Yesterday's Post

This is the post I'd meant to publish yesterday, but didn't. My old computer has gotten to the point where the screen is starting to flash.  I'm not really sure what that means, but what I think it means is that the old girl is almost gone.  I decided to just shut it down for good, and buy a new one.

So, what was I going to tell you yesterday?  Seems we have started a new tradition in our house, in which Cody makes gumbo for Christmas dinner.  The other day, I was going into town, and I messaged him and asked what all he needed me to pick up for him.   This is the list he sent:

I went to the one grocery store in town I thought might have squirrels.  It's a locally owned store called Grocery Basket.  They carry locally grown chickens, and locally caught fish.  I thought if anyone would have squirrel, they would.  Alas, no squirrel, however I did find an extra bag of shrimp in the back of the freezer.  Between the turkey left over from Thanksgiving, the sausage I bought, and that shrimp, the gumbo ought to have plenty of meat.

By the way, I got some more mysterious boxes delivered to my house.  I shook them, and none of them sounded like vitamins, so they're going to get wrapped and put under the tree.  After that, I'm going to finish my peanut butter fudge, and maybe do at least my gumdrop cookies.  Or chocolate chip.  They're quick and easy.

Before I leave you for the day, here are the rest of the little building models up in the town square.

Somebody sure put a lot of work into making them.

Monday, Monday

If the best feeling in the world is knowing you don't have to set your alarm for the next morning, then the worst must surely be turning it back on after a long weekend.

Yep, that happened this morning.  I had to go back to work, and was so not ready for it.  As if to add insult to injury, I walked in to utter chaos.  Not only was there nothing ready for the lines to run, but there weren't even any parts for us to braze up for them.  We had to scramble for the first couple hours, until tubing got us some parts down the line. Needless to say, I'm a bit tuckered.  So, this'll be brief.  

After work, I had to run into town to pay a bill, so I took the long way home, and went out and checked the lake.  The water is still high, but not as high as it has been, and the sluice gates appear to be wide open.  The outlet channel is much higher than normal, but at least, the water level is finally headed in the right direction, and that's a good thing.  

Another good thing, all the cotton fields around here have been planted.   Some weren't planted until nearly the end of June -- almost two months late, but at least they're planted.  Down in the Delta, some farmers didn't even bother to plant this year, and that's not good.  Some of the first fields are starting to flower.  I'll bet some of you didn't know cotton has flowers, did you?  Hang on, let me see if I still have a picture of one...

Yes!  I found an old picture I'd taken several years ago.

Purty, ain't it?  They can range from white, to almost red,

or anywhere in between.  These were some pictures I'd taken back when I used to walk my dogs down a dirt road between two cotton fields.  Now, the city has bought that land, and built a factory on it.  A factory which sits empty, because they can't find anyone to least it, and can't seem to figure out why.  *Ahem* Infrastructure *Ahem* Eh, what do I know?  I'm just a tax paying peon.

But hey, we're getting a new sports complex!

I finally arrived home to find this waiting for me.

My first letter from my English pen pal!  I've found several who have said they'd write, but this is the first person who actually did.  I haven't read it yet.  I'm going to wait until I get off here, and ready for bed.  Then I'll snuggle down under the covers and savor it.  Maybe I'll make a mug of decaf Earl Gray tea to go with it.  

I had the weirdest dream last night.  No, you?  Weird dreams?  Surely not.  

Hush up.

There was this lady that used to work out at the plant years go.  She was determined to get me married off.  She even said so.  "Becky, I'm determined to get you married off," she said.  Well, last night, in my dream, she had fixed me up with a blind date.  When we got to where I was supposed to meet the guy (she'd come with me -- or maybe she'd picked me up and dragged me to meet him, which seems more likely), guess who it was?  It was one of my white headed shanty men.

As soon as I saw him, I panicked and ran out of the room.  Or wherever we were.  She came out and was trying to convince me to come back in, and that's where I woke up.

Finally, my son sometimes posts the most hilarious things on Facebook.  

By the way, I have actually shot a machine gun.  An M-60 to be exact, back when I was in the Navy.  It was totally cool.  And fun.  And I'd do it again.  In a heartbeat.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go dream of machine guns and sea chanties.

Goodnight. 

A Lot Of Hours

You know you work a lot of hours when you refer to a 10 hour shift as "a short day."  We're only working 8 hours tomorrow.  I don't know what I'm going to do with myself getting off at noon.  I went on and did my shopping today, so I can come straight home and watch the Kentucky Derby -- and the 27 hours of extremely dull pre-race show they'll have on.  Or maybe I'll just skip that part and tune in closer to post time.

