Grocery bills rising

Well we made my son's stepping stone. Will post a pic with this. I always love how when you remove them from the mold they dry they are shiny like glass. Very pretty. 
Anyway I have to share this from Preparedness Pro  Now as I've said I take any news story with some caution (attention to news sources and such) and research. This one hits home as I've been watching this myself for awhile. The woman who writes this was on one of the preppers shows (though now they seem to be losing interest in showing the actual stories and are asking people to do some crazy stuff for the camera...I guess they don't think preppers are as crazy as they thought they'd be for the most part and needed more of an entertainment factor....) anyway. She is very good about doing her own research and following up on her own sources before she posts things. Very down to earth. A lot of the things she posts are very resourceful whether you prep or not. Anyway I don't even need her report (though it is very well done and thought out) to tell me that we are headed downhill economy wise and the cost of groceries are going to skyrocket. This is mainly because there are a plethora of things coming together to make this happen. First off the drought that took out so much of our nations crop as well as other weather disasters. It isn't just in the US either it has been worldwide. I believe I posted a global drought impact map awhile back. Global drought monitor. Now again, this is just the drought this is not even taking into consideration the other weather that has come into play and been more widespread and stronger than it has in a long time. Tornadoes, floods, hail storms, wind storms, etc.... just to name a few. This loss of crops means not just a loss of those types of foods. This affects the cost of gasoline (Ethanol/corn), feed for livestock, loss of livestock as farmers cull their herds and flocks, in turn this hits the grocery stores and restaurants hard. People are all ready having trouble finding jobs (mainly other than low paying jobs that can't maintain a family income even though they are trying). More and more people are having to rely on help to make it. It is a domino effect we are looking at. Even the economists are saying we are in a downward spiral. 

Catalog review 3

Falling a bit behind on this but things have been so busy haven't had time. Also had this typed out once and comp. crashed I think.

1. Walter Drake Interesting. Has a few things I seriously might order. (like some of the bowls on the front) Lots of low cost gift type items. Lots of variety and lots of those as seen on tv type of items. Worth it for some gift shopping ideas or those finding things that make life easier items. 

2. The Lighter Side This one has a lot of fun unique gift items and is generally just fun to look through. Lots of fun, collector type, or joke type items as well. T-shirts and such are not bad priced either. 

3. Destination XL or DXL Mens big and tall clothing store. Definitely has some of the harder to find clothing sizes (like 6 and 7xl) BUT the clothes are really pretty costly. Worth a look though for the harder to find clothing sizes for men. Unsure of quality.

4. Discount School Supply Active and Discount School Supply Infants and toddlers  I put these two together cause it is the same link for both. Full of very interesting ideas for the young crowd. A a bit on the expensive side for the average household but if you are running a home daycare or for say educating larger groups etc this would be excellent. 

5. Easy Comforts personal care and health care needs items. This would be great for the elderly or disabled especially. Cost does not seem too bad for the items. I plan on sharing this one with my elderly mother. Some unique or hard to find items as well.     

6. Gardener's Supply Company The on sale items are not bad. This has some great garden supplies in it just some of them can be pretty costly.

Will continue later... LOL Got a little one that it is about time for bed for her. 

My daughters artwork :)  

Well today went really really well. We had our meeting and that went even better than I ever expected. Don't want to say too much til after court date but lets just say things definitely seem to be falling in our favor. Got a hold of the missing code and lets just say that one may turn out to be key. I think they are used to dealing with people who just take things at face value and don't research or ask questions. I learned a long time ago always check things out on your own. I got screwed over a few times for not doing so as thoroughly as I do now. 
In any case waiting to see if this one person calls me back but we'll see what happens. In any case our court date is approaching and I all ready know what plea I shall enter and then we'll see how this all goes after that. ;) 

On another note I finally got my daughter to turn in her art assignment which was 3 drawings showing line (suggested line), texture, etc so they could see what kind of skills she has and they were very impressed with her work. Hoping this keeps her motivated as neither of the two doing schooling right now seem to have as much of that as they need but trying to get them back on track again.

