Simple woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY

* Outside my window…the weather is high clouds, fluffy and light. Bright sky and sunshine poking through. I'm sure the day is gorgeous.
* I am thinking… today I feel pretty discouraged. But I shouldn't hide that I have these days because, well, flaring as bad as I am is apart of my life with chronic illness. And I need people to understand this is my struggle.
* I am thankful that I have good days, and that I had so many last week when I had so much I needed to get done.
* From the learning rooms… Kevin and I studied about the star convergence that happened at the time of Christ's birth, and then got distracted by many other topics. Personally I'm still working in 1 Samuel.
* From the kitchen… I think I'm taking a break from the kitchen today. Yesterday's special Valentine's day dinner was grilled asparagus, baked yellow potatoes, spinach salad, steak, and brownie cheesecake for desert. I got the recipe idea from Kraft, but what I ended up doing was baking a box of Girradelli chocolate brownies, and then making a no bake cheesecake filling that I spread on top. It turned out REALLY good! I'm going to repeat this soon for fellowship meal at church sometime soon.
* I am wearing…Pajamas as I'm mostly staying in bed today. My legs are very sore and weak so I'm not going to do much today.
* I am creating… I really should work more on my book I'm trying to write, but I haven't really gotten back into that yet. It's a good thing I'm not writing for a publisher, I just couldn't write under a deadline, the creativity doesn't flow out of me that way. Yesterday I made a handmade Valentine's day card for my hubby using a bunch of my scrapbook supplies. It was fun. I just couldn't find a card in the store that said what I wanted it to say, so I made one myself.
* I am going…to just take things easy for a while, I did too much last week and now my body is causing me problems. So I'm not planning anything until I feel my energy return.
* I am reading… Never Say Never (Kindle Edition) by Lisa Wingate, I got it when it was a freebie on Amazon. I love getting free kindle books on my iPhone.
* I am hoping…that things go well for my hubby at his dentist appointment today.
* I am hearing… the whirl of the humidifier, and an otherwise quiet house. The silence is a little bothersome, I think I'm going to turn on some music now that I'm thinking about it.
* Around the house… is much to do, but it'll have to wait.
* One of my favorite things… having a completely stocked kitchen, another is big savings on my grocery bill! Saturday we went shopping and BOTH happened! We spent just over $100, got everything off our shopping list, AND we saved about $50 bucks between store deals and coupons!
* A few plans for the rest of the week: schedule doctor appointments and make plans to go on a vacation to surprise a loved one in a few weeks!

Simple Woman's daybook

Outside my window... High clouds and a damp ground, though it doesn't look like it will rain just yet.

I am thinking... about how my boy cat is trying so desperately to pack on weight for the winter. Any time he sees me eat he wants what I have, he has plenty of cat food all the time.

I am thankful for... all the housework my husband did over the weekend. I'm pretty ill right now with pain and fatigue from Fibromyalgia and have been a bump on a log. I recently adjusted my meds some so I'm getting some sleep again and slept TONS over the weekend. We missed church because of it, but I'm so thankful for the sleep I got as I have such a huge sleep debt from only getting about 4 hours if that for most of the nights of October.

I am wearing... A PJ shirt and pants. This will probably always be my response unless I have an appointment or it's Sunday and I'm going to church. If I'm staying home all day I stay in PJ's. With Rheumatoid arthritis and Fibromyalgia it's just easier on me this way, otherwise I take a LONG time getting dressed.

I am remembering... or trying to anyway, that we need to buy water, milk, eggs, and bread. Or I need to feel good enough and bake some bread.

I am going... to go see a pulmonary specialist tomorrow. I may end up having a sleep study done. Pain induced insomnia was really bad most of October and my Rheumatologist referred me.

I am reading... the Swiss Courier by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey It's a great read! I'm really enjoying it!

I am hoping... to get a nap before Kevin gets home. I'm still super sleepy.

On my mind... I'm wondering if I bit off more than I can chew with pledging to participate in NaBloPoMo. I hope forcing myself to make a post every day of November doesn't prove to become stressful, I want to enjoy this.

From the learning rooms... Studying 2 Corinthians, and also trying to learn more about the process of regeneration, faith, and love so I can better communicate this process with others.

Noticing that... I haven't been drinking enough water. I normally am very good about it, but with being sleepy I'm forgetting to go refill my glass often enough. I'll get better again.

Pondering these words... "Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone!" And am thankful for the gift of salvation, and the change that the Reformation brought to the church.

From the kitchen... I'm eating leftover potatoes. I'm not really cooking much these days. Which saddens me a little, but it was super relaxing having dinner made for me and given to me last night! Kevin made steak, mac & cheese, and broccoli, and he did a great job!

Around the house... needs a lot of help, I've been ill for far too long.

One of my favorite things~ snuggling with my cat.

From my picture journal...
My hubby Kevin and I with our cats Maddie (the black cat) and Siggy (the orange cat) on Halloween. Sorry it's fuzzy, it's hard to get pictures of us with just using the tripod. And yes, I am wearing a tiara. I was a rock princess for halloween. All the neighbor kids loved it - I wore the guitar hero guitar slung over my shoulder!

Just a quick update.

The outpouring of love and support I got both on here and on Facebook, as well as at church in regards to my last post has been truly encouraging. A big thank you to everyone who is stepping forward and helping out.

As an update. I have been on anti-depressants, as a treatment for fibromyalgia, for about a week and a half. Kevin has noticed a big difference in my ability to do things and said he's heard less comments about pain and stiffness. I'm still dealing with a lot. And seems like I'm dealing with more cramps. Particularly in my feet and knees. But overall I do think I'm fairing a bit better.

Over the holiday weekend Kevin and I worked in the front yard and got most of the berry bramble chopped down. We have a mountain of bramble in the middle of the yard now. There is still much yard-work that needs to be done, but that was a huge part of it all. I felt very accomplished because I worked along side Kevin for much of the time!

On an almost completely different topic, the following link takes you to a video from AccuWeather that debunks global warming (in California wildfires.) and actually shows that we're in a trend of cooling for the next couple decades. I know I've changed this blog to be about illness and faith, but this is one topic that still seems relevant to me here since weather greatly effects my symptoms. Winter months are often rough for me. And if this does play out, as Farmers Almanac also claims, it'll mean that I need to plan ahead better for the foreseeable future as to how to stay warm, and what I need to do to manage pain.

I think that's about it. I am looking at the info about global cooling and more snowy winters here in the PNW as a cautionary warning but not something I'll be really alarmed about. I have hope that this new diagnosis and new treatment will help me cope better this winter than in the last couple winters. Even still, I think I may need to invest in an electric blanket this winter! ;0)

Maddie doesn't like 2.3 magnitude earthquakes.

Well, a couple hours ago there were two teeny tiny little jolts. So small I couldn't tell if it was a truck going by, or an earthquake. According to the USGS it was the latter. I kind of knew that too as soon as the second jolt hit which lasted just a little bit longer, but still only around a second or two for both. Also telling me it was a quake was that my cat Maddie freaked out before, during and after it. She's calmed back down now, but was very agitated thinking something was being done to torment her. Poor thing.

Here are the links for the quake. You can see it's very close to home, but very weak and not really noteworthy. I just feel compelled to record every little quake I feel.

Kevin did not feel this at work, so I don't think it was felt very far from home.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/uw03242140.php#details

http://www.ess.washington.edu/recenteqs/Quakes/uw03242140.html

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/recent/uw03242140_l.html

Just a quick note

The computer I'm using to post this is horribly slow, and the good computer is down until we can afford to repair and find the parts to repair it. It's times like this where we're wishing I too had a good computer, most days we can make do, but right now it's really at a bad time. With tax season starting Kevin needs to do this soon, but we also have car repairs to worry about as well. So you probably wont see many posts from me until we can get all this worked out, and sadly, I'm just not able to keep up with all the wonderful blogs I normally follow because this computer is too slow to load most of your wonderful pages.

I do check for comments every few days, so if there is a post you particularly want me to know about leave the link in a comment to this post and I'll try to check it out when I have some free time.

In the mean time I miss bloglandia, but wanted to let you know what's going on.

Injections for arthritis.

No medication out there is free of side effects, and, unfortunately, no disease is free of side effects if left untreated. This is where my doctors and I made the choice that with how rapidly fast my symptoms were growing, that putting me on injections for my arthritis made sense.

I run risks by taking it, but the ability to move again, even if it's not full ability, is a marvelous reward. During the fall I had three months where I was going from one cold to another, and then another. I can't inject during these times because I run the risk of having pneumonia, or another type of bad infection. I have to take every precaution when I get cuts to avoid bad infections, and I have a special prescription for antibiotic ointment. So far the ointment has worked well, as does keeping the house stocked with oranges. The three month cold worried me, mostly because I couldn't inject though. While the colds were bothersome, they were just colds. The effects I was feeling from arthritis though were at times beyond bearable. About once a week I wasn't able to get out of bed, and spent much of the time walking with my cane. A few weeks ago I was able to inject again, and thankfully I haven't gotten any more colds. I had a small little infected sore above my ear, but just with some Bert's Bee's remedy, I've cleared that up and it's healing. I'm very thankful. I just got my second injection tonight, and looking back to a few weeks ago, I can definitely tell the difference. My back still wrenches up, and my hips still click, but I can move freer and my periods of sever inflammation are a lot less. Controlling the inflammation is key, because the inflammation is what does joint and tissue damage. I need to get it under control more because I've lost a lot of muscle strength from the inflammation eating away my muscles. But it's a balancing act because if I work too hard I can make the inflammation worse instead of better, that's what my physical therapist was telling me. R.A. is different then just working out a damaged area, it's an ongoing thing.

Today was the first time in a long time that going grocery shopping didn't totally wipe me out. I did pretty well! I was very pleased, especially considering how much of a task it was just a few weeks ago. I know it might not always be this way, but I'll take the benefit as long as I can.

Now my goal is to get more of the home in shape, to start pricing fencing, get some home maintenance things done and some other things to prepare for adoption. Fencing the property looks like it'll need to be top priority, safety measure from the state and all. I look forward to this being done, but I'm not sure just how soon it can happen yet.

