Getting Up Early

Man, I need a nap.

This getting up at 3:30 after leisurely sleeping in until 5:30 is taking a bit of adjusting.  Yesterday when the alarm went off, I briefly wondered how badly they really needed me on this clean up crew.  Then I thought, "In a few weeks, this will be your life from here on out, you might as well get used to it."  Reluctantly, I dragged my weary body out of bed and went on to work.

Man, I need a nap.

Did I already say that?  Yeah, I need a nap.  Or something.

Thank you to all my readers who offered suggestions to relieve my chapped, cracked skin.  I went on into town and bought some of the O'Keefe's. 

I got the skoal can to keep at home, and the tube to put into my tool bag.  It really does work.  I've only put it on once, and can already tell a difference.  I might even be able to knit again by the weekend.  I haven't, because my fingers were so rough they'd snag my yarn. 

The bad news is, my three day weekends are over.  You have to work a certain amount of hours in a month to get your attendance bonus, and what with the Christmas break and all, if I take these Fridays off, I won't have enough hours.  So, I'm going in to work tomorrow.  If that wasn't bad enough, I volunteered to work Saturday, too.  Cleaning. 

I asked, "What are we going to be cleaning for eight hours?"  I have a feeling it's going to be pretty nasty work, so I bought a bandana to cover my hair.  It has instructions on how to tie it.

Seriously.  Have we become so dumbed down that we need instructions to tie bandanas around our heads?

I fear for our future. 

Bricking

I have dry skin.  Very dry skin.  Even though I take extra Vitamin E and use copious amounts of lotion, around this time of year my skin gets so dry that it will actually split open, particularly around my fingertips. 

My dad was the same way.

I was chatting with Edna at work, and I showed her the latest split on the side of my thumb.  "That's not a cut,"  I said.  "That's from dry skin." 

She quipped, "That's from too much bricking." 

Not entirely, but it sure doesn't help.   I bought some of those rubber gloves to wear, only I can't find them.  I've been using the gloves that come with my hair dye.  So, those of you who thought my hair was naturally this gorgeous auburn, sorry to bust your bubble.  It comes out of a box. 

When I got home this afternoon, I decided to take a break from bricking, and work on getting all this stuff back out into the shop.  Not the cat.  The rest of it. 

Like, OK, there is a box of garland that I would put on my mantle, if my mantle weren't in pieces in the bedroom closet.  Long story short, I packed up everything I already knew wouldn't be getting put out this year and put it back into the shop.  A few trips back and forth, and a bit of sorting, and I'm down to these three boxes. 

I still want to put lights up outside, and do some decorating in the kitchen/dining room area.  I call it the dining room, but I don't really dine there.  Once I've done that, the rest of it will also go back into the shop. 

I even did a little bit of bricking anyway. 

WHY????

Why is it I can't ever seem to find these giant honking holes in my socks before I leave for work?

And I checked before I put them on.  Really, I did.

Sigh....

Let's talk about something more pleasant.  Santa arrived early this year.

I'd been hearing all these people rave about this Instant Pot thing, but had resisted buying one.  They're a bit pricey and I wasn't sure I'd use it enough to make it worth it.  When Amazon put them on sale for Black Friday, I took the plunge.

I bought the smallest size, even though one article I read said I'd regret it.  "You can't put a whole chicken into it," said the article.  Really?  When am I going to cook a whole chicken?  I can't even remember the last time I bought a whole chicken and cooked it.  On the plus side, I can cook frozen meat in it.  So many times I've come home from work and thought, "Boy, I'd like to have a pork chop for supper, but they're all frozen."  There is supposedly so much more you can do with them, including making your own yogurt.

Me?  I haven't even taken mine out of the box.

In other news, brick stripping continues, slowly but surely.

I've run into another problem, though.  It would seem that what I had thought were globs of paint are actually globs of mortar.  Thick, sloppily applied mortar.  Why am I not surprised?  However, I think I can get it off with my angle grinder. 

Or maybe there's some sort of masonry grinder I can attach to my drill.  I'll have to look next time I go into town. 

I finally dragged my ladder out of the shop and put my angel on top of my tree.  Even with the ladder, I had to stretch to reach. 

