What a strange week it has been. That Oscar’s ceremony – woo! I’m going to stay out of that one and keep my opinions to myself! I have been indulging in some self-soothing by watching lots of Jane Austen movies and dreaming about more genteel times. Except for when I sat through the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. That made me want to punch someone. It really was quite dreadful.
This week I have been making some little bookmarks to give out in the library. It’s always surprising to me how much people still use bookmarks (well, those people who haven’t turned to the Dark Side and only use e-books!) and how quickly they are snapped up when I make a new batch.
With these ones, I simply added my own drawings to each bookmark in Publisher and finished off with a quote related to reading, books and literature. I’m rather pleased with how they turned out. The crisp, clean images show up nicely against the white card and, for the most part, I don’t think you can tell that they were originally coloured with marker pens.
So, are you a bookmark user? And is that bookmark a scrap piece of paper or a folded up tissue, bank receipt or bus ticket? Or do you favour the dreaded dog-ear method of marking your page? As far as I’m concerned, I couldn’t care less if you mark your page with a slab of steak or a handful of grass clippings, as long as you are reading in the first place 🙂
Hope your week has been calm and drama free, and involved lots of lovely books and time to be creative.
The last few weeks have been spent settling in to my new job and trying to wrap my head around the mechanisms of a (quite) different workplace. It’s been interesting, difficult at times and definitely a challenge but I am getting there. I miss my old workmates terribly, but have caught up with a few of them since I left and will continue to do so.
Craft-wise, I have been working on a few simple designs for my cards, drawn whilst watching TV mostly, and coloured with alcohol markers. I do rather like the bright colours against a nice, white background and adding a bit of padded tape gives the blooms an extra “pop”. I made a whole batch of these cards when leaving my last job – they’re quick to do (sort of) and don’t need lots of supplies. Otherwise I end up with all sorts of crap strewn about the place. I don’t need to worry about finding the right ribbon or button or embellishment. I do wish I had nice handwriting so I didn’t need to use rubber stamps but, until that particular talent comes to me, I am utilising those stamps!
I will have to get cracking on making Christmas cards soon, otherwise I will be panicking halfway through December and staying up at unGodly hours trying to get some done in time to post or give out.
Hope you are all well and safe and creatively happy 🙂
Hellooooooo! Has it really been more than two years since I posted? It would appear so!
How’s everyone been doing? Coping ok in this crazy world we find ourselves in? I am lucky enough to be in Western Australia where, for the most part, we’ve escaped (or avoided) much of the COVID misery. Due to being such an isolated state, we’ve been able to close our borders and keep COVID at bay. I think we all know it will come, and probably with a vengeance, but we are grateful to not be in constant lockdown or have the high numbers of infection, hospitalisation and death. We’ve had the usual panic toilet paper-buying (why?!?!?) and the occasional empty supermarket shelf but, mostly, we’ve been VERY lucky. If you’ve been impacted in a bad way, my thoughts are with you. Hopefully we will see light at the end of the tunnel soon.
Life has been tricky, even without COVID complicating things. My workplace has been through a million changes and none of them particularly good. I don’t deal well with change. At all. Not one bit. On the outside, I am one of those people that others call “adaptable” and “flexible”, “easy-going” and “goes with the flow”. On the inside I am basically a storm of anxiety. Like in the movies where there’s a tornado and cow goes flying past through the air, mooing and looking confused…that’s my brain.
I have been basically working four roles, all of which really require a full-time person to manage each of them adequately. Or, at least, someone that doesn’t have large farmyard animals floating around in their head. Things have really been getting to me and I have allowed myself to be mentally beaten down and emotionally exhausted. Over-eating and under-sleeping have become part of my regular routine and I’ve basically just been a miserable so-and-so.
So, for the last year or so I have been looking for other work. I had a few interviews but didn’t manage to impress anyone very much. I think my self confidence is at an all-time low and I wasn’t able to sell myself. Plus, y’know, the cow thing. Eventually, a job came up that I was really interested in. One I could see myself doing fairly happily and with less stress. A library job that I am actually qualified for, and that isn’t funded by fickle government budgets that could end at any moment. And it’s a SCHOOL library job, which I have always wanted to do. And the hours are great which means there’s a chance I can restore some work/life balance. So I spent many days working on the application (God, I HATE selection criteria!) and hoped for the best. When I received the phone call saying I was successful in gaining an interview, I went into panic mode, like I always do. But, I gave myself a good talking to before the interview; “You can do this! You can do this! Ignore the bloody cow!” and managed to give a reasonable performance ie didn’t cry, wet my pants or embarrass myself.
So, to cut a long story short, in two weeks’ time I start my brand new job. Eek! Yesterday was my last day at my regular job. Eek! It was a sad day. After eight and half years I have made some wonderful friendships and will miss people terribly. But things have changed so much and I just didn’t feel that I belonged anymore. Time for a change to reset, refresh and restore a bit of confidence in myself. In my last few days I received such lovely messages and phone calls from clients, saying how much they’d miss me and what a great job I had done. It helped me to feel better and more confident that maybe I am capable of, well, being capable. And useful. And competent.
The only bad thing is that it is a LOT less money. I admit I did have a slight meltdown about that. But I am frugal (ie a tightwad) and do not have extravagant tastes (ie I will live on toast if I have to) and life is not all about money. As long as the cats can continue to live in the style to which they are accustomed, it will be ok.
My workmates gave me a lovely send-off and were so generous in buying my some amazing parting gifts. I got power tools. Power tools! A jigsaw and a nail gun. I am so thrilled. There are so many projects I want to do and having the proper tools is so cool. Will I injure myself? Almost certainly. But that’s par for the course for me so I am prepared for that.
So, for the next couple of weeks I am going to hopefully get stuck in to my crafting, sort my cesspit of a house out, catch up with friends and just get my head together. Also, there will be naps. Lots of naps.
I am nervous as the dickens about starting the new position, but my new employers seem lovely and welcoming and I have to have faith that this will all work out and that I will be ok. I need to stop being scared of everything and everyone and just be an adult. Take the bull by the horns. Or the flying cow, in this instance.
Upside Down Miss Jane 