I almost feel antsy, because of my ability to move better again. My strength and energy still is not like I was when I didn't have arthritis, but it's better than laying in bed wanting to will my body to move and not being able to. I'm anxious to get things done around the home. I feel like I'm ready for some Spring Cleaning, and it's only just the start of January. This is a very good thing. I need a head-start. I need to get stuff done while it's cold so that when it gets too hot to think straight I'll be able to sit and read a book and not feel so bad about things. 5 months, I might be able to do that, so long as I keep staying cold free and can continue to inject!

Truly snowed in!

What wild weather we've been having! Last month it was flooding! This month it's blizzards!

Accuweather is warning us to expect 18.2 inches between right now and Christmas eve. I think we'll be snowed in for quite some time then!

You can view some scenes of the effects of snow here by following this link...

I'm very thankful that we are fine, and that our vehicles are fine! I just saw a truck drive past our house and nearly fishtail into my truck parked in the driveway! It is about the same size as mine, and was wearing chains, seeing that, we don't plan on leaving home at all right now.

Also the wild weather on our property drifted the snow up the back porch (a foot and a half above the ground) and piled up the sliding door another foot! CRAZY, huh!? The snow has remained so dry for the last 8 almost 9 days as the temperature hasn't gotten above 25! The coldest we noticed was yesterday morning at 3 degrees! Very dry, and very COLD! So beautiful, but also so much a reminder that God is totally in charge!

Before the snow drifted around the house locking us in, we went out for a little bit yesterday to take a few pictures. Also, some pictures are from thursday and friday when Kevin was home as the office was closed due to the weather. We aren't going to be so brave today, though Kevin is right now trying to shift some of the snow off of the doors before more snow starts to fall, which predictions say will happen in an hour or so.

Here are some pictures... to see any image larger simple right click on PC's, or command click on Macs.

Some of the first snow fall on the propane tank and front trees.



Siggy LOVES watching the snow, he gets about as crazy as I do when he sees it! We've all been very excited.



Icicles on our neighbors house.



Icicles on our house. And as you can see this year our back gutter broke. A couple years ago the front gutter broke off the house. Fortunately that was one home repair Kevin and I were able to figure out! LOL! Looks like we'll be doing it again this year once we thaw out a bit.



Kevin doing an exercise in futility. Out vehicles were both buried completely in snow! Here he is trying to unbury them as it continues snowing. We had a pretty fun snowball fight while trying to dig out the cars too. ;-)



Here is the front of the house, with a huge blanket of white all over.



A wood pecker pecking the neighbors tree in the snow. Maybe he's trying to fatten up more. The last day we could see the grass (8, almost 9 days ago!) Siggy and I saw about a dozen little birds all over our back yard trying to fill their bellies as much as they could. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that, but the pictures didn't show the birds, just grass.



Here is the ruler I stuck in the ground. At one point we couldn't see the ruler anymore, so we had over a foot of snow, but when I was checking with the ruler and camera, we had 10 inches.



Cascade foothills in Sultan, near home.



View of Mount Index from the farmland near us.



View of Steven's pass from the farmland near us.



Kevin looking cute in the truck as we braved the nearby farmland for pictures.



Some sweet horses that came right up to me and posed, I'm sure they wanted carrots or blankets, poor cold horses!



Snow plow heading over the bridge from downtown towards the farmland, crossing the Skykomish river.



Skykomish river with snowy-icy banks.



My aunt's hair salon.



And the most striking picture, I think, the snow drift that came up our sliding door!

I wish it was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

I think tomorrow I might bake some candy cane sugar cookies. There's nothing like whacking the heck out of a bag full of candy canes, making the cookies in a cane shape, and topping with the sweet and peppery crushed canes. But we'll see if I'm any better off tomorrow. Last night I got stuck on the toilet when I went in the middle of the night. Stumbling in, I was so mostly asleep, that I didn't realize just how completely stiff I was, and when I sat down I knew I needed help. I cried softly asking Kevin to wake up and help. It was so humiliating. We both had a tough time sleeping after that. But I'm glad he got up to get me my cane and help, I just wished I had known my limits before I sat down. He said he'd install the handrails for me very soon, I think he felt really bad for me.

I've been wanting to make the place feel more festive. I moved around some garland to make it more noticeable, and I put the nativity scene up. But we're waiting until the 15th to buy a rosemary bush (shaped as a Christmas tree) and the wait is torture to me. I'm normally one to start decorating on Thanksgiving, but I've been too limited in my funds and mobility to do all that much just yet.

I've designed a background for my blog. Making it with Christmas colors and a funky feel, maybe that'll make me feel more in the spirit of Christmas. It's not really in the house, but at least when I'm on the computer, decorating doesn't feel like such an ordeal.

Does anyone want to come over on the 15th to help decorate? Kevin has the day off and I'm hoping to do more decorating then. It'd be great if we had a couple people over to join in the fun with us. There'll be cookies, hot cider, and music, and fun!

I hope everyone is enjoying their time of preparing for Christmas, keeping mindful of what it is that we are celebrating. The birth of the Lord, Jesus.

I felt a little earthquake!

OK, so a few minutes ago I felt one very quick light jolt. I wasn't sure if it was lightning rumbling or an earthquake, so I went to the USGS site and saw that one was just reported in Sultan at the time I felt it! Yikes! The computers report it was a magnitude 2.4, so fairly light. I didn't see anything move at all. Seemed like barely anything. I don't think Kevin noticed it, he just kept on snoring. I'm guessing anyone who was asleep slept right through it because it was so quick and light.

Earthquakes always seems so strange to me. The crazy thing to me is how easily I feel these light quakes. I felt one almost a year ago that was even lighter.

I'm grateful it's like this, just nothing really, but it makes me wonder if I'll ever feel a very big quake here...

I saw (and felt!) some of the horrors of the '89 quake in Northern California, and every little quake I've ever felt since has reminded me to be grateful that I haven't had to deal with such a quake again. But it always leaves me wondering too. I may not be in California anymore, but I am still near the Pacific Coast. I'm grateful for God's protection.

stuck at home again

So the road out of our neighborhood has been closed over since yesterday morning. I just saw a neighbor drive off only to return 10 minutes later.
The county website still shows our drive out closed in several spots, so we are stuck. And all when my parents and sister will be here tomorrow. They may have to stay with someone else for a night, I don't really know. November rains are always crazy.

Kevin worked from home yesterday, and is again today. I prefer it so much more over not knowing when we'll be back together, and being alone. I like being able to give him a decent lunch since he's home too. And the no commute this is nice. Too bad it can't be a regular type thing. Oh well, at least I know he's safe right now. We all are. The waters are 4 miles down the road from us, and we're much higher up where we are. It's the trade off of living at the end of a long country road. It's peaceful and quiet where we live, but every great place has it's trade offs.

Here's hoping the roads dry up soon and that it doesn't cause anyone issues while my family is here to visit.

The road is clear again

The road is clear again, but with the rapid changes in weather I again feel flat on my back! I drove to the next town and got Jack in the box for breakfast. I love their egg nog milkshake! I don't get shakes that often, but I always like that one this time of year (actually I'd go for it any time of year, but it's only available now.)

So I was thinking about yesterday's post and how I've finally been able to catch a breath, but how worn out I am from all of yesterday's stress. I was finally having a little bit of strength again thinking this flare was going to go away, but now I'm back to just wanting to SLEEP! I probably should sleep during the day too because I checked accuweather and it shows the arthritis index going up tonight. I couldn't get restful sleep last night, and I'm guessing I won't tonight either. My hips are really hurting me. So is my back and shoulders.



This morning has been really pretty, I'm so glad I went out. I took some photos that I'm thinking about selling now. They were that good. Now I'm torn if I should post them, well I'll share some, but the best will go to my store. Anyway, I was AMAZED as I drove a couple blocks away (that's all my immediate neighborhood is, a couple blocks.) that I could see Wallace falls! Wallace falls is a couple towns east of us. And while you can see spectacular views of it once you are in Gold Bar, you normally can't see it too well until you get to that town. I continued to see what I could venture so I headed west, away from the falls, towards my town (5 miles away), and the larger one. Even from a few blocks away from down town Sultan I could see the falls! Truly amazing the volume of water! Of course with the camera it just looks like a funny cloud with the rest of the clouds hugging the mountain, but with the naked eye, it was easy to tell it was the falls!

The spot where our road was closed was completely clear again, and there were no other spots with water on the road either. So this was not anywhere near as bad as a couple years ago. There is no visible flooding except for a couple of spots in some farm fields. I even saw brave fishermen trying to make their way down to the river to see if they could fish, though I didn't actually see anyone at the river.

Here's a few photos. To view them larger right click and open in another tab.
Early morning sky, view as I was getting into my truck.



View of Wallace falls a couple blocks from home! The white smudge right in the middle is the falls.



View of a very full, but not flooding Skykomish river as I'm crossing over it heading into town.



View of Wallace falls a couple blocks away from down town Sultan. (Yes, there is nothing but farmland that close to my downtown. I love where I live!) The falls are to the right of the large tree in the middle of the frame.



I'm so thankful that there is no real damage visible in my town. The farms and ranches near me, while very wet are all fine. It was amazing to see how the creek is back down to a creek instead of the river it pretended to be yesterday. There's been a few moments of very light rain today, but nothing that seems like it would encourage any more issues any time soon.

Well, I'm logging off to try and get some rest while I can. Unfortunetly I'm affraid my arthritis is probably going to keep me home for a few more days now. Every joint of my body seems to ache right now. Pain isn't terrible at the moment, but it is there. I think I'll take some Tylenol PM.

Road flooded!

So I am not going anywhere this weekend. And I'm wondering when I'll get to see Kevin now. He's headed to Salem, OR after work. I was on my way headed out to get him from work and drive on down with him, but now he's renting a car and going by himself. I'm kind of sad about that. Around the house things are fine. I drove to the lower elevations of our community and they looked fine too. However the road out of our community is flooded about 4 miles down the road, and it's the only way out and into town. So I'm stuck. I tried leaving in the car, I was able to drive through 4 patches of water on the road, but thought I needed the truck at the next spot. I went home moved our stuff for the weekend to the truck, only to get to a REALLY flooded patch and see flashing lights ahead. This particular creek, Haystack Creek, runs alongside our road out of our neighborhood & it becomes a very dry trickle in the summer. Currently it is about 40 feet wide, flooding it's banks into the surrounding farmland at the spot where the road is flooded. I waited in the truck as I watched a sheriff put a road closed sign on the road and the trucks in front of me turn around. They drove up to me and told me the sheriff is waiting on the other side to ticket anyone who tried to go through, then they headed on home. I watched the sheriff drive through the water in a tow truck, and water went all the way up and into the doors. I'm not going to risk getting water in my cab or to get a ticket, so I turned around and headed back home. Called Kevin and told him what's going on and from there we decided that I'd be staying home and Kevin would get a car and drive down. At first he thought he'd head to Monroe and stay with some cousins, but I told him, if he could get a car he might as well head down since I wouldn't be spending the night with him anyway. He talked to his parents and now things are set in motion that way.