After I'd put the ladder away, I was sitting in my chair and I looked up at my angel.  I said, "I ought to get that ladder back out and turn her so she's looking more toward the center of the room." 

But then, as I was trying to decide whether I really wanted to go get that ladder back out, I realized just where she was looking, and I decided to leave her as she is.  You see, her gaze appears to be focused upon the baby Jesus. 

And that's exactly where it should be. 

Back To Business

Let me tell you, it was hard getting up and going to work today.  I very nearly made myself late, too.  I was sitting at the table perusing Facebook when I looked up at the clock.  It was almost time to walk out the door and I hadn't even finished my breakfast yet.  I'd almost forgotten how to get up and, you know, get ready and all that. 

Shortly after shift started, Supervisor had a meeting with all the line personnel.  The new plant manager walked through last week, and was impressed at how clean our line was.  He wants to make us the model line for the plant.  He's going to have clean up crews to come in early or stay late.  I said, "Sign me up."

Long story short, I'm back to going in at 5:00.  Yay, overtime.  Even better, I no longer have to drive to work with the sun already up.  After all these years, it just feels weird. 

I was going to come home this afternoon and try to get my outside lights put up, but about 1:00, I remembered my car insurance was due today.  I ran into town and paid that, and when I was putting my insurance cards into my glove box, I saw my license plate sticker that I got about three weeks ago, and keep forgetting to put on my license plate. 

As soon as I got home, I did that.  I had to clean the plate with Windex -- actually I used store brand knock off Windex, but it's the same thing -- and since I had the Windex and paper towels out, I went ahead and cleaned all the windows.  They'd gotten so dirty I could hardly see out of them.  I need to wash the whole car, but I'm not going to do that until it warms up some. 

I got that done, then got myself something to eat.  While I was fixing myself I plate, I decided to finish picking the turkey carcass and get the rest of the meat into the freezer.  I'd put most of it up over the weekend, so I just had a little left.  It'll be enough for Christmas, plus probably some turkey salad sandwiches later on.  I put the skin and the fatty pieces into my stock pot with some water and made broth.  I strained it and put it into the refrigerator.  Probably tomorrow, I'll get it into the freezer as well. 

Basically, all that's to say, it's time for bed now, and I didn't get the lights up. 

I didn't get that angel on the top of my tree, either, but I did get one more nativity out. 

This is one my Aunt Martha and I made many many years ago.  And with this, I think my living room is just about done.

Once I get that there angel on the top of my tree, that is. 

Sunday Hymn -- Christmas Edition

Thanksgiving is over, and the Christmas season has officially begun.  I know some people hate Christmas, because to them, it is a time of stress and worry. 

Stress over decorating the house.  (Hint: make the kids help.  It will create some lasting memories, and it doesn't have to look like a Hallmark movie set.  It's your home.  Make it homey.)

Worry that they didn't bake enough cookies, or candy, or bread, or whatever.  (Hint:  you don't need all those cookies, just one or two types.  Seriously, just bake a few.) 

Stressed over all the holiday parties they must attend. (Hint:  you don't have to go to them.  Seriously, just say no.)

Stress over whether they bought enough for their child.  (Hint:  they don't need everything they want.  Seriously, just say no.)

To them, I say, you are missing out on the joy of the season. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and have it in abundance."  John 10:10  The important part of that verse is the first three words:  I am come.  He did't come so that you would stress yourself out trying to make things perfect.  He came that we might have life. 

And have it more abundantly. 

That's what Christmas is all about. 


Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel. -- Isaiah 7:14

The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light.  -- Isaiah 9:2a

For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given: and the government his upon his shoulder, and he shall call his name, Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The prince of peace.  The increase of his government and peace shall have none end: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to stablish it with judgement, and with justice, from henceforth, even forever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.  --Isaiah 9:6-7




*All verses taken from The Geneva Bible, which predates the King James, and is the translation brought by the Pilgrims to the new world. 

My Thanksgiving Weekend

Be it known that I will be slow cooking my turkey from here on out.  I'm telling you, it was falling off the bone tender.  I cooked it at 250' for 6 hours, but I could probably cut it back to 5.  I'll try that next year and see what the meat thermometer says.

