Jacquie's Journal

Look What We Woke Up To This Morning...

It has mostly gone now and most of the rest of the day was beautifully sunny if a little chilly.  One of the amazing things about the Salt Lake valley is that, like today for instance, it can be perfectly clear blue sky on one side of the valley and dark snow laden clouds on the other side (our side of course!!).  It's probably the cue to think about putting away the garden furniture and battening down the hatches for winter.

Thank you everyone who wished me well for my new job.  It has been a bit strange because the company are moving and don't want to shell out for new desks or anything so I have been "virtual" desking, going wherever there is a space because someone is out for the day.  On Friday I finally got my own temporary table.  Tomorrow I think I will feel like I can start being useful.  I still haven't decided on the optimum route to work and back and have been a different way each day - all pretty horrible in the rush hour as only to be expected I suppose.  Some people are just not nice when they are in a hurry to get home!

I joined in a pincushion swap on Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns  - we have had some great swaps this year.  This is what I received from loobyj.  They are both beautifully made and I have an "every day" one and a "festive" one.  The "festive" one is going to go on the tree once my festive projects are done - it deserves its chance to shine!

My contribution was a kaleidocycle
  This is the prototype or "proof of concept" piece.  I made the one I sent on the machine and fussy-cut the diamonds so that the pattern matched up on each colour.  Although it wasn't as tight as the paper version it spun really well and I think had a nice feel to it.

Our swap this month is an Autumn Swap and I have been putting a package together that I hope my swapee will enjoy.

Finally, a gratuitous cute kitties picture.  I think they are just about grown up now, but they are still very soft and fluffy and naughty.  I spent some considerable time making them a special cat toy which of course they have studiously ignored.  Then I knit a swatch to try out some ideas for a sweater and Desi carries that around everywhere with him.  I have no idea why one appeals and the other doesn't.

New Beginning

Well today I started my new job!!  I have been to a couple of interviews and done various technical tests and had to choose between three jobs in the end.  It hasn't felt right to blog about my job hunt, in case things didn't work out, but today I was offered the job I really wanted and they wanted me to start right away so off I went with laptop and Employment Authorization card in hand. 

The first day is always strange and unsettling - or is it just me?  That feeling that you will never understand what they want you to do exactly and that maybe really you aren't qualified to be there after all.  Luckily I have been the new person often enough to know that this feeling wears off pretty quickly and before you know where you are you are bandying buzzwords and acronyms with the best of them.

I wore some brand new trousers I got from our local JC Penney that had a huge sale because they were closing down making room for a whole new shopping complex.  It's lucky Lucy was here when I left because she was able to point out that although I had got most of the tags I still had the little bag with the extra button in dangling down the back - lucky escape from certain total humiliation there!!

The only other thing that went wrong was I thought the power supply on my laptop was misbehaving as it wasn't working in any of the power outlets there, but it works fine here - oh and I need my glasses!!

The only sad thing about going back to work is that Edward comes home to an empty house and Charlie is alone for a good part of the day.  Lucy will come over to let her out during the day though and I will still take her out for her walks - maybe twice a day - if it's not too cold.

It will be so nice to have a wage packet.  I can buy yarn whenever I want, even though I will have less time to knit. 

I haven't forgotten my Pay It Forward angels.  I promise I will do something about that at the weekend.

Pay It Forward Exchange Update

Another busy week - don't want to jinx things by saying anything at this stage though!

I do however have to apologise to my PIFees for dropping the ball on that and I will now attempt to make amends for that.

My three PIFees are Alarming Female, Murdo and daisydap.  Thank you so much for volunteering and I am looking forward to making something special for each of you and to that end will shortly be sending out the same questionnaire whimsical knitting sent me.  She has an amazing collection of buttons you can choose from to display so others know you are participating.   Don't forget it's best to download and host your own  copy of your chosen button.

Thank you to everyone else who volunteered.  If you would still like to participate I am sure my three PIFees will be looking for their own very soon.

At last I feel my knitting mo-jo returning - maybe it's the cooler weather or the need for some respectable clothing to wear in the event of sudden employment in an office where I have to be thought of as responsible and smart.  I am looking seriously at sweater and jacket patterns and will post more when I have narrowed down the choices.  In the meantime I am going to knit some cat toys from some Peaches n cream that will last forever and may prolong the cats' lives too if they play with those and not the live fish, the dog, or the furniture!

Busy Week!

Dear Readers,
I feel I have neglected you badly over the last few days.  We have had Gary's Mum and Sister here so I am afraid entertaining them took priority.  They are safely back home now so I have time to get you all up to date here as well as get my PIFees sorted out.

Those of you who read other Salt Lake City located blogs will know that in the last two weeks we have had enough weather for 3 seasons, including hot sunny days, several inches of snow (on the day we planned to have a barbecue party) as well as the expected beautiful fall colours.

So what have we been doing since the wedding apart from not knowing whether to wear shorts or long pants, boots or sandals, sweaters or t-shirts?

We saw Hairspray which was good even though I am not a fan of musicals.  John Travolta was great in his female role except I was distracted by what I thought was an intermittent tortured British accent, but which I now understand was a Baltimore accent - I can't say how accurate it was though.

We went on a scenic drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon, stopping for a quick hike round Silver Lake, taking care not to slip on the icy patches under the trees where the sun rarely shines, then over Guardsman's Pass to Park City where we had buffalo burgers at the No Name Saloon and a look round the shops.

Some of us had a lucky day at Wendover.  We had the buffet lunch at the Montego Bay (dazzling lights, loud, and the worst carpet I have ever seen!) and then headed across the bridge to the Nugget (almost tasteful!) to take our chances on the slots and Blackjack tables.  Lucy and I played Blackjack and we had a very helpful dealer who showed us all the etiquette and what our options were for some of those tricky hands.  It was only the second time I have ever played on an actual table in an actual casino and the first time was a long time ago so I had forgotten most of it.  At the end of her shift we got a guy who wasn't so nice and I got reprimanded for having two hands on the cards at one point - no one told me that was a no-no!  Anyway  we were both well up on our original stake by the end of our day so we were very pleased.

On Friday night we went to Buca De Bepo for dinner - it's not bad for a large group because the food is served "family style" and each dish serves multiple people - as long as everyone in the group likes the same thing of course.  I notice they have introduced single portions of selected menu items recently though.

On Saturday we were supposed to have the barbecue party but it snowed so we had an indoor party instead and only Sean needed to venture out into the cold to put his signature ribs on the grill for a while.  There were 13 of us and we had a jolly time eating and playing Pictionary.  I am not good at Pictionary! 

Sunday we had to get up at 5.00am to get our guests to the airport for their flight home.  It was sad to see them go, but hopefully we will get to the UK next summer and see everyone again then.

Sam and Sunnie are still happily married and are settling in well in their new home!