My Christmas

This was a very different Christmas for me.  What with all the family having moved away, and Cody having to work today, it's the first Christmas that I've been alone.  For a brief moment, I thought about skipping Christmas altogether.  I mean, Christmas is all about family, right?  Right?

Wrong.

Family time, lights, decorations, gifts, the warmth, and all that are effects of Christmas, but they're not what Christmas is all about.  So, what is Christmas all about?  I can tell you that, too.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:11

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown, and that's reason enough to celebrate.  That reason is no less valid than it would be if I had a house full of people here with me.  So, though I didn't make as much as I normally do, I did make me some Christmas Eve cookies, and my Uncle Lavergne's peanut butter fudge. 

I was thinking, there are easier recipes out there -- microwave recipes with only a few ingredients, but they aren't my uncle's fudge.   They aren't the fudge of family tradition.

I followed that up this morning with my traditional Christmas morning breakfast of monkey bread and sausage balls. 

After breakfast, and reading through the Bible story, I had lots of presents to open.  This year, I remembered to lay everything out and take a picture of it.

In the interest of full disclosure, these were originally going to be Cody's presents. 

When I found out he had to work today and wouldn't be able to come home, I got online and ordered him some and sent them to his house.  I was planning on taking these back for a refund, but alas, one of my old pairs of flannel pants just happened to blow out in the booty.  How convenient that I just happened to still have two brand new pairs under my Christmas tree.

The shirt is one of those lined with the wool/sheepskin stuff.  I can use it as a jacket.

This is what I bought with the money my mother sent me. 

I have a bucket I've been putting all my change in.  By the time I got it all sorted and rolled, I had $73.  That made a nice little Christmas bonus.

Santa sent me these two:

Back before I got cable, when I only had two channels -- PBS and NBC -- every Saturday night, Cody and I would watch Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By on PBS.  Lawrence Welk came on at 7:00 PM, then those two shows at 8:00, and The Red Green Show at 9:00.  I got the complete series of Keeping Up Appearances several years ago, and this year Santa saw fit to bring me the other show.  Plus new house shoes.

These gifts were from Beverly and James.

They said the blanket is very soft and warm.  Now I'm ready for it to get cold again, so I can use it.  It has been up in the 70s for the last two days. As soon as I picked up the mugs, I could tell by the shape what they were.

I said, "Oh, I hope they say something about Texas," and sure enough, both of them were Texas cups. 

I've been drinking out of the one on the left all day.  I just keep washing it out and reusing it.

These are the gifts my sister and her family sent me.  A new Navy hat, a journal, a fountain pen, and lighthouse prints for my bedroom. 

The journal is really cool.  It's hand made in the medieval style, with even the paper made they way they used to way back when.  I have a feeling that it, like the one Kristine sent me, will never, ever be written in. 

I haven't tried to write with the fountain pen yet, as I need to buy some fountain pen ink.

Finally, from my brother Scott and sister in law Paula, new towels for my bathroom and the Ninth Doctor POP. 

I enjoyed and appreciate all my gifts, but that Funko POP! is the one that made me squeal like a girl.  He's my favorite doctor.  I've been carrying it around all day. 

They came in these really cool gift bags that can be used for knitting projects, so they're almost like gifts themselves.

And finally, when I was in the store buying ingredients for my Christmas dishes, I knew one of them took Italian Seasoning and garlic powder.  I thought to myself, "I think I have some, but let me pick some up just in case."

Apparently, I did that last year, too.

The irony here is, I needed more almond extract, but was sure I had enough, so I didn't get any.  Aaaand I ran out.  Let's just say that one of the cookie recipes got vanilla extract instead.  The good news is, I couldn't really tell a difference in the taste.

And that was my Christmas.  I hope yours was just as blessed as mine was.

Used Book Sites

Used book sites are going to be the death of me!  Well, maybe not of me, but of my checking account for sure.

A few days ago, I suddenly remembered one of my favorite childhood books, about a woman who had a pet alligator named Sam.  The book was called Days And Days Of Darling Sam.

"Hmmm," I thought to myself.  "I wonder if they have that book on Amazon."

Onto Amazon I jumped and sure enough, there was the book in a used book store.  I promptly ordered it.  Then I poked around a bit more and found another one of my childhood favorites, Jeanie Goes Riding. 

It was scheduled to arrive today, and yes, I did the Hyacinth Bucket version of mailman stalking until finally it came.