I was so excited for Thanksgiving, that I woke up at 4:00 AM and couldn't go back to sleep.   I lay there for an hour or so, but eventually gave up and got up.  I got my turkey in the oven, and had time to watch a Thanksgiving movie before the parade started.   There is a shocking lack of Thanksgiving movies out there.  My favorite, besides Charlie Brown, of course, is one called Mayflower:  A Pilgrim's Adventure.  It was made back in 1979.  I'd had it on VHS for years, but hadn't been able to watch it since my VCR died a while back.

I finally broke down and bought a second hand VCR, and wouldn't you know it, Amazon put the movie up on Prime.  Just my luck...Oh, well, at least I can watch the un edited, un revised, un ruined original Star Wars trilogy in which HAN SHOT FIRST.

We don't do Black Friday here.  Never have.  Even when I was a kid, that was the day we baked fruitcakes.  Now that I'm grown, I start putting my Christmas decorations up.  I got this far on my tree, but that's it.

I reckon I ought to start putting ornaments on it.  Right now, all it's got is that little chainsaw my coworker gave me.  I'm starting to understand why Beverly wanted to get rid of it.  It's a lovely tree, but it's so thick, there's no where to fit stuff in.  I'm thinking in another year or two, I might get myself a new tree and pass this one on to someone else.

Once I'd gotten the lights on, I was so tired that decorating the tree just seemed a bit overwhelming.  I worked on putting the stuff in my entertainment center instead.

That book is the same edition of The Night Before Christmas that my mother read to us every Christmas Eve before we went to bed.  I found it last year in a used book shop, and was so excited to get it, I read it to the dogs.  They weren't impressed.

Last year, I had this vase filled with glass balls.

I liked the way it looked, but the ornaments were really a little too big.  While I was buying milk and bananas this afternoon, I picked up three containers of smaller, shatterproof balls.

I mixed in a couple of containers of blue and silver balls that I've had for forever but never used, and it hit the spot.  I'm not sure why the camera washed out the colors the way it did, but they really are brighter than they look.

I put all the old glass balls in a box and advertised them in the local free-bees group.  I'm going to purge a lot of the old stuff I never use any more.    There's no sense in it all sitting in a box year after year.    I've got more ornaments than I can fit onto the tree, and more stuff than surfaces to put it on, so some of it's got to go.

None of the nativity sets are going anywhere.

That's for sure. 

In the meantime, I bought a new ornament today.  Because 'Merica, that's why.

I also picked up some new cookie sheets, remembering that I had given one of mine to Cody last year.

I don't remember seeing gumdrops at Wal-mart, though.  I need them for my gumdrop cookies. 

They don't have any cherry cordial kisses, either, so I'm probably going to have to make a road trip before too much longer.

Anybody want to ride along? 

About Ready

I've got my jello salad in the fridge and my pumpkin pie made.  I'm just about ready for Thanksgiving.

Pay no attention to the ragged edges of my crust.  I had a store bought crust, but decided it was too old to use.  Instead, I whipped out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and found a pat in the pan crust recipe.  I've used it before, and it's very easy to make.  However, since it's just me, I didn't take the time to fancy the edges up.

By the way, I used canned pumpkin for this pie, not the fresh pumpkin that is still in my freezer.

In the morning, all I'll have to do is make my sweet potatoes, Stove Top stuffing, and giblet gravy.  Oh, and cook the turkey, of course.  And knit and watch the Parade, and the national dog show, since I'm still boycotting the NFL.  And since it'll just be me, I might just stay in my pajamas all day!

As you might imagine, the new schedule was all the talk at work.  Reactions are pretty mixed.  Edna Who Loves To See Her Name In My Blog said she loves it.  A couple of other people think they will like it, but then all our kids are grown.  My primary concern with the change was potentially losing the overtime.  In our brazer meeting this morning, Production Superintendent assured us that when peak season arrives, there will still be options for overtime, and I said, "sign me up!"