Blogging all of this is my attempt at taking a deep breath, so I hope things make sense in everything here... I'm thinking about the conversation I had with a neighbor. He was talking about heading into town to get things for the weekend. I asked him if he needed anything and he said no, he'd be OK heading back home. I hope that's true. It was funny too because, and I love true Washingtonians, he said "It's not really rainin' anymore so hopefully we'll be able to 'git out tomorrow." Mind you a Californian would call this rain 'El Nino'! I do agree, it's a lot less than it was during the night. I told him that the weather report I read said the Skykomish isn't going to crest until mid Sunday, he seemed surprised by that. Haystack Creek feeds into the Skykomish. So if our creek is flooded now, it'll have to wait until after the river crests before we really see the road clear up.

The cell phone pictures are pretty bad. But maybe they can give you an idea. In the first one I'm trying to show just how close I dared to get. If you look on the side of the road there is only about 3 feet before the water would start to be on the road as well. Looking ahead, where the van is with the break lights, there is water on the road about 3 feet deep. It's hard to see in the picture because the stream and creek meet right at the base of the trees and hill there where it's dark, but it was deep and I didn't dare get closer.

In the second picture I tried to show how wide the creek got. It's normally about 4-6 feet wide at any given spot, and I'd say it's about 25 feet wide at the moment I took that picture. As I talked with people I saw things move an additional foot or so.





The road looks about the same as it did a couple years ago, I guess I should check the local news to see how things are in town. I wonder what this'll mean for all the school kids as they've closed the roads before school usually lets out. Maybe today was a rain day and they're just home anyway, I don't know... but I don't really hear any kids outside, then again it is rainy.

I'm just now trying to get more information myself about how things are, beyond just what I can find on Accuweather. Since I don't have local TV I can't really just turn on the news and find out... it takes a little longer to load the local news websites. Here is what I've found on Komo news so far.

River levels also are rising rapidly at Index on the Skykomish, where flooding also is expected. Rising river levels in Sultan also have been reported this morning.

Emergency officials said both rivers are peaking faster than initially expected due to heavy rain from a series of "Pineapple Express" storms pushing across the region from off the Pacific.

..

Low-lying areas, small streams and creeks, as well as storm-drainage systems, could see localized flooding due to debris clogs and heavy rainfall.

Well, yeah... I'd say that's why I'm back home. I'm just thankful and grateful that our property is at a higher elevation. I just wish they'd make us a second road to this community so we can head out at times like this. I'll be fine. I've weathered this before. So far there is no interruptions to power, and really there isn't enough wind for me to worry about that. And I have food and water. The cats and I will be safe. It's just kind of a bummer being stuck at home, especially when I was looking forward to finally getting out of the house after a long arthritis flare (which I'm still mostly dealing with).

Additional information is updated here from the University of Washington. I just read that the forecast says my road out will be closed, well, it already is... so I'm wondering how good this link is.

Please pray that Kevin is safe and fine driving alone tonight. I'm sure he'll be OK, but the roads are a bit crazy.

Finances, housework, stuff.

Due to the high prices of gas, and groceries, and because our funds for prescriptions ran out, we made the decision a couple weeks ago that we won't be able to give Christmas gifts this year. This greatly saddens me. I'm not even sure we'll be able to send cards or letters, which I hope we will, but it's very likely that this will be another year where our Christmas letter is simply posted here, and only people we see in person will get cards.

Recently my dear friend Mica and her family moved so her honey could go to seminary. As they left they gave us all of their perishable groceries! This was an amazing blessing! We weren't sure how we were going to buy food this month, we're still paying off my birthday weekend and so we weren't sure how we'd eat. I'm so grateful for their giving! I'm sad to see such loving friends leave, but what a blessing the timing is here.

The blessings keep coming too! We got amazing news today! Kevin got a raise! And it's a pretty good one too! We're thinking all it will probably do is to dig us out, not to really get us ahead. But hopefully we're just being conservative. We're still buried under the financial burdens of having lived in California much longer than we should have. We simply over-extended ourselves there and have been struggling ever since. We've cut back on things I didn't even think we could have. I'm not looking for a pity party. I'm actually writing to share our good news about his raise, I'm just hoping that this will meet our needs. Finances have been so overwhelming... Life is very difficult for me because of my mobility issues. I'm not so disabled as to go on disability, but I am enough disabled that I couldn't keep a job without being sick, sore, and tired the majority of the time. I'm so grateful that Kevin got this raise, it at least takes away my need to have to look for something when I can't really do that anyway. It continues to afford me the time to go to all these doctors appointments I need to.

Hopefully soon we'll be able to pay off some of these prescription bills, credit card debt, give more to church, resume giving to World Vision, better complete our shopping lists, and maybe start taking care of some things around the house. But what scares me is the idea that if we start taking care of these things that this increase will just seem like nothing all over again. That we'll still be in worn out clothes, unable to enjoy movies, and travels and such. There is so much we haven't been taking care of, that we really should. It's quite overwhelming.

We still need to fence our property, something we MUST do before we start the home-study for adoption. And we need to repair a piece of wall in the kitchen that was damaged when we had a water heater issue (that a deacon from our church fixed, which was a huge blessing!) that caused standing water in the water heater closet. And we have to paint the kitchen still. I have a few gallons of paint we bought with the money grandma gave us to repair after my kitchen fire last year, but without getting the wall fixed yet, or the kitchen cleaned enough and mobility issues, the paint still sits in the laundry room. I really need to just throw a pizza/work party for the kids from church, but I'm so bad about asking for and accepting help.

In a couple months my parents will visit, I'm hoping then that my dad can help me get the linen closet built. But I don't want to burden him while he's on vacation. He already does so much for grandma while he's home, and his job is physical too, I know he deserves a rest. We'll see how things pan out. But this is another thing I've put off because of finances, and I know our lives would improve if we had such a closet. Simple things, silly things, these things bug me. So do the white walls in every room that I wish could be color, and the carpets that need to be cleaned... I just look around and see so much that if I were more able bodied I'd just take care of myself, but with limitations probably need to pay someone else to do.

At the moment I'm not sure where my family will stay while here, every room is a mess. I keep house, but with how limited I am, you'd never know it. I don't post pictures of home because I don't ever want anyone to think I'm fine with the way things look here, or that I am OK with this. I'm not. The cat's playing never help, they knock stuff over causing more work, and quite often I leave things because bending over just is too much pain. I am amazingly blessed with several ladies from church who are willing and able to come over and help. Two are coming over on Friday. I am beyond humbled by this because I truly don't want to have to ask for help, but there is no way I can do this on my own. And yes Kevin helps, but he also works full time, so there isn't that much time he has to help much, and he needs his rest while home. His birthday is November 15th and I'd love to give him a clean home for his birthday, but as fall starts I'm already noticing an increase in mini-flair ups. I missed church twice in the last three weeks. I have been beyond tired because of physical therapy, and I'm so happy it's over now. Hopefully I can keep active enough to not loose the benefits, but cut back enough to not be so tired all the time. And to get more done around home, but I also have this laundry list of medical appointments I've been needing to make all summer, but have been putting off so I'd have the time for the PT appointments. I just need to keep praying that God will help me get this all done.

I guess what all this babbling comes down to is that life has been very taxing and overwhelming lately. Today's blessing is such amazing and good news! I just hope all these facts of life aren't so much bigger as to make it not that much of a deal. That's what we are both really afraid of. I am so thankful and blessed by this news, and by my friends from church. It just amazes me that I'm burdened so much by blessings. I think God is really working on me here, it's hard, humbling and strange, but I do see things getting better. Hopefully soon life won't feel so stuck.

Praise the lord for raises and caring friends!

Cherries, gardening and Wallace falls.

We harvested the rest of our cherries. This second harvest looks even tastier! Definitely darker and larger cherries! This was the rest of them though, so no more until next summer (from our tree).

The pear tree still doesn't show any signs of having fruit this year. We did have blossoms on it in the spring, but none of them turned to fruit.

The strawberries are also all dried up for the summer already, I might get them to grow again some more for a late summer batch if I prune the vines, fertilize the soil and try to remember to water them now that it's getting so few rains.

The tomatoes and peppers never has a chance to start. I saw that the grocery store still had a couple plants left, so if they are still there next week I might try to get those. It feels weird not growing tomatoes this summer, I've grown them for the past 4 summers.

We've really let the wild flowers go wild this summer. I love all the daises in the yard, but some of the other wild flowers are just a bit much. As is the blackberry bramble in the front yard. It's trying to spread shoots to the front walkway. Kevin is outside mowing the front yard right now, he should be able to get some of the younger shoots with the mower. But really, I think I need to get some of the nice young men from church to come get rid of the berry bramble in the front yard. The blackberries and raspberries in the back yard aren't getting so out of control, and that's where I'd rather have them anyway. I want my tree in the front yard back. I really should talk to the boys soon, find out what they'd like for lunch or something.

I can't name them all, but I know we have at least 6 types of wild flowers this year. I haven't gone to picking them, maybe I will in a few days. The weeds haven't been too bad, the grass is really taken over the most.

I'd share more pictures, but nothing is really manicured right now, so it's not that exciting. I'd do more gardening if the sun didn't make me so stinking hot.

The last few days haven't been so bad, it kind of gets too warm in the evening, but cools off enough to rest again.

Tuesday Kevin and I went to Wallace Falls. My legs still hurt a bit, it's a long hike. We only got as far as the lower falls because again this was a spur of the moment lark, and again that meant no camera (Though you can see some nice pictures in a gallery here.). I was wearing a skirt and flip flops so I really didn't feel up to hiking to the upper falls, though I do want to do that sometime. I also want to wear bug repellant next time as the bugs were swarming all around me. Amazingly I only got two bites, still it was kind of frustrating.

