What's the German word for 'Headache'?

Because I can feel one developing even as I attempt to keep my cool.

Just once I'd like the world to operate in a sane and logical manner.

Apparently, I was supposed to work last night.....only no one told me, and no one thought to call me either. So my co-worker had to work a double, and I felt terrible and torqued all at once. I could really have used those hours. Plus, why did no one tell me? All my supervisor said when I told her I was available to work that day was "ok", which is what she normally says to acknowledge that I said something. She didn't say, "Ok, I'll put you on the schedule" or anything.

On top of that, her supervisor apparently didn't tell her about my time-off notice for my trip to see my dad, because she brought the schedule for the next two weeks and had me scheduled to work the day I fly out and the day after that! Now, I did as she told me to, she told me to inform him of the days I'd need off, so why didn't he let her know? Since she's the one that does the scheduling?

Plus, he's supposedly hired two new people, which is mental when we already have to double up on one shift at one of the locations!

More and more I think I really need to get a new job. I had planned on holding off until I could drop the application for the job in Germany, but I'm not sure if things will work out that way. Especially since, even if I get that job, I won't be over there until May or June. Of course, my frustration is based largely off how little people care about their employees, but hey, there's nothing I can do about that, is there?

As long as I'm making a half-way decent pay-check here, I'll stick with it. It's not a terrible job, and it pays the few bills I have (although, let's be honest, if I didn't live with my Granma, I'd literally have to choose between utilities and food, and that's if I was working a full 40hrs a week).

Sorry, I know you guys aren't on here to read my ranting.

So, I'm almost finished with Granma's shawl. I'd have finished it last week except I can't knit at work anymore. After that, I have to get my step-mother's cowl on the needles so I can get if finished. I'd rather work on my shawl, or mom's socks, but mom understands that I might not get it done in time. I really need to get some more stuff put up on Etsy, but I just haven't felt like making anything. I've got the stuff and the ideas, and I want nothing to do with any of it right now.

It's that massive headache I mentioned at the top of the post.

But, all hope is not lost! Starting January, I'll starting knitting for next Christmas, that way, by the time Christmas rolls around, I'll have everything ready. And my headache will be cut in half.

Hopefully, next year I'll be posting from Germany. Say a prayer for me, please? Hopefully everything works out.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and feel free to drop me a message!

Yours always,
Tara

Wishy-washy weather, yarn purchases, and knitters fatigue

Do you ever just get burned out on a project? I'm almost done with this blanket I've been working on! I've got one last panel to do....and I want to work on it about as much as I want to wear a miniskirt (which is to say, not at all). I mean, I'm so close to being finished it isn't funny, but I don't want to work on it.

Actually, what I want to do right now is go home and have a glass of wine, but that's not an option at this current moment.

The point that I'm trying to make is that I'm in a bit of a bind because I've got a scarf, two pairs of socks, a cowl, two shawls, a dress, a stocking, and a hat to make before Christmas and I'm still stuck on this blanket! I mean, really! Plus, I have a few tentative ideas for patterns rattling around (along with every thing else) that I'd like to test knit before I write them up.

I also have a necklace, two rosaries, and several pairs of earrings to get done.

I bought some yarn from knitpicks recently for the two shawls I've got planned, and I finally got the yarn for the bottom of the dress and the wings. The pattern calls for eyelash yarn, but they didn't have any, so I bought boa yarn instead, in a nice white color. It'll look good with the burgundy, and should have a nice effect for the wings.

The weather here refuses to make up it's mind. November 1st was frigid and windy. Since then, it has begun to warm up again. At this rate, I won't get to make use of my sweaters until I go to visit my dad. Of course, I'm still alternately freezing and roasting at work, so we see that nothing has changed there.

Anyway, that's what new, or on-going. I'll talk to you later.

Yours always,
Tara

NOW OPEN!

