Monkey Dishes

I have been up since around midnight, unable to sleep. I managed to figure out why I've been even more exhausted than usual this weekend. On Friday I was up around my normal time of 5am, but after milking I just couldn't seem to get myself moving at all and went back to bed for a nap at 8am. I slept right through a conference call I was supposed to attend at work!! I got up around 11am, but still felt exhausted.

Saturday morning was the same. Up at 4:30 but back in bed by 7:30, too tired to stay up. I was in and out of bed all day long.

Around midnight when I woke up, I remembered for some unknown reason, reading ds1's asthma medication paperwork a while back which had some warning about stopping your medication abruptly and something to do with adrenal fatigue. I already have adrenal fatigue, but the exhaustion was even worse on Friday and Saturday. I was thinking it was extra bad due due to the extra stressful week at work. But then I started doing some research online about stopping asthma medication causing exhaustion.

See, every once in a while my breathing gets real good to the point where if I forget to take my medication I can breathe okay, then I just keep forgetting to take my medication. So I guess it's been two or three or four days since I used my Asmanex. What happens is when you have low adrenal function this means you are low in cortisol. Cortisol is what gives your body energy and also is an anti-inflammatory hormone. This is why people with asthma respond so well to corticosteroids. Corticosteroids mimic cortisol. So I think this has been why I've been so exhausted. I stopped taking my medication.

I hate having to be on medication regularly. I would love to be able to stop taking it forever. I guess if I could figure out how to heal my adrenals and get my body to produce its own cortisol I might be able to go off the medication once and for all.

I did a google search for healing adrenals naturally and arizona and found a doctor that I hope I can work up my nerve and energy to call for an appointment. She is a naturopath.

I have now been up for four hours in the middle of the night, and accomplished exactly nothing.

I did catch up on my Pioneer Woman reading and was reading an old post of hers about Jadite.

In the comments people kept referring to this one small bowl as a "monkey dish". The discount place I went to in Mesa had lots of restaurant ware and I found my awesome star bowl there, which is my favorite dish to eat from now. I also saw some of what I now believe to be monkey dishes. I want some. I made some asparagus soup on Saturday from the asparagus stock I made on Friday. I took all the asparagus stems I've been saving for months and boiled them for several hours on Friday. Then on Saturday I put them into the blender and blended them, them put them through a food mill. (And I thought I've done nothing all weekend). Then on Saturday I cooked chopped onions in butter, then added flour to thicken and finally the asparagus stock. Only we don't have any little bowls to put small portions of soup.

Next time I go there I will pick up some monkey dishes.

I also discovered you can make paper from asparagus stems so I saved the fiber. It's frozen right now because I'm not sure what to do with it.

I'm not asleep, and I'm not tired, this is just a very jumbled post. I think I am going to inhale some of my medication, take a shower and see about going back to bed for a few hours. After all I do have to be up at 6am to milk before the flies get too thick.

Until next time.

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Zenni Optical - Complete Prescription Glasses for $8.00

Last summer in August, 2008, I scratched my last pair of glasses really bad when I fell in a pothole at a local mall. I always imagined the blacktop would hurt and be really, really hot if you landed on it in the summer and I was right. I landed hard on my knees and palms of my hands and my right cheek hit the road. My glasses hit too and had a big scratch right in my line of vision on the right lens. Two men were close by and helped me to my feet. I'm really glad they came to help me, for the blacktop was scalding hot and I was having a hard time getting back onto my feet.

I went to security and they took pictures of the soles of my shoes and wrote a report. I called back the next day and asked them if they could help me replace my glasses and was told they could. But I could never get anyone to return my calls. I finally gave up. Then in February I got a call from a risk management company that works for the mall and the woman asked how I was doing. I said I was fine, the deep bruises in my knees had finally healed, but I hadn't been able to replace my glasses. She agreed to replace my glasses if I signed a waiver and eventually I got a check for $215.

