No self control

[susandennis]

I quit sewing for the day and took a walk. Just in the building but about double my usual distance. I sat down to knit and heard that tunic top calling me so I went back to sewing. I put in one sleeve and then tried it on and instantly remembered why I wanted it in the first place.

I have giant hips and teensy shoulders and small boobs. No one makes clothes to fit me. If I buy a tunic to cover my ass, the shoulder seams are halfway down my elbows and from the waste up there is enough room to fit another person.

I wanted a nice, easy top that looked nice and fit to mainly wear over leggings. And that's exactly what I've got. It's so thrilling to have shoulder seams ON the top of my shoulders. It's the little things!

I finished off the seams to keep them soft and to ensure their integrity. It's extra work that probably isn't even needed but it's such luxury to have something so well made!

Picture tomorrow.

My friend, Scott, who lives in the central part of the South Island of New Zealand has sent me a picture calendar ever since we first met via email in 1995. 2016 arrived today. Even after all these years, come some random month down the road, I'll glance over and see a day in red and wonder 'what the hell holiday is that???' New Zeland has two blue zillion holidays. When I was working I got very excited about seeing a red day off from work day on the new month. I'm over that now but I still chuckle on red days.

I see in January, that the 4th is red. They have so many holidays, they ran out of names. January 4th is labeled Public Holiday. Oh those hilarious Kiwis.

Comments

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Actually, "public holiday" or "bank holiday" is fairly common in Commonwealth countries. In Canada we have the first Monday in August labelled as something similar because it's called something different in every province.

[susandennis]

Oh interesting... That reminds me of a running joke Scott and I have. He asks me about our customs/regulations/mores and my answer always always always has to be 'it varies from state to state'. January 4 sounds like it might be the same shoe on a different foot.

Thanks for the explain!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't bat an eyelid at seeing "public holiday" a calendar in the UK! Even when the holidays do have names, calendars often don't bother with them :)

[susandennis]

U.S. calendars without holiday names? Never happen.

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Well I hope you celebrate January 4th, whatever it is.

[ayebydan]

UK has loads of holidays too. In fact, I think it is more that the USA has very few public holidays.

How did you meet Scott over email? Was it through a forum or work or something else? I love hearing stories of people meeting through the 'internet' before it was a 'thing'. 'Young people' get such a bad rep for that but I've honestly met my best friends through the internet.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oh, odd! I'd always been told that the holiday allowances for workers in the US are so meagre just because there are so many public holidays there! I've never lived in the US, though, so maybe I've been misinformed.

[susandennis]

I actually haven't head that one. The companies that offer the best benefits usually give paid time off for 10 public (federal) holidays.

1. new years day
2. presidents day
3. martin luther king day (this is actually not standard)
4. memorial day
5. independence day
6. memorial day
7. labor day
8. thanksgiving
9 day after thanksgiving
10 christmas

banks/post office/govt offices are also closed on veterans day and columbus day

[ayebydan]

We get 8 'bank holidays' so as it turns out from Susan's list less than the US but we get more holidays as in paid leave. So I guess it is how you look at it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, I meant that paid leave - as in time you can book off from work on whatever days you want - was allegedly meagre. Not sure that's quite enough public holidays to make up ;)

Anyone want to correct me on what's a normal amount of time for a US employer to offer an employee as paid leave?

[susandennis]

My info is not terribly current since I'm retired BUT...

In general employees get, in addition to holidays, paid time off. They can schedule this for whenever. I believe the average these days for new employees (1-3 years with the company) is 2 weeks. Then one week is added for every year or so of employment.

Sometimes paid time off includes sick days and sometimes not. If sick days are counted in, I think the number of days allowed is greater.

[susandennis]

In 1995 there was not much internet. Personal web pages were all the rage for the handful of us who were just there to play. I had just gotten back from my second New Zealand vacation. There wasn't much about New Zealand to find online but whatever there was, I had linked from my personal home page.

Scott was a geeky guy on the internet to see what was there and found my page and sent me an email. We swapped emails a lot just chatting about this and that. And then he decided he needed to make his first trip outside of the Pacific Rim and he came to Seattle. We had a great visit and built a solid base for a long friendship.

He got married and now, every few years, they both come to the US to vacation and always stop here in Seattle for a few days. They were last here in 2014 and are planning a return tip in 2017.

[ayebydan]

that sounds wonderful ♥