The first leg of the hike is pretty boring... your walking under power lines that are buzzing and crackling from the heat in the air, but eventually the closer you get to Wallace river, the more you feel the air cool, and the trees cover overhead. The smells of the forrest are amazing! There's a campground at this park, but to us it seems silly to camp there since it's only 20 minutes away. But the facilities looked decent.

click here to go to the site this image is from.

We really want to go back to this park again. With what I've been reading on a lot of site reviews though, we did the right thing by going in the middle of the week. Apparently the place is flooded with people on the weekends. I really want to go in the winter some time too because apparently it is one of the parks that is still open when there's snow. I might find myself wanting to invest in some snowshoes!

Well, Siggy keeps trying to get at the cherries. I should clean them up so we can enjoy eating them! Yum!

Yay! Overcast!

After work yesterday Kevin felt bad for me and my sweat dripping face so he took me to Subway to get sandwiches, then we drove up to Deception Falls! Best things ever! Subway was like a refrigerator in the store! I was enjoying that so much I took forever to decide what I was going to have! Then the water falls were amazing. When we drove up we kept seeing clouds rolling down from the mountains towards where we live, and feeling the temperature change the whole way. It was all so beautiful too. Seeing the tiny patches of snow (now really just ice) on the furthest, and highest places was neat to see. The mountain outside our window barely has anything at all on top anymore. I'm pretty sure it'll be all gone by my birthday.

When we got to the falls there were only a couple other vehicles. We finished our sandwiches, and then we had the place all to ourselves! That always appeals to the introvert in me. To be able to enjoy such beauty without distractions.

The last time we were at the falls was when Gavin and Tracy were visiting. So about 11 months ago. Since then it looks like the falls and river have changed a lot. The volume of water greatly increased. We were noticing that all the places Gavin was playing now had water rapidly flowing over it. The falls seemed to split into two paths, that last year were only one. And the increase of volume meant that if you stood on the bridge long enough you'd get soaked. So I did that. It was just the two of us in the park so I got to stand there as long as I wanted! The noise, and splashes, it was all so amazing and powerful. Truly God's glorious handiwork!

I stayed near the falls until I was shivering wet, then we headed back down the mountain. On our way home we stopped by the salmon hatchery and watched the adult salmon as they jumped in the holding pond to get the bugs hovering over the water for their dinner. Again we had the place to ourselves. It was all such a wonderful, relaxing evening.

I went to bed not using a blanket, it still felt too hot. But over night I found I pulled the blanket up from the floor and got covered. Yay! It finally got cool enough at night! It's 9 in the morning and the house fans powered down finally saying that it's cooled enough. Some may find overcast depressing, but to me it's perfect. I don't sweat just by existing, I can breath without issue, my muscles don't cramp, and my feet don't swell. There is enough light out to keep happy, feel healthy, but not so much that I instantly burn, or feel like my eyes are going to fall out. Yes, I LOVE overcast! I love weather in the 50's-60's maybe low 70's. I love being able to feel like a light misty rain could fall on me. Yes, I am a North Westerner through and through!

One of the weather reports I was reading was reflecting on our freakish weather and saying we were having a tour of other states, that we "started with Anchorage, and moved on to the south-east." (when the heat was so humid.) And I've got to say it did kind of feel like that. I'd throw in Vegas too though, on saturday it was that dry hot wind that made you want to find the ghost that was following you with the invisibly hairdryer and make it all stop. I don't like dry heat either. I just don't like heat. I know summer is just starting so I hope we don't have too many more days that extreme.

Now maybe I can feel comfortable enough to get some housework done today. That would be nice. I didn't bring the camera to the falls. With seeing how much the course changed and such I wished I had. But I have a feeling that wasn't our only trip to the falls this summer. It's only a 35 minute drive up to the falls, so all that really stops us is the cost of gas to climb the mountains.

This & That

I haven't been in Bloglandia for a while because Mica and I and a couple other friends had a yard-sale at her place. It has been so much work going through so much trying to come up with stuff to get rid of. The time with friends was so completely worth any reason to get together, but the sale itself was a total flop. Way too much work, and lots of disappointment, but hey, you live and learn. We both had some furniture, and none of it sold! I remember that when I lived in CA that would have been the first thing to go!

I've already spent all my earnings. I made barely anything. Basically I gave Kevin a dinner and movie date. He wanted to see "Get Smart" which wasn't as dumb as I thought it would be, but I could have done without the few gay jokes in it. Actually I probably would have really liked it otherwise. Well, maybe. Anyway, so we caught a matinee of that after church not something we'd normally do on the Lord's day, but because we wanted to be someplace with air conditioning for a while. Then we stopped into the brand new Little Caesar's and got a pizza to have for dinner. So, between the $15 for movie tickets and the 6.50 for pizza and extra sauce, the earnings are all gone. Poof! Yup, I barely made anything. I think most of the truck-full of stuff is back in the truck, ready to go to the Goodwill. The thing I really made money off of was a plate of cookies I baked. I think most of my profits was more bake sale than yard sale, oh well. I really think the heat is one of the reasons it did so poorly! Especially on saturday. I think it was the first time ever that I saw a saturday sale be worst then the friday sale. We literally saw people driving by with windows rolled up to keep the AC in, look from the car and drive off. I mean really, how can you tell if something you want is there or not by looking from the car? I know I do that sometimes, but that's mostly towards the end of the day when the money and energy is running out, not all day long. This was all day. I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to get out unless I saw diamonds for 50 cents or something, but for us sitting in the heat getting burned in more than one way, it was just disappointing. The yard sale really stunk! Aside from the heat being so overwhelming, I got a sunburn on my right shoulder and cheeks, and I've had a headache on and off from exhaustion. Slurring and crabby.

This record heat wave is killing us! I didn't sleep well at all last night, and I'd be amazed if Kevin really got restful sleep either. And it's been a humid heat, so three showers yesterday didn't feel like enough! Man alive, I feel like explaining my blogging hiatus is nothing but complaining. I think we're going to, for medical reasons, not buy groceries this month, live off of spaghetti and mac and cheese, and buy an AC for the bedroom, at least in this misery I can always hope. I really hate summer, I hate how tired it makes me, how my body swells up because no matter how much I drink water it's not enough, how the tired makes the headaches and the lack of coordination, and the nothing getting accomplished. Lucky husband, he gets to go to a job with AC, my work continues to wait for me here in this oven. I do not like heat. I feel oppressed too when I can't escape it like this. Is there a climate somewhere that only feels like fall to spring and no summer? I'm sure there is, but their winters last too long. Speaking of too long, another thing I don't like about summer is the few hours of darkness each day! I feel like I'm being held in a constant state of awake. I looked up the latest hours of darkness... well, what I found was that sunset to sunrise is about 8 hours right now. And really it's less than that, because dawn and dusk are still light out. Oh well. No place has perfect weather all the time. I just wish I had an air conditioner. I can't stand this. It would help if we had a cross breeze, but it's either been packing in humidity into the house, or blowing in hotter air, so opening up doesn't help! Plus when we put the window fans in they suck in so many flies! We don't have holes in the screens, they're being pulled in because of the fans. They're all the little fruit flies and such, nothing big, but enough that I have to keep checking my glass to make sure nothing has flown into it. I'm hanging my bug zapper inside on my pot rack, this all feels so white trash. ;-(

I don't want to complain, I just can't feel like I can exist, I'm having the hardest time getting anything done, maybe I'll just sit and melt on the couch reading a book. We did have some thunder last night, that was supposed to cool things down, but the sun is out and it's hot all over again. The heat is so oppressing to me. I'm seriously considering pulling a Margot Tenenbaum (From the movie the Royal Tenenbaum's) and living in the bathtub, yeah, that's it, I'll live in the bathtub with my books and a radio.

I had so much fun hanging out with the Mica and her family for a few days, but next time I think we'll have to come up with another reason to get together. We're actually planning a camping trip, that should be MUCH better.

Well, I think I need to get more ice water in me. My Ball-Park Franks feet are swelling twice the size and it's starting to hurt. And my arthritis is pretty inflamed. For that reason I really do need to cool down somehow. I hope everyone else is surviving summer much better than me! And that's my update, maybe I shouldn't have bothered.

The Simple Woman's Daybook - June 9th, 2008.

FOR TODAY

Outside my Window...is cold, grey rain clouds, it's been raining on and off all day.

I am thinking...about if I should take any pain pills or not as I'm gritting my teeth from back pain.

I am thankful for...my dear loving husband. We will celebrate 8 years of marriage tomorrow!

From the kitchen...I'm not sure yet, we were talking about soup.

I am creating...shopping bags, aprons, and trying to spring clean.

I am going...to need to call some doctors this week. I didn't make appointments last week.

I am wearing...PJs

I am reading...over a huge stack of books, none of which are any were near completed.

I am hoping...that I won't be stuck on the phone forever when I do start scheduling these appointments I need to.

I am hearing...Kevin talk to his dad on the phone.

Around the house...is a very bothersome infestation of ants. They always come inside when it rains a lot! I'm at a loss, I think I've tried everything. I have piles of borax, and piles of corn meal out in hopes that something will reduce them, and I think we ran out of ant bate. I can't even find anything that they're going for. I haven't sprayed for them, but I try to keep that as an absolute last resort, I hate breathing that stuff.

One of my favorite things...is my sweet cats. They love to just hang out and cuddle. They remind me to slow down and just enjoy, I love them for that.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...make swap stuff, make stuff for my store, make doctor appointments, general housewifery.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
It's of a tank top I found on someone's Etsy shop. I'm hoping to get the things necessary to make this top for myself.

According to Siggy, I eat cat food!

For lunch today I had a hankering for some ham spread on crackers. I sat down to the desk to eat and write and Siggy completely starts stalking my meal! Here are some cellphone pictures. LOL! Stupid kitty. Oh, and stupid kitty were the first things I said this morning as he was scratching at the bedroom door waking me up so he could climb in and cuddle, a bit too early this morning! Now I'm tired (from getting up too soon) and wondering just what I ate in this ham spread that made him go so nut-so!

Saturday Special

Over at "The Saturday Special" they weekly ask 4 questions. - "A Creative Meme ~ Answer 4 fun questions each week." So here are my answers for this weeks questions. I came across it Saturday morning, but just now got a chance to fill it out.


1. My home would be in the style of?

I'll answer this for the home I have, since I love my home, and don't have a "dream home" shadowing my thoughts of where I live.