Alas, I don't have a derby hat, so I'll just have to do without.  Every year, I say I'm going to get one for next year, but then I never do.

Now for some bad news.  New Supervisor -- you know, the one we all liked -- has been moved to second shift for good.  Bummer.  The one we have now loves to move people around, and sees the sub- brazing department as nothing more than an extra floater pool.  One day, she moved 3 brazers out to the lines, even though we had two people out already.  That made us five brazers short that day.  Group Leader was not happy about that.

 Anyway, today, she sent me to help out on line 1.  Guess who followed me over there?  If you said my Stalker, give yourself a cookie.  Parked himself right behind me until Supervisor moved me back to sub-brazing, and put a more experienced aluminum brazer over there.  She said I was burning too much stuff up.  I tried to tell her I'd never gotten the hang of aluminum brazing.  I guess she thought I was joking.  Beats the heck out of me why they don't just train people to do those jobs rather than moving us all the time.

Let's move on to a few bits of good news.

First, I'm sleeping better since I turned on my central air.  I know my electric bill might make me choke, since I'm used to these low winter time bills, but still.  Sleep is everything.  Because when you sleep, you dream, and sometimes when you dream, you dream of your imaginary boyfriend -- or at least a contender to become your new imaginary boyfriend, since you can't even seem to make imaginary commitments.  Sigh...something about a bunch of fish in a wooden barrel of full of ice.  Don't ask.  Even I don't know.

Better news, Cody messaged me and asked if I had an extra Jayne hat.  He said his roommate saw his and thought it was cool.  Now he wants one for himself.  I replied in the affirmative, and he said he'll come down his next weekend off and get it.  I don't know when that'll be, because he's working a lot of overtime now, too.

I then mentioned I'm thinking about taking up my guitar again, and the following conversation ensued:

I asked if he had a tuner, and he said there are decent apps out there, so that'll be my project for the weekend:  tuning my guitar and figuring out how to get the spiders out.  They're tiny spiders, but they still have 16 knees.  Each.  And that's just creepy.

Lastly, I was in Walmart, and I went down the yarn aisle.  My old washcloths are starting to get a bit bedraggled, and I need to knit some new ones.  I just happened to find these two colors, which perfectly match my bathroom.

I just might take a break from charity hat knitting to get that done.

One thing about getting off at 2:00 instead of 4:00, I feel like it's about 9:30.  It's 6:45 PM Central time, as I type this.  But I feel like I should have been in bed two hours ago.  The good thing about that is, I might actually get some reading done before I fall asleep with the book on my face.

Heh...

I'm Not So Sure

I'd originally said I was going to take myself a long weekend, because I have vacation tomorrow.  Company policy says if you take Thursday, you get Friday and Saturday off as well.  But now that they've posted the plant is working both Friday and Saturday, I'm not so sure.  I mean, 12 hours Friday and 8 more Saturday.  That's a lot of overtime to be turning down.  Well, I still have all day tomorrow to decide.

Speaking of, it's supposed to rain.  Again.  The good news is the worst of the weather is supposed to pass well to the South of where I am.  The bad news is, my friend Amy will be right in the thick of it.  I'd planned on getting my flower beds planted, but it looks like I'll just sit inside, knit, and catch up on my DVR'd shows.  And debate whether to work Friday and Saturday.

OK, then...

Back in the day, I had a regular feature on my blog called Conversations With Cody.  This was, as the name suggests, conversations with my son.  You can click the link at the bottom of this post, or on the label link in the right sidebar to read some of these. 

The feature kind of fell by the wayside once he grew up and left home, but I think I might bring it back from time to time.  Starting with this one: 

He is my child after all!

Conversations With Cody

Mom, there's a big ol' brown recluse in the sink.  Do you have something to squish it with?

There's a flyswatter in the laundry room.

*I go get him the flyswatter and he walks back to the bathroom.

It's gone now.  It must have crawled off.

*I go look and it's still there.

No, it hasn't.  It's right there.  

*He looks, shudders, backs away, and hands me the flyswatter.

You're the man.  You're supposed to kill it. 

Yeah, but I'm also the arachnophobe.

*I kill the spider and wash its body down the sink.

You know, one day you're going to want to get married and your wife will expect you to kill the spiders.  

Um, that'll be her job. 

*laughing*  Yeah, good luck with that. 

Out Of The Mouths of Babes

Back when Cody was little, I worked the evening shift.  Not that that's important.  I just thought I'd throw it out there.

