Almost Over

They say all good things must come to an end, and as this Christmas season is winding down, I went out to the shed and dragged in all my boxes, to start taking down and putting away my decorations.

I know some people leave theirs up until Epiphany, but I always try to have mine down and put away before I have to go back to work.  Which is Wednesday, Jan 2.  Which is also why I'm so depressed. 

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my job?  Oh, it's not the work I do.  I enjoy brazing.  It appeals to both my creative side and my slightly pyromaniac side.  I like the actual work -- it's the toxic environment in which I have to work that I hate.  I really need to get my resume finished and posted, so maybe I can get out of here. 

But as I was saying, I went out and dragged all the boxes in so I can take my Christmas decorations down.  I'll get started tomorrow.

Baptists don't really make a big deal out of Epiphany, anyway.  I was grown before I'd ever even heard of it -- and even then I'd only heard Three Kings Day.  It was much later before I heard the term Epiphany.  Other than in the context of having a sudden moment of understanding, that is. 

The one bright spot of my day was Beverly and James came through.  They'd spent Christmas in Tennessee with their younger son, and his kids and grandkids.  Poor things, everybody was sick.  All three of the babies -- the one year old and the two newborns --had RSV.  Oh, they're doing well now, but it's a scary thing.  And the one year old has a double ear infection that just won't clear up.  Even all the adults had colds.  They had a good time, but were all miserable at the same time.  Talk about a paradox. 

They were on their way back home, and pulled in last night to spend the night.  I ran up to the hotel this morning and visited them a few minutes before they hit the road for that last leg back to Texas.  I'd already had their gifts shipped to their house, but if I'd known they'd be coming through, I'd have hung on to them and given them in person.  However, this is what they gave me.

Yarn!

In case you can't read the label, it's Premier Wool-Free Sock yarn.  I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it, yet.  I hardly ever knit socks any more, because they wear out so fast.  Maybe I'll do a scarf. 

The other thing they gave me was this shirt.

It was hard to get a picture of it, because Texas is so Shiny. 

Just an FYI, if you ever for any reason want to send me a gift, anything related to Texas or the Navy, that's all you need to know.

After our visit, I ran by the store and picked up some new storage boxes, then sat around looking at them thinking "I really need to start taking my Christmas stuff down", and not taking my Christmas stuff down. 

Eh, I'll do it tomorrow. 

We've Had One, Yes,

But what about Second Christmas?

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when I was talking to my sister about what to get my nephews for Christmas.  In the course of the conversation she said, "I'm going to order yours tomorrow."

A few days later, a rather large box arrived from Amazon, which I assumed was from her.  Since we'd also discussed not paying extra for the gift bags, I just put the whole box under the tree.  When Cody arrived Christmas Eve, I got him to take the box and open it to wrap what was inside.  However, when he did so, we discovered that it was not from my sister, but instead, the box contained a gift from my brother Scott.

I figured the gift from my sister was still on the way, and would arrive the next day.  December 26 came and went, and no box.  December 27th came and went, and I began to get a bit worried, especially after the next door neighbor's dog tore up my outside decorations.  I messaged my sister and asked her to check the tracking numbers, because the gifts hadn't arrived and I was worried they'd been destroyed by the aforementioned dog, or stolen out of my car port.

She did some digging and discovered that for some reason, the order hadn't gone through.  She doesn't know if she forgot to hit the last "Place Order" button or if there was a glitch or what.  She hadn't received an order confirmation e-mail and had no shipping information.  She apologized profusely, I told her not to worry about it, and she re-ordered everything.  The first gifts arrived today.

These are they.

She'd asked me why I had all those children's books in my wish list.  It all goes back to when I was making a list for my co-worker's grandson -- the one for whom I bought The Monster At The End Of This Book.  I ran across so many of my old childhood favorites that I wanted to put back into my library.  I began adding them to my Christmas list.  She sent me these two.

I squealed like a girl when I opened them.  Wait, I am a girl....

OK, then.  My sister said there is supposed to be another package that won't arrive until late next week, so I reckon I'll have a Third Christmas, then.  Or will it be Elevensies Christmas?  Whatever, I'm getting more presents!

Those books were not the only things that arrived today.  The replacement wax melter also came, and --good news-- it arrived in one piece!

I have already put it to good use, and it works just like I hoped it would.

