A Day Of Weirdness

It all started before the sun was even up.  I was having one of those dream within a dream dreams.  You know, inception style.

In my dream, I was asleep, and someone came up behind me and was pushing on my shoulder, trying to wake my dream self up.  Whoever it was was pushing me so hard, the entire bed was shaking.  It was very annoying.  I was trying to wake my dream self up and get my dream eyes opened, but I couldn't.  My dream self was trying to shout, "Stop it!", but I couldn't get my dream mouth to open. Somewhere in the process, my real self cried out, which woke my real dog up.  Real Jesse started barking, which woke up my real self and my dream self, thus ending the inception.

It was all very strange.

I got up and went to work as usual.  After work, I was going to run the title to my old trailer house to the buyer's bank.  It being the first day after a holiday weekend, I decided I'd call his person to make sure she was there today.  Sitting in the parking lot of the plant, I dialed the number on my cell phone.

I forgot I have that phone sync thing in my new car.  When it started ringing through the speakers on my radio, it like to have scared the poo out of me.  Anyway, I got the title delivered, and that is all taken care of and done with.

Since I was in town and needed milk, I went on to the store.  Now, I have more ornaments than my Christmas tree can hold, but I wanted to get a new one this year, for my first Christmas in my new house.  Wal-mart doesn't really have a vast selection of commemorative ornaments, but I found this little guy.

He's got the date on his scarf, so I thought he'd be perfect.

I didn't notice this until after I got him home. 

Sigh...Red Sharpie to the rescue. 

Now he's perfect! 

Decorating

Despite it being very warm today, and very un-Christmassy feeling, I started putting out the rest of my decorations.  What that really means is I spent most of the day looking around and saying, "Where am I going to put all this stuff?" 

I usually put the same stuff in the same place year after year, but what with this being a new house and all, I'm still figuring out were to put things.  I did get Santa and the two elves up by the tree.

 And the Fontanini Nativity. 

 I knew I wanted to put this nativity on one half of my mantle, but I wasn't sure about what to put on the other side. 

Years and years ago, I had started collecting a Christmas village out of a craft catalog. The plan was to get a piece each year until I had the whole set, because I couldn't afford all of them at once.  I had only gotten three pieces -- and only finished painting one of those-- when the magazine stopped carrying them.  I looked online, and I think the company went out of business, because the only place you can find them now is on places like ebay.  

Wal-mart carries Christmas villages, so I thought I'd start getting some of them, when Cody shows up at the house and said that Beverly had told him to bring me these. 

This is a Sarah, Plain and Tall village that was put out by Hallmark several years ago.  The buildings are a bit small, and it looks kind of lost on that mantle, so I don't think that will be its permanent home.  I've mentioned before that Beverly and James are going to give me several pieces of furniture when they move, and I have an idea where it will fit, once I get their entertainment center.  I used to have some of that white polyfiber stuff that looks like snow.  I'm not sure what happened to it, but maybe I can find some to put under it.  I know Wal-mart has some trees, so I'm going to get some next time I run into town. 

Some good news to finish out this post.  I finally got the title to my old trailer house.  We had to go round and round with the Tax people, mainly because the finance company had changed hands a couple of times.  They needed documentation of said hands-changing.  I sent them the documentation they needed, only they lost or tossed some of it.  I had to re-send it.  This time, they got the message.

 Monday after work, I'm going to take it in to Steve's bank.  They'll hold it until he pays off the loan he has with them.  I don't know if they'll need to witness me signing it over, so I thought I'd just take it myself, just to be sure.   I did call him to let him know I'd gotten it.  That's a relief to finally have that mess over and done with. 

One more thing I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving week.

Black Friday

There was nothing black about my Friday.  Though I woke up fairly early, I didn't get out and fight the crowds in the stores.  I've never shopped on Black Friday, even when we were kids.  Our family tradition that day was to make fruitcakes. 

