Busy Friday

I woke up way too early this morning.  I guess my body forgot I had a day off.  After laying in bed until 6ish, I realized that sleep wasn't going to return to me.  I got out of bed and started a little fire in my wood heater.  As I sat there with my coffee, waking up and warming up, I thought about all I needed to accomplish today and realized I needed music.  Lots of music. 

I remembered I'd had a really good Christmas playlist on my old Sony MP3 player.  Miracle of miracles, I actually found said Walkman.  I spent about half an hour trying to figure out how to upload my playlist from said Walkman to my computer, but never did get it to work.  I finally plugged my speakers into my MP3 player and just played my music from there. 

Back when I was a kid, I absolutely hated this song.  We sang it in church every year, and I groaned every year when we had to sing it.  That was before I heard this version:



This is still the only version I really like, but I no longer totally hate the normal Baptist Hymnal version, either. 

Once I got my music cranking, I put up the rest of my Christmas decorations.  Well, not all of them, but all that I'm going to put out this year.

I got some fake snow for my village on my mantle. 

I tried to put some boxes under the fake snow to make it look hilly, but the buildings just weren't setting right.  I took them back out, and left the village setting on flat land. 

I put out a few more doo dads.

But I think that's all I'm going to do this year.

I figure by next year, I'll have all my furniture in place and I'll be more settled in the house.  I'll know better where I want to put things.  I still want to do something to the front of my house, though, even if it's just stringing lights across the eaves. 

In the midst of all that decorating,  I started my baking.  Today I made cinnamon bread and banana bread.  At one point during the proceedings, I was really wishing I'd bought more than two mini loaf pans.  Not wishing hard enough to get dressed and go into town, mind you, but wishing nonetheless.  Still, I made do with the two I have.  It just took a little longer. 

All day long, it felt like a Saturday to me.  I don't know why, it just did.  Maybe it's because we got a half day off work yesterday.  I did two loads of laundry -- normally a Saturday chore -- and kept checking to see if the football games were on. 

I just hope I don't get up and go to church tomorrow.  I'll be the only one there. 

Early Day

So there I was at work, just a working away, when right after lunch I heard a commotion in the plant.  I didn't pay it much mind.  There's always some sort of commotion or other going on there.  I kept on working, but soon, the commotion became too commotional to ignore any more.  I quickly found out what was going on. 

They were passing out the paychecks.  They were sending us home.  I never found out why, but I didn't argue, either.    I lit out for home.  When I got there, I found a pleasant surprise waiting for me. 

My new Christmas ornaments are here!  A new one for this year, and one to replace the one I broke last week when putting up the tree.  You will notice that the box says Shatter-Proof.  Yeah, I need that.

 Somehow, this ended up in my shopping cart, too.  

It's to replace the one I broke last year -- over which I am still grieving.  Too bad it's not shatter proof, too.

Since I got an unexpected half day off of work, I decided to go ahead and do my shopping today, so I won't have to get out at all tomorrow if I don't want to.  I didn't really need much, but I got a few supplies to start my holiday baking, and I got a goodly sized chunk of my Christmas shopping done.  All the Alaska folks' gifts have been bought, and I might actually get it mailed early enough that it gets there by Christmas. 

I'm going to use those mini loaf pans I bought and make some banana bread and such to send with their gifts.  That's the project for the weekend -- making mini breads. 

Naturally, while I am baking, I'll be rocking the Christmas music on Pandora.  Or YouTube -- whichever.  Which segues nicely into our Christmas song for today:



The bad news is, the cat has found the tree skirt.  It's now safely tucked into the washing machine, to be washed first thing in the morning. 

Sigh...cat pee on the tree skirt, and bits of garland puked up onto the floor.  I'm so glad I have vinyl flooring now. 

So glad.  

Yesterday

Yesterday I was totally discombobulated.  I was so discombobulated that I went to work without turning off the lights in my house.  I had a difficult day at work, so by the time I got home, everything I had planned for the evening just went out the window.  I had actually intended to write a real post, but in the end, all I did was dump a song on you and leave.

 I'm very sorry about that.   

Anyway, I'd planned on doing a 25 Songs Of Christmas thing -- posting one of my favorite Christmas songs every day between December 1 and Christmas day.  I was going to try to come up with some sort of little devotional thought to go with each song.  Obviously, that didn't happen yesterday.

