It’s a busy but leisurely Saturday here Chez Ek. I’ve got a mile-long list of housecleaning chores and other things to do, but am taking my time about them and not getting all stressed out.
Yesterday, I had my salary review at work and it didn’t go at all how I had hoped, especially after my disappointment last year. I DID get a raise, but it basically covered the cost-of-living increase and what it boils down to is that in Sweden, performance isn’t really tied to salary. If you do a good job, you get what the unions say is a fair increase, which is across the board pretty much and the only way to get above the average is to take on different role responsibilities, or take another job within the company or get a new job externally. The amount of work that you do doesn’t seem to make any difference, and that’s what has me disappointed, since the amount of work I do has increased drastically in the past 2 years. Since I love what I do and know that I am really damn good at it, and since I also don’t have any desire to necessarily CHANGE it for something else, I feel a bit stuck as far as the money goes. Add to that the fact that I am now in the upper age bracket for wage-earning, and the conclusion is that I’ve hit a ceiling that I can’t move beyond short of getting a new job. Not really catch-22 but there it is.
After work I met Anders at the paint store to try and match the red of the dragon wall mural for the wall paint intended for the rest of Karin’s room. That dragon: MAN, it is RED. Bright fire-engine siren-screaming red. The guy who helped us barely managed to restrain himself from telling us we were insane, and only after we let it slip that the red paint was for a 9-year-old’s room, did he shake his head and say, “Well, that explains a lot.” 😀 He showed us a darker red in the same shade that we thought would work, and we took home 6 liters of it. Anders painted the first coat this morning and MAN, it is RED. But it’s not so bad, actually, and it will darken as it dries.
Karin and I went to the store to pick up the framing jobs we dropped off 2 weeks ago, and she now has a framed Star Wars movie poster and a triptych of Bluepoppy’s dogs in a silver frame to add to the coolness of her room when it is finished. I also had a beautiful collage/painting piece by Christina framed finally and it’s now hanging in the living room so everyone can enjoy it instead of sitting propped on my art table where only I saw it. She stunned me by sending to me a couple of years ago after I had admired it when she posted the piece on her journal.
Tonight is Earth Hour, when everyone in the world is supposed to turn their lights (and presumably various other electronic devices) off for 1 hour to show their commitment to the environment. I find this a bit bizarre, since hello, we turn off our lights and everything else for 8 hours every night, but whatever. Since it is Saturday when we would normally be watching a movie and having myskväll we’ve decided to play either a board game or a card game by candlelight instead. Normally I would vote for Colorado Crazy Eights but if a candle gets knocked over, which it easily could, we have a potential housefire on our hands, so we’ll probably choose something more sedate like Yahtzee.
I just looked at the Earth Hour website and they’re encouraging people to blog during the event or put up Twitter notifications. Personally, we’ll be turning OFF our computers and TVs since if you’re going to bother, why not go all the way?
To Do Lizt (hahahaa! that made me laugh)
Call EmilyCall CarolE-mail MarieFinish AWC sitePull out book bags for media saleStrip beds and make them up again- LAUNDRY:
5 loads4 loads3 loads2 loads1 load Dust and vacuumWindex glass surfacesClean bathroomsClean fish tank, change waterEmpty garbage cansPick up framing jobs, buy canister for SodaStream machineGrocery shoppingWalk 30 minutesPitch laundry room rug, buy replacement- Set up and load LCD photo frame
Create & send “save the date” HTMLClean out outdoor flower pots, refill- Tamp down edging in front rock garden
Bag up and take in recyclablesWrite a journal postFinish book
Daffy Down Dilly Belated Birthday Wishes to carrieb!