Wanderings of the WeJuLaar

January Down

2012-01-30T21:03:00.001-07:00

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

2012-01-20T09:33:00.002-07:00

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

2012-01-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Holidays

2011-12-30T10:35:00.002-07:00

It just doesn't pay to keep secrets from the Husband. Family and Friends will always mess it up. Oh well, I yet live and am not slated for death until he finds out that his Christmas Tree Picture made it onto my parents digital picture frame. So, I might be safe until next Christmas.

Our Christmas was short and sweet, but we were able to spend time with most of our family, and they are all doing well. We missed being able to see friends, but four days was barely enough time for family. It was nice to fly and not worry about the long drive, but that meant leaving Fuzzy here (and we all missed her) and the transition back to reality was very short. We both came back to waiting work and are still suffering from the transition of being on vacation one morning and back to work the next. At least when we were driving we had the whole drive to transition back.

It's been a good month for the business, best sales yet. If we can follow it with a couple of decent months, we'll be sitting okay for once. There's never a dull moment, that's for sure. Onward and upward, and off to find a warm place to live (house wise, no location changes please).

Holiday Pic

2011-12-13T07:58:00.002-07:00

Nothing like a little Christmas fun, or watch who you talk to at church functions, it wasn't his day.

Christmas Party Season

2011-12-12T08:28:00.001-07:00

The Christmas parties must have begun. Last Monday was just crazy with sales, today (and the past weekend) have been dead. It should give me a chance to do more photography, which is still very needed. We have snow today, which makes everything look much more festive. I have pictures from the Ward Party, they may bring about my death, but they do need to be discretely shared. I just have to get them off the phone and hide them somewhere. It was just too funny.

For the Two

2011-12-01T16:36:00.001-07:00

It's a lonely blog somedays. Put up Christmas decorations this year. Its about like decorating our first house again. No room for anything, so we have lights strung along the walls. Its very festive. I even decorated two trees this year. Of course there are so few decorations and the trees really can't support much weight, that it is hard to tell there is much on them at all. But, I did decorate an evergreen tree this year. That is all that matters.

Things are moving along. I'm playing Young Women Secretary again. Its a nice calling with more Young Women this time. I'm assisting with the Mia Maids for now, so last night we got to make jewelry. Well, the girls did, I just watched and offered support. They had fun and it was nice to get out.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T21:46:00.001-07:00

I am thankful that my mother taught me to cook. No matter where life takes us, all the comforts of home come with because of the skills she saw fit to set me up with. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, it was smaller than I would have liked, but it was more than we could eat, and really more than the kitchen could hold. There is nothing like a room overflowing with food. :-)

I am thankful for time and the talent of others. We launched our website last night. It is good to have it back. There is still much work to be done, but it is a wonderful feeling to have it up. I am so thankful for all the efforts and concerns that have gone into getting it where its at. We couldn't have done it alone.

I am thankful for friends. Even though some we have not seen in years, they remember us still and make the effort to wish us well on the holidays. Its always good to know, that no matter where or how frequently we move, there are people across the nation who will remember and care.

I am thankful that the Lord has seen fit to continual provide for us. We are very blessed.

House Pics

2011-11-09T19:04:00.001-07:00

Here are a few house pics, just to show the more memorable features of our current place of residence.

This is my little crystal window by the front door.

This is Fuzzy in the kitchen doorway, always in the middle of things.

This is the ever useful upstairs, part-time guest room, full-time storage.

My spacious kitchen, this is most of the kitchen. There are only a few small cabinets around the stove.

This is what happens when cabinets don't fit in the basement, but at least I have room to put my dishes. So far I haven't needed a coat at the back door just to get the dishes.

This lovely storage shelf is actually the fridge alcove. The landlord has promised to insulate around it some. Some people are a little to creative.

Our favorite little bathroom in the basement.

Notice the step up to the throne.

And to the shower.

The lovely bathroom ceiling, which continues into the shower as well.

Our favorite window, but it is why we are getting new windows, and it is only caulked on one side.

Frozen Windows

2011-10-26T10:38:00.001-06:00

Awe, it must be fall, the puff quilt officially went on the bed this morning, much to Hubby's delight. I think this is probably the first time it has gone on while it was hitting 50s during the day, and 30s to 20s at night. It is fairly pleasant fall weather. So why are we preparing for the cold, well, the insulating shade on the bedroom window froze to the window and frame last night. Yes, that shade is on the inside, which is at least 65 degrees overnight. The landlord can't possibly replace the window fast enough. In the meantime, we'll enjoy a large, fluffy, toasty quilt. Its a good thing Fuzzy likes the cold, and she is thoroughly enjoying the weather and leaky windows.

Back to the Grind

2011-10-21T23:38:00.002-06:00

We are unpacked, or unpacked enough. Hubby is liking his job, and yes, he's even seeing a future in it. I'm not holding my breath, but it is wonderful just to here the words come out of his mouth. It's been a long time coming. Fuzzy is enjoying the yard with a view, lots of people watching, and the cool fall weather. It is nice to be enjoying fall, even if the house leaks warm air. I am back to raising bread in the upstairs bedroom, but it works. I may still try the linen closet, at least then I wont have to climb the stairs to check on it. J'Leen is back up and running, not that it was ever really down. I started into production again today, oh did it feel good. We had some nice sales last month, right before the move, that really depleted supplies. So now I get to build them back up for the remaining Christmas sales. I need to get merchandise into the shops here. Even the area going out of season is still seeing good traffic, and the other tourist area is just going into season. Nothing like living in a year-round tourist area for a shop keeper, though I have no shop. I just hope that we can settle some where soon, and be there for a very long time. There are so many better things to do than to move.

The Move

2011-10-11T21:24:00.003-06:00

We fit everything but the wheelbarrow in the truck. Everybody was amazed and exhausted. We had a lot of great help from our ward in CO. We tried so hard to get rid of stuff, but still there was just a ton of stuff. We had business sales right before we moved, and they held off until we had things "organized after the move". The rental truck, we'll leave the company nameless for now, had issues trying to get out of CO. After three hours, waiting on the roadside, two phone calls to customer service, a trip to the mechanic, and a slow drive to WY, we finally made Chey. There was much rejoicing, and they said there was nothing they could find wrong with the truck. After that the driving was smooth, wet and raining, but smooth and we even managed to hit the speed limit a couple of times. Of course, the driver's window leaked through one of the storms, and the next morning the cab was dripping water onto the plants and floor. I'm so glad we were able to move our belongings in a sieve. Driving day two was blissfully uneventful, we even arrived according to schedule, where I was quickly greeted by an eager hubby. We plotted and planned for the unloading day, thought we had everything set, found out the next morning that the J'Leen cabinets wouldn't fit in the designated J'Leen area. We had more wonderful help unloading the truck from the ward here. It would have been much easier for us, if we'd had them haul everything downstairs anyway, but alas, they got off easy and we have spent the past days hauling things down ourselves. And yes, the back of the truck leaked too, notable items that got wet - just the desk and the piano. The desk has some damage and will require sanding and refinishing to fix the damage. The piano has no visible damage, but we'll have to get a tuner in to see if anything is actually damaged or not. We're still in process of seeing what the rental company will do, today they have given us a partial refund for the inconvenience.

It has been wonderful to have an extra day with Hubby and it has helped to have the time to get things unpacked. We have found most of the garage and the business is ready for reassemble. There is much work to do, but it is nice to have internet again and feel like life is starting to return to normal. Today we got the kitchen put together, half of it has ended up in the garage with the J'Leen cabinets, but it all works, kind of. Its a small house, especially in the kitchen. We have already killed and removed the washing machine that was in the house, replaced the leaking cold water tap, helped the owner pick paint colors for the exterior, discovered (thanks to an excellent service tech) a short in the main phone jack, and we're in process of replacing the sporadic doorbell. And we're just renting, and this may be why we don't buy the place and figure we'll end of moving to a different house soon, that and rent is high, so buying will be cheaper.

Hubby still likes his job, stays busy. And we all crash at night.

Packing

2011-09-26T22:36:00.000-06:00

And a packing we go. Well, I go. Hubby started his job today, paperwork intermingled with everything else. Then he spent the evening remembering everything that he had just forgotten, only he didn't remember until he'd gotten back from the store. And, the hazard of moving in on short notice, no gas, and so far, no response from the gas company. The poor kid, he really needs a wife and a dog to take care of him. Fuzzy is starting to calm from roaming the house looking for Hubby. She still looks at me like a traitor because she isn't getting to run errands with me. I just don't think the loaner car would survive her. I'll have to take a picture of it for posterity, its sounds much nicer than it is, but it drives, and that is what is important. We are hoping this will be the last time we move separately, this is really for the birds. I just hope he makes it through this week, next week will be better for everyone, well except for the people helping us haul all of our crap-e.

Chaos Begins . . .

2011-09-19T21:50:00.002-06:00

And the chaos begins. Hubby heads out in just over two days, yikes. I'm hoping to be packed and able to move in just over two weeks, but I can't even sit long enough to reserve the stupid moving truck. I opted to spend the morning consolidating crystal boxes in the basement with thoughts of making phone calls and working on the computer in the afternoon. I spent all day down in the basement working. It was do to three sales, which is good, but the other stuff still needs to get done as well. I'm going to really start loving having Sunday's as a day off, and a day of rest. Only problem is, I was so rested last night that I stayed awake stressing over everything that needed to get done, and this on top of recovering from a stupid cold. I don't have time for such silly things. If I could just get things to the point of being ready to pack, then I'll be more able to take help. For now we sort, organize, dejunk, and sell crystal so we don't have to move it.

Montana

2011-09-09T17:59:00.002-06:00

I think we should have bought a moving company. Hubby got the job he wanted, only took two tries. Now we have a month to get him up to Kali. This means he cancelled two interviews today and needs to tell his new job that he wont be working for them. Its just been one of those months. It also means we get to look at moving the business, which will be so much fun. I've been needing salesreps and now I've got a month to find one or I will lose a client. This is the oddest sense of peaceful panic that I have ever felt. I know Heavenly Father will somehow provide a way for us to accomplish this move, but nobody has yet to figure it out. This is going to a very interesting month.

Holidays and Opportunities

2011-09-05T21:41:00.002-06:00

Hubby spent last week talking to people who were interested in him as an employee. It was exhausting, but a nice change from the past year. He has one new job, that is a minor improvement. We are still waiting on last week's main interview, and a couple other opportunities that popped up last week. At least the hope is growing.

Now it is a holiday weekend. Hubby is working and I'm crashing. We've both discovered that life is just plain exhausting and there is no substitute for adequate sleep. There is also no substitute for time spent fishing, and that has been a great loss to this year. This will be our first year without Fish Lake in quite some time. Life should involve more vacation time.

Working Travels

2011-08-30T19:47:00.002-06:00

And we go. Hubby is off to a job interview, which would require moving, yet again. sigh. The location would be worth it, we haven't decided on the job yet. He's been putting in hours and hours of overtime to pay for the trip and try to catch up on the finances. He's a good Hubby, but we girls miss him, even when he's sleeping. Fuzzy is content some days just to nap with him.

