Drying Out

Working on this throughout the week again, as it's just easier than trying to remember everything and cram it all into a single bash of writing. With Christmas next week, our house looks pretty bare - Quentin doesn't like decorating, I do, and so the house stays bare. No tree, no decorations, nothing. It really bothers me, because this is my favorite holiday of the year. My family always laughingly tells me that I'm banned from putting up lights and anything in the yard, because as much as I throw up ornaments and garlands and things, if I added lights, I'd have airplanes trying to land in the yard.

The weather means we're putting the holiday off until probably mid-January so we can do the little we wanted to do for each other, family and a few choice friends. But that's ok, just gives me more time to knit up things. Of course, that means less time next year to knit up things for the holiday, but so it goes. If it's not one thing, it's another. The road right now is completely free of ice, but it all melted so fast that the dirt, which is Arkansas clay, is still slippy and nasty. It's not so bad when it's cool enough that it gets solid, but in the 40s and up, it gets really bad right now.

Quentin is crazy enough that he wants to try to get the van up the road all the way anyhow, and he'll likely get it stuck like he did the other day. And this time, there's not a soul that can be up in the middle of the night to help him get out of the ditch. Eric had to come help Sunday night. I keep telling Quentin not to worry about it until the road dries out, but he keeps on about how he hates the walking. Well, try my end of it, buddy. My car won't even get the halfway up the road to Cliff's place that the van will, so I have had to walk a MILE, mostly uphill, for well over a week. He only has a half-mile with an easier slope. And I'm older and in not as good a health as he is, with my heart having issues, but I do it every day and don't gripe. Sheesh. Wimp.

For some reason, I'm reminded, I meant to write about this a couple of weeks ago. Amber called me out of the blue one Friday night, as apparently she was out with some friends doing all her Christmas shopping. It was a fun call, considering how Amber is not the most talkative person on the phone. She's like me in that respect. I don't like talking on the phone much, either, other than to Mom every week or so, and of course, to her any chance I get. Anyhow, the conversation went like this (remember, she's 20 and excited about the holiday) that Friday night.

A: Mom! What do you want for Christmas?!
Me: I dunno. Whatever you think I'd like. I'm not picky.
A: I don't know what you'd like. Help me out here!
Me: Well, I can email you a list this Sunday, and you can ...
A: NO! I'm doing all my shopping tonight, so I need to know now!
Me: Ummm ... Gramma still has that list I think, that I gave her a few years ago of things anybody can get me for birthdays and Christams, and be safe.
A: NO! Gramma might not answer the phone and even if she does, I don't think she has the list anymore. I need help, Mom! (Turns out later that she didn't have the list any more ... oops.)
(Background chatter from Amber's friends.)
A: How about some alcohol, Mom!
Me: I don't drink, honey.
A: How about a nice bottle of wine, then? How about a nice bottle of chardonnay?
Me: I still don't drink, and you can't ship alcohol through the mail.
A: Drat. (more muttering with friends) How about a nice memory foam pillow, Mom? Would you like a nice memory foam pillow?
Me: I don't need a pillow, sweetie, but it's a nice thought.
A: What do you want then?
Me: By now, you know books and yarn and candles are always a good choice.
A: Okay. Hey, Brandon! Is that a JoAnn's over there in that little strip mall across the street? It is? Great, we're heading there now then. Drive, man! Ok, Mom, you're getting yarn for Christmas. Bye! *click*

You have to admire her tenacity in trying to figure out what to get me when she's bamboozled, despite knowing for years what I like as gifts. She's just got so much on her mind right now. At that point, her college vocal ensemble was preparing hard for their holiday Madrigal at the Masonic Temple in downtown Flint (which that building is three stories of magnificence, complete with a single-level dinner theater on one level). Semester ended the 12th, but she still has/had to prepare for all her juries, which means she has to prepare to sing for judges to determine what her next semester's vocal classes are. She's going for a Bachelor's in Vocal Performance, and she's quite good.

That's not just Mom-talk. She's always been a good vocalist, and she's pretty, and has the talent and drive to make it. It's just a matter of getting her through college so she has the serious work to put her voice to it's best use, and she's loving the time and effort. Her life is music, music, music. Very little else. But she's happy with her choice and that's what counts, I think, more than anything, for her. She may end up spending most of her life saying, "And would you like fries with that?" to make a regular paycheck, but her music is her life. She's good at drawing manga, too ... if she lost her singing voice, she could still make a darned good living drawing manga. That young lady got the best of everything that her genetics could give her, she is just that blessed - looks and talent and brains. In her, I hit the trifecta of motherhood ... a child who was and is everything that I could have ever hoped for. Okay, enough about my darling daughter, who makes my world so special.

By Wednesday, the road had finally not only melted off but had dried up enough that I could get the car all the way home and in the drive! YAY! No more walking - at least for now. There's still a couple minor slippy spots, but nothing really bad as long as you're going fast enough to ramrod past them. Even in my little subcompact, I can do a redneck yeehaw up the road and get here most of the time, so getting up the road tonight was really nice, and when Quentin called at his break to find out whether I had to walk or not, he was surprised ("Come on, tell me you're joking and really didn't get all the way up the road!") as well as thrilled because it means his walking is over, too. Whew. I don't mind the exercise, but it was getting a bit ridiculous.

Update on that stupid hospital bill garnishment, which is getting fun, lol. The six months on the existing garnishment ended, and of course, the hospital's attorneys went back ASAP for more money with another garnishment. But they made some serious mistakes this time, which meant I got to write a nice little three-page letter to the court about it. Mistakes like changing the amount of what's supposedly owed to a different amount (slightly less, but still - a different amoutn), and oh yeah, the amount they stated as what has been paid so far was off by a good chunk. Like a $599 chunk short.

