New Year's Eve - December 31, 2023

My phone rang at 8 o'clock this morning.  I was still in bed, but The Husband was up, and he answered it.  It was my brother, calling to see if I was bringing a dessert to tomorrow's "siblings lunch."  Earlier this week, when my sister and I discussed the menu, neither of us cared about having a dessert.  I said I might make one.  Or not.  

At the grocery store Friday, I bought a box of frozen puff pastry, thinking I might come up with something sweet for our luncheon.  There's a jar of apricot preserves in my pantry, and I thought I might just smear it on the pastry dough, roll it up, slice it, and bake it.  Ta-daaaa: dessert.

But I bought only 1 box of puff pastry, and the folks on the hill are coming to my house for supper tonight.  I might feed it to them, instead.  

When I called my brother back, he said he was on his way to the store and could pick up something.  I said it was probably a good idea to do that, if he wants any dessert tomorrow.  ;)

* * * * * * * * 

Yesterday, I suggested to The Husband that we take my car to the shop and get them to fix whatever is causing my battery cable to corrode so often.  Friday's "no juice" incident (can't call it a dead battery, because the battery is fine) was the fourth time since this summer.  Fortunately, I've was able to get quick assistance each time, but only because I was close to home, where people know me and will come right away.  It would be a different situation in the big city, and I do go there, occasionally.  

The Husband considered the suggestion, but believed he could fix the problem, himself.  All we needed was a battery-cable connector.  He went to the auto parts store and got one, but it was the kind that is hard to put on, so he went to another store for a different kind.  I tried to stay out of his way while he was working.  He must have had some success, for I heard the car crank after a while.  When I take the car out again, I won't go far.  ;)

* * * * * * * * 

While The Husband was working on the car, I did some drawings. 

You see, a Daughter-in-Law and I have been batting around the idea of renting a vendor booth next year at the local bluegrass festival.  She likes to make t-shirts.  I like to make other things, but I've had a blue-grass-related t-shirt design in mind and would like to do the artwork, myself.  If I can produce a good design, I might try to either get the "official festival t-shirt" work or peddle the design.  If that doesn't work, we might make a few "unofficial" t-shirts.  My idea is not original - forest animals playing stringed instruments - but it's my original artwork and I can put it on anything I want - mugs, tumblers, aprons . . . . 

Mouse Patrol - December 30, 2023

Although I had planned to let The Husband deal with dead mouse #2, imagining its little gray ghost, hovering in the corner not 6 feet from where I work (saying to itself "What happened?") was enough to force me to dispose of the carcass, myself.  All morning, I had been congratulating myself on having eliminated a PAIR of mice - a couple - thinking I might have prevented the breeding of dozens of babies that could have tried to inhabit my happy place.  But when I actually picked up the trap, I discovered that what was in it was not a mouse but a shrew.  

Of course, this completely destroyed my "mouse population prevention" theory, for as far as I know, mice do not "do it" with shrews.

Once I discovered that I'd offed a shrew, I felt kind of bad about it.  It was furry and fat, and a lovely shade of gray, and would probably have been kinda cute with its eyes open.  But I reckon that a shrew is as nasty and as bothersome as a mouse, so it was a good riddance.

I re-set the trap and put it back in the corner.  It's still unsprung this morning, and I haven't heard any more thumping in the wall.  Hopefully, there are not a dozen orphaned baby mice decomposing under the siding.  I was hopeful that I'd eliminated the back porch mouse problem.  

So yesterday morning The Husband says, "Didn't you buy TWO mousetraps?  We need one in our bathroom."  

<sigh>

* * * * * * * * * 

I had some errands to run yesterday.  My sister called mid-morning and invited us to eat blackeyed peas and cornbread with her on New Year's Day.  I said I'd make slaw and MAYBE a dessert, but I had to go to the store for ingredients.

I also needed to go to the beauty shop for a haircut.  Two weeks ago, right before we left for our Asheville trip, I dropped by that shop for a trim.  As the hairdresser worked on me, we chatted and laughed, and I didn't pay much attention to the final result.  It turned out to be the worst haircut I've ever had.  The sides stuck out like Pippi Longstocking.  Yesterday, I went back to the same shop, and the same hairdresser re-cut my hair.  She did a good job this time.  I left the shop feeling all up-beat.  

When I got in the car and turned the key, nothing happened.

This has happened several times in the past year or so.  One minute the car cranks just fine; the next minute...nothing.  I've had the battery tested; it's fine.  When it won't crank, the "red post" on the battery is absolutely thick with greenish powder.  The last time this happened two months ago, the person who gave me a boost suggested that I should pour a Coke over the battery post, now and then, to remove the corrosion build-up.  Only a couple of days ago, I thought about that advice as I was driving, but of course I didn't remember to do it when I got home.

So yesterday, it was the same problem.  It was cold and spitting snow.  I went back into the beauty shop and asked if I could beg, borrow, or buy a Coke.  The hairdresser had about a cup of flat Diet Coke in a 2-liter bottle, and she gave it to me.  I poured it over the battery post, and it removed the corrosion, but the car still wouldn't crank.  I called an auto parts store up the street from the beauty shop, and they sent a lady with a battery booster pack (didn't even charge me - gotta love life in a small town).  The car cranked right up.  The person said my battery was showing a good charge, and that the problem must be with the cable.  I will have this seen about next week.

Meanwhile, I still had to go to the grocery store, which is right around the corner from the beauty shop.  I was afraid the car would not crank again if I turned it off, so I just left it running while I was in the store.  I did not worry about it being stolen, for this car is a stick-shift.  Probably only one out of a hundred people know how to drive one, and this person would be too old and wise to risk going to jail.  ;)

On my way home, I dropped off a new bottle of Diet Coke at the beauty shop.  :)

    

Decisions, decisions - December 28, 2023

At Christmas, The Boss gave me a $50 gift card for an online store.  I knew right away that I would spend it on art stuff.  With all the holiday goings-on, I haven't had much time to think about what I want.  Tuesday night, I decided to window-shop to see what's out there.  I saw a lot of things I wanted, but didn't buy anything.

Yesterday, I had to make a quick run to the get-everything store.  There were two things on my list, breakfast sausage and a mouse trap.  While I was hunting mouse traps in the get-everything store, I made a quick detour through the craft aisles ("since I'm there").  One art-related thing I've been wanting is a pad of pallet paper, and there was actually one on the shelf.  I couldn't use my gift card, but the pallet paper was only $5, so . . . . It fit nicely in the load of stuff I'd already gathered in my arms while looking for mouse traps.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was web-surfing on the back porch, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.  Something seemed to have fallen from the rafters and zoomed across the floor, but it was too fast to really see.  It could have been a reflection on my eyeglasses, but I figured it was a mouse.  The next day, I noticed a wadded-up paper towel in the corner where I work.  It appeared to have been shredded a little.  The vinyl siding at the floor in that corner somehow got cracked a long time ago and is missing a little chunk, and my guess was that a mouse was living in the wall and was using shredded paper to build a nest.  The next day, the paper towel was gone.  I asked The Husband if he had moved it; he had not.  I was certain that the mouse had dragged it completely into the hole.  Over the next few days, I began to smell mouse, but I had used our mouse traps to annoy Jose back in the summer, and he had broken them all, one by one.  

The first thing I did last night when I got home with the new traps was bait one of them and set it in the corner.  The first thing I did this morning was to check it.

  

Got him!

And, look...it knocked the cheese right out of the trap.  (I think that white patch on the floor is 6 months' worth of spider sh*t, but I can NOT find the spider, but that's another story.)  

I decided I would let The Husband deal with the mouse disposal when he gets home tonight.

Meanwhile, as I have been writing this, I heard a noise in the wall.  Um-hmmm...another one.  And there's a piece of cheese just lying there, free for the taking.  OH, HELL NO!"  

I steeled myself and disposed of the mouse and re-set the trap with the same cheese and put it back in the corner.  Not 5 minutes later, the trap snapped again.  Got another one!  I got up to dispose of mouse #2, but as I reached for the trap, I snatched my hand back, thinking I'd better wait until I'm sure this mouse is all the way dead before I mess with it.  Might even wait and let The Husband deal with it.  ;)

* * * * * * * * 

On YouTube, I follow a watercolor artist who uses ceramic dishes for mixing her paints.  I bought a couple of small, compartmentalized dishes and love them (paint doesn't "bead up" on them like it does on plastic pallets), and I've been wanting a bigger one, a tray without compartments.  As I was watching one of her videos last night and saw the mixing tray she was using, I was reminded that I wanted one and remembered the gift card.  Below the video, there was a link to the pallet supplier's web site where I could order one - and even with a 10% discount! - but I couldn't use the gift card at that site, and it was more expensive to order from the gift card site.  It didn't make sense to spend more money just to use the card.  What the heck; I bought the pallet with funds from my business account, since I really will use it in drafting my embroidery designs.

So I still have a whole $50 to spend on art stuff.  ;)

The Day After Christmas - December 26, 2023

This morning there's frost on the vinyl panels that enclose the back porch, and a notification at the bottom of my screen says "Temps to drop Thursday."  The heater under the table makes it tolerable out here, but my coffee's getting cold before I can drink it.

It was warm enough yesterday morning (Christmas Day) that folks came to Nanny's breakfast without a coat.  Yesterday afternoon, the wind whipped up, and we bundled up to visit Son #2's family.