I don't bake fruitcakes any more, mainly because I'm the only one who eats them.  I'll just buy a small one from the store.  Now, I take the day to begin putting up my Christmas decorations.  This year was no exception.  Beverly and James said they wanted to come over and help me this year, it being our last Christmas all together here in Grenada and all. 

The first thing I did was to sweep and mop the entire house.  Then I had to rearrange my furniture so that I could fit my tree into the corner.  After doing that, I was pooped, so I sat down for a rest.  I sat there so long, I told myself that if I didn't get a move on, they would all be here and I wouldn't even have the tree out of the shed.

So I pried my hiney out of the chair and dragged the tree and boxes of decorations into the house.  About the time I got the tree put together, and was just about done fluffing the branches, I heard a car door slam. 

Perfect timing,  there they were. 

James and Cody strung the lights, while I got all the Fall/Thanksgiving stuff down and packed it away. 

Once that was done, we made quick work of decorating.   I let James and Cody each hang an LSU ornament, but Cody refused to hang any of my Dallas Cowboy ornaments.  Seems I didn't raise him right after all.  He even laughed when I dropped one and broke it.  I got online and ordered a new one, and said it was going to be my Christmas present from him.  He said, "Uh, no." 

I asked Cody what he wanted for Christmas.  He said, "I saw what you had to pay out for my college.  You've given me enough."  Sniff...maybe I did raise him right.  I'm still going to get him something, though.  He needs some new clothes.  I said I'd just give him money and he could pick out his own clothes.  I want him to have something under the tree to open, though.  I'll have to do some thinking.  Now, back to the decorating...

Here he is hanging the little bell I bought the year he was born.  I bought one for both of us, but I broke mine years ago.  Cody's is cracked, but it's still hanging in there. 

Cody and I in front of the tree.

And the finished product.  

Once we were done, Beverly and James went home, and Cody and I watched Jurassic World.  He'd never seen it.  I showed him which room will be his, once we finish moving all his furniture over.  He seemed pleased with it. 

After he left, I was poking around online.  I have ribbons from when I was in the Navy, but I can't find them.  I know they're packed up around here somewhere.  Anyway, I found a site where I can order more.  That's what I did.   I dug my DD-214 out of the file cabinet, just to make sure I was getting the right ones.  Good thing, because I discovered I had a ribbon I didn't know I'd earned.  I thought I just had three:  Good Conduct, National Defense, and Pistol Quals.  According to my DD-214, I also have an overseas service ribbon with two stars.  Cool.  I'm supposed to have a Meritorious Unit Commendation, but somehow it didn't get put into my service record, so I took it off my ribbon bar. 

Naturally, now that I've ordered a duplicate set of ribbons, I'll find my original ones. 

Isn't that always how it goes?

Our Thanksgiving

I have a confession to make.

As old as I am, I still get ridiculously excited for holidays.  I even get excited for holidays I don't celebrate.  Hanukkah, for example.  I may be sitting here calm and sedate, but on the inside, I'm jumping up and down and squeeing.

This year, Thanksgiving was a bit bittersweet, knowing it would be our last one in Beverly and James' house.  It was different, not being right next door to them -- having to load my food in the car and drive it over, instead of just walking out the back door and to their house.  I did have one breakdown, after we'd eaten.  I looked over and thought, "I need to run that jello over and put it into the refrigerator -- oh, wait..."

Anyway, since it was just the four of us, we kept it simple and stress free.  We still had plenty of food and all got sufficiently stuffed. 

We took the ubiquitous family photos.  (BTW, I am thankful that Cody shaved, even though he says he's going to regrow his beard.  I'm also thankful that he's not putting glitter in said beard.  Very thankful.)

Beverly and James, in their last Thanksgiving photo in front of this fireplace.  

After we ate, James laid down to take a nap because he's working nights, and Beverly, Cody, and I put up her little tree. 

They bought a smaller tree than they've had in the past because when they get back to Texas, their living room will be a lot smaller than the den they have here.  

That, and nobody was sure if they'd still be in this house, since it's already up for sale. We put their bird ornament collection on it, and a few more keepsake ornaments, and that was about all. 