I was a bit concerned because there was no picture of the book on the website.  The description said it was in good condition, but without a picture, you can't really tell.  However, when the book arrived, it really was in good condition.  It's got some wear, but no more than is to be expected in a 48 year old book.

The story is about a little girl named Jeanie who loves horses.  One day her mother signs her up for riding lessons, and she gets to go riding.  I loved the book as a child.  Reading it as an adult, I thought Jeanie was somewhat of an obnoxious know it all.  Still, it's one of my favorite books, and I'm thrilled to be able to add it to my library.   

Back in the fall, I found clumps of spider lilies popping up all over my yard. 

I'd planned on moving them once the ground softened up enough.  The recent rains we've had have done just that, so this afternoon, I started moving some of them. 

 
I started putting them on the west side of my house.  I haven't figured out where I'm going to put the rest of them, and I've got a LOT of bulbs.  I've got several other clumps that need to be thinned, too.  I may post in the local yard sale groups on FB and see if anyone wants some. 

The good news is, I've made it this far on my new scarf and haven't found any knots yet.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

Jesse

This is Jesse.

Jesse loves his bed.  Sometimes he lets me sleep in it, but it's his bed and he loves it.

What Jesse doesn't love is the day I wash all the bedding.  Now, this is different from just changing the sheets.  That's pretty quick -- just strip the old sheets, put the clean sheets on, pull the comforters and blankets up, then throw the dog blanket on top and we're done.

No, this is not like that.  This is the day I strip all the bedding and wash it.  All the bedding -- blankets comforters, afghan, even the mattress pad.  As you can imagine, it takes pretty much all day to do all that washing.  During this time, Jesse is not allowed on the bed, or even in the bedroom.  He doesn't like this.

He likes it when I'm all done, and all the bedding is back on the bed, and he can finally get back on it. He snuggles down on the bed and breathes a sigh of relief.

Sigh.."I wuv you, bed," he seems to be saying.

In other news, I am finally ready for Christmas.  I mailed the last box along with most of the Christmas cards I'm sending out this year.  Since I was in town anyway, I went by the store and picked up some gumdrops to make my gumdrop cookies.  Since it's just going to be me, I'm not going to make all the stuff I normally make, but I do want to make the gumdrop and snickerdoodle cookies.  I'm still hoping that Cody can get a day off and come home at some point.  If not, I'll just pack some up and send them down there to him.

(BTW, you can find those recipes online.  Just google them.)

While I was in the store, I wandered into the Christmas section to see if I could find something to go in those empty shelves.  I came out with this poinsettia garland.  I got out two old red pillar candles, that I've had forever, and wrapped the garland around it.  Simple, but it looks pretty good.

In the spirit of Christmas, I decided to give this yarn one more chance.

If you'll recall, the first skein I bought was full of knots.  I wasn't even 1/3 of the way through and had already found three knots.  I got frustrated and stuffed it into a bag in the craft room.  I picked up one more skein today, hoping that first one was a fluke.  If this one has knots, I'm done with it.

I hate to say it, but Lion Brand yarn is known for it's poor quality, knotty yarn.  This is their penultimate opportunity, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Finally, it looks like my Christmas cactus is going to be blooming just in time for Christmas.

That's such a relief, especially after I thought I'd killed it.

All Done

I've got some good news and some bad news.  The bad news is I spent a lot of money today.  And I do mean a lot.  Not as much as the day I bought the recliner, but still, it was a lot.

The good news is, I'm done with my Christmas shopping!  The better news is, the plant finally gave us our annual incentive bonus, so I had money with which to do said Christmas shopping.  I still have one box to mail, but I've got something else I need to put into it.  I'll take care of that thing probably tomorrow, because it's supposed to be rainy and icky all day.

In anticipation of said rain, I got out these last couple of days and moved all the twiggy stuff I use to start fires inside the chicken coops. 

Once the rain passes through, it's going to turn cold, so I lugged a pile of wood up closer to the house, and covered it with a garbage bag.  Maybe it'll stay dry enough that I can get a fire going. 

I also filled the inside wood box, but how many pictures of wood do you need to see?
 
For those of you who don't live in the South, let me tell you what winter is like down here.  Tomorrow, that is Saturday, it's supposed to be in the mid 70s.  Day after tomorrow, that is Sunday, it's supposed to get down into the teens.  The TEENS.  It probably won't get quite that cold, but in anticipation of the potential of such frigid weather, I bought a suet cake for my birds.

This one is the high energy cake.  I thought it would help them stay warm. 