The only other thing I did today was to get out and pull the last of the dead stuff up out of my flower beds.  Then I turned the soil and tried to get some of the grass roots out.  It won't take much to get it ready for spring planting. 

One last thing, there is a shocking dearth of good Thanksgiving movies out there.  Trust me, I've looked.  Just a couple, that's it. 

Somebody needs to do something about that.

More Upheavals

There has been a great disturbance in the force.

Or rather, there has been a great disturbance at the plant.  Remember how they'd put the tubing department on a 10 hour 4 day work schedule?  Now they've decided that starting in January, the entire plant is going to that schedule.

My first thought was, "It's ok for someone like me, because it's just me, but what about the employees who still have kids at home?"  Who is going to get their kids up and ready for school?  What about the little ones who haven't even started school yet?  There aren't any day cares open at 4:30.  Who wants to drag kids out of bed in the middle of the night anyway?  I know one of my friends who works in tubing said, "If it weren't for my husband, I don't know what I'd do."

Yeah, but what about the single parents?  What are they going to do?  What about the ones whose spouses also work? Clearly this was the idea of someone who doesn't have to worry about getting kids up and ready for school, or finding childcare at 4:00 in the morning.

I can sympathize, because I remember how difficult it was trying to find child care when Cody was little, especially when I was on second shift.  The poor kid went though 15 babysitters by the time he was 4 years old.  We finally found one who would actually keep him.  I really didn't like her, but we stayed with her until he was old enough to stay by himself.  What else could I do? 

They say they're going to put out surveys and get feedback on the new schedule, but I can tell them right now, I haven't heard anyone who is in favor of this change.

The bright side is, my Christmas cactus is blooming.

I'm thinking after it finishes blooming for the year, I might prune it back.   Not too much, just enough to shape it up a bit.

No, there was not a fire in that stove when I took the picture. 

This one is about to open up, too.  I thought it was going to be pure white blooms, but it looks like they will have a little bit of color, too. 

This is the first year this one has bloomed, so it'll be a surprise to me, too.

It All Started

It all started with a banana.

Three bananas, actually.  Three bananas that were at just the right stage of ripeness for banana bread.

I was going to make some banana bread.  However, when I dragged my mixing bowls and stuff out, there was no room on my cluttered cabinets to even mix up my bread dough.  You know how it goes.  You get the mail and set it down to deal with it later, only later never comes.  By and by, things stack up.  That's what happened in my kitchen.

I did an arm sweep to clear enough of a spot on the counter to make my bread, and said to myself, "Self, this kitchen is getting out of hand.  You really need to clean it up."  As soon as my bread was in the oven, that's exactly what I did.

After about an hour's worth of work, I had all my cabinets cleaned off, scrubbed, and organized.  I got so excited to show you, that I took this picture before I realized I still had a sink full of dirty bread-making dishes.

A few more minutes, and the dishwasher was unloaded and reloaded, and the hand wash items were drying next to the sink.

Having a clean kitchen makes a world of difference.  Now I'm all ready for my Thanksgiving cooking.  I'm not going to make a big meal, since it's just going to be me, but I am going to cook the turkey the plant gave us, sweet potato casserole, strawberry jello salad, and stuffing with giblet gravy.  Plus a pumpkin pie for dessert. 

I'm going to try something different with the turkey this year.  I love the taste of it, but my turkey always ends up being as tough as boot leather.  This time, I'm going to try cooking it in a slow oven for about 6 hours and see if it turns out more tender.  I'll let you know how it goes.

All right, enough about my kitchen.  I also did another red baby hat.

This one is leftover dishcloth cotton.  I have a little more cotton left -- maybe enough to make a couple of preemie hats.   I had to run back into town this afternoon, because I didn't realize I was almost out of dog food until I went to feed my dogs yesterday and the scoop scraped the bottom of the bin.  Yeah, my dogs are spoiled.  They think they have to eat every single day.  What's up with that? 

While I was there, I picked up a skein of Caron Simply Soft.

I also ran across this Mainstays basic yarn.  It's acrylic, and it's really soft.  Plus it's only $1.97 per skein!  I ought to be able to get a bunch of baby hats out of that. 

Speaking of hats, I got my beret off the plate.

