Let it Snow!

I thought this a good time to take shots around the house.  Since the house isn't much to look at, I did photos of the neighborhood. Technically none of the shots are from the front yard, but the series does start and end looking towards the front.

Visitors

We haven't had any ward members visit yet, but these guys showed up on the driveway the other morning.

These guys stopped for a snack at the neighbors while walking through the neighborhood.

We have a lot of walkers in the neighborhood, all sorts of two and four legged creatures.

Along the Drive

The Travel-Log

It's been a while for sure. I don't think I will ever suggest packing and moving on a Monday or over a holiday week again. We are thankful for all the help we received, to say the least. Hubby says this was one of the least painful moves for him, I think it was one of the most painful. We didn't have our House Supervisor (mom) or Truck Supervisor (dad) this time. So I worked to take down and finish packing all of the loose ends and Hubby directed the two hired hands at grabbing boxes and loading the truck. Hubby had arranged to get help from work with the piano, as the hired hands weren't supposed to move the piano. We have moved the piano with three people before, and it wasn't pretty. Thankfully when only one friend showed up to get the piano into the truck, the hired hands had pity and pitched in. We had hoped to hit the road by noon, but due to our standard trials and tribulations, we didn't leave until almost 6 pm. A very long day to say the least. The truck stayed dry and didn't shake violently when we went over 55 mph. So that was good, very good. But the umph and mpg were pathetic, so it took us an extra few hours to make the drive.

We tried to stop and sleep along the way, but we both wanted to hit "The Big City" before the morning rush and daily traffic hit the roads. We quickly discovered that we were so keyed up, cold, and uncomfortable that neither of us could sleep unless the truck was moving. So Hubby actually let me drive, and I even stayed awake while driving. Amazing, but true, humpf, I stayed awake the whole drive from CO to MT last year. We arrived in "The Big City" at about 6:30 am, tired, sick of traffic, and ready to be away from the truck. We took a short cut to my parents house from the parking space and tried to sneak in the door. Ya, word to the wise, don't sneak through a mud bog. My dad woke up at the sound of the door anyway, but we weren't too quiet as we tried to peel the muddy shoes off of our feet and keep Fuzzy from walking onto the carpet. Fuzzy did not enjoy the ensuing paw bath either.

It was a lovely break to spend a few days with family, eat lots of food, and lots more food. I have missed the large variety of Thanksgiving options. Hubby must have overindulged. We woke up Friday morning to start the trek south and his digestive system was in full rebellion. Gotta keep life interesting. It was a good lesson for him to trust in his wife more too. Now we were taking the trip slow for gas, lack of power, and more time in some not so lovely restrooms. I also ended up driving more and he was the one sleeping on the trip. We made it to the "New Diggs" around 8 pm. Another long day, Hubby was feeling a little better, but not the best. We quickly discovered that we had power, heat, and no water. The property manager hadn't realized that the water had been turned off in the last couple of days (that's a whole sad story). We were too tired to care, we unloaded the pick-up so that we could get our clothes and stuff out and crashed.

We had called on Thanksgiving and left a message for the new bishop to try and get help with the piano again. We still hadn't heard back come Saturday morning. Hubby got the hired hands going and boxes started filling up the house. Thankfully when the hired hands got to the piano they looked at it, looked at Hubby, and started unloading it. We now had a house full of boxes, two tired people, one stressed out dog, no food (except sandwiches), and no water. We made a trip to the local store, pick-up some water, and started researching hotels for the night. Having not showered since Friday morning we really didn't want to go to church without a shower.

We finally got the water straightened out on Monday. Thanks to the City Water folks who managed to turn it back on Monday afternoon. Oh, how we like our running water. Poor Fuzzy couldn't seem to get enough water for a while there. We are now settled in, mostly, and are trying to get things sorted out. Hubby had a nice tour of the U and is looking forward to playing will all the fun toys. I keep kidding him about all the time he will be spending on their tutoring services. :-)

In a little bit I'll get pictures posted of the house and area, it is beautiful (lacking lush evergreens, sigh) and some of the visitors that we have had. Christmas sales with J'Leen have been good, so we really haven't had a chance to get bored yet, or get all the boxes put away.