I went to Costco and got a new pair which cost $188. Costco's glasses are great and they have a nice guarantee, but the only problem is you have to hand over your glasses to them for two weeks while they are being replaced. That's where Zenni Optical comes in. I decided to give them a try. You can get single vision glasses (frames and lenses!) for as low as $8.00! The pairs I bought were $9.95 and $12.95. $4.95 shipping and handling for no matter how many glasses you get. Kev and I ordered glasses at Costco at the same time, and I ordered him a pair from Zenni as well.

It took me almost four weeks to the day to get the Zenni glasses. It isn't supposed to take longer than two weeks. But they made a mistake and sent me someone else's order! I called them and they were very apologetic and asked me to send the order back. I did, and about a week later the right order arrived.

So other than that little glitch I'm very excited about my new glasses. I have never had more than one pair of glasses in my life, and now if my Costco ones have any problems I can turn them over and use the Zenni glasses.

I am definitely going to order another pair from Zenni, this time with sunglasses tint. $4.95 extra! I am also thinking about trying a pair with progressive lenses, to see how they do. Progressives are just $39.00!! Amazing!

Until next time.

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I Cancelled My Dentist Appointment Again

I was supposed to go in two months ago and get my tooth looked at - the one that has a cavity. Because the cavity is in the molar behind the "pocket" I thought the cavity had been caused by food in the pocket. I was hoping to help my tooth heal but I'm starting to think there is no way because I'm a failure when it comes to doing the things I am supposed to do, to help the tooth heal. I am taking all the supplements haphazardly. The cod liver oil is just fine, but I can't remember to take it. It's deodorized so it doesn't even taste like fish. I hate the minerals. They taste disgusting. I can't figure out what the disgusting taste is. And it doesn't last that long in my mouth but it's nasty. I'm not drinking hardly any raw milk. I am not drinking bone broth on a regular basis. I'm ingesting too much white flour and sugar, not a lot but my understanding is ANY is going to be detrimental to our health. The only thing I am doing with any regularity is I have stopped using toothpaste altogether, using baking soda instead.

So my new appointment is this month... I guess May 21st. I thought for sure I remember it being May 23rd, but that's Saturday and they aren't open on Saturday.

While flossing one night about a week ago... I realized that the tooth behind the pocket has a white filling. That means the cavity is beneath the filling. Crap. Now I have read that people are talking about their fillings popping out because their cavities are healing, but I guess I'm going to succumb to the drill and get the tooth taken care of since I can't seem to do anything right.

I am not feeling any pain whatsoever, not even the "ghost" pain I was feeling when I went in originally. No tooth sensitivity either.

I wonder if I should call the dentist for some type of sedative to take ahead of time. I have never had this kind of paranoia about going to the dentist before, but I just find myself filled with anxiety at the thought of being stuck with the needle and the sound of the drill, and the burning smell.

Do you know they have painless dentistry nowadays? I think they use lasers instead of drills. And you don't even need painkillers to numb the pain of the drill. Did you know the pain of the drill is caused because the drill is going so fast, it's heating up the tooth and causing it to get really hot and that is what hurts the root?

May is going to be a big month for me. A lady is coming from California to finally help us get our electronic accounting going at work. I am excited and yet stressed out. I wouldn't mind if you said a little prayer for me that I can get through this month.

Here's to Kava Kava. I may need to start taking it on a daily basis.

Until next time.

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Random Update & Gardening

Wow, I just want more time to do the things I want to do. People think since I only work four days a week that I have so much time on my hands. Well, the fact of the matter is I have crammed so much into my life that I just don't know what to drop to make it any less full and complicated.

I've added another 4-5 hours into my week with my gardening fever. I check my baby plants that are growing in my bathroom every day and it gives me such joy to see how well they are doing. Target planting date for the tomatoes is February 15th, I've got 10 days to get 18 holes dug, prepared and lined with chicken wire to protect the tomato babies from the gophers. That's two holes nine days in a row if I space it out. Here's a wideshot of all the baby plants I have growing in the seed cage.