It was so easy!  I just dropped a wax stick into the bowl, lit the candle, and waited for it to melt.  Once it was melted, I used the spoon to scoop out some wax, and voila', easy peasy. By the way, one of you is going to receive a hand written letter with a snowman seal made with my new wax melter.

Not going to say who, though...You'll just have to be surprised!

The last thing in the box was the new pair of binoculars I ordered with my Christmas money.

They are significantly stronger than my Dad's old pair, and are much lighter in weight.  Another cool thing about them is the lens covers are attached, so I don't have to try to remember where I put them! 
I haven't seen the deer yet, but I spent a good deal of time watching the birds at the feeder.

Not much else has been going on since I blogged last.  We are in that time between Christmas Day and New Year's when nobody knows what day it is, or what time it is, or have I taken a bath today, and good lord eat a vegetable, woman!

In spite of the holiday nothingness, there has been knitting going on.  I finished this hat.

Then cast on and finished this one.

This is with the new Americana Red Heart I bought.  It's an 88 stitch cast on.  I think next time I'm going to use an 80 stitch cast on, to see if my stripes turn out more even.

We'll see how that goes.

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas, December 26, is known as Boxing Day.  This is the day when everybody boxes up the presents they didn't want and takes them back to the store.

Ah, don't get your knickers in a twist.  I know what Boxing Day really is.

I didn't have any presents I didn't want, but I did have one that arrived damaged.  I boxed it up, printed out the return label and headed into town.  Alas, there is no UPS store in town, only drop boxes.  I tried and tried to squish that package into the local drop box, but it just wouldn't fit.

There was nothing else to do, but to drive all the way up to Batesville to the UPS store up there.   After dropping off my box, I said to myself, "Self, might as well go to Wal-mart and check out the clearance sales while you're up here."

And that's exactly what I did. 

I was looking primarily for lights and cards.  I'd checked out our Wal-mart while I was in town, but most of their stuff had already been picked over pretty well.  I did pick up three sets of LED lights for my tree.

Oh, I take it back.  They had lots of lights, just not lots of LED lights.  Since I'm moving away from incandescents, I wasn't really interested in those.

I also grabbed this box by accident.

It's white icicle lights, which I don't really use, but I've been trying to think of something I can do with them.  I may just give them away in the freebees group next year.  Oh, I could probably return them, but it would cost more in gas to drive up there than I paid for the lights to begin with, so no...

One thing they didn't have was cards.  I thought that was so weird, because usually they have boxes and boxes of cards left.

I made a few other purchases -- dog food, milk, and the like -- then ran back by the house for a quick lunch before going to Batesville.

I dropped my package safely off at the UPS store, then drove to the Walmart up there.  They didn't have much left, either, but I did find four boxes of these lights.

I was thinking I'd string them on the outside of my house, because they have the bigger bulbs.  Each string is 14 ft long, so I figure four ought to be enough.

They didn't have any of the smaller LED lights at all. They did have two, yes two, count 'em two boxes of Christmas cards left.  I got one of them, but I'm not going to show them to you, because many of you will receive one next year.

I wandered around a bit to see if they had any more Christmas stuff, and got a head start on next year's gifts.

I think either my brother or my son would appreciate those.   Lastly, I picked up these for myself.

I'd had a pair of heavyweight fleece leggings once, and hated them.  They were uncomfortable and didn't fit right.  Not only that, but I bought them to sleep in, and the fleece stuck to my flannel sheets, making rolling over difficult to the point I counted it as exercise.  These, however, definitely fit better.   I'll let you know know if they cling to my sheets or not. Once it gets cold enough to need them at night.  Should be this weekend. 

Oh, and I also have some knitting to show you.  I finished this hat Christmas Eve during Cody's and my movie marathon -- if you can call two movies and half of a cartoon a marathon.

This is the same yarn as what I knit the last hat out of, but this time it pooled in a weird way.  I like it, though.  It's going into a blessing bag -- as with most of the hats I knit -- and I'm sure a homeless person could care less about pooling.

I never understood why it was such a big deal, anyway.

No sooner was that hat off the needles when a new hat was cast onto the needles.

This yarn is some my friend Peggy sent me when she was destashing.  It's Red Heart in the Woodsy colorway.

As if I didn't already have enough yarn to last two lifetimes, while I was up in Batesville, I got this.

Because 'Murica.

That's why.