Water and Hankies

Everything was going fine this morning.  We were up a little earlier than expected or wanted, some days sleep just doesn't linger.  Hubby and Fuzzy we're both not feeling well.  Hubby caught the latest bug and Fuzzy lost a large amount of teeth.  I spent a couple of hours getting my socializing in for the day.  Life was going pretty good.  I got started on some chores in the afternoon, and that's when the day started to get out of control.  They've been working on the roof for two days now.  Today would have been day three, but it has been cold and rainy all day.  So, when I went out into the garage after several hours of rain, there were several spots in the roof that were dripping water.  Oh yae.  I checked out the rest of the garage and went on with my day.  I get down into the basement and start to put away the airbed.  It was propped up on the desk letting the bottom dry because we had some previous moisture in that room.  I turn it over, and the part that was touching the floor is now wet.  Seems there is still a moisture problem in that room.  So I haul the airbed upstairs and drape it over the couch.  We don't have any large open spots of floor, except for the room with wet carpet.  sigh.  So now I start rearranging furniture and boxes downstairs so that we can get the desk out of the basement.  Come to find out, some of the boxes on the one shelf are wet.  I don't know how boxes on a shelf two inches off the floor get wet, but they did.  Some days I think ghosts run around this house spilling water and hiding things.

Frustrated with life I head upstairs to do something other than find water damage in the basement.  While peacefully sitting at the computer, I hear a dripping sound.  Hubby has been napping in the bedroom, and wouldn't you know, that is where the dripping sound is coming from.  I track it to the window where there is a steady drip of water coming down the shade.  Now the shade is drying in the garage (having soaked up hours of drips) and my little foil bread pans are lined up on the window ledge collecting the water drops (since it is leaking from multiple spots).  So we notified the landlord.  He sends out the roof guy, yep, the roof needs to be tarped, so off he goes for tarps.  By now its dinner time, he has an hour drive minimum to get the tarps.  Two hours later he shows up.  Fixes the leak in the garage, but opts to hold off on the main roof because he keeps sliding down.  Hmmm, ya, its dark, starting to freeze, and the roof is wet tar paper.  Now who didn't see that one coming.

At least the rain has slowed down, things are drying up a little.  We'll survive the night and the house shouldn't take too much damage.  So then what does Hubby say, "I need a white handkerchief for tomorrow."  Really?  You've known about this for weeks and just now you tell me you don't have one.  Its after seven, I'm not going around town looking for one.  Oh, its a good thing my mother taught me to save fabric scraps.  An hour later I've found suitable material, cut it to size, set the sewing machine back up, and sewn him a white handkerchief.  Its a good thing that some boxes haven't been sealed shut yet.

I should sleep well tonight, unless a leak springs up above the bed.  :-)

Let it Snow, Let it Shingle, Let it Snow

We had a repeat showing last week.  An hour after they saw the house the first time, they were requesting to see the house again later that afternoon.  Fuzzy and I hung out in the backyard while they checked things out, including the flat roof on the garage.  We've told the landlord that the shingles are falling off the main roof, but we've never looked at the garage roof.  It did make for an anxious weekend while we waited to see if they made an acceptable offer or not.

Sunday was good at calming the anxiety.  Mostly because we determined that we are a month away from when we are trying to move, and it would benefit us to move early.  So here we go.

Monday we went out to run errands.  Fuzzy went in for her semi-annual check-up.  She'll be returning for another tooth extraction.  We'll have a dog with a toothless smile if we can't find a way to keep her gums from getting infected.  Poor girl.  This one should noticeably effect her smile.  When we got home, someone was parked in the driveway, its behind the house so most people don't go there.  Hubby went to check things out and get the person to move the vehicle.

We commented on roof damage two or three months ago, had another shingle fall off on Monday.  A potential buyer complains on Thursday or Friday, and someone comes out for an estimate on Monday.  Yep, we rate.  Don't know what they people said or did, but the landlord moved faster on that than I've seen him do yet.  He was only doing estimates, so we'll see if anything gets fixed, selling price or roof.  Now everything is covered in snow, good thing the rood hasn't started leaking yet.

Flashback!