Once the tree was done, we all dozed off in front of the TV, and some naughty little elf decorated the deer.  

Here is the almost finished product: 

They still have to find the angel and the tree skirt. 

Tomorrow, they are going to come over and help me with mine. But for tonight, I think I'll fix me a plate of leftovers and watch Miracle On 34th Street. 

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving, too. 

Thanksgiving Week -- Wednesday

The holiday baking and prepping has begun!  I came home from work and made two pies.  One pumpkin pie for me:

 And a sweet potato pie for Cody.

I cheated this year, and bought pie crusts.  I used my own pie plates, but I bought the kind of crusts that all you have to do is unroll them and put them into the pans.  I tried to flute the pumpkin pie really fancy like, but it didn't turn out so well.  I just used a fork on the other one and it looks fine. 

I got the strawberry jello salad done, so all I have to do tomorrow is the turkey, giblet gravy, and sweet potato casserole.   I got a bit worried about my turkey.  As it was thawing, the package got a bit puffy, so I went ahead and opened it.  It smelled OK, so that was a relief.  Every year, I say I'm going to brine my turkey, but then I read that most of them don't really need it, if they have that solution injected.  So, I don't brine.

This year, since I'd already opened it, I decided to go ahead and try brining my bird.    I did a search for recipes, and they ranged from very simple to very complicated.  I went with simple.  Said turkey is now back in the refrigerator, soaking in a brine solution.  We'll see how it goes. 

Just for kicks, here is an artsy-fartsy picture of my pumpkin pie.

You know, as much as I complain about it, I am thankful today that I have a job.  So many people out there don't have jobs.  I actually enjoy the work I do, and I have a comfortable life.

No, I take that back.  I have a good life.  I have a new house, a new car, plenty to eat, clothes to wear, clean water, and good friends.  That is more than most of the world has.

I am truly blessed.   

Thanksgiving Week -- Tuesday

Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow, and as you might guess, I'm very excited about it.  This is my first Thanksgiving in my new house.  As you might be able to guess, that is my moment of thankfulness for today.

I'm so thankful for this house.  It's close to work, close to church, and I've got really good neighbors.  I know it may seem a small thing to some of you, but I've got a car port!  No more slopping through the rain and mud to get to my car.  Woo hoo!!


Speaking of my house, last week when we were at Lowe's I found the flooring I want to put down when I get around to replacing the floor.   Here it is:

That reminds me of something else about this house I'm thankful for:  vinyl flooring.  It makes it so much easier to clean up the cat's urf.  No more scrubbing puke out of carpets.  Just wipe it up!  It'll be the same when Rylea goes through one of her spells with her stomach and has diarrhea all over the place.  Much easier to clean it up off of a vinyl floor than scrubbing it out of carpet.  It's the little things...


After work, I ran into town to pay my house note because I was afraid I'd forget to what with the holiday coming up and all.  Since I was in town already, I stopped by the store to pick up some cat food and a few more things for Thanksgiving dinner.

I've got some bananas that are just about right for banana bread, but I didn't have any bread pans.  While I was picking them up, I found these cute little mini loaf pans.

I have absolutely no need for them, but they were so cute I couldn't resist.  Oh, I'll find something to bake in them, never you fear about that. 

I finally made it home to see that my birthday present had arrived. 

If you're a browncoat, you'll understand. 

Thanksgiving Week -- Monday

Today, I am very, very thankful for a car that has heat.

I'm thankful for a reliable vehicle period.  Of course, I'm still getting used to it.  I drove half way to work this morning freezing my patooty off, waiting for the heater to turn on.  That's when I realized, I have to turn it on myself.  In the Jimmy, everything was automatic.  The heat came on when it got hot.  Well, when it worked, it did. 

I also keep forgetting to turn my headlights on.  I have to remind myself that they don't turn on and off automatically, like they did in the Jimmy.  Oh, and one day last week, I managed to turn on the rear window wiper and couldn't figure out how to turn it off.  I didn't know what I'd bumped to make it come on in the first place.  I finally found the button, after I'd driven about two miles down the highway, with the wipers going, on a sunny day. 