Quiet Christmas

I don't know what's wrong with my brain.  I used to be able to write long, eloquent meaningful posts that people enjoyed reading.  Now when I write, it almost feels like I'm reading the minutes of a business meeting.  It's like I can't even think any more.  I don't know if it's writer's block, or simple fatigue, or that I spend too much time on Facebook, but there it is.

I wanted to tell you about our Christmas, but as I began writing, it started sounding like bullet points in a Powerpoint presentation.  You know, those dull things everyone sleeps through.  I'm sitting here trying to rewrite this post into something you'd actually want to read, but it's not working out too well, because my brain just seems so dull.  Is this what it's like to be dumb?  Because if it is, I don't like it!

Enough complaining, on to your regularly scheduled post...

In my family, it's always been a tradition on my dad's side to get together with the extended family on Christmas Eve and open gifts.  We'd all go over to my Mammaw's house with the aunts and uncles, and all the various cousins.  We've kept up that tradition up until Mike, Dennise and the kids moved to Tennessee, and Beverly and James moved back to Texas.

Even though it would just be Cody and me this year, I still made cookies and candy for Christmas Eve,

and we watched some movies. 

Cody had had to work, so he drove down after his shift.  Poor kid had been up since 3:00 AM, and fell asleep right in the middle of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.  He finally got up and went to bed around 9:00. 

The next morning, we got up and opened presents.  I was going to wait until after breakfast, but he was so excited to give me his gift...but more about that later. 

Cody had asked for a tool set, because he's started doing his own mechanic work on his car, so that was his main gift.  I got him one that had lots of sockets and drives, and extenders, and allen wrenches -- in both metric and standard.  He seemed to really like it, and said, "That'll do just fine."

By the way, he has lost so much weight this last year.  He'd gotten really big, but when he got involved in hurricane cleanup after Harvey, he started losing, and just kept going.  He looks so good now.   

We're just not going to talk about his hair....

This is another family tradition, that we lay out all our gifts and take a picture of them.  Here is Cody's loot:

I really surprised him with those graphic novels.  He was like, "How did you know?"  And I was like, "I know how to stalk your Amazon wish lists."  He was also thrilled with the new lounge pants. "These are nice," he said.  And yes, Cyndye, that is some Chupacabra rub I got him. 

Funny story, that little round thing in the bottom left corner is a socket thing to fit his oil filter in his car.  He'd told me he'd looked everywhere and couldn't find the right size.  My google fu kicked in and before the echo of the message notification sound had even died away, I found and ordered one.  Yeah, I still got it...

This is my loot:

The TARDIS teapot is from my brother Scott and sister in law Paula.  Cody brought me the Lindor Truffles.  Would you believe me if I told you I'd never had any?  They're pretty good.

My mother and older brother sent me money, which I used to order a more powerful set of binoculars.  I have a little money left, but am waiting to see what my sister sends before I order anything else.

Now for the bad news is, Cody had ordered me a little wax melter for my sealing wax.

He was so excited to had me that gift, as soon as he got up, he ran and brought me the box.  Alas, when I opened it, the little bowl part was broken off.  I think he was more disappointed than I was.  I thought maybe I could superglue it, but the glue I have just wasn't bonding.  I finally packed it back up and got it ready to return.  Since they're going to credit my Amazon account, I went ahead and ordered a replacement.  I found one, same product, but for about $8 less than what he paid for that one.  I told him, "That's enough for you to get me some more wax, too."  He said, "Cool." 

You know, he's going to make someone a good husband some day, because he always seems to know just what gift to give.  Last year, when I was really into fountain pens, he gave me a brass fountain pen.  This year, it was the wax melter, which I was really hoping someone would give me.  I kept moving it to the top of my wish list, thinking if it was first in the list, surely someone would get it for me.  Cody did, saying, "It seemed like the most important thing."

For our Christmas dinner, Cody made homemade gumbo, from scratch, including the roux.  Here we see the adult male offspring finely chopping celery

as opposed to his maternal unit who lops it into large chunks.  Because she can't be bothered to finely chop anything. That gumbo was really good, too.  It was so good, I asked Cody if he'd ever considered going to culinary school.  I'm sure there are some in Memphis.   He's always been a good cook.  I remember one time when he was about 14, he found some deer meat in the freezer, and asked me if he could cook it.  I said, "Sure" because any time I don't have to cook is a good thing.  He just started pulling spices out of the cabinet and dumping them in, and it turned out really good.  He's got that knack. 