So off went the letter, along with copies of my spreadsheet showing all the payments, my latest pay stub showing the whole amount garnished so far, the court order showing the "extraordinary medical expenses" section, and a whole host of other documentation (three page letter to the court along with a dozen other pages of documentation - think it's enough?) ... along with a demand from me for this all to be fixed to my satisfaction. Oh yeah, they've woken the sleeping dog, and I'm a MEAN one when that kind of thing happens. Heh heh heh. They sure as heck are not going to like me when I'm done.

And the afghan is coming along nicely. Nearly four rows completely sewed together, and that's a good amount. I've also been working out the way I want to do the edging, so it will look nice when it's done. I can hardly wait to get it done and be able to show you pictures of it. I'm having such a good time this winter, compared to last winter, despite the issues of the ice and snow and the walking up and down the hill and all the rest of it. Yuletide is nearly here, and that means that the days will grow slowly longer and warmer, and I'm feeling really blessed by it all.

Friday and it's nice to have the work week over. Hard to believe that Christmas is just days away and the new year literally right around the corner. I'm wondering where in heck 2013 has gone. So weird to think that counting this post, I have a whole two blog entries left in this year before I start writing in 2014. I sit here and I'm both happy it's over for all the bad things that happened, but sad, too, because it's another year over and the end of the year always brings a few tears for me. But there's hope, too, because a new year always means  a new chance to get things done that need to be done.

We found out today that the broken x-ray machine (mine) is not likely to get fixed any time soon. It's in need of a new camera inside, which is at least $50,000, plus another $50,000 or more for the service call to get it in and the machine working right again. And since the company just had to shell out about $100,000 to fix the OTHER one that broke a few months ago, they're not too likely to want to shell out that much dough again any time soon. Kind of ouchy financially, but it will have to be fixed one of these days. It just means that we have to look for bones manually in the meantime, which isn't as fast or as accurate, but it gets the job done.

My section, x-ray, did a bit of a Christmas party today (Friday), in that many of us signed up to bring a dish to pass (I made ham roll ups, and I make them with bacon as well as the other stuff for extra yummy), and I have to agree with the one guy in x-ray who said as many desserts as people brought, it was going to be a game of Who Gets Diabetes First? He also said instead of doing Jell-O Shots, we'd be doing Insulin Shots. We all got a good laugh out of the joking. There was a lot of good food and we all ate like little piggies. I went crazy for the green grapes ... yum. And cheese and crackers and chips and dip and the joke guy made a homemade turtle cheesecake that went as fast as my roll ups. There was nothing left when we got done of those two things, and we were all full.

Still getting the car up the road by ramrodding it up the inclines, because while it's all clear and the daytime temps are nice, the ground is pretty frozen, and our part of the Ozarks is supposed to get some heavy rain between tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) night. I got home ok, but it's starting to mist and there's some serious fog, so it's going to be fun for Quentin, because from the number of trucks that were ordered for second shift tonight, it's not likely he's going to get done before 4 AM ... what a lovely time to be driving home up the road. At least it is supposed to be cold enough that any mud will have chilled down so it will be somewhat easier for him to get up the road. He'll just have to worry about the fog.

Now it's time to make some dinner, and that means spaghetti! I want some yummy, saucy, cheesy, hot pasta, and I'm gonna git it! Then I want to work some more on that afghan and maybe do some spinning and also work on some new socks. When I was at Wally World last night (had to get some gel insoles for my shoes - all the standing on concrete that I do hurts after a while, and the ones I had were worn out), I also picked up yarn for the border on the granny afghan as well as spying and buying a couple of skeins of regular acrylic yarn for some really wild and warm socks for work. Wool is great, but sometimes, I like to whip out a quick pair in worsted weight (what most people think of when they think "yarn"). They aren't as waterproofish (wool tends to wick moisture away from you), and often get really warm, but considering I work in a really cold environment, there are times they're fun. If you get a chance to find the colors Dayglo or Blacklight in Red Heart, that's what I got. Talk about some really eye-popping colors for socks. Folks are gonna need some shades to look at them when I'm done, lol.

Friday night about 10:30 PM to early Saturday morning, it rained like crazy. Poured buckets. There are places on the mountain road that are swamped with water from the rain, and the seasonal creek is running awful high. Too much more of this and the local creeks are going to flood, and they're near cresting already. I really feel for the folks in Oklahoma and Kansas, because the Friday night weather showed they were going to get completely shellacked by a foot or more of snow on top of what they've already had dropped on them.

I have to admit, this area has, like every other part of the world, it's own challenges to survive. Summers get hot and dry, spring and fall are usually damp and chilly, and winter is usually cold but not overly miserable. This winter was different from usual so far, making it a generally okay winter but with a bit of craziness to it with the ice and snow we had recently. Makes me remember that one of the reasons I moved south was work, and another was avoiding the long winters with all the snow and ice that Michigan has. I love my home state, don't get me wrong on that, but I do not miss the blasted winter weather one bit. I can live happily without snow at all. Okay, maybe a little dusting on Christmas, but that's about it. I like being able to take a broom out to sweep away the snow rather than having to drag out the snow shovel and the ice melter and such. The long nights are now over, though, with this weekend having the winter solstice, so days will be getting longer and longer by about a minute or so a day. For me, that means the worst of things are over, because it can't stay crappy outside for long when there's more sunshine to make it go away.

Quentin and I did manage to get out most of Saturday and get errands run and such, so that's a good thing. Cupboards are full, trash is out and burnt, laundry's caught up again, and oddly, we still have a good chunk of money left. The good thing about two paychecks is having money left over after the bills are paid, over and above what you need for basic groceries and gas for getting to and from work. At this rate, we might get out of debt by midsummer with any luck. I'm planning on it, anyhow. We shall see.

