As Good As It's Going To Get

Well, my house is as Christmassy as it's going to get.  I got up yesterday and put out the rest of my decorations, and hauled the storage boxes back out to the shed.  I'm not going to bombard you with photos of everything, but I will show you this.  It's a new old thing I put out for the first time...in a long time.

Not the village.  I've had it for a few years -- Beverly gave it to me when they moved back to Texas.  I'm talking about the gigantic, totally out of scale nativity scene beside the church.

If you're thinking, "Hey, that looks like a Fontanini,"  you would be correct.  When I was stationed in Italy, I bought a tree topper that was a glass dome looking thing with a spire on top.  In the dome, there was a little Fontanini nativity scene.  This is that scene.  It had survived the trip from Italy, and I'd kept it packed so carefully to keep it safe for so long. 

"But what happened to it," you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you. Back in 2005, there was this hurricane.  His name was Dennis.  Most people don't even remember him, even though he was a cat 4 when he made landfall, because he was overshadowed by Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.  Though his track passed to the east of us, we got enough wind and rain to cause some damage.  My storage shed -- and many of the things inside -- were part of that damage. 

Along with many other things ruined, the glass part of the topper was broken.  I threw the whole thing away, then thought better of it and got it back out of the trash.  By the way, I still have a scar on my hand from doing that. 

I knew I couldn't glue the glass part bsck together, so I pulled the figures off and kept them.  In all that time, I'd never done anything with them, but this year, on a whim, I added them to my Christmas village.  I think they look right nice there.

You know what else looks right nice?  My red Christmas cactus in full bloom.

All righty then, moving right along...

In knitting news, I started a scarf with the one lonely skein of the Lion Brand Scarfie I still had. 

I'm liking the way the colors are blending in this one.  Now, I wish I'd bought a second skein, so I could make a slightly longer scarf and matching hat.  Alas, I didn't, and now Walmart isn't carrying it any more.  Not the local store, at least.  I looked online, and the cheapest I've found it is $7 a skein.  I ain't paying all that for it.  I haven't checked Ebay yet.  If they don't have any, or it's not reasonably priced, this one will just end up being a stole type thingy. 

OK, I just went and checked Joann's, Michael's, and Ebay.  They all want $9 or more per skein.  So, that's a no from me.

Also, I got the button sewn onto my Calorimetry. 

It's all ready for next year's blessing bags. 

And finally, I was watching a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie, when a boy walked into the scene wearing this: 

Now, I feel like I've made the big time.  Why?  Because I have the exact same sweatshirt:

I've had it since 1993, the year Cody was born.  I used to wear it to all the family Christmas gatherings until it began to get a bit tattered around the neck and sleeves.  Now it just hangs in my closet, awaiting its moment of glory.  Which it just had.  Because it was featured in a Hallmark Christmas movie!

See? I was Hallmark before Hallmark was cool!

I'm Real!

The other day, you may recall I was having problems with my violin pegs slipping.  While I was researching the issue, one of the videos I was watching on YouTube said to push the pegs into the holes really hard.  Of course, I knew to do this, but I always worried about breaking Cody's violin.  This guy said that you would not break the violin doing this.  He said you're more likely to break a string than the peg box, following up with the statement, "You're not a real violinist until you've broken a string."

I guess I'm real, then.

Friday I'd gotten Cody's violin out and was attempting to tune it.  Here's the thing -- the string will tune a whole lot better if you turn the right peg.  Sigh...

I was trying to tune my G string, to no avail.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why that string wouldn't tune properly.  Neither could I figure out why the peg had gotten so hard to turn.  I gave it one more good, hard crank, when to my horror, I heard the tell-tale sproing, and saw my D string fly across the room.  And that's when I figured it out...

Quickly, I hopped on Amazon and ordered a new set, which arrived today.

I'm probably going to go ahead and change out all the strings, so they'll all be the same type, and save the unbroken ones for spares.  While I'm doing that, I'll go ahead and soap up the remaining pegs, then they'll all be good.  I don't know when I'll have time, as .... I'm getting overtime again!

Just before I left for the day, Group Leader said to come in early tomorrow.  I'm glad of that.  My bank account was getting so tight, it was Heimlich-ing itself.

In other news, I got my Christmas tree up over the weekend.

I did something a little different this year.  Usually, when I'm stringing the lights, I weave them up and down each branch, because I don't want to see the wires.  After staring at my tree all day Friday, dreading the process, I decided I'm getting to old to do all that crawling up inside the tree, this time around, I'd just wrap the lights around the outside.  If I didn't like it that way, I could always re-do it.  However, once I got it done, and all the decorations on it, the tree looks fine. Beautiful, even.

