Michael got what every good geek should have wanted this year: A Monty Python Cow Catapult!

I’m a frequent buyer from Amazon, so we get a lot of packages delivered by UPS. I’ve actually really liked the guy that delivered packages for the past couple years–he laughs when I scramble madly to the front door yelling, “LOOT! LOOT! LOOT FOR ME!”

However, we seem to have gotten a different driver in the past couple months.

A driver who decided that instead of leaving packages against the house where they’d be hidden, and on the deck, where they’d be sheltered from the weather, he’d leave them on the side door (Grandmom’s door), which has only a small cover. Which meant that for the past couple weeks we’ve come home to find packages sitting in the snow.

Michael called Friday, and they said they’d make a note of it. Tuesday–the day of the snow and rain and bad traffic–we came home (very late) to find my book sitting in the snow.

So I called back today to ask if they could make a note not to leave packages on the side porch.

Not only was the woman I spoke with very polite and helpful, I actually got a call back later in the afternoon from the local manager(?) apologizing for any inconvenience and stating the packages will certainly be left on the front deck in the future, because it is UPS policy to leave packages out of the elements and out of sight.

He was also extremely nice.

I have to say that although finding packages exposed to the elements was upsetting, I was very pleased with their response to my call.

So thank you UPS for taking responsibility.

Well, I bought it myself, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome.

I bought the Alex Ross Obama t-shirt!

I also bought one for my mom, and was tempted to send one to Eric, but I didn’t know his t-shirt size.

Loot for ME! Loot for ME! Loot for Me!

Yes, my prize for winning the Jim Wright is an Asshole contest has finally arrived!

And it’s actually a real prize this time!

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I got expected loot, and totally unexpected loot!

What more could I want?
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While we were gone, apple butter from Janiece arrived.

Being a good granddaughter, I opened the box to make sure nothing had broken, and then closed the box back up for my grandmother.

Since we did the Grandmom exchange with my aunt today, Grandmom finally opened the apple butter.

The jar is now sitting by her chair–presumably so no one else will open it first. :)

Well, not right now. Right now, in fact, the air conditioner is on and cranking out cold air to keep the temperature nice and cool.

However, we are now prepared for winter.

You may or may not remember that back in the spring I broke our wood stove.

As it was a monstrosity and not extremely efficient and had several other problems, we decided to purchase a new wood stove. Luckily, we ordered our stove back in June, since apparently it’s impossible to find a good woodstove around here now–everyone seems to be sold out because of the current high fuel prices.

So the stove was installed Friday!

First and foremost, I cannot believe how *small* the new stove is!

It can hold more wood, in what seems to be half the size of the old stove! It’s well sealed, so smoke won’t escape all the time! The parts are easily replaceable (the floor model at the store was actually missing parts, because she’d taken it apart to replace parts for her customers so they didn’t have to wait for new parts to come in) which is just an added bonus.

Plus it’s got lots of interesting features.

It can be filled from the front or the top. The lid for the top is also a griddle, so we can actually cook on the stove! (The old stove was jacketed, and so was relatively cool to the touch, comparatively.) It has a swing-out ash tray with a carrying lid…

It is, essentially, awesome, and I can hardly wait for it to get cold, so we can light a fire!

I actually got two postcards today. One from my cousin Ben who is in grad school in California, and the other from Nathan.

Nathan’s postcard is a lovely shot of the mountains across the lake, and although my backyard doesn’t quite look like that, the postcard is quite lovely.

However.

82 cents in postage? Really?

Nathan, you do realize that West Virginia is not, in fact, a foreign country, right? And it only costs 26 cents to mail a postcard?

Just checking.

Today I also got my loot for winning Todd‘s summer reading content!

It’s a bag of M&M’s that say Todd Wheeler, Contest 2008, and Summer Reading.

Thanks Todd!

As you may remember, I won Jim’s contest.

Today, my loot arrived!

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By the way, I’m a jerk, because I’ve totally forgotten to thank Ilya for his lovely postcard. Those are lovely guns, and it’s best I not be around them when angry.

And I also forgot to mention that I TOTALLY WON Jim’s contest! (Go read the entries only if you are not faint of heart.) I’d like to say that makes all the pain and suffering of the past couple weeks worth it, but that would totally be a lie. So, I’ll leave it at YAY ME!

(Amazon, Amazon, Baker’s Catalog, Origins, Nathan, Aveda, Janiece, Amazon, Amazon, Amazon)

It’s been awhile since we went to the recycling center. And it’s been almost as long since I did more than pitch empty boxes down the stairs and then kick them out of the way when I went by.

Luckily, I had a better solution that to stop ordering loot.

However, I really do need to go to the recycling center.

Just not Saturday.

I got LOOT today!

I also laughed hysterically at the return address on one package. Thanks Nathan!

LOOT!

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In fact, I am a winner! A winner in Todd Wheelers reading contest!

And I didn’t just get bragging rights, no! I got LOOT!

Hopefully Todd doesn’t look at my library post, or else he’ll realize just how much trouble he could be in!