Look! A New Entry!

Okay, let's see if I remember how to do this.

Yes, it's been more than a few months since I updated this space. Sorry! Life has been really busy. But I'm hopefully getting a handle on things now and will be around a bit more. Or not. We'll see!

I'm still volunteering at the food pantry and the help line, but now I have a new part-time job, which I job-share with another woman. I'm working for a company that manufactures factory parts — that is, things like motors and drives and gears used in the factory itself. I'm a regional coordinator (aka administrative assistant) supporting a team that includes a regional sales manager and thirteen field sales engineers. The work is really interesting and varies day to day. I've been there for about two months now, and I still have a lot to learn, but everyone is nice and helpful.

I work every Thursday and Friday and every other Wednesday, and my job-share partner works the other days. Job-sharing is working out well. We cover for each other when one of us needs to take a day or three off. For example, I worked every day last week so my partner could go visit her daughter, and she'll work every day this week so I can go to Chicago.

So I've definitely succeeded in getting myself out of my dungeon office and into the real world. And so far I'm really happy!

Brigid has spent most of the summer up at Northwestern University for the Center for Talent Development summer program. They run two three-week sessions, each of which covers a full year of coursework. Last year she took a full year of honors physics in the three-week session, and she loved it so much that she begged us to let her go to both sessions this year. She took AP computer programming during the first session, and she's taking AP calculus right now. She'd originally planned to take Latin, but she was the only student who signed up for that class, so she ended up taking the programming class instead.

I've been working on a new crochet project. I haven't finished the afghan I was working on yet, but it's just too dang hot to work on an afghan right now. Instead I took up a smaller project, one that is much better suited to a scorching summer. I'm making a tote bag, and I intend to felt it, which I haven't tried before. And of course, rather than starting with something small, I leapt right in with a big tote bag. I sure hope it works right! I'm not really following a particular pattern. I looked at a bunch online in various places, then decided to just wing it. I'm still crocheting the bag, and I need to figure out how I want to do the handles. I have a few options to consider, such as crocheting attached handles, crocheting handles to sew on, or even crocheting or braiding leather strips. I intend to use the tote bag (assuming it turns out good enough!) to carry an umbrella and a book or two and anything else I need to tote into work every day, so the handles need to be moderately strong.

I'll try to take some pictures over the next few days and post my progress.