Crazy week

This week, quite simply, has been a crazy train wreck. It started with my finding out something that doesn't make me happy, and which I refuse to speak of in detail. Suffice it to say that it's very personal, it's lost me my best friend, and nearly cost me my marriage, but was not my fault. Seriously, I know a lot of people would say they had nothing to do with it, but I didn't. It involves an at LEAST 3 1/2-year-old grudge on the part of said former best friend, who has held it so long that she finally decided to try to break up my marriage, and nearly succeeded. The good thing is, Quentin and I love each other, fought it out, made up and realized that this major hump has made our marriage even stronger than it was before. We got through this, so nothing else can be anywhere near as bad as this has been.

In other news, we've managed to get a lot more cleanup done this week. Actually, Quentin's done it, and goodness knows, I will be so happy when he finally gets back to work so I can stop doing all this overtime that leaves me no time for much of anything. It's exhausting to work so much, get so little done, and not really get ahead any. It's amazing how much doesn't get done, overall, but how  much you can get done in bits and pieces, with a few minutes here and there.

Like knitting on a pair of socks for myself again. Yes, I use magic loop method (one long cable needle for the sock), because I tend to have issues with double-points when I have to stop on a sock as much as I have lately.

The magic loop method helps me out a lot so that I don't have to keep restarting the sock, or even just spend time picking up stitches and hoping like mad that I don't miss one. I did finish up this model for a preemie pattern I'm working on, too.

I have all the photos I want for that pattern taken and all, I just need to get them into the file, and save it as a PDF so I can offer it up. As with all my other individual patterns, It's a whopping dollar US, lol. No, I ain't gonna get rich off my patterns, but they're a lot of fun.

I'm working very, very slowly on a series of Bible study books that I want to get published for the Kindle, but have to look up info on that as far as how to do it and costs and such. I'm no theologian, just a plain ole layperson, but back home, my Wednesday morning Bible Study group did a book by book hashout of the Bible over the course of a couple of years. It was pretty interesting, in that we'd take a few chapters a week, read a few verses, and then spend a few minutes discussing what those verses were really talking about. How did those people feel, we thought, what were they going through, all that. I've been tossing this idea around for quite a while, and finally made the plunge to start the actual writing. No, they won't be free, other than for promotions, but I don't think $1.99 each is going to kill anybody's budget. I'm working it as one Bible book to a book in the series. I'd do the books of the Catholic Bible that aren't in the KJV as well, except that the Catholics are a lot more protective of their Bible than the Protestants are, as far as copyrights and such. That's a LOT of work to get done, overall.

Let's see. We also grew some cat grass for the boys that lasted all of a day once it was grown enough to let them at it. We had a blast watching them tear into it, though it was mostly Bouncer that ate any of it.

And then had a blast tearing it out of the bowl it was sitting in so it could stay watered.

Quentin's big thing the last few days, when the weather's cooperated, has been to work on painting the trailer.

There he is sitting on the tongue of the thing, and here's the rear view.

He wants to still add fenders and extend the tongue so he can put a tool box or spare tire on there. It's a long ways from being what he considers "done."

And that's the news for this week! Happy homesteading!

FREE BOOKS FOR THIS WEEK

Mind, some might be ones I've posted before. I've lost track a bit, lol!

NOT-FREE BOOK

At this point in time, these aren't free, and do not necessarily have Kindle editions. I know, I'm awful big on Kindle books, but when you can carry 6000 books around in a ten-pound laptop, you're doing really well. Heh heh heh. So here's a bunch of not-free-right now books that are homestead helpful.

Which is it, hot and dry or wet and cold?

I do wish the weather here would make up its mind the last few days. *grin* We do need the rain, but these tremendous downpours are getting a bit ridiculous. Our windows tend to leak some, so most of our towels get used to block the rain leaking in, then hung on the clothesline just long enough to dry before they get soaked by the rain again. It's getting a bit silly. Right now, as I type this, it is pouring buckets here in Harrison, and I have a feeling I'm going to get pretty soaked when I go from here to the car to the neighboring Wally World to get a few minor things we forgot yesterday, and then back to the car to go home. What a day.

We're getting some small things done around the property, in hopes that we can buy it eventually, but if not, we'll likely start looking for a place to buy in the next six months or so. We don't want to put a lot of time and effort and money into a place we're just renting, even though we can, without the guarantee in writing that we can buy it, too. It's going to mean lots of overtime for me to pay off a couple of bills and Quentin will get plenty all on his own from working second shift once he's back to work (17 weeks to go till he can apply for rehirs, and counting down!). So with two solid incomes coming in, bills paid off within a few more months, and plenty coming in to put back for a downpayment, we might be able to buy something reasonably nice. We know what we want for features, and what our price range is, so you can bet I'm looking NOW to see what is out there and might be in a while. Let's face it, it's a good market to buy right now, home sales are soaring in plenty of metro places, but out-county? It's still hard to get the place to sell. Around here, house prices have been plummeting from 4.5% to 21.3% below what they were a year ago, according to Zillow. The only area that's gone up recently around Green Forest was neighboring Berryville, which is also the county seat.

