Hubby woke up super-early and ran to Harrison to finish his shopping, while I slept in to our usual wake up time. He picked up a bunch of wrapping paper, too, which is good, because for the first time in our marriage, we're actually going to WRAP the presents, lol. When he got back, I pulled together and ran down to finish my stuff for him, get stuff for dinner tomorrow (spaghetti!!!) and get my butt home.
On the hihger reaches of our mountain, like where we are, we got a few flurries of snow. Nothing that stuck, though, and tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 50s, so no snow then, either. Half a mile down the road, and nothing but rain, lol. The shopping wore me out, though. It usually does when I have to be around people in an environment like that. Work isn't so bad, because people don't run into me, or get in my way much, or things like that which happen frequently in a store. I walk out saying, "I hate people." Plus with my introverted personality, being around lots of people just drains me. I'm with the cats right now. I want a nap. Hugs, all!
*****
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
So far, this week sucks
Last night was a crappy night. Three people didn't show up, including our lead AND backup lead. The machine on my line was broke for half an hour to start. Then it broke again just before break by tearing up a belt, which couldn't be replaced because apparently, maintenance had no more in stock. Because it was still broken when we came back from lunch, the grader (they person who pulls the miscuts off the line) left, leaving us even more short-handed. We managed to run the rest of the night - 4 1/2 hours - on one side of the machine only. I thought that was bad enough, along with the supervisors having people hand load the tenders onto the lines while we were still running birds, which made my job even harder (thanks, guys, she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm). I ended up having to yell at people about "raising all kinds of holy h**l" over it to get them to slow it down to a dull roar so we could keep up. My back and arms are sore, and I don't want to go in, but I will.
Today isn't starting out much better. Woke up about 930AM to find our power was out. Call the electric company (I will be so glad when we are off-grid completely) and find it's a good-sized outage, so who knew when power would be back on. Thankfully, it's back on, but hubby was not happy. "If power's out here, is it on at the plant? And if not, then what do I do all day without my TV and PS2?" Me, I went back to sleep, dreaming of being able to spend the day knitting and crocheting and sewing and reading. Hopefully, this night at work will go better, because we have tomorrow and Thursday off, which gives cranky over there (pointing to my right, where he's sitting and getting ready for work) a couple of days to do just about nothing, and me time to do plenty of whatever I want to do in the way of needlework and reading. Yay, me!
*****
Today isn't starting out much better. Woke up about 930AM to find our power was out. Call the electric company (I will be so glad when we are off-grid completely) and find it's a good-sized outage, so who knew when power would be back on. Thankfully, it's back on, but hubby was not happy. "If power's out here, is it on at the plant? And if not, then what do I do all day without my TV and PS2?" Me, I went back to sleep, dreaming of being able to spend the day knitting and crocheting and sewing and reading. Hopefully, this night at work will go better, because we have tomorrow and Thursday off, which gives cranky over there (pointing to my right, where he's sitting and getting ready for work) a couple of days to do just about nothing, and me time to do plenty of whatever I want to do in the way of needlework and reading. Yay, me!
*****
Monday, December 22, 2014
I went shopping
Woops. Me and my Amazon gift cards, lol. Got a couple more crib cover kits to make for sale. Cost me a whopping 52 cents after my gift card balance, which is fine. They'll arrive just a bit after Christmas, to add to the stash of ones I need to work on. Mom's lap quilt is almost ready to be assembled and quilted, and then it's on to things to sell as my "take to work" projects. My at-home project will be that mile-a-minute scrap afghan, which hasn't had anything done on it in ages, but I'm not worried.
Looking into standalone hosting, I'm liable to just go with HostGator as a friend suggested. About $100 a year that way for what I want. GoDaddy quoted me $1200 a year because they wanted to sell me business hosting. Seriously? Ok, so it will be a business site, but it isn't going to chew up bandwidth or anything like oh ... Microsoft? I'm not fond of the overall starter look of OSCommerce shopping cart, either, but it's workable and will allow for customization if I'm willing to dig into the style sheets. HTML classes and programming classes from college come back to haunt me again, lol.
I like Etsy, but I'm not getting any more traffic on it than I would on a standalone site, and things there expire and have to be relisted (at a fee, again) every four months. If something doesn't sell right off, I'd like it to stay listed, ya know? Plus with getting business cards probably early next year, I'd like to be able to put a real website on there instead of the blog. Blogger covers everything for free, yes, but it's not overly professional, and with Etsy as the "farm store," those fees will get expensive as I build up a library of ebooks and crafted items for sale, along with other things, such as the Gifts (Not) in a Jar I like to do. Those are fun, and are great if you have to ship them. I just use ziploc bags instead of jars because there's a lot less chance of breakage in shipment. But it's time to hunt down books real quick and get my butt in gear for work, which is going to be interesting this week. If all goes as rumor has it, we work Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday and Thursday, and then back Friday and Saturday. Perhaps the same next week, we shall see. On those, I have to wait and see what's being posted at work!