Anyway, money was kind of tight back then, so when I'd make my weekly resupply run to Wal-mart, about half way through the trip, I'd start putting things back.

"We don't really need this."  And back onto the shelf it would go.

"We've got enough of this to last a little longer." And back onto the shelf it would go.

"This is too expensive."  And back onto...well, you get the idea.

Along about the time Cody was three, in their toy department, Wal-mart got this box of bugs.  That's what they called it,  A Box Of Bugs.  It had about 20 or 30 plastic bugs of all different types. 

Very realistic looking bugs, too. 

Oddly enough, not long after he got it, the two spiders mysteriously disappeared.  I don't know what happened to those things.  I don't.  Really, I don't.

I'm pleading the 5th. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back to my story...

Cody wanted that box of bugs, but I just didn't think I could swing it.  Like I said, money was real tight.  He was good about it, though.  Never whined or pitched a fit.  But I knew he wanted that box of bugs.

Spring came along, and with it, the overtime started up again.  My very first overtime check that year, I decided I was going to buy that boy that box of bugs.  I knew how badly he wanted it, and I had a little money to spare.  Not much, but enough.  So we went and got that box of bugs. 

Cody was thrilled.  He was sitting in the little front seat of the buggy, because he was still small enough to sit in the little front seat of the buggy back then, so excited that he finally was getting that box of bugs.  About half way through our shopping trip, Cody suddenly said, "We have to put this back."

"Why?"  I asked.  "I thought you wanted that box of bugs."

"I do want it," Cody said, "But we have to put it back." 

"Why do we have to put it back?"  I asked.

And my little man shook his head sadly and answered,


"It's too expensive." 



You know, the federal government could learn a few lessons from that boy of mine.

Conversations With Cody--The Preschool Years

Mama!  All your food was dropping on my head!

What are you talking about?

When I was in your stomach, every time you ate, all your food would drop on my head. 

For Those Who Missed it....

I don't normally have guest posts on my blog, but sometimes a mama just has to brag.  Here is what I copped from my 17 year old's Facebook wall: 

For Those Who Missed it....

by Cody Anglea on Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 1:02pm

So last Wednesday night I preached my first message, and I've had a few people who weren't able to make it ask me what it was, so here it is:

Who’s Bread are YOU Eating?

            How about that bread?  Bread is everywhere we look.  We use it to make sandwiches, hamburgers, a different kind of bread is used to make crusts and pasta.  Bread is one of the most common food items in the world.  Bread was also a major teaching illustration used by Jesus.  He frequently referenced the “bread of life.”  So who’s bread are YOU eating?

“14 And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.  15 And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out!  Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”  16 They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.  17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?  Do you not yet see or understand?  Do you have a hardened heart?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember, 19 when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?  They said to Him, “Twelve.”  20 “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?”  And they said to Him, “Seven.”  21 And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?” – Mark 8:14-21 NAS

Bread:

“And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.  And He was giving orders to them, saying, ‘Watch out!  Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’”

       While the disciples are talking about having only one loaf of bread with them, Jesus warns them against the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Herod.  They assume that He’s talking about their lack of bread, but He purposely uses the word “leaven” while they’ve been talking about “bread.”  Leaven is like yeast – it is put into bread to make it rise while it bakes.  In His metaphor, Jesus is talking about leaven as a teaching or ideal that can grow in someone.  He tells them to be careful about letting the example of the Pharisees and Herod grow in them.  The Pharisees were very religious, but they completely missed the point; they focused on the traditions and rules of Judaism instead of the glory of God.  They were so wrapped up in following their religious law, that they forgot the commandments of God and what their religion was supposed to be all about.  They focused on disproving Jesus to be who He is.  Mark 8:11-12 reads, “The Pharisees came and began to argue with Him, asking Him for a sign from Heaven to test Him.  And He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign?  Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”  The Pharisees weren’t satisfied with the miracles that Jesus had performed, and demanded that He give them a supernatural sign of who He was, but they contradicted their own teachings by doing so.  He had performed the miracles that had been outlined by the prophets perfectly, but they refused to accept them.
            Jesus also warns them of the leaven of Herod.   Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great and represented the laws of a government that was against Jesus.  His family claimed to be Jewish, but rode the fence between Judaism and the Roman society.  Much in the same manner as modern society, the governments of the day rejected Jesus and His teachings.