It is now marinating in the gift drawer, which is getting really full.  I have a feeling lots of people will be getting knitted gifts for Christmas in another year or two. 

Sunday Hymn

Come ye thankful people, come
Raise the song of Harvest home
All is safely gathered in
Ere the winter storms begin

God our maker doth provide
For our wants to be supplied
Come to God's own temple come
Raise the song of harvest home.

Scrubbing Saturday

That's pretty much what I did all day.  I scrubbed paint off of my bricks.

I scrubbed until I ran out of Easy Off, then I went and got my regular paint stripper.  Honestly, the Easy Off worked better.  Even so, I got this much done before I ran out of stripper.

What I discovered, though, is that there seem to be three, yes three, count 'em three coats of paint on those bricks.  They were originally painted an off white, then someone painted black over that, then another coat of white over that.  That's why it's so hard to get it all off.

I got online and ordered a case of the fume free Easy Off.  It's cheaper than buying it by the can, and it should get here Tuesday.  Since I won't be working on it for a few days, and since it's supposed to get cold again (29' is forecast for Monday morning), I took the drop cloth off the stove, and put all my tools back into the computer/craft/snake room until I can get back to stripping.

On a whim, I did a little research, to see how hard it would be to move the stove so I could strip and paint the base.  I quickly decided I was being ridiculous, thinking I could move that thing.  I'll just strip and paint as far under there as I can reach.  Nobody will be able to see under the stove anyway.

However, in my researching, I discovered one very interesting fact.  See, I knew the top lifted up.

I thought it was for cleaning, but no.  Turns out that is a cooking surface.  I guess I really can call it a stove now.  Next time the electricity goes out, at least I know I'll be able to heat up some beanie weenies. 

In the midst of all that scrubbing, I finished my first baby hat for the Little Hats Big Hearts program.

The yarn is Red Heart burgundy, and I don't think I'll use it any more.  Not for baby hats.  It's so stiff.  I was hoping it would soften up when I washed it, but it didn't.  I only hand washed it, and may toss it in with the regular laundry when I wash again.  Maybe machine washing and drying it will soften it up some.  If it doesn't, I'll just use that stuff for something else. 

I dug through my closet and found some red cotton that I can use. It'll be a whole lot softer.  The only thing about cotton is that the colors fade.  However, hats don't get washed as much as, say a dishcloth, so maybe it won't be an issue.  The only other red I've got on hand is a wool blend, and they only want acrylic or cotton hats. 

Next time I go into town, I'll pick up some Caron Simply soft. 

 

Why, Yes You Can!

My rather busy day today started with a trip to the vet for these two.

It was time for their annual rabies vaccinations, and semi annual heartworm preventative shots.  Probably a good thing, because getting dressed and taking them into town kept me from sitting around doing nothing all day.  The good news is, Rylea has lost 6 lbs since her last visit in April.  I tried to switch her to old dog dog food, and she gained weight.  I switched her back to fat dog dog food, and she's lost some.  She's still chubby, but not as fat as she was before.

I spent the rest of the day working on stripping the paint from my bricks behind my wood stove, and I discovered that with copious amounts of stripper coupled with copious amounts of scrubbing with a wire brush, yes, you can strip paint off of almost any surface. 

Some of you may wonder why I don't just paint over what's there.  This is why:

First of all, there are already two layers of paint on these bricks.  Secondly, the top layer was very sloppily applied -- a thick, gloppy coat with runs and ridges, and it just looks bad.

When I did my little spray paint experiment yesterday, it looked even worse.  Every glob of paint seemed exaggerated, and every drip seemed to leap off the bricks at me.  And finally, I'm not sure what kind of paint they used, but it's very sticky and rubbery.  It feels almost like plastic instead of paint.  It's stretchy, and peels off in huge pieces.  I don't like it at all. 

But, why go to all that trouble if I'm just going to replace the whole thing?

Because it will probably take several years until I'm in a position I can spend that kind of money, and I have to live with it every day until then, so I decided to go ahead do something I can live with until that time comes.  Thus, the stripping...