His final project for the day was to hang my mantle.

He got the short side up, then realized that because the boards at that inside corner were mitered, there was no way we could get both sides up with the brackets I'd bought, because you have to slide the boards straight on to them.

He left that side up, and I moved my nativity off the top of the gun cabinet onto it.  That's where I'd always planned on putting it anyway.  Cody is going to buy some boards and build me an all new mantle.  He doesn't yet know when he will be able to do that, because he doesn't yet know when his next day off will be.  I said, "I've done without a mantle for 3 years now.  I can last a few more weeks."

We're going to consider this a dry run.  A practice round, if you will.  I'll use those boards for shelves in my shop, so it's a win-win.

Oh, I take that back.  His final project for the day was to make home made habanero hot sauce -- using my utensils.  That stuff was so hot, it made my eyes water in the other room.  I didn't dare even to taste it.  Cody did, and quickly went running for the saltines and milk.

Today, I got out and hit the clearance sales, but since this post is already long enough, I think I'll wait until tomorrow to tell you about that. 

For now, I'm going to go sit in a hot bath for a while...

Joy To The World

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.  (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.  

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.  And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. 

The Most Amazing Friends

I have the most amazing friends, y'all.  Sometimes, no, many times, I wonder how I got so lucky to have all of you in my life.

Last night, I posted an urgent prayer request on Facebook.  It didn't say anything other than please pray for my friend, right now!

And you did.

You didn't ask questions.  Nobody asked who you were supposed to pray for, or why.  You simply did it.  You hit your knees.  You fell on your face before the Throne of the Father and interceded for someone you don't even know.

I'm pleased to report now that your prayers were heard, and my friend is much better now.  She'd been in the hospital for a few days, having had a mild heart attack.  She was all set to go home.  They'd already signed her discharge papers and everything.

Suddenly, her blood pressure shot up to terrifying levels, and wasn't responding to medications.  She turned to me, and I turned to you.

I didn't even know I had that many friends.

I just wanted to pass on from my friend how grateful she is for your prayers.  She read every name that responded to my plea, and said a brief prayer for each of you as well.

I am, we are, truly blessed to have you in our lives.  A simple word of thanks doesn't seem to be enough, yet I will say it anyway.

Thank you.  To all of you.

Thank you.

Slightly Less Of A Luddite

I don't know what's been going on at work this week, but they've been working us to death, I'm telling ya. 

How hard have they been working us?  Let me just put it this way, I got a blister on my hand -- from doing the same job I've been doing nearly every single day, for nearly 20 years.  And I have a fresh blister.  From holding my brazing tip.  The same tip I've been holding in the exact same way for 20 years.  That's how hard I've worked this week. 

Driving us into the ground, they have been.  See?  Talking like Yoda, I now am.  Because so tired I have become.  But now, I'm on Christmas break and don't have to go back until January 2nd.  Oh, you should have heard the cheering when that final end of shift buzzer went off!  It'll go by in the blink of an eye, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. 

Anyway, that's why there hasn't been any blogging going on. Oh, I've had stuff to blog about.  Like, I was going to tell you that the missing Christmas ornament has been found, and now occupies a place of prominence on the tree. 

And I was going to tell you that I've finished another hat for my friend's blessing bags.

And I was going to say at this rate, I could singlehandedly fill all the bags for next year, but I probably won't, because peak season at work is about to hit and I won't have time to do much knitting, except on Sundays.  But I've been so tired once I've gotten home that I've pretty much fallen right into bed.  Thus, you haven't been told anything. 

Speaking of work, we have a new supervisor out there, and he's definitely got a cocky attitude.  He said he's going to straighten everything out.  We were all laughing at him behind our hands -- until he asked one of my coworkers, "Why is tubing so slow?"

And every sub-brazer in the plant said, "Hallelujah!"  Somebody is finally asking the right questions!  All this time, they've been screaming at the brazers for not getting the header assemblies out, but honey, we can't braze parts we don't have!  My downtime is usually between 3 and 5 hours per day, just waiting for tubing to get something ready for me to braze.  I help other brazers out, but here lately, everyone has had to wait for parts.

So, he's asking the right questions, but I doubt he gets anywhere with it.  They don't want solutions.  They want scapegoats.  Solutions take time, effort, and sometimes money.  It's a lot easier just to find someone to blame. 

