Christmas Decor

We haven’t put up Christmas decorations for the last couple of years, but this year it was time to do it again. Jim came up with the idea of making the stabilizer tripod into a Christmas tree, which is what you see above. I liked having the garland on it so it shows during the day.

 

Inside we put up our little table tree with fiber optic lights.  And you can see in the reflection in the window that we put up a string of lights above the kitchen slide as well.  It all looks very festive and puts us in the holiday mood.

 

We’ve each bought our Christmas gifts already. I got my Kindle which I am really enjoying a lot. 

 

Jim got a new TomTom GPS. It’s a 540TM that has a huge 5 inch screen and best of all, has lifetime traffic and map editions. I like that it speaks the name of the streets! With our amazon discount and TomTom’s 20% discount, it was a good buy. 

We went to Elizabethtown last Sunday so Linda Mossman could do some Christmas shopping at Kohl’s. We stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a “look see” and Jim and I found a comforter we both liked, so we got a “us” gift.  I really hated the paper-like backed spreads that come with RVs and wanted one for warmth if needed.  This one is more tan then it shows in this photo. Jim Mossman is going to show me how to use the bed skirt to cover the valance.

That’s been our week.  We are getting tired and are in the basic “survival” mode, which is work, eat and sleep. This week there will be even less time between eat and sleep as amazon.com changed our start time to an hour earlier; so now we start work at 5 a.m. which means we have to get up at 3 a.m. and leave for work at 4:15 a.m.  We get home about 5 p.m. have a drink with neighbors, cook dinner and eat then watch news and in bed by 7:30 p.m. or so.  But there is only three weeks left…we will survive.

There is only one road in to and out of the fulfillment center, so there is a lot of congestion. There are actually two traffic cops directing traffic each morning and evening to keep traffic flowing.  Sometimes we have to wait 10-15 minutes in line trying to get in to and out of work. That’s why we leave for work so early.

That’s it folks. Remember you are loved!

Thanksgiving 2010

Although we had to work for half a day on Thanksgiving Day, it went fast and we were paid time and a half.  Amazon.com closed from 11 a.m. till 10:30 p.m. so everyone had time to spend with family for the holiday.  Everyone appreciated it.

At 11 a.m. we all rushed home to make our side dishes to gather with others in the campground for a communal dinner celebration.  We had three turkeys that were deep fried, plus two hams.

 

 

Jim and Jerry Fuller carved up the meats as others “helped” by taking away the “bad” cuts as they said ha-ha.

The tables were full of wonderful food         
These dinners are always so nice because the food is homemade and not a commercial concoction. It was real turkey and not a turkey roll as so many restaurants are serving now a days. 

 

We enjoyed socializing with all the folks in our campground.  We all work together and it was special to have time to talk at leisure.   

     

Here the organizers, Mary and Jerry Fuller mingle.

Rocky, the campground owner, produces a drink that is a mix of apple juice, apple cider and cinnamon stick steeped together and then a “local libation”( if you know what I’m referring to) is added. Rocky calls this Apple Pie and it sure does taste like it.  It is so smooth and goes down so easy…mmmmm!!!!!  Rocky brought a quart to the dinner as his potluck contribution…we passed around the jug, as they say, and we all liked his “dish”. 

 

This Thanksgiving Day was also Jim’s 61st birthday. So Rocky brought Jim a pint of Apple Pie.  Really nice present!!!   

 

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Since going fulltime RVing we have had most of our holiday celebrations at RV parks’ potlucks.  They are wonderful, but I miss having a turkey sandwich later on in the day or the next day for lunch.  So this year we decided to roast a turkey the Saturday after Thanksgiving to accommodate that need. So yesterday we did just that.

We were just going to roast a turkey for sandwiches.  But if you are going to roast a turkey you might as well make stuffing (Jim’s favorite); then if you have turkey drippings you might as well make gravy.  So it ended up more like a full turkey dinner.  Mossman’s roasted a turkey breast for more white meat, and the Doyle’s brought breads and two bottles of Tabor Hill wine…yummmmm!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards we all sat around a campfire until it got too cold to be outside. This was a very special time together.