Half of the gifts I ordered for The Husband have not arrived, and the ones I bought him in the store either didn't work or didn't fit.  Half of the gifts he ordered for me didn't arrive, either.  Still, we had a good Christmas.  My "big present" to the Husband was tickets to see ZZ Topp and Lynard Skynard in concert in March.

Heh.  Turn it up.  ;)

Christmas morning was special because The Grandson was here for the first time since he was a baby.  We opened presents here, had a good breakfast and more presents at Nanny's, then we took him home.  After that, we visited Son #2's house and enjoyed seeing all the loot that Santa brought for The Granddaughters.  When we finally got home, we had a quiet evening and were thankful for the left-over soup for supper.  We were pooped.

It was late Saturday afternoon when we finally put up two - count 'em, TWO - Christmas trees, a little one on a living room table, and the big "stick tree" on the back porch.  It took us nearly two hours to clean and rearrange the back porch to accommodate the tree and our Christmas Eve guests, but the result was worth the work.  It was warm enough that the relatives could be comfortable in their shirtsleeves on the porch, and the stick tree looked really cool and festive all lit up.  And the porch is now so tidy.

I think the stick tree might live out here permanently.  

* * * * * * * * 

Last week was brutal on a genetically lazy old lady like me, and tomorrow I'll have to get moving early for "office day," but today I am enjoying a slow morning in my housecoat (which I may still be wearing when The Husband gets home from work).  The Granddaughters gave me a bunch of watercolor paper that I am anxious to try out, and The Husband gave me a new paintbrush holder, so I might paint today.

Speaking of paintings, a few days before Christmas I mailed the best of the Christmas cards I painted before the holiday.  The others I cut into gift tags.  I'm patting myself on the back, not for painting the cards but for actually mailing them (albeit a tad too late for pre-Christmas delivery).  

* * * * * * * * 

Over the weekend, we hooked up a code scanner on the car that The Husband bought at the estate sale.  He had bought the car despite the fact that the dashboard was lit up like a Christmas tree (which I had not known about because I was inside, rummaging through the dead lady's stuff).  He/we figured that part of the lights resulted from the car having sat, undriven, for over a year, for the "car facts" report indicated that the car had been very well maintained.  When the scanner returned the readings, the list was pretty long - this sensor, that sensor - but the estimated cost of repairs was not all that scary.  Sunday afternoon, Son #1 came by and peeked under the hood.  He took the cover off something and discovered that a mouse had gnawed a bunch of wires.  The Husband did some web surfing and discovered that the wiring harness for that model (2007) is no longer manufactured.  However, The Brother-in-Law, who works as an autobody repairman, believes he can find something that will work (he has "connections"), and the menfolk believe they can do the re-wiring.  We'll see.  

I wish they would get right on it, for I've been greedily eying that "remote start" button on the key fob (nothing else in the driveway has one).  I expect I won't get to use it this winter, even if they find the right part right away, since the weather is supposed to turn cold in a few days.  

* * * * * * * * 

I hope to get together with my siblings on New Year's Eve or Day.  In the past, I have invited them for a traditional Southern dinner centered around peas, greens, and cured pork, but when my grandchildren reached school age and began bringing various bacteria and viruses to family Christmas gatherings, I began getting sick by New Year's Day.  We are all a little anti-social and germophobic to begin with, and now that we are old, it takes something special to blast us out of our dens.  But we have fun when we get together, and we ought to do it more often.  I should call them and invite them to dinner, huh?

Christmas - December 25, 2023

About a dozen people showed up to eat last night.  We had soup, pigs in blankets, and sausage roll-ups.  It was all just okay.  

For Christmas Eve, I usually make something we call "hanky-pankies" - sausage, ground beef, and Velveeta cheese on cocktail rye bread.  For the past few years, we've had trouble finding the cocktail rye bread, but we improvised by cutting full-sized rye bread in quarters.  This year, we could not find ANY rye bread.  The Husband tried using Hawaiian bread for his office party.  It just wasn't the same.  The rye adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the thing.  Too late, it occurred to me that a local bakery might make rye bread.  

I always make LOADS of hanky pankies with the intention of having left-overs to tide us over on Christmas morning until it's time for breakfast at Nanny's.  We had no sausage roll-ups left last night, and as I sit here waiting or folks to crawl out of bed, my stomach is growling.  And it's three more hours until breakfast.  Next year, I will ask the local bakery to hook me up with rye bread so this doesn't happen again.  

The Grandson spent the night with us last night.  He was in diapers the last time he spent the night here on Christmas Eve.  I am so happy to have him here.  :)

In about an hour, I will rouse the sleepers when I start rattling pots and pans.  My assignment for breakfast at Nanny's is country ham and biscuits.  I cheated and bought a bunch of frozen biscuits.  I will cook them and the ham here at our house and try to keep them warm until time to eat.  It might be hard not to sneak a ham and biscuit before we go to Nanny's house.

Around 3 or 4, we will go to Son #2's house to exchange gifts with them.  I can't wait to see Granddaughter #3's expression when she opens the "extra credit" buttcrack purse.  ;)

Christmas Eve - December 24, 2023

We had a nice last-minute surprise visit from The Grandson last night.  He spent the night at our house and got up early this morning to go to church with his dad, who plays guitar in a church band.  This pleased me more than any physical give could have done.  The Grandson and his dad have been a bit cross with one another for a couple of years.  It is heartening to see them working on their relationship.

The Christmas Eve cooking is underway.  Stew beef is simmering on the stove with onions and mild sweet peppers.  The shrimp has been marinating since yesterday.  

Yesterday I came up with what I hope will be a yummy appetizer.  I fried 1 pound of pork sausage (the ground-up kind) and crumbled it finely with a couple of bursts in the food processor.  To the cooked sausage I added 1 jar of mushrooms and 1 onion, both of which I chopped in the blender and sauteed until the onions were clear.  I seasoned it with one clove of garlic, 4 dashes of soy sauce, some dried parsley, and about 1/4 teaspoon of ground oregano. Once it cooled, I mixed in 1 cup of shredded mozarella cheese.  I spread this mixture on puff pastry dough (slightly thinned with a rolling pin) and rolled it up like a cinnamon roll.  It's wrapped in plastic, awaiting its time in the oven.

I still have to peel the remaining vegetables - potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and maybe butter beans - and add them to the pot.  And make the cornbread when it's time.  Folks should be streaming in around 6:00 tonight.

I hope you have a good Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  

Christmas Eve Eve - December 23, 2023

In an hour or so, it'll be time to fire up the stove and start cooking for tomorrow night.  I've invited the kids and the folks on the hill to drop by for soup and cornbread and marinated shrimp and a few "nibbles."  

Yesterday was "office day" - Friday instead of the usual Wednesday because we were having the office Christmas dinner (lunch, actually).  The Boss turned us loose after lunch.  People had dropped off cookies, cakes, and candies at the office.  I brought home cinnamon rolls (The Husband loves them) and caramels covered in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt.  When I got home, Nanny brought us a German chocolate cake (The Husband's favorite).  Wednesday, I made a huge batch of Chex mix to share with the family, and we've been eating it like crazy.  And The Husband brought home a big pecan pie.

Come January 2, we must diet.

Stuck - December 21, 2023

Thursday, 2 p.m.:  Hitting the "pause" button for a minute.  A daughter-in-law needs to take over the craft room for a few minutes.

Got today's major project done (gift bags for all of Nanny's little ones), which required a trip to the dollar store.  I made zippered cosmetic bags for all the little girls - ages 3 to 18 - and equipped them with travel size lotion, chapstick, and an emery board.  Got 'em some socks and some candy.  I forgot one of the girls, one we seldom see, and had to raid my personal stash:  body lotion appropriated from a hotel bathroom (hey, some of it is good stuff!) and a two-for-one sale tube of mascara still in the package.  

I should make two or three more cosmetic bags.  This morning The Husband asked me if I had any extras, but I did not.  I think I'll wait until he gets home to see if he still needs them.  

When he gets home, we're going to pick up the car we bought at the auction.

A hectic Tuesday - December 20, 2023

Whew.  Yesterday was hectic.

The Tuesday painting class party started at 10.  Everyone was bringing food and a gift.  I had a few errands to run before the party but showed up on time with my puff pastry sausage bites and 8 cosmetic bags.  We didn't paint a lick, but the party was fun.

After the party, I went to the grocery store.  I'll probably have to make another run before Christmas Eve since I still haven't decided what to make for dinner.  We usually make some "nibbles" and a big pot of something warm and comforting, like soup or chili or chicken & dumplings.  

As soon as I put the groceries away, I started wrapping presents.  The Granddaughters had asked for little stuff, like cosmetics and art supplies.  I cheated and dumped all of the little things together in one box.  After three hours of wrapping, there are still presents to wrap.

Late in the afternoon, the Boss's secretary called to say the office Christmas dinner had been moved from Thursday to Friday.  (There'd been no mention (to me) of a Thursday dinner; the last I'd heard, the dinner would be today (Wednesday), since this is my normal "office day.")  She said I could just make Friday my office day.  I said that was fine with me.  Now that I think about it, though, I'd rather have gone to the office today and just showed up for lunch on Friday, as I had other plans for Friday, so close to Christmas.

