Sunday, December 1, 2013

Post-Thanksgiving

It's been an interesting week, for sure. I'm starting this on Thanksgiving evening, sitting in the bedroom to type because we had the holiday off at work and, while we have to go back tomorrow, Quentin is home at night for the first time all week and Impact Wrestling is on, and I don't watch that, so I'm having fun on the laptop in the bedroom while he's having a blast watching his wrestling out in the living room. The kitties are down here with me, snuggling and snoozing. They like the bed, curling up on the end of it very frequently. Probably becase it's awfully soft and comfy to snooze on, like the loveseat.

The week's interesting for several reasons. One, despite only one vehicle for us both to get back and forth to work, on different shifts, we are able to manage while we wait to find out what's going on with the van as to whether it's getting fixed or replaced. Thankfully, our shifts coincide enough that we can both get a bit of sleep before either he goes to work with me so he can come home and sleep some more (and thus have the car so he can get back to town to the plant for his shift) OR I take it home at shift transfer, so I can eat, relax and get a bit of sleep before getting up to head into town to get him from work and come back home to get the rest of my sleep. It's awfully screwed up to have to do this, but until we know what's going on with the van, we gotta deal with it.

Two, because he's back to work, and I have evenings free to do what I want. Which means I'm vegging out in comfort in front of the TV, catching up on my TV watching (I've got a backlog of stuff on the DVR like you wouldn't believe from not being able to get time to watch stuff without him talking over the shows), and working on my winter fiber "chores" of lots of knitting and spinning and pattern designing (baby stuff and doll clothes are my specialties). The spinning is waiting until I get a spinning wheel. I'm a bit tired of drop spindling, and while I'm good at it, it's a bit rough on the hands. I want a wheel so I can treadle and keep the twist going without having to keep stopping to wind up the singles on the bobbin - with a wheel, it winds up as you spin, so it makes things go a bit faster in that respect.

Three, because the week is split up by the holiday. Normally, we get Black Friday off as well as Thanksgiving, but not this year. Not that I mind, I like the money-making end of it. A lot of people are griping, but with no overtime being allowed right now, every day that can be worked has to be worked to keep production on pace with the orders coming in. It keeps us busy, though!

And then there's the holiday. It was quiet and peaceful, and we didn't leave the house, by popular demand (i.e., neither of us wanted to go do anything that meant fighting all the freaking traffic on the roads). Instead, we had omelets for breakfast, did a few chores, goofed off, and then made dinner. There's a lot of leftovers for the next few days, which is fine with me. We did ham steaks (four different kinds - still a bit of that left), club crackers, summer sausage, sharp cheddar cheese (still some of those left), some shaved ham of the one we liked best (all gone), two kinds of mashed potatoes (regular and my bacon cheese, a bit of those left but not a lot), green beans (gone - we do like our green beans!), gravy (gone), sweet gherkins (plenty left as I'm the only one who eats them), pineapple rings (cooked on the ham steaks, but gone as they were my dessert), herb stuffing (a bit left), and cheddar cocktail weenies (a few left but not many). We scarfed all afternoon. Our plates were overflowing with good stuff. I wanted to do biscuits but no way to bake them right now, so we skipped those.

All in all, so far, it's been uneventful for the most part (other than Quentin getting back to work) so far and it's bedtime, so for now, I'm off to bed. I gotta get up in seven hours and head to work for one more day this week, and then Saturday, it's groceries (mostly cat food and toiletries), laundry and see about the van/another vehicle, because if the van's not fixable, Bill is NOT going to want to give us $2500 back that we've paid on it already. He's going to want to apply that towards a different vehicle he has, which his inventory is low right now but he'll have something that will work. So all in all, I'm sitting here, knitting a lot and working toward Yule gifts, and generally trying very hard not to go berzerk with all that's got to be done to make things workable. (Yeah, that includes all the online income stuff, the book on it under a pseudonym, and the Bible books, and a lot more ... my plate is awful full.)

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Here it is Sunday morning, and I'm finishing this while waiting on Quentin to get off the phone with Bill (the guy we're getting the van from) and his mechanic, Randy. Randy thought he had the van fixed, and we got it back yesterday lunchtime, and it ran like a scalded cat all the way home. We used the car for errands, because we needed to get some fuel cleaner (the Iso-HEET stuff) for the van before running it much, and there isn't an auto parts store in Green Forest that's open on the weekends, nor did the dollar store have any gas treatment. The van quit because of fuel filter, battery, and fuel lines got frozen from a combination of a batch of bad gas and extremely cold temperatures. Randy replaced all the fuel lines, and so it seemed to be working again. Only problem was, last night, we took it to the gas station 14 miles away and put the HEET in the tank and topped it off, it wouldn't start back up.