J'Leen is going. We should know soon how the technical status of the website is progressing. I'll be praying things go quickly and smoothly. There are many things that need to start happening, and they will work so much better on the website than on Facebook. In the meantime, I'm finalizing all of the new catalogs, except for the jewelry, that catalog will take much longer to do and better photographs. Thanks to some family efforts I do have a good photography backdrop and we've discovered how the crystals like to have their pictures taken. I'm lucky if I can get a half hour a day of photo time in, so things go slowly. We are working on a couple of new items for Christmas, so things could really start hopping fast.

The garden is starting to recover from the last Fuzzy attack. I have cucumbers on the vines again, and may have sufficient to bottle next week. The lettuce is sprouting for its second major run, so we should have plenty of fall lettuce again. The tomato plant is huge and heavy with fruit, none of which are even thinking of turning red. If I didn't know better I'd swear I bought a green tomato plant. A few more minutes of rest and off we go again. We all may sleep in or through tomorrow, except there are more things still that need to be done.

A Week Off, kind of

2011-08-22T23:03:00.002-06:00

We got to spend the week being visited by my parents. Fuzzy loved the extra attention and I thoroughly enjoyed having someone around to talk to. My parents were quickly introduced to Hubby's schedule. He didn't go in early the day before they arrived, like they thought he would. He went in early the day they arrived. So he woke up, said hi, we ate dinner, he got ready for work, and he left. Not much of a welcome to town. And for their departure, he said he wouldn't take the extra hours, but ended up doing it anyway. So he said goodbye when he went to work on Sunday, and they left without seeing him on Monday. This is the life we live.

Fuzzy has claimed one of the spare rooms for herself. She seems to like quiet, dark places, that have a view of the comings and goings of people, but aren't too far from stationary people. She's funny.

Now life get's back to normal, which if far too busy and far too quiet. We have not been successful yet at teaching Fuzzy to speak on command, and holding a valid conversation is out of the question.

Odd Rhythms

2011-08-13T22:07:00.002-06:00

Hubby has been working at will, and he is working to will his paycheck into a respectable size. He worked seven days last week and will probably work five days this next week. One of the days, each week, will only be half days though, he's not very happy about that. But he does like the thought of overtime pay. There is something relieving to know that you are making more than half what you should be, someday things will be more satisfying. For now we settle with seeing that the expenses are being covered and hope for a future improvement is starting to come back. Hubby had a preliminary interview and test this week for one job and will have a test next week for another job. Neither is the ideal, but they are better than where he is at, which is ever so nice, and really not hard to do.

Work with J'Leen goes on. The website is on target for launching in a month, I think we'll throw a party when it does launch. Sales are continuing without it.

Fuzzy is still enjoying the garden. The poor cucumbers seem to be suffering from shock and I'm having to watch her when she's in the yard. She keeps sneaking into the tomato and stealing fruit and damaging vines. If I can keep her out for another week or two, I might actually get my first vine ripe tomato of the year. Someday I will have a good garden with a dog proof fence, the yard will also have a dog proof fence. someday . . . .

Me of Many Hats

2011-08-05T22:48:00.002-06:00

Today, watered the garden. If I can keep Fuzzy from the plants, I may get tomatoes yet this year. We have four jars of pickles, so far, and we have not been lacking for salad. Though we are about to hit a break in the lettuce production as none of the second round seeds are doing much.

Next, J'Leen catalog (also the last work of the day). I'm so sick of catalogs. I feel like I will have 20 by the time I am done, it is so labor intensive to put everything together and then try to get thing organized. The numbering and labeling system is so messed up, its a headache. I wish it were more graphic design, but its not, its data entry.

Then there is the afternoon - package to the post office, oil change, take an order, drive to Chey, work with landscape design client, drive back (big sigh), traffic jam, feed dog, take another order, make dinner, make arrangements for a third order, assembly a crystal strand necklace, and that takes us back to the catalog.

I do sleep well at nights. It was nice to be back in Chey, cooler too. Fuzzy did enjoy the ride, she and I both would have liked hanging out and doing some visiting, but not this time. We'll try to go again when Hubby can go.

Hubby, the vampire, he continues with the job while desperately seeking others. He has an interview Monday for the far northern mountains again. He has many apps out and may pick up a server job to keep him from sleeping even more. Who needs sleep anyway?

Frustrations

2011-07-25T23:36:00.002-06:00

The Ws, wearied, worried, and whining. I'm much better at not whining, but not being wearied of it all and not worrying about it, I make for a lousy Lily of the Field. But that seems to be the lesson we are learning, patience and dependence.

After two weeks of tagging, packaging, making, and preparing I did our first retail show. Children are cute, and made the day. A friend and I spent six plus hours in 90 plus degree heat watching people and sun sparkled crystal. But the only crystal that left the shop was little broken pieces that made children happy, it came no where near covering the costs, and definitely not the pain and suffering. I could have slept through Sunday, and I think my friend did. Hubby ended up burning his finger on a Gazing Ball. Little unintentional science experiment. Crystal Balls left in cardboard boxes in the sun will start a fire and burn anything that touches them. Don't try it at home.

We are two days, day and a half away from the Landlords coming to visit with the animal allergy laden daughter. Last week was so fun that the house has not been cleaned and the lawn has not been trimmed. So in a day and a half I get to clean, trim, weed, set-up beds, make bread, do laundry, put crystal away, find a sales rep (it may wait, though we are in desperate need), and otherwise prepare for company and four active children, one not so active.

Hubby tolerates his job, not well. He had a job he applied for and was not selected call to tell him today that the job had been reposted. Lovely, they liked him, well-qualified, so much they opted to look for more people. Why must this be so challenging? Just when we think we could be headed out of this mess, we get slammed back down again.

Needs for August: New Job, Sales Rep, Less Bills, Less Heat, More Sales, and a New Website. That's not asking too much, is it. Oh ya, and the lights on the truck are sporadic and nobody can figure out why. Yae, Auto Shop again, another bill.

Sparkling Chaos

2011-07-11T23:14:00.003-06:00

Life is busy, stressing, but busy. It makes the days fly by, except Sundays. Hubby is back to graves, not fun. It keeps food on the table and that is fun. It feels like half of our inventory is going to Utah, its not, but I spend enough time in shipments that it definitely feels like it. We had a nice order today. Got a call from a client that I've been trying to make contact with, they needed crystal, badly. It totally messed up my day, but after all the chaos, the stress level is lower. Anything that lowers stress is absolutely wonderful. So we smile for today, and play catch-up even more tomorrow. Fuzzy is being fuzzy. She says its too hot, especially at nights. I'm just thankful the AC can keep up and the temps are still going lower than 70 at night. The bugs are starting to really invade the house, but the ant hill on the back patio has moved on. I'm hoping to the after-life, but there is not telling with those things. The garden is growing. When I can stop to cook this week we will be enjoying fresh lettuce and cucumbers. Yummy. Still no tomatoes and at the rate the basil is growing, we wont have any fresh basil until fall. Its nice to have a little larger garden this year.

Off to rest, then more work, maybe some groceries. Milk is optional for only so long and Hubby is having chocolate withdrawals.

Brochitis, Ants, and Crystal

2011-06-27T21:41:00.002-06:00

Fuzzy got to visit the vet, she was very glad. Of course, after much analysis and an exam the vet determined that poor little fuzzy had bronchitis. She is starting to feel better, and only has half a week left that she is on play dog restriction. Fuzzy says hi.

The garden is starting to grow, no little veggies yet, but lots of blossoms and growth. The ants are trying to take over the yard. They've laid claim to the backyard patio and have quite the complex. So we, me and extended family, have spent the weekend finding new ways to take out a large ant hill. Its rather fun to see them scurry in panic, and then just see the pile o' dead ants.

We are still battling, increasing the jewelry section, dealing with accidentally deleted websites, and other such stuff with the business. Never a dull moment and always a ton to do. We are working on attending summer art shows and finding additional sales representations.

Hubby starts a job this week. He is as unexcited and disappointed as can be. There is nothing like taking a job that is something you did at the beginning of your career and only pays half of what you last job did. It really makes a person feel low.

Who Me

2011-06-11T12:27:00.003-06:00

What, have I really disappeared for that long? I never thought I could be so busy and make so little money. But, we are getting the jewelry line off and running, and one way or the other, we will have a new website this month. Hubby is frantically applying for jobs and interviewing, one of these days they will offer him a job with a start date. He already has a job without a start date, maybe, they just haven't called him in a week. Fuzzy says it is getting too warm and why can't we go back to where it was cooler. Some Saturdays should definitely be treated like a holiday, especially when Sundays don't feel like a full day of rest.

Marketing

2011-05-11T11:45:00.003-06:00

The joy of buying a business that has been let go to waste, is trying to come up with ways to boost sales. Its much more fun to fill orders than it is to entice people to order. Though, we have discovered, through a sparkly, little heart pendant, that our real problem is awareness. So now we work on trying to let people know that we are out there. And it gets even more fun since our graphics wiz (website and printer) just lost the hard drive for his computer. So, we make do with what we have and try to go on. Because of all the fun, Hubby has started looking for jobs again. We just need the means to feed ourselves long enough to let our effort take affect.

Fuzzy enjoys any spring-like weather we get. Yesterday was summer, but today is spring. I have a few seeds for our garden this year, but haven't managed to get anything prepared for planting. I'm still trying to figure out how to keep the wildlife out of the garden (Fuzzy included) without spending money. This morning was the first time in about a week that I haven't woken up early to the sound of noisy birds. My dad enjoyed watching them out the back window when they were visiting. There is quite the congregation in our little open space, and they are vocal.

Well off to work. Today I need to pay bills (YUK!) and get an auction going on Ebay. Anybody want some silver and gold foil leaves?

Crystals and Chaos

2011-04-19T11:47:00.002-06:00

Things are going crazy. Orders come in, and orders go out. The workshop is still disorganized, as are the computers. It is good to be doing something, but I really miss the order of unemployment. Our website is being a complete nightmare, and will not be changing in our original time frame to say the least, its only getting worse. But, we continue on. We have gotten J'Leen onto Facebook and LinkedIn. We are even selling items on Amazon.com now. This weekend we might even make it out to start talking to some of our wholesale clients. Yipee! Things will come, and some day I will wonder why it is that I wanted to spend my days playing with crystal in the basement. But it will be a good feeling.

Work

2011-04-02T22:33:00.002-06:00

Its been a long week of training and moving. Luckily the remaining moving is being done by the professionals and not my little arms and legs. Next week will be straightening out the giant mess that is and will be the "office". Its been fun though, and we have had some decent sales. We like sales, they help with bills. Its amazing I can sleep at night with as much as my head spins during the day, but most evenings its all I can do to keep my eyes open. Fuzzy has enjoyed the rides and bone times, but she gets a little stressed with all the commotion that has been going on. I just wish the website were moving faster, among other things. We feel like we're running like crazy and everything else is moving like cold tar.

Its Here

2011-03-25T19:13:00.003-06:00

After months of job hunting, two months of business searching, many prayers, and much frustration; we are mostly employed, or self-employed. We done bought ourselves a business. Now we just have to grow the business and get it to support ourselves. Its going to be fun. The family (the more creative ones) are already itching to get their hands and brains into the R&D department. We just have to get the inventory here, so we can start sorting what pieces are going to R&D and what pieces are not. Fun, fun. But, if your interested in crystal, we've got it.