Standing in the basement today, I had a pungent memory from one of my birthdays.  My sister and some friends decided to take me out for a morning on the town.  To make it more interesting they put a pillowcase over my head.  It wasn't too bad, they were nice enough to not let me get hurt.  Since my head was covered, it wasn't too embarrassing because no one could see who I was, and I couldn't see them.  Everything was fairly entertaining until they stopped at the perfume counter and decided to try out samples on the pillowcase.  Oh, my head started to spin.  I was trapped in a bag of strong scents, and they did not blend well together.  I started pleading for freedom as the headache set in.  Thankfully it was one of the days my sister liked me, so they let me take the pillowcase off and breathe some much fresher air.

So today, while sorting through stuff to clean out the basement, I went through my old perfume collection.  It was only three bottles.  I tried to control the oder by spraying them into the laundry sink.  Needless to say, I've been avoiding the basement ever since.  I also think that I am through with perfume.  Good times.  I just hope that the air settles and clears out a bit by tomorrow.  I have stuff that needs to be done in the basement.

Dogs and Cords

We have the laptop plugged in under the television.  Its a carry over from Conference.  I decided to take advantage of the fact that I can sit on the couch and keep the laptop plugged in.  In getting situated I needed to shake the cord from around the transformer.  Fuzzy was laying in front of the couch and did not appreciate my actions.  She felt that the cord had attacked her and made unnecessary loud noises when the transformer dropped back to the floor.  I felt kind of bad for her.  I hadn't meant to scare her with the cord.  The best part is that she then paced around the space in front of the couches.  The cord drew a line on the floor keeping her trapped by the couches.  So now she was distressed and trapped by a little black box and its corresponding line.  She finally mustered up the courage to walk in front of the television (farthest point from the black box) and across the cord.  She then had to squeeze between the potted tree and the cord (not wanting to cross it again).  She continued to walk the perimeter of the room staying as far as possible from the black box.  Hubby and I busted up laughing.  We now have a dog who is scared of a small, inanimate black box.  I feel bad for her, but it was too funny to watch her try to escape the area while staying away from the little box.

So Much for Just Say No

We've been trying to get out of this house for a year, not a successful endeavor by any means.  The landlord has been investigating the option of selling the house for a while, its kind of an off and on thing with him.  He must be serious now because the For Sale sign appeared in the yard this afternoon.  Fun for us.  We had planned to be out by the end of the year, so here's hoping that the house takes four months or more to sell.  I really wasn't wanting the added stress, so I'm hoping that few people are even wanting to look at it for the next few months.  It obviously will not be a boring fall.  It all just makes sleep all the more appreciated.

And here we little Leprechauns start our journey in search of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow . . .

Trudging Along

It seemed that summer was fast fading to fall, but our good weather luck seems to be holding a little longer.  Our fall has warmed up and the weather is holding at quite pleasant.  We have managed to make it out to enjoy some of the beautiful scenery.  Fuzzy, as always, enjoyed the ride and smells.  The fishy have all been safe this year, its a very sad thing.  We'll get them yet, Hubby has new gear to try out, so those fishy wont be safe forever.  For now we manage the biz, and work to pay the bills.  Poor Fuzzy is ever so bored.

Burnt, Baked, and Peeled

Its been a sunny month, in so many ways.  I found myself thinking of moving to Alaska today, and I don't like the cold.  I will recover, especially if we do get a good storm this week.  I spent the first week this month at a YW retreat, it was a lot of fun and I came back with a good sunburn.  So, the second week, just as the sunburn had moved on to a more comfortable stage, I spend four days out in the sun.  Thanks to protective clothing and lots of sunscreen, the burn did not return.  I don't think it helped though, my body still feels dehydrated from all the heat and sun.  The hot asphalt/gravel only intensified things.  It was nice to get out and actually be able to talk to people.  Even if I kept saying the same thing over and over again.  I started feeling like I should tell people to keep their arms and legs inside at all times and enjoy the ride.  So, now this week, I'm a flake.  I'm peeling all over.  I'm hoping that next week I will be a little more normal.  For now it is catch up on work and home and get things back in order.

