Starting last clue of Mystery Stole 3 - and Barbara has a job!

Last night I finished all but the last wrong-side row of Clue 6. I didn't work on it over the weekend because Steve and I took a long weekend up to Lake Tahoe, and I don't chance this project in the car nor in less than ideal lighting-and-setup conditions. I hope I'll post a few pictures later of the trip -- although I forgot my good digital camera. All we had was the cheapie emergency digital camera in Steve's car -- for example, to take a picture of a fender-bender if that were to happen.

My eyes felt sunburned all day, despite wearing sunglasses and a visor all weekend. So I didn't even feel like starting knitting until now. Maybe I'll get a few rows done before turning in to bed.

The best thing that happened yesterday, however, was that Barbara was offered a one-year contract to teach a first grade class in the Union school district in San Jose at Lietz School. Here's a map.

Whew! That was a close one. She rushed over after her part-time hotel job in Santa Cruz to sign the contract and pick up paperwork. The district had new-teacher orientation today and tomorrow, and starts with an in-service day on Thursday. Classes start next Tuesday. She's been assigned a room in a modular (lots of the schools have these, because school districts sold off property during a drop in enrollments in the 70s/80s, and had to expand on existing properties this way when enrollments zoomed again). The room has desks, chairs and textbooks. Barbara was stressing out today about what to do to get the room ready -- hopefully, some of the other teachers and staff will help her get set up!

She needs to give notice at the hotel, although she feels obligated to work for them on weekends through September, since she had told them that's what she would do when she got the job in June. But she's not teaching in Santa Cruz -- and as a first-time teacher, I think she's going to need her weekends. But since she lost out on some income earlier, and is motivated to pay off her student loan from grad school -- maybe she has an extra agenda she's not sharing. I just hope she'll handle the workload with grace. I hope they'll tell her she doesn't need to work every weekend through September when she gives notice.

Mystery Stole 2 - "Scheherazade" - finally posting pictures! [I wish I had participated in Mystery Stole 1 "Leda's Dream" -- but I bought the pattern for $2 PayPal - and will eventually make it.]

Here's the before-blocking version:






















Here's the After-blocking version. I used it when Steve and I went to see "Carmen" at the S.F. Opera, and it still wanted to curl some. So afterwards, I pressed it with the iron, and it seems to be staying flatter. We'll see if it stays flat after wearing it again though. Maybe I'll just need to re-press it a little after each wearing?

















Continuation of Barbara's health:
I never did come back to the blog after Barbara's surgery. Surgery was a success, but she needed to stay in the hospital overnight because she wasn't coping with pain well. Among the pain meds they gave her during and after surgery was Toredol, an intravenous NSAID, like a strong version of Motrin or Aleve. Most people don't have problems handling it, unless they're very aged. We drove back to San Mateo mid-day on Thanksgiving, and I cooked the turkey breast and a simple meal, all things considered.

Unfortunately for us, on the Sunday after surgery, on Barbara's 22nd birthday in fact, she went back into our local hospital with pain, nausea and vomiting that had worsened since the previous day. It turned out when push came to shove that her kidneys were shutting down. The most likely candidate subsequently determined for why was the Toredol. What was bad was -- the emergency room doctor gave her more Toredol while they were trying to decide what to do.

So, I'd taken Barbara to the emergency room on Sunday, she got admitted about midnight. They kept her on intravenous anti-nausea and pain meds for several days, and finally weaned her off to pills, hoping she could go home. Her BUN (a urine indicator) and Creatinine (a breakdown product of protein) readings were abnormal, with Creatinine in particular being a problem. She should have had a 0.8 reading -- hers rose over 4 days to 5.7 -- if it had gone up to 10, they'd have had to do temporary dialysis. When it peaked/plateaued and dropped to 5.2 on Friday, they discharged her. She had to stay in our area until she visited the kidney specialist again. Her Creatinine was down to 1.5, which is still not normal. She'll need to see him again in early February to see if it comes down to 0.8 -- or whether she has permanent kidney damage.

She had to take incompletes in most of her fall quarter graduate school classes. The main teacher who supervises her work coordinated with her other teachers, and she has until March to complete incomplete assignments.

Then when she was feeling well enough to go back to work and called her bosses at the Ramada, it turns out that they sold the motel the previous week (without ever mentioning it to her), and the new owners didn't want hired help. So she lost her job, too!

So, she's now trying to get Unemployment insurance until she can find another job that works with her student teaching and classes. Wish her luck!

Mark's First Job.


Mark has been hoping for a year to get a job in our church's parish office like one of his friends. It's compatible with being a student, and not having to work many hours. The youth who work there work 3 hours in an evening, or all day Saturday. They act as receptionist at the door, answer the telephone, lock everything up at night, and I don't know what else. In quiet periods, they can do homework.

Well, an opening came in July, and he interviewed and was hired. He worked most of one Saturday in July as training. He worked his first real shift last night from 5pm - 8pm -- and received his first paycheck for that training day. ($38 after taxes. ) However, as low-man-on-the-totem-pole, he's only scheduled to work one evening each week so far. Maybe after they break him in, they'll give him an occasional Saturday.