Boy ! Am I glad that's over. I feel I missed the entire Christmas season this year. I worked over 60 hours each week at the day job. Mgmt hired a retired clerk to help out but blew it by immediately throwing her into 12 hour workdays. WHO does that? You have to ease people in. Needless to say, she quit after two days of that nonsense.
Everyone and their grandmas are ordering presents via the world wide web thingy. Resulting in twice as many packages transiting compared to last christmas season. All the big package companies were blown away.
I don't order much - I try to hand make most of my gifts. I did participate in Amazon's madness guarantee by ordering a couple of items the Saturday before the big day AND receiving them on Tuesday. We're not big fans of Amazon where I work - can you say that we feel grateful to work on Sundays in addition to the other six days a week? Mgmt says we should be grateful for the hours.
Not to mention that Sundays are a big fubar with no one wanting strange vehicles in their driveways on Sunday nor did the customer ask for it to be delivered on Sunday = losing money at my workplace. Lots of overtime being paid out to deliver on that day.
I vaguely recall a Tom & Jerry on Christmas Day - God bless that brother-in-law.
Here's my Christmas season Bell Curve Theory: Picture yourselves a bell curve starting at the beginning of December and ending just after Christmas. It's easy to see the most volume of packages are during the 15-20th of the month. At the start of that bell curve, you have all your new hires trying to stay afloat in the chaos. At the end, you have experienced workers who can sort like nobodies business. I rarely ship at the beginning, nor do I even think about it at the height of the bell curve (60+ hours/wk). I ship the last week. You do have to have an attitude of it doesn't matter if it gets there by Christmas and you get bonus points if people should be grateful I sent them anything at all - they all know I work in this crazy environment. All my packages arrive before the big day - with those experienced workers - with them still employed thru Christmas - with that attitude.
This doesn't include international packages - customs was blown away also with the deluge of packages going to foreign parts. They take their sweet time during this holiday.
Making a few little somethings today. Yesterday, at work, I must have looked even more deathly ill than usual. I was given the day off today so I get two days off - in a row!. Exciting, isn't it?
Here's a couple of microwave bowls that a friend requested. I used my new Yoko Saito fabric that my dear friend in Japan sent me for Christmas (arrived Christmas Eve!) and I thought they turned out pretty useful. I don't microwave too many items other than cold coffee. Once she gives me feedback, I'll tweak the pattern.
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| Yoko Saito fabric |
When you heat something up in the microwave, the outer container/bowl also gets hot. This is a bowl hotpad so you don't drop hot things when you take them out of the microwave.
These are two squares of fabric with batting inside. The batting is sewn down with an "X" and then darts are made at mid-point along the sides. Then the two squares are sewn together, turned and top-stitched. Just like making hot pads but with a fiddly dart to sew around. These are reversible too.
My son has been making handmade leather gifts for his friends this year. I will try to get photos. He already gave away the leather-covered journals he made. He has made one wallet so far - I think I may be able to get a photo tomorrow.
If you recall, he made a flannel quilt a few years ago and a coffee table about seven years ago. Seriously awesome creations!
I look forward to way less day job hours so I can get back to creating.Happy, Happy New Year Everyone.
