Starting the odds and ends

 In some ways I am surprised that we are nearly to the end of February, and in others, it feels like 365 days already! Humans can cram a lot of life into a short amount of time, can't they? Normally I would have had my Valentine decors up for some color during the dreary Winter days, and by now, I would have taken those down and put up the St. Patrick's Day stuff. I suppose I could still have done it, put up what I could and asked Woodchuck to help with the rest, but I have so much other stuff to focus on right now, and need a little less clutter around me.

I spent some of my post-op working on a gift for my cousin, and finished it. I also started a second gift for her, though am kind of getting out of the Yule mood now and might need to move on to other themed items. I can finish her second gift later this year 😀 Here's the finished one:

And the next one that was started! This one will be all traditional holiday colors of red, green, and white, and will have some sparkle too.

I've read 6 books this year so far, started 3 or 4 that I didn't like and gave up on, and am currently reading a really good one about the traditions, stories, and values of the Lakota people. It really is a fitting read for the times we are in, and kind of calms my spirit down. (This book that is pictured is not that current book).

I've had a headache/migraine every day for months now. When my head doesn't hurt, I still have all of the visual stuff, and I'm getting really tired of it. Once again, doctors can't determine what is going on. Some think it's something in my neck causing it, others think it's hormonal. My sister gets them too....we have a lot of medical consistencies, lol. So on my worst days, and when it is so dreary outside that I don't even want to get out of bed, I wear these beauties. Let me just say, you don't really realize the difference they make until you take them off! My safety glasses that I use at the land and at home when I mow are yellow lenses, and when I take them off, it's a shock to the system! My shoulders literally droop and I'm all like, "Oh man, everything looks so blah now." I got these for $1 at a resale shop 😍

As of yet, the hip surgery hasn't helped my various ankle and foot pains. So I finally broke out the grounding socks. I really need to get better about using those and the tens unit, because right now I am just relying on a natural/home-made pain oil, and ice packs, along with all of my exercises. 

We finally gave in and got Netflix just so we could watch Stranger Things. We borrowed season one and two from a friend years ago and have been resisting the Netflix lure. We pay so much already for t.v./phones, etc. that another $20 a month was not in the cards, but we figure we could swing one month and then cancel once we were done watching, lol. Turns out that Pierogi likes the program too! Initially, Woodchuck was so into it that he was able to stay awake, but now I spend my evenings yelling for him to wake up because he's missing the good parts. I try to be understanding....one day I will be his age and maybe I won't be able to stay awake either. 

Speaking of Pierogi, she is really enjoying having her replacement feather toy! She loves playing on the bed with it, because when she runs she has traction on the bedspread, lol. Speaking of, I am SO looking forward to a new bedspread when we move into the new house! This one has faded, has nail holes from Pierogi, is all lumpy from numerous washes, and has shrunk. Some times it's the little things like a new bedspread that perk you up. I haven't decided yet on what to get. Woodchuck wants something big and fluffy, I want something unique and artsy and probably colorful. I will figure it out when I need to.

I got myself out to the local library down the road for a Valentine gnome craft. I had a lot of fun and stayed for about an hour. Another person in attendance even made me a cup of hot tea 😍

I need to trim the beard, and figure out how to keep the hat tassels from fraying anymore, but other than that it's done and adorable!

I've also been watching this spot on the upstairs bathroom ceiling. When we had the roofs redone last year, we asked them to check it out. He told us that because there was no rotten wood anywhere, etc. that this would be something with a beam and insulation and not to worry. But with every thaw, the spot gets darker. 

We recently had to go to the land to meet with the septic guy. When the elevations were thrown by his employee, we were told that we may need to remove another row of trees and they would know in about a weeks a time. We never heard from them. So the owner was going to meet us out there to take a look. We need to know now because 1) I can't help Woodchuck cut and move trees because of my hip surgery 2) he has sinus/nose surgery in about two weeks in early-March and will have restrictions on lifting and straining 3) if they break ground in April, we need to have those trees out by then. All of that and Woodchuck working 6 days a week, also doing the demo work on the oldest boys bathroom right now, and the weather is back to Winter. 

