That’s That

That's that for this year.  

The kids are gone, and even though they were only here a few hours, the house still feels a bit empty without them.  

I vacuum sealed the rest of the cookies and candy and put them into the deep freeze to save for next year, keeping only a small amount out for me to enjoy this evening and tomorrow. 

We didn't even open the store bought cookies and fruit cake.  

Yes, I like fruit cake!  We used to make it every year when I was a kid-- it was one of our family traditions, and eating it was a much of a deal as baking it.  We'd all gather as a family, and each get a small slice with a cup of Coca-Cola.  I still enjoy a good slice of fruit cake, but I'm the only one here who will eat it, so if I do make it, I make mini loaves and vacuum seal those.  I don't know why I bought a cake, since I still have one mini loaf left in the freezer.  I ought to get it out and cut it up...I think I will. 

I wish the kids would have stayed one more day, because today would have been the perfect day to sit out by the fire pit.  It was chilly enough to make the fire feel good, but not so cold as to freeze our toes off.  I debated on putting a fire out there myself, but I was still melancholy enough I just didn't feel like it. 

Instead, this was today's project. 

It's a bit of a pain in the butt to put them together, and this roof holder thing never fits right, but we got 'er done in the end. 

Decorating it was fun,  

but I was a little disappointed that they changed the tray.  You can see in this photo of the one I did last year, the tray had a whole front yard that could also be decorated.  

This one had barely enough room for the house.  

There wasn't even enough room for the gingerbread men.  Heh, you can also see that my piping skills have not improved one whit since last year.   Oh well, it was still fun to do.

I debated on whether to bring my storage boxes in from the shed and start taking my decorations down, but I didn't.  I'll probably wait until Friday to do that.  Instead, I just watched football and knit all day.  And as promised, here is the current hat OTN. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Supersaver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Crayon Box

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/ 5 mm

By the way, my garden staples still haven't arrived.  They were supposed to get here Monday.   Not that the need is urgent or anything, but still I want stuff to get here when they say they're going to get here.

And finally, I did lesson two of my classical music course.  It made me cry, too, but in a totally different way.  I forget which song the professor was playing, but it was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes.  

Needless to say, I'm enjoying this one so much more than chemistry.  

I Take It Back

I take it all back.

Guess who actually showed up today?  If you said the plumber, give yourself a cookie.  I totally wasn't expecting him to even come, but he did, and got my dripping sink all fixed up.  He had to replace both shut off valves and the hoses that go from the aforementioned valves to the sink, which doesn't surprise me.  I wouldn't be surprised if those things weren't 30 years old.  

So, he came and got me all fixed up and the total bill was less than $200.  I absolutely owe him an apology, and if I'd been ugly to his face, I'd apologize to his face.  But I was only ugly on the blog so I'm apologizing on the blog.  

That's one more thing I can mark off of my to do list, as well. 

Old List: 

New List:  

Slowly but surely, I'm working it down.  I suppose I ought to find a tree guy next, before spring severe weather season starts.  Or a dirt guy to get that high spot in my yard leveled out.  One of those two will be next.  

Look who else decided to stop by.

Cody texted me around 9:30 and said as soon as they get their showers and the car loaded, they'll be headed my way and I had no idea until then they were even going to come.  Brennan was shocked when I told her that.  She said, "You didn't know until this morning we were coming?" and Cody said, "The surprise is part of the experience!"  

My main concern was, "What am I going to feed them?"  No problem, I got three frozen hamburger patties out to thaw, and we made patty melts. 

They were here the whole time the plumber was working, and once he'd gone we went riding around.  I'd told Cody I was going to go do that anyway, just to get out of the house.  First thing we did was to drive down to the end of the road and see what had burned, and yep, it was a pretty big fire.  I only saw one house damaged, though, so that was good.  We went down by the lake, and across the dam, then drove through town a bit before coming home and eating.  Now they're headed back to Jackson because Cody said they want some time just to themselves before they have to go back to work. 

As soon as they'd left, I turned off my outside lights and it feels like Christmas is over for real.  And we didn't even get to fly the drone, because Cody felt it was too windy.  I'd also thought we could put a fire in the fire pit and do hot dogs, but it never really got warm enough, plus Bren had hurt her shoulder somehow and didn't really feel like doing anything.  We mostly just talked and watched some Guy Fieri show on TV.  

It's one I'd never seen, but it's what Cody picked, and now I have to finish the season because I'm invested.   

And Brennan showed me her yarn she'd caked up on her new ball wider, and the air pods holder she'd crocheted.  Then we looked up simple beginner patterns, and she found some she wants to try.  I asked her if she'd found the yarn shop I'd told them about, only Cody had forgotten to send her the link.  Now he has, and I suggested that she find a class or group and let the experienced crocheters teach her how.  I almost wish I'd kept up with crocheting so I could teach her, but when I learned to knit, all the crochet knowledge went out the window.  