Look, there are a few presents under it.

Rylea says, "I sure hope one of those is for me."

Um...*adds present for Rylea to shopping list*.....*adds present for Jesse to shopping list, too*

Moving right along, here is my newest ornament:

Live Long and Prosper.

Finally, my latest Yes.Fit medal has arrived.

It's really cute, and the gumdrops on the medal are 3D!

I'm probably going to hold off signing up for another race until the overtime kicks in again.  Money is just too tight right now.  I'm still walking the steps at work, even though everyone else has quit until after Christmas. 

I'm trying not to get any fatter, or I'll have to go up a jean size. 

Well, Dang

I'm just a bit tuckered, but Thanksgiving is almost ready.  Well, not almost.  OK, it's not even close.  I made a pumpkin pie, and the first layer of my strawberry jello salad, but that's it.  Oh, and I dragged all my dishes out of the cabinet and washed them in diluted bleach water.  You may remember I had a pretty serious mouse problem earlier this year, and I wanted to make sure there were no remaining mousy germs on my dishes.  I'd planned on putting together at least my sweet potato casserole, but I didn't get it done.  We may be eating a bit later than usual tomorrow...

But hey, I watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, so there is that.

Can you believe they made us work today?  Not only work, but they expected us to actually be productive!  Someone whom I can neither confirm nor deny may or may not have been me said, "This is like trying to teach on the last day of school!" 

But the last day of school finally ended and I came home to my first Christmas card of the season, from my Australian pen pal! Look at the little Koalas!  Aren't they cute?

I've got to finish doing mine.  Maybe this weekend. 

Insomnia hit me hard last night, and I'm really feeling it now.  While I was laying there, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, I got to thinking about that Peg Dope stuff.  I hadn't want to get into taking the strings and pegs out of Cody's violin, because I was afraid of messing something up.  But then, I said to myself, "Self, you should watch a how-to video on YouTube"  because you know there is going to be a how-to video somewhere on YouTube "before totally giving up on the idea." 

Laying there in bed, in the middle of the night, I grabbed my phone and opened my YouTube app.  A quick search brought up several videos on how to stop pegs from slipping, including one from the online violin tutor I'm using to try to learn how to play.  One thing she said was that you don't have to buy that expensive Peg Dope.  She uses a regular bar of soap.  She even showed us the one she keeps with her violin.  It's one of those mini bars you get from hotel rooms.  I know some of those sites I'd looked at said not to use soap, but Ms Sparrow has been playing since she was 7-ish, and has even played professionally.  If she says it's OK, I believe her. 

Anyway, one thing all the videos said was to make sure the strings are wound correctly.  They are supposed to be wound around the pegs so that the end going to the bridge is snug against the inside wall of the peg box.  Hmmm, that seems simple enough.  Still in the throes of insomnia, I got out of bed and padded down the hall to the kitchen.  I got me a bit of cheese to nibble on, then got Cody's violin out of its case.

Sure enough, none of the strings were snug against the peg box wall.  Simple enough to loosen the peg and re-wind the strings.  Carefully...slowly, I began loosening the tension...but apparently not slowly and carefully enough.  I did something wrong, and the string came completely loose and flew across the room, and the peg fell out onto the counter.

Dang!

I hadn't wanted to get into all that, and certainly not in the middle of the night.  But there it was. 

Since the peg was out already, I might as well soap it up.  I picked up the errant peg, and carried it into the bathroom.  I rubbed my bar of  bath soap onto the peg the way Ms. Sparrow showed in the video.  I went back into the kitchen and put the peg back into the violin peg box.  I retreived the errant string, and after about three attempts -- it was still the middle of the night, you know -- I got it re-strung. 

I put a little tension on it so it wouldn't mess anything up, finished my cheese, and went back to bed, where I promptly fell fast asleep. 

After work, I opened my tuner app, and tuned that string up.  It's my A string, for those of you who know about such things.  Not only did it produce a beautiful, clear tone, but it held it's tuning!  None of the other strings did, but my A string stayed in tune.  Probably after Thanksgiving, I'll pull the rest of the pegs and soap them up, too.

But for now, I guess I'd better get to bed, or I won't be even able to cook anything tomorrow.  Good night, all.

I Remembered!

Sure enough, as soon as I shut down my computer last night, I remembered what it was I was going to tell you.  And that something is, I saw my two yearling bucks Sunday night!  They are looking really good -- especially my little seven point.  Unfortunately, it was already too dark to get a good picture.  That's what happens when the sun sets at 4:30 -- ish. 