Of course, having extra money means also being able to do our holiday gifting in a couple of weeks, and a few after that, finally getting internet at home, and then working on getting a website set up for the farm, so things can get going in that direction. I have so many ideas of what to do and how to do it, and all written down, it's just a matter of getting it all done. Once there's internet here, it means a lot more can get done in a week than I can do now with one day available. Ain't that gonna be just grand? I think it will be. But it's time to get busy with the freebie books for the week, since I couldn't do much for a couple of weeks. See y'all later!

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Okay, I'm running out of time today to add more goodies to the list. I can't wait to get internet at home, because then I can share so many more goodies with you!

After The Blizzard

This is what I wrote over the last several days, as we struggled through the aftermath of our blizzard. I feel so badly for the folks northeast of us in MO that are getting completely hammered by the snow and ice. I went through forty years of that growing up and living in Michigan, and this is the first real Michigan-style bit of winter I've had to deal with since the move down here, and it does little but make me remember why I hate winter so much. Enjoy our little bit of fun the last several days, boring as it is! Oh yeah, and I got me a new mouse today ... my old USB mouse was starting to get old and not left-click properly all the time anymore, so I splurged and got me an optical mouse. I am learning to already like this wireless option on it, haha!

December 9 - Monday
Sort of after, anyhow. It's Day 5, I think. I'm losing track of the days. The house remains comfy, thank goodness for a few inches yet of snow on the roof, though it's starting to thaw, to help hold heat in, along with all the winterizing that was done. Makes it rather cozy. Now if Quentin had just worked all year, so we'd have a propane heater or the woodstove in, we wouldn't have a $165 electric bill due to having to run electric heaters, and things would be a lot peachier.

The county was extremely nice to everybody in this horrible weather. While the mountain road is still not driveable unless you have 4WD or AWD, it's a lot more walkable up and down, without having to slog through and over snow and a lot of ice. They came through over the last couple of days and have pretty well plowed all the roads, even the dirt county roads like ours, which they normally don't do. This makes it much easier to get in and out, though the walking uphill is still not fun. Takes about 45 minutes to walk down from here alone, due to trying to avoid walking on what slippy spots there are, and uphill is about double that, for the same reason. There's a lot of bare spots, but not enough is bare to drive up and down safely for several days yet in the van, and it will be a few days after that before it's clear and dry enough to get the car up and down safely. Too many inclines and curves to risk hitting a tree or getting stuck in the snowbanks!

On the bright side, once the main roads are a bit more cleared, I can get to work, likely Wednesday. This is fine - I have plenty of points to burn for this kind of emergency, which I don't like to use, but as my friend Christine, who I work with, said when we talked last night for a few minutes, it won't take long to work them off (28 days and you work one off, so the ones I do have will be gone sometime in early February), because I'm there pretty much all the time. We did get the car unburied and turned around after quite a while of towing with the van and digging it out, but far too late for me to even try to get to work today. Ugh. Hate that. We went back to full production, but the main roads in spots are still not that great, and with me driving a compact car, I'm a bit leery of risking it.

We're lucky the van still runs, though, after the silliness Quentin did yesterday afternoon while we were at the laundromat. He wanted to add more wiper fluid to the van's reservoir and wasn't paying attention, and ended up putting a whole jug into the RADIATOR reservoir. I'm glad we were only a couple of miles from an O'Reilly's at that point, so we could grab a cheap siphon pump and a gallon of antifreeze, and he could stand there in their parking lot to drain out the wiper fluid and top off with real antifreeze.

I got paperwork today on the darned garnishment again. The last six months on it got done a few weeks ago, and here they are, going after more. They really want that money that I don't owe them. And they are not doing their numbers correctly. The amount they say has been paid as of the date on this one is $599.00 short of what HAS been paid, so I'm demanding some things from the court in response. One is that the amount paid be corrected. Another is that the 17% I'm supposed to have paid by pre-existing court order be honored, which means they owe me about $2000.

I'm putting the court, the stupid hospital and their attorneys on notice in this letter that if the excess over the 17%, plus whatever they collect in the meantime till this is fixed, is not sent back to me forthwith, they bleeding well better be prepared on the part of the hospital and their attorneys for a nasty lawsuit from me for ALL the monies to be returned, plus court costs, attorneys fees and damages. Yeah, I'm that mean. I don't mind paying my fair share (about $1200 all told on the 17%), but I'm not paying the biological father's share as well, when the court order specifies otherwise.

The hospital and their attorneys have several copies of the court order from years ago when this all first started (like FIFTEEN YEARS), they just choose to ignore it. I'm not taking this lying down. It's high time they got smacked in the face with their garbage, and I'm just the one to do it. We shall see what happens with this, as I'm sending not only my letter, but copies of my spreadsheet showing all the payments, my last paycheck stub with a garnishment on it, the court order, and anything else to support my case in a big packet to the court. Heh heh heh. They ain't gonna like me much, ya think?

Ah, must be mutual washup time. The boys are curled up at the foot of the bed, taking turns washing each other. Smudge loves it when Bouncer grooms him. He just lays there with his eyes shut and a happy look on his face and lets Bouncer wash. Then they swap, and Bouncer's the happy kitty while Smudge washes him. One way for them to get their faces and ears clean, I guess. Oh yeah - the camera batteries are in the charger, which I finally found knocked on the floor, so I can take some photos tomorrow on my last day I'm making myself take off so some of this can clear up a bit more and I'll feel safer driving to work. Forty years of this crap in Michigan, and I know what I am safe driving on, unlike some of the yahoos I work with!

So for me, it's curl up with that box of granny squares and sew a few more together. I want an afghan for the couch darn it, and somehow they all end up on the bed!

