Merry Christmas

Here is a picture of our dear friends M & B's home in New Orleans.  They stopped by to visit us last week to get the Christmas quilt pattern picture that they commissioned. 

I think this looks pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

Heaven Help Gatlinburg

Unless you've been living under a rock the past couple of days, you know that most of the city of Gatlinburg has been destroyed by fires. The infamous Hillbilly Golf is one of the many businesses destroyed by the wildfires. 

I pray that they can get some much needed rain today and tomorrow to help put out the fires.  TWIT hopes that the city will be able to rebuild and rebound.

Hurry Up New Year's Day

As you know from time to time, TWIT enlightens you, faithful readers, about National holidays.  Like, National Talk Like A Pirate Day (one of my personal favorites), for instance.  

A few weeks ago, I got a cool 2017 calendar about National holidays.  So never fear - I will be keeping you all posted on any exciting and interesting National days.  

Stay tuned.

WTG Alabama!

TWIT would like to congratulate the Alabama Crimson Tide on their win yesterday over Auburn.  This makes an impressive 12-0 record for the regular season. 



Roll Tide!!!!!

WTG UK!!

TWIT would like to congratulate UK on their win over 11th ranked U of L in today's Governor's Cup.  They beat the Cardinals 41 to 38 in a game that went down to the final seconds. 

I'm pretty sure I can speak for most UK fans in saying that this is truly a Thanksgiving miracle.  But a win is a win. 

BBN!!!!

Black Friday Shopping Update

No, I was not up at 3:30 yesterday morning to do Black Friday shopping.  I slept in until 9:30, and it was awesome.  

My only Black Friday shopping consisted of going to Rite-Aid to buy Kleenax for a buck a box.  Believe me when I tell you that the 'Rents and I went through many boxes of Kleenax the past four weeks while going through the Ohio Valley Crud.  At least we've got our Kleenax supply built back up. 

Happy Thanksgiving

TWIT would like to wish you, faithful readers, a very Happy Thanksgiving.  

I am thankful that you've spent a few minutes of your day with me over the years reading my thoughts and rants here on TWIT.  

This Day In Music History

On this day in music history, "Stand By Your Man" by The First Lady of Country Music, Miss Tammy Wynette, was #1 on the country charts, where it would stay for three weeks.  

The song was written in just fifteen minutes by Tammy Wynette and her producer Billy Sherrill.  

Tuesday, Tuesday

I am already dreading tomorrow.  The forecast is for 100% chance of rain all day long.  This means that traffic on the way to to work tomorrow will be crazier than when it is snowing.  We haven't had any rain in months, so people will have forgotten how to drive in the rain.  

I can only hope for a better commute home tomorrow afternoon, with a lot of people taking off and a lot leaving early, hopefully our afternoon commute in the rain will be drama-free. 

Monday, Monday

Today was a better Monday than I had expected.  I was busy all day, but it was better than I was anticipating.  Which means Tuesday will probably be worse.  But it is what it is. I've got a lot of friends going through a whole lot of crap right now, and compared to what we have going on here at The Compound, we are doing great.  Our only real drama right now is fitting in time to get The Compound decorated in between painting and working.  But it will all even out.

Another Ohio Valley Weather Update

Everyone I came in contact with today said the same thing -- on Friday, they had their a/c on and on Saturday, they flipped it over to the furnace.

We woke this morning to a very cold November day.  We were wearing our winter coats, and everyone had the furnace on. 

I'm hoping that when I get to heaven, the temperature will be perfect, and there won't be any flipping back and forth from a/c to the furnace.

Ohio Valley Weather Update

Thursday and Friday, the highs were 80 degrees.  Last night, a front moved through and today's high is 46, with lows of the 20's expected the next few nights.  Recap -- people went from having their a/c on to having the furnace on.  It's crazy.  

We are all hoping for the few nights of temps in the 20's to kill all of the germs in the air.  As of now, half of Louisville is sick with the same coughing crap that the 'Rents and I had for three weeks.  And if the below-freezing temps don't kill the germs, the other half of Louisville will be sick.

Flashback Friday Not

It's been a rough week at work, and a busy week here at The Compound with tons of painting that we need to do to fill orders, and as I sit here at the computer, I'm not able to come up with a Flashback Friday moment.  If my mind wasn't too full of stuff, I'm sure I could come up with something.  For for now, I got nothing.

The End Of The World As We Know It

Today, we had a major, major change in our Production Scheduling Department at work.  Everyone's work hours changed.  

 In order to have coverage early in the morning before night shift leaves and when day shift gets in in the factory, our department has to have someone there to cover.  We had someone that volunteered to be there at 6:30 every morning, until today.  

I spent over an hour today trying (key word) to make a schedule so we would have coverage, and first and foremost, to make sure it was fair for everyone.  I think we have it figured out.  For December.  When January comes, that's another ball game.

Lost and Not Found

It's been a while since we've been on a hunt for a major lost item here at The Compound, so we were well past due.  

Tonight we are searching for my blue Aluma Wallet.  It's the little wallet that is virtually indestructible, and has the lining to keep the hackers from stealing your credit card info.  This one doesn't contain credit cards; it is full of something much more valuable -- a dozen rewards cards from various stores and restaurants.  Now you know why it is so valuable. 

We are going to continue the search tonight until we either find it or get tired.