That's just part of the fun!

Thanksgiving Week

Today is the official start of Thanksgiving week.  I'm going to post one thing I am thankful for each day until Thanksgiving Day.  Some people say you shouldn't observe holidays.  We should be thankful every day, and not just one day a year.  You should love people every day, not just on Valentine's Day.  Holidays are ridiculous, they say. 

I think these people are ridiculous.  There is nothing wrong with setting a day aside to celebrate something.  If you read the Old Testament, how many times does God tell the children of Israel to set this day aside, set that day aside, take this day to remember?  Celebrating holidays is Biblical.  In face, even the word Holiday comes from Holy Day. 

A while back, an atheist acquaintance of mine said that she didn't want to go to Heaven.  She wasn't going to spend eternity groveling at the feet of a vengeful and judgmental God.  I am so thankful that my God isn't like that.  My God is the one who so loved the world that he gave his only son.  That my God is the one who came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  That my God is the one who is not willing that any should perish, but that all people should come to repentance.  That he knows my name, and no one can snatch me out of his hand.

For that, I am thankful beyond words. 



Friday morning, Beverly called me to discuss Thanksgiving dinner menu.  That is one of my absolute favorite things to do all year.  The plant gave us a turkey, so I'm going to be doing that, plus a fruit salad, a sweet potato casserole, and a sweet potato pie.  It's only going to be the 4 of us this year, so we decided to keep it kind of small. 

I wasn't going to make a pumpkin pie, because I'm the only one who eats pumpkin pie.  But then, I decided, heck, I eat pumpkin pie.  I'm going to make one anyway.  I won't take it over, but I'll eat it at home. 

I thought by going to the store Friday, I'd avoid the crowds later in the week.  I was wrong.  The store was pretty packed, but I got my stuff and made it out without incident.  The bad news is, when I got up Saturday morning and went to feed the cat, I realized I'd forgotten cat food.  She doesn't have enough to make it the whole week, so I'm going to have to go back one day after work. 

This morning was the first frost of the year.  I didn't go out and take pictures of it.  I'm sure you all know what frost looks like by now.  The cold has made for some great knitting weather.  I spent a good chunk of the last two days weaving in ends on my blanket.  Yes, I finally found a tapestry needle!

Here is a progress photo of the blanket I'm knitting for myself. 

I have a few more squares to add, then I'll set it aside and work on my sister's.  

Cody gave me this Christmas cactus when he was 7.  That makes it 15 years old. 

It didn't bloom for a long time, but it's bloomed pretty regularly these last four or five years.  

I was kind of worried that it wouldn't bloom this year, what with the move and all.  I shouldn't have.  It's doing just fine. 

Drapes

I got a pleasant surprise when I got home from work today.  My drapes are here a day early!

Pay no attention to the Tigger towel on the back of my recliner.    I'm pleading the 5th. 

Anyway, I think they'll look very nice once I get the paneling painted.  It's supposed to be cold this weekend, so I may have time to work on the house some more.  I really want to get Jimmy cleaned out and cleaned up so I can sell him.  That all depends on how cold it is. 

Thanksgiving is only a week away.  Yesterday at work, they gave us our ham or turkey, whichever one we chose.  I got a turkey.  I took a garbage bag with me because I didn't want to put it in my new car.  Turns out it wasn't necessary.  They handed our meat out in these re-usable bags.

If you know me, you know what I'm going to put into this!  If you don't, here's a hint: 

KNITTING!!

Speaking of knitting, thanks to some generous friends, I've been able to add several squares to both my sister's blanket and mine.  Soon, I'll take a picture of both to update you.

Speaking of work, I filled in for a brazer who was out today.  That means I had a whole new department of people to accost with baby pictures.  Oh, and I have Angie's permission, so I am officially (if not genetically) Wyatt's Great Aunt Becky. 