Check it out, www.jleen.com

Now What Was Sleep?

2011-03-19T22:14:00.002-06:00

Its only getting worse. This week has been a royal roller coaster of activity and emotions, and not just for us, but for some of our neighbors as well. This week has involved good brokers, bad brokers, attorneys, accountants, parents, neighbors, church, friends, dogs, and regular life (though I'm not sure what regular life is). In the midst of our income preparations, we now get to do a little home remodeling. Ooo, I'm so excited. Fuzzy had a play date and a visitor last night, boy did she think that was great. Of course, we had to be up early today, so we didn't get to enjoy the sacked out benefits of a tired dog after a fun night. sigh. I'll take the sleep I will get tomorrow morning, things shouldn't start too early. I did get a nap this afternoon, first down time in over 24 hours, but I spent a good two hours of my evening working on church stuff, what a royal mess. Six days and counting.

And We're Going

2011-03-12T22:17:00.002-07:00

We get a little bit now and then that is calm. Lately we have been more social, actually hanging out with people. It feels good, until I have nights like tonight, where I just want to sleep. mmmm, sleep, luckily church isn't too early tomorrow. Things are progressing with our plans. This is good. For a while this week, it looked like we might have to change our strategic income plan, again. But we've been able to work out the last hurdle. Hopefully there will not be any further serious complications. All goes well, we'll be gaining control of our income by the end of the month. It could take us a while to actually have income, but at least we'll be making forward progress instead of hanging out and waiting. I'll just keep enjoying what sleep I can, while I can.

Pursuit

2011-02-22T14:04:00.003-07:00

Another busy week. It has been warm and sunny, our family is getting sick of talking to us about the weather. I guess it has not been as warm and sunny there. We have continued our explorations and are starting to figure out what we want, what we can handle, and what it might take to get there. We just wish we would have hit this state of mind back in August or September. Oh well. We'll see what we can do now, and if we can make it work, life will be good. Church is starting to calm down, I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks and things will progress into a nice little lull again. Its all temporary, but at least the craziness is past. It will be an interesting spring in all accounts. Today is calm, its been a while since I wondered what to do with myself. I might even manage some piano practicing again.

Explorations

2011-02-15T23:35:00.003-07:00

You know something isn't right when the guy at church who has managed to employ most people who need employment, wont hire you. Its with events like this that have led us to much contemplation and some serious consideration of what we want in life. Which oddly enough (ya right) isn't what we have been doing, some people might even think it is a little crazy. But hey, if we can figure out a way to make our dreams come true, what's wrong with that. So lately we have been exploring our options, we explore on-line, we explore to the north, and we've explored to the south. Fuzzy likes the rides, she is such a "go" dog. Today she even got a lunch treat. We bought her a hot dog and the lady packaging it threw in some of the bbq scraps from other orders. Oh, was she in fuzzy heaven. She'd polished it off and was licking the container clean in 60 seconds.

I'm starting to get a few free lance jobs. It will be nice when we can start getting some payments. Hubby got a surprise safety bonus from last year. Its not much, but it covers all of our recent dinners parties. Hubby got his favorite meal for Valentines Day (Rouladen, Spaeztle, Rotkohl, und Schwarzwalderkirshtorte). And frankly, it turned out mighty fine. After much practice I'm starting to get the traditional German recipes down, minus the alcohol soaked cake. The missionaries enjoyed it too, except for the one that got transferred yesterday and missed out. But since he was transferred to our old ward, we're fairly certain that he was fed, it wouldn't have tasted as good though.

Question of the day . . . Is it too early to start talking about and planning my yard? Answer . . . No, its never too early, and really folks, start planning your yard in October, then you'll actually be ready to start on it when the weather warms up. Alright, mountain climates can wait till January, since you wont get warm weather until May, but its never too early.

Gnaw Gnaw Gnaw

2011-02-08T19:25:00.003-07:00

I had to take it through the window because of the tree, but it still works. This is Fuzzy having some bone time and enjoying the snow. Life is good.

And the rest goes on. We are still looking for money making schemes, most are called jobs, but some might fall into other categories. I should start doing some temp work again. I'm just waiting for a start date/the next assignment. Its not many hours, but its work, and its kind of plant related. So its beats a lot of other stuff that I've looked at and done.

Mostly these days, Hubby hogs the computer, and I curse the Visiting Teaching. Its been time consuming, but next month claims to be calmer with a smaller work load. I'm ready for spring; flowers, plants, and sunshine. Of course, the hope of freelance work doesn't hurt either.

Now, if I could just figure out how to get my homemade pasta to lay flat out of the machine, and then get it into the pot in a short time period. Strand by strand of really thin spaghetti does not make for anything other than a mess and cooked mush.

Slow Progress

2011-01-21T14:25:00.003-07:00

Well, its another week of waiting, praying, hoping, and being unemployed bums. The last part, minus the stress and the worry, isn't all that bad. I don't want to get used to it though.

Fuzzy is enjoying "Neighborhood Channel", its only a small window, but she spends much of her time there. She is looking forward to the day when we get people here to visit her. She might have to have a birthday party, though most of her friends are an hour or more away. We have not done well at getting her friends here. She did not get to enjoy Hubby's meeting last night or his guests. Poor girl.

Hubby is applying for jobs. Some of them are better than others. We apply locally when we can, but this week seems to be sliding off into the Pacific Ocean. Not a favored location at all, but, as the saying goes, there are worse places to be.

For me, well, I didn't get the job that I wasn't sure I wanted. It was the worst interview ever, so we aren't at all surprised. It may have been a good hour commute, so this is probably for the best. I did get a rating of 91 on one of my applications, but since there is now way to know how the other candidates rated, its only a small pat on the back. Its a well paid job, so an A- rating feels pretty good, and we'll just stick with that. I am starting, thanks to our ward members, to make contacts with some of the Landscape Architecture community. At least people will know that I am here, and there will be more to go with the resume. My resume used to speak for itself, it was nice, now it shows experience, but it does not show the quality of experience since I have left my original work community. It just goes to show how subjective life can be. But, my portfolio has had two views this month, and I'm not even sure who one of them is. I like unexpected views.

Photo Time

2011-01-14T11:11:00.003-07:00

This is Fuzzy on treats, it does make for a cute photo though, but she generally makes for cute photos, being fuzzy and all.
Here is attempt one with my new pasta maker. I might manage to dry straight pasta, as soon as I learn how much flour to put in the dough. It was a little sticky this time.

Holidays

2011-01-07T11:15:00.002-07:00

We had a lovely visit with family and friends for the holiday. Everybody put on weight including Fuzzy, so it must have been a success. Now we focus on finding work, gee, feels like last year. We came back with a hope for me to be employed locally, it was a great way to start the year. But now it looks like that isn't going to work out either. We looked at moving to the far north, some decent prospects, and those have currently dropped off the board too. So now, I look at basic jobs here, and Hubby is looking to the south. Yep, we want cooler with snowy Christmases, so we apply for desert jobs, makes great sense. Life goes on. In the mean time, we play with Christmas toys, and be happy about food. I had a counter full of fresh pasta, yummy, it was fun too, no more rolling and cutting by hand.

Sagas and Disappointments

2010-12-16T20:30:00.002-07:00

We so loved our trip to the mountains and the snow. But alas, this will not be our time to move, so much for the Christmas present of a job, but we do still have a week left to go. We thrive on faith and hope, it makes the day go by better. Fuzzy is depressed about the lack/loss of snow too. I did get to apply for a professional job this week. It is so rarely that I can find one of those. The theme for the week is "But if not . . ." and we go on.

The microwave started to go out in November. Its not a huge deal as we have a microwave and the house has a microwave, so there is a back-up. So, Black Saturday we went microwave shopping. We found a microwave that looked to be a little nicer than was in the house, it was on sale. Yae for us. It was at Best Buy, but it was only a microwave. We made arrangements to have it installed a week later, so that we wouldn't have to worry about any differences between the fit of the new microwave and the old microwave. Its not our house and the intent is to help it sell better down the road, so we like to make sure things are done right. So they came out and installed the microwave, no problems. We tried out the microwave for lunch, and it stopped working. We couldn't get it to heat anything up, it was making odd noises, and things didn't smell quite right. Monday morning we called Best Buy, they said go to the store. That's where things started to go wrong. We went to the store and talked to the returns counter, the lady behind the counter wasn't sure how to make the exchange arrangements so she talked to her manager. The manager referred us to the appliance manager, but nobody could find her. So we were sent over the Home Theater, who are supposed to know how to handle appliances. The Home Theater guy didn't know how to handle it, so he talked to his manager. After talking to his manager, he conferred with another salesman and we were sent over to the Geek Squad counter. The guy at the Geek Squad counter didn't know how to handle it so he talked to his manager. His manager said to call Best Buy. Oh look, now we've gone full circle. So we went back home and called Best Buy, they, of course, said we needed to talk to the store, but went through the efforts to call the store and tell them how to handle the situation. So the replacement was scheduled for the following Monday. Monday morning the delivery driver shows up with the microwave, but nobody had scheduled the installers. So we send the driver and the microwave away and call the store. They state that the person who scheduled everything made a mistake and left the install off the order. They promise to make the arrangements to get the microwave out on Wednesday. Wednesday morning comes and we call to double check on the install because we haven't heard from the installers on a time, and we're suddenly not scheduled for install until Monday. Now, we have finally made contact with the appliance manager, but she can't get the install moved up from Monday. So we decide that this is enough, we want our money back. She agrees to make the arrangements for the refund and uninstall and promises to get back with us on the details. Wednesday afternoon we call back to see when the uninstall is scheduled and find out that the app manager was rushed to the hospital since we last talked to her. So now we are forwarded on to the General Manager. She says that she can get us a microwave install on Thursday. We say, okay, go try. She gets the installer lined up just to find out that the microwave that had been delivered on Monday has been sold to someone else, which is why the install was pushed from Wednesday to Monday. Some how it had gotten sold out from under the guy we spoke to on Monday, and nobody was alerted to it. So the GM finds another microwave and sends someone out to pick it up. We get the microwave and installer in Thursday morning. We think, yae, this is finally over. The installer looks at us and says, did they give you money off for this. After looking over the microwave, which is supposed to be new in the box, it has a large dent in back, a small bend in front, and another bend on bottom. We let him install it and call the store again. After spending 10 or more minutes on hold we get the GM again. Now we have a new microwave (number three) scheduled for delivering on Monday. We are now three weeks from the original purchase date, we do have a functioning microwave, but we are still not satisfied customers. At least we have found someone who can make things happen the way that they should. Consolation, at least by the time we get what we paid for, they will not have made any money on the sale. It has been a royal pain though, and in spite of all unavoidable things that have gone wrong, it should not have been this bad. Customer Service is definitely worth paying for.