I got a large amount of catalogs some of which are really interesting that I will do reviews on later. Haven't had a chance yet. Did watch a movie the other night...Humans vs. Zombies it was very B-grade but at the same time not bad. 

I am in a super good mood right now. Wanting to draw or sing or something (dance...dancing would be good) anyway I've also started playing a game on the PS2 called frequency. It is a DJ mix type game and it is kinda hard at first but I am hooked. 

Stepping stone

Yesterday was really too busy for me to blog any...despite the fact that we canceled pretty much everything we'd had scheduled. No one was feeling good and I could hardly stay awake. I think my lupus flare up has decided to stick around for awhile. :/ All the stuff we had for yesterday was moved to tomorrow. Tomorrow is also Chance's birthday. Our youngest son who had trisomy 18 and passed at birth. (For more information on Trisomy 18 Trisomy18.org I plan on putting more information about it on facebook as my ex friend was trying to tell my oldest daughter a bunch of untrue things about this condition and calling me a liar about it even though they could have looked it up herself and saw the facts for them self. He would have been 5 this year. Every year we buy and create a stepping stone for him. This year we went with a solar light in the center of it and glow in the dark stones. I hope eventually to have a rock garden especially for these stones with some aloe and cactus and such in it. We also usually make a cake which I need to see if I have one to make. We will have to probably do it in the evening tomorrow and let it set up for the next day or so since the weather is wet for a change. Today my oldest finally gets to go to the gastro and hopefully get started figuring out what has made her so sick for so long. Unfortunately Crohn's runs in our family and so this is a possibility but hoping that it is something fixable or something that she can bring under control to have a much more comfortable life rather than dealing with this all the time. On the front of the fight with the city I found out a few things yesterday that actually help some and then tomorrow I should know more and have a more definitive look on how we want to do things. Well just got a phone call and looks like one of those things will be taken care of today....

What do I want???

 Just some artwork...I need to take more photos for my blogs :P

Today was kind of tiring but the week isn't over. As I said in my previous blog we spent 2 hours at least at the dentist office. My youngest had to have a spacer put in and it was her first time doing this with out one of us back there. *Sniff* My son is going to have to see an orthodontist before we figure out what comes next for him. He is like me. Baby teeth don't want to come out and some teeth never formed. Poor kid. Just waiting mostly to see what insurance tells them they can do. 
It was really hot today and I am wishing for some decent fall weather to come in and cool things off so I can get some serious yard work done providing I can get the kids to actually help with Abby. Hubby tries but hadn't been home much though he has been this week but we've been trying to get stuff done. 
I am hopefully going to find out more on what to do with our situation regarding the city tomorrow. Today we found out that the city basically wants us to go to court and plead our case and probably pay court costs but not the fine (though from the sounds of it court costs will likely be MORE than the fine) They claim they will leave us alone after this and that they are going to look into the violations I mentioned in the paper that are all around at neighbors houses including a HUGE wood pile with concrete chunks in it and poles and such, several other wood piles, tall grass etc. They kept talking about our yard and the only thing we can deduce is they are talking about the parts I hadn't weed eated since they last had seen it yet...again. My weedeater sucks by the way. I want to get one like what I saw in fingerhut that I can pay out that weed eats and also can mow some. Hubby has mowed when he is home (Our mower is really touchy or I'd be doing it I'd like to get the other one fixed so I can) anyway.... We have it all picked up. Just a small spot or so in the carport but otherwise that looks good. We were told we could likely keep our wood shed after I explained about it having the metal braces and such in it. (I photographed EVERYTHING that I could think of by the way I just need to print the photos) I also paid for the article out of the news star showing that the ordinance was changed in 2009 to allow chickens in town. I just wish I could find the other papers I need. I did print off all the ordinance stuff they gave me. I get the impression they are used to dealing with people that take things at face value. I learned not to do that a long time ago. ALWAYS do your own research. Anyway we'll see how this plays out. Got a little longer to go. I still want to move when this place is paid off. I want to live somewhere that I can have a garden that I can expand on... a greenhouse even. I want to have my chickens maybe some quail and doves. I want to have maybe a few goats and learn to process goat cheese and milk. I want to be at least semi self sufficient. I want that feeling of peace that living in the country always brought me no matter what I was going through and I've been through some rough sh*t in my lifetime. I want trees. I would love it even more if I had woods to escape in or a canyon or creek. I want to have access to an out of the way road or something to ride a bike on or go for walks. (too much?) I want most of all to not have other people up my arse to tell me how to live or have to worry constantly about who is going to jump in line to screw with me next. Yeah I want some other things I know I can never/will never have but I can still daydream about those LOL There are things though that are accessible that I can try for. I plan to reach for the stars. I think where I am now I am not in a place that allows for growth or for forward movement in life. In several different ways.