Don't even get me started on the whole situation involved in getting home, it was a nightmare and by the time the whole thing was settled, it was nearly 4 AM before I got to bed. (He'd insisted I come with him to top off the tank at midnight, my bedtime, and it went downhill from there.) So today, he's in a crappy mood over it all, because about the only thing it could be from here would be the fuel pump on the van and being an older Ford, it's got the darn thing inside the gas tank, which is now full, and therefore heavy as all get out. Quentin's got a horrible mood going, and while I understand part of it, we've been running with just the car for a week now, and we can get by until the van's either fixed or traded for a different vehicle that will run better. He doesn't quite see that, and it's annoying to have to keep repeating myself to him on this, that we'll get through it. Goodness knows, we've been through worse and hung on, so it's not going to be that bad. It'll be tough, but it's not impossible.

No photos this week, but the baby set is done, hopefully I can get full set pictures this next few days before Eric or Bobbi come get the package. And my socks are getting a lot done with tons of time to work on them without being interrupted constantly, so the one's done, and the other one is only one small pattern repeat away from the heel. Yay! More warm woolies for my footsies sometime this week! (Because they still haven't fixed that blast door in my department and it's freaking cold in there all day, every day, though at this point, I'd settle for them fixing my x-ray machine so a bunch of us don't have to hand-check for bones!)

I've got plans in line and all written out like a mini-business plan for the website once internet is at the house and I can work there every day a bit instead of one day a week at McQuack's. This includes either revamping the astore completely or making pages on the website for recommended products, separated out much like Amazon's categories, with tops about 50 or so products in a category. Stuff we like, stuff we use or plan to get and use, stuff other people have told me is great ... a real smorgasbord of goodies. I'm seriously considering using my own site because I can do more with it a bit easier than Amazon's astore. The astore is good, but it's got functionality limitations, like no search ability, and you can't tell what categories there are in a subcategory without clicking on the main one to expand it. Even then, it goes to the category rather than just expanding the menu, and I'm not fond of that. So I'm liable to move it all to the website and delete the astore. And with all that's got to be done, and the fact that my netbook is slowly going bonkers (many of the keys do not want to work well anymore), it's likely I'll have a new laptop long before I have internet at home, lol! But it's time for the Facebook comment box, and to start work on the freebie books for the week, after I grab a bit of what passes for food here to keep from getting a bigger headache than I have already with the way this week's gone, and the way the upcoming week is looking to go. Keep us in your prayers and thoughts, we sure need good vibes right now!

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FREE KINDLE BOOKS FOR THE WEEK

Since Postitnotes asked last week, I'll answer here. (I answered on last week's to her too, but this way, I can let everybody know.) She asked if I get a bit for every click or just once per person. Every click pays a teeny bit - about $0.0004 per click ... not a lot but $4.00 per thousand is better than a kick in the pants, haha. You have to wait for the ad to load and have the little box in the top right to say to skip the ad and go to the website (in this case, the Amazon page for the book) in order for the click to count. (And no, you don't have to click just to help out, just if you actually think you'd like the book! I'm not THAT greedy! But I also know you don't get very far without shameless self-promotion.) So far, we're up to a whopping $0.09, lol, but on the other hand, Amazon paid me my "advertising fees" for all the stuff people are buying through the links I post on here and Facebook, which amounted to $11.16. It's all good, as it goes to the farm fund, to eventually help with the purchase and initial capital outlay for the homestead. (Plus it's helping to work toward me working from home rather than having to work for someone else. MUCH more fun to work for oneself.) I'm also adding categories below for books, and am going to add more books as I have time, separating by homestead-related (gardening, composting, animal, etc.), cookbooks (because that's a whole category by itself), and fiction that I think is interesting and will be trying myself.

HOMESTEAD-RELATED BOOKS

Patio Planters: & Vertical Gardening - Designs & Wood Working Plans
Food Storage Secrets: How To Stock and Organize Your Kitchen with Delicious and Nutritious Ingredients
How To Plant A Raised Bed Garden: The Complete Guide to raised bed gardening
How To Brew Your Own Beer - The Step-By-Step Guide To Brewing A Perfect Pint Every Time
How To Make The Perfect Brew!
Flower Gardening
Christmas Crochet: Done in a Day! 7 Quick & Easy Projects to Bring Out the Christmas Spirit
Tabletop Aquaponics -- for Homes, Schools, Churches, Clubs, and Science Fairs
The Green Crafts Lifestyle - Christmas Edition - Make Christmas Decor, Cards and Gifts
Boot Cuffs - Easy Crochet Pattern
Knitting for Knitwits: The Quick and Easy Learn to Knit Guide (with six easy patterns) (Craft Instructables)
How To Can Tomatoes - Canning Food 101, Canning Tomatoes and Preserving
COOKBOOKS