*****
Looking into standalone hosting, I'm liable to just go with HostGator as a friend suggested. About $100 a year that way for what I want. GoDaddy quoted me $1200 a year because they wanted to sell me business hosting. Seriously? Ok, so it will be a business site, but it isn't going to chew up bandwidth or anything like oh ... Microsoft? I'm not fond of the overall starter look of OSCommerce shopping cart, either, but it's workable and will allow for customization if I'm willing to dig into the style sheets. HTML classes and programming classes from college come back to haunt me again, lol.
I like Etsy, but I'm not getting any more traffic on it than I would on a standalone site, and things there expire and have to be relisted (at a fee, again) every four months. If something doesn't sell right off, I'd like it to stay listed, ya know? Plus with getting business cards probably early next year, I'd like to be able to put a real website on there instead of the blog. Blogger covers everything for free, yes, but it's not overly professional, and with Etsy as the "farm store," those fees will get expensive as I build up a library of ebooks and crafted items for sale, along with other things, such as the Gifts (Not) in a Jar I like to do. Those are fun, and are great if you have to ship them. I just use ziploc bags instead of jars because there's a lot less chance of breakage in shipment. But it's time to hunt down books real quick and get my butt in gear for work, which is going to be interesting this week. If all goes as rumor has it, we work Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday and Thursday, and then back Friday and Saturday. Perhaps the same next week, we shall see. On those, I have to wait and see what's being posted at work!
*****
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Blessed Winter Solstice!!
Today is the shortest day of the year. After today, the days will grow longer and longer by little increments, a mere minute or so a day. You all know what THAT means! Time to really start cranking out the needlework (not much further to go on Mom's lap quilt, yay!). and ordering seeds! WOOP!
The tire got changed today. Hubby tried to do it while we were at the laundromat yesterday, but one of the lug nuts would not come off. So he meandered down to Wally World today, to visit a friend who works in the auto department there, and they couldn't get it off with the impact wrench! He then wanders a bit further down the road to O'Reilly's Auto Parts, and got a special little tool to get the nut off. The tool digs into the nut and forces it loose, though you do have to worry about snapping the bolt while your at it due to high pressures you're putting on it. The nut came off without snapping the bolt, and it was then that hubby discovered why the darn thing was so stuck. The last person who took it off put locking thread tape on it! ON A LUG BOLT!
So here I am, didn't sleep well last night, so slept most of the day, and just not really getting anything done. Oh well. Tons to do, so off I go. Hugs, all!!
*****
The tire got changed today. Hubby tried to do it while we were at the laundromat yesterday, but one of the lug nuts would not come off. So he meandered down to Wally World today, to visit a friend who works in the auto department there, and they couldn't get it off with the impact wrench! He then wanders a bit further down the road to O'Reilly's Auto Parts, and got a special little tool to get the nut off. The tool digs into the nut and forces it loose, though you do have to worry about snapping the bolt while your at it due to high pressures you're putting on it. The nut came off without snapping the bolt, and it was then that hubby discovered why the darn thing was so stuck. The last person who took it off put locking thread tape on it! ON A LUG BOLT!
So here I am, didn't sleep well last night, so slept most of the day, and just not really getting anything done. Oh well. Tons to do, so off I go. Hugs, all!!
*****
Saturday, December 20, 2014
This day needs a do-over
And one that starts out better than the one we had started. Hubby went to load the laundry in the pickup and found we had a flat tire. Fan-freaking-tastic. So we're thinking we're going to have to use money out of the fund we've been working on to tide us through the shutdown in February. Get to the mailboxes, and we have a $200 gift card from my Mom. She can't afford that kind of thing, and we told her not to, but it's a blessing that she did. It bought the new tire, barring 56 cents. Other than that, the day went good, and basically normal, but the frustration and worry from the early hour or so just has me wiped. I'm so glad today is over and we are home. I'm off to an early bedtime.
