‘I Made This!’ by girl-child

OK, so I already have this book – it is fantastic, but I would love to be able to give a copy to a friend, so here it is, my ‘I made this!’ entry for a competition hosted by Pip over at Meet Me At Mikes.  

A month or so ago, after many afternoons of begging, I sat down with girl-child and a friend to make beautiful butterflies, straight from the pattern in the book.  Girl-child was over the moon at being allowed to use the sewing machine.  She did all her own tracing and cutting, hand stitching and machine stitching.  All I was required to do was to sew the front of the body to the back of the body so she could turn it through ready for stuffing.  She was so proud to make her very own soft toy.

The finished product – Bubbles.

Back to School?

I feel like I am at school all over again, and I am the new kid, the stranger, the unknown.  I walk through a building full of people who are chatting away and enjoying themselves.  As I approach I feel the conversation die down, whether real or imagined, only to recommence as I walk by.  I wonder if I have food stuck in my teeth, if my pants are zipped up, if I am wearing the ‘wrong clothes’.  I feel alienated and it isn’t much fun.

 

I really should rewind a little so that this makes sense.  You see I am a part of a small team, me and three others, but until now we have worked in two different buildings.  Finally we have had an opportunity to all move in to an office together, to actually be able to work together as a team.  The moving process has been slow and painful with many delays along the way.  Today is the big day; I officially live in an new office.  Many many boxes of random work-related ’stuff’ were transported over here at the end of the last week but nothing has been organised or set up.  That was to be the job for today.  It should be an enjoyable task, perhaps even cathartic, out with the old and in with the new.  It isn’t.  I am sitting here alone, wondering where to start.

 

The team of 4 is no longer.  The stabilising member of the team, the one who is rational, logical and fun to be around has left our team, of course his workload has remained!  Another member of the team is on leave for the next two weeks and the final member is part time and today isn’t a work day for her.  And here I am, in limbo.  Not quite belonging. 

 

I had to go back to my old office earlier today.  It was nothing but a cold empty shell with a few extra boxes of belongings that needed collecting.  Of course the other staff that work there were still there, but I didn’t have a place to call my own.  I used to moan about the dingy office that I worked in but now I know that that dingy little office felt like home.  It was my space, it was familiar.  I know that working here in this new office will be a fantastic opportunity but for now I’m not really enjoying it.  It has only been one day, one very very long lonely day, it will get better.