Merry Christmas

We are off to Arkansas first thing this AM for Christmas. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad for the trip there and back.

I hope everyone has  a great Christmas!


Check out the heart shaped tater:

 Texas last week:

 A deer looking at us:

I am working this morning, though I have little to do at the moment. Essentially, I am a receptionist/greeter. It is good experience though, I have already had my first difficult patron. Great way to start, huh?

Carol and I went for a nice walk yesterday. We saw 8 deer, 2 armadillos, and a number of birds (not all at once!). It was a great day for a walk, cool, sunny, and no breeze.

No word on the job horizon, but I keep hoping. Another position may open up in the new year, so I keep my fingers crossed. The new one might be more suitable than the current one.

This coming Saturday, we are heading up to Arkansas for Christmas. We will be gone for 4 days total. Carol is really excited to be heading out. It has been two years, almost, since we last saw everyone. Hopefully, the weather will be great for the trip.

A pattern of posting has developed. I am, as you may have guessed, back at the bookstore tonight. Two weeks between posts seems like way too many, however, my life is quite quiet at the moment.

For those who are interested in sharing my misery, there was snow on stuffs this morning. Not much, but this is only Dec. 5 for goodness sakes. We should not see snow ever, and if we do it cannot appear until Feb, and then must dissappear immediately!! It is not going to warm up much at all this week either. Can you feel my misery? The only good that might come out of all this is that we received over an inch of rain over the weekend. Not enough to truly end the drought, but it is welcome.

My phone rang this afternoon and I now have a job interview Thursday. The job is within walking distance, and it is in a library, so keep your fingers crossed. I would mention place, job, etc., but I am afraid that might hurt my chances. The internet is a small world, and everything one does online remains online. It would not be an ideal job for me, but it would be a good job.

We finished our Christmas shopping today, Yaayah!! Carol is already excited about seeing her family and spending time with them. It has been far too long between visits.

Got some lettuce out of our garden last week and given the current conditions, it may be the last thing we get. Oh well.

Thanksgiving was nice. It was great to see Carol's parents and to visit with them. The driving conditions were decent though I took the wrong exit on the way back, again. Cost us another 20 minutes in the car. Shortest route there and back is the one that takes the most time to cover. We helped put up their Christmas tree, and I know Carol really enjoyed doing that.

I have some part time hours over the holidays. Won't bring in much money, but it will help. Working the desk saying howdee, and smiling. High visibility position, so the lack of money can be compensated by the hope that I might be noticed by those who like to hire peoples. I really miss working for a wage, even more than I miss the wage.

I suspect it will be a slow night tonight. Too cold and miserable for anyone to venture out into the dark unless they absolutely must. Wish I were at home curled up under a blanket instead of here freezing. The AC is still on!!!

Back at the bookstore again tonight. The store has a few browsers, but is not busy at the moment. It is rainy and rather cool tonight, so it will be interesting to see if many people show up at all. I hope to see lots of people come through.

Carol was feeling a bit lonely tonight, so she followed me to the store. I have her locked in the back room doing some grading. I might (maaybee) let her out when I leave tonight.

I was given another two weeks of work at the library after the expected ending after the classes finished. I did enjoy my time there, and I made the most of it. I may be called back at the intersession (between fall and semester) if I don't find something else before then. Not likely, but maybe. It has  been great to be working, even if it was only part time, and the extra money has made a difference.

We are heading off to Arkansas come Wednesday to have Thanksgiving at Carol's parents. It will be nice to see them again. The last time we saw them was just before Christmas last year. Given the pressure Carol was under in the spring/summer, there was just no time to go see them earlier. I am hoping that the fall color will still be on the trees for the trip. Here, with all the wind, we have not really had much color at all. The long drought did not help any either. We should be back late Friday or early Saturday.

I have been negligent with my posts lately though I have been thinking about writing a post lately. The problem is that not much has been happening. Same old, same old, mostly. 

Right now I am sitting in the Friends of the Library bookstore selling books cheap. Not only are the regular prices a steal, it is a pre-booksale sale with everything marked down half-price. So a 50 cent paperback is now only a quarter!! A great deal. I sold 13 dollars worth of harlequin romances to one woman who will be giving them to her mother-in-law who is 89 and loves them. Especially, if there is a cowboy on the cover. I have been obligated to buy some expensive books my self. One set was a collection of last lines of poetry for ten bucks, and the other was an older dictionary, which I just love. I have loved old dictionaries from the moment Dad brought home a discard from the high school (missing cover, missing a few pages up into the A's as well, now there is a problem, really, the apostrophe should not be there, but without it it looks like as, which would be incorrect-grammar alert/problem!!). I still have that book, and I still love it. 

Work is going well. I have been given another week of work after this week (a total of two weeks extra now), so I am pleased. The job is still easy, but offering some interesting opportunities. 

The pansies are doing great. I have dug up a large garden but have not gotten around to planting the carrots and radishes just yet. Hopefully, I can get that done this week. 

Four customers here now, looking good!!

A storm ripped through town last night knocking out the power briefly. No biggie, I don't think, but I will have to go around and reset all my clocks. I hate blinking clocks. I have been known to set the clocks on items that are not mine to set, say microwaves and coffee makers at work.

I have the windows open this morning letting in the cold air. The storm has cooled things down again. It was warm and wonderful yesterday, today it will be cool and less pleasant. Fall is no fun.

Carol comes home tonight after a few days at the wild librarian type conference. Cats will be happy to see her as I have pretty much ignored the poor critters while she has been away.

I'll likely go for a run this morning over in the seement park. The trail at the other place will be too mucky after the rain to be safe.