Catalog review part 2

Well I got a good sized stack of them today and we had a dental appt for two of the kids and actually sat there long enough to look through them all. (at least two hours with only one kid back there at a time and at least one of them driving us batty) so here they are....

1. Growers Supply  This one really impressed me. Huge catalog and I think just about anything you might need for greenhouses, gardening, and even poultry, small farm needs, etc. They even sent a free pair of gardening gloves and this was all inside a sample of their foil insulation product. (What I used to carry my catalogs today) Very nice. Good prices really for everything as well. I might even order our replacement pump for our water cooler from it. Not sure yet. If we ever get moved out to the country where we can have a greenhouse I know where to get some of my materials from. Very nice and worth a look.

2. Terry's Village  I saw lots of Christmas ideas in here for good prices. (Shipping doesn't look too bad either) Lots of homey type crafts and such. Really not much to say other than a good place for gift ideas within budget. 

3. Design Toscano Something for everyone I think. Varying price range from affordable to a bit on the expensive (but worth it) side. Lots of art and statues for varying tastes. I told hubby after our problems with the city I want this Bwahahahahahah in our yard. (Hercules and Diomedes....Hey it is Greek art)  Anyway this one just has some absolutely awesome stuff in it. Steampunk Skull Plenty of things I'd love to have all over my house and yard. Can't say enough about it. 

4. S&S Worldwide This one has pretty widely varying price ranges as well. Think of it as a bit more extensive Oriental Trading Company catalog and with maybe a bit more quality items. It has tons of crafts supplies that you can buy in bulk for classrooms or whatever and then it also has therapy type items like for people with arthritis or learning disabilities. It is definitely worth a look. Saw a bunch of stuff that I would possibly want to get later on. I would love to kind of have a store where people come in and buy the art kit and there is a table set up for them to work on them with their kids and such. Just something fun to do. 

5. The Land of Nod  (Computer crashed half way through my reviews but thankfully it saved for me) anyway this one while a bit expensive is pretty awesome. Besides having very unique whimsical items they also have ideas for creating a personalized space for your little one as well. Such as putting those boards you can build lego cities on...on the wall. Really cute decorating ideas. Also one bedding piece caught my attention. It was a princess and the pea bed set and had CUTE the pea was adorable. They have something for pretty much any taste and it looks to me like the catalog itself is just a small sampling of their wares. Definitely worth a look for anyone with kids of any age.

6. Soft Surroundings  This one is for clothing and I will say I like the style and the clothes look to be uber comfortable. However this one is pretty out of my price range though it might be fitting for others. 

7. Sur La Table This one while some things can be a bit pricey still seemed pretty reasonable for the most part. It would be a great place to find gifts for serious cooks and people who enjoy their time in the kitchen. Has some pretty unique items I think as well. Have a good variety of aprons too which is something I don't see a lot of. (Usually see a variety of plain ole barbeque type) This one had some stuff for halloween that was kind of cute. Halloween fun 

8. Personal Creations This one is as the name says. Personalized gift items and the prices are pretty good. I saw a few things I wouldn't mind getting for friends or family. Definitely worth a look for the holidays ;) 

Looks like that concludes my catalog adventures for today. Definitely helps with the gift ideas too.  