I'm a bit bummed that I broke my 3/32 drill bit off in that post when I was putting up the hanger, but the bright side is I finally figured out how to adjust the tension in my drill.  Yes, the drill that I've had since March.  That drill.  I had never really paid attention before, but today I found the ring with all the numbers and the picture of the drill bit on it.  After thinking to myself, "Huh, I wonder what this ring with all the numbers on it is for?  And look, a picture of a drill bit.  I wonder if that's where you're supposed to put it to drill."   I might have known that if I'd read the instruction manual.  But noooo, I had to figure it out the hard way. 

All right, then, moving right along.

Here is something more interesting.  You know how I'm going to decorate Cody's room in a rustic/hunting lodge theme?  I was wandering around Walmart today and wandered over into the bedding department just to see what they had.  I found a couple of possibilities. 

I'm really leaning towards the one on the left with the canoes and pine trees.  I figure if I can find curtains to match the darker green of the canoes in the comforter, it'll really bring that color out.  Then all I'll have to do is finish cleaning that room out and hang a few do dads on the wall, and it'll be done.   Until I can save up enough money to have it completely remodeled, that is.

So, Cody texted me and asked for hints as to what he can get me for Christmas.  I sent him this picture:

And also this one:

Because that's just who I am. 

I Survived

I survived the long, long day of meetings at work.

I call them meetings, but most of them were safety classes -- the same training we had last year, and the year before...complete with the same videos and everything.  We even had the same very expensive out of town motivational speaker that we had last year. 

It was kind of weird having these meetings in the middle of the week.  I'm guessing that has a lot to do with when they could schedule that very expensive out of town motivational speaker.  Still, it feels like a Friday.  As I was walking out the door, one of the HR people told me to have a good weekend.  Then she realized what she'd said, and said, "Oh, no!  It's not even the weekend!"  I hope I remember to get up and go back to work tomorrow. 

Speaking of tomorrow, it's my last day of work for the year!  Woo Hoo!  I had a brief moment of panic when I was looking at the computer printout of my approved vacation days, and saw that next Wednesday, December 21, was not on there.  I was freaking out, thinking I'd missed putting in for that day.  Seriously, I was going to have to go back to work on the last day the plant was working.  It couldn't be!  I was sure I'd put in for that day, and it was handwritten on my work calendar on my refrigerator.

I went and dug out my vacation request forms, and sure enough, December 21 was on there.  Apparently, the HR people had overlooked that day when entering them into their computer.  After my long, long day of safety training and meetings, I took my handwritten form to the HR office and showed them.  They added that day to the computer, so I'm all good to go.  Tomorrow is my last day of work for the year.  And I'm breathing a sigh of relief. 

Ever since those men came and got that old recliner, I've been sitting here looking at these shelves. 

I'm thinking that they need more Christmas decorations, since they are no longer hidden behind that huge chair.  I don't have anything that would work there, though.  I'll have to look when I go to the store next time. 

Yesterday, my mother sent me a check for Christmas.  "Cool,"  I though.  I'll just go get the check she'd sent me last month for my birthday and cash them both next time I go to town.  Only, I couldn't find the check she'd sent me for my birthday last month.  I thought I'd put it on my computer desk.  I absolutely tore up the computer room looking for it.  I finally found it, or so I thought.  "There it is!" I exclaimed as I pulled said check out from behind the printer -- only to discover that it was my check from last year, which I had never cashed.  Sigh, I give up.  I just give up.

For what it's worth, I did finally find this year's birthday check.  It was under a box of old 8mm video cassettes.  How it got there is quite beyond me.  Nevertheless, it has been found and I will cash them tomorrow or Friday.

If I don't lose them again before then. 

Yesterday's Post

What I posted yesterday was not what I had planned on posting yesterday.  Oh, it started off as planned, but after telling you about how I'd thought about taking all my Christmas decorations down, I'd planned on telling you how I ended up putting even more out, though I hadn't planned on that.  Putting more out, I mean. 

I was going to tell you how I went into Cody's room to find some wrapping paper, and found these birch bark candles that I'd had forever, and decided to put them out.  Then I was going to tell you how I went out to the shed to get the pine garland to put around them, and found some picks Beverly gave me last year, and added them to the display.

Then I was going to tell you how I wrapped the other thing of pine garland around the bowl of balls and book on the bottom shelf, and added a few picks to that.  And I was going to tell you how, when I took the box of garland that I wasn't putting out this year back out to the shed, I found a box of small glass balls, and thought they'd work well in this vase.  

