As Good

The house is as decorated as it's going to get.  

In the midst of watching football, I got the last of my Christmas decorations put out.  I'm not going to show you all of them, because for the most part, they're the same as they were last year.  I'm only showing you this corner so you can see how much that little coat of white paint brightens it all up.  

Kindly ignore the leaves on my floor.  I'd been going in and out taking storage boxes back out to the shed.  That floor was swept shortly after the photo was taken.  

The only thing new this year was the plastic light-up Santa I'd bought up in Batesville a few weeks ago.  By the way, they do have them here at the local Walmart.  They just weren't as prominently placed.  

Anyhow, I didn't know where to put him, so after trying a few different spots, I decided he'd sit right here on my keyboard and keep me company while I play.  

If play is the right word for what I do on that thing...

The only other thing I did was to pick the rest of the meat off of my turkey and make turkey salad, which will be my lunch at work next week.  Then I tried to make broth from the carcass, and I don't know what I did wrong, because it didn't look right and it didn't taste right.  Instead of being clear brown, it was milky white.  At first, I thought it was just from the fat, but when I tasted it, it ...I don't know.  It just didn't taste right.  Still, I put some of it in the freezer, but poured the rest down the drain.  

OK, a quick google search reveals that I probably boiled it too hard, instead of simmering it.  I'm still not sure why it didn't taste right.  Maybe it's because of all the fat -- which I usually skim off, but couldn't this time.  That's what the article I read said.  If you boil it too hard, the fat will break down into tiny particles that you can't skim.  I'll know better next time.  

If there is a next time.  I'm thinking next year, I might just buy a turkey breast instead of a whole bird.  These last few years, I've gotten a free turkey from ibotta, but this year, they didn't do the free Thanksgiving like they have in the past -- just a couple of sides.  Well, a pack of green beans, which I don't eat, and a box of Stove Top, which I already had two of, but not like an entire meal the way they've done in the past.  I guess the economy has hit everyone pretty hard. 

Oh, and I did cast on the next hat, but haven't made enough progress yet to even make a photo worth taking.  I'll get a bit more done here watching the second half of the Iron Bowl, then Texas Vs Texas A&M, and LSU vs Oklahoma.  

And finally, I wonder what it was about my Thanksgiving Eve post that it got so many hits.  

And even the few below it have abnormally high hit counts.  Usually, I get about 26 or 27 views.  Oh well, I guess complaining about the USPS paid off.  

Sort of....

Black Friday

It's Black Friday, and as is my custom, I avoided stores like the plague.  I didn't even go get corn for the deer, which I was completely out of.  They didn't seem bothered by it, though.  They just licked up the seed the birds dumped out of their feeders...

And I probably should have cropped that photo, but it's not happening now.  

While I was not shopping, I got all of my fall decorations down and put away, then started putting out Christmas stuff, and in so doing, I discovered that the kids had missed quite a few ornaments when they were decorating my tree. 

That situation is now rectified, and all of those ornaments are safely on the tree.  

There isn't really that much else to talk about, because all I did was watch football.  While I was watching, I finished As A Mist Creeps In.  

 

It turned out really gorgeous.  Then I caked up the next skein,   

which is from Forbidden Fiber, and the colorway is Foliage, from her harvest collection.  I bought it at Fiber Fun In The 'Sip a few years ago.  I think this one may be discontinued, because I can't find it on her website, buuuuut, she's got a new Christmas collection that is available for pre-order.

Don't mind me.   I'm just sitting here trying to resist temptation.  

OK, moving right along, we finally had our first frost last night-- which usually happens about the middle of November.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the Lemon verbena or the Greek Oregano cut, so I guess we'll see how cold hardy they are.  

Speaking of, I still have one Cosmos in my front bed that has buds on it. 

I guess we'll see how cold hardy they are, too because it's supposed to get down into the 20s tonight.  I imagine that'll kill off pretty much everything else I have planted.  

I think now, I'm going to go cast on that next hat and watch a cheesy Christmas movie.  

Laters.

Thanksgiving Eve

You know what the best part about having the next day off is?  At least for me, it's not having to go to bed so flipping early.  By the time a lot of you are just getting home and settling in for an evening in front of the television, I'm already getting ready for bed.  Because I have to get up so flipping early.  

Not so tonight.  I can stay up as late as I want to.  I don't even have to get up tomorrow and do a bunch of cooking.  That'll feel a bit weird, but I think it'll be nice just to sit and watch the parade without having to run back and forth to the kitchen -- or watch it on my Kindle while I'm cooking, which is what I usually end up doing. 