Dear Supervisor-In-Training

I know you are new to this whole leadership thing -- and apparently the whole integrity thing, too-- so let me clue you in with a little piece of advice:

No matter what your motives or intentions are, it is never a good idea to lie to your production superintendent.

Don't go tell him you need a sub-brazer on your line if you don't really need a sub-brazer on your line.  Because of your blatant falsehood, someone else had to make do without a sub-brazer that he really did need, while a perfectly competent sub-brazer spent the day at the end of your line screwing on drain pans-- which anyone from the floater pool can do.

I suggest you learn integrity pretty quickly.  If you keep lying, your employees will resent you and your bosses won't trust you.

Then you won't even need to finish your training, because you'll be gone.

Thank you.

That is all.

 

I'm An...

Well, I'm not exactly sure what I am, but Cody is an uncle!

Cody's half sister Faith and her boyfriend Michael became proud parents to baby Wyatt.  He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 5 oz.

Welcome to the world, Wyatt.

By the way, Cody will never admit it, but he's very proud of his nephew.  As is Cody's mother.  Oh, to heck with technicalities.

I'm a great-aunt!!!!

 Wyatt Eugene Reed
 

 

Weekend Wrapup

I'd checked out a movie from the church library, and was thinking I needed to get around to watching it, since it was due yesterday.  Saturday morning, I put it in and sat down to watch.  I got about 10 or so minutes into the movie and realized I had no clue what was going on.  I started over, telling myself I'd pay attention this time.  I got to the same point I was before, and still had no idea what was happening.

About that time, James called me up and said, "I can't sleep.  Let's go get you a new door for your bathroom."

Off to Batesville we went.  We got there and found the doors with framing and picked one out.  Then we wandered around the store for a bit so he could pick out a space heater for their den.  They already got rid of their wood pile, and without a fire, their den gets pretty chilly.

While he was picking out a heater, I found me a log rack. 

It's got a removable canvas thing so I can go out back and carry wood inside in it.  I also bought a poker and a little ash shovel. 

The didn't have any little brooms.  They had a set -- poker, shovel, broom, and stand -- but they were so small I didn't want to get it.  I mean, the broom was about the size of a paintbrush.  Nevertheless, I have a poker now.  I no longer have to use a broken curtain rod to poke my fire.

Speaking of fire, Saturday and Sunday morning both, I got up and managed to get a fire started the first try.  Over the course of the weekend, I got about 8 more logs split.  Not at the same time, but I got them done.  Another thing I learned Sunday afternoon is why our foremothers kept their hair in a bun.  Do you have any idea how annoying it is to try to swing an ax with your hair flying in your face?  Yeah...Anyway, I split two more after work today.  I figure if I do two or three a day -- and more on the weekends, I'll get that pile burnable by next winter. 

If you've read my blog for any length of time, certainly you've seen me post Christmas photos.  If you've seen Christmas photos, you've seen pictures of Beverly and James' tree.  Like this photo here that I took last year.

They decided that they just didn't like that tree any more, and they were going to get a new one.  They offered this one to me, so I posted my old trees in a local free-bees group.  Sunday afternoon, I met the person who wanted them at Wal-mart to hand them over to her.

Since I was there, I went into the store to get a new shower curtain for my bathroom.  The old one I had was starting to tear up.  No wonder, I bought it when we first moved into the trailer house in 2006.  After picking one out -- it still has dolphins on it, though I debated for a long time whether to get dolphins or a beach scene  -- I wandered over to the curtains and drapes section to see what they had.  I still don't have anything on any of my windows except the one in my bedroom.

I found something I liked for my living room.  It'll go nicely with the colors I'm planning to paint it.

They only had one panel in stock, so I came home and ordered three more online.  They should be here by Friday. 

Slowly, but surely, I'm making this house mine.  

Ten Years

It was ten years ago today, I dipped a tentative toe into the blog world with this post:

I've only been drawing a short time--less than a year. In order to improve my sketching skill, I decided to try to do a quick sketch every day. This is the first of my five minute sketches. It is of my cat Squeaky, drawn as she sat staring into that place only cats can see.