That's enough about work for now. 

This week, I became just slightly less of a Luddite.  How did that happen, you may wonder?  Well, I'll tell you. 

See, I have a fairly old TV, and it only has one HDMI port.  I usually keep my Roku plugged into it.  What it means, though, is any time I want to watch a DVD, I have to get up, tromp all they way across the room, unplug the Roku, and plug my DVD player into the single, lonely HDMI port my TV has.  Not only is it tiresome, I worried about wearing out the port with all the plugging and unplugging I was doing.  As a result, sometimes I just chose another movie -- one I could stream -- rather than switching the cable over and over again. 

For a while now, I've been saying as soon as I get this credit card paid off, I'm going to get a new TV -- one with multiple HDMI ports.    Then, I got to thinking, "Why spend all that money on a new TV when the one I have works fine"?  That'd be one mighty expensive HDMI port.  So, I started looking into getting a DVD player with Roku built right in.  I researched a few on Amazon, then told myself I was being stupid. 

I did some more poking around and came up with this little gem:

It's a splitter/switch that converts one port into two.  Or two into one, depending on what you want to use it for.

I've got a cable from TV into one end, and connected the Roku and DVD player into the other. 

Voila!  Multiple HDMI ports!  Now, when I want to watch a DVD, instead of switching the cable out, all I have to do is push that little button.  It's a miracle, I tell ya! And it cost less than $10!

That's pretty much how I spent my day today -- watching Christmas shows and knitting.  That's also what I'm about to get off here and do some more of. 

Laters. 

Good News and Good Friends

First of all, I'm sure you will be pleased to know that my tooth -- the same tooth I had such a rough root canal on -- is about 99.5% healed up.  I still feel a twinge every now and again, like when the weather changes.  You know how old people can feel the weather in their joints?  Yeah, I can feel it in my teeth. Weird, huh?

Alrighty, then...

I'm sure you will also be pleased to know I did not, in fact, have to work today.  I'm glad of that.  I'm already dreading all the overtime when peak season hits.  How tired I'll be, I mean.

Not dreading those overtime paychecks.  Not at all. 

And what did I do on my Saturday off?  Not much.  A bit of laundry.  A trip to the store.  But mostly I declared today to be a day for watching Christmas shows.  When you work 12 hour shifts, you don't have time to do much in the evenings, so I've gotten a bit behind.   I may have to save some for the week we have off between Christmas and New Year's Day.  Hopefully, they won't take that away from us.

Now for a bit more good news.  Cody will be able to come home for Christmas!  He'll come after his shift on Christmas Eve, and will go back on Boxing Day.  Best part is, he wants to cook Christmas dinner!  Yay!  I went ahead and bought all the ingredients he'll need today, so I don't have to worry about it next week.  You know, the closer to Christmas it gets, the crazier the stores get. 

OK, I have to catch you up on what's been going on.

There I was at work, on my break, when my phone buzzed.  It was my friend Kristine, sending me a message.  It was a puzzle -- just a long string of numbers.  No other clue.

I sat there puzzling over my puzzle for a moment, trying to decode whatever those numbers stood for.  I puzzled and puzzled until my puzzler was sore.  Suddenly, it hit me.  It's a tracking number!  It's a tracking number!

I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have shouted it aloud in the plant break room.

I messaged Kristine back, "You know I'm going to be stalking the mailman like Hyacinth Bucket until it gets here, don't you?" 

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long.  The very next day, the package arrived.  And what was in said package?  My very first Christmas card of the season!

Well, I got one from the guy who sold me my car, but I'm not counting that.  Inside the card was a real, old fashioned hand written letter!

I said a while ago, I was going to start writing letters by hand again.  I finally did it.  I'd sent her one, and she wrote back!  The question is, who will get the next handwritten letter?  Nobody knows...

Back to my package...also inside were Christmas presents!

Kristine told me not to wait until Christmas to open them, because it was close enough.  I did wait until after dinner and my shower, then I tore into them.  First one had some really cute patches she found for me at the con.

Yeah, the same con at which she met Adam Baldwin.  And she gave me a candle!

 The same candle she gave to Adam Baldwin.  The same candle Adam Baldwin reportedly loved.  Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to have such good friends!

Today was supposed to be my day off, but apparently Rylea didn't get the message.  She did let me sleep until 4:30.  That being said, I'm going to show you this one last thing.  It's my new Christmas ornament.