They are doing so well! I caved and had dh buy Miracle-Gro seed starting potting mix. I don't really like to use Miracle-Gro because it is artificial, but I just didn't feel I had any alternatives, considering that my energy level was so low. The baby plants need nutrients and plain potting soil doesn't provide it, so they get a sluggish start. Usually I figure out some way to feed them but this was the easiest route. This is one of my biggest tomato babies. They are all doing great!


You can see the roots are crawling all over the place!



I was very methodical about labeling the containers and the tomato plant above was one of the Black Krim tomatoes.

Now here is another "Black Krim tomato" but notice how different the leaves look. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say this is a pepper plant of some kind. I lightly pinched a leaf and there is no familiar tomato plant smell.



Here you can see them side by side. Click on the photo for a larger image. The leaves are definitely pepper looking. This isn't the only "pepper" plant that came up. I know there are three that look this way, maybe four. And they did not all come from the same seed packet. Of the Black Krim tomatoes that I planted, all but one look like tomatoes. If I remember correctly, two of the Prudens Purple tomatoes look like these pepper plants, and I think one of the Anna tomatoes does also. I am mildly excited by these mystery plants. This is also a closer shot of the left side of the seed cage.Here is the right side. There are more eggplant babies than tomatoes on this side. They are also much smaller than the tomatoes, even though they were all planted on the same day.

I just love this next photo. I bought some Hyacinth Bean Vine seeds a couple of years ago, and I came across them and wanted to see if they would germinate. I soaked them for three days, instead of one (I forgot about them!) and then I planted them. I couldn't help my curiosity tonight, and dug into the containers to see if any had germinated. Interestingly enough, the very first one that I dug into had sprouted!! But none of the other six seeds show any sign of life. These seeds can take from 7 to 20 days to germinate. I bought them initially because I thought it would be neat to use a vine to shade the garden from the hot summer sun. I am hoping I can get at least one more to germinate - I might end up planting some more just in case.



I also have some Cobaea Monastery Bells/Cathedral Bells vine seed from 2005. This seed also can take 3-4 weeks to germinate.

I also decided to try germinating some old watermelon seeds that I had leftover from either 2004 or 2005. So far one Malali watermelon has germinated, and three Yellow Pony. I was hoping to plant about four of each variety, so I should try to start a few more seeds germinating. I also have some Sweet Diane watermelon seeds, and Early Dew melon. I was so excited to see them coming up! The soil was not warm enough, so I rigged up a lamp with a bare bulb over them for a few hours one day, heated up the soil and that did the trick, because a couple of days later several seeds had germinated.

I just love gardening. One problem I am realizing that I have is that I never plant enough, because I'm always afraid too much will come up. But I'm trying to get past that, and trying to plant LOTS and LOTS of seeds - because my fears have never once been realized. It is also labor intensive to plant 50 seeds, rather than a dozen. But I know it will be worth it.

The newest garden bed has been in since last Saturday, but no signs of germination yet - most of the seeds planted are packed for 2008. I just recently learned there is a way to store seeds that will extend their lifespan. In a glass jar, in the refrigerator! The perfect environment in which to save seeds. Dark, cold and dry. The opposite of what you want for germinating seeds: light, warmth and moisture! So I am now keeping all my seeds in a one gallon jar. I don't foresee having to buy seeds for the rest of this year.

Maybe tomorrow I will see some green babies poking their heads out of the new garden bed. I have been keeping the bed nice and moist. I planted spinach, carrots, radishes, swiss chard, lettuce and beets. I was very methodical this time with putting the seeds into the ground. Usually I scatter the seeds and there is a lot of weeding to do with that method. So this time I used a dowel to make an indention in the earth for where I would put the seeds. I hope this will work better. I still planted intensively, but with more organization.