I haven't seen the mama does or this year's babies recently, though.  Maybe they'll come around sometime. 

As you may know, I've been trying to learn to play Cody's violin -- like I need more on my plate.  Anyway, I'd been getting frustrated because the thing simply will not stay in tune.  Every single time I play it, I have to re-tune it.  Even then, before I've finished, at least one string is back to being out of tune.  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I googled it.

Apparently, I need something called Peg Dope.  See, a violin peg board is different from a guitar peg board. On a guitar, you have these little gear things.

 
I don't know what the official name for them is.  Whatever they're called, they help hold the tuning pegs in place, so that once your string is tuned, it's not going anywhere.  Oh, they loosen over time, but once they're set, they're pretty much set.  They just need to be tweaked every now and again.

Violin tuning pegs aren't like that.  You just have to jam them into the holes and hope friction holds them in place.  But there is help.  You can put this Peg Dope stuff on them and it'll help hold them into place.  The bad news is, you have to unstring the peg and pull it out of the hole to apply said Peg Dope.  I don't know that I want to get into all of that with Cody's violin.  If it were mine, I would.  But I don't want to mess his instrument up. 

The good news is, now I know it's not something I'm going wrong.  They also say that changes in humidity and temperature can cause the pegs to slip.  We've had a lot of that lately.  Once I figured that out, I got a lot less frustrated.  I mean, it's still going out of tune, but at least now I know why. 

By the way, I'm trying to work up a little something for you.  It still sounds pretty rough, but hopefully in a few weeks, it'll be ready. 

Well, it'll be Thanksgiving in a couple of days, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share something.  I will be thankful when my place of employment decides its employees are worth new soap dispensers.  You know, so we don't have to jury rig them with pieces of cardboard any more.

I told a friend that if the company ever goes out of business, we can all get jobs milking cows.  We'll have plenty of experience.

What Was I Thinking?

When I was a kid, I always wanted to live somewhere where it was cold and snowy.  Now that I'm a little older, and hopefully wiser, days like today come along,

and I wonder "What was I thinking???"  When I got off work, my car thermometer said 38.  This is January weather, not November weather.  What happened to all that global warming we were supposed to be getting?  I was wishing I had another day off to stay home up under the covers. 

Last night Cody called to wish me a happy birthday, and we ended up talking for nearly an hour.  He said, "That's what happens when you don't keep in touch often enough."  I asked him how his job was going, and he said it's going well.  He said he's considering switching to commission only.  Right now he gets a base salary, plus commission.  It's a bit lower commission than he would get if he were commission only, but having a base salary is a bit of a safety net.  I'm a bit worried about him losing that safety net, but he's a grown man.  It's his decision.  Plus, he can always switch back if things aren't going so well.  He said he wants to make enough money that he can pay my mortgage off for me, then move me to Texas, or up to Memphis with him.  I'd be torn about that.  I really want to move back home, but at the same time, I don't want to be so far away from him.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. 

We chatted about various other things, then I told him a story...

As many of you know, Cody is a big, big LSU fan.  For those of you who don't know, Cody is a big, big LSU fan.  He's the one who got me hooked on them as well.  I grew up a Texas fan, but Cody used to go watch LSU with James, who is a big, big LSU fan seeing as how half his family is from Louisiana. Then Cody'd come home and ask, "Mom, can we watch LSU?"  I said, "OK", and that's how I became a LSU fan -- which I am, except when they're playing Navy or Texas.

Naturally, being a big, big LSU fan, he was thrilled with the result of Saturday's game against Alabama.  We were talking about it, and I told him the aforementioned story, which I will now relate to you.

I grew up in Texas.  My uncle and his family all live in Alabama.  Every year, between Christmas and New Year's Day, they'd come to visit.  We loved it.  It was like having a second Christmas.  By and by,  we all grew up, went to college, and eventually went on our way.  My two oldest cousins both attended the University of Alabama.  The other two might have as well, but I don't really remember.  Some cousin I am, huh? 

This particular year, sometime in the early to mid 80s I reckon it was, Texas and Alabama were playing each other in some bowl game or other -- I can't recall which one right off hand, and I'm too lazy to go look it up.  You can if you want to.  It shouldn't be that hard to find.

Anyway, we were having our second Christmas dinner, in line buffet style.  My dad was standing there waiting to get his food, he turned to my cousin Diane and asked, "Are you going to come back next week and watch the Crimson Tide become the Pink Puddle?"

Cody absolutely LOVED that story.  I must remember to tell him more things about his grandfather, since doesn't remember him at all.