******
December 10 - Tuesday

Gosh, the house is so nice today. Still can't get the car out quite yet, over the ice piles at the bottom of the road, which means another point, but I'd rather take the points and lose the pay than risk my life or the car, as I'm sure most of y'all would do for yourselves. On the other hand .... having one more day off has meant:

The end of the driveway got shoveled out.
Snow is being melted (finally) to fill water jugs - something Quentin has said for three days that he'd do and hasn't, nor has he let me get busy on it. (Why is it that I get so much more done when he's not around? Is this a universal thing with husbands, or what?). So far, I'm filling jug three of ten empties, because it takes a while to melt an eight-quart stockpot full of snow so I can pour it into the empty jugs. But if I pack it in good, a potfull will melt to a half gallon of water.
The granny afghan has almost two full rows done at eight squares a row.
Photos got taken, including of the latest pair of socks!
A couple of books have gotten read, which is good when you have about a zillion of them in your "to read" pile.

So while we've had some really crappy weather that's made for some days of no work or having to call in and take points, there are things getting done anyhow. I like getting things done!

*****
Wednesday, December 11
I did manage to get to work today, though it took a bit of help from Eric (who was getting to his car about the same time as I was to mine) to push it off the ice it decided to sit on and just spin the tires. Bummer, that. But a good shove and my little car went vroom-vroom on the road and off I went to a very cold day at work. The blast door still isn't fixed, so debone (my overall department) is freaking cold! NOT a lot of fun, but it was nice to be back and find out how much I was missed. People were gone a lot the last couple of days, and there's still a lot of folks in the more outlying districts who can't get in. It's quite possible we'll have to work Saturday, which is fine with me. More money for me, yay!

I've put aside the afghan for the moment, in favor of something to keep my hands a bit toastier on the way up and down the mountain road for the next week or so. I'm not working with a pattern, because I keep forgetting to get one when I'm at McQuack's, so I'm just kind of knocking the pair out as I go, trying to make them fit a bit loosely so they go over the lighter gloves I already wear. Warm, warm, warm, that's my motto in this frigid weather, which isn't likely to get better any time soon. Hey, it's that close to winter solstice, and Yuletide is the official start of winter. One of my favorite times of the year.

I know, I know. How the heck can I so enjoy the cold weather like this? Well, there's lots of time to be indoors doing fun things with fiber, or reading, or playing computer games, or loving on the kitties. Plus it's the time of year when I do a lot of baking, and enjoy tons of get-togethers with friends and family. So my family has to be called and thus the get-togethers are on the phone, but still ... it's the tradition, darn it! Not to mention that, given half a chance, I will decorate the heck out of the house. No lights though. I go a little manic on the decorations, and if I added lights, I'd have airplanes trying to land in my driveway, lol.

Right now, it's time to dump the latest potfull of melted snow into a jug to cool off before it's capped and stuck into the metal cabinet we use for holding the full jugs. Plus I want to work on those mittens some more - the first one's nearly done, and it would be nice to whip the pair out tonight before bed if I can.

*****
Thursday, December 12

Not a blasted thing got done tonight after supper. Not that I didn't want to, or felt I needed a night off, but oh my god, the freaking migraine that started setting in. I barely made it through work, it hurt so much, then getting home was a right treat. Made it halfway and had to stop at the gas station in Alpena to rest for a few as I could hardly keep my eyes open, they hurt so bad. Hate times like this, it really is NOT a lot of fun. So sum total of today was work, get home, eat supper, and collapse under a warm blanket on the couch to listen to the TV. And I do mean listen ... I burrowed under that blanket all the way to over my head. The TV just provided background racket on the quiet side to rest to till I was tired enough to go to bed and sleep.

Note - if you have a migraine caused, as this was, by muscles in your neck getting overtight and pulling your vertebrae out of whack, don't use muscle rub to loosen things up. Not sure which hurts worse, the neck, the migraine, or my skin from the icy-hot sensation of that muscle rub!

*****
Friday, December 13
Staying home today because the migraine afteraffects are a bummer. Got up to double vision and lightheadedness, which makes for nothing major if it hits at work, considering my job isn't that complicated, but for driving? No thanks. I'll take yet another point and call it even, especially since we're scheduled to work tomorrow anyhow, to help make up for the snow days. Production is way behind, so there's a few weekends of work ahead to play catchup.

Right now, it's mid-afternoon, and I'm finally up and dressed and have had some lunch that is actually staying down without a fuss. Note to self - migraines don't let food sit well, remember the peppermint tea next time to go with. Quentin's off to work, hope he gets there safely. The mountain road is getting much better, but we still can't drive up it without a lot of hassle and worry about icy spots, because it's so shaded by trees. And today makes it worse, because it's warmish out, around 40F, and it's raining. Guess it helps some with melting off some of the blasted ice off the road so it will go in the ditches and get out of everyone's way on the mountain, but goodness gracious, it's a mess out there. Rather a bit slippy in spots, Quentin texted me when he got to the truck.

Guess it's a good thing I didn't feel up to work, I would have worried the whole time that the roads were going to get too crappy for my little car. I really, really want a 4x4 to drive right now ... my next vehicle is going to be an SUV of some kind. Victor the Aveo will stay with me, as a backup car, and maybe someday get fixed up enough to go into local car shows for the larks of it. Goodness knows they put enough oddball stuff into some of them. (Saw one last summer where someone took a VW Beetle and painted it Razorback red and put feet and a head on it to make it a Razorback!)

And yes, I know, I'm a bit potty at the moment ... been reading a bit too much Terry Pratchett's Discworld, methinks. Though if I had a choice of fantasy worlds to go live in, I think I'd pick Pern. Speaking of reading, I'm also busy working my way through a PDF copy of Carla Emery's "Encyclopedia of Country Living." It's so enjoyable. So much there, and I'm only to Chapter 3, on Grasses, Grains and Canes Contents. I'm so inspired in homesteading by her and so many other people who've been doing it for practically forever, and it fuels my dreams.