 I was going to tell you how I put the small balls in the vase and took the gold garland that was in the vase and wrapped it around the bottom, and it looks pretty good.  Then I decided Santa needed something, so I gave him a carpet of garland, too. 

I was going to wrap it all up by telling you that I'd gone that far, so I might as well go all the way, and put up my wreath and stockings.

And this wreath and these stockings.

I'd thought about mentioning that I'd made those stockings when I was a little girl and had given them to my Mammaw, and after she died, I got them back and have put them out every year since I got my own home.  Finally, I'd planned on telling you that I wanted to put up Santa and the two elves, but haven't figured out where to put them yet. 

That was what I'd planned on posting yesterday, but things didn't quite work out that way.  Once I got to writing, the post took on a life of its own.  Sometimes, when the words flow, all you can do is ride that river all the way to the ocean. 

If you're a writer, you know what I'm talking about.  

Now, for today's news.  The big green chair is no longer in my living room.

I was going to put it out for the trash men to pick up, but someone posted on the local free-bees group about wanting a recliner.  I offered her mine, and this evening, she sent her sons to pick it up.  It's amazing how much bigger my living room looks without it.

The bad news is, Rylea isn't speaking to me right now. 

Can't win them all.

Weekend Wrapup

Admittedly, this was not a good weekend for me.  My Naval Academy Midshipmen lost, ending a 14 game winning streak against Army.  My Dallas Cowboys lost, ending an 11 game winning streak against...everybody except the New York Giants.

I found out Cody will not be able to come home for Christmas.  He has to work Christmas Day.  I'm a little bummed about that.  This will be the first Christmas, really ever, that I've been completely alone.  I started to say, "Well, what's the point then?" and take all my decorations down and put them away. 

But I didn't. Instead, I looked at my little journal

that my friend Kristine sent me out of the blue (which arrived the same day I found out Cody couldn't come home) and realized, I'm not really alone.  I've got people halfway across the country who are thinking of me, and caring enough to send me stuff.  It may seem like a little thing to some of you, but it means the world to me.

Then I put on one of my favorite Christmas songs, and approached the hallowed manger ground.



It was there I realized that whether I have a house full of people, or it's just me and the dogs; whether I have hundreds of presents, or none at all, Christmas is still Christmas.  Because of a baby born in a manger so long ago, I'm never truly alone.  So, JOY to the world, the Lord is come!




That's what Christmas is all about. 

Friday Miscellany

It was cold this morning.  Real cold.

Of course, I knew it was going to be cold, because I'm my father's daughter.  My dad was the original weatherholic. 

It's been chilly all week, and with the recent rains, I've had a hard time finding enough dry wood to start a fire.  Tuesday, I worked up such a sweat trying to start a fire with damp wood that by the time I got said fire going, I didn't need it any more.  I decided then and there that I was going to move my wood pile, which is currently behind the fence

into the old chicken coops behind my shed.

That's pretty much what I've been doing after work this week.  I get home and move wood until dark  -- which comes mighty early this time of year -- then take a shower and go to bed.  Except Thursday.  Since I knew I wouldn't want to get out in the cold today, I went on to the store straight after work.  It took me forever to get out of there, because I kept running into people I knew and stopping to talk.  But I eventually did make it home, and was able to move a bit of wood up to the house before it got too dark. 

I also started cutting up and moving some of the green wood from the tree I just had cut down into one of the coops. 

I'm putting it into its own separate coop, because it needs to age a bit before I can burn it.  It'll be ready by next winter.  You know what?  Cutting, splitting, and stacking wood is hard work.  I can't imagine depending on that to be my only source of heat.  Our ancestors were definitely tougher than we are.

There is something I discovered moving wood all week, though.  I thought there were four coops back there, but in reality, there are five.  Not that that is important or anything.  I just thought I'd throw it out there.  I also discovered that the previous owner had not, in fact, cleaned out all the coops like I thought.  They'd cleaned out two, but the other three are pretty deep in chicken...um, fertilizer.  Yeah, let's call it that.  I'm going to scrape it all up and work it into my flower beds next spring.  They ought to like that. 

Speaking of flowers, I think the ground is soft enough to start moving my spider lily bulbs.  When this current cold spell passes, I'll do just that. 

I think I've done just about all the Christmas decorating I'm going to do this year.  I got a little stuck on this vase.  I usually put fake flowers -- poinsettias and holly-- in it, but I wanted to try something different.  I put a bit of garland in it, but I thought it was a bit too dark.