It's got a bluebonnet etched onto it.  I mean to hang it onto my tree, as soon as I remember what safe place I put it into.

I'll look for it tomorrow.  For tonight, I'm going on to bed.

Quick Post

There is a rumor going around the plant -- and from a reasonably reliable source -- that we will be working both Friday and Saturday this weekend.  Said reasonably reliable source said that we are sooo far behind.

I'm wondering how we got sooo far behind in the slowest month of the year -- and if we're this far behind in December, what on Earth are they going to do when peak season hits? 

Plus, I've been put back on 12 hour shifts.  I'm tired as heck, but my bank account is breathing a sigh of relief. 

All that to say, there probably won't be much posting for a while.  Before I go, I wanted to show you the two hats I finished Sunday.  Yes, they are two different hats.  This first one, I'd finished the knitting a while ago.  It just needed a pompom.

This one, I finished over the weekend. 

I like the second one better.  I'm thinking it might end up being a Christmas gift. 

BTW, I did use my Inkle loom to make both pompoms.  I think my technique needs a little tweaking, but it worked really well.  If I ever find time to breathe again, I'll do a post on that. 

For now, I'm going to bed. 

Good night. 

P. S.  If you come to this blog from somewhere other than Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus, please let me know.  If I'm not getting any traffic from my other sources, I see no reason to keep posting links to them. 

For Real This Time

It's Saturday for real this time.

All day yesterday, it felt like Saturday to me.  I kept thinking I needed to rush home from work and start some laundry, I needed to do this, I needed to do that.  I needed to set my DVR to record the new cheesy Hallmark movies.  I needed to check the football schedule....and so on and so forth.  Then I'd remember it was only Friday.  I guess it felt like a Saturday because it was overtime.  Which I can't pass up. 

All that to say,  I did go to work yesterday.  Yes, there was some question about whether I would or not.  When the alarm went off, I lay in bed for a moment, thinking that I didn't really have to go in if I didn't want to, but I got up and started getting ready.  When I opened the door to let the dogs out, and saw that it was raining, I thought to myself, "This would be a perfect day to sit in front of the fire, knitting and watching Christmas movies."  I was sorely tempted to go back to bed.  Then I reminded myself, 12 hours at time and a half.  Yeah, that's a mighty expensive nap I'd be taking, so I went on in to work.   One of my millennial coworkers rolled her eyes at me, and said, "You old people love your overtime."  I said, "Yeah, because we are adults with adult bills to pay!" 

I was glad I'd gone ahead and done my shopping Thursday, because it was still raining when I got off.  My tooth was still pretty sore, so I went to bed early last night.  And it was still raining. 

I'd planned on sleeping in this morning, but Rylea insisted I get up at 5:30.  On second thought, when you're used to getting up at 3:00, that is sleeping in.  When I opened the door to let her out, it was raining. 

Still.  Raining.

It rained all day long.  And I do mean All.  Day.  Long.  It was a great day to sit in front of the fire, knit, and watch Christmas movies.  That's exactly what I did.  Other than a couple of loads of laundry, and putting the final touch on the decorating. 

I'd had to wait on that, because I was out of those Command hangers.  You know, the kind that don't damage your walls.  I used finishing nails on the kitchen side of that door, but didn't want to on the side I'd just painted and all. 

Kindly ignore Jesse's backside.  He was eating his supper.  He likes to stand right in that doorway to eat.  Also, kindly ignore my messy kitchen.  For the life of me, I can't understand why people wouldn't want doors on their kitchen cabinets.  I know it's kind of the rage, but I like my clutter hidden out of sight. 

But I digress...

Back to my rainy Saturday.  I started knitting another charity hat, and got through the ribbing.

Then something happened.  Something very exciting.  You might even say, thrilling.

My friend Kristine  -- the one who makes the candles and does the blessing bags -- is at a con this weekend, selling her candles.  That's not the exciting part.  She has a new candle called The Hero Of Canton.  It'll be up in her Etsy shop Monday.  That's not the exciting part, either.  Well, it's semi -exciting, but not the something exciting I was talking about. 

The something exciting I was talking about is Adam Baldwin is at the con, and she met him!!!!!!  Yes, she has a picture, so it did happen.  I've asked her if I can share it, but haven't heard back yet.  When I do, you'll get to see... and I'll tell the whole story then.