I can't wait until my seed order arrives. Everything that arrives will be planted on Valentine's Day, at least that is my goal. I listed what I'm planting in my previous post Gardening Fever.

That means I need to prepare another bed. I have started the process of removing the weeds from the area I've chosen, but the hardest part is going to be figuring out a way to get chicken wire under the bed, to protect the plants from the gophers. I wonder if those electronic devices that are supposed to keep rodents away work. It would certainly be worth it to be able to just plant into the ground, without first planting chicken wire a foot deep! This site discusses the method for using traps to eradicate gophers. I was worried about trying this as my kitty guard spends time watching for gophers and I was concerned she could get trapped, but as I read further, I will need to cover the area with a board so it will be dark. I might look into some Gopher Traps. I know I don't want to use poison.

Well, it is way past my bedtime, and I need to get to bed so I can get an early start on my day tomorrow.

Until next time.

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The Difference Between Flash and No Flash

The comparison between these two photos is astounding to me. I was in the garden one afternoon as the sun was going down. I wanted to capture a picture of my garden guard kitty, Miss Vicious, so my first picture was taken using the standard setting for my camera, which includes use of the flash. Pioneer Woman says to try not to ever use the flash, but I am not very good at non-flash images. My goodness, it looks pitch black outside.

Now here is the photo without flash, within seconds.

Isn't the difference amazing?

Until next time.

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Doing a Workout

Just a quick update today.

I don't want to jinx myself, but I think I am beginning to feel better. I have been faithful to my new vitamin protocol since the 4th. Last night I actually felt enough ambition to dig out our Total Gym (it was piled up with stuff, courtesy of my dear husband) and did a few minutes worth of a workout for the first time in months.

I also ordered some thyroid herbs and supplements today, that should be on the way soon.

Ds1 needs to have blood drawn so we're planning an overnight stay in town, going out to dinner and to the movies. He wants to see The Dark Knight.

I hurt my heel doing a Taebo kickboxing workout with ds1 and finally broke down and ordered a night splint to wear, well, at night. That should be arriving soon.

I think I'll take my hank of yarn and try to cocoon it while at the hotel.

Until next time.

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A Few Things That Happened Today

Something's up with Blogger and Firefox today. I stopped using Internet Explorer some time ago, and much prefer Firefox. But when I logged in and tried to make a post, this is what I was met with:Quite a mess. I tried shutting Firefox down and reopening, but got the same gibberish. I could have made a post and published it, but there was no way to upload photos. And that's why I'm here today. To share what we got today. Dh was reading one of the local newspapers which mentioned a vegetable and fruit coop was coming to a nearby city. I contacted the group through the website and discovered that they actually have two drop off locations in our area. So we signed up for one box. This is what we got: 5 pickling cucumbers
10 limes
1 honeydew melon
1 butterleaf lettuce
6 medium russet potatoes
9 red plums
8 nectarines
11 large carrots
7 red onions
4 bosc pears
5 mangoes
7 bananas
5 tomatoes

Our basket cost under $20. It is supposed to $50 worth of fruits and vegetables, and they say it will last a family of four for two weeks.

On the way to pick up our basket - which by the way we spent $6.89 for the round trip into town and back home for gas - a lady was putting out yard sale signs. Dh had to go to a job today and was leaving as soon as he dropped me off. I asked him if he thought that lady might have anything good for sale. I guess I ask the question that way because I don't really care one way or the other if we go and see? He said it wouldn't take that long to look, so we followed the signs. She had bullhead sticker plants all over her yard. I am SO glad we don't have them on our property. I have pulled up several of them and keep my eyes peeled for them and remove them if I see any of them. Dh's sister's property is practically a farm of the horrible things.