I'd seen a video on YouTube where you can use Easy Off oven cleaner to strip paint off of bricks.  I had a can left over, and since I can't use it on my oven -- having a self cleaning oven in the new house-- I dug it out and tested it on these bricks. It works pretty well, actually. 

After several applications of Easy Off, and about an hour's  -- cumulative, not continuous -- worth of scrubbing with a wire brush, I got this much done. 

I know it doesn't seem like much, but most of the time was spent waiting for the Easy Off to soften the paint so it can be scrubbed off.  You can't really tell from the picture, but that's about 15 - 20% of the total brick work.  It's the ridges that makes it so difficult.  If it were smooth bricks, I'd probably be done by now.  Now that I know it can be done, I finally feel like my project is moving forward.

This one little section at the top, I got through both the white and the black layers of paint.   I only stopped because I ran out of Easy Off.  It works well, but the fumes will run you out of the room.  Next time I go into town, I'm going to look for some of that fumeless stuff they're supposed to have out now. 

In the midst of spraying stripper and scrubbing bricks, I finished this beret.

It's my Knit Picks Chroma yarn in Vermont, and the pattern is called Autumn In Garrison.  I gave it a good soak in Wool Wash and now it's happily blocking over a plate.  On a snake tank.  What can I say?  You make do with what you have.

When I finished that, I cast on a new baby hat. 

I found a new charity to knit for.  It's called Little Hats Big Hearts, and they give out red hats to newborns during the month of February.  The red is to raise awareness of heart disease and heart defects.  I'm sure they'll have more information that they pass out with the hats. 

I may only get a few done this year, but if I knit up all my red yarn through the year, I ought to have a bunch for next year.  Oh, and they only want cotton or acrylic yarn, and I have a bunch of Red Heart burgundy left over from my Jayne hat making days.

It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so my plans are to work on my bricks and knit more baby hats.  The good news is, all three of my teams -- LSU, Navy, and Texas -- are playing at different times, and all on channels I get, even Navy!  Woo Hoo!  I ought to get a lot of knitting done during three games. 

Now, let me go and find my boat head thing for that there Navy game. 

Thanksgiving Dinner

Well, I finally broke down and took an antihistamine last night.  I still can't breathe, but man I sure slept good!  The downside is I was drowsy all day at work.

Speaking of work, today was the day for our annual Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm not sure who it was the plant got to cater it, but I hope they don't get them again.  The turkey was cold and dry. The dressing was burnt on the outside and gummy on the inside.  The ham was cold -- but was actually the best part of the meal.  The mashed potatoes were runny, even before they put the gravy on them.  It just wasn't good.  Certainly not worth the horrible heartburn I had to deal with all afternoon. 

As if that weren't bad enough, they ran out of food before everyone got served.  One guy told me that by the time he got through the line, all that was left was some dressing and green beans.  We've definitely had better.

Every year, the plant gives us either a turkey or a ham.  We get to choose which one want, and I always get a turkey.  They are going to pass them out tomorrow after work.  Since I have vacation, I was planning on driving up there to get mine.  I'm only five minutes away, after all.  When I walked out of the plant this afternoon, they were handing out turkeys and hams to the tubing department.  They're the ones on that weird 4 day work week schedule, so they won't be there tomorrow to get theirs.

As I was trudging through the parking lot, I saw Production Superintendent over there where they were giving the turkeys and hams out, so I thought, "I'm going to go ask if I can get mine today.  What's the worst they can do?"  Even if they say no, I'm no worse off than I would be anyway.  So, I went over there and asked, and wonder of wonders, they let me have my turkey.  Good.  One less thing on tomorrow's list of things I intend to do but probably won't get done.

One thing on that list is to figure out what to do with that fireplace.  I bought some spray paint and painted a little patch just to see what it would look like.  Now, I'm concerned it will be too dark, and will make that corner seem dark and gloomy. 

I do know one thing, I don't like the way it looks on top of that thick, gloppy paint that's already on the bricks.  I guess, it's back to the drawing board.  I'll just have to keep working with the stripper to get most of the glop off. 