Granddaughter #2's homecoming event was at 5:30. She didn't win.  :(  But she looked absolutely beautiful.  

Granddaughter #2 had texted me Monday afternoon to ask if I would buy a certain present for Granddaughter #3.  "She really wants it," #2 said.  #3's desired object was a stuffed animal buttcrack purse that would have to be ordered online.  I said that I would order it, but that it might not get here by Christmas.  She replied, "That's ok.  It was just for extra credit, anyway."

Because #2 is a straight-A student who doesn't need extra credit, I assumed she meant extra credit with Granddaughter #3.

According to an email I received yesterday, the buttcrack purse will be here Friday.  After the homecoming event, I told Granddaughter #2 that the gift would make it on time for Christmas, at which time she said, "Oh, it didn't matter if it got here on time.  I got the extra credit when you said you would do it."  It turned out that one of her teachers had offered extra credit points to everyone who could convince someone to buy a last-minute present for the students to give to someone else.  They snookered me!

I hope #3 likes the purse.  ;)

Bad daughter-in-law - December 19, 2023

I drove Nanny to her doctor appointment yesterday.  The appointment was at 1:15, so I picked Nanny up at noon.  She got in the car apologizing for the trouble.  I assured her that I was happy to do it.

We arrived well before 1:15. I dropped Nanny off at the door and went to park the car while she signed in.  Nanny was still in the sign-in line when I came in.   The waiting room was packed.  A plaque on the wall said that if your name is not called within 15 minutes of your appointment time, check with the front desk.  By 1:30, several people who had come in behind Nanny had already been called.  ("I know that man came in after me, because he held the door for me.")  Nanny was irked, and she went up to the desk to see if she had been overlooked.  It turned out that her appointment was actually 1:30. She still had 15 minutes to stew until she could legitimately complain.  She came back to where I was sitting and apologized again for keeping me so long.  She speculated that they were making her wait (out of spite, presumably) because she had cancelled her last appointment.  I said, again, that I was fine, was happy to help, and that maybe those people who had come in after her were seeing a different doctor.

At 1:45, she went back to the desk.  They said there was one more person before her.  After several more people were called back.  Nanny just knew they were making her wait because she had cancelled her last appointment.  She apologized again and again.  I said it was ok.

Finally - I don't even know what time it was - they called Nanny's name.  I went with her to the room.  The nurse put the blood pressure cuff on her and walked out of the room without turning it on.  When she came back to check it, she discovered that she hadn't hit the start button, so she punched it and left the room again.  Nanny said that they were dilly-dallying on purpose to make us wait longer because she had cancelled her last appointment, and that her blood pressure was probably over the moon from having been made to wait so long.  (Her blood pressure was fine.)  The doctor did not come in right away.  When he did come in, he said everything was hunky-dory, come see him again in 6 months.  

Nanny apologized again as we were walking to the car.  I said, "Nanny, please stop apologizing.  Please. I really am glad to help you."  

Traffic was congested on the street outside the office because a construction crew was digging up a sidewalk and had blocked the right-hand lane.  We waited through three red lights.  Nanny apologized again that everything had taken so long that we were having to drive home in rush-hour traffic.  

I looked over at her and said, "Nanny, I swear, if you apologize for that again, I am going to put you out of the car."

She grunted and said she would just get out and fall in the big hole the construction crew was digging, and the digger could cover her up.

I said I'd try to remember where they put her.  ;)

* * * * * * * * 

Today is painting class day.  I don't know how much painting we'll do, since we're having a Christmas party.  Everyone is bringing food and gifts.  Before we left for Asheville, I made zippered cosmetic bags for the 8 ladies in the class.  Last night I made sausage-stuffed puff pastry bites for my food contribution.  I'll bake them before I leave for class and take a jar of pepper jelly to go with them.  

Tonight at 5:30, we're going to Granddaughter #2's school to see if she has been selected as the "Homecoming Princess" for her 8th grade class.  We most likely will not stay for the basketball game that will follow.

And sometime between the painting class and the homecoming festivities, I should either buy groceries or finish the odds-and-ends Christmas shopping still left to do.  

Tomorrow is office day, and I believe that we'll be having the office Christmas dinner around noon.  Not knowing if there will be a gift exchange, I have made zippered cosmetic bags for my co-workers.  But I ran out of time before we left for Asheville, and still have several bags to make.  The sewing room light may be burning late tonight.

A good weekend - December 18, 2023

The Grandson is 16 years old and has a girlfriend, which means we rarely get to see him.  I texted him a couple of weeks ago to ask what he would like to have for Christmas.  He said, "How about a shopping trip?"  This suited me just fine.  

After we came home from our road trip, we made our shopping plans.  He wanted to go to the huntin'/fishin' store in the city.  We picked him up Saturday morning and had a good day shopping.  He spent the night with us, as he used to do almost every weekend.  We had a big breakfast and a lazy Sunday morning.

On our way to the store, Granddaughter #1 texted me to ask if I could fix a hole in her jeans.  I told her to bring them to me Sunday.  Around noon, she showed up with Granddaughter #3 in tow.  When we went into the sewing room, #3 whispered, "I LOVE this room!  It's a magical place!  I'm so glad I have you for a grandmother."  (Gotta love this kid!)  She set to work creating an original skirt design on the dressmaker dummy.  I set to work repairing the "hole," which turned out to be a stress rip next to the left back pocket.  It was a mess to fix, but we got it done with a patch cut rom a pair of my old jeans.

While this was going on, Son #1 (father of The Grandson) came in for a visit.  

It was a good day.

* * * * * * * * 

Last week, The Husband noticed an estate sale sign in the little town up the road.  Years ago, he had worked with the deceased and had not known of her death.  He came home and searched for her obituary and discovered that she had died a year ago.  How had we not heard about it?  Anyway, he looked up the estate sale online, and learned that the items for sale included a vehicle, a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 125,000 miles on it, according to the web page.  It looked very nice in the pictures.  Having known the owner, we expected that the vehicle had been well maintained.  Saturday morning, we dropped by the estate sale on our way to pick up The Grandson for our shopping trip.  He made a reasonably low bid, based on some values he'd seen online.  While we were shopping, the estate sale company notified him that his was the highest bid.  He was like the coyote in the roadrunner cartoon in which the coyote finally catches the roadrunner:  "Ok, I got it.  Now what do I do?"

We took The Grandson to lunch, then dropped by the estate sale to write the check.  While this was happening, The Grandson inspected the car and discovered that it was actually a 2007 model.  

We can't bring the car home until the check clears, which should happen in a day or two.  

Now what to do with it. 

The Grandson asked for my 1998 Jeep Wrangler when he was six years old, and I flippantly said he could, if I still had it by then.  I still had it when he turned 16, and I regretted the bargain I'd made with the 6-year-old.  As the date approached, I began to recommend other options so I won't have to give the Wrangler away.  (We've been keeping our eyes open for an older model truck.)  He doesn't have his driver's license yet, so the Wrangler is still in my driveway.  He expressed a keen interest in the Cherokee, but having ridden shotgun with him in the Wrangler to let him work on his driving skills, there ain't no way we're turning the boy loose in a vehicle with a hemi.  ;)

So I don't know what we're going to do with this car.  I think it was a good investment, and we could make a little $$ if we wanted to sell it.  But there are people in our family who struggle to keep their vehicles running, and it might be good to have a spare vehicle (besides the Wrangler, which routinely sits in the driveway with a dead battery).

* * * * * * * * 

I have a LOAD of stuff to do this week.  Today I had planned to grocery shop, but Nanny needs someone to drive her to a doctor appointment in the big city, so the groceries will have to wait.  Tomorrow is painting class day, and possibly lunch with my former boss.  I have to make sausage balls for the painting class party.  And, lunch or no lunch, after the party I must finish the Christmas shopping.  Tuesday night, Granddaughter #2 will be part of her middle school homecoming court, an event that cannot be missed!  Wednesday is office day.  Sunday night, the kids and extended family will be coming for dinner.  We still have not put up a Christmas tree or wrapped a single present.  The bed in a spare bedroom is loaded with stuff.  With all the little girls in the family, I'm not even sure what's for who anymore.  

It's time for me to shift into overdrive.

 

Road Trip - December 15, 2023

The Husband had a meeting to attend in Asheville, NC this week.  It's an annual event. held at a nice hotel/inn.  I went along for the ride.

Shunning the most direct route on the interstate, we opted for state highways and ended up driving through 5 states to get there.  ;)

The meeting was over at noon Wednesday, at which time we hit the road to home, but not the same way we came.  Granddaughter #1, away at college but coming home for Christmas break, was planning to drive home on Thursday.  We chose a route that went right through her college town so that we could follow her home.  When I talked to her about the plan, she said she would be leaving for home at 5 a.m.  The Husband made a face when I told him the time.  We opted to drive on to another town and wait for her there to keep from having to get up at the crack of dawn.  We met up with her a little after 7.  I opted to ride with her since we rarely get any time together.  The Husband ran interference just ahead of us.  So as not to horn in on her homecoming with her family, we followed her almost all the way to her door and waved as we went by.  

I am glad to be home.  

My "must-do" list for next week is very long.  I have not wrapped a single present, and still have some shopping to do.  My "want-to" do list is even longer.