At the yard sale, I saw a pile of towels. Lots of nice, thick, mostly purple towels. I asked how much she wanted for the towels - she only wanted fifty cents each! They aren't brand new, and have some strings hanging on some of them, but they are better than most of the towels we are currently using! The three on the left are large beach towels, one is yellow striped and the other is a hot pink striped, then a purple one on top of that. In the next pile there is a thick, soft maroon towel at the bottom, and three matching lavendar towels on top. The next pile there are three purple towels with four hand towels, and the pile on the right there are four thick, soft deep purple towels. In the front row there are six washclothes. She was asking for ten cents each for the hand towels and washclothes!

I also saw this Singer Tiny Serger and asked how much she wanted for it... four dollars! The only problem is we didn't have any cash left as we'd used the last $8 in dollars and change buying the towels and washclothes. So I asked dh if he wouldn't mind running back by her place on his way out. He was happy to do that, so she held it for me. Now I have read some good reviews about this little machine, and some terrible reviews. It didn't come with the manual, which could be a problem. I hope I can get it to work! If you know how I can get a manual for it, or if you happen to own one, and have a manual for it, I'd sure be grateful for a scanned copy! Here is a beautiful photo of the sunrise I was able to capture the other morning.
My doctor's appointment was on June 20th, and yesterday I received a call from the office that schedules referrals. This was to schedule a mammogram. I wish I could be like many people seem to be, happy that their doctor wants them to radiate their breasts just in case. I hate having all these stupid tests and frankly it just stresses me out to know that my doctor wants me to have them done. She acted like I'm the stupid one, and indeed many people would probably think that way about me, because I haven't been getting tests done all these past few years.

How do you find a doctor that is there for you when YOU want them for something, and leaves you alone the rest of the time? And doesn't put your files into the archive area?

I asked if my blood test results had been returned and I was routed to an answering machine to leave my name and number. The only reason I even went to the doctor was to get the referral to my asthma/allergy specialist. I wonder what he would charge if I just went straight to him without a referral and paid out of my own pocket? If I didn't have asthma I wouldn't be seeing him either. Really, I'm just fine without all these doctors.

I know I have the right to ask for my test results so I can examine them myself, but it is difficult to work up the energy to do something as stressful as that. You're probably asking, what's so stressful? Well, I have to go in and ask. Working up the nerve to do that in itself is stressful.

I've been putting together a brochure for our church in the past few weeks, and I made a really glaring mistake on the front. I was mortified and called our pastor immediately and he had JUST come from the printers, having printed up 200 brochures. I told him I'd pay for the mistake and I've printed them myself, and have also merged addresses for mailing, and have been folding them.

Kev and I are going to church camp this summer. I hope that will be relaxing, and not one more stressful thing. Today as we were going to pick up our vegetable and fruit basket, I found myself wishing I could get my garden going again. I have had so much trouble with the critters out here it is a lot of work to keep them from eating everything up. The entire garden is fenced with chicken wire, the top and the sides, and the last time I gardened the gophers dug their way under and were pulling vegetables into the ground by their roots.

We're getting quite a bit of milk now. Almost one gallon is coming into the house every day, I freeze half a gallon every day from the previous day. We are getting another gallon or so which we divide up between the dogs and the chickens. We had flies for a time and so we were milking at 3am every single morning, even on the days we didn't have to go to work. I think that is what just about did me in. I would sometimes come in and go back to bed by 5am, but it is very hard for me to get up that early every single day without a break.

Dh started another sideline to his business and we're trying to get that off the ground. I've ordered business cards, and created websites for the two businesses. Dh's been doing some cold calls for the second business, hoping to drum up some business. He's got one contact that seems like it will turn into a good opportunity.

Okay, Kev fixed Firefox for me. He hit F5 and did a refresh and now it's working okay. Thanks, Kev!

Also, he edited a short movie I took while outside in the afternoon. Enjoy.

Until next time.

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Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

Do you remember Boy George?

Whatever happened to poor Boy George? Was he dressed as a clown on purpose here? Or is his idea of wearing makeup just really bizarre?

Until next time.

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Revolution Money Exchange - Get $25 today!

If you're part of a couple, you can easily make $60.