I hope, as time goes by, that I can see an improvement in my sketches, but these first ones wll look pretty rough.

The title of my blog is Sketches and More--the and more refers to my other hobbies, karate and knitting. More about that later...








On the one hand, it's hard to believe it's been a decade.  On the other hand, it seems like it was just yesterday that I started this online journey.  It's been quite a ride, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.  Most of you reading today, I didn't even know back then, but I'm so glad you're here now. 

Thank you for sharing this part of my life with me. 

I hope you'll stick around for the next ten years.

I Can Haz...

Long time readers may remember me mentioning that Beverly and James are moving back to Texas at the end of the year.  Or thereabouts.  That's why I needed to buy a house.  Another thing I needed to do was to get a new car.  My old Jimmy has been a good vehicle, but he'd gotten to the point where I just didn't trust him to be reliable -- what with me not going to have family around any more.  I needed something I could depend on.

Bright and early this morning, James and I went car shopping. I'd been looking around on websites like Autotrader and Truecar, but James said, "Let me take you out to talk to the guy I usually buy from."

We drove out to the dealership and started looking around.  I'd planned on getting a used car, but while we were standing there talking, the sales man Charles said, "Let's just go look at this Focus over here." 

Now, a Focus was one of the cars I'd been looking at on those websites, so I liked it immediately.  Even though it's brand new, between the Friends and Family event and several discounts and rebates they were able to give me, it ended up not costing much more than what I would have paid for a used one. 

After signing almost as many papers as I did when I bought my house, I drove off the lot, a proud owner of a brand new 2015 Ford Focus. 

 I got home and went out to take these pictures, and wondered how I'd gotten it muddy already.  Sigh...

It's got all sorts of fancy gadgets on it.  I can sync my phone to it, too.  

And look!  Cup holders deep enough to actually hold a cup!  

The ones in my Jimmy were so shallow, the cups would fly out of them every time I went around a corner.  

Best of all, the heater works!  Which means the defroster also works!  Woo hoo!  I'll be able to see when I'm driving to work on those frosty cold mornings. 

Speaking of frosty mornings, they're predicting temps down into the upper 30s tonight.  I asked James if he still had his fancy schmancy motorized wood splitter.  He'd already taken it to Texas, but he gave me his wood splitting ax to use. 

After splitting one log, I determined that our ancestors were made of much sterner stuff than we are.  I went out and did about 4 more after running into town for a minute, and I'm telling you, I haven't worked that hard since I can remember.  If you want abs, forget the weight room.  Just go split a cord of wood. 

I kinda want to go out and split some more, but I kinda already can't move. 

I think I'd better wait until tomorrow.

Veteran Dreams

I had the strangest dream last night.  No, really.

I had the strangest dream that I was in Wal-mart trying to buy snickerdoodles.  Two of them, only you had to ask the person at the window for them.  I finally got some, only I couldn't check out until the lady put green paint on her face.

I finally got to check out, and left the store.  I was the only vehicle left in the parking lot, so I drove straight toward the exit until a cop frantically waved at me to get back into the driving lane.  I was still trying to drive out of the parking lot when I ran into a whole bunch of war re-enactors.  The were all in costume, but from different wars.  There were reenactors from the American Revolution, The Civil War, The Napoleonic Wars, and WWI.  I was trying my best to drive through without hitting any of them as they charged into their mock battles.  It was even worse because it was night and none of the street lights were working.

I finally made it out onto the road, and drove around the old traffic circle that used to be in my home town and made it out onto Farm Road 105 to go home.  Much to my dismay, the war reenactors were all over that road, too.  It was so dark, I could barely see beyond the hood of my car, and soldiers were suddenly appearing in front of me.  It was quite the harrowing experience.  I managed to make it until the alarm went off without squishing anyone, though it's a wonder how I did it.

I woke up wondering if today being Veteran's Day brought on that dream. Speaking of Veteran's Day, this made me tear up.