Pray for me.  ;)

Sometimes I wonder - December 8, 2023

In my attempts to learn to paint, I watch a lot of videos.  (Sometimes, I even try to do the paintings.)  Thanks to youtube's consideration of things that might interest me, stuff pops up that I would not ordinarily see.  

Case on point:  zentangle.  

Which led to zendoodle and all sorts of doodles.  Ad nauseum.

Last week, I saw a doodle in which the artist had woven a name into the design.  Cool.  The Granddaughters would love it on a sweatshirt.  For Christmas.  Using their favorite colors.

I did what I considered to be a suitable original doodle with Granddaughter #3's name woven in.  It looked fabulous colored.  Tuesday, I bought a pink hoodie at the dollar store and imprinted my doodle onto it using sublimation.  Yes, a white hoodie would have been better, as it would not have tinted the original colors, but the dollar store didn't have a plain white hoodie.  And, yes, dollar store shirts typically do not contain enough synthetic fibers to be colorfast.  But I did not care.  I wanted to test the whole process before gearing up for mass production of shirts for ALL the granddaughters (6, to be exact).

#3's shirt turned out halfway okay.  The pink background muted the bright colors of the original, and the name is a tad uphill, but the shirt will do for playing outside.  The kid will have outgrown the shirt by spring, anyway, and she spends half her time cartwheeling, so who is going to notice her name's uphill?  

Believing that my grand project was do-able, Tuesday night, I ordered five more hoodies.

Yesterday, I spent ALL DAY doing the artwork for the remaining names.  I resorted to cheating; instead of doing 5 different designs, I did one with no name at all, scanned it, and figured out how to get the names woven in using the computer.  By nightfall, I had 5 prints, ready to paint in the girls' favorite colors.

I felt so...accomplished.

Today I discovered that I ordered the wrong sizes:  two adult smalls, two adult XLs, and one dark purple kid-sized hoodie (against which no sublimated design will ever show).  

WTF was I thinking?  

<sigh>

Thursday - December 7, 2023

Before I forget, lemme give a shout out to my eldest nephew, born this date longer ago than I care to admit (because if he is old, I am REALLY old).  ;)  

It is colder than a well digger's butt on the back porch today, but the sun is shining and the temperature is supposed to be in the fifties today.  My plan is to do some sketching later today in preparation for a road trip we're doing next week, another work-related trip for The Husband.  I'm going along, since I can work from anywhere.  

I'll be lugging two laptops with me - personal and work.  It never fails that when I go somewhere, an Etsy customer wants something special.  On our recent two-day trip to Nashville, I had two custom requests, and for the first time ever, I did not have my personal machine (the one with the digitizing software) with me.  It's kind of a good thing that I didn't have it, for I probably would have digitized in the hotel room instead of going to the State Museum, which I'd always wanted to see.  I'll have two days in which to occupy myself while The Husband is in meetings.  I'll have to fool with the parking valets if I want to drive anywhere, and driving in strange places kind of makes me nervous, so I might just stay put in the room and do some computer drawing - on my lunch breaks, of course.  ;)

Tuesday - December 5, 2023

Back in the summer, Son #2 gave us his old electric smoker grill.  Until this past Sunday, we'd only used it once to cook a brisket, or maybe it was a pork butt, can't remember.  Anyway, a friend who owns a local BBQ joint kept posting pictures of a smoked meatloaf they sell at the restaurant, and I finally succumbed to the urge to try it, myself.  I mixed up 3 pounds of 80/20 ground beef, a couple of eggs, some spices, and 6 slices of store-bought keto bread, put it in a disposable pan, and smoked it at 275 degrees (might have been a little hot for the amount of time we left it on the grill).  At the same time, we put a whole chicken in the smoker.  It was a small one, and I cut it open with scissors, dusted it with spices, and splayed it in a pan.  

We left them on the smoker for 2.5 hours, then checked the chicken with a thermometer.  When it hit 165 degrees in the chicken breast, we took everything off the grill.  I'd meant to put some topping on the meatloaf (ketchup + jalapeno pepper jelly), so I did that in the oven while I shredded the chicken for chicken salad.

It was all really good.  The meatloaf was a little dry in comparison with my normal meatloaf.  It was over-cooked, PLUS I did not treat the bread the same way I usually treat it.  I usually hold the bread slices under running water to saturate them, then I squeeze out most of the water and squish the bread into the meat.  (Sometimes, there's a recognizable piece of crust in my meatloaf, but I do not care.)  This time, I ran the dry bread slices through the food processor and turned them into crumbs, which I squished into the meat.  No added water. 

When we took the pans off the grill, I noticed that the meatloaf pan did not contain the amount of juice/grease I was expecting.  My wet bread meatloaves usually leak out a ton of juice/grease.  I always pour it off before adding the topping and baking it a little more.  What came out of the smoked meatloaf looked like 100% fat, no water.  

And the meatloaf was dry.  Was it because we cooked it too long or too hot, or because there was less water in the meat?  

Going to painting class today for the first time in I-don't-know-when.  

Cold Frame - December 4, 2023

A couple of Saturdays ago, there was a gardening program on PBS that showed how to build a cold frame.  It made me want one.  The TV guy built his frame from scrap materials around his place, but we don't have those kinds of scraps, so I bought a kit.  We assembled it yesterday.  Amazingly, all the parts were there, and the thing went together without a hitch.

We took it outside and looked for the best place to put it.  Our yard doesn't get much sun.  It appears that the "best place" may be the middle of the back yard.  At least, that's where it is right now.  It came with 4" nails to peg it down, but a good wind will send it flying.

The south side of our shed would be a better place if it gets enough sun during the winter.  The cold frame would be better protected from wind, and we could attach it to the shed foundation.  But I have never paid much attention to how much sun the spot gets during the winter, when the leaves are off the trees.  Right now, at 7 a.m., the sun is blasting that side of the shed.  I just asked my phone to remind me to check the situation at noon.  

I bought this thing intending to plant salad greens in it.  I envisioned filling it halfway with a big bag of store-bought dirt, sprinkling seeds over the dirt, watering it, closing the lid, and enjoying fresh, nutritious, leafy green salads this winter.  

Then I watched some videos.  Now I'm envisioning using the cold frame as an incubator for vegetable seeds.  I started my 2023 tomato plants in a tiny tabletop greenhouse (sort of) in the sewing room.  They did well, at first, but soon turned sickly-looking.  There just wasn't enough light and enough space to start them indoors.  Maybe I should try starting next year's tomato plants in the cold frame.  

As I have been writing this, I've had another vision.  Jose comes out from under the shed at night, raises the lid on the cold frame, digs around in it, and goes away, leaving the lid open.

Maybe I should install a padlock.

* * * * * * * * 

Over the weekend, I finished my friend's chair back.  It is packaged and ready to go, along with a hand-painted Christmas card.  I'll mail it tomorrow.  The post office is right next door to my painting class.

* * * * * * * * 

The Husband's office Christmas party was Saturday night.  Thirty-five years ago, when he first went to work there, the office Christmas party was a PARTY, with food and music and dancing and booze and such.  In 2020, because of covid, there was no party.  Since then, we've mostly just gathered for dinner.  This suits me just fine.  But this dinner was not all that great.  We had not-so-great food.  There was enough booze, though, to keep the younger folks happy.  

   

Friday, December 1, 2023

This is the first morning I've had all to myself in a week.

Starting on Thanksgiving, The Husband has been off work.  We were in Nashville on Monday and Tuesday, and he took off the rest of this week because he needed to use up some vacation time.  While I was at work Wednesday, he winterized the porch, which I thought was a terrific use of his time.  ;)  Today, he's gone to the big city to help deliver some collapsible wagons to the Ronald McDonald house.  

I had my yearly physical yesterday.  (Got passing grades on everything.)  My appointment wasn't until 2:15, and I wasn't supposed to eat anything so they could test my blood for cholesterol and such.  (My passing grade may get lowered when those test results come back!)  As soon as the visit was over, I headed to the grocery store and, being hungry, bought everything I saw, including fried chicken strips from the deli.  I hardly ever eat anything deep fried.  My tummy filed complaints during the night.  

So I was up early this morning.  Cooked breakfast.  Swept and mopped the floors while The Husband emptied his truck bed.  Now it's time to play.

The first thing I need to do is finish my friend's canvas chair back.  It goes on a director's chair.  She sent it to me more than a year ago.  She raises puppies and wanted her kennel's logo embroidered on the back.  I happily agreed to do it, thinking it would be a piece of cake since I'd already digitized the logo.  When the chair back arrived, I discovered that I'd have to take it apart to embroider it.  Then I could not find the embroidery design on any computer in the house and realized I'd have to start the logo from scratch.  I laid the project aside, and it eventually got buried in the rubble in the sewing room.  Back in March, when I was purging craft room to turn it into an office, I ran across it and put it away somewhere safe.  When my friend mentioned the chair back last week, I committed to finishing it this week.  

It took me an hour to locate the "somewhere safe" place.  Thankfully, most of the pieces were there.  I did find the logo design on an old computer, but it was not suitable for the chair back, so I had to re-do it.  I sewed the design yesterday evening.  I am not 100% satisfied with the way it turned out, but it'll have to do.  Now I have to figure out how to put the blasted thing back together.  One piece - a stiffener that goes between the layers - is missing.  I probably threw it away during the purge, thinking it was a scrap from another project.  Hopefully, a strip cut off of a yoga mat will make a good substitute.  