The building itself is a modern ranch manufactured home. I'm just fine with it too, it's plenty of home for the two of us, even some kids someday, Lord willing. I'd like to get shutters on the sides of the front windows, and maybe someday hang my flower boxes in the windows. Though I've been advised against it because of rain, but we don't really get rain right on the building unless the wind is also really wild, so maybe we will put them up someday. I currently just have them sitting on the decks. One of the front deck, and the other on the back, they seem to be OK as just planters too, but since they can be mounted, I do think it'd be nice someday.

The decor inside tends to be Americana, European folk, and 50's retro. I like the way things are, I'd go for more 50's decor. I want a real 50's farmhouse kind of kitchen someday! Very soon, I should start painting my kitchen. We got the first few cans a few months back, after my kitchen fire, now we need to do the painting now that we can open the windows without having cold or rain come in. The colors are black, off white, and red. Hopefully this project will happen in a couple weekends.

2. My kind of furniture style is?

I'm pretty eclectic, there is no real classification of our collection of furniture. It'd be nice to someday have the pieces match better, but no big deal. Some of our pieces are modern or functional, others well, I don't know... we have a good deal of stuff from Ikea. Really a lot of what we own that we didn't get from Ikea is hand me downs, so there is no real coherent theme, it works, but I don't know how to describe it. I also don't really know what I'd want if I could just replace all my furniture.

3. My floors would be covered with?

I'd love bamboo hardwood floors someday! With really old, detailed throw rugs. The grey-blue carpeting we have works, but I hate the linoleum, I've always hated all linoleum. Real tile is so much nicer. When we lived in the condo the bathroom had tile and the kitchen had linoleum, and I always liked the tile section so much better, it didn't seem any harder to clean either, I actually found it easier. I'd love to rid my life of linoleum at some point and have only tile or hardwood depending on the room. Carpet still being OK for the bedrooms. For now I just need to come up with a way to keep the icky linoleum clean without breaking my back (remember, I have arthritis in my back, so it gets super painful, super quick.), which so far has felt impossible! The Swiffer wet seems to do OK for spot cleaning, but real cleaning not so much. I have a sponge mop, but it's so much work, and the last time I had a rag mop the stupid rags kept getting moldy because I couldn't keep them dry. I think soon I'm going to invest in a rag mop that can have the head removed and thrown into the dryer, anyone have any ideas on this matter? I know there is no easy way to clean floors, but I need something that isn't as hard of work because currently I do the floors and my back is a wreck for a week! I really could use some ideas here.

4. My landscaping would look like?

We live in the country, so I don't want an overly manicured lawn, it wouldn't look right.

We're currently hoping to fence things off the rest of the way, and we're thinking about a few bushes in the front yard. I'd love to build a brick wall around the base of the trees out front, but I think the Washington weed (blackberry bramble) has something else in mind, keeping it from being out of control is a nightmare, and I don't want to loose my trees just to get rid of the berry bramble. Plus I keep it in the back so it would probably creep back up front anyway.

The front flower bed is pretty much done and maintenance free (aside from weeding.) I've been thinking about laying down bark, but I'm afraid it would kill off or lessen the wildflowers. I love all the wildflowers we get - buttercups, bluebells, daisies, and some other purple flower I can't figure out. We also have dark pink rambling roses, maybe another rose bush would be nice. We also have a few different bulb flowers; purple iris, various daffodils and red tulips. It's such a shame that bulbs only flower for such a short time each year, but at least their blooming times are staggered, so we get to enjoy the various types all spring. Currently the iris' are taking their time to bloom. The neighbors across the street started about two weeks ago, so I'm guessing mine will be any-day now. Hers are on the side that get the evening sun, mine get the morning sun, so I think that's why mine take longer.

I also really want to make a few raised vegetable gardens. Currently I grow my veggies in a few very large pots (from our condo/apartment living days) but I know I'd yield larger crops if the roots had more space to roam. I have a pear tree and a cherry tree. Some more fruit trees would be nice. I don't have room for an orchard, but I can plant a few more trees. We also have a tiny lacy Japanese maple, it's Tony cats tree. It'd be nice to have another one, near our pond. We have a tiny pond (5 gallons maybe?) by our garden shed. The shed is cool because it matches the house. It's tall too, and has greenhouse windows in the top. But they're too high to use the shed as a greenhouse. Someday an actual greenhouse would be nice, but by the time I have the trees and veggie gardens I want, I'm not sure I'd have much room left for a very big greenhouse, but we'll see when that time comes. We've only been in this place 2 years now, so we're still working on making it look lived in. It'd be too expensive to do everything we'd like on our property all at once. We'd also like to enlarge our back patio, and put awnings over the front, side and back doors. Also we hope to have a carport on the side of the house, but we think we should get the awnings first.

So those are our home plans. What are yours? If you add this to your blog leave me a comment and I'll take a look and comment.

I hate heat!

So accuweather tried to warn us that it was going to get hot, quick. With how often the weather reports are wrong I don't always believe them, but wow. We went from being in the comfortable 50's-60's to now being in the 90's to just around 100! I HATE SUMMER! I hate sweating and feeling like I can't move. I want an AC very badly. I'd jump in the river (if my hips worked well.) except that the amount of such rapid snow melt has made the river very full and fast, it's kind of scary actually.

Heat sucks. Oh, and I just bought tomato starts, and my mom got me some when we were in California. I was going to plant them today, but they've already wilted. I'm still going to plant them tonight and hope they perk back up, I have seen that with veg starts before. Here's hoping.

I know I've been on kind of a creative lull lately. I hate that too. I started making a paper doll, but the legs still don't look right. After I get her looking nice I'll post her.

I have several aprons I need to make for family and swaps, so once I get the table cleared and the sewing machine set up again I'll be back to sewing. And a swap partner also wants to commission me to make the Beatrix Potter bag for her with pink fabric, so I'm tracking that down now too.

The weather is supposed to cool back down around monday, I can't hardly wait. I don't have any way to cool off (aside from just getting into the shower with the heat off.) so I really want that to be true.

I guess that's it for now. Nothing much. I'm still trying to get things taken care of since arriving home, dishes, unpacking, sending swaps and such... a housewife's work is never done.

Trying to stay cool. Oh, and I do still plan to post pictures from the trip. I'm having some issues with that, but hope to get it resolved soon.

Life stuff... too tired to come up with a title.

Between being sore a lot, Kevin having gone to SLC, us having gone to CA and other life events I just haven't been able to keep up much on blogging again. I still need to post his pictures from SLC, and now I have the pictures from our trip to CA... I'll try to get to all that soon, but right now I'm tired so it waits, just like some of the stuff waits to be unpacked from the truck still.

We got in about 8 last night, maybe sooner, there was still a fair amount of sun-light left, though the sun was setting. Anyway, sleeping in our own bed was great, though Siggy was so attention starved he wanted to be in the room with us, and how can we deny that cute little fur-ball after being away for 9 days. So I didn't sleep. I need sleep. I think I'm heading for a nap now until Kevin gets home. I've been trying to catch up on blogs and swap-bot and such and I'm just feeling way too sleepy to function so for today I give up.

All this dopey-ness and yet I think my other post today looks pretty decent.

BTW, I'm in the midst of some blogy spring cleaning. The following sections are currently missing from my blog but will hopefully soon appear as tabs on the top...

Health links, random links, artists, my favorite random posts, and faith links.

If you were coming to my page looking for something in one of those sections, don't freak out. That stuff will be back. Drop me a message and I'll send you the link you were looking for or whatever. My hope is that by making separate pages and having them tabbed here that this page will be cleaned up a lot.

Dem darn 'COONS!

So a few weeks ago Kevin and I were befuddled as to why our garden hose that we've only had for a couple years seems to have wholes in every possible spot!

This morning I woke up early. Was thirsty so I got up to go to the kitchen, freak out because the back porch light came on (we have motion sensor lights) so I snuck a peek out to see two very large raccoons playing with our garden hose as if it was a cat toy and they were cats. They had it all wrapped between them and were scratching it with all four paws, and gnawing on it with their mouths. If there was any plans of letting my cats out they are no longer, I'm not letting them out with coons like this around. There was already a warning posted at the library about some possibly carrying rabies so the cats who are indoor always, will remain strictly indoor only.

I guess I should get a lawn sentry like this...


Now we need a new hose. Anyone got any advice for one they can't or wont destroy again? I'm thinking of one of those self coiling ones, or a flat one that will roll well onto a garden hose wheel.

... And here I thought the freezes we've had were to blame. BAD RACCOONS!

Oh, and this isn't their first offense. They have also dug all the plants around the pond, and I've seen them climb into the pond and bath! Fortunately my pond is only about 10 gallons so it's not like I keep fish in it. With these bad boys as neighbors I don't think I could keep fish even if I made my pond bigger.

S & P shakers

Kelli from There Is No Place Like Home, hosts a weekly Friday Show & Tell. Stop by for some fun shares by other bloggers around the world !!!



A fair amount of these belonged to Grandma Tallmon (Kevin's maternal grandmother), and really sparked my love for collecting salt and pepper shakers. I still see my collection as small, someday I'd love to get a curio cabinet to show them all off in. And with the joy of window shopping at Amazon I've found dozens more I'd love to add to my collection.

The two sets on the left are some of Grandma Tallmon's collection that I now have. And then the Lego shakers are actually Kevin's, but is there any suprise there? Actually we're both fond of Lego toys, but his collection of Legos is a whole additional show and tell that I'll save for another week.



Just some traditional and everyday shakers.




Some cool shakers and salt cellars I got in Czech, I really love these!



To seal my fate as a crazy cat lady here are a couple pairs of cat shakers. Both sets were gifts! Does that make me more of a crazy cat lady? The ones on the left the girl cat was broken, the hat was completely shattered. I rebuilt it, repainted it, and sealed it to be mostly like new. The puss in boots are very old. I got those from a swap and the person had acquired them from an estate auction. I'm very curious about any information anyone might have about them.

These sets are my all time favorites! The lemons are truly vintage, I think from the 40's, and they're made in Japan. The wooden couple came from the same lot that a swap partner picked up. And the scarecrows were a cute little thrift store find.

Organization. Poopieness.

OK, so this is just some of the disorganization that is my office/studio. Can I just say this is my before, and the next pic is my after? ;-)


All I have to say is; "Wow! I hope that someday I can get the office/craft room to look like this someday!" I know I can get a photo with an angle more like that, but not currently, because behind me taking my picture are the desks, filing cabinets, chairs and other garbage. The big tall thing against the wall was the previous owners attempt to add more shelving in the closet. It's bent, and I'm not sure how to get it up there, plus, as you can see in my photo, wire shelving isn't the best for here anyway... So I want this!



