Friday, December 19, 2014

I came home from the Red Cross yesterday determined to quit. We have a new volunteer (who I don’t think is capable) and she showed up (unbeknownst to me) for my shift yesterday so I could train her. It was relatively busy but mostly for returns; I have to admit it was nice to have someone else taking care of sterilizing the equipment but the woman is a slow learner. I didn’t have that good feeling about the work I was doing and if I’m not having fun (or feeling good about it) I don’t want to be doing it. For the past several months it has really only been my inventory commitment that keeps me there but we have another relatively-new volunteer that is very capable and I think she would be able to take over from me. Because Christmas and New Years fall on Thursdays I’ll have a few weeks away from the hospital so I may be feeling more kindly by the time I go back.

The Guild Christmas party was last night. I decided I wasn’t going to take part in the gift exchange but before I left I asked Pat if he thought I was a grinch for not participating. I donated the amount we were supposed to spend on a gift to the Salvation Army (we raffle off gift baskets and the money goes to them) and wasn’t concerned. When I arrived the room was buzzing and, as I took off my jacket, I was greeted with calls of “There’s Sherry”, “There she is”! Wondering why I was getting such a reception I approached the sign-in table. As members of the Senior Centre we each pay a $1 user fee when we are there; I was surprised to see a stack of loonies and toonies by the sign-in sheet. We passed a motion a few years ago that the user fees for our parties would be paid for by the Guild. I called the head of the Program Committee earlier in the week to remind her to have a sign-up sheet so I would know how large the cheque I write should be; she mistook that message to mean we each had to pay the dollar. There were others who argued with her and reminded her of the motion we had passed but Yvonne wasn’t moving. When I questioned why the welcoming table were collecting money they said they thought I was a grinch and was making them pay. That more or less set me off for the evening and I didn’t have as much fun as I should have. There was an announcement made at the end of the night that it was the Program Committee’s mistake and not mine; the money that was collected was added to the Salvation Army envelope. I had a call this morning from one of our members (not the head of the Program Committee) who apologized for calling me a grinch so perhaps my displeasure was showing.

Pat and I were out early to do a bit of shopping. Canadian Tire had their artificial trees on sale and, after seeing Kathryn and Dave’s, we decided to go artificial (with lights) this year. I had hoped we could find a table-top size but they weren’t as nice as the big ones. The smaller one wouldn’t have accommodated all the ornaments we have collected over the years but we had decided on an alternate way to display them. Pat put the tree up after we got home and it looks very nice; it will hold all our decorations very nicely. If we made a purchase of over $200 we received a $50 gift card so we each did a bit of shopping. I got some Christmas crackers (they were on my list anyway) as well as a bin to put my larger fabric scraps in; Pat picked up a few more LED lights.

When we got home I did a bit of desk work and then popped out to the Salvation Army to deliver the money we collected last night. Apparently another quilter had told them we would be dropping a donation off so I’m glad I took care of it right away. By the time I had returned a book to the library our friends were here to pick up the coffee pot (they forgot about it the day they originally called). We had a short visit and as they were on their way out the gate Pat noticed they had forgotten the pot; we had a good laugh about that!

There are jobs I could be doing but I’ve been grouchy the past couple of days (even I admit that) so I think I’ll do some fun stuff for myself. I have two blocks to finish for my 12 Days and a new knitting project on the needles.