Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Road Trip

Since Cody had to work Christmas Day, he called me on Christmas Eve, and we talked for a long time.  Somewhere in that conversation, I said, "When is your next day off?  I want to drive down there and visit you."  Turns out, his next day off was yesterday.

I packed up a few things for him -- Christmas cookies, some of the bread I made, and about half of my Christmas ham-- and drove down to Jackson to see him.

Oh, we had a good time.  I saw his little house.  Quite frankly, I was shocked at how small their space is considering how much he and his roommate are paying per month for it.  Seriously, it's a very old house.  The living room is tiny, the bathroom is seriously outdated -- there isn't even a bathroom cabinet.  There is only one bedroom.  They've converted the dining room into a second bedroom, and the kitchen is horrendously small.  Since it's only a couple of blocks from MS College, I guess that's why the landlord was able to jack up the rent so much, but to me, it seems outrageous that they are paying nearly $800 per month for it.  I'm sure they could get a much bigger place for the same amount in Jackson, but they want to stay in Clinton.

Anyway, I picked up Cody and his roommate DeJuan, and we went and did some stuff.  First thing, I had noticed while waiting for DeJuan to get dressed was a blanket and pillow on the couch.  "Are you sleeping on the couch?" I asked Cody.  He admitted he was.  He doesn't have heat in his dining room converted into a bedroom.  They have gas heaters -- you know the old kind that used to be in your grandmother's house-- and they haven't gotten the gas turned on.  He's been sleeping in the living room to stay warm.  I briefly wondered why he didn't just move the space heater from the living room into the bedroom at night, but decided not to badger him about it.  Since I'd planned on buying him a space heater as part of his Christmas, the first thing we did was to go down to Wal-mart and let him pick out which one he wanted.

While he was studying the heaters, I snuck off into the Christmas clearance section and found some lights for my house.


Once Cody had picked out his heater, we drove to Jackson to eat and shop.  We were driving along, and Cody was talking.  I was only halfway paying attention to him, because I was concentrating on driving, but I heard him say loudly and clearly, "Cracker Barrel".  "Let's go to Cracker Barrel!"  I practically shouted. 

"I'm in," Cody said.  "DeJuan is in, too." 

We ate at Cracker Barrel, then went to Michael's, because I wanted to try to find some fountain pen ink.   I did find said ink, then went over to look at sock yarn.  I was thinking of picking some up for my blanket, but then I thought about how fast my store bought socks were wearing out.  I'm talking weeks, and they've got holes in them.  I picked up enough yarn to knit myself three pair.


I've already cast on with the two skeins at the bottom.  I don't know what I'm going to knit yet.  Right now, I'm just doing the ribbing.

We went to a few more stores, then I took them home, and came back home myself.  When I got here, Cody's Christmas presents to me were here waiting for me.    He got the scarf I wanted.


And a new Christmas sweater.  He picked this one out himself.


It's really not specifically Christmassy, so I can wear it all winter. 



Well, for the three days it gets cold down here, that is.






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