Hurray and Wait

2010-12-09T08:38:00.004-07:00

Our long drive last week is feeling worth it. The area was beautiful and Hubby and I are both homesick for the area, though we have never lived there. The interview went well and he has passed the first post interview cut. Now we wait for the final decision, which should be happening next week. We feel really good about it and hope that we will be able to move shortly after the new year. Fuzzy thoroughly enjoyed the drive. She had fun playing in the snow and I'm sure she misses it. This could be the first time, after all those years of wishing, the Hubby will actually get a new job for Christmas, and it couldn't happen to a better year. Fuzzy got treats to pose for this years Christmas picture. It made for some fuzzy pictures. She was suckering the vet out of treats yesterday with those big, fuzzy, brown eyes.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T19:53:00.002-07:00

Nothing makes for a better Thanksgiving then having a potential employer call the day before. No, it wasn't the entry level job, we're still waiting, though not really, to hear about that interview. Hubby had a phone call for a "real" job, or as real as it may get for now. He has an interview next week, and we're going to have a little vacation. Its not a perfect job, but we are pretty excited about the location. For one thing, there are a lot less people living there. It will be so nice to get away from big cities and commuting again.

As for Thanksgiving, we had tons of food, still do. I wont have to cook for quite some time, and that is another thing to be thankful for. Hubby missed his chocolate pie though, so next year will have a two pie minimum. Maybe I'll figure out how to make multiple mini pies. Something to ponder for the coming year. As for the end of this year, if all goes well, it will be absolutely crazy, and that will be wonderful.

Waiting for Food

2010-11-22T19:12:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving is coming and my mouth is already watering, and I haven't even figured out what the menu is. We are still waiting for Hubby's interview, things never seem to go as planned. Hubby got put back into the EQP at church. Now he really wants to get a job somewhere else and move again. We both want to move back to a smaller town, we have still left our hearts back in the last town. Of course, our family would like us to move back by them, they are so predictable.

As for other things waiting, Hubby is waiting to replace the fuel pump on the vehicle. He's endeavoring really hard to make this repair go smoothly. And of course, he needs more tools.

Fuzzy is wondering where the visitors are, but she is loving the cooler weather. She is also happy to be able to gnaw on things again, especially her new tennis ball.

And it all went KABOOM

2010-11-15T23:15:00.002-07:00

An over-riding sense of peace in life, is worth any sacrifice.

We persist on. Hubby has an interview for a low-paying, entry-level job tomorrow. YAE? It will be good for him, in many ways. So last week went something like this . . .

the house - we are trading some of rent for work-upgrades or maintenance on the house. It was decided with this month we would replace the deteriorating sink and install a nicer faucet. Way cool, I like new sinks and faucets. To make life more interesting on Friday the dishwasher leaked all of the floor and the sensor in the microwave bit the dust. So now the kitchen gets a re-plumbing. We think the dishwasher drain is just clogged, but there are some issues that don't help it stay unclogged. So we get to have that fixed. It still isn't decided what will be done with the microwave, but even if it dies tomorrow, we have two, so its not a huge loss.

the vehicle - we lost the exhaust gas valve, fuel sender, diverter door, and an oil seal. We anticipate losing the fuel pump soon. Its so exciting. So Saturday and today were spent working on the truck. Hubby had to drop the drive shaft, again. And when we put it back on this time, the vehicle developed a vibration. Just what you want to know at 8pm on Saturday. So he pulled the drive shaft off again today, third time. After much pondering, puzzling, and staring; he decided that it might be over-greased, and it was. Now vehicle is put back together and operating nicely. There are still more things to fix, but for now they are more than poor Hubby wants to tackle.

Fuzzy got a dental two weeks ago. She is feeling much better now. She lost five teeth, poor girl. The part we have enjoyed the most, is you can no longer smell her breath from across the room.

U-Joint from . . .

2010-10-29T22:06:00.002-06:00

We spent three days with our "new" vehicle in pieces on the garage floor. It is nice to have a garage with house access for a change. Hubby learned a lot, and got more tools. The most painful education was how difficult it is to get around town when you don't have a car, and how little resources are actually available in this town. But, we are persistent and resourceful and now have a vehicle which runs better than it did at the beginning of the week. Now maybe I can focus on Halloween. I am running behind schedule this week.

A few more employment rejections for the week. The more we get, the closer we are to actual employment.

Oh the Fun of it All

2010-10-25T16:50:00.003-06:00

We spent last week vehicle shopping. I'm really getting sick of used car lots. We got a newer vehicle last week and finally sold our, not so old to us, truck today. One should always think twice about their vehicle choices when there is a chance of moving from a non-emission testing state to an emission testing state. We do miss the "country" for sure. But now we are all legal and set, just waiting for the job. So, hubby is applying for one a couple of states away. It just makes it more fun that way.

Fuzzy went in for her annual, and she's healthy and still dropping pounds. If she keeps this up I wont be able to call her a chubby puppy any more. It does help her arthritis though, so we like that she is still getting the weight off. She is loving her yard, and doesn't even get too upset when we leave her home, though she is usually play doggy when we get home.

When we moved I cleaned out some of my Halloween decorations that I haven't been using as much. It was quite a shock to the system. Today, I'm very behind schedule, I started to put up the remainder of my Halloween decorations. I found out that the move was not so kind to my second witch. It leaked (water globe) and broke in the move. So now, as far as I can find in the mess of boxes, I seem to be lacking in Halloween decorations. I guess that is just an excuse to work and stocking back up in the coming years. I'm trying to convince Hubby to help carve a pumpkin tonight. So far he is looking for excuses to not help. I'll have to make it airplane themed for him, that should spark some interest.

Apply and Apply

2010-10-12T17:47:00.001-06:00

Yep, no change. The Ward is good here and so are enjoying that. They proved to be efficient and attentive last week. They even brought a basket of goodies and veggies, which we have definitely enjoyed. So we keep waiting. And Fuzzy enjoys the yard and the finally cooling weather.

Fuzzy

2010-09-28T18:46:00.003-06:00

Fuzzy is enjoying the change. She has a yard, which she has yet to break out of (amazing in itself). The yard is a pretty good size, lots of lawn and shade. It also has a pretty decent view around the area, so there is a lot to be seen. She even gets to perch on the deck and see more territory, as well as, watch everybody who is inside. Most of the house is carpeted, so she gets to run around and play, which was harder for her to do on wood floors. She thinks this is a pretty good trade, and the air conditioning doesn't hurt either. She's been getting lots of rides, though like the rest of us, she is often sick of the truck by the time we finish with the "ride".

The job hunt continues . . .

Laying Low in the South

2010-09-22T19:00:00.003-06:00

We moved, it was completely miserable. The worst moving experience ever. We managed to stay in denial until 24 hours prior to closing. So now we are an hour south, staying in a friends house, looking for work and considering some additional educational options. The most fun we anticipate having this week is trying out the new washer and dryer tomorrow. Its a thrilling time. But today we have internet on the computer and phone service that isn't cell based.

We did take a drive on Monday into one of the mountain towns. It was nice to get back out of the heat and the town was pretty. It was very touristy though. Maybe someday we'll make a "shopping" trip, if we are here long enough.

For now, it is a question of how to make everything work through this transition, and get all the changes right, because we don't want to do this again.

Limbo Land

2010-08-30T13:51:00.002-06:00

We were thrown a pacifier last week, its not a very tasty one. Hubby got a call from a neighbor, he had a job at a drill rig, to work as grunt. Hubby took it and now is on day three. The money is good, but it reminds me of how much I hate long tiring days, especially when mixed with long commutes. Having only the one vehicle, it has left me stranded. Which does leave me grateful for the wonderful friends that we have made here. Its only a temporary situation, a week more at the most, but we shall see just how much more we can take of the hours, work, and mess. Fuzzy Girl is missing him too, we really liked our little vacation where he was around a lot. We've had a lot of discussions about jobs and possibilities. This does really help to put things in perspective. I would rather live in a shack and have him home lots, then live in a mansion and have him gone for days to weeks at a time. Thus, some of the options for employment that scared me a week ago are sounding very appealing this week. But we wait. One week to vacation (and I will drag him if I have too) and just over two weeks to the move. I guess that means two weeks until we have to decide where we are moving. Our confidence is high, as are our hopes. Our Heavenly Father has richly blessed us with his support and love, we are well provided for in so many aspects. So, for this week we wait, work, and deal with the exhaustion and separation again.

Progress

2010-08-18T14:33:00.002-06:00

Last week we had an offer on the house. Nine days on the market and we are under contract. It is a beautiful thing. Today the appraiser came through, which meant yesterday went from busy to crazy. About 10 o'clock last night we finally finished putting the closet back together. That means the home remodeling is finished. Sure, there are a few small bits left to do here and there. But now we can focus on cleaning (because this joint is completely filthy now), job hunting, and packing.

We've only had the one interview, and we have never heard back from them. Which could be unfortunate, and could be just fine, only time will tell. In theory we have four weeks before the next big step, but things could move faster than that. So we will continue to make good progress each day and be ready for sudden changes.

Fuzzy is enjoying having Hubby home all day, and I find it to be rather nice myself. So now we plug on, pray for jobs, and collect offers for places to live when we are jobless and don't own a home (the current count is three).

Long Drive

2010-08-07T19:41:00.002-06:00

In the midst of hanging drywall, we opted for a "mini-vacation". We took off very early Thursday morning, almost Wednesday night, and drove for about seven hours. We took a couple of hours to drive around town, participate in a job interview, and talk to a local. Then we got back in the truck and drove seven more hours until we got home. What did we learn . . . 17 hour round trip, one day excursions are excruciatingly painful, and we will endeavor to never do that again. The area we visited is still beautiful, periodically crowded, and expensive. The truck has a much bigger gas tank than expected, but the gas gauge may not be entirely reliable. But we didn't run out of gas, so its all good. Fuzzy loved the drive and is enjoying the truck where she can lay down and look out the window, and if she is really lucky, then she'll even get wind in her fur too.

A New Adventure

2010-08-03T21:39:00.002-06:00

As the story goes . . .

Hubby worked with a supervisor, who we will call Lamen, who took a dislike (for multiple reasons) to him. Now, understand, the other four supervisors that Hubby has worked with have found his job performance to range from good to outstanding. So this is all the power of one person with too much control. So, Lamen started making life difficult in June. The first few weeks of July worked turned from difficult to painfully miserable. It also came to the point that it was quit or be fired. This wasn't a decision we wanted to make, but, we didn't get that choice. So as of July 28th, Hubby is unemployed. Its a great opportunity for him to reassess his career field and the choices he makes. So we are looking at a lot of options right now.

As for me, I've got a few side jobs, but not enough to support us. The plan is to sell the car and sell the house and be debt free. Of course, this also leaves us homeless, though our parents don't like us to use that word. We have sold the car and bought an older truck. We've been putting the truck to good use already. We were in the middle of painting the main floor, remodeling the closet, and redoing the driveway approach. Its been a crazy, busy couple of weeks. We've got the main floor painted, it looks so much better. We have starting hanging sheetrock on the closet walls and hope to have it back together within a week. Then we can move on to lesser projects.
We hope that the home will sell quickly, and that the new job will follow shortly there after.

Its been really nice to spend the extra time together. In a few weeks we might even get to slow down enough to do something fun with the free time. Right now I just hope for the time to finish work for my clients and a little more sleep. We will try to keep this updated, by time for "playing" on the computer is very minimal, so there wont be regular updates.

Camp and Purgatory

2010-07-12T18:35:00.002-06:00

I spent last week camping with teenage girls. It was fun and relaxing compared to homelife and work, especially when you consider Hubby's week. Briefly put, I went camping and he's gone to work in purgatory. We'll update you when that changes.

