The Point

I need to clarify a few things about yesterday's post.  First of all, I do not have a stalker.  Secondly, some of you need to stop watching so many crime dramas. 

OK, in the interest of full disclosure, while most of what I posted yesterday did come from one person, a couple of those statements were from a couple of different men.  I could have posted dozens more quotes from several more men, but I felt the post would become too tedious. 

That out of the way, the bulk of the post did come from one man, but he isn't stalking me.  I'm not walking around quivering in fear, constantly watching over my shoulder.  Fact is, he's more scared of me than I am of him.  He as much as told me so once.  "Did you notice you're the only one who ever fights back?"

I was stunned.  I can't imagine not fighting back.  But I digress...

I was reminded this morning that "some people just don't appreciate that kind of joking".  And he does claim he's just joking.  Even the part about tying me to a chair -- which I felt was a bit overboard, since rape is nothing to joke about-- but I'm still not afraid of him.  When he said that, my response was, "Yeah, good luck with that."

One day, he came up to me and said, "That look on people's faces when they see me coming...am I really that bad?" 

"Yeah, you are pretty bad,"  I told him.

"I'm just joking around, trying to have a little fun," he said.

I told him, "But your jokes aren't funny.  Your jokes are hurtful and mean." 

"What am I doing?" he asked.  I just looked at him. 

That's beside the point.  Everyone seems to be totally misconstruing my post.  It wasn't about me, and my feelings.  These guys aren't hurting me, or my feelings.  Nor am I afraid of them.  They're irritating -- like that one gnat that won't stop buzzing around your face.  Annoying, but basically harmless. 

No, my post wasn't about my feelings.  It was about their wives' feelings.   How would it make your wife feel to hear you call someone else beautiful, or to know you'd nicknamed someone else "pretty girl"?  Or that you told a mutual friend that if I just gave the word, you'd leave her in a heartbeat?  How would that make your wife feel? 

How would it make your wife feel to know you'd asked another woman to marry you -- even if you claim it is in jest?   How would it make your wife to feel to know you were flirting with all these other women?  How would it make your wife feel to know you were imagining intimacy with someone else? 

That's what I was getting at.  And that's why it's a form of infidelity. 

In short, it's cheating. 

Dear Coworker

Dear married coworker,

Since you don't seem to have a clear grasp on what infidelity is, let me help you out a little bit.  You don't have to actually have intercourse with another woman to cheat on your wife.  There is such a thing as emotional infidelity.

In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

What that means is when you walked up to me and said, "Hello, Beautiful" in that lecherous tone of voice, you weren't just paying me a compliment.  You were cheating on your wife.

When you came up behind me and described that very explicit scene that you imagined between you and me in the shower, you were cheating.  In fact, when you take the time to imagine such a scene with anyone other than your wife, you are cheating.

When you said, "If only I could figure out how to get that woman off my life insurance, then you and I could get married", whether you meant it or not, you were cheating.

When you show up uninvited to my house and ask me where the bedroom is, whether I take you there or not, you are still cheating.  

When you asked me to send you a photo of myself in a red lace negligee, you were cheating.

When you asked our other coworker, "are you sure you don't want to get married", you are cheating.

When you flirt with multiple women, pretend to be in love with them, hint at someday getting married, tell them "someday when the time is right", you are cheating.

Since you can't seem to figure out what cheating really is, here's a clue:  If it's something you wouldn't say to me with your wife standing right there listening, then you shouldn't be saying it to me at all.  If it's something you wouldn't do to me with your wife standing there watching, then you shouldn't be doing it to me at all. 


I hope this helps.



Thank you.

That is all.

The Middle Of The Night

That moment, that horrible moment, when the dogs wake you up at 2:00 AM barking and you holler, "Shut up, ya brats!  I've only got an hour left to sleep and I want to sleep it!"  Then you realize, it's 2:00 AM and you only have an hour left to sleep.  Groan...

OK, technically it was an hour and a half, but you don't think of those things at 2:00 AM. 

The previous owner of my new house had a landline.  Yes, still.  In this day and age.  They had a landline.  One day last week, I woke up in the middle of the night frantically worrying myself silly because I couldn't remember if they'd taken the phone off the wall or not.  I eventually fell asleep again, and didn't think about it any more. 