Blindness/Deafness:

“They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.  And Jesus, aware of this said to them, ‘Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?  Do you not yet see or understand?  Do you have a hardened heart?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?’  They said to Him, ‘Twelve.’  ‘When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?’  And they said to Him, ‘Seven.’ And He was saying to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’”

The disciples hear Jesus mention leaven, and mistakenly think that He is talking about their lack of bread, but He is not.  They seem to forget the two very recent miracles they just watched Him perform in which he fed two separate multitudes.  In the first instance, He takes five loaves of bread and two fish and feeds five thousand men.  This crowd was mostly Jewish and He takes compassion on them saying “They were like sheep without a shepherd.”  From the five loaves, He feeds the five thousand men AND their families and still has enough left over to fill 12 baskets.  The second time He takes seven loaves of bread and a few small fish and feeds four thousand men and their families.  This time the crowd is made up of mostly Gentiles, and the disciples are reluctant to help them at first – Jesus refers to this when He asks if they have a hardened heart.  In their reluctance to help people purely because they’re not Jewish, the disciples have taken on the example of the Pharisees.  Jesus takes compassion on the second crowd because they have come from a great distance and have stayed with Him for three days because they value the teachings and healings He gives more than even food.  Jesus is also careful to mention that after this event they fill seven LARGE baskets with left-overs.  These baskets were likely carried by the disciples and are much larger than the baskets in the first miracle.  They could be compared as large sacks to picnic baskets.

The disciples are worried about having only one loaf of bread with them, but they’ve become blind to who they’re with.  They don’t realize that with Jesus one loaf is MORE than enough.  He points this out to them, but we can also take this as Him asking us how we can still doubt Him after He has given us so much proof that He is who He says He is.  We are like the Pharisees, looking for a special sign so we can know that He speaks the truth, but He’s already proven Himself to us.  We’ve become blind to the fact of who He REALLY is.  So who is He?

Who He Really Is:

“And Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’  And they told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’  And He continued by questioning them, ’But who do you say that I am?’  Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Thou art the Christ.’” – Mark 8:27-29 NAS

            Jesus came to Earth as the “Messiah,” or a “SAVIOR or LIBERATOR.”  By His death, He DEFEATED Death and FREED us from sin.  These are words of power that describe a God with power far beyond anything we can comprehend.  This is a God who SPOKE the universe into existence and breathed life into man.  He turned water into wine, healed the blind, fed thousands with one boy’s lunch, and raised the dead from life.  So why do we doubt Him?  We are like His disciples – we are worried that we aren’t enough and that we won’t last, but we forget what Jesus can do with one loaf of bread.  Five loaves fed five thousand men and their families; seven fed four thousand and their families.  Each time there was a huge amount left over.  Jesus can turn one disciple into many.  He started out with just 12 disciples (one of whom betrayed Him and later hung himself) that turned into millions of professing Christians today, but we still doubt that He can use us.  He can.  So my question to you is: Are Our Eyes Open to Who God Is?

Just a Quickie

I watched the new Star Trek movie tonight, and --though I think the word is overused in this pop culture, I have to say it, just this once. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!

Still working long hours, so I need to head on to bed.

I got one Christmas present done, and I'll try to get a photo up of it soon. The recipient doesn't read this blog. In fact, I don't think he even knows it exists. Then again, I have made mention of it, so he probably knows it's here, but doesn't know how to get here. All that to say, expect hat photos soon. When I was picking out the yarn for it, Cody said he needed a new hat, too. So I got enough to do him one, as well. I cast on for it this evening.

Conversations with Cody:

Me: I slept all night last night.

Cody: Stranger things have happened.

Never a dull moment with that one...

Conversations With Cody

So, last Friday, as I was getting ready to go to the store, Cody says to me, he says, "Mom, is it OK if I use that credit card you gave me to buy you a birthday present?"

Hey, it's progress. Even if I am the one paying the bill.

Conversations With Cody

Me: You need to hurry up and take out the trash so I can go take a bath.

Cody: That makes absolutely no sense at all.

Me: I'll watch the puppy while you're taking out the trash, then when you get back, you can watch him while I take a bath.

Cody: Well, when you put it that way...

Show Me

good Lord! Is it October already? Well, here goes...

My bedroom calendar, only with my brother and sister in law instead of my adorable nephew Joshua:

My kitchen calendar:

My living room calendar, featuring Early Doucet, who now plays with the Arizona Cardinals:

And my office calendar, featuring the incomparable DeMarcus Ware:

And in the mail today, I got TWO, yes two issues of my Star magazine. One was last week's issue that just got here.

So, it was time to order more snake food. The best thing about ordering frozen mice is the dry ice. Did you know that if you put a drop of water on dry ice, you can watch it freeze solid before your very eyes? Cool, huh?