Where Did the Day Go

2010-06-30T16:00:00.003-06:00

I feel like a productive chicken with its head cut-off. I put coat number two of mud on the kitchen this morning (I did take plenty off of the floor and counters while cleaning). Hubby is getting very anxious to get some of this stuff done. I haven't started swearing at him yet, but there are days. It will be nice to have a real coat of paint on the kitchen walls. But that wont happen for a couple of weeks yet. I should get it done before our next set of visitors, so that will be very nice. Next week I get to spend camping with a bunch of teenage girls. I had hoped to get out of it, since I'm now working with younger girls and not the teenagers, but alas, I'm stuck. It will be fun, but I'm a little nervous about leaving my house with Hubby. I'm not sure, but I don't think I've ever left him home alone before. Poor kid, I don't know how he will survive. Fuzzy is going to go "make friends" with some neighbors during the day. At least that is what we are hoping, we'll see how adventurous she gets.

I'm having a hard time getting stuff done on my paying projects. Its frustrating and I wont get anything done next week, which is just dismaying. I had wanted to finish two of them up this week before I left and I just don't know if I'm going to make it or not. I sure miss the days of waking up and saying, hmmm, what shall I do today, what would I like to do. sigh. Back to work . . . .

Ow!

2010-06-21T13:36:00.002-06:00

I haven't had a chance to start on the kitchen yet, though it is slowly making its way up the to do list. I have three paying clients right now, yae. It is fun to try and work them into everything else. So far they have been keeping themselves spaced out just right. Saturday we finished hanging insulation in the attic space that was opened up for the closet remodel. Once we fix some wiring and put in a new light, then we can put walls back up. We may throw some built-ins into the mix, but it will just depend on how things go. It will be very nice to have a closet again. I've been spending a lot of time in the yard. There really isn't the money to make major improvements, but I'm so sick of it that I am cutting things back and putting in an cheap or free plants that I can find. I have thinned out the front planter bed, it still needs some weeding, and I put in a couple of annuals. Its horrible, I know, but they were free and they will provide some variety for this year. I have a fragrant flower mix, that was also free, that I am trying to put by the driveway. Silly me, I assumed that the dirt and rock mix was just a little rock. It has turned out to be two to three inches of rock on top of fabric (which would have been nice 20 years ago) that has been over run by dirt. I finally dug all of that out this morning. Now I've got to sort dirt and rock so that I can plant the seed mix. Maybe it will even produce flowers this year, wouldn't that be nice. For some reason my back hurts. I even cleaned out the rain gutters for the second time, every six months I guess. This time it included pulling a dandelion off of the roof. I don't feel so bad because the neighbor has a dandelion growing on his roof too.

Just too Much

2010-06-16T09:22:00.002-06:00

Things have just been crazy. I managed to get the Breakfast Nook finished, just in time for the in-laws to visit. It is nice to have it all back together and my little plants enjoy having their sunny room back, the office really wasn't their thing. I have picked up three clients. One small design, on fair size design, and a small consult. They wont pay much, but they will pay and it is absolutely wonderful to be doing what I love and getting paid for it. Tonight I have a landscape presentation for the women at church. It should be interesting, as long as I can stay awake for it. Fuzzy and I went for a slow, long walk today. She's already working on her post walk nap. I think I slept through half of the walk. It is great to have family visit, but sometimes it can be exhausting. Its especially exhausting when you first have to get back to real life afterwards. It was nice to not worry about much for a week.

Hubby is in Fawn overload right now. No matter how much he tries to get the word out, people keep calling about fawns that are laying like they are dead and mom is no where around. Which is completely normal, but people just don't get it. It has boosted his overtime hours, which is always nice. But it is getting old and tedious.

Picture Day

2010-05-28T14:17:00.002-06:00

Here is my little saw blade, all finished and hung on the wall. The trees could be better, but I do like the grass.

Here is the garden. Yae! Very small. We are trying an EarthBox this year. It will be interesting to see how the cucumbers like it. So far Fuzzy likes the fertilizer, sigh. So we will be spending the summer trying to keep her out of the box.

Rain, Tornados, Sunshine, and Gardens

2010-05-20T11:35:00.002-06:00

Its been a busy, eventful week. Monday was gorgeous. Fuzzy and I spent a lot of time out in the yard. I enjoyed it and didn't even need pain killers afterward. I got all the branches from last week cleaned-up and on the park strip, finally. Just in time too, the city came back around in the afternoon and took them all away. Yae! We went to community plant sales on Saturday and came home with four cucumbers to go with the two tomatoes that followed me home from the Botanic Gardens. We gave up the idea of planting the south slope (due to soil, cars, and bunnies) and bought some more outdoor planters. The tomatoes got planted on Monday and have been spending the nights inside and the days outside. The cucumber planter is not stair friendly, so they have not been planted yet, but hopefully things will stay warmer now and I can plant them in a couple of weeks. When it seems more stable I'll plant and then they can hang out in the garage overnight if necessary. But the garage really isn't plant friendly.

Tuesday I managed to finish my saw blade. Its now hanging downstairs. I started working on a picnic quilt, but haven't come up with a new painting project yet. I need to find my some more "recycled" materials. I have a skirt I'm working on too. I'm very sick of my clothing, its time for some new stuff. We had some lovely severe thunderstorm activity in the afternoon and evening. Hubby spent much of the time watching news posts to see where the tornadoes were. I think the closest any got was nine miles south of town. Things weren't bad at all here, but Fuzzy and I practiced our tornado safety anyway. We need to beef-up the comfort level in the basement, that is for sure.

Yesterday was painful. I spent the morning back in the Nook, sanding. Some silly person put too much mud on the wall and I sanded half of it back off, quite the dust storm. Next week I will re-mud and re-sand. Maybe it will be paint-able by the beginning of June. Then I can start the Kitchen, oh boy.

Today was another peaceful morning at the gardens, ah. Its almost more therapeutic than the weekend. No plants followed me home today, Hubby will be so proud. I don't know where I would put them anyway. Fuzzy is looking forward to summer with walks and the dog park. She seems a little stir crazy, or maybe she is just crazy.

A Lovely Spring Day In May

2010-05-12T15:54:00.003-06:00

There is nothing so homey as baking bread on a snowy day. It sure beats the rest of today. Our morning started out like this.

After a little bit of work, we managed to have a mess that looked like this.

Hubby was quite pleased to see this sight at lunch.

I was very excited when the city came and left me with a much smaller mess, and a lot of heavy lifting that I didn't have to do. Hubby will be very excited about it too.

Now the mess looks like this and I don't wonder why I'm tired. I only wonder how long it will be before I fall asleep.

Another Week

2010-05-10T14:52:00.002-06:00

And things move along with nothing new and nothing different, just another week and trying to get things along. But the lawn mower is working, yae? The weather is unpredictable and threatening, so we will try the trimmer out another day. It is spring, things are growing and changing and crisp neat lawns are not necessary in my book, besides, tomorrow it might snow. It might snow a lot, and it might just sprinkle. The weather forecasters are just as crazy as the weather and I've learned to only believe the clouds and the wind.

Family

2010-05-05T14:57:00.002-06:00

So, my sister entered my mother in a Creative Mother Contest by Michael's. Annoyance of all annoyance, its on Facebook. shiver. But, I being the good daughter and liking to make my mother feel loved, I sign-up for an account (I feel dirty). Needless to say, she deserves to win. So, for anyone interested in voting, here is the link. You can vote once a day.

http://apps.facebook.com/new-gifts/profile.php?id=1242

If you're really in to lots of daily voting then keep check on The Animal Rescue Site. They due shelter challenges every few months and will be starting a new one the middle of May. Of course, I highly recommend that you vote for Friends In Need from Eagle Mountain, Utah.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3

Things go on, we have tulips (boring yellow, pink and white, and a pinkish purple) and the plants are really starting to leaf. We also have ants and lawn that has decided to grow. I guess I should get to that yard work now.

Distractions

2010-05-03T14:34:00.002-06:00

So, I said that I would actually show the progress on my little saw blade. Its another attempt to further develop skills and to find ways to make money from home. I'm still getting used to the mentality here. They actually sell similar folk art objects at the fine art gallery downtown. Hubby didn't say much, but from what we have seen I'm at least as good. So maybe, if I can get a portfolio of work going, I might have a chance. But I get distracted with more immediate necessities, boring stuff like laundry and food. Well, food isn't that boring.

I made my first attempt at Hubby's favorite meal over the weekend. Having never seen Rouladen or Spaetzle made before, it was fair. This was not my first attempt at Spaetzle, but I think I may have it the next time. I've got better tools now, so it is just remembering what the right consistency of the dough is. The Rouladen was good, but lacking in the right flavor. I think it needed a little tweeking. I'm sure Hubby wont mind if I practice more.

This week we work on Mother's Day, as it occurred to me this weekend that Mother's Day was coming rather early this month. Maybe I'll get back to the saw blade next week. I keep trying.

Where Did I Go?

2010-04-27T09:17:00.002-06:00

I didn't realize that I had dropped off for so long. We had a nice, but very short visit with family for a nephews wedding, between that at Young Women's, I lost the second week of April. The third week was crazy just catching up. Ah, and then there was (what I am calling) the fourth week. It was busy, Hubby was sick (still is), I tried his cold too (think it is finally leaving now), and then there was Young Women's (they never go away) and the Botanic Gardens (my brain wont let go of them). We had a Late-over with the Young Women, they loved it, Hubby hid, and the rest of us just tried to survive. It was fun, they may be a small group, but they are full of life.

So starting last week, I am spending one morning a week volunteering at the local Botanic Gardens. Mmmm, plants! It was a rainy, foggy, and then snowy day. We spent the morning inside planting seeds and transplanting seedlings. I've missed having plants to check on and play with, and yes, talk to. I know I've been missing it, and it is spring, but I left last week and have been just biding my time until I go back this week. There is something so therapeutic about plants and soil, nature. And of course, things are quiet there and you can set your stresses aside for a little while. Mmm, a little piece of heaven. And it is always nice to be hanging around people with training similar to mine, Master Gardeners training, Greenhouses, and a similar love of nature and plants. It was, in a sense, professionally therapeutic as well. Ah, but I have finally put in my application for my professional license here. I'll feel better, but hopefully it will help me find work too. Need more plants . . .

And now it is this week, many more things to do, including making Hubby feel special (something about a birthday) without drawing undue attention to him. But, he had a party for mine, so shouldn't I have some revenge. :-) We will also be playing games with friends this week, YAE Game Night. I miss playing games regularly with my parents, luckily there are a few young couples here that like games, they are young. But it is nice to have game people around.

Easter Conference Birthday

2010-04-05T15:32:00.002-06:00

Oh what, were there really three things that happened yesterday, it was such a calm peaceful day after all. It has been a nice couple of days. Saturday was a little crazy as we broke our cable for connecting the laptop to the TV and thus spent the day camped out in the office and running around town trying to find a new cable. Ha, ha, ha. Old laptops and small towns just don't work that well together. Today we are preparing for our first BBQ of the season, and we get to break in a new grill while we are at it. Hubby is very excited, this one has legs and is at a comfortable height. We decided it was time for an "adult" BBQ, though it is still small by some standards. We'll have company, so Fuzzy is looking forward to the extra attention, and there will be a few people happy to sink their hands into her clean soft fur. She'll be thoroughly spoiled this week. We have a party tonight, the YW are coming over tomorrow night, and then it is off to visit family (very briefly) for a wedding. Its all more attention and treats for her. I guess its time to return to dish washing. I seem to have dirtied quite a lot of dishes yesterday, but it did taste mighty good.