Until about 10 minutes ago, when I spotted it on the wall.  Well, dadgum, that phone is still there. 

I've walked past that thing maybe 15 times a day for the last 4 months.  I got so used to it being there that I didn't even see it any more.  Look, it's corded, too!  Not rotary dial, though.  Now, that would be an antique. 

Speaking of my new house, it cracks me up when people come up to me and ask me, "Are you still liking your new house?"  The sarcastic side of me really wants to say, "No, after 4 months I've decided I hate it." 

Of course I still love my new house!  I haven't really worked much on redecorating it lately.  After getting home from these 10 hour work days, I just don't feel like it.  I bought a new door and frame for the hall bathroom.  It's still leaning against the wall in the spare bedroom.  I bought a new mirrored cabinet. I haven't put that up.  I bought another cabinet for the small bathroom.  I haven't put that up, either.  I need to go get some crown molding for the bathroom and bedroom, along with some baseboards, and I haven't done that. 

My friend said I'd probably feel more like it when spring comes.  Right now, the only thing I feel like doing is going to bed. 

But then, when you get up at 3:30 every morning, that's all you ever feel like doing. 

Anniversaries

One of my coworkers celebrated his wedding anniversary yesterday. 

He told me the story of how he'd surprised his wife.  I'll tell it in his words (as best I can remember).

I got off work yesterday at 4, and flew to the store.  I bought 14 roses, and stuff for dinner.  I bought two big, thick stakes, potatoes, salad, and Texas toast.  Then I flew to the house and started cooking.  I got everything ready. Then I heard her pull into the drive way.  I'd already pulled the petals off one of those roses and scattered them by the door.  I checked out the window to make sure she was alone, and pulled all my clothes off.  When she walked in, I was sitting in a chair, buck naked, with a rose between my teeth.  She looked at me and said, "all right!"  I said, "Now, let's sit down and eat dinner before it gets cold."  We ate our steak, and salad, and baked potatoes, and bread, then she said she was going to do the dishes.  I said, "I'm going to wash the dishes.  You got sit down and relax."  She went in and sat on the couch.  I got the dishwasher loaded and started, and went in and sat in my recliner.  I was holding her hand, and kissing her hand.  

She woke me up at 10:30 PM and told me to get my snoring [behind] into bed.

He had fallen sound asleep in the recliner.  He'd planned such a special night, then fell sound asleep.  He said she didn't get mad, though.  I said, "I should think not!  You went to a lot of trouble to plan all that.  A lot of men don't even remember their anniversary." 

He asked me how long my ex and I were together.  We didn't even make it to our first anniversary, so that's something I've never had.  I told my friend how the ex had bought me a birthday present.  We weren't married yet, just engaged and still living in the barracks.  He bought me a portable CD player, and I didn't even have that thing for one day.  He asked to borrow it the same day he gave it to me, and I never saw it again.  I asked about it a couple of times, and he said he'd broken it and needed to buy me a new one.  He never did. 

 Speaking of bed, (we did, briefly) I finally got my new sheets washed and on the bed.  They are so soft and warm!

Kindly ignore the box spring.  I have one of those bed ruffles, but I need to sew up a seam.  One day, I'll get around to it. 

I know some of you are probably wondering why I'm making such a big deal over new sheets.  Do you have any idea how long it's been since I bought a new set of sheets?  It's been a while.  I think Cody was in 9th grade when I bought a set and pretended it was a Christmas present from him.  Those wore out last year, and the set I've been sleeping on has to be 15 years old.  They're getting pretty threadbare. 

All this talking about beds and sheets is making me want to go get into mine.  I think I will.  3:30 comes mighty early. 

No Snow

Once again reaffirming why my dad called them weather guessers, the meteorologists guessed wrong this time.   It did snow, but it didn't stick.  There was a little bit on Jimmy when I got home, but no accumulation.

A lot of people missed work because of the anticipated snowpocalypse, so we all had to do double duty.  It made for a tough day.  Then I volunteered to stay late and help someone else out. Ten and a half hours.  I was glad I did my shopping yesterday. 

The bad part about doing my shopping yesterday was I spent all day thinking it was Saturday.  I just hope I get up and go to work tomorrow, and not to church.  Boy, that would be awkward.  The good news is, I got my first overtime check of the year!  Whew, my checking account was starting to squeak just a little bit. 