 

 

Hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends.  Remember, you are loved!

Happy Birthday, Jim

 

Yes, today is Jim’s 61st birthday and every seven years we can all be thankful for his existence as it falls on Thanksgiving Day.  So let’s all join in together now …. “Happy Birthday, Jim”. Wow, that was good!

We only have to work half a shift today, thank you amazon.com for allowing us to have time to celebrate with friends and for some, family.  Even the night shift doesn’t have to go in till the last half of their shift.  We also get a free pumpkin pie when we leave work today. 

Most of us at the campground will gather together to share a turkey dinner at 2 p.m. today.  We’ll be deep-frying three turkeys and baking a bunch of hams also.  It should a wonderful time together.

Remember, dear friends, you are all loved and I am very thankful for you all!

Louisville Slugger Museum

Thursday last we took a 1 1/2 hour drive to Louisville (85 miles) to see the Louisville Slugger Museum.  It is an item on my personal “bucket list” so I was rather excited.

First we stopped by Maria’s Pizza to get some fresh donuts…yes, at a pizza place…in this economy you learn to diversify, right?

Look at the size of the Apple Fritters they make!!

 

 

They also do a mean pull pork sandwich I hear.  At 8:00 a.m. they had the smoker cranked up doing that.  Check out the cute handles … those are axes!

 

I read the biography of Mark Twain on my Kindle while Jim drove to Louisville.

The factory and museum is right in the middle of downtown. 

Sits on the corner

This is the entrance!

The museum is very well done with mannequins you walk around and different baseball displays.

This shows how they bore out the “billets”	Another method

The tour of the actual factory was extremely interesting but they wouldn’t allow any photographs.  It’s still a very small operation with few employees. Commercial bats are made on the left side and the bats for the pros are made on the right side. It’s been automated since 1980 and only takes 30 seconds to make a bat now….used to take 30 minutes with a steam lathe before then.

It sure was exciting to see the hand dipping of colors and finish coatings (black and tan is now the popular combination). We also got to see the billet stocks held in bins for each major league player. We actually got to see Colorado Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki’s bin of billets waiting to be made into bats…very exciting!!!

Being major baseball fans, Jim and I really enjoyed our day.  Their gift shop was being renovated so they had a lot of stuff at the main entrance at reduced prices.  Jim got a good-looking shirt at 75% off and only had to pay $13 for it.

Since I usually take all the photos a couple of people asked to see a photo of me once in a while.  So here you go.  These were taken at the museum in front of a wall of signatures used on the bats of all the pro baseball players.

             

                         

Remember, you are loved.

Kindle arrived!!!

Yes, my Kindle has arrived and I am really enjoying it.

Originally I downloaded the "Kindle for PC" and downloaded a couple of free books to make sure I would enjoy reading a book on the computer and not regret having a "book in hand" and would not miss the tactile feel of a book in my hands.  But I was OK with reading a book on the laptop....I was just “into the book” itself and it didn't seem to matter to me what form it came in.  So I ordered the Kindle.  It really helped when a friend turned me on to all the websites available for free and inexpensive Kindle books.  No, they aren’t the newly published books, but still found lots of stuff I was interested in reading. 

I bought the 3G model with the built-in capability of getting online to download books, without having to be in a WiFi spot.  I downloaded books on Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Thoreau, and a lot of other classics. I downloaded the complete works of Mark Twain for $4.99!!! There are also a lot of really good unknown fiction authors that are available for free downloading. There are also many good non-fiction books and reference books available for free.

I have downloaded a couple books I paid for but they are of my favorite authors who only put out one book a year and I didn't want to wait till next summer to read them...usually I wait and get them from the library in Colorado when we return for the summer.  But even those are pretty cheap.  Even newly published hardcovers are only $12 for Kindle version. I bought the latest Jan Karon's Father Tim series "Home to Holly Springs" which was $7.99 in paperback, $5.99 on amazon.com and Kindle version was only $2.65!!!  So that's not bad.