I signed myself up and got $25, then referred DH. I got $10 when he signed up, and he made $25. I moved his $25 into my account, and moved $50 of it into our bank account. It was there within two days.

If you've been on the Internet for any length of time, you will remember that this is how PayPal got started, and look where it's at today.

Click on my button and you'll make $25 and I'll earn $10 for the referral. Thanks!

Until next time.

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Questionable Business Name

Is it just me, or do you wonder what this person was thinking when they chose this for their business name?

When I asked dh what was the first thing that came to mind, he came up with the same thing as I did.

Until next time.

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Fog in the Desert

We don't get fog very often but apparently the conditions were perfect this morning. Missing your camera, Kev!!!

Ironically on this weekend, when Kev is gone with our good camera, one of my coworkers needed to have the company camera which I foist around with me everywhere I go. We used to have two of these cameras at work, but another coworker had it in her car, when her car was stolen (from the parking lot at the building where we work at 2am in the morning - which in that neighborhood she shouldn't have been there carting things in and out of the building to her car at that time). She claims she bought a replacement camera, but when I ask her about it, she just offers to let the agency "borrow" one of her personal cameras, "that one doesn't take very good pictures." Grrrr. So I'm stuck using our old family digital camera - the Samsung Digimax 301. I digress. Here's the pictures I was able to get this morning.


Until next time.

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I'll Be Back

I promise I'll be back soon. I've just been really, really, really, insanely busy. And preoccupied. But I'm looking forward to a four day weekend, where I get to stay home every single day. I can't wait.

Love and hugs to all my readers.

Until next time.

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Nostalgic Popcorn Maker

Ds1 likes popcorn quite a bit, so we considered getting this nostalgic popcorn maker at Christmas. It was marked down to $50 from $100. We decided against it, because we know air poppers can be had from the thrift store for under five bucks.

But when our local grocery store went down even further - to $25, we decided to get it for him. Only he doesn't really like it.





I think it's a great novelty item, I really do like it. I thought it would be something fun to have when we invite guests over for dinner. Which we never do in the first place, so that's always ridiculous when I have that thought.

Maybe someday.

It's a pain to clean as it uses oil in the silver part. You have to take it apart, wipe it out, and then soap up the clear windows on the inside as they are splattered with oil.

The popcorn tastes as good as if I'd popped it on the stovetop in the pan which would be much easier to clean.

So I have mixed feelings about this product.

Maybe I can try selling it on eBay.

Until next time.

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One Happy Water Pump

I've mentioned before on my blog that we haul our own water from the community well and chronicled the task in this series here:
High Hopes Part 1 of 3

We Jes' Call That Bein' Neighborly Part 2 of 3

Loading the Water Tank Part 3 of 3

Kev took over the responsibility of keeping our tank filled with water. He's mentioned the woes and trials of getting water recently in these posts:

When Getting Water Isn't Easy
When Getting Water Isn't Easy - Again

Last year, when our temperatures dropped down to 8°F, our pipes froze and our pump broke. We were without water for several days. MIL and her hubby showed up to rescue us and replace the pump.

Last year, dh was away from home for several months, but thank goodness he's home with us now, and he took the initiative to cover the pump and give it its own warming lamp. It's one happy pump! :-)

Until next time.

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Heath Ledger - Dead at 28

I was just talking about Heath Ledger yesterday. One of my favorite ever movies is A Knight's Tale. I watched that movie dozens of times, I've always like hearing different accents, especially the Australian accent.

Yesterday, I discovered that Heath Ledger portrayed one of the gay cowboys in Brokeback Mountain. I was shocked to learn that. Just shocked.

And just a few minutes ago we saw on the news that Heath Ledger is dead. Barely 28 years old.

Sad.

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Hey, A Word I Finally Recognize!

I have Dictionary.com's Word of the Day on my site and the words are almost always new to me.

I know this word because at my job we use it to describe a person who has lost vision later in life, rather than someone born without vision.