Crazy Week - November 29, 2023

Since I last checked in, things have been busy around here, with multiple Thanksgiving dinners, lots of cooking, lots of going.   To someone who seldom leaves the property, it's been a little crazy.

This week, The Husband had to make an overnight trip to Nashville.  I was kind of looking forward to a couple of days of slug-hood after so much activity last week.  As he was packing to leave Monday morning, I asked (conversationally) where he would be staying, and when he said that the hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Tennessee State Museum, I stuffed some clothes into a tote bag and went with him.  I've been wanting to explore that museum for years.

The hotel was the Georgetown Inn.  It is an old house in a residential neighborhood.  I forget how many rooms it has, but the number is under 20.  Of all the hotels we've stayed in in Nashville, this was the quietest and most comfortable.  

I toured the museum for half the day yesterday.  It was pretty cool.

The Husband's meeting ended at 3:00.  As soon as it was over, we hit the road home.  

Today is Office Day.  <groan>  It's cold, and I don't want to go.

ADDENDUM:

Guess what? 

The Husband installed the vinyl porch wrap while I was at work today.  All by himself.  Without my supervision.  He did a fabulous job, and I appreciate it, for the vinyl wrap makes the back porch bearable on all but the coldest days.  

Tuesday - November 21, 2023

Today, I'll be having lunch with my former boss.  Our monthly lunch date was supposed to happen last Tuesday, but she was "in a mess" that day and begged off until today.  In anticipation of a trip to town, with Thanksgiving dinner coming up, I put in a grocery order.  

Painting class was cancelled this week, as all of us old ladies need to be cooking instead of painting.

We've already enjoyed one Thanksgiving meal - last Saturday with a daughter-in-law's family.  On Sunday, we went to my brother's house - not for a Thanksgiving dinner, but to visit his children who had come from out of town for the holiday.  He usually throws a big Thanksgiving dinner for the extended family, but they've got too much going on this year.   Thanksgiving Day, we will be joining The Husband's family for a big pot-luck meal.  This is the one I'm looking forward to; his family has some gooooood cooks in it. I'll start my cooking tomorrow.

Speaking of food, I'm sitting here on the back porch looking at an ear of corn that one of the Granddaughters found in the corn field behind the house.  It was missing a few grains when she found it.  The Husband tossed it onto the compost bin after the kids left.  By the next morning, it was on the ground in front of the bin, and it's still there.  The trail cam catches 'possums and the occasional rabbit digging in the compost, but nothing even sniffs at the corn.  Why is that?

De-leafing - November 17, 2023

Since our yard is surrounded on all four sides by trees, we get a THICK carpet of leaves every fall.  We usually leave them alone until spring.  By then, the leaves have flattened into a true carpet (studded with thousands of sweetgum balls) that requires a whole lot of work to remove if we want grass on the lawn. Most of the time we dump the stuff in the gully behind the yard.  There's no telling what creatures might live in that nice, warm hut. 

We bought a leaf grinder last year and used it this spring.  The shredded leaves - several tractor-bucket loads - went to the garden to help fill up the low spot, along with several loads of wood chips.  I wondered if putting all that un-decomposed material into the soil would screw up the soil pH, so this fall I had the soil tested.  It is VERY HIGH in phosphorus and HIGH in potassium.  It needs a big load of nitrogen.  It does NOT need any more shredded leaves and sticks.  It needs compost.  

The compost bin is already full to the top with shredded and unshredded leaves, but still we have all these leaves covering the yard.  "Experts" are saying to leave the leaves for the bees and worms and birds and such, but I want them gone from the "lawn" part of our yard.  I raked for about an hour yesterday, and when I looked at all the piles, wondering how I should dispose of them, I thought, "Screw it," and mowed over them with the riding lawnmower.  I mowed over the whole yard, multiple times, except for a large area in the "way back" part, where the birds and bees can party to their hearts' content.  

The compost pile needs work.  I threw a little nitrogen fertilizer in it to get it cooking, but it probably needs more.  It rained during the night, which packed down the leaves a little bit and should help the fertilizer melt.  The pile needs green material, so I keep putting food scraps in it, which the animals probably eat before the next sunrise.  

By the time I get this composting thing figured out, I'll probably be too old to garden.

 

Oil Painting - November 16, 2023

At Tuesday's painting class, I decided to try to do an oil painting.

Thirty years ago, I dabbled in oil in classes at this same shop (with the same instructor) with a few others who were painting the same scene - a mountain sunset picture.  It was not spectacular.  I also tried to paint The Husband from a photograph.  It was not spectacular, either.  I have not done anything in oils since then.

Before Tuesday's class, I dug around in the craft closet and found eight tubes of oil paints.  Their tops were stuck tight with dried paint, but I finally got them off with pliers.  I rounded up all the paint brushes that might do for oil paints, printed a reference picture (an old rusty tractor beside a shed), and went to class.  On the way, it occurred to me that I probably should have chosen a simpler subject for what amounts to my first oil painting.

This is not my photograph.  I found it on the internet and have no clue who took it.

The instructor agreed with that assessment, but I dived in, anyway.

The shed behind the tractor is built of corrugated tin.  The first challenge was getting the paint colors correct.  The next was painting all those parallel lines with my feeble, shaky, arthritic hands.  I managed to get the shed mostly done before the 2-hour class was over, and managed to get thumb prints in the wet paint as I was taking my supplies to the car.  At home, I fixed the thumb prints and did a little bit of the foreground.  Yesterday was office day, so the paint had dried by this morning, and I had the idea to work on the foreground a little more.  It seemed like a good idea to try it on my own.  It wasn't.  

Oil paints are very different from watercolors.  They go down differently, and oil paints take a long time to dry.  The foreground in my reference picture is mostly dead sticks and plant debris.  I tried thinning the paint and applying it with a small brush, which proved to be a nightmare.  The thinned paint was too transparent, but thicker paint won't make fine strokes.  While the paint was still wet, I smeared it over the already-dry base color and achieved a mottled foreground.  

Maybe the instructor can help me fix it next Tuesday.

* * * * * * * * 

I got a new assignment at the office yesterday.  The New Boss wants me to read over some contracts and summarize them for him.  I told him I would give it a go and tell him if the job is over my head.  He didn't have time to even show me the contracts yesterday.  It might be next week before I see them.

  

Genealogy - November 18, 2023

It's chilly on the back porch this morning.  I'm running an electric heater about 18" from my chair so that it blows under the table.  My feet and legs are warm, but my hands are FREEZING.  I shall power through it for a while, as it is a lovely, sunny day and I don't want to go inside.  Yesterday, The Husband baited the compost pile with an ear of corn that Granddaughter #2 found in the field behind the house.  (No, it's not deer bait; the farmer grew corn this year.)  I'm watching to see what new visitors might show up on the pile.  The camera didn't catch a critter last night, but birds were working the pile before sunset.

Now that I think about it, corn is probably nothing new to the local animals.  There's probably corn scattered all over the field since the harvest.

Oh, well.

* * * * * * * * 

Each morning, I spend about 30 minutes doing genealogy research.  There are two women in my lineage - one on my father's side, one on my mother's side - that fascinate me.  

Mary (my father's side) was born in South Carolina around 1805.  Her family was in Alabama by 1820, during the "Alabama Fever" land rush.  Her father was a blacksmith and, as far as I can tell, never owned an inch of land in Alabama.  I figure he was something like a sharecropper, working and living from farm to farm  as new settlers arrived.  

(A flock of birds just landed in my yard.  Little bitty ones, pecking around in the grass.  I don't know what they are.  There's one up in a tree squeaking its head off, calling the flock, I guess.)

Anyway . . . . 

Mary had at least three children, all out of wedlock.  The youngest two were fathered by one of Mary's neighbors, a married man whose wife the censuses labeled "insane."  In 1850, Mary and her younger two children were listed in this man's household.  The man died three years later, at which time Mary produced a deed for 160 acres left to them by their father.  The man's one legitimate child, a son, contested the deed in a lawsuit that lasted 10 years and went to the Alabama Supreme Court.  The court record paints Mary as a straight-up foul-mouthed hussy, an accusation that Mary's witnesses apparently did not deny.  I laughed when I read that she used foul language.  Daddy and his siblings are world-class cussers.  Is it nature or nurture?

The other woman (my mother's side) was Oma P.  She was born in Mississippi about the time Mary was having "illicit intercourse" in Alabama.  She married a man from Alabama (she probably married him IN Alabama) and had two sons with him.  He died of war injuries in 1866, I believe, and she re-married and had three more children.  They were in Lee County, Mississippi by 1880.  By 1891, all of her children were in the county where I now live.  All of these children, and some of their children and grandchildren, died fairly young of tuberculosis.  They left few descendants.  It is kind of a heart-breaking story.  I spoke with one distant relative whose mother and brother died of tuberculosis.  He caught it and escaped it only because drugs to treat it became available.  

I read a book about Elvis Presley's genealogy and was surprised to learn that tuberculosis was rampant in his family, too.  They lived in/around Tupelo, in Lee County, MS.  I can't help but wonder if my ancestors and his had contact with each other, or if there was just an area-wide epidemic spread by soldiers returning home from the Civil War.  

