Play Time

There is nothing so good as being able to spend you time doing something you enjoy and is a part of you. I finally have an active landscape design client. I was almost getting to the point that I was going to start volunteering to help people for free, just to play. It has been wonderful to design and look at plants. Oh sweet plants . . .

But If Not . . .

About three years ago in Colorado we became familiar with a talk by Elder Dennis E. Simmons title "But If Not . . " It was what got us through when Hubby didn't get the first job in Montana (for which we are now very grateful). And now it is the theme for this month.

I thought I had an excellent chance at the last job I applied for. It would have answered so many of our prayers and our families prayers. We would have had enough money to cover living expenses, more than we have made for four years, as well as health insurance, leave time, and I would be working full-time in my field again. What could be better? But, it wasn't right. And so, our little "theme" came back to mind.

We must have the same faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.

Our God will deliver us from ridicule and persecution, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from sickness and disease, but if not … . He will deliver us from loneliness, depression, or fear, but if not. … Our God will deliver us from threats, accusations, and insecurity, but if not. … He will deliver us from death or impairment of loved ones, but if not, … we will trust in the Lord.

Our God will see that we receive justice and fairness, but if not. … He will make sure that we are loved and recognized, but if not. … We will receive a perfect companion and righteous and obedient children, but if not, … we will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that if we do all we can do, we will, in His time and in His way, be delivered and receive all that He has. ²⁰ I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I don't know how to say it any better than that. So this week, we are thankful for what we have, the many blessings we have been given, and all that we are able to accomplish. And for better or worse, I put my drafting and landscape design cards on the services board at work. We shall see what happens, whatever it is, it will be the Lord's will, and that will be for the best. 

Only getting stronger!

Employment

Three interviews down, one job acquired, one rejection, and we wait to hear on the third. I find that working around other people's plans all day drives me nuts. I miss designing and planning. I'm even starting to miss irrigation design. So now we wait through the weekend to hear on the planning position. If this one doesn't work than it will be time to push the self-employment hard. There is a need to good drafting here, and that would beat where I am at now. I just gotta do something.

Hubby has been torturing us with pictures of Oakley. He looks so much like Shelby, super fuzzy and very cute. Lucky he is in Indiana or we might have to go get a dog. We miss our fuzzy girl and all her warmth and love. It is hard to be dogless. But we don't have a lot of fuzz time, too much work and school.

Lucifer still is not able to drive out of the garage. We've tried so hard to get the brakes to fit, and the dumb things just wont. We really need to get that thing moving again, but now there is no time.

Tires Pending

We managed to get the drive shaft back on Lucifer last week. It was a small miracle. This week we are trying to figure out how to get the brakes on, followed by the tires. Lucifer hasn't moved since the end of May. So it will be worth celebrating when we can safely roll that thing out of the garage.

In other news, my first professional interview in five years is scheduled for next week. I'm already nervous. I need to get some prep work done for the interview. Its not a local firm, so it will make for an interesting day. At least the new resume is 2 for 2. Hubby is already looking for new dwellings. I think he finds it more entertaining than thinking about classes starting next week.

Here I Am

It looks like I went on vacation. We did take a short trip to Utah to celebrate the 80th birthday of Hubby's father. It was good to see family and so nice to take a few days off from reality. We didn't get time to visit friends, which is too bad.

Things are busy. Work is doing fine. I've settled into the Print Girl position and they seem to be relying on that. They even let me do some design work. I'm getting to know some of the local Architects and Contractors. I keep trying to work the connections into some freelance work.

Hubby has been battling the Black Cactus, which I have now named Lucifer. It still cannot make it out of the garage on its own, but we will hopefully get it running before Hubby goes back to school.

Huh, why am I still awake?

Hubby finished his summer quarter with a cumulative GPA of 3.50. Its nice to see the proof of how smart he is, he always impresses me. I'm still playing Print Girl during the day, Crystal Queen at nights, and trying to return to my Landscape Design and Drafting roots in my "free time". I sleep well at night, and I'm never bored. Never mind the side projects of teaching Primary children, turning flannel into bibs and burp cloths, and helping Hubby progress in his airplane construction plans and experience.