But on the day we went to the land to meet the guy, it was beautiful! The snow was mostly gone, and I could do some walking around, but I couldn't do any work. We waited for half an hour past the meet time, and he hadn't showed up, so Woodchuck called him and left a message and we hit the road. Here are some pictures from the walk around.

The ice shelf on the front ditch was no joke! There was also a couple of tiny rapids but the videos won't load here anymore.

Nearly every single pumpkin, and all seeds from them, have been eaten now. I doubt anything will be left to take hold  and to grow. The largest pumpkin was left with just a shell, like it was a paper mache' bowl! Maybe I'll repurpose it and put some nuts and seeds in it for the birds.

I made some mental notes of what needs to be done by us right away. The arborvitae we planted up front last year have been completely stripped again, so we need to cage them ASAP. Of course, this day out there would have been perfect to do it, and when we head back out tomorrow to meet the septic guy, there will be snow on the ground and more danger for me in moving around without getting hurt. I just have to pause, exhale, and remind myself that it will all work out.

After making stops on the way home, we finally made the cheese crackers that I've been wanting to try for the past few months! I am not great with dough, but also just wanted us to do something fun together instead of it always being work. We would do some things differently next time, and they really didn't taste just like store-bought, but they were good! WAY too much fat to eat them often though 😩The recipe is from Crowded Kitchen, and they have a new cookbook being released! I ordered it for myself for my birthday.

Look at them! Because some of the dough was left thicker, some of them didn't crisp up well. The recipe said you could pop them in the oven the next day if you wanted to crisp them back up. I mistakenly left that up to Woodchuck.

And he burned them. I still ate them because they are really expensive to make for such a small amount of crackers, but yuck! 😫 Struggles with his attention, focus, understanding, comprehension, etc. seem to be getting worse and that makes my worry grow at the thought of living on 15 acres that we need to take care of. He insists that he is fine, but when would anyone actually admit that they aren't? I am moving forward like everything is a go, but I can't shake the feeling that we are making a mistake by building a home out there.

We had a couple of GLORIOUS days of fake Spring. Temps near 70, sunshine, open windows, birds singing. Even Pierogi crawled out from her Cat Cave (a tent I make her with the comforter every morning) and ran to the open window. After getting too hot in the direct sunlight, she decided to lounge on her cat tree.

Of course, I had just started to let myself daydream about how to go about utilizing things from here at the land. The rain barrel was one recent thought. And then, on one of the beautiful days where I had the back door open and was near it doing dishes, I saw the rain barrel split open. We ALWAYS drain it, and tuck it away for the Winter....this was the first season that we didn't. I'm going to look into ways to try and fix it before casting it off. Anyone have this happen and have luck trying to fix it? Unfortunately, it's not an even/level crack, which might make it harder to fix?

While I am stepping back from the business right now and not making a lot of commitments with it yet, I did decide to get more business cards after recently using the last one up. I do have one market on the calendar in June where the theme is eco-friendly!

I am mobile, and motivated enough now to finally start getting through some stuff in the house and thinking about what I want to take to the rummage sale in April, pack up, donate, etc. We made a plan to not pack up too much more until after the rummage sale when we know better what we will be left with for the move. I've got some art projects that I want to finish that were started last year before surgery. I also recently attended an online seminar for invasive aquatic plants and it only reiterates how I am horrible at aquatic anything. I am a Pisces, I love water, but maintenance of it and all that inhabits it is not my forte'! 

And for a bright spot in the writing....a photo memory of Pierogi popped up recently. This was not long after we adopted her, and her tummy was still shaved from being fixed. She was so young in this photo that she didn't even have any of her nose freckles yet. Her eyes used to be a peachy color, that would some times be more yellow. Now they are more yellow, that some times turns more of a hazel green. She, and massive amounts of sheer will power, are the only things getting me through each day without being in the corner, crying and sucking my thumb.

Stay tuned! Land updates, along with updates on the demo of our oldest sons bathroom, are coming next!