I'm still going to have a Thanksgiving dinner, though, because there is plenty of turkey left.  Also, I saved myself a serving of sweet potatoes and one of jello salad. Then, because the kids took all of the broccoli, I got the leftover squash casserole out of the freezer.  And I have a box of Stove Top in the cabinet that I'll make.  Finally, I'll top it off with pumpkin pie, which I also saved and froze.  

I'm going to watch Charlie Brown, Mayflower, the parade, then the football games, and it'll be a right nice day, even though it'll just be me. 

Probably just as well.  Maybe if I take it easy for a few days, I can finally kick this cold that's been kicking my butt.   Maybe I'll even get started on my Christmas cards, since my stamps finally arrived -- most of them, at least. 

I'd ordered Christmas stamps from USPS, not knowing I'd be going to the actual post office just a few days later.  You know, it took less time to get my custom printed ornaments from CHINA than it did to get those stamps from Missouri. That's our wonderful postal service for you.  Anyway, one of the books of stamps I'd ordered wasn't in the package, so I called that customer service number on the invoice and heard, "All of our customer service representatives are busy.  Please stay on the line and one will be with you shortly.  Approximate wait time:  79 minutes."

Forget that!  I hung up and emailed them, and got a response almost immediately.  They've shipped me a replacement book, which will hopefully get here quicker than the first order did. 

While we're on the subject, I already received my first card, from my brother and sister in law.

And finally, since we're going to be expecting a frost here in the next few days, when I got home, I cut the last of my lemon balm and sweet mint and hung them up to dry.  Then I cut the last of the cayennes and Jalapenos, and tomorrow I'll try to cut the lemon verbena and Greek Oregano.  That's going to be about it for this season, I think.  

In the spring, I'll have to wait to see if anything comes back before I decide what to grow next year. I know I want to try to grow my own Stevia, but I doubt I'll fool with the jalapeno or tabasco peppers again.  I might grow the banana peppers again, because they add just the right amount of crunch to my chicken salad. 

Well, that's about it.  If I don't get around to posting tomorrow, you all have a very happy Thanksgiving. 

Laters

I Hope

I took a big risk today.

If you'll recall, I mentioned yesterday that I'd need to go to the post office after work, and the reason for that is to mail something to my sister in Alaska.  She'd asked Brennan to pick up a gift for my youngest nephew, which I won't mention what it was just on the off chance he might see this.  I don't expect him to, but still...

Since it's a quite expensive gift, I didn't want to leave it in the car all day while I was at work, so I told myself I'd run back by the house to get it, then go into town.

Therein lies the risk.  Once I'm home, I'm home.  And once I got home, I was like, "Ugh, I don't want to have to go mail this!"  But it's for my nephew, so I put on my big girl britches and left the house again, to go to the post office. 

Aaand the man behind the counter didn't know what he was doing.  When it got to the part where I had to declare if there was anything liquid, fragile, perilous, or potentially hazardous, I said, "Well, it's got a battery in it."  

"Oooh, I don't know if we can send batteries," he said.  

Um, according to the giant poster on the wall behind your head, you can -- I didn't say out loud.  I just said, "I've had stuff sent to me that has batteries in it.  You just have to put that sticker on it."  

"All right," he said, and put a Hazmat sticker on the box instead of the battery sticker.  

I hope it gets there OK, and I hope I don't go to prison because he put the wrong sticker on!  That's a joke, by the way, for those of you who are humor impaired.

But I've got that headache behind me, and all the while I'm wondering why my sister didn't just go to the store's website and order the item and have it shipped straight to her house.   The only thing I can think of would be that shipping to Alaska would be too high.  Indeed, it cost me $27 to mail it -- and that includes the extra insurance I sprang for.  Eh, she is going to mail me a check to cover the shipping, so all I ended up forking out was the aggravation of having to go to the post office.   My favorite place...

Once that was done, I ran by Walmart and picked up a new coffee maker.  

I've already run a couple of cups of clean water through it, so it's all ready to make my morning coffee. 

And finally, a bit of good news.  I finally figured out how to pay my mortgage online!  Always before when I tried, the website said I didn't have any qualifying bills, so back when I was having all that trouble with those lost checks, I called and paid it over the phone.  I mentioned to the customer service rep the trouble I had been having with their website, and she told me how to find where to pay my mortgage.  

This afternoon, I did just that.  

Don't think for one minute that I'm no longer a Luddite, though.  I will always be that.  

Farewell

Farewell, little coffee maker.  We hardly knew ye.

 Well, ye were five years old, so we did know ye a little bit.  Still, I'd have expected ye to last a bit longer than that, but as ye were cheap, I feel like I got my money's worth out of ye. 

Enough with the ye business, OK?  

All is not lost, as I still have my other coffee maker that makes coffee by the pot, and I have to go to the post office tomorrow anyway, so I'll just whiz by Walmart and pick up a new one of these. 