I went to the post office to mail a package to Alaska.  I thought I could get a jump on Christmas mailing, and send my sister's family's stuff early.  I'd get that service that takes like a month to arrive, but is really cheap.  Turns out, they don't do that any more.  The clerk told me how much it would cost to send it, and I was like, "Daaaang". 

I'm remembering why I started having their presents delivered directly from Amazon.

If I hadn't bought all that Harvey relief stuff as Christmas presents, that's exactly what I'd be doing. 

Christmas Carols Already?

Why yes, I am singing Christmas carols already.  Why wouldn't I be?

See, here's the thing...

When you think about it, I mean really think about it, Jesus --

God Almighty

infinite

omniscient

omnipotent,

Creator of the universe and all within it

Jesus left Heaven to come here

To live with us, to die for us, to redeem us.

When you think about the magnificence

the magnitude of that event,

why wouldn't you want to sing about it 

every 

day

of 

your

life? 

I know I do.  Come join me.

All together now!

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God incarnate here to dwell

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Praise his name, Emmanuel!!

Wake Up

You know, blogging is hard work.  Some days, there just isn't anything to say.  I'm thinking this is one of those days.

Hmmm, what should I talk about?

Oh, I could tell you I had a bit of a wake up call yesterday.  I was at work, minding my own business, when a coworker asked me, "Is Thanksgiving next week or the week after? I say it's next week, but [Other Coworker] says it's the week after."

She had her calendar open on her phone, and held it out for me to see.  I said, "It's the fourth Thursday, so that's next week."

Wait, what?  Thanksgiving is next week!  I knew it was the 23rd, but I didn't realize the 23rd had gotten so close.   I immediately started planning my menu, which won't be much since it's only me.  Even so, I'm glad she said something, or I might have been frantically rushing to the store Wednesday evening.   As far as I know, we have to work through Wednesday, though there have been rumors to the contrary.  I've worked there long enough to know not to believe anything I hear until it happens. 

OK, what else can I talk about? 

I've been trying to get rid of some old junk that's been sitting out in my shop since I moved into this house.  Bev and James had given me their big entertainment center when they moved, so  I'd advertised my corner TV stand in one of the local yard sale groups on FB.  One lady said she was going to come pick it up this afternoon.  She never showed up or responded to my messages.  It usually takes about 6 tries to find someone who will actually come get what they say they want. But that's not what I was going to tell you.

While I was waiting on her, I cleaned up a little more out in the shop.  I was going to take a picture and show you how neat it's getting, but somehow, I ended up with a picture of what I can only assume is the sky instead.

I have no idea.  I've long since given up trying to find an explanation for such things. 

I've got a few more things ready to put up for sale, but I can only deal with a limited amount of people at a time.  The good news is, I have a coworker who will take all these landscape timbers and 4 x 4s off my hands. 

He's going to swap me a load of firewood for them.  I ought to be set for quite some time, then.  Speaking of fires...

Stripping that paint off the fireplace bricks is proving more difficult than I thought.  I've tried chemical stripper, a wire brush, and my belt sander.  I know I could eventually get it all off with time and effort, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth it.  I'm seriously considering just painting over it until I can afford to have the whole thing pulled down and replaced. 

I'll have to think about it.  Right now, I'm going to bed. 

Dear CoWorker

You know, if you'd put as much energy into your job as you do into bouncing around like a Non-Newtonian fluid on a sub-woofer...what?

Oh, dancing?  Is that what you call that?  OK, whatever...

You know, if you'd put as much energy into doing your job as you do into dancing, we wouldn't have to be constantly redoing what you've messed up.  So, how's about you save the recreation for your own time, mmmkay?

Thank you.

That is all

Sunday Hymn

Would you believe, I had the hardest time finding a decent video of this song?  I'd looked at several before settling on this one, even though I'm not a big fan of the Gaithers.  The problem I was having is that they were all making it sound like a mourning dirge.  I think they were going for solemn, but what they achieved was dreary. 

This isn't supposed to be a solemn or dreary song.  It's about a day of rejoicing, and the song should sound joyful. 

Then, there were the videos that went to the other extreme:  too rocked up, too countrified.  My only other option was to choose a video that sounded like a church congregation singing.  Of those, this is the best one.