Then, of course, there is the fog.

Whispy tendrils creeping out of the sink and across the kitchen floor.

A sink full of fog...

And before you get all mother hen on me, yes, I know dry ice is dangerous. I know not to touch it. Even Cody knows that.

Speaking of Cody, earlier this week he said to me, he says, "Mom, if I tell you something tonight, will you remember it tomorrow?"

What can I say? The kid knows his mother.

Conversations With Cody--The Preschool Years

Cody was just about to turn three, and we were headed into town one morning. Cody started screaming and squealing.

"Turn the sun off!" he screamed.

"Honey, I can't turn the sun off."

"But it's getting in my eyes."

"I'm sorry, I can't do anything about that. You'll just have to put your head down until we get to where we are going."

"I can't put my head down," Cody wailed.

"Why not?"

"Because it's stuck to my neck!"

.

Going To Grandma's

Cody is off again in the morning, this time to spend a week at his grandma's. He's not going to get to stay as long as he did last year, but at least he's getting to go. For a while, there it didn't look like he'd be able to go at all, but things have worked out that he can.

It reminded me, though, of a time back when Cody was little. We were going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving. Cody was really too young to have any concept of time and distance. It is roughly an 8 hour drive from here to there--or it was back then, because we made more stops, Cody being so little and all.

Early that morning, we got into our car and headed out on the road to go to Grandma's. After about 2 hours, we stopped at a rest stop to stretch our legs and so Cody could run off some energy.

"I thought we were going to Grandma's," he said.

"We are," I replied. "I just needed to stretch my legs a bit."

After a few minutes, we got back into the car and drove a couple more hours, then we stopped to eat. "But when are we going to Grandma's," Cody asked.

"We are going to Grandma's, right now." I said. So we ate, got back into our car, and drove a couple more hours. Final stop of the day--Lafayette, LA, to get gas. I filled up the gas tank, used the *ahem* facilities, and we got back into the car.

As I was buckling Cody back into his car seat, he leaned over, put his hand on my arm, and said with all the seriousness a three year old can muster,

"Now, let's go to Grandma's."

.

Conversations With Cody

I'm going to go try on my suit, now.





How do I look?

You look good. It still fits, too. It may be a little snug around the middle though. Well, it'll be fine for one night.

I'll just leave my jacket unbuttoned.

Not if you're going to wear a tie. You need to button it.

Brother Bob [our pastor] wears a tie and he leaves his jacket unbuttoned.

You're not Brother Bob. You're my son and I'm telling you to button your jacket.

I would think you would want your son following the example of his preacher!

.

Conversations With Cody

Me: Katie is my dog now.

Cody: Why do you say that?

Me: Because you won't take care of her. You won't feed her. You won't even get up to let her in the house.

Cody: Well, technically, she's your dog anyway because I'm not old enough to legally own anything.

.

Conversations With Cody--The Elementary Years

Cody was 7. I'd sent him to cut his fingernails. He went into the bathroom, and in a few minutes came back out into the kitchen where I was. He had an emery board.

"Mama," he said. "I got them cut, but I don't know how to sand them. Will you sand my fingernails for me?"

.

Conversations With Cody

So, Cody was laying on the couch reading Sports Illustrated's football player rankings for the 2008 season, based on their stats for the 2007 season. He came to the quarterback listings, and as expected, Tom Brady was #1. But #2 was not Peyton Manning, as you might think. It was our own Tony Romo.

Cody was reading his stats, and said, "Man, Tony Romo was on fire last year. "

"Well, yeah!" I said. "What? Did you think I only liked him because he's cute?"

"Well, yeah!." Cody replied. "That, and he does play for the Dallas Cowboys."

Conversations With Cody

The Preschool Years

I was working the 3-11 PM shift back then, when Cody was 3. I dropped him off at his babysitters house, where her teenage daughter was doing her geometry homework. Cody picked up a plastic shape and proudly declared,

"Triangle!"

Never one to pass up a teaching moment, I replied, "Yes, that's right. That's a triangle. Do you know what makes it a triangle?"

Cody, without hesitation, confidently answered, "God."

"Well, I don't suppose I could argue with that."

.

Conversations With Cody

"Mom, what does PhD stand for?"

"Piled Higher and Deeper."

"Huh?"

"Well you get your B.S first. You know what B.S stands for."

"Yeah. Bull shhhhhh."

"Then you get your M.S. which means More of the Same. And finally, your PhD--Piled Higher and Deeper."

"That's funny! ....

I didn't know you could tell a joke."
.
.