By the way, did you know you can pull the foil off of the top of a coffee pod and dump the grounds into a regular coffee maker and still have a cup of coffee?  I do now. 

And look at this!  I already have presents under my Christmas tree!

I've got some bows around here somewhere that I need to find and put onto them, but hey, it's a start. 

And finally, it is officially Thanksgiving week, so I can finally post the funniest scene from a TV show ever. 

Our Pretend Thanksgiving

I got up early yesterday and spend all morning cooking and prepping and getting everything ready for our pretend Thanksgiving.  The turkey was done and out of the oven, and the casseroles were put together and ready to go into the oven when the kids got here, and Cody said, "Let's go get pizza."

Back into the refrigerator went the turkey and casseroles, and we went and got pizza.  

I wish he'd told me before I did all that cooking.  Oh well, that was just less prep for me to do today -- which was when we had our dinner and did everything one would normally do on Thanksgiving day except watch the parade.  We ate, watched football, and even watched Miracle On 34th Street -- which is a family tradition to watch on Thanksgiving day.   The kids even put up my Christmas tree and outside lights, but I'm going to leave the rest of my Fall decor up until next weekend. 

I let them do most of the work, and told Cody, "Yes, you do have to hang the Dallas Cowboys ornaments!", which he was not happy about, but did it anyway.  I hung my new family ornament myself, though.  

I'm telling you, it sure goes a lot faster when you have help, and someone tall to put the angel on top.  

Shortly after that, they packed up their stuff and most of the leftovers, and went home, and though I love having the kids around, it's nice to have my house back. 

So, the whole reason they wanted to come this weekend was to go to the tree lighting on the square.  They'd come to the one in 2021, and that's also the last time I went.  They didn't have one in 2022, and last year they had to postpone it due to the threat of severe weather.  I don't remember, but I know I didn't go because of having to work the next day.  Anyway...

Man, I don't know what has happened, but it was nothing like it used to be.  There wasn't even a tree!  This is the one from last year, and they for some reason, didn't even put it up. 

And they didn't put up the Merry Christmas candy canes, 

or the light tunnel, 

or a fraction of the stuff they normally put out.  Not only that, nobody showed up.  I mean, outside of the entertainers' families, there were very few people there.    We thought that maybe the reason nobody was there was that they were all at the football game where the local high school team won and is headed to the state championship. But even so, they could have scheduled the Lighting for Saturday.  

Whatever the reason, it just wasn't the same as when Brennan said my town reminded her of Stars Hollow.  From the Gilmore Girls, for those of you who haven't seen that show.   We did go on a carriage ride this time, which was nice.  They just went around the square, but it's the first time I'd been in a carriage since I was in Florence, Italy.  Other than that, it wasn't much to brag about. 

They had the praise band from Christ Community Church sing a few songs -- and at least what they sang were Christmas songs.  When they were done, there was a band called Slash perform, and they were pretty awful. 

I hadn't wanted to say it, but Cody mentioned that their timing was off and they needed some ear training.  Not only that, they were very loud -- which I'm sure went over well with people in nearby neighborhoods who might be wanting to put their young children to bed -- and didn't sing anything Christmassy.  OK, they sang Run Run Reindeer, and Santa Looks A Lot Like Daddy, but mostly what they sang was Southern Rock and Country.  We didn't even stay for the whole thing.  

Brennan was looking at her phone, and I was reading my book on my Kindle app, when suddenly I said, "I'm about ready to go," and we went.  

The only redeeming thing about the night was I got a new book out of the Little Free Library.  

I won't keep this one after I've read it, but will put it back into the LFL.  

One last thing, after we ate, we went to Walmart and bought stuff to make S'mores, then when we got back, Cody and I put my fire pit together. 

And let me tell you something, it's a nice fire pit, but I'm sure glad I got it on clearance, because I don't think it's worth $200.  

Cody kept insisting on putting that grill on there, even though we weren't planning on cooking hamburgers or anything.  I'll pull it off next time I use it. 

Anyway, by the time we got home from that thing on the square, I was so cold I made us all hot chocolate and told them they could do S'mores, but I was staying inside where it was warm.  I guess they didn't want to do it without me, because they stayed inside, too and we watched the first half of the extended edition of Lord Of The Rings. 

Then we all went to bed. 

This morning, I moved the fire pit up onto the back porch, thinking it would be better protected from rusting if it weren't directly on the ground.  I'm planning on getting some of the patio paving stone thingies that I'd mentioned a few weeks ago and building me a little patio.  

If I can ever get my act together enough to do it, that is. 

I Made It

I am one pooped puppy, but I got everything done that I needed to get done today -- including a trip to Walmart.  Then I came home and finished making the Jell-O Salad, baked a pumpkin pie, and made the homemade cranberry sauce.  That's all I planned on doing today, anyway.  The rest can wait until tomorrow.

