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January 14, 2010

our latest news

With my new usage of Facebook, I often forget to update here and I really want to change that. But on the other hand I sure don't want to state any posting goals! That would drive me insane.

The house we moved to after leaving SR's was a VERY small house approx. 500 sq. ft. The "little blue house" was great for us to be able to get back into a home but not so great space wise because we couldn't even get all our stuff out of storage! So if we could find a house that was a little bit larger yet higher rent we probably could afford it -- IF it would fit all our stuff from storage so we could cut out that expense.

We found out one was available with the same landlord about 35 days after moving to the little blue house. This was great for us, but sucked cause we then had to pack everything up again to move. But it's nice that we only had to go around the corner so not too much gas being used to move things. It's so close that we can see one house from the other and the kids can run back and forth for anything we forget.

Some other great things are - it's BIG without being too big for us. It's about 900 sq. ft. with a basement. It also only has 2 bedrooms (as did the little blue house) but after living in Iowa Falls this is really roomy! And the bedrooms are some of the largest I've ever seen! The one that the kids have called theirs is large enough that it could easily be split in half which is an idea for later (the landlord won't care either way).

But the boys have already been looking at the basement for possible bedroom ideas as there is an area that is ideal. I'm just not so sure about winter use. Plus, I already have a million ideas for using the basement for storage of stuff and food. Darkside and I have also debated many recreational uses like exercise/weight room, a pool table, or my favorite - a hot tub! We will have to see =)

The yard is more ideal for things I'm wanting to do than over at the little blue house. This house's yard is nice since it's mostly enclosed with a privacy fence. I'm not so sure about parking here though. I also will need to figure out where we are going to put up a clothes line as there isn't one here yet. But I know that now we will be able to have bunnies - YEA!!

Although gardening wise I think I'll have to stick to containers and the big one out at SR's. The yard here is smaller than the little blue house and very shaded. Not that I don't think it'll work, cause I'll MAKE it work! And I think I'll have fewer problems with neighborhood kid problems with my gardening efforts here. The school buses all let out right by the gardening area at the little blue house so I'm pretty sure I would have had a HUGE battle gardening there. Out at SR's I only have to worry about wild animals and the local bean farmer with his toxic fertilizer spray =(

I still have plans to ask the landlord to lease part of the little blue house's yard to me for use. It's an idea Darkside, SR, and I have all discussed. I'll do a more in depth post about that tomorrow.

But everything at the new house is NOT perfect or great. The whole inside definitely needs painted. It was recently infested with cockroaches (more on this below). The water lines are busted in many places, with the hot water heater not working currently. Almost every window is in need of some sort of repair, inside or out. The basement and yard is in need of cleaning. The floors bounce terribly just like the house in Iowa Falls. The floor coverings in most rooms need replaced. This is all I have noticed in the 3 days I've been here. I'm sure the list will be longer as time goes on.

The landlord we are renting from is notorious in the area for having rentals that have cockroaches. Although at both houses we have been lucky with the weather killing off most of them, I'm not stupid enough to think they are all gone. This house was heavily infested but also experienced at least a week if not more of temperatures at or below 0F. And even though everything I've read says that at those temperatures they can't live, I'm NOT taking that chance! Plus, we are next door to another rental from the same landlord so there's a good chance that they could walk over to our new house. Orkin will be a constant visitor for the next year, AT LEAST! ~~ I REFUSE to live with ANY bugs! I even throw fits about having piss ants LOL!

I think that this house has LOTS of potential. The landlord has already been asking us if we want to buy it on contract - NO we're not yet even thinking about it! But I do think there is a good potential for us to stay here for the next year and this IS something we are debating.

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Other than all that - some of us are sick right now (me, Kaos King, #4) and Darkside has been working. He likes the job, but the inflexibility of days off sucks. He's thinking about looking for a different job, especially since a couple of weeks ago he learned of a possible job opening in a more flexible business. If we ever find any time to do anything like that!

later...

August 22, 2009

stuff

Been awhile since I've posted, it has been to hectic here! That and I've been too sick!

I was sick the past 2 weeks - you name it, I had it! I thought I was better this past week but nope. In fact this morning I woke up coughing - UGH!

I also had the GREAT fortune of stepping on a rusty nail last Monday. So I had to go get a tetanus booster =( Good thing about that is it didn't hurt like it did back in junior high LOL!

One by one everyone else in the house has been sick too except SR. It is truly a sad sight to see your little 5 year old girl hold her head and say - my head's hurting. =(

Well the Kaos King didn't get sick per say but did suffer a massive out break from something. He was swelled up really bad. We still don't know for sure what it was. We took him to the hospital but the quack out there spent a total of 50 seconds in the room with him so I don't think it's possible she got the diagnosis correct. She said poison sumac. But his brother was with him and didn't get it? Oh well they gave him a steriod shot and some steriod pills and that cleared him up. And once he stopped itching it has all went away.

This all happened with the Kaos King because he was hired to do some yard work for a neighbor. They even paid him $6 an hour, which he loved! I told him to let #3 go down there with him and help out. He made $20 which he put with the money he made from them earlier this year so he can buy a new mp3 player. It took me about a week to pick out the best one for his money but I finally did and it's on it's way here!

On the garden front --
Our fall garden is all planted and mostly sprouted now. I made sure and left LOTS of room between things in it LOL! Thats because I crowded so much in to the other garden and it was a pain to harvest things. I've had hardly no luck at all with the onions I planted which really sucks! The other stuff seems ok so far.