I thought it would look nice with some shiny glass balls in it, but they just didn't look right.  Maybe it's because of the vase's shape.  I ended up just sticking some gold garland in the vase

and put the balls into a bowl. 

By the way, that book is the same one my mother used to read to us when we were kids.  I mean, not the same book, but the same edition.  I found it online in a used book store. 

It was so nice to find a piece of my childhood. 

How Did I Get So Lucky?

I got home after a long and arduous day at work to find a package on my step.  I was a bit confused, because I hadn't ordered anything.  Well, I had ordered some Christmas presents, but I knew this wasn't them.  The package wasn't big enough.

Curious, I opened it and saw, it was my journal! The nautical one with the leather lacing and ship's wheel tie!

With refillable pages and an anchor bookmark thing! 

And the compass rose on the cover! 

The one I'd wanted for so long and finally ord.....wait, I didn't order this.  Did I? Racking my brain, I tried to remember.  No, I didn't remember ordering this journal.  Where did it come from? 

There in the very bottom of the package was the clue.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  How in the world did I get so lucky to have such good friends? 

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.

Another Unexpected Day

There I was at work, just a working away, when one of my coworkers said to me, "Did you know the [Vitally Important Machine] was down?"  No, I didn't.  I hadn't really been paying that much attention to it. 

"It is," my coworker said, "It hasn't made a single [Vitally Important Part] all day."  I looked, and sure enough, there were no [Vitally Important Parts] on the [Vitally Important Part] line.  "Huh,"  I said, and went back to work, sure that they would get the [Vitally Important Machine] fixed soon.

About 9:15, I heard a commotion down the line, and people started shouting "We're going home!" and stampeding towards the door, trampling fellow coworkers in their haste to get out of the plant before the bosses changed their minds.  Sure enough, here came Group Leader Theresa who said, "Clock out and go home."  After tidying up my area a bit, that's exactly what I did.

And what did I do with my unexpected day off?  My first thought was to run to the store and get That Thing I Desperately Needed, even though I couldn't remember what exactly it was that I desperately needed...I figured I'd remember when I got there and wandered up and down the aisles, buying things I didn't need at all.  Or I wouldn't, and would forget to get it again, only to remember as soon as I got home.  Alas, when I walked out of the plant, it was cold and raining.  Still. Raining.

I decided then and there that I didn't really need That Thing I Desperately Needed after all, and came on home.

Wonder of wonders, after three straight days of steady rain, I managed to scrape up enough dry wood to start a little fire in my stove and take the chill off the house.  The plan was to knit and watch Christmas movies all day.  However, as I was sitting there trying to decide what to watch, I heard a thump, and a bang, and the grumble of a large truck pulling away from my house.

I looked out the door and the book shelf I'd ordered for my bedroom had arrived!  I wrestled the box that was bigger than myself into the house and began putting it together. 

This was a really nice surprise.  All the hardware and stuff was in this thing, and each part was in its own separate bubble.  Not only that, they were all labeled as to what they were!

Yay!  No more guessing if this was the right screw, or that was the right bolt.  Everything was clearly labeled.  Not only that, the instructions were well written, and by someone with a sense of humor. 
  

I was in the bedroom, putting the shelf together, and thought I just might need to take a break.  Just then, I read the next instruction.

So, I kept on working.  By then, though, my stomach was really growling.  "It must be near lunch time," I thought.  I went into the kitchen and looked at the clock and it was after 1:00.  "Why can't time go this fast when I'm at work?" I said to no one in general.

After getting a quick bite to eat, I finished my bookshelf and began moving books onto it. 

I think it blends with my bedroom really well.  I started to say it blends with my bedroom decor, but as I have no decor yet, I can't really say that.  That's the next step, though.  Decorating, crown moulding, baseboards, and closet doors.

It'll all have to wait until after Christmas, though, when the overtime starts back up again. 

Success!

The first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning was, "How am I going to go get my mattress and box spring?"  I'd thought about renting a truck, like a U-haul or something, then I told myself I was being silly. 

"Just ask a friend,"  I told myself.

I was going to ask my friend Lirio, but I just happened to catch my across the street neighbor at his mailbox.  He said he wasn't busy, and would be glad to drive me down there to pick up my stuff.  We drove all the way in to town, to the store, and nobody was there. 