I dare you not to sing along.  Just don't sing it solemnly.  Sing and shout the victory!!

I Have Heat!

Yesterday I was chatting with a coworker, and I mentioned that my heater wasn't working.  I said, "I at least need to get someone out and see how much it'll cost to get it fixed."  He gave me a name of someone he recommended, and I said I'd give him a call. 

Then my friend said, "Those kinds of heaters have an internal switch that sometimes gets confused.  Switch it to cold, then back to heat and it'll probably come on."  I said, "I tried that, and it didn't work."  He said, "Wait at least 10 minutes."  Oh!  I'd only waited a couple of minutes.  I said I'd try it when I got home from work.  It's been set back to cool for three days.  That ought to be enough time for it to reset.  Unfortunately, the house never got cool enough last night for me to turn on the heat.  I keep it set at 65", and the inside temp never went below that. 

This morning, when I got up, the house was right at 65'.  I said, "I'm going to try it anyway."  I set the thermostat at 66', turned the heat, and held my breath.  Almost as soon as I turned the heat on, the house filled with that familiar smell.  I promise you, I don't think I've ever in my life been so excited to have a stinky house. 

I jumped up and down and squealed to the dogs, "We have that stinky smell!  We have heat!"  So, yay!  One less thing. 

More good news, I got birthday money from my mom and my sister in law!  It was enough to buy the circular saw I wanted, plus a little more.

If I pitch in a some of my own money, I can get the staple gun I want, too.  Plus, I've got my eye on some storage cabinets for the shed.  I need something to put all my power tools into.  But first, I need to get the thing cleaned out. 

Look!  I've got my first Christmas cactus bloom!

It looks like this one is going to bloom, too. 

This one should have white blooms.  It's a cutting I took from one of James' plants.  OK, in the interest of full disclosure, I broke a piece off unintentionally when I was moving it.  I stuck it into a pot, and there you go.

That's how I got most of my cuttings, actually. 

Moving right along. 

It appears one of the neighborhood dogs has absconded with my watering can.  It has to be.  I can't imagine someone stealing a watering can.  Oh, well...That's just dogs being dogs.

I suppose now that I've gotten my chainsaw fixed, I need to get back to working on that giant pile of wood in my back yard.  I think I may have messed up when I bought that little Ford Focus.  I keep seeing free firewood posted, only I don't have a truck to haul it in.  And the crown molding I want won't fit in my Focus, and the plywood I want won't fit, and the 2 x 4s and the 2 x 6s...

But what can you do?  Should have bought a truck. 

Cat Hair and Yarn

My cat, Squeaky is getting old.  As is typical of older cats, she's not grooming herself as well as a younger cat would.  I try to brush her, but the mats in her fur multiply faster than I can brush them out.  I'd been using the dogs' comb on her, but it just yanked the mats out, and was hurting her. I started looking into getting one of those de-matting combs I'd seen advertised, the ones with little blades in the teeth which cut through the mat, so I put out a call on Facebook for recommendations.  Based on those recommendations, I ordered a Furminator.  I've been working on her, and she already looks so much better.

My dear friend Sue said she had an old comb she would send me.  It's made for cats, and has teeth that rotate.

It arrived today, and the Squeaks loves it. She actually sat still and let me comb her.  This is huge! 

Also in the box, because Sue is my heart-sister and somehow knew I was having a horrible day at work, she included some of my favorite things -- yarn! 

First up, three balls of Cascade -- my preferred yarn for hats. 

Two of them are 220 Superwash wool, and the Pacific is a wool/acrylic blend. 

She also included a small ball of leftover cotton yarn in Christmas colors.

And a skein of Madelinetosh sock yarn. 

I don't know that I've ever had any Madelinetosh.  It's very nice sock yarn.  I may have to break out the sock needles once again.  But first, that yarn needs to marinate a while, and sock yarn doesn't count as stash. 

I still haven't cast on that Chroma.  I haven't found just the right pattern.  Since it's fall colors, I want something -- and I'm leaning towards a beret or a tam-- that has a pattern that kind of looks like leaves.  I'm still looking, but would welcome suggestions.