I came across this well organized studio from a swap friend's flickr page. It looks like it is about the same size as our office/craft room. We even have the door to the side of the closet like that. But also two doors on the wall to the left of it all. So I want to make that one door and section right next to the closet into a linen closet (flip the door around and seal a wall, so it opens into the hallway instead of the room.) Now I want these shelves in the main closest, and to remove the closets sliding-doors as well, in this same future project. It'll be so much more useful then!

I'm not trying to be copy-cat here, but when I saw this photo I thought, gee, it's like it's pulled out of my brain, what I want to do with this room! Over time. I know I want to paint the walls too, but the curtains in this room are a dark red and I'm not sure what to pair with that without it getting too dark, but I hate the white in practically every room. I know I could replace the curtains too, but I actually like these, and I don't want even more expense. First, though, I still need to get the paint up in the kitchen. I hate still seeing my fire damage. Cleaning while being someone with mobility issues sucks, and takes a REALLY long time.

Sorry if any of this sounds crabby. Siggy woke me up after only 4 hours of sleep. He wanted in the bedroom. When I came out and didn't let him in (so Kevin can sleep a few more hours before getting ready for work) he didn't want anything to do with me! That darn cat! So I'm sure I'll be sleeping mid morning yet again, I probably would have been back on track with sleep if it wasn't for him.

I think I might have picked up pink eye at the grocery store last night. As we were watching TV before bed my eye started acting all watery, itchy, and puffy... like allergy eyes, so I put in some allergy eye drops and it calmed down some, and then when I woke up my eye is all puffy and yucky. I don't quite know if it's just inflammation and red because of being tired and allergies, or if I picked up pink eye. I'll keep watching it, but I'm thinking it's the latter because my eyes have that achy feeling I remember from when I've had pink eye before. Hey, does anyone know how frequent you can have that anyway? It seemed like when I was a kid I'd get it EVERY single time I ever came in contact or close proximity to someone with it. Oh well... I guess since I'm up I should think about breakfast instead of crabby blogging. Hope everyone else is having a better morning than me.

Now, to save this post and use this photo as inspiration for getting this office into shape!

Went in the snow anyway.

I kept seeing birds go crazy outside so I bundled up to grab the mail and stay out just long enough to snap a few pictures. Her is my amazing view from my place! I guess I had good timing too as it got dark quick and started snowing again. (Remember to see any photo larger simply click on it and then when you're ready to move on use your browsers back button to get back to this post.)
Also, because the pond froze and then hail and then snow the texture on the pond was really interesting to me. It is froze over, but because of how varied all the freeze has been it looks clear and like there are air bubbles in slush. I thought it was interesting anyway.

Most of the day I've heard all the neighbors driving by spinning tires in the slushy road. And when the UPS truck was passing through, he had chains on the truck. Kevin got home safe and sound.

Beatin' myself up

For no reason really, here is another photo of the fire damage from last month. I was trying to get a better shot of the singe. I don't know why I keep beating myself up about it. I guess I'm trying to remind myself that I need to keep cleaning the walls and kitchen and so on so I can get to painting the damage away.

4 inches of snow

I'm still battling a cold so I'm not going outside and taking pictures this time, even though I really want to... ;-(
We've got 4 inches of snow over yesterday and last night. Yesterday started with freezing rain so I'm hearing all the neighbors slip around on the road outside. I'm just glad Kevin is using the truck again. We're supposed to have another 4 inches or so tonight too. They say a total of 8.5 inches accumulation between now and Tuesday night, but I doubt that. The sun in the middle of the day has done a lot of melting, though I am pleased this is the most snow we've got this year. Maybe in a few days I'll have even more wonderful snow photos.
We just got the propane tank refilled so we have plenty of gas to stay warm, as well as the space heaters, all our cozy blankets and clothes... We'll just stay cozy and enjoy it through the window.
One of my favorite things about when it snows is seeing how the snow covers the skylight. Here is a photo from my camera phone.

Snowballs from the sky!

Just a random update.

I've been spending most of my free time looking for different doctors. Kevin really isn't happy with my doctors. He thinks they're all just experimenting with me instead of really trying to find causes and to treat me. Depending on the doctor I think he's right. I really like my Gyno, and my Dermatologist, but my Endocrinologist moved, and I haven't heard anything good about the other doctor in that clinic, and Kevin doesn't like our GP, I'm OK with him, but I admit he's a bit lazy sometimes, And then my RA doc has down right just not been helpful. Half the time I see the nurse instead and almost feel like the nurses do a better job, but still, they have to report to her for any real course of action. I really want my back & hips x-rayed again, my hips are a constant problem. I'm just going to look for someone else. I'm thinking of switching a lot of my doctors over to the Everett Clinic. I think I'll keep my Gyno and Dermatologist though. I don't know though, something has to change, I'm just not sure what. I also hope to start massage therapy soon. I have the prescription, I just don't know how to pay for it yet.

We had snow Monday night which lasted 'till wednesday even though the snow was very light, it just never warmed up much to melt it all away. Still, it wasn't as pretty as last years snow. We're supposed to get snow again tomorrow.

I've actually had a little bit of energy this week so I'm trying to get some things done around here. I've got several loads of dishes done, took the Christmas tree down, got some swaps out the door and wrote our very late Christmas letter. I'll post that next.

More pictures from our fire damage.

Kevin fixed the fan tonight, that made me happy! Now to do all the cleaning and painting... but at least it'll be easier to cook now that I have a fan again!



Still need to get a new one of these

But on to the photos...
-----------------------







That's not shadow and dirt, that's ash and singe.

Grandma's great! Gave me the money to paint!

Grandma & Grandpa, your kind generosity means so much to us! We picked up a few gallons of paint and primer, and we got the replacement fan to go inside the hood. Thank God my hubby knows how to repair electronics! I won't have to pay for an electrician to come do the job. Once I start getting some of the area cleaned more and the paint up I'll post pictures. The walls will be red (a color that is supposed to stimulate appetite and inspiration!) and the cabinets will be black with the faces antique white. I can hardly wait to get started! Now to just have more days where I feel human enough to stand long enough for the job...

So, Who wants to come for a clean and paint party at my place?! We pay in food! Pizza party? Snack buffet? Sandwiches?... Anyone?

Grandma, thank you too for the stamp albums! Now I can get a few more boxes put away! Yay!

Goodbye 2007!

1-Did you kiss anyone?
Yes

2-Did you date anyone?
Yes, my husband.

3-Are you going to have someone to kiss when the ball drops?
If we stay awake. Only 20 more minutes so we probably will.

4-Did you lose any friends?
I let go of keeping up with some acquaintances...

5-Did you gain any friends?
Yes, and I'm blessed by it!

6-Did you do something new?
Lots of little things.

7-Did anyone important to you die?
:-( Yes, my cat Tony.

8-Did you change?
If I didn't, wouldn't that be strange?

9-Are you happy with the year over all?
Meh...

10-What's the best thing that happened to you?
Adopting Siggy, spending time with my dearest friends, Tracy and Gavin visiting in the summer.

11-Did you fall in or out of love?
I fall more and more in love with Kevin everyday!

12-Are you happy the year's almost over?
Well, I'm really ready for things to change, so I guess so!

13-Are you going to change something about yourself next year?
personal, people who need to know, know this answer.

14-Do you think 2008 will be a better year than 2007?
I sure hope so!

15-Did you lose your virginity in 2007?
Um, I don't think I need to answer this, sometimes I get really turned off by some of these survey questions. If you really need anything more of an answer let me remind you that I've been married for 7 and a half wonderful years!

16-How many things did you screw up in 2007?
How 'bout I just mention the most recent which was my kitchen fire. To make a list would just be depressing.

17-Did you go to an amusement park?
Um, we went to the space needle when Gavin and Tracy where here, but we didn't really do much of the amusement park stuff. Just a couple kiddy rides for Gav.

18-Did you go to a concert?
No... being poor makes for a very boring life. Well, there was that concert in the park thing...

19-Did you go to any parties?
Just meals with friends, which is wonderful and plenty for us. Some friends from church had a party of Christmas eve, we enjoyed that I guess. Fortunately that was very laid back, and good company.

20-Did you go on a summer vacation?
Yes, we drove down to Portland, OR for the Rose Festival, it was loads of fun. It was also our 7th anniversary. Kevin's parents came up and met up with us and joined in some of the time too. We were rained on and got cold, wet, and I got the absolute worst blisters on my feet ever from walking in wet shoes and limping with my cane. But we enjoyed ourselves. I wish we could get away more often.

21-Did you lie to your parents?
No, why would I?

22-Did you get into a fight?
No, again, why would I?

23-Did you leave the country?
Nope, haven't been out of the country in years.

24-Did you have a good birthday?
No, it was a couple weeks after Tony Cat passed away, I was sad and depressed. I started back on Prozac and that has helped some, but there are other things that make me need it beyond that. I had wanted to go to the mountains to camp, but no one could come with us, and I had spent everything we could (and then some) trying to keep Tony healthy before he passed away, so we just couldn't afford it. Kevin was sweet though. He bought me my favorite roses (fire and ice) and took me to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Because it was the middle of the day in the middle of the week the place was empty and it was peaceful to eat together in a restaurant just to us.

25-Did anyone in your family get married?
I heard one of my cousins did...

26. Do you think you grew up?
More and more every day.

27-Did you dye your hair?
In the summer I tend to play with my hair... And it's a good thing I have a hairdresser for an aunt! I had lots of different colored highlights, but my hair is back to it's natural dark brown. I hope to dye it black/blue again, it's my favorite hair-color by Ferria, but I hate having to buy color since Aunt Sandy colors for me for free!

28-Who do you think you were on the phone with the most?
My mom calls a lot, probably her.

29-Did anyone sing to you?
With me, but not really to me.

30-Did you sing to anyone?
I love to sing at church every sunday.
.
31-Did anyone tell you they loved you?
Yes, and it means so much to me.

32-Did you ever go to the hospital?
Not this year, but maybe I will in the new year, something has got to improve with my mobility.

33-What did you drink and eat the most?
Eat - these days, mostly whatever I can help Kevin make, since I can't stand in the kitchen much lately. Drink, as always, ice water.