Warmth

2010-03-30T14:38:00.002-06:00

I have been waiting for today for months. It is the first day this year and since sometime in November or October (there were some warm days in November) that the house has not felt like a fridge. It was so nice that Fuzzy and I went for a morning walk. Its our first morning walk for some time too. It was so nice out that I wondered why I was wearing long sleeves, and then the breeze would pick up, its still spring. Things are not looking well for the upstairs, even though the furnace was coming on a little this morning, I've had to open windows to vent the upstairs. We were hoping that the insulation would help to keep things cooler in the summer. Its 70 outside, but I think it is already 80 upstairs, its definitely not long sleeve and pant with socks and shoes weather up there. Since it is spring though, they talking about a chance of snow for tomorrow night. I'm sure we still have one or two snow storms left and several cold mornings. But I will take the warmth and sunshine whenever I can get it.

Now, a short break before its time to start dinner, and then it is back to work. I just love those laundry and kitchen days, time just flies.

Progress in Pink

2010-03-23T16:30:00.003-06:00

Well, its not spectacular and I need to work on my texturing techniques, but the bathroom is finally in a state of temporary completion. It looks so much better and is much brighter now that half of the walls are not gray. But it is primarily pink, and that is just weird. I did empty three cans of old paint getting it to this stage, so the storage area is looking much better. Oh, does it stink though. Last time I used low VOC paint, so it was more environmentally friendly and did not have a strong smell. This old stuff is horrible, I'm still suffering from paint fumes a day later. The Young Women are coming over tonight so I will have to start filling the air with pleasant sent to help mask the lingering odor. But, you can touch the walls without getting joint compound on you, so life is good. Once the Nook and Kitchen reach this stage, then we will work on painting the whole main floor, and the pink walls will go bye bye, as will the ice blue in the office. It does not do to paint a cold room a cold color. I swear this is one of the coldest rooms in the house.

Yesterday was warm and sunny. Today, its been snowing since morning. We have at least two inches that haven't melted. It is supposed to continue through the night. But Thursday will feel like spring again.

I keep pondering, how did I ever find the time in the day to spend nine or more hours in working outside the home. There is just too much to do for such things. Though, my independent prospects are starting to perk up, it must be this threatening thing called Spring.

Back to Normal

2010-03-09T13:47:00.002-07:00

Hubby is back from warmer climates and life is back to normal. I have been focusing on completing projects last week and this week. Some day I might actually take some pictures again. I finally update my perpetual calendar. I've included Hubby's family, its just take a few years. Though it now dawns on me, I thought to remember every one in the family, except the new fiancee because I don't know how she spells her name. I have a tile for everyone now, except Hubby, minor detail. I shall have to go put his name on one. He's just special that way. I also have finished some stitcheries that have been sitting around since I was a teenager. I still need to figure out what I will do with them. I have other stitcheries that still need frames, but that is another issue. I finally got rid of my pile of bibs and burp cloths (long story) and no, that isn't an announcement. They did turn out well though. It is just nice to see the piles go down.

Spring?

2010-03-05T15:08:00.002-07:00

Oh, its not really spring yet, but it does rather feel like it. See, for the past few days it has been almost warm and quite sunny. It was beautiful, Fuzzy and I thoroughly enjoyed our walks. It has been snowing all day today, yep, 50s yesterday, shoveling snow today. See it must be spring. It will be warmish again tomorrow, then they say rain, the sunny and warmish again. Its crazy, therefor it must be spring. And spring means PLANTS! No, I don't have spring fever and it hasn't turned into raging plant fever either. I'm determined to add at least three perennials and two shrubs to the yard this spring. I must have plants! I did mention I was feverish, right.

Yawn!

2010-02-24T14:17:00.003-07:00

Springs coming, things are periodically thawing, and someday I'll find a financially beneficial productivity. I just hate consigning myself to days full of half pay and phone staring. Its soooo boring.

Maybe tomorrow I will mud the bathroom. Then I will soon be able to paint in there. Getting rid of the gray walls will brighten the room and a little bit of mud might make it slightly warmer. I'm just looking forward to the time that the walls stop radiating cold. I've never had a house that felt like this one.

No, its not a squash, its a Scotch Broom Flower. I just needed a picture.

Finding the Lost

2010-02-18T14:16:00.002-07:00

For a month or so I've been looking for my Young Women medallions. Every time I would think they were gone I would remind myself that there were pins and coins that were missing as well, and that they would not have gotten left behind. Though it baffled me as to why I could find the first and the last, but not the middle two medallions. I even went through the storage boxes in the garage, thanks to some abnormally warm weather. Then, this morning, as I looked at a box of misc. greeting cards and said, gee, I really should see if that will fit back in the stamp box now. Back before I started this search I went through my stamp box and pulled out a box of recipes. They've been there for years and I finally decided that they should join the other recipes in a book, gee, doesn't that make sense. So I opened up the storage box, and look, there were the coins and pins, ooo, and with the pins was another little jewelry bag just like the one I found earlier. And yae, my missing medallions were in the bag. Now, the recipes are with the recipes, or are waiting to be typed. The medallions are in the jewelry box, amazing. The cards are with the stamps, that makes sense, and all the stencils are together in the drawing box. After years everything is found and organized. It makes today feel like a good day.

Today does need some help, it is colder today and snowing. I'm not complaining about the snow, this is the first real measurable snow we have had since December. We are in theory leaving mild winter for wild spring. We wont have blowing dust like "Just Jen", we'll probably have blowing snow. But, if it is like fall, then it will be blizzard one week, and 50s the next, variety is good.

Frustrations

2010-02-16T15:17:00.002-07:00

I keep thinking that there is more I can be doing with myself and abilities. Yet, I never seem to get things out of the house. Last week I started working on making business cards, uugh. It was wonderful to sit down and sketch for a while. Of course, when everything was said and done, I ended up with a sketch from a few years ago. It was still fun and a worthy excuse. I set things up very technically so that everything would be just the way I wanted it. It still wont print perfectly. Several prints later, half the package of cards, and three programs; I have something slightly imperfect, but acceptable for the time being. I swear it should print right, but the printer seems to have issues with the paper. Now the image is off so slightly that I can't measure it to adjust, except that the top and bottom seem lined up, its just the center lines that don't line up. When I get the money and real business, I'll send the cards out for printing, its so worth it. It was fun to play in my art box, but it looks so empty without my markers, I kind of miss them. I may have to do a retrieval soon.

We had another gathering at our house for Valentine's Day, only it was on Saturday. We had all of 9 people here. It was a little disappointing, but it is so nice to have everything back in its place now.

I felt the warmth of the sun on my face today. I miss the warmth. Its been a mild winter so far, but as usual, I'm through with the cold and its only half way through February. And we're forecast for snow for the next three days. sigh, I'll just have to find a happy place to hide.

Calmness

2010-02-05T14:24:00.003-07:00

Last week was kind of crazy and this week has just been busy. Our new modem did not come when it was supposed to. It took a two day vacation instead, I think it went to visit the neighbors, but we really don't know. Instead of coming Monday, it came Wednesday, just a few hours ahead of the replacement modem. Oh, the happiness of it all. But see, it doesn't end there, because for whatever reason the phone jack in the room with the computer was not properly connect. Wait another day, deal with the repair guy, who is the only reason we are still dealing with Qwest, and now we have functioning internet again. It does seem to be a little more stable than the previous service, so that is good. This week we got the new phone adapter, yae, and they didn't have any phone numbers in our area. Uuugh. We didn't want to keep our old number because we and the provided had failed to realize that it was for a town three hours away. It did defeat the purpose of having a local phone number. So, after some creative phone number games, and now we have an extra phone number, we are all switched over and set-up. YAE!

It seems that not much else has been going on. Though we did have 20-30 people over for dinner and socializing last Friday. We will be doing it again next week. It went well, good turn out, but way too much Pork. We spent hours shredding pork that was not ready to be shredded. It works and tastes so much better to do Kalua pork in the crockpot. Next weeks will be easier, no children, and I'm only doing a dessert. Desserts are more fun anyway. Maybe I will have time for something fun today. I think there has been too much work going on here.

Utility Companies

2010-01-25T14:41:00.002-07:00

I know, it seems that I have dropped out of the world. Its just that there are always so many things to do, that talking to cyberspace keeps getting forgotten. Well, I suppose someone might really be out there.

I am spending the last week and this week remembering why I don't like cable/internet companies. We are trying to better use our money, and the cable company just raised out internet. Now, that might not be so bad, if the speeds were at all reliable, but they aren't. Some days it feels like we have dial-up. We've also discovered that our "local" phone number is "local" to a town three hours a way. Well, not that isn't very useful is it. So we are playing musical providers and phone numbers. Yipee! I'm thrilled.

So now we are back to dealing with one of my "favorite" companies, and that would be QWEST. Uuuugh! Last time they sold us a service that they could not provide to us, and then it took us four months to get the bill straightened out. So, we are supposed to start internet service with them today, its not up yet, and we don't have the modem. I arranged this the middle of last week. At the same time I wanted to sign up for an additional service that is offered through a branch of theirs. First rep says I need an account number, call back when I have one and the account is populated, usually the next day. So, next day I find an account number, I speak to rep 2, no, can't do anything until Monday and the service wont be complete for 1-2 weeks after I can add it on. It should be picking a number and flipping a switch, not complicated here. I think, this is bizarre, I call back the next day, rep 3 says call back Monday, but it should only take a week. Still crazy, but getting better. So I call back today, only two and a half hours to go before the promised completion. Rep 4 says, oh, we can't help you until the previous work order shows complete, its still pending. NOW WHY CAN'T REP 1, 2, OR 3 TELL ME THAT?! I'm about ready to strangle them, and I still don't have service. This does not look good for the next year or two. Oh ya, and the prices and fees keep changing from rep to rep and the internet. My first month has bounced from 131 to 60 to 115, I have no idea what the first bill will actually look like. At this rate it will be over 200, because I really don't think anyone knows what they are doing.

I have gotten to work on my sawblade, I'm contemplating the sky right now. And Hubby has me working on airplane drawings for him, so maybe I'll be making a little model airplane this week. Just think happy thoughts, find my little happy place . . .

Clean Air Again

2010-01-05T16:28:00.002-07:00

My body is so happy to be home that its sleeps and my throat stopped hurting halfway between family and home. We'll blame it on the smog because family has never made me ill before. It is so nice to look down the street and see clear images. Oh, and smelling the crisp winter air in place of vehicle exhaust is wonderful.

We had a good trip, lots of good gifts, but most of all it was best just to see family and friends. Fuzzy enjoyed all the attention, except for the little incident with the fence. She sustained no injuries and was only a little sore the next day from it. I can't help but wonder if the cat was really worth it, she'll never know.

Hubby is suffering from reality, work did not go on vacation while he was gone. They are in hyperdrive for this week and hopefully everyone will survive.

