On the Brink

working for a living

I work in the auto industry. a small supplier to the big three. I have such mixed feelings about all of the buyout news. I really feel that the auto makers were way off the mark in what types of vehicle they were producing, but I also think that they were going with what the market was demanding.

So here I am , on the brink of losing my job, because the auto industry is going down the tubes. It's a good job, decent pay, not too hard, and I get lots of vacation time- five weeks plus almost two weeks paid at Christmas. Not a happy camper. I need this job. I can't really see myself selling coffee and donuts and liking it.

It would be really nice if I could stay home and sew and knit and quilt my life away but I have lots of bills to pay. I like having money in my pocket. I like having a roof over my head,food on the table and gas in the car. and I don't know how that will happen if I lose my job.

home from vacation

My handsome husband and I just returned from a train trip to the west coast. We had so much fun. the train is a really great way to go, see lots of sights and meet a whole lot of interesting people.  We traveled in coach class, yes we slept in our seats, not really comfortable but we did the whole trip for less than $3000. I really hate to spend a lot of money on travel. the less I spend on this trip, the more trips I can take.

I also learned a few tips to use on our next trip which will save us even more money.

The Rockie Mountains are spectacular. It's astonishing to see.

I am going to get my pictures soon and write my book about the trip. I like to wait a little while to think about what I saw and did, not too long because I can forget pretty easily where I was, but I like to think about it from a little way apart before I start.

One of my favourite cities that we visited was Winnipeg. I found a little costume museum there that I didn't know about. Lots of hats and quilts. Very nice. I didn't know that the big knitted sweater coats were still being knitted and worn. I saw them in the costume museum, the Manitoba museum and on the street. I think I want one for myself. And who knew that velour pants were still the hot fashion item that they are.

Karen

going away

We are getting ready for our big adventure. My handsome husband and I have purchased Conrail passes and are going west. We leave next week. I am trying to decide what knitting I will take. Should I do a pair of socks or a sweater for a grandson or just a few hats?  I don't really want to be lugging a great big bag of yarn with me but I also don't want to not have something to knit all the way out and back.

I am trying not to spend a whole lot of money fo the trip.  I don't like to go first class all the way. We just want to go.

We leave next Thursday. Hooray!

double trouble

Why am I saving twice? Why am I saving twice?

Today we bought our rail passes for our trip to western canada. You can't always get there from here. We want to travel to the west coast on the rails. We have two weeks to do it.  We want to get on and off at different cities and we want to sail across the prairies.  It isn't as easy as it sounds. Oh and we don't want to spend a lot of money.  Oh that's the catch. Not really.

My handsome husbamd is over 60 but I have a few short months until I hit that milestone. He gets the senior discount. I pay full off season rate. It came to just over one thousand dollars for twelve days of travel.

The train goes three times a week acorss the nation = and that means that if you get off in Winnipeg you have to wait a couple of days to catch the next train. OK we can handle that but time is not unlimited.  We wanted to stop in Saskatoon for a few days but the train arrives in the middle of the night. Not good if you don't know where you are or where to stay. So we are not going to stop in Saskatoon this time.  We want to see the rockies. We will. We want to stay in Edmonton for a few days. The only way we can figure out how to do this is to take a bus from Jasper to Edmonton and arrive in Edmonton at midnight. Hope we can make a reservation close to the station to do that.

We leave in November- Not really the best time to travel but good for us. and it really won't matter if we run into snow storms because we are not doing any driving. Yay.

I still haven't figured out the downloading of pictures. Maybee this weekend.

Happy trails.

 

the beginning

Well, certainly not the most auspicious beginning but it will get better.  keep on keeping on,that's all.

Yesterday I spent the day at the creative festival in Toronto. I'm not sure whether or not its better. I certainly didn't like the changes made in the door prizes. Only one draw a day for a shopping spree of $750.00 Nice if you win but I liked the smaller draws done throughout the day. I don't see as many of the womens dress pattern companies as there used to be- lots more of the crafty kind of stuff. lots of paper and stamping stuff and lots and lots of yarn. I did buy some yarn but I find a lot of it very expensive. I like to knit hats and scarves and such but I think spending 30 or 40 dollars for a yarn for a scarf that I'm just going to give away a little too expensive.

I did go to a couple of demonstrations and lectures that I really enjoyed. I am going to try some direct transfer method fabric printing. I want to make a few little quilts with some of the old family pictures that I have. It looks pretty easy. We'll see.

I sort of enjoyed a lecture on changing cheater panels. OK. Not exactly something I will try. I was looking for something a little bit more artistic I think. I thought it was going to be a little more creative.

I am trying to figure out how to load pictures into my blog.

Not today, too busy maybe tomorrow.

Love

the beginning

Well, certainly not the most auspicious beginning but it will get better.  keep on keeping on,that's all.

Yesterday I spent the day at the creative festival in Toronto. I'm not sure whether or not its better. I certainly didn't like the changes made in the door prizes. Only one draw a day for a shopping spree of $750.00 Nice if you win but I liked the smaller draws done throughout the day. I don't see as many of the womens dress pattern companies as there used to be- lots more of the crafty kind of stuff. lots of paper and stamping stuff and lots and lots of yarn. I did buy some yarn but I find a lot of it very expensive. I like to knit hats and scarves and such but I think spending 30 or 40 dollars for a yarn for a scarf that I'm just going to give away a little too expensive.

I did go to a couple of demonstrations and lectures that I really enjoyed. I am going to try some direct transfer method fabric printing. I want to make a few little quilts with some of the old family pictures that I have. It looks pretty easy. We'll see.

I sort of enjoyed a lecture on changing cheater panels. OK. Not exactly something I will try. I was looking for something a little bit more artistic I think. I thought it was going to be a little more creative.

I am trying to figure out how to load pictures into my blog.

Not today, too busy maybe tomorrow.

Love

Who do you think you are?

Hello world.

Who do you think you are?

Hello world.