The weather means we're putting the holiday off until probably mid-January so we can do the little we wanted to do for each other, family and a few choice friends. But that's ok, just gives me more time to knit up things. Of course, that means less time next year to knit up things for the holiday, but so it goes. If it's not one thing, it's another. The road right now is completely free of ice, but it all melted so fast that the dirt, which is Arkansas clay, is still slippy and nasty. It's not so bad when it's cool enough that it gets solid, but in the 40s and up, it gets really bad right now.
Quentin is crazy enough that he wants to try to get the van up the road all the way anyhow, and he'll likely get it stuck like he did the other day. And this time, there's not a soul that can be up in the middle of the night to help him get out of the ditch. Eric had to come help Sunday night. I keep telling Quentin not to worry about it until the road dries out, but he keeps on about how he hates the walking. Well, try my end of it, buddy. My car won't even get the halfway up the road to Cliff's place that the van will, so I have had to walk a MILE, mostly uphill, for well over a week. He only has a half-mile with an easier slope. And I'm older and in not as good a health as he is, with my heart having issues, but I do it every day and don't gripe. Sheesh. Wimp.
For some reason, I'm reminded, I meant to write about this a couple of weeks ago. Amber called me out of the blue one Friday night, as apparently she was out with some friends doing all her Christmas shopping. It was a fun call, considering how Amber is not the most talkative person on the phone. She's like me in that respect. I don't like talking on the phone much, either, other than to Mom every week or so, and of course, to her any chance I get. Anyhow, the conversation went like this (remember, she's 20 and excited about the holiday) that Friday night.
A: Mom! What do you want for Christmas?!
Me: I dunno. Whatever you think I'd like. I'm not picky.
A: I don't know what you'd like. Help me out here!
Me: Well, I can email you a list this Sunday, and you can ...
A: NO! I'm doing all my shopping tonight, so I need to know now!
Me: Ummm ... Gramma still has that list I think, that I gave her a few years ago of things anybody can get me for birthdays and Christams, and be safe.
A: NO! Gramma might not answer the phone and even if she does, I don't think she has the list anymore. I need help, Mom! (Turns out later that she didn't have the list any more ... oops.)
(Background chatter from Amber's friends.)
A: How about some alcohol, Mom!
Me: I don't drink, honey.
A: How about a nice bottle of wine, then? How about a nice bottle of chardonnay?
Me: I still don't drink, and you can't ship alcohol through the mail.
A: Drat. (more muttering with friends) How about a nice memory foam pillow, Mom? Would you like a nice memory foam pillow?
Me: I don't need a pillow, sweetie, but it's a nice thought.
A: What do you want then?
Me: By now, you know books and yarn and candles are always a good choice.
A: Okay. Hey, Brandon! Is that a JoAnn's over there in that little strip mall across the street? It is? Great, we're heading there now then. Drive, man! Ok, Mom, you're getting yarn for Christmas. Bye! *click*
You have to admire her tenacity in trying to figure out what to get me when she's bamboozled, despite knowing for years what I like as gifts. She's just got so much on her mind right now. At that point, her college vocal ensemble was preparing hard for their holiday Madrigal at the Masonic Temple in downtown Flint (which that building is three stories of magnificence, complete with a single-level dinner theater on one level). Semester ended the 12th, but she still has/had to prepare for all her juries, which means she has to prepare to sing for judges to determine what her next semester's vocal classes are. She's going for a Bachelor's in Vocal Performance, and she's quite good.
That's not just Mom-talk. She's always been a good vocalist, and she's pretty, and has the talent and drive to make it. It's just a matter of getting her through college so she has the serious work to put her voice to it's best use, and she's loving the time and effort. Her life is music, music, music. Very little else. But she's happy with her choice and that's what counts, I think, more than anything, for her. She may end up spending most of her life saying, "And would you like fries with that?" to make a regular paycheck, but her music is her life. She's good at drawing manga, too ... if she lost her singing voice, she could still make a darned good living drawing manga. That young lady got the best of everything that her genetics could give her, she is just that blessed - looks and talent and brains. In her, I hit the trifecta of motherhood ... a child who was and is everything that I could have ever hoped for. Okay, enough about my darling daughter, who makes my world so special.