Kain Po! A Collection of Simple Filipino Recipes
The Low Calorie Cookbook Boxed Set: Quick and Easy Recipes for Weight Loss
A Family Tradition Christmas Cookbook
Vegetarian Holiday Cookbook: Holiday Recipes for a Healthier Celebration (Healthy Natural Recipes Series)
30 Paleo Diet Recipes Breakfast, Dinner, Snacks, Desserts
Cooking Outside the Box: Fast & Fresh Recipes for the Microwave
EASY ONE BOWL CAKES AND CUPCAKES PLUS FROSTING! - Easy, No-Fuss Cake and Cupcake Recipes - 40 Favorite Recipes!
Gluten-Free Bread and Dessert - Gluten-Free Goodness
23 Refreshing Fruit Sorbet Recipes - Book 1
43 Paleo Smoothie Recipes - Simple & Easy Paleo Smoothie Recipes (Paleo Recipes)
Delicious Vegetarian Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert Recipes
Sugar-Free Solution - Raw Food recipes
Paleo Power - Paleo Craving and Paleo Lunch Ideas- 2 Book Pack
50 Homemade Frozen Desserts - Frozen Pies, Ice Cream Sandwiches, Pops, Pudding Pops, Granita, Frozen Souffles, and Ice Cream Floats (The Summer Dessert ... And The Best Dessert Recipes Collection)
Low Carb Slow Cooker Recipes You're Sure To Love!
Gluten-Free Holiday Delights
Low Fat Low Cal Healthy Cookbook
50 Quick and Easy Vegetarian Meals - 5 Ingredients or Less Easy Vegetarian Recipes (Vegetarian Cookbook and Vegetarian Recipes Collection)
30 Chicken Salad Recipes - Simple and Easy Chicken Salad Recipes (Chicken Recipes)
Secrets of Extraordinary Salads... Fantastic Salad the Most Diverse Dish in the World (Big, Bold and Delicious Recipe Series)
30 Holiday Leftover Makeover Recipes : Recipes For Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (Holiday Leftover Recipes)
35 Coffee Cake Recipes - The Ultimate Coffee Cake Recipe Collection (The Cake Recipes and Recipes For Cakes Series)
Vegetarian Value Pack 4 - 201 Vegetarian Recipes - Cheap Meals, Healthy Recipes, Quick and Easy and Low Fat Recipes For Vegetarians (Vegetarian Cookbook and Vegetarian Recipes Collection)
Sugar-Free Solution - Snack and Raw Food Recipes - 2 book pack
Ground Beef Cooking Dude Cookbook; World's Best Meatloaf Recipe and Other Favorite Economical Meals
OVER 50 TOP Stew Recipes: Latest 2013 Collection of Most-Wanted, Easy And Healthy Stew Recipes For Both Vegetarians And Non-Vegetarians
Simply Scrumptious Recipes, Quiches and Salads
Sauce by the Cooking Dude Cookbook -- Recipes for Sauces that Improve Any Meal
30 Delicious Chicken Breast Recipes (Fabulous Chicken Dishes - The Chicken Recipes Collection)
101 Quick & Easy Chicken Recipes
Most Popular Desserts Of All Time: Top 30 Healthy, Popular And All Time Favorite Dessert Recipes You'll Never Ever Forget
Wild Viking Recipes - I liked this one just for the description! HAD to have it. Anything that says "If you're a vegetarian or lactose intolerant, you won't have much fun with this book," has GOT to be one I have to have, just for kicks!
30 Easy Breakfast Recipes - Including Egg Recipes, Omelette Recipes, Pancake Recipes, Waffle Recipes and More (Breakfast Ideas - The Breakfast Recipes Cookbook Collection)
Most Popular Salads Of All Time: Top 30 Healthy, Popular And All Time Favorite Salad Recipes You'll Never Ever Forget
What to do with those crazy leftovers
Recipes from the Last Century
Paleo For Bosses: Easy, Quick And Healthy Paleo Recipes To Make You Look And Feel Awesome Every Day
Sensational Frosting: 40 Easy and Delectable Frosting Recipes
Cooking With Our Characters: Fifteen Recipes from Characters in Our Books
Top 30 Most Popular Mexican Appetizer Recipes in Just 3 Or Less Steps That You Must Eat Before You Die - I don't know about eating them before I die, but I did spend a lot of years in Spanish class, with Friday being culture day, so we cooked and ate a lot of authentic Mexican food (mainly because my teacher had been born and raised in Mexico City). GREAT stuff, when it's done right. I do love some of the bake sales at work, with proper tacos and flan!
Easy Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes - The Busy Vegetarian Cookbook
Top 30 Most Popular Mexican Main Dish Recipes in Just 3 Or Less Steps That You Must Eat Before You Die
34 Cut Out Cookie Recipes - The Best Recipes For Cut Out Cookies For All Occasions All Year Long (Easy Cookie Recipes - The Best and Tastiest Cookie Recipes Collection)
Dinner Recipes (Top 30 Easy & Delicious Recipes)
Healthy Sweet Potato Desserts: Quick And Easy Paleo Treats
Paleo Dinners: The Complete Guide to Paleo for Dinner (Every Day Recipes)
Vegan Recipes: The Complete Guide to Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and More (Every Day Recipes)
Most-Popular European Vegetarian Recipes: Top 30 Most-Recommended, Most-Demanded & Mouth-Watering European Vegetarian Recipes in Only 3 Or Less Steps
FICTION THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING

None right now, I'm working on the other stuff first!

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