Stress over time....

 Renovations gone wrong.....so many variables to deal with this time around.

My husband thought it would be grand to just take a short vacation while the bedroom carpet was removed and new flooring installed.  We went, we returned, and we are so frustrated right now.

First, we hired the same person who did our living room and kitchen bathroom.  Second, we hire him for chicken duty, and watering seedlings, so we do know him.

Came home to find the flooring installed in the wrong direction, and he knocked a large hole in one wall (we are still waiting for him to explain, but he will be fixing it on his dollar not ours, which also delays painting, which should have been done before new flooring....see what I mean about stress?).

He also did not water my seedlings.  It appears that he watered one time while we were done.  He literally was here every single day and asked me and I explained how to water them (he's watered them before).  98% of my seedlings most likely won't make it.  I'm beyond livid.  

This morning I get a call that my youngest daughter's cat is in distress and sick.  I am jumping in the shower and there will be an emergency vet visit.   Could this week go any worse?

...and it begins!

.....tomorrow morning.

We have not only carpet, but tile to remove (hard to explain what they did, like I said built for someone in a wheelchair), before the flooring goes in.

Oh, and my husband said, picking out the paint was on me.  Hm.  He wasn't that thrilled with the living room color until it was all done.  Not sure how this will turn out ha ha!  I will get samples before buying it.

Blog posts should resume after we are done or close to being done.  Hopefully some photos to share some time next week.

Coffee hour with me . . .

Grab a cup of coffee and let's have a short chat.

Not many "homesteading" things going on right now.  I'm mostly doing the purge/pack/donate motions.  There may be more take out dinners than home cooked for a few weeks.  We have however picked up seed potatoes for the garden.

Chicken's watering units got a good scrubbing.  The sun has been shining again, and a bit warmer, so they are laying pretty well right now.  Rain returns this weekend.

We are a bit frustrated with the company buy out.  We are in limbo with health insurance and he just had a check up.  I got a nice big bill of $210.00.  Hopefully the new cards will show up ASAP and I can get this mess taken care of.  

I got one camper ornament completely finished.  I forgot how much work goes into just one.  I have the pieces already made, but have a dozen or so to actually assemble.  I'd like to have them done for the craft show next month.  I've been so busy with the bedroom, that my crochet time is about minuscule right now.

Before I added the cheese.

I finally got some garden tomatoes out of the freezer, and tried enchilada (chicken) soup for the first time.  We have also enjoyed some home canned lemony-tomato basil soup (keto bread for hubby, and we put home canned cowboy candy in the grilled cheese).  That's a bit of butter in the soup.  Mmmm!  

Tonight is the last night to clear out the remaining furniture in the master bedroom.    The work begins tomorrow.  I'll be so glad to get that stinky carpet removed, but it has been a whirlwind so far.

Random Chit Chat ~ Post Office Closed ~ Finished and Unfinished and other tidbits

 I went to our small town post office last weekend to mail a package to a friend.  There was a hand written note on the door that they were closed "due to staffing issues."  How is this happening?  Anyway, we didn't get mail delivered either.

Finished!  A 17th set of pot holders ha ha!  I had to finish them, so that is done, but I won't be starting a new set any time soon.  Hopefully I will sell them next month, and I do have to deliver a set soon.

Another unfinished crochet project - doll afghan, but it's getting ripped out and yarn put away.  I think I was just looking for something new to sell.  Anyway, more yarn found, ha ha!

I pulled the totes out from under our bed.  One went upstairs, one had yarn, and one had a lot of stationary.  I pitched the envelopes (gone bad, discolored etc) and kept the paper for lists at my desk.  The last tote is my husband's college stuff.  He'll have to go thru that on his own.  Oh, and I found printer paper and matching envelopes. 

New rule for me:  Do not store anything under the bed!!  We just forget it's there, and collects dust, and makes it hard to clean under there.  Having carpet made it worse, but it's one bad habit to break this year.

I purged more clothing, and dusted a lot more. I started another box for donations.  Anyway, getting a lot more done, but I feel busier and busier, and boy the lists are going mad with reminders and what not.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

We are approaching the count down on starting the carpet removal.  It's been a process for this room.  It's funny how fast (or slow) a job can go, when it involves where you sleep at night. 

Anyway, expect blurps in my blog posts.  We plan to start this Friday.  It will become crazy busy, as I try and figure out how to survive with things a hot mess again.

I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom (although all our kids have moved out)

The weather . . .

Cold, in the 30's but will warm up to the 50's this weekend.

As I look outside my window . . .

There is more snow.

Right now I am . . .