Catalogs Reviews: Part 1.

 one of my drawings 

For some reason I've always enjoyed perusing catalogs. I guess I'm a bit of a daydreamer. I recently decided to send off for a bunch of free ones and see what they were like. The site I used is Catalog Monster. I thought it might be kind of fun to review them. I didn't order every single catalog by the way though it may seem like it LOL. Just the ones I thought I would find interesting to look through and see if they are places I might eventually be interested in ordering from. The first ones I received contained some really pricey items. Anyway here goes...*and I will include the links to the sites if possible in case anyone is interested in these for themselves...

Magic Kitchen  This one is a prepared meal site. It proclaims to be good for senior citizens which is what had caught my attention and I wanted to see what they had to offer and about the cost as it may have been something my Mom might have been interested in but to be honest it seems a bit pricey. Not sure of the quality of the meals...they may be quite good but to me seemed to resemble tv dinners. Though you do have the option of choosing a selection based on like if you are watching your salt intake or cholesterol then you can choose a "set" of meals that keep that in mind. One "set" for example is the One serving meals selection number 1...
Chicken marsala, Mashed potatoes
Spinach Mushroom lasagna
Beef with Bordelaise sauce, Rice with mixed vegetables
Shrimp fettucini alfredo, Verdura flatbread
(then this repeats so apparently 2 of each) 
then for dessert 
Tiramasu
Chocolate Ganache cake

This in single servings is $135.99 (plus shipping) and again these to me resemble the type of meals you would find in your freezer section at the grocery store....so really if it is something you are interested in and in your price range check it out but I believe in our situation this is just not something that would save any of us any money or really be anything my Mom would be interested in. 

Catalog 2.
Mark T. Wendell Tea Company  Now this one is more my style. I enjoy tea and I enjoy different flavors. One of my favorites is Orange spice though I like some variety. This one, while a bit above my price range for the most part, seems more reasonable in what they ask. This looks to me like some high quality tea though I've not had a chance to try any and they also offer supplies such as diffusers and tea pots. Some examples of prices are 2" Snap Mesh Tea Ball spoon $3.25 Finum Tea Control Teapots: $25.00-$27.00
Pheonix and dragon teapot with 2 cups $52.00 and I saw teas ranging anywhere from $5 something for some fruit varieties to $36.00 for some of the loose teas. A bit of something for everyone I think.

Catalog 3. 
Cabela's Garden Harvest
Now this one is for the named catalog specifically though the link leads to where pretty much all of Cabela's catalogs are. I have ordered a few different ones from there. This one really was pretty reasonable while still above my price range I could see spending the amounts asked for on the items. This one in particular was mostly based around meat processing, drying, and seasonings. I swear I think you could open your own meat processing/sausage/jerky type set up with this stuff. :P 
Anyway check it out. I might hang on to this one.

Catalog 4. 
Pioneer Linens 
Okay this one...I have to admit the first page really makes me wonder about some people. Yes I can see spending money on things that mean a lot to you, things that are of good quality, etc....But why..WHY would you spend $965 on your bathroom wastebasket? WTF. Why would you have a wastebasket (one of those itty bitty things) designed in lead crystal with gold leaves etched in and spend that much on it. It is a wastebasket....to hold waste....trash...   I so don't understand. Sheets....maybe but they'd better be some several hundred thread nice ass sheet but a frigging trash can? Their sheets were actually cheaper. Like $600 or so for some of them. More than anything I'd ever spend but something I can sort of understand. The toilet paper holder I saw in there was $60.00  Their laundry soaps and sprays were actually a decent price. Anyway I didn't really find anything that suited my taste in there. Someone else might though...not me LOL :) 

Anyway I have a ton more coming and I am oddly enough finding that kinda fun. There are a few really interesting ones I am really excited about but haven't gotten those yet. Guess it is like a form of window shopping plus sometimes you can get ideas for things that you can do for way cheaper without sacrificing all the quality.

Dreams

 drawing I did in art rage. 