Finally, you know I've decided to add the fiddle to my list of instruments I'm trying to learn.  Cody had bought a violin several years ago after listening to some Vivaldi Four Seasons videos on YouTube.  It inspired him to want to learn to play.

Me, on the other hand, this is my inspiration:




What can I say?  I am who I am. 

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about your Christmas concert, either.  I've got five songs picked out that I'm learning for you. 

Don't Envy Me

Don't envy me my exciting life.

Seriously, don't.

You know you live a dull life when the highlight of your day is buying a new Dustbuster.

You'll become even more envious when I tell you that this is the first Dustbuster I've ever owned.  I mainly bought it because I got tired of trying to wipe the dead bugs out of the window sills with a damp paper towel.  It doesn't work too well.  And since it's been cool enough to open said windows lately, the presence of dead bugs has become even more noticeable.  Plus, it'll be handy for little spills and such as well.

Look at me, telling you the benefits of owning a Dustbuster when I'm probably the last person on the face of the earth to get one.  But at least my window sills are now dead bug free.

All right then...moving right along...

Let's see... what have I done this weekend?  This morning, I got up and put my Fall application of Weed & Feed on the grass.  The dogs weren't happy that I had to keep them inside afterwards, but they got over it.  I didn't do it last year, and I think that's why the weeds took over my back yard.

Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas starts next weekend, so I got online and turned on my DirecTV Now account.  Only now, it's AT&T TV.  The bad news is, they no longer have the $35 per month plan I used to get.  They've included HBO at "no extra charge" and raised the price to $50 per month.  And they still don't have my local network affiliates, so I will drop them again right after the New Year. If they keep raising the price, I might not get them again next year.  I get Lifetime with my HULU, and they have some pretty good Christmas movies. So, there.

I also wove some Zoom Loom squares.

Then I wove some more.

On a whim, I got out all the ones I've done so far and counted them.  I've currently got 60.  Pretty soon, I'll have to figure out how I want to sew them all together.  I'm thinking I might make a true crazy quilt type and just reach blindly into the bag and whichever square I pull out is what I add next.

Whatcha think, Christi?  Think that'll make your friend Amy C. scream?  I'm still giggling over that, by the way.

A while back, I mentioned that someone needed to make a Dan Crenshaw action figure.  I've searched and searched, and haven't found one.  So, a Captain America doll,

and a homemade eye patch, and I made my own!

The patch isn't sticking too well.  I made it out of a printer sticker.  I've got some electrical tape around here somewhere that I think will work better. If I can find it, I'll try it out.

Finally, I found a violin lesson series on YouTube.  She even has links to PDF printouts that go with the lessons.  She seems to have a really good lesson plan.  For starters, she talks about the parts of the violin, and how to hold the bow, how to rosin the bow, and all that.  I've finally started the first real playing lesson.  It's just how to play the notes on the open strings, but that's where you need to start.

I've been playing sitting at my keyboard, so I can use the music stand on it.  It's not working out too well.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but I can't see the music.   I think my next investment needs to be a regular music stand so I can adjust the height to where I can see out of my bifocal spot.

And a new pair of glasses.  I was looking through my Facebook memories, and it's been 5 years since I've had new glasses.  That may be why I can't see anything.

Probably ought to get that taken care of, huh?

Short Post

This is going to be a short post, because, well, frankly, I just don't have anything to talk about.  About the only thing I can do is show you my new fingerboard thing I ordered for my violin.

I still have to learn how to play it, though.  The company that makes the decal -- well, it isn't a decal, it's more of a vinyl cling, but it clings to itself, not the violin -- has a website with instructional videos.  I'll look it up tomorrow evening when I get home from work.

Speaking of work, I'm a little aggravated with my place of employment right now.  We've got inventory coming up soon.  Back at the beginning of the year, when I was scheduling my vacation days,  I went by the calendar the company puts out every January, as I always do.  I made sure not to schedule a vacation day on inventory day, because I always work that day.  I found out yesterday that they rescheduled inventory.

To a day I have a vacation day scheduled.  Oh well.  I'm not changing my day.  They'll just have to find someone else to work in my place this year. 

That's about all I have for today, so I'll just leave you with the latest batch of Zoom Loom squares.

Maybe tomorrow will be more exciting.

I've Run Out Of Clever Titles

Actually, I think I ran out of clever titles several titles ago, so you get this.  Such is life...

And now, on to your regularly scheduled post.

I've had this problem with chipmunks ever since I moved into this house.  Last week, I got fed up, and ordered a live trap from Amazon.  It was supposed to get here Monday, but it didn't.  I thought maybe it'd get here Tuesday, but it didn't.  By Thursday, I'd figured it was not going to arrive at all, so I requested a refund, which I've received.  I also left the seller a very poor review, to which they have not responded. 