On a similar note, while I was waiting for them to all show up, I finished another sailor hat. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Granny Square

Colorway:  Soft White- Frigid

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5mm

I cast on another hat, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see it.  I've had people in my house all day, and I'm ready for someone to stick a fork in me because I'm done. 

Now, let's just hope Blogger doesn't act a fool and lets me post this.  

Next

I have officially enrolled in my next Hillsdale College course -- The History Of Classical Music:  Pythagoras through Beethoven.  

Much more my speed than chemistry.  Oh, and I found the study guides, too.  If only I'd found them before I did the chemistry course, it might not have made me cry so much.  But then, I didn't really need them for my course on A Christmas Carol, or Colonial America, so I didn't even think to look for them then.   But I know they're there now, so we're good to go. 

There are also additional videos for additional information on some of the lessons, which I also didn't know about.  I went back and watched the ones for the course on A Christmas Carol, but haven't watched the others yet.  I'll get to them eventually. 

In other news, I broke down and called the plumber again.  He told me he'd try to come out today, but couldn't promise, so I got to spend the whole day waiting.  To see if he'd show up.  Which, as of this writing, he hasn't.  It's after 5:00 PM, so I don't really expect him to come today.  I guess he was too busy playing on Facebook to need my money.  And he took his daughter hunting, which I wouldn’t have had a problem with if he’d just said “Let’s schedule this for tomorrow “ or something, instead of just leaving me hanging like he did. As much as I've recommended him to others, I'd have expected a little more consideration.  

I won't be recommending him any more, that's for sure. 

You know, crap like this is why I can't seem to get my act together.  This is twice I've called him and both times he's put me off.  I think if he doesn't show up tomorrow, I'll try to find someone else.  And I'd thought he was a good guy.  I guess I thought wrong. 

So, while I was spending the day waiting for a plumber who had no intention of showing up, I did piddle in the yard a bit.  I had to dig up --yes, more -- spider lilies that the landscammer didn't.  Oh, more bad news.  My lawn staples didn't arrive either.  They've been delayed.  Hopefully, they'll get here tomorrow. 

Now that I know the plumber isn't coming, I think I'll go take a shower and do...something.  I don't know what, but it won't involve waiting. 

Just Don't

It was such a lovely day today.  Sunny, but not too hot.  Nice enough that I sat outside by my fire pit and read a bit in my book. 

I thought briefly about building a little fire in the pit but put the kibosh on that idea pretty quickly, because the wind was blowing so hard it just wouldn't be safe.  

So, I sat there without a fire for a little bit, then finished filling up my new firewood rack.  

It holds quite a bit of wood, but I still have all of this sitting outside. 

If I can find somewhere else to move all of this wood, I can put another rack on this side.  

This wood is smaller, so I'm saving it to burn in my fire pit, because the new wood I bought is way too big.  It's mostly that box elder and some privet I cut down, neither of which makes great firewood, but it was free.  It'll do for the fire pit.  

I can also clean this corner up and put a bit more wood here.  

That will get about half of it under cover until I can figure something out.  Of course, if I can ever get my act together enough to get my yard fixed up the way I want it, I'll have room for all of this firewood under cover, but that's the real trick, isn't it?  Getting my act together...

After I did all of that, I came inside and was just sitting there watching TV, when I heard a heavy vehicle go down the road.  I didn't think too much of it, until a minute or two later when I heard the sirens. I quickly got dressed and went outside, and saw the fire trucks going down the road.  

Naturally, all of the neighbors were outside and we gathered in a group wondering what was going on.  It didn't take long for the story to come out.  Sort of...One man said someone was down there burning yard debris and the fire got out of hand.  Someone else said some kids were playing with a lighter and lit fire, which got out of hand.  Someone else said there were four houses that were on fire.  Someone else said it was only one...

Either way, it was a grass fire that got stirred up by the wind and damaged at least one of the trailer houses that's around the corner down there.  That was the concern, because there are so many of them and they are so close together.  If one catches, it could spread so quickly because of  how hard the wind is blowing today. 

And I'm wondering why would you burn when it's so windy, and it's been so dry?  Don't.  Just don't. 

They had three different VFDs down there -- Geeslin Corner, Tie Plant, and Gore Springs -- and they got the fire under control pretty quickly.  Then Gore Springs got another call and had to leave, but Geeslin Corner stayed down there for a couple of hours, just to make sure it didn't flare up again.  And that was my excitement for the day. 

How was your day?  

* Just a reminder, as of January 1, I will no longer be posting links to the blog to Pinterest or MeWe. 

Miserable

Today was downright miserable. 