For example, a person in an accident who loses their sight, but up until that time had vision.

Until next time.

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Pretty Good Day

I got to stay home today while dh and ds2 went to work.

I got the kitchen cleaned up including sweeping and mopping the floor. It wasn't too bad, ds2 has been keeping it cleaned up pretty good.

I made a pork roast with potatoes and onions in the crock pot. For dinner, I strained the broth, made it into gravy, heated frozen green beans and warmed up some rolls.

Oh, I finished the vest I was knitting. Pictures soon.

I'm going to wash the dishes from dinner and tidy up the kitchen again!

Until next time.

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Just a Few Random Things

I get to work really early in the morning so I usually have some time to get a few things accomplished. Sometimes I blog, sometimes I just read blogs. This morning I decided to spend $4 and order myself a duplicate driver's license so I can stop worrying about where mine went. That can be done online in my state. I wonder if someone could steal my identity if I dropped it someplace? Second, I ordered another of those child support EFT cards which cost me $5 to replace it - had to call them to do that.

I made a long TO-DO list. So many things to do that keep floating around in my head. Maybe if I put it down on paper I can concentrate better without it all cluttering up my head.

Here's a blog post I want to look over more carefully one of these days: Frugal Ideas from Frugal Upstate.

One of our clients who regularly brings in baked goodies to share with all of us told me about this one recipe that is a big hit wherever she takes it: Dump Cake. Totally unhealthy, but it sounded interesting...

Today I sold the only book I have listed on Half.com. I listed it yesterday. That has to be a record! I bought it from Amazon.com for dh, it wasn't what he thought it was going to be. I used a gift certificate, it cost $11.97, it sold on Half for $10.50.

We're signed up to bring goodies for Sunday service on the 20th. I've decided on one of the things I'm going to bring. It's fun bringing the snacks! A hint: The Magic Bullet makes peanuts into really yummy peanut butter! And I have this orange blossom raw honey... mmmm...

It has become so exciting to go to the grocery store - I keep finding apostrophe abuse and unnecessary quotation marks! Dh's phone plan allows unlimited text messages and sending of photos, so I'm always asking him for his phone. He's almost as excited as I am when I find one. LOL. We are easy to entertain. Oh, take a look at the demonic manifestation in ds2's tonsil. Don't forget to check out the closeup of the eyeball. Bwah. I even caught a gander at it with my own eyes and wow, it sure looks like a teensy, tiny eyeball in there. Pastor assured him it's not a demon, as a demon wouldn't want to be in him to begin with. ;-)

Speaking of ahem, eyeballs... I think today is my father's birthday. How he managed to be the topic of my first blog post ever, I'll never know!

Nighty-night! Don't let the bed bugs bite!

Until next time.

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No Poo - 167 days

I began the No Poo Experiment on July 30th, 2007.

What is No Poo, you ask? Well, it means not using shampoo on one's hair. That's right, I discontinued shampooing -- with chemical-laden, hormone-disrupting, commercially-produced detergents -- 167 days ago. (Shhhh, I did shampoo at my hairdresser's request on my wedding day).

My hair is doing great. The first thing I noticed, and continue to notice is my hair isn't falling out like it used to. It is normal to lose a few strands of hair but when I'd shower there would always be a pretty good sized wad to deal with. My scalp seems much healthier also.

I wash my hair every other day. I have a plastic container with a screw on lid that I keep my baking soda in, and an old shampoo bottle (take THAT commercial shampoo companies!) which holds my apple cider vinegar.

I just plunk some baking soda into the plastic glass I keep in the shower, then fill it up with water. Pour it over my head and massage my scalp all over. Rinse, and do the same with some vinegar in the cup diluted to the top with water. I pretty much guesstimate the amounts, but I can tell when I don't get enough baking soda, because my hair feels heavy and can have a greasy look to it.

I love it! It's inexpensive and all natural!

You can check one of my previous posts on No Poo (Day Eleven) where I include some helpful links which persuaded me to embark on the No Poo Experiment.