Swimsuit Trials

I was a little anxious to try out my new swimsuit after the face Hubby pulled at it.  It does look better on though.  It is a little large, so I have room to grow, but if I manage not to grow, it still fits just fine.  I do need to fix some of the stitching, it seems to have popped.  I'm not used to pulling on the fabric while I sew, but a few popped stitches isn't too bad.  I got lots of compliments and nobody laughed.  I think most people were just impressed that I'd tried sewing my own swimsuit.

A few things I learned.
1 - I sewed the button on backwards.  Not sure how I missed that, but the button either sits on my neck or the neck straps are twisted.
2 - I should have put some wide elastic in the hem of the legs.  The leg hems had a tendency to rise and roll.  A little elastic would have helped keep them down and would have kept the fabric from rolling.
3 - If your not going to apply an adequate amount of sunscreen, it is helpful to have a swimsuit that really covers the sensitive areas.  I am thankful for every inch that doesn't burn or itch.

Sewing Creations

A couple of years ago I tried my hand at sewing a new swimsuit.  I was having trouble finding the coordinates that I wanted.  Now I see many things that would work, but that's alright.  I made a cute two piece, modest, and I've yet to take it out for a spin.  I thought I would get a chance this year with Girl's Camp, but my new suit is not up to youth standards.  So I took my old swimsuit, and it was highly unpleasant.  So while standing on shore, cursing what I was wearing, I designed a new swimsuit out of the leftover fabric of the first suit.  I'm glad I over bought the first time. 

So after four days of cutting, sewing, and fitting I finally have Swimsuit 2.0.  I'm not sure it is the cutest thing out there, but its bright and happy.  It also gave me experience in trying to fit a swimsuit and adapting a pattern.  2.0 is a one piece made from a two piece pattern.  I'm surprised it fits so well, my mother must have taught me something.  I think the best thing she taught me was to not be afraid to try sewing something and to think through what I'm trying to do.  The hardest part was the silly button hole.  The fabric would stretch and the machine would get hung up on the stitches.  The sage advice of the day, practice on scrap fabric.  I think the final button hole was number 7, and practice did not make perfect. 

It is done, and it is currently the most comfortable swimming suit I've ever worn.  It might look like it came out of the 40s, with colors that are brighter than anything else I own, but at least I shouldn't have to tug anything back into place every five minutes.  Next week it should even get a water trial.

Summer Fun

Good Times!

Staycation

Just finished spending a week and a half entertaining my parents.  We had a lot of fun.  We did some window shopping, saw a few of the scenic sights, we even managed a boat tour of one of the lakes.  It would have been nice to get them to see more of the lakes, but there was only so much time.

In all the fun, we neglected to drive our little truck.  So now we have had to recharge the AC (oh and it feels wonderful) and replace the battery.  Three jump starts later we have a functional truck again.  It might actually feel good to go grocery shopping tomorrow.

 Cardston Temple

 Flathead Lake

 Flathead Lake

 Glacier National Park

 Glacier National Park

 Glacier National Park

 Glacier National Park - Lake McDonald

 Glacier National Park - Lake McDonald

 Glacier National Park - Lake McDonald

 Glacier National Park - Lake McDonald

 Glacier National Park - St. Mary Lake

 Fuzzy's Day Out

Two Medicine Lake

Phone Calls and Answers

One thing hard about moving so much is meeting people and then leaving them behind.  I had an older lady I visit taught in Colorado.  She was a riot.  She had such character and spirit.  Oh the stories she could tell.  Her health was poor and she didn't have reliable transportation, so she could be time consuming.  But it was always a nice change of pace.  I've wondered how she was doing since we left.  I emailed her at Christmas, but never did hear anything from her.

Today, while cleaning the oven of all things, the phone rings.  The caller id displays a Colorado phone number and I'm wondering who it could be, maybe a solicitor.  Nope, its my sweet former visiting teaching companion.  I can recognize her voice and speech mannerisms in a heartbeat.  She was thoughtful enough to call and let me know that two of the sisters we visited have passed away this summer.

It is good to know that Casey no longer suffers.  Fly free "sweet" Casey.  Be free of illness and pain.  Open your heart to love and light and let the past go away.  Welcome in all that you have been searching for.  Be happy.  You will be remembered and missed.