Brewing coffee.  The time change has me all messed up.

Thinking and pondering . . .

We thought about it, and and pondered, and decided to sell our record player and vinyl.  We used it twice since we've had it over the last 14 years.

On my TV . . .

Anything that looks interesting.

Listening to . . .

Country.

On my lunch plate. . .

Have no idea.

On my dinner plate . . .

Have no idea.

On the menu. . .

-grilled cheese, home canned tomato-basil soup

-enchilada soup

-leftovers

On my reading pile. . .

No reading as I am clearing the bedroom.

On the to-do list . . .

-Dust
-laundry
-plan meals
-work on bedroom

Plans for the week . . .

Take all the wall decor down in the master bedroom, box it up, remove any furniture other than the bed (still making a plan).  I finally convinced my husband to work on the bedroom first, then the closet (not all at once as he wanted).  I still have a lot of work to purge the closet (craft related supplies, purge shoes/boots, more clothing etc etc).

What I am creating . . .

I'm down to the last two color sections on our blanket, but need to check my yarn stash for gray.  I was incorrect on how much I needed, and may need to get more.

My simple pleasure . . .

Journaling.

Looking around the house . . .

Well, it looks as it would if you emptied an entire room into another room.  Again.

From the camera . . .

One of the many 45's I have. I have many from the 80's, and bought them in our home town at a record store that is still in business.

Bible Verse, Devotional . . .

Prayers for Hope, as she struggles daily with the loss of her husband.

A Few of my Favorite Things . . .

 

By "few" in this post, I really do mean a few.  There isn't much going on, as it is winter.  We got more snow last night too.  I managed to box up a bookshelf, dust it off and move it all out of the bedroom.  

I found books to a series I donated, and books to a series I am reading.  I really should just start using the library again ha ha!

I got after my husband for his willy nilly decisions/plans for the bedroom.  First, the best time to paint is when the carpet is out, and before flooring goes down.  He is really driving me nuts, so I just try to stick to the fact everything has to be moved out to get that stinky 14 plus year old carpet out.  The  one thing we have to figure out is where to sleep for a few days if we can't just slide the bed back and forth as the work is done.  We'll figure it out.

Although we dropped off donations, I now have more, and it just gets easier as we do this extreme clean.

I purchased a deep fryer strainer (not sure what the proper name of this is) to blanch vegetables with.  I can easily strain off the hot water, and place the entire basket into my ice bath, then drain and freeze.  It makes my life much easier.

I love this chef's knife, but wish I had an 8 inch one as well.  It is a 10 inch Victorinox chef's knife.  It's on the wish list for now.  The 8 inch sells for $50 some dollars right now.  I'm hoping the prices drop.  This knife works the best for slicing up harder squash like spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and butternut.

Bedroom Purge/Pack ~ Where's the Crust Pizza ~ Einkorn Peanut Butter Cookies

 I'll admit, if I was my husband, I would not want to do a thing in the mornings with his schedule.  By the way, that crazy schedule has now ended as of today.

However, baking him peanut butter cookies got him motivated.

We cleaned in the bedroom for almost 2 hours, purged, tossed stuff, vacuumed, dusted.....still not done.  The one fall back with a large bedroom, is more "stuff."   The bedroom has a tall ceiling, and is approximately 21 x 15 feet.  Yeah, that large, and originally built for a person in a wheel chair.  

It has really made me realize how much crafting stuff I still own.  I'm on the fence with getting rid of things like macramé, as I may feel like making some hanging plant holders.  Anyway, just lots of "stuff."  I found an entire container filled with all sorts of sequins.  I thought I gave that away, but one of the daughter's must have snuck that back into our closet.  Hmpf.  It's being donated.

My husband stood up and said, "there we are all ready"  and I had to laugh.  There are totes under the bed, a bookshelf I have to pack up and move out, and make decisions on keeping some other stuff still in there.  Oh, and pack up our night stands, move them out.

I'm on the fence with this new recipe.  It tasted good, but I think I would make changes.  First, the crust is too thin I think.  I would maybe double it.  I also think my home canned pizza sauce was not cooked thick enough this time.  I would like to try it with Italian sausage too.  Good, a bit messy, as it is not finger food and definitely fork food.  The crust is basically cheeses, egg, pepper and garlic powder.

Recipe is Where's the Crust Pizza, by Plain Chicken online.

The pan looks messy, because I had to scoop some out quickly, for my husband to take to work.  I didn't have time to let it cool for him.  Anyway, a gluten free, but not calorie free crust.

Sort of a boring post, but it's winter here and there is still snow on the ground, so not much going on homestead-wise.