Until next time.

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Why Can't Every Day Be Like Yesterday?

I can't seem to find the rhyme or reason for why I have energy. All of a sudden, I'm struck with inspiration and drive to get something done. Other times, I feel like I'm trying to walk with lead shoes. Heavy lead shoes.

Yesterday started out early in the morning, around 2:30am. Dh was just getting up to get his day started and I got up for some reason - I don't remember. I immediately started in looking for things that are missing:

1. My driver's license
2. A debit card connected to child support money being sent to me (taken first from dh's check)
3. 2008 calendar to go on the wall beside me

I have no idea what happened to my driver's license. I cannot remember the last time I used it. I was asked for it, to show proof of identification when using a debit card as a credit card the other day and it wasn't where it should be. It's not on my desk, nor any other common place.

I went through a bunch of old mail looking for the child support debit card. Nada. Last night I found a stub from when they were sending checks, which gives a website that I can go to and see what is going on with the account.

I didn't look too hard for the calendars, as I discovered earlier today they are right on my desk, between the printer and the monitor.

Probably around 4am, I decided to just give up and go back to bed, because I was so overwhelmed with everything that had to be done. My mind kept whirring for a while and I discarded each concern as they came and finally fell to sleep again.

I got up at 8am and had some breakfast, a couple of chicken sausages with sauerkraut. Ds1 came out of his room. I have been giving him a trial period of keeping his room clean to see if he can do it, so I don't have to invade his territory. He has been doing a fairly good job, especially at bringing his dishes back into the kitchen. There was only a bowl and a plate in there when I asked him to bring them out. But he still needs some help, it was pretty messy. We opened a window to let in some fresh air and we began working on it together. It took more than two hours to get it completely cleaned up again.

Then I decided to clean ds2's room as a surprise to him. I also hoped it would illustrate to him how wonderful it is that he has been milking for us lately. Not every single day, but he is taking on that chore at least a couple days a week and it has really been a great thing. I don't hate milking, but some days I get home from work and I'm just worn out. It is also very pleasant to have a break from milking a couple days a week. I have been the sole milker for over a year now, and it does become a bit tedious.

That took a while, and then I started on dinner. Around 2:30 I put some of our own beef on the stove. Most of our beef is gone, but we still have some stew meat and soup meat, and a few other cuts. The soup meat are rounds of leg meat with a round bone in them, the stew meat is cut into chunks. I started that boiling with an onion and some garlic, and a splash of vinegar to help extract the calcium from the bones.

I worked on the kitchen on and off throughout the day. I cleaned the new popcorn maker so the grease wouldn't harden - I actually did that first thing in the morning.

I also took readings from our electrical meter, to see how much electricity it uses to run our dryer at the "on-peak" periods. With minimal other things turned on in the house, and only the dryer running, we used 6 kilowatt hours. On-peak costs $0.13 per kilowatt hour, so it costs $0.78 to run the dryer between 9am and 9pm, Monday through Friday. Between 9pm and 9am, it is significantly cheaper, $0.05 per kilowatt hour, coming in at $0.30.

I also ran a test on the air conditioning fan, which sometimes runs 24 hours a day... to my chagrin, I discovered it costs approximately $3.12 to run between 9am and 9pm. OUCH. No wonder our electricity bill has skyrocketed!! I have just not had the energy to figure these things out, and have just let things go on without saying anything.

I began looking at the electricity usage when I ordered this P3 International Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor for myself for Christmas (thanks, Mom!). I am still checking what various things in the house use in the way of electricity.

I am also making another batch of Pioneer Woman's Butternut Squash Puree. That means I need to get the squash baking in the oven!

Oh and this morning, I used a quart of kefir given to me by my job to put into the soft serve ice cream maker and made soft serve kefir, which tastes like yogurt.

Okay, I had better back into the kitchen. It's now 2:13pm.

Until next time.

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