I was confused.  It was well after 9:00, when they told me they would be open.  We waited a few minutes to see if someone would come, then drove back home.  Since I was up and dressed, I went ahead and did my pay day errands and grocery shopping.  When I got home, I called the store to see if there was someone there.  There was, so I went and got Mr. Clark, and after apologizing for being a bother, and him telling me it wasn't a bother, back into town we went. 

There were three ladies in the store, and they were very apologetic about how long it had taken.  I had been all prepared to be the angry customer, but something one of them said stopped me in my tracks.  She said, "He (meaning the store owner) left a lot of things undone when he left."  That implied to me that he just took off and left them to tie up all his loose ends.  Immediately, my anger died, and I felt empathy for the women.  He'd left them in a mess, and they were just trying to do the best they could. 

They apologized again.  I thanked them again.  We got the stuff loaded into Mr. Clark's truck and home we came.  The mattress and box spring are now safely in Cody's room. 

Now, I don't remember what brand/style of mattress that I'd originally ordered, but what I made it home with is a Beautyrest Cherrydale.  Once it got it and the box spring on the bed frame, I lay down on it for a few minutes and didn't want to get back up.  It is very comfortable.

 But I did get up, and put the sheets I'd bought on it.  Cody won't want to sleep under this comforter, but he'll get over it. 

It's only temporary anyway, until I figure out what theme I want to decorate this room in.  I'm thinking hunting lodge type of theme -- cabin in the woods, deer, rustic look, and all that.

Now, I need to start cleaning the room out.  The two bookshelves along the wall will be moved out, and will eventually make their way into the snake/craft/computer room.  The headboard obviously doesn't go with this bed.

It goes with Cody's queen sized bed, and as soon as he takes it with him, I'll find a full size head board to replace it with. 

That'll come a bit down the road, though.  Next project, strip all that paint off of the bricks behind my wood burner, then get them painted the color I want and get the mantle put back up.  But for the rest of this weekend, I'm going to watch Christmas movies and knit. 

And that's about it.

Anybody Got A Truck?

It's finally December!  I've been waiting and waiting, and today I finally wore my new Christmas jewelry. 

I know it's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but they're little bows -- the kind you put on presents.   I got them from Avon.   I don't order from Avon that often, because when I do, I feel like I need to order enough to justify paying shipping charges.  This time, I actually remembered to request a new book with my order.  You'd think they'd include one anyway, but no...you have to ask for one.

So, it's December 1st.  Way back in October, I'd gone to a local furniture store's going out of business sale.  That's when I'd bought my new recliner.  I'd also ordered a new mattress and box spring for Cody's bedroom, since he took his own bed down to his new apartment.  

While I was there, talking to the clerk, I specifically asked, "Do you deliver?"  Oh, yes, that's no problem.  We can deliver.  When the store owner came to quote me a sale price, the clerk told him, "She's going to need a delivery."  Oh, that's fine.  We can do that.  Absolutely. 

 I ordered the mattress and box spring.  He said it would take two to three weeks to arrive.  Two to three weeks went by and no mattress.  I called him, and he said, "Any day now."  Two to three more weeks went by, and I was getting aggravated.  I gathered up all my paperwork, and after work today, I was going to go down there and make him look me in the eye and explain to me why I still didn't have the stuff I'd ordered two months ago. 

As luck would have it, they called me instead.  On my break, I called them back, and the person I talked to said that the mattress I'd ordered never came, so they were going to give me one they had on hand.  It was a slightly more expensive set, but they'd give it to me at the same price.  Ok, great.  I told her, "I'm going to need that delivered." 

The lady said, "Oh, we don't do deliveries." 

Um, that's not what I was told when I ordered said mattress, and I told her so.  I said, "When I ordered the mattress, I specifically asked if they would deliver it and they said they could."  She said the person who told me that no longer works there, and they didn't have any way to deliver it.  If I'd know they wouldn't really deliver it, I wouldn't have ordered the dumb mattress.  I told the lady, "It's a good thing you're going out of business anyway, because this is not good business practice."  And I hung up on her.

Now I've got to find someone with a truck I can borrow to go get my mattress set.  Sigh, I do so hate to be a bother to people. 
  
It's a good thing we'd gotten so far ahead at work, because I was so mad, I didn't do much for the rest of the day.  I did come home and get that old bed frame down and put together.  Eh, it'll do, but someday, I'm going to get a new, better one.  And I need to buy some sheets and things. 

Finally, I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have eaten what appears to be an entire box of Merry Minty Ho Hos.

 And that's all I have to say about that.