For years (heck, decades!), I’ve decorated for Christmas on Thanksgiving Day. I’m not sure why the desire to get all holiday festive is hitting me early this year, but it is. Looking at the forecast for early next week, it’s pretty likely my decorating urges will increase.
The trees here at the barndo are getting naked quickly.
The wind was strong enough a couple days ago that our trees shed a good bit of their leaves. Even though fall isn’t officially over until December 20th, the rural landscape here is getting ready for winter. I figure I should do the same. Right?
Perry has new glasses — better to see decorations with. 🎄
Sadly, today is his last day of vacation and he’s yet to build me that coffee table I want. Once there’s no one around to watch me as I struggle trying to do it myself, I may just see what me and youtube can come up with.
Now you know: When Margaret Keane sued her ex-husband, Walter Keane, for plagiarizing her work, the judge asked both of them to create a painting in her signature style in front of the courtroom. Walter declined, citing a sore shoulder, whereas Margaret completed her painting in 53 minutes.
About 7 years ago, I bought a coffee table from Wayfair that was “solid wood.” It was expensive enough to be solid wood and even looked like solid wood. That is… until baby Merida chewed the bottom shelf and exposed pressed wood under the veneer. Do your own search online and you’ll find that “solid wood” means it’s solid glued sawdust from wood at least 90% of the time.
No false advertising here!
Today I’m just going to give my honest reviews of a few products/services you might want to try, because if you’re like me, you have certain items that you buy and no generic will do. Of course, many others have their favorites on those same products that are different from my hard line choices. For example, the Pesky Neighbors swear by Dean’s Cottage Cheese (my least favorite brand), while I’m team Prairie Farms.
When my friend, Julie, told me Hellman’s mayo wasn’t nearly as good as Duke’s, I had to see for myself if she was right. Off to Sam’s Club to pick up a jar of Julie’s mayo…
Here are a few of my favorites — do you align with my choices?
Stick with Hellman’s. Hellman’s is sweeter and milder. Duke’s has a pronounced tart tang.
Red Gold ketchup. While most of you will say Heinz is the way to go, it’s sweeter with less tomato taste.
Eckrich bologna & smoked sausage. Oscar Mayer doesn’t hold a candle to Eckrich compared to these 2 products.
Just Bare Chicken. Both the bites and strips are lightly breaded… perfect on salads or stand alone.
StarKist Tuna in water. Get back Chicken of the Sea and other brands… no generic will do for me.
Athletic shoes… Hoka, Brooks, and On (in that order). No Walmart tennis shoes for this girl.
Technology devices — Apple. While I use many other brands of technology (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Android, etc.), if I could only have one, it would be Apple.
Streaming service — currently, YouTube TV. Again, I have other streaming services including Prime Video, Discovery, Netflix and more, but if I could only have one, it would be YouTube TV.
Fast food burgers and fries — Culver’s. I like McDonalds, Steak n’ Shake and others, but Culver’s is my current favorite.
Local news — The Crothersville Times.
AI image generator — ChatGPT is currently in the lead.
And finally, the best view of the sky — Crothersville, IN.
Now you know: The Crothersville Times is the largest newspaper in Jackson County, Indiana. Each year in October newspapers are required to submit and publish their statement of ownership and circulation with the US Post Office. This year, 2025, the Seymour Tribune reported their circulation at 1,730. For the same time period the Crothersville Times reported circulation of 1,880.
Today, I will be mailing off an external drive full of video recordings. It’s my last official obligation after the year-long planning of the “Largest OEM Fixed Operations Conference in the World!” Choosing speakers, negotiating fees, nailing down contracts, (preparing EFT forms and jumping through hoops to get ACH payments sent out), coordinating logistics, timings and more — to finally providing the recorded content and photos taken at the event.
WHEW! And Happy Halloween! 🎃
I felt relieved when tying the last bow on the event package.
Right now, I have no motivation to start the process to do it all over again. I just wanted to take a quiet walk in celebration.