Quicksand

I'm trying to figure out today if my mood set the weather or if the weather set my mood.  I expected to wake up happy and excited, Hubby is coming home for the weekend.  I didn't.  Yesterday was warm and sunny, today is not, though the sun keeps trying to find its way through the clouds.  This year seems to be filled with quicksand, no matter how hard a try, I get no where.  Hubby is feeling it too, and that always means another crazy idea is coming.

Lessons of the week:
- Loneliness combined with stress cannot always be lessened by staying busy.
- Far too often people do not follow their vocal expressions with the accompanying action.

Off to make cupcakes and think of cute Husbands, because there will be sunshine today.

I Think it Might Be Spring

House count 3-No, 1-Wait (another month and the wait should be a no, unless all the other contenders have found other houses by then, ya right).  I really liked number 4, had a view of the lake from the backyard and half the house.  sigh.

Things are warming up, and this has been a good Mother's Day retail year.  YAE!  However, the Landlord has gone MIA again and we don't know if we'll be getting a lawnmower soon.  The backyard got so out of hand I've been taming it with the trimmer.  My poor arms last about as long as the battery power, so it is going to be a week long project.  I will either be finding a mower this week, hiring someone with a mower, or Hubby gets the next round, because I am not spending a week weed whacking the backyard again.  Fuzzy has lost all interest in it.  It's 70 degrees outside and she kept hiding in the shade, under the deck, or in the garage.  She even went into the house when I took the garbage out, she doesn't want much to do with the backyard at all.  That probably makes two of us.

Last year our Mother's Day sales were family and friends.  This year we've had good sales from Amazon, the Website, and friends.  I think it has made for a better year, it definitely has made for two good retail weeks.  All would be well if my supplier wouldn't drag their feet and lose my order.  Oh well, we'll take sales and deal with the hassles.  So far nobody has complained about the outages and shortages, and hopefully they will soon be over.  Someday I'll be able to order as much as I want as soon as I want.  Ah, its nice to dream every once in a while.

Spring Training

Well, the home count has moved to 2-No's and 1-Wait (still a likely no).  We take small forms of excitement.

Fuzzy and I have started our Spring Training.  Hubby wants to do some backpacking into good fishing holes this summer.  Last long hike he took us on ended up in two tired girls, and the fuzzy one almost had to be carried the last mile.  She's not big on being carried either.  So we are checking our endurance level, losing some excess weight (though she's up three pounds from January), and getting the body used to long walks with some elevation change.  Today has been our record thus far, 2.28 miles at 3.2 miles per hour with 109 yards of elevation change.  She should be panting for another couple of hours and sleep well tonight.  I don't think she'll be the only one either.  The neighborhood may be a little busy, and lacking in sidewalks, but it is nice to be within walking distance to some nice green spaces.

And the Count Continues

We're trying to boycott short-sale homes.  It has produced a change in our offer count.  We know have two unlikely waiting on the banks (multiple offers for everyone) and one solid no.  Our poor realtor is earning her paycheck, we just hope she get's one after all of this.

Hubby is liking his job, yae, six months in and no job hunting.  Though he does keep reading the internal job postings, old habits die hard.  He has started collecting more fishing gear.  Give us another month, and I probably wont get to sleep in on Saturdays.  I'll be getting serious doses of blue fishing eyes, accompanied by brown fuzzy eyes.  Good thing they are both cute.

Campfires and Sunshine

Two houses, two offers, and one result - We get to wait and see if we are the "chosen" offer.  Both houses have multiple offers, we're not likely to end up being the high offer.  So we keep looking, and the ward keeps encouraging us to buy "local".

The weather for the past three days has been gorgeous, warm weather and sunshine.  A group of friends went down to the State Park, by the Lake, for dinner and socializing.  It was nice to get out and see some nature.  Better yet, we discovered that the State Park fees are covered in the license plate fees, so all visits are free.  We may have to go to the Park more often.  Fuzzy enjoyed the exploration and all of the attention.  She made many new friends.  Hubby had fun playing with the fire too.