I forgot to put this in my regular blog earlier and I've been wanting to kind of keep a dream log lately as they've been pretty vivid and weird. I had one a week or so about my friend's ex husband and I was there watching him talk about moving and this is a real possibility though I hope he doesn't try it. Not very detailed but felt important. 
The next one that stuck in my mind was I was riding a bike (don't have one though I'd like to have...also don't have the figure I had in the dream which I might have if I did in fact have one...Bwahahahha) anyway I was out by where I used to live in Pink and was going down what seemed to be Hwy 102 and it was fall. Lots of beautiful bright fall leaves (not sure if we will actually get much of that this year in reality but it was a very pretty array) Bright oranges, reds, yellows and it had that crisp air feel to it. It was late in the day but there was still just enough light. I was going somewhere but still had a bit of distance to go and the rest of it was on a side road where the trees stretched over the road and it was getting just late enough that it was going to be dark soon if I were to continue on. There was a feeling of nervousness at the thought of continuing after dark as I was alone but yet it made no sense to turn back as I'd all ready ridden so far (from wherever it is I had come from) I was enjoying myself but didn't know whether to go on or turn back and there was some doubt at the thought of either. I was in the middle of that decision when I woke up....though I think I was going to try to hurry and make it to my destination as it would have been dark going back too... I can see a lot of metaphor and such in that one. (also I think I had a good soundtrack going in the dream LOL I like it when I have those dreams where music is playing) 
Then the last one I can remember for now was really a lot like the one I had where I was watching the synapses fire (blue light by the way in that one) and something about consciousness changing  this one though was more of a physical change the body morphing to adapt as well as the chemistry etc....Yeah I know those two are hard to describe or make sense of really. Weird. 
We shall see if I dream tonight. So long as it is not nightmares....oh yeah there are also those other type that I can't really write down but that I don't remember much of anyway. The...non-nightmares LOL 

Crunch time

My entry for the frontier days T-shirt for 2010...I also have this without the writing on it. 

Well okay not really yet but this next week looks to be super busy. I am getting a lot farther in getting things done. Got the carport almost done to my satisfaction (and hopefully the city's) Though I did get a copy of the codes and so far find that a lot of them really do not fit our situation at all. Especially the one the fine is on. Soooooooo we shall see. Especially when there are several violations around us that are much larger violations and they are not touching ANY of them. Say blocked side walk, very large brush/debris pile...and there is a garage/carport thing that if they want to see dilapidated (there is apparently no such code for lean to structure and our wood shed even has metal braces on the supports) anyway I can show them this carport (and the other things) and I mean it is to the point where I am absolutely shocked to see that the person still parks their car in it. It looks to be about to cave in any moment. So anyway still going to go talk to the lawyer and see what to do from here and also have a couple of other routes we may take. We shall see. I still am saying the way they are doing this is crooked and they need to go back to using photos to show you what the violation in question is so that they can't go back later and go oh yeah we were talking about this instead or also or whatever. Or just general oh we have a complaint about this (say a building for example...but they can't even tell you which building). Yes I will continue to be miffed til this is over and then maybe still will be. 
Anyway so besides dealing with that today we went and got 3 masks for the kids for Halloween...didn't really intend to pick them up but hell we haven't even had a chance to think about it yet and I don't have a clue what I want to dress up as. I did decide I am going to lighten my hair...a lot. I finally got a box of stuff to lighten it (that supposedly even works on black hair) to a very light almost white blonde. Might have it fade into my other colors but I've been pondering over this for awhile. Another thing we picked up today was shoes. Another thing we didn't really intend to. We really went for a new toilet seat because ours has pretty much died. Got the last one they had. ....anyway I have needed shoes for awhile. I have fallen arches and a bone spur and the foot dr. informed me I need shoes with good arches...that was egads....atleast a year or more ago? Maybe two. Any shoes I've gotten for the last several years (okay as long as I can remember...it has been awhile) have been hand me downs. Except for the flats I bought to wear to my oldest's graduation. So point is first brand new pair I've bought in a long time. Nice pair of Dr. Scholl's running shoes. (Yes I am going on about a stupid pair of shoes) they were $15 but this was at a buy out store so.... Now I'm trying to break them in. Hoping they help some with the excruciating foot pain I have constantly. I am getting tired of hobbling around like an old woman when inside I feel like a more active person than that. It is annoying. 
Something that is coming up that I am looking forward to is the Frontier days thing that our city has once a year. They had gotten to where they've moved it around a lot but in 2010 I entered the T-shirt contest. (Hmmm think I will use that as my photo for this blog) I didn't win but I haven't seen anything to enter the contest for this year. Would kind of be fun. Guess I need a more simple design as well. I think the year I entered it was a wagon wheel that won with some other stuff like a boot and a cactus. I can't remember. I want to start brushing up on my art. I just wish things would slow down around me some so that my attention was not needed elsewhere constantly and I could have some quiet time to sit and draw. I did get some drawing done the other night but it was with constant interruption. 