It's not looking good for today, either.  However, here is today's song. 



I hope you enjoy it.  I'll try to do better tomorrow.

25 Days Of Christmas Music

A Day Of Weirdness

It all started before the sun was even up.  I was having one of those dream within a dream dreams.  You know, inception style.

In my dream, I was asleep, and someone came up behind me and was pushing on my shoulder, trying to wake my dream self up.  Whoever it was was pushing me so hard, the entire bed was shaking.  It was very annoying.  I was trying to wake my dream self up and get my dream eyes opened, but I couldn't.  My dream self was trying to shout, "Stop it!", but I couldn't get my dream mouth to open. Somewhere in the process, my real self cried out, which woke my real dog up.  Real Jesse started barking, which woke up my real self and my dream self, thus ending the inception.

It was all very strange.

I got up and went to work as usual.  After work, I was going to run the title to my old trailer house to the buyer's bank.  It being the first day after a holiday weekend, I decided I'd call his person to make sure she was there today.  Sitting in the parking lot of the plant, I dialed the number on my cell phone.

I forgot I have that phone sync thing in my new car.  When it started ringing through the speakers on my radio, it like to have scared the poo out of me.  Anyway, I got the title delivered, and that is all taken care of and done with.

Since I was in town and needed milk, I went on to the store.  Now, I have more ornaments than my Christmas tree can hold, but I wanted to get a new one this year, for my first Christmas in my new house.  Wal-mart doesn't really have a vast selection of commemorative ornaments, but I found this little guy.

He's got the date on his scarf, so I thought he'd be perfect.

I didn't notice this until after I got him home. 

Sigh...Red Sharpie to the rescue. 

Now he's perfect! 

Decorating

Despite it being very warm today, and very un-Christmassy feeling, I started putting out the rest of my decorations.  What that really means is I spent most of the day looking around and saying, "Where am I going to put all this stuff?" 

I usually put the same stuff in the same place year after year, but what with this being a new house and all, I'm still figuring out were to put things.  I did get Santa and the two elves up by the tree.

 And the Fontanini Nativity. 

 I knew I wanted to put this nativity on one half of my mantle, but I wasn't sure about what to put on the other side. 

Years and years ago, I had started collecting a Christmas village out of a craft catalog. The plan was to get a piece each year until I had the whole set, because I couldn't afford all of them at once.  I had only gotten three pieces -- and only finished painting one of those-- when the magazine stopped carrying them.  I looked online, and I think the company went out of business, because the only place you can find them now is on places like ebay.  

Wal-mart carries Christmas villages, so I thought I'd start getting some of them, when Cody shows up at the house and said that Beverly had told him to bring me these. 

This is a Sarah, Plain and Tall village that was put out by Hallmark several years ago.  The buildings are a bit small, and it looks kind of lost on that mantle, so I don't think that will be its permanent home.  I've mentioned before that Beverly and James are going to give me several pieces of furniture when they move, and I have an idea where it will fit, once I get their entertainment center.  I used to have some of that white polyfiber stuff that looks like snow.  I'm not sure what happened to it, but maybe I can find some to put under it.  I know Wal-mart has some trees, so I'm going to get some next time I run into town. 

Some good news to finish out this post.  I finally got the title to my old trailer house.  We had to go round and round with the Tax people, mainly because the finance company had changed hands a couple of times.  They needed documentation of said hands-changing.  I sent them the documentation they needed, only they lost or tossed some of it.  I had to re-send it.  This time, they got the message.

 Monday after work, I'm going to take it in to Steve's bank.  They'll hold it until he pays off the loan he has with them.  I don't know if they'll need to witness me signing it over, so I thought I'd just take it myself, just to be sure.   I did call him to let him know I'd gotten it.  That's a relief to finally have that mess over and done with. 

One more thing I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving week.

Black Friday

There was nothing black about my Friday.  Though I woke up fairly early, I didn't get out and fight the crowds in the stores.  I've never shopped on Black Friday, even when we were kids.  Our family tradition that day was to make fruitcakes. 

I don't bake fruitcakes any more, mainly because I'm the only one who eats them.  I'll just buy a small one from the store.  Now, I take the day to begin putting up my Christmas decorations.  This year was no exception.  Beverly and James said they wanted to come over and help me this year, it being our last Christmas all together here in Grenada and all. 