34-Did you change your top friends at least 8 times?
(I guess this is a myspace question...) Um, a couple times, when I was able to add a few people, but not lots, I don't think 8 times.

35-Did you change your profile over 10 times?
Yeah. Probably. I'm constantly battling with keeping my profile me, but not making it too long, it never works, it's long! So is my swap-bot profile. Amazingly my Blogger profile is pretty concise, but that's probably because I spend all my time here editing my blog itself.

36-Did you change your default at least 20 times?
I think it was just a few times, I just haven't had that many pictures of me this year.

37-Did you get a tattoo?
Nope, DLH won't permit it. And I respect my husbands wish, even though I'd still love some ink.

38-Did you vote?
ABSOLUTELY!

39-Are you going to make a new years resolution?
Not in the traditional sense.

40-Did you stick to your new years resolution from last year?
I don't typically make new years resolutions. Last year it was to read more, and I'd say I have, though I still have the bad habit of picking up tons of books and taking forever to finish something because my nose is in so many different places. Plus I tend to read things you don't have to read cover to cover, like cookbooks. And nope, ours still isn't finished. Waiting on DLH to get through the editing.

Fire and Ice.

So yesterday when I was at Mica's, hanging out, having a casual Christmas, we were looking through Mary Engelbrite's home magazine and I was dreaming about all the things I want to do in the kitchen, now it looks as though I'll be forced to do at least some painting (I guess I have to sell a cat to pay for the paint!?)

Forgive me if this post is scatter-brained. I'm so shook up. First, (start on the happy note) I've mostly got my wish about more snow. We have maybe a quarter inch still, it snowed a lot in the middle of the day, and more slush or snow is predicted for the rest of the week... I'll post some of my snow pictures from earlier today later in this post. (I guess snow isn't exactly ice, but for the purpose of a blog post title there is the ice.)

I also have a couple fire damage photos to post. In my attempt to cook something for dinner tonight, the oil I was heating for the won-tons got too hot, started splattering and caught fire. I don't know how I did it, I've cooked won-tons so many times before. I also don't know what was able to help me save the kitchen but the Grace of God! I dived under the fire to turn off the gas and grab the extinguisher. Kevin says by doing that I saved the house. He's probably right. I burned my right hand and left wrist, and amazingly it's nothing more then what a sunburn would be like, amazing since this was a grease fire!

The cabinets around the range are soot covered, the ceiling is darkened, and the overhead fan is melted useless.

Between Kevin having worked two jobs for most of the month, my disabling arthritis, our lack of any gifts to each-other (silly I know), the mess of this place we call home, our tool-box being stolen, and now my senseless accident in the kitchen I am just so ready for a new year, a new hope, and hopefully Kevin getting some much needed and deserved rest. I want change, I want strength, I want to feel good about how things are, or at least OK with how things might start improving. We're both just so tired.

Well, I'm going to stop with the writing, I think I could ramble on forever right now. Here are the pictures from my day today. (click photo if you want to see a bigger image.) With the snow pictures I just love how practically every picture has a snowflake melting on the lens!

FIRE!

In my attempt to humor myself (and for any Gilmore Girls fans...) I laughed in my head, "I killed a Viking!"


Note how amazingly close the flames could have gotten to my tin bottles of olive oil on the top of the cabinets, what a blessing it didn't reach that and cause more issues!




Snow!

Stolen toolbox!

We've been robbed again. (We were robbed when we lived in San Jose, twice. Car was broken into, and our laundry was stolen from the laundry room, and yes, the laundry was practically everything then...)

Last night our shed was broken into and someone stole the tool box. I had gotten a nice new toolbox for Kevin when we moved to Washington. He finally got all his tools organized, sorted and made useful. Someone took the whole thing! Several places in the neighborhood were hit last night. I guess we're just a statistic.

This all just makes me so mad. It's not like Kevin and I have a lot, we never have, and then to be violated like this! ;-(

So if you wanna make our Christmas special we could use Sears Craftsman tools (that's what was stolen) and I guess I'll be looking for another tool chest. Just makes me so mad! This evil is not what Christmas time is supposed to be about!

Kevin's checking the shed to see if anything else was taken and to call the Sheriff.

It's snowing!

Update: 4:40 PM Dec. 2.
So I won't be able to get more pictures after all unless it snows more tonight and is actually nice tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath, it's supposed to stay rainy now. Since it rained for the last half of the day the snow is getting all washed away, it's a slushy mess outside, not picture worthy.

Start of original post 1:23 AM


I'm going to take pictures and post them! I promise. Today was the first snow this winter!
Lots of snow too! Not as bad as last years big snow, but it might get there. It's been snowing all day and all night. AND is still going!
I guess this is midnight blogging so I should say the start was Saturday morning, Dec. 1st.
Here are a few pictures so far... none of them are really great. I'll take more later.

We brought the cats outside. Siggy loved it, Maddie hated it. We held Siggy while letting him put his feet in the snow... isn't his paw prints in the snow adorable!?





Siggy was sad that we only let him out for a few minutes, and only while holding him. He's been running from window to window, and it's so cute watching his head move as he picks a snowflake and follows it's path down.

Today, I'm pooped.

Things I did today

Talked with Mica about meal plans for Thanksgiving.
did 3 loads of laundry, including folding.
did 1 load of dishes and put away.
made potato salad
made coleslaw
answered blog comments and e-mail
watched the news
checked for the mail (no mail yet)
took pictures of snow

It doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, but it's 4 and I want to go to bed! This winter isn't being very good to me, and it's not even technically winter yet.

In other news we've been able to see lots of pretty snow on the hills outside our window. Enjoy! (click picture to see it larger)

Thankful Thursday

* Thankful that I finally found a decent price on kitty litter. Scoop-able clumping litter from the farm supply store is 40 pounds for $9!

* I'm thankful that I now have my own computer! Kevin's carpool buddy had one from work (they upgraded so they were giving them away) So we are finally a two computer (running, we have LOTS of computers) house again. And yes, this is a good thing to us.

* I'm thankful that Thanksgiving is coming up soon and that Kevin and I are going to have it with wonderful friends we love.

This seems like a short list so far... I might come up with more over the day. It's been hard to feel very thankful because I've been sick for a couple weeks, and money sucks. I hate how expensive groceries and gas are these days. But God is good and he won't let us be kept down for long.

A few pictures just because.

Siggy, and me with Siggy.




Here is DLH in the laundry room, doing some electrical work. I think he thought I was weird for wanting to take his picture with his hand in the wall.

Dear to my heart.

I've really had Provers 31 working on me lately. I really feel called to be in our home and doing what I can for Kevin and I here. But I also need to be productive (as much as I can with arthritis, insomnia and the rest of my laundry list of chronic illnesses.)

With trying to see how other Christian housewives do it I found an interesting site. I actually found it a while ago and have been following it for a while, but this article really worked for what I've been reflecting on. It was really insightful to me and I encourage all to read it.

I've made a few changes on my page. If you hadn't noticed I'm trying to make a real go at the Etsy shop thing. I really want to honestly say I work at home. I've been making cards and pairing up my beaded things and soon I'll be posting them on Etsy and hopefully people will see just the unique gift they're looking for in my crafts.

I hope that Proverbs 31:18 will be true for me... "She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night." The "her lamp does not go out at night" part is true for now anyway... here's hoping that my upcoming grand opening will truly be grand!

Just something I made for the bathroom

I have Japanese and Chinese things in my bathroom so I made a collage to go along with it. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. (again)

This is turning out to be a theme post... I've done this one before. But there always seems to be something more, so I guess I'll start making it a regular feature of my blog.

Here are some of my favorite things...

God's Providence Shining through my personal darkness

I'm not trying to write my testimony here, but I do want to share some things that are on my heart.

In the moment I can think of millions of things that seem unfair about my life. My health and infertility being a huge one. I don't blame me, God, or anyone for why I have to live life dealing with these things. I simply know that this is a fallen and broken world we live in, and as a result we all deal with different trials. I never thought that as a young bride I'd find out we couldn't have children. In my heart I always knew what that would mean, we'd adopt. We're still hoping for that someday. Though I deal with lots of women's issues and can't have my own biological kids, I don't hold heartache about that, I hold heartache that we aren't ready yet to accept into our family a child in need of a home.

For years I worked as well as Kevin and with growing resentment, I felt like I was ignoring God's will for my life. I mean after all, through all the dreams I had about what I might be when I'd grow up the one that always remained the same was that I was going to be a wife and mother. Going to work was a daily reminder that I couldn't do that yet, that I was passing time, earning a living only really for the now. Such was the curse of living in California were just existing cost everything we had, and had us accumulating debt.

Looking back I remember years of wondering if we'd ever be able to make more so that we could at least afford one more bedroom. We lived in one bedroom places for years, and the cramped space was another constant reminder of not now. How could I continue to hold hope that we'd have kids if I couldn't see how we'd get out of our situation.

But God provides. God guides, and He wakes us up to see what we might not see otherwise because of our day in and day out. Back then I never would have imagined I'd be typing this living in a 3 bedroom house and being grateful to have that gift I knew was promised me. I couldn't see how it was possible where Kevin and I worked, and it wasn't. It took Kevin loosing his job and not successfully finding anything decent afterwards to wake us up to the fact that God was calling us to leave, to find a new home, a new community, a new circle of friends. This has been such a blessing!

We moved two years ago to Washington on faith. We had no jobs, no prospects of jobs aside from seeing some listings that really fit Kevin, and no idea we'd ever end up in a little town called Sultan at the base of the Cascade mountains. But now that we're here, now that Kevin has growing responsibilities and respect at his job and we're growing a circle of friends here, and growing roots in our church and community, now through all this I can see God's Providence.

I can see that yes, it still isn't time for us to be parents yet, but He still holds that true for our future.

I see that I have the time and ability to communicate with people and connect with them in ways that are real, that they need, and that I need.

I can enjoy clean air, less asthma issues, spectacular views of the mountains and a real sense of tranquility at home.

I have now a room I'm nesting for that special someone or someone's someday. When God says we're ready, we WILL be ready.

I have time to think.

While we may have every penny going to paying a mortgage now and we often wonder how we'll buy groceries it somehow never truly is as big of an issue as my panic can make it out to be. I always still seem to have leftovers that go bad in the fridge and plenty of good food to bring to church lunches, both real and tangible reminders that God is providing.