Winter Storm

Yes, friends, we are under a winter storm warning.  Latest forecasts say we could get from 2 - 5" of snow accumulation.  Naturally, after work, I rushed to Walmart in a blind panic and bought all the milk and bread on the shelves. 

Bazinga. 

No, I really did go because I knew I wouldn't want to get out tomorrow -- which is my normal shopping day.  I bought what I would normally buy on my weekly shopping trips.  My one concession to the impending snow, I bought fake fire logs and fat wood. 

I usually use twigs from my yard as fire starter, but it's been raining all day long, and is supposed to rain all night long, and about half of tomorrow until it starts snowing.  Thus the fatwood.  And the fake logs.  They make good fire starters when your real wood is kind of wet.  Which reminds me...next reasonably dry day, I need to go split some more. 

Speaking of rain, after I got home, I opened the door to let Rylea out and she looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  

Look!  My new sheets are here! 

Cardinals wearing scarves and snow on pinecones.  I can't wait to get them on my bed -- but I want to wash them first, so I'll have to wait.

Finally, as if 20 lbs of shell macaroni weren't enough, I bought a case of ramen noodles. 

What can I say?  I like pasta. 

(The backstory is, when Cody was home for Christmas, I was lamenting that even ramen noodles were getting expensive.  They are up to .25 per pack!  Cody said, "Not if you buy them by the case."  I did a little price checking, and he's right.  By buying them by the case, I saved nearly 30% over buying them individually.)

(Not that that's important or anything.  Just thought I'd throw it out there.)

Halfway

Shell macaroni is one of my favorite foods in the whole world.  I've loved it since I was a kid.  Plain with butter.  In a cold pasta salad.  In soups.  With cheese sauce.  Any way, any time.  I love it.

I've always kept some in the cabinet.  A few weeks ago, I noticed my supply was getting low.  My next trip to the store, I went to the spot where the Great Value Small Shell pasta was usually located.  There was some other product in that place.  They'd stopped carrying it.  They didn't even have a label on the shelf for it any more.  Oh, the despair! 

I was poking around on Walmart.com, ordering a new set of flannel sheets, and I thought I'd go check the grocery section.  The plan was to order a case of Ramen noodles and have them shipped directly to Cody down at Mississippi College.  Since I was there anyway, I checked for shell macaroni.  The Great Value brand was unavailable online, but I found another brand that has a good reputation.  (Face it, pasta is pretty much pasta.)

Since I can't seem to do anything halfway, I ordered the 20 pack.  I was thinking it was the small 6 oz. bags.  I was thinking wrong.

Yes, I am now the proud owner of 20 pounds of shell macaroni.  

On the bright side, if I ever decide to become a doomsday prepper, I've got a good start on pasta. 

Then I turned around and bought 11 books on Amazon. 

Because I can't ever do anything half way. 

Sigh...


And I never did get that case of Ramen ordered.

Still Cold

There once was a time when I thought I wanted to live in Alaska.  My sister lives there now and is constantly bugging me to come visit -- and maybe look for a job up there.  But when I check the weather app on my phone and see that her high tomorrow is supposed to be -2, um, I think not. 

I could handle the cold a lot better when I was 20. 

It's a common misconception that introverts don't like to talk about the weather.  It's considered small talk, which we hate.  Sure, the standard "hot enough for you" is dull and uninteresting, but that isn't weather.  That's just small talk.  Me, I'm pretty much a weather geek, but I came by it honest.  

My dad was the original weatherholic.  When they first came out with the Weather Channel, he was in hog heaven.  He'd sit his rocking chair right in front of the TV and watch it all day long.  That was before they had all these shows.  It was just weather forecasts and stuff.   When his kids were all scattered to the four winds, he would write the forecast for wherever we were in his weekly letter to us.

For as long as I can remember, he had his own little weather station set up in our back yard.   He had a thermometer, a rain gauge, a wind speed thing, a barometer, a thing that measured the humidity, and a thermometer that recorded the high and lows for the day.  The first thing he did when he got home from work every day was to grab his little notebook and record the day's weather conditions. 