The first thing I did was to sweep and mop the entire house.  Then I had to rearrange my furniture so that I could fit my tree into the corner.  After doing that, I was pooped, so I sat down for a rest.  I sat there so long, I told myself that if I didn't get a move on, they would all be here and I wouldn't even have the tree out of the shed.

So I pried my hiney out of the chair and dragged the tree and boxes of decorations into the house.  About the time I got the tree put together, and was just about done fluffing the branches, I heard a car door slam. 

Perfect timing,  there they were. 

James and Cody strung the lights, while I got all the Fall/Thanksgiving stuff down and packed it away. 

Once that was done, we made quick work of decorating.   I let James and Cody each hang an LSU ornament, but Cody refused to hang any of my Dallas Cowboy ornaments.  Seems I didn't raise him right after all.  He even laughed when I dropped one and broke it.  I got online and ordered a new one, and said it was going to be my Christmas present from him.  He said, "Uh, no." 

I asked Cody what he wanted for Christmas.  He said, "I saw what you had to pay out for my college.  You've given me enough."  Sniff...maybe I did raise him right.  I'm still going to get him something, though.  He needs some new clothes.  I said I'd just give him money and he could pick out his own clothes.  I want him to have something under the tree to open, though.  I'll have to do some thinking.  Now, back to the decorating...

Here he is hanging the little bell I bought the year he was born.  I bought one for both of us, but I broke mine years ago.  Cody's is cracked, but it's still hanging in there. 

Cody and I in front of the tree.

And the finished product.  

Once we were done, Beverly and James went home, and Cody and I watched Jurassic World.  He'd never seen it.  I showed him which room will be his, once we finish moving all his furniture over.  He seemed pleased with it. 

After he left, I was poking around online.  I have ribbons from when I was in the Navy, but I can't find them.  I know they're packed up around here somewhere.  Anyway, I found a site where I can order more.  That's what I did.   I dug my DD-214 out of the file cabinet, just to make sure I was getting the right ones.  Good thing, because I discovered I had a ribbon I didn't know I'd earned.  I thought I just had three:  Good Conduct, National Defense, and Pistol Quals.  According to my DD-214, I also have an overseas service ribbon with two stars.  Cool.  I'm supposed to have a Meritorious Unit Commendation, but somehow it didn't get put into my service record, so I took it off my ribbon bar. 

Naturally, now that I've ordered a duplicate set of ribbons, I'll find my original ones. 

Isn't that always how it goes?

Our Thanksgiving

I have a confession to make.

As old as I am, I still get ridiculously excited for holidays.  I even get excited for holidays I don't celebrate.  Hanukkah, for example.  I may be sitting here calm and sedate, but on the inside, I'm jumping up and down and squeeing.

This year, Thanksgiving was a bit bittersweet, knowing it would be our last one in Beverly and James' house.  It was different, not being right next door to them -- having to load my food in the car and drive it over, instead of just walking out the back door and to their house.  I did have one breakdown, after we'd eaten.  I looked over and thought, "I need to run that jello over and put it into the refrigerator -- oh, wait..."

Anyway, since it was just the four of us, we kept it simple and stress free.  We still had plenty of food and all got sufficiently stuffed. 

We took the ubiquitous family photos.  (BTW, I am thankful that Cody shaved, even though he says he's going to regrow his beard.  I'm also thankful that he's not putting glitter in said beard.  Very thankful.)

Beverly and James, in their last Thanksgiving photo in front of this fireplace.  

After we ate, James laid down to take a nap because he's working nights, and Beverly, Cody, and I put up her little tree. 

They bought a smaller tree than they've had in the past because when they get back to Texas, their living room will be a lot smaller than the den they have here.  

That, and nobody was sure if they'd still be in this house, since it's already up for sale. We put their bird ornament collection on it, and a few more keepsake ornaments, and that was about all. 

Once the tree was done, we all dozed off in front of the TV, and some naughty little elf decorated the deer.  

Here is the almost finished product: 

They still have to find the angel and the tree skirt. 

Tomorrow, they are going to come over and help me with mine. But for tonight, I think I'll fix me a plate of leftovers and watch Miracle On 34th Street. 

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving, too. 

Thanksgiving Week -- Wednesday

The holiday baking and prepping has begun!  I came home from work and made two pies.  One pumpkin pie for me:

 And a sweet potato pie for Cody.