Oma shows up on the 1880 Lee County federal census as "O.M."  She signed a document (with an "X") as "O.P."  The MS State Census for 1880 lists her as "Oma P."  I do not know her maiden name, and it's driving me crazy.  The courthouse in the county where she lived with her first husband has burned twice since the 1860s, and all the records before that time are gone.  I have searched online records for every Oma who ever lived in a five-state radius and cannot find one that I believe is my Oma.  Of course, "Oma" might not have even been her real name.  It could be a nickname from Naiomi, Salome, or some other "oma-ish" name.

A couple of weeks ago, Family Search dot org suddenly added "Pinassa" as her middle name.  No explanation.

And I was like, "What the HELL?" (hat-tip to Mary).  ;)

Busted! - November 11, 2023

Yesterday The Husband moved the trail camera, and this morning we had video evidence of the critter(s) who have been raiding the compost pile.  Three possums (or maybe just 2 - the same possum might have visited twice) and a rabbit!

I was surprised to see the rabbit.  We haven't seen one around here in a while.  Just last night, as we were on our way to dinner, a rabbit ran in front of the truck, and I commented that I hadn't seen a rabbit in a while.  Hawks and owls live on/around our yard, and I had credited them with the scarcity of bunnies around here.  I'm glad they've missed one, so far.

* * * * * * * * * 

Later today we're having lunch with a few of The Husband's cousins.  At the last luncheon, back in the summer, we vowed to do this once a month.  I should get up a lunch date with my own cousins, as I have not seen some of the locals for well over a year.

A dreary day - November 9, 2023

It's a little dreary and cool on the back porch this morning.   The yard is covered with leaves.  From where I sit, I can see the compost pile.  It looks like some critter dug in it last night.  We have set up a trail camera pointing straight at the compost bin, and it hasn't caught a blasted thing except for me and The Husband going out there to see if it's caught anything.

I went out there just now to rearrange the set-up, and now I really can't figure out why the camera isn't picking up this phantom.  There's a very distinct path up the compost heap, right in view of the camera.  I moved some of the yard equipment away from the bin.  Maybe we'll get footage tonight.

I don't know why we're being so silly about this.  We already know it's Jose, the armadillo.  A couple of nights ago, we heard something scratching in the leaves near the porch.  The Husband shined a spotlight and said, "It's the armadillo," and switched off the light.  I volunteered to hold the spotlight while he blasted it, but he doesn't like to shoot at night.

* * * * * * * * 

Tuesday's painting class was blah.  I was blah.  I did not take the picture of Daddy and my brother to work on; instead, I took some Christmas cards I'd drawn, but didn't paint them.  Just wasn't feeling it.  Since then, I've drawn a few more.  Maybe I'll paint them today.

Or not.

I never send Christmas cards.  

Maybe I will this year.

Maybe.

Home Again - November 6, 2023

The Husband had to attend a two-day seminar in Nashville on Thursday and Friday of last week.  On Saturday and Sunday, Granddaughter #1 was scheduled to ride in another horsemanship event in Murray, Kentucky.  I went to Nashville with The Husband, and we drove to Murray Saturday morning.  

The seminar was held at the Opryland Hotel.  There is a jungle - or, rather, several jungles, complete with waterfalls - inside that hotel.  Tucked among the jungles are restaurants and bars.  The place is a maze to navigate.  

Our room was on a lower floor in the "Cascades" section, facing one of the jungles.  It was noisy.  Waterfall raging.  People talking.  Music playing.  I was glad to get out of there early Saturday morning.  Two hours later, we were in Murray.

The horsemanship event took place in an indoor arena.  There was limited spectator seating, so we took lawn chairs.  Our son, daughter-in-law, and Granddaughters 2 - 4 met us there.  We set up our colony between two bleacher sections. Granddaughter #1 won a 3d place ribbon for her ride on Saturday.  Although we thought she made an excellent showing on Sunday, she did not place in that event.

Curly-haired Granddaughter #4 entertained the spectators near our group both days.  She is almost 3 and keeps up a constant barrage of chatter and questions.  Sunday morning, she spied two pigeons in the rafters.  One of them was fluffing his feathers, and #4 said to me, "He's got crazy hair, like me and you, Grandmama."  

You can't argue with the truth.

After Saturday's event, we all went out to eat.  We wanted to eat at Patti's restaurant, in the "1880s Settlement" near Kentucky Lake, but couldn't get a reservation and they weren't taking walk-ins.  The Settlement had staged a Christmas shindig - lights, Santa Claus, The Grinch - and the place was crawling with people.  We ate at T. Lawson's restaurant across the street from Patti's.  If I heard a waitress correctly, it was their first week of business.  The menu was not extensive, but the food was very good, with generous portions.  Since none of us had eaten lunch, we were all starving.  We ordered appetizers and burgers.  After wolfing down the appetizers, The Husband and I could not finish our huge burgers and took them with us in to-go boxes.  

We left Murray about 4 p.m. Sunday and arrived home a little after 6.  Since we hadn't had lunch, we were hungry and glad we'd saved the left-over burgers.  I was pooped.  I had not slept well in Nashville (because of the noise) Thursday and Friday nights and woke up early Sunday morning, so I was ready to hit the sack by 9.  I crawled into bed with a Perry Mason novel (I've not read any of those novels until now) and managed about two paragraphs before I had to give it up.

It's good to be home, where it's peaceful and quiet.

Stuck in Neutral - November 1, 2023

It's too cold to work on the porch this morning, so here I am in the - 

I'm tired of typing "sewing/craft/office room."  Let's call this room a "studio," instead.  

Yeah...studio.  Maybe the change in nomenclature will change my slacker-ish habits.

[Two hours pass]

OMG...it's working!  

I just cleaned up my sew - er, studio - and made a proper workstation for everything.  There's a computer/printing station, a painting station, and a t-shirt station, and all supplies are grouped accordingly and within reach.  There's even room to work on the center table.

I hope I can actually work amidst all this . . . order.  ;)

First Frost - October 31, 2023

Cold weather has arrived in southwest Tennessee.  We woke up to frost and 30 degrees this morning.

BOOOOOO!

Yesterday I officially moved my back porch workstation into the sewing/craft room.  

Double BOOOOOO!

Leaves - October 29, 2023

Yesterday morning as I was admiring the beautiful, colorful leaves carpeting the yard, I said to myself, "I need to rake those up and shred them for compost."  The weatherman said it would rain, and I wanted to grind the leaves while they were dry.  I went inside and put on my yard boots.  When I told The Husband what I was going to do, he asked if I wanted him to get the leaf blower and blow the leaves into piles.  Of course I did!

Our leaf grinder has been in the back yard since spring, as there is no room for it in the shed.  The same goes for the limb chipper, and not only has it been exposed to the weather all this time, but its cover had blown away during a storm.  I figured that before I did much raking, I ought to drag those machines out and see if they even still worked.  I was a bit afraid to do it, fearing wasps and snakes.  Thankfully, nothing attacked me, and the leaf grinder still worked.  I parked it right in front of the compost bin and spewed the leaf bits right into it.  

While I was doing this, The Husband was working on the leaf blower.  It would crank but not continue to run.  After a while, he gave up, got the wheelbarrow and a rake, and joined me in the yard.  The gas line had split, he said.  I dropped my rake and went to a cabinet on the back porch where I'd stored an extra carburetor for the tiller, thinking it might have come with a gas line.  Sure enough, there was a gas line in the package, but it was not the right size.  

The Husband went to the hardware store for a gas line.  I went back to raking and grinding.  I'd finished about a quarter of the yard by the time he got back.  He installed the gas line and the leaf blower cranked, and he went to work.  For a little bit, I thought we might actually finish most of the yard, but soon it began to sprinkle.  The leaf shredder does not like wet leaves, so we hurried to grind what we'd already raked up. 

It rained for the rest of the day, effectively stalling the yard work until next weekend.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Yesterday was a busy day from the get-go.  Daughter-in-law had asked me to drive her to a 7:30 a.m. medical appointment.  I'd need to be at her house by 7.  I woke up early and got up, showered, dressed, and was ready to go by a little after 5.  

We arrived at the appointment on time, but the office wasn't open.  When my daughter-in-law re-checked her notes, she discovered that the appointment wasn't until 8.  We drove to a nearby convenience store for some breakfast and ate in the car while we waited for the office to open.  It was close to 11:00 by the time we finished at the doctor's office.  

Meanwhile, The Husband was texting me about picking him up from an appointment he'd made to have his truck tuned up.  And the daughter-in-law had asked if I would drive her to a store in town to pick up a t-shirt, and if she could come back home with us so that she could use my t-shirt press.  So when we left the doctor's office, we picked up The Husband, went to the t-shirt store, and came home to do the t-shirt pressing.  I had to straighten up the sewing/craft/office room before she could start, as all of the surfaces were littered with my half-finished paintings.  It was about 3:30 by the time I took the daughter-in-law home.

A few minutes after I got back home, The Sister-in-Law texted to see if we wanted to go to the Mexican restaurant with her and her husband.  We did, as we do nearly every Friday night.  And since everyone was already off work for the day, we were able to get there a little earlier than usual.  Our waitress was new to the restaurant and had a little trouble getting our order correct.  She brought me a margarita on the rocks instead of the frozen margarita I'd ordered, and when she brought the food, there was no dinner for my sister-in-law.  We cut her some slack, knowing that she was new to the job.  We did notice that our margaritas were not as strong as usual (our "regular" waiters usually hook us up with stiff drinks), but that was okay with me, as last week's margarita had nearly laid me out.