Mind, I'm not averse to slimming back the dreams if need be. I'm willing to give up the livestock (except perhaps the chickens and rabbits) if need be. I'm not willing to give up the garden, the fruit orchard, the berry plantings, the flowers and herbs. I love living things, and growing things, and making things. I grew up in a little house sitting on a three-quarter acre lot on a dirt road in very suburbia "country" in Mid-Michigan. Okay, it wasn't a homestead per se, but I was so thrilled to grow up there. It had established Concord grapes (oh the jelly from them!), apples, tart cherries, bartlett pears, and plums. We got so much out of those trees, and the back yard was open enough that I had a rather large garden out there. Lots of fun then, and there's got to be a point one of these days when I can make a lot of that kind of thing happen again. (I miss that yard ... but the house was oldish, and didn't heat well at ALL in the winter, worse than this trailer, and the winters in Michigan are freaking LONG.)

Anyhow, it's time to make some supper, and then melt some more snow before it ends up all getting rained away, because it's not likely we're going to be able to get the van and car all the way up the road for a few days yet. Though I'm glad the temperatures are a bit warmer right now, as it's helping to melt the ice off the road. It's even supposed to get up near 50F this upcoming week, for which I am grateful. While the snow is melting for the water jug refills, I'm going to eat and work some more on that afghan. The freaking migraine kept me out of it for most of the day, so I've only added another three squares. Bummer.

*****


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And now it's time, while I have it this week, for a few Kindle freebies!!! And yep, incentivised again - just wait a few seconds and skip the ad, thanks! For those wondering how much, if anything, I get for the adf.ly links: about $0.0004 per click. However, that's only if the clicker has Java, Flash and cookies enabled, is not using a proxy server and waits for the five seconds for the ad. Also, they can't do more than five per day ... but still, every bit helps. Not sure how many I'll get done - the internet at McQuack's is being flaky as usual, and when I got here today, I had to go to Wendy's to get lunch and come back, because half of Harrison was without power - including the only one of the two McQuck's that has internet! I need to note - not all of the links are adf.ly links ... with limited time, I paste the Amazon links first, then edit them to make the hoplinks to be adf.ly shortened. Today, just not enough time to do it all. SOON!!!! I will have internet and then there will be daily postings!

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20 Minute Express Recipes for Busy People
Paleo Cookbook For Beginners: Delectable, Easy-To-Make Recipes For Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (The Easy Diet)
Paleo Recipes For Kids - Family Friendly Recipes For Delectable Cuisine (The Easy Recipe)
Soup Recipes: 21 Classic Italian Homemade Soup Recipes, Plus 3 Stock Recipes and Meatball Recipe
Latest Collection of 30 Top Class, Delicious, Most-Wanted And Easy Lunch Snack Recipes For Both Vegetarians And Non-Vegetarians
Latest Collection of 30 Top Class, Delicious And Easy Vegetarian Main Recipes For Healthy Life
Latest Collection of 30 Top Class, Delicious, Most-Wanted And Easy Appetizer Recipes For Both Vegetarians And Non-Vegetarians
Latest Collection of 30 Top Class, Delicious, Most-Wanted And Easy Pizza Recipes For Both Vegetarians And Non-Vegetarians
The Cookie Factory - ALL-TIME FAVORITE COOKIES AND COOKIE BARS ( Easy and Delicious Cookie Recipes & Cookie Bar Recipes)
35 International Slow Cooker Recipes From Around The World - Ethnic Recipes
Delicious, Quick & Simple - Paleo Bread and Pizza Recipes
Pamela Landsbury's Classic Christmas Cookie Compendium: The Top 31 Family Favorites [2013]
Delicious, Quick & Simple - Paleo Bread and Snack Recipes
Paleo Pizza, Baking and Kids Lunch - Delicious, Quick & Simple Recipes
Top 30 Only 3 Or Less Steps EUROPEAN SOUPS AND STEWS Recipes That You Must Eat Before You Die
50 Christmas Refrigerator Cookies - Icebox Cookies and Sliced Cookies For the Holiday (The Ultimate Christmas Recipes and Recipes For Christmas Collection)
Pamela Landsbury's Creative Christmas Cupcakes: The Top 32 Modern Family Favorites [2013]
Top 30 Only 3 Or Less Steps EUROPEAN ONE DISH Recipes That You Must Eat Before You Die
Top 30 Only 3 Or Less Steps EUROPEAN MAIN DISH Recipes That You Must Eat Before You Die
Paleo For Breakfast - 33 Delicious Paleo Breakfast Recipes (Quick and Easy Paleo Recipes)
35 Chicken One Pot Meals - Tasty One Pot Recipes With Chicken (Fabulous Chicken Dishes - The Chicken Recipes Collection)
An Easy Guide to Cornbread : Delicious Recipes, Advice, and More!
Vegetarian Cookbook
Freshwater Fish Recipes Made Simple - 99 Classic Recipes for the Homecook
Lively Gluten Free Recipe Book (Living and Eating Well With a Gluten Free Diet)
Gluten Free Diet:Helpful Beginners Guide For G Free Lifestyle

GENERAL HOMESTEADING BOOKS

Organic Gardening - Beginner's Guide Learn the Healthy Way to Plant
The How to Book on Building a Raised Garden Bed: Growing Luscious Vegetables, Fruits & Vibrant Flowers / The Thriving Soil System (The Jonah Green Gardening Series)
Candle Making Guide: The Complete Guide To Homemade Candle
Preserving Food at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide to Canning, Freezing, Drying, Brining, and Root Cellaring
I CAN CAN RELISHES, Salsa, Sauces & Chutney!! How to make relishes, salsa, sauces, and chutney with quick, easy heirloom recipes from around the world ... or sell (I CAN CAN!! Frugal Living Series)
How to Grow Beans and Peas: Planting and Growing Organic Green Beans, Sugar Snap Peas, and Heirloom Dry Beans and Peas
How to Vertical Garden: What You Need to Know About Vertical Gardening & Creating a Beautiful Living Wall (The Jonah Green Gardening Series)
Container Gardening Designs & Woodworking Plans - Volume 2 Ideas for Organic Gardening & Urban Gardening
More Practical Solutions to Everday Household Problems (Practical Solutions to Everyday Problems)
Gardening Challenges & Solutions (Gardening Briefs for Beginners)
How To Stain Concrete Floors
Natural Colors to Dye For - How to use natural dyes from plants and fungi
Gardening for the Girls
Canning Vegetables, How To Can Vegetables,Step By Step Guide (Canning and Preserving Guides)
Blueberries in Your Backyard: How to Grow America's Hottest Antioxidant Fruit for Food, Health, and Extra Money (Booklet)
how to grow a miniature garden
Leg Warmers Knitting Pattern
HOMESTEADING: A 21st Century Beginning of Self Reliance
Perfume Making On The Cheap: Make Designer Knock-Offs At Home!
Outdoor Fire Pit Ideas