I cheated this year, and bought pie crusts.  I used my own pie plates, but I bought the kind of crusts that all you have to do is unroll them and put them into the pans.  I tried to flute the pumpkin pie really fancy like, but it didn't turn out so well.  I just used a fork on the other one and it looks fine. 

I got the strawberry jello salad done, so all I have to do tomorrow is the turkey, giblet gravy, and sweet potato casserole.   I got a bit worried about my turkey.  As it was thawing, the package got a bit puffy, so I went ahead and opened it.  It smelled OK, so that was a relief.  Every year, I say I'm going to brine my turkey, but then I read that most of them don't really need it, if they have that solution injected.  So, I don't brine.

This year, since I'd already opened it, I decided to go ahead and try brining my bird.    I did a search for recipes, and they ranged from very simple to very complicated.  I went with simple.  Said turkey is now back in the refrigerator, soaking in a brine solution.  We'll see how it goes. 

Just for kicks, here is an artsy-fartsy picture of my pumpkin pie.

You know, as much as I complain about it, I am thankful today that I have a job.  So many people out there don't have jobs.  I actually enjoy the work I do, and I have a comfortable life.

No, I take that back.  I have a good life.  I have a new house, a new car, plenty to eat, clothes to wear, clean water, and good friends.  That is more than most of the world has.

I am truly blessed.   

Thanksgiving Week -- Tuesday

Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow, and as you might guess, I'm very excited about it.  This is my first Thanksgiving in my new house.  As you might be able to guess, that is my moment of thankfulness for today.

I'm so thankful for this house.  It's close to work, close to church, and I've got really good neighbors.  I know it may seem a small thing to some of you, but I've got a car port!  No more slopping through the rain and mud to get to my car.  Woo hoo!!


Speaking of my house, last week when we were at Lowe's I found the flooring I want to put down when I get around to replacing the floor.   Here it is:

That reminds me of something else about this house I'm thankful for:  vinyl flooring.  It makes it so much easier to clean up the cat's urf.  No more scrubbing puke out of carpets.  Just wipe it up!  It'll be the same when Rylea goes through one of her spells with her stomach and has diarrhea all over the place.  Much easier to clean it up off of a vinyl floor than scrubbing it out of carpet.  It's the little things...


After work, I ran into town to pay my house note because I was afraid I'd forget to what with the holiday coming up and all.  Since I was in town already, I stopped by the store to pick up some cat food and a few more things for Thanksgiving dinner.

I've got some bananas that are just about right for banana bread, but I didn't have any bread pans.  While I was picking them up, I found these cute little mini loaf pans.

I have absolutely no need for them, but they were so cute I couldn't resist.  Oh, I'll find something to bake in them, never you fear about that. 

I finally made it home to see that my birthday present had arrived. 

If you're a browncoat, you'll understand. 

Thanksgiving Week -- Monday

Today, I am very, very thankful for a car that has heat.

I'm thankful for a reliable vehicle period.  Of course, I'm still getting used to it.  I drove half way to work this morning freezing my patooty off, waiting for the heater to turn on.  That's when I realized, I have to turn it on myself.  In the Jimmy, everything was automatic.  The heat came on when it got hot.  Well, when it worked, it did. 

I also keep forgetting to turn my headlights on.  I have to remind myself that they don't turn on and off automatically, like they did in the Jimmy.  Oh, and one day last week, I managed to turn on the rear window wiper and couldn't figure out how to turn it off.  I didn't know what I'd bumped to make it come on in the first place.  I finally found the button, after I'd driven about two miles down the highway, with the wipers going, on a sunny day. 

That's just part of the fun!

Thanksgiving Week

Today is the official start of Thanksgiving week.  I'm going to post one thing I am thankful for each day until Thanksgiving Day.  Some people say you shouldn't observe holidays.  We should be thankful every day, and not just one day a year.  You should love people every day, not just on Valentine's Day.  Holidays are ridiculous, they say. 

I think these people are ridiculous.  There is nothing wrong with setting a day aside to celebrate something.  If you read the Old Testament, how many times does God tell the children of Israel to set this day aside, set that day aside, take this day to remember?  Celebrating holidays is Biblical.  In face, even the word Holiday comes from Holy Day. 

