Some progress

I did get pieces cut for Susie's quilt the other night but no sewing has happened yet this week. Working three part-time jobs really cuts into my sewing time. Many nights I want to sew but am too tired and really just want to veg in front of the TV or surf the web. The upcoming Monday holiday is almost that, as I only have to do one of my jobs that day. Here's the shorthand of my three jobs: I work per diem for the local hospital doing medical transcription for the physiology department. I call that one my Jammie Job as the commute is only up the stairs to my home office where I log on and type. I generally devote about an hour or hour and a half per day to that one, and probably every Saturday the same amount. The pay is great and the work interesting. I have an ongoing list, though, of cardiovascular conditions I never want to get!

Then I put on my Office Manager clothes and go to a doctor's office. I worked for the same orthopaedic surgery group for 13 years and after my main doctor died suddenly nearly four years ago and the second doctor quit a year and a half ago, the third doctor kept me on part-time doing odds and ends. Then last April Dr. P fired the office manager and I took over that job the next day--with no training--but fortunately knowing the staff and generally having their trust and confidence that I would bring order to the chaos left behind. It has been a steep learning curve for me: after having been hidden away for many years doing intake workers' comp histories and transcription, suddenly I was making policy and learning about insurance and billing and talking on the phone a lot. I'm there probably 25 hours a week or more and do a wide variety of tasks.

Lastly, I put on a different Office Manager face and work for a psychiatrist for whom I have done transcription on the side for many years. His is a one-doc shop so I answer phones, make appointments, copy things, keep logs, and generally run the show the way the doc wants it. That one I work at for probably 14 hours a week. I try not to add it all together, but it is a lot and I generally don't get home before 6:00 every night, sometimes it is 7:00. Luckily my DH is a real sweetheart and my kids mostly grown so I don't have to worry about fixing a big family dinner when I get home. Rereading this is making me tired! But I am grateful that I am so busy because there was a period of about four months in late 2007-early 2008 where I only had one part time job and it was pretty scary there. Then the hospital job came along and when I called the psychiatrist to tell him I was using his name as a reference, he offered me a job because his gal was going back to school. It was amazing how it came together. I am lucky to be working and am worried because my son can't find work. Its the economy, ya know.

More photos should follow this weekend when I devote some time to Picasa and figuring out how to upload directly to it...I hope!