That thermometer he had, the one that recorded the highs and lows, I'm not sure how it worked, but you had to get a magnet to pull the mercury back down to the bottom.  One summer, I was about 10ish, playing in the back yard, I discovered that I could get that magnet and move that mercury all around.  If you tapped the glass tube just right, you could break it into bubbles, and move them up and down, smush them together, then break them apart again. 

I played with it for a while, then went on about my business and pretty much forgot about it.  My dad got home from work, grabbed his notebook, and went out to record the weather, as was his custom.

He came back into the house, straight over to me, and said, "Don't ever do that again."  How he knew it was me, I've never been able to figure out, but somehow, he knew. 

Oh, look.  Here's a hat.

I find myself strangely reluctant to finish this hat.  Working on it just seems tedious. 

Then again, that may be the 3:30 mornings. 

Cold

It would seem winter has finally arrived, and arrived with a vengeance.  We even got a little snow this morning. 

It was tiny, dry flakes that didn't stick, but it was fun watching it fall.  That little wood heater sure felt good, too. 

The internet was down when I got up, and turning my computer's airplane mode on and off didn't work.  Since I couldn't get online, I spent a good while sitting by the heater, drinking coffee and reading Marley & Me.  I'd bought it a couple of weeks ago, then stopped reading about halfway through.  I didn't want to finish, because I know how it ends. 

But I buckled down and finished reading it.  And I cried.  Then I bought Old Yeller.  Sigh...I must be a glutton for punishment. 

When I'd finished reading, I spent a few moments cleaning out the boxes I'd moved to Cody's room.  In one of those boxes, I found this old picture of my 4th grade class. 

I wrote everyone's name on the back of the envelope, but only their first names.  There are only about 5 of them whose last name I remember.  I posted it on Facebook, hoping some of my old classmates can help me out.  No, I am not looking at the camera.  I never did in those days, because the flash hurt my eyes. 

When I got done with that, the internet still wasn't up.  On a whim, I reset my router.  That did the trick.  It hasn't dropped out all day.  My plan was to have an Alan Rickman tribute day, and marathon all of his movies I could find.  I streamed Gambit.  It was meh.  Then I watched Quigley Down Under.  That is one of my favorites, and it is also the movie that introduced me to Alan Rickman. 

I wanted to watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  I was sure I had bought it on DVD a few years ago.  I tore up my house looking for it, but couldn't find it anywhere.   I had to pass on it for now.  I went online and ordered one, so maybe it will get here in time for me to watch it next weekend. 

Since I couldn't watch that one, I tried to watch Sense & Sensibility, but they'd taken it off Prime.  And of course, none of the Harry Potter movies are on Prime.  So, that was my RickMarathon -- two movies.

Today, I heard the news that Glen Frey, who founded the Eagles, has also died.  My question is, who put Steven Moffat in charge of 2016?

Alan Rickman

My heart has been cut out with a spoon. 

February 21, 1946 -- January 16, 2016

Plant Sitting

My house looks like a jungle. 

And that isn't even all of them!  I'm plant sitting for the cousins until they can get back up here to get the rest of their things.  It was a task getting them all into my car, but I persevered.  OK, I was too lazy to make two trips.  I did accidentally break off a piece of their Christmas cactus, so I put it into some water to root.  I'm thinking about taking a cutting of that ivy, too.  My aunt had that for as long as I can remember.

I had a minor tragedy a couple of weeks ago.  This was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.  I can't even tell you how many times I've read it. 

I bought it from one of those Scholastic catalogs they used to hand out at school.  Do they still have those?  Boy, I spent a lot of my allowance in that catalog.  Notice the price on the cover.  I wish good books were still that inexpensive.  Yes, this is a paperback, but still...

Anyway, when I was emptying some boxes, I found it.  That box had somehow gotten wet, and the back cover got stuck to another book.

I threw away the rest of the books -- they were Far Side collections and still in print.  This one, though...I was heartbroken.  It is still readable, but you know, it's messed up.  I kept it, but...

Then I thought, "I wonder if I could find another copy."  Off to Amazon I went.  I couldn't find it under "Wild Mustang" but I did find it under its original title.  In a flash, I had ordered it.  It arrived today, and to my delight, it was the hardback edition!  Hardback! 

I guess you have to be a book nerd.  If you are, then you understand. 

HARDBACK!!!

What with all the hours I've been working, there hasn't been much knitting going on.  I started this hat when I went up to hang with Amy and the gang. 

