Starting A New Job and Another Week Getting Up to Scratch W/E 18/11/23

My week started with an induction for the new job on Sunday morning. I thought that I might perhaps be given some hours for the week, but I wasn't, I was told to look out for  a working hours schedule to appear on the work app. The induction went okay, but took quite a while to do a whole lot of essential online training.

I started to come down with a cold on Sunday evening. I wasn't happy about that, but I'm hoping it won't be a bad one and I can shake it off if I look after myself.

I managed to sneak in another Xmas hexie project this weekend.  I had some large Xmas hexies left over from the large quilt I made, so I used them and some of the leftover green fabric to make an Xmas cushion. It didn't take too long to make the top and I was happy with the result.  

This week, I was actually quite glad of the reprieve from starting work straight away, as the house is a mess and I was keen to get on top of everything before I get busy with work.  I think that as soon as I do start work, I won't have time for much else. I therefore determined to make it a cleaning week at home this week.

I started things off on Monday afternoon by cleaning the living rooms. We've been using the front living room all summer, but in the winter months, we tend to have a changeover and move the comfy sofa into the back living room where the fire is. It's a smaller room and is cosy in the winter, when we get the fire going. In addition, we have no shutters on the front living room windows at the moment, as OH needs to do some work on the bay windows, so there isn't much privacy of an evening. Moving into the back room affords us more of this, which is good. 

It took all afternoon, but it was very satisfying to get it cleaned and changed over. I'm going to consider this to be a pre-Christmas clean, as the tree will go up in a couple of weeks. I'll probably run the vacuum around again then, but probably not do much more than that.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym, which was good, despite my being very snuffly.  It was raining most of the day, so after having lunch, I decided to go up to the sewing room and do some sewing on my machine. I had good intentions of cleaning, but I just wasn't really feeling it, so I finished the Xmas Hexie cushion. Here's a picture of it:

I just need to iron and then sew the star to the top of the tree, it is backed with fusible interfacing.

Talking of cushions, as promised, here's a picture of the mushroom cushion I made for LB last week:

It's not perfect, but I think it turned out okay. I hope she likes it. 

On Tuesday afternoon, I also attempted to make some reusable pullable fabric Christmas crackers. I cut out all the fabric to make 4 and went ahead and started to make 2. I made quite a few mistakes, particularly on the second one, so I might remake it, as it will be a different size to the others if I don't, which will look a bit odd. It was good practice though. 

It was a little tricky, especially with regard to pattern matching, but I think they will work out okay. I'd had my eye on buying some from a seller on Etsy, but it would have cost me £32 for 4, so making them will be much less expensive and it's been on my to do list since last year at least. I did have to buy some 10mm hook and loop from eBay, but that cost just £3.99. I may also need to buy some ribbon to tie the ends, but the cost will be nothing like if I bought them. I'll post a picture when they're finished.

Here's a link for the YouTube video tutorial if anyone's interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=2Dr9H68YnQY&list=PLU1Qkdx6_eXOSsPeTdMKob8g1RFwpkFxK

If this link doesn't work, the video is from Abi's Sewing Den.

I did a bit more work on the new star block hexie quilt too in the evening. I've almost finished the third block. I think I will need 10 blocks for this quilt, plus lots of infilling between blocks. I'm probably going to have to set this aside soon, as I really need to give priority to cleaning the house. I'd much rather be sewing though, so I often get distracted by it.

On Wednesday, I went to my usual Soca Aerobics class. It was the last class for a few weeks, as the instructor is going away. To be honest, if I start work I might not get there anyway, so I made myself go when I wasn't really feeling it. Just as the class was about to start, I got a call from the new job, telling me I had a shift that evening at 5pm, which was exciting.

Not wanting to waste the couple of hours I had free, I did a bit more cleaning. I only managed to clean the main bedroom upstairs, but it was a start. 

I set off early for work, not wanting to be late, but found there was hardly any traffic at all, which was surprising at rush hour, so I was way too early. This ended up being costly, as I killed the time by dropping into a couple of shops and buying a couple more bits of clothing to wear for work. Both were very inexpensive though.

The work shift went OK. I wasn't working on a till, which made a change. I was just recovering a particular of the area of the shop, tidying each row of shelves, returning items to their proper place in the store,  removing broken items, putting a bit of new stock out, answering customer queries, etc. It was pretty straightforward, so not too stressful a start to the new job. It will be interesting to see how things progress from here. I enjoyed it though, as I was mostly just doing my own thing for most of the shift, which suits me fine.

I was on the rota three consequetive lates this week from 5-10pm. I don't mind working lates, except that it does reek havoc with my eating patterns, as 4pm is too early to eat, but I don't get a break in which to eat, so I end up eating later when I get home.  I need to work out how best to deal with this, whether this means having a slightly bigger hot meal at lunchtime and then something light, either after or before my shift.

On Thursday morning, I had to get out of bed quite early, as the dog was desperate for a walk. When I got out of bed, I ached all over. I couldn't believe how achey I felt and I hadn't even been doing any heavy lifting or anything. Maybe I'm just using muscles I don't normally use in daily life. I'll have to see how it goes and maybe be careful, just in case I'm moving in a way that will cause me future problems. I did learn very quickly that 5 hours on your feet walking around the store means you need very comfy shoes, so I'll be wearing trainers from now on, in the hope they'll be more comfortable. It did add lots of steps to my daily step count though, which ended up at 14.5K.

On Thursday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours in bed. I got so cold and was tired after going to bed late and getting up early. When I got to work, I was working the same job recovering the same part of the store. I felt better for having done it the night before. I wore a pair of LB's trainers that she left at home and they were so comfy for the whole shift.

It already surprises me how different it seems, working for this company, than at my previous commercial retail job last Christmas. It seems to be much better staffed and less stressy, but it is very early days and it could all change a lot as the Christmas shopping season progresses. I finished a little early on Thursday night, which was good. OH and I watched the first episode of the new series of The Crown on Netflix when I got in.

On Friday morning, I woke up a lot less achey. I don't know if this was because I was more aware of how I was moving on my previous shift, or just that my body is getting used to a new routine and new repetitive tasks. Time will tell. I had a bit more energy on Friday too and managed to do a bit of sewing, which I hadn't picked up for a couple of days. I also did a bit of Xmas shopping online for LB. I've bought just about all of her Xmas presents now. I'm just waiting for some of them to be delivered.

Work on Friday night was okay. I was given a merchandising task of colour blocking a whole section of products. It took me most of the shift, but I was pleased with the result. I didn't manage to get it completely finished, but did what I could. It's a steep learning curve for me, as I haven't really had much experience on the merchandising side before. It was fun though.

I felt almost back to normal in terms of stiffness and aches and pains by Saturday morning and took myself off to the free gym session. I was a bit tired after three consequetive lates, but worked as hard as I could. I enjoyed the session and left feeling energised which is good.

On Saturday afternoon, I took myself off to do the weekly shop again.  I haven't got a work schedule for next week and I am not sure when or if I'll get one, so I decided to get the shopping done when I could, so that I was ready for whatever next week holds. (The working week starts on a Sunday).

When I got home, I was finally able to chill for the rest of the evening and do a bit of sewing and watch the final two episodes of The Crown that were available on Netflix.

It's been a good week. Nice to get started at the new job. Hoping it continues to go well. I hope you've had a good week.