Not emotionally.  I'm good emotionally.  I mean, it's always a bit sad when Christmas day is over and you start putting everything away until next year, but that's not what made me miserable. 

No,  I was miserable because it was so dadgum muggy today.  It was so humid, when I went to check my mail, it was wet.  The mail was wet.  My mail sitting in my mailbox was wet!  From the humidity.  And I'd gotten two Christmas cards at that.  Which were wet...

The worst part is, it wasn't warm enough to turn the air conditioning on and get some of that humidity out of the house.  I could feel my hair curling just sitting in my chair watching football.  Ugh...It got a little better as the day went on, but the skies were overcast all day, so there really wasn't enough sun to burn it off completely.  It's supposed to be even worse tomorrow. 

Heh, that reminds me, a while back on the book of faces, a meteorologist -- or a storm chaser, I don't remember which -- went on a big, long tirade about people talking about how the sun burns the fog off.  He seemed to think that people really thought the sun would cause the fog to combust and literally turn into flames or something.  I'm like, "Calm down, dude, it's just a colloquialism.  Nobody really thinks the fog catches on fire like wood."  

In other news, I spoke too soon about my garlic bed.  As soon as I covered up the other two, the cat started digging in that one, too. 

So this morning, I braved the sauna we call the back yard and put plastic down in it.  

I found some of the garden staples on sale at Amazon and ordered them.  They should be here Monday, so I can take all of those bricks up.  My poor garlic and celery looks pretty sad right now, but I'm hoping it'll perk up now that nothing will be digging it up every two days.  

On a similar note, it looks like my green onions are starting to grow.  I didn't take a picture, but they sure do look like they're pushing up out of the middle.  That's great news, because I love green onion.  

The only other thing I did today was to vacuum seal a bunch of the home made candy and put it into the deep freeze with the cookies I did yesterday.  I left some out -- both cookies and candy -- for when the kids come back through, and so I can have some on New Year's Eve, if they last that long.  Right now, I'm not sure they will. 

Then I started washing and putting away my Christmas containers and cups and such like, and took the card table down and put it away.  In the midst of all of that, I had football on the TV, but I was mostly listening to it as background noise, because none of the teams I watch were playing.  

And I bit the bullet and finished my chemistry course. 

 I'd taken chemistry back in high school, and it made me cry.  I wanted to go through this course to see if I would learn anything this time around, and I did.  I learned that chemistry still makes me cry. 

And I failed the final exam.  Good thing they let you take it over and over...

It took three tries, but I finally passed and got my certificate printed out.  Thank you for your time, Dr.  Young, but I'm going back to history and literature now.  

Boxing Day

I gotta be honest, I've tried several times to start this post, but am having a hard time getting it going.  Truth is, Christmas just hits differently when there is no longer any family around to celebrate with.  I don't know why this year seems to be harder, but it is.  Even my introverted self misses the noise and the chaos, and all the kids opening their presents -- even when those kids were us.  My sibs and I.  

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate all of my friends who reached out to wish me a Merry Christmas, but it's just not the same.  I suppose by now I ought to be used to spending Christmas alone -- except for those few hours of time Cody manages to pry away from Brennan's parents.  

About that, Brennan had to work Christmas Eve, so they didn't get here until nearly 7:00 PM, and the store had been so slammed all day, she hadn't had a chance even to get something to eat and she was starving. Good thing I'd been starving about an hour before then and had already fixed all of the food.  She just had to zap it in the microwave, and I don't know what it is about those two, but they always want to stand in my kitchen to eat.  

So we ate, opened gifts -- more about that in a minute-- then Cody drove us around looking at lights.  By the time we got back from doing that, we were all pretty tired, and went to bed not long after that.  Christmas morning, they had to get up and rush off to Memphis so they could spend time with Brennan's parents before all of her cousins came over. 

I was a bit disappointed, because I'd wanted to bake and decorate cookies with them.  And watch Christmas movies, and just spend time with my son.  We did talk about it briefly, though, while Bren was out of the room.  He said he'd vented a bit, because he was the one having to drive 200 miles, and felt like they should be more considerate of him.  I said, "Not just that, but you know I'd like to spend some time with you over the holidays, too."  

I told him I wasn't going to say anything, because it wasn't my place, but I'm tired of being treated like an afterthought, settling for the leftovers of my son's time  -- especially when they're spending all week up there in Memphis.  Cody said they'd stop by on their way home, but knowing them, it'll be just long enough to use the bathroom and they'll be gone again. 

OK, enough of my moaning.   After they'd eaten, we sat down to open gifts, and everyone seemed delighted with the haul. 

Brennan has gotten into crochet lately, so I got her a set of hooks, some yarn, a ball winder and spool.

