Corporate Hell

Hello? Blog? Are you still there?
It's me.
Remember Me?

What? Forget about you? Of course not! I haven't forgotten about you at all!
I've missed you!
I've just been lost in CORPORATE HELL and have been hanging on by my fingernails just to get from one day to the next......

Blog, I know that in this economy, I'm one of the lucky ones that still has a job, and a comfortable one at that, and I really should not be complaining, but I'm going to vent anyway.....

You see.......I've worked for a small Avocado company for 26 years. After that many years I could almost do my job in my sleep. I had a very nice, comfortable schedule which worked out perfectly for someone like me, who likes routine and greatly dislikes change. I worked 4 ten hour days with Wednesdays and weekends off. I have worked with the same 6 people for 20+ years. We know each others spouses, have watched each others children grow up from elementary school-age to adulthood and met each others new grandchildren. We have become "family". We cover for each other when necessary, help each other out with a multitude of things, both business and personal, and work well as a team......because that's what "families" do.

But things have changed.......

On April 1, 2010, our company was bought by a large, well known corporation. I'm not going to name any names here, but though they're not known for Avocados (not yet) they're very well known for a certain yellow fruit and when I get home at night there are lots of little oval blue stickers covering the bottoms of my shoes......

.....and let me tell you, everything negative you've ever heard about "corporate this" or "corporate that".....all I have to say about it is I'TS TRUE!! EVERY WORD OF IT IS TRUE!

I am now working 5 days a week, 9-10 hours a day and taking work home at night and on the weekends! I've gone from my comfortable, little, "family" job to feeling like I'm working in an insane asylum run by the patients! There are crowds of people flying in from their offices all over the country to "look at our facility". HA! Funny how a little avocado packing house turns in to a "facility" as soon as it's owned by a CORPORATION! I've heard directly from one of the "horses mouths" that there are so many employees and so many bosses that no-one really knows exactly whats going on from one department to another, and in fact, they are NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW WHAT OTHER DEPARTMENTS ARE DOING IN THEIR OWN COMPANY!!!

WELL, so much for teamwork and "family" and helping each other out! At this point in time, I'm just hanging on for dear life and hoping I will continue to still have a job (which looks good for the time being since none of these new people has any clue how things work around here!) The new CORP is contractually unable to change anything at all for a year so at least I have until next April 1 to worry about unemployment.

So, Blog, as soon as the dust settles in CORPORATE HELL, which they assure me will happen very soon (although I'm not sure I should believe anything coming from these CORPORATE PEOPLE) I'll be back, hopefully with more uplifiting things to share....

So, in the meantime please be patient with me and I hope you'll forgive me for being so neglectful. I promise I'll make up to you real soon.

I need to go now.....it's Saturday afternoon and I have A LOT OF PAPERWORK TO DO BEFORE MONDAY MORNING!! AAACK!!

Ole'!...again

I returned home from my travels to find a package waitIng for me from the "FIESTA! HOT MAMA APRON SWAP".......Look what Kellie C. in Kentucky made just for me!

Just look at this great pinata fabric...and it's trimmed with my favorite purple. The pattern has such a flattering shape ( Kellie, what pattern is this? It's wonderful!) It's exactly perfect for me in every way! Boy, did she get it right!

She also sent a vintage tea towel with a Fiesta-themed print. Isn't it great? I've never seen one like it before. Also some yummy recipes (I could eat Mexican food for every meal!) Kellie works as a Children's Librarian, which would absolutely be my dream job! I love Children's books. (We even visited a beautiful Children's library on Martha's Vineyard last week as part of our vacation must-sees!)

If you read my previous post on the apron I made for this swap, you know how much I enjoyed this theme......so keeping in the spirit of Fiesta! I'm sending Kellie a box of avocados to let her know how much I love this apron....

Kellie, if you're reading this post, there's a box of avocados heading your way to thank you for my NEW FAVORITE APRON!

OLE! Fiesta Apron Swap

FINALLY!!

I've been waiting for someone to do a swap with this kind of theme. The perfect theme for me and my avocados! Besides all the avo cookbooks and avo doo-dads I have in my collection, I also have several avocado fabrics that have been calling out to me every time I dig into my fabric stash......

