Happiness is Spring Fabric on a Wintery Day

I'm really enjoying my new job and I would be quite happy staying there another year. It's fun to work with lovely fabrics all day and to meet lots of people and do lots of socializing. I like it when I get booked in for 4 hour shifts; the 8 hour shifts darn near kill me. (Well, they knock me out of commission for a few days).

I have a philosophy that by showing respect for our fabrics we show respect for our customers. A coworker told me that when the place looks like crap the employees get treated like crap. Being conscientious and a hard worker, I take a certain amount of pride in my work and workplace, so I work hard to keep the store tidy. There are a few employees who don't care, but then there are others who, like me, hate shopping in a messy fabric store themselves and so also work to keep the place tidy. When it is busy it is hard to keep anything neat. But each shift I'm in I tidy up the quilt wall and then move on to tidy other tables as time permits. I worked Friday evening and all day Saturday and even though we were a bit busier than usual, it wasn't horrendously busy so I had lots of time for tidying. It's really useful, too-- helps familiarize me with all the different fabrics and where things are. Of course, as spring stuff is coming in, every shift I go in for things have been rearranged, so I never really know where things are.

Exciting news: I can do samples! Each employee has the opportunity to make one sample garment/project a month. They have two weeks to sew up the project (farbic, etc provided), it is displayed for a month and then they get to take it home. My first garment is going to be something small and simple; I will do more elaborate or difficult things in the summer when I have more time. But it is hard to choose what to do. While there are certain rules we must follow and we're somewhat restricted in our choice of fabric, it is still difficult to choose just one project and just one fabric.... hmmmm. Anyway, I have a plan for what I would like to do, I just need to run it by the manager Monday.

For now, I need to buckle down and get some Latin studied. Big test tomorrow, and my it's my first class back from reading week.

De Sewin Leson

Very Important Canadian Court Case for Employees with Invisible Disabilities

Please read this!

The Supreme Court of Canada is hearing a case which will directly impact labour law as it relates to people with invisible disabilities. Two lower courts have judged against Honda for the wrongful dismissal of an employee with chronic fatigue (CF). I heard an interview with the employee's lawyer on CBC this morning (the link below is to an article written by the lawyer). The employee received harassing and demeaning treatment from the company doctor (any of us who have been through the doctor circus won't be surprised) and his employer refused to continue accommodating his disability-related absences (4 days a month). They demanded he see the doctor again, saying he was well, and when he questioned why they were sending him back to the company doctor again he was terminated.

Lawyer's Statement
http://www.mefmaction.net/Patients/LegalIssues/LegalArticles/IntervenorStatusKeaysvsHonda/tabid/858/Default.aspx

Listen to the CBC interview here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2008/200802/20080220.html

News Article here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/02/20/scoc-dismissal.html

Of course, I have a keen interest in this case because it will directly impact my life. Will I be able to get the accommodations I need to do my job? Can my employer demand that I go to their doctor, who could be biased against my condition (as in this case)? Can my employer decide when I'm 'better' and can they demand endless medical notes about my condition? This is not just about people with CF; it is for anyone and everyone who has an invisible disability-- fibromyalgia, CF, mental health, etc. Even if you don't have an invisible disability, please read this and learn about it. You never know when you might find yourself in need of accommodations.

Officially Spring!

It is officially spring. I don't care what the weather says, what the calendar says or how much snow is still on the ground. As far as I am concerned, I have decided that it is now SPRING. I will accept no arguments to the contrary. The days are now noticeably longer and the S.A.D. has abated, which means I basically feel that I've just come out of hibernating. Spring started Wednesday, February 13th this year.

It's like stepping out of some dark hole into a bright, sunny day. Yesterday I pulled out the spring/summer fabric from last year that never got sewn up and started cutting out new tops. I have renewed energy (not that I have more energy, just that what I do have is renewed) and an expanded interest in my hobbies. I'm thinking more about eating better and getting back into the gym routine. It is time for spring resolutions. I did a pedicure Thursday night in preparation for my Greek midterm and painted my toes lovely spring colours. I have pulled my short skirts from the back of the closet and am choosing to look dressy and flirty over jeans-and-sweater style, even if it is a little chilly. The drab, dark winter colours are over for me; I'm wearing the cheeriest cloths I own (and that are still decent enough, given the weather.) The last remnant of winter decorations came down and I changed the red tablecloth for a yellow one with blue flowers. I've already been through one pot of bulbs from the grocery store and will soon indulge in a second (but shall it be hyacinths or tulips or daffodils? I will have to get daffodils for March 1st at any rate.) It is officially spring.