Padrigin's Corner is now officially open for business!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PadriginsCorner?ref=hdr_shop_menu

So far I only have 6 items up, but I've got more in the works! Hopefully I'll be able to get the others up there soon! I've also got some ideas bouncing around inside my head!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Yours always,
Tara Hills

Yesterday and today: Doctor's appointment, RCIA, and why cooking channels are brilliant

I mention the brilliance of cooking channels, but I should add a caveat to that.....they're brilliant until watching them makes you forget to get on and write your blog post. Yep, that's what happened. I got distracted by Chopped, and then an episode of this show on ABC called Forever. An immortal medical examiner who solves crimes.....even if he weren't really attractive and in possession of a nice accent, the concept would probably still be enough to grab my attention. But I'm not going to complain about the rest of it.

So to recap yesterday, I got up late, puttered around the house, went to the doctor's (apparently, I'm in good health and should not need to see her again for another year.) visited my mom and sister, came home, backed chocolate pumpkin muffins, dashed off to class, came home, had a beer, and wrestled with unanswerable philosophical questions.

All in all, not a bad day. Even if the beer wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I keep hoping to find something with a similar flavor to Guinness but without the weight of a Guinness....if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, today I got up early, went to mass, puttered around Savannah (with some grumbling at my clock for moving so slowly) and went to Saints and Shamrocks. I love going into that store, but I need to be very careful when I do because I want to take half of the store home. And I just can't afford to do that.

I bought a few new saint medals to add to my charm necklace, two laminated prayer cards to go with the chaplet and the rosary on Etsy, a little statue of Our Lady of Grace, and a copy of Gaelic Storm's "The Full Irish: Greatest Hits".

I kind of feel like I've passed a milestone here. I now own a statue of our Mother. Okay, yeah, it's not the biggest, nor the most detailed, but it's still a very nice little statue. It just makes it all a little more real, if that makes sense.

As for Gaelic Storm, what can I say? I love celtic rock.

I'm hoping to get the listings up by the end of the week. I'm not sure how well it will do, but I hope it'll work out. I've got some ideas for more chaplets, as well as a few other crafts. I've got my heart set on a resin kit for jewelry making that I think will be brilliant, but the stuff I'm listing now needs to do well first.

Anyway, hopefully I'll remember to drag myself away from the tv tomorrow night as well.

Yours always,
Tara

Almost ready to open shop and parish social events as a non-social person

I've started getting things ready to open my etsy shop soon. Getting pictures taken, figuring out what to make next, and adding other little details to the mix. This isn't the most difficult thing I've done, but it's not easy, especially since I'm not all that good at pricing things. I don't want to price it too low, but at the same time, I definitely don't want to price it too high either.

So far I have several pairs of guitar pick earrings, a necklace and earrings set, a St. Patrick chaplet, and the Pieta Rosary. The rosary was a struggle to make because the wire didn't always want to do what I wanted it too. I'm actually thinking about taking and re-doing a one whole decade because it's a little too long. Don't get me wrong, I loved making it, and it turned out really well, all things considered, but it was a little difficult.

The chaplet also caused me a little trouble because the only St. Patrick medal that I had available was a double sided St. Patrick/St. Brigid medal. Still, I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Oh, and I finally made my book music box.

I went a little overboard with the stickers, but I don't think it turned out badly. I've also got a few things in mind for the background on future boxes. The cross statue is actually for those little fairy gardens, I just cut the stake that held in up in the ground off and it was perfect. No lights on this one, just a lot of stickers and a music box movement hidden under that green fabric. It plays When Irish Eyes are Smiling.

I'd like to be able to make some for the store as well, later on. I'm hoping I've just about figured out what I'm doing with them, but you never know.

It's been cooler here the past few days, although the forecast promises that this lovely fall weather won't last. I'm not upset about the nights warming up, but I like wearing long sleeves and jackets so the days warming back up does bother me slightly.

I have a follow up appointment with the doctor tomorrow, which promises to be lots of fun. Actually, it shouldn't be too bad, I just have to whine about it as a principle. At least this time they shouldn't need to stick me with needles.....I hope.

Another thing I'm doing tomorrow is baking. I'm making three batches of Chocolate pumpkin muffins to (hopefully) take to my RCIA class to share. Food sort of acts as a conversation starter, which means I can socialize without feeling awkward.