How's this for a FIESTA apron??? I made it entirely from things I already had on hand.

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out! This just might be in my top 10 favorite aprons that I've created! I embellished a kitchen towel to match.(did you know you can make ruffles out of grosgrain ribbon? Look how cute it looks)

The Fiesta swap package is also to include a fiesta-themed item of my choosing and at least one fiesta-themed recipe......WELL, what's more fiesta-ish than a big bowl of guacamole? Of course I'm sending along a big pile of avocados and an avo slicer.

Our family has so many much-loved Mexican food recipes that I couldn't choose just one, so I made up a mini cookbook with 25 of our favorites.

These are a few I included:

AVOCADO SALSA

SALSA VERDE

TEX-MEX EGG ROLLS

BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON ICE CREAM

CHICKEN SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS

MEXICAN LASAGNA

MARINATED FLANK STEAK WITH LIME-CHIPOTLE GLAZE

CHILE VERDE

MEXICAN TURKEY MEATLOAF

BLACK BEAN AND SALSA SOUP

This package will be on its way on Monday to my partner in Texas...I sure hope she likes avocados!

I lOVE THIS SWAP! and I haven't even received my package yet!!

Thank you Val from Yarni Gras for hosting such a great theme!

SSEN Valentine Apron Swap (sent)

For the SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE SASSY FLIRTY APRON SWAP, the theme was Valentines Day.

Rules were simple: send a marvelous Valentine apron, Valentine goodies, and a note revealing your identity. "Just make it a package you would love to receive!"

my partner was KELLY K. from Lagrangeville, NY. (Hi Kelly!)

Here is what my package to Kelly included:

The one apron I made 2 weekends ago during my 6-apron-frenzy-of-a-weekend that wasn't for the ETSY shop.........

a half-apron made from a Valentine tea towel that I found at Wal-mart. The ties are wide grosgrain ribbon and I added a pocket made from scraps leftover from one of the other aprons.

Also one of my favorite furry fleece scarves that went over so well with my family at Christmas. And Kelly tells me this is even her favorite color, how about that!

And last but not least,a yard of cute Valentine fabric and some Valentine ribbon for a project of her own AND an embellished spiral notebook, one of my own personal favorite things.



Oh, yes, and of course a bunch of avocados. I always enjoy sending these to non-Californians. They are always so appreciative!

I've already heard from Kelly and she really loves her whole package.

It's so satisfying to feel like you've made someone happy, especially a secret partner that you don't know. I've really enjoyed this swap... Thank You so much Lucy and Shawnee for doing a great job and putting in so much time and effort to make this such a wonderful swap......

I'm going out to the mailbox right now to see if Mr. Mailman has brought me my package yet! So much fun to get a secret package! Although I can honestly say I think I enjoy the sending even better than the receiving!

Weekend update & a movie review

Well.....I didn't quite meet my entire sewing goal for this past weekend, but close enough for my own personal satisfaction, and that's what counts here, right?

3 out of 4 Chicken aprons completed:

I especially like the one with the yellow trim. The yellow fabric reminds me of corn or chicken feed, so I think the two fabrics really compliment each other. All are for sale in my Etsy shop. (Kathi D. don't you need a chicken apron?)

I also finally made myself my flannel grasshopper pillow case, that I originally posted about here a long time ago

it only took all of 8 minutes....well, actually 8 months and 8 minutes!

(ATTN: Heather...spoiler alert!)

I didn't get everything made for Christmas that I wanted to, so I'll be mailing off a box of Avocados to my Sister in Seattle and including this tote bag made from a re-usable shopping bag with photos of her kids appliqued on both sides

and 3 furry fleece scarves, one for her and one for each of her 2 youngest daughters.

so Heather, if you're reading this, keep an eye out at the end of week for a PERISHABLE package from me.....don't let those avos freeze on your front porch!

********************************************************************

"MAMMA MIA!"

OK.... so I watched MAMMA MIA while sewing on Saturday and I defy you to see this movie without wanting to do the following;

1. ....plan a vacation to Greece IMMEDIATELY! I've alway wanted to go there anyway and now you just try and stop me!