Ozarks blizzard

These are the emails I put together over the last few days, to go out when possible (yay, today), so everybody would know how we're handling this mess. Six inches of snow, on top of sleet/ice, really did a number on our area of the Ozarks.

*****
Day 1 - December 5

By now, you will all either be dealing with some of the same weather I am or will have heard about it on the news. It's Thursday night as I compose this, the 5th. Not sure when things will clear up enough for me to get to McQuack's and get it out. (My keyboard is acting up, too, due to old age - must replace this poor laptop soon, lol.) We got the van back from the shop today, $300 for parts and labor for a new fuel pump, as the old one was shot. No gas getting to the motor no matter what. Good thing we got it back today. Weather is bad enough that we ran a full shift for first shift at the plant, second and third got cancelled, and tomorrow, the 6th, is cancelled for all shifts. Quentin and I both had to take a sick day this week, so unless things clear up and we work Saturday (not likely right now), we will get a 2-day check and a 3-day check, respectively, next week. But it's better than no check, and just means tightening our belts a bit yet till we get through this. Better to have it tough and tight budget than not to have it at all.

Things were pretty bad when I was finally done with work. Wish I could have gotten off at noon, even though the money will be a blessing next week. The roads home were horrible. We made a few quick, necessary (all but one) stops on the way home. Grocery store in town for a few extra staples. Got what we wanted, other than an extra loaf of bread, they were all out. So was the dollar store which we tried on the way out of town, and the gas station halfway home, where we stopped to fill the tanks on the car and van with gas. The roads were awful. Normally, I'm doing 55 in the dark on the blacktop all the way home, tonight, I was barely crawling at 25 with the brights on. Quentin stayed behind me all the way with all his lights on the truck on to help light up the road, close enough for emergency but far enough back not to hit me if the car went flying off the road for some reason. It was pretty hairy, and I felt lucky to be able to crawl at the speed I was, considering the sleet and snow and that I could barely see 10 feet in front of me, even with all the lights on. It was that bad and coming down so thick, I was sure I'd end up in a ditch somewhere. There's a Subway connected to the gas station in Alpena, so we spared five minutes to get sandwiches to bring home for dinner. We knew that with the weather and roads in this kind of shape, neither of us was very likely to want to cook something when we got home. The folks who were on duty tonight at the gas station and Subway all live within a few blocks walking distance of the place, so we knew that both places would be open. Unlike the dollar store in town, which was closing when we pulled up, and I was the next-to-last person through the door to get anything. You know it's bad out when even the dollar stores are closing early.

Thankfully, we made it to the bottom of the mountain road with no problems other than sheer terror a couple times when I slipped and nearly went off the road. Thank goodness for the rumble strips in the road shoulders, as they gave me the traction I needed to stay on the road and get back on the main pavement. Despite plowing after it had started, and brine being sprayed as soon as it started, it wasn't all much help. The mountain road is impassible right now with a motorized vehicle. It's walk, ski, dogsled (ha!!! none of those here!), or something similar. We got to the cow pasture after the low water bridge, and saw Bobbi's car there. Her little car isn't much bigger than mine, but if she can't get up the road or doesn't feel safe trying it, I know my Victor (2006 Chevy Aveo) ain't gonna make it, and I have a walk ahead of me. Since we had the van, we tried to get up in it, but hit ice about halfway up and Quentin had to back downhill around curves to get back to the car to park the van there behind me and Bobbi. We grabbed the few extra groceries and our Subway sandwiches, and headed our butts up the mountain road. There's a few level-ish spots in the road, and even on the inclines, we kept stopping to catch our breath before tackling another 50 or 60 feet of nasty road. Took nearly an hour to climb the road but we did it, when I was almost certain that I couldn't do it.

So we are cozy in the house, but debone was so cold again today (they really need to fix that darned blast door) that I was pretty chilled by the time we got to the mountain road. Got colder walking up the road, so I hauled le laptop, le knitting and le food into the bedroom, where I am currently enshrined in the bed under a mound of thick afghans to help the circulation get going better in my legs and feet and thaw me out. I  have Reynaud's Syndrome (the capillaries in my bloodstream are smaller than they are supposed to be, so my hands and feet get cold very easily), so while my hands didn't get too bad at work and during the walk up the road to get home, my feet got really chilled and, for me, that generally means I feel cold all over even when I'm not. So as soon as things were moved to help me stay busy tonight and tomorrow, I threw on clean, dry clothing, and snuggled in bed under all the blankets. It's been about an hour since I climbed under blankets, and between food and body heat warming the bed so my feet will thaw out, I'm starting to feel rather human again. I think in a bit, I'll hie myself out to the kitchen for about five minutes and make me some hot tea. A really big thermos full of strong, hot, herbal, fruity tea. And then bring the thing to the bedroom to drink the next few hours.