Baking

2009-12-15T15:57:00.002-07:00

We've decided to try baking our own bread for awhile, its cheaper and tastes better so why not. The only problem is because is tastes better, we eat more, hence it feels like I'm always in the kitchen making bread. Now, on top of that, we keep having company for dinner and I'm in the middle of holiday baking, so I think I really am spending all of my days in the kitchen. It is fun, but for some reason I'm getting tired. Today was laundry, Sweet Orange Christmas bread, and Anise/Springerle Cookies (or as I call them, German Curse Cookies). I've already over cooked one pan full. I can't feel too bad though, I'm only making them this year because my mother-in-law (who has not messed up since I got married) ended up with tougher than usually cookies this year. So, we'll see how mine are, a little too brown might not be too bad. I had them just about right last year, but this year I took the easy method and I'm using a different oven. The cook times really are that delicate that a different oven can make a difference, every minute counts. I think I'll sleep through this weekend again. And now to finish laundry . . .

Chubby

2009-12-11T13:25:00.003-07:00

It may be we have several pet squirrels, but they all seem to be large. So we are just going to assume that this is the main squirrel, and I'm naming him Chubby. He might be slim come spring, but he doesn't seem to be starving any now. He is doing a great job of cleaning the Chokecherries off of the trees. I'm sure he is glad that I didn't turn them into jam this year. Last night we even had a visit from two antelope. Only Hubby saw them, but I'm assuming he knows what antelope look like by now. Though he could be having traumatic hallucinations of antelope by now.

Oh Look . .

2009-12-10T15:17:00.002-07:00

Oh, look, I am still alive, I forget sometimes. Thanksgiving was good, my folks were here and we played and shopped and ate, and then ate some more.

Lately we have been freezing, most days have been between 0 and -20 after the wind chill. Fuzzy is the only one that wants to go outside. Hubby and I have been huddling by the fire and seeing how fast we can shove insulation into the attic space. We have a about 75% of the accessible attic space done, it feels so much better. At least the upstairs is getting warm, other rooms are still cold, our walls are just too well chilled. I did see wet spots today. We were only supposed to hit 20, but maybe we had areas that broke freezing. It is nice to see the snow melting again.

Fuzziness and Mayhem

2009-11-16T18:05:00.004-07:00

There is nothing like a clean dog with nice trimmed legs, paws, belly, and tail. Maybe she will stay looking nice for a little longer this time.

FYI - and don't try this at home - Should you ever need to remove the glue-like substance associated from an Iron-On Transfer, forget the cleaners. Grab an old towel, one that you don't care much about, leave the iron at its highest heat, add in full steam and rub the towel back and forth over the iron until all of that hideous glue comes off. Really, its not much fun, but it really does work. Unlike window cleaner, hairspray, water, scouring pads, and baking soda.

Yes, its been a lovely day, and Hubby's sick too.

TA-DA

2009-11-12T14:01:00.002-07:00

We have achieved a wallpaper free main floor today. I finally finished scrubbing the glue and paper residue (and years of neglect) off of the walls. We had one wash cloth fatality due to the extensive scrubbing. But the remaining three wash clothes have been impaired (one severely) and they will never be the same. I think the one will be a loss during the final wash prior to painting. The other two, are stiff with glue, but they might survive the painting project.

For now my services are being moved off of the main floor and into the master closet. Hubby is getting very sick of wanting to wear a coat every time he goes into the closet. It has been a while since that closet was above 50 degrees. So now we will buy insulation and I get to tear out the particle board, clown/circus covered walls. This will be the easiest wallpaper removal yet. I think it should be fun this way. It wont be as much fun putting up the sheetrock, but it will be nice to have real walls, and a warm closet (though cooler in the summer).

Fuzzy finally got groomed on Monday. They actually trimmed her fur and feathers very nicely. This is the best she has ever looked. I'm going to have to get a picture of her while she is looking so pretty. I think she is enjoying being a little less fuzzy than normal.

Hubbydom

2009-11-06T15:57:00.003-07:00

Its been a busy week, trying to readjust to normal life and get a good schedule going. We're still working on routine, but we'll get there.

We had around 17" of snow, but that just depends on where you measured. In our little yard the front yard was 12" and the backyard could of had piles over 24". Its all about the wind. Most of it has melted now. It is hard to believe that a week ago we had 17" of snow and today we hit upper sixties. I'm not complaining, I'll enjoy the warmth while we have it.

Hubby has a page-a-day paper airplane calendar. While he was gone I folded and collected all the airplanes. So the question now is what do you do with approximately 100 paper airplanes. I think this is where children would come in handy. The accumulation does not look as large as I had anticipated, nor does it seem to adequately represent the time he was gone.

He still likes his job, though he is a little stressed from the mounds of things they have left for him to take care of. It looks like they will try to do things to keep him there. I think that would be very nice.

4 Inches and Counting

2009-10-28T12:10:00.002-06:00

They said we would wake up with 6 inches of snow today. I wasn't up early, but there was maybe four inches. We might have six now. I'm not complaining. I really don't want to shovel that much snow. I am prepare for the 18" they were threatening though. Fuzzy and I are going into hibernation, she is already snoring away. Its one of her specialties. Looks like a good dream though.

I'm still washing walls. At the rate all this prep work is going, the painting is going to finish up in what will feel like record time. I wont know what to do when I can finish a room in one or two days.

So far next week is supposed to be sunny, in so many ways.

Moving Up

2009-10-20T16:26:00.002-06:00

I caught this on the news today. Moving here has been a difficult time, but settling in and enjoying the surroundings has been easy. The link doesn't list the number one, but number 100 is considered the worst. So when you look at where we have been, and some of you still are, to where we are now, its no wonder that we are really liking it here.

http://www.childrenshealthmag.com/parents/The-best-and-worst-places-to-raise-a-family3.php

On the news they listed things like obesity, housing, and economy. The rest of the world is catching up here, but we're still holding on.

Wallpaper Away!

2009-10-19T16:08:00.002-06:00

The snow has melted, the sun has warmed the ground, and now we prepare for rain. It must be fall. Last week I finished Phase I Wallpaper Removal. YAE! It would have been more exciting, if the house hadn't needed cleaning just as soon as I finished. Today I started patching, then there will be sanding, and more patching, and more sanding, some cleaning in there (probably a couple of different times), and then I've got walls that need mudding, and more sanding, and more sanding, and more sanding (at least that is what is always feels like), then we might actually get to paint. I am hoping that by the time I am ready to paint that it will be a "we" thing. Though, I like the weekends off, so there might not be much "we" to it. It will just be nice to be a "we" again (and not be including the dog). It will be really nice to have things painted and not have an ice blue office and just have everything look nice and maintained.

One of these days I'm going to get back to having some fun. I did crochet myself a hat and scarf last week. Thought I should have something to keep me warm when Fuzzy drags me out on those cold winter walks.

Snow!

2009-10-12T13:41:00.004-06:00

I kept getting distracted this week by all the little projects that are waiting to be done around here. I need to get myself on a more structured schedule, but it is just nice to see things happening.

We had our first real snow of the year this weekend. The main part of the storm hit Friday, just in time for

Hubby's flight in. It was a wild drive. This morning was better, but it ended in fog. I decided staying home sounded good, though now the sky is blue and things are quickly melting. Fuzzy on the other hand thought it sounded wonderful to just go lay in the snow. She found a little snow perch and laid there as content as could be. If I had not made her come in, she still be happily sitting there, either that or should we be roaming the neighborhood. She is an escape artist. Last I saw, we are supposed to reach a high of 50 this week. I'm looking forward to it.

Back to Normal

2009-10-02T16:00:00.002-06:00

My parents have been here for the past week. Its been so nice to have something going on, people to play with, and oh ya, someone to talk to face to face. It has left most things neglected. So I've spent most of today cleaning and putting things back in their places. Its just no fun to go from a week of play right into a day of work. At least I will get the rest of the weekend off.

Just for the SLC folks, we've had some cold, but we missed the snow and the rain. Its just a pleasant fall week, ranging from 80s to 40s for highs. Oh, but we did get the winds. I don't currently need to rake the leaves, sweep some yes, but I do need to rake the trigs. I guess fall in this house has a slightly broader definition. That will wait for another day. Enough is enough.

The Halloween decorations did make it inside the house today. :-) They will keep me entertained for the next week, and then hubby will scream. Its always fun.

Silly Wallpaper People

2009-09-23T16:00:00.003-06:00

I'm too lazy today to flip the photo, so just tilt your head to the right, the cabinets go on top. Yesterday's excitement was that my parents are coming to visit a few days earlier than expected, they'll be here tomorrow. It should actually be a fun weekend. Today's excitement is this. I know, you say, that doesn't look exciting at all. It's hideously ugly and the cap isn't that thrilling. But, its that the lazy people who put up the wallpaper didn't put it all the way behind the fridge. This really shouldn't have surprised me, but since nothing else has gone easy with the wallpaper in the kitchen, I didn't think I would get so lucky as to have such a large patch of wall without wallpaper. I haven't moved the stove yet, but the preliminary peaks suggest that they didn't put the wallpaper back there either. Yippee! That means that I have only another one to two hours left and the kitchen will be free of wallpaper. :-) Then I'll have to move the food storage. :-( But its progress, and hubby might come back to no wallpaper. That would be exciting.

Snow?

2009-09-21T15:59:00.002-06:00

I know, even here it is still technically summer, but I swear I saw snow flakes today. The silly weatherman warned that we might get snow. I didn't believe him, they always seem to inaccurate. Really, it was in the 70s yesterday and today it is supposed to be in the 40s, but feel like the 30s. Yes, it does feel like the 30s. I might have to turn the heat on tonight. I don't want to because we are supposed to get back into the 70s by the end of the week. I hate heating things up just to cool them back off.

Fuzzy went back to the vet today. This is the third vet (at the same clinic) that we have seen. I liked her the best, but I'm still not that impressed. The important thing is that Fuzzy's paw is healing well. She'll be so excited come the end of the week when she can go play again.

Slowly the wallpaper gets removed from the kitchen. Oh, but those walls are even more of a mess than the breakfast nook. I will be spending a while patching, mudding, and texturing walls before I can paint. It is nice to see progress being made.

Thursday

2009-09-17T13:09:00.004-06:00

We think Fuzzy's paw is healing, but we don't go back to the vet until Monday. It doesn't seem to be bothering her much, so that is a good sign. The wrappings only lasted until Sunday, so much for continued paw protection. I did make her a little shoe so that she could still go for walks and we wouldn't have to worry about sticks and stones and the extra wear and tear. Its funny though listening to the pad, pad, pad, scrape of a dog wearing one shoe. But, Miss Fuzzy will wear the shoe, unlike our last dog who would not tolerate such horrendous travesties.

Its been a quiet week as I've spent too much time in my head. I'm realizing the importance of being around people who have an idea of where you been and where you might be going. We went through q

uite a lot in the last three years at our last house, but here its like most of that never happened. It definitely makes a difference when you leave good neighbors behind compared to leaving okay neighbors.