By Wednesday, the road had finally not only melted off but had dried up enough that I could get the car all the way home and in the drive! YAY! No more walking - at least for now. There's still a couple minor slippy spots, but nothing really bad as long as you're going fast enough to ramrod past them. Even in my little subcompact, I can do a redneck yeehaw up the road and get here most of the time, so getting up the road tonight was really nice, and when Quentin called at his break to find out whether I had to walk or not, he was surprised ("Come on, tell me you're joking and really didn't get all the way up the road!") as well as thrilled because it means his walking is over, too. Whew. I don't mind the exercise, but it was getting a bit ridiculous.
Update on that stupid hospital bill garnishment, which is getting fun, lol. The six months on the existing garnishment ended, and of course, the hospital's attorneys went back ASAP for more money with another garnishment. But they made some serious mistakes this time, which meant I got to write a nice little three-page letter to the court about it. Mistakes like changing the amount of what's supposedly owed to a different amount (slightly less, but still - a different amoutn), and oh yeah, the amount they stated as what has been paid so far was off by a good chunk. Like a $599 chunk short.
So off went the letter, along with copies of my spreadsheet showing all the payments, my latest pay stub showing the whole amount garnished so far, the court order showing the "extraordinary medical expenses" section, and a whole host of other documentation (three page letter to the court along with a dozen other pages of documentation - think it's enough?) ... along with a demand from me for this all to be fixed to my satisfaction. Oh yeah, they've woken the sleeping dog, and I'm a MEAN one when that kind of thing happens. Heh heh heh. They sure as heck are not going to like me when I'm done.
And the afghan is coming along nicely. Nearly four rows completely sewed together, and that's a good amount. I've also been working out the way I want to do the edging, so it will look nice when it's done. I can hardly wait to get it done and be able to show you pictures of it. I'm having such a good time this winter, compared to last winter, despite the issues of the ice and snow and the walking up and down the hill and all the rest of it. Yuletide is nearly here, and that means that the days will grow slowly longer and warmer, and I'm feeling really blessed by it all.
Friday and it's nice to have the work week over. Hard to believe that Christmas is just days away and the new year literally right around the corner. I'm wondering where in heck 2013 has gone. So weird to think that counting this post, I have a whole two blog entries left in this year before I start writing in 2014. I sit here and I'm both happy it's over for all the bad things that happened, but sad, too, because it's another year over and the end of the year always brings a few tears for me. But there's hope, too, because a new year always means a new chance to get things done that need to be done.
We found out today that the broken x-ray machine (mine) is not likely to get fixed any time soon. It's in need of a new camera inside, which is at least $50,000, plus another $50,000 or more for the service call to get it in and the machine working right again. And since the company just had to shell out about $100,000 to fix the OTHER one that broke a few months ago, they're not too likely to want to shell out that much dough again any time soon. Kind of ouchy financially, but it will have to be fixed one of these days. It just means that we have to look for bones manually in the meantime, which isn't as fast or as accurate, but it gets the job done.
My section, x-ray, did a bit of a Christmas party today (Friday), in that many of us signed up to bring a dish to pass (I made ham roll ups, and I make them with bacon as well as the other stuff for extra yummy), and I have to agree with the one guy in x-ray who said as many desserts as people brought, it was going to be a game of Who Gets Diabetes First? He also said instead of doing Jell-O Shots, we'd be doing Insulin Shots. We all got a good laugh out of the joking. There was a lot of good food and we all ate like little piggies. I went crazy for the green grapes ... yum. And cheese and crackers and chips and dip and the joke guy made a homemade turtle cheesecake that went as fast as my roll ups. There was nothing left when we got done of those two things, and we were all full.