Art and TGIF (general stuff)

 Use caution when emptying trash barrels

Well I am feeling a bit better despite some sinus pain (searing my eyes are going to pop out of my head any minute type) Went to the library today and did some printing papers off (can you hear me rubbing my hands together with the bwahahahhaahahing? ;) ) Still will have some more to print off once I get some photos taken. Will explain more on that when I can. Anyway. While we were there I picked up some books to brush up on my art skills. I don't care who you are whether you are professional, novice, beginner etc. It never hurts to go and try to pick up new skills or brush up on old ones. Never stop trying to learn something new. I did a little last night on my artrage program but my youngest kept waking up so that got pretty interrupted. *sigh* Looking forward to working on it more. Got some yard work I want to get done over the weekend. I want to make some CD's of some music I have on here to listen to while I work. May try setting up the big art table thing that hubby brought home a while back. Got plans this weekend also to get some more in depth cleaning on my house in. Was going through and making sure everything was done every night but been chaotic with my oldest home. Next week is my younger son's birthday (also the day he passed) and we make a stepping stone every year for him. This year he would have been 5 years old. So that is something we'll be doing next week on his birthday. One day I hope to have a rock garden for him to put them all in as well as some stuff like cactus and aloe plants (I have several aloe plants going now off the main plant that I bought at a yard sale one year.) Want to make a little greenhouse but not while the city is down our throats about stuff. We were going to do that somewhat with the carport. We were/(may still) remake the front porch with a cement floor. Anyway not sure what the future holds in any department right now. Just have to go along and see what happens. 

hot again

95 ...I kind of liked the low 80's mid 70's. 

Well Today has actually been a bit better. Called to try and find out more on my situation with the city but couldn't get a hold of one person though I did finally get a copy of the ordinances that regard my situation and after examining them I think we may have a case. I will decide after next week and I will be talking to a lawyer to see what they think. Really it all comes down to can we afford it and what the lawyer says. Not sure yet. Anyway just want them to leave us alone until we can get this place paid off and get moved out of city limits. Hubby wants to actually sue for harassment and I'm not sure if we'll go that far but we'll see. There are some under-workings I don't want to put here yet. Will later maybe as things take more shape. There are several problems with their complaints. 

Anyway enough said in that area. In other news my oldest has things fairly straightened out with her SSI and it appears that they are in fact going to go ahead and pursue a fraud investigation on the payee that kept all her money. They had an appt. this week and never showed. Plus they've been bragging about blowing money lately. Anyway so hopefully that gets all taken care of. She is apartment hunting right now in hopes of finding something soon. 

I will try and post something on actual news stories instead of personal life stuff soon. Lots of tension at home due to so much going on in our personal lives and this is how I vent ....though while I'm trying to type I keep getting interrupted constantly. Had some kind of illness go through seems like flu. Made me want to do nothing but sleep yesterday and I still feel a bit off today. Hard sneezing and such the day before that. My son seems to have it today and my youngest is acting as though she doesn't feel good and is feeling a bit warm. 

Too much to do and not enough time to do it. 