I have the greatest respect for those who fought in WWII.  They faced near impossible odds, yet the persevered and freed the world from a mad man and a tyrant.  They truly were the greatest generation.

And then there's this: 

Oh, well.  We can't all be noble.

Hey! I Know You!

I was driving home from church yesterday.  As I pulled into my driveway and got out of my Jimmy, I heard someone call my name.  I turned around and it was Norma, a lady I used to work with out at the plant. 

"I didn't know you bought this house," she said. 

"Yeah," I replied.  "I moved in the middle of September." 

"Well, I live just right over there," she said as she pointed to the house across the street and one over from Mr. Clark.  I have another neighbor that I already know, so yay!

The rest of the weekend was much less eventful.  Since I'd made such a success cleaning up the back bedroom, I thought I'd work on the other bedroom -- which is my office/craft/snake room.  When we were bringing in my filing cabinet, it fell over and got bent out of shape.  The drawers weren't shutting correctly, so I took everything out and beat the cabinet back into place.  It's still kind of crooked, but at least the drawers shut now. 

Instead of just shoving everything back in, I took the opportunity to sort through and get rid of what I don't need any more.  Which means most of what was in there in the first place.  Seriously, most of it was owner's manuals to stuff I don't even own any more.  Cody's potty seat?  Seriously?  Why did I keep that?

It's gone now, along with a huge stack of other things, which made a nice, cheery fire in my wood burner.  Speaking of fires, my wood pile is wet.  I had the hardest time starting a fire yesterday morning, because of it.  I started moving some of my wood into the chicken coops so it can dry out.  I need to buy an ax so I can split the bigger logs down so they'll fit into my wood burner.  In the meantime, I bought some of those duraflame type logs to burn.  It's supposed to get down into the 30s this weekend, so they ought to come in handy. 

This morning, the weirdest thing happened.  I got up at my usual 3:30 AM, and went to work at 5.  I got there and there was nobody there.  I mean, nobody.  The parking lot was empty.  That was just a bit freaky to be the only person in the whole plant.  They'd cut out the early morning overtime, and my supervisor forgot to tell me.  So, yippee to no more early mornings, but boo to no more overtime. 

Finally, in my mad house cleaning binge over the weekend, I found this old photo. 

The date on the back is November 2, 1980.   That would have made me just a few days shy of turning 16.  This is my step grandma Vivian.  My grandma died in September 1979, so Grandpa and Vivian had only been married a few weeks when this was taken. 

When they first married, we kids were a bit bumfuzzled as to what we should call her.  It seemed disrespectful and rude to call her Vivian, but we couldn't call her Grandma.  Grandma was Grandma.  Finally, my sister flat out asked her, "What should we call you?" 

Vivian said, "Just call me 'Granny', like the rest of my grandchildren do." 

From then on, she was Granny to us. 

Eye Candy Friday

Literally, eye candy. 

I had to hurry up and take the picture, because I've almost eaten it all up already.  And I just bought it yesterday.  Oh, and Snickerdoodle flavored milk isn't nearly as good as it sounds.

I have a house guest for the next few days.

Yes, I am kitty sitting for a while.  I've cat sat for her before, but this time, she came to my house.  Her people have one of those fancy schmancy alarm systems-- the monitored kind with someone sitting on the other end of the computer watching the house.  They tried to leave her home once, and she kept setting the alarm off.  After the third time the cops showed up at the house, they realized they had to do something different.  They tried bringing her with them, but the trip was very difficult for her.

Thus, she came to my house.  Why is this significant?  Because this morning, you could barely walk into this room.

It didn't take long to tidy it up.  I just took my painting supplies out to the shed, put the books on the shelves, and stuffed everything else in the closet.  Voila!  Clean room.  It's all ready to move Cody's furniture into it.

I was, however, rather dismayed at how many large dead spiders I found in the room.  I mean, very large spiders.  I'm not given to arachnophobia, but I do have my limits. 

I'm just glad they were already dead when I found them.