We were running errands one Saturday. Down the street from the Post Office, and next door to our "favorite" Auto Shop is a little indoor art market (http://www.millervalleyindoorartmarket.com/). I've always wondered what it was like, what kind of art they had, and they have gelato. So Hubby decided (on a whim) that it was time to check it out. Its a pretty cool little place. They have a nice selection of local artists, with good prices. They are in the gift market, so they try to focus on less expensive items that will sell well as gifts. They also have a little cafe with all sorts of fun treats. We walked around and looked at the different artist booths and then walked around again talking to one of the owners. Finances are too tight right now to rent much of a booth, but their prices are reasonable. They do have a small consignment section up front and the owners liked the idea of selling some crystal pieces, especially if I could design some pendulums.

So I spent the next week working up some first run crystal pendulums, very pretty and affordable. Now we have a small display of suncatchers and pendulums at a local shop. It was such a chance encounter. I don't usually have success placing items, not that good of a salesperson. So now we are waiting to see how things will sell. I haven't been back to check, but we'll see what happens in the next week. Its just fun to have a small success.

Exhaustion

I had intended to have the second installment of the Black Cactus up, but I haven't taken some of the updated pictures. I've also had to slow down work and wont even spend the time I intended on it this weekend.

So the theme of the last two weeks, is even though I work three jobs now, Hubby can still earn debt faster than I can earn money. Ouch! Good thing he'll be a great earner when he graduates.

So this post is the tale of the mystery job. One of the guys from church called around the beginning of May. He knew a company that was hiring, but they wouldn't let him disclose any information. Kind of strange, but knowing that the "do or die" time was rapidly coming, I graciously accepted the opportunity. Hubby and I revamped my employment history resume into a skills resume and sent it off. We didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks. Then one morning, 8 am, I get a phone call. The company is doing interviews later that morning and can I come.  So I went.  Its a decent print shop and copy center. You would think that I would know better after years of horror stories from my brother-in-law. They offered my the job at the end of the interview, with a paycheck of pocket change. I agreed and started the next day. So now I am "print girl" and "production grunt". But, the work is interesting and usually not boring. The shop has definitely been busy. I also get an inside look into the local construction industry, which could some day be very helpful. I've met at least one of the local Landscape Architects and learned of one other.

So now I work all day, much of it on my feet, and then come home and run J'Leen. Amazon sales are still doing, but it does take longer to get things done, which is always unfortunate. But a nice long weekend should do well for production and maybe even get the new catalog out.

For now, I will sleep well, sometimes when I don't intend to.

Adventures of the Black Cactus, part 1

So here she is, the Black Cactus. Notice the lovely paint job, it gets all sorts of comments. The guy who did it was into quality workmanship, notice the bright yellow streak by the passenger door hinges. This is what it looks like when you use a textured roller to apply bed liner to your vehicle (not recommended). It leaves sharp bumps, so we call it cactus coating. It tends to cut anything that brushes against it. At least we wont have to worry about door dings.

The first shot really doesn't do justice on how ugly it used to be. The hard top it came with had bolted-on plexiglass windows. You couldn't open the rear window, which really limited what you could put in the back.

So this is our lovely replacement hard top. What a great find at the salvage yard! It has real windows, they open, and best of all - you can see out of them. It is a lot less noisy too. Though we do currently have a gap between the window and the tailgate, but that may get fixed when we replace the tailgate.

Here is where many of our problems lie. We've spent a lot of time staring at these parts. So far we've replaced the valve cover gasket, front struts, rear shocks, tightened a drive belt, removed the destroyed air conditioning compressor, and replaced the tie rods.

We also replace the negative battery terminal and the battery. We have the bracket to secure the battery now, but haven't remembered to install it. When we bought the vehicle the battery and negative terminal were held in place by one plastic zip tie (that's about as good as duct tape).

This is our lovely power steering system. We bought it with a leak, replaced the pump and hoses and still have a leak. You can also see our new oil filter.  Once upon a time this view was blocked by the AC compressor (which someone before us destroyed instead of removing it).

This is now what we seem to do for recreation. Obviously the vehicle purchase options in our price range left a little to be desired. Check back next time for updates on the power steering and fun and games with doors.

3 out of 4

Sometime last month we bought new shocks and struts for the Black Cactus. We now have both shocks and one strut on. We're just an air compressor and impact wrench short of the second strut. I am starting to prepare the new doors for painting. It will be so nice to roll the window down in this warm weather. I need to start taking pictures, as this vehicle is going to be quite the story creator. I'm already behind as I can never recover the true ugliness it was when we bought it.

Hubby is starting into finals, and all the stress that entails. I think he will end up sleeping through his less than a week break between finals and Summer Quarter. At least he will have 6 weeks off before Fall Semester. Poor Kid.