Luckily, I can read while in a car so it is very handy to take along my Kindle in it’s quilted case that even fits in my little purse and not have to schlep around a tote bag with books and magazine. So I’m very happy with my Christmas gift to me! Now I’m just spending waaaay too much time online searching for Kindle books to download.

Remember, you are loved.

Autumn Colors

Here are some photos I took of the “colors” here in Kentucky.  Words aren’t needed….Enjoy!!!

Here are a couple of photos of our campground showing the colors.

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember, you are loved.

News Article in Local Paper

While reading today’s post on Larry Harmon’s Mountainborn Chronicles blog, I saw the local newspaper, Central Kentucky News-Journal, had an article the other day on seasonal workers at amazon.com. 

The article was pretty good and nice for the local folks to hear a little about our RVing lifestyle. Having so many of us in town has really had a positive impact on the community and surrounding areas.  Having three days off a week, we have time to play “tourist” and visit local attractions like distilleries on the Bourbon Trail, Churchill Downs, Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Louisville Slugger Museum, etc. all within easy driving distance.

We were tired this week and have laid low the last two days of our time off.  Wednesday was chore day with laundry, cleaning and Jim shampooing the carpets.  Our “sweet” pups have been on a rebellious streak this last week and have turned over the trash a few times and “relieved” themselves a few times while we’ve been working. One of our neighbors walks our dogs twice a day, so that’s not the problem. The dogs just are letting us know they don’t like to be left behind.  We have been letting them inside free to roam, but yesterday we cleaned up the cages and put them in them when we went out for dinner.  I don’t like doing it but caging them is our only alternative.

So maybe today we’ll go do something…..or not!!!  I’m enjoying reading Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon on my “Kindle on PC”.  It’s kind of fun to read a book on the computer!  Being able to change the size of the font is definitely a plus.

Remember, you are loved.

Bought a Kindle!

Yes, I bought a Kindle….my Christmas present to me! I am working hard at amazon.com so I deserve it, right?  And as seasonal employees we get a 10% discount. I bought the 3G + WiFi model so I don’t have to be at a Wi-Fi hotspot to download a book. 

So now I’m checking out Listmanias for free or inexpensive Kindle books to download.  There are a lot of independent authors who have put out books and they are surprisingly good according to the reviews I’ve read.  Also I’d like to read some of the classics and they are readily available for free…Emerson, Thoreau, Longfellow, Whitman.

Having a Kindle certainly fits into the RV lifestyle – not having to carry around actual books.  I promised Jim I would put myself on a “Kindle Budget”, for books my favorite authors put out every year.  Usually I wait till we return to Colorado in the summer and I use our local public library to check out books I’ve been waiting to read.  Now I can get “a few” while on the road and read them without adding any more weight to the rig.

Remember, you are loved.

Week seven done!

Yippeeee – we finished up week seven working at amazon.com and have only 24 working days to go….oh, maybe that will change since Jim and I are going back to “E” shift the week of Thanksgiving.

We use to say “at amazon.com things change on a dime”; then it was “change on a penny”; now it’s “at amazon.com things change on a ha’penny” or British half-penny.  And amazon.com’s ability TO change is one of the reason for their great success, IMHO.

Part of that change had me moving from E shift over to A shift because we began to have seasonal campers in that shift and there wasn’t a coach available to them; so Jim and I changed shifts.  Now a month later there are too many seasonal workers on A shift for me to effectively handle by myself and another coach is needed.  The easiest way to accomplish that was for Yvonne and Bob Baker to move to A shift and for me to return to E shift to work with coach, Jerry Fuller.  Those who know me also know I LOVE change, so this was fine with us.

This way we will be off on the weekends along with our friends and can enjoy their company more.
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Last night we joined the Deacon’s campfire and three other couples.  They had ordered a few pizzas to share, but they did it after a few drinks. When the pizza was delivered the address on the box said for “drunk amazon workers”. That must have been a hilarious phone order. We laughed so hard reading that we had to take a photo which Larry Harmon immediately posted on his Facebook page and I stole from it.

Remember, you are loved.