Speaking of feeling awkward! Last night was the parish Stewardship Appreciation dinner in the park by the cathedral. I went. Thankfully, Aunt D showed up before I could get so uncomfortable as to leave, but it was a close thing. I'm not a social person by nature. I mean, I love people, I like being around people, if I didn't work second shift (and was Catholic instead of "becoming Catholic") I'd be trying to do a lot more. Unfortunately I also have a really hard time socializing.

I'm not comfortable starting conversations, I'm not comfortable taking point, as it were. I need to get to know people....then I never shut up, so be fore-warned, I'm bad about talking too much with people I'm comfortable with.

It makes things like the dinner really hard to enjoy because I'm literally just standing out there in limbo! I knew exactly three people there, and two of them were priests! (Not that that's a bad thing, quite the opposite, it's good to know one's parish's priests.) I managed to relax when Aunt D arrived, but still. It's absolutely terrible.

I'm hoping to visit my Dad this year at Christmas time. It's kind of hard because I have to figure out when I can go, how much it'll cost, and how long I can stay. I looks like I'd really only be able to be there for 5 days, not including travel time. I also would need to get a carry on bag to go for my stuff. Working takes the fun out of travel because if you take time off, you lose pay, and then what? I don't get paid enough as it is, which is why I'm so grateful that I live with my Granma. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be able to afford a place to live.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll talk to ya'll again tomorrow.

Yours always,
Tara

RCIA class #1 and the hunt for a small wall crucifix without a scary price tag

Ehem.

RCIA. The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. Let me be incredibly honest, in the hours leading up to this class, my stomach was in knots. Why? Because I'm not, by nature, an out going person. I like people, don't get me wrong. I like groups of people too. But only if I know them all and have at least a minimum level of friendship with them. So classes of any kind are a bit intimidating.

Of course, everyone reading this who has been through these classes at the Cathedral knows that there was really no reason to be worried. There were a few tables with chairs, extra chairs along the wall, and a grand total of about 40 or so people there. I didn't count.

I took along my knitting, but did not actually pull it out. I probably should have. Knitting helps to relieve nervous energy, and most people are more fascinated by it than annoyed by it. I think I've lost one of my needles in my floor though. St. Anthony has his work cut out for him helping me find it.

My room exists in a state of semi-permanent chaos, with a vague sense of organization where my craft supplies are concerned. I still have boxes that I haven't unpacked, and quite frankly might never get around to unpacking....which is all the more reason to unpack them, because I probably need to get rid of 95% of the stuff in the boxes.

Anyway! The class! Today was a basic intro class. Father Shrek (yes, I did spell that correctly, thank you....I think) gave us a small syllabus (yay!) to give us an idea of what we'll be covering and when we will be out of class, such as St. Patrick's Day. Smart move that one. Savannah is crazy on St. Pat's!  We start to actually get into things more next week.

He also mentioned the blessings thing. Many of you may recall that, for a time, I would go up to receive a blessing during the communion procession. I stopped after reading some stuff that implied that this recent tradition was not well received by those in authority. I'm still conflicted about the whole thing, and honestly, I'm probably going to go nuts trying to figure out what to do. According to Father Shrek, it's fine to do so. I'm still not sure whether I should, or whether I should stay in my seat.

There's some things that I do that I know a lot of people argue over, and frankly, for most of it, I can't really bring myself to care. There is no definitive "this is how it should be" so I figure, as long as I do my best to follow the rules, I'm fine. I'm not going to stop doing something just because a few people don't like it. But in this case, I'm not really sure what to think.

Now that I'm off on Tuesdays, my weekday mass service has been changed from Wednesday to Tuesdays. Added to this is a new exercise regime for Aunt D and I. After mass, we walk. Just, you know, where ever. We walked around for a few hours before stopping by Saints and Shamrocks. Every time I go in there I look at the wall crucifixes, and every time the price tags are scary.

I'm not sure why it is, but depending on the object, my "scary price tag" could be anywhere from $15 to $200. It all depends on the object. Restaurants where everything is $10 or more....scary price tags. A wall crucifix for $50.....scary price tag. A book for $30....scary price tag. Now that's not to say I never make purchases for things with "scary price tags" but I do try to keep it to a minimum. Scary price tags are called that for a reason, after all.

