Be careful what you wish for

My niece, Preslee. She made this face all the time when I was visiting her! Grumpy old man!

Thank you all for the encouraging comments on all the sewing! I've been away from my sewing machine since Thursday morning (I did a little sewing before I left for my Mom's house) and it feels sort of strange! While I was away I knit on a couple of WIPs and did a bunch of the handsewing for my niece's blanket. It felt good to get some progress on those things away from the lure of the sewing machine.

I've been trying to sort out in my head why I went on such a bender last week and I think I've figured it out. Most days, while I sit at work, a portion of my brain is working on craft projects. I seem to be constantly turning ideas over in my head and suddenly one will emerge fully formed from the mix. I would love to be in a situation where I could have that freedom all the time...

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The paragraphs above were written the afternoon of August 7 when I was back at work after my vacation. I have to say: Be very careful what you wish for. Why, WHY did I not wish for a million dollars?

You see, I suddenly find myself with a LOT of free time to do whatever I want! Yay! I mean, it comes at the cost of being let go from my job, which sucks, but still...

(yes. that was sarcasm. sorry)

Out of the blue on Friday, the wife of the owner of the company I was working for came in to the office to see me. She is in charge of HR matters, albeit from an absentee position. She said she needed to talk to me and told me they were letting me go. I really don't have a clear understanding of what happened. I'm still in shock, frankly.

I had previously had a few "run-ins" with a co-worker, but those issues had been worked through and somewhat resolved (and, by the way, the HR/owner's wife absolved me of any responsibility in those run-ins). Apparently, while I was on vacation, another coworker (a close friend of the aforementioned one) apparently complained about me, was lobbying to have his friend hired in my position and on Friday threatened to quit if I wasn't fired. I honestly have no idea what his problem was. He and I had never had any arguments or anything, I went out of my way to help him, I was friendly and courteous to him. Looking back now, I can see that in the past couple of months (the timing coincides with the "run-ins" with the other coworker) he had started to treat me differently, being somewhat dismissive or outright ignoring my requests of him as regarded my areas of responsibility.

Anyway, all that said, the HR lady/owner's wife apologized and basically said they were in a spot where they had to let me go b/c they couldn't afford to lose him. She again praised my work with the company, assured me that they were going to write me a glowing letter of recommendation and gave me my check. Then she kept asking me if I was okay. It took pretty much every last ounce of self-control I had to not yell at her. Of course I'm not okay. Three days ago you gave me a raise and today you're "letting me go"?

So anyway, if you're still with me, sorry for blurting this all out here on the internets. But, on the upside (see, I can be a positive person) I'll have time to get some stuff made to put on Etsy, I'll get some stuff done that I've been putting off, and I'll hopefully be able to be with my mom for her first Chemo treatment. Once I get up the nerve to tell her about my job that is.

I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures to make it all better. For now, I'm trying not to think. Ask me how that's going...

Here's a picture of one of the sundresses being modelled. This is the only non-blurry pic I was able to get of her in it. Squirmy kid + crappy camera=blurry childhood photos.