or colleague. I will not try to change or improve anyone but myself.

I will have a programme. I might not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two enemies:
hurry and indecision.

I will do a good turn and keep it a secret. If anyone finds out, it will not count.

I will do two things I don't want to do, just for the exercise.

I will believe in myself. I will give my best to the world and feel confident that the world will give it's best to me.

I am looking around at leaves that have already started changing and remembering the snow dump I saw the other day while I was on my ballon ride, which still has snow in it from last winter, and wondering where the summer has gone.

I was expecting my quarterly bonus to be on my paycheque this week. I even know how much to expect, but it wasn't there.  Apparently there is a delay and the bonuses will be on the next paycheque.

Now the down side of this all is that it makes things very tight for me this pay period.  But I have managed to make things work and paid everyone I had expected to pay, then shopped carefully for groceries and now when my bonus money comes in two weeks, I will be that much ahead.  Perhaps I will be able to put a little extra away for spending money in Mexico.

Today the washing machine finally died completely. I went down to do a load of laundry and instead of filling it just dumped water all over my floor.  So now I have a load of wet soapy clothes and a huge puddle on the floor in the basement.  I called the landlord but I doubt I will hear from them before Monday.

Fortunately I am heading out to visit with Magpie and Bear tomorrow so I will take the clothes out there and beg the use of their washing machine. 

Next weekend we are all headed up into the Haliburton highlands for the long weekend, Bear to the Men's Weekend and Magpie and I to the Widow's Weekend (the wives of all the men who are off doing macho stuff LOL).

Anyway, really quite quiet here.  Had someone approach me to ask if they could join the coven.  It is a woman who has visited with us a few times and I am certain she will be welcomed by all but I will confirm that tomorrow.  So even as Grasshopper chooses to move on, the Goddess brings another student my way.  Guess it's all about what she wants me to do.