I think the pie turned out pretty good, but since I used a store bought crust, I didn't have the extra dough to make little decorations or anything like that.  Oh well, I'll probably be the only one eating it anyway. 

Cody isn't a big fan of pumpkin pie, so I gave in and decided to make his cream cheese pie, too.  By the way, he texted me this morning and told me he got his day off approved, so they are going to get to come tomorrow after all.  I'll get up tomorrow and at least clean the bathroom really well.  The rest of my mess they're just going to have to live with, because I'm still fighting this head cold.  I'm just sick enough to be miserable, but not sick enough to justify staying in bed.  Maybe if we weren't doing our early Thanksgiving...but family time is more important, since we get so little of it. 

While we're on the subject of food, the plant fed us our Thanksgiving dinner at work today, and that food was so good.  It was catered by a company called Penn's Restaurants, and I hope they hire them again.  I got really lucky because they just brought in a fresh batch of French Fries as I was getting to the line and I couldn't wait.  I started eating them while I was still going through the line. Man, they were good.  And the Tartar Sauce!  I don't know what they put in it, but that was the best Tartar sauce I've ever had.  

Well, I had other stuff I was going to talk about, but it's late and I'm tired.  I'm going to bed. 

Got a busy day tomorrow. 

It's Here!

My fire pit is here!

Alas, it arrived well after dark, so you don't get any photos.  I supposed I could show you a photo of the box, which it is still in, but that's not very exciting, is it?  Maybe I'll have time to put it together tomorrow sometime in the midst of my early Thanksgiving prep.  Or maybe I'll get Cody and Brennan to put it together when they come this weekend.  

Speaking of, Cody messaged me this afternoon and said his supervisor still hasn't approved his PTO.  He sent her an e-mail asking about it, but hasn't heard anything as of today.  Keep your fingers crossed, but he said even if she doesn't approve it, they'll still come on Saturday.  They'll miss the tree lighting on the Square Friday night, but we can still do our Early Thanksgiving.  

On that note, I came home this afternoon and did the first layer of my strawberry Jell-O salad, and discovered that I didn't have enough strawberries for the rest of it.  I'll have to pick up some more tomorrow when I do my regular shopping after work so I can do the second layer.  

Once that was done and chilling in the fridge, I got my turkey out of the wrapper and started dry brining it.  So tomorrow -- or Friday depending on when Cody and Bren can come -- I'll have to do the rest of the Jell-O, make the cranberry sauce, and bake a pumpkin pie.  The casseroles I'll put together the morning of, whichever morning that happens to be. 

I'm still holding out for Friday, but we'll have to see. 

In other news, remember how I'd called the Ford place because they'd sent me a message about a re-call?  I'd talked to someone in the service department and she said they could do that one at the seme time I was getting my clutch replaced.   Well, she kept sending me texts about how we needed to get that service appointment scheduled, like she'd completely forgotten we'd just talked about it on the phone.  I finally gave in and said, "Fine!" and scheduled it.  They're going to come to the house and do it, because it's just a software update -- or so she said. 

I still haven't heard anything about the clutch and whatever it was they needed to order.  I'm beginning to wonder if she forgot about me.  That'd be par for the course in this town.  

And finally, what with the temps expected to get down into the 30s over the next few days, I went ahead and got the rest of my plants moved into their winter home.

Now I have a jungle in my house.  I have a few peppers I still need to cut and some more herbs I can cut and dry before the first frost hits.  I'll have to somehow fit that into tomorrow's busy schedule as well.  

And of course, I have to show you my Christmas cactus in full bloom. 

And yes, you can be as pedantic as you want and insist that it's really a Thanksgiving cactus, but to me, they're Christmas cacti and that's what I'm going to call them. 

Because it's my blog and I can. 

Peaked

I think my head cold, or whatever it was I was battling, peaked sometime during the night last night.  Man, I was miserable all night and only got about two or three hours sleep -- including the times I dozed off during the Cowboys game.  

But I felt much better when I woke up.  I mean, I'm still pretty miserable from lack of sleep, but my throat is much less sore and my sinuses are not as inflamed.  Even so, I was tempted to call in and stay in bed, but I didn't.  Up I got and to work I went...and the day seemed to last for...ev...er.  

At long last, the day finally ended, and I came home to a stack of mysterious packages outside my carport door.  I didn't order anything, so they must be presents!  I'll get Cody and Brennan to wrap them when they come Friday. I've got a few I need to wrap as well.  

My main project this afternoon was to get my plants all settled into their winter homes, and that's exactly what I did. 

I still need to bring in the ones on the front porch, which I will probably do tomorrow.  