I also got her a candle and some fuzzy slipper socks.  She seemed to love it all. 

This yarn wasn't a Christmas present, but I gave it to her because honestly, I can't even remember what I'd bought it for. 

As you can see, I'd started a scarf, but I changed my mind and bought three more skeins of the yarn, but I have no idea why.  Oh, well, Brennan can use it for whatever she wants, and I'm excited to see what she does with it. 

Cody's big gifts were a Strikeman Dry Fire training system, which he couldn't wait to get started playing with.  

He let me try it, too and I did OK, considering how long it's been since I've shot.  Let's just say, they all landed in the gray center area, but my grouping was pretty loose.  It didn't help that I couldn't see the front sight, and I'm sure that's because I desperately need new glasses.  

My eye doctor retired and I'm having trouble bringing myself to find a new one.  I've been going to the same eye clinic ever since I moved here.  It was run by a father and his two sons, and when the last one of them retired, I'm left eye doctorless.  

But that's another story for another day.  

I also got an expansion pack of targets where you could play them like an arcade game.  It was pretty fun, and Cody didn't put it down until he was ready to go to bed.  I even got mine out and he figured out the app for me.  I'd bought one years ago, but never could figure out how to make it work.  

I'm not very technical, you see.   The question now is, can I figure it out without him there to work the app for me? 

His other presents were a new range bag, which is really nice, and some new flannel pants. 

I told him I didn't know what to get him this year, since they don't use Amazon any more.  He said it's because they're going to robotics and taking jobs away from real people -- but he uses the self checkout at stores.  Go figure. 

The one thing I got them both that I forgot to put into the photo above was this sausage and cheese gift set from Hickory Farms. 

And this is my loot.   The Rudolph record is from my older brother and his family.  The house shoes, Downton Abbey DVD and gardening bench are from my sister and her family.  The fairy house is from my younger brother, and

the blanket, candle, and hot chocolate mix are from the kids. 

I joked with Brennan that every time someone gives me something warm for Christmas like a blanket or jacket or hoodie, it's always hot. It won't last long, though, because we're supposed to be back below freezing Sunday night into Monday.   

That's meteorologist speak...

I have no idea who sent the mug with the Texas flag on it.  It just appeared on my doorstep a few days before Christmas.  I have my suspicions... but nobody has fessed up yet. 

I hate to say I have a favorite gift, but I'm totally loving this garden bench.  I turn it like this and I can kneel on it, then use the handles to help get myself back up.  

Or I can turn it up this way, and sit on it. 

And I can put the tool pouches on which ever side I need them to be.  And the whole thing folds up for storage. 

Look at this: 

The gloves that came with the bench has claws on the right one, so I can dig with them.  This afternoon, I used those claws -- and the bench -- to weed my bluebonnet bed. 

Oh, it made it so easy, and my back didn't hurt at all!  

By the way, those candles turned out to be such a disappointment.  They're gorgeous and all, but it only takes about three days for the batteries to run down.  After the second time, I stopped replacing them.  Next year, I might try to find some solar powered lights.  

Before Cody and Brennan rushed off Christmas morning, he got his new drone out and flew it a bit.  

Can you see it?  It's a tiny little speck up there.   He got it high enough that we were able to see the lake from here.  He let me fly it a minute, but I didn't dare go that high.  I was afraid I'd get it stuck in a tree or something.   I only flew it for a few minutes, and got so caught up in it, I completely forgot to look at what was showing on Cody's phone.  I was watching the drone. 

Cody says when they come back through on the way home, he wants to take it out to the lake and fly it somewhere out there.  I'd be afraid I'd drop it into the water myself.   

Anyway, they left around 11:00, and I was left to my own devices for the rest of the day.  I caught up on some Christmas movies that I hadn't gotten around to watching yet,  cleaned up the kitchen a bit, then settled in with my new house shoes and some knitting to watch my never-miss Christmas classic. 

By the time Harry declared his big brother George was the richest man in town, I had another hat ready to send off to some seafarer next year. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Granny Square

Colorway:  Soft White-Frigid

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/ 5 mm

I think I have enough of this yarn for one more hat, which I will be casting on here in a minute.  

This morning, despite my better judgement, I drove into town to check out the clearance sales.  I didn't get very much, just one box of cards, some wax melts and a few things to put back for next year's Christmas gifts. 

I picked up a couple of bags of the candy melts, but put them back.  I've still got all of those chocolate chips.  I'll just use them to make the candy in my new molds.  

The only other thing I did today was to start vacuum sealing some of the cookies I'd made and putting them into the deep freeze.  Tomorrow I'll put up some of the candy as well.  But for now, I've got a hat to cast on and a chemistry lesson to watch.  

The Word Became Flesh

 

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to their own town to register.