We were home by 7 p.m., which is about the time we usually sit down to eat.  I would have gone straight to bed if it hadn't been so early.  I managed to hold out until 9, when I crawled in bed with my book.

I am reading the newly-published book about Mitt Romney, am about halfway through it.  Most of my reading occurs at bedtime and usually last about 10 minutes before the Kindle hits me in the face or falls to the floor, so getting to the end of any book is slow going.  This one is pretty interesting, though, and might even get a little daytime attention.

Plans - October 24, 2023

In case you've been wondering how the greeting card project is coming along, it isn't.

I had all the ingredients but never baked the cake, metamorphically speaking.  

The event happened this past weekend.  In all honesty, until Monday of last week, I thought the thing was to happen THIS COMING weekend, and I had an "oh shit" moment.  But, really, all I had to do was print out 24 cards, put them in the envelope rack (which is still in a box in my entry hall), and deliver them.  I could've done that in a couple of hours, barring a power failure, or something.  I put off printing the cards for so long that, by the final day, I'd talked myself out of doing it, altogether.  I had not promised anybody anything, so there was nobody to disappoint but myself.  And I was okay with that at the time.

Can you believe it?

Part of the truth is that I let myself get distracted by the brother/daddy painting.  Part of the truth is that I was afraid my cards would not sell and I would be embarrassed.   

I am mad at myself about it now.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This is painting class day.  On my kitchen table is a piece of stretched watercolor paper, taped to a sewing room cutting mat.  On the paper is a very light pencil sketch of the brother/daddy painting (minus the faces).  It's going to class with me.

Monday - October 23, 2023

The little town near us held its annual community celebration Saturday.  The Husband and I drove over there Saturday around noon, looking for something sinfully good for lunch.  We had heard that the local FFA chapter would be selling shredded roast beef sandwiches, and after shopping all of the food trucks, we went for the roast beef.  They were also selling lamb sausages from sheep that the FFA kids had raised.  We tasted a sample and came home with two packages of brats and two fried pies - pecan and chocolate - from a local church group.  We were a little disappointed with the chocolate.  Our childhood memories of chocolate fried pie filling did not involve pudding.  Instead, our mothers filled our pies with dry cocoa, table sugar, and butter.  

A couple of hours after we got home, The Husband discovered that his wedding ring was missing from his hand.  It has been loose ever since we lost some weight.  We looked for it all over the house, in his truck, in the yard.  We feared he might have lost it at the community festival.  I emailed a friend who was involved in organizing the festival and asked her to let us know if someone turned in the ring.  Yesterday we did another search, digging down to the improbable places.  He could not remember the last time he saw the ring.  I remembered that earlier in the week, he had dug through the cedar chest looking for something, so I went through the cedar chest contents piece by piece.  It wasn't there, but digging through the other keepsakes was kind of fun.  

Friday, my niece texted me to ask if I would help her turn up a hem on a dress she'd bought.  Her proposal was that she and my sister would come over with breakfast ingredients Sunday morning, and we'd have breakfast together and then mark the hem.  I told her not to bother bringing anything, as I had Sunday morning breakfast ingredients on hand.  I woke up early Sunday morning and had already fried the bacon by the time they arrived.  My sister disobeyed my instruction and brought a loaf of delicious pumpkin bread to add to the meal.  We made her take it back home with her (after shaving off two thin slices to keep).  I think she was planning to stop by our brother's house and pawn the rest of the loaf off on him.  

The dress that needed hemming was a floor-length black & white striped knit gown.  She intends to wear it as a costume at some Beetlejuice event at Halloween.  I didn't ask any questions.  We cut 6" off the hem.  She said she would hem it by hand, but that was ridiculous when it was only a costume and there was a sewing machine set up in the room.  I ran a straight-stitch hem around the bottom, and she was good to go.  

Not long after they left, a cousin texted to ask if she could come over.  She is the daughter of Uncle B (age 93) who lives across the road from us.  She lives in Texas and makes monthly trips here to see him, usually staying 3 or 4 days at a time.  Almost every time she visits, she will come over to see us, partly for a change of scenery while Uncle B naps.  We enjoy her visits.  She has had an interesting life and tells good stories.

(I'm on the porch.  It's chilly.  The birds just woke up.  There's one in a tree outside the porch, chirping its head off.  I don't recognize the call.  Its friend is chirping back in the distance.  Maybe they're strangers, just passing through.)

I don't know what I am going to do today.  Unfinished drafts of the brother/daddy portrait are laying all over the porch and the sewing room/craft room/office.  They look like a two dozen different people.  Not one of them is a keeper, and I would throw them all away except that I can practice or swatch on their unpainted backsides.  They leer at me as I walk by them.  By Saturday, my frustration with the faces had reached its breaking point, and I decided to turn my attention to the background and foreground to figure out colors and procedures.  The practice was a good idea.  I did not expect the background and foreground to present any serious challenges, but my practice washes revealed some pitfalls that I might avoid in the final version.  If there ever is a final version.  If I ever get the faces right).

Addendum:  While I was writing the above blabber, The Husband came out to the porch and showed me his hand, with his wedding ring on it.  The ring was in the shower.  

Those faces! - October 19, 2023

It is lovely on the back porch today.  Sun is shining.  75 degrees.  Slight breeze.  I have been out here since 7:00 this morning trying to put faces on my brother and my daddy, and it just ain't happening.

There must be a dozen drawing variations, plus another dozen disembodied faces all over the backs of discarded paper, and none of them look like my subjects.  My reference photo is blurry, but I have other photographs of them that are clear enough for me to see the construction of their faces and have come up with acceptable head shapes.  But their smiles in these other pictures are different from their smiles in my reference photo, and it is the reference photo expressions that I want to capture - the ones I can't clearly see.  

The faces on the paper will be about an inch tall, crown to chin.  That's not much space to work in.  At that scale, one pencil stroke too many will change the whole expression. 

After several hours and several hundred sets of ears, eyes, and lips, I suited up for yard work and went outside.  The phlox bed is kaput for this year.  I've been leaving the fading blooms for the bees and butterflies, but they're not interested anymore, so I cut the phlox down today.  Almost chopped down two of my new hydrangeas but managed to rein myself in before doing much damage.  

The hydrangea limb that I stuck in the ground amongst the phlox has rooted and has sent up a shoot about 6" tall.  It is spindly and pale from having been shaded by the phlox all summer.  Maybe, now that it's uncovered, these last few weeks of sunshine will beef it up a little bit before the leaves fall on it for the winter.

  

Family Portraits - Saturday, October 14, 2023

I woke up at 4 o'clock this morning and finally got up and turned on the coffee pot about a quarter to five.  My brain is fidgety today.  I over-worked it, and frustrated myself, yesterday and the day before, and the day before that.  And maybe even the day before that.

Monday, I decided to start a new drawing/painting that I've been pondering.  Back in the summer, when all the kids and grandkids were here, we had an impromptu concert on the back porch.  One of the daughters-in-law snapped a picture of me, The Husband, and our two sons playing our instruments, and from the moment I saw the picture, I wanted to paint it.  So I decided to give it a go.  

I did a #2 pencil drawing on an 11" x 14" sheet of mixed media paper.  The plan was to ink over the pencil lines and then paint with watercolors.  By the end of the day, the sketch was mostly finished, but I wasn't quite satisfied with it.  The reference picture did not show our legs and feet, so I'd had to imagine them, and something about them in the drawing was "off."  Also, Son #1's face (mostly in shadow and harder to see in the reference picture) would not cooperate.  

This was supposed to be a preliminary study that I would re-do on watercolor paper.  After spending so much time on the sketch, though, I dreaded re-drawing the whole thing.  Watercolor paper has a lot more texture, which is harder to draw on than the smoother mixed media paper.  I thought I might just paint the sketch, but I was worried that the mixed media paper would buckle when wet.  It seemed like a good idea to scan the sketch, print it on mixed media paper, and test-paint the copy to see how the paper held up.  

Well, guess what?  My scanner/printer isn't large enough to scan an 11 x 14 picture.  

The Husband said he believed the copy machine at his office would scan and print something that large, so Tuesday morning, I sent him to work with my original drawing and two sheets of mixed media paper.  I spent the rest of the day trying to fix the faces on the sketch I drew some time ago of my brother and father.  

The Husband had issues with copying the other sketch.  He used all 4 sides of those two sheets of paper and did not end up with one complete copy.  I took the sketch and two sheets of mixed media paper to work on Wednesday and managed to come home with one decent copy.  

Thursday, I discovered that the mixed media paper isn't ideal for the large, wet background washes I'd planned to do.  The painting either needs to be done on watercolor paper, or I need to use another medium.  I got out the light box and traced the sketch on watercolor paper.  Son #1's face still wasn't quite right.  I tried to amend it as I traced it, but it didn't work.  By Thursday night, I'd re-traced it again, but still wasn't quite happy with the faces.  And I'd decided there needed to be a dancing baby in an empty spot in the foreground.  (There was one running around here when the reference picture was taken.)  And perhaps something on the wall behind us instead of the tacky cabinet that actually sits there.  I did these experiments on the tracings to keep from ruining the original.