Other than that, there really isn't that much to talk about tonight.  Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.  

When It Rains

It pours. 

So there I was at work, just before shift started getting my tools out and my order set up to start my day, when Demi-god came over and said, "Did y'all hear what happened to Cuz?"  

Cuz had been out all last week, but I didn't really think that much about it.  We all figured he took a week of vacation.  But no, Demi-god told us his cattle had gotten out and Cuz was trying to round them up on his 4-wheeler, when it flipped over and broke his leg. 

This hasn't been a good year for legs out at the plant, because one of the brazers fell at her home a few weeks ago and broke her ankle.  She is supposed to be back sometime this month.  

In other news, when I got off this afternoon, there was a message waiting for me on my phone from the Ford place.  They'd found another open recall on my car.  This one is just a software update, though, and they will be able to do it at the same time that they replace my clutch, so that's good.  By the way, about that clutch, we're still waiting on the parts to arrive.  If it's anything like the shock I had replaced last spring, it'll take three weeks for it to get here. 

That blows my mind that it takes so long to get a part I could probably get from Auto Zone or O'Reilly's in ten minutes.  But because it's a recall, I have to go through the Ford place and they won't charge me anything for parts or labor. 

And as if all that weren't enough, I feel like I'm trying to come down with a cold.  No fever yet, just a sore, scratchy throat and sinus pressure.  That being said, I think I'm going to go lay down a bit early tonight, but just to show you that I'm not completely unproductive, here is hat progress. 

And here is Whatever cactus progress. 

 It's supposed to dip down into the 30s after this next front comes through, so I'll probably go on ahead and get them into their winter home tomorrow afternoon.  

The Cowboys play tonight, but I doubt I'll be awake long enough to finish that game.  Not the way I feel right now. 

One Of These Days

One of these days, she's going to catch her one of them squirrels. 

Funny thing, I got up this morning around 5-ish, and let her outside.  Then I built a fire and started making a cup of coffee.  After a few minutes, she came running back inside, looking towards the door and hissing.  I stepped out onto the back porch -- like I thought I'd be able to see anything in the dark -- and heard something much heavier than a squirrel jump off of the bird feeder and begin running across the roof of the shed.  

Like I said, it was too dark to see, so I don't know exactly what it was, but my guess would be either a possum or a trash panda.  Judging by how spooked the cat was, I'm guessing raccoon.  Once it had been run off, the cat went back outside and that was my excitement for the day. 

The rest of the news is a bit more mundane, as my tasks for the day were to begin winterizing things in my yard.  First thing on the list was to pull up that makeshift trellis I had put out here last summer. 

Then I pulled up the dead cosmos and put them into the compost.  I'll need to get the weedeater out and cut down that mess, but that didn't happen today.  I don't think I'll plant more cosmos in this bed next year.  I think I'll go with something a little tamer like Vincas.  I always did like them. 

The next thing on the list was to move that old sewing machine back into the junk room and get this space cleaned up.  

They're predicting temperatures down into the upper 30s by next weekend, so I needed to clear a space to bring my outside plants inside.  

By the way, my fire pit has shipped, and it supposed to arrive Thursday -- just in time for those cooler temps.  I spent some time today looking at Adirondack chairs to put around it.  I still have to decide where to put it, too.  I'm really wanting to build a patio right outside my back door.  I'd had one there for about a month after I moved in, but the plumber had to break it up to replace the sewer line.  That one was just a solid slab of concrete, but I'm wanting something a little more fancy than that.  I'd bought one of those molds that you use with Quickcrete, but never got around to doing anything with it.  

Oh well, I'll figure something out.  

In piano news, yes, I'm still playing.  I finished unit four in my Faber book this afternoon, then put it and my Alfred's book away until after Christmas.  I'm going to spend the rest of the year playing Christmas songs, and hymns, and songs I play just for fun.  

Speaking of, I ordered a bunch of Christmas stamps yesterday.  It's almost time to get my Christmas cards ready!  

I guess that's about it for today.  I'm going to go get something to eat, then finish watching the ball game.  

Conversate More

A few years ago, back when the brazers were still working on the lines, one of the temps came over to my brazing stand and said, "I've been watching you, and all you do is work, work, work.  You need to step around the line and conversate more!" 

I replied, "I don't get paid to conversate.  I get paid to make parts."  What I didn't say -- at least out loud-- was, "What could you and I possibly have to conversate about?  We likely don't know the same people.  We certainly don't have the same interests, so what do you want to talk about?  

Do you want to discuss the episode of Secrets Of The Dead I watched the other day in which Phillipa Langley -- you know, she's the one who found Richard III in that car park in Leicester back in 2012, and we can conversate about that one, too --uncovered evidence that solved the mystery of the princes in the tower?  