I dunno ... for me, it doesn't seem to matter what the reason, but I like hot tea. I've never really liked coffee, but tea is always good. And especially when you're sick (I can dose up most anything with hot tea, from chammomille to help you sleep to peppermint to soothe an upset tummy), or when the weather is horribly crappy like this is, a cuppa just seems to hit the spot. So if y'all don't mind, I'm going to close this missive, eat my strawberry jello for dessert, and then go make some tea. Shoot, just thinking about hot tea makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, lol. Plus I have yarn here for two afghans that I need to get put together, though I'm not sure if I'll make them into granny squares (boring but easy to do without too much thinking) or log cabin patchwork style (still easy but you have to do more thinking).

Okay ...

For those wondering how the heck to do a log cabin square for an afghan, you can knit or crochet them, and there are instructions online to do this. Since I'm without internet yet for a few weeks, I can't look up the blasted URL for you, but if you google it, you can find it fairly easily. Both are quick to do, and if you prefer knitting over crocheting, or vice versa, either can be used to use up lots of larger scraps of yarn fairly quickly. The squares come out pretty big in regular worsted weight yarn, so be prepared to not have to do quite as many afghan squares with the log cabin as you would with granny or another "normal" square. Have fun - I'm off for tea, a book, my dessert and some quality yarn time.

*****
Day 2 - December 6

And I do mean blizzard. Yesterday's ice and sleet were bad enough with that cold. Today, Quentin decided we just HAD to get out and go to Wal-Mart and get some extra groceries that we would have gotten yesterday afternoon if they'd let me out of work earlier than they did by several hours. It was a fairly easy walk down the mountain road, despite the fact that we got hit with around six inches of snow overnight. Not too wet, so it's not good packing snow, but nasty nevertheless. The trip down took about 25 minutes, breaking trail all the way. We got the vehicles started, though as quiet as the car idles, it's hard to tell when it's half-buried whether or not it's running. The truck started right up, now that it's got the new fuel pump. With quite a bit of backing and filling, we got it turned around and headed out to the main drag. While vehicles had warmed up, Quentin hiked the 3/10ths of a mile to the main road to see how they were doing. The plows had made a couple of passes, and someone had already gotten off the neighboring mountain road that connects with ours at the bottom by the mailboxes, so we knew we'd get out if we were careful.

Unfortunately, one of our less-than-stellar-intelligence neighbors, who likes to treat the mountain road as a personal dirt track for his trucks, didn't fare so well getting into the road sometime between last night when we got home and lunchtime today when Quentin finally rousted out of bed. The neighbor's lovely pickup (I think it's a Dodge 1500) was overturned into the ditch next to the bottom of the road. Woops. (We later saw it on a flatbed, with another vehicle being towed behind, heading to the junkyard, courtesy of the state police calling in the wrecker.) We were very careful and kept speed down quite a bit, and got to the store and back safely. We got enough extras to last us and the boys a couple of weeks if need be, because I know the car ain't going anywhere for several days with this much snow, and the truck ain't gonna be much better. I told Quentin if they don't call off work for Monday and Tuesday, since he can get the truck out and about, I'll call in and take points if need be, I have a bunch to spare. With him being in probation, he doesn't have many, so if he can get out, he has to go in, even if the drive takes a lot longer to be safe. (Never mind the darn walk up the road, 15% grade in two spots and it's hard to get up unloaded!)

We got smart to get all the stuff back up the road, since we'd broken trail going down. We stopped at the hardware store in Harrison while we were there, and got a small toboggan-type sled to pile stuff on to get it up the road. Killer on the legs, but it got stuff up in one go, because otherwise, stuff would have been left in the truck and the heck with it. Quentin did all the pulling, I came behind in the even more broken trail with the flashlight, because it was dark by the time we got back here. I'd spot up the road enough for about 75 feet at a stretch, he'd haul up the trail, I'd stay put and spot, then catch up and we'd give our legs and lungs a bit of a rest. Repeat as needed for a mile or so up the road. But we got here. Temps were frigid - only in the low to mid 20s Farenheit in Harrison when we came through there heading home about five or so, so it was colder coming up the road.

Unfortunately, I'm having to talk genius out of going out tomorrow to haul the laundry downhill on the sled to go into town to do that. He thinks we should stick to normal schedule as much as possible. I say I got frozen enough getting up with the laundry and I'm not going anywhere till Monday sometime or this thaws out, whichever comes first. We've been home an hour and despite a hot meal, and being under the covers in bed where it's warmer, I'm still chilled. The house is cozy enough to be comfortable, if we're wearing layers to help stay warm. I haven't a problem with that, and I think most of my shivering isn't cold right now because I'm not cold, but sheer reaction to the whole situation the last couple of days. I'm still thawing out a bit but I know it's not hypothermia, because my teeth aren't chattering, and it's just my upper body that feels like it's shaking. Looking at my hands, they're steady as can be, and I'm not really cold or shivering, just aftermath of the whole thing the last twenty-four hours or so. (Besides, if it were THAT cold in here, the boys would be curled up so tight they'd have their tails over their noses, and while they're balled up a bit, they're also sleeping comfortably, so it's not too bad.)

It's been bad enough that I've had a couple of mild panic attacks, where basically I get through the situation and then have a meltdown and bawl my eyes out for a bit once it's over with. Yep, I just checked - the shivering is panic leftovers from all this, because I stuck my hands under the blankets and my legs are warm enough. I'm just having a bad reaction to this. I haven't gone through a winter storm like this since I moved here from Michigan, and that was 4 1/2 years ago. So it's react like a typical Michigander in this crap. Hunker in, hunker down, stay warm and fed, and wait it out. It'll pass eventually.

Least the food will stretch good. I did forget butter, but we've got not quite half a pound in the fridge and we don't use that much at a time. The boys have plenty of food (several cans of their wet food plus two small bags of dry because the store was out of bigger bags). Plenty of bread, a 3-lb bag of rice (best I could get), a bag of sugar to sweeten my cream of wheat in the morning, some meat and dinners, some other things that can be fixed fairly quickly, and several cans of soup to supplement what's in the cupboard. Heat up soup, make up some rice, pour the soup over the rice, and while it might be a bit boring after a while, at least a can of soup will stretch that way to fill us both fairly well with a hot meal. Also some sandwich stuff so we can have lunch without having to cook, including some chicken and mayo for chicken salad (have plenty of relish but gotta have extra on the other stuff in case).

