Manic Kitty

I love snow. However I might not be saying that tomorrow when I have to get to work.

Tomorrow is my first proper day at my new job. I went over to the house Wednesday last week and met my new clients. They're 3 very nice elderly gentlemen. One has profound learning disabilities, and the other 2 are moderate to severe. Compared with other places I've worked, it should be very easy and relaxed. The staff seem nice, there are only 3 of them at the moment plus a Deputy Home Manager, they've been coping with agency staff for months. I think they were relieved to have got someone with experience. The manager seems very laid back, and the staff seem to be on my wavelength (we work for the clients, they come first, and we should be out of the house every day possible.) The house is in a lovely area, very posh! Not like Skem where we had kids breaking the windows.

The shifts are great! I only need to do 3 a week. 8am-7pm, 11am-9pm and the sleep-in shift is 8am-8am, that seems harsh, but it gets it over with and you're technically off duty between midnight and 7am. I would be home for 9am, and if I was tired (which is inevitable) I could grab a few hours sleep and still have a decent amount of the day left. The sleep-ins where I used to be were 4pm till 12 midday, which meant you were dreading the sleep-in all day and didn't have time to do much for yourself, and by the time you got home the following day and caught up on sleep the day was over. It's still going to take me 45 minutes to an hour to get there, but 3 times a week to a job I enjoy is fine by me.

For the first month I'm not doing any sleep-ins, but I'll still only be working 3 long days, and a half day. Bliss! No news on what I'm working over Christmas yet though, please let my have some time off and get to see my parents for a change!

I've made the most of my long weekend. Friday night we got invited out to sample the delights of StalyVegas. We've avoided these delights so far because the music played really isn't our thing, but a lad Porl has been doing some recording with invited us and it would have been rude to refuse. We started at Wetherspoons, where we met Carl, his girlfriend Rachel, and all her nurse mates, then over the next few hours we went to Lounge, Pad (where I had a dance to some remixed 80's songs, unfortunatly no-one joined me). Then we ended the night in Rififfi's, which may look like the Arriba in Ormskirk, but thankfully it doesn't smell like it, the music is better, and the clientele are generally at least 10 years older. The over 25 rule in StalyVegas isn't stuck to strictly, but it does help to keep out the worst of the riffraff.

Saturday was spent nursing a hangover. I can't handle booze anymore, Sunday we fought the crowds at Tes-cos and did our usual lunch which was as delicious as always. Both days successfully managed to avoid turning on the computer, and instead spent a lot of time on the sofa sewing this.

I started this over a year ago, but I haven't done any cross stitch for months. I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago and since then I've done most of the sea. I'm hoping to get it done for Christmas. The top half is done, thankfully the bottom half is less detailed so I might be in with a chance.
I doubt I'll be making my Christmas cards this year, and I'm not sure when I'll get any other presents made. Hopefully with these short weeks I'm working I'll fit everything in.