Or would you rather discuss how many times the movie Air Force One defies the laws of physics, and and exactly how it does so?  Or hypothesize about how different history would be if just one of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon's sons had lived?  Or how it would be literally impossible to explore new worlds without violating the Prime Directive?  

Oh, I know!  We can discuss wind shear and it's negative effect on hurricane formation, or how El Niño and La Niña influence weather patterns!

No?  Then we have nothing to talk about, because I couldn't care less who is sleeping with who or what celebrities are up to, so if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my work, work, work now. "

In other news, lookit!  The birds are starting to find the new feeder!

That's good, because it won't be long before they'll be needing that extra feed.  It was chilly enough this morning that I was able to light the first fire in my little fire box. 

It warmed up pretty quickly, but that fire sure was cozy there for a minute. 

On a similar note, someone posted this on Facebook today and boy, I felt it to the depths of my soul.  

I do this all the time.  I can't seem to relax, because I know I have soooo much stuff I need to get done, and I can't seem to get my act together enough to get any of it done.  I don't have any family in the area to help me out, and I certainly don't have any friends who'd even show up to offer moral support, so everything falls on me. 

Then I look at my list -- which is getting longer by the day -- and see how much is on it, and get overwhelmed and can't do anything.  So I sit around and knit, and berate myself for being such a numpty.  

And believe me when I tell you that numpty is actually much kinder than what I really call myself. 

But, as is my custom, in the middle of all my bouts of self-denigration, I managed to get most of the bricks behind my wood stove painted. 

I still have to do the ones in the back corner, but I didn't quite feel up to getting down on my hands and knees and crawling back there.  I also noticed that the ones in the upper right are whiter than the rest.  I'm not sure why, because I didn't go over them or anything.  I wonder if it's because I sponged them instead of brushing them.  That's how I started out, but decided it was taking too much time.  Maybe tomorrow I'll start sponging a second coat on the rest of the bricks, but even as they are, it makes that corner so much less dark and gloomy than it was before. 

As far as Thanksgiving prep goes,  I got my turkey out of the deep freeze and put it into the fridge to start thawing.  Then I made two pies and put them into the freezer.  One was a banana cream pie, made with sugar free pudding mix.  I was going to make Cody his cream cheese pie, but decided he didn't need all that sugar, either, so I made the second pie with sugar free cheesecake pudding mix.  

I'm debating on whether to go ahead and make the pumpkin pie tomorrow, or to wait until Thursday to do it.  I think I'll wait on that one.  

I had bought the canned cranberry jelly to serve, but when I was in the store yesterday, I saw bags of fresh cranberries and bought one on impulse, so I guess we're getting both.  Ah, well, Cody and Bren will have lots of leftovers to take home, then. 

And finally, today is my bloggiversary.  Can you believe it was 19 years ago that I wrote my very first blog post?   So much has changed.  I've lost readers, and gained new ones, and I'm grateful for every one of you who've stuck with me through the years.  

So, while I was looking for something else, I found and old draft of a post that had never gotten published.  I'd written this back in 2019, and don't know why I never posted it.  Anyway, here it is for your enjoyment.

The plant has this notice up, asking for people who want to train to braze. I don't know why. Even the ones they do train they don't let them braze. Eh, who knows. 

 A few weeks ago, Stalker was training one guy on an empty sub-brazing stand. He hasn't brazed since. He now works on line 1 putting on flo-rators. But that's beside the point. 

He was over there training, and one of my coworkers said, "He looks like Buh-Lak-Ay from the Substitute Teacher." 

Now, if you don't know what that is, it's a comedy sketch by Key and Peele which you can look up on YouTube if you're interested. I'm not going to share it here, because it does have some language and I want to maintain my G rating for my blog. 

We have no idea what that guy's real name is, but ever since then, we've called him Buh-Lak-Ay. 

Now, we're over there treating him like he's some sort of celebrity. "Hey! I saw Buh-Lak-Ay in the break room!" "I saw Buh-Lak-Ay coming out of the restroom!" "I saw Buh-Lak-Ay over on line 1!" He's just an ordinary guy, but here we are, totally fan-girling over him. 

And he has no idea.

We Are Go

"Did you see the moon?"  exclaimed my coworker as she came into the plant this morning.  Yes, I had.  It was big and orange and almost full, and breathtakingly beautiful.  I'd thought about driving out to the lake this evening to watch it rise, but I forgot....again.  

Instead, I stepped outside and took this long exposure photo from my back yard. 

Not as good as seeing it in person, but still.

So, why did I forget such a simple thing? Well, I'll tell you.  I went to Walmart after work, thinking it would be less crowded than going on a Friday.  I thought wrong.  