It was possible to have to work tomorrow, but with this weather continuing, and the cold as well, it's not likely that there will be work for several days until it warms up. Hurts the paychecks, but better that than dealing with freezing to get to work and home again, freezing at work, and potentially having a wreck. Not good no matter what in that case. We have to do what must be done to get through this. Though honestly, there've been moments in the last couple of evenings when I've pretty well said screw this, let's get a place in town, I can't deal with this kind of thing, it's too hard. Then I remember that, while we could get up and down the road, it was tougher last winter when we had to hunker down in the living room, including sleeping there, just to stay warm at all. This isn't worse, it's better, and it'll pass. Besides that, a place in town would cost double what this place is costing us and we'd have neighbors right on top of us, too, plus not likely we'd be able to have the boys, let alone any of the other things we want to do ... forget that idea. I'll deal with it. It's not permanent, and it will thaw and I'll forget all about how miserable some of this is.

Plus I have plenty to keep me busy while I wait this out. I have my needlework, I have my books (mostly on the computer, but still), and I have two new seed catalogs to browse - Totally Tomato and Vermont Bean Seed Co. Yay, me. Now, if y'all don't mind, and even if you do, I want to do some reading and snacking and maybe head to be early to sleep through part of this stupid mess. Hugs all, I'll send this when I can, because until this clears up, I ain't going to McQuack's. (One time I really, really, REALLY wish we had internet here so I could let y'all know we're ok right now, but oh well ... that's country life for ya!)

*****
Day 3 - December 7

This weather is getting ridiculous. Couldn't even get out today to go to the vehicles to run them, so thank goodness they've got good batteries so they'll start when this is cleared enough to get to them again, probably tomorrow (Sunday) so we can go do laundry at the laundromat in Harrison, rather than the one in Green Forest we usually go to, because the one in Harrison has free wifi plus shower facilites. Expensive shower facilites, at $5 for a 10-minute shower, but then we'd both be ready for the week (assuming that things clear up enough for the plant to reopen), and I can get some of my internet time caught up. This means hauling the laundry down to the van on the sled, then back up again afterwards, but it's a way to get things done even if it does mean long, cold walks up steep hills that I'm seriously beginning to hate with a passion.

I'm not going to write alot of what I'd like to write, because it's pretty frustrated and not positive thinking, unless you count "This had better get done today OR ELSE," being positive. I don't think it counts. Today wasn't a total waste though. I got my Totally Tomato catalog gone through (and that's not all they have, but they do have a ton of them), got nine squares sewn together on a granny afghan (found a huge box of finished squares in the front bedroom when I went looking for something else, so I'm putting them together instead of fussing around with making all new bits and pieces, it'll be faster), did some reading, did some gaming on the laptop, did a few chores, and generally just vegged out. Though that's getting awful tiring. I want to get back to work on things, which means it's got to get warmer. Have to check online Sunday to see if the local radio station has anything on the plant closing or reopening for Monday, because the guard shack doesn't answer, which means even THEY aren't there right now.

The house is comfy, not great but at least quite warm compared to the outdoors, but still cold in the unused rooms. Going into the front bedroom to find anything that we generally don't need is an adventure in bundling up like an Eskimo. And even though we are not about to haul water jugs up that hill a mile from the vehicles, no worries about running out of water, because there's a whole freaking mountain buried six inches deep in snow that can be brought in and melted. Eric and Bobbi won't see each other for a few days because of the weather. She's got her mom and aunt up there in their house next door to E & B to have company for her and the baby. Eric couldn't get back to the mountain road in time Thursday before it got really bad, so he stayed in town with a friend, and then of course with all the snow and such, he can't get home. So he's stuck in town for a few days till this clears up.

One thing about Tyson folks - we band together in tough times. There's a bunch of us trying our best to keep on top of whether or not the plant is closed or when we're opening back up, because we just don't know. Me, if we work days Monday or Tuesday, unless second shift isn't running, I'll have to call and take points, because the car is buried in the snow and the county doesn't plow the dirt roads. Wish they did, we'd get out a lot easier! Heck, at least that way, I could get the car to the main road and get back and forth. If second shift isn't running, Quentin can run me to work and pick me up, but if they ARE, he makes more than I do, and he can work while I take points. Boring as all heck with no internet up here, but better than not getting around safely. I'm trying so hard to be positive with all this, but it's so hard. We know that the checks we get this upcoming Thursday are not going to be more than about $250 all together, and there's not a heck of a lot in the bank as it is left from these checks. Uck. So this year, it's going to end tight, financially. Christmas is going to be a few weeks late for us, it looks like. Oh well, crap happens, right? This too, shall pass. I just hope it passes quickly, because me and cabin fever do not get along well, and I can only take so much of being cooped up with no way to get anything really done. I have this itch to get out and do, and there's really nothing to DO in the dead of cold spells like this. I need things to do in cold weather, and this time, there really isn't much to do outside because it's so cold, that even if we had livestock, they'd be in the barn to avoid the frigid temperatures!

Anyhow, things are getting done, just they're not things that I really WANT to be doing, and life's taken a bit of a fuzzy turn with this weather. Anybody want some snow and cold? Come get it, it's free for the taking.

*****

No books this week, because I just don't have time to deal with it. Have to finish up what I can and get our butts back to the mountain road hopefully not too long before dark. Of course, it will be dark, because we have to stop at O'Reilly's on the way home, drain the radiator and put in new antifreeze because genius put a whole jug of windshield wiper fluid in the radiator overflow tank. If he blows up the van after I just put $300 into fixing the fuel pump, I'm going to strangle him.

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.)

******
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!