Fuzzy is having a rough week too.  She hurt herself last week, not sure how. We thought the pain was subsiding, but now she is back to not finishing meals and disliking stairs. One thing I really dislike about moving is establishing new relationships with the vet. We just get used to one and then its time to start over. She went in last week for a check-up, the vet thought it was just a temporary pain issue. But she didn't really check much. Now I'm not so sure, makes me miss most of our old vets. Too bad they are all over 8 hours away.

Of course, I've been missing a lot of people that are over 8 hours away. sigh.

Rockin' Squirel Rides Again

[Head Banging on Wall]
So, here we are (I don't want to think how many weeks later), without trying we sold the truck to a happy teenage boy and his parents who have no fear of pulling out the transmission. We have been working on the GT for most of the time that we have owned it. We have now replaced the tie rod ends (week 1) the power steering pump (week 2 and 3), the valve cover gasket (a happy upgrade from the head gasket we were planning to do), and the negative battery terminal (easy, but it still decided to be a pain). Now we have a vehicle the sounds better in the engine, no zip tie on the battery, and drives worse than ever with squealing tires. We know it really needs an alignment, so we are hoping that will fix the problem and not result in yet another repair. We still have to figure out where the power steering is leaking because now it wont hold fluid much at all. Only in finishing things off today we sprayed power steering fluid everywhere, so for some reason there are little puddles on everything. We've already ordered a new timing belt, so that is something to look forward to. Since I figured out how to open the passenger door from the inside, we can wait to fix that until later. Oh ya. Now, how does Hubby get to school to do homework this weekend and how do we get the GT to and from the alignment shop. The more we learn self-reliance, the more we seem to lean on other people.
[Shrug]
At least sales have been going well this week and it was fun to hang out with my parents last week. Fuzzy has been enjoying the weather. Apparently she likes sunny days with temps between 60 and 70 degrees. She spends those sitting in the shade behind the house watching the scenery (she really likes it when the Javelina or Peccary stop by). Today was up to 80, she thought that was a little warm. The sunshine and warmth are nice, but I have a hard time remembering what time of year it is, its still a little weird. We are now adjusting to being in a different time zone to family. It was nice to not participate in Daylight Savings Time though.

Vroom, Bang, Keh

Never a dull moment. Last week started with out truck losing 2nd gear. We had it in the shop before we moved. That repair ended up not completely fixing the problem, add to that two more problems and we are not happy campers. Thanks to the continuing repair bills and a sizable prospect for the latest batch, and we are calling it quits.

This is the time that I sit and ask myself why it was we sold the Mustang. What a nice, well-behaved car it was. So we ended last week car shopping and brought the new "toy" home today. Half a day in, we are praying that it was a wise choice, not that there was much selection, and not a lot of time to debate.

I think this one needs a name, it definitely has character. So possible choices are:
     Rattle Trap
     Squirrel
     Desert Rat
     Weasel
     Black Peter (Pete)

With some work, some of the issues should be mitigated, it will be entertaining.

Little College Tree

Rest in Peace my little college tree. You've been with me longer than any other plant. You've survived so many moves and those early years of infrequent watering. You were a sturdy, hardy plant that put up with so much. You've been both tall and bushy. But alas, this last move got you. I'll remember you on the next move, and those remaining plants wont spend their moving days left in a car without water. You froze all those nights, just to sweat that last day. And then when you were finally free, I couldn't water you for several days. You were a good tree and brought a lot of life to every space. Don't listen to what Hubby says, you were worth the weight and hauling.

Interior Shots

The dining room - hey look at all that room. We could put a real dining set in there. Nice view too.

The cabinets are after the quantity not quality school of thought. Its nice to actually have stuff in the kitchen.

The living room and wildlife viewing area. Its not the roomiest space for our lifestyle, but it works just fine.

The Entry/Atrium/Art Studio/Photography Light Box. It works since we haven't had much traffic coming to the house.


 Master Bedroom, there is plenty of space though the photo doesn't show it. Fuzzy enjoys being able to turn around and not get stuck in places.

Main Bath - Hey look, no steps. It's completely normal.

Guest room - no stairs, right next to the bathroom, good lighting, and there's even a full closet (minus the storage).

The work room - its smaller than we are used to and there are some on-going storage issues, but its nice not to be in the basement and to be able to enjoy all the sunshine.

Master Bath - look at all that counter space and storage, it feels so spacious. We can actually fit two people and a dog in it at the same time and no one gets stepped on. You can see Fuzzy's corner.