I don't know what the deal was, but it seemed like everyone in town was in that store.  Still, I persevered and I think I got everything I'll need for our early Thanksgiving next Friday.   What I didn't already have, that is.  Tomorrow, I'll go ahead and take the turkey out of the freezer, and I think I might go ahead and make my pies and put them into the freezer.  The rest is pretty easy, and I can do them after work, or the morning of. 

This year, I bought some disposable aluminum pans for my casseroles.  I know Cody will want to take the broccoli home with him, and they might want some sweet potatoes, too.  I have enough sweet potatoes to make two casseroles, so they can have one, and I can have one.  I thought about making a pie, but I'm already going to make pumpkin, banana cream, and cream cheese pies, so I don't really need another one.  

All that to say, we are go for Thanksgiving. 

Then I did something naughty.  I bought a bag of Hershey's cherry cordial kisses and a bag of Hershey's mint truffle kisses.  I'll just have to eat them slowly, like one per day instead of half a bag per day, and keep close track of my sugar.  Funny, though, egg nog -- which I also bought another quart of -- doesn't seem to affect my glucose that much.  Maybe the protein in the eggs helps cancel out the carbs in the sugar.  I don't know, but I'm glad of it, whatever it is. 

And finally, I know some of my friends on Facebook would somewhat snootily tell me they never buy things from Facebook ads.  Well, goody goody for you, but I've gotten some nice things from FB ads.  This is one of them. 

 This is not my photo.  It's the preview they showed me when I placed my order, but mine did arrive today and they look really nice.  I've ordered one for each of my siblings as well, and of course, these are the three states we live in.  

I guess that's it for today.  I've started watching the new show called High Potential.  So far, I'm really enjoying it.  I'm also watching NCIS: Origins, but I'm not quite sold on that one.  Either one is good for knitting to, so I guess that makes it OK. 

Foolish And Impulsive

I did something impulsive today, and quite possibly a bit foolish.   And what was this impulsive thing I did?  I ordered a fire pit.  

I've been wanting one for a while now, and when I saw one clearanced down from $200 to $65, and well...I'm getting a fire pit.  A bit sooner than I'd planned, but I was going to get it anyway.  Might as well save a few dollars while I'm at it. 

I guess now I need to get some sort of patio going to put it on, or I could just put it on the ground -- at least for the time being.  

You know, I have a bit of a no-brainer job, which gives me a lot of time to think about stuff.  Today, I was thinking about how I need to replace my French Doors.  It's not urgent, but it is on the list.  I can't decide, though, whether to get new French Doors or to get a sliding glass door.  There are pros and cons to both, but one thing I know I want is to have the blinds between the panes of glass so whatever critters I have can't tear them up.  

On my lunch break, I got onto the Lowe's app just to check prices, and wow!  The ones I want are pretty high dollar. And therein lies the rub.  It's not that I don't have the money for the doors-- and the labor to install them -- because I do.  But my money had been so tight for so long, I have a serious mental block against spending it.  I'm trying to convince myself it's OK because it will increase the re-sale value of the house, but it's not quite working.   Not yet, at least.  I've got some  more convincing to do. 

OK, moving right along,  I got a nice surprise in the mail today.  It was a birthday card from my sister with these two necklaces in it.

She wants me to update my Christmas list on Amazon, too, but I can tell already that I'm getting to the age where I officially qualify as hard to buy for.  Hmmm, maybe I'll ask for a gift card to Lowe's so I can get my patio stones.  Say, there's an idea!  She can get me my patio stones for Christmas!  OK...

I'm back.  One Lowe's gift card successfully added to my list.  

In the midst of all that, there has been knitting going on as well.  

The yarn is from Whimsical Ewe, and the colorway is As A Mist Creeps In.  It is available on her website, but I bought mine from the last Fiber Fun In The 'Sip.  I love the way it's knitting up, even though the colors in the photo aren't true. 

And finally, I've got buds beginning to open on my Whatever Cacti.  

 It won't be long before I have to bring them inside for the winter.  They're saying by next weekend, we could be down into the 30s.  That fire pit will feel mighty good, then.  

I should probably get some chairs to put around it, huh?  

My New Toy

Before we get into today’s post, I’m sure you will all be pleased to know I found my legal pad. Thanksgiving prep has now begun.  I've gotten my menu written out, checked my pantry, and added what I still need to my shopping list.

It was in a knitting bag, by the way. My legal pad, not my shopping list.  

Speaking of , the plant is going to feed us Thanksgiving dinner next week.  Yeah, they're serving us fried catfish and chicken strips.  

OK, moving right along…I got me a new toy.  

It's an exercise board.  I'd been doing the deep squats at work, but those are tough on my knees, so I've been looking for something else to do that doesn't require leaving the house.  Several years ago, I'd bought one of those Simply Fit boards, like this.