Now, if only mother nature would clue in and catch up...

Cursus Honorum

And so it begins.... a paper accepted at an undergraduate conference.

Conference

Yesterday was our Classics Club's second annual undergraduate conference. Being on the exec meant that I was involved in organizing and running it. I don't feel like I did all that much, but I'm assured by our prez that I did, so I guess I'll take her word for it. The conference was a smashing success. All the presentations were really well done and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The most exciting part was seeing students from different schools and different areas of discipline visiting with each other and discussing the papers and socializing. I think that's where the true success of it lies, at least for me. I'm big on the interdisciplinary aspect and so I was really excited to hear our presenter who is in fine arts/art history.

I made it through the day and when I got home I knew I was tired but I didn't realize how tired until I started to relax, which is when it all caught up with me and I started to feel the hurt, too. Fortunately I don't have to work this afternoon, so I can spend the day resting, getting caught up on Latin and studying for my Greek midterm on Friday. *shudder*

Don't Read This If You're Eating Lunch

So I found out from the super why I don't have any mice this winter. Last year Muggs had brought me half a dozen (or more) mice and demonstrated her hunting prowess by killing them on my sleeping body... perhaps some sort of sacrificial rite to her human to ensure less snow, cold and rain outside? After all, as her human, I am directly responsible for the weather.

Anyway, the super was over checking out my very drippy kitchen faucet. As he reached in under the kitchen sink, I made a comment about watching out for the mice. The super told me that there hadn't been many mice: he had put down poison only once, and some of it still untouched. The antepenultimate super (my word, not his) had told him that by this time he usually had put down poison three or four times and it would all be gone. I realized that I hadn't been hearing mice in the walls and I hadn't woken up from the noise of mice in my bedroom ceiling. And the reason...?

The guy upstairs moved out last summer.

Disgusting, isn't it? I have heard stories of what a horrendous pit of filth that apartment was, but I find it hard to imagine someone living with filth and vermin like that for seven years. The reason I was having mice issues was because I was between the ground and their haven in the sky. They were moving through my apartment (when Muggs didn't catch them) to either get outside or to get up to the wonderful pit of filth above my head. (The super had to completely rip out the kitchen and bathroom, it was so bad, and he told me found remains of at least one mouse.)

I'm not sure if Muggs misses the mice or not. She is an awfully good hunter. But I know I don't miss them-- especially waking up at three in the morning with them being sacrificed on my sleeping body.

Candlemas Day, Feb. 2nd

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half o the winter's to come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half o the winter's gane at Yule.

A farmer should, on Candlemas Day,
Have half his corn and half his hay.

On Candlemas Day if the thorns hang adrop,
You can be sure of a good pea crop.

The badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and, if he finds snow, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining he draws back into his hole.

When the cat lies in the sun in February
She will creep behind the stove in March.

Of all the months of the year
Curse a fair February.

If it thunders in February, it will frost in April.

If February give much snow,
A fine summer it doth foreshow.

A candle which drips on one side when carried in church on Candlemas, denotes a death during the year of someone dear.

Snowdrops are considered to be unlucky if brought into the house before Candlemas Day, representing a parting or death.

Any Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night (January 5th) should be left up until Candlemas Day and then taken down.

Spoon Day!

If you've ever wondered what it is like to live with chronic pain, please read this. I found it last night and it is the best explanation I've heard so far.

http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/navigation/BYDLS-TheSpoonTheory.pdf

Of course, fibromyalgia is never straightforward. Some days I wake up with lots of spoons, some days I wake with very few. Something that might only cost me one spoon one day could cost me three the next, and vica versa. It's always good to keep an element of surprise in life!

Today is a spoon day-- uni is closed because of the storm so I can stay home and get caught up on schoolwork. Of course, I would really like to be sewing, but I haven't had a chance yet to prewash my fabrics. That was supposed to be todays job. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.