I'm getting excited though. I prepared my little used saw blade today. Its been four years since I painted my first

one and I think two years since my second attempt (but we wont talk about Bubba). This one should work up fairly quickly, but will be a challenge because it is so small. I cheat and work off of pattern, but I'm going to have to shrink this one and adapt it more than the first one. It should still be easier than Bubba, who was supposed to be a train and was just horrible. I hope to get it primed and the pattern fitted today, then maybe tomorrow I will paint, and painting makes me happy (except Bubba).

9/11

2009-09-12T11:32:00.001-06:00

I came across this yesterday and it was about yesterday, to me it still applies.

"There was a silence of shock across the nation as thousands of souls cried from their smoldering graves asking that today not be allowed to repeat itself."

What a Week!

2009-09-11T15:37:00.002-06:00

Here I thought this week was going to be boring and depressing. Na, its just frustrating and stressful. I had to take Fuzzy back to the vet and take their second option of surgery. I'm still not impressed, but she should be getting better now. So this is a pic of her poor little back paw. She's not a very happy camper and just doesn't understand that she is supposed to be taking it easy.

I've been having my head spin with YW stuff. They keep threatening to send me to EFY this weekend. Between Fuzzy and a few brainstorming sessions I think they finally found a better option. They have succeeded in getting me out of the house twice this week though.

I finally got our address light fixed. Now people can actually find our house in the dark. So far it hasn't caught on fire either, and I didn't electrocute myself. I can do things. I just haven't figured out the plumbing issues yet. I must get along better with electrical work. It is so nice to see things getting accomplished.

No fun!

2009-09-08T15:47:00.002-06:00

Hubby went back yesterday, we were all very sad. Today we are doing laundry and it is very nice to have my machines. I can actually customize my loads. Its been nice to know how everything has been dried too. I like knowing that my perm press isn't being dried on high heat.

Fuzzy went to the vet today. She has something stuck in her paw. Neither one of us really enjoyed the experience. Which is too bad, because we both used to like going to the vet. I haven 't decided if this vet will stay or not, probably not. I've been spoiled by the best, so it is hard to believe that there isn't a more suitable vet in town. For now we will treat the problem and consider further options. Unfortunately, driving seven hours to see the vet isn't a very good option.

Hubby

2009-09-04T16:21:00.003-06:00

Hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby.

I seem to have something stuck on my mind today. I got my washer and dryer fully functioning. It was such a nice accomplishment. I changed my dehumidifier drain so that the water isn't draining uphill. Which is wasn't doing very well before, odd. I tried to fix a leaky tap, but it was uncooperative. But that's okay, I think I've suckered some people into helping fix some of the stuff around here. :-)

Hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby.

Its looks like I will probably get to be the Young Women's Secretary at church. EEEK, teenagers! I think they see maybe five a week, so it wont be much of a crowd, and it will give me some regular human contact. Which has got to be a good thing.

Hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby.

Ooo, speaking of hubby, old CRAPTACULAR finally got his leave information forwarded to his new job, and in one week, and this is government, his job updated the information and gave him his missing back pay. HALLELUJAH! It still feels like a miracle. His boss didn't even think they would get the paperwork processed this fast.

Well, there are things to do today and only four hours left until the adventure begins, because . . .

Hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby, hubby.

Bye, Bye, Old Things

2009-09-01T16:17:00.002-06:00

Our house came with a washer and dryer, ever so nice, but they are older then the ones we moved and ever so basic. I've really missed having temperature control that is separate from cycles and run times. So today, I unplugged the old giants and cleaned up the floor. In lieu of redoing the whole washroom, which is the ultimate goal, I now just need to do some rewiring with the dryer and I will have my nice little machines back. I've done my heavy lifting for today, so for tonight the basement family room will have two washers and two dryers. But once mine are connected and working, then I can find someone to haul the old machines away. And then for the first time since we moved in, I can have a basement family room without a washer and dryer. I think it will be a wonderful functional and aesthetic improvement for the room.

I've progressed on the wallpaper removal too. The breakfast nook has not been nearly as easy and pleasant at the bathroom. The walls are just a mess in there. But I have removed all the wallpaper that I can, until it is time to move the large, heavy storage unit. Now I can start with the kitchen, which may just be delightful for oh so many reasons. It is nice to see the floral hearts slowly disappearing. Next will be the circus print in the master closet. I have no idea what they were thinking.

Progress

2009-08-27T16:35:00.004-06:00

I let yesterday flop, but today I've been making up for it. I finished making my new swim suit, and so far it seems to fit, though I haven't tried the finished product yet. It wont be too tight, and considering my recent projects, that is pleasant all by itself.

I also got the wallpaper off of one wall in the breakfast nook. At some point in time there must have been paint on that wall, but in some places it looks like the original plaster. It took as long, or longer, to do the one wall as it did to do the whole bathroom. I really had to work some areas. I would like to smack the installer. Some stuff came off with the wallpaper, but not much. So that means that the installer glued the wallpaper onto the plaster, mud, and wall patch (and some paint too). It comes right off the painted surfaces, but some of the others are just nightmares. The walls look awful. Its going to take some time and working to re-mud the walls and get them prepared for painting. Gee, good thing I've got lots of time, because I sooo looove to mud walls.

One of these days I should go pick the plums off of my weed. I've never had a plum weed before, it even looks more like a shrub than a tree. The neighbor says its a volunteer weed. It might make a little pastry or fresh bottle of jam. Fuzzy likes the shade, so we keep it.

Back to Normal

2009-08-25T13:38:00.002-06:00

Its always good to get away once in a while, and its even better when it is nice to get back. I've been worried that if I went to visit family, I might not be able to get myself to come back. But it feels good to be home with all my stuff. And its nice to know, that now this is home. Now, if there were just a hubby here to play with. Fuzzy has spent a lot of time getting reacquainted with her yard and neighborhood. I think she missed the freedom. Now I can spend time getting back to my projects, there are so many of them. And I'll be preparing for hubby, it is the most exciting thing right now and will always be too far away.

I should probably finish the laundry too.

Figures . . .

2009-08-15T14:52:00.004-06:00

Well, the new kids look great in the yard and it is so nice to have them there. Actually, it is a little too nice, which is the problem. It would figure, that once I started putting plants into the yard, I would only want to keep putting in more. I sure do now. The old wildflowers didn't bother me much before, but now that there is this mangy, dying clump between the new plants, I just want to rip them out and put in more new plants. Hubby is being wise and not telling me to go ahead. Its only three plants, but whose to say it would stop there. The yard will get there, it will just take time, and a lot more money. I think it is harder this time for a couple of reasons. First, our last yard was actually starting to look good when we left it. There was still more to do, but you could see the potential taking shape. Second, I have a clear vision of how I want this yard to go. The other yards, I had ideas, but they were always changing and morphing. This yard, I don't think will change much, other than small details. I know what I want to do, and I'm excited to see it take place. It drives me a little nuts that I just can't get it going. But the first couple of steps to the yard will be the most expensive and it will take time to build up that much money. They will probably be the most drastic changes too. So I wait.

New Kids

2009-08-12T16:12:00.002-06:00

I've just been missing my plants so much. I don't have anybody to go check on out in the yard. It makes it a little harder to enjoy my yard that way. So today I found some new friends, and they just had to come home with me. But I'm a good wife, so I got one for me and one for Hubby.

So the new kids are a White Coneflower (Echinacea 'White Swan') and a Twisted Rush. Hubby gets the Rush because he is just twisted that way. The cashier was fawning over the Rush, something about unique, curly plants. They'll do a good job of bringing a little more life and interested into our common little yard. I just have to go do yard work now. Oh well, the kids are worth it.

Mild Weather

2009-08-10T14:06:00.002-06:00

I've really enjoyed this summer, the weather is so mild. It will be good to visit family soon, but I'm actually starting to dread the heat that will be associated with the visit. I have not missed having temps above 90 and I have definitely rejoiced and not seeing 100s. We just wont think about winter for now.

I used my serger a little bit on Saturday, didn't know what I was doing and jammed the thing with stitches and thread. After a lot of "ripped" stitches, I finally managed to get the thread out. Now I'm ready to start actual projects. I just need more supplies first. Its always about the supplies.

Fuzzy got to play at the dog park on Saturday. She was way excited, there were so many dogs. She wore herself out in no time. She is looking forward to visiting Grandma and others. Its been so long since she got regular visits. I'm sure she will love the trip.

Spawn of Satan

2009-08-07T14:34:00.003-06:00

I was going through an old journal last night, oh, and this was just too funny. This little guy's name was supposed to mean "Pounce", he was my attack cat. Most people "affectionately" referred to him as the spawn of satan, sometimes satan himself. This is what I wrote about him the day that I got him.

". . . we left with a little black and brown tabby. He is really sweet and mild. He loves attention though!"

Ya, I know, "sweet and mild" just did not end up fitting him well at all. Another entry I commented on how sweet he was, until he decided to bite. He was a good attack cat, he kept most men away.

In other realms of the evil empire and satanic items, I'm mad at Windows today. Apparently there is a glitch between some Adobe products and Windows User Accounts that just randomly happens. So today, PhotoElements stopped recognizing that my scanner really works. The solution seems to be creating a new user account and reloading everything on to it. Why do people put up with this, its so stupid. I loaded all the scanner software onto the Mac instead. I may only be able to scan one picture at a time right now, but at least I wont have any random software glitches keeping me from using the scanner. I'll have to go on another Mac software buying binge, its so worth the money.

Read First

2009-08-06T16:45:00.002-06:00

I have lots of projects piled up, so this week I've been working on a dress that I have had the stuff for a few years. I thought I'd been paying attention as I measured and cut things out, checking the fit along the way. I had to alter part of the dress because I realized that it wasn't going to fit. Everything else seemed fine. I finished the dress last night, the sewing didn't look too bad, though the material is not really the right type for the style of dress. It still looked pretty good. Only problem, the part I didn't alter is a size too small and barely fits. I'm very frustrated. Looking at the front of the pattern today as I was putting it away, down on the bottom, it says "Fit for Petite". Gee, that would have been good to know, I might have made the dress a size larger from the beginning if I knew it was made to be small. Why can't sizes be universal? And why do I keep buying patterns that are "funky" instead of normal.

Tomorrow I will learn how to use my serger. I'm sure it will be an adventure.

Running . . .

2009-08-03T16:43:00.002-06:00

I haven't had too many days where I seemed to spend the day just running around town. Today was one of them though. We finally have the car registered, YAE! No more temporary tags. I really don't recommend buying a car and then moving states before the car is licensed. Its just a huge pain.

I took my serger in for maintenance last Friday. I got it back today. I'm impressed. It cost less than I expected and came back in half a week. Its been collecting dust for years, now I will actually have to learn how to use it. But the more I sew, the less boxes I have hanging out. It sounds like a good excuse to me.

We've finally achieved "normal" temperatures this week. Its such a change from last week that it feels like a regular heat wave, but it is nice to have August feel like summer.

Things-A-Happenin'

2009-08-01T17:41:00.001-06:00

We finally got the estimates from the plumber, we're still waiting on the electrician. Our car title finally made it here too, so maybe on Monday I can have a fully registered car again. We even heard about our last rent check this week. Its been sitting on the table waiting for someone to come pick it up. They finally said not to worry about it. Doesn't make sense after the fuss they made to get it, but we sure aren't going to complain about keeping the money. We're finally warming up from our cold snap. It felt more like summer than fall today. We did have record low temps, it was really strange.