Happy Anniversary!

I was going to write this last night, but I was so pooped by the end of the day, from the high temperatures and just all we did, that I collapsed into bed and dozed off. Bad me. But this little blog hit a small milestone this week, in hitting our thousandth visitor. A lot of repeat traffic, I know, but still, it's a nice number to hit. Now to hit 5,000, and keep going up from here!

This last week was kind of exciting in a way. We've been given two queen-sized beds, mattress and springs, no frames. That's fine, they can sit on the floor for now at the trailer. We reserved a U-Haul trailer to pull behind the van next weekend to get them from here to there, along with as much of the "not needed right now" stuff as we can cram in the van next Saturday to get us down to the necessaries for survival till we move in a few more weeks. We'll rent a trailer again then for the bits and pieces of furniture, so we can use the car and van for anything else (clothes, food, toiletries, the cats, etc.), and finish the move in one trip, getting out of here.

The neighbors with the whiny, anxiety-ridden poodle-thing have made a big mistake. Q heard the guy the other morning, while Q was getting ready for work, teaching the dog to howl all the time. We've discovered that when they're gone, a dog whistle works wonders for silencing the little beast, but with the dog learning to constantly howl, I wonder if they realize just how hard it will be to train it to NOT howl once we've moved. Their problem, not ours!

Our jobs both went to full hours this last week. Q's went BACK to full hours, mine ran a full week for the first time in around two months. My poor feet were killing me by the end; I think they forgot what a seven or eight hour shift is like. But the little bit of pain in my feet is worth it, because the money is necessary right now to get us on our feet at the property, and get things done there. Q and I have talked and once we're moved and working on getting the homestead to be an income producer for us, the place will be my baby. He has no intentions of quitting his job, so if/when we (meaning I) can get the income from the homestead to equal or exceed my average take-home check from the plant, I get to quit the plant and work strictly from the home. That's going to mean a LOT of work on my part, because what I get from the plant, less the gas and upkep on the car, less what I have to pack for lunches, etc., that I can't go "well, I'd have that anyhow if I was working from home," I have to make up for from the homestead. That means I have to make at least $800 a month from the homestead. Not an unobtainable amount, but it will be hard to get to anytime soon, till at LEAST next summer probably. That's still not a bad thing, other than I hate winter driving, lol. Thank goodness the Ozarks doesn't get much in the way of winter snow and ice.

So I didn't get a ton done at the property this week in the way of cutting up stuff for the woodpile, but I got a healthy amount done, and we worked out some other things that need doing and how to do them. He's still dithering over fix the deck first or build a chicken coop first. He says properly do the deck first, I say the coop first, because then we'd have eggs and some meat eventually and a pest control in the chickens. It's going to be a long discussion on it, but I'm sure I can get him to come around. We've only been married for two years, after all, and it's his first marriage. He's still in training, lol.

Speaking of which, yesterday being our anniversary, and with us both having short checks this week, it's tight to get through to Wednesday night when he gets paid again. We'll JUST squeak by - AGAIN. We are so tired of that, but hopefully longer weeks will pick up at the plants again for both uf us on a more permanent basis. On the other hand, we scraped enough together to go to The Rib Crib for dinner. Neither of us was overly hungry, so we just got one big platter (the Pitmaster's Special, though it needs another rib on the plate, really), and split it. While there, one of the performers from Music City Centre next door came over and was passing out coupons for his show that night and gladhanding everybody. Me and my big mouth mentioned we'd like to see the show but were broke this week and couldn't afford the tickets, even at a discount, and it was a pity as it was our wedding anniversary.  Mr. Doug Gabriel of the Doug Gabriel show asked a waitress for a pen, and wrote on the coupon "Free Per Doug." Yep, we got to meet one of Branson's premier entertainers and see the show for free. You can BET we headed over after dinner to get our comped tickets and see the show.

It was a fantastic night. The food at Rib Crib was very good, and it comes out with no sauce on it. You get a choice of mild or hot sauce in squeeze bottles at the table, and I used the mild. It was excellent stuff. The meat was perfectly done (rib, smoked chicken, pulled pork and brisket), the mashed taters were homemade (could have used a bit more gravy on them) and the potato salad also  homemade and near as good as mine. We aren't big eaters anyhow, but walked out full. We were also given twenty-year anniversary cups to bring home from the place, so that's kind of fun. They're plastic and I hate plastic cups, but Q loves them, so he can have them.

The show was the highlight of our night. The day wasn't what Q had wanted it to be to start, with us on short checks, since he'd wanted to take me to Famous Dave's. A bit pricey this time around, but with two full-ish checks coming this next payday, he's said we'll finish our anniversary next weekend at FD's. Good thing I love BBQ! But the show was a lot of fun. If you're in Branson, it's a MUST-SEE. They also said they love to tour and do shows all over the country, so if you need a promo packet, get ahold of them and get one for a local performance. You won't be sorry. The whole Gabriel family gets into the act, from Doug, his wife, his daughter and both sons, and the older son's fiance. Great music, great comedy (especially from the younger son, who is a complete dork, I swear). This year's show is Number One Hits, and thanks to Mom raising me with the Golden Oldies as a kid, I could sing along with most of them. The majority of last night's crowd was older folks, so when they did "Footloose," I was about the only one really going wild in the audience with the participatory dancing. (Can't help it, I love that song, and it's always made me want to jump up and dance ever since it came out when I was in high school. Ok, I just made myself feel really, really old.)

All in all, a good week. Not a lot done to get moved, but some. Not a lot done here, but some. Mostly work and sleep, but at least it ended with our anniversary and a high note with the show that me and my big mouth got us comped tickets to. A lot of good word-of-mouth advertising (always important) for Rib Crib and the Doug Gabriel show as well, because how can you NOT say good things about good food and good entertainment?  Hugs till next weekend. I really need to remember to take the camera to show off what things look like again, so you can all see the progress.