I've found a few places we're looking at, and if we could get any one of them as a land contract with nothing down but the first payment, we'd probably take it in a heartbeat if it met our other criteria. I'm printing the realty pages to PDF files (I love CutePDF writer for this stuff) and taking things home to show the hubster. He gets excited looking, same as me, and seeing what is available, so we can narrow down what we really  have to have in a place (the list is pretty short already), so yeah, we're excited. We don't like the idea of moving, we love where we're at, but if we can't buy it, there's  not a lot of point to putting tons of time and effort in here. (Oh wait, I already said that, lol.)

In the meantime, I am working hard on links for recommended products pages for when the website is up and goes live (hopefully, Dish will get DishNet to us soon, I'm tired of hauling my butt to McDonald's even though it works), so I can do all the things I WANT to do much easier. I am still amazed that there is so  much to be done, and I have to break it down a little at a time, into teeny chunks so that things get done and lit looks like I'm accomplishing something, because there are days I feel like I'm getting nowhere.

Like my socks I'm knitting. I've finally managed to get halfway down the legs on them, doing them two at a time on two long circulars, but oh my goodness, it's taking forever with all the overtime I'm putting in. But bills gotta get paid somehow, and with only one income, and a quarter of that going to that stupid garnishment which I can't wait to get paid off, there's not a lot of time for me to do much of anything. I'll have a bit more time once hubby's back to work, since I can cut back the overtime some, just not all of it, and get more done at home.

Lately, Quentin's doing a lot of small stuff with the weedwhacker which he loves, and clearing up a lot of wood for the wood pile. That's about all the crazy weather is letting him get done, because he no sooner gets started, then it starts to cloud up and rain. He keeps going till it starts to sprinkle or whatever, but it's a bit annoying to NOT get things done that need doing to keep the place looking at least reasonably liveable. He is getting some work done on his trailer, in that he's painting the wood "banner red." I talked him into paint rather than spray cans, because with the breezes we've been having, it's a bit silly to spray paint it and have half the paint on the trees and ground rather than the trailer!!

So that's pretty much it for this week. Have fun folks, I'm busy as all heck with doing what I can, and hopefully I'll have some pictures soon of ongoing projects. Oh yeah, for those who asked, I do have a couple of patterns for sale that are ready to go. Paypal buttons here, I'll email the PDF files when I'm next online and get the order emails. Sorry it'll be a few days on them yet, but once the website's going, it'll be instant delivery!

This is the Reborn Baby Doll or Preemie Layette, in crochet.

And this one is the Two-Piece Fashion Doll Swimsuit and Coverup. I apologize ahead of time, the pictures with them are NOT the greatest and I really need to make time to redo the photos. Ugh. Yeah, right, yet another thing on the to-do list from h-e-double-toothpicks, lol.

NEW BOOKS

This is the new books from Amazon that are homestead-related, or cookbooks (yes, I know, I'm big on cookbooks, lol). Have fun. Please do note that some may no longer be free when you get to them. They were free when I got them, but you know how freebies are. Have fun!




Ok, I think that's all of them for this week. Whew, what a bunch again!

Gosh, I'm tired

It's been a bit of a rough week, but it's over and I'm glad. It wasn't bad, overall, just tiring. I did get in a bit of back child support that was more than usual over the last few years, so that was good, because it meant we could get that gas weedeater and Q could get busy with it. The place is looking a bit less like a jungle again, thank goodness. I worked a lot of overtime, because second shift people keep not showing up for work. My space bar is all sticky again, so I sometimes have to hit the thing a couple of times to get my space in my typing, and that's annoying. I'm getting a lot of knitting done. I  have whole weekends free now, because of new rules at work that mean I can get all the overtime I want in my regular department, but can't get overtime in any other department, so no more Saturdays in F.P. We are starting a hunt for a property we can buy, because we don't mind renting where we're at (we love the place and that we can do anything we want there, with the landlord's blessing), but we want to own. Q's pulled his head out of his butt and has not only been doing things around the place again, but realized finally that "city water" means lots of nasty chemicals dumped in it and more regulations about when/how we can do things than he wants to deal with, so he's stepped back and agreed that staying in the country is a lot better than not. We lost a tire on the truck, the one he just got patched, because a rock cut it, and we don't know till tomorrow if it can be fixed.

So that's how the week went. I'm now enjoying a short blog, a relaxing day getting myself some more books (links below!!) and having a light lunch at McDonald's. Time for book-"buying" (is it really buying when they're free??????) and food and relaxation. Hugs all. It's been a very busy week and I am glad it's over. I need the break today, lol.


KINDLE BOOKS FOR THIS WEEK

These were definitely free when I got them today (Sunday), but if you don't get to them quickly, they may not be. Have fun! I know I do, but I gotta get me some novels, too, not just homesteading books and cookbooks and the like. One MUST have some fun reading, too. Heehee.




Whew, that's quite a lot of older books, isn't it? Thank goodness I seem to have finally caught that mess up! When we get to the point of a regular website with all the recommended products pages, the links will be ported over there. Lots easier when I can just copy and paste all the links instead of having to look up the links like above off the text links, lol. Till next weekend!