GROSS

I made a crap-ton of tofu and brown rice salad today so I could eat healthy all week at work. However, the tofu looks pink. So it looks like I am eating undercooked chicken chunks and brown rice. And I will be for days.

I've been working at Trader Joe's which is alright. The store is like the 5th busiest store in the chain, and people keep asking me if I'm doing alright, like my mind is going to be blown by Brookline Trader Joe's on a Sunday afternoon. However, the store is huge, unlike my old store, which would get crammed UP with people. I don't want to sound like an old fogey, but things were worse back in my days. Also, almost every customer bags their own groceries, which is so amazing that the first few days I wanted to kiss every single customer full on the mouth. I've dialed back the gratefulness, but it is SO much better than angry La Mesa families with not cute kids. (In fact, almost no kids at all! It's a miracle!) On the whole, people are pretty self sufficent about the shopping, and if we don't have what they came in looking for, their world does not shatter. Still, it's a big time commitment, which I already have in my other job, so I might not be in it for the long run. Also, I am apparently unable to adequately figure out their system of running the store. Every time I think I get it, I'm doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. I'm pretty sure the full timers think I do not have what it takes. They might be right. I just don't want to try that hard for a job where I can't sit in my own home all day. I'm giving myself until January to decide whether or not to stay.

Wow, that's a lot of talk about a boring job and gross looking food. Let's end this with some knitting!

Here's the story behind this classy little neckwarmer. Awhile back, I made a scarf. I pretty much made every bad decision I could, with wrong yarn, wrong needle size, wrong skill level for the pattern style, and wrong amount of patience with trying to learn a new skill. I was trying to kitchener stitch, but I got frustrated and just wanted this scarf out of my life, so instead of invisible seaming, it looked like Frankenstein's neck. It was also too wide and looked funny when I wore it, so I didn't. However, I realized that a good portion of the middle lace section looked pretty good, and it was a shame to waste it when it could be keeping me warm. So I cut out the good part, unraveled and re-knit some edgings, and added a button. Ta-da! It is not so blurry in real life. You will have to trust me on that.


And I need it, because it is cold out here. Last week it's been in the 20s to 30s. I'm usually getting off work at midnight, and it is pretty craptacularly cold. Here's a picture of me getting ready to brave the elements. I dimmed the coloring to heighten the chill factor for you. I may take bad pictures, but I can fuss with them to look slightly less bad!