It's almost long enough to start the crown decreases. 

 Not completely sure about that, because I haven't found my tape measure. 

Christmas Is Over

Cody left right after lunch to head back to Mississippi College, which means Christmas is officially over.  There's always a bit of melancholy when the last lights come down and the house is quiet once again. 

Now that Christmas is over, Cody is safely back at school, and the cousins have been (mostly) moved to Texas, I can get back to trying to get this house organized.  Two things I did this weekend was to unpack all the yarn the MIL sent me and put it into one of the cabinets in the living room.

 It was a lot of yarn, I tell ya.  All different weights, too -- from sock weight to bulky.  I may never need to buy yarn again.

Speaking of, since 2013, I have only bought yarn once, and that was because my SIL requested a scarf in a specific color.  Other than that, not one scrap of yarn has been purchased by yours truly.  Now, I just need to spend less time on Facebook and more time knitting.

I did want to show you this.  My other sister in law Yoke Wan sent me this fruit bowl years and years and years ago.  In the trailer house, I never really had a place to put it.  I thought briefly about giving it to someone who could use it, but I really liked the bowl.  I kept it, hoping that some day, I'd have a place to display it.  

Now, I do.  I got it out of the box and put some balls of yarn (from my mother in law) into it. 

I'm kind of proud of the way it looks, because I've never had any sort of decorating sense. 

After Cody left, I spent some time tidying up my utility room.  I got all the junk up out of the floor and all the trash thrown out.  I still want to get some type of cabinet to put in there to put my mop and brooms and such in.  The biggest thing is, I moved the cat out of the computer/snake/craft room and into the utility room.

It had always been the plan to put her in there, but I was waiting for James to patch some holes in my drywall.  But I went ahead and moved her, and I'll just have to shift things around when he comes to fix those spots. 

Speaking of settled in, look at these two:

Settled in on the love seat, and the cat isn't trying to kill the dog!  She's getting mellow in her old age.  She's 15, in case you were wondering. 

The cat is 15, the dog is 9 in May, and the boy child is graduating college and going off to seminary in just a few months.

Where does the time go?

Hit The Ground Running

That's what we did when we went back to work.  We hit the ground running -- as in 10 hour days, 6 days a week right out of the gate.  Needless to say, I'm a bit tired.  It's also why blogging has been light these last few days. 

However, I did want to update you on what has happened since last I blogged.

Last Friday, I went up to Southaven to meet up with The Gang.

It kinda felt a bit -- ummm, awkward isn't quite the right word, but I kind of felt a bit out of place without Hank's yarn store to hang out in.  Nevertheless, we persevered.  We ate at Huey's, then walked over to Starbucks to chat and knit.  There was laughter, and cookies, and a promise to make this a yearly event.  Then it was time to go, and many bitter tears were shed at our parting.  Before we left, we absconded a hapless bystander and forced her to photograph us for posterity.  We are front row, left to right:  Kat, Leann, Christi; back row: Amy, Me.

While I was in Southaven, I stopped off at Wal-mart to try to find some of the things that our local Wal-mart is always out of.  I found said toiletries, then wandered over to the home furnishings section. I found this nifty slip cover for my new couch.

It's not fancy, but it is machine washable and will protect my sofa from Rylea's hair.  It stays in place a lot better than the one on my love seat does, too.  I think I'll order a matching one for said love seat, and maybe one for the recliner as well.

Saturday morning, I heard the mail truck honking.  I went outside and the mail lady said, "You got a bunch of boxes."  She wasn't joking.

And what was in all those boxes?  Yarn! 

Lots of yarn. 

My mother in law was de-stashing and sent me tons of yarn.  Convenient, because my sister in law recently posted a picture of a hat she really wanted.  I'm going to try to reverse engineer the pattern and make her one for next Christmas.

I spent the rest of Saturday rearranging my living room furniture.  I think I finally have everything the way I want it.  I don't have everything IN the cabinets yet, but the cabinets themselves are in place.  

I put my first decoration on my new car.

And I used my Christmas money to order this hardback copy of The Lord Of The Rings, illustrated by Alan Lee that I've been wanting for years. 

It'll look really nice in my new cabinet -- right next to my leatherbound 50th anniversary edition of The Hobbit.