I'll keep you posted. 

UPDATE:
The missing blue Aluma Wallet was found about 5 minutes after I posted this last night.  I'm thinking my Faithful Readers gave me good karma. 

Public Service Announcement

Dear local Wal-Mart:

Why on earth did you take down every single wall rack of women's socks and put them all in two four-foot square boxes?  

I spent 30 minutes this afternoon trying to find a couple pairs each of brown, black, navy, and gray socks.  Trying is the key word.  The only thing I accomplished was spending 10 more minutes helping a woman find her watch that fell off while she was digging through one of the big boxes of socks. 

This is the main reason why people, including myself, will spend more money to shop online.  

Your former favorite customer, 
Puddin

WTG, Team

I would like to publicly thank my security and medical teams at church for an awesome job yesterday.  After Sunday School and before the church service, we had a medical emergency, and everyone did great.  They knew what they were supposed to do and where they were supposed to be, and 99.9% of the congregation didn't even know that we had a medical emergency going on.  

This is why we have procedures and plans in place.  We hope that we never need them, but when we do, we are ready to roll.  

And as a P.S., the lady involved in the medical emergency is fine, thank the Lord.

Business is Booming

This morning at church, I got not one but two orders for quilt block pattern pictures.  We've also got a backlog of orders that we need to fill.  But with all of us being sick with bad colds for three weeks, we all didn't feel like working.  I know that sounds like an excuse, but we're not going to attempt to work on a picture that some is paying their hard earned cash for unless we are able to give it 100%.  

I had enough energy and a steady hand this afternoon to finish one of the pictures in our backlog, the Texas Star, and I think it's going to be one of our prettiest ones yet.  I will be sure to post a picture when it's completed tomorrow. 

Anyhoo, other than all of us hacking and blowing our noses for the past three weeks, that's pretty much all that's been going on at The Compound.  

We are praying for bettah dayz.

Craft Festival Update

Pap's Barn Art had a booth at my church's annual Christmas Craft Shop, and I am very happy to report that we sold two pictures, and received orders for two more!  It was a great day.  I really enjoyed visiting with the couple that had the booth next to ours. They were telling me that I should get a booth at a fair the first weekend in December at a Catholic church in the east end of town.  If I can get some pictures painted to replace the ones sold today, I think I'm going to go for it.

Happy Veterans Day

TWIT and I would like to wish an extra special happy Veterans Day to my favorite veteran, my daddy. He proudly served in the Navy during the Korean War.  

You rock.  Thank you for your service.

WTG, Mama

I would like to personally say way to go, Mama, for fixing an awesome supper tonight.  She fixed a big pot of Great Northern beans cooked with a big ham bone, a marinated pork loin, and a big cast iron skillet full of corn bread.  

With all of the turmoil, bitching, gloating, and protesting going on today, I think this is something that we are going to celebrate.

Election Thoughts

Like about half of the country, I am still in shock about the outcome of the presidential election.  I'd like to think it is just a bad dream, but unfortunately, I think it turned into a nightmare; a reality TV personality is going to be the next President of the USA.

All I am going to say is that while Donald Trump is going to be our new President, God is still God, and He is still in control, regardless of who is in the Oval Office.

Happy Election Day

As I type this, the polls on the eastern third of the country are closing in about five minutes.  Then we can get settled in for a long, long night of election coverage. But enough of that.  I want to talk about something odd that happened this morning when the 'Rents and I went to vote.  There was a black cat running around the polls.  It would first walk around the people standing in line to sign in, and then it would go walk around the little voting stands.  Either way, it was disturbing.  Someone is going to have bad luck today.

Trivia Update

I am very, very happy to report that Team Divas came in first place tonight at the weekly trivia game.  

It was a very rough night, and I'm not ashamed to say that coming to the final round, the Divas were in last place.  But thanks to our knowledge and our wagering, we came in first.  

It's been a long dry spell since Team Divas were in first place, and we are going to bask in the glory until next Monday night.

Fall Festival Update

Pap's Barn Art had a booth yesterday at a local Catholic church's annual craft and Christmas festival.  I'm happy to report that we sold one picture and one hand-painted purse.  At least the sales covered the cost of my booth.  

Not being one to get discouraged, I'm going to be back at it again next Saturday at my church's annual Christmas Gift Shop.  Who knows? Maybe I'll slip up and sell another picture!

While my festival sales have been very disappointing, my online sales through Facebook have proven to be fairly profitable. 

All in all, I'm not giving up.  We started this venture as a family project - something that we could all do together.  We're already planning on what we will do this winter. We'll be looking for new quilt patterns and will be ready for the spring festivals. 

Quote Of The Month

A quote from the great Native American Tecumseh, before the Battle at Tippecanoe.  And I quote: 

First Smart Phones, Now Smart Toilets?

Happy National Sandwich Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very happy National Sandwich Day.  

You still have time to get to Penn Station and get a free six-inch sandwich when you buy any sandwich.  

And if you're still not full after that, you can get on over to your nearest Taco Bell and get a free Locos Doritos taco.  Tell them that Puddin sent you. 

Halloween Review

I think I don't want to eat anymore miniature Snickers for a while.  Just saying.  I am embarrassed to say how many Snickers (variety) miniatures we've eaten since Sunday night.  We're glad that Halloween is once a year.