Crystal Fun

We put our second offer in on a house last week.  We found out this week that it is actually proceeding.  It'll just be, oh about 3 months before we hear anything more about it.  We aren't holding our breath, but there isn't much else to look at either.  The ward, in the meantime, continues to pray against us.  Well, they pray for what they think may be best for us, or maybe them.

We did New Beginnings with the Young Women this week.  It turned out well and was well attended.  You can't complain when nearly every, if not every, seat in the house is filled, though some of the Young Women were missing.  The theme was crystal based, not my idea, but I wholly supported it.  I did get to help with the crystal and it was a lot of fun to put crystal every where.  I'll have to have a crystal party so that I can cover the world in crystal again.  It would just be nice if we had a house that could actually fit people in it.

I really miss being able to have people over for dinner and games.  The front room gets crowded when we pull out the four person camp table to have the missionaries over.  This house has plenty of space, its just in all the wrong places.  The upstairs is small item storage because we can't get anything big up there and I worry about someone falling on the narrow tread, steep stairs.  sigh, and they wonder why we want to move.

I have found more room in the kitchen for dishes.  The new goal is that any dishes coming into the house from the garage, find a spot in the cabinets.  It will be fun to see how much more we can get into the house.

Five months in, Hubby still likes his job and hasn't been looking at anything new.  Its starting to get exciting.  We might find his niche yet.

Good Week So Far

We went international grocery shopping over the weekend, which has resulted in a international dining week.  The European Deli was a little disappointing, but it smelled good anyway.  They weren't as German as we wanted.  The Phillipinno Grocery has lots of curry, and other fun stuff too.  So this week we got to eat Chicken Curry, its been a while since we had curry.  For Valentine's Day we went German; Rouladin, Spaetzle, Rotkohl, and Schwartzwalderkirshtorte.  Yummy, we were nice enough to share with the Sister Missionaries.  Tonight is not anywhere near as exciting.

Work is surviving.  I'm starting to catch up with the little administrative things.  We've gotten a few much anticipated checks this week, which makes the bank account look better.  We've been battling the financial institution to find our money that it lost, so much fun.  They did actually make progress today, a little.  The most excitement is on the website.  We finally were able to get the credit card processing fully functional.  It shouldn't have taken this long at all.  But its done, and now we have more freedom to do stuff.

Our landlord got two more windows replaced today.  It made for a cold day, but it was so nice to feel like I could open up the blinds, let some sunlight (cloudy day) in, and not have to worry about the extra warm air leaking out.  We only have two more windows left to go, and they should happen in a couple of weeks.

It is so nice to see things happening and feel like we have some control in life.

January Down

Things are starting to calm down and return to normal.  My more labor intensive endeavors are coming to a close.  Now I can move to the less intensive, but slightly more stressful.  We continue looking for houses.  There is an offer in on one, but we aren't holding our breath, since a bank is involved.  That is the fate of many of the houses we look at though.  Things continue to work out, small blessings flow in every day.  We've exchanged snow in the yard for an icy swamp.  Even Fuzzy doesn't want to hang out in it.  She is still enjoying the weather.

Finally Winter Done Right

Snow does wonders for less desirable landscaping.

It even helps to hide the weeds leftover from a summer of neglect.

 

Fuzzy enjoys walking and laying in it.  And it looks good around her dogloo.

Nothing like laying out in a snowstorm and coming in all covered with snowflakes.

Alright, enough playing around.  Its time to get back to the cold basement and the inventory.  Another week and we'll be to finance and tax headache.  Then life can get back to a more relaxing state of being.  If you were wondering, we are up to about a foot of snow from the past three days, slow and steady, just the way it should be.  They locals say this snow will traditionally stay until May, it wont be as pretty by then.

House Hunting

We've spent the past few weeks looking for a permanent residence.  It would be much easier to find a good house if we actually had the money for it.  We've seen some good possibilities.  Hubby is ready to pick and go for it, but me no, I'm much more picky and indecisive.  It will be nice to find a place to settle though, hopefully in a calmer, quieter neighborhood.

Business is good, but very busy with administrative stuff.  I'm starting to look forward to a spring die down, either that or a vacation.  Hubby is doing a great job of earning extra leave time, so we should get plenty of cheap vacations.  Fishing for sure.