2. .....be best friends with MERYL STREEP! I read on IMDB.COM that Olivia Newton-John and Michelle Pfeiffer were both considered for the role and the producers didn't originally want Meryl Streep, but she really pushed hard for the part and she was GREAT!! You can tell she (and the whole cast) are just having a blast making this film! (if you love movies and don't visit this site regularly to check out every movie you watch, bookmark it and start using it. The trivia on each movie is the best part!)

3. ....start going to Karaoke....and believe me I've never in my life cared anything about Karaoke! I don't even sing to myself when I'm alone, but suddenly I understand how people can be obsessed with Karaoke....YAY! for ABBA!

This was such a fun, uplifting movie. It wasn't the best thing to be watching while I was trying to sew, it was too distracting! I usually put on something that I've seen a dozen times and can just listen to, so when the sewing was done I watched it a second time to give it my full attention!.....I'm going to watch it one more time tonight before I return it to Granddaughter. Definitely 2 thumbs up!!

....what an excellent weekend!

chipping away at the "stash"

I guess I should inventory my extensive fabric stash more often.

Last weekend I completed 6 Valentine-themed aprons using only fabric I discovered I already owned.

Sorting through my 1 yard cuts (I always buy 1 yard of everything) I found several chicken fabrics...I didn't even know I liked chickens, but apparently I do! All of these came from my stash except the yellow....I bought that yesterday to complete the set.

Goal for this weekend: 4 chicken aprons for the ETSY shop and 2 other small projects to tuck into a box of Avocados for my sister in Seattle.

The house is quiet (the family is away), I borrowed a "MAMMA MIA" DVD from oldest granddaughter after reading this on Kathi D.'s blog, and I'm settling down right now for an afternoon of sewing aprons and watching a happy movie....

LIFE IS GOOD!

2008 Family Chili Cook-off

Dear Family:
For those of you who were not able to be with us for our First Annual (?) "Family Chili Cook-off", I wanted to share some photos with you. I'll plan the next one for a time when I know all you out-of-towners will be here so you can share in the fun, too.......

First of all...THE CHILI:

#1. CHIPOTLE CHICKEN CHILI (made by Shannon)

#2. CINCINATTI CHILI (made by Gram/Carm)

#3. BISON CHILI ( made by Ellen)

#4. TRI-TIP BLACK BEAN CHILI (made by Josh)

#5. BBQ TURKEY CHILI (made by ME)

served with an assortment of toppings.

Everyone tasted each one and then voted..............

And the coveted "Golden Ladle Award" goes to..........SHANNON, for her Chipotle Chicken Chili!!!






(Start planning your recipes now for next year and this spectacular award could be yours in 2009!)

We also had chips & guacamole (it's the tail end of the avo season...these were EXTRA good!)



Cornbread and Gram's Sourdough





Mexican Caesar Salad (ooops...forgot to take a photo)

and homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and assorted Cake Mix Cookies.



There was much conversation

picture taking




and sorting through Paula's famous GORP......



Ellen modeled her new apron (see here)





and a wonderful time was had by all........


........and when we arrived home at 8:30 p.m. we were greeted by the sight of 3 inches of water covering our entire downstairs.........

An Avocado Collection

I have an avocado collection. I've worked for an avocado company for 25 years and love finding odd little things with avos on them or avo shaped or whatever. Most are from Ebay, some were gifts. My collection has been packed away for several years for various reasons (mostly very small, curious grandchildren!) After much procrastination, today I FINALLY put up some new shelves in the kitchen and am once again putting these items that I love on display:

I have Avo Cookbooks, too....

and some cute little miniatures......

Doesn't it feel great to cross something off your to-do list?

Wedding Gifts

In the last two weeks, I've had 2 separate friends get married in different parts of the country, one male, one female.

Of course I saw this as the perfect opportunity for more FABRIC SHOPPING and APRON MAKING!!

I made them each an appropriate apron as part of their wedding gift.

She is an Artist/Painter/60's flower child living in Santa Cruz, California.......

He is a retired marine living in Dallas, Texas.........

The aprons were part of an Avocado-themed gift which included an avo slicer, avo masher, avo cookbook, avocado-shaped serving bowl, and LOTS OF AVOCADOS!

The packages are on the way today. I hope they like wearing their aprons as much as I enjoyed making them.

Best Wishes Lorrie!!

Congratulations Rob!!