A while back, an atheist acquaintance of mine said that she didn't want to go to Heaven.  She wasn't going to spend eternity groveling at the feet of a vengeful and judgmental God.  I am so thankful that my God isn't like that.  My God is the one who so loved the world that he gave his only son.  That my God is the one who came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  That my God is the one who is not willing that any should perish, but that all people should come to repentance.  That he knows my name, and no one can snatch me out of his hand.

For that, I am thankful beyond words. 



Friday morning, Beverly called me to discuss Thanksgiving dinner menu.  That is one of my absolute favorite things to do all year.  The plant gave us a turkey, so I'm going to be doing that, plus a fruit salad, a sweet potato casserole, and a sweet potato pie.  It's only going to be the 4 of us this year, so we decided to keep it kind of small. 

I wasn't going to make a pumpkin pie, because I'm the only one who eats pumpkin pie.  But then, I decided, heck, I eat pumpkin pie.  I'm going to make one anyway.  I won't take it over, but I'll eat it at home. 

I thought by going to the store Friday, I'd avoid the crowds later in the week.  I was wrong.  The store was pretty packed, but I got my stuff and made it out without incident.  The bad news is, when I got up Saturday morning and went to feed the cat, I realized I'd forgotten cat food.  She doesn't have enough to make it the whole week, so I'm going to have to go back one day after work. 

This morning was the first frost of the year.  I didn't go out and take pictures of it.  I'm sure you all know what frost looks like by now.  The cold has made for some great knitting weather.  I spent a good chunk of the last two days weaving in ends on my blanket.  Yes, I finally found a tapestry needle!

Here is a progress photo of the blanket I'm knitting for myself. 

I have a few more squares to add, then I'll set it aside and work on my sister's.  

Cody gave me this Christmas cactus when he was 7.  That makes it 15 years old. 

It didn't bloom for a long time, but it's bloomed pretty regularly these last four or five years.  

I was kind of worried that it wouldn't bloom this year, what with the move and all.  I shouldn't have.  It's doing just fine. 

Drapes

I got a pleasant surprise when I got home from work today.  My drapes are here a day early!

Pay no attention to the Tigger towel on the back of my recliner.    I'm pleading the 5th. 

Anyway, I think they'll look very nice once I get the paneling painted.  It's supposed to be cold this weekend, so I may have time to work on the house some more.  I really want to get Jimmy cleaned out and cleaned up so I can sell him.  That all depends on how cold it is. 

Thanksgiving is only a week away.  Yesterday at work, they gave us our ham or turkey, whichever one we chose.  I got a turkey.  I took a garbage bag with me because I didn't want to put it in my new car.  Turns out it wasn't necessary.  They handed our meat out in these re-usable bags.

If you know me, you know what I'm going to put into this!  If you don't, here's a hint: 

KNITTING!!

Speaking of knitting, thanks to some generous friends, I've been able to add several squares to both my sister's blanket and mine.  Soon, I'll take a picture of both to update you.

Speaking of work, I filled in for a brazer who was out today.  That means I had a whole new department of people to accost with baby pictures.  Oh, and I have Angie's permission, so I am officially (if not genetically) Wyatt's Great Aunt Becky. 

Dear Supervisor-In-Training

I know you are new to this whole leadership thing -- and apparently the whole integrity thing, too-- so let me clue you in with a little piece of advice:

No matter what your motives or intentions are, it is never a good idea to lie to your production superintendent.

Don't go tell him you need a sub-brazer on your line if you don't really need a sub-brazer on your line.  Because of your blatant falsehood, someone else had to make do without a sub-brazer that he really did need, while a perfectly competent sub-brazer spent the day at the end of your line screwing on drain pans-- which anyone from the floater pool can do.

I suggest you learn integrity pretty quickly.  If you keep lying, your employees will resent you and your bosses won't trust you.

Then you won't even need to finish your training, because you'll be gone.

Thank you.

That is all.

 

I'm An...

Well, I'm not exactly sure what I am, but Cody is an uncle!

Cody's half sister Faith and her boyfriend Michael became proud parents to baby Wyatt.  He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 5 oz.

Welcome to the world, Wyatt.

By the way, Cody will never admit it, but he's very proud of his nephew.  As is Cody's mother.  Oh, to heck with technicalities.

I'm a great-aunt!!!!

 Wyatt Eugene Reed