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.