I ended up with a sketch and four unusable copies.  On one of the watercolor tracings, I tried to fix faces and ended up rubbing the surface off the paper.  And with each revision, I aged myself 10 years.  By the time I looked 90, I thought I'd better quit before I turned myself into a corpse.

The faces are still not right.  I got frustrated with the back porch pickers and set them aside and went back to work on Daddy and my brother.  Still haven't gotten them right.

MEANWHILE, next weekend is the charity event that inspired me to do animal drawings for greeting cards.  As of today, I do not have ONE usable card ready to go (though I do have some ready to print).  If I am to follow through with my plan, I will have to spend next week in high gear. 

If I had not already ordered a card rack, I might just ditch the card project.

I might ditch it, anyway.

Smokin' - Tuesday, October 10, 2023

For years, The Husband and I have planned to buy an electric smoker grill.  We say, "Let's get ourselves one for Christmas," and we shop online or in a store, and end up not making a decision.  A month or two ago, Son #2 gave us his old one.  Saturday, we put it to the test for the first time by grilling a pork butt.  It turned out great.  

Before the meat came off the grill, I texted The Sons and invited them and their families for dinner Sunday night.  When the allotted grilling time passed, we opened the smoker and discovered that the butt had seriously shrunk and would never feed as many people as I had invited.  So Sunday morning, I started a pot of bean soup, thawed some tamales, and made some slaw, then I went to the grocery store and bought some chicken strips for the kids who would likely not eat anything on the menu.  It was a bizarre smorgasbord, but we all got full, with enough leftovers that I won't have to cook for a night or two.

* * * * * * * *

Today (Tuesday) is my paint class day, but the shop owner is on vacation this week and cancelled the classes.  

Today is also the second Tuesday of the month, my former boss and I have a standing date to meet for lunch at noon on the second Tuesday of each month, but she is at the beach.

Got stood up twice in one day!

Since I had nowhere to go and nothing to do, I spent most of the day working on my brother's face.  A couple of months ago, I tried to recreate (in ink and watercolor) a black and white photograph of my brother and my dad holding a stringer of fish between them.  My dad was probably in his early 40s, and my brother was in his mid-teens.  My first attempt at drawing them failed pitifully.  Daddy looked like Daddy, but when he was 80, not when he was 40.  My brother looked like some random 10-year-old.  I re-drew the picture, scanned it, and tried to edit the scan on my computer.  I successfully younged-up Daddy, but the brother gave me fits.  In the original picture, he's not quite a kid, and not quite an adult.  Each new version of his face looked like someone in the family (particularly my Aunt Janice), but not him.  I kept trying.  At one point, Judd Hirsch appeared (erase), then PeeWee Herman (erase), then Dash Riprock (erase).   I finally hit on something that looks *remotely* like the original picture and am gonna roll with it.  Maybe.

Cool Spell - Friday, October 6, 2023

When I staggered through the living room this morning on my way to the coffee pot, I heard the weatherman say, "...so don't call me when you're out tonight and it turns cold all of a sudden."  People in a local garden chat group are asking if they should bring their plants in tonight.  

I am not mentally ready for cold weather, and I don't know what to do with the two plants - a cyclamen and a mother-in-law tongue - that have lived on the back porch this summer.

We have been fighting gnats in the house all summer, catching them in bowls of apple cider vinegar mixed with dish detergent, a tiny bit of sugar, and water.  I understand that there is a gnat that feeds on soil fungus, and I am worried that when I bring the porch plants inside, more gnats will come inside with them.  

I raked my first wagonload of leaves this week.  The tulip poplar in the front yard is shedding leaves, and they collect along the edges of the driveway.  I raked them up and put them in the compost bin, which is almost empty since we moved its contents to the vegetable garden a couple of weeks ago.  Yesterday's rain should help the decomposition process.  

I am keeping a close eye on the sweet gum trees this year.  In March, a tornado took out the giant sweet gum tree in our side yard, and while the tree cutters were here, we had them take out five other ones that were growing around it.  The removal of these trees should put a serious dent in the number of sweet gumballs that we contend with each spring, but there are still sweet gums growing on the other side of the yard, and they drop a lot of gumballs, too.  The Husband and I don't agree on how to deal with them.  I think we ought to clean them up as they fall; he thinks we should wait until spring and get them all at once, since they don't all drop at once.  I'm watching them this year to see what they do as the fall progresses.  They're still green and hanging tight to the trees for now.  If they suddenly dump a big batch of gumballs at once, I'm going after them before they get pounded into the ground by rain and snow.

* * * * * * * * 

This week, I spent some time analyzing where I am on the greeting card project.  So far, I've printed, like, TWO suitable cards but have used up most of my cardstock.  In my defense, there are more cards ready to print, but I'm waiting to print them until all of the test-printing is done using the off-brand ink in the printer.  This morning, I ordered more cardstock.  When everything is in final form and my new cardstock arrives, I'll install the new ink cartridges and have a print-a-thon.

After thinking about how they might be displayed, I ordered a 24-card tabletop display rack.  

See how this charity project is draining my craft funds?

But I am thinking that if the cards go over well, I might try to actually sell some at other venues.  This will at least give me something to do over the winter.  

Rain - Thursday, October 5, 2023

Yesterday was a busy day.  I left the house at 6 a.m. to pick up my daughter-in-law and drive her to a doctors appointment.  After a bit of unexpected detouring because of construction, we arrived at the doctor's office on time.  I sat in the waiting room, planning to read my Kindle book, while she met with the doctor.  A few minutes later, more people began streaming in.  

As I sat there reading, I heard a big snore from behind me.  I tried not to turn around and gawk, but all over the room, people's heads raised and looked in my direction.  I turned around, too, so they'd know it wasn't I who had made the noise.  Behind me, a man wearing a baseball cap with the brim pulled down over his eyes, was slumped in his chair with his chin on his chest.  

All of us on-lookers smiled at each other and went back to our books and magazines.  The guy continued to snore.  Big, gurgling snorky sounds that wo uld embarrass you in church.  I felt sorry for the guy, for he had not been there more than five minutes; he had to have been exhausted to have fallen asleep that fast.

After a while, a nurse came out and called, "Mr. Rogers?"  (Seriously.)  No one answered.  She called his name again.  Still no answer.  When it looked like she was about to give up, I waved to catch her attention, and when she noticed me, I hooked my thumb out and motioned behind me.  I mouthed, "He's asleep."  The nurse smiled and came over, touched him on the knee, and woke him up.  He startled and said, "I work nights!" and followed her to an office.  I hope he made it home okay.

The Daughter-in-Law got a good report (and was cleared to drive).  Before we left the big city, we made a quick stop by the hobby store.  I just needed one tube potters pink watercolor paint.  The store did not have that color - in fact, their watercolor paint selection (a store brand, I think) was pretty unimpressive - but - well, you know how it is.  A person like me doesn't walk into a store like that a come out empty-handed.  I got a pen, some nice hot-press watercolor paper, and a tube of olive green paint.

Yesterday was to have been my regular "office day," and I had expected to go to the office after returning from the doctor visit.  I'd left my office laptop at home so that it wouldn't get stolen from my car, so after I took my daughter-in-law to her house, I had to come home to gather my work materials.  Before I could get out the door, my phone rang with some business calls, and I ended up setting my stuff down and just working from home for the rest of the day.  

Toward the end of the day, I swatched. It was the new olive green tube of paint that started it.  I wanted to see what color it was on paper.  This led me to dig out all of my olive greens to compare them.  They were each a different color and texture.  This led me to do the same comparison with all of the colors in my tube paint stash, and then I added some from the paint pan sets.  I even did the swatches on a nice chart, labeling each color and brand.  It was good exercise, good practice.  

* * * * * * * * 

A nice, gentle rain is falling this morning.  We need it.  Last week when I went to the vegetable garden to get dirt for a soil test, the dirt was dry as a bone.  The mustard greens I'd planted a week or two ago were starting to come up, but not as thickly as I had expected.  Also sprouting were purple hull peas from the dried pea vines that The Husband had tilled into the soil when we cleaned up the garden.  Maybe this rain will bring the mustard on up.  Unless we have a r-e-a-l-l-y long, really warm autumn, the peas won't have time to make; we'll just till them and the mustard back into the soil, come spring. 

As I was roaming around the yard yesterday, I noticed that there was a large brown section of limbs in our pink spirea bush, and for probably the first time in the 20 years since the bush was first planted, I watered it, well and deeply.  

I'd just been pulling weeds from the flower bed along the north side of the back porch and noted how dry the soil was, and since I was standing nearby with the water hose in my hand, I decided to give that bed a good soaking.  When the water hit the soil, a little pencil-sized snake slithered out from under the leaves of that bed and into the bed of monkey grass that edges the patio.  The snake was too quick for me to get a good look at it, but it was tan, with some sort of pattern on its back.  It was likely either a rat snake or a copperhead.  

I HAD JUST BEEN TROMPING AROUND IN THAT BED.  In sandals.  

I turned the hose on full blast and aimed a jet at the monkey grass, trying to run the snake off, but if he left the vicinity to escape the pounding, I did not see it.  

For the rest of the season, I shall not be working in the yard without my boots.