The only problem is that it was so hard to balance on, and it just wasn't as fun as I'd thought it'd be.  I ended up giving it to a coworker, who tried it and said, "I see what you mean."  Shortly after that, I went searching on Amazon and found the one above.  The only thing is, I wish I'd gotten the larger size, because I have to keep my feet too close together and it just feels awkward.  I supposed I'll get the hang of it eventually, but the important part is, I'll be able to work some of my glucose down.   And I can do it while I watch TV.  

In other news, I have a new project as well.  If you've been reading the blog for a while, you'll remember I had a whole series of posts on "bricking".  It was all about me stripping the thick, gloppy paint from the bricks behind my wood stove so I could re-paint them.  

It took a minute, but I finally got it done, then painted the bricks what I had hoped would be a light gray.  I wanted it to look like stones.  Not sure how I thought that was going to work, but it's what I did.  And I do like the color and how it turned out.  The only problem was it made that corner so dark and gloomy.  I didn't really realized how dark and gloomy until I was putting out my fall decorations this year, and found an old photo of the way it looked when the bricks were white and the mantle was green. 

So I decided to try to lighten it up a bit.  I bought some acrylic white and started lightly brushing it over the bricks.   I don't want to go too heavy with the white, because I want the gray undertones to show through.  I've only got this much done, but I'm liking it so far. 

I'm not sure I'm going to do the base, too, or leave it solid gray.  We'll see.   It's all temporary, anyway.  When I am finally able to get my house fixed up, all of this is going to go.  Even the stove.  I want to replace it with something that looks nicer, like one of these:

Not necessarily this exact one, but something like it.  Whichever one I choose will be much more aesthetically pleasing than what I have. 

And finally, when this thing blooms, it's going to be stunning.  

I'll be sure to post a photo, of course. 

Recognizing Wickedness

You remember a few days ago when I posted the meme about how we're waiting on God to heal the land, but he's waiting on us to turn from our wicked ways?  I'm not going to call anyone out specifically, but some of the responses I got on that post really made me wonder.  Those responses are what prompted me to say that people in this country don't even recognize evil any more.  

Then, a couple of days ago, I saw a meme on Facebook where someone was implying Donald Trump is the anti-Christ and a MAGA hat is the mark of the beast.  

Seriously?  When did we get so spiritually stupid in this country?  And fair is fair, I saw the far right making the same claim about Obama when he was president, which just goes to show, it's not political problem, but rather a heart problem.  But still, it raises the question, how can we turn from our wicked ways when so many of us don't even recognize wickedness any more?  

In the light of that, I thought for today's post, we'd have a little fun trying to discern between what is good and what is evil.  I'm going to present some scenarios with two possible responses, and you'll guess which response is the good one, and which is the evil one. 

Ready?  OK..

Scenario 1:  

A political candidate is holding a rally prior to election day.  The candidate is giving an inspiring speech, and the crowd is really getting into it.  Suddenly, from the audience, someone shouts, "Jesus is lord!  Jesus is king!"

Response A:  The candidate replies, "Yes!  Jesus is king!" and the crowd erupts in cheers, which lasts for several minutes before the speech can continue.  

Response B:  The candidate replies, "Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally!" with a laugh, and the crowd erupts in cheers which last for several minutes before the speech can continue.

Scenario 2:  It's almost time to vote for the president, so you decide to attend some political rallies.  You put on a t-shirt supporting your chosen candidate, then go to the rally of the candidate from the opposing party. 

Response A:  Despite your obvious support for the opposition, you are greeted warmly with hand shakes, back slaps, and are made to feel welcome.  The other attendees listen to your viewpoints, then respond with their own.  Most people are friendly, and all are courteous and respectful.  

Response B:  The minute you walk in, the other attendees start screaming insults at you, calling you names and cursing at you.  They tell you to go {bleep} yourself, or to shoot yourself in the head.  You are spit upon, have urine thrown on you, and are told to get out, that you aren't welcome there.  Someone tells you that she hopes your daughters are raped, and someone else says you need to die in a fire.  

Now, in each of the above scenarios, which response do you thing would be the godly one, and which the evil one?  It should be pretty obvious, right?  Yet, you might be surprised to know that half of America thinks those who would reply with Response A would be the evil ones -- even some who attend church regularly.  Because we have become so comfortable with evil, we no longer recognize it.  

But before you get all high and mighty and self-righteous, and start pointing fingers, let's try one last scenario:

A family is visiting the zoo when their young son manages to slip away from his parents and somehow enter the gorilla enclosure, attracting the attention of the big silverback.  Upon whose life do you place the greater value?

A:  The boy

B:  Harambe

Another one that should be quite obvious.

But somehow isn't.