Friday, December 19, 2014
It's not looking like Christmas
And while I like a little bit of snow, the white stuff can stay in the northern climes as far as I'm concerned. Less than an inch of the white stuff on The Big Day will please me and be enough for me for a whole winter. I'd rather have rain. At least I don't have to shovel that, and it doesn't mess up the roads. I almost can't wait for next week. Christmas is almost here, and if I can find it at Big Lots, if they still have any, I want to get hubby a set of Louisiana Hot Sauces in those little trial bottles. They had a ton of that kind of stuff a couple weeks ago, but that was the last time I was in there, and I didn't have enough in the shopping money at that point to get them and the rest of what I got him. We do Christmas on the cheap, that's for sure. I got him car stuff, a big soup mug, his early present of the plushy fleece blanket, and I want to get him those hot sauces, too. We need to get something for the furkids this weekend, and I know he's gotten me a few things, including my early present of a giant jar candle in raspberry something scent. (He knows my addictions well - books/Amazon, crafts, yarn, candles, lol.)
I made a lot of progress on Mom's lap quilt yesterday, because I was not only able to get my usual time in before work, while sitting in the truck, but I was able to get Hulu to behave last night so I was able to watch the last episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." before bed, while doing some stitching on the darn butterfly with all the partial stitches in it. It is the only one so far I can honestly say I will be rather happy when it's done. The rest were, "Cool, one more down, on to the next!" I can hardly wait to see what this looks like when it's complete.
In short, life is good, homesteading is a lot of hard work but so much fun, and overall, I'm glad it's Friday and the last day of the work week!
*****
I made a lot of progress on Mom's lap quilt yesterday, because I was not only able to get my usual time in before work, while sitting in the truck, but I was able to get Hulu to behave last night so I was able to watch the last episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." before bed, while doing some stitching on the darn butterfly with all the partial stitches in it. It is the only one so far I can honestly say I will be rather happy when it's done. The rest were, "Cool, one more down, on to the next!" I can hardly wait to see what this looks like when it's complete.
In short, life is good, homesteading is a lot of hard work but so much fun, and overall, I'm glad it's Friday and the last day of the work week!
*****
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Some days, I just don't want to get up
Wake up, yes. Get up and go to work, no. My body is not feeling the love of a steady job and paycheck right now. I'm sore and didn't sleep well (thank you shirttail brother-in-law on first shift who thinks it's okay to text me at 730AM to ask how my night at work went and WAKE ME UP). The only love I'm feeling is that of a day in bed sleeping, which ain't gonna happen.
There's not just work. There's chores that had to be done as well. Cat boxes cleaned, dishes put away, wood stacked. There's half a day's work right there. Sitting down to breakfast and my blogging is about the easiest part of my whole day, haha! Generally, all the homestead chores have to be done before we can head to work, because that's the daylight we have available to do things in, which isn't much, since work starts about the time that daylight for the day ends. So we lose some daylight anyhow. Kind of grinds my beans about that a bit, but it is what it is for now. But like hubby and I talked about on the way in, one day, I'll be definitely back on first shift, because I'll have to be up to either hit the farmer's markets with our stuff and/or open our little greenstore (which is likely to be in a small Derksen cabin so it looks nice and welcoming - plus has that porch rail to hang flower boxes on or drape quilts and afghans over to get folks to stop and peek at things).
Speaking of quilts, Mom's lap quilt is nearly ready for assembly, basting and quilting! Just over 1 1/2 butterflies to go, because last night, while watching one of my shows on the computer after supper, I grabbed it and stitched for a bit again. Thank goodness for my little lighted magnifier I hang around my neck. I am aiming to get myself a floor lamp style one soon, but this works in the meantime in low light stitching situations. But for now, it's pull together for work in about an hour or so ... urgh!!! I'm off to relax with some gaming before heading to work. Hugs, all!
*****
There's not just work. There's chores that had to be done as well. Cat boxes cleaned, dishes put away, wood stacked. There's half a day's work right there. Sitting down to breakfast and my blogging is about the easiest part of my whole day, haha! Generally, all the homestead chores have to be done before we can head to work, because that's the daylight we have available to do things in, which isn't much, since work starts about the time that daylight for the day ends. So we lose some daylight anyhow. Kind of grinds my beans about that a bit, but it is what it is for now. But like hubby and I talked about on the way in, one day, I'll be definitely back on first shift, because I'll have to be up to either hit the farmer's markets with our stuff and/or open our little greenstore (which is likely to be in a small Derksen cabin so it looks nice and welcoming - plus has that porch rail to hang flower boxes on or drape quilts and afghans over to get folks to stop and peek at things).
Speaking of quilts, Mom's lap quilt is nearly ready for assembly, basting and quilting! Just over 1 1/2 butterflies to go, because last night, while watching one of my shows on the computer after supper, I grabbed it and stitched for a bit again. Thank goodness for my little lighted magnifier I hang around my neck. I am aiming to get myself a floor lamp style one soon, but this works in the meantime in low light stitching situations. But for now, it's pull together for work in about an hour or so ... urgh!!! I'm off to relax with some gaming before heading to work. Hugs, all!
*****
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