Winter Is Coming

Winter is coming.  This weekend, at that.  They're still predicting wintry mix, but without significant accumulation.  Still, I have a bill that is due Friday -- right in the middle of all that mess -- so I took the better part of valor and ran into town and paid it today.

Since I was already in town, I decided to go ahead and go to Walmart and get my shopping done.  I didn't really need a lot, but ironically enough, I needed milk.  So I go to the milk cooler and there is this man there.  He's already got a gallon in his buggy, then he puts about 10 of the little pint bottles of milk, and about 10 more pints of chocolate milk.  

I'm waiting patiently behind him for him to be done, whereupon he turns around and sees me there.  He apologizes, saying, "Sorry about that!'' Apparently he is a Door Dasher or something similar and was filling a client's order, and the client wanted all that milk.  

"There is a winter storm coming.  You got to get the milk and bread!" I quipped.  He laughed and said, "They're going to eat those milk sandwiches!"  

I continued with my shopping, and got to the bread aisle-- which is where the coffee is.  It was almost devoid of bread, so I guess it's a good thing I didn't need any.  What I needed was coffee.  I know I've got all of that Victor Allen's coffee, but I wanted some Hazelnut cappuccino pods, because sometimes I like a good cappuccino.  I eased my way through the throngs of of people grabbing the last of the bread, and found my coffee.  Then I helped a lady with an oxygen tank find the coffee filters she needed and decided that was about enough shopping for one day. 

I went to the checkout, and was patiently waiting my turn when the lady in front of me called to me and warned me that her rotisserie chicken had leaked and be careful not to slip on the grease on the floor.  I thanked her and tried to ease my buggy around the puddle, knocking a box of candy to the floor as I did so.  Immediately, the man in line behind me said, "I got it!" and picked the box up, putting it back onto the shelf.  I thanked him, saying I'd been trying to avoid the grease on the floor.  

I managed to check out without further incident, then came on home, filled my bird feeders and lit a fire which proved to be very stubborn, but in the end, I prevailed and it's now merrily crackling away in the wood stove. 

And that was my day.  How was yours?  

All that to say, I liked the cowl I knit for my friend's brother so much that before all of the above went on, I went down the yarn aisle and bought another skein of Wool Ease to knit myself one.  I chose a different color, though.  This one is called Carousel.  

It's got a slightly softer, more feminine look than what I'd bought for my friend's brother.  By the way, she told me she was going to give it to him next week for his birthday, but she'd tried it on first and said, "Oooh, I like this!"  

On a similar note, a while back, Red Heart came out with this yarn that was dyed specifically to produce multi colored granny squares without having to change yarn several times.  Ever since I first heard of it, I'd been looking for some.  I don't do granny squares -- that's crochet, but I had wondered what it would look like knit up as a hat.  Today, I finally found some.  Naturally, I bought it.  

They had several colorways, and I chose this one, called Soft White - Frigid.  Heh, when I picked it out,  I chose it for the blue and white colors.  I didn't even know what it was named.  That was just a coincidence, but it is fitting for the weekend we're expecting. 

I need to get back to knitting my charity hats anyway, so that'll be a good project while I'm iced/snowed/winterymixed in.  Which shouldn't last too long, since the temps by Saturday are supposed to be back up into the 40s.  

And finally, I got me a new toy. 

It's an electric melter for my sealing wax.  I haven't used it yet, but I figure it'll be good when I just need one or two seals.  Some of the reviews say it takes a long time to melt the beads, but it can't be any longer than holding the spoon over a candle.  Now, I just need a few more pen pals. 

And finally, tomorrow is inventory at work, so I don't have to go in until 7:00.  I told Group Leader Shark it just feels wrong not to be going in at 5:00.   Usually, they have a card writer class the day before inventory, so this morning, I asked GLS what time it was with the intention of asking how much trouble I would be in if I skipped it.  She said, "It was yesterday."  Oops.

Well, nobody's tarred and feathered me yet, so I must not be in too much trouble.  

Not really my fault, though, because nobody tells us anything any more.  Back in the day, they'd make copies of the list of people working, along with the schedule and instructions, and everything you'd need to know and they'd hand it out to everyone working inventory several days ahead of time.  Not only that, they'd have the list of who was working posted in several locations around the plant.  Everyone knew who was working, and everyone who was working knew what to do, and when to do it.  

They don't do that any more. 

Nobody, and I do mean nobody, told anyone when the card writer's class would be.  Not that I need it.  I've been doing inventory since the late 1900s, so I pretty much have it down.  Even so, I went and asked one of the other card writers if he had gone, and he said nobody told him, either.  He was getting ready to leave yesterday when another employee came to his work station and was just standing there.  He asked her if she needed something, and she told him, "We have to go to the card writer's class."  If she hadn't come and gotten him, he wouldn't have gone, either. 

As I said, it's no big deal, because all they do is stand up there and read the instructions that they will hand out to every card writer tomorrow morning anyway.  But still, it beats the heck out of me why they can't just tell us what is going on, and what they want us to do.  Then they yell at us for not doing what they never told us to do in the first place.

I guess that's better than them yelling at us for doing what they told us to do, then decided after the fact that we shouldn't have done it.  What they told us to do...

But that's another post for another day.  This one is already long enough. 

And I need to practice my piano.  

Laters.