We have been pulling out all kinds of plants because they are done. So far here's the list of what we've pulled -- cucumbers (thankfully!!), zucchini, spagetti squash, corn, onions, garlic, a couple extra cabbages, some of the pumpkins (both kinds), and slowly pulling beans here and there. For some reason even though we counted the days for proper pumpkin and winter squash planting they all finished WAY early! Darkside was very upset since his pumpkins are ready now and it's not October yet!

We FINALLY are getting tons of ripe tomatoes!! And peppers too! And a couple big eggplants, too. I've made 2 batches of salsa so far =) It's so nice to have ripe tomatoes that we grew!

I also made some dilly beans -- we don't like them LOL! But we tried =) I've been pickling almost everything in sight lately. There were just too many cucumbers!

Oh then a neighbor brought down some more cause she said they couldn't use -- SURE! LOL!

Tried to be nice and give some of our abundance to a friend but he don't want it =(

We've also been trying to remodel the bathroom, which hasn't been working out the best. I've also been trying to talk SR into building another addition onto the house. The addition that I'm proposing is only 10' x 20' which don't seem like much but I think it would make so much more room here. I really need more room so I can get all my food here and not at the storage place. Everyday we think of something else that is in storage that we need to go get. There is only 2 very small food cabinets here. They are like 2' x 2' !! I have all the rest of the food stored in various spots through the house, in the van, and in the trunk of my car!

Oh and.... We are attempting to incubate some eggs!! We had 12 in there but we candled them last night and there are only 5 that might be ok. Well actually SR thinks that those 5 might be ok. Personally I think that they are duds too. I believe that the rooster is still too young or not "manly" enough! But we are going to keep trying! It would be so cool if we could hatch our own babies!

Also on the chicken front - we have decided that the broiler/fryer/whatever they are definitely HAVE to go! And I say that we are SO not ready to do our own slaughtering! I don't think SR is really wanting to do any slaughtering anyway. Plus I'm thinking that his way of slaughtering - old school - is not the way I'd like to eat my chicken. Not exactly the cleanest method of preparing, know what I mean? =)

And the nearest meat processing place that will accept chickens that I could find online is about 100 miles east of here =( So we are going to do things the easy way -- take them to the auction! LOL! We found a once a month auction that isn't too far away that does small livestock. We was wanting to go to it anyway might as well make some money too! But really even if we have to give the stupid things away it'll be better than nothing! They eat tooo much!

Ok I'll stop now - this is WAY long as it is! That's the update so far though =)

later...

July 16, 2009

I won!

Look what I was sooo lucky to win --

WooHoo!!

I started watching alot of youtube videos about 2 months ago. One of my FAVORITE channels is everydaydrinkers (http://www.youtube.com/everydaydrinkers). Derrick seems like such a great guy (you know normal) and he is cute!! (Darkside is sure to love knowing that! LOL!)

On their website they were holding a drawing during the month of June for a bottle of POM Wonderful and a POM pourer. To enter all you needed to do was tell how you use POM Wonderful in your drinks and if not why. I was honest and told how I'd never even tasted POM Wonderful before, let alone use it in my drinks!

Then a couple days later I went and bought a bottle. WOW! That juice is FRESH & PURE! My plan was to use it in a fuzzy navel to add a twist and some color. Well I didn't get to do that, not an alcoholic version anyway! But the kids really liked the non-alcoholic version.

So when I went to the bar I was going to have them do something similar but using grenadine. Well little did I know but what I thought was a fuzzy navel wasnt! I always thought a fuzzy navel was peach schnapps, vodka, and orange juice ---- no! At the bar we go to they do peach schnapps and orange juice, that's it. So unless I want to specifically request it the way I want it, which will be a pain, it's a no go.

I plan to buy some peach schnapps and some more vodka soon, just not sure when. I used all my vodka to start cherry cordial. I can't wait till I get to try it! (<--both the new fuzzy naval & cherry cordial) With the left over POM and the FREE bottle I won, I plan to make some jelly! I'm soo happy that I even won!
later...

Here's the video where he mentions the winners (he says Annie LOL!) -

July 10, 2009

pickles!!

Image via Wikipedia

As I type this -- dead tired, might I add! -- Darkside is pulling the last three jars from the canner. The sad part is the only reason it's the last 3 is because we ran out of vinegar! We started the canning at 10:30 PM and it's almost 3:30 AM!! The canner takes FOREVER to boil.

I almost wonder if it's going too slow? It seems even slower than our electric stove last year!

But anyway that's like 15 quart jars of pickled zucchini and 1 pint pickled onions. I still have more zucchini and cucumbers to do!

Oh and the bucket of green beans we pulled out tonight too. (snapped, cleaned, and ready to go!)

I'm tired even thinking about it!

later...

July 8, 2009

canning

Image via Wikipedia

For the past couple of days I have been processing things for winter, either by canning it or freezing it to can when it's cooler out.

Here's what I've made so far -

cherry jelly (canned 8 half pints)
spiced blueberry jam (frozen 4 batches)
cherry jam (frozen 1 batch)
veggie relish (canned 5 half pints, 3 bowls in fridge)

I got the recipes for the last 3 from a book I received from paperbackswap. It's called Better Homes and Gardens Canning & Preserving Recipes. So far they taste great! If anyone wants a certain recipe just holler and I'll post it.

Aldi's has some more blueberries, strawberries, and cherries on sale for pretty cheap (although free is better!) so I'm sure I'll be doing more.

Plus, I still have zucchini and 2 watermelons to do something with! The only drawback is I only have 12 pint jars.

later...