There are lots we are doing without these days. I see others who frequently enjoy going to the movies or buying games, or going on vacations. We can't do any of those luxuries right now. On the other hand, where we live is so peaceful, and the nature that we can enjoy just outside our door. It's all such a wonderful gift from God.

I could go on even more, but this is yet another mid-night blog post, and for once I'm actually tired at a normal time, so I'll wrap up to head to bed. I just want to say though, that when I look back on what I didn't have, and what I am blessed with now that I am able to see what God has done for me. It is when I see everyone else around me having kids, or someone who's lived in an easier market and doesn't have the financial issues we've faced that I start to get depressed. I can't focus on the Jones', we're the Wilson's.

Housewife survey

1. What kind of soap is in your bathtub right now?
Dove moisturizing body wash in our bath. Generic fruit bubble bath in the guest bath.

2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator?
No! I used to love it as a kid, but now I don't really care for it, and Kevin never liked it so we just don't buy it.

3. Is there anything moldy in your refrigerator?
Possibly, the fridge is pretty full right now, but I did try to clear things out before I went shopping.

4. Are there any dirty dishes in your sink?
yes, and on the counter, and on the dinner table... I'm really bad about doing dishes. We'd probably be healthier if I was better about it. Now I feel ashamed and dirty.

5. What would you change about your living room?
Take out the carpet and put in hardwood, paint the walls because I'm sick and tired of white, generally pick up the clutter.

6. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty?
Dirty, I may not like doing dishes, but when they're clean I tend to put them away right away because otherwise I'll never catch up.

7. Do you have a can of mushrooms in your pantry?
It's one of Kevin's favorite so yes, I buy the cans by the case at Costco.

8. White or wheat bread?
Wheat

9. What is on top of your refrigerator?
My lock box, cat treats, old candy, and a bottle of Tequila.

10. What color is your sofa?
black leather, but currently covered with a celestial print (blue) sheet.

11. What color or design is on your shower curtain?
Guest bath has a dark blue curtain that has like lightning bolts on it. And in our bath is a glass door which I hate. When I can afford it I hope to get one of those curved curtain rods and have a pale colored bamboo theme printed curtain to go along with my Japanese theme bathroom.

12. How many plants are in your home?
Do I need to go around and count? I do have a bit of a green thumb so I have a fair amount of house plants. Probably 5 or so in the dining-room and another 6 or so in the kitchen.

13. How many candles are in your home?
to many to count.. Making candles is a strong winter time hobby of mine. I never throw away wax because they just go into the next candles being made. I'll even accept scraps of candles and pick up half used candles at garage sales if the scent isn't repulsive.

14. Is your bed made right now?
No, Never. I'm always the last to get out of bed so it's my fault. I just hate making a bed when In 16 hours or so I'm just gunna muss it up all over again.

15. If you have a coffee pot, what color is it?
The coffee pot is black, we also have a coffee maker that is for tea and that's Cobalt Blue.

16. Electric or standard can opener?
We got two standard style can openers. One is a Swing-away and the other is Tupperware. The Tupperware one is cool because it cuts from the side so there are no sharp edges and you can put the lid back on the can.

27. Comet or Soft Scrub?
both

28. Is your closet organized?
Somewhat.

29. What color is the flashlight that you use the most?
Black and silver

30. What kinds of things are in your junk drawer?
Don't have one. Now the unopened boxes from our various moves is another matter... mostly old paperwork

31. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home?
Probably plastic. I am a Tupperware consultant and have so many Tupperware plastic cups. I do have glasses as well. I still prefer glass when I want something to stay colder longer, like beer or ice water.

32. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now?
no, but I like to, I just don't have the fridge space right now.

33. If you have a garage, is it cluttered?
We have a huge garden shed that could probably hold a motorcycle, but not quite big enough to hold a car. It's not really cluttered. There are a few boxes that need to be put on shelves, but there are boxes of yard sale items in the shelves. I'll have a very clean shed once we have a yard
sale.

34. Curtains or blinds?
both

35. How many pillows do you sleep with?
3, and Kevin uses 1.

36. Do you sleep with any lights on at night?
nope we like the dark, though our alarm clocks give off a lot of light.

37. How many ceiling fans are in your home?
1

38. How often do you vacuum?
depends on how messy things have gotten, but at least once a month.

39. Standard toothbrush or electric?
electric, standard on vacations.

40. What color is your toothbrush?
grey and blue

41. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch?
Um, at the side door yes, because we use that door more, but not at the front door. Someday, when money isn't so tight.

42. What is in your oven right now?
nothing

43. Is your microwave clean or dirty?
Slightly dirty, but it's too high for me to clean so it's Kevin's responsibility.

44. Is there anything under your bed?
Out of season bedding (right now the heavy blankets, etc.), some shoes, and some stuff that's storage of Kevin's like CD's and electronics.

45. Chore you hate doing the most?
dishes

46. What retro items are in your home?
I have some posters and tins in the kitchen, my stand mixer is new, but retro styled. I'd love a completely retro themed kitchen someday. I also have a fair amount of Moravian pottery, Moravian dolls, and some dishes.

47. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office?
yes, the third bedroom is the office, and we usually have a futon in here too making it the guest room. Currently it's in the baby room because that's where my last guests stayed (needed it baby/toddler proof.)

48. If you have a yard, who mows it?
Yes, Kevin should mow it. Thanks for reminding me to nag him! ;-)

49. Is there anything on your kitchen floor right now?
Rugs, dirt, cat treats, & cat toys.

50. How many mirrors are in your home?
Um, lemme do a mental count. One in each bathroom, and the full length I still need to hang, so three, and I have a few hand mirrors too.

51. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home?
That would be so smart, but no.

52. What color are your walls?
White, every room is white! And I hate it. Oh, but the bathrooms and kitchen are wallpapered. I'm OK with the paper in my bathroom, but the paper in the guest bath drives me batty, and the paper in the kitchen just makes it look more cluttered so I'm going to paint it as soon as I can afford it.

53. Which rooms in your house have wallpaper?
Bathrooms and Kitchen

54. Do you have a peephole in your front door?
Yes, but unfortunately it's like a foot too high for me! I'll need a new hole sometime. For the most part I keep the front window open so I can see what's going on outside.

55. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home?
Does a paint-ball gun with no gas count? Oh, I have my knives, but I'd like a gun someday.

56. What does your home smell like right now?
Air-wick Mango, and cats probably, but I've been a cat owner too long to notice anymore.

57. Fave candle scent?
Vanilla or mixed berry

58. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now?
Hot olives, sweet pickles, dill pickles, sweet relish, green olives, and pickled garlic olives

59. Who are in the pictures you displayed?
Friends and family

60. What color is your favorite bible?
Um, We have a bible shelf but I don't know that I have a favorite... maybe the Kinkade keepsake family bible my in-laws gave us a couple years back, it's kind of a reddish brown brick color.

61. Do you have plenty of cabinet space in your kitchen?
I can get by with it, but I wouldn't oppose more! I mean I am a kitchen tools collector and Tupperware consultant so I have quite the collection, and yes, it all gets used. If I ever were to become a Pampered Chef consultant too I for sure would need more space. I'm already storing almost two boxes of showcase Tupper in the shed.

62. Ever been on your roof?
Not this one yet.

62. Do you own a stereo?
yep

63. How many TVs do you have?
1, 2 if you include the computer monitor that we've watched movies on. 3 if you include the camp tv that we only use once maybe every three years.

64. How many house phones?
2, one in the living-room and one in the office.

65. Do you have a housekeeper?
Yup, that's me!

66. What style do you decorate in?
Functional contemporary, thanks to the good prices of Ikea!

67. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints?
solid for furniture, I add color and pattern with the decor like throw pillows and art and such.

68. Is there a smoke detector in your home?
yup, a few.

68. In case of fire, what are the items you would grab if you only could make one quick trip?
The fire safes (which have our negatives, photo CD's and important papers), the cats, and my purse, probably in that order too.

69. Do you know how to work your electrical box?
Kevin has an electrical engineering background. so yea, he can anyway.

70. What temperature in your home is most comfortable to you?
69 Is the best, now get your mind out of the gutter, I am talking about temperature here.

Who said you can't get something for nothing?

So in the last couple weeks I have both got a free BBQ and washer. The BBQ needs a little work, but we know how to do it and with what it needs the parts are much cheaper then buying a new one. It's nothing fancy, just a BBQ, hopefully it'll be fixed in time for my birthday. Home Depot gift cards?

The washer we picked up today is almost identical to the one we have. We haven't set it up yet, probably over the weekend. Here's hoping it actually is better then what we have and meets out need. The listing I found it from said they were remodeling so they had to get rid of them. The place was tiny so I envisioned that they enlarged a room or closest and had to go for apartment style machines instead of side by side. Who knows, my mind wanders.

Anyway, so I'm pooped. It's been so hot lately. Just around 100 for the last couple days. The house is just starting to cool off. It was 101 outside today, now it's gone down to the low 70's as the sun is setting. The news said we should get some light rain and thunder. I really hope so! I love that kind of weather. I don't think I've ever really feared thunder and lightning. It was one of my favorite things in CO. I miss the evenings in the summer in CO when natures AC would take over, the moisture would come and the temp would drop. It's never as dramatic here or when I lived in CA.

Well, I should log off and try to come up with another no heat meal for dinner.
Sorry this isn't a particularly thrilling post. Just wanted to let everyone know that we're hoping this other washer will be better.

Broke and needing a washing machine!

Our washing machine is complete garbage! Ever single load keeps making more and more things have horrible rust spots all over them. No matter how much I search I can't visibly see what is causing the rust. I can only think it must be something more internal and that we need a new washer. I have been checking Craiglist every now and then to see if there are any free ones available. My cousin got at washer/dryer set for free because an older couple were moving and the new owners were bringing their own set. I'm just trying to find a deal like that, but no luck so far. Maybe some smart person would know what to fix about it, but I can't seem to figure it out. It's depressing doing laundry because I'm having to rewash so much. And some things just aren't getting any better. I can't stop washing laundry or we wouldn't have anything clean to wear, but I can't just buy a new machine either!

On the other hand, it is making us learn our washing machine more as we look at sites like this:

Washing machine repair advice.

How to remove rust stains

and Rust or Mineral Stains on Laundry

On a completely different note. My garden flowers and some wild flowers that have been growing in my yard have been so plentiful this week that I have a gorgeous boquet of flowers!

My gardens