Moving right along

Woke up today sneezing my head off which is how I went to bed last night as well. Starting to think it may be a tad more than allergies which sucks since my body is fighting off plenty of other things right now. Plus last night my youngest poked me in the eyeball. I swear she has dead on aim for my eyes even when asleep. Anyway yesterday was fairly productive. My friends came over with a trailer and managed to catch my husband home (He's been gone like the last 3 days most of the day out with his Mom til late) so we got all the wood pile loaded, a lazy susan cabinet, and some other stuff and then they left and dropped that off and came back and we gave them the swimming pool which we can't really put up due to the freakish zoning laws regarding if you have a house on the corner. Anyway hubby left after that and I went and was moving totes that we keep food in (extra dried goods) and found that a lid was not put back down on one. (I'm still going to say it was when my second oldest was looking for a bag of sugar to refill the container and didn't put the lid back on right) anyway so the mice got in and of course ruined a whole totes worth of food. I was not impressed. There were still a bunch of mice in the tote I guess they figured they had it made so I showed the neighborhood cat who thinks he lives here and he went to work. I wish I would have recorded this. The first several he ate after he caught and I'd close the lid so the rest couldn't escape. Then he actually would catch two at a time in his mouth. He got full I guess and the next thing he did was off the wall crazy for me. He decided he still needed to catch all the mice in the tote but wasn't hungry so he'd catch them kill them pretty much instantly and then set them in a pile and go back for more. I knew there were a lot around due to the drought and looking for water though here in the last few weeks we've started getting some rain but I'm starting to think something is up because people have been noticing mice, spiders, and scorpions and such on the increase. They are coming up like crazy (mice for us and some spiders no scorpions though knock on wood) We set poison in the shed where the cats can't get it in hopes of killing any that try to nest in there and will be setting traps as well. Anyway our next thing is to mow and weed eat again and try to finish getting the wood shed torn down. I repainted the trim and stuff around  the windows on one side of the house and painted the posts and front piece on the front porch. Wound up realizing later I didn't take anything down for dinner so just did leftovers and wound up not eating anything myself til later that night I went ahead and made some sausage and waffles. Hubby had made it in around 9 or so again. We were told yesterday about a prospective thing that could help a lot. Some place that will help you one time with repairing anything your house needs and if they can't fix it up then they will tear it down and build you a new one. Would be awesome and very helpful if that pans out. Trying to find out more about it. My oldest is trying to find a place of their own and get on her own feet. She may have found a place just waiting on her check now so she can pay first month's rent. I was having weird dreams last night. Something about Washington which I need to tell my friend about. Was struggling to remember this morning. Anyway I need to try to get myself moving to make it through the day. Hopefully my stomach settles and my sinus medicine I am going to take works but doesn't kick my arse too badly. 

And back up to present...