Still getting the car up the road by ramrodding it up the inclines, because while it's all clear and the daytime temps are nice, the ground is pretty frozen, and our part of the Ozarks is supposed to get some heavy rain between tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) night. I got home ok, but it's starting to mist and there's some serious fog, so it's going to be fun for Quentin, because from the number of trucks that were ordered for second shift tonight, it's not likely he's going to get done before 4 AM ... what a lovely time to be driving home up the road. At least it is supposed to be cold enough that any mud will have chilled down so it will be somewhat easier for him to get up the road. He'll just have to worry about the fog.
Now it's time to make some dinner, and that means spaghetti! I want some yummy, saucy, cheesy, hot pasta, and I'm gonna git it! Then I want to work some more on that afghan and maybe do some spinning and also work on some new socks. When I was at Wally World last night (had to get some gel insoles for my shoes - all the standing on concrete that I do hurts after a while, and the ones I had were worn out), I also picked up yarn for the border on the granny afghan as well as spying and buying a couple of skeins of regular acrylic yarn for some really wild and warm socks for work. Wool is great, but sometimes, I like to whip out a quick pair in worsted weight (what most people think of when they think "yarn"). They aren't as waterproofish (wool tends to wick moisture away from you), and often get really warm, but considering I work in a really cold environment, there are times they're fun. If you get a chance to find the colors Dayglo or Blacklight in Red Heart, that's what I got. Talk about some really eye-popping colors for socks. Folks are gonna need some shades to look at them when I'm done, lol.
Friday night about 10:30 PM to early Saturday morning, it rained like crazy. Poured buckets. There are places on the mountain road that are swamped with water from the rain, and the seasonal creek is running awful high. Too much more of this and the local creeks are going to flood, and they're near cresting already. I really feel for the folks in Oklahoma and Kansas, because the Friday night weather showed they were going to get completely shellacked by a foot or more of snow on top of what they've already had dropped on them.
I have to admit, this area has, like every other part of the world, it's own challenges to survive. Summers get hot and dry, spring and fall are usually damp and chilly, and winter is usually cold but not overly miserable. This winter was different from usual so far, making it a generally okay winter but with a bit of craziness to it with the ice and snow we had recently. Makes me remember that one of the reasons I moved south was work, and another was avoiding the long winters with all the snow and ice that Michigan has. I love my home state, don't get me wrong on that, but I do not miss the blasted winter weather one bit. I can live happily without snow at all. Okay, maybe a little dusting on Christmas, but that's about it. I like being able to take a broom out to sweep away the snow rather than having to drag out the snow shovel and the ice melter and such. The long nights are now over, though, with this weekend having the winter solstice, so days will be getting longer and longer by about a minute or so a day. For me, that means the worst of things are over, because it can't stay crappy outside for long when there's more sunshine to make it go away.
Quentin and I did manage to get out most of Saturday and get errands run and such, so that's a good thing. Cupboards are full, trash is out and burnt, laundry's caught up again, and oddly, we still have a good chunk of money left. The good thing about two paychecks is having money left over after the bills are paid, over and above what you need for basic groceries and gas for getting to and from work. At this rate, we might get out of debt by midsummer with any luck. I'm planning on it, anyhow. We shall see.
Of course, having extra money means also being able to do our holiday gifting in a couple of weeks, and a few after that, finally getting internet at home, and then working on getting a website set up for the farm, so things can get going in that direction. I have so many ideas of what to do and how to do it, and all written down, it's just a matter of getting it all done. Once there's internet here, it means a lot more can get done in a week than I can do now with one day available. Ain't that gonna be just grand? I think it will be. But it's time to get busy with the freebie books for the week, since I couldn't do much for a couple of weeks. See y'all later!
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FREE KINDLE BOOKS FOR THE WEEK
COOKBOOKS
HOMESTEADING BOOKS
Okay, I'm running out of time today to add more goodies to the list. I can't wait to get internet at home, because then I can share so many more goodies with you!
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