It’s different when you’re not providing a service (a single speaker in my case), but instead are responsible for all the facets on the planning side of things. I can negotiate a gig, prepare a contract, invoices, and W-9 in a few hours. Then, that event gets put to the side until 2 weeks out when travel & hotel are coordinated. A quick follow-up post event and we’re off to the next one.
Planning an event with multiple entertainers is like herding cats.
Booking my favorite brother, I know he’s going to show up on time and crush it onstage. I know this because of my past experience of seeing it happen time and time again. It’s not like that when you secure multiple entertainers who all have different demands, A/V delivery preferences, etc. And just like any other type of business — some are easy to work with and others…erm… not so much.
The event was an amazing success — feedback was that it was the best one ever — but I don’t even feel like ‘spiking the ball’ in celebration. That’s a sure sign I’m in desperate need of a break from all things pertaining to events.
Fall is here and the leaves will soon be gone. I’m going to enjoy it for a couple weeks before deciding how I want to move forward.
How do you feel once you complete a long term project?
Now you know: During the 1970s energy crisis, Richard Nixon skipped Air Force One and took a regular United Airlines flight from Washington to Los Angeles. It’s the only time a sitting US president has ever flown commercially.
I forgot to celebrate the anniversary of the barndo purchase, even though it’s one of the highlights of my existence. I forgot to celebrate on July 30th — the day I made the offer and it was accepted. And I let the anniversary date of the closing — October, 13, 2022 — slip right by without any fanfare.
I’ve been at the barndo 3 years now, WHAT!?
It doesn’t seem like I’ve been living here 3 years. This will be our 3rd winter here and we’re currently enjoying our 3rd fall at the barndo. The photo below, taken from the Villa before its sale — the home where I lived for decades and raised my son — seems crazy now considering the roof in the background is ME!
For the record, I missed that place while living in Seymour… even though Ben & Coco were living there… but I don’t miss it at all anymore. I had it fixed up pretty darned cute at that time, don’t you think?
New owners with different priorities.
The villa doesn’t look like that now. But the barndo doesn’t look like it did in October 2022 either. Big changes both outside and inside…
Happy belated anniversary, barndo. I’ll love you forever. 🩷
Now you know: Bruce Willis was offered $3 million (for four days of work) to return in The Expendables 3 (2014), but turned it down because he wanted $4 million instead. Sylvester Stallone and “everybody else involved” rejected Willis’ demand and moved on by replacing him with Harrison Ford within 72 hours.
Cleaning house with 3 toddlers — or 3 dogs — is nearly impossible. The current cooler weather, (downright cold in my book — 1st morning at 32°!) with warm sunshine exacerbates the challenge. When Merida comes in, Hugo goes out. Hugo beats the door to come in, and Merida goes out. Dharma joins into the rotation about every 3 excursions.
It’s the dog’s couch, not mine.
Hugo has a spot he likes on the couch. It’s the corner so I’m constantly fluffing those pillows because he flattens them. I’ve tried putting throw pillows in that spot to deter him… but that doesn’t work. He scrunches his way up there anyway like it’s his job to mash those pillows until they’re out of shape.
Besides 3 toddlers, I have 2 other children I have to manage.
Mr. Pesky got a new iPhone — newer than my model — and I’m jealous. No way he could set it up by himself or prepare his old one for trade in. Not gonna’ lie, with all the security enhancements and different ecosystems for multiple devices, it’s complicated. I got him all set but figure there will be tweaks required tomorrow. Ms. Pesky is technically challenged also. She always has some TV issue that needs attention.
I tease them and say they need rotary phones and rabbit ears on an old console TV with no remote, but it actually works out pretty good overall. I may be the one that helps with the tech issues, but Mr. Pesky can sharpen a lawn mower blade so sharp that it could slice a hair down the middle. 😉
Time for the ole’ outside boiler to be fired up?
Fluff brought another 5 rick of wood to add to the huge pile out there already and will add another 5 to that next week. That will more than last through the winter, no matter how cold it gets. We had our first big freeze overnight and I’m ready for Perry to fire that thing up! Get ready southern Indiana… the leaves will be turning now!
Now you know: About 30% of people are natural “night owls,” genetically predisposed to peak later in the day.