And honestly, I balk at spending $50 for most things. Which does not in any way negate the fact that I realize spending $100 for the complete M*A*S*H series plus the movie and a disc of bonus features is a really good deal. It just means that I still looked every where before finally making the purchase. What can I say? The joys of online shopping. I don't have to ask for help because it's already at my finger tips, I have the option of shopping multiple stores at the same time, and I don't have to deal with people. Brilliant.

Oh! Some quick shop news. While I will be doing a lot of work on personal projects, I am hoping to start on some items for the Etsy store shorty. It's my hope that I will be able to officially open for business by the end of October, beginning of November. I'll be sure to post a link when I open for business.

One thing I've been looking into is a metal casting service. Sadly, metal casting is a bit beyond my skills, but I'd really like to see a better medal for Our Lady Star of the Sea. The primary ones that I've found all look a little.....clinical. I can't help but think that any devotion to our Mother deserves to be a little more vibrant. Not necessarily colorful, but more detailed perhaps. Especially since we have so many beautiful medals for the saints, and other devotions to the Blessed Mother, easily available to us.

There's a lot of beautiful devotions to Mary that don't get a lot of attention. I'm not sure why, maybe because they aren't apparitions? But another really beautiful one is Our Lady of La Leche. I guess maybe I like that one so much because my mother breast fed my brothers, and will do so for my sister as well, but I just think it's lovely to see our Mother like that.

Anyway, I've gone off into rambling again. I really need to stop doing that. So I'm going to sign off, and call it a night. It's been a long, productive day.

Oh! Shameless plug for my favorite (well, a favorite) show on EWTN. Saints Alive! comes on tomorrow night at 5pm Eastern!

Goodnight all!

Yours always,
Tara

Music Box, Stella Maris, and lots of excitement.

So I finished the music box Saturday afternoon and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. That's the outside. It's a fairly decent sized box that looks like a book.

I went into Photoshop and used some digital scrap-booking patterns and pictures to make the background, bought the little bird and the dragons at Michael's (a container with six dragons cost the same as one large dragon), and got the string lights and music box online. The cover that the bird is sitting on is just some cardboard that I covered with glittery scrapbook paper. Hot glue and staples were very helpful. I have some ideas of what I'm doing now, so the next one should look better.

I want to find a different way to secure the lights though. The staples stuck out and then had to be pushed in and it just....it works, but I'd like something better.

I'm also trying to figure out if I should try to illuminate the smaller ones. Yeah, I'm going to make some smaller ones. I've got an idea of how I want to go about it, so now I just have to give it a shot. I'm thinking something Phantom of the Opera-esque.

There's the inside of the bird's perch. Inside is the battery operated switch for the lights and music box movement itself. I bought the ones in the case because at the time when I bought them, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with them.

I think, after mine, I'll just purchase the movements, sans cases, and make something for it myself. For one thing, this will save space, and for another, it won't be as difficult to work with.

Ha! It worked! Sorry, been having a little trouble with getting my pictures where I want them to be. That's the one thing I'm not fond of with most blogging sites. I know where I want my picture, just let me put it there!

Anyway, that's my terrible artwork you see to the right. I was trying to keep it within an oval shaped frame, like most of the medals you see, but um....well, I decided making our Blessed Mother look as good as my (really poor) skills would allow was bit more important. I tried.

There's a few things I like about this picture. The sea doesn't look as bad as I had thought it did. And I manages not to completely mess up the hands....I think.

Other than that, I think it's terrible. Really and truly terrible.

I'm a little disappointed at how little there is for Our Lady Star of the Sea. I mean, I know it's not the most popular title our Mother has, but still! It's one of the oldest Marian devotions there is! And it's a beautiful one too.

Although, I'll be honest, part of why I love it might be because I love nautical stuff, despite the fact that I'd sink like a rock.

Anyway, tomorrow is the start of RCIA classes. I'm so excited! I can't wait! I'm also vaguely terrified because *eek* people! but I'll survive. I'm meeting Aunt D for Morning mass, followed by breakfast and walking, then I'm running some errands for my mother, and then who knows what I'll do until time to leave for class.

Can you tell I'm excited? I'm thrilled!

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!
Yours Always,
Tara