How is Rebecca gonna be an optimist about this?
Today was such an awful crazy day at work. We just hired a new employee, D, and today was his first day. He's working with A and me in our department, and even though we do need more help in that department, for some reason, I was paranoid that Boss-Man was out to replace me. I stopped worrying about that this morning, when B didn't show up, and the rest of us discovered that he apparently gave Boss-Man his notice at 5:00 Friday afternoon! I liked B and was really surprised by this. But I thought, hey, they're not going to replace me now, we're too short-handed. Then I nearly set of our machines on fire. Seriously. Some tear-proof paper fell into some heat coils, the machine started smoking, and the smell was so bad that we had to drag it outside. UGH. Even though it was not my fault that the paper fell between the machine spokes, and even though nobody said that it was, I still felt guilty. I'm not even sure if the machine is still useable.
Well, onto better news. The animal shelter where I volunteer has a booth in a local flea market, and when I went there yesterday to see the dogs, I dropped off three plarn purses for them to sell. Everyone keeps telling me that I should sell them, and I really like the idea of the animal shelter making a little money from my hobby. The volunteer who sets up the booth acted really impressed with them and thinks they'll sell well. I sure hope they do, so I can keep donating them regularly, and maybe even charge more for them. I've never tried selling any of my crochet projects before, so I don't know what to expect.
I was also honored to attend the most beautiful conversion ceremony at my temple last week, where five members of our congregation officially became Jews-by-choice. It was really special to me, because it feels like my own conversion ceremony was just yesterday! This one was a lot fancier than mine, but that makes sense, since mine was at a way smaller congregation and kinda done at the last-minute. I knew most of the people converting well enough to say hi to, and I'm really good friends with one of them. The rabbi called them onto the bimah with their Hebrew names and they each held the Torah scroll, and said the Shema. At the delicious oneg afterwards, I heard about 100 times, "I never knew X, Y, and Z weren't Jewish!" and "We never had anything like this with Rabbi L---!" Apparently, the previous rabbi kept conversions fairly hushed up. I have no idea why, but I'm so thankful that Rabbi B---- doesn't do that. Converting is a simcha, and simchas should be shared! As part of services this Friday, a transgender convert in our congregation will be giving a talk on "Becoming a Jew While Becoming a Woman." I can't imagine many people in the world could talk about that subject.
I've been biking pretty intensely since I got more asthma meds, and I've got myself done to 0-1 puffs on my inhaler per round-trip! My goal is to get myself done to 0 puffs all the time.
Well, onto better news. The animal shelter where I volunteer has a booth in a local flea market, and when I went there yesterday to see the dogs, I dropped off three plarn purses for them to sell. Everyone keeps telling me that I should sell them, and I really like the idea of the animal shelter making a little money from my hobby. The volunteer who sets up the booth acted really impressed with them and thinks they'll sell well. I sure hope they do, so I can keep donating them regularly, and maybe even charge more for them. I've never tried selling any of my crochet projects before, so I don't know what to expect.
I was also honored to attend the most beautiful conversion ceremony at my temple last week, where five members of our congregation officially became Jews-by-choice. It was really special to me, because it feels like my own conversion ceremony was just yesterday! This one was a lot fancier than mine, but that makes sense, since mine was at a way smaller congregation and kinda done at the last-minute. I knew most of the people converting well enough to say hi to, and I'm really good friends with one of them. The rabbi called them onto the bimah with their Hebrew names and they each held the Torah scroll, and said the Shema. At the delicious oneg afterwards, I heard about 100 times, "I never knew X, Y, and Z weren't Jewish!" and "We never had anything like this with Rabbi L---!" Apparently, the previous rabbi kept conversions fairly hushed up. I have no idea why, but I'm so thankful that Rabbi B---- doesn't do that. Converting is a simcha, and simchas should be shared! As part of services this Friday, a transgender convert in our congregation will be giving a talk on "Becoming a Jew While Becoming a Woman." I can't imagine many people in the world could talk about that subject.
I've been biking pretty intensely since I got more asthma meds, and I've got myself done to 0-1 puffs on my inhaler per round-trip! My goal is to get myself done to 0 puffs all the time.