Her excitement, and my subsequent giddiness for her, inspired me to dig out a barely started Jayne hat and work on it some more.

Only a couple more rounds and I'll be through with the body.  Then I'll just have to do the ear flaps and the pompoms. 

Speaking of pompoms, I'd been watching some YouTube videos on how to make nice ones.  This one video I watched, she wrapped her yarn around two toilet tissue rolls. When she ties it off, she brings the yarn up between the rolls.  I tried that for my last pompom.  It worked pretty well, but I squished my tissue rolls.  I was trying to think of some way I would wind my yarn...

I'd always wrapped it around a piece of cardboard before.  The problem with that method is you have to pull the yarn off the cardboard to tie it.   I wanted to figure out some way I could wrap it so I could tie it off  before taking it off whatever I wrapped it around.  Something like two pegs in a board or something similar.

Then I got an idea.  A wonderful idea!

I got a wonderful, marvelous idea!

I could use my inkle loom!! 

It has so many pegs, I can make all different sizes of pompoms on it!  I haven't tried it yet, but I will be sure to do a complete report when I do. 

Along with that picture of Kristine and Adam Baldwin. 

Which I promise is real. 

A Day That Will Live In Infamy

December 7, 1941

Tell it to your children, 

and let your children tell it to their children, 

and their children to the next generation.  --Joel 1:3

So that we may never forget.  

The Deed Is Done

The Deed being my root canal.

It was a tough one, I tell ya, but it's done now. 

First, since we wanted to save the existing crown, he had to make the access hole as small as he could, to preserve the structural integrity.  If he made it too big, the crown could break.  But the smaller access means he had less room to work.  He had to do more reaching -- so to speak -- to get all the infection cleaned out. 

Secondly, the tooth underneath the crown is crooked.  When my dentist put the crown on, he made it look straight.  Basically, the tooth and the crown don't line up quite right, so that made drilling difficult. 

And finally, because the tooth had had a very deep filling before being crowned, it had started to calcify around the nerve.  He had to clean all that out before he could start cleaning out the infection. 

I'll have to admit, I have never been this sore after a root canal.  I feel like I've been hit in the face with a baseball bat, and what with my ibuprofin allergy...I am taking Tylenol and swishing with warm salt water, but that's about all I can do for now.  I'm seriously rethinking my decision to go on in to work tomorrow.  I'll see how I feel in the morning. 

I'd originally planned on doing some window -- and possibly real -- shopping afterwards but I didn't.  I went to Barnes & Noble, and wandered around for a few minutes, but really, I just wanted to go home.  I walked out without even buying anything. 

Hard to believe, I know, but it happened. 

After I got back home, I ran by the bank and paid my house note, then did my weekly shopping, so that's another deed that is done.

I think the next deed that will be done is for me to go to bed.  I'm going to take care of that right now. 

Still Here

There I was at work, just a working away, when I had to step away for a moment.

OK, I had to answer nature's call.  I have a coworker who never says she's got to go to the bathroom.  She says she has to step away.  Whatever you call it, that's what I had to do.  On the way back, I saw it posted.  The work schedule.

All areas are scheduled to work Friday

Now, for those of you who don't know, last January the plant moved to an alternate work schedule, in which we work 6:00 AM - 4:00 PM Monday through Thursday, and have a three day weekend every weekend.  If we work Friday and Saturday, it's considered overtime.  Also, for those of you who don't know, where I work, December is usually the slowest month of the year.  And here we are, scheduled to work a Friday.  In December.

I can't even remember the last time that happened. 

Yes, I can.  It was 2005.  Or thereabouts. 

For reals. 

Now, technically I don't have to go in Friday, since I have a vacation day tomorrow.  Per company policy, if you schedule a vacation day Thursday, you get Friday and Saturday off as well.  If I want to, I can stay home.  But, as much as my body is telling me to stay up in the bed, my bank account is telling me, "Girl, you'd better get your but out of that bed and go to work!"  Especially after I found out how much my root canal is going to cost.   Yeah, I'm kind of thinking that I won't be doing much shopping after said root canal after all. 

All that to say, this is going to be a quick post, just to let you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, and I have in fact, finished another hat.

I'm debating whether to put a pompom on it, now that I know how to make them. 

Finally, look at this!  Actual presents under my tree. 

After all the dental work I've had done this year, that may be all there are, too.