 Garden spider ...one of several

Well things are definitely changing rapidly. Really a bit too rapidly at the moment. I went through and unlocked my blogs so those are open again. My mom is off and on. I have to go in with her to the dr. next week. Kind of nervous about that but she has been sleeping almost constantly, no facial expressions really at all when she speaks to anyone and when she is talking to people she tends to close her eyes and nod off while sitting up. She may have one awake chipper day in there every now and then but mostly is pretty out of it all the time. The nurses are getting concerned again. I've found my stroke seems to have affected my right side which I believe is the side it affected last time as well. It is affecting my gait and I am having a bit of a limp. (Before I used a cane for a long time...may have to dig it back out for the bad days but hopefully not) It is making my hip and knee on that side hurt from the change too. Still trucking along. We got hit with a fine and a court date and the city is being unrelenting on attacking us. At this moment waiting on a couple of things to see if they will either A. reduce the fine or B. do away with it if we agree to spend the 250 on a dumpster or something and basically do away with pretty much everything. Still disagreeing with what they are doing entirely but doing it anyway to appease them and then when the house is paid off we want to get the hell out (which is probably what they are pushing for honestly and we'd oblige but we don't have the money to do it) We've all ready lost money in this. The time and effort on the chickens, the wood shed we have to tear down, etc. I do have suggestions for them. I sent it in to the countywide and they mistakenly re-posted my original post but said they would post the new letter next time. Basically I believe that they should follow in Shawnee's foot steps and put their ordinances online on their city website. I think this would help a lot of people. I also believe they should go back to presenting photos of said violations so that 1. You know exactly what they complaint is about ...they can't be all vague and 2. They can't change the nature of the complaint later. I also agree with what was said that if they are going to start wanting to upholding the ordinances that basically they themselves have ignored for years and years then don't sit there and pick out certain houses to hit make it the same (equal) for everyone. They are picking on things (like my wood shed) that have been there since before I owned this house. The wood shed alone has been there AT LEAST 15 years that I know of. Plus the wood shed was not on the notice but that is what we are getting fined for. I don't think that is right. It was something we were told about via phone later and we were complying. We have a friend who may loan us a trailor this weekend to remove the shed and anything else. I am doing the yard work and stuff post stroke but of course they don't care (or maybe they think I am making that shit up I dunno) but I injured myself with glass trying to pull the big pieces out of a broken pane and putting them in a box so the trash men wouldn't hurt themselves. I have about a 2 1/2 maybe? (I dunno) inch cut on my inner thigh and then the other day I was out using the weedwhacker. It has a touchy trigger and it had hit a large rock funny (again my stroke is affecting my right side and I am right handed so not really that steady anyway) and it bounced up and hit both legs. I am fairly cut up. Went in and got on antibiotics for it as with the lupus I don't heal like I should and there is some worry of infection. Was told I need to take it easy but really I can't. This stuff has to get done. My husband mowed and he is the one that watches Abby while I go out and do this. I caught a bit of weird reaction from the Mayor for that as he had assumed my husband was the one doing the stuff. Anyway I need to go weed eat and I am so tired. I can't sleep really anymore and my hip is killing me. The dr. gave me something for nerves/stress with everything going on. Trying to not take any and I haven't yet but maybe Monday. Guess I am worried about side effects plus if it makes me drowsy I can't work and I have to. I really don't have time to rest mostly though I do sleep in the mornings because that is the only time I can really drift off. The stress of the deal with my Mom is getting me. My oldest is back home temporarily til she can get an apartment and gets her money. She basically had moved in with someone I thought was a friend. Someone I still kept at somewhat of a distance because we don't seem to be on the same page with a lot of stuff but still. I'd known this person since middle school and she wound up being far more two faced than I could ever imagine. Turns out SHE was the one who called DHS and stirred up trouble when there was none. She was also doing a thing where she would lie to me about my oldest and then lie to my oldest about me I guess trying to keep us apart not realizing we'd talk and put two and two together and she played it up good. I actually even bought some of it for awhile. She pretty much took my oldest for everything she had and was belittling her health issues saying I put all that in her head. (Um Hello the dr referred her to a gastro dr. for a reason and they have to have a reason or insurance will not allow the referral) Anyway the ex friend caused the health issues to become worse in some ways (Pushing milk on her which I told her she should have flat out refused) but was telling her that it was all in her head etc that she couldn't drink it....she is lactose intolerant and also soon to be tested for other stomach issues. She went back to throwing up every day after that. Since she's been here she's seen the dr and is doing better. She also found out about another issue (incident) health related) that occured or well she knew but rather confirmed it that should have been checked out at an ER but the friend refused to take her and also gave her a hard time about going the one time she did. She also had her thinking she had a ride to the gastro and waited til the day of to tell her she wasn't taking her so that she didn't have another ride. Then telling her she didn't need it. She had waited a year for that appt. Then as of right now she has kept her money. She also told her she put her on her two year lease and it increased her rent and so she owed her more. (She isn't on a lease) So anyway she got screwed all the way around though learned a valuable life lesson even if it was learned the hard way and seems to be back on track. Just gotta wait til she gets her money again but in the meantime is looking at apartments and such and getting her health care lined out. I learned something as well.... that the friend was not any kind of a friend at all. I've had a lot of other friends saying told ya so. LOL I knew to keep her at arms length but apparently that was too close still. Anyway she is out of our lives so far other than the stories I imagine she continues to tell other people but really who gives a flip unless it starts to affect us in which case...um yeah. We'll see. Anyway a lot of weight on the shoulders right now. Dealing though. Just taking things day by day. Wishing I could escape into my day dreams. Would be nice.