Since I still have a chipmunk tearing up my yard, when I did my in town running yesterday, I ran into Tractor Supply to see if they had a live trap.   You know, I really need to stay out of that store.  It's like a wonderland.  So much fun stuff.

I didn't find a trap, but I did pick up this totally cute chicken mug.

They had four different breeds, and I debated for a long time, and finally settled on this one.  The first person I thought of when I saw them was my friend Marcy, who has chickens.  Do go check out her blog, and she's also got a vlog on YouTube.  Check that out, too.  She's really cool.

All that aside, I still have a chipmunk problem.  I thought about running up to Lowe's today, but ended up just staying home and being lazy.  Probably a good thing, because the long awaited cold front finally arrived.  It passed quickly, but got pretty hairy there for a while.  It's supposed to get down into the low 40s tonight.  I brought some firewood up, just in case.

I'm going to try to hold off burning it, because I've almost used up all the wood from that huge tree I had cut down.  I think I have enough to last through this winter, if I'm frugal with it.  I'll just have to get out there and finish splitting it.   By next year, I'll have to start buying some.  There's usually someone selling it on the local yard sale pages. 

In the meantime, I made a bunch more Zoom Loom squares.

They weave up so quickly, it won't be long until I have enough to make a blanket.

Yesterday, I found this meme and sent it to Cody.

Which is about how I'm playing.  He told me I wasn't messing up, I had become a jazz player.  They aren't wrong notes, they're atonal melodies -- or so he said.   Same as it is in knitting.  It's not a mistake.  It's a design element.  He asked how practice was going, and I said not well.  My hands are just too small to make the chords, and I told him how frustrated I was getting.  He said he's going to teach me something called triads.   He said they're much easier to reach than full chords.  

In the meantime, I got his fiddle out and tuned it.  I'm going to have to find a better book, though, or look for lessons online.  The book he has seems like it's meant to be used in a classroom type setting, with an actual instructor.  I tried looking at it, but it gets pretty advanced very quickly.  I mean, lesson two had sharps and all.  I don't even know how to make those notes yet, and there aren't any "this is how you play an F#" type of instructions.  The lessons just assume someone has taught you how to make the notes.  As a result, I'm only playing the open string notes.  There are only 4:  E, A, D, and G.  

I ordered a thing from Amazon that you can put right onto the neck of the violin.  It shows you where to put your fingers to make the other notes, since a violin doesn't have frets like a guitar does.  Oh, and there isn't anyone in town who teaches violin.  When would I go anyway?  It's the same problem I have with taking guitar or piano lessons.

Speaking of, there is a rumor going around that they're going to put us back to 8 hour shifts starting next year.  EVERYONE in the plant is praying that rumor is true.  They usually aren't, but we're all hoping this one is. 

In other news, Rylea hasn't been feeling well.  

I found some sort of strange lump on her neck.  I thought she'd been stung or something, but it doesn't seem to be getting any smaller.  If it's not better in a few days, another trip to the vet may be in order.  I'm hoping it's just a seroma or a cyst, and not something more serious.  That my time with her is getting short is never far from my mind. 

And finally, you have no idea how much this made my day.

Yeah, yeah, I know it's jut one of FB's algorithms, but hey, a girl can dream, can't she? 

I've Lost My Mind

I've come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to be a guitar virtuoso.  And I'm OK with that, because I'm only playing for my own enjoyment anyway.  I can play the notes just fine -- well for an absolute beginner, I mean -- but the chords are throwing me for a loop.  It's these short, fat fingers I was born with. 

I am getting better.  Slowly, but I'm getting better. 

Something's been nagging at the back of my mind here lately, though.   It's Cody's violin.

Sitting there in his room.  Gathering dust. 

It's got a much smaller neck and a much smaller fret board.  Much more fitting to my much smaller hands.   I've been thinking more and more about how fun it would be to learn to play it.  I spent all day today daydreaming of playing the fiddle.  It's a very popular instrument in country and bluegrass music.  It'd be so much fun to be able to play it...

Have I lost my ever loving mind?????

I don't want to give up the guitar, and I'm certainly not giving up the piano.  Do I really want to add a third instrument into the mix?  I mean, with these stupid 10 hour shifts, I barely have time to breathe as it is.  And it's only going to get worse when peak season kicks in after the first of the year. 

When would I practice? 

Still, I downloaded a violin tuner to my phone...

Maybe I'll get it out this weekend and tune it.  Not play it.  Just tune it. 

And maybe play it.  Just for a minute. 

Eh, who needs sleep anyway?